Tag: Candice Bergen

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

 

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Railroad Worksong”


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love You Too Much”


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

 

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

 

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

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


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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

November 21, 1987 – Candice Bergen / Cher (S13 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) announces to nation “I’m no wimp, I’ve staged a coup”

— First instance of Dana’s George Bush impression being front-and-center in his own sketch. This is often mistaken as the debut of his Bush impression; it actually debuted in a small role during the first cold opening of this season.
— This is odd to watch in hindsight. Dana’s Bush is almost NOTHING like how it would go on to be. There are mildly exaggerated hand movements here, but that’s it.
— A decent opening overall, with some humor from Bush’s ways of proving he’s not a wimp.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
while holding a turkey, host talks about her childhood walking bird

— A unique monologue entrance, coming out holding a live turkey.
— Very good story from Candice about her childhood pet turkey, especially the funny ending regarding the turkey’s inability to fly off a roof.
STARS: ***½


PUMPING UP WITH HANS & FRANZ
a look at flabby man Helmut’s (PHH) faults

— This sketch officially becomes recurring. Strange how these characters went from being the final sketch of the night in their first appearance to being the lead-off sketch in their second appearance, especially considering their first appearance didn’t kill with the audience.
— The audience is now starting to slowly latch on to the “We want to pump… (*clap*)… you up” catchphrase, giving recognition laughter as soon as the line starts to come up, and doing the “(*clap*)” in unison with Hans and Franz.
— Love Phil’s walk-on as Helmut.
— Some good laughs from Hans and Franz doing a breakdown of Phil’s flabbiness.
— Funny line from Kevin threatening to wring his sweaty sweatshirt into a glass so he can make us drink it.
— Overall, an improvement over these characters’ debut.
STARS: ***½


ANNE BOLEYN
after considering execution options, Anne Boleyn (host) is decapitated

— A lot of laughs from Candice’s overly specific questions about what happens to her head after she’s beheaded.
— Great part with Phil’s details on the process of being drawn and quartered.
— Very funny absurd question with Candice asking if her severed head will be shot through a cannon at her body.
— This sketch’s dialogue in general is absolutely hilarious.
— The beheading sequence is priceless, with the blood squirting onto the spectators while Candice is heard giving exaggerated screams and groans off-camera.
— Even the screen crawl epilogue at the end has some really funny lines.
— Overall, I absolutely loved this entire sketch.
— I’m aware that this sketch’s inclusion on Phil’s “Best Of” has baffled some people, who feel this sketch comes off out of place in a Phil Hartman highlights compilation because this is centered more on Candice Bergen than on Phil. I disagree. I understand EXACTLY why this sketch was put in Phil’s “Best Of”: it’s a perfect display of his very funny knack for delivering absurd dialogue in such a straight manner.
STARS: ****½


MANUFACTURERS OF MACHINE PART COMPONENTS UNITED TO SAVE OUR COURTS
Judge Anthony Kennedy’s stance on machine part tax has dire implications

— The overly complicated wordiness in this ad is providing some good laughs, as is the seriousness that such a minor subject is being treated with.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We All Sleep Alone”


MAYFLOWER MADAM
prostitution at the first Thanksgiving; Sydney Biddle Barrows cameo

— A fairly interesting intro.
— Funny touch with Candice’s dramatic hand-biting gesture at end of one scene.
— Good part with Phil’s Miles Standish unconvincingly posing as an Indian.
— Jon being found dead with a big smile on his face (because he died while having sex) was pretty funny.
STARS: ***


CHING CHANGE
Ching Change dislikes Loose’s positive-stereotype boyfriend (PHH)

— Please, no.
— Hmm, interesting how tonight’s installment of this sketch is actually openly addressing how Ching Change is, as this installment calls, an insulting caricature and a damaging stereotype.
— And now we get Phil as “Matthew Chen, Positive Ethnic Role Model”. Yep, it’s official: tonight’s Ching Change installment is definitely intended to address criticisms that I’m assuming the show had been receiving back then for Dana’s offensive portrayal.
— I really like Phil’s portrayal of his comically-PC character.
— Some laughs from Ching Change awkwardly trying to speak normal like Phil’s character.
— Candice to Ching Change: “You ARE a fairly broad caricature, but nothing beyond the realm of possibility.” A lot of meta commentary in this sketch.
— Overall, one of the better Ching Change sketches by default, for being fully self-aware and, in a way, apologetic. I doubt it’ll last, though.
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE
lack of counterpoint hampers DEM’s attempt to debate Gorbachev address

— The bit with a sperm-blocking procedure being represented by a clip from a football game fell flat.
— Very odd moment just now. During his Gorbachev rant, Dennis throws to a guest correspondent to do a counterpoint, but looks to his left and sees that nobody has shown up (last screencap above). Dennis is then told something by someone who’s off-camera. Dennis then amusedly ad-libs to the camera “I’ve always waited for this to happen. Three years and a sketch blew up on live TV”, and then he moves on with the remaining news jokes. I recall once reading an explanation of what happened: there was supposed to be a point/counterpoint segment with Dennis debating himself, played by Dana (which would’ve been the debut of Dana’s impression of Dennis), but Dana didn’t show up because he erroneously thought the segment got cut. I honestly don’t understand how that kind of mistake can happen. Aren’t there stage managers at SNL who inform performers when they need to get ready for a segment? How’d they let THIS one slip through?
STARS: ***


THOUGHT BUBBLE
visible thought balloons reveal what (PHH) & (host) are really thinking

   

— I like how Phil and Candice’s respective thought bubbles are becoming more and more random, especially Candice visualizing Hitler and footage of a baboon.
— I’ve always considered this a companion piece to the Slide Whistles sketch from this season’s Steve Martin episode. In fact, before doing these reviews, I used to sometimes get both sketches confused for each other, thinking the Steve Martin sketch had the thought bubbles and the Candice Bergen sketch had the slide whistles. I wonder if both sketches were written by the same person.
— Very funny thought bubble from Kevin as the waiter.
— Good ending with Candice’s earlier visual of a man crashing through a window turning out to happen for real as she pushes Phil out the window.
STARS: ***½


