Tag: Season 3

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January 28, 1978 – Robert Klein / Bonnie Raitt (S3 E10)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Charlie’s Angels Catch The Syph will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
MOD & Tina Turner (GAM) join to perform “Proud Mary”

     
— We start off with the debut of Paul Shaffer’s Don Kirschner impression. Funnily enough, his name is displayed on the bottom of the screen in the same memorable font as the one used in SNL’s opening montage from the first two seasons.
— Is this gonna be a Blues Brothers number?
— Oh, it’s actually “The Mr. Mike and Tina Turner Revue”.
— Yet another instance of Garrett in drag.
— The juxtaposition of Mr. Mike doing a Least Loved Bedtime Tale during the song is great.
— Oh my god at Garrett’s sudden wild dancing. Hilarious!
— Wow, Garrett’s giving a great performance in this.
— A very energetic and inspired way to start the show.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about the time he played Shylock when back in college

 

— He points out that the first time he hosted was one of SNL’s very first episodes back when “nobody knew what they were doing yet”.
— Uh, didn’t he already do this “college brochure” bit in his monologue last time he hosted? I’m almost certain he did.
— The “subtle” antisemitism bit was hilarious, especially the sudden loud “HEY, JEW BOY!!!” remark.
— I’m liking a lot of his frequent little side comments & ad-libs during his routines.
— Overall, some really entertaining stand-up comedy here.
STARS: ****


THE OLYMPIA CAFE
Pete Dionasopolis’ (JOB) Olympia Cafe features a tripartite menu

   
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— I spotted Don Novello in the background. This must be his very first on-camera appearance.  I didn’t even know he was a writer yet at this point; he  must’ve been a recent mid-season hire.
— I’m loving the authentic feel of this whole thing, making this seem like we’re at a real cafe. Lots of subtle dead-on details in the performances.
— Bill’s ineptness when dealing with Robert’s order is hilarious.
— Ah, there’s the classic part with John rapidly pointing out to Robert all the “chee’burger chee’burger chee’burger”s that the patrons are having for breakfast when Robert complains that it’s too early for a cheeseburger.
— Overall, a strong debut.
STARS: ****


X-POLICE
X-Police terrorize a cohabitating couple (host) & (LAN)

   
— The return of X-Police! I think I’m in the minority in loving the first time they did the sketch, judging from lots of negative reviews I’ve read of that sketch from other SNL fans.
— Bill’s “slut” remark to Laraine got a good audience reaction.
— I loved Robert’s exaggerated growl when running towards the window to jump out of it.
— Overall, this was WAY too similar to the first X-Police sketch, basically doing all the exact same stuff with no variation. And while I liked the first time they did the sketch, I was looking forward to the sketch’s subsequent installments exploring different ground, not just repeating everything from the first one. Are the rest of the X-Police sketches (assuming there ARE any) like this?
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
Roseanne Roseannadanna’s topic wanders from an aneurysm to toenails

     
— This Update opens with a “sponsored by” gag, which, IIRC, would become a regular part of Update for a while.
— Finally, our first mention of “radioactive lobsters”, which kicks off the now-famous running premise of tonight’s episode. It’s about time. All the comments I had read about this episode over the years had me thinking the lobster premise was established right from the start of the show, which is why I’m surprised to see it didn’t happen until halfway through the episode.
— WTF at the accidental cutaway to Jane smiling hammily at the camera when Dan was doing the math formula joke.
— Why do I get the feeling that’s Tom Schiller’s hand that’s shown writing on the chalkboard?
— Ha, Jane made a funny ad-libbed “Was it worth it?” meta-comment after her brief Casey Stengel joke got badly screwed up by the camera.
— What the hell? Now Jane’s awkwardly stalling for time while Gilda is off-camera getting ready for an upcoming Roseanne Roseannadanna commentary. Jane acknowledges the fact that there’s still several news stories remaining but says there’s no point in doing them anymore (presumably because of how badly the last few jokes got screwed up). Holy hell, this Update has gone completely off the rails. What the fuck went wrong? It’s not every day you see an Update anchor actually aborting a joke on the air because of how sloppily things were going.
— Roseannadanna doing an aneurysm commentary. Haha, I can’t wait to see how gross this is going to get.
— Roseannadanna didn’t let me down. Her whole rant was very funny, especially the part about warts.
— Hmm, no letter from “Richard Feder” in tonight’s Roseannadanna commentary.  I thought that was a staple of all her appearances.
STARS: **½


NICK WINTERS
at a ski lodge, Nick “Winters” sings & Jimmy Joe Red Sky (DAA) reports

     
— Nick the Lounge Singer!
— I can tell from Bill’s outfit that this is going to be the installment with the famous moment where he sings lyrics to the Star Wars theme. I’ve often seen that as a clip in various SNL highlight reels, but I’ve never seen the full sketch itself.
— Bill’s opening “da da da” number hilarious.
— A good laugh from Robert calling Bill a pimp.
— I love Bill’s singing of “That’s The Way (Uh-Huh Uh-Huh) I Like It”.
— There’s the classic Star Wars number! It’s just as fantastic as I remember.
— Overall, an excellent second installment of this sketch; even better than his debut from late in the preceding season. This just may be the character at his absolute peak.
STARS: *****


FROGS LOOK AT FILM
Jerry Lewis (host) & The Nutty Air Traffic Controller

  
— Well, judging from the show’s title and Laraine’s intro, THIS is going to be a weird sketch.
— Who’s gonna play Jerry Lewis? I can’t picture anyone in this cast playing him, so I guess it’s gonna be Robert.
— Yep, it IS Robert.
— What’s with the studio audience? They’re completely silent.
— The concept reminds me of Lucy A-Bomb sketch. Dan’s even playing his uptight straight man character the same way he did in that sketch.
— Overall, a very accurate Jerry Lewis parody and a decently-performed sketch, though not anything I’d call great (then again, I’m in the minority in not finding Lucy A-Bomb to be a classic, either).
STARS: ***


NERD ROCK
KLOG deejay plugs album of nerds Todd (BIM), Lisa (GIR), Spaz (host)

   
— At first, I almost thought this was going to be a sequel to Dan’s AM/FM sketch.
— Is this the debut of Bill and Gilda’s Nerds characters?
— Hmm, never mind. Bill and Gilda’s characters in this aren’t named Todd and Lisa, so I guess this is just an early prototype of the Nerds sketches.
— Then again, just now, Bill did the noogie routine his Todd character would become well-known for.
— And now, Jane entering as a character called Mrs. Loopner proves that this IS the official debut of the Nerds.  Interesting seeing how different the sketch was in its first appearance.
— Overall, a pretty funny sketch; Bill was especially strong in it. Weird, though, seeing him play Todd with a mustache; all the Nerds sketches I saw in the past had a clean-shaven Bill.
STARS: ***½


LOBSTER UPDATE
JAC breaks in with a news flash- giant lobsters are headed for NYC


— I had been wondering when the heck they were going to continue the lobster premise that was established on Weekend Update. I have to say, I’m kinda disappointed to see that the premise hasn’t been dominating this episode as much as I was expecting it to.
— Robert’s comment about lobsters not eating Orthodox Jews was pretty funny.
STARS: N/A


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Ha, in the middle of the performance, we get a news update scrolling across the screen regarding the whereabouts of the giant lobsters. Great commitment to the premise, having it actually “interrupt” a musical performance. They’re starting to go all out with this concept, which is exactly what I wanted to see when I came into this episode.

 


RHONDA & BARBARA
Rhonda Weiss & Barbara talk & smoke some dope

   
— The audience is getting a huge kick out of the stoner humor in this, which shows what a novelty that type of comedy was back in the 70s.
— This has been way too slow so far, but I just now finally got my first big laugh, with the “I hear a black man stealing your jewelry” bit.
— The fourth wall has broken with Jane and Gilda dropping character to question what the hell that sudden odd noise is. Must be a continuation of the lobster premise.
— The audience went nuts at the sight of John walking on in a Bee costume.
— There’s the “Attack of the Atomic Lobsters” title. I guess I should separate the remainder of this into its own segment.
STARS: ???


ATTACK OF THE ATOMIC LOBSTERS
large seafood invades Rockefeller Center
host describes the scene as the lobsters wreak chaos in the studio

       
— Haha, a pre-taped special effect sequence of the lobsters in the city. Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting the whole episode for the lobster premise to fully take off.
— The cheesy stop-motion effects is adding to the great surreal-ness of this whole thing.
— They truly are going all out with this, now even getting the audience involved.
— Klein on Belushi’s death: “He had his whole life ahead of him… or at least two or three more years, anyway.” Yet another prediction of John dying in a few years… and we haven’t even reached whichever episode has “Don’t Look Back in Anger” where John says at one point “They all thought I’d be the first to go”.
— Wow, this whole thing is getting INSANE. I love it.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS
(MOD) & (TOD) develop a plan to cook the crustacean menace

   
— A continuation of the lobster attacks. Hell, even the Robert Klein bumper pic that preceded these goodnights had screaming and lobster noises in the background instead of the usual piano music and audience applause that always precedes the goodnights. It can’t be said enough how much I’m enjoying the way they’re going all out with this whole thing. Earlier in the episode, I expressed disappointment over how light the first 2/3rds of this episode was on the lobster premise, but they’re making up for it IN SPADES with these last 15 minutes.
— Now Pardo’s getting involved in the action.
— I’m loving the strange conversation between the two off-camera voices (who appear to be Tom Davis and……. Bill Murray, maybe? No, wait, I think it’s Michael O’Donoghue) while the scrolling end credits is displayed over a snowy static screen. Such a unique, unconventional, deadpan way to end an SNL episode.
— Among the scrolling end credits: “Lobster roars by Chevy Chase”. Wait, WHAT?!?!??!

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Oh my god, I can’t believe the greatness I just witnessed! Uh, sorry, folks, I’m still on a natural high from that epic ending. As someone who’s a fan of anytime SNL breaks their own format and anytime they do a rare “conceptual episode”, I got such great pleasure out of how the Atomic Lobster premise progressed. This definitely lived up to all the hype from over the years.
— The rest of the episode was no slouch, either. Between that wild Mr. Mike/Tina Turner opening number, a solid stand-up monologue, the debuts of some of the most defining recurring characters of this whole era (Olympia Cafe, Nerds), and what’s probably the most well-remembered Nick the Lounge Singer installment of all-time, there was plenty to love in this overall great episode.
— Robert Klein did another solid job hosting, and he also held his own during the whole lobster attack, doing excellent narration of all the carnage.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Martin):
— a big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Chevy’s back… and boy, does something infamous happen backstage right before airtime

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January 21, 1978 – Steve Martin / The Dirt Band, Randy Newman (S3 E9)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Bruce Jenner Wins The Javelin Catch will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
Jimmy Carter’s (DAA) State Of The Union address bores Congressmen

   
— I’m expecting this to be long, as SNL’s State of the Union parodies over the years tend to be very lengthy.
— The disclaimers in the stock footage cutaways are pretty funny.
— I’m also liking John and Bill’s antics in background.
— Wow, I’m surprised this is over already. Contrary to my earlier prediction, this was not long at all; in fact, it was shorter than a lot of cold openings in general are.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host electrocutes self, tells how to be a millionaire & never pay taxes

   
— The “John Belushi stole my $50!” bit was great.
— I like how the microphone electrocution bit was such a random non-sequitur.
— Overall, the usual strong Steve Martin monologue.
STARS: ****


SWILL
— Rerun


THE MYSTERY OF BIGFOOT
ranger (host) overlooks obvious clues pointing to (JOB) as Bigfoot

   
— Well… this whole sketch certainly came and went with nothing to note at all. Overall, I wasn’t crazy about this, and I felt the premise and the jokes were too obvious. No way should this have been the first sketch of the night.
STARS: **


