Tag: Elvis Costello

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May 18, 1991 – George Wendt / Elvis Costello (S16 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
because it’s DEM’s last show, LOM lets him say the opening line

— A good way to announce on the air that this is Dennis’ last episode.
— This is the first time Dennis has appeared outside of Weekend Update since all the way back in season 14.
— I loved Lorne asking Dennis “You’re not gonna come back every week and hang out on the set like Lovitz, are you?”, and then going on and on about how pathetic Lovitz is for doing that. I recall hearing that Lovitz actually got upset by this when watching the show this night. Maybe Lorne should’ve stood on stage during the goodnights while holding up a “LOVITZ- I WAS JUST KIDDING” sign, ala Dennis in the goodnights of the Catherine O’Hara episode.
— Dennis makes a big deal about how he’s always wanted to say “Live from New York…”, as if he’s never gotten the chance to say it before. He must’ve blocked season 11 out of his mind (or took to heart Madonna’s claim that season 11 was a “horrible, horrible dream”), because he actually DID say “Live from New York…” previously, in the Burger King/Herb cold opening from the aforementioned season 11.
— Funny how Dennis’ “Live from New York…” in this cold opening doesn’t start the show, as Lorne just keeps this opening going.
— Very interesting having Lorne be the one who delivers the official “Live from New York”, the only time in SNL history he would ever do so.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host manhandles a lookalike of Queen Elizabeth

— George’s rough handling of the queen is pretty funny so far.
— I like the queen fearfully trying to walk away as soon as George begins talking about wrestling.
— Great camera perspective of the queen being spun around.
STARS: ***½


LIL’ GENERAL FIREWORKS
kids love to have harmless fun with explosives

— Good idea for a summer commercial.
— Pretty funny treatment of huge explosives as family-friendly fun. The explosions of casual things are providing some laughs.
STARS: ***


MR. NO-DEPTH PERCEPTION
two-dimensional guy (KEN) throws a dinner party

— This can be considered a sister sketch to Tom Hanks’ Mr. Short-Term Memory, as the name, opening credits sequence/theme song, and concept are in a similar vein. Wonder if both characters are from the same writer.
— Kevin is perfect for this character and is pulling off this humor really well.
— I particularly like the part with Kevin casually sticking his head straight through the glass window (and not even reacting to it) when checking to see if their friends are outside the house.
— Kinda surprised this overall sketch remained a one-off and never became recurring.
STARS: ****


BILL SWERSKI’S SUPER FANS
Bob Swerski (host) & other Super Fans talk about the Bulls & the Bears

— George Wendt takes over as the new host of this sketch, Bob Swerski, replacing Joe Mantegna’s Bill Swerski, who the show writes off as recovering from a heart attack.
— Much like the last time they did this sketch, we get some funny outlandish Bears scenarios from the guys.
— An overall enjoyable installment, though I didn’t find this quite as strong as the first installment. There would be better ones to come later on.
STARS: ***½


MIDDLE-AGED MAN
Retired Man (host) helps Middle-Aged Man battle Independent Widow (JAH)

— This ends up being this character’s final appearance.
— Love the addition of Jan as Independent Widow.
— A funny turn with cookies being Middle-Aged Man’s kryptonite.
— I like how we meet Retired Man, who was mentioned in an earlier installment of this sketch.
— Jan’s screaming reaction to the giant roach was really funny.
— A big laugh from the gruesome blood that results from Middle-Aged Man crushing the giant roach.
— Nice little touch with the roach crawling over the text in the disclaimer shown at the end.
— I like how this overall installment had a more epic feel than the first two Middle-Aged Man installments, involving more characters, more action, and more scenery changes. In retrospect, a nice way for this character to go out.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Other Side of Summer”


WEEKEND UPDATE
General Norman Schwarzkopf (CHF) challenges Evander Holyfield to a match
CSR tells why there won’t be a black vice president