PEEPING TOM
peeping tom (KEN) interrupts Mace’s attempts to do it with hooker (JAH)

— I loved the first Mace sketch from the previous season, so I’m looking forward to this follow-up.
— I like Jan as the uninterested hooker (her second prostitute role of the night, by the way).
— Phil’s various intense outbursts at Kevin are hilarious.
— Some good laughs from Phil’s forced ways of segueing back into his foreplay with Jan.
— Funny visual of an upside-down Kevin peeking in through the window. I wonder how they pulled that off.
— Not sure if I liked the ending or not.
— Overall, while I didn’t like this sketch as much as Mace’s first sketch, I still enjoyed this, despite a somewhat dead audience.
STARS: ***


COUNTRY THROUGH AND THROUGH
singer Lonnie Braddox (DAC) is ashamed to be “Country Through & Through”

— Funny disturbing details about Dana’s father, especially the surprising line about a molestation attempt.
— I like how this has eventually turned into a blatant anti-country song.
STARS: ***


EINSTEIN EXPRESS
— Rerun from last season.
— I forgot to point this out the first time I reviewed this, but the nameplate on Phil’s desk says Harry Butterworth (screencap below, though the nameplate is hard to read in it), which is a giveaway that Andy Breckman wrote this commercial. But why “Harry Butterworth” instead of the usual “Dale Butterworth”?


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Found Someone”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, even if nothing stood out as particularly strong besides the Anne Boleyn sketch. Couldn’t help but feel, though, that Candice Bergen was a little underutilized as the host, especially in the last quarter of the show where I don’t think she was in ANY sketches. Still, it was nice to see her on the show again after such a long hiatus, and to see how she worked with a completely different cast than the one she’s worked with before.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Mitchum)
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Danny DeVito

Posted on

December 11, 1976 – Candice Bergen / Frank Zappa (S2 E10)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
home from prison, Patty Hearst (GIR) spends the evening with her family
   
— This opening is almost TOO topical. I remember when I first saw this episode years ago, I had absolutely NO context for what this opening was about, which made me feel pretty lost. Thankfully, due to me watching SNL episodes in chronological order for my ‘One SNL a Day’ project, I now know a lot more about Patty Hearst, simply because SNL has been making A LOT of references and Update jokes about her in these first two seasons. That’s one of the things that’s going to be fascinating about going through SNL’s timeline for my project: it will almost be like a history lesson, due to how many topical references the show has made over the decades. These first two seasons have taught me some things I didn’t know about Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, etc.
— Everything on TV having some kind of relevance to Patty Hearst’s unfortunate situation is pretty funny.
— Nice meta ending.
— So far, the only cast member in the post-Chevy Chase era to say LFNY has been Gilda, in three out of four episodes (the one non-Gilda LFNY in those four episodes was from musical guest George Harrison). I wonder if the plan at the time was for Chevy’s LFNY tradition to be passed on to Gilda, but somewhere along the line, they decided it would be better to have a different person say it each week.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
JOB’s Humphrey Bogart impression gets reluctant host out of dressing room
     
— There’s no entrance from Candice Bergen after Pardo has announced her name, which is reminding me of Buck Henry’s second monologue from last season, where he went missing.
— And now, the bit with Candice refusing to come out of her dressing room is reminding me of Louise Lasser’s monologue, only without the infamy and without the real-life uncomfortable subtext.
— Jane: “He’s not worth it; no man is, especially John Belushi.”
— Lorne is cracking me up with his seriously questioning how Belushi has so much power over women.
— Jane: “[John]’s had his way with every single woman on this network; why do you think Barbara Walters left?”
— This has turned into an interesting Casablanca parody.
— For some reason, I liked Candice’s line to John about how she’s only attracted to “swill”.
— Yet another funny line: “We’ll still have Paris… and the Muppets.”
— Overall, a very good monologue.
STARS: ****

JIMMY CARTER
Jimmy Carter (DAA) announces he won’t be able to keep all his promises

— Funny premise with Dan’s Carter going back on his campaign promises from the election.
— Another Bob Dylan quote from him. Was the real Jimmy Carter known for pandering to Dylan fans during the election?
— Dan’s Carter: “Don’t expect things to start improving until the beginning of my second term.” Uh, I have bad news for you, Jimmy…
STARS: ***

SANTI-WRAP
DAA touts Santi-Wrap as protection from unhygienic Santas, like (JOB)
 
— A very memorable fake ad that’s been played in a lot of compilation specials.
— Love the close-up of John drunkenly going “ho ho ho” after taking a swig from his bottle.
— Overall, a very funny concept that was executed perfectly.
STARS: *****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
   
— An incredible and legendary performance of “I’m The Slime”, especially Don Pardo’s participation and the special effect of the slime oozing out of the TV monitor.

CONSUMER PROBE
Irwin Mainway (DAA) defends some unsafe children’s toys
   
— The debut of Irwin Mainway, one of my all-time favorite Dan Aykroyd characters. And this debut sketch is probably Mainway’s most well-remembered appearance.
— The ‘Teddy Chainsaw Bear’ is particularly hilarious.
— I love this part with him trying to prove how normal, safe toys are supposedly “dangerous”.
— Loved him throwing himself backwards out of his chair when strangling himself with the phone wire.
STARS: *****

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
— Rerun from last season

RIGHT TO EXTREME STUPIDITY LEAGUE
Fern’s (host) friend Lisa (GIR) supports the right to extreme stupidity
   
— Yet another very memorable sketch.
— Gilda is very funny playing a character like this.
— Here’s the legendary blooper, where Candice mistakenly calls Gilda “Fern”, which is her own character’s name, then says “I mean… whatever your name was” and starts cracking up.
— Topping that is Gilda’s classic subsequent “We all can’t be brainy like Fern here!” line.
— Haha, Candice cannot stop laughing; she’s not even trying to hide it.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
(TOS) begs his wife JAC to come home, then hides beneath the newsdesk
Ray Basalt (DAA) gives the holiday radioactive fallout report
     
— Interesting opening, with Jane arguing with her “husband” Tom Schiller.
— After the Nixon joke bombed, Jane crumbled the paper she read the joke off of and gave it to a hand that reached out from under the desk. What the…? Was that planned?
— Another gag with the hand.  Okay, it seems to be an intentional running gag in tonight’s Update. And I just now remembered that Schiller ducked under the desk at the end of the opening “arguing with Jane” bit, so that must be his hand we’re seeing.
— Dan doing a “Fallout Report”… I can tell I’m gonna like this.
— This “Fallout Report” segment is featuring the usual masterful fast-paced Aykroyd performance.

