Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
SNL audience member Honker (BIM) thinks he’s at a Yankee game
— Is this Bill’s Honker character making his debut?
— It indeed seems to be.
— Boy, the audience member to Bill’s right looks uncomfortable as HELL.
— A very random way to start the show, but I’m liking this. Boy, do I miss these days when you never could guess what kind of random cold opening SNL would start with.
— Loved Bill’s sudden deadpan realization that “this isn’t a Yankee game.”
— Overall, a strange but funny opening. Bill was freakin’ hilarious as this weird character.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— I love the fast-paced, energetic way the theme music is being played tonight.
— Tonight’s montage has added a new shot that wasn’t in the season premiere’s montage, showing a group of construction workers.
— Oh, wait, I think the shot of “construction workers” was actually musical guest Devo.
MONOLOGUE
after impersonating Elvis, host recalls a favorite childhood gag
— Fred Willard making his entrance in an Elvis outfit as the band suddenly starts playing an Elvis beat… this is gonna be an interesting monologue.
— I’m not sure if this Elvis musical performance of Fred’s is even intended to be funny. I hope this song isn’t going to be the whole monologue.
— Ha, I liked the “It’s only me!” reveal.
— Thankfully, his monologue has gone into a different direction from the Elvis beginning. Fred is now doing well here and is getting good laughs out of me.
STARS: ***½
TWO GUYS WHO ARE LAWYERS
get low-cost legal aid from Two Guys Who Are Lawyers (DAA) & (host)
— Dan’s pitchman delivery is different than usual. Instead of doing the usual manic fast-paced talk, he’s going more for a comically stiff delivery that’s an accurate mockery of the type of delivery in cheap local ads.
— LOL, I’m enjoying this sketch’s concept.
— Dan and Fred are a funny team in this.
— Haha at one of the testimonials being Gilda as Patricia Hearst.
STARS: ***½
STUNT MAN
years of dangerous feats catch up with aging stuntman Cliff Preston (JOB)
— Man, Garrett’s delivery is even sloppier than usual in all his sketches so far tonight.
— The audience applauds Belushi’s entrance for some reason. Then again, he IS a breakout movie star at this point of his career.
— Haha, I like the detail of John’s character’s stunt mattress having his name on it.
— Kind of a one-note premise that I’m not crazy about. John is pulling it off fairly well, though.
— LOL at John’s character missing the stunt mattress and dying.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
— Oh, I see they’re still continuing these mini Update previews this season. I had hoped they ditched that after season 3. I don’t like having to include these segments in my reviews, because they’re so short and pointless.
WEEKEND UPDATE
Celebrity Corner- BIM interviews Lucille Ball (GIR) & husband Gary (ALZ)
DAA is offended by football cheerleaders’ revealing uniforms
— I liked the opening “sponsored by Bleu Balls” bit.
— Bill’s still using his smarmy “now get outta here, ya knuckleheads”-type delivery from his Update debut in the previous week’s season premiere. Thank god, because I find that delivery so refreshing for Update. I’m kinda dreading seeing him eventually ditch that and go for a plain, straight, professional delivery.
— We get the debut of “Bill Murray’s Celebrity Corner”, which I know goes on to become a recurring segment.
— Gilda’s raspy voice as an aging Lucille Ball is great. I especially liked her raspy attempt at doing the trademark “Lucy cry”.
— Funny comment from Gilda’s Lucille Ball about her and Rose Marie having a conversation about time ravaging their faces.
— Dan makes his first appearance on Update since being removed as an anchorperson to become a “station manager”.
— I’m loving Dan’s overly-stern, fast-paced delivery while chiding football cheerleaders’ “lewd” attire.
— LOL, great line from Dan concerning the “visible bumps surrounding the areolas” under the cheerleaders’ uniforms.
— Dan’s commentary was great overall.
STARS: ***½
FIVE A.M.
phone talk of (LAN) & ex-boyfriend spurs one-night stand (host) to leave
— Laraine on her ex-boyfriend: “We had conflicting careers: I worked and he didn’t.”
— This seems to be a performance piece for Laraine.
— Loved the twist with Fred turning out to be a pizza deliveryman.
— Overall, a strong, more subtle sketch with good realistic acting, which seems to have become Laraine’s new niche since the last quarter of season 3.
STARS: ****
ON THE SPOT
school lunch provider Irwin Mainway rebuts nutrition worries
— Ah, a different use of Irvin Mainway.
— Dan’s hair looks the most 70s I’ve ever seen it, in both this and the earlier Two Guys Who Are Lawyers commercial.
— A lot of huge laughs from the description of Mainway providing kids with a lunch consisting of pureed insects, ravioli stuffed with chalk, and dog milk.
— Overall, another very funny Irvin Mainway sketch, even if I prefer his past “Consumer Probe” sketches a little more.
STARS: ****
MR. BILL GOES TO NEW YORK
by Walter Williams- tourism & torture
— Nice change of pace having Mr. Bill in the city.
— I liked the “clean up after your dog” bit regarding Spot’s severed body parts.
— Overall, this was quite short but still hilarious.
STARS: ****
BOBBI FARBER
via phone, Bobbi Farber tells mother she wants to change her kids’ names
— Hey, it’s the Farbers… well, just Gilda’s character so far, anyway.
