Tag: Michael Palin

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January 21, 1984 – Michael Palin and his mother / The Motels (S9 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
JOP is upset- they gave him Charlie Chan makeup for a Donahue sketch

   

— LOL, oh my god at Joe’s makeup. Who in the world is he playing?
— Ha, turns out he’s Phil Donahue. Why in the world does he look like that, though?
— Joe’s Donahue voice still leaves a lot to be desired.
— I’m loving how they’re now breaking the fourth wall with Joe storming backstage after realizing he was mistakenly given Charlie Chan make-up for his Donahue impression.
— This is hilarious, and Joe is really selling the hell out of his anger. I especially loved his loud outburst of “I’m supposed to be Phil Donahue! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE PHIL DONAHUE?!?!”
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
Michael’s mother interrupts his monologue with requests & advice

    

— This is unique, having someone host with their non-famous mother. And even funnier, Michael Palin’s mother was literally announced and billed as “his (Michael’s) mother”, which makes this probably the only time in SNL history where a host wasn’t billed under any name. I also wonder if she’s the second least-famous SNL host ever, after “Anyone Can Host” contest winner Miskel Spillman.
— This is pretty funny with Michael angrily making frequent trips backstage to accommodate his mother’s wishes.
— The fact that Michael’s mother isn’t even saying anything audible makes this even funnier, for some reason.
— Okay, she did speak aloud just now.
— The ridiculous hat Michael’s forced to wear is pretty hilarious.
STARS: ***½


BOY GEORGE BURNS: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC
a strange TV special

— Nice hybrid of a Boy George and a George Burns impression.
— This overall sketch didn’t turn out to be anywhere near as funny as the setup had me thinking it would be. Jim did a pretty decent George Burns, though.
STARS: **


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
the dognapper shows how to ransom a pooch

   

— Nice addition with the puppy.
— I liked Eddie’s line about kids asking him “You don’t have no job, do ya?”
— I love how Eddie named the dog Cujo.
— The phone call to the puppy’s owner has a lot of very funny parts.
— Great Mister Robinson sketch overall.
STARS: ****


MICK PITWHISTLE DOES IT ALL
Pitwhistle’s (Michael) singing is bad in many genres

 

— Another fake promo starring a singer tonight?
— I did get one laugh so far, from Pardo’s jovially-delivered line “Mick Pitwhistle is the number one recording artist NOWHERE!”
— Overall, a letdown. The writing of this was really weak and not even Michael could save it.
STARS: **


POWERFUL LIVING SNAPS
Lorne Greene (JOP) for Powerful Living dog snacks- nutrition & religion

 

— Another sketch involving someone with a dog? There seems to be a lot of running themes in tonight’s episode.
— The “Powerful Living” book turning out to be a box of dog food gave me a chuckle.
— Overall, this ended up being another disappointing sketch tonight. There just wasn’t much to laugh at here.
STARS: **


MAN ON A CHAIN
(Michael) tries to lease an apartment that contains a man-on-chain (JIB)

   

— Hilarious entrance from Jim as some random cave-living savage who comes with the apartment that Brad and Robin want to buy.
— Jim’s reminding me so much of his brother John in this. I can easily imagine John playing this character in the original era.
— Very funny part with Michael’s explanation of the vague “M.O.C.” (man on chain) description that was in the lease.
— Outrageous part with Jim dragging a screaming Robin into his cave.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Brad following the above-mentioned Robin-dragging incident by casually asking Michael “Would that include utilities?”
STARS: ***½


THAT’S OKAY
(BRH) is stuck when (JOP) wants him to perform his skill

   

— There goes Julia in Ana Gasteyer’s future Bobbi Mohan-Culp dress once again.
— Pretty funny gradual reveal that the show’s title (“No, That’s Okay”) is what the host, Joe, always says to the guests when they ask him if he wants to see their incredible talent that they’ve just described to him.
— Great twist with Joe telling the third guest, Brad, that he actually wants to see him perform his talent involving driving three nails into his head with a hammer, and Brad responding that he never intended to do that dangerous stunt because he thought Joe would tell him the usual “No, that’s okay”.
— Hilarious how Gary and Tim are forcibly holding Brad down and hammering the nails into his head.
— Haha, great callback to Joe’s “No, that’s okay” mantra by having him say it in response to Jim’s cry of “My god, somebody help him!”
— I wonder if this was another sketch written by my new favorite writer Andy Breckman. This sketch kinda had the feel of his usual writing style.
STARS: ****