FX-70 CHEESE SLICER
the new FX-70 cheese slicer resembles a Polaroid camera
   
— Are we in for another non-joke sponsored Polaroid ad?
— Oh, the “cheese slice coming out of the camera’s photo dispenser” gag. I remember seeing this commercial before.  I’m glad this isn’t another plug for Polaroid.
— Cute commercial.
— Candice again started cracking up at the end; I’m not sure why this time.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is bothered by the notion of collecting for “Unisex”
   
— This is Emily Litella’s first appearance in quite a long time. My main complaint about her in the past was how overused she was, appearing in long stretches of consecutive episodes, which is way too much for a character with a thin premise like her.
— This is also the first time she’s appearing with Jane as the anchorperson instead of Chevy.
— Heh, and now they actually mentioned that, by having Litella say to Jane “Ever since you’ve been doing Update, I haven’t been on the show too much; I used to be on quite often.”
— Loved Litella’s “bitch” remark to Jane. Unfortunately, IIRC, they eventually run that into the ground in Litella’s subsequent appearances.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Belushi! Futaba! He came out of nowhere!
— Haha, that whole thing was amazing, with Futaba’s crazy scatting in fake Japanese, him having the band imitate everything he does, and his bizarre ways of playing the saxophone.
   

THE KILLER TREES
(DAA) & (JOB) search for the bloodthirsty arbor
     
— Oh, I always love watching this sketch.
— Yet another display of wonderful operatic singing from Garrett.
— Garrett suddenly getting impaled by the tree while in the middle of singing was timed so well.
— Funny little touch with Gilda giddily singing “La Cucaracha” while dialing the phone.
— LOL at the “tree branch sticking through the chest” effect unintentionally being delayed when Gilda tried to trigger the mechanism on herself.
— Love the 70s-sounding action music sting that plays after someone gets killed by a tree.
— Hilarious seeing Frank Zappa randomly being among the tree suspects in the police line-up.
— “Lieutenant Bushakis”. So I guess this counts as another appearance from John’s Steve Bushakis character who appears in different random sketches each time.
— The tree’s high-pitched raspy singing of “O Tannenbaum” always cracks me up.
— John asking about the guy behind the tree and Dan pointing out it’s just a stagehand is something I used to think wasn’t part of the script, but is obvious to me now that it definitely IS.
— Overall, I don’t know if this sketch is widely considered a classic, but it’s always been one of my personal favorite sketches of this whole era.
STARS: *****

DIANA NYAD
by Gary Weis- Diana Nyad’s [real] students talk about her as she trains

— As the camera fades to black at the end of Candice’s intro, you can see Candice busting out laughing due to her intro sounding awkward.
— Another Gary Weis film I have no idea what to say about. This is a well-meaning mini-documentary about this swimmer, but as with a lot of Weis films, it’s just not entertaining or interesting me AT ALL. It’s also killing the momentum this episode had going until this point.
STARS: *½

ADOPT BELUSHI FOR CHRISTMAS
host announces the Adopt JOB For Christmas Contest- he has nowhere to go
 
— Candice, when talking about the cast’s vacation plans for the holidays: “I guess Garrett will be going back to Africa…”
— I love the premise of this, and it’s being executed very well.
— Random Chevy Chase mention.
STARS: ****

GARY GILMORE
cast performs “Let’s Kill Gary Gilmore For Christmas”
 
— Third segment in a row with Candice doing an intro from the homebase stage, and in the exact same outfit too.
— Such a grim intro to this by Candice, but I’m glad she’s going into detail about Gary Gilmore’s crimes, because I otherwise would’ve had no context for him.
— Very funny reveal of the song’s main message about killing Gilmore. It’s hilarious hearing such dark, sadistic lyrics being sung in a cheery Christmas tone.
— At first, I almost thought some of the cast members were missing from this, due to how incredibly small the cast group in this sketch looks. But then I remembered that the entire cast size really is this small with Chevy gone. There are only SIX members of the cast at this point, though that doesn’t last much longer.
— Overall, a classic performance.
STARS: *****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
host & castmembers close the show from Rockefeller Center skating rink
     
— SNL’s very first instance of the goodnights taking place at the Rockefeller Center skating rink.
— The show must be running short, since Candice is obviously being forced to keep talking to the camera. Haha, she’s not even trying to hide her embarrassment over not knowing what to say.
— And now, she just made a very funny deadpan remark: “This is such an unfair thing to do to me”.
— Now Candice and the cast have begun skating.
— Funny seeing a shaky Michael O’Donoghue skating with both of his hands being held by someone.
— I’m impressed by Candice’s ability to skate backwards.
— The return of the Killler Tree’s high-pitched raspy singing of “O Tannenbaum”.
— Wow, I have no idea why, but I’m now actually starting to feel kinda emotional and a bit teary-eyed watching this.
— I think this episode holds the all-time record for longest the goodnights music has ever been played in an SNL episode. Not only did the complete song play, but it actually started up again afterwards until the show eventually faded to black. I think the only other episode that comes close to having goodnights music as complete as this is actually the most recent Christmas episode from 2017 with Kevin Hart (which, just like tonight’s episode, also had ice-skating goodnights).

