Tag: saturday night live

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October 31, 1981 – Donald Pleasence / Fear (S7 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host tries EDM’s suggestion & vomits for good luck; JOB cameo

  

— Why is Donald practicing saying LFNY in this of all seasons?
— I do kinda like the strange premise of Eddie vomiting for luck.
— John Belushi! And boy, does he look even heavier than usual.
— Well, that cameo sure came and went with nothing happening at all. He didn’t even get to do or say anything. I thought I remembered hearing this cold opening ended with him giving his trademark eyebrow-raise into the camera, but he doesn’t even do THAT. Even that would’ve been SOMETHING, at least.
— The only significance John’s cameo has is that it’s his final SNL appearance before his untimely death just a few months later.
STARS: **


TALENT ENTRANCE


PROFILES IN BRITISH COURAGE
(host) operates on cooperative soldier (TIK)

  

— They sure held on that “Profiles In British Courage” screen for a long time before cutting to the opening scene. I guess the performers weren’t quite ready yet.
— Why didn’t Donald finish his “I can always get another table, but you can hardly get another leg” line? He trailed off so much at the end of the sentence that it sounded like he just gave up on it.
— Is Tony doing an impression of Robin Williams’ impression of an Indian?
— Boy, is this sketch getting gory all of a sudden. A Halloween treat!
— I do like Tim’s upbeat, spirited British demeanor even as his leg is getting cut off.
— For a blood-spurting sketch, they should be going much more over the top with the fake blood. The mild way they’re spraying the blood in this sketch stopped being funny after about 15 seconds.
— British announcer: “This is Thanes Television, dedicated to upholding the British tradition of courage, honor, grace, and dignity. Stay tuned for Benny Hill.”
STARS: **½


JOGGER MOTEL
“Joggers jog in, but they don’t jog out”

   

— Heh, pretty funny Roach Motel take-off overall. Can’t find anything else to say about this.
STARS: ***


TWO FACES OF JERRY
movie about the serious (JOP) & comical (EDM) Lewises

— Joe’s demeanor as “bitter older Jerry Lewis” is great, though the voice could use some work.
— Eddie does a perfect “goofy young Jerry Lewis”. And I like how SNL was never afraid to have Eddie play some non-black celebrities, like when he played Bruce Lee in the previous season.
— Great concept to this commercial, and good execution of it.
STARS: ***½


I’M SO MISERABLE
(CHE) sings “Last Night I Killed My Husband” while cleaning up the mess

 

— Another Christine Ebersole musical sketch with a country-western theme.
— As usual, very good singing from Christine, and I do like how the premise of this sketch fits tonight’s Halloween theme.
STARS: ***


PUMPKIN
by Elbert Budin- the gory details associated with pumpkin carving

   

— I’m loving the slow, gruesome, unsettling presentation of this pumpkin-carving sequence, and the music is adding a great touch.
— Haha, oh my god at the pile of guts pulled out of the pumpkin. You could even see an eyeball in there!
STARS: ****


GUARDIAN ANGEL
a Guardian Angel (EDM) shows how jewelry can simulate snot & defeat crime

 

— A fairly dumb premise with passing your gold medallion off as snot, but Eddie’s demonstration is great and he’s really enhancing the material.
STARS: ***


MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis [real] juggles apples while eating the razor-free one

    

— Michael, regarding SNL: “I think over the history of the show, they’ve proved themselves to not be just a funny show many times.”
— I like how even this act has a Halloween theme.
— Funny turn with director Dave Wilson requesting Michael juggle the razor-bladed apples.
— Nice fake-out with Michael “continuing” to juggle the two apples while getting a third apple.
— Very impressive juggling, especially him demonstrating various juggling personality types without messing up at all.
— Love how Dave Wilson is sternly demanding that Michael eat one of the apples.
— Michael, in response to Dave Wilson’s aforementioned demand: “But it could taste like Schick!” Normally, I would groan at a pun like that, but Michael Davis has a way of making even THAT funny.
— Once again, I love the daringness of doing something like this on live TV.
— LOL at the quick, slobbish chomps he’s taking of the apple.
— Overall, another great Michael Davis act.
STARS: ****½


SNL NEWSBREAK
MAG asks Frank Sinatra (JOP) how sale of AWACS to Saudis was arranged
after having her clothes stolen, weatherperson CHE looks like a hooker
Raheem Abdul Muhammed tells why black people like to go to horror movies

       

— Not even the audience is laughing anymore at the “falling logo letters” gag that’s opened every SNL Newsbreak so far.
— Brian’s the only anchor shown at the desk tonight. He explains that Mary is on assignment in the field. I take it that’s the show’s way of admitting that Mary’s delivery as an anchorperson hasn’t been working out.
— I got a laugh from Mary’s accidental “President Weagan” line flub.
— The look of the intimidating secret service man Joe pulls into the scene is pretty funny. Nothing else in this commentary has been making me laugh.
— Man, none of Brian’s jokes have worked AT ALL tonight so far, and the audience is very silent throughout tonight’s SNL Newsbreak.
— Christine’s reaction to her accidental reveal that her friend’s a hooker is kinda funny, but this overall segment seems to have no point to it.
— Eddie continues his streak of doing a commentary in every single SNL Newsbreak this season.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Eddie’s sarcastic “Thank you for that warm round of applause” when his entrance got no audience reaction.
— An overall decent Raheem Abdul Mohammed commentary, though no particular moments stood out, other than Eddie managing to work in yet another n-word drop.
— A mention of tonight being Brian’s birthday.
— Decent touch with Brian “blowing out” a birthday candle through the news screen.
— Overall, a pretty dreadful, dead SNL Newsbreak tonight, even worse than it’s usually been.
STARS: *½


TALES FROM THE HIP
a boogie-woogie musical version of Macbeth

     

— As I said in the last episode review, if they have to do a musical sketch on a weekly basis this season, can’t they just keep it down to one a week?
— Oh my god at Donald’s attempt at hip singing.
— Another oh my god at Tim showing up in drag as the wife. That’s somehow making this already iffy sketch even worse.
— Overall, I didn’t enjoy this at all. Not even Eddie’s appearance could save it for me. Why must I suffer through so many joke-less musical sketches this season?
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Care About You”

— Boy, was Donald’s intro awkward and drawn out.
— Wow, this performance was short as hell, and was fairly tame for Fear standards. I guess this is the calm before the storm of their infamous second performance later tonight…


THE CLAMS
— Rerun


MEN’S ROOM
during Annie intermission, theatergoers talk (TIK) out of bathroom stall

  

— There’s that same bathroom set once again tonight.
— Eddie’s country accent is pretty funny.
— What’s with Joe’s uncalled-for “Sorry, not interested” and “I don’t go that way” response to Tim simply saying “Hi” to him at the sink? That’s taking gay panic to extremes.
— Loved Tim’s complaint about the play Annie being “a little girl trying to sing like Ethel Merman”.
— Eddie’s the saving grace of this strange sketch for me, because otherwise, almost NOTHING has been working in it.
STARS: *½


SUGAR BREAKFAST
a sugar-loving family enjoys the most important meal of the day

     

— Speaking of recycled sets, I think this is the same kitchen set from the “Last Night I Killed My Husband” sketch.
— I wasn’t too crazy about this premise at first, but this sketch is winning me over as it’s getting more and more insane and hyper.
— LOL at the sequence with them “doing the dishes”.
— Ha, Joe’s speaking so fast that during his and Mary’s quick arguing/making-up session, I caught him accidentally saying “I’m horry, soney” when he meant to say “I’m sorry, honey”.
— Nice touch with the song the family’s listening to on the radio having a sped-up chipmunk voice.
— I like Eddie’s deadpan “Those some crazy white people” line at the end, though it was barely audible under the audience’s sketch-ending applause.
STARS: ***½


ANDY WARHOL’S T.V.
phone calls for Halloween costume suggestions

   

— The return of these bizarre-as-fuck Andy Warhol films. I certainly didn’t miss his absence in the last episode.  Though at least the creepy atmosphere of these Warhol films fits the theme of tonight’s Halloween-centric episode.
— I guess the “Voice of Calvin Klein” graphic being displayed on the screen when we can’t even hear Klein’s voice over the phone is kinda funny.
— What the HELL at that special effect with Warhol’s head randomly falling off?
— Overall, while this was still a waste of time, it was slightly better than the prior Warhol films, if only because the whole “headless on the street” ending was kinda intriguing in a weird way.
STARS: *½


HOME MOVIES
MAG makes fun of a viewer-submitted home movie, asks for more entries

   

— A follow-up to the segment from the season premiere where Christine asked viewers to send in home movies.
— Mary attempts a Mr. Mike-esque “sucks rubber donkey lungs” insult, only she butchers it by accidentally saying “dunkey longs”. Was she trying to top Joe’s “I’m horry, soney” line flub from the Sugar sketch?
— Pretty funny with Mary doing an MST3K-esque snarky commentary during a clip of a fan-submitted home movie. I hope the fan who sent that movie in has a good sense of humor about himself, though.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


THE VIC SALUKIN SHOW
challenge of “Scare me!” has lethal results

     

— Ah, yes! I’ve always wanted to see this. This is one of two famous things I’ve been anticipating in this episode. (You can probably guess what the other famous thing is)
— Not sure why the sketch is in black-and-white, but I like that, because in a weird way, it’s adding to the spooky, raw feel of this sketch.
— I love the “Scare me!” call-in premise.
— Tony’s sadistic prank call was very funny.
— I’m absolutely loving the creepy call from Donald Pleasence, especially the way the camera is slowly zooming into a speaker as Donald’s overly specific details about Tony’s family members are getting more and more unsettling.
— Fantastic gruesome reveal of a bloodied, murdered Tony with a butcher knife sticking out of his head, which has become a strangely classic image among some SNL fans.
— The dead silence from the audience during the aforementioned reveal actually works for the scary atmosphere.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beef Bologna”
musical guest performs “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones”
musical guest performs “Let’s Have A War”

 

— Another weird rambly intro from Donald.
— Here we go, the most memorable, notorious part of the whole episode.
— Holy shit, this is INSANE so far.
— This is SNL I’m watching?!?
— A lot of screams of “New York sucks” from the skinhead mosh-pitters. I’m pretty sure I also heard a “fuck” from one of them at one point.
— Aaaand there’s the sudden performance cut-off when the mosh-pitters appeared to start REALLY getting out of control.


PROSE AND CONS
— Rerun. Guess they had this waiting in the wings in case things got too out of hand during Fear’s performance.
— The audience doesn’t seem to be miked AT ALL during this (I guess because Fear’s performance is still going on in the studio). It feels so weird hearing Eddie’s classic “Cill My Landlord” poem play to TOTAL SILENCE. You could even hear the last word of his poem loud and clear (“Death”), when it usually gets drowned out by audience laughter.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow, what a crazy episode, which is exactly what I came in expecting after all the stuff I had heard about it over the years. I love how most of the episode had a dark, heavy Halloween theme to it (which makes me wish SNL did live episodes on Halloween much more often; the only other two times they would go on to do one would be in 1987 and 1992), and I also love how this episode had a VERY heavy Michael O’Donoghue influence. This has to be the most Mr. Mike-feeling SNL episode ever (and from what I’ve heard about some of the disturbing, fucked-up sketches that got scrapped during the week, this episode was originally supposed to be even MORE Mr. Mike-feeling). Even some of the stuff O’Donoghue had no involvement in came off weird and crazy (e.g. Fear).
— The actual quality of the episode itself was very up-and-down. There were some things I loved and some things I hated; probably 50/50. I mostly just love this episode simply for its dark theme and for its very unique place in SNL history.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Lauren Hutton

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October 17, 1981 – George Kennedy / Miles Davis (S7 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
host takes command of control room; Ron Howard & Regis Philbin cameos

    

— Hey, we’re getting an actual cold opening tonight, and not just a “disclaimer gag”.
— Young Regis!
— We’ll be seeing Ron Howard and his mustache hosting next season.
— The “technical difficulties” with the cameras are cracking me up.
— Why does Ron Howard keep pausing so long every time he’s about to introduce himself?
— Funny visual of everybody being passed out in the control room.
— A good panicky performance from Christine.
— Great segue to the opening credits, serving as a nice LFNY substitute.
— A solid cold opening overall, and a very good performance from George.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE

— No monologue tonight, just another Talent Entrance. I loved George’s brief message during this, though.


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
eviction notice from Mr. Landlord (TIK)

     

— A very welcome return.
— Loved Eddie’s cheerful “I’m so glad the bitch is gone” line about his ex-wife.
— LOL at “scumbucket” being the word of the day.
— Very interesting change of pace with the “visit to the president” involving Eddie using hand puppets.
— Nice use of the “middle finger”, though I’m guessing Eddie’s secretly using one of his other fingers.
STARS: ****


53 AT STUDIO 54
host sings- “It’s no fun to be 53 at Studio 54”

   

— Ha, George suddenly breaking out into a disco dance…
— Oh, turns out this is yet another season 7 musical sketch.
— Boy, this is just plain weird so far.
— Okay, this is growing on me more and more. The music is catchy, it’s amusing seeing George Kennedy attempting to sing a song like this, and I’m loving his “dancing”. Some of the lyrics are funny, too.
STARS: ***½


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
chocolate & Mrs. Rooney (CHE)

 

— Another Andy Rooney sketch already?
— Interesting addition with Christine as Rooney’s wife.
— Christine’s “Did you ever fake an orgasm?” line cracked me up.
— Another funny line with Joe’s line about “closing your eyes and pretending your wife was Jessica Savitch”.
STARS: ***


VELVET JONES SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
career help via I Wanna Be A Ho

 

— The debut of Velvet Jones!
— Oh, it’s the classic “I Wanna Be a Ho”, this character’s most famous sketch.
— Good “wooden TV pitchman” voice from Eddie.
— Hilarious concept and Eddie’s delivery of the material is great.
— Funny testimonial from Robin.
— Eddie’s ending line: “Be somebody. Be a ho!”
— Like I said in the last review, Eddie has been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis this season. Every episode so far this season has had at least one Eddie Murphy sketch that’s remembered today as one of his all-time classics: Little Richard Simmons, Prose and Cons, Buh-Weet Sings, Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood, and I Wanna Be a Ho. Amazing that he’s had such an impressive number of classic sketches over the span of just THREE EPISODES this season.
STARS: ****


MR. BILL GOES TO L.A.
by Walter Williams- cocaine causes loss of his home

     

— What the–??? I never knew they did a Mr. Bill short in the Ebersol era. (His cold opening with Chevy last season doesn’t count, as that was just a backstage sketch and not a Mr. Bill short)
— I like the giant bag labeled “Ton O Coke”.
— Decent earthquake ending.
— Overall, nothing much else to say about this, but this was okay for what it was. I wonder if this ends up being the final Mr. Bill short.
STARS: ***


SPRAY-ON LAETRIL
alleviates (MAG)’s lung cancer & comes in “the pump”

   

— Haha, I’m loving the shots of cigarette-smoking doctors Tim, Tony, and Eddie spraying the laetril in each other’s faces while singing “the pump” over and over.
— Very funny and daring concept to this sketch.
— I got a laugh from Christine’s throwaway line about how her lungs looked like moldy spinach.
— LOL, Eddie, Tony, and Tim have now begun cracking up while spraying laetril in each other’s faces. They seems to be having a lot of fun in this sketch.
— Funny ending with Mary’s syphilis revelation and Joe’s reaction to that.
STARS: ****


HARRY ANDERSON
Harry Anderson [real] does tricks with a $5 bill then reveals his secrets

       

— Hmm, I always thought Michael Davis was this season’s resident comedy magician and Harry Anderson didn’t start appearing until season 8. I see I was wrong.
— Being familiar with some of the magic acts Harry Anderson would do on the show in some of the later seasons, I know this is gonna be good.
— Funny bit with him tearing the dollar right after the audience volunteer gave it to him.
— Wow, how the hell did he do that trick, magically making a torn-to-bits dollar bill appear whole again?
— I like the naughty “digging in the pocket” bit.
— Harry to the audience volunteer: “Hope your kids have buck teeth.”
— Oh, he’s explaining how he did the torn-to-bits dollar bill trick. Cool reveal.
STARS: ****


SNL NEWSBREAK
footage shows Big Bird being assassinated by a nine year-old
EDM declares- “No person is too ugly to have sex with”
Wetback Weather Watch- Juan Gavino (John Candy) gives Rio Grande report

