Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
in Donahue green room, Fernando asks Bernie Goetz (RIH) to be on Hideaway
— Yet another Fernando sketch, though at least he’s in a new setting this time. Still, there’s only so much of this character I can take.
— I do kinda like his excitement over the green room having “two midget transvestites and a nazi!”
— Some of his comments to the dwarf transvestites (played by frequent Ebersol-era extras Butch and Pepe) are pretty funny.
— Funny seeing Rich as the infamous Bernard Goetz (a.k.a. The Subway Vigilante).
— When talking about how rough things have been going for his show lately, Fernando makes a reference to the recent Manilow cancellation incident.
— The tense part with Fernando asking Goetz for a quarter is a good reference, though probably too topical for the modern-day viewers who have no familiarity with Goetz’s subway incident.
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
pictures of host’s movie roles show a trend of increasing sexiness
— As she points out, she’s the first female host of the season, which is pretty crazy considering we’re halfway through the season. Even stranger, I think this season goes on to have only one more female host (Pamela Sue Martin). This has to be an all-time record for lowest number of female hosts in a single season.
— The mud-in-hair/brunette joke was terrible.
— She calls out Jack Nicholson in the audience, who turns out to be some random curly-haired guy. A decent gag, I guess, though I feel like SNL did a similar gag one other time (can’t remember when).
— Uh-oh, looks like this is turning into another boring “career photo montage” monologue from this season.
— Yep, I was right, unfortunately.
STARS: **
MACDOUGLASS-DRUMMOND
military supplier MacDouglass-Drummond’s products are basic yet costly
— I’m surprised this is the first time this season that we’re seeing Harry in a commercial pitchman role, considering how often he did these roles to perfection during his earlier stint in season 5. It’s great to see him back in this role.
— Loved Harry’s “But, wait, there’s less!” line
— Another great one-liner, with Harry’s fast-paced delivery of “It boils, it boils, it even boils!”
— An overall strong and smart satirical ad.
STARS: ****
WATERSKIING
Willie & Frankie talk about pain while taking part in a water-ski pyramid
— I love this very random setting for Willie and Frankie.
— I like the continuity of how these sketches always make a mention of the secretary at Sheidelman Suits who Billy’s character has the hots for.
— Nice reveal at the end when the camera pulls back and shows how this sketch was pulled off.
— Hate to say it because I usually really like these characters, but the formula of their sketches is starting to get stale due to how heavily SNL has been relying on these. None of Willie and Frankie’s gruesome stories stood out in tonight’s overall sketch, and quite a number of their stories kinda washed over me with me just chuckling at them by default.
STARS: **½
NOSE HAIR TRIMMER
nose hair trimmer Walter sells (CHG) on importance of groomed nostrils
— Always nice to see Gary’s underrated Walter character.
— This appears to be a variation of Walter’s “shoe tier” sketch from last season’s Flip Wilson episode, only this time, Walter’s bizarre occupation is “nose hair trimmer”. I’m loving this strange concept.
— Christopher appears to be playing the same character he played in the Jewish Deli sketch in the last episode.
— LOL at Billy’s walk-on with long, braided nose hairs.
— Absolutely hilarious ending with Rich casually walking by and tripping over Christopher’s (invisible) long nose hair that Walter is pulling, sending all three men crashing onto the ground.
STARS: ***½
SAFECO
Joan Collins (PLS) proves the strength of Dura Guard II plate glass
— Pamela is perfectly cast as Joan Collins.
— Pretty funny concept of a plate glass company using Joan Collins as battering ram against her will.
— This overall commercial didn’t end up playing out quite as funny as I was expecting.
STARS: **½
HYPNOTISM BY FIRE
to ensure daughter’s safety, Brad Allen (MAS) hypnotizes boyfriend (BIC)
— Pretty funny detailed look for Martin’s character, giving him a huge belly, bald cap, and glasses.
— Some good physical work from Martin throughout this.
