Tag: 1981-82

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January 30, 1982 – John Madden / Jennifer Holliday (S7 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host gives postgame report from Super Bowl XVI loser Bengals’ locker room

   

— I’m loving Eddie’s angry rant.
— Tony’s pretty funny as the foreign kicker.
— Good bit with Tim as an angry coach having Tony deported.
— The reveal of one of the players having hanged himself in the background was pulled off well.
— An overall good opening with a funny dark vibe to it.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE / MONOLOGUE / ??????
host bursts though opening credits a la Lite Beer commercial

— Not sure what to call this segment (as you can tell by my confusing title), but this was a fun brief bit with Madden busting through the screen to hype up the show in a football game-esque manner.


JOHNNY CARSON SCHOOL OF ACTING
Art Fern (JOP) on how to succeed the Johnny Carson way- steal characters

  

— Is this a sister commercial to “The Ed McMahon School of Laughing”?
— Not liking Joe’s Art Fern impression.
— Strange sketch so far. Very mean-spirited towards Johnny Carson too. I said this in an earlier review from the original era, but every time these early-era SNL episodes bash Johnny Carson as a Tonight Show host, I always find myself saying “They thought The Tonight Show was lousy THEN? Those are considered legendary years now.  Wait’ll they see how bad that show later gets under a certain big-chinned successor of Carson’s.”  Also, the whole “Carson’s Tonight Show was bashed by SNL back then, but is now universally considered a classic era” thing reminds me of how SNL itself is looked as: some of the SNL eras that are now well-loved and highly regarded were bashed fairly heavily back when they originally aired.
— Overall, I didn’t care much for this sketch.
STARS: **


JOGGER MOTEL
— Rerun


BETTY BEER
the Bitches’ Brew gives women confidence to act dumb like men

   

— Decent premise of a “beer for broads”.
— The scene between Christine and Madden was pretty funny.
— Some parts reminds me a little of the original SNL era’s Mommy Beer commercial, only not as good.
STARS: **½


POETRY CORNER
host’s poems carry the mark of a former football coach

— I’m already liking the concept of John Madden poems.
— Announcer: “Next week, James Coburn reads selections from his wallet.” Hey, doesn’t Coburn actually host the next episode of SNL?
— Overall, this was okay, but nothing special.
STARS: **½


THE LOU GRANT SHOW
Mary Richards (MAG) & Ted Baxter (JOP) ask Lou Grant (TOR) to come back

 

— Tony’s Ed Asner impression is passable, but not anything impressive.
— The debut of Mary’s great impression of Mary Tyler Moore. Right off the bat, her impression is coming off fantastic.
— Yikes, Joe’s Ted Knight impression is rough. That’s two bad impressions from him tonight so far.
— The group hug ending was okay.
— Overall, while I liked some of the dialogue, this ended up being another sketch tonight that was nothing special.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”


SNL NEWSBREAK
Italian secret police captain (TOR) describes rescue of General Dozier
MAG shows inhumane devices used to rile rodeo animals
a list of federal programs Ronald Reagan wants to leave to the states

     

— They thankfully seemed to have officially stopped doing the opening “falling logo letters” gag.
— Tony playing another Italian stereotype character…
— Tony’s overall commentary was completely forgettable.
— On-again off-again Newsbreak co-anchor Mary Gross appearing in a short segment…
— I liked Mary’s “Yee-haw!” while in the middle of detailing of how cattle are tamed.
— Mary’s overall commentary was decent, and this actually made good use of her usually cheesy delivery.
— A list of federal programs? Oh, no, looks like we’re getting the SNL Newsbreak “long screen crawl gag” bit.
— Yep, I was right. And this gag isn’t funny at all so far.
— God, this screen crawl is STILL going?!?
— Brian, regarding the screen crawl: “These rolled a lot faster in dress rehearsal.” Funny ad-lib, but it still doesn’t make up for this overly tedious bit.
— Are you kidding me?! The screen crawl STILL hasn’t ended?! At this point, I don’t even remember what its topic is.
— Mercifully, the screen crawl is finally over, and so is SNL Newsbreak.
STARS: *½


THE UNCLE TOM SHOW
Buckwheat & Captain Kangaroo (TOR) visit Tom Snyder’s (JOP) kiddie show

  

— Very funny use of Joe’s Tom Snyder impression.
— Loved Joe’s line about doing a segment telling little girls about “Mr. Period”.
— Of course, Tony’s mention of “smoking dope” receives a loud cheer from the audience.
— The dark story from Tony as Captain Kangaroo was really good.
— Joe’s reference to Gumby and Pokey made me think of Eddie’s Gumby impression, which has yet to debut on the show at this point (I think we’ll first see it at the beginning of season 8).
— Speaking of Eddie, we get an appearance from Buckwheat. This has made me realize that we surprisingly have barely seen Eddie tonight. This is his first appearance since the cold opening.
— I’m really liking these Buckwheat-ized versions of nursery rhymes.
— Overall, a solid sketch.
STARS: ***½


INSIDE STORY
host tells a Raiders’ locker room story involving Ted Hendricks

 

— Haha, Madden’s Ted Hendricks “money in the toilet” story had a great punchline.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Night Only”


MAFIA NAME GIVER
mobster (TOR) goes to (EDM) to be assigned a nickname

   

— Tony playing yet ANOTHER Italian character.
— Good meta-joke with Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci being among the pictures of famous Dons on the wall.
— The “Hey, where’s Don Pardo?” “He’s not with us anymore” exchange was another good meta-bit, referring to how he was replaced as an announcer this season.
— Robin appears to be playing the same Italian mama from the Frank & Papa sketch a few episodes ago.
— Tim’s character is pretty one-note.
— Awkward long pause before Robin’s “The wedding’s off!” line. During that long pause, you could actually see Mary cueing Robin by elbowing her, and when Robin finally said the line, it looked like she was trying not to laugh.
— As always, Eddie does a fantastic “old Jewish guy” voice.
— The bit with Eddie’s unflattering mob nicknames for Tony is going on way too long.
— I haven’t been liking the direction this sketch has been going in.
— Eddie’s nickname bit is STILL going on? Ugh, what is this, another SNL Newsbreak “long screen crawl” gag?
— Overall, a very weak sketch.
STARS: *½


ANDY KAUFMAN
as Elvis, Andy Kaufman [real] sings, clucks, chooses girls, apologizes

    

— First time Andy has appeared on the show in a long time. Last time I reviewed an Andy Kaufman segment, he was wrestling women in season 5, back when the original cast was still on.
— So far, this just seems to be a straightforward Elvis number.
— LOL, what the hell has happened now? He’s now oddly lip-syncing musical chicken clucks.
— Whoa, now this sketch has taken an even stranger turn with Elvis Andy sleazily bringing two female audience members to his backstage room.
— Wait, I think I remember reading about this. Doesn’t Andy drop character during this backstage scene and do something weird?
— Yep, there it is; Andy has now taken off his wig and is addressing the camera as himself to disapprove of an inaccurate Elvis biography that this sketch was apparently based on.
— What the hell? That’s how this whole segment ends???
— I usually love Andy’s SNL bits, but I have no absolutely idea what to make of this one.
STARS: ??????? (undecided)


SUPER BOWL TO SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
host takes a train to NYC with Brent Musberger [real]

   

— So far, this feels exactly like a film Gary Weis would’ve done in the original era. That’s not a good thing, by the way.
— I do like some of the scenic camera angles.
STARS: **


PUDGE & SOLOMON
Solomon (EDM) remembers his wife & complains to Pudge (JOP) about bunions

— The debut of Eddie and Joe’s Solomon and Pudge characters, a recurring sketch that’s known for being a strong showcase of both slice-of-life humor and the great chemistry that Eddie and Joe always have.
— Eddie’s Hitler story is funny.
— Great character work from Eddie and Joe.
— Really nice sentimental turn this has suddenly taken with Eddie getting sad over his late wife. Very touching way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
Marv Throneberry [real] says “I don’t know why I’m here”

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The post-Michael O’Donoghue slump continues, as we get our second underwhelming episode in a row tonight. Unlike the preceding episode, this at least didn’t suffer from overlong sketches. However, I found myself describing a lot of tonight’s material as “nothing special”. Aside from a couple of highlights, a majority of the show was “meh”, some was just plain bad (SNL Newsbreak, Mafia Name Giver), and one was just baffling (the Andy Kaufman “Elvis backstage” bit).


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
James Coburn

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January 23, 1982 – Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band (S7 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The People’s Court- Paulette Clooney sues Velvet Jones over failed ho bid

— An actual cold opening this season!
— The return of Robin’s “She’s a pig” character.
— Velvet Jones!
— A nice crossover of two separate recurring characters, something I’ve always wished SNL would do more often with some of their characters.
— I like how Eddie as Velvet is still using his stilted commercial pitchman delivery.
— Eddie’s blunt “The bitch ugly” line had me howling.
— Robert Conrad seems to be having a lot of trouble delivering his lines all of a sudden.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE


IN THE NEWS
Liz Taylor’s marriage history is documented

— I already covered this segment in my review of the Tim Curry episode. This segment was actually originally aired in tonight’s episode, but was added to repeats of the Curry episode.
ORIGINAL RATING: ***


WILD WILD WILD WEST
James West (host) visits Velvet Jones’ brothel

    

— I don’t even recognize most of the performers at the beginning of this sketch.
— Ha, Eddie reprising Velvet Jones right after the cold opening. A nice overlapping of tonight’s sketches.
— Mary’s stiff “left face, right face, forward march, etc.” was awkward, but it strangely made me laugh.
— I liked Eddie’s stiff evil laugh.
— What the hell? What was with an un-mic’ed Tony starting to say his “So you sent the bomb into the future” line off-camera way too early, long before the camera cut to him? I’m surprised they didn’t edit out a blooper like that in the rerun version I’m watching.
— Overall, man, I don’t know WHAT to make of this sketch. It was too long, there were way too many different confusing aspects, and most importantly, it was hardly funny. Pretty much a chore to watch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Midnight Rider”


BABIES IN MAKEUP
by Edward Bianchi- tots with painted faces

   

— Boy, this is just plain weird and pretty creepy.
— I did like the visual of a stuffed Snoopy doll hanging from a chain.
— Overall, yet another segment tonight that I don’t know what to make of.
STARS: **


OVEREXPOSED CHARACTERS
Velvet Jones & Paulie Herman declare themselves overexposed

— Yet ANOTHER Velvet Jones appearance tonight?
— A very interesting meta premise, with Velvet announcing his retirement due to overexposure.
— This is Jersey Guy’s first appearance in quite a long time.
— I wonder if this truly ends up being these characters’ final appearance. If so, I’m surprised that I never got sick of Jersey Guy like I originally thought I would. They ended up using him the right number of times and shook up his appearances enough times to keep him from getting annoying.
STARS: ***½


SNL NEWSBREAK PREVIEW
Lou Costello (TOR) cross-examines Jack Henry Abbott (host)

 

— Geez, the copy I’m reviewing of this episode abruptly joins this SNL Newsbreak in progress when Mary’s right in the middle of a joke. I wonder how much of this Newsbreak is missing from my copy.
— Mary’s hair looks quite different.
— There’s the People’s Court courtroom set again.
— Tony’s Lou Costello is great, and I’m getting a lot of laughs from this whole Abbott and Costello routine.
STARS: ***½


SNL NEWSBREAK
JOP uses Atari & Intellivision to predict 49ers will win Super Bowl XVI
weatherperson CHE tells BDM why she thinks the wind-chill factor is dumb

     

— Wait… what in the world??? NOW the actual SNL Newsbreak is starting? So then what the heck was that I just watched right before this, with Mary at the desk ? Was that some kind of Newsbreak preview? I am completely lost.
— The “nosc” bit is going on too long. Almost as bad as those “long screen crawl” bits they’re eventually going to run into the ground this season.
— Wait, where’s Mary? Brian has been the only one doing jokes so far in tonight’s Newsbreak. So then what was the point of having Mary anchor the short Newsbreak preview, but not the Newsbreak itself? Ugh, I said it before and I’ll say it again: SNL DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY’RE DOING WITH THIS SEGMENT ANYMORE!
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary had a decent payoff with the two different video games used to represent each of the two Super Bowl teams.
— Christine’s weather segment was just weird. None of her weather segments this season have been working for me so far.
— Boy, Brian’s Chinese New Years bit was awful.
STARS: **


BATTLE OF THE WEEK
game show pits Las Vegas showgirls vs. volunteer army

   

