Tag: Season 15

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January 13, 1990 – Ed O’Neill / Harry Connick Jr. (S15 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) will try harebrained plan of pal Manuel Noriega (JOL)

— Jon’s look as Manuel Noriega is very funny, as is his raspy-voiced accent.
— Some pretty good laughs from Bush and Noriega reminiscing about good times they had in the past.
— Love Dana’s Bush busting out into his trademark laugh when realizing Noriega is trying to coax him.
— Bush: “Not gonna do it, Manuel. Read my lips: NA. GA. DA.”
— The submarine scene was okay, even though it made no sense how after the submarine exploded, we see an unharmed Bush still inside the inexplicably-undestroyed submarine while saying “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
JAH, DAC, Maury Povich [real] wary of host’s Married With Children link

— Pretty funny opening bit with Ed O’Neill explaining to people who don’t get the FOX station in their city (remember, this was back in FOX’s early years) that he’s an actual, genuine celebrity. By the way, this small portion of the monologue would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. Not sure why, though.
— He predicts that Married With Children will be here for a long time to come, which turned out to be accurate, as the show ended up lasting about 10 or 11 seasons.
— Good laughs from Dana and Jan asking Ed not to link his “offensive” and “gross” sitcom with SNL.
— A cameo from Maury Povich, back when he was known for “A Current Affair”.
— I like how even Maury is asking Ed to downplay his association with FOX.
— Very funny bit with Maury cueing the trademark “A Current Affair” sound effect with a simple move of the hand.
STARS: ***½


BIZILADY
the mini-cordless shaver lets women on the go depilate anywhere

— Funny jingle, and an amusing premise of an “anywhere” shaver for women.
— Hilarious part with Jan casually shaving her armpits in the theater.
— This pre-taped commercial ends up being Victoria’s only appearance all night.
STARS: ***½


I GOT WHAT YOU NEED
a shopkeeper (host) recommends store items as he would his penis

— Lots of great fake-outs with Ed’s sleazy, suggestive recommendations turning out to be something innocent. This era is good at doing this type of fake-out humor (e.g. The Bean Cafe sketch with Tom Hanks).
— I love Phil’s characterization in this.
— A particularly funny bit about Ed’s “one-eyed monster”.
— Good ending with the “old johnsons” conversation between Ed and Kevin.
STARS: ****


WAYNE’S WORLD
driving instructor (host) watches boozin’ & cruisin’ skit

— I see they’re still using “Schwing!” in an innocent context (this time, used by Wayne as a sound effect when donning an imaginary Nintendo Power Glove). I wonder when they first use that word in the way we’re now familiar with, as a way of miming an erection.
— Funny seeing Ed O’Neill playing an uptight character like this, and I love his disturbing long spiel about how a car is a killing machine known by the nickname “The Widow-Maker”.
— Wayne and Garth’s drinking-and-driving PSA is absolutely classic. My favorite parts are the use of moving background trees as Wayne is miming driving, and Wayne using a harmonica to represent honking car horns during his driving and a beeping heart monitor during his surgery.
— IMO, this has been the best Wayne’s World sketch so far at this point.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It Had To Be You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
ALF’s piece on the morbid vernacular of comedy proves to be an example
DEM shows the defective Jarvik artificial heart’s phallic symbol air bag
Grumpy Old Man hates microphones, seat belts, flame-retardant sleepware

 

— Funny commentary with Al going on about variations comedians use of the expression “I really died out there”, as it’s slowly becoming more and more obvious that Al is referring to himself regarding how (supposedly) badly his commentary is going over with the audience.
— Dennis’ Jarvik Heart demonstration was funny.
— Grumpy Old Man makes his very first Update appearance, after debuting in a now-forgotten sketch the previous season.
— Loved Grumpy Old Man’s line about how due to the non-existence of video games in his childhood, they had to make up their own game called “Chew the Bark off an Oak Tree”.
— Priceless part with Grumpy Old Man making up his own dismissive remark: “Flibodee floo!”
— After Grumpy Old Man left, I howled at Dennis telling him “Excuse me, sir? You forgot your prostate” while “handing” it over to him.
— Dennis: “Friends of the Dalai Lama say that since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he has become an incredible pain in the ass.”
STARS: ***½


NAGGING HUSBAND
(host) assumes wife’s (NOD) nagging role after he arrives home late

— I really like this premise of a coming-home-late Ed doing his wife’s nagging for her.
— Ed’s doing a great job carrying a majority of the sketch.
— When Ed lays down on the couch, you can see stagehands sneaking past the window behind him.
STARS: ***½


DENNIS WOO’S REAL ESTATE FORTUNES THE EASY WAY
distressed property

— When I was younger, I used to think Mike’s character in this sketch was supposed to be the same character he played in the “Nude House of Wacky People” sketch earlier this season. Turns out both characters have different names. I guess Mike just has a penchant for using the EXACT same look and voice for all of his Asian stereotype roles, as we’re unfortunately going to later see ad-nauseam during the infamous season 20.
— Some good laughs from a southern-accented Jan’s stiff testimonial.
STARS: ***


CEAUSESCU’S WAKE
mourners at Ceaucescu’s wake give backhanded compliments about the tyrant

— Everybody reaching to find positive things to say about Ceausescu has some funny lines.
— I like them all spitting in unison after saying Ceausescu’s name.
— Pretty funny story from Phil regarding Ceausescu supposedly not being responsible for Phil being forced to watch his own father be executed.
— Great part with them all suddenly pulling out a gun and firing repeated shots into Ceausescu’s body just to confirm that he’s truly dead.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Alright With Me”


LOTHAR OF THE HILL PEOPLE
(host) says “men are better than women”

— Three lead roles for featured player Mike Myers tonight alone. It’s obvious that a promotion to regular cast member is soon coming for him.
— Some good laughs from the men griping about the problems of living with women.
— Hilarious part with Ed mentioning men’s ability to write their name in the snow without using their hand, as a bad example of men’s superiority over women.
— I liked Lothar’s line about how angry women “frighten cattle”.
STARS: ***½


THE 90’S
LOM previews SNL in the ’90s- changes include DOP’s larynx in a tortoise

— I really like how they’re doing a whole sketch on the fact that this is the first SNL episode of the 90s.
— So far, there’s some really funny announced changes for the new decade, such as the SNL cast now being on jet packs (demonstrated by Dana as Church Lady).
— I love the casual mention of Phil Hartman being part-android, which is followed by him showing up just to say a friendly “Hello, Lorne”.
— I always like this type of humor, where we see jokingly-outlandish predictions of what the future will be like.
— The indecipherable new SNL logo (last screencap above) is a very funny exaggeration of trendy styles from this time period in the late 80s/very early 90s. I also like Lorne’s mention of how the logo can read minds and can tell how viewers are responding to sketches.
— Priceless concept of an SNL “rerun pill” that viewers can take whenever they miss an episode. Lorne demonstrates by taking one of the pills and responding “Mmm, Tony Danza. It still holds up.”
— This is getting funnier and funnier, with us now being informed that Don Pardo’s voice has been surgically implanted in a turtle.
— Not sure if it was supposed to be funny or not, but the cheap “futuristic” effect used to make Lorne teleport out of the scene made me laugh.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

— Nice continuation of a gag from the last sketch, with the Don Pardo-voiced turtle (held by Kevin Nealon) announcing next week’s guests. Unfortunately, Pardo’s voice-over would later be muted out in reruns of these goodnights (which is typical in reruns from this era), resulting in us seeing an abnormally long close-up of Kevin Nealon just holding the turtle up to the camera while nothing is heard being said.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— SNL kicks off the 90s with a pretty good episode. While not an outstanding episode as a whole, the show was consistently good and did have a few really strong pieces in the first half, and a fantastic closing sketch.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Andie MacDowell)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christopher Walken makes his hosting debut

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December 16, 1989 – Andie MacDowell / Tracy Chapman (S15 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
(KEN)’s drunk driving message is interrupted by the Energizer Bunny

— Hilarious idea of the Energizer Bunny randomly interrupting a dead-serious drinking-and-driving PSA, though the timing of the bunny’s entrance was off and Kevin’s facial reactions to the bunny was a little too exaggerated and hokey for my likes.
— I like how this cold opening ended up being a quick blackout gag.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Her delivery of jokes is pretty rough so far, and you can tell she’s nervous.
— Her complicated advice to her father on how to watch tonight’s show is pretty funny, and was delivered decently enough.
STARS: ***


THE NIGHT HANUKKAH HARRY SAVED CHRISTMAS
Hanukkah Harry (JOL) helps sick Santa (PHH)

— A good laugh from an ill Santa barfing off-camera immediately after unsuccessfully trying to force himself out of bed.
— The Hanukkah Harry concept is hilarious, and this is a role that Jon Lovitz was born to play.
— The theme song is fantastic, especially the Jewish names of the reindeer.
— Jon’s portrayal of this character is excellent and is also humorously nailing just about every Jewish stereotype possible.
— Very realistic childlike bouncing up and down from Mike throughout this sketch.
— Victoria (in reaction to her gift): “Socks???” Hanukkah Harry: “8-pair! Can you believe it?!?”
STARS: *****


DAY CARE CENTER
exotic baby-carrying devices make (host) insecure about her parenting

— I’m really liking the increasingly odd baby-carrying methods being displayed (especially Nora’s and Kevin’s), as well as the parents justifying why its supposedly helpful for the baby.
— Funny ending with Jan’s baby being fed milk through a turkey baster.
STARS: ****


CHURCH CHAT
Nadia Comaneci (JAH), Leona Helmsley (NOD), host

— Believe it or not, this is the first Church Chat sketch in over a year! The last one was with Morton Downey Jr. back in November 1988 (though Church Lady herself appeared a month later in a non-Church Chat cold opening). Very odd. While I’m glad they’re not overusing Church Chat to death, putting it on a year-long hiatus when it’s still somewhat in its prime IS a bit much. Perhaps Dana is just getting sick of playing the character (after all, he does eventually make an on-air announcement that he’s retiring Church Lady, in the Roseanne Barr episode next season).
— Hilarious raunchy spiel from Church Lady about Nadia Comaneci twisting her body into into a sweaty pretzel, “ready to be smeared with man mustard”.
— I love Church Lady’s “What’s missing from this picture?” bit with Nora’s Leona Helmsley.
— Interesting turn with Andie filming a “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”-type confession from Church Lady.
— Another good deviation from the usual format, with Church Lady going out into the audience and singing “Let It Snow”, then asking random audience members about their sexual experiences.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme One Reason”