— (*sigh*) Hard to believe we’ve officially arrived at Dennis Miller’s final Weekend Update.
— Farley makes his very first visit to the Update desk, though he appeared in two previous Updates “via satellite” (the Roseanne/Tom Arnold commentary and the marathon runner commentary).
— A classic turn in the middle of Farley’s commentary, with him suddenly getting up, declaring “I WANT HOLYFIELD! I WANT HOLYFIELD!”, and hyping up a huge match between him and Holyfield. A great early display of Farley’s Belushi-esque knack for playing roles where he slowly goes from calm and professional to worked-up and loud. I’m also loving watching Dennis’ reactions to him. Over the course of this season, it’s been fun seeing Dennis’ interactions with the new kids in the cast.
— Lots of very funny comments from Rock about how we’ll never see a black vice president, because some black guy will just kill the white president so the black VP can become president. I especially love Rock saying how he would have nothing to worry about if he got arrested for killing the white president, because every black guy in prison would treat him like a hero.
— Dennis’ final Update joke is unfortunately a lame “misinterpreting a photo” type of joke, something that he’s been relying on way too much this season.
— A very nice, sentimental, and classy goodbye speech from Dennis at the end, with him thanking everyone he’s worked with at the show and saying he’s gonna miss working here. You can tell by his voice that he was on the verge of tears.
— After getting so used to reviewing Dennis Miller Weekend Updates for the past six seasons (the longest-tenured Update stint at this point in the show’s history), it sure is going to feel weird reviewing a brand-new version of Update next season.
STARS: ***


THE CARSENIO SHOW
Johnny Carson (DAC) borrows from Arsenio’s program

— An absolutely hilarious concept. I love this hybrid of Arsenio and Johnny Carson.
— I like how this is bringing back memories of another fantastic Arsenio parody the show did previously with Rob Lowe.
— Carsenio: “Buddy Hackett is in my house!”
— Good segment with Carsenio breaking down the street lingo he’s been using.
— Phil as Ed McMahon: “That is the straight stuff, o funkmaster!”
— I love Carsenio demonstrating how to do “the wild thing”, while asking “Is this dope? Is this dope stuff?”
— When asked about the whooping audience, I got a big laugh from George’s response being a blunt “The truth is, Johnny, they’re morons.”
STARS: *****


BURGER BARN DRIVE THRU
a family’s order at Burger Barn’s drive-through gets very complicated

— A lot of laughs from George being forced by his family to make increasingly confusing and complicated changes to their fast-food order.
— I especially love Jan as the grandmother, and she has some really funny lines.
— Good growing frustration from George.
— Excellent angry loud outburst from George at the end when putting an end to the madness and starting over with a simple fast-food order.
— An overall very solid and relatable slice-of-life sketch.
STARS: ****½


THE SHINDELLS
lyrics of doo-wop group stray into members’ personal lives

— Pretty funny doo-wop performance from the guys.
— I like Dana awkwardly trying to keep the song going by sporadically adding in melodic “shwop-shwop”s into the middle of his argument with George.
— George to Farley: “Why didn’t you tell me, you fat pig?” Farley: “Hey, you’re just as fat as I am, man!” Other guys: “(singing) Maaaaaybe fatter!”
— Nice conclusion.
STARS: ***½


IT’S PAT
barber’s (host) small talk doesn’t reveal the sex of androgynous Pat

— A lot of characters tonight with their own opening credits sequence and theme song, between Mr. No-Depth Perception, Middle-Aged Man, and now Pat.
— The usual laughs from Pat responding to potentially-gender-revealing questions with gender-unspecific answers.
— I like the mention of Pat having a group of friends named Terry, Frances (or Francis), and Robin.
— A priceless part with George’s very focused brushing around Pat’s chest and crotch.
— This sketch ended a little awkwardly.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on memories of family outings