FESTRUNK BROTHERS
Georg & Yortuk Festrunk meet their Croatian computer dates (JAC) & (LAN)

    
— The Festrunks in their second appearance.
— These characters are already getting good recognition applause from the audience.
— The characters now have the hats that would become part of their trademark look.
— Computer dating was a thing even back in 1978?
— I really like the turn this has taken with the brothers’ “American” dates turning out to be wild Croatians who are basically the female version of the Festrunks.
— John is hilarious as the Croatian uncle.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE DIRT BAND)


THE BODY FLOSS
Body Floss is the Swedish way to make hygiene efficient & fun

  
— Ha, why in the world was Garrett randomly in the shower with Bill? I had to laugh at how there was no acknowledgement of that within the sketch.
— I got a good unintended(?) chuckle from Steve’s frozen smile into the camera at the end.
— Overall, a pretty ho-hum fake ad, but the performances were fun at least.
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
Roseanne Roseannadanna rambles from lack of heat to disgusting food

   
— Funny hearing an innocent mention of Fred Silverman being NBC’s new president. If they only knew back then how doomed his reign at NBC would be…
— Jane’s endless list of President Carter’s poor track record in his first year in the White House was eye-opening to me and made me start to understand why people back then were already predicting he’d end up a one-termer. Again, going through these SNL seasons in chronological order is providing a great history lesson for me.
— Roseanne Roseannadanna in her very first Update commentary.
— Roseannadanna’s disgusting food rant and Jane’s reaction are pretty funny. A good way for this character to make her Update debut.
— Short Update.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (RANDY NEWMAN)


FAMILY FEUD
Coneheads win despite unconventional answers

   
— I like the voice Bill is using, even though I can’t really judge how accurate of a Richard Dawson impression it is, as the Dawson era of Family Feud was before my time. I do know enough about Dawson to know that 1) Bill’s impression doesn’t look anything like him, and 2) Bill’s habit of kissing the female contestants is accurate to the real Dawson.
— The interplay between John and Bill is pretty funny.
— An interesting, fresh setting for the Coneheads.
— I liked the “the big one” answer to the “What do people like to bite?” question.
— Richard Dawson to Beldar: “I want you to tell me the first thing comes into your head… which will probably be a low-flying plane.”
STARS: ****


WHAT IF?
tonight’s simulation involves Napoleon (JOB) with a B-52

  
— Jane’s obligatory talk show host of the night being named “Joan Cage” seems to be a variation of the “Joan Face” name she had in an earlier talk show sketch this season.
— The Napoleon/B-52 concept doesn’t seem all that promising.
— Ha, Steve just sounds like he’s reusing his Festrunk Brothers voice.
— The whole dramatization is actually quite dull.
— I do know “What If?” ends up becoming a recurring sketch, and while I’ve never seen any of the subsequent installments yet, I did hear that one of them is about Superman as a Nazi, which sounds much more promising than tonight’s installment.
— Jane saying at the end that the next episode’s topic is “What if God and Superman got into a fight” seems to have been part of the inspiration for the aforementioned Superman Nazi sketch.
STARS: **


HOLLYWOOD HOMES
by Gary Weis- host tours Hollywood homes of his “close personal friends”

   
— I like the part with Steve talking to “Sonny Bono”.
— The repeated joke of Steve yelling a celebrity’s name outside of their mansion and getting no answer is starting to get a little tiring.
— Very funny part with Steve claiming he’s standing outside of Rin Tin Tin’s house.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE DIRT BAND & STEVE MARTIN)


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Well, it had to happen sooner or later: a Steve Martin episode that was average. Before this point, all of his episodes were strong and memorable, so I was kinda disappointed to see that tonight’s didn’t measure up. While this was far from a bad episode, there weren’t anywhere near as many well-remembered sketches that Steve’s episodes from this era usually have, and tonight also had a few more ho-hum sketches than I’m used to seeing in his episodes.
— It felt like there was an unusually low amount of sketches tonight, which may be something I have to get used to soon, as I recall seasons 4 & 5 often had episodes with a small amount of sketches.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Robert Klein, a.k.a. the “Attack of the Atomic Lobsters” episode!!!

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December 17, 1977 – Miskel Spillman / Elvis Costello (S3 E8)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
How The Grinch Raped & Strangled Christmas will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
JOB ushered host into SNL’s drug culture by giving her a joint

 
— Having John worry about what will happen if Miskel Spillman forgets her lines is kinda silly. Are we viewers supposed to forget that all the lines on this show are WRITTEN ON CUE CARDS?
— John: “I plan to be dead by 30.” Heh, I feel bad for now laughing at that, but his casual delivery of it was damn good. FWIW, he was only off by three years in his prediction.
— Buck!
— Funny reveal that John gave Miskel a joint.
— Buck: “John, your joints overwhelm even an experienced drug user like myself.”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Buck Henry [real] introduces host, winner of the Anyone Can Host Contest

 
— Good continuation of the cold opening’s premise, with Miskel making her monologue entrance while holding a fruit bowl.
— I like how Buck is continuing to act as basically the emcee of the Anyone Can Host contest.
— A huge applause break from the audience when Buck officially announces Miskel as the winner of the contest.
— Miskel acting high the whole time is decent, especially her constant refusal to give the fruit bowl to Buck.
STARS: ***


MEAT WAGON ACTION TRACK SET
Meat Wagon toy ambulance attends to gruesome slot car racing accidents

 
— An okay ad, but I felt it wasn’t quite as dark and gruesome as it needed to be.
— The mention at the end of the toy being “by Mainway” was a hilarious callback to a certain Dan Aykroyd character.
STARS: ***


AMERICAN DATE THE SELF-CONSCIOUS ASSOCIATION
LAN says the self-conscious & the extremely obnoxious should go on dates

   
— Bill’s pretty funny during the self-conscious date with Gilda.
— Laraine seems kinda out of place as the spokesperson; maybe cause Jane or Dan usually play this type of role.
— Dan’s voice as the member of the Really Stupid People’s Amalgamation was hilarious.
— An overall good sketch that took a lot of unexpected turns with the various groups that were introduced.
STARS: ***½


THE GIFT OF THE MAGI
JAC narrates a variant of The Gift Of The Magi enacted by (JOB) & (GIR)

   
— That sure was one long build-up to the punchline. And I’m not sure how to feel about this punchline, considering it’s yet another sketch with Belushi beating up a woman, a routine that’s very hit-and-miss with me. I suppose it’s fairly funny in this particular sketch, since it came out of nowhere after such a long, saccharine set-up.
— I did like John working in his “But noooooo” line from Update (which hadn’t yet become a catchphrase for him at this point).
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
(no synopsis available)


WEEKEND UPDATE
JAC calls Dan Aykroyd fan Jimmy Carter (DAA) during Menachem Begin summit
GAM does a Point Of View about whites using blacks as scapegoats
BIM is disappointed in Miracle On 34th Street’s ambiguous stance on Santa
NBC Dancing N is revealed to be Emily Litella
Emily Litella’s editorial about the “sst” landing in NYC drives JAC crazy
JAC rings out recently-deceased New Year’s Eve bandleader Guy Lombardo

       
— Anchorman Dan now has glasses.
— The Jimmy Carter call is okay. Is that a pre-taped Dan doing the Carter voice, or is he doing it live?
— Ah, the camera revealed that Dan’s indeed doing the voice live.
— A clip is shown of the infamous then-recent Kermit Washington/Rudy Tomjanovich NBA fight. If you’re not familiar with that incident, the injuries that Tomjanovich sustained from that punch were BRUTAL; it literally almost killed him.
— I loved Garrett’s dumbfounded reaction to seeing that “whitey” was indeed hit in the aforementioned clip.
— Bill got a noteworthy good reaction from the audience after he started his commentary. It’s nice to see how popular he’s become with the audience.
— Bill’s overall commentary was very up-and-down, being funny in some moments and dragging in other moments. It kinda hurts to admit that I’ve been kinda underwhelmed with his last few review commentaries in general.
— I did like the camera panning over to Jane’s deadpan WTF-type facial reaction when Bill’s commentary oddly ended with him sleeping on a pillow.
— Emily Litella has been revealed as the NBC Dancing N. So was that always Gilda in that costume during all of the Dancing N’s appearances earlier this season?
— Jane begrudgingly lets Litella do a commentary for the first time all season. Can’t say I’ve been missing her presence this season; I had been hoping she was retired by this point.
— Jane’s loud angry rant at Litella was great.
— The way Litella’s commentary ended made it seem like this is intended to be her final appearance. I hope that’s true, but then again, the recent Samurai sketch that ended with Futaba killing himself still didn’t stop them from soon continuing to do more Samuari sketches, so I’m not getting my hopes up about Litella’s alleged retirement.
— The New Years ball drop bit was a creative way to honor the then-recently-passed Guy Lombardo.
STARS: ***


SARTRESKY & HUTCH
philosopher cops handle hostage situation

     
— Funny concept for a Starsky and Hutch take-off.
— The camera stayed on Garrett WAY too long at the end of the police station scene.
— Ha, Buck in a sketch.
— Dan’s sudden “blow his freakin’ head off” in the middle of his usual philosophizing was really funny.
— The fake freeze-frame ending was good.
— I wanted to like this more than I did. It started fine and featured an unsurprisingly great performance from Dan, but I felt like the sketch’s quality gradually died down as it went along.
STARS: **


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF sings a tribute to parents Joe & Phoebe [real], then gets mad at them

   
— Wow, Franken’s parents are tiny.
— Franken suddenly blowing up at his parents is hilariously unexpected.
— Surprisingly, Davis was pretty much a non-entity in this.
STARS: ****


E. BUZZ MILLER’S ART CLASSICS
paintings of naked broads on display

 
— Dan’s hyena-esque laugh is hilarious.
— I’m getting some good laughs from Dan’s sleazy comments about the paintings, especially the picnic one.
— Overall, a much better E. Buzz Miller sketch than his debut in the Ruth Gordon episode.
STARS: ***½


GIRLFRIEND
college student (JOB) introduces elderly girlfriend (host) to his parents

 
— Looks like this will be an actual meaty role for Miskel, after being a non-entity for most of the night.
— Kinda funny how John and Miskel’s relationship is being treated like it’s normal.
— Funny ending, but overall, this sketch felt kinda lazy and underwritten.
STARS: **½


WINO SANTA
drunk department store Santa (BIM) enjoys vetoing girl’s (GIR) wish list

  
— Almost thought at first that this was going to be a sequel to the Santa-Wrap commercial.
— Bill’s gruff voice as Santa is making me laugh.
— I’m loving Bill’s Santa being a sarcastic asshole to Gilda.
— Overall, a quick, random sketch, but it was strong and Bill’s performance was excellent. Add this to the list of lesser-known early Bill Murray gems.
STARS: ****


MR. MIKE’S CORAL WATERS CAFE
LAN sings Madame Butterfly aria while MOD makes a Soiled Kimono

     
— This is the Mr. Mike sketch that was shown decades later as an encore presentation (introduced by Bill Murray) in the Sarah Jessica Parker episode from season 20, in tribute to O’Donoghue after he had passed. It was a very nice and well-meaning tribute, but it also sadly emphasized how far SNL’s quality had fallen in 1994, considering this Mr. Mike sketch was FAR better, FAR more clever, and FAR more entertaining than any of the actual new material that aired in that dreadful episode (with the possible exception of Norm Macdonald’s Weekend Update)… but I’ll go more into all of that when we reach that season.
— It’s nice to now see this sketch in the context of the actual episode it originally aired in.
— A very creative variation on the usual Least Loved Bedtime Tales.
— The text crawl with the story of the Soiled Kimono is the usual hilariously dark Mr. Mike-type humor that I love.
— I liked the “Are you kidding me?”-type look O’Donoghue gave Laraine after she asked “Do you eat the butterfly?”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

 
— Ah, there’s the the legendary moment with Costello abruptly cutting off the song, then saying “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here”, and then launching into “Radio, Radio” – a song he was forbidden to do on the show.
— I’m sure there’s no truth to this, but I remember hearing a rumor that after Costello switched to “Radio, Radio”, a pissed-off Lorne walked up next to the camera and held his middle finger up to Costello for the remainder of the performance. Again, I’m sure there’s no truth to that, but it sure is funny to picture 70s Lorne just standing there while giving the finger for two minutes straight with a deadpan look on his face.
— IIRC, Costello would later do a tongue-in-cheek recreation of this legendary song-switch moment during a performance with Beastie Boys at SNL’s 25th anniversary special.