WEEKEND UPDATE
horny Mrs. Claus (VIJ) sings “Santa Please Skip Christmas This Year”
his decade over, ALF declares the ’90s will belong to his son Joe [real]

 

— Victoria’s Mrs. Claus song is very fun and one of Victoria’s more memorable Update songs.
— Funny comment from Dennis after all the things Mrs. Claus did to him during her song: “Suddenly, I’m sitting here with a candy cane.”
— I love the commitment that SNL has consistently been giving to the Al Franken Decade premise these last 10 years, and it’s only fitting that we get a wrap-up with this being the last episode of the decade.
— Great announcement that Al is passing the torch to his son and is declaring the 1990s the Joe Franken Decade.
— Memorable appearance from Joe Franken here, made even more meaningful in hindsight by the fact that SNL would stick to the Joe Franken Decade premise by doing a follow-up 10 years later in the final episode of 1999, with Joe as a bored teen telling his father he wants no part in his “lame bit”.
STARS: ***½


HAL JEROME TRIBUTE
tribute to Hal Jerome documents his very autobiographical Broadway songs

  

— What is with Andie’s sloppy delivery?
— I’m enjoying Phil’s “Oh Missouri” song.
— The bad song titles mentioned are really funny.
— Jan’s bizarre solo song about lost keys is FANTASTIC.
— This is an increasingly very interesting piece, and a good showcase for some of these performers, particularly Phil and Jan. Andie, on the other hand, is sticking out like a sore thumb. Couldn’t they have cast Nora in her part instead?
— Something about the style of this is reminding me a bit of the great Backer’s Audition sketch from the Bea Arthur episode in season 5. This Hal Jerome sketch in general does feel like something that would be right at home in the original SNL era.
STARS: ****


DIETER IN SPACE
by TOS- accidental astronauts say “Happy New Year!”

 

— Here’s a Schiller’s Reel that would later be removed from all reruns and be replaced with another Schiller’s Reel, starring Dana Carvey as himself (I think it’s titled “The Land Before Television”).
— Interesting use of Dieter outside of the Sprockets setting.
— The old stock footage shot they showed just now of a mad scientist giving a demented smile into the camera (last screencap above) was previously used in a Schiller’s Reel from way back in the original era (I can’t remember which Schiller’s Reel, though; it may be the baby-cloning one from the season 4 finale).
— I got a laugh from the monkey slapping the girl when she was acting delirious.
— Ehh, this overall film ended up not doing much for me, despite the creative and promising idea, and a few okay moments.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All That You Have”


THIS IS YOUR DAY
visitors to bride-to-be’s (host) bedroom remind her- “this is your day”

— I like the over-the-top emotional squealing sounds when Nora and Jan make their respective entrance and greet Andie.
— Victoria’s exaggerated crying on the bed is cracking me up.
— I liked the line from Phil as Andie’s father, about how it took him and his wife 30 years to realize they didn’t even like each other… at all.
— An overall nice and funny slice-of-life piece.
STARS: ***½


SEASON’S GREETINGS
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “The Little Drummer Boy”

— Frankenstein’s bad drumming throughout the song is very funny.
— Now this has gotten even funnier with Frankenstein unintentionally busting his fist through the drum, resulting in confused whimpering from him.
— Overall, the funny business with Frankenstein’s drum puts this a step above the usual great musical pieces with these characters.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

— Funny aversion from Joe Franken as Andie MacDowell is planting many kisses on him. I’m sure he would’ve felt differently about her kisses 10 years later.
— Mike Myers is randomly dressed as a jungle native for some reason (he’s the half-naked guy in the last screencap above). Was a sketch cut at the last minute?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Pretty solid episode, even if it’s not quite as outstanding as some of the other Christmas episodes from this era. There were a lot of strong sketches in the first half of this episode, and some nice memorable Christmas-y things throughout the night (particularly Hanukkah Harry and Victoria Jackson’s Mrs. Claus song). Andie MacDowell had a few rough moments in the monologue and Hal Jerome sketch, but was okay elsewhere.
— With this being the final episode of the 80s, I’m proud to say I’ve now covered an entire decade’s worth of episodes for the first time in this SNL project of mine. (I obviously couldn’t say that about the 70s, since SNL didn’t debut until halfway through that decade) From the original cast’s underwhelming winding-down in early 1980 to the Second Golden Age being in the midst of peak levels of greatness in late 1989, I got to review it all these past 7 months.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Wagner)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter a new decade. Ed O’Neill hosts the first SNL of the 90s.

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December 9, 1989 – Robert Wagner / Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville (S15 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) talks about Malta conference & avoids waking Dan Quayle

— The gag with Dan Quayle being portrayed by a child finally becomes recurring, after making its debut over a year ago in a Bush/Dukakis debate sketch.
— I’m loving Bush’s lines about Quayle’s various childlike tendencies.
— Some very funny examples from Bush about how his own speech pattern is getting less distinct.
— A big laugh from the passing mention of Bush having a hand gesture coach (which explains A LOT).
— This is the first time where Bush’s “Na gah dah” gets a big reaction from the audience.
— Bush, on the similarities between Quayle and Jesus: “Jesus had to gradually gain acceptance tuh [too]”.
— Great touch with how Bush’s increasingly-indistinct speech pattern has carried over into his delivery of “Live from New York…”, with him pronouncing “Saturday Night” as “Sat’day Ni”.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Funny idea of him trying his hand at jokes after being warned that leading men like him should never do jokes.
— Very funny how after his “Siamese twins moving to London” joke “fails” (it actually gets a big laugh), he desperately resorts to breaking out into the song “Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire” as a callback to a bit from the beginning of the monologue.
STARS: ***½


YARD-A-PULT
— Rerun


MATT STEVERS, MALE NURSE
Stevers (host) suffers workplace gender discrimination

 

— Robert’s “I’m here to shave you” reveal to Jon was hilarious.
— Love the opening credits sequence and theme song.
— An absolutely priceless part with Robert punching out an overly-horny Jan.
— Robert’s tearful “I’m a nurse that happens to be a man; why can’t they accept that?” emotional breakdown is very funny.
— I like Phil increasingly making Robert uncomfortable by going on and on about insults that Robert might hear from others.
— Phil: “You see two women sitting in a room. Which one is smarter?” Robert: “Easy. The one with the smaller breasts.”
STARS: ****


ATTACK OF THE MASTURBATING ZOMBIES
small town battles undead autoerotica

 

— A huge laugh from Dana’s initial reveal of “It’s zombies… and they’re masturbating!” Jan’s exaggerated delivery of “Eeeew!” as a response was perfect as well.
— The scene at the sheriff’s office was great.
— Some good laughs from the seriousness of Nora’s speech about the importance of the zombies’ need to masturbate.
— Good hint that Phil’s sheriff may be one of the zombies.
— I like the line about how Mike’s idea of bombing the town square is his solution to EVERYTHING.
— What was with the uncomfortably long pause when it was Robert’s turn to start speaking again just now? I wonder if they later ended up removing that awkward long pause from reruns.
— Hilarious stock footage of an army of zombies heading to an adult movie theater that’s showing a porno titled “Hanna Does Her Sisters”.
STARS: ****½


TALES OF THE RUNAWAY BOULDER
a big rock visits three separate couples

 

— I’m loving the randomness of this.
— Hilarious how the first scene, titled “Hi Honey I’m Home”, only consisted of Jon entering his house, saying “Hi, honey, I’m home”, and then getting crushed by a giant boulder (represented humorously by a tiny model house set and boulder prop).
— During Robert’s explanation of the pebble scene, I got a big laugh from his reveal that Kevin and Victoria were giants, and then him concernedly asking us “Am I overexplaining this?”
— Priceless ending with Robert getting crushed flat on the floor by a boulder, made even funnier afterwards with the utterly bizarre (and kinda scary-looking) visual of his talking mouth being superimposed over the flat paper figure of himself (last screencap above).
— This absolutely fantastic oddball sketch has a feel that I find quintessential of this late 80s SNL era.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Know Much”


WEEKEND UPDATE

  

— Dennis receives particularly huge and extended applause at the beginning of this Update.
— Loved Dennis’ priceless “bones” joke about Nadia Comaneci and her boyfriend.
— Speaking of Nadia Comaneci, in that picture they showed of her on the news screen, she resembles future cast member Kate McKinnon (first screencap above).
— Good brief segment with Dennis “demonstrating” how to make a Christmas wreath out of old Wonder Bread wrappers.
— Dennis is absolutely on FIRE tonight.
— Hmm, this ended up being the third consecutive Update that had no desk pieces from any guest commentators. Not that Dennis has been needing them lately. He’s been on a hot streak of exceptionally strong Updates.
STARS: ****


A BETTY FORD STRAIGHT ARROW CHRISTMAS
three singers stay drug-free
Binaca’s You Make The Call- Barry Goldwater was confused by the lights

— Great to see Phil’s very funny and dead-on Johnny Cash impression again. Interestingly, the previous time he played him was also in a Betty Ford sketch (the “What’s My Addiction?” gameshow sketch from the Paul Shaffer episode in season 12).
— Hmm, turns out the other celebrity impressions in this, Nora as Liza Minnelli and Jon as David Crosby, were also in the aforementioned What’s My Addiction sketch. I guess tonight’s sketch can be considered a very belated variation/follow-up to it.
— Great part with them pouring a plastic baggie of “powdered sugar” onto the bundt cake.
— A very solid and funny variation of the “12 Days of Christmas” song.
— Jon-as-Crosby’s high-pitched singing voice is priceless.
— A lot of sketches in this era seem to have a “You Make The Call” mid-sketch segment.
— The Binaca slogan gave me a good laugh (last screencap above).
STARS: ****


