Tag: Jeff Daniels

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January 14, 1995 – Jeff Daniels / Luscious Jackson (S20 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

104TH CONGRESS
Newt Gingrich (CHF) disregards procedure & passes legislation rapid-fire

— Fun format to this cold opening.
— It’s Mark McKinney! His Barney Frank voice is very funny, albeit brief.
— Great energy and terrific pacing to this cold opening. Even Farley doing his typical season 20 screaming shtick has a lot of goodwill here and is perfect for this.
— A lot of good laughs from the increasingly insane proposals that Gingrich is rapidly passing.
— The Sonny Bono part cracked me up.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Mark McKinney has been added to the cast tonight, joining as a repertory player.

Sadly, his brief debut in the cold opening ends up being his ONLY appearance all night. We’re already getting signs of how unfairly underutilized the poor guy is going to be in his SNL tenure.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Some laughs from Jeff downplaying how bad it was that he was given poor treatment at Dumb and Dumber compared to co-star Jim Carrey, though this is kinda going on too long.
— Good line from Jeff about his kids calling Jim “dad”.
STARS: ***


ETERNA REST
Rerun from 11/12/94


MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
near MLK Day, (TIM) exploits the white guilt of (host), (CSE), (ADS)

— You KNOW I loved Elliott’s line about bringing over some Three Stooges videos.
— I love Adam bluntly and repeatedly asking “You wanna get drunk and go to Atlantic City?”
— Very solid writing and acting in this sketch, and something about it feels kinda atypical of this season.
— The guys’ feigned excitement over the MLK Day gifts they’re receiving is really funny.
— Hilarious how Jeff gives Tim his laptop as a MLK Day gift, and Elliott gives Tim his wallet. Also a funny addition to the wallet bit with Adam telling Tim, regarding the wallet, “I went in on that, so that’s kinda for both of us.”
— Great ending twist with Tim and Ellen after all the white co-workers leave.
STARS: ****½


CHUNG / GINGRICH
Connie Chung (LAK) solicits more soundbites from Kathleen Gingrich (JAG)

— I feel like this is the most in-character we’ve seen Janeane all season. She’s giving a good “old lady” performance.
— Funny visual of a badly hidden camera in Connie Chung’s bag.
— I could do without Farley turning this into yet ANOTHER screaming season 20 performance of his, as if we didn’t already have one earlier tonight.
— Just now, Laura seemed to help Janeane when Janeane was late in delivering a line.
— A lot of laughs from Connie Chung’s deceitfulness throughout this.
— Now Farley’s yelling has gotten to the point where he’s accidentally yelled himself into a minor choking fit. (Perhaps some of the food he spit out moments earlier went down his throat.) His face is turning an uncomfortable-looking shade of red while he’s simultaneously yelling his dialogue and coughing uncontrollably.
— This sketch is going on pretty long and has a repetitive feel, but it’s still working well, and I absolutely LOVE the turn now with an angered Connie Chung busting through the door and holding Mama Gingrich at gunpoint.
— In addition to Janeane surprisingly putting effort into her characterization, Laura’s performance is surprisingly strong; probably her best performance of her entire short-lived SNL tenure.
— Tonight’s episode has been starting off hot with a lot of great sketches. This is season 20 I’m watching?!? I almost feel like I’m watching an episode from a few seasons earlier, from the late 80s/early 90s glory years. This Connie Chung sketch in particular, I can imagine appearing in the late 80s era. Nora Dunn could’ve played Chung and Jan Hooks would’ve been perfect as Mama Gingrich, complete with the wrinkly makeup Jan often wore when playing old ladies.
STARS: ****


ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
Ron Wood (MIM) mumbles along with stars of Nell

— Uh-oh, looks like I spoke too soon about how great tonight’s episode has been going. The episode’s quality comes to a screeching halt with this tired Ron Wood routine.
— The opening gag with the Entertainment Tonight hosts announcing obviously false ages of celebrities is funny, but I swear I remember that same gag already appearing in the Entertainment Tonight sketch from another infamous season, 1985-86, when Tom Hanks hosted. Probably not, though; this is most likely just a case of me getting both sketches mixed up with each other.
— This sketch just feels like a continuation of the weak Ron Wood Show sketch from this season’s premiere.
— Feels kinda awkward watching Jeff as Liam Neeson in this, knowing the notorious behind-the-scenes prosthetic nose incident that happened with Jeff earlier that week. (Link here for anyone not familiar with the story)
— This sketch was short enough, at least.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Citysong”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS gripes about Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, Green Day concerts he attended
O.J. survivor Marquerite Simpson (ELC) sings variant of “You Gotta Be”

