Tag: saturday night live

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July 24, 1976 – Louise Lasser / The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (S1 E23)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
arguing JOB & CHC attempt to make up by shaking hands, but a fall ensues
 
— A pretty good laugh from John walking on in those Hollywood movie star clothes.
— Great punch & fall at the end after John and Chevy’s extended handshake.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host locks herself in dressing room after a disastrous on-stage ramble
   
— (sigh) Here we go…
— Well, her response to the audience’s huge applause at the beginning was kinda funny, I guess.
— “On my show (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), I’m having a nervous breakdown.” How appropriate that gets brought up tonight……
— Oh, boy, this is slowly starting to come off increasingly awkward and uncomfortable.
— What in the world was the point of the cue cards bit?
— Oh, God, this is getting painful. What’s going on?
— You’d almost think this is going for an Andy Kaufman-style intentional awkwardness, but if it is, they’re failing miserably.
— Aaaaaaaaand there’s her infamous walk-off. I know it’s part of the script, but the way the monologue had been going, I’m sure some people were confused over whether the walk-off was scripted or genuine.
— Gilda’s cramps comment is the first genuine laugh of the whole monologue.
— Dan pretending to be a probation officer is pretty funny.
— Landshark!
— Overall, thank god for the cast doing their best to redeem this, but it still couldn’t make up for that dreadful first half.
STARS: *½

VENEREAL DISEASE: NOTHING TO CLAP ABOUT
General Idi “V.D.” Amin (GAM) gives the warning signs of his syphilis
 
— LOL at the nickname “V.D. Amin”.
— Very funny opening line about venereal disease not just striking Jews.
— Hilarious visual with the Swiss cheese representing his brain.
— The “Venereal Disease: nothing to clap about” graphic was a great way to end this.
STARS: ****

SWEDISH MOVIE
Sven (CHC) & Inger (host) fool Death (TOS) in a Bergman-like scene
 
— The Swedish voice-over is kinda funny (why do I get the feeling that’s Tom Schiller?).
— What the hell IS this?
— Ah, so it IS Schiller.
— I usually like this kind of weirdness, but something as confusing and baffling as this sketch was probably not the best thing to put on so close to the monologue.
— The pizza line was pretty funny.
— I did like the ending twist where they fooled Death.
STARS: **

HUMAN HAIR POTHOLDERS
Sandra Goode (JAC) & Squeaky Fromme (LAN) pitch human-hair potholders

— Laraine’s almost TOO good at playing a scary psycho in this.
— Ha, this is insane.
— Was Laraine pinching her own nipples just now?
— This overall sketch was disturbing in a funny way. I’m gonna guess this was an O’Donoghue-written piece.
STARS: ***½

LOUISE & DOG
(host)’s relationship talk with her dog is more befitting a human partner

— This is the one sketch from this episode I remember seeing before, in an edited 60-minute version shown in syndication.
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
— Boy, is that dog’s panting loud.
— And now, Louise actually mentioned (ad-lib?) how the dog’s breathing is getting heavier.
— The close-up of the dog just panting at the camera was kinda charming, at least.
— Overall, what in the world did I just watch?
STARS: *

CATHODE RAY
LAN, JAC & GIR perform a musical ode to television
   
— Oh, is this gonna be our weird Dan Aykroyd sketch of the week? You know I enjoy those.
— What’s with the off-camera voices while Dan’s speaking?
— Hmm, this has turned into a song from the female cast members.
— The disclaimer that showed up on the screen just now is pretty funny.
— I like how the chroma-key background has now turned into a shot of SNL’s control room.
— Nice song overall. The lyrics weren’t humorous, but the girls did a good job and there were interesting visuals. I also like how everything felt so 70s.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
Olga Korbut (GIR) is bitter about Nadia Comaneci’s Olympic success
the Viking I spacecraft accidentally crushes a Martian welcoming party
   
— The extended intro from Pardo was a little weird. Chevy almost seemed kinda thrown off by it, though I guess he was just acting.
— The Jimmy Carter oranges joke was hilarious.
— LOL at John doing an accent despite the fact that he’s supposed to be playing himself.
— Gilda’s angry comment about Nadia Comaneci was very good.
— Whoa, Update’s over? No mid-WU fake commercial break? This change is very refreshing. As I mentioned sometime before, I prefer when Update is one continuous segment instead of breaking in the middle for a fake ad.
STARS: ***

GIRL TALK
teens (JAC) & (GIR) talk about issues related to boys & making out

— The cemetery revelation cracked me up.
— This is reminding me of the slumber party sketch from this season’s Madeline Kahn episode. I’d like to think Gilda and Jane are playing older versions of their characters from that one.
— Wasn’t too crazy abut Gilda’s ending line.
STARS: ***½

DINER FILM
by host- in a diner, unsure players are fed lines
   
— Oh, man. I had been enjoying the nice long break we’ve had from Lasser the last few segments.
— Oh, goody, more bizarre aimless rambling from Lasser.
— The dialogue being constantly drowned out by other sounds in the diner isn’t helping this.
— I ask once again tonight: what am I watching???
— What’s with the fourth wall break?
— Man, this fourth wall break is not working.
— I was hoping Lorne’s walk-on would save this, as I’ve been really enjoying his on-camera appearances this season, but he did nothing funny here.
— “A film by Louise Lasser” – ha, that explains EVERYTHING.
— Overall, man, was this abysmal. I think I’d happily take even the dullest Gary Weis film over this.
STARS: *

JOHN BELUSHI WARDROBE
cash-strapped JOB’s line of clothing consists of his actual garments
 
— Pretty funny revelation.
— John’s increasing desperation is being played well.
STARS: ***

JIMMY CARTER
Jimmy Carter (DAA) tells what to look for in his upcoming campaign

— The debut of Dan’s Jimmy Carter impression!
— The voice is slightly different from what it would later sound like.
— Dan’s Carter is remembered for famously having a mustache when the real Carter didn’t have one.  But, hell, in this sketch, Dan’s Carter doesn’t even have gray hair! I believe in all of the subsequent Carter sketches, they’d dye Dan’s hair gray.
— This is pretty funny so far.
— Good ending with the Bob Dylan quote.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— By this point, I forgot this episode even had a musical guest. Very unusual for a musical guest’s first performance to be buried this late into the show.

LOUISE LASSER RAMBLING PIECE #309,454
host sits on the apron of the stage & rambles about her year

— What’s with her again making an entrance down the homebase stage’s stairs, as if this is the beginning of the monologue again?
— Oh, I can already tell this is gonna be YET ANOTHER weird, awkward, rambly piece.
— How in the world has this story suddenly shifted from “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” to buying a dollhouse?
— Oh, please let this finally end. This mess has been going on for what feels like 10 minutes.
STARS: *

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Louise giving credit to the cast made me realize that she didn’t appear on camera with ANY of them in tonight’s sketches, except for Chevy. I think I remember reading somewhere that was actually a request from her. I’m sure the rest of the cast was just FLATTERED that Louise would openly rather work alongside Chevy and a dog than with any of them.
— I like how John’s still silently advertising his wardrobe.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………
— Yeah, this one definitely lived up to the bad reputation. Sure, there were some good host-less sketches, but the stuff centered around Lasser was SO awful, SO uncomfortable, SO drawn-out & overlong, that it’s unfortunately what you come out of the episode remembering the most. The good sketches weren’t enough to make up for that. Bad idea for SNL to let Lasser do so many segments where she was allowed to ramble about whatever she wanted. The only thing I found her remotely tolerable in was the Swedish Movie sketch, and that’s only because she didn’t have to do any heavy lifting in it.
— I guess I was overdue to review a bad episode, as ever since I started this ‘One SNL a Day’ project, I had yet to come across a truly bad episode until now. Every Season 1 episode prior to this one had enough redeeming values; yes, even the musical performance-dominated Paul Simon episode (while I disliked the format, at least the music in it was good).
— Well, at least I can say I got through this. When I started reviewing this season, this was an episode that I was both fearfully dreading and morbidly anticipating, simultaneously. I’m happy it’s now over with, though I know this is FAR from the last disastrous episode I’ll have to cover in my project.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Season 1 comes to an end, with host Kris Kristofferson

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May 29, 1976 – Elliott Gould / Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins and Joyce Everson (S1 E22)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
at a wax museum, boorish (CHC) is slapped by supposed wax figure (GIR)
   
— Are Jane and Neil Levy(?) dressed in the Lord and Lady Douchebag costumes from four years later? (first screencap above)
— No idea why Chevy blew a whistle while flashing the statues, but it made me laugh.
— I’m gonna guess this will end with Chevy getting slapped after groping one of the statues, which will lead into his traditional fall.
— Yep, I was right, though there were actually a few back-and-forth slaps before the slap that led to the pratfall.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host sings “Anything Goes”
 