         

— They’re STILL doing the “SNL Newsbreak logo letters fall on Brian” opening gag.
— I actually laughed out loud at the “Idi Amin disguising himself as Hattie McDaniel” joke.
— The “Big Bird assassination” bit was okay.
— Ugh at that joke about Jimmy Carter moving in with a young man after Rosalynn Carter did the same. They seem to be relying an awful lot on lazy gay jokes on Update this season.
— What’s with the audience’s lack of applause for some of the guest commentators this season? Maybe the audience is just always lulled to sleep by Brian and Mary’s weak jokes.
— Eddie has done a commentary in every Update so far this season. I wonder if they’re relying on him so much due to how much SNL Newsbreak has been struggling on a weekly basis.
— Eddie’s whole “sex faces” bit is a riot.
— Brian’s Wayne Newton “sold out” joke was met with complete silence. I do like how Brian acknowledged that by responding “Ouch”.
— Hey, it’s John Candy!!!
— Candy’s overall bit ended up being just okay; not as funny as I expected it to be. Good performance from him as always, though.
STARS: **½


LA CAGE AUX FOLLES ’81
Renato (TIK) & Albin (host) return for a sequel

 

— The idea of George Kennedy in a “La Cage Aux Folles” parody is already making me laugh.
— Oh my god at George in that outfit and earrings.
— LOL, that hard slap came out of nowhere.
— Loved the ending with George dropping his accent and bluntly saying in his normal voice “Aw, cut the crap, let’s redline this sucker.”
STARS: ***½


UP AND AT ‘EM
by Doug Wendt- a dog eats peanut butter

— Strange film so far. It’s just a dog repeatedly licking its lips.
— Wait, are the dog’s licks supposed to be in time to the music that’s playing? If so, it’s not looking like it’s in sync AT ALL.
— What the–? That’s the whole thing? Are they kidding me with this?!!??
STARS: *


RUBIK’S TEETH
JOP demonstrates the dental puzzle

 

— This is SNL’s very first acknowledgment of the Rubik’s Cube craze from the early 80s.
— Ha, funny visual.
— Okay, that ended fast. This commercial was nothing more than a quick sight gag that was only good for one chuckle.
STARS: **


AN EDITORIAL REPLY
Marilyn Monroe (MAG) sings “Downers are a Girl’s Best Friend”

   

— Yet ANOTHER season 7 musical sketch. If they have to do these, can’t they at least keep it down to just one an episode?
— The audience is absolutely silent so far.
— Not sure how to feel about this song at all so far, though Mary’s performance is solid. The humor’s not really working for me, though.
— Overall, I didn’t care much for this. Though, unlike some other musical SNL sketches, this at least wasn’t as much of a chore for me to watch, thanks to Mary’s great performance and the fact that she looked really good in that Marilyn Monroe getup.
STARS: **½


HIRED HAND
Jake the Hired Hand (TOR) takes (ROD)’s land despite sexual tension

   

— Another Tony Rosato performance that’s reminding me of John Belushi.
— I liked Tony’s simple “I cut myself shaving” scar explanation after his unnecessary “raised by animals” story.
— This is a strange sketch so far, and again, I’m not sure what to make of it. I worry that tonight’s episode has been losing me with the string of disappointing segments that’s followed the La Cage Aux Folles sketch.
— The (intentional) music sting delay was kinda funny.
— Ha, great turn with George and Tony shooting Robin after her whining.
— A good unintentional laugh from Tony having trouble delivering that one line just now.
— LOL at Robin coming back to life briefly, only to get shot to death again.
— This sketch is finally getting funnier and funnier.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jean Pierre”


TUNA MELTS & TYPING
a secretary (CHE) & a janitor (host) talk about what’s important to them

 

— Looks like I’m in for a quieter, low-key, slice-of-life sketch.
— Overall, despite the fact that I had pretty much nothing to say about this sketch as I was watching it, I found this sketch to be very nice and enjoyable. The writing was strong, and George and Christine played off of each other so well. This whole thing was actually fairly touching, especially the ending.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

— “Special material by Marilyn Suzanne Miller”. I don’t need to ask which sketch she wrote.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid episode, and the best of the season so far. We got strong material throughout pretty much the whole show, though the show did hit a bit of a snag for me at one point during the back half, with the segments that aired between La Cage Aux Folles and Hired Hand. Still an overall very enjoyable episode as a whole, though, and the number of weaker pieces were kept to a minimum. George Kennedy also helped the episode by being a fun host and giving a lot of great performances.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Susan Saint James):
— a pretty big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Donald Pleasence, a.k.a. the infamous Fear episode

Posted on

October 10, 1981 – Susan Saint James / The Kinks (S7 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Yesterday’s Technology at Tomorrow’s Prices”

— Eh, funny enough, I guess. I’m still not crazy about this season using these quick disclaimer gags as cold openings, though.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
audience decides against MacArthur & Wife, Macbeth & Wife sketches

   

— We’re getting an actual monologue tonight instead of just a “Talent Entrance”.
— Ah, so SNL calls the obligatory parody of something the host is known for “the host sketch”.
— Interesting letting the audience choose which McMillan & Wife parody to go with, though I’m not sure if that’s genuine or if it was already pre-decided which sketch they’re gonna do.
— Abrupt decision to do the McDonald & Wife sketch, though maybe that was an intentional joke.
STARS: ***


MCDONALD & WIFE
Ronald McDonald (JOP) & (host) solve crime while in bed

  

— Oh my god at that hideous clown makeup on Joe.
— All the “Mc” speak is just making me groan. Is that the big “joke” of this sketch?
— That’s it? That’s the whole thing? Ugh, I see we’re using leftover corny scripts from season 6.
STARS: *½


BUH-WEET SINGS
Buckwheat (EDM) is back & he has a new album- Buh-Weet Sings

   

— The debut of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— There’s the classic opening line “Hi, I’m Buh-weet, amembah me?”
— The Buckwheat-ized songs are all hilarious.
— Love how they put question marks on the bottom of the screen in place of the song title when they couldn’t figure out which song he was singing just now.
— Overall, another all-time Eddie Murphy classic from this season. He’s been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis in season 7 so far.
STARS: *****


THE BIZARRO WORLD
Black House policy is the same in this inverted realm

       

— I like the cube-shaped globe used to represent bizarro Earth.
— Some technical errors when the camera tries cutting back to Mary and Robin with their bizarro masks on.
— Love the scene with bizarro Jerry Falwell.
— Mr. Mike!
— The brief “Be Cruel to Animals week” scene with Eddie holding an axe was great.
— Nice touch with the bizarro version of the “Hail to the Chief” theme.
— I’m loving the whole idea of this sketch.
— Great part with bizarro Reagan being told to go to sleep during a national crisis.
— Overall, a pretty brilliant and fun sketch. Good political satire as well, which I’m surprised to see in the Ebersol era.
STARS: ****


PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
by Andy Aaron- (TOD) accidentally demolishes a building

    

— Oh, I remember seeing this as a clip somewhere a few years ago (probably in SNL’s 40th anniversary special), and I found it to be a hilarious random piece.
— Hey, is that Emily Prager as the first person seen in this? If so, it’s strange how she gets more airtime as an uncredited extra (in addition to this film, she also previously appeared in a season 3 Franken and Davis Show sketch taking place at a Thanksgiving dinner) than she did in the one episode she was a credited featured player in.
— Nice to see Tom Davis.
— The audience was silent during the aftermath of the building explosion, but I found it pretty funny, especially Tom’s reaction. However, this didn’t come off as funny to me as it did when I saw it during the aforementioned SNL 40th anniversary clip.
— “A Film by Andy Aaron”. That name sounds familiar. I think he’s the one who was credited as making that “Street Scene” short from season 5 (can’t remember which episode), and I remember saying in my review of it that it reminded me of this “Push Button to Explode Building” short.  Now I see why both shorts have similarities.
STARS: ***½


LIFEBOAT
shipwreck survivors (JOP) & (host) have a musical date in a lifeboat

 

— Uh-oh, it appears we have our very first of what I’m aware will be MANY musical sketches this season. This is something about this season I’m REALLY dreading, as I normally can’t stand musical sketches (there are some big exceptions, of course).
— Well, I did kinda laugh at that wacky slide whistle sound effect that was played after one of the verses.
— Overall, well, at least this was short, which is the only really good thing I can say about it. Otherwise, this was a chore to sit through.
STARS: *½


SHE’S A PIG
(TIK)’s skanky fiancee Paulette Clooney (ROD) meets him in a restaurant

   

— I liked Mary’s wrist-slashing line.
— LOL at Robin’s entrance.
— Whoa at the part with Robin briefly pulling open her top. We couldn’t see anything indecent on camera, but from where Tim was sitting, I think he got a clear view (unless Robin was wearing pasties under there).
— Robin casually wiping off her armpits while speaking is very funny.
— Mary’s blunt “she’s a pig” statements are great.
— Another good laugh from Mary’s penecillin line.
— Good ending with Christine.
— Overall, a solid sketch. Robin did well as the main comedic character, but my biggest laughs actually came from Mary as the straight man.
STARS: ***½


LET’S SEE WHAT’S BOTHERING BOB
suburban dad loses his marbles

   

— Looks like an interesting short film.
— I’m liking the “1950s instructional film” vibe to this so far.
— This is the second segment in a row tonight where Mary plays a character named Ellen.
— The son looks kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why.
— I like the look on each individual family member’s face when the father starts revving up the chainsaw.
— The dark ending didn’t really work and felt like it was trying too hard.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Destroyer”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM narrates footage of the devastating floods in the country of Senesia
weatherperson CHE chit-chats with BDM & MAG but forgets to give forecast
JOP uses bobblehead dolls to explain the complicated baseball playoffs
Ronald Reagan’s fan letter to EDM contains jokes about black people
MAG to would-be assassins- “if you’re looking for a target, try yourself”

       

— Just as I was afraid, they repeated the “letters from the SNL Newsbreak logo falling on Brian” gag.
— Ugh, the joke about John Hinkley wanting to shoot Jodie Foster and make love to the president made me groan out loud.
— The flood pre-taped segment was a pretty laughless waste of time.
— WTF at this Christine Ebersole meteorologist commentary so far?
— That’s the whole meteorologist commentary? Didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— The Italian currency/“bucket of warm spit” joke gave me a good laugh.
— First time in a while they’ve done a Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Love how Joe is activating each bobblehead as he’s going through the names of various baseball players.
— Yikes, Brian’s Agent Orange joke received complete silence from the audience.
— Haha, holy hell at that racist “four colored people trying to catch an elevator” joke that Eddie read off of Reagan’s letter. Eddie’s reaction is great.
— I got even more laughs from Reagan’s racist joke about the three things a colored man can’t get (a black eye, a fat lip, and a job). Brian being seen laughing on the side is also hilarious.
— Not sure how to feel about Mary’s suggestion to would-be assassins to kill themselves. It just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, and I recently mentioned how clapter bugs me nowadays.
— Overall, another SNL Newsbreak with lots of tepid jokes from Brian and Mary. At least some of the commentaries were worthwhile.
STARS: **


SINGLE WOMEN
CHE performs “Single Bars & Single Women”

 

— I smell another musical sketch starting.
— Oh, I’ve always heard about this Single Women number. I believe this is probably the biggest thing Christine is remembered for doing on the show.
— As I was once told a few months ago (by a commenter on this site, I believe), this song has the same melody that was used in that weird season 3 sketch where Madeline Kahn played a singing bowling trophy. Michael O’Donoghue wrote both that sketch and this Single Women one, I believe. I also heard that this melody would later be used for a Dolly Parton song.
— Overall, I can put aside my aversion to musical sketches to admit that this was a very nice musical number. There was no comedy at all here, but the song was very good and Christine did an excellent job performing it.
— All that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll be so lenient later this season after sitting through Christine’s 150th musical sketch.
STARS: ****½


HONEYMOON
on their honeymoon, (TOR) is surprised that wife (host) is a virgin

 

— At first, I thought Susan Saint James was Mary Gross, until she started speaking. I guess it was her wig that caused the confusion.
— Tony’s making me laugh with his wild pre-love-making actions.
— Pretty decent premise with Susan’s revelation.
— Overall, an okay funny sketch. Not much else to say about it.
STARS: ***


CHEAP LAFFS
Sta-Free Peenie Pads is the uncouth joke of the week

   

— I admit to getting a laugh from Tim’s idea to do a Love Boat parody called “The Lez Boat”.
— Interesting how the cast is playing characters with their own first names in this.
— LOL at the whole lowbrow idea of this commercial.
— Overall, this was a riot. The commercial probably wouldn’t have worked as well without the “Cheap Laffs” framing.
— I believe “Cheap Laffs” goes on to be a recurring sketch, but I’m not sure.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Art Lover”


ANDY WARHOL’S TV
he relates his thoughts on makeup & death

 

— Oh, god, here’s our weekly Andy Warhol film.
— Overall, I once again find myself asking “What… the… fuck?!?” At least the last one was very short, whereas this one seemed to go on for quite a while.
STARS: *


ALAN ALDA SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR MEN
Alan Alda’s book gets girls

  

— Lots of sketches tonight taking place in a bar. I can’t tell if it’s been the exact same bar set each time. If it is, I wonder if it holds the record for most recycled set in a single SNL episode.
— Pretty funny concept with Alan Alda authoring a sensitivity training book.
— Loved Tim telling Tony “You’ll be drilling pipe like a demon”
— Nice touch with using the M*A*S*H* theme song during the scene transition.
STARS: ***


SADAT ASSASSINATION
by John Fox- a custodian cleans the aftermath of the Sadat assassination

   

— Looks like I’m in for another serious, dramatic short film, much like the Yoko Ono one from the season premiere. Hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing this season.
— Overall, no idea what to say about this or how to rate it. Overly dramatic, sad films like this feel too out-of-place on SNL (though there have been some exceptions, like some of Tom Schiller’s best work, but at least in those, Schiller usually casts people from SNL, and thus, I don’t feel like I’m watching a dramatic film made for some other TV show).
STARS: N/A


GOODNIGHTS

 

— I forgot to mention this in the last review, but it feels nice hearing the original goodnights music this season after getting so used to the new (and not as good) goodnights theme that was used in season 6.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode overall, though it was weighed down by a number of weak or questionable pieces scattered throughout the show. However, there were a few really strong sketches tonight that made this episode worth watching, mainly Buh-Weet Sings, Single Women, and Bizarro World.
— After mentioning how unimpressive the debut of the three new cast members (Christine, Mary, Brian) was in the last episode, I felt that most of them fared much better tonight. Mary had some good moments, particularly her funny straight man performance in She’s A Pig. And Christine was all over this episode, and had an excellent showcase with Single Women.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (no host):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
George Kennedy

Posted on

October 3, 1981 – (no host) / Rod Stewart (S7 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING (I guess???)
NBC says “Our Age Is Showing”

— Just a quick disclaimer-type gag, reminiscent of the brief “NBC: Smart as a Peacock” bit that preceded the cold opening of season 5’s premiere episode.
— After this, they just go right into the SNL opening montage, as if this was the actual cold opening. I know this is going to be fairly common this season, as well as the lack of a LFNY. LFNY has been completely done away with this season.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— New opening montage.

       

— Noticeable right off the bat is the fact that we have a new announcer this season. Mel Brandt takes over Don Pardo’s duties.
— A pretty interesting opening montage. The black-and-white look and gritty vibe accurately represents how crime-ridden New York was in the early 80s. Adding to that is the fact that Mel Brandt precedes saying “It’s Saturday Night Live” with “from New York, the most dangerous city in America”. Speaking of which, something about Brandt’s voice actually fits this gritty montage well.
— Nice theme music, though from what I remember, it would go on to sound better the longer they used it over the next few seasons it (I especially love how it sounds in season 9). It sounds like it’s in a lower key tonight than how it would sound a few seasons later.
— Christine Ebersole, Mary Gross, and (making his return a year after his season 5 featured player stint) Brian Doyle-Murray are the new cast members joining the show tonight.


TALENT ENTRANCE

 

— There’s no monologue; just the cast gathering on the (new) home base stage, posing in a group shot, and then scattering off into various directions as the next sketch starts. This is yet another big format change that we’ll be seeing quite a lot throughout this season.


