Month: December 2019

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February 28, 1998 – Garth Brooks (S23 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PHONE CHAT
Bill Clinton (DAH) phones Saddam Hussein (WIF) & Monica Lewinsky (MOS)

— I like the initial visual of Will’s Saddam, eating from a bowl of cereal.
— Great turn with Molly’s Monica Lewinsky being on the other line.
— I love how increasingly casual this three-way phone conversation is getting, especially when it gets to the point where they’re talking about tonight’s episode of Dawson’s Creek.
— Saddam Hussein, when greeting Monica Lewinsky: “Monica! You never call me anymore!”
— Brilliant joke with Saddam thanking Monica for the beret.
— I like how even more random and casual this phone conversation is getting, with Tim Meadows as himself joining in.
— This sketch is such a blast. Whenever I think of how much fun SNL had with the Lewinsky scandal, this is usually always one of the first sketches that comes to mind.
— Great variation of “Live from New York…” with Will’s Saddam opening the show by saying “Livetime from the New York, it’s Saturday Fun Hour!”
STARS: ****½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After being removed from the opening montage in the last two episodes, Norm Macdonald has been reinstated back into the montage.


MONOLOGUE
host relives stint in psychedelic revival band with a trippy guitar solo

— Right off the bat, Garth is already coming off very likable, loose, and comfortable.
— Great turn with Garth performing a psychedelic song, complete with hippie attire worn by Garth, a green-screen background of psychedelic images, and a zooming-in-and-out camera effect. This alone lets you know what a surprisingly fun host Garth is going to be tonight.
— Good self-deprecation from Garth during his “We got a great show for you tonight” spiel, calling tonight’s musical guest “very lame”.
STARS: ****


COWBOYS
on the range, host claims kinship with real cowboys (WIF), (JMB), (TIM)

— Already a laugh early on from Garth’s contemporary cowboy being seen in this old-timey western setting.
— I love the utter confusion from the other cowboys when Garth’s cellphone rings.
— Great delivery from Will when finally asking Garth “What in the hell are you talkin’ about?!?”
— The premise is fairly thin, but the execution is pretty solid, especially with Garth giving such a strong performance.
STARS: ***½


MANGO
host’s career goes downhill after he falls under the spell of Mango

— Funny how the group of men sitting at the table in the opening shot of this sketch is the exact same group of performers we saw in the preceding Cowboy sketch, minus Tim. They’re seated in the same order too.
— This is a very famous Mango installment; in fact, the most famous of them all, I’d say.
— Watching this after recently watching and reviewing the preceding Mango sketches makes me realize how much tonight’s famous Mango installment is just following the EXACT SAME pattern as the previous installments.
— Despite my above complaint about how this Mango installment is lazily following the exact same pattern as previous installments, tonight’s installment is working much better, due to the fact that 1) it’s funny to see that all the craziness in this sketch is happening to Garth Brooks as himself, instead of Garth simply playing a character like Brendan Fraser and Samuel L. Jackson did in the previous Mango installments, and 2) Garth is giving a freakin’ fantastic performance.
— Garth’s whiny delivery of “Sons of bitches!” when pushing back the crowd of Mango admirers absolutely slayed me.
— Funny how Mango mentions Ben Affleck as one of his celebrity admirers, considering SNL would later do a Mango sketch with Ben Affleck playing himself falling under Mango’s spell, when Affleck makes his hosting debut in season 25. I can’t remember, but I bet that particular Mango installment acts like Affleck never met Mango before then, which kinda screws up the continuity of this recurring sketch (certainly not a big deal, though).
— Great ending yell from Garth of the line “MANGOOOOOOO!”
STARS: ***½


OPRAH
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) waffles about Bill Clinton oral sex

— Good ad-libbing from Tim when he has a difficult time speaking with his mouth full of food.
— What the hell? Why am I hearing game show buzzer sounds in the background all of a sudden? (*remembers that there are two game show sketches that will be appearing later tonight*) Ah, right. I guess we’re hearing an SNL crew member testing out the buzzers for whichever game show sketch is coming up next. Why do that during a sketch in progress, though? Did they think we wouldn’t hear it in the background?
— Fairly funny how Monica Lewinsky’s book contradicts her claim that she didn’t give oral sex to Bill Clinton.
— Overall, the writing for this sketch was a little “ehhh”, but the sketch was passable, mostly due to Tim’s fun performance.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- David Brenner makes the talk show circuit

— Hilarious premise of an endlessly-rambling David Brenner being dropped down from one talk show to another.
— Conan!
— I love the bit with Conan and Andy Richter struggling to get the trap door to open. Makes me wonder if Smigel was the writer behind that Wilson’s Trap Door fake ad that SNL did 10 years earlier (one of my favorite SNL fake ads of all time).
— I howled at the bit where David Brenner immediately falls straight through Tom Snyder’s talk show because Snyder’s guest chair is already facing down towards an open trap door.
— This cartoon in general is priceless.
— Brilliant gag with Sally Jessy Raphael’s show being below hell.
STARS: ****½


OLD FRENCH WHORE!
prostitutes & high school students team on game show

 

— A well-loved Tina Fey-written game show sketch.
— The concept of this game show sketch is hilarious.
— Great casting of Garth as one of the French whores. And he actually looks more convincing in drag than I would’ve thought.
— Tim, regarding the French whore he’s paired with: “She smells like whiskey and feet!”
— Chris: “I think my whore is dead.”
— Garth is playing his role very well, and I love the premise of his character being the one French whore who’s actually wise.
— A great mock dramatic monologue from Garth, complete with a spotlight shined on him.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
host is Cinder Calhoun’s “Adonis in Blue Jeans,” but he’s not interested

— Our very first Colin Quinn Weekend Update mention of Old Dirty Bastard, who I recall Colin would go on to mention quite a bit throughout his Weekend Update tenure.
— Some mildly funny jokes from Colin so far tonight, but he’s still coming off very stiff during his delivery of them.
— Good Irish/condoms joke from Colin, which allowed him to use a looser delivery that he’s clearly more comfortable with.
— The running gag in Cinder Calhoun’s commentaries with her using an accent whenever she pronounces Spanish words reminds me of an NBC News sketch that SNL did with Jimmy Smits in season 16, as well as a lesser-known Weekend Update commentary that Victoria Jackson did a year before that.
— Cinder’s love song to Garth is funny, as is Garth’s uncomfortable facial expressions and his singing of his rejection of Cinder’s love.
— For the first time, Colin ends Update by saying “I’m Colin Quinn, that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it”, which would go on to become his regular tagline for Update.
STARS: **½


WHO’S MORE GRIZZLED?!
inured (host) & (Robert Duvall) vie on game show

— Two sketches in a row tonight that’s a game show.
— Norm!
— Clearly, the audience shares my excitement over seeing Norm’s first appearance in weeks, as we get a great audience reaction to Norm’s entrance.
— Nice use of tonight’s credited special guest Robert Duvall.
— I remember when I first saw this sketch, I didn’t recognize Garth in that wig and beard. I seriously spent the entire sketch thinking that was an uncredited random old man playing Garth’s role, and I wondered why the hell SNL would give such a big role to an unknown extra and pair him with a legendary actor like Robert Duvall.
— Garth, to Norm: “I don’t much care for you.” Norm: “(smiling) A lot of people don’t.” An intentional clever meta reference to Norm’s recent predicament on SNL.
— Garth continues to impress me tonight, as he is really disappearing into character in this (which is probably part of what contributed to me not recognizing him when I first saw this sketch).
— Norm is making a solid straight man and game show host in this.
— So many funny grizzled demonstrations from Garth and Duvall.
— Always nice to see SNL’s lighting designer Phil Hymes appear in a sketch (last screencap above), though he messes up his one line in this sketch. I think SNL would later replace his portion of this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I love how after Duvall’s God rant, Garth gives him a long, speechless, disturbed look, and then says “Damn. You are grizzled.”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Two Pina Coladas”


HEY, REMEMBER THE 80’S
Brian Setzer (CHK) & Kevin Rowland (host)

— Meh, this sketch once again. However, this thankfully ends up being the final installment.
— I love Garth’s spot-on imitation of Kevin Rowland’s dancing.
— Ha, I like the inclusion of Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou Albano.
— In the “Live From New York” book, Cheri mentions that her family came to the show the night of this episode to see Garth Brooks in person (I think Cheri says that the reason for that is her dad was a country singer himself, or something like that), and it ended up being a sad experience for Cheri, because, as she claims, she was completely cut out of the live show. Cheri’s memory must be faulty, because she’s actually appeared in two sketches so far tonight. And, no, she wasn’t referring to the second Garth Brooks-hosted episode, either, because I recall Cheri and Garth doing a “Simmah dah nah!” sketch together in that one.
— During the Cheri-as-Cyndi-Lauper performance of “True Colors”, we get a hilarious random appearance of Will playing the “Soy Bomb” guy who interrupted Bob Dylan’s then-recent performance at that year’s Grammys.
— Overall, a little better than most Hey, Remember the 80s sketches. Even Jim’s Goat Boy shtick didn’t bug me as much as usual this time.
STARS: ***


LOEWS
trapped moviegoers try to survive endless stream of Shelley Long trailers

— Interestingly, the name of Shelley Long’s character in the “My Mom, The Mime” trailer is Diane Carbonal, which is the same name of an Ana Gasteyer recurring character who’s a news reporter.
— Ha, Tracy playing what would go on to be known as a classic Tracy Morgan type of role.
— I love the moviegoers’ suffering through horrible movie previews, most of which inexplicably seem to star Shelley Long and feature the song “I Feel Good”. This is freakin’ priceless.
— Great bit with the cheerful Loews Theater jingle revealing that the doors are locked from the outside.
— I am absolutely loving the moviegoers’ gradual descent into madness over the course of this sketch.
— Haha, holy hell at the convincing visual of Will having his limbs torn apart.
— Molly: “SHELLEY LONG HAS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!” That has got to be one of my favorite Molly Shannon line deliveries ever.
— Yet another fantastic bit is Jim’s reveal about a perpetually-smiling Tracy: “Oh, god! He’s got no lower half! He’s eaten his own legs!”
— Could’ve used a bit of a better ending, but overall, this sketch was an absolute masterpiece. One of my favorite sketches of all time.
STARS: *****


LAY LADY LAY
(WIF) visits (Robert Duvall)’s hospital bed to sing “Lay Lady Lay”

— I like Will quietly entering as a hospital worker and randomly starting to sing “Lay Lady Lay” to a sleeping Robert Duvall.
— A good laugh from Will repeatedly yelling “You shut up!” during his and Duvall’s back-and-forth arguing.
— Sweet turn with Duvall having a change of heart, letting Will sing to him, and even joining in on a duet.
— Immediately after the nice duet ends, I love Will’s sudden delivery of “I’m gonna bathe you now.”
— I found this to be an overall nice way to end the show. This sketch probably wouldn’t have worked outside of the 10-to-1 spot.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, one that I feel is one of the best of this season. Every single sketch worked for me, one of the sketches was an all-time favorite of mine (Loews), and many other sketches were both great and very memorable. Even Mango and Remember The 80s were good, for crying out loud. Also adding to this episode was Garth Brooks, who turned in one of the most surprising hosting performances from a non-actor in SNL history. He did a very good job in every single sketch and came off natural, very fun, and funny. I’m looking forward to seeing him return two seasons later.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Roma Downey)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scott Wolf

Posted on

February 14, 1998 – Roma Downey / Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott (S23 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ABC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) addresses Congress regarding Bill Clinton

— A bit odd how extras are playing Al Gore and Newt Gingrich, both standing behind Molly’s Monica Lewinsky.
— A traditional SNL gag where we get constant cutaways to real footage of certain politicians in the crowd while someone is giving a State of the Union-type address. Some of the cutaways in tonight’s cold opening are particularly funny being shown during Molly-as-Lewinsky’s schoolgirl-type rambling about her romantic and sexual encounters.
— Hmm, Ana playing a real-life law professor named Catherine McKinnon. Is it safe to assume that Catherine McKinnon’s nickname is Kate?
— This feels longer than typical cold openings. The portions with Molly’s Monica Lewinsky are mostly fine, but even the gag with the cutaways to politicians in the crowd during her speech is going on too long (hell, they used the same shot of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan twice). And the portions with Darrell’s Ted Koppel interviewing panelists aren’t providing many laughs and feel unnecessary to this cold opening. Not even Tim’s deadpan “I hate this country” made me laugh as much as it should’ve.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo noticeably sounds a little under the weather tonight. SNL would later fix this in reruns by replacing his announcements with ones where he sounds like his usual self.