— A funny little touch with Elliott handing a banana to an audience member while making his entrance.
— Another Gould monologue that immediately goes into a song with no set-up. Are ALL his monologues like this?
— Why is his first name spelled with only one ‘t’ on his shirt? In the opening credits of both this and Gould’s preceding episode (not to mention everywhere else I’ve seen his name written), his first name is spelled with two ‘t’s.
— Despite my strong dislike for musical monologues, especially ones that are just straight songs with no comedic lyrics, there’s something about both of Elliott’s monologues this season that are likable; most likely due to his fun performance in them.
STARS: ***

ACADEMY OF BETTER CAREERS
— rerun

CARD GAME
fake European poker player (CHC) & translator (host) dupe gambler (DAA)
 
— Are Chevy and Elliott playing an old-timey version of their Interior Demolitionist characters?
— Wait, never mind.
— Pretty fun sketch so far.
— I like the contrast between Dan’s obliviousness and Garrett’s bewildered reactions, especially Garrett’s line to Dan just now: “He is busting your chops!”
— Funny ending with Chevy casually speaking English before leaving.
STARS: ***½

NATIONAL UVULA ASSOCIATION
doctor (CHC) tells Babs (GIR) that her uvula is on the fritz

— This is clearly in the same vein as the National Pancreas Association sketch, but I’m actually liking this one a lot more. I think it’s because “uvula” is an inherently funnier word than “pancreas”. Plus, there’s something about the combination of “uvula” and Gilda’s character being named Babs.
— This is also helped by a fun silly vibe in everyone’s performance, especially Chevy’s non-commitment in making a convincing doctor.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LEON REDBONE)

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE
NBC executive (host) boards the Enterprise to cancel the show
     
— I’ve always heard about this sketch. It’s widely considered a classic, so I’m eager to finally see it for myself.
— And so begins the long-running tradition of Akira Yoshimura playing Sulu in SNL’s Star Trek parodies.
— Interesting how John’s not really going for the usual stereotypical Captain Kirk impression (you know the one), but is doing his own take.
— Chevy’s facial reaction to his Spock ears being yanked off was great.
— Love how they’re taking the set apart while the Star Trek actors are desperately trying to stay in character and keep the show going.
— Hilarious sudden emotional outburst from Chevy.
— Overall, such a perfect, well-done sketch. Definitely deserving of it’s highly-regarded status.
STARS: *****

MUPPETS POSTCARD
GIR reads a postcard from the Muppets sent from England

— Eh……
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
   
— Chevy’s opening joke about Fidel Castro “pulling out of Angola” got a huge reaction from the audience just now.
— Whoa, wait, wait, wait… Was that woman’s nipple actually visible before Chevy quickly jumped out of his seat and censored it with his hand??? Heh, how in the world did NBC let SNL get away with showing that?
— Who were those two people in the picture that Chevy just said “Nobody really cares anymore” about? (third screencap above)
— A short first half of tonight’s Update.

VIBRAMATIC
the Vibramatic personal massager can also be used as a kitchen tool
 
— Very funny idea, and I love the fast-paced energy of this.
— There’s the Bass-o-Matic background behind Dan once again.
— I liked the little joke of Dan not being able to cut through the potato while he was touting how the knife is supposedly easy to cut with.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
old film footage documents athletes’ preparation for Montreal Olympics
(JAC) defends Bicentennial commercialism while CHC makes faces at her
Emily Litella prepares to help CHC repeat the “flop” story
   
— Chevy just named the fake reporter he’s doing the voice for as “correspondent Jacqueline Carlin”. Yeah, nice way to work your girlfriend’s name into the show, Chev.
— Heh, and now, the guest commentator Jane Curtin is playing is named Audrey Peart Dickman, which is the name of one of the staff members on the show. Lots of inside jokes with fictional names used for Update correspondents lately, between “Duncan Ebersol” in the preceding episode and the two aforementioned examples tonight.
— The return of the ‘Chevy makes goofy faces behind a correspondent’s back’ routine. Meh.
— I will say, though, that I kinda like how Chevy’s always able to quickly go back to a straight face briefly whenever the correspondent is about to look at him.
— Our newest variation of the running “News for (insert group here)” gag is “News for Fans of Emily Litella”.
— As sick as I’ve become of Emily Litella, this is actually pretty funny and is making good use of her routine.  It also helps that we haven’t seen her in a few episodes.
— I also like how Litella called Chevy “Cheddar”, as a callback to an earlier commentary she did where she thought Chevy’s full name was “Cheddar Cheese”.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

SHIRLEY TEMPLE
ambassador Shirley Temple Black (LAN) asks Ghanians to say “hi, neighbor”
 
— Is this supposed to be Shirley Temple or just a random old-timey little girl?
— Okay, she started singing just now. Yeah, this is Shirley Temple, alright.
— While this is a pretty dead-on take-off of Shirley Temple films, I’m not really enjoying this much.
— The part with them tap-dancing a code to the radio is pretty fun, at least.
STARS: **

UNCLE CHARLIE’S SCHOOL
by Gary Weis- host & kids are taught old acts
 
— Ugh, do we REALLY need another segment with singing, immediately after the preceding Shirley Temple sketch?
— Ugh, Broadway-style showtunes – always one of my least favorite things to sit through.
— Overall, a typical Gary Weis film that left me bored out of my mind.
— I was hoping at first that Elliott’s presence would save this, but he ended up virtually doing nothing here.
STARS: *

THE HONEYMOONERS
Bee Ralph (JOB) discovers Bee Alice (GIR) is pregnant
   
— Our second sketch of the night parodying a classic TV show. I can tell this one is going to be fun.
— The opening credits sequence is nice.
— John’s doing another great impression.
— John’s extended reaction to the knitting needles being stuck in his behind is pretty hilarious.
— Referring to bee babies as “drones”, “workers”, “queens” – that’s the same joke from the Bee Hospital sketch from the premiere. Not sure how I feel about them repeating that joke, considering I didn’t care for Bee Hospital.
— Funny twist with Alice revealing Norton’s the father of her baby.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LEON REDBONE)

MIDDLE AMERICAN VAN LINES
— rerun

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (HARLAN COLLINS AND JOYCE EVERSON)

GOODNIGHTS
host & cast sing “Happy Trails” for the summer
 
— Elliott informs us that the show is going on a little hiatus before returning in July(!) with host… uh… um… well, she deserves a special mention at the end of my review.
— A nice little western-themed farewell song with the whole cast dressed as cowgirls.
— I thought the song would eventually lead into the regular goodnights music, but interestingly, it seems to have replaced the goodnights music tonight.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode as a whole, though there was a big drop-off after Weekend Update, and I’m not crazy about how the last 10-15 minutes strangely consisted of just a musical guest performance, a repeat fake ad, and ANOTHER musical guest performance. Tonight’s sketches were also a little too heavy on the singing. However, this episode featured a good amount of fun material and two enjoyable parodies of classic TV shows (both of which were led by a strong John Belushi performance).
— I’m probably looking too much into it, but I wonder if the reason they padded out the homestretch of this episode with so much non-sketch content was because the cast and writers were possibly overworked from doing four straight weeks of live episodes. Isn’t this the episode that led to Lorne vowing never again to do four consecutive live shows (until eventually breaking that vow decades later in 2008), due to how exhausted it left everyone on the show?

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
(gulp!) LOUISE. LASSER.

Posted on

May 22, 1976 – Buck Henry / Gordon Lightfoot (S1 E21)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
injured CHC boasts of Emmy win & insults LAN as she preps to do the fall
 
— Interesting way to reference Chevy’s pratfall at the Emmys when accepting his award (which I remember seeing a clip of sometime before).
— I saw the ending coming with Laraine pushing Chevy, but it was still funny.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
JOB fills in while LOM helps insufficiently-famous host get past security
   
 
— Ah, yes. As I mentioned in my review of Buck’s preceding episode, I love this particular monologue.
— The awkward panicking when Buck doesn’t show up is very funny. I also really like John’s dismissive “What do you want ME to do?” when Joe Dicso tells him Buck’s not here.
— John bitterly ranting on stage is great, and I liked the shot he took at a certain castmate’s reliance on pratfalls.
— George Coe sighting!
— I love Lorne and Buck’s whole argument with the security guard.
— Buck being forced to cut his actual monologue short just when he was getting into it was the perfect ending.
— What I’ve always loved about this monologue, besides the humor, is how complex, extensive, and unique it is, having Lorne go all the way backstage as the camera follows him, having him actually go down through the elevator, having a whole scene down at the lobby, then having Lorne and Buck go up the elevator back to the studio where the camera follows them to the homebase stage, all done LIVE. You never see something like that on the show anymore these days, and even if they would try something like that nowadays, the more complex parts of it would probably be pretaped instead of live. The show was much more willing at taking chances back in the 70s. The closest thing to this complex monologue I can recall SNL doing in any recent decade without relying on pretape is Conan O’Brien’s monologue from 2001, where he and a group of people went down the stairs from SNL’s studio to Conan’s “Late Night” studio a few floors below.
STARS: ****½

PETER LEMON MOODRING
Peter Lemon Moodring (CHC) changes colors to reflect the songs he sings
 
— Pretty cool just for the visual effects of Chevy changing appropriate colors for each song. How are they pulling that off, anyway?
STARS: ***

SAMURAI TAILOR
Mr. Dantley needs a tuxedo for his wedding
 
— I like how even in Buck’s second hosting stint, it’s already become a tradition to do a Samurai sketch whenever he hosts.
— Loved the ending with Buck requesting a zipper for his pants.
— The usual great Buck Henry-involved Samurai sketch.
STARS: ****

TALK BACK
lack of calls leads (host) to increase topic controversy level
 
— Buck’s slowly growing frustration and desperation is very funny to watch.
— I’m loving how he’s resorting to combining together the increasingly controversial topics he’s made up.
STARS: ****

DELL STATOR’S 99¢ TOAD RANCH
(DAA) pitches frog meat
 
— A funny gross idea and Dan’s doing his usual perfect job as a pitchman. This sketch can be considered almost a distant relative of the similarly-gross Bass-O-Matic sketch.
— Love the visual of Buck having a toad limb hanging out of mouth during his testimonial.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

POLAROID
(no synopsis available)
 
— Yet another non-joke sponsored Polaroid ad.
— Like the last one, this again ended with no applause.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— Not anything noteworthy so far, but this Update is going along decently.
— I liked Chevy doing the underwater voice during the shark joke.

