Author: Stooge

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November 15, 1980 – Elliott Gould / Kid Creole & The Coconuts (S6 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
the new castmembers learn about SNL’s glory days from bedfellow host

   

— Gail Matthius gets the honors of being the very first new cast member we see, as this sketch opens on a close-up of her waking up in bed.
— Gail calls herself a cross between Gilda and Jane.
— Charles Rocket calls himself a cross between Chevy and Bill, which is an obvious comparison as Jean Doumanian reportedly WANTED viewers to see him as the Chevy/Bill of the new cast.
— Ann Risley calls herself a cross between… Gilda and Laraine???  WTF?
— I’m iffy on the premise of Elliott telling the new cast drug stories about the original SNL and NBC in general, but there are a few okay lines in there, I guess.
— And now Gilbert Gottfried has called himself a cross between John Belushi and “that guy from last year, he did Rod Serling and nobody can remember his name”. Okay, two things: 1) Aww, poor Harry. 2) WHAAAAAT??!?!? How in the world is Gilbert freakin’ Gottfried a hybrid of Belushi and Shearer? I had thought the other newbies’ comparisons to the original cast were off, but THIS takes the cake.
— Denny Dillon gets the honors of delivering the very first LFNY of the new era.
— Overall, I’m not crazy about how this cold opening has started the new season off. Also, if you ask me, it was a bad decision to introduce the new cast by having them compare themselves to the old cast. Things were already automatically going to be tough for these guys, being the first new cast to come in since the beloved originals, so why make direct comparisons between the new and old cast? That’s just setting this cast up to look inferior in the audience’s eyes.
— It also didn’t help that the comparisons were so far off. If I HAD to pick which original cast member each newbie is most similar to, based on what (very) little I’ve seen of this season in the past and based on all the things I’ve read about this season over the years, I’d say: Denny Dillon = Gilda (cast member who specializes in playing the more silly/goofy female roles). Gilbert Gottfried = uhh… I dunno, this is a hard one. I guess Garrett by default, as they’re both kinda the cast’s odd man out. Gail Matthius = Laraine (I’m not sure why, to be honest; I’ve just always viewed them both as similar types). Joe Piscopo = Dan (utility player, great at doing fast-talking commercial pitchmen, a knack for celebrity impressions). Ann Risley = Jane (the straight-laced one of the group). And Charles Rocket = Chevy/Bill (okay, they got THIS one right).
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE

       

— A decent new opening montage. The animated shining lights in some of the still photos look great. The “painting-over” screen transition effect probably comes off cheesy nowadays, but I kinda like it. The montage in general has a slight New Wave vibe that’s very representative of the year 1980, which I find pretty cool.
— I definitely like the new theme music; probably one of the catchier themes the show’s ever had.
— Not crazy about the cast shots.


MONOLOGUE
host shows audience a few of his undergarments, trades for some of DED’s

     

— The new home base stage is okay, and I like the spiral staircase.
— What was up with Elliott’s entrance? As the elevator on the stage is coming down empty, he rushes down the spiral stairs and then jokingly(?) tries to pretend he’s exiting the elevator. Did something go wrong there? Was he supposed to be in the elevator when it came down, but wasn’t able to get in it in time?
— When listing off some of the crazy things he did on the show in the past, he mentions dressing up as a girl. Which sketch was that? I’ve just reviewed all of the first five seasons and can’t remember any sketches with him in drag.
— Oh, wait, I just remembered the goodnights of his May 1976 episode, where he and the rest of the cast were dressed as cowgirls. I guess that’s what he was referring to.
— Ugh, this underwear-sharing premise is not good.
— And now Denny has shown up to trade underwear with Elliott. It’s not making this monologue any funnier, unfortunately, but it’s noteworthy that between getting to say LFNY just a few minutes ago and now getting to perform alongside the host in the monologue, you’d think Denny is the cast member that Jean Doumanian is trying to push this season.
STARS: *½


THE PETROLEUM COUNCIL
Petroleum Council’s Burma Shave billboard books let you read as you drive

   

— Heh, I’m kinda liking this premise.
— Overall, a pretty nice and well-done commercial.
STARS: ***½


WHITE HOUSE
Rosalynn (ANR) convinces Jimmy (JOP) Carter to be glad he lost

   

— Boy, it feels weird seeing new people taking over the impressions of the Carter family, after I’ve gotten so used to seeing the original cast in these roles.
— I guess it wouldn’t have been possible for them to do this sketch in the original era anyway, considering Rosalynn and Amy Carter were both played by Laraine Newman.
— Them talking about Jimmy Carter’s then-recent loss in the 1980 election makes me realize that thanks to this season’s late start (mid-November, people!), we weren’t able to get any election sketches while the presidential race was still going on. That might be a good thing, though, because I’m not sure how these new writers would’ve handled a presidential debate sketch.
— I will say that Denny IS very convincing as a little girl.
— I’m not sure about Joe’s Jimmy Carter impression. I guess it’s not bad, but it’s so generic compared to Dan Aykroyd’s very detailed, spot-on impression.
— Good lord at the part with President Carter blaming the Jews for not voting for him…
— An overly horny Rosalynn Carter? I don’t think I like where this is going.
— WTF at the ending?
STARS: **


SIDE NOTE: Hmm, I see they’re continuing the traditional “Coming up next” caption gags from the previous era.


BILLY-GRAM
(CHR) delivers a singing Billy-Gram to cohabitating couple (host) & (ANR)

 

— The premise of a singing religious telegram doesn’t seem all that great.
— Man, Charles is pretty hammy in this with his over-the-top facial expressions and delivery.
— That’s the whole sketch??? Wow, this was short!
— I didn’t find this sketch all that great, but I guess it wasn’t too terrible and at least they kept it from running longer than it needed to.
STARS: **½


AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
(GLM) demonstrates breast cancer self-examination dos & don’ts

 

— Gail’s vague instructions while she’s being obscured by a black bar isn’t all that funny.
— And that’s it? Not much of anything here. Boy, I have NOT been crazy about tonight’s episode so far.
STARS: **


WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT
Pinky (DED) & Leo (GIG) Waxman interview host

 

— Gilbert’s heavy Jewish accent is great.
— I just realized that it feels weird seeing Elliott performing in sketches alongside people who AREN’T the original cast.
— Denny and Gilbert’s characters aren’t bad so far, and I’m seeing potential there.
— I never knew Elliott was once married to Barbra Streisand. It’s hard for me to picture them as a couple.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch with some decent laughs all throughout. This feels like the first live segment I really liked all night.
STARS: ***½


FOOT FETISH
by Randal Kleiser- two shoes have sex on the beach

     

— Elliott introduces this film by saying it’s the first in a series of “Short Shots”, which is apparently going to be this era’s name for the short film portions of the show.
— Hilarious seeing the stop-motion wild sex between the two shoes.
— Another very funny gag with the female shoe giving birth to a smaller shoe.
— Yet another inspired gag with a doctor cutting the newborn shoe’s shoelace as if it’s an umbilical cord.
— Overall, wow, that was great.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mister Softee”


WEEKEND UPDATE
GLM can’t bring herself to tell John Anderson (JOP) that he didn’t win
The Rocket Report- CHR tries to get the scoop on the new Lennon-Ono album
author (GIG) claims his book proves that Ronald Reagan is already dead

         

— Here we go…
— Something about the new Update atmosphere feels dead with the way tonight’s Update has begun. Feels like something’s missing (and no, I don’t mean Jane and Bill).
— Why are there two screens on the Update set?
— That Shirley Temple Black joke was just plain BAD.
— Man, we’re a few jokes in and I have yet to laugh at any of them so far.
— Hmm, Gail as an Update reporter in a remote segment. I knew she had similarities to Laraine!
— Haha, Joe is really funny as an out-of-it John B. Anderson. I can’t judge the accuracy of the impression, having no familiarity with the real John B. Anderson beyond his silent cameo in the previous season’s Teri Garr episode, but it does seem like Joe’s going for accuracy with the voice and mannerisms.
— Hmm, a joke about Chevy Chase. Seems that Chevy caused some controversy at the time by publicly calling Cary Grant a “homo”. Oh, Chevy’s up to his old tricks, I see…
— Boy, I am not liking Charles’ delivery of the Update jokes.
— Oh, man, the whole Saturn rings audio sample bit was AWFUL.
— Ah, the debut of “Rocket Report”. Supposedly, from all the things I’ve read about this season, the Rocket Report segments are where Charles is really in his element this season.
— Pretty funny with Charles trying to interview garbagemen about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s garbage.
— Overall, the Rocket Report debut was a success, and Charles came off really well in it.
— And now we’re back to bad Update jokes, unfortunately. That Anita Bryant “homosexuals do it in a cage” joke was another dreadful one.
— Wow, that one joke got absolutely no audience response just now.
— We get our very first desk piece of the new Update era. Gilbert Gottfried gets the honors.
— Why the heck does Charles keep correcting people who call him “Charlie”? This is the second time he’s done it in tonight’s Update, and both times, it came off awkward and got no response from the audience.
— Gilbert’s performance was pretty funny overall, but the commentary itself was only okay.
— “Good night and… watch out.” I kinda like the idea of that as the new Update tagline, but Charles’ delivery of it was way too cocky for my likes.
— Overall, man, that was rough. If this is the new direction Update will be going in for the rest of the season, we are in big trouble. And one of the very few highlights, Rocket Report, soon gets spun-off into a standalone segment in the show, so there goes one of the only things the new Update has going for it.
STARS: **


AT ONE WITH…
sergeant (JOP) drills a member of the Gay Brigade (CHR)

 

— Another talk show sketch tonight?
— The “Gay Brigade”? Uh-oh…
— Joe and Charles are great with all their fast-paced back-and-forths. They’re giving me some really good laughs.
— Ugh, that line about Fort Dix being where the gay soldiers are stationed was a groanworthy joke.
— Overall, I’m not too sure about the material itself, but man, I absolutely LOVED Joe and Charles’ performances & delivery.
STARS: ****


HEART TO HEART
by Mitchell Kriegman- relationship-induced change seen

   

— When this started, I almost thought the girl in bed was Laraine Newman. I guess I still haven’t gotten used to not seeing the old cast.
— The subtlety of the girl being played by a slightly different-looking actress every time the camera cuts back to her is pretty funny and is being executed well.
— Ha, funny how the change in actresses has gradually become more and more obvious, culminating in a heavier woman being cast in the role during the final scene.
— An overall good film.
STARS: ***


SNL SPORTS
JOP does play-by-play for the nose wrestling bout between (host) & (CHR)

  

— Right off the bat in his first episode, we get the debut of Joe Piscopo’s SNL sportscaster persona. I wasn’t expecting to see that so early in his SNL tenure. His delivery here is a little more generic than it would later go on to be.
— Oh my god at this premise.
— Geez, we get yet ANOTHER unnecessary racial joke tonight, with the line about nose wrestling being dominated by Italians and Jews. (*groan*)
— Despite my initial iffiness towards the premise, this nose wrestling bit does have a bit of a strange charm to it.
STARS: ***


DATE
40 year-old (host) has an awkward dinner date with teenager Vickie (GLM)

— Elliott just called Gail “Vicky”. Is this gonna be the debut of Gail’s Valley Girl character?
— Okay, she said “grody” just now. Yep, this IS the Valley Girl character.
— I’m still seeing some of Laraine in Gail, as I can DEFINITELY picture Laraine doing a character like this.
— Some of the audience members are getting a kick out of Gail’s character. I have read that this character was considered somewhat groundbreaking for its time, as the valley girl craze hadn’t blown up just yet.
— What the heck kinda shirt is Gail wearing? I can’t tell what the picture on it is supposed to be.
— Funny line from Gail about her Marine boyfriend being “sort of black”.
— Overall, this seemed like this was going to be a nice character piece for Gail, but the sketch ended up being pretty flat. Nothing interesting really happened. I’m hoping this character’s future appearances are an improvement.
STARS: **


