Month: July 2018

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September 25, 1976 – Norman Lear / Boz Scaggs (S2 E2)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
with GIR’s help, hospitalized CHC simulates a fall via phone
   
— They’re making a big deal addressing Chevy’s absence, which goes to show you how important he was seen as being to SNL.
— I almost thought Gilda actually was going to do the pratfall, before the phone interruption.
— Ha, it’s the voice of Chevy calling from his hospital room, accompanied by a still photo.
— Great ending with Gilda making the phone do a pratfall, followed by Chevy’s voice saying LFNY.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Pardo announces Chevy as “The voice of Chevy Chase”.

MONOLOGUE
stars of host’s sitcoms [real] feign reverent attitudes toward their boss
 
   
— Something about the way Norman Lear looks is reminding me of future cast member Bill Murray.
— Going by the disclaimer on screen now, I guess the gag with the sound cutting out is a topical reference to something that happened at one of the Ford/Carter presidential debates.
— Wow, it feels strange hearing Jean Stapleton’s normal voice, which sounds so drastically different from her Edith voice.
— Hilarious when the mustached actor (sorry, I don’t know his name; I do recognize Bernadette Peters next to him) was being held back from hitting Norman.
— It’s funny seeing Jeffersons-era Sherman Hemsley casually dressed in a normal t-shirt & jeans, which you would NEVER see him wear on The Jeffersons.
— Haha, the ball-and-chain revelation was perfect.
— I’m absolutely loving seeing these on-the-set interviews of some of my all-time favorite 70s sitcoms.
— The water-dumping bit was very funny, especially Norman having no reaction to it.
STARS: ****½

PAID POLITICAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Jimmy Carter (DAA) says his lusty heart perpetuates Democratic tradition
 
— Just from the “sexual performance in the White House” line early on, I can already tell I’m in for a good sketch.
— This audience is loving this.
— Overall, this whole sketch was very funny.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

THE SNAKEHANDLING O’SHEAS
host’s sitcom about a family with odd traits
 
— A very funny title to the fictional sitcom.
— I’m liking the absurdity of this sitcom scene.
— A good laugh from each of the family members chanting to their snakes; Dan’s chanting and John’s facial expression are especially funny to me.
STARS: ****

NEXT WEEK
GIR announces that Eric Idle [real] will be hosting next week’s SNL
 
— Hey, it’s Eric Idle!
— I’m not sure why exactly he’s doing what he’s doing with the newspaper. Still making me laugh though.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE
LAN reports from Times Square about lack of activity during Rosh Hashanah
   
— Ah, Jane makes her temporary-for-now-but-soon-to-be-permanent debut as an Update anchor.
— It feels so weird to see someone else doing Update, after I’ve gone day-after-day of seeing Chevy as the anchorperson in all the episodes I’ve reviewed so far. That’s one of the things I love about the idea of going through SNL’s timeline in my ‘One SNL a Day’ project: it’s going to feel so interesting to me whenever there’s a big change on the show. And so far, I think this is the very first big change I’ve had to cover in SNL’s timeline.
— LOL at Jane’s ‘golden shower’ opening phone conversation.
— Jane’s delivery started a little slow at first, but it’s getting better now.
— I was mistaken when I said in my review of last season’s Candice Bergen Christmas episode that Victoria Jackson would later (in 1989) do a complete knock-off of the Times Square New Years commentary that Laraine did in that episode’s Update. Looking at the description of Victoria’s commentary in the SNL episode guide, the holiday Victoria reported about the inactivity of was Rosh Hashanah, so it was actually tonight’s Laraine commentary that Victoria’s commentary ripped off. I still wonder if the writer of Laraine’s bit complained to the show in ’89 for stealing his/her material, because as I mentioned in the Bergen review, Victoria’s commentary was mysteriously removed from all reruns.
— Weird seeing a news story about Elton John coming out as “bisexual”. I guess he wasn’t ready back then to announce that he’s 100% gay.
— The “Women’s Wear Daily Magazine” joke about Elton’s coming-out is another Update joke that would probably be considered too un-PC nowadays.
— The “Speedy Alka Seltzer” suicide jokes were absolutely great.
— Yay, no mid-WU fake ad break tonight!
— Overall, Jane did fine in her first night as Update anchor, even if she doesn’t quite have the personality that Chevy added to the desk.
STARS: ***

NORMAN PULLS A CHEVY
host takes a fall to make up for CHC’s absence
 
— Norman’s pratfall came out of nowhere and was surprisingly good.
STARS: N/A, because this was just a quick set-up to the following sketch

CHEVY’S GIRLS
singing Chevy’s Girls GIR, LAN, JAC wish CHC was falling for them
 
— Oh, this is a classic, well-known sketch.
— I love how the song is referencing all of Chevy’s SNL trademarks, even his Generalissimo Francisco Franco running gag.
— The girls are doing a great job and the song has a very catchy 70s sound.
— Gilda’s solo was very funny.
STARS: *****

THE METRIC LEISURE WEEK
Joseph Franklin describes the effects of metric time conversion
   
— It’s Dan’s decabet guy from last season. I didn’t know this was a recurring bit.
— Also, didn’t he have dark hair last time? Now he has gray hair.
— I get the feeling this is going to pale in comparison to the decabet sketch.
— The sleeping habit comment was funny.
— I’m liking this more and more as it’s going along.
— Love the concept of the Government Adrenaline Supplement.
— The dramatization is taking this into a different direction from the first one.
— Overall, while not quite as strong as the decabet sketch, I still enjoyed this a lot.
STARS: ****

SIGHT GAG
Gary Weis [real] hums “Yankee Doodle Dandy” as SNL cast does slapstick
 
— WTF at the sudden quick cutaways to a different cast member having something zany happen to them, in time to the music. This is actually cracking me up, as random as it is.
— Overall, I liked the structure of this, and this was surprisingly laugh-worthy for a Gary Weis film.
STARS: ***

WIFE ABUSE
divorce lawyer (JOB) abuses (GIR) while coaching her testimony
JOB breaks character & attacks host during skit
 
— Meh, I’m not crazy about how this seems to be yet another sketch with John beating up Gilda while he’s showing her how to do something, just like in that director sketch from last season.
— Him yanking Gilda by the nostrils made me laugh right now, I admit.
— Haha, I love how this suddenly broke the fourth wall and has turned into John dropping character and violently going off on “Mr. Lear” because he’s sick of the overexposure of Lear’s sitcoms. That redeemed this whole sketch.
— One has to wonder how John would’ve felt about the overexposure of Chuck Lorre sitcoms in more recent years. I’m sure some of us wouldn’t mind seeing Chuck Lorre get the same treatment that John gave Lear in this sketch.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

PEACE TALKS
Henry Kissinger (JOB) uses song while mediating Rhodesian negotiations
    
— I think I heard Lorne’s voice just now, once again playing an unseen reporter asking a question in a press conference setting.
— I think I remember seeing this sketch before. Doesn’t this have a scene toward the end with John and some other guys crouching on the table while bickering like kids, or singing in a drunken manner, or something like that?
— This feels like the first real thing Garrett has done all night, and we’re near the end of the show!
— Dan’s dignified accent is pretty funny.
— I think Dan has had that same gray dye in his hair in every sketch he was in tonight, starting with the Jimmy Carter sketch early in the show.
— Garrett seems to like saying “umbwebwe” as a nonsense African word. He did the same thing several times in the Idi “V.D.” Amin sketch last season.
— Dan and Garrett’s insults to each other are cracking me the hell up!
— LOL at Dan’s line flub, exclaiming “You can’t look at a white man like that!” (in response to Garrett eagerly looking at a woman in a Playboy magazine) when he meant to say “white woman”, not “white man”. Garrett correcting him afterwards made me laugh a lot, too.
— Ah, there’s John crouching on the desk, like I had remembered. However, my memory of it was a little fuzzy, getting some of the sketch details mixed together.
— Hilarious ending.
— Overall, I liked this sketch a lot. The silliness of it appealed to me, and the performances were fun.
STARS: ****

NORMAN’S JOKE
host & an audience member try to tell a joke together

— Did the girl really screw up the joke set-up, or is this part of the act?
— Oh, never mind, it appears to be part of the act.
— Nice ending with Norman revealing that the girl is actually his daughter.
STARS: ***

SPANISH PEANUTS
by John Brister- stop-motion nuts have a celebration
 
— Another home movie using peanuts and stop-motion. Is this a sequel to last season’s peanut movie?
— The visuals are well-done, but not exactly funny or all that interesting so far.
— Okay, I’m getting bored now……
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS
 
— I didn’t notice this in the season premiere goodnights (probably because I was distracted by all the Antler Dancing going on), but “Danny” Aykroyd and John Belushi have been added to the writing staff this season, as well as an unfamiliar name: Bruce McCall. I wonder if Dan and John’s addition to the writing staff is just temporary to make up for Chevy’s absence.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very solid episode, even better than the preceding week’s season premiere. This season has been having a strong start so far.
— I was curious how Norman Lear would fit into the sketches. While he ended up playing either himself or variations of himself all night, he did fine in his performances and came off as a pretty likable host.
— I was very eager to see how the show would feel without Chevy, though with the phone call cold opening and the Chevy’s Girls song, it didn’t feel like he was all that absent. Maybe his presence will be less felt in the next episode.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Eric Idle

Posted on

September 18, 1976 – Lily Tomlin / James Taylor (S2 E1)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
big-shot host arrives with entourage, intends to do show sans rehearsal
   
— An outdoors cold opening. Is this being done live?
— Lily thinking Gilda is Goldie Hawn is pretty funny.
— “Pepe”? Is that the same Pepe of Butch and Pepe, two little people who would later frequently appear on the show in the Dick Ebersol era?
— This is an exciting way to start the season.
— If this whole opening has been live (again, I’m not sure), I’m liking how this is reminding me of how extensive Buck Henry’s second monologue from last season was.
— LOL at “Jane Belushi”.
— I like the added touch of Chevy chasing Pepe after saying LFNY.
STARS: ****

OPENING MONTAGE
— It’s the same one from last season. There doesn’t appear to be any changes in it, from what I’m seeing.

