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
“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?”
Peter Finch died just before the 1977 Academy Awards, and wound up winning a posthumous Oscar for his performance in NETWORK (1976). Basically, Jane’s saying they didn’t want the elderly Laurence Olivier dead before he could win the Oscar.
I didn’t want to reply to this comment but I didn’t know how else to post a comment, as I’m sorta knew to this site. But here goes: I know he doesn’t comment on the musical guests on the show, but I thoroughly enjoyed Eubie Blake and Gregory Harrison. It was like spending time with a couple of old friends. And they really deserved the standing ovation they got at the end. That said, this episode was a complete classic the whole way through!
Hey there!
I really enjoy reading your posts! I just discovered your blog earlier this month and have been catching up since then! Can’t wait till you get to some of the more questionable seasons like 6 or 11!
Also, the Peter Finch reference referred to the actor who won for the movie NETWORK the year prior to this. He became the first person to win the Oscar posthumously (he died of a heart attack only two weeks before winning the Golden Globe for that movie if I remember correctly). He wasn’t even that old but that’s what Jane Curtin was referring to.
Looking forward to reading more!
Haha Jurb beat me to it lol
The “Muck Jumpers” set looks like the front porch you’ll see in the ‘Where’s Cooter’ sketch later in Season 6.
Busey was always a lunatic. The difference is before his accident he was still nuts but mentally all there, meaning he was a genuinely good actor and had a lot of charisma and comedic timing. After the accident his mental state became more unhinged but he also lost a lot of his social abilities and restraint. It really is sad because before the accident he got the Oscar nom this episode joked about, he was able to put together great performances such as in this episode, and he had a bright career as a oddball ahead of him. After the crash he lost the talent that his insanity was funneled through, making him the sad nutjob everyone laughs about today.
Gary looks a bit like Boris Johnson in some of the stills.
Here he is looking polished at the 15th anniversary special.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actor-gary-busey-attends-nbc-celebrates-saturday-night-live-news-photo/169655297
They talk a bit about the Mrs. Ed incident in Love, Gilda.
Definitely a great episode – SNL seemed to agree, as this was one of the first full episodes released on VHS (and Beta!) all the way back in the early-mid 80s. Busey had actually gotten his start as a regular on a “Svengoolie” type horror/comedy show in Tulsa back in the early 70’s before making his way to Hollywood.
The “Unsung Heroes…” sketch is interesting because, tho’ it’s supposed to be 1957, Busey sings “Nadine”, a Chuck Berry song not released until 1964. Suddenly I flashed forward to Michael J Fox “inventing” the Berry duck walk in “Back to the Future”.
And wow — Busey’s end-of-show musical number featured Rick Danko and Paul Butterfield! Not too shabby.
Lowdown Blues
— Eubie Blake has some long fingers. On a more serious note, it’s darn inspiring to see a 90 year old guy look as good as Eubie does
— Excellent vocals by Gregory Hines
— Just a great little blues song and a good opening piece to get things going.
STARS: ****
I’m Simply Full of Jazz
— A more ragtime/early jazz feel to this one
— Oh wow, Gregory is tap dancing. Amazing!
— What a unique and special performance this is
— Excellent job by Eubie on the piano during the tap dancing, and incredible that his aged fingers can still play the piano with such mastery
STARS: *****
I’m Just Wild About Harry
— Gregory is clearly awestruck watching Eubie play the piano and their banter this whole time has been adorable
— Spectacular ragtime intro by Eubie
— Tremendous vibrato during Gregory’s last note.
STARS: *****
What a special treat this performance was. Blue, please feel free to do your own review. I think you have a jazz background (I do as well but it’s been such a long time), so you might be able to put your impressions into words better than I can.
Why thank you, Frederick, I just watched this episode and came by to read the review with a burning desire to write a review of the musical performances… and then I see your comment. I’m not sure my jazz training will lead to anything more articulate but I’ll give it a go:
“Lowdown Blues”
-Almost thought this was the start of a sketch with their banter at the beginning.
