Tag: Steve Martin

Posted on

April 22, 1978 – Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers (S3 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Don Kirshner’s (PAS) Rock Concert- musical guest performs “Hey Bartender”

   

— The true official debut of the Blues Brothers. A version of them appeared earlier in a season 1 episode while dressed as Bees, but I’ve come to realize that was more of a Blues Brothers prototype rather than the real thing.
— I mentioned in my review of the aforementioned season 1 sketch that it’s unusual how Dan isn’t singing with John, because I had remembered the later Blues Brothers appearances having Dan and John both singing. However, Dan’s silent in tonight’s number too. I guess my memory of it being a regular feature for him to join John in singing was wrong.
— Overall, a very fun and classic opening number.
— The fact that the musical guests tonight are two of the cast members’ side act shows how much variety the early seasons had and how unpredictable the show could be back then.
STARS: N/A


MONOLOGUE
host removes watches, wallets, clothing from audience member (BIM)

     

— “Oh, did I assassinate your penguin?”
— Loved him mistakenly reading the “apply to infested area” note.
— Bill playing an “audience member”. Odd that they’re not using a writer or extra.
— Steve’s “magic tricks” on Bill are very funny.
— I was surprised at the reveal that Bill’s wearing a fake mustache.
— Love how increasingly maniacal Steve’s removal of Bill’s personal items are getting. Hilarious!
STARS: ****½


HEY YOU!
— Rerun


FESTRUNK BROTHERS
the Festrunks wait for a pair of foxes to arrive at their bachelor pad

     

— The Festrunk Brothers! The audience went wild at their entrance.
— LOL at the gigantic vacuum.
— I love the way Dan’s voice sounded when he and Steve exclaimed “Foxes!!!!” in unison.
— I like Garrett as their “black soul man” friend.
— The Festrunk’s foreign language conversation with each other is very funny.
— Garrett seemed genuinely amused by the foreign conversation too, judging by how he seems to be trying to hide his laughing from the camera. (screencap below)

— The Festrunk’s depressed version of their usual strut when going to answer the door is great.
— I got a kick out of seeing all the performers quickly dash off the set after the sketch ended.
— Overall, despite the fact that this was a pretty straightforward Festrunk Brothers installment, it’s still generally well-remembered and is one of my personal favorites of their appearances.
STARS: ****½


THEODORIC OF YORK, MEDIEVAL BARBER
medieval barber Theodoric of York’s (host) patients endure his remedies

     

— One of the most well-remembered SNL sketches Steve Martin would ever do.
— Funny seeing Dan and Steve speaking to each other in normal voices at the start of this, immediately after I had just watched them talk to each other in crazy accents throughout the preceding Festrunk Brothers sketch.
— The detail of “boiled sheep’s urine” being part of the remedy is absolutely priceless to me.
— Funny line from Steve about Laraine’s illness being caused by a small dwarf living in her stomach.
— John looks hilarious as the hunchback.
— I believe this is the first time on SNL where Bill is doing the “talking out the corner of the mouth” mannerism that he would go on to famously use for some of his characters.
— Bill’s pained screaming when being taken out of his wheelchair and getting hanged upside down by his legs kills me every time I see this sketch. It’s the portion of this sketch that I’ve always remembered the most.
— I liked how they reprised Steve’s “Maybe she’s right… (*goes into a deep , thoughtful speech*) Nah!” thing from the ending of his Mike McMack Defense Lawyer sketch earlier this season.
STARS: *****


DANCING IN THE DARK
time stands still while (host) & (GIR) go “Dancing In The Dark”

     

— Ah, here comes another all-time legendary SNL classic. This episode is on fucking FIRE.
— Man, Steve and Gilda’s chemistry is so fun, and it’s enthralling to watch these two comedy greats dancing around the SNL studio.
— I always appreciate any extensive sketch that doesn’t use any dialogue.
— Beautiful how this sketch ended the exact same way it began.
— When Steve later hosted in 1989, this sketch was re-aired during his monologue as a tribute to Gilda, who passed away just hours earlier that same day. Ever since that special encore presentation, this sketch has taken on a new, poignant meaning.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAA complains that GAM didn’t get enough marijuana to “test for paraquat”
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about federal aid for abortions

