Tag: 1996-97

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May 17, 1997 – Jeff Goldblum / En Vogue (S22 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
Deep Blue’s chess win has made Ted Koppel (DAH) technophobic

— Mark’s Bill Gates voice gets me every time. These are probably the last laughs that Mark will ever get on SNL, considering tonight ends up being his final episode.
— I love Will-as-the-Unabomber’s line about preferring to mail his response to Bill Gates.
— I’m enjoying Darrell-as-Koppel’s paranoid, agitated attitude throughout this sketch, due to his fear of technology taking over mankind. A change of pace from Darrell’s usual portrayal of Koppel.
— A big laugh from the name graphic for Garry Kasparov billing him as “A big ass” as we see a pouting Chris Kattan as Kasparov.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
JMB does dinosaur impressions in hopes that host can get him a job

— Accurate and funny dinosaur sounds from Jim so far.
— Feels rare to see Jim getting the spotlight as himself.
— Heh, Jim is like a little kid in this monologue with his actions. I remember finding him a little annoying in this monologue during past viewings, but I’m more tolerant of it now, even if it’s still nothing particularly great.
STARS: ***


BIG BRAWN
Rerun from 9/28/96


TEACHER’S LAST DAY
Mary Katherine Gallagher finds a soulmate in teacher (host)

— As is inevitable with a lot of recurring characters, we now get Mary Katherine Gallagher doing a “recurring character is paired with a person with similar traits, played by the host” sketch.
— Much like with Steven Tyler in MKG’s last appearance, MKG licks Jeff Goldblum’s body, though it’s only his midsection she licks, whereas she licked Steven Tyler from toe to head. I mentioned in my review of that Steven Tyler sketch that Molly disclosed in, I think, the “Live From New York” book that the NBC censors warned her not to lick Steven Tyler during the sketch, but now I’m thinking that she may have actually been talking about Jeff Goldblum in tonight’s MKG sketch and I probably misremembered it as being Steven Tyler who she talked about. I don’t have my copy of “Live From New York” available, so I can’t check.
— A decent double pratfall from both MKG and Jeff.
— Overall, this MKG installment had its charm, but ehh, I felt a little lukewarm on this sketch (and I’m usually a little more tolerant of Mary Katherine Gallagher than some other SNL fans are). This installment just didn’t interest me all that much.
STARS: **½


SPACE, THE INFINITE FRONTIER WITH HARRY CARAY
Harry Caray (WIF) & astrophysicist (host)

— The debut of a Harry Caray-hosted talk show sketch. Tonight’s installment is by far the most famous installment of this sketch, and I believe is widely considered the definitive appearance of Will’s Harry Caray.
— So far, this is an improvement over the already-funny appearances that Will’s Caray made prior to this. I love how this appearance from Will’s Caray is really doubling-down on the absurd non-sequitur statements and questions.
— A classic part with Caray asking Jeff if he would eat the moon if it was made of barbecue spare ribs.
— Non-stop laughs throughout this. This sketch is an absolute riot and is indeed deserving of its high status among SNL fans.
— Great ending line from Caray, regarding trying to get the dead Albert Einstein to be his next guest.
STARS: *****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- talk show trash is taken to the dump

— Interesting format with Sally Jesse Raphael’s show being created from horse defecation and regurgitation.
— A laugh from the overexaggerated size difference between a heavyset female guest and Sally Jesse Raphael.
— This feels weird for a Fun With Real Audio cartoon, but I’m enjoying this biting satire of trashy daytime talk shows from this era.
— I love how SNL’s studio audience can be heard groaning “Ohhh!” when a pile of garbage transforms into Johnnie Cochran. And, boy, did the animators make Cochran’s face look goofy and unflattering in this cartoon.
STARS: ****


GOTH TALK
Circe & Azrael welcome dark musician Count Feedback (host)

— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— The phone-ringing bit is pretty funny.
— Jeff surprisingly looks right at home in that goth make-up.

— Jim and his obnoxious friends suddenly crashing Jeff’s dark music video is pretty funny, but this doesn’t hold a candle to the memorable video that Rob Lowe did as “The Beholder” in the preceding installment of this sketch.
— Man, the audience has been pretty dead during this sketch.
— Overall, a step down from the first installment of this sketch, but still okay.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
breaking the chain of violence has aided Lenny The Lion’s personal growth
In Their Own Words- kids’ letters to Bill Clinton have anti-GOP spin

— Surprised to see a third Lenny The Lion commentary on Weekend Update. I thought he only did two Update commentaries, both of which I already covered. This isn’t my favorite Colin Quinn recurring character, but this character has its merits.
— Tonight’s overall Lenny The Lion commentary actually had a solid first half, being better than the usual commentaries from him, but trailed off towards the end and whimpered to a finish.
— Didn’t care for Norm’s “In Their Own Words” segment.
— Boy, this is surprisingly the first in quite a long time that we’ve gotten a “Marion Barry loves crack” joke from Norm.
— Wow, and speaking of Norm bringing back an old running joke, we now get a “Germans love David Hasselhoff” joke for the first time since way back in season 20. Norm’s breakin’ out all the classics for tonight’s season finale. I wonder if this made SNL fans at the time speculate that this is possibly Norm’s final episode.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Let Go”


KENNEDY KAPERS
Ted Kennedy (WIF) & relatives disgrace family name on game show

— I like the sudden gameshow reveal after such a serious beginning about the Kennedy family.
— Jim as William Kennedy Smith is good casting, as I do feel there’s somewhat of a resemblance between the two.
— Will’s Ted Kennedy impression is always worth some laughs.
— Some good tasteless humor with the running gag regarding Michael Kennedy’s preference for underage girls.
— Pretty funny speed round with the Kennedys trying to make JFK spin in his grave.
— An overall pretty fun gameshow sketch, but this didn’t feel as memorable as it should’ve been.
STARS: ***


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) gives even more News & Views

— Hell yeah! Glad to see this back.
— As always, I’m laughing non-stop at Norm-as-Larry-King’s random opinionated one-liners into the different cameras.
STARS: ****


RANT
Janet Blaum’s ineffective invective dooms her attempt at unionization

— That looks like the same workshop set that was previously used in that awful Pacemaker sketch that David Spade did in the Bob Saget episode from season 20.
— The return of Ana’s Janet Blaum character. I liked the first installment of this sketch, but I can tell that this will not work as a recurring sketch.
— Yeah, Ana’s comically bad insults aren’t as funny this time, though as always, Ana’s pulling it off really well, like a true pro.
— I do like Ana’s clumsy attempt to stand on a chair that has wheels under the legs.
— I also like the bit right now with Ana making a sloppily-written “Unon” sign. Aside from that and the aforementioned chair bit, everything in this sketch is just a copy-and-paste of the script from the first installment of this sketch.
— Like the last time they did the sketch, Ana’s rant is going on too long.
STARS: **


VIC OCASEK’S ROCK & ROLL FANTASY CAMP
Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp of Ric Ocasek’s cousin Vic (host) has has-beens

— I like the photos of campers with has-been rock stars. And in one of the photos, we get a Frank Sebastiano sighting (the heavyset, bearded, long-haired, biker-looking SNL writer), which is always a plus in my book. Speaking of Sebastiano, is tonight his final night in the SNL writing staff, or does he return next season?
— The campers’ excited testimonials are fairly funny.
STARS: ***


INTERVIEW
(host) interviews unduly-confident job applicant Jerry Steve Dave (TIM)

— Wow, where has Tim been tonight? He’s JUST NOW making his first appearance all night, in the final sketch of the season finale. You can hear one lone person in the audience applaud when Tim makes his entrance.
— Early on in this sketch, I can already tell this is going to be really good. Tim always excels at making silly characters like this work. Fantastic name for this particular character too: Jerry Steve Dave, the Magic Man.
— I love Jerry Steve Dave being under the impression that Napoleon conquered Japan.
— Jerry Steve Dave’s confident attitude when spouting his various clueless statements is great.
— When getting the hint that Jeff doesn’t want to hire him, I like Jerry Steve Dave saying “Did I happen to mention I have 101 Dalmatians on laserdisc?”, as if that would persuade Jeff.
STARS: ****


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) voices still more News & Views

— And here we have our final segment of the season.
— This is tickling the hell out of me as always. Even when some of the one-liners aren’t inherently funny, they’re sold by Norm-as-Larry-King’s delivery and the tight close-ups of his face during them.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Former SNL writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller is credited as a guest writer in this episode, billed as “Marilyn Miller” (as seen in the last screencap above). Whatever she wrote must’ve been cut after dress rehearsal, because none of the sketches that aired in this episode match her recognizable style. Or is Marilyn Miller a different person from Marilyn Suzanne Miller?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average season finale. Kinda disappointing that the season ended on an unexciting note, but I can’t complain too much, as I still liked a good number of things in this episode and there were a few great high points, mainly Space The Infinite Frontier and Jerry Steve Dave. I feel like I’m not going to remember much from this episode as time passes, though.

— Season 22 as a whole was a little better than what I was expecting. I came into this season with a little bit of dread, as I had remembered this season for being practically “all recurring characters, all the time” and for heavily toning down the number of absurdist, oddball sketches that season 21 wonderfully leaned into. While I still turned out to be right about those two things to an extent, I ended up finding this season more palatable than I was expecting. This was just an average season, but it was a pleasantly average one, where most of the episodes had a comfortable consistency to them. While I didn’t find too many stand-out classic sketches within a lot of the individual episodes, there was a refreshingly low number of truly bad sketches. One thing about this season that was an upgrade from season 21 was the addition of TV Funhouse, which has brought a fresh new aspect to SNL and has been very reliable for the most part, usually being one of the biggest highlights of the individual episodes they’ve appeared in. Another positive asset to this season was the Distinguished Alumni series, which was five consecutive episodes hosted by former cast members, an experiment that was very fun and made me wish that SNL would do more variations of that idea.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a mild step down


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1995-96)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 23 begins, with host Sylvester Stallone

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May 10, 1997 – John Goodman / Jewel (S22 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OPRAH
Anne Heche (CHK) loves attention, not Ellen DeGeneres (MAM)

— Again, Tim’s inaccurate Oprah impression makes me laugh, and I like his variations of “Go, girl” throughout this sketch.
— I like Mark’s take on Ellen DeGeneres, especially when telling stand-up-type jokes.
— Having two famous lesbians being played by male cast members probably couldn’t be done nowadays, but I feel that Mark and Chris are doing fine in these roles.
— I believe this is Chris’ first time ever saying “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
rapid weight loss program has SNL veteran host confused about show format

— Wow, John lost a ton of weight. (Unfortunately, it doesn’t end up lasting too long, as he’s back to his usual large self in the next episode he hosts a year later.) This is also the shortest I’ve seen his hair on SNL.
— And now he openly acknowledges his weight loss.
— I like the alleged past SNL cast members John lists off, such as Alan Alda, Phylicia Rashad, and the “Where’s the Beef?” lady.
— More funny out-of-it statements from John.
— I love the visual of Tim entering the scene while still in his Oprah costume, sans the wig.
— Another instance of this season’s running gag of Tim giving Lorne a hug. I especially like Tim doing that after telling Lorne “You saved the show again!”
STARS: ***½


CARIBBEAN ESSENCE BATH OIL
Rerun from 10/5/96


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Marlon Brando (host), Phil Donahue (DAH), Burt Reynolds (NOM)

 

