Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DISCLAIMER
Emergency! starring Megan Marshack will not be seen tonight
COLD OPENING
JOB claims not to be angry about having his Deng piece cut from the show
— John looks pretty funny in that makeup.
— John: “I’ve got a #1 album on the charts.” What was he referring to there? Was that just a throwaway joke, or did he and Dan release a Blues Brothers album at the time or something?
— John, innocently: “Why would I hit Gilda?” Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’ve done that in 30% of the sketches you were ever in.
— Harsh but funny line from John about how if SNL got canceled, he has Hollywood to move on to while Jane’s only post-SNL career option will be to “go back to Boston in some improv group”. Ouch!
— Much like the Mayor Ed Koch monologue in the season premiere, this cold opening is another reminder of how much John’s movie career has been taking off, which again makes you realize that his SNL departure is soon coming.
— Good ending with John taking a swing at Jane but missing her and punching the lockers.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
upon finding GAM impersonating her, host is upset by his lack of dignity
— LOL at Garrett coming out in that outfit as Cicely Tyson. This would pave the way for a few other monologues later in SNL history that had a cast member come out onstage impersonating the host (Kevin Nealon as Kevin Kline in 1993, Chris Kattan as Britney Spears in 2002; are there any others?).
— Some good laughs from Garrett not thinking SNL would actually get Cicely to host.
— Loved the part of Garrett’s contract stating that he “will play all parts darker than Tony Orlando”.
— When listing black female celebrities he’s impersonated on the show, Garrett mentions Leon Spinks’ mother among them. But he never played her; Gilda did, in that David Susskind Show sketch from the preceding season.
STARS: ***½
ELVIS PRESLEY’S COAT
— Rerun.
THE WIDETTES
the Widettes entertain a couple with similarly-sized butts (GAM) & (host)
— I can already tell right from the opening shot that this will be a Widettes sequel. Meh. Figures they’d do this sketch in an episode with a black host, who I’m guessing will be paired with Garrett as the Widettes’ similarly-big-bottomed friends.
— It’s too soon to bring this sketch back, considering I wasn’t crazy about the first installment from just TWO EPISODES AGO. I feel like SNL’s attempting to make these characters the new Coneheads (who may already be retired by this point in SNL’s run; we haven’t seen them since the terrible one with Frank Zappa back in October), but the Widettes don’t hold a candle to the delightful weirdness of the Coneheads.
— I admit, Jane bringing out a giant rectal thermometer to take Gilda’s temperature made me laugh.
— I was right about Cicely and Garrett appearing as a big-bottomed couple.
— Another SNL reference to President Carter’s hemorrhoid problem at the time.
— Didn’t care for the simultaneous pants-ripping ending.
STARS: **
THE SHAH’S FINAL DAYS
embassy receptionist Sherry tells visitors to wait
— Gilda’s high-pitched Iranian gibberish underneath that burqa is cracking me up. Doesn’t she end up reprising this same character in the Bel-Airabs sketch(es) from season 5?
— LOL at Laraine rocking out to “YMCA” by The Village People.
— Oh, man, not Dan’s recurring hippie character again. I previously stated that I never wanted to see his and Laraine’s hippie couple ever again after that dreadful Night on Freak Mountain sketch from the Frank Zappa episode.
— John’s pretty funny here, but I’m not sure where the heck this sketch is going so far.
— Man, Dan’s character is insufferable in this sketch. He won’t stop talking. This, along with the Widettes, may be the only recurring Dan Aykroyd character I don’t like.
— Haha, is that Bill’s voice doing the off-camera whiny foreign gibberish as The Shah? He sounds hilarious.
— Yep, it IS Bill, who has now shown up on camera. He’s really funny in this so far.
— Bill’s appearance ended up being too short; I wanted to see more of him.
— Overall, didn’t like this sketch much. There were a few good individual performances, but too much of the sketch dragged.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Take Me To The River”
FRONTIER MIDWIFE
Frontier Midwife (host) tries to deliver a baby in a male-only cabin
— A pretty good laugh from the frozen cat prop.
— I liked Bill’s “Does anyone know who this woman is?” after Cicely barged in and spent almost an entire minute giving orders.
— That ending with Cicely about to get raped by the group of cabin men….. I’m supposed to LAUGH at that???
