Tag: 1977-78

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May 20, 1978 – Buck Henry / Sun Ra (S3 E20)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
The Boy In The Plastic Pants Suit will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
since you don’t have Nixon (DAA) to kick around anymore, kick his book

   

— Funny that Dan’s Nixon brings out the “Don’t Buy Books by Crooks” anti-Nixon t-shirt, considering Dan himself wore that same shirt (and proudly pointed to it) during the preceding episode’s goodnights. (screencap below of both moments)

 

— Dan’s Nixon’s desperation for people to buy the book is pretty funny.
— I liked the “Pat’s already on her fourth copy” line.
— Good ending with the book being placekicked.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
scrolling text says host’s career is over, contrary to what he claims

   

— Another scrolling disclaimer during a Buck monologue.
— As usual, this provided good laughs. I especially liked the magazines/telescope part.
STARS: ***½


NERD PROM
before the prom, parents Marshall (host) & Enid (JAC) advise Todd & Lisa

    

— I liked Jane’s comment about Bill’s hormones.
— Buck regarding Bill’s look: “John Ravolta, watch out!”
— Classic part with Bill giving Gilda a can that has rubber snakes pop out of it when she opens it. I’ve often seen that portion of this sketch in the form of a clip in SNL highlight reels.
— Jane’s details about the late Mr. Loopner were really funny.
— Kind of an odd ending.
STARS: ***½


SAMURAI T.V. REPAIRMAN
Mr. Dantley brings his broken set to Futaba

   

— Can already tell from the set that this will be a Samurai sketch.
— Yep, I was right.
— Futaba referring to his mother as “My mama-san” brought me back to the funny “Yo mama-san” bit from the Samurai sketch with Richard Pryor.
— Hate to say it, but you can tell this recurring sketch is running out of steam. A lot of the usual gags here feel tired, predictable, and by-the-numbers.
— The “68/89” mix-up was fairly funny.
— I liked Futaba sticking two swords into the top of the TV screen to fix the picture.
— This sketch as a whole was disappointing for Samurai standards. John also kinda seemed to be going through the motions; I bet he’s grown tired of doing this character. I think the only reason they’re continuing to use Futaba at this point in the show’s run is because it was a tradition to do so whenever Buck hosted. I heard that SNL did only two more Samurai sketches after this, and I’m guessing they’re in the two episodes that Buck hosts next season (which is John’s final season).
STARS: **


SODOM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
(BIM) offers image-improving ideas to the Sodom chamber of commerce

 

— This is an awfully cheap premise, especially for something this early in the show.
— Didn’t care for the ending with the female cast members singing.
— Overall, aside from a few okay lines, I was bored during this whole sketch.
STARS: *½


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
LAN narrates amateurish TOS drawings of Son Of Sam trial
BIM tries to call Jackie Onassis to get her reaction to The Greek Tycoon
DAA’s commentary about Betty Ford lists some other alcoholic first ladies
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about jogging

       

— Dan’s wearing dark-tinted sunglasses for some reason. I wonder if he’s aware that this is going to end up being his final Update.
— Haha, holy hell at Dan demonstrating the new fanfare and then quickly firing a sudden gunshot into the air. His delivery and timing of that was awesome. He may suck at reading Update jokes, but he was usually always great at doing random side bits like these.
— The return of the childlike “Artist’s Rendering” gag. Meh. This bit stopped being funny long ago back when Chevy was overusing it in season 1.
— Bill “Now get out of here, you knuckleheads” Murray stops by for what would end up being his final review commentary before taking over as new Update co-anchor next season. I wonder if they found a way to have him still continue doing these smarmy review commentaries even when being an anchorman.
— Bill calling out the movie clip for stealing Steve Martin’s “excuse me” catchphrase is amusing to me, because Bill himself used that catchphrase of Steve’s in a Nerds sketch from a few episodes ago.
— Bill: “(over the phone) Does the name Bill Murray mean anything to you? (a beat) John Belushi?” Haha, don’t worry, Bill, your time as a household name is soon coming.
— Dan’s segment detailing the drinking habits of first ladies throughout history was questionable, but I did like his comments about Mary Todd Lincoln.
— Another Point/Counterpoint.
— Dan’s harsh rebuttal to Jane was hilarious as usual, especially his menopause comment.
— And so ends the final Update of the short-lived Dan Aykroyd era. At least he went out with a few good moments tonight. Now bring on the Bill Murray era!
STARS: ***


THE OLYMPIA CAFE
Pete is forced to choose between employee Nico (BIM) & a guard dog

     

— The “lamb in the basement” bit was a fairly funny subtle part.
— I always like how each Olympia Cafe sketch involves multiple storylines going on at the same time. It adds a lot of layers and depth to the sketch, and makes it feel like a sitcom, which is also helped by the realism in everyone’s performances. It’s rare to see a recurring SNL sketch show this kind of detail and commitment to realism.
— Bill’s character abruptly getting fired and shoved out the door actually made me feel genuinely sorry for him.
— The back-and-forth with Bill repeatedly getting fired and then rehired is pretty good.
STARS: ***½


MR. MIKE’S LEAST-LOVED MUSIC
MOD performs “Baby Ghouls”

   

— Ah, a variation of Least Loved Bedtime Tales.
— Interesting visual of a superimposed, bloody Laraine doing sign language during O’Donoghue’s song.
— These lyrics are disturbing and fucked-up as hell, even for Mr. Mike standards.
— Overall, I have absolutely no idea what to make of this. I want to love it, because I’m usually a fan of dark Mr. Mike humor, but I’m not all that sure how I felt about this one.  I think maybe I appreciated the concept of it more than the actual execution.
— Was this O’Donoghue’s swan song? I thought I heard somewhere that tonight is his last episode. However, I had always been under the impression that he left after season 4, not season 3. Can anyone clarify? It does feel like they’ve been phasing him out in the second half of this season, as his presence has not been felt anywhere near as much as it was felt in the first two seasons. If tonight is indeed his last show, he sure will be missed. I feel kinda bad for being so iffy on this final sketch of his.
STARS: ??? (undecided)


MORE INSECTS TO WORRY ABOUT
(host) warns about brain-burrowing mites

— I didn’t know they made this into a recurring sketch.
— WTF was with Buck’s “f**got/maggot” slip-up? Was that intentional or a real flub? If someone made that same slip-up on SNL nowadays, they’d probably get chased out the building by an angry mob with torches and pitchforks.
— Some of the gross details by Buck are kinda funny, but this sketch isn’t working as well as the first installment did.
STARS: **½


STUNT PUPPY
director Brian Whitney has actor Howard abuse a stunt puppy in a scene

   

— Ah, it’s the Stunt Baby sequel.
— For some reason, I loved Jane exclaiming “I can’t, I’d vomit!” as her excuse for not cleaning up the mess the dog made on the floor.
— Wait, the stunt puppy is REAL? How are they going to pull this off?
— Oh, I see what they did; you can tell when they secretly switched the real stunt puppy with a fake one.
— Man, this was disappointing overall. This had an awfully long setup for a short payoff that felt derivative and just didn’t work as well as Buck’s original abuse of Stunt Baby did. Maybe instead of just throwing Stunt Puppy out the window like he did with Stunt Baby, they should’ve had Buck up the ante by pulling out a rifle and SHOOTING the puppy. That was what I had actually been expecting when I first heard there’s a Stunt Puppy sketch.
STARS: **


BAD CONCEPTUAL ART
(GIR) performs excerpt from Pavlov Video Chicken I

  

— Judging from what Dan’s saying in his intro, I’m predicting the role of a woman dancing like a chicken will be played by Laraine, who previously did a chicken impression in that “Little-Known Talents of the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players” sketch from season 2.
— Oh, it’s actually Gilda playing the chicken-dancing lady.
— Boy, that eye in the TV monitor looks just plain creepy. Is that Garrett?
— Wow, this play is insane, but not all that funny.
— Why did this end with Dan miming throwing something invisible into the garbage bin? He usually throws a script into the garbage at the end of these sketches.
— Overall, this was one of the lesser “Bad (insert type of play here)” installments, which makes this yet another disappointing sketch tonight. Man, what’s going on?
STARS: **


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
tragedy befalls the Franken family after TOD outs himself & ALF

     

— Funny twist with Davis revealing he and Franken are “homosexual lovers”.
— The audience & Franken’s “son” acting like Franken’s the worst person ever just for coming out as gay is making me laugh, but REALLY shows this sketch’s age. This premise couldn’t be used on the show nowadays.
— Wow, holy hell at the suicide ending. I love how dark and unexpected that was. I also love how the audience had no idea how to respond to it.
— Interesting “sponsored by” bit at the end.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Wonder why they buried the first musical performance so unusually late into the show.
— (*sees how utterly bizarre this performance is*) Oh, THAT’S why they buried this so late into the show…
— The show cut to commercial when this performance was still in progress. I’m sure it’s only because the episode ran long, but it’s funny to imagine that the real reason is because everybody at the show was so weirded-out by the performance that director Dave Wilson just threw his hands in the air and said “Alright, that’s it, I’m cutting this off!”


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An odd season finale. Considering Buck Henry was hosting and considering the impressive streak of great episodes that preceded this, expectations were high for a top-notch season-ender. Instead, the season went out on kind of an underwhelming note. There was a string of disappointing sketches in the second half of the show, post-Olympia Cafe and pre-Franken & Davis. The first half of the show wasn’t consistently strong, either, as it contained a rather lethargic Samurai installment and whatever that Sodom sketch was trying to be. Tonight’s episode still certainly had several highlights here and there, but nothing that I felt was worth giving more than a three-and-a-half star rating to.
— Despite the less-than-satisfying way it ended, season 3 was an overall fantastic year. There was impressively only ONE episode that I flat-out disliked (Madeline Kahn), and that was all the way back at the beginning of the season. There were two episodes that I felt were iffy but contained enough highlights that I wouldn’t classify them as outright bad shows (Hugh Hefner and tonight’s Buck Henry). The remaining episodes of the season all ranged from good to excellent. So many of those episodes were strong, especially the long stretch of episodes from Christopher Lee to Richard Dreyfuss, one of which included an episode that’s universally praised as an all-time legendary classic (Steve Martin/The Blues Brothers). There was also a surprising number of episodes that contained no weak sketches, which is a rarity for SNL. And we got lots of memorable unique gimmicks throughout the season, such as Charles Grodin “missing” dress rehearsal, Atomic Lobsters attacking the studio, and the whole “Anyone Can Host” contest. Overall, I’d say this is easily one of the greatest seasons in SNL history, and it was a blast for me to review.
— We’re officially three seasons down in the ‘One SNL a Day’ project!


