Tag: 1989-90

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May 19, 1990 – Candice Bergen / The Notting Hillbillies (S15 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
in light of budget deficit, George Bush (DAC) says “no huge new taxes”

— Second season finale in a row with a Bush address as the cold opening. That’s also how this season began.
— Some great laughs from Bush demonstrating the budget deficit with hand gestures.
— He’s cracking me up with his drawn-out hesitance to announce the news that he’s going to raise taxes.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host is the focus of a Las Vegas-style production number praising “Candy”

— Some pretty good laughs from her bragging about how she doesn’t need SNL as a comedic vehicle anymore now that she has “Murphy Brown”, and from her regretting her promise to host this season after turning down an appearance at SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special.
— Interesting and entertaining turn with the big production number, even if it’s not laugh-out-loud funny.
STARS: ***


TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
jealous Toonces abducts & impersonates (host)’s gifted driving cat Spunky

— I liked the cutaway to Toonces’ jealous reaction to Spunky’s good driving school grades.
— Not much to say about the overall sketch, but it was executed well, featured some very funny visuals involving the cat puppets, and was the usual solid and fun Toonces piece.
STARS: ****


SINGLE MEN IN THEIR THIRTIES AND EARLY FORTIES
loser Craig Talbert (JOL) to women in thier 30s- “lower your standards”

— I’ve always considered this sketch Jon’s last hurrah, as it’s his final big role as a cast member.
— I’ve always had a bit of a theory that this is supposed to be the same character that Jon played in the Girl Watchers sketches with Tom Hanks. Much like those sketches, Jon’s character here has a unibrow, is wearing the same shirt he wore in at least one of the Girl Watchers sketches, and has the same laid-back and overly-confident demeanor.
— Pretty funny “lower your standards” advice to women.
STARS: ***


THE TONIGHT SHOW
guests are Jay Leno (KEN) & a 92 year-old woman (JAH)

 

— Kevin’s Jay Leno impression is very funny and spot-on.
— Nice old make-up on Jan.
— Loved Phil-as-McMahon’s “Hey-o!” after Jan’s old lady character says she has no sexual drive.
— Some good laughs from the comically mundane nature of the old lady interview.
— Good part with Carson and McMahon forcing the old lady to sing.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Railroad Worksong”


WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB examines why racial tension in NYC continues to be a problem

— I liked Dennis’ random Hammertime bit, with him wheeling his chair back-and-forth to mimic M.C. Hammer’s dancing, and then saying a very un-hip “You can’t touch this!” to the camera.
— I’m a little disappointed that A. Whitney broke his tradition of directing his season finale Update commentaries to that year’s graduating class. He had been doing that in every season finale since he first joined the show (not counting season 13, as that had no official season finale thanks to a writers’ strike)
— A. Whitney: “Last week, a mob attacked a white attorney because he was defending someone accused of killing a black man, and that’s wrong. He should’ve been attacked because he’s a lawyer.”
— A. Whitney, on the hardships of black people nowadays: “I can’t even imagine how it must feel to pick up the paper in the morning and read that Al Sharpton has just appointed himself your spokesman.”
— An overall average Update to end the season, accurately symbolizing the slight step down that Update has taken this year in general.
STARS: ***


WAYNE’S WORLD
a fantasy summer romance with Garth’s mom Hillary (host)

— First time in a while where this sketch appeared in the post-Update slot.
— Loved the meta part during the movie reviews, where Garth’s review of Dana Carvey’s “Opportunity Knocks” only consists of him saying “Sucked!” after Wayne gave it a positive review.
— Nice callback to Phil’s now-forgotten Beev character from the early installments of these sketches.
— The fantasy sequence is very fun.
— Wayne: “I like my coffee like I like my women: milk and two sugars.” Mrs. Algar: “What does that mean?” Wayne (deadpan): “I don’t know.”
— In the live version I’m watching of this episode, during the “I guess it was all a dream… or was it?!?” bit, there’s a VERY distracting technical error regarding a displayed graphic of the Wayne’s World logo.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love You Too Much”


ONCE UPON A TIME
(MIM)’s sheep turds cheer up unhappy queen (host)

 

— Writer Rob Schneider gets his obligatory bit role of the week.
— And now Schneider’s fellow new writer/future castmate David Spade has shown up in HIS obligatory bit role of the week.
— Geez, Nora is JUST NOW making her first appearance of the night (and her first appearance since “the incident”), this late in the show, and in what ends up being a small role. The only other time we’ll be seeing her later tonight is in an even smaller role during the 10-to-1 sketch. She got shafted BIG TIME in this episode, and I doubt it’s a coincidence. I’ve always had a suspicion that this was the “punishment” the show gave her for what she infamously pulled the previous week.
— Mike is pretty funny as Slow Ned.
— I have no idea what to say about this sketch anymore. It’s starting to get pretty gross and low-brow, which is KINDA funny in this setting, but eh, I dunno. Not too crazy about this as a whole.
STARS: **


SHE DOES IT ALL
executive (host) insists on handling all menial office tasks herself

— Funny turn with Candice’s boss character asking the employees “Now can I get anyone some coffee?” immediately after sternly chewing them out.
— Uh-oh. As soon as Nora comes running into the office, in her second and final small role of the night, there’s a sudden cut to a black screen in the copy I’m watching of the live version of this episode. The screen stays black for almost a full minute (I kid you not), while no audio can be heard. Then we get a screen showing the local station ID for a while (this is Detroit’s NBC affiliate, for anyone wondering), making it obvious that the affiliate is experiencing major technical difficulties. Poor Nora. This WOULD have to happen during what ends up being her final SNL appearance.
— Okay, the sketch has finally come back on, right when Victoria is in the middle of speaking. We missed a funny line from her where, from what I remember in past viewings, she says something about having worked at the office for an entire year without doing a single thing.
— Oh, come on! Now the sketch gets cut off with ANOTHER sudden cut to a silent black screen. What the hell is going on at Detroit’s station?
— Okay, the technical difficulties thankfully ended up being brief this time.
— This is the perfect role for Candice Bergen.
— An overall decent sketch… from what I saw of it. It’s a shame that those huge technical difficulties had to happen during the final sketch of the season. Speaking of which, it’s a bit disappointing that THIS is the sketch SNL ends the season with. There’s nothing wrong with this sketch in itself, but couldn’t they have ended the season with something special or more exciting? Maybe even another Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein musical piece, considering this would’ve been the last opportunity for Jon to do one.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

— They must have a lot of time to kill, as these goodnights are lasting longer than usual, long after the credits finish scrolling.
— Nora’s getting more screentime during these goodnights than she did during any of the actual sketches she appeared in tonight. Speaking of which, she’s looking kinda emotional during these goodnights. She must be aware that this is the end for her.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, though felt too average for a season-ender. Besides Wayne’s World and maybe Toonces, nothing stood out as particularly great to me, and the final two sketches of the night were a forgettable way to close the season. There was also a strangely low amount of sketches in this episode, with there being only two full sketches pre-Update, and three full sketches post-Update. Overall, not the most exciting way for a season to end, but I can’t complain much as I still enjoyed a lot of the show.
— This would end up being the final episode for Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn. Jon had a particularly great tenure, going from being the savior of the troubled season 11 to still standing out as an incredibly valuable and consistently funny player during the great ensemble from seasons 12-15. Nora’s tenure ended with a whimper, but that doesn’t take away from what she added to the show for most of her run. She was a very reliable and dependable player, basically being to this cast what Jane Curtin was to the original cast. While some of Nora’s comedy didn’t quite land with me, I can still appreciate what she was going for with it.
— Season 14 was a very tough act to follow, yet season 15 impressively held its own. Consistency-wise, however, I feel this season doesn’t quite measure up to season 14. Season 14 had amazing consistency where it managed to avoid having ANY disappointing episodes, and season 15 seemed to be heading in that same direction at first, but ended up hitting some speedbumps in the second half with two fairly weak episodes (Quincy Jones and Andrew Dice Clay), two kinda forgettable episodes (Debra Winger and Corbin Bernsen), and a decent-but-too-average season finale (Candice Bergen). There was also a bit of a drop-off in the quality of Dennis Miller’s Weekend Updates, which went from being consistently strong to becoming kinda shaky at times, a decline that unfortunately carries over into next season’s Updates. Overall, however, season 15 as a whole had incredible highs. I also love how this season took more chances with doing more creative and absurd sketches (the material in the Robert Wagner episode is a prime example of this), which is the type of comedy that defines part of what I love about this SNL era in general. And, hey, what else can you say about a season that had now-legendary SNL hosting regulars John Goodman, Christopher Walken, and Alec Baldwin all making their debut?


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Andrew Dice Clay)
a step up


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1988-89)
a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 16 begins, with host Kyle MacLachlan. We initially start out with only two new additions to the cast, but over the course of the season, there will be MANY more new additions to the cast, slowly transitioning the show into a new direction while still initially keeping a lot of the qualities that made the 1986-1990 years so phenomenal.

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May 12, 1990 – Andrew Dice Clay / The Spanic Boys, Julee Cruise (S15 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host gets the It’s A Wonderful Life treatment from Mephistopheles

— Nice fake-out at the beginning with a Pat Stevens title card showing up, only to have the sketch’s usual voice-over (Mark McKinney) say “The Pat Stevens Show will not be seen tonight”.
— I really like that they’re opening the show with a meta sketch, immediately addressing the controversy regarding the boycotting of the show.
— Another “It’s A Wonderful Life” parody this season, even using the same bridge set they used in the last parody.
— Good joke about Dice’s fanbase still being in high school.
— Dice: “Man, look at all those homeless people. Did I have any effect on THEIR lives?” Mephistopheles: “No! (muttering) Idiot.”
— Another funny use of Dana’s Frank Zappa (another infamous host), this time having him hilariously go off on an anti-censorship rant that we’re told lasted for 70 minutes.
— Very surprised at the gag revealing that Nora was crushed by Sinead O’Connor’s amplifier, which even gets enthusiastic applause from the audience. I admit to getting a laugh from the gag, but I feel bad. I mean, the woman is still employed on the show at this point, and they’re doing a mean-spirited gag like this about her?
— Funny exchange after Mephistopheles brings up the name Jon Lovitz. Dice: “That Liar guy?” Mephistopheles, in an offended manner: “Wasn’t his ONLY character…”
— Great devilish smile from Jon as Mephistopheles after saying “Live from New York…” (screencap below)

STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— It sure feels odd seeing Nora Dunn still being credited and announced in tonight’s opening montage (I assume they left her in for contract reasons). IIRC, this is later lampshaded during the goodnights where Don Pardo’s voice-over comically addresses his confusion over the fact that he still had to announce Nora during the opening montage. As usual for Don Pardo’s goodnights voice-overs, that would later be removed in reruns.