— This officially becomes a recurring sketch.
— Feels odd in retrospect to see Darrell playing anyone other than Sean Connery in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. It wouldn’t become a regular thing for him to play Connery in these sketches until after Norm leaves the cast.
— John’s Marlon Brando is absolutely hilarious.
— Like last time, a lot of very funny idiotic answers from the contestants, and funny straight man reactions from Will’s Alex Trebek.
— I love how Trebek’s frustration gets to the point where he gives the contestants an overly simplistic “Name this color” question, which the contestants, of course, still manage to get wrong.
— Brando randomly removing his pants and underwear while giving his answer is a riot.
— Yet another funny action from Brando, with him playing with a puppet while his Final Jeopardy answer is read by Trebek.
STARS: ****½


TALKIN’ WITH SUEL
Ron Wood (MIM) & Bjork (MOS) babble about drugs, maybe

— Then-recent host Mike Myers appears as a special guest tonight, and was even credited as such earlier tonight in the opening montage. Is he appearing tonight because Austin Powers opened around this time?
— I usually always enjoy Suel Forrester sketches, but I’m not sure how I’ll feel about this one. The last time SNL did a talk show sketch with an unintelligible person interviewing other unintelligible people, Mike’s own Ron Wood played the host and the sketch was simply not funny. Besides, I think Suel Forrester works better when he plays off of normal people, not people who are just as unintelligible as him.
— Yeah, this sketch isn’t working too much for me. I am liking Molly’s Bjork impression, though.
— I like the gibberish phone number displayed on the bottom of the screen (the fourth above screencap for this sketch).
STARS: **


EDDIE MURPHY, GOOD SAMARITAN
Good Samaritan Eddie Murphy (TIM) selflessly helps transvestites

— Wow, a mean-spirited jab at a legendary SNL alum, referencing a controversy he was recently in the news for. I’d be lying, though, if I said I’m not cracking up at this sketch. I see SNL’s not letting Eddie’s very negative reaction to a joke David Spade told about him the preceding season stop them from taking another harsh shot at him.
— Tim’s imitation of Eddie’s trademark laugh is odd, but makes me laugh.
— I never thought I’d see Colin Quinn in drag (the second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: ***½


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry discuss summer cookouts with chili expert (host)

— As always, Ana and Molly are able to get solid laughs out of their comically mundane discussions, especially the discussion about ice.
— I love John very slowly repeating the barbecue ingredients he listed off.
— Heh, just now, you can hear an SNL audience member sneeze while he was in the middle of laughing. Maybe the quiet, soft-spoken nature of this sketch made the audience member’s sneeze more audible to us home viewers.
— John is really good as a guest; probably my favorite performance that a host has given in the Delicious Dish sketches that have aired up to this point.
— Mark continues his streak of always playing a caller in Delicious Dish sketches (and I just realized that this is the very last time we’ll ever be hearing him in this recurring sketch, considering his SNL tenure is about to end). There has yet to be a Delicious Dish sketch where the callers weren’t played by Mark and/or Cheri, further proving my theory that in the universe of Delicious Dish, the show has almost no listeners.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Dominican Lou hopes to enlist Deep Blue against his dominoes rival Felix
learning that Ellen DeGeneres is actually gay causes WIF to vomit

— Did I just hear some audience members cheering “Looooouuuu!” when Dominican Lou’s commentary gets introduced? Why? Dominican Lou wasn’t an established character yet. I guess this just shows how lively tonight’s studio audience is, who I’ve been noticing are more responsive than usual tonight.
— Tonight’s overall Dominican Lou commentary was solid, and improvement over the fairly forgettable first commentary he did earlier this season.
— I like how one of Norm’s “Note to self”s tonight (which have become a weekly thing lately) makes a mention of “Timmy Meadows”. Right after Norm says that, you can hear an audience member repeat the name “Timmy Meadows” to himself in amusement.
— Ah, here comes a Will Ferrell commentary that I’ve always loved, but will most likely not sit well with a lot of people nowadays.
— As always whenever I watch this, I am howling at Will’s slowburn and vomiting when finding out Ellen DeGeneres isn’t just pretending to be a lesbian.
— This is one of the times SNL has managed to get the vomiting gag done well. And the fake vomit used tonight looks even more disgusting than usual.
— Ha, and now, after Will’s commentary has ended, Norm has to continue doing Update jokes while fake vomit is laid out all over the desk in front of him.
— A legendary unscripted Norm Macdonald moment right now: After the first Update joke that Norm does after Will leaves gets a tepid audience reaction, Norm ad-libs a “Note to self”: “Never ever follow a vomit-spewing guy with a joke”, then looks down at the fake vomit in front of him, grabs some of it, and freakin’ EATS IT. The audience goes crazy. Norm tops this off by saying, among the uproarious audience reaction, “Normally I don’t like Will Ferrell vomit, but this is quite good.” Absolutely classic.
— After the aforementioned vomit-eating bit, a picture for the next Update joke shows up on the news screen, but Norm says “Let’s just end it” to someone off-camera, and then signs off while the audience is still howling over the vomit-eating bit. Interesting how Norm prematurely ended tonight’s Update when realizing that it’s peaked. The Update joke that Norm refrained from doing had something to do with a lobster, judging from the picture that was on the news screen.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Who Will Save Your Soul”


PROM MEDLEY
last-minute replacements Marty & Bobbi do a medley at a high school prom

— Odd how this starts with the Culps already onstage and beginning their usual spiel towards their audience. Their sketches usually begin with somebody introducing them before they come out onstage.
— Ha, I absolutely love the Culps’ operatic-sounding version of Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You”.
— While in the middle of singing, I love Will saying “Okay, somebody in the back just gave me the finger.”
STARS: ***½


PHARMACY
druggist (host) fills overmedicated Colette Reardon’s (CHO) prescription

— The debut of Cheri’s Colette Reardon character.
— Something I’ve always wondered about this character: what is that flesh-colored thing that’s always taped to the left side of her neck (screencap below)?

— Cheri is doing a pretty solid job as this character.
— At least Cheri’s long-standing habit of staring directly at the studio audience while delivering punchlines fits with the loopy, out-of-it nature of this particular character.
— I love the reveal of Colette Reardon’s occupation being schoolbus driver.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Were Meant For Me”


LITTLE LEAGUE
at a little league game, the drunk businessmen honor Bill Brasky

— The glorious tradition of doing a Bill Brasky sketch in this era’s Alec Baldwin and John Goodman-hosted episodes continues.
— The final appearance of Mark in a Bill Brasky sketch. Between David Koechner and Mark, it’s sad to see the original line-up of Brasky buddies gradually die off like this.
— Man, they are absolutely speeding through tonight’s Brasky sketch. It feels like I’m playing this sketch in 1.2x speed in a video player. The reason behind the speedy performances is because the show is running late and doesn’t have enough time to perform the full version of this Brasky sketch, so the performers were told to rush through a hastily-shortened version of the sketch. It was probably the ending of Weekend Update that threw off this episode’s timing, between Norm’s many ad-libs with the fake vomit, the audience’s extended uproarious laughter at said ad-libs, and Norm cutting Update short before he even got to tell the mysterious lobster joke. (I wonder if this is also the reason why the Culps sketch abruptly began with the Culps already onstage instead of being introduced by someone.) This Brasky sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— Will’s “I don’t have a penis!” outburst was hilarious.
— A particularly great line about Bill Brasky: “He date-raped David Bowie!”
— Some awkward ad-libbed vamping from Will, John, and Mark while waiting for the camera to finally cut to Bill Brasky standing by the bleachers.
— Overall, this was still very funny, but the speedy performances and timing issues prevented this from measuring up to the usual classic Bill Brasky installments. They also cut one of my favorite parts that’s seen in the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns, where John somberly says “Yesterday… I tried to kill myself again”, which is followed by awkward silence between the Brasky buddies before Will says “Anyway…” and continues with the Brasky stories.
STARS: **** for the live version, ***** for the dress rehearsal version shown in reruns


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another solid John Goodman episode. Not much to say other than I felt the whole show was consistently enjoyable, minus Talkin’ With Suel, and we got two of my absolute favorite recurring sketches from this era: Celebrity Jeopardy and Bill Brasky.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Pamela Lee)
a fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 22 comes to an end, as does Mark McKinney’s SNL tenure. Jeff Goldblum hosts.

Posted on

April 19, 1997 – Pamela Lee / Rollins Band (S22 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
Janet Reno (WIF) defends herself in Bill Clinton (DAH) press conference

— I love Will’s Janet Reno suddenly taking over Darrell-as-President-Clinton’s press conference.
— The “straight talk” from Will’s Reno is providing good laughs.
— I like Clinton’s little “I didn’t need ’em anyway” line when Reno takes away his crutches.
— This is the very first instance of Ana playing Helen Thomas in a press conference sketch, which would go on to be a running thing.
— Good ending with Reno making Mark’s Wolf Blitzer sit on her back as she does sit-ups.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
in an attempt to calm her nerves, host takes off some of her clothing

— A fairly thin joke, which isn’t necessarily hilarious, but this isn’t bad.
STARS: ***


DARNETTE DISPOSABLE TOILETS
Rerun from 12/14/96


BAYWATCH
at a beach volleyball tourney, Craig & Arianna cheer & rescue C.J. (host)

 

— Kinda amusing hearing the Cheerleaders make a Spice Girls reference in the episode right after the Spice Girls were musical guests on the show.
— So far, this feels a little weaker than most Cheerleaders sketches.
— Okay, Craig and Arianna’s pre-taped slow-motion running while the Baywatch theme plays is pretty funny.
STARS: **½


BIOGRAPHY
Tiger Woods (TIM) & controlling father Earl (TRM) are profiled

 

— I love Darrell’s impression of a buzzed Jack Perkins.
— The contrast between Tracy and Tim’s interviews is really humorous, and both of them are having lots of funny lines all throughout this.
STARS: ****


THE ROXBURY GUYS
Roxbury Guys pursue (host) from the dance club to the health club

— Meh, this sketch once again…
— Feels weird seeing a Roxbury Guys sketch without a third Roxbury Guy, for the first time since these characters’ debut in the season 21 Phil Hartman-hosted episode, before they became hit characters.
— Funny turn with the the power in the dance club suddenly going out, forcing Will and Chris’ characters to speak actual dialogue for the first time ever in a Roxbury Guys sketch.
STARS: **½


MOVIE SHOOT
on host’s movie set, jealous hubby Tommy (NOM) can’t fathom make-believe
Tommy Lee [real] doesn’t understand that skit is make-believe

— Hilarious odd casting of Norm as Tommy Lee. I’m liking him in this role.
— The repetitive premise is getting a little weak.
— An okay turn with the real Tommy Lee crashing the sketch.
STARS: **½


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo teaches safety tips to kids

— Ah, a change of pace for The Ambiguously Gay Duo, with them giving safety tips.
— Ace and Gary’s various suggestive postures during their helpful tips are very funny, as are the reactions from the kids.
— A particularly funny suggestive posture just now, when it looks like Gary is giving Ace a BJ while Ace is driving.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE

— Ha, the Arnold Schwarzenegger heart surgery joke made absolutely no sense to me, but I laughed anyway just because of Norm’s delivery and his response to the audience.
— When flubbing the set-up of a joke, Norm says an exaggerated “Oh, drat”, possibly as a tongue-in-cheek reference to his famous f-bomb in the preceding episode.
— Somebody in the audience boos Norm’s typical prison anal rape joke.
— When doing a “Note to self” just now, Norm makes a direct reference to his f-bomb incident, by starting to say into his tape recorder “If I get fired for cursing on the air last week…”
— Oddly, this is the second Update in a row to have no guest commentaries.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Starve”


