Tag: snl

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April 14, 1990 – Corbin Bernsen / The Smithereens (S15 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CBS outcast Brent Musberger (KEN) works at the Cable Shopping Network

— Good to see the Brent Musberger and Jimmy The Greek impressions back for the first in a long time, and this is a funny setting for them.
— Musberger’s out-of-place sports-like announcing of typical shopping network things is pretty funny.
— A good laugh from Jimmy The Greek once again starting to say something touchy about black people, and Musberger trying to stop him.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— An okay sudden turn with Corbin laughing off his attempt to convince us that he’s not cocky and that there was once a time when women didn’t want him.
STARS: ***


MOVERS AND SHAKERS
character names lend authenticity to (KEN)’s shows

 

— For some reason, I like the opening theme music to this, even though it was probably just a generic stock music score SNL had in the sound library.
— Dana once again plays a criminal character in a Scarface-esque manner.
— Not caring too much for this sketch so far.
— Okay, I got a pretty good laugh from the ridiculous use of “harsh” language during the tense Corbin/Dana scene.
— Overall, some good lines here and there, and the humor was well-suited for Kevin’s typical delivery, but this sketch suffered from being too sluggish-feeling, causing it to drag. What was this doing in such an early spot as the lead-off sketch of the night?
STARS: **


TV LAWYERS
host & other actors who play lawyers on TV try their act in a real court

— Pretty funny with Corbin thinking he can act as his own lawyer, but turning out to be very wrong.
— Excellent Susan Dey impression from Jan, and she’s giving a very funny speech.
— I love where this is going, with them bringing out other famous TV lawyers one-by-one.
— Phil’s Andy Griffith is PRICELESS.
— Jon is also very funny as Raymond Burr, and he’s doing a surprisingly dead-on vocal imitation.
— Good ending with each lawyer doing a “dramatic exit”.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Girl Like You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ has words of praise for Mother Theresa & Mickey Mantle
Grumpy Old Man doesn’t like cash machines, Kleenex, motion pictures

— Meh, didn’t care too much for Victoria’s overall Mother Theresa commentary. Too much generic “blonde ditz” humor here.
— Just when I thought Dennis was having a bit of a ho-hum Update tonight (seriously, why have his Updates been so shaky lately?), he won me over with a bit where he follows an intentionally corny joke by saying “Well, THAT brought Update to a screeching halt” and then cues an airbag that inflates in front of him. That was so random, it was funny, and he made some really amusing ad-libbed comments about it afterwards.
— The usual strong Grumpy Old Man commentary. My favorite part was his story about the “family handkerchief”, which was unwashed for generations and was filled with diseases.
STARS: ***


THE NIGHT HANUKKAH HARRY SAVED EASTER
Hanukkah Harry & invisible Elijah (ALF) sub for Easter Bunny (host)

— Feels weird seeing Tom Schiller in a big role in a live sketch for the first time since season 5.
— I’m not as familiar with this second Hanukkah Harry installment as I am with the classic first installment from earlier this season.
— Boy, so far, this is paling badly in comparison to the first Hanukkah Harry sketch.
— Okay, Phil as the white trash father has provided my first big laughs, and that didn’t even come until about THREE-AND-A-HALF MINUTES into the sketch.
— Phil’s angry “We got us a jewboy!” after pulling out a rifle was funny.
— Good sequence with Phil getting beat up by the invisible Elijah.
— Overall, a slow and forgettable first half, but things got better in the second half. Still, they should’ve left Hanukkah Harry as a classic one-off sketch. Tonight’s sequel didn’t come anywhere close to measuring up.
STARS: **½


PLAYGIRL MODELS
Playgirl models (KEN), (DAC), (host) adorn their penises for the people

— Where have I heard that gruff voice from Dana before?
— Oh, now I figured out where I heard Dana’s gruff voice before: the now-obscure “Two Sammies” sketches that he and Kevin used to do. The voice also sounds like one he would later use for another now-forgotten recurring character: his Larry Roman character from the following two seasons.
— Phil casually applying make-up on the models’ penises is pretty funny.
— Some good laughs from the models’ ridiculous ideas for penis decorations, especially Kevin’s idea for an outdoor theme with a picket fence around the penis.
STARS: ***½


GEORGE F. WILL’S SPORTS MACHINE
intellectual baseball questions

— Dana as George F. Will’s out-of-place intelligent, verbose sports questions and Corbin & Jon being stumped over them is pretty funny, though the premise feels a bit thin.
— Amusing side segment with Kevin’s Sam Donaldson showcasing the game prizes.
— Fun ending with George F. Will being chased out of the studio and through SNL’s backstage.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Before & After”


CONCEITED GUY
(JAH) discovers that her date (host) is preoccupied with his own face

— Funny sudden reveal of Corbin having a gigantic face photo of himself on his wall when he and Jan enter his apartment, after he came off humble and down-to-earth beforehand.
— When Jan turned Corbin’s stereo on, I expected the music that played from it to be sung by Corbin, but I turned out to be wrong. I feel like that joke DID appear in an SNL sketch, though I can’t remember which one.
— Just when I thought the joke was starting to wear kinda thin, they got me laughing again with the funny reveal of Corbin’s ridiculous slippers (last screencap above).
— There would be a rip-off of this sketch years later in an (infamous) episode hosted by Adrien Brody in 2003, with Chris Kattan in the Corbin Bernsen role and Rachel Dratch in the Jan Hooks role (Adrien Brody had a side role as an effeminate servant-type character). Yes, I said “rip-off”. One might call the similarity between both sketches a mere coincidence, but nope, I don’t think so. The similarities are WAY too stark. I have a theory that the Kattan version of the sketch was written by a certain long-time SNL writer (still currently working at SNL as of 2019) who’s received quite a number of accusations of stealing material over the years. I’ll go into more detail about all of this when we reach the Adrien Brody episode.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A completely average episode. While there wasn’t much I found weak, very little stood out as great either. After how consistently strong this entire season has been (aside from the Quincy Jones episode) before these past two episodes, there’s been kind of an unexciting quality to the show lately, between the forgettableness of the preceding episode with Debra Winger and the extreme averageness of tonight’s episode. Then again, I know that this mild slump doesn’t last any longer, considering what the next episode is…


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Debra Winger)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin makes his hosting debut

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March 24, 1990 – Debra Winger / Eric Clapton (S15 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (PHH) can’t answer any of census-taker’s (VIJ) questions

— Unless I missed it, they haven’t mentioned that it’s Ronald Reagan who Phil is playing here, though you can still tell. This is apparently a parody of Reagan’s behavior at then-recent Iranscam hearings, where he gave non-answers to almost every single question he was asked.
— For something that is one-joke, this is still coming off solid. Most of it is because of Phil’s performance and delivery, but it’s also because of his many variations of “I don’t know”.
— Even the comically awkward, drawn-out ending with Phil’s Reagan getting locked out of his house and unintentionally setting off the alarm made me laugh, even if it seemed like they were reaching for material there.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Some decent dry humor here, with Debra’s self-deprecating mentions of how quietly her career is currently going.
— Interesting ending with Debra flat-out saying “This is the end of the monologue”, keeping with the dry theme of this overall piece.
STARS: ***


