Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
on the SNL set, boom mike operators Willie & Frankie talk about pain
— I know these characters have been overused this season, but considering how much I loved their first few appearances before their shtick started running out of steam, it’s good to see them one last time tonight. I also like how their entrance here is getting a huge audience reception.
— This meta premise with Willie and Frankie getting a job as SNL boom mic operators feels like a very appropriate way for these characters to go out.
— Some good gruesome stories here. The unicorn one especially got a great audience reaction.
— Very clever way of doing “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— I like how he’s talking in his famous slow, verbose announcer’s voice.
— He brings up his failed ABC variety series “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell” (the title of which is the reason why SNL had to go by the name “Saturday Night” for its first season-and-a-half). Funny comment from him about his show being reviewed by “licensed idiots”.
— An overall short, straightforward monologue, but I enjoyed how perfectly Cosell-esque it was.
STARS: ***
HOSPITAL
case of mistaken identity puts hospital patient Ed Grimley on mob hitlist
— Some funny interaction between Grimley and Jim’s mob boss character.
— Freakin’ hilarious bit with Grimley getting bit by his goldfish.
— Yes! There’s Grimley’s priceless triangle dance again, which never fails to crack me up.
— Jim’s mob boss character’s last name, Fraraccio, is an inside reference, as its the last name of the SNL crew member (Bobby Fraraccio) who famously filled in for Barry Manilow in a Fernando’s Hideaway sketch earlier this season.
— Funny chase sequence between Grimley and Christopher.
— Memorable entrance from Cosell as Ed Grimley’s similar-looking uncle. A clip of his entrance would be shown at the end of a Norm Macdonald-anchored Weekend Update 10 years later, as a tribute to Cosell after his then-recent death.
— I love how Cosell is still using his trademark Cosell voice while saying Grimley-isms (“I must say”, etc.).
— Christopher gets to display some hilarious extended physical comedy after getting injected with the syringe he intended to kill Grimley with.
STARS: ****
INSIDE OUT
easily-surprised (JLD) fires spit-takes at her guests
— Oh, here’s a well-known sketch that’s gone on to be the most remembered thing Julia ever did on SNL.
— Julia’s first spit-take was absolutely perfect.
— Funny part with Julia stopping Mary’s story for a few seconds just so she can refill her cup of coffee.
— Nice visual of Mary with her now-frazzled, wet wig after getting spit on repeatedly.
— Perfect ending with Julia going absolutely wild, simultaneously throwing coffee all over the place, spitting out coffee in the air above her, and dumping the pitcher of water all over herself.
— Overall, fantastic execution of such a thin premise, and this was one of the rare times during her SNL tenure that the underutilized Julia Louis-Dreyfus got to display the great comedic skills we’d later come to know her for in her post-SNL career. Considering tonight’s her last episode, this was a strong way for her to go out.
STARS: ****
RUN, THROW & CATCH LIKE A GIRL OLYMPICS
host covers the sissy boy events
— Pretty funny concept.
— Another Larry David sighting, this time as the judge in the middle. He’s always easy to spot in sketches this season, with his Larry-from-the-Three-Stooges hairstyle.
— Good part with Pamela being exposed as a girl dressed in drag, which disqualifies her from the competition.
— I love the sleazy look of Rich’s proprietor character.
— Great turn with Mary and Julia as two feminists bombing the event from a plane. Funny use of old WWII stock footage as well.
STARS: ***½
BAR MITZVAH
at his bar mitzvah, host’s parents (host) & (BIC) learn his career plans
— Larry David in yet ANOTHER sketch tonight, this time shown from the back as one of the family members doing a Jewish circle dance at the beginning of the sketch. Again, his hair makes him unmistakable. I’m gonna miss the joy of spotting him in sketches after this episode.
— Ha, Frederick Koehler (the frequent child extra of this season) is doing a surprisingly great job with the Howard Cosell voice. I wonder if he already knew how to do the Cosell impression on his own, or if Billy had to coach him on it.
— Having Billy play Cosell’s similar-sounding mother is a much better use of his Cosell impression than that weak Uncle Howard Cosell sketch from the season premiere.