MONOLOGUE
backstage, host & Della Reese (TRM) bring salvation to fallen castmembers

— Tracy is hilarious as Della Reese.
— I like Darrell’s silly portrayal of himself as a violent man.
— Molly’s portrayal of herself as a belligerent drunken druggie isn’t too far removed from her Courtney Love impression.
— Good bit with Will portraying himself as a sleazy porno director.
— I got a laugh from Roma Downey’s passing mention of having bitchslapped Chris Kattan earlier in the week.
— Lorne’s convoluted description of the seedy business he deals in is funny, as is him not being changed by Roma and Della’s attempt to make him see the light.
STARS: ***½


CHESS FOR GIRLS
Rerun from 12/6/97


WEDDING VOWS
Marty & Bobbi renew their wedding vows & do a medley about their sex life

— A laugh from Marty’s description of his and Bobbi’s naked bodies when they typically wake up in the morning.
— Tonight’s song medley isn’t amusing me as much as the Culps’ medleys usually do (maybe because I’m not familiar with some of these songs). Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is the only song so far that I got a laugh from.
— A big laugh from Marty and Bobbi’s awkward, nasty-looking, tongue-y kiss during their medley.
STARS: ***


CATHERINE THE GREAT
Catherine the Great’s (host) equine affair denial has Clinton parallels

— A somewhat interesting idea to do a Catherine The Great horse sex scandal parody that parallels the Lewinsky scandal.
— I like the absurdity of Ana doing her contemporary Helen Thomas impression in a sketch set in the year 1766.
— A weak and lazy ending, with us just seeing a newspaper headline with the word “Ponygate”.
— Overall, ehh. Despite the somewhat clever premise, this sketch pretty much just came and went with very few laughs from me.
STARS: **


MARTHA STEWART LIVING VALENTINE SPECIAL
ideas for how to spend Valentine’s Day alone

— Odd how we’re getting a Martha Stewart Living sketch two episodes in a row. I can’t complain, though.
— A huge laugh from the butt-shaped erotic cake, as well as the comment Ana’s Martha Stewart makes after tasting a sample of it: “Now that’s a sweet piece of ass.”
— Another hilarious bit, this time with Martha’s tip on defecating in a box and leaving it on your ex-husband’s front porch, complete with a scene of her doing that to her own ex-husband.
STARS: ****


EYE ON THE OLYMPICS
Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati (JMB) shows signs of Nagano weed use

— A no-brainer to cast Jim in this role of a pot-smoking Olympian. By the way, as this season progresses, it’s becoming more and more of a rarity to see Jim carry a sketch. He’s been invisible this season. I wonder what the reason is behind his reduced airtime lately. He’s basically become to this season what Mark McKinney was to the preceding season.
— Jim’s performance is fairly fun, but the stoner jokes here are standard, cliched, and bland. They did this humor a little better in the Issues sketch from earlier this season.
— Tracy almost saves this sketch with his funny walk-on as the leader of the Jamaican bobsledding team.
STARS: **


RIDING MY DONKEY POLITICAL TALK SHOW
pundits defend media atop asses

— Yes! I’m eager to finally see this. I’ve always been aware of this well-loved sketch, and have seen some clips from it, but this is my first time actually seeing the sketch in its entirety.
— An insanely catchy theme song, and I also love the graphics in the accompanying opening credits.
— A great bizarre concept of a political talk show with the host and panelists being atop donkeys for no good reason. This is like a much-improved version of the Donkey Basketball Camp sketch from Charles Barkley’s season 19 episode.
— Haha, holy hell! Early on in the sketch, things already go off the rails, with Tim nearly falling backwards off his donkey when his donkey begins to wander out of the shot. Tim returns into the shot with his donkey while making a great ad-lib: “I just wanted to get some water.”
— Fun seeing Tim, Will, Ana, and Darrell each trying not to crack up during all of the unscripted messiness throughout this already-inherently-crazy sketch.
— Another unintentional laugh from another gaffe, this time with the very delayed effect of an arrow sticking out of Darrell’s chest.
— Haha, it looked like Tim almost fell backwards off his donkey again at the very end of the sketch.
— Overall, this sketch was a beautiful absurd mess, and absolutely lived up to the hype.
STARS: *****


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine records Bill Clinton’s first call

— An interesting and experimental idea.
— Good detail with a beret being on the table next to Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine.
— An overall pretty straightforward piece, but it worked for what it was.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ uses Cops analogy to explain America’s status as “world’s policeman”
COQ says he’ll marry Madonna, as long as certain ground rules are honored

— God, I love that opening theme music.
— Much like the last Update, tonight’s Update starts with Colin doing another straight-to-camera breakdown of something big in the news. Unfortunately, this particular breakdown isn’t very funny.
— And now, after the aforementioned breakdown has ended with a somewhat quiet audience, Colin VERY awkwardly turns to the other camera to start doing traditional news jokes. Geez, he didn’t even bother to segue into the jokes.
— Boy, quite a lot of Colin’s jokes tonight are getting a fairly tepid audience reaction.
— Ha, I like how after one particular joke got a poor reaction from the audience, Colin ad-libs “I should’ve bought my donkey.”
— Ah, now we get an actual funny straight-to-camera breakdown from Colin, with him setting the ground rules for Madonna in case she and Colin ever get married to each other. I like the randomness of this segment, as well as Colin’s very assertive, straightforward approach.
— Wow, Update is over already? It felt like it was only about 4 minutes long, and there were no guest commentaries.
— Overall, after having a surprisingly strong Update in the last episode, Colin has unfortunately taken a huge step back tonight, despite a few decent moments.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sock It 2 Me” & “Beep Me 911”


COUSIN FRAN
before her cousin’s (host) wedding, bitter Fran (CHO) piles on self-pity

— Cheri attempts a new character, one that we end up never seeing again.
— A minute and a half into this sketch, I finally got my first real laugh, from Cheri’s rude off-camera comment about Ana’s deaf husband.
— Boy, I don’t know about this sketch. I appreciate the realism they’re going for in Cheri’s character, but I’m not caring much for the execution of this sketch.
— What the hell happened at the end? After flicking her cigarette out of the shot, Cheri looks off-camera and briefly drops character with a worried facial expression (screencap below) as if she accidentally hit someone off-camera with her cigarette, then looks straight at the camera, then just embarrassedly walks out of the scene as the sketch fades to black. What in the world?!?

STARS: **


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine captures date-night Bill Clinton call

— Ah, a runner.
— I like the mileage SNL has been getting out of the Lewinsky scandal so far in these last two episodes. It shows how much the Lewinsky scandal consumed America at this time.
— I’m finding the humorous realism of Bill’s phone message a little funnier in this one than I found it in the first Phone Call segment earlier tonight.
STARS: ***½


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon helps callers create Valentine’s Day romance

— I’m not 100% sure, but I think this is the last Ladies’ Man sketch to feature Tracy’s stage manger character Montel. I know this character of Tracy’s is just a very minor role, but I’ve always liked the camaraderie and banter that he and Leon Phelps have with each other.
— The call from Molly felt like it should’ve been longer.
— Leon’s “bumpin’ and squirtin’” poem was very funny.
— An overall okay Ladies’ Man installment, but felt like a step back from the last installment, which finally took this recurring sketch out of the basic “Leon Phelps takes calls for a few minutes by himself” format by adding in a guest.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Ah Lin The Skater Man” by RBS- growth hormone fuels the propaganda tool

— A fairly late spot in an episode for a TV Funhouse to air.
— I’m not very familiar with the type of anime that this cartoon is parodying, so I probably don’t appreciate this cartoon as much as I’m sure others would. I’m still getting a good amount of amusement, though, and I like the animation style, which I can tell is a spot-on imitation of the animation style of real anime.
— Good gag with Ah Lin going through a Popeye-esque transformation when eating steroids in a similar manner to eating from a can of spinach, complete with the Popeye theme music playing in the background.
STARS: ***½


VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE
cousin Tina (host) gives man-getting tips to Lou’s Lovely Daughters

— The return of Ana, Cheri, and Molly’s characters from the Lou’s Lovely Daughters sketch in the season premiere.
— This feels like the only time all night that Roma Downey (oh, that’s right, tonight’s episode has a host!) has gotten really into character.
— I recall once hearing that Roma accidentally flashes a nipple one of the many times she adjusts her low-cut top throughout this sketch, but I have yet to notice any nip slips from her.
— Cheri’s unattractive Maria character is getting some good laughs as usual.
STARS: ***


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine saves the last pre-scandal call

— I like how it’s gotten to the point where Bill is now part of Monica’s answering machine greeting.
— A laugh from Bill worriedly asking at the end “You are erasing these messages, aren’t you?”
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
NOM walks on-stage & kisses host

— Norm Macdonald, who has not been in any sketches these last two episodes and was removed from the opening montage, randomly shows up onstage next to Roma, gives her a kiss on the lips after she’s finished with her goodnights speech, then quickly exits the stage. What the…?!?!? I get that it’s Valentine’s Day, but there are so many unanswered questions about this.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— This episode had a pretty dull, forgettable feel. Two great bits (Riding My Donkey Political Talk Show and Martha Stewart Living) were almost lost in a sea of bits that were either just okay, very unmemorable, or flat-out mediocre. Adding to the forgettable feel of this episode was the host, as Roma Downey didn’t stand out at all and played a lot of bland roles that weren’t too far removed from her “Touched By an Angel” persona, aside from one sketch where she was allowed to get loose in (Valentine’s Day Dance).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Garth Brooks, with special guest Robert Duvall

Posted on

February 7, 1998 – John Goodman / Paula Cole (S23 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MONICA MEETS LINDA
Linda Tripp (host) wears a wire during meeting with Monica Lewinsky (MOS)

— This cold opening oddly begins with the audience already applauding for some reason.
— We have officially entered the Lewinsky scandal era, which SNL will be getting a lot of memorable mileage out of these next two seasons.
— Something odd I’ve always found about Molly’s Monica Lewinsky impression is that SNL never put any padding on her, which made it kinda hard to buy her as overweight.
— What luck for SNL that John Goodman happens to be hosting the week they needed to debut a Linda Tripp impression. This, of course, would lead to John having to cameo in the future every time SNL wants to do a Linda Tripp sketch, which feels like a precursor to SNL’s stunt casting in political sketches nowadays.
— Some good laughs from John’s Tripp trying to get Molly’s Lewinsky to repeat her confession into a hidden wire.
— A funny sudden appearance from Tim as Vernon Jordan from under the restaurant table. I also like him muttering to Molly’s Monica “Ix-nay on the ellatio-fay.”
— A great line with Monica’s “I love BJs” when receiving her Bartles & Jaymes drink.
— Feels kinda odd seeing (tonight’s special guest) Dan Aykroyd reprising his Bob Dole impression, considering Norm is still in the cast, though we won’t be seeing him tonight (more on that in a moment).
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Norm Macdonald has been removed from the opening montage. He will not be making any appearances in tonight’s episode, nor will he be making any appearances in the following episode (minus a random brief walk-on in the latter episode’s goodnights; more on that when I review that episode). I wonder if this made SNL fans at the time incorrectly assume that Norm was officially no longer in the cast.