HEY, REMEMBER THE 80’S
Jenny McCarthy (host) & David Lee Roth (CHK)

— (*groan*) Not this again. However, they at least waited a long time since the last installment of this sketch, which was way back in October of this season.
— What the…? Is that Tom Davis as one of the two scientists in the background? (screencap below)

I thought Tom Davis left SNL after season 20. [ADDENDUM: Tom was credited as a guest writer during this episode’s goodnights. No idea what he guest wrote, though.]
— Chris’ David Lee Roth impression is cracking me up.
— Pamela’s Jenny McCarthy impression is much harsher than the tame one Lisa Kudrow did earlier this season.
— Goat Boy continues to do nothing for me, but the out-of-control wildness from McCarthy and Roth is at least taking this installment into a bit of a different direction, even if it’s still not all that funny.
— I did get a laugh from the ending with Pamela’s Jenny McCarthy running face-first into the camera and knocking herself out.
STARS: **½


OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB
sycophantic guests say what Oprah (TIM) wants to hear

— The debut of Tim’s Oprah impression.
— Tim’s take on Oprah is basically just a stereotypical, generic black woman impression, but it’s still making me laugh.
— For once tonight, Pamela actually plays against type.
— This feels like the first time all night we’re seeing some of the female cast members, though I just now remembered that some of them had a small role way back in the cold opening.
— This sketch is kinda weird so far. Some parts are making me laugh, but I’m not finding this too great.
— I like Cheri trying to hide the fact that she obviously didn’t read the book.
— So much for Pamela playing against type. This sketch ends with her (along with the other characters) naked in a hot tub.
STARS: **½


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King’s (NOM) News & Views range from the trite to the bizarre

— Another celebrity impression makes its debut tonight: Norm’s Larry King, which I’m always a sucker for, especially in these News & Views sketches.
— When Norm’s Larry King says “Sometimes I wonder if giving women the right to vote wasn’t a huge mistake”, you can hear a male audience member mutter “Yeaahhh” in agreement.
— King’s various one-liners into the different cameras are killing me.
STARS: ****


THE FIRST ANNUAL PAMELA LEE INVITATIONAL NASCAR RALLY
host’s cleavage causes accidents at her Invitational NASCAR Rally

— A thin premise, but the voice-overs from the racers in the crashing cars are kinda funny.
STARS: **½


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) offers more News & Views

— Yes, a Part 2 of this!
— Overall, this was shorter and not quite as funny as the first one, but still gave me good laughs.
STARS: ***½


THE TWILIGHT ZONE
in the eyes of her pig-faced beholders, (host) is hot

— This sketch has an interesting backstory regarding Norm and Chris, which Jim has talked about on various shows, including Howard Stern’s radio show. The story is too lengthy for me to go into detail about here, and I don’t have enough time to dig up a YouTube link of Jim telling the story, but somebody in the comments section can probably help out.
— Not a very creative or particularly funny twist on the famous pig-faces episode of The Twilight Zone, especially during a night that’s ALREADY been filled with “Pamela Lee is so hot” sketches.
— It is nice to see so much Norm in tonight’s episode, though.
STARS: **


SENSE OF HUMOR
on a first date, (CHK) pretends to like knockout (host)’s sense of humor

— Chris has been in practically every single sketch tonight. Probably a result of his habit of always trying too hard to flirt with hot female guests behind the scenes and write sketches that are just an excuse for him to make out with said guests (a habit of Chris’ which is talked about during Jim’s aforementioned Norm/Chris story regarding the Twilight Zone sketch).
— Did Pamela screw up her “Hey, McDonalds, I’m McOut of here” joke? It sounds like she forgot to add the “Mc” before “Out”, which caused Chris’ reaction to that joke to not make much sense.
— I’ve been complaining about a lot of tonight’s sketch premises, and here’s yet another complaint: this sketch’s premise feels like a thin variation of an earlier blind date sketch with Elle MacPherson. That sketch itself wasn’t too good, but this one is even worse.
— Weak ending.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A subpar episode. I was underwhelmed by most of the sketches and premises, especially in the post-Update half. Not much in this episode stood out as truly good. Some would say that a weak episode should’ve been expected with Pamela Lee as a host, which may be true, but I personally think that other good eras of SNL could’ve done much more with her or worked around her limitations better. Tonight’s episode, on the other hand, felt like the writers didn’t even try with her.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Our annual John Goodman episode

Posted on

April 12, 1997 – Rob Lowe / Spice Girls (S22 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
vindicated Heaven’s Gaters party aboard the comet-trailing UFO

— Will is absolutely priceless as Marshall Applewhite. A perfect role for him.
— A good laugh from Tim’s shoutout to his “homies” at the Deep Space Nine fan club.
— I love the part with Applewhite saying he regrets “the castration thing”.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host reads some not-very-prescient entries from his ’80s diary

— I like Rob’s way-off predictions about the future of his co-stars from “The Outsiders”.
— Some other laughs from Rob’s diary entries, such as him regretting not getting the part of the movie “Mannequin”.
— What was Rob’s “Youth for Dukakis rally” reference all about? Did something infamous happen there?
— I’m surprised this overall diary reading didn’t have any digs at Rob’s infamous sex tape scandal.
STARS: ***½


KEDS
unlike Nike-wearing Heaven’s Gaters, level-headed Christians prefer Keds

— Wow, SNL airing footage of actual dead bodies?
— The Keds twist at the end was fantastic.
STARS: ****½


THE JOE PESCI SHOW
Robert DeNiro (COQ) helps beat up celebrities
sheepish JMB & COQ hear criticism from Joe Pesci & Robert DeNiro [real]

— Colin is no Alec Baldwin when it comes to impersonating Robert DeNiro.
— Kattan playing David Spade? Oh my god.
— During the beginning of the Spade interview, I like Colin’s DeNiro saying “Where’s the fat guy? I like the fat guy.”
— Another good line from Colin’s DeNiro, saying “Buh-bye” while stomping Spade on the floor.
— Rob’s Eric Roberts voice is freakin’ priceless, and I’m enjoying his dialogue.
— A very famous sudden appearance from the real Pesci and DeNiro.
— I absolutely love Pesci’s calm-but-tense, slow-paced rant to Jim and Colin.
— One of SNL’s better instances of the familiar trope of “cast member gets confronted by the celebrity they’re impersonating”.
— Robert DeNiro to Colin: “Who are you supposed to be?” Colin: “Colin Quinn, Remote Control?”
— Overall, this would’ve been absolutely perfect as the final installment of this sketch, but we somehow still end up getting one more installment of this sketch, in the following season, showing that this era doesn’t know when to quit with recurring characters.
STARS: ****


FOOD, SEX, OR CARS?!
game show contestants choose among id-pleasers

— A gameshow sketch that I’ve always loved.
— The various choices for food, sex, or cars are getting increasingly hilarious as the sketch progresses.
— Fun pacing to this sketch.
— A particularly funny part with Will’s choices being a circus peanut, Bea Arthur, and a Dodge Dart, which Will responds to with “I don’t wanna eat, have sex, or drive any of those things.”
STARS: ****


GOTH TALK
teens Circe (MOS) & Azrael (CHK) rue their anachronistic lot

   

— This sketch makes its debut.
— A good timely sketch for this period.
— Funny characterization from Chris, and I especially like his line about working at Cinnabons.
— I love Jim as Chris’ douchey brother. What’s up with his weird belt, though? (screencap below)

— The “scary” video from Rob as The Beholder is very funny, and my favorite part of this sketch.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“X-Presidents” by RBS- Richard Nixon helps save Al Gore from aliens

— This feels like the first time in quite a while that they’re airing a TV Funhouse.
— As usual, we get some really funny badass one-liners from each president confronting a villain. I especially like Bush’s “Read my lips: your ass is grass” and Reagan’s “Just say no… to pissing me off.”
— I like the assistance the X-Presidents are getting from a reanimated Richard Nixon.
STARS: ***½


LESBIAN PROGRAMMING
NBC exec (MAM) & Mickey The Dyke introduce Ellen-inspired lesbian shows

— The lesbian-friendly programming changes are providing some laughs.
— We find out that Cheri’s Mickey The Dyke character’s real name is Michelle Russo. (If it was mentioned in an earlier sketch she appeared in, I didn’t notice.)
— I particularly laughed at the show titles “7 Lesbians and a Lesbian” and “Crazy About Muffy”.
— Interesting line at the end about NBC still not being ready to embrace male homosexuality.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE

— And there’s the famous moment of tonight’s Update: Norm uncontrollably goes “blaaagh” in the middle of a joke, then mutters “Fuck was that?”, trailing off at the end of that sentence when realizing he just said the f-word on live TV. It takes the audience a few seconds to realize it, but when they do, they wildly applaud. Norm responds to that by saying “Ahh, my farewell performance”.
— Much like a blooper in the Update from the then-recent Sting episode, we get another wrong camera shot while Norm’s in the middle of telling a joke, though unlike last time, this gaffe ends pretty fast and doesn’t distract Norm.
— Norm signs off at the end by saying, as a reference to his f-bomb slip earlier, “Maybe we’ll see you next week.”
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wannabe”


PERSPECTIVES
black major leaguer (TRM) explains Jackie Robinson’s import

— This is probably the earliest spot this sketch has ever aired in an episode.
— So far, tonight’s Perspectives installment has been one great line after another, with so many hilarious foolish statements from Tim’s Lionel Osborne, such as him asking Tracy what was it like to play with Jackie Robinson, asking Tracy if there were any other black players before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and saying Tracy will be pumping gas if he doesn’t have a good season.
— A very solid straight man performance from Tracy.
— I particularly love Lionel Osborne jovially saying “Baseball fever, catch it!” after Tracy somberly mentions that Jackie Robinson’s family received death threats on a daily basis.
— Very funny ending with Lionel asking Tracy if he can come back as a guest in tomorrow’s episode and Tracy immediately responding with a stern “No.”
STARS: ****½


LA POLITICA NON CORRECTO
Hispanic panelists discuss issues irreverently

— Always interesting to see a sketch being performed entirely in a foreign language.
— This is perfectly capturing the essence of some of the shows typically seen on Spanish networks.
— A rare instance of Darrell actually being very funny in a non-impression role.
— I love how one of the panelists is randomly Scarface.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Say You’ll Be There”


RANT
waitress Janet Blaum’s (ANG) weak insults hamstring her labor uprising

— Geez, is this Ana’s first appearance all night? Then again, she may have been one of the non-speaking cult members standing in the background of the cold opening. If so, I didn’t notice.
— Ana’s awkward, poorly-censored, corny rant is hilarious. I especially cracked up “You are a… gigantic… manager!”
— Okay, Ana’s rant is going on longer than it needs to and is getting a little less funny, though it’s still providing laughs.
— I like Will and Jim’s amusement and mocking towards Ana’s questionable word choices.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong and memorable episode, and the best one in a while. There was a good number of really solid sketches in this episode, plus some well-remembered moments, such as the Pesci/DeNiro cameo and Norm Macdonald’s accidental f-bomb.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Mike Myers)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Pamela Lee

Posted on

March 22, 1997 – Mike Myers / Aerosmith (S22 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BARBARA WALTERS OSCAR SPECIAL
Barbara Walters (CHO) prefers to interview in-character Oscar nominees