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up & announces he’s donating his pay to Comic Relief

— I admit to getting a laugh right at the beginning with Dice’s first words being a loud and hammy “HOW ARE YA!” and then following that up with “That’s about all I can say tonight.”
— Things go awry fast as a group of protesters in the audience are suddenly heard loudly heckling Dice.
— I’m a little torn on what to think of Dice’s responses to the hecklers. On one hand, he impressively handled it with complete ease (then again, he probably has a lot of experience dealing with hecklers), but on the other hand, his “clever” comebacks to the hecklers were pretty cringeworthy (e.g. “Just ’cause I don’t wanna go out with ya, pal, doesn’t mean that I don’t dig ya!”).
— The whole heckling portion of this monologue would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version, which goes along more smoothly without any audience interruptions. SNL would experience a very similar heckling incident two years later during Sharon Stone’s monologue (which would also be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns). For any of you readers wondering why Sharon Stone, of all people, would be heckled, I’ll go into more details when we reach that episode.
— Dice’s bus joke had a bad and baffling punchline. I did kinda chuckle at him punctuating it with a half-assed “Bada-bing!”, which sounded like even he was aware how bad his joke was.
— Interesting ending with him announcing he donated his SNL pay to the homeless, since he wasn’t able to appear at that night’s Comic Relief special.
STARS: **


DICEMAN EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
host’s employment agency offers jobs dealing with illegal activities
TV Guide “jeers” SNL for the sketch

 

— Funny brief appearance from Jon.
— A laugh from Dice offering Kevin a job as a crack dealer.
— This is starting to kinda drag.
— Okay, I finally got another laugh, from Dice offering Kevin a job where he just has to hold a guy while a thug beats him up.
— Mike’s threatening delivery of the line “The man wants his MONEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!” absolutely slayed me. The fact that it was followed by tense silence from the studio audience (I guess due to the fact that a non-comical fight scene had just occurred) makes it even funnier to me, for some reason.
— We get another TV Guide “Cheers and Jeers” sketch ending this season, leading us into a funny brief scene with Dana as a ranting Adolf Hitler spouting off Dana Carvey catchphrases (e.g. “Isn’t that special?”, “Wouldn’t be prudent”) among German gibberish.
STARS: **½


COOKING WITH THE ANAL RETENTIVE CHEF
anal-retentive Gene & his mother (JAH) prepare to make ladyfinger cake

— Nice addition of Jan as this character’s mother, to commemorate Mother’s Day.
— Good callback to the tape dispenser cozy that Phil’s character showcased in an earlier Anal Retentive Chef sketch.
— The negative tension between both characters is pretty enjoyable, though this sketch is turning out to be a little too average. Perhaps they’ve gone to the “chef” well a little too often for this character. I liked it when they kept changing his occupation in each installment.
— This would end up being the last time we ever see this character of Phil’s. They were actually going to bring both him and his mother back in the following season’s Kevin Bacon episode, but the sketch got cut after dress rehearsal. IIRC, in the Shales/Miller “Live From New York” book, there’s a story from Jan about how during that Kevin Bacon dress rehearsal, she broke out into emotional tears shortly before the Anal Retentive Chef sketch started, because Rockefeller Center had been receiving terroristic bomb threats or something like that (this was during the Gulf War). As she was crying, Phil went over to her and comforted her, giving her the courage to go ahead with the sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Spanic Boys perform “Keep On Walking”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Annoying Man previews a free symphonic concert held in Central Park
Michael J. Fox (DAS) discusses his planned sequels to Casualties Of War

— This is the very first Weekend Update that opens with a dancing Statue of Liberty during the Update intro sequence, which would go on to be a tradition for the remainder of Dennis’ tenure as anchorperson. When I was younger, I used to think most of Dennis’ Updates had that dancing Statue of Liberty intro. I was surprised to later learn that it wasn’t introduced until the end of his penultimate year as anchorperson.
— Ha, while I have no idea what was up with Annoying Man taking a red ball thing and squeezing it under his neck while screaming twice (does anyone know what exactly was he doing?), it had me laughing so much.
— Annoying Man’s zit-popping sequence was hilariously gross.
— Hmm, this is unfortunately another Update this season where Dennis is relying on a few too many corny “misinterpreting a photo” jokes for my likes, though not too much so in tonight’s case.
— I liked the meta joke about Andrew Dice Clay being the first male enrollee at an all-women’s college that’s now gone co-ed.
— Writer David Spade gets his first big onscreen SNL role, playing Michael J. Fox in his own Update commentary. Since the audience would’ve had no idea who David Spade was at this time, as this is a good while before he gets added to the cast, I have to wonder what was going through their minds during this commentary. Were they all wondering “Is that Carvey???”
— Fantastic Michael J. Fox impression from David.
— I liked David-as-MJF’s random “Mallory?” at the end of the commentary, as a Family Ties reference.
— Dennis’ Pepsi joke completely bombed.
— Good ending to this Update with Dennis making a mock announcement that he’s going to boycott next week’s Candice Bergen episode (“And I think you know why”).
STARS: ***


DAD, WHAT’S SEX?
(host) uses slang to teach son (MIM) about birds & bees
(PHH) of Planned Parenthood critiques language used in “Dad, What’s Sex?”
TV Guide is tricked into giving SNL “cheers” for “Dad, What’s Sex?”

— I got a pretty good laugh from Dice’s line to Mike about “popping a boinger or two”.
— The muting-out of dirty words during Dice’s sex talk is coming off VERY sloppy in the live version I’m watching. Instead of only muting the dirty words, they mute almost the entire sentences he says them in, which is hurting the joke. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the rerun version of this episode, so I have to ask: do they censor the dirty words in that version, and if so, how? Do they add bleeps over the dirty words instead of just sloppily muting them out?
— Heh, now the timing of the word-censoring has gotten even worse, with them not muting the word “poontang” in time. NBC censors must’ve been sweating over the fact that “poontang” got out on the air uncensored in 1990.
— Cute ending with Mike jokingly asking Dice about the Mets.
— Ah, we get a rebuttal from Phil as a Planned Parenthood member.
— Phil’s suggestions for naughty word substitutes are very funny, especially his use of the term “the silk igloo” as a euphemism for the vagina.
— The TV Guide “Jeers” bit at the end was awful. It made no sense and fell completely flat.
STARS: **½


TALK RADIO
deejay Tony Trailer’s commentary cuts into songs, ads, guests

— This is using the same joke as the last appearance of this character, which was fine as a one-off sketch but I’m not sure lends itself well to a recurring sketch.
— Never mind, it turns out there’s an actual escalation to the joke this time, with Kevin going so far as to interrupt non-music things like a George Carlin comedy album excerpt, an Emergency Broadcast Test, and the report from his guest Victoria.
— For some reason, Victoria’s appearance here is where I start to really notice Nora’s absence tonight. Having an episode with only two female cast members is something I have to get used to, as we’re going to be seeing it for quite a while early on in the following season (and it even gets briefly addressed in a certain famous Kyle MacLachlan-starring sketch), before Julia Sweeney gets hired in November.
— Is that Spade I hear as one of the callers?
— Funny read-off statement from Kevin: “Sorry about last night, but those were my sister’s panties.”
STARS: ***


PROTEST
JAH reveals she’s been giving a lackluster performance to protest host

— Nice, well-deserved applause for Jan after introducing herself. The applause is especially coming off nice to hear after the amazing episode Jan just had in the preceding episode (Alec Baldwin).
— Funny reveal that Jan’s subtle way of protesting tonight’s host is by not giving 100% in the sketches.
— Amusing turn with Jan trying to take advantage of this extra time by breaking out into a Sweeney Sisters-esque song.
STARS: ***½


COOL MITE
tiny troublemaker (host) tells buddies of his latest exploits

   

— Another uncredited appearance from writer Rob Schneider. We’re clearly at the beginning of a transition into the many big changes we’re soon going to gradually see over the course of next season.
— This sketch feels like a precursor to the Tiny Elvis sketches from the early 90s. Considering Rob Schneider would play the title character in the second of the two installments of that sketch (the first installment had host Nicolas Cage playing the character) coupled with the fact that Rob has an onscreen role in this Cool Mite sketch, I have to wonder if he’s the writer behind both Cool Mite and Tiny Elvis.
— The scene with Victoria was executed too awkwardly.
— The dog attack was the first actual laugh I got from this sketch.
— I like Phil’s brief appearance as a wiseguy cop.
— When Cool Mite is supposed to suffer a second attack from the dog, the dog apparently misses its cue, resulting in dead air and leaving Dice to awkwardly break the fourth wall by ad-libbing in character “Hey, where’s the dog? It’s supposed to bite me!” SNL would later fix this in reruns by showing the dress rehearsal version of this portion of the sketch, where the dog attacks Cool Mite on cue.
— Weak sketch overall.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Julee Cruise performs “Falling”


RIDICULOUS BULL
Jake La Motta (host) asks brother (JOL) to beat him up

— Jon’s been getting tons of airtime tonight (serving as a sad reminder that we’re in the homestretch of his SNL tenure).
— A fairly thin, one-joke sketch, but I’m kinda enjoying the escalation of the type of objects Dice requests to be hit with, and I actually feel Dice’s performance is complimenting the material nicely. This sketch has a type of silliness that you often hear me say I always love to see in this SNL era.
— I like the looseness of the sequence with the sledgehammer.
— In the recording I’m watching of this episode, the visual quality of this sketch is strangely choppy and wonky. It causes a particularly bad glitch at one point during the part where Jon is asked by Dice to hit him with the microwave; the glitch causes us to miss a joke where Jon’s character was seemingly going to address the anachronism of a microwave being available in this old-timey setting. Jon began incredulously saying “Microwave?!? It’s 194–”, but whatever 1940s year he was going to say suddenly got cut off as the scene abruptly jumps to him walking over to pick up the microwave.
STARS: ***


PROTEST
KEN says his lack of inclusion in sketches is his protest of host

— After Kevin introduces himself, you can hear one sole audience member try to start a round of applause like Jan got earlier, but it doesn’t take because Kevin immediately continues speaking.
— Funny reveal of Kevin refusing to appear in all but three sketches tonight, which he feels would make more of a statement against tonight’s host than Jan’s making.
— I was expecting a little more from this overall piece, but this was a decent display of the type of humor that Kevin is always great at selling and making relatable.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As no surprise, this was a pretty meh episode, especially for this era’s standards. I didn’t HATE this episode like I’m sure some people do based on their general dislike of Andrew Dice Clay (I personally have never had an opinion of him either way; I’ve always been completely neutral towards him), but I wasn’t crazy about the episode either. It began strongly with the meta cold opening, but immediately went downhill starting with the monologue and, despite some highlights here and there in the remainder of the show, the episode as a whole never fully took off. Aside from the cold opening, there was nothing in this episode that I feel stands out as strong, and we got a higher number of tepid material than we’re used to seeing this season. As for Andrew Dice Clay himself, much like my feelings of the episode, I didn’t HATE him as the host, but I didn’t exactly laugh all that much at him either. One problem I had is that he never stepped out of his comfort zone; he basically just played himself all night. He could have at least TRIED to play against type in one sketch, by comically doing a character that’s pretty much the exact opposite of his famous stand-up persona.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Nora Dunn returns to the cast for what ends up being her, and Jon Lovitz’s, final episode, which itself ends up being the final episode of the 1986-1990 renaissance years. Season 15 comes to an end with host Candice Bergen, the second consecutive host to have the word “dice” in their name.

