Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
bomb squad expert (CHC) attempts to deactivate a cream pie bomb
— George Coe sighting!
— It’s funny listening to the audience tittering during the long stretches of mock-tense silence.
— I’m already laughing right before Chevy’s even opened the box, because I heard about this before: a hand in the box is supposed to hit Chevy in the face with a pie, but the bit gets botched when the hand unintentionally misses his face, which actually sounds pretty funny to me. I think I also heard that it’s John Belushi’s hand in the box.
— Yep, I see I was right about the gag getting botched. I got a good unintentional laugh from that. I heard they actually re-do the gag properly during the goodnights.
— By the way, interesting how this didn’t end with Chevy doing a trademark fall for once. It’s good that they’re starting to branch out and have other silly things happen to him at the end of the cold openings.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Despite the fact that the cast members are still credited collectively in a list, Pardo has now started announcing their names individually for the first time ever.
MONOLOGUE
producer (Peter) tells one-legged actor (Dudley) he’s unfit to be Tarzan
— I’m not familiar with Peter Cook & Dudley Moore as a comedy team, but based on my familiarity with just Dudley and my love for British comedy, I already know I’m going to like them.
— This is very good so far, as expected.
— A funny little part just now with Dudley placing his non-leg onto the chair, accompanied by a light “thunk” sound.
— Great line from Peter: “I’ve got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is, neither have you.”
STARS: ****
UTAH PRISON
prisoners audition for parts in a jailhouse production of Gigi
— Another George Coe sighting!
— Oh, is this gonna be the famous sketch with Garrett singing “I’m Gonna Get Me a Shotgun and Kill All the Whiteys I See”?
— Dan’s whole scene is great so far.
— Dan’s insane rant at the end of his scene was hilarious! This is one of the types of Aykroyd performances I’ve been loving the most while going through these episodes one-by-one.
— LOL at Chevy suddenly lunging at Gilda in the middle of his harmonica solo.
— Chevy’s pedophile song – uh, wow…
— Ah, yes, the classic Garrett song. This is a riot just like I had remembered.
— I’m surprised to see that Garrett’s song is just a small part of the sketch. From the clip I had always seen of it, I had assumed it was its own sketch.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
DON PARDO’S HOLIDAY IN AN ELEVATOR
(GIR) & (DAA) go on the low-cost vacation
— Very interesting premise.
— I like how every country the elevator opens up on is just Dudley in front of a green-screen with a fake animal head.
— Dudley saying “No way, no way” to doing the Borneo part was great.
— The un-tucked uniform on Chevy as the “cop” was a little detail I liked.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s attempt to call Angola ends up reaching Angela’s roommate JAC
at Times Square, LAN asks (GAM) for his opinions on abortion
— If Jane’s playing herself, why are we supposed to believe she would be at home during a live SNL episode?
— Jane’s “stringing beads” line was a funny callback to Chevy’s opening phone conversation gag.
— “Swarms of killer bees from South America crossing the border…” Oh, so THAT’S why they did that Killer Bees sketch a few episodes ago. I hadn’t realized it was based on a topical news story.
— Hilarious ad-lib with Chevy briefly spouting random Spanish after messing up the beginning of the Great Britain plane joke.
MIDDLE AMERICAN VAN LINES
— rerun
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella doesn’t understand the fuss about “saving Soviet jewelry”
CHC declares a moratorium on Gerald Ford jokes, then finds a loophole
aided by showering ALZ, CHC repeats the top story for wet people
— Loved the bit with Chevy having to combine two unrelated news stories since Update was “pressed for time”.
— The “News For the Wet” is our latest variation of “News for the Hard of Hearing”. I didn’t think this one was all that funny, though. I do like how these have been a nice way for Alan Zweibel to get some airtime.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***
TABLE TALK
(Dudley) interviews The Frog & Peach restaurant owner (Peter)
— I’m already laughing right at the beginning, with Peter kicking Dudley’s clipboard out of his hand while crossing his legs.
— I’m really enjoying watching these two play off of each other.
— Again, this has the type of absurd British humor that I love.
