Tag: John Larroquette

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October 22, 1988 – John Larroquette / Randy Newman with Mark Knopfler (S14 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
space alien Michael Dukakis (JOL) tells superiors his plan isn’t working

— Good gag with Jan breaking out a thesaurus while she’s in the middle of listing off many different ways of calling Dukakis robotic.
— Great reveal of Dukakis being a leader of an alien planet.
— I love how the three aliens speaking to Dukakis look and talk exactly like him. Phil is especially funny here in his impression of Dukakis’ voice and mannerisms.
— A brief technical error where the camera mistakenly cut to a quick shot of Phil, Nora, and Dana leaving the set they were on.
— Funny turn with Dukakis deciding that his running mate Lloyd Bentsen is “gonna have to die” just because he discovered Dukakis’ alien secret.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE

— Not counting the season 11 finale, this is Al Franken’s first time being credited as a semi-regular featured player since season 5. Tonight’s episode begins his second consecutive run as a featured player, which lasts until 1995.


MONOLOGUE
host challenges anyone to topple him from his place as King Of The Studio

 

— I’m liking Larroquette’s enthusiasm for doing the show again.
— Strong turn with him boldly challenging anyone to steal his limelight.
— Wow, his sudden brief scuffle with the college boy “audience member” came out of nowhere and was really funny.
— Great part with Larroquette physically forcing Dana to call him “King of the Studio”.
STARS: ****


CARBON PAPER
come back to carbon paper- rediscover the now-obsolete duplication method

— I almost expected this to turn into a variation of the Einstein Express commercial.
— Clever twist with carbon paper being Victoria’s solution.
— Nice ending with Victoria’s ink-smudged hand.
STARS: ***½


DAN QUAYLE: PRESIDENT
Quayle (DAC) doesn’t want to hold the top job

— Funny opening screen crawl story, especially the part with a delirious Bush mistaking his wife for George Washington.
— Dana Carvey is the latest in the revolving door of actors playing Dan Quayle this season.
— Hmm, we seem to have another instance of Kevin’s real-life baldness being on display. The previous season’s Siskel & Ebert sketch has often been said by some SNL fans to be the only time Kevin went on-air with his baldness unhidden, but now it looks like its happened at least twice.
— I like Dana’s very extended, non-verbal reaction to finding out he’s now the president.
— Ha, the above-mentioned non-verbal reaction turns out to be the entire sketch.
— Didn’t care for the ending “preview of next week’s episode” scene with Quayle walking up in bed.
STARS: ***


PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
everything Picasso (JOL) touches is valuable art

— Oh, here’s something that’s always been one of my personal favorites, even though I don’t think it’s a particularly famous sketch among SNL fans.
— Lovitz, braggingly: “I’m Picasso!”
— Lovitz is hilarious as an obnoxious, egotistical Picasso. This sketch is a perfect example of how much an over-the-top Jon Lovitz performance can often really enhance a sketch.
— Great part with Picasso blowing his nose into a napkin and then having waiters fight over it as if it’s a work of art.
— Yes! Another appearance from Phil as a Frank Nelson-esque boss.
— Lovitz hammily saying into the camera “WHAT A REVOLTIN’ DEVELOPMENT!” while washing dishes freakin’ KILLS me every time I’ve seen this sketch. His delivery of that is absolutely priceless. The sad “wah-wah-wah-waaaahhhh” trombone sound effect that follows that line also adds to the hilarity.
STARS: *****


THE CRESTS AND TROUGHS OF VERNON HAWLEY JR.
country singer Vernon Hawley, Jr.’s (host) album traces emotional swings

— I’m already getting laughs just from the visual of Larroquette badly lip-syncing to his own voice.
— Larroquette’s performance is a dead-on and funny imitation of typical country singers.
— I love the constant back-and-forth mood changes with the songs he sings snippets of.
— The “I’m Drunk” song was hilarious.
— Along with the jokingly bad lip-syncing, I also like the detail of how Larroquette’s not even trying to look like he’s convincingly playing the guitar.
STARS: ****


BUSH
unlike great presidents, Dukakis is short- vote for Bush, he’s taller

— Very funny use of Dukakis’ lack of height as a reason to vote for Bush.
STARS: ****


PETE’S FOUNTAIN
diner patrons trade double entendres with a big-butt waitress (NOD)

