Tag: James Taylor

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November 13, 1993 – Rosie O’Donnell / James Taylor (S19 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The Packwood (PHH) Diaries- the senator recalls females he has harassed

— Phil-as-Packwood’s first sudden “I stuck my tongue down her throat” gave me a pretty good laugh.
— Packwood pointing out that a pro-choice women’s group he spoke in front of were “dogs and dykey-looking… but by then, I was drunk” gave me another laugh, though I feel wrong for it.
— Okay, after about a minute-and-a-half, I’m not caring much for where this has been going, and I can do without all the repetitions of “And then I stuck my tongue down her throat”.
STARS: **½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Writer Sarah Silverman has been added to the cast as a featured player.


MONOLOGUE
Madonna calls; fake audience members confuse host with other actresses

— The first half of this monologue with Rosie talking about movies and Hollywood is only okay, though the phone call to Madonna had a laugh or two.
— The soon-to-be-overused-this-season monologue trope of audience members taking turns asking the host the same idiotic question makes its second appearance of the season.
— Sarah Silverman’s “Now that you’ve left Wilson Phillips…” question to Rosie made me laugh out loud for two reasons: one, because it’s funny in itself obviously, and two, because I got reminded of when they later showed an out-of-context clip of it in Sarah Silverman’s monologue from her hosting stint in season 40, where Sarah answers several questions asked by herself in old clips from various season 19 questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Love Norm’s delivery of “Yeah, uh, Designing Women? Yeah, it, uhh…. got really bad when you left.”
— Despite the repetitive nature of this season’s increasingly-common questions-from-the-audience monologues, they haven’t reached their breaking point with me yet. In fact, I’m actually liking this one from tonight more than the Jeff Goldblum one from earlier this season.
— Good ending with Rosie having a pleased reaction to being mistaken for Julia Roberts.
STARS: ***½


DUETS
Frank Sinatra (PHH) & pop stars hurriedly record duets; Casey Kasem cameo

— Much like the Clinton Inauguration cold opening from the preceding season, Mike’s Barbra Streisand looks uncanny to me.
— I absolutely loved Sinatra telling Liza Minnelli “Your money’s on the dresser, baby. I’m done with you.”
— I’m loving the format of this sketch with singers coming in one at a time to duet with Sinatra, especially when it gets to the point where the singers are hurriedly sent in two at a time. Very fun, and a nice way to use pretty much the entire cast.
— Hilarious slam from Sinatra about Anita Baker not being a stranger to trios.
— I love the staredown Rob’s K.D. Lang gives Sinatra after Sinatra IMMEDIATELY dismisses her and Wynonna Judd as soon as they enter.
— Funny ending with Sinatra beating the crap out of Bono while singing “Come Fly With Me”.
STARS: ****


MEXICAN STEREOTYPE
Mexican stereotype (ROS) sponsored by anti-NAFTA people tries to scare us

— I like Rob’s goofy laugh throughout this.
— Pretty funny bit with the pinata representing the economy.
— An overall good, silly bit pulled off pretty well by Rob.
STARS: ***


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart counsels John (MIM) & Lorena (host) Bobbitt

— I love the audience’s big laughter as soon as they realize from Stuart’s intro to his guests that he’s referring to Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt.
— The posture Mike’s John Wayne Bobbit is uncomfortably sitting in throughout this is really funny.
— A big laugh from Stuart’s innocent whole “patch things up” spiel unintentionally correlating to John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis situation.
— Great facial reaction from Stuart when Lorena responds to his “What did you do with that anger?” question by saying “I cut off his penis.”
— A camera has suddenly become visible on the right side of the screen for an extended amount of time (screencap below).

SNL would later fix this camera gaffe in reruns by replacing that portion of this sketch with the dress rehearsal version, a substitution that’s kinda noticeable, as the look of Mike’s wig suddenly changes a bit.
— An absolutely priceless part with Stuart making Lorena recite a wordy apology to John’s penis.
— After the aforementioned penis apology, I love how John’s answer to Stuart’s “How do you feel now?” is just “…….It itches.”
STARS: ****


PHIL HARTMAN’S REAL VIEWS
PHH says “pay no attention to anti-NAFTA ad, let’s stick it to Mexicans”

— There’s something hilarious about hearing lines like “–really stick it to those Mexicans–” and “I can’t wait to see the looks on their smug Mexican faces” being delivered in Phil’s typically professional, straitlaced voice.
— Another funny comment from Phil, this time about Canadians being screwed by NAFTA, a tongue-in-cheek remark considering Phil is actually Canadian himself.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Memphis” & “Slap Leather”


WEEKEND UPDATE
new Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (MIM) doesn’t like NAFTA
Operaman on NAFTA, Fan Man, John Bobbitt, Eddie Vedder, Princess Di

— Wow, Kevin’s voice is absolutely shot tonight. He sounds terrible. I thought I noticed him sounding kinda bad earlier tonight in the Duets sketch, but since he didn’t speak all that frequently there, his hoarse voice wasn’t as noticeable to me as it is in this Weekend Update.
— Mike’s facial imitation of the Canadian Prime Minister is pretty funny (I have no idea what that Canadian Prime Minister looks like, but I’ve seen it mentioned that Mike’s impression is an accurate-if-comically-exaggerated imitation of his mouth shape), but I’m not caring for his commentary at all, and the constant pop culture references he keeps randomly throwing in aren’t doing a thing for me.
— Tonight’s Operaman commentary had a bit of a slow start, but it’s taken off with the bit about the Bobbitts.
— Funny bit with Operaman singing about Pearl Jam in an out-of-character Eddie Vedder voice to the tune of Evenflow, though Operaman would do a much more famous rendition of this bit later this season when Pearl Jam is the musical guest in the Emilio Estevez episode. Also, as I mentioned in my review of this season’s premiere, Adam had an Update commentary cut after the premiere’s dress rehearsal where he played Eddie Vedder singing about world events to the tune of Evenflow. I wonder if that was done in the same style as the Operaman commentaries, right down to showing superimposed photos next to Adam’s Vedder and having the lyrics displayed on the bottom of the screen.
— Tonight’s entire Operaman commentary would later be completely removed from all (or most) reruns. For years, I wondered why, until it hit me during one viewing. At one point during Operaman’s Eddie Vedder imitation, he sings a lyric that states “Nirvana kiss my assa”. I’m guessing the first re-airing of this episode was not too long after Kurt Cobain’s April 1994 suicide, and SNL must’ve thought it would be in poor taste to re-air the anti-Nirvana lyric of Operaman’s. But why remove the ENTIRE Operaman commentary, especially considering the character’s huge popularity? Couldn’t they have found some way to just edit out the Nirvana lyric, even if it would be a sloppy edit? After all, they do something like that in reruns of a Hollywood Minute commentary that’s coming up in two episodes. I’ll go into a little more detail when I review it, but in that Hollywood Minute, David makes a brief crack about John Candy during a joke about another celebrity. Well, Candy ended up dying just a few months later, so all reruns of that Hollywood Minute sloppily remove David’s crack about him.
STARS: ***