SLOPPY EATER
in a restaurant, (JAH) discovers that suave (host) is a very sloppy eater

— Very funny turn with Robert’s sudden loud, sloppy chomping of the bread roll after coming off so debonair and sophisticated beforehand.
— Robert is a riot doing other things extremely messily, like drinking from a wine glass, eating steak, and (especially) slurping from a bowl of soup. Jan’s reactions are great as well.
— Solid ending with the bad dancing.
STARS: ****


CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
David Rockefeller (PHH)- “my family is just as evil as the Japanese”

— Already a laugh just from the smug smile that that Phil makes his entrance with.
— Some good laughs from Phil’s David Rockefeller happily bragging about how evil the Rockefeller Empire is. This sketch is a good example of Phil’s knack for using a quietly unsettling delivery when playing creeps like this.
— Rockefeller, on how his father hated everyone: “And if he were alive, he’d hate YOU. *I* do.”
STARS: ***½


IN THE MIDDLE
(JOL) & (DAC) use (host)’s political analysis to do battle

 

— A quintessential Carvey/Lovitz team-up sketch, with the increasingly goofy, childish gloating sounds they keep making at each other. The fact that this is happening during a serious political panel discussion makes it even funnier.
— A particularly hilarious part with Dana sneaking in the gloating sound while “sneezing”.
— The ending with Robert himself doing the gloating sounds and dancing was very funny.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When Something Is Wrong”


SWIVEL CHAIR MYSTERY THEATRE
furniture is used to add dramatic effect

— Promising idea, parodying this common cliche in mystery shows and movies.
— I liked Phil doing a second dramatic chair-turn in the middle of his speech just to reveal the twist that he’s Irish.
— Good random part with Kevin as a sleeping man.
— Speaking of Kevin, this feels like the first time we’ve seen him all night. I’m sure he was in something earlier tonight that I’m forgetting, but this is an unusually light night for him.
— Wow, there’s surprisingly not a peep out of the audience so far. They’re absolutely dead silent during this funny sketch.
— Good part with even the delivery boy entering the room on a back-turned swivel chair.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Mike Myers looks kinda bummed (seen on the left end of the screencap below).  Maybe he’s upset over the fact that he barely got anything to do tonight, being given nothing but very small roles.

— A nice mention from Don Pardo’s voice-over that not only is the next episode the final SNL of the Al Franken Decade, but that the approaching 1990s will be Pardo’s eighth(!) decade in show business.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An outstanding episode. The show was firing on all cylinders, and we got tons of funny and creative original premises that epitomize what I love about this SNL era. There wasn’t a single recurring sketch in the bunch tonight; just a night full of strong one-off premises that featured the type of comedy that caters to my tastes. There was nothing I found weak in this episode, and almost every single sketch received an impressive four-star rating.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The 1980s come to an end. Andie MacDowell hosts the final episode of the decade.

Posted on

December 2, 1989 – John Goodman / K.D. Lang & The Reclines (S15 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
committee questions George Bailey (DAC) about his failed savings & loan

 

— Clever premise for an It’s a Wonderful Life parody, even if this pales in comparison to a certain other parody of this movie that this SNL era did before.
— Feels kinda weird seeing Lovitz in this role again, after what happened to him in the previous It’s a Wonderful Life sketch.
— Funny bit with Clarence the angel having beetle wings, as part of a cruel joke that was played on him.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
audience abandons host & instead flocks to Roseanne Barr (VIJ)

— Much like how it felt when I covered Steve Martin and Tom Hanks’ respective first hosting stint, it’s going to feel both weird and interesting covering an episode where John Goodman had never hosted prior. That’s a feeling I’m going to have to get used to this season, as we’re going to be seeing quite a number of soon-to-be-frequent hosts making their debut this year.
— Immediately, Goodman’s coming off very likable and relatable to the audience.
— Pretty funny comment about his honeymoon.
— We get to see Victoria’s Roseanne impression, for the second episode in a row.
— Just now, the ending of this monologue went terribly wrong. As Goodman was addressing his wife in the audience, the camera was supposed to cut to a pre-taped shot of his wife being the only remaining person in an empty studio audience. During that pre-taped shot, she was also going to ask Goodman who tonight’s musical guest is. However, due to a huge technical error, the pre-taped shot never played, resulting in painfully awkward silence as Goodman just stands there waiting for the tape to play. Goodman then abruptly wraps up the monologue prematurely with the usual “We got a great show for you tonight, etc.”, and then we’re out.
— SNL would later correct the technical blunder by airing the dress rehearsal version of most of this monologue in reruns. That version also includes something that never happened in the live monologue, where Goodman starts singing onstage while the studio audience, cameraman, and cue card guy can all be seen leaving in droves. IIRC, the old Netflix version of this episode interestingly used the botched live version of this monologue (as well as the goodnights, where Goodman addresses this monologue’s technical error).
STARS: ***


BEAUTYBATH
— Rerun, from two seasons ago


WAYNE’S WORLD
movie reviews; re-enactments for Aurora’s Most Wanted

— This sketch continues to grow in popularity, as this is the very first time where the opening of this sketch receives enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
— We get the very first Wayne’s World utterance of the immortal expression “it sucked donkeys”.
— Not sure what the point is of showing the board recap of their movie reviews, but I like the visual of the board anyway.
— Wayne and Garth’s re-enactment of crimes that Goodman announces is very fun, especially the bit with Wayne miming walking down the stairs and an escalator.
STARS: ****½


COOKING WITH THE ANAL RETENTIVE CHEF
Cajun chef’s (host) cooking style is hampered by anal-retentive Gene

— This character returns to his chef occupation that we saw him in during his debut.
— Nice little touch with him casually pronouncing tomatoes as “to-MAH-toes”.
— Great bit with him actually washing off the camera lens just because of a thumbprint he saw on it.
— Goodman’s already getting a lot of laughs here, and his accent is great.
— I’m enjoying all the clashing between the two characters.
— Excellent part with Goodman “cleaning” off the table by simply pushing all the contents off the table with one hard swipe of the arm.
STARS: ****


TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
Toonces gets help when Martians (ALF) & (TOD) land on Earth

— This character recurs for the first time since debuting in the previous season’s finale.
— Haha, holy hell at the result of Toonces’ repair work causing the car to explode when Dana and Victoria try to re-start it.
— Are Franken and Davis’ alien characters supposed to be Zacdu and Mondo?
— Funny shot of Toonces frantically driving in a hurry to get to the police station.
— A classic part with Toonces crashing his car right through the wall of the sheriff’s office.
— Very funny part with Toonces using white-out to correct a typo while using the typewriter.
— Great ending with the stock footage of an alien ship crashing into the Washington Monument.
— Outstanding sketch overall. Loved how this had so many things going on.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pullin’ Back The Reins”


WEEKEND UPDATE
movie clip shows George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev weathering stormy Malta
Annoying Man unexpectedly pesters DEM during a news item

— Loved Dennis’ whole Bush/Gilligan’s Island comparison.
— Annoying Man makes his return after debuting just two episodes ago.
— Dennis’ “You licked me, you freak!” reaction during to Annoying Man randomly licking his face was hilarious.
— Wow, that Annoying Man commentary ended up being short as HELL. It doesn’t even qualify as a desk commentary; just a brief cameo. Can’t complain, though.
— An overall exceptionally strong Update tonight. Dennis was particularly ON.
STARS: ****


THE MIKE DITKA TYPE-A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
holiday perfectionism

— I’m really liking Phil’s Ditka impression, even if it has shades of his Burt Reynolds.
— Ditka’s extremely stern, coach-like treatment of his family are providing some good laughs.
— Goodman as Santa advising Ditka to “mellow out” and to use a big pair of pliers to pull the bug out of his behind was very funny.
— I love the brief wild physical fight between Ditka and Santa, especially how Goodman can be heard yelling what sounded like “I’ll brain ya!” at one point.
— Hilarious part with Santa punishing Ditka by giving him what Santa calls a “turd-sized lump of coal”.
STARS: ***½


THE REFEREE PITMAN SHOW
audience members politely criticize Pitman (host)

— Two football-related sketches in a row tonight? And it’s interesting how they both center on a coach or referee.
— I like how this sketch is starting out by giving us the whole backstory on the Referee Pitman controversy. In retrospect, that causes this very topical sketch to age much better than other very topical sketches that are similarly based on somebody who, like Referee Pitman, was only big in the news for a short while and has long since been forgotten, thus causing future viewers to be lost. [ADDENDUM: Haha, according to some of the comments I received, Referee Pitman isn’t even a real person.  My mistake.]
— Huge laughs from everybody’s kindly ways of asking Pitman rude questions about his referee skills, especially Phil’s “Do you find it helpful to keep your head up your rear end?”
— Loved Jim Downey’s question of if Pitman’s head is empty or filled with human excrement.
— Pitman’s genial attitude and ways of genuinely answering the rude questions are also adding to the humor.
— Another fantastic line from Phil, with him affably advising Pitman to have sex with himself.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Johnny Get Angry”


CRIPS
suburban gang member’s (MIM) parents (host) & (NOD) are proud
TV Guide “jeers” SNL for misrepresenting the street gang problem

— Pretty funny premise of the family happily discussing Mike joining the Crips.
— Mike mentions a friend named Dale Butterworth, making it obvious who wrote this. This sketch doesn’t feel like Andy Breckman’s usual style, though.
— Here we have the very first of what will be several “TV Guide Cheers and Jeers” sketch endings, both this season and next. The one tonight fell flat.
STARS: ***


THIRTYSOMETHING
— Another rerun tonight.
— The fact that they’re re-airing this rather lengthy commercial at the end of the show is probably a sign that the show ran long and had to cut a scheduled live sketch at the last minute, so they threw on this fake ad to fill in the remaining time.