MONOLOGUE
when the cameras turn off, so does host’s cheerful attitude toward SNL
 
— Heh, figures that when she was naming off the cast, Garrett was almost forgotten and then was added in as an afterthought.
— The monologue’s over already? No, there’s gotta be more.
— Ah, an extended scene after the monologue “ended”. I knew this wouldn’t just end without Lily having done anything funny in the monologue.
— Good ending. I still wanted more out of this whole monologue, though, considering how strong Lily’s last one was. Maybe they made tonight’s monologue so short to compensate for the cold opening being so long and extensive.
STARS: ***

DEBATE ’76
Gerald Ford (CHC) & Jimmy Carter (DAA) discuss the issues
   
— Ah, SNL’s first-ever presidential debate parody. This one is famous for two parts, which I’ll point out when they occur.
— The negro line about Garrett was very funny.
— This is going great so far.
— The slow zoom-in on Chevy’s serious-yet-puzzled facial expression (third screencap above) during Jane’s complicated question is cracking me up so much, especially since I know the classic response that’s coming from him next.
— FAMOUS PART #1: “It was my understanding that there would be no math.” Absolutely hilarious line, and one that would begin a tradition of future presidential debate sketches having one particular legendary line that would go on to become well-remembered for ages (e.g. “Strategery”, “I can’t believe I’m losin’ to this guy!”, etc.)
— FAMOUS PART #2: Chevy’s podium pratfall. It’s not only famous because of how funny and memorable the visual is, but also because of the real-life injury Chevy suffered from it. From what I remember hearing, the prop guys at the show forgot to pad the podium, and thus, when Chevy landed groin-first into it during the pratfall……. yeah, you can imagine the damage that did. I’m not seeing any visible signs of pain from him in the sketch (probably because from what I hear, he had a high threshold for pain back in those days), but the injury ended up being serious enough for him to be hospitalized for a while, which causes him to miss the next two (I think) episodes. Considering how much I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as the show’s star in the episodes I’ve reviewed so far, it’s gonna be interesting seeing an episode without him.
— The ending credits of this sketch has a lot of funny jokes in it.
 
— Overall, a classic debate sketch.
STARS: *****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
LAN reports on Foreign Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak at the Blaine Hotel
 
— The “tennis without balls” joke about the transsexual tennis player was hilarious, even though it would be seen as very un-PC nowadays.
— The Idi Amin joke was very funny as well.
— John getting struck with the disease was pretty funny.

THE PHONE COMPANY
Ernestine (host) on The Phone Company- “We don’t care, we don’t have to”

— Hey, it’s the Laugh In character that I remember the most out of Lily’s characters on that show.
— Lily’s character is very funny in this with her brash actions and ‘don’t care’ attitude.
— Overall, this was great.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
DOP is felled by Foreign Legionnaire’s Disease during Blaine Hotel promo
Emily Litella calls to inquire about “crustaceans” hijacking an airplane
 
— “Guests of Saturday Night Live stay at the Blaine Hotel” – ugh, ENOUGH with that overdone joke.
— Oh, wait, Pardo suddenly getting struck with the disease while announcing the Blaine Hotel promo is actually very funny.
— The Update phone is now ringing. I get the bad feeling it’s gonna be Emily Litella.
— Yep, I was right.
— Litella’s bit ended up being the same-old tired routine; they might as well have just had her appear at the desk like she usually does.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUPPET MORGUE
in the morgue, host tries to get the Muppets to “Whistle A Happy Tune”
 

— This would end up being the final appearance of the SNL Muppets. Can’t say I’ll miss them.
— It sounds like you could hear whispering right before Wisss appeared.
— Mighty Favog is actually making me laugh in this.
— Interesting hearing a mention of “The Muppet Show”.
— I laughed at Scred’s response to Lily asking them if they’re family entertainment.
— Favog’s face turning inward when trying to whistle is a funny visual.
— This ended strangely.
— And now, this has segued into Lily introducing James Taylor’s next musical performance. Will this Muppets bit be continued later tonight? This felt unfinished.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

TESS
eccentric Tess DiSenzo (host) chats with a real estate salesman (GAM)

— Ha, I hear audio of the Three Stooges!
— I recognize that audio as being from the Stooges’ 1952 short “Gents in a Jam”. As someone who’s a huge Three Stooges fan (which is where I get my online name from), you’ll be seeing me geeking out at any reference to them that SNL makes.
— What’s with the Christmas decorations?
— Garrett’s straight man reactions are kinda funny.
— I’m getting some enjoyment out of the weird details of Lily’s stories.
— Man, the studio audience is not into this anymore.
— Overall, I wanted to like this more than I did. I usually always enjoy the character work that Lily Tomlin does, and while this sketch did have its moments, something about it left me kinda underwhelmed.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

JUDITH BEASLEY
housewife Judith Beasley (host) submits to pointless product tests & more
   
— I know this is a Laugh In character, but I’m only familiar with her by name only. I don’t recall ever seeing any of her sketches before.
— I’m liking this a lot so far.
— The big close-up of Dan’s smile at the camera was hilarious.
— I’m loving how Lily’s being asked to do increasingly ridiculous and irrelevant tasks.
— LOL at the hamster head.
— Ah, there’s the Antler Dance that I’ve always been curious to see.
STARS: ****

WOMEN IN LITERATURE
Elna Sullivan’s (LAN) journal entries lack depth

— I’m not crazy about this so far.
— I can’t think of anything else to say, other than this didn’t work much for me.
STARS: **

TAYLOR MEAD
by Gary Weis- Taylor Mead [real] gives his thoughts about television
 
— Oh, no, no, no! Not another short with this Taylor Mead guy again.
— This one is leaving me just as baffled and weirded-out as the first short with him did.
STARS: *½

LILY TOMLIN: “THE ANTLER DANCE”
host, PAS, SNL Band perform “The Antler Dance”
   
— A very fun and catchy performance.
— And now, Lily’s being joined by the cast, James Taylor, the Muppets (wearing actual antlers on their heads), Pepe, and I think I see some of the writers.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host, cast, audience members do the Antler Dance
 
— A continuation of the fun preceding musical number.
— Quite a sight seeing the whole audience standing up and doing the dance.
— Overall, this has got to be one of the most fun and energetic ways SNL has ever closed out an episode.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid way to start a season. There wasn’t much to complain about, a lot of moments were fun, we got a classic presidential debate sketch, even the Muppets made me laugh, and Lily did another top-notch job as host. She was such a natural for SNL that I wish she would’ve hosted more often in this era; IIRC, the next (and last) time we see her as host will be much later in 1983, where SNL had a completely different cast and completely different tone.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1975-76):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Norman Lear

Posted on

July 31, 1976 – Kris Kristofferson / Rita Coolidge (S1 E24)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host sings “Help Me Make It Through The Night” as CHC woos musical guest
 
— Opening with a musical performance? I guess this is like the Paul Simon episode earlier this season.
— Oh, never mind, looks like there’s gonna be comedic cutaways with Chevy throughout this song.
— Who’s the woman with Chevy? The musical guest?
— I appreciate the idea, but I wasn’t crazy about this opening overall.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Boy, is his timing and delivery terrible in this. I heard that he supposedly got drunk right before airtime, and I’m not having a hard time believing that right now.
— “See why they didn’t let me do the monologue?” Haha, at least he’s aware of how badly he’s doing.
— And it’s over ALREADY? Probably a good thing…
STARS: N/A, because this wasn’t an actual monologue; it was basically just an introduction to the following sketch

I WAS NOT A SUCKER FOR SATURDAY NIGHT
new employee Sherry recalls male SNL writers’ advances toward her

— Very interesting meta premise.
— The comment about Alan Zweibel was very funny.
— The Michael O’Donoghue comment just now was even better.
— Overall, this was very strong and Laraine gave an excellent performance.
STARS: ****½

SAMURAI GENERAL PRACTITIONER
Futaba gives host an examination
 
— I liked the bit with Futaba clipping off a tiny piece of Kris’ beard to lower his weight.
— I don’t get the joke with Futaba sliding a gloved finger up and down the height ruler. That got a big reaction from the audience.
— Whoa at the uncensored picture of a topless woman that Futaba’s looking at. (second screencap above, though the topless pic is hard to see in it; here’s a bigger screencap) Between that and the woman nipple pic shown a few Weekend Updates ago, I’m assuming NBC was more lenient about female nudity back in the 70s. I’m surprised. They certainly wouldn’t let modern-day SNL get away with showing that.
— What was with Kris blatantly moving during the fake freeze-frame ending?
— Overall, a lesser Samurai sketch, but still had its moments.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Hey, it’s Gilda and Laraine hula-hooping!

GREAT WHITE ATHLETES
Jesse Owens (GAM) sells medallions of the endangered Great White Athlete

— Loved the line about great white athletes being a dying breed.
— Overall, short but funny.
STARS: ***½

FORD DELEGATE
Gerald Ford (CHC) hears uncommitted delegate’s (host) pork barrel request
 
— Ha, it’s Pardo’s voice on the intercom as Ford’s secretary.
— The ‘tulip in the drink’ gag was hilarious.
— Kris’ delivery is noticeably starting to become slurred.
— Great performance from Chevy, making his Ford come off even more bungling than usual.
STARS: ***½

POLICE STATE
officers (DAA) & (CHC) shoot first, ask questions later
   
— I can already tell from the intro that I’m gonna like this. It helps that I have a strong love for old 70s cop shows.
— John appears to be wearing the same fancy Hollywood clothes he wore in the preceding episode’s cold opening, minus the jacket.
 
