Tag: Luther Vandross

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February 11, 1989 – Ted Danson / Luther Vandross (S14 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Sam Malone (host) in Cheers with John Tower (PHH) & Michael Dukakis (JOL)

— Pretty good Woody voice from Dana.
— I’m sure Phil’s doing a good impression John Tower, but I can’t tell since I have absolutely no familiarity with Tower.
— Funny visual of Phil sipping the top of his drink as it’s still being poured in.
— Just now, Phil let out a Burt Reynolds-sounding high-pitched “Ha!”
— The return of Jon’s Dukakis impression!
— Great “Live from New York…” subversion with Phil’s Tower drunkenly passing out in the middle of delivering the LFNY, only for Jon’s Dukakis to finish it.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
like host’s movies, SNL is based on French show- (MIM) pees in clip of it

— Good bit from Ted at the beginning, regarding when he wants the audience to applaud.
— I’m loving the preview of the French version of SNL. We even get to hear Don Pardo do his announcements in French.
— Great early use of Mike Myers here, and we get our very first instance of him displaying some good physical shtick as he dances wildly while making his monologue entrance.
— Nice touch with the SNL Band in the background having French mustaches and berets.
— Funny gag with the camera zooming in on Mike peeing his pants in fear after being told this is the live show, not dress rehearsal.
STARS: ****


SLEEPYTIME RAT CONTROL
Sleepytime sedative solves your sewer rat problem, if only temporarily

— Victoria seems to star in a lot of the fake ads from these last two seasons.
— A funny and disgusting ad with some good gross-out visuals, and a funny concept of a sedative that puts rats into a deep sleep instead of killing them.
STARS: ***½


THE IRANIAN PEOPLE’S COURT
(host) loses his hand over a persian poodle

— Another segment tonight being spoken entirely in a foreign language.
— Dana’s Iranian gibberish is hilarious, especially the more and more obvious he’s making it that he’s not saying real words.
— I’m also liking Nora’s voice as well as her fast talking.
— Good bit with Ted’s severed hand.
— Short sketch overall, but it was the right length for something with a premise like this, as it would’ve started getting old if it went on any longer.
STARS: ***½


WOMEN WHO CAN’T SAY NO
(NOD), (VIJ), (JAH) have trouble saying no, especially to (host)

— I’m liking Ted’s performance here.
— Surprising turn with Jan and Nora returning to the living room to unexpectedly find Ted and Victoria suddenly in the middle of making out.
— Hmm, I see where this is going. With Victoria and Nora now having walking into the kitchen, it’s obvious they’re going to come back to the living room to find Jan being the one who Ted’s now making out with.
— I was right, but haha, I was certainly not expecting to see the over-the-top visual of a passionately-moaning Jan on Ted’s lap while he has his face buried in her chest.
— And now Nora and Ted emerge from the bedroom. Not quite as funny as I thought it would be, but I’m liking the escalation this sketch has been taking.
— A funny casual “Well, hey… I gotta go” from Ted right after having sex with Nora.
STARS: ***


PLUG AWAY WITH HARVEY FIERSTEIN
coach Pat Riley (host), Roseanne Barr (VIJ), Casey Kasem (DAC)

— I like Jon’s Fierstein longingly going “God, you got fabulous hair” to Ted’s Pat Riley.
— Hmm, for once, a guest actually answers “yes” to Fierstein’s “If you were gay, would you…” question.
— Great to see the debut of Victoria’s Roseanne impression.
— Dead-on impression from Victoria here.
— Loved Fierstein’s raspy laughter in response to a joke of Roseanne’s.
— Some good laughs from Dana’s Casey Kasem going on about how manly he is.
— I’m glad this overall sketch wasn’t just a carbon copy of it’s first installment from earlier this season.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “She Won’t Talk To Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Senate confirmation hearings clip proves John Tower’s drinking problem
DEM shows what a stack of $100,000,000 looks like
George Michael (DAC) is upset about lack of butt shots in his Coke ad

 

— We get to see a clip of the real John Tower, which provides more context to tonight’s topical cold opening and Phil’s impression in it.
— Interesting rant from Dennis about how flawed the the American legal system is regarding who gets chosen for a jury.
— The debut of Dana’s George Michael impression!
— Loved Dana-as-Michael’s fast-paced rundown of the frequency of the butt shots he wanted his commercial to have.
— And there goes the birth of Dana-as-Michael’s catchphrase “Look at my butt!”
— Dana-as-Michael, regarding his butt: “Accept it before it destroys you!”
— In the middle of a joke, Dennis gets distracted by sounds from off-camera, and amusingly asks “What the hell’s going on over there?!?” The sound is actually coming from live hogs that are about to appear in a memorable sketch after Update.
— Surprised to see no desk commentaries in tonight’s overall Update. Can’t remember the last Update that went without one.
STARS: ***½