THE ACCORDION KILLER
(GLM) goes undercover to trap musical menace (CHR)

     

— I like the police station set-up with Elliott and Gilbert. This seems like it could be a good mini-movie mock-thriller sketch.
— This sketch is now starting to have a very Land Shark vibe to it.
— Gail playing a character with her own first name. Reminds me of when the original cast often did that back in season 1.
— Funny climax with the police officers coming in playing bagpipes, which causes Charles’ character to die.
— Overall, not bad, even if it was basically a poor man’s Land Shark.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “There But For The Grace of God Go I”


GIDGETTE GOES TO HELL
by Jonathan Demme- shark eats surfer chick

     

— This is introduced by Elliott as being our second “Short Shot” of the night.
— Very interesting format. Again, much like this season’s new opening montage, this short has kind of a 1980 New Wave music video feel that I’m liking.
— Overall, a weird short, but I enjoyed it and found it interesting to see where it was going.
— Strange that two of the three short films tonight have taken place on the beach.
STARS: ***


SPEED LISTENING
speed listener (DED) relaxes efficiently with accelerated music

 

— This speed-listening premise is pretty funny and is something I can picture the original cast doing.
— Denny’s “half-fast/half-assed way of listening to music” line was good.
— The short lengths of the songs listed in the screen crawl is worth a few good laughs.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
host introduces cast & announces they’ll “be around forever”

 

— Elliott re-introduces each cast member by first name.
— There’s Elliott’s now-ironic “We’re gonna be around forever” statement about the new cast. IIRC, Steve Martin would later make a similar ironic statement during the goodnights when he hosted the premiere of the infamous season 20.
— Oh, wow, I forgot that the goodnights music this season is different. Man, it’s weird to see an SNL episode ending with anything that’s NOT the traditional goodnights music we’re all so familiar with.
— The live version of this episode, which I’m reviewing, cuts the goodnights off pretty early, so I can’t really give a critique yet on the quality of the new goodnights theme. I recall kinda liking it when seeing a few episodes from this season years ago.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Well, there it is. Man, I feel so weird after watching this episode, considering how I had gotten so used to reviewing the original SNL era.
— I surprisingly didn’t dislike this overall episode as much as I was expecting to. While the episode had a very rough start during the first 20 minutes or so, the show slowly got a little better as it went along. The post-Update half featured quite a lot of stuff that I found decent. Overall, while not great by any means, the new SNL era is showing at least a little promise so far. Right before I watched this episode, a very small part of me was worried I’d break down halfway through the episode, whining “I miss my old cast!!! It ain’t the same without them!!!” Instead, I ended up experiencing a feeling of excitement watching and reviewing a new SNL era after only reviewing the first five seasons.
— I am aware that the alleged awfulness of season 6 supposedly doesn’t start fully kicking in until a few episodes into the season, when all the bad press the season soon starts getting begins to negatively affect the mood of the show.
— A bad trend I noticed throughout the night that I’m worried will be a trend throughout the whole season is reliance on overly-corny humor and unnecessary racial jokes. Also, it looks like I’m gonna be in for one difficult season of Weekend Update.
— I was surprised at the large number of segments in this episode. So many quick sketches and various films stuffed into a 90-minute episode, which reminds me of how the early episodes from season 1 were so jam-packed with MANY segments and had so much variety. Feels kinda nice to see that again, after I had gotten so used to the longer sketch format from seasons 4 and 5.
— Elliott Gould was not utilized well AT ALL tonight. He seemed to be cast in nothing but dull straight roles all night, and he looked out of his element with this new cast. A shame we weren’t able to see the charm that he always had when hosting in the original era.
— Of the new cast, I’d say that Joe, Gilbert, and Denny seem to be the cast members who I’m looking most forward to seeing more of, just based on how they performed in this episode. I think I’m gonna like Gail as well, but it’s a shame that the two sketches that showcased her tonight (American Cancer Society and Date) weren’t good.  Charles already seems to be getting pushed as the “star” of the new cast, but I’m iffy on him; his mugging & cheesy delivery in Billy-Gram and his cockiness & weak delivery on Update were all off-putting to me. I see SOME potential in him, though, as I liked his performance in the Rocket Report segment and his delivery in Gay Brigade. As for the remaining cast member, Ann, I couldn’t form any kind of opinion on her at all. She’s the only one who left me with no impression.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1979-80):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Malcolm McDowell. A very notorious episode, as, until more recent decades, it was widely considered to be the definitive “worst SNL ever”.

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May 24, 1980 – Buck Henry / Andrew Gold, Andrae Crouch and The Voices Of Unity (S5 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Frank Reynolds (HAS) presents presidential consolation debate highlights

   

— Lot of great lines from Harry during his intro.
— I’m still not quite sure what to make of Jim Downey’s George Bush impression.
— That being said, Jim’s Bush speech had a whole bunch of funny lines.
— Bill’s speech was okay, but not as amusing as Jim’s.
— Paul smushing actual slices of a pie onto the pie chart is hilarious.
— Harry gets the final LFNY of the original SNL era??? That’s surprising. While it’s hard to complain about Harry Shearer getting ANY airtime on the show, it really feels like one of the original cast members should’ve gotten the final LFNY.
— Very solid cold opening overall.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host introduces (DOP) & other supposed castmembers of SNL’s sixth season

        

— Buck mentions this is SNL’s 106th episode and the 103rd time he’s hosted. I really liked that line.
— He addresses rumors that tonight’s episode might be the last SNL ever, and announces SNL will be back again next season!…but NOT with the same cast. There will be a new replacement cast, who he’s about to introduce.
— The audience laughs at Buck referring to the show’s “former producer”, as if that were a joke. I guess they’re not aware that Lorne really IS leaving.
— Buck says he’s looking forward to working with SNL’s new producer in the years ahead. Unfortunately, that never ended up happening, as tonight’s episode turns out to be Buck’s final time hosting. I recall hearing he declined any future hosting offers out of respect to the original cast. He’s never even made so much as a cameo in any future episodes, not counting specials like SNL’s 15th anniversary show (where he does a segment with Steve Martin).
— Hey, it’s the creator of the Mr. Bill shorts, Walter Williams. (third screencap above)
— I recall hearing that the black woman in this is Yvonne Hudson. Now that I’m watching this monologue for myself, that’s definitely NOT her. It would’ve been hilarious if it were her, though, considering she DOES actually end up joining the cast next season.
— Unless I’m mistaken, this is Don Pardo’s very first onscreen appearance on SNL. I love how his fake name in this is “Ron Waldo”, and how he introduces himself by doing a Don Pardo imitation. Since audiences at the time probably had no idea what Don looked like, I wonder if they even realized he’s the real Don Pardo or if they just assumed he’s someone who can do a really good impression of Pardo’s voice.
— Overall, I loved this monologue and found it very fun being introduced to the fake new cast.
STARS: ****


ROYAL PARTY
eponymous noblemen mingle at a party thrown by Lord Salisbury (HAS)

   

— Ah, here’s a legendary sketch from this era.
— All the nobles’ last names and how they allude to various now-famous inventions is very well-written.
— Funny with Bill as the Earl of Sandwich lamenting that “nothing’s been named after my family”.
— Garrett’s delivery of “Lord and Lady Douchebag” KILLED me.
— Harry’s “Where the devil are those Douchebags?” line was great.
— Very funny hearing “douchebag” constantly being casually delivered in such dignified 18th century voices.
— Ha, Gilda as Lady Douchebag requesting vinegar and water as food dressing.
— Loved Bill delivery of “Douchebaaaaag, how are ya!” From my past viewings of clips from this sketch, I had remembered Bill giving Buck a noogie after saying that line, but now I see that never actually happened. It DOES seem like a very Bill Murray thing to do, though.
— Bill: “Lord Douchebag, just what kind of invention are you sitting on?”
— And already, we’re out. That sketch was the perfect length, and is just one of many reasons why this is such a fantastic classic sketch.
STARS: *****


COW MINDER’S DAUGHTER
rise & fall of Indian singer Govinda Lynn (LAN)

   

— Laraine playing a character who turns down being a model because models starve themselves.  I can’t help but notice a whole bunch of irony there.
— The initial shot of Gilda cracked me up.
— Not really sure what the point of this sketch is so far.
— Yeah, I’m coming to the realization that this sketch ain’t goin’ anywhere that I’m gonna like.
— Did something go wrong? All of a sudden, there’s a lot of awkwardness and stretched-out pauses between Bill and Laraine after Bill called for the cows, and Bill looks like he’s trying not to laugh. (last screencap above) What’s that all about?
— Overall, wow, I did not care for this sketch at all. Maybe it would’ve helped if I had ever seen “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, the movie that this was spoofing.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrew Gold performs “Kiss This One Goodbye”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jack Perkins (HAS), (Richard Belzer), others on Walter Keane art exhibit
Chico Escuela gives himself credit for baseball strike resolution
Roseanne Roseannadanna travels from volcanoes to Gloria Vanderbilt’s itch

           

— Here we go, the final Curtin/Murray Weekend Update.
— *sigh* I’m gonna miss hearing Jane saying her “I’m Jane Curtin and here now the news” intro. I’ve gotten so used to hearing that in every Update these last four seasons.
— Loved Bill’s random “Anita Bryant…… is available” bit. I also like how a few people in the audience audibly booed as soon as her picture showed up on the news screen.
— The bit with Bill snapping a Polaroid directly at the camera facing him was just plain strange, and got very little reaction from the audience. I also didn’t get what he meant with his “So I won a bet, big deal” ad-lib afterwards.
— What the–? Now Bill’s aforementioned photo-snapping bit has screwed up the screen. The flash from his Polaroid seems to have left an awful yellow-brownish spot onto the middle of the screen. (you can see it the the fourth and fifth screencaps above) Yikes. I’m guessing Bill forgot to turn off the flash on the camera before snapping the picture.
— And now, we go straight from that Bill/camera bit to a Harry Shearer commentary that strangely begins with NO applause from the audience. Wow. Maybe the audience was just thrown off by whatever the hell that Bill/camera thing was supposed to be.
— Uh-oh, now the aforementioned yellow-brownish spot on the middle of the screen is making poor Harry look like he has a yellow mouth. Geez.
— Richard Belzer!
— Belzer has the distinction of appearing in the first and last episode of the original SNL era. In the first episode, he was one of the jurors in the courtroom sketch that ended with Gilda receiving a note and thinking that John Belushi was making a pass at her, and now here he is in the last episode. A nice unintentional bookend to the era.
— Harry’s Jack Perkins commentary is a bit unusual with the heavy reliance on a pre-taped remote segment, but there’s a lot of good laughs here, especially from the ridiculous visual of presidential paintings with Keane eyes.
— Garrett’s Chico Escuela delivery is much better than the bizarre delivery he used last time Chico appeared.
— Normally I’d groan at the sight of Roseanne Rosannadanna appearing once again, but knowing this is the last time we’ll ever see her, I can’t complain. I’ve never disliked the character herself, just how much they overrelied on her shtick these last two seasons.
— Hmm, Richard Feder has written to Rosannadanna from Washington instead of his usual Fort Lee, New Jersey residence.
— Oh, it turns out Feder moved to get away from the hellhole that is New Jersey.
— Loved Rosannadanna’s complaint about Gloria Vanderbilt putting her good name “on every ass in America”.
— Rosannadanna’s story about Gloria Vanderbilt repeatedly scratching her crotch area in a movie theater is a riot! A lot of big laughs there. This is reminding me why I used to like Rosannadanna so much before they started overusing her.
— Tonight’s overall Update was a pretty solid way to end the Curtin/Murray era. I’m gonna miss this Update era, especially when I know how unstable this portion of the show is going to be the next few seasons during the non-Lorne years.
STARS: ***½


