Month: April 2019

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December 13, 1986 – Steve Guttenberg / The Pretenders (S12 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Infidelscam- Iranians hold hearings on their part in arms-for-hostages

— Even though it was a cheap stereotypical middle-eastern joke, I got a laugh from the “oath” just turning out to be high-pitched foreign-dialect screaming. I think there was just something about the visual of A. Whitney Brown doing that that amused me.
— I like how the Iranians are speaking in VERY American accents.
— Haha, Phil is especially doing a very funny American accent.
— Damn, Phil’s delivery of his lines are particularly great here and are getting big laughs. He’s stealing the whole sketch.
— Pretty good cold opening overall.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host plays “War” on his tuba with SNL Band to show that he’s cool

— Steve’s high school reunion story had some laughs.
— I’m liking this performance of “War (What Is It Good For?)”, but again, I’m always a sucker for that song.
STARS: ***


MCSOOSHI
“America’s Eating It Raw” under the golden arches

 

— A very funny parody of McDonalds commercials, with sushi of all things being the subject of this jolly ad.
— Kevin’s brief testimonial was pretty funny.
— Great part with the cutaway to a Japanese guy in the restaurant just shrugging.
STARS: ****


DEREK STEVENS
a marketing expert (KEN) says Derek Stevens should die to help his career

— Dana’s Derek Stevens character becomes recurring.
— Wasn’t necessary to repeat the “Welcome to L.A…. private joke!” greeting from Phil’s character. That line was delivered much funnier in the original Derek Stevens sketch.
— I like the reveal that Phil and Kevin don’t want Derek Stevens to fake his own death; they feel he should genuinely die.
— The made-up song Stevens has started singing is using the same melody as his “The Lady I Know” song (the one with the legendary Choppin’ Broccoli chorus) from his first sketch.
— Yeah, this “My Teeny Little Woman” song he’s singing is paling BADLY in comparison to Choppin’ Broccoli. It’s nothing but a cheap knock-off. I always kinda hate when SNL does stuff like this, where they take something that was an unexpected big hit and then give it a sequel where they just lazily do a rewrite of the original script, hoping lightning will strike twice.
— Okay, they kinda won me back at the end of this sketch, with Stevens being given a new car that’s obviously set up to crash.
— Overall, there were laughs in the beginning and end of this sketch, but I took issue with the middle where they tried to replicate the success of the Choppin’ Broccoli number.
STARS: **½


BLIND MAN
a homosexual (host) poses as a woman to seduce a blind guy (JOL)

— Fairly funny how Steve is pretending to leave and then sneaks back into blind Jon’s bed.
— Jon’s “Oh! Oh!” reactions every time he realizes Steve is in his bed are cracking me up.
— Good part with Steve doing various voices when pretending the cops have arrived.
— The mock-PSA ending didn’t really add much to this.
— Not sure if I should like this overall sketch or not. I mean, I got laughs throughout it, but the homosexual subject matter feels questionable and touchy, to say the least. IIRC, this sketch received quite a lot of flack when it originally aired, and resulted in this overall episode not getting a rerun on NBC that season.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Get Me Wrong”


SIDESHOW OF THE STARS
Baboon Boy Casey Kasem (DAC) & other freaks

 

— Interesting use of Penn and Teller.
— Funny visual of Dana’s Casey Kasem as “Baboon Boy”.
— Nice to see Jan’s solid Sally Kellerman impression back.
— The debut of Phil’s classic Charlton Heston impression.
— Haha, holy hell at the priceless part with Phil’s Heston biting the fake chicken’s head off.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
lengthy National Spelling Bee ends when (host) misspells “aiieeeee”
Babette likens repairing USA-France relations to apologizing to a lover

— Interesting cutaway to a spelling bee scene, which is basically coming off as a mini-sketch in the middle of Update.
— I like the unusual words Victoria and Steve have to spell.
— I didn’t get Dennis’ bit about cardboard cutouts.
— Nora’s Babette character makes her first appearance since last season.
— So far, tonight’s Babette commentary is going in the same direction as her last appearance, with her acting out another passionate phone conversation between America and France.
— Yeah, Babette’s overall commentary tonight didn’t work for me at all. Much like Derek Stevens, this is another example tonight of a recurring character treading the same old ground that was done better in their previous appearance.
STARS: ***


