Tag: Lily Tomlin

Posted on

January 22, 1983 – Lily Tomlin / Purvis Hawkins (S8 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
castmembers copy EDM’s characters to become successful, host disapproves

     

— I like the way the show is playing up how much Eddie has recently become a big star from the release of “48 Hours” and his SNL hosting gig.
— Funny bit with Eddie’s “walkman” just being two guys singing into his ears.
— I’m liking the impressions Eddie’s castmates are doing of his characters, with Mary as Gumby and Tim as a surprisingly spot-on Velvet Jones.
— We see Eddie’s now-trademark “heh heh heh!” laugh in response to Tim’s Velvet Jones.
— Ha, now we’re getting Gary in intentionally-poorly-applied blackface as Buckwheat.
— Nice twist at the end, with Lily doing her own personalized variant of Eddie’s “Live from New York, it’s the Eddie Murphy Show” from the last episode.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host recites a cheer designed to help you forget your worries

 

— I’m really enjoying this, and the format with her saying a random string of one-liners regarding the things she worries about is reminding me a lot of her monologue from season 1. As I mentioned in my review of that monologue, random strings of one-liners is one of my favorite forms of stand-up comedy (Steven Wright and Zach Galifianakis are my prime examples of some of the comedians who are the masters of that form of stand-up).
— Now she’s chanting a cheer while snapping her fingers as the audience claps along. Tonight’s monologue really IS using the same format as her season 1 monologue. Cool.
— Very solid monologue overall.
STARS: ****


JUDITH GOES SHOPPING
housewife Judith Beasley shows how to get free food while shopping

     

— The return of a Laugh-In character that Lily brought to SNL before, in the season 2 episode she hosted.
— I like how she’s taste-testing everything in sight, especially the part with her taking just a wing off of a rotating rotisserie chicken.
— Well-done film.
STARS: ***½


ERNESTINE’S HOUSE CALL
Ma Bell employee Ernestine reclaims a family of former customers

   

— Another famous Laugh-In character of Lily’s.
— LOL at the family’s corny strawberry phone.
— I like the part with Ernestine blackmailing the family by revealing their secretive phone calls.
— An overall solid sketch and great usage of the Ernestine character.
STARS: ***½


SPEAKING AS A WOMAN
words from Dustin Hoffman (GAK) & Joan Rivers (JOP)

 

— Joe is hilarious as Joan Rivers.
— Pretty funny how Joe-as-Rivers keeps cutting off Gary’s Tootsie by turning everything Gary says into a string of self-deprecating stand-up jokes.
— I like how quick and fast-paced the overall sketch was. Tonight’s episode in general has been moving along swiftly, which I really like.
STARS: ***


NATURAL RESOURCES
Judith Beasley warns of the imminent plastic shortage

— A follow-up to the Judith Beasley sketch ALREADY?
— Some pretty funny examples listed of how much plastic is used everyday.
STARS: ***


EDITH ANN & FRIENDS
little girls Edith Ann & Darlene (JLD) tell stories from a rocking chair

   

— Yet another Laugh-In character that Lily brought to SNL before. In my aforementioned review of Lily’s first episode, while reviewing the “Edith Ann Skates” short film, I asked if Edith Ann is the same character Lily would later play opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a sketch from 1983 (which is the sketch I’m reviewing right now), and in the comments section of that review, I remember someone replied that Edith Ann was actually a Laugh-In character of Lily’s, which I hadn’t known before. I’m only familiar with some of her Laugh-In characters.
— What’s with Julia’s randomly dark skin? It’s almost making her look black for some reason.
— Loved Julia’s line about mixing marshmallows with spit and making sauce.
— Lily’s penis-showing advice was hilarious.
— Pairing Julia with Lily’s Edith Ann character turned out to be a wise choice, as Julia is giving a strong performance that works perfectly alongside of Lily’s character.
— Julia’s south accent in this, coupled with the darker skin, is now starting to make me wonder if she IS supposed to be doing a black character. It makes no sense in this sketch, though. Why randomly make her character black???
— Strong sketch overall, and makes me want to check out some of the Edith Ann sketches that appeared on Laugh-In.
STARS: ****


PUDGE & SOLOMON
(host) buys drinks for Pudge & Solomon after soiling the latter’s suit

  

— Nice inclusion of Lily into this established recurring sketch.
— I like Lily’s choice of singing Froggy Went A-Courtin’ “because it’s in a negro spiritual vein”.
— Another good Pudge & Solomon sketch, though not exactly my favorite installment of this.
STARS: ***


TESS IN THE BALCONY
bag lady Tess (host) sits in the SNL audience & expounds her theories