— Tony as Vic Salukin again? Didn’t he get murdered in the Donald Pleasence episode?
— Eddie’s “I don’t have no pep” rant was pretty funny (even if he stumbled over part of it).
— Overall, while the initial premise was fairly interesting, the resulting sketch fell flat. Hard to say what exactly didn’t work about it.
STARS: **


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
the topic is breasts

   

— They seem to be doing an awful lot of these Andy Rooney bits this season. Luckily, Joe’s impression usually always makes me laugh.
— LOL at them showing an uncensored clip of nude African female breasts to prove a point.
— Awkward ending with the audience’s delayed applause.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Southbound”


THE NIXON MANSION
G. Gordon Liddy (host) & Richard Nixon (TOR) plan to impugn FDR (TIK)

     

— A Nixon sketch? For the first time since Aykroyd left? I’m guessing it’s Joe who will take over the impression.
— Oh, it’s Tony taking over the impression. I never would’ve expected that.
— Not too crazy about Tony’s impression so far. Maybe I’m just put off by the fact that he looks so out of place in the role.
— I thought it was taboo to say “scumbag” on TV back then. (Chris Farley would later say that word in a Woody Allen/Mia Farrow sketch and it would end up getting re-dubbed to “sleazebag” in reruns.)
— I like Robin’s performance as FDR’s secretary.
— A good laugh from FDR telling his wife Eleanor that she looks like a character out of Dick Tracy.
— Boy, this seems to be turning into yet ANOTHER overly long sketch tonight. (*groan*)
— Oh my god at Eddie as a buck-toothed Japanese ambassador.
— Ha, FDR casually getting up from his wheelchair to walk around the office…
— Overall, despite a few highlights, this was another sketch that suffered from its length and dragged too much during several parts.
STARS: **


FAMILY TRADITION
castmember’s sister Nancy Sue Ebersole (CHE) sings off-key & plays viola

   

— Interesting-seeming bit with Christine doing a segment as “her sister”.
— Oh, looks like this is our obligatory Christine Ebersole musical sketch of the week.
— Ha, a gag disclaimer showing up during Christine’s song. This is a nice return of a gag that the show frequently did in the original era.
— Christine’s violin attempt is pretty funny.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Leavin'”


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An underwhemling episode, which is what I was expecting for the first episode after Michael O’Donoghue’s firing. There were some good things tonight, but nothing stood out as really strong and the show was dragged down by too many overly long sketches. The show was also lacking O’Donoghue’s sense of weirdness, experimentation, and danger, which is part of what made the first half of the season so interesting to me.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
John Madden

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December 12, 1981 – Bill Murray / The Spinners (S7 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Phone Company- “Faking progress so we can charge more”

— Decent tagline, but I’m still finding it kinda lazy to use these quick disclaimer gags as a cold opening. Hope there’s a change with these in the second half of the season.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Announcer Mel Brandt’s gruff-sounding fill-in from the last episode is doing the announcements again tonight.
— This fill-in announcer still sounds ridiculously out of place in this opening montage. Like I said in the last review, it’s almost comical in itself.
— I think this is the very first instance of Eddie and Joe receiving noticeably more audience cheers than the rest of the cast.
— A lot of special guests credited tonight.


MONOLOGUE
BIM has nothing but good things to say about Santa Claus (Andy Murphy)

— There’s no Talent Entrance tonight.
— A more tame, straightforward entrance from Bill this time, compared to the usual high-energy entrances he’s made in his monologues from other episodes he’s hosted.
— Good concept with Bill bringing out Santa Claus as a special guest. This is one of the most well-known roles for frequent SNL extra Andy Murphy.
— I’m loving Bill’s very Bill Murray-esque rapport with Santa. Lots of fun lines from Bill here.
STARS: ****


TALES OF THE UNLIKELY
Libyan terrorists try to assassinate the president

   

— Interesting concept and intro to this.
— The pamphlets bit with Joe is pretty funny.
— Bill: “[Reagan] likes expensive gifts”. Tony (playing Reagan’s national security adviser): “Well, don’t we all?” *big laughs from the audience* I don’t get it. Must be a very topical political reference. Reminds me of how overly topical the constant Trump material on modern-day SNL is. (Imagine future SNL fans 30 years from now trying to follow those Trump sketches in reruns; it’s gonna be HORRIBLY aged and hard to follow).
— Overall, a pretty solid sketch.
STARS: ***½


HOTEL ROOM
a washed-up Tom Snyder (JOP) has delusions in a dumpy hotel room

   

— First time we’re seeing Joe play Normal Tom Snyder, after his funny appearance as Spanish Tom Snyder earlier this season.
— I kinda knocked Joe as an impressionist in my last review (calling him a poor man’s precursor to Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond), but I admit he does a good Tom Snyder, especially the trademark Snyder laugh.
— I like how Joe’s Snyder is deliriously treating his room visitors as famous interviewees on his show “Tomorrow”.
— Pretty funny sequence with Joe’s Snyder interacting with the spirit of Rona Barrett.
— The ending actually kinda came off touching.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Spinners perform “Then Came You”
The Spinners perform “I’ll Be Around”
The Spinners perform “Working My Way Back to You”


MX-5 TAMPONS
Father Guido Sarducci endorses MX-5 tampons

— The return of Father Guido Sarducci. Can’t say I’m thrilled; the oversaturation of him in seasons 4 and 5 permanently ruined him for me. It’s hard for me to even laugh at this character anymore (and he was never all that hilarious to begin with, honestly).
— All that being said, this commercial with him is actually funny. Hilarious concept with randomly having him tout a brand of tampons.
— Overall, short and sweet.
STARS: ***


DESIGNER FAIRY TALES
elves make clothes for Ralph Lauren (BIM)

     

— Another SNL parody of Brooke Shields’ famous Calvin Klein commercials from those days.
— I was about to say that Gail Matthius’ Brooke Shields was more attractive to me, but honestly, Mary looks good in this. Mary can surprisingly be quite attractive in certain roles, like this and Marilyn Monroe.
— Oh, this is segueing into a sketch. I thought it was just going to be a straightforward Calvin Klein Jeans fake ad.
— Isn’t there a story about how they weren’t able to remove makeup that Eddie wore for an earlier Muhammad Ali appearance in time for this sketch? I do notice that there’s a few weird light-skinned splotches on his face in this, and it looks like he’s kinda trying to hide some parts of his face from the camera. Bill gives him a funny look at one point. However, the copy of the episode I’m watching hasn’t even HAD a Muhammad Ali bit yet. I guess the order of sketches has been shuffled around in the rerun version I’m watching (which is very common for this season).
— The increasingly ridiculous contorted poses Mary’s Brooke is shown in whenever the camera cuts back to her are really funny.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch. Not much else I can say about it, though.
STARS: ***


SNL NEWSBREAK
the many spellings of “Kaddafi”
footage of an early JOP interview of Cassius Clay (EDM)
JOP asks Muhammad Ali (EDM) if he’s taken too many punches
MAG asks jaded children about the meaning of Christmas

         

— My copy of this episode is missing the beginning of SNL Newsbreak and starts towards the end of Brian’s sign-on. Anyone know if this opened with the “falling logo letters” gag once again? Also, is Mary even there? The camera has just been on Brian in my copy of this Newsbreak so far.
— Uh-oh, Brian’s long-winded joke about the spelling of Khaddafi seems to be our very first instance of the “long screen crawl gag”, which is something I’m aware becomes an UNBEARABLE regular part of SNL Newsbreak for the remainder of the season. Ugh.
— That being said, I admit to laughing at some of the ridiculous Khaddafi misspellings, and this particular screen crawl didn’t go on TOO long. I know it gets worse later this season, though.
— The audience loved the “Khadaffy Duck” comic book bit, but I personally found it to be lame.
— I guess Mary really isn’t at the desk tonight. Brian has been the only one doing jokes in tonight’s Newsbreak so far. So SNL has ALREADY re-removed Mary from the desk, after going through the trouble of re-instating her as an anchor in the last episode? This is insane; SNL doesn’t know what they’re doing with this segment anymore.
— Okay, here’s the Muhammad Ali bit I mentioned earlier. However, this segment is clearly pre-taped, plus Eddie’s not even wearing any special kind of makeup here. This can’t be the bit that caused the makeup mishap in the Designer Fairy Tales sketch.
— Eddie’s impression of Young Ali (Cassius Clay) is hilarious.
— Ah, now we’re getting a live interview with Eddie as Older Ali. So THIS is what the aforementioned makeup mishap was all about. And oh my god, Eddie looks unrecognizable under all that makeup.
— Eddie’s voice as Older Ali is cracking me up.
— There’s Mary, doing a pre-taped remote on what Christmas means to children.
— The first kid being interviewed is a young Seth Green! (second-to-last screencap above)
— One kid complains that people have started putting Christmas decorations up way too early. Interesting how that was a complaint even back in those days; I thought that only started in more recent years.
— There’s the same curly-haired little girl from the Hidden Photo sketch from earlier this season.
— The whole “What Christmas Means to Me” segment is funny, with the children’s adult-esque grumpy complaints.
STARS: **½


PREDICTIONS
BIM talks with Father Guido Sarducci about his psychic predictive powers

— Another segment with Father Guido Sarducci tonight. Is this REALLY necessary?
— “Chicklets”?
— (*sigh*) This seems to be turning into the usual long-winded Guido Sarducci bit.
— Some of the psychic predictions are mildly funny.
— God, this is starting to get really long and boring. Sarducci made an actual FUNNY appearance earlier tonight that was short and sweet, so why’d they have to ruin it by following it up with one of his typical long-winded, never-ending talkfests? Until now, it had been refreshing no longer having to worry about reviewing these Sarducci bits on a regular basis after I finished my coverage of season 5. (Then again, I do have to worry about his semi-regular appearances in the upcoming season 11).
— Loved Bill’s random dig at the New York Post.
— Okay, Sarducci’s “The waves are gonna be bitchin’” comment got a chuckle out of me.
STARS: **


MICHAEL DAVIS
in response to a fan letter, Michael Davis [real] juggles 3 bowling balls

     

— Great opening stunt, throwing a red ball in the air and catching it on his nose while perfectly balancing it.
— Ha, turns out the red ball is a clown nose.
— Funny reveal with the fan who unsuccessfully tried to juggle three axes signing his letter to Michael under the name “Lefty”.
— Loved Michael’s “or does the earth suck” line during his bowling ball gravity test.
— Some good laughs from his difficulties in lifting the three bowling balls off the floor.
— And now he actually juggled the three bowling balls successfully. That was great.
STARS: ****


FRACAS
by Timothy Hittle- a battle between a man & a claymation foe

     

— Hmm, a claymation short.
— Haha, I got a big laugh from the part with the clay figure stabbing the guy’s foot with a fork, making the guy scream hilariously.
— Overall, I found this film to be very funny.
STARS: ****


THE ECONOMICS OF CHRISTMAS
(JOP) & (CHE) explain trickle-down economics to Honker via a song

   

— The return of Bill’s Honker character!
— Looks like this has turned into our obligatory season 7 musical sketch of the week. Considering this is the Christmas show, I can excuse it this time.
— Overall, nothing really to say about this, but this was fine for what it was.
STARS: ***


AT HOME WITH THE PSYCHOS
a nuclear family is prepared for the blow hole

       

— Oh, I’ve been looking forward to this. This is known as a very dark, controversial Michael O’Donoghue-written sketch that has a lot of notoriety, and I believe is one of the things that contributed to O’Donoghue’s mid-season firing over the Christmas break. I’m eager to finally see this insane sketch for myself.
— Loved Bill’s casual “Hey, what’s eating you?” after Christine randomly shot a rifle at him.
— Mary’s pretty funny as the blind ballerina daughter.
— Holy hell, that father-daughter make-out session between Bill and Mary…
— Oh my god, Christine’s randomly bleeding hands…
— I like Eddie’s walk-on as a dynamite-covered militant son.
— Boy, this is one hell of a dark, crazy, unsettling sketch as expected. The studio audience doesn’t know WHAT to make of this.
— Aw, damn NBC censors. Thanks to them, we can’t even see the blowhole prop that Bill is displaying to Brian.
— Speaking of NBC, this is a good time to mention that back in the original airing of this episode, this sketch got interrupted at some point for breaking news about Poland being invaded by Russia; news that no doubt must’ve really startled viewers back then. The copy I’m watching of this episode doesn’t have the breaking news report, but supposedly in the old Netflix/Seeso version of this episode, they bizarrely left the breaking news report intact!
— By the way, I believe this is the only time in SNL history where a live episode got interrupted by a breaking news report. During the summer of 1997, an NBC rerun of a then-recent season 22 episode (Rob Lowe/Spice Girls, I believe) was interrupted for breaking news of Princess Diana’s death.
— Nice touch with the green nuclear glow in the room during Bill’s whole mock-dramatic speech at the end.
— Overall, wow, that sketch DEFINITELY lived up to its bizarre reputation. I liked this sketch overall, though I wonder if I enjoyed it more for how daringly strange it was than for how good it actually was (which is how I felt about O’Donoghue’s equally-strange Nick the Knock sketch earlier this season).  I will say that Bill was perfect for this sketch, and took charge of it better than most hosts would’ve.
STARS: ***


