November 8, 1997 – Jon Lovitz / Jane’s Addiction (S23 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CONTROLLING THE AIRWAVES
Bill Gates (CHK), Bill Clinton (DAH), media moguls fight for the airwaves

— Ha, we open with a scene from “Men Behaving Badly”, which was apparently a Rob Schneider-starring sitcom, judging from the scene that SNL is showing. I only remember “Men Behaving Badly” by its title; I have no memory of Rob being in the show (then again, I wasn’t yet familiar with him in 1997).
— Chris takes over Mark McKinney’s Bill Gates impression, and instead of doing a nerdy, froggy voice like Mark did as Gates, Chris portrays Gates in a typical Kattan-esque manner, giving him a childlike, slightly effeminate voice. I admit, this take on Gates is actually amusing me, but Mark definitely had the superior take.
— Hmm, another Mark McKinney impression being taken over by another performer. This time, it’s Will as Ted Turner, though Mark had only played Turner once before, so it’s not like he’s closely associated with the role.
— Fun premise with the constant interruptions from powerful famous men.
— I love Gates saying with a smug smile “Don’t screw with me, Turner” when interrupting Ted Turner’s own interruption.
— Another good line, with Ted Turner responding to Gates’ aforementioned “Don’t screw with me, Turner” line with a smug line of his own: “TV’s my world, Gates, so watch your ass!”
— Good bit with Turner’s horror when realizing that Gates has turned him into black-and-white.
— For some reason, it amuses me how each powerful man who interrupts the airwaves is introduced by the same announcer, using a different voice each time. It’s especially funny when the announcer does a goofy Australian accent when introducing Rupert Murdoch.
— When each powerful man gets his delivery of “Live from New York…” cut off, I believe this is the closest Jim Breuer would ever get to saying “Live from New York…” during his entire SNL tenure.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
JOL presents highlights from his self-centered one-man Broadway show

— It feels good to be able to review Jon Lovitz again.
— We get a great Master Thespian-esque “Thank youuuu!” from Jon at the beginning of this. Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered why tonight’s episode doesn’t have a Master Thespian sketch. After all, it was Jon’s second biggest recurring character.
— I love Jon’s “Excuse me, my lip has gas” ad-lib(?).
— Ha, Jon’s Broadway show at the time was titled “Jon Lovitz is Jon Lovitz”? I can’t think of a more perfectly Jon Lovitz-esque title for something that Jon stars in.
— Jon makes yet another brief statement in his Master Thespian voice. Maybe this is his way of making up for the lack of a Master Thespian sketch tonight.
— I like Jon’s brief dancing demonstration, with him wildly dancing in place for a few seconds before throwing his back out, then smugly asking us “Jealous?”
— I sometimes forget what a great singing voice Jon has, which he previously displayed a number of times during his SNL tenure, mostly just in his early seasons.
— Funny bit with Jon singing a romantic song to himself on the TV monitor.
— I swear that, from my past viewings of this monologue, I remember one part where Jon briefly makes his Biff face during the song. As for what I mean by “Biff face”, Biff is an obscure recurring character that Jon had in season 11, in a weird recurring sketch in which Jon and castmate Joan Cusack played a baffling couple. In those sketches, Jon always had his upper lip tucked in a way that made it look like he had a large overbite (Cecily Strong does the same thing in more recent years when playing her recurring character Jemma). I thought I remembered Jon briefly making that same overbite face at one point of his song in this monologue, but I’ve just gone through tonight’s viewing of this entire monologue without spotting it. It would’ve made for a good screencap.
STARS: ****

DUNKIN’ DONUTS
Michael Vale (JOL) wants to control fate of his Dunkin’ Donuts character

— Here’s a sketch that I’ve always loved.
— Perfect casting of Jon as the Dunkin’ Donuts guy.
— One very small detail that I always crack up at when watching this sketch: after looking at one particular tray of donuts on the table, Will’s director character asks off-camera stagehands “Can we get some more light on these crullers?” I laugh at that way more than I probably should, but Will is always great at delivering funny little touches like that in sketches.
— Some hilarious dark messages that Jon tries doing for the commercial.
— After one particularly dark message that Jon does during a take, I love a disturbed Will responding “Yeah, we’re gonna need to go way lighter there.”
— A particularly great raunchy line from Jon, when talking about his hot stewardess girlfriend: “From now on, it ain’t gonna be donuts I’ll be eatin’!”
— Yet another great line from Jon, when telling Will how attached America has become to his Dunkin’ Donuts commercial character: “They wanna see him die or GET SOME TAIL!”
STARS: ****½