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April 21, 1990 – Alec Baldwin / The B-52’s (S15 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) talks about the environment & licks glaucoma drops

— Wow, Dana’s Bush is coming off even funnier than usual, which is saying something. He’s more animated than EVER here.
— Classic part with him intentionally letting his marijuana-laced eyedrops drip into his mouth, causing him to become high and launch into a hilarious “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” quote.
— Overall, one of the best Bush cold openings SNL has ever done.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host charms the audience by posing for the camera until VIJ stops him

— Despite this being his first time hosting, Alec already receives tons of huge and wild applause at the beginning of this monologue.
— Much like John Goodman and Christopher Walken’s respective debut earlier this season, it’s going to be fascinating in hindsight to watch Alec Baldwin’s first hosting stint, as it’s so hard now to imagine there was ever a time where he had no prior experience on the show.
— At times, young Alec Baldwin’s voice sounds different from what we’re now used to hearing from him.
— Alec’s various ways of charming the audience are priceless, especially when the camera does a very slow pan from his shoes to his face, and when he pops his head out from behind the drapes.
— Already, he’s coming off as the perfect host.
STARS: ****½


GREENHILLY
Mr. Cherrywood (host) kisses (JAH), (VIJ), (NOD), (PHH), dog

— I like the randomness of how Jan and Alec’s chasing a bird out of the house immediately leads to a sudden romantic pause (complete with background music) and make-out session with each other. Maybe because I know what’s coming…
— Excellent escalation to the kissing, with it eventually reaching the point where Alec’s make-out partners include Phil and a dog.
— Speaking of the part with Alec making out with a dog, that has always reminded me of something that happens in a later Alec Baldwin sketch: Rookie Cop from season 20, where a chain reaction of vomiting eventually leads to a dog vomiting as well, much like how a chain reaction of kissing in this Greenhilly sketch eventually leads to a dog being kissed. I’m not sure, but I could swear they even use the exact same dog puppet in both sketches, possibly proving that the Rookie Cop writer(s) intentionally threw in the dog part as a subtle callback to Greenhilly. Just a theory of mine; I can’t really confirm yet, but when I eventually review Alec’s season 20 episode, I’ll put up a side-by-side comparison of the Rookie Cop dog puppet and the Greenhilly dog puppet.
— This overall piece was the perfect first sketch for Alec, immediately showcasing his willingness to do anything on the show.
STARS: *****


THE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS ONE
biker (host) fights against pollution

— Hey, it’s David Spade! (first screencap above) He was a new SNL writer at this time, and his bit role here is his very first appearance on SNL.
— And hey, now Spade’s fellow new writer Rob Schneider has appeared! (left side of the second screencap above) This is the first of many uncredited bit roles we’ll be seeing Schneider and Spade appear in for the remainder of this season and early next season (Spade will even get to star as Michael J. Fox in a Weekend Update commentary in the very next episode), before both men eventually get added to the cast a few episodes into next season. I guess starting them out as just writers while letting them make plenty of uncredited on-camera appearances is Lorne’s way of trying them out to see if they have what it takes to be cast members. Lorne would soon do the same to Adam Sandler when he joins the writing staff in December of next season.
— Hilarious Marlon Brando voice from Alec.
— Funny reveal of the tough biker gang being so ecologically concerned.
— Very funny story of why Alec’s Brando talks the unique way he does.
— I liked the passing mention of Victoria’s mother having fallen into a PCB vat.
— Wow, HUGE cheering from the audience when Alec’s Brando makes a then-topical reference by saying he’s going to the Earth Day concert in New York. Ha, one particular audience member says an exuberant “Alright!” so audibly that you would think he was mic’ed. At least that’s how it is in the live version I’m reviewing of this episode. Reruns may have mixed down the audience’s reaction during this part of the sketch.
— IIRC, in the “Live From New York” book, Alec mentions how he had to fight to keep from cracking up at the end of this sketch when Phil delivers a comically dramatic “Take me with you!” to him. You can’t see any visible amusement on Alec’s face during that part, though.
STARS: ****


THE GARBO I KNEW
the Greta Garbo (JAH) James O’Brien (host) knew really wanted to be alone

 

— Some laughs from Jan-as-Garbo’s obsession with wanting everything she owns to be alone.
— A fantastic and classic sequence with Jan using charades to hint Alec on what to say over the phone.
— It’s Rob Schneider again! I remember when I first saw this episode as a teenager, in a 60-minute Comedy Central rerun in 2000, I was baffled when I saw Schneider show up in this sketch. At the time, my knowledge of SNL’s history was still in the developmental stages, but I had enough SNL history knowledge to be aware that Schneider didn’t join the cast until the following season, which is why I was so confused when I saw him in this sketch. I wasn’t aware that he was a writer this season, so I was left wondering if he was originally an extra the show hired just for this sketch and that it somehow eventually led to him being added to the cast the following season. (For anyone wondering why teenage me didn’t have this reaction to Schneider and David Spade’s appearance in the preceding Environmentally Conscious One sketch, that sketch wasn’t included in Comedy Central’s 60-minute version)
— I love the ending reveal of Jan hiding on a high chandelier. How did they get her on there so fast in a live sketch?
— Surprised they ended this sketch pretty early. Maybe it’s best they kept this short and sweet, though I personally could have watched Jan’s charades routine for an infinite amount of time.
— This is one of two sketches responsible for making teenage me fully recognize Jan Hooks’ greatness during my aforementioned first viewing of this episode on Comedy Central. The second sketch appears later in this same episode.
STARS: *****


ONLY IN NEW YORK
Joey Adams (PHH) jokes while wife Cindy (NOD) gossips

— Fairly funny opening theme song by Phil and Nora.
— Greta Garbo passed away that week? Oh, so THAT’S why they did the preceding sketch.
— Phil’s jokes throughout this are cracking me up.
— I particularly loved Phil’s delivery of “One guy says ‘Hey, Pete, how’s it going?’, Pete says ‘SHUT UP!!!‘”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cosmic Thing”


WEEKEND UPDATE
ten feet away from the newsdesk, KEN reports audience reaction to the bit
arrogance & ignorance are the biggest threats to the government, says AWB
DEM displays the hottest new toy- New Kids On The Chopping Block dolls

— Funny how during the audience’s VERY long, energetic applause at the beginning, Dennis has enough time to take a sip of water.
— Good to see Kevin’s “News From 10 Feet Away” segment back.
— Tonight’s very energetic crowd is particularly responsive during Kevin’s observations of the audience’s “disappointment” over his segment.
— Funny part with Kevin turning this commentary meta by making a mock-complaint about his lack of airtime.
— Dennis’ running gag where he has a disapproving reaction whenever a new “Ernest” movie comes out continues tonight, with SNL going all-out on this one by dimming the lights to a dark red tint and playing the song “This Is The End” while Dennis simply says into the camera “The horror.”
— Loved Dennis’ “Eartha Day” joke.
— A. Whitney: “Why did we go to the moon? Nobody knows. Maybe JFK wanted to impress one of his secretaries.”
— A. Whitney: “There are 25 million illiterates in this country alone. Every day, vast numbers of them give directions at service stations.”
— Good side segment with Dennis demonstrating the “New Kids On The Chopping Block” dolls.
STARS: ****


THE NUDE TALK SHOW
(JOL) follows his dream & makes The Nude Talk Show a cable access success

— Nice details with the look of Jon’s character. In fact, I’ve always found his look to be so oddly specific that I have to wonder if this sketch is a parody of something I’m not familiar with.
— I love the awkwardness of Jon pitching his idea of a nude talk show to executives.
— Alec’s stern warning to Jon, regarding doing a nude talk show: “Remember one thing: it’s gonna be your ass out there.”
— Among the TV shows listed on the ratings board is “Dukakis After Dark”, a reference to a famous one-off sketch from the previous season. There’s also a listing of a show called “The Insane Idiot”, which would later be used as part of the title to a sketch with Harvey Keitel showing off a collection of descending-size deer heads, though the title similarity there may just be a coincidence.
— The interview with Jan is really funny.
— The audience is sure loving Al Franken’s Al Goldstein impression. He’s cracking me up too, even though I have no familiarity with the real Al Goldstein.
— I love Victoria’s scene as The Brooklyn Swami.
— Very nice ending.
STARS: *****


DINER
sexual tension is thick as waitress (JAH) takes (host)’s breakfast order

— Here’s the second sketch from this episode where Jan impressed the living hell out of teenage me when I first saw this episode on Comedy Central.
— Phil and Kevin are hilarious as the dopey customers.
— Jan, regarding Alec: “Look at him, sittin’ on that stool like he’s doin’ it a favor!”
— All the back-and-forths between Jan and Alec are freakin’ terrific.
— Jan’s ability to switch moods at the drop of a hat when immediately going from speaking to Phil & Kevin to speaking to Alec is great.
— Alec’s parting words to Jan: “You shouldn’t give away your pie with breakfast. Makes you look cheap!”
— An overall absolutely fantastic sketch. After my first time seeing this overall episode on Comedy Central, I officially became a Jan Hooks fan. Whereas I had no real opinion of her before being introduced to this episode (aside from being impressed by her in the season 14 sketch with her as newly-former First Lady Nancy Reagan being dragged out of the White House), this episode led to me paying close attention to her whenever I caught an SNL rerun with her from that point on, and more often than not, I would be very awed and entertained by her talents and performances. As a result, she ended up becoming one of my all-time favorite cast members.
— Clearly SNL themselves recognize what a fantastic night Jan had in this overall episode, between The Garbo I Knew and this Diner sketch, because this is the episode that NBC would wisely choose to air on “SNL Vintage” as a tribute to her a few days after she passed in 2014.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Channel Z”


MIDDLE-AGED MAN
Middle-Aged Man Ed Miles (MIM) helps out with (host)’s impotence problem

— The debut of a short-lived but memorable Mike Myers recurring character. Funny idea for a superhero character.
— I sure like that theme song.
— As usual, solid character work from Mike here.
— I like the mention of Middle-Aged Man’s father, Retired Man (who we’ll later meet in an episode hosted by George Wendt), as well as the line about how the only difference between Middle-Aged Man and his father is Middle-Aged Man knows how to hook up a VCR.
— Another good line, this time about how Middle-Aged Man’s grandfather used to be known as Retired Man but is now known as Dead Man.
— I’m enjoying Middle-Aged Man’s various “quit lookin’ at my gut” warnings.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Wow. Just wow. This was pretty much what a perfect SNL episode looks like. Tonight’s show was a masterpiece, and it’s very easy to see why it would end up winning an Emmy (or was it just nominated?). Not only did every single segment in this episode work, but just about every single one of them was great, and a good number of them stand out as true classics. It also doesn’t hurt that we had a very hot crowd in the audience tonight, adding a lot of energy to the atmosphere. It’s great that Alec Baldwin’s hosting debut turned out this amazing. Right out of the gate, he came off as a true pro who already knows exactly how the show works, and he got good laughs in every sketch, even ones where he played a straight man. One of the most impressive hosting debuts ever seen on SNL.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Corbin Bernsen)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Unfortunately, the feel-good vibes in the Baldwin episode I just reviewed do not last, because our next episode is one mired in infamy. Controversial stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay hosts, prompting a boycott not only from the episode’s originally-scheduled musical guest, Sinead O’Connor, but also from one of the show’s own cast members, one Miss Nora Dunn, who’s relationship with the show would not be the same as a result.