WAITERS WITHOUT A PAD
waiter (KEN) overestimates ability to remember order of (PHH) & (host)

— This sketch was originally cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s Jason Alexander episode. In that version, Phil and Rosie’s roles were played by Jason Alexander and Julia.
— I’m getting good laughs from the part with Kevin badly attempting to slowly sound out Phil and Rosie’s orders until they say it for him.
— A very Kevin Nealon-y premise.
— For some reason, when trying to say “seared tuna steak”, Phil pauses oddly and then actually breaks character and cracks up a bit, which is very rare for him.
— I like the absurdity of Kevin phoning Phil from the restaurant kitchen to ask him his order, plus the absurdity of how Kevin’s character would even know a random restaurant patron’s cellphone number in the first place.
— Overall, I found this sketch pretty enjoyable, more than most people seem to, though it’s not one of Kevin’s better sketches that have a quintessential Kevin Nealon-y premise.
STARS: ***½


THE TOMBOY & THE SISSY
odd couple (host) & (DAS) teaches each other skills

— Always nice to see David play against type. He’s doing a solid job here.
— I love the concept of this sketch, and the opening title sequence is pretty fun.
— An overall cute and charming sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Secret O’ Life”


MALIBU FIRES
Dick Clark’s receptionist controls the access to the California fires

— Surprisingly, David’s Dick Clark Receptionist character makes his first appearance since season 17. The setting of his appearance tonight is a creative and topical change of pace for him.
— Not too sure about the voice, but Jay is nailing Sean Penn’s facial expression.
— Funny impression from Rosie of her friend Penny Marshall.
— I loved Phil-as-Charlton-Heston’s delivery of “Laverne & Shirley still makes me laugh.”
— Interesting Planet of the Apes-esque ending with Phil’s Heston.
— Overall, this was fine, but doesn’t measure up to the more memorable Dick Clark Productions installments back in season 17.
STARS: ***½


WILL WORK FOR FOOD
by TOS- homeless (NOM) forgoes fruit of his labor

 

— Very unusual and interesting seeing early-era Norm Macdonald starring in a quiet, slice-of-life Tom Schiller film.
— Norm is doing a great job in this film, which is presenting a side of him that I don’t think we would ever get to see from him again for the remainder of his tenure.
— Very heartwarming ending with Norm giving his hot dog reward to the fellow hobo from the beginning of the film.
— This sadly ends up being the final Schiller’s Reel to ever make it on the air during a live episode. Reruns of the Martin Lawrence episode from later this season add in a cut-after-dress-rehearsal Schiller’s Reel titled “Laura” (a romantic film pairing together Phil Hartman and Melanie Hutsell, quite an odd pairing), presumably to fill in the extra time left over from the huge edit famously made to Martin Lawrence’s notorious monologue.
STARS: ****


HOMEGIRLS
(JUS) invites homegirls (ELC), (MEH), (host) to her birthday party

— Boy, this is awful. Cringeworthy. Where is the humor here supposed to be coming from?
— The fact that a dud like this is immediately following such a touching Schiller’s Reel makes this sketch feel even worse than it already is.
— This is one of quite a number of bad sketches this season that have that uncomfortable dead atmosphere that I mentioned in my review of the History’s Great Over-Thinkers sketch from this season’s Jeff Goldblum episode.
— A shame that this has to be Sarah Silverman’s first big role; the first sign of the huge struggle she’s going to have during her short-lived SNL tenure.
— The homegirls’ constant utterances of “Whoomp, there it is!” are just embarrassing in retrospect. Actually, it was probably embarrassing even at this time in 1993 when the song was still new and hot.
— Overall, definitely a contender for one of the worst sketches of the whole season.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A (mostly) consistently good episode, especially for this season’s standards. There were a lot of good pieces throughout the night, and a few really strong pieces in the first half of the show. Even the questions-from-the-audience monologue managed to be pretty solid. Aside from the awful final sketch and the fairly one-note cold opening, I like that tonight didn’t have too much of the feel of a typical season 19 episode.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christian Slater)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Nicole Kidman

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December 14, 1991 – Steve Martin / James Taylor (S17 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
the cast is inspired when host sings “Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight”

— Already starting off good with Farley doing his Chris Farley Show shtick to Steve when reminiscing about some of Steve’s classic sketches.
— Steve Martin, regarding the King Tut costume: “This was back when the show meant something.”
— Excellent turn with Steve breaking out into a song about not phoning it in tonight.
— I’m enjoying spotting the sets for tonight’s sketches all through the studio.
— I love seeing Julia removing her Pat wig and glasses.
— Tim making fun of his own lack of airtime is great (“I don’t have any liiiiines, I’m not in the shooooow…”).
— Hilarious song from Farley about not getting liquored up tonight.
— This is getting more and more fun as more and more cast and crew members join in.
— Lorne lip syncing to an operatic voice is priceless.
— Here’s what puts this cold opening over the top as truly epic, with the leg-kicking chorus line onstage at the end, involving Steve and the the entire cast. Just seeing that really makes you fully realize just how LARGE this season’s cast is.
— Even the “Live from New York…” ending has a good laugh, with Steve blanking in the middle of the tagline and having to be shown on a cue card what to say.
— Overall, an absolutely perfect and legendary cold opening. One of the best in the show’s history.
STARS: *****


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Some good laughs from Steve listing off the supposed names of the newer cast members: Ramone, Tina, Biff, Frosty, and Spunky.
— I loved him detailing his method of pulling down on genitalia as a way of giving people an autograph.
— This went downhill with the “Father of the Bride” story, which just led up to a photo of Steve in a wedding dress that didn’t really make me laugh much and wasn’t worth the long set up. Our first sign of trouble for tonight’s episode.
STARS: **½


SCHMITTS GAY
— Rerun from the Michael Jordan episode


SUCKERPUNCH
(host) delivers blows to contestants without warning

 

— Pretty funny concept.
— Okay, after about a minute, this is already starting to get old.
— I like Kevin flinching in anticipation of a punch whenever Steve comes anywhere near him.
— The sound effect when Ellen punches Kevin is played a few seconds too late. Steve ad-libs “Beautiful delay on that”, which receives a big audience reaction. SNL would later replace this portion of the sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I like Ellen’s prize being a wallet she stole from a knocked-out Kevin.
STARS: **½


DOORMEN
doormen (ROS) & (KEN) fantasize about wearing building tenants’ panties

— The return of a forgettable sketch from the preceding season’s Jimmy Smits episode.
— The premise is slightly funnier than the first installment of this sketch, but this is still nothing great. Like last time, I’m enjoying this more for the entertaining way that Kevin and Rob play off of each other than for the material itself.
STARS: **½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on what a human snail shell is made of


THE ENERGY BROTHERS
lack of material defines The Energy Brothers’ (CHF) & (ADS) comedy

— During Steve’s intro, I liked his line about the Energy Brothers changing the face of comedy in the 90s just like he did “in the late 70s and first four months of 1980”.
— Well… that Energy Brothers bit certainly just came and went with no real laughs. Adam and Farley’s energy was fun, but this was just randomness with no payoff… which I guess was the point, but it wasn’t funny to me.
— Boy, aside from the classic cold opening, tonight’s episode has not been off to a good start.
— In Farley’s “Best Of” special, during a montage of his pratfalls from various sketches, you may recall seeing one particular clip where Adam is on top of Farley’s shoulders and they’re running around the home base stage screaming, then they both fall down (screencap below).