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow, what a great episode! Definitely one of the best I’ve reviewed so far in this project; in fact, I’d say of all the episodes I’ve covered, this one is probably my second favorite, after the Richard Pryor episode from season 1.
— Literally every single one of the actual sketches tonight worked, with so many of them being strong, memorable, and highly-regarded, and several of them flat-out being all-time classics. The captivating musical performances from Frank Zappa and the special extended skating goodnights also added to the overall epic vibe. If it wasn’t for the Gary Weis film, this would’ve been a 100% flawless episode.
— Of the cast, Belushi seemed to have a particularly great night, giving a lot of memorable, stand-out performances.
— Once again, Candice Bergen was a solid host, had a comforting presence, and worked so well with this cast. With this being the second consecutive Christmas episode she hosted, it should’ve remained a tradition for her to host every Christmas show in this era (much like how it would soon become a tradition for Buck Henry to always host the season finales in this era), but unfortunately, this episode would end up being the last time she ever hosted with this cast. In fact, she doesn’t make her return until 11 years later, during the late 80s Phil Hartman/Jon Lovitz era.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
We enter 1977, with Ralph Nader hosting, and a certain new cast member joining the show!

Posted on

December 20, 1975 – Candice Bergen / Martha Reeves, The Stylistics (S1 E8)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives a Christmas Eve fireside chat from White House
 
— Was it intentional for Garrett to trip over the Christmas presents when he made his entrance? I thought Chevy was supposed to be the clumsy one in these cold openings.
— I liked Chevy’s Ford insisting Garrett call him “Dr. President” instead of the formal “Mr. President”.
— Ah, and there’s the famous Chevy-as-Ford Christmas tree pratfall, which has often been played in SNL highlight reels.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Wow, it’s over already? That was it? Geez, this monologue ended almost as soon as it began.
— There was no actual material in this. This just consisted of Candice saying her hosting a second time is her Christmas present to herself, gave thanks to Lorne Michaels, then threw to the following musical guest performance.
— This has to be the second shortest SNL monologue I can recall ever seeing, next to Teri Garr’s “monologue” a few years later in season 5.
STARS: N/A

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (MARTHA REEVES)

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 1
they supply the cow, you make your own steak
 
— Oh, THIS. I believe this is actually one of the very first things I ever saw from this era, in reruns when I was much younger. But then again, I think this sketch ended up recurring in a later episode, so maybe that was the version I saw when I was younger.
— I absolutely love Dan’s manic rapid-fire delivery here; he’s fantastic. The crazy dialogue he’s saying is already funny in itself, but his delivery is making it that much greater.
— Gilda revving up a chainsaw while chewing gum with that sly look on her face is the part of this sketch that stuck in my memory the most from when I first saw this.
STARS: ****

PARENT’S NIGHTMARE
(CHC) calls his parents to say that he’s guilty of 26 counts of murder
 
— The murder revelation is great.
— Decent punchline at the end.
STARS: ***

HOME MOVIES
host & DOP invite viewers to submit home movies for absolutely no reward
 
— Watching this in 2018, I’m getting an unintended kick out of Candice’s line about sending film in “super-8 or 16mm”.
— Don Pardo’s lines about viewers getting absolutely nothing in return for sending their films in is pretty funny.
— Not even sure if I should rate this, since it was clearly an actual instructional segment on where viewers should send their films to SNL, but it did have funny lines from Pardo.
STARS: ***

BEE CAPADES
host & Bees do formations at Rockefeller Center skating rink
 
— This is a nice little segment, though I’m more ‘entertained’ than ‘amused’ so far. That’s not exactly a bad thing, though.
— The “Leon/Noel” ending bit was very funny.
STARS: ***

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 1
an ashtray clock is just one item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— This is being played so straight, it’s hard to tell if it’s even intended to be comedic. I mean, a digital ashtray that tells time sounds like something that would actually exist nowadays. Maybe the idea of that was funnier in 1975 (much like three-bladed razors).
STARS: **

SPONSORED POLAROID AD
(no synopsis available)

— “Hi, I’m the Easter Bunny” — John Belushi as Santa.
— Hmm, is this going to be another non-joke Polaroid ad? I guess I was right in that earlier review where I said I remember hearing they did several of these during this era.
— Why did Candice’s voice get all echo-ish for a brief moment just now?
— Overall, yep, this was another serious Polaroid ad. At least John added a little humor here, though.
STARS: N/A

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE STYLISTICS)

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
— rerun

LATENT ELF
(host) discovers that her brother (CHC) & father (DAA) are latent elves
 
— Funny to see Chevy playing a giddy elf, which is very unlike the type of roles we’ve seen him in so far this season.
— Interesting premise, with Chevy being outed as an elf the exact same way one would be outed as gay. This sketch is making some pretty funny parallels.
— Call me immature, but I got a big laugh from Candice’s “I can see your bells” line to Elf Chevy when he started sitting on top of the couch with his legs spread apart.
— Good revelation that their father (Dan) is an elf, too, complete with a hidden green elf hat. Right before that reveal, I was just about to ask why Dan had green hair sticking out from under his normal hat.
— Loved Dan joining Chevy in giddily dancing like an elf.
— Where did that loud beep sound at end come from? Didn’t seem to be part of the sketch.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
amateurish TOS drawings summarize the Squeaky Fromme trial
from Times Square, LAN reports on New Years’ bash 11 days too soon
attempting to call war-torn Angola, CHC reaches Angelo’s Pizza
   
