Tag: The Black Crowes

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December 12, 1992 – Glenn Close / The Black Crowes (S18 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Queen Elizabeth (MIM) lists the terms of the Charles & Di separation

— This starts off with no context given for what Mike’s Queen Elizabeth is talking about; she just immediately launches into a listing-off of “Charles will keep (insert thing here), she will keep (insert thing here).” I’m aware that this is about the separation between Prince Charles and Princess Diana, but I wonder if other viewers watching this in reruns are lost at first.
— I’m liking how the listed-off terms of the separation are getting more and more outlandish, such as Charles and Diana’s son Henry being raised by apes, and Diana doing a porn scene with Fergie.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Dana Carvey has been removed from the montage, though he hasn’t officially left the cast yet. We will not be seeing him make any appearances tonight, nor will he be appearing in the next episode (though he IS credited in the montage in that one).


MONOLOGUE
people from host’s hometown sing a “Silver Bells” variant with her

— Unique monologue with Glenn bringing out actual community workers from her hometown. Very generous and classy of Glenn to do this.
— I particularly like the part with the self-described incredibly shy market owner mouthing along to a dubbed singing voice.
— An overall very charming and fun monologue.
STARS: ****


WHAT’S THE BEST WAY?
game show features directions-giving New Englanders

— Funny Boston accents here. Adam is especially nailing his and has been having lots of funny lines.
— I love Phil’s rambly, more old-fashioned New Englander.
— Some good laughs from Glenn always trailing off into travel tips during her answers.
— Tim’s bushman character speaking with tongue-clicking sounds would go on to be something that Tim would always do whenever he would speak in African language during sketches.
STARS: ****


COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
sister Judy (host) discusses Linda’s daughter’s engagement

— Two drag roles for Mike in just the first half of tonight’s episode alone.
— The return of this sketch is, to me, the one downside of Mike’s return after his long hiatus.
— Some self-deprecating humor with Linda Richman complaining about her daughter Robin’s non-Jewish fiancee, as Mike Myers is referring to himself there, considering the Linda Richman character is based on the mother of Mike’s then-fiancee Robin.
— As usual, I didn’t care for this overall sketch, but it was at least fairly short.
STARS: **


A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL EISNER
Michael Eisner’s (PHH) holiday reminder- don’t forget about tax increases

— I liked Phil-as-Eisner’s greeting: “Last week, I made 200 million dollars. How are you?”
— A VERY brief sketch that ended almost as soon as it began. This felt almost pointless, even if it did have one or two funny lines.
STARS: **


BAND SHOT
going to commercial, KEN & G.E. Smith [real] play guitar


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sometimes Salvation”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN gives a subliminal editorial about British royal family’s troubles
Operaman sings, is reunited with brother (JOL) & his new wife (host)

— Kevin’s subliminal commentary on the royal separation was merely good; a step below the usually great Mr. Subliminal material. I can’t help but feel the peak of Kevin’s subliminal routine is far behind us, as I haven’t been all that crazy about the last few occurrences. I did love the topical Letterman mention at the end of this one, though.
— Billy Ray “Sear-us”? Did I seriously just hear Kevin pronounce Billy Ray Cyrus as that? He has a bad habit of absurd name mispronunciations on Update in general.
— As usual, lots of great news items from Operaman. The Amy Fisher one was especially funny, and I loved the melody of the “Au revoir, sayonara, etc.” bit directed towards Prince Charles and Princess Diana (I know that melody is from a classical song, but I don’t know the name of it).
— Interesting change of pace with Operaman’s brother appearing from under the desk. Great use of Jon Lovitz (in the final occurrence of his frequent early 90s cameos) and his operatic-trained voice.
— Fitting addition of Glenn to the Operaman reunion segment.
— Another rare occurrence of a Kevin Nealon-era Update ending with a guest commentary.
STARS: ***½


TOAST TO SCROOGE
Bob Cratchit’s (PHH) wife (host) still doesn’t like changed man Scrooge

— Very solid performances from Phil and especially Glenn.
— I normally don’t have a problem with Mike Myers (aside from Coffee Talk, I guess), but his performance in this sketch kinda makes me see why some SNL fans are annoyed by his so-called mugging tendencies.
— Overall, not the most exciting sketch, but I can appreciate the subtle approach this took and it was perfect for Phil and Glenn’s acting styles, who both sold this material well.
STARS: ***


