Tag: snl

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

 

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


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

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


BEAUTYBATH
— Rerun, from two seasons ago


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


THE MIKE DITKA TYPE-A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
holiday perfectionism

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Johnny Get Angry”


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

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


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


GOODNIGHTS
host hypnotizes audience to kill memory of botched monologue

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

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Robert Wagner

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dirty Old Town”


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

 

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Loco De Amor”


SPROCKETS
dark East German filmmaker (host) has rapidly Westernized

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


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

 

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


GETTING ACQUAINTED
adult education students make dumb assumptions about each other

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Goodman makes his hosting debut

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Angel”


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

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


LOTHAR OF THE HILL PEOPLE
chieftain responsibilities are discussed

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Woody Harrelson

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Last Worthless Evening”


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Boys of Summer”


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Chris Evert

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

 

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

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


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

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


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

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


ALL ABOUT DEBORAH NORVILLE
Jane Pauley (JAH) faces competition

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Downeaster Alexa”


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
James Woods

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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

STARS: *****


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Satellites”


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ghetto Of My Mind”


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

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


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

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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


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

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

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


THIRTYSOMETHING
avoid nutritional angst by starting your day with thirtysomething cereal

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

STARS: ***


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

   

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rick Moranis

Posted on

May 20, 1989 – Steve Martin / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (S14 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) gives status report on good & bad of his term so far

— Dana-as-Bush’s constant “Not enough in-for-ma-tion” are really funny.
— A good laugh from his example of the “work” he’s done during his days in office so far being repainting, floor-sanding, etc.
— We get our very first Dana-as-Bush utterance of “Not gonna do it”, though he delivers those words in a straight manner tonight. Over time, he famously exaggerates it to “Nah gah dah”.
— Another overall solid Bush cold opening, with another early display of soon-to-be-famous Bush-isms.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
time stands still while (host) & (GIR) go “Dancing In The Dark” {rerun}

— Oh, boy, this is gonna be a bit tough to get through…
— You can tell by Steve’s voice that he’s fighting back tears as he speaks, which is really getting to me.
— Steve mentions how the people you get to work with at the show is what always brings you back to SNL, which is a classy set-up to an encore presentation that’s now being played as a tribute to the beloved Gilda Radner, who passed away earlier this same day.
— Great to see this incredible Dancing In The Dark sketch again, and it’s coming off poignant in the context it’s being shown in tonight.
— Since I already reviewed Dancing In The Dark when covering the episode it originally aired in (the legendary Steve Martin/Blues Brothers episode from season 3), I’m not going to say anything else here for the remainder of the encore presentation. I just want to sit back and enjoy the sketch while reminiscing emotionally about how it was practically yesterday when I was reviewing the original era and got to enjoy regularly covering various great Gilda Radner performances.
— A very nice extended applause break after the encore presentation has finished playing.
— Steve: “You know, when I look at that tape, I can’t help but think how great she was and how young I looked. Gilda, we miss you.”
STARS: not sure if I should rate this, but I’ll give it a ***** for its classiness


PUMPING UP WITH HANS & FRANZ
world’s most perfectly pumped-up man (host)

— Hmm, a change of pace with the smoky intro at the beginning of this.
— A priceless visual of Steve in that insane muscle costume.
— Funny hearing Steve doing the Hans and Franz accent. Hearing him do that reminds me of a little of his Festrunk Brothers voice from back in the day.
— Good ending bit with Steve’s struggle to clap his hands in unison with Hans and Franz.
— At the end of the previous season, I stated that I was already getting tired of Hans and Franz after only one season, and that I don’t find their act all that funny anymore. Thankfully, THIS season made me come around on them. They had a fairly strong year, and it also helps that they weren’t overused like they were the previous season.
STARS: ***½


TAMMY WYNETTE SINGS THE CLASSICS
with “Stand By Your Man” lyrics

— Hilarious how Jan’s singing the same lyric, “Stand by your man”, to the melody of various classical songs. The part with her doing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is particularly funny.
— Excellent performance from Jan here.
STARS: ****½


TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
he can drive, just not very well

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Very funny visual of the obvious cat puppet steering the wheel.
— There’s the very first instance of what would go on to define these sketches: “Toonces, look out!” (*cut to stock footage of a car driving off a cliff*)
— Wow, the sketch is over already? I’m surprised how short and simplistic this first Toonces installment was.
— Oh, never mind, there’s an extra scene now, with a “preview” of next week’s Driving Test episode.
— An overall solid first installment.
STARS: ****


TO MY LOVE
host recites an ode that details what he needs from his woman

— Plenty of great one-liners so far, especially the random “To walk beside me when I want to look like I’m not gay.”
— Another particularly good one-liner with “To make me horny when I’m not horny, and to watch me fall asleep.”
— This is in a similar vein to his classic A Holiday Wish sketch. This even has a similar darkly-lit fancy setting.
— Great ending with his missing wedding ring.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Runnin’ Down a Dream”


WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB tells the class of ’89 to stick it to Noriega with crack boycott

— As always, I love that they’re continuing the tradition of every season finale having an A. Whitney Brown commentary where he addresses that year’s graduating class. We never got to see him do one for the class of 1988, though, since that season got cut short by a writers’ strike.
— A. Whitney, to the class of ’89: “You can be sure ‘the education president’ feels bad that so many of you are functionally illiterate. Not as bad as he’d feel if you had an abortion, but still…”
— Good ending to A. Whitney’s commentary with him calling for a nationwide crack boycott in every high school and junior high to get Manuel Noriega out of office.
— Dennis: “Do you know how personally ungrounded I feel living in a world where Ricky Schroeder has changed his name to Rick?”
— Oh, so THIS is when news started getting out about Rob Lowe’s now-infamous sex tape with a minor, which Dennis says Lowe probably only did “to divert our attention away from that Oscar thing”, which is now the third dig SNL has got in at Lowe’s horrific Snow White opening number at that year’s Oscars.
— After the last two Updates in which Dennis’ jokes weren’t as strong as usual, he had a nice return to form tonight with plenty of great jokes.
STARS: ****


THE NEW CONEHEADS
LOM previews new issue-oriented Coneheads skits; Timothy Busfield cameo

   

— Though they haven’t made it clear yet why they’re doing this, seeing this sketch brings back great memories of how much I enjoyed reviewing the original Coneheads sketches back when I covered that era. That was one of my favorite recurring sketches from those years.
— The casting of Phil and Nora as the new Beldar and Prymaat makes sense, because in several ways, Phil and Nora are this cast’s version of Dan and Jane.
— Nice touch with Victoria having a trendy clock hanging on her head.
— All Coneheads in unison, when asked where they’re from: “France. Yeah that’s the ticket. We’re from France.”
— Good mock-serious segment with Lorne announcing the New Coneheads are coming to SNL next season, tackling serious issues of our time.
— Funny detail of a cone-shaped mirror that Phil’s Beldar looks into.
— The Thirtysomething parody scene was okay, though incredibly dated nowadays. (Speaking of which, we’ll be coming to another possibly-now-dated Thirtysomething parody in the following season’s premiere that I’ll be covering tomorrow) The camera angle and positioning of the actors was strange (last screencap above), but I’m guessing that’s just spoofing the staging in the real Thirtysomething.
— Amusing ending to the letter of approval from Dan Aykroyd, plugging the upcoming Ghostbusters 2.
STARS: ****


GET TO KNOW ME
JOL says “Get to know me!” like DOP & host did; Paulina Poriskova cameo

— Good to see a more fleshed-out, sketch version of Jon’s famous Weekend Update routine.
— A rare on-camera Don Pardo appearance!
— Phil’s Lee Iaccoca impression is very funny.
— I love Steve’s manic delivery in this, as well as his line about how he used to be a two-bit comic with an arrow stuck through his head, “and now I’m starring in Parenthood directed by Opie!”
— Pardo leaning into the shot while gleefully exclaiming “I’m on TV!” is priceless.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Free Fallin'”