UNCLE ROY
mom (JAC) remains blind to the true nature of pedophilic “Uncle” Roy

       

— I can already tell from the set that we’re getting our obligatory Uncle Roy sketch. Actually, I shouldn’t say “obligatory”, since they surprisingly refrained from doing this character in Buck’s episode from earlier this season.
— For the first time ever, Uncle Roy’s entrance receive audience applause.
— They explain the absence of Dan Aykroyd’s character (Jane’s husband) by saying he’s in Cleveland at a convention.
— Uncle Roy and Jane point out a new glass coffee table in the living room. Ha, I just KNOW Ol’ Roy is gonna get mileage out of that table later in the sketch with the girls.
— I like the line about how Roy had the girls play “bobbing for bananas” last time he visited them.
— I also like the mention of Roy pretending to be a dog during his last visit and how he almost “buried [his] bone in [the girls’] backyard.” Nice double-entendre.
— Hilarious bit where Roy is able to tell which pair of panties belongs to which girl just by the smell.
— Ah, there’s Uncle Roy making use of the glass coffee table, by having the girls pretend to “ride on a glass-bottom boat” as he eagerly snaps pictures underneath the table.
— LOL at Buck’s panicked “I can explain everything!” when Jane returns unexpectedly early and sees what Roy is up to.
— Interesting turn this sketch has taken with Jane talking about a possible divorce between her and her husband, and Roy trying to save their marriage just so she won’t move away with the girls.
— After Jane says she wishes more families would have an uncle like Roy, the camera does a slow zoom-in on Buck telling Jane, while looking at the camera with a subtle grin, “Oh, there’s more of me than you might suspect…” (last screencap above), which is how the sketch ends. Heh, creepy and unsettling as fuck, but at the same time, I found it the perfect way to end the final Uncle Roy sketch.
STARS: ****


TRADER NICK’S
Hawaiian-themed bar of Nick “Lava” has music & waitress Iris de Flaminio

     

— Our final Nick the Lounger Singer sketch during Bill’s years as a cast member. He would later bring this character back a few times in some of his future hosting stints.
— I think I see Jane as Iris De Flaminio in the background. If so, they’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of this character these last handful of episodes, which is good since Jane debuted the character so late in her tenure.
— Akira Yoshimura! He’s been getting quite a lot of face time recently.
— Yep, Jane IS playing Iris. Interesting use of her in this sketch, as a waitress.
— Looks like we DO get an Yvonne Hudson appearance tonight after all! And she’s playing a character with her own name, too! “I’m Yvonne Hudson and this is my lovejones (points to Garrett).”
— Gilda’s sarcastic deadpan remarks to Bill were very funny.
— I absolutely love Bill’s singing of “Stairway to Heaven”.
— Overall, a very fine temporary final outing for this character.
STARS: ***½


WEEK IN REVIEW
tabloid journalists’ notions of newsworthiness vex (host)

    

— I like Bill’s almost-whispery speaking voice as the host, which is a dead-on imitation of some of the political panel shows like this.
— Buck is fairly funny as the only reasonable person at the table.
— Overall, for once tonight, I didn’t have much to say about a sketch. I didn’t find this sketch to be very good, and I got fairly bored with it after a while.
STARS: **


MOMMY BEER
hunters musically express their fondness for baby-bottles of Mommy Beer

   

— I cracked up at Tom Davis’ burly-voiced delivery of “You’ve been holdin’ out on us, ya rascal!”
— The nipple-topped beer bottle is a pretty funny visual.
— Haha, I like the blatantly obvious lip-synced harmonizing between the men, and their hammy gestures throughout the song.
— Very catchy commercial jingle.
— Funny part with a beer-less Bill whining “I want MY Mommy” and then babyish-ly sucking on the bottle when he finally gets one.
— Oddly enough, that sounds like Harry Shearer’s voice during the baritone parts of the lip-synced jingle.
— Great tagline from Buck: “She’s a bitch…. of a brew!”
— Fun sketch overall.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrae Crouch & Voices of Unity perform “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus”


GOODNIGHTS
Studio 8H empties as the “On Air” sign goes out

     

— Buck gives a simple but very poignant “Goodnight……and goodbye.”
— *sigh* The final gathering of this cast. I have to admit, I’m starting to feel emotional. After watching and reviewing these first five seasons on a daily basis in chronological order the last few months, I’ve grown REALLY attached to this cast. It’s not easy for me to see them go.
— Ah, there goes the famous part of these goodnights, where Buck leads the cast and guests offstage and then we cut to their arrival backstage where they’re all shown walking past the camera. After a while, the camera slowly zooms in on the flashing “ON AIR” sign, then the flashing sign eventually turns off, which is the very last thing we see before the goodnights end. Beautiful. I’m honestly getting a little misty-eyed right now.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The original SNL era ends with a surprisingly strong episode for this season. There were a lot of great sketches, a minimal amount of flops, and we got an all-time classic as the perfect centerpiece of the night (Lord and Lady Douchebag).
— Not only am I going to miss the hell out of this cast, but I’m also going to miss reviewing Buck Henry-hosted episodes. It’s amazing to think that over just the past few months, I’ve reviewed TEN Buck Henry episodes. Nobody else has ever hosted SNL with the frequency that he has in such a short amount of time. He was such a perfect host for this era of SNL, and always had such a likable and warm presence, no matter what role he was playing.
— Season 5 as a whole was a fairly bumpy road like I was prepared to see, but not quite in the way I was expecting. Despite a shaky first three episodes, which instantly had me worried, the remainder of the first half of the season was pretty smooth-sailing for the most part. When I reached the second half of the season, THAT’S when the trouble fully kicked in. The long string of episodes from Teri Garr to Rodney Dangerfield all ranged from forgettable to pretty awful, and the burnout from the writing staff was on full display. We started to finally get some good episodes after that, including one that pleasantly surprised me with how inspired it was (Strother Martin), but a somewhat frequent amount of underwhelming or iffy episodes still kept popping up. At least the season ended on a high note with a strong season finale.
— Well, I can now proudly say I’ve seen and reviewed every single episode from the original SNL era! It feels so great to accomplish that, considering I came into this SNL project of mine being nowhere near as familiar with the original era as a diehard SNL fan like me should be. I mean, I had seen a handful of episodes from each of the first five seasons, as well as lots of clips in highlight reels and “Best Of” compilations, but considering how well-versed I am in every SNL era from 1985-present, I had always been kinda ashamed that I hadn’t seen all that much from the legendary original years. Well, now I can officially say that I know this era VERY well after doing these daily reviews.
— And man, did I enjoy covering these first five seasons, familiarizing myself more with this wonderful cast, discovering this cast is even more talented and well-rounded than I had ever thought, witnessing the evolution of the era, tackling the more infamous episodes (Louise Lasser, Milton Berle, etc.), revisiting classic sketches, and discovering lesser-known gems. I came away from this era having much more love and respect for it than I’ve ever had. Before doing these reviews, I used to always argue that the original SNL was overrated whenever anyone would call it the best era ever, because I was of the opinion that despite how groundbreaking the original SNL was, that era was so inconsistent and VERY hit-and-miss due to how wildly experimental the show’s format was back then. I had felt that, in order to call an SNL era the best ever, it needs to be one that’s a little more consistent in how strong it was, which for me has always been the late 80s era. Well, after now reviewing the whole original era, I’ve seen that it was nowhere near as inconsistent or hit-and-miss as I had thought. Once the show found it’s footing sometime in 1976, the era was pretty smooth-sailing for a few years, particularly in seasons 3 and 4, which are two of the strongest SNL seasons of all-time and contain a surprisingly good number of flawless episodes that have no bad sketches. The era unfortunately ended on a fairly rough note with the disappointing season 5, but looking at this era as a whole, I would now say that it’s a close second to the late 80s as the best SNL era.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Martin):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Well, folks, for the very first time in my SNL project, after going through five seasons of having the comfort of the original cast, I enter brand new territory…. and dangerous territory at that, because it’s the notorious season 6. Elliott Gould hosts the first episode.

Posted on

May 17, 1980 – Steve Martin / Paul and Linda McCartney, 3-D (S5 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
via satellite, Father Guido Sarducci waits outside McCartneys’ London pad

   

— I liked Don Pardo’s opening “Day 122 of Paul McCartney without marijuana” announcement.
— Only Jane at the Update desk? Where’s Bill?
— From what I’ve heard about this episode, Father Guido Sarducci really IS being broadcast live from London for this episode.
— Ha, Sarducci rocking the 1980 Bo Derek braids and beads.
— Sarducci throwing stuff at Paul McCartney’s window to wake him up is fairly funny.
— Tonight’s LFNY is said by a random English milkman! One of the very few LFNYs in SNL history that was uttered by an unidentifiable person.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host talks about his ideals in the form of “What I Believe”

 

— Who were those two guys seen running off the home base stage right before Steve made his entrance? (screencap below)

— I loved Steve slow-strutting his way onto the monologue stage while the theme music was still playing.
— Is it just me, or is this the third monologue where he announces in a mock-serious voice that he’s “getting out of the comedy business”? I know he definitely said it in his monologue from earlier this season, and I think he said it in one of the previous seasons as well.
— Loved his random line about “Uncle Todd, who waves his penis”.
— His “What I Believe” speech is great and has so many hilarious random one-liners.
— Overall, one of the funniest monologues Steve has done so far.
STARS: ****½


REAL INCREDIBLE PEOPLE
not-very-exotic citizens are on display

     

— I’m assuming this is a take-off of the then-popular show “That’s Incredible!”.
— Very delayed entrance from Bill. He looks funny in that wig and mustache, though.
— Ha, all five of these people are the HOSTS?
— Hey, it’s Akira Yoshimura, playing a character with his real name.
— Humorous how the “incredible” things about the people on display are just mundane, everyday things like eating sushi and reading before bed.
— Lots of fantastic energy from the five hosts.
— LOL at the hosts’ amazement over a man having “very dark brown skin”.
— Good part with the fake audience members being interviewed.
STARS: ****


THUGS
(GIR) & (JAC) clean up the mess made by their sons during a home invasion

   

— The way Bill and Steve busted into the apartment at the beginning had shades of X-Police.
— Bill and Steve are hilarious as the goofy robbers.
— Funny turn with Gilda and Jane showing up as the robbers’ mothers to clean up the mess their sons made during their robbery.
— Jane’s sudden gunshot at Harry genuinely made me jump.
— I loved the part with Gilda and Jane forcing Laraine and Harry to lean forward….. so they can fluff the pillows behind them.
— Overall, a decent sketch, but it kinda dragged in the middle when Jane and Gilda were cleaning up the place.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
3-D performs “All-Night Television”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Father Guido Sarducci sings a Beatles medley to get McCartneys’ attention

   

— Funny bit from Bill at the beginning, with him randomly asleep on the desk during Pardo’s intro.
— I’m getting tired of this season’s running segments with Father Guido Sarducci waiting to interview someone. They already did this earlier this season with him trying to interview Nixon.
— Sarducci singing a medley of Beatles songs over the bullhorn is going on WAY too long.
— Oh, man, the Sarducci segment is how they end Update tonight?
— During Jane’s sign-off, Bill’s not there at the desk. Guess this is yet another Update this season where he had to duck out early to get in costume for the next sketch.
— Overall, a blah Update. An unusual amount of Bill and Jane’s jokes fell pretty flat, and the long Sarducci segment killed any remaining momentum.
STARS: **


THE HOMINIDS
caveman (BIM) feels threatened by more-evolved (host)

     