GOODNIGHTS
host’s granddaughter [real] joins her on-stage

     
— Miskel looks adorable in that Christmas outfit.
— What’s with all the cutaways to various crew members throughout the studio? Is SNL just doing this because it’s the holidays?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall pretty good episode that got better as it went along. The first half of the show was just average, but the second half had several really strong sketches.
— One minor complaint I have is that for a Christmas episode, this barely featured any actual holiday-themed sketches.
— Miskel Spillman did very little of note, but it was probably intentional to go light on her, for several obvious reasons. This was probably the best we could get out of an 80-year-old grandmother who has no kind of acting experience. She did okay with what she was given, didn’t mess up too badly (aside from a few awkward pauses before some of her lines), and she came off endearing. Overall, SNL’s daring “Anyone Can Host” experiment has ended up being a moderate success.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Mary Kay Place):
— a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1978, with Steve Martin returning

Posted on

December 10, 1977 – Mary Kay Place / Willie Nelson (S3 E7)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
Grizzly Adams Sets Fire To His Head will not be seen tonight


COLD OPENING
host & castmembers resolve to do SNL’s peppiest show ever

     
— The whole set-up to this is reminding me of the cold opening of the Fran Tarkenton episode.
— Bill’s back to having a mustache for the first time since his first few months on the show.
— Dan’s shame when saying “I, for one, can’t” was pretty funny.
— The whole marching band ending with the cast one-by-one busting through a sheet and calling out their name is adding a lot of great energy.
— LOL, did I just hear Dan call himself “Gary” during the cast roll-call?
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host reads entries from her eighth-grade diary concerning a rebuff


— Uh…..
— Yeah, overall, I was very bored during the whole diary read, waiting for a funny twist that never came. And the alleged payoff at the end about “Danny” Aykroyd wasn’t enough to make up for it.
STARS: *½


HEY YOU!
(GIR) eschews subtlety with Hey You!, the perfume for one-night stands

     
— Ah, this famous commercial.
— Overall, this was excellent and featured one of Gilda’s most well-known performances. This season continues to be on a roll with strong, memorable fake ads.
STARS: *****


MORE INSECTS TO WORRY ABOUT
(JOB) on lens beetles & funny ants


— I heard this was supposed to air in the preceding episode, but got dropped for technical issues.
— John’s delivery of “This makes me wanna vomit” was a good laugh.
— Good ending with John getting angrily worked up when explaining what “funny ants” are.
— Overall, a good sketch.
— Not sure what kind of “technical issues” prevented this from airing the previous week; this was just a straightforward talk show sketch with two people talking the entire time. It’s not like this included lots of clips, graphics, or anything.
STARS: ***½


TOTAL WOMAN
devotees of Total Womanhood system are subservient toward husbands

  
— Mary Kay is fitting in pretty well with the female cast members here.
— Heh, Laraine looks kinda like Harpo Marx in that combo of the curly blonde wig and the man outfit she’s wearing during her and Gilda’s enactment.
— Loved Laraine saying (while acting as a man) that Gilda’s dog collar “makes me hot”. I feel like Laraine hasn’t had a lot of great moments so far this season, but I’m liking her in this sketch.
— Overall, a really good and well-written sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
(no synopsis available)


— Wow, an actual promo with Jane “previewing” what’s to come in tonight’s Weekend Update? There’s something you don’t often see on SNL.
STARS: N/A


WEEKEND UPDATE
bellboy (GAM) apes Johnny Roventini with a “call for Garrett Morris”
LAN demonstrates facial expressions that reveal the presence of a lie
forced into retirement by CBS, Eric Sevareid (BIM) says goodbye
JAC & DAA send get-well message to ailing cue card man Al Siegel

       
— Hmm, the Update set now has a screen in the middle, where the news story pictures are now going to be displayed from. This is a smart change, because I wasn’t crazy about how they had previously been displaying the pictures this season.
— No Pardo intro at all in this Update.
— What in the world was with the bit with Garrett walking on as a bellhop loudly announcing “Call for Garrett Morris!” in an exaggerated manner? The bit was so brief and random, and why was he announcing a call for himself? The audience gave an applause of recognition during his bit, so I’m assuming it was a reference to something I’m not familiar with.
— Laraine’s mic wasn’t working when she started talking. Also, there’s a distracting shadow on her that keeps moving.
— Overall, Laraine’s commentary was pretty pointless and weak. After impressing me in the last sketch, she’s unfortunately gone back to her typical forgettable season 3 performances.
— Interesting seeing Bill do an Update commentary as someone other than himself for once.
— Where’s Bill’s recently-grown-back mustache? Did they put flesh-colored make-up over it to make him resemble the guy he’s playing here? Ha, since when does this era care about accuracy in making a cast member look like who they’re impersonating? I thought that didn’t start happening until Harry Shearer came aboard in ’79.
— Bill sounds an awful lot like he’s doing his Walter Cronkite impression, even though he’s not playing him. Is this his default voice for ALL news anchors?
— Cronkite-type voice aside, Bill ended up doing a great job here. His delivery was fantastic and he had some really good witty remarks.
— Nice ending with Dan and Jane using a cue card to wish a “get well soon” to SNL’s ailing cue card man Al Siegel.
STARS: ***


MARRIED IN A MINUTE!
everything goes right for young women new to NYC

   
— Is the year 1961 a recurring theme tonight? It’s the year this sketch takes place, and it’s also the year the diary entry that Mary Kay read in the monologue came from.
— Heh, Garrett’s still dressed in the bellhop uniform he wore minutes ago.
— Another female ensemble sketch tonight.
— I’m getting a lot of laughs from the girls’ non-stop overly-convenient fortunes. Their performances are great, too.
— Good part with Mary Kay getting ecstatic over receiving a platter of a big pile of dirt as a “gift”.
— Haha, now the girls’ already-over-the-top good luck has gotten even funnier with Jane receiving a letter from God.
— Overall, a great sketch, and I loved the way this escalated.
STARS: ****


ANDY KAUFMAN
as Foreign Man, Andy Kaufman [real] tells a joke & tries levitation trick

     
— I recognize this already; I think I saw clips from this years ago in an Andy Kaufman documentary. I’m looking forward to seeing this in its full context.
— Love the part of the foreign gibberish song with Andy going back-and-forth between a crying high-pitched voice and an evil low-pitched voice.
— Haha, I like how even after the song, he’s continuing to casually speak in foreign gibberish as if the audience understands him. He’s even doing it during the audience member participation segment.
— Classic part with Andy doing a wild, fast-paced jig, then suddenly stopping and holding his side in pain. That was another thing that I had previously seen as a clip in the aforementioned Kaufman documentary.
— Overall, this whole thing was phenomenal. Absolutely one of the best appearances I’ve ever seen Andy do, and is a great example of why I’ve always been such a big fan of his.
STARS: *****


BAD MUSICAL
the story of Dutch microscope pioneer Leeuwenhoek (JOB)

     
— Funny line from Dan about how the musical closed just two-and-a-half minutes after opening on Broadway.
— Mary Kay’s solo “Maybe I’m too big for him” song actually sounds really good. Doesn’t that kinda ruin the concept, though? I thought this whole musical is supposed to be “bad”.
— Bill suddenly going into a sleazy “Let’s have sex” song is hilarious.
— I liked Gilda’s very random little jig, and the way she just abruptly stopped and then sheepishly walked off.
— Despite the aforementioned funny moments, I was underwhelmed by this sketch as a whole. The musical didn’t seem as “bad” or as weird as these Leonard Pinth-Garnell sketches usually are. I don’t know if I missed the main joke, or if this simply lacked the weirdness I usually love from these sketches.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


FARBERS CHANUKAH
Bobbi Farber explains Hanukkah’s origins to neighbors (BIM) & (host)

     
— The Farbers!
— Funny turn this has taken with Bill’s blunt “the Jews killed Christ” comment and the Farbers becoming uncomfortable by that.
— Hmm, John playing an additional role during the flashback. I remember hearing about a funny blooper in this sketch, in which Bill breaks character and cracks up when John’s makes his hasty return from the flashback set to the present-day set.
— Okay, here we are. In the corner of the screen when the camera was on just Gilda, Bill, and Mary Kay, it was clearly visible when John made his return to the set. That got a good reaction from the audience.
— Also, LOL at John’s now-ruffled hair, from the quick-change he did after the flashback scene.
— Hmm, no character break from Bill, though. Contrary to what I had heard, he actually kept his composure fairly well and didn’t really laugh, though he could be seen wiping away a tear and making an ad-lib about being “misty”.
— Overall, an okay Farbers sketch, but there have been more noteworthy ones.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 
— Tonight’s episode must’ve ran short, because the scrolling ending credits don’t start rolling until about a minute and a half after the goodnights music has started.
— When announcing the guests for next week’s episode, Pardo says that The Sex Pistols will be the musical guest. They must’ve ended up canceling at the last minute, because the musical guest for that episode would actually end up being Elvis Costello… who would memorably pull a certain infamous move that night.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty strong show, which is a pleasant surprise to me. For some reason, I was expecting a more average episode; probably because I have zero familiarity with Mary Kay Place. This episode turned out to be dominated by lots of solid, well-done segments, and there was only a small amount of lowlights.
— Mary Kay wasn’t a stand-out host, but she blended into the show finely and worked especially well with the female cast.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
— Anyone Can Host contest winner Miskel Spillman

Posted on

November 19, 1977 – Buck Henry / Leon Redbone (S3 E6)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


DISCLAIMER
The Waltons Eat Their Young will not be seen tonight


— Our very first of what would go on to be a recurring gag in this era, of episodes beginning with a funny quick “(insert fake show title here) will not be seen tonight” disclaimer.