WAYNE’S WORLD
Oscar Picks; Chick Court finds that (host) is not a slut

 

— For some reason, Wayne’s wearing a black long-sleeved sweater instead of his usual black short-sleeved shirt.
— Solid “Wayne’s World Oscar Picks” segment.
— Debra looks almost unrecognizable in that wig.
— The idea of this “Chick Court” segment is pretty fun.
— Interestingly, during a discussion between the characters, there’s a mention of a rumor-starting schoolmate named Tim Meadows… the same name of a certain future cast member who SNL hires a year later. Apparently, he and Mike Myers were friends from their Second City improv days together, and Mike threw his name into this sketch as a shoutout. Amusingly enough, the Tim Meadows that’s discussed in this sketch is referred to as a “gimp” and a “liar”, among other unflattering things.
— Haha, SNL makes yet ANOTHER Lambada reference.
STARS: ***½


URBAN TOONCES
Urban Toonces joins Bud (DAC) & Sissy (host) for tequila & a bull ride

— Dana’s Travolta is hilarious as always.
— Another good use of Toonces in a movie spoof, after the Driving Miss Daisy sketch earlier this season.
— Very funny visual of Toonces drinking tequila and then riding on the mechanical bull.
— Ha, for once, a Toonces sketch uses a different stock footage clip of a car driving off a cliff, since this scene is supposed to take place at night, whereas the usual stock car-off-a-cliff footage these Toonces sketches often use takes place at day.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Alibis”


WEEKEND UPDATE
demostration of HDTV makes DEM Sam Donaldson-like
Mr. Subliminal gives an editorial about Donald & Ivana Trump

 

— The bit with the HDTV version of Dennis looking like Sam Donaldson was pretty funny.
— I liked Dennis’ random “The Japanese bought EVERYTHING this week” one-liner news story.
— Odd technical error where a graphic of Mr. Subliminal’s name showed up on the bottom of the screen for only a nanosecond before immediately disappearing.
— Oh, never mind. After another occurrence of the quickly-disappearing “Mr. Subliminal” graphic, it’s obvious that it’s an intentional gag in which his name appears subliminally. Clever touch.
— The usual funny subliminal remarks from Mr. Subliminal, especially his sexual comments towards Marla Maples.
— We’re getting a string of brief, rapid-fire jokes from Dennis all of a sudden.
STARS: ***½


THE ADVENTURES OF CALAMITY JANE
therapy helps explain Calamity Jane’s (host) nature

— Two western-themed sketches tonight? And interesting how they both take place in a bar.
— I like the line about a reformed Wild Bill Hickok changing his name to Well-Adjusted Hickok.
— Jon’s exaggerated facial reaction to Calamity Jane pointing a gun at him was really funny (last screencap above).
— Overall, ehh. I liked this overall piece more for the idea and committed performances than for the actual execution. The resulting sketch came off kinda dull and overlong.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pretending”


SATAN’S ALBUM
Mephistopheles defends his album at Senate hearings on record labelling

— Funny beginning with Phil as Ozzy Osbourne.
— First time Nora Dunn has appeared all night. Lately, it feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of her with each passing episode, which makes me realize there’s truth to what Jon Lovitz has claimed in an interview in recent years, where, IIRC, he basically says at one point that towards the end of Nora’s SNL tenure, she was being phased out of the show even BEFORE the infamous boycotting stunt she pulls when a certain controversial stand-up comedian hosts a little later this season.
— I liked Mephistopheles’ only defense of his hellish lyrics being “I live in hell; I write what I know.”
— Hilarious Frank Zappa impression from Dana.
— I’m disappointed to see that this sketch is nowhere near as great as I had remembered it. Portions of this sketch feel kinda dead and aren’t doing all that much for me.
STARS: **½


THE WHITE PARROT
other castmembers upstage JOL’s attempt at a romantic scene with host

— I was wondering where this sketch was going, but Phil’s silly performance right now as the waiter is giving me some laughs.
— I like how the white-colored dessert Phil offers is “chiclets and the inside of an Oreo cookie”.
— Interesting fourth wall-break with Jon calling out Phil on trying to upstage him. I kinda saw it coming that this would turn meta by revealing this is a Jon Lovitz-written sketch, after all the unrealistic flirtatious comments Debra was making to Jon earlier in the sketch.
— Nora’s scene didn’t work much for me, though I liked Jon’s delivery of “Oh, are you DONE?!?” in response to Nora’s overdramatics.
— I like Jan now trying to steal the sketch as a restaurant singer.
— A nice, charming ending between Debra and Jon.
— Despite the laughs I got and the great premise, I couldn’t help but feel this sketch could’ve turned out a little better than it did. Something felt kinda missing in the execution, making the overall piece come off just average to me.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wonderful Tonight”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty forgettable episode. I dunno, I’m just not too crazy about what I watched as a whole. Thinking back on it, there were actually some pretty solid things in the first half, but the second half had an odd, ho-hum feel, and the show ended without there being ANYTHING all night that I felt stood out as particularly great. Even the subpar Quincy Jones episode from earlier this season had a few standout strong pieces. I also don’t like how tonight seemed to have an unusually small number of sketches, which I guess is due to Eric Clapton getting three musical performances, the third of which was quite long (albeit beautiful).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rob Lowe)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Corbin Bernsen

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March 17, 1990 – Rob Lowe / The Pogues (S15 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) doesn’t gloat; host worries about reaction to sex tape

— Hilarious pronunciation from Dana’s Bush of “Not gonna gloat” as “Nah gah glah”.
— Some very funny lines from Bush as usual.
— Interesting deviation from the usual Bush cold opening format by cutting to Rob Lowe backstage.
— Everybody trying to convince Rob that nobody cares anymore about the sex tape scandal is pretty funny. A good way for SNL to address the elephant in the room, and a nice set-up for what’s to come in the monologue.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host gets cool response from audience still upset about sex tape

— For some reason, G.E. Smith is noticeably wearing a headset tonight (screencap below), which he usually doesn’t.

