Tag: Garth Brooks

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November 13, 1999 – Garth Brooks / Chris Gaines (S25 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NRA HEADQUARTERS
NRA members celebrate gunman (HOS) after he shoots up their headquarters

— Interesting fake-out at the beginning, where this starts out with stock footage of a Cheerleaders sketch (from season 23’s Matthew Perry episode), before it thankfully gets cut off by an NBC special report.
— I like it being pointed out how ironic it is that a mass shooting is occurring at the NRA headquarters.
— Will is doing the most bizarre Charlton Heston impression I’ve EVER seen. It’s certainly making me laugh, though. Also, is Will wearing fake arms for whatever reason? His arms are strangely hanging in a limp, un-moving manner.
— Hilarious line from Will’s Heston about the mass shooter’s rifle: “Upon seeing it, I instantly achieved an erection.”
— I love the detail of the shooter (Horatio) being an unemployed women’s softball coach.
— Interesting social commentary throughout this cold opening.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
whereas host was smitten with Mango, Mango has a thing for musical guest

— (*groan*) Mango makes an appearance for the SECOND episode in a row. While it’s understandable in tonight’s case, considering how famous the Mango installment from Garth Brooks’ last episode was and that people would’ve been expecting a follow-up tonight, I still have to complain. SNL knew during the week of the preceding Dylan McDermott episode that Garth was hosting the next episode, and thus, they should’ve just waited until Garth’s episode to do a Mango sketch, instead of shoving Mango down our throats two consecutive weeks. Then again, considering McDermott did a Mango imitation in the Mango sketch from his episode, I wonder if he was already a fan of the character and requested a Mango sketch during that week’s pitch meeting. Still, there had to have been SOME way to avoid having a Mango sketch in two consecutive episodes.
— Garth is funny with his tense reaction to seeing Mango again.
— I do like that we’re seeing a clip from the last Mango sketch that Garth appeared in, just because the clip is a fun and well-done scene.
— Garth’s delivery of “Mango’s got the hots for Chris! Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk!”was odd but charmingly hillbilly-ish.
STARS: **


TODAY IS NEVER YESTERDAY
James Bond (CHP) informs former sex partners of his 107 venereal diseases

— An absolutely priceless reveal of Parnell’s James Bond having 107 different venereal diseases. I love the James Bond music sting that plays when the camera shows Bond’s taken-aback reaction.
— When asking Bond how hasn’t he noticed all of the awful symptoms of his venereal diseases, I got a big laugh from Garth saying “Surely you’re aware of the stench that even fills this room.”
— Hilarious sequence with Bond calling up all 8,000 of the people he’s slept with in the last five years. I especially like him calling up Martha Stewart and both Batman AND Robin.
— Funny ending with Ana revealing to Bond that her name is Connie Lingus.
STARS: ****


THE SMURFS
cartoon imps are dramatized in star-studded epic miniseries

 

— A hilarious concept of the Smurfs being turned into an epic NBC miniseries.
— A lot of fun celebrity choices for Smurf portrayals. I especially like Darrell’s Sean Connery as Papa Smurf, and Tracy as Little Richard.
— Very funny passionate line from Rachel to Garth: “I want you to Smurf all over my Smurfs!”
— An absolutely priceless inclusion of Ana’s Celine Dion singing a dramatic, powerful rendition of the Smurfs theme song.
STARS: ****½


HICKORY FARMS
Boston teens Sully (JIF) & Denise (RAD) videotape Hickory Farms job quest

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Rachel gets her very first lead role.
— I love Garth’s friendly delivery of “I’m gonna have to ask you not to dry hump by the food products.”
— Rachel: “Everybody calls me Zazu!”
— Right in this first Boston Teens sketch, Jimmy and Rachel already have a good handle on their characters, which makes sense in Rachel’s case, as she previously did these sketches with Tina Fey in their improv days.
— We get our very first “Nomah” mention.
— Another great line from Garth: “I don’t think you have the skills needed to hand out free pieces of cheese.”
STARS: ***½