TORI
Aaron Spelling’s spoiled daughter (MEH) touts 90210 fragrances

— This sketch makes its second and final appearance.
— I like the addition of Tim as The Love Boat’s Ted Lange.
— Funny line about how it’s in Jason Priestley and Luke Perry’s contract to sleep with Tori (“Thank you, daddy”, replies Melanie’s Tori).
— Despite some laughs, this was an overall fairly forgettable installment, kinda like the last time they did this sketch.
STARS: **½


ORGASM GUY
the least bit of pleasure causes Orgasm Guy (ROS) to climax

— Rob’s phenomenal season continues with his hilarious performance in this sketch.
— Some really funny subversions with some things not eliciting the orgasmic reaction from Orgasm Guy that you’d expect.
— Great part with David’s long statement that mentions a whole bunch of Orgasm Guy’s favorite things that were brought up earlier in the sketch, just so David can get a rapid succession of orgasmic reactions from him.
STARS: ****


LESBIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY
lesbians & sperm donor (KEN) share politically-correct holiday gathering

— Fourth episode in a row with a gay-themed sketch.
— I like Kevin describing his sperm-providing process as “I just took a normal event, put it in a Tupperware cup, and put a lid on it.”
— Funny line from Melanie about an all-women production of 12 Angry Men.
— Quite a lot of guitar-playing from Kevin throughout tonight’s episode.
— Not 100% sure what to make of this sketch as a whole, but I did find it had a charm and a nice slice-of-life approach.
STARS: ***


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart prepares to visit his dysfunctional family

— Several funny lines from Stuart about his dysfunctional family.
— Nice callback with a mention of Stuart’s sister Jodi, who we met in a previous installment of this sketch, where she was played by Roseanne.
— I really like the part with Stuart’s “disease/dis-ease” confusion.
— He repeated the “I’m ‘should-ing’ all over myself” line from an earlier installment, but the way he said “should-ing” this time really made it sound like the actual swear word that it’s based on. I almost did a double-take.
— Lots of funny indecisive back-and-forths from Stuart at the end.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Non-Fiction”


DRUMMER BOYS
drummer boys ADS, TIM, MIM, DAS, KEN, ROS, CHF, CSR slap their stomachs

— I like Adam’s build-up at the beginning, where he slowly walks to the center of the home base stage and very gradually reveals what he’s going to do.
— Ha, I absolutely love this, with all the guys slapping their stomachs to the tune of Little Drummer Boy. A fun random segment, made even funnier with the gag of Farley fidgeting, pulling his own hair in a fit, and nervously looking back at the guys behind him throughout the song.
— Surprisingly, this 10-to-1 sketch is Farley’s first and only appearance of the night. There’s a sad backstory that may explain this. After being out of rehab for a month, Farley relapsed badly earlier this week when he was distraught over a big sketch of his bombing at the readthrough (I think the sketch was called Puppy Lawyer). He then got busted with drugs in his office, and Lorne reportedly considered firing him before deciding that he should be sent back to rehab over the holidays. Because of this, we won’t be seeing him appear in the next episode.
— This is also Rock’s first and only appearance of the night, but that’s no surprise. Given how many episodes he’s been completely sitting out this season, he’s sometimes lucky to even be in ONE sketch in an episode.
— I wonder why Phil is the only male cast member missing from this.
— There’s some little touches that make this musical number even more charming for me, such as Rob oddly holding his shirt up with his mouth and Rock chewing gum throughout the song.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, but feels really average and kinda unexciting. Thinking back on it, however, the episode quality was actually a little better than it feels. While there were a few weak spots, we got some solid things, a few really strong things, and a few pieces that, while not hilarious, had a nice Christmas-y charm. Overall, not the best Christmas episode in SNL history, but certainly had enough good things to still make this episode worth watching.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Arnold)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 1993, with host Danny DeVito

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March 16, 1991 – Michael J. Fox / The Black Crowes (S16 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
during a George Bush (DAC) speech, Dan Quayle (host) mistimes his claps

— Some good lines during Al Franken’s opening voice-over.
— The frequent standing ovations everybody’s giving to every little thing Bush says are funny.
— Loved the part with Michael J. Fox’s Dan Quayle foolishly getting up to give a standing ovation to Bush saying “Our country had lost its way”, only to realize nobody else is doing the same.
— Some more laughs from Quayle’s various miscues throughout this, including Phil’s Speaker of the House holding him back from applauding Bush’s simple “Operation Desert Storm” statement.
— Funny ending with Quayle continuing to chant “Powell!” long after everyone else has stopped.
— Overall, for a cold opening that was so long (about 8 minutes!) and had thin material, this somehow managed to turn out strong and memorable.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— This is the only time this season where every single featured player is credited. You really see from tonight’s montage how extremely big this season’s cast is (and it only gets bigger next season!).