— Great caveman make-up job on the performers, especially Bill. I now see why Bill had to duck out of Update early, as it must’ve taken several minutes for the make-up people to give him that caveman look.
— Interesting voice on Gilda.  I’ve never heard her sound like that before.
— Bill’s loud scream after walking on the fire was hilarious.
— Laraine bluntly saying “You make me wet” to Steve was a riot. I’m surprised the censors would allow that in 1980.
— Fitting how Steve’s the only one talking in a normal non-caveman speech pattern.
— Pretty funny ending with Bill repeatedly slamming a boulder into a sleeping Steve.
STARS: ***½


LONDON REMOTE
Paul & Linda McCartney dodge Father Guido Sarducci’s marijuana questions

  

— Ugh, Father Guido Sarducci is STILL trying to wake McCartney up. I’m so over these segments.
— Hey, Paul McCartney has finally shown up!
— Double ugh at Sarducci asking Paul “If you could be any animal, what would it be?” It wasn’t funny when he asked that question to Nixon earlier this season, and it ain’t funny now.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Paul & Linda McCartney perform “Coming Up” in music video

   


REAGAN DINNER
Ronald (HAS) & Nancy (JAC) Reagan have dinner with some reporters

 

— Harry’s Reagan impression looks very different from the last time he played him, and he’s wearing a ton of make-up this time. I guess it’s true that Harry was really the very first SNL cast member to make a big deal about going out of his way to look like the celebrities he impersonates, something that upcoming cast member Joe Piscopo would take to even further extremes in the next SNL era. A huge contrast to the very early SNL days of putting little-to-no effort to make people like Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd look like the politicians and celebrities they play.
— Weird seeing Jane as Nancy Reagan. I never knew she played her.
— This sketch is very quiet so far.
— That’s it? The sketch is over? Wow, what was the point of this? This was very dull, fell really flat, and I got almost no laughs from it. A waste of Harry’s Reagan impresion.
STARS: *½


STRETCH MARKS
bitter loneliness in aging Patti Caldwell’s (GIR) album

   

— The “Stretch Marks” title is already making me like this sketch.
— Gilda’s lip-syncing is really obvious.
— Never mind, I guess the blatant lip-syncing is intentionally part of the joke, since Gilda now seems to be going out of her way to make some parts of her singing look very out-of-sync.
— The “F-U-L-L-F-I-L-L-M-E-N-T” song was hilarious.
— Overall, a very funny sketch and a great Gilda showcase, the latter of which feels almost rare at this late stage in Gilda’s SNL tenure. She’s surprisingly been fairly quiet this season, I guess due to spending so much time doing her one-woman stage show “Gilda Live!” throughout this season.
STARS: ****½


DEER CROSSING
buck (host) & doe (GIR) wait for traffic to let up at a deer crossing

   

— I like the idea of this.
— What the hell kind of animal is Garrett supposed to be dressed as?
— Oh, he’s a cow, I see.
— It’s over already? Well, that certainly went NOWHERE. The idea of the sketch was cute, but absolutely nothing interesting happened in it. I didn’t laugh a single time. It ended up being another sketch tonight that left me asking myself “That’s it? What was the point of that?”, much like the Reagan sketch.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS
crew breaks down location for London satellite shoot

   

— According to Steve, they have a lot of time to kill.
— Laraine doesn’t look very happy. I’ve noticed that about her in several goodnights this season, actually.
— For some reason, the scrolling ending credits are in a yellow font tonight instead of the usual white font.
— I love the cutaway to the SNL crew in London putting away their equipment.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very up-and-down, inconsistent episode. Some things were very strong, some things were terrible. Actually, come to think of it, the show started out really well, as most of the pre-Update material was good and featured some great energetic performances. The inconsistency of the night seemed to start halfway through the episode, where even Update was pretty flat. There were two solid sketches after Update (Stretch Marks and The Hominids), but some of the weaker sketches in that half were some of the most laughless flops the show has had in a while.  And it goes without saying that I could’ve done without so much Father Guido Sarducci throughout the show.
— This was Steve Martin’s final time hosting during the original SNL era. I’m gonna miss seeing him working with this cast, which to this day still remains the cast he had the best chemistry with.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bob Newhart):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
(*sigh*) It’s the end of an era, folks. Buck Henry hosts the original cast’s final episode.

Posted on

May 10, 1980 – Bob Newhart / The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bruce Cockburn (S5 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Marvin Hamlisch (PAS) & Pink Lady (LAN) & (GIR) & Carl Sagan (HAS) joke

   

— Unsurprisingly, Harry does a solid Carl Sagan impression.
— Interesting way to parody the legendarily disastrous “Pink Lady and Jeff” show.
— This doesn’t seem to be offering much other than a phony laugh track and bad jokes, though I suppose that’s accurate to the real show it’s parodying.
— Boy, I’m almost being blinded by the bright glare off of Laraine and Gilda’s shiny chest armor.
— Overall, I liked the initial idea of this, but kinda lost interest over the course of it.  Good idea behind this, though.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about a “seven lost cities of the Incas” travelogue

— His example of how bad travelogues are had a slow start, but is getting better.
— The “impossible to go” line was really funny.
— Overall, this ended up being pretty funny, but not one of the better stand-up pieces I’ve seen from Bob.
STARS: ***


THE DATING ZONE
(host) questions Iris de Flaminio & catatonic Colleen

     

— Nice to see the return of Jane’s Iris De Flaminio.
— Always hilarious to see Gilda’s catatonic Colleen character, and Bill’s intro to her was great.
— Great role for Bob as a befuddled contestant who was just thrown onto the show. I also like how he walked on carrying a bag of groceries.
— A “Twilight Zone” twist!
— Yet another great impression from Harry, this time doing a Rod Serling that’s as dead-on as Dan Aykroyd’s was.
— Great premise, doing a crossover between The Dating Game and The Twilight Zone.
— The bit with Gilda not answering Bob’s question was too predictable.
— Laraine’s line about tongue clamps cracked me up.
— Overall, not the classic I thought it would be, but still pretty enjoyable.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Amazing Rhythm Aces perform “Who Will The Next Fool Be”
Amazing Rhythm Aces & BIM perform “Third-Rate Romance”

 

— What the…..? Bill Murray has suddenly shown up mid-performance, playing the maracas with the band. Pretty cool.


WEEKEND UPDATE
ALF says he should have a limousine, not “lame-o” Fred Silverman

   

— Great joke from Jane about a “Death of a Jewish Princess” docudrama.
— A Three Stooges joke!
— Loved Bill casually referring to Jane as an anonymous “local hosebag” when talking about the picture of her and Walter Cronkite.
— When Jane avoids admitting she did anything sexual with Cronkite by saying she’s protected by the first amendment, Bill had a great response: “At least you used some protection”.
— Oh, I think Franken’s commentary is going to be his famous “Limo for a Lamo” bit.
— Al’s questioning of why even Garrett Morris receives limo service was harsh but funny. Speaking of whom, I just realized Garrett has yet to be seen tonight so far.
— Yep, this IS the “Limo for a Lamo” bit.
— Ha, this Franken commentary has a lot of balls, bashing the hell out of the NBC president. IIRC, Fred Silverman ended up being so offended by the commentary that it cost Al his potential spot as Lorne’s successor for next season, and thus, we would end up getting stuck with Jean Doumanian.
— I love Al showing the board of the top 10 rated then-current TV shows (second-to-last screencap above), and pointing out how there aren’t any NBC shows on there. Also, wow, did CBS really have that much dominance in the ratings in 1980, or is the info on Al’s board exaggerated a little?
— I wonder how many viewers ended up mailing in to the address Al is displaying on-screen. I’m guessing Silverman put the kibosh on that pretty quick.
— Al’s overall commentary was daring and fantastic, and a great way to conclude an overall strong Update.
STARS: ****


THE LETTER
Civil War officer (host) fails to write to dead soldier’s mother (GIR)

   

— Peter Aykroyd with a big speaking role? Why wasn’t he credited in tonight’s opening montage?
— Never mind, Peter ended up getting killed off early in this.
— It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. This looks like it could be a good use of Bob’s deadpan.
— Ha, it’s been almost a year and Bob’s character still hasn’t written the letter.
— A pretty good laugh when Bob made Gilda “promise not to get mad” when he’s going to reveal the news about her son.
— I like how Bill remained in “civil war soldier” mode even after the sketch ended while the other performers were seen dropping character.
— Overall, I found this sketch to be okay. On paper, it probably comes off as a tedious sketch that dragged on and on, but something about the execution of it tickled me. Bob’s performance probably really helped, since I can see this same sketch falling completely flat with almost any other host.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Bruce Cockburn performs “Wondering Where the Lions Are”


DAVE’S VARIETY STORE
store owner (host) fills customers’ orders of rare & unusual wares

     

— I’m liking how the store seemingly has everything.
— Ha, a pink balloon filled with pretzels.
— Hilarious how more outlandish the requests are becoming. Tom Davis requesting and receiving a “large medieval crossbow made out of chocolate” is especially great.
— Garrett’s just NOW making his first appearance of the night?
— Great visuals of the many odd items Garrett receives, especially the half-TV and the square basketballs.
— Overall, a very solid sketch.
STARS: ****


MR. BILL GOES TO JAIL
by Walter Williams- escape attempts backfire

       

— I like how this is a continuation of the ending of the last Mr. Bill short, where he got thrown in the slammer.
— Why does Mr. Hands sound like he’s voiced by a different actor than usual?
— Mr. Hands shooting a hole through Spot made me laugh out loud.
— Overall, one of the better Mr. Bills in a while. These shorts are so much more refreshing when they’re used more sparingly instead of the way they were used in season 4, where they seemed to appear every 2-3 episodes.
STARS: ***½


RESTAURANT
after proposing, (host) learns fiancee (JAC) used to weigh 260 pounds

 

— Jane saying she used to weigh 260 pounds wasn’t as funny of a reveal as the set-up to it had expecting.
— Bob’s reaction to seeing the heavyset picture of Jane was funny.
— Heh, a rare character break for Jane, with her trying not to crack up when she was talking with her mouth full of food. (second screencap above)
— The disturbing details about Jane’s diet, with her having her jaw wired shut, her intestines tied up, etc., are pretty funny.
— The sketch is over already? They ended this before it fully took off; it was beginning to look like it was going to be a great showcase for Jane. I wonder if the show started running long and they had to do some last-minute trimming to this sketch.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode. Nowhere near as strong as I’m sure a Bob Newhart-hosted episode would’ve been earlier this era (particularly seasons 3 and 4), but I still was satisfied with a lot of the show. Not much else to say besides that.
— As a side note, this may be tied with the season 4 Richard Benjamin episode as holding the record for having the least amount of sketches in an SNL episode.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Strother Martin):
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Only two episodes left in the original SNL era, folks. Steve Martin hosts the penultimate episode.

Posted on

April 19, 1980 – Strother Martin / The Specials (S5 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Rosalynn Carter (LAN) encourages illegal aliens to take part in census

   

— Another sketch that makes it really obvious they had nobody to play the president this season.  This address to the nation about the 1980 census feels like it should be delivered by President Carter, not his wife.
— The census questions for immigrants are pretty funny.
— Hilarious random part with Gilda as her Spanish maid recurring character interrupting Laraine’s message and angrily spitting on her before being dragged away by secret service men.
— Gilda delivers LFNY in Spanish! This is SNL’s very first instance of a non-English LFNY.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Writers Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel receive their very first credit as featured players.

