Tag: John Goodman

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on feeding drumsticks to the dolphins


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rodeo”


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

 

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


THEATRE STORIES
Katharine Hepburn (SIF) & others recall performances

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The River”


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

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


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


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on running like an angry rabbit


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

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


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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Mary Stuart Masterson

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December 1, 1990 – John Goodman / Faith No More (S16 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Church Lady & mother (host) gang up on Saddam Hussein (PHH)

 

— This ends up being the final Church Chat sketch during Dana’s tenure as a cast member.
— Funny advertisement at the beginning with Church Lady’s Canned Ham.
— Funny “I’m going to keep it” bit regarding Saddam’s hat, as Church Lady’s way of imitating Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait.
— Great inclusion of John Goodman as Church Lady’s mother.
— A lot of laughs from Church Lady and her mother’s detailing of marines’ “bulbous buttocks” alternating back-and forth between aligned and askew during their desert training.
— Excellent sequence with Church Lady and her mother ganging up on Saddam and beating the hell out him, complete with cartoonish sound effects.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host does an impression of his newborn daughter Molly

— When talking about how much his life has changed since hosting SNL just a year ago, he mentions Tom Arnold constantly firing and rehiring him from the show “Roseanne”. Is that true?
— I liked his bit about still having the pregnancy weight after the birth of his baby.
— His impression of his baby is very funny.
STARS: ***½


BAD IDEA JEANS
— Rerun


MISTER
people in (host)’s store are referred to by their annoying traits

— Funny reveal of John and Julia’s trait-based insulting names towards each other turning out to be their actual names.
— I like how the names are carrying over into other people at the store, particularly Farley’s substitute repairman character being named “Mr. I-Don’t-Have-To-Do-a-Good-Job-Because-I’m-Just-Filling-In”.
— Phil’s outlandish police report at the end was funny.
STARS: ***½


WEDDING DAY
Keith Richards (DAC) helps ease Mick Jagger’s (MIM) wedding day jitters

— Mike’s Mick Jagger impression is very funny and spot-on. Great Keith Richards from Dana too.
— It’s always interesting seeing Mike and Dana paired up in non-Wayne’s World sketches.
— Some really funny lines.
— Great touch with Keith’s tears at the end.
STARS: ****


PLAYER-WITH-YOURSELVES CLUB
Telly Savalas (PHH) touts Player-With-Yourselves-Club wanking privileges

— Hilarious reveal of the concept.
— Phil is priceless in this as Telly Savalas.
— Savalas: “Unlimited Kleenex. I’m talking two-ply, baby!”
— Savalas: “All the latest videotapes cued up to the good parts, baby, ‘cuz players don’t have time to fast-forward!”
— Loved Phil’s delivery of “Ohhh, yeah!” at the end.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Epic”


THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP
controlling moderator McLaughlin (DAC) has all the answers

— I believe this ends up being the final occurrence of a sketch appearing in between the first musical performance and Weekend Update slot.
— The debut of a sketch that I’ve always loved from this era.
— I’m enjoying the hell out of how fast-moving this is, made even funnier with Dana’s McLaughlin frequently cutting off the panelists’ answers, and occasionally telling them “Wrong!” (though he’s not doing the latter as much as he would in future installments).
— Haha, this is killing me, especially the increasingly insane questions. This is a riot.
— Yet another aspect I love about this sketch is the nicknames McLaughlin gives to the panelists, especially the one long-winded name he gives to Jack Germond.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS likens Iraq attacking Kuwait to his older brother picking on him

 

— David Spade in his very first Update commentary as himself.
— David’s overall dolls commentary was decent, though nothing memorable and very different from the type of Update commentaries that he would typically do later on.
— I loved Dennis’ friendly noogey-ing of David after his commentary ended. It’s interesting seeing how Dennis interacts with all the new kids in this season’s cast whenever any of them do an Update commentary, especially considering this ends up being the only season Dennis works with them.
STARS: ***