— I love how after the theme music ends, there’s absolute silence in the studio and we see  an unhappy, non-applauding audience.
— Some good laughs from the one unseen audience member constantly yelling “I have a daughter!”
— Good ending with crowd-pleaser Jon Lovitz taking over Rob’s duties for the remainder of the monologue.
— Kinda disappointed this monologue ended so early. I wanted them to take this into further places.
STARS: ***½


IRISH DRINKING SONGS
album features lots of inebriation & vomiting

— Ah, the sketch that features Conan O’Brien’s most prominent on-camera role during his tenure as an SNL writer.
— All of the drunk Irish songs being advertised are priceless, with my favorites so far being “The Incoherent Song” and “The Drinking/Fighting Song”.
— Not sure what Mike said at the very end regarding a compact disc, as his line was mixed very poorly among the background singing (at least in the live version I’m reviewing of this episode).
STARS: ****½


CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady stays off tape topic, paddles host

— Oddly, this is the second episode in a row with a Church Chat sketch.
— I liked Church Lady’s little line, referring to her upcoming guest Rob Lowe as “a hair in my Cream of Wheat”.
— Love Church Lady’s sarcasm over how much of a stretch it is for Rob to play a villain in a movie.
— Absolutely hilarious part with Church Lady using initials for terms that she agreed not to use during the interview (“Tingly Naughty Parts”, “Bulbous Buttocks”, etc.)
— Love the turn with Rob willingly receiving a prearranged spanking from Church Lady with a wooden paddle.
— Haha, Rob saying “Thank you, Church Lady, may I have another?!?” after every strike he receives with the paddle, and Church Lady screaming into Rob’s butt “Get out of his buttocks, Satan!!” This is all absolutely CLASSIC.
STARS: *****


GOVERNOR WADE HAMMOND
Texas governor Mark White (PHH) stresses death penalty in re-election bid

— Funny reveal that Phil’s governor character is cruelly sitting on the coffins of men he’s executed.
— Phil is great in this, especially his joking behavior towards asking questions to the dead bodies in the coffins.
STARS: ***½


SPROCKETS: DIETER’S DANCE PARTY
trendsetter (host) unveils Trout Dance
German teens learn how to “mach das pimplen kaput” with Clearasil

— Love this deviation from the normal Sprockets format.
— The German music video showing a beating human heart is humorously disturbing, as is one of the accompanying lyrics: “(sung in a deadpan manner) That’s not a nun’s laugh; that’s a whore’s laugh.”
— Dana’s dancing is cracking me up.
— Love Victoria’s insanely tall hair.
— One song title Dieter mentions is “Mummy’s With the Angels” by Simon. Ah, an early reference to a certain bathtub-dwelling child character of Mike’s that will make its debut next season.
— The mid-sketch commercial for a German version of Clearasil is very funny.
— Great sequence with Rob’s bizarre dance interspersed with footage of a fish flopping around in water.
— Ha, a mention of the famous Lambada dance (a.k.a. “The forbidden dance”) that was very popular at the time. Wonder if this is the only time SNL ever referenced it.
STARS: ****


HARBAUGH
Mark White’s opponent (JOL) promises to make capital punishment painful

— Some really good laughs from Jon’s gruesome delight in detailing the painful suffering he wants criminals to experience.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “White City”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Energizer Bunny & Energizer Annoying Man interrupt newscast
AWB talks about Lithuanian independence & other Eastern Bloc troubles

— Great opening line from Dennis: “You know, I love The Pogues, but I’ve always been a sucker for lyrics”, as a dig at the unintelligible singing we had just heard from the The Pogues’ lead singer minutes ago. I remember hearing somewhere that the lead singer was supposedly drunk in this episode (after all, it IS St. Patrick’s Day and The Pogues ARE Irish).
— What the hell at the sudden smoke rising from off-camera when Dennis is in the middle of a joke? (second screencap above)
— Oh, so THAT’S where the smoke came from. Hilarious bit with the Energizer Bunny unintentionally walking its way into a smoky bin of sulfuric acid, much to the delight of the audience.
— Much like Church Lady, Annoying Man appears for the second episode in a row tonight.
— An overall short and sweet appearance from Annoying Man.
— Wow, where has A. Whitney Brown been lately? This is surprisingly the first time we’ve seen an Update commentary from him since way back in October. He usually appears much more frequently than that.
— A. Whitney, on the poor current state of the communist world: “All they need is crack and they’d be as bad off as the Bronx.”
— Another reference to The Lambada.
— An overall pretty hit-and-miss Update from Dennis tonight. After being consistently strong in his first four-and-a-half years at the Update desk, Dennis’ Updates have been slightly unstable and shaky lately, I’m noticing. It only gets worse in the second half of next season, where he practically sleepwalks through his Updates.
— I remember in Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version of this episode, they actually inserted a commercial break into the middle of this Update. The only other time I remember Comedy Central doing that to a Weekend Update is in the Kyle MacLachlan season premiere from the following season.
STARS: ***


THE ARSENIO BECKMAN SHOW
interaction with audience dominates

 

— Right off the bat, I’m absolutely LOVING this Arsenio Hall take-off.
— Great detail of Rob having long fingers.
— The frequent cutaways to the hooting-and-hollering studio audience is another aspect of this that’s a hilarious and dead-on parody of the real Arsenio’s show.
— Rob’s performance here is freakin’ priceless, especially the part with him curling into an odd posture on the chair (third-to-last screencap above).
— Haha, as if this couldn’t get any funnier, now the audience is throwing around dummies.
STARS: *****


MACE
pretty boy (host) agrees to be personal trainer for cellmate Mace

— The first in a long time we’ve seen Phil’s Mace character and his catchphrase “I”m a bad, bad mutha!”
— Haha, yet ANOTHER Lambada reference. I guess this is what I get for wondering if the Sprockets sketch earlier tonight featured SNL’s only-ever Lambada mention.
— Most of this sketch has been just average. I think I prefer Mace when he’s fighting with Kevin Nealon.
— The ending was funny with Rob messing with Mace’s head by flirting with him.
STARS: ***


RANDY X FOR GOVERNOR
executioner (DAC) says experience makes him the best gubernatorial choice

— Funny follow-up to the earlier vote ads, with the executioner asking viewers to eliminate the middleman by voting for the guy who actually pulls the electric chair lever.
STARS: ***½


HELMET HEAD
Helmet Head (host) lives his life with unremovable wartime equipment

 

— Funny opening theme song.
— There’s the Jack Handey trademark of fake sponsors. I particularly like the one for the world’s cheapest caviar (“Damn, that’s cheap!”).
— Rob’s sudden angry “soapy water” rant was great.
— Jon’s insane “helmet-ectomy” procedure is very funny.
— This sketch is featuring the type of silly Jack Handey humor I always love.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Body”


ALEXANDER’S FUR WORLD
fur merchant (JOL) says animals that became pelts are better off dead

— Due to some network glitches during the preceding commercial break in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode, this sketch was abruptly joined mid-progress as Jon Lovitz began talking about “retarded beavers”. Not sure how much of the sketch I missed.
— Tons of airtime for Jon tonight.
— I’m liking Jon’s snooty voice in this.
— An overall okay commercial from what little I saw of it.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
host shoves CHC off stage

— Haha, what the hell? Chevy??? What’s he randomly doing there in the background (first screencap above)?
— And now Rob Lowe brings Chevy to the front of the stage and joking yells “Somebody get this guy outta here!” before playfully shoving him off the stage.
— Why was Chevy randomly dressed in a tuxedo? Was he still in his formal attire from SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special from months earlier?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty strong episode, and yet another episode from this season where I liked everything in it. Rob Lowe did a great job, was a good sport, and the Arsenio Beckman sketch in particular solidified him as a reliable semi-recurring SNL host. I’m looking forward to reviewing his subsequent hosting stints.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Fred Savage)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Debra Winger