MOVIE TALK
host’s girlfriend’s parents’ (PHH) & (JAH) movie knowledge is limited

— Jan appears to be playing her Marge Keister character, but she seems to have a different last name in this.
— Not much on big laughs here so far, but this sketch has a nice low-key, slice-of-life feel, and I’m really enjoying the character work and interplay between Phil and Jan.
STARS: ***


PENN AND TELLER
Penn & Teller [real] perform The World’s Most Expensive Card Trick

 

— Fascinating set-up to the trick, and I like how Penn is being broadcast from outdoors (though I don’t know if that’s truly being performed live, or if it’s pre-taped).
— Clever way of broadcasting the couple’s card onto the Times Square jumbotron.
— Entertaining segment overall.
— IIRC, this ends up being the last time Penn and Teller ever appear on the show. Not only that, but I believe this also sadly ends up being the end of SNL’s tradition of bringing stand-up comics and comedy magicians onto the show as special guest performers. That tradition would end up making a one-night-only comeback years later in 1998 when a then-unknown Tenacious D performed their act on the show.
STARS: ***½


THE BACK PAGE
’30s newspaper reporters cover the less important stories

— Glad to see another black-and-white old-timey sketch with this cast.
— Man, this cast is so damn good at giving these 30s/40s-era sketches such an authentic feel with their delivery, demeanor, etc.
— Dana: “Why, I oughta pound you!”
— I like Phil’s penchant for coming up with catchy alliterate headlines off the top of his head.
— Pretty charming piece overall.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Nice random continuation of the Movie Talk sketch, with Jan’s character briefly interrupting Steve’s musical guest intro to callback to something she had been trying to remember in the earlier sketch.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How Much Did You Get For Your Soul”


CASTING DIRECTOR
actress (VIJ) misreads casting agent’s (KEN) body language as cues

— I like how Victoria is outlandishly following Kevin’s misdirected hand gestures during his phone conversation.
— Good pratfall out the window from Victoria, all the while Kevin is completely oblivious.
— This felt like the type of short random sketch that would’ve appeared in an early episode from season 1.
STARS: ***


BOB ROBERTS
a profile of reactionary folk singer Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins)

 

— We suddenly get a random Tim Robbins-starring short film; one that would later be turned into a movie, which Robbins would host SNL to promote (and do a live sketch as the character during the episode).
— Robbins’ cigarette-smoking song was really funny.
— The “yuppie scum” comment from the rock-and-roll critic cracked me up.
— Another funny song from Robbins, this time about rich pride.
— Solid film overall.
STARS: ***½


AL-ANON
(PHH)’s high Christmas spirit is a symptom of alcoholism, says (NOD)

— Haha, great unexpected turn with this turning out to be an anti-drinking PSA. Excellent twist that gives Phil’s actions as the overly-generous father a different meaning in hindsight.
STARS: ****


CHRISSIE HYNDE AND BUSTER POINDEXTER
Chrissie Hynde & Buster Poindexter [real] perform “Rockin’ Good Way”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An unremarkable episode, with nothing standing out as particularly strong (well, maybe McSooshi, but that’s just a short commercial). That being said, the show did have a consistent feel with mostly decent sketches, which at least made the episode still come off pretty enjoyable though nothing special.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short):
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
William Shatner hosts the Christmas episode

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December 6, 1986 – Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short / Randy Newman (S12 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
stumblebums KEN, CHC, Steve, MAS attend meeting at the Gerald Ford Clinic

— Funny premise here, between a Gerald Ford Clinic and a Stumblebums Anonymous meeting.
— Hilarious entrance from Martin Short.
— I like how each host enters in a clumsier fashion than the last, culminating in an impressive long stretch of physical stumbles from Chevy. When it comes to doing the stumblebum routine, I see Chevy’s still got it at this point.
— Overall, a short but sweet opening, and a fun way to introduce tonight’s three hosts.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
a confident Steve proclaims “I’m Me!” as he marches through the studio

   

— For the first time this season, after the opening montage ends, we’re shown two NBC pages opening the backstage doors that have the SNL logo on them (screencap below), which leads into the camera zooming towards the home base stage as the host(s) makes their entrance. This would go on to become a regular thing for pretty much the remainder of this season, I believe.