— Despite a strong performance from Cicely, I wasn’t too taken with this overall sketch. (I’m starting to notice a theme in this review)
STARS: **½
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
JAC’s eulogy for Sid Vicious is more appropriate to Nelson Rockefeller
DAA’s Strictly Speaking condemns an unfair U.S.-China trade agreement
— Oh, THAT’S who Megan Marshack is.
— Loved Bill’s random earth-heading-towards-the-sun news story.
— This is the first in a long time we’re seeing a mustached Dan Aykroyd (or “Stache-kroyd” as I saw someone once call him).
— Dan’s “hamburger-gobbling gooks” line caught me off-guard but made me laugh out loud.
— Overall, another funny fast-speaking, verbose, acid-tongued commentary from Dan.
— Short Update. I’m glad they finally managed to make it through an Update without any of this season’s narrow cycle of regulars (Roseanne Rosannadanna, Father Guido Sarducci, and Chico Escuela).
STARS: ***½
NICK RAILS
en route to Orlando, Nick “Rails” entertains passengers on the Auto Train
— I loved Bill’s screechy note at the end of his singing of “Freak Out”.
— The train setting is an interesting change of pace for this sketch.
— Garrett’s line about cruising the beaches for young white girls would’ve been funny if he hadn’t flubbed it (as usual).
— I got a big laugh from Bill’s line about throwing up all over his Volkswagen after seeing “Holocaust”.
— Overall, the usual great Nick the Lounge Singer sketch.
STARS: ****
BLACK PERSPECTIVE
host blames blacks’ poor image on black men
— First time we’re seeing this sketch since the famous installment with Julian Bond.
— Ah, I see that the bombshell line the host drops that offends Garrett in tonight’s installment is “The black man has always been such a loser”. It’s funny, but pales in comparison to Julian Bond’s “light-skinned blacks are smarter than dark-skinned blacks” bombshell. We still get the same “Say what?” response from Garrett.
— HAHA, I loved Garrett’s “Now listen, bitch….” line to Cicely.
— Very funny comment from Cicely about how black men ruined Detroit.
— I like the way Garrett and Cicely are playing off of each other.
STARS: ***½
WORLD AT WAR
during WWII, the Walker Brigade tries to exploit a loophole
— Interesting the way the Black Perspective sketch segued into this one.
— Bill’s narration voice-over sounds like his Richard Burton impression.
— Oh, now we see he IS playing Burton.
— The footage of all the soldiers with walkers looks like authentic 1940s footage, but it obviously can’t be.
— Overall, the premise was kinda thin, but they got enough mileage out of the amusing “soldiers with walkers” visual without running it into the ground.
STARS: ***
EX-POLICE
X-Police harass a pair of supposed lesbians (JAC) & (LAN)
— Funnily enough, Laraine giving Jane a backrub reminds me of the Franken and Davis “Porno for TV” sketch from the preceding episode.
— Oh, no. Another return of the X-Police. I may have given a very positive review of the first installment of this sketch, but this NEVER should have been made into a recurring sketch. Hell, I’d even take another installment of Mercy Killers over seeing this once again.
— Wait, now they’re officially titled “Ex-Police”? WTF? Why’d they change the original spelling of X-Police?
— Whoa at Bill’s angry “dyke!” outburst to Laraine. Jesus Christ.
— Ugh, everything in this sketch is pretty much a carbon copy of the exact same crap we’ve seen in the other two X-Police sketches, only with an uncomfortably angry homophobic premise.
— Considering we’re nearing the end of Dan’s SNL tenure (*sob*), hopefully this is the last time I have to put up with X-Police, Ex-Police, or whatever the fuck we’re supposed to call it. When I said earlier in this review that Dan’s hippie character and the Widettes are the only two recurring Aykroyd characters I don’t like, I clearly spoke too soon. Man, it hurts to see my favorite original cast member doing his three weakest recurring characters in the same episode.
STARS: *
CICELY SINGS SICILY
album of host doing songs native to homonymic island
— Not sure where the humor here is supposed to be coming from so far, other than the Cicely/Sicily name similarity, which is a concept I would’ve only found funny as a kid.
— Overall, what in THE WORLD was the point of this sketch???
STARS: *
LITELLA-VISION
GAM & host perform “Porky” & Bess duet on Emily’s show
— Well, if anything’s gonna save tonight’s tepid episode, it’s SURE to be my FAVORITE character Emily Litella! [/end sarcasm]
— While I’m not all that eager to see this character being brought out of the mothballs after a long hiatus, at least we’re seeing her in a different setting. I wonder why this sketch didn’t open with a title card or opening credits sequence.