GOODNIGHTS
host hypnotizes audience to kill memory of botched monologue

— Goodman addresses the confusing botched ending of the monologue from earlier tonight, and hilariously tries to hypnotize us into believing there was no technical screw-up. This is cleverly accompanied by the Twilight Zone theme being played on the piano by the SNL Band.
— Unfortunately, in the live version I’m watching of this episode, the goodnights get cut off when Goodman is still in the middle of doing his hypnotic speak. (Maybe if they hadn’t rerun that long-ass Thirtysomething commercial, the goodnights wouldn’t have gotten cut off so prematurely) In the full version of these goodnights that I recall seeing on Netflix, there’s something that I find kinda cool: when Goodman finishes his hypnotic speak and transitions into the usual goodnights speech (“I wanna thank the cast, the crew, etc.”), the aforementioned Twilight Zone theme that had been playing on the piano seamlessly transitions into the traditional goodnights piano music. I thought that was a good touch.
— Some sites claim that most reruns of this episode replace these goodnights with the dress rehearsal version. However, I’m pretty sure those reruns actually show the live goodnights, only they remove the whole hypnotism part at the beginning and just start when Goodman begins his normal goodnights speech.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong and fun episode. Some pretty wild and memorable moments, and the show had a fairly consistent quality all throughout. For his first time hosting, John Goodman was excellent, instantly fit into the show seamlessly, and handled his hosting job with total ease. It’s no surprise how quickly and frequently they end up bringing him back, as he would go on to host in every single season after this, until we reach season 26(!).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Woody Harrelson)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Robert Wagner

Posted on

November 18, 1989 – Woody Harrelson / David Byrne (S15 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Five Easy Pieces ’89- Jack Nicholson (PHH) collects his Batman royalties

— Phil-as-Nicholson’s ridiculous, complicated requests of how he would like his payment split are really funny.
— Loved Nicholson’s sarcastic “I want you to hold [the money] between your knees” remark to Nora.
— Excellent sequence with Nicholson suddenly tearing the desk apart to bits in such a short amount of time.
— The live version I’m currently watching of this episode has a different take of Phil saying “Live from New York…” than the rerun version does. The reruns must use the dress rehearsal version of Phil’s LFNY, but I’m not sure why, as the rest of the cold opening appears to be the same in both live and rerun.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host plays guitar & sings thesaurus-inspired “Pretty Lady”

— Loved his way of mispronouncing thesaurus as “THESS-er-iss”.
— Hilarious how the lyrics to his Pretty Lady song are just using a long string of synonyms for “pretty” that don’t fit the song’s style.
— Very interesting how after this monologue ended, the camera follows Woody as he leaves the home base stage and walks right over into the next sketch. I love that, and wish SNL did that more often.
STARS: ***½


WHO’S DUMBER?
VIJ & host compete to be stupidest person in America

— Interesting change of pace with a gameshow host being played by Jon instead of Phil or Kevin.
— Great concept and a good way to poke fun at Victoria and Woody’s onscreen personas.
— Very funny reveal that the questions are ones that Victoria and Woody picked out themselves three months ago.
— Hilarious how Woody wins one round for being dumb enough to whisper the answer to Victoria while being mic’ed.
— Love Victoria’s very delayed answer to the question of which celebrity Woody is related to: Woody Allen.
STARS: ****


PUMPING UP WITH HANS & FRANZ
Roseanne Barr (VIJ) undergoes liposuction

— They’ve been doing creative things with the last few Hans & Franz sketches, and now we get yet another one with this liposuction premise.
— A surprisingly big night for Victoria so far, now getting to showcase her great Roseanne impression in a Hans & Franz sketch.
— In the shot right now, I noticed that on the left end of the screen, you can unintentionally see the long hair of someone standing next to the camera. (third screencap above)
— Funny visual of the “flab receptacle” jar slowly being filled during the liposuction process.
— An epic and hilarious disgusting sequence with the jar overflowing, causing Hans and Franz to slip all over the place.
STARS: ****


ATTITUDES
maker of food miniatures Paul Tinso (host) displays his work

— Hmm, they updated the opening credits sequence.
— Amusing visual of Woody’s tiny clay food figures.
— I liked Woody’s line about how making tiny clay rice is almost not worth it.
— Good part with Woody eagerly writing down Jan and Nora’s clay food ideas as if they were suggestions for him.
— As usual, this overall sketch provided some good laughs from so many mundane details.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dirty Old Town”


WEEKEND UPDATE
footage of Lech Walesa being a little too affectionate with a blonde
Connie Chung (Leo Yoshimura) says her show won’t do any more re-creations

 

— I love Dennis’ “Gobble, gobble, gobble” runner throughout this Update (especially him going “Gamble, gamble, gamble” when a Pete Rose picture shows up, and going “Gullible, gullible, gullible” when a Dan Quayle picture shows up).
— A great brief bit with Akira Yoshimura as a comically-unconvincing Connie Chung announcing that her show wont have any more news recreations.
— Nice ending bit regarding German high schoolers having written “Live from Berlin, it’s Saturday Night” on the Berlin Wall.
— No desk pieces in tonight’s overall Update?
STARS: ***½


COWBOY SONG
(host) & fellow lonesome cowboys (PHH) & (DAC) sing about range life

— The debut of what will be an occasional recurring sketch the next few seasons.
— The song has a nice, charming melody.
— A good laugh from Woody’s “See a whore” lyric.
— Kinda surprised by how short this sketch ended up being.
STARS: ***


THE HERO
WWII soldier (host) receives bad news about his body from doctor (KEN)

— I liked Kevin’s line about how an arm is just for clapping, when he’s going on about how important the leg is.
— Hilarious gradual reveal that everything below Woody’s head is missing, as well as the back of his head, meaning he’s just a face.
— This sketch is perfect for Kevin’s usual delivery. I wonder if he wrote this one himself.
— Funny rundown on the current state of Woody’s fellow solders.
— Strong ending with another soldier having been reduced to just a leg.
STARS: ****


THANKSGIVING GOOD, FIRE BAD
Frankenstein doesn’t want to kill the turkey

— Hmm, I have no memory of this sketch from my past viewings of this episode.
— An okay sequence with Dr. Frankenstein bringing the dead turkey back to life.
— This overall sketch seemed to be trying to be more charming than funny. Despite the nice charm, I still couldn’t help but find myself a little bored at times. Not one of my favorite sketches featuring this trio of characters.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Loco De Amor”


SPROCKETS
dark East German filmmaker (host) has rapidly Westernized

— I like the look of Woody’s character in the interview clip they showed of him.
— The utterly bizarre film clip was quite a laugh.
— Dieter, in a deadpan manner: “You have disturbed me almost to the point of insanity. (*very brief pause*) There. I am insane now.”
— Something about this overall Sprockets installment felt a little empty, like some things were missing. The lack of audience laughter may have contributed to that empty feel, as much as I usually try not to have my opinion of a sketch be swayed by audience reactions (or lack thereof). These early Sprockets sketches so far have surprisingly been kinda hit-and-miss. I wonder when this recurring sketch starts to officially take off, because I’m a fan of its later installments.
— The next time Woody hosts SNL in season 17, they would also do a Sprockets sketch (a much better one, in my opinion), though Woody plays a completely different character than the one he played here.
STARS: **½


THANKSGIVING GREETINGS
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein say what they’re thankful for

 

— We just saw a musical holiday piece with these characters two episodes ago. Plus, we’re obviously going to see another one a mere three episodes from now (with that being the Christmas episode and all) and I know for a fact we see yet another one three episodes after that (Quincy Jones episode). I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, though, because I always like these pieces.
— At least we get a promising change of pace with each character saying what they’re thankful for.
— This overall piece ended up being fine, though I didn’t like it quite as much as the earlier musical holiday pieces with these characters.
STARS: ***½


GETTING ACQUAINTED
adult education students make dumb assumptions about each other

— Some good laughs from Woody and Kevin’s friendly characters making idiotic incorrect assumptions of each other based on what they’re wearing or doing.
— Victoria’s big night continues with yet another appearance from her, which makes me realize how surprisingly very little we’ve seen of Jan and Nora in this episode. It’s like the tables have turned tonight with Jan and Nora taking a backseat to Victoria being the most prominent female.
— I liked the ending “Are you a shepherd?” question to Phil’s wool sweater-wearing teacher.
— Overall, a simple premise that was executed well.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not quite as strong as most of this season has been so far, but still a pretty good episode. Though some of the recurring sketches had fairly disappointing outings, this episode still had enough stand-out solid sketches, particularly in the first half.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Evert)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Goodman makes his hosting debut

Posted on

November 11, 1989 – Chris Evert / Eurythmics (S15 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host trashes the locker room after losing in the finals at Wimbledon

— Some funny modified voice-overs during post-game footage shown of an Evert/Navratilova match.
— Announcer, regarding the Duke and Duchess: “Keep in mind, they are the product, like so many of our royal family members, of generations of inbreeding.”
— Great sequence with Chris suddenly blowing up in the locker room, tearing everything in sight apart.
— I love the escalation of this, with Chris now using a forklift truck to throw the lockers over.
— Hilarious walk-on from Jon as Queen Elizabeth frantically asking for the “loo”.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host trashes her dressing room after being dissatisfied with her comedy

— Pretty funny line comparing tennis and SNL, saying that both peaked in popularity in the 70s.
— At first, I wondered why Chris’ line about how “doing comedy is easier than tennis, because when a joke fails, at least you don’t have a bunch of people laughing at you” sounded so familiar, until I remembered that Malcolm Jamal-Warner said basically the same line (minus the part about tennis) in his monologue a few seasons earlier.
— She’s carrying this monologue well.
— Very interesting continuation after the “ending”, showing Chris going backstage and then beginning to destroy her dressing room in the same manner as in the cold opening.
STARS: ***½


COLON BLOW
Colon Blow & Super Colon Blow- (PHH) learns about the high-fiber cereals

