Tag: En Vogue

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May 17, 1997 – Jeff Goldblum / En Vogue (S22 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
Deep Blue’s chess win has made Ted Koppel (DAH) technophobic

— Mark’s Bill Gates voice gets me every time. These are probably the last laughs that Mark will ever get on SNL, considering tonight ends up being his final episode.
— I love Will-as-the-Unabomber’s line about preferring to mail his response to Bill Gates.
— I’m enjoying Darrell-as-Koppel’s paranoid, agitated attitude throughout this sketch, due to his fear of technology taking over mankind. A change of pace from Darrell’s usual portrayal of Koppel.
— A big laugh from the name graphic for Garry Kasparov billing him as “A big ass” as we see a pouting Chris Kattan as Kasparov.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
JMB does dinosaur impressions in hopes that host can get him a job

— Accurate and funny dinosaur sounds from Jim so far.
— Feels rare to see Jim getting the spotlight as himself.
— Heh, Jim is like a little kid in this monologue with his actions. I remember finding him a little annoying in this monologue during past viewings, but I’m more tolerant of it now, even if it’s still nothing particularly great.
STARS: ***


BIG BRAWN
Rerun from 9/28/96


TEACHER’S LAST DAY
Mary Katherine Gallagher finds a soulmate in teacher (host)

— As is inevitable with a lot of recurring characters, we now get Mary Katherine Gallagher doing a “recurring character is paired with a person with similar traits, played by the host” sketch.
— Much like with Steven Tyler in MKG’s last appearance, MKG licks Jeff Goldblum’s body, though it’s only his midsection she licks, whereas she licked Steven Tyler from toe to head. I mentioned in my review of that Steven Tyler sketch that Molly disclosed in, I think, the “Live From New York” book that the NBC censors warned her not to lick Steven Tyler during the sketch, but now I’m thinking that she may have actually been talking about Jeff Goldblum in tonight’s MKG sketch and I probably misremembered it as being Steven Tyler who she talked about. I don’t have my copy of “Live From New York” available, so I can’t check.
— A decent double pratfall from both MKG and Jeff.
— Overall, this MKG installment had its charm, but ehh, I felt a little lukewarm on this sketch (and I’m usually a little more tolerant of Mary Katherine Gallagher than some other SNL fans are). This installment just didn’t interest me all that much.
STARS: **½


SPACE, THE INFINITE FRONTIER WITH HARRY CARAY
Harry Caray (WIF) & astrophysicist (host)

— The debut of a Harry Caray-hosted talk show sketch. Tonight’s installment is by far the most famous installment of this sketch, and I believe is widely considered the definitive appearance of Will’s Harry Caray.
— So far, this is an improvement over the already-funny appearances that Will’s Caray made prior to this. I love how this appearance from Will’s Caray is really doubling-down on the absurd non-sequitur statements and questions.
— A classic part with Caray asking Jeff if he would eat the moon if it was made of barbecue spare ribs.
— Non-stop laughs throughout this. This sketch is an absolute riot and is indeed deserving of its high status among SNL fans.
— Great ending line from Caray, regarding trying to get the dead Albert Einstein to be his next guest.
STARS: *****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- talk show trash is taken to the dump

— Interesting format with Sally Jesse Raphael’s show being created from horse defecation and regurgitation.
— A laugh from the overexaggerated size difference between a heavyset female guest and Sally Jesse Raphael.
— This feels weird for a Fun With Real Audio cartoon, but I’m enjoying this biting satire of trashy daytime talk shows from this era.
— I love how SNL’s studio audience can be heard groaning “Ohhh!” when a pile of garbage transforms into Johnnie Cochran. And, boy, did the animators make Cochran’s face look goofy and unflattering in this cartoon.
STARS: ****


GOTH TALK
Circe & Azrael welcome dark musician Count Feedback (host)

— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— The phone-ringing bit is pretty funny.
— Jeff surprisingly looks right at home in that goth make-up.