— Quite a visual of Cosell and Billy simultaneously saying the same things during their heated rant to each other.
— Funny blooper with Cosell’s kissing of Billy’s shoulder causing Billy to crack up, which prompts a great ad-lib from him: “That’s more tongue that’s on some of the plates!”
— This overall sketch was a little too long for my likes, but I admit it was still pretty well-done for what it was.
STARS: ***½
SPORTS BEAT
70 year-old Tony Minetti trains for his return to the ring
— Another pre-taped segment tonight. After going light on these in the second half of the season, they’re coming back in full force in tonight’s season finale.
— Billy’s old-age make-up is pretty horrifying-looking. I think this is the same former boxer character Billy played in one of his one-man-show character pieces from earlier this season. If so, SNL seems to have aged this character quite a lot since that sketch. He was nowhere near as decrepit in that sketch as he is tonight.
— I got a good laugh from the way Billy’s voice sounded when speaking with his mouth guard still in.
— For some reason, I find the name of Christopher’s character (Angie Quidaciolu) amusing.
— Christopher’s description of Billy’s diet is really funny.
— Overall, despite the highlights listed above, I wasn’t all that crazy about the film as a whole. Too many parts came off fairly uninteresting. A rare misfire for this season’s short films.
STARS: **½
FERNANDO’S HIDEAWAY
host talks about his experiences in broadcasting
— Three Billy Crystal showcases in a row tonight?
— I’m not all that crazy about seeing this sketch tonight, as I was hoping the great installment with Mr. T and Hulk Hogan would end up being the final one.
— I like Fernando doing a rundown of the various guests we saw him interview over the season. Among those names, he mentions Siskel and Ebert, which initially made me go “When did he interview THEM?” before I remembered it wasn’t in a regular SNL episode; it was in an SNL Film Festival special that aired the previous month.
— Quite a story about an incident where an ill Cosell puked on fellow announcer Don Meredith’s shoes during a Monday Night Football game.
— I liked Fernando’s comments about watching Adrienne Barbeau running in slow-motion during Battle of the Network Stars.
— Overall, surprisingly not bad for the final Fernando sketch. While this doesn’t hold a candle to the Mr. T and Hulk Hogan one, I found this more enjoyable than I had been expecting.
STARS: ***
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
a list of which Frenchmen want more sex
Nathan Thurm defends the creators of Ringling Brothers’ Living Unicorn
Dwight MacNamara explains why dirt shows up on the ChromaKey screen
Robert Latta (RIH) has baseball cards that show the ballplayer & himself
— What’s with the shaky camera during Christopher’s opening joke?
— OH, NO. We get another Brian Doyle-Murray-esque “long screen crawl” gag, this time listing off the names of Frenchmen that want more sex. Ugh. Considering tonight is the final episode of the Ebersol era, at least this is the last time I have to deal with any remnants of the dreaded Brian Doyle-Murray season of SNL’s fake news segment.
— Not too thrilled to see Nathan Thurm is back in his usual Saturday Night News setting, after they refreshingly took him out of that setting and gave him his own sketch a few episodes ago.
— I did love Thurm’s line to Christopher just now, about how “ASPCA should condemn you… for being so uninteresting facially.”
— Christopher’s slipping into Thurm’s routine by defensively telling him “I know that!” was a pretty funny moment.
— Tonight’s overall Thurm commentary wasn’t as tired as I was worried it would be.
— Another Dwight MacNamara-behind-the-news-screen segment?
— Gary’s projector voice never fails to crack me up, but this whole segment is just an unnecessary rewrite of this character’s preceding appearance.
— Ha, now we get a random Robert Latta walk-on from Rich. They seem to be bringing out ALL the Saturday Night News favorites tonight. At least Latta is something I actually LIKE seeing again.
— I like Rich-as-Latta’s use of a dustbuster.
— The baseball cards with Latta wandering in the background are fairly funny, if an obvious joke.
— And thus ends the last-ever edition of Saturday Night News. I certainly can’t say I’m going to miss it OR Christopher Guest’s tenure as an anchorperson. I’m of the opinion that Dick Ebersol never knew what he was doing with SNL’s fake news segment. He’s made so many baffling decisions with it over these last four seasons.
