Tag: Phoebe Snow

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May 19, 1979 – Maureen Stapleton / Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow (S4 E19)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Telepsychic Ray makes some more impromptu predictions

— Dan’s wig looks quite different from the one he wore last time he did this character.
— Dan’s opening introduction was really funny.
— Overall, a good Telepsychic sketch as usual.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Well… this whole monologue certainly came and went quickly with no real funny joke, interesting story, or anything remotely noteworthy.
STARS: *½


THE NAVY
— Rerun


HOUSEGUEST IDI AMIN
(LAN) & (BIM) are fed up with the antics of houseguest Idi Amin (GAM)

  

— LOL at the Idi Amin reveal.
— A good laugh from the discussion about Idi having slaughtered an antelope in the kitchen.
— This whole thing is tickling me so far.
— Random abrupt cutaway to an Essex House promo.
— That promo didn’t feel necessary, but overall, I got a lot of great laughs from this sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests & SNL Band perform “It’s In His Kiss”


ROACH BROTHEL
Roach Brothel rids your home of pests via the irresistible lure of sex

  

— I thought this was going to be a set-up for another Dan Aykroyd pitchman appearance, but surprisingly, Bill is the pitchman this time.
— John’s voice is weird but kinda funny.
— Overall, a funny premise and decent execution.
STARS: ***


MOTHER & DAUGHTER
on her birthday, (host) repeatedly clashes with visiting daughter (GIR)

     

— Funny unexpected turn with Gilda angrily stomping on Maureen’s jacket as soon as Maureen stepped out.
— Gilda’s sarcastic responses to Maureen are great.
— I got a big laugh from Gilda’s line “I love picking my nose so much that the underneath of your couch is caked with snot!”
— The ending was both touching and funny.
— Overall, a very strong slice-of-life sketch, and especially had a lot of great moments from Gilda.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
DOP lists prizes that potential assassins of Shah Pahlevi can win
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about nuclear energy
JOB goes berserk while discussing safety concerns about Skylab’s reentry

       

— The Dr. Joyce Brothers mugging joke was great.
— A Point/Counterpoint already? Does this end up being Jane and Dan’s last one ever?
— Jane’s casual mention of “radioactive excrement” during her rant was a little detail that cracked me up.
— Dan’s rebuttal had a great line about Jane’s vibrator.
— An okay Point/Counterpoint overall, but far from one of the best.
— Our first (and last ever?) Belushi commentary in quite a while.
— A bit eerie in hindsight hearing John jokingly mention the possibility of something hitting the World Trade Center.
— Oh, this ISN’T gonna be a “but nooooo” rant?
— Oh, never mind, THERE it is.
— Hilarious ending with John jabbing the broken Skylab model into his neck.

— Yay, they made it through a whole Update without any of the usual three overused recurring correspondents (you know the ones).
STARS: ***½


NICK WINGS
Nick “Wings” bothers musical guests & others in an airline VIP lounge

     

— A Nick the Lounge Singer sketch.
— Garrett in drag once again…
— Funny when Maureen didn’t know the lyrics when Nick wanted her to sing along.
— Nick’s Japanese singing to Asian businessman “Mr. Yosh” is hilarious.
— Loved Gilda’s bitchy response to Nick.
— Very funny how Bill’s singing of “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” is driving the group of feminists away.
— I got a great laugh at the unexpected part with John as a bodyguard punching out Nick. I’ve never seen anything like that in a Nick the Lounge Singer sketch before. He has a much more hostile crowd than usual tonight.
— Overall, one of the best Nick the Lounge Singer sketches.
STARS: ****½


BLACK PERSPECTIVE
immigrants (JAC), (JOB), (GIR) are “the new [n-words]”

  

— The debut of Gilda’s Rosa Santiago character. Did Garrett butcher her last name when introducing her?
— John appears to be dressed the same as he was in SNL’s first-ever sketch: the Wolverines cold opening. There was another sketch he dressed like that, too, but I don’t remember it too well; it was some kind of talk show sketch from either season 1 or season 2 where he played a Bulgarian.
— Is Jane playing the same “nine snowboots” character from the Surplus Store sketch in the Walter Matthau episode?
— Gilda’s character is funny and cute in this.
— This overall sketch didn’t work too well and fell kinda flat. Also, Garrett’s delivery was kind of a mess in this. Lately, I’ve been starting to really get annoyed by his increasing habit of flubbing lines all the time.
STARS: **


