Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Madonna [real] reads a statement from NBC- “last season was all a dream”
— Classic moment here, with the statement Madonna reads about season 11 reading “It was all a dream… a horrible, horrible dream”, which receives a good amount of laughter and audience applause.
— Overall, an interesting and memorable way to kick off the new era. Jokingly writing the previous season off as a dream is a good way for SNL to put the failure of that season behind them.
STARS: N/A (not sure this cold opening warrants a rating)
OPENING MONTAGE
— A pretty fun new montage this season, and unique in how the typical shots of New York scenery are interspersed with silhouette-type shots of various cast members, most of them hurrying to get someplace.
— I really like all the fast cuts and the various close-ups of feet running.
— The new additions to the cast tonight are Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and featured player Kevin Nealon.
— No musical guest is credited tonight. Many SNL episode guides incorrectly list Buster Poindexter as the official musical guest of this episode, but he’s actually credited with the SNL Band in tonight’s opening montage. That makes this one of only three episodes in SNL history that have no official musical guest; the other two episodes being Rob Reiner from season 1 and Walter Matthau from season 4.
— For the first time in SNL history, the host is the last person announced in an opening montage, which would go on to be a tradition that still continues to this day in 2019.
MONOLOGUE
host & Christopher Durang [real] plan to sing tunes from a Brecht musical
— The new home base stage has a very classy “fancy dining hall/ballroom” look, which I love. Anyway, I’d better love it, because we’re going to be seeing this home base stage for a LONG time. SNL would end up keeping it until 1995(!), and even then, they just shift this home base stage to the next section of the studio, using it as the musical guest stage for the next three seasons until 1998. Lorne must’ve developed a REALLY strong attachment to this stage.
— Sigourney’s delivery is coming off strangely… uh, I don’t know what word I’m thinking of, maybe “stilted”? I remember an SNL reviewer once likening this strange delivery of Sigourney’s to that of a patronizing school teacher. I’d say that’s pretty spot-on.
— Kind of a strange monologue so far, but there are some laughs from Sigourney and Christopher Durang talking about Lorne’s alleged enthusiasm for seeing German Expressionist Opera on SNL.
— Pretty funny gag with the control room operators panickedly cutting to a commercial as soon as Sigourney and Christopher are about to start their Brecht musical.
STARS: **½
GENERAL DYNAMICS
young couple’s sexy conversation doesn’t mention sponsor General Dynamics
— Well… this sure was strange overall. The humor was apparently in how the advertisement turned out to be for something completely different than what we saw hinted at throughout the commercial, but I feel like that’s a gag SNL would do better other times over the years. (Can’t think of any specific examples right now, but I know there’s at least a few)
— I can’t really say this particular commercial worked for me, and it felt like a strange and underwhelming choice for the first fake ad of a new season.
STARS: *½
GIRLFRIENDS
Tommy Flanagan tries to explain things to his girlfriends (host) & (NOD)
— Our first cast sighting of the season. Didn’t realize until now how strange it is that the first three segments in this season premiere didn’t feature ANY cast members.
— I remember an SNL reviewer (not the same one mentioned earlier) making an interesting point about how weird it is that after doing a cold opening where SNL basically tells us “Last season sucked”, the post-monologue lead-off sketch of the night stars a character who was all over last season. I know Tommy Flanagan was a huge breakout character and audience favorite in season 11, but you’d figure if SNL wanted to put that season so far behind them and prove to us that “Hey, this new season’s going to be so much better”, we’d be leading off the season with something fresh.
— Some okay lies from Flanagan so far, and Nora and Sigourney’s naiveness in believing them is pretty amusing.
— Overall, this sketch was decent in itself and had some good funny lines, but I’m still burned out on Tommy Flanagan after my coverage of season 11, thus making it a little hard for me to laugh all that much here.
STARS: **½
QUIZ MASTERS
Marge Keister (JAH) loses to psychic Lane Maxwell (DAC)
— Finally, we get our first sighting of some of tonight’s new cast members. A bit odd how none of them have made their debut until after the first commercial break.
— Feels so exciting seeing so many new cast members here.
— Even early on in his very first sketch appearance, Phil Hartman is IMMEDIATELY coming off fantastic, playing this gameshow host role to perfection and adding such a humorous and likable air to the character.
— Good reveal of Dana Carvey’s character being a psychic, and how he’s answering questions before they’re even asked.
— Jan Hooks’ delivery of “I don’t think this is fair; he’s a psychic” got a really good audience reaction.
