Tag: The Kinks

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November 17, 1984 – Ed Asner / The Kinks (S10 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Lou Grant (host) tries to rescue Mary Richards (MAG) from syndication

 

— Oh, this is a well-known and memorable cold opening.
— Nice reveal of the soldiers’ “objective” being Mary Richards.
— Fantastic premise of the soldiers on a mission to get Mary Richards out of syndication.
— I like the soldiers quoting lyrics to the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song in the form of a question.
— Pamela looks like she’s wearing the same dress that Melanie Hutsell would later wear whenever she played Jan Brady.
— Always fun to see Mary’s dead-on Mary Tyler Moore impression.
— The other cast members’ impressions of supporting characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show are absolutely great as well. I especially like Billy’s Ted Knight.
— Lots of great lines throughout this.
— Billy-as-Ted’s outburst “Take me with you, Lou!!” was very funny.
— A magnificent cold opening overall.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host shows pictures of “father figure” characters he’s played

— After being displaced from Studio 8H in the first five episodes of this season due to election coverage, SNL is back in their regular studio this week and we get the return of the season 8-9 home base stage. While there are some minor alterations to the home base tonight (mainly some portions of it being painted blue), I prefer the temporary subway newsstand set they were using as the home base stage in the non-Studio 8H episodes.
— Very strong audience reaction to Ed’s entrance.
— This is the first of what will be quite a number of “career photo montage” monologues this season, where the host shows pictures of some of their movie roles. These monologues are never exciting and feel kinda lazy.
— Wow, Ed Asner was in “Roots”? I’m surprised I didn’t already know that.
— Interesting seeing a clip of his very first movie role.
STARS: **½


WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT
by John Fox- (RIH) makes special shoes for mean boss (JIB)

— Oh, I’ve always loved this film.
— Jim’s great as an unlikable, mean boss.
— A good laugh from a customer walking face-first into the un-opening door after Rich removes its automatic door-opening mat.
— I love where this is going, with Rich getting a sly idea and gluing a cutout of the mat onto the bottom of each of his shoes.
— Very fun and well-done montage of Rich walking through the streets in his altered shoes, which opens various things he passes.
— Clever turn with Rich getting revenge on his boss by giving him the shoes.
— Excellent ending with the elevator shaft.
— I think I recall hearing this film was written by Andy Breckman and Rich Hall. No wonder I’ve always loved this film so much, if it was a collaboration between one of my favorite quirky writers and one of my favorite quirky performers.
STARS: *****


THANKSGIVING
Ed Grimley’s dad (CHG) saves him from a Rear Window-like Thanksgiving Day

— The great vibes of tonight’s episode continues, with the audience’s HUGE reaction to the initial sight of Ed Grimley at the beginning of this.
— LOL at Asner’s sinister look as he sights Grimley witnessing him murdering his wife.
— I love Grimley’s panicked running around the room and monologue-ing to himself after seeing the murder.
— Nice touch with a Pat Sajak picture being seen on Grimley’s wall.
— For some reason, I got a kick out of Grimley saying “Oh, give me a break!” when Asner’s about to strangle him with a tie.
— Ha, Christopher enters as a very Ed Grimley-esque relative (his brother, maybe?) and is doing a great job imitating his voice.
— Oh, turns out Christopher’s playing Grimley’s dad. Doesn’t Howard Cosell also end up playing that same role later this season?
— Very good sketch overall.
STARS: ****


60 MINUTES
Mike Wallace (HAS) exposes defective foreign novelty items

— I always like seeing Billy and Christopher paired together, as they always make a good team. This time, they debut their Minkman Brothers characters.
— The frequent pranks they’re playing on Harry’s Mike Wallace are pretty funny.
— Amusing visual of Asian sweatshop workers making novelty toys.
— Yes! The debut of Martin’s Nathan Thurm!
— Martin’s nervous, overly defensive characterization here is freakin’ hilarious, and the extreme close-ups of him also add to the humor.
— Martin: “(to the camera) Is it me? It’s him, right?”
— Overall, yet another in a long line of strong short films from season 10, even if this one wasn’t QUITE as fantastic as I had remembered it being.
STARS: ****


