Tag: Howard Hesseman

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February 19, 1983 – Howard Hesseman / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (S8 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DISCLAIMER
DOP relays host’s request that home viewers have a camera ready

— Heh, this is ALREADY making me laugh.


COLD OPENING
cast tries to talk host out of doing controversial anti-Reagan monologue

 

— Good premise with the cast begging Howard not to go through with the controversial monologue he has planned.
— Eddie complaining about Howard’s piece being too hostile towards the president gave me an unintentional laugh, given the fact that, just a few episodes earlier, Eddie did an anti-Reagan commentary on Saturday Night News, calling the president a sleazeball and encouraging viewers to write a letter protesting his refusal to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a holiday.
— Heh, and now Howard himself pointed out the irony of Eddie’s complaint about Howard’s hostility towards the president, by responding “Oh, great, advice from Mr. ‘Kill the White Man’.”
— This is doing a good job of hyping up the monologue and keeping the audience in suspense, even though I personally am already aware of what the monologue’s big reveal is going to be.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host says “Join me- take photo of yourself mooning Reagan, send it in”

   

— Here we go, Howard’s heavily-hyped monologue…
— Funny unscripted moment with a woman in the audience being heard yelling “Hey, Johnny Fever!” (or was it “Play Johnny Fever!”?).
— Haha, Howard’s big reveal is that his monologue is going to be him “dropping trou and mooning the president of the United States”.
— A brief callback to his “dead Belushi” jokes from the monologue he did earlier this season.
— He invites viewers at home to join in on the “media moon-in of President Reagan”, by taking a picture of themselves mooning the TV set when a Reagan picture will show up onscreen, and then mailing their mooning photo to SNL so they can announce the results. LOL, this is great. I can’t believe SNL is doing something like this.
— The audience is going fucking WILD now that Howard’s about to start his mooning.
— We can’t see Howard doing the actual mooning while the camera is showing a close-up of a Reagan picture, but the audience reaction seems to indicate that Howard is indeed exposing himself right before their eyes.
— The ending of this monologue appears to have been abruptly cut off in the copy of the episode I’m watching (an old recording of a Comedy Network rerun from Canada).
— Overall, a terrific and uproarious monologue. In the three episodes he’s hosted, Howard has shown a true knack for doing fantastic monologues that know how to get the audience really into it.
STARS: ****½


SLEEPY BOY 2000
— I already covered this in my review of the Robert Blake episode. This was actually originally aired in tonight’s episode and was later added to the Blake episode in reruns.


GAS STATION
near Graceland, (EDM) receives Elvis’ soul after being hit by a car

   

— Robin’s exaggerated overbite is a funny little detail.
— Eddie thinking he’s Elvis is a pretty funny premise.
— I’m liking Eddie’s Elvis-esque singing of “Jailhouse Rock” while the other performers wildly dance.
— Felt like this overall sketch could’ve gone more places that it didn’t.
STARS: **½


MAD MAGAZINE THEATRE
Windbags Of War characters bash own TV-movie

     

— Oh my god, is that Joe under all the heavy make-up as Alfred E. Neuman?
— Haha, not only is it INDEED Joe, but he appears to be playing Neuman as Tom Snyder, which is really cracking me up.
— This whole scene with Joe is absolutely hilarious so far.
— Who is Gary doing an impression of? His portrayal seems so specific.
— LOL at Eddie randomly entering the scene as Kunta Kinte.
— Feels weird seeing Brad playing a character like this. This has to be the most deep I’ve seen him go into character.
— Very fast costume change for Eddie, playing two different roles in one live sketch.
— An overall fun silly sketch, and an accurate parody of Mad Magazine’s style.
STARS: ****


WEST HEAVEN
by Judith Jacklin Belushi- a musical farewell to JOB

       

— A film from John Belushi’s widow, Judy, as a tribute to the recently-deceased SNL legend.
— Did I just see John’s brother Jim (who we’ll soon be seeing joining the SNL cast next season) standing next to John in one picture? (fifth screencap above)
— Very nice background music throughout this.
— Overall, this was beautifully done, presenting a touching montage of personal pictures that show a softer side of John that audiences rarely got to see. Considering the strong affinity I’ve recently developed for the original cast when covering their era in my SNL project, this film really got to me personally.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