    

— Good laugh from Garrett showing up and discreetly giving Dan “the stuff” (marijuana). This feels like something Tracy Morgan would’ve done on Update in later seasons.
— Dan: “It’s just that a survey shows that 97% of our viewers smoke [marijuana] daily.”
— Another instance of an awkward pause while we have to wait for Dan to find the next news story among his desk papers. I lost count of the number of times this has happened with him this season.
— Yet another point/counterpoint.
— Dan: “Jane, you ignorant misguided slut”
— Dan’s pro-abortion rebuttal was very funny, especially the harsh comment about how if he could, he would’ve performed an abortion on Jane’s mother to prevent Jane from being born.
— The “This just in, Garrett Morris is dead” bulletin was a funny follow-up to the earlier marijuana commentary.
— That’s it? Shortest Update in a long time.
STARS: ***½


KING TUT
host & SNL Band perform “King Tut” to honor the ancient Egyptian ruler

   

— The hits just keep on comin’ tonight.
— Funny concept with Steve following his complaint about the commercialization of King Tut with a big commercialized, contemporary musical number.
— Such a catchy song, and Steve’s famous dance always kills me in this.
— “He’s my favorite honky” has always been the lyric I liked the most.
— A part that helps propel this into epic territory is the saxophonist popping out of a sarcophagus to do a solo.
— Overall, oh my god, that was perfect and was the right length without going on too long.
STARS: *****


LOVE STORY
admitting extramarital affairs is foreplay for a couple (JAC) & (JOB)

 

— For the first time all night, here’s a sketch I don’t recognize.
— I like the character voice Jane’s using.
— Loved Jane’s innuendo about the pharmacist “filling her prescription”.
— Great unexpected twist with Jane’s sudden “I’m ready, how about you?” line when she and John were detailing their affairs.
— Overall, a very strong lesser-known sketch.
STARS: ****½


SWAN LAKE BALLET
by Gary Weis- ballerinas & hip-hop dancers perform Swan Lake together

     

— Is this the return of The Lockers, who previously appeared in SNL’s third episode ever?
— I guess so.
— Overall, this was surprisingly a fairly entertaining Gary Weis short, but maybe I’m biased because I really enjoyed The Lockers’ previous appearance on the show.
— Speaking of Weis, I heard he didn’t do any more SNL shorts after this season, which means we’re now in the homestretch of his SNL tenure. I wonder if this ended up being the last SNL short he did.
STARS: ***


TROFF ‘N’ BREW
on their lunch break, businessmen eat like pigs at Troff ‘n’ Brew

   

— Haha, WTF at the opening shot in the restaurant showing patrons eating in an odd manner.
— Man, that chili looks nasty. Then again, I never was a big fan of chili.
— A fairly funny premise, though this is coming off a little disappointing by the high standard set for this episode. Then again, the original cast had a knack for adding a goofy charm to sketches with this type of premise.
STARS: ***


NERDS SCIENCE FAIR
at the science fair, Todd & Lisa compete with Charles Knerlman (host)

   

— Steve is funny as a cocky nerd.
— I always like the Nerds’ unwarranted pride in saying tired cliches as if they’re witty comebacks (e.g. “So funny, I forgot to laugh”).
— The “human sandwich” ending was pretty good.
— Overall, a decent Nerds sketch, but again, not quite up to the standards of most of this episode. I was expecting more from this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


NEXT WEEK IN REVIEW
psychics (JAC), (host), (DAA) predict the news

  

— I like this premise of a panel show with psychics predicting what will happen in the next week.
— Jane and Steve’s facial expression during their respective intro shot was great.
— Heh at “Send More Chuck Berry”.
— I like the psychics predicting that Laraine won’t be there next week.
— Overall, this starting losing me around the middle, but kinda won me back at the end. I still feel that the overall result didn’t quite live up to the premise’s potential.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— So, did this live up to its status as the all-time best SNL episode ever? Well, that pre-Update half was certainly hard to beat, with an amazing string of legendary segments, and even after that, the night’s winning streak continued with the first two post-Update sketches, one of which is a forgotten gem (Love Story). However, the episode’s quality unfortunately died down after that, as the remainder of the show was just a string of average pieces (not counting the Blues Brothers’ second musical performance). So, would I agree that this is the greatest SNL episode ever: probably not. I mean, if you’re judging the episode just by the number of classics it produced, I can certainly see why it’s widely considered the best SNL ever, but as we continue to chronologically go along SNL’s timeline, there will probably be a few episodes I find to be more consistently strong from beginning to end, especially once we reach the late 80s/early 90s era. That being said, tonight’s episode may just be the original era at its absolute best. I can’t say for certain yet, as I still have two more years of the era left to cover.
— All of my talk in the above paragraph has put an interesting question into my mind: what is generally considered the most defining, representative episode of each SNL era?  It doesn’t necessarily have to be the era’s best episode, just the most representative.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Richard Dreyfuss