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April 14, 1990 – Corbin Bernsen / The Smithereens (S15 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CBS outcast Brent Musberger (KEN) works at the Cable Shopping Network

— Good to see the Brent Musberger and Jimmy The Greek impressions back for the first in a long time, and this is a funny setting for them.
— Musberger’s out-of-place sports-like announcing of typical shopping network things is pretty funny.
— A good laugh from Jimmy The Greek once again starting to say something touchy about black people, and Musberger trying to stop him.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— An okay sudden turn with Corbin laughing off his attempt to convince us that he’s not cocky and that there was once a time when women didn’t want him.
STARS: ***


MOVERS AND SHAKERS
character names lend authenticity to (KEN)’s shows

 

— For some reason, I like the opening theme music to this, even though it was probably just a generic stock music score SNL had in the sound library.
— Dana once again plays a criminal character in a Scarface-esque manner.
— Not caring too much for this sketch so far.
— Okay, I got a pretty good laugh from the ridiculous use of “harsh” language during the tense Corbin/Dana scene.
— Overall, some good lines here and there, and the humor was well-suited for Kevin’s typical delivery, but this sketch suffered from being too sluggish-feeling, causing it to drag. What was this doing in such an early spot as the lead-off sketch of the night?
STARS: **


TV LAWYERS
host & other actors who play lawyers on TV try their act in a real court

— Pretty funny with Corbin thinking he can act as his own lawyer, but turning out to be very wrong.
— Excellent Susan Dey impression from Jan, and she’s giving a very funny speech.
— I love where this is going, with them bringing out other famous TV lawyers one-by-one.
— Phil’s Andy Griffith is PRICELESS.
— Jon is also very funny as Raymond Burr, and he’s doing a surprisingly dead-on vocal imitation.
— Good ending with each lawyer doing a “dramatic exit”.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Girl Like You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ has words of praise for Mother Theresa & Mickey Mantle
Grumpy Old Man doesn’t like cash machines, Kleenex, motion pictures

— Meh, didn’t care too much for Victoria’s overall Mother Theresa commentary. Too much generic “blonde ditz” humor here.
— Just when I thought Dennis was having a bit of a ho-hum Update tonight (seriously, why have his Updates been so shaky lately?), he won me over with a bit where he follows an intentionally corny joke by saying “Well, THAT brought Update to a screeching halt” and then cues an airbag that inflates in front of him. That was so random, it was funny, and he made some really amusing ad-libbed comments about it afterwards.
— The usual strong Grumpy Old Man commentary. My favorite part was his story about the “family handkerchief”, which was unwashed for generations and was filled with diseases.
STARS: ***


THE NIGHT HANUKKAH HARRY SAVED EASTER
Hanukkah Harry & invisible Elijah (ALF) sub for Easter Bunny (host)

— Feels weird seeing Tom Schiller in a big role in a live sketch for the first time since season 5.
— I’m not as familiar with this second Hanukkah Harry installment as I am with the classic first installment from earlier this season.
— Boy, so far, this is paling badly in comparison to the first Hanukkah Harry sketch.
— Okay, Phil as the white trash father has provided my first big laughs, and that didn’t even come until about THREE-AND-A-HALF MINUTES into the sketch.
— Phil’s angry “We got us a jewboy!” after pulling out a rifle was funny.
— Good sequence with Phil getting beat up by the invisible Elijah.
— Overall, a slow and forgettable first half, but things got better in the second half. Still, they should’ve left Hanukkah Harry as a classic one-off sketch. Tonight’s sequel didn’t come anywhere close to measuring up.
STARS: **½


PLAYGIRL MODELS
Playgirl models (KEN), (DAC), (host) adorn their penises for the people

— Where have I heard that gruff voice from Dana before?
— Oh, now I figured out where I heard Dana’s gruff voice before: the now-obscure “Two Sammies” sketches that he and Kevin used to do. The voice also sounds like one he would later use for another now-forgotten recurring character: his Larry Roman character from the following two seasons.
— Phil casually applying make-up on the models’ penises is pretty funny.
— Some good laughs from the models’ ridiculous ideas for penis decorations, especially Kevin’s idea for an outdoor theme with a picket fence around the penis.
STARS: ***½


GEORGE F. WILL’S SPORTS MACHINE
intellectual baseball questions

— Dana as George F. Will’s out-of-place intelligent, verbose sports questions and Corbin & Jon being stumped over them is pretty funny, though the premise feels a bit thin.
— Amusing side segment with Kevin’s Sam Donaldson showcasing the game prizes.
— Fun ending with George F. Will being chased out of the studio and through SNL’s backstage.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Before & After”


CONCEITED GUY
(JAH) discovers that her date (host) is preoccupied with his own face

— Funny sudden reveal of Corbin having a gigantic face photo of himself on his wall when he and Jan enter his apartment, after he came off humble and down-to-earth beforehand.
— When Jan turned Corbin’s stereo on, I expected the music that played from it to be sung by Corbin, but I turned out to be wrong. I feel like that joke DID appear in an SNL sketch, though I can’t remember which one.
— Just when I thought the joke was starting to wear kinda thin, they got me laughing again with the funny reveal of Corbin’s ridiculous slippers (last screencap above).
— There would be a rip-off of this sketch years later in an (infamous) episode hosted by Adrien Brody in 2003, with Chris Kattan in the Corbin Bernsen role and Rachel Dratch in the Jan Hooks role (Adrien Brody had a side role as an effeminate servant-type character). Yes, I said “rip-off”. One might call the similarity between both sketches a mere coincidence, but nope, I don’t think so. The similarities are WAY too stark. I have a theory that the Kattan version of the sketch was written by a certain long-time SNL writer (still currently working at SNL as of 2019) who’s received quite a number of accusations of stealing material over the years. I’ll go into more detail about all of this when we reach the Adrien Brody episode.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A completely average episode. While there wasn’t much I found weak, very little stood out as great either. After how consistently strong this entire season has been (aside from the Quincy Jones episode) before these past two episodes, there’s been kind of an unexciting quality to the show lately, between the forgettableness of the preceding episode with Debra Winger and the extreme averageness of tonight’s episode. Then again, I know that this mild slump doesn’t last any longer, considering what the next episode is…


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Debra Winger)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin makes his hosting debut

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March 24, 1990 – Debra Winger / Eric Clapton (S15 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (PHH) can’t answer any of census-taker’s (VIJ) questions

— Unless I missed it, they haven’t mentioned that it’s Ronald Reagan who Phil is playing here, though you can still tell. This is apparently a parody of Reagan’s behavior at then-recent Iranscam hearings, where he gave non-answers to almost every single question he was asked.
— For something that is one-joke, this is still coming off solid. Most of it is because of Phil’s performance and delivery, but it’s also because of his many variations of “I don’t know”.
— Even the comically awkward, drawn-out ending with Phil’s Reagan getting locked out of his house and unintentionally setting off the alarm made me laugh, even if it seemed like they were reaching for material there.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Some decent dry humor here, with Debra’s self-deprecating mentions of how quietly her career is currently going.
— Interesting ending with Debra flat-out saying “This is the end of the monologue”, keeping with the dry theme of this overall piece.
STARS: ***


WAYNE’S WORLD
Oscar Picks; Chick Court finds that (host) is not a slut

 

— For some reason, Wayne’s wearing a black long-sleeved sweater instead of his usual black short-sleeved shirt.
— Solid “Wayne’s World Oscar Picks” segment.
— Debra looks almost unrecognizable in that wig.
— The idea of this “Chick Court” segment is pretty fun.
— Interestingly, during a discussion between the characters, there’s a mention of a rumor-starting schoolmate named Tim Meadows… the same name of a certain future cast member who SNL hires a year later. Apparently, he and Mike Myers were friends from their Second City improv days together, and Mike threw his name into this sketch as a shoutout. Amusingly enough, the Tim Meadows that’s discussed in this sketch is referred to as a “gimp” and a “liar”, among other unflattering things.
— Haha, SNL makes yet ANOTHER Lambada reference.
STARS: ***½


URBAN TOONCES
Urban Toonces joins Bud (DAC) & Sissy (host) for tequila & a bull ride

— Dana’s Travolta is hilarious as always.
— Another good use of Toonces in a movie spoof, after the Driving Miss Daisy sketch earlier this season.
— Very funny visual of Toonces drinking tequila and then riding on the mechanical bull.
— Ha, for once, a Toonces sketch uses a different stock footage clip of a car driving off a cliff, since this scene is supposed to take place at night, whereas the usual stock car-off-a-cliff footage these Toonces sketches often use takes place at day.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Alibis”


WEEKEND UPDATE
demostration of HDTV makes DEM Sam Donaldson-like
Mr. Subliminal gives an editorial about Donald & Ivana Trump

 

— The bit with the HDTV version of Dennis looking like Sam Donaldson was pretty funny.
— I liked Dennis’ random “The Japanese bought EVERYTHING this week” one-liner news story.
— Odd technical error where a graphic of Mr. Subliminal’s name showed up on the bottom of the screen for only a nanosecond before immediately disappearing.
— Oh, never mind. After another occurrence of the quickly-disappearing “Mr. Subliminal” graphic, it’s obvious that it’s an intentional gag in which his name appears subliminally. Clever touch.
— The usual funny subliminal remarks from Mr. Subliminal, especially his sexual comments towards Marla Maples.
— We’re getting a string of brief, rapid-fire jokes from Dennis all of a sudden.
STARS: ***½


THE ADVENTURES OF CALAMITY JANE
therapy helps explain Calamity Jane’s (host) nature

— Two western-themed sketches tonight? And interesting how they both take place in a bar.
— I like the line about a reformed Wild Bill Hickok changing his name to Well-Adjusted Hickok.
— Jon’s exaggerated facial reaction to Calamity Jane pointing a gun at him was really funny (last screencap above).
— Overall, ehh. I liked this overall piece more for the idea and committed performances than for the actual execution. The resulting sketch came off kinda dull and overlong.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pretending”


SATAN’S ALBUM
Mephistopheles defends his album at Senate hearings on record labelling

— Funny beginning with Phil as Ozzy Osbourne.
— First time Nora Dunn has appeared all night. Lately, it feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of her with each passing episode, which makes me realize there’s truth to what Jon Lovitz has claimed in an interview in recent years, where, IIRC, he basically says at one point that towards the end of Nora’s SNL tenure, she was being phased out of the show even BEFORE the infamous boycotting stunt she pulls when a certain controversial stand-up comedian hosts a little later this season.
— I liked Mephistopheles’ only defense of his hellish lyrics being “I live in hell; I write what I know.”
— Hilarious Frank Zappa impression from Dana.
— I’m disappointed to see that this sketch is nowhere near as great as I had remembered it. Portions of this sketch feel kinda dead and aren’t doing all that much for me.
STARS: **½