SHOPLIFTER
(JIB) steals the contents of a convenience store from under (GAK)’s nose

     

— Ah, here’s the “Shoplifting” film that was supposed to air in the previous week’s episode but got cut for time.
— Jim’s cracking me up with his hastily grabbing things near him in the store.
— Haha, this is getting insane with Jim stuffing literally EVERYTHING into his jacket.
— Very funny visual with the end result of Jim’s whole shoplifting spree causing his jacket to be insanely huge and clunky, which Gary’s store clerk character is hilariously oblivious to.
— There was a weird abrupt cut to the ending shot of Gary and Tim surrounded by a completely empty store.
— Overall, a really good short film. This kinda felt like a precursor to the “The Bulge” short we’ll be seeing in the season 10 premiere (both films involve Jim stuffing a ridiculous amount of things into one part of his clothing that results in it looking like a huge, clunky mess). In fact, this feels like a precursor to the general high usage of clever short films we’ll be seeing in season 10.
STARS: ****


WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?
(Michael)’s high-tech game show has problems
more technical difficulties during second attempt

    

— Very interesting setting.
— Wow, holy hell at the immediate explosion at the beginning of the show, just as Michael’s character was talking about how technologically advanced his show is.
— Heh, after the sudden explosion, the show has restarted with a now-bandaged Michael.
— Michael’s name randomly being Sally Benjamin cracked me up.
— Ehh, this overall sketch ended up fizzling out after a while and didn’t live up to its potential.
STARS: **


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
JOP analyzes upcoming Super Bowl XVIII by using the telestrator

     

— This is the first time we’re seeing Saturday Night News after Brad’s firing as anchorperson.
— Hmm, interestingly, Don Pardo introduces this as “A special sports edition of Saturday Night News”, and we then see Joe in the anchorman chair, doing his SNL Sports routine.
— Joe’s commentary about the following day’s Super Bowl (between the Redskins and the Raiders) has some pretty good laughs.
— Ha, the audience boos loudly when Joe predicts the Redskins will win, so he “changes” his prediction to the Raiders.
— That’s it? That’s the whole “Saturday Night News”? Wow, they didn’t even TRY to make this come off as a fake news segment. From Pardo’s intro to this, I assumed this would turn out to be Joe doing sports-related news stories, but instead, it was just the usual type of SNL Sports commentary that Joe typically does as a guest correspondent.
STARS: ***


WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?
first question is 17-2=?, “fedora” is accepted

 

— Yet another follow up to this sketch.
— I like the random cartoonish sound whenever a paper gets printed out of the futuristic machine.
— A good laugh from the participant choosing “fedora” as the answer to the math question 17 minus 2.
— The bungling-up of the transportation gimmick is another part I like.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Dr. Jack Badofsky goes over the types of menopause

   

— Oh, so it’s going to be a recurring thing tonight for regular guest commentators to “anchor” Saturday Night News. Yeah, I’m not crazy about this idea AT ALL. Ebersol clearly has no idea what to do with Saturday Night News anymore ever since he fired Brad.
— Tim’s portrayal of Dr. Jack Badofsky seems even more twitchy than usual tonight.
— The audience boos hard after Badofsky’s “Gentle-Ben-opause” pun. Between this and the audience’s constant booing and hissing during Badofsy’s previous appearance, they seem to officially have had enough of this character.
— Heh, I love how after the audience had a PARTICULARLY negative reaction to the “Tutankhamen-opause” pun, Tim added a “I guess that joke ‘sphinx’” and then smiled self-satisfyingly.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Suddenly Last Summer”


SAVE LOTS OF PLANKTON
(Michael) says “don’t worry about the whales, save all those poor plankton”

 

— This silly, ridiculous concept seems like a perfect sketch for Michael.
— The acronym for the S.L.O.P. organization was kinda funny.
— Overall, there were a few decent parts, but this kinda ended up being yet another underwhelming use of Michael’s talents tonight.
STARS: **½