CHEW
flow of dinner table conversation is interrupted by the need to chew food

— Funny realistic premise with the timing of dinner table conversations constantly getting delayed as the people at the table take the time to chew their food before answering a question they were asked.
— A good laugh from John hesitating to insert food in his mouth while making sure nobody is about to ask him a question, only for him to immediately be asked a question by Kevin when finally inserting the food in his mouth.
— Loved John vengefully turning the tables on Kevin by asking HIM a question as HE’S eating.
— The look on Rock’s face while doing the waiting-to-chew-before-speaking thing is particularly funny.
— Hilarious when Farley does the waiting-to-chew-before-speaking thing even when recovering from the Heimlich Maneuver.
— It’s amazing how they’re able to mine this many laughs out of a simple premise like this.
STARS: ****


WAYNE’S WORLD
Madonna’s Justify My Love video is on at Garth’s house

— Surprisingly, this is the first time Wayne’s World has appeared all season. Wonder why they waited this long, considering the huge popularity of this recurring sketch.
— Also strange that this is buried so late in the show, though the reason for that is because they’re going to air a racy Madonna music video that MTV refused to play.
— Wayne: “Madonna is such a babe… she’d give a dog a bone.”
— Love Wayne and Garth’s commentary during the Madonna music video. Some of the funniest lines include “There’s Prince!”, the reference to the famous “Three Men and a Baby” urban legend of a ghost appearing in the background, and “Look at the unit on that guy!”
— Nice to see John reprising his cop character from a previous Wayne’s World sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “From Out of Nowhere”


DAVY CROCKETT
Davy Crockett (host) doesn’t know what to make of his bookish son (MIM)

— Pretty funny nerd characterization from Mike.
— I laughed at the cutaway to Phil’s puzzled face during Mike’s long-winded intelligent spiel (second screencap above).
— The result of the overall sketch wasn’t particularly interesting, though not particularly terrible either. The sketch had a strange charm that made it a little more likable than it normally would be.
STARS: **½


PAT
(KEN) tries to figure out the sex of androgynous co-worker Pat (JUS)

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Viewers at the time probably had a hard time telling who that was playing Pat in this sketch, especially considering how new Julia Sweeney is at this point. The mystery is answered during the goodnights that follow this sketch,  where Julia still appears in her Pat costume, but sans the wig, glasses, and eyebrows.
— Feels a little odd in hindsight seeing a Pat sketch without the opening credits and theme song. That wouldn’t be introduced until the third installment.
— This being the first time Pat has ever appeared, Julia’s characterization is coming off funny and fresh. I also like how the voice is a lot less high-pitched and whiny than it would be in later installments.
— Some really funny fake-outs with it seeming like Pat’s going to answer a question that will reveal Pat’s gender, only for Pat’s answer to be something gender-unspecific.
— A good laugh from the reveal of Pat’s ex-fiancee having the unisex name Chris, as well as Chris being involved with someone with the equally-unisex name Terry.
— Pat: “I guess it’s that time of the month.” Kevin (thinking THAT reveals Pat’s gender): “Oh, okay.” Pat: “Bills.”
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— This is Adam Sandler’s first episode as a writer. He will begin making uncredited appearances in bit roles very soon.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. Aside from the Davy Crockett sketch, everything worked for me, and several of the sketches were particularly strong. We also got a memorable debut of two sketches that would go on to become recurring (McLaughlin Group and Pat). Much like his first time hosting, John Goodman did another great job as host, though he seemed a little underutilized at times tonight.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dennis Hopper)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Hanks joins the Five-Timers Club

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December 2, 1989 – John Goodman / K.D. Lang & The Reclines (S15 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
committee questions George Bailey (DAC) about his failed savings & loan

 

— Clever premise for an It’s a Wonderful Life parody, even if this pales in comparison to a certain other parody of this movie that this SNL era did before.
— Feels kinda weird seeing Lovitz in this role again, after what happened to him in the previous It’s a Wonderful Life sketch.
— Funny bit with Clarence the angel having beetle wings, as part of a cruel joke that was played on him.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
audience abandons host & instead flocks to Roseanne Barr (VIJ)