— A good laugh from Peter’s anti-World War II letter: “Dear sir, stop it.”
— The whole bit about Peter’s character’s wife is hilarious.
STARS: ****
THE PARAMOUNT NOVELTY STORE
by Gary Weis- shop owner explains the jokes
— Where is this going? So far, this has been nothing but the store owner showcasing different novelty items.
— And that’s the end??? Man, I can accept the fact that there weren’t any jokes in this, as I know serious segments weren’t uncommon during this SNL era, but this short wasn’t even interesting or entertaining. What in the world was this going for???
— I had heard somewhere that Gary Weis’ SNL shorts were generally bad, but I wasn’t willing to believe it earlier this season after seeing his heartwarming “Homeward Bound” short and his creative “Play Misty for Me” short. But after his short tonight and his one from the preceding episode with Buck Henry searching for the funniest person, I’m slowly starting to understand why his shorts were supposedly considered bad.
STARS: *
SONNY & CHER
British Sonny (Dudley) & Cher (Peter) sing “I Got You Babe” & trade barbs
— Haha, oh my god at the initial sight of Peter and Dudley dressed like that.
— This is pretty funny, with the Scottish version of “I Got You Babe” and the spot-on imitation of bad Sonny & Cher humor.
STARS: ***½
GILDA & SCRED
GIR breaks it to Bee Scred that the Bees skit has been cut from the show
— Well, this is different. Hopefully, this means we won’t be getting our usual “Land of Gorch” Muppets sketch tonight.
— Hey, this is actually kinda cute so far.
— I like how when imitating Chevy’s Update shtick, Scred referenced Chevy’s habit of ad-libbing “toyboat toyboat”.
— This and the sketch with Lily Tomlin prove that Scred is actually a charming character when used the right way.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
BACKSTAGE BANTER
JAC interviews male impersonator Sheila Ellington (JOB)
— Hmm, unique premise with John as a woman who’s a male impersonator.
— It’s funny how this is being played so straight.
— The ‘cramps’ bit was great.
— John’s brief Rod Steiger impression just now sounded the exact same as the voice he used in the Exterminators sketch from the Robert Klein episode. Was that Exterminators sketch a parody of a Rod Steiger movie that I’m not aware of?
STARS: ***
LOVERS
neither (CHC) nor (Jaqueline Carlin) use products to feel more attractive
— Another appearance from Chevy’s then-girlfriend and occasional SNL extra Jacqueline Carlin.
— Uh, what??? That’s the whole commercial???? It was, like, 10 seconds long, and its punchline was a voice-over simply saying “neither of these two people used any commercial product to make themselves more attractive to each other”. I guess that’s kinda funny if it was intended as a spoof of the type of beauty product commercials I’m thinking of, but this came off a little too random for its own good.
STARS: **
OPERATING ROOM
not-quite-deceased (GAM) objects to having his organs harvested
— Another very short sketch, though at least this one had an actual good punchline.
STARS: ***½
GOSPEL TRUTH
Matthew (Dudley) interviews a shepherd (Peter) who saw the baby Jesus
— I’m liking all the little ad-libs they keep throwing in here. I caught Dudley stifling a little laughter a few times.
— So far, this is yet another fun Peter/Dudley piece, and I’m enjoying all the wordplay here.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
CHC & hosts redo the botched opening
— Ah, so I was right when I said I remember hearing they re-did the cold opening’s botched pie gag. Haha, this is pretty cool.
— Oh, so that really WAS John as the pie-thrower in the cold opening.
— Okay, now that the goodnights music is playing, where’s the rest of the cast?
— And why is there no scrolling ending credits? Technical error?
— Oh, there’s the credits. For some reason, the credits are in yellow text tonight instead of the usual white text that’s typically been used this season.
— Oh, and there’s the rest of the cast, showing up one-by-one.
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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another pretty solid, fun episode, even if not quite as strong as the last two that preceded this.
— This episode made great use of the hosts, not only utilizing them well in sketches with the cast, but also giving them lots of spots throughout the show to do their two-man act, all of which were solid.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Buck Henry):
— a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Dick Cavett