VETERANS OF FOREIGN HAIRDOS
Veterans of Foreign Hairdos speak of their horrific coiffures

     

— Oh my god, those wigs…
— The testimonials with the victims each telling their horror hair stories have some good laughs.
— The return of Jane’s Dolly Parton impression.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “The Married Men”


CANDY STORE
candy store owner (host) discusses the dying mall with other tenants

   

— This is yet another sketch that exists in the same universe as the Scotch Boutique sketch. Much like the Barber Shop sketch from the Rick Nelson episode, this takes place at the same mall as Scotch Boutique.
— Gilda’s Scotch Boutique character again makes a cameo.
— Now we get a cameo from Bill’s Barber Shop character. I’m liking all these crossovers.
— Overall, another pretty solid mall store sketch, even if there wasn’t much to note about this one.
STARS: ***½


MR. BILL GOES TO THE MOVIES
by Walter Williams- grandpa in silent film

      

— *groan*
— This has pretty much become a weekly segment at this point. And to make matters worse, I’m aware we’re also getting one in the following week’s season finale.
— I did laugh at the subtitle card “Boo! Not even one balloon! Boo!”
— Overall, even with the silent movie change of pace, I still didn’t care for this. The overuse of Mr. Bill has numbed me to the humor in these.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty solid episode. We got some really strong sketches tonight like Houseguest Idi Amin, Mother & Daughter, and Nick Wings. Several sketches also did a good job playing to Maureen Stapleton’s strengths as an actress (Mother & Daughter, Candy Store).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Palin):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
It’s Aykroyd and Belushi’s last hurrah. Season 4 comes to an end, with Buck Henry hosting.

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April 24, 1976 – Raquel Welch / Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian (S1 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
while performing a skit he wrote, CHC balks when a fall is requested
 
— Boy, these jokes are getting a tepid audience reaction so far.
— Hmm, this has turned into another meta opening with Chevy again taking a stand against being SNL’s resident fall & news anchor guy.
— The fall at the end was too telegraphed.
— Overall, a weaker opening from this season.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
host & Joe Cocker (JOB) sing “Superstar”
 
— A very nice, energetic entrance from Raquel at the beginning.
— This has immediately gone into what seems to be a non-joke song.
— Whoa, John as Joe Cocker out of nowhere.
— Haha, John is definitely helping this monologue with his always-reliable Cocker impression.
STARS: ***½

PURINO RAT CHOW
pied piper (CHC) pitches Purina Rat Chow for apartment pests
 
— Gilda and Garrett are playing the same couple from the “Jill Carson, Guidance Counselor!” sketch from a few episodes ago; they’re even wearing the same clothes they wore in that one. SNL seems to occasionally do things like this in these early episodes, like how the couple John and Gilda played in the Home Security sketch in the premiere later re-appeared in the National Pancreas Association sketch.
— A great laugh from the demonstration with the model rats fighting to eat from bowls of the chow.
STARS: ***½

THE DECABET
Joseph Franklin (DAA) introduces 10-letter metric alphabet- the Decabet
 
— I love the premise already.
— The increasing absurdity of this new alphabet is great.
— This is a perfect example of a quintessential Dan Aykroyd premise. It feels like only he could’ve written something this bizarre, creative, and brilliant.
— Very funny ending with him “singing” the new alphabet song.
STARS: ****½

MUPPETS SPOT
Scred & Ploobis learn they’re no longer booked on the show
CHC attempts in vain to get host to remove her shirt
 
— The “until you’ve made it with a Muppet…” line was pretty funny.
— This ended in an abrupt way. Maybe it’ll be continued later in the night.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

THE CLAUDINE LONGET INVITATIONAL
ski competitors are “accidentally” shot
 
— Oh, this is a notorious and well-known Michael O’Donoghue-written sketch that I’ve heard about but have never seen for myself until now.
— “Jessica Antlerdance”? Wasn’t the Antler Dance something they would later do on SNL this era (with Lily Tomlin, maybe)?
— Unlike some of the other topical references SNL made around this time, I actually get this one, due to having heard so much about this sketch over the years.
— This is great; I especially like how the second skiier got shot multiple times.
— Is it true that in the next episode, SNL would actually air an apology for doing this sketch?
STARS: ****