Posted on

February 24, 1990 – Fred Savage / Technotronic (S15 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Church Chat- Church Lady & niece (host) criticize Marla Maples (JAH) & Donald Trump (PHH)

— Fred Savage is already off to a strong start here with his great performance and dead-on Church Lady imitation as her niece (named Enid, like Church Lady herself). I remember I first saw this episode in a Comedy Central rerun and, not knowing in advance who was hosting this episode, I spent this entire cold opening thinking that was an actual little girl playing Church Lady’s niece, until the opening montage came on afterwards and I saw that Fred Savage was billed as the night’s host.
— Funny demeanor and posture on the couch from Jan’s Marla Maples.
— Marla Maples: “Donald [Trump] and I are just good friends.” Church Lady (sarcastically): “And Enid is just a little boy in a dress.”
— Phil’s Trump wig is even funnier-looking than usual tonight.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Wonder Years narrative documents host hitting puberty while on-stage

— Very funny use of Fred’s Wonder Years adult voice-over, though it’s clearly not Daniel Stern doing the voice here.
— Fred’s adult voice-over, regarding SNL: “It was February 1990, just a few months before the show was finally canceled.”
— Great concept of Fred panickedly going through puberty mid-monologue.
— Hilarious reveal of him having very thick chest hair. With that, he could’ve been a guest on the Eye On Chest Hair sketch from the last episode.
STARS: ****


GUN SAFETY
results of leaving (host) home with gun demonstrate firearm safety don’ts

 

— Just getting this out of the way right now: I really don’t want to address the elephant in the room, regarding how uncomfortable it is in hindsight to see Phil starring in a sketch like this. I’d rather just watch and enjoy the sketch as best as I can, the way it was originally intended to.
— Some good laughs from all the supposedly child-proof places the father says he has the gun and bullets hidden.
— Funny turn with Fred using the gun to threaten his father after his father tells him he’s grounded.
— Another funny sudden turn with the mother also having a gun, and using it to stop Fred from controlling his father with his gun.
— Hilarious part with the father hiding the gun in the box of cereal.
— Great fourth wall-breaking bit with Kevin at the end.
STARS: ***½


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
guests are neglected daughter Missy (VIJ) & host

— This recurring sketch makes its first appearance in an entire year, and this also ends up being the last time this sketch ever appears.
— Interesting seeing Pat Stevens’ daughter.
— Pat’s dismissive attitude towards her daughter is pretty funny.
— A good laugh from the daughter’s whiny “I wanna go live with my dad” answer to Pat’s question.
— This overall sketch was a decent way for Pat Stevens to go out.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pump Up The Jam”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN reports audience’s displeasure with News From 10 Feet Away bit
Annoying Man’s magic tricks include chewing foil & scraping a chalkboard
irate audience member (RBS) concludes KEN’s News From 10 Feet Away
Grumpy Old Man dislikes bottled water, athletic footwear, amusement parks

   

— I love the concept of Kevin’s “News From 10 Feet Away” segment.
— A lot of good laughs from Kevin’s comments about the audience’s reactions to his segment, detailing their growing frustration over this bit going on “far too long”.
— Annoying Man chewing a ball of aluminum foil was really funny.
— I liked the audience groaning loudly as soon as Annoying Man brings out the ol’ chalkboard & fork once again.
— Loved Dennis’ meta comment to us about Jon Lovitz after the Annoying Man magic trick commentary ended: “I’ll tell ya what the best trick is: that he’s gotten that on three times.” Though to nitpick, this is actually the FOURTH time Annoying Man has appeared (believe it or not).
— Some unintentional laughs from Dennis badly stumbling through his intro to Kevin’s “News From 10 Feet Away” follow-up.
— Good ending to Kevin’s commentary with him suddenly getting knocked out with a bat by an irate audience member. I’m surprised the audience didn’t respond all that much to that part.
— Lately, it feels like Grumpy Old Man and Annoying Man are the only two recurring Update guests we’ve been seeing these last few months.
— The usual hilarious griping from Grumpy Old Man, especially his story about drinking dirty water that contains chunks of hairy crud.
— Tonight’s overall Update was a good comeback for Dennis, after the surprisingly subpar quality of his last two Updates.
STARS: ***½


IMAGINARY FRIEND
(host)’s parents pressure him to develop a more creative imaginary friend

— Love the cutaway to Phil’s angry stone-faced facial reaction (second screencap above) during the young girl’s bragging about her imaginary friend.
— A big laugh from how Fred’s made-up descriptions of his new imaginary friend turn out to just be Beethoven’s life story.
— I like the inane seriousness that Phil and Nora are taking Fred’s inability to come up with a creative imaginary friend. Phil is particularly great in his overly-intense sternness.
— Good ending with Fred badly making up an imaginary friend by looking around the gym for details.
STARS: ***


SHUTTLE LAUNCH
Space Shuttle countdown is repeatedly stopped due to launch pad wanderers

 

— Already starting off hilarious with Lassie randomly being under the about-to-launch rocket, and Dana & Kevin panicking over that.
— When seeing Hitler under the rocket, I love Dana’s cheesy delivery of “I’d like to fry him!”
— I’m loving the increasing silliness of the people who show up under the rocket. This type of silly sketch epitomizes what I love about this era of SNL.
— Funny part with Dana and Kevin being torn on whether or not to launch the rocket when Dan Quayle and Mikhail Gorbachev are under it.
— Loved the fake-out with the Invisible Man supposedly being spotted under the rocket but it just turning out to be a prank.
— Haha, Dana and Kevin eagerly pressing the launch button as soon as they spot Donald and Ivana Trump under the rocket comes off even funnier in hindsight nowadays… at least in Donald’s case.
STARS: ****½


LOTHAR OF THE HILL PEOPLE
on a hunt, Lothar Of The Hill People prepares son (host) for manhood rite

— Much like Pat Stevens, this is another recurring sketch tonight that’s making what would end up being its final appearance.
— The men rejecting Fred’s clever idea just because it’s new and unfamiliar was pretty funny.
— A lot of good lines all throughout this sketch.
— Nice sudden return of Fred’s Wonder Years adult voice-over from the monologue.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Get Up!”


