Tag: Andrae Crouch

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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


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

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


CENTURY 21 MARRIAGE COUNSELORS
relationship advice has been franchised

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


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

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


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

 

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


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

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


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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


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

 

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Hanks / Aerosmith

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October 20, 1984 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson / Andrae Crouch and Wintley Phipps (S10 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host asks Sammy Davis, Jr. (BIC) for help with what to do on the show

— I don’t know what I’m more surprised by: the fact that Billy is doing a blackface role in front of Jesse freakin’ Jackson, or the fact that Jesse Jackson actually ALLOWED it.
— Jesse’s impressions of politicians are pretty funny, especially his Reagan saying “The Grenada’s comin’ to get us!”, which was apparently an ad-lib judging from Billy’s response.
— Good performance from Jesse during the “Red Rubber Ball” song.
— A decent cold opening overall and shows that Jesse’s going to be a good sport tonight.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
blacks quickly assume control room duties upon host’s unplanned visit

— The bit about Jesse’s “cost-efficient campaign” is fairly funny.
— Great punchline to Jesse’s story about walking on water, with the newspapers printing a headline that says “Jesse Can’t Swim”.
— Jesse’s stories here are really long-winded, which reminds me of the first half of Bob Uecker’s monologue in the last episode, but at least Jesse has better delivery than him.
— I love how everybody in the control room runs out in a panic when they realize Jesse’s coming. Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure I saw Heino Ripp among the crew. I thought he retired after the Flip Wilson episode last season (during the goodnights in that episode, they ran a “Nine years of thanks to Heino Ripp” credit and then cut to a shot of him in the control room). Did he return this season after only being away for half a year?
— Haha, absolutely classic reveal of the white control room crew being quickly switched with a black crew, in an effort to fool Jesse.
— I liked how the black director actually had to be told feedback’s a bad thing.
STARS: **½ for the first half, ****½ for the second half


ELEVATOR
while stuck in an elevator, Willie (BIC) & Frankie (CHG) talk about pain

— The debut of Christopher and Billy’s “I hate when that happens” characters. I know these sketches are pretty polarizing (along with everything else Billy Crystal does on the show) among SNL fans, but I always really liked these sketches.
— The descriptions of their increasingly masochistic actions are funny and there’s some really good interplay between Christopher and Billy here.
— Overall, while no particular line stood out to me here, I enjoyed this sketch as expected. These characters are off to a good start.
STARS: ***½


WRONG VOICE, RIGHT FACE
anachronistic Billy Idol’s (PLS) new album- Wrong Voice, Right Face

— Good Billy Idol impression from Pamela, and it especially comes off funny to me after I recently saw Billy Idol’s SNL musical performances while reviewing the Don Rickles episode from the previous season.
— Pretty funny satire on the incongruity between Billy Idol’s punk rock look and old-timey crooner voice.
STARS: ***


REFRIGERATOR MAGNET SAFETY ADVISORY BOARD
kids like to eat refrigerator magnets- be aware of the warning signs

— I love the concept of this.
— Funny part with the metal surgical tools flying onto the boy’s stomach.
— Another good visual with the boy uncontrollably turning to the north repeatedly.
— Overall, another pretty strong and memorable (to me, at least) season 10 filmed piece.
STARS: ****


THE QUESTION IS MOOT!
host’s politics make game show answers unimportant

— Looks like the same gameshow set they used for the previous week’s “7X4” sketch. (side-by-side comparison below)

— I liked Julia lying about her name for no apparent reason.
— Don Pardo’s overly excited description of the red car is really making me laugh.
— This is a strong concept, with Jesse immediately shutting down the contestants’ answers to go off on various angry political rants.
— Also, it’s funny how the premise of this is an exact reverse of the “7X4” sketch’s premise. “7X4” deals with a gameshow host’s frustration as the contestants keep answering the question before he even finishes asking it, and “The Question Is Moot” deals with frustrated contestants not being able to finish giving their answers before the gameshow host cuts them off.
— I keep cracking up every time Jesse sternly says the mantra “The question is moot!”
— Julia: “Who gets the car???” Jesse: “I get the car!”
STARS: ****


FIRST CLASS
while seated next to host on a plane, Ed Grimley sees a demon on the wing
host’s second trip to the control room prompts another white evacuation