— Here’s yet another all-time classic commercial from this era.
— The reveal of the cereal name Colon Blow is priceless.
— I love the part with Phil’s bad guesses of the correct number of cereal bowls the announcer asks him, with Phil always going just one number higher than the number he had just incorrectly guessed. The casual smile on his face during that part also adds to the humor.
— Excellent visual of the huge pyramid of cereal bowls rising under a frightened Phil.
STARS: *****


BERLIN WALL
George Bush (DAC) takes credit for the destruction of the Berlin Wall

— I like this format of Dana’s Bush being in front of an obvious greenscreen of the Berlin Wall.
— I think this is the very first occurrence of Dana’s soon-to-be-trademark Bush laugh.
— Some really good lines, especially with how Bush keeps exaggerating his importance in the fall of the Berlin Wall and how his place in history is now “secured”.
STARS: ***½


EVERT VS. NAVRATILOVA
after retiring from tennis, host can’t shake Martina Navratilova (NOD)

— Good performance from Nora.
— Very funny concept of Martina Navratilova following Chris Evert in every new job and always one-upping her at it.
— Nora wildly playing the piano cracked me up, as did Chris’ frozen, incredulous reaction during that.
— Clever ending with the “Evert Committed To Looney Bin” newspaper being paid for with a dollar bill that has Navratilova’s face on it.
STARS: ****


VIDEO WILL
Bette Davis’ (JAH) kids (PHH) & (NOD) watch a videotape of her will

— Jan is an absolute riot as Bette Davis.
— I love how the sound of the tape fast-forwarding is being done by Jan live.
— Ha, and just now, there’s a great brief blooper where the camera catches Jan making the “eeebweebweebwee” fast-forwarding sounds.
— Great reveal that the will is on multiple videotapes.
— Hilarious evil laughter from Jan’s Davis after announcing that her daughter gets none of her money.
— Overall, easily one of Jan’s all-time best performances.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Angel”


WEEKEND UPDATE
after paying him for airtime, Annoying Man (JOL) pesters DEM
KEN’s interest in porno films matched masturbation-induced arousal

— Starting off very hot with a string of great jokes that are getting big audience reactions.
— The debut of Annoying Man, a big character from this late point in Jon’s SNL tenure.
— Some good laughs from Annoying Man’s various obnoxious ways of demonstrating how annoying he is. Dennis’ reactions to him are great as well.
— Strong ending to Annoying Man’s commentary, with him delivering an uncharacteristically dignified, deep-voiced “You don’t have to yell” after being told “Shut up!”
— Kevin’s porno reviews are really funny so far, especially him detailing his varying reactions to the all-male porno.
— I liked Dennis’ random “Gimme an ‘S’!” bit.
STARS: ***½


LOTHAR OF THE HILL PEOPLE
chieftain responsibilities are discussed

— I didn’t mention it when reviewing the debut of this sketch last season, but I really like this sketch’s opening theme song.
— Lothar: “I swear by Xena’s teats…”
— During the discussion about “walking” with women, Jon has a great line about how he has taken many short “walks”… by himself.
— Lothar to Chris Evert’s character: “You want to have your flagon of mead and drink it too.”
STARS: ***½


DRAW THE LINE
VIJ plays ukelele & sings about thin line between love & adultery

— A rare instance of Victoria doing a song on the home base stage, for the first time since the Willie Nelson episode three seasons ago.
— I’m really liking her bizarre, overly-specific examples of love.
— An overall very solid and funny song.
STARS: ****


LYLE, THE EFFEMINATE HETEROSEXUAL
effeminate heterosexual Lyle Billup (DAC) fits the gay stereotype

— Solid concept, and I like how the opening theme song sequence is in the same vein as other memorable sketches from this era that have their own opening theme song sequence.
— Very funny characterization from Dana here.
— I remember reading somewhere that Dana gave this character a low-pitched  effeminate voice because he felt that if he used a typical high-pitched effeminate voice, it would sound too much like his Church Lady (a character that has surprisingly been M.I.A. for a long time at this point, by the way).
— An unintentional laugh from Dana beginning to open the door right before the doorbell even rang.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Baby’s Gonna Cry”


PASSAGES
cast doesn’t share LOM’s amusement at host’s embarrassing sketch

— Hilarious how Lorne is enjoying the schadenfreude of Chris Evert attempting a complex role that features many emotional shifts.
— Really funny when the dramatic song that Chris is singing suddenly turns into corny upbeat dancing.
— I like the audience disapprovingly going “Mmm-nnnh” in unison when Phil asks “Wasn’t that great?”
— Loved Lorne’s incredulous “What is WITH everybody?!?” at the end of the sketch.
STARS: ****


THE NUDE HOUSE OF WACKY PEOPLE
Sony-produced show stereotypes Americans

— I’m absolutely loving all the nonsensical, silly aspects of the show and the bad American syntax used in Mike’s narration.
— Great random bear attack, especially when the bear just casually walks out of the house mid-attack when Mike’s voice-over says “Then the bear leaves.”
— Decent ending with Phil’s Ronald Reagan giving his approval.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An exceptionally strong episode with a very consistent high quality throughout the entire night. And Chris Evert is easily one of the best athlete hosts the show has ever had. She proved to be a very good sport, came off a lot more flexible than most athlete hosts in regards to the type of roles she played, and surprisingly didn’t come off stiff at all during her performances.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (James Woods)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Woody Harrelson

Posted on

October 28, 1989 – James Woods / Don Henley (S15 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The Tonight Show- Johnny Carson (DAC) interviews VIJ & Nancy Reagan (JAH)

— The first of what will be several Johnny Carson Tonight Show sketches in this late 80s/early 90s era. This is also the debut of Dana and Phil’s Carson and Ed McMahon impressions.
— Already, Dana and Phil’s impressions are coming off memorable, and I like the part with them going on and on about Victoria’s weirdness.
— I got a laugh from the bit with Jan’s Nancy Reagan refusing to shake McMahon’s hand, even if I don’t get why that happened.
— Carson’s reaction to Nancy’s “She was just a bitch!” outburst was really funny.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
police surround the stage after a home viewer identifies criminal host

— I like how after James claims that the psychos and weirdos he’s known for playing in movies are not really him, we immediately cut to home viewers and cops watching the show on TV and recognizing James from crimes he’s committed.
— Great touch with a police report ticker showing up on the bottom of the screen.
— Love how further and further this is escalating, with us now seeing Lorne in the control room sending a SWAT team out to the studio, but not before worried telling them “I just can’t take the chance you might shoot Dana Carvey.”
— Funny how James is now bringing a very reluctant Nora Dunn up to the stage.
— An overall fantastic monologue. Great use of James’ creepy onscreen persona and I love how they went all-out for this.
STARS: ****½


YARD-A-PULT
get rid of garbage by flinging it into someone else’s yard

— Hilarious concept. I’ve always found this commercial to be a quintessential example of how great SNL’s fake ads in this late 80s era were.
— I’m getting a lot of laughs from the visual of the Yard-a-Pult flinging dog droppings, car batteries, air conditioners, and the like into the neighbor’s yard.
— An absolutely priceless ending with the family’s dead dog being the next thing that’s flung into the neighbor’s yard.
STARS: *****


DRACULA ’89
Dracula (host) screens (JAH), (VIJ), (NOD) for AIDS risk factors

— A very good gradual, subtle reveal that Dracula is worried about contracting AIDS from his victims’ blood. Only in the 80s could a sketch like this exist.
— Dracula’s reaction to finding out that Victoria lived in Greenwich Village was really funny.
— The Keith Richards reveal was hilarious.
— I love the sequence with Dracula going through the extensive trouble of bringing Nora’s blood to a doctor to have it tested.
STARS: ****


PRIMETIME LIVE
Sam Donaldson (KEN) & Diane Sawyer (JAH) banter awkwardly

— I always love Kevin and Jan’s Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer impressions.
— Some good laughs from the bad banter between Donaldson and Saywer at the beginning.
— I like how they keep cutting to live footage of empty places where nothing interesting is going on.
— Funny repeated bit with Donaldson overemphasizing that the show is indeed live.
— Good part with Donaldson’s interview with Dana’s Kirk Cameron just turning into Donaldson complaining about the quality of this season of Growing Pains.
— Hmm, Dana’s Kirk Cameron brings out a little girl who he says will be a new Growing Pains cast member, which Donaldson replies to with a cynical “Oh, sure, let’s just wheel in another cute kid every time we can’t think of a good plot.” SNL predicted the future with that, as just a year later, Growing Pains really DOES end up trying to spice up the show’s declining quality by adding a new child actress to the cast.
— I love the “Are you coming on to me, Ms. Sawyer?!?” bit with James.
— Hilarious part with Donaldson randomly blurting out “Diane, you’re a stinky whore!” as yet another attempt to prove the show is live.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Last Worthless Evening”


WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ reports from Costa Rica after practicing her Spanish pronunciation
AWB offers views on Ronald Reagan accepting money from Japan for speaking
DEM & Dennis Miller (DAC) recite the Weekend Update oath

— Victoria’s commentary was okay. The premise of overemphasizing the Spanish pronunciation of words like Nicaragua and Costa Rica would later be turned into a full-fledged sketch when Jimmy Smits hosts next season.
— I loved Dennis just screaming in horror in response to an announcement that Corey Haim is releasing an “A Day in the Life Of”-type video of himself.
— A. Whitney seems to be doing an Update commentary in almost every single episode this season so far. Usually, he appears more sporadically than that.
— I really liked A. Whitney’s description of what he imagines the Ronald Reagan Library will be like.
— Great ad-libs from Dennis while reapplying his fallen clip-on mic after angrily spitting on the news screen during his negative review of a bear movie. After taking a long time reapplying his mic, Dennis adds “All that for the bear joke?”
— Interesting bit with Dana as Dennis Miller helping the real Dennis reaffirm his Weekend Update oath. Dana’s “repeating” of the oath is a riot, especially his comments about Zsa Zsa Gabor.
STARS: ***½