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Season 4 begins, with hosts The Rolling Stones

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May 13, 1978 – Richard Dreyfuss / Jimmy Buffett, Gary Tigerman (S3 E19)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
paraquat-tainted Mexican dope is traced from farmers (JOB) & (GIR) to BIM

   

— Gilda’s accent is pretty funny.
— Boy, they sure love doing sketches where John physically abuses Gilda by slapping her around. I lost count of the number of sketches that’s happened in the episodes I’ve covered so far.
— Love Dan’s fast-paced narration.
— Bill’s reaction to smoking the joint wasn’t all that funny. The build-up to it had me expecting his reaction to be much more hilariously over-the-top.
— Overall, a strange opening, and it didn’t really work for me.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Father Guido Sarducci is mentioned as a special guest. This will be his very first appearance on the show. I’m surprised, because I thought he didn’t make his debut until season 4.
— In tonight’s montage, some of the cast members (John, Jane, and especially Gilda) noticeably receive much louder audience applause than others, which is always a good indicator of which cast members are the most popular at the time (best example of this is in seasons 8 and 9: as soon as Eddie Murphy’s picture would appear onscreen, the audience would absolutely ROAR with cheers, after giving zero applause for the cast members announced before him). I’m not surprised about John and Gilda, but I certainly am about Jane; I never knew she was an audience favorite.


MONOLOGUE
to prove to JOB he’s worthy of an Oscar, host does Hamlet’s soliloquy

  

— Haha at him coming out in a Shakespearean outfit.
— Funny story about how Belushi convinced him to do Hamlet.
— We get another great increasingly angry rant from John.
— Good ending with Richard’s dejected, whiny demeanor after John finishes telling him off.
STARS: ***½


CONE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
(host) helps Coneheads snow Kuldroth

     

— Is that Bill as Walter Cronkite doing the off-camera radio announcing that Richard’s listening to?
— Oh, Bill’s voice is actually coming from a TV in the room.
— “Cone Encounters Of The Third Kind.” Great idea to do a Close Encounters/Coneheads hybrid.
— Funny to see Beldar appearing in a local driving school commercial.
— Beldar to Connie: “Young one, your cone is also on the block.”
— I liked the model set of a toy spaceship landing by the Coneheads’ house.
— Good to see the return of John as the high master of the Coneheads’ home planet.
— Richard sounds like a natural doing the Coneheads voice.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JIMMY BUFFETT)
— Interesting intro, with Richard hearing the Land Shark music cue. Took me a few seconds to realize they’re doing this because Richard was in “Jaws”.


SEX TEST
host poses multiple choice questions to assess carnal knowledge

     

— Heh, Laraine’s testimonial sure was odd.
— I’m liking the increasingly silly multiple choice options.
— Bill’s sleazy testimonial was really good.
— Gilda’s last name randomly being “Shoes” is strangely very funny to me.
— Another funny little detail is Garrett being listed as a “black sex therapist”.
— The whole “Who discovered genitalia?” part killed me.
— Haha, this sketch is continuing to get funnier and funnier as it goes along.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
JAC vows to stop blowing up at exasperating Weekend Update correspondents
BIM thinks that Richard Burton should’ve won the Oscar instead of host
alleged clip of The Goodbye Girl features JOB & GIR in the primary roles
Roseanne Roseannadanna’s straying from UFO topic causes JAC to explode

         

— Interesting intro from Jane, somberly apologizing for her angriness towards her fellow correspondents. This seems to be a set-up for something they’ll come back to later in this Update.
— Oddly, Jane mentioned John Belushi as one of the recurring Update guests who she usually acts angry towards, but that isn’t really accurate. If anything, it’s the other way around: usually, Jane fearfully and sheepishly tries to interject during John’s rants, only to get yelled at by John (“BACK OFF, CURTIN!!!”).
— Oh my god, ANOTHER instance of Dan pausing a long time before a news story so he can find the paper on his desk that contains the story. (screencaps below) Man, Dan seems to have at least one bad screw-up in each Update. Mercifully, there’s only one episode left of seeing him struggle through Update.

 

— The “Goodbye Girl” clip with Belushi as Richard Dreyfuss is hilarious! His Dreyfuss impression is having me in stitches.
— It’s kinda funny seeing Bill criticizing Richard Dreyfuss as an actor, considering they would later co-star together in “What About Bob”, one of my favorite Bill Murray movies.
— Another visit from Roseanne Roseannadanna. I guess this will be the payoff of Jane’s apology set-up at the beginning.
— Roseannadanna’s story about seeing a “rectal eclipse” is giving me really good laughs.
— Funny seeing Jane trying with all her might to keep from losing her temper in response to Roseannadanna’s inane ranting.
— Jane angrily ripping open her shirt when Roseannadanna asks “Are both of your things the same size?” came out of nowhere. She was even wearing the same bra from the legendary time she ripped her shirt open on Update before.
— Roseannadanna making Jane have an emotional breakdown was a very interesting way to end Update.
STARS: ***½


NICK SPRINGS
Nick “Springs” & Unavox SL-120 entertain newlyweds at The Honeymoon Room

     

— Loved Bill speeding “Love to Love You Baby” up to an insane tempo, then scream-singing the ending.
— Just now, Bill accidentally called himself Nick Winters (his name in one of the previous installments of this sketch) before correcting himself.
— Bill seems to be cracking Richard up.
— Overall, another very strong Nick the Lounger Singer, though this pales slightly in comparison to the last one, in which he does the famous “Star Wars” number.
STARS: ****½


PET PEEVES
lovers (host) & (LAN) argue by pointing out each other’s annoying traits

 

— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written slice-of-life piece.
— Richard: “(sarcastically) No, my favorite sentence is ‘Hello, hurt me’.”
— Richard is great in this.
— Laraine’s starting to catch up with Richard with a solid performance of her own.
— Very nice ending.
— Overall, this was very well-done and probably one of the strongest Marilyn Suzanne Miller (assuming she did write this) slice-of-lifes I’ve covered so far.
STARS: ****


THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW
momma’s-boy celebrities & their mothers

   

— LOL at Gilda as Leon Spinks’ mom.
— First time we’ve seen John’s Kissinger impression in a long time.
— I like the concept of these celebrities having mothers who are similar to them.
— I remember seeing a clip in an SNL compilation special (probably “The Women of SNL”) of Jane as Tom Snyder’s mom. When I saw the clip, I had assumed it was from a “Tomorrow” sketch. Then again, maybe Jane later reprises this role in a “Tomorrow” sketch, and perhaps that’s where the clip I saw came from.
— Jane is doing an absolutely dead-on impression of Dan’s Snyder impression, right down to the laugh.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (GARY TIGERMAN)
— There’s the Land Shark music again during Richard’s intro.
— Nice fake-out with Richard opening a door, but no Land Shark being there.


FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI
Father Guido Sarducci (DON) tells how people literally pay for their sins

 

— I had been expecting his debut tonight to be on Update. Interesting how his debut is actually in a standalone stand-up performance-type segment.
— His use of crutches is apparently real, as I heard Novello broke his leg during the dress rehearsal of the hockey sketch from the then-recent Michael Sarrazin episode. Poor guy must’ve slipped while wearing ice skates. There seems to be an unintentional theme of injured performers tonight in general, as musical guest Jimmy Buffett performed his earlier number while having his leg in a cast.
— Hilarious comment about being hit by a nun on a Vespa.
— I really like the bit about the price of sins when you arrive at heaven.
— Overall, pretty solid debut for this character.
STARS: ***½


RICHARD DREYFUSS: “I WANT TO BE SEDUCED”
host & PAS perform “I Want To Be Seduced”

 

— Another instance of a host in this era doing a non-comedic musical performance.
— Hey, this actually has some fairly funny moments.
STARS: N/A


GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host is attacked by Land Shark

   

— The bit with Richard getting eaten by Land Shark was a funny payoff to tonight’s running theme.  I always like when this era does interesting, fun things during the goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Season 3 churns out yet another great episode in what’s been a long string of them. Aside from the cold opening, everything in this episode was solid, with none of the segments getting a rating below three-and-a-half stars, and several segments getting four or four-and-a-half stars.
— Richard Dreyfuss was a very good host and added a charm to his performances, even getting me to like his musical number at the end of the show (and I usually don’t care for when hosts in this era do musical performances).


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
The amazing season 3 comes to an end, with good-ol’ Buck Henry hosting

Posted on

April 22, 1978 – Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers (S3 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Don Kirshner’s (PAS) Rock Concert- musical guest performs “Hey Bartender”

   

— The true official debut of the Blues Brothers. A version of them appeared earlier in a season 1 episode while dressed as Bees, but I’ve come to realize that was more of a Blues Brothers prototype rather than the real thing.
— I mentioned in my review of the aforementioned season 1 sketch that it’s unusual how Dan isn’t singing with John, because I had remembered the later Blues Brothers appearances having Dan and John both singing. However, Dan’s silent in tonight’s number too. I guess my memory of it being a regular feature for him to join John in singing was wrong.
— Overall, a very fun and classic opening number.
— The fact that the musical guests tonight are two of the cast members’ side act shows how much variety the early seasons had and how unpredictable the show could be back then.
STARS: N/A


MONOLOGUE
host removes watches, wallets, clothing from audience member (BIM)

     

— “Oh, did I assassinate your penguin?”
— Loved him mistakenly reading the “apply to infested area” note.
— Bill playing an “audience member”. Odd that they’re not using a writer or extra.
— Steve’s “magic tricks” on Bill are very funny.
— I was surprised at the reveal that Bill’s wearing a fake mustache.
— Love how increasingly maniacal Steve’s removal of Bill’s personal items are getting. Hilarious!
STARS: ****½


HEY YOU!
— Rerun


FESTRUNK BROTHERS
the Festrunks wait for a pair of foxes to arrive at their bachelor pad

     

— The Festrunk Brothers! The audience went wild at their entrance.
— LOL at the gigantic vacuum.
— I love the way Dan’s voice sounded when he and Steve exclaimed “Foxes!!!!” in unison.
— I like Garrett as their “black soul man” friend.
— The Festrunk’s foreign language conversation with each other is very funny.
— Garrett seemed genuinely amused by the foreign conversation too, judging by how he seems to be trying to hide his laughing from the camera. (screencap below)