BACKSTAGE
TRM tells host he thinks musical guest is fruity, then bosses LOM around

— Oh, here comes a very important game-changer in Tracy Morgan’s SNL tenure.
— Tracy is priceless in his negative rant to Garth about Chris Gaines, particularly this perfectly Tracy Morgan-esque line: “Chris Gaines is a weenie beenie bing-bong freak!”
— An absolutely legendary part right now with Tracy telling Lorne “Go get me a soda…. BITCH!” I also love how that’s followed by Lorne just pausing for a while and then saying “Okay.”
— Yet another killer line from Tracy, this time about how if Garth were as fat as Chris Gaines, they’d be calling him “Girth Brooks”.
— Garth’s flustered and horrified facial reactions throughout this are great.
— I enjoyed the little ending with Lorne’s “These are strange times, homes” and Tracy telling him not to do that.
— Overall, a true classic, and would be the sketch responsible for helping shape what would go on to famously be known as Tracy’s trademark onscreen persona.
STARS: *****


GREAT MOMENTS IN CORPORATE HISTORY
plethora of Warner-Lambert execs nixes merger with American Home Products

— Will has the great ability to make a reading-off of an endless amount of names funny.
— Will’s reading-off of names is made even funnier by the occasional moments we see the camera panning across a table of execs.
— Great fake-out with Will stopping his reading-off of names to take a drink of water, only to continue with the names immediately afterwards.
— Funny turn with Will calling the merger off just because Rachel messed up her name.
STARS: ****


EXPRESS FLOWERS
ordering flowers for girlfriend via phone, (host) mulls message for card

— A big laugh from the first message that Garth requests to be put on the card for flowers he’s sending to his girlfriend: “I screwed up, you screwed up, now let’s screw. Horniest wishes – Donnie.”
— The increasingly disturbing revisions Garth is making to the card are very funny.
— Solid ad-lib from Garth when he messes up a line.
— Garth: “I’ve got 800 bucks in the bank, a well-thought-of penis, and an NFL football phone.”
— I love how Garth is now directing his flower card to his girlfriend’s sister, and how he signs his name at the end of it as “The Night Dog”.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Millennium- Darryl Dawkins is named Man Of The Millennium
MOS says Julianna Margulies is crazy for turning down $27,000,000 from ER

— Great to see another Millennium segment, as these are always solid.
— An overall very funny Millennium segment on basketball player Darryl Dawkins, especially the part about how he was chosen for “Man of the Millennium” over William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein, and the line about his “almost-pornographic dunks”. All of this is made even funnier by Parnell’s great voice-over delivery.
— Colin finally had a post-joke ad-lib that made me laugh, after his Louis Farrakhan joke: “I can’t get a laugh on a Farrakhan joke in the Garth Brooks show; that’s a little politically correct for my tastes.”
— As I said in my last review, I keep forgetting that Molly is even still on the show, due to her lack of appearances lately. This is her first big role in an entire month.
— Throughout Molly’s commentary, they keep making a big deal about this being a new editorial commentary segment, as if they’re setting it up to become recurring. We end up never seeing this segment again.
— Not caring much for this commentary of Molly’s. I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 1999 saying that this commentary just seemed to be an excuse for Molly to do a thinly-veiled Adam Sandler impression. I can definitely see the Sandler similarities in some parts of Molly’s performance here.
— For no good reason, Molly, during her goofiness at the end of her commentary, slips in an “I like a-dawgs!”, which is her catchphrase from the Dog Show sketches. This just further proves to me how one-note Molly’s gradually becoming as a performer lately.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Way Of The Girl”


DRESSING ROOM
host reveals that his Chris Gaines persona was a ploy to get with Mango

— Jesus Christ, our THIRD Mango sketch within these last two episodes alone.
— I guess it’s kinda funny that Garth reveals he created his Chris Gaines persona just to get close to Mango.
— For some reason, this sketch randomly ends with Mango plugging the host/musical guest line-up of the next episode, then saying “I’ll see you then… or will I?” Man, I sure hope not. Three episodes in a row with Mango would be pure murder on me.
— Overall, despite the potentially interesting Garth Brooks/Mango/Chris Gaines story arc tonight, I didn’t care for this sketch at all, and I found Mango even more annoying than usual here, which is certainly saying something.
STARS: *½