— Good reveal of Nora’s huge behind, which is made especially funny by all the loud moving sounds it makes as she walks around.
— I’m enjoying Phil’s amusement from Nora’s various suggestive comments.
— Strangely, this sketch ended without any audience applause, which is rare.
— Wow, I’m surprised this sketch ended so soon without taking the initial premise far. However, I found this sketch fine as a silly, quick, minute-and-a-half-long piece.
STARS: ***


BUSH
Dukakis is a foreigner- vote for Bush, his parents were born in America

— Another good ad using a comically flimsy reason to not vote for Dukakis.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Money That Matters”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Lyndon LaRouche (ALF) delineates his far-reaching conspiracy theories
many disclaimers precede KEN’s controversial message of “go out & vote”
DEM debates Dennis Miller (DAC) on divorce of Robin Givens & Mike Tyson

— Some really good election-related material from Dennis tonight.
— Al Franken’s Lyndon LaRouche telling blatant lies about political figures reminds me of the Lyndon LaRouche Theater sketch from season 11, where Randy Quaid was the one who played LaRouche telling blatant lies about political figures. In fact, I think some of Franken’s lines tonight are directly lifted from that sketch. I’m guessing Franken himself wrote that sketch, especially since he appeared in it as Henry Kissinger.
— Funny part with Franken-as-LaRouche’s random water-drinking break.
— And now, Franken-as-LaRouche’s line about “the greatest lie of them all: that I… am… insane” is something that’s DEFINTELY lifted from the Lyndon LaRouche Theater sketch, where Quaid delivered the exact same line in the exact same manner. Since barely anybody was watching SNL back in season 11, maybe Franken feels he can get away with reusing parts of the Lyndon LaRouche Theater script without anyone noticing, except decades-later SNL nerds like me.
— I’m liking Kevin’s long-winded, never-ending “take my opinion with a grain of salt” warnings before stating his political opinion regarding the election.
— An okay payoff to Kevin’s commentary.
— Dennis’ rant about the messy Robin Givens/Mike Tyson divorce has some good lines, especially his “Head Of The Class” dig.
— Another point/counterpoint with Dana as Dennis. Good to see this back.
— Dana has a much better Dennis Miller wig this time. In my review of his previous appearance last season, my only gripe was that his wig looked nothing like Dennis’ hair.
— A lot of really solid lines from Dana’s Dennis during his rant, and it’s always a great touch when he works in Dennis’ trademark “Ha-HAAAA!” laugh and hair-flip.
STARS: ***½


SEX LIFE
while in a restaurant, (host) & (VIJ) can’t keep their sex life private

— Interestingly, they’re using the musical guest stage as the set for this sketch. As a side note, I love this season’s musical guest stage. It has such an elegant, fancy look.
— Some good laughs from Larroquette and Victoria’s obnoxious stories about their wild sex life.
— Funny “Somebody DID get it backward” double entendre from Larroquette regarding him and Victoria once having sex in a car.
— Victoria: “Hell, I broke a bed once masturbating!”
— I like Phil’s panicked delivery when hurriedly calling a waiter over when Larroquette and Victoria are heard off-camera having loud sex.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dixie Flyer”


THIS OLD HOUSE
Bob Vila (host) gives fix-up tips for a haunted house

— Dead-on casting of Larroquette as Bob Vila.
— The maternal dress Victoria is wearing has been used quite a lot over the years for pregnant characters in sketches. The only example that comes to mind right now is Christine Ebersole as Princess Diana in a gameshow sketch from season 7.
— I like Kevin and Victoria’s casual, non-worried reveals of various evil forces that are living in their house.
— Love Larroquette’s concept of using a sound baffle in the ceiling to make the demonic screaming rant in one room sound more conversational.
— Excellent reveal of Kevin’s back having a whole bunch of screwdrivers stabbed into it. I also liked how after Kevin keels over from that, Larroquette jovially says to the camera “Well… Tom’s dead.”
STARS: ****½


BUSH
Dukakis’ heritage isn’t northern European- vote for Bush, he’s whiter

— Biggest laugh out of all the Vote Bush ads so far. The “Bush: He’s Whiter” ending was priceless.
STARS: ****½


