Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
host asks Sammy Davis, Jr. (BIC) for help with what to do on the show
— I don’t know what I’m more surprised by: the fact that Billy is doing a blackface role in front of Jesse freakin’ Jackson, or the fact that Jesse Jackson actually ALLOWED it.
— Jesse’s impressions of politicians are pretty funny, especially his Reagan saying “The Grenada’s comin’ to get us!”, which was apparently an ad-lib judging from Billy’s response.
— Good performance from Jesse during the “Red Rubber Ball” song.
— A decent cold opening overall and shows that Jesse’s going to be a good sport tonight.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
blacks quickly assume control room duties upon host’s unplanned visit
— The bit about Jesse’s “cost-efficient campaign” is fairly funny.
— Great punchline to Jesse’s story about walking on water, with the newspapers printing a headline that says “Jesse Can’t Swim”.
— Jesse’s stories here are really long-winded, which reminds me of the first half of Bob Uecker’s monologue in the last episode, but at least Jesse has better delivery than him.
— I love how everybody in the control room runs out in a panic when they realize Jesse’s coming. Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure I saw Heino Ripp among the crew. I thought he retired after the Flip Wilson episode last season (during the goodnights in that episode, they ran a “Nine years of thanks to Heino Ripp” credit and then cut to a shot of him in the control room). Did he return this season after only being away for half a year?
— Haha, absolutely classic reveal of the white control room crew being quickly switched with a black crew, in an effort to fool Jesse.
— I liked how the black director actually had to be told feedback’s a bad thing.
STARS: **½ for the first half, ****½ for the second half
ELEVATOR
while stuck in an elevator, Willie (BIC) & Frankie (CHG) talk about pain
— The debut of Christopher and Billy’s “I hate when that happens” characters. I know these sketches are pretty polarizing (along with everything else Billy Crystal does on the show) among SNL fans, but I always really liked these sketches.
— The descriptions of their increasingly masochistic actions are funny and there’s some really good interplay between Christopher and Billy here.
— Overall, while no particular line stood out to me here, I enjoyed this sketch as expected. These characters are off to a good start.
STARS: ***½
WRONG VOICE, RIGHT FACE
anachronistic Billy Idol’s (PLS) new album- Wrong Voice, Right Face
— Good Billy Idol impression from Pamela, and it especially comes off funny to me after I recently saw Billy Idol’s SNL musical performances while reviewing the Don Rickles episode from the previous season.
— Pretty funny satire on the incongruity between Billy Idol’s punk rock look and old-timey crooner voice.
STARS: ***
REFRIGERATOR MAGNET SAFETY ADVISORY BOARD
kids like to eat refrigerator magnets- be aware of the warning signs
— I love the concept of this.
— Funny part with the metal surgical tools flying onto the boy’s stomach.
— Another good visual with the boy uncontrollably turning to the north repeatedly.
— Overall, another pretty strong and memorable (to me, at least) season 10 filmed piece.
STARS: ****
THE QUESTION IS MOOT!
host’s politics make game show answers unimportant
— Looks like the same gameshow set they used for the previous week’s “7X4” sketch. (side-by-side comparison below)
— I liked Julia lying about her name for no apparent reason.
— Don Pardo’s overly excited description of the red car is really making me laugh.
— This is a strong concept, with Jesse immediately shutting down the contestants’ answers to go off on various angry political rants.
— Also, it’s funny how the premise of this is an exact reverse of the “7X4” sketch’s premise. “7X4” deals with a gameshow host’s frustration as the contestants keep answering the question before he even finishes asking it, and “The Question Is Moot” deals with frustrated contestants not being able to finish giving their answers before the gameshow host cuts them off.
— I keep cracking up every time Jesse sternly says the mantra “The question is moot!”
— Julia: “Who gets the car???” Jesse: “I get the car!”
STARS: ****
FIRST CLASS
while seated next to host on a plane, Ed Grimley sees a demon on the wing
host’s second trip to the control room prompts another white evacuation
— Some recognition applause from the audience upon Ed Grimley’s entrance.
— Nice continuity from the last Ed Grimley sketch, by having Grimley mention he was recently on Wheel of Fortune.
— I like Grimley’s shame in saying “whorehouse” after finding out Jesse’s a reverend.
— LOL at a random monster appearing outside the plane window. We’re going into Twilight Zone territory all of a sudden.
— I think I see original SNL writer Alan Zweibel as one of the passengers seated in front of Grimley and Jackson. I think I’m also seeing then-current writer Kevin Kelton seated across from Grimley and Jackson, but I really can’t tell.
— Funny and interesting breaking-the-fourth-wall turn, with Jesse giving up on the sketch and walking off the set while saying “This is just dumb! This stupid.”
— LOL at director Dave Wilson’s panicked “He’s coming again!”
— Seems kinda unnecessary to repeat the “white control room crew gets quickly substituted with a black crew” joke, but I still laughed.
— I’ve just now noticed frequent Ebersol-era extra Clint Smith among the black crew this time.
STARS: ***½
TIPPI TURTLE
by Jack Zander- Tippi Turtle annoys with musical greeting card mechanism
— Great prank idea, with Tippi hiding the music chip from a musical greeting card in random places to annoy people.
— Very funny seeing people being driven crazy by the elusive music.
— For a second, when the “The End” screen showed up, I honestly expected it to be followed by the TV Funhouse ending credits while the “Saturday TV Funhouse” jingle plays. I guess this shows how I’m so used to SNL’s go-to animated segment being Robert Smigel’s later series of cartoons.