SPROCKETS
Dieter’s lover Heike (NOD) reviews the performance of a clown

— Hmm, the monkey on a pedestal is front-and-center next to Dieter right at the start of the sketch. The monkey is usually farther away from Dieter, and is usually not revealed until about halfway through the sketch.
— This is the first time where Dieter’s guest is an equally-weird German instead of an American being weirded out by Dieter.
— “Your story has become tiresome.” Never have I been more happy to hear those words, as Nora’s long-winded story was honestly starting to kinda get on my nerves before Dieter cut it off with the aforementioned catchphrase.
— Dieter’s “Touch my monkey” pleas are now starting to have the over-the-top delivery people now remember, rather than the deadpan low-key delivery he used for it in the first installment.
— I found tonight’s overall installment surprisingly underwhelming. Nora’s character didn’t work for me, and this sketch didn’t have much else going for it. Felt empty for a Sprockets sketch. I’ll just chalk this up to a case of Early Installment Weirdness and assume this is the result of these Sprockets sketches still trying to find their voice.
STARS: **


SIDES
host demonstrates his good & bad sides, photographically speaking

— Hmm, from my past viewings of the rerun version of this episode, I swear I recall Steve performing this sketch on the home base stage. However, in the live version I’m currently watching, he’s performing it on the New Coneheads set. They must’ve later replaced this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— Out of this and the Ode To My Love piece from earlier tonight, I wonder which one was originally slated for the monologue slot before Gilda passed.
— I love how he names each side of his face after famous Mels.
— Nice touch with him exiting the scene with his good side facing the camera.
STARS: ****


SMOKERS CABLE NETWORK
Smokers Cable Network news anchors present items related to tobacco

— The sunrise stock footage played during the Smokers Cable Network opening title (screencap below) looks like the same sunrise footage they’d later use in the opening titles of the Stuart Smalley sketches.

— I like Nora’s rating system.
— Al’s brief segment was hilarious.
— Steve’s entire commentary just being him horribly coughing his way through his unintelligible speech was pretty funny.
— I wasn’t expecting much from this overall sketch at first, thinking it would be a pretty flimsy bit, but it ended up being executed well.
STARS: ***


HAVE A BITCHIN’ SUMMER
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein say goodbye for the summer

— Good intro from Steve announcing that, to commemorate the last show of the season, Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein will sing a goodbye song.
— Haha, “Have A Bitchin’ Summer”.
— Good touch with Tonto blowing a whistle mid-song.
— I recall someone on an SNL messageboard once pointing out that during the close-up of each of the three performers as they’re singing, they all look as if they had been crying shortly before this sketch started (because of Gilda’s passing, maybe?). However, watching the sketch now, I’m not noticing that at all. There’s no visible moistness under any of the guys’ eyes or anything like that.
— Funny and oddly charming as always. Nice way to end the season.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Steve: “I wanna thank all my guests, the most beautiful woman in the world: Jon Lovitz…”
— We get a nice mention from Don Pardo’s voice-over that the show’s next live broadcast will be SNL’s 15th anniversary special in late September (a week before season 15 begins), the beginning of a tradition of SNL holding a big anniversary special during some of their milestone years.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong finish to the season, completing a perfect streak of no episodes that I found supbar this season. We got plenty of great sketches tonight, some really memorable moments, and a heartfelt Gilda Radner tribute in the monologue.
— Season 14 as a whole was PHENOMENAL. The quality of most the episodes was very high, the consistency was very impressive, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no episodes at all that I wasn’t satisfied with. Every single episode worked for me, which is pretty much unheard of for an SNL season. Even my favorite seasons that I’ve reviewed earlier in this SNL project of mine (seasons 3, 4, and 10) each had at least one or two episodes I was disappointed by, and the same goes for my favorite seasons from later on that I haven’t covered yet. In addition to the high quality of season 14’s episodes, this fantastic cast was also firing on all cylinders and performing some of their greatest work, and the show also benefited from the mid-season addition of Mike Myers, who quickly began to make his mark with his stable of distinct and funny characters. All-in-all, I would argue that this is SNL’s greatest season of all-time.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Wayne Gretzky)
a slight step up