LUCIFER SONGS
(host) will sell his soul for a hit song, but Lucifer (WIF) can’t deliver

— Great makeup on Will’s Lucifer.
— Lucifer’s uncharacteristically cheesy songs are all really funny, especially the “Fred’s got slacks” song and the English-accented “love bat” song.
— Will is giving a hilarious performance in this sketch, especially whenever he gets frustrated.
— Lucifer’s bad attempt at a rap song slayed me.
— The “The devil can’t write no love songs” song that Garth makes up at the end actually sounds like it could’ve been a legitimate hit song for Garth in real life.
STARS: ****½


WILSON’S
department store employee Nadeen (CHO) tells customers to “simmer down”

— The debut of Nadeen, Cheri’s “Simma dah nah” character, who’s a variation of a supporting character Cheri played in the Cathouse Computer System sketch from the preceding season’s John Goodman episode.
— A very funny line from Garth to Tim about how the clothing that Tim’s returning isn’t meant to be “dragged through the valley of your buttocks”.
— I’m getting some laughs from Cheri and Garth’s various ways of using visual aids to break down each word in the “Simma dah nah” phrase and variations thereof.
— Overall, while this was a pretty one-note and catchphrase-driven sketch, I didn’t find it too bad for this first outing. Not sure how I’ll react to the subsequent installments of this sketch from later this season. I remember getting sick of these sketches when they originally aired.
STARS: ***


ROYAL DELUXE II

— An encore presentation of a classic season 3 commercial. They’re re-airing this to commemorate SNL’s milestone 25th season, as evidenced by the fact that the beginning of this repeated commercial is framed with a “Saturday Night Live 25” logo (which the “Chess For Girls” rerun earlier this season wasn’t, for anyone who was wondering if that rerun may have also been to commemorate the 25th season). If this was intended to be the beginning of a regular thing this season to re-air classic old commercials, it doesn’t take off, as this ends up being the sole occurrence all season.
— So great to see some of the original SNL cast members again.
— For my thoughts on this commercial, read my original review of it in this episode review.


WXLU
ruinous newscast intro sequence devised by (WIF) has a kids show motif

— I love how this begins with Tim telling the quiet room of employees “Alright, everybody, settle down now”, as a reference to the “Simma dah nah” sketch that just aired.
— Wow, Ana has appeared in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight.
— The news station used for this sketch, WXLU, is the same one used in the Lotto sketch from the last episode. Will is even playing the same character he played at the beginning of that Lotto sketch: Max Gibbons.
— Tim: “Words like ‘stiff’, ‘impersonal’, and ‘jackass’ kept coming up again and again.”
— I didn’t even recognize Garth at first in that wig.
— A lot of funny random lines in this sketch so far.
— The silly Zoom-esque kiddie intro for the news team is very funny. I especially like Parnell’s deadpan, emotionless bit about how he likes to think.
— I love the visual of Garth hiding his face in shame after the aforementioned Zoom-esque intro ends.
— Great ending with Will trying to fool Tim into believing he’s fired, then doing a fake freeze-frame while in the middle of laughing. After Will slowly walks out of the shot while still holding his freeze-frame pose, I also love Tim’s angry yell of “GIBBOOOOOOONNNNNNSSS!!!”
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A great episode, with a lot of highly-rated sketches, and a classic (Backstage). Garth Brooks did yet another strong job hosting, and he works with this cast so well. A damn shame that this ends up being his final hosting stint.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dylan McDermott)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jennifer Aniston

Posted on

February 28, 1998 – Garth Brooks (S23 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PHONE CHAT
Bill Clinton (DAH) phones Saddam Hussein (WIF) & Monica Lewinsky (MOS)