— Haha, holy hell at John suddenly getting shot a whole bunch of times by the cops.
— I’m loving the transition shots showing toy model cars & buses crashing into each other.
— I also like how Chevy and Dan keep continuing their “what do you want to eat tonight?” conversations at the most random times.
— This is all hilarious so far.
— The fake freeze-frame ending credits is cracking me up.
— Overall, I loved this. A very funny parody of 70s cop shows.
— Was the (recurring?) “X-Police” sketch SNL would later do in this era in a similar vein to this sketch, or am I remembering incorrectly?
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Viking I’s soil scoop narrowly misses finding evidence of life on Mars
 
— I like how Chevy’s opening phone conversation gag tonight is making fun of Pardo.
— Ha, and now Pardo just had a funny retort after Chevy did his usual “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not” line (“Nobody wants to be, Chubby!”).
— “Still to come”? Aww, man, I see they’re unfortunately going back to dividing Update into two separate parts with a fake ad in between. I thought they stopped doing that in the last episode.

TALK COUNTRY
host’s book helps you overcome education with dialect

— Once again, Kris’ delivery is just plain rough.
— I did like the joke of him including “children” as one of the words his book teaches you to drop the ‘g’ at the end of.
STARS: **½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
LAN reports on Viking I mission from Nassau instead of NASA
 
— Laraine’s NASA/Nassau mix-up is a simple but funny joke.
— I liked Laraine’s “Will I have to pay for this?” line at the end.
— Loved the Spiro T. Agnew joke.
— Our newest variation of the running “News for (insert group here)” gag is Chevy just saying “For those of you who may be growing tired of Weekend Update, I will not repeat tonight’s top story”.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

BOBBY MCGEE
Bobbi McGee (GIR) of host’s song is now the wife of Larry Farber (JOB)
   
— The debut of Bobbi Farber. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the Farber sketches before, but I’ve heard about the characters quite a lot over the years.
— What was with Kris busting out laughing during Gilda’s talk?
— I like John’s walk-on as the husband.
— John’s un-hip suburban dancing during Kris’ song is pretty funny.
— Gilda is so good in this.
STARS: ***½

BLIND DATE
(JAC) is apprehensive about a blind date with her gynecologist (host)

— Jane’s having some really funny lines during her phone conversation.
— Now Kris’ bad delivery has gotten to the point where he’s taking long pauses between some of the dialogue. Just now, after a particularly long stretch of silence, Jane actually had to prompt him to go ahead with his next line.
— Overall… man, I wanted to like this, as it had the type of slice-of-life conversational humor that this era was so good at pulling off, but something about this one seemed lacking. I blame Kris’ performance.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

CARTER-YOUNG
suckup Andrew Young (GAM) sings the praises of Jimmy Carter (DAA) in vain
 
— Is this gonna be yet ANOTHER solo Garrett Morris commercial? He’s been doing these a lot lately.
— I’m liking Garrett’s energy here, but where is this going?
— Ah, there’s Dan’s Jimmy Carter.
— And ah, there’s the gray hair that was missing from Dan’s Carter debut in the preceding episode.
— I like Garrett’s slowburn as he’s realizing that he isn’t going to be put in Carter’s presidential cabinet.
— The way Garrett’s overly wrapped up in the blanket, you can tell he’s trying to hide the suit he still has on from the dream.
— Wasn’t crazy about how this ended.
— Overall, this sketch feels like it could’ve been better.
STARS: **

WAITING FOR PARDO
Vladimir (host) & Estragon (CHC) ponder enigmatic DOP
 
— I love the premise. SNL seemed to have so much fun with Pardo in these early seasons.
— Ehh, this isn’t turning out as funny as I was expecting.
— Okay, I was getting tired of the “Pardo keeps announcing gameshow-esque promo ads” joke, but now it’s starting to become kinda funny because of the ridiculous repetition.
— I know it’s intentional, but all the silence between Chevy and Kris is becoming WAY too dry & drawn-out.
— What did Kris mumble to Chevy at the very end? It didn’t seem to be part of the script.
— Another odd thing about the end: what appeared to be an audience caption showed up when the camera was still just on Kris and Chevy’s silhouettes.

— Overall, I’m not sure how I feel about this sketch as a whole. I think I feel the concept was excellent, but it kinda died in the execution, despite some funny parts. It also probably doesn’t help that I’m not familiar with “Waiting for Godot”.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Hmm, I’m kinda iffy. I feel like I didn’t care much for this episode, but thinking back on my review, I gave out a couple of pretty good ratings, nothing received the dreaded one-star rating, and there were two sketches I loved (Police State and I Was Not A Sucker For Saturday Night). That all adds up to an average episode. I think Kris Kristofferson’s rough performances just left a bad taste in my mouth, which is probably dampening my enthusiasm over the episode. I mean, as a host, Kristofferson wasn’t Louise Lasser bad, but still – oof. This episode also seemed to suffer from that famous “post-Weekend Update drop-off”, which has plagued quite a number of episodes in the second half of this season.
— Considering this was the season finale and considering the disastrous episode that preceded this, I had been hoping this would be a strong episode with a strong host, so maybe that’s why I feel a bit let down.
— Speaking of season finale, was this even intended to be the last episode of the season? There were no mentions of it at all during the show, no “see you next season”, nothing. The only aspect of this episode that made it seem like a finale is when some of the cast members took pictures of the rest of the group onstage during the goodnights.
— Well, folks, we’re officially one season down in my ‘One SNL a Day’ project! 40-something seasons to go.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louise Lasser):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Season 2 begins, with host Lily Tomlin

Posted on

July 24, 1976 – Louise Lasser / The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (S1 E23)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
arguing JOB & CHC attempt to make up by shaking hands, but a fall ensues
 
— A pretty good laugh from John walking on in those Hollywood movie star clothes.
— Great punch & fall at the end after John and Chevy’s extended handshake.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host locks herself in dressing room after a disastrous on-stage ramble
   
— (sigh) Here we go…
— Well, her response to the audience’s huge applause at the beginning was kinda funny, I guess.
— “On my show (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), I’m having a nervous breakdown.” How appropriate that gets brought up tonight……
— Oh, boy, this is slowly starting to come off increasingly awkward and uncomfortable.
— What in the world was the point of the cue cards bit?
— Oh, God, this is getting painful. What’s going on?
— You’d almost think this is going for an Andy Kaufman-style intentional awkwardness, but if it is, they’re failing miserably.
— Aaaaaaaaand there’s her infamous walk-off. I know it’s part of the script, but the way the monologue had been going, I’m sure some people were confused over whether the walk-off was scripted or genuine.
— Gilda’s cramps comment is the first genuine laugh of the whole monologue.
— Dan pretending to be a probation officer is pretty funny.
— Landshark!
— Overall, thank god for the cast doing their best to redeem this, but it still couldn’t make up for that dreadful first half.
STARS: *½

VENEREAL DISEASE: NOTHING TO CLAP ABOUT
General Idi “V.D.” Amin (GAM) gives the warning signs of his syphilis
 
— LOL at the nickname “V.D. Amin”.
— Very funny opening line about venereal disease not just striking Jews.
— Hilarious visual with the Swiss cheese representing his brain.
— The “Venereal Disease: nothing to clap about” graphic was a great way to end this.
STARS: ****

SWEDISH MOVIE
Sven (CHC) & Inger (host) fool Death (TOS) in a Bergman-like scene
 
— The Swedish voice-over is kinda funny (why do I get the feeling that’s Tom Schiller?).
— What the hell IS this?
— Ah, so it IS Schiller.
— I usually like this kind of weirdness, but something as confusing and baffling as this sketch was probably not the best thing to put on so close to the monologue.
— The pizza line was pretty funny.
— I did like the ending twist where they fooled Death.
STARS: **

HUMAN HAIR POTHOLDERS
Sandra Goode (JAC) & Squeaky Fromme (LAN) pitch human-hair potholders

— Laraine’s almost TOO good at playing a scary psycho in this.
— Ha, this is insane.
— Was Laraine pinching her own nipples just now?
— This overall sketch was disturbing in a funny way. I’m gonna guess this was an O’Donoghue-written piece.
STARS: ***½

LOUISE & DOG
(host)’s relationship talk with her dog is more befitting a human partner

— This is the one sketch from this episode I remember seeing before, in an edited 60-minute version shown in syndication.
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
— Boy, is that dog’s panting loud.
— And now, Louise actually mentioned (ad-lib?) how the dog’s breathing is getting heavier.
— The close-up of the dog just panting at the camera was kinda charming, at least.
— Overall, what in the world did I just watch?
STARS: *

CATHODE RAY
LAN, JAC & GIR perform a musical ode to television
   
— Oh, is this gonna be our weird Dan Aykroyd sketch of the week? You know I enjoy those.
— What’s with the off-camera voices while Dan’s speaking?
— Hmm, this has turned into a song from the female cast members.
— The disclaimer that showed up on the screen just now is pretty funny.
— I like how the chroma-key background has now turned into a shot of SNL’s control room.
— Nice song overall. The lyrics weren’t humorous, but the girls did a good job and there were interesting visuals. I also like how everything felt so 70s.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
Olga Korbut (GIR) is bitter about Nadia Comaneci’s Olympic success
the Viking I spacecraft accidentally crushes a Martian welcoming party
   
— The extended intro from Pardo was a little weird. Chevy almost seemed kinda thrown off by it, though I guess he was just acting.
— The Jimmy Carter oranges joke was hilarious.
— LOL at John doing an accent despite the fact that he’s supposed to be playing himself.
— Gilda’s angry comment about Nadia Comaneci was very good.
— Whoa, Update’s over? No mid-WU fake commercial break? This change is very refreshing. As I mentioned sometime before, I prefer when Update is one continuous segment instead of breaking in the middle for a fake ad.
STARS: ***

GIRL TALK
teens (JAC) & (GIR) talk about issues related to boys & making out

— The cemetery revelation cracked me up.
— This is reminding me of the slumber party sketch from this season’s Madeline Kahn episode. I’d like to think Gilda and Jane are playing older versions of their characters from that one.
— Wasn’t too crazy abut Gilda’s ending line.
STARS: ***½