THE LITTLE RICHARD SIMMONS SHOW
Little Richard Simmons (EDM) does exercise & rock-n-roll with audience

     

— We’re ALREADY in the lead-off sketch tonight? This episode has been very fast-moving.
— Very funny concept, combining Little Richard and Richard Simmons.
— The ubiquitous Yvonne Hudson sneaks into yet another season of SNL.
— Loved Eddie’s “You girls have let yourselves go!” comment to the overweight male cameramen.
— Very fun with Eddie going into SNL’s studio audience and actually physically making them stand up.
— Eddie as Simmons: “I’ve been getting MY protein; have you girls? (*suggestive eyebrow raise*)”
— Great Little Richard-esque musical number from Eddie.
— It’s no surprise, but Eddie is so damn good throughout this sketch.
— Overall, one of Eddie’s greatest sketches. Right out of the gate this season, he’s proving his worth as the new leader of this retooled cast.
STARS: ****½


THE CLAMS
Brian DePalma’s latest movie plagarization project

     

— Even before the big reveal, I can tell this is a parody of The Birds. They’re doing a dead-on recreation of the famous playground scene from that movie.
— Excellent line from the announcer: “Once a year, Brian DePalma picks the bones of a dead director and gives his wife a job.”
— Overall, a pretty funny Birds parody.
STARS: ***½


NUNS
at the beach, (ROD) finds that fellow nun (MAG) has shoddy qualifications

 

— The reveal of Mary Gross becoming a nun by mail is fairly funny.
— The message from the voice of God isn’t quite as funny as I thought it would be.
— Overall, pretty dull for a sketch placed this early in the show. Not too great of a debut for Mary Gross, either.
— Interesting screen effect as the sketch ended, where the screen spun around and shrunk down into a black screen with the SNL logo. (screencap below) I guess that’s going to be a thing this season.

STARS: **


A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY
shoes & assorted other topics

 

— I’m already getting laughs at the start of this, just from Joe’s Andy Rooney voice.
— Loved the random “Ever notice there were never any Nazis named Steve?” line.
— Funny comment calling Mike Wallace a jackass.
— I liked him pointing out the rouge on his cheeks at the end of this.
STARS: ***


PROSE AND CONS
barred bards, like Tyrone Green (EDM); Swifty Lazar cameo

   

— I’m liking the music being played during the opening montage of prisoners.
— An enjoyable and well-done short so far, and we haven’t even gotten to the famous part yet. I remember being very bored by most of this film when seeing it years ago (“Eddie Murphy’s the only funny part of this whole thing!” I remember complaining back then, and I’m sure there are others who have that same opinion), but I can enjoy the low-key humor in it more nowadays.
— Ah, here’s the classic part with Eddie.
— Eddie’s whole insane, intense poem-reading is absolutely fucking fantastic, especially the immortal “C-I-L-L” part. The latter got such a loud audience reaction that you couldn’t hear the end of Eddie’s poem (which appeared to just be the word “death”).
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dance With Me”
musical guest & Tina Turner [real] perform “Hot Legs”


SNL NEWSBREAK
Tom Snyder (JOP) does the Tomorrow Show in Spanish for ratings purposes
Raheem Abdul Muhammed complains about the lack of black people in movies

       

— “Weekend Update” is now known as “SNL Newsbreak”. I can’t wait to see how many times I’ll mistakenly refer to it as “Update” in my reviews this season.
— I liked the opening bit with the letters in the superimposed “SNL Newsbreak” graphic being struck by lightning and then falling onto Brian Doyle-Murray. If that’s something they’re going to be doing every week, however, I just know I’m going to get sick of it fast.
— Brian Doyle-Murray and Mary Gross are the new anchors of Upda– uh, I mean SNL Newsbreak (see, I did it already!). I’m surprised to see Mary there; I don’t remember her ever being an anchorperson. I thought I remembered Brian starting out the season as a solo anchor and then eventually being joined by Christine Ebersole as his co-anchor later in the season. Looks like I’m in for another season of the news segment going through lots of retooling over the course of the year.
— Weak introduction bit with Brian and Mary. I’m already becoming wary of this new Update team.
— Pretty tepid jokes so far, especially Mary’s 10 year old/bomb quote.
— The C. Everett Koop joke was pretty good.
— LOL, oh my god at the cutaway to Joe’s fast-talking Spanish Tom Snyder. Funny as hell!
— Mary’s delivery doesn’t seem right for Update.
— A Raheem Abdul Muhammad commentary. Hope this’ll be our third classic Eddie performance of the night.
— Loved Eddie briefly working his Jerry Lewis impression into this commentary.
— Eddie has begun cracking up after saying Isaac Hayes was great in “Truck Turner”.
— Eddie cracks up again at the end of the commentary. I guess this is where his penchant for occasionally breaking during sketches officially begins.
— Eddie’s overall commentary wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but he had some good lines here and there, and his delivery as this character is always funny.
— Overall, SNL Newsbreak did not have an encouraging start at all tonight. I’m aware that this is going to be a very bad season for SNL’s news segment and, much like season 6’s Weekend Updates, probably goes further and further downhill as the year progresses.
STARS: **


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
terrorize in style with the Libyan leader’s fashions

   

— Very catchy jingle.
— I like the early 80s look and feel to everything in this.
— Overall, a decent concept and was executed fairly well, even if I didn’t laugh all that much.
STARS: ***


STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
annoying one-night stand Rod (TIK) irks Ruth (ROD) after her father dies

   

— Tim’s green smiley-face shirt is pretty funny.
— A lot of funny details with Tim’s weird character.
— Robin’s really selling her character’s various emotions.
— Heh, whoa at Tim slapping Robin out of nowhere.
— Ha at Tim bursting back into the apartment just to say “Aw… geez” again, which he kept repeating earlier in the sketch in reaction to the news of Robin’s father.
— Good ending (though I’m aware there’s more after the commercial break) with Robin panickedly barricading the door after Tim’s second exit.
— Overall, a very strong slice-of-life sketch.
STARS: ****


STRANGERS AT THE FUNERAL PARLOR
at her father’s funeral, Ruth puts up with obnoxious relatives & Rod

   

— A very unique instance of a sketch continuing with a “part 2” after a commercial break, going a step beyond the usual slice-of-life sketches the show did during the original years.
— I’m getting unintentional laughs from seeing Tony in the background during Robin and Mary’s conversation. Just something about Tony’s funny mannerisms while holding a conversation in the background makes me look forward to seeing this character front-and-center later in the sketch.
— Now that we’re seeing Tony’s character front-and-center, his performance is reminding me of John Belushi for some reason. Maybe I’m reminded of the way Belushi played certain roles like Larry Farber. I actually remember hearing that Tony was originally hired to be a Belushi-type for the cast, though I’m not sure that ends up panning out for the most part.
— Christine Ebersole finally makes her very first appearance. Kinda late in the episode for a repertory player to be making their debut.
— I like Robin freaking out over Tim calling himself Robin’s lover.
— Funny subtle joke with Tony being seen holding the dead father’s shoes.
STARS: ***½


ANDY WARHOL’S TV
Andy Warhol [real] talks about appearing on SNL & tells a joke

 

— Oh, it’s the debut of these bizarre Andy Warhol shorts that I’m aware appear somewhat regularly in the first half of the season (or is it the WHOLE season?). From what I’ve heard about these, they don’t seem like something I’d enjoy at all.
— A strange, creepy atmosphere to this.
— What… the… fuck??? That’s the whole thing??!! I usually like weirdness on SNL, but THIS? No.
STARS: *½


MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis [real] juggles a machete, an axe, a cleaver

     

— Okay, here’s the debut of another season 7 staple, only this is one I’m actually looking forward to. I’m not usually into comedy magician acts, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about this guy.
— He’s ALREADY coming off funny so far, and he’s just started.
— “People don’t take you seriously if you only have one ball.”
— Nice fake-out with him seeming like he’s going to juggle the machete, only to reveal he’s simply going to juggle the machete case instead of the machete itself.
— Oh, a double fake-out; turns out he really IS going to juggle the machete itself.
— I like the “make sure that doesn’t fly off again” part.
— Gotta love the daringness of juggling three razor-sharp tools on live TV.
— “Don’t be afraid. I’ve done this… twice.”
— Funny reaction from the audience when he tells them he has to kick the axe up in the air in order to start juggling it.
— Wow, he’s actually doing a great job juggling the three tools successfully.
— A good laugh from the part with him juggling with his eyes “closed”.
— Overall, wow, I loved this whole thing. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more appearances from this guy throughout this season.
STARS: ****½


HOME MOVIES
CHE invites viewers to send in their home movies

 

— Christine Ebersole on the home base stage while piano music starts in the background? Am I in for the first of what will be many musical numbers from Christine this season? (which is something about this season I can’t say I’m looking forward to, honestly)
— Oh, it turns out this is a straightforward message urging viewers to send in funny short films and home movies that can be aired on the show. Christine appears to be delivering this in a mock-donation Public Service Announcement style (which I guess explains the background piano music).
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


A FILM BY YOKO ONO
“Season Of Glass”- thoughts on life after John Lennon’s death

   

— From what I remember reading about this dead-serious film, I’m sure I won’t be able to come up with any comments while watching this.
— Overall, yep, as I predicted, I couldn’t find anything to say about this while watching it. It was a pretty well-done, emotional film overall, but felt out-of-place on SNL. I don’t even feel comfortable giving this a rating.
STARS: N/A


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Young Turks”


GOODNIGHTS

  

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent debut for a very different-feeling SNL. While not what I would call a VAST improvement over season 6, I can see the show is definitely making good progress, and things like doing a two-part slice-of-life sketch (the Ruth/Rod sketch with Robin and Tim) shows a willingness to take more chances than season 6 did. Strange, though, how the last 15-20 minutes of tonight’s show consisted entirely of segments that weren’t even sketches (Warhol film, Michael Davis juggling act, Christine Ebersole message, Yoko Ono film, musical performance).
— Eddie had a fantastic night, with the two segments he appeared in in the first 20 minutes being among his best and most well-remembered SNL work (Little Richard Simmons, Prose and Cons). With tonight’s episode, I definitely feel like I’ve fully arrived at the era of Eddie’s dominance.
— Not a very promising debut for the three newbies. Christine didn’t get anything funny to do, Brian and Mary co-anchored a tepid first installment of SNL Newsbreak, and Mary also co-starred in a pretty dull nuns sketch.
— There’s a lot of changes I’m going to have to get used to this season. It’s going to feel weird not hearing a LFNY, not hearing Don Pardo’s voice, not seeing a monologue, and calling Weekend Update by a different name.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1980-81):
— a moderately big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Susan Saint James

Posted on

April 11, 1981 – (no host) / Jr. Walker & The All Stars (S6 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
amongst old SNL props, CHC & Mr. Bill reminisce about the good old days

   

— A hearty amount of immediate audience applause for Chevy’s backstage walk-on.
— Love seeing some of the costumes and props from the original SNL era, such as Bees costumes, the Coneheads prosthetics, and the (now cobweb-covered) Landshark head.
— The audience recognized Mr. Bill’s off-camera muffled yelling long before I did.
— Weird seeing a live Mr. Bill sketch.
— Nice subtle touch with having the prop sword Chevy uses on Mr. Bill be the familiar sword from the Samurai sketches.
— Overall, an enjoyable nostalgia trip, and a decent way to start the retooled version of SNL.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE

       

— I’ve always been curious to see this episode’s opening montage, because it ended up only being used this once, never appearing in any other episodes.
— Hey, they’re using the original SNL theme music from the first four seasons! Feels strange hearing that theme again.
— Maybe it’s just me, but I’m hearing some of season 5’s theme music in there as well. This sounds like a hybrid of both the original theme and the season 5 theme.
— Boy, are these credits low budget-looking as hell. Very short, too. Then again, I suppose it was known that this montage would only be used temporarily, so they probably figured “Why spend so much money on a new set of opening credits that might not last beyond this week?” Either that, or maybe they just simply didn’t have enough time to film a more elaborate set of credits. After all, Dick Ebersol was only given five weeks to retool the show, hire some new cast members, hire some new writers, etc.
— The new cast members making their debut tonight are repertory players Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky, and Tony Rosato, and featured players Laurie Metcalf and Emily Prager.


DRIVE FOR AMERICA
jingoistic Frank Sinatra (JOP) bashes Japan & promotes American cars

     

— In place of the monologue, we seem to be getting some kind of musical bit with Joe’s Frank Sinatra impression.
— Tony Rosato gets the honors of being the first of tonight’s newbies to make their first appearance.
— Joe as Sinatra: “We’re talkin’ Japs, ladies and gentlemen”. Oh, and I assumed season 6’s reliance on bad racial humor was something that went out the door with Doumanian. Then again, this IS Sinatra we’re talking about. He WOULD make a remark like that.
— So Yvonne Hudson is still hanging around, even despite no longer being credited as a featured player?
— Overall, not much to say about this and this wasn’t exactly the most exciting sketch premise to lead off “the new SNL” with. The sketch itself wasn’t too bad, though, and Tim Kazurinsky walked away with the best moments of the sketch.
STARS: **½


LITE BEER
in a bar, Bill Cosby (EDM) tries to sell a group of kids on Lite Beer

 

— The first real debut of Eddie’s Bill Cosby impression.
— It won’t be easy, but I’ll do my best to refrain from relating this sketch to the modern-day viewpoint of Cosby.
— The concept of a lite beer for children is fairly funny.
— I feel bad for Denny being a glorified extra in this, playing a silent waitress. Maybe I just feel bad about that because I know what lies ahead for her SNL future.
— The writing itself was pretty flimsy and felt like they ran out of funny lines for Eddie halfway through, but Eddie did his usual good job wringing laughs out of the whole thing.
STARS: ***


I MARRIED A MONKEY
(TIK) accuses his wife Madge of having an affair

   

— Starting a sketch with two of the new cast members. I’m already excited for this sketch.
— The name Madge? The use of soap opera music stings? Oh, I know where this is going…
— Yep, there’s the monkey. It’s the debut of “I Married a Monkey”!
— I like how the monkey is just casually stuffing its face full of bananas as Tim is delivering a dramatic rant to it.
— Hilarious part with the monkey actually drinking from the sugar bowl.
— Is Tim laughing right now, or just crying in character? Hard to tell.
— LOL, the blooper with the baby monkey refusing to let go of its off-camera handler while screeching like mad is a riot! Tim’s reactions to this unplanned madness are also great.
— That reminds me, I remember reading that Tim came up with the idea to do a sketch with live monkeys because he wanted to disprove a friend of his who didn’t believe that SNL is really a live show.
— Overall, I surprisingly enjoyed this quite a lot. I’m not sure I’m going to be crazy about them eventually making this into a recurring sketch, but I sure enjoyed this first installment, for Tim’s commitment, for all the unplanned antics from the monkeys, and for the daring idea of doing this sketch in the first place. It’s making me look forward to Tim’s tenure on the show.
STARS: ****


DISCLAIMER
stay tuned after SNL for Johnny Cash At Spandau Prison

— Odd placement for a disclaimer gag, showing it in the middle of an episode after a commercial break, instead of placing it at the very beginning of the show like they used to do in the original era.


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
ROD introduces musical guest & credits him with inspiring SNL theme music

— Robin Duke makes her very first appearance.
— Robin acknowledges she hasn’t done much tonight but explains “You’ll be seeing more of me next week.” Kinda sad hearing that in hindsight, because thanks to a writers strike, we would end up having to wait until the fall to see more of her.
— Man, she’s coming off really stumbly with her lines all throughout this. First night jitters, I take it?
— Interesting tidbit about the original SNL theme music being influenced by tonight’s musical guest. That makes me look at that theme music differently now.
— I think I remember hearing that this ends up being the only thing Robin appears in all night.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Roadrunner”
musical guest performs “Shotgun”


WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Smitt-Burney makes money the old-fashioned way, they steal it
Raheem Abdul Muhammed saw Altered States but thought it was Stir Crazy
LAM asks pedestrians “Would you take a bullet for our president?”