MONOLOGUE
Mighty Mack & Elwood Blues perform “Lookin’ For A Fox”

— An interesting and fun change of pace for hosts’ typical monologue entrance, with the SNL theme music abruptly stopping and Don Pardo announcing the Blues Brothers and the original Blues Brothers band, which is then followed by blues music playing as John and Dan enter as the Blues Brothers.
— I’m no fan of the post-John Belushi Blues Brothers, but this performance is fun, and I like how SNL is going all out on this compared to the last Blues Brothers monologue from Goodman’s season 20 episode, by having this song being performed on the musical guest stage, having a full blues band, and having the female cast members as sunglasses-wearing backup singers.
STARS: N/A (I don’t usually rate segments like this)


MORNING LATTE
chatter of Tom & Cass eventually causes (host) to snap

— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— Like the first time they did this sketch, there’s a lot of enjoyment from Will and Cheri’s spoof of typical morning show banter, and from the denseness of Cheri’s character.
— Some good milking of the fact that Cheri’s character can’t have children.
— A lot of hilarious harsh, cruel comments Will and Cheri are making about Monica Lewinsky’s weight.
— Was it really necessary to repeat the gag from the first installment of this sketch, with the stage manger yelling “YOU STUPID BITCH!” at Cheri? Besides, you’re never going to top Chris Farley’s delivery of that line. Unfortunately, they would make the “YOU STUPID BITCH!” outburst towards Cheri a regular part of this recurring sketch for a while, though in the one with Alec Baldwin in the upcoming season 24, I think Alec’s outburst has him yelling another obscenity to Cheri besides “stupid bitch” (something that ends with him saying “ass”, I believe, though I can’t remember the whole outburst).
STARS: ****


THE 7TH COMMANDMENT
at Mount Sinai, Bill Clinton (DAH) seeks adultery admonition loophole

— A brilliant and very memorable concept of Darrell’s Bill Clinton being at Moses’ reading-off of the ten commandments. This has always been one of my favorite sketches that Darrell has ever done as Clinton.
— So many priceless lines and questioning from Darrell’s Clinton towards John’s Moses on what defines adultery.
— A particularly funny bit with the “neighbor’s ass” part of the commandments.
STARS: *****


EYE ON THE OLYMPICS
Brian Boitano (WIF) & Rudy Galindo (CHK) camp it up at Nagano Olympics

— Not much to this besides lots of gay stereotype jokes, but I am enjoying the fun chemistry between Will and Chris.
— The wrong assumptions that Will and Chris keep making about the nationality of Molly’s Michelle Kwan is getting some laughs from me.
STARS: **½


TV FUNHOUSE
“X-Presidents” by RBS- X-First Ladies help defeat communist aliens

 

— A hilarious brief cutaway to George and Barbara Bush having sex, which would go on to become a running gag in these X-President cartoons.
— George Bush, to a villain: “Welcome to Operation Desert Whoop-Ass.”
— An interesting unexpected turn with The X-First Ladies, which is providing a nice change.
STARS: ***½


EMERIL LIVE
Monica Lewinsky’s lawyer William Ginsburg (host) begs

— Jim’s Emeril Lagasse impression is way off. Sounds nothing like him. In Jim’s defense, though, maybe people weren’t too familiar with Emeril yet in 1998. Jim isn’t even throwing in any “BAM!”s, which would later go on to be a required part of an Emeril impression.
— A pretty funny out-of-place setting for John’s William Ginsburg to seriously address the Lewinsky scandal.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ explains why he’s not happy about Matt Damon’s success
frat guy Randy Graves (WIF) sides with Bill Clinton & blames women

— Colin’s Weekend Update theme music is really growing on me. It’s damn good. Too bad they change it in, I believe, the upcoming season 24.
— For the first time since taking over as new Update anchorperson, Colin wears a traditional suit-and-tie attire.
— An interesting change of pace with tonight’s Update not beginning with the typical news jokes, instead beginning with Colin doing a straight-to-camera breakdown of the Lewinsky scandal.
— In between the few traditional news jokes, we get Colin doing a lot more straight-to-camera breakdowns on various topics, using his natural stand-up delivery. Colin is really finding his niche with these bits. You can tell he’s much more comfortable in these bits than he is when delivering traditional Update news jokes in a straitlaced delivery. Man, can’t he officially do away with the traditional news jokes and just do these stand-up-style breakdowns? I think he would’ve gone on to be more accepted as an Update anchorperson if he went this route. Sure, it may seem out-of-place and nontraditional for an anchorperson to do Update in this style, but when you think about it, SNL previously took a chance on Dennis Miller, who never attempted to sound like a straitlaced news anchor, instead choosing to do Update in his natural, hip, laid-back stand-up style, which ended up going over very well and people would go on to credit Dennis for re-inventing Update. Even though the style that I’m saying Colin should regularly do Update in would be a more drastic format change for Update than what Dennis did, I think Colin could make it work.
— Wow, Colin continues to be really on in tonight’s Update. He’s having a surprisingly strong night. Hell, even his delivery of the traditional Update news jokes is on-point. If I wasn’t aware of how the remainder of his Update tenure ends up going, tonight’s Update would have me fooled into thinking that he would go on to be a very solid anchorperson.
— The good vibes of tonight’s Update continue, as Will is freakin’ priceless in his commentary as a typical obnoxious fratboy.
— I love Will’s various ridiculous nicknames for Colin.
— So many funny lines from Will during his commentary about the Lewinsky scandal, culminating in him singing “In Your Eyes” for his buddy.
— Will occasionally asking the audience to give Colin a hand seems like a desperate way for SNL to get the audience on Colin’s side. Any other week, I’d understand the need for this, but Colin has been having such a good showing in tonight’s Update that Will practically forcing the audience to give Colin an ovation feels kinda unnecessary.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Want To Wait”


JUDGE JUDY
(ANG) claims that Irwin Mainway’s toys are dangerous

— Irwin Mainway! I love the idea of Dan playing him in a Judge Judy setting.
— Judge Judy: “Don’t give me rabbit poop and tell me that it’s chocolate.”
— A particularly great dangerous Mainway toy, with Irwin trying to pass off an old refrigerator as a time machine and a “problem solver”.
— Like last time, we get some great banter between Cheri’s Judge Judy and Tracy’s bailiff.
— Judge Judy’s “Johnny Nutcracker” bit is really funny.
— Judge Judy, to Ana: “Put the hanger away, Mommie Dearest!”
STARS: ****


MARTHA STEWART LIVING
items to aid exodus from Cuba are presented

— Great concept with Ana’s Martha Stewart giving classy tips on how to escape from Cuba.
— I especially love the tip about filling a latex glove with jewelry, money, or food, and hiding it in your “nether quarters”, which Martha then tells us “I got my lunch hidden in there right now.”
STARS: ****


SABADO CHISTOSO
William Ginsburg (WIF) makes his plea on a Hispanic show

— Nice to see Dan in yet another sketch tonight.
— Much like the La Politica Non Correcto sketch from the preceding season, this sketch is perfectly capturing the essence of typical shows on Spanish networks.
— Dan’s seamless transition from speaking in convincing Spanish to speaking in a normal American accent reminds me of how impressed I always was by his impeccable delivery when I reviewed seasons 1-4.
— I like how it’s become a running gag throughout tonight’s episode with John’s William Ginsburg appearing in random shows to plead towards Kenneth Starr. Rare for an SNL episode after the mid-80s to do this type of running gag throughout the sketches. We soon get another running gag a little later this season in the Julianne Moore episode.
STARS: ***


COBRAS
a cobra terrorizes airline passengers (host), (ANG), (TIM)

— I love Will-as-the-pilot’s very casual and calm announcement of a live cobra being loose on the plane.
— Tim’s over-the-top sweaty trembling when trying to stay still next to the cobra is great.
— A lot more very funny overly calm announcements from Will as the pilot, especially when detailing the horrible effects the cobra bite is having on his mind.
— Very random ending with a talking cobra (voiced by Cheri) delivering a message to us. I want to like this portion of the sketch, but it’s going on WAY too long and feels unnecessary.
STARS: ****


STORYTELLERS
Neil Diamond (WIF) performs songs & reveals his sicko muses

— Oh, this is a legendary Will Ferrell sketch.
— We get the debut of Will’s Neil Diamond impression. And, man, what a sketch for it to debut in.
— Very funny turn with Neil Diamond’s random disclosure of his love for hardcore, barely legal pornography.
— A lot of huge laughs from Diamond’s disturbing backstories to his hit songs, such as how he came up with “Sweet Caroline” after driving drunk and running over a kid.
— John: “Leave me out of this, man.” Neil Diamond: “(angrily) No, I will leave you IN!” That particular line has stuck with me for so many years.
— Neil Diamond: “I’ll smack you in the mouth, I’m Neil Diamond!” Such a perfectly Will Ferrell-esque line.
— Will-as-Neil-Diamond’s singing is providing good amusement.
— Neil Diamond: “This one, I wrote after I killed a drifter to get an erection.”
— Man, this sketch is practically an endless string of amazing one-liners.
— Overall, not only a classic sketch in general, but also one of the best 10-to-1 sketches in SNL history.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, and one of my favorites of this season. There was a good number of very solid sketches tonight, including two all-time favorites of mine (The 7th Commandment and Storytellers). Even Colin Quinn’s Weekend Update was surprisingly great. I also liked the heavy focus on the Lewinsky scandal, showing what a huge story it was when it first broke out around this time, though I can understand why the heavy focus on that might bother some viewers.
— John Goodman was his usual dependable self, and Dan Aykroyd, while not dominating as much as he did when guesting in John’s season 20 episode, was a welcome and adept presence as always.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Roma Downey

Posted on

January 17, 1998 – Sarah Michelle Gellar / Portishead (S23 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SELF DEFENSE TEST
Unabomber’s (WIF) pitch to represent himself in court is unconvincing

— Always good to see Will’s Unabomber.
— Funny reference to a real-life then-recent incident where the Unabomber tried to hang himself with a pair of underwear.
— I love the reveal of the Unabomber’s law degree just being a Denny’s placemat with “I’m a lawyer” written on it.
— Unabomber: “I miss the old days when I had it all: a shack. A bucket. That was pretty much it.”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host tries to improvise reciprocation when castmembers give her gifts

— A big deal right now: Norm makes his first live appearance since the Weekend Update firing fiasco, to thunderous applause from the audience. Very nice to see this.
— After the thunderous applause ends, Norm humorously says to the audience “I gotta do this skit now.” That, combined with the lit cigarette in his hand, show that ever since his Update firing, he’s in FULL-ON don’t-give-a-fuck mode, and I love it.
— Norm, to Sarah: “I’ve watched All My Children, you know, never since you left.”
— I feel sorry for Darrell having to follow Norm’s epic appearance.
— I’m liking the increasingly over-the-top nice gifts Sarah is being presented with by the cast, as well as Sarah’s desperation to find something to give back to them.
— I love Sarah giving Darrell a bag of pot from a purse that she snatched from an audience member (Paula Pell).
STARS: ****


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT SMALLPOX
Spice Girls (MOS), (host), (ANG), (CHO), (CHK) speak out about smallpox

— Oh my god, Chris as Scary Spice? Not that I want to see Tim or Tracy thrown in drag once again, but is throwing Chris in brownface drag any better? Granted, the brown make-up he’s wearing is light (so much so, that I’m not even sure if he’s wearing it), but still…
— I gotta say, as questionable as the decision to cast Chris as Scary Spice is, I’m finding myself laughing at his mannerisms and facial expressions in this. It’s so silly that it’s funny.
— An overall short and fairly thin bit, but pretty funny for what it was.
STARS: ***


THE VIEW
Glenn Close (ANG) visits; Debbie Matenopoulos (host) is chided

— Speaking of Tracy in drag…
— I absolutely love how Cheri’s Barbara Walters is upping the ante on her singing of The View theme song in the last View sketch, by now singing the theme in German.
— A good laugh from Sarah’s Debbie Matenopoulos saying “If I had a clone, I’d make out with myself.”
— Spot-on casting of Ana as Glenn Close, as I can see a pretty strong resemblance. It’s something about the eyes.
— When all of the women are talking over each other while greeting Ana’s Glenn Close, I like Tracy’s Star Jones being heard telling Glenn “You are one of the whitest women I ever seen.”
— As good as Claire Danes was as Debbie Matenopoulos in the first View sketch, I’m liking Sarah’s take on Debbie even more.
— Very funny ending with Barbara Walters forcing Debbie to stand in the corner after one particularly idiotic statement she made.
STARS: ****


MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS
counselor Dr. John Gray (NOM) doesn’t fit his own gender stereotypes

