Tag: saturday night live

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March 20, 1982 – Robert Urich / Mink De Ville, Buhweet And De Dupreems (S7 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Burt Reynolds’ ghost (JOP) comes when host tires of being compared to him

— I liked Mary’s dismissive comment about how nobody knows who Robert Urich is anyway. I wonder if that’s a dig at how the second half of this season in general has been having an endless string of bland, forgettable, unexciting hosts, which I complained about in my last review.
— The Clutch Cargo-style moving mouth on the Burt Reynolds picture is pretty funny.
— Who IS that doing the Burt mouth, anyway?
— Very awkward “segue” to the opening credits. That’s the second time I’ve said that in my last few episode reviews. At this point, I can’t wait until they bring back the traditional “Live from New York…” tagline next season, because they’ve noticeably been struggling lately trying to find other ways to end a cold opening.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Continuing the premise of the cold opening, Robert is pictured here with a mustache and is announced as Burt Reynolds.


TALENT ENTRANCE / MONOLOGUE / ???????
(no synopsis available)

— A very brief segment, with Robert coming out onstage as Burt Reynolds and throwing to Buckwheat’s musical performance.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Buckwheat sings a Motown medley with the Dupreems

  

— The whole idea of this is really creative.
— I was just about to ask if this was the first time the credited musical guest of an SNL episode was a character played by a cast member, but then I remembered the Blues Brothers.
— I like how lyrics have now started showing up on the bottom of the screen, and I also like how Eddie has gone into the studio audience.
— Overall, pretty fun musical performance, but not the classic I wanted it to be. Hate to say it, but I think lately, I’ve been starting to get a little tired of the whole Buckwheat routine. Honestly, his whole routine is pretty much a one-joke bit that was only truly hilarious in his very first sketch (the classic “Buh-Weet Sings” Album sketch). I can see why Eddie would later get tired of doing this character and would request that the writers kill him off.


REACH OUT
— Rerun


RADIO NEWS
an in-studio look at a Paul Harvey (JOP) broadcast

 

— What’s with the big pink smudges on the corners of the screen all of a sudden? (you can see it in the first screencap above) Very distracting.
— What exactly IS the joke of this sketch so far?
— Okay, I’m now finally seeing where this is going. A fairly funny premise, with Joe’s mid-sentence pauses making his statements sound very dirty before he eventually finishes the sentences.
— The ending with Brian was kinda weird.
STARS: ***


FOCUS ON FILM
host mimics Burt Reynolds on Raheem Abdul Muhammed’s show

 

— Robert Urich makes his first sketch appearance of the night, still keeping up the “Burt Reynolds” facade from earlier.
— Robert’s high-pitched Burt Reynolds laugh is really funny.
— Some of Robert as Burt’s racial jokes to Eddie are pretty amusing.
— Tonight’s Robert Urich/Burt Reynolds running plotline seems to have already ended right now, as Eddie has suddenly removed Robert’s Burt disguise.
— Loved Eddie’s “I don’t need no out-of-work white people on my show!” and “Get a job!” complaints when finding out that Robert is from the canceled series “Vega$”.
STARS: ***½


BUY A BULLET FOR A HUNGRY KID
support American troops in El Salvador & “buy a bullet for a hungry kid”

 

— A pretty biting premise, but for some reason, the result isn’t doing much for me.
STARS: **


LOW CLASS ITALIAN THEATER
ethnic cliches include a Rocky-inspired Hamlet

   

— Yet another Italian stereotype character from Tony.
— Oh, Tony’s basically doing Stallone as Rocky.
— Joe’s performance is cracking me up. Unfortunately, those are the only real laughs I’ve been getting from this sketch so far.
— Overall, a really weak one-note sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Mink DeVille performs “Maybe Tomorrow”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM reveals to MAG that he’s naked below the waist
Pac Man branches out into other fields
Dr. Jack Badofsky defines phobias
Ronald Reagan’s speech about troops in Central America is Kennedy-esque
in response to Rev. Donald Wildmon’s boycott, a list of RCA subsidiaries

         

— There’s the pink smudges on the corners of the camera again. What’s going on tonight anyway?
— Yet another continuation of the romance story arc between Mary and Brian. Still not working at all. Man, when does Christine Ebersole join as a co-anchor, so I no longer have to deal with this unfunny romance arc?
— A lot of jokes are bombing HARD tonight. Also, way too much reliance on the always-lazy “SNL anchorperson misinterprets a news picture” gag.
— Okay, the segment showing different Pac Man types is actually fairly funny.
— After making his debut in the last episode, Dr. Jack Badofsky ALREADY returns. I see SNL ain’t wasting no time in running this character into the ground.
— Badofsky’s “Mofobia” name for the fear of being insulted by black people was really funny.
— Was Phoebe Snow known for having hiccups while singing? I didn’t understand that joke in Badofsky’s commentary.
— I didn’t get the “Hojophobia” one either.
— The overall Badofsky commentary was very hit-and-miss. Some of the names worked for me, some didn’t. And even most of the ones that worked weren’t all THAT funny.
— Now back to terrible news jokes from Mary and Brian. Again, the studio audience is not into these AT ALL.
— The bit with the JFK clip was awful.
— (*groan*) And now, here comes yet another insufferable “long screen crawl” gag. As if this SNL Newsbreak hadn’t already been dreadful enough…
STARS: *½


GOLDEN AGE SCHOOL OF OBEDIENCE
shut up complaining elderly parents with Golden Age School of Obedience

   

— I guess we’re going to be seeing those pink smudges on the corners of the screen all throughout tonight’s episode.
— Eddie’s insanely rough, angry treatment of the two old folks is a riot, even if I saw it coming as soon as he calmly walked in.
— The false teeth part was particularly funny.
STARS: ****


FUR: YOU DESERVE IT!
fur-wearing city-dwellers learn their lesson- “You deserve it!”

   

— This was credited during the goodnights of the last episode, even though it didn’t air. Must’ve gotten cut for time.
— I’m really liking the creepy, mock-tense atmosphere of this so far.
— Overall, wow, this was weird and really dark, but also pretty funny and very well-made.
STARS: ***½


KOALA BEAR
(TOR) discovers wife (ROD) was artificially inseminated with koala embryo

 

— The koala bear embryo reveal is fairly funny.
— What’s with the abortion part?
— Didn’t like the epilogue ending at all.
— Overall, while this had a somewhat interesting premise and a very good performance from Tony, the sketch had too much of a flat feeling and didn’t work as well as it should’ve.
STARS: **


HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ronald Reagan hires Dr. Strangelove (TIK) against Ed Meese’s (TOR) wishes

  

— Feels like Tony has been all over tonight’s episode. With the consistent airtime he usually gets and the solid performances he usually delivers, I really can’t understand why he ends up a one-season wonder. This season’s other one-season wonder (Christine Ebersole), on the other hand, seems to be slowly disappearing in the back half of this season. It feels like the writers are already kinda giving up on her. Where has she BEEN in tonight’s episode?
— Tim entering as Dr. Strangelove is very interesting.
— Okay, I initially thought this premise had potential, but I’m not too sure anymore. This sketch hasn’t been going anywhere great.
— Reagan’s joy at seeing a toy of himself and his horse is fairly funny.
— Overall, something about the execution of this sketch felt really off. My least favorite of all the Hail to the Chief sketches that have aired so far.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Mink DeVille performs “Love & Emotion”


JOGGER MOTEL
— Rerun. I’m starting to get just as tired of seeing this as I am of this season’s often-repeated Khaddaffi Look, Reach Out, and Elizabeth Taylor “In The News” pre-tapes. What’s with all these tedious repeats this season anyway?  How many actual NEW fake ads has this season had?


HEADLINE CHALLENGE
panelists fail to identify Jose Espinoza (TIK)

   

— I’m getting an unintentional laugh from Eddie in that big mustache.
— Eddie’s accent is great.
— LOL at Joe receiving a buzzer sound for asking the same question twice.
— After some laughs early on, this sketch has really fizzled out after a while.
— Overall, yet ANOTHER dull sketch tonight.
STARS: **


THE THING THAT DESTROYED TOKYO
by Gary Snegaroff- a hammer wreaks havoc

   

— The bad Japanese dubbing is kinda funny, I guess, but it’s a cliched gag.
— I’m getting some amusement from the very-obviously-not-Japanese guy playing the boyfriend.
— That’s it??? I was expecting a lot more. This overall film was more weird than funny. Tonight’s episode disappoints yet again.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very underwhelming, blah episode. Most of the episode wasn’t even particularly terrible, just very dull… which in some ways is worse, because at least terrible sketches can sometimes have an interesting trainwreck value and it can sometimes be fun riffing on them in my reviews. With dull sketches, on the other hand, what is there to say about them? NOTHING. (Reminds me of a huge gripe I’ve been having with SNL’s current 44th season)
— There was at least an interesting running storyline early in the episode with Urich passing himself off as Burt Reynolds, but they cut it off too early. It might’ve been interesting to keep that storyline going for most of the show, especially considering Urich ended up offering nothing great to any of the sketches where he played normal characters. As I predicted in the last review, he was yet ANOTHER in an endless string of bland season 7 hosts. At this point, Season 8 can’t come fast enough for me. I’m not sure if the writing is any better that season, but at least SNL gets actual interesting and FUNNY people to host that year.
— My copy of this episode is unfortunately missing a reportedly really nice tribute that Brian Doyle-Murray does for John Belushi, who sadly had recently passed away (the very first SNL cast member to do so).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elizabeth Ashley):
— a fairly big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Blythe Danner

Posted on

February 27, 1982 – Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates (S7 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Dan Rather (JOP) tries to loosen up & ends up emulating Walter Cronkite

   

— Boy, am I getting tired of seeing Joe’s mediocre Dan Rather impression so often this season.
— Brian’s joke about the difference between Rather and Ed Bradley was funny, as was Joe’s little correction to the joke.
— I really liked the ending, with the reveal that Rather’s makeover has turned him into his more well-liked predecessor Walter Cronkite.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— We seemed to have officially arrived at the point of Eddie’s tenure where his name begins receiving much louder cheers than anyone else in the cast.  This would soon get taken to even greater heights the next two seasons, where the announcement of his name in the opening montage practically receives SCREAMS from the audience.