— I like the initial visual of Will’s Saddam, eating from a bowl of cereal.
— Great turn with Molly’s Monica Lewinsky being on the other line.
— I love how increasingly casual this three-way phone conversation is getting, especially when it gets to the point where they’re talking about tonight’s episode of Dawson’s Creek.
— Saddam Hussein, when greeting Monica Lewinsky: “Monica! You never call me anymore!”
— Brilliant joke with Saddam thanking Monica for the beret.
— I like how even more random and casual this phone conversation is getting, with Tim Meadows as himself joining in.
— This sketch is such a blast. Whenever I think of how much fun SNL had with the Lewinsky scandal, this is usually always one of the first sketches that comes to mind.
— Great variation of “Live from New York…” with Will’s Saddam opening the show by saying “Livetime from the New York, it’s Saturday Fun Hour!”
STARS: ****½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After being removed from the opening montage in the last two episodes, Norm Macdonald has been reinstated back into the montage.


MONOLOGUE
host relives stint in psychedelic revival band with a trippy guitar solo

— Right off the bat, Garth is already coming off very likable, loose, and comfortable.
— Great turn with Garth performing a psychedelic song, complete with hippie attire worn by Garth, a green-screen background of psychedelic images, and a zooming-in-and-out camera effect. This alone lets you know what a surprisingly fun host Garth is going to be tonight.
— Good self-deprecation from Garth during his “We got a great show for you tonight” spiel, calling tonight’s musical guest “very lame”.
STARS: ****


COWBOYS
on the range, host claims kinship with real cowboys (WIF), (JMB), (TIM)

— Already a laugh early on from Garth’s contemporary cowboy being seen in this old-timey western setting.
— I love the utter confusion from the other cowboys when Garth’s cellphone rings.
— Great delivery from Will when finally asking Garth “What in the hell are you talkin’ about?!?”
— The premise is fairly thin, but the execution is pretty solid, especially with Garth giving such a strong performance.
STARS: ***½


MANGO
host’s career goes downhill after he falls under the spell of Mango

— Funny how the group of men sitting at the table in the opening shot of this sketch is the exact same group of performers we saw in the preceding Cowboy sketch, minus Tim. They’re seated in the same order too.
— This is a very famous Mango installment; in fact, the most famous of them all, I’d say.
— Watching this after recently watching and reviewing the preceding Mango sketches makes me realize how much tonight’s famous Mango installment is just following the EXACT SAME pattern as the previous installments.
— Despite my above complaint about how this Mango installment is lazily following the exact same pattern as previous installments, tonight’s installment is working much better, due to the fact that 1) it’s funny to see that all the craziness in this sketch is happening to Garth Brooks as himself, instead of Garth simply playing a character like Brendan Fraser and Samuel L. Jackson did in the previous Mango installments, and 2) Garth is giving a freakin’ fantastic performance.
— Garth’s whiny delivery of “Sons of bitches!” when pushing back the crowd of Mango admirers absolutely slayed me.
— Funny how Mango mentions Ben Affleck as one of his celebrity admirers, considering SNL would later do a Mango sketch with Ben Affleck playing himself falling under Mango’s spell, when Affleck makes his hosting debut in season 25. I can’t remember, but I bet that particular Mango installment acts like Affleck never met Mango before then, which kinda screws up the continuity of this recurring sketch (certainly not a big deal, though).
— Great ending yell from Garth of the line “MANGOOOOOOO!”
STARS: ***½


OPRAH
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) waffles about Bill Clinton oral sex

— Good ad-libbing from Tim when he has a difficult time speaking with his mouth full of food.
— What the hell? Why am I hearing game show buzzer sounds in the background all of a sudden? (*remembers that there are two game show sketches that will be appearing later tonight*) Ah, right. I guess we’re hearing an SNL crew member testing out the buzzers for whichever game show sketch is coming up next. Why do that during a sketch in progress, though? Did they think we wouldn’t hear it in the background?
— Fairly funny how Monica Lewinsky’s book contradicts her claim that she didn’t give oral sex to Bill Clinton.
— Overall, the writing for this sketch was a little “ehhh”, but the sketch was passable, mostly due to Tim’s fun performance.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- David Brenner makes the talk show circuit

