Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
at the Winter Olympics, JOP interviews bobsledders (host), (EDM), (JIB)
— After appearing on tape for the last three episodes, Eddie’s back, making his first live appearance of 1984.
— For whatever reason, Eddie’s hand has been held on his crotch the whole time so far, which apparently wasn’t in the script. I see I don’t have the censored version of this sketch, where they hide Eddie’s hand-on-crotch by superimposing something like a grass bush on the bottom of the screen.
— The bobsledding stock footage with the guys’ voices dubbed in screaming is fairly funny.
— That’s the whole cold opening? Not much to this at all.
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about what it’s like to be a new father
— Some pretty funny stuff about the winter Olympics.
— I’m enjoying his material about parenthood. No particular jokes have been standing out at all in this monologue, though. I recall liking his later two monologues (from seasons 12 and 13) better.
STARS: ***
BUDDWEISER LIGHT
hockey players (host) & (JOP) bring out their best
— It feels rare in this era to see a host appearing in this type of pre-taped fake ad.
— Piscopo’s sudden whack to Williams’ face with the hockey stick really cracked me up.
— I’m getting some good laughs from the hockey players’ wild fight being played over a commercial jingle.
— Good ending shot with a beat-up-looking Piscopo and Williams jovially enjoying a beer together.
STARS: ****
ROCK & ROLL AND THEN SOME
Clarence Walker (EDM) proves he was 5th Beatle
— I have great memories of first seeing this sketch in Eddie’s “Best Of” compilation special, which was my very first exposure to this era of SNL. This was one of the first sketches I caught in the special, and immediately, I could see how strong of a cast member he was. It will be great to revisit this sketch.
— I’m loving Eddie’s hostility and fast-talking demeanor here.
— The medley of “original” Beatles songs being played on a tape is great, especially the one song with Eddie just speak-singing for a long time over the music.
— Here’s the part of the sketch that I’ve always remembered the most, where they play a Beatles song in reverse and you can hear John Lennon hilariously saying “Let’s get rid of Clarence and steal all his good ideas”.
— This overall sketch held up very well and was just as strong as I remembered it.
STARS: ****½
WILD KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
an evangelical veterinarian (host) heals pets
— Robin Williams’ voice in this is already making me laugh.
— The concept of this doesn’t seem all that great, though I have no doubt that Williams will get some laughs out of it, and this does seem like a good vehicle for his penchant for ad-libbing.
— I’m pretty sure that’s the same fluffy white cat that I once pointed out had appeared in a few sketches from seasons 5 and 6 (one of them being the sketch with Bill Murray and Ann Risley as a couple desperately trying to remember the name of their friend’s cat).
— I like the album title “Hymns That Only Dogs Can Hear”.
— Pretty funny reveal of Duke’s pet being a now-cooked fried chicken.
— A good unintentional laugh from Williams’ repeated difficulty in saying “Colonel Harlan Sanders”.
STARS: ***
GANDHI AND THE BANDIT
a movie about the truckin’ man of peace (TIK)
— They might as well have just said Tim is playing his Havnagootiim Vishnueerheer character, as his “Gandhi” portrayal here is the exact same, using the same voice, delivery, make-up, and outfit.
— Overall, while I kinda liked the initial concept, the sketch didn’t end up going anyplace interesting.
STARS: **
NEW BAD BABIES
babies (host), (EDM), (ROD), (TIK) plan an escape from their playpen
— An interesting-seeming sketch, even if the concept does kinda remind me a bit of the somewhat-corny Oscar Statuettes sketch from last season.
— Good baby voices from the performers, especially Williams.
— Mary’s “You’re being circumcised tomorrow” gave me a big laugh.
STARS: ***
FIRING LINE
William F. Buckley (host) asks (EDM) about flammable blacks
— Good to see Eddie so prominent tonight. It’s kinda funny how him appearing in a lot of sketches has become such a rarity lately, considering how much he typically dominated the show last season.
— The concept of flammable black men is already making me laugh consistently.
— Not familiar with William F. Buckley, but I’m getting amusement from Robin Williams’ impression.
— The Michael Jackson part was good.
— What’s with all the brief, quick cuts to a close-up of Williams silently listening to Eddie speaking?
— Good ending gag with smoke coming from Eddie. I also liked his yell of “Help! Tito!”
STARS: ***½
BABIES IN MAKEUP
— Are they kidding me? THIS short film again? Wasn’t it bad enough suffering through this TWICE back in season 7? Why bring this back two seasons later? And what’s with the baby theme in tonight’s episode anyway?
MIME ROOMMATE
(BRH) is fed up with having a mime (host) for a roommate
— A perfect role for Robin Williams.
— Ehh, despite the promise this initially seemed to have, this is kinda falling flat.
— Okay, I do like the part with Williams acting as a mirror while imitating all of Hall’s moves.
