Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
JIB raps & breakdances to celebrate the fact that it’s Saturday Night
— Funny “Thriller”-esque opening disclaimer about not endorsing a belief in the occult.
— The debut of Jim’s Rappin’ Jimmy B persona.
— This doesn’t seem to be going much for laughs, but I’m finding this to be a very fun and exciting way to hype up the show.
— A pretty good laugh from his intentionally bad breakdancing attempt, which also serves as a reminder of the huge breakdancing craze around this time.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo is noticeably absent, as Joe takes over with the Pardo impression that we’ve heard him practice on the show in a season 6 cold opening. This is the first of what would be several times over the years where someone had to temporarily fill in for a sick Pardo. Darrell Hammond would usually be given those honors (too many instances to count, but the most memorable one has to be the James Van Der Beek episode from season 24, considering the monologue that night), but there’s one instance where Seth Meyers fills in for Pardo (the Jonny Mosely episode from season 27) and one where Bill Hader does it (Christoph Waltz episode from season 38).
MONOLOGUE
EDM believes host when she jokes that she’s pregnant with his child
— Between Jim’s “Eddie Murphy’s here and Jamie Lee Curtis” lyric in the cold opening and Jamie’s talk at the beginning of this monologue, they’re making a big deal tonight about proving that Eddie’s in the building and isn’t on tape like he’s been in so many recent episodes.
— Funny line from Eddie about “a little beige baby” that he and Jamie are going to have.
— An overall decent monologue, with Eddie getting his usual laughs.
STARS: ***
RUBIK’S GRENADE
— Rerun
TAG, YOU’RE IT
(JIB)’s life goes down the tubes when he’s tagged “it”
— A big laugh from Tim’s shifty-looking burglar character just turning out to childishly tag Jim “it”.
— I like where this is going, with Jim’s wife seriously backing away from him afterwards.
— They’re going all out with this, now cutting to a pre-taped scene with Jim slowly walking out in the street as everybody is fearfully jumping out of his way. This whole thing is great.
— Funny quick part with the old lady.
— The pre-taped sequence continues to be strong, with a cut to several weeks later showing Jim slowly descending into homelessness while failing to tag anyone “it”.
— Loved the bear trap part.
— Overall, my new favorite writer Andy Breckman does it once again. Also, much like the Shoplifting short from a few episodes ago, this feels like another precursor to the heavy reliance on great pre-taped segments that the show will soon be doing the following season.
STARS: ****
JAKE’S VIDEO HUT
a video store employee (EDM) acts out scenes from movies not in stock
— Fairly fun bit with Eddie acting out an Elvis movie live for Robin, which is reminding me of that Gas Station sketch from last season where Eddie played a guy possessed by Elvis’ spirit.
— Now Eddie’s acting out another movie. This sketch seems like a pretty good concept for him.
— Good part with Tim requesting that Eddie do Deep Throat, which Eddie responds to by nervously telling Joe “You’re gonna have to help me out with that one”.
— The ending came off awkward and botched.
STARS: **½
TEXXON
— Another rerun. I didn’t realize until now that it doesn’t feel like there’s been many new pre-taped commercials this season AT ALL. In fact, the Buddweiser Light commercial from the previous week’s episode is the only one that’s coming to mind right now. Are there any others I’m forgetting, or is this the record for lowest number of new pre-taped fake ads in a single season?
EL DORKO
on a date with contest winner El Dorko, host discovers he’s a good kisser
— They seem to mention Gary’s real-life hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa quite a bit these last two seasons.
— The return of Gary’s El Dorko character.
— A pretty good laugh from Gary talking about a prank that some of the guys played on him where they spread deep heating rub in his jock.
— Another ending with an unlikely girl falling for El Dorko.
STARS: ***
THE JULIA SHOW
self-absorbed JLD dominates interview with host & EDM
— Good way of giving the underused Julia Louis-Dreyfus a showcase as herself.
— Very funny part with Julia’s quick “Do you think my hips are getting too wide? I don’t. Nobody does!”
— The redubbed “Trading Places” clip was fairly funny.
— Interesting segue at the end, with Julia throwing to Joel Hodgson’s following segment.
— Great performance from Julia overall.
STARS: ***½
JOEL HODGSON
Joel Hodgson [real] uses props & plays Rock-’em Sock-’em robots
— Some of these gags aren’t working for me tonight.
— Okay, I did like the trick he did just now with his “face” going through the rollers device.
— The part with the audience requests has a pretty good laugh with Joel insultingly telling one particular audience member “This is you, okay?” while holding up a Mr. Potato Head doll.
— I’m really enjoying this Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots competition between him and an audience member.