THE WHITE PARROT
other castmembers upstage JOL’s attempt at a romantic scene with host

— I was wondering where this sketch was going, but Phil’s silly performance right now as the waiter is giving me some laughs.
— I like how the white-colored dessert Phil offers is “chiclets and the inside of an Oreo cookie”.
— Interesting fourth wall-break with Jon calling out Phil on trying to upstage him. I kinda saw it coming that this would turn meta by revealing this is a Jon Lovitz-written sketch, after all the unrealistic flirtatious comments Debra was making to Jon earlier in the sketch.
— Nora’s scene didn’t work much for me, though I liked Jon’s delivery of “Oh, are you DONE?!?” in response to Nora’s overdramatics.
— I like Jan now trying to steal the sketch as a restaurant singer.
— A nice, charming ending between Debra and Jon.
— Despite the laughs I got and the great premise, I couldn’t help but feel this sketch could’ve turned out a little better than it did. Something felt kinda missing in the execution, making the overall piece come off just average to me.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wonderful Tonight”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty forgettable episode. I dunno, I’m just not too crazy about what I watched as a whole. Thinking back on it, there were actually some pretty solid things in the first half, but the second half had an odd, ho-hum feel, and the show ended without there being ANYTHING all night that I felt stood out as particularly great. Even the subpar Quincy Jones episode from earlier this season had a few standout strong pieces. I also don’t like how tonight seemed to have an unusually small number of sketches, which I guess is due to Eric Clapton getting three musical performances, the third of which was quite long (albeit beautiful).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rob Lowe)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Corbin Bernsen

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March 17, 1990 – Rob Lowe / The Pogues (S15 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) doesn’t gloat; host worries about reaction to sex tape

— Hilarious pronunciation from Dana’s Bush of “Not gonna gloat” as “Nah gah glah”.
— Some very funny lines from Bush as usual.
— Interesting deviation from the usual Bush cold opening format by cutting to Rob Lowe backstage.
— Everybody trying to convince Rob that nobody cares anymore about the sex tape scandal is pretty funny. A good way for SNL to address the elephant in the room, and a nice set-up for what’s to come in the monologue.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host gets cool response from audience still upset about sex tape

— For some reason, G.E. Smith is noticeably wearing a headset tonight (screencap below), which he usually doesn’t.

— I love how after the theme music ends, there’s absolute silence in the studio and we see  an unhappy, non-applauding audience.
— Some good laughs from the one unseen audience member constantly yelling “I have a daughter!”
— Good ending with crowd-pleaser Jon Lovitz taking over Rob’s duties for the remainder of the monologue.
— Kinda disappointed this monologue ended so early. I wanted them to take this into further places.
STARS: ***½


IRISH DRINKING SONGS
album features lots of inebriation & vomiting

— Ah, the sketch that features Conan O’Brien’s most prominent on-camera role during his tenure as an SNL writer.
— All of the drunk Irish songs being advertised are priceless, with my favorites so far being “The Incoherent Song” and “The Drinking/Fighting Song”.
— Not sure what Mike said at the very end regarding a compact disc, as his line was mixed very poorly among the background singing (at least in the live version I’m reviewing of this episode).
STARS: ****½


CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady stays off tape topic, paddles host

— Oddly, this is the second episode in a row with a Church Chat sketch.
— I liked Church Lady’s little line, referring to her upcoming guest Rob Lowe as “a hair in my Cream of Wheat”.
— Love Church Lady’s sarcasm over how much of a stretch it is for Rob to play a villain in a movie.
— Absolutely hilarious part with Church Lady using initials for terms that she agreed not to use during the interview (“Tingly Naughty Parts”, “Bulbous Buttocks”, etc.)
— Love the turn with Rob willingly receiving a prearranged spanking from Church Lady with a wooden paddle.
— Haha, Rob saying “Thank you, Church Lady, may I have another?!?” after every strike he receives with the paddle, and Church Lady screaming into Rob’s butt “Get out of his buttocks, Satan!!” This is all absolutely CLASSIC.
STARS: *****


GOVERNOR WADE HAMMOND
Texas governor Mark White (PHH) stresses death penalty in re-election bid

— Funny reveal that Phil’s governor character is cruelly sitting on the coffins of men he’s executed.
— Phil is great in this, especially his joking behavior towards asking questions to the dead bodies in the coffins.
STARS: ***½


SPROCKETS: DIETER’S DANCE PARTY
trendsetter (host) unveils Trout Dance
German teens learn how to “mach das pimplen kaput” with Clearasil

— Love this deviation from the normal Sprockets format.
— The German music video showing a beating human heart is humorously disturbing, as is one of the accompanying lyrics: “(sung in a deadpan manner) That’s not a nun’s laugh; that’s a whore’s laugh.”
— Dana’s dancing is cracking me up.
— Love Victoria’s insanely tall hair.
— One song title Dieter mentions is “Mummy’s With the Angels” by Simon. Ah, an early reference to a certain bathtub-dwelling child character of Mike’s that will make its debut next season.
— The mid-sketch commercial for a German version of Clearasil is very funny.
— Great sequence with Rob’s bizarre dance interspersed with footage of a fish flopping around in water.
— Ha, a mention of the famous Lambada dance (a.k.a. “The forbidden dance”) that was very popular at the time. Wonder if this is the only time SNL ever referenced it.
STARS: ****


HARBAUGH
Mark White’s opponent (JOL) promises to make capital punishment painful

— Some really good laughs from Jon’s gruesome delight in detailing the painful suffering he wants criminals to experience.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “White City”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Energizer Bunny & Energizer Annoying Man interrupt newscast
AWB talks about Lithuanian independence & other Eastern Bloc troubles

— Great opening line from Dennis: “You know, I love The Pogues, but I’ve always been a sucker for lyrics”, as a dig at the unintelligible singing we had just heard from the The Pogues’ lead singer minutes ago. I remember hearing somewhere that the lead singer was supposedly drunk in this episode (after all, it IS St. Patrick’s Day and The Pogues ARE Irish).
— What the hell at the sudden smoke rising from off-camera when Dennis is in the middle of a joke? (second screencap above)
— Oh, so THAT’S where the smoke came from. Hilarious bit with the Energizer Bunny unintentionally walking its way into a smoky bin of sulfuric acid, much to the delight of the audience.
— Much like Church Lady, Annoying Man appears for the second episode in a row tonight.
— An overall short and sweet appearance from Annoying Man.
— Wow, where has A. Whitney Brown been lately? This is surprisingly the first time we’ve seen an Update commentary from him since way back in October. He usually appears much more frequently than that.
— A. Whitney, on the poor current state of the communist world: “All they need is crack and they’d be as bad off as the Bronx.”
— Another reference to The Lambada.
— An overall pretty hit-and-miss Update from Dennis tonight. After being consistently strong in his first four-and-a-half years at the Update desk, Dennis’ Updates have been slightly unstable and shaky lately, I’m noticing. It only gets worse in the second half of next season, where he practically sleepwalks through his Updates.
— I remember in Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version of this episode, they actually inserted a commercial break into the middle of this Update. The only other time I remember Comedy Central doing that to a Weekend Update is in the Kyle MacLachlan season premiere from the following season.
STARS: ***


THE ARSENIO BECKMAN SHOW
interaction with audience dominates

 

— Right off the bat, I’m absolutely LOVING this Arsenio Hall take-off.
— Great detail of Rob having long fingers.
— The frequent cutaways to the hooting-and-hollering studio audience is another aspect of this that’s a hilarious and dead-on parody of the real Arsenio’s show.
— Rob’s performance here is freakin’ priceless, especially the part with him curling into an odd posture on the chair (third-to-last screencap above).
— Haha, as if this couldn’t get any funnier, now the audience is throwing around dummies.
STARS: *****


MACE
pretty boy (host) agrees to be personal trainer for cellmate Mace

— The first in a long time we’ve seen Phil’s Mace character and his catchphrase “I”m a bad, bad mutha!”
— Haha, yet ANOTHER Lambada reference. I guess this is what I get for wondering if the Sprockets sketch earlier tonight featured SNL’s only-ever Lambada mention.
— Most of this sketch has been just average. I think I prefer Mace when he’s fighting with Kevin Nealon.
— The ending was funny with Rob messing with Mace’s head by flirting with him.
STARS: ***


RANDY X FOR GOVERNOR
executioner (DAC) says experience makes him the best gubernatorial choice

— Funny follow-up to the earlier vote ads, with the executioner asking viewers to eliminate the middleman by voting for the guy who actually pulls the electric chair lever.
STARS: ***½


HELMET HEAD
Helmet Head (host) lives his life with unremovable wartime equipment

 

— Funny opening theme song.
— There’s the Jack Handey trademark of fake sponsors. I particularly like the one for the world’s cheapest caviar (“Damn, that’s cheap!”).
— Rob’s sudden angry “soapy water” rant was great.
— Jon’s insane “helmet-ectomy” procedure is very funny.
— This sketch is featuring the type of silly Jack Handey humor I always love.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Body”


ALEXANDER’S FUR WORLD
fur merchant (JOL) says animals that became pelts are better off dead

— Due to some network glitches during the preceding commercial break in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode, this sketch was abruptly joined mid-progress as Jon Lovitz began talking about “retarded beavers”. Not sure how much of the sketch I missed.
— Tons of airtime for Jon tonight.
— I’m liking Jon’s snooty voice in this.
— An overall okay commercial from what little I saw of it.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
host shoves CHC off stage

— Haha, what the hell? Chevy??? What’s he randomly doing there in the background (first screencap above)?
— And now Rob Lowe brings Chevy to the front of the stage and joking yells “Somebody get this guy outta here!” before playfully shoving him off the stage.
— Why was Chevy randomly dressed in a tuxedo? Was he still in his formal attire from SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special from months earlier?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty strong episode, and yet another episode from this season where I liked everything in it. Rob Lowe did a great job, was a good sport, and the Arsenio Beckman sketch in particular solidified him as a reliable semi-recurring SNL host. I’m looking forward to reviewing his subsequent hosting stints.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Fred Savage)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Debra Winger

Posted on

February 24, 1990 – Fred Savage / Technotronic (S15 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Church Chat- Church Lady & niece (host) criticize Marla Maples (JAH) & Donald Trump (PHH)

— Fred Savage is already off to a strong start here with his great performance and dead-on Church Lady imitation as her niece (named Enid, like Church Lady herself). I remember I first saw this episode in a Comedy Central rerun and, not knowing in advance who was hosting this episode, I spent this entire cold opening thinking that was an actual little girl playing Church Lady’s niece, until the opening montage came on afterwards and I saw that Fred Savage was billed as the night’s host.
— Funny demeanor and posture on the couch from Jan’s Marla Maples.
— Marla Maples: “Donald [Trump] and I are just good friends.” Church Lady (sarcastically): “And Enid is just a little boy in a dress.”
— Phil’s Trump wig is even funnier-looking than usual tonight.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Wonder Years narrative documents host hitting puberty while on-stage

