Tag: snl

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December 10, 1994 – Alec Baldwin / Beastie Boys (S20 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
Joycelyn Elders (ELC) gets the hook after too much masturbation talk

— Nice to see Ellen’s Joycelyn Elders impression again after the funny Show & Tell sketch from the preceding season. The “masturbation in school” topic is a funny premise for this cold opening.
— Elders, on her masturbation instruction book: “It does not take long to read. Step 1, step 2, then repeat.”
— Great turn with a giant hook entering the shot and trying to decide whether to yank Elders off the stage or not.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
ADS & host relate positives caused by Canteen Boy-scoutmaster skit outcry

— Alec says that with this hosting stint, he joins the prestigious five-timers club.
— I like Alec addressing the Canteen Boy controversy from his last episode, especially how he’s exaggerating the outrage over the sketch, such as saying Sinead O’Connor ripped up a picture of Canteen Boy at a concert.
— I love how they’re now doing a “politically correct” version of the Canteen Boy sketch. This is very funny.
STARS: ****


LEXON PARADOX
Rerun from 10/1/94


PARENTS BELIEVE IN SANTA
Santa-believing parents (host) & (JAG) puzzle over their lack of presents

— A great part with Alec showing different types of milk (e.g. moose milk) that was left out for Santa, and saying “What does this fat sleigh-riding son of a bitch want from us?!?”
— I like the gradual reveal that Alec and Janeane still believe in Santa. This is a solid premise that’s being executed very well.
STARS: ****


L.A. BREAST AND PENIS
hospital’s catch-all solution is cosmetic surgery

— Alec’s usual delivery is perfect for a sketch like this.
— The opening credits sequence is a decent parody of frantic hallway scenes in medical shows like this.
— “Nurse Sheila Ten Bears”?
— This feels like typical season 20 low-brow humor, but I’m not finding it TOO bad in this sketch. There are some laughs from how the doctors’ only way of tending to train-accident victims is to give them genital enhancements.
— Funny part with Elliott handing Mike and Laura a bag with their son’s penis in it.
STARS: ***


JAPANESE GAMESHOW
American tourist (CHF) is contestant on a high-stakes Japanese game show

— A very well-remembered sketch from this season.
— (*sigh*) Mike’s streak of playing Asian stereotypes every week continues. At this point, I lost count of how many episodes the streak has been going on.
— Farley’s confusion as the only American contestant is fantastic.
— This sketch is so good, even Mike’s Asian stereotype routine is coming off tolerable to me. He’s actually really good at making all of the Japanese dialogue sound real.
— I love the disturbing turn with contestants cutting their own hand off with a knife as punishment for getting an answer wrong, much to Farley’s horror.
— Good ending bit with Farley being hooked up to a machine and then being electrocuted when getting an answer wrong.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sure Shot”


WEEKEND UPDATE

— During the set-up to the joke about what to do with Jeffrey Dahmer’s dead body, I like one audience member being heard yelling “Burn it!” This has been a very responsive audience in general tonight.
— We get our very first Norm mention of Duh Magazine, which would go on to be one of his running jokes on Update.
— Norm: “A one-legged goose with a dart in its head. And I complain about my life.”
— No guest commentaries in tonight’s overall Update, but I certainly have no complains. Just 5 pure minutes of uninterrupted Norm telling news jokes.
STARS: ****


ROOKIE COP
barfing NYC policemen set off a vomit cascade in the city

 

— Here comes a sketch that’s always been one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. I’m aware that I’m probably in a very small minority in liking this, as this sketch is generally considered to be a representation of so much that’s wrong with this season. It’s hard to defend this sketch, but I think part of the appeal for me is that they take this sophomoric premise to such a ridiculous extent that it becomes funny to me.
— Some amusing malfunctions during Adam and David’s scene, with their puke initially coming out too early, then stopping too late.
— I love how they’re not even trying to hide the hose that can be seen coming out of everyone’s pant leg.
— As I said in my review of the classic Greenhilly sketch from Alec’s season 15 episode, the dog puppet vomiting in this Rookie Cop sketch has always reminded me of when Alec kisses a dog puppet in Greenhilly. And like I promised in the afore-linked Greenhilly review, here’s a side-by-side comparison between the dog puppet in both sketches, even though I’m now sure they aren’t the same puppet.

— I like how they’re using multiple sets and are involving every cast member (even Norm), giving this sketch an epic feel.
— For some reason, Elliott’s character being named Red Skeffington cracks me the hell up.
— When Kevin’s fake puke fails to come out, he ad-libs “Dry heaves”. I’m surprised to see it’s Kevin who says that line, because I swear I used to remember that line being from Elliott. I wonder if the version of this scene that would later be shown in reruns is the dress rehearsal version.
STARS: ***½


THE YOUNG AND THE YOUTHFUL
(host)’s idiot evil twin (host) replaces him

— This is the second episode in a row involving twins being played by one performer (after Elliott’s Funny Strange sketch in the last episode), pulled off with clever editing and the use of doubles.
— Alec’s performance as the mentally challenged evil twin is funny, though I feel wrong for laughing at it.
— Is showing a scantily clad Tim Meadows becoming a weekly thing now (much like Mike doing an Asian stereotype)?
— The ending could’ve been funnier.
STARS: ***


BACK SEAT
(MMK) & (JAG) issue empty threats to very unruly kids during a long drive

— I’ve always hated this sketch in past viewings. I’ll try to keep an open mind during this viewing, as I feel this probably isn’t as bad as I previously made it out to be.
— A pretty good laugh from the part with a bong, which used to be the only part I liked in past viewings.
— Going into this with an open mind definitely seems to have helped, as I’m not hating this anywhere near as much as I used to. While I still find this far from a particularly great sketch, it’s enjoyable enough.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Why is Alec dressed as a cop, when he was in a sketch between Rookie Cop and this musical guest intro? And this is the live version I’m watching of this episode, so this isn’t a case of sketches being reshuffled from their original order.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ricky’s Theme” & “Heart Attack Man”


BAD STRIPTEASE
(JAG) is scarred for life when unsexy exotic dancer (CSE) gyrates for her

— Very funny use of Chris Elliott and his delightfully weird sense of humor. I’m loving his disgusting striptease routine.
— Good reveal of Elliott having extensive body hair.
— I like the turn towards the end with us being taken to a courtroom scene.
STARS: ****


CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA AUCTION
(host) & (CSE) auction stolen celebrity items; Christian Slater cameo

— I think Janeane has appeared in literally EVERY SINGLE sketch tonight (not counting the cold opening). I recall once reading a theory that this was SNL’s way of responding to complaints in the media about how underused and misused Janeane has been this season.
— A fairly dull sketch with not much laughs, but I’m enjoying the sleaziness that Alec and Elliott are bringing to their performances.
— When Michael says “Meryl Streep isn’t dead”, what was up with an off-camera Ellen being heard starting to say the exact same line at the same time? She read the wrong line off the cue card, I take it? Michael gives her a bit of a puzzled look.
— Christian Slater cameo. Some girls in the audience can be heard screaming like crazy.
STARS: **


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

— Surprisingly, this is the first Deep Thoughts all season. They’ve really been phasing these out since the preceding season.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I feel this is definitely one of the better episodes of this troubled season. The quality of this episode had a good stability that I’m not used to seeing this season. We got one classic (Japanese Gameshow), a few really solid things, a guilty pleasure sketch for me (Rookie Cop), some pretty good stuff, and absolutely nothing that I hated; even the weaker sketches had some okay qualities. Having the always-reliable-as-a-host Alec Baldwin certainly didn’t hurt, either. It also helped that this episode had a very lively studio audience.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Roseanne)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
George Foreman hosts the Christmas episode. Happy birthday, Jesus, hope ya like crap!

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December 3, 1994 – Roseanne / Green Day (S20 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
at a press conference, Jesse Helms (MIM) expands his presidential threats

— Feels a little weird seeing Mike playing Jesse Helms, since he isn’t usually cast in roles like this and I’m more familiar with Darrell Hammond’s later take on Helms.
— Some good lines here, and I’m finding Mike’s performance to be fun.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Roseanne’s rants against Hollywood are certainly getting big audience reactions, but it’s not making me laugh all that much. There are a few laughworthy barbs here, though.
STARS: **


HHT
Rerun from 9/24/94


USAIR
USAir employees talk about the airline’s improved flight safety measures

— A lot of laughs from all of the safety changes that Kevin lists off.
— For some reason, the little detail of Farley’s character’s surname being Manley makes me laugh.
— Elliott’s whole testimony is hilarious.
— Some really solid satire throughout this sketch.
STARS: ****


A WOMAN EXPLOITED: THE MADONNA & TOM ARNOLD STORY
parallels to host’s life in Tom Arnold (CHF) & Madonna (JAG) TV movie

— I recently learned that this sketch is an amalgamation of two different TV movies airing around this time, one being a Madonna movie and the other a Roseanne & Tom Arnold movie. Until finding out about that, I used to wonder what the hell was with this sketch’s random pairing of Madonna and Tom Arnold.
— For some reason, the way Janeane’s Madonna looks reminds me a little of future cast member Mark McKinney’s Chicken Lady character.
— So far, this sketch is not working for me at all. Not even Farley’s usually funny Tom Arnold impression is doing much to elevate it.
— The intentionally overlong Johnny B. Goode number felt unnecessary.
— Okay, we get it, Roseanne. You hate Tom Arnold and think he has a small penis. As if she hadn’t already spent more than enough time in the monologue making those points.
— The physical fight at the end between Roseanne’s Rosie O’Donnell and Farley’s Tom Arnold fell was just plain dumb and fell completely flat.
STARS: *½


RESCUE 911
rude operator (host) answers emergency calls in Philadelphia

— I used to wonder if Roseanne’s phone operator character in this is supposed to be the same one she previously played in the great Metrocard sketch from her season 16 episode. It probably isn’t, but either way, I’ve always felt this sketch pales horribly in comparison to the Metrocard one.
— Elliott’s useless role is one of the biggest wastes of his talents this season.
— Man, this sketch is falling REALLY flat. This has a really dead atmosphere and is lacking so many things that made the Metrocard sketch so strong.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When I Come Around”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS to striking athletes- “entertainers lack marketable skills- I know”
ACLU representative Naomi Green (JAG) stands up for prisoners’ rights
ADS plays guitar & sings a Hanukkah song about celebrities that are Jews

— There’s what would go on to be a legendary Norm Macdonald Weekend Update joke, regarding a Kenny G Christmas album: “Hey, happy birthday, Jesus, hope ya like crap!”
— Norm’s Update has been starting hot tonight, with a string of hilarious jokes. Considering he’s only been doing Update for three months so far, it’s very impressive how quickly he’s hit his stride as an anchorperson. Such an improvement over how blah Update tended to be during the preceding season when Kevin was in his final year as anchorperson.
— David’s giving his typical season 20 half-assed performance that I always hate, but his commentary has some laughs, especially the meta bit about how his request for a raise resulted in the president of NBC asking him a Dick Clark’s Receptionist-esque “And you aaaarrrrreeee…?”
— Not sure what to think of Janeane’s overall commentary, though I guess it had a pretty funny ending. I especially liked Norm’s “You’re really giving me the creeps” response to her.
— Yet another Norm Macdonald Update joke tonight that would go on to be a classic: the “Yippie! Jerry Rubin died last week” one.
— Speaking of classic, here comes one of Adam’s most popular guitar songs of all time.
— Feels a little odd seeing Adam doing a guitar song in an Update NOT anchored by Kevin Nealon.
— Adam sounds even shakier than usual during his pre-song spiel.
— A particularly strong song from Adam, and there are a lot of really classic, charming, and memorable lyrics about which celebrities are Jewish. It’s no surprise to anyone who’s familiar with me that my personal favorite lyric is “But guess who is: all Three Stooges”.
— According to GettyImages, there was an Update commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal where Kevin played some kind of character (pic here).
STARS: ****½


SKIMPY’S FROZEN YOGURT
weight-conscious (host), (ELC), (LAK) investigate chemical-laden yogurt

— A rarity this season to see a very female-oriented sketch.
— Michael’s voice and accent sounds so much like a voice and accent that Phil Hartman once used in a sketch, but I can’t figure out which sketch I’m thinking of.
— For once tonight, Roseanne’s actually putting effort into a performance and looks happy to be there.
— The ladies’ performances are good, but not much here is making me laugh all that much. I did get a laugh just now from Michael listing off Advil among the ice cream ingredients.
— That’s the ending of the sketch? The payoff felt weak to me.
STARS: **½


CIVIL WAR MEMORIES
high school dropouts talk about Battle for Charleston

— Tim’s testimonial is kinda funny.
— Hey, Jay’s Good Morning Brooklyn character makes a random appearance. And hey, he’s still not funny.
— The idea of a ridiculously inaccurate version of the Civil War is pretty funny in itself, but this sketch isn’t being executed very well.
— Ugh, I see Mike is continuing his annoying streak of playing broad Asian stereotypes every week.
— Ellen’s story about her whole ass hanging out made me laugh, as well as the subsequent drawing shown of that incident.
STARS: **


MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES
of host’s multiple personalities, psychoanalyst (NOM) prefers the whore

— Surprisingly, this is Norm’s first sketch appearance of the whole season. After consistently being a bright spot of sketches in the rough second half of season 19, it’s odd how he’s been kept out of sketches the following season, a season that REALLY could’ve used his sketch-saving abilities.
— I’m aware that this is a sketch version of a stand-up routine that Norm used to do. This would also later be performed in a Norm Macdonald comedy album.
— I love Norm’s dissatisfaction when Roseanne cuts short her oral sex details to act as a little girl.
— A huge laugh from Norm flat-out asking “Lemme talk to the whore, is she around?”
— So many laughs from Norm’s lines and reactions, such as trying to convince Rosanne’s murderous personality to kill the librarian personality.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Geek Stink Breath”


FUNNY STRANGE
Funny Strange shop owner (CSE) envies twin’s (CSE) novelty store success

— Finally, after being wasted and misused in so many sketches so far this season, Chris Elliott gets a sketch to showcase the oddball brand of humor he’s known for.
— The little debate between Farley and Elliott over whether plastic puke is funny strange or funny ha-ha is cracking me up.
— I like the disturbing, odd turn with Elliott’s character meeting up with his twin and killing him (resulting in a great maniacal laugh from Elliott). I also, for some reason, like how the audience has no idea what to make of this scene.
— Not sure the ending with Kevin and his “twin” was needed.
— Overall, this won’t end up being among my favorite Chris Elliott oddball sketches of this season, but I found it enjoyable and I like that the show took a chance on something this bizarre and audience-alienating.
STARS: ***½


LOCK-UP WITH BOBBY BLAKE
Bobby Blake’s (LAK) women’s prison talk show; Rip Taylor cameo

 

— The very underused Laura Kightlinger gets her very first opportunity to play the lead comedic character of a sketch.
— A fairly interesting premise, but I’m not caring much for the execution so far, and I feel Laura’s coming off kinda bland.
— It is nice to have another rare occurrence tonight of a sketch centered around the neglected female cast, but I wish the sketches were better. This particular sketch is more of an interesting novelty than outright funny.
— Very random Rip Taylor cameo at the end.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’m not too crazy about this episode as a whole. There were some good and memorable things, but I had a meh feeling towards a lot of stuff, and the first two lead-off sketches were particularly rough (The Madonna & Tom Arnold Story and Rescue 911). I also felt Roseanne’s overall performance tonight was a step down from her previous two hosting stints, and she came off a little too obnoxious at times tonight, to say nothing of her excessive Tom Arnold jokes.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Turturro)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin

Posted on

November 19, 1994 – John Turturro / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (S20 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

IT’S A WONDERFUL NEWT
Richard Nixon (host) shows Newt Gingrich (CHF) a liberal future

 

— The debut of Farley’s Newt Gingrich impression, which isn’t so much an impression as it is just Farley in a wig. Still, at least it’s a subdued, mature role that keeps Farley restrained for once this season.
— John Turturro’s Richard Nixon impression is great and fun. Considering how rarely hosts appear in cold openings and the fact that John looks unrecognizable here, I wonder if SNL fans at the time were racking their brain trying to figure out which cast member that is playing Nixon.
— Interesting and very biting political satire, with lots of harsh digs at Gingrich. The political humor here has a sharpness that feels atypical of this season.
— Very funny reveal that Hillary Clinton is the president, sending Gingrich into a long horror scream of “noooooo!”.
— A quote Gingrich’s wife reads from Nixon’s book: “Every time a bell rings, I get poked in the ass with a pitchfork.”
— Overall, a very promising start to tonight’s episode.
— This ends up being Farley’s only appearance all night.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
LOM rigs a Quiz Show to let host do SNL instead of Joey Buttafuoco [real]

— Pretty fun premise.
— The overly simplistic questions themselves aren’t the funniest, but John and Kevin are making this work.
— Joey Buttafuoco?!? Joey Fucking Buttafuoco?!? Is SNL kidding me with this cameo? Only in season 20 would you see something like this.
— I love how poorly Mike is hiding how genuinely uncomfortable he is talking to Buttafuoco. I’m sure it’s stuff like this that had Mike wondering at this point of his SNL tenure “Why the hell am I even still on this show?”
— Kevin: “Lorne Michaels, the producer, is a (blank).” Considering the ire that lots of people had towards SNL at this time in 1994, I’m sure there’s some colorful words some of them would have inserted into that blank in Kevin’s statement.
— Lorne being shown feeding John the answer, “genius”, is funny.
STARS: ***½


EYCH
Rerun from 5/14/94


CHRISTOPHER WALKEN’S CELEBRITY PSYCHIC FRIENDS NETWORK
Celebrity Psychic Friend Gary Busey (MMK) joins Christopher Walken (JAM)

— The return of this great sketch from the preceding season.
— Michael’s Gary Busey impression is cracking me up.
— What was with the interaction between Walken and Busey?
— Boy, so far, this has not been working anywhere near as well as the first installment of this sketch. And so many lines are falling flat.
— Interesting inclusion of John as Walken’s similar-talking brother.
— John’s Walken is okay, but I’m not liking it as much as Jay’s impression. I’m hearing too much of John’s real voice in there.
— This overall sketch was a very poor excuse for a follow-up to the great first installment. Should’ve left that sketch one and done.
STARS: *½


SHARING THE PHONE
(JAG) repeatedly hangs up the phone before (host) gets a chance to talk

— Nice slice-of-life premise, especially for this season’s standards.
— Ehh, as much as I like the slice-of-life aspect, it turns out that I’m not crazy about the execution of it so far. It’s being performed a little TOO straight to be comical, and is suffering too much from season 20’s typical habit of taking one joke and repeating it over and over for four minutes.
— Oh, god, this sketch ends in one of the worst possible ways, with a cutaway to Mike doing his Asian stereotype routine for the second goddamn week in a row, this time dragging along Spade with a stereotypical Asian routine of his own.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Don’t Know How It Feels”


WEEKEND UPDATE
publicity has gone to the head of self-styled superstar Judge Ito (MIM)
after much prodding, David Hasselhoff [real] confirms NOM’s German theory

— Here comes Mike “Honorary Asian” Myers bringing his Judge Ito impression to the Update desk.
— I know a lot of people are tired of Mike Myers by this point of his SNL tenure (I certainly am too), but I’m actually finding this out-of-the-ordinary characterization of Judge Ito to be fun.
— I remember when Comedy Central used to air this episode, they edited out a small portion of the Judge Ito commentary where he dances on the Update desk to the song “I Got the Power”. Music licensing issues is obviously the reason for that edit.
— Norm is on fire with a lot of his jokes tonight.
— A visit to the Update desk from one of Norm’s favorite subjects, David Hasselhoff.
— I absolutely love Norm’s various frustrated ways of trying to get Hasselhoff to say Germans love him. This is a classic segment.
STARS: ****½


TAXI DRIVER, THE MUSICAL
Robert DeNiro (host) stars in the musical version of Taxi Driver

— John’s Martin Scorsese impression is a riot.
— I like that we’re seeing two different impressions from John in one sketch. He’s been showcasing a lot of impressions tonight in general.
— Nice performances, but the musical numbers are getting increasingly boring to me and contain no apparent humor.
STARS: **


BAND SHOT
musical guest plays guitar while his doppelganger (DAS) mumbles along


STOP THAT
(host) mimics his show’s guests until they get annoyed & leave

— Here comes a sketch that I’ve always considered a big guilty pleasure. The sketch is very stupid and childlike, but John is so damn fun in it and makes this material hilarious to me. I always love watching this.
— This sketch is a great use of the energy that we’ve been seeing from John throughout tonight’s episode.
— Even Farley’s southern accent over the phone cracks me up.
— I love how John is even imitating non-talking sounds, such as a phone dial tone and Kevin’s guitar playing.
— Solid bit with a returning Elliott getting revenge by turning the tables on John, only for John to do a turnaround on him.
STARS: ****½


JAMAICA
tourism-dependent Jamaicans (ELC) & (TIM)- “go ahead, treat us like dirt”

— A good showcase for two underused performers (especially Ellen).
— A lot of funny lines from Ellen and Tim’s joy in being treated poorly by tourists.
STARS: ***½


DR. IRA RESNICK
Ira Resnick (host) doubts credentials of fellow dentist Josh Levine (CSE)

— Ehhh, this whole thing just came and went for me, without giving me any real laughs.
STARS: *½


THE MOVIE CLUB
brothers (host) & (ADS) recommend tapes to rent

— Adam makes only his second and final appearance tonight. A surprisingly very light night for him, Farley, and Spade. Considering how stale and shtick-y all three of them often come off this season, not to mention how heavily all three of them tend to get associated with the awfulness of this season, their lack of appearances tonight is probably a good thing.
— I like the pairing of Adam and John here.
— Adam seems to be playing a variation of his Audience McGee character. His character here has the same look and is using a similar voice.
— Pretty dull sketch so far.
— Overall, yeah, I wasn’t crazy about this, even if there was a bit of a goofy charm (something that Adam pulled off much better in his earlier seasons).
STARS: **


DR. JOSH LEVINE
Josh Levine’s retaliatory ad- “Ira Resnick uses unsterilized instruments”

— Okay, the idea of showing a series of political-type attack ads between two dentists is funny, but man, the execution of it is BORING. I feel like an actual good season of SNL would’ve done more with this idea and made these ads work.
— Poor Chris Elliott has been wasted on a lot of weak stuff so far this season. I’m eager to reach the point in this season where they finally start letting him do sketches with his oddball brand of humor.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Honey Bee”


DR. IRA RESNICK
more Ira Resnick mudslinging- magazine & hygienist age, novocaine use

— This one is a little funnier, mainly for the “I won’t feel you up when you’re unconscious” line at the end.
— A fourth installment of this runner, starring Tim as an additional rival dentist, didn’t make it on the air due to the show running long. It would later be inserted into reruns of this episode.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Certainly an improvement over the notoriously dreary episode that preceded this, though I still didn’t find this episode to be all that great. The show started out well with a strong cold opening and a good monologue, but then tapered off afterwards with a lot of meh sketches dominating the remainder of the night. Nothing particularly horrible tonight, though, and there was a brief upswing in quality with the Stop That and Jamaica sketches. Also, Weekend Update was particularly strong. John Turturro was a fantastic host who added a fun energy to the show, gave committed and funny performances, had some shining moments, and even made some of the weaker material more tolerable. You can definitely put him on the list of “SNL one-timers who deserved to come back”.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sarah Jessica Parker)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Roseanne

Posted on

November 12, 1994 – Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M. (S20 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DECISION 94
incumbent Democrat (CSE) gives concession speech amidst GOP landslide win

— My copy is missing the beginning of this cold opening, in which Kevin plays a news anchor introducing the concession speech that Elliott’s character gives. I only point this out because that ends up being Kevin’s ONLY appearance all night, and anyone watching the same copy I’m watching of this episode would think Kevin was completely absent all night. After getting a decent amount of airtime in the first four episodes of this season, I think tonight is the turning point where Kevin’s airtime takes a turn for the worse and he starts coming off invisible and unnecessary this season.
— A good laugh from Elliott’s mention of a murdered nun attack ad run against him.
— An okay walk-on from Jay’s Mickey Rourke and Tim’s Rick James.
— I liked Elliott’s “I honestly just felt people read more” line.
— Elliott sets up his delivery of “Live from New York…” by saying he has one more big regret. Much like Rob Schneider revealing “Live from New York…” as bad news in an apologetic manner in the preceding season’s Singapore Caning cold opening, this seems to be a self-referential way for SNL to acknowledge their own declining quality and the ire that viewers had developed towards the show lately.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
ex-Annie host sings “Tomorrow” for loser Democrats, MIM & DAS say “stop”

— Sarah: “This has not been a great week.” She ain’t kidding (see my post-show thoughts to understand what I’m referring to), though she’s not referring to SNL here.
— David: “We really don’t like the Annie song.” That makes two of us. I despise “Tomorrow”, and that includes Sarah’s parody of it here.
— David and Mike are doing nothing to help this tepid monologue. Even David’s comical line about even Ellen Cleghorne being a republican was delivered awkwardly.
STARS: *½


ETERNA REST
Eterna Rest coffin mattress is well-suited for your loved one’s remains

— It feels like every fake ad this season stars Janeane and/or Michael.
— Ugh, that disgusting animated graphic of a corpse slowly rotting. Only in season 20 would you see something like that. I remember an SNL fan once making a post on a (now-defunct) SNL message board, listing this animated rotting corpse among some of the many vile, tasteless things that season 20 contains. I always crack up when I think of that post. I recall the tasteless things listed off in that post being something like “…anal-raping UFOs, vomiting cops, a graphic of a rotting corpse, a sketch ending with two men being murdered just for pitching a commercial containing an interracial kiss, a sketch ending with 19th century children agreeing to be raped by a devil behind a shed, etc.” Seriously, someone could make a complete long list out of every single vile, tasteless thing this season contains.
— Didn’t care much for this overall ad, though the performances were fine, and I guess Michael’s ending line about how long the coffin air freshener lasts (“Just for the period where it would really stink”) was kinda funny.
STARS: **