         

— What’s with the weird intro voice-over doing the opening Smitt-Burney “We steal it” sponsorship promo?
— Hey, it’s Chevy at the original Update set! And doing his trademark “raunchy phone conversation” opening gag! Seeing all of this is flashing me back to when I was doing reviews of season 1 several months ago.
— Chevy’s opening “I’m Chevy Chase… and you still aren’t” line didn’t get anywhere near as big an audience reaction as you’d expect.
— Holy shit, a joke in 1981 about Mackenzie and John Phillips setting their wedding plans. WTF? Were these writers psychic?
— What’s with Chevy’s timing so far in tonight’s Update? He seems fairly awkward and “off”. Not quite as “off” as he was throughout his infamous season 5 hosting stint that I recently reviewed, but still a far cry from how good he was during his cast member days.
— It’s also not helping that the jokes themselves aren’t very good. However, it’s still a little better than the mind-numbingly unfunny dreck we were hearing from Rocket and Matthius all season.
— Ha, I like how when Chevy had trouble saying “This just in”, he ad-libbed some fast-paced Spanish gibberish, which is an old improv bit he used to fall back on during his days as a cast member whenever he would trip over an Update joke. Though I kinda wish he instead said “toyboat”, which used to be his other go-to improv bit when stumbling over a joke.
— Here comes an Eddie commentary as Raheem Abdul Muhammed. Weird seeing a (then) modern-day cast member at Chevy’s original season 1 Update set.
— Eddie’s overall commentary was okay, if nothing special. I liked the ending with him asking Chevy if he wants to buy some reefer. This also made me realize that this may have been the only time in SNL history we’ve seen Eddie and Chevy interacting with each other in person, unless I’m forgetting something.
— We finally get the debut of Laurie “She used to be on SNL?!?!” Metcalf, doing a pre-taped man-on-the-street segment where she asks pedestrians “Would you take a bullet for the president?” I take it this was right after the infamous President Reagan assassination attempt.
— Wait, we can’t even see Laurie Metcalf in this while pedestrians are answering her question.
— Oh, now we can see Laurie. Boy, does it feel weird seeing a young version of her on SNL.
— I recall hearing this is the only thing Laurie appears in tonight, meaning she made no live appearances for her first (and what would go on to be ONLY) episode. But hey, that’s still more than what her fellow featured player Emily Prager supposedly gets to do tonight, from what I’ve heard.
— Boy, these pedestrians’ answers to Laurie’s question are not funny at all. What’s the point of this whole segment?
— After Laurie’s segment ends, we just cut to a commercial break, with no cut back to Chevy at the Update desk. So, this is how tonight’s Update ends? Uh… okay.
STARS: **– oh, wait…


WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
ALF explains what happened to the show & wants to “Put SNL To Sleep”

     

— Oh, after the commercial break, we’re back with a continuation of Update. Wow, this may be the only time in SNL history where a Weekend Update had an actual commercial break in the middle of it. Weird. There are some old Comedy Central reruns that used to add a commercial break into the middle of somewhat lengthy Dennis Miller Updates (there were at least two instances of this: the Rob Lowe episode from season 15, and the Kyle MacLachlan episode from season 16), but I don’t count those because those were only added for syndication.
— We get a Don Pardo voice-over intro at the beginning of this half of Update, unlike the first half.
— A callback to the traditional Generalissimo Francisco Franco joke.
— Just now when a joke received tepid audience reaction, Chevy ad-libbed a “The writers strike continues” remark.
— Man, these jokes are just plain weak. Chevy keeps trying to save them by constantly making little ad-libs after every joke, but the problem is, the ad-libs ain’t funny either. That shows how much Chevy’s off his game tonight, because season 1 Chevy would’ve been more successful in his attempts to save bad jokes.
— Al Franken!!!
— A continuation of the gag with Franken’s name being displayed on the bottom of the screen every time he says “me – Al Franken”.
— The audience automatically applauds Al for simply saying he’s not part of the new SNL.
— This has turned into a very meta commentary, with Al doing a quick recap of SNL’s history and addressing the problems of this troubled season.
— Ha, loved Al’s harsh comment about how SNL got even better after Chevy left the cast.
— Al: “After four seasons, Danny and John left. Now THEM, we missed.”
— Classic line from Al about how Dick Ebersol “doesn’t know dick”.
— Al: “The show is going to be a little better. No English-speaking person can do a worse job than Jean [Doumanian].“
— Very funny conclusion to Al’s commentary, with him announcing a “Put SNL To Sleep” campaign to put the show out of its misery.
— They shoehorn in a mention that Al and Tom Davis will be hosting next week’s SNL with musical guest The Grateful Dead… which we, of course, never ended up getting to see.
— Overall, a fantastic commentary from Al, and I love how rebellious and frank it felt, reminding me of the ballsy anti-Fred Silverman commentary he did the previous season.
— Awkward ending to tonight’s Update with the camera still staying on Chevy long after he signed off, which he tries to ad-lib his way out of by drinking from a glass of water.
STARS: (FOR BOTH UPDATE HALVES ALTOGETHER) **½


SAME
“Same” is how Irene Cara (GLM) musically describes her performances

  

— I got a good laugh from Gail’s lyric about getting yeast infections from wearing those jeans all the time.
— A catchy parody of “Fame” so far, and a fun performance from Gail. I can already tell this song is going to be stuck in my head for a while.
— I liked the fourth wall-breaking extended ending, showing Gail and the back-up dancers dancing their way out of the studio. In hindsight, that has kind of a bittersweet feel to it, knowing what unfortunately lies ahead for Gail’s SNL future.
— Overall, while I’m sure I would’ve found this sketch even funnier if I had been around for the apparent over-saturation of “Fame” back in those days, I still found this to be a fun and enjoyable piece.
STARS: ***½


THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
holier-than-thou characters populate a new NBC series

   

— Oh, so Robin Duke IS in a sketch tonight.
— This sketch beginning with Robin and Tony as the only performers onscreen makes me feel like I’m watching something from the later years of SCTV. Part of that feeling could also be due to the fact that the copy of the episode I’m watching (which is a recording of the original live broadcast) actually includes an SCTV rerun that aired right after this episode.
— So far, this is a pretty funny parody of the “overdramatic, self-important line deliveries” trope of hospital TV dramas.
— LOL at Eddie as a patient coming out of the operating room mid-surgery to join in on the doctors’ argument.
STARS: ***


WEDDING DAY
an Italian father (TOR) gives son Frank (TIK) advice on his wedding day

   

— Right out of the gate in his first episode, we get an over-the-top Italian-accented character from Tony Rosato. From what I’ve heard about the upcoming season 7, I’m in for quite a number of Italian stereotype characters from Tony throughout that season.
— Some good fast-paced delivery from Tony throughout this.
— Funny line from Tim about Tony strangling chickens in front of his fiancee.
— Liked the part with Tony slapping Tim for calling him a “wop”.
— A very realistic slice-of-life scene so far, but is there going to be an end to this lengthy sketch?
— A good laugh from the way Tony screamed “Mariaaaa!!!” when yelling out the door for more wine.
— Ha, during Tim and Tony’s various rapid-fire fighting gestures during their argument just now, Tim did a Curly-from-the-Three-Stooges gesture with his hand on top of his head.
— Very funny part with Tim and Tony showing the mother their crude crotch-thrusting gesture.
— Overall, this had its highlights, was a good showcase for the new guys, and I appreciate what this was going for, but MAN, what an overlong sketch. There were at least three times where I thought it would end, only for it to continue.
STARS: **½


THE FAMOUS BROADCASTERS SCHOOL OF CUE CARD READING
(JOP) is a product of the Famous Broadcasters School of Cue Card Reading

  

— Feels like the first time in a while we’ve seen Joe as a commercial pitchman. Charles Rocket seemed to slowly take that role away from him as this season progressed.
— Oh, he’s doing an ad for a school of cue card reading. I had been wondering why he kept diverting his eyes back-and-forth from the camera to the side of the camera.
— The part with his delays at keeping up with the back-and-forth camera switching is pretty funny.
— Good part with Tim.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
CHC says SNL is OK but Christopher Reeve & Robin Williams [real] disagree

 

— Random Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve cameo.
— Decent bit with with Chevy saying SNL’s had its ups-and-downs and is currently “on its way back up” only for Williams and Reeve to refuse to back him up on that.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How Sweet It Is”
musical guest performs “What Does It Take”


WILD COUNTRY GUN CARDS
Wild Country Gun Cards’ firearm facts promote family togetherness

   

— Feels weird seeing Denny being paired with some of the new cast members.
— An okay concept with the family jovially reading off graphic gun descriptions.
— Denny’s delivery of “It’s a ladies gun!” made me laugh.
— Strange bit role for Eddie at the end.
STARS: **½


BAG LADY
critics decry bag lady’s (DED) adherence to stereotypes of homeless genre

   

— I’ve always been kinda curious to see this. I think I remember hearing that this is a very strange, unconventional film with a negative reputation.
— What’s with the off-camera voices gossiping about Denny’s character? And what’s with that stuff they’re saying about Denny’s character just being an actress. I have no idea what they’re going for here.
— And that’s it? What the…?
— Overall, wow, I was pretty much lost during this. If they were trying to go for some kind of “deep” dramatic piece, I can’t help but feel they missed the mark. Maybe this whole film just went over my head.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS
Irene Cara (GLM) reprises “Same”

     

— The usual season 6 home base stage looks so out-of-place in tonight’s episode; I guess because of how drastically different this episode feels from the prior episodes of this season.
— We get a continuation of Gail’s “Same” number as Chevy carries her in his arms.
— Gail ad-libs an out-of-character “You gotta put me down now, Chevy” right before the goodnights get cut off in the live version I’m watching. I want to see how the rest of these unique goodnights go, so I’m quickly gonna pull up the rerun version of this episode with the full goodnights.
— (Two minutes later…) Okay, here it is. Picking up where I left off in the live version, Gail continues to sing while dancing her way off the home base stage and going around the studio. Everyone else on stage follow her one-by-one in a line. Fun way to do the goodnights; kinda reminds me of the “conga line” goodnights in the Desi Arnaz episode from season 1.
— Strange seeing the scrolling ending credits being displayed in a different font from the one they typically used in the first 6 seasons. Tonight’s font would never be used for the goodnights again after this, as far as I know.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow. Well, I went into this expecting a unique, strange-feeling episode, and that’s certainly what I got. This episode had a definite rebuilding/transitional vibe to it. At the same time, it had kind of an underlying sense of “What if this ends up being the final SNL episode ever?”, which is kinda sad and eerie when I think about it. Yet another interesting thing about this episode is that parts of it felt like I was watching a season premiere, which I guess is due to the fact that we had so many new cast members making their debut.
— This overall episode was okay. A little rough around the edges and was not anything I’d call great, nor was it the massive instant improvement over the Doumanian era that people may have been expecting. However, you can definitely see the promise and potential there.
— This would end up being the final episode of the season due to the aforementioned writers strike. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Dick Ebersol, as he now had much more time to do a more complete retooling of SNL than the measly five weeks he had been given between the preceding Bill Murray episode and tonight’s episode.
— This turned out to be the final episode for “veterans” (relatively speaking) Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius, as well as the two new featured players who got their “start” tonight: Laurie Metcalf and the unseen Emily Prager (which gives the former a strange, unique place in SNL history as the only cast member ever to only appear in pre-taped form for their entire tenure, while the latter is the only cast member ever to make ZERO appearances for their entire tenure). All four of these women would be casualties of Ebersol’s summer retooling of the show. I’m not too sad to see Denny go, though I didn’t have much of a problem with her throughout this season and she provided some laughs for me here and there. I just can’t help but view her as kinda expendable, though. Gail, on the other hand, did not deserve to get fired. She had some really positive qualities as a performer and seems like she would’ve fit really well into some of the better eras of the show. There were some rough moments with her, however: any potential she may have had as an Update anchor was ruined by her consistently being given some of the absolute worst Update jokes in SNL history, and I was a little put off by her suddenly starting to occasionally rely on overly-cartoonish antics during some of the sketches in the second half of the season. However, I blame the latter on the decreased confidence and increased sense of panic that most of the cast seemed to develop in the back half of the season. If Gail was kept on the show after this season and was given better writing than she got this year, who knows what greatness she could have achieved?
— So, what to say about the infamous Season 6 as a whole? When I started my reviews of this season, I predicted I would come out of the season feeling it was bad, but not quite as horrible as legend has it. That prediction turned out to be 100% correct. The first half of the season was undoubtedly rough, but had enough silver linings and occasional good episodes to keep me somewhat optimistic. However, during the second half of the season, immediately after the surprisingly strong Karen Black episode, this season hit the wall HARD. The great Karen Black episode was followed by a long consecutive string of dire and dreary episodes, where it felt like the show had suddenly given up and let all the bad press they were receiving get in their heads. Thankfully, they eventually got out of that slump, with Bill Murray injecting the cast and writers with tons of spirit and inspiration in the second-to-last episode and new producer Dick Ebersol transitioning the show to a promising new era in the last episode.


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:
Season 7 begins. The show returns from writers strike and summer break with a more complete retooling, and we get introduced to MORE new faces in the cast. This will also be our second consecutive host-less episode.

Posted on

March 7, 1981 – Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton (S6 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
BIM convinces the cast that the bad SNL aura “just doesn’t matter”

    

— After having finished my coverage of the original SNL era a few weeks ago, only to find myself having to deal with this difficult season, it certainly feels refreshing seeing Bill Murray on SNL again.
— Gilbert’s jew-fro looks a lot shorter tonight.
— A reference to the “Saturday Night Dead” criticism that the media famously used throughout this season.
— Ha, loved Bill saying to Charles “People are telling me you imitate me.”
— Bill’s “Watch your mouth” advice to Charles is a hilarious passing reference to a certain notorious incident from the last episode.
— Ha, Bill advises Gilbert to “Cheer up”, referring to Gilbert’s sullen, mopey attitude we’ve been seeing a lot in the second half of the season.
— Some good laughs from Bill telling the cast tales of how he “saved” the original cast.
— Love the excited “It just doesn’t matter” chanting.
— A very energetic LFNY from the whole cast.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
after a manic entrance, BIM describes his partnership with EDM- “We bad”

     

— Whoa, Bill’s actually making his entrance through the home base stage’s elevator, which has never happened until now (though Elliott Gould jokingly tried to do it back in the season premiere). Cool.
— A fantastic fun, energetic entrance from Bill, practically bouncing off the walls, going into the audience, carrying an “audience member” (who I think I remember hearing is SNL staffer Audrey Peart Dickman; not 100% sure about that) over his shoulder, and even getting the SNL Band to replay the SNL theme music.
— Bill and Eddie’s whole “we bad” bit is great.
— I’m loving seeing Bill and Eddie working together. They’re having great chemistry, which is making me wish they did end up doing some kind of buddy movie together in the 80s.
— Overall, this was awesome. This feels like the first actual funny monologue of the whole season. Didn’t even realize until now how consistently awful this season’s monologues have been before tonight.
STARS: ****½


FORMULA FOR THE GOOD LIFE
Paulie Herman loves the chemical industry

     

— This pre-taped documentary bit is a very interesting use of Jersey Guy (a.k.a. proto-Jay Leno), and a nice change-of-pace for him.
— I love this scene right now with him at the mall.
STARS: ***


SCRIPT IN DEVELOPMENT
actors struggle to play out a writer’s (BIM) script as he makes revisions

   

— I’m loving the format of this, with the cast acting out Bill’s script and trying to keep up with constant revisions he keeps making. Though maybe I’m crazy, but I could swear I remember the Carol Burnett Show had a recurring sketch using this same concept the previous decade. I think it was during the later, weaker years of that show (sometime after Harvey Korman left the cast). Maybe I’m mistaken.
— Ha, C.R. gets shot for the second episode in a row.
— Hilarious part with Ann as an increasingly disgusting maid character.
— Love the bit with the actors having a hard time keeping their freeze-frame pose during Bill’s long pause break.
— This is all being pulled off very well.
— Oh, this part right now is fantastic with the actors doing a fast-motion re-enactment of everything they had just performed as Bill is quickly re-reading everything he just wrote.
— Overall, this whole sketch was excellent and feels so atypical of this season. This proved that this cast was actually capable of pulling off the type of classic sketch that I can easily imagine appearing during some of the best eras of the show.
STARS: *****


ALTERED WALTER
Dan Rather (JOP) lambastes stoned & tanked Cronkite (BIM)

       