WEDDING RECEPTION
Ross Perot (DAC) crashes Larry King’s (NOM) star-filled wedding reception

 

— Ha, Will plays Ted Turner twice in the same night.
— Funny line from Molly as Larry King’s young wife: “I finally found the man of my dreams: a 63-year-old balding Jew who’s been married 8 times.”
— Yes! Norm’s Larry King is doing his “News and Views” routine, a routine I’m always a sucker for. It’s particularly hilarious being delivered in this out-of-place setting of a wedding reception. I also like the touch of how, as he goes from one random “News and Views”-esque one-liner to the next, Norm’s King keeps turning from one side of the podium to the other, as if he’s speaking into different cameras like he does on his “News and Views” show.
— Larry King: “If you ever see one movie for the rest of your life, it should be GATTACA!”
— Cheri’s Fran Drescher impression is surprisingly pretty weak. I didn’t notice if it was also this weak when she did it in the Madeline Kahn episode that I covered in season 21.
— Chris’ Al Pacino isn’t the best take I’ve seen of Pacino from an SNL cast member (*coughHadercough*), but he is cracking me the hell up. I’m practically on the floor.
— The return of Jon’s Harvey Fierstein impression! I’m not sure, but I think this portion of the sketch would later be removed from Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode, presumably for time reasons, since this is a fairly lengthy sketch.
— Darrell’s Dennis Franz impression is pretty funny.
— A Dana Carvey cameo!
— Dana is immediately commanding the stage, getting huge laughs as Ross Perot right out of the gate in this sketch. I especially like his line to Norm’s Larry King “Has any woman ever seen you naked and said ‘I gotta get me some of that!’?”
— I love the way Norm’s King is just staring deadpan at Dana’s Perot while Dana’s Perot is giving him the roasting of his life.
— I’m glad they’ve toned down the number of Dana-as-Perot’s utterances of “Can I finish?!? You gonna keep interruptin’ me?”, which they went way overboard with in the last appearance Dana made as Perot when hosting in the preceding season.
— Ross Perot: “You can squat on a pitbull, but that won’t give you rhubarb pie… UNLESS THE PITBULL MAKES THE PIE!”
STARS: ****

SPEND A YEAR IN THE ALASKAN WILDERNESS WITH JEWEL
MTV contest winner (JOL) can’t stand living in a cabin with Jewel (ANG)

— Interesting premise.
— I got a laugh from how one scene just ends after the “Wanna make out?” “No.” exchange between Jon and Jewel.
— Funny Jewel impression from Ana.
— When calling the Alaskan Airlines in a frenzy, I like Jon breaking down in frustrated tears when hearing Jewel’s “Who Will Save Your Soul” being played as the hold music over the phone.
— The cue cards make an accidental onscreen cameo (screencap below).

— I got a cheap laugh from Tracy doing a Missy Elliott impression at the end of this sketch (screencap below).

— Overall, despite me getting some laughs throughout this sketch, I dunno, something about this sketch as a whole didn’t quite work for me.
STARS: **½

TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Bill Clinton press conference goes awry

— They seem to be cutting down on the number of TV Funhouses this season. This is surprisingly only the second TV Funhouse cartoon to air this season, and the last one (that weak Casablanca farting cartoon) was all the way back in the season premiere. These TV Funhouses were much more common in the preceding season.
— A lot of funny random things falling out of Bill Clinton’s suit, such as a bong, a Chinese businessman, and a vibrator.
— As usual for Fun With Real Audio, this is filled with tons of fast-paced hijinks that I love.
— A particularly funny part with Clinton randomly dropping his pants and underwear in front of the reporters, and Al Gore trying to hide Clinton’s genitals with the same things that fell out of Clinton’s suit earlier.
— Great ending with Clinton, Gore, and the Chinese businessman suddenly breaking into a silly dance in unison while “Ya’ll Ready For This” is heard playing in the background.
STARS: ****

THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon sips Courvoisier & expresses regard for Delta Burke

— This sketch has officially become recurring, giving Tim his very first huge recurring character. It can’t be said enough how insane it is that it took Tim EIGHT SEASONS to get a popular recurring character.
— I got a big laugh from Tim’s Leon Phelps asking the premature ejaculator caller “How quickly does the semen leave your wang?”
— Funny reaction from Leon to hearing about an old couple having sex.
— I like Leon’s Delta Burke obsession.
— Overall, Tim continues to do well as this new character. I’m a little eager for them to start doing Ladies’ Man installments that have guests, though. The guest-less installments with Leon just taking questions from callers are pretty interchangeable with one another.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE
Tommy Flanagan tells what he’s supposedly been up to lately

 

— Norm tells us that an old friend who was not seen on Weekend Update in many years is about to stop by. That can only mean…
— Yep, there he is: Tommy Flanagan! Great to see him back.
— Despite not having played this character on SNL in ages, Jon’s still got it.
— I love the little part with Flanagan saying in an out-of-character deep, dramatic voice “It was the only time I ever lied.”
— Good story from Flanagan about being overqualified for a nude scene in “Boogie Nights”.
— Ha, this is surprisingly the first in a long time we’ve gotten a traditional Ricki Lake fat joke from Norm, and boy, did tonight’s joke not let me down.
— Now we get a good ol’ classic prison rape joke from Norm.
— Great Richard Gere joke to end tonight’s Update. Tonight’s overall Update had a fairly sluggish first half but a solid second half.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jane Says”

THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTTERMAN
Marv Albert (JOL) shows home movie

   

— Geez, a THIRD Mark McKinney impression being taken over by another performer tonight? And it’s Kattan getting the honors once again???
— I love Norm-as-Letterman’s opening line “Let me just get rid of this, uh, doll of steak!”
— I do like the new addition of Tracy as Biff Henderson. However, between the Ladies’ Man sketch and this, Tracy has been playing quite a lot of stage managers tonight.
— Norm’s Letterman never fails to slay me whenever he says that “Uh, y-ya got any gum???” catchphrase, even though it was much funnier in the first Letterman sketch.
— Chris’ take on Paul Shaffer isn’t quite as terrible as I had remembered, but it still pales in comparison to Mark’s take. I will admit that I do like the laugh that Chris keeps doing as Shaffer.
— Awkward unscripted moment with Norm practically halting the sketch to adjust his chair.
— Feels odd seeing someone other than Norm play Marv Albert after Norm killed with a spot-on Marv Albert earlier this season, but Jon actually played Marv before, back in a Super Bowl cold opening from the John Malkovich episode in 1989. His Marv Albert impression was very generic back then, though, with Jon basically just using his normal voice. Hell, he didn’t even throw in any utterances of “Yesssss!”, IIRC (then again, maybe Marv wasn’t yet known for saying that in the 80s). Jon is doing a more accurate take on Marv tonight, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to Norm’s take on him.
— Jon-as-Marv-Albert’s line about how he currently has a silky thong bikini up his ass is hilarious.
— Marv’s pre-taped sports bloopers/S&M video is okay, but not quite as hilarious as I had remembered it.
— I love Tracy’s eager delivery of “Wanna bite me on my back?” Something about that line just comes off priceless in Tracy’s trademark delivery.
— Overall, a fairly big step down from the last two installments of this sketch, but I still found this decent enough.
STARS: ***

THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS

— Is it just me, or are this season’s Lost Deep Thoughts nowhere near as funny as the original Deep Thoughts from the early 90s? These feel like pale imitations from someone trying to emulate Jack Handey’s style. Actually, some of season 20’s Deep Thoughts tended to feel like that as well.