HOOKED ON SUSHI
by TOS- Japanese restaurant literally lures (KEN)

 

— Interesting seeing Kevin starring in a Tom Schiller-made film noir spoof, though I can’t help but be reminded of another Tom Schiller-made film noir spoof: the great Java Junkie film from season 5. I’m sure this will be going in its own direction, though.
— Great turn with the restaurant waiters reeling in Kevin like a fish.
— Hilarious dark ending with a dead, chopped-up Kevin being on display as a meal.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, with nothing I disliked. Unlike some other episodes with a child host, I didn’t feel that the restraints on the type of humor SNL can do hurt the show too much tonight. Even the most “kiddie” sketch of the night, the imaginary friend sketch, was enjoyable. And for a 13-year-old host, Fred Savage did a great job tonight and handled himself incredibly well, coming off much more at ease than some adult hosts that SNL has had over the years.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rob Lowe

Posted on

February 17, 1990 – Tom Hanks / Aerosmith (S15 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Donald (PHH) defeats Ivana (JAH) via thorough Trump prenuptial agreement

— Phil’s Trump impression has really improved from the previous times he played him.
— Very funny part with Donald telling Ivana that the contract she signed has allowed Donald to have mistresses, provided they are younger than Ivana.
— Ha, a mention of Donald Trump’s board game (“Trump: The Game”), something that I’m aware existed in real life only because I’ve recently been seeing commercials for it during some of the copies of live episodes I’ve been reviewing from this season.
— Great part with the Three-Card Monty trick.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— This is the first live episode that uses SNL’s 15th anniversary logo in the opening montage.

— Here’s another update that’s been made to the montage tonight: featured player Mike Myers has been promoted to a regular cast member! And he now has a live-action shot in the montage like the rest of the regular cast members (screencap below) instead of just a still photo like he had during his featured player days.


MONOLOGUE
host has an out-of-body experience after banging his knee backstage

 

— Good premise with Tom having hurt his knee backstage before making his entrance.
— Very funny reveal of Tom’s inner thoughts saying a monotone-but-pained “It hurts so much”, managing to name-drop some of his own hit movies, and begging God to make the pain stop.
— Hilarious visual of Tom’s ghost dancing delicately around the studio while having poetic inner thoughts.
— Most of this monologue would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. One big difference is that in the live version, Tom’s ghost doesn’t go into the control room, whereas he does in the rerun version.
— Another difference between the live and rerun versions of this monologue: the way Phil and Victoria are dressed. In the live version, Phil’s still dressed as Trump from the cold opening and Victoria is wearing casual clothes. In the rerun version, Phil and Victoria are both dressed in their outfits from the Mr. Short-Term Memory sketch that appears later tonight. (side-by-side comparison below)

— A classic part right now with Abe Lincoln telling Tom “You’re an incredible pussy!”
— An overall great monologue that was perfect for Tom’s style.
STARS: ****½


MCDONALD’S
the Red Square McDonald’s offers Happy Meals containing basic necessities

— Hilarious how the prizes in the Happy Meal are things like a bar of soap, toilet paper, etc.
— Funny ending tagline from Jan’s happy spokesperson: “Good times, great taste, SOAP!”
STARS: ****


WAYNE’S WORLD
musical guest plays thanks to Garth’s roadie cousin (host)

— HUGE cheering from the audience at the beginning of this sketch.
— I like Nora sarcastically singing the Wayne’s World theme song when complaining about how she’s not allowed to appear on the show.
— Wayne freaking out about Aerosmith being in his breakfast nook is great, especially the line “Aerosmith is sitting where I eat my Nut & Honey everyday.”
— There’s the very first Wayne’s World utterance of the phrase “Monkeys might fly out of my butt”.
— And there’s Tom’s odd-but-now-immortal utterance of the term “sibilance” when doing a mic check.
— Fun seeing Aerosmith show up on the Wayne’s World set while an excited Wayne and Garth are doing the “We are not worthy” bowing-down to them.
— The Q&A segment is very funny, especially the Aerosmith members’ intelligent, verbose answers to the complicated question about socialism and the climate.
— Absolutely legendary part with Wayne, Garth, and Aerosmith performing a fleshed-out version of the Wayne’s World theme song. That propels this sketch into a popular classic and is pretty much what officially cements Wayne’s World in general as an untouchable recurring sketch.
STARS: *****


TALES OF RIBALDRY
(VIJ) & (JAH) enlist services of a bootblack (host)

— Great to see this sketch back.
— The heated, sensual boot-polishing sequence with Tom and Jan is very funny, especially when the camera later returns to the scene to show a now-sweaty Tom still polishing the boot.
— The delight from Jon’s character during his various reaction shots are priceless as usual, especially the camera catching him peeking at the boot-polishing scene through a hole in the wall.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Janie’s Got a Gun”


WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF is discovered during Medellin cartel deal

 

— Seems to be an unusually high amount of corny, picture-based jokes from Dennis so far tonight.
— I love this idea of tonight’s One-Man Mobile Uplink Unit commentary, with a whispering Al showing us a cocaine transaction.
— Excellent payoff to Al’s commentary with him being spotted by the cartel and frantically running away from their gunshots while still reporting to the camera.
— Funny little blooper with one of the sheets of paper on the Update desk almost falling before Dennis catches it.
— The very first SNL mention of Dick Cheney, who’s mentioned tonight as a defense secretary.
— Ha, was Dennis’ random “Dude looks like a lady” bit ad-libbed?
— Overall, Dennis had some of the usual solid jokes, but there were too many picture-based jokes tonight for my likes. Still a slight improvement over Dennis’ surprisingly dire Update in the preceding episode.
STARS: **½


MR. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Mr. Short-Term Memory visits an injured friend (PHH) in the hospital

— Nice to see this officially become a staple for Tom Hanks’ SNL appearances.
— As usual, Tom is selling this perfectly and is making it very fun. I can’t see anyone else pulling off this character quite as well as him.
— I like how his bad memory has now gotten to the point where he suddenly doesn’t even recognize his friend (Phil), after having just spoken to him for most of the sketch and having no trouble recognizing him then.
STARS: ****


EYE ON CHEST HAIR
hirsute celebrities show off follicular endowments

— An amusingly random talk show concept, made even more random by Martina Navratilova being the host.
— Interesting how Tom is playing Randy Travis, considering Randy Travis was a musical guest in one of Tom’s earlier episodes. I wonder if casting Tom as him tonight was an intentional reference to that.
— Pretty funny with the guys each saying what they see in each other’s chest hair, like it’s some kind of psychology test.
— Dana’s Joel Siegel impression is cracking me up, even though I have no familiarity with what the real Joel Siegel is like.
— An absolutely hilarious unexpected bit with red ants being seen in a close-up of Gene Shalit’s chest hair.
— Good part with Kevin as an also-shirtless Kenny Rogers performing a (obviously lip-synced) song, especially the casual reveal of him having many gray patches of hair on his back.
— Seeing a studio audience full of shirtless guys reminds me of the Nude Talk Show sketch that’s coming up later this season.
— Funny bit regarding Tom Davis and chest hair implants.
STARS: ****


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
drug-awareness ad imagery belies intent of Jensen Syringe Company spot

— Uh…….. okay. This was so brief and indescribable that I’m left wondering what I just watched.
STARS: *


THE MOB
personal testimony of (NOD) recalls how the mob saved her business

— Funny reveal of Nora having joined the mob to help her financial issues.
— Some good laughs from the professional way that this, of all things, is being presented, and from Nora’s nonchalant attitude towards the mob’s actions.
STARS: ***½


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
reliable Jensen Syringes are thrown at dartboard in more drug ad imagery

— Okay, at least this one had more of a comedic point with the use of the syringes as darts, even if this still isn’t particularly hilarious.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Monkey on My Back”

— Just now, Steven Tyler noticeably uttered the lyric “(something something) fuckin’ monkey off my back”. While most of the words in that lyric were unintelligible (as are most of Tyler’s lyrics in this performance), the “fuckin’” was loud and clear. It would later get muted out in reruns.