— Hmm, the Update set has changed a bit. The Weekend Update logo in the background is now colored differently, and there’s now a Weekend Update logo on the front of Chevy’s desk.
— And why does Chevy now have a (very distracting) anchorman earpiece?
— Ha, and now his earpiece just fell out. He made a bit of a funny brief ad-lib in response.
— Ah, the “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” line that was introduced in the preceding episode’s Update now becomes an official running gag. Interestingly, despite the fact that this is only the second time the line has been used, it surprisingly got a huge reaction from tonight’s audience as if it were already a classic long-running gag.
— The childlike “artist rendering” drawings of the Squeaky Fromme trial is really funny. I also like the muffled nasal voice of the on-scene reporter, which is a dead-on imitation of those types of reporter voices in news & radio broadcasts.
— Oh, that’s Chevy doing the reporter voice! Great reveal when the camera pulled back and showed the voice was just him plugging his nose.
— Laraine’s Times Square New Years report reminds me of something very similar they would later do in a Dennis Miller-era Weekend Update (I think in the Bruce Willis episode from 1989), where Victoria Jackson basically did the exact same bit Laraine did here, right down to the same punchline. That Victoria Jackson bit was mysteriously removed from all reruns of that episode, and I wonder if maybe the person who wrote the original Laraine Newman version complained to SNL for stealing his/her material.
— This Angola/pizza shop phone call mix-up is pretty funny.
— The “brief lookback at 1975” gag with Chevy literally looking at the number 1975 briefly is something that would’ve felt right at home in a Kevin Nealon Weekend Update from the early 90s.

TARN-OFF
Tarn-Off gets Princess Grace’s (host) jewels sparkling clean
 
— Ah, a bit of a change of pace having the mid-Weekend Update commercial be a live one instead of a pre-tape.
— Nice visual of Candice dunking her head into a bowl of the product.
— She’s selling this ad like a pro.
— The two knights are funny, too.
— Overall, pretty good ad.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is against “firing the handicapped”
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— Hmm, Emily Litella again.
— Overall, another decent Litella commentary, though I hope they aren’t on their way to overusing this character so quickly. It’s bad enough we have to see the “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Heh, I guess this is one of the downsides of my ‘One SNL a Day’ project: watching these season 1 episodes one-by-one on a day-to-day basis has almost officially ruined my enjoyment of “News for the Hard of Hearing”, which I used to find hilarious back in the days when I only saw it occasionally.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

LAUNDROMAT
in a laundromat, (JOB) & (GIR) silently flirt via clothing they deposit
   
— This is coming off charming so far, and I always like this type of sketch where there’s no dialogue at all.
— I love the way this is building up.
— John pulling out a wine bottle & drinking glasses from his laundry basket is very funny. He’s giving a surprisingly sweet performance in this sketch.
— Aww, what a nice ending.
— Overall, this was a great little piece. I wonder if this was one of those sentimental Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written sketches that this era often had.
— In a way, the fact that this touching sketch starred two performers whose lives would sadly end early adds even more of a sentimental feel in retrospect.
STARS: ****

PONG
Pong-playing college students are accompanied by “Pinball Wizard”

— I mentioned in the last review that while I’ve actually enjoyed the Pong segments so far, one more of them will probably make me start getting tired of them. Let’s see if that prediction is correct.
— Well. this is actually kinda funny so far.
— Oh, wow, this is over already???
— This was literally only about 15 seconds long, and was basically just a reference to “The Who”. Weird. But, hey, this did make me laugh, and at least they took it into a much different direction from the earlier Pong segments.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
the Bees’ Christmas party overshadows one thrown by Ploobis & Peuta
host, Ploobis, Scred perform “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
 
— Strangely, this began without the usual set-up introduced by Don Pardo.
— Yet another reference to The Bees.
— This unfortunately seems to have the same type of bad pun-ny humor that I hated in the weak Muppets installment from the preceding episode.
— Candice’s appearance helped breathe some much-needed life into this. While it didn’t make this any funnier, it gave this a feel-good atmosphere.
STARS: **½

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 2
Mel & chainsaw-toting Mrs. Mel (GIR) advertise the Char Palace again

— Oh, they made this recurring in the SAME NIGHT? I had assumed they at least waited until a later episode to bring this back.
— Uh, what exactly was the point of this follow-up? There was absolutely no discernible difference from the first one. Dan was basically just saying the same thing he said in the first, and Gilda just did the exact same rev-up-a-chainsaw-while-chewing-gum thing.
— The studio audience was dead silent during this one.
STARS: **

WINTER WONDERLAND
GAM, host, cast & SNL Band perform “Winter Wonderland”
   
— Hmm, a Garrett Morris musical performance? Well, as I said a few episodes ago, he DOES have a wonderful singing voice.
— Oh, wait, I think this is the classic “Winter Wonderland” performance that’s often shown on SNL’s annual Christmas compilation special.
— Yep, I was right!
— What’s with the frozen, almost-unhappy deadpan look on Jane’s face while she and the rest of the girls are dancing? I guess she’s just doing that to be funny.
— Overall, a fun classic as always. After having only seen this in the aforementioned Christmas specials, it was nice to now get to see it in the context of the original episode it came from.
STARS: *****

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 2
a mood ring clock is another item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— Again, are these intended to be comedic? In today’s age of everything being digital, the humor is lost on me.
STARS: **

MINUTE MYSTERY
Mike Mendoza overlooks clues that point to sexy (host)

— Couldn’t help but get a laugh from this sketch opening on a shot of Michael O’Donoghue as a dead body with a deadpan (no pun intended) look on his face & a smoking pipe hanging from his mouth.
— The voice of Don Pardo (who SNL is getting a lot of mileage out of tonight) getting in on the act of trying to impress Candice is pretty funny.
— Overall, a pretty good second installment of this sketch, and it’s nice that this went in a different direction from the first.
STARS: ***½

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 3
a three-piece suit clock is one more item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— Okay, this one actually kinda worked for me. The idea of a digital vest clock IS pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (MARTHA REEVES)

WHAT GILDA ATE
GIR recalls how she overate during the previous Christmas

— Though there was no opening title screen this time, this looks like it’s going to be another “What Gilda Ate” bit.
— Yep, it is. I never knew until now that this was a recurring segment.
— Like last time, this got funnier the more and more Gilda went on about the details, and again, she had the same charm from last time.
STARS: ***