COLD OPENING
the Anyone Can Host Contest finalists meet GAM, GIR, host

  
— Liked Garrett’s reaction to finding out the Anyone Can Host finalist who didn’t make it to the final 5 is mulatto.
— “I’m Miskell Spillman, I’m old.” Haha, right off the bat, I can ALREADY see how she ended up winning.
— Buck mentions this is his fifth time hosting. Interesting how in the mere two-and-a-half seasons that SNL has been in existence, they already have their very first five-timer.
— Overall, a decent introduction to the finalists.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
the Anyone Can Host Contest finalists give their qualifications

     
— The finalists accompany Buck as he’s making his monologue entrance.
— I was about to say the unemployed finalist seems like someone who would’ve been the favorite to win, since he looks like what I’ve always pictured a typical SNL fan in the 70s looked like. But OH MY GOD, that awful gobbling punchline of his turkey farm story was CRINGEWORTHY. I think he lost the contest right there at that very moment.
— Buck’s doing a great job leading this.
STARS: ***


LITTLE CHOCOLATE DONUTS
Little Chocolate Donuts made JOB’s decathlon world record possible

  
— Ah, yes, THIS classic.
— This perfectly captures and spoofs the feel of old Wheaties ads.
— A funny touch with John having a lit cigarette in his hand while talking to the camera.
— When I was a lot younger, I originally saw this fake ad in some kind of SNL compilation special (probably “SNL Goes Commercial” or one of the annual “Sports Extra” specials), and it was one of the very first things I ever saw John Belushi in, after hearing so much about him. Right off the bat with this commercial, I was able to see flashes of what the big deal about him was and why he’s considered an SNL legend.
— Overall, one of my favorite SNL commercials of all-time. This also joins the list of great fake ads from this season so far.
STARS: *****


SAMURAI PSYCHIATRIST
Futaba helps Mr. Dantley with parental issues

   
— Even though it’s supposed to be a surprise reveal who Buck’s speaking to at the beginning, I can already tell from the little portion of him that we can see that it’s Futaba.
— I was about to ask “Didn’t we just see a Samurai sketch two episodes ago when Grodin hosted?”, but I had forgotten that it’s a tradition to do this sketch whenever Buck hosts. Plus, the Grodin version was a truncated sketch that got “ruined” by Grodin breaking the fourth wall, so I guess it’s okay that they’re doing a full, normal version this early.
— Very funny part with Futaba’s demonstration of “the castration complex”.
— Futaba not being stopped from committing hara-kari for once is an interesting change of pace.
— Whoa, whoa, whoa…. Futaba actually DIED! I’m shocked. So they’re retiring the character for good?
— Don Pardo: “This has been the last episode of Samurai Psychiatrist.” Well, that proves it. I have to wonder, did they go on to keep their word and refrain from bringing this character back? Knowing how somewhat-heavily this era tended to lean on certain popular recurring characters, I’m gonna guess “no”.
— In fact, come to think of it, I know for sure they continued doing this character, because I recall hearing about a famous “Samurai Night Fever” sketch that appears later this season in, I think, O.J. Simpson’s episode. I wonder if there’s an explanation in the next Samurai sketch of how Futaba “came back to life”. Or did they just throw continuity out the window and act like his death never happened?
— Considering Buck would later end up hosting John’s final SNL episode, I wish they saved this sketch for then, as Futaba’s death would’ve been more appropriate for that night. Then again, I haven’t seen that episode yet, so maybe it already HAS a Samurai sketch with some kind of noteworthy conclusion.
STARS: ****


STUNT BABY
director Brian Whitney (BIM) has actor Howard (host) abuse a stunt baby

     
— Oh, this is a well-known sketch that I’ve always been eager to see.
— Love the morally-wrong concept of a baby being used as a stunt double for a brutal physical scene.
— Bill is great as the director, which is no surprise considering that Execution Rehearsal sketch from his first episode.
— Buck repeatedly punching the baby, slamming it against various parts of the room, and throwing through the window is hilariously dark. I love it.
— This sketch was the perfect length and didn’t belabor the point. I heard that in one of Buck’s later episodes, they would do some kind of follow-up, I think with a puppy instead of a baby.
STARS: ****½


A.M.O.A. SANITIZED MOTEL
the AMOA ensures that motel bathrooms are “sanitized for your protection”

   
— Sounds like there were audio issues at the beginning. You can very faintly hear a voice-over (Pardo, maybe) opening this sketch, but their mic isn’t working.
— The picture slideshow of the cleaning process isn’t all that funny.
— Garrett in drag again……
— I liked the ending with Dan, but overall, this was a forgettable commercial.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE
artist’s renderings illustrate how the genetic messenger determines sex
LAN cursorily interviews the Anyone Can Host Contest finalists
DAA & JAC ask Baba Wawa questions about Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem

     
— For the first time in a while, there was no opening gag with Pardo mispronouncing one of the anchor’s names.
— The return of the Tom Schiller childlike “artist’s rendering” drawings that used to be a frequent gag in Chevy’s Updates.
— Laraine’s remote segment with the finalists wasn’t too great.
— We haven’t seen Baba Wawa in a while.
— The Baba Wawa segment ended up being pretty forgettable.
— Another short Update, and also another Update I didn’t care for. This segment has not been doing too well lately, and Dan’s not even the main one to blame (I honestly haven’t been finding him quite as bad as people always say he was, aside from his disastrous second Update of the season).
STARS: **

REUNION IN KIEV
(GIR)’s train ride to Kiev involves yesterday-today-tomorrow confusion

   
— Funny how this flashback is showing Gilda in the exact same place we had just seen her in.
— I like how whenever the “screen ripple effect” happens when a flashback begins, you can see the performers rushing around the set to take their place for the flashback.
— The increasingly confusing flashbacks from days that hadn’t even happened yet is pretty funny.
— Overall, a good silly little sketch.
STARS: ***½


MR. MIKE’S RICKEY RAT CLUB
host & Ratketeers have Anything Bad Can Happen Day

     
— At first, I thought we were in for another Least Loved Bedtime Tale.
— I’m liking Mr. Mike deadpan-ly recalling all of his earlier needles-plunged-through-eyes celebrity impressions.
— “Rickey Rat Club”. I remember hearing about this sketch before; sounds like classic Mr. Mike fucked-up-ness.
— So far, I’m really enjoying this dark, bizarro version of the Mickey Mouse Club.
— Great ending with them trampolining a fake rat into the studio audience… at least I assume it was fake. Then again, considering this was a Mr. Mike-written sketch, I wouldn’t put it past him…
STARS: ****


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF & TOD narrate a montage of images documenting their history
Jackie Onassis (GIR) realizes TOD is choking, not playing charades

     
— The opening Franken and Davis caricature drawing that was introduced last time has now been modified into moving animation.
— I liked the fake magazine cover of a whole bunch of Franken lookalike kids.
— Interesting involvement of Gilda as Jackie Onassis.
— Much like the last Franken and Davis sketch from the season premiere, this has turned into a full-fledged sketch involving various performers.
— Davis using a gravy boat to write on the table during the extended choking scene was pretty funny.
STARS: ***


THE FIVE FINALISTS
by Gary Weis- the Anyone Can Host Contest finalists try to influence host

   
— Judging from what Buck’s saying in his intro, we’re in for a Gary Weis film. *groan* At least the show has been going really light on his films this season; we’ve only had two so far, whereas in season 2 and the second half of season 1, there was a Weis film almost every week.
— The unemployed finalist’s creepy anecdote was really funny, made even funnier by Buck’s deadpan facial reaction into the camera. (second screencap above)
— Miskell Spillman gets another big laugh tonight with her sole reason for hosting being “I’m going to kick soon”.
— Overall, surprisingly good for a Gary Weis film.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


LIFE AFTER DEATH
by TOS- “take a number, be seated” experience recalled

   
— A Schiller’s Reel!
— The repeated “take a number” reveals aren’t that funny.
— And that’s it? Damn, that was weak.
— What kind of bizarro world does tonight’s episode take place in, where Gary Weis had a much better film than Tom Schiller?
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS
Anyone Can Host Contest finalists make their final pitches

     

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good show. It feels like the sketches kinda took a backseat to the Anyone Can Host extravaganza, but most of the sketches we did get were fine, and some of them really strong (Stunt Baby, Rickey Rat Club).
— The segments with the finalists added a fairly fun energy and gave the show a different feel, which makes this the third consecutive unconventional-feeling episode (after Charles Grodin and Ray Charles). SNL was wise to have Buck as the host this particular night, since it was a given that he’d be perfect at leading the finalists segments with total ease. And of course, he was great as usual in the regular sketches as well.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ray Charles):
— a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Mary Kay Place

Posted on

November 12, 1977 – Ray Charles (S3 E5)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Don Corleone (JOB) doesn’t want to see any more Godfather on television


— The audience is very quiet so far. Not even an initial reaction to seeing John’s popular Don Corleone impression.
— John: “I want Grizzly Adams to wake up with a bear’s head on his pillow.”
— It’s over already? This was way too subdued for an opening sketch, and there were barely any real jokes. A waste of John’s Corleone impression.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— The very first shot in tonight’s montage is new, with glaring car headlights in a busy street.


— So far, everything else appears to be the same as the preceding episode’s montage.
— Two minor differences in the cast shots: Laraine’s shot lasted a little longer this time (I had mentioned in my last review that her shot was noticeably a few seconds shorter than the rest of the cast’s), and Gilda’s was a little shorter.


MONOLOGUE / MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

 
— Ray’s getting a couple of laughs talking about his initial refusal to host the show.
— Very funny part with Ray talking about the show fooling him into thinking he’s at Carnegie Hall and him then revealing “I’m not the real Ray Charles”. He’s showing promise as a host so far.
— This has launched into a full musical performance.
STARS: N/A


CARTER’S ENERGY PROGRAM
Jimmy Carter (DAA) is mad at public for not supporting his energy program


— The preceding musical performance has smoothly segued into this President Carter sketch with Dan.
— Dan’s Carter’s dismissive and bitter attitude towards America is pretty funny.
— We’re not even a full year into Carter’s presidency at this point, and already SNL accurately predicts that he would only last one term.
— Loved Dan’s “Honk off, bozos, you had your chance” line.
— This ending of this has segued right back into Ray’s musical performance.
— Overall, I felt this was a nice change of pace from the usual presidential address sketches.
STARS: ***½


MAMOREX
host & Ella Fitzgerald (GAM) demonstrate Mamorex’s sound reproduction

   
— As soon as Ray mentioned Ella Fitzgerald in his intro, I knew we’d be seeing Garrett in drag again.
— This has been only the second time in three seasons where Garrett played a woman. I’m starting to wonder if all the stuff I often heard about him always being stuck playing women was exaggerated. Either that, or maybe the drag roles occur more often in the second half of his SNL tenure.
— Them actually replaying audio of what Garrett just sang reminds of when they did that in the last episode, when Charles Grodin sang as Garfunkel.
— The reveal of Ray’s broken glasses was pretty funny.
— Overall, nothing too special as a whole.
STARS: **½


THE DOODY GIRLS
Howdy Doody’s widow (GIR) & sister (LAN) struggle to cope with his death

   
— Nice to see the return of Gilda’s Debbie Doody.
— A very funny sight gag with Gilda and Laraine’s difficulty in sitting down.
— Good visual gag with Gilda using puppet strings to hold up the urn of Howdy Doody’s ashes.
— I liked how after the sketch ended, the camera panned up to show the technicians operating the cast members’ puppet strings.
STARS: ***½


TOMORROW
during interview, host olfactorily analyzes Tom Snyder (DAA)


— Always love seeing Dan’s Tom Snyder.
— Funny line about music from the late 40s mainly being operated by the Ku Klux Klan.
— Loved Ray’s “I didn’t see it” response to Dan bringing up a movie about blind people.
— Good ending with Ray using his heightened sense of smell to call out oddities about Synder.
STARS: ***


WHAT’D I SAY
The Young Caucasians sing a whitebread version of “What’d I Say” for host
host performs “What’d I Say”

   
— LOL at the group name “The Young Caucasians”.
— Doing a 1950s whitebread version of “What’d I Say” is a funny idea, but it’s not coming off all that funny in practice and it’s also going on too long for my likes.  The commitment from the cast is fun, though.
— This has segued into another full musical performance from Ray.
STARS: N/A


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAA exhibits rabies symptoms as JAC reads a list of them
BIM gives away Close Encounters plot while slamming Time for doing same
the NBC Dancing N invites DAA & JAC to dance

     
— I’m liking the running joke this season with Pardo making a mistake when introducing the anchors at the beginning of each Update. Tonight, his overly-energetic delivery of “And now, Weekend Update with Chevy Chase!!” and his subsequent explanation that he was reading from an old script was funny.
— Yet another prediction of Jimmy Carter ending up a one-term president.
— Funny seeing an innocent Update joke about O.J. Simpson.  Speaking of whom, boy is it going to feel odd reviewing the episode he hosts later this season.
— Dan’s demonstration of rabies was okay though predictable.
— Dan badly messed up the set-up of the Bob & Ray joke.
— Bill’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” review isn’t as funny as his usual Update stuff this season.
— Update ends with Dan and Jane doing an old-timey dance number with the NBC Dancing N. All I can say is “meh”.
— Overall, I did not care for this Update. It was also strangely short.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