— I absolutely love Dana’s evil snickering after intentionally feeding Jan the wrong answer.
— Haha, holy hell at the hilarious sudden turn with a meteor crashing down onto Jan. Very funny pratfall from Jan as well.
— During the ending shot, it looked like Jan disappeared from her spot on the floor for some reason, even though her character still should’ve been laying there unconscious.
— A strong sketch overall, and all three newbies involved gave very solid performances and made a great first impression.
STARS: ****
THE AMAZING ALEXANDER
audiences think hypnotist The Amazing Alexander (JOL) is better than Cats
— Very funny how each of the obviously-hypnotized testimonial-givers are blankly staring into the camera while monotone-ly giving the exact same review as each other.
— Nice ending bit with the announcer trying to hypnotize us viewers with repeated orders as the camera slowly zooms into The Amazing Alexander’s eye.
STARS: ****
HEF-TEA TEABAGS
jumbo-sized Hef-Tea tea bags are preferred by the British royal family
— Oh, now I see why Jan disappeared from the ending of the Quiz Masters sketch. She had to hurry up and get in costume for this sketch, as she only had about a minute-and-a-half to change while the pre-taped Amazing Alexander piece was playing.
— Jan’s already proving herself to be a chameleon of a performer, with how drastically different she looks and sounds here compared to how she looked and sounded just a few minutes ago in the Quiz Masters sketch.
— Great entrance from Sigourney, crashing through the wall as a giant Sarah Ferguson. Also, pretty wise casting, as there IS a strong facial resemblance between Sigourney and Fergie. In fact, I wonder if that’s how the writers came up with the idea for this sketch.
— I’m enjoying the nice touch of how Sigourney’s giant Fergie has a booming, echo-ish voice.
— This appears to be a very specific parody of a then-current commercial. Having no familiarity with it, I’m a little lost during this sketch, but I’m still getting some laughs from the general silly humor and Sigourney’s performance.
— I liked the disapproving look Jan gave the camera during the ending freeze-frame close-up of her.
— This sketch (as well as one of Buster Poindexter’s musical performances from later tonight) would later be removed from all reruns and be replaced with a strange mock-foreign short film co-starring Rupert Everett.
STARS: ***
CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady Enid Strict (DAC) tries to interview Zuul (host)
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut! Wow, I don’t think I’ve said that since the original era; it used to be a regular thing I’d always declare whenever I would review the first installment of a big recurring sketch. Not sure why I stopped saying it after the original era; it’s not like the 1980-1986 years didn’t have any huge recurring characters.
— Right off the bat, I absolutely love Dana’s characterization here.
— Feels weird hearing Church Lady’s soon-to-be catchphrases just receiving a normal amount of audience laughter instead of the usual wild applause that those catchphrases would later always receive.
— Haha, Jan’s portrayal of Sally Kellerman is absolutely spot-on and funny, and it especially comes off amusing to me after I suffered through Kellerman’s snobbish demeanor while reviewing her season 6 SNL episode several months back.
— Funny Ann Landers impression from Nora, reminding me a lot of the Ann Landers impression Mary Gross did in the Ebersol era.
— Very interesting turn with Sigourney as her possessed Zuul character from Ghostbusters.
— What was with the camera clumsily and shakily panning over to Church Lady signing off while standing on her desk?
— Overall, a fun debut for this sketch, though not as good it would later go on to be. Until the Zuul portion of the sketch, the first few interviews were too short and redundant with how they all ended with Church Lady asking “Could it beeeeee…. SATAN?!?” (which, by the way, was missing the booming echo that would later always be used for the last word in that catchphrase). Church Lady would later go on to have more variety in her put-downs to her guests. That being said, she still had lots of funny one-liners all throughout tonight’s debut installment.
STARS: ***½
BUSTER POINDEXTER
Buster Poindexter performs “Smack Dab in the Middle”
— At the end of this performance, I got an unintentional laugh from the dumbfounded, speechless, almost dazed look of a non-clapping audience member seen during a shot of the audience applauding. (he’s the guy in the white shirt in the screencap below)
WEEKEND UPDATE
in Iceland with daughter Scarlett, VIJ didn’t cover Reykjavik summit
AWB doubts the Reykjavik summit will yield any significant treaties
— We get a slightly different opening intro sequence from the one that was used last season.
— We also get a slightly modified Update set. The most noticeable difference is that all the international clocks in the background are gone.