-I concur, Eubie’s got ridiculously long fingers.
-WOW, that voice!!!
-Impressive that Gregory can reach for those high notes without switching into his head voice/falsetto.
-Not only does Gregory have golden pipes, but his riffing at the end of the second verse proves he has a strong set of lungs, too. Or just excellent breath support.
-Eubie’s excited hand-clapping and waving when Gregory hits a particularly strong high note is so endearing to watch.
-It’s very hard for me to focus on what the band is doing while Gregory is singing, but I love that loud, confident brass.
-An excellent vocal performance, and a great song. Almost wanna go full five- and nothing’s stopping me!
Stars: *****
“I’m Simply Full of Jazz”
-Great to see Eubie doing his thing on piano.
-A more restrained performance from Gregory, which he’s nailing as much as he did his last performance. Nice display of versatility there.
-Tap dancing! Love seeing Gregory essentially using his feet as percussion.
-After the dance break, Gregory goes right back to singing, without a single out-of-tune note.
Stars: ****
“I’m Just Wild About Harry!”
-Eubie’s piano waltz intro is fascinating me as much as it appears to be fascinating Gregory.
-The shift into ragtime is exciting and impressive.
-Gotta love a man who’s not afraid to sing male pronouns in a romantic song.
-Oh, that vibrato at the end is beautiful.
Stars: ****
Gregory Hines- how the heck have I not heard of this clearly talented performer before? And Eubie Blake appearing on the show is legendary. I wish I’d been able to give more critique rather than gushing, but really, that was perfect.
As for the funny parts: I wasn’t quite as taken with this episode as Stooge… I’m not convinced Gary Busey was a good fit for live sketch comedy (although reading this review has made me feel a little more charitable towards his weird ad-libbed, out of it performance in the cold open). The Schiller’s Reel was nice, and “Muck Jumpers” took a hilarious turn (though I felt Busey’s performance could have been stronger), but “Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll” felt too elaborate for its content (I only liked the punchline at the end), “Carter Brothers” wasn’t anything special, and as for “Women’s Problems,” I just didn’t get much humor out of misogynists being misogynistic. Fun to see Jane break at the end of Update, though, and Busey’s musical performance sure was… entertaining.
Bravo, Blue! Thanks for providing your insights, much more detailed that I mustered.
And I agree with you that I wasn’t that thrilled by the comedic content of this episode. Unsung Heroes of Rock and and Roll just seems to be a very long “the ’50s were prudish” joke, but it’s such an obvious observation now that it doesn’t seem that edgy or interesting. Maybe at the time it was cathartic for the boomer viewers of SNL see someone satirize the outdated attitudes of their childhood, but in this day and age it just seems like saying fire is hot and expecting to get a laugh out of it. But I did think Muck Jumpers was pretty funny, and I really liked the twist at the end where they have to pay him to go away, very clever.
Busey was badly drunk on this show much like Kris K 3 years earlier. They had to funnel coffee down his throat similarly to what they did with him. I believe Gary was drinking beer unlike Kris who was on harder stuff. I believe a lot of it was due to nerves; as even though he was tipsy you could still tell he was very nervous (especially during the intro to Hubie and Hines, he looked scared even.) He got over it though and honestly did a solid job
The version of the live broadcast they aired on The Comedy Network in the late 90’s doesn’t include the Busey “Killing Time” segment but goes straight to a different performance of “Stay All Night” from the DVD (or OOP WB VHS version) which actually aired live; The performance IMO felt very rough and thrown off, perhaps because the band knew they might possibly be cut midway for commercial. In fact the last bumper was slapped on in the middle of the performance (my guess is NBC affiliates went straight to local commercials and never came back). The CN version kept it on til the band was finished. Then the next segment would be the DVD version of SAN, Gary and the guys played it a second consecutive time for the studio and for future repeat broadcasts. and this time it’s the chaotic but together and beautiful version we all know (again IMO).
(*I think the home base clock during goodnights said a little over 1:10am)