THE YALE WHIFFENPOOFS
Yale Wiffenpoofs perform Christmas carols with host & cast

     

— For some reason, this is reminding me of when The Singing Idlers performed on the show back in season 1 (Jill Clayburgh episode).
— The singers’ SAT scores randomly being displayed onscreen has some pretty funny jokes (e.g. “Dates Kennedys You’ve Never Even Heard Of”, “Dad Made a Few Calls”).
— Hey, now Bill and the SNL cast have joined in on the song.
— Uh, why do the cast have sped-up chipmunk singing voices?
— Boy, is Tony hamming it up.
— There’s Robin’s Laraine Newman-esque hairstyle again. I keep having to do a double-take whenever I see her hair like that, because it keeps initially making me think I’m watching the original SNL cast again.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


GOODNIGHTS
BIM expresses solidarity with Poland in wake of martial law

  

— My copy of this episode abruptly joins these goodnights in progress while Bill’s in the middle of awkwardly addressing the Poland situation. Bill somberly says, among other things, “There’s still a bargain to be had in Fort Lee, New Jersey” and “Our hearts should be with, are ARE with, the good people of Poland. God bless them.”
— My copy is missing an interesting-sounding comment that Bill supposedly made about the Poland situation early on in these goodnights: “I guess that means this is World War III.” However, I’m not sure if that comment from Bill even occurred; I heard it as a recounting from someone who saw the original airing of this episode as a little kid, and I think his memory of it is understandably a little faulty.
— After Bill’s somber announcement, Christine noticeably looks very emotional. Damn.
— Aww, now I noticed Robin looks really sad too.
— Geez, what a depressing end to a Christmas episode.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overly-average episode. Most of the sketches were decent, but nothing in the show stood out at all aside from the monologue, the Michael Davis spot, and a claymation short that wasn’t even originally aired in this episode (it was added for the rerun). Not even the insane “At Home With The Psychos” sketch could garner more than an average three-star rating.
— The overly-average, nothing-special nature of this episode is evidenced by the fact that I had a hard time coming up with stuff to say about some of the sketches. At least this episode never really bottomed-out too hard, though; the only thing I came close to kinda hating was the overlong Father Guido Sarducci psychic predictions sketch.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tim Curry):
— a fairly big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1982, with host Robert Conrad

Posted on

December 5, 1981 – Tim Curry / Meat Loaf (S7 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Texxon- “SNL writer will suffer Karen Silkwood’s fate”

— Haha, this is the first disclaimer cold opening gag this season that actually made me laugh out loud (even if I don’t know who Karen Silkwood is).
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Whoa, who in the world is this gruff-sounding announcer I’m hearing right now? Where’s this season’s regular announcer Mel Brandt? Is he out sick? You mean to tell me Don Pardo’s replacement has been replaced himself??? That’s strangely hilarious to me.
— Man, this guy’s gruff, stern-sounding, fast-talking voice doesn’t seem right for SNL AT ALL. It’s almost comical how out-of-place he sounds in this opening montage.


TALENT ENTRANCE

— Robin looks like Laraine Newman with her hair like that.
— Where’s Eddie?


MONOLOGUE
host tries to help Stepin Fetchit EDM change his image

  

— Oh, we’re getting a monologue tonight after all.
— Oh, THERE’S Eddie, making his entrance as a janitor.
— I never heard Eddie speak in that voice before.
— Loved Curry’s delivery of “Call me Massah Tim”.
— Curry telling Eddie to never appear in public as a black man, and then applying white shoe polish all over Eddie’s face is very funny, and it goes without saying that it feels like a precursor to a certain famous short film Eddie would later star in during his season 10 hosting stint.
STARS: ***½


TRANSEASTERN
— Rerun


ILLEGITIMATE SON
EDM says he’s Ronald Reagan’s illegitimate son & wants pop to come home

 

— Another Eddie Murphy-led segment already, right after the monologue?
— Ah, it’s the classic “Eddie reveals he’s the illegitimate son of Ronald Reagan” sketch.
— Overall, this was fantastic and had a lot of good laughs. Can’t think of anything else to add here.
STARS: ****


REACH OUT
parents “reach out & touch” elderly couple to talk with kidnapped son

   

— Great dark reveal with the little boy turning out to be a kidnapping victim.
STARS: ****


MICK!
Jagger’s (host) first TV variety special; Frank Nelson cameo

         

— Curry is dead-on and hilarious as Jagger.
— Looks like this will be a fun impression showcase for the cast; a type of sketch that surprisingly feels rare in this era.
— A cameo from Frank “Yyyyeeeeeeesss?” Nelson! He’s always cracked me up in the various TV shows I’ve seen him in.
— Wow, very fast costume change for Robin, going from one of the Mandrell Sisters to Shari Lewis in just two minutes.
— A very funny big kiss from Curry to the Lamb Chop puppet. I almost expected Curry to cough up a cottonball after the kiss.
— The return of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— Eddie’s “O-tay!” gets huge recognition applause from the audience, despite the fact that he had only done one Buckwheat sketch before this. This shows that certain one-off sketches were able to quickly take off among SNL viewers and become widely quoted even WITHOUT the benefit of being able to go viral online. If Eddie’s SNL tenure had been in our current decade, just imagine how much online buzz his sketches would be getting on a weekly basis.
— Took me a while to recognize Tony as Rip Taylor.
— Haha, Tony is a riot as a hacky joke-telling Rip Taylor. I especially loved him holding up a pickle and calling it “Mother’s little helper”.
— Boy, this is a long sketch.
— Liked Joe as Sinatra’s line “Rock singers make me puke”.
— Aww, they couldn’t find a role for Kazurinsky? He was the only cast member not in this (Brian Doyle-Murray doesn’t count).
— Overall, a fun and solid sketch as expected, though I could’ve done with this being trimmed down to a shorter length.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Promised Land”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM & MAG argue about each other’s news anchoring skills
BDM interviews Prince Charles (host) & pregnant Princess Di (CHE)
JOP talks with Bryant Gumbel [real] & welcomes him to the Today show
Raheem Abdul Muhammed dislikes the Moral Majority’s calls for censorship

     

— Wha…? Mary is re-joining as a co-anchor, after not appearing at the desk for the last few episodes??? Man, SNL doesn’t seem to know WHAT to do with the news segment anymore. This is getting erratic.  At what point do we start getting Christine Ebersole as a co-anchor later in the season?
— Wow, this long opening bickering bit between Brian and Mary is actually openly addressing a lot of problems that SNL Newsbreak has been suffering from. We get Mary calling Brian out on his habit of constantly stumbling over his jokes, Brian riffing on Mary’s too-slow, teacher-esque delivery of her jokes, Brian riffing on the constant unnecessary title changes SNL keeps making to the news segment (“Update, Newsbreak, Upchuck, or whatever the hell they’re calling it nowadays.”), Brian complaining that SNL’s news segment is “old, tired, and needs to be scrapped”, and more. Wow. I guess SNL is fully aware of all the complaints that viewers must’ve had about the sad state that SNL’s news segment had fallen into.
— Mary: “Let’s talk thin: what about your hair, Brian?”
— LOL at Brian unintentionally flubbing his first joke RIGHT AFTER the scripted bit where Mary commended Brian for not flubbing his rant to her.
— A follow-up to the Princess Di pregnancy commentary from a few episodes ago. This time, I can tell it’s Christine playing Di, whereas last time, I had a hard time making out which performer that was in the role and I mistakenly assumed it was that night’s host Lauren Hutton.
— Curry makes a pretty funny Prince Charles, though I prefer Eric Idle’s take on him during the original SNL era.
— Heh, Curry’s Prince Charles saying “What, me worry?” with a goofy grin seemed to be an Alfred E. Neuman reference (they’re both goofy-looking and have big ears, after all), but it absolutely DIED with the studio audience.
— The return of Joe’s SNL Sports commentaries. I’m surprised they haven’t been doing these too often this season. I had gotten so used to it appearing on a weekly basis in season 6.
— Bryant Gumbel cameo.
— Loved Joe’s delivery of “Damn!” when being told he couldn’t have Gumbel’s old job.
— Eddie’s appearance makes me realize that he didn’t appear in the last episode’s Newsbreak, after his streak of appearing in the first five Newsbreaks of the season.
— Loved Eddie’s “Shut up! I’m mad!” to the audience when they applauded his entrance.
— I’m surprised to hear Eddie make a passing mention of ABC’s sketch comedy show “Fridays”, SNL’s competition at the time.
— Eddie’s angry message to Jerry Falwell is great.
— Overall, a better SNL Newsbreak than usual, even if Brian and Mary’s actual jokes were still pretty weak. They won me over with that opening self-aware bit mocking themselves over how bad the news segment has gotten. That being said, I expect SNL Newsbreak to go back to fully sucking in the next episode.
STARS: ***


FRANK & PAPA
Frank stays with his Italian father after a fight with his wife

   

— Strangely, I think this is Kazurinsky’s first appearance of the whole night.
— The return of Tony and Tim’s Italian father-son duo from the season 6 finale. I’m about halfway through Tony’s short-lived SNL tenure, and I’ve been surprised to see that he hasn’t been playing as many Italian stereotype characters as hearsay had me expecting him to. Maybe he plays more of them in the second half of the season.
— Like last time, I’m loving the fast-paced arguing sessions between Tony and Tim.
— Tim’s “What is this, The Wizard of Oz?” complaint during Tony’s story was pretty funny.
— Haha, Robin as the Italian mama showing up out of nowhere to join in on Tony and Tim’s heated argument is hilarious.
— Decent ending with all three of them happily singing the Flintstones theme song while watching TV.
— Overall, much like the last time these characters appeared, this was a very long sketch where my interest started wavering towards the end. However, I can appreciate the authenticity in Tim and Tony’s performances, the humor, and the realistic slice-of-life aspects of the sketch.
STARS: ***


THE ZUCCHINI SONG
host & audience sing ribald ditty “The Zucchini Song”

  

— Heh, “The Zucchini Song”. I can already tell this is going to be dirty.
— I like how he’s actually going into the studio audience mid-song.
— Great touch having the audience sing along to the lyrics that are displayed on the big board next to Curry.
— Overall, a very fun number and a wonderful performance from Curry.
STARS: ****


TIM AND MEAT’S ONE-STOP ROCKY HORROR SHOP
host & musical guest advertise Tim & Meat’s One Stop Rocky Horror Shop

     

— Another fun premise tonight, and a nice involvement of Meat Loaf.
— I’m really liking Meat Loaf’s energy here.  This is probably too obvious a comparison, but his energy in this is starting to remind me a little of future cast member Chris Farley.
— Ha, Kazurinski doing a walk-on in the Frank-N-Furter outfit.
STARS: ****


IN THE NEWS
Liz Taylor’s marriage history is documented

   

— Amusing rundown of Elizabeth Taylor’s various marriages.
— Loved the narrator’s random “Then Liz got fat!”
— Overall, an interesting segment that felt a bit out of the ordinary for the show.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bat Out Of Hell”


IF REAGAN HAD SURVIVED THE ASSASSINATION
Dan Rather (JOP) & others ponder If Reagan Had Survived The Assassination

 

— I’m guessing this must be a take-off on some kind of “If JFK Had Survived the Assassination” TV special that aired at the time, because otherwise, this premise seems too random.
— That being said, the premise IS quite interesting, presenting us with an alternate universe where the infamous assassination attempt on President Reagan was successful and his VP George Bush took over his place as president.
— Still don’t know what to make of Joe’s Dan Rather impression. Years ago, I used to always think Joe was a strong impressionist, but after recently discovering his subpar Rather, Ted Koppel, and Jerry Lewis impressions (there’s probably one or two more weak impressions I’m forgetting), I’m starting to realize that as an impressionist, Joe was kind of a poor man’s precursor to Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond.
— This sketch just seems to be an excuse to passive-aggressively call out Reagan on his many questionable decisions as president. There are a few okay jabs in there, though.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Great episode, with a very fun vibe and lots of strong segments. Pretty much how I always imagined a Tim Curry-hosted SNL from the early 80s would be. Nothing was too weak tonight; even SNL Newsbreak was passable.
— This was the first episode of the season that didn’t have a huge number of segments. I guess long sketches like “Mick!” and “Frank & Papa” is the reason for the much-lower-than-usual sketch count.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Our Christmas episode of the season, hosted by Bill Murray.  I’ve always been curious to see this one because I remember hearing that the show bizarrely gets interrupted at one point by some kind of special report about Poland being invaded, or something like that.