— I’m now finally starting to see some accuracy in Joe’s Dan Rather impression.
— I’ve always wanted to to see this sketch. I’m not familiar with the movie “Altered States”, but everything I’ve heard about this parody of it has always sounded to me like an interesting, weird concept and a unique use of Bill’s Walter Cronkite impression.
— Ha, they didn’t even attempt to make Bill’s suit look wet after he came out of the “water”.
— Wow, the audience has been absolutely silent during this so far. I guess this sketch is a little too weird and talk-y for their likes, but I’m personally enjoying it.
— Hmm, a big scene change mid-sketch.
— Is that Matthew Laurance as the Indian?
— Bill’s trippy hallucination sequence is freakin’ hilarious. I’m loving all the different random images and stock footage shots they’re throwing in there.
— This is looking to be possibly one of the longest sketches in SNL history. Feels weird seeing such a long sketch after I’ve gotten so used to this season’s format of cramming in as many short sketches as they could possibly fit into 90 minutes (taking a page out of season 1’s playbook, perhaps?). This long Cronkite sketch makes me feel like I’m watching something from seasons 4 and 5, back when it became a regular thing to do long sketches that feel like epic mini-movies.
— Very funny part with Bill’s Cronkite receiving a phone call from his mind telling him “I’m leaving.”
— I’m really liking where this whole thing is going. It’s getting weirder and weirder.
— Bill’s strange singing when re-entering the water tank is hilarious.
— Overall, the length of this could’ve been trimmed a little, but I found the overall sketch to be really enjoyable, fun, delightfully bizarre, and well-performed.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Givin’ It Up For Your Love”


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE
Dr. Jonathan Lear (Mark King) displays photos of DNA molecules

   

— Uh… what in the WORLD is this??? And who the heck IS this guy on my screen right now?
— This guy looks kinda like a panicked Andy Samberg in a wig.
— Is tonight ANOTHER episode where we get mini Weekend Update knock-offs scattered throughout the show, much like the Eddie Murphy-hosted “Newsbreak” segments from the Deborah Harry episode? If so, it’s becoming more and more painfully obvious that the show seems to be trying to phase out the traditional Weekend Update. It’s been a sad experience seeing the once-dependable, beloved Weekend Update segment gradually die a miserable, depressing death over the course of this season.
— This bit with the different types of DNA examples being displayed on individual cards is fairly funny. It feels like the type of thing that upcoming SNL hire Tim Kazurinsky would soon do regularly on the show.
STARS: ***


CHAP STICK
Sammy Davis, Jr. (EDM) & other notables adopt “Chapstick” as a last name

   

— I almost thought that was a white guy in blackface playing Sammy Davis Jr. (which is something we’ll be regularly seeing on the show a few seasons later), before I recognized that as Eddie.
— What the hell?  Strange sketch so far. I’m not getting all this “celebrities changing their name to chapstick” stuff.
— Whoa at the ending with Gilbert as Roman Polanski sleazily walking off with the teen girls.
— Overall, I didn’t get this at all, nor did I get any real laughs. I assume it’s a topical parody of a commercial from back in those days.
STARS: *½


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE
BIM picks the Oscars & gives awards to original SNL castmembers

    

— Another Newsline segment tonight.
— Oh, hell yeah! We’re getting the return of Bill’s annual Oscar predictions that he always did as a cast member!
— Heh, as always, he continues his tradition of giving short-shrift to the supporting actors/actresses category.
— Wow, he’s speeding through this whole thing.
— Oh, turns out the reason he sped through it is because he wants to focus on doing a “new awards” segment.
— Ah, it’s a meta bit, with him nominating his original SNL castmates under various Oscars categories. Very classy, and it warms my heart seeing this after the attachment and affection I’ve recently developed for the original cast from reviewing the first five seasons on a daily basis. Ah, my sweet, beloved original cast…
— I almost thought he was going to skip poor Garrett, before he jokingly nominated Garrett for his work with the “guardian angels”. I guess that’s their way of working around the fact that at this point in early 1981, Garrett had yet to do ANYTHING in his post-SNL career (which Eddie Murphy got in a harsh-but-funny dig at earlier this season).
STARS: ***½


CUT FLOWERS
by Mary Pat Kelly- finicky (BDM) visits florist (BIM)

   

— Whoa, a short film starring Bill and his brother, the soon-to-be-rejoining-the-SNL-cast-next-season Brian Doyle-Murray.
— Always interesting to see Bill and Brian acting onscreen together, which is one of the things I liked about season 5 when they were both in the cast.
— Very nice visual quality to this film.
— For some reason, the “Brian sniffing different kinds of flowers one-by-one” sequence is making me laugh, even though I’m not even sure if it’s being played for laughs.
— Fairly funny surprise ending with Brian eating the flower.
STARS: ***


NICK RIVERS
Nick “Rivers” & PAS entertain while floating down the Mississippi

     

— The return of Nick the Lounger Singer.
— After getting so used to reviewing these Nick sketches back when I covered the original SNL era, it’s quite a different experience for me seeing this sketch appearing in THIS season. It’s actually pretty fun seeing the new cast appearing in a Nick sketch.
— I got a big laugh from Bill’s story about ladies of the south being forced to eat rat flash.
— Haha, I absolutely LOVE Bill’s performance of Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration”, complete with some great funky dancing.
— Very funny reaction from Bill when finding out that Yvonne as a former Iran hostage is actually one of the black hostages who was freed early on.
— My god, Bill’s high-pitched singing of The Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue” is truly hilarious!
— Overall, a very welcome return and a very solid installment of this recurring sketch.
STARS: ****


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE
JOP proposes softer sticks as the solution to hockey violence

    

— Now this Update knock-off segment is being hosted by Mr. Update Anchor himself, Charles Rocket. I’m more confused than EVER now. So has the actual Weekend Update been dropped from the show this week? If so, this is DEFINITELY their way of acknowledging how truly unwatchable Update had gradually become over the course of this season.
— So will Gail be getting her own “Saturday Night Newsline” segment later tonight, or are they trying to erase her embarrassing tenure as an Update anchor from our memories?
— Hmm, Charles’ delivery of the jokes doesn’t seem as bad as usual.
— The jokes themselves are still pretty damn weak, though.
— Here’s our weekly Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Hey, it’s stand-up comic Dom Irrera, in a big role as one of the hockey players! He’s actually appeared as an extra at least twice earlier this season (as one of the jurors in the Televised Trial sketch from the Sally Kellerman episode, and as one of the mobsters in the “Is Frank Sinatra a Hoodlum?” cold opening from the Deborah Harry episode), but I didn’t notice those appearances until they were pointed out to me after I had posted those respective episode reviews. This hockey player bit is the first time I’ve caught an Irrera sighting on my own.
— Never mind what I said about this being a big role for Irrera; the scene with him ended almost as soon as it began, and he had no lines. It’s still the most noteworthy thing he’s done so far, though, during his stint as a recurring SNL extra.
— Eh, Joe’s overall commentary was below par and felt kinda pointless.
— Charles to Joe: “Did you say ‘puck’???” Ha, another funny Rocket f-bomb reference, and this one got a great reaction from the audience.
STARS: **


NO SEX WITH MARY
co-workers clear the air- “we’re not sleeping with Mary Cunningham (GLM)”

   

— Much like the earlier “chapstick” thing, this is another bit that seems too topical for me to understand.
— This does seem KINDA funny, at least.
— Yet another ethnic role for Gilbert.
STARS: **


CAT’S NAME
house guests (BIM) & (ANR) try to remember (MAL)’s beloved cat’s name

   

— With all the noteworthy roles Matthew Laurance has been getting tonight, why didn’t he receive his usual featured player credit in tonight’s opening montage? In fact, none of the featured players were credited tonight.
— That looks like the same white cat that Gilda Radner held throughout the Canadian Wizard of Oz sketch from the previous season’s Elliott Gould episode. (a side-by-side comparison is below)

 

— I liked the small part with Bill and Ann rapidly going through random movie character names, trying to remember which character the cat was named after.
— While I find the premise to be kinda flimsy (honestly, why would it be so horrible for Bill and Ann to just admit to Matthew that they can’t remember his cat’s name?), this is being pulled off well by both Bill and (surprisingly) Ann.
— Loved Bill’s sudden intense “WHAT IS THE DAMN CAT’S NAME?!?” outburst over the phone.
— Herman’s the cat’s name? I thought they established earlier in the sketch that this cat’s a female.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “Shotgun Rider”


BUBBA’S WASH FAYETTA’S DRY
divorce settlement forces Bubba (BIM) & Fayetta (DED) to share laundromat

  

— Some really good character work from Denny and Bill in this.
— Interesting concept with a divorced couple owning two separate parts of the same laundromat, as part of their divorce settlement.
— The random part about the metal plate in Bill’s head is really funny.
— Funny bit at the end.
— Overall, a very well-written and well-performed slice-of-life piece.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
BIM apologizes to the original SNL castmembers for doing the show

  

— Speaking to the camera, Bill calls out his original SNL castmates’ names one-by-one and says “I’m sorry for what I’ve done”, as a mock apology for betraying them by hosting “the new SNL”. Funny bit. He would later say something in a similar vein during the goodnights of the season 12 episode he hosted, where he urges his original castmates to come back and host the show because “they kiss your butt all week here”.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What a complete 180 from the long string of dreary episodes that preceded this. Tonight’s episode was consistently strong, had a fun vibe, contained lots of sketches with good, creative premises, had lots of great performances from the cast, and featured the return of some old favorites from Bill. It also felt really good being able to praise plenty of things throughout this review after being so consistently negative in my reviews of the last few episodes.
— Bill’s hosting performance was excellent as expected, and showed a lot of why he was such a great cast member back in the day. Also, he surprisingly had chemistry with this new cast. His presence added a lot of spirit to the episode, which seemed to boost the cast’s energy and confidence levels.
— This would end up being the last episode before NBC steps in and puts SNL on an impromptu month-long hiatus (canceling the following week’s scheduled Robert Guillaume-hosted episode in the process) while they fire producer Jean Doumanian and bring a certain new producer in to begin making massive changes to the show, which includes firing several of the cast members and writers. Of the cast, tonight’s episode ended up being the final one for Charles Rocket, Ann Risley, and Gilbert Gottfried. No big loss at all with those first two names, though I admit Charles sometimes had his moments and Ann at least went out on a decent note with surprisingly good performances in her final episode. Still, I can’t say I’m gonna miss either one of them. As for Gilbert, his tenure on the show was strange, gradually going from a confident-looking new kid to a sullen-looking sourpuss who was clearly miserable working on the show. Even stranger, some of his sketches during his “sullen sourpuss” phase (Italian Comedian, Big Brother, Pillow Pets) were actually some of the better sketches from the string of tepid episodes that preceded tonight’s show. While Gilbert may not have had a very noticeable presence on the show this season, I’m think I’m kinda gonna miss him in a weird way.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charlene Tilton):
— a huge step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Dick Ebersol’s tenure as SNL producer begins, several new faces in the cast make their debut, and a hastily-retooled version of SNL hits the airwaves, in what ends up being the final episode of the season thanks to a writers strike. I’ve always been curious to see this episode; from all the things I’ve read about it, it sounds like a strange mish-mash of the original SNL era, season 6, and what was soon to come in season 7. Seems like a pretty fascinating one-off episode.

Posted on

February 21, 1981 – Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince (S6 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Rocko Weineretto & Weindulah weigh in before their upcoming bout

  

— Immediately, we’re already opening with Joe’s SNL Sports persona.
— He sets up the Rocko Weineretto and Weindulah boxing match that’s happening later in this episode.
— The weigh-in part is pretty funny.
— Overall, this was a very short, straightforward cold opening just here to set up the upcoming match.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MONOLOGUE
upon discovering girlfriend ANR was with CHR last night, JOP vows revenge

   

— Fun entrance from Charlene.
— This girl’s got energy and bubbliness for miles. I can see why it would annoy some viewers, but honestly, I’m finding it kinda endearing.
— The LFNY part was weird.
— That’s it? That’s the whole monologue?
— Oh, never mind, we get what appears to be a continuation of the monologue (or at least, I’m COUNTING it as a continuation), with Charlene meeting Charles backstage after having just talked about him when she was onstage.
— There’s another appearance of the “backstage SNL locker room” that we used to see all the time back in the original era.
— Joe “(menacingly) I’ll get that Charlie Rocket if it’s the last thing I do.” And tonight’s running premise is officially off. Unfortunately, it’s also not very funny so far.
STARS: **


GREATEST RECORDS OF ALL TIME
albums contain unlikely make out music

  

— Ann sure got changed fast from the monologue.
— LOL at “An evening with Hugh Downs”
— Not much to say here. Some laughs, but once you got the joke, there wasn’t much else to this.
STARS: **½


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
Mr. Speedy (GIG) delivers a package

     

— The debut of a legendary recurring Eddie Murphy sketch!
— I’m loving his version of the “won’t you be mine” opening song.
— Immediately, we get “bitch” as our very first “special word of the day”. Man this sketch is already starting hot.
— Classic bit with him asking viewers to test the word of the day on their mothers.
— We get the deep-voiced “Who is it?” door-answering bit, though I recall his delivery of it sounding a little funnier in some of the later installments of this sketch.
— Hilarious passing reference to Richard Pryor’s infamous freebasing accident.
— Overall, this was freakin’ great, and feels like such a breath of fresh air in a season like this. This sketch alone really embodies how much Eddie was the savior of this season. I’m looking forward to future installments of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


PORK PARADE
the Pork Queen (host) & her subjects get ready for the big parade

 

— Denny looks even tinier than usual, making her entrance through that little door at the beginning of this sketch.
— Okay, I finally got one laugh out of this dull sketch so far, at the reveal of Yvonne being known as the “Chitlin Princess”.
— Is Yvonne going to have ANY lines in this? Speaking of whom, what the hell has happened to her these last few episodes? It’s funny how back in my Karen Black episode review, I went on about how all the claims that Yvonne was a glorified extra during her featured player stint were exaggerated, as she had been getting a surprising amount of noteworthy speaking roles. I seem to have spoken too soon, as that Karen Black episode was followed by a long string of episodes where Yvonne either didn’t appear in or only appeared in a non-speaking bit role, including this sketch. She hasn’t gotten anything noteworthy to do since that Karen Black episode. This must be where her reputation nowadays for being such an underused cast member comes from.
— (groan) What in the world is this sketch going for?
— What’s with Gail occasionally making random pig snorting sounds? If that’s her attempt to save this awful sketch, it ain’t workin’. You know, I’ve liked Gail for most of this season, but I can’t help but notice that in the last few episodes, she’s begun resorting to playing some of her roles a little TOO cartoonish and over-the-top (e.g. Where’s Cooter, Was I Ever Red), which isn’t working for me. I can’t help but wonder if that’s an act of desperation from her, due to how badly this season has been bombing lately.
— Overall, boy, was this a bad, sloppy sketch. No idea why they thought this would be funny. This is exactly like the type of sketch that used to immediately come to my mind when thinking about how bad this season supposedly is.
STARS: *


ROCKET REPORT
CHR takes host for her first NYC subway ride

     

— Fun premise with Charles and Charlene at a subway, where Charlene is going to take her very first subway ride.
— Hey, Charles is actually interviewing people! This is the true strength of the Rocket Reports.
— Ha, the lights in the train suddenly going out brings back childhood memories of when that often happened when I rode on the New York trains as a kid.
— Overall, a pretty solid edition of Rocket Report. I’m guessing this ends up being the last-ever appearance of this segment. At least this ended on a good note.
STARS: ***½


A FIDDLER BE ON THE ROOF
a movie starring Stevie Wonder (EDM) as Tevye

 

— Funny visual of Eddie as Stevie Wonder singing Yiddish lyrics in Eddie’s now-famous old Jewish voice.
— Very short, and I would’ve liked to have seen them do more with this, but this was still fine for what it was.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Todd Rundgren performs “Healer”


WEEKEND UPDATE
David Stockman (GIG) prefers “Catch a crook, eat a meal” to food stamps

   