— I have no familiarity with what John Gray acts or sounds like, but I’m loving Norm’s performance as him. He is giving this his all and is consistently cracking me up. And knowing his knack for good impressions, I’m sure his take on John Gray is spot-on.
— A big laugh from Norm’s Gray unconvincingly talking about how men love women’s “big wonderful fannies”.
— I like Will’s constant confusion during his and Sarah’s various testimonials.
STARS: ***½


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Spice Girls (MOS), (host), (ANG), (CHO), (CHK) nix rheumatoid arthritis

— Ah, this is a runner.
— A technical glitch, in which the ending voice-over says “To learn more about smallpox, visit…. etc.”, despite the fact that the topic the Spice Girls covered in this particular sketch was rheumatoid arthritis, not smallpox. They must’ve mistakenly played the ending voice-over from the first Spice Girls sketch by mistake, which I can’t understand, considering both Spice Girls sketches are pre-taped.
— Overall, it wasn’t necessary to make this a runner, but I still got some amusement from this. There better not be a third edition of this tonight, though. (I am aware, however, that they later do another one of these in the Cameron Diaz episode from the following season.)
STARS: **½


DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY DINNER
irritable patriarch (WIF) fumes during a hypersensitive family dinner

— Oh, I had completely forgotten about this sketch until now. This is a well-liked sketch among SNL fans, and has been a favorite of mine.
— I love the portions of the sketch with the long, tense stretches of non-dialogue among the family while we hear their utensils loudly clanking on the dinner plates.
— Great delivery from Will with his stern “Can I finish the story?” when Ana asks an innocent question in the middle of his story.
— Some really funny vicious lines that Sarah delivers to her parents throughout this sketch, especially “Shut up, you drunken witch!”
— Funny how this is the second sketch tonight to have a running gag where various people talk in unison, and then, as their simultaneous talking dies down, one of them is heard saying an absurd statement. (The other sketch that happened in tonight is The View.) During one of the times in this sketch that the family’s yelling in unison dies down, Will delivers the classic line “I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!”
STARS: *****


ROAD TO NAGANO
at a pre-Olympics competition, bad girl Tara Lipinski (host) skates angry

— Haha, Chris as Kerri Strug, basically just doing his Kippi Strug bit from an earlier Weekend Update commentary (which has grown on me since I originally reviewed it about a month ago).
— Good brash portrayal of Tara Lipinski from Sarah.
— Some funny rude actions from Sarah’s Lipinski while skating, such as drinking beer and giving someone the finger.
STARS: ***½


THE GOLORDS
Golords save Super Bowl XXXII from anthrax-wielding Saddam Hussein

— Surprisingly, this is the first Golord short to air since the third episode of this season. I had forgotten about these until now.
— Saddam Hussein’s horniness from seeing an Arabic porn magazine is very funny.
— Some of the dolls seated behind the Golords are noticeably celebrity dolls that appeared in earlier Golord shorts, such as Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. There’s also a Jay Leno-looking doll sitting in the row in front of the Golords, even though we never got a Jay Leno appearance in a Golords short before this (nor am I sure we ever get one after this).
— I love Saddam saying, in reaction to seeing the female Golord naked, “I’d like to launch a scud into her airspace!” It’s also hilarious when that line immediately gets followed by a screen saying “Script repair underway”, which then gets followed by a shot of Saddam saying a much tamer sleazy line about the naked female Golord: “I’d like to spend midnight at the oasis with her!”
— Very funny visual effect of Saddam’s face melting off.
STARS: ****


GOTH TALK
Circe embarrasses her Orlando rival, Countess Cobwella (host)

— Good subplot with Jim’s character being drunk behind the couch. A change of pace from the usual bits with him in these Goth Talk sketches.
— The “lost retainer” bit is funny on paper, but is coming off kinda awkward in the execution.
— I’m liking the negative tension between Molly and Sarah’s characters.
— After it being established right from the very first Goth Talk sketch that the real first name of Chris’ Azrael Abyss character is Todd, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to find out the real first name of Molly’s Circe Nightshade character: Stephanie.
— Funny video of Sarah cheesily dancing and lip-syncing to Ace of Base. I also like the detail of the 80s vest jacket she’s wearing.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
to O.J. Simpson (TIM), all mass killings are crimes of passion

— The title sequence has been slightly modified, as it now ends with a title plate with the words “Weekend Update with Colin Quinn”.

— Colin came off kinda awkward during his sign-on, which was drowned out by the audience’s opening applause.
— Yeah, much like in his Update debut last week, Colin’s attempt at a straitlaced news anchor delivery during his jokes is not working for me.
— I’m noticing that Colin keeps making unnatural pauses in his sentences.
— I love Colin’s “huge balls” joke about two World Trade Center robbers who showed their faces on security cameras.
— Ah, Colin is now using his natural stand-up delivery when doing an addendum to the aforementioned World Trade Center robbers story. Clearly, this is where his niche as an anchorperson is: doing stand-up-style breakdowns of news stories.
— Good rant from Colin about a 13-year-old girl touring with the Allman Brothers, though it had an empty ending, which is a problem with some of the stand-up-style breakdowns and rants he’s been doing tonight.
— I like Tim-as-O.J.’s line about trying to solve the mystery of who bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
— A few other funny comments from Tim’s O.J.., most of which allude to him being a murderer, which proves even further that Norm was, in fact, not fired from Update for doing too many harsh O.J. jokes.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Only You”


THE ROBIN BYRD SHOW
anti-porn crusader (ANG) infiltrates panel

 

— I love Tim’s goofy dancing to “I Like to Move It”.
— Cheri’s overdoing it with the temporary blacking-out moments while she’s in the middle of dialogue.
— Funny reveal that Sarah’s stripper-esque dance was a tribute to Princess Diana.
— Good turn with Ana’s porn protester.
— Overall, this was an improvement over the first Robin Byrd Show sketch.
STARS: ***


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
plot shift will fill the Seinfeld void

— I’m enjoying this concept, doing a hybrid of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the about-to-end Seinfeld.
— Will’s Jerry impression is good (though feels a little weird in retrospect, knowing that Jimmy Fallon is only half a year away from joining the show), but Darrell’s George is iffy.
— Very funny Kramer impression from Jim, though he’s nailing the mannerisms better than the voice.
— Much like Ana playing Glenn Close earlier tonight, Sarah playing Elaine is good casting, as she’s a dead-ringer for her in that wig. Come to think of it, even without the wig, there are already some facial similarities between Sarah and Julia Louis Dreyfus.
— In addition to the facial resemblance, Sarah’s Elaine is also a solid impression.
STARS: ***


TIGER BEAT’S ULTRA SUPER DUPER DREAMY LOVE SHOW
teens (host) (MOS), (CHO), (ANG) gab with Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ director (NOM)

— A funny and very accurate parody of teen girl culture from this era.
— A big laugh from Ana’s disturbing comment about Christina Ricci, and how it contrasted against what the other girls were saying in that conversation.
— I particularly like the “future star” segment about a baby actor.
— Good turn with Norm’s out-of-place old man character in such a setting like this.
— An epic Norm blooper now happens, with Norm removing his fake mustache, which had begun slowly peeling off, and telling the girls in a great ad-libbed bit “This is not a real mustache”, proceeding to go on about a guy he bought the mustache from, culminating in Norm saying “I asked ‘Will it fall off?’, he said ‘NO!’”
STARS: ****


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

— This is the first Lost Deep Thought all season that I feel could roll with the original Deep Thoughts of the early 90s.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. The quality was consistently good, I liked just about every sketch, and the show contained a personal favorite of mine (Dysfunctional Family Dinner). Sarah Michelle Gellar stood out tonight among other young hosts from this era. She did well in every sketch, was likable, and had a few strong moments, proving herself worthy of soon becoming a recurring host.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Samuel L. Jackson)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Our annual John Goodman episode, this time with him again being joined by special guest Dan Aykroyd

Posted on

January 10, 1998 – Samuel L. Jackson / Ben Folds Five (S23 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BUDGET SURPLUS
Bill Clinton (DAH) plans to make a kick-ass movie with budget surplus

— Funny idea Darrell’s Bill Clinton had for a naked Super Bowl, and how he got discouraged from that idea after seeing naked photos of Jerome Bettis.
— Some pretty good laughs from Clinton going on about the details for his idea of a big, expensive blockbuster movie.
— Overall, this was fine, but not quite as memorable as I had remembered.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host shares his blaxploitation-themed New Year’s resolutions

— I like the opening line with Samuel clarifying that he’s not Laurence Fishburne or Morgan Freeman.
— Pretty fun premise of Samuel sharing his New Years resolutions, complete with cool background music.
— The resolutions aren’t all that hilarious, aside from “Build a shrine to my own bad ass”. However, they’re coming off charming and enjoyable, in the way that only Samuel L. Jackson can make it.
STARS: ***


LEMON GLOW
Rerun from 10/18/97


PUBLISHERS CLEARING HOUSE GIVEAWAY
Publishers Clearing House visits the ghetto to award prize to (host)

— Funny premise of Publishers Clearing House presenting a prize to a family in the ghetto.
— I love Samuel’s line to Ana, warning her to get away from the door before he “stomps a prize-winning mudhole in your ass!”
— Feels like the first time in ages we’ve seen Tracy with a speaking role. He was completely absent in the last episode, and in the episode before that, his only appearance was reused footage from a season 22 Quiet Storm sketch in which he just played a silent role. Was he out sick for the entire month of December?
— The portrayal of the black family is stereotypical as hell, but is making me laugh, and the performances are adding good realism to this scene, especially Samuel’s performance. Even Tim, as unconvincing as he tends to be when playing tough homeboys, is cracking me up in this and is coming off as his usual likable self.
— Samuel, regarding the prize: “That look like a big-ass food stamp.” I also love Will responding, in his whitebred voice, “I assure you, that is not a big-ass food stamp.”
— Hilarious acting from Will during the dog attack at the end of the sketch.
STARS: ***½


QUENTIN TARANTINO: A PROFILE
Quentin Tarantino (NOM) presents unsuccessful Pulp Fiction screen tests

— The recently-fired-from-Weekend-Update Norm Macdonald makes his only appearance of the night in this pre-taped piece. I’ve always wondered if the reason for him not making any live appearances tonight is because the show let him have some time off as some kind of compensation for losing Update. Does anyone know?
— Man, Norm’s Quentin Tarantino is freakin’ spot-on. One of my favorite impressions of Norm’s, which is saying something, as he’s done a lot of solid impressions over the years on SNL. His Tarantino is slaying me, especially after I’ve recently reviewed the real Tarantino in the SNL episode he hosted in season 21.
— Interestingly, this is the second consecutive instance of the first SNL episode of a calendar year doing a screen tests sketch for a famous movie. The first episode of 1997 had the Star Wars screen tests, and now we have this in the first 1998 episode. It would’ve been fun if this had become an annual tradition for this era.
— Yes! Norm’s Burt Reynolds!
— Hilarious concept of Darrell’s Walter Cronkite auditioning as the gimp.
— I love Ana-as-Ann-B.-Davis’ bleep-filled audition.
— Good ending scene with Ann B. Davis and Samuel doing the famous Pulp Fiction dance.
— Overall, not as epic as the Star Wars Screen Tests, but still a very strong and fun piece.
STARS: ****½


JAZZTERPIECES
Jazzterpieces documents the rocky career of musical couple (host) & (ANG)

— Ana’s crazy, mumbly, high-pitched singing voice is cracking me up.
— Very funny line from the narrator about ending discrimination against blind interracial junkies.
— At first, before the aforementioned interracial line, I thought there’d be a twist in this sketch that Samuel’s blind character never realized all these years that Ana’s character is white, since Ana’s doing a convincing black voice here.
— The interview portions with Samuel and Ana are pretty funny and have good chemistry between them.
STARS: ***½


JUDGE JUDY
personal trainer (host) sues former customer (ANG)

— The first of several Judge Judy parodies in this era.
— Good casting of Cheri as the no-nonsense Judge Judy.
— Interesting having Samuel play his character from Jackie Brown.
— I liked Ana’s line about Samuel burning her teaspoons.
— Another good line from Ana, about how the cardio workout that Samuel had her do involved her running bags of money through airport security.
— I love the bits with Tracy throughout this.
— I don’t know if it’s part of the script or not, but all of a sudden, Cheri has gotten sloppy with her delivery towards the end of this sketch.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“George Clooney” by RBS- Speed Racer George Clooney dodges press