Posted on

November 14, 1981 – Bernadette Peters / The Go-Go’s, Billy Joel (S7 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Texxon- “Where Life Is Second Only To Money”

— Now Texxon’s the name of the fictional gas company that “sponsors” the show?
— The taglines in these cold openings seem to get less and less funny with each passing one.
STARS: *½


TALENT ENTRANCE


JOHNNY KEEP YOUR GUN CLEAN
Betty Boop (host) warns against sex diseases

 

— The return of season 7’s musical sketches, after we got a break from them last week.
— The various V.D. innuendos are pretty funny.
— Overall, not bad for a season 7 musical sketch. Though knowing that Bernadette Peters has a lot of musical experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a second musical sketch later tonight.
STARS: ***


ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK FILMS
Escape From Escape From New York & Escape From New York, New York on film

   

— Calling Adrienne Barbeau “Adrienne Bimbo”?
— Not too sure about the concept of this. “Escape From New York” seems like a strange movie to pick on.
— I kinda like the outdated 1950s stock footage of theatergoers being used to represent then-modern theatergoers.
STARS: **


I MARRIED A MONKEY
baby Ronnie frolics as Madge mulls a divorce offer

   

— The return of this promising sketch from the season 6 finale.
— LOL at Madge sympathetically putting her arms around Tim when Tim was pouring his heart out to her.
— I assume the “Can I scratch that for you?” bit was an ad-lib.
— Another good laugh from Madge “drinking” from the pill bottle.
— Once again, Tim is doing great playing off of all of the monkey’s unscripted actions.
— Haha, the baby chimp is again causing lots of wild unplanned antics.
— Great blooper with the baby chimp’s constant bouncing around the set unintentionally causing a painting to fall off the wall.
— Overall, this was a riot. I’m surprised by how much I’ve been liking these “I Married a Monkey” sketches so far, though I do expect to tire of them eventually.
STARS: ****


A MESSAGE TO YOUNG WHITE VIEWERS
EDM has a message for white kids about the importance of a good education

 

— I got a good laugh from Eddie’s mention of a “warm bucket of hamster vomit”.
— Funny premise with Eddie encouraging viewers to drop out of college.
— Him advising viewers to “play Space Invaders” serves as a nice time capsule of the arcade craze that was going on in those days.
— Good ending with the limo driver.
STARS: ***½


HIDDEN PHOTO
Allen Funt (JOP) gives diners dangerous forks & upsets kids

     

— The zoom-in to an audience member during the beginning came off awkward.
— They haven’t said who Joe’s playing, but I’m assuming it’s Allen Funt. Judging from the audience’s initial positive reaction to him, his impression seems to be dead-on.
— Ha, the sadistic prank with the hot fork is hilarious.
— Is that Christine or Bernadette playing the southern-accented waitress? I can’t tell.
— I’m liking how they’re doing more sadistic pranks. The idea of replacing a blind guy’s seeing-eye dog with a wild pig is cracking me up.
— Yet another hilarious prank sequence with telling kids they’re being put up for adoption.
— Why is that one little girl dressed like a French maid?
STARS: ****


BEDTIME STORY
(TOR) tells a bedtime story about camels that upholster furniture

— What’s with Robin’s voice? Is that a random British accent I’m hearing? It doesn’t seem to fit her character in this. Mary seems to be doing a weird accent as well.
— I’m starting to realize why Tony’s performances sometimes remind me of John Belushi: the way Tony’s voice sounds in some of his roles is very similar to the voice John would use in certain sketches like The Farbers and Knights of Columbus.
— What the hell? That’s the whole sketch??!? The bedtime story’s over already??? This was absolutely pointless.
STARS: *


BILLY JOEL PREVIEW
a teaser for Billy Joel’s upcoming musical performance

— Interesting random quick segment, showing Billy Joel rehearsing while announcer Mel Brandt tells us Joel’s performance is coming up later in the show.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Go-Go’s perform “Our Lips Are Sealed”


MAN RAY AND MIC
by William Wegman- a dog & a microphone

 

— Hmm, the return of Bill Wegman and his dog Man Ray, who made a few films together back in the original SNL era.
— Uh… what in the world??? This ended up being yet another very quick, pointless bit tonight, and reminded me of one of the earlier Wegman/Man Ray films that just showed the dog being awaken by an alarm clock. What is the point of these films of theirs??? I don’t understand these at all.
STARS: *


SKETCH IN THE DARK
after power failure, TOR & CHE’s skit is unacceptable to the censor (TIK)

   

— Interesting fourth wall-breaking premise.
— LOL at the lines about Tony’s “rod” and Christine’s “nice melons”.
— Loved Tim flipping out when Christine calls for Dick Ebersol by yelling “Dick! Dick! Get me dick!”
— Didn’t care for the “oh, this sketch IS about sex after all” ending; it was kinda corny.
STARS: ***½


COMING UP
EDM & JOP wrestle for the right to introduce Billy Joel later in the show

   

— Another miscellaneous segment hyping up Billy Joel’s upcoming performance.
— Joe to Eddie: “Murphy, give me a break, you do EVERYTHING on the show.” Heh, I bet that’s how ALL of Eddie’s castmates felt throughout Eddie’s SNL tenure.
— This is a great display of the fun chemistry Eddie and Joe have always had on SNL.
— Haha, I’m loving this heated-up fight between Eddie and Joe. Lots of great youthful energy from Eddie on display here as well.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MAKING LOVE ALONE
host sings a song about the virtues of making love alone

— My prediction of Bernadette doing a second musical sketch tonight was correct. Looks like she’s doing a serious, non-comedic musical number this time.
— “Making love alone?” Audience laughter? Wait, this is turning out to be a comedic song after all.
— Hmm, a pro-masturbation song by Bernadette Peters. Very interesting.
— Overall, this was a very solid number.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Billy Joel performs “Miami 2017”


42ND STREET
an innocent starlet (host) gets her chance in a sleazy club

     

— An old-timey burlesque backstage sketch seems perfect for Bernadette.
— The fire violation bribing bit was pretty funny.
— Interesting use of Brian Doyle-Murray in a rare non-Update appearance, as a drag queen of all things.
— Very good acting from Christine in her brief scene, almost TOO good for a sketch comedy show.
— LOL at the quick walk-on from a wild-looking Robin. Where has she been tonight anyway? Feels like we’ve barely seen her.
— Overall, this was a much longer sketch than usual this season, and wasn’t too great overall. Most of the performances were solid, though.
STARS: **


SNL NEWSBREAK
David Stockman’s (TIK) rosy economic scenario causes his nose to grow

    

— This is just NOW coming on? This seems to be on much later than usual tonight. I wonder if the fact that there’s so many musical performances tonight has something to do with that.
— Unlike last week, we get no shake-up with the “falling logo letters” opening gag. Just the same-old straightforward approach to it. You’d figure SNL would take a hint and stop doing the gag after seeing how much it always DIES with the audience.
— Speaking of dying with the audience, Brian’s first joke was met with total silence. Not a single laugh was heard from the audience. Man, it’s getting more and more depressing watching these dire SNL Newsbreaks this season.
— Geez, what was with Brian’s sloppy delivery of that Ayatollah joke?
— Tim playing a character named David Stockman? Uh, didn’t Gilbert Gottfried do an Update commentary as a character with that exact same name last season?
— LOL at the Pinocchio routine with Tim’s nose.
— Okay, Tim’s “increasingly bigger nose” bit is running out of steam.
— Wow, that’s the whole SNL Newsbreak??? This may be one of the shortest fake news installments I’ve ever seen on SNL. That, coupled with the fact that they buried this so late into the episode, almost makes me wonder if SNL is completely giving up on this dying segment.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Go-Go’s perform “We Got The Beat”


NICK THE KNOCK
Nick the Knock (JOP) listens to a fairy’s (MAG) poem, then eats her spine

   

— Ohhho, yes! I’ve always been dying to see this bizarre sketch after everything I’ve heard about it over the years, especially the ending.
— Hey, Joe’s music box is playing the future “Pumping Up with Hanz and Frans” yodeling theme song!
— What is that moving behind Mary?
— Joe’s facial expressions during Mary’s poem are kinda funny.
— Just as I expected, this sketch is weird as HELL so far.
— Haha, and there it is, the part of this sketch I’ve always heard about: the insane sequence with Joe eating the fairy’s spine, resulting in green fluid shooting all over his face while the fairy screams in horror. I love it! The studio audience didn’t seem to know WHAT to make of that part, judging by their uncomfortable silence.
— Overall, this has got to be one of the weirdest, most fucked-up sketches SNL has ever aired. Like I said in the last review, I’m enjoying how Michael O’Donoghue’s being in charge behind the scenes has led to this season doing lots of weird, dark, unconventional things that you’d usually NEVER see being done in any other season. I’m starting to dread O’Donoghue’s upcoming mid-season firing, because I’m aware that it starts a turning point where the Ebersol era begins its reputation for being overly bland and too safe.
STARS: *** (probably too generous a rating, but I really admire the hell out of all the oddness and darkness this sketch was going for)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Billy Joel performs “She’s Got A Way”


ROCK ‘N ROLL HEAVEN INCORPORATED
Rock ‘n Roll Heaven Inc. specializes in dead musician merchandizing

     

— Even the way Tony looks in that wig and glasses kinda reminds me of how John Belushi looked in certain getups.
— I got a laugh from the Jim Morrison flasher doll.
— Loved the tasteless “Jim Croce’s crashing plane” toy.
— Wow, another sketch appearance from Brian Doyle-Murray tonight.
— The “Dr. Nick Medical Kit” was another strong tasteless bit.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

  

— They seem to be trying to kill a lot of time before the ending credits start rolling. I liked how when Bernadette asked Tim how it feels to work with a monkey and Tim jokingly answers “I work with 6 of them all the time” (referring to his castmates), Eddie responds with a mock-offended “Hey, that ain’t funny, man!”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode with a fairly fun vibe throughout. Even the two obligatory musical sketches of the week worked. There were still several weak pieces scattered throughout the show, and some experimentation that was very hit-and-miss, but nothing dragged this episode down TOO far for me.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lauren Hutton):
— a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Tim Curry

Posted on

November 7, 1981 – Lauren Hutton / Rick James (S7 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Stay out of our way or we’ll kill you”

— Oh, so these Exxico opening disclaimer gags are a recurring thing now?
— Not a bad tagline in this, but it didn’t make me laugh as much as the Exxico tagline from earlier this season did.
STARS: **


TALENT ENTRANCE


HERE’S ‘COS
new album from frequent Tonight Show fill-in Bill Cosby (EDM)

  

— I already like the premise of Eddie’s Cosby hosting the Tonight Show.
— Oh, turns out this is just a commercial instead of a full-fledged sketch.
— I like how the announcer is calling off various Cosby-isms one by one (rambling stories, mugging, etc.) while Eddie demonstrates them.
— I’m starting to realize that as funny as Eddie’s Cosby is, it’s far from the most dead-on Cosby voice I’ve seen.
— Interesting fourth wall-breaking ending with stage manager Joe Dicso telling Eddie that Lauren Hutton wants to see him in her dressing room.
STARS: ***


DRESSING ROOM
host invites EDM to her dressing room, JOP advises him to leave

   

— Lauren asks Eddie to do his Buckwheat, which is interesting because he had only done one Buckwheat sketch at this point in SNL history. I guess even after just that one sketch, his impression ALREADY gained a lot of fame.
— Interesting how this seems to be turning into a “The Graduate” parody.
— There’s Eddie’s trademark “heh heh heh!” laugh.
— I liked Joe’s sudden “These are white guys, do you know them?” to Eddie while in the middle of listing off white male actors that Lauren has worked with.
— Another funny line from Joe to Eddie about how “we both know the myth (about black guys) isn’t true”.
— Good ending with Joe appearing in Lauren’s changing booth.
STARS: ***


HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ed Meese (TOR) uses movie ruse to direct Ronald Reagan’s (JOP) presidency

   

— The debut of the “Hail to the Chief” sketches where we see things from President Reagan’s perspective.
— I also just realized this is the debut of Joe’s Reagan impression itself. While we can’t see him in this, his Reagan voice is spot-on and a HUGE improvement over the bizarre, lousy Reagan that Charles Rocket did the previous season.
— Very interesting format.
— Reagan: “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Meese!” Ed Meese: “Shut up, will ya, Ron?”
STARS: ***½