 

— Seems pretty late in the season to be making new cast additions. I recall hearing this ends up being the ONLY episode Zweibel was ever credited as a featured player in.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— I’m kinda loving his rural, hillbilly-type voice.
— A pretty straightforward, nothing-special monologue, but Strother got some humor out of talking about passing himself off as Tennessee Williams.
STARS: **½


FRENCH CAMP
Cool Hand Luke (BIM) rebels against French language camp director (host)

       

— I liked Strother’s line about being a “mean sumbitch”.
— Garrett’s delivery is really awkward in this.
— I like how “the box” that disobedient campers are confined to has a cassette tape of French lessons that the camper is forced to listen to.
— Great subtle gag of the soldiers’ guard dogs being French poodles.
— I’m getting a lot of little laughs from Brian Doyle-Murray’s constant whacks to his brother Bill’s head with a tiny wooden stick whenever Bill refuses to say “It’s a little cat” in French.
— Nice variation of the famous “What we got here is a failure to communicate” line.
— Very good ending.
— Overall, what a great mini-movie-type sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gangsters”


WEEKEND UPDATE
G. Gordon Liddy (TOD) barbecues & eats his hand during a LAN interview
Chico Escuela has advice for Muhammad Ali & baseball players
amateurish TOS drawings ape NBC video captioning of tonight’s top story

       

— Boy, yet another Update that begins with Jane not knowing which camera to look at.
— I like how during the news story about Hitler’s birthday, Bill says we were mistaken if we thought he was going to do another one of his “Happy Birthday” songs (which I did almost think he was going to do).
— Very funny reveal that Tom Davis is barbequeing his own hand.
— The surprising ending with Tom eating his own fingers makes me wonder if he’s the writer behind that Jeffrey Dahmer sketch from the 1992 episode hosted by Chevy Chase, where Chevy as Dahmer randomly chewed off his own fingers as the climax of that sketch. Tom actually does a walk-on at the very end of that sketch, so my suspicions that he wrote it are probably correct.
— The return of Chico Escuela. It’s surprisingly been a pretty long time since his last appearance.
— What in the world? That Escuela commentary was just plain bizarre, and Garrett’s delivery was ROUGH. That’s the second time tonight where Garrett’s delivery has come off bad.
— We get the return of the “amateurish, childlike Tom Schiller drawings” gag, which was often done during the Chevy era of Update in season 1.
— Update ends with the camera being on just Jane. Bill must be backstage getting in costume for the next sketch.
STARS: ***


VIDEO WILL
(host)’s children view their departed dad’s variety show-style video will

         

— I like Jane’s flaky southern character.
— A good laugh from Bill dismissively calling Harry “Jew boy”.
— The overlong bedpan sequence was pretty funny.
— I love the jovial performance of the song “High Hopes”.
— Funny morbid part with the reveal that Strother’s hospital roommate has just died.
— Heh, Schiller and Shaffer as Mexican musicians. This is reminding me of their roles in the Cuban Beatles sketch from earlier this season. It feels like the only time Tom Schiller is on camera this season is when he’s doing a foreign accent.
— Did we just get a too-early shot of moving feet on the TV screen?
— Good touch with the spinning screen effect at the end of one of Strother’s scenes.
— This is turning out to be an increasingly fun sketch.
— Ha, the video will even has a full set of ending credits.
— A funny dig at NBC’s then-current ratings troubles with Bill’s line about how NBC will buy anything.
— Overall, a very solid sketch.
— I like how at the end when the camera was pulling back, you can see that the office set and hospital room set were right next to each other.
STARS: ****


CONDUCTOR’S CLUB
at the weekly meeting of the Conductor’s Club, it’s business-as-usual

   

— Strange premise.
— The sound the record made when it screeched to a halt gave me a laugh.
— I’m starting to really like this sketch now; it has an interesting, unusual concept that’s appealing to me.
— The interludes with the club members practicing their conducting moves are hilarious.
— Heh, Strother was so into his wild conducting moves, he dropped his conductor’s stick and Bill had to pick it up for him.
STARS: ****


INVASION OF THE BRAIN SNATCHERS
Reagan pods turn liberals conservative

       

— Don Pardo as the voice of a news anchor on the TV Laraine’s watching. They used to do that with Pardo more often back in season 1.
— Their prediction that the 1980 election will end up being between Carter and Reagan ended up being accurate.
— Great visual with the giant Reagan pods.
— “Invasion of the Brain Snatchers”. Interesting direction this has suddenly taken.
— Bill’s understated reaction to seeing the pods was very good.
— Hilarious with the zombie-esque brainwashed Reagan supporters.
— Is Paul Shaffer spoofing a real singer? His goatee and crazy cross-eyed facial expression seem too specific to just be a fictional character. He looks hilarious, by the way.
— I love the part with Bill running in the dark while transparent shots of brainwashed Reagan supporters are superimposed over him.
— Overall, a brilliant, very well-done sketch with clever political writing.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Too Much, Too Young”


ANY TOWN
nameless residents are prejudiced against new coach (BDM)

   

— Yet another sketch tonight with an unusual, interesting-seeming premise.
— I’m liking the lack of names for everyone and everything.
— Strother’s doing a good job leading this sketch and seamlessly pulling off the various scene transitions, which doesn’t look easy.
— Overall, this didn’t seem to be trying to be laugh-out-loud funny, but it was interesting to watch progress.
— This reminded me a little of that Our Town sketch from Dick Cavett’s season 1 episode. They both even have similar titles.  Are both sketches a parody of the same thing?
STARS: ***


FOOD
by Edie Baskin- photographic essay of various NYC eateries

     

— Hmm, this film has the exact same look and stop-motion style as SNL’s then-current opening montage. Must be made by the same company.
— It’s over already? I’m not sure what to say about this film, but it had a unique structure and a very nice visual look, at least.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

  

— The show must’ve ended early, as these goodnights went on for a long time before the credits even started scrolling. We’re also getting some lengthy shots of the SNL Band, which is rare for this era.
— Don Pardo: “Tonight’s food photo essay by Edie Baskin”. Ah, that explains that film’s visual similarities to SNL’s opening montage, which Edie Baskin is behind.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A kinda-unusual episode, but I liked this one a lot. A majority of the sketches had really odd, creative, well-thought-out premises, some of which tried less for laughs and more for telling an interesting story. In general, the writing tonight seemed more inspired than it’s usually been this season. A few of the sketches were particularly strong, such as French Camp and Invasion of the Brain Snatchers. Overall, not only was this easily one of the best episodes from the rough second half of this season, but was also one of the best episodes of this whole season in general.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Burt Reynolds):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bob Newhart

Posted on

April 12, 1980 – Burt Reynolds / Anne Murray (S5 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
host claims not to be upset over not being nominated for an Oscar

   

— Laraine to Burt: “You’re still number 1 in my box office.” Nice little double-entendre there.
— Garrett’s comment about Burt being “the [n-word] of Hollywood” was freakin’ hilarious.
— What is up with Burt always amusedly repeating the cast’s funny lines after they say it?
— I got a pretty good surprised laugh from Burt slamming Gilda’s head against the locker door and then stuffing her into the locker. Burt’s taking a page out of John Belushi’s playbook, I see.
— I like how Gilda delivered LFNY from inside the locker.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
during chat with audience member, host’s preferred topic is himself

 

— I like the home base stage’s latest addition of a graffiti-covered black wall with a red gate in front of it, which, IIRC, becomes the new spot where the hosts do their monologues in front of for the remainder of the season.
— Was Burt’s “no open nasal passages” line a cocaine-snorting joke? Also, he repeated that line in a louder tone after it failed to get a big audience reaction. Man, what’s with his bad habit of repeating punchlines tonight?
— Audience member: “Go Gators!” Burt: “I didn’t bring you up here to do any of that kind of crap.”
— Burt playing off of the audience member’s “slowness” has a few laughs, but Burt making every conversation topic about himself isn’t working for me and he’s not coming off very likable.
STARS: **


FAN
(BIM) & (JAC) allow young daughters (LAN) & (GIR) to sleep with host

  

— Gilda’s funny as the younger sister.
— I’m not sure about this sleazy premise. I suppose it’s fitting for Burt Reynolds, but didn’t we just HAVE a sketch dealing with a host being in a creepy sexual relationship with an underage girl? (the “Manhattan” parody with Rodney Dangerfield)
— Overall, I didn’t care for this sketch. Too easy a premise to do with Burt, and something about this sketch felt like it was made to stroke his ego.
STARS: **


ROMAN VOMITORIUM
in ancient Rome, (host) tries to pick up women in a vomitorium

     

— Oh, boy, here’s an infamous sketch that I’ve always been morbidly curious to see. I think it’s widely considered a prime example of how far the writing had fallen this season.
— Bill doing his reliable talking-out-the-corner-of-the-mouth routine.
— Man, is Burt going to be playing the same type of sleazy, skirt-chasing role in EVERY sketch tonight? Almost makes me feel like I’m watching a rerun of the season 3 Hugh Hefner episode, where a lot of sketches had a Playboy theme with Hef playing himself.
— Good lord at this sketch so far…..
— Laraine playing a character named Anorexia, a role she fits like a glove. I don’t know whether to find that funny or sad.
— Al Franken’s walk-on makes me wonder, is this a Franken and Davis-written sketch? Their writing IS said to have gone downhill this season, which would certainly explain this sketch.
— I admit, Harry’s off-camera froggy-sounding vomiting just now had me laughing out loud.
— Was Burt’s “Toga toga toga” line an Animal House reference? It received light applause from some audience members.
— Boy, that ending with Bill scooping up vomit from one of the tubs and putting it into a basket…..
— Overall, the only words I can find to say is: Jesus Christ. Also, this feels like something that would’ve aired in any of the three infamous “disaster seasons” of the show.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lucky Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Father Guido Sarducci dislikes animals’ lack of gratitude toward mankind
BIM selects Oscar winners in his trademark style

     

— Father Guido Sarducci’s pigeon/statue comment was fairly funny.
— I kinda like the idea behind Sarducci delivering a message to dogs at home.
— Overall, Sarducci’s commentary wasn’t TOO bad; I’ve seen worse from him this season. But man, they still need to cut back BIG-TIME on the number of his appearances.
— Yes, the return of Bill’s annual Oscar predictions! I always enjoy this segment, and judging from the instant audience applause when Bill brought out his board of predictions tonight, the audience does too. Considering Bill (and everyone else in the cast) is going to leave SNL a few episodes from now, this ends up being his final time doing this Oscars segment as a cast member. He would bring it back in a few of his future hosting stints, however.
— The Flying Nun comment about Sally Field was really funny.
— Bill continues his tradition of giving short-shrift to the supporting actors/actress categories.
— Overall, another great Oscar predictions segment from Bill.
STARS: ***


DELIVERANCE II
undercover cop (host) looks for homosexual hicks

       

— Now we get a gay camping sketch tonight? Geez, what’s with all the lowbrow sketch premises in this episode?
— Ha, the inclusion of Anita Bryant in a sketch like this is automatically funny.
— What was with the collapsing light that was being shone from off-camera?
— Jane’s outburst over Burt turning down a glass of orange juice is great.
— Jane as Anita Bryant: “I don’t know who I hate more: homosexuals or the scum who only think orange juice is for breakfast.”
— “Deliverance II”. Ah, I should’ve seen that twist coming, considering Burt’s involvement. I’m now more excited about this sketch’s premise, as Deliverance is usually always good parody material.
— Several technical errors in this sketch so far.
— Heh, that chroma-keyed boat-rowing effect looks incredibly fake.
— LOL at Paul Shaffer’s make-up as the inbred banjo player.
— Harry’s San Francisco comment was really funny.
— Eh, that ending with all the guys going in the tent together…
— Of course, we get a Village People song to close out the sketch.
— Overall, not too great as a whole, despite some individual laughworthy parts here and there.
STARS: **½


THE BURT BOOK
The Burt Book’s pics of host get women through those lonely nights

   

— Decent concept.
— Burt saying one of his turnoffs is people with large runny boils in their neck was really funny.
— Heh, Laraine being shown moving her hand under the bed covers while eagerly reading the Burt Book……
STARS: ***


STREET SCENE
by Andy Aaron- off-screen director coaches pedestrians

   

— Hmm, a non-Tom Schiller film.
— Ha, holy hell at the building actually collapsing.
— The aggressive director’s voice is making me laugh.
— Overall, a strange film, but kinda funny. Felt like something that would’ve appeared on the show in the early 80s. Maybe I feel that way because this reminds me of the later “Push Button to Explode Building” short with Tom Davis. That one WAS from the early 80s, right?
STARS: **½