GERMASOL
— rerun

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
old film of fruits documents psychiatric tests done on Patty Hearst
 
— “Correspondent Duncan Ebersol”. Was that name inspired by who I think it was?
— It’s always funny seeing what random silly stock footage they use to represent Patty Hearst.
— The audience seemed to kinda take offense to the joke about Ed Asner, Ted Knight, et al. being hasbeens.
— And that’s it. No Update guests tonight. I’m impressed they’ve now gone more than one episode without Emily Litella.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

CROWD
(host) & (CHC) audition a crowd for scenes in a movie
 
— I’m really liking the premise.
— It’s fun to watch Belushi during the crowd demonstrations here; his acting is standing out and making me laugh.
— The photo and “phone number” the crowd left for the producers was hilarious.
— Oh my god at the “lynching” part with Garrett……..
STARS: ***½

BEATLE OFFER
LOM sweetens his offer to the Beatles- $200 more & hotel accommodations
 
— I remember hearing before that they did a follow-up sketch to Lorne’s classic offer to the Beatles. My expectations are not high for this. I’m usually never a fan of whenever SNL tries to do a follow-up to a perfect, hard-to-top sketch that should’ve remained a one-off.
— So far, this follow-up is basically just repeating the humor of the first one.
— Okay, the hotel accommodations part is taking this into a different direction.
— Pardo’s excited “yeah yeah yeah!” gave me a big laugh.
STARS: ***

NOT FOR LADIES ONLY
Baba Wawa interviews director Lina Wertmuller (LAN)

— Laraine’s movie description is pretty funny.
— Yet another joke about Barbara Walters’ inability to pronounce “Harry Reasoner”.
STARS: ***

TOILET SEATS
by Gary Weis- host talks to shoppers in a store’s toilet seat department
 
— I can already tell I’m gonna like this, just from the funny beginning with Buck saying to the camera in a dry, deadpan voice “Let’s… talk… toilet seats”.
— LOL at the old lady’s comment about keeping her money warm in her behind.
— This is surprisingly funny for a Gary Weis film.
STARS: ***½

LOOKS AT BOOKS
sexologist (host) is evasive about subject of his book
 
— Not caring too much where this is going.
— Okay, sketch redeemed. The punchline with Buck doing the hand gesture for sex made this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Whoa, an unexpected turn with Buck suddenly interrupting Lightfoot when he started doing a third number.
— Haha, great part just now with Futaba coming in and clipping Lightfoot’s guitar strings.
   

GARRETT MORRIS: “AN DIE MUSIK”
GAM sings Schubert’s “An Die Musik” as an explanation scrolls by
   
— I’m loving the disclaimer. A lot of funny lines there.
STARS: ****

IMPRESSIONIST MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE
MOD does impression of Tony Orlando having long needles plunged into eyes
 
— O’Donoghue walking on in that cheesy colorful outfit is already giving me a chuckle.
— I like the addition of two female assistants, though they’re nowhere near as good at doing the “writhing around while screaming” routine as O’Donoghue.
— It’s kinda funny seeing the reactions of the visible audience members in the floor seats.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS
   
— Pretty cool how the ending of the preceding O’Donoghue sketch is carrying over into these goodnights.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A consistently solid episode, which is no surprise considering who was hosting. Impressively, there were no sketches at all that I disliked; literally every segment got a good rating from me, even the Gary Weis film.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Elliott Gould

Posted on

May 15, 1976 – Dyan Cannon / Leon & Mary Russell (S1 E20)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC has to repeat the show-opening fall when the camera turns on too late

— I’m liking the change of pace for the traditional “Chevy falls” opening
— Dave Wilson’s pushiness in getting Chevy to just do the fall is making me laugh.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— Was Pardo’s announcement of the show as just “Saturday Night” dubbed into the rerun version I’m watching? After he says it, I could very faintly hear muted audio of him saying “NBC’s Saturday Night”.

MONOLOGUE
host’s unfulfilled dream is to be carried away by a man on a white horse

— Such a quiet, subdued beginning.
— Almost two minutes in, and I haven’t heard a single laugh from the audience.
— This monologue is just weird so far.
— “I like men… and women… and men…” Uh, did I hear right? “…and women…”?
— What’s with random cutaways to Paul Shaffer looking around?
— Oh, I get the Shaffer cutaways now. Fairly funny ending with him carrying Dyan away.
STARS: **

SUGAR FREE ZING
in a taste test, (LAN) prefers sugar-free Zing to a glass of Phlegm

— Laraine’s funny in this.
— This didn’t seem to have much of a joke besides the glass of “phlegm”, which wasn’t THAT funny.
STARS: **

HEARING TEST
hearing test subjects are oblivious to armed robbery & police shootout
 
— I like the turn this has taken, with all the sudden chaos involving the bandits while the students aren’t even aware of it.
— This sketch’s premise feels very quintessential of 70s SNL. Before doing these reviews, when I used to think of 70s SNL, sketches with this type of premise were usually one of the first things that came to mind.
STARS: ***½

DEAD DELIVERY BOY
(host) lies to husband (DAA) after being caught cheating with (CHC)

— This one girl in the audience has a weird-sounding noticeable laugh that I keep hearing throughout this sketch.
— Feels strange hearing the mention of “swine flu” in an episode from the 70s.
— Odd ending with Dyan’s character inexplicably not remembering the lies she told Dan.
STARS: ***

VACATIONLAND ADVENTURE
Bulgarian (JOB) promotes visits to his homeland
 
— For a second, I thought John was playing the same character from the very first SNL sketch ever (Wolverines). He appears to be wearing the same hat.
— LOL at the film title “Bulgaria Dis Vintor”.
— This Bulgarian film is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
hoarse DAA misinterprets host’s dream

— A fairly funny continuation of the monologue.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

NEXT WEEK
LAN & GIR announce that Buck Henry [real] will be doing SNL next week

— Hey, it’s Buck Henry!
— Laraine’s grossed-out reactions to the news of Buck hosting again is funny, and kinda relates to what would become a running gag with Buck not getting any respect from SNL in his monologues.
— A fun way to promote the next episode.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
in Nevada, LAN interviews supposed owner of Howard Hughes’ will (GAM)
the weather report comprises amateurish TOS drawings
   
— Is Chevy eating the same potato thing that John ate in the Bulgaria sketch earlier tonight?
— The random joke about statistics is another Chevy joke that I can easily picture Kevin Nealon doing in an early 90s Weekend Update.
— Boy, they sure love doing those childlike “artist’s rendering” drawings.

ORANGE JUICE
in Beirut, hostage Anita Bryant (JAC) pitches orange juice

— I don’t think I’m familiar with this hostage news story (though the name Anita Bryant IS sounding familiar to me, for some reason), but this is still making me laugh.
— Dan’s foreign gibberish while eating the orange sounded hilarious.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard of hearing
 
— Chevy combining the Miss USA pageant & horse race stories was pretty funny.
— After a much-needed long hiatus, “News for the Hard of Hearing” makes its return. Strange how Garrett has played two different roles in the same Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

FUNERAL
during a funeral, a minister (CHC) battles a bad case of the hiccups
 
— Dyan looks kinda Candice Bergen-esque in this.
— The paper bag part was really funny.
— What was the point of the kiss between Dyan and Chevy? Did we really need two sketches tonight with them making out?
— The frustrated attempts to stop Chevy’s hiccups are okay, though it feels like this could be funnier.
— Dyan started cracking up just now.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
pimp GAM & white whores GIR & LAN misinterpret host’s dream

— A little better than the last one, as Garrett playing a pimp always makes me laugh, and I like the wordplay with mixing up “white horse” with “white whores”.
STARS: ***½

NIAGARA FALLS
by Gary Weis- marital infidelity investigators & newlyweds are juxtaposed
 
— What in the world is this?
— The part with the stuffed dog was funny, at least.
— Overall, yet another Gary Weis film that I don’t care for.
STARS: *½

BATHWATER OF THE STARS
Cindy Cleavage (host) & Roy Waddmaker (DAA) pitch Bathwater Of The Stars
 
— I’m already liking this, as this appears to be another typically weird Dan Aykroyd sketch.  This almost has a proto-E. Buzz Miller feel to it.
— Another character break from Dyan – a huge one this time, when Dan unintentionally drops the fake rat into the bathtub.
STARS: ***½

MARINE
(CHC) takes abuse during multiple takes for a Marine Corps commercial
 
— For some reason, the detail of Chevy getting hit by rifles with boxing gloves on the ends of them is really funny to me.
— The premise isn’t much, but the physical humor and Dan’s great energy is selling this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Ha, John as Joe Cocker once again randomly making a cameo in the middle of a musical guest’s number.
 