Posted on

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

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


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


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

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


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

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


SWILL
— Rerun


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE DIRT BAND)


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

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


WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (RANDY NEWMAN)


FAMILY FEUD
Coneheads win despite unconventional answers

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE DIRT BAND & STEVE MARTIN)


GOODNIGHTS

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


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

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

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


Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


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

  

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


OPENING MONTAGE

     

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


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

   

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


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

   

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


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

  

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


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

          

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


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

   

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


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

   

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


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

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


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

     

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


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

     

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


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

   

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


GOODNIGHTS

  

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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn

Posted on

February 26, 1977 – Steve Martin / The Kinks (S2 E14)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
the cast is unhappy that host’s success has gone to his head
   
— When Gilda and Steve started talking to each other at the beginning, what was with the very brief cutaway to some of the male cast members just standing around? Technical error?
— They mistakenly cut off Gilda’s mic before she said her final line.
— Bill to Steve: “I wasn’t here last time you did the show, but from what I hear, I don’t think I like you too much.” Heh, that reminds me of how Bill would feel in real life a year later when Chevy Chase came back to host the show. Up until that week, the rest of the cast had told Bill so many negative stories about working with Chevy, which painted a really bad picture of him in Bill’s mind and caused lots of tension between the two of them the whole week Chevy hosted. And we know what infamous incident that ended up leading to…
— Hilarious when an angry Belushi had to be held back from attacking Steve after Steve did his “Excuuuuuse meeeee!” catchphrase.
— Overall, an enjoyable backstage cold opening with a good premise.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Lily Tomlin is credited as a special guest.

MONOLOGUE
host gets happy feet, sings Indian folk song, describes “getting small”
 
— I liked him randomly snapping a photo of himself at the beginning.
— Another Steve Martin monologue that begins with him doing about 20 different things within the first minute.
— His exaggerated Indian chanting is cracking me up.
— Steve: “I hate people who are still into [drugs].” You mean, like, say, practically everyone you worked with on SNL that week?
— The whole “getting small” routine is hilarious.
STARS: ****

THE CONEHEADS AT HOME
IRS agent (host) asks Coneheads some questions about their tax returns
   
— Only the Coneheads’ second appearance, and the audience is already applauding their entrance.
— It’s pretty fun watching Steve playing a straight man to them.
— Their answers to Steve’s questionnaire are pretty funny.
— A fine installment, overall, though I liked their first one better.
STARS: ***½

GARRETT MORRIS: “NUR WER DIE SEHNSUCHT”
GAM performs “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” during explanatory scroll
   
— Garrett’s wearing the same festive conga-type outfit that he and some of the other male cast members wore at the preceding episode’s goodnights.
— Another operatic performance from Garrett.
— And another scrolling disclaimer during an operatic Garrett Morris performance.
— A few really funny lines in tonight’s disclaimer, especially the Harry Belafonte one.
STARS: ***½

CELEBRITY WEIGHTLIFTING
Russian (JOB) defeats Jackie Onassis (GIR)
   
— I remember seeing this sketch before, but I’m not sure where, as this is my first time seeing the rest of this episode. If this sketch is in Gilda’s Best Of, then I’m guessing that’s where I saw it before.
— Just the idea of putting Jackie Onassis in a competition like this is already very funny.
— Whenever I think of how great Gilda could be at doing physical comedy, this is usually one of the first sketches that immediately come to mind. She’s mining lots of laughs out of her strained, drawn-out attempts to lift the weights.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— Haha, Jane dryly addresses her famous bra-flash moment from her last Update, then says “Not tonight, I have a headache.”
— After stumbling through the set-up of the Adolf Hitler/Rudolph Hess joke, Jane stops, and then slowly repeats the entire joke from the beginning. Yikes. Not sure whether to laugh or feel embarrassed for her.