DINER FILM
by host- in a diner, unsure players are fed lines
   
— Oh, man. I had been enjoying the nice long break we’ve had from Lasser the last few segments.
— Oh, goody, more bizarre aimless rambling from Lasser.
— The dialogue being constantly drowned out by other sounds in the diner isn’t helping this.
— I ask once again tonight: what am I watching???
— What’s with the fourth wall break?
— Man, this fourth wall break is not working.
— I was hoping Lorne’s walk-on would save this, as I’ve been really enjoying his on-camera appearances this season, but he did nothing funny here.
— “A film by Louise Lasser” – ha, that explains EVERYTHING.
— Overall, man, was this abysmal. I think I’d happily take even the dullest Gary Weis film over this.
STARS: *

JOHN BELUSHI WARDROBE
cash-strapped JOB’s line of clothing consists of his actual garments
 
— Pretty funny revelation.
— John’s increasing desperation is being played well.
STARS: ***

JIMMY CARTER
Jimmy Carter (DAA) tells what to look for in his upcoming campaign

— The debut of Dan’s Jimmy Carter impression!
— The voice is slightly different from what it would later sound like.
— Dan’s Carter is remembered for famously having a mustache when the real Carter didn’t have one.  But, hell, in this sketch, Dan’s Carter doesn’t even have gray hair! I believe in all of the subsequent Carter sketches, they’d dye Dan’s hair gray.
— This is pretty funny so far.
— Good ending with the Bob Dylan quote.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— By this point, I forgot this episode even had a musical guest. Very unusual for a musical guest’s first performance to be buried this late into the show.

LOUISE LASSER RAMBLING PIECE #309,454
host sits on the apron of the stage & rambles about her year

— What’s with her again making an entrance down the homebase stage’s stairs, as if this is the beginning of the monologue again?
— Oh, I can already tell this is gonna be YET ANOTHER weird, awkward, rambly piece.
— How in the world has this story suddenly shifted from “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” to buying a dollhouse?
— Oh, please let this finally end. This mess has been going on for what feels like 10 minutes.
STARS: *

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Louise giving credit to the cast made me realize that she didn’t appear on camera with ANY of them in tonight’s sketches, except for Chevy. I think I remember reading somewhere that was actually a request from her. I’m sure the rest of the cast was just FLATTERED that Louise would openly rather work alongside Chevy and a dog than with any of them.
— I like how John’s still silently advertising his wardrobe.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………
— Yeah, this one definitely lived up to the bad reputation. Sure, there were some good host-less sketches, but the stuff centered around Lasser was SO awful, SO uncomfortable, SO drawn-out & overlong, that it’s unfortunately what you come out of the episode remembering the most. The good sketches weren’t enough to make up for that. Bad idea for SNL to let Lasser do so many segments where she was allowed to ramble about whatever she wanted. The only thing I found her remotely tolerable in was the Swedish Movie sketch, and that’s only because she didn’t have to do any heavy lifting in it.
— I guess I was overdue to review a bad episode, as ever since I started this ‘One SNL a Day’ project, I had yet to come across a truly bad episode until now. Every Season 1 episode prior to this one had enough redeeming values; yes, even the musical performance-dominated Paul Simon episode (while I disliked the format, at least the music in it was good).
— Well, at least I can say I got through this. When I started reviewing this season, this was an episode that I was both fearfully dreading and morbidly anticipating, simultaneously. I’m happy it’s now over with, though I know this is FAR from the last disastrous episode I’ll have to cover in my project.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— a huge step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Season 1 comes to an end, with host Kris Kristofferson

Posted on

May 29, 1976 – Elliott Gould / Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins and Joyce Everson (S1 E22)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
at a wax museum, boorish (CHC) is slapped by supposed wax figure (GIR)
   
— Are Jane and Neil Levy(?) dressed in the Lord and Lady Douchebag costumes from four years later? (first screencap above)
— No idea why Chevy blew a whistle while flashing the statues, but it made me laugh.
— I’m gonna guess this will end with Chevy getting slapped after groping one of the statues, which will lead into his traditional fall.
— Yep, I was right, though there were actually a few back-and-forth slaps before the slap that led to the pratfall.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host sings “Anything Goes”
 
— A funny little touch with Elliott handing a banana to an audience member while making his entrance.
— Another Gould monologue that immediately goes into a song with no set-up. Are ALL his monologues like this?
— Why is his first name spelled with only one ‘t’ on his shirt? In the opening credits of both this and Gould’s preceding episode (not to mention everywhere else I’ve seen his name written), his first name is spelled with two ‘t’s.
— Despite my strong dislike for musical monologues, especially ones that are just straight songs with no comedic lyrics, there’s something about both of Elliott’s monologues this season that are likable; most likely due to his fun performance in them.
STARS: ***

ACADEMY OF BETTER CAREERS
— rerun

CARD GAME
fake European poker player (CHC) & translator (host) dupe gambler (DAA)
 
— Are Chevy and Elliott playing an old-timey version of their Interior Demolitionist characters?
— Wait, never mind.
— Pretty fun sketch so far.
— I like the contrast between Dan’s obliviousness and Garrett’s bewildered reactions, especially Garrett’s line to Dan just now: “He is busting your chops!”
— Funny ending with Chevy casually speaking English before leaving.
STARS: ***½

NATIONAL UVULA ASSOCIATION
doctor (CHC) tells Babs (GIR) that her uvula is on the fritz

— This is clearly in the same vein as the National Pancreas Association sketch, but I’m actually liking this one a lot more. I think it’s because “uvula” is an inherently funnier word than “pancreas”. Plus, there’s something about the combination of “uvula” and Gilda’s character being named Babs.
— This is also helped by a fun silly vibe in everyone’s performance, especially Chevy’s non-commitment in making a convincing doctor.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LEON REDBONE)

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE
NBC executive (host) boards the Enterprise to cancel the show
     
— I’ve always heard about this sketch. It’s widely considered a classic, so I’m eager to finally see it for myself.
— And so begins the long-running tradition of Akira Yoshimura playing Sulu in SNL’s Star Trek parodies.
— Interesting how John’s not really going for the usual stereotypical Captain Kirk impression (you know the one), but is doing his own take.
— Chevy’s facial reaction to his Spock ears being yanked off was great.
— Love how they’re taking the set apart while the Star Trek actors are desperately trying to stay in character and keep the show going.
— Hilarious sudden emotional outburst from Chevy.
— Overall, such a perfect, well-done sketch. Definitely deserving of it’s highly-regarded status.
STARS: *****

MUPPETS POSTCARD
GIR reads a postcard from the Muppets sent from England

— Eh……
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
   
— Chevy’s opening joke about Fidel Castro “pulling out of Angola” got a huge reaction from the audience just now.
— Whoa, wait, wait, wait… Was that woman’s nipple actually visible before Chevy quickly jumped out of his seat and censored it with his hand??? Heh, how in the world did NBC let SNL get away with showing that?
— Who were those two people in the picture that Chevy just said “Nobody really cares anymore” about? (third screencap above)
— A short first half of tonight’s Update.

VIBRAMATIC
the Vibramatic personal massager can also be used as a kitchen tool
 
— Very funny idea, and I love the fast-paced energy of this.
— There’s the Bass-o-Matic background behind Dan once again.
— I liked the little joke of Dan not being able to cut through the potato while he was touting how the knife is supposedly easy to cut with.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
old film footage documents athletes’ preparation for Montreal Olympics
(JAC) defends Bicentennial commercialism while CHC makes faces at her
Emily Litella prepares to help CHC repeat the “flop” story
   
— Chevy just named the fake reporter he’s doing the voice for as “correspondent Jacqueline Carlin”. Yeah, nice way to work your girlfriend’s name into the show, Chev.
— Heh, and now, the guest commentator Jane Curtin is playing is named Audrey Peart Dickman, which is the name of one of the staff members on the show. Lots of inside jokes with fictional names used for Update correspondents lately, between “Duncan Ebersol” in the preceding episode and the two aforementioned examples tonight.
— The return of the ‘Chevy makes goofy faces behind a correspondent’s back’ routine. Meh.
— I will say, though, that I kinda like how Chevy’s always able to quickly go back to a straight face briefly whenever the correspondent is about to look at him.
— Our newest variation of the running “News for (insert group here)” gag is “News for Fans of Emily Litella”.
— As sick as I’ve become of Emily Litella, this is actually pretty funny and is making good use of her routine.  It also helps that we haven’t seen her in a few episodes.
— I also like how Litella called Chevy “Cheddar”, as a callback to an earlier commentary she did where she thought Chevy’s full name was “Cheddar Cheese”.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

SHIRLEY TEMPLE
ambassador Shirley Temple Black (LAN) asks Ghanians to say “hi, neighbor”
 
— Is this supposed to be Shirley Temple or just a random old-timey little girl?
— Okay, she started singing just now. Yeah, this is Shirley Temple, alright.
— While this is a pretty dead-on take-off of Shirley Temple films, I’m not really enjoying this much.
— The part with them tap-dancing a code to the radio is pretty fun, at least.
STARS: **

UNCLE CHARLIE’S SCHOOL
by Gary Weis- host & kids are taught old acts
 
— Ugh, do we REALLY need another segment with singing, immediately after the preceding Shirley Temple sketch?
— Ugh, Broadway-style showtunes – always one of my least favorite things to sit through.
— Overall, a typical Gary Weis film that left me bored out of my mind.
— I was hoping at first that Elliott’s presence would save this, but he ended up virtually doing nothing here.
STARS: *