  

— Fun premise with Lily in the audience. Bill Murray did a cold opening like this with his Honker character, back in season 4.
— I like seeing the studio audience getting a kick out of this.
— Lily is hilarious here, especially her improvised riffs on some of the individual audience members sitting next to her.
— Weird seeing the role of an NBC page being played by Robin. This is usually the type of role SNL gets extras or writers to play.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings about caring & brotherhood

 

— I remember the first time I saw this episode years ago, it seriously took me halfway through this musical performance to realize that this black, male R&B singer was just Lily in drag. Watching this again now, I can’t believe I was fooled the first time. It seems so obvious right from the start that that’s Lily. Maybe I wasn’t paying much attention the first time (I usually tend to tune out musical guests).
— Lily’s performance is really good as this character.
— I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting from one of the earlier seasons, but I *think* this is the first time in SNL history where the musical guest of an episode was just the host as a character.


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Andy Kaufman [real] thanks those who voted to keep him on SNL
JOP announces a contest- predict when Billy Martin will get axed
Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer lists possible questions to ask God

      

— A callback to Andy Kaufman’s SNL banning from earlier this season.
— We get a pre-taped message from Andy thanking various people, including the viewers who voted for SNL to keep him. No jokes here, it seems. It IS nice, though, that the show has allowed him to give a goodbye message.
— Heh, Brad follows up Andy’s message by calling it “pretty sad” and saying that Andy now owes NBC money for using airtime.
— Joe announces an SNL contest for viewers to predict when the recently-rehired Billy Martin will next be axed by George Steinbrenner. Winner of the contest gets World Series tickets. At first, I thought this was a gag, but now I’m thinking this is a legit contest. After all, SNL did have a tendency to do stuff like this in these older seasons (e.g. the “Find the Popes in the Pizza” contest).
— Funny punchline from Brad to the Muppet movie banning joke.
— A mention of SNL producer Dick Ebersol and wife Susan Saint James having a baby over the Christmas break.
— I think Tim has appeared as a guest commentator in every single Saturday Night News since at least the Robert Blake episode all the way back in November. I wonder if he’s broken a record with that.
— Good to see the return of Tim’s Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer.
— As usual, several funny one-liners from Tim’s character, this time on the topic of the questions he would ask God. I especially liked one of his questions being “Is he really gonna save the queen?”
— What the HELL was that very loud “winding down” type of sound heard just now, after Tim asked “Does he enjoy being the almighty?” That sound actually startled me.
— After the aforementioned “winding down” sound, Tim humorously ad-libs “I guess we have our answer, don’t we?” I’m still wondering what that sound was, though.
STARS: ***


FANTASY
organist Bobbi Jeanine (host) lives her dream by playing on NBC

      

— Mary in light blackface as Leslie Uggams. Hmm, are you noticing a theme in tonight’s episode? Seems to be an unusually large amount of white performers playing black roles. Heh, what’s up with that? Also, this is only the first of SEVERAL black roles that Mary would play during her SNL tenure. I seem to recall her later playing Lena Horne in a sketch (she was actually kind of a dead-ringer for her in it, from what I remember), and I think she also plays a black role in a Stevie Wonder biography sketch when Stevie himself hosts later this season. I guess casting Mary as a black woman is supposed to be funny in itself because she’s probably one of the whitest of all the white cast members in SNL history.
— Pretty funny scene with a one-armed Tim inside “Fantasy Fountain” trying to catch money with only one arm, eventually resorting to putting the money he catches into his mouth.
— Is that the same mysterious Woody Allen impersonator from the “Everybody Does Merman” sketch in last season’s Daniel J. Travanti episode?
— Wow, this feels like the first thing Eddie has appeared in since the cold opening, though he may have appeared in something in between that I’m forgetting. [ADDENDUM: I indeed forgot something he was in: Pudge & Solomon] I wonder why the sudden extreme underusage of him after his big hosting stint in the last episode… actually, now that I think of it, maybe that’s the reason for his extremely scaled-back airtime tonight. Maybe Ebersol felt bad for the rest of the cast after Eddie literally turned the last episode into “The Eddie Murphy Show”.
— The overall segment with Eddie felt like a waste of him. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing him in such an uncomedic, nothing role, especially in a sketch where practically everyone else in the cast is getting something funny to do.
— Overall, not sure what to think of this sketch as a whole. It was all over the place and pretty hit-and-miss.
STARS: **½


THE IRISH RADIO HOUR
Siobhan Cahill (MAG) runs an Irish radio variety show

   