STARS: **½
GOOD SEX WITH DR. RUTH WESTHEIMER
Dr. Seuss (RIH) bothers host
— Nice to see Mary’s Dr. Ruth in a setting outside of Saturday Night News for once.
— What a visual of Rich as a Cat in the Hat-looking Dr. Seuss.
— More great visuals, this time with the silly Seuss-esque food props shown on the table, especially “a rodent hanging from a noose”.
— Rich is hilarious in this sketch, though the audience is strangely silent so far.
— LOL at a Yink bird puppet suddenly appearing behind Cosell.
— Good ending with a horny Cosell hitting on Mary’s Dr. Ruth.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Boys Won’t”
A COUPLE OF RED GUYS
A Couple Of Red Guys (GAK) & (JIB) decide to defect during their rap
— A variation on Jim’s recurring upper-class rapper character.
— I love the part with Jim and Gary doing the Russian leg-kick dance in unison.
— Quite a sight of Gary in that bald cap and huge mustache.
— Haha, Gary’s warbly dancing is really funny.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lucky”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The Ebersol era ends with a solid episode. While not as strong as the preceding episode, there were lots of things to like tonight, we got two particularly memorable sketches (Ed Grimley, Inside Out), and a very minimal amount of weaker bits. A nice way for this era of SNL to go out. I wish this episode had more of a feeling of closure for this era like the original era’s final episode did, but I understand that people at the show didn’t know this would be the end. I believe it was expected at the time for the Ebersol era to continue into next season.
— Season 10 as a whole was very enjoyable. It’s always had a reputation for being strong, and I feel it lived up to the hype. While the second half of it wasn’t quite as consistently strong as the first half was, the season as a whole was still a big win. Even my least favorite episode of the season, Ringo Starr, was merely subpar rather than all-out bad. No doubt, the season benefited from the new all-stars who joined the cast, and the increased usage of strong and memorable pre-taped material, though I was surprised to see that the latter wasn’t quite as prominent throughout the season as legend has always had it. In fact, the reliance on pre-taped material seemed to shrink more and more as the season went on. The new all-stars of the cast added an exciting and much-needed new feel to the show. Martin Short and Christopher Guest in particular were delightful additions; Guest especially impressed me with his very wide range and ability to disappear into roles. Billy Crystal, however, I had some issues with. I admit, though, that whenever he did anything that worked for me, it gave me some really good laughs. He was very hit-and-miss overall, but I’d say he had a little more hits than misses. Most of the non-all-star new players and returning veterans contributed some good work whenever they were allowed to. I was especially fond of the uniqueness that Rich Hall brought to the table. All in all, I’m really going to miss this cast, especially considering the cast that immediately follows.
— With my completion of this season, I’m proud to say that I’ve officially reached my goal of familiarizing myself with the first 10 seasons. You see, before I started this “One SNL a Day” project, I had only seen a small handful of episodes from each of the first 10 seasons, which is something that I was always ashamed to admit as a diehard SNL buff. One of the many reasons I was eager to start my SNL project is that it gave me a perfect excuse to FINALLY acquaint myself with those first 10 seasons, and I’m so happy that I’ve now officially accomplished that. It was a lot of fun discovering so many sketches and episodes that I had never seen before. I’m already familiar with all the seasons from 1985-2018 (the reason it ends at 2018 is because I actually stopped watching new episodes a few months after the current 44th season began, partly due to disinterest in SNL’s current quality and partly due to wanting to have something new to look forward to when I reach the modern era in my SNL project), though there are still a handful of sketches I’ve never seen from 1985-1990 and, to a lesser extent, 1995-2000. 1990-1995 and 2000-2014, on the other hand, are the SNL years that I’m most well-versed in; I know those years inside and out.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Reeve):
— a slight step down
HOW THIS SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1983-84):
— a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
A completely revamped version of SNL debuts, with a brand new cast and the return of original producer Lorne Michaels. And much like the previous time I covered a revamped SNL with an entirely new cast (season 6), this season turns out to be a troubled and infamous one.