HOUSE OF MUTTON
(Michael) is the owner of the House of Mutton sheep-themed restaurant

   

— A Clint Smith sighting. His speaking role in this sketch makes it obvious that this is yet another episode where Eddie’s not there live in the studio.
— I haven’t been liking where this sketch is going. Not even the “black sheep” joke with Clint could make me laugh much.
— What was with Michael randomly getting water thrown into his face when speaking to off-camera waiters in the kitchen? Michael’s strange reaction to that makes me wonder if that part wasn’t in the script.
— An all-around bad sketch overall, and I’m running out of different ways to say Michael’s talents were wasted.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Remember the Nights”


BOY’S LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
riverboat captain (Michael) is mentor for (GAK)

 

— LOL at Michael quickly writing down the answers that Gary gives to Michael’s boat questions.
— During Michael’s brief song, I can see where they dubbed over his “Oh, you big wet bastard” lyric, which I guess was deemed too offensive to re-air.
— I like the bit where we find out Gary’s brother was run over by the ship.
— This overall funny sketch played well to Michael’s strengths, which is more than I can say for some of the other material he was given tonight.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very hit-and-miss episode. About half the episode was well-written, solid pieces, like That’s Okay and Boy’s Life On The Mississippi, while the other half was mediocre, thinly-written stuff that Michel Palin couldn’t save, like House of Mutton and Mick Pitwhistle Does It All.
— In hindsight, it seems pointless for them to have credited Michael’s mother as a co-host when she only ended up appearing in the monologue and musical guest intros. Couldn’t they have found a way to use her in a sketch or two?


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Father Guido Sarducci):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Don Rickles

Posted on

May 12, 1979 – Michael Palin / James Taylor (S4 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Fred Silverman (JOB) appoints Gary Coleman as vice president of NBC

 

— Funny reveal with the announcement of Gary Coleman being Fred Silverman’s new chief assistant.  A snapshot of the days when then-new sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” was one of the very few hits NBC had at the time.
— Overall, a pretty good cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about how his mother mistreated him when he was young

— Another mention of Michael’s mother.
— The whole coal miner baby story has several funny parts.
— Abrupt ending with him suddenly throwing to James Taylor’s musical performance.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Johnnie Comes Back”


MILES COWPERTHWAITE
Miles Cowperthwaite sails with manly men aboard The Raging Queen

         

— Ah, here’s the “Raging Queen” sketch that I thought we were getting in the Miles Cowperthwaite sketch from Michael’s earlier episode this season.
— John’s flirtatious behavior towards Michael at bedtime is pretty funny.
— Gilda, Laraine, and John all “comforting” Michael in bed was hilarious.
— Funny with Bill’s decision to amputate Michael’s legs just because they had been soaking wet.
— I like the ending with the next chapter being titled “I Am Eaten By Sharks”.
— Overall, a very well-done epic sketch. I didn’t find this to be quite the classic this sketch has often been called; maybe because this type of humor with stereotypical gays doesn’t come off as outrageously hilarious now as it did back in the day. Still a very good sketch, though.  Personally, I find the first Miles Cowperthwaite sketch from earlier this season to be the better of the two.
STARS: ****


MAGNA-GRO
Magna-Gro anabolic steroids build seeds into gigantic, strong plants

   

— I can already tell right from the opening scene with Bill and Laraine that this will be our usual absurd-premised Dan Aykroyd pitchman commercial.
— I was right.
— The mature live ox “extraction” Dan held up was a funny visual.
— I liked Bill arm-wrestling with the now-giant flower.
— Overall, a decent ad, though not as crazy as most Aykroyd pitchman commercials, which is kinda disappointing as this probably ends up being the last one he does before leaving the show.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
footage of Chico Escuela’s disastrous final game with the Mets
newly-elected Margaret Thatcher (host) clashes with JAC on Rhodesia
JAC & BIM don top hats & sing to wish Fred Astaire a happy 80th birthday
Father Guido Sarducci talks about two obscure Earth-like planets

     