TRANSEASTERN
“It’s like flying in a cattle car with wings”

     

— Is that the voice of Christine Ebersole singing the jingle?
— The premise of the commercial jingle being interspersed with shots of airline employees jovially introducing themselves by saying which typical flight inconvenience they’re responsible for is pretty funny. Some amusing lines there.
— Great tagline at the end. (last screencap above)
STARS: ***½


WHISPER
host demonstrates Whisper’s bubble bath & detergent uses simultaneously

  

— Eh, not too sure about this dishwashing bathwater premise.
— Okay, this is getting a little funnier.
— Decent ending with a grouchy Tim dumping silverware into the bathtub.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Give It To Me Baby”


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
— Rerun


CHEAP LAFFS
Macho Wipe super-abrasive toilet paper is weekly lowbrow yuk

   

— The return of this funny sketch from earlier this season.
— Oh, Tony’s the host this time instead of Tim.
— Another scene with Lauren as herself in her dressing room.
— Haha, oh my god at this “hard, manly toilet paper” premise.
— Overall, while the prior Cheap Laffs sketch gave me a few more laughs, I still got some really good amusement from this one.
STARS: ****


SNL NEWSBREAK
Princess Di’s (CHE) baby birthdate estimate doesn’t jibe with tummy size
Ted Koppel (JOP) interviews Menachem Begin (TIK) & Yasser Arafat (TOR)
EDM describes animal flight experiments he conducted from 10 stories up

       

— At least they shook up the opening “falling logo letters” gag by having Brian quickly put on a hardhat in preparation.
— Brian didn’t even mention Mary Gross in his intro, not even saying she’s “on assignment in the field” like he did in the last SNL Newsbreak. I guess they’ve given up on keeping up the pretense that she’s still an SNL Newsbreak anchor, and are basically admitting they’ve officially taken that spot away from her.
— What’s with the shakiness of the first picture being displayed on the news screen?
— Is that Lauren Hutton playing Princess Di? She kinda resembles Jane Curtin in this.
— Princess Di on her upcoming baby: “I’m hoping for anything with a chin.”
— Interesting concept with Brian announcing they’re trying out a series of “guest newspersons”, which again is basically acknowledging that Mary is no longer an anchorperson.
— Joe’s Ted Koppel wig is insane here.
— Still not crazy about Joe’s Koppel voice, though.
— When they first showed Tim in that old man getup (screencap below), I actually thought that was frequent SNL extra Andy Murphy.

— The childish argument between Begin and Arafat is pretty funny.
— Great ending with Joe’s Koppel toppling over from side-to-side due to his tall hair.
— Eddie continues his streak of doing a commentary in every single SNL Newsbreak this season.
— I like how increasingly sadistic Eddie’s “pets landing on their feet” commentary is getting.
— Eddie’s “bring your kids” comment to Brian at the end was pretty funny.
— Overall, a slightly better SNL Newsbreak than usual tonight, though I still wasn’t too crazy about it.
STARS: **½


HARLEQUIN ROMANCES
(JOP) & (host) act out a scene from a men’s Harlequin Romance novel

    

— Kind of a strange sketch so far. No idea what else to say about it.
— Some funny lines from Mary at the end, but overall, I didn’t care too much for this sketch.
STARS: **½


REACH OUT
Brooke Shields (MAG) & Cheryl Tiegs (CHE) & real-life problems
host complains about stereotypes of models enforced in sketch

     

— Loved Mary as Brooke Shields saying “That’s my mother’s job”, regarding turning Brooke into a porn star.
— Pretty good laugh from Mary doing Brooke’s famous Calvin Klein Jeans leaning-over pose, though I liked it more when Gail Matthius did it last season.
— Rosie Shuster’s appearance as one of the “audience members” makes me realize that this feels like a sketch that would’ve fit perfectly in the original SNL era.  I can imagine Gilda, Jane, and Laraine in Mary, Christine, and Robin’s roles.
— Christine’s Cheryl Tiegs to Mary’s Brooke Shields: “You know what’s gonna come between you and your Calvins? My foot.”
— Interesting fourth-wall break with Lauren Hutton as herself calling out the sketch for inaccurately portraying models.
— I like Lauren’s increasingly exaggerated examples of important things that famous models have supposedly done (e.g. being a leading micro-physicist, inventing the laser beam).
STARS: ***½


VELVET JONES SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
Velvet Jones’ follow-up book teaches guys how to be a pimp & kick ho butt

 

— A reference at the beginning to the now-famous “I Wanna Be a Ho” sketch.
— Eh, this sketch so far is coming off as a poor rewrite of “I Wanna Be a Ho”, basically just replacing “ho” with “pimp”. The routine doesn’t work as well a second time.
— I do like the overly long book title and how it had to be split up into both sides of the book.
STARS: **½


BIG BASER
(JOP) longs for the good old days when Coca-Cola contained cocaine

   

— The sped-up old stock footage showing how the original Coca-Cola “gave people a lift” is pretty funny.
— What’s with the choppy camera effect at the end? Or is that some kind of VHS damage in the old copy of the episode I’m watching?
— Oh, never mind, the choppy camera effect is part of the sketch, to represent Joe “tripping out” on the coke.
— Pretty dull sketch overall
STARS: **


WILLIAM BURROUGHS
William Burroughs [real] reads a hospital scene from Naked Lunch

— Okay, THIS is gonna be weird…
— I do like how season 7 has been doing lots of strange, unpredictable, and interesting things like this; things that you’d usually NEVER see being done in any other season. I’m assuming Michael O’Donoghue’s influence behind the scenes this season has a lot to do with that.
— I’m liking Burroughs’ creepy look, voice, and delivery here (he’d have fit PERFECTLY into the dark Donald Pleasence episode), though I can’t even tell if this story is supposed to be funny or not.
— Okay, the story is getting funnier and funnier.
— Ha, all the gory details in his story are great.
— Overall, wow, a very odd segment, but I found this to be enjoyable and solid.
STARS: ***½


PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
— Rerun.
— For some reason, the ending credits of this are displayed on a different screen card than last time.


BITTER PEOPLE
Pat Cooper (JOP) says mean things about Vegas performers

 

— Well, this whole thing sure came and went without any real laughs. I did kinda chuckle at Mary’s line about Suzanne Sommers at the end. Other than that, I got no enjoyment out of this sketch.
— Hope “Bitter People” doesn’t eventually become a recurring sketch.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Super Freak”


ART IS FICIAL
by TOS- a profile of literary dog Maurice Blaget

   

— That sounds like Tom Schiller doing the voice-over narration. If it is, I had no idea he did any SNL films outside of the original era and the late 80s/early 90s years. Why wasn’t this film preceded with the usual “Schiller’s Reel” title screen?
— I’m enjoying the French quaintness to everything here.
— Overall, boy, that was weird, but a pretty good film and had that usual Tom Schiller flavor to it.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall decent, average episode for season 7. The second half was quite strange, featuring several pieces that were weird, unconventional, or hard to figure, but I did like some of them.
— It also helps that this episode didn’t have any musical sketches or an Andy Warhol film, my two least favorite staples of season 7.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bernadette Peters

Posted on

October 31, 1981 – Donald Pleasence / Fear (S7 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host tries EDM’s suggestion & vomits for good luck; JOB cameo

  

— Why is Donald practicing saying LFNY in this of all seasons?
— I do kinda like the strange premise of Eddie vomiting for luck.
— John Belushi! And boy, does he look even heavier than usual.
— Well, that cameo sure came and went with nothing happening at all. He didn’t even get to do or say anything. I thought I remembered hearing this cold opening ended with him giving his trademark eyebrow-raise into the camera, but he doesn’t even do THAT. Even that would’ve been SOMETHING, at least.
— The only significance John’s cameo has is that it’s his final SNL appearance before his untimely death just a few months later.
STARS: **


TALENT ENTRANCE


PROFILES IN BRITISH COURAGE
(host) operates on cooperative soldier (TIK)

  

— They sure held on that “Profiles In British Courage” screen for a long time before cutting to the opening scene. I guess the performers weren’t quite ready yet.
— Why didn’t Donald finish his “I can always get another table, but you can hardly get another leg” line? He trailed off so much at the end of the sentence that it sounded like he just gave up on it.
— Is Tony doing an impression of Robin Williams’ impression of an Indian?
— Boy, is this sketch getting gory all of a sudden. A Halloween treat!
— I do like Tim’s upbeat, spirited British demeanor even as his leg is getting cut off.
— For a blood-spurting sketch, they should be going much more over the top with the fake blood. The mild way they’re spraying the blood in this sketch stopped being funny after about 15 seconds.
— British announcer: “This is Thanes Television, dedicated to upholding the British tradition of courage, honor, grace, and dignity. Stay tuned for Benny Hill.”
STARS: **½


JOGGER MOTEL
“Joggers jog in, but they don’t jog out”

   

— Heh, pretty funny Roach Motel take-off overall. Can’t find anything else to say about this.
STARS: ***


TWO FACES OF JERRY
movie about the serious (JOP) & comical (EDM) Lewises

— Joe’s demeanor as “bitter older Jerry Lewis” is great, though the voice could use some work.
— Eddie does a perfect “goofy young Jerry Lewis”. And I like how SNL was never afraid to have Eddie play some non-black celebrities, like when he played Bruce Lee in the previous season.
— Great concept to this commercial, and good execution of it.
STARS: ***½


I’M SO MISERABLE
(CHE) sings “Last Night I Killed My Husband” while cleaning up the mess

 

— Another Christine Ebersole musical sketch with a country-western theme.
— As usual, very good singing from Christine, and I do like how the premise of this sketch fits tonight’s Halloween theme.
STARS: ***


PUMPKIN
by Elbert Budin- the gory details associated with pumpkin carving

   

— I’m loving the slow, gruesome, unsettling presentation of this pumpkin-carving sequence, and the music is adding a great touch.
— Haha, oh my god at the pile of guts pulled out of the pumpkin. You could even see an eyeball in there!
STARS: ****


GUARDIAN ANGEL
a Guardian Angel (EDM) shows how jewelry can simulate snot & defeat crime

 

— A fairly dumb premise with passing your gold medallion off as snot, but Eddie’s demonstration is great and he’s really enhancing the material.
STARS: ***


MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis [real] juggles apples while eating the razor-free one

    

— Michael, regarding SNL: “I think over the history of the show, they’ve proved themselves to not be just a funny show many times.”
— I like how even this act has a Halloween theme.
— Funny turn with director Dave Wilson requesting Michael juggle the razor-bladed apples.
— Nice fake-out with Michael “continuing” to juggle the two apples while getting a third apple.
— Very impressive juggling, especially him demonstrating various juggling personality types without messing up at all.
— Love how Dave Wilson is sternly demanding that Michael eat one of the apples.
— Michael, in response to Dave Wilson’s aforementioned demand: “But it could taste like Schick!” Normally, I would groan at a pun like that, but Michael Davis has a way of making even THAT funny.
— Once again, I love the daringness of doing something like this on live TV.
— LOL at the quick, slobbish chomps he’s taking of the apple.
— Overall, another great Michael Davis act.
STARS: ****½


SNL NEWSBREAK
MAG asks Frank Sinatra (JOP) how sale of AWACS to Saudis was arranged
after having her clothes stolen, weatherperson CHE looks like a hooker
Raheem Abdul Muhammed tells why black people like to go to horror movies

       

— Not even the audience is laughing anymore at the “falling logo letters” gag that’s opened every SNL Newsbreak so far.
— Brian’s the only anchor shown at the desk tonight. He explains that Mary is on assignment in the field. I take it that’s the show’s way of admitting that Mary’s delivery as an anchorperson hasn’t been working out.
— I got a laugh from Mary’s accidental “President Weagan” line flub.
— The look of the intimidating secret service man Joe pulls into the scene is pretty funny. Nothing else in this commentary has been making me laugh.
— Man, none of Brian’s jokes have worked AT ALL tonight so far, and the audience is very silent throughout tonight’s SNL Newsbreak.
— Christine’s reaction to her accidental reveal that her friend’s a hooker is kinda funny, but this overall segment seems to have no point to it.
— Eddie continues his streak of doing a commentary in every single SNL Newsbreak this season.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Eddie’s sarcastic “Thank you for that warm round of applause” when his entrance got no audience reaction.
— An overall decent Raheem Abdul Mohammed commentary, though no particular moments stood out, other than Eddie managing to work in yet another n-word drop.
— A mention of tonight being Brian’s birthday.
— Decent touch with Brian “blowing out” a birthday candle through the news screen.
— Overall, a pretty dreadful, dead SNL Newsbreak tonight, even worse than it’s usually been.
STARS: *½