GOOD MORNING BROOKLYN
(host) & James Barone (JAM) offer local flavor

— Here comes Jay Mohr’s attempt at a recurring sketch as an original character. I like Jay as a celebrity impressionist, but as for his character skills, ehhh, I dunno…
— This sketch so far – oof. Just a whole bunch of “fuhgettaboutit”s and other tiresome, lazy, cliched stereotypical New York humor.
— Adam’s walk-on gets a huge reaction from the audience.
— The clip of Adam’s Sleepless in Seattle “appearance” got a pretty good laugh from me.
— Adam’s interview ended weakly.
— Aaaaaand there goes our obligatory Farley pratfall of the night.
— Overall, a poor attempt at a recurring sketch. Unfortunately, they end up bringing this sketch back anyway, later this season. I guess I can understand, as the studio audience did seem into this.
STARS: *½


ALTERNATING GUITARISTS
host alternately sings duets with nice (MMK) & naughty (ADS) guitarists

— Okay, I can appreciate the change of pace they’re going for here, with the unique structure and the use of the home base stage, but man, this sketch is not coming off well AT ALL.
— The novelty of Sarah’s back-and-forth transitioning between Michael and Adam’s vastly different singing styles has gotten old fast, and Adam’s just doing his tired loud, crass shtick, immediately following a sketch where he had just played a loud, crass character.
— I kinda like the random inclusion of Tim as a Midas guy, but nothing funny is actually being done with him.
— Adam and Tim, to Michael: “(singing) We were only having fun, please put away your gun.” Uh, what gun? Geez, this sketch is so half-assed, they couldn’t even be bothered to give McKean a prop gun.
— Overall, I wanted to like this so much more than I did.
— Tonight’s episode has gotten off to a terrible start.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Gil Graham relates more of his hard-luck concert-going experiences

— Thank god Norm has come along to give me SOMETHING to laugh at tonight.
— Norm has developed what would go on to be his trademark of staring down the camera in a deadpan manner while the audience is reacting to the punchlines.
— Speaking of audience reactions, I love hearing their reactions to some of Norm’s very Norm-esque jokes, such as the one about a hangover-free vodka that causes “massive anal bleeding”. Much like “whore”, “anal” is another word that’s always inherently funny when delivered by Norm.
— I really could do without Gil Graham becoming a recurring character, though this thankfully ends up being his final appearance.
— I was a little lenient on the season premiere’s Gil Graham commentary, but his commentary tonight is noticeably weaker and is going on even longer. Adam’s cracking up at his own material more than I am.
STARS: ***½


FORTUNE COOKIE FACTORY
Confucius (CHF) visits the abusive owner of a fortune cookie shop (MIM)

— Oh, god, here begins a long streak of consecutive episodes featuring Mike “Should’ve Left With Phil Hartman” Myers playing bad Asian stereotype characters, almost all of whom have the EXACT SAME look and voice. (I’ll let it slide in the classic soon-to-come Japanese Game Show sketch, but don’t expect me to be lenient towards it in other sketches from this season.)
— What was with David’s Gap Girls-esque delivery of “Whatevaaarrr!” before angrily exiting the scene?
— Are Mike’s relentless insults to his employees even intended to be funny? This sketch is god-awful.
— Now they throw in Farley as Confucius to “save” the sketch.
— Farley’s exaggerated performance is doing nothing for me. He also keeps doing that certain over-the-top, hammy laugh that we would hear from him A LOT this season. I’ve always gone back-and-forth on that laugh; sometimes I find it kinda goofily endearing, other times I find it just plain annoying. Guess which side I fall on in this sketch.
— Confucius getting his wisdom from Bazooka Joe would’ve been a clever ironic twist in a better sketch, but is just falling flat in THIS sketch.
STARS: *


THE CASTING COUCH
Robert Evans (MMK) gives starlet (host) showbiz lesson

— Tonight’s episode continues to get more and more offensive and questionable, as we now get an uncomfortably skeevy sketch that has too much of a rape-y feel. Even if that’s the idea, there’s nothing laugh-worthy about this premise.
— The bit with one of the callers being a female oncologist expressing concern over the state of Robert Evans’ skin was a pretty funny idea, but even THAT’S not working. And what was with the oncologist initially speaking in a sultry voice before clearing her throat and suddenly speaking in a stern, professional voice? An odd gag that landed with a thud.
— Speaking of the uncomfortable nature of this sketch, the silence from the studio audience during the particularly skeevy portions of this sketch is UNSETTLING. This is a comedy sketch I’m watching?!?
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bang & Blame”


MUNCHKINLAND
the Munchkins want nothing to do with accidental hero Dorothy (JAG)

— (*sigh*) As if this episode hasn’t already been unbearable enough, here comes a notorious sketch that’s often cited as a prime example of this disastrous season’s faults, as well as how ridiculous it is that they built such a fancy, elaborate, expensive-looking set for such an abysmal sketch that lasted no longer than two-and-a-half minutes.
— I feel bad watching Janeane in this sketch after once hearing about a backstage story that another SNL fan read in a Laura Kightlinger autobiographical book. My memory of the story is fuzzy, but basically, sometime before this Munchkinland sketch was performed in the live show, Laura, Adam, Farley, and Janeane (the latter already wearing her Dorothy costume) complained to Lorne in his office about having to do this sketch. During that complaining, Janeane had an emotional breakdown, at one point yelling in tears “Why am I doing this?!? I’m killing my career!!” This sketch can pretty much be pinpointed as what officially broke Janeane and would lead to her looking miserable and joyless in a large number of her performances for the remainder of her short-lived SNL stint.
— We’re in the last 15-20 minutes of tonight’s episode, and Ellen is making her first and ONLY appearance of the whole night, just playing a small role in this tripe. She (understandably) looks just as miserable as Janeane must feel.
— Some of the other cast members also don’t look too happy performing this, especially David (though that’s par for the course for him this season).
— Sarah-as-Glinda-the-Good-Witch’s cheerfully delivered line about getting “pissed off” is only time I’ve come close to cracking a smile.
— Ohhh, god, this sketch is insufferable so far.
— Awful ending.
— Overall, yep, this sketch definitely lived up to its negative reputation, and truly does epitomize some of season 20’s problems. Jesus Christ, it’s almost becoming morbidly fascinating to see how low tonight’s episode can continue to sink.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”


MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE TRIBUTE
BIM eulogizes the recently-deceased MOD
LAN sings Madam Butterfly aria while MOD makes a Soiled Kimono {rerun}

— Sudden Bill Murray appearance. I should be excited by an SNL legend like him appearing, but I just feel sorry for him having to be associated with tonight’s trainwreck of an episode. I can’t even imagine what must’ve gone through his mind as he sat backstage witnessing tonight’s episode.
— As I chronologically go through SNL’s timeline in this daily SNL project of mine and become attached to so many cast members, it’s always sad to hear a mention of a cast member’s death.
— Some good dark humor from Bill, regarding Michael O’Donoghue going straight to hell.
— Bill’s tribute speech is simultaneously well-done, funny, and heartfelt. So nice to have Bill to add much-needed class to the proceedings tonight.
— A solid choice for a Mr. Mike sketch to show an encore presentation of as a tribute to him. For my thoughts on the original sketch, read it in this episode review.
— As I said in my afore-linked review of the original sketch, the encore presentation of this sketch really emphasizes how far SNL’s quality has fallen by this point in 1994. The contrast between the quality of this Mr. Mike encore and the rest of tonight’s episode is jarring and sad.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Aaaaaand the turning point of season 20 has officially begun. After a string of episodes ranging from decent to strong, the true reality of season 20 has suddenly come crashing down HARD. A dreadful, dreadful episode tonight, one that felt like it got worse and worse as the night progressed, culminating in a particularly abysmal and notorious Wizard of Oz sketch that practically destroyed Janeane Garofalo’s soul just for having to perform it. Not counting the cold opening, there wasn’t a single sketch that I came remotely close to liking all night. Not one. single. sketch. This may be the first time that’s happened since I covered the also-infamous season 11. Hell, this may even top the worst of season 11, and maybe even the worst of season 6. I mean, Jesus Christ, none of the actual sketches tonight got a rating higher than one-and-a-half stars. That’s GOTTA be a first in this SNL project. I don’t calculate average sketch ratings for each episode review, but if someone were to do that for every episode I’ve reviewed up to this point (or at least for every notoriously bad episode), I’m pretty sure tonight’s episode would be the one with the lowest rating average. If it wasn’t for Norm’s Weekend Update, I shudder to think how even more unwatchable I would’ve found this episode. I’m aware that this was a bad week for the show behind the scenes, between Michael O’Donoghue’s aforementioned death and Lorne’s baby being born with complications. Knowing all of that just adds to the already depressing vibe of this episode. What’s even more depressing is knowing that as bad as this episode was, it doesn’t even end up being what I feel is the worst of the season. Yes, there are a few soon-to-come instances of this season sinking even lower than tonight. (*shudder*)


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a colossal step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Turturro

Posted on

October 22, 1994 – Dana Carvey / Edie Brickell (S20 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM GEORGE BUSH
from Houston, George Bush [real] starts show as a favor to his friend DAC

— A huge deal for SNL to get an appearance from a former president.
— Bush is coming off as a great sport here, and there’s a lot of laughs from his statements, made even funnier by his deadpan delivery.
— I particularly like the line about how if sketches get too long, he’ll flip over to Tales from the Crypt.
— A rare occurrence of a Don Pardo-delivered “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
George Bush [real] to DAC- “your impression of me is too exaggerated”

— Great how Dana is entering as Bush. I’m a sucker for hosts doing their monologue in character as someone.
— As expected, Dana’s Bush is doing lots of fun things here.
— Solid exchanges between Dana and the real Bush. Even though this is featuring the cliched “celebrity talks like their impersonator while complaining that they sound nothing like their impersonator” trope, there’s enough goodwill towards this Bush appearance that the trope is coming off charming, and it’s helped by Bush’s aforementioned deadpan delivery.
— Dana briefly breaks out into his Church Lady voice, which reminds me that there would be no Church Chat sketch tonight, I’m assuming because Church Lady was still retired after the Misery II sketch from the season 16 Roseanne Barr-hosted episode. It appears that Dana would end up officially un-retiring Church Lady sometime after tonight’s episode, as all of his future hosting stints feature a Church Chat sketch.
— Speaking of recurring Dana Carvey characters we surprisingly won’t be seeing tonight, there’s also no Wayne’s World sketch, despite the fact that Mike is still in the cast. I wonder if the reason for Wayne’s World’s absence is because of the alleged feud going on at the time between Dana and Mike, which started sometime during the filming of Wayne’s World 2.
STARS: ****


VIRTUAL REALITY BOOKS
Virtual Reality Books are a poor use of technology, but (MMK) loves them

— I got a big laugh from “Call me Ishmael” being divided into two pages.
— Michael’s overexcitement over such a useless product is funny.
— Overall, this was better than I had remembered it, though I wish they went further with the downsides of the cheapness of mid-90s technology.
STARS: ***


THE SIMPSON TRIAL
Johnny Carson (DAC) cross-examines witnesses in the O.J. Simpson trial

— Fun topical use of Dana’s Johnny Carson impression.
— I can’t help but grit my teeth a bit seeing Michael do an Ed McMahon/Robert Shapiro hybrid. The only thing his attempt at a McMahon impression is succeeding in doing is making me miss Phil Hartman even more than I already have this season.
— “LAPD detective Rick Fuhrman”? Isn’t it Mark Fuhrman?
STARS: ***½


HALLOWEEN IN DALLAS
Ross Perot’s (DAC) Halloween visitors include ADS as Crazy Eggbeater Head

— The Dana Carvey Nostalgia Tour continues tonight with his Ross Perot impression now appearing.
— When one group of kids botch their “trick or treat” greeting, I loved Dana ad-libbing in character “Now that is a pitiful trick-or-treat. You couldn’t even get together on that.”
— A lot of laughs from Perot’s berating of the trick-or-treaters.
— I love the way they’re working in Adam’s traditional Halloween costume routine from Weekend Update.
— There’s Dana-as-Perot’s famous “Can I finish?!”
— The exchanges between Kevin and Perot have some awkward pauses on Kevin’s end.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Paul Simon [real] perform “Green”


WEEKEND UPDATE
ALF presents some examples of outrageously negative political commercials
Hans & Franz warn other recurring characters to avoid Weekend Update