THE A-TEAM
Mr. T (EDM) says “watch the A-Team” but Rex Reed (JOP) says it’s no good

— An interesting snapshot of a time when The A-Team was a brand-new series.
— Another entertaining display of Eddie and Joe’s always-fun chemistry.
— Funny line from Joe’s Reed saying Mr. T looks like Tina Turner on steroids.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
John Hinckley’s affinity for presidents is documented back to Ike
Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer ponders more mysteries of the universe
Seymore P. Higgins (TIK) clears up misconceptions about George Washington

       

— The montage of John Hinckley in the background of various presidential pictures from over the years was veering dangerously close to coming off like one of Brian Doyle-Murray’s dreaded “long photo montage” bits from last season’s SNL Newsbreaks, but this one ended up having a decent payoff with Hinckley supposedly being conceived in a hotel in the background of an Eisenhower picture.
— Another overall good Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer commentary, especially his “What does a snake use for genitalia?” question.
— Brad’s humorous description of Jerry Lewis was funnier than the actual punchline of the joke.
— I feel dumb for saying this, but I didn’t get Brad’s joke about a Chinese-children-having Mayor Ed Koch getting married again an hour after his wedding. Are frequent marriages a Chinese stereotype?
— What the–? Tim in ANOTHER commentary tonight, as a different character this time? Wow, I know Tim has been a Saturday Night News staple this season, but it’s a VERY rare case to see someone doing two separate commentaries as two different characters in THE SAME edition of SNL’s news segment. The only other instance I can recall of this is Chris Kattan during the Weekend Update in a Jeff Gordon-hosted episode from season 28.
— At the beginning of this commentary, Tim is still seen wearing his mustache from his earlier Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer appearance, then he quickly pulls off the mustache in a hurry. I can’t tell if that was a genuine blooper or an intentional joke. I’m leaning towards the latter, judging from the exaggerated way Tim removed the mustache.
— Brad’s hand can be seen reaching from off-camera to fix Tim’s tipping-over hat while Tim’s in the middle of speaking to us.
— Haha, Brad adjusts Tim’s hat once again. Is this an intentional meta bit or an ad-lib?
— After a while, Tim finally just throws his unstable hat aside.
— Boy, Tim’s commentary seems to have gone completely off the rails. Everything in this is hilarious, though, from the bloopers to the ad-libs to Tim’s humorous scripted dialogue about George Washington.
— Ha, now this has gotten even funnier with Tim flat-out throwing off his entire wig and revealing his Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer bald cap to the camera.
— Tim’s overall commentary was a riot. I love how much he and Brad were having fun with it. One of the biggest highlights of any Saturday Night News this season.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Change of Heart”


HOLIDAY INN
room service theatrically serves Marvin & Celeste a Fiesta Cheese Platter

   

— This is the second time they’ve done a Holiday Inn sketch in a Howard Hesseman-hosted episode, after that funny Holiday Inn horror movie trailer sketch from his season 5 episode.
— Another return of Tim and Mary’s mousy couple Marvin and Celeste.
— I like Julia’s squeaky-voiced “Arriba!”
— Brad seems to be stretching his acting chops throughout tonight’s episode, playing the type of roles that we usually never see him in.
— Heh, this sketch is getting pretty crazy.
— The pairing of Brad, Julia, and Gary makes me wonder if this is another Practical Theatre Company piece, with Howard Hesseman playing Paul Barrosse’s role. Probably not, though. After all, who would’ve played Tim and Mary’s roles in the stage version of the sketch?
— Funny throwaway line from Hesseman about Tito Puente.
STARS: ***


MY DATE WITH DION
in the salon, Dion Dion & (MAG) tell each other about their nightmares