— Yet another change this season: we have the birth of Dennis’ trademark 80s mullet!
— Loved Dennis making a passing reference to the infamous Dan Rather “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” incident.
— Victoria Jackson makes her very first appearance, and boy, is that high-pitched voice going to take some getting used to this season.
— Decent gag with Victoria’s Reykjavik summit video just turning out to be a hotel room video of her with her baby daughter.
— Heh, a mention of Victoria being a Christian, which is only amusing in hindsight considering Victoria’s reputation in recent years.
— Victoria’s overall commentary was an okay way to introduce her personality to us, even if this particular bit wasn’t anything too noteworthy.
— Interesting-seeming segment now with Dennis acknowledging criticisms of his lack of character work, leading to him introducing a new character of his: a French clown named Koko.
— Ha, Dennis’ brief, low-effort demonstration of his Koko character was randomly funny. Also, when riffing afterwards on his own lack of effort in that characterization, we get what I believe is the very first SNL instance of Dennis’ trademark high-pitched “Ha ha haaaaaa!” laugh.
— Good to see A. Whitney’s The Big Picture returning this season.
— A. Whitney’s overall commentary was fine, though no particular lines of his stood out tonight.
— Dennis ends tonight’s Update with an earnest “Good luck, Chevy; you are in our thoughts.” I’m assuming Chevy must’ve recently entered one of his famous rehab stints. At any rate, we’ll be seeing him (co-)host SNL just two months from now when Three Amigos comes out.
STARS: ***
MR. SUBLIMINAL
Mr. Subliminal Phil Maloney (KEN) uses sneaky cues to get what he wants
— Being familiar with this character’s subsequent appearances, I find this to be a great way for Kevin Nealon to make his SNL debut.
— Love the casual start of Kevin’s subliminal dialogue while he’s mid-conversation. Also funny to hear the studio audience gradually catching onto it.
— I’m especially laughing at the constant “hot sex” lines to Victoria.
— Lots of funny lines during Kevin’s whole interview with Jon.
— Overall, that was great. Wonderful way to introduce Kevin Nealon.
STARS: ****
ALIENSES
Ripley (host) & Marines accidentally waste E.T.
— Lots of amusing impressions of the Aliens characters. The audience especially likes Jon’s take on Burke.
— Interesting how Christopher Durang has been playing character roles in various sketches throughout tonight’s episode. Reminds me of how some of the special guests in the preceding season were used (e.g. Marvin Hagler).
— Funny part with Sigourney getting ready to strip out of her jumpsuit, only for Phil to yell “Come on, Ripley, we’ve all seen your underwear!”
— LOL at the cheap E.T. prop.
— I got a huge laugh from Phil’s character trying to pretend an alien is about to pop out of his chest.
— This sketch started losing steam towards the end, and the ending voice-over from Don Pardo was weak.
STARS: **½
TEN WEEKS IN JAIL
NYC is getting tough on crime- take a life, spend ten weeks in jail
— Ah, our very first instance of Phil Hartman as a commercial spokesman.
— A good laugh from the reveal of the new so-called tough crime law being 10 weeks in prison for committing a murder.
— Overall, a quick but pretty solid bit, and Phil sold it very well.
STARS: ***½
BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
host & Buster Poindexter sing “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
COMEBACK
Derek Stevens (DAC) sings “The Lady I Know”- she’s choppin’ broccoli
— Love Dana’s British accent in this.
— Dana seemed confused over when he was supposed to sit down, as if somebody missed their cue to tell him “Have a seat”. Not a big deal; it’s just kinda fascinating (and even a bit charming) in hindsight seeing this little flash of greenness from this new cast, knowing what huge pros they would go on to be.
— Oh, here comes a famous song that is one of the most well-loved Dana Carvey bits of all-time.
— I love how Derek Stevens’ absurd lyrics about “the lady I know” are so obviously being made up on the spot.
— And there’s the legendary Choppin’ Broccoli chorus. Freakin’ priceless, especially the different exaggerated ways Dana keeps singing the immortal words.
— Also a nice touch during the Choppin’ Broccoli chorus where the camera shows a close-up of Sigourney and Phil each being so deep into the song. I particularly like Phil looking upwards with such a pleased, thoughtful look
— I kinda wish this sketch had wrapped up while it was still hot after the Choppin’ Broccoli number. The other silly songs that Derek Stevens played samples of afterwards were forgettable. Still a strong overall sketch, though.