TALES FROM THE HIP
a boogie-woogie musical version of Macbeth

     

— As I said in the last episode review, if they have to do a musical sketch on a weekly basis this season, can’t they just keep it down to one a week?
— Oh my god at Donald’s attempt at hip singing.
— Another oh my god at Tim showing up in drag as the wife. That’s somehow making this already iffy sketch even worse.
— Overall, I didn’t enjoy this at all. Not even Eddie’s appearance could save it for me. Why must I suffer through so many joke-less musical sketches this season?
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Care About You”

— Boy, was Donald’s intro awkward and drawn out.
— Wow, this performance was short as hell, and was fairly tame for Fear standards. I guess this is the calm before the storm of their infamous second performance later tonight…


THE CLAMS
— Rerun


MEN’S ROOM
during Annie intermission, theatergoers talk (TIK) out of bathroom stall

  

— There’s that same bathroom set once again tonight.
— Eddie’s country accent is pretty funny.
— What’s with Joe’s uncalled-for “Sorry, not interested” and “I don’t go that way” response to Tim simply saying “Hi” to him at the sink? That’s taking gay panic to extremes.
— Loved Tim’s complaint about the play Annie being “a little girl trying to sing like Ethel Merman”.
— Eddie’s the saving grace of this strange sketch for me, because otherwise, almost NOTHING has been working in it.
STARS: *½


SUGAR BREAKFAST
a sugar-loving family enjoys the most important meal of the day

     

— Speaking of recycled sets, I think this is the same kitchen set from the “Last Night I Killed My Husband” sketch.
— I wasn’t too crazy about this premise at first, but this sketch is winning me over as it’s getting more and more insane and hyper.
— LOL at the sequence with them “doing the dishes”.
— Ha, Joe’s speaking so fast that during his and Mary’s quick arguing/making-up session, I caught him accidentally saying “I’m horry, soney” when he meant to say “I’m sorry, honey”.
— Nice touch with the song the family’s listening to on the radio having a sped-up chipmunk voice.
— I like Eddie’s deadpan “Those some crazy white people” line at the end, though it was barely audible under the audience’s sketch-ending applause.
STARS: ***½


ANDY WARHOL’S T.V.
phone calls for Halloween costume suggestions

   

— The return of these bizarre-as-fuck Andy Warhol films. I certainly didn’t miss his absence in the last episode.  Though at least the creepy atmosphere of these Warhol films fits the theme of tonight’s Halloween-centric episode.
— I guess the “Voice of Calvin Klein” graphic being displayed on the screen when we can’t even hear Klein’s voice over the phone is kinda funny.
— What the HELL at that special effect with Warhol’s head randomly falling off?
— Overall, while this was still a waste of time, it was slightly better than the prior Warhol films, if only because the whole “headless on the street” ending was kinda intriguing in a weird way.
STARS: *½


HOME MOVIES
MAG makes fun of a viewer-submitted home movie, asks for more entries

   

— A follow-up to the segment from the season premiere where Christine asked viewers to send in home movies.
— Mary attempts a Mr. Mike-esque “sucks rubber donkey lungs” insult, only she butchers it by accidentally saying “dunkey longs”. Was she trying to top Joe’s “I’m horry, soney” line flub from the Sugar sketch?
— Pretty funny with Mary doing an MST3K-esque snarky commentary during a clip of a fan-submitted home movie. I hope the fan who sent that movie in has a good sense of humor about himself, though.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


THE VIC SALUKIN SHOW
challenge of “Scare me!” has lethal results

     

— Ah, yes! I’ve always wanted to see this. This is one of two famous things I’ve been anticipating in this episode. (You can probably guess what the other famous thing is)
— Not sure why the sketch is in black-and-white, but I like that, because in a weird way, it’s adding to the spooky, raw feel of this sketch.
— I love the “Scare me!” call-in premise.
— Tony’s sadistic prank call was very funny.
— I’m absolutely loving the creepy call from Donald Pleasence, especially the way the camera is slowly zooming into a speaker as Donald’s overly specific details about Tony’s family members are getting more and more unsettling.
— Fantastic gruesome reveal of a bloodied, murdered Tony with a butcher knife sticking out of his head, which has become a strangely classic image among some SNL fans.
— The dead silence from the audience during the aforementioned reveal actually works for the scary atmosphere.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beef Bologna”
musical guest performs “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones”
musical guest performs “Let’s Have A War”

 

— Another weird rambly intro from Donald.
— Here we go, the most memorable, notorious part of the whole episode.
— Holy shit, this is INSANE so far.
— This is SNL I’m watching?!?
— A lot of screams of “New York sucks” from the skinhead mosh-pitters. I’m pretty sure I also heard a “fuck” from one of them at one point.
— Aaaand there’s the sudden performance cut-off when the mosh-pitters appeared to start REALLY getting out of control.


PROSE AND CONS
— Rerun. Guess they had this waiting in the wings in case things got too out of hand during Fear’s performance.
— The audience doesn’t seem to be miked AT ALL during this (I guess because Fear’s performance is still going on in the studio). It feels so weird hearing Eddie’s classic “Cill My Landlord” poem play to TOTAL SILENCE. You could even hear the last word of his poem loud and clear (“Death”), when it usually gets drowned out by audience laughter.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow, what a crazy episode, which is exactly what I came in expecting after all the stuff I had heard about it over the years. I love how most of the episode had a dark, heavy Halloween theme to it (which makes me wish SNL did live episodes on Halloween much more often; the only other two times they would go on to do one would be in 1987 and 1992), and I also love how this episode had a VERY heavy Michael O’Donoghue influence. This has to be the most Mr. Mike-feeling SNL episode ever (and from what I’ve heard about some of the disturbing, fucked-up sketches that got scrapped during the week, this episode was originally supposed to be even MORE Mr. Mike-feeling). Even some of the stuff O’Donoghue had no involvement in came off weird and crazy (e.g. Fear).
— The actual quality of the episode itself was very up-and-down. There were some things I loved and some things I hated; probably 50/50. I mostly just love this episode simply for its dark theme and for its very unique place in SNL history.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Lauren Hutton

Posted on

October 17, 1981 – George Kennedy / Miles Davis (S7 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
host takes command of control room; Ron Howard & Regis Philbin cameos

    

— Hey, we’re getting an actual cold opening tonight, and not just a “disclaimer gag”.
— Young Regis!
— We’ll be seeing Ron Howard and his mustache hosting next season.
— The “technical difficulties” with the cameras are cracking me up.
— Why does Ron Howard keep pausing so long every time he’s about to introduce himself?
— Funny visual of everybody being passed out in the control room.
— A good panicky performance from Christine.
— Great segue to the opening credits, serving as a nice LFNY substitute.
— A solid cold opening overall, and a very good performance from George.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE

— No monologue tonight, just another Talent Entrance. I loved George’s brief message during this, though.


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
eviction notice from Mr. Landlord (TIK)

     

— A very welcome return.
— Loved Eddie’s cheerful “I’m so glad the bitch is gone” line about his ex-wife.
— LOL at “scumbucket” being the word of the day.
— Very interesting change of pace with the “visit to the president” involving Eddie using hand puppets.
— Nice use of the “middle finger”, though I’m guessing Eddie’s secretly using one of his other fingers.
STARS: ****


53 AT STUDIO 54
host sings- “It’s no fun to be 53 at Studio 54”

   

— Ha, George suddenly breaking out into a disco dance…
— Oh, turns out this is yet another season 7 musical sketch.
— Boy, this is just plain weird so far.
— Okay, this is growing on me more and more. The music is catchy, it’s amusing seeing George Kennedy attempting to sing a song like this, and I’m loving his “dancing”. Some of the lyrics are funny, too.
STARS: ***½


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
chocolate & Mrs. Rooney (CHE)

 

— Another Andy Rooney sketch already?
— Interesting addition with Christine as Rooney’s wife.
— Christine’s “Did you ever fake an orgasm?” line cracked me up.
— Another funny line with Joe’s line about “closing your eyes and pretending your wife was Jessica Savitch”.
STARS: ***


VELVET JONES SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
career help via I Wanna Be A Ho

 

— The debut of Velvet Jones!
— Oh, it’s the classic “I Wanna Be a Ho”, this character’s most famous sketch.
— Good “wooden TV pitchman” voice from Eddie.
— Hilarious concept and Eddie’s delivery of the material is great.
— Funny testimonial from Robin.
— Eddie’s ending line: “Be somebody. Be a ho!”
— Like I said in the last review, Eddie has been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis this season. Every episode so far this season has had at least one Eddie Murphy sketch that’s remembered today as one of his all-time classics: Little Richard Simmons, Prose and Cons, Buh-Weet Sings, Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood, and I Wanna Be a Ho. Amazing that he’s had such an impressive number of classic sketches over the span of just THREE EPISODES this season.
STARS: ****


MR. BILL GOES TO L.A.
by Walter Williams- cocaine causes loss of his home

     

— What the–??? I never knew they did a Mr. Bill short in the Ebersol era. (His cold opening with Chevy last season doesn’t count, as that was just a backstage sketch and not a Mr. Bill short)
— I like the giant bag labeled “Ton O Coke”.
— Decent earthquake ending.
— Overall, nothing much else to say about this, but this was okay for what it was. I wonder if this ends up being the final Mr. Bill short.
STARS: ***


SPRAY-ON LAETRIL
alleviates (MAG)’s lung cancer & comes in “the pump”

   

— Haha, I’m loving the shots of cigarette-smoking doctors Tim, Tony, and Eddie spraying the laetril in each other’s faces while singing “the pump” over and over.
— Very funny and daring concept to this sketch.
— I got a laugh from Christine’s throwaway line about how her lungs looked like moldy spinach.
— LOL, Eddie, Tony, and Tim have now begun cracking up while spraying laetril in each other’s faces. They seems to be having a lot of fun in this sketch.
— Funny ending with Mary’s syphilis revelation and Joe’s reaction to that.
STARS: ****


HARRY ANDERSON
Harry Anderson [real] does tricks with a $5 bill then reveals his secrets

       

— Hmm, I always thought Michael Davis was this season’s resident comedy magician and Harry Anderson didn’t start appearing until season 8. I see I was wrong.
— Being familiar with some of the magic acts Harry Anderson would do on the show in some of the later seasons, I know this is gonna be good.
— Funny bit with him tearing the dollar right after the audience volunteer gave it to him.
— Wow, how the hell did he do that trick, magically making a torn-to-bits dollar bill appear whole again?
— I like the naughty “digging in the pocket” bit.
— Harry to the audience volunteer: “Hope your kids have buck teeth.”
— Oh, he’s explaining how he did the torn-to-bits dollar bill trick. Cool reveal.
STARS: ****


SNL NEWSBREAK
footage shows Big Bird being assassinated by a nine year-old
EDM declares- “No person is too ugly to have sex with”
Wetback Weather Watch- Juan Gavino (John Candy) gives Rio Grande report

         

— They’re STILL doing the “SNL Newsbreak logo letters fall on Brian” opening gag.
— I actually laughed out loud at the “Idi Amin disguising himself as Hattie McDaniel” joke.
— The “Big Bird assassination” bit was okay.
— Ugh at that joke about Jimmy Carter moving in with a young man after Rosalynn Carter did the same. They seem to be relying an awful lot on lazy gay jokes on Update this season.
— What’s with the audience’s lack of applause for some of the guest commentators this season? Maybe the audience is just always lulled to sleep by Brian and Mary’s weak jokes.
— Eddie has done a commentary in every Update so far this season. I wonder if they’re relying on him so much due to how much SNL Newsbreak has been struggling on a weekly basis.
— Eddie’s whole “sex faces” bit is a riot.
— Brian’s Wayne Newton “sold out” joke was met with complete silence. I do like how Brian acknowledged that by responding “Ouch”.
— Hey, it’s John Candy!!!
— Candy’s overall bit ended up being just okay; not as funny as I expected it to be. Good performance from him as always, though.
STARS: **½


LA CAGE AUX FOLLES ’81
Renato (TIK) & Albin (host) return for a sequel

 

— The idea of George Kennedy in a “La Cage Aux Folles” parody is already making me laugh.
— Oh my god at George in that outfit and earrings.
— LOL, that hard slap came out of nowhere.
— Loved the ending with George dropping his accent and bluntly saying in his normal voice “Aw, cut the crap, let’s redline this sucker.”
STARS: ***½


UP AND AT ‘EM
by Doug Wendt- a dog eats peanut butter

— Strange film so far. It’s just a dog repeatedly licking its lips.
— Wait, are the dog’s licks supposed to be in time to the music that’s playing? If so, it’s not looking like it’s in sync AT ALL.
— What the–? That’s the whole thing? Are they kidding me with this?!!??
STARS: *