— Feels weird seeing Al Franken as himself in an Update commentary this late in his SNL tenure, especially knowing how upset he reportedly was that he lost a potential anchorperson spot to Norm.
— The “Kennedy: He’s a big fat drunk” attack ad shown by Al is hilarious.
— More funny attack ads, such as the “She’s a Jew” one and especially the chainsaw-between-the-legs one.
— Norm’s recurring David Hasselhoff theory now finally gets applause, after receiving a mixed, confused audience reaction in Norm’s previous Updates.
— Here’s our latest of The Dana Carvey Nostalgia Tour. Very interesting to see Hans and Franz on Update.
— I absolutely LOVE Hans and Franz calling out then-current recurring characters (Linda Richman, Stuart Smalley, Matt Foley). I’m always a sucker for when different recurring characters collide, even if it’s only by mention in this case.
— Now the Hans and Franz commentary gets even more meta, with Franz (Kevin) telling Norm “The guy who was here before you was much nicer.”
— I love Norm’s running gag throughout this Update with various books having a variation of “O.J. is guilty” in their title.
— The strongest Update of the season so far.
STARS: ****


PEPPER BOYS
master pepper miller (DAC) teaches apprentice (ADS) nuances of the craft

— Very funny characterization from Dana, and even Adam’s goofy voice shtick, which I had previously stated officially ran out of steam during the homestretch of the preceding season, has some new spark here.
— I love the way Dana is presenting the art of pepper grinding. His seductive actions towards Tim are especially hilarious.
— Such a great sketch so far. Feels like something that would’ve aired a few seasons earlier. In fact, I used to feel this was, in some ways, a sister sketch to the Italian Restaurant sketch from Kirstie Alley’s season 17 episode. Maybe because both sketches use the same restaurant set, both star Dana doing an Italian accent, and both have a raunchy sexual theme.
— When showing off a new pepper dispenser, I love Michael’s delivery of “How about that, huh? Ha ha! You’re both fired.”
STARS: ****½


64TH ANNUAL NOBEL PRIZE AWARDS
Nobel Prizes are awarded in a star-studded, televised extravaganza

— As I often say, SNL usually has a bad track record with award show sketches. The dull subject matter of this particular sketch isn’t making me any more excited for it.
— Is this opening song with Michael’s Tom Skerritt ever going to end? It’s going on way too long for something that contains no apparent humor.
— Dana’s Garry Shandling impression is a hoot.
— No comment about Jay’s brownface Indian routine.
— Michael in two different live roles? Fast costume change. Then again, this insufferable sketch is certainly long enough for a cast member to have time for a costume change.
— Not sure how I feel about Laura’s Paula Poundstone impression. At least she’s actually being given something comedic to do, though, for the first time since the season premiere.
— Oh, great, more stereotypical middle-eastern accents, with Chris Elliott now being dragged into this.
— The “John Denver is dead” announcement comes off as a case of Harsher in Hindsight, considering Denver’s untimely real-life death just a few years later.
— Finally, this sketch is over. As awful and long as this was, it’s sadly still not the worst nor longest awards show sketch this season would have to offer (hint: Deion Sanders).
STARS: *½


BAND SHOT
going to commercial, G.E. Smith [real] & doppelganger (ADS) play guitar


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tomorrow Comes”


MADE UP STORIES
(TIM) shamelessly makes up excuses to avoid getting in trouble at work

— A good laugh from the reveal that Tim’s dramatic, tragic drive-by story was just fabricated to get himself out of trouble.
— Ehh, now this is just repeating the same joke over and over. Tim’s performance is good, though.
— Okay, I did get a big laugh just now from Tim’s definition of hypoglycemic: “’Hypo’ means ‘make’, ‘glycemic’ means ‘stuff up’.”
— Didn’t care for the fourth wall-breaking ending with David, and it featured the type of unlikable, aloof, sneering, half-assed performance we would often see from him this season.
— While I’m griping about David, let me just say that I hate his hairstyle this season. It makes him look like a middle-aged man who’s starting to go bald, when in previous seasons, he practically looked like a 13-year-old. He’s aged a lot this season in general, and it’s not just the hair.
STARS: **


OFFICE SPACE
by Mike Judge- Milton’s area gets a roach bomb

— I believe this is the final Office Space cartoon to air in a new SNL episode.
— Wait, is this a rerun? So far, Milton’s opening spiel is pretty much the exact same one from a previous Office Space cartoon.
— Never mind, turns out this is new. Maybe they just repeated Milton’s opening spiel for narrative exposition.
— Milton’s boss always cracks me up. He’s coming off particularly cruel towards Milton in tonight’s cartoon.
— The roach bomb bit is really funny.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, even if it started tapering off towards the end. This didn’t feel like a typical season 20 episode at all, but of course, the main reason for that is because a lot of the episode was basically just a throwback to old recurring Dana Carvey favorites from the late 80s/early 90s glory years. No complaints there, though, as I found it welcome seeing Dana and his recurring bits return to the show, especially during trying times for SNL like this season. The best sketch of the night, though, was actually an original non-recurring Dana sketch (Pepper Boys). Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the episode’s quality started tapering off when beginning to focus on sketches not centered around Dana.
— Tonight makes the third consecutive good episode of this young season. If I had been watching this season live when it originally aired and didn’t know what the outcome of the season would be, the past three episodes would have me fooled into thinking this was going to be a good year, ignoring the rough season premiere. Then again, season 11 also had a misleading streak of three solid consecutive episodes early on (Pee Wee Herman, John Lithgow, Tom Hanks) before being immediately followed by a terrible point-of-no-return episode that accurately set the tone for the season (Teri Garr). Sadly, that mirrors what ends up happening this season.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sarah Jessica Parker, this season’s equivalent to season 11’s tone-setting, point-of-no-return Teri Garr episode. Get ready for what will probably be one of the most negative reviews you’ll ever see me do.

Posted on

October 15, 1994 – John Travolta / Seal (S20 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

STAYIN’ ALIVE
“Stayin’ Alive” follows host as he wanders lost through the studio

— A very fun way to spoof an iconic scene in Saturday Night Fever.
— I love the subversions and variations on the joke, such as the song being sped-up when John is running, and the camera following the legs of someone who exits the bathroom, only to reveal it’s not John.
— This is starting to show signs of season 20’s terrible habit of running a single joke way too long, but there’s enough goodwill towards this fun idea that the repetition isn’t hurting it.
— One change I would’ve made is, when John took a few steps back to allow for scenery to come through, it would’ve been funnier if the Stayin’ Alive snippet that briefly played during that part was played in reverse.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host claims he wants to forget his old roles but relives them anyway

— A pretty corny but funny way for John to go through a succession of quick parodies of things from his career. He’s pulling this off well and is making the corny humor charming rather than groanworthy.
STARS: ***½


BATHROOM MONKEY
(JAG) talks glowingly about her Bathroom Monkey lavatory cleaner

— I love the very random concept of this, and it’s being executed very well.
— A particularly funny part about how when your bathroom monkey is used up, you can just throw it away and purchase another bathroom monkey in a box.
STARS: ****½


COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
Linda welcomes a Barbra Streisand impersonator (host)

— Like I said about Stuart Smalley in my review of the preceding episode, it feels weird seeing a Coffee Talk sketch appearing this season. This (thankfully) ends up being the final installment during Mike’s tenure as a cast member (not counting when he hosts in season 22).
— Adding to the odd feeling of this Coffee Talk installment, Linda Richman’s wearing a completely different sweater for once. Even her hair looks longer than usual.
— Pretty fun performance from John.
— The whole Streisand impersonator premise is at least adding a bit of a different spin on the usual Coffee Talk concept.
— John’s performance is even making the Streisand medley somewhat more fun than it would normally be.
STARS: **½


DRACULA
Count Dracula (host) tries to convince (KEN) & (JAG) that he’s not gay

— I love John’s Dracula wheeling back into the scene to sneak up behind Kevin and Janeane, only to wheel right back out of the scene after hearing Kevin’s theory that Dracula is gay.
— This is the type of sketch that I would normally dismiss as typical groanworthy season 20 homophobia, but I feel this particular sketch is a fairly clever way for John to poke fun at rumors about his own sexuality. The reality subtext is making this sketch a lot more tolerable to me than it normally would be. It also helps that this sketch is airing in an episode that has put me in a very good mood so far.
— Dracula: “I am a man of many secrets, but humping a mental defective is not one of them.”
— The off-camera gay bat sex is another one of those gags that would normally be groanworthy to me, but something about Kevin’s delivery when he details the gay bat sex is cracking me up.
— Michael steals the sketch with his walk-on as a flamboyant wolfman.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Prayer For The Dying”


WEEKEND UPDATE
to CHF, the baseball strike is tragic because he can’t run on the field
Two Guys From A Religious Cult (DAS) & (ADS) give the weather report

— Oh my god at that insane chipper loud laugh heard from a female audience member in response to Norm’s joke about “the guy who attacked Monica Seles”.
— Feels odd seeing Farley do a commentary as himself at this point of his tenure.
— Farley’s straitlaced reminiscing of ridiculous things he’s done at baseball games is pretty funny.
— Not caring at all for this Two Guys From a Religious Cult commentary. Yet another tired “Sandler does a voice” bit this season, and the voice he’s using here is PARTICULARLY grating to me.
— We get our very first Weekend Update occurrence of Norm uttering the word “whore”, a word that he never fails to make hilarious with his delivery.
STARS: ***½


QUENTIN TARANTINO’S WELCOME BACK, KOTTER
Squiggy (David L. Lander) & Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) vs. brutal Sweathogs

— An absolutely fantastic concept.
— I love the opening title sequence.
— All of the impressions are very fun, especially David’s Horshack.
— Excellent Reservoir Dogs reference with Barbarino dancing with a knife.
— Lenny and Squiggy!
— Ha, now this has gotten even better with a Steve freakin’ Buscemi walk-on.
— Great ending.
— Overall, a classic and by far one of the top 3 best sketches of the entire season.
STARS: *****


WOMAN’S SELF DEFENSE CLASS
women’s self-defense class participants kick unprepared (CSE)’s genitals

— This is the first time we’re seeing most of the female cast members tonight, though considering this is season 20, that’s no surprise.
— Not caring for this at all. Just a one-joke bit to me.
— Terrible punchline with Elliott saying that after a while, he’s started to enjoy the crotch beatings.
— Overall, a poor waste of Chris Elliott.
STARS: *½


LARRY KING LIVE
Marlon Brando (host) exploits indulgent interview

— Hilarious initial visual of John as a bare-footed Marlon Brando.
— John’s Brando impression is very funny, and I’m loving all the weird things he’s having Kevin’s Larry King do during the interview.
— The “cookie-eating grin on your face” part gave me a huge laugh.
— I love Kevin’s Larry King still conducing the interview in a normal manner while so many ridiculous things are going on.
— Very funny culmination with Brando riding King, who’s on all fours.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Crazy”


OFFICE MATES
a small office causes co-workers (CHF) & (TIM) to yell at everybody

 

— Our first of MANY sketches this season centered entirely around Chris Farley screaming his dialogue for five damn minutes.
— Odd casting of Tim here, who seems out of place getting into a screaming match with the Screaming King of this season’s cast. Then again, maybe I should be happy Tim’s the one cast in this role, as I can’t imagine how even more unbearable Sandler would’ve made this sketch with his yelling had he played Tim’s role.
— I did get a laugh from Tim telling David “Get out, bitch!” and David immediately exiting the office in a hurry.
— Funny cutaway to Farley and Tim in a ridiculously gigantic office, but even THAT culminates in a dumb drawn-out ending with Farley and Tim just fighting for no reason for an extended amount of time.
STARS: *½


HEARING PROBLEM
a drug dealer’s (host) hearing difficulties lead to miscommunications

— Another example tonight of season 20’s habit of running a joke into the ground, but I’m actually finding this sketch funny. I know I’m in the minority in liking this sketch, but I can’t help cracking up at the various odd sentences that John thinks he hears, and I find this to be a pretty funny parody of when mobsters say variations of “Something must be wrong with my hearing” when they’re told something unacceptable.
— Even Adam getting into the hard-of-hearing thing is making me laugh.
— Hmm, Adam’s sudden loud goofy-voiced outburst before leaving (which was completely unnecessary for the tone of this sketch) was done in the exact same manner as his “I AM GONNA KICK THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!” outburst before leaving in the first Total Bastard Airlines sketch. His outburst was a lot funnier and more fitting there.
— I love John’s line “Did you just say I look like the black guy from Forrest Gump?!?”
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
cast sings “We Go Together” as host drives off in Greased Lightnin’

— An incredible deviation from normal goodnights. This is fun as hell, as the perfect way to end this particular episode.
— I love the superimposed effect of John and a blonde wig-wearing Seal riding off into the sky in a car.
— The upbeat and uplifting nature of these goodnights is such a great contrast to the typical atmosphere we’ll be seeing this season.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, and a ray of light in this infamous season. As pointed out throughout the review, this episode had a very fun atmosphere, which was thankfully backed up by some solid writing and a few sketches that would end up being among the best of the entire season. John Travolta was a more-than-game host who added a lot to the episode’s great vibe. Some of the material he nailed would’ve come off very hacky under a different host.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Marisa Tomei)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dana Carvey

Posted on

October 1, 1994 – Marisa Tomei / Bonnie Raitt (S20 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
Bill Clinton (MMK) unveils his scaled-back universal health care plan