— Much like how it felt when I covered Steve Martin and Tom Hanks’ respective first hosting stint, it’s going to feel both weird and interesting covering an episode where John Goodman had never hosted prior. That’s a feeling I’m going to have to get used to this season, as we’re going to be seeing quite a number of soon-to-be-frequent hosts making their debut this year.
— Immediately, Goodman’s coming off very likable and relatable to the audience.
— Pretty funny comment about his honeymoon.
— We get to see Victoria’s Roseanne impression, for the second episode in a row.
— Just now, the ending of this monologue went terribly wrong. As Goodman was addressing his wife in the audience, the camera was supposed to cut to a pre-taped shot of his wife being the only remaining person in an empty studio audience. During that pre-taped shot, she was also going to ask Goodman who tonight’s musical guest is. However, due to a huge technical error, the pre-taped shot never played, resulting in painfully awkward silence as Goodman just stands there waiting for the tape to play. Goodman then abruptly wraps up the monologue prematurely with the usual “We got a great show for you tonight, etc.”, and then we’re out.
— SNL would later correct the technical blunder by airing the dress rehearsal version of most of this monologue in reruns. That version also includes something that never happened in the live monologue, where Goodman starts singing onstage while the studio audience, cameraman, and cue card guy can all be seen leaving in droves. IIRC, the old Netflix version of this episode interestingly used the botched live version of this monologue (as well as the goodnights, where Goodman addresses this monologue’s technical error).
STARS: ***


BEAUTYBATH
— Rerun, from two seasons ago


WAYNE’S WORLD
movie reviews; re-enactments for Aurora’s Most Wanted

— This sketch continues to grow in popularity, as this is the very first time where the opening of this sketch receives enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
— We get the very first Wayne’s World utterance of the immortal expression “it sucked donkeys”.
— Not sure what the point is of showing the board recap of their movie reviews, but I like the visual of the board anyway.
— Wayne and Garth’s re-enactment of crimes that Goodman announces is very fun, especially the bit with Wayne miming walking down the stairs and an escalator.
STARS: ****½


COOKING WITH THE ANAL RETENTIVE CHEF
Cajun chef’s (host) cooking style is hampered by anal-retentive Gene

— This character returns to his chef occupation that we saw him in during his debut.
— Nice little touch with him casually pronouncing tomatoes as “to-MAH-toes”.
— Great bit with him actually washing off the camera lens just because of a thumbprint he saw on it.
— Goodman’s already getting a lot of laughs here, and his accent is great.
— I’m enjoying all the clashing between the two characters.
— Excellent part with Goodman “cleaning” off the table by simply pushing all the contents off the table with one hard swipe of the arm.
STARS: ****


TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
Toonces gets help when Martians (ALF) & (TOD) land on Earth

— This character recurs for the first time since debuting in the previous season’s finale.
— Haha, holy hell at the result of Toonces’ repair work causing the car to explode when Dana and Victoria try to re-start it.
— Are Franken and Davis’ alien characters supposed to be Zacdu and Mondo?
— Funny shot of Toonces frantically driving in a hurry to get to the police station.
— A classic part with Toonces crashing his car right through the wall of the sheriff’s office.
— Very funny part with Toonces using white-out to correct a typo while using the typewriter.
— Great ending with the stock footage of an alien ship crashing into the Washington Monument.
— Outstanding sketch overall. Loved how this had so many things going on.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pullin’ Back The Reins”


WEEKEND UPDATE
movie clip shows George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev weathering stormy Malta
Annoying Man unexpectedly pesters DEM during a news item

— Loved Dennis’ whole Bush/Gilligan’s Island comparison.
— Annoying Man makes his return after debuting just two episodes ago.
— Dennis’ “You licked me, you freak!” reaction during to Annoying Man randomly licking his face was hilarious.
— Wow, that Annoying Man commentary ended up being short as HELL. It doesn’t even qualify as a desk commentary; just a brief cameo. Can’t complain, though.
— An overall exceptionally strong Update tonight. Dennis was particularly ON.
STARS: ****