POLAROID
(no synopsis available)

— Oh, man, I was hoping they had stopped doing these sponsored Polaroid ads.
— John and Jane randomly pretending to be each other is pretty funny, at least.
— This ended strangely with no audience applause.
STARS: N/A

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY
Howard Hughes (DAA) tests propellor bra
 
— The bizarre role that Dan was born to play.
— Funny ending with the propeller bra causing Dan to flail around. Raquel’s panicked yelling also added to the humor.
— A lot of technical issues at the end from the control room.
STARS: ***

NEXT SHOW
JAC announces Madeline Kahn & Carly Simon will be on the next SNL

— “Madeline Kahn was on before, but because of the strike, she couldn’t do a complete show.” Huh??? When did this happen? None of the SNL episode guides have a Madeline Kahn-hosted episode listed before this point in the show’s run.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
election analyst LAN reviews survey of people who answered “don’t know”
Baba Wawa (GIR) tells GAM that Tom Snyder’s hair bothers her
   
— Chevy and the cameramen both seemed to be mixed up regarding which camera Chevy’s supposed to look at during the escaped prisoners story.
— Slow start to tonight’s Update. Not crazy about most of the jokes so far.
— Okay, they’re now getting better.
— Much like Garrett’s Olympics commentary from earlier this season, Laraine’s commentary tonight had a weird delayed start.
— Wasn’t all that crazy about Laraine’s commentary overall.
— The debut of Baba Wawa! They introduced her as the actual Barbara Walters, though, instead of as “Baba Wawa”.
— Oh, wait, now they have a graphic on the bottom of the screen naming Gilda as “Babwa Wawa”, which is close enough, but slightly different with the ‘w’ in her first name that would later get taken out.

BISEXUAL MINUTE
Gore Vidal (host) traces his family’s history

— Well, I’m ALREADY loving this just for the, uh, sight that Raquel’s giving us, if you catch my drift…
— Why is she looking to the side instead of at the camera?
— Uh, what??? This whole segment just came and went with absolutely none of the material making any sense to me. I didn’t get this at all.
STARS: *½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
JOB takes issue with songs written about the weather, sticks up for Toto

— John’s commentary seems to be going in the same direction as his last one, with him getting increasingly worked up.
— John going on about Toto from The Wizard of Oz was pretty funny.
— Overall, not as funny as John’s last commentary, but I like how when he flailed himself out of the chair, he made the whole Update wall shake.
— Yay, no Emily Litella tonight! Though I should’ve already known that, considering Gilda’s Baba Wawa appearance earlier this Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JOHN SEBASTIAN)
 
— What in the world went wrong at the beginning? After beginning to sing, he asked someone off-camera if he can start over again, then continued singing for a short while before busting out laughing, then the song stopped and then re-started properly.
— Hey, it’s Belushi as Joe Cocker again!
— Well, that was quick. Belushi just held a harmonica for John Sebastian to play for a bit, then left.

BEATLE OFFER
LOM offers the Beatles $3000 to appear on SNL

— Oh, is this gonna be the classic Beatles thing?
— Yep, it is! I always enjoy watching this.
— Lorne’s line deliveries were actually really good back in these days. I guess it’s a surprise to me, because I’m more familiar with modern-day Lorne’s dry, deadpan delivery.
— Hilarious line about giving Ringo less money.
— Legend has it that two of the Beatles (I forget which ones) were in a New York hotel watching the show this night, and after seeing this sketch, decided it would be funny to take the show up on its offer by going over to Rockefeller Center and making an unannounced appearance at SNL while tonight’s episode was still airing, which would’ve been epic. But unfortunately, the two ended up changing their minds and didn’t go through with the idea.
STARS: *****

ONE FLEW OVER THE HORNET’S NEST
institutionalized Bees talk Oscars
   
— Haha, Belushi as Nicholson. I can already tell I’m gonna like this.
— Gilda’s making the same facial expression she would later make as her recurring character Colleen.
— Not the best Nicholson I’ve ever seen, but John is performing this sketch so well.
— Raquel’s reaction to not being heard behind the glass window is cracking me up.
— Overall, this Cuckoo’s Nest parody had a very odd structure, but there were enough aspects of it that were well-done.
STARS: ***½

GILDA’S EQUAL TIME
GIR says she has the same body parts as host

— Uh, okay. I can’t think of anything to say about this, other than it was decent.
STARS: ***