— As this opens, you can hear the very end of someone in the studio exaggeratedly yelling “FIVE SECONDS!!!”, which is a traditional thing SNL does right before the start of every live episode to get the audience laughing as the cold opening starts. In recent years, audio of it is played during the opening sequence shown before every “SNL Vintage” airing on NBC.
— After the preceding week’s Clinton Auditions cold opening, we get SNL’s official new Bill Clinton: Michael McKean.
— Early on in this, Michael already flubs a line, but then seems to try to save himself a few seconds later with an apparent ad-lib: “That’s why I’m nervous.”
— A minute into this sketch, and I have to ask, is too late to bring back Chris Elliott’s W.C. Fields take on Clinton? Michael’s impression is not good AT ALL.
— A few laughs here and there from the medical props.
— The health phone bit is falling pretty flat.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo still seems to be having some trouble with the name “Kightlinger”, as he pronounces it a bit funny tonight. That would later be fixed in reruns.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Lots of applause-pandering in this monologue so far, and not in the intentionally comedic way like Karen Black’s season 6 monologue or Chevy Chase’s season 3 monologue.
— Marisa’s coming off likable here (which is a big contrast to negative stories I’ve sometimes heard about her), but this monologue is kinda dull to me.
— I’m not sure, but I think they use the dress rehearsal version of this monologue in reruns. I recall her delivery being a little more exciting at parts than it is in this live version I’m watching.
STARS: **


LEXON PARADOX
teams of engineers worked to make the Lexon Paradox a contradictory car

— Very accurate parody of the style of a certain series of car commercials from this era (I forget which car brand).
— A clever commercial, and the conflicting car features are increasingly funny, especially the one with no brakes, and the one that makes the car shatter on impact.
STARS: ****


THE SIMPSON TRIAL
Mona Lisa Vito (host) testifies on behalf of O.J. Simpson (TIM)

 

— A very inspired and solid idea to have Marisa reprise her Mona Lisa Vito character from My Cousin Vinny in an O.J. Trial sketch.
— Judge Ito’s fawning over Mona Lisa Vito is entertaining.
— This sketch feels surprisingly high-energy for this season’s standards.
— Ito’s angry “SHUT UP, MS. CLARK!” outburst gave me a big laugh.
— Odd how they haven’t shown Tim’s O.J. until the very end, and even then, he doesn’t have any lines. At least they put a wig on his O.J. this time, unlike in the season premiere.
STARS: ****


PIERCING TODAY
various punctured people compare notes on body adornment

 

— An interesting time capsule of the piercing craze from this time around the mid-90s.
— Quite a visual of Farley with all those piercings.
— Funny story from Kevin about his rod-through-the-head “piercing” being a freak accident when walking past a construction site.
— Towards the end of this sketch, Marisa’s delivery is starting to become oddly exaggerated.
— I’m now starting to realize that Kevin’s been providing most of my few laughs during this sketch. I liked his answer when the guests are all asked what the downside is to their piercings: “The crippling pain and the blurred vision.”
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love Sneaking Up On You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
MIM thinks that the hockey strike is stupid
TIM says that the hockey strike is bad for African-Americans
Cool Guy’s (DAS) week-in-review is accomplished via facial expressions

— A change has been made to the Weekend Update logo on the front of the Update desk.
— I liked Norm’s “The crowd is torn” ad-lib after the mixed reaction to the O.J. “Dorf on Stalking” joke.
— Mike making a rare visit to the Update desk.
— Mike’s “detailed” hockey analysis turning out to be a ridiculously brief bit was funny. Norm is helping sell it with his confused facial reaction when the camera pans back to him after Mike leaves.
— Norm does a lottery joke about a man named Dale Sturtevant. Isn’t that the same name SNL would later use for Will Ferrell’s character in the memorable Dissing Your Dog commercial from Season 27?
— A solid overall commentary from Tim, being overly passionate about his and other black people’s love for hockey.
— Norm’s jokes tonight have thankfully been a lot more Norm-esque than in his debut the preceding week. Even though he’s still using a bit of the professional, straitlaced anchorman delivery he used the preceding week, his natural Update style is gradually starting to form. Very nice to see.
— David Spade trying out a new character, I see.
— Norm to Cool Guy, a few minutes into his commentary: “Is this the whole joke, you don’t talk and just make funny faces?” Took the words right out of my mouth, Norm.
— Norm’s David Hasselhoff theory now officially becomes a recurring Update gag. I love that the audience never knows quite how to react to it.
STARS: ***½


MAKING BETTER LOVE WORKSHOP
voyeurs (ADS) & (CHF) ruin adult education sex demo done by (CSE) & (JAG)

— I was wondering where Chris Elliott was tonight.
— Surprisingly, this is also Adam’s first appearance of the night.
— All I can say about Adam and Farley’s obnoxious, juvenile, loud performances here is, it perfectly sums up what their dominant output will be this season. And I really could do without that in this particular sketch. Can’t I just enjoy a sketch with Chris Elliott being his usual funny oddball self without Farley and Sandler hijacking it with their tired shtick?
— Elliott’s seduction dance is hilarious.
— I’m enjoying the way Elliott and Janeane are playing off of each other. Speaking of Janeane, it feels weird seeing her so upbeat in some of her performances so far this season, knowing how miserable she would soon start coming off in many of her performances. I think the turning point where that onscreen misery of hers officially starts showing is the infamous Sarah Jessica Parker episode. There’s an interesting backstage anecdote that sheds a little light on her misery in that episode, but I’ll save it for that review.
— This is a tale of two sketches. We get an unusual, sloppy mix of Chris Elliott doing his fresh, quirky, weird brand of humor and Sandler and Farley doing their trademark fratboy routine. This sketch alone sums up what an awkward, bad mishmash this season’s cast is.
— Elliott: “We are simply two people trying to make love in an elementary school cafeteria!”
— Mike and Marisa’s mix-up with a beer bottle is pretty funny.
STARS: ***


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Michael Jackson (TIM) & Lisa Marie Presley (host)

 

— For some reason, it feels weird to see a Stuart Smalley sketch in this season. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, though.
— This sketch was actually cut from the preceding week’s season premiere. In that version, Janeane was the one who played Lisa Marie Presley (pic here).
— I liked the reveal that the letter Stuart has just read is from O.J. Simpson.
— Even though I’m not sure if it was intended to be funny, Tim’s Michael Jackson saying “Girl, you wake up the devil in me” cracked me the hell up.
— What’s with Marisa’s coughing after she kisses Tim? Is that an intentional bit?
— A good laugh from Stuart quoting a radio announcement of “Elvis Presley died today, straining at his stool.”
— Lisa Marie’s various random one-liners about Michael’s lifestyle (“He has a monkey”, “I’m not Macaulay Culkin”, etc.) started out funny, but are now doing nothing for me.
— Another gripe of mine regarding Marisa’s Lisa Marie Presley is that I could do without the constant repetition of “Yum, yum, gimme some.”
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from Lisa Marie interrupting Stuart’s sign-off to say another one of her random one-liners about Michael’s lifestyle. I love how Stuart responds to that by just speechlessly looking around in confusion, never finishing his sign-off.
STARS: ***


MONSTERS OF MONOLOGUE ’94
a face-off between monologists Eric Bogosian (ADS) & Spaulding Gray (MMK)

— Not having much familiarity with Eric Bogosian, I can’t rate the accuracy of Adam’s impression of him. Adam’s “impression” just seems to be a variation of a certain voice that Adam has a tendency to fall back on too much (you know the one).
— Michael’s Spaulding Gray, on the other hand, is absolutely spot-on. And he’s delivering his fast-paced lines perfectly and brilliantly.
— This is another sketch tonight that shows what an awkward mishmash this season’s cast is. Sandler doing his loud, hammy, broad shtick and McKean doing some smart, low-key humor. I feel it’s all actually coming together fairly well in this sketch, though.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Storm Warning”


BOBBY CAMILARRI’S BRIDAL FAIR 2000
discount nuptial vendors will be at Bobby Camilarri’s Bridal Fair 2000

— Not a bad premise, advertising a bridal fair in a monster truck ad-type of way.
— Eh, turns out this commercial is starting to bring back unwanted memories of that terrible Super Sports Tours commercial from the season premiere, even if this one isn’t quite as one-joke.
— Didn’t we already get an “All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” gag earlier tonight?
— The brief shot of Marisa at the end came off pointless. It’s almost laughable in itself that they went through the trouble of getting the host into costume for a useless two-second shot that provided no payoff to the sketch.
STARS: *½


FALL MIXER
’70s high schoolers (ADS) & (host) engage in small talk while dancing

— I like the interesting and unconventional structure to this sketch, with Adam and Marisa each taking turns speaking whenever they face the camera while slow-dancing with each other in circles. A creative, slower, softer sketch like this feels refreshing in this particular season. A refreshing use of Adam too.
— I like the random choice to give this sketch a 70s aesthetic without actually calling attention to it.
— The whole bit regarding a guy off-camera who Marisa complains is staring at her is really funny.
— When Marisa asks if there’s any way Adam can make his erection go away, I love Adam responding “Yeah, start talkin’ about your shampoos again”.
— A good laugh from Adam suddenly donning a fake mustache to hide his identity.
— Do we really need TWO sketches tonight ending with a homoerotic turn?
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad for this season’s standards. In fact, I was surprised to find this episode to be better than I ever found it in past viewings. There was barely anything I hated tonight, a lot of stuff was okay, and there were about three strong pieces (Lexon Paradox, The Simpson Trial, Fall Mixer) that had a style completely different from the typical output this season. If I wasn’t already aware of how this season turns out, tonight’s episode might’ve given me false hope that maybe the bad season premiere was just a fluke.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Travolta

Posted on

September 24, 1994 – Steve Martin / Eric Clapton (S20 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CLINTON AUDITIONS
CHF, DAS, CSE, ADS, TIM audition to replace Phil Hartman as SNL’s Clinton

— As this starts in a straightforward manner with Farley doing an actual impression of Clinton, I’m sure the audience is thinking to themselves “Wait, what? Farley is SNL’s new Clinton?!?”
— Ha, Farley quickly puts an end to the aforementioned audience thoughts by transitioning his Clinton impression into his Matt Foley shtick.
— I love the eventual reveal that we’re watching auditions for SNL’s new Clinton. Very fun.
— Nice way to introduce Chris Elliott to SNL. I like the Letterman mix-up with Elliott incorrectly addressing Dave Wilson as “Hal”, then explaining “Sorry, I’m new here.”
— Funny W.C. Fields bit from Elliott, even if the audience doesn’t seem sure what to make of it (which is a reception that Elliott will probably have to get used to during his SNL tenure).
— Farley, David, and Adam’s respective Clinton impressions just being them doing their familiar shtick is a clever way for them to poke fun at themselves for how one-note they had gotten by this point in their SNL tenures. I’d also like to think this is SNL’s way of addressing the fact that without Phil Hartman, the remaining cast is made up of too many people who are personalities instead of natural-born sketch comedy show leaders. This self-deprecation still doesn’t make up for the fact that the tired Farley/Spade/Sandler shtick and the oversaturation of personalities in the cast is going to be a huge problem this season. This cold opening, as great as it is, feels like unfortunate foreshadowing of that.
— Adam’s guitar-playing seems sloppy, for some reason.
— Even though it was stupid as hell, I admit to cracking up at Adam’s imitation of Clinton’s walk.
— Hilarious ending bit with Tim cutting off his attempt at a Clinton impression to dejectedly ask “I’m not gonna get this, am I?”
— Reruns of this episode would use the dress rehearsal version of most of this cold opening, up until Tim’s part.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— After four long seasons of the same opening montage, we FINALLY get a new one.

— The theme music has also been changed, making this the first time since way back in 1985 where new theme music was introduced.
— SNL’s 20th anniversary is commemorated in the logo in a similar style to the 15th anniversary logo from seasons 15 and 16.
— Norm Macdonald has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— The new additions to the cast tonight are repertory players Chris Elliott and Janeane Garofalo, and featured player Laura Kightlinger. The fact that Lorne is resorting to already-known names like Chris Elliott and Janeane Garofalo, in addition to the preceding season’s late addition of Michael McKean and this season’s later-to-come addition of Mark McKinney, shows that Lorne must be trying to spice up an ailing SNL by taking a page out of Dick Ebersol’s season 10 playbook.
— When newbie Laura Kightlinger’s picture comes up, Don Pardo seems confused, pausing for a bit, then starting to say “L–” before immediately cutting himself off, pausing once again for a good while, and then finally saying her name after her picture isn’t even onscreen anymore. I wonder if the reason for all of that awkwardness and hesitation is because Don wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce the unconventional last name “Kightlinger”. Years earlier, he had a similar issue when trying to pronounce new cast member Danitra Vance’s name in the first episode of season 11.