— Some recognition applause from the audience upon Ed Grimley’s entrance.
— Nice continuity from the last Ed Grimley sketch, by having Grimley mention he was recently on Wheel of Fortune.
— I like Grimley’s shame in saying “whorehouse” after finding out Jesse’s a reverend.
— LOL at a random monster appearing outside the plane window. We’re going into Twilight Zone territory all of a sudden.
— I think I see original SNL writer Alan Zweibel as one of the passengers seated in front of Grimley and Jackson. I think I’m also seeing then-current writer Kevin Kelton seated across from Grimley and Jackson, but I really can’t tell.
— Funny and interesting breaking-the-fourth-wall turn, with Jesse giving up on the sketch and walking off the set while saying “This is just dumb! This stupid.”
— LOL at director Dave Wilson’s panicked “He’s coming again!”
— Seems kinda unnecessary to repeat the “white control room crew gets quickly substituted with a black crew” joke, but I still laughed.
— I’ve just now noticed frequent Ebersol-era extra Clint Smith among the black crew this time.
STARS: ***½


TIPPI TURTLE
by Jack Zander- Tippi Turtle annoys with musical greeting card mechanism

— Great prank idea, with Tippi hiding the music chip from a musical greeting card in random places to annoy people.
— Very funny seeing people being driven crazy by the elusive music.
— For a second, when the “The End” screen showed up, I honestly expected it to be followed by the TV Funhouse ending credits while the “Saturday TV Funhouse” jingle plays. I guess this shows how I’m so used to SNL’s go-to animated segment being Robert Smigel’s later series of cartoons.
STARS: ****


JUST KIDDING
(BIC) bugs (JIB) by alternating news of son’s death with “just kidding”

— I got a laugh from Billy revealing the son’s head is in the bag he’s carrying.
— The insane back-and-forth alternations of Billy joking and being serious is a fairly thin premise, but it’s being executed well.
— I liked Jim’s “I lost my place here” when being confused over which of the two stories Billy is currently on.
— I love the panicky part with Pamela and Jim screaming hysterically when pulling out a severed head from the bag.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
host deconstructs Ronald Reagan’s answers from presidential debate
rebuttal-giving Young Republicans’ representative (MAS) is scared of host
JIB starts to rap, host shows him how it’s done

— Are these “jokes” from Jesse even jokes?
— Okay, Jesse’s unique news joke style is now beginning to grow on me.
— I like the segment with Jesse deconstructing clips of Reagan’s statements from that week’s Reagan/Mondale presidential debate. Also, this is making me remember that SNL doesn’t do ANY debate sketches during this election, which I believe makes this the only time in SNL’s entire run where they go through a presidential election without doing any sketches parodying the debates. The 1980 elections don’t count, as the 1980-81 season of SNL didn’t begin until November, right after that year’s elections ended.
— I liked Jesse counting the length of Reagan’s long mid-sentence pause in one clip.
— The frozen look on Mondale’s face in reaction to a questionable statement from Reagan was really funny.
— Interesting seeing Martin Short doing a commentary at the desk as a normal character.
— Funny concept with Jesse’s deadpan reactions intimidating Martin during Martin’s criticisms of Jesse.
— The return of Rappin’ Jimmy B.
— I’m liking Jesse’s reactions to Jim’s rapping attempt.
— Jesse’s semi-rapping about white suburban kids trying to act black is pretty funny.
— Overall, the best edition of Saturday Night News in a while. Who would’ve guessed that Jesse would be such a good guest anchor?
STARS: ***½


BUDDY YOUNG JR. IS BACK!
insult comedian Buddy Young, Jr. (BIC) is back on-stage

— Billy is absolutely killing me with his portrayal of an old-timey insult comic. I’m loving his put-downs to the crowd. It also helps that my aforementioned recent viewing of last season’s Don Rickles-hosted episode renewed my appreciation for insult comics.
— Pretty funny happy testimonials from the insulted audience members.
— Overall, yet another strong season 10 pre-tape.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrae Crouch performs “Right Now”


JEANE KIRKPATRICK
host admits he has a love jones for Jeanne Kirkpatrick

— Pretty funny revelation that Jesse only got into politics to be closer to Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
— Jesse waxing poetic about Kirkpatrick has some laughs, and I’m really liking his performance here.
— Nice touch at the very end with Jesse doing a little solo slow-dance.
STARS: ***


RICH HALL’S ELECTION REPORT
undecided voters’ league chief (CHG) is indecisive
Mr. Blackwell (HAS) lists fashion disasters at Soap Opera Digest awards