MONOLOGUE
host meets two versions of himself (DAC) & (DAS) Back From The Future

 

— A good laugh from Michael’s intentionally terrible “Hard Way” pun.
— Great to see Dana’s great Michael J. Fox impression again, and this is a great concept with him coming from 90 minutes in the future to warn the real Michael that the show turns out to be a dud.
— I love Dana pronouncing “It bombed!” as “It baaahhhmbed!”
— Now this is getting even better as we get David’s also-great MJF impression as Michael in the past. Truth be told, I’ve always slightly preferred David’s impression to Dana’s. Dana’s great with the voice, but David nails both the voice AND the mannerisms.
— Fun seeing all three MJFs together in Lorne’s office.
— Great part with Lorne bribing the three MJFs with a gigantic bag of money.
STARS: ****½


CHIA HEAD
— Rerun


JASPER THE CLOWN
circus owner (PHH) tells clown (host) that his stinging act isn’t working

— Some pretty good laughs from Michael’s description of what he does.
— A clown makeup-wearing Farley briefly barging in just to say “It’s a GREAT act!” made me laugh for some reason.
— This sketch is too slow-moving and quiet for the lead-off sketch of the night.
— A big laugh at the end from Farley’s clown name being revealed as Exposo.
— Overall, the sketch itself wasn’t bad, but it had no business being in such an early timeslot. This came off fairly dull as a lead-off sketch. This would’ve come off much better had it aired towards the end of the show, where the quieter, slower-paced pieces usually air.
STARS: **½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on taking a dog on the Space Shuttle


HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
at his high school reunion, hitman (KEN) is quick to volunteer services

— Good characterization from Kevin here.
— Eh, a one-joke sketch so far. Not too exciting.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh, from Kevin saying his usual “I’ll take care of it” response when hearing that Michael was let down by Daryl Strawberry leaving the Mets for the Dodgers.
— As if this sketch weren’t already bad enough, now we get a VERY awkward ending. After the big “joke” with Kevin promising Adam he’ll “take care” of a girl who supposedly broke Adam’s heart, there’s absolute DEAD SILENCE from the audience, and then an off-camera G.E. Smith is heard yelling “One, two!” followed by the SNL Band playing the show to commercial. So the sketch abruptly ends very emptily with no actual conclusion, no laughter, and no applause. What the hell???
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thick & Thin”


WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB says easy post-Vietnam wars were good preparation for domestic strife

— Right off the bat, Dennis’ delivery sounds VERY off. He sounds like he’s literally half-asleep. Even his hair has a depressed, haggard look to it.
— Good opening jokes about the infamous L.A.P.D./Rodney King incident that had just recently happened.
— Dennis’ delivery is so off tonight that even his intro to A. Whitney Brown’s commentary sounded weird.
— Here’s what turns out to be A. Whitney’s final Weekend Update commentary ever, as well as his final SNL appearance ever.
— A. Whitney’s Grenada joke about how “it didn’t take a lot of military strategy to knock over a fruit stand with two aircraft carriers” was already used in one of his earlier Big Picture commentaries.
— Tonight’s overall A. Whitney commentary was too average. Between the lack of any standout lines and the fact that he recycled the aforementioned Grenada joke, this was a fairly disappointing final edition of The Big Picture. His Big Picture commentaries in general had a good run, though, and often provided witty one-liners and a nice cerebral change of pace from SNL’s usual tone.
— Ugh, Dennis has been doing TONS of bad “misinterpreting a photo” jokes tonight.
— Okay, we finally get a good joke from Dennis, with the Richard Grieco “If Looks Could Kill” bit.
— As if Dennis’ performance in tonight’s Update hadn’t been lethargic enough, he ends this by COMPLETELY half-assing his usual arm swipe when doing his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move after saying his “I… am… outta here” tagline.
— Overall, yikes, a pretty brutal Update. In retrospect, this begins a turning point and signals that the end of the Dennis Miller era is approaching. I recall that most of the remainder of Dennis’ Updates sadly feature him practically sleepwalking his way through the broadcasts, similar to tonight. You can tell Dennis was done with SNL by this point and was counting down the days until the season ended.
STARS: **