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1987-88)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 15 begins, with host Bruce Willis

Posted on

May 13, 1989 – Wayne Gretzky / Fine Young Cannibals (S14 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Panama election impropriety monitor Jimmy Carter (DAC) is bullied

— Funny reveal of Mike under the table using the ballots to cook a roasting chicken.
— I always like Dana’s Jimmy Carter impression.
— An amusing childish turn with the soldiers bullying Carter, leading to them eventually tossing around around an obvious dummy of him.
— I like Dana-as-Carter’s voice-over saying “Live from New York” as his dummy is being spun around.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Never realized before how very Canadian his accent is.
— Some laughs from him talking about his reaction to finding out the writers think he has no talent as a comic actor.
STARS: ***


SLEEPYTIME RAT CONTROL
— Rerun


FISHING WITH THE ANAL RETENTIVE SPORTSMAN
host hooks a big one while fishing with anal-retentive Gene

— Nice that they’ve changed this character’s occupation to keep things fresh in these sketches (though I’m aware he goes back to being a chef in some future installments).
— As usual, some very funny details from Phil’s anal-retentive tendencies, especially the moist towelette attached to the bait bag.
— A good laugh from the giant fish that Wayne has snagged, eventually pulling him into the water (which Phil’s character is completely unaware of as he continues addressing the camera).
STARS: ***½


WAYNE’S WORLD
a hockey fantasy with host & wife Janet Jones [real]

— For the first time, Wayne’s World finally makes it out of the 10-to-1 slot and is placed in a nice early spot in the show. I’m watching an old Comedy Central rerun, however, which is notorious for wildly reshuffling the original sketch order within episodes. So I’m not sure if this sketch originally aired this early in tonight’s episode or not. [ADDENDUM: Looking at a rundown of the original running order of this episode, this sketch indeed aired in this early in the live show.]
— The Switcher Solo segment with the cameras was pretty fun.
— I’m enjoying Wayne and Garth’s various extended “babe” puns regarding Gretzky’s wife.
— The character of Wayne Campbell is continuing to grow, as tonight’s sketch has some of his now-famous traits that weren’t around in the first two Wayne’s World sketches.
— Our very first instance of Wayne and Garth doing the “dldldldldl” sound and wiggly hand gestures when transitioning into a dream sequence.
— Fun pre-taped hockey sequence.
— I like how after the dream sequence ends, Gretzky is now the host of Wayne’s World, and we get our very first instance of Wayne Campbell going “I guess it was all a dream… (*sees something from his dream appearing in reality*) or was it?!?!”, a gag that would be repeated in other Wayne’s World installments that involve a dream sequence.
— Overall, easily the best and most fun Wayne’s World installment so far.
STARS: ****


LOCKER ROOM
after Kings lose Stanley Cup, celebrities join host in the locker room

 

— Dana’s Travolta impression is coming off particularly funny here.
— Now we get Phil’s great Nicholson. We seem to be getting some of the cast’s funniest impressions in this sketch.
— Not sure what Tom Davis is going for with the voice he’s doing as Ed Begley Jr.
— I’m getting good laughs from all the ridiculous suggestions the celebrities are making regarding how hockey should be played.
— Jan’s Bette Davis is absolutely hilarious.
— I like the brief cutaway to Mike as a constantly “What!”-saying Howie Mandel (which I previously brought up when reviewing Lovitz’s Howie Mandel impression in the Rosanna Arquette episode from two seasons earlier).
— Funny ending with the celebrities and Wayne all moving into the shower, much to Wayne’s grief.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “She Drives Me Crazy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
a mysterious voice (PHH) summons DEM to build his Field Of Dreams
ALF suggests saving money by combining euthanasia & the space program
the Field Of Dreams summons original SNLer “Moonlight” Graham (DAC)