DR. BREADLOAF’S QUICK-LOSS DIET BOOK
the pages of Dr. Breadloaf’s (GIR) Quickloss Diet Book are the meals
 
— I already like the name of Gilda’s character, Ruth Breadloaf.
— What the hell? Eating pages?
— Overall, I didn’t care for the premise, but Gilda did what she could with this.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
LAN reports from an expensive & dangerous military aircraft
 
— Dan’s reaction to Laraine’s question is pretty funny.
— Jane is quite stumbly with her delivery tonight.
— Jane’s accent at the end of the airline joke was good.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

BROADWAY BABY
on a diner set, Lily Tomlin [real], GIR, LAN, JAC perform “Broadway Baby”
 
— I had been wondering what Lily Tomlin was going to do tonight.
— Oh, I don’t like where this is going.
— Man, this musical performance from Lily and the girls is just plain boring to me. It can’t be said enough in my reviews how much I dislike watching straightforward singing of a non-comedic song in sketches, and how much I dislike sitting through Broadway-type showtunes.
STARS: **

PLUG
doctor (host) tries to “accidentally” pull the plug on comatose boy (JOB)
   
— Steve’s inappropriate “moss” joke was hilarious.
— Another very funny inappropriate joke with Bill informing Steve to pull the plug after hearing how much it costs to keep his son alive.
— I’m liking Steve’s failed attempts to “accidentally” pull the plug.
— John’s performance and delivery is weird.
— Overall, I wasn’t too crazy about the strange turn this took after John came out of his coma, which is a shame because I was loving where the sketch had been going before then.
STARS: ***½

NEW ORLEANS SOUL FOOD RESTAURANT
by Gary Weis- Buster Holmes [real] shows off his New Orleans restaurant
 
— Is this film a leftover from the previous week’s Mardi Gras special?
— I’m running out of different ways to say “a typical dull Gary Weis film” in every episode review. I feel kinda bad for being so down on his films, because they seem well-meaning and are not awful in themselves; they’re just on the wrong show.
— All this particular film is succeeding in doing to me is making me very hungry.
STARS: *½

HOLLYWOOD BINGO
(host) consumes game show with celebrity introductions
     
— Steve was very funny unintelligibly explaining the rules in a rapid-fire manner.
— The return of Garrett’s so-bad-it’s-good Sammy Davis Jr. impression!
— This is fun so far, with the fast-paced endless parade of impressions.
— I know I said before that 70s-era Tom Schiller sometimes resembles Fred Armisen, but he ESPECIALLY reminded me of him in this sketch.
— The punchline with the show running out of time before the game could even be played reminds me of a gripe I have with SNL’s current Celebrity Family Feud sketches: they always take up so much damn time having Kenan Thompson’s Steve Harvey introduce each celebrity impression that by the time they get to actually playing the game, it just ends up being a minor part of the sketch.
STARS: ****

FROM THE BIG ORANGE TO THE BIG APPLE
Lily Tomlin characters go to NYC
   
— Hey, it’s Ernestine!
— Oh, Lily seems to be playing every part in this film.
— It feels like Lily is basically co-hosting tonight’s SNL with Steve.
— Overall, a pretty funny film.
STARS: ***½

ROOTS II
more oppressed ancestors of Alex Haley (GAM)
   
— The concept of doing a rushed sequel to Roots sounds quite funny and promising, though I’m wondering how they’re going to pull it off with this particular cast.
— Haha, I’m strangely liking seeing John and Bill playing black roles and wearing half-assed dark grease that’s smeared over a few spots of their faces and bodies.
— John’s character being named Bop-Shoo-Wop is hilarious.
— Hmm, Bill is actually very good at sounding black. Part of me isn’t surprised by that.
— This sketch is hilarious so far.
— Another big laugh from Steve as the slave owner telling John his name is now Peggy Fleming, during the parody of the famous Roots whipping scene.
— This died down towards the end, unfortunately; kinda like the hospital room sketch earlier tonight.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