— ANOTHER Chico Escuela pre-tape for the third episode in a row?
— Bill ends the Chico Escuela segment by announcing that Chico will be re-joining Update as a regular correspondent. Not exactly thrilling news for me, considering how tired I am of the endless narrow Update cycle of Chico, Roseanne Rosannadanna, and Father Guido Sarducci. I knew Chico’s “retirement” wouldn’t last long.
— Michael’s really funny as Margaret Thatcher.
— HA at Michael responding to Jane’s angry rant with “Jane, you’re an ignorant slut”.
— A mention from Bill of Fred Astaire’s birthday. Is this going to be yet another smarmy singing of “Happy Birthday” from Bill?
— Oh, never mind, this is actually different, with Bill and Jane wishing Astaire a happy birthday by doing a low-key Astaire-esque number, complete with top hats and canes. That was very nice.
— Speaking of the endless narrow Update cycle of Escuela, Rosannadanna, and Sarducci…..
— I swear, almost every episode this season, based on who that night’s Update guests are, you can predict which of the three members of the “endless narrow Update cycle” will appear in the next episode. In that regard, I predict we’ll be getting Rosannadanna next week. Then again, it’s more likely they’d want to save such a popular character like her for the season finale, which is two episodes from now.
— As burned out as I’m getting on Sarducci, there’s a few okay parts tonight like the ending of his description of reverse aging and his “corn on the cob” bit.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Up On The Roof”


BOULEVARD OF PROUD CHICANO CARS
the gas crisis takes its toll on a gang

     

— I’m already liking this just from the opening credits sequence.
— LOL at John’s entrance.
— Wow, Gilda’s actually convincing as a tough, adolescent Hispanic boy. Love her voice, delivery, and demeanor as Carlos.
— Just now, there was a loud off-camera sound of what sounded like a pipe or tool dropping to the floor. Did NBC just drop yet another show?
— I liked Michael’s use of matches to chase Gilda off.
— Bill, when meeting Gilda as Carlos: “Well, you’re not very Caucasian, are you?”
— The double entendres when Gilda and Jane are talking about siphoning gas are quite hilarious.
— Haha, Dan as President Carter randomly appears as a houseguest. That and the extensive nature of this sketch is bringing back memories of the epic Pepsi Syndrome sketch from a few episodes ago.
— Wow, they didn’t even try to hide the… uh… bumps under the chest area of Gilda’s shirt, even though she’s supposed to be playing a boy.
— Great line from John: “(in Chicano accent) All they teach you is chit……… and chat.” Nice fake-out there.
— Overall, another very well-done epic sketch tonight. It seems to have become the norm lately to do really long sketches. I know that trend carries over into season 5, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing considering how weaker SNL’s writing is known to be that season.
— I wonder if this ends up being the final appearance of Dan’s Jimmy Carter impression. Strange to think that in the following season, nobody in the cast would take over the impression, and thus, the show would go through a whole season without doing ANY sketches involving the president (which is something I know quite a lot of people are wishing would happen nowadays).
STARS: ****


MR. BILL RUNS AWAY
by Walter Williams- Mr. Hands picks up a hitch-hiker

      

— The visual of Spot with a fake beard covering most of his face was both pretty funny and cute.
— Overall, not great, and I’ve already mentioned how burned out I’m becoming on these overused Mr. Bill shorts, but the ending was good. I always enjoy a good “stock footage of a car crashing off a cliff” ending, which is a type of ending SNL would get a lot of good mileage out of in later eras.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Millworker”


SNYDER MOTHER’S DAY
Tom Snyder (DAA) & his mother (JAC) celebrate Mother’s Day together

— The return of Jane as Mama Snyder.  A Mother’s Day dinner is a great setting for her.
— Funny line from Dan’s Snyder regarding his childhood worries that his father would “snip the darn thing off”, when Snyder’s talking about the strong feelings he had for his mother.
— Wow, the sketch is over already. This was unusually very short. Considering this was the final sketch of the night, I wonder if the show had started running long and perhaps they had to do some last-minute trimming to the script right before the sketch aired.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

— It’s very evident how much the cast loves working with Michael by the insane amount of affection they’re showering him with in these goodnights.  Huge contrast to the “reception” they gave Milton Berle in the last episode’s goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good show, with two great epic, long sketches, and a few decent sketches/segments surrounding them. Nothing flopped too badly tonight.
— Michael Palin did his usual strong work, though thinking back on it, he didn’t appear in many segments. In fact, he was almost non-existent in the post-Update half of the show. That may be due to the fact that there was an overall very small number of sketches tonight, which is something I have to get used to, as it’s pretty much become the norm around this time.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Milton Berle):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Maureen Stapleton