— Haha, holy hell at Norm’s very blunt “bitch” jokes about Hillary Clinton.
— David’s rant about concerts has some funny comments, such as his imitation of Lynyrd Skynyrd fans yelling unintelligibly behind him, and him calling out Green Day on their faux British-isms.
— A particularly great O.J. joke from Norm tonight.
— Ellen’s Marguerite Simpson commentary being done in the form of a black-and-white music video is a very interesting change of pace for Update, and her You Gotta Be parody is pretty fun and catchy.
— Okay, the You Gotta Be parody doesn’t need to last TWO verses. They’re spreading the joke too thin.
— Two very interesting-sounding Update commentaries got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal. One in which Jeff Daniels and Mark McKinney do a Point/Counterpoint as a Nazi and a KKK member, and another in which Norm throws to a supposedly old clip of Victoria Jackson performing one of her Weekend Update songs, but during that “clip”, Victoria unintentionally gives away the fact that it’s actually a new, live scene. That’s right, folks. I kid you not, a Victoria Jackson special guest appearance was cut after dress. What the hell, SNL?!? Why would you cut that?!?
STARS: ****


MYSTERY DINNER THEATER
mystery dinner theater actor (CHF) milks part by prolonging death scene

— This is a sketch that I’ve always hated and have considered to be a representation of some of this season’s problems. While I’ve found that doing these season 20 reviews has slightly softened my long-standing seething hatred of this season (that’s right, folks; while season 20 is still undeniably bad, I’m pleasantly surprised to now realize that it isn’t quite as horrible as I had always believed), I doubt I’m gonna develop any new goodwill towards THIS particular sketch during this current viewing.
— Mike is once again using his tired old Kenneth Reese Evans (host of Theatre Stories) voice for what’s supposed to be a generic British character.
— THREE screaming Chris Farley roles tonight? It was fine in the cold opening, but come the hell on, SNL.
— Aaaaaand for good measure, in addition to the obligatory Farley screaming, we get an obligatory Farley pratfall through a breakaway table, which feels tacked-on this sketch.
— As I watch this, I admit that this is material that I would’ve found funny had it been in one of Farley’s earlier seasons, before the days where him screaming his way through sketches was all too common. For example, Farley’s “My head just popped like a ripe melon!” line in this sketch would’ve absolutely slayed me if he delivered it in, say, season 17.
— This sketch was originally supposed to air in this season’s premiere, but got cut after dress. I’ve heard that that cut version of this sketch is included as a bonus feature on Steve Martin’s “Best Of” DVD, but I’ve never seen it. There’s a picture of that version of this sketch on GettyImages (see here), and I notice that Adam is in it, playing a character that doesn’t appear in the Jeff Daniels version of this sketch. Is Adam playing his Audience McGee character in that pic? And why does he have blood on his sweater and face?
STARS: *½


FILM BEAT
(CSE) documents host’s career with Dumb & Dumber potty clip

— Oh, here comes a Chris Elliott sketch that I’ve always loved.
— The constant replays of the Dumb and Dumber diarrhea clip are increasingly hilarious. A rare example of a juvenile one-joke sketch being pulled off well.
— I love the way Elliott keeps completely downplaying the use of the same clip after setting it up by claiming it’s from other Jeff Daniels movies. Jeff’s increasing frustration is fantastic.
STARS: ****½


GAY STRIPPER THEATER
queer male exotic dancers add drama to performances

— Oh, god, the title alone has me groaning, especially considering what SNL season this is.
— The name of Jeff’s character, Ryan Shiraki, is the name of an SNL associate producer who appears as an extra in several sketches throughout the 90s (most notably in Jamie Foxx’s season 25 monologue).
— Are they kidding me with this material so far?
— Why do they keep playing the EXACT SAME Snoop Doggy Dogg song for each stripper scene?
— More inside references with character names, as the names of the five strippers also happen to be the names of the five Kids in the Hall members (Mark, Bruce, Dave, Scott, and Kevin). But why tho? Because it’s Mark’s first week at SNL???
— Oh, poor Kevin Nealon, having to be dragged into this. Why, oh, why couldn’t you have left with Phil last season, Kevin?
— Thank god this sketch is finally over. This was dreadful.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Here”


AEROSMITH GREATEST HITS 1990-1994
Steven Tyler (ADS) & Joe Perry (JAM) play Aerosmith’s same-sounding songs