— After playing along with Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ constant “Show me the money” references, I like Tim’s Cuba Gooding Jr. suddenly saying a very stern “Seriously, STOP.”
— Feels a bit weird to review Mike Myers again for the first time since I covered season 20, but that’s something that’s always fun about covering episodes hosted by former cast members in this SNL project of mine.
— Mike’s insane, incoherent rambling as Geoffrey Rush is cracking me up.
— Funny Sling Blade impression from Darrell, but the material he’s been given isn’t the greatest.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
cast parades behind MIM as he sings about what it’s like to return to SNL

— According to Mike here, he took a lot of time off after leaving SNL to be with his family. I had always wondered why there was a two-year gap between him leaving SNL and him starring in movies. During that two-year gap, did SNL fans assume he was yet another SNL star who sadly faded into obscurity after leaving the show?
— Among some of the former cast members that Mike mentions have come back to host the show, Mike says “Chevy, Dan, Bill Murray…” Uh, Dan had yet to host by this point of the show’s history.
— I love the cast’s comically-gleeful jumping off the stage in the background when Mike begins traveling around the studio while singing.
— Catchy melody to Mike’s song.
— A very fun monologue, kinda feeling like a throwback to Steve Martin’s classic “Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight”. I’m always a sucker for this type of cold opening/monologue. I believe Nathan Lane does a monologue in the same vein the following season, but I haven’t seen it in ages, so I’m really looking forward to revisiting it.
— Hilarious visual of Norm getting whipped with a ruler for having a bad dress rehearsal.
— A memorable and funny part with Mike thinking Tim has visited the show to support him, only to be told by Tim “Uh, actually, I’m still in the cast.”
— After the aforementioned “I’m still in the cast” line, Mike asks Tim “Didn’t you leave with Farley and Spade?” I wonder if Mike was supposed to say Sandler instead of Spade, as Farley and Spade left an entire year apart.
— A very funny song from Tim bemoaning his hard-to-break 30-year SNL contract.
— I love Mike’s fake tap-dancing onstage.
— Fantastic touch with Mike being lifted in the air. Also a nice touch with the Canadian and American flags being displayed in the background.
— Overall, a phenomenal monologue that pulled out all the stops and has always been one of my personal favorites.
STARS: *****


AUDITION
Mary Katherine Gallagher auditions for a part in musical guest’s video

— Right from the start of this sketch, it’s noticeable that the brick wall in the background is oddly missing most of its bricks (as seen in some of the screencaps above). There’s a story behind this that Molly would later disclose in the “Live From New York” book. During the commercial break preceding this sketch, the crew members didn’t have enough time to finish setting up the fake brick wall for a pratfall Molly is supposed to do during the sketch. Before the show came back from commercial, Molly was so distraught over the unfinished brick wall that Lorne had to come over and console her, which lifted her spirits and gave her the confidence to perform the sketch in spite of the unfinished wall.
— Mike’s wonky-eyed supporting character is perfect for him, as it’s a very Mike Myers-esque character that I can easily imagine him having played when he was a cast member.
— While I’m enjoying this sketch, it’s starting to become a bit of a crutch to have Mary Katherine Gallagher meet celebrities, between her last appearance where she met Tina Turner, and now tonight’s appearance where she meets Aerosmith.
— I like MKG’s wild dancing to “Sweet Emotion”.
— In addition to the aforementioned backstory about this sketch’s unfinished brick wall, I believe there’s another interesting backstory about this sketch: I think I recall reading somewhere (possibly in the same “Live From New York” book mentioned earlier) that the NBC censors didn’t want Molly to lick Steven Tyler up and down during this sketch, but Molly defied the censors and did it anyway in the live show.
— Like a pro, Molly still sells her pratfall through the unfinished brick wall.
STARS: ***½


COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
Linda & her cousin (ANG) sing their Oscar predictions

— The upbeat nostalgic vibe that Mike Myers’ return has brought tonight has put me in such a pleasant mood that I’m not even upset at seeing the return of Coffee Talk, a recurring sketch that I never cared for when reviewing Mike’s years as a cast member. It probably helps that I haven’t had to review a Coffee Talk sketch in quite a long while.
— Mike shows a bit of rustiness at the top of this sketch by flubbing his own character’s name.
— Ana seems perfectly cast as a Coffee Talk guest.
— The musical Oscar medley at the end, while normally not my type of thing, is harmless enough and actually has somewhat of a charm to it, and Ana in particular is performing it well (which is no surprise, given her musical background).
— Feels weird hearing a Coffee Talk sketch make a reference to the internet, showing how times have evolved since the last time this sketch appeared regularly.
— I’m glad this overall Coffee Talk sketch kept the number of utterances of the “I’m feeling verkelmpt, tawk amongst yuhselves” catchphrase down to only one. Back during Mike’s tenure as a cast member, there were some instances of that catchphrase being used as much as THREE damn times in individual Coffee Talk installments.
STARS: ***


PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTIONS
John Major (MIM) gives insulting responses to British MPs’ questions

— This sketch feels out of the ordinary for this era.
— Some really funny British characterizations from the cast.
— Hilarious visual with Mark’s ghastly British teeth.
— Good running gag with Colin constantly setting Mike up to be blown up by a bomb.
— Will’s out-of-place Oasis obsession is pretty funny.
— I’m enjoying the increasing absurdity of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
maintenance man Dominican Lou (TRM) hasn’t seen Oscar-nominated movies
Bill Clinton (DAH) dislikes Absolute Power’s “dead mistress” plot

— Does Norm have a cab to catch? He’s absolutely speeding through his Update jokes so far.
— Okay, Norm is starting to slow down now.
— We get the debut of Dominican Lou, which would go on to be Tracy’s first big solo recurring character.
— A fairly short commentary from Dominican Lou, but made me laugh enough, even if it was nothing special.
— Oh, no, not another Bill Clinton movie review. (*groan*) These always follow the EXACT SAME PATTERN, and it only worked for me the first time.
— Well, at least this Clinton movie review is going in a bit of a different direction, with Clinton actually hating the movie he’s reviewing and NOT mentioning anything about a dead First Lady.
— Goddammit, I spoke too soon. Now Darrell’s Clinton goes on about how the movie should’ve had the president’s wife get killed. Yawn. Next, please.
— Okay, I did like the Vince Foster suicide cover-up allusion that Darrell’s Clinton made just now.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Falling in Love”


SPROCKETS
Dieter & lover Helmut (WIF) present The Insane Academy Awards

— Unlike Coffee Talk, THIS is a Mike Myers recurring sketch that I genuinely like a lot.
— Interesting seeing Will playing a guest in a Sprockets sketch. That’s always one of the things I find fun about a former cast member coming back to host: seeing people in the current cast appearing in the former cast member’s old recurring sketches.
— Ha, when Will tries to pet Dieter’s monkey, it jumps out of the shot, which clearly isn’t part of the script.
— During Dieter’s interviewing of Will’s character, why do Mike and Will keep distractedly looking at the off-camera monkey? The audience is laughing hysterically too. We unfortunately can’t see whatever funny thing the monkey is doing. Mike is mugging up a storm in response to the monkey’s antics. Is Mike imitating a facial expression that the off-camera monkey is making?
— I love the bizarre Oscar nominees.
— Overall, this sketch was okay, but I wanted it to be longer and more fleshed-out. It felt a little too forgettable and truncated compared to the Sprockets sketches from Mike’s tenure as a cast member.
STARS: ***


SCOTTISH SOCCER HOOLIGAN WEEKLY
Andy & Ian recall regurgitation episodes

— Interesting to see this sketch back. It debuted in what was both Mike’s final episode as a cast member and Mark’s second episode as a cast member, and seemed to be intended as a passing-of-the-torch, as if SNL thought Mark would pick up the mantle that Mike would leave as a cast member. As we know now, Mark’s SNL tenure ended up going in a VERY different direction.
— Boy, that is one fake-looking headbutt.
— I can appreciate the blood, gore, and vomit of this sketch a little more tonight than I did in the previous installment of this sketch in season 20, considering that by this point in 1997, SNL has long moved away from the blood-gore-and-vomit shock humor that unfortunately dominated season 20.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Nine Lives”


PREMATURELY GRAY
young silverhairs discuss impact of colorless locks

— Some funny lines from Tim during his interview.
— I like the comically dour turn this sketch takes with Mike and Ana’s tragic plane story, and Molly attempting to keep the interview lighthearted.
— Another funny line from Tim, saying with a smirk, “I’m a dirty little dog.”
— A good laugh from Mark’s unintentionally tasteless joke towards Mike and Ana.
— Overall, this sketch ended up being better than I initially thought it would. I also like how it felt like the type of talk show panel sketch that would’ve appeared on SNL in the late 80s/early 90s years (which I guess is fitting, considering who’s hosting tonight).
STARS: ***½


I GOTTA EAT, TOO
Tito Jackson’s (TRM) album & video are meant to put food on his table

— I love Tracy-as-Tito-Jackson’s sudden stern delivery of “You damn right!” after he lightheartedly says we probably think he’s desperate to achieve the money that his younger brother gets.
— A pretty good solo sketch for the underused Tracy Morgan, which makes this his second big showcase of the night.
— A good laugh from Tito only playing the bassline of a certain song before ending the scene by suddenly singing the words “I Want You Back”.
— I like Tito’s bad imitation of Michael Jackson’s trademark dance moves.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Another good season 22 episode. As has been common lately, barely anything stood out as particularly great in this episode (the monologue was the only thing all night that I gave a rating over three-and-a-half stars to), but I felt that every single sketch worked, and the monologue is an all-timer for me. It was also fun seeing the return of old Mike Myers sketches; even Coffee Talk came off a little more tolerable after a fairly long hiatus. Mike also did a solid job in the original sketches he appeared in tonight, coming off just like he was a cast member again.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sting)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rob Lowe

Posted on

March 15, 1997 – Sting / Veruca Salt (S22 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REPLACEMENTS
injured Bill Clinton (DAH) points out the undesirable order of succession

— Some laughs from Darrell’s President Clinton blaming Hillary for his wrongdoings, though it reminds me a little too much of a cold opening that Phil Hartman did as Clinton in the Nancy Kerrigan episode from season 19.
— I love Clinton’s line about Al Gore: “If I go down, that boring sumbitch is goin’ with me.”
— Hilarious how Strom Thurmond is represented by a picture of the Cryptkeeper from “Tales From the Crypt”.
— Chris’ brief scene made me laugh.
— A big audience reaction to Clinton casually admitting he just smoked a huge brick of hash on Monday.
— We get the very first instance of Will’s Janet Reno busting through a wall, which would go on to be a recurring gag in subsequent Janet Reno appearances.
— Very funny visual of Will’s Reno grabbing Darrell’s Clinton in a headlock.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host helps save rain forests for the sake of animals like Mr. Peepers

— Meh, they’re wasting a monologue to do another Mr. Peepers reprisal.
— I did get a laugh from Sting’s translation that Mr. Peepers’ favorite song is “King of Pain”.
— A fairly wild sight to see Mr. Peepers going out into the audience, humping audience members. Otherwise, nothing new here. And Sting is no Kevin Spacey when it comes to playing a great straight man to Mr. Peepers.
STARS: **