MONOLOGUE
while bombing on-stage, host steps outside himself to see what went wrong

— Funny line from Steve about how the only reason he was asked to host the premiere is because Tom Hanks and the then-new young movie star Jim Carrey passed.
— During Steve’s story about trying to get to first base with a 17-year-old girl while watching a movie, a story that you assume is from Steve’s youth, I like the reveal that the movie he and the girl were watching was the then-recently released Lion King.
— Funny and unique turn with Steve stepping outside of his own body to question what’s going wrong with his monologue.
— The whole pre-taped sequence with Steve coming up with his monologue idea and pitching it to various people at SNL is pretty fun. I like Lorne’s dryness when advising Steve on which kind of soup to go with.
STARS: ***½


HHT
brain pains can be detected with the H.H.T. home headache test

— Michael in his first of several Phil Hartman-esque commercial spokesperson roles this season.
— A pretty funny ad, overdramatizing headaches and treating the detection of them like an extensive pregnancy test.
— Michael isn’t bringing the straitlaced humor to his spokesperson role that Phil would’ve. For example, Michael’s ending line “Because what’s worse: having a bad headache, or not knowing if you have a bad headache?” was delivered so blandly straight that it got no absolutely reaction from the audience, leading to an awkward silent pause from them before applauding, whereas I know Phil would’ve delivered that same line in a more humorously straight manner that would’ve elicited some laughs.
STARS: ***


THE SIMPSON TRIAL
Court TV covers the trial of O.J. Simpson (TIM); Brian Austin Green cameo

— Our first of MANY sketches this season based on the epic O.J. Simpson trial.
— Some awfully long pauses from Laura Kightlinger before she says some of her lines.
— The bit with Tim-as-O.J.’s facial expressions alternating between grimacing and smiling, based on various things he’s hearing, started out funny but is going on too long.
— Michael-as-Robert Shapiro’s whole O.J./Rodney King analogy was worth a good laugh.
— Ha, Kato Kaelin. The audience loves the visual of David as him.
— Brian Austin Green’s absolutely pointless cameo is laughably terrible. And I love how there’s absolutely no audience reaction to him until the very end of his scene, where the audience applauds as he makes his exit.
— Something else I find laughably bad: the non-attempt to make Tim’s Al Cowlings look any different from his O.J., both of whom end up just looking exactly like Tim Meadows in different clothes. They couldn’t have been bothered to at least put a wig on either of Tim’s impressions?
— And here’s yet ANOTHER thing I find laughably bad, though this is a much more minor point: during the Tim-as-Al-Cowlings testimony, when the camera is on Michael’s Robert Shapiro, a Tim Meadows stand-in who looks NOTHING like Tim can be seen sitting where Tim had been sitting as O.J. earlier in the sketch. (the stand-in is on the lower right corner of the screencap below)

I love how they went through the pointless trouble of hiring a Tim Meadows stand-in who ends up not even being in most of the camera angles. They might as well have just had nobody occupying the O.J. seat during Tim’s Al Cowlings bit.
— Like so many things in this sketch, the whole Al Cowlings “dammit” bit is going on way too long. And why in the world do we need TWO scenes with him, both consisting of the exact same joke?
— Needless to say, this overall sketch did not work much for me. When I’m getting more laughs from unintentionally laughable bad things than from the actual intended comedy, there’s a problem. Not a promising sign for the season when the lead-off sketch turns out like THIS.
STARS: **


STEVE MARTIN’S PENIS BEAUTY CREME
host lists some of the uses of his all-natural penis beauty cream

— Very funny reveal of what the product is.
— Steve is perfect for this, and his delivery is really selling this material.
— Great line from Steve, giving directions to rub the penis cream “for several minutes up to a half-hour”.
— The visual alone of Chris Elliott in that wig is worth a good laugh.
— Elliott’s testimonial is very funny, especially his line about cans of turtle wax.
— I liked Kevin’s straitlaced delivery of the line “made especially for the johnson”.
— Yet another great line, this time about how the cream will be shipped to you in a plain brown wrapper with the words “NOT PENIS BEAUTY CREAM” stamped on it.
STARS: ****½


TOTAL BASTARD AIRLINES
Total Bastard Airlines employees demonstrate more of their rude behavior

— Oh, no, looks like season 19’s bad habit of bringing back solid one-off sketches that have no business being a recurring sketch has carried over into the beginning of this season.
— Jim Downey’s opening voice-over is just a knock-off of the one he did at the beginning of the first installment of this sketch.
— Seeing Ellen in that wig and uniform makes me think of her Zoraida character.
— This sequel is TERRIBLE so far, and a gigantic step down from the classic first installment. Absolutely none of the “buh-bye” jokes are working, and the audience clearly shares my opinion, as they are absolutely dead during this.
— Is the “Nancy” character who David brags about having worked with supposed to be the character who Helen Hunt played in the first installment?
— Even Adam and David’s exchange is a poor knock-off of their exchange in the first installment. The “I want you to tell me you’re a woman” bit between them tonight is DREADFUL.
— Very poor utilization of Steve Martin.
— I’m noticing now that you can hear only one audience member laughing throughout this, and it’s a wiseass-sounding, almost Burt Reynolds-esque “Naa-haa” type of quick laugh.
— The armpit hair bit with Janeane Garofalo and Steve was just dumb, but I’m ashamed to admit to kinda laughing at Steve’s snarky delivery of “Whatever happened to your Lady Schick?”
— Jesus Christ, the song-and-dance ending was freaking AWFUL. And what was the point of Adam and Farley returning to the scene just to dance like idiots? Are you kidding me, SNL?
— Overall, one of the worst follow-ups to a classic sketch in SNL history.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’m Tore Down”


WEEKEND UPDATE
LAK shares some life lessons she’s recently learned
Gil Graham (ADS) reviews concerts that he wasn’t able to get in to see

 

— I’m very excited to enter the Norm Macdonald era of Update.
— One thing I don’t care much for is how the new Update set is using a gray color scheme. It makes it look too much like the Kevin Nealon-era Update set.
— Norm, during his intro: “And now, the fake news.”
— Wow, Norm’s anchorperson delivery is quite different here from how it’s remembered nowadays. It sounds much more professional in this first outing, like you can tell he’s trying to sound like an actual anchorperson. It’ll be interesting to see over the course of this season how his delivery gradually goes from “faux anchorman” to “just Norm being Norm”.
— Laura Kightlinger doing some stand-up on her first episode.
— Laura’s overall commentary wasn’t all that great, but I did get a few laughs, especially the story involving the Big Boy Restaurant icon. Her delivery in this overall commentary wasn’t bad, but the commentary had some flashes of dark humor that I wanted her to go further with.
— I loved Norm’s “King enjoyin’ a hoagie!” ad-lib in response to the “Elvis/sandwich stamp” photo.
— The joke about a lady who spilled McDonalds coffee on her lap is one of the very first jokes tonight that has the type of Norm edge that would later go on to define his Updates.
— Here comes the debut of a short-lived Adam Sandler character that I’ve always hated.
— Two minutes into Adam’s Gil Graham commentary so far, and I surprisingly haven’t been hating it as much as I did in the past. It’s still kinda weak and is going heavy on Adam’s tired goofy voice shtick, but I’ve been getting a few chuckles from some of his stories.
— Okay, the Gil Graham commentary is now starting to go on a little too long.
— Pretty funny flub after the Gil Graham commentary has ended, where Norm mistakenly addresses him as “Adam Sandler” before correcting himself and making some humorous ad-libs.
— Our very first utterance of Norm’s soon-to-be-famous theory: “Germans love David Hasselhoff”.
— And thus ends Norm’s very first Update. A pretty good debut, but understandably felt kinda empty compared to what would later go on to be considered a typical Norm Macdonald Update. There will definitely be lots of growth and improvement from him over the course of this season.
STARS: ***


THE RON WOOD SHOW
the interviews consist of incoherent mumbling

— I liked Mike’s Ron Wood impression as a supporting role in the American Sportsman Today sketch from the preceding season. But with him now being placed front and center in his own sketch, the mumbling joke with him has gotten old very fast. Him interacting with equally-unintelligible celebrities isn’t make this any better.
— Steve looks pretty unrecognizable as Leon Redbone.
— A laugh from how Farley looks as Gerard Depardieu.
STARS: *½


BUCK DANIELS
(MMK) sings song about country musician Buck Daniels’ (host) tragic life

— A fairly interesting-seeming format.
— Over a minute into this sketch, and I ask: where is the entertainment supposed to be coming from? There has been no intentional comedy so far, from what I can tell, nor does the sketch have anything else interesting going for it.
— Okay, now there have been a few scattered attempts at humor, like Ellen punching out Steve, but it’s not working.
— Poor Michael McKean. His guitar-playing and musical narration skills are fine, but between the preceding season’s god-awful Poker Billy sketch and this weak Buck Daniels sketch, those skills have not been utilized well so far during Michael’s SNL tenure.
— I got a laugh from the random appearance of Adam as Jackie Mason in bed with Steve. Adam does a better Jackie Mason impression than some might expect.
STARS: **


NUT-RIFIC
an ad agency comes up with confusing jingles for the Nut-Rific candy bar

 

— I like Elliott’s cheesy delivery while eagerly pitching his commercial idea.
— My god, the overly simplistic premise of “nut” sounding like “not” is lame as hell. Are you kidding me, SNL? This feels like something out of a kiddie show.
— Farley’s somewhat goofy performance doesn’t fit his straight man role in this sketch at all. He also seemed to crack himself up after one of his lines.
— Not even Elliott’s emotional outburst off-camera is making me laugh.
— And the sketch goes on and on and on and on…
— Okay, I finally got a big laugh, from how the good-sounding “It’s just got more nuts” jingle turns out to be for a psychiatric institute. It only took about FOUR MINUTES for this sketch to get there.
— Didn’t care for the “nutsies” ending.
— Speaking of the “nutsies” ending, when the singers all hold out their hand in a Nazi salute, Jay Mohr can be seen staring ahead at something in an oddly fixated manner. In Jay’s SNL book, there’s a backstory about that: he had heard a rumor earlier that week (from Chris Elliott, I think) that Steve Martin wears a toupee, so Jay spent the end of the sketch staring at Steve’s hair in an attempt to tell if it’s a toupee or not.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Five Long Years”


SUPER SPORTS TOURS
join a bunch of striking baseball players on a cruise

— Oh, god, I thought some of the previous sketches tonight were too one-joke, but this puts those to shame.
— I want to like this in a “Sideshow Bob rake scene”-type of manner, but this is completely lacking that kind of funny.
STARS: *


BABIES
(CHF) & (JAG) get defensive because they feel their baby is inferior

— (*groan*) Tonight’s theme of repetition continues, as Farley keeps saying “I blame myself” over and over and over, which is doing nothing to make me laugh.
— I will say that I do kinda like Farley’s mock-dramatic performance in this sketch.
— The premise isn’t bad, but the execution is not working all that well.
— Aaaaand there goes Farley’s obligatory unnecessary screaming outburst. Dammit, he almost made it through a sketch tonight without resorting to his tired typical antics.
— Pretty lame ending.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— (*sigh*) Yep, the signs for trouble are already there. Actually, this season premiere had a promising start in the first 20 or so minutes. Ignoring the overlong and tepid O.J. Trial sketch, we got a very fun and meta cold opening, a pretty solid monologue, an okay fake ad, and a great Penis Beauty Creme sketch. The horrid Total Bastard Airlines reprise seemed to be the turning point where this episode fell apart and never recovered. Aside from Norm Macdonald’s Weekend Update debut, there wasn’t a single thing I liked tonight after the Total Bastard Airlines sketch showed up. And the post-Update half of the episode was pretty much a wasteland of one-note sketches that were either D.O.A. or had a somewhat promising idea but came off half-formed. Overall, definitely a sign of what to expect this season.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1993-94)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Marisa Tomei

Posted on

May 14, 1994 – Heather Locklear / Janet Jackson (S19 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
Linda & friend (host) have tickets to see Barbra in concert

— The final gasp of Season 19’s extreme oversaturation of Coffee Talk sketches.
— How many times in these Coffee Talk sketches are we supposed to be surprised at an announcement that Linda Richman got tickets to see Barbra in concert, as if that didn’t already happen before?
— Heather Locklear looks almost unrecognizable in that get-up, and is surprisingly pulling off this role well.
— I did at least get a laugh from Richman angrily referring to a caller as a “Nazi pig”.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host & PHH, KEN, CHF, Canteen Boy, Jay Leno [real] talk soap opera-style

— A predictable premise for a monologue spoofing Melrose Place, but there could be potential here.
— I like the rivalry being portrayed between Phil and Kevin.
— A big laugh from Heather suddenly slapping Melanie after kindly greeting her.
— Heather seems awfully fixated on those cue cards.
— Random Jay Leno cameo. At least I got to hear Heather call him an idiot, which was satisfying.
— Heather’s dramatic Melrose Place-esqe encounters with various performers, while kinda fun, are starting to get a little old.
— Random Canteen Boy appearance, showing up for the first time since his infamous encounter with Alec Baldwin’s scoutmaster.
— According to GettyImages, Julia had a part cut out of this monologue after dress rehearsal (pic here). I wonder if she played the part that Melanie ended up doing in the live version.
STARS: **½


EYCH
the hairball remover cats ask for by name

— A huge laugh from Ellen’s cat initially going “eych”.
— Hilarious visual of the cats “singing” the jingle, which really makes this commercial.
— The monkey ending almost feels like a precursor to the Bathroom Monkey fake ad that’s coming up early in the following season.
STARS: ****½