PEPPERS
daughter (LAN) & other Peppers convince (BDM) & (JAC) to join the cult

     

— I’ve always heard good things about this sketch.
— Bill’s cheesy teenage delivery is funny.
— Loved the brief part with the teens’ rhythmic walking in unison (which I’m assuming is based on the choreography of a then-current Dr. Pepper ad).
— Good ending with everybody singing a Dr. Pepper commercial jingle together while dancing their way off the set.
— Overall, this was pretty strong. Feels like the first sketch I’ve felt highly about all night.
STARS: ****


ARGUMENT
party etiquette breach gives couple (host) & (GIR) a reason to argue

 

— Are we in for a slice-of-life couple sketch?
— I liked Gilda’s grammatical word-by-word breakdown of her sentence “It has nothing to do with you”.
— The heated “listen to me” back-and-forth between Burt and Gilda is weird as hell.
— Overall, this was stranger than the usual slice-of-life pieces from this era, but I guess I liked it enough, though they almost lost me at some parts.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Why Don’t You Stick Around”


BABA WAWA AT LARGE
Marlon Brando (host) pigs out during interview

— Surprised to see this. I had assumed the “Baba Wawa At Large” sketches were long retired by this point. I can’t even remember when the last time they did this sketch was.
— Oh my god at Burt as a huge, bed-ridden Marlon Brando.
— I like seeing Burt in a very un-Burt Reynolds-type role, but his Brando impression doesn’t hold a candle to Belushi’s.
— Someone in the audience can be heard loudly repeating Burt’s yelling of “Stellaaaa!”
— Overall, a forgettable sketch. I really wanted to like this more than I did.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— After a big upswing in quality with the last episode, we’re unfortunately back to the usual season 5 shakiness. Not a very good episode tonight, most of the sketches left me underwhelmed, and one of them was flat-out terrible (Vomitorium). The Dr. Pepper piece was pretty much the only sketch I was crazy about.
— Burt Reynolds had a rough start in the first few sketches, playing the same type of role and having an off-putting habit of repeating punchlines for no apparent reason. He got a little better as the night went on, but he still wasn’t anything great overall.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss):
— a pretty big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Strother Martin

Posted on

April 5, 1980 – Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss / The Grateful Dead (S5 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Police Boat will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Carter Held Hostage- Frank Reynolds (HAS) covers presidential agoraphobia

   

— Hearing Harry’s Tom Snyder voice-over talking during a picture montage of President Carter really makes one yearn for Dan Aykroyd’s presence this season.
— “Carter Held Hostage”. A very funny concept. Though why does this make me think of the upcoming 80-81 season? Maybe I’m thinking of the “America Not Held Hostage Anymore” cold opening I remember seeing from that season.
— Oh, it turns out Harry’s not playing Tom Snyder; he’s Frank Reynolds. I sure don’t see any difference with the voice, though. As much as I enjoy Harry Shearer, quite a number of his celebrity impressions this season are vocally interchangeable with one another.
— Boy, the audience is pretty quiet during this sketch.
— It almost seemed like Paula Prentiss forgot one of her lines at one point. Maybe that was just an odd character choice.
— A passing reference to President Carter’s infamous rabbit attack.
— I believe this is Harry’s very first LFNY.
— Overall, despite the promising concept, this ended up being not too great and the interview portions dragged.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
Paula downplays Richard’s irritation over being cut from the cold opening

— Richard’s increasing bitterness over being cut from the cold opening is pretty funny.
— Decent ending with Richard finding out his Barry Manilow impression was cut as well.
STARS: ***


JESUS CRUSH
little girls (GIR) & (LAN) fantasize about their dream guy Jesus

   

— I liked Gilda’s line about Jesus not being a snob because he hangs out with lepers.
— Did I hear right? Gilda’s character is named Debbie Nimrod????
— Gilda telling Laraine “You can have Lazarus” was great.
— Cute sketch so far.
— Gilda’s character mentions Bill Murray’s name as one of the many celebrities she and Jesus are going to the roller disco with.
— The ending with Paula was VERY awkward. What was up with that? Something seemed to go wrong. Also, why did it sound like she spoke with an accent at times?
— Overall, despite the weak ending, this was a very good sketch. Felt like something they would’ve done in the first two seasons.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Alabama Getaway”


POST-COITAL TORTURE
married (Richard) experiences paranoid guilt after infidelity with (LAN)

   

— Two back-to-back bedroom sketches co-starring Laraine tonight.
— Richard’s breakdown, repeating “Why am I here?” while banging his head against the door, is very funny.
— Loved Richard’s silent long scream when someone knocks on the door.
— The whole part with Laraine fooling Richard into thinking his wife has come over is absolutely great. Garrett confused reaction also added to the humor.
— Garrett’s comments are funny.
— Good ending.
— Overall, another solid slice-of-life sketch tonight.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Big Vic Ricker reports on women’s golf & the probable baseball strike
ALF asks viewers to send him their receipts so he can avoid income taxes
BIM sings “Happy Birthday” to the Three Mile Island accident

     

— The return of Big Vic Ricker. Good to see Harry get a recurring character.
— Liked the part with Harry’s “Let’s see that one more time” (*no clip plays*) “Okay, let’s don’t.”
— Another follow-up to the Al Franken Decade storyline.
— Hmm, Al talking about how impressive the amount of money he makes is. Wouldn’t he later do an Update commentary with that same premise, in the Jeff Daniels episode from 1991?
— Okay, Al’s commentary ended up going in a different direction, but overall, it was completely forgettable. His Update bits haven’t been doing too well lately.
— The bit between Bill and Jane about how much money Jane is worth had some pretty funny lines from Bill, and for historical purposes, I liked hearing him make a reference to NBC’s infamous then-current disastrous variety show “Pink Lady and Jeff”.
— Bill brings back his usual smarmy singing of “Happy Birthday”, this time to the Three Mile Island incident. This was worth it just for the visual of a birthday cake with a nuclear meltdown birthday candle.
— During her sign-off, Jane says “Feel better, Larry”. Who was that referring to?
STARS: ***


ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING
Iris de Flaminio (JAC), Bobbi Farber, Christy Christina get assertive

  

— The debut of Jane’s Iris De Flaminio character. This is a well-known character from this season, and I’m surprised to see Jane didn’t start playing her until the homestretch of the season. It’s rare for a cast member to debut one of their most popular characters right before they leave the show. The only other example that comes to mind is Vanessa Bayer’s gibberish-spouting weather lady.
— Hmm, Jane’s doing the same voice she used as a Dolly Parton impersonator in the preceding episode’s David Susskind Show sketch.
— Always nice to see Gilda’s Bobbi Farber.
— Jane is great in this.
— Laraine explaining that her compliment to herself in the mirror was “I want to be inside you” was very funny.
— Where have I heard Laraine do that high-pitched laugh before?
— Once again tonight, Paula’s timing and delivery is coming off a little awkward at times.
— Oh, now I think I know why Laraine’s character and laugh seems so familiar. Is this her character from the E. Buzz Miller sketches?
— Strange ending with Paula and Laraine.
— Overall, a very enjoyable ensemble sketch for the female cast members, with each of them doing solid character work.
STARS: ****


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
Khomeini the Magnificent (ALF) does Iranian version of Carnac bit

 

— Oh, they’re still doing the Franken and Davis Show? I had assumed they retired it this season.
— Funny concept with Al playing Ayatollah as Johnny Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent.
— The “Day-O” joke about the hostages in Iran was hilarious.
— Fun sketch so far.
— Al even managed to get laughs out of his line flub about a prayer rug.
— Tom’s good at doing the Ed McMahon laughing.
— The Shah/cat food joke was another hilarious one.
STARS: ***½


JOEY BISHOP FANS
Joey Bishop fans (BIM) & (GIR) find common ground with neighbors (hosts)

   

— The performers are doing a good job with the long, tense, stretched-out silences.
— A good laugh from Richard’s excitement when Joey Bishop first got mentioned.
— So much energy in this.
— Great sudden turn with Bill and Gilda’s mood turning sour when they disagree with Richard and Paula’s claim that Joey’s late show is better than his early show.
— Loved Bill’s angry yelling of “What people!!!” after slamming the door.
— Funny ending with Bill getting overemotional and asking for his pills, and relating that to Joey Bishop.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Saint of Circumstances”


MR. BILL STRIKES BACK
by Walter Williams- trip to the police backfires

     

— Wow, it’s actually been a good while since this character last appeared.
— “Sgt. O’Hanahan”. Heh, I see where going; O’Hanahan’s going to turn out to be Mr. Hands in disguise.
— Overall, not much to say, but this was pretty funny.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This was easily the best episode from the second half of the season so far. While the prior episodes from this half of the season have been either disappointing or just average, tonight’s episode was very solid, with a lot of well-written and well-performed sketches. Aside from the cold opening, there weren’t any sketches that fell flat for me; pretty much everything in tonight’s show worked. I also like how we got several slice-of-life pieces, which has become more of a rarity at this late stage in the original SNL era; it made this feel more like an episode from the first three seasons.
— If there was any downside to this episode, it’s that I felt Paula Prentiss was kind of a weak co-host. She seemed to falter a bit in the sketches where she wasn’t working with Richard Benjamin. She did fine whenever she was alongside him, though.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Simon and James Taylor):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Burt Reynolds

Posted on

March 15, 1980 – Paul Simon and James Taylor / David Sanborn (S5 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
for SNL’s hundredth show, LAN, JAC, GAM, GIR summon spirits of MOD & JOB

   

— A mention of this being SNL’s 100th episode.
— Hey, a Mr. Mike cameo!
— Loved O’Donoghue’s line “Did I mention that since I left, the show really sucks rubber donkey lungs?”, which is a criticism he really did famously state about this season of SNL (and maybe season 4, too) during an interview, I believe.
— Good comeback from Laraine to O’Donoghue, giving him a sarcastic “By the way, congratulations on Mondo Video”.
— The male voice that a possessed Jane is miming sounds like John Belushi doing his Samurai gibberish.
— Yep, it IS Belushi!
— A welcome return of John’s traditional “but noooooo” rant, complaining about doing this “cheap séance sketch”.
— Overall, a pretty fun cold opening, featuring an interesting premise and nice visits from some alums. Too bad they didn’t get Dan Aykroyd, though. Was he unavailable that week?
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Okay, this episode has always been listed on SNL sites as having no host, and lists Paul Simon, James Taylor, and David Sanborn as the musical guests. However, I noticed that in the section of tonight’s opening credits where the host is usually announced, Don Pardo says “With Paul Simon and James Taylor” (“with” was typically how Don announced hosts in the opening montage back then, instead of announcing them as “your host” or any variation thereof) while David Sanborn is announced separately as the musical guest. Looks like all those SNL sites are wrong; this episode DOES have a host – two, in fact. Lorne seemingly considers those two the hosts of this episode as well, because the famous 1990 monologue with Tom Hanks being inducted into the Five-Timers Club includes Paul Simon as one of the club members, which used to baffle many SNL fans (including myself), as it was always thought that Paul has only hosted FOUR times (seasons 1, 2, 11, and 13). Well, now I see that he actually HAS hosted host five times. And, hey, who knew James Taylor ever hosted SNL as well?
— So, after all that, I just have to ask: where did this decades-long misconception that this episode has no host come from?