— Jim and his obnoxious friends suddenly crashing Jeff’s dark music video is pretty funny, but this doesn’t hold a candle to the memorable video that Rob Lowe did as “The Beholder” in the preceding installment of this sketch.
— Man, the audience has been pretty dead during this sketch.
— Overall, a step down from the first installment of this sketch, but still okay.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
breaking the chain of violence has aided Lenny The Lion’s personal growth
In Their Own Words- kids’ letters to Bill Clinton have anti-GOP spin

— Surprised to see a third Lenny The Lion commentary on Weekend Update. I thought he only did two Update commentaries, both of which I already covered. This isn’t my favorite Colin Quinn recurring character, but this character has its merits.
— Tonight’s overall Lenny The Lion commentary actually had a solid first half, being better than the usual commentaries from him, but trailed off towards the end and whimpered to a finish.
— Didn’t care for Norm’s “In Their Own Words” segment.
— Boy, this is surprisingly the first in quite a long time that we’ve gotten a “Marion Barry loves crack” joke from Norm.
— Wow, and speaking of Norm bringing back an old running joke, we now get a “Germans love David Hasselhoff” joke for the first time since way back in season 20. Norm’s breakin’ out all the classics for tonight’s season finale. I wonder if this made SNL fans at the time speculate that this is possibly Norm’s final episode.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Let Go”


KENNEDY KAPERS
Ted Kennedy (WIF) & relatives disgrace family name on game show

— I like the sudden gameshow reveal after such a serious beginning about the Kennedy family.
— Jim as William Kennedy Smith is good casting, as I do feel there’s somewhat of a resemblance between the two.
— Will’s Ted Kennedy impression is always worth some laughs.
— Some good tasteless humor with the running gag regarding Michael Kennedy’s preference for underage girls.
— Pretty funny speed round with the Kennedys trying to make JFK spin in his grave.
— An overall pretty fun gameshow sketch, but this didn’t feel as memorable as it should’ve been.
STARS: ***


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) gives even more News & Views

— Hell yeah! Glad to see this back.
— As always, I’m laughing non-stop at Norm-as-Larry-King’s random opinionated one-liners into the different cameras.
STARS: ****


RANT
Janet Blaum’s ineffective invective dooms her attempt at unionization

— That looks like the same workshop set that was previously used in that awful Pacemaker sketch that David Spade did in the Bob Saget episode from season 20.
— The return of Ana’s Janet Blaum character. I liked the first installment of this sketch, but I can tell that this will not work as a recurring sketch.
— Yeah, Ana’s comically bad insults aren’t as funny this time, though as always, Ana’s pulling it off really well, like a true pro.
— I do like Ana’s clumsy attempt to stand on a chair that has wheels under the legs.
— I also like the bit right now with Ana making a sloppily-written “Unon” sign. Aside from that and the aforementioned chair bit, everything in this sketch is just a copy-and-paste of the script from the first installment of this sketch.
— Like the last time they did the sketch, Ana’s rant is going on too long.
STARS: **


VIC OCASEK’S ROCK & ROLL FANTASY CAMP
Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp of Ric Ocasek’s cousin Vic (host) has has-beens

— I like the photos of campers with has-been rock stars. And in one of the photos, we get a Frank Sebastiano sighting (the heavyset, bearded, long-haired, biker-looking SNL writer), which is always a plus in my book. Speaking of Sebastiano, is tonight his final night in the SNL writing staff, or does he return next season?
— The campers’ excited testimonials are fairly funny.
STARS: ***


INTERVIEW
(host) interviews unduly-confident job applicant Jerry Steve Dave (TIM)

— Wow, where has Tim been tonight? He’s JUST NOW making his first appearance all night, in the final sketch of the season finale. You can hear one lone person in the audience applaud when Tim makes his entrance.
— Early on in this sketch, I can already tell this is going to be really good. Tim always excels at making silly characters like this work. Fantastic name for this particular character too: Jerry Steve Dave, the Magic Man.
— I love Jerry Steve Dave being under the impression that Napoleon conquered Japan.
— Jerry Steve Dave’s confident attitude when spouting his various clueless statements is great.
— When getting the hint that Jeff doesn’t want to hire him, I like Jerry Steve Dave saying “Did I happen to mention I have 101 Dalmatians on laserdisc?”, as if that would persuade Jeff.
STARS: ****