— The Farbers have kids? I don’t remember them being mentioned in any of the previous Farber sketches.
— Some very good realism in Gilda’s performance as she’s carrying on a phone conversation while making a meal.
— Gilda’s excessive “alright”s when about to hang up the phone is making me laugh.
— Wait, that’s the whole sketch??? Why no Belushi as Larry Farber this time?
— Despite my surprise when this sketch ended, this was another well-done performance piece tonight, this time showcasing Gilda.
STARS: ***½
CROSSROADS
God (DOP) tells (JOB) to sacrifice son (BIM) in test of faith
— Is “Crossroads” the same church show they did in that weird sketch with Chevy from Chevy’s season 3 episode?
— I like the bluntness of Fred as the preacher saying “I find myself depressed as hell”.
— Bill, while eating: “Great sparrow, mom.”
— Haha, Don Pardo as the voice of God. Perfect casting.
— Fred’s constant asides about his personal life problems, and his attempts to tie that back into the story he’s presenting is pretty funny.
— Just now, John said the name “Shlomo” very strangely and drawn-out, which made Bill break character and laugh. (screencap below)
— Funny ending with God Pardo saying “Wait, don’t do it!” too late right after John has killed Bill.
STARS: ***½
SCOTCH BOUTIQUE
traffic is low at the Scotch Boutique adhesive tape specialty store
— Oh, it’s the Scotch Boutique sketch I always heard good things about. I’m glad to finally get to see this.
— Bill and Garrett’s brief visit was very funny.
— Overall, not as comedic as I was expecting, but this was such a great, well-written, and well-performed piece that, like several other sketches tonight, relied on subtle performances. Everybody did a great job with this.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A consistently solid episode that actually got even better after Update. The post-Update half of this episode was a haven of low-key, realistic pieces that showed how well-rounded the original cast was; the type of sketches that would seem foreign to viewers nowadays if modern-day SNL attempted it.
— Fred Willard was as good a host as expected, and he did very well as the lead in certain sketches like Crossroads and Scotch Boutique.
— I liked this episode so much, I’ll even praise the musical performances. I rarely mention musical guests in my reviews, but boy, were Devo’s two performances fascinating to watch.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (The Rolling Stones):
— a moderate step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Frank Zappa. I’m morbidly looking forward to seeing why he’s considered one of the more infamous hosts of this era.
Apparently Bill did “the Honker”, along with “Nick the Lounge Singer”, when he auditioned for season 1 (IIRC, he would have been in the cast from the very beginning had he not already committed to ABC’s “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell” – he, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Christopher Guest were the “comedy team” on that show.
Lorne had to choose between him and Dan
RIP Fred Willard
Man 2020 sucks
He was a great one
This one hurt
RIP Fred
I watched this last night after hearing of Fred’s passing – I’d completely forgotten he was in the tape store sketch, which I had watched way back in the Nick at Nite era repeats and loved. It speaks volumes of just how willing he was to commit to the material and let it speak for itself that he blended in so well. There’s some other really good stuff in this – Bobbi Farber’s phone call with her mother (very irritatingly true to life), the Irwin Mainway bit (even if it isn’t one of his best), and most of all, the absolutely perfect slice of life piece with Fred and Laraine. I miss this style so much on SNL.
Do you know who was in the photo with Jim Downey and Brian Doyle Murray? I thought the woman might have been Audrey Peart Dickman, but I’m not sure.
NBC is repeating this in their Vintage slot this Saturday.
Per an interview Willard did in 2012, he had run into some SNL folks at an Emmys event in ’78, and a few weeks later, scheduled host Muhammad Ali dropped out and they called Fred.
Is that what happened? Too bad they couldn’t get Muhammad Ali to host. I did enjoy Devo’s second performance, with their short film “The Truth About De-Evolution” leading to them onstage.
This was the best show of the first three they did that season; Fred musta loved the show and was game for whatever they wanted which the Stones and especially Zappa lacked. Stones were too busy messing around that week and Zappa was being a jerk. Fred seemed like he enjoyed it and had a ball. Such a shame he only hosted once; he coulda been a solid recurring host around then.
Woulda loved to seen Ali do it; he shoulda hosted the premiere. That woulda been as noteworthy as the Stones doing it. Plus they maybe coulda gotten Stevie Wonder like they always wanted. Major missed what if imo.
Well I’m sure you could tell this already by my profile picture (if you can see it) but I love Fred Willard and this episode by default- he’s so charming in this episode!!! I definitely wish he hosted more than just this one time.
Man, this was Devo’s first national TV appearance, and they were great!
In later years, on ABCs “Fridays,” they were the musical guest a record three times.
I usually skip the musical performances to save time (I often watch episodes before leaving for work) and because they’re not really what I’m here for, but I had to watch the entirety of the Devo performances because they just really stuck out to me. I really liked them! I might have to check out more of their stuff in the future.
On the other hand, I’m not as fond as Stooge is of the amount of slice-of-life/performance stuff in this episode. I guess I do prefer my SNL to be funnier. I don’t mind a lot of the Marylin Miller sketches, but I guess I usually find them more interesting in the way they examine relationships than sketches like the Scotch Tape Boutique that feel kind of pointless to me.