GIRL WATCHERS
the desensitized losers try to work a cruise ship full of elderly women

— Here comes what would end up being the final appearance of these characters.
— Love how the Girl Watchers’ bad luck with the ladies has gotten to the point where they’re forced to resort to hitting on women in a cruise ship for elderly singles.
— Jon’s unibrow from the first installment of this sketch has returned, after not being used in the second installment.
— The usual very funny comments from Jon and Tom.
— Great part with one old lady slowly passing by with a walker and then suddenly speeding past the Girl Watchers just to get away from them.
— Loved Tom’s smug “We… are iiiiiin hell” at the end.
STARS: ****


BLACK HISTORY MOMENT
Andy Rooney (PHH) on George Washington Carver

— Hilarious idea of a Black History Moment being presented by Andy Rooney, fresh off a controversial statement he made about black people, even if I’m not familiar with what exactly the controversial statement was (there was also a reference to it in the previous episode’s Weekend Update).
— Haha, the ending “It’s f*gs I hate” line was so wrong but was a killer punchline.
STARS: ****


JENSEN SYRINGE COMPANY
Jensen Syringes seen washed up on beach are “fresh as a mountain stream”

— Ehh, a step below the last one, which is saying something. This also felt like a poor man’s version of the McDonnell-Rand commercial from the previous season’s Matthew Broderick episode.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

— Tom Hanks at the end of his goodnights speech: “He shoots, he scores!” I can’t think of a better way to sum up his overall performance in tonight’s episode.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The usual strong Tom Hanks episode, and a return to form for this SNL era after the previous week’s underwhelming Quincy Jones episode. Tonight gave us one all-time classic (Wayne’s World Meets Aerosmith) and tons of very solid pieces. The back half of the show was structured strangely, though, with an unusually high amount of filler and mini-segments, though the only ones I wasn’t satisfied with were the Jensen Syringe Company pieces.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Quincy Jones)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
A 13-year-old Fred Savage

Posted on

February 10, 1990 – Quincy Jones / (many musical guests) (S15 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- a muscle serenade for Valentine’s Day

— Yet another deviation from the usual Hans and Franz formula.
— Hans and Franz singing famous songs altered to have a muscle theme is decent, especially the song “Someone Left His Buttocks in the Rain”.
— Pretty short cold opening overall. I’m surprised they didn’t do more with this than just having the characters sing a few quick songs.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— We get a record-high number of musical guests tonight; too many to include in the header of this review. (For anyone curious of who the musical guests are, they’re listed in the tags at the end of the review) In fact, there’s SO many musical guests that Don Pardo has a lot of trouble getting through all the names, announcing them too slowly and awkwardly, and messing up some of their names. He announces Melle Mel as “Melanie Mel”, and announces Quincy D III (which is supposed to be pronounced “Quincy D 3”) as “Quincy D the 3rd”. SNL would later fix all this in reruns by using a different take where Pardo announces all the musical guests’ names quickly and without any mistakes.


MONOLOGUE
host conducts SNL Band in “Manteca” to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s freedom

— Hmm, the home base stage looks a bit different, with the walls on the left and right side gone, giving the stage a much wider look and overlapping it with the musical guest stage. There’s also a much larger number of SNL Band members than usual (looking more like a full orchestra than a band), which probably explains why the SNL theme music had a bit of a different sound tonight.
— Not any comedy here. We get Quincy conducting the enlarged SNL Band in a nice instrumental to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
— Okay, they threw in a little joke at the end just now, with Quincy admitting he lied about a few things at the beginning of the monologue, mainly about how he’s happy to be here. Turns out he DOESN’T want to be here; he just cares about Mandela’s freedom. Hmm. It remains to be seen whether that comment was just a good-natured joke or 100% genuine.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


CENTURY 21 MARRIAGE COUNSELORS
relationship advice has been franchised

— Here comes a fake ad that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a cut dress rehearsal piece with Quincy Jones advertising an album of himself performing music scores from movies.
— The employees’ odd-looking bright green suits are making me laugh, though I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be funny.
— For the second time in the last three episodes, Victoria makes her only appearance of the night in a pre-taped commercial. She didn’t even have any lines in this one! I know Victoria isn’t the most versatile performer, especially when compared to her two female castmates, but I still feel bad for her getting shut out of so many live shows lately.
— This overall commercial had a fairly clever idea, but the result of it was kinda forgettable.
STARS: **½


DRIVING MISS DAISY
after Hoke (host) quits, Toonces takes over Driving Miss Daisy (JAH)

— I liked Quincy’s long-winded insult to Miss Daisy that started with “old, ugly, dried-up camel…”.
— Funny how Quincy gets up and leaves while the car is still driving, causing the car to crash off the cliff with Miss Daisy still inside.
— Ha, I love how in the scene immediately after the aforementioned crash, we’re shown a completely unharmed and casual Miss Daisy in her bedroom.
— Interesting seeing Phil playing Dan Aykroyd’s character from the real Driving Miss Daisy.
— Great reveal of Toonces being Miss Daisy’s new driver.
— While nothing unexpected or exciting happened for the remainder of the sketch after the initial reveal of Toonces as the new driver, this still provided reliable laughs as usual.
STARS: ***½


THE BOB WALTMAN SPECIAL
Marion Barry (host) & Ronald Reagan (PHH) cry

 

— Great to see this back.
— I forgot to mention this in my review of this sketch’s debut the previous season, but I found out a few months ago that these sketches are supposed to be a parody of Barbara Walters, right down to the name (Bob Waltman). I was surprised to learn that, because I had always assumed from these sketches that Bob Waltman was a real person. Heh, then again, I’m the same guy who also thought Referee Pitman was a real person.
— I always love Nora’s look as Leona Helmsley.
— Very funny how Waltman makes Helmsley finally bust out in tears by mentioning she recently had to fly coach.
— Great touch with Quincy’s Marion Barry doing a cocaine-snorting motion while sniffling during his crying.
— Loved how the Tammy Faye Bakker interview IMMEDIATELY began with her breaking out in tears (complete with the usual running mascara) without even being emotionally prompted by Waltman, resulting in Waltman giving his usual goofy smile into the camera while also confusedly shrugging his shoulders.
— Funny use of tear gas to make Phil’s Reagan cry.
STARS: ****


JAZZ PERSPECTIF
obsequious hipsters (DAC) & (JOL) idolize “le Q” host

— In the copy I’m reviewing of the live version of this episode, the beginning of this sketch is missing due to technical glitches the local NBC affiliate was having during the preceding commercial break.
— Jon and Dana are hilarious as the Frenchmen hosts, and I like how they call Quincy “Le Q”.
— You can tell Quincy is genuinely amused during this sketch.
— Dana and Jon’s increasingly insane requests to Quincy are cracking me up, especially Jon eating a plate that Quincy ate off earlier, and Dana holding Quincy’s lips while Quincy’s telling a story.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “Prologue (2Q’s Rap)” & “Back On The Block”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DOP tells what the Gotti jury has won for finding the mob boss not guilty