— I can’t help but find it funny how the name of Mary’s character, Siobhan Cahill, happens to be an unintentional combination of the names of two future short-lived featured players from season 17: Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill.
— Tim’s farewell message was pretty funny.
— An overall fairly forgettable sketch, but I guess not too bad for something this late in the show.
STARS: **½


COFFEES OF THE WORLD
ROD for Coffees of the World- Cafe Parmigiana, Greek Egg Lemon, others

 

— For anyone keeping count, this is the third sketch of the season where Julia has worn Ana Gasteyer’s future Bobbi Mohan-Culp dress.
— The concept of this isn’t very funny, and the sketch is leaving me pretty bored.
STARS: *½


THE WEB
— Rerun


GOODNIGHTS

 

— Ah, Joe announces that the “predict when Billy Martin will be axed” contest is indeed legit. I wonder if anything ends up becoming of that contest, because unlike the famous SNL contests of the 70s, I had never heard of this one before, which makes me wonder if it ends up not receiving enough participation for SNL to announce a winner.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A kinda strange-feeling episode, as a lot of it (particularly the first half) felt more like a Lily Tomlin prime-time special than an episode of SNL. They REALLY let her take over the show with her characters, but it’s hard to complain when those characters gave me some good laughs tonight.
— The first half of the show flowed very nicely, with a smooth, fast pace and lots of solid sketches. Unfortunately, the quality died down in the second half of the show, as none of the material that followed Saturday Night News was noteworthy at all.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Eddie Murphy):
— a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas

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.

_______________________________

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

Posted on

November 22, 1975 – Lily Tomlin (S1 E6)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) addresses link between NYC debt default & re-election
   
— Hmm, another disclaimer on the bottom of the screen, this time stating this is not a good Gerald Ford impression. Ha, unlike the last Ford cold opening, where the disclaimer they showed made it confusing as to whether or not Chevy was actually playing Ford, this disclaimer makes it clear that he IS playing Ford, but they’re comically acknowledging how there was zero attempt at accuracy with his impression.
— The Rich Little disclaimer was very funny, too.
— The gag with him answering a glass of water as if it were a phone is a well-remembered classic SNL moment.
— I got a kick out of seeing him hang the red and black receivers onto the opposite phones.
— Great backwards tumble over the desk at the end. My favorite Chevy falls so far have been the really messy ones where a whole bunch of stuff gets crashed into, rather than the straightforward falls where he just goes straight to the floor and then that’s it.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Nothing noteworthy about the cast list tonight: their names are again divided into two separate screens, like we saw in the preceding episode.
— I think it’s safe to say by this point that Michael O’Donoghue isn’t going to be put back into the cast list. We can pretty much officially say his last episode as a credited cast member was the Candice Bergen one, which was episode 4 of the season.

MONOLOGUE
host reads some one-liners from her journal & does a cheer for NYC
 
— Unlike the last few episodes, tonight they have the host actually make an entrance when their name is announced by Pardo.
— Lily’s jokingly-angry, psychotic yell of “STOP!!!!” during the audience applause after her entrance was great. Already, you can see she’s going to be a fantastic host.
— I really liking the format of this so far, with her doing a string of random funny one-liners, which, as I said in the George Carlin review, is my favorite style of stand-up comedy.
— This New York cheer she’s now doing is very funny.
— Overall, wow, this whole thing was great. Best monologue of the season so far, I’d argue.
STARS: ****½

BEETHOVEN, PART 1
Beethoven (JOB) invents “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Ole Oak Tree”

— Oh, is this going to be the classic Ray Charles bit?
— John’s various facial expressions when playing the piano are funny.
— Hmm, this ISN’T the Ray Charles piece; he’s playing a different song.
— This was still a funny twist in the sketch, though, made even better by John’s puzzled look while continuing to play the song.
— Oh, wow, and that’s it? I like how this ended when the joke was still hot. I guess this is going to be a running segment throughout the show, that’ll lead to the Ray Charles bit I’m remembering.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

TRIOPENIN
— Boy, they sure love re-airing this commercial………

JAWS III
Matt Cooper (JOB) & Sheriff Brady (DAA) resume Land Shark hunt
   
— Surprised to see a Landshark sequel so soon, but this should be good.
— The heavy breathing John does every time he and Dan are hesitant to look at the various victims’ remains is a little detail that keeps cracking me up.
— “That’s the third time he’s hit that building”? More like, it’s the third time he’s hit that APARTMENT. I have to laugh at how each scene with the Landshark targeting a different woman all take place in the exact same living room set, with the same furniture, background decorations and everything.
— I’m liking this change of pace by showing the Landshark at the police station.
— Loved the part with the voice of Pardo getting attacked by the Landshark during a radio announcement.
— Whoa, this is unexpected, with them breaking the fourth wall and being told by the Landshark that the sketch has to be cut short.
— Great ending line with John lamenting the fact that he turned down “Cuckoo’s Nest” for this show.
STARS: ****