THE HONEYMOONERS
Bee Ralph (JOB) discovers Bee Alice (GIR) is pregnant
   
— Our second sketch of the night parodying a classic TV show. I can tell this one is going to be fun.
— The opening credits sequence is nice.
— John’s doing another great impression.
— John’s extended reaction to the knitting needles being stuck in his behind is pretty hilarious.
— Referring to bee babies as “drones”, “workers”, “queens” – that’s the same joke from the Bee Hospital sketch from the premiere. Not sure how I feel about them repeating that joke, considering I didn’t care for Bee Hospital.
— Funny twist with Alice revealing Norton’s the father of her baby.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LEON REDBONE)

MIDDLE AMERICAN VAN LINES
— rerun

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (HARLAN COLLINS AND JOYCE EVERSON)

GOODNIGHTS
host & cast sing “Happy Trails” for the summer
 
— Elliott informs us that the show is going on a little hiatus before returning in July(!) with host… uh… um… well, she deserves a special mention at the end of my review.
— A nice little western-themed farewell song with the whole cast dressed as cowgirls.
— I thought the song would eventually lead into the regular goodnights music, but interestingly, it seems to have replaced the goodnights music tonight.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode as a whole, though there was a big drop-off after Weekend Update, and I’m not crazy about how the last 10-15 minutes strangely consisted of just a musical guest performance, a repeat fake ad, and ANOTHER musical guest performance. Tonight’s sketches were also a little too heavy on the singing. However, this episode featured a good amount of fun material and two enjoyable parodies of classic TV shows (both of which were led by a strong John Belushi performance).
— I’m probably looking too much into it, but I wonder if the reason they padded out the homestretch of this episode with so much non-sketch content was because the cast and writers were possibly overworked from doing four straight weeks of live episodes. Isn’t this the episode that led to Lorne vowing never again to do four consecutive live shows (until eventually breaking that vow decades later in 2008), due to how exhausted it left everyone on the show?

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Buck Henry):
— a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
(gulp!) LOUISE. LASSER.

Posted on

May 22, 1976 – Buck Henry / Gordon Lightfoot (S1 E21)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
injured CHC boasts of Emmy win & insults LAN as she preps to do the fall
 
— Interesting way to reference Chevy’s pratfall at the Emmys when accepting his award (which I remember seeing a clip of sometime before).
— I saw the ending coming with Laraine pushing Chevy, but it was still funny.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
JOB fills in while LOM helps insufficiently-famous host get past security
   
 
— Ah, yes. As I mentioned in my review of Buck’s preceding episode, I love this particular monologue.
— The awkward panicking when Buck doesn’t show up is very funny. I also really like John’s dismissive “What do you want ME to do?” when Joe Dicso tells him Buck’s not here.
— John bitterly ranting on stage is great, and I liked the shot he took at a certain castmate’s reliance on pratfalls.
— George Coe sighting!
— I love Lorne and Buck’s whole argument with the security guard.
— Buck being forced to cut his actual monologue short just when he was getting into it was the perfect ending.
— What I’ve always loved about this monologue, besides the humor, is how complex, extensive, and unique it is, having Lorne go all the way backstage as the camera follows him, having him actually go down through the elevator, having a whole scene down at the lobby, then having Lorne and Buck go up the elevator back to the studio where the camera follows them to the homebase stage, all done LIVE. You never see something like that on the show anymore these days, and even if they would try something like that nowadays, the more complex parts of it would probably be pretaped instead of live. The show was much more willing at taking chances back in the 70s. The closest thing to this complex monologue I can recall SNL doing in any recent decade without relying on pretape is Conan O’Brien’s monologue from 2001, where he and a group of people went down the stairs from SNL’s studio to Conan’s “Late Night” studio a few floors below.
STARS: ****½

PETER LEMON MOODRING
Peter Lemon Moodring (CHC) changes colors to reflect the songs he sings
 
— Pretty cool just for the visual effects of Chevy changing appropriate colors for each song. How are they pulling that off, anyway?
STARS: ***

SAMURAI TAILOR
Mr. Dantley needs a tuxedo for his wedding
 
— I like how even in Buck’s second hosting stint, it’s already become a tradition to do a Samurai sketch whenever he hosts.
— Loved the ending with Buck requesting a zipper for his pants.
— The usual great Buck Henry-involved Samurai sketch.
STARS: ****

TALK BACK
lack of calls leads (host) to increase topic controversy level
 
— Buck’s slowly growing frustration and desperation is very funny to watch.
— I’m loving how he’s resorting to combining together the increasingly controversial topics he’s made up.
STARS: ****

DELL STATOR’S 99¢ TOAD RANCH
(DAA) pitches frog meat
 
— A funny gross idea and Dan’s doing his usual perfect job as a pitchman. This sketch can be considered almost a distant relative of the similarly-gross Bass-O-Matic sketch.
— Love the visual of Buck having a toad limb hanging out of mouth during his testimonial.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

POLAROID
(no synopsis available)
 
— Yet another non-joke sponsored Polaroid ad.
— Like the last one, this again ended with no applause.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— Not anything noteworthy so far, but this Update is going along decently.
— I liked Chevy doing the underwater voice during the shark joke.

GERMASOL
— rerun

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
old film of fruits documents psychiatric tests done on Patty Hearst
 
— “Correspondent Duncan Ebersol”. Was that name inspired by who I think it was?
— It’s always funny seeing what random silly stock footage they use to represent Patty Hearst.
— The audience seemed to kinda take offense to the joke about Ed Asner, Ted Knight, et al. being hasbeens.
— And that’s it. No Update guests tonight. I’m impressed they’ve now gone more than one episode without Emily Litella.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

CROWD
(host) & (CHC) audition a crowd for scenes in a movie
 
— I’m really liking the premise.
— It’s fun to watch Belushi during the crowd demonstrations here; his acting is standing out and making me laugh.
— The photo and “phone number” the crowd left for the producers was hilarious.
— Oh my god at the “lynching” part with Garrett……..
STARS: ***½

BEATLE OFFER
LOM sweetens his offer to the Beatles- $200 more & hotel accommodations
 
— I remember hearing before that they did a follow-up sketch to Lorne’s classic offer to the Beatles. My expectations are not high for this. I’m usually never a fan of whenever SNL tries to do a follow-up to a perfect, hard-to-top sketch that should’ve remained a one-off.
— So far, this follow-up is basically just repeating the humor of the first one.
— Okay, the hotel accommodations part is taking this into a different direction.
— Pardo’s excited “yeah yeah yeah!” gave me a big laugh.
STARS: ***

NOT FOR LADIES ONLY
Baba Wawa interviews director Lina Wertmuller (LAN)

— Laraine’s movie description is pretty funny.
— Yet another joke about Barbara Walters’ inability to pronounce “Harry Reasoner”.
STARS: ***

TOILET SEATS
by Gary Weis- host talks to shoppers in a store’s toilet seat department
 
— I can already tell I’m gonna like this, just from the funny beginning with Buck saying to the camera in a dry, deadpan voice “Let’s… talk… toilet seats”.
— LOL at the old lady’s comment about keeping her money warm in her behind.
— This is surprisingly funny for a Gary Weis film.
STARS: ***½

LOOKS AT BOOKS
sexologist (host) is evasive about subject of his book
 
— Not caring too much where this is going.
— Okay, sketch redeemed. The punchline with Buck doing the hand gesture for sex made this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Whoa, an unexpected turn with Buck suddenly interrupting Lightfoot when he started doing a third number.
— Haha, great part just now with Futaba coming in and clipping Lightfoot’s guitar strings.
   

GARRETT MORRIS: “AN DIE MUSIK”
GAM sings Schubert’s “An Die Musik” as an explanation scrolls by
   
— I’m loving the disclaimer. A lot of funny lines there.
STARS: ****

IMPRESSIONIST MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE
MOD does impression of Tony Orlando having long needles plunged into eyes
 
— O’Donoghue walking on in that cheesy colorful outfit is already giving me a chuckle.
— I like the addition of two female assistants, though they’re nowhere near as good at doing the “writhing around while screaming” routine as O’Donoghue.
— It’s kinda funny seeing the reactions of the visible audience members in the floor seats.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS
   
— Pretty cool how the ending of the preceding O’Donoghue sketch is carrying over into these goodnights.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A consistently solid episode, which is no surprise considering who was hosting. Impressively, there were no sketches at all that I disliked; literally every segment got a good rating from me, even the Gary Weis film.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dyan Cannon):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Elliott Gould

Posted on

May 15, 1976 – Dyan Cannon / Leon & Mary Russell (S1 E20)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC has to repeat the show-opening fall when the camera turns on too late

— I’m liking the change of pace for the traditional “Chevy falls” opening
— Dave Wilson’s pushiness in getting Chevy to just do the fall is making me laugh.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— Was Pardo’s announcement of the show as just “Saturday Night” dubbed into the rerun version I’m watching? After he says it, I could very faintly hear muted audio of him saying “NBC’s Saturday Night”.