MONOLOGUE
host reads a letter she sent home during her first visit to NYC

— A rare instance this season of no Talent Entrance after the opening montage.
— Just based on her looks, I wasn’t expecting her to have such a scratchy, raspy voice.
— The letter to her mother isn’t all that funny or interesting so far.
— Overall, this was weak. I would’ve gladly taken a plain-old Talent Entrance over this.
STARS: *½


IN THE NEWS: ELIZABETH TAYLOR
— Rerun. Boy, they sure have been airing this A LOT this season. I don’t know what I’m more tired of seeing this season: this or The Khaddaffi Look. Well, at least The Khaddaffi Look has a catchy jingle…


SPEAKING AS A WOMAN
host & other female panelists discuss past loves

   

— What was that weird audio clip of someone speaking during Tim’s opening speech? Is that a sound glitch in my copy of this episode?
— Robin is hilarious as Shelley Winters.
— Some of the ladies’ catty comments to each other are great.
— The “scratch and sniff” insult about Christine as Britt Ekland was hilarious.
— Mary’s Harriet Nelson listing off famous 1950s sitcom families as her next-door neighbors reminds me of that fantastic Twilight Zone sketch from the Rick Nelson episode in season 4.
— Overall, a strong ensemble sketch for the female cast, with a good amount of funny lines.
STARS: ****


GIRLS TO WOMEN
women’s party conversation mirrors one they had twenty years before

       

— A nice realistic 1960s scene so far, and this is looking to be yet another good showcase for the ladies of the cast.
— Wow, I love how in the later scene with the female characters as present-day adults, they’re saying the exact same dialogue from the 1960s scene, only those lines take on a whole different meaning in this context (e.g. “Why don’t you tell Mrs. Conner?”, “Guess who finally got their period?”, etc.)
— Very funny walk-on from the adult version of Tony’s now-sleazy-looking boyfriend character.
— Overall, a great and very creative sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Make My Dreams”


SNL NEWSBREAK
while defending his political stance, Ed Asner (TOR) turns into Lou Grant
a rundown of the many “Ed”s in the news this week
Dr. Jack Badofsky (TIK) lists the many strains of genital herpes
a troubled kid (EDM) recalls the time he brought a gun to school
JOP speculates where the trend of sexuality in sports magazines will lead
after MAG confronts him, BDM agrees to meet her in his dressing room

           

— First time in a while where Mary has co-anchored two consecutive SNL Newsbreaks. I know it’s not going to last long, though, because doesn’t Christine Ebersole’s stint as co-anchor start very soon?
— For once, I got an actual big laugh from an SNL Newsbreak joke (the one about the cigarette company Newports changing their slogan from “Alive with pleasure” to “Half-dead with cancer”).
— Tony’s Ed Asner impression still doesn’t do much for me.
— The bit with Tony’s Asner slowly turning into Lou Grant isn’t that funny and is too easy of a premise. At least it was a decent excuse to see Mary briefly doing her dead-on Mary Tyler Moore again.
— Oh, no, Brian setting up a listing-off of famous Eds. Looks like we’re getting our obligatory “long screen crawl gag of the week”.
— Never mind, this wasn’t a screen crawl gag nor was it all that long.
— The debut of Tim’s Dr. Jack Badofsky character. No idea how I’ll react to his commentaries, knowing that his “thing” is listing off cheesy play-on-words.
— Badofsky’s “Herpes Duplex” card made me laugh.
— I got another laugh from him naming herpes from midgets as “Twerpes”.
— The overall Badofsky commentary wasn’t too bad for his debut. However, I just KNOW I’m eventually going to get sick of this routine, especially with how frequently they supposedly end up over-relying on this character.
— What the hell? There’s a bizarre audio error at this point in my copy of this episode, where a joke that Brian is telling gets overlapped with louder audio of him telling a completely different joke (something about Liz Taylor’s birthday). WTF has happened? This is similar to the weird audio glitch I mentioned at the beginning of the Speaking As a Woman sketch. What’s going on here?
— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve seen Eddie all night. Unfortunately, the aforementioned audio glitch is still occurring, which is making it hard for me to hear what Eddie’s saying here.
— Okay, the audio glitch has finally stopped.
— Loved Eddie’s “I shot the bitch” line.
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary had an okay payoff.
— Oh, we get a tacked-on follow-up to the romance story arc between Brian and Mary. Still not funny.
STARS: **½


JOSEPH PAPP AUDITIONS
(EDM) takes a hostage in order to audition in front of Joseph Papp [real]

  

— Looks like a very interesting premise.
— I got a good laugh from Eddie breaking out into “I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General”, though he seems to be having trouble delivering some of the words in such a rapid-fire manner.
— Is Eddie cracking up now, right after his song has ended? Hard to tell.
— The ending with Robin doing the same thing as Eddie felt too tacked-on.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Can’t Go For That”


HARRY ANDERSON
Harry Anderson [real] explains card trick & does it via pants grappler

   

— A lot of funny quick gags at the beginning.
— Very funny random bit with the fake headline “World War III Begins, Millions Die!” being seen on the newspaper Harry holds up.
— Interesting how he’s explaining how we can do the card trick as he’s doing it himself in real time.
— Overall, another entertaining Harry Anderson segment.
STARS: ****


AFRICAN TOUR
a cardinal (TOR) daydreams about Pope John Paul II’s (JOP) African tour

  

— A fantasy sequence with Joe playing the pope in a diva-esque manner? Blah. The studio audience seems to be getting a kick out of this, but this premise is lame in my eyes and this is EXACTLY the type of Joe Piscopo performance that I never did like.
— Tim’s “You’re bigger than the Beatles” line was okay, I guess.
— Surprised to see Eddie in such a dull, throwaway, non-comedic token black role. They really “Garrett Morris-ed” him in this, to borrow a quote that Eddie himself is known to have once said about his early SNL days (I think back when Jean Doumanian didn’t know what to do with him).
— This sketch is going on WAY too long for my likes.
— Overall, didn’t care for this sketch at all.
STARS: *½


LOWEMBRAU
after losing a patient, doctors drink Lowembrau to loosen up

  

— Oh, god, they’re breaking out into song…
— Hmm, this is actually kinda funny. This appears to be a parody of a specific then-current beer commercial.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”


GOODNIGHTS

   

— Who’s the random crew member in the balcony that the camera is randomly zooming in on? Is this his last episode?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode, and a step above the bland averageness that the show had been falling into lately. There were some very strong showcases for the female cast members early in the show, and the second half of the show mostly contained good segments as well.
— Elizabeth Ashley was one in a long line of forgettable hosts who gave a blandly average performance. (Yes, I know I’ve been throwing around the words “blandly average” a lot lately, but honestly, do those two words NOT sum up a lot of this season?) Unfortunately, I don’t think the trend of forgettable bland hosts ends any time soon, considering who’s hosting the next episode (listed at the end of this review). Honestly, the second half of this season has what is probably one of the dullest, least-impressive rosters of hosts in SNL history. Did SNL have trouble booking people after the failure of season 6? Season 7 DID have some cool hosts in the first half (George Kennedy, Tim Curry, Bill Murray), but I don’t know what the heck happened after that.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Robert Urich

Posted on

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

Posted on

February 6, 1982 – James Coburn / Lindsey Buckingham & The Cholos (S7 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Frank Sinatra (JOP) sings a medley to honor Ronald Reagan’s 71st birthday

— Decent use of Joe’s Sinatra.
— I liked Sinatra’s lyric “When I was 17, Ron, you were 63”
— At the end, the SNL theme music strangely starts long before they cut to the opening montage.
STARS: ***


TALENT ENTRANCE


MONOLOGUE
host counsels EDM regarding how to avoid being carded

— I often forget that at this time, Eddie still wasn’t old enough to legally drink yet.
— I’m liking Eddie’s various different “Thunderbird Light” deliveries.
STARS: ***


REACH OUT
parents “reach out & touch” elderly couple to talk with kidnapped son

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


I MARRIED A MONKEY
while on vacation, Madge fools around with (host)

   

— A fairly nice shake-up to the format, showing Madge having an affair.
— I really liked Tim’s “Don’t touch him in my presence” ad-lib.
— Some laughs from Madge bouncing in bed when Tim’s trying to deliver a dramatic speech to her.
— An overall lesser installment of this sketch. There weren’t as many laughs as this sketch has had in the past, and this seemed to really die down during the last minute or so. I fear I may ALREADY be getting tired of this recurring sketch.
STARS: **½


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
Mr. Landlord cuts off the heat

   

— Another popular recurring sketch tonight.
— I like how this one is taking place in a different setting than Robinson’s apartment.
— “Mutha” being the word of the day is hilarious.
— Overall, while I didn’t laugh at this one quite as much as usual, it was still a solid installment.
STARS: ***½


JESUS IN BLUE JEANS
Jerry Falwell’s (BDM) Christianized rock classics

  

— I think this is Brian’s first lead role in a sketch this season.
— The audio samples of Christian-ized rock songs are all pretty funny, as is the scrolled list of song titles.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bwana”


CRAZY MARY, GAY JIM
MAG points out the signals that show that host is a homosexual

   

— Kind of a weird premise, not to mention outdated by today’s standards, but there’s some laughs here from Mary’s performance and her flimsy “evidence” of James being gay.
— I’m getting some unintended(?) laughs from the different types of split screen effects they use each time Mary “pops up” on the screen.
— Nice twist ending with Mary and Christine turning out to be a couple.
STARS: ***


SNL NEWSBREAK
free association determines the order of succession to the presidency
Raheem Abdul Muhammed complains about the lack of black people on TV
BDM gets excited when MAG removes her glasses during a book review

       

— Ohh, geez, here’s ANOTHER “long screen crawl” gag.
— Ugh, this “screen crawl” gag is just as unfunny and tedious as the last one.
— Random joke about Bert and Ernie coming out the closet. I guess it was funny, but it comes off as a bit too much right after that “Crazy Mary, Gay Jim” sketch.
— Raheem Abdul Muhammed complaining about the lack of black people on TV. Didn’t he already do a commentary on pretty much this same topic before?
— A lot of good laughs from Raheem’s rant about finding out that Gary Coleman is a “little short Jewish man named Stu”.
— I liked Raheem’s post-commentary message bashing Brian Doyle-Murray, SNL, and Eddie Murphy for “not being funny”.
— The sudden make-out session between Mary and Brian isn’t all that funny and feels kinda like a desperate attempt to spice up the dying SNL Newsbreak.
STARS: **