STARS: ****½
BUSTER POINDEXTER
Buster Poindexter performs “Oh Me, Oh My”
BRECHT/ROGERS MEDLEY
host & Christopher Durang [real] perform Das Lusitania Songspiel excerpt
— Uh, wow. This is just weird. No idea what to think of this so far.
— Okay, I am kinda enjoying the Mack The Knife number right now.
— Heh, a comedic screen crawl disclaimer has suddenly shown up, basically saying “NBC does not share the same viewpoints as….. etc.”
— This piece has slowly been growing on me, and I’m also liking all the comical energy from Sigourney and Christopher.
— Overall, not bad. I can see why a lot of people wouldn’t like this, and I was expecting not to like it myself at first, but something about this was infectious to me.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow. Needless to say, a VERY different-feeling SNL from the previous season. I feel like I say that every time I review the season premiere of a new era, but hey, when you watch SNL episodes in chronological order on a daily basis like I’ve been doing for this project of mine, it’s VERY striking to enter a new era after you’ve gotten so familiar with the feel of the preceding era, even if the preceding era is a short-lived one like seasons 11 or 6.
— This season premiere wasn’t quite the immediate classic that some might expect from this SNL era, and there were several aspects tonight that feel odd and uncharacteristic for this era in hindsight (e.g. the strange General Dynamics commercial, all the musical interludes in the second half of the show). All that being said, this was still an overall solid episode. After a fairly slow beginning with the monologue, General Dynamics commercial, and Tommy Flanagan sketch, we were officially off and running once the great Quiz Masters sketch showed up. There was a very good number of highlights tonight, and even just from this inaugural episode, you can see so much promise for this new era and new cast.
— Speaking of the new cast, most of them had a very strong first night and are, hands down, leaps and bounds above most of the one-season wonders from the preceding season. Victoria Jackson was the only newbie tonight who didn’t do anything all that impressive, but even she displayed a likability in all her appearances (especially her supporting role in the Mr. Subliminal sketch) that still gives you confidence in her. But if we’re going to talk about which newbie made the best first impression, it has to be by far Dana Carvey, who had an absolutely AMAZING first night. I mean, the man starred in three very memorable showcases of his talents (Quiz Masters, Church Chat, Derek Stevens) tonight alone. Talk about hitting the ground running. I can only imagine how exciting it must’ve been for SNL fans in 1986 to witness this man’s fantastic debut, especially after suffering through season 11. I’d argue that Dana had possibly the best first night a cast member has ever had in SNL history.
— This is a more minor note, but I like how this new season has a certain kind of classy atmosphere, especially with the aforementioned “fancy dining hall/ballroom” look of the new home base stage, the SNL Band’s spiffy formal uniforms, and the old-timey throwback vibe of Buster Poindexter’s various musical performances tonight. In hindsight, being familiar with this SNL era as a whole, this overall classy atmosphere feels so fitting for this new era.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1985-86):
— a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Wow, you could excuse people deciding to tune in perhaps changing the channel early after deciding that this “new SNL” was just the same stuff, but you’re right that things get rolling after a while. And while yes, Derek Stevens runs out of steam (and should never have been recurring), the “Chopping Broccoli” song to me is officially the point in which the new cast wins over the audience.
Is there some reason why Kevin Nealon started off as a featured player? Budget thing? My memory may be failing, but I always felt like he was in a good portion of sketches from the beginning.
I know Victoria gets the crazy rap now (didn’t Rolling Stone once rank her as the worst cast member ever? that’s absurd), but I think she filled a good slot on the show. In a lot of cases, I couldn’t imagine her playing the roles Nora/Jan did, but also not them playing her roles.
I think Nealon’s FP status this year had to do with how late he was hired?
“The Amazing Alexander” was an Andy Breckman piece.
Re: Nealon – I believe the rest of the Season 12 cast had already been hired – as the premiere date got closer, Lorne thought they needed one more male cast member, so he asked Carvey if he knew anybody, and Carvey suggested his friend and former roommate Nealon
I always am amazed by how loud the audience was at the end of the show, even Weaver was amazed by it. After seeing several shows in the 85 season with a dead audience at the end it’s a hell of a 180 and a good sign for the crew. I do miss the 85 stage though the 86 stage was kinda boring. It got better designed as the years went along though.
Wasn’t really crazy about this one the first time I watched it but it ended up being a solid debut show, one of the better ones for a cast. Never was crazy about Weaver as a whole but Lorne was smart to pick her considering her success that summer it paid off.