— Very funny use of Fred’s Wonder Years adult voice-over, though it’s clearly not Daniel Stern doing the voice here.
— Fred’s adult voice-over, regarding SNL: “It was February 1990, just a few months before the show was finally canceled.”
— Great concept of Fred panickedly going through puberty mid-monologue.
— Hilarious reveal of him having very thick chest hair. With that, he could’ve been a guest on the Eye On Chest Hair sketch from the last episode.
STARS: ****


GUN SAFETY
results of leaving (host) home with gun demonstrate firearm safety don’ts

 

— Just getting this out of the way right now: I really don’t want to address the elephant in the room, regarding how uncomfortable it is in hindsight to see Phil starring in a sketch like this. I’d rather just watch and enjoy the sketch as best as I can, the way it was originally intended to.
— Some good laughs from all the supposedly child-proof places the father says he has the gun and bullets hidden.
— Funny turn with Fred using the gun to threaten his father after his father tells him he’s grounded.
— Another funny sudden turn with the mother also having a gun, and using it to stop Fred from controlling his father with his gun.
— Hilarious part with the father hiding the gun in the box of cereal.
— Great fourth wall-breaking bit with Kevin at the end.
STARS: ***½


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
guests are neglected daughter Missy (VIJ) & host

— This recurring sketch makes its first appearance in an entire year, and this also ends up being the last time this sketch ever appears.
— Interesting seeing Pat Stevens’ daughter.
— Pat’s dismissive attitude towards her daughter is pretty funny.
— A good laugh from the daughter’s whiny “I wanna go live with my dad” answer to Pat’s question.
— This overall sketch was a decent way for Pat Stevens to go out.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pump Up The Jam”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN reports audience’s displeasure with News From 10 Feet Away bit
Annoying Man’s magic tricks include chewing foil & scraping a chalkboard
irate audience member (RBS) concludes KEN’s News From 10 Feet Away
Grumpy Old Man dislikes bottled water, athletic footwear, amusement parks

   

— I love the concept of Kevin’s “News From 10 Feet Away” segment.
— A lot of good laughs from Kevin’s comments about the audience’s reactions to his segment, detailing their growing frustration over this bit going on “far too long”.
— Annoying Man chewing a ball of aluminum foil was really funny.
— I liked the audience groaning loudly as soon as Annoying Man brings out the ol’ chalkboard & fork once again.
— Loved Dennis’ meta comment to us about Jon Lovitz after the Annoying Man magic trick commentary ended: “I’ll tell ya what the best trick is: that he’s gotten that on three times.” Though to nitpick, this is actually the FOURTH time Annoying Man has appeared (believe it or not).
— Some unintentional laughs from Dennis badly stumbling through his intro to Kevin’s “News From 10 Feet Away” follow-up.
— Good ending to Kevin’s commentary with him suddenly getting knocked out with a bat by an irate audience member. I’m surprised the audience didn’t respond all that much to that part.
— Lately, it feels like Grumpy Old Man and Annoying Man are the only two recurring Update guests we’ve been seeing these last few months.
— The usual hilarious griping from Grumpy Old Man, especially his story about drinking dirty water that contains chunks of hairy crud.
— Tonight’s overall Update was a good comeback for Dennis, after the surprisingly subpar quality of his last two Updates.
STARS: ***½


IMAGINARY FRIEND
(host)’s parents pressure him to develop a more creative imaginary friend

— Love the cutaway to Phil’s angry stone-faced facial reaction (second screencap above) during the young girl’s bragging about her imaginary friend.
— A big laugh from how Fred’s made-up descriptions of his new imaginary friend turn out to just be Beethoven’s life story.
— I like the inane seriousness that Phil and Nora are taking Fred’s inability to come up with a creative imaginary friend. Phil is particularly great in his overly-intense sternness.
— Good ending with Fred badly making up an imaginary friend by looking around the gym for details.
STARS: ***


SHUTTLE LAUNCH
Space Shuttle countdown is repeatedly stopped due to launch pad wanderers

 

— Already starting off hilarious with Lassie randomly being under the about-to-launch rocket, and Dana & Kevin panicking over that.
— When seeing Hitler under the rocket, I love Dana’s cheesy delivery of “I’d like to fry him!”
— I’m loving the increasing silliness of the people who show up under the rocket. This type of silly sketch epitomizes what I love about this era of SNL.
— Funny part with Dana and Kevin being torn on whether or not to launch the rocket when Dan Quayle and Mikhail Gorbachev are under it.
— Loved the fake-out with the Invisible Man supposedly being spotted under the rocket but it just turning out to be a prank.
— Haha, Dana and Kevin eagerly pressing the launch button as soon as they spot Donald and Ivana Trump under the rocket comes off even funnier in hindsight nowadays… at least in Donald’s case.
STARS: ****½


LOTHAR OF THE HILL PEOPLE
on a hunt, Lothar Of The Hill People prepares son (host) for manhood rite

— Much like Pat Stevens, this is another recurring sketch tonight that’s making what would end up being its final appearance.
— The men rejecting Fred’s clever idea just because it’s new and unfamiliar was pretty funny.
— A lot of good lines all throughout this sketch.
— Nice sudden return of Fred’s Wonder Years adult voice-over from the monologue.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Get Up!”


HOOKED ON SUSHI
by TOS- Japanese restaurant literally lures (KEN)

 

— Interesting seeing Kevin starring in a Tom Schiller-made film noir spoof, though I can’t help but be reminded of another Tom Schiller-made film noir spoof: the great Java Junkie film from season 5. I’m sure this will be going in its own direction, though.
— Great turn with the restaurant waiters reeling in Kevin like a fish.
— Hilarious dark ending with a dead, chopped-up Kevin being on display as a meal.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, with nothing I disliked. Unlike some other episodes with a child host, I didn’t feel that the restraints on the type of humor SNL can do hurt the show too much tonight. Even the most “kiddie” sketch of the night, the imaginary friend sketch, was enjoyable. And for a 13-year-old host, Fred Savage did a great job tonight and handled himself incredibly well, coming off much more at ease than some adult hosts that SNL has had over the years.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rob Lowe

Posted on

February 17, 1990 – Tom Hanks / Aerosmith (S15 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Donald (PHH) defeats Ivana (JAH) via thorough Trump prenuptial agreement

— Phil’s Trump impression has really improved from the previous times he played him.
— Very funny part with Donald telling Ivana that the contract she signed has allowed Donald to have mistresses, provided they are younger than Ivana.
— Ha, a mention of Donald Trump’s board game (“Trump: The Game”), something that I’m aware existed in real life only because I’ve recently been seeing commercials for it during some of the copies of live episodes I’ve been reviewing from this season.
— Great part with the Three-Card Monty trick.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— This is the first live episode that uses SNL’s 15th anniversary logo in the opening montage.

— Here’s another update that’s been made to the montage tonight: featured player Mike Myers has been promoted to a regular cast member! And he now has a live-action shot in the montage like the rest of the regular cast members (screencap below) instead of just a still photo like he had during his featured player days.


MONOLOGUE
host has an out-of-body experience after banging his knee backstage

 

— Good premise with Tom having hurt his knee backstage before making his entrance.
— Very funny reveal of Tom’s inner thoughts saying a monotone-but-pained “It hurts so much”, managing to name-drop some of his own hit movies, and begging God to make the pain stop.
— Hilarious visual of Tom’s ghost dancing delicately around the studio while having poetic inner thoughts.
— Most of this monologue would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. One big difference is that in the live version, Tom’s ghost doesn’t go into the control room, whereas he does in the rerun version.
— Another difference between the live and rerun versions of this monologue: the way Phil and Victoria are dressed. In the live version, Phil’s still dressed as Trump from the cold opening and Victoria is wearing casual clothes. In the rerun version, Phil and Victoria are both dressed in their outfits from the Mr. Short-Term Memory sketch that appears later tonight. (side-by-side comparison below)

— A classic part right now with Abe Lincoln telling Tom “You’re an incredible pussy!”
— An overall great monologue that was perfect for Tom’s style.
STARS: ****½


MCDONALD’S
the Red Square McDonald’s offers Happy Meals containing basic necessities

— Hilarious how the prizes in the Happy Meal are things like a bar of soap, toilet paper, etc.
— Funny ending tagline from Jan’s happy spokesperson: “Good times, great taste, SOAP!”
STARS: ****


WAYNE’S WORLD
musical guest plays thanks to Garth’s roadie cousin (host)

— HUGE cheering from the audience at the beginning of this sketch.
— I like Nora sarcastically singing the Wayne’s World theme song when complaining about how she’s not allowed to appear on the show.
— Wayne freaking out about Aerosmith being in his breakfast nook is great, especially the line “Aerosmith is sitting where I eat my Nut & Honey everyday.”
— There’s the very first Wayne’s World utterance of the phrase “Monkeys might fly out of my butt”.
— And there’s Tom’s odd-but-now-immortal utterance of the term “sibilance” when doing a mic check.
— Fun seeing Aerosmith show up on the Wayne’s World set while an excited Wayne and Garth are doing the “We are not worthy” bowing-down to them.
— The Q&A segment is very funny, especially the Aerosmith members’ intelligent, verbose answers to the complicated question about socialism and the climate.
— Absolutely legendary part with Wayne, Garth, and Aerosmith performing a fleshed-out version of the Wayne’s World theme song. That propels this sketch into a popular classic and is pretty much what officially cements Wayne’s World in general as an untouchable recurring sketch.
STARS: *****


TALES OF RIBALDRY
(VIJ) & (JAH) enlist services of a bootblack (host)

— Great to see this sketch back.
— The heated, sensual boot-polishing sequence with Tom and Jan is very funny, especially when the camera later returns to the scene to show a now-sweaty Tom still polishing the boot.
— The delight from Jon’s character during his various reaction shots are priceless as usual, especially the camera catching him peeking at the boot-polishing scene through a hole in the wall.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Janie’s Got a Gun”


WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF is discovered during Medellin cartel deal

 

— Seems to be an unusually high amount of corny, picture-based jokes from Dennis so far tonight.
— I love this idea of tonight’s One-Man Mobile Uplink Unit commentary, with a whispering Al showing us a cocaine transaction.
— Excellent payoff to Al’s commentary with him being spotted by the cartel and frantically running away from their gunshots while still reporting to the camera.
— Funny little blooper with one of the sheets of paper on the Update desk almost falling before Dennis catches it.
— The very first SNL mention of Dick Cheney, who’s mentioned tonight as a defense secretary.
— Ha, was Dennis’ random “Dude looks like a lady” bit ad-libbed?
— Overall, Dennis had some of the usual solid jokes, but there were too many picture-based jokes tonight for my likes. Still a slight improvement over Dennis’ surprisingly dire Update in the preceding episode.
STARS: **½


MR. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Mr. Short-Term Memory visits an injured friend (PHH) in the hospital