VICTIMS OF 60 MINUTES
Dan Rather (JOP) wants to stamp out 60 Minutes on behalf of its victims

 

— I’m liking this “victims of 60 Minutes” premise.
— I’m surprised this is over already. I guess this was just intended to be a quick fake ad, but I feel the premise had enough potential to be stretched into a pretty funny normal-length sketch.
STARS: ***


MAGNIFICENT ANALYST
Ronald Reagan thinks host’s past movie roles make him a qualified advisor

   

— Nice overlapping with the cold opening, with having Reagan watching a video of Joe’s Sinatra singing the Reagan birthday song from earlier in tonight’s show.
— Funny reveal with the gun that Reagan pulls out turning out to be Nancy’s.
— Tony’s Ed Meese to Reagan: “We’re not paying you to think.”
— A good laugh from Tony angrily yanking off Reagan’s birthday hat. After a slow beginning, this sketch in general seems to have really picked up once Tony entered.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Trouble”


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
— Rerun


UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES
survivalists (TIK) & (TOR) see shelter as babemagnet

— Wow, is this Robin’s first appearance of the WHOLE NIGHT? Geez.
— Tim’s simple “It’s gonna be bitchin’” comment was pretty funny.
— Overall, while Tony and Tim gave fairly amusing performances, the writing itself was really weak and the resulting sketch didn’t work.
STARS: *½


THOSE CRAZY TABOOSTERS
inbred family doesn’t mind breaking social mores

   

— Oh, I’ve always been curious to see this one.
— Great slow reveal of the family being incestuous and inbred.
— Very funny line from Joe, equating being a “family man” with being a “leg man”, “breast man”, etc.
— Eddie’s various straight man comments are pretty funny.
— I like how this sketch is getting even more disturbing with the cannibalism reveal.
— Hilarious reaction from the normal family after finding out they’ve been eating “Grammy broth”.
STARS: ****


DON’T LET IT SHOW
CHE sings “Don’t Let It Show” to protest degrading roles for SNL women

   

— A song from Christine about women being forced to play degrading roles on SNL. Supposedly, Christine’s constant behind-the-scenes complaints about the poor usage of her and the other female cast members are what would end up getting her fired after this season.
— Pretty funny bit with the voice of Dick Ebersol cutting off Christine’s pre-song speech to say “Chris, shut up and sing the song.” Is this the closest to an appearance Dick Ebersol makes on the show during his entire tenure?
— Christine’s song being accompanied by pictures of the female cast members playing unflattering roles is a nice touch.
— Okay, now the pictures just seem to be random. I thought these were supposed to be degrading roles. Some of the last few pics are just of the women playing slightly silly but completely harmless roles. What’s so “degrading” about Christine’s characters in “Last Night I Killed My Husband” (one of Christine’s best sketches) or “At Home with the Psychos”?
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


CAPTAIN MARC WEINER
Marc Weiner’s [real] stand-up routine has a nautical theme

   

— An actual appearance from Marc Weiner, after only doing hand-puppet bits in season 6. Why wasn’t he credited as a special guest in tonight’s opening montage like stand-up comedian guests usually are in this era?
— So far, this isn’t as funny as I thought it would be, but there are some laughs from his interactions with the two audience volunteers.
— Overall, I didn’t like this as much as I wanted to. Weiner’s delivery kinda came off corny & a bit much.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode, and an improvement over the two underwhelming episodes that started off the 1982 half of the season. While most of tonight’s sketches were average and there was a strangely quiet atmosphere during some of the earlier segments of the night, there were a few strong things tonight, particularly “Those Crazy Taboosters”.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bruce Dern

Posted on

January 30, 1982 – John Madden / Jennifer Holliday (S7 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host gives postgame report from Super Bowl XVI loser Bengals’ locker room

   

— I’m loving Eddie’s angry rant.
— Tony’s pretty funny as the foreign kicker.
— Good bit with Tim as an angry coach having Tony deported.
— The reveal of one of the players having hanged himself in the background was pulled off well.
— An overall good opening with a funny dark vibe to it.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE / MONOLOGUE / ??????
host bursts though opening credits a la Lite Beer commercial

— Not sure what to call this segment (as you can tell by my confusing title), but this was a fun brief bit with Madden busting through the screen to hype up the show in a football game-esque manner.


JOHNNY CARSON SCHOOL OF ACTING
Art Fern (JOP) on how to succeed the Johnny Carson way- steal characters

  

— Is this a sister commercial to “The Ed McMahon School of Laughing”?
— Not liking Joe’s Art Fern impression.
— Strange sketch so far. Very mean-spirited towards Johnny Carson too. I said this in an earlier review from the original era, but every time these early-era SNL episodes bash Johnny Carson as a Tonight Show host, I always find myself saying “They thought The Tonight Show was lousy THEN? Those are considered legendary years now.  Wait’ll they see how bad that show later gets under a certain big-chinned successor of Carson’s.”  Also, the whole “Carson’s Tonight Show was bashed by SNL back then, but is now universally considered a classic era” thing reminds me of how SNL itself is looked as: some of the SNL eras that are now well-loved and highly regarded were bashed fairly heavily back when they originally aired.
— Overall, I didn’t care much for this sketch.
STARS: **


JOGGER MOTEL
— Rerun


BETTY BEER
the Bitches’ Brew gives women confidence to act dumb like men

   

— Decent premise of a “beer for broads”.
— The scene between Christine and Madden was pretty funny.
— Some parts reminds me a little of the original SNL era’s Mommy Beer commercial, only not as good.
STARS: **½


POETRY CORNER
host’s poems carry the mark of a former football coach

— I’m already liking the concept of John Madden poems.
— Announcer: “Next week, James Coburn reads selections from his wallet.” Hey, doesn’t Coburn actually host the next episode of SNL?
— Overall, this was okay, but nothing special.
STARS: **½


THE LOU GRANT SHOW
Mary Richards (MAG) & Ted Baxter (JOP) ask Lou Grant (TOR) to come back

 

— Tony’s Ed Asner impression is passable, but not anything impressive.
— The debut of Mary’s great impression of Mary Tyler Moore. Right off the bat, her impression is coming off fantastic.
— Yikes, Joe’s Ted Knight impression is rough. That’s two bad impressions from him tonight so far.
— The group hug ending was okay.
— Overall, while I liked some of the dialogue, this ended up being another sketch tonight that was nothing special.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”


SNL NEWSBREAK
Italian secret police captain (TOR) describes rescue of General Dozier
MAG shows inhumane devices used to rile rodeo animals
a list of federal programs Ronald Reagan wants to leave to the states

     

— They thankfully seemed to have officially stopped doing the opening “falling logo letters” gag.
— Tony playing another Italian stereotype character…
— Tony’s overall commentary was completely forgettable.
— On-again off-again Newsbreak co-anchor Mary Gross appearing in a short segment…
— I liked Mary’s “Yee-haw!” while in the middle of detailing of how cattle are tamed.
— Mary’s overall commentary was decent, and this actually made good use of her usually cheesy delivery.
— A list of federal programs? Oh, no, looks like we’re getting the SNL Newsbreak “long screen crawl gag” bit.
— Yep, I was right. And this gag isn’t funny at all so far.
— God, this screen crawl is STILL going?!?
— Brian, regarding the screen crawl: “These rolled a lot faster in dress rehearsal.” Funny ad-lib, but it still doesn’t make up for this overly tedious bit.
— Are you kidding me?! The screen crawl STILL hasn’t ended?! At this point, I don’t even remember what its topic is.
— Mercifully, the screen crawl is finally over, and so is SNL Newsbreak.
STARS: *½


THE UNCLE TOM SHOW
Buckwheat & Captain Kangaroo (TOR) visit Tom Snyder’s (JOP) kiddie show

  

— Very funny use of Joe’s Tom Snyder impression.
— Loved Joe’s line about doing a segment telling little girls about “Mr. Period”.
— Of course, Tony’s mention of “smoking dope” receives a loud cheer from the audience.
— The dark story from Tony as Captain Kangaroo was really good.
— Joe’s reference to Gumby and Pokey made me think of Eddie’s Gumby impression, which has yet to debut on the show at this point (I think we’ll first see it at the beginning of season 8).
— Speaking of Eddie, we get an appearance from Buckwheat. This has made me realize that we surprisingly have barely seen Eddie tonight. This is his first appearance since the cold opening.
— I’m really liking these Buckwheat-ized versions of nursery rhymes.
— Overall, a solid sketch.
STARS: ***½


INSIDE STORY
host tells a Raiders’ locker room story involving Ted Hendricks

 

— Haha, Madden’s Ted Hendricks “money in the toilet” story had a great punchline.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Night Only”


MAFIA NAME GIVER
mobster (TOR) goes to (EDM) to be assigned a nickname

   

— Tony playing yet ANOTHER Italian character.
— Good meta-joke with Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci being among the pictures of famous Dons on the wall.
— The “Hey, where’s Don Pardo?” “He’s not with us anymore” exchange was another good meta-bit, referring to how he was replaced as an announcer this season.
— Robin appears to be playing the same Italian mama from the Frank & Papa sketch a few episodes ago.
— Tim’s character is pretty one-note.
— Awkward long pause before Robin’s “The wedding’s off!” line. During that long pause, you could actually see Mary cueing Robin by elbowing her, and when Robin finally said the line, it looked like she was trying not to laugh.
— As always, Eddie does a fantastic “old Jewish guy” voice.
— The bit with Eddie’s unflattering mob nicknames for Tony is going on way too long.
— I haven’t been liking the direction this sketch has been going in.
— Eddie’s nickname bit is STILL going on? Ugh, what is this, another SNL Newsbreak “long screen crawl” gag?
— Overall, a very weak sketch.
STARS: *½


ANDY KAUFMAN
as Elvis, Andy Kaufman [real] sings, clucks, chooses girls, apologizes

    

