Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Prince (BIC) sings “I Am Also The World” with his bodyguards (hosts) near
— Yikes, right from the start of the show, I can see that the visual quality of the copy I’m reviewing of this episode is TERRIBLE. My apologies for how bad my screencaps for this episode will look.
— I liked the opening “Polka for Africa” bit.
— The initial dramatic close-up of Billy as Prince at the beginning of his performance made me laugh.
— Billy’s singing voice sounds NOTHING like Prince.
— Haha, Gary is really funny in his Bruce Springsteen impression.
— Pretty funny recurring gag with Mr. T and Hulk Hogan roughing up any singers who try to duet with Prince.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
Mr. T puts the “sleeper” hold on an audience member
— Tons of energy from Mr. T and Hulk here.
— LOL at the outrageous bit with an angered Mr. T roughing up a heckler in the audience.
— Overall, I’m not quite sure what to say about the monologue as a whole. The “wrestling promo” format of this felt weird and out-of-place in an SNL monologue, though I did get a small handful of laughs and, as I implied above, I loved T and Hulk’s energy.
STARS: **½
AFFAIR
Nathan Thurm’s mistress’ (MAG) husband (JIB) comes to confront him
— Hmm, Martin’s Nathan Thurm character starring in his own sketch? Interesting. Hope this is a change-up from his last few appearances, which suffered diminishing returns and couldn’t measure up to his great debut in that 60 Minutes short.
— Mary and Julia always seem to be paired together this season.
— I got a big laugh from Mary doing a humping motion with her leg while making out with Thurm.
— I’m liking how we’re seeing a different side of Thurm in this.
— The ending was kinda weak, but the overall sketch was better than I was expecting.
STARS: ***
CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE
(CHG) tries to sell (GAK)’s parents on Crystal Lake- Friday The 13th camp
— Haha, I love Gary coming to the horrible realization that the camp Christopher’s promoting is the same camp from the Friday the 13th movie series. As a huge Friday the 13th buff, I’m really enjoying this sketch’s premise.
— Some good laughs from Christopher’s ways of trying to downplay Jason Voorhees’ murders at the camp.
— Gary’s character recalls a scene in a Friday the 13th movie where Jason harpooned a guy through the eye. I wonder if that’s just SNL’s writers making up a scene, because the only harpoon-through-the-eye incident I remember in a Friday the 13th movie is from the third film, and it happened to a girl in that one, not a guy.
— LOL at the horror music sting and famous Friday the 13th “ch-ch-ch, ah-ah-ah” sound effect (which is actually Jason saying “ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma”) playing during Christopher’s sudden sinister turn when the family turns down his offer.
— Having Hulk Hogan enter the scene as Jason made good use of Hulk’s build. The “family’s hair standing on end” gag didn’t work for me, though.
STARS: ***½
FERNANDO’S HIDEAWAY
hosts talk about upcoming Wrestlemania extravaganza
— We get Fernando for the second episode in a row, and back in his old talk show setting this time. Normally, I’d complain, but I’ve always wanted to see this particular installment, due to a famous blooper that I’ve seen as a clip in several SNL specials.
— Ha, in response to Fernando badly quoting Mr. T’s “fool” catchphrase, Mr. T can be seen briefly flashing a big, toothy, out-of-character smile before immediately getting back into character. This is just a small glimpse of the famous blooper that’s coming up later in the sketch.
— I’m enjoying the juxtaposition of Mr. T/Hulk’s macho wrestling talk and Fernando’s lighthearted unrelated questions.
— Haha, here we are, the aforementioned famous blooper: After one particular ad-lib from Billy, Mr. T and Hulk just look at each other and then absolutely bust out laughing uncontrollably. Freakin’ hilarious. Immediately afterwards, Billy points out how Hulk’s chest muscles bounce up and down when he laughs, which causes Mr. T to once again bust out laughing even harder. This is all priceless. It’s quite a sight seeing these two huge, intimidating-looking men being reduced to uncontrollable giggles.
— Overall, a rare strong installment of this sketch. Assuming this ends up being the final installment (after all, this season only has two episodes left), this was a great way for the sketch to go out.
STARS: ****
HOUSES OF SHAME
(CHG) courts (MAS) in an example of fin-de-siecle prison homosexuality
— Interesting casting of Pamela at the beginning and, hey, they actually tamed her usual crazy 80s hair into a normal style for once (assuming that’s not a wig she’s wearing). (screencap below)
— I like Christopher’s walk-on as the old-fashioned gentlemanly-looking “Bull”, after the big build-up of him supposedly being an intimidating character.
— The whole interaction between Martin and Christopher is really funny so far, and Christopher is giving a fantastic performance.
— I love how there’s a randomly-placed porch swing in the middle of the prison.
