Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Telepsychic Ray makes some more impromptu predictions
— Dan’s wig looks quite different from the one he wore last time he did this character.
— Dan’s opening introduction was really funny.
— Overall, a good Telepsychic sketch as usual.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Well… this whole monologue certainly came and went quickly with no real funny joke, interesting story, or anything remotely noteworthy.
STARS: *½
THE NAVY
— Rerun
HOUSEGUEST IDI AMIN
(LAN) & (BIM) are fed up with the antics of houseguest Idi Amin (GAM)
— LOL at the Idi Amin reveal.
— A good laugh from the discussion about Idi having slaughtered an antelope in the kitchen.
— This whole thing is tickling me so far.
— Random abrupt cutaway to an Essex House promo.
— That promo didn’t feel necessary, but overall, I got a lot of great laughs from this sketch.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests & SNL Band perform “It’s In His Kiss”
ROACH BROTHEL
Roach Brothel rids your home of pests via the irresistible lure of sex
— I thought this was going to be a set-up for another Dan Aykroyd pitchman appearance, but surprisingly, Bill is the pitchman this time.
— John’s voice is weird but kinda funny.
— Overall, a funny premise and decent execution.
STARS: ***
MOTHER & DAUGHTER
on her birthday, (host) repeatedly clashes with visiting daughter (GIR)
— Funny unexpected turn with Gilda angrily stomping on Maureen’s jacket as soon as Maureen stepped out.
— Gilda’s sarcastic responses to Maureen are great.
— I got a big laugh from Gilda’s line “I love picking my nose so much that the underneath of your couch is caked with snot!”
— The ending was both touching and funny.
— Overall, a very strong slice-of-life sketch, and especially had a lot of great moments from Gilda.
STARS: ****½
WEEKEND UPDATE
DOP lists prizes that potential assassins of Shah Pahlevi can win
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about nuclear energy
JOB goes berserk while discussing safety concerns about Skylab’s reentry
— The Dr. Joyce Brothers mugging joke was great.
— A Point/Counterpoint already? Does this end up being Jane and Dan’s last one ever?
— Jane’s casual mention of “radioactive excrement” during her rant was a little detail that cracked me up.
— Dan’s rebuttal had a great line about Jane’s vibrator.
— An okay Point/Counterpoint overall, but far from one of the best.
— Our first (and last ever?) Belushi commentary in quite a while.
— A bit eerie in hindsight hearing John jokingly mention the possibility of something hitting the World Trade Center.
— Oh, this ISN’T gonna be a “but nooooo” rant?
— Oh, never mind, THERE it is.
— Hilarious ending with John jabbing the broken Skylab model into his neck.
— Yay, they made it through a whole Update without any of the usual three overused recurring correspondents (you know the ones).
STARS: ***½
NICK WINGS
Nick “Wings” bothers musical guests & others in an airline VIP lounge
— A Nick the Lounge Singer sketch.
— Garrett in drag once again…
— Funny when Maureen didn’t know the lyrics when Nick wanted her to sing along.
— Nick’s Japanese singing to Asian businessman “Mr. Yosh” is hilarious.
— Loved Gilda’s bitchy response to Nick.
— Very funny how Bill’s singing of “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” is driving the group of feminists away.
— I got a great laugh at the unexpected part with John as a bodyguard punching out Nick. I’ve never seen anything like that in a Nick the Lounge Singer sketch before. He has a much more hostile crowd than usual tonight.
— Overall, one of the best Nick the Lounge Singer sketches.
STARS: ****½
BLACK PERSPECTIVE
immigrants (JAC), (JOB), (GIR) are “the new [n-words]”
— The debut of Gilda’s Rosa Santiago character. Did Garrett butcher her last name when introducing her?
— John appears to be dressed the same as he was in SNL’s first-ever sketch: the Wolverines cold opening. There was another sketch he dressed like that, too, but I don’t remember it too well; it was some kind of talk show sketch from either season 1 or season 2 where he played a Bulgarian.
— Is Jane playing the same “nine snowboots” character from the Surplus Store sketch in the Walter Matthau episode?
— Gilda’s character is funny and cute in this.
— This overall sketch didn’t work too well and fell kinda flat. Also, Garrett’s delivery was kind of a mess in this. Lately, I’ve been starting to really get annoyed by his increasing habit of flubbing lines all the time.
STARS: **
VETERANS OF FOREIGN HAIRDOS
Veterans of Foreign Hairdos speak of their horrific coiffures
— Oh my god, those wigs…
— The testimonials with the victims each telling their horror hair stories have some good laughs.
— The return of Jane’s Dolly Parton impression.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “The Married Men”
CANDY STORE
candy store owner (host) discusses the dying mall with other tenants
— This is yet another sketch that exists in the same universe as the Scotch Boutique sketch. Much like the Barber Shop sketch from the Rick Nelson episode, this takes place at the same mall as Scotch Boutique.
— Gilda’s Scotch Boutique character again makes a cameo.
— Now we get a cameo from Bill’s Barber Shop character. I’m liking all these crossovers.
— Overall, another pretty solid mall store sketch, even if there wasn’t much to note about this one.
STARS: ***½
MR. BILL GOES TO THE MOVIES
by Walter Williams- grandpa in silent film
— *groan*
— This has pretty much become a weekly segment at this point. And to make matters worse, I’m aware we’re also getting one in the following week’s season finale.
— I did laugh at the subtitle card “Boo! Not even one balloon! Boo!”
— Overall, even with the silent movie change of pace, I still didn’t care for this. The overuse of Mr. Bill has numbed me to the humor in these.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty solid episode. We got some really strong sketches tonight like Houseguest Idi Amin, Mother & Daughter, and Nick Wings. Several sketches also did a good job playing to Maureen Stapleton’s strengths as an actress (Mother & Daughter, Candy Store).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Palin):
— about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
It’s Aykroyd and Belushi’s last hurrah. Season 4 comes to an end, with Buck Henry hosting.
Wow, Dying Malls…how topical. *sob*
During the original broadcasts, there were always Don Pardo narrated spots for Essex House (“guests of Saturday Night Live stay at…”). These are always cut from syndication and are not on the DVDs either. So, to have it incorporated into the skit was a bit of meta humor. I wish they kept them, along with all the Edie Baskin commercial bumpers. I still am extremely irked that they cut them out for the DVDs, save for the one before the goodnights. Not only were they great to look at, they enhanced the full flashback effect (they often appeared in rebroadcast, so I don’t know why on earth this decision was made).
This is purely guess work: maybe the bumpers were cut since the band music underneath would require clearances/royalty payments? And having the bumper up just for the relatively short applause between segments (the way things are edited) would be too jarring.