That appears to come from the dress rehearsal version of this sketch. I wonder why Adam and Farley didn’t do this during the live version.
— On a similar note, one of GettyImages’ pictures from the dress rehearsal version of this sketch shows Adam swinging on a chandelier (pic here), which is another thing that didn’t happen in the live show. It appears that SNL either shortened or re-wrote most of this sketch between dress rehearsal and the live show. I wonder why, as the dress version actually looks a little more fun.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stop Thinkin’ About That”


WEEKEND UPDATE
ADS spent his Disney World vacation in his hotel room & at McDonald’s

— Funny brief bit with Kevin demonstrating freedom of speech by yelling a whole bunch of crazy nonsense, ending with “Your grandmother’s underwear!”
— Adam’s commentary is a rehash of an earlier travel review he did on Update.
— Like the last time he did this travel commentary, you can tell Adam is nervous.
— Unlike when he rehashed his one-sided dinner conversation Update piece, Adam’s travel piece tonight isn’t all that great and should’ve been left as a one-time thing.
— Okay, I did like the odd turn just now during Adam’s commentary, with him going into a deep hypothetical of what he would do if he were Mayor McCheese.
— Pretty strong night for Kevin overall. Lots of good jokes from him.
STARS: ***½


THEATRE STORIES
British actors & Mickey Rooney (DAC) talk about the past

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Very funny characterization from Mike here. Lots of funny little quirks in his mannerisms.
— Julia’s demented character is providing some good laughs.
— Dana’s washed-up Mickey Rooney is a riot.
— Just now, Steve said “…a certain, as the French say, I don’t know what.” Mike, who obviously wrote this sketch, would later reuse that line in one of the Austin Powers movies (I think the second one).
— Very funny part with Steve revealing he soiled himself just now during his story.
— Overall, we finally got an actual FUNNY sketch tonight. Reruns of this episode move this and, I think, one of the sketches from later tonight to the first half of the show, while moving the Doormen and Energy Brothers sketches to near the end of the show where they belong. Clearly, SNL realized how poorly they arranged the first half of this episode in the live show.
STARS: ***½


LIVE WITH REGIS & KATHIE LEE
Joy Philbin (JUS) & host sidelined

 

— It feels a little sad and bittersweet seeing pictures of Jan Hooks as Kathie Lee during this sketch’s opening credits. I didn’t fully realize until now how much I miss Jan in the cast.
— The usual funny angry ranting from Dana’s Regis.
— Okay, after a while, I don’t like how this sketch is focusing way too much on Regis’ angry rants. It’s basically becoming the only joke. The previous Regis and Kathie Lee sketches had actual material around his rants. This sketch is missing a lot without Jan’s Kathie Lee there to bounce off of Dana’s Regis. Julia as her replacement, Joy Philbin, has no chemistry with Dana and is being given NOTHING to work with (even if that’s the point).
— Adding to this sketch’s laziness, now they replay a clip of Dana-as-Regis’ “All My Children” cameo that was originally aired in the preceding season’s Susan Lucci episode. Why was this necessary tonight?
STARS: **


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on which part of a child’s face says it all


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shed A Little Light”


GRANDMA PUGGA
(BEC) & (CHF) visit cat fur-covered apartment of his Grandma Pugga (host)

 

— A pretty good laugh from the initial reveal of the cat hair-covered apartment.
— Funny disgusting visual of cat hair on the meal Farley and Beth are eating.
— An overall fairly thin sketch, but provided enough laughs.
STARS: ***


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on what tears families apart


COWARDS
CHF’s case of nerves spurs host to a Patton-esque coward-slapping spree

 

— Bah, a weak one-joke bit. Steve just going around calling everyone a coward and slapping them isn’t that funny, especially considering we already had a fairly tepid sketch earlier tonight with him punching everybody.
— The way some of the extras that Steve slaps are dressed seem to be a reference to the previous episode. There’s an extra wearing the same alien makeup and shiny outfit that Dana wore in the last episode’s Dick Clark’s Receptionist sketch and there’s a black extra dressed as Santa, much like Hammer in the last episode’s Tales From The Barbecue sketch. (comparisons below)

— Okay, I did get one laugh just now, when after Steve got slapped by Phil, a slap sound effect played when Steve tapped his own helmet in shock.
STARS: *½


THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Nat X has some words with Michael Jackson (CSR)

— Phil’s voice-over intro saying “A man so black, he urinates oil” was hilarious.
— During Farley’s appearance as Sandman, he’s noticeably out of breath. Considering this sketch aired right after the Cowards sketch, with no commercial break in between, Farley must’ve had to go through a VERY hasty costume change from his army outfit to his clown outfit & makeup, and then had to rush to the set of this sketch while it was in progress, which would explain why he’s so out of breath here. He’s been having a very busy night in general, appearing in a prominent role in most of the sketches.
— Much like the Nat X sketch from the Steven Seagal episode, you can see Rock covering his mouth and trying not to laugh when Farley’s Sandman is reading a child’s letter in a hokey voice.
— Good bit with Nat X saying he sympathizes with Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer because the discrimination he received is similar to that of black people.
— Nat X: “Boy, I haven’t had that much fun since I was breastfed by Chaka Khan.”
— Seems to be a lot of instances tonight of cast members mistakenly speaking into the wrong camera, as Rock does that here after the “White Man Cam” segment, and Dana did it during one of his rants in the Regis and Kathie Lee sketch.
— The second episode in a row where Rock’s Michael Jackson impression appears, this time in obvious pre-taped form. Interesting how Chris Rock is basically interviewing himself here.
— Understandably, there’s some timing issues with the MJ pre-tape, as Rock is having some difficulty finishing his live Nat X dialogue in time before pre-taped MJ responds to him.
— When Rock’s MJ says that his controversial car-smashing scene in the “Black or White” music video didn’t hurt anyone, I liked Nat X responding “Didn’t hurt no one??? That was my car!”
— Despite the laughs, this overall sketch wasn’t one of the better or more memorable Nat X installments. It was still decent enough, though.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Baby James”