— Hilarious premise of an endlessly-rambling David Brenner being dropped down from one talk show to another.
— Conan!
— I love the bit with Conan and Andy Richter struggling to get the trap door to open. Makes me wonder if Smigel was the writer behind that Wilson’s Trap Door fake ad that SNL did 10 years earlier (one of my favorite SNL fake ads of all time).
— I howled at the bit where David Brenner immediately falls straight through Tom Snyder’s talk show because Snyder’s guest chair is already facing down towards an open trap door.
— This cartoon in general is priceless.
— Brilliant gag with Sally Jessy Raphael’s show being below hell.
STARS: ****½


OLD FRENCH WHORE!
prostitutes & high school students team on game show

 

— A well-loved Tina Fey-written game show sketch.
— The concept of this game show sketch is hilarious.
— Great casting of Garth as one of the French whores. And he actually looks more convincing in drag than I would’ve thought.
— Tim, regarding the French whore he’s paired with: “She smells like whiskey and feet!”
— Chris: “I think my whore is dead.”
— Garth is playing his role very well, and I love the premise of his character being the one French whore who’s actually wise.
— A great mock dramatic monologue from Garth, complete with a spotlight shined on him.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
host is Cinder Calhoun’s “Adonis in Blue Jeans,” but he’s not interested

— Our very first Colin Quinn Weekend Update mention of Old Dirty Bastard, who I recall Colin would go on to mention quite a bit throughout his Weekend Update tenure.
— Some mildly funny jokes from Colin so far tonight, but he’s still coming off very stiff during his delivery of them.
— Good Irish/condoms joke from Colin, which allowed him to use a looser delivery that he’s clearly more comfortable with.
— The running gag in Cinder Calhoun’s commentaries with her using an accent whenever she pronounces Spanish words reminds me of an NBC News sketch that SNL did with Jimmy Smits in season 16, as well as a lesser-known Weekend Update commentary that Victoria Jackson did a year before that.
— Cinder’s love song to Garth is funny, as is Garth’s uncomfortable facial expressions and his singing of his rejection of Cinder’s love.
— For the first time, Colin ends Update by saying “I’m Colin Quinn, that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it”, which would go on to become his regular tagline for Update.
STARS: **½


WHO’S MORE GRIZZLED?!
inured (host) & (Robert Duvall) vie on game show

— Two sketches in a row tonight that’s a game show.
— Norm!
— Clearly, the audience shares my excitement over seeing Norm’s first appearance in weeks, as we get a great audience reaction to Norm’s entrance.
— Nice use of tonight’s credited special guest Robert Duvall.
— I remember when I first saw this sketch, I didn’t recognize Garth in that wig and beard. I seriously spent the entire sketch thinking that was an uncredited random old man playing Garth’s role, and I wondered why the hell SNL would give such a big role to an unknown extra and pair him with a legendary actor like Robert Duvall.
— Garth, to Norm: “I don’t much care for you.” Norm: “(smiling) A lot of people don’t.” An intentional clever meta reference to Norm’s recent predicament on SNL.
— Garth continues to impress me tonight, as he is really disappearing into character in this (which is probably part of what contributed to me not recognizing him when I first saw this sketch).
— Norm is making a solid straight man and game show host in this.
— So many funny grizzled demonstrations from Garth and Duvall.
— Always nice to see SNL’s lighting designer Phil Hymes appear in a sketch (last screencap above), though he messes up his one line in this sketch. I think SNL would later replace his portion of this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I love how after Duvall’s God rant, Garth gives him a long, speechless, disturbed look, and then says “Damn. You are grizzled.”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Two Pina Coladas”


HEY, REMEMBER THE 80’S
Brian Setzer (CHK) & Kevin Rowland (host)