— Interesting voice on Mary. I’ve never heard her sound like that before.
— The return of Eddie’s Dion Dion character, this time showing him working at a salon, a setting that would soon become regular part of his sketches. Is this going to be the introduction of Joe as Blair, Dion Dion’s equally-flamboyant co-worker?
— Eddie’s naked Rastafarians line was pretty funny.
— Hmm, I guess Joe isn’t going to be in this sketch after all. When in the world does his Blair character make his debut? After being fairly familiar with the Dion Dion/Blair sketches from my past viewings of this era years ago, it feels weird seeing Dion without Blair.
— Decent sketch overall.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Waiting”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— While a step down from Howard Hesseman’s terrific episode from earlier this season, this was still a pretty solid show. Most of the material was good, there were fun moments to be had, and the show never really bottomed-out. Even Saturday Night News was passable. There was also a great energy to the first quarter of the episode that put me in a really good mood.
— It’s a shame that this ends up being Howard Hesseman’s final hosting stint. Judging from the two episodes he’s hosted this season, it seemed like he was on his way to becoming the Buck Henry/Steve Martin/Elliott Gould of the Ebersol era. Why’d they stop getting him after this season?
— My version of this episode ran for only 1 hour and 3 minutes, which is a few minutes shorter than a typical episode from this era. Something must’ve been removed from my copy, but I don’t know what. [ADDENDUM: Looking at the episode guides, my copy of this episode is missing a sketch called “The Laughing Buddha” and a rerun of the “The Khaddaffi Look” commercial from season 7. Strange that they would re-air the latter THIS season; after all, isn’t the jingle in it sung by the recently-fired Christine Ebersole?]


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sid Caesar):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Beau and Jeff Bridges

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October 23, 1982 – Howard Hesseman / Men At Work (S8 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
ROD stalls for time because host hasn’t arrived; Susan Saint James cameo

       

— Lots of interesting sights in the chaotic background behind Robin.
— Robin explains to us that SNL’s regular studio is currently being used by NBC news for election coverage, which forces SNL to do this episode from two separate studios, each on different floors. She also explains that the show only has half the usual number of studio audience members tonight. Pretty fascinating backstory from Robin here.
— I like Eddie randomly portraying himself as his Gumby character.
— Heh, after Robin walks away from Tim and his “real-life” family members (the two monkeys from “I Married a Monkey”), one of the monkeys can be seen going wild in the background. A female staff member pops into that background shot amusedly staring at the monkey’s hijinks with her mouth wide open in shock.
— Great visual of a drunk Howard Hesseman making his late arrival through the elevator doors while on the back of a motorcycle.
— Very creative, unique way of doing “Live From New York…”. Kinda reminds me of how they did it in that Irish Potato Torture cold opening with Bill Murray and Eric Idle back in season 2.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host tells dead-Belushi jokes, says “don’t worry about offending people”

   

— A very different and more simplistic home base stage for tonight’s non-Studio 8H episode.
— I like how this started as a continuation of the cold opening, by having a still-drunk Howard getting pushed out onto the home base stage.
— Howard mentions that he’s the first host from the original SNL era to do “the new SNL”. I guess by “new SNL” he’s only referring to the then-current Ebersol era, because the Jean Doumanian season did have some original-era hosts.
— Howard, on his agent and P.R. man warning him not to host in the new SNL era: “They said it would look like my career was on the skids; like I needed the work.” Heh, like a lot of the hosts from season 7.
— Howard: “Okay, so I’m a whore.”
— Howard brings up the recently-deceased John Belushi and says some very interesting things about him.
— He makes a fascinating complaint about how “the new SNL” lacks the type of personal references and “autobiographical sketches” that the original cast frequently did, where they starred in sketches as themselves. That complaint comes off a little strange in hindsight, because this early 80s era actually does quite a bit of “autobiographical sketches” compared to later decades, where there truly IS a huge void of cast members playing themselves in sketches. The show has actually gotten a little better about doing that in more recent years, with stuff like some of the short films that star the cast as themselves (e.g. the Leslie Jones/Kyle Mooney relationship story arc) or Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones’s constant Weekend Update appearances using their private lives as comedic material (hell, if anything, I’d argue we’ve gotten to know WAY TOO MUCH about Pete’s private life).
— Howard: “When is Eddie Murphy going to start doing scenes in drag?! Garrett did!”
— Fun part with Howard telling some dead Belushi jokes. I actually wanted that part to go on longer.
— I like how he’s getting more and more worked-up, now comically railing against President Reagan’s policies.
— Ah, now I see what he’s doing; he’s imitating the Weekend Update rants that used to always end with Belushi flinging himself onto the floor.
— An actually fairly touching ending with Howard looking skywards and delivering a short sincere message to Belushi.
— Overall, wow, what a fantastic monologue. Howard was incredible here.
STARS: ****½