MELROSE PLACE
Wayne dreams that he’s with Amanda (host) in Melrose Place

 

— The audience initially seems confused as to why SNL is even attempting a Wayne Campbell sketch without Garth. I’m with you, audience.
— Do we really need two Melrose Place parodies so close to each other tonight?
— Wayne is just recycling a whole bunch of old jokes from earlier Wayne’s World sketches (e.g. “Here’s a quarter, buy a clue”, “She’d give a dog a bone”, comparing Vagina dentata to the title of a Police album, etc.), giving this Garth-less Wayne sketch even more of a sad, lazy feel.
— Okay, Wayne finally got a laugh out of me, with his “I seem to be allergic to emasculation” bit.
— The cast’s impressions of Melrose Place characters are going right over my head, as I’m not familiar enough with the show. Chris’ impression made me laugh, though.
— The running gag of Heather entering in different outfits and Wayne addressing it before saying “Never mind” is falling completely flat.
— Again tonight, Heather is fixated on the cue cards. Her delivery of some of her lines is AWFUL.
STARS: **


HOT BUTTON
Clarence Thomas (TIM) & Ted Kennedy (PHH) sexually harass

— Technically, this is the only actual sketch Phil ends up appearing in all night. I know they’ve been phasing Phil out this season, but how the hell do you use someone like him in only one sketch in his final episode?
— A one-note premise that’s already starting to get a little tired only a minute-and-a-half into the sketch.
— Okay, this has now been getting a little better, especially with the reveal of Phil’s Ted Kennedy posing as a caller.
— I love the running gag with Tim’s Clarence Thomas equating everything to porn titles.
— Kinda surprised by how short this overall sketch was.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Throb”


WEEKEND UPDATE
while giving a Whitewater editorial, homophobic NOM tells KEN to back off
ADS plays guitar & sings about his inappropriate “Summer Love” targets

— Here comes the final Kevin Nealon-anchored Weekend Update.
— Pretty tepid jokes from Kevin so far tonight, and the audience apparently agrees with me.
— Interesting how Norm is doing a commentary in Kevin’s final Update, considering who ends up taking over Kevin’s spot at the Update desk the following season. This is a nice unintentional passing of the torch.
— Norm doing a “homophobic perspective” is a funny meta, tongue-in-cheek spoof of Norm’s real-life views, though considering this is his first season, I’m assuming audiences at the time wouldn’t have gotten the meta-ness of this commentary.
— Noteworthy that Norm says to Kevin at one point “Go over some of your fake news and I’ll finish up here”, as Norm would famously introduce a lot of his own future Weekend Updates with “And now, the fake news”.
— Kevin’s jokes have been getting better, and I loved his random “Lord and Taylor” bit.
— Surprisingly, this is Adam’s first Update guitar song as himself this season.
— The mother reveal in Adam’s song is pretty funny.
— Ehh, the humor in Adam’s song is now dying off, and is paling badly in comparison to his previous Update songs as himself.
— During Adam’s song, we get a brief cutaway to Tim in the studio audience as his character from the Captain Jim & Pedro sketches, singing the words “Summer Love” while giving a thumbs-up. All I have to say about that is, SNL has really been trying to push these Captain Jim and Pedro sketches in the homestretch of this season.
— And thus ends Kevin’s final Weekend Update. I’m not clear on what the story is behind his departure from the Update desk. For years, I had always heard that he stepped down from Update voluntarily, because he felt Update was holding him back from appearing in more sketches (which is even sadder in hindsight, considering he would end up appearing in a significantly LESS amount of sketches the following season). But in more recent years, I’ve heard that he was actually fired from Update. Does anyone know the real story?
— According to GettyImages, this episode had a cut Chris Farley Weekend Update commentary that would later resurface as a bonus feature on his “Best Of” DVD, in which he plays a cigarette-smoking character named Jerry Sozio, who tells a rambling story that mostly just consists of him repeatedly going “So I says to the guy, I says, I says, I says…” (pic here), which would be reworked in the upcoming season 20 as a Point/Counterpoint Weekend Update commentary.
— Kevin’s overall tenure as a Weekend Update anchor was a letdown from how I had remembered it being in past viewings. Before doing these reviews, I had considered Kevin a not-great-but-still-fine Update anchor, I had really appreciated the Chevy Chase style he tried to bring back to the desk, and I had never really understood the criticisms many people seem to have of him as an anchorperson. But when covering his Updates in this SNL project, I’ve become quite disillusioned on his Update tenure. I was fine with his Updates for most of his first season, but towards the end of that season, I started feeling his Updates took on a disappointing blandly average quality, which is where it would stay for the following season 18, before getting even worse in season 19, where he seemed to really struggle at times and the studio audiences seemed to be over him. I’ve now come to fully understand the criticisms people have of him, even if I’m still not as down on his Update tenure as those people are. After getting through this pretty rough season of Update, all I have to say is, I welcome the upcoming new Update anchor with open arms, especially since he’s always been tied with Dennis Miller as my personal favorite Update anchor of all time.
STARS: ***


ACROSS THE BAR
in a bar, (KEN) tries to match (host)’s silent nontraditional flirtations

— I love Kevin’s dopey smile when Heather starts flirting with him.
— Very catchy 90s background music, and it’s adding a great touch to this sketch.
— A huge laugh from Heather randomly pulling her nose up and snorting.
— I love Kevin imitating everything Heather does, especially when does the same drawing of himself that Heather just did.
— Ha, I love the fact that Kevin kisses Norm on the lips, considering this is coming right after a Weekend Update in which Norm kept adamantly accusing Kevin of being gay and having the hots for him. Now THIS is a passing of the torch.
— Hilarious how after Heather’s bra-removal trick, Kevin just sits there frozen and stumped, not knowing how he can imitate that, then he just grabs Norm and kisses him once again. Norm noticeably starts cracking up this time.
— Great turn with the drinking of poison.
— Overall, a masterpiece. Why, oh, why couldn’t tonight be Kevin’s final episode? This sketch would’ve been a fantastic way to conclude his SNL tenure.
STARS: *****


60 MINUTES
Andy Rooney (NOM) reads addresses off letters he’s received

— Our third of season 19’s trilogy of solo Norm sketches with him impersonating a famous figure.
— Yet another solid celebrity impression from Norm.
— I love the brave anti-comedy of this, with Norm just slowly showing a long string of envelopes and saying where each is from, all the while the audience reacts almost uncomfortably. I recall seeing an old SNL newsgroup post from 1994 in which someone compared this sketch to the famous Sideshow Bob rake scene in The Simpsons, in that it’s funny at first, then stops being funny for a while when it keeps going on and on, then becomes funny again because it keeps going on and on. There’s also a very Andy Kaufman-esque quality to this sketch, and as someone who considers Andy Kaufman one of my comedy idols, it’s no wonder I love this sketch so much.
— Good ending with Norm’s Rooney detailing how he always sets fire to letters he receives and dumps it out of a window.
— A perfect sketch in my eyes, and it symbolizes so much of what I love about Norm’s divisive sense of humor.
STARS: *****


AMAZING TIME SAVERS
bigoted (host) sells pasta makers to home shoppers

— The name of Mike’s character, Richard Hayden, is also the name of David Spade’s character in the movie Tommy Boy, which I believe was filming at this time.
— Speaking of Mike’s name being Richard Hayden, Heather oddly called him “John” just now, for some reason. Cue card error?
— Hilarious turn with Heather’s character, as part of an analogy, casually mentioning the Holocaust being a lie, and then acting nonchalant about that statement while many phones ring off the hook.
— Very funny how Heather’s character keeps downplaying the Holocaust statement during calls she takes, and keeps trying to tie it back into the Pasta Maker machine.
— More laughs from Heather’s character now casually making racist comments about minorities.
— Heather’s performance in this sketch is fantastic.
— David playing a stoned caller discussing the different ways “rural” can be pronounced reminds me of a scene he would later do in the movie Black Sheep where he involuntarily gets stoned and finds various ways that “roads” can be pronounced. I believe both this sketch and Black Sheep are written by Fred Wolf, but I’m not sure.
— I love Mike’s very uncomfortable reactions throughout this. When something similar would later happen to him in real life in a certain Hurricane Katrina benefit incident with Kanye West, I bet Mike wished he had a table to hide under like he did in this sketch.
— A great touch at the end with a whole bunch of phones being heard ringing immediately after the un-PC ending disclaimer.
STARS: *****


L’HOMME D’ORGASME
Orgasm Guy visits his French cousin (Rafael Fuchs)

— I liked Rob’s tongue-in-cheek mention of Orgasm Guy being his most famous character.
— Who the heck is this Rob Schneider lookalike playing French Orgasm Guy? Odd how they’re letting a completely unknown person star in a sketch.
— A minute into this French scene, and Norm’s half-assed French accent has been the only laugh so far.
— Yeah, this sketch is falling terribly flat, especially when compared to the great first Orgasm Guy sketch.
— Overall, the only thing this sketch really succeeded in was breaking the streak of perfect post-Weekend Update sketches. Gee, thanks for that. If this was intended as Rob’s swan song, oof.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Any Time, Any Place”


SO LONG, FAREWELL
cast & recurring characters sing “So Long, Farewell” to end the season

— I absolutely LOVE this idea. An extremely fun and fitting way to close a season, and a very sweet idea for a sendoff for such an invaluable and irreplaceable cast member like Phil Hartman.
— David’s only two appearances of the whole night have been in drag.
— Interesting how the featured players are singing about their lack of airtime, which doesn’t really make sense in Norm’s case, especially given how much he dominated tonight’s episode.
— Speaking of Norm, you can tell by the awkward smile on his face that he feels silly about participating in this musical piece. The following season, he’s completely absent from the big Grease number in the John Travolta episode’s goodnights, so I’m guessing he had an aversion to doing musical pieces.
— I love that Richmeister and Pat sang the lyric “We skipped this year, and that’s why it was bad”. Nice way of acknowledging both the year-long absence of those two characters and the lack of quality of this season.
— Michael’s (in his ONLY appearance of the whole night) Laverne and Shirley bit is great.
— Ah, now Matt Foley is the only person remaining onstage, as the song slows down.
— When Phil says “I can’t think of a more dignified way… to end my 8 years on this program”, his voice is trembling in a way you can tell he’s holding back tears. I’m starting to feel emotional right now.
— And now I’m feeling even more emotional as we see the now-legendary visual of Phil singing goodbye to the slowly-zooming-away overhead camera as Matt Foley falls asleep in his arms. That’s something that, while probably touching even when it originally aired, would later take on a VERY touching, emotional meaning in retrospect after the untimely deaths of both Phil and Chris mere months apart.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A bit of an oddly structured season finale, in that the first half was shaky and iffy, but the second half was amazing. There were no less than FOUR sketches in the second half of this episode that got a five-star rating. Very, very impressive, and it more than makes up for the shaky first half. Not a bad way to end a season. Heather Locklear was a wildly inconsistent host, coming off terrible in some pieces (mainly the Wayne Campbell sketch), pretty good in one (Coffee Talk), and perfect in two (Across The Bar, Amazing Time Savers). She was also strangely absent from most of the post-Weekend Update half of the show, but considering her inconsistency and the fact that most of the post-Update half was on an absolute roll, that’s probably a good thing.

— This would end up being the final episode for Phil Hartman, of course, as well as Rob Schneider, Julia Sweeney, Melanie Hutsell, and Sarah Silverman, making this the largest number of cast departures in years. As for the legendary Phil Hartman, a.k.a. “The Glue”, just…. what is there to say? There are no words I can come up with that I feel can do justice to his greatness and importance to SNL, a greatness and importance that, in my opinion, has yet to be matched since then, and possibly never will. I just want to add that back when I first started this SNL project, Phil was one of the cast members who’s tenure I was most excited to cover, and now that I’ve completed it, I feel very honored. Rob Schneider, I’ve always felt had an underrated tenure, and I still feel that way, especially when covering season 18, which was a fantastic year for him. Unfortunately, his tenure didn’t end on the best note, as he took a step down his final season and became more hit-and-miss than usual. Julia Sweeney was a cast member who I’ve always felt was on the show at the wrong time. During these early 90s seasons, she struggled more and more as her tenure progressed and the Boys Club atmosphere of the show increased, culminating in a terrible final season in which her airtime was basically reduced to that of a typical featured player. If she were on during a better era for female cast members, I have no doubt she would’ve had a successful run and could’ve produced more recurring characters than just Pat. While I highly doubt she would’ve been a breakout star performer, she most likely would’ve been a solid Ana Gasteyer-type utility female. As I mentioned several times in earlier reviews, Melanie Hutsell is a performer I had always had disdain for in the past, but came into her tenure with an open mind during this SNL project. That ended up working to an extent, as I found myself being a lot less annoyed by her and starting to appreciate some of her comical supporting performances. I even developed an immunity to her mugging tendencies. However, I still don’t find her anything particularly great, and the sketches she starred in were usually more miss than hit. Sarah Silverman, I have almost nothing to say about, because she did next to nothing during her one-season tenure. Knowing what a big star she’d go on to become later in her career, her underusage on SNL feels like a huge missed opportunity on the show’s part, but I also wonder if Sarah’s young age at the time played a big part in that. Maybe she was just too green for the show back then.