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) voices still more News & Views

— And here we have our final segment of the season.
— This is tickling the hell out of me as always. Even when some of the one-liners aren’t inherently funny, they’re sold by Norm-as-Larry-King’s delivery and the tight close-ups of his face during them.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Former SNL writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller is credited as a guest writer in this episode, billed as “Marilyn Miller” (as seen in the last screencap above). Whatever she wrote must’ve been cut after dress rehearsal, because none of the sketches that aired in this episode match her recognizable style. Or is Marilyn Miller a different person from Marilyn Suzanne Miller?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average season finale. Kinda disappointing that the season ended on an unexciting note, but I can’t complain too much, as I still liked a good number of things in this episode and there were a few great high points, mainly Space The Infinite Frontier and Jerry Steve Dave. I feel like I’m not going to remember much from this episode as time passes, though.

— Season 22 as a whole was a little better than what I was expecting. I came into this season with a little bit of dread, as I had remembered this season for being practically “all recurring characters, all the time” and for heavily toning down the number of absurdist, oddball sketches that season 21 wonderfully leaned into. While I still turned out to be right about those two things to an extent, I ended up finding this season more palatable than I was expecting. This was just an average season, but it was a pleasantly average one, where most of the episodes had a comfortable consistency to them. While I didn’t find too many stand-out classic sketches within a lot of the individual episodes, there was a refreshingly low number of truly bad sketches. One thing about this season that was an upgrade from season 21 was the addition of TV Funhouse, which has brought a fresh new aspect to SNL and has been very reliable for the most part, usually being one of the biggest highlights of the individual episodes they’ve appeared in. Another positive asset to this season was the Distinguished Alumni series, which was five consecutive episodes hosted by former cast members, an experiment that was very fun and made me wish that SNL would do more variations of that idea.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a mild step down


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1995-96)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 23 begins, with host Sylvester Stallone

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March 21, 1992 – Mary Stuart Masterson / En Vogue (S17 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The McLaughlin (DAC) Group- Pat Buchanan (PHH) returns to the panel

— Here’s what ends up being the final McLaughlin Group sketch.
— I’m liking all of McLaughlin’s questions being about Pat Buchanan’s failing presidential campaign.
— Buchanan: “The campaign isn’t actually over.” McLaughlin: “WRONG! It was over weeks ago, you just haven’t been notified.”
— All of McLaughlin’s mockery towards Buchanan’s campaign is really funny.
— Here’s an epic moment that I’ve never been 100% sure is a genuine blooper or a scripted part of the sketch: when Dana’s McLaughlin asks how to start the show, Mike answers with the usual “Live from New York…”. As Dana’s McLaughlin tells Mike “WRONG!”, the drummer in the off-camera SNL Band is heard beginning to play the SNL theme music when it isn’t time yet. After the drummer cuts himself off when realizing his mistake, Dana looks in the SNL Band’s general direction (last screencap above) and yells a particularly loud “WRONG!!!”, which gets a huge audience response. A priceless moment that does seem like a real blooper, but I’ve never seen it confirmed if it actually is real or not.
— As usual, Dana’s McLaughlin starts the show with something other than “Live from New York…”, this time with a simple “Start the shoooowww.”
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
to prevent typecasting, host briefly shows her vulgar & stupid side

— Her doing a “vulgar yet stupid” dance, then immediately regretting it was only okay, but nothing particularly great.
STARS: **½


ACTION CATS
feline accessories give kids a new way to play with pets

— Not exactly sure where the hilarity is supposed to be coming from, as this is coming off more cute than funny. Though as a cat lover, I can kinda appreciate the cuteness.
STARS: **


LISA PONGRASIC, VERY PREGNANT UNDERCOVER COP
(CHF) & very pregnant undercover cop (host) execute a drug bust

 