— Classic line from Christopher: “(in a dignified, old-timey manner) Would you wear my pin… and be my bitch?”
— Good ending with Martin and his tough cellmate (Jim Belushi) giddily talking about Martin’s date like teenage girls at a slumber party.
STARS: ****
OHIO SAVINGS & LOAN
don’t worry about depleting your Ohio S&L funds- you can’t access them
— This seems to be another overly-topical season 10 sketch that’s completely lost on me as a modern-day viewer.
— Despite having no familiarity with the news story that this sketch is based on, I’m still finding myself getting a few laughs, and the audience seems to like it.
— I like the aggressive background yelling from Mary and Gary.
STARS: **½
THE JOE FRANKLIN SHOW
Irving Cohen (MAS) & Liberace [real]
— Another recurring bit making its return tonight after appearing in just the last episode. This particular recurring sketch is usually solid, but do we really need it two episodes in a row?
— I love how one of the sponsors Billy’s Joe Franklin plugs at the beginning is “Raymond Burr’s Nipple Rouge”.
— Random Liberace cameo.
— Liberace answering a blunt “No” to the question “Would you like to be that old?” (referring to Irving Cohen’s age) is a bit eerie in hindsight, considering Liberace’s passing just two years later.
— I liked Billy-as-Joe-Franklin’s way of connecting all the various sponsors into one single promotional piece.
— Martin’s Irving Cohen just walking off in the middle of his rant is really funny.
— Overall, there were some good moments, but the laughs weren’t as consistent as this sketch usually provides, and this was kind of a letdown from the particularly strong installment of this sketch in the preceding episode.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Night Shift”
— What was with the beginning of the performance, with Mr. T being onstage among the Commodores and then awkwardly being dismissed?
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
during writers’ strike substitute teaching gig, BIC uses comedy on toughs
— Billy mentions a recent writer’s strike that had just happened. This explains why there was such a long gap between the preceding episode (which aired in mid-February) and tonight’s episode (which aired in late March).
— I like the montage of the bad neighborhood while “Rock Around the Clock” plays.
— A good somewhat-meta bit with Billy asking the kids to review Eddie Murphy’s comedy album. Some funny lines here.
— The turn with Billy teaching the kids about comedy is actually pretty charming.
— Overall, this was actually a pretty nice and well-done film, even if it felt like typical Billy Crystal self-indulgence.
STARS: ***
TOXIC WASTE
Fisherman Bob (JIB) says you can catch lots more fish with toxic waste
— For some reason, the set-up of this is reminding me of a fishing ad that Robert Downey does in next season’s Ron Reagan-hosted episode.
— A somewhat funny idea to use toxic waste to catch fish, though this ad is nothing too great.
STARS: **½
STEVE LANDESBERG
Steve Landesberg [real] does stand-up about professions Jews don’t enter
— I remember this guy from the sitcom Barney Miller. He’s good at doing lots of different voices.
— Interesting tidbit about how he was originally supposed to host this episode.
— The bit about certain professions Jews don’t take up is fairly tepid. I’m not getting much laughs here.
— A nice mention of this being the 10th anniversary of SNL, even if the way he brought it up was abrupt.
— His bit about a redneck mistaking three black girls for the Supremes and asking them to do a number was okay.
— Overall, despite a few laughs, this wasn’t one of the better stand-up guest performances I’ve seen on SNL. He displayed a lot of good accents, but I wasn’t laughing much during this.
STARS: **
TRASH TALK
Rowdy Roddy Piper & Bob Orton [real] talk trash at hosts in absentia
— Wow. I thought tonight’s earlier monologue was too WWF-feeling for SNL, but this Rowdy Roddy Piper video takes the cake. What’s this doing on SNL?
— Now Mr. T and Hulk are doing a rebuttal to Rowdy Roddy Piper’s trash talk video. This doesn’t even appear to be a comedic bit. Where are the jokes?
— Overall, what was the point of this whole segment? Just there to hype up the then-upcoming Wrestlemania?
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Animal Instinct”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A strange-feeling episode. While there were some good things throughout the show and not TOO many terrible segments (though there was a drop-off in quality towards the end of the show), I dunno, I’m not too crazy about what I just watched. At times, it felt like this episode was going for an SNL/WWF hybrid, which didn’t work too well tonight. (If you want to see an episode where that DOES work well, watch the episode that The Rock hosted in season 25) Mr. T and Hulk Hogan barely even felt like hosts; they basically just occasionally popped up throughout the show to hype up the next day’s Wrestlemania.
— I also just realized, there was no Saturday Night News AT ALL, for the second time this season. It’s always weird the rare times the Ebersol era does away with the fake news segment, which is usually an important SNL staple.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Pamela Sue Martin):
— about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Christopher Reeve