— First time Andy has appeared on the show in a long time. Last time I reviewed an Andy Kaufman segment, he was wrestling women in season 5, back when the original cast was still on.
— So far, this just seems to be a straightforward Elvis number.
— LOL, what the hell has happened now? He’s now oddly lip-syncing musical chicken clucks.
— Whoa, now this sketch has taken an even stranger turn with Elvis Andy sleazily bringing two female audience members to his backstage room.
— Wait, I think I remember reading about this. Doesn’t Andy drop character during this backstage scene and do something weird?
— Yep, there it is; Andy has now taken off his wig and is addressing the camera as himself to disapprove of an inaccurate Elvis biography that this sketch was apparently based on.
— What the hell? That’s how this whole segment ends???
— I usually love Andy’s SNL bits, but I have no absolutely idea what to make of this one.
STARS: ??????? (undecided)


SUPER BOWL TO SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
host takes a train to NYC with Brent Musberger [real]

   

— So far, this feels exactly like a film Gary Weis would’ve done in the original era. That’s not a good thing, by the way.
— I do like some of the scenic camera angles.
STARS: **


PUDGE & SOLOMON
Solomon (EDM) remembers his wife & complains to Pudge (JOP) about bunions

— The debut of Eddie and Joe’s Solomon and Pudge characters, a recurring sketch that’s known for being a strong showcase of both slice-of-life humor and the great chemistry that Eddie and Joe always have.
— Eddie’s Hitler story is funny.
— Great character work from Eddie and Joe.
— Really nice sentimental turn this has suddenly taken with Eddie getting sad over his late wife. Very touching way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
Marv Throneberry [real] says “I don’t know why I’m here”

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The post-Michael O’Donoghue slump continues, as we get our second underwhelming episode in a row tonight. Unlike the preceding episode, this at least didn’t suffer from overlong sketches. However, I found myself describing a lot of tonight’s material as “nothing special”. Aside from a couple of highlights, a majority of the show was “meh”, some was just plain bad (SNL Newsbreak, Mafia Name Giver), and one was just baffling (the Andy Kaufman “Elvis backstage” bit).


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
James Coburn

Posted on

January 23, 1982 – Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band (S7 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The People’s Court- Paulette Clooney sues Velvet Jones over failed ho bid

— An actual cold opening this season!
— The return of Robin’s “She’s a pig” character.
— Velvet Jones!
— A nice crossover of two separate recurring characters, something I’ve always wished SNL would do more often with some of their characters.
— I like how Eddie as Velvet is still using his stilted commercial pitchman delivery.
— Eddie’s blunt “The bitch ugly” line had me howling.
— Robert Conrad seems to be having a lot of trouble delivering his lines all of a sudden.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE


IN THE NEWS
Liz Taylor’s marriage history is documented

— I already covered this segment in my review of the Tim Curry episode. This segment was actually originally aired in tonight’s episode, but was added to repeats of the Curry episode.
ORIGINAL RATING: ***


WILD WILD WILD WEST
James West (host) visits Velvet Jones’ brothel

    

— I don’t even recognize most of the performers at the beginning of this sketch.
— Ha, Eddie reprising Velvet Jones right after the cold opening. A nice overlapping of tonight’s sketches.
— Mary’s stiff “left face, right face, forward march, etc.” was awkward, but it strangely made me laugh.
— I liked Eddie’s stiff evil laugh.
— What the hell? What was with an un-mic’ed Tony starting to say his “So you sent the bomb into the future” line off-camera way too early, long before the camera cut to him? I’m surprised they didn’t edit out a blooper like that in the rerun version I’m watching.
— Overall, man, I don’t know WHAT to make of this sketch. It was too long, there were way too many different confusing aspects, and most importantly, it was hardly funny. Pretty much a chore to watch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Midnight Rider”


BABIES IN MAKEUP
by Edward Bianchi- tots with painted faces

   

— Boy, this is just plain weird and pretty creepy.
— I did like the visual of a stuffed Snoopy doll hanging from a chain.
— Overall, yet another segment tonight that I don’t know what to make of.
STARS: **


OVEREXPOSED CHARACTERS
Velvet Jones & Paulie Herman declare themselves overexposed

— Yet ANOTHER Velvet Jones appearance tonight?
— A very interesting meta premise, with Velvet announcing his retirement due to overexposure.
— This is Jersey Guy’s first appearance in quite a long time.
— I wonder if this truly ends up being these characters’ final appearance. If so, I’m surprised that I never got sick of Jersey Guy like I originally thought I would. They ended up using him the right number of times and shook up his appearances enough times to keep him from getting annoying.
STARS: ***½


SNL NEWSBREAK PREVIEW
Lou Costello (TOR) cross-examines Jack Henry Abbott (host)

 

— Geez, the copy I’m reviewing of this episode abruptly joins this SNL Newsbreak in progress when Mary’s right in the middle of a joke. I wonder how much of this Newsbreak is missing from my copy.
— Mary’s hair looks quite different.
— There’s the People’s Court courtroom set again.
— Tony’s Lou Costello is great, and I’m getting a lot of laughs from this whole Abbott and Costello routine.
STARS: ***½


SNL NEWSBREAK
JOP uses Atari & Intellivision to predict 49ers will win Super Bowl XVI
weatherperson CHE tells BDM why she thinks the wind-chill factor is dumb

     

— Wait… what in the world??? NOW the actual SNL Newsbreak is starting? So then what the heck was that I just watched right before this, with Mary at the desk ? Was that some kind of Newsbreak preview? I am completely lost.
— The “nosc” bit is going on too long. Almost as bad as those “long screen crawl” bits they’re eventually going to run into the ground this season.
— Wait, where’s Mary? Brian has been the only one doing jokes so far in tonight’s Newsbreak. So then what was the point of having Mary anchor the short Newsbreak preview, but not the Newsbreak itself? Ugh, I said it before and I’ll say it again: SNL DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY’RE DOING WITH THIS SEGMENT ANYMORE!
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary had a decent payoff with the two different video games used to represent each of the two Super Bowl teams.
— Christine’s weather segment was just weird. None of her weather segments this season have been working for me so far.
— Boy, Brian’s Chinese New Years bit was awful.
STARS: **


BATTLE OF THE WEEK
game show pits Las Vegas showgirls vs. volunteer army

   

— Tony as Vic Salukin again? Didn’t he get murdered in the Donald Pleasence episode?
— Eddie’s “I don’t have no pep” rant was pretty funny (even if he stumbled over part of it).
— Overall, while the initial premise was fairly interesting, the resulting sketch fell flat. Hard to say what exactly didn’t work about it.
STARS: **


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
the topic is breasts

   

— They seem to be doing an awful lot of these Andy Rooney bits this season. Luckily, Joe’s impression usually always makes me laugh.
— LOL at them showing an uncensored clip of nude African female breasts to prove a point.
— Awkward ending with the audience’s delayed applause.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Southbound”


THE NIXON MANSION
G. Gordon Liddy (host) & Richard Nixon (TOR) plan to impugn FDR (TIK)

     

— A Nixon sketch? For the first time since Aykroyd left? I’m guessing it’s Joe who will take over the impression.
— Oh, it’s Tony taking over the impression. I never would’ve expected that.
— Not too crazy about Tony’s impression so far. Maybe I’m just put off by the fact that he looks so out of place in the role.
— I thought it was taboo to say “scumbag” on TV back then. (Chris Farley would later say that word in a Woody Allen/Mia Farrow sketch and it would end up getting re-dubbed to “sleazebag” in reruns.)
— I like Robin’s performance as FDR’s secretary.
— A good laugh from FDR telling his wife Eleanor that she looks like a character out of Dick Tracy.
— Boy, this seems to be turning into yet ANOTHER overly long sketch tonight. (*groan*)
— Oh my god at Eddie as a buck-toothed Japanese ambassador.
— Ha, FDR casually getting up from his wheelchair to walk around the office…
— Overall, despite a few highlights, this was another sketch that suffered from its length and dragged too much during several parts.
STARS: **


FAMILY TRADITION
castmember’s sister Nancy Sue Ebersole (CHE) sings off-key & plays viola

   

— Interesting-seeming bit with Christine doing a segment as “her sister”.
— Oh, looks like this is our obligatory Christine Ebersole musical sketch of the week.
— Ha, a gag disclaimer showing up during Christine’s song. This is a nice return of a gag that the show frequently did in the original era.
— Christine’s violin attempt is pretty funny.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Leavin'”


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An underwhemling episode, which is what I was expecting for the first episode after Michael O’Donoghue’s firing. There were some good things tonight, but nothing stood out as really strong and the show was dragged down by too many overly long sketches. The show was also lacking O’Donoghue’s sense of weirdness, experimentation, and danger, which is part of what made the first half of the season so interesting to me.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bill Murray):
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
John Madden

Posted on

December 12, 1981 – Bill Murray / The Spinners (S7 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Phone Company- “Faking progress so we can charge more”

— Decent tagline, but I’m still finding it kinda lazy to use these quick disclaimer gags as a cold opening. Hope there’s a change with these in the second half of the season.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Announcer Mel Brandt’s gruff-sounding fill-in from the last episode is doing the announcements again tonight.
— This fill-in announcer still sounds ridiculously out of place in this opening montage. Like I said in the last review, it’s almost comical in itself.
— I think this is the very first instance of Eddie and Joe receiving noticeably more audience cheers than the rest of the cast.
— A lot of special guests credited tonight.