SEASON’S GREETINGS
CHF, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “Feliz Navidad”

— Wow, Farley’s busy night continues. He’s been ALL OVER tonight’s episode.
— The return of the traditional Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein holiday greetings. I love the very random addition of Farley as himself replacing Jon Lovitz’s Tonto. This was the perfect way for them to work around Lovitz’s departure.
— This is great as always, made even more entertaining by seeing a comically uncomfortable and fidgety Farley singing in same broken English that Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein always sing in.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Interestingly, right after the preceding Season’s Greetings sketch ends, they immediately go into these goodnights with no commercial break or Steve Martin bumper picture in between. Very rare for this to happen; it probably hasn’t occurred since the original era. I wonder if tonight’s Season’s Greetings sketch was going to be cut for time and James Taylor’s third musical performance was planned to be the last segment of the night (as that’s usually the case in the late 80s/early 90s years whenever a musical guest gets three performances), but then they realized they still have juuuuust enough time right before the goodnights to squeeze in the Seasons Greetings sketch.
— For some reason, when the scrolling credits are only halfway over, they suddenly stop running while the goodnights continue on. Must’ve been a technical error… or perhaps everybody in the control room got up and immediately took off for their Christmas break a little too early. The latter obviously isn’t the case, but it IS pretty funny to imagine.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A surprisingly subpar episode. Sure we got the classic Tonight Song cold opening, but look past that and you’ll see lots of material that was tepid and some that was overly average. Very ironic how after a cold opening where Steve and the cast sing about giving it their all tonight, we end up with an episode that had an air of tiredness to it. (Maybe the approaching Christmas break is to blame) There were only a few solid highlights in this episode, and overall, this was disappointing for a Steve Martin-hosted Christmas show in a great season like this. I’m one of the many SNL fans who used to be guilty of highly overrating this episode just because of the cold opening, until a December 2007 airing of this episode on NBC led to a live discussion of it on a (now-defunct) SNL messageboard I was a member of, and a lot of people in that live discussion made good points on how surprisingly weak a lot of this episode’s material was. That opened my eyes and made me realize that this episode is far from the classic that I had previously deemed it to be.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Hammer)
a step down (Who’da guessed in 1991 that M.C. freakin’ Hammer would host a better SNL episode than Steve Martin?)


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 1992, with host Rob Morrow

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January 23, 1988 – Robin Williams / James Taylor (S13 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- the duo criticize Jimmy The Greek’s remarks

— This again so soon? While it’s good that these characters are continuing to gain popularity, do we really need them two episodes in a row? Granted, SNL had a month-long Christmas break between these last two episodes, but I’m watching/reviewing these SNL episodes in chronological order on a day-to-day basis, and thus it feels like Hans and Franz literally just appeared.
— Interesting change of pace at least, with Hans and Franz here to talk about controversial statements Jimmy The Greek recently made about black people having superior thighs to white people.
— I got a big laugh from them mentioning Webster (Emmanuel Lewis) as proof that black people aren’t stronger than white people.
— An overall decent cold opening with some funny comments toward Jimmy The Greek.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about safe sex & the importance of using condoms

— I absolutely LOVE Robin’s entrance in this, busting through the doors and immediately going into a very extended, energetic, fun dance sequence all around the stage as the SNL Band continues playing the theme music (first screencap above). This has always been my personal all-time favorite entrance that a host has ever made for their monologue. Hell, this entrance of Robin’s was so epic that SNL even used a clip of it for an In Memoriam to Robin that was added to a season 39 summer rerun when Robin died in 2014.
— Robin’s whole talk about prophylactics has tons of funny lines.
— Now he’s making me laugh even more with his bit about Shakespearean actors in porn.
— Incredible monologue overall. I loved this just as much as Robin’s season 12 monologue. You can tell the audience found this phenomenal as well, judging from their particularly huge applause at the end.
STARS: ****½


COMPULSION
— Rerun


BIRTH TAPE
to recommend birth filming, (host) shows video of wife (VIJ) having baby

— I’m really liking this premise.
— Very funny reveal that Victoria’s the one holding the camera while she’s in labor.
— Memorable and hilarious part with Robin stretching out his mouth to imitate what Victoria looks like “down there” in her labor-induced state.
— I like the use of an obvious doll that Victoria has birthed.
— A fun overall sketch and was absolutely perfect for Robin.
STARS: ****


LEARNING TO FEEL
Denise Venetti (NOD) tells patients “look at yourself”

— Nora’s intense hand-on-face expressions when giving her guests advice are pretty funny.
— I liked Nora’s rapid, confusing, back-and-forth “Look at Glenn, look at Ann” to Phil and Jan.
— This overall sketch was okay and Nora gave a good performance, but you got the joke of the sketch really quickly and it didn’t expand from there. I’m not looking forward to this sketch eventually becoming recurring.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Never Die Young”


WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF reports on the caucuses from Iowa

— Loved Dennis’ opening line, where he vaguely addresses the aforementioned controversial Jimmy The Greek statement by saying “So what if their thighs are bigger than ours? It’s that other thing that eats at me.”
— Lots of rapid-fire random one-line jokes from Dennis so far tonight.
— The debut of Al Franken’s one-man mobile uplink unit, a bit that I’ve always liked.
— A good laugh from Al professionally detailing the pain he’s in from carrying around all the gadgets.
— Good overall commentary from Al.
— Great ad-lib from Dennis after a blown joke resulted in deadly silence from the audience.
— Dennis’ random “What IS normal heterosexual sex?” bit didn’t work at all.
STARS: ***½


THE 8TH ANNUAL ACE AWARDS
reruns, tickers, infomercials get their due

— Dana is very funny in his impression of stand-up comedian Gallagher.
— I have no idea who Robin is playing, nor why the camera keeps cutting to such an extreme close-up of him whenever he speaks.
— Strange sketch so far.
— Jon’s acceptance speech has a few laughs, which is more than I can say for almost anything else in this sketch so far.
— The clips they’re showing are making less and less sense. If that’s the joke, it’s not working.
— I’m enjoying Nora’s impression of Shelley Duvall.
— For some reason, I liked Phil’s grumpy facial reaction when he’s announced as the winner.
— Overall, despite a few bright spots, I was not a fan of this sketch. The randomness in it just didn’t work. SNL usually has a poor track record with award show sketches, and this one is no exception.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Sweet Potato Pie”


I WUV YOU
(host)’s inability to sincerely say “I love you” irks girlfriend (JAH)