EVITA
Juan Peron (NOM) can’t fathom why Evita (ANG) breaks into song

— A variation of the classic West Side Story sketch from earlier this season.
— While this is still making me laugh, it’s just repeating the exact same bits from the West Side Story sketch, and it’s not as funny here.
— A pretty good laugh from Norm pushing Chris off the balcony. Knowing the real-life animosity between Norm and Chris, I bet Norm got a kick out of doing that.
— This sketch is such a carbon copy of the West Side Story sketch that we even get Tim again doing a foreign accent as a rival character.
— A hilarious blooper at the end, where Norm forgets to duck out of the shot after “jumping off the balcony” (the last above screencap), shattering the illusion that he jumped from a high area. When realizing his mistake, Norm awkwardly keeps alternating between ducking out of the shot and standing up, with a goofy smile on his face the whole time, before just giving up and walking out of the scene. This was absolutely priceless. My description does not do it justice, nor does the screencap; it needs to be viewed to be appreciated. SNL would later replace the ending of this sketch with the error-free dress rehearsal version in reruns. Bad move there. The botched live version of the ending was much funnier.
STARS: ***


THE NUDE CRUSADE
Middle Agers (WIF), (ANG), (CHK) try to sell Pope (MAM) on a nude Crusade

— During the opening listing-off of fake sponsors, the first sponsor is Spider Whistle, which is reused from the Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer sketch from the first Phil Hartman-hosted episode. Seems kinda lazy to reuse that. Thankfully, the rest of the fake sponsors in this Nude Crusade sketch are new (the first two above screencaps for this sketch).
— Chris has been all over tonight’s episode so far.
— Ana’s story of how she was convinced to join the Nude Crusade is very funny.
— A good laugh from Will’s suggestion to wear flesh-colored armor with painted-on nipples and pubic hair.
— This sketch is tickling me, and I like the Monty Python-esque feel to it (hell, why couldn’t Michael Palin and John Cleese have been given this in the Kevin Spacey episode instead of doing an unnecessary reprisal of their Dead Parrot sketch?). However, despite the laughs I’ve been getting, I’m not finding this sketch quite as strong as I usually find Jack Handey-written pieces.
STARS: ***½


THE LAID BACK NEUTRAL MC’S
The Laid Back Neutral MC’s (TRM) & (TIM) fear gangsta rap violence

— Funny concept and a decent use of Tracy.
— Tracy’s singing during the “Let’s Learn a Lesson From the Swiss” song has always stuck in my memory since the days of Comedy Central frequently showing SNL reruns.
STARS: ***


SHOPPING AT HOME NETWORK
Don West (WIF) & Eddy Lewis (CHK) put Mark Hamill [real] up for sale

— Feels odd seeing this sketch in such an early timeslot, considering the previous installments of this sketch all aired towards the end of their respective episode.
— Chris continues to dominate tonight’s episode.
— The baseball card of Chewbacca gave me a good laugh.
— Funny involvement from a kidnapped Mark Hamill, being put up for sale.
— Great line from the Shopping at Home Network guys about how last year, they sold a Mark Hamill that turned out to be a Bruce Boxleitner.
— The ridiculous quotes Hamill is forced to say are pretty funny.
— I like the phone call from a low-talking, grumbly Harrison Ford, voiced by Darrell.
STARS: ****


KU KLUX KLAN
(JMB) dislikes white power gossip of fellow Klan members Rolf & (host)

— A somewhat fast costume change for Jim, considering this sketch is airing back-to-back with the Shopping at Home Network sketch (which Jim appeared in during the first minute), without a commercial break in between.
— IIRC, this ends up being the final appearance of this Colin Quinn character, Rolf.
— I love the country music conversation between Rolf and the other guys.
— A very good meta turn with Sting, in character, defending Sting’s solo work as a singer.
— Overall, a solid final appearance from this Rolf character, who went out with what I feel is his best appearance.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
during his St. Patrick’s Day message, drunk COQ gets defensive & bugs NOM
(ANG)’s assumption of Annie role drives Joanna Pacitti (CHO) batty

— Funny commentary from a drunken Colin.
— When telling Norm he was a comedian longer than him, I like Colin saying “I was on Remote Control”, which gets a big reaction from the audience.
— I love how after Colin’s commentary has ended, Norm continues doing Update jokes while Colin’s drink on the desk is still visible in the shot.
— Ah, a crew member must’ve realized that Colin’s drink was visible in the shot, as it has now suddenly disappeared. Too bad; I kinda felt it added an even funnier touch to Norm’s jokes.
— I love the running gag throughout tonight’s Update with Norm doing constant “Note to self”s. It’s now gotten to the point where as soon as Norm reaches for the tape recorder in his pocket, the audience immediately laughs.
— A rare season 22 Weekend Update that has more than one guest commentary. Until now, the only Update this season that had more than one commentary was way back in the season premiere.
— Speaking of rare, it feels kinda rare at this point in Cheri’s tenure to see her do an Update commentary as a character.
— During Ana’s singing, I like the cutaway to a distressed, cigarette-smoking Cheri stabbing her mechanical pet pig with a knife, then pointing a gun at the audience.
— Funny how both guest commentaries in tonight’s Update (Colin and Cheri) have ended with the commentator being dragged off-camera by the same two security guards.
— After non-verbally ad-libbing for a long time with Cheri’s cigarette after the Cheri/Ana commentary has ended, Norm looks off-camera and says to someone “Yeah, I know”, then says “Oh, you want me to say that?” Haha, Norm must’ve been speaking to an off-camera crew member who I’m guessing was impatiently signaling Norm to move on and read the next line off the cue card. After finally reading the next line, Norm turns back to the off-camera crew member and says in a humorously wise-ass manner “I said it.”
— WTF? And now, after Norm’s aforementioned “I said it” remark, the screen suddenly goes black when Norm turns to the other camera to tell the next Update joke.
— And now, when the screen finally comes back on after several seconds of blackness, the camera is on the wrong shot while Norm is delivering his Update joke. When realizing the camera is on the wrong shot, Norm stops mid-joke and looks at someone off-camera while saying with a smirk “You know, it’d probably be better if I was over on this camera”, which receives huge audience applause and laughter. Then when SNL finally cuts to the correct camera, Norm says “Now that I’m over on this camera, it’d probably be better if you put the cards over here.” Absolutely classic Norm. (And these fantastic ad-libs of his are somehow made even better by the fact that he still has Cheri’s cigarette in his hand, which, when combined with his ad-libbing, unintentionally accentuates his badass, don’t-give-a-fuck style.) This Update has imploded in the best way.
— More great ad-libs from Norm to end this Update.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shutterbug”


THE BRENDAN BOYLE SHOW
leprechaun (host) rebukes limerick critics

— Interesting sketch for Colin, who’s getting a lot more screentime than usual tonight, between his Rolf sketch, his Update commentary, and his lead role in this sketch.
— I love the visual of Tracy as a mustached Irish leprechaun.
— A funny turn with Molly questioning why all of Sting’s limericks have to do with women cooking and the food not tasting good.
— Sting’s various limericks are cracking me up.
— I like the visual of a leprechaun goblin hesitantly starting a standing ovation.
— Funny ending line from Colin about how the guests in his next episode will be the Keebler Elf and David Spade.
— I’m surprised by how little this sketch ended up focusing on Colin, who, despite being the host of the sketch, basically just set up Sting’s appearance and then concluded the sketch after Sting’s whole bit was over.
STARS: ***½


NEW BEAU
Mrs. Attebury’s daughter’s (MOS) 37 year-old boyfriend (host) gets fresh

— The return of Ana and Mark’s Atteburys characters. I’m not too happy to see these characters back, but I’ll try to be more open-minded towards this sketch, after I’ve noticed several commenters on this site express appreciation for these characters in response to my fairly negative review of their first sketch.
— I love Mr. Attebury’s line “Weren’t we supposed to get divorced at one point?”
— So far, Ana’s Mrs. Attebury character is making me laugh a little more in tonight’s installment, and I can appreciate what Ana is going for in her characterization.
— When Mrs. Attebury is speechless while Sting suddenly makes out with her, there’s a good laugh from Mr. Attebury saying a delighted “Ah, silence.”
— This ends up being the final Atteburys sketch to have Mark playing Mr. Attebury. The next installment of this sketch wouldn’t be until THREE YEARS LATER (long after Mark had left SNL), where the role of Mr. Attebury would be taken over by Will, who I never felt was as good at doing this character’s deadpan one-liners as Mark was.
STARS: ***½


AUDITION
host’s wife Trudie Styler [real] digs song interpreter Kyle DeMarco (CHK)

— Speaking of a sketch that would later go through a casting change in its subsequent installments, this is the debut of a Chris Kattan sketch that, in all future appearances, would give Chris’ character a brother to be paired with, played by future cast member Chris Parnell.
— Being familiar with the Chris Parnell-involved installments of this sketch, it feels odd seeing this sketch with Kattan’s character working solo.
— Some laughs from Kattan’s literal interpretations of various Sting songs. However, I feel this gag works a little better when it’s both Kattan AND Parnell doing the song interpretations, even if I was never all that crazy about the Parnell-involved installments of this sketch.
— Decent ending.
STARS: ***


RACE AND RACISM
(TIM) asks apartheid dismantler (host) about Ghostbusters

— After such a serious start to the interview, I love the sudden random turn with Tim asking Sting “Have you ever seen the movie Ghostbusters?”
— Throughout his straitlaced comments to Sting, it’s very funny how Tim occasionally throws in a lighthearted, goofily-delivered “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts!” and “Who you gonna call?”
— I like how, as the sketch goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that Tim’s character has no idea what the apartheid is.
— I love Tim’s goofy dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song at the end of this sketch, so much so that, ever since I first saw the full version of this sketch(*) years ago, I’ve never been able to hear the beginning of the Ghostbusters theme song without picturing Tim doing that goofy dance. (* I say “full version of this sketch” because the old Comedy Central version of this episode, which was my first actual viewing of this sketch, abruptly edited out the ending of this sketch, presumably due to music licensing issues regarding the use of the Ghostbusters theme song.)
— Overall, this was the type of sketch that Tim is always fantastic at pulling off.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “My One & Only Love”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. There wasn’t much that stood out as particularly great, but the show had a consistently good flow for the most part, despite some slowness early on with the weak monologue and derivative Evita sketch.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Mike Myers becomes the seventh and final former cast member to host this season

Posted on

February 22, 1997 – Alec Baldwin / Tina Turner (S22 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN
Robert DeNiro (host) isn’t amused

— I’m sure this won’t quite live up to the outstanding first Letterman sketch from earlier this season, but it’s still nice to see this become recurring.
— Once again, Norm’s Letterman impression is killer.
— Tonight’s new Letterman catchphrase, “Ehhhh, you enjoying your shrimp?”, doesn’t hold a candle to the previous Letterman sketch’s classic catchphrase, “Uhhhhh, y-ya got any gum?”.
— Good to see the return of Alec’s spot-on and funny Robert DeNiro impression from the last time he hosted.
— Pretty weak Top 10 list from Alec’s DeNiro so far.
— Why did the Top 10 list end at #5? Shouldn’t Alec’s DeNiro have waited until the #1 entry of the list to say “Live from New York”, instead of saying it as the fifth entry?
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host goes backstage to demonstrate how SNL is a wholesome, family show