THE FRITZIE KRINGLE SHOW
cooking ingredients get eaten prematurely
 
— I’ve never heard Laraine talk in this kind of voice before. She’s doing a very good job.
— Ha, she’s eating far more ingredients than she’s putting into the meal she’s cooking, which is pretty funny, but feels kinda redundant seeing this right after we just got through a sketch with Gilda talking about eating excessively.
— The terrible-looking finished cookies are very funny.
STARS: ***

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 3
another ad for Mel’s Char Palace- “Over 3000 Stunned”

— Oh, man, now we get a THIRD one of these??? Oh, why couldn’t they just leave these at one?
— Please tell me this one’s going to actually have some distinction from the first two.
— Nope. No distinction at all, I see. It was just Dan once again basically re-performing the same script from the first. As I asked earlier, WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE POINT OF THIS FOLLOW-UP????
— Oh, SNL, it’s wonderful to see that even way back in 1975, you had that now-familiar bad habit of running once-funny things into the ground. Some things never change.
— It pains me to give such a low rating to ANYTHING that features a manic Dan Aykroyd, but…
STARS: *½

MARGARET KUHN
Margaret Kuhn [real] says “getting old is nothing to be afraid of”
 
— So far, this has just been a straightforward serious segment, but this has a very sweet message and she’s making some great points about aging.
— Whoa, an unexpectedly very funny moment just now with her Gray Panthers sign-off: “Off your asses”. That came out of nowhere!
STARS: N/A

HOMEWARD BOUND
by Gary Weis- holiday travellers reunite with family
 
— I remember hearing about this one before. Wow, this is very beautiful.
— Overall, that’s got to be one of the most sentimental, heartwarming things that has ever aired in the show’s entire history.
— I’m currently having a hard time deciding whether I should give a rating to any of SNL’s serious, non-comedic shorts, of which I know we’ll be seeing quite a number of throughout this era. But for now, I’ll give this one what I feel is a well-deserved rating.
STARS: *****

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Wow, what a line-up! This has got to be one of the most crowded I’ve ever seen the goodnights stage.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This episode had such a feel-good, heartwarming vibe. In present day, we’re right smack dab into summer, yet watching this episode STILL got me in the Christmas spirit.
— While this was far from the funniest episode ever, it was definitely an entertaining holiday show. Thinking back on it, this episode was probably more heavy on the “feel-good” and the “heartwarming” than it was on the “funny”, but hey, that describes quite a number of SNL’s Christmas episodes over the years, and let’s remember that this IS the show’s first-ever Christmas episode, after all. Honestly, doing this type of heartwarming holiday episode was probably the only sensible way to follow the almost-untouchable Richard Pryor episode.
— Candice did another very solid hosting job and perfectly justified SNL’s decision to bring her back so soon after her first hosting stint a mere month ago. And they clearly loved having her as the host of this Christmas episode, since they bring her back a year later for the next Christmas episode, which I remember being a very strong one.
— Tonight might have the all-time record for highest number of segments in a single SNL episode. You may have noticed while reading through the review, but man, this episode had TONNNNS of segments. I look back at the long list of sketches from this episode (here and here), and at first I wonder “How in the world did they fit all of that into just 90 minutes???”, then I wonder “Why can’t SNL episodes nowadays have this many segments?”

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Richard Pryor):
— a step down (though I kinda feel it’s unfair to compare almost ANY episode to Pryor’s)

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
We enter 1976, with Elliott Gould making his hosting debut

Posted on

November 8, 1975 – Candice Bergen / Esther Phillips (S1 E4)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
clumsy Gerald Ford (CHC) has a few accidents during a speech   
— Ah, our debut of Chevy’s famous Gerald Ford non-impression.
— Wait, now there’s a disclaimer on the bottom of the screen stating “This is not the president of the United States, but he thinks he is”. Huh? So does that mean this DOESN’T count as him playing Ford? Or does it, but that disclaimer was just their way of waving off the fact that there was no attempt to make Chevy look or sound anything like Ford? If this DOESN’T count as him playing Ford, does that mean this and all of his subsequent Ford appearances should technically be counted as a “character”, and we were wrong all these years when we counted it as an impression? Ha, it’s funny how one little disclaimer has me asking so many questions…….
— I’ve just come to the realization that, unless I’m mistaken,  we’ve yet to see Chevy wear a wig in any of the four episodes I’ve covered.  Actually, come to think of it, have ANY of the cast members wore any wigs yet by this point?
— The overabundance of goofy accidents Chevy keeps having is kinda over-the-top, but pretty damn funny, especially the gag with the glass of water he keeps pouring. Chevy is very skilled at performing a rapid-fire string of blunders; he makes it look effortless.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— I swear, the cast list in the opening montage has been getting stranger and stranger with each passing episode. Tonight, for some bizarre reason, literally only HALF of the cast is listed: Garrett, Laraine, Gilda, and Michael O’Donoghue. What in the world???!!

— Considering the fact that their names are shown on the lower half of the screen, I have to wonder if the full cast was supposed to be listed, but there was maybe some weird technical error where the names on the upper half of the screen failed to display. I know that theory sounds strange, but it’s possible. After all, this IS a very early episode back when SNL’s technology was kinda shoddy.