I’M CHILLIN’
Onski plugs Long Leak malt liquor & You’re That Guy credit

— Quite a lot of airtime for Rock tonight, which is refreshing.
— On a similar note, Farley’s been in tons of sketches tonight; far more than a featured player typically gets. A nice way to end what has been a fantastic rookie year for Farley, by far the standout newbie of the season.
— Great “Mother joke of the day” delivered by Rock: “Your mother’s so old, I told her to act her age and the bitch dropped dead.”
— Very funny photo of a grimacing Don Pardo wearing a trendy 8-ball jacket.
— Rock’s description of the “You’re That Guy” credit is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “So Like Candy”


THE SUNRISE SHOW
singer of kids’ songs (host) switches to raunchy lyrics

— (*sigh*) Jan Hooks’ final sketch as a cast member. I’m glad they gave her the 10-to-1 spot of the season finale, even if they (I assume) weren’t aware at the time that she’s leaving.
— Ha, is George wearing Elvis Costello’s beard?
— I like Jan’s gleeful singing of George’s kid-friendly songs, as a sample of his work.
— George suddenly breaking out into a raunchy sexual song is very funny, made even more priceless by the way his thick fake beard makes his raunchy facial expressions look.
— Another great turn with the tone of George’s raunchy song suddenly changing to a jolly, kid-friendly melody as he sings about wanting to get a woman to make various animal sounds during sex.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently very solid and fun episode, with no real lowlights. A great way to end the season. George Wendt was a strong host, and was allowed to give even funnier performances than the unique previous episode he hosted.

— This was the final episode for both Jan Hooks and, of course, Dennis Miller. Dennis’ tenure ended with a bit of a whimper, as he was clearly burned-out during the last three months and began using a more monotone and low-energy delivery, looked fairly tired, and half-assed his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move during his tagline. It didn’t help that the quality of his jokes went downhill as well, often relying too heavily on corny “misinterpreting a photo” type of jokes. However, none of this takes away from the amazing tenure he had as a whole. Right from the start, he completely reinvented Update at a time where the segment desperately needed a boost after the dire quality of it during the non-Lorne years in 1980-1985. Dennis made Update important, hip, laid-back, and most importantly, very funny. And as much as I kept harping on the lethargy of his performances during his last three months, he still was reliable for laughs, especially with his usual knack for funny ad-libs. All-in-all, Dennis is easily my favorite Update anchor of all-time (tied with Norm Macdonald). And as for Jan Hooks, I cannot find enough great things to say about her. She ended a fantastic tenure that was consistently strong from beginning to end. She was an incredibly valuable cast member who could do pretty much no wrong and could handle ANYTHING the writers threw at her. Much like how Dennis is my favorite Update anchor of all-time, Jan is my favorite female cast member of all-time and one of my all-time favorite cast members in general. She will be sorely missed in the cast, especially when you’re aware of how badly the female cast ends up struggling during the next few seasons. However, at least we eventually get frequent special guest appearances from Jan during seasons 18 and 19.

— Season 16 as a whole was another in a long line of very good seasons, even if this one wasn’t QUITE as strong as the season that preceded it. Aside from the notorious Steven Seagal flop, this was a season impressively filled with episodes that ranged from okay to excellent. This was also a very exciting year with a lot of freshness, as we got a huge influx of new featured players over the course of the season, as well as lots of debuts of big recurring segments (including Deep Thoughts). This combo of new featured players and important new recurring segments have kicked off the gradual start of an era of its own, even as this season held on to many important aspects of the preceding 1986-1990 era.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Delta Burke)
a step up


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1989-90)
a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 17 begins, with host Michael Jordan. We start off the season with three new featured players and a new Weekend Update anchor.