FALLING IN LOVE
by TOS- reunited (JOL) & (VIJ) sing & plummet

— Hmm, here’s a Schiller’s Reel I’m not familiar with.
— Oh, wait, I do kinda remember this. The visual look of this film seems vaguely familiar to me.
— Is Schiller going for a “Love Is A Dream” knock-off with this? Hmm.
— After playing out like a serious film for the first minute-and-a-half, this suddenly takes a comedic turn with the wind blowing Jon’s tie into his face while he’s in the middle of singing romantically. That was pretty funny.
— Another comedic turn with Jon and Victoria falling off the balcony, which wasn’t all that funny to me. I did get a laugh from the shot of the piano player quickly chugging down two glasses of wine while Jon and Victoria were falling.
— Overall, not one of Schiller’s best or most memorable films.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Boys of Summer”


THE RAVEN
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein recite “The Raven”

— I always love these, and this particular one is coming off even funnier than these usually do.
STARS: ****½


VENTRILOQUIST
club owner (PHH) suggests changes to (host)’s inane ventriloquist act

— Funny opening bit with Jan’s bad singing.
— I like how an upset audience is beginning to walk out on James’ non-stop repetitions of “No, you’re the dummy!” with his ventriloquist doll.
— I love Phil’s characterization here. I can’t think of any other time I’ve seen him do a voice or character like this.
— Hilarious how the “big change” James makes to his act just turns out to be merely adding a monocle to his dummy while still endlessly repeating the same “No, you’re the dummy!” shtick.
— Decent ending.
— Last time I saw this sketch years ago, I remember finding it absolutely TERRIBLE. I dismissed it as a surprisingly horrid one-joke sketch from this otherwise great era of SNL. After watching this sketch again just now, I found it to be a lot better than I previously did. I can appreciate what they were going for with this, and James and Phil both gave fantastic performances that made the material even better.
STARS: ***½


HELMSLEY SPOOK HOUSE
— Rerun… from three seasons ago, oddly enough. Guess they’re just repeating this particular commercial because it’s around Halloween again. Or maybe also because Leona Helmsley was in the news for being in jail at this time (as spoofed in the great “The Big Bitch BullDyke Bustout of ’89” sketch a few episodes ago).


THREE DUDES HOLISTIC AUTOMOTIVE
Three Dudes Holistic Automotive gives a New Age approach to car care

— Pretty funny premise, and funny performances from Dana, Jon, and James as idiot surfer-type guys.
— For some reason, this kinda reminds me of the Two Guys Who Are Lawyers sketch with Dan Aykroyd and Fred Willard, from back in season 4.
— I like the listed-off car enhancements that the Three Dudes’ service offers.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, particularly the first half of the show. I also loved James Woods as the host. Though he seemed kinda underused, he delivered greatly with every performance and had a vibe that reminded me of other great oddball hosts SNL has had over the years (particularly Steve Buscemi). James is definitely on my list of one-timers who should’ve hosted much more.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kathleen Turner)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Chris Evert

Posted on

October 21, 1989 – Kathleen Turner / Billy Joel (S15 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The Miracle Of Fatima ’89- American flag tells (host) “don’t burn me”

— I liked the random “Art Squad” opening credits featuring Jesse Helms (played by an extra) shooting the genitalia off a David statue. No idea what news story that was based on, though.
— Kind of a strange cold opening so far. Not too crazy about what I’ve been seeing here.
— Yeah, this hasn’t been working for me at all. It’s being well-performed, but hasn’t been funny nor interesting to me. Easily one of my least favorite cold openings from this entire era.
STARS: *½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Mike Myers’ pic has been changed from a fairly plain-looking one to a more professional, mature-looking one.


MONOLOGUE
host actually talks like VIJ- the sexy voice is just for movies

— Hilarious bit with Kathleen revealing her “real” voice, which is just her miming to Victoria Jackson’s naturally high-pitched voice-over.
— Kathleen is displaying great timing with her lip-syncing of Victoria’s voice-over and the way she’s able to seamlessly go back-and-forth between miming the voice-over and speaking in her own famously husky voice.
— I wonder if the rerun version I’m watching uses the dress rehearsal version of this monologue. I ask because at the end of this, I noticed an abrupt cut in Kathleen’s positioning when the camera switched from a close shot of her to a wide shot of the stage as the SNL Band plays the show to commercial. Perhaps in the original live version of this monologue, Kathleen’s lip-syncing was a bit too sloppy.
STARS: ****


PLUG AWAY WITH HARVEY FIERSTEIN
John Travolta (DAC), host, Lee Iacocca (PHH) promote selves

— I loved Dana-as-Travolta’s way of pronouncing “Look Who’s TAAAAHLKIN’”.
— Very interesting part with Kathleen trying to seduce Jon’s Fierstein.
— I always like Phil’s Lee Iaccoca voice.
— Funny part where, as soon as Merv Griffin is mentioned, Jon’s Fierstein looks dreamily into space while longingly saying “Merv….”
— The “gay bee” back-and-forth between Fierstein and a confused Iaccoca is a really funny part that I’ve always remembered fondly about this sketch.
STARS: ***½


DIE SQUAREN OST BERLINER
celebrity defections make game difficult
Donheiser (DAC)- German Donahue’s audience has defected to the west

— Funny concept of a foreign Hollywood Squares, with all the dialogue being delivered in German.
— A good laugh from how most of the celebrity guests are missing because they’ve defected.
— Nice use of Billy Joel.
— We even get to hear Don Pardo speaking in German.
— I’m enjoying Mike’s voice in this.
— It’s pretty amusing trying to figure out what everybody in the sketch is saying.
— Good bit with Jan being caught on her way out, complete with a suitcase.
— I love the mid-sketch commercial with Dana as an angry German version of Donahue.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Didn’t Start The Fire”


WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF gives drug war report from NYC crackhouse
PHH gives George Steinbrenner Health Watch update for hopeful Yankee fans
AWB says that the San Francisco earthquake is not the end of the world

 

— First time we’ve seen One Man Mobile Uplink Unit Al Franken in a long time. He completely skipped season 14, for some reason. I like how he’s reporting from a crackhouse tonight.
— Hmm, Uplink Unit Al even addresses the fact that we haven’t seen him in a while, and explains that the reason for his long absence is because he was addicted to pain pills (due to the strain of carrying all of that heavy mobile equipment).
— It might just be me, but the picture they showed of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (screencap below) kinda resembles future cast member Rob Schneider in Arab make-up.

Speaking of Rob Schneider, he joins the writing staff later this season and we’ll be seeing him (as well as his fellow added-to-the-writing-staff-later-this-season writer David Spade) appearing in lots of uncredited bit roles in the homestretch of this season, before eventually being added to the cast at some point next season.
— After just one episode, we already get a follow-up to the George Steinbrenner Health Watch segment.
— Despite the fact that Phil’s still playing himself like he did in the last Steinbrenner Health Watch installment, he’s wearing a rather strange wig this time for some reason.
— Some good laughs from Phil’s detailing of Steinbrenner’s mundane health issues, especially him saying “Sadly, the blood did clot” regarding Steinbrenner cutting himself shaving.
— Dennis’ stern “Beauty And The Beast is not real; it’s just a TV show” rant to Beauty And The Beast fans was decent. I half-expected him to deliver a William Shatner-esque “Get a life!” at one point.
— Loved Dennis’ joke about a Tone Loc-ness Monster.
— A mention of the notorious then-recent massive San Francisco earthquake that infamously interrupted that year’s World Series.
— A. Whitney, on how the Cubs’ failure to win the pennant means the world is not ending: “It’s in the bible: when the small bears from the Windy Place take the flag, THEN you shall know the end is nigh.”
— An overall short and sweet commentary from A. Whitney.
STARS: ***½


EGG MAN
an ovum confidant (PHH) counsels (host) about her wild son (DAC)

— I like the bizarre concept of this, and we get a very funny visual of Phil as a glasses-wearing talking egg.
— A good laugh from Egg Man’s panicky reaction to being manhandled by Kathleen during her angry rant.
— Egg Man giving noble advice is pretty funny.
— Dana’s giving an amusing performance as the wild punk-ish son.
— A few seasons later, SNL would do a sketch with Chris Farley as an advice-giving bee named Shmee, which I’ve always considered to be a sister sketch to Egg Man. I wonder if both sketches were written by the same person. Jack Handey, perhaps?
STARS: ***½


REALLY ORDINARY PEOPLE
average-seekers (host) & (KEN) enjoy their run-of-the-mill blind date

— Took me a while to see where this is going. I’m not too crazy about this premise of Kevin and Kathleen’s friendly pointing-out of the other’s averageness.
— Okay, I did get a good laugh from Kevin’s line about how he likes to crank his radio up to about 5.
— This ended on kind of a weird, empty note.
— This sketch as a whole didn’t work much for me. A rare misfire for Kevin Nealon.
STARS: **


ALL ABOUT DEBORAH NORVILLE
Jane Pauley (JAH) faces competition

— I got a good laugh from how Kathleen-as-Deborah-Norville’s increasingly nervous speaking to Jan’s Jane Pauley eventually devolved to her saying “You good, me bad.”
— Love Jon’s hilarious look as Gene Shalit.
— Could SNL have found a black extra who looks any LESS like Bryant Gumbel? (fourth screencap above) At least this serves as a happy reminder that this is thankfully the final season where SNL doesn’t have any black cast members.
— I feel kinda lost on the topicality of this sketch, but I’m getting a lot of enjoyment anyway, for the solid writing and very committed performances from Kathleen and Jan.
STARS: ****


LANK THOMPSON: I’M A HANDSOME MAN
Lank Thompson (MIM) plugs his “I’m A Handsome Man” course

— Good characterization from Mike here, and I love that cheesy smile he does at the end of every mini-scene.
— An overall pretty good debut of this soon-to-be-recurring sketch, though I like some of its later installments better (e.g. the ones with Alec Baldwin and Tim Meadows, respectively).
STARS: ***


555-TOON
phone sex from Jessica Rabbit (host) & other animated babes

— An amusingly clever naughty use of Kathleen’s Jessica Rabbit voice.
— The Flintstones ending was funny.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Downeaster Alexa”