THE GIRLS OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Playboy profiles The Girls of Saturday Night Live- ROD, MAG, JLD

       

— Uh… WOW, to say the least!
— Oh, there’s some jokes in here too, but who’s paying attention to THAT aspect of this commercial?
— Overall, while I’m not exactly sure what the comedic aspect of this was supposed to be, I certainly can’t complain about the excuse to see all that eye candy.
STARS: ***½


DELOREAN HOME
John Delorean (BRH) packs his suitcase with “Bisquick” & “sugar”

   

— Strange topical John Delorean sketch so far. I get what all the “flour”, “sugar” and “Bisquick” really are, but other than that, I feel like this whole thing played better to 1982 audiences than to me today.
— I did get a laugh just now from the big bag of sugar that Brad emptied out into a huge pile inside the suitcase.
STARS: **½


BILL IRWIN
2 years later, dancing man (Bill Irwin) is still shaking his groove thing

   

— Always nice to see this guy, and I liked the Dancing Man short he did back in season 6.
— He’s dancing to the same song from the aforementioned short.
— Oh, this whole segment appears to be some kind of continuation or variation of the Dancing Man short. Wonder why he has such a different look this time, though the wig and oversized clothes do work well in making his rubbery physical movements look even funnier.
— Great “walking down a staircase inside the suitcase” miming at the end, a trick I also saw him do on another show.
— Overall, wow, that whole thing was great, and it was more impressive seeing him perform this in a live segment than in a pre-taped short.
STARS: ****


CARIBBEAN VACATION
Caribbean intrigue for nerdy couple Celeste (MAG) & “Iguana” Marvin (TIK)

     

— This appears to be the return of Tim and Mary’s meek couple from that Couples Therapy sketch earlier this season with Louis Gossett Jr.
— Tonight’s general episode has really been getting a lot of mileage out of Julia’s sex appeal.
— Tim and Julia’s dance is cracking me up with how they’re doing occasional throw-head-back moves in unison.
— Pretty funny part with Tim calm-and-collectedly sipping his drink while effortlessly holding back Howard from stabbing him with a knife.
— This overall sketch went a little too long for my likes, but the craziness of the whole thing was pretty funny, and I really appreciate how well-performed and fully-committed the whole thing came off. Something about this sketch had quite a different feel for this era of SNL.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Who Can It Be Now”


GOOD MORNING AMERICA
clip of David Hartman (JOP) film is Bullwinkle-like

   

— Haha, oh my god at Joe’s look in this. At first glance, I almost thought that was Gilbert Gottfried I was looking at. It’s something about the way Joe’s eyes look in this.
— Another oh my god at Joe’s dopey-sounding Bullwinkle-esque voice.
— Hilarious random gag with Joan Lunden being portrayed by a mannequin.
— The redundant interview with Gary is giving me some good laughs.
— Ha, they actually acknowledged the Bullwinkle similarities in Joe’s voice by showing an actual Bullwinkle clip being used to represent Joe.
— Overall, some pretty big laughs in this short silly sketch.
STARS: ***½


CONFESSION
(GAK) returns home from college & tells his father (host) he’s straight

 

— LOL at Gary’s dramatic reveal being “I’m straight!” after that long buildup where you think he’s going to come out as gay.
— I like the bizarro universe feel of this premise, where being straight is looked down on while being gay is accepted.
— Howard’s crying outburst is cracking me up.
— Funny ending with Howard arranging to watch “Magnum P.I.” with his apparent boyfriend.
STARS: ***


NAKED WAKE
as per the deceased’s wishes, his open casket features a naked corpse

     

— Tim, when initially looking into the casket: “He’s naked.” LOL!
— Loved Julia’s comment while staring at a certain part of the nude corpse: “His wife is REALLY gonna miss him.”
— I remember hearing Del Close has something to do with this sketch, but I can’t remember what exactly.
— Great delivery of Mary’s “This surprises me!” line immediately after she confidently claims that nothing would surprise her. I also loved her “What a NUT!” line right afterwards.
— I’m already laughing at Eddie’s mere walk-on. I can tell his bit is gonna be hilarious.
— I was right. Eddie’s “This dude is butt-naked, man!” killed me.
— Another huge laugh, this time from Eddie saying a threatening “You a DEAD MAN!!” to the corpse.
— Oh, now I remember what Del Close has to do with this sketch. Howard’s funny hippie-type character here is based on Close. I noticed that Howard was addressed as “Del” just now.
— Haha, now here comes Robin’s funny Italian mama character that we saw several times last season.
— Overall, this sketch was an absolute riot. One of the hardest I’ve laughed this season so far.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Down Under”

— Wow, we’re getting the second musical performance when Saturday Night News STILL hasn’t aired yet? What the heck is going on? I’m starting to question if they’re even going to DO a Saturday Night News tonight.
— WTF? Why did this musical performance abruptly fade to black and go to commercial while the song was still being performed? I doubt they ran out of time, considering we’re not at the end of the show yet.


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
TIK’s salute to journalism deals with the New York Post
JLD announces the Save The World Contest- prizes for solutions to crises
JOP says the Brewers are World Series losers because they are slobs

         

— Can’t believe this is just NOW coming on, when there’s only about 18 minutes left in the show. That’s insane! I don’t think I’ve EVER seen any other SNL episode that had the news segment buried this late in the show’s line-up. I *think* the Flip Wilson episode from season 9 may also have an insanely-late appearance of Saturday Night News, but I’m not sure.
— Knowing that the order of sketches is often shuffled around in the rerun versions of this era’s episodes, I wonder if tonight’s Saturday Night News originally aired in a much earlier spot and only got moved to this late spot in the rerun version I’m watching.
— (*after seeing a joke that Brad has just done about John Delorean getting busted for cocaine*) Oh, NOW I fully understand that Delorean sketch from earlier tonight!
— The debut of Tim’s “Salute to Journalism” segment, which would go on to become a recurring bit.
— Lots of good, smart, sarcastic, biting comments from Tim here (I especially liked “Wow, three days of dead gays”).
— Between this and some of the SNL Newsbreak commentaries he did as himself last season, I’m noticing that Tim seems to have a good sardonic, snarky quality about himself. Amazing that this is the same man who also seems to like doing corny pun-based shtick like the Dr. Jack Badofsky bits.
— Julia makes her very first visit to the news desk, doing a commentary as herself.
— Julia announces a tongue-in-cheek contest for viewers to solve the Middle-East crisis. Pretty funny concept.
— Good use of Don Pardo’s voice-over in Julia’s commentary.
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary about the Brewers acting like classless slobs at the recent World Series ended up being very brief. I kinda liked the clips shown, but there wasn’t much to this overall commentary.
— An off-camera Joe reaching his hand into the camera view to offer Brad a chewed-up ball of tobacco while Brad is in the middle of delivering his sign-off to the camera reminds me of how Joe often used to troll Charles Rocket with props after finishing his Update commentaries.
— Overall, not a particularly good edition of Saturday Night News, but not any worse than usual. I still can’t understand why they would bury this so unusually late in the show, as if they were ashamed of it.
STARS: **½


UNCLE TEDDY’S LITTLE THEATRE
family members criticize young (GAK)

    

— There’s that same living room set again tonight.
— Great kid voice from Gary.
— Tim’s bluntly negative comments to Gary are really funny.
— Strange that both sketches using this living room set tonight deal with Gary as a son and the topic of homosexuality.
— Wow, dark turn this has taken with Howard hinting at Gary to shoot himself.
— I’ve been enjoying this sketch so far, though the idea of this sketch mining humor out of a young boy being viciously belittled by family members for being “effeminate” probably won’t hold up well with a lot of people nowadays.
— Great twist with Gary turning the gun on Howard.
— Joe’s creepy host character is quite funny, and I now see what they’re going for with him, basically hinting that he’s a child predator.
STARS: ***