MONOLOGUE
host’s unfulfilled dream is to be carried away by a man on a white horse

— Such a quiet, subdued beginning.
— Almost two minutes in, and I haven’t heard a single laugh from the audience.
— This monologue is just weird so far.
— “I like men… and women… and men…” Uh, did I hear right? “…and women…”?
— What’s with random cutaways to Paul Shaffer looking around?
— Oh, I get the Shaffer cutaways now. Fairly funny ending with him carrying Dyan away.
STARS: **

SUGAR FREE ZING
in a taste test, (LAN) prefers sugar-free Zing to a glass of Phlegm

— Laraine’s funny in this.
— This didn’t seem to have much of a joke besides the glass of “phlegm”, which wasn’t THAT funny.
STARS: **

HEARING TEST
hearing test subjects are oblivious to armed robbery & police shootout
 
— I like the turn this has taken, with all the sudden chaos involving the bandits while the students aren’t even aware of it.
— This sketch’s premise feels very quintessential of 70s SNL. Before doing these reviews, when I used to think of 70s SNL, sketches with this type of premise were usually one of the first things that came to mind.
STARS: ***½

DEAD DELIVERY BOY
(host) lies to husband (DAA) after being caught cheating with (CHC)

— This one girl in the audience has a weird-sounding noticeable laugh that I keep hearing throughout this sketch.
— Feels strange hearing the mention of “swine flu” in an episode from the 70s.
— Odd ending with Dyan’s character inexplicably not remembering the lies she told Dan.
STARS: ***

VACATIONLAND ADVENTURE
Bulgarian (JOB) promotes visits to his homeland
 
— For a second, I thought John was playing the same character from the very first SNL sketch ever (Wolverines). He appears to be wearing the same hat.
— LOL at the film title “Bulgaria Dis Vintor”.
— This Bulgarian film is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
hoarse DAA misinterprets host’s dream

— A fairly funny continuation of the monologue.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

NEXT WEEK
LAN & GIR announce that Buck Henry [real] will be doing SNL next week

— Hey, it’s Buck Henry!
— Laraine’s grossed-out reactions to the news of Buck hosting again is funny, and kinda relates to what would become a running gag with Buck not getting any respect from SNL in his monologues.
— A fun way to promote the next episode.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
in Nevada, LAN interviews supposed owner of Howard Hughes’ will (GAM)
the weather report comprises amateurish TOS drawings
   
— Is Chevy eating the same potato thing that John ate in the Bulgaria sketch earlier tonight?
— The random joke about statistics is another Chevy joke that I can easily picture Kevin Nealon doing in an early 90s Weekend Update.
— Boy, they sure love doing those childlike “artist’s rendering” drawings.

ORANGE JUICE
in Beirut, hostage Anita Bryant (JAC) pitches orange juice

— I don’t think I’m familiar with this hostage news story (though the name Anita Bryant IS sounding familiar to me, for some reason), but this is still making me laugh.
— Dan’s foreign gibberish while eating the orange sounded hilarious.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard of hearing
 
— Chevy combining the Miss USA pageant & horse race stories was pretty funny.
— After a much-needed long hiatus, “News for the Hard of Hearing” makes its return. Strange how Garrett has played two different roles in the same Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

FUNERAL
during a funeral, a minister (CHC) battles a bad case of the hiccups
 
— Dyan looks kinda Candice Bergen-esque in this.
— The paper bag part was really funny.
— What was the point of the kiss between Dyan and Chevy? Did we really need two sketches tonight with them making out?
— The frustrated attempts to stop Chevy’s hiccups are okay, though it feels like this could be funnier.
— Dyan started cracking up just now.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
pimp GAM & white whores GIR & LAN misinterpret host’s dream

— A little better than the last one, as Garrett playing a pimp always makes me laugh, and I like the wordplay with mixing up “white horse” with “white whores”.
STARS: ***½

NIAGARA FALLS
by Gary Weis- marital infidelity investigators & newlyweds are juxtaposed
 
— What in the world is this?
— The part with the stuffed dog was funny, at least.
— Overall, yet another Gary Weis film that I don’t care for.
STARS: *½

BATHWATER OF THE STARS
Cindy Cleavage (host) & Roy Waddmaker (DAA) pitch Bathwater Of The Stars
 
— I’m already liking this, as this appears to be another typically weird Dan Aykroyd sketch.  This almost has a proto-E. Buzz Miller feel to it.
— Another character break from Dyan – a huge one this time, when Dan unintentionally drops the fake rat into the bathtub.
STARS: ***½

MARINE
(CHC) takes abuse during multiple takes for a Marine Corps commercial
 
— For some reason, the detail of Chevy getting hit by rifles with boxing gloves on the ends of them is really funny to me.
— The premise isn’t much, but the physical humor and Dan’s great energy is selling this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Ha, John as Joe Cocker once again randomly making a cameo in the middle of a musical guest’s number.
 

JOHNNY ANGEL
(host) sings “Johnny Angel” while her Hell’s Angels boyfriends terrorize
 
— The destruction the bikers are doing to the living room during Dyan’s song is a funny turn, and almost feels like a spiritual successor to the Interior Demolitionists sketch (both sketches even use the same living room set).
STARS: ***½

CRESK
druggist (JOB) recommends Cresk toothpaste for (GIR)’s deceased son

— From the way the audience is laughing before the big reveal, this must be a parody of a real commercial from that time.
— A decent premise.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
JOB & his friend Horace (ALZ) give their version of host’s dream

— Pretty funny, just for the interplay between Belushi and Zweibel.
STARS: ***

THE HUB-CAP THIEF
an unexpected journey through the Bronx
 
— The visual of the thief spinning with the wheel is funny.
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS
CHC & a white horse make host’s dream come true
   
— Fun ending, though I already saw it coming that Chevy would be the one to successfully fulfill Dyan’s “white horse” dream.
— Was something wrong with Pardo’s mic? I couldn’t hear some of what he was saying during the “goodnights announcements” gag of the night.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An episode that was average in every possible way. Most of the sketches stayed in just the “decent” range, with nothing standing out as particularly strong, and nothing receiving anything over a mere three-and-a-half star rating. I doubt I’ll remember much about this episode in the future.
— The monologue had me worried about what kind of host Dyan Cannon would be. She didn’t end up being quite as bad as I had feared, but she spent the episode being given the usual type of generic roles that “pretty girl” hosts typically get. Nothing memorable. She also broke character quite a bit.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Madeline Kahn):
— a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Buck Henry

Posted on

May 8, 1976 – Madeline Kahn / Carly Simon (S1 E19)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
blues organist Ronald Reagan (CHC) blows hip image by calling (GAM) “boy”
 
— I never knew Chevy had ever played Ronald Reagan, though he’s doing it in the same manner as his Ford “impression”.
— And now we get a comedic disclaimer similar to the ones used in the first two Ford sketches.
— Garrett’s non-verbal offended reactions to being called “boy” is making me laugh.
— Loved the punch & fall at the end.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host musically expresses gratitude for gifts she’s received from her mom

— This is the type of reliable humor I’ve come to expect from her.
— I’m loving how her badly-written Mother’s Day song/poem is going through each letter in the word “mother”.
STARS: ***½

WILDERNESS COMEDIAN
a movie about Shecky Adams (JOB), fauna entertainer
 
— John fighting the obviously fake bear is pretty funny.
— Overall, not a bad parody of generic stand-up comedy, but the initial set-up had me expecting this to be a lot funnier.
STARS: ***

NOT FOR LADIES ONLY
Baba Wawa (GIR) & Marlene Deutschland (host) talk

— The return of Baba Wawa!
— Madeline is a natural at doing the ‘w’ talk that Gilda’s Baba does.
— Loved the confusion over what Madeline meant when saying “weaw”.
— Great Elmer Fudd reference with the “siwwy wabbit” line.
— A lot of fun watching Gilda and Madeline play off of each other so well.
STARS: ****

SLUMBER PARTY
(host) tells fellow slumber partygoers (GIR), (JAC), (LAN) all about sex
 
— I’ve heard lots of good things about this sketch.
— Interesting how Madeline and the female cast are using their own first names, even though it seems kinda out of place in this scenario.
— Very enjoyable so far, with it’s cuteness and realism.
— Jane’s “child voice” in this sounds so drastically different from her normal voice.
— Gilda’s comment about adopted children was hilarious.
— This is getting funnier and funnier as it’s going along.
STARS: ****

FONDUE SETS FOR NAMIBIA
Namibian (GAM) solicits donations of fondue sets for his country

— For some reason, it always cracks me up whenever Garrett does African or Jamaican accents.
— The initial reveal of “We need your fondue sets” after the serious set-up is pretty funny.
— The humor didn’t really escalate after the reveal, but the overall sketch was okay.
STARS: ***

MUPPETS BEATLE OFFER
Mighty Favog says he can deliver the Beatles if the Muppets return to SNL

— Ah, I see they’re still keeping the Muppets in the storage room. I had been wondering how they continued doing these sketches after they seemingly “retired” the Muppets into the trunk in the preceding episode.
— Overall, nothing too special, but I’ve been finding these last few Muppets appearances more tolerable than their sketches from around the middle of the season.
STARS: **½

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Bride Of Frankenstein (host) & SNL Band perform “I Feel Pretty”
   
— I had always been curious what this whole sketch was like, after SNL showed a clip from it at the end of a December 1999 episode in tribute to Madeline after her passing.
— I like the different fun gimmicks they’ve been doing throughout this season with Howard Shore and his band. First they were an all-nurse band, then they were a band of angels, now they’re an all-monster band.
— Madeline is absolutely fantastic in this.
— I love how the cast is now getting involved.
— Wow. Overall, this was perfect.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s report on an Italian earthquake consists of an amiable phone chat
CHC solicits samples for a study of marijuana’s effects on memory

— Tonight’s Update has been doing okay so far, though no particular jokes have stood out yet.
— The “still to come” bit about Jimmy Carter secretly touching negroes was hilarious.

SUPER ABSORBENT DRY HOSE
Rosie (JAC) recommends Super-Absorbent Dry Hose as leg moisture remedy
 
— Madeline seemed a bit thrown off when Jane unintentionally splashed some coffee onto her.
— Very funny visual of Madeline sitting on the table to absorb the spilled coffee with the pantyhose she’s wearing.
— I’m assuming this was a parody of a specific series of commercials from that time. I think I also remember a similarly-set parody SNL would do years later in 1983 with Teri Garr and Robin Duke.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella sees nothing wrong with there being “violins” on television
for viewers that are cows, CHC repeats the top news story via moos
   
— For some reason, Chevy started cracking up in the middle of the Generalissimo Francisco Franco story.
— Emily Litella – no comment. Though I just want to say, this “violins/violence” commentary she’s doing is the one I had remembered the most from her before doing reviews of these 70s episodes.
— After a long hiatus, they bring back the running “News for (insert group here)” gag, with cows being the subject this time.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
 
— Ha, what’s Chevy randomly doing there playing a cowbell?