I’m sure everybody knows this, but Derek Stevens was part of Dana’s audition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkLqwMyV1ug
“Das Lusitania Songspiel” was also trunk material for Sigourney and Christopher. It was their off-Broadway cabaret show in the early ’80s.
Dana’s earliest performance of Choppin’ Broccoli that’s online is this one from his stand-up act. This clip was shown on Nickelodeon’s Turkey TV before he joined SNL, and this was the first time I ever saw him on TV. I like how at this stage of development, the gag is that rock stars are pretentious and their lyrics don’t make sense, and has nothing to do with them making the lyrics up as they go. It looks like eventually he would throw out the line that the lyrics sound like they’re being made up as they go, and then for the SNL sketch it became the singer actually making them up as he goes. But the whole thing is a stronger smack at musicians when the element of making the lyrics up in real time is not part of it. His performance of the song starts at 6:40 here:
Neat stuff, Jedi! Thanks!
Great episode to kickoff SNL’s renaissance period. I’m so excited to read your reviews of this era.
Dana – I agree with you that he did have best “first night” as cast member in SNL history. No contest. Dana has got to be Top 5 SNL cast members of all time (maybe Top 3), and he had a spectacular debut. He loved SNL’s format and his passion for the show was so apparent and contagious. His characters were hilarious.
Jan and Kevin also had solid debuts and showed lots of promise. Victoria…well, I always have a hard time trying to figure out her SNL legacy. By the time she left 6 seasons later, she was the longest tenured female cast member in the show’s history (up to that point). So, obviously she was doing something right. But I have to admit I’m always kind of befuddled why she lasted so long. She had her moments, but the type of roles she could play were so limited. It was always hard to tell if her the “ditziness” was real or an act. To this day, I’m not sure. 🙂 I did like her Roseanne Barr impression though.
As for Phil. My personal choice for Greatest SNL cast member of all-time, and I think most would agree. The man could make any role hilarious, even if it was a minor role or straight character…didn’t matter. He could get laughs from anything and he made his fellow cast members better as well. His debut here was sublime. As the Game Show host I love his delivery when he’s getting frustrated with the psychic buzzing in early (Sir…the game hasn’t begun…) Phil is an expert at that “clenched-teeth” barely contained rage delivery. I also love his smarmy character in Derek Stevens audition, especially that delivery of the “Welcome to LA…private joke!” Phil was perfect in those kinds of roles.
Anyway, I love that were basically going to see this cast grow together for the next 4-5 seasons.
P.S. – is this the only era of SNL to not have the cast members’ name written out in the Opening Montage?
No, because they announced the names in seasons 3-5 and 12-20.
…and season 10.
Could this be the best episode of the 80s (up to that point)? I think a case could be made. My other pics would be:
season 5: Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss
season 7: Tim Curry
season 8: Stevie Wonder
season 9: Don Rickles
season 10: Michal McKean
season 11: Pee Wee Herman or George Wendt & Francis Ford Coppola
Anyhow, I agree this is probably the best first night a castmember has had before or since. Also, even though the home base itself was moved and reused, the basic LAYOUT of homebase has been pretty much unchanged since this episode, right? Pretty amazing it’s lasted 33 years. That’s longer than any iteration of the Tonight Show, Letterman’s show, Ed Sullivan, etc.
And I totally get what you mean by the show’s classier look compared to years past. I feel like this picks up right where Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever leaves off… Lorne’s idea of SNL “growing up” for the ’80s.
BK – Season 6: Bill Murray.
Highly agree with that season 6 choice!
We have officially arrived at the Golden Age. Looking forward to reading about the next several seasons!
I think this cast saved SNL the same way Eddie Murphy did back in 1981. A lot of the new faces here were a complete 180 from the ones who left, and connected better with viewers and audiences. Plus, they were more versatile too.
I know IMDB is only as good as what is submitted but I can’t even find that short film in Rupert Everett’s listings (I’m not doubting it’s Rupert). Does anyone have any information on where the film was from?
The film changes up the tone of the episode a fair amount, as, along with the musical performances from Sigourney, and Sigourney’s general chic manner, there’s a much more upscale tone than might have been there if the sketch of her as Fergie had been included. It’s something of a jarring contrast to later episodes this season (especially Sam Kinison’s).