MAXWELL HOUSE
Linda Ellerbee (NOD) & Willard Scott (JOL) do final ad for Maxwell House

— Hearing the opening Maxwell House sound effect jingle (those rhythmic boink-type sounds) was a blast from the past for me, reminding me of frequently seeing those Maxwell House commercials during my childhood.
— Hmm, I have no memory of Linda Ellerbee ever being a Maxwell House spokesperson.
— Jon is absolutely PRICELESS as a goofy, bare-bellied, Hawaiian outfit-wearing, hula-dancing Willard Scott.
— This is another sketch tonight that seems to be based on a topical story that I have no familiarity with, but Jon’s performance alone is making this sketch for me.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. There were a few misfires, but not enough to drag down the quality of the show too badly or anything.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rick Moranis)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
James Woods

Posted on

October 7, 1989 – Rick Moranis / Rickie Lee Jones (S15 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Jackie Mason (host) apologizes & endorses Ronald Lauder for NYC mayor

— Hilarious Jackie Mason impression from Rick Moranis.
— Lots of rapid-fire funny lines.
— Strange how both cold openings this season so far have a meta segue into “Live from New York” with the speaker (George Bush, Jackie Mason) having an exchange with someone off-camera who keeps urging him to say “Live from New York”, which he initially refuses to do.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host plays with SNL Band, works around the studio, delivers a baby

— Love the immediate deviation from a normal monologue, with Rick excitedly rushing over to the SNL Band to play with them. This is only the beginning, folks.
— Yes! Now he’s gone completely wild, going from playing with the SNL Band to riding around on a camera crane seat, dancing his way backstage, ironing Jon Lovitz’s pants, displaying special camera effects from the control room, applying Nora Dunn’s make-up, and even helping a woman give birth! And all of this occurs while the SNL Band plays a very extended version of SNL’s theme music. This is easily the longest the theme music has ever been continuously played in an SNL episode, clocking in at around 4½ minutes.
— Words cannot express how much I’ve always loved this overall monologue. Extremely fun, out of the ordinary, and easily one of my absolute all-time favorite monologues ever.
— For some reason, later airings of this episode would remove a portion of the scene where Rick is riding around on the camera crane seat (the fourth screencap above with Rick high in the air on the crane isn’t shown in reruns). The reruns would also replace the applying-Nora’s-make-up and delivering-a-woman’s-baby scenes with the dress rehearsal version. The most noticeable difference is that the dress version of the Nora scene has a smaller and completely different group of people standing in the background (which humorously includes a still-pantsless Jon Lovitz) than the live version has. (side-by-side comparison between dress and live below)

STARS: *****


THE BIG BITCH BULLDYKE BUSTOUT OF ’89
Leona Helmsley (NOD), Zsa Zsa Gabor (VIJ), Bakkers (JAH) & (host) go nuts

— Wild beginning with the prison fight involving Nora’s Leona Helmsley, Victoria’s Zsa Zsa Gabor, and a heavyset black woman.
— Excellent Zsa Zsa make-up on Victoria.
— From what I remember of my old viewings of Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode back in the day, I swear they cut the part showing the “The Big Bitch BullDyke Bustout of ’89” title. I had no idea that off-color title for this sketch even existed until I was surprised to later see it during NBC’s airing of this episode on “Classic SNL” in 2002. I’m guessing Comedy Central removed the title of this sketch for censorship reasons, due to the combo of the words “bitch” and “bulldyke” (which probably seems fairly tame for Comedy Central standards today in 2019, but remember, their edited version of this sketch was made sometime back in the 90s).
— I love the sudden entrance from Rick as Jim Bakker. Also, if you’ve ever seen a picture of the real Jim Bakker, you’d agree that casting Rick Moranis as him was a no-brainer.
— Great to see the return of Jan’s Tammy Faye Bakker.
— Love the banjo music playing during the map footage screen transition.
— The beginning of the convenience store scene has a funny little part with Jon’s purchases: a Playboy, a Penthouse, a large coffee, and a No-Doz.
— Always a very funny visual of Jan’s Tammy Faye having mascara running down her face whenever she cries.
— I’m loving all the insane intensity of this sketch.
— Ha, the car-driving-off-a-cliff stock footage is the same one that was used in the Toonces sketch that debuted in the previous season’s finale and would famously go on to be used in future Toonces sketches.
— A very strong overall sketch and featured great performances from all involved.
STARS: ****½


HONEY, I SHRUNK HANS & FRANZ
the tiny musclemen deal with a mouse

— I really like this idea of a crossover between Honey I Shrunk The Kids and Hans & Franz.
— Funny visual of Hans and Franz lifting a lemon and pistachio nuts.
— I like how their guest is an obviously-greenscreened mouse.
— An unintentionally amusing blooper when Hans and Franz say that their mouse guest has left even though the greenscreen is still showing the mouse behind them, which they then kinda acknowledge with an ad-lib.
— Hans, to a sucking-up Rick Moranis: “Don’t be kissing our tiny buttocks now.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Satellites”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Mr. Subliminal comments on Manuel Noriega & the situation in Panama
PHH gives George Steinbrenner Health Watch update for hopeful Yankee fans
detestable stereotype Frenchy (JOL) offends & disgusts during commentary

— I really liked Dennis’ opening bandaged middle finger bit regarding a picture of Bush.
— After sounding fairly low-energy in the previous week’s season premiere, Dennis’ delivery is back to its usual self.
— Kevin’s Mr. Subliminal makes his very first Weekend Update appearance.
— An unintentional laugh from Kevin’s accidental Noriega/Norwegian line flub.
— Another overall great subliminal routine from Kevin.
— Loved the rowdy audience response to Dennis’ Ben Johnson/horse joke.
— Great idea of a segment called the George Steinbrenner Health Watch, featuring a rare Update appearance from Phil Hartman.
— A funny new Jon Lovitz character: Frenchy, “the man you love to hate”.
— I love Jon’s constant “I’m Frenchy!” and “Didn’t mean to offend anybody”.
— Kinda feels like they’re setting up Frenchy to become a recurring character, but we end up never seeing him again.
— Loved Dennis’ Jim Bakker joke at the end.
STARS: ****


RESORTS INTERNATIONAL HOTEL
Merv Griffin (host) does all the work at his money-losing hotel

— Can’t judge the accuracy of Rick’s Merv Griffin impression, but he’s coming off very funny, especially the laugh he keeps doing.
— I like how it’s gradually being revealed that Merv Griffin is doing all the work in his casino, even being the parking valet.
— The laundry bit is really funny.
— An appearance from Phil’s Donald Trump impression.
— Much like the first time he played him, Phil’s Trump doesn’t sound as good as it would sound in later appearances his Trump makes. In these early Trump appearances, Phil’s just doing a generic fast-talking, somewhat-high-pitched New York accent, not really capturing Trump’s voice or cadence.
STARS: ***½


WILD HORSE
(PHH), (host), (MIM), (NOD) unsuccessfully try to ride a wild horse

— This sketch has a goofiness that I’ve always really liked. Despite this being a very repetitive, thin sketch that mainly consists of a close-up of each character bouncing out-of-control on the back of a wild horse and then a dummy of that character being thrown to the ranch fence, I’ve always found this sketch funny. This cast is just always good at pulling off silly sketches like this.
— I wonder why Mike was the only performer who didn’t get a dummy of himself thrown into the scene. Mike did his own stunt instead.
— Good ending gag with a male horse being thrown to the ranch fence like the humans were.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ghetto Of My Mind”


NEW COMMISSIONER
new commissioner (PHH) alters baseball rules in memory of Bart Giamatti

— I’m getting a lot of laughs from the increasingly ridiculous and over-the-top new baseball rules created as a dedication to the recently-deceased Bart Giamatti. I also like how the people at the conference are giving increasingly more hesitant applause at each insane new rule that’s announced.
— The already-funny dialogue is being made that much funnier by Phil’s fantastic low-key, mock-serious delivery here, which is tickling the hell out of me. This is one of the best displays of Phil’s ability to make absurd dialogue sound hilarious by delivering it completely straight.
— Phil: “From now on, everyone in this room, including myself, will be known as A. Bartlett Giamatti.”
— Love Phil’s angry response to Kevin’s reasonable objection to the new baseball rules.
— Great ending with everybody singing the new “Bartball” anthem.
STARS: ****½


BABY TALK
in a bar, (JAH), (NOD), (VIJ) bother a cute guy (host) with baby talk

— Some pretty good laughs from the ladies’ increasingly baby-ish gushing over Rick’s cuteness. Jan is especially funny at doing the baby voice.
— Reminds me a little of a bar sketch they would later do the following season with Jeremy Irons.
STARS: ***


WORD BUSTERS
contestants have to come up with the correct pain response

— Mike’s cheesy facial expression as Mark Linn-Baker (from Perfect Strangers) is dead-on.
— Love the format of this gameshow sketch, with contestants getting hit until they utter the correct pained response they’re supposed to.
— Mark Linn-Baker, during a long-winded answer to the question of how he’s so good at this game: “…a vast medical knowledge, nerve endings, pressure points and the like. I could go on.” Phil (deadpan, but with a fake smile): “Please don’t. I was asking out of politeness.”
— I particularly like the segment with Jan and Kevin, culminating in Jan’s collapse to the ground producing a “crash” sound instead of the correct “thud” sound.
— Kevin’s silent cocky facial expression throughout this sketch always makes me laugh.
— The speed round with Jon and Mike is hilarious.
— Nice touch with Jon’s bleeding lip at the end.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and a nice bounce back after the a-little-too-average season premiere. The quality was very consistent tonight, nothing was weak, a lot of the sketches were exceptionally solid, and we got one of my personal favorite monologues of all-time.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bruce Willis)
a fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kathleen Turner. Random thought: the musical guest in the episode I just reviewed, Rickie Lee Jones, strongly resembles Kathleen Turner. They should’ve had Jones as the musical guest for Turner’s episode, just so we could be treated to the freaky sight of them standing side-by-side during the goodnights.