BELL-HOP
a clumsy bellhop (CHC) walks in on an interracial couple (GAM) & (JAC)

— As if it weren’t already strange enough seeing the same living room set used in various scenes throughout the Jaws III sketch, now we see that same living room used in this next, completely-unrelated sketch. It’s especially odd since I’m watching the DVD version of this episode, where there’s no commercial breaks or bumpers, thus we go from Jaws III’s ending with John sitting on the living room couch to the beginning of this sketch with Garrett and Jane in the exact same spot John was.
— Wait… WHAT??? This sketch is over ALREADY??? Nothing even happened in it! It was just a minute of Chevy doing his usual ‘klutz’ shtick by fumbling around with newspapers while Garrett and Jane looked on, and then Chevy left the room, and the sketch ended. What the hell??!?! If there was a premise to this sketch, I sure missed it.
— And why did Chevy have an old-timey southern accent?
— And was there supposed to be some social commentary by having an interracial couple? (remember, this WAS in the 70s, back when showing interracial couples on TV was still taboo) The writers went absolutely nowhere with that aspect of the sketch.
— Overall, this whole sketch just left me baffled. I think my review of it is longer than the sketch itself was.
STARS: *

EDITH ANN SKATES
little girl Edith Ann (host) cautiously ventures onto an ice skating rink
 
— Is this the same character that Lily would later do in a sketch I remember seeing from her 1983 hosting stint where she and Julia Louis-Dreyfus played two little girls?
— This looks like an interesting film, and seems like it will be a good showcase for some physical comedy from Lily.
— Hmm, I was right about the physical comedy, though the main humor actually seems to be coming from the various funny little things she’s saying in her voice-over narration.
— I especially like the line about pasting her dog’s paws to the floor.
— Overall, a cute little film that I enjoyed.
STARS: ***½

BEETHOVEN, PART 2
Beethoven (JOB) plays piano & sings “My Girl”

— Ah, this IS a running piece.
— An even funnier twist this time, with him now actually singing the tune he unexpectedly breaks into.
— I love how he actually kept the thick accent while singing “My Girl”s lyrics.
STARS: ****

NEXT SHOW
GIR announces Richard Pryor & Candice Bergen will do SNL in December

— So far, this seems to just be a straightforward announcement of upcoming SNL airings, but even in something as simple as this, Gilda comes off so charming and endearing.
— I liked the audience breaking out into applause at the mere mention of Richard Pryor being the next host. You can tell they’re eagerly awaiting him being on the show.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— What the—? For our opening “phone conversation” gag, instead of saying something funny into the phone, Chevy just picked up the phone, dialed some numbers, stayed silent for a while, and then disinterestedly hung up without even saying anything. Odd. That, understandably, got zero reaction from the audience.
— Hmm, a news story about Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s death back when it first happened.
— Since Francisco Franco’s death was new at the time, the punchline of tonight’s joke obviously wasn’t what we would now expect (that he’s still dead), but was instead about how despite his death, doctors say his health has taken a turn for the worse, which in some ways is like an early prototype of the later ‘he’s still dead’ running joke.
— Oh, wow. The preceding episode’s Update had a tasteless George Wallace wheelchair joke that I liked a lot, but now tonight’s Update had an even-funnier tasteless George Wallace/“Ironside” wheelchair joke that I absolutely LOVED. I also enjoyed the audience’s loud “ooh” reaction. And again, that joke would be right at home in a modern-day Michael Che/Colin Jost Weekend Update.

SPUD BEER
Spud Beer is the potato-based brew to drink after electroshock therapy
 
— Haha, this is great. Again, while I’ve been kinda underwhelmed by most of this season’s fake ads so far, this one has a lot of things that I always like to see in an SNL fake ad, such as a memorably-creative fictional product that’s being advertised, a catchy commercial jingle, etc.
— A few familiar faces from the writing staff have prominent roles in this, including Tom Davis and Alan Zweibel, the latter of whom is particular funny here with his catatonic demeanor.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC admits he drinks Spud Beer & pours a can of it on his suit
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— The ad-libbed “toyboat toyboat” vocal exercise Chevy just did when stumbling through a joke was pretty funny. Like I said in the preceding review, I always like when Chevy quickly ad-libs little things like that. I heard he actually does the “toyboat toyboat” thing in some other Updates later this season whenever he stumbles over a joke.
— In tonight’s obligatory hard-of-hearing-news bit, I like how towards the end, Garrett was yelling some of the things Chevy “said” before Chevy even said it. That was a bit of a much-needed shake-up to the hard-of-hearing-news routine. I mean, I know the routine is considered a classic nowadays, but man, did they have to use it in EVERY Weekend Update?
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