— I like the random “If you build it, he will come” voice-over, a reference to the recently-released Field Of Dreams.
— Humorously, the “If you build it, he will come” voice-over intermittently keeps repeating throughout Update, eventually leading Dennis to rethink his goals in life and declare “I gotta build that damn field.”
— Great sequence with Dennis building a tiny baseball field on the Update desk.
— I like how the tiny field still remains on the desk when Al Franken shows up to do a commentary. When Dennis points out the field to Al, Al looks in the direction of the field in front of him and responds “What field?”
— We get the return of the classic “me – Al Franken” gag where every utterance of that line results in a graphic of Al’s name being displayed on the bottom of the screen.
— Al’s insane ideas for space exploration are really funny, especially his suggestions to hurl volunteers into space and having man propel himself into space with a fire extinguisher.
— Dennis’ jokes are pretty average tonight, but that’s still a step-up from his subpar Update in the preceding episode.
— They’re now fully going all-out on the Field Of Dreams runner by having Dana show up as Moonlight Graham. The laugh he keeps doing is very funny.
— The ending with Moonlight taking Dennis out into the cornfield was a nice change of pace for Update.
— Some versions of this episode (including, I think, NBC’s airing of this episode on “SNL Vintage” about three years ago) cut out the entire Moonlight Graham segment. And since Dennis says his sign-off when he and Moonlight are in the cornfield, the edited versions cover for that by splicing in Dennis’ sign-off from the following week’s episode, where he signs off at the desk by saying “Guess what, folks? That’s the season, and I… am… outta here.” Now, Dennis saying “That’s the season” instead of “That’s the news” makes sense in the following week’s episode because it’s the season finale. However, it makes absolutely NO sense for us to see him saying it in tonight’s episode, which is the penultimate episode, not the season finale.
STARS: ***½


WAIKIKI HOCKEY
a Hawaiian busboy (host) has Elvis-like experiences

— I really like Jan’s Ann-Margret.
— Dana’s snobbish, preppy characterization is hilarious.
— Very funny sequence with Wayne blatantly lip-syncing to the Waikiki Hockey song.
— An overall great, memorable, and very charming sketch.
— I think this originally aired as the final sketch of the night during the live show. I wish they kept it like that in the rerun version I’m watching, because this sketch would’ve been a fun, upbeat way to end the show.
STARS: ****½


POINT BLANK
neither host nor (VIJ) has much advice for callers-in

— Wayne’s simple “Hockey is different from marketing; it’s more of a sport” statement made me laugh.
— I was ready to dismiss this as a subpar, one-joke display of Victoria’s ditz shtick, but it’s being executed decently and there’s a strange charm to it.
— I like how the callers keep asking Wayne increasingly complicated questions unrelated to hockey.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Good Thing”


THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY
pundits take discussion outdoors

— I got a big laugh from Dana’s uptight George Will stiffly saying “I’m on record as being pro-sunshine, bluebirds, and cherry blossoms.”
— Interesting deviation with them all going outdoors for their discussion, complete with a short pre-taped sequence of them strolling through a real park.
— I liked Kevin’s Sam Donaldson telling Dana’s uptight Will “Why don’t you take the pine cone out of your butt?”
— Funny cutaway to Kevin’s Donaldson feeding an obvious squirrel puppet.
— Good part with Dana’s Will getting hit out of nowhere with a frisbee, prompting him to lose his cool and yell “DAMMIT!”
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Solid episode, keeping season 14’s perfect streak alive as we’re now in the homestretch of the season. Probably one of the better athlete-hosted episodes SNL has ever done, and despite pretty much playing himself in every single sketch and not stretching himself all that much, Wayne Gretzky did fine as a host, came off likable, and didn’t have any noticeable stumbles that athlete hosts are usually prone to.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Geena Davis)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The amazing season 14 comes to an end, with host Steve Martin. We also get a sad goodbye to a beloved former cast member who passes away earlier the same day.

