Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Dan Quayle (host) plays Graduate to Nancy Reagan’s (JAH) Mrs. Robinson
— Good entrance from Jan as Nancy Reagan.
— Great turn with this turning into a The Graduate parody.
— And there goes a recreation of The Graduate’s classic leg shot.
— Jan is always fantastic at playing seductive.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host outlines monologue rules- vulnerability, craziness, plug, wash hands
— I really like this Ferris Bueller-esque “Tips For The Monologue” format, with Matthew’s asides to the camera after going through each typical monologue cliche.
— Pretty solid monologue overall.
STARS: ***½
MCDONNELL-RAND
medical waste isn’t all bad- it can also improve your life in small ways
— Pretty funny concept.
— The casual everyday use of medical waste has some really good laughs, especially the part with Dana happily using syringe needles as corn cob holders.
STARS: ***½
THE FIVE BEATLES
flashback reveals why former 5th Beatle Albert Goldman (PHH) is bitter
— Funny gag with a screen ripple effect appearing when Phil throws to a flashback, only for the screen to immediately cut back to Phil still in present time, which he responds to by saying “Oh, concentrate harder, for goodness sake!”
— The Beatles performance with Phil as an out-of-place Beatle is pretty funny, especially him breaking out into a trombone solo, which kills the teen crowd’s enthusiasm.
— Dana’s Liverpool accent is very funny.
— Good casting of Jon as young Ringo, as I can see a resemblance.
— Kevin’s pretty funny as Elvis.
— I like the irony of Elvis telling Phil’s character to never let his weight get out of hand.
STARS: ***½
COOKING WITH MONKEY
(DAC) gives helpful hints for primate preparation
— Love the audience groaning when Dana reveals he’ll be cooking a monkey dish.
— Dana’s casual delivery of “Guests can be intimidated by the sight of a flaming monkey” was very funny.
— Another great bit with Dana showing a picture of baby monkey he’ll be preparing, and talking about how good a sample of that baby monkey tasted.
— This sketch is priceless so far.
— A lot of laughs from the restaurant guests’ various requests for which live monkey they’d like that’s on display in a glass cage.
— Dana, in a voice-over: “As we bid adieu to the French Monkey House, we……. say……. goodbye to the French Monkey House.”
— A big laugh from Dana’s line about one of his “patented monkey de-boners”.
— Clever detail with “Cooking with Monkey”’s mailing address being “Top of the Empire State Building”.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Birthday”
WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB is worried about the high animal extinction rate
— Wow, this Update opens with a particularly HUGE extended applause break for Dennis, even moreso than he usually gets. Even he himself looked kinda surprised.
— Liked the random baseball bit with Dennis, and it resulted in his trademark “Ha-HAAAA!” laugh that always kills me.
— Fantastic joke from Dennis regarding Dan Quayle holding a pumpkin.
— Hmm, a Trump joke.
— A. Whitney’s hair has really grown out over the summer.
— A decent overall commentary from A. Whitney tonight, with my favorite line being his comment regarding us needing animals for medical research.
STARS: ****
NUDE BEACH
at a nude beach, (host) & some other guys talk about their penises
— Funny use of a strategically-placed beam to hide the guys’ nudity.
— We’re surprisingly seeing Dennis making a lot of non-Update appearances tonight.
— Kevin, upon greeting Dana: “Hey, penis looks great today.”
— Love Kevin casually telling Matthew he has a pretty small penis.
— The frequent casual use of the word “penis” in general is freakin’ priceless.
— Holy hell, this Penis Song they’re singing is hilarious.
— Kevin’s mock-serious message to the camera has some really funny lines, especially him saying he’s disheartened by the snickering he heard from the audience throughout the sketch, and telling those of us who missed the point of the sketch to “grow up”.
— An overall absolutely fantastic, classic sketch. You can tell by the energetic audience applause at the end that they loved it too.
— This sketch was originally cut after dress from the previous week’s Tom Hanks season premiere. I’m aware that version of this sketch is available in the extras section of Hanks’ SNL “Best Of” DVD, but I’ve yet to see it. While the sketch was classic enough with Matthew Broderick in the role, I can only imagine how EVEN BETTER it must’ve been with Hanks, who would’ve been PERFECT for this sketch.