COLIN QUINN EXPLAINS THE NEW YORK TIMES
COQ explains The New York Times by interpreting various news items

— The struggling Colin Quinn finally gets thrown a bone, by being given his own segment as himself, in which he discusses items from the newspaper. I really like the idea of this.
— I like Colin’s definition of what wannabes are: two kids in Salt Lake City who wear their Utah Jazz cap backwards and listen to Wu-Tang Clan when their parents are at church.
— As usual for Colin, this is featuring his style of funny, relatable stand-up comedy. To be honest, though, this isn’t the funniest material I’ve seen from him, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless. And Colin’s current events style fits more here than how it would later fit when doing it as a Weekend Update anchorperson.
STARS: ***

THE ROBIN BYRD SHOW
porn actress Robin Byrd (CHO) & adult film industry guests chat

— I have no familiarity with the real Robin Byrd Show, though the audience seems to think Cheri is doing a spot-on parody.
— Ha, Ron Jeremy, a role that Jon was born to play. When I was younger, I used to think there was a very strong facial resemblance between both Lovitz and Jeremy, though I don’t see it as much anymore now that I’m older.
— Cheri’s off-beat performance is pretty funny, though the over-the-top laugh she keeps doing is kinda annoying after a while.
— Not caring too much for this sketch so far.
— Sketches always benefit from the addition of Norm’s Burt Reynolds.
— I love Norm’s Burt asking Jim’s Mark Wahlberg, in regards to Robin Byrd, “What the hell’s this crazy skank talking about?”
— Ha, in typical Norm fashion, Norm just randomly walks off the sketch before the sketch has even ended. I dunno, maybe that was part of the script, but I’d like to think Norm just thought to himself “Ehh, screw it” and walked off on his own because he’s aware this sketch is kind of a flop. Besides, he had no more dialogue left by the time he walked off anyway.
STARS: **

SET OUR NANNY FREE!
British pop artists aim to help au pair by singing “Set Our Nanny Free!”

— This era takes a stab at the memorable We Are The World-type sketches that SNL’s early 90s era would famously do. Odd placement of a sketch like this, though, with it being buried in the 10-to-1 slot tonight.
— Hmm, I don’t like how they’re displaying a graphic of each singer’s name. The We Are The World-type sketches from the early 90s never did that, which I like, as it was fun to guess which singer each cast member was playing. Then again, if tonight’s sketch didn’t tell us who each cast member is playing, I never would’ve guessed who Darrell and Tracy are supposed to be, as I have no idea who Prodigy is (it sure is wild seeing Tracy in that make-up, though).
— Will’s Elton John impression is iffy (then again, Will was never known to be a dead-on impressionist), but his solo number in this sketch is funny.
— Oh my god, Colin’s solo bit as Elvis Costello is AWFUL. First of all, he completely misses his cue to start singing, thus we get 5 seconds of awkward dead air as he just stands there silently staring at the camera while waiting for an appropriate part of the music to come in, and then he proceeds to do the world’s worst Elvis Costello impression (especially when you remember that Michael McKean once did a spot-on Elvis Costello in one of the We Are The World-type sketches from the early 90s). This alone shows why SNL’s idea to promote Colin to repertory player and try to make him a versatile sketch performer is an ill-fated plan. Just let him stick to the few things he does well.
— Ehh, most of the impressions in this sketch aren’t as fun as the impressions from the earlier We Are The World-type sketches, nor am I crazy about the lyrics in tonight’s sketch.
— Okay, I am laughing at Jon’s singing as Sarah Ferguson.
— Ha, Norm as Mr. Bean! An absolutely priceless visual gag.
— Overall, ehh. I hate to give a lukewarm review for this type of sketch, but I wasn’t too crazy about what I just watched here. This had a few highlights, but as a whole, this was pretty unmemorable and paled in comparison to the We Are The World-type sketches from the early 90s.
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode with a fairly solid first half, but a forgettable second half. Not too bad a show as a whole, but it wasn’t as strong as I would expect a Jon Lovitz-hosted episode to be. Speaking of whom, Jon Lovitz did a solid job as host and it was great to see him back on SNL, but it felt like some sketches could’ve utilized him better.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Farley)
Ehh, the Farley episode is kind of on an island of its own. It doesn’t feel right to compare any other episode to it.

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Claire Danes