MONOLOGUE
allergic host attempts to dissuade CHC from hitting a Bee (JOB)

— Right after the opening montage ended, Candice is already on stage, sitting on a stool as Pardo announces her name. It’s interesting seeing how in these early episodes, SNL experimented with how they had their hosts begin their monologues. The first and third episode had the host (George Carlin and Rob Reiner, respectively) make an entrance after Pardo calls their name, whereas the second and fourth episode (Paul Simon and Candice Bergen, respectively) had the host already there on stage as their name is called. Wonder how long it is until SNL made the permanent decision to stick with the former, where the hosts make an entrance.
— It always feels unusual for me seeing Candice Bergen look so young. Because I grew up in the 90s, most of my exposure to her has been from “Murphy Brown” and onward.
— Did I just see one of The Bees in the background?
— Ah, I was right, although it’s just John as a Bee instead of the whole cast playing them.
— I like how they’re playing this out, treating John as an actual bee and trying to sneak up and kill him the way you would a real insect. This is a change from the last two Bees appearances, where the premise was that they’re recurring characters who nobody likes.
STARS: ***

AMBASSADOR TRAINING INSTITUTE
start your career in diplomacy at Ambassador Training Institute
 
— Pretty decent premise.
— The ‘multiple choice’ list has been my favorite part so far.
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

CIA DEPARTMENT OF RECORDS
CIA records keeper (DAA) says he can’t find career criminal GAM’s file

— Hmm, I wasn’t expecting the reveal that Garrett’s playing himself. Until then, I had assumed he was just a random character.
— I’m not really sure where this sketch is going, though I’m liking Dan’s performance and the increasing desperation of the crimes Garrett’s claiming he committed.
— The twist/punchline at the end was pretty funny, but I’m not sure if all that set-up was worth it.
STARS: **

JAWS II
a clever Land Shark (CHC) attacks young women in their homes
  
— The debut of the Landshark!
— All the stuff that Chevy’s saying behind the door in that sheepish voice keeps cracking me up.
— Ah, there’s the classic “Candygram” line.
— I’m liking the short cutaways with John and Dan, especially the egg salad bit just now.
— Another great part of the John/Dan scenes is the “good news/bad news” phone conversation.
— Nice touch having Pardo’s voice as the radio announcer that Candice is listening to.
— Funny ending with Garrett getting mistaken for the Landshark and staggering around after getting conked with the mallet.
— Overall, a very memorable and strong sketch, and I love how they made this feel like an actual movie, with all the various scenery changes.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

HAMLET / POLAROID
Hamlet’s (CHC) crib notes scatter when he fractures Yorick’s skull
   
— The skull breaking and Chevy attempting to read the lines off the small fragmented pieces is pretty funny.
— LOL at the brief “Hello Dolly” part.
— A Polaroid segue? What??? THIS sure came out of left field.
— Oh, I remember hearing about this, where SNL had their performers do an actual non-joke live Polaroid ad in an episode. In fact, I think I heard this was actually done several times in this era of the show, though I might be mistaken.
— I like how Candice is randomly wearing a Bee costume. It’s cute how the whole Bees thing became a big running gag so quickly on SNL in just four episodes.
— Well, this Polaroid bit is just plain odd to see on SNL. I keep expecting some kind of humor, but it’s been played completely straight so far.
— Okay, there was a little humor at the end just now, with Candice and Chevy’s quick insult to each other.
STARS: N/A

LONG DISTANCE
gay son’s long-distance call to mom is “the next best thing to being her”

— Whaaaaaaaat???  That’s all I could say after this commercial ended.
— Wow, I didn’t understand this at all. Was it even intended to be funny? Was the “it’s the next best thing to being her” tagline intended to be an insult to gay men? I get the bad feeling the latter is what SNL was going for here, which is something that wouldn’t fly on the show nowadays in our more gay-friendly world.
— I have no idea what to make of this ad as whole. Man, like I said a few episodes ago, some of these early SNL fake ads are STRANGE.
STARS: *

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— Ah, we have our very first utterance of Chevy’s famous “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” intro!
— Hmm, the president back then was known for making big firings and hirings in his white house staff? Heh, some things never change…
— I loved the joke about vandals attaching arms to the Venus de Milo statue.

TRIOPENIN

— We break in the middle of Update for our very first instance of a repeated fake ad.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
while CHC makes faces at her, JAC blasts New York’s vote on the ERA
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— Finally, four episodes into SNL’s existence, Weekend Update has its first-ever guest commentary at the desk. Jane Curtin gets the honors. Kinda meaningful in hindsight, considering she would later go on to be Chevy’s successor as Update anchor.
— Oh, this is the well-known recurring bit where Chevy makes faces behind the guest commentator’s back while they’re addressing the camera. Wow, a lot of Chevy trademarks were born in this episode: his Gerald Ford impression/character, his Landshark sketches, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not”, and now this.
— After just one episode, they’ve already brought back the “news for the hard of hearing” bit? I can’t complain, because as I said before, it’s always funny.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***½

CHANEL
Catherine Deneuve (host) lies on a Chanel bottle & talks about fame

— I can tell this must be parodying a specific ad that’s before my time, but I’m still enjoying this so far. Candice’s performance is excellent and her accent is making me laugh.
— Good ending with the bottle still attached to her face when she held her head upright.
STARS: ***

ANDY KAUFMAN
as Foreign Man, Andy Kaufman [real] bombs while attempting stand-up

— Yes! Our first instance of Andy’s “Foreign Man” act on SNL.
— I love the way this is building up so far.
— The very long, painfully-awkward pause when he “forgets” what impression to do next is fucking great. Most of my favorite Andy Kaufman bits over the years are ones that rely on making the audience confused & having no idea how to react to what they’re seeing.
— Oh, I see this is where his sobbing noises are gradually going to turn rhythmic and then segue into him playing on the big bongo drum and then dancing. I saw a clip of that part years ago in an Andy Kaufman documentary.
— Overall, this was such a fascination to watch. It had just about everything I love to see in an Andy Kaufman performance.
STARS: *****

FEMININE TALK
GIR & host chat about their insecurities, femininity, gender equality

— Hmm, Gilda and Candice as themselves on the homebase stage… I can already tell this will be interesting.
— So far, this hasn’t been too laugh-out-loud funny, but is very charming.
— Overall, this was really good. While there were some jokes scattered in there, there’s something I enjoy about seeing a realistic, slice-of-life, laid-back conversation between these two charismatic female performers.
STARS: ****

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
NBC series Medical Season, The Three Of Us, Black Vet
   