ME AND JULIO
Julio Iglesias (GAK) duets with more performers, including Alfalfa

— Another Jim-as-Willie-Nelson duet sketch?
— Oh, this is focused on Gary’s Julio Iglesias dueting with various other famous singers.
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus gets the “honors” of being the first of several white SNL performers over the years to play Diana Ross in blackface.
— Gary’s Iglesias-ized lyrics of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun are particularly funny.
— Fun seeing Gary rapidly going back-and-forth between all duet partners.
— LOL at the casting of Martin as Mick Jagger, which is perfect.
— Nice inclusion of Mary’s Alfalfa.
— An appearance from writer Kevin Kelton, playing Senor Wences.
STARS: ***½


BOWLING ALLEY
at the bowling alley, Ricky (BIC) opines & makes a 7-10 spare

— Oh, no. The fun streak of tonight’s episode comes to a screeching halt with the arrival of a Billy Crystal one-man-show character piece, a format that Billy will be using again later this season and is something that I’ve never liked from him.
— Okay, I admit the beginning of this is actually making me laugh, with Billy’s voice and the way he says “unbelievable”. However, I know this is going to get old FAST.
— Yep, I was right. I haven’t been laughing since the beginning of the sketch, and predictably, he’s completely running his “unbelievable” catchphrase into the ground.
— One of the things I’ve always disliked about Billy’s one-man-show pieces is they feel too self-indulgent, and also made it evident that Ebersol was giving Billy a little too much free rein this season.
— Okay, there’s a kinda-funny running gag where everyone he asks a friend about turns out to be dead.
STARS: **


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Paul Harvey (RIH) promotes fun weaponry as a Star Wars alternative
PLS apologizes for her out-of-control breasts & explains why it happened

— We get another instance of a corny, predictable, photo-based news joke.
— Rich’s portrayal of Paul Harvey is pretty funny. I have no familiarity with the real Paul Harvey, but I notice Rich is doing the same long mid-sentence pauses that Joe Piscopo did when playing Paul Harvey in a season 7 sketch.
— Funny visual of a “Wiffle Rocket”.
— I liked Rich-as-Harvey doing his version of the “war (huh!) good god ya’ll” song.
— A follow-up to Pamela’s memorable breast commentary from the last episode.
— Some pretty funny doctored newswomen pictures being displayed by Pamela.
— Good ending to Pamela’s commentary, with her left breast “apologizing” by moving up and down.
— Wow, tonight’s Saturday Night News is over already? Felt very short.
— I believe this thankfully ends up being the end of the dreaded “guest anchor” era of Saturday Night News. IIRC, starting in the next episode, a certain cast member becomes the regular anchorperson for the remainder of the season.
STARS: **½


TIPPI TURTLE
by Jack Zander- Tippi Turtle gets an innocent man arrested at the bank

— Tippi’s pranks continue to get crueler and funnier, with him now framing an innocent man with a “This is a stickup!!” note.
— Overall, shorter than usual but very funny.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Do It Again”


OLD PETER PAN
much older Peter Pan (host) catches up with Wendy (MAG) after dark

— Pretty funny initial visual of Ed dressed as an older and heavier Peter Pan.
— I liked Ed’s delivery of an overly-amorous “I want you, Wendy!” and then forcibly starting to kiss her.
— Peter Pan to Wendy, in the middle of an earnest discussion: “Can’t we at least get it on once???”
— This overall sketch was a nice, softer piece that had heart to it (which is something we rarely see in this Ebersol era). Felt like something that would normally be placed as the final sketch of the night, and I believe this originally DID air in that timeslot but was moved up to an earlier spot in the rerun version I’m reviewing.
STARS: ***½


YOU CAN’T PUT TOO MUCH
nuclear technicians puzzle what retiree (host) meant with his parting tip