STARS: ****
JUST KIDDING
(BIC) bugs (JIB) by alternating news of son’s death with “just kidding”
— I got a laugh from Billy revealing the son’s head is in the bag he’s carrying.
— The insane back-and-forth alternations of Billy joking and being serious is a fairly thin premise, but it’s being executed well.
— I liked Jim’s “I lost my place here” when being confused over which of the two stories Billy is currently on.
— I love the panicky part with Pamela and Jim screaming hysterically when pulling out a severed head from the bag.
STARS: ***
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
host deconstructs Ronald Reagan’s answers from presidential debate
rebuttal-giving Young Republicans’ representative (MAS) is scared of host
JIB starts to rap, host shows him how it’s done
— Are these “jokes” from Jesse even jokes?
— Okay, Jesse’s unique news joke style is now beginning to grow on me.
— I like the segment with Jesse deconstructing clips of Reagan’s statements from that week’s Reagan/Mondale presidential debate. Also, this is making me remember that SNL doesn’t do ANY debate sketches during this election, which I believe makes this the only time in SNL’s entire run where they go through a presidential election without doing any sketches parodying the debates. The 1980 elections don’t count, as the 1980-81 season of SNL didn’t begin until November, right after that year’s elections ended.
— I liked Jesse counting the length of Reagan’s long mid-sentence pause in one clip.
— The frozen look on Mondale’s face in reaction to a questionable statement from Reagan was really funny.
— Interesting seeing Martin Short doing a commentary at the desk as a normal character.
— Funny concept with Jesse’s deadpan reactions intimidating Martin during Martin’s criticisms of Jesse.
— The return of Rappin’ Jimmy B.
— I’m liking Jesse’s reactions to Jim’s rapping attempt.
— Jesse’s semi-rapping about white suburban kids trying to act black is pretty funny.
— Overall, the best edition of Saturday Night News in a while. Who would’ve guessed that Jesse would be such a good guest anchor?
STARS: ***½
BUDDY YOUNG JR. IS BACK!
insult comedian Buddy Young, Jr. (BIC) is back on-stage
— Billy is absolutely killing me with his portrayal of an old-timey insult comic. I’m loving his put-downs to the crowd. It also helps that my aforementioned recent viewing of last season’s Don Rickles-hosted episode renewed my appreciation for insult comics.
— Pretty funny happy testimonials from the insulted audience members.
— Overall, yet another strong season 10 pre-tape.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrae Crouch performs “Right Now”
JEANE KIRKPATRICK
host admits he has a love jones for Jeanne Kirkpatrick
— Pretty funny revelation that Jesse only got into politics to be closer to Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
— Jesse waxing poetic about Kirkpatrick has some laughs, and I’m really liking his performance here.
— Nice touch at the very end with Jesse doing a little solo slow-dance.
STARS: ***
RICH HALL’S ELECTION REPORT
undecided voters’ league chief (CHG) is indecisive
Mr. Blackwell (HAS) lists fashion disasters at Soap Opera Digest awards
— Good to see this Rich Hall showcase back.
— Doesn’t feel like we’ve been seeing much of Christopher tonight.
— Christopher as the Undecided Voters League president constantly changing his mind over everything is a very predictable premise, but Christopher is pulling it off well with his dry delivery.
— Very strange how Rich’s live outtro segued into a “guest commentary” by Harry as Mr. Blackwell. So this Rich Hall Election Report has suddenly turned into a thinly-veiled continuation of tonight’s earlier Saturday Night News? What the HELL?!? Ebersol continues to make baffling decisions with SNL’s news segment. Thank god this is the final season I have to put up with that.
— Harry’s delivery is tickling me so much and it’s making his fashion critiques come off really funny.
STARS: *** for the Rich Hall/Christopher Guest half, ***½ for the Harry Shearer half
RAINBOW COALITION
host lists people not accepted in the Rainbow Coalition, like Dick Cavett
— Funny format with Jesse listing people who are excluded from his Rainbow Coalition.
— I like the pictures being shown to accompany the listed-off people.
— LOL at Jesse’s repeated exclusion of Dick Cavett.
— Loved the meta part with one of the excluded people being anybody who advised Jesse to do SNL after Eddie Murphy left.
— What was that weird moving thing that can be seen on the bottom right corner of the screen at the very end? It looked kinda like it was a framed photo of Jesse that a crew member was trying to hand Jesse but he failed notice. What’s that all about? (screencap below)
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Wintley Phipps performs “Tell Me Again”
GOODNIGHTS
musical guests perform “Soon & Very Soon”
— A rare on-screen appearance from Dick Ebersol, being handed an album of Jesse’s presidential campaign speech.
— A deviation from the normal goodnights, with the usual goodnights music being replaced with Jesse, the musical guests, and the cast all singing “Soon and Very Soon”.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid and very consistent episode. There weren’t any segments I disliked, the sketches ranged from good to great, and there were a few well-remembered things like The Question Is Moot and the second half of the monologue.
— For non-actor standards, Jesse Jackson did a very good job as host. He carried himself well, had good delivery of his comedic lines, and was able to handle several solo sketches with ease. He even did a surprisingly good job guest anchoring Saturday Night News.
— My copy of this episode is apparently missing a sketch where Jesse addresses the fact that this season’s SNL cast has no black performers. Sounds like an interesting piece, and I’m surprised the show would openly acknowledge their lack of minorities in this cast.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bob Uecker):
— a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Future cast member Michael McKean hosts