Posted on

September 30, 1989 – Bruce Willis / Neil Young (S15 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
crack-holding George Bush (DAC) dares Medellin cartel to attack his clan

— Hmm, they’re starting the season with another Bush address, which is exactly how the previous season’s finale started.
— I liked the part about how Hurricane Hugo is a natural disaster, and thus, “not my fault.”
— Very memorable visual of him holding up a bag of crack that we’re told was purchased right there in the White House.
— A lot of great laughs from him detailing how tough his family is, especially the part with him talking about how his son Jeb is “packin’ heat” and can pull out a man’s heart and show it to the victim.
— Not too crazy about how the special segue to “Live from New York…” was just a carbon-copy of the one they used in the season 14 finale, with Bush saying “People up there are trying to drag me into that ‘Live from New York’ thing, but that’s something I’m not gonna do…. etc.” However, I would like to point out that when saying “not gonna do it” during that spiel tonight, he used the now-famous “nah gah dah” pronunciation for the first time ever.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same as the one from last season. No noteworthy changes here.


MONOLOGUE
host plays the harmonica with SNL Band & sings “Pep Talk”

— This is the first regular episode where the upper part of the home base stage has a triangular rooftop with a big neon version of SNL’s 15th anniversary logo (screencap below).

They actually first used this rooftop in the 15th Anniversary Special the previous week. Despite this, tonight’s opening montage still used the regular SNL logo from the previous season. The montage doesn’t begin using the 15th anniversary logo until some point in the 1990 half of this season (which I guess makes sense, as 1990 is technically the year SNL turns 15), though I think it would later be added into some of the reruns from the 1989 half.
— Great energetic entrance from Bruce, dancing to the theme music.
— Pretty funny story from Bruce regarding being an SNL caterer.
— We get a full-out blues musical number. There’s no comedy at all here, but it’s high-energy and fairly fun.
— They would later replace the first half of this monologue (as well as the theme music during the opening montage) with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. The most noticeable difference to me is Bruce’s entrance. Instead of entering with a lot of energetic bopping to the theme music as mentioned earlier, the rerun version has Bruce making a straightforward, dull, just-walk-out-onto-the-front-of-the-stage-and-stand-there-stiffly entrance.
STARS: ***


THIRTYSOMETHING
avoid nutritional angst by starting your day with thirtysomething cereal

— Pretty funny reveal of a breakfast cereal based on the show Thirtysomething.
— Even though I was only 5 years old at this time in 1989, I do remember Thirtysomething being a popular show back then, and I even have memories of watching it. Hell, I can even remember what the show’s logo looked like in the opening credits. I know it probably seems baffling that a 5 year old would be watching that show, but the more I think about it, I vaguely recall 5-year-old me just playing with my toys and stuff in the living room while my mom and/or dad was watching the show in the same room. That’s most likely where my childhood memories of the show come from.
— This commercial is an accurate parody of Thirtysomething’s acting style. Jan is especially giving a good mock-dramatic performance.
— Amusing how the cereal comes in the shape of Thirtysomething characters. I liked Jan’s delighted “I got an oat bran Elliott.”
— Kinda funny how at the end, they spelled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (now THERE’S something that 5-year-old me was interested in) as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Tertles” (screencap below), though I assume that’s for copyright reasons.

STARS: ***


WAYNE’S WORLD
coolest senior (host) makes “sphincter” the new hip word

— Wow, in just half a year, this sketch has gone from always being stuck in the 10-to-1 slot at the end of the show to now being the lead-off sketch in a season premiere. Let me remind you readers, Mike Myers is still just a featured player at this point and has only been on the show for half a season so far, and they’re letting him star in the lead-off sketch of the big season 15 premiere. That is INCREDIBLE.
— Loved the random Extreme Close-Up segment.
— Bruce’s too-cool-for-school character is okay, though it’s a somewhat dull role involving no effort.
— More and more, these early Wayne’s World sketches have been gradually growing into what everyone now remembers them as.
— Pretty funny reveal of “sphincter” being the cool word for the new school year.
— Another great random segment, this time with the Unnecessary Zoom.
— For the first time ever, we get an utterance of the soon-to-be catchphrase “Schwing!”, though it’s not used in the sexual context that we would typically hear it in during future Wayne’s World sketches. Tonight, Wayne says it as he mimes pulling out a proverbial knife that Garth stabbed him in the back with.
— Very funny part with the “sphincter” prank the guys pull on Wayne’s mom.
STARS: ***½


DONAHUE
topic-starved Phil Donahue (PHH) previews show about breast-naming women

— Short and sweet with the sudden hilarious reveal of “Women who name their breasts” being the next topic on Donahue’s show.
STARS: ****


HOME IMPROVEMENT
anal-retentive Gene shows how to saw a board & dispose of the refuse

— Nice to see them continuing to give this character new occupations.
— Good part with him detailing his method of using initials to help him remember the tools in his toolbelt.
— Very funny how he has a handy mini-vacuum for instantly cleaning up sawdust while he’s sawing wood.
— More funny details with how he prepares a scrapbag for throwing unused wood away in.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rockin’ In The Free World”


WEEKEND UPDATE
recent widow Imelda Marcos (NOD) wants to get rid of Ferdinand’s body
VIJ reports from Times Square about lack of activity during Rosh Hashanah
a retrospective of SNL’s second 15 years uses clips from tonight’s show
to AWB, legislation to outlaw flag-burning is simple idolatry

   

— Dennis’ delivery seems slightly lower-energy tonight.
— Hmm, we’re starting off Update with an awful lot of corny picture-based gags.
— Nora’s Imelda Marcos impression makes me laugh, and her overall commentary was decent.
— Dennis’ abortion joke receiving groans from the audience was pretty funny.
— Dennis’ whole “Depp! Grieco!” bit was priceless. Probably one of my favorite random bits that Dennis has ever done on Update.
— I mentioned this in two earlier Weekend Update reviews from the original era (read this one), but Victoria’s Times Square/Rosh Hashanah commentary tonight is a complete rip-off of something that Laraine Newman once did in a season 2 Weekend Update. Victoria’s version would later be completely removed from reruns. In the old review linked above, I had a theory that the reason Victoria’s commentary is removed from reruns is because the writer of the original Laraine commentary probably called in and complained to the show about stealing his or her bit. However, I now have another theory: they may have removed Victoria’s commentary from reruns to make extra room for a cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketch that’s added in reruns to replace a Johnny O’Connor sketch from later tonight.
— In response to SNL’s recent 15th Anniversary Special, Dennis makes a tongue-in-cheek announcement that later tonight, NBC will present a retrospective celebration of SNL’s second 15 years. We’re then shown highlights from that celebration, which is just clips of sketches from earlier in tonight’s episode. Funny bit. SNL would later do a gag in a similar vein during the season 24 premiere, where they show a fake ad for “The Best of the First 20 Minutes of Saturday Night Live”, a compilation special consisting only of clips from the first 20 minutes of that night’s episode.
— A. Whitney: “To me [as a teenager], a Playboy centerfold picture was a symbol of sex in the same way a photo opportunity in a flag factory is a symbol of freedom. In other words, they’re both just jerking off.”
STARS: ***


NEW LEADING MAN
Johnny O’Connor takes a backseat to new leading man (host)

— Here’s the aforementioned sketch that’s removed from reruns. The cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketch that replaces it is about terrorists hijacking a plane and killing innocent passengers whenever one passenger (Bruce Willis) keeps making wisecracks in response to everything the terrorists say.
— The return of Phil and Jon’s characters from the famous Johnny O’Connor sketch from way back in Phil’s second episode as a cast member. Weird how it took the show THREE YEARS to make this sketch recurring.
— Great interplay between Phil and Jon as usual.
— I love Phil’s manic “RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT!” delivery.
— A good laugh from the casual mention of a movie titled “Water Baby Virgins of Krakatoa”.
— What’s with Bruce’s exaggerated double-takes throughout this?
— I found this overall sketch fine in its own right, though it pales badly in comparison to the classic first Johnny O’Connor sketch.
STARS: ***


SPROCKETS
Jimmy Stewart’s (DAC) cute poems have nihilistic undercurrents

— Proving even further that Mike is continuing to move up in importance on the show, we now get our second big Mike Myers recurring sketch tonight alone. Really makes you wonder why they haven’t promoted Mike from a featured player to a regular cast member yet. (He does eventually get promoted later this season)
— I like Dieter’s dark intro to Jimmy Stewart, and then adding as almost an afterthought, “He has also appeared in films.”
— Dieter mentions a fictional critic named Graus Grek, which is a name that would later be used for Woody Harrelson’s character in a future Sprockets sketch (not the one from Harrelson’s episode this season, but from Harrelson’s season 17 episode; he plays a different character in both Sprockets sketches).
— I like how they’re having Dana’s Jimmy Stewart as a Sprockets guest.
— Dieter: “That poem pulls down my pants and taunts me.”
— Jimmy Stewart: “I wrote that poem on a piece of toilet paper after waking up in a puddle of my own sick.”
— Jimmy Stewart’s fight with Dieter’s monkey is hilarious.
— An overall big improvement over the underwhelming Sprockets sketch from the previous season’s finale.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Needle & The Damage Done” & “No More”


BRUCE WILLIS: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC
album of host’s bluesy commercial jingles pays for all his possessions

— Bruce missed his cue to start singing the Depends jingle, which threw him off when he finally did start singing it. Because of this, SNL would later use the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns.
— Catchy jingle, but pretty much a one-joke sketch, and not a particularly hilarious one.
STARS: **½


DONAHUE
another topic for desperate Phil Donahue (PHH)- shoelaces caught in shoes

— Ehh, nowhere near as funny as the one from earlier tonight, though I do like the idea of it being a runner tonight that Donahue is increasingly desperate for show topics.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent season premiere, though felt a little too average for this era’s standards. Compared to the phenomenal season premiere from the year before (Tom Hanks/Keith Richards), this one doesn’t measure up. However, judging this episode on its own merits, I was fine with a lot of the show and there were some really solid pieces in the first half.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1988-89)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rick Moranis