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March 25, 1989 – Mary Tyler Moore / Elvis Costello (S14 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
(JOL) calls out names of “best frightened crowd” Academy Award winners

— Phil’s Michael Caine impression is very funny.
— Fairly funny how they keep throwing to clips of lesser and lesser award show categories, especially the cheap location that the awards for movie extras is being held at.
— Jon going through the names of each crowd member is pretty amusing.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Wow, Don Pardo is clearly sick tonight, because his voice sounds TERRIBLE. Not to be grim or tasteless, but he sounds like he’s literally doing these announcements from his death bed. His ill voice tonight sounds almost SCARY, especially the ghoulish way he sounded when announcing Jon Lovitz’s name. Over the years, there have been other episodes where Pardo sounded sick (e.g. Tom Arnold episode from 1996, Freddie Prinze Jr. episode from 2000), but those are NOTHING compared to how scarily unhealthy his voice sounds in tonight’s episode. You really have to wonder why they didn’t just get someone like Carvey to fill in for him.
— In reruns, SNL replaces Pardo’s voice-over with a much-healthier sounding one from him that must’ve been taped sometime after he recovered from whatever was ailing him.
— Ben Stiller has been added to the cast as a featured player.

After having such a stable cast for two-and-a-half seasons, it’s interesting how SNL has suddenly been adding all these new young guys mid-season, especially since it’s not like any members of the regular cast are on their way out yet.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— For the first time ever, there’s an SNL logo on top of the home base stage (screencap below), which the camera shows a close-up of right after the opening montage ends. This would go on to be a tradition until 1995.

— I like how Mary’s bringing up the controversy from this season’s earlier Nude Beach sketch where the word “penis” was uttered 28 times, according to her (though I swear I recall hearing it was a higher number than that, somewhere in the 40s).
— Funny line with her writing off the Nude Beach sketch as “political satire”.
— Love her example of the right time to use the word “penis”.
— An all-time classic line at the very end with her announcing “Elvis Costello’s penis is here tonight, so stick around, we’ll be right back!”
STARS: ****


THE DAN QUAYLE SHOW
Dan Quayle (DAC) with wife Marilyn (host) in Van Dyke-like show

— Strong concept, and obviously inspired by Marilyn Quayle having the same hairstyle as a young Mary Tyler Moore (which SNL made jokes about on some earlier Weekend Updates from this season).
— The son is played by the same child actor (Jeff Renaudo) who’s usually cast as Dan Quayle whenever SNL portrays Quayle as a child (which has yet to become a recurring gag by this point; it’s only appeared once so far). Until now, I had always thought that Jeff Renaudo’s only non-Quayle appearance on SNL was in the Nude House Of Wacky People sketch from the following season.
— Great moment with Mary parodying her own trademark delivery by saying a quivery-voiced “Ohhhh, Daaaaan!”
— This already-strong sketch has now gotten even better with the inclusion of Jon and Nora’s funny portrayals of Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie.
STARS: ****


CUSTOMS
smugglers voluntarily tell a customs officer (host) what they’re carrying

— I got a pretty good laugh from Mary jovially telling Dana’s Scarface-esque character “You’ll be going to prison now.”
— I’m enjoying Mary’s charming ways of getting customers to reveal secrets about what they’re carrying. This is the perfect role for her.
— Boy, it sure feels weird to see young Ben Stiller on the show. Maybe part of that weird feeling is because I have the benefit of hindsight and know his SNL tenure ends up being insanely short.
— Good part with Jon hesitantly revealing that he’s smuggling diamonds inside a certain bodypart.
— Solid ending with Mary happily taking Jon out for ice cream before he goes to jail.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Veronica”


WEEKEND UPDATE

— Man, even Don Pardo’s voice-over intro to tonight’s Update sounds awful. There’s absolutely no energy left in his ill voice by this point of the episode.
— Some big screw-ups with the news screen graphics just now, which Dennis saves with some good ad-libs.
— I didn’t get the “Margo (sp?) Adams trying stuff on that doesn’t belong to her” joke at all, though it got an “Ohhhh!” from someone in the audience.
— I like Dennis’ “Pete Rose’s Best Bets For The Oscars” segment.
— Wow, this overall Update surprisingly had no guest commentaries at all.
STARS: ***½