As good as Dana was from the start, his Church Lady improved much more over time – in this early one he cuts in when Jan is still talking and rushes some of his lines as a result. The Choppin’ Broccoli is the better sketch for me; he’s great, but Phil’s performance as he listens to the song and is caught up in the mood is not only perfect, but the first example of the gifts he would bring for the next 8 seasons.
This episode also has some good bookends, unintended or not – Jan, who is so great in the game show sketch, does a similar, more extended beat in the all time classic Game Breakers sketch in her last season. And while this Church Lady sketch ends with demonic Zuul overtaking a hapless Phil, one of the last Church Lady sketches (2011) ends with a possessed Snooki overtaking a hapless Bill Hader (so often compared to Phil).
The Liar sketches had pretty much run their course by this time but it was nice to see Nora get to play a change of pace part.
The “better than Cats, I want to see it again and again” lines have been in my head ever since I first saw these reruns on CC. Just brilliant. And closer to the Ebersol tone than I would have known at the time.
Victoria is pretty much set right in her lane from the start, and she and Dennis click from the start. Kevin is also used perfectly in his first big role, with one of the best transfers of standup to a sketch that you’re likely to get.
The Aliens sketch feels like some rushed out fan fiction, but a few of the cheap gags amuse me (like when Phil barks out to Sigourney that they’ve already seen her in her underwear enough times). Dana and Nora are very funny as well. And I guess we have this as a trivia question for how many times SNL killed off ET.
Sigourney is one of those hosts I long thought had only done one episode, so when I started getting back into SNL I was surprised she hosted again about 25 years later. What I’ve seen of the episode is not much use of her talent (disco camp with Wiig…), although the Laser Cats is fun. I guess we’ll get there soon enough.
There’s something humbling about the goodnights – that beautiful sax permeating the atmosphere as we watch this extraordinary cast, none of them knowing they were, in their own way, making history.
Here’s a short anecdote about the Quiz Masters sketch:
https://grantland.com/features/the-glue-understanding-the-comedy-of-phil-hartman-saturday-night-live-newsradio-the-simpsons/
The next season cut a new path from the start. One of the first sketches in the premiere was called “Quiz Masters.” It starred three newly hired actors most Americans had never seen before. Dana Carvey played a game-show contestant who happened to be a psychic. Jan Hooks was the other contestant. And Hartman was (of course) the host. As the crowd began to laugh, producer James Downey turned to Smigel and said, “The audience feels safe.”
I’m rewatching this season to see how it holds up. I always tied this one with season 14 as my favorites. This episode has a couple of classics for any ‘best of the season’ list: Quiz Masters and Derek Stephens. The whole episode is really strong though. Solid debut for the church lady and Mr subliminal while bringing back the liar for a decent follow up. New cast members shine immediately, especially Carvey, Hartman and Hooks.
As good as Eddie Murphy was on the show, and although the all star cast of season 10 held it down, this is clearly the true return of SNL.
I didn’t mind the rest of the so-stupid-they’re-funny Derek Stevens songs, especially New Beginnings. Lasts like three seconds, “so you know where that could go.”
I loved this episode…much better than Cats…seriously this was a good start for the new cast. Victoria would later become a hardcore right winger who called Obama the devil, but on SNL she was a hoot.
I’ve heard Dana Carvey say in interviews that the Church Lady sketch on this episode was near the end of the episode in rehearsals, but got such a strong reaction that it was moved up to be the first sketch. That appears to be incorrect. I’m assuming this review is of a live copy, and it’s in the middle of the show. The copy I have is a Comedy Central copy, and there Church Chat is the first sketch after the General Dynamics ad. So it looks more like Church Chat was only moved up in placement for reruns, not for the original airing.
This is a tough episode to unpack. Because of how much of a transition point it was and how it’s now impossible to imagine how this legendary cast came off as a first impression. Also because of the significant reformatting the episode went under from live to rerun. And the heavier focus on musical performances with two guests who are not even credited as musical guests. I noticed the audience member with the blank stare in the audience after one of the musical performances too. I felt the same way about it as he did.