— (*sigh*) Here we go…
— As usual, a very tepid beginning with little-to-no reaction from the audience in response to the first few jokes.
— Oh, god, now Charles is resorting to repeatedly stomping his foot on the ground after a particular weak joke. Man, his increasing desperation for laughs these last few episodes is pathetic.
— Oh, great, now Charles is returning to the hyped-up, manic delivery he keeps falling back on these last few Updates.
— And now Gail has resorted to sheepishly repeating some of her punchlines after it bombs with the audience. God, Update is killing me with its sad desperation lately.
— The audience may not have seemed to mind that corny “Ragu music / Pastafarians” joke, but it had me groaning my head off.
— LOL, Gilbert looks like a little kid playing dress-up. What’s up with that? I guess his strangely-low chair has something to do with that, but seriously, if I had seen a screencap of this Update commentary without knowing that was Gilbert Gottfried, I’d probably think that was either a child or a woman under that wig and glasses.
— The “Catch a crook, eat a meal” program is a pretty funny concept in Gilbert’s commentary.
— The joke about President Reagan being a bad actor actually got a pretty good audience reaction.
— No idea how to respond to the bit with Charles delivering an exaggeratedly angry, manic rant towards President Reagan about saving money. Maybe I wouldn’t mind it if Charles hadn’t developed a tendency to randomly rely on hyped-up, manic delivery in general lately. This anti-Reagan/saving money rant also just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, which I probably wouldn’t have had a problem with back in those days, but our current Trump era has permanently burned me out on comedians relying on clapter in place of actual comedy.
— No Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary tonight, as Charles mentions that Joe will be hosting the aforementioned boxing match later in the show.
— An overall short Update tonight, which is one of the few saving graces of it.
STARS: **


LINCOLN BEDROOM
Lincoln Bedroom haunts Nancy Reagan’s (GLM) daughter-in-law Doria (ANR)

   

— Okay, this certainly looks like a weird sketch. I’m interested to see where this will go, though.
— What was with that random door-knocking sound when nobody was even knocking? Where did that come from?
— LOL at Eddie’s creepy entrance.
— Randomly throwing a Mary Todd Lincoln appearance into a sketch is usually always a sure-fire laugh-getter.
— Overall, despite an interesting premise and a good performance from Gail, this sketch didn’t amount to much.
STARS: **


GILLIE AND CHARLENE
rumors of CHR’s exploits lead both host & GIG to vow revenge against him

  

— Another instance of Gilbert being called by his backstage nickname “Gillie”.
— Gilbert’s sounding more sullen and bored than ever in this sketch.
— Now we’re resorting to a whole bunch of lazy gay jokes throughout this.
— Ha, that ending close-up of a sullen Gilbert Gottfried staring deadpan into the camera is a strangely classic image.
— Tonight’s “everyone wants to get revenge on Charles Rocket” throughline isn’t being pulled off well at all so far tonight. Only season 6 could manage to make a Dallas/“who shot J.R.?” take-off so dull.
STARS: *½


THE COMPETITION
a movie about finger-breaking piano rivals (JOP) & (GLM)

 

— This is a parody of a then-new Richard Dreyfuss/Amy Irving movie of the same title. The only reason I know that is because the copy I’m watching of this episode is the original live broadcast where, during one of the commercial breaks earlier in the show, there was actually a commercial for the Dreyfuss/Irving movie.
— Joe’s Richard Dreyfuss impression is fairly funny, though I’m guessing people who’ve seen this sketch without knowing what it was parodying have no idea he was even imitating Dreyfuss and they probably wondered why he was speaking in a high-pitched nasal voice.
— That’s it? Short, but kinda funny punchline, I guess.
STARS: **½


SPEAKING OUT
policewoman (DED) on unauthorized use of handicap toilets

— A very rare instance of Matthew Laurance starring in a sketch.
— Overall, this was a dull sketch that just washed right over me. I got a chuckle from one or two of Denny’s lines, but there was absolutely nothing noteworthy here.
STARS: *½


WOMEN BEHIND BARS
(DED) & (host) debate industrial revolution education

   

— The initial set-up to this is bringing back memories of that “Debs Behind Bars” sketch from season 5. It even looks like this is using the same set from that sketch.
— For some reason, it feels weird seeing Gail playing a tough, mean character.
— Yet ANOTHER silent role for Yvonne. Is that woman going to go through the entire second half of this season without speaking a single word?
— Never mind, Yvonne actually got one line just now. SHE SPEAKS!
— Pretty funny reveal that the dreaded “treatment” Charlene’s character will face is simply a debate involving the Industrial Revolution.
— Denny’s character pulling out a graph as a visual aid is kinda funny, and is the first noticeable laugh this whole sketch received from the studio audience.
— Overall, after taking a good unexpected turn mid-sketch, this unfortunately kinda petered out afterwards and was not as good as it should’ve been.
STARS: **½


SNL SPORTS
Weindulah outboxes Rocko Weineretto to win the title; Don King cameo

  

— Here’s the big boxing match the show kept hyping.
— Don King cameo.
— Weindullah’s various ways of taunting Weineretto are pretty funny.
— An overall decent bit, though I wasn’t laughing out loud and I almost started getting a little bored during some parts. But this had a goofy, fun charm to it, and I can appreciate all the commitment that went into this whole thing. I sure wouldn’t want to sit through another Weiner puppet fight, however.
STARS: ***


SUBMISSIVE SUGAR DADDIES
(host) shows why women should call Submissive Sugar Daddy Referral Service

 

— The visual of that jovial-looking old extra as a sugar daddy is kinda funny, I guess.
— That’s it? I didn’t care for this and it came off kinda pointless.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Todd Rundgren performs “Time Heals”


PARTY
Mary Louise rules her birthday party with Sam The Snake & an iron fist

 

— Hmm, what’s this? Joe introduces Denny as herself. Am I in for a random Denny Dillon stand-up segment?
— Hmm, she’s doing a character, in a one-woman show-esque piece. This is reminding me of how she previously did a guest spot on the show way back in SNL’s third episode ever, where she and her comedy partner (Mark Hampton) did a nun act.
— Oh, this is the same character she played earlier this season in the Ellen Burstyn episode.
— No idea how to feel about this act so far.
— Overall, I liked this character much better in a sketch format. Her routine doesn’t work as well in a one-woman show setting.
STARS: **


AFTER MIDNIGHT
(CHR) & (GLM) arouse each other while bathing a dog
when CHR gets shot during a sketch, the question is “Who Shot C.R.?”

     

— Charles is coming off more Bill Murray-esque than EVER in this. I can totally picture Bill playing this character.
— Boy, is this a weird sketch. Hope it’s a good one, though, because I’m kinda tired of being so consistently negative in tonight’s episode review.
— A sudden cut to a crosshair first-person perspective aiming at Charles. I now see where this is going.
— And there’s the gunshot.
— I’m suddenly getting excited about this sketch now, as we’re seeing a whole bunch of cast and crew members panickedly rushing into the scene and freaking out.
— Funny bit with Gilbert asking out Charlene in the middle of all the chaos.
— “Who shot C.R.?”
— Nice seeing the whole cast gathered together in the ending shot.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Prince performs “Partyup”

— Okay, it’s always been said that Prince supposedly drops an f-bomb when singing the lyric “Fightin’ war is such a fuckin’ bore”. However, I heard the lyric just now, and I’m 99.9% sure I heard him say “freakin”, not “fuckin’”. Is it just me?
— We’ll be returning to the discussion of f-bombs with a certain upcoming segment afterwards (you know the one)…


GOODNIGHTS
gun victim CHR says “I’d like to know who the fuck did it”

  

— Well, here it comes, folks…
— Aaaaaand there’s the legendary notorious moment. Charles: “Aw, man, it’s the first time I’ve ever been shot in my life. I’d like to know who the fuck did it.”
— The reactions from everyone onstage are freakin’ PRICELESS. Writing this review in real-time as I watch the episode, I can’t rewind to focus on each person’s reaction, but I’m quickly looking back-and-forth at various individual people, and there are so many funny different reactions. Meanwhile, Charles is just sitting there with a laid-back smug grin on his face like he’s proud of himself for what he just did.
— Even though I knew the f-bomb was coming and I’ve watched it quite a number of times in the past, it’s a VERY different experience now seeing it in the context of the entire season, where I’ve been watching and reviewing each episode in chronological order on a day-to-day basis for my SNL project. Arriving at the infamous f-bomb just now, I felt genuine shock when Charles said it and when I saw the cast’s reactions. That shocked feeling of mine made me come to the realization that due to my daily watching and reviewing of this season, I’ve developed a strange attachment to this cast. Definitely a different feeling from the last time I watched this f-bomb moment, where I had no kind of connection to this cast or season at all.
— I think I remember hearing that as soon as Charles dropped the f-bomb, one of the people working in the SNL control room threw his hands in the air, said “Well, there’s goes the end of live TV”, whipped off his headphones, threw it onto the control board, and walked right off the show, as if he thought SNL would be canceled right there on the spot.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Boy, am I getting tired of saying “another tepid episode”, but that’s become status quo for the show lately. Like I mentioned earlier, I kinda feel bad for being so consistently negative in my reviews these last few episodes, but I can’t help it if season 6 keeps handing me weak episodes lately. I’m starting to run out of different ways to say a sketch didn’t work. I loved tonight’s Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood debut, and about one or two other segments in this episode were fun (including Rocket Report), but there ain’t much else to praise here. At least the notoriety of the Charles Rocket f-bomb incident boosts this episode’s watchability, as otherwise, it would pretty much be indistinguishable from the rest of the string of mediocre episodes that began with Robert Hays.
— Needless to say, the f-bomb incident went on to cause a ton of controversy for SNL. The show (and particularly Jean Doumanian’s job as producer) had already been on thin ice with NBC brass throughout this troubled season, and the f-bomb incident is said to have been the final straw that would eventually lead to the firings of Jean Doumanian, Charles Rocket, and many of the remaining cast and writers. There’s still one episode left with everyone intact before the mass firings occur.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bill Murray comes back to show them how it’s done

Posted on

February 14, 1981 – Deborah Harry (S6 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (CHR) discusses whether Frank Sinatra (JOP) is a hoodlum

 

— Oh, man, yet another cold opening starring Charles’ terrible Ronald Reagan impression. Stop trying to make Charles Rocket as Ronald Reagan happen, season 6.
— Geez, Charles’ impression sounds even worse tonight. What’s with the raspy/scraggly voice?
— That’s it? This overall cold opening was a pointless waste, and also a waste of Joe’s Sinatra impression.
STARS: *


OPENING MONTAGE
— SNL episode guides usually always list Funky 4 + 1 More (the very first rappers to ever appear on SNL, I believe) as the musical guest of this episode. However, I’ve noticed that they’re not credited at all in tonight’s montage. I guess their appearance tonight just counts as a cameo and not as the official musical guest, which is why I’m not going to list them as the musical guest in my title for this episode review.


MONOLOGUE
host reveals her roots & Cupid (EDM) shoots an audience member

   

— The cutaway to Deborah’s blonde-wigged “parents” in the audience wasn’t all that funny.
— Ha, Eddie’s entrance in that cupid outfit…
— I ask once again, that’s it? This was short as hell, contained almost nothing of note, and was a total write-off, which seems to have become status quo for the monologues these last two episodes. This season’s writers seem to have completely given up with the monologues.
STARS: *½


DON’T LOOK IN THE REFRIGERATOR
a horror movie about scary leftovers

 

— Another very quick bit that just came and went. I usually enjoy the “presenting a mundane, everyday annoyance as the subject of a horror movie” comedy trope, but this one just washed right over me.
— Good horror movie-esque scream from Deborah, though.
STARS: *½


LIVELYS
Phil Lively considers putting his father (DOP) in a nursing home

   

— This looks to be the return of the Livelys.
— Yep, it is. As I said in my review of this sketch’s first installment, I’m not sure if this’ll work as a recurring sketch.
— I do like the involvement of an unseen Don Pardo as Gail’s dad.
— Pardo’s voice-over delivering an angry “Somebody get my fork, I dropped my fork!!” cracked me up.
— Okay, I’m starting to notice that Pardo’s interjections are my ONLY laughs in this so far. Yeah, this whole “gameshow family at home” routine ain’t working a second time.
— The rehash of the gag with Gail vocalizing the Jeopardy theme wasn’t necessary.
STARS: **


NEWSBREAK
EDM reports on Jean Harris, Las Vegas fires, Poland

 

— What the hell? What’s this? Eddie Murphy for “Newsbreak”? Almost feels like a Weekend Update substitute. Does this mean the Rocket/Matthius Update has been dropped tonight, due to how horribly it’s been doing lately? If so, good riddance.
— Yeah, this segment is definitely coming off as an Update substitute so far.
— Eddie: “Stay tuned later tonight for a full report on Weekend Update.” Aw, dammit, so much for my hope that Update was dropped from tonight’s show.
— Overall, this segment was okay, I guess, and Eddie did fairly well, but I’m still baffled over why this is in the show and what this possibly means for Update.
STARS: **½


WHERE’S COOTER?
Tennessee Williams Authority deems Cooter (GIG) & kin a one-act play

   

— Ohh, boy, here comes an infamous sketch that I’ve always heard terrible things about. I’m curious to see just how bad this really is.
— As was pointed out a few days ago by a commenter in reply to my Gary Busey episode review from season 4, this sketch has the same set from the Muck-Jumper sketch from the Busey episode.
— I’m a minute into this sketch, and I’ve been hating pretty much everything I’ve seen so far.  What IS this???
— Man, is this dialogue annoyingly repetitive.
— WTF at Gail’s bizarre entrance?
— Oh my god at Gail’s delivery of her lines. I usually like Gail, but GOOD GOD is she annoying the hell out of me here. And the fake baby crying she’s doing into her arms – WTF??? I now feel like I’m seeing her play a rejected Laraine Newman character.
— Seriously, what the hell am I WATCHING in this sketch?
— The twist with this turning into a Tennessee Williams play is doing absolutely nothing to save this sketch for me. I hated the first half SO much that there needed to be a much funnier twist than THIS to excuse it.
— Overall, all I can say is: My god. That sketch definitely lived up to its negative reputation. If it weren’t for Commie Hunting Season, I’d probably consider this sketch to be the absolute bottom of the barrel for the season 6 episodes I’ve covered so far. Man, did I hate this.
STARS: *


ROCKET REPORT
CHR finds the answer to “How scary is Central Park?”

