Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE LADIES’ MAN
Stephanie Seymour [real] helps Leon teach love lessons
— The various demonstrations from Leon Phelps and Stephanie Seymour are providing some laughs.
— Overall, not bad, but not one of the more noteworthy Ladies’ Man installments.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
inspired by the Footloose musical, BIM sings & dances around the stage
— Funny bit with Bill saying he got inspired for tonight’s show by seeing Footloose the Musical.
— Hilarious comment from Bill about America being built on a dance.
— Bill’s dancing when singing Footloose is fantastic, very funny, and perfectly Bill Murray-esque. There’s shades of Nick the Lounger Singer here, which is nice compensation for us not getting an actual Nick the Lounger Singer sketch tonight.
— I absolutely love how all out Bill is going on this, now climbing up the railing on the side of the home base stage while singing into a boom mic. Very impressive and fun.
STARS: ****½
YAHTZEE
competitive couple (BIM) & (MOS) challenges dinner guests to Yahtzee
— Bill and Molly look a bit odd as a couple. Maybe because Bill is a lot older-looking and has gray hair.
— This almost turned into a Zimmermans sketch just now, with the inappropriate way Molly and Bill passionately made out in front of Will and Ana.
— Bill is perfect for this role. I’m enjoying how overly competitive he and Molly are, eventually getting to point where Bill angrily pushes a lamp and flower pot off of the table with one swipe of the arm when losing a game.
— Will’s “This is just kinda gettin’ creepy” when Bill desperately keeps challenging Will and Ana to various games was very funny.
— A huge laugh from Bill’s competitiveness now getting to the point where he offers to play Russian Roulette and says “Ladies first.”
— I love Molly angrily throwing a whole plate of dessert at Will.
STARS: ****
KNICKS CITY DANCERS
(BIM) leads fellow male Knicks City Dancers in front of unfriendly crowd
— As I said in my review of the Men’s Jazz Ensemble sketch from the last episode that Bill hosted, this Knicks City Dancers sketch feels kinda like a spiritual successor to that. Funny how Tim, the only cast member to be in both of these last two Bill Murray episodes, is one of the male dancers in both sketches.
— I like Tim’s delivery of “Hey, Woody Allen just gave me the finger!”
— As I said in an earlier review, I always get a kick out of Parnell dancing comically.
— This sketch is starting to feel dead. Not even Tracy choking Parnell could get as big a laugh out of me as it should’ve.
— Yeah, this sketch isn’t working. Pales badly in comparison to that aforementioned Men’s Jazz Ensemble sketch.
— Okay, I got a big laugh just now from the reveal of Will Ferrell randomly playing himself, when Bill was referring to each of the male dancers by name.
— A weak text crawl ending.
STARS: *½
SWILL
— Alright! They’re doing an encore presentation of this classic Bill Murray fake ad from season 3! It’s fun to see this being re-aired in a Bill Murray-hosted episode from two decades later in 1999.
— Nice touch with them leaving in the original audience’s laughter from when this commercial first aired in 1977.
— For my thoughts on this commercial, read my original review of it in this episode review.
THE QUOTABLE CADDYSHACK
BIM & CHC explain the reference work’s utility
— A fun and solid premise.
— I love Darrell quoting Rodney Dangerfield’s “We’re all gonna get laid!”
— Chevy Chase cameo. Meh. Pretty nice to see him and Bill together, though.
— The quality of this sketch is now kinda starting to die down a little (thanks for that, Chevy), but I did love Bill’s passing mention of “The Ted Knight Slowburn Foundation”.
STARS: ****
MORNING LATTE
minor celebrity (BIM) engages Tom & Cass in vapid banter
— A bit of a change of pace for these Morning Latte sketches.
— When Cheri is explaining to Will the premise of the sitcom Sister Sister, I love Will telling her in a friendly-but-blunt manner “Yeah, I’ve seen the show. Turn around.”
— Bill’s reason for not wanting Cheri to babysit his daughter is very funny.
— The audience has been pretty dead during this sketch.
— Odd bit with Cheri being bleeped out when talking vulgarly in regards to Robin Williams. That feels kinda out of place for this recurring sketch.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
wistful for coverage, Bill Clinton (DAH) asks media to dig for some dirt
freshly snubbed by Academy nominators, BIM gives his Oscar picks
— The audience’s deadness from the Morning Latte sketch has carried over into this Update, as Colin’s first two jokes tonight bombed.
— I love the “Yessss!” soundbyte used for the Marv Albert punchline of Colin’s joke just now.
— Okay, the audience has been getting a little more lively.
— Darrell-as-President-Clinton’s desperation to get back into the newspapers now that the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment trial is over is pretty funny.