SWEENEY SISTERS
third Sweeney sister Audrey (host) joins Liz & Candy for a medley

— This ends up being the final Sweeney Sisters sketch, despite the fact that Nora and Jan both remain in the SNL cast for a good while after this (Nora doesn’t leave until the end of next season, and Jan leaves at the end of the season after that). Were they just tired of playing the Sweeneys? Then again, Nora’s recurring characters in general strangely seem to be getting phased out by this point, as Pat Stevens has only one remaining appearance, which surprisingly doesn’t appear until halfway through next season.
— Nice inclusion of Mary as a Sweeney Sister.
— Mary is fitting PERFECTLY into the Sweeney’s medley.
— I loved Jan’s overly-serious delivery of “I’m gonna bring the room down for a minute” and then launching into a softly-spoken rendition of “Hit The Road, Jack”.
— An overall strong way for the Sweeney Sisters to go out. If Nora and Jan really HAVE gotten tired of playing these characters, they sure don’t let it show, because they both appeared to be having a lot of fun during this installment.
STARS: ****


ROBOT REPAIR
robotic repairman (PHH) grows agitated over his show’s misleading titles

— Great make-up on Phil.
— I’m getting so many laughs over the constantly “fixed” titles and how the wording in them is still confusing. Phil’s straight-laced, slow, monotone robot delivery is making the already-funny dialogue that much better.
— A particularly hilarious part with Phil’s character calling out the producers for being intentionally deceptive with their new title “Let’s Fix, Robots”.
— Love the sudden Fugitive Robots turn.
— I’m always a sucker for absurd Jack Handey pieces, and this particular sketch is one of the most wonderfully-written and executed examples. An absolutely perfect sketch.
STARS: *****


LADY RHEMINGTON
host uses the Lady Rhemington shaver to plow through her thick leg hair

— A very short-but-sweet commercial with the sudden cutaway to Mary’s exaggerated leg hair. This commercial was the right length for a sight gag like this.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Let Him Dangle”


REQUIEM FOR DEATH
while portraying gangster in attempt to defy typecasting, host relapses

— “Introducing The New Guy as the boxer”. A nice meta mention of Ben Stiller being a new cast member.
— Is that Conan O’Brien as “Spooneye” O’McCallahan in the promotional boxing poster? (screencap below)

— I like Phil’s slow-witted old man character.
— Very funny use of Mary as an old-timey gangster.
— I’m loving Mary’s performance.
— Mary regressing in her performance by whining out of character is a funny turn. I incorrectly assumed that would lead to a fourth-wall break with the other performers dropping character and calling out Mary for not fully committing to her against-type role, similar to how that “And now, a sketch where Bruce Dern doesn’t play a psycho” piece from season 8 eventually led to Dern having an “unscripted” psychotic angry outburst, upsetting the cast members in the sketch.
STARS: ***½


BROADWAY STORY, PART 1
by TOS- rival producer (DEM) schemes against (JOL)

— Wow, I wonder if this is a record for highest number of black-and-white segments in a single episode. There’s the Dan Quayle Show sketch, the Requiem For Death sketch, and now this.
— We have the birth of the name “SchilllerVision”, which goes on to be used in quite a number of Tom Schiller’s remaining Schiller’s Reels.
— Wow, where has Victoria been tonight? This is the first (and ONLY) time we’re seeing her all night, and it’s not even a live appearance.
— This is an absolutely DEAD-ON recreation of a typical 1930s film. The overly-bright visual quality, the muffled audio, the authentic old-timey performances… I’m loving all the attention to detail throughout this, which they’re pulling off in a very comedic way.
— Funny touches with the blatantly-fake things being superimposed into some stock footage shots.
— Heh, is Dennis miming to somebody else’s voice, or is that all him? Doesn’t sound a thing like his normal voice. He looks very different in this, too. I didn’t even recognize him at first.
— We get a “To be continued…”-esque ending, telling us that a Chapter Two will appear in a later episode. A rarity for SNL to break up a segment into various parts that are continued in subsequent episodes. I’m sure there’s been one or two other times this has happened, but nothing is coming to mind right now.
STARS: ****