Posted on

January 27, 1979 – Michael Palin / The Doobie Brothers (S4 E10)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Jimmy Carter’s (DAA) hemorrhoids affect the State Of The Union address

 

— Funny opening commentary from Tom Davis'(?) voice-over at beginning about President Carter’s “painful medical problem”.
— Amusing pained slow entrance from Dan’s Carter.
— Dan’s Carter’s use of hemorrhoid-related words to express the U.S.’s inflation problems is hilarious! A lot of big laughs there.
— The random “next president” disclaimer under the stock footage shot of Ted Kennedy was great.
— Overall, a very funny opening, and an improvement over the preceding State of the Union cold opening the show did in season 3.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
if only NBC had given non-wool socks to host, the show would be perfect

 

— Not sure how he can top his cats-down-the-pants monologue from last time.
— LOL at the woman in the audience who keeps loudly cheering “Woo!” after every single cast member name Michael mentions.
— Michael, in an ad-lib(?) regarding the audience: “Is that my mother up there?” Kinda funny hearing that, as Michael would later co-host SNL with his mother in the early 80s.
— I now keep hearing the distinctive laugh of the aforementioned “Woo!” audience member from earlier.
— Overall, this was pretty disappointing for a Michael Palin monologue. The whole “wrong socks” thing just wasn’t that interesting of a premise, despite Michael’s efforts to wring laughs out of it. They could’ve given him something much funnier than this.
STARS: **


NERDS MUSIC LESSON
lonely Mr. Brighton shifts his attention from Lisa to Enid to Todd

     

— These characters are now finally getting Coneheads-level huge cheers from the audience upon their entrance at the beginning.
— Nice continuity by bringing back Michael’s piano teacher character from last time he hosted.
— Michael: “You stir my manhood!”
— Funny sight gag with Bill entering with the bra over his eyes.
— Heh, I should’ve seen the ending coming where Michael turned his romantic attention towards Bill, but it still caught me off-guard and gave me a laugh.
STARS: ***½


WHAT IF?
the possibility of a Nazi Superman (DAA) is explored

       

— Jane’s back to being the “What If?” host, after Steve Martin took over her role last time.
— Oh, this is the Superman-as-a-Nazi one I’ve always heard about. I already love the concept alone.
— Garrett’s answer getting cut off was pretty funny.
— Some great laughs from Michael-as-Hitler’s speech about how many steps Russians are above other minorities/groups he hates (e.g. negro gypsy homosexuals).
— John doing his great Brando impression as Jor-El.
— I like the Nazi version of Superman’s name: Uberman.
— LOL at Dan’s x-ray vision revealing that Franken’s character is “a jew”.
— Overall, this was fantastic. Easily the best of the “What If?” sketches so far.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What a Fool Believes”


WEEKEND UPDATE
fired Ohio State coach Woody Hayes (JOB) hits wife (GIR) in BIM interview
photos show Rosalynn Carter’s proclivity for being around mass murderers
Chico Escuela gives advice to athletes- “keep your eye on the ball”
Father Guido Sarducci analyzes the bill for the Last Brunch

       

— Hmm, a lesser-known edition of Bill Murray’s Celebrity Corner.
— Wow at John suddenly beating the hell out of Gilda. I kinda wish I was keeping count of the number of times John has done that to Gilda in a sketch, because it’s gotta be near the double-digits by this point in the show’s run.
— Chico Escuela’s whole “keep your eye on the ball” commentary was short and didn’t really go anywhere, but it still made me laugh. Hope they do more noteworthy things with this character in his future appearances, though.
— Amusing seeing Guido Sarducci with the sombrero.
— Funny story from Sarducci about a man trying to sell him a high school graduation picture of Jesus and the bill for the Last Supper.
— Loved the part of Sarducci’s Last Brunch story about the guy who just had egg and tea having to pay as much as others at the brunch who ate more.
— I think this is the first time they had Bill do the “pleasant tomorrow” sign-off instead of Jane.
STARS: ***


MILES COWPERTHWAITE
Charles Dickens’ Miles Cowperthwaite (host) comes of age as drool handler