MONOLOGUE
BIM has nothing but good things to say about Santa Claus (Andy Murphy)

— There’s no Talent Entrance tonight.
— A more tame, straightforward entrance from Bill this time, compared to the usual high-energy entrances he’s made in his monologues from other episodes he’s hosted.
— Good concept with Bill bringing out Santa Claus as a special guest. This is one of the most well-known roles for frequent SNL extra Andy Murphy.
— I’m loving Bill’s very Bill Murray-esque rapport with Santa. Lots of fun lines from Bill here.
STARS: ****


TALES OF THE UNLIKELY
Libyan terrorists try to assassinate the president

   

— Interesting concept and intro to this.
— The pamphlets bit with Joe is pretty funny.
— Bill: “[Reagan] likes expensive gifts”. Tony (playing Reagan’s national security adviser): “Well, don’t we all?” *big laughs from the audience* I don’t get it. Must be a very topical political reference. Reminds me of how overly topical the constant Trump material on modern-day SNL is. (Imagine future SNL fans 30 years from now trying to follow those Trump sketches in reruns; it’s gonna be HORRIBLY aged and hard to follow).
— Overall, a pretty solid sketch.
STARS: ***½


HOTEL ROOM
a washed-up Tom Snyder (JOP) has delusions in a dumpy hotel room

   

— First time we’re seeing Joe play Normal Tom Snyder, after his funny appearance as Spanish Tom Snyder earlier this season.
— I kinda knocked Joe as an impressionist in my last review (calling him a poor man’s precursor to Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond), but I admit he does a good Tom Snyder, especially the trademark Snyder laugh.
— I like how Joe’s Snyder is deliriously treating his room visitors as famous interviewees on his show “Tomorrow”.
— Pretty funny sequence with Joe’s Snyder interacting with the spirit of Rona Barrett.
— The ending actually kinda came off touching.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Spinners perform “Then Came You”
The Spinners perform “I’ll Be Around”
The Spinners perform “Working My Way Back to You”


MX-5 TAMPONS
Father Guido Sarducci endorses MX-5 tampons

— The return of Father Guido Sarducci. Can’t say I’m thrilled; the oversaturation of him in seasons 4 and 5 permanently ruined him for me. It’s hard for me to even laugh at this character anymore (and he was never all that hilarious to begin with, honestly).
— All that being said, this commercial with him is actually funny. Hilarious concept with randomly having him tout a brand of tampons.
— Overall, short and sweet.
STARS: ***


DESIGNER FAIRY TALES
elves make clothes for Ralph Lauren (BIM)

     

— Another SNL parody of Brooke Shields’ famous Calvin Klein commercials from those days.
— I was about to say that Gail Matthius’ Brooke Shields was more attractive to me, but honestly, Mary looks good in this. Mary can surprisingly be quite attractive in certain roles, like this and Marilyn Monroe.
— Oh, this is segueing into a sketch. I thought it was just going to be a straightforward Calvin Klein Jeans fake ad.
— Isn’t there a story about how they weren’t able to remove makeup that Eddie wore for an earlier Muhammad Ali appearance in time for this sketch? I do notice that there’s a few weird light-skinned splotches on his face in this, and it looks like he’s kinda trying to hide some parts of his face from the camera. Bill gives him a funny look at one point. However, the copy of the episode I’m watching hasn’t even HAD a Muhammad Ali bit yet. I guess the order of sketches has been shuffled around in the rerun version I’m watching (which is very common for this season).
— The increasingly ridiculous contorted poses Mary’s Brooke is shown in whenever the camera cuts back to her are really funny.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch. Not much else I can say about it, though.
STARS: ***


SNL NEWSBREAK
the many spellings of “Kaddafi”
footage of an early JOP interview of Cassius Clay (EDM)
JOP asks Muhammad Ali (EDM) if he’s taken too many punches
MAG asks jaded children about the meaning of Christmas

         

— My copy of this episode is missing the beginning of SNL Newsbreak and starts towards the end of Brian’s sign-on. Anyone know if this opened with the “falling logo letters” gag once again? Also, is Mary even there? The camera has just been on Brian in my copy of this Newsbreak so far.
— Uh-oh, Brian’s long-winded joke about the spelling of Khaddafi seems to be our very first instance of the “long screen crawl gag”, which is something I’m aware becomes an UNBEARABLE regular part of SNL Newsbreak for the remainder of the season. Ugh.
— That being said, I admit to laughing at some of the ridiculous Khaddafi misspellings, and this particular screen crawl didn’t go on TOO long. I know it gets worse later this season, though.
— The audience loved the “Khadaffy Duck” comic book bit, but I personally found it to be lame.
— I guess Mary really isn’t at the desk tonight. Brian has been the only one doing jokes in tonight’s Newsbreak so far. So SNL has ALREADY re-removed Mary from the desk, after going through the trouble of re-instating her as an anchor in the last episode? This is insane; SNL doesn’t know what they’re doing with this segment anymore.
— Okay, here’s the Muhammad Ali bit I mentioned earlier. However, this segment is clearly pre-taped, plus Eddie’s not even wearing any special kind of makeup here. This can’t be the bit that caused the makeup mishap in the Designer Fairy Tales sketch.
— Eddie’s impression of Young Ali (Cassius Clay) is hilarious.
— Ah, now we’re getting a live interview with Eddie as Older Ali. So THIS is what the aforementioned makeup mishap was all about. And oh my god, Eddie looks unrecognizable under all that makeup.
— Eddie’s voice as Older Ali is cracking me up.
— There’s Mary, doing a pre-taped remote on what Christmas means to children.
— The first kid being interviewed is a young Seth Green! (second-to-last screencap above)
— One kid complains that people have started putting Christmas decorations up way too early. Interesting how that was a complaint even back in those days; I thought that only started in more recent years.
— There’s the same curly-haired little girl from the Hidden Photo sketch from earlier this season.
— The whole “What Christmas Means to Me” segment is funny, with the children’s adult-esque grumpy complaints.
STARS: **½


PREDICTIONS
BIM talks with Father Guido Sarducci about his psychic predictive powers

— Another segment with Father Guido Sarducci tonight. Is this REALLY necessary?
— “Chicklets”?
— (*sigh*) This seems to be turning into the usual long-winded Guido Sarducci bit.
— Some of the psychic predictions are mildly funny.
— God, this is starting to get really long and boring. Sarducci made an actual FUNNY appearance earlier tonight that was short and sweet, so why’d they have to ruin it by following it up with one of his typical long-winded, never-ending talkfests? Until now, it had been refreshing no longer having to worry about reviewing these Sarducci bits on a regular basis after I finished my coverage of season 5. (Then again, I do have to worry about his semi-regular appearances in the upcoming season 11).
— Loved Bill’s random dig at the New York Post.
— Okay, Sarducci’s “The waves are gonna be bitchin’” comment got a chuckle out of me.
STARS: **


MICHAEL DAVIS
in response to a fan letter, Michael Davis [real] juggles 3 bowling balls

     

— Great opening stunt, throwing a red ball in the air and catching it on his nose while perfectly balancing it.
— Ha, turns out the red ball is a clown nose.
— Funny reveal with the fan who unsuccessfully tried to juggle three axes signing his letter to Michael under the name “Lefty”.
— Loved Michael’s “or does the earth suck” line during his bowling ball gravity test.
— Some good laughs from his difficulties in lifting the three bowling balls off the floor.
— And now he actually juggled the three bowling balls successfully. That was great.
STARS: ****


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

     

— Hmm, a claymation short.
— Haha, I got a big laugh from the part with the clay figure stabbing the guy’s foot with a fork, making the guy scream hilariously.
— Overall, I found this film to be very funny.
STARS: ****


THE ECONOMICS OF CHRISTMAS
(JOP) & (CHE) explain trickle-down economics to Honker via a song

   

— The return of Bill’s Honker character!
— Looks like this has turned into our obligatory season 7 musical sketch of the week. Considering this is the Christmas show, I can excuse it this time.
— Overall, nothing really to say about this, but this was fine for what it was.
STARS: ***


AT HOME WITH THE PSYCHOS
a nuclear family is prepared for the blow hole

       

— Oh, I’ve been looking forward to this. This is known as a very dark, controversial Michael O’Donoghue-written sketch that has a lot of notoriety, and I believe is one of the things that contributed to O’Donoghue’s mid-season firing over the Christmas break. I’m eager to finally see this insane sketch for myself.
— Loved Bill’s casual “Hey, what’s eating you?” after Christine randomly shot a rifle at him.
— Mary’s pretty funny as the blind ballerina daughter.
— Holy hell, that father-daughter make-out session between Bill and Mary…
— Oh my god, Christine’s randomly bleeding hands…
— I like Eddie’s walk-on as a dynamite-covered militant son.
— Boy, this is one hell of a dark, crazy, unsettling sketch as expected. The studio audience doesn’t know WHAT to make of this.
— Aw, damn NBC censors. Thanks to them, we can’t even see the blowhole prop that Bill is displaying to Brian.
— Speaking of NBC, this is a good time to mention that back in the original airing of this episode, this sketch got interrupted at some point for breaking news about Poland being invaded by Russia; news that no doubt must’ve really startled viewers back then. The copy I’m watching of this episode doesn’t have the breaking news report, but supposedly in the old Netflix/Seeso version of this episode, they bizarrely left the breaking news report intact!
— By the way, I believe this is the only time in SNL history where a live episode got interrupted by a breaking news report. During the summer of 1997, an NBC rerun of a then-recent season 22 episode (Rob Lowe/Spice Girls, I believe) was interrupted for breaking news of Princess Diana’s death.
— Nice touch with the green nuclear glow in the room during Bill’s whole mock-dramatic speech at the end.
— Overall, wow, that sketch DEFINITELY lived up to its bizarre reputation. I liked this sketch overall, though I wonder if I enjoyed it more for how daringly strange it was than for how good it actually was (which is how I felt about O’Donoghue’s equally-strange Nick the Knock sketch earlier this season).  I will say that Bill was perfect for this sketch, and took charge of it better than most hosts would’ve.
STARS: ***


THE YALE WHIFFENPOOFS
Yale Wiffenpoofs perform Christmas carols with host & cast

     

— For some reason, this is reminding me of when The Singing Idlers performed on the show back in season 1 (Jill Clayburgh episode).
— The singers’ SAT scores randomly being displayed onscreen has some pretty funny jokes (e.g. “Dates Kennedys You’ve Never Even Heard Of”, “Dad Made a Few Calls”).
— Hey, now Bill and the SNL cast have joined in on the song.
— Uh, why do the cast have sped-up chipmunk singing voices?
— Boy, is Tony hamming it up.
— There’s Robin’s Laraine Newman-esque hairstyle again. I keep having to do a double-take whenever I see her hair like that, because it keeps initially making me think I’m watching the original SNL cast again.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


GOODNIGHTS
BIM expresses solidarity with Poland in wake of martial law

  