GAY COMMUNIST GUN CLUB
(host) & (PHH) take calls from potential members

— I love Phil explaining the show’s bizarre premise in that professional Phil Hartman delivery.
— This sketch’s concept is hilarious and very memorable, and it’s being executed perfectly.
— I like how the callers asking if they can join the club only fit in one or two of the show’s three categories.
— Phil: “The National Gay Alliance has yet to sponsor one bare-butt safari.”
— Larroquette, while signing off: “And remember…. there is no God, but if there was, we think he’d be a gun-loving homosexual.”
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode. I enjoyed the entire show a lot, no segments were weak in my eyes, there were plenty of particularly great highlights all throughout the night, and one sketch is one of my all-time personal favorites (Picasso).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew Broderick)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Matthew Modine

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April 18, 1987 – John Larroquette / Timbuk 3 (S12 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pagan Easter Special- Casey Kasem (DAC) offers wife Jean (JAH) to Moloch

— Boy, this is a weird cold opening so far.
— Some good lines from Dana’s Casey Kasem, who has provided my only laughs so far.
— What is the point of this long, unfunny dance sequence with Dana and Jan?
— Overall, I was not crazy about this cold opening at all. Easily my least favorite opening of the season so far.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Some pretty good laughs from his claims of how much SNL begged him to host.
— Okay, I know the constant “two Emmies” mentions are an intentional joke, but it’s starting to be done TOO much.
— The overall monologue was mostly decent.
STARS: ***


SOLD-OUT GOLD
album contains classic hits made into commercials

— Second episode in a row with Jon’s David Crosby impression.
— Funny concept with an album of commercial jingle-ized 60s hits. Reminds me a bit of those record ads SNL used to do a lot in the Ebersol era (e.g. Heil Hits).
— The voices performing the commercial jingles are doing pretty funny impressions of the various 60s singers.
STARS: ***


MOTHER-IN-LAW
bad-ass mother-in-law (PHH) brawls with son-in-law (host)

— I like the hint of a barbecue incident that happened to Larroquette’s character as we’re shown a gruesome grill burn on his shoulder.
— The debut of what is probably Phil Hartman’s most forgotten recurring character: a woman who always gets into a huge physical fight with her daughter’s husband/boyfriend.
— Feels unusual to see Phil playing a character like this, but is also strangely refreshing in a way. He’s pulling this role off really well.
— Man, Larroquette’s punches to Phil’s face actually look real, made even more convincing by the fact that there aren’t any comically-fake punch sound effects being played; we’re instead hearing what sound like real-life punching sounds.
— Wow, the escalation of this brutal fight is getting INSANE. I love it.
— Entertaining sketch overall. That being said, I recall this character’s second (and final) sketch having an even crazier fight that, at one point, involves guns.
STARS: ***½


COLLECTING EVIDENCE
homicide detective (host) shows skill at handling evidence with a pencil

— Geez, A. Whitney Brown plays his SECOND dead body of the season. Really makes you wonder why they bother crediting him as a featured player in every single episode this season, when you can see how much they’re struggling to work him into sketches. I can see why in A. Whitney’s subsequent seasons, they only credit him as a featured player on occasional weeks, whenever he does a Big Picture commentary on Weekend Update.
— A pretty good laugh early on from a minor bit with Kevin’s various ways of saying the murder victim was a loner.
— I really like Larroquette picking up increasingly difficult evidence with a pencil, and the joy the other cops are getting in seeing this.
— LOL at Larroquette actually sharpening his pencil in preparation of picking up an eyelash.
— I liked the part with Larroquette tumbling over onto the floor while managing to still keep the eyelash-carrying pencil upright.
— Funny turn with Larroquette accidentally killing the not-actually-dead-yet “corpse” with his pencil.
— Overall, a very good sketch with a nice escalation and a strong performance from Larroquette.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Robin Leach (DAC) talks about Fernando Valenzuela’s lucrative contract
Babette imagines she’s being seduced by a tax auditor

— Good to see Dana’s Robin Leach in his own Update commentary.
— Funny line from Dana’s Leach about tacos only filled with caviar.
— Wow, I’m surprised the Robin Leach commentary ended up being so short.
— I didn’t get Dennis’ joke about Reagan having five national security advisors. Must be an overly-topical bit that hasn’t aged well.
— I particularly liked Dennis’ Handcuffs Across America joke.
— Wow, Dennis is speeding though the last few jokes. I like that for some reason.
— Not excited to see Babette once again.
— Ehh, as expected, I ended up not caring for this overall Babette commentary at all, and this ended the exact same way her last few appearances did. I am SO tired of this character.
STARS: ***