RUBIK’S TEETH
JOP demonstrates the dental puzzle

 

— This is SNL’s very first acknowledgment of the Rubik’s Cube craze from the early 80s.
— Ha, funny visual.
— Okay, that ended fast. This commercial was nothing more than a quick sight gag that was only good for one chuckle.
STARS: **


AN EDITORIAL REPLY
Marilyn Monroe (MAG) sings “Downers are a Girl’s Best Friend”

   

— Yet ANOTHER season 7 musical sketch. If they have to do these, can’t they at least keep it down to just one an episode?
— The audience is absolutely silent so far.
— Not sure how to feel about this song at all so far, though Mary’s performance is solid. The humor’s not really working for me, though.
— Overall, I didn’t care much for this. Though, unlike some other musical SNL sketches, this at least wasn’t as much of a chore for me to watch, thanks to Mary’s great performance and the fact that she looked really good in that Marilyn Monroe getup.
STARS: **½


HIRED HAND
Jake the Hired Hand (TOR) takes (ROD)’s land despite sexual tension

   

— Another Tony Rosato performance that’s reminding me of John Belushi.
— I liked Tony’s simple “I cut myself shaving” scar explanation after his unnecessary “raised by animals” story.
— This is a strange sketch so far, and again, I’m not sure what to make of it. I worry that tonight’s episode has been losing me with the string of disappointing segments that’s followed the La Cage Aux Folles sketch.
— The (intentional) music sting delay was kinda funny.
— Ha, great turn with George and Tony shooting Robin after her whining.
— A good unintentional laugh from Tony having trouble delivering that one line just now.
— LOL at Robin coming back to life briefly, only to get shot to death again.
— This sketch is finally getting funnier and funnier.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jean Pierre”


TUNA MELTS & TYPING
a secretary (CHE) & a janitor (host) talk about what’s important to them

 

— Looks like I’m in for a quieter, low-key, slice-of-life sketch.
— Overall, despite the fact that I had pretty much nothing to say about this sketch as I was watching it, I found this sketch to be very nice and enjoyable. The writing was strong, and George and Christine played off of each other so well. This whole thing was actually fairly touching, especially the ending.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

— “Special material by Marilyn Suzanne Miller”. I don’t need to ask which sketch she wrote.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid episode, and the best of the season so far. We got strong material throughout pretty much the whole show, though the show did hit a bit of a snag for me at one point during the back half, with the segments that aired between La Cage Aux Folles and Hired Hand. Still an overall very enjoyable episode as a whole, though, and the number of weaker pieces were kept to a minimum. George Kennedy also helped the episode by being a fun host and giving a lot of great performances.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Susan Saint James):
— a pretty big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Donald Pleasence, a.k.a. the infamous Fear episode

Posted on

October 10, 1981 – Susan Saint James / The Kinks (S7 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Yesterday’s Technology at Tomorrow’s Prices”

— Eh, funny enough, I guess. I’m still not crazy about this season using these quick disclaimer gags as cold openings, though.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
audience decides against MacArthur & Wife, Macbeth & Wife sketches

   

— We’re getting an actual monologue tonight instead of just a “Talent Entrance”.
— Ah, so SNL calls the obligatory parody of something the host is known for “the host sketch”.
— Interesting letting the audience choose which McMillan & Wife parody to go with, though I’m not sure if that’s genuine or if it was already pre-decided which sketch they’re gonna do.
— Abrupt decision to do the McDonald & Wife sketch, though maybe that was an intentional joke.
STARS: ***


MCDONALD & WIFE
Ronald McDonald (JOP) & (host) solve crime while in bed

  

— Oh my god at that hideous clown makeup on Joe.
— All the “Mc” speak is just making me groan. Is that the big “joke” of this sketch?
— That’s it? That’s the whole thing? Ugh, I see we’re using leftover corny scripts from season 6.
STARS: *½


BUH-WEET SINGS
Buckwheat (EDM) is back & he has a new album- Buh-Weet Sings

   

— The debut of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— There’s the classic opening line “Hi, I’m Buh-weet, amembah me?”
— The Buckwheat-ized songs are all hilarious.
— Love how they put question marks on the bottom of the screen in place of the song title when they couldn’t figure out which song he was singing just now.
— Overall, another all-time Eddie Murphy classic from this season. He’s been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis in season 7 so far.
STARS: *****


THE BIZARRO WORLD
Black House policy is the same in this inverted realm

       

— I like the cube-shaped globe used to represent bizarro Earth.
— Some technical errors when the camera tries cutting back to Mary and Robin with their bizarro masks on.
— Love the scene with bizarro Jerry Falwell.
— Mr. Mike!
— The brief “Be Cruel to Animals week” scene with Eddie holding an axe was great.
— Nice touch with the bizarro version of the “Hail to the Chief” theme.
— I’m loving the whole idea of this sketch.
— Great part with bizarro Reagan being told to go to sleep during a national crisis.
— Overall, a pretty brilliant and fun sketch. Good political satire as well, which I’m surprised to see in the Ebersol era.
STARS: ****


PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
by Andy Aaron- (TOD) accidentally demolishes a building

    

— Oh, I remember seeing this as a clip somewhere a few years ago (probably in SNL’s 40th anniversary special), and I found it to be a hilarious random piece.
— Hey, is that Emily Prager as the first person seen in this? If so, it’s strange how she gets more airtime as an uncredited extra (in addition to this film, she also previously appeared in a season 3 Franken and Davis Show sketch taking place at a Thanksgiving dinner) than she did in the one episode she was a credited featured player in.
— Nice to see Tom Davis.
— The audience was silent during the aftermath of the building explosion, but I found it pretty funny, especially Tom’s reaction. However, this didn’t come off as funny to me as it did when I saw it during the aforementioned SNL 40th anniversary clip.
— “A Film by Andy Aaron”. That name sounds familiar. I think he’s the one who was credited as making that “Street Scene” short from season 5 (can’t remember which episode), and I remember saying in my review of it that it reminded me of this “Push Button to Explode Building” short.  Now I see why both shorts have similarities.
STARS: ***½


LIFEBOAT
shipwreck survivors (JOP) & (host) have a musical date in a lifeboat

 

— Uh-oh, it appears we have our very first of what I’m aware will be MANY musical sketches this season. This is something about this season I’m REALLY dreading, as I normally can’t stand musical sketches (there are some big exceptions, of course).
— Well, I did kinda laugh at that wacky slide whistle sound effect that was played after one of the verses.
— Overall, well, at least this was short, which is the only really good thing I can say about it. Otherwise, this was a chore to sit through.
STARS: *½


SHE’S A PIG
(TIK)’s skanky fiancee Paulette Clooney (ROD) meets him in a restaurant

   

— I liked Mary’s wrist-slashing line.
— LOL at Robin’s entrance.
— Whoa at the part with Robin briefly pulling open her top. We couldn’t see anything indecent on camera, but from where Tim was sitting, I think he got a clear view (unless Robin was wearing pasties under there).
— Robin casually wiping off her armpits while speaking is very funny.
— Mary’s blunt “she’s a pig” statements are great.
— Another good laugh from Mary’s penecillin line.
— Good ending with Christine.
— Overall, a solid sketch. Robin did well as the main comedic character, but my biggest laughs actually came from Mary as the straight man.
STARS: ***½


LET’S SEE WHAT’S BOTHERING BOB
suburban dad loses his marbles

   

— Looks like an interesting short film.
— I’m liking the “1950s instructional film” vibe to this so far.
— This is the second segment in a row tonight where Mary plays a character named Ellen.
— The son looks kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why.
— I like the look on each individual family member’s face when the father starts revving up the chainsaw.
— The dark ending didn’t really work and felt like it was trying too hard.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Destroyer”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM narrates footage of the devastating floods in the country of Senesia
weatherperson CHE chit-chats with BDM & MAG but forgets to give forecast
JOP uses bobblehead dolls to explain the complicated baseball playoffs
Ronald Reagan’s fan letter to EDM contains jokes about black people
MAG to would-be assassins- “if you’re looking for a target, try yourself”

       

— Just as I was afraid, they repeated the “letters from the SNL Newsbreak logo falling on Brian” gag.
— Ugh, the joke about John Hinkley wanting to shoot Jodie Foster and make love to the president made me groan out loud.
— The flood pre-taped segment was a pretty laughless waste of time.
— WTF at this Christine Ebersole meteorologist commentary so far?
— That’s the whole meteorologist commentary? Didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— The Italian currency/“bucket of warm spit” joke gave me a good laugh.
— First time in a while they’ve done a Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Love how Joe is activating each bobblehead as he’s going through the names of various baseball players.
— Yikes, Brian’s Agent Orange joke received complete silence from the audience.
— Haha, holy hell at that racist “four colored people trying to catch an elevator” joke that Eddie read off of Reagan’s letter. Eddie’s reaction is great.
— I got even more laughs from Reagan’s racist joke about the three things a colored man can’t get (a black eye, a fat lip, and a job). Brian being seen laughing on the side is also hilarious.
— Not sure how to feel about Mary’s suggestion to would-be assassins to kill themselves. It just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, and I recently mentioned how clapter bugs me nowadays.
— Overall, another SNL Newsbreak with lots of tepid jokes from Brian and Mary. At least some of the commentaries were worthwhile.
STARS: **


SINGLE WOMEN
CHE performs “Single Bars & Single Women”

 

— I smell another musical sketch starting.
— Oh, I’ve always heard about this Single Women number. I believe this is probably the biggest thing Christine is remembered for doing on the show.
— As I was once told a few months ago (by a commenter on this site, I believe), this song has the same melody that was used in that weird season 3 sketch where Madeline Kahn played a singing bowling trophy. Michael O’Donoghue wrote both that sketch and this Single Women one, I believe. I also heard that this melody would later be used for a Dolly Parton song.
— Overall, I can put aside my aversion to musical sketches to admit that this was a very nice musical number. There was no comedy at all here, but the song was very good and Christine did an excellent job performing it.
— All that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll be so lenient later this season after sitting through Christine’s 150th musical sketch.
STARS: ****½


HONEYMOON
on their honeymoon, (TOR) is surprised that wife (host) is a virgin

 

— At first, I thought Susan Saint James was Mary Gross, until she started speaking. I guess it was her wig that caused the confusion.
— Tony’s making me laugh with his wild pre-love-making actions.
— Pretty decent premise with Susan’s revelation.
— Overall, an okay funny sketch. Not much else to say about it.
STARS: ***


CHEAP LAFFS
Sta-Free Peenie Pads is the uncouth joke of the week

   

— I admit to getting a laugh from Tim’s idea to do a Love Boat parody called “The Lez Boat”.
— Interesting how the cast is playing characters with their own first names in this.
— LOL at the whole lowbrow idea of this commercial.
— Overall, this was a riot. The commercial probably wouldn’t have worked as well without the “Cheap Laffs” framing.
— I believe “Cheap Laffs” goes on to be a recurring sketch, but I’m not sure.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Art Lover”


ANDY WARHOL’S TV
he relates his thoughts on makeup & death

 

— Oh, god, here’s our weekly Andy Warhol film.
— Overall, I once again find myself asking “What… the… fuck?!?” At least the last one was very short, whereas this one seemed to go on for quite a while.
STARS: *


ALAN ALDA SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR MEN
Alan Alda’s book gets girls

  

— Lots of sketches tonight taking place in a bar. I can’t tell if it’s been the exact same bar set each time. If it is, I wonder if it holds the record for most recycled set in a single SNL episode.
— Pretty funny concept with Alan Alda authoring a sensitivity training book.
— Loved Tim telling Tony “You’ll be drilling pipe like a demon”
— Nice touch with using the M*A*S*H* theme song during the scene transition.
STARS: ***


SADAT ASSASSINATION
by John Fox- a custodian cleans the aftermath of the Sadat assassination

   

— Looks like I’m in for another serious, dramatic short film, much like the Yoko Ono one from the season premiere. Hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing this season.
— Overall, no idea what to say about this or how to rate it. Overly dramatic, sad films like this feel too out-of-place on SNL (though there have been some exceptions, like some of Tom Schiller’s best work, but at least in those, Schiller usually casts people from SNL, and thus, I don’t feel like I’m watching a dramatic film made for some other TV show).
STARS: N/A


GOODNIGHTS

 

— I forgot to mention this in the last review, but it feels nice hearing the original goodnights music this season after getting so used to the new (and not as good) goodnights theme that was used in season 6.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode overall, though it was weighed down by a number of weak or questionable pieces scattered throughout the show. However, there were a few really strong sketches tonight that made this episode worth watching, mainly Buh-Weet Sings, Single Women, and Bizarro World.
— After mentioning how unimpressive the debut of the three new cast members (Christine, Mary, Brian) was in the last episode, I felt that most of them fared much better tonight. Mary had some good moments, particularly her funny straight man performance in She’s A Pig. And Christine was all over this episode, and had an excellent showcase with Single Women.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (no host):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
George Kennedy

Posted on

October 3, 1981 – (no host) / Rod Stewart (S7 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING (I guess???)
NBC says “Our Age Is Showing”

— Just a quick disclaimer-type gag, reminiscent of the brief “NBC: Smart as a Peacock” bit that preceded the cold opening of season 5’s premiere episode.
— After this, they just go right into the SNL opening montage, as if this was the actual cold opening. I know this is going to be fairly common this season, as well as the lack of a LFNY. LFNY has been completely done away with this season.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— New opening montage.