PATTY
Susie (host) forgives her recently-arrested sorority sister Patty Hearst

— I couldn’t think of anything to say at all while watching this, but overall, this was an okay piece that was helped by Lily’s performance.  And while I initially wasn’t happy when she started to break out into song here, I ended up liking how the song actually had some heart.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis & wife Peuta (Alice Tweedy) find that Scred has fallen for host
 
— I like where the premise is going; Scred being in love with Lily Tomlin seems like it will be a welcome change of pace for these Muppets segments.
— Interesting segue to Scred meeting Lily.
— Hmm, more singing…
— I have to say, though, that their performance of “I Got You Babe” is pretty funny and really sweet.
— Overall, definitely one of the better Muppet segments so far.
STARS: ***

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
— This is just a replay of Albert’s film from the first episode. Lily gave an interesting intro/set-up to this, though.

BEETHOVEN, PART 3
Beethoven (JOB) sings “What’d I Say” with backups wife (GIR) & maid (LAN)
 
— Is it really necessary to keep doing the ‘good morning, nice to see you’ bit at the beginning of ALL of these Beethoven segments?
— I liked John’s deadpan “achoo” after snorting some snuff.
— Ah, the sunglasses… Yep, here we go, we’re getting the Ray Charles piece I had been anticipating.
— Yes, this is fantastic. And I like how Gilda and Laraine are now getting involved, too.
— John’s Ray Charles imitation is simply perfect. This is definitely one of his all-time best performances.
— It’s great how these Beethoven segments used a three-part format to slowly build up to this Ray Charles bit, which is much better than if they had gone right into it in the first segment like I had been expecting.
STARS: *****

HARD HATS
forewoman (host) gives female hardhats lessons on how to harass men
 
— Lily just called Jane by her real name. Ah, I see this is yet another instance of this cast playing themselves in a sketch that in more recent years would’ve given them character names instead.
— Not too sure how I feel about this premise. However, Lily and the female cast are doing nice ensemble work here, and their fun performances are helping make this sketch more enjoyable.
— Very strange ending. Was Gilda’s “Don’t cry; it’s only school” line even intended to be funny? It ended the sketch on a flat note.
STARS: **½

SPEED
Speed diet pill lets housewife (Anne Beatts) get a lot of work done
 
— I’m loving the concept of this.
— Great visual with the cabinet filled with neatly-folded brown paper bags.
— Overall, another very funny fake ad tonight. They’ve been getting better with these.
STARS: ****

MARGO’S DANCE PALACE
at a dance, 1950s teen (host) gossips about classmates to her friend

— Ah, I see this is a ‘one-woman show’ performance piece.
— Considering I usually don’t care for ‘one-man/woman show’ sketches, I’m surprised by how much I’m really enjoying this. Lily is doing such a great job and I’m very engaged in her performance.
— Overall, a very strong performance piece. I even liked the sentimental dramatic turn this took towards the end.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS
host & Bees GAM, LAN, GIR, CHC scat with SNL Band
 
— Oh, I can see these goodnights are going to be special, right from the beginning.
— Funny blooper when they were waiting for Gilda to speak and she didn’t even realize they were on the air.
— Looks kinda weird seeing Chevy in one of the Bee costumes, though I know he wore one in the Bee Hospital sketch from the premiere.
— I believe this is our first of several instances this era where Garrett showcases his nice singing voice.
— Wow at Gilda’s raspy-voiced scatting.
— This is a very nice way to close the show. Unpredictable format-breaking moments like this is part of what made the original cast so fun.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Another fun episode. This is what I expected would happen when you mix Lily Tomlin with 70s SNL.  It was a given that Lily would be an excellent host, and she certainly delivered, being fantastic in every single segment. Hell, she even got me to love a ‘one-man show’ piece. Overall, she was a strong enough host to make me wish she were a regular member of this cast.
— Lots of musical-based material tonight, which is something I’m usually not crazy about seeing on SNL, but it’s hard for me to complain about it in this episode when most of the music was actually fun, especially the goodnights number and, of course, the classic Beethoven three-parter.
— SNL seems to have officially hit its stride by this point. Knowing what episode is coming up next, it’s nice to know things get even better from here.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Klein):
— a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Richard Pryor