— Boy, it’s an amazing sight, seeing these three guys onstage hosting together.
— Chevy mentions his recent rehab stint, which Dennis Miller previously hinted at during his sign-off in the season premiere’s Weekend Update (“Good luck, Chevy; you are in our thoughts”).
— Great bit with Martin trying to forcefeed painkillers to a reluctant Chevy.
— Steve wistfully mentions he hasn’t stood on this stage in a long time. Indeed, aside from a cameo at the end of an Eddie Murphy-hosted episode from 1982, this is Steve’s first hosting stint since way back in the original era. I can only imagine how excited SNL fans in 1986 must’ve been when hearing the news that Steve was finally making his hosting return. Until this point, it was probably assumed that Steve was taking the Buck Henry stance of retiring as a host to remain loyal to the original cast.
— LOL at Martin humorously shoehorning his great Katherine Hepburn impression into his pep talk to Steve.
— Some aspects of Steve “It’s Me” song, especially the solo from stage manager Joe Dicso and the visual of the cast marching behind Steve as he goes around the studio, remind me so much of a certain famous “Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight” musical number he would later do in his 1991 hosting stint.
— Funny part with Steve encountering a lookalike in the audience doing Steve’s 70s shtick, complete with an arrow-through-the-head prop.
— Love how in Lorne’s brief appearance, he just deadpan-ly asks “Are you about through, Steve?”
— Overall, wow, what an incredible monologue. While I found it kinda strange how it eventually just turned into a big-ol’ Steve Martin showcase halfway through, leaving the other two hosts in the dust, I’m not complaining because the Steve Martin showcase was very fun, Chevy and Martin each got their individual moment in the spotlight early on, and the overall monologue was fantastic. I loved the extensive staging of this whole thing.
STARS: ****½


MASTERMIND
away from the cameras, Ronald Reagan (PHH) is a dynamic, effective leader

— The debut of Phil’s Ronald Reagan impression. Out of the many people who’ve portrayed Reagan on SNL, I’ve always considered Phil’s take to be the quintessential version.
— Great Reagan make-up on Phil, giving him the face wrinkles, turkey neck, and everything. We’ve come a long way from Randy Quaid’s Reagan impression just the year before, where the only thing the make-up people did was just slick his hair back, which did NOTHING to help his non-resemblance to Reagan.
— There’s the famous turn after Nora leaves, where Phil’s “doddering” Reagan is immediately revealed to actually be a brilliant, complex, stern man in charge.
— Amusing seeing Dennis with his trademark 80s hair greased down into a normal, neat style. (third-to-last screencap above)
— I absolutely love how when being told he has to take a photo with a girl scout, Phil’s Reagan angrily responds “DAMN!” and “This is the part of the job I hate!”
— Haha, now he’s speaking in fluent Arabic over a phone speaker.
— We also get the debut of Dana’s hilarious Jimmy Stewart impression. For some reason, I hadn’t remembered that part of this sketch.
— Overall, a masterpiece. This is among some of SNL’s greatest political satire, and Phil was amazing to watch here. Definitely one of his all-time best performances, which is really saying something.
STARS: *****


COUCH CUSHIONS
(CHC)’s sofa search for the channel changer turns up missing valuables

— I’m liking the increasingly absurd and excessive number of things found in the couch cushion, especially the black bananas.
— And now this has gotten even funnier with the skeleton of the family dog.
— Funny random Paul Williams cameo as the latest thing found in the couch. [ADDENDUM: According to commenter Jurb, that was actually Marc Shaiman playing Paul Williams.]
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Longest Night”


THE EGGSHELL FAMILY
a cautious clan deals with an incoming phone call

 

— Funny how the family appears to be playing Scrabble, considering Scrabble letters are one of the things found in the couch during the Couch Cushions sketch.
— Not sure how to feel about this sketch so far.
— Yeah, I’m not liking where this has been going.
— Some awkwardness from Steve during the sketch-ending audience applause. It looked like he mouthed an out-of-character “What was that?” to Martin. I’d like to think that was Steve second-guessing the material he had just performed, because boy did I not care for this sketch. This just didn’t work, despite the performers’ best efforts.
STARS: *½


