Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
(DED) tells executee son (GIG) to sit up straight in the electric chair
— Such a somber beginning to this so far.
— That’s it? THAT’S the big punchline??? “Sit up straight!” Oof.
— I can see what they were attempting, much like some of the quick “blackout gag” cold openings Chevy sometimes performed in season 1, but boy was this particular attempt a swing and a HARD miss.
— This is probably the lowest rating I’ve given to a cold opening so far in my SNL project.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— There’s been no real jokes so far, just a straightforward story about him failing to renew his work permit. Fairly interesting story, though.
— The joke at the end about him only doing SNL to get a new permit was okay.
STARS: **½
MUTUALLY OMAHA’S WILD KINGDOM
Jim Fowler (JOP) goes In Search of the Negro Republican
— This is famous for being the very first sketch that the soon-to-be-added-to-the-cast Eddie Murphy appears in, as a background extra. It’ll be fun trying to spot him in this.
— In this sketch, Charles looks so much like future cast member Gary Kroeger. This makes me feel like I’m watching an episode from 1982-1985.
— “In Search of the Negro Republican.” Funny, promising concept.
— Ah, there’s Eddie! (on the lower right corner of the third screencap above) Man, it’s weird seeing him as a mere background extra, knowing the superstar he’d soon become.
— Charles narrating the sequence with Joe putting a sedative in the subject’s drink to immobilize him is pretty funny.
— Overall, despite a promising concept, the sketch ended up being just average. Not bad, though.
STARS: ***
TOBACCO GROWERS OF AMERICA
tobacco growers’ representative (GIG) says lungs are to blame for cancer
— I like how Gilbert’s delivery is slowly getting more and more worked up during this.
— Haha, you can now start to hear small hints of Gilbert’s now-famous screechy voice.
— Overall, a pretty solid sketch and a strong showcase for Gilbert. This felt like something that also could’ve been written for John Belushi during the original era. Wait, is THIS why Gilbert compared himself to Belushi in the season premiere’s cold opening?
STARS: ***½
SERF CITY
feudal surfing pioneers (host) & (CHR) oppress peasants
— Malcolm’s voice is pretty funny.
— What the hell at this premise??? This whole “using serfs for surfing” thing is exactly the type of corny humor I came into this season expecting. And the addition of the tickling aspect is just weird.
— Ugh, I’m not liking the bad way they’re using surfing puns, like the “Serf’s up” and “hang 10” groaners.
— Okay, I got a pretty good laugh just now from the serfs’ whining “Oh nooooo!” off-camera when hearing Malcolm’s idea of taking them out to be ridden in the water.
STARS: **
WHITE HOUSE
Amy Carter (DED) likes new parents Ronald (CHR) & Nancy (GLM) Reagan
— Hmm, interesting premise of an alternative future where the Reagans adopt Amy Carter after being inaugurated.
— WTF at Charles’ Ronald Reagan impression??? I mean, I guess I kinda see what he’s trying to go for with the voice, but man, he’s NOT EVEN CLOSE to nailing it. The voice sounds ridiculous. And what’s with the over-the-top facial expressions and head-bobbing? And why no attempt from the make-up people at making him look like Reagan? He’s not wearing a wig or anything. Reminds me of a gripe I’ve always had with the Reagan impression Randy Quaid would later do in season 11.
— I liked Denny’s line about grits.
— Denny’s constant paranoia is pretty funny, especially her hiding under the table.
— Overall, a decent sketch, with Denny getting some good laughs and Gail doing a nice job carrying the majority of the sketch in a straight role.
STARS: ***
SHOWDOWN
by Ken Friedman- romantic conflict causes Wild West shootout
— Strange cinematography format, with just one camera panning back-and-forth between the three characters whenever any of them speak. What’s the point of that?
— The graphic, bloody gunshot hits are kinda making me chuckle.
— Heh, the sudden use of out-of-place weapons like a machine gun and a bomb are pretty funny.
— Weak ending with the girl not being worth fighting over.
— Strange film overall. I kinda liked some aspects, but the thing as a whole didn’t fully work for me and I’m not quite sure what it was going for.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hot Head”
WEEKEND UPDATE
CHR interviews Yoko Ono (DED) & house husband John Lennon (host)
JOP predicts Duran-Leonard rematch outcome with Rock-’em Sock-’em Robots
Dr. Murray Abromowitz (GIG) complains about last week’s episode of SNL
— Wow, that opening joke about a fire escape device bombed HARD. There was not a single laugh from the audience. Tonight’s Update is already starting on a bad note.
— Oh, great, now Charles has resorted to repeating a punchline (“He only shot an occasional birdie”) when it got no audience response the first time.
— Boy, is Update rough tonight so far. The jokes are even worse than last week, and that’s saying something!