— The Festrunk’s depressed version of their usual strut when going to answer the door is great.
— I got a kick out of seeing all the performers quickly dash off the set after the sketch ended.
— Overall, despite the fact that this was a pretty straightforward Festrunk Brothers installment, it’s still generally well-remembered and is one of my personal favorites of their appearances.
STARS: ****½


THEODORIC OF YORK, MEDIEVAL BARBER
medieval barber Theodoric of York’s (host) patients endure his remedies

     

— One of the most well-remembered SNL sketches Steve Martin would ever do.
— Funny seeing Dan and Steve speaking to each other in normal voices at the start of this, immediately after I had just watched them talk to each other in crazy accents throughout the preceding Festrunk Brothers sketch.
— The detail of “boiled sheep’s urine” being part of the remedy is absolutely priceless to me.
— Funny line from Steve about Laraine’s illness being caused by a small dwarf living in her stomach.
— John looks hilarious as the hunchback.
— I believe this is the first time on SNL where Bill is doing the “talking out the corner of the mouth” mannerism that he would go on to famously use for some of his characters.
— Bill’s pained screaming when being taken out of his wheelchair and getting hanged upside down by his legs kills me every time I see this sketch. It’s the portion of this sketch that I’ve always remembered the most.
— I liked how they reprised Steve’s “Maybe she’s right… (*goes into a deep , thoughtful speech*) Nah!” thing from the ending of his Mike McMack Defense Lawyer sketch earlier this season.
STARS: *****


DANCING IN THE DARK
time stands still while (host) & (GIR) go “Dancing In The Dark”

     

— Ah, here comes another all-time legendary SNL classic. This episode is on fucking FIRE.
— Man, Steve and Gilda’s chemistry is so fun, and it’s enthralling to watch these two comedy greats dancing around the SNL studio.
— I always appreciate any extensive sketch that doesn’t use any dialogue.
— Beautiful how this sketch ended the exact same way it began.
— When Steve later hosted in 1989, this sketch was re-aired during his monologue as a tribute to Gilda, who passed away just hours earlier that same day. Ever since that special encore presentation, this sketch has taken on a new, poignant meaning.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAA complains that GAM didn’t get enough marijuana to “test for paraquat”
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about federal aid for abortions

    

— Good laugh from Garrett showing up and discreetly giving Dan “the stuff” (marijuana). This feels like something Tracy Morgan would’ve done on Update in later seasons.
— Dan: “It’s just that a survey shows that 97% of our viewers smoke [marijuana] daily.”
— Another instance of an awkward pause while we have to wait for Dan to find the next news story among his desk papers. I lost count of the number of times this has happened with him this season.
— Yet another point/counterpoint.
— Dan: “Jane, you ignorant misguided slut”
— Dan’s pro-abortion rebuttal was very funny, especially the harsh comment about how if he could, he would’ve performed an abortion on Jane’s mother to prevent Jane from being born.
— The “This just in, Garrett Morris is dead” bulletin was a funny follow-up to the earlier marijuana commentary.
— That’s it? Shortest Update in a long time.
STARS: ***½


KING TUT
host & SNL Band perform “King Tut” to honor the ancient Egyptian ruler

   

— The hits just keep on comin’ tonight.
— Funny concept with Steve following his complaint about the commercialization of King Tut with a big commercialized, contemporary musical number.
— Such a catchy song, and Steve’s famous dance always kills me in this.
— “He’s my favorite honky” has always been the lyric I liked the most.
— A part that helps propel this into epic territory is the saxophonist popping out of a sarcophagus to do a solo.
— Overall, oh my god, that was perfect and was the right length without going on too long.
STARS: *****


LOVE STORY
admitting extramarital affairs is foreplay for a couple (JAC) & (JOB)

 

— For the first time all night, here’s a sketch I don’t recognize.
— I like the character voice Jane’s using.
— Loved Jane’s innuendo about the pharmacist “filling her prescription”.
— Great unexpected twist with Jane’s sudden “I’m ready, how about you?” line when she and John were detailing their affairs.
— Overall, a very strong lesser-known sketch.
STARS: ****½


SWAN LAKE BALLET
by Gary Weis- ballerinas & hip-hop dancers perform Swan Lake together

     

— Is this the return of The Lockers, who previously appeared in SNL’s third episode ever?
— I guess so.
— Overall, this was surprisingly a fairly entertaining Gary Weis short, but maybe I’m biased because I really enjoyed The Lockers’ previous appearance on the show.
— Speaking of Weis, I heard he didn’t do any more SNL shorts after this season, which means we’re now in the homestretch of his SNL tenure. I wonder if this ended up being the last SNL short he did.
STARS: ***


TROFF ‘N’ BREW
on their lunch break, businessmen eat like pigs at Troff ‘n’ Brew

   

— Haha, WTF at the opening shot in the restaurant showing patrons eating in an odd manner.
— Man, that chili looks nasty. Then again, I never was a big fan of chili.
— A fairly funny premise, though this is coming off a little disappointing by the high standard set for this episode. Then again, the original cast had a knack for adding a goofy charm to sketches with this type of premise.
STARS: ***


NERDS SCIENCE FAIR
at the science fair, Todd & Lisa compete with Charles Knerlman (host)

   

— Steve is funny as a cocky nerd.
— I always like the Nerds’ unwarranted pride in saying tired cliches as if they’re witty comebacks (e.g. “So funny, I forgot to laugh”).
— The “human sandwich” ending was pretty good.
— Overall, a decent Nerds sketch, but again, not quite up to the standards of most of this episode. I was expecting more from this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


NEXT WEEK IN REVIEW
psychics (JAC), (host), (DAA) predict the news

  

— I like this premise of a panel show with psychics predicting what will happen in the next week.
— Jane and Steve’s facial expression during their respective intro shot was great.
— Heh at “Send More Chuck Berry”.
— I like the psychics predicting that Laraine won’t be there next week.
— Overall, this starting losing me around the middle, but kinda won me back at the end. I still feel that the overall result didn’t quite live up to the premise’s potential.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— So, did this live up to its status as the all-time best SNL episode ever? Well, that pre-Update half was certainly hard to beat, with an amazing string of legendary segments, and even after that, the night’s winning streak continued with the first two post-Update sketches, one of which is a forgotten gem (Love Story). However, the episode’s quality unfortunately died down after that, as the remainder of the show was just a string of average pieces (not counting the Blues Brothers’ second musical performance). So, would I agree that this is the greatest SNL episode ever: probably not. I mean, if you’re judging the episode just by the number of classics it produced, I can certainly see why it’s widely considered the best SNL ever, but as we continue to chronologically go along SNL’s timeline, there will probably be a few episodes I find to be more consistently strong from beginning to end, especially once we reach the late 80s/early 90s era. That being said, tonight’s episode may just be the original era at its absolute best. I can’t say for certain yet, as I still have two more years of the era left to cover.
— All of my talk in the above paragraph has put an interesting question into my mind: what is generally considered the most defining, representative episode of each SNL era?  It doesn’t necessarily have to be the era’s best episode, just the most representative.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Richard Dreyfuss

Posted on

April 15, 1978 – Michael Sarrazin / Keith Jarrett, Gravity (S3 E17)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Jimmy Carter (DAA) urges Americans to burn cash to fight inflation

   

— This is the first in a long time where the cold opening wasn’t preceded with a comedic “(insert fake show title here) will not be seen tonight” disclaimer.
— Funny beginning with Dan’s Carter saying that instead of doing a fireside chat, he’s doing a “plantside” chat because it’s spring.
— I got a big laugh from the “The Buck Burns Here” ashtray.
— Overall, pretty funny opening.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
on Abraham Lincoln’s death anniversary, host vows nothing bad will happen

— The monologue is ending already? No, there’s gotta be more.
— Damn, I guess that really IS the ending. Well, this monologue sure was a whole lot of nothing; almost as pointless a monologue as Jill Clayburgh’s from a few episodes ago. I’d like to think Sarrazin’s worry about being assassinated during the show is a set-up to a premise that will run throughout the night, but I highly doubt it.
STARS: *½


ANGORA BOUQUET
— Rerun


JOSH RAMSEY, V.D. CASEWORKER
Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker (host) deals with teen couple (BIM) & (LAN)

         

— The strange picture of a man with syphilis was pretty funny.
— Liked Michael’s line about V.D. being “a loaded pistol pointed right at your crotch.”
— Bill’s over-the-top screaming when urinating off-camera was something I saw coming, but still made me laugh out loud nonetheless.
— Hilarious with the announcement of Laraine having V.D. over a loudspeaker during old stock footage of a basketball game.
— Some big laughs from Gilda and Dan as the parents freaking out when hearing Bill had sex.
— Dan is great as the angry father.
— Good ending with Bill’s “Yes, I still hate you.”
— Overall, a very strong sketch and I always like when this era does extensive, fully fleshed-out sketches like this that involves multiple scenes, various sets, etc.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (KEITH JARRETT)


JUDY MILLER
Judy Miller entertains herself while expressing dislike for her sister

   

— The return of Judy Miller. Only being familiar with the often-shown classic first installment, I’m curious to see what the follow-up is like.
— Another endearingly-realistic child performance from Gilda. Her way of imaginatively playing around the room reminds me so much of my own childhood.
— Liked the ending with Gilda reconciling with her off-camera sister.
— Overall, while not a classic like the first installment, this was still very good and I like how they gave this a different premise to distinguish it from the first installment.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
BIM interviews “American Hot Wax” co-star LAN from her Los Angeles home
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about the neutron bomb
Roseanne Roseannadanna strays from spring depression to her period

       

— Bill’s usual review segment is very different tonight, with him doing a pre-taped meta interview with Laraine Newman as herself.
— Also a rarity to see Laraine in an Update segment where she’s not a reporter doing a remote piece.
— Another point/counterpoint.
— Jane’s snarky “prediction” about Dan gaining a whole bunch of weight was awfully prescient, given Dan’s girth in recent decades.
— What? No “Jane, you ignorant slut” from Dan??? Dan’s whole rebuttal to Jane was great nonetheless. It’s a shame, though, that these point/counterpoint segments are the only times he’s been consistently reliable as Update anchor.
— The Roseanne Rosannadanna segment had a great ending with her reciting a long, catchy bedtime poem.
— Another Update that strangely ends with the camera being on just Jane, as if they’re trying to hide the fact that Dan’s (seemingly) not at the set anymore.
STARS: ***