— A weak one-joke bit that, while it may be making a good point about the sameness of Aerosmith’s songs, is just going on and on and on, with no laughs from me.
— Adam has done some really good impressions of rock stars throughout his SNL tenure (e.g. Eddie Vedder, Axl Rose), but his Steven Tyler certainly ain’t one of them. Even looking at his Steven Tyler as just a typical Sandler-esque goofy characterization (like the Tom Jones impression he would do later this season), it’s still not working for me.
— The most interesting thing about this sketch is a backstory told by Jay Mohr in his SNL book, involving him and Adam nearly coming to blows right before this sketch went to air. As the story goes, about a minute or two before this sketch started, Jay kept telling Adam that he should change his sunglasses, as Jay felt that the sunglasses made Adam resemble Elton John more than Steven Tyler, but Adam kept waving it off, basically telling Jay that a change of sunglasses isn’t necessary. Jay’s refusal to stop needling Adam about the sunglasses eventually led to Adam losing his temper and yelling “Why don’t you shut the fuck up?!?” in Jay’s face. As a result, Jay was initially stunned and speechless, then got angry and REALLY wanted to punch Adam, but refrained because they were standing right by the audience members in the floor seats, and Jay knew that if the floor seat members saw some little-known featured player like him getting into a fight with a popular fan-favorite like Adam, some of them would rush to Adam’s defense. So Jay and Adam just went on and performed the Aerosmith sketch, which Jay claims “killed with the audience” (I’d love to know which sketch he was watching, because in the sketch I’m watching, the audience is mostly dead silent), then after the sketch was over, Adam turned to Jay and said “We’re good. Respect”, putting an end to the negative tension between them.
STARS: *


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very mixed episode. There were some REALLY strong sketches, especially in the first 15 minutes, but there was also an equal amount of absolutely terrible sketches, especially in the last 15 minutes. However, the strong sketches are worth bragging about, especially for this season’s standards. Some really great stuff. I just wish they could’ve kept that momentum going for more of the show.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (George Foreman)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
David Hyde Pierce hosts. We also get the last hurrah of Mike Myers.

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October 5, 1991 – Jeff Daniels / Color Me Badd (S17 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Tonight Show- Johnny Carson (DAC) decides to cancel his retirement

— A mean but very funny part with Dana’s Johnny Carson bluntly telling Victoria, who’s playing herself, to get the hell out because she does the same thing on his show every time. Victoria’s a good sport to allow this joke, but I can’t help but think that SNL was trying to tell her something there, nor can I help but see this whole bit as an early sign of how unnecessary Victoria’s going to come off during this final season of hers. I like Victoria as a cast member a little more than some people do, but I’ve always been of the opinion that she stayed one season too long.
— Very funny part with the animal peeing on Carson’s shoulder, made even funnier by Dana’s deadpan facial reaction into the camera.
— Great comments with Phil’s Ed McMahon calling “lantern-jawed freak” Jay Leno a Dick Tracy villain.
— The Dom DeLuise clip was freakin’ HILARIOUS and has always been one of the hardest I’ve ever laughed at SNL. So many funny things going on in such a short clip. You have Phil as Burt Reynolds being in his underwear for no explained reason, Farley’s Dom DeLuise randomly shoving a pie into both Reynolds’ and Carson’s crotches, Farley’s hysterical wheezing laughter, Farley visibly wetting his pants while laughing non-stop, Phil’s hysterical loud cackling…
— Jeff Daniels’ impression of Jay Leno is priceless.
— Great angry rant from a suddenly shrunken Leno after Carson announces he’s postponing his retirement and is going to stay on the air for five more years.
— In the live version of this episode, the superimposed special effect they used to make Leno appear shrunken accidentally stays on the screen too long after Jeff Daniels exits, causing us to unintentionally see a shrunken Jeff and stage manager Joe Dicso both running past the screen to go backstage (as seen on the lower half of the screencap below).

That blooper is hilarious and gets some laughs from the audience. SNL would later remove the blooper from reruns, but they still leave in the audience’s laughter at it.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
DAC quickly teaches host the eight standard SNL monologue moves

— A nice diversion from usual monologues, with a miserable-looking Jeff immediately retreating backstage during the audience’s opening applause.
— Fun bit with Dana teaching Jeff the monologue moves (The Pigeon Neck, There You Are, Trained Seal, etc.).
— Now this has gotten even more fun with the ending of the opening montage restarting, the SNL Band replaying the theme music, and Jeff re-entering onstage and going through each of the moves that Dana taught him.
STARS: ****