THE AMAZING RONCO ANSWER BOOK
The Amazing Ronco Answer Book has responses to ads’ rhetorical questions

— Joe plays the lead of yet another sketch tonight.
— Fairly funny premise, and the usual strong fast-paced pitchman delivery from Joe.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Very strong episode. Lots of really solid stuff all throughout the show, and nothing fell too flat; even the weakest segments of the night were still somewhat watchable. I got so much enjoyment from watching this episode.
— And what a great hosting performance from Howard Hesseman, who was an even better fit here than he was in his prior hosting stint in season 5. I can definitely see why they bring him back to host again just a few months later in this same season.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Keaton

Posted on

December 8, 1979 – Howard Hesseman / Randy Newman (S5 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Great Moments In Rock & Roll- James Brown (GAM) abandons Scottish music

   

— Oh, this is going to be a James Brown parody? Uh-oh, I don’t think I’m looking forward to seeing Garrett horribly butcher an impression of him.
— That’s Peter Aykroyd as the guy Garrett’s talking to, right? In certain angles, I can see a very-slight physical resemblance to his brother Dan.
— I’m actually liking Garrett in this.
— Haha, the Scottish version of James Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” is pretty funny, and I’m genuinely liking Jane, Laraine, and Gilda’s background singing.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Novello receives his first credit as a featured player.


MONOLOGUE
to guard against extremism, host leads audience in a pro-restraint chant

  

— I like the (then-contemporary) Betamax mention, simply for retrospective historical purposes.
— Mr. Bill reference.
— Howard’s doing great leading the audience in various chants.
— Was the unseen audience member’s “What if it takes forever?” a scripted bit?
— Overall, a strong monologue with good energy, thanks to Howard. He’s always been good at doing monologues that get the audience involved, judging from what I’ve heard about some of his later monologues from the early 80s.
STARS: ****


THE BEL AIRABS
(host) & (GAM) try to steal fortune of Abdul (DON) & kin

       

— Bel-Airabs! I remember really liking the installment of this recurring sketch that I once saw years ago, though it wasn’t the one from this episode; it was the installment from the Chevy Chase episode later this season.
— The Beverly Hillbillies-esque theme song and opening credits is brilliant, as is the overall concept of this whole sketch.
— I liked Bill painting pubic hair onto the Venus De Milo statue.
— Gilda as a wild, high-pitched foreign gibberish-screaming, burqa-wearing Granny is absolutely hilarious to me.
— Feels weird seeing Don Novello playing such a big non-Father Guido Sarducci role after I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as only Sarducci lately.
— Wow, Jane is dead-on as Nancy Kulp’s Beverly Hillbillies character (I forgot her name).
— How’d they pull off that hand-chopping bit so fast?
— Funny subtle joke with Kareem Abdul Jabbar being listed among the middle-eastern names in the scrolling ending credits.
— Overall, that was great.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Money That I Love”
musical guest performs “Pants”


WEEKEND UPDATE
paternity suit victim Chico Escuela on backboard-shatterer Darryl Dawkins
ALF says goodbye to the selfish ’70s & introduces the Al Franken Decade

      

— Random Update joke about Chico Escuela. Is this going to lead into a commentary from him?
— Yep, it did. First time we’ve seen him all season.
— We get a clip of yet another Daryl Dawkins backboard-shattering incident.
— Chico’s “rubber breaks” comment was great.
— Third episode in a row with Al Franken doing an Update commentary. I wonder why they have yet to begin crediting him as a featured player in the opening montage this season.
— Oh, this is going to be the famous Al Franken Decade bit. From the clip I had seen of this in the past, I had always assumed this came from the final episode of 1979 (the upcoming Ted Knight episode).
— I like how they keep displaying Al’s name and occupation on the bottom of the screen whenever he says “me: Al Franken”.
— Overall, a fantastic and memorable Franken commentary, made even better in retrospect by the fact that he would later do follow-ups to this at the end of the next two decades.
STARS: ***½


OLD FLAME
(GIR) explores personal growth with old (BIM) & new (host) boyfriends

 