WAYNE’S WORLD
an apology to Beev; math teacher (host) tries to be cool

— It sure didn’t take them long to make this sketch recurring. I see it’s still stuck in the 10-to-1 slot, though.
— Interesting how Jan’s Nancy Simmons character is actually a co-host in tonight’s installment.
— Feels weird not hearing the audience go wild in these early Wayne’s World installments whenever Wayne and Garth yell “Paaaartyyyyy!”
— Needless to say, Wayne’s immature prank on Beev after Wayne’s “apology” is very un-PC nowadays (second screencap above).
— I’m enjoying the whole “gimp” back-and-forth between Wayne, Garth, and Nancy.
— Some good laughs from Mary’s character trying too hard to seem cool.
— Despite the laughs, I actually found tonight’s overall Wayne’s World installment more charming than funny. These sketches definitely get funnier later on after they fully find their voice. Nonetheless, these early installments are still fun to watch, not to mention an interesting time capsule of late 80s teen culture.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— Boy, sick Pardo sounds even MORE depressing during his voice-over in these goodnights. Poor guy sounds like he’s half-asleep by this point, and it’s hard to understand what he’s saying.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Season 14 does it once again with yet ANOTHER consistently very solid episode. A lot of strong things tonight, and there weren’t any segments that I disliked. Also, Mary Tyler Moore was a very game and fun host, and you can tell she was having a blast.
— I don’t want to jinx myself, but this is shaping up to be the first (and maybe only?) SNL season that has no episodes that I feel are subpar (though I think I recall hearing that the soon-to-come Geena Davis episode isn’t up to snuff; I myself remember very little about that episode, so I can’t say).


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Mel Gibson, the only live SNL episode to air on April Fools Day

Posted on

December 17, 1977 – Miskel Spillman / Elvis Costello (S3 E8)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
How The Grinch Raped & Strangled Christmas will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
JOB ushered host into SNL’s drug culture by giving her a joint

 
— Having John worry about what will happen if Miskel Spillman forgets her lines is kinda silly. Are we viewers supposed to forget that all the lines on this show are WRITTEN ON CUE CARDS?
— John: “I plan to be dead by 30.” Heh, I feel bad for now laughing at that, but his casual delivery of it was damn good. FWIW, he was only off by three years in his prediction.
— Buck!
— Funny reveal that John gave Miskel a joint.
— Buck: “John, your joints overwhelm even an experienced drug user like myself.”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Buck Henry [real] introduces host, winner of the Anyone Can Host Contest

 
— Good continuation of the cold opening’s premise, with Miskel making her monologue entrance while holding a fruit bowl.
— I like how Buck is continuing to act as basically the emcee of the Anyone Can Host contest.
— A huge applause break from the audience when Buck officially announces Miskel as the winner of the contest.
— Miskel acting high the whole time is decent, especially her constant refusal to give the fruit bowl to Buck.
STARS: ***


MEAT WAGON ACTION TRACK SET
Meat Wagon toy ambulance attends to gruesome slot car racing accidents

 
— An okay ad, but I felt it wasn’t quite as dark and gruesome as it needed to be.
— The mention at the end of the toy being “by Mainway” was a hilarious callback to a certain Dan Aykroyd character.
STARS: ***


AMERICAN DATE THE SELF-CONSCIOUS ASSOCIATION
LAN says the self-conscious & the extremely obnoxious should go on dates