PENALTY BOX
in the penalty box, hockey players (DAA) & (host) find common ground

 

— Bill’s last name in this is “Novello”, presumably as a reference to a certain then-current writer on the show.
— Speaking of then-current writers, Brian Doyle-Murray has what I think is his very first speaking role.
— I liked the brief physical fight between Bill and Sarrazin.
— Judging from the fact that Aykroyd and Sarrazin are both Canadian in real-life and the way the conversation between them is going, this looks like it will be a Canadian-centric sketch.
— That’s it? That’s the entire sketch? Eh, I didn’t care for the whole “Canadian insider” dialogue. A rarity for me not to like a Dan Aykroyd sketch.
STARS: **


E. BUZZ MILLER’S EXERCISE WORLD
Christy Christina (LAN) works out

   

— Speaking of a Dan Aykroyd sketch, hopefully he’ll rebound nicely with this.
— Laraine’s providing nice eye candy.
— Laraine seemed genuinely mixed-up on what exercise she was supposed to do first.
— A good change of pace from the earlier E. Buzz Miller installments.
— I kinda wish there was a little more to this sketch, but it was fine.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (KEITH JARRETT)


LA DOLCE GILDA
by TOS- a sample of GIR’s Fellini-esque life

          

— I don’t think I’ve ever seen this famous Schiller’s Reel. I’ve always been curious to.
— Hilarious part with Dan “riding” the girl.
— I’m loving all the random “foreign” things happening in rapid-fire pace.
— Very charming ending with Gilda on the bridge speaking to the camera.
— Overall, such a fantastic, well-done short, a dead-on parody of this type of artsy foreign film, and a beautiful showcase for Gilda.
STARS: *****


AUDIENCE CAPTION
— It’s worth noting that sitting beside the captioned audience member is Bill as Abraham Lincoln. It took me a few seconds to realize that was referencing the monologue.


ARCHAEOLOGICUS
(LAN) narrates “The Treasures Of Morton Kamen”

   

— Big night for Laraine; she’s getting a ton of airtime.
— What in the world is that around Laraine’s neck? A dead snake?
— Eh, this whole sketch left me kinda bored. This reminded me too much of a similar sketch I didn’t care for that Laraine did in the first episode Eric Idle hosted in season 2 (a sketch called “Cufflinks of the Gods”).
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (GRAVITY)


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Season 3 continues to be on fire, as we got another pretty strong episode tonight. There were a few things post-Update that I didn’t care for, but for the most part, there was a great number of solid sketches, some of them very memorable (e.g. La Dolce Gilda, V.D. Caseworker).
— Michael Sarrazin was the epitome of a completely average host: he did the job he was required to do, but was entirely unmemorable and had no effect on the episode’s outcome.
— Belushi had an unusually light night, making very few appearances, all of which were just small supporting roles. Was he busy filming scenes for “Animal House” or another movie that week?


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers. Awwww, yeeeaaahh! This episode is very special for many reasons, two of them being:
1) It’s the first and only time in SNL history where someone hosted THREE times in a single season, which goes to show you what an SNL god Steve was considered to be at the time
2) For the longest time, it was widely considered THE all-time best episode in SNL history, and is also widely looked at as the quintessential microcosm of 70s SNL

Posted on

April 8, 1978 – Michael Palin / Eugene Record (S3 E16)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Grandma Walton Tries To Tie Her Shoelace will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Oscar-winner Vanessa Redgrave (JAC) uses podium as a political forum

— Jane’s acceptance speech was pretty funny.
— LOL at John as Yasser Arafat.
— Pretty funny opening, and it helps that the premise of award winners using their acceptance speech as an excuse to go off on a political rant is more relevant than ever today, 40 years later.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s manager Sid Biggs (host) kills time, puts two cats in his pants

— Michael coming out in character instead of as himself is a fun idea.
— His awkward stalling for time is making me laugh.
— Michael: “I have available a man who swallows live macaws! Wonderful act… disgusting to watch.”
— Haha, oh my god at him stuffing his pants with a salad and two cats. What a riot. Hilarious way to end this monologue.
STARS: ****½


LITTLE CHOCOLATE DONUTS
— Rerun


CONFESSION
IRS agent (DAA) questions a priest (host) about his tax deductions
H&L Brock solves moral dilemmas in addition to doing your taxes

— At first, I thought Dan was playing a mobster.
— This is pretty slow-moving so far. I’m starting to wonder where the big laughs are supposed to be coming from.
— Fairly funny visual with Bill in the thought bubble.
— Hilarious twist with this unexpectedly turning out to be a message from John’s H&L Brock character, which made the slow build-up worth it.
STARS: ***


THE SEAGULL
host tries to break record for escaping from a chest during Chekhov play

— Very funny and ambitious with Michael’s struggles to get out of the trunk and straitjacket while Bill and Jane are going on with the play and a timer is on the bottom of screen.
— Some pretty good laughs from Michael’s crazed rant about how he wanted to be a claims adjuster rather than an actor.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
actor (Leo Yoshimura) impersonates Tongsun Park to better his career
JOB wants the Rockefellers to spare Radio City Music Hall from demolition

— Dan’s opening “I’m in love… with this paper clip” bit was ruined by a badly-timed camera switch.
— Huh? Former president Gerald Ford announced plans for running again in the 1980 presidential race? I don’t know much about politics, but I thought that after a president leaves office, they couldn’t run in future elections.
— Hey, it’s Akira Yoshimura in his own Update commentary!
— I liked Jane’s “How quickly they turn” ad-lib in response to her bank robbers joke bombing.
— Another great John Belushi Update rant.
STARS: ***


NERDS MUSIC LESSON
piano teacher Mr. Brighton (host) gets fresh with Lisa during a lesson

— This appears to be our first traditional Nerds sketch, after their experimental first two appearances earlier this season.
— Gilda is even funnier in this than she usually is in these Nerds sketches.
— Heh, what was with Bill doing Steve Martin’s “excuuuuuse meeee!”?  Was it all the rage at the time for EVERYBODY quote that?
— I got a good laugh from Michael suddenly throwing Gilda on the piano keys and starting to kiss her.
— Michael’s overdramatic “Yes, I know!” before leaving cracked me up for some reason.
— Good ending with the “lollipop kiss”.
— Overall, easily my favorite of the Nerds sketches that have aired up until this point.
STARS: ****


THE FORGOTTEN MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock Holmes (host) investigates The Case of the Scarlet Membrane

— Michael’s pre-taped intro was weird, but the constant corrections from the off-camera voice made me laugh.
— LOL at whatever that is sticking out of Michael’s nose.
— When Michael randomly fired a loud gunshot at the target sheet, I’m pretty sure I could hear an audience member audibly say “Whoa, shit” in surprise.
— This is very funny so far, and has a very Monty Python feel, which I love.
— Bill’s raspy British accent is cracking me up.
— Overall, very funny sketch led by a great Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ****


PARTY NIGHT
(BIM)’s desire to have a good time at a party bothers his wife (LAN)

— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written slice-of-life piece.
— This took a while to start getting funny, but I’m starting to get some laughs.
— Loved Bill’s exclamations and happy dance at the end.
— Overall, this was pretty good, though there have been better slice-of-life pieces in this era.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MR. BILL PAYS TAXES
by Walter Williams- an arm & a leg

— Another one so soon? Didn’t we just get a Mr. Bill film in the last episode?
— Mr. Bill’s voice sounds even higher-pitched than usual in this.
— Overall, this was fine, but I think it was too soon to do another Mr. Bill.  These are probably better in small doses, as I didn’t laugh quite as much as I did in the last Mr. Bill film.
STARS: ***


DANGER PROBE
a fop (host) & his servant (GAM) provoke rednecks in a bar

— I recall this eventually becoming a recurring sketch later on.
— Franken’s exaggerated redneck accent is making me laugh out loud.
— Michael and Garrett are pretty funny as the fop and blackamoor.
— Haha, holy hell at the sudden wild scuffle between the cops and the rednecks. I love that for some reason.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— Michael shows that the two cats from earlier are fine.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid, fun episode that had something worthwhile in every sketch; nothing got a bad rating from me.
— It goes without saying that Michael Palin would be a natural as SNL host, and I like how he helped give this episode a strong Monty Python feeling, which makes this reminiscent of the times Eric Idle hosted prior to this.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Sarrazin

Posted on

March 25, 1978 – Christopher Lee / Meat Loaf (S3 E15)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
101 Dalmations Get Run Over By 101 Moving Vans will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
NBC wants new Grizzly Adams star JOB to change his name to Kevin Scott

 

— Oh, so this is the “Belushi changes his name to Kevin Scott” premise I’ve always heard about. Gotta love how 70s SNL often did random backstage storylines like this.
— Good premise, and I like the way John is performing this.
— A somewhat funny bit at the end with John butchering LFNY by pronouncing “live” as “liv”, and then awkwardly correcting himself. I’m not sure what the point of that was, though. I sure hope that wasn’t a genuine flub from John. I mean, the guy’s been on the show for three years at this point; I can’t see him genuinely botching the traditional opening line like that.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Yet ANOTHER modification to this season’s montage: Gilda has a new shot where, instead of doing her traditional apple-bite while in front of a jumbotron displaying her name, she’s shown in a random place in the city blowing a gum bubble.

— The “Kevin Scott” bit carries over into this montage, as John is removed from his usual spot in the credits and is put at the end after Gilda while being announced as Kevin Scott. That probably explains why Gilda’s shot was changed tonight; I guess it’s just a temporary thing.