— My copy of this episode abruptly joins these goodnights in progress while Bill’s in the middle of awkwardly addressing the Poland situation. Bill somberly says, among other things, “There’s still a bargain to be had in Fort Lee, New Jersey” and “Our hearts should be with, are ARE with, the good people of Poland. God bless them.”
— My copy is missing an interesting-sounding comment that Bill supposedly made about the Poland situation early on in these goodnights: “I guess that means this is World War III.” However, I’m not sure if that comment from Bill even occurred; I heard it as a recounting from someone who saw the original airing of this episode as a little kid, and I think his memory of it is understandably a little faulty.
— After Bill’s somber announcement, Christine noticeably looks very emotional. Damn.
— Aww, now I noticed Robin looks really sad too.
— Geez, what a depressing end to a Christmas episode.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overly-average episode. Most of the sketches were decent, but nothing in the show stood out at all aside from the monologue, the Michael Davis spot, and a claymation short that wasn’t even originally aired in this episode (it was added for the rerun). Not even the insane “At Home With The Psychos” sketch could garner more than an average three-star rating.
— The overly-average, nothing-special nature of this episode is evidenced by the fact that I had a hard time coming up with stuff to say about some of the sketches. At least this episode never really bottomed-out too hard, though; the only thing I came close to kinda hating was the overlong Father Guido Sarducci psychic predictions sketch.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tim Curry):
— a fairly big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1982, with host Robert Conrad

Posted on

December 5, 1981 – Tim Curry / Meat Loaf (S7 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Texxon- “SNL writer will suffer Karen Silkwood’s fate”

— Haha, this is the first disclaimer cold opening gag this season that actually made me laugh out loud (even if I don’t know who Karen Silkwood is).
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Whoa, who in the world is this gruff-sounding announcer I’m hearing right now? Where’s this season’s regular announcer Mel Brandt? Is he out sick? You mean to tell me Don Pardo’s replacement has been replaced himself??? That’s strangely hilarious to me.
— Man, this guy’s gruff, stern-sounding, fast-talking voice doesn’t seem right for SNL AT ALL. It’s almost comical how out-of-place he sounds in this opening montage.


TALENT ENTRANCE

— Robin looks like Laraine Newman with her hair like that.
— Where’s Eddie?


MONOLOGUE
host tries to help Stepin Fetchit EDM change his image

  

— Oh, we’re getting a monologue tonight after all.
— Oh, THERE’S Eddie, making his entrance as a janitor.
— I never heard Eddie speak in that voice before.
— Loved Curry’s delivery of “Call me Massah Tim”.
— Curry telling Eddie to never appear in public as a black man, and then applying white shoe polish all over Eddie’s face is very funny, and it goes without saying that it feels like a precursor to a certain famous short film Eddie would later star in during his season 10 hosting stint.
STARS: ***½


TRANSEASTERN
— Rerun


ILLEGITIMATE SON
EDM says he’s Ronald Reagan’s illegitimate son & wants pop to come home

 

— Another Eddie Murphy-led segment already, right after the monologue?
— Ah, it’s the classic “Eddie reveals he’s the illegitimate son of Ronald Reagan” sketch.
— Overall, this was fantastic and had a lot of good laughs. Can’t think of anything else to add here.
STARS: ****


REACH OUT
parents “reach out & touch” elderly couple to talk with kidnapped son

   

— Great dark reveal with the little boy turning out to be a kidnapping victim.
STARS: ****


MICK!
Jagger’s (host) first TV variety special; Frank Nelson cameo

         

— Curry is dead-on and hilarious as Jagger.
— Looks like this will be a fun impression showcase for the cast; a type of sketch that surprisingly feels rare in this era.
— A cameo from Frank “Yyyyeeeeeeesss?” Nelson! He’s always cracked me up in the various TV shows I’ve seen him in.
— Wow, very fast costume change for Robin, going from one of the Mandrell Sisters to Shari Lewis in just two minutes.
— A very funny big kiss from Curry to the Lamb Chop puppet. I almost expected Curry to cough up a cottonball after the kiss.
— The return of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— Eddie’s “O-tay!” gets huge recognition applause from the audience, despite the fact that he had only done one Buckwheat sketch before this. This shows that certain one-off sketches were able to quickly take off among SNL viewers and become widely quoted even WITHOUT the benefit of being able to go viral online. If Eddie’s SNL tenure had been in our current decade, just imagine how much online buzz his sketches would be getting on a weekly basis.
— Took me a while to recognize Tony as Rip Taylor.
— Haha, Tony is a riot as a hacky joke-telling Rip Taylor. I especially loved him holding up a pickle and calling it “Mother’s little helper”.
— Boy, this is a long sketch.
— Liked Joe as Sinatra’s line “Rock singers make me puke”.
— Aww, they couldn’t find a role for Kazurinsky? He was the only cast member not in this (Brian Doyle-Murray doesn’t count).
— Overall, a fun and solid sketch as expected, though I could’ve done with this being trimmed down to a shorter length.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Promised Land”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM & MAG argue about each other’s news anchoring skills
BDM interviews Prince Charles (host) & pregnant Princess Di (CHE)
JOP talks with Bryant Gumbel [real] & welcomes him to the Today show
Raheem Abdul Muhammed dislikes the Moral Majority’s calls for censorship

     

— Wha…? Mary is re-joining as a co-anchor, after not appearing at the desk for the last few episodes??? Man, SNL doesn’t seem to know WHAT to do with the news segment anymore. This is getting erratic.  At what point do we start getting Christine Ebersole as a co-anchor later in the season?
— Wow, this long opening bickering bit between Brian and Mary is actually openly addressing a lot of problems that SNL Newsbreak has been suffering from. We get Mary calling Brian out on his habit of constantly stumbling over his jokes, Brian riffing on Mary’s too-slow, teacher-esque delivery of her jokes, Brian riffing on the constant unnecessary title changes SNL keeps making to the news segment (“Update, Newsbreak, Upchuck, or whatever the hell they’re calling it nowadays.”), Brian complaining that SNL’s news segment is “old, tired, and needs to be scrapped”, and more. Wow. I guess SNL is fully aware of all the complaints that viewers must’ve had about the sad state that SNL’s news segment had fallen into.
— Mary: “Let’s talk thin: what about your hair, Brian?”
— LOL at Brian unintentionally flubbing his first joke RIGHT AFTER the scripted bit where Mary commended Brian for not flubbing his rant to her.
— A follow-up to the Princess Di pregnancy commentary from a few episodes ago. This time, I can tell it’s Christine playing Di, whereas last time, I had a hard time making out which performer that was in the role and I mistakenly assumed it was that night’s host Lauren Hutton.
— Curry makes a pretty funny Prince Charles, though I prefer Eric Idle’s take on him during the original SNL era.
— Heh, Curry’s Prince Charles saying “What, me worry?” with a goofy grin seemed to be an Alfred E. Neuman reference (they’re both goofy-looking and have big ears, after all), but it absolutely DIED with the studio audience.
— The return of Joe’s SNL Sports commentaries. I’m surprised they haven’t been doing these too often this season. I had gotten so used to it appearing on a weekly basis in season 6.
— Bryant Gumbel cameo.
— Loved Joe’s delivery of “Damn!” when being told he couldn’t have Gumbel’s old job.
— Eddie’s appearance makes me realize that he didn’t appear in the last episode’s Newsbreak, after his streak of appearing in the first five Newsbreaks of the season.
— Loved Eddie’s “Shut up! I’m mad!” to the audience when they applauded his entrance.
— I’m surprised to hear Eddie make a passing mention of ABC’s sketch comedy show “Fridays”, SNL’s competition at the time.
— Eddie’s angry message to Jerry Falwell is great.
— Overall, a better SNL Newsbreak than usual, even if Brian and Mary’s actual jokes were still pretty weak. They won me over with that opening self-aware bit mocking themselves over how bad the news segment has gotten. That being said, I expect SNL Newsbreak to go back to fully sucking in the next episode.
STARS: ***


FRANK & PAPA
Frank stays with his Italian father after a fight with his wife

   

— Strangely, I think this is Kazurinsky’s first appearance of the whole night.
— The return of Tony and Tim’s Italian father-son duo from the season 6 finale. I’m about halfway through Tony’s short-lived SNL tenure, and I’ve been surprised to see that he hasn’t been playing as many Italian stereotype characters as hearsay had me expecting him to. Maybe he plays more of them in the second half of the season.
— Like last time, I’m loving the fast-paced arguing sessions between Tony and Tim.
— Tim’s “What is this, The Wizard of Oz?” complaint during Tony’s story was pretty funny.
— Haha, Robin as the Italian mama showing up out of nowhere to join in on Tony and Tim’s heated argument is hilarious.
— Decent ending with all three of them happily singing the Flintstones theme song while watching TV.
— Overall, much like the last time these characters appeared, this was a very long sketch where my interest started wavering towards the end. However, I can appreciate the authenticity in Tim and Tony’s performances, the humor, and the realistic slice-of-life aspects of the sketch.
STARS: ***


THE ZUCCHINI SONG
host & audience sing ribald ditty “The Zucchini Song”

  

— Heh, “The Zucchini Song”. I can already tell this is going to be dirty.
— I like how he’s actually going into the studio audience mid-song.
— Great touch having the audience sing along to the lyrics that are displayed on the big board next to Curry.
— Overall, a very fun number and a wonderful performance from Curry.
STARS: ****


TIM AND MEAT’S ONE-STOP ROCKY HORROR SHOP
host & musical guest advertise Tim & Meat’s One Stop Rocky Horror Shop

     

— Another fun premise tonight, and a nice involvement of Meat Loaf.
— I’m really liking Meat Loaf’s energy here.  This is probably too obvious a comparison, but his energy in this is starting to remind me a little of future cast member Chris Farley.
— Ha, Kazurinski doing a walk-on in the Frank-N-Furter outfit.
STARS: ****


IN THE NEWS
Liz Taylor’s marriage history is documented

   

— Amusing rundown of Elizabeth Taylor’s various marriages.
— Loved the narrator’s random “Then Liz got fat!”
— Overall, an interesting segment that felt a bit out of the ordinary for the show.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bat Out Of Hell”


IF REAGAN HAD SURVIVED THE ASSASSINATION
Dan Rather (JOP) & others ponder If Reagan Had Survived The Assassination

 

— I’m guessing this must be a take-off on some kind of “If JFK Had Survived the Assassination” TV special that aired at the time, because otherwise, this premise seems too random.
— That being said, the premise IS quite interesting, presenting us with an alternate universe where the infamous assassination attempt on President Reagan was successful and his VP George Bush took over his place as president.
— Still don’t know what to make of Joe’s Dan Rather impression. Years ago, I used to always think Joe was a strong impressionist, but after recently discovering his subpar Rather, Ted Koppel, and Jerry Lewis impressions (there’s probably one or two more weak impressions I’m forgetting), I’m starting to realize that as an impressionist, Joe was kind of a poor man’s precursor to Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond.
— This sketch just seems to be an excuse to passive-aggressively call out Reagan on his many questionable decisions as president. There are a few okay jabs in there, though.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Great episode, with a very fun vibe and lots of strong segments. Pretty much how I always imagined a Tim Curry-hosted SNL from the early 80s would be. Nothing was too weak tonight; even SNL Newsbreak was passable.
— This was the first episode of the season that didn’t have a huge number of segments. I guess long sketches like “Mick!” and “Frank & Papa” is the reason for the much-lower-than-usual sketch count.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Our Christmas episode of the season, hosted by Bill Murray.  I’ve always been curious to see this one because I remember hearing that the show bizarrely gets interrupted at one point by some kind of special report about Poland being invaded, or something like that.