THE MIKE DITKA TYPE-A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
holiday perfectionism

— I’m really liking Phil’s Ditka impression, even if it has shades of his Burt Reynolds.
— Ditka’s extremely stern, coach-like treatment of his family are providing some good laughs.
— Goodman as Santa advising Ditka to “mellow out” and to use a big pair of pliers to pull the bug out of his behind was very funny.
— I love the brief wild physical fight between Ditka and Santa, especially how Goodman can be heard yelling what sounded like “I’ll brain ya!” at one point.
— Hilarious part with Santa punishing Ditka by giving him what Santa calls a “turd-sized lump of coal”.
STARS: ***½


THE REFEREE PITMAN SHOW
audience members politely criticize Pitman (host)

— Two football-related sketches in a row tonight? And it’s interesting how they both center on a coach or referee.
— I like how this sketch is starting out by giving us the whole backstory on the Referee Pitman controversy. In retrospect, that causes this very topical sketch to age much better than other very topical sketches that are similarly based on somebody who, like Referee Pitman, was only big in the news for a short while and has long since been forgotten, thus causing future viewers to be lost. [ADDENDUM: Haha, according to some of the comments I received, Referee Pitman isn’t even a real person.  My mistake.]
— Huge laughs from everybody’s kindly ways of asking Pitman rude questions about his referee skills, especially Phil’s “Do you find it helpful to keep your head up your rear end?”
— Loved Jim Downey’s question of if Pitman’s head is empty or filled with human excrement.
— Pitman’s genial attitude and ways of genuinely answering the rude questions are also adding to the humor.
— Another fantastic line from Phil, with him affably advising Pitman to have sex with himself.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Johnny Get Angry”


CRIPS
suburban gang member’s (MIM) parents (host) & (NOD) are proud
TV Guide “jeers” SNL for misrepresenting the street gang problem

— Pretty funny premise of the family happily discussing Mike joining the Crips.
— Mike mentions a friend named Dale Butterworth, making it obvious who wrote this. This sketch doesn’t feel like Andy Breckman’s usual style, though.
— Here we have the very first of what will be several “TV Guide Cheers and Jeers” sketch endings, both this season and next. The one tonight fell flat.
STARS: ***


THIRTYSOMETHING
— Another rerun tonight.
— The fact that they’re re-airing this rather lengthy commercial at the end of the show is probably a sign that the show ran long and had to cut a scheduled live sketch at the last minute, so they threw on this fake ad to fill in the remaining time.


GOODNIGHTS
host hypnotizes audience to kill memory of botched monologue

— Goodman addresses the confusing botched ending of the monologue from earlier tonight, and hilariously tries to hypnotize us into believing there was no technical screw-up. This is cleverly accompanied by the Twilight Zone theme being played on the piano by the SNL Band.
— Unfortunately, in the live version I’m watching of this episode, the goodnights get cut off when Goodman is still in the middle of doing his hypnotic speak. (Maybe if they hadn’t rerun that long-ass Thirtysomething commercial, the goodnights wouldn’t have gotten cut off so prematurely) In the full version of these goodnights that I recall seeing on Netflix, there’s something that I find kinda cool: when Goodman finishes his hypnotic speak and transitions into the usual goodnights speech (“I wanna thank the cast, the crew, etc.”), the aforementioned Twilight Zone theme that had been playing on the piano seamlessly transitions into the traditional goodnights piano music. I thought that was a good touch.
— Some sites claim that most reruns of this episode replace these goodnights with the dress rehearsal version. However, I’m pretty sure those reruns actually show the live goodnights, only they remove the whole hypnotism part at the beginning and just start when Goodman begins his normal goodnights speech.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong and fun episode. Some pretty wild and memorable moments, and the show had a fairly consistent quality all throughout. For his first time hosting, John Goodman was excellent, instantly fit into the show seamlessly, and handled his hosting job with total ease. It’s no surprise how quickly and frequently they end up bringing him back, as he would go on to host in every single season after this, until we reach season 26(!).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Woody Harrelson)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Robert Wagner