   
— Bill’s pretty funny during the self-conscious date with Gilda.
— Laraine seems kinda out of place as the spokesperson; maybe cause Jane or Dan usually play this type of role.
— Dan’s voice as the member of the Really Stupid People’s Amalgamation was hilarious.
— An overall good sketch that took a lot of unexpected turns with the various groups that were introduced.
STARS: ***½


THE GIFT OF THE MAGI
JAC narrates a variant of The Gift Of The Magi enacted by (JOB) & (GIR)

   
— That sure was one long build-up to the punchline. And I’m not sure how to feel about this punchline, considering it’s yet another sketch with Belushi beating up a woman, a routine that’s very hit-and-miss with me. I suppose it’s fairly funny in this particular sketch, since it came out of nowhere after such a long, saccharine set-up.
— I did like John working in his “But noooooo” line from Update (which hadn’t yet become a catchphrase for him at this point).
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
(no synopsis available)


WEEKEND UPDATE
JAC calls Dan Aykroyd fan Jimmy Carter (DAA) during Menachem Begin summit
GAM does a Point Of View about whites using blacks as scapegoats
BIM is disappointed in Miracle On 34th Street’s ambiguous stance on Santa
NBC Dancing N is revealed to be Emily Litella
Emily Litella’s editorial about the “sst” landing in NYC drives JAC crazy
JAC rings out recently-deceased New Year’s Eve bandleader Guy Lombardo

       
— Anchorman Dan now has glasses.
— The Jimmy Carter call is okay. Is that a pre-taped Dan doing the Carter voice, or is he doing it live?
— Ah, the camera revealed that Dan’s indeed doing the voice live.
— A clip is shown of the infamous then-recent Kermit Washington/Rudy Tomjanovich NBA fight. If you’re not familiar with that incident, the injuries that Tomjanovich sustained from that punch were BRUTAL; it literally almost killed him.
— I loved Garrett’s dumbfounded reaction to seeing that “whitey” was indeed hit in the aforementioned clip.
— Bill got a noteworthy good reaction from the audience after he started his commentary. It’s nice to see how popular he’s become with the audience.
— Bill’s overall commentary was very up-and-down, being funny in some moments and dragging in other moments. It kinda hurts to admit that I’ve been kinda underwhelmed with his last few review commentaries in general.
— I did like the camera panning over to Jane’s deadpan WTF-type facial reaction when Bill’s commentary oddly ended with him sleeping on a pillow.
— Emily Litella has been revealed as the NBC Dancing N. So was that always Gilda in that costume during all of the Dancing N’s appearances earlier this season?
— Jane begrudgingly lets Litella do a commentary for the first time all season. Can’t say I’ve been missing her presence this season; I had been hoping she was retired by this point.
— Jane’s loud angry rant at Litella was great.
— The way Litella’s commentary ended made it seem like this is intended to be her final appearance. I hope that’s true, but then again, the recent Samurai sketch that ended with Futaba killing himself still didn’t stop them from soon continuing to do more Samuari sketches, so I’m not getting my hopes up about Litella’s alleged retirement.
— The New Years ball drop bit was a creative way to honor the then-recently-passed Guy Lombardo.
STARS: ***


SARTRESKY & HUTCH
philosopher cops handle hostage situation

     
— Funny concept for a Starsky and Hutch take-off.
— The camera stayed on Garrett WAY too long at the end of the police station scene.
— Ha, Buck in a sketch.
— Dan’s sudden “blow his freakin’ head off” in the middle of his usual philosophizing was really funny.
— The fake freeze-frame ending was good.
— I wanted to like this more than I did. It started fine and featured an unsurprisingly great performance from Dan, but I felt like the sketch’s quality gradually died down as it went along.
STARS: **


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF sings a tribute to parents Joe & Phoebe [real], then gets mad at them

   
— Wow, Franken’s parents are tiny.
— Franken suddenly blowing up at his parents is hilariously unexpected.
— Surprisingly, Davis was pretty much a non-entity in this.
STARS: ****