— Season 19 as a whole was certainly a disappointing one, especially coming after the amazing long run of successful seasons from 1986-1993. The first half of this season, while still a big step down from what came before, actually wasn’t TOO bad, aside from the very rough Christian Slater episode. We even got a string of episodes ranging from okay to great in November and December. But as soon as the second half of the season arrived, the troubles for this season kicked into full gear. A lot of episodes were rough, certain sketches started having a low-energy feel and dead atmosphere, and strong episodes were much fewer and farther in between. Many unfortunate characteristics from the doomed upcoming season 20 also started arising during the last few months of this season. Even though I came into this season being prepared for all of those things, I wasn’t expecting to be depressed by the string of bad episodes from around February and March. I’m guessing the reason it was depressing to me this time, unlike in my previous viewings of this season, is because, due to the nature of this SNL project, I was now watching this season in the context of SNL’s entire timeline up to this point. I guess reviewing this season after having just reviewed the high-quality 1986-1993 years made the decline in the second half of this season harder to take. One consistently strong asset to this season was new featured player Norm Macdonald, who’s distinctive style was a welcome new addition to the show and he would often be the biggest or sole highlight of a sketch, especially during the particularly rough second half of the season.

— As a bonus, here’s a famous EW article from towards the end of this season, giving suggestions of how to fix SNL for season 20. I’m sure a lot of you have already read this article before, but I figured it would be a bit of a different experience to read it now, as we’re currently in the context of this period of the show.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


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


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1992-93)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The notorious season 20 begins, the last of the three most infamous seasons in SNL history. Steve Martin hosts the premiere, and we get a few new cast members, as well as a new Weekend Update anchor.

Posted on

May 7, 1994 – John Goodman / The Pretenders (S19 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE 1994 NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE
New York governor hopefuls Mario Cuomo (PHH) & Howard Stern (MMK) debate

— Hmm, interesting casting of Melanie. This seems like the type of role that Julia would normally play.
— Fantastic Howard Stern impression from Michael. Easily the best thing he’s done during his SNL tenure so far.
— I always love Phil’s Mario Cuomo impression, but he’s just being used in a boring straight role here. I guess it wouldn’t be a season 19 episode without Phil Hartman being poorly utilized. Considering he’s playing the foil for Michael McKean in this cold opening, maybe this is intended to be a passing of the torch between the two of them.
— A pretty funny and accurate spoof of Stern’s behavior.
— An overall good sketch, but not quite as strong as I had remembered.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music sounds quite different. The SNL Band would also use this different sound for the theme music in the following week’s season finale. Is this a sign of the SNL Band getting prepared for new SNL theme music next season?


MONOLOGUE
host comes clean to his mother about things he did as a kid

— John is sporting his dark Fred Flintstone-type hairstyle during tonight’s hosting gig, as he’s promoting the live-action Flintstones movie.
— He mentions in passing that this is his fifth time hosting. A shame they aren’t making a bigger deal of that.
— His confessions to his mother are not particularly funny so far.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh from a confession of his, with the one about grandma being kept locked in the basement.
— After a slow start, this monologue has been getting funnier. I like the bit regarding John’s mom once leaving him on the side of the highway when he was a kid.
STARS: ***


MAJESTIC CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE
Rerun from 4/9/94


DOUBLE DATE
Captain Jim & Pedro go on a date with (host)’s daughters (MEH) & (SAS)
PHH asks for pledges to support Captain Jim & Pedro programming

— Did we need these characters returning after only TWO episodes? Also, why in the world is this the lead-off sketch of the night this time, especially when their previous appearance was in a more fitting spot late in the show?
— Much like these characters’ previous appearance, I’m not caring much for tonight’s installment so far. These sketches have the type of goofy charm that I usually get a kick out of, but like I said in my review of the first installment of this sketch, Adam’s silly-humored, goofy-voiced shtick has officially reached the point in his SNL tenure where it’s run out of steam for me.
— Nice continuity with Captain Jim mentioning recently getting hired at Foot Locker, which is a reference to the previous sketch these characters appeared in.
— I hate to ever criticize John Goodman, but he’s kinda bland as the straight man here. Kelsey Grammer made a much better straight man in the first installment of this sketch.
— I admit to smiling at Pedro’s ending line “A monkey will eat dirt… if you make him!” Don’t know why; it just made me smile. I guess as tired as I feel Adam’s goofy shtick has been starting to get at this late stage of his SNL tenure, there’s still an innocent charm left in it at times.
— The post-sketch bit with Phil doing a PBS-esque pledge drive is actually an improvement over the post-sketch bit they did with Michael McKean in the first Captain Jim & Pedro sketch. There’s some good humor in the fact that they’re holding such a big pledge drive for something as silly and mindless as a Captain Jim & Pedro piece.
— I love the visual of Phil wearing a goofy lobster hat while having that trademark straitlaced Phil Hartman smile (last screencap above).
STARS: **½


AMERICAN SPORTSMAN TODAY
Rush Limbaugh (CHF) & Ron Wood (MIM) hunt

— Mike’s unintelligible Ron Wood impression is cracking me up in this sketch. His impression works much better in a supporting role like this than in those terrible sketches they would later give him a starring role in the following season, where he interviews equally-unintelligible celebrities.
— Farley’s certainly no impressionist, but I kinda like his Rush Limbaugh.
— I got a good laugh from the visual of a cow blowing up.
— I love Phil-as-Charlton-Heston’s delivery of the line “Let’s clean it up and put it on the grill.”
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Night In My Veins”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS dislikes bands that have the balls not to play their hits at concerts

 

— Wow, this Update oddly starts with no audience applause AT ALL. Absolute dead silence in the studio.
— David, who’s apparently gotten tired of doing Hollywood Minute, debuts a new recurring Update segment in which he gripes about concerts he’s recently been to.
— I’m conflicted on David’s commentary. He has a lot of funny lines here, but I’m put off by his particularly lazy and half-assed delivery here, which is serving as an unwanted reminder of the bad, mailed-in performances he would often give in the upcoming season 20. I’m also finding his frequent “pure balls” comments in tonight’s commentary to be complete overkill. Still, he’s been making a lot of funny observations here.
— Kevin’s joke about Arsenio Hall retiring from his talk show to get some “stanky on his hangdown” has always been one of my personal favorite Kevin Nealon Weekend Update jokes of all time. Kevin has certainly had some struggles as an Update anchor over the years (especially this season), but that particular joke is a perfect use of his straitlaced, deadpan delivery. Not bad for what ends up being Kevin’s penultimate Weekend Update.
STARS: ***


REAL STORIES OF THE ARKANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL / COPS
Real Stories Of The Arkansas Highway Patrol- Bill Clinton (PHH) womanizes
Cops- Bill (PHH) & Hillary (JAH) Clinton are mum after a domestic dispute

 

— Interesting sketch, and I find the format fun. And as I mentioned in a recent review, it feels like a rarity in this era to see pre-taped outdoors footage (not counting fake ads).
— I love the camera zooming into Phil’s Bill Clinton gleefully giving the “okay” sign when Michael makes a woman he’s questioning bend over.
— A good laugh from Bill being heard sleazily saying his famous “I feel your pain” phrase while having sex with a woman in the back of a police car. Speaking of which, this entire scene (which involves Chris as a cop guarding a police car while Clinton and a woman are inside of it having sex) would later be removed from Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of tonight’s episode. My guess for the reason behind that removal is time reasons, because the sketch as a whole is quite long and Comedy Central probably needed a shorter version.
— Funny silent nervous facial expressions from Phil’s Bill throughout the phone call Rob takes from Hillary Clinton.
— And now we get a sudden turn with this segueing into a Cops parody. I’m enjoying how we’re getting two sketches in one, which feels like another rarity for SNL.
— I love the tense atmosphere in the domestic dispute scene with Bill and Hillary.
— Sadly, this would end up being the last of Jan Hooks’ frequent special guest appearances from seasons 18 and 19. Another sad last: this is the final appearance of Phil’s Bill Clinton impression, as tonight is Phil’s penultimate episode as a cast member. (*sigh*) What makes all of this hurt even more is knowing in retrospect what a HUGE misfire SNL’s attempt to replace the Bill and Hillary Clinton impressions the following season turns out.
STARS: ****


THEATRE STORIES
Christopher Walken (JAM) & Michael Caine (PHH) on panel

— Feels kinda late in the night for this recurring sketch to be appearing.
— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch, even though, unlike Phil, Mike isn’t leaving next week (though he certainly should be).
— Julia’s Dame Sarah Kensington character looks different than usual. Also, this is Julia’s first appearance of the whole night, pretty late in the show. Sadly, that’s common for her lately, though at least she’s actually playing a comedic role this time and isn’t just being wasted in yet another dull straight man role.
— Great to see Jay’s Christopher Walken impression finally become recurring.
— I loved the random “A man who needs no introduction” bit as the camera just shows John as an unknown character silently looking at the camera with his tongue goofily sticking out between his lips.
— Speaking of John, he actually appeared in a previous Theatre Stories sketch, but the character he played in that one is apparently different from the one he’s playing tonight, as both characters have a different name.
— This is the first time Phil’s funny Michael Caine impression has been seen in years. I think the Mary Tyler Moore episode from way back in season 14 was the last time it appeared.
— What was the point of Phil’s Michael Caine randomly sneezing in the middle of his story?
— Never mind; I see now that the point of Caine’s random sneeze was apparently so Mike’s character would imitate it when repeating the entire story that Caine had just told.
— I liked Jay’s Walken saying “That reminds me of a very funny story…..”, then just staying completely silent.
— This installment of Theater Stories has been featuring funny randomness as usual for these sketches, but there’s kind of a “been there, done that” atmosphere to this installment. Probably a good thing this ends up being the final installment.
STARS: ***


PLUCKY NINJAS
beaten, incompetent ninjas regroup & plan their next encounter

— I love the format of this. A good and fun ensemble piece. I’ve always felt this is an underrated sketch.
— A lot of funny lines in the guys’ suggestions.
— Hilarious reveal of Adam having a ninja star stuck in his forehead. I also like the facial reactions from Rob and Mike.
— I know some people are bothered by the extended use of movie stock footage at the end, in which a guy kicks the asses of an entire army of ninjas one-by-one, as some people feel that’s extreme laziness on SNL’s part (especially since the sketch also opened with different stock footage of a group of ninjas getting their asses kicked), but I personally have no complaints. At least this stock footage is entertaining, in a “cheesy 80s/90s ninja movie” way, and I feel it matches up with the live portion of the sketch humorously.
STARS: ****


PHILADELPHIA ACTION FIGURES
Another rerun tonight, this time from 2/5/94


IN HIS OWN WORDS
Michael Bolton (KEN) album contains non-original songs

— I always like Kevin’s Michael Bolton impression.
— Some good laughs from Bolton’s “original” songs just being another artist’s famous song with only one word changed.
— Pretty funny duet between Bolton and his “father” Nat King Cole.
— Good ending with Bolton “creating” the Happy Birthday melody by pressing random keys on a piano.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’ll Stand By You”


FLINTSTONES NAMES
host explains how to convert regular names into Flintstones names

— The format of this, mainly the use of placards, reminds me a little of Tim Kazurinsky’s Dr. Jack Badofsky commentaries from the Dick Ebersol era.
— A few funny bits early on, like Sharon Stone’s Flintstones name being Sharon Miller, and the meta bit with Chris Farley’s Flintstones name being Chris Rock.
— After the two aforementioned funny bits, this sketch has lost steam FAST.
— John’s trying, but I can tell he knows this material is bad. This sketch is dying.
STARS: *½


TAXI TRIVIA
while (host) & (JUS) are in his cab, (ROS) talks of killer taxi drivers

— I love the disturbing premise, and I like the idea of Rob being cast as an unsettling-but-friendly character, but I’m being disappointed by the execution so far, which feels kinda flat and one-note.
— The sketch at least ended on a good note, as I absolutely loved the ending with the creepy close-up of Michael turning to the camera with a sinister smile. Michael’s had a strong night tonight in general.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, especially compared to most episodes in the back half of this season. Not an outstanding episode, but I felt a lot of the sketches tonight ranged from okay to pretty good, and there were two sketches I felt strongly about (Plucky Ninjas and Real Stories of the Arkansas Highway Patrol / Cops). Even the Captain Jim & Pedro sketch, while still nowhere near great to me, was a little better than usual. The show ended on a disappointing note with two sketches that fell flat, but aside from that, the overall episode wasn’t weighed down too much by the usual season 20 warning signs that have been dragging down a lot of the latter season 19 episodes. John Goodman added his usual solid, likable vibe to the show.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Emilio Estevez)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 19 comes to an end, with host Heather Locklear. It’s also the end of the road for several cast members, including the amazing Phil Hartman.