EARTHIES
seed-containing Earthies diapers are environmentally responsible

— Good to see a fake ad starring Julia for a change.
— An okay concept with diapers being planted into the ground to make stalks of corn.
— Overall, not too bad, but wasn’t anything noteworthy or memorable either,  especially considering how great and memorable the fake ads from this era typically are.
STARS: **½


COPY MACHINE
Richard Laymer faces name-manipulation competition from (host)

— Our first Richmeiser appearance of the season, after being heavily featured in the second half of the preceding season.
— Lately, I’m starting to question why Richmeister’s naming routine is supposed to be funny. His routine has been coming off as overly simplistic, kid-level humor to me recently.  I used to be more tolerant of him, but maybe doing these daily reviews has gotten me burned-out on him fast, considering how frequently he’s appeared so far. That same type of quick burnout has certainly happened to me with other overused recurring characters I’ve encountered during this SNL project so far, especially Emily Litella and Tommy Flanagan.
— Okay, this installment has taken a fun and interesting turn with Jeff’s character having a naming habit of his own, and Richmeister feeling threatened by him.
— I really like the part with Jeff and Richmeister competing against each other to give nicknames to Kevin.
— Nice ending with Jeff and Richmeister developing a camaraderie by doing each other’s routine when trying to strike up a conversation with each other.
— One of the better Richmeister sketches overall.
STARS: ***½


COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOWL
students are unable to answer easy questions

— I mentioned in my review of Chevy Chase’s season 11 episode that the Jose Cuervo Party School Bowl sketch in that episode shares similarities with the later Community College Bowl sketch SNL would do in this Jeff Daniels episode, right down to one of the contestants in both sketches having the last name Hygaard/Hoigaard, and both sketches airing a video package showcasing one of the colleges. Both sketches were likely written by the same person, but I have no idea who.
— Am I crazy, or is Chris Rock wearing the same shirt that Andy Samberg would later wear as his recurring character Blizzard Man?
— I love the frozen sheepish smile on Mike’s face throughout this.
— A pretty good laugh from Adam’s only description of his major being a deadpan-delivered “Scalp care”.
— The repeated joke with the contestants sitting in drawn-out silence when not knowing the answer to the questions Jeff asks is getting reeeaaaaallllly tired.
— Overall, an inferior version of the Jose Cuervo Party School Bowl sketch, which itself was only average.
STARS: **


THE CHRIS FARLEY SHOW
CHF recalls scenes during an interview with host

— The debut of this recurring sketch that’s always very enjoyable and charming, especially now that it’s become widely known in recent years that this sketch is just Farley being how he was in real-life behind the scenes.
— A lot of laughs from Farley’s various “Remember when…” and “That was awesome” remembrances, especially when starting to bring up things that have nothing to do with Jeff Daniels.
— Jeff’s subtly annoyed reactions throughout this are solid.
— I like how Farley’s now doing his “Remember when…”s to the caller and to the stage manager.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Wanna Sex You Up”


WEEKEND UPDATE
embarrassingly rich ALF reconciles his wealth with his political leanings
announcer’s call of Bobby Thompson’s pennant-winning homer is low-key

— Kevin has ditched his intro statement, “Morning”, from his inaugural Weekend Update and has replaced it tonight with “I’m Kevin Nealon, and I’m an alcoholic”, the beginning of a weekly running gag where he introduces himself in a comical manner.
— Tonight’s Update has even more of an authentic newscast feel than Kevin’s inaugural Update did, with a lot more mock-serious imitations of things you typically see on the real news.
— Kevin’s straitlaced delivery is making some of the absurd lines he’s reading come off funnier than they normally would.
— Hmm, we’re getting an awful lot of corny “misinterpreting a picture” type of jokes tonight, something that plagued the Updates from Dennis Miller’s last half-season.
— Some laughs from Al Franken’s bragging over how overpaid he is.
— Al’s overall commentary had some good dry humor that he’s always good at pulling off.
— I’m not 100% sure, but I think Al’s commentary would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
— SNL takes another funny swipe at Latoya Jackson, after the previous week’s Nat X sketch.
— Kevin’s stumbliness when reading some of the jokes is unfortunately starting to rear its ugly head tonight, which would go on to be one of the more unfavorable things Kevin’s Update tenure is remembered for.
— Funny bit with the clip of a baseball commentator’s (Rob Schneider) monotone, unexcited announcing of Bobby Thompson’s legendary “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” home run. It kinda reminds me of a sketch the show would later do in season 20, in which Bob Newhart plays a manic-depressive sports commentator who’s mood would always be the exact opposite of the tone of the play he was announcing.
— After a shaky first half, Kevin’s been having some strong jokes in the second half.
— For the first time ever, Kevin concludes Update with “I’m Kevin Nealon and that’s news to me”, which would go on to be his official tagline.
STARS: ***


APEX NOVELTY
boss (PHH) asks novelty item creator (host) about his unconventional gags

— Most of this sketch (except for the skeleton ending) would later be replaced with dress rehearsal version in reruns. The most visible difference between both versions is the wig that Phil wears (side-by-side comparison below).