   

— I’m already liking this Central Park premise. Looks like this will be a return to form, after the last two mediocre Rocket Reports.
— Charles’ overdramatizing of everything in the park isn’t coming off as funny as I would’ve expected.
— Charles falling backwards onto the ground when running away in a panic was pretty funny.
— Overall, I think I need to stop saying “Hopefully tonight’s Rocket Report is an improvement over the subpar last one”, because I always end up being disappointed once again. Tonight’s Rocket Report had a few more decent moments than the last two Reports, but the overall film was still below par. What’s going on? Why have these usually-reliable Rocket Reports been so consistently forgettable lately? Are these segments only good when Charles just goes around interviewing random people face-to-face, like he used to do in the earlier films?
— I know I’m almost at the end of Charles’ short-lived SNL tenure, so I’m hoping to see at least ONE more good Rocket Report before his firing. I know there’s one Rocket Report he does with upcoming host Charlene Tilton in a subway train that has always looked kinda interesting to me, but I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
— I just realized that I have yet to like any segments so far tonight. None of the sketches have gotten higher than a mere two-and-a-half-star rating from me yet.
STARS: **½


CARD CORNER
Paulie Herman meets a girl from Jersey (host) in a card shop

 

— The return of Jersey Guy, or as I call, proto-Jay Leno.
— Here comes the obligatory “recurring character meets its similar counterpart played by the host” sketch that a lot of quirky recurring characters eventually do. Deborah’s doing a good job with the Jersey Guy-esque voice.
— Overall, a fairly good sketch, and I like how this was kept short enough. First decent sketch of the whole night.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Love TKO”


WEEKEND UPDATE
arch-conservative (GIG) claims there are no poor people in America
Polish ambassador (Andy Murphy) is ecstatic about the invasion of Russia
JOP interviews boxing & rapping hand puppet Weindulah (Marc Weiner)

     

— Just when I thought tonight’s episode was finally starting to pick up a bit, here comes along Weekend Update to kill the momentum.
— Oh my god at Charles slapping his desk while hammily fake-laughing after his first joke. Jesus Christ. Lately, I’ve been starting to see that the reports I’ve always heard about Charles desperately resorting to hammy over-the-top antics in his later Updates were 100% true. It’s sad to watch.
— Man, they need to stop these unfunny “audio clip” gags that Charles keeps doing this season. They ALWAYS fall flat and get no audience reaction.
— As usual lately, the studio audience is NOT into these awful jokes so far (neither am I, for that matter).
— First in a long time we’ve seen Gilbert at the Update desk. This Reagan philosopher character of his looks seems like it has potential, and hey, Gilbert’s actually showing energy in his delivery for once.
— Unfortunately, Gilbert’s bit just came and went with no laughs and no real point. A letdown.
— Yikes, Gail’s Reagan/“I forgot about it!” joke was particularly awful.
— Here’s something different. Mock breaking news from Charles that “Poland has invaded Russia”. Hmm.
— Hey, an Update commentary from frequent SNL extra Andy Murphy! Feels odd to see him in such a big speaking role.
— The Andy Murphy commentary ended up being another bit that initially looked interesting but turned out to be a forgettable letdown.
— Here’s our weekly Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— A follow-up to the preceding episode’s Rocko Weineretto bit.
— Ha, I’m liking this early 80s-sounding rap song from “Weindullah”. I might be biased because I always get a kick out of hearing any kind of early 80s hip-hop. Same reason I’m looking forward to seeing tonight’s NOT!musical guest Funky 4 + 1 More.
— Big extended audience applause break after Weindullah’s rap.
— Joe announces a boxing match that we’ll be seeing in the next episode, between Weineretto and Weindullah.
— Overall, an even worse Update than usual this season, which is really saying something. The guest commentaries are usually the only saving grace this season, but even most of those managed to underwhelm tonight. And the Rocket & Matthius portions of Update continue to go further and further down the tubes, especially with Charles’ newfound desperation of hamming it up during certain jokes. Man, it’s almost becoming DEPRESSING to watch Update gradually die like this over the course of the season. I have to ask, is this the absolute worst state Weekend Update has EVER been in SNL’s 40+ year history? Then again, I haven’t gotten to the upcoming Brian Doyle-Murray “SNL Newsbreak” era yet, which supposedly is also terrible…
STARS: *½


BIG BROTHER
shy Big Brother (GIG) uses telescreen to ask prole (host) out on a date

— I’m getting an unintentional laugh from the giant lego-looking background behind Gilbert.
— Some awkward dead air before some of Deborah’s line deliveries.
— Gilbert’s line about feeling like a “schlep” made me laugh.
— Good twist with Gilbert suddenly turning Deborah down for being “too easy”.
— Overall, there were some issues that made this feel a little sluggish, but this was an overall decent sketch. Better than I thought it would be. Nice showcase for Gilbert as well.
STARS: ***


SWEET HEARTS
by Leon Ichaso- laundry robbers turn on one another

   

— Interesting-looking film.
— Oh, that’s Deborah as the female gangster. Took me a whole minute into this film to realize that. I didn’t even recognize her at first.
— Wait, IS that Deborah? In some angles, it looks like her, while in some other angles, it DOESN’T look like her. Hard to tell.
— I’m liking how this looks and feels like a genuine 1930s gangster flick.
— The bank-esque robbery of a laundromat is pretty funny.
— Okay, they’ve completely lost me. I don’t understand what’s been going on ever since the laundromat robbery scene ended. The random blow-up doll at the party, the three main characters holding a Mexican standoff over a pair of heart boxers… none of this makes sense to me.
STARS: **


SOHO LESBIANS
Pinky & Leo Waxman discover that niece (host) has a lesbian lover (GLM)

 

— Curious to see how this goes. For years, I’ve always assumed just from the title “Soho Lesbians” and the fact that it’s from way back in the 1980s that this was a crazy, wild, raunchy sketch.
— The audience laughs at Deborah and Gail simply telling each other “I love you” (which I doubt was intended to get laughs). The audience’s amusement at that shows how rare it was to see gay couples on TV back in these days.
— Hey, it’s Denny and Gilbert’s “What’s It All About” characters. Very interesting to see them in a different setting for once.
— They seem to be relying on the usual premise of Denny and Gilbert’s characters constantly cutting off others during a conversation, like they always do with their guests on “What’s It All About”.
— Wow, that’s it? This was actually a nice, realistic, low-key scene, and didn’t go the crazy, wild, “homosexuals are weird sex freaks” route I had always assumed this would go. I’m pleasantly surprised.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Come Back Jonee”


NEWSBREAK
people on the streets of NYC weigh in on Poland’s invasion of Russia
EDM reveals the premeditated nature of Poland’s invasion plan

   

— I’m still baffled why we need these Newsbreak segments when there’s already a full Weekend Update in this episode.
— Eddie throws to a remote segment with random people on the street being interviewed about the Poland/Russia invasion.
— That one guy’s “I thought they were going to go into France” comment gave me a pretty good laugh.
— Eddie’s delivery is coming off pretty sloppy, with constant line flubs. And honestly, he looks out of his element in this setting. If these Newsbreak segments are the show’s way of kinda “auditioning” Eddie as a potential Weekend Update anchor, I can see why he doesn’t end up getting hired for that spot.
— Speaking of Eddie, it feels like these Newsbreak segments are the only thing he’s been doing on the show tonight.  This is a waste of him.
— The picture of Poland soldiers heading towards Arctic Circle is pretty funny.
STARS: **½


KING KONG SYNDROME
Fay’s (host) date with a “big ape” (JOP) ends in the style of King Kong

   

— Heh, with Joe’s anger at playfully being called a “big ape” and his freaking out over seeing the Empire State Building statuette, I can see where this is going.
— And now I just realized Deborah’s wearing the white Fay Wray dress.
— Joe’s “transformation” into an ape is fairly funny.
— I do like Deborah unintentionally taunting Joe with a toy plane.
STARS: **½


DROPOUT
Vickie shuns Debbie while catching up with high school dropout (host)

 

— A Vickie valley girl sketch. Where’s Denny’s character?
— Oh, there’s Denny.
— Overall, this was unfortunately another sketch tonight that just washed right over me, with nothing in it standing out. Very forgettable. Knowing that the end of Gail’s SNL tenure is approaching, I wonder if this ends up being the last appearance of this character. If so, it’s sad that this usually-good recurring sketch ended in a whimper with both this and the weak Tommy Torture one with Ray Sharkey.
STARS: **


FUNKY 4 + 1 MORE: “THAT’S THE JOINT”
Funky 4 + 1 More performs “That’s The Joint”


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another tepid episode, in what’s been a fairly lengthy string of them, starting with the Robert Hays episode. A very unremarkable show tonight where absolutely nothing stood out as particularly great, and most of the ratings I gave tonight’s sketches were in the unimpressive two-to-three star range. Most of the pre-Update half of the show was particularly weak, and it also doesn’t help that this episode contained one of my absolute least favorite sketches I’ve covered so far in my SNL project (Where’s Cooter). Update was also pretty much a disaster tonight. Even the highest-rated sketches were just things I found merely decent.
— Up until these last three episodes, I’ve been feeling that this season is a LITTLE better than its negative reputation, but man, I now seem to have reached a point where this season kinda bottomed out and pretty much just gave up. And from what I remember seeing of the infamous next episode (I saw the butchered Netflix version of it years ago, where about 50% of the sketches were edited out), things don’t get any better.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sally Kellerman):
— a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Charlene Tilton, a.k.a. the notorious “I’d like to know who the fuck did it” episode

Posted on

February 7, 1981 – Sally Kellerman / Jimmy Cliff (S6 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Battle Of The World Superpowers will be delayed


COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (CHR) describes economy with charts, celebrates birthday

   

— Charles’ Reagan impression is still terrible, and I’m very wary about him anchoring his own sketch this time.
— The various chart drawings have a few chuckleworthy parts, but nothing great.
— What was with the weird pause before the other performers entered?
— Hey, it’s then-writer & future-castmember Terry Sweeney! (the guy holding the birthday cake in the second-to-last screencap above)
— I did like the LFNY.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Eddie is now credited as part of the main cast.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— The director’s interrupting of Sally was pulled off very awkwardly.
— That’s it??!???! Kellerman braggingly lists off some of her many movies, the (barely-audible) director tries to cut her off, Kellerman continues listing off a few more movies, then she concludes the monologue? This has to be one of the most pointless, underwritten monologues I’ve ever seen.
STARS: *


ROCKET REPORT
CHR covers parade welcoming Iranian hostages’ return

   

— A Rocket Report THIS early tonight? Hope this one is better than the last episode’s disappointing Rocket Report.
— Charles overglorifying the exhibition sanitation team is fairly funny.
— Overall, this unfortunately was NOT an improvement over the last Rocket Report, and ended up being another ineffective one that I had almost nothing to say about. What’s happened to these Rocket Reports? They used to always be a reliable, fun segment, but it’s been in a bad slump lately.
STARS: **


ITALIAN STAND-UP
talent scout (host) sees Italian stand-up (GIG) perform for his relatives

   

— Hilarious beginning with Joe angrily throwing his TV out the window.
— Ha, oh my god at Gilbert’s entrance, looking like that.
— Denny’s funny as the mother.
— Good to see Gilbert in what seems to be a lead role, which has become a rarity for him in the last stretch of episodes I’ve covered.
— Okay, they’re now overdoing Denny’s bit.
— Love this role for Gilbert. His Italian goombah stand-up routine is giving me good laughs, and his performance is great.  Also nice to see him showing actual energy and enthusiasm for the first time in what feels like quite a while.
STARS: ***½


NAME THAT SIN
contestants (ANR) & (EDM) identify taboos via aural clues

— What’s with the dog-sounding audio clues? And why do I get the feeling that’s Gail doing those voices off-camera? If it is, that reminds me of how Laraine Newman would provide off-camera baby/ puppy sound effects for certain sketches back in the original era.
— Eddie’s “worshiping false buttocks” answer was random enough to make me laugh.
— WTF at this sketch so far.
— The “birth of Art Linklater” part was funny.
— Overall, I’m not quite sure how I feel about this strange, fast-paced sketch as a whole, though I appreciate the oddball premise and there were a few parts that did make me laugh.
STARS: **½


EYE, EAR NOSE & THROAT
body part close-ups accompany nasal piano solo

   

— Creative-looking film so far.
— Uh, wow was that fast. Also: uhhhh, I have no clue what to say about this overall film.
STARS: ????? (undecided)


WAS I EVER RED
snooty women relate breaches of mealtime etiquette

   

— I’m already not liking Ann’s delivery as the host of this sketch. It’s bringing back bad memories of her performance as the host in Dying to Be Heard.
— A fictional character named Jennifer Holliday??? Then again, I suppose the real Jennifer Holliday wasn’t famous at this time yet.
— Very cartoonish performance from Gail. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
— The rich snob premise seems perfect for Sally Kellerman, judging from the impression I’ve been getting from her in this episode.
— Boy, is this sketch a chore to watch so far. We’re two minutes into this, and not a single laugh from me yet.
— All the talk about a dog being served for dinner, vomiting, etc. just seem like desperate attempt for laughs. It’s still not working.
— Jesus, where is this GOING?
— The “cold soup” twist was just plain weak.
STARS: *


IRANIAN JOKE BOOK
stage fake executions & other wacky stunts with the Iranian Joke Book

 

— Who are these people on my screen right now during this prisoner execution scene? I don’t recognize a single one of these performers.
— The streak of Joe and/or Charles playing a commercial pitchman in every episode continues…
— The Iranian Joke Book twist seems kinda funny so far.
— I know I’m saying this a lot tonight but: that’s it??? That’s the whole thing? This one did not work for me as a whole.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Am The Living”


WEEKEND UPDATE
EDM says Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t signed, so get yourself a Negro
JOP interviews boxing hand puppet Rocko Weineretto (Marc Weiner)

     

— Charles’ manic, over-the-top delivery of his very first joke (Reagan slashing) just came off DESPERATE. I couldn’t help but cringe. And it’s way too early in tonight’s Update for that kind of over-the-top joke delivery; you can’t do that right out of the gate.  I’ve always heard that Charles starts resorting to frantic, overly hammy delivery in this season’s later Updates; this must be the beginning of that.  Oh, god.
— Yikes at Gail’s bad “Iran/toasters” joke. The audience reaction said it all.
— Yes, an Eddie Murphy commentary!
— Loved Eddie scolding the audience for laughing at his reveal that Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t signed.
— Eddie urging the audience to take a black person home as a slave is a riot!
— Eddie: “The password will be: ‘Hey, you black Alabama porch monkey, come with me, I’m your master.’”
— Eddie does his now-trademark “Heh heh heh!” laugh at the end of his commentary. This is the first time I recall seeing him do that laugh on SNL.
— Charles’ “Alexander Haig for gym class” joke was another groaner tonight. I got more laughs from Charles’ off-put facial reaction to how badly that joke bombed.
— Geez, Charles’ last few jokes were all met with silence.
— Here’s our weekly Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— “Rocko Weineretto”. Oh, I had forgotten that puppeteer Marc Weiner does some bits in the second half of this season.
— This Rocko Weineretto segment is bringing back nice memories of watching Marc Weiner’s Nickelodeon show “Weinerville” back when I was a kid.
— Funny and impressive work from Weiner here. Also, how’s he making the “mouth” move?
— Overall, yet ANOTHER Update this season where the commentaries are the only thing worth a damn, while the actual Update anchors deliver one bomb after another.
STARS: **


PARENT & CHILD
(JOP) & (ANR) explain their kinky foreplay to son (GIG)

   

— I really hate to admit it, but seeing Ann Risley in that S&M outfit is awfully pleasing to my eyes…
— Funny visual of a tied-up Joe hopping around to get his suburban dad-esque glasses and smoking pipe.
— Overall, this ended up dying off after the aforementioned glasses/pipe bit, and the remainder of the sketch just came and went without anything really funny happening.
STARS: **


A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HOSTAGE
public attention holds returnee captive

   

— Another interesting-looking film tonight.
— I often enjoy any use of a “first-person perspective” P.O.V. camera angle technique.
— Some good laughs from the cleaners guy getting excited over meeting the hostage, and the cleaner guy’s wife coming out to snap pictures of the hostage.
— Clever ending with the evil Uncle Sam.
STARS: ***


LEAN ACRES
trainer (host) gets tough on Lean Acres fat farm attendees (DED) & (ANR)
audience member interrupts skit to protest portrayal of the overweight

     

— Boy, those are some fake-looking slaps.
— So far, this has been yet another tedious sketch with pretty much no laughs.
— Whoa, strange turn this has suddenly taken, with a fake audience member from above interrupting the sketch to complain about the fat-shaming premise.
— Ha, now this has turned into the audience member doing stand-up comedy-style “you’re so fat” jokes to the heavyset female writer, complete with a rimshot. All these sudden turns are really saving this sketch. The second half of this sketch feels so atypical of this season.
STARS: *** (just for the second half)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gone Clear”


IRANIAN STUDENT COUNCIL
Teheran University student council mulls its post-kidnapping activities

 

— For some reason, I kinda liked the throwaway line about Baghdad Tech having a goat mascot.
— Good performances in this, even though the material isn’t anything to write home about.
STARS: **½


NEW YORK
by C.F. Bressler- claymation street scenes pay homage to NYC

   

— Yet ANOTHER interesting-looking short film tonight. I’m liking the claymation format of this.
— Overall, wow, this was very well-done and interesting to watch.
STARS: ***½


PILLOW PETS
(GIG) pays more attention to his pillow “pets” than to his wife (ANR)

 

— Another bedroom sketch tonight with Ann and Gilbert. Looks like the same bedroom set too. Unfortunately, Ann’s not wearing the S&M outfit again…
— Also, what’s with all the airtime Ann’s getting tonight, anyway? Feels like she’s been in every single sketch.
— We get the return of Gilbert’s sullen, mopey delivery, though it seems to fit the character he’s playing in this.
— I liked Gilbert’s blunt “Oh, you were wrong” response to Ann saying she thought he’d have a lot of love to give her.
— I’m liking how overly passionate Gilbert’s character is about treating his pillow pets as real pets.
— Overall, short sketch, but a good showcase for Gilbert.
STARS: ***½


TELEVISED TRIAL
televised trial takes on the format of a talk show; Jim Fowler cameo

   

— The plaintiff is named Jose Gomez? I can already tell this will be a Gilbert Gottfried character.
— Yep, it IS. Looks like yet another big role for Gilbert in this episode. Wow, what a night for him. Looks like the writers finally remembered he’s in the cast.
— A hand puppet?
— What’s with the TV screen framing being used for the ENTIRE sketch? I thought it was only going to be used for the beginning of this, which would’ve been enough.
— Wild Kingdom’s Jim Fowler appearing with an alligator. I feel like this is the first cameo appearance of the whole season. I didn’t even realize until now the complete lack of cameos this season. Given the season’s quality and how much bad press the show was receiving, did SNL have a hard time getting celebrities to make cameos?
— Overall, I wasn’t crazy about this sketch, but I guess it wasn’t too bad in itself and it at least had a fun vibe to it.
STARS: **


SALLY KELLERMAN: “STARTING OVER AGAIN”
host performs “Starting Over Again”

— At this point, I had almost forgotten that tonight’s episode even has a host, considering how little she’s appeared in the post-Update half.