— Odd moment where before doing one particular joke, Dennis confusedly pauses for a long time, then tells someone off-camera “That’s not the right joke, we gotta do THIS joke”.
— The whole bit with Don Pardo doing a gameshow-type announcing of what the Gotti jury won wasn’t all that great and didn’t work for me.
— The brief bit with Dennis revealing that his rap name is also Dennis Miller bombed with the audience.
— What was with Dennis half-assing his usually-energetic arm-swipe when doing his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move after his sign-off? Reminds me of how lethargic he would come off in quite a number of Updates from the second half of his final season next year, where you could tell his heart wasn’t into it anymore and he was ready to leave.
— No guest commentaries tonight?
— Overall, yikes, an unusually rough Update from the Dennis Miller era. Easily one of his weakest.
STARS: **


CROWN HEIGHTS
reverend (host) & rabbi (JOL) try to repair a rift between blacks & Jews

— Quincy Jones in that wig is a pretty funny sight.
— I liked the camera briefly cutting to the rappers just sitting with stone-faced expressions after Jon makes a corny joke.
— After a very dull and uninteresting first half, this sketch has gotten a little better with the rappers performing a hilarious anti-Italians rap.
STARS: **


SWIMSUIT ISSUE
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein peruse Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue

— Funny gag with Frankenstein quickly “clearing” the table by just tipping it over.
— As the guys are looking at one particular page in the swimsuit magazine, I liked Tarzan’s line “Jane had body like that once, before boy.”
— Another funny line, with Tonto responding to seeing a picture of a 6’1 model by saying “Tonto live on her like reservation.”
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “The Verb To Be” & “Wee B. Dooinit”


SOVIET CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Soviet Central Committee rubber-stamps Gorbachev’s (PHH) wild proposals

— Here comes ANOTHER sketch tonight that would later be removed from reruns. This would be replaced in reruns with something cut after dress rehearsal: a semi-dramatic, semi-musical piece with Quincy as a therapist and Phil as a patient pouring his heart out to the therapist.
— Some of the bizarre proposals Phil’s Gorbachev are making are kinda chuckleworthy, but the execution of this sketch has been coming off way too dull and repetitive so far.
— Okay, I did finally get a genuine laugh just now, with Gorbachev pulling a trick by switching the order of “all opposed” and “all in favor”.
— Bah, this is now just turning into a whole bunch of cheap poop jokes. What the hell?
— The explosion ending didn’t do anything for me.
— Overall, oof. Let’s just say I can definitely see why they would later cut this sketch in reruns. The therapist sketch that replaces this is FAR better.
— I also wonder if the reason they replace both this sketch and the Century 21 Marriage Counselors commercial is to include Quincy Jones in the show more, as he is pretty much non-existent in the last quarter of the live version of this episode.
STARS: *½


DIALS & GAUGES
House Committee On Dials & Gauges questions (KEN) about unsafe controls

 

— Hilarious beginning with Dana’s sinister laughing when speeding up the ferris wheel to an insanely-high level.
— Love the randomness of Kevin’s last name being Amalgamated.
— The increasingly-ridiculous dangerous levels on the controls that are displayed are really funny.
— Hoo, boy, the audience is DEAD SILENT during this great sketch. The awful Gorbachev sketch that preceded this probably killed all the audience’s energy.
— Nora: “Did you make this gauge here, which controls the temperature in this room?” Kevin: “For the purpose of this sketch, yes.”
— Hilarious how Nora asking Kevin “Look around you; do you see any cannibals in this room?” results in Kevin literally looking around the room for a long time, which Nora finally stops by telling him it was just a rhetorical question.
— Solid ending with the electric chair.
— When I was younger, I used to think this overall sketch was weak, due to the slow pacing and the dead audience, but I can appreciate this sketch a lot more now. There were so many funny things going on here, the bizarre humor is right up my alley, Kevin and Nora’s dead-serious performances complimented the material nicely, and this sketch comes off very welcome when compared to some of the dull sketches from earlier tonight.
STARS: ****


WE ARE WORLD
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “We Are The World”

— Very funny as always.
— Nice touch with them having headphones on just like the real “We Are the World” artists.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Sadly, SNL’s perfect long streak of good episodes since the beginning of season 14 has ended tonight, as we have our first episode that I was underwhelmed by since season 13. That’s not to say this was a flat-out bad episode, but the comedy portions as a whole were VERY mixed and featured a lot more weak material than we’re used to seeing these last two seasons. Even Weekend Update had an off night and seemed to be the point where this episode truly started falling apart, though they eventually bounced back nicely at the end with two very solid pieces to close the show (Dials & Gauges and We Are World). So, again, not an outright bad episode, but a lesser one from this era. This episode comes off a little better if you watch the rerun version, due to the superior sketch replacements mentioned earlier in the review.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Hanks / Aerosmith

Posted on

January 20, 1990 – Christopher Walken / Bonnie Raitt (S15 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Tonight Show- guests are Andrew Dice Clay (JOL) & Mikhail Gorbachev (PHH)

— Funny gag of an absent Ed McMahon being filled-in by a machine recording of his voice, only saying his catchphrases.
— Jon’s Andrew Dice Clay impression is solid, and there IS a pretty strong facial resemblance.
— Hmm, Phil has shown up as Mikhail Gorbachev. I wonder if that’s why they had to resort to replacing McMahon with a machine.
— Dana-as-Carson’s Azerbaijan bit was really funny.
— Immediately after Phil says “Live From New York…”, there’s suddenly a mysterious loud, high-pitched whirring sound that overlaps with the beginning of the theme music. I have no idea what that whirring sound was, but it would later be muted out in reruns.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host shows excitement by singing “Throwin’ A Ball Tonight” & tap-dancing

— When mentioning how audiences say he comes off cold and sinister in movies, Christopher says he always hears a criticism that he often sounds like he’s reading his lines off cue cards. That’s even funnier in hindsight, considering the cue card-staring penchant his SNL appearances would go on to become famous for.
— He launches into a song early on in this monologue, which would go on to be a tradition in his subsequent SNL monologues.
— Very upbeat number.
— Great tapdance break in the middle of the song.
— Excellent touch with the two fancy sets of stairs that the cast members enter from.
— An unintentional laugh from Christopher’s hat almost falling off backwards during a close-up of him at the end of the number, resulting in him making an alarmed “OH!” face as he quickly catches the hat.
STARS: ****½


COLON BLOW
— Rerun


ETERNITY
mysterious drama permeates perfume-inspired game show

 