JOHNNY ANGEL
(host) sings “Johnny Angel” while her Hell’s Angels boyfriends terrorize
 
— The destruction the bikers are doing to the living room during Dyan’s song is a funny turn, and almost feels like a spiritual successor to the Interior Demolitionists sketch (both sketches even use the same living room set).
STARS: ***½

CRESK
druggist (JOB) recommends Cresk toothpaste for (GIR)’s deceased son

— From the way the audience is laughing before the big reveal, this must be a parody of a real commercial from that time.
— A decent premise.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
JOB & his friend Horace (ALZ) give their version of host’s dream

— Pretty funny, just for the interplay between Belushi and Zweibel.
STARS: ***

THE HUB-CAP THIEF
an unexpected journey through the Bronx
 
— The visual of the thief spinning with the wheel is funny.
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS
CHC & a white horse make host’s dream come true
   
— Fun ending, though I already saw it coming that Chevy would be the one to successfully fulfill Dyan’s “white horse” dream.
— Was something wrong with Pardo’s mic? I couldn’t hear some of what he was saying during the “goodnights announcements” gag of the night.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An episode that was average in every possible way. Most of the sketches stayed in just the “decent” range, with nothing standing out as particularly strong, and nothing receiving anything over a mere three-and-a-half star rating. I doubt I’ll remember much about this episode in the future.
— The monologue had me worried about what kind of host Dyan Cannon would be. She didn’t end up being quite as bad as I had feared, but she spent the episode being given the usual type of generic roles that “pretty girl” hosts typically get. Nothing memorable. She also broke character quite a bit.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Buck Henry

Posted on

May 8, 1976 – Madeline Kahn / Carly Simon (S1 E19)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
blues organist Ronald Reagan (CHC) blows hip image by calling (GAM) “boy”
 
— I never knew Chevy had ever played Ronald Reagan, though he’s doing it in the same manner as his Ford “impression”.
— And now we get a comedic disclaimer similar to the ones used in the first two Ford sketches.
— Garrett’s non-verbal offended reactions to being called “boy” is making me laugh.
— Loved the punch & fall at the end.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host musically expresses gratitude for gifts she’s received from her mom

— This is the type of reliable humor I’ve come to expect from her.
— I’m loving how her badly-written Mother’s Day song/poem is going through each letter in the word “mother”.
STARS: ***½

WILDERNESS COMEDIAN
a movie about Shecky Adams (JOB), fauna entertainer
 
— John fighting the obviously fake bear is pretty funny.
— Overall, not a bad parody of generic stand-up comedy, but the initial set-up had me expecting this to be a lot funnier.
STARS: ***

NOT FOR LADIES ONLY
Baba Wawa (GIR) & Marlene Deutschland (host) talk

— The return of Baba Wawa!
— Madeline is a natural at doing the ‘w’ talk that Gilda’s Baba does.
— Loved the confusion over what Madeline meant when saying “weaw”.
— Great Elmer Fudd reference with the “siwwy wabbit” line.
— A lot of fun watching Gilda and Madeline play off of each other so well.
STARS: ****

SLUMBER PARTY
(host) tells fellow slumber partygoers (GIR), (JAC), (LAN) all about sex
 
— I’ve heard lots of good things about this sketch.
— Interesting how Madeline and the female cast are using their own first names, even though it seems kinda out of place in this scenario.
— Very enjoyable so far, with it’s cuteness and realism.
— Jane’s “child voice” in this sounds so drastically different from her normal voice.
— Gilda’s comment about adopted children was hilarious.
— This is getting funnier and funnier as it’s going along.
STARS: ****

FONDUE SETS FOR NAMIBIA
Namibian (GAM) solicits donations of fondue sets for his country

— For some reason, it always cracks me up whenever Garrett does African or Jamaican accents.
— The initial reveal of “We need your fondue sets” after the serious set-up is pretty funny.
— The humor didn’t really escalate after the reveal, but the overall sketch was okay.
STARS: ***

MUPPETS BEATLE OFFER
Mighty Favog says he can deliver the Beatles if the Muppets return to SNL

— Ah, I see they’re still keeping the Muppets in the storage room. I had been wondering how they continued doing these sketches after they seemingly “retired” the Muppets into the trunk in the preceding episode.
— Overall, nothing too special, but I’ve been finding these last few Muppets appearances more tolerable than their sketches from around the middle of the season.
STARS: **½

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Bride Of Frankenstein (host) & SNL Band perform “I Feel Pretty”
   
— I had always been curious what this whole sketch was like, after SNL showed a clip from it at the end of a December 1999 episode in tribute to Madeline after her passing.
— I like the different fun gimmicks they’ve been doing throughout this season with Howard Shore and his band. First they were an all-nurse band, then they were a band of angels, now they’re an all-monster band.
— Madeline is absolutely fantastic in this.
— I love how the cast is now getting involved.
— Wow. Overall, this was perfect.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s report on an Italian earthquake consists of an amiable phone chat
CHC solicits samples for a study of marijuana’s effects on memory

— Tonight’s Update has been doing okay so far, though no particular jokes have stood out yet.
— The “still to come” bit about Jimmy Carter secretly touching negroes was hilarious.

SUPER ABSORBENT DRY HOSE
Rosie (JAC) recommends Super-Absorbent Dry Hose as leg moisture remedy
 
— Madeline seemed a bit thrown off when Jane unintentionally splashed some coffee onto her.
— Very funny visual of Madeline sitting on the table to absorb the spilled coffee with the pantyhose she’s wearing.
— I’m assuming this was a parody of a specific series of commercials from that time. I think I also remember a similarly-set parody SNL would do years later in 1983 with Teri Garr and Robin Duke.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella sees nothing wrong with there being “violins” on television
for viewers that are cows, CHC repeats the top news story via moos
   
— For some reason, Chevy started cracking up in the middle of the Generalissimo Francisco Franco story.
— Emily Litella – no comment. Though I just want to say, this “violins/violence” commentary she’s doing is the one I had remembered the most from her before doing reviews of these 70s episodes.
— After a long hiatus, they bring back the running “News for (insert group here)” gag, with cows being the subject this time.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
 
— Ha, what’s Chevy randomly doing there playing a cowbell?

FINAL DAYS
the final days of Richard Nixon’s (DAA) administration were stormy
   
— Dan’s Nixon is truly hilarious.
— Madeline is excellent in her scenes too.
— Loved the part with Dan’s Nixon telling the JFK painting that sex with women “never happened when Dick Nixon was in the White House”.
— Another very funny part is Nixon’s chink/gook differentiation.
— I really like the format of the sketch, showing multiple scenes by going back-and-forth between Nixon’s wife writing in the diary to Nixon in the Oval Office.
— Oh my god at Garrett’s Sammy Davis Jr. His impression is so bad, it’s hilarious.
— The Lincoln painting calling Nixon a “dip” is a famous part that I had always heard about.
— All-in-all, an excellent sketch and among some of the best political satire the show has ever done.
STARS: *****

NO REASON TO LEAVE NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- sports fan footage with Ray Charles’ “New York’s My Home”
 
— Ha, one of the stock footage New York shots was the same pizza chef footage used in the “Angola/Angelo’s Pizza” running gag on Weekend Update from earlier this season.
— The constant cutaways to a rowdy sports crowd are getting redundant, especially since we’re just seeing the same two or three people.
— I am enjoying all the scenic shots, though.
STARS: **½

I WILL FOLLOW HIM
(JOB) promises Ms. Mulwray (host)- “I Will Follow Him” through Chinatown

— I’ve kinda had my fill of all the singing in tonight’s episode, but the performances are making this one enjoyable.
— I liked the way they segued into “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” at the end.
STARS: ***

GILDA AND MADELINE
host & GIR imitate ice cream-eating baby & parakeet, respectively
 
— Oh, I know I’m gonna like this.
— A very charming and fun bit with Gilda and Madeline each showcasing a unique impression.
STARS: ***½

MADELINE KAHN: “LOST IN THE STARS”
host performs “Lost In The Stars”

— So far, this appears to be a serious, non-joke performance, much like Raquel Welch’s musical performance towards the end of the last episode.