AMERICA’S MOST WANTED
former child actors plan their latest crime

— Finally, here comes something that’s actually GOOD, after the string of duds that preceded this.
— Such a fantastic concept for this sketch, which appears to be based on Dana Plato’s infamous then-recent video store robbery.
— I’m loving the intro of each child star who’s in the crime ring.
— An absolutely priceless visual of Adam portraying Barry Williams as what Phil’s John Walsh describes as a cross-dressing cannibal.
— Drew Barrymore’s “bad girl” phase from around this time feels weird to be reminded of, considering how much she turned her life around since then.
— Farley is a riot as Mindy Cohn, especially his angry outburst of “JUST DO IT, RIPPY!”
— Very funny performance from Dana.
— Ha, I love that we’re getting a reprise of David’s Michael J. Fox impression from earlier tonight.
— The glare on Michael’s face while watching David’s impression of him is CLASSIC (second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: *****


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart Smalley is upset with his new time slot

— Good to see this sketch officially become recurring.
— A good laugh from Stuart revealing his show is moving from a convenient afternoon timeslot to 2:35 A.M.
— I like Stuart gradually saying inappropriate things about the station manager responsible for changing his show’s timeslot.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “She Talks to Angels”


NOT GETTIN’ ANY
losers ponder the source of their sexual inactivity

— I absolutely love how this is showcasing the group of new male cast members who would go on to collectively be known as the Bad Boys. Well, minus Rob Schneider, who not only is missing from this sketch, but is nowhere to be seen tonight in general, despite being credited in the opening montage.
— Farley’s sudden tender singing of the lyric “Lay you down in the tall grass, let me do my stuuuuuff” cracked me up so much.
— Farley is hilarious in this in general.
— It took Rock about FIVE MINUTES into this sketch to finally speak. I point this out because, according to what I’ve heard, this ENTIRE sketch would later be included in Rock’s “Best Of” special. So let me get this straight: in a compilation special celebrating Chris Rock’s supposedly greatest SNL moments, we have to sit through a sketch in which the first four minutes feature the man of the hour, Chris Rock, saying and doing absolutely NOTHING while other performers get the laughs, and THEN Rock finally gets his time to speak, only to go back to being silent for the rest of the sketch? That is ridiculous, and shows how hard-pressed they were in trying to find 90 minutes worth of material to put in a “Best Of” for a cast member who was only on for three seasons and was extremely underused. I remember somebody at the SNL newsgroup (alt.tv.snl) once joking that at the rate Rock’s “Best Of” was going, they might as well have thrown in the famous “Clinton at McDonalds” sketch in which Rock’s only contribution was appearing as a cashier at the beginning, where his only line was “Okay, so that’s a quarter-pounder with cheese and…”
— All that being said about Rock, his whole “I wanna be THAT GUY” mini-rant in this sketch is really good. So much so, that I wanted his part of the sketch to go on longer.
— I don’t like how they wasted Adam in this. He didn’t get to speak until the very end, where he was relegated to basically telling the other guys that there are people in the world who are worse off than them. He didn’t even get anything comedic to say, which isn’t fair, as all the other cast members got their share of laughs here.
STARS: ***


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the end of the age of the Vikings


ELEVATOR
Sting’s elevator fans give host a similar song treatment

— The return of a classic sketch from the Sting episode earlier this season.
— I got a good laugh from Kevin breaking out into a quiet, high-pitched singing of the lyric “Gonna go back in tiiiiiime”, or as he pronounces it, “Gonna go back in tyyyyeeeeem” (Dana pronounces it even funnier later in the sketch).
— Okay, Kevin’s endless repetitions of “Gonna go back in tyyyyeeeeem” aren’t so funny anymore. The increasingly dead audience apparently agrees with me.
— Dana finally got me laughing again by breaking out into the “Family Ties” theme song, eventually being joined by Kevin.
— Overall, despite some laughs and the usual funny performances from Kevin and Dana, this was nowhere NEAR as good as the one with Sting, and was an unnecessary follow-up to a sketch that should’ve been left as a classic one-off. On its own, tonight’s installment probably comes off fine, but after having just watched and reviewed the Sting installment a mere few days ago, tonight’s installment paled fairly badly to me. The worst of these installments has yet to come, though. Wait till we get to the Michael Jordan episode next season.
STARS: **½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the similarity between boxing & ballet


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mixed episode. What was great in this episode was fantastic and very memorable, such as the cold opening, monologue, and America’s Most Wanted; so fantastic and memorable, in fact, that they probably make people remember this overall episode as being really strong. But if you take off the nostalgia goggles and look past those great highlights, you’ll find this episode had more weak material than usual for this season, including a very lethargic Weekend Update. The show also suffered from odd sketch placements, such as a fantastic huge piece like America’s Most Wanted being buried after Update while the two sketches in the pre-Update half consisted of the sluggishly-paced Jasper The Clown and the poor one-joke High School Reunion.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jeremy Irons