MONOLOGUE
commuter BIM sings a song about what a typical day in NYC is like for him

     

— Looks like Bill gets the honors of doing the 100th monologue. Maybe THIS is why everybody thinks this episode has no host. But then again, when The Rolling Stones hosted the previous season, they didn’t do a monologue either – Mayor Ed Koch randomly did. Yet I don’t see any episodes guides listing THAT episode as having no host.
— Hey, we get a remodeled home base stage! Are they doing this because it’s the 100th episode?
— The new home base is a replica of a subway set, and it reminds me of a more extensive version of the subway newsstand home base stage they would later use temporarily at the beginning of season 10.
— Bill going into a Nick the Lounger Singer-esque number about New York.
— Loved Bill’s little jumping dance interlude.
— This song is really starting to get amped up, and damn, Bill is REALLY going all out with an insane, energetic performance. He’s cracking me the hell up.
— Loved Bill shouting “NEW YORK!!!! I LOVE YOU SO!!!!” and then doing a flip onto the floor.
— Funny little part with him spitting on the “spitting is unlawful” sign.
— Overall, I got a lot of enjoyment out of this, and Bill’s increasingly manic performance freakin’ killed me.
STARS: ****


HORIZON SYSTEM 12
the Horizon System 12 is the largest television system ever

   

— This parody of then-contemporary TV sets is serving as a nice little time capsule.
— Nice graphics for an SNL fake ad from 1980.
— That’s the whole thing? Not much of a joke. There was no audible laughing from the audience, either.
STARS: **


THE BIGGEST LEPRECHAUN
Patrick Moynihan [real] narrates the tale of The Biggest Leprechaun (PEA)

   

— A big role for Peter Aykroyd?
— Oh, I see they needed someone tall for the role, and Peter IS the tallest of all the cast members and featured players this season, so…
— Great voice from Harry.
— Overall, eh, I didn’t care for this. A pretty dull sketch.
STARS: **


TODD’S CAMPAIGN
Todd’s quest to be student body president is threatened by moon blackmail

   

— SNL has surprisingly been cutting back on The Nerds lately. This is only their third appearance of the season, and the season is almost over. I wonder if this ends up being these characters’ last appearance.
— I like how these sketches always make a mention of Mrs. Loopner’s famous egg salad.
— Uh, what the hell is Garrett doing??? Very awkward entrance from him, with him silently looking around every area of the house for some reason, like a paranoid weirdo. What in the world??? The audience is DEAD SILENT during this part, too.
— Oh, now I see what Garrett was doing. He’s Todd’s bodyguard, so he was scoping out the house to make sure it’s safe for Todd to enter. Still, it feels like that could’ve been executed in a less-awkward way.
— I like Garrett’s “I’ll just say it was me” plan, regarding the mooning picture of Todd.
— Fairly weak ending.
— Overall, despite an interesting premise for the Nerds, this ended up being just average. If this turns out to be the final Nerds sketch, this was not the best way for them to go out.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
hosts perform “Cathy’s Clown” & “Sunny Skies”
hosts perform “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”


WEEKEND UPDATE
during a polemic on economics, Ralph Nader [real] bashes the Ford Pinto
BIM models different hats on a dummy of Ayatollah Khomeini
Roseanne Roseannadanna wanders from breast-feeding to Bo Derek

         

— What’s that thing hanging off of the upper clock behind Jane? (first and sixth screencaps above)
— A cameo from SNL one-timer Ralph Nader.
— Another Nader reference to hot dogs having rat excrement, which was originally a line he said in the cold opening of the season 2 episode he hosted.
— Nader’s commentary was pretty dull overall. Not even the visual of a Pinto toy car lighter came off all that funny.
— Jane’s presumably made-up news story about Walter Cronkite being attacked by a swarm of Malaysian butterflies is an interesting variation of this season’s Jane/Cronkite story arc.
— Haha, Bill’s WTF-type facial reaction to Jane’s Malaysian butterflies story was great. (fifth screencap above)
— Bill to Jane, regarding Cronkite: “You’ll do anything to get in that old geezer’s pants, won’t you?”
— Bill’s Ayatollah hats segment was decent. I liked the SNL meta-reference with one of Bill’s looks for Ayatollah being “the Jake and Elwood routine”.
— First time we’ve seen Roseanne Rosannadanna in a while.
— Rosannadanna’s rant about Bo Derek’s nose hairs is fairly funny.
— The rest of Rosannadanna’s commentary did nothing for me, not even her little song at the end. I’m so burned out on this character. Couldn’t they at least try doing something different with her instead of just the same tired routine every single time? Even Emily Litella got put in different settings every now and then.
STARS: **½


MEDIEVAL BAND
(BIM)’s lack of rhythm irks fellow minstrels during gig for queen (JOB)

   

— Ah, here’s the infamous “flogging” sketch that contains an epic Paul Shaffer slip-up.
— This seems to be possibly the biggest role Shaffer has gotten in a sketch so far.
— James Taylor surprisingly sounds like a natural doing the medieval accent.
— Haha, there it is! Shaffer’s accidental f-bomb when he was supposed to say the fake swear word “flogging”. Some people in the audience react for a bit, but the performers immediately keep the sketch going. I didn’t see any visible realization from Shaffer after his mistake, unlike the infamous puffed-out-cheeks facial expression future cast member Jenny Slate made after her similar f-bomb slip-up in a sketch where she was supposed to say “friggin” over and over.
— Belushi again!
— Oh my god, John’s voice and accent…
— John sounds like Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child.
STARS: ***


TALK OR DIE
guests’ lives are threatened on (Michael Palin)’s talk show

     

— Random Michael Palin appearance!
— This sketch is already starting hot, with a great stunt at the beginning involving Michael flipping a man over the table. You don’t usually see stunts THAT physical in a live sketch.
— Interesting premise.
— The audience seems to be more familiar with who Jane is playing than I am.
— A REAL spider on Garrett’s shoulder?
— Pretty exciting sketch so far.
— The random bear attack is funny.
— Overall, a crazy sketch that was pretty fun, helped by the usual reliable Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ***½


NEW YORK STATE WINES
Honker & bums (PEA) & (GAM) are wine critics; Patrick Moynihan cameo

   

— Another sketch with Garrett playing a subway wino? Didn’t he just do a character like this in the recent Elliott Gould episode?
— Another rare Peter Aykroyd showcase.
— I still keep hearing Dan Aykroyd’s voice every time Peter talks in a sketch.
— Hey, it’s Bill’s Honker character.  Perfect addition to this.
— Another Senator Moynihan twist?
— I got a good laugh from Garrett spitting out the wine after drinking it, which Moynihan also seemed VERY amused by. (last screencap above)
— I wasn’t crazy about the overall sketch, but it had some worthy individual parts.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Anything You Want”


THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW
surgery hasn’t helped celebrity lookalikes

    

— Bill’s Susskind impression seems to be different every time he plays him. I can’t judge the accuracy of Bill’s impression, having no familiarity with Susskind.
— The pre-Elvis surgery picture of Harry looking like Rod Stewart was hilarious.
— I love the out-of-place voice Jane is using as the Dolly Parton lookalike.
— Funny line from Jane about having “sections of [her] buttocks implanted in [her] breasts.”
— Hilarious make-up job on Tom Davis’ face.
— You can hear an audience member audibly say “Thank god” when Bill mentions Paul Simon breaking up with Art Garfunkel.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

— Lorne makes a very rare goodnights appearance. This is also the earliest episode I recall seeing him in a suit, which would later become his default look whenever he would appear on-camera.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The best episode of the disappointing second half of this season so far, which still isn’t saying much, as this episode was just average. Still, it was helped by all the energy of this being the 100th episode, and also helped by all the star-studded guest appearances. It also helps that the weaker sketches were kept to more of a minimum than in the last few episodes.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rodney Dangerfield):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss

Posted on

March 8, 1980 – Rodney Dangerfield / The J. Geils Band (S5 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
host gets little respect from dressing room hog Father Guido Sarducci

   

— Weird seeing a Rodney Dangerfield/Father Guido Sarducci interaction sketch.
— I’m not caring for this. The whole ‘Sarducci moving in, helping Jane with money issues, and introducing an Italian family’ thing just isn’t funny to me. To say nothing of how burned out I am on seeing Father Guido Sarducci in general this season.
— Nice transition to the opening montage, by initially showing it start up on the TV monitor.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Strangely, there’s no saxophone heard at all during the theme music tonight, which is very unusual for SNL. Is the SNL Band’s sax player out sick, or is he there but just not miked very well? The theme music in general has a strange muffled sound to it tonight.


MONOLOGUE
host does self-deprecating stand-up, solicits OK signs from audience

  

— I already know I’m gonna love this.
— A particularly great one-liner from Rodney about sticking his head out the window and getting arrested for mooning.
— The audience gives automatic recognition applause when Rodney says his “no respect” catchphrase.
— Another particularly great one-liner that killed me was the one about Rodney’s son putting Krazy Glue in Rodney’s Preparation H.
— The whole part with Rodney sincerely asking the audience to give him the “okay” hand sign for when he’ll walk off was very interesting, and took this monologue into an unexpected direction.
— Overall, an excellent monologue.
STARS: *****


THE NIGGERRAND
invest in the Niggerand, the gold coin mined by South African laborers

 

— Uh, wow, what a premise.
— Part of the reason why this is working is the way a premise like this is being played so straight in typical Harry Shearer fashion.
— I liked the line about “the gift that keeps on grinning”.
STARS: ***½


DR. SHOCKLEY’S HOUSE OF SPERM
host dreams he’s the most popular donor at Dr. Shockley’s House of Sperm

     

— Another sketch that has me saying “Wow, what a premise”.
— I like the names of other sperm banks Bill mentioned (“Jizz World”, “Jelly Barn”).
— Loved Bill showing the group of sperm samples from the U.S. Olympic hockey team.
— Rodney’s involvement is making this even better.
— Haha, Rodney slipping in a few more of his stand-up jokes.
— The scene with Garrett and Yvonne Hudson is good, especially Bill explaining to them that Tony Orlando is the closest to a black donor he has available for them.
— Funny how this is turning into everybody requesting Rodney as a donor.
— I love how there’s randomly a Nazi couple among the crowd of people at the store.
— I didn’t care for the ending. A disappointing way to end an otherwise very good sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love Stinks”


WEEKEND UPDATE
BIM interviews Jerry Mathers & Tony Dow [real] about Vietnam death rumor
Father Guido Sarducci interviews an Italian who underwent a race change

     

— Good callback to the famous Generalissimo Francisco Franco running joke from the Chevy era.
— WTF? What was with Bill’s off-camera “Remember these two guys?” while the camera is still on Jane?
— Oh, now we see what happened: Bill had mistakenly started his next bit too early before Jane did the second part of her two-part Francisco Franco joke. Some good laughs from that blooper.
— An interview with Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow. Boy, do they look weird with grown-out late 70s hairstyles.
— Mathers and Dow acting like their “Leave it to Beaver” characters is pretty cute, if not all that hilarious.
— Ouch, Jane’s traffic deaths/births joke didn’t get ANY laughs from the audience. I was hoping to get a good ad-lib from her out of that, but she instead just moved on to the next joke.
— *groan* The season 5 oversaturation of Father Guido Sarducci continues…
— Ugh, this whole Italian conversation between Sarducci and the other guy is a chore to sit through.
— Okay, I got a minor laugh from Sarducci’s line about Greek people who want to have a nationality-change operation into Arabs. The rest of this commentary is a waste, though.
— Jane ends Update by kindly saying “Goodnight, Walter”, as yet another reference to the running joke about her and Walter Cronkite.
STARS: **½


MANHASSET
(host)’s relationship with 10 year-old (LAN) mirrors Manhattan

     