GOODNIGHTS
 
— A strange moment just now where a camera angle of Madeline and the cast had some kind of disclaimer on the bottom of the screen, but the camera immediately cut to another shot before the disclaimer could be read.
— Rewinding that shot and pausing it, (it’s the second screencap above) I see that the disclaimer says “We thought this might happen so we made this slide”. Huh???

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Best episode in a while. Just about everything in the show worked tonight, and there was a good number of very strong sketches.
— Tonight felt a little heavy on the singing, but much like the Lily Tomlin episode earlier this season, I can excuse all the singing because most of it had such a fun vibe.
— Madeline Kahn was an excellent host; she was funny in every sketch, and fit in on the show perfectly. I also like how the writers seemed to cater to her comedic style, as it’s hard for me to picture a number of these sketches being done with any host except her.
— I thought I heard this episode had a Don Pardo-read apology for the Claudine Longet Invitational sketch. I didn’t see the apology. Was it removed from the DVD version of this episode I’m reviewing?

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Dyan Cannon

Posted on

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

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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

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

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

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

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

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

POLAROID
(no synopsis available)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RAQUEL
by Gary Weis- scantily clad host dances seductively

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

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

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

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

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

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

_______________________________

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

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn

Posted on

April 17, 1976 – Ron Nessen / Patti Smith Group (S1 E17)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford-on-tape [real] starts show after Dead String Quartet lead-in
   
— I didn’t know they did this sketch multiple times in this era.
— Wasn’t Dan in the first one? John’s in his place this time.
— What’s with the audience’s weird delayed applause?
— Garrett’s dead-eyed stare at the camera the whole time is a little detail that’s cracking me up.
— A rare non-Chevy LFNY this season, as a pre-taped President Ford says it this time. His appearance must’ve been a huge deal at the time, and unless I’m mistaken, to this day, it remains the only time a sitting president ever appeared on SNL.
— Overall, this dead quartet gag still made me laugh and everything, but was it really necessary to re-do?
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— A lot of differences in the theme music tonight.
— Pardo announces the show as “Saturday Night” this time, which makes me wonder if it was a mistake in the preceding episode when he announced it as “NBC’s Saturday Night” despite the fact that it was the first episode where the “NBC’s” was taken out of the show’s title.
— “Comedian Bill Crystal”.
— Pre-taped Ford returns at the end of this to announce “the press secretary of the president of the United States”. Something about the stiffness of Ford’s scenes is giving me an unintended chuckle.

MONOLOGUE
from Washington D.C., Gerald Ford calls host to tell him he’s fired

— What’s with the camera angle on Nessen?
— So far, a lot of typical but pretty funny jokes about Ford’s clumsiness.
— Nessen is surprisingly coming off not too stiff here.
STARS: ***

SUPER BASS-O-MATIC ’76
(DAA) pitches a device that creates liquid fish
   
— Ah, yes, this well-remembered classic.
— For some reason, I thought they did this sketch in season 2, but maybe I’m thinking of a sequel I remember them doing where it was “bats” instead of “bass”.
— I’m happy to see that all of this is still holding up well. The insane premise, Dan’s fantastic manic rapid-fire pitchman delivery, the disgusting visual of the fish liquefying in the blender, Laraine’s brief testimonial… every detail of this sketch is perfect.
— An aged Dan and Laraine famously re-did this sketch in SNL’s 40th anniversary special, and I’m sure SNL meant well, but it was a bit depressing seeing that Dan could no longer come anywhere close to pulling off the rapid-fire delivery.
STARS: *****

AN OVAL OFFICE
host briefs Gerald Ford (CHC) & asks for permission to be on SNL
 
— The Nixon comment was really funny.
— A funny little touch with Chevy briefly saluting the flag after getting tangled in it.
— Overall, this was good, but a step down from the last “An Oval Office” sketch, where Buck Henry played Nessen.
STARS: ***½

FLUCKERS
jam hawkers one-up each other with progressively disgusting brand names
 
— Is that the Bass-O-Matic set again?
— Fun premise with different cast members coming on one-by-one with their own jam brand name.
— Ha, Dan playing a pitchman once again tonight.
— I’m loving the increasingly-repulsive brand names.
— Funny ending.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 1
Catherine the Great’s press secretary (host) relays news of her death

— This seems like this could be fun, assuming this will be Nessen doing quick back-to-back costume changes and playing different press secretaries throughout history.
— Oh, that’s it? We only get one scene? Maybe this will be a recurring piece scattered throughout the night.
STARS: ***½

LIE DETECTOR
David Eisenhower’s (DAA) lie detector test reveals his anti-Nixon actions

— Unique format, only showing a lie detector while the performers in the sketch are speaking off-camera.
— The paper got jammed and torn by the lie detector pen at the end, which didn’t seem intentional.
STARS: ***

THE NEW ARMY
stoner (JOB) is an example of the hip new image of the Volunteer Army
 
— Eh, this wasn’t anything special. Not even John’s fall out of his chair at the end could do much for me.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Gerald Ford’s [real] identity crisis therapy is a variant of CHC’s line
(host) spins Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s death during LAN interview
   
— Another appearance from Pre-taped Ford, this time doing his own version of the “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” line. His delivery of it was SO stiff, that it actually made me laugh.
— And funny how that segued into a joke about Ford recovering from an identity crisis.

THE BERKELEY COLLECTION
— Rerun.
— Just now, in the middle of this, I could hear what sounded like Chevy speaking off-camera to someone. I guess they forgot to turn off his mic while this fake ad was running.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is puzzled about the 1976 presidential “erection”

— Emily Litella – (sigh) no comment. I complained enough in the past about SNL’s non-stop usage of her this season.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½

GARBAGE
by Gary Weis- interviews with NYC sanitation workers
 
— Man, I swear, Gary Weis picks the most boring topics to do films on. I think I just don’t “get” him as a filmmaker.
— At least this isn’t yet another Weis film about pets.
— An unexpected turn with that one garbageman talking about finding dead bodies, which is pretty funny in a dark way.
STARS: **

AUTUMN FIZZ
for that fresh & clean feeling, (GIR) uses Autumn Fizz carbonated douche

— A pretty funny feminine hygiene commercial.
— The “Don’t leave him holding the bag” line at the end was hilarious and really made this.
STARS: ***½

TOMORROW
Tom Snyder (DAA) asks host for the scoop on Washington D.C.

— The debut of Dan’s famous Tom Snyder impression.
— The audience is already loving this impression, mere moments into the sketch.
— Dan is absolutely great here. He’s cracking me up all throughout this.
— I don’t get the ending with a giant peanut coming onstage as Jimmy Carter’ s campaign manager (which got a huge reaction from the audience).
— Interesting segue to the next short film.
STARS: ****

MEN’S ROOM URINAL
by David Massar- bathroom goers perform a round from their urinals
 
— The operatic harmonizing from the increasing number of urinal users is pretty funny.
— Good quick laugh from the janitor walking back out as soon as he walked in and saw what was going on.
STARS: ***

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 2
Oedipus’ press secretary (host) announces king’s new living arrangements

— I was right, this IS going to be a recurring piece throughout the night.
— Not as funny as the first, and I still think it would’ve been more fun to do these as one single sketch, with Nessen doing fast costume changes in between each scene.
STARS: **½

SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court “inspects” sex of (JAC) & (CHC) for “unlawful practices”
 
— A creative premise that I really like.
— Nice way for a lot of the male writers to get airtime.
— Can’t find anything else to say about this, other than it was an overall solid and enjoyable sketch.
STARS: ***½

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 3
Thomas Jefferson’s press secretary (host) denies slavery accusations

— The comments about the slaves are funny.
— The humor of this died down afterwards and ended on a weak note.
STARS: **½

BILL CRYSTAL
BIC does monologue about reunion with his father’s jazz musician friend

— Feels strange hearing him being announced as “Bill” instead of “Billy”.
— Oh, is this going to be like those one-man character monologue sketches he often did in season 10? I never was crazy about those.
— Ohh, boy… this is the dreaded “Jazzman” routine I often hear about.
— The studio audience isn’t laughing at all so far, and neither am I.
— “Can you dig it? I knew dat you could!” (groan)
— Overall: man, was this a chore to sit through. The non-responsive audience didn’t help, either. I don’t mind a lot of stuff Crystal would later do on SNL as a host and as a cast member, but THIS stand-up set felt more like the type of hacky comedy routine I would expect to see from him in modern times.
STARS: *

MISCONCEPTIONS
the cliche “too many cooks spoil the broth” refuted

— It’s like we’re seeing tonight’s earlier supreme court judges as chefs now. They’re played by the same writers.
— Uh, okay. This was kinda cute, I guess, but not exactly funny.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Nessen says that Toni Basil and the Muppets both got bumped from the show tonight. No big loss regarding the latter.
— Some funny time-killing antics here.
— For some reason, Pardo still announces the names of the actors who played the Muppets, despite the fact that they got cut tonight. One of the names Pardo mentioned was Richard Hunt, so I guess that means Wisss (Ploobis’ hippie stoner son) was going to appear in tonight’s Muppets sketch.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall average, decent episode. Some strong material, a few rough spots after Update, and mostly just pretty good sketches.
— Ron Nessen did better than I was expecting. He wasn’t anything TOO great, but he handled himself well for a non-actor and came off as a good sport.
— A strong night for Dan Aykroyd, as two of his best performances of the whole season was in this episode (Bass-O-Matic and Tomorrow). This is a very welcome sight after the preceding episode, where Dan only appeared in that baffling Dance Party sketch at the end of the show. As I said sometime before, watching these 70s SNLs in chronological order day-after-day is giving me an even greater appreciation for Dan than I’ve ever had before.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Raquel Welch

Posted on

March 13, 1976 – Anthony Perkins / Betty Carter (S1 E16)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC unconvincingly denies a charge that there’s too much filler in SNL

— Interesting hearing him mention the names of all the writers.
— His fall at the end was even funnier than usual. This one had me howling.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— The show’s title has changed from “NBC’s Saturday Night” to just “Saturday Night”, though Pardo still announced it as the former.
— Ah, and now finally, after spending this season being credited collectively in just a list, each cast member is now credited individually with their own respective picture.

