Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
departing Jimmy (JOP), Rosalynn (ANR), Amy (DED) Carter strip White House
— Ann’s line about Nancy Reagan clawing her way up the stairs was good.
— The line about Nancy Reagan not killing people but “just marrying them instead” kinda died with the audience.
— I’m liking the Carters’ panicked rush to take all the valuable things in the White House.
— Another funny turn with what I’m assuming is an off-camera Gail as Nancy Reagan announcing through a bullhorn that the Carters need to leave now. Sounds like she’s using her famous midwestern “Don’cha know”-type voice/accent, for some reason.
— Yet another weak segue to LFNY. Why are this season’s writers having so much trouble coming up with good LFNYs?
— Overall, a pretty strong cold opening for this season, and for once, Ann Risley gave a performance I actually liked.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— The “say anything just to get applause” premise is reminiscent of Chevy Chase’s season 3 monologue.
— Funny how her announcement of “I don’t use drugs!” received hesitant applause and even some booing. A sign of the times.
— I thought this would just be a simple “audience wildly applauds after everything Karen says”, but interestingly, the joke seems to be that the applause keeps varying from loud-to-mild depending on what she says.
— Wow, that was a fast monologue.
STARS: **½
THE LEGENDARY COMPOSERS
album has classical origins of contemporary hits
— I like how one of the songs listed is “Theme from Dukes of Hazzard”, even if Charles flubbed the title.
— Loved the two-sided Beethoven/Manilow bust.
— An overall decent commercial.
STARS: ***
FOUNDATION FOR THE TRAGICALLY HIP
Foundation For The Tragically Hip solicits donations to abet the trendy
— Pretty funny, and I love how they’re making this feel like an authentic commercial, using outside actors and delivering the funny subject matter and lines in such a straight manner.
— Some really funny lines here.
— Did the band The Tragically Hip REALLY get their name from this sketch?
STARS: ****
LIVELYS
game show emcee Phil Lively (CHR) & wife Frances (GLM) meet the neighbors
— A famous sketch from this season.
— Charles and Gail are doing a great job holding normal, casual conversations in a game show manner.
— I like Gilbert and Denny entering as the confused normal couple and being treated as game show contestants. Gilbert’s sullen demeanor that we’ve been seeing so much lately actually works here.
— Funny turn with Gilbert having to guess in a quiz show manner the year of the wine he’s drinking.
— Charles is surprisingly great throughout this.
— Overall, wow, that was a very strong sketch, especially for this season’s standards. I’m aware they bring this back later this season, but I’m not sure if it’ll work as a recurring sketch.
STARS: ****½
REAGAN / SINATRA
Frank Sinatra (JOP) lobbies for Nancy Reagan (GLM) to be vice-president
— The debut of Joe’s Sinatra impression.
— Hey, they actually put Charles’ Reagan in a wig this time.
— Man, his Reagan impression is still terrible, unfortunately.
— I’m really liking Joe’s performance as Sinatra.
— Nice twist at the end with Gail’s Nancy Reagan. For some reason, that reminds me of the “Hillary is the one REALLY running the White House” jokes the show would later make during the Phil Hartman years of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
STARS: ***
ROCKET REPORT
CHR honors cabbie Rich Schmaltz [real], NYC daredevil
— What was with the delayed beginning? This started with just dead air as we saw a silent black screen for a long time, and then, while we’re still seeing a black screen, a Pardo voice-over strangely introduces the segment instead of them simply using a “Rocket Report” title screen like they’ve usually been doing this season.
— Geez, quite a daring beginning with Charles leaning far over the railing of the roof of the building. What if he had fallen? Did they have some kind of protective net or something just in case?
— The whole cab part is great. I like how they’re presenting the cab driver as a stunt-taking daredevil and are dramatizing the risky turn he’s attempting to make, with Charles even showing us a layout of the risky turn.
— Overall, one of the best Rocket Report’s I’ve covered so far.
STARS: ****
MONA LISA
a museum security guard (CHR) ends his relationship with Mona Lisa (host)
— Strangely, this is the first sketch Karen Black has appeared in all night. I had been wondering where she was.
— Loved Karen loudly telling the off-camera Whistler’s Mother painting to drop dead.
— Karen’s very good in this, and Charles is also doing well.
— Funny ending with Karen hesitantly doing the famous Mona Lisa “smile”.
