April 4, 1998 – Steve Buscemi / Third Eye Blind (S23 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MULTIPLE BROADCASTS
viewers choice is Lewis Lapham [real] or farcical Bill Clinton (DAH) skit

— A good laugh from the bit with Tim smugly calling himself “the star of Saturday Night Live”, though it got no reaction from the audience.
— Fun premise of viewers being able to “choose” between two broadcasts.
— I cracked up at Tim’s introduction to the Clinton sketch, bluntly describing it as a comedy scene about Clinton’s dong.
— Funny progression to the Clinton sketch with it turning into a wild, silly sex party. This is another cold opening this season that shows how much fun this SNL era has with the Lewinsky scandal.
— I like how even more absurd the sex party gets with Goat Boy now randomly being thrown in. It’s fun seeing unrelated SNL recurring characters/impressions collide.
— I love the turn with Tim taking off his Oprah wig and revealing he’s actually O.J.
— Turns out I was wrong in an earlier review this season where I said Jim Breuer went through his entire SNL tenure without ever getting to open the show with a “Live from New York…”. He’s one of various people who say it during the big group LFNY at the end of this cold opening.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
TIM, ANG, WIF unsuccessfully try to help host return to his improv roots

— I’m enjoying Steve Buscemi’s dissatisfaction with the audience’s suggestions, eventually getting to the point where Steve has to be held back from angrily walking over one particular audience member. I also like Steve telling another audience member “We’re trying to do improv, not stupid-ass-suggestion-prov.”
— Some pretty good laughs from Steve’s “improv” just being quotes from his movies.
STARS: ***½

XEROX ASSJET 790
Rerun from 9/27/97

THE MAD TEA PARTY
truly mad Hatter (host) ruins tea party of Alice (MOS) & Hare (John Hurt)

— Among SNL fans, this is probably the most well-remembered sketch from tonight’s well-liked episode.
— I recall once hearing that Norm Macdonald, who hadn’t “officially” departed as a cast member yet, was originally supposed to play the Hare character that tonight’s credited special guest John Hurt is playing, but something happened during rehearsals of this sketch that caused Norm to walk out for good, causing the preceding Julianne Moore-hosted episode to end up as his final episode as a cast member. Does anyone know more details about what caused Norm to walk out during rehearsals of this sketch? I’m very curious to hear about it.
— Seems pretty random to cast John Hurt in this role. I do love his slowburn, though, after hearing that Steve’s Mad Hatter washes his hands 100 times a day because they smell like his mother.
— Mad Hatter: “I’m so mad, I constantly burn my penis with red-hot cigar butts!”
— Mad Hatter: “I build little race cars out of my poop!”
— Great reveal that the Mad Hatter is just some stranger who wasn’t even invited to the tea party.
— The Mad Hatter putting his fist in his mouth and having a fit is slaying me.
STARS: *****

MORNING LATTE
to (host)’s dismay, Didi Conn’s [real] Grease role snubbed

— As usual, several funny dense lines from the hosts played by Will and Cheri.
— I like Steve’s growing frustration throughout the interview.
— There goes our obligatory yell of “YOU STUPID BITCH!” It gets less and less funny in each passing installment of this sketch.
— After the “YOU STUPID BITCH!” part, I do like Steve storming off while saying “I think I’ll blow my brains out.”
STARS: ***½

GOTH TALK
the Prom of Doom is held in the high school boiler room

— Another refreshing change of scenery for this recurring sketch.
— A big laugh from Will’s song being interrupted by the door next to him swinging open and smacking him in the face.
— Unfortunately, this ends up being Jim’s final appearance in a Goth Talk sketch (we’re nearing the end of his SNL tenure).
— I absolutely love Steve as the affable-but-creepy janitor. He is adding so much to this sketch.
STARS: ****

TV FUNHOUSE
“Titey” by RBS- Disney’s cheerful spin on Titanic uses celebrity voices

— A hilarious idea of a Disney-fied version of Titanic.
— Fun hearing actual celebrities doing voices in this, including Gilbert Gottfried making his triumphant SNL return!
— Smigel is always great at mimicking the styles of certain animation genres when spoofing them, and tonight’s cartoon is a dead-on and very funny parody of typical animated Disney movies from this era.
— That’s Molly Ringwald singing as Anne Frank? Never knew she had such a good singing voice.
— For some reason, during the ending credits of this TV Funhouse, a no-audio freeze-frame shot of Lorne fighting with the dog replaces the usual moving shot of Lorne fighting with the dog while repeatedly saying “Leggo my show!”
STARS: *****