A HOLIDAY WISH
Steve delineates increasingly-selfish Christmas desires

— A very famous piece that’s often included in SNL’s annual Christmas compilation special.
— Loved the line “First would be the crap about the kids…”
— Hilarious line about an extended 31-day orgasm.
— Very funny how overly complicated the wishes are getting, and how he’s debating with himself which wish he should put first.
— Overall, a true classic, and a very quintessential Steve Martin piece.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE
co-anchor CHC tracks Ronald Reagan’s rapidly-declining approval rating
DEM’s Iran-Contra See n’ Say refuses to incriminate itself
press secretary Tommy Flanagan bluffs about Iran-Contra

— Oh, we get the return of Chevy at the Update desk, this time being Dennis’ co-anchor.
— Hilarious punchline from Dennis about comedian Gallagher still being a jerk.
— Chevy’s Reagan approval rating poll bit fell completely flat.
— Ha, and just now, Dennis acknowledged the same thing I pointed out above, by sarcastically saying “Thank you, Chevy; exciting story there.”
— God, Chevy and Dennis’ “chemistry” is painfully awkward. Dennis’ hip 80s, self-aware, meta style clashes terribly against Chevy’s old-school, professional, mock-straitlaced style. Doesn’t help that Chevy’s not exactly on his game in tonight’s Update.
— The “Congressional Subpoena See-and-Say” bit initially seemed like a promising idea, but didn’t work in its execution.
— Yet another Tommy Flanagan appearance.
— Flanagan’s line about his mistress being Jeane Kirkpatrick was the only real laugh I’ve gotten in his commentary so far.
— Flanagan’s overall commentary was pretty lackluster. It’s beyond obvious that this character is past his prime, and even the studio audience didn’t seem as into his bit tonight as they usually are.
— Chevy’s coming off a little marble-mouthed at times, which I’ve noticed often seems to be the case in a lot of his guest appearances on SNL (the biggest example being his disastrous season 5 hosting stint, particularly his legendarily horrific performance in the “You Can’t Win” gameshow sketch). It’s strange, because his delivery was usually so clear and calm back when he was a cast member.
— Funny ad-lib with Dennis saying (regarding him and Chevy) a tongue-in-cheek “How’s that for witty banter between us?” At least he seems to be fully aware of the awful chemistry between him and Chevy.
— Ugh, stop with the cutaways to the approval rating poll.
— While I want to appreciate the fact that Dennis is having fun with his and Chevy’s clashing styles, it’s cringeworthy seeing Dennis doing his trademark high-pitched laugh and head-bobbing during Chevy’s straitlaced jokes.
— Overall, this Update was a freakin’ mess. While there were a few funny news jokes from Dennis, all of his side gags fell flat, the Tommy Flanagan commentary was the same old tired stuff we’ve been seeing ad nauseam from this character, none of Chevy’s bits worked at all, and the “chemistry” between both anchorpersons was an experiment gone terribly, terribly wrong. Overall, easily the weakest Dennis Miller Weekend Update I’ve covered so far.
STARS: **


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
Corazon Aquino (JAH) isn’t interested in girl talk

— Wow, I’m surprised they waited this long to have Pat Stevens make her first appearance of the season, considering how oft-used she was last season. Unlike with Tommy Flanagan, SNL seems to be aware that they need to severely dial back the frequency of Pat Stevens’ appearances.
— The pre-interview portion of tonight’s installment didn’t work for me at all. Just felt like Pat Stevens was treading the same old ground she’s already covered before.
— Pat asking Jan’s Aquino about the 3,000 pairs of shoes is pretty funny.
— I loved Jan-as-Aquino’s facial reaction to being asked how her husband (who was assassinated years ago) is currently doing.
— Overall, some laughs, but by this point, this recurring sketch feels like it’s run its course. That probably doesn’t end up being true in the long run, because I recall there being some funny installments in later episodes to come (e.g. the Barbara Bush/Kitty Dukakis interview with Phil and Jan).
STARS: **


HALSEY & ROARKE, BRITISH CUSTOMS
British customs agents (Eric Idle) & (DAC) inspect suspicious items

— ERIC IDLE! Very random but awesome.
— While this sketch is in a not-too-late time slot in the rerun version I’m watching, this originally aired as the final sketch of the night, which is INSANE. Why in the world would you bury a freakin’ Eric Idle cameo at the end of an episode?!? SNL probably would’ve been better off saving his cameo for a more conventional episode, because I feel like the novelty of having Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase all hosting together caused Eric Idle’s big cameo to get lost in the shuffle and become an afterthought on SNL’s part.
— This sketch is pretty funny so far, and I like seeing Eric and Dana teamed together.
— Funny how they believed Martin’s very obvious lie.
— Overall, a decent sketch, though it started feeling a little one-note after a while and wasn’t as great as an Eric Idle-starring sketch should’ve been.
STARS: ***