— Man, tonight’s episode has been on fire so far.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Cheap Trick performs “Baby Loves to Rock”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Mary Lou James (ANR) suggests dumb dieters try disguising portion sizes
Rush to the Sunbelt!- stock newsreel footage documents southern migration
JOP decries scalping of Super Bowl XV tickets, then tries to move a pair
CHR excitedly lists the star-studded lineup for the Reagan inauguration
— What was the point of that “scotch and soda” bit between Charles and Gail? It got no reaction from the audience.
— Oh, no, here comes another Ann Risley Update commentary.
— I guess the material itself isn’t bad, but Ann’s attempt at pulling off a snarky, sarcastic delivery is just plain WEAK.
— That’s it? That’s the whole Ann Risley commentary? What was with the awkward ending, with no audience applause and Gail messing up the name of Ann’s character?
— The “Rush to the Sunbelt!” bit was pretty funny, and I always like when SNL uses random old stock footage shots out of context.
— Here’s our weekly Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary. I think this is also the first time he’s doing it on Charles’ side of the Update desk.
— Ha, Joe’s bit was very short, but had a very funny turn. I think they’re able to get away with having Joe do an SNL Sports segment on Update every single week because his bits are always short.
— This is the second episode in a row where Joe uses a prop from his commentary to try to sabotage Charles while Charles is in the middle of an Update joke. In the last episode, Joe ran a wind-up bowling ball toy across Charles’ desk, and this time, he’s waving Super Bowl tickets in front of Charles’ face. To Charles’ credit, he always seems to have a good sense of humor about it, which I wouldn’t have expected after all the things I’ve heard about his alleged big ego.
— Good bit with Charles’ fast-paced, hyped-up rundown of events at the upcoming presidential inauguration.
— The Nancy Reagan inaugural dress bit was just dumb.
— Overall, a surprising improvement over the dreadful last Update. Even though they still need a lot of work, the jokes from Charles and Gail were a little better, and the audience was more generous to Gail than they were in the last Update. Gail’s still coming off pretty green as an anchor, though. I’ll be generous and give Update its first passing rating of the whole season so far.
STARS: ***
60 MINUTES
Dan Rather (JOP) investigates lack of female CBS journalists
— I can’t judge the accuracy of Joe’s Dan Rather impression, because I’m more familiar with older Dan Rather from more recent decades. Knowing Joe, I’m sure it’s a good impression, though.
— I got a big laugh from the cutaway to Joe’s facial reaction after being told “1 out of every 4 weeks, women wouldn’t be able to work”.
— The “Take this job – you’re dead” letter was very funny.
— I like the segment with an “unidentified” Walter Cronkite.
— Overall, pretty good. This felt kinda like a typical pre-taped segment that would’ve aired in season 10.
STARS: ***½
HOSPITAL BED
hospitalized stroke victim (GIG) is unable to communicate with visitors
— I’ve heard about this sketch; from what I’ve read about it, it sounds like a very serious, low-key piece with a subject matter that’s always sounded depressing as hell to me. Still interested to see how this goes, though. After all, I was expecting to be depressed by the controversial “First He Cries” sketch from season 5, only to end up getting good laughs from it.
— I commend them for the intriguing format, with having a single camera be the main character’s P.O.V.
— Gilbert’s sarcastic old Jewish voice-over is actually pretty funny, and this is another good use of his now-perpetual sullen delivery.
— Surprised that this is Eddie’s first appearance of the whole night, after how much he dominated the last episode. He IS still just a featured player, though.
— Eddie’s “He about as alive as a baked potato” line made me laugh.
— Some really good character work here. Karen’s character is especially funny and well-done.
— I liked Karen’s “I nearly had a stroke” faux-pas.
— LOL at Gilbert’s deadpan “Oh my god, she’s gonna sing” line about Denny.
— Nice how Gilbert eventually started singing along with Denny in his head.
— This sketch is starting to get really touching now.
— For some reason, the ending actually gave me a nice smile, even though I’m not sure if it was supposed to.
— Overall, I came into this expecting a depressing sketch, but I ended up finding this sketch to have a perfect mix of humor and sentimentality. They did an excellent job with this, in both writing and performances. The original SNL era would’ve been proud.
STARS: ****½
FAIR DINKUM CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
JOP calls the championship match of Fair Dinkum, Scottish game of manhood
— Another appearance tonight from Joe’s SNL Sports persona.