MONOLOGUE
host doesn’t take part in horror films that aren’t up to his standards
The Island of Lost Luggage- traveller’s (LAN) bags missing in horror film
The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave- horror film about awful party guest (JOB)
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Rogers- Vincent Price (DAA) has dual role in horror film

       

— I’m already liking Christopher’s dry, deadpan Brit delivery. He’s going to be an interesting host.
— A series of horror trailers are going to be shown. I guess this is going to be like that one sketch from the Anthony Perkins episode where he starred in several bad horror movie trailers.
— Gilda’s very funny as the Igor-like character.
— LOL at the mention of a “horrifying tote-bag sequence”.
— They should’ve gotten Dan to play the trailer announcer again, like he did in the Perkins sketch. His announcing in that one was hilarious.
— Whoa, the famous “The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave” was part of THIS? I always thought it was a standalone sketch, probably because I first saw it in an SNL Halloween compilation special. I was also under the misconception that this sketch was from season 4.
— I remember when I first saw “The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave” in the aforementioned Halloween special, I was eager because it was one of the first things I ever saw John Belushi in after hearing so much about what a legend he is.
— Dan is absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of Vincent Price as Mr. Rogers.
— Weird how they came back to Christopher on home base just for him to say (after waiting a long time for the audience applause to stop) “See what I mean?”, and then the monologue immediately ends. No “We’ll be right back” or anything. Amusing, though.
— Overall, this was great. The trailers had a lot of the same type of humor that I loved about the aforementioned Anthony Perkins sketch. The Vincent Price/Mr. Rogers portion put this over the top as an even better sketch.
STARS: ****½


SPEECH THERAPY
Baba Wawa & speech therapist Henry Higgins (host) in My Fair Lady redux

 

— Nice fake-out with the musical number getting cut off before anyone even started singing. If only SNL always had that restraint from doing musical sketches…
— The first time we’ve seen Baba Wawa in a while.
— What movie is this reminding me of? The title’s on the tip of my tongue.
— Another musical number fake-out.
— Ah, the movie title I’m thinking of is “My Fair Lady”, which this sketch is now clearly a parody of.
— I like the creepy-looking clock in that transition shot just now.
— You could see a stagehand running in the background at beginning of the scene that just started.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Funny intro from Christopher.


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW

— Hmm, Jane’s wearing a much-brighter-than-usual Update suit tonight.


WEEKEND UPDATE
JOB makes a mess while using a toy supertanker to illustrate oil spills
for kids, JAC & DAA sound out terminology of Sesame Street writer strike
through a process of elimination, BIM makes his Oscar picks
JAC & DAA debate whether to do a Point-Counterpoint during Weekend Update

         

— Jane: “I’m Jane Curtin and I’m wearing a new suit.”
— They’re still keeping the “Kevin Scott” premise going, with “Kevin” refusing to answer Dan until Dan addressed him as John.
— John’s commentary didn’t amount to much and felt kinda pointless, but his performance was fun.
— The Sesame Street bit was another pointless segment.
— Bill’s very first time doing an Oscars predictions segment, which would go on to become a tradition for him.
— Bill bitterly mentions that John Travolta was supposed to host SNL but backed out at the last minute. It’s weird picturing him hosting in this era, considering when he did finally host, it was decades later in a very different era.
— Bill’s whole commentary ended up being fantastic, especially him completely dismissing the whole “best supporting actors/actresses” segment.
— And now we have another important debut: point/counterpoint.
— Jane’s rant is great in itself, even when I know what legendary line Dan is going to respond with.
— And there it is: “Jane, you ignorant slut!”
— Overall, Dan was really in his element during his entire hilarious rebuttal to Jane, which is refreshing after how poorly he’s been doing on Update lately.
— The point/counterpoint segment was a great way to end Update.
STARS: ***½


MR. DEATH
grim reaper Mr. Death (host) explains his role to little girl (LAN)

 

— Haha at Christopher entering as Grim Reaper, the role he was born to play.
— Laraine is very cute in her performance. And it’s a change of pace not seeing this type of role being played by Gilda for once.
— The Richard Harris/Nick Nolte comment was great.
— Loved Christopher’s eerie comment about Laraine’s 15th birthday.
— Overall, a very strong sketch with fantastic writing and performances.
STARS: ****½


SUGGESTIONS FOR SADAT
Anwar Sadat (GAM) asks viewers what he should do following a raid

 

— Is this Garrett’s first appearance of the whole night? (ADDENDUM: he was in one of the horror movie trailers during the monologue)
— Not sure where this is headed; Garrett’s just going on and on while the audience isn’t laughing at all. His usual weird delivery is making me laugh, though, even though the lines themselves aren’t too funny.
— The twist with him desperately asking viewers to send in suggestions made me chuckle.
STARS: ***


COLD AS ICE
by Gary Weis- a woman injures & tortures (Stacy Keach)

   

— Oh, a serious Gary Weis music video. Ugh, I thought that type of Weis film was long behind us.
— If anything, this at least shows how much I had been enjoying this episode until this point, as this film is the first time in the whole episode where I was truly bored.
STARS: *½


DEL STATOR’S RABBIT HUT
enjoy a roto-broiled lagomorph meal at Dell Stator’s (DAA) Rabbit Hut

   

— “Del Stator” is the same name used for that toad restaurant commercial that Dan did in a season 1 Buck Henry episode.
— Overall, not much to say about this, but it was decent and had the usual type of insane Aykroyd commercial premise that I always like. I kinda wanted this to be a little funnier, though.
STARS: ***


VAMPIRE / NIXON
vampire hunters (host) & (JOB) try to kill Richard Nixon’s (DAA) memoirs

     

— I’m liking how so many of tonight’s sketches have a horror-themed setting, which is so perfect for Christopher Lee.
— Ha, even though he’s only been shown from the back so far, I can tell we’re looking at Dan as Nixon!
— LOL at the music Dan’s playing on the stereo to set the mood.
— Very clever premise.
— Dan’s exaggerated death is hilarious.
— Great drawn-out ending at the typewriter.
STARS: ****½


RICHARD BELZER
Richard Belzer [real] does impressions of Mick Jagger & Bob Dylan

 

— In this, Belzer looks more like how I’ve always known him to look, compared to how he looked in that season 2 “Chevy’s replacement” cold opening where I shamefully didn’t recognize him (“Is that Neil Levy?” I foolishly asked in my review).
— Strange seeing musical stand-up.
— The bit with Rolling Stones songs being performed in a wedding singer manner is fairly funny.
— Haha, oh my god at his Mick Jagger impression.
— His impression of what then-young Bob Dylan would be like at 86 years old is kinda interesting to watch nowadays, considering Dylan’s much closer to that age now than he was back then.
— Overall, very hit-and-miss stand-up comedy. I got a few good laughs from this, while other moments fell flat. I would’ve preferred to see him just do straight stand-up without all the musical stuff.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MR. BILL’S CIRCUS
by Walter Williams- 3-ring dismemberment

    

— Very funny part with Sluggo feeding the dog poison.
— Loved the brief juggling bit.
— Overall, this whole thing was hilarious as usual.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very good episode with a lot of really strong sketches. Christopher Lee did an excellent job as host and he brought a delightfully macabre, creepy atmosphere, which the writers accommodated by giving him lots of well-written horror-themed sketches.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Palin

Posted on

March 18, 1978 – Jill Clayburgh / Eddie Money (S3 E14)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Bowling For Medicine will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
leprechaun-suited GAM sings “Danny Boy” while his message scrolls by

   

— At first, I thought the backup singers were played by John, Bill, and Dan, but they appear to be actual singers.
— This opening so far is just Garrett singing. Is this going to be a serious cold opening?
— Ah, a comedic disclaimer from Garrett himself acknowledging how they usually put disclaimers on the screen during his musical numbers.
— LOL at the audience laughing a lot when the disclaimer negatively calls out the audience for usually laughing during Garrett’s songs.
— The comment about his leprechaun suit was really funny.
— Surprised to see a solo Garrett LFNY. Until now, I thought his only time saying LFNY by himself was in the Richard Pryor episode in season 1.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host promises to have a good monologue if she’s invited back a third time

— Jill: “If they ever ask me back…” Well, as we know now, that wasn’t happening. This ended up being her final time hosting.
— I feel bad for Jill that they threw her out there with such a nothing monologue. The writers seemed to treat this as a total write-off. Overall, probably one of the more pointless monologues in SNL history.
STARS: *


ROYAL DELUXE II

— Rerun


THE OLYMPIA CAFE
a new waitress (host) quits her job

     

— John’s character now has a mustache, which he didn’t have in the first installment of this sketch.
— I like Gilda as the regular customer who “gets” how the cafe is run.
— Dan’s way of saying “cheeseborgie” is a funny touch.
— A benefit for “the little boys that ate the balloon”? I wonder if that’s referencing a real news story from that time frame.
— The intense back-and-forth with John trying to get Jill to pronounce “cheeseburger” with an accent was pretty good.
— Jane, when Jill is having a breakdown: “Can someone get her a glass of water?” John: “No water, Pepsi.”
STARS: ***½


SYBIL III
therapist (host) believes (JAC), (GIR), (LAN) are same woman

   

— I get the feeling from the beginning with Jill that her patient is going to turn out to be Gilda’s catatonic Colleen character.
— It IS!
— Funny with the girls describing their punishment of being hanged upside-down from a light fixture and receiving ice-water enemas.
— Good visual of all three ladies unsuccessfully trying to lay on the therapist couch at the same time.
STARS: ***


BAD ONE-MAN THEATER
five simultaneous portrayals in An Evening With…

      

— Surprised the play starts with Tom Schiller in such a prominent speaking role.
— Bill’s lines as Edgar Alan Poe are really funny.
— Boy, this is delightfully awful.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


NUTRIFIX
Nutrifix intravenously delivers instant breakfast & amphetamines

   

— Funny concept.
— Ha, I didn’t foresee Laraine getting the injection in THAT part of her body.
— John’s loud yell when getting injected was hilarious.
— Overall, a really good commercial that felt very quintessential of 70s SNL.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
LAN’s interview with mine inspector (ALF) is cut short by a cave-in
Roseanne Roseannadanna wanders from income tax to bad odors

      

— Boy, that Walter Cronkite/Jean Stapleton joke got almost ZERO laughs from the audience.
— Another Al Franken coal miner commentary? His one from earlier this season was really bad.
— Haha, oh my god at the mine caving in shortly after the Franken commentary started. That came out of nowhere.
— Roseanne Rosannadanna’s nasty rant is funny as usual, especially the story about her childhood classmate Hernando Rosannadanndo.
— At the end during the sign-off, was Dan not even there? The camera suspiciously stayed on just Jane, when they usually show both anchors.
STARS: ***


BLURRY
on an airplane, (host) sees that (JOB)’s myopia has disillusioned him

   

— I got a decent laugh from the picture of John’s wife being blurry and out-of-focus like everything else he’s described.
— That’s the whole sketch? Meh. The performances were fine, but I didn’t care for this premise.
STARS: **


SHOWER MIKE
Richard Herkiman & wife reunite bickering couple (JOB) & (host) in shower

  