— I love this very random premise of George Clooney starring in a Speed Racer cartoon. I also love how this is bringing back nice memories of watching Speed Racer when I was a kid.
— Haha, what the hell is with Fran Drescher’s manly voice? It’s making me laugh out loud anyway, even though I don’t understand it.
— I like the sudden inclusion of Barbara Walters, voiced by Cheri.
— Hilarious gag with Eddie Murphy fighting with Marv Albert over a transvestite.
— Overall, I could not stop laughing at all the fast-paced randomness throughout this cartoon, even when some of the randomness flew right past me.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Harry Caray (WIF) explores the implications of cloning hot dogs

— A new era of Weekend Update begins.
— With a new anchor, we also get a new Update set tonight.
— I remember an SNL review once pointing out that during the opening applause in this Update, you can hear the voice of a Norm Macdonald-sounding guy yelling “Hey, you!” towards new anchor Colin Quinn. The mysterious voice is actually yelling “Daddio!”, not “Hey, you!”, but yeah, the voice does sound similar to Norm’s. It’s obviously just an audience member, but it’s hilarious to imagine Norm sneaking into the studio audience to heckle his Update replacement by yelling “Hey, you!”
— Odd how Colin’s not wearing the traditional type of suit-and-tie attire that Update anchors typically wear.
— Excellent opening spiel from Colin about a new bartender, and how it turns out to be an analogy for Colin replacing Norm. This is a solid and wise way to alleviate the awkwardness of the circumstances behind Colin getting the anchorperson spot.
— Hoo, boy, only two jokes into this Update, and you can already see that Colin’s delivery seems VERY wrong for Update.
— Okay, Colin’s Bob Dylan joke just now was good, because the punchline of it allowed Colin to use his natural laid-back stand-up delivery instead of a straitlaced professional delivery that doesn’t fit him.
— Right in his very first Update, Colin does an “O.J. is a murderer” joke, proving that some people need to rethink the long-standing rumor that Norm got fired from Update for doing too many jokes about Don Ohlmeyer’s golfing buddy, O.J. Simpson.
— The punchlines to Colin’s jokes seem to be alternating between ones that have him using a professional delivery and ones that have him using a laid-back stand-up delivery.
— Even the graphics on the Update screen look different from how they typically looked in the Norm era of Update.
— Will’s Harry Caray!
— Just now, Will’s Caray tells Colin “Think of all the possibilities, Norm.” The slowly uproarious audience reaction to this is very funny. Will’s Caray then looks at the audience and asks “Hey, what’s going on over there?!?”
— Another Norm mix-up from Caray, by asking Colin “Hey, Norm, did you gain weight?”
— A memorable question from Caray right now, asking Colin “If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?”
— Colin’s interaction with Update correspondents is definitely going to need some work, as he’s stiff during this interaction with Will’s Harry Caray.
— Wow, Update’s ending already? I’m surprised by how short this Update was, though maybe that was intentional, considering Colin might not have had a lot of time this week to prepare as a new Update anchor.
— Overall, not a great debut for Colin as an anchorperson, but I see some promise there. They need to let him do more of the type of jokes where he can use his natural stand-up delivery, and let him develop better interaction skills with the correspondents.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Brick”


TITANIC
fifth-class passengers (host) & (TRM) wait to be evacuated from Titanic

— I got an unintentional laugh from Will stumbling badly through his yell of “Last call for all third class passengers!” Afterwards, he deliberately delivers his next yell in a slow, almost staccato manner, so he won’t stumble through it.
— Some good laughs from all of the things being put onto lifeboats before the two black passengers, even stowaways and pieces of both the ship and iceberg.
— Very funny ending with Tracy and Samuel telling Tim about how they survived the sinking of the Titanic by making a dead white folks boat.
STARS: ***½


MANGO
Mango enthralls an otherwise-heterosexual hard-core criminal (host)

— A big night for Tracy, who’s receiving much more airtime than he usually gets in these early seasons of his, obviously because we have a black host tonight (Tracy would receive this same amount of airtime two years later in the Jamie Foxx-hosted episode from season 25). A nice contrast to how non-existent he was in the last two episodes.
— Mango officially becomes recurring.
— So far, this Mango installment is starting out the exact same way the first installment started.
— Yeah, this whole sketch is basically just a rewrite of the first Mango installment, only replacing the businessman character played by Brendan Fraser with a gangster played by Samuel L. Jackson.
— I admit to getting a laugh from Chris’ delivery of “No, get out, I hate’choo!”
STARS: **


THE LEARNING ANNEX
The Learning Annex can help you become a joyful, germ-free fake preacher

— I like the germophobe character that Ana’s playing.
— Molly’s joyologist character, Helen Madden, becomes recurring, after debuting in an ensemble sketch from the preceding season’s Lisa Kudrow episode. Unlike that sketch, Molly’s character has the last name Madden here.
— Jim has been practically invisible tonight. Like I said about Colin a few episodes ago, I sometimes forget that Jim is even still a cast member this season, due to how little he’s been used lately.
— I do like the doctored photos of Jim with Kevin Bacon.
— Wow, there’s yet ANOTHER appearance from Tracy tonight. His big night continues.
— Molly’s going heavy on the number of “I love it!”s in this sketch, but her delivery of it is still somewhat low-key compared to how over-the-top we would later get used to hearing her deliver it. She’s also thankfully not doing the exaggerated physical gyrations that she would go REALLY overboard with in later Helen Madden appearances.
— I like Will worriedly telling Samuel “I think your class is illegal” before quickly saying to the camera with a smile “…and we’re out of time.”
— Overall, some laughs here and there, but a forgettable sketch.
STARS: **


POOLSIDE LOVIN’
dad’s death leaves (CHK) not in the mood to “get it on”

— I’m not seeing much potential in this sketch so far.
— Yeah, a few minutes into this sketch, and I have not been enjoying this, though Samuel’s performance is cracking me up.
STARS: *½


THE WESTON COLLECTION
Another rerun tonight, this time from 11/15/97


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode with a good first half, but the second half felt off, aside from the Titanic sketch. I didn’t care for ANY of the last three sketches. Despite that, and despite there not being much in this overall episode that I felt stood out as particularly great, there were enough good things to make this an overall okay episode. And I did like the energy and fun performance style that Samuel L. Jackson brought throughout the whole show.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Helen Hunt)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sarah Michelle Gellar makes her hosting debut

Posted on

December 13, 1997 – Helen Hunt / Hanson (S23 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CAROLING
carollers Marty & Bobbi work pop songs into their Christmas medley

— An interestingly out-of-the-ordinary use of The Culps. Not only are they out of their usual setting, but they’re being shown from a first-person perspective.
— I like Ana’s quiet laugh.
— And now, to make this Culps installment even more out-of-the-ordinary, we get the Culps being joined by two additional singers, played by Helen Hunt and Tim. This is the debut of Tim’s recurring Spanish teacher character from these sketches.
— Lots of funny lines among the pre-song pleasantries the Culps are trying to have with the off-camera person who’s perspective we’re seeing.
— I absolutely love how the Culps transitioned from the “two turtle doves” part of the “12 Days of Christmas” song into Prince’s “When Doves Cry”.
— Another great song transition, with Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” turning into “99 Luftballoons”.
— Overall, I feel this is the best Culps sketch I’ve reviewed up to this point.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
Jack Nicholson [real] responds to castmembers’ impressions of him

— Pretty funny bit spoofing Helen’s hairstyle similarities with Hanson, by having her claim she’s the oldest member of Hanson, complete with a doctored photo being shown of her singing with them.
— Very funny Jack Nicholson impression from Jim, especially the facial expressions he’s making.
— Ha, Colin’s about to try a Jack Nicholson? Well, this sure is going to be a case of “so bad, it’s funny”.
— Hmm, Colin’s impression actually wasn’t all that terrible, showing that anyone can do a Nicholson (except Cheri Oteri, apparently, though her impression was still pretty funny).
— Surprisingly, this is the first time Jack Nicholson has ever appeared on SNL.
— Another good facial expression from Jim, this time when silently reacting to Jack confronting him with the obligatory quote from “A Few Good Men”.
STARS: ***


COOKIE DOUGH SPORT
Rerun from 10/4/97


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry drink eggnog & welcome rock & roll pastry chef (host)

— Ha, judging from the unusual demeanor of Molly’s character at the beginning of this, is she tipsy on eggnog?
— Yep, she is. This is going to be an interesting change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— A pretty good laugh from when, after Molly timidly says “I’m a little tipsy”, Ana bluntly says “I’m totally wasted.”
— Funny part with a tipsy Molly getting called out on saying something “mean” and “out of line” by her tame standards.
— Great twist with Ana and Molly finding out that the eggnog they’re drinking is actually non-alcoholic, meaning they’re not drunk like they had thought.
— Funny opening line from Helen in regards to her name Trudy.
— Some amusing features of Helen’s Graceland gingerbread house.
— I got a good laugh from Ana and Molly’s story about how their failed attempt at building a gingerbread house “got really ugly… we almost killed ourselves”, which is followed by an uncomfortably long silence between all three ladies.
— Overall, one of my favorite Delicious Dish installments.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Jesus searches for holiday spirit

— Here’s what would go on to be known as a classic TV Funhouse.
— I love Jesus making warning gestures behind various televangelists, and the televangelists attempting to get rid of him.
— A huge laugh from how one televangelist scene just has Jesus coming in, immediately kicking a televangelist who’s trying to “heal” a man in a wheelchair, and immediately leaving.
— Hilarious bit with a black choir breaking out into an energetic rendition of “Hallelujah” as soon as Jesus makes Kathie Lee Gifford disappear.
— Excellent twist with Linus’ Jesus speech from a Peanuts Christmas special being the only thing that Jesus agrees with, moving him to tears.
— A legendary ending visual of Jesus doing the Peanuts dance down the street.
STARS: *****


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon & skank (host) field callers’ lovelife questions

— Yet another change of pace for a recurring sketch tonight, with this being the very first Ladies’ Man sketch to have a guest.
— A big laugh from Leon Phelps asking a caller “Medically speaking, just how dinky is your wang?” I also like how right afterwards, the caller is heard muttering “Not very medical…” under his breath.
— I’m surprised this sketch is already wrapping up. It felt like it was only about two-and-a-half minutes long.
— Good ending reveal from Leon that his definition of “dinner and a movie” is having sex and videotaping it.
STARS: ***½


BASEBALL DREAMS
major leaguers sour youngster’s (CHK) dream of becoming a baseball player

— Here comes another classic piece tonight.
— Chris always makes a convincing child.
— I love how comically out-of-hand the number of entering athletes is getting.
— Chris’ increasingly disillusioned attitude towards the athletes is great.
— Very funny line about how Ken Griffey Jr. stopped at a strip joint down the street.
— A particularly strong part with Will entering as a random guy, Ted Brogan, who played a little minor league in the 80s.
— Ted Brogan, to Chris’ mom: “I got rolling papers if you got weed!”
— When police sirens are heard, I love Brogan handing his gun to Chris and asking him to hide it.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “MMMBop”


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ’s inebriation derails his International Monetary Fund commentary

— (*sigh*) Well, this is it. The final Norm Macdonald Weekend Update, which Norm himself was not aware of at the time.
— For obvious reasons, it’s very interesting in retrospect that Colin does a commentary as himself in Norm’s last Update. The even more interesting thing about this is that Norm himself did a commentary in the final Update anchored by the man who he would succeed as an Update anchor: Kevin Nealon. Two unintentional passings of the torch.