— Nice to see this officially become a staple for Tom Hanks’ SNL appearances.
— As usual, Tom is selling this perfectly and is making it very fun. I can’t see anyone else pulling off this character quite as well as him.
— I like how his bad memory has now gotten to the point where he suddenly doesn’t even recognize his friend (Phil), after having just spoken to him for most of the sketch and having no trouble recognizing him then.
STARS: ****


EYE ON CHEST HAIR
hirsute celebrities show off follicular endowments

— An amusingly random talk show concept, made even more random by Martina Navratilova being the host.
— Interesting how Tom is playing Randy Travis, considering Randy Travis was a musical guest in one of Tom’s earlier episodes. I wonder if casting Tom as him tonight was an intentional reference to that.
— Pretty funny with the guys each saying what they see in each other’s chest hair, like it’s some kind of psychology test.
— Dana’s Joel Siegel impression is cracking me up, even though I have no familiarity with what the real Joel Siegel is like.
— An absolutely hilarious unexpected bit with red ants being seen in a close-up of Gene Shalit’s chest hair.
— Good part with Kevin as an also-shirtless Kenny Rogers performing a (obviously lip-synced) song, especially the casual reveal of him having many gray patches of hair on his back.
— Seeing a studio audience full of shirtless guys reminds me of the Nude Talk Show sketch that’s coming up later this season.
— Funny bit regarding Tom Davis and chest hair implants.
STARS: ****


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
drug-awareness ad imagery belies intent of Jensen Syringe Company spot

— Uh…….. okay. This was so brief and indescribable that I’m left wondering what I just watched.
STARS: *


THE MOB
personal testimony of (NOD) recalls how the mob saved her business

— Funny reveal of Nora having joined the mob to help her financial issues.
— Some good laughs from the professional way that this, of all things, is being presented, and from Nora’s nonchalant attitude towards the mob’s actions.
STARS: ***½


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
reliable Jensen Syringes are thrown at dartboard in more drug ad imagery

— Okay, at least this one had more of a comedic point with the use of the syringes as darts, even if this still isn’t particularly hilarious.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Monkey on My Back”

— Just now, Steven Tyler noticeably uttered the lyric “(something something) fuckin’ monkey off my back”. While most of the words in that lyric were unintelligible (as are most of Tyler’s lyrics in this performance), the “fuckin’” was loud and clear. It would later get muted out in reruns.


GIRL WATCHERS
the desensitized losers try to work a cruise ship full of elderly women

— Here comes what would end up being the final appearance of these characters.
— Love how the Girl Watchers’ bad luck with the ladies has gotten to the point where they’re forced to resort to hitting on women in a cruise ship for elderly singles.
— Jon’s unibrow from the first installment of this sketch has returned, after not being used in the second installment.
— The usual very funny comments from Jon and Tom.
— Great part with one old lady slowly passing by with a walker and then suddenly speeding past the Girl Watchers just to get away from them.
— Loved Tom’s smug “We… are iiiiiin hell” at the end.
STARS: ****


BLACK HISTORY MOMENT
Andy Rooney (PHH) on George Washington Carver

— Hilarious idea of a Black History Moment being presented by Andy Rooney, fresh off a controversial statement he made about black people, even if I’m not familiar with what exactly the controversial statement was (there was also a reference to it in the previous episode’s Weekend Update).
— Haha, the ending “It’s f*gs I hate” line was so wrong but was a killer punchline.
STARS: ****


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
Jensen Syringes seen washed up on beach are “fresh as a mountain stream”

— Ehh, a step below the last one, which is saying something. This also felt like a poor man’s version of the McDonnell-Rand commercial from the previous season’s Matthew Broderick episode.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

— Tom Hanks at the end of his goodnights speech: “He shoots, he scores!” I can’t think of a better way to sum up his overall performance in tonight’s episode.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The usual strong Tom Hanks episode, and a return to form for this SNL era after the previous week’s underwhelming Quincy Jones episode. Tonight gave us one all-time classic (Wayne’s World Meets Aerosmith) and tons of very solid pieces. The back half of the show was structured strangely, though, with an unusually high amount of filler and mini-segments, though the only ones I wasn’t satisfied with were the Jensen Syringe Company pieces.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Quincy Jones)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
A 13-year-old Fred Savage

Posted on

February 10, 1990 – Quincy Jones / (many musical guests) (S15 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- a muscle serenade for Valentine’s Day

— Yet another deviation from the usual Hans and Franz formula.
— Hans and Franz singing famous songs altered to have a muscle theme is decent, especially the song “Someone Left His Buttocks in the Rain”.
— Pretty short cold opening overall. I’m surprised they didn’t do more with this than just having the characters sing a few quick songs.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— We get a record-high number of musical guests tonight; too many to include in the header of this review. (For anyone curious of who the musical guests are, they’re listed in the tags at the end of the review) In fact, there’s SO many musical guests that Don Pardo has a lot of trouble getting through all the names, announcing them too slowly and awkwardly, and messing up some of their names. He announces Melle Mel as “Melanie Mel”, and announces Quincy D III (which is supposed to be pronounced “Quincy D 3”) as “Quincy D the 3rd”. SNL would later fix all this in reruns by using a different take where Pardo announces all the musical guests’ names quickly and without any mistakes.


MONOLOGUE
host conducts SNL Band in “Manteca” to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s freedom

— Hmm, the home base stage looks a bit different, with the walls on the left and right side gone, giving the stage a much wider look and overlapping it with the musical guest stage. There’s also a much larger number of SNL Band members than usual (looking more like a full orchestra than a band), which probably explains why the SNL theme music had a bit of a different sound tonight.
— Not any comedy here. We get Quincy conducting the enlarged SNL Band in a nice instrumental to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
— Okay, they threw in a little joke at the end just now, with Quincy admitting he lied about a few things at the beginning of the monologue, mainly about how he’s happy to be here. Turns out he DOESN’T want to be here; he just cares about Mandela’s freedom. Hmm. It remains to be seen whether that comment was just a good-natured joke or 100% genuine.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


CENTURY 21 MARRIAGE COUNSELORS
relationship advice has been franchised

— Here comes a fake ad that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a cut dress rehearsal piece with Quincy Jones advertising an album of himself performing music scores from movies.
— The employees’ odd-looking bright green suits are making me laugh, though I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be funny.
— For the second time in the last three episodes, Victoria makes her only appearance of the night in a pre-taped commercial. She didn’t even have any lines in this one! I know Victoria isn’t the most versatile performer, especially when compared to her two female castmates, but I still feel bad for her getting shut out of so many live shows lately.
— This overall commercial had a fairly clever idea, but the result of it was kinda forgettable.
STARS: **½


DRIVING MISS DAISY
after Hoke (host) quits, Toonces takes over Driving Miss Daisy (JAH)

— I liked Quincy’s long-winded insult to Miss Daisy that started with “old, ugly, dried-up camel…”.
— Funny how Quincy gets up and leaves while the car is still driving, causing the car to crash off the cliff with Miss Daisy still inside.
— Ha, I love how in the scene immediately after the aforementioned crash, we’re shown a completely unharmed and casual Miss Daisy in her bedroom.
— Interesting seeing Phil playing Dan Aykroyd’s character from the real Driving Miss Daisy.
— Great reveal of Toonces being Miss Daisy’s new driver.
— While nothing unexpected or exciting happened for the remainder of the sketch after the initial reveal of Toonces as the new driver, this still provided reliable laughs as usual.
STARS: ***½


THE BOB WALTMAN SPECIAL
Marion Barry (host) & Ronald Reagan (PHH) cry

 

— Great to see this back.
— I forgot to mention this in my review of this sketch’s debut the previous season, but I found out a few months ago that these sketches are supposed to be a parody of Barbara Walters, right down to the name (Bob Waltman). I was surprised to learn that, because I had always assumed from these sketches that Bob Waltman was a real person. Heh, then again, I’m the same guy who also thought Referee Pitman was a real person.
— I always love Nora’s look as Leona Helmsley.
— Very funny how Waltman makes Helmsley finally bust out in tears by mentioning she recently had to fly coach.
— Great touch with Quincy’s Marion Barry doing a cocaine-snorting motion while sniffling during his crying.
— Loved how the Tammy Faye Bakker interview IMMEDIATELY began with her breaking out in tears (complete with the usual running mascara) without even being emotionally prompted by Waltman, resulting in Waltman giving his usual goofy smile into the camera while also confusedly shrugging his shoulders.
— Funny use of tear gas to make Phil’s Reagan cry.
STARS: ****


JAZZ PERSPECTIF
obsequious hipsters (DAC) & (JOL) idolize “le Q” host

— In the copy I’m reviewing of the live version of this episode, the beginning of this sketch is missing due to technical glitches the local NBC affiliate was having during the preceding commercial break.
— Jon and Dana are hilarious as the Frenchmen hosts, and I like how they call Quincy “Le Q”.
— You can tell Quincy is genuinely amused during this sketch.
— Dana and Jon’s increasingly insane requests to Quincy are cracking me up, especially Jon eating a plate that Quincy ate off earlier, and Dana holding Quincy’s lips while Quincy’s telling a story.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “Prologue (2Q’s Rap)” & “Back On The Block”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DOP tells what the Gotti jury has won for finding the mob boss not guilty

— Odd moment where before doing one particular joke, Dennis confusedly pauses for a long time, then tells someone off-camera “That’s not the right joke, we gotta do THIS joke”.
— The whole bit with Don Pardo doing a gameshow-type announcing of what the Gotti jury won wasn’t all that great and didn’t work for me.
— The brief bit with Dennis revealing that his rap name is also Dennis Miller bombed with the audience.
— What was with Dennis half-assing his usually-energetic arm-swipe when doing his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move after his sign-off? Reminds me of how lethargic he would come off in quite a number of Updates from the second half of his final season next year, where you could tell his heart wasn’t into it anymore and he was ready to leave.
— No guest commentaries tonight?
— Overall, yikes, an unusually rough Update from the Dennis Miller era. Easily one of his weakest.
STARS: **


CROWN HEIGHTS
reverend (host) & rabbi (JOL) try to repair a rift between blacks & Jews

— Quincy Jones in that wig is a pretty funny sight.
— I liked the camera briefly cutting to the rappers just sitting with stone-faced expressions after Jon makes a corny joke.
— After a very dull and uninteresting first half, this sketch has gotten a little better with the rappers performing a hilarious anti-Italians rap.
STARS: **


SWIMSUIT ISSUE
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein peruse Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue

— Funny gag with Frankenstein quickly “clearing” the table by just tipping it over.
— As the guys are looking at one particular page in the swimsuit magazine, I liked Tarzan’s line “Jane had body like that once, before boy.”
— Another funny line, with Tonto responding to seeing a picture of a 6’1 model by saying “Tonto live on her like reservation.”
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “The Verb To Be” & “Wee B. Dooinit”


SOVIET CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Soviet Central Committee rubber-stamps Gorbachev’s (PHH) wild proposals