RAQUEL
by Gary Weis- scantily clad host dances seductively

— There’s no joke in this, but it’s a sexy video to watch and is well-edited-together visually.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

RAQUEL WELCH: “AIN’T NECESSARILY SO”
host performs “Ain’t Necessarily So”

— Oh, I guess THIS would be the serious non-joke song that I was worried the monologue would be…

MUPPET TRUNK
The Mighty Favog advises Ploobis & Scred to pack it in
 
— Man, this has kind of a sad, depressing vibe. You’d think this was the Muppets’ swan song.
— Scred: “Hiya, Wisss, haven’t seen you since November.” Uh, wasn’t Wisss in the Muppets sketch from the Christmas episode in December?
— For once, Mighty Favog had a closing line that actually made me laugh.
— I’m confused. They sure made this seem like it’s the official end of these Muppets, but I remember hearing that their final SNL appearance is the first episode of season 2. Which is correct?
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS
CHC’s fake telegram convinces host to take off her shirt
   
— Raquel’s chroma-key top was a random but fairly funny gag.
— As the ending credits are rolling, only Raquel and Chevy are onstage, with nobody else in the cast joining them.
— Pardo makes a joke on the subject of turning the clocks ahead one hour tonight. Daylight Savings Time was in late April back in those days?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode. Not outstanding as a whole, but almost nothing was terrible and there were two well-remembered sketches in Claudine Longet Invitational and Beatle Offer, and there was also a forgotten gem in The Decabet. Raquel Welch performed fine in most of the pieces and got at least two or so laughs out of me.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ron Nessen):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn

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October 18, 1975 – Paul Simon / Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow (S1 E2)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host performs “Still Crazy After All These Years”; CHC falls
 
— Our first of what I know is going to be MANY musical performances tonight……
— Ha, Chevy out of nowhere doing a pratfall after the song ended. That was so random, but certainly funny. It’s also noteworthy in that it was the birth of Chevy’s traditional SNL pratfalls. And after this and the previous week’s episode, this opening also pretty much solidified a tradition of Chevy being the one who says “Live from New York…” every week.

OPENING MONTAGE
— The audio quality of the theme music is noticeably A LOT better than the muffled/cardboard box sound it had in the first episode.
— Wow, are George Coe and Michael O’Donoghue gone from the cast ALREADY? The cast list in this episode’s montage just lists the seven Not Ready For Prime-Time Players that everyone’s familiar with nowadays. And unlike last week, they’re listed alphabetically this time, too:

MONOLOGUE
host & Jesse Dixon Singers perform “Loves Me Like A Rock”

— Hmm, Paul is already standing on stage (along with the Jesse Dixon Singers) after the opening montage ends, instead of making the usual entrance that hosts make after Don Pardo announces “Ladies and gentlemen, (insert host name here)”.
— Ah, our first real sighting of the “basement” homebase stage that I remember from this era. Technically, it was used in the previous episode for Janis Ian’s musical performances, but this is the first time it’s being used for the monologue/goodnights stage.

THE BERKELEY COLLECTION
Jerry Rubin [real] pitches the Berkeley Collection of graffiti wallpaper
 
— Like in last week’s pre-taped segments, there doesn’t seem to be any audience sounds mixed into this.
— Uh… I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be laughing at this commercial or not. But I am finding it strangely enjoyable and this has a nice charm to it. This is serving as a nice little time capsule into the late 60s hippie era.
— This actually seems like this could be a real advertised product.
STARS: ***

We get our very first audience caption, a gag that would go on to become one of the staples of 70s SNL.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Paul Simon)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Randy Newman)

BEES
host informs The Bees that their number has been cut from the show

— Hi, cast members!
— Hmm, Chevy isn’t there. But there appears to be a guy in his place who I don’t recognize. (He’s the one standing next to Belushi in the above screencap) I’m guessing he’s one of the writers.
— Paul’s line about how the Bees bit “didn’t work last week” is referring to how poorly-received the previous episode’s Bee Hospital sketch was. I read someplace that the higher-ups at NBC ordered Lorne not to ever bring the Bees back after how badly that sketch bombed.
— Bye, cast members!
— Overall, I can’t rate this segment because it was so short, but it was a pretty funny bit. Unfortunately, I know it’s the last we see of these cast members for the rest of the night…..