HOGS
(host) & (NOD) enjoy living in an apartment among their hogs

— Very funny reveal of the living room randomly being full of hogs.
— A lot of good laughs from Ted and Nora’s casual attitudes towards their hogs.
— Ha, just now, one of the hogs bumped their behind pretty hard into another hog’s behind, which got a big reaction from the audience.
— I liked Phil’s angry outburst at the end of his sarcastic complaint.
— Another overall sketch tonight that was thankfully kept short before it ran out of steam.
STARS: ****


GRUMPY OLD MEN
Grumpy Old Man (DAC) & counterpart (JOL) gripe about modern conveniences

— Yet another big debut tonight: Dana’s Grumpy Old Man character! A lot of people probably forget that Grumpy Old Man actually debuted in a sketch, as he’s more remembered nowadays as a Weekend Update desk character. This puts him in the same class as other made-their-first-appearance-in-a-sketch-before-becoming-Update-only characters such as Roseanne Rosannadanna, Stefon, Chico Escuela, Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, and probably others I’m forgetting.
— It’s also interesting to see how in Grumpy Old Man’s debut, he was actually part of a duo of grumpy old men, with the other one played by Jon.
— “That’s the way it was, and we LIKED it!!”
— Dana’s exaggerated, stretched-out way of saying “dental hygiene” gave me a big laugh.
— Jon, regarding women back in his day: “They were fat and hairy and UGLY!”
— I absolutely love Dana’s voice in this.
— An overall very funny sketch. I can kinda see why they would later drop Jon’s character, though, as Dana gave the more stand-out performance here. Plus, maybe SNL figured that just one grumpy old man complaining about modern things would fit the Weekend Update format more than if it were two grumpy old men.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “For You To Love”

— Hmm, I wonder if this is replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. In the live version I’m currently watching, this musical performance didn’t feature Luther walking up to the front row of female audience members and singing to them, which I swear I remember him doing in reruns.


FIRST LOVE
KEN talks about the unappealing traits of his first love

— Is this going to be in the same vein as the Christmas Memories sketch that Kevin did in the William Shatner episode?
— Very funny story from Kevin about his first love dressing like a slinky.
— I’m loving all the disgusting, unattractive descriptions of his first love.
— Kevin guesstimates that his first love weighed about 870 pounds. Hmm, is she the same 800-pound female tour guide that Kevin described in his map sketch (Automobile Club Of America) from two seasons earlier?
— Kevin, regarding his heavyset first love: “I took her out to dinner and a movie…and a dinner.”
— An overall very solid piece and, much like the aforementioned Christmas Memories and map sketches, is a quintessential display of Kevin Nealon’s brand of humor.
STARS: ****


GOING TO ENGLAND
(host) keeps airport cab waiting while asking wife (NOD) to come with him

— I like the impatient car honking heard during Ted and Nora’s long conversation.
— Just when I thought the sketch was starting to lose me, they got me laughing again with the unseen cab driver throwing a rock through the window.
— I’m enjoying the absurdity in Nora and Ted’s conversation.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another solid season 14 episode. This season continues to be on fire. Tonight’s episode especially got strong in the post-Update half, where there was a nice consecutive run of great sketches for a while.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tony Danza)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Leslie Nielsen

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February 20, 1982 – Bruce Dern / Luther Vandross (S7 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host advises TIK to be realistic about his movie prospects

— Nice to see a backstage cold opening this season.  Also interesting to see what the door that the hosts make their entrance through for the talent entrances/monologues looks like from the inside.
— Bruce’s negative comments about Tim’s looks are pretty funny.
— Weak LFNY substitute with Tim starting the show by halfheartedly saying “Roll the montage” into the camera.
STARS: ***


TALENT ENTRANCE

 

— Love the way this transitioned into the next sketch with the camera panning over to the next set as Bruce walked over to it.


SKI DATE
(host) accidentally agrees to take (MAG)’s dog on a ski trip

— The set-up to whatever the main joke is going to be sure is long.
— Some of the reveals about Mary’s dog are fairly funny.
— Not sure whether to find that “I guess you couldn’t call her a complete dog” ending funny or weak.
— Not too great of a lead-off sketch, overall.
STARS: **


WHO DO YOU HATE?
people on the street answer the question “Who do you hate?”