— A promising use of Robin’s knack for doing different voices.
— If you know me, you’ll know I loved the quick part with Robin doing Three Stooges voices.
— The ending was… okay, I guess.
— Overall, ehh, I wasn’t too crazy about this sketch as a whole. Not sure what about it didn’t work for me.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Lonesome Road”


DISCOVER
Peter Graves (PHH) interviews spirits channelled through (host)

— Some particularly funny bad analogies from Phil’s Graves early on in this.
— Some big laughs from Robin’s channeling of Lambda’s spirit.
— Robin channeling a random Jewish guy from Pittsburgh is pretty funny.
— This is strange for a Discover sketch. For once, the humor is more focused on the guest than on Phil’s Graves.
— Overall, this was okay for what it was, but I definitely prefer the previous Discover sketches. It didn’t feel right seeing Graves as basically a straight man for once, when the appeal of these Discover sketches has always been Graves’ idiotic statements and actions.
STARS: ***


60TH BIRTHDAY
on his 60th birthday, host is visited by chip-off-the-old-block son (DAC)

— Love this concept of Robin playing himself as an old man in the future.
— When it’s announced that Ronald Reagan is still alive at age 106, I loved a surprised Robin commenting how he assumed in the past that all that would be left of Reagan in the future is a wig and a colon.
— Another great line from Robin, this time remarking how future Michael Jackson looks like a photo negative of Katharine Hepburn.
— Very fun and dead-on Robin Williams impression from Dana.
— After a very long run of wacky ad-libs from his son, I love Robin’s only response to that being “I should’ve worn a prophylactic.”
— Some funny lines about where Robin’s career has gone in the future.
— Lots of great back-and-forths between Robin and Dana throughout this sketch.
— Absolutely loved the line about Dennis Miller being a U.S. Senator. Even funnier in hindsight, considering that prediction ended up coming true for another SNL performer from this era.
— After the aforementioned Dennis Miller mention, Dana works in his impression of him. Robin’s response has me wondering if that was an ad-lib on Dana’s part.
— Robin, after his son has left: “I don’t have the heart to tell him he’s a foster child.” That hilarious line was not only a killer way to end this sketch, but was also a perfect end to tonight’s episode in general. However, I’m aware that this sketch originally aired earlier in the show during the original airing, and was moved to the end of the show in the rerun version I’m reviewing.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty fun episode, as is usually the case whenever Robin Williams hosts. However, I’m not as big a fan of this episode as I was of Robin’s season 12 hosting stint. That episode was pretty much flawless in my eyes, whereas tonight’s episode had a disappointing post-Update half, aside from the 60th Birthday sketch. That being said, what worked in this episode worked well, and there were some memorable moments.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Simon)
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Carl Weathers

Posted on

March 15, 1980 – Paul Simon and James Taylor / David Sanborn (S5 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
for SNL’s hundredth show, LAN, JAC, GAM, GIR summon spirits of MOD & JOB

   

— A mention of this being SNL’s 100th episode.
— Hey, a Mr. Mike cameo!
— Loved O’Donoghue’s line “Did I mention that since I left, the show really sucks rubber donkey lungs?”, which is a criticism he really did famously state about this season of SNL (and maybe season 4, too) during an interview, I believe.
— Good comeback from Laraine to O’Donoghue, giving him a sarcastic “By the way, congratulations on Mondo Video”.
— The male voice that a possessed Jane is miming sounds like John Belushi doing his Samurai gibberish.
— Yep, it IS Belushi!
— A welcome return of John’s traditional “but noooooo” rant, complaining about doing this “cheap séance sketch”.
— Overall, a pretty fun cold opening, featuring an interesting premise and nice visits from some alums. Too bad they didn’t get Dan Aykroyd, though. Was he unavailable that week?
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Okay, this episode has always been listed on SNL sites as having no host, and lists Paul Simon, James Taylor, and David Sanborn as the musical guests. However, I noticed that in the section of tonight’s opening credits where the host is usually announced, Don Pardo says “With Paul Simon and James Taylor” (“with” was typically how Don announced hosts in the opening montage back then, instead of announcing them as “your host” or any variation thereof) while David Sanborn is announced separately as the musical guest. Looks like all those SNL sites are wrong; this episode DOES have a host – two, in fact. Lorne seemingly considers those two the hosts of this episode as well, because the famous 1990 monologue with Tom Hanks being inducted into the Five-Timers Club includes Paul Simon as one of the club members, which used to baffle many SNL fans (including myself), as it was always thought that Paul has only hosted FOUR times (seasons 1, 2, 11, and 13). Well, now I see that he actually HAS hosted host five times. And, hey, who knew James Taylor ever hosted SNL as well?
— So, after all that, I just have to ask: where did this decades-long misconception that this episode has no host come from?


MONOLOGUE
commuter BIM sings a song about what a typical day in NYC is like for him

     

— Looks like Bill gets the honors of doing the 100th monologue. Maybe THIS is why everybody thinks this episode has no host. But then again, when The Rolling Stones hosted the previous season, they didn’t do a monologue either – Mayor Ed Koch randomly did. Yet I don’t see any episodes guides listing THAT episode as having no host.
— Hey, we get a remodeled home base stage! Are they doing this because it’s the 100th episode?
— The new home base is a replica of a subway set, and it reminds me of a more extensive version of the subway newsstand home base stage they would later use temporarily at the beginning of season 10.
— Bill going into a Nick the Lounger Singer-esque number about New York.
— Loved Bill’s little jumping dance interlude.
— This song is really starting to get amped up, and damn, Bill is REALLY going all out with an insane, energetic performance. He’s cracking me the hell up.
— Loved Bill shouting “NEW YORK!!!! I LOVE YOU SO!!!!” and then doing a flip onto the floor.
— Funny little part with him spitting on the “spitting is unlawful” sign.
— Overall, I got a lot of enjoyment out of this, and Bill’s increasingly manic performance freakin’ killed me.
STARS: ****


HORIZON SYSTEM 12
the Horizon System 12 is the largest television system ever

   

— This parody of then-contemporary TV sets is serving as a nice little time capsule.
— Nice graphics for an SNL fake ad from 1980.
— That’s the whole thing? Not much of a joke. There was no audible laughing from the audience, either.
STARS: **


THE BIGGEST LEPRECHAUN
Patrick Moynihan [real] narrates the tale of The Biggest Leprechaun (PEA)

   

— A big role for Peter Aykroyd?
— Oh, I see they needed someone tall for the role, and Peter IS the tallest of all the cast members and featured players this season, so…
— Great voice from Harry.
— Overall, eh, I didn’t care for this. A pretty dull sketch.
STARS: **


TODD’S CAMPAIGN
Todd’s quest to be student body president is threatened by moon blackmail

   