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Another weak episode, though this one didn’t frustrate me as much as the preceding Robert Hays one did. Maybe because unlike that one, there were some watchable pieces scattered throughout this episode, which kept me from completely losing interest, whereas the Hays episode’s only watchable pieces were all in the pre-Update half, leaving the post-Update half to be an unbearable endless string of duds. However, tonight’s episode was still a disappointment, the trademark weak season 6 writing kept rearing its ugly head, Weekend Update continues to be dire, and there weren’t any sketches that stood out as particularly great or memorable; nothing in this episode received a rating over three-and-a-half stars. And the less said about Sally Kellerman’s performance as host, the better.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Deborah Harry

Posted on

January 24, 1981 – Robert Hays / Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns, 14 Karat Soul (S6 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Iranian hostages’ return won’t mean the end for Ted Koppel’s (JOP) show

  

— Here’s the “America Not Held Hostage Anymore” cold opening that I recently said a season 5 cold opening (“Carter Held Hostage”) reminded me of.
— I’m disappointed in Joe’s Ted Koppel impression. It’s coming off very bland and generic, and just sounds like Joe’s normal voice.
— Funny bit with Koppel’s announcement about how they’ll be spending each week profiling a different hostage. “With 52, that should kill a year.”
— Awkward scene with Ann whining at the press outside her door. Her acting came off pretty bad (as usual).
— That’s it? This cold opening felt a little too short and they could’ve done much more with this.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host alters his delivery by monitoring on-screen instant Nielsen ratings

 

— Seem to be a lot of monologues this season that immediately begin with with the hosts trying way too hard to hype up the audience. Some people have had a theory that The Powers That Be were telling the hosts to do this, out of desperation due to how poorly this season was doing and how much the show was getting slaughtered in the press.
— Hmm, the Nielsen rating number on the screen going back and forth in reaction to what Robert’s saying. I liked this premise better the first time, when Buck Henry did it once back in the original era. Why have some of the recent monologues been feeling derivative of monologues from the 70s, like how Karen Black’s monologue had the same premise as Chevy Chase’s season 3 monologue? (though I did like Karen’s a little better)
STARS: **


DAZOLA
(DED) says psilocybin is what makes Dazola mushroom spread a-maize-ing

 

— This seems to be the sister sketch to the “Dopenhagen” bit from earlier this season with David Carradine, right down to the whole idea of taking the first letter of a real brand name (Copenhagen, Mazola) and replacing it with a ‘d’.
— That’s Patrick Weathers in the red costume (a tomato), right? I thought I saw it listed in some places that Matthew Laurance plays the tomato in this, but that sure doesn’t look like him to me.
— Overall, not much to say about this. Despite the drug premise, this ended up being nothing special.
STARS: **


LOVE AMERICAN STYLE
host has a date with an inflatable prostitute

 

— Robert’s pretty funny with his eagerly pulling the blow-up doll’s string to hear the remainder of its sultry sentences.
— Hilarious ending with an inflatable black pimp showing up.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SPORTS CENTRAL
Asteroids pro Eddie Atari (EDM) shoots space rocks & the Goodyear Blimp

   

— Oh, it’s the Eddie Atari sketch that I’ve always wanted to see!
— I love seeing those old-school early 80s video game graphics.
— Great unique use of Eddie.
— I liked the “What keeps you going?” “Quarters!” exchange between Matthew and Eddie.
— Fun sketch so far.
— Always funny hearing an “Oh, the humanity!” reference.
— Overall, not the classic I was expecting, but still a very enjoyable sketch.
STARS: ****


REAGANCO
look to Reaganco brand products for wallpaper, linoleum tiles, cosmetics

 

— This season continues it’s streak of having Charles and/or Joe play a pitchman once an episode; a streak that I believe started in the third episode of the season.
— The corpse comment about Reagan was pretty funny.
— Overall, an okay ad.
STARS: ***


SAVE-A-NETWORK TELETHON
JOP, ANR, DOP invite viewers to pledge a premise

     

— Interesting idea.
— I like the idea of desperately asking viewers to call in and “pledge a premise” to the struggling NBC.
— The NBC products Ann is showing reminds me of the Reaganco thing we just saw right before this.
— I recognize the deli worker as SNL’s cue card guy from these early eras. I remember seeing him in Jodie Foster’s season 2 monologue and in Chevy Chase’s aforementioned season 3 monologue.
— No idea what to think of Joe’s now un-PC line about the show Pink Lady & Jeff having a “Jap theme”. I guess this wouldn’t be a season 6 episode without at least one bad racial joke.
— Great one-liner from the cameraman, where he responds to Joe asking what NBC means to him by saying “I don’t want to lose my job, Joe”.
— An on-screen appearance from Don Pardo!
— It always feels so weird to see the familiar Pardo voice actually coming out of the man himself.
STARS: ***½


PRE-SUPERBOWL PRE-GAME PREVIEW
(host), (ANR), (CHR) spout silly hype

— The laughs from the audience are mild at best so far. I personally haven’t been laughing AT ALL yet.
— And it’s over. Overall, I could not have been more bored by this sketch.
STARS: *½


THE FOREIGN FILM
by William Dear- (Michael Nesmith) speaks nonsense

 

— Ha, I’m liking how the subtitles on the bottom of screen are phonetically spelling out the foreign dialogue instead of translating it.
— Okay, is that the ONLY joke in this? The joke ain’t as funny after the first 15 seconds.
— Oh, man, apparently it IS the only joke in this. This is going NOWHERE.
STARS: *½


FUNERAL
sports organist Harry Osborne [real] fills in at a funeral service

   

— Who’s that as the organ player?
— Haha, this is pretty funny with him playing inappropriate sports anthems at the funeral.
— Loved the part with an off-camera piano “slide” sound being heard when the casket top was closed and then re-opened.
— I’m not liking Charles’ delivery here as the exasperated straight man. Something about his performance is bugging me.
— Wait, that was Gilbert playing the dead body in the casket the whole time? Poor guy. Why couldn’t they have just used a dummy, an extra, or even one of the male featured players? No wonder Gilbert’s developed such a sullen, sourpuss attitude these last few episodes. The show’s misuse of his talents seems to be getting worse and worse as the season goes on.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
CHR tries to elicit an apology from an Ayatollah Khomeini mannequin
Tiffany Fleur (ANR) emcees a fashion show for engineering students
JOP derides Super Bowl XV teams, predicts outcome via electric football
frozen assets prevent EDM from recovering $80 spent on undelivered dope

         

— A pretty dead start to Update tonight, with Charles’ string of opening jokes getting tepid audience reactions.
— Isn’t that the same dummy of The Ayatollah that Bill Murray did a segment with in an Update from the previous season? (side-by-side comparison below) Ugh, so not only has Charles Rocket been aping Bill Murray’s persona all season, but now he’s flat-out doing cheap knockoffs of Bill’s bits too?

 

— Boy, that Ayatollah bit was just plain stupid. Gail’s little addition to it afterwards didn’t help, either.
— So far, Gail’s Update jokes tonight have been getting a better audience reaction than Charles’.
— Spoke too soon. Gail’s Eldridge Cleaver joke just now was TERRIBLE and noticeably received loud groans from the audience.
— Yet ANOTHER Update commentary from Ann? Man, why does SNL keep trying to make Ann Risley happen?
— The nerd fashion show bit is okay.
— Funny sight gag with one of the nerd models having a pocket protector glued to his bare chest.
— Overall, hey, Ann’s bit actually wasn’t too bad for once! However, I’m sure that’s due to the fact that most of the focus wasn’t on her. However, her delivery didn’t come off stilted or flat for once.
— Here’s our weekly Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Joe’s “who cares?” assessment of the two Super Bowl teams is pretty funny.
— Okay, I’m starting to get a little tired of Joe’s gimmick with him bringing out some kind of sports toy during his Update commentaries. This is, what, the third or fourth time he’s done that so far?
— At the beginning of Eddie’s commentary, he actually stops the audience from applauding by telling them to hold it. Not sure what that was all about, but I laughed. Eddie just has a way of making little things like that funny to me.
— Hilarious with Eddie revealing he’s holding his Iranian reefer dealer hostage.
— I also liked Eddie’s line about freezing his “assets” off.
— Tonight’s overall Update was a big step down. After a promising upswing in quality with Charles and Gail’s jokes in the preceding episode’s Update, I see we’re back to the usual dreariness.
STARS: **


DISCO MELTDOWN
dance club at nuclear plant is Dena Disco’s (DED) hangout

 

— Denny Dillon as “Deena Disco”.
— Hmm, disco was still around in 1981?
— Denny: “(singing) My shoes are disco, my hair is disco, even my handwriting is disco!” Are they kidding me with this stuff?
— What am I even watching??? Where’s the joke?
— A disco being held at a nuclear power plant. I usually enjoy random sketch premises in this vein, but this particular one is coming off just plain dumb and is lacking actual good humor.
— Overall, boy, this was awful. This is pretty much the type of bad sketch I always imagined season 6 was filled with before I started doing reviews of this season.
STARS: *


ROCKET REPORT
CHR purports to give Ronald Reagan’s daily itinerary

   

— The audience is very unresponsive so far. I’m not finding this film too great myself.
— The horse being named “Darkie” – ugh, yet ANOTHER example of unnecessary racial humor in season 6.
— Overall, wow, I couldn’t find anything good to really say about this. This just came and went without any really good moments standing out. Definitely a big step down from the usually strong Rocket Reports.
STARS: **


THE PACESETTER
(JOP) demonstrates how The Pacesetter can jolt amateur theater to life

   

— When the camera first cut to Ann, I almost thought that was Karen Black at first. Something about Ann’s hair in this and the way her face looked with her head thrown back like that. I guess I still have Karen Black on the brain after having just reviewed an SNL episode she hosted.
— I like the premise of jolting an actor with an electric shock to make them speed up the pacing.
— Okay, well, THAT sure died off fast. Much like the Foreign Film earlier tonight, this went from “funny” to “that’s the ONLY joke???” really fast.
— In the shots of Joe in the studio audience, you can see just how dead tonight’s audience is. They look pretty subdued compared to how SNL audiences are usually seen.
STARS: **


RAVI SINGS
Ravi Shankar (PAW) interprets American romantic ballads on his new album

 

— Oh my god at the make-up on Patrick Weathers. And the only reason I’m aware that this is Patrick Weathers is because of some reviews I read of this sketch in the past. Well, that and the fact that Patrick’s making the same over-the-top bug-eyed facial expressions that he made as a tomato earlier tonight in the Dazola sketch. (a side-by-side comparison is below) Otherwise, I never would’ve been able to tell that’s him in this sketch. I mean, I’ve already been having a hard enough time recognizing him in his normal look, so how would I have recognized him under all that heavy dark make-up?

 

— Is… is he lip-syncing? Why?
— Is there even a joke in this? What IS this??? What are they going for here??? God, you’re killing me with tonight’s episode, SNL.
STARS: *


CUT ‘N’ CURL
Reagan dispute teases out differences of opinion between Roweena & Nadine

   

— I remember liking this sketch last time it appeared earlier this season.
— What the hell? What was with the “$40,000” and all that “Dream Date” text that suddenly flashed on-screen for a few seconds? (screencaps below) Must be a technical error involving on-screen text that’s supposed to be displayed for a later sketch in this episode.

 

— Hmm, what’s with Gail’s aside to the camera? They didn’t do this last time this sketch appeared.
— Now Denny’s doing the “aside to the camera” thing. What is the point of all that? I’m not liking it.
— Overall, a very strange installment of this sketch, and a big step down from these characters’ first appearance. Almost nothing worked in this. And it probably would’ve helped if there were a third person for Gail and Denny to play off of, like how the first one had Jamie Lee Curtis’ New Wave-ish character.
STARS: *½


EDDIE’S PROMOTION
EDM claims that his promotion to full SNL castmember won’t go to his head

  

— An announcement from Eddie that he has been promoted from a featured player to an official cast member. Very good news, and this promotion was LONG overdue. And nice applause from the audience in response to this announcement.
— He was still credited as a featured player earlier tonight in the opening montage, but I’m assuming he’ll start being credited with the main cast in the next episode.
— Funny ending with him disproving his claim that he won’t “go Hollywood”.
— As a rule, I don’t give a rating to segments like this, though I wish I could considering how much better this segment is than the last handful of dreadful sketches.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


DREAM DATE
(CHR) tells how to send in $40,000 for a chance at a Dream Date

  

— Oh, so THIS is what that technical error from the “Cut ‘N’ Curl” sketch was all about.
— What the hell? This was yet another sketch tonight that came and went with me not getting any laughs from the so-called humor.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
14 Karat Soul performs “I Wish That We Were Married”
14 Karat Soul performs “This Time It’s For Real”


NATIONAL ENQUIRER
National Enquirer editorial board makes tough decisions about next issue

   

— Joe’s line about a one-winged bird who only flies in circles kinda made me laugh. It’s probably an old joke that’s been around for ages, but I’ve never heard it before, and at this point of tonight’s dreary episode, I am so desperate for ANY laughs.
— Yet another sketch where Gilbert says his lines with a monotone, drawn-out, half-assed delivery. When I think back on how energetic he looked in the early episodes of the season and then see how increasingly miserable he’s become in the last few episodes, it reminds me so much of Janeane Garofalo’s stint on the show years later during season 20 (another infamous season) – how she started that season looking energetic and happy in her performances, and then a turning point came with the Sarah Jessica Parker episode where, from that point on, Garofalo’s misery from working on the show and the contempt she had for some of her castmates was written all over her face in every sketch and she no longer put any energy into her performances, coming off as a monotone sourpuss in almost everything. We’re seeing the EXACT SAME THING with Gilbert this season.
— “Cripples are big now.” Ugh, just STOP with the poor attempts at offensive shock humor, season 6.
— A lot of this sketch is falling completely flat for me.
— Another ugh at that bad low-brow ending with the guys agreeing to do a piece romantically linking Desi Arnaz Sr. and Jr. to each other.
— Overall, yet ANOTHER terrible sketch tonight with almost no laughs. Man, tonight’s episode has been dying a miserable death.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Joe ‘King’ Carrasco & The Crowns performs “Don’t Bug Me Baby”


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Man, what a rough night. This is like the type of episode most people probably automatically think of whenever season 6 gets mentioned. I’ve been finding out through doing these reviews that this season wasn’t quite as horrible as legend has it, but this particular episode was bad enough to almost make me forget that. Though thinking back on the first half of the episode, while it certainly had its share of bad segments, there were actually some inspired, funny sketches scattered throughout it, mainly Eddie Atari and Save-A-Network Telethon. But damn, what the hell happened afterward? Once Update showed up, that seemed to officially kill any momentum that was left and the show never recovered. The post-Update half of the show was absolutely DIRE, with one dud after another, and a very bored-sounding (and looking) studio audience. Some of the least funniest sketches of the whole season were in the second half of tonight’s episode alone.
— It’s a shame that after the preceding week’s surprisingly strong Karen Black episode, the weaknesses of season 6 came back with a vengeance tonight. And the real worrisome thing is, as bad as this episode was, I’ve heard that the next episode is supposedly even worse.
— Robert Hays was a very bland, unmemorable host. Did absolutely nothing of note tonight. Well, he was decent in the Love American Style sketch, I’ll give him that.
— The copy of this episode I reviewed is missing a short sketch titled “Ordinary Elephant People”, which is a fake promo for a TV movie about an Elephant Man-esque family. I saw that sketch years ago and recall not finding it anything special, though it wasn’t terrible. The most noteworthy thing I remember about it is that Gilbert Gottfried uses his now-recognizable screechy voice, yet he STILL manages to come off sounding monotone and depressed in it.  Man, working on the show this season is DESTROYING that man.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Karen Black):
— a huge step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Sally Kellerman