MONOLOGUE
in his first chance to show his true self, host comes off as creepy

— Is that buzzing sound going to turn out to be the Bees?
— Oh, never mind, it’s just supposed to be a fly.
— LOL at Anthony eating the fly.
— I’m loving how creepy Anthony’s intentionally coming off. This is all very funny.
STARS: ****

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 1
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries to roll a joint

— I’ve always found this bit funny, though for some reason, I thought I remembered this being done after Chevy left the show. I also had remembered this being pre-taped, but this actually appears to be live.
— The format of this sketch is interesting, and the gradual confusion/frustration of the hands is funny to watch.
— If the Triopenin commercial and the “Why Do You Think They Call It ‘Dope’?” PSA sketch had a lovechild together, the result would be this sketch.
STARS: ***½

HELLO DOLLY THERAPY
patient (JAC) sings “Hello, Dolly” as part of (host)’s therapy technique
 
— I’m usually not a fan of watching straight singing in sketches (where there’s no jokes in the lyrics), but this is a charming little piece.
— I can already tell Anthony is going to work very well in tonight’s sketches.
STARS: ***

HOUSEHOLD HINTS
dominatrix (JAC) tries to whip (GIR) into becoming a better housewife
 
— I like the reveal of the new “housekeeper” being a dominatrix, though I saw it coming since I recently read a write-up about this sketch.
— Two back-to-back Jane Curtin-led sketches tonight, in the cushy post-monologue spot. They seem to be trying to make up for her having practically nothing to do in the last episode.
— Great line with Gilda innocently assuming S&M stands for “scrubbing & mopping”.
— Funny ending with the “I don’t do windows” part.
STARS: ***½

THE NORMAN BATES SCHOOL OF MOTEL MANAGEMENT
learn proper knife use
 
— Love the random scary close-ups of mounted animals.
— A fun Psycho parody, featuring another delightfully creepy performance from Anthony.
STARS: ****

MUPPETS SPOT
their set destroyed, Ploobis & Scred ask host’s help in returning to SNL

— Well, they had to come back sooner or later…
— I think this is the first time they’ve ever appeared in the first half of the show.
— Very funny line from Anthony about how far his career has fallen in just the last four weeks.
— Overall, not too bad, surprisingly. The Muppets seem more tolerable when they’re taken out of the “Land of Gorch” setting and interact with people at SNL.
— I get the bad feeling we’re going to be seeing them again later in the night, however.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 2
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries another joint

— Oh, this is a running piece tonight?
— I’m cracking up watching the hands struggle to figure out how to use whatever that red thing is.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Patty Hearst trial report is stop motion animation of dolls & shoes
 
— The Patty Hearst trial “artist’s rendering” weekly running gag continues. Tonight’s is particularly strange but funny, with clips from some bizarre stop-motion baby doll movie.
— Also, the reporter voice Chevy’s using during this Patty Hearst bit is different from the usual “plugged nose” voice he’s been doing.

LAND IS SCARCE, USE YOUR HEAD
(ALZ) demonstrates solution to land scarcity- use your head

— Kinda weird, but interesting. I get the feeling this is making fun of a real commercial from that time.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
prominent photo of Jerry Brown makes CHC’s impartiality claim suspect
March isn’t lion-lamb in other countries- JOB delineates the combinations
Emily Litella phones CHC, sees no need to preserve natural “race horses”
   
— Chevy’s fair-and-balanced commentary about the presidential candidates got absolutely no reaction from the audience. It took me a while myself to get the joke (that a picture of just one of the candidates was up on the news screen during the entire commentary).
— Hey, we have an Update desk piece that’s NOT Emily Litella for a change!
— I love how John’s gradually getting more and more worked up during his commentary. This is like an early prototype of his later “Luck of the Irish” Update rants.
— The ending with John suddenly wildly flailing himself out of his chair has me DYING right now.
— After watching John’s commentary, I can definitely see the strong influence John had in future cast member Chris Farley’s performances. Much like this commentary, Farley was also very good at doing bits where he starts out calm and then slowly gets more and more intense (e.g. the Herlihy Boy sketches).
— Oh, no. I guess I spoke too soon about Emily Litella not appearing, because here she is now, in the form of a phone call. (groan) Give me a break, SNL!
— Well, at least they tried something slightly different with Litella here, and I did like her thinking Chevy’s name was “Cheddar Cheese”. But, MAN, am I sick of even just the sight of this character after seeing her in so many consecutive episodes day-after-day.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

HAPPY HOUR
(host) wants to go beyond saying “Hi” & have affair with co-worker (GIR)
Scred’s willing to leave Muppets & stretch comedically to get back on SNL
 
— Wait, Scred? WTF? The Muppets hijacking a sketch? I was right when I said earlier that I have a bad feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Muppets tonight.
— Scred doing Emily Litella’s routine – ugh! I’m sorry, folks, but I’ve now gotten to the point where even seeing Litella imitations has me groaning.
— I’m not really liking where this whole thing is going.
STARS: *½

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 3
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives up joint-rolling

— Eh, the joke has started to wear thin. Should’ve just left these at two.
STARS: **

CATS & DOGS
by Gary Weis- five New Yorkers discuss how they relate to their pets
 
— (sigh) So is Weis just flat-out admitting that he’s now only doing films involving pets?
— That one guy’s attempt to feed the ceramic cat was pretty funny, at least.
— WTF? That weird Taylor Mead guy again? Please, no.
STARS: *½

YOU GOT A BEE
Sherry complains to professor (host)- “I don’t deserve this Bee (JOB)”

— Funny how we now get the Bees when I had thought we were getting them in the monologue earlier tonight.
— This is boring me so far.
— The “B+” ending with the baby – whaaat???
— Overall, this sketch did absolutely nothing for me, and was a waste of Laraine’s Sherry character.
— Man, the quality of tonight’s episode has fallen off a CLIFF after Update.
STARS: *½

COMING ATTRACTIONS
host screens trailers for his post-Psycho low-budget horror movies
   
— Okay, well at least THIS seems to have promise.
— Oh, this is going to be performed live? The set-up from Anthony had me thinking the trailers were going to be pre-taped.
— I’m really liking this so far, and the hilarious over-the-top narrator (is that Aykroyd’s voice?) is especially cracking me up.
— Lots of fast costume changes for Anthony in this.
— This was the kind of fun silly sketch the show desperately needed at this point, considering what a dud the post-Update half of tonight’s episode had been until now.
STARS: ****

P-NUT FEVER
by Phil Van De Carr- animated nuts avenge eaten comrades
   
— This is interesting and fun to watch progress. It’s kinda reminding me of the style of that stop-motion apples film from a few episodes ago.
— Haha, the “eat fruit” ending was excellent.
— SNL has been on a roll lately with these fan-made home movies they’ve been airing the last few episodes. They’ve all been solid so far.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

BUTT COUNTY DANCE PARTY
small town policemen (host) & (DAA) host televised dance party
 
— Wait, is this the first time we’re seeing Dan Aykroyd all night? Are you kidding me, SNL?!?? How is a cast member as talented and versatile as him relegated to only appearing in the final sketch of the night?
— What the heck is that superimposed typewriter thing that randomly showed up on the bottom of the screen just now?
— Wait, did they screw up and show the typewriter thing way too early? The performers now seem to be waiting for something to appear on the screen, but there’s just awkward dead air as nothing shows up.
— That weird stock footage car crash ending was really random, but made me kinda laugh.
— I usually love weird Dan Aykroyd sketches, but I found this to be a misfire. I didn’t get what this was going for.
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, Ploobis & Scred run out of time before getting to perform
   