— Colin does a variation of the drunk commentary he did in the preceding season.
— I like Colin’s line about not getting his own movie deal “like The Roxbury Twins or whatever”.
— Funny ending visual of Colin’s commentary, with him standing up with half of his face covered in eggnog, after having his face shoved against the eggnog-covered Update desk a little earlier.
— An all-time classic Norm Update joke right now, about the percentage of two pie charts not adding up to 100% because the math was done by a woman. The audience’s reaction is priceless, which Norm follows up by telling them “For those of you hissing at that joke, it should be noted that that joke was written by a woman…. Now you don’t know what the hell to do, do ya?”, and then, after letting the audience react to that, casually adds in “Nah, I’m just kidding, we don’t hire women” before immediately attempting to move on with the next joke.
— A strong final joke from Norm, regarding Don Johnson dating a 71-year-old.
— Sad seeing Norm sign off at the end of this Update when you know that he’s unaware this is his last sign-off.
— And thus ends Norm’s last-ever Weekend Update. Before SNL comes back from Christmas break, Norm, along with Update producer Jim Downey, would infamously be abruptly fired from Update by NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer. Everything that can be said about that notorious situation has already been said many times over the years, and will probably continue to be said in the comments section of this review. I have nothing new to add; I just want to question why, if Ohlmeyer was going to fire Norm from Update underservedly, couldn’t Ohlmeyer have at least had the decency to wait until after the season ended? Did he really feel that ratings for Update were so dire that Norm needed to be yanked from Update pronto right in the middle of the season, right after the holidays to boot, and not even letting him know in advance before he went on the air for what ended up being his final Update?
— Seeing Norm go is particularly difficult for me, as he’s tied with Dennis Miller as my personal favorite Weekend Update anchor of all time. It’s been a joy to cover his three-and-a-half-year stint as an Update anchor. Although the quality of his Updates slowed down a bit during this final season of his, they were still enjoyable and he got to go out with a solid final Update, which contained an all-time classic joke (pie chart percentage).
STARS: ****


THE ROXBURY GUYS
therapist (host) counsels Roxbury Guys about how to interact with others

— Meh, these guys again.
— Interesting turn with the club music stopping as Cheri goes on an angry rant at the Roxbury Guys and calls them out on needing professional help.
— Now we get an actual scene of the Roxbury Guys in therapy. Another good shake-up to the format of this recurring sketch.
— A rare occurrence of the Roxbury Guys actually speaking full dialogue, which only happened in one earlier sketch they were in.
— My god, Jack Nicholson’s attempt at doing the Roxbury Guys head bop is LAUGHABLY bad. Epic. Clearly, Will and Chris agree on how laughably bad it is, as after Jack exits, they nod to each other in character before sharing an uncontrollable chuckle.
— The ending was too predictable.
STARS: ***


JOAN RIVERS’ 1997 FASHION WRAP-UP
skeletal Joan Rivers’ fashion critiques dismay Jodie Foster (host)

— A huge laugh right from the start, with the opening visual of Joan Rivers being portrayed by a talking skeleton. Great concept.
— Solid Joan Rivers vocal impression from an off-screen Ana.
— Spot-on casting of Helen as Jodie Foster.
— Due to her SNL ties (as bitter as they are), it feels odd seeing Janeane Garofalo as one of the celebrities in this sketch who’s photo is being harshly critiqued (last screencap above).
— Pretty funny ending gag with the Joan Rivers skeleton head popping off her body.
— Despite some laughs, something felt kinda underwhelming about this overall sketch.
STARS: **½


A BURT REYNOLDS CHRISTMAS
dirty jokes & pranks preclude festivity

— I actually thought this was a real NBC commercial at first, until Norm showed up as Burt Reynolds.
— Norm’s Burt Reynolds is slaying me as always.
— I like Will-as-Jerry-Reed’s disgust at one dirty joke that Burt wants him to read off of a card.
STARS: ***½


CHRISTMASOFT
Bill Gates (CHK) announces that Microsoft has merged with Christmas

— The return of Chris’ childlike, mildly-effeminate take on Bill Gates.
— Amusing concept of Gates merging Microsoft with Christmas.
— Wow, this sketch is ending ALREADY, after only 30 seconds?
— Never mind, I was mistaken.  This sketch isn’t over yet.
— The creepy mechanical message from a computerized Santa cracked me up.
— I love the security camera footage of Jim’s Fidel Castro and his men partying to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping”. Just hearing that song in this sketch makes this feel like such a time capsule for 1997.
— Hmm, maybe this sketch should’ve ended early after all, like I mistakenly thought it would 30 seconds into this. After about two minutes, this sketch is now starting to feel oddly stretched out and is going on too long. Feels like Chris is just vamping for time by this point, which he is not doing well. This sketch is slowly dying.
— Weak ending.
STARS: **


TORTURING HANSON
vengeful (WIF) & (host) repeatedly subject musical guest to “MMMBop”

— Our obligatory Hanson sketch appearance of the night.
— I love Helen sternly pointing out to Hanson how overplayed “MMMBop” was during the spring and summer of 1997. Brings back memories of how much 13-year-old me hated that song with a fiery passion back in ’97. Both that AND the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” song were the musical bane of 13-year-old me’s existence.
— Great concept of Helen and Will brutally torturing Hanson by forcing them to listen to an endless loop of “MMMBop”.
— I’ll give credit to Hanson for being good sports to participate in this.
— I can excuse the overacting from the two Hanson brothers who are acting out a mental breakdown.
— I love the dark ending with Will being shot off-camera, complete with blood being seen on the wall behind him when the elevator doors open back up.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Merry Christmas Baby”


GOODNIGHTS
host & castmembers end the show from Rockefeller Center skating rink

— Skating rink goodnights! Always a treat to see.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly solid Christmas episode; better than I had remembered, in fact. The first half was very impressive, with two five-star classics (TV Funhouse and Baseball Dreams) and a few other strong sketches. Things slowed down in the second half, but there were still some good things there, especially the Torturing Hanson sketch. I also like how tonight’s episode shook things up with the recurring characters, by refreshingly having them do something different for a change.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Nathan Lane)
a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 1998, with host Samuel L. Jackson, and the beginning of a new era of Weekend Update

Posted on

December 6, 1997 – Nathan Lane / Metallica (S23 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WELL BABIES TRAGEDY
the McCaughey septuplets have fallen into a well & the media loves it

— This season, SNL seems to like doing cold openings that start with actual footage of then-current NBC sitcoms, before they get interrupted by a “special report”. In a cold opening earlier this season, the interrupted sitcom was “Men Behaving Badly”, and now it’s what appears to be a Jenny McCarthy sitcom that I have no memory of.
— A hilarious random premise of famous septuplets from this time period becoming trapped in a well.
— I love the “Well Babies Tragedy” graphic, made even funnier by the sound effects played during it.
— I have no idea what the real McCaugheys look like, but Molly’s look as Mrs. McCaughey is very funny.
— Great bit with Jim’s Mr. McCaughey talking about how he heard seven splashes and responded “Nooooo….” seven times. Solid delivery from Jim there.
— This sketch is so fleshed-out that we even get a cutaway to a press conference held by Darrell’s Bill Clinton addressing the tragedy. His message is hilariously brief and generic.
— Funny interview with a Cheri as a now-pre-teen, cigarette-smoking Baby Jessica.
— I love Will-as-Brian-Williams’ increasing greediness and pride towards getting the honor of covering this story.
— A big laugh from Ana’s way of getting rid of Chris’ Geraldo Rivera.
— Will’s Brian Williams, regarding the “Well Babies Tragedy” graphic: “Damn, that’s a kick-ass graphic!”
— A particularly funny part where, when telling us he’s not going anywhere during this breaking news coverage, Will’s Brian Williams says “I got a bag of Snickers and a piss jar under this desk”, which he shows to us. That’s always been my favorite part of this cold opening.
— For some reason, I enjoyed the freaky way the fake gummy teeth that Molly’s wearing made her look when she shouted “Live from New York…” at the end.
STARS: ****½


OPENING MONTAGE
— “A Cartoon by Robert Smigel” is credited, but the cartoon itself never ends up airing tonight. I guess the show ran long and they had to cut the cartoon for time at the last minute.


MONOLOGUE
host, Ernie Sabella [real], cast go worry-free & sing “Hakuna Matata”

— I’m really looking forward to seeing this. As I mentioned in the preceding season in my review of Mike Myers’ monologue, which I absolutely loved, tonight’s Nathan Lane monologue is in a similar style to the Myers monologue, and I haven’t seen this one in ages.
— I like Nathan casually reading a newspaper during his monologue.
— A laugh from Ana and Nathan’s comical put-downs of the song Hakuna Matata, such as Nathan calling it, with a smile, “One of the most irritating songs ever written.”
— A cameo from the voice of Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella)! Just hearing him doing the Pumbaa voice in this monologue is bringing back childhood memories.
— And now we begin the around-the-studio Hakuna Matata musical number that I was looking forward to. This reminds me that Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version of this episode would cut out the entire musical portion of this monologue, abruptly fading to black immediately after Nathan says “Who the hell cares?” and throws his newspaper in the air. I’m assuming the reason for the edit is due to music licensing issues regarding Hakuna Matata. Makes you wonder why they didn’t edit out the entire monologue instead of only leaving in the least interesting part. The Comedy Central edits of episodes from 1994-1999 in general had a lot of baffling and sloppy edits, especially the upcoming season 24.
— I like the make-up bit with Darrell’s Ted Koppel.
— This is the second time this season where a host makes a dig at Chris Kattan for typically playing characters that don’t speak. Thankfully, unlike Matthew Perry earlier this season, Nathan Lane doesn’t fuck up the joke.
— Good bit with an injured, half-conscious Will laying on a stretcher due to a mishap from rehearsals.
— When expressing doubts towards the Hakuna Matata philosophy, Tim says “I used that attitude around here, and then I was in 3 sketches in, like, 5 years.” A good self-deprecating dig at how underused Tim was in his early seasons.
— An epic visual of Lorne doing an electric guitar solo.
— Much like earlier in the monologue, we get another comical put-down of the Hakuna Matata song, with Nathan proudly making sure to let us know “This is the last time you’ll hear me sing this stupid song!”
— A dazed, head-bandaged Will awkwardly trying to join in on the group’s singing at the end is funny, and reminds me of the monologue he would later do when hosting SNL in 2018, in which he comes out onstage with a bleeding head scar and proceeds to act very out-of-it while singing a song with nonsense lyrics.
— Overall, while this didn’t measure up to the Mike Myers monologue, I still found this a lot of fun.
STARS: ****½


CHESS FOR GIRLS
changing the game’s rules & goals broadens the appeal

— Kind of a stretch of a premise, as chess isn’t really considered a boy-dominated game, last time I checked.
— Some laughs from the over-the-top girly, un-chess-like uses of the chess pieces.
STARS: ***


SPARTANS DREAM
Craig & Arianna dream they’re popular; Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders cameo

— An interesting change of pace seeing Craig and Arianna at home, speaking to each other over the phone.
— The dream sequence is adding a bit of a different feel to Craig and Arianna’s cheers.
— I like Craig’s “I’d like to find… my real birth mother” lyric during one particular cheer.
— Some fun, out-of-the-ordinary things happening to Craig and Arianna throughout this dream sequence.
— Funny line from Nathan’s coach character about Craig and Arianna getting their passports stamped to Dryhumpville.
— Now we get an appearance from the real Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.
STARS: ***


THE QUIET STORM
Chris Garnett & easy-listening deejay (host) have a playlist duel

— It feels like whenever they do this sketch, Tracy’s minor recurring role as a guy silently slow-dancing with his woman ends up being Tracy’s ONLY appearance of the entire night. In fact, judging from Tracy’s look in tonight’s sketch, I’m pretty sure the cutaways to him slow-dancing are actually reused footage from the last installment of this sketch, which means Tracy doesn’t even make any live appearances in tonight’s episode. The fact that SNL had to resort to reused footage of him makes me wonder if he was out sick this week.
— I absolutely love Tim’s line “You touch that button again and I’m gonna go Latrell Sprewell on your ass.”
— Nathan’s performance as a cheesy easy-listening DJ is adding a bit of a different touch to this Quiet Storm installment, despite this installment following the exact same formula of all the previous Quiet Storm sketches.
— During his radio announcements, Tim gives a shoutout to someone named G-Dog, which I’d like to think is a meta reference, as G-Dog also happened to be name of a short-lived but solid Tim Meadows recurring character from season 21.
— I’m kinda glad this ends up being the final installment of the Quiet Storm sketches, because they never take these sketches into any different directions. It’s basically the same thing every time.
STARS: ***