— Meh, this sketch once again. However, this thankfully ends up being the final installment.
— I love Garth’s spot-on imitation of Kevin Rowland’s dancing.
— Ha, I like the inclusion of Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou Albano.
— In the “Live From New York” book, Cheri mentions that her family came to the show the night of this episode to see Garth Brooks in person (I think Cheri says that the reason for that is her dad was a country singer himself, or something like that), and it ended up being a sad experience for Cheri, because, as she claims, she was completely cut out of the live show. Cheri’s memory must be faulty, because she’s actually appeared in two sketches so far tonight. And, no, she wasn’t referring to the second Garth Brooks-hosted episode, either, because I recall Cheri and Garth doing a “Simmah dah nah!” sketch together in that one.
— During the Cheri-as-Cyndi-Lauper performance of “True Colors”, we get a hilarious random appearance of Will playing the “Soy Bomb” guy who interrupted Bob Dylan’s then-recent performance at that year’s Grammys.
— Overall, a little better than most Hey, Remember the 80s sketches. Even Jim’s Goat Boy shtick didn’t bug me as much as usual this time.
STARS: ***


LOEWS
trapped moviegoers try to survive endless stream of Shelley Long trailers

— Interestingly, the name of Shelley Long’s character in the “My Mom, The Mime” trailer is Diane Carbonal, which is the same name of an Ana Gasteyer recurring character who’s a news reporter.
— Ha, Tracy playing what would go on to be known as a classic Tracy Morgan type of role.
— I love the moviegoers’ suffering through horrible movie previews, most of which inexplicably seem to star Shelley Long and feature the song “I Feel Good”. This is freakin’ priceless.
— Great bit with the cheerful Loews Theater jingle revealing that the doors are locked from the outside.
— I am absolutely loving the moviegoers’ gradual descent into madness over the course of this sketch.
— Haha, holy hell at the convincing visual of Will having his limbs torn apart.
— Molly: “SHELLEY LONG HAS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!” That has got to be one of my favorite Molly Shannon line deliveries ever.
— Yet another fantastic bit is Jim’s reveal about a perpetually-smiling Tracy: “Oh, god! He’s got no lower half! He’s eaten his own legs!”
— Could’ve used a bit of a better ending, but overall, this sketch was an absolute masterpiece. One of my favorite sketches of all time.
STARS: *****


LAY LADY LAY
(WIF) visits (Robert Duvall)’s hospital bed to sing “Lay Lady Lay”

— I like Will quietly entering as a hospital worker and randomly starting to sing “Lay Lady Lay” to a sleeping Robert Duvall.
— A good laugh from Will repeatedly yelling “You shut up!” during his and Duvall’s back-and-forth arguing.
— Sweet turn with Duvall having a change of heart, letting Will sing to him, and even joining in on a duet.
— Immediately after the nice duet ends, I love Will’s sudden delivery of “I’m gonna bathe you now.”
— I found this to be an overall nice way to end the show. This sketch probably wouldn’t have worked outside of the 10-to-1 spot.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, one that I feel is one of the best of this season. Every single sketch worked for me, one of the sketches was an all-time favorite of mine (Loews), and many other sketches were both great and very memorable. Even Mango and Remember The 80s were good, for crying out loud. Also adding to this episode was Garth Brooks, who turned in one of the most surprising hosting performances from a non-actor in SNL history. He did a very good job in every single sketch and came off natural, very fun, and funny. I’m looking forward to seeing him return two seasons later.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Roma Downey)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scott Wolf

Posted on

March 14, 1992 – John Goodman / Garth Brooks (S17 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Jerry Brown (DAC), Paul Tsongas (ALF), Bill Clinton (PHH) court Trekkies