— Looks like the same science lab set they previously used in the epic Turkey Lady sketch from last season’s Barry Bostwick episode. (side-by-side comparison below)

— Love the confusion over whether Ed’s “You can’t put too much water in the reactor” meant you should put in a lot of water or none at all. Great long simultaneous pause from the scientists during that confusion as well.
— Gary chiming in with his idiotic theory was funny, as was Julia’s response to him being “God, you’re useless.”
— I like the way this is escalating, with a whole bunch of other scientists now getting involved.
— Good ending with the off-camera explosion of the nuclear plant.
— Overall, this was a very solid sketch with a smartness that feels atypical of this era. This sketch would’ve felt right at home later this decade during the Phil Hartman/Jon Lovitz era.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Word Of Mouth”


NATIONAL ADOPT A NON-SMOKER DAY
get more kids to light up by supporting National Adopt A Non-Smoker Day

— Pretty funny idea with an un-adopted Jim bitterly countering the Great American Smokeout holiday by creating his own national holiday where you adopt someone and make them develop a smoking habit.
— An overall decent closing sketch, though felt like a bit of a step below the high quality of the rest of the show.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another strong episode. This season has been on a really hot streak lately, with tonight being the fourth consecutive episode that I felt very highly about.
— In addition to most of tonight’s sketches being very good, I also like how some of them successfully attempted things that are atypical of this era (the heartfelt Peter Pan sketch and the smart You Can’t Put Too Much) and felt like sketches from an earlier or later era.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (George Carlin):
— a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Ed Begley Jr.

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October 10, 1981 – Susan Saint James / The Kinks (S7 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Yesterday’s Technology at Tomorrow’s Prices”

— Eh, funny enough, I guess. I’m still not crazy about this season using these quick disclaimer gags as cold openings, though.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
audience decides against MacArthur & Wife, Macbeth & Wife sketches

   

— We’re getting an actual monologue tonight instead of just a “Talent Entrance”.
— Ah, so SNL calls the obligatory parody of something the host is known for “the host sketch”.
— Interesting letting the audience choose which McMillan & Wife parody to go with, though I’m not sure if that’s genuine or if it was already pre-decided which sketch they’re gonna do.
— Abrupt decision to do the McDonald & Wife sketch, though maybe that was an intentional joke.
STARS: ***


MCDONALD & WIFE
Ronald McDonald (JOP) & (host) solve crime while in bed

  

— Oh my god at that hideous clown makeup on Joe.
— All the “Mc” speak is just making me groan. Is that the big “joke” of this sketch?
— That’s it? That’s the whole thing? Ugh, I see we’re using leftover corny scripts from season 6.
STARS: *½


BUH-WEET SINGS
Buckwheat (EDM) is back & he has a new album- Buh-Weet Sings

   

— The debut of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— There’s the classic opening line “Hi, I’m Buh-weet, amembah me?”
— The Buckwheat-ized songs are all hilarious.
— Love how they put question marks on the bottom of the screen in place of the song title when they couldn’t figure out which song he was singing just now.
— Overall, another all-time Eddie Murphy classic from this season. He’s been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis in season 7 so far.
STARS: *****


THE BIZARRO WORLD
Black House policy is the same in this inverted realm

       

— I like the cube-shaped globe used to represent bizarro Earth.
— Some technical errors when the camera tries cutting back to Mary and Robin with their bizarro masks on.
— Love the scene with bizarro Jerry Falwell.
— Mr. Mike!
— The brief “Be Cruel to Animals week” scene with Eddie holding an axe was great.
— Nice touch with the bizarro version of the “Hail to the Chief” theme.
— I’m loving the whole idea of this sketch.
— Great part with bizarro Reagan being told to go to sleep during a national crisis.
— Overall, a pretty brilliant and fun sketch. Good political satire as well, which I’m surprised to see in the Ebersol era.
STARS: ****


PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
by Andy Aaron- (TOD) accidentally demolishes a building

    