SISTER WENDY BECKETT’S ART ODYSSEY
Sister Wendy Beckett’s (host) Art Odyssey is a sexual repression outlet

— Funny pre-taped opening scene of Nathan as a nun out in the busy Manhattan street.
— Nice detail with Nathan’s fake teeth.
— I’m assuming this is a parody of an actual show that I’m not familiar with. I don’t seem to need to be familiar with it, though, as I’m still enjoying this parody, mainly due to Nathan’s performance.
— A lot of funny sexual comments from Nathan in regards to the various innocent paintings.
— A particularly good gag with the camera catching Nathan touching a statue’s penis, before defensively telling us “I just wanted to see if it would burn my hand.”
STARS: ***½


HISTORY OF VAUDEVILLE
Weber (host) & Rose (CHK) rode ethnic stereotypes

— I love Norm’s characterization of a crusty old commentator.
— This vaudeville sketch is perfect for Nathan’s style. Chris is also very fitting for this type of sketch. This is going to be fun.
— I like the hammy gestures Nathan and Chris keep making towards the audience at the end of each act when the audience is applauding them.
— I’m getting a lot of laughs from Nathan and Chris’ various bad ethnic stereotype acts.
— I love the voice that Ana is using as the elderly lady.
— The Jewish song that Nathan and Chris are performing is particularly funny.
— After Nathan and Chris’ inexplicable “I eat babies, I drink pee” French stereotype act, I got a big laugh from Ana’s only response to that in her following commentary being “….They didn’t know much about the French.”
— I like the ending with Norm’s crusty old commentator rattling off various classic comedy catchphrases.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
NOM inquires about officer Lou Costello’s (host) discovery of a dead body

— Norm seems to be going through this Update a little faster than usual, shortening his usual long pauses between jokes.
— Yes! Nathan playing Lou Cosetllo. As a big fan of classical comedy teams from the 1930s-50s (after all, why do you think my username is Stooge?), I love the idea of this.
— As expected, Nathan is doing a spot-on and funny Costello impression.
— I like how, during his questioning of Nathan’s Costello, Norm is doing a Bud Abbott voice.
— After Norm slaps Nathan, we get some great ad-libs from Nathan, which cause Norm to crack up.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fuel”


SONGS THAT RUINED EVERYTHING
album documents artistic denouements

— Amusing premise of an album of career-destroying hits from formerly-cool artists.
— A particularly funny inclusion of Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City”.
— Funny impression from Will as Dennis DeYoung.
— Aww, I actually like some of these songs. Should I be ashamed to admit that?
STARS: ***


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


MISS MILO
theatre veteran Miss Milo (host) lectures dresser (WIF) about her craft

— Nathan playing a second woman tonight?
— A funny vocal warm-up that Nathan’s Miss Milo character does, which involves saying various sentences that contain lots of “w”s.
— I got a good laugh from Miss Milo casually telling Will to put on her pantyhose while telling her about himself.
— Another great characterization from Nathan tonight.
— Lots of amusing little comments and stories from Miss Milo throughout this. Even when saying some things that aren’t particularly funny, I’m finding it pretty fun to watch the solid character work that Nathan’s doing here.
— Very funny reveal that Miss Milo was getting dressed as a Christmas tree.
— Another great ad-lib from Nathan tonight, this time saying, in regards to his incorrectly-applied gloves, “I like the gloves this way, it’s more experimental.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Marianne Faithfull [real] perform “The Memory Remains”


EX-CONVICT SANTA
ex-con Gene’s stint as a department store Santa doesn’t go very well

— Why is Colin’s weekly sole appearance of each episode always buried at the end of the show this season? I keep forgetting the man is even a cast member.
— The return of the ex-con character, Gene, that Colin previously played as a restaurant waiter in the preceding season’s Lisa Kudrow episode.
— I love Gene’s comment to Nathan’s son about Gene and members of the Aryan Brotherhood drinking Pruno and passing around a “jerk book”.
— Another good line from Gene, where, after finding out that Nathan’s son loves watching “that Christmas movie with Tim Allen” (The Santa Clause), Gene tells the boy “Kid, I did time with Tim Allen.”
STARS: ***½


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GOODNIGHTS

— What the…? “Additional sketch by Adam Sandler”??? (last screencap above) What in the world could he have written in this episode? I’m stumped. Did whatever he write get cut after dress rehearsal?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’ve always really liked this episode, and I have a lot of happy memories of watching it when I was younger. Tonight’s viewing lived up to my nostalgic memories, even if it’s not an outstanding episode. A big part of the reason for my long-standing fondness for this episode is Nathan Lane, who was a strong host, added a fun vibe to the show, and came off as a natural for SNL due to his theater experience. The writers also accommodated him well, giving him a lot of sketches that perfectly fit his fun comedic style and let him run away with it.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Mayor Rudy Giuliani)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Helen Hunt hosts the Christmas episode. It’s also the final episode of the Norm Macdonald era of Weekend Update.

Posted on

November 22, 1997 – Mayor Rudy Giuliani / Sarah McLachlan (S23 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BACKSTAGE
COQ tries to get overly-dramatic host to return to his NYC roots

— I know a lot of readers are probably expecting me to feel awkward reviewing a Giuliani-hosted episode, but I can separate the Giuliani of 1997 from the Giuliani of today. It also helps that I’m aware Giuliani is a good host in this episode. I’m not all that hesitant to review episodes hosted by people who would later go on to have a notorious reputation. After all, I recently covered a Kevin Spacey-hosted episode with no problem. Plus, I have four Louis C.K. episodes to eventually cover, and I’m not worried about that. However, God help me when I eventually have to cover the notorious Donald Trump episode from 2015. Yikes.
— Very funny entrance from Rudy, dressed and acting like an eccentric fop.
— Rudy, in a dignified voice: “Call me Rudolph.” Colin: “……….No.”
— Colin: “You probably don’t know this, but I’m from Brooklyn.” Rudy: “How could I not know? It’s half your act.”
— A good mock-inspirational speech from Colin.
— Nice variation of the typical “Live from New York…” sign-on, with Rudy replacing “New York” with “the capital of the world”.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
drifter Sid (NOM) is happy host has declared NYC safe for hitch-hiking

— Rudy is handling himself well here for a non-actor.
— Great use of Norm as a creepy hitchhiker, who is killing in this role.
— Rudy even managed to make his flub of the “Borrowing police horses” line charming.
— Funny bit with Rudy eating gum off of the bottom of his shoe and saying “Yum! New York-y!”
STARS: ***½


NIGHTLINE
host spurns, Ted Koppel (DAH) befriends Saddam Hussein (WIF)

— The debut of Will’s Saddam Hussein impression.
— A big laugh from Saddam randomly giving a shoutout to his “friend” Rudy Giuliani, which is followed by a cutaway to Rudy watching this on his TV and going “What the hell?!?”
— Saddam: “(threateningly) I’ll kill anything that moves!….. (pleasantly) and I think Giuliani has a great smile.”
— I love Saddam’s friendly nickname for Rudy: Roods.
— Will’s characterization of Saddam is great. Will has a strong knack for giving famous madmen a likable personality (e.g. the Unabomber, Marshall Applewhite).
— A big laugh from Darrell’s Ted Koppel joining in on Saddam’s singing of “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
— Fun pre-taped montage of Saddam and Ted Koppel frolicking together in the park.
STARS: ****


THANKSGIVING
Rita Delvecchio & her mother (host) banter & prepare Thanksgiving dinner

— I believe this ends up being the final Rita Delvecchio sketch.
— A wild visual of Rudy dressed as an old lady.
— Rudy’s doing a good job in this role.
— Little girl: “Aunt Rita, we’re starving!” Rita: “So is Sally Struthers.”
— Good ending.
— Overall, this recurring sketch as a whole had a nice run. This was never considered a hugely popular sketch from this era, but I appreciate the realism and depth this recurring sketch always brought. Underrated in my eyes. I prefer this to some of Cheri’s more one-dimensional, repetitive, cartoonish recurring characters.
STARS: ***½


ST. MONICA SPELLING BEE
Mary Katherine Gallagher delivers a monologue before winning spelling bee

— Seems a bit too soon for another Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch, after she recently appeared in the Chris Farley episode.
— Some good laughs from a lot of little things that Will’s doing throughout this.
— At some points, Molly seems to be playing MKG even more quivery and nervous than usual tonight.
— A very funny part where the sentence example that Rudy gives MKG for the word “syzygy” is “Your spelling bee word is ‘syzygy’.”
— I keep expecting to get sick of these Mary Katherine Gallagher sketches, but surprisingly, I can still tolerate them by this point.
STARS: ***


GRAFFITI
host’s new anti-graffiti plan appends “sucks” to taggers’ signatures

— An absolutely hilarious premise of Rudy’s solution to graffiti: “We’re gonna put the word ‘sucks’ right under your name!”
— I love Rudy’s delivery of “Everyone’s gonna think… you suck”.
— Overall, short but very strong.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Cinder Calhoun & musical guest sing “Basted in Blood” to decry Turkey Day

— I like the random running gag with Black Tail magazine. And the mere thought of Norm being subscribed to that magazine is priceless.
— Like in her last commentary, Cinder Calhoun is getting some good laughs from me during her opening spiel.
— Funny “Basted in Blood” title for Cinder’s anti-turkey-slaughtering song.
— Good duet from Cinder and Sarah McLachlan. I especially like when Ana gets really into her singing during the chorus towards the end.
— An okay visual of Norm eating a turkey leg at the end of the Calhoun/McLachlan song, though he always looks so checked-out during these Cinder Calhoun commentaries.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Surrender”


FRIGGIN’ GIULIANI!
NYC cabbie (host) complains to his passengers about Mayor Giuliani

— Another sketch tonight casting Rudy in a comically out-of-place role that’s funny to see him in.
— The Richard Dreyfuss seatbelt message was hilarious, as was a confused Will responding “What the hell was that?!?”
— There’s our first utterance of the immortal phrase “Friggin’ Giuliani!”
— This sketch is a memorable instance of “host plays a character who’s the exact opposite of himself”, in the tradition of sketches like George Steinbrenner playing a boss who doesn’t like firing his employees.
— The occasional repetition of “Friggin’ Giuliani!” isn’t getting old for me, and is making me laugh every time, due to Rudy’s silly delivery.
— Another hilarious celebrity seatbelt message, this time from James Earl Jones.
— I like Tracy playing a very Tracy Morgan-esque character at the end of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


THE JOE PESCI SHOW
host’s anti-mob measures make for friction

— This is the last-ever Joe Pesci Show sketch. Feels very unnecessary to see this sketch tonight, considering the preceding installment with the real Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro famously appearing would’ve provided perfect closure to this recurring sketch as a whole. Where else do you go with this sketch after that? Reportedly, the only reason they’re doing this sketch tonight is because during the pitch meeting that Monday, Rudy complimented Jim on his Pesci impression. In that case, if they wanted to work Jim’s Pesci impression into this episode, they should’ve done something in a similar vein to the side bit his Pesci did with Sylvester Stallone in the season premiere.
— This sketch is making me realize how very little we’ve been seeing of Jim Breuer this season. His airtime has been pretty flimsy this season, and from what I remember, it doesn’t get any better in the second half of this season. (Was he busy filming “Half Baked”?) A fairly forgettable final season for him.
— I like the “It’s my show” “It’s my city” exchange between Pesci and Rudy, when Rudy wants Pesci to put out his cigar.
— Surprisingly, this is the first time Will is playing his crew member character, Spider, since one of the very first Joe Pesci Show sketches, back in season 21.
— Funny seeing Tracy playing Marion Barry, after Norm’s long-standing running joke about Marion Barry on Weekend Update.
— Something about the execution of this sketch has a sluggish feel. Even Jim’s performance feels a little off. Just goes to show you that this recurring sketch as a whole is past its expiration date.
STARS: **


COLIN QUINN EXPLAINS THE NEW YORK TIMES
COQ explains The New York Times to keep people intellectually prepared