— SNL has surprisingly been cutting back on The Nerds lately. This is only their third appearance of the season, and the season is almost over. I wonder if this ends up being these characters’ last appearance.
— I like how these sketches always make a mention of Mrs. Loopner’s famous egg salad.
— Uh, what the hell is Garrett doing??? Very awkward entrance from him, with him silently looking around every area of the house for some reason, like a paranoid weirdo. What in the world??? The audience is DEAD SILENT during this part, too.
— Oh, now I see what Garrett was doing. He’s Todd’s bodyguard, so he was scoping out the house to make sure it’s safe for Todd to enter. Still, it feels like that could’ve been executed in a less-awkward way.
— I like Garrett’s “I’ll just say it was me” plan, regarding the mooning picture of Todd.
— Fairly weak ending.
— Overall, despite an interesting premise for the Nerds, this ended up being just average. If this turns out to be the final Nerds sketch, this was not the best way for them to go out.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
hosts perform “Cathy’s Clown” & “Sunny Skies”
hosts perform “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”


WEEKEND UPDATE
during a polemic on economics, Ralph Nader [real] bashes the Ford Pinto
BIM models different hats on a dummy of Ayatollah Khomeini
Roseanne Roseannadanna wanders from breast-feeding to Bo Derek

         

— What’s that thing hanging off of the upper clock behind Jane? (first and sixth screencaps above)
— A cameo from SNL one-timer Ralph Nader.
— Another Nader reference to hot dogs having rat excrement, which was originally a line he said in the cold opening of the season 2 episode he hosted.
— Nader’s commentary was pretty dull overall. Not even the visual of a Pinto toy car lighter came off all that funny.
— Jane’s presumably made-up news story about Walter Cronkite being attacked by a swarm of Malaysian butterflies is an interesting variation of this season’s Jane/Cronkite story arc.
— Haha, Bill’s WTF-type facial reaction to Jane’s Malaysian butterflies story was great. (fifth screencap above)
— Bill to Jane, regarding Cronkite: “You’ll do anything to get in that old geezer’s pants, won’t you?”
— Bill’s Ayatollah hats segment was decent. I liked the SNL meta-reference with one of Bill’s looks for Ayatollah being “the Jake and Elwood routine”.
— First time we’ve seen Roseanne Rosannadanna in a while.
— Rosannadanna’s rant about Bo Derek’s nose hairs is fairly funny.
— The rest of Rosannadanna’s commentary did nothing for me, not even her little song at the end. I’m so burned out on this character. Couldn’t they at least try doing something different with her instead of just the same tired routine every single time? Even Emily Litella got put in different settings every now and then.
STARS: **½


MEDIEVAL BAND
(BIM)’s lack of rhythm irks fellow minstrels during gig for queen (JOB)

   

— Ah, here’s the infamous “flogging” sketch that contains an epic Paul Shaffer slip-up.
— This seems to be possibly the biggest role Shaffer has gotten in a sketch so far.
— James Taylor surprisingly sounds like a natural doing the medieval accent.
— Haha, there it is! Shaffer’s accidental f-bomb when he was supposed to say the fake swear word “flogging”. Some people in the audience react for a bit, but the performers immediately keep the sketch going. I didn’t see any visible realization from Shaffer after his mistake, unlike the infamous puffed-out-cheeks facial expression future cast member Jenny Slate made after her similar f-bomb slip-up in a sketch where she was supposed to say “friggin” over and over.
— Belushi again!
— Oh my god, John’s voice and accent…
— John sounds like Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child.
STARS: ***


TALK OR DIE
guests’ lives are threatened on (Michael Palin)’s talk show

     

— Random Michael Palin appearance!
— This sketch is already starting hot, with a great stunt at the beginning involving Michael flipping a man over the table. You don’t usually see stunts THAT physical in a live sketch.
— Interesting premise.
— The audience seems to be more familiar with who Jane is playing than I am.
— A REAL spider on Garrett’s shoulder?
— Pretty exciting sketch so far.
— The random bear attack is funny.
— Overall, a crazy sketch that was pretty fun, helped by the usual reliable Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ***½


NEW YORK STATE WINES
Honker & bums (PEA) & (GAM) are wine critics; Patrick Moynihan cameo

   

— Another sketch with Garrett playing a subway wino? Didn’t he just do a character like this in the recent Elliott Gould episode?
— Another rare Peter Aykroyd showcase.
— I still keep hearing Dan Aykroyd’s voice every time Peter talks in a sketch.
— Hey, it’s Bill’s Honker character.  Perfect addition to this.
— Another Senator Moynihan twist?
— I got a good laugh from Garrett spitting out the wine after drinking it, which Moynihan also seemed VERY amused by. (last screencap above)
— I wasn’t crazy about the overall sketch, but it had some worthy individual parts.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Anything You Want”


THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW
surgery hasn’t helped celebrity lookalikes

    

— Bill’s Susskind impression seems to be different every time he plays him. I can’t judge the accuracy of Bill’s impression, having no familiarity with Susskind.
— The pre-Elvis surgery picture of Harry looking like Rod Stewart was hilarious.
— I love the out-of-place voice Jane is using as the Dolly Parton lookalike.
— Funny line from Jane about having “sections of [her] buttocks implanted in [her] breasts.”
— Hilarious make-up job on Tom Davis’ face.
— You can hear an audience member audibly say “Thank god” when Bill mentions Paul Simon breaking up with Art Garfunkel.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

— Lorne makes a very rare goodnights appearance. This is also the earliest episode I recall seeing him in a suit, which would later become his default look whenever he would appear on-camera.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The best episode of the disappointing second half of this season so far, which still isn’t saying much, as this episode was just average. Still, it was helped by all the energy of this being the 100th episode, and also helped by all the star-studded guest appearances. It also helps that the weaker sketches were kept to more of a minimum than in the last few episodes.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rodney Dangerfield):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss

Posted on

May 12, 1979 – Michael Palin / James Taylor (S4 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Fred Silverman (JOB) appoints Gary Coleman as vice president of NBC

 

— Funny reveal with the announcement of Gary Coleman being Fred Silverman’s new chief assistant.  A snapshot of the days when then-new sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” was one of the very few hits NBC had at the time.
— Overall, a pretty good cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about how his mother mistreated him when he was young

— Another mention of Michael’s mother.
— The whole coal miner baby story has several funny parts.
— Abrupt ending with him suddenly throwing to James Taylor’s musical performance.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Johnnie Comes Back”


MILES COWPERTHWAITE
Miles Cowperthwaite sails with manly men aboard The Raging Queen

         