STUFF WE MADE
(JMB) & (host) show their crappy & creepy constructions

— Jim’s doing an accurate imitation of how hosts of do-it-yourself shows typically speak.
— I love Steve’s display of his “ScareJeff”, which he made to scare his wife’s new husband. I also like Steve’s detail of how he uses his “ScareJeff” while wearing a leather mask and playing German techno music.
— Good ad-lib from Jim when he accidentally says “sandpiper” instead of “sandpaper”.
— A great disturbing bit with Steve showcasing his ghost squirrel bike.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
Reggie White (TRM) extends his offensive remarks to cover more groups

— Colin’s opening straight-to-camera rant about Paula Jones was fairly forgettable.
— Some really good traditional news jokes from Colin tonight, even if I still don’t like his habit of muttering an unnecessary ad-lib after every damn joke.
— Speaking of Colin’s habit of muttering ad-libs after the jokes, when the audience is laughing at his Etch-A-Sketch joke, Colin quickly mutters a barely audible “Tina Fey”. I’m guessing Tina was responsible for that Etch-A-Sketch joke, and Colin was giving her on-air credit after seeing how well the audience reacted to it.
— Colin’s Daylight Savings Time joke was so bad, it was good. I also liked the actual funny ad-lib Colin made afterwards about the lameness of that joke.
— Tracy-as-Reggie-White’s commentary about minorities that he hates is cracking me up, in a silly way.
— Reggie White: “You ever see a midget in a suit? That is nasty!” Such a perfectly Tracy Morgan-esque line.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How’s It Going To Be”

JUDGE JUDY
(ANG) & hip-hop dance instructor (host) litigate

— Why does Ana always play the plaintiff in Judge Judy sketches?
— I love the look of Steve’s dance instructor, with the mullet and 80s leather jacket.
— As always, Tracy’s various sassy one-liners as the bailiff are cracking me up.
— Funny bit with Steve demonstrating his “White Tornado” dance.
— In addition to Ana always playing the plaintiff, these Judgy Judy sketches also always end with Judge Judy “surprisingly” siding with the defendant. That twist isn’t even a surprise anymore. Shake things up, SNL writers.
STARS: ***½

JOB INTERVIEW
volatile (host) interviews jobseekers (CHK) & (Natasha Henstridge)

— Oh, here comes a favorite of mine.
— I love the tense and off-beat conversation between Chris and an irritable Steve.
— A particularly memorable bit with Steve thinking UCLA is pronounced “yuckla”.
— Steve, after mentioning he’s not familiar with the college UCLA: “I heard of Pepperdine. Why didn’t you go to Pepperdine?”
— The whole part with Steve talking about the last time he had sex is priceless.
— I love Steve telling Chris he can continue the interview even after letting him know he didn’t get the job.
— Steve: “(angrily) I TELL YOU I HAVEN’T HAD SEX IN 9 YEARS AND YOU TELL ME YOU’RE ALLERGIC TO CATS?!?”
— Hilarious sudden turn with Steve randomly giving Chris the job after all, when Chris has an angry outburst regarding wanting to leave.
— Natasha Henstridge cameo? Ooookay. Not only is it random as hell and not only is she not even given any dialogue, but the audience is dead silent, giving her no recognition applause whatsoever. I do love how Steve calls her “John”, though (as a callback to the name he kept incorrectly calling Chris earlier in the sketch).
STARS: *****

I TOOK A GAY GUY TO PROM
(ANG), (CHO), (MOS) remember their queer beaus

— Random premise, but I like how this is pre-taped and how they’re using special screen filter effects for each interview, giving this a realistic documentary look.
— Gay stereotypes abound here, and I’m not sure how it would come off by today’s standards, but I’m getting enough laughs here.
— I like Molly’s interview descending into insane nonsense, with her calling her prom date various different celebrity names.
STARS: ***

JIM HALSEY’S TRUCK DRIVIN’ MUSEUM
the Kenworth RX-40TD is profiled

— Some good laughs from the uselessness and awkwardness of Steve’s character, just silently and uncomfortably gesturing during Will’s profile of the truck.
— Overall, a simple, short sketch, but Steve absolutely made this whole thing.
STARS: ***½

THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A great episode, and has always been one of my favorites of this season. Not only were there a lot of strong sketches tonight, but Steve Buscemi was a fantastic host, giving a great performance in every single sketch and consistently making me laugh all throughout the show. I also love the way the show utilized him, giving him plenty of roles that showcased his knack for playing oddball characters. There’s no excuse for SNL waiting 13 years after this episode to have him host again.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julianne Moore)
a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Greg Kinnear