THE DEVIL & ED GRIMLEY
Mephistopheles comes to Ed Grimley’s apartment to steal his soul

— Ed Grimley!
— I like how his mere mention that it’s time to play the triangle receives audience applause in anticipation.
— Haha, and there goes Grimley’s hilarious triangle dance.
— Great sudden inclusion of Jon’s Mephistopheles. I always like when recurring characters from different eras meet.
— Nice touch with one of the relatives Grimley mentions being his Uncle Basil, which is the character Howard Cosell memorably played in the final Ed Grimley sketch from Martin’s tenure as a cast member.
— Fantastic turn with Grimley using his framed Pat Sajak photo to ward off Mephistopheles.
— An okay ending with Grimley and Mephistopheles doing the triangle dance together.
STARS: ****


CHURCH POTLUCK LUNCHEON
Church Lady & Minister Bob (CHC) act superior at a potluck luncheon

— Good change of pace seeing Church Lady outside of the Church Chat setting.
— Church Lady has some really funny comments to Victoria.
— Yes!  We get the debut of Church Lady’s priceless superior dance, which is a riot.
— Good turn with Jan showing up drunk and bitter towards Church Lady.
— Certain aspects of this sketch strangely remind me of future cast member Nancy Walls’ first Gail Lafferty sketch (the bake sale character who constantly threatened other ladies with an ass-kicking) from 10 years later. Both sketches even look like they have the same set, and both sketches even have a walk-on from the host playing a minister (Chevy in this sketch, Tom Arnold in the Gail Lafferty sketch).
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Roll With The Punches”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fairly solid episode, though not quite as strong as I was expecting with this spectacular trio of hosts. The biggest highlights of this episode were phenomenal (monologue, Mastermind, A Holiday Wish), but there were a few things that REALLY didn’t work for me (The Eggshell Family, Weekend Update, portions of The Pat Stevens Show), and the overall show didn’t feel like the classic it should’ve been. Still, I can’t complain much because I certainly enjoyed most of the show.
— The three hosts came off very fun and it was nice seeing them blend in with this cast during the sketches. It was particularly good to see Steve Martin on the show again after such a long hiatus, as his return reminded me of how much fun I had reviewing his frequent episodes from the original era. Sure his style by this point in the mid-80s has noticeably become more toned-down and mellow than this manic style from the 70s, but he’s still as funny and reliable as ever. I’m glad he goes back to being a frequent host after this episode. I’d also like to add that Chevy Chase came off a little more likable tonight than he usually does in his hosting stints. I’ve never heard any backstage stories about him acting nasty towards this season’s cast like he’s acted towards other casts, so I’d like to think that recently coming out of rehab humbled his ego and kept him in check for a while. Maybe the fact that he had two people co-hosting with him also had something to do with that.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robin Williams):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Steve Guttenberg

Posted on

November 22, 1986 – Robin Williams / Paul Simon with Ladysmith Black Mambazo (S12 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
crosstalk in Ronald Reagan’s (host) earpiece disrupts press conference

— For tonight only, Robin Williams takes over the Ronald Reagan impression, which was unoccupied at the time, as our last Reagan impersonator, Randy Quaid, had recently left, and Phil Hartman hadn’t taken over the role yet (the latter’s Reagan impression actually debuts in the very next episode, in a legendary sketch).
— I also wonder if this is the only time a sitting president was played by a non-cast member before Alec Baldwin made that a regular thing in recent years.
— Good Reagan voice from Robin, and it’s nice to see that unlike with Randy Quaid, SNL has actually made an effort to make Robin look like Reagan.
— Love how Robin’s Reagan is heard off-camera quietly singing the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” song when he’s about to make his press conference entrance.
— LOL at him actually walking out of the conference just to briefly tell the two earpiece technicians that he was only pausing for dramatic effect.
— Very funny turn with Reagan’s earpiece receiving interference, leading to him repeating police reports out loud. It was especially hilarious when he repeats one particular report of a perpetrator being a “burly male negro” as the press members he’s in front of stare on in shock.
— Haha, and now he tries to play off his aforementioned “burly male negro” utterance as him describing our new ambassador to South Africa.
— Good ending with the interference going particularly wild, leading to Reagan repeating a rapid-fire string of different things from different radio stations. Strong use of Robin’s penchant for doing various voices.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about the Reagan administration & televangelists