COMEDIAN FRANKLYN AJAYE
Franklyn Ajaye [real] does stand-up about watching old Star Trek reruns


— His name sounds familiar to me, but not as a stand-up comedian. I think he was a voice actor in some of the animated series I grew up watching in the 90s.
— Boy, this material is tepid so far.
— Unexpected n-bomb. I admit to laughing at that, which is more than I can say for the rest of this.
— What was with the painfully awkward way this ended?
— Overall, despite some occasional chuckles, this was really rough. One of the weaker stand-up guest performances I’ve ever seen on SNL.
STARS: *½


EVELYN WOODSKI SLOW READING COURSE
the Evelyn Woodski slow reading course lets you enjoy reading again

     
— An Evelyn Woodski reading sketch? Didn’t they do this before with Laraine in a season 1 episode? (BTW, I seem to be the only SNL reviewer in existence who actually liked that sketch)
— The beginning had me thinking I was in for another funny commercial with Dan as a manic fast-talking pitchman, but this ended up going in a different direction.
— The slow-reading braille part with Ray is very funny, especially the “blisters” line.
— Overall, I wasn’t too crazy about this during the first minute, but it got better as it went along.
STARS: ***


BLACKOUT
attempt by (DAA) & (GAM) to burglarize host is foiled by blackout

  
— It felt a bit odd seeing Ray actually walking all the way across the set to open the door.
— I love the exaggerated scuffle sounds during the blackout.
— Fairly funny payoff after the lights came back on.
— A short, simple sketch.
STARS: ***


NEXT WEEK
Buck Henry [real] announces that he will be hosting next week


— Hey, it’s Buck!
— We find out that the five “Anyone Can Host” contest finalists will make an appearance next week.
— Decent ending line from Buck.
STARS: N/A


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


MONET PAINTING
host & JOB perform “I Can’t Stop Loving You” with GIR, LAN, JAC
MOD attempts to fool host by unveiling fake Monet that he donated
host reveals his secret revenge against MOD

   
— During a brief number between the cast and Ray, John does a little bit of his great Ray Charles impression that we’ve heard him do on the show before.  Fun stuff.
— O’Donoghue has shown up out of nowhere.
— I wonder what his painting’s going to be.
— Haha! The “painting” simply being a board that says “Please Don’t Tell Him!” while Mr. Mike is kindly describing a beautiful painting to Ray is killing me.
— And now, this has gotten even funnier with Ray telling us about his plan for two big black dudes to beat the hell out of Mr. Mike during the after-party.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
host performs “On Saturday Night”


— Nice deviation from the usual goodnights, with Ray leading a musical performance as the cast and audience clap along to the beat.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode, though no segments stood out as particularly strong except for the painting one at the end. Most of the stuff tonight just stayed in the ‘average/pretty good’ range.
— Despite his obvious limitations, Ray was actually a fun host with a great sense of humor. He added an enjoyable, likable vibe to the night. And its interesting how the show felt like a hybrid of an SNL episode and a Ray Charles prime-time TV special.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charles Grodin):
— a moderate step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Buck’s coming back!

Posted on

October 29, 1977 – Charles Grodin / Paul Simon (S3 E4)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
having missed dress rehearsal, host is surprised to find that SNL is live


— Ah, yes, the famous premise of Charles Grodin missing the dress rehearsal.
— The concept of having an entire episode where the host doesn’t know how the show is run, doesn’t know it’s live, doesn’t know there’s an audience, etc. is one of the most creative and intriguing ideas the show would ever do, and would go on to be one of SNL’s very few “conceptual episodes” that deviates from the format of a normal episode.
— I remember seeing the syndicated 60-minute version of this episode way back in early 2002, and despite going into the episode with eager anticipation after hearing so many things about the big running premise, I recall being underwhelmed by the result of it. We’ll see if that opinion changes after this current viewing, 16 years later.
— John: “He doesn’t smoke dope; he’s just not one of us.”
— I liked the joke of everyone acting like it’s tragic that Charles forgot to get a gift for Garrett.
— An overall great way to kick off tonight’s premise.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— The jumbotron montage has been modified once again. For starters, the SNL logo is completely different, and I remember this being the logo they would go on to use for the rest of the season.
— The guests’ names are in the same font as the new SNL logo.
— A new animated graphic of the NBC logo appears in a rolling ball throughout this.
— New cast shots.
— In Garrett’s shot, he does the same “suspiciously hiding a seemingly-stolen handbag while innocently smiling at the camera” bit he does in the montage from the preceding two episodes. BTW, I can’t help but find it kinda racist that they gave the “stealing a handbag” bit to the one black guy in the cast.
— Laraine’s shot is a little strange. Not only does she not do anything beside stare stone-faced at the camera, but her shot is noticeably a few seconds shorter than the rest of the cast’s.

   


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

 
— Hmm, bright light bulbs surrounding the stage floor. I wonder if this is just for a guest performance tonight, or if it’s a now part of the overall look of the homebase stage.
— A continuation of the cold opening, with Charles not knowing there was going to be an audience.
— I liked his comment about how this “looks like a really cute show”.
— Wow, this was short.
STARS: **½


UPDATE PROMO
Weekend Update reporter DAA works overtime, but doesn’t accomplish much

  
— Another plane commercial with Dan.
— A Weekend Update commercial!
— I got a good laugh hearing Dan announced as an “award-winning newsman”.
— Funny reveal of the typewriter a sleep-deprived Dan is using not having any paper.
— Another surprisingly short segment.
STARS: ***½


RETURN OF THE CONEHEADS
neighbors (BIM) & (GIR) investigate Coneheads’ odd Halloween treats

   
— I remember seeing this when I was much younger, probably in one of SNL’s Halloween compilation specials. Back then, I recall loving one part where the Coneheads give trick-or-treaters an inappropriate gift, though I can’t remember what exactly it was.
— The audience went nuts at the beginning when one of the Coneheads entered.
— Ah, a 6-pack of beer. So THAT was the hilariously inappropriate gift I was trying to remember.
— After growing back a slight mustache in the last two episodes, Dan has gone clean-shaven again.
— Overall, this was a more straightforward installment compared to the extensive preceding Coneheads sketch where they travel back to their home planet, but this was still very strong and and one of the more memorable Coneheads installments.
— Knowing how hugely influential SNL was in the 70s, I bet self-made Conehead costumes were a hot trend among SNL fans that Halloween.
STARS: ****½


CHUCK’S FILM
host’s long-winded set-up leaves little time for chase scene clip

 
— The clip getting cut off before anything interesting happened in it, and Charles’ reaction to that is fairly funny.
— Another short sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


CONSUMER PROBE
Irwin Mainway promotes some unsafe Halloween costumes

   
— LOL at Jane’s character being named “Joan Face”. Also, a rare change of pace not seeing Jane play a talk show host with her own name.
— Great to see Irwin Mainway back, after his classic debut in the previous season’s Christmas episode.
— As usual, some very funny dangerous toys so far, especially Invisible Pedestrian.
— Jane has started a coughing fit that she seems to be having trouble getting out of.
— I liked Jane indignantly saying that “Johnny Human Torch ” is nothing more than oily rags and a lighter.
— I like how at the end when the camera panned above the set and into the audience, you can see the Weekend Update set directly behind this sketch’s set. That’s also interesting since this sketch’s only two performers are also the two Update anchors.
STARS: ****


ANYONE CAN HOST
BIM plugs Anyone Can Host Contest while MOD disqualifies entries


— Is this gonna be a sequel to Bill’s famous “I don’t think I’m making it on the show” piece? Bill’s dressed in the exact same outfit he wore in that sketch. And judging from the huge pile of letters on the desk, I guess this is going to be him reading fan mail. Why is O’Donoghue there, though?
— Oh, this is actually an Anyone Can Host follow-up segment.
— O’Donoghue deadpan-edly calling out the minor flaws of some of the postcards (“smudged corner”, “uneven margins”, “typing error”, etc) is really funny.
— Bill to viewers: “Lorne Michaels is willing to take a chance on an unknown, just like he did with me. Heck, this time next year, you can have my job.” LOL, did Bill really think he was still in danger of getting fired? He’s been doing undeniably well so far this season, and has come a long way from his awkward days as a newbie in season 2. I’m sure viewers came to like him by this point. Eh, I’m probably looking too much into what was simply a funny throwaway line.
— I like how Bill ended this with his smarmy, playful “get out of here, ya knuckleheads!” catchphrase that we’ve been hearing a lot this season. It’s almost become a personal game for me to predict when he’ll say it in sketches/Update segments where he either plays himself or a character like himself.
— I don’t usually rate these Anyone Can Host segments where it’s usually just Lorne or a cast member straightforwardly explaining the rules, but this one actually had a lot of humor in it, as well as a funny performance from both Bill and Michael, so……
STARS: ***½


SAMURAI DRY CLEANERS
Futaba’s antics cause host to break character

 
— Futaba!
— I like Charles ruining the sketch with his constant little fourth wall-breaking comments while Gilda keeps trying to shush him.
— I got a good laugh from Charles actually reading John’s fake Japanese gibberish off the cue cards
— Good ending with a frustrated John angrily destroying the table with the sword after his sketch has been ruined.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
NBC Dancing N hands DAA a filler bulletin as an excuse for dancing
BIM criticizes one-man theater for being cheap
silent DAA mimes news stories for silent film buffs
FBI agent (GAM) refutes claims of Jimmy Hoffa’s skeleton being found

     
— I liked the opening bit with Pardo reading “Jane Curtin” backwards (“Enaj Nitruc”).
— Another review from Bill “now get out of here, ya knuckleheads” Murray.
— Some funny lines here and there, but overall, Bill’s done better commentaries that this. Also, the bit with him telling bad ant puns seemed out-of-character for his Update role.
— Loved the “News For the Silent Movie Buff” segment. Dan may have been considered by many to be a poor Update anchor (I’m personally still up in the air about him; he had a disastrous second Update, but he hasn’t been TOO bad yet in the other Updates so far, despite occasional flashes of awkwardness), but this silent movie bit was something he was absolutely PERFECT for. It also reminded me of some of the random fun side bits that Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey would do in their Updates decades later.
— Is this Garrett’s first appearance of the whole night?
— I liked the “the baby is holding his own” punchline to Jane’s news story about fetuses experiencing sexual stimulation in the womb.
STARS: ***


SIMON & GARFUNKEL
host as Art Garfunkel & musical guest try to do “The Sound of Silence”
Art Garfunkel [real] halts host’s pitiful “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

   
— Haha, oh my god at Grodin in that Garfunkel wig.
— I like Grodin defending his not knowing lyrics by saying he’s learning them as they go along.
— It’s over already? This wasn’t quite as funny as I wanted it to be.
— Oh, wait, now Grodin’s starting another song after Paul walked off.
— Him singing the wrong lyrics to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is hilarious, especially the random bad attempt at a high note.
— Interesting that they’re actually replaying audio of what he just sang.
— Hmm, the real Art Garfunkel has shown up.  Doesn’t he actually host later this season?  Can’t imagine how that episode went.
— That was great, with Garfunkel bluntly saying “Chuck, hand it over” and Grodin shamefully pulling off his wig and handing it to Garfunkel.
— Great ending to an overall solid sketch. I really liked the way all of this built up.
STARS: ****


THE KILLER BEES
host’s unpreparedness ruins skit about trick-or-treating Killer Bees
JOB & GIR confront host about his absence at rehearsals