— The ending with Williams getting shot was nothing special, though it felt like it should’ve been.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Strip”
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
BRH interviews (JIB), the person who is mugged every eleven seconds
TIK criticizes NY Post’s lack of creativity regarding Andropov’s death
— I cannot imagine what Robin Williams will be like as an anchorperson.
— Ha, a callback to the Beatles sketch from earlier tonight.
— Hmm, Brad Hall’s picture has just shown up on the news screen. We’re getting a joke about our recently-fired SNL news anchor?
— Oh, it turns out to be a set-up to a pre-taped remote bit with “correspondent Brad Hall”, which was said as if Brad’s technically still part of the Saturday Night News team. I guess this is Ebersol’s way of trying to keep Brad happy despite his firing, but it’s still sad that an anchorperson has gotten demoted in this manner. Though thinking about it, I guess they already kinda did that with Mary Gross in season 7’s SNL Newsbreaks.
— I love the concept of how the saying “a person gets mugged every 11 seconds” turns out to be literally one person. Despite being a bit one-joke, this commentary is coming off very funny, and Jim is perfect for this role.
— I like the Jack Nicholson impression Williams’ did during his Nicholson joke.
— This is a really good edition of Tim’s “Salute to Journalism” so far, with him displaying his suggestions for typical New York Post-esque bad headlines that the Post should’ve given for Andropov’s death, instead of the uncharacteristically normal one they ended up using.
— If this ends up being Tim’s final “Salute to Journalism” (after all, he IS leaving soon), this was a very fitting way for it to go out.
— While Robin Williams ended up coming off a little less out-of-place in the anchorman role than Don Rickles did in the last episode, I still found him to be an ill fit here. However, Rickles and Williams may end up being two of the better guest anchors of this era by default, compared to how poorly I’m sure some of the upcoming hosts like Michael Douglas and Bob Uecker will do anchoring the news.
STARS: **½
MTV NEWS
an interview with musicians The Ugly Sisters Step (MAG) & (ROD)
— We’re starting off with an Adam Ant music video?
— Oh, the music video turns out to be part of an MTV sketch, with the return of Julia’s Nina Blackwood impression.
— I’m liking how very 1984 Gross and Duke’s musical group is coming off. I also like Duke’s fake teeth.
— Ehh, this sketch doesn’t seem to be offering much other than obvious ugly jokes.
— The camera-breaking gag at the end came off really weak.
STARS: **
SIAMESE TWINS
odd couple Siamese twins (JIB) & (host) try to pick up women in a bar
— For some reason, this bar set reminds me of the one used in the final Festrunk Brothers sketch that Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd did.
— Great reveal that Williams and Belushi are Siamese twins.
— This feels like the first appearance Gary has made all night, and of course, it’s just a small straightman role.
— Good touch with Belushi himself getting hurt as he’s beating up Williams.
— Belushi’s “I made the swim team… I didn’t make the swim team” line flub gets some good ad-libbing out of Williams, which makes Belushi smirk afterwards.
— Pretty funny ending.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Goody Two Shoes”
PAULA POUNDSTONE
Paula Poundstone [real] does stand-up about her driving woes
— I think this is the first (and maybe only?) time a special guest stand-up performer on SNL has been a female.
— The part about no longer being afraid to hurt people while driving is pretty funny.
— Good part at the end regarding Sirhan Sirhan and Robert Kennedy.
STARS: ***
PATTY’S PLACE
(JLD) & (TIK) live 30 seconds ahead, behind present
— Judging from the beginning with Julia answering a question Mary didn’t even ask yet, I’m going to guess that Julia’s character is a psychic.
— Oh, turns out Julia’s character has a condition where she’s always 30 seconds ahead.
— There’s the name Dale Butterworth once again, making it obvious that this is another sketch written by my new favorite writer Andy Breckman.
— Now it’s revealed that Tim’s character is 30 seconds behind. This whole concept is great.
— Good part with Mary patiently waiting a long time for 30-seconds-behind Tim to say the “funny” thing that Julia laughed early at, only for it to turn out to be a bad corny joke.
— Haha, I like how Julia is now being grossed out by something we haven’t seen Tim do yet.
— Funny visual with the rope of snot hanging from Tim’s nose.
— Solid ending with an even more grossed-out second reaction from Julia causing Mary to panickedly end the show in a hurry so she doesn’t have to see what disgusting thing Tim is going to do.
— Overall, Andy Breckman knocks one out of the park once again. He seems to particularly excel at doing conceptual talk show sketches like this, Larry’s Corner, and No That’s Okay (though I’m only speculating that he wrote the latter; it hasn’t been confirmed whether he did or not).
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
— We’re told there’s time to kill, which is perfect for Robin Williams’ knack for freely ad-libbing.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode. Even if there wasn’t much that was outstanding, the overall show still had a good feel, helped by Robin Williams’ always-fun presence and him fitting perfectly in the sketch comedy format.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Don Rickles):
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Jamie Lee Curtis