FINAL DAYS
the final days of Richard Nixon’s (DAA) administration were stormy
   
— Dan’s Nixon is truly hilarious.
— Madeline is excellent in her scenes too.
— Loved the part with Dan’s Nixon telling the JFK painting that sex with women “never happened when Dick Nixon was in the White House”.
— Another very funny part is Nixon’s chink/gook differentiation.
— I really like the format of the sketch, showing multiple scenes by going back-and-forth between Nixon’s wife writing in the diary to Nixon in the Oval Office.
— Oh my god at Garrett’s Sammy Davis Jr. His impression is so bad, it’s hilarious.
— The Lincoln painting calling Nixon a “dip” is a famous part that I had always heard about.
— All-in-all, an excellent sketch and among some of the best political satire the show has ever done.
STARS: *****

NO REASON TO LEAVE NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- sports fan footage with Ray Charles’ “New York’s My Home”
 
— Ha, one of the stock footage New York shots was the same pizza chef footage used in the “Angola/Angelo’s Pizza” running gag on Weekend Update from earlier this season.
— The constant cutaways to a rowdy sports crowd are getting redundant, especially since we’re just seeing the same two or three people.
— I am enjoying all the scenic shots, though.
STARS: **½

I WILL FOLLOW HIM
(JOB) promises Ms. Mulwray (host)- “I Will Follow Him” through Chinatown

— I’ve kinda had my fill of all the singing in tonight’s episode, but the performances are making this one enjoyable.
— I liked the way they segued into “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” at the end.
STARS: ***

GILDA AND MADELINE
host & GIR imitate ice cream-eating baby & parakeet, respectively
 
— Oh, I know I’m gonna like this.
— A very charming and fun bit with Gilda and Madeline each showcasing a unique impression.
STARS: ***½

MADELINE KAHN: “LOST IN THE STARS”
host performs “Lost In The Stars”

— So far, this appears to be a serious, non-joke performance, much like Raquel Welch’s musical performance towards the end of the last episode.

GOODNIGHTS
 
— A strange moment just now where a camera angle of Madeline and the cast had some kind of disclaimer on the bottom of the screen, but the camera immediately cut to another shot before the disclaimer could be read.
— Rewinding that shot and pausing it, (it’s the second screencap above) I see that the disclaimer says “We thought this might happen so we made this slide”. Huh???

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Best episode in a while. Just about everything in the show worked tonight, and there was a good number of very strong sketches.
— Tonight felt a little heavy on the singing, but much like the Lily Tomlin episode earlier this season, I can excuse all the singing because most of it had such a fun vibe.
— Madeline Kahn was an excellent host; she was funny in every sketch, and fit in on the show perfectly. I also like how the writers seemed to cater to her comedic style, as it’s hard for me to picture a number of these sketches being done with any host except her.
— I thought I heard this episode had a Don Pardo-read apology for the Claudine Longet Invitational sketch. I didn’t see the apology. Was it removed from the DVD version of this episode I’m reviewing?

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Raquel Welch):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Dyan Cannon

Posted on

April 24, 1976 – Raquel Welch / Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian (S1 E18)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
while performing a skit he wrote, CHC balks when a fall is requested
 
— Boy, these jokes are getting a tepid audience reaction so far.
— Hmm, this has turned into another meta opening with Chevy again taking a stand against being SNL’s resident fall & news anchor guy.
— The fall at the end was too telegraphed.
— Overall, a weaker opening from this season.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
host & Joe Cocker (JOB) sing “Superstar”
 
— A very nice, energetic entrance from Raquel at the beginning.
— This has immediately gone into what seems to be a non-joke song.
— Whoa, John as Joe Cocker out of nowhere.
— Haha, John is definitely helping this monologue with his always-reliable Cocker impression.
STARS: ***½

PURINO RAT CHOW
pied piper (CHC) pitches Purina Rat Chow for apartment pests
 
— Gilda and Garrett are playing the same couple from the “Jill Carson, Guidance Counselor!” sketch from a few episodes ago; they’re even wearing the same clothes they wore in that one. SNL seems to occasionally do things like this in these early episodes, like how the couple John and Gilda played in the Home Security sketch in the premiere later re-appeared in the National Pancreas Association sketch.
— A great laugh from the demonstration with the model rats fighting to eat from bowls of the chow.
STARS: ***½

THE DECABET
Joseph Franklin (DAA) introduces 10-letter metric alphabet- the Decabet
 
— I love the premise already.
— The increasing absurdity of this new alphabet is great.
— This is a perfect example of a quintessential Dan Aykroyd premise. It feels like only he could’ve written something this bizarre, creative, and brilliant.
— Very funny ending with him “singing” the new alphabet song.
STARS: ****½

MUPPETS SPOT
Scred & Ploobis learn they’re no longer booked on the show
CHC attempts in vain to get host to remove her shirt
 
— The “until you’ve made it with a Muppet…” line was pretty funny.
— This ended in an abrupt way. Maybe it’ll be continued later in the night.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

THE CLAUDINE LONGET INVITATIONAL
ski competitors are “accidentally” shot
 
— Oh, this is a notorious and well-known Michael O’Donoghue-written sketch that I’ve heard about but have never seen for myself until now.
— “Jessica Antlerdance”? Wasn’t the Antler Dance something they would later do on SNL this era (with Lily Tomlin, maybe)?
— Unlike some of the other topical references SNL made around this time, I actually get this one, due to having heard so much about this sketch over the years.
— This is great; I especially like how the second skiier got shot multiple times.
— Is it true that in the next episode, SNL would actually air an apology for doing this sketch?
STARS: ****

POLAROID
(no synopsis available)

— Oh, man, I was hoping they had stopped doing these sponsored Polaroid ads.
— John and Jane randomly pretending to be each other is pretty funny, at least.
— This ended strangely with no audience applause.
STARS: N/A

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY
Howard Hughes (DAA) tests propellor bra
 
— The bizarre role that Dan was born to play.
— Funny ending with the propeller bra causing Dan to flail around. Raquel’s panicked yelling also added to the humor.
— A lot of technical issues at the end from the control room.
STARS: ***

NEXT SHOW
JAC announces Madeline Kahn & Carly Simon will be on the next SNL

— “Madeline Kahn was on before, but because of the strike, she couldn’t do a complete show.” Huh??? When did this happen? None of the SNL episode guides have a Madeline Kahn-hosted episode listed before this point in the show’s run.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
election analyst LAN reviews survey of people who answered “don’t know”
Baba Wawa (GIR) tells GAM that Tom Snyder’s hair bothers her
   
— Chevy and the cameramen both seemed to be mixed up regarding which camera Chevy’s supposed to look at during the escaped prisoners story.
— Slow start to tonight’s Update. Not crazy about most of the jokes so far.
— Okay, they’re now getting better.
— Much like Garrett’s Olympics commentary from earlier this season, Laraine’s commentary tonight had a weird delayed start.
— Wasn’t all that crazy about Laraine’s commentary overall.
— The debut of Baba Wawa! They introduced her as the actual Barbara Walters, though, instead of as “Baba Wawa”.
— Oh, wait, now they have a graphic on the bottom of the screen naming Gilda as “Babwa Wawa”, which is close enough, but slightly different with the ‘w’ in her first name that would later get taken out.

BISEXUAL MINUTE
Gore Vidal (host) traces his family’s history

— Well, I’m ALREADY loving this just for the, uh, sight that Raquel’s giving us, if you catch my drift…
— Why is she looking to the side instead of at the camera?
— Uh, what??? This whole segment just came and went with absolutely none of the material making any sense to me. I didn’t get this at all.
STARS: *½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
JOB takes issue with songs written about the weather, sticks up for Toto

— John’s commentary seems to be going in the same direction as his last one, with him getting increasingly worked up.
— John going on about Toto from The Wizard of Oz was pretty funny.
— Overall, not as funny as John’s last commentary, but I like how when he flailed himself out of the chair, he made the whole Update wall shake.
— Yay, no Emily Litella tonight! Though I should’ve already known that, considering Gilda’s Baba Wawa appearance earlier this Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JOHN SEBASTIAN)
 
— What in the world went wrong at the beginning? After beginning to sing, he asked someone off-camera if he can start over again, then continued singing for a short while before busting out laughing, then the song stopped and then re-started properly.
— Hey, it’s Belushi as Joe Cocker again!
— Well, that was quick. Belushi just held a harmonica for John Sebastian to play for a bit, then left.

BEATLE OFFER
LOM offers the Beatles $3000 to appear on SNL

— Oh, is this gonna be the classic Beatles thing?
— Yep, it is! I always enjoy watching this.
— Lorne’s line deliveries were actually really good back in these days. I guess it’s a surprise to me, because I’m more familiar with modern-day Lorne’s dry, deadpan delivery.
— Hilarious line about giving Ringo less money.
— Legend has it that two of the Beatles (I forget which ones) were in a New York hotel watching the show this night, and after seeing this sketch, decided it would be funny to take the show up on its offer by going over to Rockefeller Center and making an unannounced appearance at SNL while tonight’s episode was still airing, which would’ve been epic. But unfortunately, the two ended up changing their minds and didn’t go through with the idea.
STARS: *****

ONE FLEW OVER THE HORNET’S NEST
institutionalized Bees talk Oscars
   
— Haha, Belushi as Nicholson. I can already tell I’m gonna like this.
— Gilda’s making the same facial expression she would later make as her recurring character Colleen.
— Not the best Nicholson I’ve ever seen, but John is performing this sketch so well.
— Raquel’s reaction to not being heard behind the glass window is cracking me up.
— Overall, this Cuckoo’s Nest parody had a very odd structure, but there were enough aspects of it that were well-done.
STARS: ***½

GILDA’S EQUAL TIME
GIR says she has the same body parts as host

— Uh, okay. I can’t think of anything to say about this, other than it was decent.
STARS: ***

RAQUEL
by Gary Weis- scantily clad host dances seductively

— There’s no joke in this, but it’s a sexy video to watch and is well-edited-together visually.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)