I can see why the Church Lady took off from this sketch. I was actually surprised how much of her schtick is firmly established right here, between the Satan accusations, her describing things in a sexual way and her condescending to a rapid succession of guests. Carvey’s performance didn’t have to evolve at all. He had it fully formed right here. This was the tightest, sharpest, fastest sketch in the show. Obviously the act would introduce more variations as time went on, but I’m sure the jokes here were more than enough for someone seeing Church Lady for the first time. They sure lucked out having Sigourney there to play a pre-existing demonically possessed character. It looks like they must have had her real costume from Ghostbusters shipped in too, unless it’s a real expert imitation. I wonder if Sigourney being there to play Zuul is why they decided to debut Church Lady tonight. If they were trying to think of characters for Sigourney to play, that one would’ve come up, and then the opportunity to bring in Dana’s Church Lady to meet her becomes the next logical step. The rest of the sketch is really written to build up to Zuul’s appearance, with the joke being that the Church Lady sees Satan in everybody and then encounters someone truly demonically possessed. I’d be interested to know if the “Satan” line was in Dana’s stand-up version or if that came out of the demonic possession theme of tonight’s sketch.
Most of the other sketches are not structured and focused as well as that one. The Derek Stevens one has too much set-up, but maybe the wrong kind. It would’ve been better to show Derek outside the office nervous that he has no material, so we know he’s forced to make it up on the spot. They imply that too subtly to make the joke really land. I still favor Dana’s earlier performance of Choppin’ Broccoli from his stand-up, where it’s all about the singer being pretentious and not about him actually making up the lyrics as he goes. I originally saw Dana’s stand-up on Nickelodeon’s Turkey TV as a kid where they showed that bit and others, a year or two before he was on SNL, and luckily that version made it to YouTube.
Phil and Jan definitely hit the ground running in the game show sketch. It shouldn’t be that surprising, considering they may have had more experience doing sketch comedy before SNL than any new cast members up to this time, Phil in the Groundlings for over ten years and Jan on other sketch comedy TV shows like Tush starting in 1980. I think the writers missed the obvious way to end it though. Dana is the villain of the piece and he should’ve been hit with the meteor.
Mr. Subliminal is one that definitely needed sharpening before it would become recurring. I imagine it took so long to become recurring because people knew it would get boring hearing Kevin repeat the same subliminal message over and over before moving on to the next one. When he tightened it up to only using each subliminal word once, it got a lot better and he could fit a lot more jokes in. The Liar sketch seemed a little off in the casting. Sigourney playing a dumb airhead doesn’t work at all. Putting Victoria in her role and Sigourney in Nora’s role might’ve improved that one. Nora was okay as the slightly smarter woman, but she was much better as Ann Landers in Church Chat. That’s one of her perfect impressions.
The General Dynamics ad was definitely a misfire. I liked the NYC ad with Phil. His expression and throwing the cigarette butt at the end were a great performance joke. Amazing Alexander was a high concept bit that feels more like early ’80s SNL or Letterman. The short film put into the reruns looks like it was satirizing the same pretentious German artiste stereotype that Mike Myers’ Dieter would later do. But it kind of missed the mark and became pretentious itself. Weekend Update seemed average. Victoria’s part definitely added some color to it. It definitely sticks out that she mentions her Christianity in her first episode. I’m glad back then, at least, it wasn’t anything the audience had any reaction to at all one way or the other. I read she gave out bibles as gifts to cast members one Christmas, so her religious beliefs seem to have been consistent throughout her life. I also read one source that said Dennis Miller voted for George Bush in 1988, so he may not have changed as much as some people think over the years either.
I really enjoyed watching Sigourney. She had a great start with that skimpy and hypnotic outfit she wore in the opening. Makes it hard to remember anything she said at that point. She’s much more of a straight man than a comedienne, but seeing her reprise her movie roles is great. That E.T. prop in the Aliens sketch was too low-budget even for SNL. Dana’s and Jon’s imitations were the funniest stuff in that one. Sigourney did well in her various musical interludes and made them watchable. That medley they did near the end sounded like a prototype for the Sweeney Sisters.
Sigourney’s funniest acting was in the Fergie sketch. I think the main joke there had to do with Fergie’s weight. I think her gaining weight was tabloid fodder at the time. She ended up doing ads for Weight Watchers, apparently starting in 1997. An L.A. Times article said she had been in Weight Watchers herself since the late 1970s, and was dubbed the “Duchess of Pork” in the media. She also reportedly lost 26 pounds before her wedding in 1986. Other than that, the joke in the sketch was the mash-up between tea bag ads and Hefty garbage bag ads. The way they handled the staging to make Fergie seem heavy, and parodied traditional filmmaking techniques for “giant” characters was well-done. Sigourney’s height was also probably part of the inspiration for this one. I’m guessing they cut the sketch because someone thought it was too mean to Fergie, which is fair. Fergie has said the jokes about her weight were hurtful to her. Certainly the royal family has ties with corporate and financial elites in America, so the order may have come down from on high.