— I love the banjo music randomly playing when Alec is going on about how what makes SNL important is the people who put the show together.
— Fun monologue with Alec going all around the studio to show the crew.
— A rare Don Pardo appearance! We also get a mention that it’s Don’s birthday.
— I like Alec’s “Don is very old” aside to the camera after the only thing Don Pardo responds to Alec’s questions with is “It’s Saturday Night Live!”
— Funny scene with Molly teaching Darrell how to read. The kiddie voice that Darrell is using sounds very similar to the voice he would later use for Jerry Mathers in the Pulp Fiction Screen Tests sketch in the following season.
— Another backstage sketch with Tim hugging Lorne, a charming running gag this season.
— A good laugh from the “Irish Need Not Apply” sign.
— Interesting seeing Alec getting dressed into a wig and costume while still speaking to the camera.
— After the brief bit with Tracy randomly acting like an army general, I love Alec telling the camera in a deadpan manner “I have no idea who that man is.”
— Alec is stumbly with some of his line deliveries here (and he literally stumbled off the home base stage by accident when walking off of it), but I’ll cut him some slack, as it must not be easy to navigate through such a busy monologue where he has to go all around the studio while talking to the camera the whole time.
— The sketch that Alec was shown getting dressed for turns out to be yet another Roxbury Guys sketch, a recurring sketch that I’m afraid my fair tolerance for may have slowly begun waning in the last one with Marin Short. Though it’s at least pretty fun how this monologue transitioned into the sketch. I guess I’ll review the Roxbury Guys sketch as a separate segment below.
STARS: ****½


THE ROXBURY GUYS
(host) is more successful with women than are his fellow Roxbury Guys

— We at least get a change of pace for these Roxbury Guys sketches, with Alec’s Roxbury Guy easily getting chicks. It’s still not doing much to stop my gradual slowburn towards this recurring sketch as a whole, though.
STARS: **½


DRESSING ROOM
musical guest’s advice brings Mary Katherine Gallagher out of her shell

— Cheri is dead-on as an overemotional, hysterical, adolescent fangirl.
— A nice premise with Mary Katherine Gallagher meeting Tina Turner.
— Tina: “I want you to feel deep inside yourself.” Mary Katherine Gallagher: “My grandmother says I’m not supposed to do that.”
— I love MKG getting really into her singing of “Private Dancer”, imitating Tina’s voice.
STARS: ***½


THE QUIET STORM
while on-air, Chris Garnett has turf war with station newscaster (host)

— I love the running gag with the increasingly urban-sounding black names Tim reads off during a report (e.g. Shaquanda, Tonjaniqua, etc.).
— Some laughs from Tim constantly interrupting Alec’s report with raunchy, smooth-voiced announcements.
— I love Tim’s character telling Alec, in his typical smooth R&B radio announcer voice, “If you don’t like it, you can kiss my black ass.”
— There’s something I find humorous about the fact that SNL made a recurring role out of Tracy’s silent, minor character in these Quiet Storm sketches, who’s only shown happily slow-dancing with his woman.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Tom Snyder stalks Dolly Parton

— I love how Tom Snyder and Dolly Parton’s conversation is heard casually continuing even as Snyder is shown gradually becoming a creepy stalker towards Dolly through a passage of time.
— Funny cutaway to an underwear-clad Snyder sitting in a Dolly Parton shrine. Why is his foot in what appears to be a tissue box? (as seen in the second-to-last above screencap for this cartoon) Or do I not wanna know?
— I’ve been loving these fast-moving, gag-filled Fun With Real Audio cartoons of Smigel’s.
STARS: ****


THE GOSSIP SHOW
Julie Brown (CHO) publicizes co-workers’ dirty laundry

— Not sure this will work as a recurring sketch.
— They’re even having Alec play the same columnist (Rex Reed) that Phil Hartman played in the last installment of this sketch, and Alec is being given the same type of harsh dialogue towards celebrities.
— Good gag with Cheri’s audio getting cut off while she’s detailing a particularly dirty secret about the audio guy in her crew.
— This overall sketch isn’t working quite as well as the “Julie Brown gives out secretive nuclear arms info” premise from the first installment of this sketch earlier this season (which I now feel I underrated a bit in my review).
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
Howard Stern [real] gives his opinion of SNL & shows Private Parts clip

— Another Update where Norm’s voice sounds unusually hoarse. I’ve noticed that it seems to happen every time he has played David Letterman earlier in the night. Is doing the Letterman voice a strain on Norm’s voice or something?
— A big guest appearance from Howard Stern.
— Interesting that Stern’s allowed to bluntly criticize SNL during this commentary, and declare Norm the only good thing about the show (a comment that receives applause from the audience).
— I’m getting a big laugh from Stern detailing his dark and tasteless rejected sketch about Elizabeth Taylor’s tumor.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In Your Wildest Dreams”


LONG ISLAND GIRLS
Long Island phone sex operators are aroused by callers, not vice versa

— The third and final edition of this era’s series of accent-based phone sex line sketches.
— A good laugh from Cheri’s cramps bit.
— I feel the New York accents premise kinda pales in comparison to the funnier Australian and Michigan accents premises of the previous iterations of this sketch, but it’s still providing laughs.
— Ha, it figures that real-life New Yorker Colin Quinn would be cast in this particular sketch.
STARS: ***


SENTIMENTAL YARD SALE
at yard sale, couple (host) & (MOS) unloads sentimental items for pennies

— Hmm, I have no memory of this sketch from my previous viewings of this episode.
— A laugh from Alec still offering the wedding ring to Jim and Ana for a cheap price, after going on about the huge sentimental value it holds to him.
— This premise kinda feels like the reverse of the Sentimental Value Pawn Shop sketch that Phil Hartman did in the late 80s.
— Okay, this sketch is getting too repetitive and one-note, though it’s being very well-acted by Alec.
STARS: **½


WONG & OWENS, EX-PORN STARS
Don & Reggie discover that their new boss (host) was also a porn star

— Predictably, this sketch is taking the same turns that the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season did. It’s not working as well for me in a second sketch.
— We at least get a new turn with Alec also turning out be a former 1970s porn star. That’s still not making this sketch all that great, though.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Proud Mary”


BILL BRASKY’S FUNERAL
the drunk businessmen eulogize Bill Brasky at his funeral

— This sketch opens on a shot of the “McKay Funeral Home”, a self-reference from a certain SNL writer who pens these Bill Brasky sketches.
— Tonight’s heavy usage of recurring sketches continues. However, this is one sketch that I am always ecstatic to see.
— Feels a bit empty seeing this sketch without David Koechner, after I’ve gotten used to seeing him in these Bill Brasky sketches when recently reviewing the previous installments.
— A funeral is a very interesting out-of-the-ordinary setting for a Bill Brasky sketch.
— One line about Brasky that I particularly like: “He had dandruff the size of mice!”
— A big laugh from Alec’s random aside “I’m a convicted sex offender!”
— Another particularly great line about Brasky, as told by all three of the guys: “He hated Mexicans…” “…and he was half-Mexican…” “…and he hated irony.”
— Great ending with Brasky’s drink-holding hand bursting through his coffin, demanding a refill of his drink.
STARS: *****


RAIN
the miniseries features an as yet undramatized natural disaster

— At first, I thought this was a real NBC commercial that was left in the copy I’m reviewing of the live version of this episode, until I recognized Will. The NBC promo logo on the corner of the screen is part of what fooled me.
— A funny rain reveal, after such an overdramatic set-up to what the panic is about.
— A well-done and very funny parody of then-contemporary disaster movies.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Surprisingly, these goodnights air literally right after the Rain fake ad ends, with no commercial break in between. A huge rarity for SNL to go from the final sketch to the goodnights without cutting to commercial.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’m not too crazy about this episode as a whole. Actually, there were some strong and solid things, but I dunno, something about the overall show had a bit of a below-par feel for an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode. It was also awfully heavy on recurring sketches (Sentimental Yard Sale was literally the ONLY non-recurring sketch all night), which itself isn’t too big of a problem with me, as I’ve gotten used to season 22’s heavy reliance on recurring sketches, but the problem I have is that a lot of tonight’s installments of said recurring sketches were a step down from preceding installments (including the Letterman cold opening, even though it still worked).


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sting

Posted on

February 15, 1997 – Chevy Chase / Live (S22 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
Madonna (ANG), Debbie Reynolds (CHO), Courtney Love (MOS)

— This is the first time Darrell’s Ted Koppel has appeared all season, which is surprising, considering the frequency of his appearances in the preceding season.
— Interesting seeing Cheri playing Debbie Reynolds outside of a Leg Up sketch.
— Funny little part with Darrell’s Koppel scoffing at the Golden Globes when it’s compared to the Oscars.
— A good throughline with Molly’s now-straitlaced Courtney Love slowly relapsing to her former self over the course of the sketch.
— Maybe it’s just me, but Ana seems kinda miscast as Madonna.
— A big laugh from Debbie Reynolds telling Madonna “Nice try, venereal girl.”
— I love the part with Darrell’s Koppel going on about the pleasure he got from fantasizing about Carrie Fisher in Return Of The Jedi.
— A dark but funny cutaway to Madonna having hanged herself.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
CHC brings his alleged family on-stage after thanking them for their love

— Seems like we’re in for another genuinely sentimental Chevy Chase monologue, like his last one in season 21 where he gave a heartfelt reminiscence of getting ready for the first SNL episode’s cold opening.
— Ah, we end up getting a comedic turn with Chevy’s obviously-fake family joining him onstage. A mildly funny gag, but wasn’t worth such a long, serious set-up.
STARS: **½


HOME SECURITY DECOYS
Rerun from 10/19/96


CLINTON’S ITINERARY
petty money-making ventures dominate Bill Clinton’s (DAH) itinerary

— Funny opening visual of Darrell’s President Clinton chowing down on some pancakes in the Oval Office.
— Very funny part with Mark having paid five dollars to “kick Clinton in the ass”.
— I believe Tim’s small appearance would later be removed in Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode. No idea why, unless they just needed to trim a few extra seconds to get the episode down to 60 minutes.
— Chevy is pretty sloppy with some of his lines here.
— Funny part with a Thailand real estate agent wanting Clinton to wear an S&M outfit.
— Solid turn at the end with Nom’s Bob Dole temporarily taking over as the president.
STARS: ***


O.J. SIMPSON PUNITIVE AND COMPENSATORY DAMAGES TELETHON
O.J. Simpson (TIM) emcees telethon to raise money for civil suit damages

— A funny opening announcement of the line-up of guests (e.g. The Banana Splits, Herb of Peaches & Herb, etc.).
— This is the only time I can think of where Will ever plays Harry Caray outside of Weekend Update and the “Space: The Infinite Frontier” sketches.
— Harry Caray’s trombone-playing is cracking me up.
— I like Tim’s O.J. threatening a phone caller by bluntly asking “How’d you like it if I come over there and cut your head off?”, then turning to the camera and casually saying in a light-hearted manner “But seriously, folks…”
STARS: ***½


BIRTHDAY MEDLEY
Marty & Bobbi sing a coming-of-age medley at niece’s 16th birthday party

— The Culps officially become recurring characters.
— As usual, I’m being tickled by Will and Ana’s opening banter and statements to the off-camera audience.
— Funny hearing Will singing “Lay, Lady, Lay”, considering a sketch he would later do with Robert Duvall the following season, in which Will sings “Lay, Lady, Lay” to Duvall as a hospital patient.
— As always, a fun and amusing medley of Will and Ana singing operatic-sounding versions of hit songs. I especially like them singing the theme from “Rocky”.
STARS: ***½


SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
20th anniversary re-release of Smokey & the Bandit contains a Yoda scene

