Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
JOB is miffed that unknown host stole the Oscar nomination meant for him
— Right at the beginning, Busey’s wiping off his forehead and appears to be out of breath. I remember reading that the reason for this is because right before airtime, Busey was lost somewhere backstage and the stage managers couldn’t find him. After a panicked search, they found Busey just in time and hurriedly threw him in front of the cameras literally SECONDS before this cold opening started. That’s why you see him kinda shaken up at the start of this.
— We get a continuation of the “random backstage horse” gag that was first done in Eric Idle’s monologue earlier this season. I wonder at what point in SNL’s timeline did that “traditional backstage horse gag” later change to the now-familiar “traditional backstage llama gag”.
— Another “SNL locker room” cold opening centered around John’s budding movie career.
— Busey keeps making weird little ad-libs whenever Jane’s speaking to him.
— Jane: “You gotta nominate Olivier because he’s old and they don’t want another Peter Finch on their hands.” What was that referring to?
— I liked the line about Warren Beatty only getting an Oscar nomination because he slept with the nominating committee.
— LOL at the Hollywood diva attitude of Movie Star John Belushi. By the way, good to see him in better health after the bad condition he was in during the preceding episode.
— John, regarding what Busey should do for his monologue: “Do something good, ‘cuz I’m not gonna go out there and bail you out with another ‘but noooooo’.” I like how they’ve acknowledged how heavily they’ve been leaning on that ‘but nooooo’ routine in the monologues. At this point, John’s probably sick of doing that catchphrase.
— This is the fourth consecutive episode where John says LFNY. I remember a few years ago, I looked at the LFNY section of SNL Archives’ Season 4 page (NOTE: in the linked page, just click the “Live from New York…” tab), and IIRC, John says LFNY in almost every single episode from the second half of this season. I’m not going to re-check that page right now, because I kinda want to keep myself in suspense over who says LFNY for the remainder of this season as I watch the episodes.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
instead of going through with the prepared monologue, host hambones
— Pretty funny entrance from Busey.
— Something about the home base stage looks very different tonight, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Were those two side walls there before or are they a new addition?
— I’m surprised to see Busey’s kinda coming off as his now-familiar weird, off-beat self, which surprises me. I had always been under the impression that he didn’t become the loony he’s known as today until his helmet-less motorcycle accident in the late 80s.
— Heh, I’m starting to notice that at certain points, young Busey kinda resembles current SNL cast member Colin Jost.
— Oh my god at his sudden clapping-and-stomping/body-slapping dance.
— That’s it? The monologue’s over already? For any normal host, I’d consider this monologue a waste of time, but considering this is Crazy Busey we’re talking about, I laughed.
STARS: ***
CARTER BROTHERS
Jimmy Carter (DAA) reluctantly brings brother Billy (host) to Jerusalem
— I always like Gilda as Mama Carter.
— LOL at the suitcase full of Preparation H; another SNL reference to President Carter’s hemorrhoid problem at the time.
— From the way they’re setting up Billy Carter’s appearance, the huge difference we’re told about the maturity levels between him and Jimmy reminds me of modern-day SNL’s portrayal of Eric & Donald Trump Jr.
— Just judging from the pictures they’ve shown of Billy Carter on Update this season, having Busey play him is good casting.
— Haha, Busey is hilarious in his performance as Billy.
— Good to see Bill’s Walter Cronkite again.
— John’s doing a perfect Jewish accent.
— John’s “putz” line was great.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “Low Down Blues”
musical guests perform “I’m Just Simply Full Of Jazz”
musical guests perform “I’m Just Wild About Harry”
WOMEN’S PROBLEMS
chauvinists give perspectives on troubles with broads
— Garrett has some really funny lines, like how he punishes his woman with a car antennae when she gets out of line, and him saying (regarding women) “When they get old, they get ugly”.
— Haha, this sketch is getting funnier and funnier.
— Figures the black guy in the panel (Garrett) would be the only one to say his favorite female body part is the butt.
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
BIM interviews recently-widowed & agitated horse Mrs. Ed
— No Bill Murray at the desk at the start of tonight’s Update? Is this going to be part of some kind of comedic bit?
— Oh, there he is. He was genuinely late, I see. Wow, that’s the only time in SNL history I’ve ever seen an Update anchor show up late to the desk. It got a really good reaction from the audience, though that completely drowned out the “Weekend Update is brought to you by…” gag that was being announced by Pardo. The “brought to you by” gag probably wasn’t that funny, anyway, so no big loss.