— Very funny and dead-on Jerry Brown impression from Dana, especially all of his endless ranting.
— When Dana’s Jerry Brown displays his 800 number, does anyone know what the “not flaky” bit is a reference to? I never understood that part of this sketch.
— Even though I have no familiarity with what Paul Tsongas sounds like, I’m finding Al Franken’s Tsongas voice to be an absolute riot. The occasional cough he does is very funny too.
— Funny bit with Mike as a Trekkie speaking in the exact same voice as Tsongas.
— A significant moment right now, as we get the debut of a Bill Clinton impression on SNL. Phil Hartman gets the honors here.
— Phil’s spot-on Clinton voice is immediately getting big laughs from the audience.
— The whole Clinton portion of this sketch is great, especially him destroying the podium in a tantrum at the end.
— According to GettyImages, Rob Schneider was cut from this sketch as a Trekkie standing next to Phil’s Clinton (pic here).
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
musical, car chase, monster movie clips from host’s movie The Babe

— I like how John’s frequent hosting has gotten to the point where he opens tonight’s monologue by saying a lighthearted “It’s great to be hosting blah blah blah!”
— A laugh from him referring to his movie King Ralph as a “fat little turd”.
— The clip of John as Babe Ruth doing a cheesy upbeat “I’m the Babe” musical number is cracking me up.
— The other fake movie clips with John’s Babe Ruth, one involving a car chase and another with him as Godzilla, are decent, though nothing particularly great to me.
— Good callback to the beginning of this monologue, with John ending this by saying “Stick around, cause blah blah blah!”
STARS: ***


UNFORGIVABLE
album of Natalie Cole (ELC) “duets” with deceased singers

— I really like the idea of this parody of Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” album, by having her singing with her father’s dead friends and titling the album “Unforgivable”.
— This is getting increasingly fun with the more and more outlandish celebrity choices they’re throwing in, such as Mama Cass, a not-dead-yet Tammy Wynette, and John as old fat Elvis (after Rob played young thin Elvis earlier in the sketch).
STARS: ****½


MY 75 KIDS
sperm doctor Cecil Jacobson (host) deals with his offspring

— An inspired and funny idea for a parody of an infamous then-topical story.
— The opening credits to this sitcom has lots of hilarious images, especially the kid-filled bus called the “Spermmobile”.
— Great visual of a living room full of chubby little John Goodman lookalikes.
— I love John reminiscing which Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine he looked at when “conceiving” each child, and him telling one kid “You were an accident; I was reading Newsweek.”
— Dana’s Uncle Charlie is always hilarious (even if I have no familiarity with My Three Sons), and he had a lot of great lines at the end of this.
STARS: ****


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on feeding drumsticks to the dolphins


UNFROZEN CAVE MAN LAWYER
Cirroc feigns naivete in front of City Council

— Second sketch in a row tonight to open with a screen crawl explaining somebody’s backstory. Both screen crawls even use the same font.
— This wonderful sketch officially becomes recurring.
— As usual, top-notch fake sponsors from Jack Handey, with my favorite tonight being Dog Assassin.
— Victoria makes what turns out to be her only appearance all night, and it’s just a very minor role with no lines. More and more as this season goes on, it truly feels like her presence on the show is disappearing right before my eyes. As I said in my last episode review, it’s gotten to the point where I kinda forget she’s even still in the cast.
— Phil-as-Cirroc’s lines in this installment are even funnier than his lines in the first installment from earlier this season.
— Very funny “next week’s episode” preview at the end, with a drunk Cirroc on a plane.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rodeo”


WEEKEND UPDATE
CHF objects to St. Patrick’s Day parade gays, points out audience Irish
KEN asks Cajunman about his spring break trip to Daytona Beach
footage shows Ed McMahon (PHH) getting married to third wife Pamela (BEC)

 

— Kevin’s usual dark suit has been replaced tonight with a much lighter-colored one.
— Not sure what exactly the point is of Farley ranting against gays in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, but I’m enjoying the random brief interludes with him calling out Irish-named friends in the audience.
— Cajunman officially becomes recurring, giving Adam what I believe is his very first major recurring character.
— Unlike his first appearance, Adam’s Cajunman delivery tonight sounds more like how it’s remembered today.
— The usual good laughs from Cajunman’s shtick, especially him detailing the “hallucina-shown” he experienced when drunk.
— Interesting bit with footage of Phil’s Ed McMahon getting married. Though it’s a thin premise, there’s still pretty good laughs from the use of Phil’s typical McMahon-isms as answers to questions the priest asks him.
— Not sure we needed Kevin’s “When asked if he was nervous, Ed said ‘Yes!’” addendum after the Ed McMahon segment ended.
STARS: ***