STARS: *****
THE THUMPER FAMILY
fundamentalist clan threatens damnation for hassles
— Interesting intro from Don Pardo’s voice-over.
— Not sure if I’m going to like this sketch. This is a point I’ve brought up before (when talking about The Loud Family and The Widettes sketches from the original era), but I’m usually not big on sketches where the premise is everybody in a family having the same distinctive trait. More often than not, I find that type of sketch pretty groanworthy, though there are some exceptions, of course.
— I will say Jan is giving a great performance.
— Excellent outburst from Phil upon his entrance.
— Hmm, this sketch isn’t too bad. It’s so ridiculously over-the-top that it’s hard for me not to laugh.
— Decent ending.
STARS: ***
LEARNING TO FEEL
Denise Venetti gives frightened patients simple answers
— OH, NO. Not this again. I was hoping they left this in season 13.
— Hmm, no “look at yourself” advice from Nora to tonight’s first guest? Maybe tonight’s installment of this sketch is going in a different direction after all.
— Jon’s pretty funny as a paranoid guy who’s convinced he’s always being followed by someone.
— Hmm, Nora didn’t give a “look at yourself” advice to tonight’s second guest either. However, the advice she’s substituting it with isn’t any funnier.
— Okay, with this third interview taking place right now, I’m noticing the pattern where Nora’s advice to tonight’s various guests is making them realize “You’re frightened”, which automatically solves their problems. Yeah, not funny.
STARS: *½
LAURIE HAS A STORY
(LAM)’s yarn is sidelined; Catherine O’Hara cameo
— Hmm, a random Laurie Metcalf/Catherine O’Hara film.
— IIRC, this must’ve been around the same time the sitcom Roseanne debuted.
— Is SNL doing this film to make up for the fact that Laurie Metcalf has the dishonor of being an SNL cast member for only ONE episode, in Dick Ebersol’s hastily-retooled SNL a mere month after Jean Doumanian’s firing?
— Seeing Catherine O’Hara alongside Laurie Metcalf reminds me that they were almost SNL castmates. In the aforementioned hastily-retooled SNL at the end of season 6, Catherine O’Hara was originally one of the new cast members hired. However, she immediately quit after being scared off by Michael O’Donoghue’s berserk antics behind the scenes. Upon telling Ebersol she quits, O’Hara recommended fellow SCTV cast member Robin Duke as her replacement, which is how Robin got hired for the show.
— The brief Andy Warhol story was pretty funny.
— I liked the whole choking part at the end.
— Pretty good film overall.
STARS: ***
HOLLYWOOD SALUTE
gangster film actor (JOL) extended persona to western
— Wow, this is now Dennis’ FOURTH non-Update appearance of the night. This has got to be an all-time record for him.
— Jon and Phil playing their General Custer and Indian roles as 1920s gangsters seems fairly funny.
— This sketch hasn’t been all that great so far, though I’m liking it more for the performances than for the writing. Phil and Jon are playing off of each other very well here.
— The joke with Jon’s unconvincing Indian war-whooping as he made his exit was pretty funny.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Motorcrash”
BABY
baby (host) & fairy (PHH) nonchalantly answer others’ taunting questions
— Boy, this is kind of a strange sketch.
— Some good humor from Matthew’s deadpan delivery while casually explaining his baby traits to his obnoxious teasing peers.
— Fun random walk-on from Phil as a fairy.
— Like Matthew, Phil’s lines explaining his fairy traits to the teasing peers are made funnier by his casual, proud delivery.
— Overall, this was one hell of a goofy, silly sketch. I’m kinda not sure what to think of it, but it had a weird charm that I liked. I feel like only this SNL era could make a sketch like this work.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A comedown from the phenomenal season premiere, but that was to be expected after how ridiculously high the bar was raised by that episode. I still enjoyed tonight’s episode, even though it was just average as a whole. The first half of the episode was fine, but there was a noticeable drop-off in quality during the last half-hour or so. However, we at least got the classic Nude Beach sketch tonight, as well as an underrated, forgotten gem in Cooking With Monkey.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
John Larroquette