   
— Another example of Grodin breaking the fourth wall and Gilda shushing him while John and the others try desperately to keep the sketch going.
— This also keeps alive the general recurring theme of Killer Bees sketches always getting “ruined” by something.
— I liked Grodin over-questioning the logic of the Bees and starting a chain reaction of the cast members themselves also questioning it.
— I really liking John’s passionate “I’m a professional” rant. Not quite as funny as his angry rant to Rob Reiner in the Bees sketch from Reiner’s episode, but it’s still good.
— Funny how Grodin keeps moving his head along to the flailing antennae on John’s head while John’s ranting seriously.
— Love how John’s rant ended with him declaring Grodin “the lamest host we’ve ever had”.
STARS: ***½


BROWNIE
young girl Judy Miller (GIR) pretends to star in her own television show

   
— The famous Judy Miller sketch! I didn’t know that was in this episode. Then again, I think this ended up becoming a recurring sketch, so who knows if this is even the version of the sketch I’m thinking of (the one that’s often shown in highlight reels and compilation specials like “The Women of SNL”).
— Gilda is adorable and eerily dead-on as this hyperactive bouncy child character, and it’s a lot of fun to watch her throughout this.
— Okay, there’s the well-known part with her repeatedly throwing herself against the door, which I guess proves this IS the version often shown in specials. BTW, I remember hearing she broke a rib doing that. I always wondered if that’s true or not.
— Jane as the off-camera mother yelling at Gilda to quiet down throughout this is adding a very realistic feel to this already very accurate, true-to-life piece.
— Overall, a wonderful sketch, and an excellent sample of so many things that made Gilda a beloved performer.
STARS: ****½

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL OF FOOTBALL
The Professional School of Football can make you a pro athlete, says GAM

  
— I almost thought this was going to be some kind of follow-up to that Ambassador Training Institute commercial from season 1.
— The repeated “groin injury” option in the multiple choice questions is kinda funny and reminds me of the “Mesopotamia” running joke in the ATM bank sketch from season 2. That one was definitely funnier, though.
— Overall, this was forgettable filler. Garrett’s had a long streak of unimpressive solo sketches these last two seasons.
STARS: **


AUDIENCE CAPTION

 
— Haha, funny use of tonight’s running premise, by having a confused Grodin spotted in the audience. Reminds me of when they did that with Gilda in the episode where she was being “phased out”.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


HIRE THE INCOMPETENT
host speaks on behalf of incompetents like Roseanne Roseannadanna (GIR)
host finally gets to sing his song about his feelings about life

   
— Bill’s dopey testimonial about making grocery bagging mistakes is really funny. “Eggs bottom, cans top.”
— This feels like Laraine’s first appearance of whole night, until I remembered there was a Coneheads sketch earlier. Geez, Laraine was even more underused tonight than Garrett, and that’s saying something. When it comes to airtime in this cast, those two seem to be the low man on the totem pole.
— The debut of Roseanne Rosannadanna! Knowing she would go on to become a hugely popular Weekend Update-only character, it feels weird seeing her as an unnamed random character among other unnamed random characters giving testimonials in a sketch.
— Also, it’s interesting how we got the debut of two of Gilda’s most beloved characters in the same night.
— The Rosannadanna testimonial has been the funniest part of this sketch so far, and it’s making me kinda look forward to her future Update appearances. I just hope I don’t get as sick of her as quickly as I got sick of Emily Litella’s frequent appearances. Rosannadanna’s an inherently funnier character, IMO, so I don’t see myself getting TOO fatigued from her.
— I remember the aforementioned 60-minute syndicated version I saw of this episode abruptly cut this sketch off right after Grodin’s befuddled facial reaction to Gilda’s testimonial. I guess that edit was made for time reasons?
— Grodin insulting himself as a host, then stopping and saying “Wait, I’ve never seen that cue card before” made me laugh a lot.
— Grodin’s intentionally bad short song was pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

 
— Tonight’s running premise concludes with Grodin revealing they were just kidding and John (jokingly) brushing him off with a “Yeah, whatever” type of attitude.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I mentioned earlier that in my previous viewing of this episode in early 2002, I was underwhelmed by how the whole “Grodin missed dress rehearsal” running premise turned out. I’m not quite sure what 17-year-old me was thinking back then, because I enjoyed the concept MUCH more tonight. It was pulled off well, was interesting to watch the fourth wall constantly break, and added a fun vibe throughout the show. There were also several strong, memorable sketches unrelated to tonight’s running premise (Coneheads Halloween, Consumer Probe, Judy Miller). All of these positive aspects add up to a very solid episode.
— It tickles me that some SNL fans actually think the whole gimmick with Grodin being lost on how to do the show was REAL.
— IIRC, the only other time an SNL episode would try a running meta-premise of “the host isn’t on the same page as the cast” is when Garry Shandling hosted in 1987. You could also argue the Jason Patric episode from 1994 made a slight attempt at that, but BOY did that particular one not turn out well at all.
— I can’t wait until the next “conceptual episode” SNL does later this season, with the Attack of the Atomic Lobsters in the Robert Klein episode. I’ve never seen it before, but have heard so many good things.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Ray Charles

Posted on

October 15, 1977 – Hugh Hefner / Libby Titus (S3 E3)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
cartoonish nude (LAN) poorly recites some of Playboy’s Party Jokes

  
— Whoa at Laraine in that flesh-colored skin-tight outfit!
— Laraine’s pretty much just using her Sherry voice, despite the fact she’s playing a different character.
— Overall, I didn’t really get this cold opening at all. What exactly was this?
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Unlike the preceding episode, tonight’s jumbotron montage takes place at night.
— The animated graphic of a hand pulling a mouse’s tail has been removed.
— The cast shots are the same as the last episode.


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” as explanation scrolls by

  
— A fairly funny line from Hef about being okay with hosting the show because his friends say he’s “almost as funny as Ralph Nader”.
— Please don’t tell me him singing “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” is going to be the main “joke”.
— Ah, another scrolling disclaimer gag, which is always reliable.
STARS: ***


ANGORA BOUQUET
vacant (JAC) uses Angora Bouquet soap to wash her face & her brain

   
— The concept is very funny, and this is a great showcase for Jane.
— The rake ending was hilarious and caught me off-guard.
— This season is on a roll with great fake ads.
STARS: ****


PLANET OF THE MEN VS PLANET OF THE WOMEN
spaceships use sexual weapons

  
— The characters’ sexual names (e.g. “Lieutenant Areola”) are pretty funny.
— I liked the bit with a mouse being sent to the Planet of the Women to scare them.
— Admittedly, I’m getting laughs from the cheap innuendos (e.g. one of the girls saying the men’s ship is “not as big as we had hoped”).
— Overall, a pretty obvious sketch with easy jokes but this was pulled off the right way and was the perfect length.
— The mention of the next episode being titled “Escape from the Planet of the Gays” brings to mind those awful “Gays in Space” sketches SNL would later do in the mid-2000s.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


ANYONE CAN HOST
GAM reminds viewers of the Anyone Can Host Contest


— Another straightforward Anyone Can Host announcement. I do like Garrett’s delivery here, however.
STARS: N/A


X-POLICE
vigilante X-Police (BIM) & (DAA) terrorize pot smokers (JOB) & (JAC)

     
— X Police! I had been looking forward to revisiting this sketch (I previously saw it many years ago) after recently discovering that hilarious Dan/Chevy “Police State” sketch from season 1.
— John’s facial expression after taking a toke from his joint was hilarious.


— Dan and Bill’s rough manhandling of Jane and John is very funny.
— I got a big laugh from Jane panicking and jumping out the window.
— LOL at the blooper with Bill having trouble opening the door
— Funny touch with a woozy Jane having a gigantic bandage covering most of her face during the epilogue.
— Overall, I liked this a lot. As I was expecting, it had a lot of the type of humor I loved about the “Police State” sketch.
— I’m not 100% sure if X-Police becomes a recurring sketch, but if it does, I’m looking forward to future installments.
STARS: ****


CIRCULAR BED SEX RESEARCH
Jimmy Carter (DAA) interrupts circular bed sex research of host & (JAC)

   
— This seems like this might be going in an interesting direction.
— Nope, I was wrong.  Overall, I didn’t care for this. Not even Dan suddenly appearing as Jimmy Carter could save it.
STARS: **


LISTENING TO GREAT MUSIC
JOB on images evoked by “Ride Of The Valkyries”

   
— Funny to see John as himself hosting a show like this.
— I’m loving John’s increasingly over-the-top interpretations while listening to “Ride Of The Valkyries”.
— Hilarious ending with him absolutely destroying the set.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
press conference footage of Anita Bryant [real] getting a pie in the face
(TOS) leads a tour group through the Weekend Update set
Nadia Comaneci (GIR) says “come see me perform while I’m still cute”
NBC Dancing N hands DAA a bulletin- cocaine & heroin don’t mix

    
— The opening gag with Don Pardo incorrectly announcing Dan as “Don Aykroyd” and Dan correcting him almost seems to be a dig at a blooper from the preceding episode’s Update, where Dan seemingly forgot his own name during the sign-on (“I’m Dan………. uh…………… Aykroyd”).
— The real-life clip of homophobic Anita Bryant getting a pie thrown at her face by a gay protester during a press conference was hilarious! I can’t believe that really happened.
— Tom Schiller leading an on-the-set tour right in the middle of Update?  Well, this is random.
— And the tour bit has already ended. What was the point of that bit?
— Some of the last few Update jokes have been pretty weak. At least Dan’s not as awkward as his disastrous last Update.
— Okay, the abortion joke was really funny.
— Good to see the return of Gilda’s Nadia Comaneci impression.
— Gilda’s Comaneci commentary is pretty funny, especially her line about her mother having a mustache.
— The return of the gag with an NBC Dancing N handing the anchors a bulletin, which I guess will be a recurring bit this season.
— The punchline of the ‘cocaine and heroin do not mix’ joke was great: “If you must snort, don’t shoot.”
STARS: ***


SEX IN CINEMA
love scene actors obey letter but not intent of Hays Code

  
— Funny part with the “PLEASE STAND BY” graphic showing up after Hef simply said “penis”.
— We’re in for a Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn parody? I’m guessing Dan will play Grant and I can’t figure who in the female cast will play Hepburn.
— Oh, Bill is actually playing Grant and Laraine is Hepburn.
— Funny payoff with the wild movements of Bill’s foot during the bed scene.
STARS: ***


3 R’s
catatonic Colleen’s father (JOB) seeks damages from educators

 
— I think that’s the “How Your Children Grow” theme music that this sketch opened with.
— And Jane’s playing the talk show host again. Judging from how this sketch looks like it’s going to go, they might as well have just presented this as another “How Your Children Grow” installment.
— The return of Gilda’s catatonic Colleen character.
— John is very good as the Greek father.
— What the heck? Colleen dropping character and talking normal?
— The turn with Jane suddenly joining in on berating and physically abusing Gilda was kind of a weak joke, but I liked the way Jane pulled it off.
— Overall, despite some funny parts and good performances from everyone, this sketch didn’t really work too well as a whole.
STARS: **½


THE STORY OF H
host provides autobiographical narration

     
— Kinda interesting to see pictures of young Hef growing up, and the editing of this whole photo montage is very well-done.
— The humor of Hef’s narration treating his glorious lifestyle as a curse is falling flat.
— I think I just saw Buck Henry for a split second in the photo montage.
STARS: **


THE PLAYBOY PHILOSOPHY
host introduces The Playboy Philosophy to Socrates (JOB) & Plato (GAM)

 
— ANOTHER Playboy-related sketch??? This is getting tiring. Hef doesn’t have to play himself in EVERY sketch.
— John to Hef: “You have traveled wisely and visited all the topless resorts.”
— John is pretty stumbly with his lines in this.
— Overall, this was very weak and uninteresting.
STARS: *½


FUNERAL MAGICIAN
eulogist (BIM) cheers mourners by performing magic tricks during funeral