THEATRE STORIES
Katharine Hepburn (SIF) & others recall performances

— This sketch officially becomes recurring. Mike’s character looks a bit different tonight compared to the first installment and all subsequent installments.
— We get the birth of a running gag in these sketches, with Mike’s character referring to himself by the nickname Cucumber Jones.
— Dana’s Mickey Rooney has interesting new additions of tiny legs and old man make-up (the latter of which is actually the same old man makeup Dana wore earlier tonight in the My 75 Kids sketch).
— This would turn out to be the only Theatre Stories sketch they would ever do without Julia’s Dame Sarah Kensington character.
— Hate to say it, but after two installments of this sketch, I’ve gotten tired of Dana-as-Mickey-Rooney’s endless repetitions of “I was the number one staaaaarrr….. in the wooooorrrrld…..” I used to love Dana’s Rooney impression, but I didn’t realize until now how overly reliant on the same catchphrase it is. Dana does have a tendency sometimes to go a little overboard with the catchphrases of some of his characters and impressions, though most of that doesn’t bother me. I recall an online SNL fan once referring to Dana, Jon Lovitz, and Mike Myers as the “Catchphrase Bullies” of the late 80s.
— I’m enjoying Siobhan’s Katharine Hepuburn impression.
— Funny random bit with Mike telling us how he “often says things twice, only the second time much slower”, which he proceeds to prove by repeating that exact same statement… only much slower.
STARS: ***½


ANTON MESROBIAN, TEEN DERMATOLOGIST
teen dermatologist Anton Mesrobian (host) divines true causes of acne

— Some laughs from John being able to tell so many details of what secret is causing the blackheads on Julia’s nose.
— John’s dangerous, ill-fated advice to his patients is pretty funny, especially him advising Rock to join a gang.
— Overall, John played his role very well and there were some laughs, but I felt the material was fairly dull in some spots.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The River”


COUNTRY SINGER NAMES
country singer (host) seeks catchier name from agent Schlomo Fuchs (PHH)

— Phil has some funny reveals of famous country singers’ real names, such as Eddie Rabbit really being named Eli Rabinowitz.
— The ending reveal of Phil’s name being Schlomo Fuchs was merely okay; I don’t feel that punchline landed quite as well as it should’ve.
— The overall sketch had some charm and chuckles throughout, but something about the sketch felt a little empty.
— This sketch kinda felt like it was setting up an appearance from tonight’s musical guest Garth Brooks, but he was nowhere to be seen here. In retrospect, knowing what a surprisingly strong two-time host he would turn out to be later in this decade, I wish they did give him a role here or in any other sketch tonight.
STARS: **½


SIDE NOTE: A strange gaffe just now. Right after the preceding sketch ended, the camera shows the SNL Band about to play the show to commercial, but G.E. Smith immediately raises his hand in the air to signal the rest of the band not to play yet (screencap below). Then a Deep Thoughts segment awkwardly begins playing (with some audio glitches at first). I wonder what went wrong.


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on running like an angry rabbit


THE IDES OF MARCH
sauna-goer (host) interrupts a meeting about the assassination of Caesar

— Pretty weak sketch so far, with a dull main joke consisting of John repeatedly interrupting the guys’ secret plan to assassinate Caesar.
— I am getting some good laughs from how Farley’s solution to every problem is to stab it.
— Weak ending.
STARS: **


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on being sprayed by a golden skunk


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode with a very strong first half, a pretty good middle, but an unremarkable ending with the final three ho-hum sketches. Overall, though, the highlights in the first half were strong enough to make this episode worth watching. John Goodman, by this point, has become official as a sure-fire solid and fun host who can handle anything he’s given with total ease.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Roseanne and Tom Arnold)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Mary Stuart Masterson