Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
JOP & MAG announce & explain the SNL National Phone-In Democratic Primary
— Looks like we’re getting another Larry the Lobster/Andy Kaufman-type vote-in contest.
— A very noticeable cut right after Joe brings up Larry the Lobster. I recall hearing that SNL removed a mention of the Andy Kaufman vote-in, due to the fact that Kaufman passed away before this episode was first rebroadcast.
— A somewhat interesting idea for viewers to call in and vote for their favorite democratic candidate.
— Some pretty funny loose ad-libs between Joe and Mary.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
MONOLOGUE
host thinks we should worry less about Central America, more about Canada
— The idea of a recurring character hosting the show is very original, even if Father Guido Sarducci is far from my favorite character.
— His Central America/Texas/Maine bit was funny.
— Very funny line from him pointing out how Canada is closer to the United States than Manhattan is to Brooklyn.
— I’m surprised by how much I’m actually laughing at Sarducci in this.
— Good monologue overall.
STARS: ***½
BUCKWHEAT’S GHOST
Buckwheat’s ghost appears when publishers want tell-all book from Alfalfa
— I like the idea of this Alfalfa sketch so far.
— Mary’s whimper of “Heelllp!” cracked me up for some reason.
— The ghost of Buckwheat suddenly appears.
— Funny entrance from Gary as Buckwheat’s translator.
— Haha, Gary’s great at doing “Buckwheat speak” when translating the execs’ normal talk into gibberish that Buckwheat can understand.
— They make a passing mention of fellow Little Rascal Darla being dead too. Uh, what? When did she die? Didn’t we just see Julia playing her in Robert Blake’s Little Rascals Reunion monologue a season earlier?
STARS: ***
WHAT’S NEW
Linda Ronstadt (JLD) answers the musical question “What’s New”- not her
— I never knew Julia could sing so well.
— Some funny lyrics so far.
— This is a pretty solid (and harsh) parody of Linda Ronstadt. Something about it feels like a sketch that would’ve appeared during the original era. Maybe I’m reminded of that Barbra Streisand sketch that Laraine Newman once did.
STARS: ***½
COUNTDOWN 84
Jesse Jackson is the number one vote-getter so far; host nominates ZZ Top
Democrats join ZZ Top in “Sharp Dressed Man” video to ensure equal time
Nina Blackwood (JLD) announces that the winner will get a T-shirt
— An update on the voting so far. Due to the nature of this particular poll, it takes Joe a long time to go through each of the candidates’ vote totals and and call-in phone number, which is getting a little tiring to watch, though Joe IS throwing in some loose ad-libs here and there.
— Now Joe throws to a commentary from Father Guido Sarducci. So I take it this whole “Countdown 84” thing is also being used as a substitute for Saturday Night News tonight? After all, Brad Hall HAS just gotten fired as anchorperson, so maybe Ebersol didn’t know what to do with Saturday Night News yet, which just goes to show you how un-thought-out his decision to fire Brad mid-season was. You can’t fire an anchorperson mid-season without having a backup anchorperson ready to go.
— Sarducci putting ZZ Top into the vote-in polls is pretty funny.
— Now Sarducci has thrown to a ZZ Top music video. They’re not going to show the ENTIRE music video, are they?
— Okay, they cut the video off after about 30 seconds.
— A montage of the democratic candidates is being played to the ZZ Top song we just heard. This is actually pretty fun and I’m getting some laughs here.
— Now after the video ends, we suddenly get the debut of Julia’s soon-to-become recurring impression of MTV VJ Nina Blackwood.
— Julia’s pretty funny here.
STARS: I guess I can give this one a rating, so… **½
TASTELESS CHOICE
(JOP) is incestuous- times like these are made for Tasteless Choice
— Haha, holy hell at Joe’s out-of-nowhere “I’ve been sleeping with our daughter” reveal to his wife (Mary). Hilarious.
— Another big laugh from Mary’s response to Joe’s aforementioned reveal: “I’ll make some coffee.”
— Judging from the background music playing right now, I get the feeling this is going to turn into a coffee commercial.
— I was right.
— Strong sketch overall.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Heart & Soul”
THE MAN WHO LOVED SWIMMIN’
movie shows how host keeps his chastity vow
— Robin’s screentime seems to be becoming more and more scarce these last few episodes. She’s been very invisible lately.
— Pretty funny setting for Sarducci.
— Julia’s very funny in her scene so far. I’m surprised by how many funny things she’s been getting to do tonight in general, considering she’s usually wasted in forgettable straight roles.
— This sketch is getting pretty repetitive.
— Ha, I did love Sarducci immediately jumping back into the pool after silently looking through a National Geographic magazine.
STARS: **½
NICE BOYS DON’T GET GIRLS PREGNANT
Michael Jackson (EDM) says “Nice Boys Don’t Get Girls Pregnant”
— Considering how huge Michael Jackson was at the time, I’m surprised by how little SNL has been spoofing him in this era.