       

— Oh, I heard about this sketch. Supposedly, it’s one of the longest and most elaborate sketches in SNL history. This must be around the time when the show started doing some really long sketches (e.g. the epic “Pepsi Syndrome”, which appears later this season); a trend that would carry over into season 5.
— Jane’s voice and accent are great.
— Oh my god at Dan’s whole scene so far. He is priceless!
— Some good gross-out humor here.
— Bill’s talking in a voice similar to his character in the Theodoric of York sketches.
— For some reason, the part with Michael giving Dan a loud bop with a mallet to stop Dan’s spasms is absolutely slaying me. I cannot stop laughing right now.
— Ah, here’s the part I always heard about, with John as the effeminate ship captain of The Raging Queen.
— Wait, what? The sketch is over already? It can’t be. I had always heard that most of this sketch took place on a ship, with John’s captain character being a huge part of the sketch. Instead, this sketch contained zero ship scenes, and John’s character only appeared in the last minute of the sketch. WTF? I’m also surprised to see that this sketch was NOWHERE NEAR as long as I had heard. I’m starting to think I must be watching a different Miles Cowperthwaite sketch than the one I heard about. I know Michael hosts again later this season; maybe that episode has a continuation of this sketch. Anyone know?
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Taking it to the Streets”


NAME THE BATS
(JOB) & (GIR) are attacked on (host)’s game show

    

— Strange but interesting concept so far.
— I’m laughing my ass off at Michael beating on the outside of the barn to make the bats show up inside.
— Part of the barn door falls off when Michael beats on the barn. Wonder if that was a real mistake.
— HAHA this is insane with Gilda and John’s various off-camera yells during the bat attack while Michael as the sadistic host is forcing them to stick to the game show’s premise and give the bats names.
— Great ending with Gilda and John’s “consolation prize”.
— Overall, wow, what a hilarious insane sketch that got great reactions from me. I think I just discovered a new favorite sketch of mine.
STARS: *****


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
communists ALF, TOD, LAN, GIR preview their pornographic TV plan

     

— The concept of communist porn is pretty funny.
— I like the porn’s opening credits sequence.
— The stilted talk of “back-rubbing” as a raunchy sex act is good.
— HA at Franken loudly cracking Laraine’s neck.
STARS: ***


MR. BILL GOES TO COURT
by Walter Williams- Sluggo sues after Spot bites

       

— They waited two episodes since the last Mr. Bill film, but it’s STILL too soon to bring this back.
— Spot with the ball & chain around his rabies-infested mouth is a pretty funny visual.
— Interesting seeing Mr. Bill’s mom.
— Mr. Bill’s mom returning from the cross-examination room all beat-up gave me a good laugh.
— The electric chair ending was great.
— Overall, wow, that was actually really good. Just when I thought I had officially gotten tired of the Mr. Bill films, they win me back with this one.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
host thanks viewers who mailed in socks

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Overall, a really strong show. While this unfortunately didn’t have the Monty Python-esque feel that Michael Palin’s previous episode had, there were still several great unique concepts I absolutely loved that were executed perfectly, like the Uberman and (one of my new all-time favorites) Name The Bats sketches, and there was also a really strong Miles Cowperthwaite piece.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Cicely Tyson

Posted on

April 8, 1978 – Michael Palin / Eugene Record (S3 E16)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Grandma Walton Tries To Tie Her Shoelace will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Oscar-winner Vanessa Redgrave (JAC) uses podium as a political forum

— Jane’s acceptance speech was pretty funny.
— LOL at John as Yasser Arafat.
— Pretty funny opening, and it helps that the premise of award winners using their acceptance speech as an excuse to go off on a political rant is more relevant than ever today, 40 years later.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s manager Sid Biggs (host) kills time, puts two cats in his pants

— Michael coming out in character instead of as himself is a fun idea.
— His awkward stalling for time is making me laugh.
— Michael: “I have available a man who swallows live macaws! Wonderful act… disgusting to watch.”
— Haha, oh my god at him stuffing his pants with a salad and two cats. What a riot. Hilarious way to end this monologue.
STARS: ****½


LITTLE CHOCOLATE DONUTS
— Rerun


CONFESSION
IRS agent (DAA) questions a priest (host) about his tax deductions
H&L Brock solves moral dilemmas in addition to doing your taxes