— Good to see this Rich Hall showcase back.
— Doesn’t feel like we’ve been seeing much of Christopher tonight.
— Christopher as the Undecided Voters League president constantly changing his mind over everything is a very predictable premise, but Christopher is pulling it off well with his dry delivery.
— Very strange how Rich’s live outtro segued into a “guest commentary” by Harry as Mr. Blackwell. So this Rich Hall Election Report has suddenly turned into a thinly-veiled continuation of tonight’s earlier Saturday Night News? What the HELL?!? Ebersol continues to make baffling decisions with SNL’s news segment. Thank god this is the final season I have to put up with that.
— Harry’s delivery is tickling me so much and it’s making his fashion critiques come off really funny.
STARS: *** for the Rich Hall/Christopher Guest half, ***½ for the Harry Shearer half


RAINBOW COALITION
host lists people not accepted in the Rainbow Coalition, like Dick Cavett

— Funny format with Jesse listing people who are excluded from his Rainbow Coalition.
— I like the pictures being shown to accompany the listed-off people.
— LOL at Jesse’s repeated exclusion of Dick Cavett.
— Loved the meta part with one of the excluded people being anybody who advised Jesse to do SNL after Eddie Murphy left.
— What was that weird moving thing that can be seen on the bottom right corner of the screen at the very end? It looked kinda like it was a framed photo of Jesse that a crew member was trying to hand Jesse but he failed notice. What’s that all about? (screencap below)

STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Wintley Phipps performs “Tell Me Again”


GOODNIGHTS
musical guests perform “Soon & Very Soon”

— A rare on-screen appearance from Dick Ebersol, being handed an album of Jesse’s presidential campaign speech.
— A deviation from the normal goodnights, with the usual goodnights music being replaced with Jesse, the musical guests, and the cast all singing “Soon and Very Soon”.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid and very consistent episode. There weren’t any segments I disliked, the sketches ranged from good to great, and there were a few well-remembered things like The Question Is Moot and the second half of the monologue.
— For non-actor standards, Jesse Jackson did a very good job as host. He carried himself well, had good delivery of his comedic lines, and was able to handle several solo sketches with ease. He even did a surprisingly good job guest anchoring Saturday Night News.
— My copy of this episode is apparently missing a sketch where Jesse addresses the fact that this season’s SNL cast has no black performers. Sounds like an interesting piece, and I’m surprised the show would openly acknowledge their lack of minorities in this cast.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bob Uecker):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Future cast member Michael McKean hosts

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May 24, 1980 – Buck Henry / Andrew Gold, Andrae Crouch and The Voices Of Unity (S5 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Frank Reynolds (HAS) presents presidential consolation debate highlights

   

— Lot of great lines from Harry during his intro.
— I’m still not quite sure what to make of Jim Downey’s George Bush impression.
— That being said, Jim’s Bush speech had a whole bunch of funny lines.
— Bill’s speech was okay, but not as amusing as Jim’s.
— Paul smushing actual slices of a pie onto the pie chart is hilarious.
— Harry gets the final LFNY of the original SNL era??? That’s surprising. While it’s hard to complain about Harry Shearer getting ANY airtime on the show, it really feels like one of the original cast members should’ve gotten the final LFNY.
— Very solid cold opening overall.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host introduces (DOP) & other supposed castmembers of SNL’s sixth season

        

— Buck mentions this is SNL’s 106th episode and the 103rd time he’s hosted. I really liked that line.
— He addresses rumors that tonight’s episode might be the last SNL ever, and announces SNL will be back again next season!…but NOT with the same cast. There will be a new replacement cast, who he’s about to introduce.
— The audience laughs at Buck referring to the show’s “former producer”, as if that were a joke. I guess they’re not aware that Lorne really IS leaving.
— Buck says he’s looking forward to working with SNL’s new producer in the years ahead. Unfortunately, that never ended up happening, as tonight’s episode turns out to be Buck’s final time hosting. I recall hearing he declined any future hosting offers out of respect to the original cast. He’s never even made so much as a cameo in any future episodes, not counting specials like SNL’s 15th anniversary show (where he does a segment with Steve Martin).
— Hey, it’s the creator of the Mr. Bill shorts, Walter Williams. (third screencap above)
— I recall hearing that the black woman in this is Yvonne Hudson. Now that I’m watching this monologue for myself, that’s definitely NOT her. It would’ve been hilarious if it were her, though, considering she DOES actually end up joining the cast next season.
— Unless I’m mistaken, this is Don Pardo’s very first onscreen appearance on SNL. I love how his fake name in this is “Ron Waldo”, and how he introduces himself by doing a Don Pardo imitation. Since audiences at the time probably had no idea what Don looked like, I wonder if they even realized he’s the real Don Pardo or if they just assumed he’s someone who can do a really good impression of Pardo’s voice.
— Overall, I loved this monologue and found it very fun being introduced to the fake new cast.
STARS: ****