— Yes! The return of Bill Murray’s traditional Oscar picks!
— Very funny comment from Bill about how unbearable Tom Hanks would be if he won his third Oscar.
— As always, I love Bill’s unorthodox method for choosing Oscar winners.
— Great ad-lib from Bill when he messes up the whole joke about Gwyneth Paltrow being English.
— And there’s the always-funny tradition of Bill giving short-shrift to the supporting actors/actresses categories.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Can’t Let Go”
A BEAR ATE MY PARENTS!
because (HOS)’s parents were eaten by a bear, (CHP)’s party is ruined
— Early on in the sketch after we opened on a relaxed party, I howled at Horatio’s sudden yell of “You all can just kiss my ass!”
— The first thought that any viewer would naturally have about this sketch is that it feels like a leftover Chris Farley shoutfest sketch (specifically from the infamous 94-95 season, which notoriously overused Farley’s screaming shtick in badly-written sketches). However, this is actually a leftover Jim Breuer sketch that got cut after dress rehearsal during Jim’s time on the show. I think I heard it was cut from the Sting episode from 1997, but I can’t remember for sure. I can kinda picture Jim performing this sketch. After all, there were one or two times early in his tenure when SNL gave him Chris Farley-esque sketches (e.g. that office sketch with Jim violently punishing himself whenever he screwed something up).
— I love Bill’s sarcastic delivery of “Oh, that’s a great idea: take him outside… WHERE THE BEARS ARE??!??!” Otherwise, it feels like they’re kinda wasting Bill in this role.
— I used to absolutely HATE this sketch and considered it a prime example of how bad tonight’s episode is, but during this current viewing, I’m finding a “So dumb, it’s funny” quality to this sketch that’s kinda working for me.
— I got a good laugh from Will’s delivery of “He missed the couch” after Horatio jumps out the window. (He threw a couch out the window earlier in the sketch.)
STARS: ***
BOOK STORE
(BIM) spouts gibberish while trying to pose as owner of mystic curio shop
— I love Bill’s line “We’ve got Yin Yang Thought Pendants up the Yin Yang.”
— Bill’s obviously false statements are pretty funny, though once again tonight, the audience is kinda dead.
— Good bit with Bill repeatedly hitting Tim with the stick.
— This sketch is pretty good and Bill is doing his usual masterful job, but something about this sketch feels like it should be better.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten”
STEVE BAXTER, HOLLYWOOD GYNECOLOGIST
Hollywood gynecologist (BIM) has casual attitude toward patients’ privacy
— The featured players have been dominating tonight’s episode…. well, just Parnell and Horatio. Parnell in particular is having his biggest night of the season.
— Speaking of cast members’ airtime, here’s something I just realized: has Chris Kattan appeared in ANYTHING tonight??? I can’t remember seeing him at all. His airtime has surprisingly been pretty scarce in general during the second half of this season.
— I absolutely love Parnell’s over-the-top performance of the Steve Baxter: Hollywood Gynecologist theme song. He is a riot in this sketch.
— A solid premise for Bill.
— Watching this sketch in today’s climate, I can’t help but get a bit of a #MeToo reminder, but I’ll ignore that and put myself in a 1999 mindset for this sketch.
— Overall, short but sweet.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— Why is Bill dressed as a fireman?
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not bad, but felt a little below standards for this strong season, and certainly a little below standards for a Bill Murray-hosted episode. As I said in a review earlier this season, I used to consider this season’s Kelsey Grammer, Vince Vaughn, and Bill Murray episodes to be this season’s “Trifecta of Suck”. (Actually, I should’ve called it a “Quadfecta of Suck”, because a few days ago, I remembered that I’ve also always found the John Goodman episode from later this season to be unusually bad for this season’s standards. We’ll see if that one holds up better than I previously deemed it.) Doing these reviews have made me come around on this season’s Grammer and Vaughn episodes, both of which I was pleasantly surprised to discover are actually pretty good. I had wondered if I would have that same change of heart towards this Bill Murray episode, and it turns out that I only did to an extent. While I found this episode to be better than I used to, it didn’t feel like there was much in it that stood out as noteworthy, and something felt a little off about the show. Perhaps the latter was due to how dead the audience was in certain portions of the show.
— Bill Murray did his usual great job hosting the show, though I wish some of the material he was given was a little better-written. As I’ve often said about Bill’s hosting gigs, it’s interesting and fun seeing how he works with different casts in the episodes he’s hosted in various eras. It’s a shame this ends up being the last time he’s ever hosted… at least to this day in 2020. Maybe that’ll change in the future.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Brendan Fraser)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Ray Romano