— Oh, I remember seeing this as a clip somewhere a few years ago (probably in SNL’s 40th anniversary special), and I found it to be a hilarious random piece.
— Hey, is that Emily Prager as the first person seen in this? If so, it’s strange how she gets more airtime as an uncredited extra (in addition to this film, she also previously appeared in a season 3 Franken and Davis Show sketch taking place at a Thanksgiving dinner) than she did in the one episode she was a credited featured player in.
— Nice to see Tom Davis.
— The audience was silent during the aftermath of the building explosion, but I found it pretty funny, especially Tom’s reaction. However, this didn’t come off as funny to me as it did when I saw it during the aforementioned SNL 40th anniversary clip.
— “A Film by Andy Aaron”. That name sounds familiar. I think he’s the one who was credited as making that “Street Scene” short from season 5 (can’t remember which episode), and I remember saying in my review of it that it reminded me of this “Push Button to Explode Building” short.  Now I see why both shorts have similarities.
STARS: ***½


LIFEBOAT
shipwreck survivors (JOP) & (host) have a musical date in a lifeboat

 

— Uh-oh, it appears we have our very first of what I’m aware will be MANY musical sketches this season. This is something about this season I’m REALLY dreading, as I normally can’t stand musical sketches (there are some big exceptions, of course).
— Well, I did kinda laugh at that wacky slide whistle sound effect that was played after one of the verses.
— Overall, well, at least this was short, which is the only really good thing I can say about it. Otherwise, this was a chore to sit through.
STARS: *½


SHE’S A PIG
(TIK)’s skanky fiancee Paulette Clooney (ROD) meets him in a restaurant

   

— I liked Mary’s wrist-slashing line.
— LOL at Robin’s entrance.
— Whoa at the part with Robin briefly pulling open her top. We couldn’t see anything indecent on camera, but from where Tim was sitting, I think he got a clear view (unless Robin was wearing pasties under there).
— Robin casually wiping off her armpits while speaking is very funny.
— Mary’s blunt “she’s a pig” statements are great.
— Another good laugh from Mary’s penecillin line.
— Good ending with Christine.
— Overall, a solid sketch. Robin did well as the main comedic character, but my biggest laughs actually came from Mary as the straight man.
STARS: ***½


LET’S SEE WHAT’S BOTHERING BOB
suburban dad loses his marbles

   

— Looks like an interesting short film.
— I’m liking the “1950s instructional film” vibe to this so far.
— This is the second segment in a row tonight where Mary plays a character named Ellen.
— The son looks kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why.
— I like the look on each individual family member’s face when the father starts revving up the chainsaw.
— The dark ending didn’t really work and felt like it was trying too hard.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Destroyer”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM narrates footage of the devastating floods in the country of Senesia
weatherperson CHE chit-chats with BDM & MAG but forgets to give forecast
JOP uses bobblehead dolls to explain the complicated baseball playoffs
Ronald Reagan’s fan letter to EDM contains jokes about black people
MAG to would-be assassins- “if you’re looking for a target, try yourself”

       

— Just as I was afraid, they repeated the “letters from the SNL Newsbreak logo falling on Brian” gag.
— Ugh, the joke about John Hinkley wanting to shoot Jodie Foster and make love to the president made me groan out loud.
— The flood pre-taped segment was a pretty laughless waste of time.
— WTF at this Christine Ebersole meteorologist commentary so far?
— That’s the whole meteorologist commentary? Didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— The Italian currency/“bucket of warm spit” joke gave me a good laugh.
— First time in a while they’ve done a Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Love how Joe is activating each bobblehead as he’s going through the names of various baseball players.
— Yikes, Brian’s Agent Orange joke received complete silence from the audience.
— Haha, holy hell at that racist “four colored people trying to catch an elevator” joke that Eddie read off of Reagan’s letter. Eddie’s reaction is great.
— I got even more laughs from Reagan’s racist joke about the three things a colored man can’t get (a black eye, a fat lip, and a job). Brian being seen laughing on the side is also hilarious.
— Not sure how to feel about Mary’s suggestion to would-be assassins to kill themselves. It just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, and I recently mentioned how clapter bugs me nowadays.
— Overall, another SNL Newsbreak with lots of tepid jokes from Brian and Mary. At least some of the commentaries were worthwhile.
STARS: **


SINGLE WOMEN
CHE performs “Single Bars & Single Women”

 

— I smell another musical sketch starting.
— Oh, I’ve always heard about this Single Women number. I believe this is probably the biggest thing Christine is remembered for doing on the show.
— As I was once told a few months ago (by a commenter on this site, I believe), this song has the same melody that was used in that weird season 3 sketch where Madeline Kahn played a singing bowling trophy. Michael O’Donoghue wrote both that sketch and this Single Women one, I believe. I also heard that this melody would later be used for a Dolly Parton song.
— Overall, I can put aside my aversion to musical sketches to admit that this was a very nice musical number. There was no comedy at all here, but the song was very good and Christine did an excellent job performing it.
— All that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll be so lenient later this season after sitting through Christine’s 150th musical sketch.
STARS: ****½


HONEYMOON
on their honeymoon, (TOR) is surprised that wife (host) is a virgin

 

— At first, I thought Susan Saint James was Mary Gross, until she started speaking. I guess it was her wig that caused the confusion.
— Tony’s making me laugh with his wild pre-love-making actions.
— Pretty decent premise with Susan’s revelation.
— Overall, an okay funny sketch. Not much else to say about it.
STARS: ***


CHEAP LAFFS
Sta-Free Peenie Pads is the uncouth joke of the week

   

— I admit to getting a laugh from Tim’s idea to do a Love Boat parody called “The Lez Boat”.
— Interesting how the cast is playing characters with their own first names in this.
— LOL at the whole lowbrow idea of this commercial.
— Overall, this was a riot. The commercial probably wouldn’t have worked as well without the “Cheap Laffs” framing.
— I believe “Cheap Laffs” goes on to be a recurring sketch, but I’m not sure.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Art Lover”


ANDY WARHOL’S TV
he relates his thoughts on makeup & death

 

— Oh, god, here’s our weekly Andy Warhol film.
— Overall, I once again find myself asking “What… the… fuck?!?” At least the last one was very short, whereas this one seemed to go on for quite a while.
STARS: *


ALAN ALDA SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR MEN
Alan Alda’s book gets girls

  

— Lots of sketches tonight taking place in a bar. I can’t tell if it’s been the exact same bar set each time. If it is, I wonder if it holds the record for most recycled set in a single SNL episode.
— Pretty funny concept with Alan Alda authoring a sensitivity training book.
— Loved Tim telling Tony “You’ll be drilling pipe like a demon”
— Nice touch with using the M*A*S*H* theme song during the scene transition.
STARS: ***


SADAT ASSASSINATION
by John Fox- a custodian cleans the aftermath of the Sadat assassination

   

— Looks like I’m in for another serious, dramatic short film, much like the Yoko Ono one from the season premiere. Hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing this season.
— Overall, no idea what to say about this or how to rate it. Overly dramatic, sad films like this feel too out-of-place on SNL (though there have been some exceptions, like some of Tom Schiller’s best work, but at least in those, Schiller usually casts people from SNL, and thus, I don’t feel like I’m watching a dramatic film made for some other TV show).
STARS: N/A


GOODNIGHTS

 

— I forgot to mention this in the last review, but it feels nice hearing the original goodnights music this season after getting so used to the new (and not as good) goodnights theme that was used in season 6.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode overall, though it was weighed down by a number of weak or questionable pieces scattered throughout the show. However, there were a few really strong sketches tonight that made this episode worth watching, mainly Buh-Weet Sings, Single Women, and Bizarro World.
— After mentioning how unimpressive the debut of the three new cast members (Christine, Mary, Brian) was in the last episode, I felt that most of them fared much better tonight. Mary had some good moments, particularly her funny straight man performance in She’s A Pig. And Christine was all over this episode, and had an excellent showcase with Single Women.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (no host):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
George Kennedy

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
 

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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