E. BUZZ MILLER’S ART CLASSICS
paintings of naked broads on display

 
— Dan’s hyena-esque laugh is hilarious.
— I’m getting some good laughs from Dan’s sleazy comments about the paintings, especially the picnic one.
— Overall, a much better E. Buzz Miller sketch than his debut in the Ruth Gordon episode.
STARS: ***½


GIRLFRIEND
college student (JOB) introduces elderly girlfriend (host) to his parents

 
— Looks like this will be an actual meaty role for Miskel, after being a non-entity for most of the night.
— Kinda funny how John and Miskel’s relationship is being treated like it’s normal.
— Funny ending, but overall, this sketch felt kinda lazy and underwritten.
STARS: **½


WINO SANTA
drunk department store Santa (BIM) enjoys vetoing girl’s (GIR) wish list

  
— Almost thought at first that this was going to be a sequel to the Santa-Wrap commercial.
— Bill’s gruff voice as Santa is making me laugh.
— I’m loving Bill’s Santa being a sarcastic asshole to Gilda.
— Overall, a quick, random sketch, but it was strong and Bill’s performance was excellent. Add this to the list of lesser-known early Bill Murray gems.
STARS: ****


MR. MIKE’S CORAL WATERS CAFE
LAN sings Madame Butterfly aria while MOD makes a Soiled Kimono

     
— This is the Mr. Mike sketch that was shown decades later as an encore presentation (introduced by Bill Murray) in the Sarah Jessica Parker episode from season 20, in tribute to O’Donoghue after he had passed. It was a very nice and well-meaning tribute, but it also sadly emphasized how far SNL’s quality had fallen in 1994, considering this Mr. Mike sketch was FAR better, FAR more clever, and FAR more entertaining than any of the actual new material that aired in that dreadful episode (with the possible exception of Norm Macdonald’s Weekend Update)… but I’ll go more into all of that when we reach that season.
— It’s nice to now see this sketch in the context of the actual episode it originally aired in.
— A very creative variation on the usual Least Loved Bedtime Tales.
— The text crawl with the story of the Soiled Kimono is the usual hilariously dark Mr. Mike-type humor that I love.
— I liked the “Are you kidding me?”-type look O’Donoghue gave Laraine after she asked “Do you eat the butterfly?”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

 
— Ah, there’s the the legendary moment with Costello abruptly cutting off the song, then saying “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here”, and then launching into “Radio, Radio” – a song he was forbidden to do on the show.
— I’m sure there’s no truth to this, but I remember hearing a rumor that after Costello switched to “Radio, Radio”, a pissed-off Lorne walked up next to the camera and held his middle finger up to Costello for the remainder of the performance. Again, I’m sure there’s no truth to that, but it sure is funny to picture 70s Lorne just standing there while giving the finger for two minutes straight with a deadpan look on his face.
— IIRC, Costello would later do a tongue-in-cheek recreation of this legendary song-switch moment during a performance with Beastie Boys at SNL’s 25th anniversary special.


GOODNIGHTS
host’s granddaughter [real] joins her on-stage

     
— Miskel looks adorable in that Christmas outfit.
— What’s with all the cutaways to various crew members throughout the studio? Is SNL just doing this because it’s the holidays?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall pretty good episode that got better as it went along. The first half of the show was just average, but the second half had several really strong sketches.
— One minor complaint I have is that for a Christmas episode, this barely featured any actual holiday-themed sketches.
— Miskel Spillman did very little of note, but it was probably intentional to go light on her, for several obvious reasons. This was probably the best we could get out of an 80-year-old grandmother who has no kind of acting experience. She did okay with what she was given, didn’t mess up too badly (aside from a few awkward pauses before some of her lines), and she came off endearing. Overall, SNL’s daring “Anyone Can Host” experiment has ended up being a moderate success.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Mary Kay Place):
— a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1978, with Steve Martin returning