Posted on

April 22, 1989 – Geena Davis / John Mellencamp (S14 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) gives status report after his first 100 days in office

— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve seen Dana’s Bush impression in months. I think his last appearance was in January right after Bush’s inauguration.
— Hmm, the long break seems to have done Dana’s Bush a lot of good, as it’s come back as a fully-formed version of the characterization that everyone today remembers his Bush as. After witnessing his characterization slowly begin to take shape over the past two seasons, I find it great to finally arrive at the official version of his Bush impression.
— We even get our very first “It’s baaad, it’s baaaad!” and “Dan Quayle, still gaining acceptance”.
— Lots of pretty solid Bush lines all throughout this.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
in style of a French chanteuse, host sings a song about being miserable

— An okay set-up to the song she’s about to perform.
— The French accent she’s singing with is pretty amusing, even if I’m not sure if the song itself is supposed to be comedic.
STARS: ***


THE BOB WALTMAN SPECIAL
celebrity tears make interviews successful

— Great to see the debut of one of my favorite semi-recurring pieces from this era.
— Also great to see Victoria’s dead-on Roseanne make its first return.
— Love the ways Kevin keeps pushing to find ways to make his interview subjects cry.
— Kevin’s bizarre, sleazy smile into the camera at the end of every interview is hilarious.
— Very funny reveal of Kevin cutting onions to make Phil’s Burt Reynolds cry.
STARS: ****


FROST WHITE AND THE SEVEN L’IL MEN
alterations to Snow White story were made to avoid lawsuit from Disney

— The blatant knock-off version of Snow White is getting some good laughs.
— I like how they keep overemphasizing the few differences from the original Snow White (e.g. “It’s not a mirror, it’s a plate!”).
— Very funny turn with an angry Jon yelling on the phone, especially the part with him picking back up the hanged-up phone to add “Disney! We’re talking Disneeeeyyy!”
— I love the part with Jon waving off the “Someday My Prince Will Come” similarity by saying the song was using the word “prints”, not “prince”.
STARS: ****


ATTITUDES
an interview with the owner of a vintage clothes shop (host)

— The opening joke-telling bit with Nora and Jan had some good laughs.
— Again, a lot of funny little details in Nora and Jan’s characterizations here.
— Geena’s “I look for things without stains” explanation was funny.
— I like them exaggerating how long ago the late 70s were (at the time).
— This isn’t quite as strong as the previous Attitudes sketch with John Malkovich, but I’m still getting a lot of enjoyment.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pop Singer”


THE PALMER BUNCH
Robert Palmer (PHH) with his “Addicted To Love” models

— I like the opening Brady Bunch theme song parody.
— Some pretty good laughs from the details in how the back-up dancers do every little thing while moving exactly like they do in Robert Palmer’s music videos. The part with them all exiting the kitchen in unison especially got a good response.
— Something about the way the sketch ended felt kinda empty.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
during review of Rain Man, MIM & BES help form each other’s opinions
DEM attempts to explain nuclear fusion using the Mouse Trap board game

— We get a Tommy Flanagan “Yeah, that’s the ticket” reference during a joke from Dennis about Oliver North lying.
— Boy, a lot of Dennis’ jokes are surprisingly getting a very tepid audience reaction. I guess I can’t blame the audience, as the jokes honestly aren’t too hot.
— I did like Dennis’ joke just now about Donald Trump’s plan to build better genitalia, called “Trump’s Little Tower”.
— An awkward, stumbly intro from Dennis to Mike and Ben’s commentary.
— I love the fact that we’re seeing a commentary from the two new guys. It’s absolutely fascinating as a future viewer to see a young Mike Myers and a young Ben Stiller paired together as themselves.
— Just now, Mike said “Here’s a quarter, buy a clue”, which is a joke he’d later go on to use quite a bit in the Wayne’s World sketches.
— Ehh, I’m not getting too many laughs from Mike and Ben’s commentary. I did like the “Greenland” mix-up, though. And this commentary is still preferable to the last time two new young guys appeared together as themselves on a Dennis Miller Weekend Update to review a book or movie (*coughAnthonyMichaelHallRobertDowneyJr.cough*).
— Loved Dennis’ meta comment right after Mike and Ben left: “Nice to have the new guys aboard to infuse the cast with a newfound energy in the form of job paranoia.” Though in Ben’s case, the cast doesn’t have much longer to suffer from job paranoia.
— I loved the audience disappointedly groaning in unison when Dennis’ Mouse Trap/fusion bit fails to work on cue. Dennis ad-libs “Now this is a two-part process….” and then tries it a second time, where it fails even EARLIER. This is hilarious.
— Great conclusion to the Mouse Trap bit, with Dennis just going ahead and finishing the trick by hand when he can’t get the mechanism to work properly after multiple tries.
— Dennis’ very random Sununu/hunting bit cracked me up.
— After a string of jokes that received very little reaction from the audience, Dennis finally got one that landed, with a joke about Bryant Gumbel’s ego.
— An overall surprisingly underwhelming Dennis Miller Weekend Update. If it weren’t for the Mouse Trap bit, this Update would’ve been completely forgettable.
STARS: **½