— I really liked the random “You left these earrings at my apartment last night” bit between Bill and Jane.
— Oh, we’re getting the famous “Mr. Ed’s widow” edition of Bill Murray’s Celebrity Corner. I’ve always heard that this contains a hilarious blooper.
— Ha, the interview’s already off to a flubby start, as Bill has to stall for time while waiting for the segment to be ready.
— HAHA, now that the interview has finally started, we see that the horse is wandering all around the studio while its handlers are unsuccessfully trying to keep it still. Bill’s doing a good job keeping up with this by making some loose ad-libs while trying to start the interview.
— Something also seems to have gone wrong with the chroma-key screen behind the horse, as it’s not showing any scenery.
— I love how Gilda’s ad-libbing during her Mrs. Ed voice-over to match the horse going all astray.
— Overall, that Mrs. Ed segment was classic.
— Now Jane can’t stop laughing in response to the whole thing. This is a good way to end Update.
— Heh, a pretty sloppy Update overall, between Bill’s late entrance at the beginning, the horse incident, and Jane laughing her way through her sign-off, but it’s also one of my favorite Updates of the season so far.
STARS: ****
UNSUNG HEROES OF ROCK ‘N ROLL
(host) livens up a dull school sockhop
— Gilda, after the clueless teacher misses all of Gilda’s subtle pregnancy hints: “I’m knocked-up, you stupid cow.”
— What was up with Laraine’s under-shirt bra adjustment after hugging Busey?
— Dan’s pretty funny as the overly-strict principal.
— I’m liking the authentic 1950s atmosphere in this, but it’s kinda hard to figure out where this sketch is going so far or why it’s titled “Unsung Heroes Of Rock and Roll”.
— Dan’s over-the-top, intensely angry rant when putting a stop to the rock music dancing is priceless; he’s delivering this PERFECTLY. This is also a role I can easily imagine Phil Hartman playing well if this sketch were done in a later season.
— LOL, the ending screen crawl story was hilarious.
STARS: ***½
PERCHANCE TO DREAM
by TOS- Honker mixes Shakespeare together on-stage
— Ah, a Bill Murray-starring Schiller’s Reel. This is gonna be good.
— Hey, it’s his Honker character.
— Bill’s long Shakespearean soliloquy onstage is really funny in a subtle way.
— The ending displays a perfect example of Schiller’s knack for blending comedy with sentimentality.
— Overall, this was excellent, and Bill gave such a great performance.
STARS: *****
MUCK JUMPERS
slopjockey (host) comes to southern family’s home to jump in cesspool
— Kind of a strange sketch so far.
— Bill’s “toilet fish” line was really funny.
— This is getting hilariously weird, with Busey’s cesspool-jumping request.
— Bill and John’s hysterical redneck laughing is killing me.
— The “$40 to keep me moving on” ending was freakin’ great.
— Overall, this was a sketch that was so perfect for Busey to do.
STARS: ****
KILLING TIME
(no synopsis available)
— We get a random, brief “killing time” segment (something the show would later do more often in the Dick Ebersol era whenever there were timing issues during an episode) where Busey announces that “This show is out of control, but stay tuned”, then makes a typically-Busey goofy facial expression as the camera fades to black. I guess a sketch had to get cut at the last minute?
GARY BUSEY: “STAY ALL NIGHT”
host performs “Stay All Night”
— Heh, Busey gets his own musical performance spot?
— I hear this performance got cut-off mid-progress in the original live airing, due to the show running long (which I guess also explains the “killing time” segment that preceded this). The DVD version of this episode (which I’m reviewing) shows the full, uninterrupted performance, which I see pushes this episode’s overall runtime to an unusual 1 hour and 9 minutes, when an SNL episode (without commercials) from this era is typically 1 hour and 6 minutes.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow, what a fun episode. I got a lot of enjoyment out of just about every single sketch. And Gary Busey made for a very funny off-beat host, which kinda surprised me. As mentioned earlier, I was expecting to see a “normal” young Gary Busey tonight because I had always been under the impression that it was his later motorcycle accident that made him what he’s known as today. But this episode showed me that he ALWAYS had a natural, very “off” quality to him. And it worked so well in this episode. In just about every sketch, he came off as a weird, funny, lovable big oaf. He even managed to come off really weird during his intro to Eubie Blake & Gregory Hines’ musical performance.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kate Jackson):
— a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Margot Kidder