— Overall, this was very hit-and-miss and a step down from Joel’s last appearance (which itself was a step down from his first appearance), but what worked for me here gave me a pretty good laugh.
STARS: **½
REAGAN WORKOUT
during a workout, Ronald Reagan (JOP) can’t find anything to watch on TV
— This is already starting off rough, with that bad “steering aid” joke that was met with complete silence from the audience.
— This is tepid so far, and no funny lines have been standing out for me.
— What’s with the painfully awkward, long silent pause after Reagan wishes the Three Stooges(!) were on TV?
— Overall, boy, was this weak.
STARS: *½
REHEARSAL
(host) & (JIB) verbally rehearse a love scene they’re doing together
— The stiff lovemaking sounds are pretty funny.
— I’m liking Jim’s reaction to Jamie suddenly doing a high-pitched lovemaking scream in the middle of the script reading.
— Jim’s loud, out-of-place “AAH!” during the lovemaking sounds was funny and seems to have made both him and Jamie almost crack up.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Thing Leads To Another”
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Wayne Huevos (TIK) offers his thoughts on improving NYC’s garbage problem
— As “Pardo” is doing the opening voice-over, the camera pans over to Joe in the anchorman chair to reveal that it’s him doing the Pardo voice. During Joe’s explanation about Pardo being out sick with laryngitis (which Joe says is tonight’s top story), we get the “immortal” line about how no one can fill Don’s throat.
— Also, Joe mentions that Don has been the SNL announcer for the last 9 years, which would mean he’s been there for SNL’s entire run so far. I guess they already forgot about season 7 and Mel Brandt.
— Without even doing any news jokes at all, Joe immediately throws to a commentary.
— A new Saturday Night News character for Tim.
— This commentary from Tim hasn’t been working at all, though the part with him suggesting we dress hobos as clowns was so dumb that it kinda made me chuckle just for that reason.
— And already, this Saturday Night News ends, without Joe doing a single news joke. Not even an SNL Sports commentary from him. This, along with some of the other recent editions of Saturday Night News, really shows how Ebersol would often give SNN short shrift in the post-Brad Hall era.
STARS: *½
PERSONS EXPRESS
passengers of Persons Express economy airline are treated as cargo
— I already like this concept with passengers being in place of shipment in a crowded cargo room.
— Funny sequence with Jim and Robin very roughly trying to switch seats when Robin wants the “window seat”.
— Good little touch with Jim pointing to one part of Robin’s grandchildren picture and saying “That one’s ugly”.
— Jim’s been having a really strong night in this episode.
— The Yentl ending didn’t really work.
STARS: ***
HEART TARTARE
host & (GAK) rehearse their parts in a horror-based Broadway musical
— Ah, the familiar “Halloween” music sting has begun.
— Heh, if this is supposed to be “Halloween”, why is Jamie’s attacker wearing Jason Voorhees’ iconic hockey mask?
— Gary’s menacing killer character suddenly breaking out into a joyful musical number is fairly funny.
— This hasn’t been going anywhere too interesting after the above-mentioned part, though I did like the sudden addition of chainsaw-wielding dancers circling around Jamie and Gary.
STARS: **½
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Pete Best (BRH) is still upset over Beatle ouster
— I remember when I last saw this sketch years ago (when NBC showed it on “Classic SNL” in 2004), I couldn’t for the life of me recognize Brad in that wig and mustache, and I spent the whole sketch racking my brain trying to figure out which cast member that was. I eventually settled on it being either Piscopo or some unannounced special guest who I’m not familiar with. It wasn’t until the following day when reading a discussion of this episode on an SNL message board that I realized it was Brad playing the role.
— Seeing this sketch again now, it’s instantly obvious to me that it’s Brad under that wig and mustache, though that may be because thanks to doing daily reviews of this era lately, I’m much more familiar with Brad than I was in 2004.
— Usually, Brad’s tendency to play certain roles too hokey and over-the-top kinda annoys me, but it’s working perfectly for this sketch with his back-and-forth violent crying outbursts.
— Funny part with him repeatedly stabbing a Ringo Starr picture on the inside of a cabinet door.
— Good fake out with Gary’s Rolling Stones drummer-seeking roadie wanting to hire Tim’s narrator character instead of Brad.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Red Skies at Night”
PROSE AND CONS
— As if all the repeated fake ads tonight wasn’t enough, now we get a rerun of a short film from two-and-a-half years earlier. I wonder why. It’s not like they had to cut off Fear’s musical performance again.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fairly underwhelming episode. Barely anything stood out as truly strong, and quite a bit of the show came off as pretty forgettable. There was also a strange amount of padding with all the reruns of fake ads and shorts from earlier seasons.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robin Williams):
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Edwin Newman