— Ah, here’s the “Raging Queen” sketch that I thought we were getting in the Miles Cowperthwaite sketch from Michael’s earlier episode this season.
— John’s flirtatious behavior towards Michael at bedtime is pretty funny.
— Gilda, Laraine, and John all “comforting” Michael in bed was hilarious.
— Funny with Bill’s decision to amputate Michael’s legs just because they had been soaking wet.
— I like the ending with the next chapter being titled “I Am Eaten By Sharks”.
— Overall, a very well-done epic sketch. I didn’t find this to be quite the classic this sketch has often been called; maybe because this type of humor with stereotypical gays doesn’t come off as outrageously hilarious now as it did back in the day. Still a very good sketch, though.  Personally, I find the first Miles Cowperthwaite sketch from earlier this season to be the better of the two.
STARS: ****


MAGNA-GRO
Magna-Gro anabolic steroids build seeds into gigantic, strong plants

   

— I can already tell right from the opening scene with Bill and Laraine that this will be our usual absurd-premised Dan Aykroyd pitchman commercial.
— I was right.
— The mature live ox “extraction” Dan held up was a funny visual.
— I liked Bill arm-wrestling with the now-giant flower.
— Overall, a decent ad, though not as crazy as most Aykroyd pitchman commercials, which is kinda disappointing as this probably ends up being the last one he does before leaving the show.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
footage of Chico Escuela’s disastrous final game with the Mets
newly-elected Margaret Thatcher (host) clashes with JAC on Rhodesia
JAC & BIM don top hats & sing to wish Fred Astaire a happy 80th birthday
Father Guido Sarducci talks about two obscure Earth-like planets

     

— ANOTHER Chico Escuela pre-tape for the third episode in a row?
— Bill ends the Chico Escuela segment by announcing that Chico will be re-joining Update as a regular correspondent. Not exactly thrilling news for me, considering how tired I am of the endless narrow Update cycle of Chico, Roseanne Rosannadanna, and Father Guido Sarducci. I knew Chico’s “retirement” wouldn’t last long.
— Michael’s really funny as Margaret Thatcher.
— HA at Michael responding to Jane’s angry rant with “Jane, you’re an ignorant slut”.
— A mention from Bill of Fred Astaire’s birthday. Is this going to be yet another smarmy singing of “Happy Birthday” from Bill?
— Oh, never mind, this is actually different, with Bill and Jane wishing Astaire a happy birthday by doing a low-key Astaire-esque number, complete with top hats and canes. That was very nice.
— Speaking of the endless narrow Update cycle of Escuela, Rosannadanna, and Sarducci…..
— I swear, almost every episode this season, based on who that night’s Update guests are, you can predict which of the three members of the “endless narrow Update cycle” will appear in the next episode. In that regard, I predict we’ll be getting Rosannadanna next week. Then again, it’s more likely they’d want to save such a popular character like her for the season finale, which is two episodes from now.
— As burned out as I’m getting on Sarducci, there’s a few okay parts tonight like the ending of his description of reverse aging and his “corn on the cob” bit.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Up On The Roof”


BOULEVARD OF PROUD CHICANO CARS
the gas crisis takes its toll on a gang

     

— I’m already liking this just from the opening credits sequence.
— LOL at John’s entrance.
— Wow, Gilda’s actually convincing as a tough, adolescent Hispanic boy. Love her voice, delivery, and demeanor as Carlos.
— Just now, there was a loud off-camera sound of what sounded like a pipe or tool dropping to the floor. Did NBC just drop yet another show?
— I liked Michael’s use of matches to chase Gilda off.
— Bill, when meeting Gilda as Carlos: “Well, you’re not very Caucasian, are you?”
— The double entendres when Gilda and Jane are talking about siphoning gas are quite hilarious.
— Haha, Dan as President Carter randomly appears as a houseguest. That and the extensive nature of this sketch is bringing back memories of the epic Pepsi Syndrome sketch from a few episodes ago.
— Wow, they didn’t even try to hide the… uh… bumps under the chest area of Gilda’s shirt, even though she’s supposed to be playing a boy.
— Great line from John: “(in Chicano accent) All they teach you is chit……… and chat.” Nice fake-out there.
— Overall, another very well-done epic sketch tonight. It seems to have become the norm lately to do really long sketches. I know that trend carries over into season 5, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing considering how weaker SNL’s writing is known to be that season.
— I wonder if this ends up being the final appearance of Dan’s Jimmy Carter impression. Strange to think that in the following season, nobody in the cast would take over the impression, and thus, the show would go through a whole season without doing ANY sketches involving the president (which is something I know quite a lot of people are wishing would happen nowadays).
STARS: ****


MR. BILL RUNS AWAY
by Walter Williams- Mr. Hands picks up a hitch-hiker

      

— The visual of Spot with a fake beard covering most of his face was both pretty funny and cute.
— Overall, not great, and I’ve already mentioned how burned out I’m becoming on these overused Mr. Bill shorts, but the ending was good. I always enjoy a good “stock footage of a car crashing off a cliff” ending, which is a type of ending SNL would get a lot of good mileage out of in later eras.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Millworker”


SNYDER MOTHER’S DAY
Tom Snyder (DAA) & his mother (JAC) celebrate Mother’s Day together

— The return of Jane as Mama Snyder.  A Mother’s Day dinner is a great setting for her.
— Funny line from Dan’s Snyder regarding his childhood worries that his father would “snip the darn thing off”, when Snyder’s talking about the strong feelings he had for his mother.
— Wow, the sketch is over already. This was unusually very short. Considering this was the final sketch of the night, I wonder if the show had started running long and perhaps they had to do some last-minute trimming to the script right before the sketch aired.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

— It’s very evident how much the cast loves working with Michael by the insane amount of affection they’re showering him with in these goodnights.  Huge contrast to the “reception” they gave Milton Berle in the last episode’s goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good show, with two great epic, long sketches, and a few decent sketches/segments surrounding them. Nothing flopped too badly tonight.
— Michael Palin did his usual strong work, though thinking back on it, he didn’t appear in many segments. In fact, he was almost non-existent in the post-Update half of the show. That may be due to the fact that there was an overall very small number of sketches tonight, which is something I have to get used to, as it’s pretty much become the norm around this time.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Maureen Stapleton

Posted on

September 18, 1976 – Lily Tomlin / James Taylor (S2 E1)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
big-shot host arrives with entourage, intends to do show sans rehearsal
   
— An outdoors cold opening. Is this being done live?
— Lily thinking Gilda is Goldie Hawn is pretty funny.
— “Pepe”? Is that the same Pepe of Butch and Pepe, two little people who would later frequently appear on the show in the Dick Ebersol era?
— This is an exciting way to start the season.
— If this whole opening has been live (again, I’m not sure), I’m liking how this is reminding me of how extensive Buck Henry’s second monologue from last season was.
— LOL at “Jane Belushi”.
— I like the added touch of Chevy chasing Pepe after saying LFNY.
STARS: ****

OPENING MONTAGE
— It’s the same one from last season. There doesn’t appear to be any changes in it, from what I’m seeing.