— Is this going to be a sequel to Bill’s Shower Mike sketch?
— It is. I used to think the first one was a one-off piece. Not sure if this will work as a recurring sketch.
— I like how they upped the ante from the last one by adding a fourth person to the shower this time.
— The wife of John’s character is named Judy. Knowing that these Shower Mike sketches were inspired by John’s real-life wife Judith/Judy giving Bill a microphone-shaped bar of soap as a gift, I wonder if that was an intentional shoutout.
— Overall, not anywhere near as good as last time, but still a pretty good sketch.
STARS: ***


THE CONEHEADS ON EARTH
Prymaat discovers Beldar is having an affair with student driver (host)

    

— The set-up of this with Jill in a hotel bed talking to her off-camera lover who’s in the next room makes this feel like we’re in for a Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute sketch. But I know that’s impossible, because they only did that sketch one time, when Margot Kidder hosts next season.
— Ha, it’s Beldar as the lover! At least I was right about the lover being an Aykroyd character.
— Interesting premise with Beldar having an affair.
— Jane’s muttering of “Mmmebs… mmmebs” whenever she’s distressed is really funny to me.
— Hilarious line with Dan telling Jane “No one gives cone like you.”
STARS: ****


CELEBRITY CRACKUP
Tony Orlando (BIM) & others discuss their problems

    

— This was originally supposed to air in the Chevy Chase episode earlier this season, but got cut due to tension between Bill and Chevy that reportedly hampered the sketch.
— Ha at Gilda playing Claudine Longet, which makes me think of a certain controversial season 1 sketch.
— Garrett playing Richard Pryor? Well, this impression is going to suck.
— Garrett’s frozen depressed, almost-catatonic facial expression is kinda funny, at least.
— Bill almost looks like he’s going to laugh right now.
— Ha, I too almost thought Garrett said “coke” instead of “cope”.
— Bill’s doing really well in this. And I’m sure he’s happy not to have to deal with Chevy’s presence this time. Speaking of whom, I wonder which celebrity Chevy was going to play in the original version of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


SERIOUS SONG
host sings an amusing song about relationships

— I can tell right from the start of this that we’re in for a Jill Clayburgh non-comedic musical performance. She did one in her season 1 episode, too.
— I guess I was wrong about this 100% being a “non-comedic musical performance”, as there’s at least some humor in some of her spoken asides throughout the song. I still don’t feel right giving this performance a rating, though.
STARS: N/A


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fine if somewhat average episode. There wasn’t much that stood out as particularly strong, but most of the sketches were still pretty enjoyable and there wasn’t much I disliked aside from the monologue and the Blurry sketch.
— Like last time, Jill Clayburgh did an adequate if unmemorable job hosting. The type of roles she got and the way she played them reminded me a little too much of Jane Curtin, though. Then again, you can say the same thing for Candice Bergen whenever she hosted in this era, and she was certainly more compatible for SNL than Clayburgh was.


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

 

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Christopher Lee

Posted on

March 11, 1978 – Art Garfunkel / Stephen Bishop (S3 E13)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Jacques Cousteau Gets An Underwater Enema will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Modern Crimes- (DAA) & (JOB) rob Charlie Chaplin’s (GIR) grave

     

— I’m enjoying how this is such a dead-on spoof of silent movies.
— A very interesting and unconventional idea for a cold opening.
— Haha, Gilda as Chaplin.
— I like how LFNY was “said” via silent movie subtitles.  This is the only time I can think of in SNL history where the LFNY was done silently.  I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if there was another occurrence that I’m forgetting right now.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
audio glitch in host’s perormance of “Wonderful World” provokes JOB rant

   

— Right off the bat, he’s launched into a musical performance with no setup.
— Hmm, the performance has suddenly stopped due to “technical difficulties”. Looks like this could be pretty funny, especially with John now walking onstage.
— Funny line about Garrett having to drive Jane Pauley to work every morning.
— I’m curious what John’s line about NBC putting “part 3 of Loose Change on before part 2” was referring to. Sounds like an amusing technical screw-up NBC made in their programming.
— I feel a “But nooooo” coming from John.
— Ah, there it is!
— John’s starting to sweat profusely for some reason. I notice that’s been happening a lot with him this season.
— I like John’s “Oh, by the way, nice hair, Artie” addendum after he walked offstage.
— This has gone back to a serious musical performance.
STARS: ***½ for the comedy portions


KROMEGA III

— Rerun


TOMORROW
Tom Snyder (DAA) reveals battered husband’s (host) identity

   

— Dan’s delivery as Snyder is hilarious as usual.
— Funny visual with Art as an identity-hidden shadowy figure.
— The whole “battered masturbating husband” premise is very funny.
— A lot of good laughs from Dan’s Snyder inadvertently giving away Art’s identity in various ways.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MIRACLE IN CHICAGO
ghost of Mayor Daley (JOB) appears at an Irish pub

— The opening song that Bill is listening to on the jukebox is actually a tune that was often played by the SNL band in this era.
— Great entrance from John. And his look as Daley is really funny.
— John’s long speech isn’t all that funny and is deservedly getting a very tepid audience reaction.
— Overall, I didn’t enjoy this much. I feel like I didn’t get what this was going for.
STARS: **


KISS CONCERT
stage door guard (JOB) keeps musical guest & others out of a Kiss concert

     

— John’s exchange with Stephen Bishop before throwing him out was great.
— Dan looks absolutely hilarious in that KISS makeup.
— Overall, a pretty solid sketch with some funny bits and nice character work from the cast.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
Mighty Mouse film documents wonderdrug Hemomycin’s anti-clot action
while reviewing Coming Home, BIM eats crow & says “Vietnam was a mistake”

       

— The news story of Charlie Chaplin’s body being stolen from his grave – oh, so THAT’S why they did that cold opening earlier tonight.
— Garrett’s delivery is even odder than usual, which is really saying something.
— The “Mighty Mouse” clip in Garrett’s commentary was kinda funny, but Garrett already did something like this on Update before.
— Yikes, Dan misses his cue to do the next news story, thinking it was Jane’s turn.  Then we have to wait for him to find the story as he awkwardly shuffles through his papers. This is, what, the second or third time this season he’s made that mistake?
— Oh, man – now Dan lost his place in the middle of the above news story. Good lord. Frequent blunders like this just goes to show you why he only lasted one season on Update.
— Bill scores with yet another solid review commentary.
— WTF at Dan’s socked feet visibly resting on the desk during Jane’s hippo joke. (right side of the below screencap)

STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (ART GARFUNKEL)


LOOKS AT BOOKS
nerds Todd & Lisa talk about the fate of the class of ’77

  

— The Nerds! Weird how their first appearance had them doing a radio show interview, and now they’re doing a talk show interview. I wonder how long until we start getting Nerds sketches that followed the conventional format they’re now remembered for.
— Bill’s character has a different last name than the one that would go on to be used regularly for him.
— Overall, not much going on here premise-wise, but Bill and Gilda were funny with their anecdotes and mannerisms, and the studio audience was getting a big kick out of this.
STARS: ***


DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
by TOS- elderly JOB visits the SNL graveyard

     

— Oh, it’s “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, possibly the most well-known short film of the entire original SNL era.
— Excellent make-up job on John. I remember the first time I saw this, I had a hard time convincing myself that that’s John Belushi under all that make-up; he looked so unrecognizable, not to mention how well he changed his voice to sound “old”.
— For some reason, I hadn’t remembered the beginning with John on a train.
— In a strange way, the unintended irony of the premise with John outliving all of his fellow cast mates makes this film even more poignant.
— Can’t help but notice how chilling it is that Gilda’s the first cast member who’s death John talks about.
— Very interesting hearing the way each cast member died.
— I liked the dig at Bill’s on-again off-again mustache from this time period.
— A mention of Dan’s webbed toes.
— That close-up of John slowly looking up into the camera with sly, sinister eyes when he’s about to say the classic “cuz I’m a dancer” line (fourth screencap above) is a great touch that makes me smile every time I watch this.
— Fantastic ending with John happily dancing on his castmates’ graves.
— Overall, an indisputable well-done classic.
STARS: *****


ANDY KAUFMAN
audience doesn’t want to hear Andy Kaufman [real] read The Great Gatsby

   

— Haha at Andy’s dignified accent. I think I know what famous piece this is going to be…
— When talking about his earlier SNL appearances, it was impressive how he seamlessly went from his “normal” dignified voice to his earlier character voices and then back to his “normal” voice.
— Ah, my earlier hunch was right: this is the famous performance with him doing a reading of the Great Gatsby.
— Heh, what the hell is up with one of the audience member’s VERY loud coughing fit during Andy’s reading?
— It’s so funny hearing the audience’s audible slowburn as Andy continues droning on and on.
— This is fucking hilarious! I cannot stop laughing.
— HAHA, now the audience is angrily starting to boo.
— Andy: “Let’s keep it down, please, because we have a long way to go.”
— Loved the fake-out with him making the audience happy by walking off in anger, then he comes back, says he was just kidding, and then goes right back into the reading of Gatsby, much to the audience’s displeasure.
— Haha, this is KILLING me. My throat is hurting from laughing so much.
— Random Lorne walk-on.
— Another great fake-out with Andy finally answering the audience’s requests to play a record, only for the record to end up being ANOTHER continuation of him reading Gatsby.
— Overall, this is such a classic Kaufman bit, and is the quintessential representation of his knack for making the audience uncomfortable and testing their patience.
STARS: *****


THE LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR SLEEPYTIME PLAYSET
the Looking For Mr. Goodbar playset brings sex & violence to children

   

— LOL at Gilda’s way of making the doll “drink”.
— Gilda’s so realistic in how she’s playing with the dolls the exact way a real child would.
— The increasingly inappropriate nature of this is very funny.
— The second toy commercial this season that ends with a “from Mainway” tag.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (ART GARFUNKEL)


GOODNIGHTS

— This was INSANELY short. The show must’ve ran long. Wonder if Kaufman was to blame.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A really solid episode with very little to complain about. Things got especially great towards the end of the show, where we got two back-to-back all-time classic pieces (Don’t Look Back In Anger, The Great Gatsby) and a strong final sketch (Looking For Mr. Goodbar).
— Hard to say anything about Art Garfunkel’s performance as host, considering he barely even did anything in any of the sketches. And the very few sketches he did appear in were all in the first half of the show. His only appearances in the second half were just in musical performances. The only thing I can say about him as host is he did okay with what the writers gave him and didn’t come off too awkward.
— Belushi had an amazing night, having a dominant presence with a lead role in a majority of the sketches, and giving strong performances in all of them, one of which stands out as one of his best performances of all-time (Don’t Look Back In Anger).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (O.J. Simpson):
— a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Jill Clayburgh

Posted on

February 25, 1978 – O.J. Simpson / Ashford & Simpson (S3 E12)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
James At 16 Marries Roman Polanski will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
GIR answers “What happens when SNL is out of show-opening ideas?”