— This segment officially becomes recurring. However, this ends up being the final installment, considering a certain anchorperson gig Colin is going to find himself suddenly getting three episodes from now. If that certain gig never happened, Colin most likely would’ve continued doing these “explaining the New York Times” segments every few weeks.
— Compared to how extremely underused he’s been this season, Colin has actually been getting quite a lot of airtime tonight.
— They changed the setting for this segment. The first installment of this segment was placed on the home base stage, and now tonight’s installment is set in some kind of office, which almost resembles the set that was temporarily used in the first two installments of Spade In America. I feel the home base stage setting fit these “Colin Quinn Explains The New York Times” segments better. The office set looks kinda out of place to me.
— Funny bit with the unavoidable gay ambassador/meat-packing joke.
— Some stumbliness in Colin’s delivery here and there, kinda foreshadowing the rough go he would have as a Weekend Update anchorperson.
— Overall, another good “Colin Quinn Explains The New York Times” installment; a little better than the first one, in fact. Kind of a shame Colin couldn’t continue doing these.
STARS: ***½


JANET RENO’S DANCE PARTY
host & Janet Reno (WIF) duke it out

— The “Teen Talk” portion of this sketch is awfully one-note.
— This sketch picks up after Rudy enters.
— After Rudy mentions he’s the mayor of New York, I love Will’s Janet Reno saying “My throwing stars and nunchucks will make you the mayor of pain.”
— Very fun turn with Janet and Rudy facing off in a boxing match.
— Rudy: “You box dirty!” Janet Reno: “(braggingly) Then how comes my conscience is so clean?!?”
— Solid ending with the jumbotron in Times Square showing Rudy’s humiliating yells of “Janet Reno is the boss of me!” as he gets beat up by Reno.
STARS: ****


PERSPECTIVES
David Dinkins supporter Lionel Osbourne is cool toward host

— Not only is this yet another recurring sketch tonight, but it’s yet another recurring sketch that’s making its last-ever appearance. Odd how so many recurring sketches are being retired in tonight’s episode.
— As always, a lot of really funny ignorant statements from Tim’s Lionel Osborne.
— I like the turn with Lionel subverting his usual utterances of “Faaaantastic” by saying “That is not fantastic” when finding out Rudy beat David Dinkins in the election.
— A laugh from Lionel immediately going from telling Rudy he’s deeply offended to saying “That’s okay” in his usual laid-back manner.
— Overall, a solid final installment of Perspectives. Of all the retiring recurring sketches tonight, this is definitely the one I’m going to miss the most.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode. There were several strong pieces, and everything in the show worked for me, aside from a weak Joe Pesci Show sketch. For a non-actor, Rudy Giuliani did a good job, came off likable, was a good sport, and did well in the few character roles he played. There was a bit too much of a sameness to the last three sketches he was in, though, which were all recurring sketches that interviewed him as himself.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Claire Danes)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Nathan Lane

Posted on

November 15, 1997 – Claire Danes / Mariah Carey (S23 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HILLARY’S TIME
Bill (DAH) reluctantly gives Hillary (ANG) Clinton a chance to speak

— I got a big laugh from the fake-out with Darrell-as-Bill-Clinton’s false announcement of America now being at war with Iraq, which he then reveals he only said just to make his approval rating go through the roof.
— A pretty significant moment right now: we get the debut of Ana’s Hillary Clinton impression.
— Amusing how Bill is using a timer to let Hillary speak for 60 seconds.
— A good laugh from Hillary beginning to disclose an incident from 1983 where she caught Bill on all fours wearing an E.T. mask.
— So far, Ana is solid in the Hillary Clinton role; a big improvement over the last cast member who tried to take a stab at a Hillary impression (Janeane Garofalo).
— Yet another Mark McKinney impression gets taken over by another performer, with Will now playing Al Gore and even doing the same random “Hi, I’m Al Gore” bit that Mark used to do. The gag still comes off funny with Will in the role.
— Now we get a random “Hello, I’m Barbara Walters” from Cheri. I like the manner she walked off in afterwards.
— Ana delivers her first-ever “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version. Same goes for the following monologue.


MONOLOGUE
audience members challenge host’s qualifications for admission to Yale

— And there’s the reason why this monologue would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. After mentioning that SNL is five years older then her, Claire Danes is supposed to say “I think I was born in the Tim Kazurinsky years”, but when saying that line, she unintentionally struggles through the pronunciation of Kazurinsky badly, and then ad-libs “I’m sorry, I don’t even know who that is.” Ouch. If Kaz was watching SNL this night, I hope he had a good sense of humor about himself.
— The audience members’ questions are pretty funny so far
— Steve Higgins is stealing this monologue with his great bit.
— Good delivery from Claire during her defensive speech to the doubtful audience members.
STARS: ***½


THE WESTON COLLECTION
“I’m #1” hat & “I’m Hot Stuff” necklace let others know how cool you are

— A simplistic but funny premise for a fake ad, and Will is perfect for this.
STARS: ***½


BARRY SCHECK’S HOME
infamous defendants administer Barry Scheck’s (NOM) courtroom karma

— I love Norm-as-Barry-Scheck’s yell of “DAAH!” when Claire’s Louise Woodward (the British nanny who was in the news at this time for allegedly shaking a baby to death) asks if she can be his nanny.
— A laugh from Woodward’s only references in her resume being Barry Scheck and the country of England.
— Very funny bit with Woodward violently shaking the ketchup bottle to get the ketchup out.
— An even funnier bit right now with Tim’s O.J. Simpson casually using a knife to get the ketchup out, even going so far as to use a glove for his knife.
— Ha, and now we get an appearance from Will as the Unabomber! This sketch is getting funnier and funnier.
— Norm is a solid straight man here.
— Having Jim now show up as the Oklahoma City Bomber is pretty funny in itself, but humor-wise, it feels like a step down having his entrance follow the Unabomber’s entrance. You’re never going to top the Unabomber entering this sketch.
— Great cutaway to O.J. with a now-bloody-looking shirt.
— During his straight-to-camera epilogue speech about the tragic things that his clients ended up doing to him and his family, I like Barry Scheck saying his house got blown up twice.
STARS: ****


THE VIEW
Barbara Walters (CHO) & panelists consider issues superficially

— An important debut of a popular series of Tina Fey-written View parodies that this era would do.
— Second appearance tonight from Cheri’s Barbara Walters.
— Funny opening title sequence with Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ intros to her various co-hosts, such as calling Star Jones “A sassy black woman” and Debbie Matenopoulos “A total idiot”.
— A laugh from Cheri’s Barbara singing The View theme song.
— I love the other ladies’ increasingly irritated non-verbal reactions to Debbie Matenopoulos’ various idiotic statements.
— The childish Spice Girls question that all the ladies are asked is pretty funny.
— A really good harsh reality check that Ana’s Cokie Roberts delivers to both Barbara and Debbie.
— I’m loving Tracy as Star Jones, especially the end of the statements she’s heard saying after all the ladies stop talking in unison.
— An overall solid and well-written showcase for the female cast, Tracy, and Claire.
STARS: ****


PARENTS’ WEEKEND
(host)’s parents Marty & Bobbi embarrass her at college with a medley

— Interesting meeting the Culps’ daughter.
— I loved Will’s line about the “University of Gettin’ Down”.
— Some of my favorite opera-ized songs the Culps are performing tonight are “Super Freak” and “American Woman”.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Blow Hot, Blow Cold” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo battles ice monster

— I’m surprised it took this long for this season’s first Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon to appear.
— I love how when Ace and Gary decide to take action against the villains, we get a cutaway to them trying on jackets at a Barney’s store.
— Funny when the villains’ conversation about Ace and Gary’s apparent lack of girlfriends turns to Big Head’s own lack of a public love life.
— Memorable bit with Ace and Gary crashing through the ice monster’s butt.
STARS: ****


PETER PAN
jealous Tinkerbell (host) spews venom at Peter Pan (CHK) & Wendy (ANG)

— Meh. I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I’m not too crazy about this cliched premise of a family-friendly character going off on an obscenity-filled angry rant.
— I will say that Claire is performing this as well as she can, though I can’t help but think that a more comedy-experienced female host would make this material feel less cliched.
— I do kinda like the cheesy special effect of Tinkerbell drinking an entire bottle of whiskey.
— What was with the non-ending?
— Fun how after the sketch ends, we get to see the set being disassembled behind Claire as she dances while still hanging in the air on wires (though it feels like SNL only did this to hide the lack of an ending). It’s sad that I liked that better than most of the stuff in the actual sketch.
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Joe Blow gives the latest news about his neighborhood & family

— Man, the audience is quiet during a lot of jokes tonight. After one particular tepid audience reaction a joke receives, a guy in the audience breaks the tension by randomly yelling out “Norm!” and Norm humorously responds “Hello, hi, how are ya?”
— It’s about time SNL lets Colin do his first Update commentary of the season. Considering how badly SNL has been struggling to find appropriate roles for him this season now that he’s a repertory player, you’d think they would’ve already let him do an Update commentary or two earlier this season, since Update commentaries are clearly his niche at SNL.
— I think this is the last time we ever see Joe Blow, considering we’re only a few episodes away from a certain change in Weekend Update anchors.
— As always, Joe Blow is getting a lot of laughs out of me from his ranting about his personal life. I especially like his whole bit about the differences between public and catholic schools.
— I’m getting tired of how the Joe Blow commentaries always end with him grilling Norm about a beer he wants them to have together. That was a nice running bit for a while, but tonight, it felt like they did it just for the sake of doing it. At least this is the last time I’ll have to see it, if this indeed ends up being Joe Blow’s final appearance.
— An unusual amount of scattered booing from the audience in reaction to some of Norm’s jokes tonight.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Butterfly”


MR. PEEPERS
(WIF) & (host) attempt to release Mr. Peepers back into the wild

— Meh, though at least the setting for this Mr. Peepers appearance is different and may be interesting.
— So far, this is just going through the same tired beats these Mr. Peepers sketches always go through. Yawn.
— When Mr. Peepers is humping the truck, Claire starts cracking up and tries to hide it by burying her face into Will’s chest, which then causes Will himself to crack up, who also tries to hide his face (screencap below). Rare at this point of Will’s tenure to see him breaking.

— Interesting seeing Mr. Peepers’ family, portrayed by Ana, Cheri, and Jim all doing Mr. Peepers impressions.
— So, wait. Was this originally intended to be the final Mr. Peepers sketch ever? The way this sketch ended sure made it appear so. This would’ve been fitting closure for Mr. Peepers. Why, oh, why couldn’t they have kept this his final appearance?
— Without looking it up on SNL Archives, I’m trying to remember when Mr. Peepers’ next appearance is, to see how long SNL kept him retired after tonight’s sketch before needlessly resurrecting him. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember any Mr. Peepers sketches appearing in the remainder of this season. The next Mr. Peepers sketch I can think of is with Kelsey Grammer early in the following season (and I recall that sketch being particularly bad). I wonder what made SNL bring Peepers back after a year-long retirement. It’s not like Chris was desperate for a popular recurring character by that point. After all, he was busy shoving Mango down our throats at that time.
STARS: **


C.E.O. DREAMBOATS
teens (host), (CHO), (MOS), (ANG) adore moguls of CEO Dreamboats magazine

— Funny premise and good execution from Claire and the female cast.
— A good laugh from Molly french-kissing her C.E.O. poster.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My All”


SOUTHERN GALS
hick tourists (MOS), (CHO), (ANG) keep trip’s Frenchness at a safe level

— Wow, yet another sketch tonight starring the entire female cast. This is a huge night for them. They’re very dominant in this episode.
— Lots of little laughs all throughout this, from the southern ladies’ various observations and mistakes. And as usual, this is being well-performed by the female cast.
— Funny appearance from Tracy as a Frenchman, especially with that wig he’s wearing.
STARS: ***


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. There wasn’t much in this episode that I felt stood out as great, but most of the show had a consistently good, comfortable quality to it, and the episode as a whole flowed pretty well. Also, it can’t be said enough what a very dominant and strong night the female cast had, particularly Ana Gasteyer. It feels like this is the turning point where the Gasteyer/Oteri/Shannon female group officially became a dynamic trio.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jon Lovitz)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Posted on

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

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