LOVERS
in a singles’ bar, (host) & (GIR) discover they have plenty in common

— As no surprise, Steve and Gilda are having very charming chemistry with each other.
— Some parts of their conversation, when talking about their favorite kinds of pain and talking about what they hate kinda reminds me of the Willie & Frankie sketches (a.k.a. the “I hate when that happens” guys) that Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest would later do in season 10.
— Overall, a very nice little scene to end the night with.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS
 

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Another consistently solid Steve Martin episode from this season, though I felt his first episode had more memorable sketches than this one. This was still enjoyable, Steve has developed into a reliable recurring host, and special guest Lily Tomlin’s presence added to the fun vibe of the night (even if I didn’t like that musical Broadway sketch of hers).

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Sissy Spacek

Posted on

October 23, 1976 – Steve Martin / Kinky Friedman (S2 E5)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
disgruntled Yankee (CHC) hangs manager (DAA) after World Series loss
  
— Dan as the coach is standing on a stool for some reason during his speech to the losing Yankees. Is he going to hang himself?
— Yep, I saw it coming, though it was Chevy who caused Dan to hang. Still gave me a pretty good laugh, though, and it was a rare deviation from the usual ‘Chevy does a pratfall’ gag these cold openings usually end with.
— I always like when this era does this type of short cold opening with a quick gag.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
Ramblin’ Guy host demonstrates banjo prowess & gets mad at control room
 
— It feels weird watching this in the mindset of this being a time before he was a regular host.
— He’s already making me laugh a lot with the “great to be here” stuff.
— Funny quick random bit with him spitting water into the audience.
— I love how loose this is. We’re only a minute into this, and he’s already done about 20 different things.
— Ah, here’s the classic “Ramblin’ Guy” routine.
— And there’s his trademark ‘arrow through the head’ prop.
— And now, “Excuuuuuse meeeee!”
— Overall, a very fun monologue.
STARS: ****

SPEAK OUT FOR MILK
CHC says too much during multiple takes for ad
 
— Pretty funny premise with Chevy inadvertently revealing unpleasant facts about milk.
STARS: ***

JEOPARDY 1999!
contestants’ questions provide a glimpse of the future
DOP describes prizes that Jeopardy! 1999 contestants can win
     
— I’m surprised to see this in tonight’s episode. I had always thought this was in one of Steve’s 1977 episodes.
— Oh, why didn’t I remember that Chevy is in this? If I had remembered, I would’ve known this sketch couldn’t possibly have been from 1977, because Chevy was gone from the cast by then.
— Watching this sketch in modern times, I get a big kick out of seeing what comedy writers in the 70s jokingly predicted what 1999 would be like.
— The contestants’ last names being a random combo of a letter and various numbers is actually a somewhat accurate prediction, as it kinda mirrors what a lot of online usernames have looked like from the late 1990s and onwards.
— Walter Mondale as first president to accidentally kill himself in office. Well, he did end up almost becoming president in ’84…
— The ‘baby-killing being legalized in 1983’ part was hilariously shocking.
— I wonder why Chevy’s the only contestant not to use his real first name.
— I’m loving this so far.
— Ha, “longest running show on TV”. Is SNL gonna accurately predict the future and say their own show?
— Nope, the answer ended up being “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. I so wanted the answer to be SNL, but understandably, nobody back in 1976 could have foreseen how long this show would last. Besides, in 1999, SNL wouldn’t have been anywhere near the longest running show on TV yet; they celebrated just their 25th anniversary that same year.
— LOL at the meta “comedian who’s career fizzled after leaving NBC’s Saturday Night” part with Chevy. I take it everyone, including viewers, knew back then that he was leaving soon?
— Steve’s ad-lib after he kept stumbling through that one line just now was pretty funny.
— Overall, this was a lot of fun to watch.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC narrates boring footage of Rubin Carter [real] jury selection
 
— The Chairman Mao/Chinese take-out grave joke was hilarious.
— I didn’t get the point of the “artist’s rendering” of Rubin Carter’s trial.