— The beginning of this, with Phil as a police chief chewing out Mary’s cop for her renegade actions, reminds me of the beginning of the Tenelli: One Man Army sketch with Steven Seagal, which began the exact same way and with Phil in the police chief role.
— Good reveal of Mary being pregnant.
— Pretty fun opening credits sequence.
— Dana plays yet another Scarface-sounding criminal.
— This is the second episode in a row where Rock plays a character named G-Love. In the last episode, it was the name of his character in John Goodman’s Teen Dermatologist sketch.
— Great shocked look on Farley’s face during the freeze-frame ending after Mary reveals “My water just broke.”
STARS: ***½


LYLE, THE EFFEMINATE HETEROSEXUAL
even Lyle Billup’s wife (JUS) & daughter (host) think he’s a homosexual

— Surprisingly, this is the first time they’ve brought this sketch back since its debut three years earlier in a Chris Evert-hosted episode from 1989. This has got to be one of the longest a sketch took to become recurring.
— They’ve altered the opening title sequence to insert Julia in Chris Evert’s place as Lyle’s wife and to add Mary in as an additional daughter.
— Like last time, Dana’s giving me a lot of laughs as this character.
— Very funny part with Lyle receiving an unwanted raunchy stripping telegram from Tim.
— A great lengthy “Whaaaaaaaaaaaa???” from Lyle at the end when even his wife asks him “Aren’t you gay?”
STARS: ****


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on dealing with unwanted Thanksgiving food


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” & “Hold On”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Denise Swerski gives beauty tips for brides-to-be
Cajunman gives his predictions for the NCAA basketball tournament

 

— Here comes what ends up being the biggest showcase Beth will get during her short-lived SNL tenure.
— Beth’s bad makeup tips and accompanying pictures are pretty funny. Nothing particularly hilarious, but decent.
— Surprisingly, Cajunman does an Update commentary for the second episode in a row.
— Adam has really found his groove as Cajunman by this point, and there’s a lot of funny lines with him here, especially when he realizes he lost all his money betting on NCAA games. I especially like him saying the punishment he’ll receive for not paying a loan shark will be “castra-shown”.
— Kevin mentions gay activist groups protesting the homophobic portrayal of lesbians in the then-new movie Basic Instinct. Little does SNL know at this time that they’ll soon be dealing with some members of those gay activist groups in person, heckling the monologue when a certain Basic Instinct star hosts the very next episode.
STARS: ***½


DELTA DELTA DELTA
Pam, Di, Meg don’t like how the real world has changed alumna (host)

— (*groan*) Didn’t they just do a Delta Delta Delta sketch two episodes ago? I guess I wouldn’t complain if I actually liked this recurring sketch. After all, I had no complaints about Cajunman appearing two episodes in a row.
— I noticed something very odd: Mary has played a character named Lisa in every single sketch so far tonight (Very Pregnant Undercover Cop, Lyle The Effeminate Heterosexual, and now this). What in the world??? Is this intentional? An inside joke?
— I begrudgingly admit to getting a laugh from Melanie’s delivery of “The real world…. is sooo… scary” in that valley girl-type voice.
— For some reason, when Mary answers the phone, she quickly whips off her left earring and tries to hide it from the camera before holding the phone up to her left ear. Why did she do this?
— Interesting moment with the now-speechless Delta Delta Delta girls not joining Mary in the cheer they all did together earlier, due to being disturbed by hearing her use her “work voice” while speaking on the phone. That added a kinda-deep, slice-of-life factor to this.
— Overall, I found this slightly more entertaining than the usual Delta Delta Delta sketches, even if that’s still not saying much.
STARS: **½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on helping children develop a lucky feeling


MONSTER SPRAY
the makers of Monster Spray prey on kids’ irrational nighttime fears

— The usual great utilization of Phil’s comedic pitchman skills.
— During a close-up of Phil, the actor playing the little boy can be seen sneaking off the bedroom set behind Phil when stagehands have replaced him off-camera with a dummy.
— Another blooper during another close-up of Phil, where a crew member’s head can be seen accidentally entering the shot (screencap below).