MONOLOGUE
when the cameras turn off, so does host’s cheerful attitude toward SNL
 
— Heh, figures that when she was naming off the cast, Garrett was almost forgotten and then was added in as an afterthought.
— The monologue’s over already? No, there’s gotta be more.
— Ah, an extended scene after the monologue “ended”. I knew this wouldn’t just end without Lily having done anything funny in the monologue.
— Good ending. I still wanted more out of this whole monologue, though, considering how strong Lily’s last one was. Maybe they made tonight’s monologue so short to compensate for the cold opening being so long and extensive.
STARS: ***

DEBATE ’76
Gerald Ford (CHC) & Jimmy Carter (DAA) discuss the issues
   
— Ah, SNL’s first-ever presidential debate parody. This one is famous for two parts, which I’ll point out when they occur.
— The negro line about Garrett was very funny.
— This is going great so far.
— The slow zoom-in on Chevy’s serious-yet-puzzled facial expression (third screencap above) during Jane’s complicated question is cracking me up so much, especially since I know the classic response that’s coming from him next.
— FAMOUS PART #1: “It was my understanding that there would be no math.” Absolutely hilarious line, and one that would begin a tradition of future presidential debate sketches having one particular legendary line that would go on to become well-remembered for ages (e.g. “Strategery”, “I can’t believe I’m losin’ to this guy!”, etc.)
— FAMOUS PART #2: Chevy’s podium pratfall. It’s not only famous because of how funny and memorable the visual is, but also because of the real-life injury Chevy suffered from it. From what I remember hearing, the prop guys at the show forgot to pad the podium, and thus, when Chevy landed groin-first into it during the pratfall……. yeah, you can imagine the damage that did. I’m not seeing any visible signs of pain from him in the sketch (probably because from what I hear, he had a high threshold for pain back in those days), but the injury ended up being serious enough for him to be hospitalized for a while, which causes him to miss the next two (I think) episodes. Considering how much I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as the show’s star in the episodes I’ve reviewed so far, it’s gonna be interesting seeing an episode without him.
— The ending credits of this sketch has a lot of funny jokes in it.
 
— Overall, a classic debate sketch.
STARS: *****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
LAN reports on Foreign Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak at the Blaine Hotel
 
— The “tennis without balls” joke about the transsexual tennis player was hilarious, even though it would be seen as very un-PC nowadays.
— The Idi Amin joke was very funny as well.
— John getting struck with the disease was pretty funny.

THE PHONE COMPANY
Ernestine (host) on The Phone Company- “We don’t care, we don’t have to”

— Hey, it’s the Laugh In character that I remember the most out of Lily’s characters on that show.
— Lily’s character is very funny in this with her brash actions and ‘don’t care’ attitude.
— Overall, this was great.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
DOP is felled by Foreign Legionnaire’s Disease during Blaine Hotel promo
Emily Litella calls to inquire about “crustaceans” hijacking an airplane
 
— “Guests of Saturday Night Live stay at the Blaine Hotel” – ugh, ENOUGH with that overdone joke.
— Oh, wait, Pardo suddenly getting struck with the disease while announcing the Blaine Hotel promo is actually very funny.
— The Update phone is now ringing. I get the bad feeling it’s gonna be Emily Litella.
— Yep, I was right.
— Litella’s bit ended up being the same-old tired routine; they might as well have just had her appear at the desk like she usually does.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUPPET MORGUE
in the morgue, host tries to get the Muppets to “Whistle A Happy Tune”
 

— This would end up being the final appearance of the SNL Muppets. Can’t say I’ll miss them.
— It sounds like you could hear whispering right before Wisss appeared.
— Mighty Favog is actually making me laugh in this.
— Interesting hearing a mention of “The Muppet Show”.
— I laughed at Scred’s response to Lily asking them if they’re family entertainment.
— Favog’s face turning inward when trying to whistle is a funny visual.
— This ended strangely.
— And now, this has segued into Lily introducing James Taylor’s next musical performance. Will this Muppets bit be continued later tonight? This felt unfinished.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

TESS
eccentric Tess DiSenzo (host) chats with a real estate salesman (GAM)

— Ha, I hear audio of the Three Stooges!
— I recognize that audio as being from the Stooges’ 1952 short “Gents in a Jam”. As someone who’s a huge Three Stooges fan (which is where I get my online name from), you’ll be seeing me geeking out at any reference to them that SNL makes.
— What’s with the Christmas decorations?
— Garrett’s straight man reactions are kinda funny.
— I’m getting some enjoyment out of the weird details of Lily’s stories.
— Man, the studio audience is not into this anymore.
— Overall, I wanted to like this more than I did. I usually always enjoy the character work that Lily Tomlin does, and while this sketch did have its moments, something about it left me kinda underwhelmed.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

JUDITH BEASLEY
housewife Judith Beasley (host) submits to pointless product tests & more
   
— I know this is a Laugh In character, but I’m only familiar with her by name only. I don’t recall ever seeing any of her sketches before.
— I’m liking this a lot so far.
— The big close-up of Dan’s smile at the camera was hilarious.
— I’m loving how Lily’s being asked to do increasingly ridiculous and irrelevant tasks.
— LOL at the hamster head.
— Ah, there’s the Antler Dance that I’ve always been curious to see.
STARS: ****

WOMEN IN LITERATURE
Elna Sullivan’s (LAN) journal entries lack depth

— I’m not crazy about this so far.
— I can’t think of anything else to say, other than this didn’t work much for me.
STARS: **

TAYLOR MEAD
by Gary Weis- Taylor Mead [real] gives his thoughts about television
 
— Oh, no, no, no! Not another short with this Taylor Mead guy again.
— This one is leaving me just as baffled and weirded-out as the first short with him did.
STARS: *½

LILY TOMLIN: “THE ANTLER DANCE”
host, PAS, SNL Band perform “The Antler Dance”
   
— A very fun and catchy performance.
— And now, Lily’s being joined by the cast, James Taylor, the Muppets (wearing actual antlers on their heads), Pepe, and I think I see some of the writers.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host, cast, audience members do the Antler Dance
 
— A continuation of the fun preceding musical number.
— Quite a sight seeing the whole audience standing up and doing the dance.
— Overall, this has got to be one of the most fun and energetic ways SNL has ever closed out an episode.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid way to start a season. There wasn’t much to complain about, a lot of moments were fun, we got a classic presidential debate sketch, even the Muppets made me laugh, and Lily did another top-notch job as host. She was such a natural for SNL that I wish she would’ve hosted more often in this era; IIRC, the next (and last) time we see her as host will be much later in 1983, where SNL had a completely different cast and completely different tone.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1975-76):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Norman Lear