— A big laugh from the ridiculously oversized fake rubber vomit that Phil displays.
— The fake rubber vomit bit has now gotten even funnier, with the reveal of an uneaten sandwich inexplicably being in the vomit.
— As Phil displays Jeff’s log-through-the-head item, I’m cracking up at Phil’s questioning of “How would you even GET a log through the head?” and then responding to Jeff a little later “Yeah, but the log wouldn’t go THROUGH your head.”
— I think I can see why this sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. This feels a little quiet and slower-paced compared to how I remember the rerun version being.
— The tiny shrunken head inside an ice cube is hilarious. Also, every time I watch this sketch, I can’t help but think that the shrunken head looks like Alfred E. Neuman (Mad Magazine’s mascot)… with a Hitler mustache, of all things. I’m sure I’m seeing incorrectly, but it makes the shrunken head bit even funnier to me.
— This sketch is a perfect example of Phil’s excellent straight man skills. His straitlaced displaying of Jeff’s ridiculous novelty items, and his questionings throughout this are all killing me.
— I think something goes wrong with Phil’s mic towards the end of the sketch (shortly before the skeleton gag), as his voice is barely audible all of a sudden.
— Great gag with the explosion of an extra-powerful exploding cigar resulting in Phil being reduced to a talking skeleton. I also absolutely love his and Jeff’s goofy, over-the-top laughter as the sketch ends.
STARS: **** for the live version, ****½ for the rerun version


SIMON
drawings document summer camp infirmary stay & barbecue fire

— This Mike Myers character officially becomes recurring.
— A pretty amusing part with Simon displaying a drawing of a simple curved line, which he explains is “my li’l white English bum”.
— Overall, this sketch was fine, but nothing special. Nothing in the Simon sketches the show has done by this point have stood out.
STARS: ***


REAL LIFE WITH JANE PAULEY
(host) is much dumber than wife (SIF)

— Awkward beginning, as Julia is way too early on her cue and begins saying her introductory line long before the “Real Life With Jane Pauley” opening credits sequence finishes playing. Then when realizing her mistake, Julia abruptly stops mid-sentence and doesn’t continue until a good while after the credits have stopped running. All of this would be fixed in reruns.
— Siobhan Fallon finally gets her first big role, but it’s still a fairly thankless straight part. SNL has yet to give her anything really noteworthy by this point.
— Siobhan’s coming off well in her performance.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Jeff’s “A guy asked me to buy drugs; I just said NO and walked away” when describing what he feels is the smartest thing he’s ever done.
— This overall sketch wasn’t terrible, but didn’t amount to much for me.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Adore Mi Amor”


DON’T GET ME WRONG
(DAC), (KEN), (host) hypocritically bad-mouth their supposed buddies

— This is yet another sketch tonight that would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. The most visible difference is that in the dress rehearsal version, the guys are wearing golf caps (side-by-side comparison below).

— The guys’ various defensive claims of the heartfelt things they’d do for the friends they badmouth are hit-and-miss.
— Jeff had a particularly funny extensive and perverted defensive claim just now, regarding being oiled-up and letting his friend “ride me like a big boy”.
— The premise of this is kinda like the recurring Stephen A. Smith commentaries that Jay Pharoah would later do on Weekend Update, where he would give over-the-top descriptions of how much of a dear friend so-and-so is, only to go off on a heated, angry rant about them.
— I think that was Tim Meadows’ voice heard over the loudspeaker just now. I point this out because he made no actual appearances at all in tonight’s episode. Neither did David Spade, who in particular has been invisible so far this season; an early sign of the huge struggle for airtime we’ll be seeing him have throughout this season.
— Weak ending to this sketch.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid first half tonight, but the second half had a ho-hum feel, even if nothing in that half of the show bottomed out or anything. But even the Apex Novelty sketch, which I love, had an oddly quiet and somewhat slow-paced feel compared to the dress rehearsal version shown in reruns, as mentioned earlier. Still, what was strong in this episode was very memorable, such as the Tonight Show cold opening, the monologue, and the Chris Farley Show sketch.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Jordan)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kirstie Alley