— A decent way to end tonight’s running bit with the Muppets.
— It feels kinda funny seeing the Muppets interacting with Belushi, considering how much he was known to hate them.
— It looked like Belushi actually pulled out a pocket knife and jokingly(?) acted like he was going to stab the Muppets before playfully being held back by some of the other cast members.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This episode was a tale of two halves: the first half was consistently solid with a long string of good sketches, but there were so many things in the second half that left me cold.
— Anthony Perkins was a surprisingly fun host; one of my favorite hosts of the season so far. He also seemed to be more prominent in the show than most hosts this season, as he appeared in almost every sketch.
— The cast’s airtime has been strange lately, what with Jane being almost completely absent in the last episode, and now Dan only appearing in the 10-to-1 sketch tonight. And hey, was Garrett even IN tonight’s episode? I don’t remember seeing him at all. He might’ve been the black sheriff in the background of the Dance Party sketch, but I’m not even sure if that was him. I guess I just find all this scarce airtime for some of the cast to be weird, considering 1) how small this particular cast is (only 7 people!), and 2) the insanely large amount of sketches packed into each episode this season. The combination of those two facts would have you expecting there to be plenty of airtime for everyone each week. Instead, it’s starting to feel lately like Chevy’s the only cast member guaranteed to appear a lot every week.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Ron Nessen

Posted on

February 28, 1976 – Jill Clayburgh / Leon Redbone (S1 E15)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
tired of being a clown, CHC holds up the show & tells LOM “no more falls”
   
— I’m really liking this. This is also reminding me of a sketch from Chevy’s 1995 hosting stint where he was reluctant to do a fall for a Bravehart parody.
— A good laugh from the “fan mail”.
— Love the part with Chevy going through the audience. Again, it reminds me of something Chevy would do later, in the cold opening of the 15th anniversary special.
— I’m enjoying how extensive the staging of this whole thing is, showing Chevy going back-and-forth all the way from Lorne’s office to the sketch set.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
DOP’s game show-style cut-ins punctuate host’s description of their date
 
— Pretty funny, although it’s pretty much just the same joke over and over.
STARS: ***

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 1
Anna (LAN) & Sigmund (DAA) Freud analyze dream

— Dan’s having some great reactions to Laraine’s increasingly-suggestive dream descriptions.
— Overall, this was very funny.
STARS: ****

JILL CARSON, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR!
delinquent (JOB) receives advice
   
— Interesting intro to this. Kinda feels ahead of its time, as something about the sketch title’s crudely-written font (first screencap above) looks more like something from the mid-90s.
— Once again, John Belushi has the ability to get a big laugh from the audience merely from the way he walks into a scene.
— Gilda’s pretty funny as the mom.
— Jill is giving a very good performance as the counselor.
— Similar to a comment I made about the cold opening, I’m really liking how extensive this sketch is; it feels like an actual episode of a TV show, with all the scenery changes, the characterizations, etc.
— Dan’s cracking me up with his preppy demeanor when threatening John.
— Overall, a well-done sketch.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WHITE GUILT RELIEF FUND
GAM offers to accept Caucasians’ penance via the White Guilt Relief Fund

— The reveal of the main joke was really funny, after such a dead-serious set-up.
— The ‘honorary negro’ certification & I.D. is a great capper.
STARS: ****

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 2
Isadora Duncan (host) chooses the long scarf
 
— A hilarious ending that made this whole sketch. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that the studio audience seemed to know where this was going long before I did, but then again, I’m not familiar with Isadora Duncan.
— I’m very impressed by how consistently strong tonight’s episode has been so far.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
a week after the primary, LAN reports from a vacant New Hampshire
amateurish artist’s renderings accompany Patty Hearst trial report
   
— Right at the start of Update, Chevy already throws to a remote segment with Laraine.
— It seems to have become a crutch lately to have an Update correspondent report from an event long before or after the event has taken place. I’m not really finding it funny anymore.
— A good unintended laugh from Chevy getting very tongue-tied when trying to say “former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter”.
— Wow, Update is on fire so far tonight, with lots of very funny jokes that are getting great reactions from the audience.

H&L BROCK
another reason to use H&L Brock- their fake church or synagogue tax dodge

— Hey, our mid-WU commercial is an actual new, live one this time!
— Eh, this was a little too dry for my likes, and as I said before, I’m usually not a fan of sketches where it’s one person delivering a speech to the camera.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is aghast at the notion of a “deaf” penalty

— Ohhhhh, geez. After taking last week off after appearing in 3-4 consecutive episodes, Emily Litella is unfortunately back, continuing to run her predictable shtick into the ground. Watching these SNL episodes chronologically on a day-to-day basis, I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even laugh at this character anymore. Like I said a few reviews ago, she’s too one-note to be used on a weekly basis; she’s appeared in almost EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND UPDATE since way back in the Richard Pryor episode!
— Chevy’s annoyed facial expression when Litella started her commentary mirrored my look exactly.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): *** (Would’ve been higher if not for the two correspondents. Chevy’s jokes were red-hot tonight.)

THE SINGING IDLERS
The Singing Idlers perform “Semper Paratus” to dumber-than-dolphin scroll
host, SNL Band, The Singing Idlers perform “Sea Cruise”
   
— Wait, what’s this “people who dolphins are more intelligent than” disclaimer that suddenly showed up just now during the performance?
— Ha, the list of celebrities who are dumber than dolphins is pretty funny. Some of these same names were used in the screen crawl in Buck Henry’s monologue earlier this season. And like in that monologue, I’m not familiar with 70% of the names on this list, though I’m still laughing. If SNL did something like this nowadays, the celebrities on that dumber-than-dolphins list would probably be people like the Kardashians and Trump.
— Okay, now that that the list is done, the rest of this seems to be a non-joke legit musical performance.

CAR YUMMIES
Car Yummies cheese snacks are the fuel supplements your auto will love

— Okaaaay… well, THAT kinda just came and went without anything worth noting.
— I guess the idea of this ad was cute, though.
STARS: **

MUPPETS SUBSTITUTE
CHC’s hand puppets perform “Paying The Milkman” to fill in for Muppets
 
— Why did they feel the need to announce the Muppets won’t be appearing tonight, when we’ve already gone through the last few episodes without them?
— Why would the SNL Muppets be at that year’s Grammys? I thought people hated those characters.
— Is that Chevy doing these hand puppets?
— This has some pretty funny little gags like the milkman hand puppet holding an actual glass of milk, and him checking the time on the watch around his “neck”.
— Ah, that IS Chevy, I see.
— Overall, pretty funny, and amused me more than the actual Muppets have.
STARS: ***

WEGMAN
by Gary Weis- William Wegman [real] shows his weimaraner Man Ray’s skills
 
— Oh, so is Gary Weis now only doing shorts involving someone talking about their pet? This is the second episode in a row.
— Wow, what a frisky dog.
— The staring contest part was pretty funny, I admit.
— The World Trade Center ending made no sense.
STARS: **½

ANDY KAUFMAN
Andy Kaufman [real] & audience members lip-sync “Old MacDonald”

— We haven’t seen Andy in a while.
— This isn’t exactly funny so far, but is pretty charming & fun with the reactions of the participants.
— Overall, that was pretty cool. However, I definitely prefer Andy’s weirder pieces from other episodes. He surprisingly came off a lot more “normal” in this one than he usually does on SNL.
STARS: ***

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT?
persistent (host) wants to know what boyfriend (CHC) is thinking about
 
— Haha, after such a long set-up, the warthog ending was a very funny unexpected punchline.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 3
Indira Gandhi (LAN) prefers gun to nonviolence

— John is pretty funny as the father.
— Uh, I think I missed whatever the joke of this was supposed to be.
STARS: ???

THE MR. BILL SHOW
by Walter Williams- malice disintegrates a clay man
  
— Dan’s intro in the stiff suit was pretty random.
— “A home movie sent in by Walter Williams”? Oh, is this gonna be the debut of Mr. Bill?
— Ah, it is!
— Mr. Bill’s voice sounds a bit different from how it would soon go on to usually sound.
— This is getting funnier and funnier as it goes along.
— Overall, this was great. I didn’t know until now that these Mr. Bill shorts started out as just a fan-made home movie.
STARS: ****

AUDIENCE CAPTION

— I don’t usually acknowledge these in my reviews, but I just wanted to point out that this particular one had the same “Adjust your set if it will make you happy” caption that randomly showed up during the festive goodnights of the preceding Desi Arnaz episode. I have to wonder now if that caption showing up in those goodnights was a technical error, and maybe they meant to use it earlier that night for an audience caption before the show ran out of time.