— Rodney’s opening narration was funny at first, but went way too long (even if that was the point).
— Why is the opening city montage continuing to go on for a ridiculously long time, even after Rodney’s narration stopped?
— If this is supposed to be set in modern day, why is this in black-and-white?
— Geez, this premise is creepy. Rodney having a relationship with a 10 year old???
— I’m starting to think this is a parody of an actual movie that I’m only vaguely familiar with. (ADDENDUM: it’s Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”)
— I’m not caring for this so far.
— The cheap look of Bill and Rodney “walking” in front of a chroma-key screen is almost funny in itself.
— Rodney’s joke about finding a guy at the bottom of his waterbed was hilarious, and felt like the first big laugh I got from this whole sketch so far.
— “The End”. Finally, it’s over. Man, I got very little enjoyment out of this whole sketch, especially the longer and longer it went on (and, boy, was this a long sketch). The uncomfortable pedophilia premise didn’t help, either… which is odd, because I always laugh at the Uncle Roy sketches with Buck Henry. Not sure why the pedophilia premise works for me there, but bothered me here.
STARS: *½


ROAD TO MOSCOW
Curt Gowdy (HAS) & athletes mull USA Olympic boycott

 

— Geez, this entire sketch came and went with me being very bored and finding absolutely NOTHING to note for this review. I didn’t laugh a single time here. I think that preceding Pedophilia sketch soured my whole mood for this episode.
STARS: *


100TH EPISODE
GIR & JAC tell viewers that next week’s SNL will be the 100th episode

— Jane and Gilda are wearing the same robes they wore in their strange interlude during the Micro-Dentists sketch from the last episode.
— Oh, this is an announcement of next week’s episode being SNL’s milestone 100th episode.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


SUBSTITUTE JUDGE
people in court play schoolroom pranks on a substitute judge (BDM)

     

— This is a well-known sketch that I’ve never seen for myself until now. Considering the bad mood the last few sketches put me in, I could use a strong sketch right about now.
— I liked all the off-camera murmuring of “crotch???” when the court heard that “Crotch” is the substitute judge’s last name.
— Future one-time SNL host Rob Morrow appears in this as one of the background jurors, which he would later memorably point out in his monologue.
— I like this premise of treating a substitute judge like a substitute teacher.
— Gilda sneakily returning the gavel is hilarious.
— I wonder if this sketch was written by the same person who wrote that Thanksgiving dinner kids table sketch from earlier this season. They’re both in a similar vein.
— Rodney’s immature one-liners are cracking me up.
— What the hell’s that loud buzzing sound while Brian’s speaking right now?
— Oh, it’s everybody in the court humming.
— Overall, a fun and very solid sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sanctuary”


AMERICA ON THE JOB
American Garment Inspectors Association is saluted

   

— Ah, I recognize Peter Aykroyd’s voice as the narrator, based on how much the narrator sounds like Peter’s brother Dan.
— And now we see for ourselves that it IS Peter. I thought this was just going to be an off-camera narrator role for him, but it turns out he’s actually playing a spokesman. Interesting role for him.
— Is this Gilda’s “I clean up, okay?” recurring character?
— Strange sketch.
— Yikes, Peter may have his brother’s great spokesman-type voice, but he sure doesn’t have his brother’s impeccable delivery or straight man skills. Peter’s coming off fairly stumbly with his lines, and he almost cracked up at one point. Is this why he usually doesn’t get much airtime?
— Uh, what exactly was the point of this whole sketch? This was another sketch tonight where there wasn’t anything worth noting about the actual content.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

 

— Everybody onstage and in the audience is giving Rodney the “okay” hand sign, as a classy callback to his monologue.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another fairly disappointing episode from the second half of season 5. While the memorable House of Sperm and Substitute Judge sketches were a riot, not to mention Rodney’s stand-up monologue, there wasn’t really anything else worth bragging about. The show especially hit a really bad lull around the middle, with two back-to-back sketches that I hated (Manhasset and Road To Moscow). This was also yet another season 5 episode that suffered from too much Father Guido Sarducci.
— This overall episode was nowhere near as funny as a Rodney Dangerfield-hosted SNL should be. Rodney himself was fine as host, but I wish he instead hosted during a better season.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kirk Douglas):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
SNL’s 100th episode! Hosted by… no one!

Posted on

February 23, 1980 – Kirk Douglas / Sam & Dave (S5 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
a trip to host’s dressing room reveals he’s very short & has no dimple

  

— The visual of Kirk standing on his knees to make himself look short is pretty funny.
— Good gag with one of the make-up people being seen carrying a pair of fake legs.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host’s godchild Alexandra [real] is his most loyal fan

 

— He makes a passing mention of his son Michael Douglas when talking about which one of his sons has their own children.
— Overall, there weren’t any real jokes in this, but it was at least a heartfelt monologue.
STARS: **½


WHAT IF?
implications of Spartacus (host) in a Piper Cub are explored

     

— They’re still doing these sketches? I thought the Superman Nazi one from season 4 was the final one.
— Garrett’s trying way too hard with his “funny” body language. This reminds me, it’ll be interesting watching him throughout this episode, because there’s an infamous story about him having a terrible breakdown during rehearsals earlier that week. IIRC, they were doing blocking for a sketch and Garrett was late. After being called over the intercom numerous times, Garrett came storming over to the set, angrily threw his jacket down to the floor, and went on an absolutely INSANE, drug-fueled, nonsensical, screaming rant about various things, culminating in him complaining about always being watched by an invisible hypnotist robot on his shoulder. Lorne and others had to go over to Garrett to calm him down. Needless to say, this whole incident was during a time when Garrett’s drug addiction had really taken its toll on him.
— The Spartacus/piper cub premise doesn’t sound too promising. Maybe because I don’t know what a piper cub is.
— Oh, I see a piper cub is an old-fashioned plane. I’m still not too sure I’m crazy about this premise, though.
— I’m liking Kirk’s overexcitement.
— At the end, the “Man from U.N.C.L.E. / dinosaurs” premise Jane mentioned as the next episode’s topic sounds more promising than the actual sketch they just did.
STARS: **


THE MICRO-DENTISTS
tiny tooth doctors work in Anwar Sadat’s (GAM) mouth

         

— Interesting seeing Harry playing straight man to Garrett’s Anwar Sadat, because there’s another Garrett Morris-related backstage story regarding this episode. After being appalled when seeing how bad Garrett’s Sadat “impression” was during rehearsals, Harry kept pleading with the writers to give him the Sadat role, explaining he could do a much better impression. Much to Harry’s annoyance, the writers insisted on keeping Garrett in the role. Maybe they just felt sorry for Garrett after his aforementioned breakdown earlier that week.
— Garrett’s delivery in this is pretty bad and too drawn out, and yeah, his Sadat “impression” merely consists of him just doing a generic accent.
— “Micro-Dentists”. Interesting premise.
— Good line from Bill about the brushing-up-and-down method being a fraud.
— Impressive giant “mouth interior” set.  I love it.
— Another funny line from Bill, regarding him having drank three pots of tea earlier.
— Good part with the taste buds attacking.
— Out of nowhere, during the big climax, we get a sudden cutaway to Jane and Gilda as themselves on SNL’s home base stage.
— Jane and Gilda very awkwardly explain to us viewers that the show won’t be able to do a special effects sequence that was required for the sketch they interrupted. This is all weird as hell, made even stranger by Jane and Gilda’s giggly nervousness and how unrehearsed this was. You can tell Jane and Gilda were thrown out there at literally the last minute.
— I liked Harry’s guilty demeanor when Garrett was pointing out that it felt like he was being fondled while he was unconscious.
— Ah, there’s yet another ending theme song sung by Bill Murray to the tune of the ending themes from other epic mini-movie sketches from around this time (e.g. The Black Shadow, First He Cries, etc.).
— Overall, a well-done and pretty fun epic sketch, despite the odd interlude with Jane and Gilda.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Don’t Know Like I Know”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ronald Reagan’s (HAS) damage-control spot has additional ethnic jokes
ALF supports reinstating the draft- it will only affect him positively

     

— For the first time in a while, we get another Update where the background international clocks have joke labels. One of the clocks seen behind Jane is labeled “Timex” (as seen in the third screencap above).
— And now, one of the clocks seen behind Bill is labeled “Bulova” (as seen in the fourth screencap above).
— Bill’s whole republican story bit was really funny.
— Whoa, the debut of Harry’s Ronald Reagan impression. I had no idea he ever played Reagan this season; I was only aware he did that impression during his second SNL stint in the 84-85 season.
— I see Harry’s Reagan impression was great right from the start.
— Funny bit with Bill revealing to Jane that he lost his virginity at age 9, but his first time “with a partner” was at age 13.
— Haha, and now Bill is visibly fighting to keep a straight face after that virginity bit. (fourth screencap above)
— I see we’re getting another continuation of the “Jane has a love jones for Walter Cronkite” running premise this season.
— Eh, Jane’s Cronkite bit tonight ended up being not too funny and felt forced.
— Al Franken’s overall commentary was very forgettable and a maybe little TOO dry for my likes.
STARS: ***


BAR MITZVAH
drunk last-minute replacement Nick “Collins” sings at a bar mitzvah

   

— Why does the audience keep laughing so hysterically at every single Yiddish word Tom Schiller keeps saying? It isn’t THAT funny.
— Now they’re laughing hysterically when Kirk is saying Yiddish words.
— Ah, Nick the Lounge Singer. I had a feeling this sketch would have a sudden turn where a recurring character makes an appearance, though it seemed they tried to mislead us into thinking this was going to be a normal run-of-the-mill sketch.
— Funny part with Bill/Nick sending the birthday boy to get him another drink.
— I’m loving Nick’s Jewish variation of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.
— Overall, I didn’t feel this was the funniest Nick the Lounge Singer sketch, but Bill did a particularly great job performing the songs in this.
STARS: ***½


PRIMETIME SATURDAY
Tom Snyder (HAS) seeks flakiness in Republican candidates’ brothers

   

— They haven’t stated who Harry’s playing, but this appears to be a Tom Snyder impression. If so, I never knew Harry ever played him on SNL. Weird seeing someone take over Aykroyd’s beloved impression so soon after his departure; I’m guessing SNL fans back then weren’t too happy about that.
— Paul Shaffer looks funny in that wig and mustache.
— Okay, Harry just did the famous laugh. Yeah, he’s DEFINITELY playing Snyder.
— Harry’s funny in this.
— I liked Harry’s casual statement at the end about Ted Kennedy being an only child.
STARS: ***


KIRK’S GREATEST KIRKS
album has host aping mimics’ impersonations of him

   

— Another sketch with a very enthusiastic Kirk Douglas performance.
— Interesting and funny concept.
— Kirk is very funny doing exaggerated impressions of himself.
— I like how the names of Kirk impersonators on the bottom of the screen keep getting more and more random (e.g. Jackie Kennedy, Jackie Gleason, Alex Haley, Hayley Mills, your doorman).
STARS: ****


MASK OF FEAR
by TOS- break-in victims learn that they’ll be skiing

     

— Yet another Schiller Reel that’s in black-and-white.
— It’ll be interesting to see where this is going.
— “You’re going skiing”? Eh, this plot twist isn’t working for me.
— And that’s it? Not too great. I actually enjoyed the long suspenseful build-up to the punchline more than the punchline itself.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Soul Man”


WOMEN’S BATHROOM
at Sardi’s, bathroom attendant (GIR) gets host’s autograph on paper towel

   

— Feels like we’ve barely seen Gilda all night. Looks like this could be an interesting character for her; it seems different from her usual types of characters.
— I like the part with Gilda confusing Kirk for other lead actors by quoting famous lines he never said.
— Overall, I wasn’t too crazy about this sketch as a whole, and I didn’t like Gilda’s character as much as I thought I would.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fairly forgettable episode that, while not too bad, felt like nothing special as a whole. The big centerpiece sketch of the night, Micro-Dentists, was strong and there was also a Nick the Lounge Singer installment that was carried by a particularly great Bill Murray performance, but they were surrounded by a lot of average or ho-hum material.
— Kirk Douglas was a fun, likable host, and had a lot of infectious enthusiasm in his performances. I wish he had hosted during an earlier season in this era, back when the writing was better.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— a moderate step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Rodney Dangerfield