— Funny fake-out at the beginning, where the opening narration made you think they were talking about the original Star Wars movie, only for it to turn out to be another 1977 movie: Smokey And The Bandit.
— A laugh from Yoda randomly being shown as one of the truckers.
— Overall, this was decent, but forgettable and too brief. I wanted this to go further.
STARS: ***


CHARLIE ROSE
Goat Boy, Cow Man (CHC), others discuss legal system

— Oh, that’s right, Chevy Chase is tonight’s host. The last sketch he appeared in was so long ago that I almost forgot this episode even had a host.
— Goat Boy’s shtick has now gotten to the point where I’m completely stone-faced during it.
— On a similar note, Chevy as “Cow Man” is doing absolutely nothing for me.
— Boy, the combo of Goat Boy’s braying and Cow Man’s moos is grating on my ears. It doesn’t help that Chevy is putting zero effort into his performance.
STARS: *½


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ thinks that Bill Clinton’s infidelities should be no big deal

 

— One of my all-time favorite offensive Michael Jackson jokes from Norm, with the punchline being that MJ’s three-day-old son is such a chip off the old block that he’s already molesting a one-day-old boy.
— They seem to be making it a regular thing for Colin to do Update commentaries as himself with a graphic of celebrity pictures being displayed next to him.
— An overall pretty good commentary from Colin tonight.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lakini’s Juice”


7 ACTION NEWS
news anchor (CHC) returns to the desk following a credibility breakdown

— What was with Chevy’s random mumbly, half-assed pronunciation of “Barnum & Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus”? Was that yet another instance of Chevy’s long-standing habit of trying to make a “funny” bit out of a flubbed line? (*groan*)
— This sketch isn’t doing much for me so far. I blame Chevy’s performance. This seems like the type of sketch that 1970s Chevy Chase could’ve gotten some laughs out of, back when he was in his prime, but not 1990s Chevy Chase, who is beyond checked-out.
— An interesting, out-of-the-ordinary casting of Colin as a news station boss.
— Overall, blah. Didn’t care for this sketch.
STARS: *½


PLAYING FIRST DATE
Zimmermans (CHK) & (CHO) spice up their marriage by playing “first date”

— The debut of Chris and Cheri’s sex-crazed couple, the Zimmermans.
— I’m getting some laughs from Chris and Cheri constantly censoring themselves on saying “fuck” during their dirty talk to each other.
— Good characterizations from Chris and Cheri here.
— An oddity about this first Zimmermans sketch is that the Zimmermans are alone. Part of what makes the subsequent installments of this sketch work is that each of them have another married couple for the Zimmermans to play off of.
— Good twist at the end with it being revealed that the Zimmermans have a baby in the other room and were merely playing “first date” with each other. By the way, the aspect of the Zimmermans having a baby would be dropped from all subsequent installments of this sketch.
STARS: ***


FITTING ROOM PEEPHOLE
department store employees (WIF) & (CHC) peep at (MOS) in dressing room

— Interesting casting of Norm in a normal straight man role.
— During his excited exclamations while peeping on Molly, I love Will saying at one point “Heeeey, Macarena!”
— A few laughs here and there, but this sketch isn’t anything great so far. Even Norm’s straight man performance isn’t making me laugh quite as much as I expected it to.
— While a cheap gag, I did kinda laugh at the ending with Will and Chevy agreeing to let Will peep on Chevy trying on a women’s bathing suit.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Heropsychodreamer”


CHOPPER 4
newsstand owner Andrew (MAM) is obsessed with fog-penetrating Chopper 4

— This is remembered by a number of SNL fans as a rare Mark McKinney season 22 showcase, and possibly the last great SNL sketch he ever does where he plays an original lead character.
— Great voice and characterization from Mark.
— (*groan*) I see they’re having Chevy do his old “constantly calling people by the wrong names” routine, which stopped being funny ages ago.
— Mark’s bizarre Chopper 4 obsession is getting big laughs from me.
— Funny stock footage ending of Mark happily riding inside a Chopper 4 that he stole.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty “meh” episode. Some good stuff, but I was not crazy about this episode as a whole. I’m having a hard time even remembering a lot of the sketches I just watched. A big part of the reason for the “meh” feeling of this episode is Chevy Chase, who came off even more disinterested and bland as a host than he had ever been prior to tonight’s episode, and that’s saying something. It also didn’t help that things weren’t too pleasant behind the scenes during the week of this episode. Chevy’s notorious habit of pissing off the SNL cast and staff whenever he comes back to host came to a head this week, in an incident during rehearsals in which he reportedly smacked Cheri Oteri in the head when she flubbed a line. I believe this is widely considered to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in regards to Lorne’s tolerance for Chevy’s asshole-ish behavior, as this would end up being the final episode that Chevy would ever host, though he would still make occasional cameos.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Neve Campbell)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin

Posted on

February 8, 1997 – Neve Campbell / David Bowie (S22 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
O.J. Simpson (TIM) lies about money available for civil suit judgement

— A very funny overhead shot of Tim’s O.J. leaving from a bank with a wheelbarrow of money bags, and even stopping at one point to happily wave to the overhead camera.
— A big laugh from Tim’s O.J. muttering the n-word in a different voice, in a bad attempt to pretend it was one of the reporters who said it.
— I think SNL would later replace this cold opening with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. I recall the reruns of this episode having Tim deliver “Live from New York…” in a different way than he delivers it in the live version I’m currently watching.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host gets a Scream-style phone call from DAS, but it isn’t very scary

— The joke with Neve following up her clarification on the pronunciation of her first name by pronouncing words like “believe” in the same way her first name is pronounced is very reminiscent of a poorly-executed joke from Bronson Pinchot’s monologue from 10 years earlier. Tonight’s version of that joke was executed a little better.
— Ha, that’s clearly David Spade’s voice on the phone, trying to sound sinister.
— A funny call-waiting bit with Neve casually telling the second sinister caller “I already got a creep on the other line”.
— A laugh from the voice of David being heard singing “Sister Christian” when Neve returns to his call after the aforementioned call-waiting bit.
— And now, David has been exposed and we see him onscreen, making his first cameo since leaving the cast a year earlier.
STARS: ***½


CARIBBEAN ESSENCE BATH OIL
Rerun from 10/5/96


JACKPOT
contestants can’t understand game show emcee Suel Forrester

— An interesting use of Suel Forrester.
— This is being executed pretty well, and as I always say, I’m a sucker for the Suel Forrester routine.
— The speed round part is funny, with the use of electric shocks whenever contestants get a question wrong.
STARS: ***½


THE DELICIOUS DISH
essay contest winner (host) joins Margaret Jo & Terry during pledge drive

— I’m kinda surprised at the frequency that this recurring sketch has been appearing so far, but I’m not complaining much, as I always enjoy this particular recurring sketch.
— As always, Ana and Molly are getting a lot of humor out of the mundane.
— Neve is doing a good job at speaking in the soft-spoken NPR style.
— Unlike the first two installments of this sketch, we didn’t get Cheri as a caller in tonight’s overall installment, but we did get Mark as a caller once again, which proves my theory that the show Delicious Dish has no more than two listeners.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- State Of The Union address is crashed

— Looking forward to this. Smigel has been having a very strong track record with his Fun With Real Audio cartoons so far.
— A huge laugh from Newt Gingrich licking the spilled beer on his desk.
— I love the visual of a straitjacket-wearing Ross Perot giving his speech in a sanitarium.
— A particularly hilarious part with the giant rabbit’s screaming sounds when giving a speech.
STARS: ****½


SIDNEY’S PARTY
Sidney Prescott (host) is embarrassed by her cousin Arianna & Craig

— A good fake-out at the beginning, when we’re shown a horror movie-esque first-person perspective of someone creeping into the party, only for it to turn out to be the Cheerleaders.
— I like the “Jamie Lee, where’s her bra, I don’t know, I don’t know” cheer that Craig and Arianna do.
— Nice turn with Neve using a Ghostface disguise to scare out all the guests.
— I myself am surprised at the positive reception I’ve been giving the Cheerleaders sketches lately. Like I said in a previous review, it turns out that these Cheerleader sketches are actually tolerable when they have an actual storyline.
STARS: ***


JANET RENO’S DANCE PARTY
attending teens receive some tough talk

— They’re making this recurring ALREADY??? I don’t want to complain, considering how much I absolutely loved the first installment of this sketch, but they’re bringing this sketch back too soon. It debuted just TWO EPISODES AGO.
— By the way, is tonight’s episode going to be another Rosie O’Donnell episode-type recurring character fest? Literally every single sketch so far tonight has been recurring.
— So far, there’s been nothing new in tonight’s Janet Reno Dance Party installment. Everything is being repeated from the first installment, right down to the small appearance from Darrell’s President Clinton at the top of the basement stairs. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were literally just re-airing the first installment of this sketch.
— Okay, we now get something that’s actually new in this sketch, with a “Teen Talk” segment.
— I love Will’s Reno saying “Bullcrap, you liar!” when Ana says she’s 17.
— Great ending with Will’s Reno diving into the mosh pit.
— Overall, a weak start, but the sketch got better and better as it went along. This is still a somewhat big step down from the debut of this sketch. There would be better follow-ups of this sketch to later come, especially the one with Rudy Giuliani.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Hollywood Minute- DAS comments on showbiz items from his post-SNL days

— Special guest David Spade bringing back Hollywood Minute.
— Oof, David’s jokes are starting off rough so far.
— I like David’s ad-libbed aside “Thanks for that joke, Norm” when one particular joke of David’s gets a tepid audience reaction.
— Okay, David’s jokes are getting better and better as this goes along.
— Wow, I’m surprised to see David taking a harsh shot at the Dan Aykroyd/John Goodman Blues Brothers revival act. No argument from me, though. Should’ve let the Blues Brothers die with John Belushi.
— Hmm, they’re letting tonight’s Hollywood Minute go on a lot longer than usual, obviously because David’s a special guest.
— Odd how Norm cut himself off before finishing the obvious punchline of his Michael Jackson joke, then let the audience get their laughs out, and then repeated the set-up of the Michael Jackson joke before cutting himself off again.
— And now Update just randomly ends after that awkwardly cut-off Michael Jackson joke, without Norm even saying his usual sign-off.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Wonder”


20/20
a Mia Farrow (ANG) interview turns into a Woody Allen (DAS) movie

— A very funny and spot-on Woody Allen impression from David Spade, which comes as no surprise, considering the Woody Allen Fan Club sketch he was in several seasons earlier, where he, a few other cast members, and host Jason Alexander all played very Woody Allen-esque fans of Woody.
— Interesting visual of Ana’s Mia Farrow stepping out of the TV to confront Woody in his living room.
— I like the increasing number of random people appearing in Woody’s living room, including Darrell’s Hugh Downs showing up just to ask for the bathroom.
— Boy, those are some heavy eye prosthetics on Molly as Soon-Yi. I know they’re attempting to make Molly look Asian, but the eye prosthetics instead make her look kinda freaky.
— Overall, I enjoyed how this sketch gradually turned more and more into a typical Woody Allen movie, right down to randomly having ending credits.
STARS: ***½


BASKETBALL COURT
urban teens (CHO) & (host) scope out some guys at the playground

— I like how 90s this sketch feels.
— So far, this sketch isn’t particularly hilarious, but it’s interesting in a realistic way. I’m enjoying the authentic feel of the various conversations between the young urban characters.
— As much as I hate to make this comparison, this sketch kinda feels like a better version of that god-awful Homegirls sketch that Rosie O’Donnell, Melanie Hutsell, and Ellen Cleghorne did in the season 19 episode that Rosie hosted.
— Good sarcastic line from Cheri: “Yeah, right, and I haven’t had chlamydia four times.”
STARS: ***