— This sketch appears to be in a similar vein to the Poly-Rock sketch from earlier this season (a sketch where Brad played an aging fictional rocker in need of denture glue). They’re even re-using the exact same concert stage and backstage sets that were used in that sketch.
— Like the last time Eddie played Michael Jackson, his impression is disappointingly generic, just doing an unspecific high-pitched voice and portraying him as vaguely gay (which probably comes off strange nowadays). I guess there wasn’t much about Michael’s personality to spoof yet back in this time period.
— Very short sketch overall, and I’m not quite sure the “Nice boys don’t get girls pregnant” twist worked for me. I didn’t really get a laugh from it.
STARS: **
STEVEN WRIGHT
Steven Wright [real] does stand-up involving his unique perspective
— Yes! Great to see Steven Wright again.
— Right off the bat, he’s already making me laugh out loud.
— This overall segment wasn’t quite as strong as his last appearance, which was more consistently funny and tighter, but what DID make me laugh here was fucking hilarious and had me in tears. My favorite one-liners were the bit about everything in his apartment having been stolen and replaced with an exact replica, his random “I’m feelin’ kinda hyper” line, and him thinking the dictionary was a poem for everything.
STARS: ***½
COUNTDOWN 84
ZZ Top has now pulled in front of Jesse Jackson in the voting
host asks people on the street who they would vote for
— Oh, turns out we DO get Brad Hall (in his first appearance of the whole night, by the way) in an anchorman-type role tonight after all. Having him anchor one of these “Countdown 84” segments seems to be Ebersol’s way of throwing Brad a bone to keep him from getting too upset over his recent Saturday Night News firing.
— By the way, this is the first time in SNL history where an episode doesn’t have a fake news segment. Ebersol HAS been known to occasionally do away with some of SNL’s traditions, but dumping the fake news segment is pretty drastic.
— The first guy who Sarducci is interviewing seems kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why. (third screencap above)
— Oh, no, I’m hearing another instance of the dreaded “Comedy Network overlapped audio”. You see, as I mentioned in a recent review, whenever these old Comedy Network reruns remove something from a sketch, it often strangely results in a few seconds of the sketch being overlapped with audio of the removed portion. In this particular sketch’s case, when the camera cuts back to Brad in the studio after Father Guido Sarducci’s Man on the Street segment ends, something that Brad said appeared to be removed and you can momentarily hear audio of it while Brad’s speaking. Very sloppy. Who the heck was in charge of these Comedy Network edits anyway?
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Want a New Drug”
RIGHT TO VOTE
JOP encourages viewers at home to participate in the democratic process
— Interesting setting for this vote-in update.
— Despite a few comedic lines, this was a pretty straightforward segment overall. Nothing for me to say here.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
AIRPORT
after host’s flight is delayed, TransEastern employee (JIB) gets friendly
— LOL at Sarducci’s violent temper tantrum when finding out his flight has been delayed.
— I had been wondering where Jim was tonight. This is his first appearance of the whole night, very late in the show. The whole “Countdown 84” stuff that’s been eating up a lot of the show seems to have made it hard for most of the cast to get any airtime.
— This sketch seems to be taking a slice-of-life, low-key turn.
— The “I work on tips” ending was kinda weird.
— Overall, this was another sketch tonight that I’m not sure what to think of. I usually enjoy the low-key slice-of-life pieces that SNL does in these older seasons, but I’m not even sure if I liked this particular one or not.
STARS: **½ by default
PHONE-IN RESULTS
Dick Ebersol [real] gives host the tally- ZZ Top wins with 131,384 votes
— We get a VERY brief walk-on from Dick Ebersol, making one of his rare on-screen appearances.
— I like how behind Sarducci, we see the cast, Steven Wright, and Huey Lewis each holding a board with one of the candidates’ face on it.
— Speaking of the cast, Eddie is noticeably absent, making this yet another episode this season where we wasn’t there live in the studio.
— The voting results are announced. Predictably, ZZ Top is the winner. Uh, yay?
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
GOODNIGHTS
— A pre-taped segment titled “Shoplifting” is noticeably listed in the scrolling ending credits, even though it was nowhere to be seen tonight. I guess it got cut for time. If “Shoplifting” is what I think it is (a short film with Jim Belushi as a shoplifter sneakily stuffing items from a convenience store into his jacket), it ends up airing in a later episode this season.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An unusual-feeling episode, with the “Countdown 84” vote-in contest absolutely dominating the night (much moreso than the prior Larry the Lobster and Andy Kaufman vote-ins, which didn’t get in the way of their respective episode’s sketches too much). The non-election portions of this episode felt scarce and, as mentioned earlier, we barely saw most of the cast. (Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a rare strong night, though) The fact that there was no fake news segment also added to the odd feeling of the night. There were still a few good non-election segments, though, and the election stuff itself did provide a few fun moments.
— Father Guido Sarducci was a surprisingly decent host and came off more likable and enjoyable than I usually find him.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Flip Wilson):
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Michael Palin and his mother