— Here comes ANOTHER sketch tonight that would later be removed from reruns. This would be replaced in reruns with something cut after dress rehearsal: a semi-dramatic, semi-musical piece with Quincy as a therapist and Phil as a patient pouring his heart out to the therapist.
— Some of the bizarre proposals Phil’s Gorbachev are making are kinda chuckleworthy, but the execution of this sketch has been coming off way too dull and repetitive so far.
— Okay, I did finally get a genuine laugh just now, with Gorbachev pulling a trick by switching the order of “all opposed” and “all in favor”.
— Bah, this is now just turning into a whole bunch of cheap poop jokes. What the hell?
— The explosion ending didn’t do anything for me.
— Overall, oof. Let’s just say I can definitely see why they would later cut this sketch in reruns. The therapist sketch that replaces this is FAR better.
— I also wonder if the reason they replace both this sketch and the Century 21 Marriage Counselors commercial is to include Quincy Jones in the show more, as he is pretty much non-existent in the last quarter of the live version of this episode.
STARS: *½


DIALS & GAUGES
House Committee On Dials & Gauges questions (KEN) about unsafe controls

 

— Hilarious beginning with Dana’s sinister laughing when speeding up the ferris wheel to an insanely-high level.
— Love the randomness of Kevin’s last name being Amalgamated.
— The increasingly-ridiculous dangerous levels on the controls that are displayed are really funny.
— Hoo, boy, the audience is DEAD SILENT during this great sketch. The awful Gorbachev sketch that preceded this probably killed all the audience’s energy.
— Nora: “Did you make this gauge here, which controls the temperature in this room?” Kevin: “For the purpose of this sketch, yes.”
— Hilarious how Nora asking Kevin “Look around you; do you see any cannibals in this room?” results in Kevin literally looking around the room for a long time, which Nora finally stops by telling him it was just a rhetorical question.
— Solid ending with the electric chair.
— When I was younger, I used to think this overall sketch was weak, due to the slow pacing and the dead audience, but I can appreciate this sketch a lot more now. There were so many funny things going on here, the bizarre humor is right up my alley, Kevin and Nora’s dead-serious performances complimented the material nicely, and this sketch comes off very welcome when compared to some of the dull sketches from earlier tonight.
STARS: ****


WE ARE WORLD
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “We Are The World”

— Very funny as always.
— Nice touch with them having headphones on just like the real “We Are the World” artists.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Sadly, SNL’s perfect long streak of good episodes since the beginning of season 14 has ended tonight, as we have our first episode that I was underwhelmed by since season 13. That’s not to say this was a flat-out bad episode, but the comedy portions as a whole were VERY mixed and featured a lot more weak material than we’re used to seeing these last two seasons. Even Weekend Update had an off night and seemed to be the point where this episode truly started falling apart, though they eventually bounced back nicely at the end with two very solid pieces to close the show (Dials & Gauges and We Are World). So, again, not an outright bad episode, but a lesser one from this era. This episode comes off a little better if you watch the rerun version, due to the superior sketch replacements mentioned earlier in the review.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Hanks / Aerosmith

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January 20, 1990 – Christopher Walken / Bonnie Raitt (S15 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Tonight Show- guests are Andrew Dice Clay (JOL) & Mikhail Gorbachev (PHH)

— Funny gag of an absent Ed McMahon being filled-in by a machine recording of his voice, only saying his catchphrases.
— Jon’s Andrew Dice Clay impression is solid, and there IS a pretty strong facial resemblance.
— Hmm, Phil has shown up as Mikhail Gorbachev. I wonder if that’s why they had to resort to replacing McMahon with a machine.
— Dana-as-Carson’s Azerbaijan bit was really funny.
— Immediately after Phil says “Live From New York…”, there’s suddenly a mysterious loud, high-pitched whirring sound that overlaps with the beginning of the theme music. I have no idea what that whirring sound was, but it would later be muted out in reruns.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host shows excitement by singing “Throwin’ A Ball Tonight” & tap-dancing

— When mentioning how audiences say he comes off cold and sinister in movies, Christopher says he always hears a criticism that he often sounds like he’s reading his lines off cue cards. That’s even funnier in hindsight, considering the cue card-staring penchant his SNL appearances would go on to become famous for.
— He launches into a song early on in this monologue, which would go on to be a tradition in his subsequent SNL monologues.
— Very upbeat number.
— Great tapdance break in the middle of the song.
— Excellent touch with the two fancy sets of stairs that the cast members enter from.
— An unintentional laugh from Christopher’s hat almost falling off backwards during a close-up of him at the end of the number, resulting in him making an alarmed “OH!” face as he quickly catches the hat.
STARS: ****½


COLON BLOW
— Rerun


ETERNITY
mysterious drama permeates perfume-inspired game show

 

— Very funny premise of a Calvin Klein commercial-esque gameshow. I know this sketch is based on one specific Klein commercial, which I (and I’m sure a lot of viewers today) have no memory of, but as long as you’re familiar with what Calvin Klein ads from this era were typically like, you still get exactly what this sketch is going for.
— Love the sky background behind the contestants as they’re saying their dramatic lines.
— This sketch is perfect for Christopher Walken’s style.  His dramatic reading of his “deep” answers is hilarious.
— Christopher’s “Liar!” outburst to Kevin cracked me up.
— Funny touch with Jan’s frantic hand movements when she and Christopher were shown writing their Final Eternity answer.
— Priceless reveal of Christopher’s written answer being a drawing of the famous painting “The Scream” (last screencap above).
— Even without saying a word, Jan is very good in this.
STARS: ****½


THE DUMPER
surrogate dumper (host) employed by (VIJ)’s boyfriend ends relationship

— The idea of someone sending a delivery man to tell his girlfriend he’s dumping her is really funny.
— A good laugh from Christopher responding to Victoria’s crying with an insincere, monotone “There, there” and pat on the back.
— Funny aspect of Christopher even having Victoria sign various pages of a document “to show that you’ve been dumped”.
— Great ending reveal that there’s another woman in the same building who the boyfriend sent Christopher to deliver break-up news to.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Have a Heart”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Annoying Man (JOL) expresses his love for DEM in strange ways

— Lots of great jokes so far about Marion Barry’s infamous then-recent crack bust.
— Dennis’ reactions to Annoying Man always make me laugh.
— Great turn with Annoying Man’s deep-voiced sudden “I love you” reveal to Dennis.
— Some great bits of business right after the Annoying Man commentary ends. First, Dennis tells us that Jon Lovitz has to get a lot less annoying than usual to get into that character. Jon as Annoying Man then rushes back to the Update set and gives Dennis’ cheek an unscripted lick with the tongue before immediately leaving again. Dennis then hilariously says to the camera “Licked by Lovitz. What concentric circle of hell is THAT?”
— Pretty funny how Dennis’ joke poking fun at the recent death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh received some hisses from the audience, which Dennis of course played off of with some great ad-libs.
STARS: ***½


THE CONTINENTAL
viewers experience what it’s like to be charmed by The Continental (host)

— The debut of a Walken SNL staple. Feels a little odd in hindsight seeing this buried in the second half of the show, as I believe all the subsequent installments of this sketch would be recognized as an important part of the night and be placed in the first half of the show.
— It’s quite something in hindsight hearing Phil Hartman’s Continental voice-over intro being used for the first time, knowing that voice-over would famously go on to be used in all subsequent Continental installments, not only even after Phil’s SNL departure, but even after his passing.
— Love this format of a first-person camera perspective.
— Some odd little bloopers so far. Firstly, after the female guest (the cameraman) rings the doorbell, a strange, loud “FWOOMP” sound is suddenly heard. It sounded like it possibly came from the clip-on mic of an off-camera Christopher Walken. Secondly, when Christopher puts the keys down on the table after letting his female guest in his apartment, the keys IMMEDIATELY fall off the table by accident and make a loud crash sound, which Christopher tries to save with a brief ad-libbed statement: “Broken glass.”
— There’s the very first utterance of the Continental’s immortal pronunciation of champagne: “cham-PAN-yuh”.
— Great part with Continental lighting both cigarettes in his mouth simultaneously.
— Nice effect of the camera (the female guest) smoking a cigarette.
— Needless to say, Christopher is absolutely perfect in this.
— The female guest’s constant racing for the front door after an offensive statement by Continental is always funny, especially when she does it immediately after Continental asks her “Would you like to see… the bedroom?”
— Absolutely hilarious part with Continental showing his masseuse diploma from the University of Beijing.
— Interesting camera angle while the female guest is getting massaged.
STARS: *****


ATTITUDES
a talk with sports event proselytizer Rainbow Head (host)

— Surprisingly, this is the first (and probably only) time we’re seeing Nora all night.
— Absolutely LOVE the idea of Christopher being cast as the famous Rainbow Head guy from sports games.
— Christopher’s usual deadpan, oddball delivery is coming off PARTICULARLY priceless in this role.
— A big laugh from Christopher’s Rainbow Head calling the San Diego Chicken a whore.
— Very funny bit where after Rainbow Head describes his wig as an afro, Jan and Nora clarify to viewers in a sincere voice “Afro-Americans.”
— Another great aside from Jan and Nora, this time regarding the bible being the “best-selling book ever”.
— Nora: “Is there a pot of gold at the end of Rainbow Head’s rainbow?” That already-hilarious line was topped even further by Christopher’s silent, stone-faced reaction, which got a great response from the audience (and resulted in Christopher smirking).
STARS: *****


LEASE WITH AN OPTION TO KILL
Max Zorin’s (host) headquarters isn’t ready

 

— When being told by his henchman that they’ve captured James Bond, I loved Christopher-as-Max-Zorin’s panicked reaction: “No, you idiot! I’m not ready; LOOK at this place.”
— Every time I’ve seen this sketch over the years, I always crack up to no end at Zorin’s bizarre threat to Bond that he’s going to use a laser to “cut your ass in half”. It’s not just the line itself; it’s Walken’s delivery of it that kills me.
— Loved the “Here’s the shark excreting you” drawing that Zorin shows Bond.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thing Called Love”


HARDBOUND
interviewer (KEN) is eager to learn more about writer (host)

— Here comes a sketch that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a Schiller’s Reel.
— Funny how Kevin constantly keeps making little statements of admiration while his favorite author (Christopher) is speaking. This is such a Kevin Nealon-feeling premise that I can tell he mostly likely wrote this sketch himself (which I know is something I’ve said a lot about Kevin throughout this SNL era, but he does have a very distinctive writing style and humor).
— Kevin’s increasing anger whenever Christopher mentions anyone other than himself is giving me some good laughs.
— Christopher’s exaggerated tongue-sticking-out face when forced to talk only about himself is priceless (last screencap above).
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Christopher Walken’s only words during his goodnights speech: “Thank you for coming and I….. thank you for coming.”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An exceptionally strong episode where the show was firing on all cylinders, made even more significant with this being Christopher Walken’s SNL debut . As a performer, Christopher immediately displayed all the odd soon-to-be trademarks that would make all of his SNL hosting appearances so great and lovable. The show also used him well tonight, playing to his strengths by casting him in roles that perfectly utilized his unique personality and dry delivery (particularly the Eternity, Dumper, and Attitudes sketches).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ed O’Neill)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Quincy Jones and a ton of musical guests