 

— Right off the bat, Gilda’s already coming off adorable and endearing with her ad-libbed reaction to the audience’s delayed applause.
— I think I remember this being shown as the cold opening  in Gilda’s “Best of” compilation. I’m not 100% sure, though, as Gilda did a number of cold openings like this where it was just her as herself speaking to the camera while standing in front of a curtain backdrop.
— Funny how all the questions are from people with the first name Kevin.
— Ha, and now it’s been revealed that the show’s writers made up all the questions Gilda’s reading.
— Overall, a very solid way to start the show, and a prime example of Gilda’s immense charm and likability as a performer. I can see why this was used to open her “Best of”.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— After the preceding episode’s revert to the original opening montage from the first two seasons (presumably due to Chevy hosting), they’re back to using this season’s jumbotron montage.
— Hmm, a big change, however: most of the cast now has new shots. Dan and Gilda, the first and last cast member announced, still have the same shot from before, in which they’re posing in front the jumbotron that’s displaying their name, but all the cast members announced in between them have new shots where they’re shown in a random place in the city.

 

— I particularly like John’s shot with him doing his trademark eyebrow-raise, and Bill’s shot with him giving a deadpan wink to the camera.
— This is actually the FOURTH time this season where they updated the cast shots. I can’t think of any other time in SNL history where an opening montage went through so many modifications throughout a single season.


MONOLOGUE
Conehead host tells inspiring life story about reaching his goals

— OH MY GOD at O.J.’s entrance, boogieing down to the theme music while wearing a friggin CONEHEAD prosthetic! Haha, I’m ALREADY getting a fun vibe from him as a host. This has eased the tension that I was worried I would have as a modern viewer watching a pre-infamy O.J. Simpson.
— The occasional bits with the band interrupting him with loud music is kinda funny, but boy is his story very long-winded and dull, and it’s being played too straight. I feel kinda bad for being down on this, because he’s coming off so likable, but it’s not enough to make this story interesting.
STARS: *½


SAMURAI NIGHT FEVER
Futaba & brother (host) go disco dancing

       

— I’m really liking Bill’s performance as the angry Italian father.
— It’s Futaba, somehow back from the dead!
— Yes, Samurai Night Fever!!! I’ve always been eager to finally see this sketch.
— The juxtaposition of Futaba at a dinner table with his Italian family is quite funny.
— John’s fake Japanese gibberish is particularly amusing in this one. I think John’s trying to go for a Futaba/John Travolta hybrid in his delivery.
— Funny part with O.J. not wanting to be black anymore.
— We’re now at a disco. I’m liking how extensive this sketch is becoming.
— Dan: “This is the life: to be young, stupid, and have no future at all!”
— Love how 70s this all is.
— Haha at the sequence with Futaba on the dance floor. This is great. His cartwheels and flips are awesome.
— I like how after the sketch ended, the camera pulled back and showed how they made the chroma-key set look like a disco dance floor.
— Overall, this lived up to my high expectations. Easily one of my favorite Samurai sketches.
STARS: ****½


GREAT MOMENTS IN SPORTS
Babe Ruth’s (JOB) broken promise produces karma

   

— LOL at John’s Babe Ruth casually stuffing his face with a hot dog and beer.
— Garrett makes one of the least-convincing little kids ever. It’s almost funny in itself.
— I’m liking O.J.’s various antics whenever the camera cuts back to him.
— Very funny part with Garrett’s reaction to finding out over the radio that he’s dying.
— The constant emotion swings over Babe Ruth’s near-home runs are pretty amusing.
— Good line from O.J. about this being another example of “a white man breaking a promise to a poor little colored boy”.
— Great twist at the end that Garrett’s sick boy character was actually a young Hank Aaron.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MOHAWK MASTER
the Mohawk Master clippers help maintain your punk hairdo

  

— I remember years ago on the SNL Archives site, when going through the “commercials” section, I stumbled upon a screencap of Dan using the mohawk shavers on his own head and I remember thinking this looked like a hilarious commercial.
— I welcome just about any commercial that has Dan doing his manic, fast-paced pitchman shtick.
— Funny concept, but the overall commercial didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It wasn’t bad, though, just average.
STARS: ***


THE RAID ON NICOSIA
NBC’s all-star Big Event is based on recent events

     

— I like the quick-paced “dramatic” intros with the cast playing celebrities.
— Overall, a pretty fun ad.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
discovered manuscript reveals “Moonlight Sonata” & “Night & Day” link
BIM warns Oscar nominee Woody Allen not to take the Orson Welles route
LAN interviews naked host from the Buffalo Bills locker room
Roseanne Roseannadanna strays from dental hygiene to Woodstock

       

— For the first time in a while, Update wasn’t preceded with a mini-segment where one of the anchors “previews” what’s to come in tonight’s Update. I guess that was a short-lived experiment.
— Another Dan joke that’s accompanied by someone shown in the news screen writing something extensive on a chalkboard. I still think that’s Tom Schiller’s hand we’re seeing.
— First time in a while where we get a review from Bill “Now get out of here, ya knuckleheads” Murray.
— Bill’s overall commentary was funny, and an improvement over his last two or three review commentaries.
— For once, we have a Laraine remote segment where Laraine’s actually funny in it. I’m getting some pretty good laughs from her getting all hot-and-bothered over O.J.’s nudity.
— Only Roseanne Roseannadanna’s third Update commentary, and already she’s become an audience favorite, judging from the huge recognition applause they gave her tonight.
— Hmm, the letter Roseannadanna’s reading tonight is from someone named “Bob Van Ry” (which is an inside joke, BTW, as that’s the name of one of SNL’s stage managers) instead of the usual Richard Feder.
— As usual, Roseannadanna’s nasty rant is a riot. Some really good laughs here.
— Loved Jane’s sudden loud “What the HELL are you talking about???!!” outburst at Roseannadanna.
STARS: ***


O.J.’S RECORD
host uses voodoo to keep Walter Payton from breaking his rushing record

   

— Haha, great reveal with O.J. secretly sabotaging Walter Payton via a voodoo doll.  I’m really liking this premise.
— Did the usually-unbreakable Dan Aykroyd actually start cracking up at the end? (screencap below) It looked like it, but perhaps he was laughing in character as part of the script.

— Overall, a very good sketch. O.J. was great in this.
STARS: ****


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF’s brain tumor hurts his joketelling, so TOD solicits audience support

   

— Oh, the Franken & Davis “tumor” one. I remember hearing about this one before.
— Franken’s drawn-out delivery, and him getting lost mid-jokes and screwing up the punchlines are being pulled off well.
— Overall, a daring, ballsy premise that had a good payoff.
STARS: ***½


MANDINGO II
hot passion between slaves & whites breaks taste boundaries

     

— Garrett in drag once again…
— The increasingly-fiery model set and Dan’s steamy narration are hilarious.
— Is the DVD version I’m watching of this sketch edited? Around the part when they briefly show make-out sessions between Laraine & DragGarrett and Bill & O.J.(!), there’s a lot of weird fast, sloppy cuts that make it seem like portions were spliced out of it. Does anyone know what this is all about?
— Speaking of the Bill/O.J. kiss, that moment actually has importance: it was apparently the very first interracial same-sex kiss in TV history, which was pointed out by O.J. himself during a segment in SNL’s 15th anniversary special (though IIRC, he jokingly explains that it was actually Walter Payton who kissed Bill Murray).
— Overall, what a wild sketch.  This was a friggin riot and I love the way it escalated.
STARS: ****½


E. BUZZ MILLER’S ANIMAL KINGDOM
film footage shows copulating fauna

   

— Interesting how E. Buzz Miller hosts a different show in each of his sketches. That’s a good way to keep the character fresh.
— Overall, nothing much to say here other than that this contained the usual funny E. Buzz Miller sleaziness.
STARS: ***½


HERTZ
host learns image-wary Hertz gave his car rental to Walter Payton

   

— Ha, random brief Emily Litella cameo.
— A very quick commercial, but the punchline gave me a good laugh and I liked the irritated look on O.J.’s face during the ending freeze-frame.
— I recall hearing that this is the last new pre-taped fake ad of the whole season, despite the fact that there’s still about 8 episodes remaining.  Apparently, we get nothing but repeated fake ads from here on out this season, which sounds pretty lazy.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


CELEBRITY BATTLE OF THE SEXES & RACES
black men easily best white women

    

— Funny concept.
— Laraine has surprisingly been getting tons of airtime tonight. It feels like she’s appeared in practically every single sketch, which is a refreshing change from how invisible she’s been coming off this season.
— LOL at Garrett’s look as Leon Spinks.
— Some really funny lines with Bill listing off all the earlier events.
— I’m not sure, but I think that’s frequent extra and future obscure featured player Yvonne Hudson as the lady hosing down Laraine and Gilda.  If so, this must be one of her earliest SNL appearances.  I’m surprised, because I thought she didn’t start popping up on the show until season 5.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What a fun episode. While this wasn’t exactly an all-time classic episode or anything, the sketches were consistently enjoyable and the show had a fun, silly, easy-going vibe that I loved. I’m pleasantly surprised, because I came into this episode kinda dreading the inherent awkwardness of watching an O.J. Simpson-hosted show through modern eyes. Glad to see I was wrong about the awkwardness; in fact, I enjoyed the episode so much, O.J.’s post-1994 infamy wasn’t really on my mind after the first few minutes of the show. And O.J. himself actually did a very good job as host, giving a lot of fun performances and having a good sense of humor, which was evident right from the beginning of the monologue where he randomly made his entrance in a Conehead prosthetic.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Art Garfunkel

Posted on

February 18, 1978 – Chevy Chase / Billy Joel (S3 E11)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Little House On The Prairie Burns To The Ground will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) talks geography after confusing Suez & Panama Canals

   
— The obligatory return of Chevy’s Gerald Ford. Watching SNL episodes in chronological order, it feels a little weird seeing Chevy on the show again after getting so used to the show without him since his departure.
— Right out of the gate, Chevy looks a little distracted in his performance. Understandable, considering that mere minutes earlier, he and Bill Murray famously got into a big fistfight backstage. I’m curious to see if there will be any visible tension in the cast’s performances throughout this episode.
— A reprisal of the memorable gag with Chevy’s Ford answering a glass of water as a phone.
— Chevy’s Ford to his wife Betty: “Thank you, Ron.”
— The map demonstration was really funny.
— And there’s the return of the traditional ending fall.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Strangely, they reverted back to the opening montage from the first two seasons.