— Very funny premise of a Calvin Klein commercial-esque gameshow. I know this sketch is based on one specific Klein commercial, which I (and I’m sure a lot of viewers today) have no memory of, but as long as you’re familiar with what Calvin Klein ads from this era were typically like, you still get exactly what this sketch is going for.
— Love the sky background behind the contestants as they’re saying their dramatic lines.
— This sketch is perfect for Christopher Walken’s style.  His dramatic reading of his “deep” answers is hilarious.
— Christopher’s “Liar!” outburst to Kevin cracked me up.
— Funny touch with Jan’s frantic hand movements when she and Christopher were shown writing their Final Eternity answer.
— Priceless reveal of Christopher’s written answer being a drawing of the famous painting “The Scream” (last screencap above).
— Even without saying a word, Jan is very good in this.
STARS: ****½


THE DUMPER
surrogate dumper (host) employed by (VIJ)’s boyfriend ends relationship

— The idea of someone sending a delivery man to tell his girlfriend he’s dumping her is really funny.
— A good laugh from Christopher responding to Victoria’s crying with an insincere, monotone “There, there” and pat on the back.
— Funny aspect of Christopher even having Victoria sign various pages of a document “to show that you’ve been dumped”.
— Great ending reveal that there’s another woman in the same building who the boyfriend sent Christopher to deliver break-up news to.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Have a Heart”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Annoying Man (JOL) expresses his love for DEM in strange ways

— Lots of great jokes so far about Marion Barry’s infamous then-recent crack bust.
— Dennis’ reactions to Annoying Man always make me laugh.
— Great turn with Annoying Man’s deep-voiced sudden “I love you” reveal to Dennis.
— Some great bits of business right after the Annoying Man commentary ends. First, Dennis tells us that Jon Lovitz has to get a lot less annoying than usual to get into that character. Jon as Annoying Man then rushes back to the Update set and gives Dennis’ cheek an unscripted lick with the tongue before immediately leaving again. Dennis then hilariously says to the camera “Licked by Lovitz. What concentric circle of hell is THAT?”
— Pretty funny how Dennis’ joke poking fun at the recent death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh received some hisses from the audience, which Dennis of course played off of with some great ad-libs.
STARS: ***½


THE CONTINENTAL
viewers experience what it’s like to be charmed by The Continental (host)

— The debut of a Walken SNL staple. Feels a little odd in hindsight seeing this buried in the second half of the show, as I believe all the subsequent installments of this sketch would be recognized as an important part of the night and be placed in the first half of the show.
— It’s quite something in hindsight hearing Phil Hartman’s Continental voice-over intro being used for the first time, knowing that voice-over would famously go on to be used in all subsequent Continental installments, not only even after Phil’s SNL departure, but even after his passing.
— Love this format of a first-person camera perspective.
— Some odd little bloopers so far. Firstly, after the female guest (the cameraman) rings the doorbell, a strange, loud “FWOOMP” sound is suddenly heard. It sounded like it possibly came from the clip-on mic of an off-camera Christopher Walken. Secondly, when Christopher puts the keys down on the table after letting his female guest in his apartment, the keys IMMEDIATELY fall off the table by accident and make a loud crash sound, which Christopher tries to save with a brief ad-libbed statement: “Broken glass.”
— There’s the very first utterance of the Continental’s immortal pronunciation of champagne: “cham-PAN-yuh”.
— Great part with Continental lighting both cigarettes in his mouth simultaneously.
— Nice effect of the camera (the female guest) smoking a cigarette.
— Needless to say, Christopher is absolutely perfect in this.
— The female guest’s constant racing for the front door after an offensive statement by Continental is always funny, especially when she does it immediately after Continental asks her “Would you like to see… the bedroom?”
— Absolutely hilarious part with Continental showing his masseuse diploma from the University of Beijing.
— Interesting camera angle while the female guest is getting massaged.
STARS: *****


ATTITUDES
a talk with sports event proselytizer Rainbow Head (host)

— Surprisingly, this is the first (and probably only) time we’re seeing Nora all night.
— Absolutely LOVE the idea of Christopher being cast as the famous Rainbow Head guy from sports games.
— Christopher’s usual deadpan, oddball delivery is coming off PARTICULARLY priceless in this role.
— A big laugh from Christopher’s Rainbow Head calling the San Diego Chicken a whore.
— Very funny bit where after Rainbow Head describes his wig as an afro, Jan and Nora clarify to viewers in a sincere voice “Afro-Americans.”
— Another great aside from Jan and Nora, this time regarding the bible being the “best-selling book ever”.
— Nora: “Is there a pot of gold at the end of Rainbow Head’s rainbow?” That already-hilarious line was topped even further by Christopher’s silent, stone-faced reaction, which got a great response from the audience (and resulted in Christopher smirking).
STARS: *****


LEASE WITH AN OPTION TO KILL
Max Zorin’s (host) headquarters isn’t ready

 

— When being told by his henchman that they’ve captured James Bond, I loved Christopher-as-Max-Zorin’s panicked reaction: “No, you idiot! I’m not ready; LOOK at this place.”
— Every time I’ve seen this sketch over the years, I always crack up to no end at Zorin’s bizarre threat to Bond that he’s going to use a laser to “cut your ass in half”. It’s not just the line itself; it’s Walken’s delivery of it that kills me.
— Loved the “Here’s the shark excreting you” drawing that Zorin shows Bond.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thing Called Love”


HARDBOUND
interviewer (KEN) is eager to learn more about writer (host)

— Here comes a sketch that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a Schiller’s Reel.
— Funny how Kevin constantly keeps making little statements of admiration while his favorite author (Christopher) is speaking. This is such a Kevin Nealon-feeling premise that I can tell he mostly likely wrote this sketch himself (which I know is something I’ve said a lot about Kevin throughout this SNL era, but he does have a very distinctive writing style and humor).
— Kevin’s increasing anger whenever Christopher mentions anyone other than himself is giving me some good laughs.
— Christopher’s exaggerated tongue-sticking-out face when forced to talk only about himself is priceless (last screencap above).
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Christopher Walken’s only words during his goodnights speech: “Thank you for coming and I….. thank you for coming.”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An exceptionally strong episode where the show was firing on all cylinders, made even more significant with this being Christopher Walken’s SNL debut . As a performer, Christopher immediately displayed all the odd soon-to-be trademarks that would make all of his SNL hosting appearances so great and lovable. The show also used him well tonight, playing to his strengths by casting him in roles that perfectly utilized his unique personality and dry delivery (particularly the Eternity, Dumper, and Attitudes sketches).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ed O’Neill)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Quincy Jones and a ton of musical guests

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

 

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christopher Walken makes his hosting debut

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme One Reason”


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

 

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


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

  

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


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

 

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All That You Have”


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

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

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


YARD-A-PULT
— Rerun


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

 

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


ATTACK OF THE MASTURBATING ZOMBIES
small town battles undead autoerotica

 

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


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

 

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


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


WEEKEND UPDATE

  

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

 

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When Something Is Wrong”


SWIVEL CHAIR MYSTERY THEATRE
furniture is used to add dramatic effect

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


GOODNIGHTS

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

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

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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