— Holy hell, Billy’s wig almost came right off after Martin smacked the back of his head a second time.
— Haha, Billy’s now-uneven wig looks ridiculous.
— While talking to Martin and Julia, Billy stops mid-line as the audience keeps laughing hysterically at his uneven wig. He doesn’t seem to realize what the heck is going on until Martin and a chuckling Julia both adjust his wig for him, which causes him to crack up. An absolutely fantastic blooper here.
— Also, we get some really good back-and-forth ad-libs from Martin and Billy right afterwards.
— For some reason, I laughed at Mary’s off-camera delivery of “Nooooooo!” when asked if she’s going to come downstairs.
— An overall mostly forgettable and overlong sketch that was boosted by a classic blooper.
STARS: **½
PREDICTIONS
Jeane Dixon (MAG) tells what the stars predict for 1985
— Mary looks kinda freaky in this. Her facial expressions are kinda creeping me out.
— I’m pretty sure I just heard the voice of Larry David playing yet another off-camera heckler, this time as a guy who yells “That already happened!” in response to Mary’s Elvis prediction. I guess even back in 1984-85, SNL saw the comedic potential in Larry David’s shouty voice.
— I liked Mary casually pronouncing “holocaust” as “holycoast”, as a clever callback to her preceding prediction that a celebrity will mispronounce “holocaust” and not be aware of it.
— Interesting meta bit with Mary predicting host Kathleen Turner’s mind will wander in the next sketch.
— Overall, despite Mary giving her all, this wasn’t too great and quite a number of the predictions fell kinda flat.
STARS: **½
THE JOE FRANKLIN SHOW
Doug Henning (MAS) & Alan Arkin (CHG)
— The initial sight of Martin as a buckthoothed Doug Henning cracked me up.
— I’m enjoying Christopher’s Alan Arkin voice and general grumpiness.
— I like how in these sketches, Billy’s Joe Franklin always has to work in a plug for Matzos by Streit’s.
— Kathleen’s bad lip-syncing of her own song is funny.
— Overall, another good Joe Franklin sketch, and each performer got their share of laughs. Lately, I’ve been appreciating these Franklin sketches more than I used to when I was younger, back when I dismissed these sketches as being kinda boring.
STARS: ***½
BOXER
punchy retired boxer Tony Minetti (BIC) reminisces while vending peanuts
— OH, NO. Here’s our second Billy Crystal one-man-show character monologue of the season. I’ve already talked earlier this season about how much I dislike these.
— Also, man, tonight’s episode has been going REALLY heavy on Billy Crystal. Aside from the MacDouglass-Drummond and Predictions sketches, Billy has been in literally EVERY SINGLE SKETCH in this episode so far, and almost all of his appearances have been lead roles.
— I did get one chuckle so far, from the line about a boxer starting to bleed at the weigh-in.
— Overall, aside from the above-mentioned line, I got absolutely no laughs from this sketch. This was even worse than the one-man-show character piece Billy did earlier this season.
STARS: *½
FAST LOVE
maneater (host) manipulates jilted (MAS) into pursuing a relationship
— Funny part with Kathleen implying she’s a multi-orgasmic woman.
— I like the overly 80s look of the various party-goers. You’d almost think this was a modern-day piece set in the 80s, judging by how stereotypically 80s so many people in this sketch are dressed.
— Speaking of which, it’s funny how a plain-dressed Larry David (in yet another background extra role this season) sticks out like a sore thumb among the trendily-dressed background extras.
— Kathleen’s out-of-nowhere “Lucky for you, I’m ovulating tonight” was hilarious.
— An overall pretty nice, realistic piece.
STARS: ***
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
a summary of recent appointments to Reagan administration posts
GAK shows off his 1985 “Kroeger A Month” beefcake calendar
Reagan financial advisor Doug Henning (RIH) makes CHG cough up some dough
— I see this is yet ANOTHER episode this season where Saturday Night News is oddly buried towards the end of the show [ADDENDUM: And yes, this is how the episode originally aired], which serves as more evidence of Ebersol’s diminishing confidence in the segment.