— WTF at this?
— This is kinda reminding me of the nose-wrestling bit from the season premiere, though that one ended up winning me over. Not sure what to think about THIS one.
— And it’s over already. Wow, that was quick.
STARS: **
APARTMENT BUILDING
in the hallway, (YVH) confronts neighbor (EDM) about his loud stereo
— Yvonne to Eddie: “[N-word], are you deaf?!?” Ha, I’m surprised to hear that being said on SNL. I love it!
— Yvonne’s insult about Eddie’s nose was really funny.
— Haha, I’m loving Eddie and Yvonne’s whole back-and-forth insult match.
— Eddie’s Ray Charles line was hilarious.
— Funny turn with Eddie changing his tune when seeing Yvonne’s big boyfriend.
— Good ending with Eddie coming back out to spit on Yvonne’s door.
— Yvonne’s been getting more noteworthy speaking roles this season than I had thought. From everything I’ve heard about this season, I had always been under the impression that Yvonne was basically a glorified extra during her featured player tenure, only being given useless non-speaking bit roles most of the time. Now I see that those reports were fairly exaggerated; the woman has been doing SOME stuff this season so far. Hell, she’s certainly doing more than Patrick Weathers, who gets listed in the opening credits as a featured player in every damn episode yet I never notice him in any sketches (aside from his great turn as Bob Dylan). Where is he??? Am I just having a hard time recognizing him in sketches, much like my misadventures with Peter Aykroyd throughout season 5 (who I was usually only able to identify by his Dan Aykroyd-esque voice than by his actual face)?
STARS: ***½
DINER
in a diner, (host) & Paulie Herman order Five Easy Pieces of wheat toast
— Another Jersey Guy sketch. At least they waited a while since the last time he appeared.
— I’m still hearing Jay Leno in Joe’s Jersey Guy voice.
— Karen’s having good rapport with Joe in this.
— Great intense rant from Karen to Denny as the waitress, referencing a famous scene from Five Easy Pieces.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Cheap Trick performs “Can’t Stop It But I’m Gonna Try”
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ACTION DOLLS
CHR plays with SNL Castmember Action Dolls to show how much fun they are
— I’m loving the meta-ness of doing a fake ad about SNL cast action dolls.
— Gilbert’s being called by his backstage “Gillie” nickname.
— This is fun, and Charles is doing a good job demonstrating the whole thing. Charles has been having a rare strong night in general.
STARS: ***½
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT
host has a breakdown because subject keeps changing
— What’s this doing buried at the end of the episode instead of airing in the first half like the prior installments of this sketch did?
— The set is different and looks more low-budget, with just a background consisting of black drapes. Maybe that’s intentional, since this IS supposed to be a public access talk show.
— Good laughs from Karen going crazy with different accents and then suddenly acting like a monkey.
— Overall, not a noteworthy installment of this sketch, but Karen’s performance helped it.
STARS: ***
NATIONAL HANDGUN ASSOCIATION
(MAL) uses (EDM) to mug a couple because “People kill people, not guns”
— Interesting how they’re using the home base stage as a sketch setting, and are having Joe and Ann exiting from that stage’s elevator. Reminds me of how the home base stage from the first two seasons was often used as the setting for sketches taking place in cafes or basements.
— Matthew using Eddie as a weapon was a kinda-funny sight gag for about two seconds, but I’m not sure about the rest of this so far.
— Wow, that was short as hell. (I feel like I’m saying that a lot in this review) The overall “people kill people” gag was typical corny season 6 humor, even if the visual initially gave me a chuckle.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Stanley Clarke Trio performs “Wild Dog”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A consistently strong episode; by far the best I’ve covered from this infamous season so far. This episode was just as good as I had always heard it was, and this was also a big improvement over Karen Black’s surprisingly disappointing season 2 episode. Karen also did a much better job hosting tonight than she did in season 2, where I was iffy on a lot of her performances. She was great tonight. This episode was so good, even Update was passable, for the first time all season.
— This episode also featured some of the better performances from my least favorite members of this cast: Ann was very good in the cold opening, Charles was great in various sketches. Even Gilbert (who I thought I would like when this season began, but have ended up being kinda disappointed by him) had his moments tonight.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ray Sharkey):
— a huge step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Robert Hays