   
— This feels like the first regular, non-Hefner-type role that Hef has played all night.
— I’m really liking this. This sketch has a great concept that’s being executed very well by a perfect Bill Murray performance.
— Much like his friendly “now get out of here” catchphrase, Bill playfully saying “you knucklehead” is another funny Bill Murray-ism we’ve been seeing a lot this season.
— Hef is coming off weird in this role; he’s largely silent, almost as if the writers were afraid to give him any dialogue in a role where he’s not playing himself.
— I liked Dan managing to slip in his usual fast-paced commercial pitchman delivery during the ‘sawing the coffin in half’ part.
— On a similar note, Bill seemed to slip into his Nick the Lounge Singer character at the end, the way he led everyone into a “Put on a Happy Face” singalong.
— Overall, a lesser-known Bill Murray gem that I wasn’t even aware existed until now.
STARS: ****½


ANDY KAUFMAN
Andy Kaufman [real] sings “Oklahoma” & farm animal song, apes Elvis

     
— Not sure what the joke is so far. We’re just seeing straightforward singing of “Oklahoma”.
— Okay, the bad tap-dancing is kinda funny.
— Hmm, the song has now ended and there has yet to be any real jokes. I know this can’t be the entire segment.
— Oh, now he’s at the piano.
— The audience participation bit with the crowd repeating Andy every time he says “okay” is pretty funny.
— Now he’s doing another Elvis bit.
— As usual, very fun and energetic Elvis number.
— Overall, this was all over the place and was not one of Andy’s better SNL appearances. However, it was still pretty entertaining, even if it was low on actual humor.
STARS: ***


THE FARBERS AT THE PLAYBOY CLUB
the Farbers run into host while spending an evening at the Playboy Club

   
— I like this concept of the Farbers at the Playboy club, even though this counts as YET ANOTHER Playboy-related sketch.
— I like this part right now with Dan telling stories of Hef breeding his Playboy bunnies and killing them when get too old.
— John repeatedly calling Hefner “Ner” is pretty funny.
— Overall, these characters are always enjoyable in a relatable way.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode. However, almost all of the stronger segments of the night were ones that had little-to-no involvement from Hugh Hefner, while a lot of the weaker sketches were the Playboy-related stuff that focused heavily on Hef. As a host, he didn’t stretch at all at any point during the episode, and there was way too much of a sameness to his sketches. Luckily, the good non-Hefner pieces of the night kept this episode entertaining.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Charles Grodin

Posted on

October 8, 1977 – Madeline Kahn / Taj Mahal (S3 E2)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
pie-thrower (JOB) attacks Lee Harry Oswald (BIM) a la Jack Ruby

   

— Some technical gaffes with the opening disclaimer.
— After only one episode, Dan’s mustache is already back (temporarily, I think), though it’s lighter than his mustache from the first two seasons.
— The Oswald/Ruby gunshot being replaced with a pie hit was a funny twist that gave me a big laugh, though it made this kinda feel like an opening they would’ve done with Chevy Chase. At least this time, Belushi managed to actually hit his target, unlike the last time a cold opening ended with him throwing a pie.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Only the second episode of the season, and there’s ALREADY been major modifications made to the opening montage.

   

— For starters, this montage takes place when it’s dusk outside, while the montage from the season premiere took place when the sky was pitch black.
— The camera is farther back from the jumbotron and you can see more of the surrounding Times Square area than you could in the season premiere.
— Some of the animated graphics in between the guests’ names weren’t seen in the preceding episode, such as a hand playing with a yo-yo and then pulling a mouse’s tail.
— The way each cast member is shown is completely different this time, and I like it a lot better than the semi-creepy, ghostly way they were shown in the premiere.
— From my knowledge of what little I’ve seen from this season years ago, I think the first month or so of this season would film a new version of the jumbotron opening montage each week. They eventually would stop doing that and would stick to a static, unchanging version of the jumbotron montage that would be used for the remainder of the season, presumably because filming a new version of the montage each week was becoming too expensive.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— The “we are all going to die” part was pretty funny.
— The monologue’s over already??? That it??? This was barely a minute long and felt pointless.
— I get the feeling this monologue was hastily rewritten after dress, because you can’t tell me THIS is the best “comedic” monologue SNL’s writing staff at the time could conjure up for Madeline freakin’ Kahn.
STARS: **


SWILL
BIM prefers Swill, the viscous mineral water dredged from Lake Erie

   

— A famous fake ad from this era.
— Why are some of Bill’s lines very blatantly dubbed in?
— A lot of great little touches in this, such as the way the ketchup ironically poured very quickly onto the burger, the use of the song “Anticipation” while the disgusting-looking “swill” was very slowly pouring out of its bottle, a soda can top being seen in the “swill”, and Bill adding a lemon twist to the drink for good measure.
— Overall, an all-time classic and Bill was a perfect spokesman for this. And as proof of how timeless the comedy in this is, the ad would later be re-aired decades later in a 1999 episode that Bill hosted.
STARS: *****


BAD OPERA
(host) suffers larynx lock during Die Goldenklang performance

   

— I’m not used to seeing the “Bad” showcase sketches so early in the show.
— Dan’s Leonard Pinth-Garnell voice sounds gruffer than usual.
— Nice use of Garrett’s knack for singing opera.
— I thought Madeline’s non-stop high note would go on longer. Also, the bit wasn’t all that funny since we already saw it coming due to Dan spoiling it in his intro.
— Ha, the garbage can failed to close when Dan let go of the lid at the end of this.
— Overall, not one of the better “Bad” showcase sketches.
STARS: **½


ANYONE CAN HOST
LOM announces the Anyone Can Host Contest

 

— Ah, our introduction to the famous Anyone Can Host contest.
— I liked the quick reference to the Beatles offer.
— Some funny lines from Lorne, but I don’t think I’m going to rate this mostly-straightforward segment.
STARS: N/A


BIANCA JAGGER AND THREE OR FOUR OF HER CLOSE PERSONAL FRIENDS
Bianca Jagger (host) talks with “close personal friends” at dinner table

— Madeline’s delivery is top-notch in this, but man, what the heck am I watching???
— Overall, I didn’t understand what this sketch was going for and it became a chore to sit through after a while. For all I know, maybe the mockery of Bianca Jagger was spot-on but just hasn’t aged well at all.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


THE ACID GENERATION: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
by TOS- old hippies reminisce

   

— Our very first Schiller’s Reel! Hopefully, this means Gary Weis is no longer making films for the show.
— The joke of hippies from a decade earlier already being very old is funny, as is hearing these mild-mannered-looking old people recalling their wild acid-taking days.
— Wow, that was short. I was expecting more.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
NBC Dancing N hands DAA a bulletin- fevers should be raped & strangled
DAA uses fake Russian to narrate faux footage of the launch of Sputnik
BIM advises Marie Osmond to drop her sexy new image
DAA announces that it is former Weekend Update anchor CHC’s birthday

       

— This Update oddly opens with 1970s-sounding squeaky synthesizer sounds within the news theme music, which is reminiscent of the same squeaky synthesizer sounds the show has been using in the opening montage theme music this season. Like I said in the preceding episode’s review, we seem to have reached the point in the 70s when that type of synthesizer music was all the rage.
— What the hell? This Update ALREADY begins on a bad note with Dan’s inexplicable delays at the beginning: first, he seemed to miss his cue to say his sign-on, thus there was just dead air as Jane was waiting for him to say it, then when he did finally say it, he could not have said it any more awkwardly (“I’m Dan………. uh…………… Aykroyd”) and then he practically buries his face into his hands in response (first screencap above).
— And now, there’s even more awkward dead air as Dan fails to realize that it’s his turn to do the next news story. His ad-libbed “I’m going home” response was kinda funny, but man, he is doing TERRIBLY tonight.
— Very random but funny bit with the NBC dancing N.
— And now, as if he hasn’t been having enough of a rough Update, Dan’s clip-on mic has fallen off and we have to wait for him to reapply it.
— The bit with the camera catching Dan doing a disguised voice-over for the Russian rocket launch video was fairly funny, but they already used that joke countless times back when Chevy Chase was the anchorperson.
— Right off the bat at the beginning of Bill’s commentary, we get his “now get out of here” catchphrase.
— Overall, Bill was his usual funny self and I like how it’s become a recurring Update segment for him to do movie/TV show reviews.
— A mention of Chevy Chase’s birthday. They wish him a “happy 37th”, which the audience laughs at in response. I’m not sure what exactly the joke there was, considering Chevy’s real age at the time wasn’t too far removed from 37.
— After saying his sign-off (and he even did THAT awkwardly), Dan ends this Update by jokingly laying across the desk, probably in exhaustion from barely making it through this Update.
— Overall, tonight’s Update had a few funny jokes here and there, but boy was the overall segment marred by an absolutely terrible, clumsy performance from Dan. He was a mess and you can tell he knew it. It feels weird being so down on him, considering that while reviewing this era of SNL, he’s become my new personal favorite member of this cast. But people were not kidding when they said he made for one hell of an awkward Update anchor. It appears that I’m in for one rough season of Update this year.
STARS: **


SILVER BALLS & GOLDEN PINS
(host) sings “Silver Balls & Golden Pins” during (BIM)’s bowling sermon

   

— What the heck am I watching with Madeline as… some kind of singing trophy, I think?
— I don’t get this sketch at all. The musical interludes with Madeline are just weird and is boring me. I admit that the song has a very nice melody, however.
STARS: **


REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
(JOB) & blind African-American (GAM) compete to get into law school

   

— Lots of Bill Murray tonight.
— Funny turn this has suddenly taken with everybody fooling blind Garrett into thinking John is black. Everybody’s stifled laughter when pulling off this scheme is also funny.
— Great ending with Garrett’s two huge bodyguard-looking brothers finding out about John’s lie.
STARS: ***½


AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- host sings while seeing the sights

   

— ANOTHER song from Madeline?
— This wasn’t introduced as a Gary Weis film, but I get the bad feeling it IS one; this has his fingerprints all over it. Man, I was hoping he was gone this season; I’ve gotten so tired of his films. And with Tom Schiller now behind the camera, there’s no real need for Weis anymore.
— Come to think of it, didn’t Weis already do a film in season 2 with various people around the city singing this exact same song (Autumn in New York)?
— The film itself isn’t terrible, but man, I’ve had beyond my fill of singing sketches for the night.
— I’ll admit, the ending shot was beautiful, with the camera zooming out on Madeline in the middle of the Times Square jumbotron. Plus, that reminds me of this season’s opening montage.
STARS: *½


THE PINK BOX
(LAN) tries to figure out what (GIR)’s ultra-personal feminine product is

 

— It doesn’t feel like we’ve seen much of Laraine or Gilda tonight.
— An overall pretty solid ad with a good premise of the girls not even knowing that what the product they’re touting is. I feel like SNL went on to reuse that premise in a sketch or commercial years later, but I’m not sure which sketch/commercial I’m thinking of.
STARS: ***½


HERCULES
(DAA) dubs a Hercules (JOB) movie into English by doing all the voices

   

— Gilda’s Italian speaking is making me laugh.
— Haha, I love the part with the cast acting out the film in reverse by moving and talking backwards as the video was being being “rewound”. For some reason, I always get a kick out of seeing stuff like that in sketches, where performers act out a video being fast-forwarded, rewound, played in slo-mo, etc.
— Dan’s dubbing is hilarious.
— Funny that Bill is in this sketch, because the premise reminds me of a sketch I’ve always liked that the show would do years later when Bill hosted in 1987: “Il Returno De Hercules”.
— Overall, a simple but funny sketch that I’m surprised didn’t go further. It ended unusually early.
STARS: ***½


DAME EDNA
host interviews British stage actress Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries)

— Well, I can tell THIS is going to be a strange segment.
— All I can say so far is that it’s a little weird seeing what Dame Edna looked like in the 70s, as I’m more familiar with her from the 90s and onward.
— Madeline’s performance in this is odd and I’m not liking that.
— Ugh, this is another segment tonight that feels like a chore to get through. Nothing in this has been enjoyable to me.
STARS: *