ROYAL PARTY
eponymous noblemen mingle at a party thrown by Lord Salisbury (HAS)

   

— Ah, here’s a legendary sketch from this era.
— All the nobles’ last names and how they allude to various now-famous inventions is very well-written.
— Funny with Bill as the Earl of Sandwich lamenting that “nothing’s been named after my family”.
— Garrett’s delivery of “Lord and Lady Douchebag” KILLED me.
— Harry’s “Where the devil are those Douchebags?” line was great.
— Very funny hearing “douchebag” constantly being casually delivered in such dignified 18th century voices.
— Ha, Gilda as Lady Douchebag requesting vinegar and water as food dressing.
— Loved Bill delivery of “Douchebaaaaag, how are ya!” From my past viewings of clips from this sketch, I had remembered Bill giving Buck a noogie after saying that line, but now I see that never actually happened. It DOES seem like a very Bill Murray thing to do, though.
— Bill: “Lord Douchebag, just what kind of invention are you sitting on?”
— And already, we’re out. That sketch was the perfect length, and is just one of many reasons why this is such a fantastic classic sketch.
STARS: *****


COW MINDER’S DAUGHTER
rise & fall of Indian singer Govinda Lynn (LAN)

   

— Laraine playing a character who turns down being a model because models starve themselves.  I can’t help but notice a whole bunch of irony there.
— The initial shot of Gilda cracked me up.
— Not really sure what the point of this sketch is so far.
— Yeah, I’m coming to the realization that this sketch ain’t goin’ anywhere that I’m gonna like.
— Did something go wrong? All of a sudden, there’s a lot of awkwardness and stretched-out pauses between Bill and Laraine after Bill called for the cows, and Bill looks like he’s trying not to laugh. (last screencap above) What’s that all about?
— Overall, wow, I did not care for this sketch at all. Maybe it would’ve helped if I had ever seen “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, the movie that this was spoofing.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrew Gold performs “Kiss This One Goodbye”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jack Perkins (HAS), (Richard Belzer), others on Walter Keane art exhibit
Chico Escuela gives himself credit for baseball strike resolution
Roseanne Roseannadanna travels from volcanoes to Gloria Vanderbilt’s itch

           

— Here we go, the final Curtin/Murray Weekend Update.
— *sigh* I’m gonna miss hearing Jane saying her “I’m Jane Curtin and here now the news” intro. I’ve gotten so used to hearing that in every Update these last four seasons.
— Loved Bill’s random “Anita Bryant…… is available” bit. I also like how a few people in the audience audibly booed as soon as her picture showed up on the news screen.
— The bit with Bill snapping a Polaroid directly at the camera facing him was just plain strange, and got very little reaction from the audience. I also didn’t get what he meant with his “So I won a bet, big deal” ad-lib afterwards.
— What the–? Now Bill’s aforementioned photo-snapping bit has screwed up the screen. The flash from his Polaroid seems to have left an awful yellow-brownish spot onto the middle of the screen. (you can see it the the fourth and fifth screencaps above) Yikes. I’m guessing Bill forgot to turn off the flash on the camera before snapping the picture.
— And now, we go straight from that Bill/camera bit to a Harry Shearer commentary that strangely begins with NO applause from the audience. Wow. Maybe the audience was just thrown off by whatever the hell that Bill/camera thing was supposed to be.
— Uh-oh, now the aforementioned yellow-brownish spot on the middle of the screen is making poor Harry look like he has a yellow mouth. Geez.
— Richard Belzer!
— Belzer has the distinction of appearing in the first and last episode of the original SNL era. In the first episode, he was one of the jurors in the courtroom sketch that ended with Gilda receiving a note and thinking that John Belushi was making a pass at her, and now here he is in the last episode. A nice unintentional bookend to the era.
— Harry’s Jack Perkins commentary is a bit unusual with the heavy reliance on a pre-taped remote segment, but there’s a lot of good laughs here, especially from the ridiculous visual of presidential paintings with Keane eyes.
— Garrett’s Chico Escuela delivery is much better than the bizarre delivery he used last time Chico appeared.
— Normally I’d groan at the sight of Roseanne Rosannadanna appearing once again, but knowing this is the last time we’ll ever see her, I can’t complain. I’ve never disliked the character herself, just how much they overrelied on her shtick these last two seasons.
— Hmm, Richard Feder has written to Rosannadanna from Washington instead of his usual Fort Lee, New Jersey residence.
— Oh, it turns out Feder moved to get away from the hellhole that is New Jersey.
— Loved Rosannadanna’s complaint about Gloria Vanderbilt putting her good name “on every ass in America”.
— Rosannadanna’s story about Gloria Vanderbilt repeatedly scratching her crotch area in a movie theater is a riot! A lot of big laughs there. This is reminding me why I used to like Rosannadanna so much before they started overusing her.
— Tonight’s overall Update was a pretty solid way to end the Curtin/Murray era. I’m gonna miss this Update era, especially when I know how unstable this portion of the show is going to be the next few seasons during the non-Lorne years.
STARS: ***½