— So far, this appears to be a quieter, realistic, slice-of-life type of sketch that we haven’t been seeing much of anymore in this late stage of SNL’s 70s era.
— I liked Howard’s “I’m starting to feel bad now” after sitting through Bill and Gilda’s sappy conversation.
— I got a good surprised laugh from Howard’s “candy ass” comment. I didn’t even know that was a term yet in the 70s.
— Interesting semi-touching ending with Gilda.
STARS: ****


STEREO 105
WKRP star host shares studio time with real deejay Steve Marvin (HAS)

   

— Ah, a radio show sketch starring Harry Shearer. This is gonna be good.
— Interesting backhanded comment from Howard regarding CBS moving WKRP in Cincinnati’s timeslot. That’s probably Howard venting some real-life frustration with how CBS infamously kept screwing over his show.
— Howard confusedly trying to follow Harry’s hand signals is good.
— I’m loving the authenticity of how they’re making this feel like we’re at a real radio show. Lots of good little details, especially in Harry’s performance.
— Harry’s asinine statements are getting funnier and funnier.
— Great part with Howard grabbing Harry by the throat to get some words in.
— Howard’s been doing a good job with his slowly-mounting frustration throughout the whole sketch.
— Do they eventually make this sketch recurring? I had recently heard that Harry does a particularly great radio sketch later this season in (I think) the Elliott Gould episode, and I’m wondering if that one is a sequel to tonight’s radio show sketch.
STARS: ****


THE NUCLEAR FAMILY
radiation-sick power plant neighbors are lethargic

    

— Just judging from the title and opening credits sequence, why do I think this sketch sounds like something from the 81-82 season?
— Hey, it’s Peter Aykroyd once again. With all these somewhat-big speaking roles he’s been getting in this episode, why wasn’t he credited in tonight’s opening montage?
— I initially said this sketch looks like a premise from the 81-82 season, but now this sketch is starting to remind me a little of the “Those Unlucky Andersons” sketch the show would later do in the 85-86 season.
— The glow-in-the-dark stomach ending was decent.
— Overall, I’m not quite sure what to think of this sketch, but I guess I found it okay enough.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Story of a Rock & Roll Band”


FIRST LOVE
by Aviva Slesin- JAC keeps missing Walter Cronkite

   

— “Aviva Films, N.Y.” Looks like this is going to be another Aviva Slesin film. Much like her(?) two films from last season, is this going to be another Bill Murray-starring film centered on animals?
— Ah, a film starring Jane Curtin. There’s something you don’t see everyday in this era.
— I’m liking the drawn-out awkwardness of this.
— Good slow reveal that she doesn’t actually know Walter Cronkite.
— Never mind, it turns out she DOES actually know him.
— Who’s doing Kronkite’s voice over the phone? Doesn’t sound like it’s Bill.
— Nice ending.
— Overall, a good showcase for Jane, who continues to have a strong season.
STARS: ***½


THE HOLIDAY INN HORROR
maid (GIR) repeatedly disturbs guests’ slumber

     

— Judging from how Gilda looks in her initial walk-on, is this going to be her Rosa Santangelo (“I clean up, okay?”) character?
— Yep, it is.
— Judging from how Dan Aykroyd-ish the voice-over narrator sounds, I think that’s once again Peter Aykroyd in yet another speaking role tonight.
— Gilda using an axe to get through the door is very funny.
— This has the reliable sketch comedy trope of presenting an everyday annoyance as the subject of a horror movie. This sketch also feels like something that would’ve fit perfectly among the various bad horror movie trailers in Christopher Lee’s season 3 monologue.
— Loved Howard’s appearance as the cruel desk clerk.
— Overall, a very good closing sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Really solid episode, with every single segment working, some of which were very well-written and performed.
— Howard Hesseman was a great host, which is no surprise considering both his improv background and how good a recurring host I’ve heard he was later on in the Ebersol era.
— The show has been on a strong winning streak these last three episodes. Can’t help but wonder when this season goes back to being shaky again. Also, I’ve always heard that the cast comes off really burned-out this season (I’ve especially been keeping my eye on Garrett, as it’s known that his drug problems reached its breaking point this season), but I have yet to see evidence of that so far, so I’m also wondering when that will start.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Martin Sheen