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???
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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