— For some reason, the regular home base stage is blocked by a huge brick wall with windows (which, by the way, forces the SNL Band into the “alley” to the left of the home base stage). SNL usually only has that wall set up for some of the musical guests’ performances this season; it’s a little unusual how they’re using it for a host’s monologue. I do know it happens again later this season in at least one other monologue, when Dennis Hopper hosts the season finale. I think it might also be in Willie Nelson’s monologue, but I’m not 100% sure.
— I like the fact that Robin’s immediately launching into jokes about the Reagan press conference that SNL just spoofed in the cold opening.
— The part about how Reagan talks like a badly-dubbed kung fu movie had me howling.
— Some really good material from Robin going through the “cast of supporting characters” that is Reagan’s White House administration.
— Boy, this monologue is a riot so far.
— I particularly love the part just now about Jesus coming back as a large black man named Jesse.
— Overall, a hilarious monologue and a big improvement over Robin’s disappointingly average monologue from his season 9 hosting stint. The laughs in tonight’s monologue were very consistent, and that combined with the fast pacing of Robin’s jokes had me laughing pretty much non-stop for the entire duration.
STARS: ****½


TICKET LINE
musical guest has incredible memory but can’t recall Art Garfunkel [real]

— Some good laughs from the increasing absurdity of the small details that Paul remembers about fans he met years ago.
— I like the little touch with Paul and Jon’s absurdly-long handshake as they’re speaking to each other.
— Solid punchline with Paul not recognizing his former partner Art Garfunkel.
STARS: ***½


THE NEW YORK WORD EXCHANGE
(PHH) tells how investors can make money at the New York Word Exchange

— A funny concept of investing in words, and this is so perfect for Phil Hartman’s style. Unsurprisingly, he’s executing this perfectly.
— A particularly funny bit with how “da”, a variant of the word “the”, is gaining more and more popularity in recent years.
— A very solid overall sketch that had such a quintessential Phil Hartman feel.
STARS: ****


HAMLET
Shakespeare (JOL) can’t stand improvisational comedian’s (host) Hamlet

— Robin playing himself as a Shakespearean-era anachronistic improv comedian is a perfect use of his ad-libbing tendencies.
— Love how Robin suddenly enters the play wearing a comically-oversized codpiece.
— Overall, very fun and strong sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ronald Reagan demonstrates qualifications for the job of Isuzu spokesman
AWB on whether censorship or pay-TV smut is a bigger threat to SNL

— Boy, is Dennis speeding through these jokes.
— Ha, and now he actually acknowledged the same thing I pointed out above, by jokingly acting out of breath and saying “I had to slow down; I was about to pass out.”
— Good bit with President Reagan’s “audition” for Isuzu commercial spokesman, represented by clips of Reagan lying at a press conference while disclaimers on the bottom of the screen call him out. This is probably only funny if you’re aware of the real Joe Isuzu commercials this is spoofing, which I’m familiar with from seeing coverage of in some 80s documentaries.
— An interesting mention of veteran SNL bandmember Cheryl Hardwick recently getting married to former SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue.
— I like the meta-ness of how A. Whitney’s commentary tonight is about censorship that SNL faces.
— A big laugh from A. Whitney summing up SNL’s viewers as being “a jaded, thick-skinned group of thrill-seekers”, which receives enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
— Coincidentally, A. Whitney’s censorship commentary has suddenly started repeatedly cutting to a static-y screen in the copy I’m watching of this episode. I know it’s just some kind of TV or tape error, but it’s unintentionally funny because it makes it seem like NBC is panickedly censoring A. Whitney’s stance against censorship.
STARS: ***


BAYCREST JEWISH RETIREMENT HOME
Sweeneys sing a Fiddler On The Roof medley at a Jewish retirement home

— Good elderly Jewish voice on Robin.
— The Sweeney Sisters now officially become recurring.
— Strangely, musical guest Paul Simon seems to be appearing in more sketches tonight than he did in the episode he actually (co-)hosted the previous season.
— A strong medley from the Sisters tonight, even if I didn’t recognize most of the Jewish-themed songs in this.
— Not sure I needed the additional musical number from Robin and Paul, but it still had a charming vibe that made it enjoyable enough.
STARS: ***½