— Oh, is this just another excuse to hear more singing from Cicely?
— Garrett’s Porky Pig-esque stutter-singing is kinda funny. BTW, tonight has got to be the most airtime Garrett’s received since the Julian Bond episode from season 2.
— The visual of a pig mask-wearing band was okay.
— Overall, odd sketch. I have no idea how to feel about it. I have a feeling it might grow on me on a re-watch.
— I wonder if Litella-Vision eventually becomes a recurring sketch, or if it ends up staying a random one-off.
STARS: undecided
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Artists Only”
GOODNIGHTS
— Why’d the band start playing before Cicely even delivered her goodnights speech? They completely drowned out what she was saying.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I did not care much for this episode. In fact, it’s the first one in a good while that left me with such a “meh” feeling. There were a few good things tonight, but they were overshadowed by a surprisingly large amount of sketches I didn’t like. There was an upswing in quality around the middle of the show, but that was short-lived as it was followed by a string of real duds like Ex-Police and Cicely Sings Sicily. Tonight’s episode also contained some uncomfortable moments like the angry homophobia in Ex-Police and the pending rape at the end of Frontier Midwife.
— Cicely was a good host and gave some pretty strong performances, and it sure was refreshing seeing a black woman hosting the show for once. I just wish the show gave her better material.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Palin):
— a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Rick Nelson
I would have liked to have seen Tyson host in a period of the show when there was more of a diverse (in terms of race/women) feel.
I like the occasional swipes at Jane Curtin’s career this season (including the season finale, when she points out she’s never said LFNY), considering she will end up having a very successful post-SNL career (and until recent casts, probably the most successful as a TV performer).
Knowing now just how real the hostility between Jane and John was (to the point where Jane refused to speak to Lorne for a period of time in this era over his not doing anything about John, and Gilda had to be a go-between), it’s surprising this was all used as material for the show. I can appreciate the warts and all aspect, rather than hiding behind a fake family vibe, but I can’t imagine the cast ever happening to be a part of that in recent years.
It’s weird that Franken and Davis were/are big liberals but wrote some racist/homophobic/sexist sketches – X police, I’m assuming they were behind Frontier Midwife, I think Franken wrote that sketch in season 20 were every time an interracial couple kissed there’s a car explosion. I think they wrote the Incredible Man-Wizard of Oz spoof in season 5. Garrett Morris plays the monkey part in that. Really weird.
SNL has always been stacked with left-wing writers. The material they gave to Garrett Morris was bad enough, but look at season 11 (he’s in the process of posting those ep’s at the time of this comment). The show made it clear on no uncertain terms how much they hated Reagan … while throwing Danitra Vance and Damon Wayans under the bus. Franken admitted he actually had an “Aunt Jemima” sketch drafted for Oprah.
I don’t want to sound too negative, though. I still like SNL’s first 17 or 18 seasons for the most part.
I’m pretty sure Franken also wrote the controversial “blind man” sketch with Steve Guttenberg and Jon Lovitz from Season 12.
“John: “I’ve got a #1 album on the charts.” What was he referring to there? Was that just a throwaway joke, or did he and Dan release a Blues Brothers album at the time or something?”
The album “Briefcase Full of Blues” was released around the time of their Carrie Fisher performance. It features all the songs they did on SNL and other blues hits.
And it did indeed reach #1 on the Billboard album chart.
Your comment about a Black woman hosting for once made me go back and check something… she’s actually the first Black woman to host, I think! And the seventh(?) person of color after Desi Arnaz, Richard Pryor, Ray Charles, Raquel Welch, OJ, Julian Bond.
RIP. had to google to confirm she had hosted, but I was pretty sure she had.
Would be nice if they aired this as the Vintage episode, never seen this one.
R.I.P. Cicely Tyson. This was a decent show as she will be missed and her talents will be remembered.
Correct, airing in the Vintage time slot would be a nice tribute for Cicely, she deserved a better show as hardly nothing here holds up.
I’m torn about rerunning this episode–Tyson deserves the tribute and did a great job as host, but this isn’t a particularly strong episode and there’s a fair share of demeaning/stupid premises, as well as a lot of non-PC material. If it’s possible to just show a couple sketches from the episode, that would probably be the best tribute (I guess the Vintage format means you can cut out some stuff).