The deal with “Buster Poindexter” is that this was a fake persona played by David Johansen, under which he performed and released some albums. I think he wasn’t credited as a musical guest here because they were truly introducing him as part of the SNL band. IMDB says he keeps appearing in episodes this season, so I imagine people who’ve gone on to watch the rest of this season must have seen him on camera again. Johansen also had other acting roles and played a ghost in the movie Scrooged.
This is a video of The Rock ‘n Roll Evening News from October 17, 1986. They have an interview with Buster Poindexter after mentioning he’s joined the SNL band. No info or footage on SNL directly, but I guess it gives you a snapshot of who this guy is at this point in time. They say they would have a behind-the-scenes look at how an SNL episode is made on their show in a few weeks. I don’t know if that episode is out there anywhere though. Interview at 31:58.
Wow, thanks Mr.Nineteen-paragraphs lol.
This episode is really funny to me because at first it almost looks like the show is gonna continue on in the same awful way that it did before. Not only does it go way past that, but the new people on the show are the ones to hit it out of the park. Quite glorious
Just kick-started this season, the earliest I’ve ever set out to watch end-to-end. I have zero context on what I’m told is a WILD 180 from S15.
Already I’m floored by maybe the best opening montage I’ve seen. Just fun as all hell, like Stooge says. This cast change is obviously a seismic event, and these legends-to-be all look prepared and right at home in the action shots. I definitely, definitely am recalling many of these shots from a very young age. Particularly Dana running down the alley.
Jan was a stunner, by the way.
Even more floored to see Quiz Masters… on Peacock it’s the second piece after the monologue and thus a new SNLer’s first tango with the wonder that is Phillip Edward Hartman. From the only eras I’m truly familiar with, roughly S14 on, only Ferrell can really challenge him for my top spot. On topic: unsurprisingly, Quiz Masters is just outstanding, featuring probably the three most gifted members of this a truly cast.
Now we’re into Broccoli and it dawns on me that, not only have I always loved this sketch, I’ve always assumed Phil and Dana were established veteran cast here. Speaks volumes about these two feeling that polished and flawless from the start. This is their goddamn DEBUT, just astounding.
I’m an unabashed Garth & Kat supporter, so it’s no surprise I love the spiritual predecessor.
Tommy Flanagan too. Sheesh, this debut is more than I could have hoped for. A true landmark ep.
“That makes this one of only three episodes in SNL history that have no official musical guest” We have a new entry in that list: the recent Paul Rudd episode.
Perplexed by this since I saw it live back then: “Ten Weeks in Jail” feels like a direct parody of a PSA that would air in local NYC television around that time, but I could not find evidence of that, not even through YouTube search. Anyone living (and watching TV) in the NYC area in 85-86 recall a legit ad spot that 10WiJ would satirize?
I remember watching Choppin’ Broccoli on The Best of Dana Carvey and on that it fades out right after Dana finishes his performance, which really is the perfect way to finish it. I remember finally seeing the full original sketch and being mildly disappointed that they continued after it finished, as they already reached the perfect comedic end point.
One of the people in the hypnotist sketch is MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell.
I alluded to this in my earlier comment, but this was, aside from some very obvious points, a strange way of kicking off a new season after a rough year (particularly when you’ve just crapped all over last season in the opening). Like I guess Lorne knew what he was doing, but if I were running the show, I’d have a funny host, do a funny monologue, and then dive right into the new cast members–get sketches like Quiz Masters and Chopping Broccoli front and center. Instead, we have a talented actress but not known for being funny and a monologue whose central premise is that she is not funny, followed by an odd commercial parody and then a sketch featuring only returning cast members doing a recurring character from last season. We close out the show by another really odd thing.
Dana kind of gave us the first brief glimpses of Garth in Quiz Masters, with that buck-toothed smile and snickering.
What a hoot the previous season’s last sketch had the “Dynasty” (or was it “Dallas”) fire involving cast members not Jon Lovitz (though Dennis Miller and Nora Dunn also survived) and this season’s Cold Open having Madonna (the previous season’s first host) saying the entire last season being a dream (taken from Pam Ewing’s dream on “Dallas” bringing the previous dead Bobby Ewing back to life)!
RIP Christopher Durang
https://deadline.com/2024/04/christopher-durang-dead-playwright-1235872874/