HEAVEN
recently-deceased (host) finds that Heaven’s database has all the answers

— Oh, this is a sketch I’d always had a fondness for, but had completely forgotten about until now.
— I liked Larroquette’s reaction to hearing he once unknowingly walked over a buried treasure chest at a beach.
— I love the escalation of the type of questions Larroquette is eagerly asking Dana about his own life. I’d love to find out the same kind of info about myself.
— Very funny bit with Dana revealing Hitler is still alive, but “don’t worry, we’re really gonna nail him.”
— Hilarious reveal that Bruce Willis made a deal with the devil.
— Overall, a very solid sketch with low-key, relatable humor. This was just as good as I had remembered it being.
STARS: ****


THE AMAZING ALEXANDER
— Rerun


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Just Another Movie”


INSTANT COFFEE WITH BILL SMITH
married actors (host) & (JAH) in a musical about Kennedys

— The return of a forgotten talk show sketch that launched the Sweeney Sisters.
— Some good subtle laughs from how some of the (fictional) theaters being mentioned are named after random famous actors.
— Larroquette’s Jews in New York comment was funny.
— Interestingly, the format of this is the reverse of the previous Instant Coffee sketch. In that one, the talk show guests (the Sweeney Sisters) performed their act on stage first and then did an interview with Kevin’s character afterwards, whereas tonight’s installment is doing it in the opposite order with the interview first and performance second.
— Some good laughs from Jan and Larroquette’s odd way of “finding their characters”.
— What was with the abrupt ending? Why didn’t Kevin wrap up the show, or why wasn’t there at least an on-screen graphic of the “Instant Coffee with Bill Smith” title before the sketch faded to black?
— Overall, a pretty good sketch. While the whole musical/performance art-type thing Jan and Larroquette performed onstage isn’t really my type of humor, I can appreciate Jan and Larroquette’s comical performances, and I did get some laughs there.
STARS: ***


ICM
showbiz agents in NYC struggle to cope with a massive Los Angeles quake

— Very interesting set-up.
— Funny seeing (or hearing, in this case) Phil’s Charlton Heston impression so soon after Heston himself hosted the show.
— Good part with Jan’s rapid-fire rundown of which actors are alive or dead.
— A pretty well-done sketch overall.
STARS: ***½


CRACK
— Another rerun


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hairstyles & Attitudes”


UNDER THE THINKING CAP
(no synopsis available)

 

— Uh, wow. What the heck is THIS???
— I don’t hear any audience laughter at all during this. Is the audience not miked during this, or are they just silent because they’re as weirded-out as I am?
— Overall, this strange film started growing on me a little towards the end, though that’s not saying much. I can kinda appreciate the creative oddball inventions that were presented throughout this, and something about the overall look and vibe of this film strangely had the feel of some of the Nickelodeon shows from my childhood in the early 90s, but I can’t say I laughed a single time during this entire film.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS / AL CAMOIN TRIBUTE
career retrospective marks cameraman Al Camoin’s [real] retirement

   

— Interestingly, the usual goodnights proceedings are interrupted with a special send-off for retiring SNL cameraman Al Camoin, who’s been with the show since the very beginning in season 1.
— Ha, when Victoria is giving a speech to Camoin, you can hear a male audience member wolf-whistling at her.
— Pretty funny video package of Camoin’s work over the decades, and they managed to get in yet another mention of the show “Hullabaloo”, which was also mentioned during the Francis Ford Coppola episode’s Grand Finale where Master Thespian was detailing the history of Studio 8H.
— Oh, wow. At the end of these goodnights, the camera actually slowly pulls away from the home base stage until it reaches all the way to SNL’s backstage, where two NBC pages then proceed to close the studio doors in front of the camera (last screencap above) as a reverse of how NBC pages are usually always shown opening the studio doors whenever this season’s opening montage ends. A very nice touch, and I believe this is the only goodnights in SNL history that ended this way.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Fairly solid episode. I hadn’t remembered much about this episode from my past viewings, which had me going into tonight’s viewing not expecting too great a show, a feeling that only got worse during that really weak, baffling cold opening. However, afterwards, I was pleased to see a consistently enjoyable episode. I also like how there were creative, interesting premises in quite a lot of the sketches. And I felt that John Larroquette added a likable air to the episode with the way he handled his roles.
— My copy of this episode is missing a sketch called Enigma. Apparently, the Under The Thinking Cap short film (as well as the two repeated fake ads) was added in reruns to replace the Enigma sketch, which may explain why there were no audience sounds heard during the film.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Lithgow):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Mark Harmon