— At first, I thought Dan was playing a mobster.
— This is pretty slow-moving so far. I’m starting to wonder where the big laughs are supposed to be coming from.
— Fairly funny visual with Bill in the thought bubble.
— Hilarious twist with this unexpectedly turning out to be a message from John’s H&L Brock character, which made the slow build-up worth it.
STARS: ***


THE SEAGULL
host tries to break record for escaping from a chest during Chekhov play

— Very funny and ambitious with Michael’s struggles to get out of the trunk and straitjacket while Bill and Jane are going on with the play and a timer is on the bottom of screen.
— Some pretty good laughs from Michael’s crazed rant about how he wanted to be a claims adjuster rather than an actor.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
actor (Leo Yoshimura) impersonates Tongsun Park to better his career
JOB wants the Rockefellers to spare Radio City Music Hall from demolition

— Dan’s opening “I’m in love… with this paper clip” bit was ruined by a badly-timed camera switch.
— Huh? Former president Gerald Ford announced plans for running again in the 1980 presidential race? I don’t know much about politics, but I thought that after a president leaves office, they couldn’t run in future elections.
— Hey, it’s Akira Yoshimura in his own Update commentary!
— I liked Jane’s “How quickly they turn” ad-lib in response to her bank robbers joke bombing.
— Another great John Belushi Update rant.
STARS: ***


NERDS MUSIC LESSON
piano teacher Mr. Brighton (host) gets fresh with Lisa during a lesson

— This appears to be our first traditional Nerds sketch, after their experimental first two appearances earlier this season.
— Gilda is even funnier in this than she usually is in these Nerds sketches.
— Heh, what was with Bill doing Steve Martin’s “excuuuuuse meeee!”?  Was it all the rage at the time for EVERYBODY quote that?
— I got a good laugh from Michael suddenly throwing Gilda on the piano keys and starting to kiss her.
— Michael’s overdramatic “Yes, I know!” before leaving cracked me up for some reason.
— Good ending with the “lollipop kiss”.
— Overall, easily my favorite of the Nerds sketches that have aired up until this point.
STARS: ****


THE FORGOTTEN MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock Holmes (host) investigates The Case of the Scarlet Membrane

— Michael’s pre-taped intro was weird, but the constant corrections from the off-camera voice made me laugh.
— LOL at whatever that is sticking out of Michael’s nose.
— When Michael randomly fired a loud gunshot at the target sheet, I’m pretty sure I could hear an audience member audibly say “Whoa, shit” in surprise.
— This is very funny so far, and has a very Monty Python feel, which I love.
— Bill’s raspy British accent is cracking me up.
— Overall, very funny sketch led by a great Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ****


PARTY NIGHT
(BIM)’s desire to have a good time at a party bothers his wife (LAN)

— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written slice-of-life piece.
— This took a while to start getting funny, but I’m starting to get some laughs.
— Loved Bill’s exclamations and happy dance at the end.
— Overall, this was pretty good, though there have been better slice-of-life pieces in this era.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MR. BILL PAYS TAXES
by Walter Williams- an arm & a leg

— Another one so soon? Didn’t we just get a Mr. Bill film in the last episode?
— Mr. Bill’s voice sounds even higher-pitched than usual in this.
— Overall, this was fine, but I think it was too soon to do another Mr. Bill.  These are probably better in small doses, as I didn’t laugh quite as much as I did in the last Mr. Bill film.
STARS: ***


DANGER PROBE
a fop (host) & his servant (GAM) provoke rednecks in a bar

— I recall this eventually becoming a recurring sketch later on.
— Franken’s exaggerated redneck accent is making me laugh out loud.
— Michael and Garrett are pretty funny as the fop and blackamoor.
— Haha, holy hell at the sudden wild scuffle between the cops and the rednecks. I love that for some reason.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— Michael shows that the two cats from earlier are fine.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid, fun episode that had something worthwhile in every sketch; nothing got a bad rating from me.
— It goes without saying that Michael Palin would be a natural as SNL host, and I like how he helped give this episode a strong Monty Python feeling, which makes this reminiscent of the times Eric Idle hosted prior to this.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Sarrazin