Posted on

November 14, 1981 – Bernadette Peters / The Go-Go’s, Billy Joel (S7 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Texxon- “Where Life Is Second Only To Money”

— Now Texxon’s the name of the fictional gas company that “sponsors” the show?
— The taglines in these cold openings seem to get less and less funny with each passing one.
STARS: *½


TALENT ENTRANCE


JOHNNY KEEP YOUR GUN CLEAN
Betty Boop (host) warns against sex diseases

 

— The return of season 7’s musical sketches, after we got a break from them last week.
— The various V.D. innuendos are pretty funny.
— Overall, not bad for a season 7 musical sketch. Though knowing that Bernadette Peters has a lot of musical experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a second musical sketch later tonight.
STARS: ***


ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK FILMS
Escape From Escape From New York & Escape From New York, New York on film

   

— Calling Adrienne Barbeau “Adrienne Bimbo”?
— Not too sure about the concept of this. “Escape From New York” seems like a strange movie to pick on.
— I kinda like the outdated 1950s stock footage of theatergoers being used to represent then-modern theatergoers.
STARS: **


I MARRIED A MONKEY
baby Ronnie frolics as Madge mulls a divorce offer

   

— The return of this promising sketch from the season 6 finale.
— LOL at Madge sympathetically putting her arms around Tim when Tim was pouring his heart out to her.
— I assume the “Can I scratch that for you?” bit was an ad-lib.
— Another good laugh from Madge “drinking” from the pill bottle.
— Once again, Tim is doing great playing off of all of the monkey’s unscripted actions.
— Haha, the baby chimp is again causing lots of wild unplanned antics.
— Great blooper with the baby chimp’s constant bouncing around the set unintentionally causing a painting to fall off the wall.
— Overall, this was a riot. I’m surprised by how much I’ve been liking these “I Married a Monkey” sketches so far, though I do expect to tire of them eventually.
STARS: ****


A MESSAGE TO YOUNG WHITE VIEWERS
EDM has a message for white kids about the importance of a good education

 

— I got a good laugh from Eddie’s mention of a “warm bucket of hamster vomit”.
— Funny premise with Eddie encouraging viewers to drop out of college.
— Him advising viewers to “play Space Invaders” serves as a nice time capsule of the arcade craze that was going on in those days.
— Good ending with the limo driver.
STARS: ***½


HIDDEN PHOTO
Allen Funt (JOP) gives diners dangerous forks & upsets kids

     

— The zoom-in to an audience member during the beginning came off awkward.
— They haven’t said who Joe’s playing, but I’m assuming it’s Allen Funt. Judging from the audience’s initial positive reaction to him, his impression seems to be dead-on.
— Ha, the sadistic prank with the hot fork is hilarious.
— Is that Christine or Bernadette playing the southern-accented waitress? I can’t tell.
— I’m liking how they’re doing more sadistic pranks. The idea of replacing a blind guy’s seeing-eye dog with a wild pig is cracking me up.
— Yet another hilarious prank sequence with telling kids they’re being put up for adoption.
— Why is that one little girl dressed like a French maid?
STARS: ****


BEDTIME STORY
(TOR) tells a bedtime story about camels that upholster furniture

— What’s with Robin’s voice? Is that a random British accent I’m hearing? It doesn’t seem to fit her character in this. Mary seems to be doing a weird accent as well.
— I’m starting to realize why Tony’s performances sometimes remind me of John Belushi: the way Tony’s voice sounds in some of his roles is very similar to the voice John would use in certain sketches like The Farbers and Knights of Columbus.
— What the hell? That’s the whole sketch??!? The bedtime story’s over already??? This was absolutely pointless.
STARS: *


BILLY JOEL PREVIEW
a teaser for Billy Joel’s upcoming musical performance

— Interesting random quick segment, showing Billy Joel rehearsing while announcer Mel Brandt tells us Joel’s performance is coming up later in the show.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Go-Go’s perform “Our Lips Are Sealed”


MAN RAY AND MIC
by William Wegman- a dog & a microphone

 

— Hmm, the return of Bill Wegman and his dog Man Ray, who made a few films together back in the original SNL era.
— Uh… what in the world??? This ended up being yet another very quick, pointless bit tonight, and reminded me of one of the earlier Wegman/Man Ray films that just showed the dog being awaken by an alarm clock. What is the point of these films of theirs??? I don’t understand these at all.
STARS: *


SKETCH IN THE DARK
after power failure, TOR & CHE’s skit is unacceptable to the censor (TIK)

   

— Interesting fourth wall-breaking premise.
— LOL at the lines about Tony’s “rod” and Christine’s “nice melons”.
— Loved Tim flipping out when Christine calls for Dick Ebersol by yelling “Dick! Dick! Get me dick!”
— Didn’t care for the “oh, this sketch IS about sex after all” ending; it was kinda corny.
STARS: ***½


COMING UP
EDM & JOP wrestle for the right to introduce Billy Joel later in the show

   

— Another miscellaneous segment hyping up Billy Joel’s upcoming performance.
— Joe to Eddie: “Murphy, give me a break, you do EVERYTHING on the show.” Heh, I bet that’s how ALL of Eddie’s castmates felt throughout Eddie’s SNL tenure.
— This is a great display of the fun chemistry Eddie and Joe have always had on SNL.
— Haha, I’m loving this heated-up fight between Eddie and Joe. Lots of great youthful energy from Eddie on display here as well.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MAKING LOVE ALONE
host sings a song about the virtues of making love alone

— My prediction of Bernadette doing a second musical sketch tonight was correct. Looks like she’s doing a serious, non-comedic musical number this time.
— “Making love alone?” Audience laughter? Wait, this is turning out to be a comedic song after all.
— Hmm, a pro-masturbation song by Bernadette Peters. Very interesting.
— Overall, this was a very solid number.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Billy Joel performs “Miami 2017”


42ND STREET
an innocent starlet (host) gets her chance in a sleazy club

     

— An old-timey burlesque backstage sketch seems perfect for Bernadette.
— The fire violation bribing bit was pretty funny.
— Interesting use of Brian Doyle-Murray in a rare non-Update appearance, as a drag queen of all things.
— Very good acting from Christine in her brief scene, almost TOO good for a sketch comedy show.
— LOL at the quick walk-on from a wild-looking Robin. Where has she been tonight anyway? Feels like we’ve barely seen her.
— Overall, this was a much longer sketch than usual this season, and wasn’t too great overall. Most of the performances were solid, though.
STARS: **


SNL NEWSBREAK
David Stockman’s (TIK) rosy economic scenario causes his nose to grow

    

— This is just NOW coming on? This seems to be on much later than usual tonight. I wonder if the fact that there’s so many musical performances tonight has something to do with that.
— Unlike last week, we get no shake-up with the “falling logo letters” opening gag. Just the same-old straightforward approach to it. You’d figure SNL would take a hint and stop doing the gag after seeing how much it always DIES with the audience.
— Speaking of dying with the audience, Brian’s first joke was met with total silence. Not a single laugh was heard from the audience. Man, it’s getting more and more depressing watching these dire SNL Newsbreaks this season.
— Geez, what was with Brian’s sloppy delivery of that Ayatollah joke?
— Tim playing a character named David Stockman? Uh, didn’t Gilbert Gottfried do an Update commentary as a character with that exact same name last season?
— LOL at the Pinocchio routine with Tim’s nose.
— Okay, Tim’s “increasingly bigger nose” bit is running out of steam.
— Wow, that’s the whole SNL Newsbreak??? This may be one of the shortest fake news installments I’ve ever seen on SNL. That, coupled with the fact that they buried this so late into the episode, almost makes me wonder if SNL is completely giving up on this dying segment.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Go-Go’s perform “We Got The Beat”


NICK THE KNOCK
Nick the Knock (JOP) listens to a fairy’s (MAG) poem, then eats her spine

   

— Ohhho, yes! I’ve always been dying to see this bizarre sketch after everything I’ve heard about it over the years, especially the ending.
— Hey, Joe’s music box is playing the future “Pumping Up with Hanz and Frans” yodeling theme song!
— What is that moving behind Mary?
— Joe’s facial expressions during Mary’s poem are kinda funny.
— Just as I expected, this sketch is weird as HELL so far.
— Haha, and there it is, the part of this sketch I’ve always heard about: the insane sequence with Joe eating the fairy’s spine, resulting in green fluid shooting all over his face while the fairy screams in horror. I love it! The studio audience didn’t seem to know WHAT to make of that part, judging by their uncomfortable silence.
— Overall, this has got to be one of the weirdest, most fucked-up sketches SNL has ever aired. Like I said in the last review, I’m enjoying how Michael O’Donoghue’s being in charge behind the scenes has led to this season doing lots of weird, dark, unconventional things that you’d usually NEVER see being done in any other season. I’m starting to dread O’Donoghue’s upcoming mid-season firing, because I’m aware that it starts a turning point where the Ebersol era begins its reputation for being overly bland and too safe.
STARS: *** (probably too generous a rating, but I really admire the hell out of all the oddness and darkness this sketch was going for)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Billy Joel performs “She’s Got A Way”


ROCK ‘N ROLL HEAVEN INCORPORATED
Rock ‘n Roll Heaven Inc. specializes in dead musician merchandizing

     