They might want to air the two Talking Heads performances, too
Yeah, take out the Widettes, Frontier Midwife and Ex-Police and it should be fine. (Though, honestly, I think they’d keep the Widettes in, unfortunately.) Eh, it’s not an especially strong episode any way you slice it, but then, neither was the Kirk Douglas episode and they gave that a Vintage slot after he croaked, so…
Heh, heh. If nothing else, that’s the reason I like this episode!
Given how a chunk of the sketches hold up about as well as using oatmeal for wallpapering; I don’t see this as a “Vintage” rerun in any context. Tyson was one of the all time greats in the industry, but they severely mis-used her in this episode–If they do anything, I’ll be satisfied with a Tribute bumper.
She got a graphic.
The bumper was used after all. I guess cutting out too much would not leave enough material left in the episode.
John Goodman’s 1990 episode was used as the Vintage show last night instead.
I’m glad they were able to put up a bumper since this episode can’t really be rerun in a 60 minute edit… maybe a 30. I was wondering when exactly the show started making a point to consistently do some kind of tribute, even if just a still? There were, of course, a few tributes to Belushi, and then the monologue when Gilda passed. They really couldn’t NOT do those. But as for guests, aside from Howard Cosell and George Harrison, I don’t recall too many until the last 5 years or so. Even then, I don’t think they did anything for Harry Anderson or Chuck Berry.
I remember Harry Anderson’s snub but also Chuck Berry? Guess Lorne forgot he appeared in, I think, the second season…
When I taped this off of “SNL All Night”, I remember being surprised that Gilda’s Emily Litila was still on the show, and outside of “Weekend Update”, no less!
As Talking Heads are one of my all-time favorite bands, I was very much looking forward to this episode while going through the first five seasons in order.
Musical Performance #1: “Take Me to the River”
-Cicely made a common mistake when introducing the band: the name of this band is Talking Heads (no “the”).
-The song opens with a killer bassline from Tina Weymouth (typical of her).
-The bass, guitar, and organ are completely locked in with each other, almost to the point of being mechanical.
-David Byrne moves stiffly onstage- quite a change from the fluid “odd movements” that define his performance in Talking Heads’ famous concert video, Stop Making Sense.
-Hm, they’ve chosen to cut the second verse and skip to the bridge- I’m guessing musical guests are only given so much time to perform.
-Love David’s high-pitched yelps at the end of certain phrases.
-Also enjoying his wordless vocalizing as the song comes to a close. That wide-eyed stare gives an impression of being possessed!
-What the heck is Tina wearing on her head?
Stars: ****
Musical Performance #2: “Artists Only”
-Not at all what I expected the second song to be.
-Jerry Harrison’s keyboard is prominent in this song, filling in for the second guitar on the recorded version. I like the tone of the Prophet-5.
-I never could stand the way David pronounces “cleaning” in this song, and it’s particularly unbearable here.
-Very nice guitar work from David.
-I’m finding the lyrics to be significantly more intelligible here than they are on the record.
-The thick bass and the guitar chimes on the break (which is identical to the song’s intro) sound amazing together.
-Jerry is the MVP of this performance. I love his work on the keys.
-Well-done ritardando at the end.
Stars: ****
What a treat to see such great, well-preserved footage of Talking Heads at this point in their career. It’s not my favorite of their “eras,” but it is very special to me.
Thoughts on the funny parts: unfortunately, this wasn’t a great episode, and I feel Cicely Tyson deserved better. Also unfortunately, this episode has been my only exposure to her work so far. Shortly after her passing, I read that her hosting gig was the highest rated SNL episode ever, which shocks me. Would love to have that confirmed.
Some very weak humor in this episode- stuff that seemingly no thought went into. Both “Cicely Sings Sicily” and “Porky and Bess” are pretty weak puns to build a whole sketch around. I liked seeing Emily Litella again, though- talk about weak pun-based humor, but I find that character charming, and it had been so long since I remembered seeing her, I thought she might have been retired. (Speaking of possibly-retired characters, I had the same thought about the Coneheads vs. the Widettes. I really hope the Coneheads haven’t been replaced, because I love those sketches.) Then there’s “humor” that just makes me cringe- the dark ending to “Frontier Midwife” came out of nowhere! And though I actually liked the first few “X-Police,” this one’s premise was too uncomfortable for me to get past.
I did like Nick Rails and the Black Perspective, though. Although I didn’t understand Cicely’s part in Nick Rails, with her handcuffed, and I feel a bit stupid for not getting it.