— The rundown of which White House staff members are being replaced with which celebrities has some laughs, but the bit is too long-winded for my likes. Brings back bad memories of the overlong bits Brian Doyle-Murray regularly did on SNL Newsbreak back in season 7.
— Very funny concept of Gary’s commentary, with him showcasing his self-made “Kroeger A Month” beefcake calendar for the year 1985.
— Funny calendar pictures of Gary here, and some good little self-deprecating lines thrown in throughout this.
— Christopher actually made me laugh, with his deadpan “That’s very sad” response to Gary’s overall commentary.
— Rich Hall takes over the Doug Henning impression that we had just seen Martin Short playing earlier tonight, making this a rare instance of two different performers playing the same celebrity in two separate sketches in the same episode.
— Rich makes a meta comment about what I just pointed out above, by commenting how it’s “amazing that there are two Doug Hennings on this show”.
— Haha, Rich’s fake buck teeth fell out!
— Nice save with Christopher handing Rich a spare pair of fake buck teeth.
— Rich’s Henning getting Christopher to magically cough up money into the bucket is pretty funny. Not sure how that trick was pulled off in real life.
— What was with the ending of this edition of Saturday Night News? Christopher didn’t even sign off. It just ended with the audience’s applause after Rich’s Henning commentary was over, as Christopher just silently stares at the camera completely deadpan. WTF?
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Saturday Night”
STRICTLY FROM BLACKWELL
(MAS) in dinner theater version of Irma La Douce
— What’s with the oddly silent beginning during the “Strictly From Blackwell” title screen?
— I liked Harry’s random line about “the James Franciscus Theater”.
— Hmm, Martin’s character is named Bobby Bouchet (last name pronounced “boo-SHAY”). Heh, isn’t that the same name of Adam Sandler’s character in the movie The Waterboy?
— As usual, Harry’s Mr. Blackwell voice is cracking me up, and there are lots of low-key funny back-and-forths between him and Martin.
— Martin’s reveal that his biological parents are JFK and Marilyn Monroe is really funny.
— Pretty solid sketch overall.
— Unfortunately, this turns out to be the end of the road for Harry Shearer’s second SNL tenure. After this episode, Dick Ebersol fires him for a backstage incident that happened earlier that night after dress rehearsal, where Harry reduced a beloved female staffer to tears when chewing her out over a minor issue. Harry had a reputation for being too demanding and stern behind the scenes at SNL, and I guess the aforementioned incident was the final straw for Ebersol. This makes Harry the second cast member to be fired in the middle of this season ALONE. Boy, Ebersol sure doesn’t play around. However, unlike the first fired cast member this season (Jim Belushi), Harry doesn’t eventually get rehired. He’s gone for good, folks. Considering how much he famously hated working at SNL, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to get rehired anyway. Too bad, as I’ve always loved what he brought to the show during both his SNL stints (seasons 5 and 10).
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall disappointing episode, especially when compared to the usual quality this season. I did like the memorable bloopers tonight (Billy Crystal’s wig in Hypnotism By Fire, Rich Hall’s fake buck teeth in Saturday Night News), but the show was dominated by lots of forgettable sketches. Aside from the two Harry Shearer sketches, no segments stood out as particularly great tonight. This episode was also too heavy on Billy Crystal for my likes, with him receiving Kristen Wiig levels of overexposure.
— Strange scheduling tonight too, with Saturday Night News and John Waite’s first (and ONLY) musical performance not coming on until the last 20 minutes of the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if a second musical performance was originally scheduled but ended up getting cut at the last minute due to the show running long. Maybe it was all the aforementioned bloopers that threw off the scheduling of the show.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Eddie Murphy):
— a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Roy Scheider