SUSPENDED ANIMATION CHAMBERS
despite explicit warnings, idiots “rescue” people in suspended animation

— The group always immediately finding signs that answer a question they had just asked is kinda funny.
— What… the… hell?!? The sketch is over already? I have no idea what I just watched. Most of the humor in this didn’t work for me, and it had no real ending.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jackie Brown”


SPOKESMODELS
potential game show models learn the essential gestures from (host)

— A funny sudden turn with the use of Don Pardo’s gameshow voice-over and it being revealed that the dance class students are taking lessons on how to be a gameshow spokesmodel.
— A pretty accurate take-off of gameshow models’ various cliched moves, especially the “consolation head tilt” for whenever a contestant loses.
STARS: ***


LAST MAN ON EARTH
after the apocalypse, last woman (host) still won’t date last guy (JOL)

— Interesting set-up.
— A lot of good low-key, realistic humor out of the the conversation between Jon and Geena. I’m enjoying the slice-of-life feel of this sketch.
— A pretty heartwarming turn with Jon trying to win Geena over by playing romantic music on the radio.
— A good laugh from Jon finally flat-out admitting he thought that since he’s the only guy left on Earth, he’d finally have a chance with someone like Geena.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— We get a nice mention of it being Jan’s birthday tonight.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I came into this episode kinda cautiously because I recall hearing that it’s subpar for this season’s high standards (I’ve seen the episode myself a few times in the past, but remembered very little from it), and if that turned out to be true, then it would sadly ruin the season’s flawless streak of no subpar episodes (in my eyes, at least). I ended up finding tonight’s episode surprisingly decent as a whole. In fact, the first half was actually pretty strong, with 3 four-star sketches in a row (Bob Waltman, Frost White, and Attitudes). The show hit a rough patch in the middle with Weekend Update (surprisingly) and Suspended Animation Chambers, but things slowly got better afterwards. The overall episode was fine, which keeps this season’s perfect streak alive.
— After being in the cast for only four episodes, this ends up being the final night for featured player Ben Stiller. I don’t know the exact story, but I believe he left by his own choice because he was frustrated by his lack of noteworthy roles and felt his talents were being wasted. He DID seem to get stuck playing straight man most of the time and I’m sure it didn’t help when he saw all the great opportunities that fellow newbie Mike Myers was getting. However, Ben should’ve understood that it takes time for some cast members to break out. When you’re a new featured player in an already-established, close-knit cast, you can’t always expect to immediately break out within a mere FOUR EPISODES. And it’s strange that Ben didn’t at least finish out the season; after all, there’s only two episodes remaining. The fact that he couldn’t even be bothered to stay two episodes longer proves that he must’ve REALLY hated working at SNL. At least he doesn’t end up holding a grudge against SNL for TOO long, considering his first hosting stint is just 10 seasons later, and he would then host again a decade-and-a-half later, not to mention the countless cameos he’s made and continues to make to this day.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dolly Parton)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Wayne Gretzky