— Feels strange seeing a John Lennon/Yoko Ono interview segment, knowing that this episode was a mere few weeks before Lennon’s murder.
— “Yoko is just loco about my cocoa.” (*groan*) Another display of corny season 6 humor.
— The cleaning/cooking bits with Lennon are okay.
— Charles’ nuclear reactor joke is yet ANOTHER Update joke that got absolutely no audience reaction. Man, he is dying out there in tonight’s Update.
— The debut of Joe’s SNL Sports Weekend Update commentaries. His delivery here is very low-key compared to the more manic style that would later become the trademark of his sports Update bits.
— Joe’s fast-talking Spanish impression of Roberto Duran made me laugh out loud.
— Joe breaking out the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots to demonstrate how he predicts the boxing match will go is great.
— Wow, Joe’s overall commentary was quick, but not only was it easily the best part of tonight’s Update so far, but it was also easily some of the biggest laughs I’ve gotten from this whole episode so far.
— Oh my god at Gilbert’s look and voice.
— A very meta commentary, with Gilbert’s character complaining about the offensive material from SNL’s season premiere the previous week.
— Gilbert calls out the season premiere for having too many homosexual and jew jokes, which is exactly some of the gripes I had with that episode.
— Charles said his “Goodnight and watch out” tagline differently this time. At least he didn’t look cocky like he did when saying it in the last episode.
— Overall, if it weren’t for the guest commentaries, I would’ve given this Update the lowest possible rating from my 1-5 star system. Charles’ delivery at least wasn’t quite as bad as it was in the season premiere, but the jokes themselves were DREADFUL tonight and I lost count of the number of jokes that received total silence from the audience. Seriously, his portions of tonight’s Update were fucking DIRE. Update has gotten off to a horrible start so far this season.
STARS: *½
AMERICAN MILK ASSOCIATION
American Milk Association spokesman Alex DeLarge (host) touts moloko
— A reprise of Malcolm’s character from A Clockwork Orange.
— That’s it? Wow, what was even the point of this?
STARS: *½
GOTHIC NOVEL SHOP
bookstore owner (host) meets customer’s (ANR) exacting romance novel need
— Looks like this could be a sketch where I’ll finally be able to form some kind of an opinion on Ann Risley, who left me with no impression after the season premiere.
— The overly-specific novel categories (heroes with a speech impediment, etc.) being shown are pretty funny.
— “A handsome bastard who stutters.”
— I’m really liking Malcolm’s delivery in this.
— Didn’t care for the ending with Malcolm coming out of the backroom as the specific character Ann was looking for.
— Despite the ending, this was a pretty solid and pretty well-written sketch.
— Ann was decent in this, but I’ve come away from this sketch STILL not having much of an impression of what she’s like as a performer. Of the new cast, she’s been the hardest to figure so far.
STARS: ***½
THE 100 YEARS WAR
university extension course gives minimalist summary
— For something where the brevity was supposed to be the comedy, this could’ve come off a little funnier.
STARS: **½
THE LEATHER WEATHER REPORT
dominatrix-meteorologist (DED) punishes (CHR)
— Here’s an infamous sketch that’s had a very negative reputation over the years. It’s often been cited as a prime example of how bad this season is.
— Charles’ stretched-out monotone “Ooooouuch.” kinda made me laugh.
— WTF at this so far?
— Denny’s unintentional malfunction with the whipped cream “snow” was a little funny.
— Overall, man, I did NOT care for this. I wish I could agree with some of the online SNL fans that have been defending this sketch in more recent years, but the premise and material of this sketch was iffy for me and the execution did nothing to help it, despite the fact that Denny was certainly trying. My only two aforementioned laughs were minor chuckles, one of which was just from a blooper.
— While I definitely don’t agree with this sketch’s reputation as one of the worst SNL sketches ever, I can kinda understand why it’s been so hated. But in my eyes, the sketch was merely bad, not worthy of being on any “Worst Ever” lists.
STARS: *½
COMMIE HUNTING SEASON
on commie hunting season’s opening day, rednecks are anxious to get going
— Ohhh, boy, we get two notorious sketches back-to-back tonight. From everything I’ve heard about this one, this supposedly IS deserving of its status as one of SNL’s worst sketches ever, unlike Leather Weather.
— Aaaaand there it is, the infamous “shoot yourself a jew or [n-word]” line. God, it’s just as bad as I’ve always heard, and wow at the absolutely DEAD, long, stretched-out silence from the studio audience after that line was uttered. Man, that was tense as hell. Did the performers pause so long after that line because they were actually EXPECTING it to get laughs?
— God, this material isn’t funny at all so far, and the sketch is going NOWHERE interesting.
— The sudden shooting of Malcolm from out of nowhere did nothing to help this.