WEEKEND UPDATE
host goes one-on-one with Connie Hawkins [real]; Marv Albert cameo
  
— The string of President Ford jokes are all pretty funny so far.
— Hmm, I’m starting to notice a Chevy Chase trademark I never caught before: him pounding his fist on the desk whenever an Update joke gets a big reaction from the audience. He did it last week after the famous prostitution stamp joke, and now he did it this week after a joke.
— Well, this sudden Connie Hawkins/Paul Simon pre-tape certainly seems strange.
— Did I just hear audience laughter? I thought audio of the audience wasn’t mixed into the early pre-tapes.
— Hey, this Simon/Hawkins match is actually really fun. I’m loving this.
— I got a good laugh from the “he’s not hurt” caption after Paul got up from the floor.
— Loved the slow-motion part with Paul ducking under Hawkins’ jump, then successfully making a shot.
— That’s the end of Update? Kinda surprised they never cut back to Chevy. That long pre-tape almost made you forget it was even part of Update.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Simon & Garfunkel, #1)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Simon & Garfunkel, #2)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Art Garfunkel)

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis & Scred seek The Mighty Favog’s help during a financial crisis

— Well, I surprisingly didn’t groan when this popped up, but I’m sure that’s just because after so many consecutive musical performances, I’m desperate for ANY comedy on the show, even this.
— Not too bad so far. It feels weird to actually be laughing during this episode.
— The close-up of Scred’s facial reaction to Favog saying he’ll “take” him was great.
STARS: **½

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
traumatic home movies & failed Candid Camera stunts
 
— The interplay between Albert and his little daughter is pretty funny.
— Hey, I’m actually laughing a lot during this film. Again, however, I’m sure part of that is because of how comedy-deprived I’ve been after sitting through musical performance after musical performance all night.
— Man, Albert’s dad ages fast.
— Overall, Albert Brooks gave me some good much-needed laughs in this film.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Phoebe Snow)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Phoebe Snow, Paul Simon, Jesse Dixon Singers)

TRY-HARD 1-11
the battery is strong enough to run a pacemaker all night

— Uh… okaaayyyy…
— I have no idea what to say about this overall, other than I feel like I missed why this was supposed to be funny. Man, some of these early SNL fake ads are strange.
STARS: *

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Paul Simon)

GOODNIGHTS
Bill Bradley [real] presents host with a basketball trophy
 
— The visual of Paul struggling to carry that huge trophy is pretty funny.
— Paul continues to get laughs, with him now challenging Kareem Abdul Jabbar to a one-on-one match.
— Interestingly, when thanking tonight’s guests, one of the “guests” Paul mentions is Chevy Chase, which is strange considering Chevy’s in the cast. But then again, in the previous episode’s goodnights, George Carlin also mentioned the cast (or, as he called them, “The Not Quite Ready For Prime-Time Players”) among the rest of that episode’s guests. I think this, among other things, shows that in these early episodes, the cast wasn’t quite as ingrained into the show as they would soon be.
— Like how last week’s goodnights just had Carlin on stage by himself, this episode’s goodnights just have Paul and Bill Bradley by themselves. To modern eyes, the stage looks so odd not having the cast & musical guest there as the credits are rolling.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Well… what is there to say about SNL: The Concert, besides “wow, what a weird episode” or “this did not feel like SNL”?
— Honestly, I actually enjoyed the musical performances in this episode, but man, the live sketches’ presence was VERY missed, as was the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players’ presence. Chevy was the only cast member who got any real screen time, and even THAT isn’t saying much, as he just made a walk-on (or “fall-on”, rather) at the end of the cold opening and didn’t do many jokes on Weekend Update before throwing to the Connie Hawkins/Paul Simon basketball pre-tape (which was easily the best segment of the night).
— This being such an early episode and the format not being set in stone yet, it’s understandable that SNL was trying different things – that’s part of what makes these early episodes so fascinating. But let’s just be happy this episode’s ‘all music, no sketches’ format isn’t what SNL ended up sticking with in the long run, though I don’t think that was ever the plan anyway; from what I remember hearing, this episode was basically created as an excuse for the cast and staff to take a breather after all the hard work it took putting together the first episode.
— Despite mostly just focusing on music, Paul Simon was a likable and charming guest host and you can see why he became a frequent repeat guest in the future.

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
— Rob Reiner