       

— Noticeable right off the bat is the fact that we have a new announcer this season. Mel Brandt takes over Don Pardo’s duties.
— A pretty interesting opening montage. The black-and-white look and gritty vibe accurately represents how crime-ridden New York was in the early 80s. Adding to that is the fact that Mel Brandt precedes saying “It’s Saturday Night Live” with “from New York, the most dangerous city in America”. Speaking of which, something about Brandt’s voice actually fits this gritty montage well.
— Nice theme music, though from what I remember, it would go on to sound better the longer they used it over the next few seasons it (I especially love how it sounds in season 9). It sounds like it’s in a lower key tonight than how it would sound a few seasons later.
— Christine Ebersole, Mary Gross, and (making his return a year after his season 5 featured player stint) Brian Doyle-Murray are the new cast members joining the show tonight.


TALENT ENTRANCE

 

— There’s no monologue; just the cast gathering on the (new) home base stage, posing in a group shot, and then scattering off into various directions as the next sketch starts. This is yet another big format change that we’ll be seeing quite a lot throughout this season.


THE LITTLE RICHARD SIMMONS SHOW
Little Richard Simmons (EDM) does exercise & rock-n-roll with audience

     

— We’re ALREADY in the lead-off sketch tonight? This episode has been very fast-moving.
— Very funny concept, combining Little Richard and Richard Simmons.
— The ubiquitous Yvonne Hudson sneaks into yet another season of SNL.
— Loved Eddie’s “You girls have let yourselves go!” comment to the overweight male cameramen.
— Very fun with Eddie going into SNL’s studio audience and actually physically making them stand up.
— Eddie as Simmons: “I’ve been getting MY protein; have you girls? (*suggestive eyebrow raise*)”
— Great Little Richard-esque musical number from Eddie.
— It’s no surprise, but Eddie is so damn good throughout this sketch.
— Overall, one of Eddie’s greatest sketches. Right out of the gate this season, he’s proving his worth as the new leader of this retooled cast.
STARS: ****½


THE CLAMS
Brian DePalma’s latest movie plagarization project

     

— Even before the big reveal, I can tell this is a parody of The Birds. They’re doing a dead-on recreation of the famous playground scene from that movie.
— Excellent line from the announcer: “Once a year, Brian DePalma picks the bones of a dead director and gives his wife a job.”
— Overall, a pretty funny Birds parody.
STARS: ***½


NUNS
at the beach, (ROD) finds that fellow nun (MAG) has shoddy qualifications

 

— The reveal of Mary Gross becoming a nun by mail is fairly funny.
— The message from the voice of God isn’t quite as funny as I thought it would be.
— Overall, pretty dull for a sketch placed this early in the show. Not too great of a debut for Mary Gross, either.
— Interesting screen effect as the sketch ended, where the screen spun around and shrunk down into a black screen with the SNL logo. (screencap below) I guess that’s going to be a thing this season.

STARS: **


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
shoes & assorted other topics

 

— I’m already getting laughs at the start of this, just from Joe’s Andy Rooney voice.
— Loved the random “Ever notice there were never any Nazis named Steve?” line.
— Funny comment calling Mike Wallace a jackass.
— I liked him pointing out the rouge on his cheeks at the end of this.
STARS: ***


PROSE AND CONS
barred bards, like Tyrone Green (EDM); Swifty Lazar cameo

   

— I’m liking the music being played during the opening montage of prisoners.
— An enjoyable and well-done short so far, and we haven’t even gotten to the famous part yet. I remember being very bored by most of this film when seeing it years ago (“Eddie Murphy’s the only funny part of this whole thing!” I remember complaining back then, and I’m sure there are others who have that same opinion), but I can enjoy the low-key humor in it more nowadays.
— Ah, here’s the classic part with Eddie.
— Eddie’s whole insane, intense poem-reading is absolutely fucking fantastic, especially the immortal “C-I-L-L” part. The latter got such a loud audience reaction that you couldn’t hear the end of Eddie’s poem (which appeared to just be the word “death”).
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dance With Me”
musical guest & Tina Turner [real] perform “Hot Legs”


SNL NEWSBREAK
Tom Snyder (JOP) does the Tomorrow Show in Spanish for ratings purposes
Raheem Abdul Muhammed complains about the lack of black people in movies

       

— “Weekend Update” is now known as “SNL Newsbreak”. I can’t wait to see how many times I’ll mistakenly refer to it as “Update” in my reviews this season.
— I liked the opening bit with the letters in the superimposed “SNL Newsbreak” graphic being struck by lightning and then falling onto Brian Doyle-Murray. If that’s something they’re going to be doing every week, however, I just know I’m going to get sick of it fast.
— Brian Doyle-Murray and Mary Gross are the new anchors of Upda– uh, I mean SNL Newsbreak (see, I did it already!). I’m surprised to see Mary there; I don’t remember her ever being an anchorperson. I thought I remembered Brian starting out the season as a solo anchor and then eventually being joined by Christine Ebersole as his co-anchor later in the season. Looks like I’m in for another season of the news segment going through lots of retooling over the course of the year.
— Weak introduction bit with Brian and Mary. I’m already becoming wary of this new Update team.
— Pretty tepid jokes so far, especially Mary’s 10 year old/bomb quote.
— The C. Everett Koop joke was pretty good.
— LOL, oh my god at the cutaway to Joe’s fast-talking Spanish Tom Snyder. Funny as hell!
— Mary’s delivery doesn’t seem right for Update.
— A Raheem Abdul Muhammad commentary. Hope this’ll be our third classic Eddie performance of the night.
— Loved Eddie briefly working his Jerry Lewis impression into this commentary.
— Eddie has begun cracking up after saying Isaac Hayes was great in “Truck Turner”.
— Eddie cracks up again at the end of the commentary. I guess this is where his penchant for occasionally breaking during sketches officially begins.
— Eddie’s overall commentary wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but he had some good lines here and there, and his delivery as this character is always funny.
— Overall, SNL Newsbreak did not have an encouraging start at all tonight. I’m aware that this is going to be a very bad season for SNL’s news segment and, much like season 6’s Weekend Updates, probably goes further and further downhill as the year progresses.
STARS: **


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
terrorize in style with the Libyan leader’s fashions

   

— Very catchy jingle.
— I like the early 80s look and feel to everything in this.
— Overall, a decent concept and was executed fairly well, even if I didn’t laugh all that much.
STARS: ***


STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
annoying one-night stand Rod (TIK) irks Ruth (ROD) after her father dies

   

— Tim’s green smiley-face shirt is pretty funny.
— A lot of funny details with Tim’s weird character.
— Robin’s really selling her character’s various emotions.
— Heh, whoa at Tim slapping Robin out of nowhere.
— Ha at Tim bursting back into the apartment just to say “Aw… geez” again, which he kept repeating earlier in the sketch in reaction to the news of Robin’s father.
— Good ending (though I’m aware there’s more after the commercial break) with Robin panickedly barricading the door after Tim’s second exit.
— Overall, a very strong slice-of-life sketch.
STARS: ****


STRANGERS AT THE FUNERAL PARLOR
at her father’s funeral, Ruth puts up with obnoxious relatives & Rod

   

— A very unique instance of a sketch continuing with a “part 2” after a commercial break, going a step beyond the usual slice-of-life sketches the show did during the original years.
— I’m getting unintentional laughs from seeing Tony in the background during Robin and Mary’s conversation. Just something about Tony’s funny mannerisms while holding a conversation in the background makes me look forward to seeing this character front-and-center later in the sketch.
— Now that we’re seeing Tony’s character front-and-center, his performance is reminding me of John Belushi for some reason. Maybe I’m reminded of the way Belushi played certain roles like Larry Farber. I actually remember hearing that Tony was originally hired to be a Belushi-type for the cast, though I’m not sure that ends up panning out for the most part.
— Christine Ebersole finally makes her very first appearance. Kinda late in the episode for a repertory player to be making their debut.
— I like Robin freaking out over Tim calling himself Robin’s lover.
— Funny subtle joke with Tony being seen holding the dead father’s shoes.
STARS: ***½


ANDY WARHOL’S TV
Andy Warhol [real] talks about appearing on SNL & tells a joke

 

— Oh, it’s the debut of these bizarre Andy Warhol shorts that I’m aware appear somewhat regularly in the first half of the season (or is it the WHOLE season?). From what I’ve heard about these, they don’t seem like something I’d enjoy at all.
— A strange, creepy atmosphere to this.
— What… the… fuck??? That’s the whole thing??!! I usually like weirdness on SNL, but THIS? No.
STARS: *½


MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis [real] juggles a machete, an axe, a cleaver

     

— Okay, here’s the debut of another season 7 staple, only this is one I’m actually looking forward to. I’m not usually into comedy magician acts, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about this guy.
— He’s ALREADY coming off funny so far, and he’s just started.
— “People don’t take you seriously if you only have one ball.”
— Nice fake-out with him seeming like he’s going to juggle the machete, only to reveal he’s simply going to juggle the machete case instead of the machete itself.
— Oh, a double fake-out; turns out he really IS going to juggle the machete itself.
— I like the “make sure that doesn’t fly off again” part.
— Gotta love the daringness of juggling three razor-sharp tools on live TV.
— “Don’t be afraid. I’ve done this… twice.”
— Funny reaction from the audience when he tells them he has to kick the axe up in the air in order to start juggling it.
— Wow, he’s actually doing a great job juggling the three tools successfully.
— A good laugh from the part with him juggling with his eyes “closed”.
— Overall, wow, I loved this whole thing. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more appearances from this guy throughout this season.
STARS: ****½


HOME MOVIES
CHE invites viewers to send in their home movies

 

— Christine Ebersole on the home base stage while piano music starts in the background? Am I in for the first of what will be many musical numbers from Christine this season? (which is something about this season I can’t say I’m looking forward to, honestly)
— Oh, it turns out this is a straightforward message urging viewers to send in funny short films and home movies that can be aired on the show. Christine appears to be delivering this in a mock-donation Public Service Announcement style (which I guess explains the background piano music).
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


A FILM BY YOKO ONO
“Season Of Glass”- thoughts on life after John Lennon’s death

   

— From what I remember reading about this dead-serious film, I’m sure I won’t be able to come up with any comments while watching this.
— Overall, yep, as I predicted, I couldn’t find anything to say about this while watching it. It was a pretty well-done, emotional film overall, but felt out-of-place on SNL. I don’t even feel comfortable giving this a rating.
STARS: N/A


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Young Turks”


GOODNIGHTS

  

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent debut for a very different-feeling SNL. While not what I would call a VAST improvement over season 6, I can see the show is definitely making good progress, and things like doing a two-part slice-of-life sketch (the Ruth/Rod sketch with Robin and Tim) shows a willingness to take more chances than season 6 did. Strange, though, how the last 15-20 minutes of tonight’s show consisted entirely of segments that weren’t even sketches (Warhol film, Michael Davis juggling act, Christine Ebersole message, Yoko Ono film, musical performance).
— Eddie had a fantastic night, with the two segments he appeared in in the first 20 minutes being among his best and most well-remembered SNL work (Little Richard Simmons, Prose and Cons). With tonight’s episode, I definitely feel like I’ve fully arrived at the era of Eddie’s dominance.
— Not a very promising debut for the three newbies. Christine didn’t get anything funny to do, Brian and Mary co-anchored a tepid first installment of SNL Newsbreak, and Mary also co-starred in a pretty dull nuns sketch.
— There’s a lot of changes I’m going to have to get used to this season. It’s going to feel weird not hearing a LFNY, not hearing Don Pardo’s voice, not seeing a monologue, and calling Weekend Update by a different name.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1980-81):
— a moderately big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Susan Saint James