NAZI GERMANY
during a Hitler speech, Rolf & fellow Gestapo members gossip about Fuhrer
in order to evaluate the sketch, TIM & LOM employ its style

— The return of Colin’s Rolf character from the preceding season’s Christine Baranski episode. I like this black-and-white WWII setting for this character.
— Like the last time this sketch appeared, tonight’s installment has some funny relatable conversations between Colin and the other characters.
— Nice ending with Lorne and Tim in the control room, and I love the little hug Tim gives Lorne at the very end. I recall the latter eventually becoming a bit of a running gag between Tim and Lorne.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Scary Monsters”


ADVENTURES OF THE WHITE TRASH DISASTER TRAILER
incest amid high winds

— Boy, this is one bizarre sketch.
— I did get one laugh just now: Jim’s redneck character saying “Smell like cat food and ass in here!” when he enters the room that Neve and Chris have just had sex in.
— What the hell is this sketch?!?
— And the sketch is now over. Overall, yeah, I have no idea what the hell I just watched. All I know is I barely laughed. I wanted to like this, as I’m usually always down for a sketch with an oddball premise, but this was just dumb and baffling.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A (mostly) consistently decent episode. Not much to say about it, but it was a satisfying show. Nothing was particularly great aside from TV Funhouse, but almost the entire show ranged from okay to pretty good. Pretty much in the same league as the then-recent Rosie O’Donnell episode.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (David Alan Grier)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Chevy Chase

Posted on

January 18, 1997 – David Alan Grier / Snoop Doggy Dogg (S22 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

GENITALIA LINE-UP
Paula Jones (CHO) looks for Bill Clinton’s (DAH) genitalia in line-up

— A hilarious gathering of politicians dropping trou in a police line-up.
— Some of the politicians’ comments about each other’s penises are hilarious.
— Ha, Will showing up as Ted Kennedy. I had forgotten until now that Will plays him a few times this season.
— Cheri’s Paula Jones: “It’s not the black guy.” Tim’s Clarence Thomas: “I bet you wish it was.”
— Funny ending with Darrell’s Clinton trying to disguise his voice by speaking in a Spanish accent.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Let’s Get Butt-Naked In The White House” to mark inauguration

— Great turn with David Alan Grier breaking out into a slow-jam, “Let’s Get Butt-Naked In The White House”, for President Clinton’s inauguration.
— I like the song’s random lyric about the big-headed banjo player from “Deliverance”.
— An overall memorable and very funny song from David.
STARS: ****


DEATH ROW BLOOPERS AND PRACTICAL JOKES
capital punishment wackiness on Death Row Bloopers & Practical Jokes tape

— A hilarious concept.
— I howled at the bit where, immediately after Will and the prison officials share a hearty laugh, the electric chair switch is suddenly turned on and Will starts getting electrocuted before the camera quickly cuts away.
— An overall very amusing and fun commercial.
STARS: ****


20/20
Barbara Walters (CHO) interviews musical guest amid his entourage

— I love the contrast between Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ lighthearted, silly demeanor and Snoop’s deadpan, aloof demeanor.
— Funny line with Barbara telling Snoop “Sinatra may have did it his way, but you did it doggystyle.”
— I got a laugh from Snoop sending one of his boys after Hugh Downs.
— Overall, a good sketch, but I wanted this to go a little further.
STARS: ***


WAITING TO EXHALE
(host), (TIM), (TRM) get emotional while watching Waiting To Exhale

— Ha, we get our very first Tracy Morgan SNL utterance of the phrase “Sweet like bear meat”, which would go on to be one of Tracy’s catchphrases. I’m surprised to hear that line this early in Tracy’s SNL tenure.
— A lot of laughs from how into it David, Tim, and Tracy are getting during their viewing of “Waiting To Exhale”, and how sentimental they’re increasingly becoming.
— A very amusing slow-motion montage of the guys during their viewing.
STARS: ****


BOTH SIDES WITH JESSE JACKSON
Kincaid & others discuss Ebonics

— Was this a real CNN show at the time?
— A humorously out-of-place setting to put Ana’s Kincaid character in. I keep thinking I’ve had enough of this character, but she still manages to make me chuckle.
— Tim’s Johnnie Cochran, regarding The Jeffersons: “Weezie was an outrage!”
— Some funny Ebonics demonstrations from David’s Maxine Waters, especially her telling Kincaid “Bitch, you be trippin’!”
STARS: ***½


THE ROCKY ROADS
(ANG), (MOS), other Rocky Roads say no to sexual harassment & shoplifting

— If you recall, the first installment of this sketch from David’s previous hosting stint is a personal favorite of mine. And as I said in my review of that one, I’m not familiar with this second installment. For some reason, I’m kinda expecting to be let down by this one. Hopefully, I’m wrong.
— The female Rocky Roads member previously played by Nancy Walls has been replaced by both Ana AND Molly, interestingly enough.
— I like David’s corny compliment “It looks like you’ve been dipped in pretty sauce.”
— Like last time, I absolutely love Will’s cheesy performance and David’s enthusiastic preacher-esque singing.
— The corny songs that the Rocky Roads are performing in tonight’s installment aren’t as catchy as the songs they did in the first installment.
— Overall, I was sorta right about being let down by tonight’s installment, to an extent, but I still enjoyed it as a whole. It came off very average compared to the first installment, though.
STARS: ***


MAYA ANGELOU FOR BUTTERFINGER
Maya Angelou (host) recites verse in praise of Butterfinger

— The beginning of a runner tonight.
— Such a funny concept, with David’s Maya Angelou spouting inspiring wisdom about Butterfinger, of all things.
— Overall, this was well-written and well-performed.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
though Michael Irvin was falsely accused, COQ isn’t going to apologize

— Good to see Colin doing an Update commentary as himself, even though I was disappointed by the last one he did as himself.
— Just half a minute into Colin’s Michael Irvin commentary so far, and it’s already miles funnier than his last commentary as himself.
— Colin’s overall commentary was very solid. This is the type of funny stand-up that I’ve come to expect from him.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head”


WONG & OWENS, EX-PORN STARS
ex-porn stars Don Wong (JMB) & Reggie Owens (TRM) try a fast-food career

— Amusing concept.
— Throughout tonight’s episode, Tracy has been receiving the most airtime he’s gotten all season, though it’s obviously only because we have a black host. Similarly, in the following season’s Samuel L. Jackson-hosted episode, Tracy appears in a particularly large amount of sketches.
— When Wong and Owens each do the porn-esque removal of their shirt, Tracy is particularly funny doing that.
— A good laugh from Jim’s nudity being censored by a “TV 14” rating symbol (the last screencap above). I see SNL’s really taking advantage of the then-new TV ratings system.
STARS: ***


MAYA ANGELOU FOR FROOT LOOPS!
Maya Angelou (host) endorses Froot Loops! poetically

— Another funny topic for David’s Maya Angelou to wax poetic about.
— Towards the end of this, I especially love David’s over-the-top delivery of “The KUM…QUAT! The KI…WI!”
STARS: ****


SHOPPING AT HOME NETWORK
mispriced Scottie Pippen bust may ruin Don West (WIF) & Eddy Lewis (CHK)

— Good to see this back, though I’m not too familiar with any of the installments of this sketch besides the original Shaq Plaque one.
— A good laugh from how the sculpture that’s supposedly of Scottie Pippen looks nothing like him.
— I like seeing David acting like Will and Chris’ portrayals of Don West and Eddy Lewis.
— I love Will yelling at the camera “You’re ruining us!” and “You selfish bastards!”
— Will and Chris’ overdramatics over how much money they’re losing is a riot, especially a defeated Will calling his wife, asking her to tell their son to come home from college.
— Now this gets even funnier with the guys deciding to douse the place with gasoline, and Chris dousing himself with gasoline.
— Overall, not quite as strong as the Shaq Plaque installment of this sketch, but this still had me howling.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Wheaty the Wheaten Terrier” by RBS- dog’s supposed heroism not apparent

— An unusually late spot in an episode for a TV Funhouse to air. I think the Roma Downey-hosted episode from the following season has a TV Funhouse that airs even later, shortly before the goodnights.
— Another oddity about this TV Funhouse is that it’s entirely live-action, with no animation at all. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two other non-animated TV Funhouses that would later air: “Find The Black People At The Knick Game” and the Tom Brady-starring PSA about sexual harassment in the workplace. There are also some later TV Funhouses that are half-animated and half-live-action, such as the Black History Month one with Dennis Haysbert, the “Pothead Theater” cartoon, and the Ambiguously Gay Duo installment that suddenly becomes live-action halfway through.
— Hmm, no SNL performers in this live-action piece. I don’t recognize any of the actors.
— I spoke too soon about not recognizing any of the actors. Just now, the camera has cut to Stephen Colbert as the dad. Colbert has been all over SNL this season.
— A very odd TV Funhouse, but there are some laughs from how the various cutaways to the “heroic” dog were obviously each filmed at a different time. It especially gets funny when the cutaways show the dog doing unpleasant things like drinking from a toilet or humping another dog.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Vapors”


NEW MICROSOFT PRODUCTS
Bill Gates (MAM) introduces Microsoft products that will change the world

— Geez, I thought it was weird seeing a TV Funhouse air fairly late in the show, but that’s nothing compared to this: a presidential address-to-the-nation sketch airing around the 10-to-1 timeslot?!? That’s unheard of.
— Wait, what the hell? After only a few seconds, this President Clinton address-to-the-nation, which was shown interrupting an airing of “Caroline in the City” (remember that sitcom?), itself gets interrupted by another special message.
— Ah, it turns out to be a special message from Bill Gates.
— Wait, Mark is playing Bill Gates? Not Chris Kattan? Ah, that’s right. I had forgotten until now that Mark originally played Gates before Chris would later take over the impression the following season, after Mark’s departure. Until now, I had only remembered Chris playing Gates.
— Mark is getting some good laughs from me here. It also feels good seeing him get some rare focus this season.
— I like Mark-as-Bill-Gates’ line “Don’t cry for me, Argentina…. BECAUSE I OWN YOU.”
STARS: ***½


MAYA ANGELOU FOR PENNZOIL
Maya Angelou (host) voices muse-inspired admiration for Pennzoil

— Pennzoil isn’t as inherently a funny product for David’s Maya Angelou to pitch as Butterfinger and Froot Loops were.
— Overall, this was still fairly funny, but yeah, they should’ve kept these Maya Angelou bits at just two. This third one wasn’t necessary.
STARS: **½


WORCESTER CENTRUM
see monster trucks & funny car civilization Sunday at Worcester Centrum

— A very funny absurd concept, and I’m getting a lot of entertainment from the increasingly complex things the “funny cars” are shown to do, represented by amusingly crude computer animation.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. Not as outstanding as David Alan Grier’s previous episode, but there was a large number of strong pieces tonight, and nothing was particularly bad to me. Much like in his previous hosting stint, David Alan Grier was a fantastic host who’s comedic skills and sketch comedy experience was very welcome. I wish the fact that he hosted in two consecutive seasons would’ve led to him becoming a John Goodman/Alec Baldwin-esque regular host in this era, but unfortunately, tonight’s episode ends up being his final hosting stint. A shame.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kevin Spacey)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Neve Campbell