RAQUEL WELCH: “AIN’T NECESSARILY SO”
host performs “Ain’t Necessarily So”

— Oh, I guess THIS would be the serious non-joke song that I was worried the monologue would be…

MUPPET TRUNK
The Mighty Favog advises Ploobis & Scred to pack it in
 
— Man, this has kind of a sad, depressing vibe. You’d think this was the Muppets’ swan song.
— Scred: “Hiya, Wisss, haven’t seen you since November.” Uh, wasn’t Wisss in the Muppets sketch from the Christmas episode in December?
— For once, Mighty Favog had a closing line that actually made me laugh.
— I’m confused. They sure made this seem like it’s the official end of these Muppets, but I remember hearing that their final SNL appearance is the first episode of season 2. Which is correct?
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS
CHC’s fake telegram convinces host to take off her shirt
   
— Raquel’s chroma-key top was a random but fairly funny gag.
— As the ending credits are rolling, only Raquel and Chevy are onstage, with nobody else in the cast joining them.
— Pardo makes a joke on the subject of turning the clocks ahead one hour tonight. Daylight Savings Time was in late April back in those days?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode. Not outstanding as a whole, but almost nothing was terrible and there were two well-remembered sketches in Claudine Longet Invitational and Beatle Offer, and there was also a forgotten gem in The Decabet. Raquel Welch performed fine in most of the pieces and got at least two or so laughs out of me.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ron Nessen):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn

Posted on

April 17, 1976 – Ron Nessen / Patti Smith Group (S1 E17)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford-on-tape [real] starts show after Dead String Quartet lead-in
   
— I didn’t know they did this sketch multiple times in this era.
— Wasn’t Dan in the first one? John’s in his place this time.
— What’s with the audience’s weird delayed applause?
— Garrett’s dead-eyed stare at the camera the whole time is a little detail that’s cracking me up.
— A rare non-Chevy LFNY this season, as a pre-taped President Ford says it this time. His appearance must’ve been a huge deal at the time, and unless I’m mistaken, to this day, it remains the only time a sitting president ever appeared on SNL.
— Overall, this dead quartet gag still made me laugh and everything, but was it really necessary to re-do?
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— A lot of differences in the theme music tonight.
— Pardo announces the show as “Saturday Night” this time, which makes me wonder if it was a mistake in the preceding episode when he announced it as “NBC’s Saturday Night” despite the fact that it was the first episode where the “NBC’s” was taken out of the show’s title.
— “Comedian Bill Crystal”.
— Pre-taped Ford returns at the end of this to announce “the press secretary of the president of the United States”. Something about the stiffness of Ford’s scenes is giving me an unintended chuckle.

MONOLOGUE
from Washington D.C., Gerald Ford calls host to tell him he’s fired

— What’s with the camera angle on Nessen?
— So far, a lot of typical but pretty funny jokes about Ford’s clumsiness.
— Nessen is surprisingly coming off not too stiff here.
STARS: ***

SUPER BASS-O-MATIC ’76
(DAA) pitches a device that creates liquid fish
   
— Ah, yes, this well-remembered classic.
— For some reason, I thought they did this sketch in season 2, but maybe I’m thinking of a sequel I remember them doing where it was “bats” instead of “bass”.
— I’m happy to see that all of this is still holding up well. The insane premise, Dan’s fantastic manic rapid-fire pitchman delivery, the disgusting visual of the fish liquefying in the blender, Laraine’s brief testimonial… every detail of this sketch is perfect.
— An aged Dan and Laraine famously re-did this sketch in SNL’s 40th anniversary special, and I’m sure SNL meant well, but it was a bit depressing seeing that Dan could no longer come anywhere close to pulling off the rapid-fire delivery.
STARS: *****

AN OVAL OFFICE
host briefs Gerald Ford (CHC) & asks for permission to be on SNL
 
— The Nixon comment was really funny.
— A funny little touch with Chevy briefly saluting the flag after getting tangled in it.
— Overall, this was good, but a step down from the last “An Oval Office” sketch, where Buck Henry played Nessen.
STARS: ***½

FLUCKERS
jam hawkers one-up each other with progressively disgusting brand names
 
— Is that the Bass-O-Matic set again?
— Fun premise with different cast members coming on one-by-one with their own jam brand name.
— Ha, Dan playing a pitchman once again tonight.
— I’m loving the increasingly-repulsive brand names.
— Funny ending.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 1
Catherine the Great’s press secretary (host) relays news of her death

— This seems like this could be fun, assuming this will be Nessen doing quick back-to-back costume changes and playing different press secretaries throughout history.
— Oh, that’s it? We only get one scene? Maybe this will be a recurring piece scattered throughout the night.
STARS: ***½

LIE DETECTOR
David Eisenhower’s (DAA) lie detector test reveals his anti-Nixon actions

— Unique format, only showing a lie detector while the performers in the sketch are speaking off-camera.
— The paper got jammed and torn by the lie detector pen at the end, which didn’t seem intentional.
STARS: ***

THE NEW ARMY
stoner (JOB) is an example of the hip new image of the Volunteer Army
 
— Eh, this wasn’t anything special. Not even John’s fall out of his chair at the end could do much for me.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Gerald Ford’s [real] identity crisis therapy is a variant of CHC’s line
(host) spins Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s death during LAN interview
   
— Another appearance from Pre-taped Ford, this time doing his own version of the “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” line. His delivery of it was SO stiff, that it actually made me laugh.
— And funny how that segued into a joke about Ford recovering from an identity crisis.

THE BERKELEY COLLECTION
— Rerun.
— Just now, in the middle of this, I could hear what sounded like Chevy speaking off-camera to someone. I guess they forgot to turn off his mic while this fake ad was running.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is puzzled about the 1976 presidential “erection”

— Emily Litella – (sigh) no comment. I complained enough in the past about SNL’s non-stop usage of her this season.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½

GARBAGE
by Gary Weis- interviews with NYC sanitation workers
 
— Man, I swear, Gary Weis picks the most boring topics to do films on. I think I just don’t “get” him as a filmmaker.
— At least this isn’t yet another Weis film about pets.
— An unexpected turn with that one garbageman talking about finding dead bodies, which is pretty funny in a dark way.
STARS: **

AUTUMN FIZZ
for that fresh & clean feeling, (GIR) uses Autumn Fizz carbonated douche

— A pretty funny feminine hygiene commercial.
— The “Don’t leave him holding the bag” line at the end was hilarious and really made this.
STARS: ***½

TOMORROW
Tom Snyder (DAA) asks host for the scoop on Washington D.C.

— The debut of Dan’s famous Tom Snyder impression.
— The audience is already loving this impression, mere moments into the sketch.
— Dan is absolutely great here. He’s cracking me up all throughout this.
— I don’t get the ending with a giant peanut coming onstage as Jimmy Carter’ s campaign manager (which got a huge reaction from the audience).
— Interesting segue to the next short film.
STARS: ****

MEN’S ROOM URINAL
by David Massar- bathroom goers perform a round from their urinals
 
— The operatic harmonizing from the increasing number of urinal users is pretty funny.
— Good quick laugh from the janitor walking back out as soon as he walked in and saw what was going on.
STARS: ***

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 2
Oedipus’ press secretary (host) announces king’s new living arrangements

— I was right, this IS going to be a recurring piece throughout the night.
— Not as funny as the first, and I still think it would’ve been more fun to do these as one single sketch, with Nessen doing fast costume changes in between each scene.
STARS: **½

SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court “inspects” sex of (JAC) & (CHC) for “unlawful practices”
 
— A creative premise that I really like.
— Nice way for a lot of the male writers to get airtime.
— Can’t find anything else to say about this, other than it was an overall solid and enjoyable sketch.
STARS: ***½

PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 3
Thomas Jefferson’s press secretary (host) denies slavery accusations

— The comments about the slaves are funny.
— The humor of this died down afterwards and ended on a weak note.
STARS: **½

BILL CRYSTAL
BIC does monologue about reunion with his father’s jazz musician friend

— Feels strange hearing him being announced as “Bill” instead of “Billy”.
— Oh, is this going to be like those one-man character monologue sketches he often did in season 10? I never was crazy about those.
— Ohh, boy… this is the dreaded “Jazzman” routine I often hear about.
— The studio audience isn’t laughing at all so far, and neither am I.
— “Can you dig it? I knew dat you could!” (groan)
— Overall: man, was this a chore to sit through. The non-responsive audience didn’t help, either. I don’t mind a lot of stuff Crystal would later do on SNL as a host and as a cast member, but THIS stand-up set felt more like the type of hacky comedy routine I would expect to see from him in modern times.
STARS: *

MISCONCEPTIONS
the cliche “too many cooks spoil the broth” refuted

— It’s like we’re seeing tonight’s earlier supreme court judges as chefs now. They’re played by the same writers.
— Uh, okay. This was kinda cute, I guess, but not exactly funny.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Nessen says that Toni Basil and the Muppets both got bumped from the show tonight. No big loss regarding the latter.
— Some funny time-killing antics here.
— For some reason, Pardo still announces the names of the actors who played the Muppets, despite the fact that they got cut tonight. One of the names Pardo mentioned was Richard Hunt, so I guess that means Wisss (Ploobis’ hippie stoner son) was going to appear in tonight’s Muppets sketch.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall average, decent episode. Some strong material, a few rough spots after Update, and mostly just pretty good sketches.
— Ron Nessen did better than I was expecting. He wasn’t anything TOO great, but he handled himself well for a non-actor and came off as a good sport.
— A strong night for Dan Aykroyd, as two of his best performances of the whole season was in this episode (Bass-O-Matic and Tomorrow). This is a very welcome sight after the preceding episode, where Dan only appeared in that baffling Dance Party sketch at the end of the show. As I said sometime before, watching these 70s SNLs in chronological order day-after-day is giving me an even greater appreciation for Dan than I’ve ever had before.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anthony Perkins):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Raquel Welch