GOODNIGHTS
Grable (JAC) & Lombard (host)- movie features their marriage to one other
   
— Wait, is this even the goodnights? Is this a skit? Is this another ‘goodnights wedding’, ala Elliott Gould and Gilda Radner? What am I watching???
— “Grable and Lombard”. Okay, I know who those two actresses are, but I didn’t get the point of this. If the sole joke was simply how “hilarious” the idea of two women getting married to each other is – ohhh, boy. I don’t need to explain why the humor in that has not aged well at all.
— Now the regular goodnights credits scroll and music has begun playing, though there’s nobody on stage besides the three performers from the “Grable and Lombard” sketch.
— Just now, the scrolling credits got blocked by something for a few seconds. (third and fourth screencaps above) Did someone walk in front of the projector or something?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very strong first half, but the quality dropped off in the second half, and the weird “Grable and Lombard” goodnights left me a bit cold for various reasons. This was still an overall good episode, though.
— Jill Clayburgh fit in well on the show and came off very natural as a host.
— Whoa, I just realized: did Jane Curtin appear in ANYTHING besides the goodnights sketch? I can’t recall seeing her in anything earlier than that. Wow. Just when it seemed like she was recently starting to branch out and get better roles, she’s been really invisible these last two episodes.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Anthony Perkins

Posted on

February 21, 1976 – Desi Arnaz (S1 E14)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) undergoes a free association test with analyst (DAA)
 
— Dan’s hair color looks lighter than usual.
— The “primary/lose” part was very funny.
— Overall, a decent Ford opening, but there have been better ones.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
 
— “Acapulco Gold”?
— Okay, it’s now obvious from the things Desi’s saying about it that it’s marijuana, which makes this yet another example of drug humor in 70s SNL. Still funny.
— Wow, that’s it? Very short monologue.
STARS: ***

NATIONAL EXPRESS
Rubin Carter (GAM) carries National Express Card to get recognized

— Hey, it’s the same guy Garrett played in the preceding episode’s Pledge Allegiance film that went right over my head.
— Wow, the audience is loving this. But I’m afraid the humor is lost on me. While I have read up on this Rubin Carter guy over the last day (thanks, Jurb) and now understand why Garrett appeared as him in the Pledge Allegiance film, I don’t understand this National Express sketch’s premise of people not recognizing him.
STARS: ???

IMPOTENCE
(JAC) consoles husband (CHC) after unsuccessful sex on his 40th birthday
 
— Funny twist at the end, and Chevy’s facial reaction was very good.
STARS: ***

LUCIANA VERMICELLI’S BEAUTY REGIMEN
Luciana Vermicelli’s (LAN) book details her ghoulish beauty regimen

— Is this another celebrity who I have no context for, or is this a fictional character?
— LOL at her hideous childhood pictures at the beginning.
— Regardless of who Laraine’s playing, this is actually pretty funny so far and she’s a perfect performer for a sketch like this. Considering the disturbing dialogue and Michael O’Donoghue’s penchant for casting Laraine as the lead in his weird sketches, I can’t help but wonder if he wrote this one.
— I didn’t get what Laraine was nervously reciting/singing before laying back down in the coffin.
— Lots of short sketches tonight so far.
STARS: ***½

LITERARY RECITAL
host’s Cuban accent mangles Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky
 
— I got a big laugh from Desi stopping mid-recital and asking “Who the hell talks like this???”
— The premise is a little too thin for my likes, though Desi’s reactions are keeping this fairly funny.
STARS: **½

VERY WHITE
Caucasian guy Very White’s (CHC) sexy singing attempt isn’t very soulful

— Ha, I’m already laughing at just the idea of Chevy Chase playing a Barry White-type character.
— Him acting like he was finally about to sing, only to end up just sneezing was pretty funny.
— Okay, this is starting to run out of steam. They should’ve ended this while the joke was still hot.
STARS: ***

I LOVE LUCY PILOTS
failed I Love Lucy pilots have other Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz Jr.) mates
host welcomes a surprise guest- SNL prop man Willie Day [real]
   
— I really like the idea of this.
— Weird hearing “Ricky Ricardo” sound like a white guy. Why isn’t Desi Arnaz Jr. attempting to imitate his dad’s voice/accent?
— Speaking of non-impressions, Garrett didn’t even TRY doing Louie Armstrong’s trademark raspy voice. Was Garrett always this bad at doing impressions?
— The “I Loathe Lucy” scene is my favorite so far.
— Good to see Tom Schiller’s Ricky Ricardo impression again.
— Very random ending, with Desi Arnaz acting like he was going to introduce an I Love Lucy-related special guest, only to bring out SNL’s prop man.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1

— Random gag at the beginning, with Don Pardo announcing that Chevy’s assistant will be filling in for him, only for Chevy to correct Don.
— Wow, that Edward Kennedy joke got absolutely no reaction.

SPEED
— Yet another mid-WU repeated commercial

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Betty Boop cartoon serves as artist’s rendering of Patty Hearst trial
 
— Foolishly, it took me a while to get the Nixon/China “I am not a clook” joke.
— As a lover of classical cartoons, I really like how tonight’s variation of the “Patricia Hearst trial artist’s rendering” gag is showing clips from a random Betty Boop cartoon. I always get a kick out of whenever SNL does that type of thing, like in an episode from 1984 when Rich Hall did an election report that treated clips from an old Heckle & Jeckle cartoon as if it was election footage.
— Wow, that’s it? Update’s over already? No guests? Probably for the better, considering how weak a lot of the side bits in the preceding episode’s Update were. And at least I didn’t have to see Emily Litella appearing for the 27th consecutive episode.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

THE UNTOUCHABLES
Eliot Ness (DAA) tracks Lucy (GIR) & Frank Nitti (host)
   
— I’ve actually started getting into old reruns of “The Untouchables” fairly recently. I can already tell I’m going to like this parody.
— The announcer of this sketch is doing an absolutely dead-on imitation of Walter Winchell’s announcing from the real show.
— And speaking of dead-on, Dan’s Robert Stack/Eliot Ness vocal impression is both uncanny and funny.
— Hey, it’s the Prisoners Audition set from the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore episode.
— What was with Michael O’Donoghue staring towards the camera with a frozen blank look on his face during his entire appearance? (you can see it in the background of the second screencap above) That did make me laugh, though.
— Interesting how this has turned into an “I Love Lucy” crossover.
— George Coe sighting!
— Very good ending.
— Overall, as an Untouchables fan, this sketch entertained me.
STARS: ***½

LUCY & ETHEL INTRO
Lucy (GIR) shows Ethel (JAC) costume ideas for sneaking into Ricky’s club

— I like how they’re keeping Gilda playing Lucy as a running theme tonight.
— Gilda’s Lucy performance continues to be fun, but I’m not sure where this sketch is going.
— Oh, looks like this was just an extended intro to Desi’s musical performance.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

PET TALK WITH TAYLOR MEAD
by Gary Weis- Taylor Mead [real] lauds his cat as it gets high on catnip

— Oddly enough, I had just read some stuff about this Taylor Mead guy when reading about Andy Warhol a few days ago.
— Uhhhhhh, I have absolutely no idea what to make of what the heck I’m watching right now.
STARS: Uhhhhhh…

CUBAN ACUPUNCTURE
practitioner of Cuban acupuncture (host) uses cigars on (JOB)’s migraines

— Hey, it’s the Untouchables set.
— I could already see the ‘Cuban cigar acupuncture’ reveal coming.
— I got a good laugh from John’s “I haven’t got many opens left” line.
— Haha, and now Desi one-upped that line with an even-funnier reply: “That’s what you think”.
— An interesting sketch to watch progress, even if some of it’s not all that funny to me.
— The vasectomy line at the end was worth a laugh, though.
STARS: ***

DOUBLE TALK
(CHC)’s nonsense words make communication with girlfriend (LAN) difficult

— SNL sure seems to like using their homebase stage as a restaurant set lately.
— Are they just re-using the same background extras from the Untouchables sketch?  I’m seeing O’Donoghue again and some others.
— Not too crazy about the premise of this sketch. I feel like I’ve seen this idea done funnier elsewhere, maybe even on this same show in a later era.
— I did like Chevy’s last line before he exited.
— The ending with John was predictable as hell.
STARS: **

BISEXUAL MINUTE
(JAC) recounts an early American’s lesbian affair

— Why does Jane keep glancing to the side?
— Hmm. Well, this sketch didn’t make me laugh (though I’m not sure if it was supposed to), but I guess Jane’s story was kinda interesting, at least.
STARS: **

DESI BOOK
Lucille Ball (GIR) comments on her inclusion in host’s new book

— Well, THAT ended almost as soon as it began, but I supposed it was just intended as a segue into the musical performance that has just started.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
host leads conga line of castmembers through studio
   
— Oh, wow, I’m loving this. Very fun to watch. I always enjoy whenever SNL does out-of-the-ordinary goodnights.
— I’m also liking how as they’re going around the studio, we can see the sets from tonight’s sketches.
— What’s with the “Adjust your set if it will make you happy” disclaimer on the bottom of the screen?

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I’m a bit stumped over what to say about this episode overall. I felt like this episode was more “interesting” and “fun” than it was “funny”, as I didn’t find myself laughing out loud all that much throughout the show, but there were a lot of sketches where my enjoyment came from the performances rather than from the material itself.
— Desi basically played himself in everything, but he came off very likable and you can tell he really enjoyed doing a show like this.
— Again, no Muppets tonight. You’re spoiling me, SNL. It sure is going to be a disappointment when the Muppets do make their eventual return. Then again, maybe this hiatus will make me more tolerant of them.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Jill Clayburgh