— And it’s over. Overall, yeah, this was an EPICALLY bad sketch that’s fully deserving of it’s negative reputation. What the fuck was this sketch even going for??? And yeah, that infamous aforementioned “jew or [n-word]” line can’t be ignored, not only for the poor decision to put a line like that in the show, but also for how it seemed to suck all the life out of the entire studio audience at that moment. Seriously, that portion of the sketch received one of the most uncomfortable, tense, drawn-out silences I’ve EVER heard in an SNL episode.
STARS: *
THE ROCKET REPORT
CHR interviews pedestrians on 5th Avenue
— Well, hopefully this will lighten my mood after what the hell I’ve just sat through.
— Interesting how the Rocket Report segment from the previous week’s Update has gotten spun-off into its own separate spot in the show.
— I’m already liking the fun format of this one, with Charles interviewing random pedestrians on a busy New York street.
— Charles is really good in this.
— Amusing part with Charles thinking the young black guy was from India because of his hat, until noticing that guy’s hat is just a backwards cap.
— Ha, now he keeps randomly assuming normal-looking pedestrians are on drugs.
— All the asinine questions he’s asking the pedestrians are really funny.
— Overall, very solid; even better than the season premiere’s Rocket Report.
STARS: ****
ROYAL STRIPPERS
prudish (host) searches for Jack The Stripper, finds Prince Charles (CHR)
— What the—? Is that Gilbert in drag?
— Yeah, it’s definitely him. I can tell by the voice he’s using, which is basically a female version of his now-famous screechy voice.
— Now we get Malcolm in drag.
— The screen is pretty blurry with all the unnecessary street fog.
— We’re a minute-and-a-half into this sketch, and I have yet to laugh a single time.
— I can’t tell who’s playing Prince Charles, thanks to the screen blurriness. Is that Rocket?
— Overall, what in the world did I just watch? I got absolutely no laughs from this, the execution was really bad, and I spent most of the sketch just trying to make out who some of the performers were through that thick, blurry fog. This felt almost like a Monty Python sketch gone terribly wrong.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ashtray Heart”
— Did I just hear someone in the audience VERY loudly say “shit” at the end of the performance? It sure sounded like it. Haha, I find that hilarious for some reason. The version of this episode I’m watching is an old Comedy Central rerun, so it’s strange that they didn’t censor that part.
SOMEONE IS HIDING IN MY APARTMENT
by Mitchell Kriegman- eerie co-living
— Looks like an interesting film, just based on the title.
— Another Mitchell Kreigman-starring film, which I guess is going to be a regular thing this season. I liked his Heart To Heart short from the season premiere.
— Overall, I ended up being kinda disappointed in this. It wasn’t all that bad, I guess, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as his last film.
STARS: **½
THE WINE CELLAR
(DED) suggests American wines for American foods
— Funny part with Denny sampling wine while eating a Baby Ruth.
— Decent visual of the American wine being in a beer can.
— I liked Denny’s line referring to French wine as “sissy frog pittle”.
— Overall, a decent sketch and Denny pulled this off really well.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— Okay, now that I’m hearing a more full version of this season’s new goodnights theme music, I’m not finding it too great. The music isn’t bad in itself, but it’s missing that great sentimental, semi-dramatic feel that the original goodnights music has.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Well, there went the episode that, for the longest time, used to be universally dubbed the official “worst SNL ever!” Do I agree with that? Definitely not. But, MAN, was this a rough episode. There was a small handful of good things scattered throughout the episode, particularly Rocket Report and Gothic Novel Shop. But weaker segments dominated the night, and the worst of the weaker segments were not just bad, they were REEAAALLLY bad. Dreadful. Two sketches in particular, Royal Strippers and (especially) Commie Hunting Season, were some of the most laughless dreck I’ve had to sit through so far in this SNL project of mine. The latter sketch has the added factor of being OFFENSIVELY bad. It also doesn’t help tonight’s episode that the Charles Rocket portions of Weekend Update were PAINFUL, with joke after joke receiving nothing but crickets from the audience.
— Malcolm McDowell was a pretty good host and I liked the enthusiasm he showed in his performances. The show certainly seemed to utilize him better than they did Elliott Gould the previous week.
— Feels like we barely saw some of the cast. I can hardly remember anything Gail and Ann were in tonight. Charles, on the other hand, seemed to be in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH.
— It’ll be interesting to see where this season goes from here. I felt that the season premiere was surprisingly somewhat okay and showed some promise in the post-Update half, while tonight’s episode was fairly awful. Will this be the episode that leads to the rest of the season being as horrible as I’ve always heard, or will the rest of the season play out more like the season premiere where, despite the bad aspects of the show, I can find a decent amount of silver linings that’ll make the season seem not so bad? We’ll see.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Ellen Burstyn