POCKET PAL
the Pocket Pal warns passenger (DAA) of an impending midair collision

  

— A very funny concept.
— Love the way Dan suddenly went from professional spokesperson mode to screaming in horror in a comically stiff manner.
— Overall, a great ad with a hilarious payoff. This season has had a lot of strong pre-taped commercials so far.
— After that brutal Weekend Update, I’m glad Dan has been having a great second half of the show, which is serving as a reminder of why he’s my favorite of this cast.
STARS: ****


PHONE CALL
(GIR) & (host) tell each other secrets while waiting for a man to call

— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller slice-of-life piece.
— This had a slow start, which worried me after how underwhelmed I’ve been with a lot of this episode, but this is now getting better and I’m really enjoying the fun chemistry between Gilda and Madeline.
— Gilda’s questioning of why women who cry in movies never have to blow their nose is pretty funny.
— Overall, a pretty well-done, realistic piece with a sweet ending that had heart.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

 

— They seemed to be running very short on time, judging from how Madeline was barely given time to say anything before the goodnights music kicked in.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Boy, this was surprisingly a fairly tough episode for me to sit through. Several sketches left me very bored, and there were an awful lot of times throughout the episode where I found myself asking “What am I watching?” Thinking back on the show as a whole, it was more up-and-down rather than consistently weak; there were several highlights, but they weren’t enough to make up for the underwhelming parts that kept popping up during the night.
— Madeline is usually a great host, but her overall hosting performance tonight was a step down from her preceding one from 1976. It felt like there was too much of a sameness to her performances in tonight’s sketches, and I also could’ve done without all the joke-less singing from her. I can’t help but notice that a lot of the segments I gave low ratings to happened to be ones that had her in the starring role, while most of the segments that received a high rating didn’t have any appearances from her. It feels kinda wrong to be so down on a Madeline Kahn hosting stint, but what can I say? She wasn’t given much strong material tonight, and a lot of her performances left a little to be desired compared to her season 1 episode.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Hugh Hefner

Posted on

September 24, 1977 – Steve Martin / Jackson Browne and The Section (S3 E1)

NOTE: Screencaps in my reviews are now clickable for the full-sized versions (it’ll initially bring you to a page where you have to click on the screencap again to get the full-sized version)


Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Bert Lance (JOB) uses his National Express card to get recognized

  

— Right off the bat, I’ve noticed that Dan’s mustache is finally gone. He looks a little closer to his actual age without it (which was 25 at the time, I believe).
— When they cut to a close-up of John turning to look at the camera, I mistakenly almost thought we were ALREADY gonna get our LFNY, despite the fact that this cold opening has just started and there’s been no jokes far.
— Another American Express card parody? They used this same joke in a season 1 ad with Garrett as Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and I remember that one went completely over my head. I get the joke more in this cold opening and it’s still fairly funny, but this isn’t exactly the most exciting way to start a season.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE

     

— For the first time after the original montage used since SNL’s debut, we get a brand-new montage! This is the jumbotron montage.
— I remember I used to think the transparent shots of each cast member superimposed in front of their displayed name was kinda creepy and ghostly-looking. It still kinda comes of that way to me, though not as much now. Also, those shots feel out of place in this montage.
— This montage seems really short and overly simplistic. Then again, it’s not like the montage from the first two seasons was long and complex, either.
— If I remember correctly from what I’ve seen of this season years ago, this opening montage will end up going through some modifications throughout the season, especially the shots of the cast members.


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Mack The Knife” excerpt & says he’s looking for cat handcuffs

   

— In addition to the opening montage, we have a new homebase stage, too. This is also the first homebase stage where the SNL band is visible.
— Those squeaky intergalactic-type synthesizer sounds in the theme music when Steve walked onstage… Oh, so I guess we’ve reached THAT point in the 70s where that type of music was popular.
— A funny start to this monologue with Steve’s non-stop random singing of the same lyrics (“Oh, the shark bites… etc.”) from a song.
— The cat handcuffs bit is hilarious.
— I’m loving how this is jumping from one random topic to another.
— Is this the first time a monologue ends with the later-tradition of mentioning the musical guest before saying a variation of “We’ll be right back”?
STARS: ****


ROYAL DELUXE II
even on a bumpy road, backseat circumcision is OK in the Royal Deluxe II

   

— Oh, the “circumcising a baby in the backseat of a smooth car” commercial. This is a well-known fake ad from this era, and years later, SNL would actually re-air it in a 1999 episode to commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary.
— Overall, this commercial was fantastic, with a hilarious premise and perfect execution.
STARS: *****


FESTRUNK BROTHERS
Czechs Georg (host) & Yortuk (DAA) Festrunk flirt with (JAC) & (GIR)

  

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Their 70s swinging outfits are a funny sight, though they’re missing the hats that would become part of their trademark look in later installments of this sketch.
— There’s the first utterance of “We are… two wild and crazy guys”, though it wasn’t exclaimed as energetically as we’re now used to.
— Love the abrupt way the brief table tennis game between the brothers ended.
— Their odd dancing is really funny.
— There’s the first mention of “big American breasts”, which always cracks me up.
— Gilda seems to be fighting to keep her composure after Steve’s stumbly delivery of a line.
— Overall, a great introduction to what would go on to be one of the more defining recurring sketches of this whole era.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


WEEKEND UPDATE
during her trip to China, LAN bought a Mao Tse-Tung snow globe
film critic BIM reviews “The Deep” & criticizes its stars
sportscaster GAM reports on a record-breaking Japanese baseball player
JOB’s awarding of scholarship to Mexican could be mistaken for a drug buy
text crawl tests the Emergency Broadcast System for the hard of hearing

          

— The very first Update with Jane having a co-anchor. Dan Aykroyd gets the honors.
— Wow, right from the start, this Update feels VERY different. The Update set has completely changed, and this particular Update starts with other cast members (who I assume will be tonight’s correspondents) gathered around Jane and Dan at the Update desk ala the news team of a real news broadcast.
— And now, even the way the news story pictures are displayed is completely different, now being shown behind the anchors in a chroma-key effect instead of being shown in a news screen to the side of the anchor.
— Dan’s very first joke was pretty good, though I’m not sure about his delivery.
— The snow globe bit in Laraine’s Chairman Mao commentary was pretty funny.
— A “weather update” segment? Wow, they’re really going all out to make tonight’s Weekend Update feel like a real news broadcast.
— I’m loving Bill’s on-the-spot movie review.
— Very funny comment from Bill about Nick Nolte’s mustache making him look like a Denver cop.
— Overall, Bill’s commentary was very good, and it’s nice to see him continue to come into his own on SNL.  And I loved his “now get out of here” catchphrase that he repeated throughout this. It’s such a Bill Murray thing to say.
— Garrett’s sports review segment was merely okay.
— John’s commentary has a funny reveal of why he chose one particular student to give a scholarship to: the student provided John with a gigantic bag of weed.
— What’s with the Emergency Broadcast System text crawl on the upper half of the screen right now? It’s kinda funny, but is completely distracting from the actual joke that Dan and Jane are telling during it.
— Overall, wow, this Update had a COMPLETELY different feel. They really revamped the format. This is pretty fascinating to watch after I’ve gotten so used to how Update was in the first two seasons. We’ve definitely reached a new era of the segment.
— It’s too early to say anything about Dan’s performance as an anchor, though knowing he ends up not working out and would leave the desk after only one season due to feeling uncomfortable playing himself, I’m expecting a lot of awkwardness this season. His delivery tonight wasn’t TOO bad, but he had a few moments where he looked unsure of what he was supposed to do next.
STARS: ***


MIKE MCMACK, DEFENSE LAWYER
(host) hits on (GIR) after cross-examination

   

— I can already tell by the Pardo voice-over intro that this is going to be a fun Steve Martin sketch.
— Steve is hilariously cocky and inappropriate all throughout this. He’s cracking me up so much.
— Bill worked in yet another “Get out of here, you”. I guess that was actually his catchphrase in real life.
— Gilda’s making me laugh a lot with her over-the-top crying outburst.
— Steve’s “Nah!” after his whole dramatic “maybe she’s right” monologue was a very funny ending. I remember him doing that in another sketch later this era, though I can’t remember what sketch it was.
STARS: ****½


KEYPUNCH CONFESSION
Trinity 3000 computer helps (DAA) act as priest & travel agent for (GAM)

   

— A great concept with Dan’s priest having a processor assist him with what advice to give Garrett’s confessions.
— I wonder if Garrett’s “Excuse me for calling you ‘man’” comment to Dan’s priest was an ad-lib; it seemed like it.
— Good turn this sketch has suddenly taken with Dan now using the computer to help plan out Garrett’s travels.
STARS: ****


BEATLE OFFER
LOM sweetens his offer to the Beatles- $200 more & hotel accommodations

— Is this a rerun? I’m pretty sure I remember this exact same “Lorne ups the ante on his original Beatle offer” sketch from, I think, the second Buck Henry episode from season 1.
— Yep, I’m 99% sure this is a rerun.
— And now, the “May 21, ’76” date seen on Lorne’s check that the camera showed a close-up of made me 100% sure that this is a repeated segment.
— Another dead giveaway is that Lorne keeps referring to the show by its old name “Saturday Night” instead of by its new official name “Saturday Night Live”.
— So… why exactly are we seeing this sketch again anyway? This isn’t exactly something the show normally re-airs in a new episode; that’s usually reserved for pre-taped fake ads or (sometimes) short films.


GREAT MOMENTS IN ROCK & ROLL
(LAN) is Roy Orbison’s (JOB) “Pretty Woman”

     

— Liked Laraine’s comment about getting her intro done before “those ‘ludes kick in”. Oh, that rampant 70s drug humor…
— John’s stiff walking around when the song has started is really funny.
— John’s doing a damn good impression of Orbison’s singing voice.
— LOL at John suddenly stiffly falling down backwards while singing, and Bill helping prop him up.
— An overall okay sketch, but a few parts dragged too much.
STARS: ***


THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
(ALF) & (TOD) compete in Mr. U.S.A. Pageant emceed by Anita Bryant (JAC)

     

— Franken and Davis now have an opening title card sequence with caricatures of themselves. Looks nice.
— Good comment from Jane revealing she’s Anita Bryant’s ex-lover.
— Wow, now they’re involving the whole male cast and writing staff. This is extensive for a Franken and Davis piece, and is starting to feel more like a normal sketch.
— The High Hopes football bit is strangely funny with Franken bizarrely punching the football padded bag thing (sorry, I don’t know the correct term for it) in time to certain parts of the “High Hopes” song.
— Davis’ interpretive dance bit was pretty hilarious.
— LOL at the Jews question Franken was asked.
— This feels like the first time we’ve seen Steve in a while tonight.
— Unfortunately, Steve’s scene ended up feeling kinda pointless and wasn’t that funny
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


KROMEGA III
the Kromega III watch is so complex, it takes two people to make it work

   

— Pretty decent fake ad, though I think I like it more for the tone and the production values than for the actual humor.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

  

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fairly strong way to start off the season. There were several great segments in the first hour, though the quality died down a little in the last 30 minutes, which was dominated by average pieces and an unnecessary re-airing of a Lorne sketch. However, none of the sketches tonight were weak; everything worked to some extent.
— This episode had quite a different feel and look from the first two seasons, due to things like the new opening montage, new homebase & musical guest stages, and Update having both a new set and completely new format. All these changes gave the show an exciting feel.
— Steve was his usual funny self, particularly in Mike McMack, Defense Lawyer, which may be one of my new favorite Steve Martin SNL sketches of all-time. Strange how very little Steve appeared after Update, though. Then again, considering this was the season premiere and considering how mainstream SNL had become by this point, it might’ve been intentional to start the season by heavily showcasing the now-superstar cast.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1976-77):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn