Tag: The Smashing Pumpkins

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September 26, 1998 – Cameron Diaz / The Smashing Pumpkins (S24 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OPRAH 2002
Linda Tripp (John Goodman) et al recall Lewinsky affair

— This is the second consecutive season premiere to begin with an Oprah cold opening.
— Decent fake-out with the “Oprah 2002” title screen immediately being followed by us seeing Tracy as a very heavyset, porkchop-eating woman, who we’re supposed to assume is what Oprah will look like in 2002, only for us to find out Tracy is just playing a woman who’s introducing Oprah.
— Interesting how this takes place four years in the future, looking back on the Lewinsky scandal.
— Tim’s delivery is a bit sloppy.
— I like the tanned, mustached look of Darrell as 2002 Bill Clinton.
— Chris Parnell gets the honors of being the one in tonight’s trio of new cast members who gets to appear right at the top of show in the cold opening. I wonder if viewers at the time were watching this cold opening asking themselves “Who in the world is that playing Kenneth Starr?”
— John Goodman makes his first of many cameos this season.
— A particularly energetic “Live from New York…” from Tim to kick off this season.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Season 23’s drab opening montage has thankfully been done away with after only one season, and we get a new montage tonight.

 

— After season 23’s experiment with doing an opening montage with no traditional New York City scenery, we get a welcome return of NYC scenery tonight.
— I know this isn’t a popular opening montage among SNL fans, but I have a very soft spot for it. There’s a reason for that. You see, this is the very first SNL episode I ever saw, when NBC reran it during the summer of 1999. I was either 14 or 15 years old at the time, depending on when in that summer this rerun aired (my birthday is in July), which I realize is quite older than the age that most people are when they first discover SNL. After my first SNL viewing, I would go on to be a very casual SNL viewer for the next year, where I would only tune into bits and pieces of the show on occasional Saturday nights on NBC while flipping the channel back and forth between that, MADtv on FOX, and other channels. (And to be honest, 14/15-year-old me had a bit more of a preference for MADtv than SNL back in those days, until I started really getting into older SNL reruns on Comedy Central.) Anyway, because my earliest memories of being an SNL viewer are from seasons 24 and 25, which both use the opening montage that’s introduced in tonight’s episode, this opening montage now has huge nostalgic, sentimental value to me. It brings back nice memories of the early days of my SNL fandom.
— I will admit that the cast photos in this opening montage are pretty bland.
— I’m not caring for the new theme music, but not to worry, because it doesn’t last. The early episodes of this season are going to have A LOT of experimentation with different theme music for the opening montage, until they finally settle on one.
— Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz have been added to the cast tonight, all joining as featured players, which begins a new tradition of it being a requirement for every new cast member to join as a featured player. Something odd, though: neither Fallon, Parnell, nor Sanz are credited in tonight’s opening montage! Very unusual. Some SNL fans have had a theory that perhaps the graphics department wasn’t yet finished with the featured players portion of this opening montage. Another theory I’ve seen is that perhaps SNL was taking a page out of MADtv’s playbook by not crediting extras who are occasionally given noteworthy co-starring roles in sketches (something that was kinda common on MADtv in their first 5 or so seasons).
— I like the unique way the end of this opening montage transitions to the “ON AIR” sign on SNL’s home base stage (screencap below).


MONOLOGUE
without provocation, host gets tough with audience member (Hugh Fink)

 

— We get a new home base stage.
— Very random premise, with Cameron Diaz putting on a badass persona and picking on an innocent audience member (played by SNL writer Hugh Fink).
— I’m not too sure what to think of this random monologue, but I’m getting enough laughs, and Hugh Fink is making a good foil in this.
STARS: ***


MASTERCARD
MasterCard made possible the priceless aspect of the Lewinsky affair

— Very funny twist at the end.
— Short and sweet.
STARS: ****


SIDE NOTE: Starting in tonight’s episode, SNL shows a brief glimpse of the next sketch being set up during each commercial break, which would go on to be a weekly part of the show that still remains to this day in 2019.


THE VIEW
Mark McGwire (WIF); Debbie Matenopoulos (host) battles raccoon

— A new opening title sequence for these View sketches. I like how in the intro shot for Star Jones, we see Tracy as himself getting his Star Jones wig applied.
— I’m not too happy about the fact they they did away with Cheri’s Barbara Walters singing The View theme song.
— I like Molly-as-Meredith-Viera’s random “I am not wearing underpants” revelation.
— Ana’s Joy Behar impression makes her View debut.
— Will’s look as Mark McGwire is making me laugh.
— I got a good laugh from the picture of Will’s McGwire being hugged by his son, played by Darrell (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch).
— I love Cheri’s Barbara blurting out at Cameron’s Debbie Matenopoulos “I will destroy you!”, before covering her own mouth in a shocked “Oh!”-type manner.
— A very funny “Dare Debbie” segment, with the View ladies trying to do away with Debbie by trapping her in a bag with a raccoon.
STARS: ****


OOPS! I CRAPPED MY PANTS
Oops! I Crapped My Pants can withstand full blasts from seniors’ bowels

— One of the more famous fake ads in SNL history.
— The reveal of the product is absolutely priceless.
— This hilarious commercial is made even better by the fact that the elderly couple is played by real elderly people and how they’re playing this so straight.
— A great line from the elderly man on how he knows so much about Oops I Crapped My Pants: “I’m wearing them… and I just did.”
— In Comedy Central’s 60-minute versions of this season’s episodes, this fake ad was strangely added to nearly EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. I kid you not, people. Just one of many examples of baffling, shoddy edits in Comedy Central’s versions of this season’s episodes.
STARS: *****


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon & (host) act out scenes from the Starr Report

— A great change of pace, with Leon Phelps theatrically performing The Starr Report.
— The various vignettes that Leon and Cameron are performing are a lot of fun.
— Tim’s stumbliness from the cold opening is carrying over into this sketch a little, though he managed to make his flubbed line in this sketch funny.
— I love Leon’s line about having his wang “mouthified”.
STARS: ****


THE BEST OF THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
The Best Of The First 20 Minutes Of SNL redefines straight-to-videotape

— A clever self-deprecating take-off of the endless barrage of SNL “Best Of” specials that were aired on NBC that summer. Even if you didn’t have knowledge of that, this commercial still works, as the idea of an SNL “Best Of” special consisting of just the first 20 minutes of an episode is simply funny. There was once a similar gag on Weekend Update in the first episode after SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special, where Update anchorperson Dennis Miller presented a highlight reel of the next 15 years of SNL, which was just a sloppy montage of sketches from earlier that same night.
— Much like the Oops I Crapped My Pants ad, part of the reason why this fake ad is working so well is because it’s being played so straight.
— SNL would soon get even more mileage out of spoofing their own over-reliance on “Best Of” specials in the very next episode, where they do a “Best Of” fake ad for a certain new cast member.
STARS: ****


THE NEW HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
the game goes on despite collapse of the board

— Interesting concept of the Hollywood Squares board collapsing and severely injuring the celebrity players.
— Right in his very first appearance, Jimmy Fallon displays his knack for celebrity impressions. His Gilbert Gottfried impression is absolutely spot-on and is cracking me up. Bonus points to Jimmy for doing an impression of a former SNL cast member.
— Overall, this sketch was okay and the various celebrity impressions were fun, but this didn’t come off quite as strong as I think SNL wanted this creative concept to come off.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Richard Nixon haunts Bill Clinton address

— This is the second consecutive season premiere to have a TV Funhouse that consists of “outtakes” from something. Hopefully, this will be much better than the fart-filled Casablanca Outtakes cartoon from the last season premiere.
— A lot of laughs from Kenneth Starr holding up various semen-stained women’s clothing behind Bill Clinton. I’m kinda surprised SNL can get away with this, even in animated form.
— An absolutely priceless bit with dripping semen from the ceiling making Clinton’s hair stick up, as a nod to a famous scene from Cameron Diaz’s then-recent hit There’s Something About Mary.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ thinks it’s time to stop obsessing over the Lewinsky affair
Dominican Lou wants $1,000,000 for a baseball vaguely tied to Sammy Sosa

 

— As I mentioned earlier, this is the first SNL episode I ever saw. And more specifically, this Weekend Update is the very first thing I saw in the episode. Since Colin Quinn was my official introduction to SNL, I’ve always wondered if that’s the reason why I’ve never been quite as harsh on him as an Update anchorperson as a lot of other people are.
— Right out of the gate in tonight’s Update, before the opening title sequence is even shown, we get a big change of pace by abruptly opening with Colin doing a straight-to-camera rant while standing in front of a green-screen. Very interesting. Nothing like this had ever been done by an Update anchorperson before this point.
— Now that Update has begun proper, we see that SNL has a new Update set.
— Colin is really going all Colin Quinn on tonight’s Update, as he’s now doing another straight-to-camera rant (this time behind the desk), this time doing a breakdown of Bill Clinton’s testimony about the Lewinsky scandal, complete with actual clips of the testimony. I prefer Colin doing stuff like this to him trying to sound like a traditional Update anchor.
— Dominican Lou’s excitement while gushing about Sammy Sosa is charming.
— Tonight’s overall Dominican Lou commentary was okay, but nothing memorable or special.
— An unusually short Update.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Perfect”


THE ROXBURY GUYS
at the Moomba Club, foxy (host) picks up Roxbury Guys, Festrunks

— Surprisingly, this is the first Roxbury Guys sketch since the Helen Hunt Christmas episode from half a year earlier. And the only reason we’re even seeing a Roxbury Guys sketch tonight is because the ill-fated A Night At The Roxbury movie is about to open. By the way, tonight’s sketch also ends up being the final sketch that the Roxbury Guys ever appear in. I’ve heard a theory from some people that perhaps SNL lost the rights to continue doing Roxbury Guys sketches after the movie came out. The same thing happens a year later to Mary Katherine Gallagher after the movie Superstar comes out. Then again, earlier in this decade when the first Wayne’s World movie came out, SNL still continued doing Wayne’s World sketches on a regular basis.
— Not many laughs from me so far during this sketch.
— The audience apparently shares my opinion, as they’re fairly silent during a lot of this sketch, minus occasional random screaming cheers from some girls.
— The Festrunk Brothers! Fun twist.
— Even though it feels weird seeing the Festrunks being played by an older, slower, and less thin Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin, I’m still enjoying this, and this is bringing back nice memories of reviewing the original Festrunk Brothers sketches back when I covered the original SNL era.
STARS: **½


WITCHES BREW
words fail odor of witches’ brew; Jonathan Richman & Tommy Larkins cameos

— Odd premise, but I’m getting some good laughs from the creative disgusting descriptions of what the witches’ brew smells like.
— The off-camera yells from townspeople complaining about the smell have some solid lines. Tracy steals the sketch by not even being onscreen while yelling “That smells like Sasquatch’s nuts!”
— We randomly end the sketch with a cameo from the musician guys from There’s Something About Mary (Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins) singing a song about the bad smell of the witches’ brew. Kinda funny, if out of place.
STARS: ***½


GAP
“This is so easy” says sax-playing Bill Clinton (DAH)

— I love the idea of a Gap commercial starring a smug, sax-playing Bill Clinton.
— Again, short and sweet.
STARS: ****


JINGLEHEIMER JUNCTION
new cast member (WIF) spells disaster for kids show

— While the Weekend Update from tonight’s episode is the first thing I ever saw on SNL, Jingleheimer Junction has the distinction of being the first actual sketch I ever saw on SNL. This and Weekend Update are the only two things I remember seeing on SNL that night.
— And, boy, what a sketch for me to be introduced to SNL with. I am very honored to have this well-known classic be the first SNL sketch I ever saw.
— True story: in my original viewing of this sketch, I mistook Will for Colin Quinn. As I said above, Weekend Update was the only other thing I remember seeing in this episode during my original viewing, and when Will entered this Jingleheimer Junction sketch, I remember thinking to myself “Hey, it’s the news guy again!”, thinking Will was the same guy who I had seen anchoring Weekend Update. I was so damn proud of myself as a new SNL viewer for being able to recognize the same SNL cast member in two different segments. Little did I know that Will and Colin were two different cast members. As embarrassing as that mix-up sounds, that ain’t all. I spent my first year as a casual SNL viewer thinking Chris Kattan and Jimmy Fallon were the same person. I kid you not, people. And then eventually, I saw both Kattan and Jimmy standing next to each other in a sketch (from Jennifer Aniston’s season 25 episode) and my mind was blown.
— A priceless visual of the Jingleheimer Junction members innocently standing in an order that causes their shirts to spell out a letter-scrambled “fuck”.
— Tim’s reactions throughout this sketch are great. Between the Oprah cold opening, the Ladies’ Man sketch, and now this, Tim has been having a strong night.
— I love how after Horatio Sanz says “We’re supposed to learn about friendship, Joe”, Tim angrily snaps back at him “Shut up, Umberto!”
— Hilarious how every instance of “fuck” nearly being spelled out gets cut off by a “Please stand by” screen. When I first saw this sketch as a new SNL viewer, I remember being shocked at how close they kept coming to spelling out “fuck”, a shocked feeling that made me realize I was watching something special and daring.
— This overall fantastic sketch was the perfect length, not being dragged out too long.
STARS: *****


GAP
“This is not easy” says electric guitarist Hillary Clinton (ANG)

— Another creative political-themed Gap ad.
— I like how uncharacteristically badass Ana’s Hillary is coming off in some portions of this.
— These Gap parodies tonight are very well-done and have a lot of good little details in them.
STARS: ****


A MESSAGE FROM THE SPICE GIRLS
Spice Girls (MOS), (CHO), (CHK), (host) give advice for pregnant mothers

— Another Spice Girls PSA sketch, after the two that appeared in the preceding season’s Sarah Michelle Gellar episode.
— No Ginger Spice this time? I guess this was after she left the group.
— Like last time, I’m laughing more than I feel I should at Kattan’s mannerisms as Scary Spice.
— Some funny lines here, such as Molly’s Baby Spice proudly saying that if she has twins, she’ll give them each a different name.
STARS: ***


MAAKIES
by Tony Millionaire- proletarian Drinky Crow deadens himself

— “Tony Millionaire”?
— The debut of a very short-lived recurring segment. Strange how SNL feels the need to have two unrelated animated segments in the same episode, with both TV Funhouse and this.
— I believe these Maakies cartoons would later be turned into an Adult Swim series, titled something like “The Drinky Crow Show”.
— A strangely likable bizarre theme song.
— Interesting minor detail with the squirrel having a human right hand.
— Random ending with the crow blowing his brains out with his new gun.
— Overall, a very, very unusual cartoon. It felt completely out of place on SNL, but I’m all for SNL trying new things. I didn’t laugh all that much at this cartoon, but its weirdness did keep me interested in a way. However, I can’t even imagine how many SNL viewers were completely put off by this weirdo cartoon.
STARS: **½


GAP
“This is easy” says Kenneth Starr (CHP) as he jigs amid evidence

— Chris Parnell gets his very first lead role!
— I love how in his first big showcase, Parnell gets to show off his dancing skills. His dancing in this is hilarious.
— The fact that each of tonight’s Gap ads have the person in it randomly saying a variation of “This is easy” makes me think that these are a parody of a specific series of Gap commercials from this time. Oh, well, even without being familiar with them, these parodies still work for me.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid season premiere. I may be biased a little due to this being the first SNL episode I ever saw, but I feel that almost the entire episode was enjoyable, we got two all-time classics (Oops I Crapped My Pants and Jingleheimer Junction), and we got plenty of fun Lewinsky scandal-based material. I also like the new feel and look SNL had in this season premiere, compared to the last few seasons that preceded this. I was also surprised by how shorter-than-usual a lot of segments felt, leaving room for a higher number of overall segments (especially pre-taped fake ads and cartoons) than a typical episode from this era has.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1997-98)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kelsey Grammer

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November 11, 1995 – Quentin Tarantino / The Smashing Pumpkins (S21 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

LATE NIGHT SNACK
approval-seeking Bill Clinton (DAH) makes late-night calls & pigs out

— Our very first instance of Darrell’s President Clinton impression leading his own sketch.
— Some pretty good laughs from Darrell-as-Clinton’s piggish eating during his various desperate late night phone calls. As I said in my review of an earlier and much more famous “Bill Clinton pigging out on food” sketch (Phil Hartman’s classic Clinton At McDonalds sketch), both that sketch and tonight’s cold opening always make me hungry whenever I watch them.
— Good drawn-out build-up to Clinton secretly spraying whipped cream in his mouth.
— I like how Clinton’s desperation has now gotten to the point where he’s calling up some random person he doesn’t even know.
— This is Tim’s fourth “Live from New York” in five episodes this season.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
to honor TV, host dances & sings “I’m Gonna Blow You A Kiss In The Wind”

— Funny turn with Quentin’s “See, there was this one episode of Bewitched…” after his very serious set-up about what the single greatest moment in TV history is.
— Oh my god, Tarantino singing?!?
— Jesus, this song performance from Quentin is INSANE, especially his, uh, dancing. No idea how to feel about this, though he’s certainly is giving it his all.
STARS: **


BUGOFF
the BugOff roach trap lets you watch as the caught insect is tortured

— Will plays his very first commercial spokesperson, a role that I’ve always felt he was underrated in.
— A lot of hilarious CGI details of the torture the roach suffers through BugOff, such as his reproductive organs being burned off and him being beat senseless with own severed limbs.
— Will: “True, none of this will actually kill the roach, but it will give him plenty to think about.”
STARS: ****½


FOOTBALL GAME
unofficial cheerleaders Craig (WIF) & Arianna (CHO) show their spirit

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Feels odd in retrospect seeing a Spartans sketch start without the usual applause that I’m used to hearing from the audience at the beginning of every Spartans appearance.
— Another oddity of this inaugural Spartans installment is that it’s set outdoors instead of inside a gymnasium like most of their subsequent appearances.
— As I said in my review of Mary Katherine Gallagher’s debut in the preceding episode, I’m going to approach the debuts of this era’s biggest and soon-to-be most annoying recurring characters by treating their respective first installment as a standalone sketch and pretending that I’m unaware it’s the first of a series of sketches.
— Tons of energy from Will and Cheri so far, which is coming off pretty fun. And like the prom sketch that Will and Cheri did in the Chevy Chase episode earlier this season, it’s interesting to watch an early display of their great chemistry.
— I like Will and Cheri’s dancing to “Everybody Dance Now”.
— Oh my god at Quentin’s batshit crazy energy during his brief appearance. I… I have no words.
— Overall, not too bad for the Spartans’ debut. If they kept these characters one-and-done, that would’ve been just fine. But Jesus Christ, not only do these characters end up becoming recurring, we end up seeing them about 20 times (I don’t even think that number is an exaggeration, BTW), most of those appearances being within both this and next season alone. The thought of having to review all of those Spartans sketches in such a short amount of time is just…. once again, I have no words.
STARS: ***


CLARA TURLEY’S BIBLE CHALLENGE
Stan Hooper (NOM) exploits trusting Christians on a bible quiz show

— The very first appearance of Norm’s Stan Hooper character. Now THIS is a recurring character debut that I’m excited about.
— Great intro shot of a cigarette-smoking, McDonalds-eating Norm.
— I love Stan Hooper always casually claiming he knew the answer.
— Writer Paula Pell playing a character with her own first name.
— Good line from Hooper about how he’s quit his job and is doing this show full-time now.
— Stan Hooper: “Praise the God!”
— A great blunt and deadpan “NO.” from Hooper when asked if he’s lying.
— The premise is starting to get a little one-note, but Norm has the great ability to maintain my goodwill towards this material.
— Great fast-paced bit with Hooper being handed money each time he claims in rapid succession that he knows the answer to the orders of angels that Nancy is listing off one-by-one.
— Overall, a classic and a quintessential Norm Macdonald sketch.
STARS: *****


DIRECTORS ON DIRECTING
to host, the best job perq is sex with actresses

— The opening applause for each director’s intro is coming off awkwardly timed.
— Quentin: “Directors, by and large, are the most butt-ugly motley group of geeks found this side of a Star Trek contention.”
— When grilling Tim’s Spike Lee, I love Quentin telling all of the directors “Everybody who didn’t shoot an extreme close-up of their lips sucking on Rosie Perez’s breast, raise your hand.”
— Quentin’s lines to Koechner’s Oliver Stone are cracking me up.
— Yikes at Quentin’s awful, exaggerated delivery during his rant “Back when I was working at a video store for FIVE YEARS!!! making MINIMUM WAGE!!! riding the BUS IN L.A.!!! living with MY MOM!!!… etc.” I know he’s emphasizing those words to make a point, but Jesus Christ, he is overdoing the fucking hell out of it and it is cringeworthy.
— Yeah, things have taken a turn for the worse in this sketch. Quentin’s delivery is starting to become too much for me, and now that he’s stopped making me laugh, I’m starting to see a very uncomfortable nature to this sketch’s subject matter, due to the unfortunate similarities to all the Harvey Weinstein/#metoo stuff from recent years. I still find some of Quentin’s earlier lines (before he stared going overboard with his delivery) funny in spite of this sketch’s bad taste.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Don King (TIM) sweet-talks NOM & laughs off allegations of wrongdoing
creepy obsequious fops Lucien (MAM) & Fagin (DAK) fawn over NOM

— I see they’re still experimenting with the opening theme music for Update. Tonight, we get a cool-sounding, laid-back theme that I don’t recognize. Is it from a Tarantino movie or is it just random stock music?
— When Norm is introducing the Don King commentary, you can hear the audience laughing out loud at the off-camera visual of Tim as Don King. We’ll see in a second why exactly they’re laughing at that visual.
— Great visual of Tim in an insanely tall Don King wig. No idea how that wig is managing to stay in place and not tip over whenever Tim moves his head.
— Very fun performance from Tim. The material itself isn’t anything special, but Tim is managing to make it work.
— Yet another noteworthy recurring character debut in tonight’s episode: The Fops.
— I love the random idea to have Koechner and Mark inexplicably play old-timey fops in a modern-day setting.
— Funny occasional cutaways to a close-up of a deadpan and quietly disturbed Norm while the Fops are praising him in a creepy way.
— So many funny little details in the Fops’ mannerisms and lines. Koechner and Mark are a riot in this commentary.
STARS: ****


LEG UP
host tries to explain that he’s not a choreographer

— I actually liked the first installment of this sketch back in the season premiere (I feel like I’m in the minority there), but yeah, not sure I need to see this as a recurring sketch.
— The chemistry between Molly and Cheri is still fun.
— I like Molly and Cheri’s confusion over what Reservoir Dogs is, acting like it’s an old 50s-type Broadway song.
— Yet another dose tonight of Quentin’s bizarro dancing?
— Overall, I found this installment merely okay, but it was a step down from the first installment, and I don’t see a shelf life for this recurring sketch. I get the bad feeling that I’m going to find each passing installment of this sketch to be less funny than the last one, until it gets to the degree where I can’t stand the sight of this sketch. I do recall the one with Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra being okay, though.
STARS: ***


WHITE TRASH AROUND A CAMPFIRE DEALING WITH AN OVERABUNDANCE OF FLUIDS
what the title above says

— First time we’ve seen Jim Breuer in quite a while. He has been absolutely invisible these last two episodes. I keep forgetting he’s even in the cast.
— Will’s performance as a redneck is cracking me up.
— Uh, where exactly are the laughs in this sketch supposed to be coming from? From the excessive amount of fluids whenever something gets opened or squashed? Are you kidding me with this, SNL?
— I admit that I am finding everybody’s goofy performances kinda fun, but this material is fucking DREADFUL.
— Dumb ending with the title card saying the long name of the sketch.
— Overall, all I have left to say is, I see SNL is still occasionally using leftover season 20 scripts. Thanks a lot, Fred Wolf. I bet we also have him to thank for that “Prison guard likes being raped” sketch from the preceding episode, another season 20-esque premise (even if I did find that particular sketch kinda funny).
STARS: *


SPADE IN AMERICA
DAS reunites host with Robert Hegyes [real]

— An amusing crack from Spade about Billy Corgan being the guy from Powder. Though I swear there’s a later SNL episode that makes that exact same Powder joke, only it’s about Michael Stipe instead of Billy Corgan. In fact, isn’t it Spade himself who makes that Stipe joke during a Hollywood Minute-themed Spade In America installment later this season? Does he seriously rip off his own joke?!?
— A very odd but interesting change of pace for Spade In America.
— Our first onscreen appearance from new SNL writer Frank Sebastiano (the chubby, long-haired, bearded, biker-looking dude), who always cracks me up whenever he shows up in a sketch (we’ll be seeing him in his own brief Weekend Update commentary in the very next episode). He just has such an amusing, unconventional look for an SNL writer.
— They’re making it seem like we’re about to get a Jay Leno cameo. Between Leno and Tarantino, I don’t think the SNL cameras can handle that much chin.
— Ah, the Leno thing turns out to be an amusing fake-out, where they instead awkwardly bring out SNL’s own Leno impersonator Darrell Hammond.
— An overall decent Spade In America installment. The big change of pace paid off fairly well, and was a welcome improvement over the dreadful Spade In America installment from the preceding episode.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Zero”


ALL ABOARD! WITH CHESTER MILLBRUSH
old train worker (host) tells how he beats up “hobos”

— Here’s a weird little 10-to-1 sketch that I’ve always loved.
— Quentin’s casual detailing of disturbing violent things he and his buddies did to one particular hobo is hilariously unsettling.
— Funny bit regarding the blood stains on Quentin’s overalls.
— I love how Quentin keep randomly transitioning back-and-forth between friendly model train tips and stories of gruesome hobo beatdowns.
— Haha, as no surprise, the studio audience is pretty silent during this dark, twisted sketch so far.
— Very funny how the pictures that Quentin’s showing of alleged hobos are gradually less hobo-ish, eventually getting to the point where he just showing pictures of professionals like a priest, a doctor, etc..
— Great ending with Quentin going wild while using a monkeywrench to destroy the head of a hobo dummy.
— Overall, I find this sketch to be a great, bizarre little deep cut. Considering the fact that one of my all-time favorite SNL writers, Andy Breckman, is credited as a guest writer in this episode (as he has been in the last few episodes), I’d like to think he was the writer behind this sketch, though I’m not sure, as I can’t quite say this sketch fully matches his usual style.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode, leaning slightly to the “meh” side. This episode seems to have a reputation as a terrible episode that’s one of this season’s worst (hell, even NBC seemed to think so, as they never gave it a season rerun, IIRC), which I never quite understood. It’s certainly not a great episode, but aside from that god-awful campfire sketch, it wasn’t particularly terrible. Again, just an average episode, with a hint of “meh”-ness. There were a few certain things I found particularly great, though, especially Clara Turley’s Bible Challenge. Quentin Tarantino certainly displayed lots of energy tonight, a little TOO MUCH so at times, but I wasn’t blown away by him as a host, and he had a few cringe-y moments in the first half of the show. He seemed to get a little better as the night went on, and I did love the way he carried the delightfully disturbing All Aboard sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Gabriel Byrne)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Laura Leighton

Posted on

October 30, 1993 – Christian Slater / Smashing Pumpkins (S19 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Coffee Talk- in a Barbra costume for Halloween, Linda takes some calls

— You probably already know my reaction to this sketch making yet another appearance…
— Well, at least Linda Richman’s wearing a fairly funny costume this time.
— Geez, tonight’s Coffee Talk installment has been even more catchphrase-driven than usual so far, with all the dialogue in the the entire first minute literally only consisting of an endless string of Richman’s catchphrases that never make me laugh.
— In a desperation to find SOMETHING to like here, I kinda chuckled at the Andre Agassi comments.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host goes trick-or-treating backstage but fails to gather much candy

— Very fun premise with Christian going around backstage trick-or-treating.
— Some good laughs from the “candy” Christian is being given, such as Tic-Tacs and a prosthetic nose from the makeup department.
— A big laugh from David and Tim trying to get rid of an excessive amount of leftover Coneheads merchandise from the Coneheads movie that had come out earlier that year.
— The baby Conehead doll among the Coneheads merchandise looks like it could be the same one that was held by Nora Dunn in the New Coneheads sketch from Steve Martin’s season 14 episode.
— Very funny part with Lorne hitting on Mike still dressed as Linda Richman, thinking she’s a real woman.
— Nice visual of an excited Chis Farley in a giant pumpkin costume.
STARS: ****


MMMPH?
— Rerun from 5/15/93. We’re only five episodes into this new season, and they’ve already repeated TWO ads from season 18. What’s up with that?


MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
Matt Foley lectures (MEH), (DAS), (host) about Halloween vandalism

 

— Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Matt Foley officially becomes recurring, despite the fact that his first sketch should’ve remained a one-off, as there’s no way they can come anywhere close to topping it. However, I understand why they brought this sketch back.
— You can tell they’re trying hard to recapture the magic of the first installment, with them even going so far as to reuse the same living room set and having David and Phil reprise their roles as one of the troublemaking teens and the dad, respectively.
— Loved Matt Foley’s “I’m the egg man, goo goo g’joob!” reference.
— Yeah, despite the amusement I’ve been getting here, this sketch is definitely not working anywhere near as strongly as the first installment. I kinda find some of the subsequent Matt Foley sketches a little better than tonight’s, partly because they put him in a completely different setting for a change.
— I do like the idea of Matt Foley telling a scary Halloween story while using a flashlight in the dark.
— Now they’re trying to recreate the legendary unscripted breakaway coffee table crash from the first installment, which doesn’t work as well this time as it’s not as spontaneous. At least the subsequent Matt Foley sketches change the type of breakaway prop he falls through.
— Funny bit with the flaming bag.
STARS: ***


SASSY’S SASSIEST BOYS
host & other stars are unthreateningly rebellious

— And now here comes another sketch that was funny the first time but doesn’t seem necessary as a recurring sketch. An early sign of this season’s bad habit of frequently bringing back sketches that were better left as one-offs, as they pulled out all the stops in their first installment and have no legs as a recurring bit.
— I wonder if Christian playing himself as a guest is a reference to the fact David played him in the first installment of this sketch.
— Mike-as-Joey-Lawrence’s dialog consisting only of “Whoa!”s is pretty funny and oddly memorable.
— Jay Mohr’s bug-eyed, out-of-it Andrew McCarthy impression is cracking me up. Only two episodes into his tenure so far, and I’ve been liking what Jay has to offer with his celebrity impressions.
— Phil: “I just stepped in a big pile of sassy!”
— Surprisingly, Phil’s endless “sassy” one-liners into the camera are still remaining funny tonight, despite the thin nature of the gag. I guess it’s that one-of-a-kind Phil Hartman magic that keeps it from getting old.
— I like how the bit with Phil pulling out a map of Sassyland is heightening the absurdity of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cherub Rock”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Queen Shenequa doesn’t like Whoopi Goldberg defending Ted Danson
this year, ADS gives cheap Halloween costume ideas that focus on the face

— Queen Shenequa had a funny slam just now about Ted Danson’s penis size.
— Queen Shenequa’s overall commentary was okay. Also, IIRC, this ends up being this character’s last appearance ever, despite the fact that Ellen still has a little under two seasons left in her SNL tenure. I didn’t realize until now that, between Queen Shenequa making her final appearance here and us already having seen the last of Zoraida (not counting the latter’s appearance in a recurring character group piece at the end of this season), it’s already the end of the road for Ellen’s only two big characters. At this moment, I can’t recall her debuting any new big characters for the remainder of her tenure, though there’s her upcoming recurring-but-short-lived Jocelyn Elders impression that I remember kinda liking.
— Adam’s annual Halloween costume suggestions makes its final Weekend Update appearance. (It makes a resurgence a year later as a brief part of a Ross Perot trick-or-treating sketch.)
— As always with these Halloween costume commentaries, Adam is able to mine a surprising amount of charming, fun laughs out of such an overly simple, childish premise.
— One of the SNL bumper photos shown of Christian Slater tonight has him holding the handle of a coffee mug in front of his eye like a monocle (screencap below). I’d like to think that’s a clever reference to Adam’s Halloween costume routine.

— Coincidentally, the only two Update guests tonight, Queen Shenequa and Adam Sandler as himself giving Halloween costume suggestions, were also the only two Update guests in Christian Slater’s previous episode.
STARS: ***


TEEN BAND
(host) & fellow teens debate what their band’s name & focus should be

— David’s sotto voce “I like Loverboy” aside made me laugh.
— Some pretty funny idiotic interjections and ramblings from Chris’ stoner character, such as suggesting the band call themselves Pearl Jam 2, and his story about getting crabs from his friend’s couch.
— I loved Christian’s “Did you just make some money in the last five minutes?” question when Melanie again suggests “Let’s go get some pot” shortly after suggesting it a first time.
— I’m conflicted on this sketch. I like the realistic, simple, slice-of-life premise, but the execution is iffy. There’s some laughs, but the sketch as a whole isn’t coming off particularly interesting, and I’m not caring at all for the running bit with Christian’s character and his off-camera mom having a shouting match.
— Adam working in his goofy-voiced guitar song shtick from Weekend Update felt kinda out-of-place and tacked-on in this sketch.
STARS: **


OUT OF AFRICA
(host) & tribal art dealer deny marijuana possession during police bust

— Oh, dear god, no.
— The endlessly-repeated “You put your weed in there!” catchphrase continues to increasingly get on my last nerve with each passing utterance.
— We get a “big change” with the addition of Christian as a similar co-employee of Rob’s character, which only means we now have TWO characters saying the stupid “You put your weed in there!” catchphrase, as if that’s somehow supposed to be funnier.
— Okay, I finally got a chuckle just now, from Christian’s line to Tim about how he and Rob need to keep Tim’s weed-clogged artifact overnight to get the weed out.
— Why does this recurring sketch always have to conclude with cops showing up?
— Poor ending.
— Thankfully, this ends up being the final installment of this sketch. I think I recall once reading someone claim that a third installment of this sketch appears in the Emilio Estevez episode from later this season, but it absolutely does not. My memory of reading that false claim is admittedly very fuzzy, so perhaps the person claiming that was actually saying the sketch got cut after dress rehearsal in the Estevez episode.
STARS: *½


THE VALLENCOURT BOYS
New Englanders (ADS) & (KEN) drink & take calls

— Adam appears to be playing a variation of his Boston-accented Tony Vallencourt character from the What’s The Best Way gameshow sketch from season 18, only this time he’s named Bobby Vallencourt and has a mullet and flannel jacket that he didn’t have last time. To make things even more confusing, the next time this character appears, which is in the cold opening of the following season’s Bob Saget episode, he goes back to having the Tony Vallencourt name from his first appearance while still having the mullet and flannel jacket from tonight’s appearance.
— It is just me, or does Kevin’s Boston accent sound lousy and unnatural?
— I recall once reading a spot-on comment made back at this time in 1993 (within this post here) that basically said this sketch feels like a bad attempt at a Boston-themed version of SCTV’s McKenzie Brothers sketches.
— Oh, talk about lousy Boston accents, here comes Tim. While there’s an affable goofiness in Tim’s presence here that usually works for me in other Tim Meadows performances, it’s not doing a thing for me here.
— Man, this sketch is DEAD so far. No real laughs from me (nor the audience) at all.
— Wait, did Kevin just say “Before we bring out our next guest”? Ugh, I thought this boring sketch was mercifully about to end. Turns out they’re bringing out a guest now? So you mean I still have a few more minutes to put up with this snoozefest?
— Unfortunately, the interview with Christian didn’t make this overall sketch any better. I’ve gone through this entire overlong sketch without finding a single worthwhile aspect.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Today”


THE HEADLINE STORE
joke headline shop owner (host) belittles choices of Canteen Boy & others

— Tonight’s episode continues to die a long, miserable death. This sketch is pure one-joke material; a joke that wasn’t funny to me to begin with.
— A rare flub from Phil, as he accidentally blocks the newspaper headline Christian holds up (the third above screencap for this sketch) and doesn’t realize it until towards the end of the shot.
— A random Canteen Boy walk-on? Not so happy to see him so soon after that awful Garage Sale sketch he starred in just two episodes ago.
— I recall an SNL fan once saying that this sketch would’ve worked had Norm Macdonald played Christian Slater’s role. I can definitely see that. Something about this sketch’s material does seem like something that only Norm could sell with his unique delivery.
— Chris tries to breathe some life into this dead sketch, but I just see it as one of way too many Screaming Chris Farley Roles that we’ll be bombarded with over the course of both this and (especially) next season.
— A lame, dumb ending.
STARS: *


TRENT MARKHAM, LUNG DOCTOR
cigarettes escape blame in the ’50s

— Ah, thank god Phil Hartman has come to save the day after an endless string of horrible sketches.
— Phil always succeeds in these authentic 1950s-era black-and-white pieces, and this sketch feels like a nice throwback to his first season where SNL often did sketches like this. While tonight’s sketch feels slightly empty not seeing Phil being surrounded by the castmates he always used to perform these black-and-white sketches with, like Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey (who probably would’ve worked an “I oughta pound yooouuu!” into this sketch), and Nora Dunn, Phil’s still receiving nice support from Julia and Christian.
— Pretty funny ad-lib from Christian when Julia unexpectedly has trouble lighting his cigarette.
— I loved the dark humor of Phil handing a cigarette to a newly-pregnant Julia and telling her “Take a big pull; you’re smoking for two now!”
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The worst episode of the season so far, and the weakest episode I’ve reviewed in quite a while. The first half of this episode, while not terrible, was dominated by lazily rehashed material, one of which was a recurring sketch I typically don’t like and went particularly heavy on the catchphrases tonight (Coffee Talk), and two of which were newly-recurring sketches that were probably better left as funny one-off pieces last season despite still producing some laughs tonight (Matt Foley and Sassy’s Sassiest Boys, though the latter ended up being better tonight than I thought it would). And the second half of this episode? Yikes. It already started off iffy with the somewhat-promising but uninteresting Teen Band sketch, and only got worse and worse with each passing sketch, some of which produced literally no laughs from me AT ALL, and some of which felt like a sneak preview of what we’ll typically see next season. Thankfully, the night ended on a high note with a solid and classy Phil Hartman sketch showing up out of nowhere. Other than that sketch, the only real highlights of the overall night were the monologue and a portion or two of Weekend Update.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Malkovich)
a huge step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Rosie O’Donnell