FIDO-FLEX
the Fido-Flex digital watch dog is the only canine that can tell the time
 
— They screwed up all the close-ups that were supposed to show what each screen on the dog’s body does.
— An okay commercial.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC purports to accept JAC as co-anchor, makes faces during her report
a snacking (ALF) wanders onto set & reads a news item over CHC’s shoulder
   
— I can already tell from the set-up of Jane’s commentary that it will end up being another “Chevy makes goofy faces behind correspondent’s back” bit.
— Yep, I was right.
— WTF? Franken wandering onto the set out of nowhere.
— Well, Franken’s bit sure was brief, but it was amusing in how random it was.
— I was worried the baby gorilla story would end up having the same punchline as the baby sandpiper story that Chevy has occasionally used, but this one thankfully went in a different direction.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

BEATNIKS
poet (host), stand-up comic (JOB), dancer (LAN) perform in a beatnik bar
     
— Oh my god, I absolutely love Dan’s crazy raspy beatnik voice. He is KILLING me in this.
— Chevy looked almost unrecognizable at first.
— Chevy’s wailing and terrible guitar playing is hilarious.
— Steve’s angry poem is very funny as well.
— I didn’t know Garrett could play the guitar and harmonica.
— John appearing as the “hip comic” – I can tell I’m already gonna like this.
— Loved John sneaking in his Brando impression.
— Wow, Laraine’s bit is pretty insane.
— I like how they’ve worked every cast member into this.
— The graphic onscreen is saying Jane’s character is named Francesca Richardson, yet Pardo’s voice-over has called her Francesca Robinson just now.
— The epilogue informing us what each character has gone on to do is pretty funny.
STARS: ****

LOOKS AT BOOKS
(host) gives results of research into abstinence & sports
 
— That one clip seemed to cut off too early.
— I liked the quick bit about how the catcher was “teased” the night before the game.
— The montage of baseball gaffes being played off as if their lousy performances were caused by abstinence is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- various people lip sync to covers of “Autumn in New York”
 
— Surprise, surprise – yet ANOTHER Gary Weis film that’s not doing anything for me so far.
— The audience always seems to laugh at his films a lot more than I do.
— Okay, the random weasel(?)-head ending made me laugh.
STARS: **

MARY
Ted Baxter’s (host) Drano-in-coffee prank kills Mary Richards (LAN)
   
— I never knew SNL did a Mary Tyler Moore Show parody in this era. I had always associated SNL’s parodies of that show with the early 80s Mary Gross era.
— I’m loving the dark premise.
— Casting Gilda as Rhoda seems so natural.
— Why was the audience not into this anymore towards the end? They seemed to stop laughing in the last two minutes. I thought the whole sketch was hilarious myself.
STARS: ****

MYSTERIES IN MEDICINE
elaborate diet plan involves faux Eskimo (JOB)
    
— Some technical issues when the “Mysteries In Medicine” graphic showed up on screen.
— I love the fact that John’s eskimo character is named Blog.
— Laraine’s desire to get her weight down to 10 pounds is almost disturbing, considering her apparent real-life eating disorder back then.
— John’s crazy performance is cracking me up so much.
— I like the twist with Blog turning out to be a refined scientist.
— Overall, a delightfully weird little sketch.
STARS: ****

STEVE MARTIN STAND-UP #2
host does stand-up about meeting Jackie Onassis, destruction of Earth
 
— I like how back in these days, SNL let stand-up comedian hosts do multiple stand-up sets throughout the show instead of just relegating it to their monologue spot.
— LOL at one person in the audience briefly applauding when Steve spoke against one-night stands.
— The random shoelaces joke was pretty funny.
— The “she was a pig” revelation about Jackie Onassis is hilarious.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

— Funny gag with the cast all facing backwards for no apparent reason.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A great and very enjoyable show, and a nice rebound after the disappointing preceding episode. Just about every single sketch tonight worked; some of them being very well-written and a lot of fun to watch (Jeopardy 1999, Beatniks, Mary Tyler Moore, etc.).
— Right out of the gate, Steve Martin proved himself as someone who was born to host SNL. He hosted this episode with the ease of someone who had already been hosting the show for years.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Buck Henry. This is the famous episode where Buck gets cut in the forehead during a Samurai sketch. Also, I’m not 100% sure, but isn’t this also Chevy’s final episode?