UNCLE ROY
mom (JAC) remains blind to the true nature of pedophilic “Uncle” Roy

       

— I can already tell from the set that we’re getting our obligatory Uncle Roy sketch. Actually, I shouldn’t say “obligatory”, since they surprisingly refrained from doing this character in Buck’s episode from earlier this season.
— For the first time ever, Uncle Roy’s entrance receive audience applause.
— They explain the absence of Dan Aykroyd’s character (Jane’s husband) by saying he’s in Cleveland at a convention.
— Uncle Roy and Jane point out a new glass coffee table in the living room. Ha, I just KNOW Ol’ Roy is gonna get mileage out of that table later in the sketch with the girls.
— I like the line about how Roy had the girls play “bobbing for bananas” last time he visited them.
— I also like the mention of Roy pretending to be a dog during his last visit and how he almost “buried [his] bone in [the girls’] backyard.” Nice double-entendre.
— Hilarious bit where Roy is able to tell which pair of panties belongs to which girl just by the smell.
— Ah, there’s Uncle Roy making use of the glass coffee table, by having the girls pretend to “ride on a glass-bottom boat” as he eagerly snaps pictures underneath the table.
— LOL at Buck’s panicked “I can explain everything!” when Jane returns unexpectedly early and sees what Roy is up to.
— Interesting turn this sketch has taken with Jane talking about a possible divorce between her and her husband, and Roy trying to save their marriage just so she won’t move away with the girls.
— After Jane says she wishes more families would have an uncle like Roy, the camera does a slow zoom-in on Buck telling Jane, while looking at the camera with a subtle grin, “Oh, there’s more of me than you might suspect…” (last screencap above), which is how the sketch ends. Heh, creepy and unsettling as fuck, but at the same time, I found it the perfect way to end the final Uncle Roy sketch.
STARS: ****


TRADER NICK’S
Hawaiian-themed bar of Nick “Lava” has music & waitress Iris de Flaminio

     

— Our final Nick the Lounger Singer sketch during Bill’s years as a cast member. He would later bring this character back a few times in some of his future hosting stints.
— I think I see Jane as Iris De Flaminio in the background. If so, they’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of this character these last handful of episodes, which is good since Jane debuted the character so late in her tenure.
— Akira Yoshimura! He’s been getting quite a lot of face time recently.
— Yep, Jane IS playing Iris. Interesting use of her in this sketch, as a waitress.
— Looks like we DO get an Yvonne Hudson appearance tonight after all! And she’s playing a character with her own name, too! “I’m Yvonne Hudson and this is my lovejones (points to Garrett).”
— Gilda’s sarcastic deadpan remarks to Bill were very funny.
— I absolutely love Bill’s singing of “Stairway to Heaven”.
— Overall, a very fine temporary final outing for this character.
STARS: ***½


WEEK IN REVIEW
tabloid journalists’ notions of newsworthiness vex (host)

    

— I like Bill’s almost-whispery speaking voice as the host, which is a dead-on imitation of some of the political panel shows like this.
— Buck is fairly funny as the only reasonable person at the table.
— Overall, for once tonight, I didn’t have much to say about a sketch. I didn’t find this sketch to be very good, and I got fairly bored with it after a while.
STARS: **


MOMMY BEER
hunters musically express their fondness for baby-bottles of Mommy Beer

   