— I love the turn this took with the demonstration of what will happen to a kid without Monster Spray, where we’re shown a monster tearing the kid’s head off and sucking the blood that spurts out from the kid’s now-headless neck. Hilariously gruesome and tasteless.
STARS: ****


WHO SHOT ME?
inner-city school teacher (KEN) tries to figure out who’s shooting him

— I loved Tim’s “Every time you get shot, you blame me!”
— This sketch has a certain silliness that’s working for me, especially with the casual treatment of Kevin’s back repeatedly getting shot by the students, which is being treated as if the students are merely throwing something at him.
— It’s hard to tell what exactly went wrong, but there’s a weird gaffe during the part where Rock’s character apologizes for reloading his gun. This would later be fixed in reruns by replacing that small portion of the sketch with the dress rehearsal version.
— When Mary’s character arrived, Kevin called her Ms. M, but after she has now left, Kevin refers to her as Ms. Ketchum. What’s up with that? At least he didn’t call her Lisa.
— Fairly weak ending with a whole bunch of gunshots being heard going off at Kevin during an exterior shot of the school. Reruns of this sketch actually alter this ending a bit: after the sound of a whole bunch of gunshots, audio is added in of Kevin asking a mildly irritated “Okay, who did that?”
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Free Your Mind”


COLOSSEUM EVENTS COMMITTEE
Colosseum events committee brainstorms ideas for gladiator contests

— Second episode in a row with a sketch taking place in Roman times, after the sketch about plotting Caesar’s death in the John Goodman episode.
— I’m loving the very absurd proposed ideas for Colosseum events (e.g. a battle of amputees fighting each other with their own amputated limbs).
— I like them unknowingly coming up with the idea of what we know today as baseball, but with a twist that the batter gets beaten as he runs around the bases, and when he gets to home base, he gets crucified.
— Solid ending.
STARS: ****


MILLION DOLLAR ZOMBIE
by TOS- (VIJ) uncovers Ed McMahon’s (PHH) dungeon

— Victoria “Oh, that’s right, she’s still in the cast” Jackson’s diminishing presence this season continues, as this pre-taped film ends up being her only appearance all night, meaning she doesn’t make any live appearances in this episode. At least her part in this film is a lead role, though.
— A great and creative use of Phil’s Ed McMahon impression.
— Fantastic part with McMahon being taken down by seeing a cross with Jay Leno’s picture (second-to-last screencap above).
— Great use of Phil-as-McMahon’s “Hey-ooooo!” catchphrase after he gets stabbed to death.
— Overall, the usual solid and creative Schiller film.
STARS: ****


MONEY FOR BOOZE
(PHH) thinks that money given to panhandler (CHF) might be spent on booze

— I’m always a sucker for sketches with an interesting, unique format, such as this one with the heavy use of thought bubbles and pre-taped voice overs to carry along the storyline.
— I only have the rerun version of this sketch available, and it appears to be a mixture of live and dress rehearsal, as halfway through this sketch, there’s suddenly some subtle changes in both Farley’s appearance and the lighting of the scene (side-by-side comparison below).

My guess as to why they inserted portions of the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns is because there were probably some timing issues with the displaying of the thought bubbles during the live airing.
— Funny turn with the thought bubble of Phil drinking a giant glass of wine when he’s contemplating keeping his money for himself.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Future regular writer Fred Wolf receives what I believe is his very first “Additional Sketch By” credit tonight. No idea what it was that he guest wrote in this episode. Maybe it was the Monster Spray sketch, since it involved spurting blood at one point, which would go on to be one of the trademarks of typical Fred Wolf sketches.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, if not particularly memorable. There were a few weak spots, but we got some solid stuff as usual, and good creative ideas in the post-Weekend Update half. Mary Stuart Masterson has to be one of the most underutilized hosts in this era. She only appeared in four sketches (and, as pointed out earlier, three of those four sketches had her playing a character named Lisa) and of those four sketches, only two of them were significant roles (the Very Pregnant Cop and Delta Delta Delta sketches). She was also nowhere to be seen during the last 15 minutes of the show (not counting the goodnights, of course). You’d think Phil Hartman was the host tonight with how heavily he was utilized throughout the episode, especially with how he carried a majority of the post-Weekend Update half.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sharon Stone