— Even the way Tony looks in that wig and glasses kinda reminds me of how John Belushi looked in certain getups.
— I got a laugh from the Jim Morrison flasher doll.
— Loved the tasteless “Jim Croce’s crashing plane” toy.
— Wow, another sketch appearance from Brian Doyle-Murray tonight.
— The “Dr. Nick Medical Kit” was another strong tasteless bit.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

  

— They seem to be trying to kill a lot of time before the ending credits start rolling. I liked how when Bernadette asked Tim how it feels to work with a monkey and Tim jokingly answers “I work with 6 of them all the time” (referring to his castmates), Eddie responds with a mock-offended “Hey, that ain’t funny, man!”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode with a fairly fun vibe throughout. Even the two obligatory musical sketches of the week worked. There were still several weak pieces scattered throughout the show, and some experimentation that was very hit-and-miss, but nothing dragged this episode down TOO far for me.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lauren Hutton):
— a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Tim Curry

Posted on

November 7, 1981 – Lauren Hutton / Rick James (S7 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Stay out of our way or we’ll kill you”

— Oh, so these Exxico opening disclaimer gags are a recurring thing now?
— Not a bad tagline in this, but it didn’t make me laugh as much as the Exxico tagline from earlier this season did.
STARS: **


TALENT ENTRANCE


HERE’S ‘COS
new album from frequent Tonight Show fill-in Bill Cosby (EDM)

  

— I already like the premise of Eddie’s Cosby hosting the Tonight Show.
— Oh, turns out this is just a commercial instead of a full-fledged sketch.
— I like how the announcer is calling off various Cosby-isms one by one (rambling stories, mugging, etc.) while Eddie demonstrates them.
— I’m starting to realize that as funny as Eddie’s Cosby is, it’s far from the most dead-on Cosby voice I’ve seen.
— Interesting fourth wall-breaking ending with stage manager Joe Dicso telling Eddie that Lauren Hutton wants to see him in her dressing room.
STARS: ***


DRESSING ROOM
host invites EDM to her dressing room, JOP advises him to leave

   

— Lauren asks Eddie to do his Buckwheat, which is interesting because he had only done one Buckwheat sketch at this point in SNL history. I guess even after just that one sketch, his impression ALREADY gained a lot of fame.
— Interesting how this seems to be turning into a “The Graduate” parody.
— There’s Eddie’s trademark “heh heh heh!” laugh.
— I liked Joe’s sudden “These are white guys, do you know them?” to Eddie while in the middle of listing off white male actors that Lauren has worked with.
— Another funny line from Joe to Eddie about how “we both know the myth (about black guys) isn’t true”.
— Good ending with Joe appearing in Lauren’s changing booth.
STARS: ***


HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ed Meese (TOR) uses movie ruse to direct Ronald Reagan’s (JOP) presidency

   

— The debut of the “Hail to the Chief” sketches where we see things from President Reagan’s perspective.
— I also just realized this is the debut of Joe’s Reagan impression itself. While we can’t see him in this, his Reagan voice is spot-on and a HUGE improvement over the bizarre, lousy Reagan that Charles Rocket did the previous season.
— Very interesting format.
— Reagan: “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Meese!” Ed Meese: “Shut up, will ya, Ron?”
STARS: ***½


TRANSEASTERN
“It’s like flying in a cattle car with wings”

     

— Is that the voice of Christine Ebersole singing the jingle?
— The premise of the commercial jingle being interspersed with shots of airline employees jovially introducing themselves by saying which typical flight inconvenience they’re responsible for is pretty funny. Some amusing lines there.
— Great tagline at the end. (last screencap above)
STARS: ***½


WHISPER
host demonstrates Whisper’s bubble bath & detergent uses simultaneously

  

— Eh, not too sure about this dishwashing bathwater premise.
— Okay, this is getting a little funnier.
— Decent ending with a grouchy Tim dumping silverware into the bathtub.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Give It To Me Baby”


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
— Rerun


CHEAP LAFFS
Macho Wipe super-abrasive toilet paper is weekly lowbrow yuk

   

— The return of this funny sketch from earlier this season.
— Oh, Tony’s the host this time instead of Tim.
— Another scene with Lauren as herself in her dressing room.
— Haha, oh my god at this “hard, manly toilet paper” premise.
— Overall, while the prior Cheap Laffs sketch gave me a few more laughs, I still got some really good amusement from this one.
STARS: ****


SNL NEWSBREAK
Princess Di’s (CHE) baby birthdate estimate doesn’t jibe with tummy size
Ted Koppel (JOP) interviews Menachem Begin (TIK) & Yasser Arafat (TOR)
EDM describes animal flight experiments he conducted from 10 stories up

       

— At least they shook up the opening “falling logo letters” gag by having Brian quickly put on a hardhat in preparation.
— Brian didn’t even mention Mary Gross in his intro, not even saying she’s “on assignment in the field” like he did in the last SNL Newsbreak. I guess they’ve given up on keeping up the pretense that she’s still an SNL Newsbreak anchor, and are basically admitting they’ve officially taken that spot away from her.
— What’s with the shakiness of the first picture being displayed on the news screen?
— Is that Lauren Hutton playing Princess Di? She kinda resembles Jane Curtin in this.
— Princess Di on her upcoming baby: “I’m hoping for anything with a chin.”
— Interesting concept with Brian announcing they’re trying out a series of “guest newspersons”, which again is basically acknowledging that Mary is no longer an anchorperson.
— Joe’s Ted Koppel wig is insane here.
— Still not crazy about Joe’s Koppel voice, though.
— When they first showed Tim in that old man getup (screencap below), I actually thought that was frequent SNL extra Andy Murphy.

— The childish argument between Begin and Arafat is pretty funny.
— Great ending with Joe’s Koppel toppling over from side-to-side due to his tall hair.
— Eddie continues his streak of doing a commentary in every single SNL Newsbreak this season.
— I like how increasingly sadistic Eddie’s “pets landing on their feet” commentary is getting.
— Eddie’s “bring your kids” comment to Brian at the end was pretty funny.
— Overall, a slightly better SNL Newsbreak than usual tonight, though I still wasn’t too crazy about it.
STARS: **½


HARLEQUIN ROMANCES
(JOP) & (host) act out a scene from a men’s Harlequin Romance novel

    

— Kind of a strange sketch so far. No idea what else to say about it.
— Some funny lines from Mary at the end, but overall, I didn’t care too much for this sketch.
STARS: **½


REACH OUT
Brooke Shields (MAG) & Cheryl Tiegs (CHE) & real-life problems
host complains about stereotypes of models enforced in sketch

     

— Loved Mary as Brooke Shields saying “That’s my mother’s job”, regarding turning Brooke into a porn star.
— Pretty good laugh from Mary doing Brooke’s famous Calvin Klein Jeans leaning-over pose, though I liked it more when Gail Matthius did it last season.
— Rosie Shuster’s appearance as one of the “audience members” makes me realize that this feels like a sketch that would’ve fit perfectly in the original SNL era.  I can imagine Gilda, Jane, and Laraine in Mary, Christine, and Robin’s roles.
— Christine’s Cheryl Tiegs to Mary’s Brooke Shields: “You know what’s gonna come between you and your Calvins? My foot.”
— Interesting fourth-wall break with Lauren Hutton as herself calling out the sketch for inaccurately portraying models.
— I like Lauren’s increasingly exaggerated examples of important things that famous models have supposedly done (e.g. being a leading micro-physicist, inventing the laser beam).
STARS: ***½


VELVET JONES SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
Velvet Jones’ follow-up book teaches guys how to be a pimp & kick ho butt

 

— A reference at the beginning to the now-famous “I Wanna Be a Ho” sketch.
— Eh, this sketch so far is coming off as a poor rewrite of “I Wanna Be a Ho”, basically just replacing “ho” with “pimp”. The routine doesn’t work as well a second time.
— I do like the overly long book title and how it had to be split up into both sides of the book.
STARS: **½


BIG BASER
(JOP) longs for the good old days when Coca-Cola contained cocaine

   

— The sped-up old stock footage showing how the original Coca-Cola “gave people a lift” is pretty funny.
— What’s with the choppy camera effect at the end? Or is that some kind of VHS damage in the old copy of the episode I’m watching?
— Oh, never mind, the choppy camera effect is part of the sketch, to represent Joe “tripping out” on the coke.
— Pretty dull sketch overall
STARS: **


WILLIAM BURROUGHS
William Burroughs [real] reads a hospital scene from Naked Lunch

— Okay, THIS is gonna be weird…
— I do like how season 7 has been doing lots of strange, unpredictable, and interesting things like this; things that you’d usually NEVER see being done in any other season. I’m assuming Michael O’Donoghue’s influence behind the scenes this season has a lot to do with that.
— I’m liking Burroughs’ creepy look, voice, and delivery here (he’d have fit PERFECTLY into the dark Donald Pleasence episode), though I can’t even tell if this story is supposed to be funny or not.
— Okay, the story is getting funnier and funnier.
— Ha, all the gory details in his story are great.
— Overall, wow, a very odd segment, but I found this to be enjoyable and solid.
STARS: ***½


PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
— Rerun.
— For some reason, the ending credits of this are displayed on a different screen card than last time.


BITTER PEOPLE
Pat Cooper (JOP) says mean things about Vegas performers

 

— Well, this whole thing sure came and went without any real laughs. I did kinda chuckle at Mary’s line about Suzanne Sommers at the end. Other than that, I got no enjoyment out of this sketch.
— Hope “Bitter People” doesn’t eventually become a recurring sketch.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Super Freak”


ART IS FICIAL
by TOS- a profile of literary dog Maurice Blaget

   

— That sounds like Tom Schiller doing the voice-over narration. If it is, I had no idea he did any SNL films outside of the original era and the late 80s/early 90s years. Why wasn’t this film preceded with the usual “Schiller’s Reel” title screen?
— I’m enjoying the French quaintness to everything here.
— Overall, boy, that was weird, but a pretty good film and had that usual Tom Schiller flavor to it.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall decent, average episode for season 7. The second half was quite strange, featuring several pieces that were weird, unconventional, or hard to figure, but I did like some of them.
— It also helps that this episode didn’t have any musical sketches or an Andy Warhol film, my two least favorite staples of season 7.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bernadette Peters