— I cracked up at Tom Davis’ burly-voiced delivery of “You’ve been holdin’ out on us, ya rascal!”
— The nipple-topped beer bottle is a pretty funny visual.
— Haha, I like the blatantly obvious lip-synced harmonizing between the men, and their hammy gestures throughout the song.
— Very catchy commercial jingle.
— Funny part with a beer-less Bill whining “I want MY Mommy” and then babyish-ly sucking on the bottle when he finally gets one.
— Oddly enough, that sounds like Harry Shearer’s voice during the baritone parts of the lip-synced jingle.
— Great tagline from Buck: “She’s a bitch…. of a brew!”
— Fun sketch overall.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrae Crouch & Voices of Unity perform “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus”


GOODNIGHTS
Studio 8H empties as the “On Air” sign goes out

     

— Buck gives a simple but very poignant “Goodnight……and goodbye.”
— *sigh* The final gathering of this cast. I have to admit, I’m starting to feel emotional. After watching and reviewing these first five seasons on a daily basis in chronological order the last few months, I’ve grown REALLY attached to this cast. It’s not easy for me to see them go.
— Ah, there goes the famous part of these goodnights, where Buck leads the cast and guests offstage and then we cut to their arrival backstage where they’re all shown walking past the camera. After a while, the camera slowly zooms in on the flashing “ON AIR” sign, then the flashing sign eventually turns off, which is the very last thing we see before the goodnights end. Beautiful. I’m honestly getting a little misty-eyed right now.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The original SNL era ends with a surprisingly strong episode for this season. There were a lot of great sketches, a minimal amount of flops, and we got an all-time classic as the perfect centerpiece of the night (Lord and Lady Douchebag).
— Not only am I going to miss the hell out of this cast, but I’m also going to miss reviewing Buck Henry-hosted episodes. It’s amazing to think that over just the past few months, I’ve reviewed TEN Buck Henry episodes. Nobody else has ever hosted SNL with the frequency that he has in such a short amount of time. He was such a perfect host for this era of SNL, and always had such a likable and warm presence, no matter what role he was playing.
— Season 5 as a whole was a fairly bumpy road like I was prepared to see, but not quite in the way I was expecting. Despite a shaky first three episodes, which instantly had me worried, the remainder of the first half of the season was pretty smooth-sailing for the most part. When I reached the second half of the season, THAT’S when the trouble fully kicked in. The long string of episodes from Teri Garr to Rodney Dangerfield all ranged from forgettable to pretty awful, and the burnout from the writing staff was on full display. We started to finally get some good episodes after that, including one that pleasantly surprised me with how inspired it was (Strother Martin), but a somewhat frequent amount of underwhelming or iffy episodes still kept popping up. At least the season ended on a high note with a strong season finale.
— Well, I can now proudly say I’ve seen and reviewed every single episode from the original SNL era! It feels so great to accomplish that, considering I came into this SNL project of mine being nowhere near as familiar with the original era as a diehard SNL fan like me should be. I mean, I had seen a handful of episodes from each of the first five seasons, as well as lots of clips in highlight reels and “Best Of” compilations, but considering how well-versed I am in every SNL era from 1985-present, I had always been kinda ashamed that I hadn’t seen all that much from the legendary original years. Well, now I can officially say that I know this era VERY well after doing these daily reviews.
— And man, did I enjoy covering these first five seasons, familiarizing myself more with this wonderful cast, discovering this cast is even more talented and well-rounded than I had ever thought, witnessing the evolution of the era, tackling the more infamous episodes (Louise Lasser, Milton Berle, etc.), revisiting classic sketches, and discovering lesser-known gems. I came away from this era having much more love and respect for it than I’ve ever had. Before doing these reviews, I used to always argue that the original SNL was overrated whenever anyone would call it the best era ever, because I was of the opinion that despite how groundbreaking the original SNL was, that era was so inconsistent and VERY hit-and-miss due to how wildly experimental the show’s format was back then. I had felt that, in order to call an SNL era the best ever, it needs to be one that’s a little more consistent in how strong it was, which for me has always been the late 80s era. Well, after now reviewing the whole original era, I’ve seen that it was nowhere near as inconsistent or hit-and-miss as I had thought. Once the show found it’s footing sometime in 1976, the era was pretty smooth-sailing for a few years, particularly in seasons 3 and 4, which are two of the strongest SNL seasons of all-time and contain a surprisingly good number of flawless episodes that have no bad sketches. The era unfortunately ended on a fairly rough note with the disappointing season 5, but looking at this era as a whole, I would now say that it’s a close second to the late 80s as the best SNL era.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Well, folks, for the very first time in my SNL project, after going through five seasons of having the comfort of the original cast, I enter brand new territory…. and dangerous territory at that, because it’s the notorious season 6. Elliott Gould hosts the first episode.