   

— The debut of the man-on-the-street segments, which would go on to be recurring throughout the Ebersol era.
— Some laughs from the celebrities, politicians, and TV shows that people are saying they hate.
— Very funny part with the black guy’s argument that black people and Puerto Ricans have more fun than blondes.
— Some more good laughs from one guy saying a whole bunch of bad things about his mother-in-law.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


FOCUS ON FILM
Raheem Abdul Muhammed denies that his buddy is homosexual

 

— First time Raheem Abdul Muhammed has been used outside of SNL’s news segment.
— Also the first appearance of Eddie’s real-life friend Clint Smith, who would become a frequent SNL extra in this era.
— Eddie’s constant gay panic when catching himself saying ambiguous things about Clint is pretty funny.
— The “Clint I’m sorry I thought you were a homosexual” mail address at the end was great.
— For some reason, I find it amusing in itself how Clint didn’t say a single word during the whole sketch.
STARS: ***


THE BIZARRO WORLD
NBC programming is unchanged in the backward dimension

     

— I’m surprised to see another installment of this sketch at this point of the season, because I thought the recently-fired Michel O’Donoghue was the writer behind the earlier installment of this.
— The opening narration bit doesn’t work as well with Bruce in the role; Mr. Mike was much more suitable for it.
— The scene with Bizarro Alan Alda was very funny.
— Amusing how Bizarro NBC is the same as real-life then-present NBC, as a pointed satire of the network’s troubles and asinine decisions at the time.
— Funny in hindsight seeing the execs talk about how absurd the idea was of giving David Letterman a late-night show (which had debuted very recently at the time) after the infamous failure of his morning show. If they only knew……
— Another good comment making fun of the absurd practice of hiring Jewish writers for black sitcoms.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Never Too Much”


SNL NEWSBREAK
after much prodding, MAG makes public her affair with BDM
novelty of chopper flight dominates CHE’s traffic report
JOP reports on what’s going on in sports- nothing

     

— On-again off-again anchorperson Mary Gross is back at the desk as a co-anchor tonight. I guess they’re doing this as a follow-up to the end of the last episode’s Newsbreak where Mary and Brian fell in love.
— Yep, they’re making Mary and Brian’s romance a story arc. Still not finding it all that funny.
— Is that Tom Schiller as the guitarist? (second screencap above) Between the short film he did earlier this season and now this appearance, I’m confused over his involvement in this season. Is he on the writing staff this season and I didn’t know it?
— Christine’s traffic report was just as big a waste of time as her weather segments usually are.
— Joe’s hyped-up SNL Sports commentary turning out to just be him announcing that nothing is currently going on in sports was good for a quick laugh.
STARS: **


SONGWRITERS
songwriters Schleimer (JOP) & Laub (TIK) have trouble selling their work

  

— Tim and Joe’s song titles that they’re listing off are pretty funny, especially “The Lindbergh Baby Polka”.
— I really liked Christine’s sudden dissatisfied “No, I don’t think so” immediately after passionately singing the whole song she was given.
— A pretty solid sketch overall, with a nice old-timey Vaudeville-esque charm to it.
STARS: ***½


THE MILD ONE
a Zen-inspired biker (host) verbally dissects diner patrons

   

— I liked Joe’s angry “You scum” remark to Bruce after Bruce’s gentle poetic speech about a rose.
— Funny sudden turn with Christine’s “You’re a flop in the sack” revelation about Joe.
— I’m enjoying all the mock-dramatic, mock-tense acting from everyone.
— Overall, not much else to say about this, but a decent sketch.
STARS: ***


FRACAS
by Timothy Hittle- a battle between a man & a claymation foe

— I already covered this in my review of the Bill Murray episode. This was actually originally aired in tonight’s episode.
ORIGINAL RATING: ****


FLYING
an unstable pilot (host) makes his passengers nervous

 

— A good laugh from Bruce’s “dropping acid” comment.
— Was something censored just now? In the copy of the episode I’m watching (the West Coast airing of the original live broadcast), the audio briefly got muted when Bruce said “How long you been (blank) my little mama here?”
— And now, Bruce again got censored when repeating the line. Looks like “screwing” was the muted-out word.
— Overall, while the premise had potential and the performances were fine, the resulting sketch was pretty “meh”.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A House Is Not A Home”


MELINA’S CAFE
while entertaining at her cafe, Melina (ROD) makes her troubles known

 

— Looks like a good character piece for Robin, which will be refreshing to see considering how underutilized she’s been the last few episodes.
— Haha, her angry heavy-accented quick singing of “I Know What Boys Like ” gave me some good laughs.
— Her whole “I love you, I hate you” bit with Tony is being pulled off well.
— Overall, a pretty good closing sketch.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode, but also fairly forgettable. Barely anything really stood out; almost the entire show hovered around the “average/pretty good” range, and never went above that. That seems to be slowly becoming status quo for the show lately, and I worry that it’ll stay status quo for most of the remaining Ebersol era (or at least until season 10), as my impression of this era has always been that it specialized in bland averageness. Can’t say I’m looking forward to two more seasons of that.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (James Coburn):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Elizabeth Ashley