   
— Weird seeing this montage again. Is SNL only doing this to add to the night’s nostalgic “old school” feel with Chevy’s return?


MONOLOGUE
CHC shamelessly garners applause from the audience using various ploys

   
— It’ll be interesting to see how this monologue goes, considering this is SNL’s very first alumni-hosted episode.
— Chevy’s coming off really fidgety in this; obviously he’s still shaken up over the fight.
— Is all the frequent cheap applause part of the joke?
— Yep, I guess it is. This ain’t too funny so far.
— I feel like SNL ended up using the same “host keeps saying things to get frequent cheap applause” premise in another host’s monologue years later, but I can’t figure out which host it was.
— Oh, great, now he’s launched into a song. Ugh.
— Well, at least the song was brief.
— Overall, this monologue was kind of a disjointed mess, not helped by Chevy’s slightly off performance. I didn’t laugh much here.
STARS: **


MOTH MASHER
the Moth Masher compresses & plasticizes to ready insects for your wallet

   
— Nice to see another commercial with Dan doing his usual manic fast-talking pitchman.
— The bizarre nonsensical premise and the way it’s being played like it’s totally normal is great. I especially like the part about putting the plasticized moth into your wallet.
STARS: ****


AFTER LOVE
(CHC) & (GIR) evaluate their performance during a post-coital discussion


— I’m really liking Gilda’s various strange lines about her orgasms.
— This sketch is starting to have the feel of a Marilyn Suzanne Miller piece.
— Very funny part with Chevy explaining he said his own name during the sex because of all of his nights spent alone.
— Great “It’s your apartment” reveal at the end.
— Overall, a very well-written sketch and featured strong performances from Gilda and Chevy.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


KING
Jack (DAA) & Bobby (BIM) Kennedy bug Martin Luther King Jr. (GAM)

   
— Bill Murray’s first appearance of the night. I’m eager to see what his performances will be like tonight, considering how heated I know he is after the scuffle with Chevy.
— Bill and Dan’s Kennedy accents are really funny.
— Dan: “It seems the good ones, they die young.” Clever reference to the Billy Joel performance that preceded this. Speaking of which, some SNL fans are under the misconception that the Chevy/Bill backstage fight actually happened during the aforementioned Billy Joel performance, instead of happening before the show started. It IS funny, though, to imagine Billy Joel singing about good people dying young while Chevy and Bill are beating the crap out of each other.
— Dan: “Have you ever slept with a white girl?” Garrett: “Does your sister count?”
— A pretty forgettable sketch overall, despite decent performances.
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
a phony phone call from CHC displaces DAA from the anchor desk
LAN’s attempt to interview striking miner (ALF) is foiled by his coughing
JAC doesn’t fall for CHC’s attempt to displace her via a phony phone call
straying from topic of Spinks-Ali fight causes JOB to become animated
Emily Litella welcomes CHC back to Weekend Update; JAC tells them off
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing

             
— The sponsored “Pussywhip” bit at the beginning was very funny.
— Haha, that’s clearly Chevy’s disguised voice talking to Dan over the phone.
— Dan announces he “has to split” after receiving family emergency news.
— Chevy has suddenly returned to the desk in Dan’s spot, and he’s even wearing his old anchorperson suit from the first two seasons. You can hear a guy in the audience very audibly exclaim “Alright!!”
— Over the years, I’ve heard some behind-the-scenes stories that Chevy taking over as Update anchor tonight was one of his demands that week, arrogantly explaining that “my fans expect it”. Reportedly, Jane was FURIOUS over this. This was just one of MANY ways that Chevy is said to have pissed off everybody at SNL that week (and as we know now, Chevy pissing off everybody at the show would go on to be a regular thing every time he hosted in the future).
— Ha, Chevy doing a Mr. Ed voice once again.
— What the heck was the point of Franken’s coal miner commentary? It was weak and one-joke.
— Another phone call from a disguised Chevy, this time trying to lure Jane away from the desk.
— Jane’s “Nice try, Sparky” response to Chevy’s failed phone call ruse was great.
— LOL at Jane’s casual mention of Leon Spinks being “one of the ugliest heavyweight champs of all-time”.
— This is John’s first appearance of the whole night, surprisingly.
— During his story, John makes a passing mention of “Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill’s brother”.
— And now, John mentions a roommate named Steve Bushaikis, which is also the name of one of John’s more obscure recurring characters on the show.
— There’s the “But nooooooo” line, which pretty much officially becomes John’s catchphrase at this point.
— John’s whole roughhousing/boxing gloves bit with Jane was hilarious, especially Jane’s panicking and her passing out.
— Emily Litella shows up out of nowhere, happily greeting her favorite Update anchor “Cheddar Cheese”. As tired as I’ve gotten of this character, she’s actually coming off endearing here.
— Jane to Litella: “(angrily) First I get slugged by Belushi, now I gotta deal with YOU!”
— Chevy brings back his famous “making faces behind someone’s back” routine while Jane’s continuing to rant on at him and Litella.
— Jane’s aggression when calling out Chevy for greedily taking over Update is clearly part of the script, but you just know there’s definitely a lot of real-life anger she’s venting there.
— To conclude tonight’s Chevy Chase-Era Weekend Update Nostalgia Tour, we get the return of “News for the Hard of Hearing”. They’re really going all out in bringing back all of Chevy’s beloved Update staples.
— Overall, what an epic Update. Easily the best of the season so far. Kinda sad, though, that it took Chevy’s return for SNL to have its first above-average Update of the whole season. Really shows how fairly rough the quality of Update has been this season.
STARS: ****


BAGGAGE INSPECTION
customs trainee (CHC) inspects luggage of drug smugglers (JOB) & (LAN)

   
— I got a good laugh from Garrett hiding a joint in his mouth when trying to sneak away.
— Hilarious part with the cocaine leaking out of Laraine’s “chest”.
— During Bill’s funny walk-on at the end, he actually interacts with Chevy very briefly. Surprisingly, there was no visible tension at all, which at least shows they’re both very professional performers when they’re in character during a sketch.
— Overall, a very good sketch.
STARS: ****


THE VOICE
by Gary Weis- (Valri Bromfield) provides the soundtrack to LAN’s bad day

   
— A rare Laraine Newman showcase. I mentioned in an earlier review that she’s been really invisible this season.
— A very bizarre short so far, but the strange off-camera operatic singing and Laraine’s growing frustration are both making me laugh.
— What the–? Is that Valri Bromfield? The stand-up who did that awful “teacher” routine in SNL’s very first episode? How random that she pops up as a punchline at the end of this short. It looks like she’s even wearing the same outfit she wore in the first episode.
— The weirdness of this whole short was certainly more entertaining than the snooze-worthy humor Gary Weis usually offers.
STARS: ***


SERMONETTE
Church of Confusion holy man (CHC) tells a rambling story


— Chevy’s voice is kinda funny, but where in the WORLD is this going???
— Okay, now Chevy’s trying too hard with the “funny” voices here.
— And the sketch is over. I’m still left wondering what in the WORLD I just watched.
STARS: *½


GREAT MOMENTS OF WAR
at a checkpoint during WWII, GIs use USA culture quiz to root out Nazis

  
— Funny little detail with Bill quietly counting to himself in German.
— Predictable ending with John not knowing the answer to the Cleveland Indians manager question himself.
— I’m a little torn on this sketch as a whole. I felt the writing was tepid, but the performances were fun and made it worth watching.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


ENDINGS
CHC interrupts LAN, GIR, JAC during a badly-written old lady sketch
Twilite Zone- cast tries several methods to get out of a skit with no end
Jaws V- the Land Shark fools the women with promises of a sketch ending
GAM sees cast dead on the floor, ends show with “That’s All Folks”

       
— Gilda’s basically just doing an old-timey version of her Emily Litella voice.
— The fourth wall has broken with Chevy entering the scene as himself and calling for the sketch to end because “the piece is going nowhere”.
— Haha, sudden “Twilight Zone” twist. I always love Dan’s dead-on Rod Serling impression.
— Ha, and now we get a sudden John-as-Truman-Capote twist.
— Love the reveal of John randomly not wearing any pants.
— I’m loving all the false endings and weird meta-turns this sketch keeps taking in their attempt to “get out of the sketch”.
— Haha, now we get the return of Landshark!
— Overall, this was fantastic. Easily one of my favorite meta sketches of this whole era so far, which is saying something, as this era has had lots of memorable meta sketches.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS
CHC plays organ with SNL band

 
— Chevy is seated at a piano as the cast crowds around him like he’s some sort of music legend. Ugh, his penchant for self-indulgence is on full display here.
— The DVD version I’m reviewing of this episode cut the goodnights very short. I had always heard that during these goodnights, a seething Bill Murray can be seen pacing back-and-forth in the background the whole time while giving Chevy a death stare. That description doesn’t quite match what I saw here, but it’s close enough: Bill makes a late entrance while looking miserable and he briefly shoots a particularly unhappy look towards Chevy hamming it up at the piano. Dan and John then stand by Bill, seemingly for two reasons: 1) to lighten him up and calm him down, and 2) to show solidarity with him, as if to say “We’re not on Chevy’s side”.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode, which exceeded my expectations. I came into this expecting a rough show, due to the backstage drama right before airtime and the fact that Chevy-hosted episodes usually have a reputation for being pretty tepid (probably due to his aforementioned habit of making everyone at the show miserable whenever he hosts). While tonight had a few subpar sketches here and there, the episode was decent for the most part and there were a few very strong segments, particularly the last sketch and the After Love sketch.
— The cast did a good job of hiding any tension during the sketches. Chevy himself, on the other hand, was visibly a little shaken early on in the show, but after the monologue, he got his concentration down and became his old self again, for better or worse.
— BTW, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the details of the Chevy/Bill fight, here’s an old article (from 1999) I dug up.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
The controversial hosts keep on comin’, as our next episode is helmed by The Juice himself, O.J. Simpson