— Previewing various fictional mid-season replacement shows seems like a premise I’ll enjoy, and is a bit of a change of pace from the other shorts we’ve seen from Albert Brooks so far.
— This medical show preview is strange, but kinda funny.
— The guy with the sunglasses in the “you could get hit by a car driving home today” bit looks familiar.
— This “The Three of Us” preview is cracking me up with the intentional bad jokes and typical sitcom laughtrack.
— Is that the same little girl from the ‘age of consent lowered to seven’ scene in Albert Brooks’ short from the first episode?
STARS: ***

MIDNIGHT PROBE
host interviews kiwi trappers (DAA) & (JOB)
 
— Feels like the first time we’re seeing Belushi in quite a while.
— Unusual sketch so far, but I’m enjoying how the silliness of what Dan and John are saying is being played so straight.
— Wow, this turned crazy all of sudden with the demonstration of kiwi-bagging. This is hilarious, especially Dan and John’s goofy high-pitched chanting during it.
— This HAD to have been written (or at least co-written) by Dan. Watching & reviewing these SNL episodes in order, I’m starting to notice in the four episodes I’ve covered that he’s the one in this cast who seems to star in the particularly bizarre, inventive, out-there material (e.g. the Square Dance and Home Security sketches), which is starting to make him my new favorite of this cast.
STARS: ***½

CRANK CALL
airline ticket vendor (LAN) calmly takes (MOD)’s sadistic crank call

— Oh, THIS sketch. I’ve never actually seen it before, but I must’ve read the transcript because this is coming off very familiar to me so far.
— I’m always a fan of O’Donoghue’s disturbing, fucked-up humor, so naturally, I’m absolutely loving his psychotic deadpan rant to Laraine in this sketch.
— Great punchline with Laraine. Once again, I really like how these early SNL episodes have so many quick, to-the-point, random little sketches.
STARS: ****½

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Scred & Ploobis consult Mighty Favog about the dwindling Glig population
 
— Ploobis’ extended eating sequence at beginning is pretty funny.
— Hmm, the food-deliverer’s (I think her name is Vazh) voice is completely different from her voice in the first Muppets sketch. I like this new voice better.
— Ploobis’ wife’s delivery of her lines always amuses me.
— While I’m going on about the Muppet’s voices, I’m getting a pretty good laugh from the yelling Glig’s voice. That character is one I can picture being on The Muppet Show.
— Overall, while none of these SNL Muppet sketches have been anywhere near great so far, I’m surprised to see I haven’t exactly been hating them yet.
STARS: **½

IRK THE TURK
host’s obnoxious practical jokes eventually ire third-world ruler (JOB)
 
— There seems to be a lot of instances tonight where it’s randomly revealed someone’s playing their self after I assumed they were just playing a character. Like the interviewers Candice played in both this sketch and Midnight Probe. I guess this is yet another unique aspect of 70s SNL. If they did those two sketches nowadays, the host would’ve been given a character name instead of their real name.
— Kinda surprising seeing Candice doing these rude antics to John’s character. Her antics are funny, especially the match-burning bit. I also really like John’s frustrated facial reactions; they’re a lot more subtle than you’d expect from a performer like him.
— I know I keep saying this, but again, I’m loving the randomness of these early sketches. They seem so unconventional by modern-day SNL standards.
STARS: ***½

BLACK PERSPECTIVE
GAM praises lily-white African-American expert JAC

— When they first showed Garrett after the title screen, I almost expected this to be the well-known bit with him interviewing Julian Bond, but I know that doesn’t come until later on in this era.
— “Soul sister Jane Curtin” – haha! And again, this further proves my point that there’s a lot of instances of performers playing themselves in tonight’s sketches. There’s something about that I’m starting to find fun.
— LOL at the ‘jungle bunny’ line, which naturally brings up memories of a certain epic Richard Pryor sketch that’s coming up in a few episodes.
STARS: ***

PONG
Pong-playing college students (ALF) & (TOD) discuss Thanksgiving plans

— Oh, yeah, this. I know this eventually becomes a recurring bit this season. I recall seeing at least one of these before.
— I really admire the unique structure of this sketch. I can see why some would find its format boring, but it’s intriguing to me for some reason.
— Not really any actual laughs so far, but I think Franken & Davis’ conversation is supposed to be going for a ‘slice-of-life’ feel, kinda like the Gilda/Candice conversation earlier.
— Oh, wow, very funny ending just now.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Ah, not only do we thankfully see the goodnights this time unlike the last episode, but finally for the first time ever, the goodnights actually have the cast onstage with the host.
— All Candice says is “goodnight”, and is then bombarded with a rose by each cast member.
— Chevy’s surprisingly coming off sweet in his interaction with his castmates.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What a fun episode. I especially liked the post-Update half, where just about every sketch kept me entertained.
— Now that I’ve finally seen this episode, I can say that yes, the comments I had read over the years about this being the first episode that feels like a typical SNL is correct. This episode introduced the traditions of: 1) the host playing various characters while appearing in sketches with the cast (though, as mentioned earlier, there were some instances of Candice playing herself in certain sketches that usually would give the host a character name), 2) there being only one musical guest and two musical performances, 3) Weekend Update having guest commentaries at the desk, and 4) the cast being present at the goodnights. There are still some aspects of the show that come off foreign to viewers today, however (e.g. the host already being on stage at the beginning of the monologue as Pardo calls their name, a lot of the pre-taped fake ads starring unknown actors instead of cast members, etc.).
— Candice was a great host, easily the best of the four we’ve had so far. She fit into the show perfectly, had great chemistry with the cast, and got several good laughs of her own. It’s no surprise she went on to be a recurring host so quickly; as you’ll see very soon, her second hosting stint is only shortly after this one.
— So far, I’m having a blast discovering these early SNLs. I love how loose, unpredictable, and experimental the sketches have been. We’re seeing interesting things like cast members frequently playing themselves in sketches, a lot of creative and weird sketches, a lot of sketches that are very short and lead to an actual punchline, and, of course, the running gag with The Bees. There were so many fun aspects of the show back then that you unfortunately don’t see in modern-day SNL.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rob Reiner):
— a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Robert Klein