AND SO ADIEU
Master Thespian’s inability to remember a line frustrates director (host)

— An interesting change of pace for Master Thespian. Assuming all his prior appearances were set in modern times, he must be a time-traveler, because he looks the same age in this sketch, which takes place in 1937.
— I liked Robin’s little ad-lib when Phil corrects a line flub of his.
— Master Thespian’s various ways of screwing up his one line in the scene is increasingly cracking me up.
— Funny how the tables have turned on Robin and Jon. In the Hamlet sketch earlier tonight, Robin was the comedic character and Jon was the stern straight man who was aggravated by Robin throwing off the scene. Now in this Master Thespian sketch, Jon is the comedic character and Robin is the stern straight man who is aggravated by Jon throwing off the scene. Also in both sketches, Phil is the man in the middle of all this craziness.
— I’m really enjoying Robin’s growing frustration, especially him telling Master Thespian “You say it or you die!”
— LOL at the part just now with Phil and Master Thespian getting mixed up and saying each other’s line.
— This sketch is getting funnier and funnier. Much like the monologue, I can’t stop laughing now.
— Overall, it’s amazing how much laughs they managed to get out of such a simple, thin premise.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
host translates while Whoopi Goldberg [real] introduces musical guest

— Fun bit.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Boy in the Bubble”


AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA
Automobile Club spokesman KEN rambles while discussing proper map use

— Kevin’s already getting good laughs early on with his various attempts to open the map by licking his fingers.
— You can tell this is most likely a bit from Kevin’s stand-up, but this is really funny so far. Throughout his SNL tenure, Kevin often shows a strong knack for adapting his stand-up material into great SNL bits.
— I especially love the map-tearing bit right now when talking about his Hawaii trip.
— The bit about a heavyset tour guide using her leg as a map was a hilarious ending.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Late Great Johnny Ace”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fantastic episode. I’ve always had so much love for this episode, and I’m glad to see from my viewing tonight that it still holds up. In fact, I walked away from this viewing feeling that this episode just may be one of my personal favorites of this entire era. There weren’t ANY segments in this episode that I disliked; every single segment worked for me, and most of them were particularly great. This episode was pretty much flawless. Robin Williams was an even better host than he was in his previous hosting stint in the Ebersol era, and he added such a fun energy to tonight’s episode. His monologue in particular may be one of my favorite stand-up monologues I’ve ever seen on SNL. I’m looking forward to his third hosting stint next season.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sam Kinison):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
The impressive recent streak of funny comedians hosting the show continues, as our next episode is helmed by the trio of Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. The latter makes his return as host for the first time since the original era.

Posted on

November 15, 1986 – Sam Kinison / Lou Reed (S12 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
mad that host is doing SNL, Church Lady confronts him & Seka [real]

— Another Church Chat sketch already, for the second episode in a row?
— I believe this is the first time Church Lady’s “Isn’t that special?” catchphrase has received recognition applause from the audience.
— Interesting meta premise with Church Lady announcing she won’t be appearing on SNL this week because she’s protesting guest host Sam Kinison for his most recent SNL stand-up segment where he, as Church Lady puts it, “said naughty things about crack and Christ.”
— I really like the fourth-wall break with her walking off the Church Chat set and heading to SNL’s backstage to confront Sam Kinison.
— Funny turn with Sam giving Church Lady “what she needs”, which is a big raunchy kiss.
— Great “Live from New York…” delivery from Sam, who’s trademark scream is absolutely perfect for SNL’s LFNY sign-on.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
after host plays guitar with SNL Band, cops on horseback monitor language

— Wow, fantastic entrance from Sam, joining the SNL Band’s theme music-playing by jamming out on an electric guitar. This is the first of what would end up being a few instances over the years where upon entering for their monologue, the host joins G.E. Smith and the SNL Band in an extended version of SNL’s theme music. Other instances would be Kevin Kline in 1988 and Rick Moranis in 1989. Not sure if there are any others I’m forgetting.
— I like the callback Sam’s making to some of his topical jokes from his appearance in the Jimmy Breslin episode last season.
— LOL at the entrance from two policemen on horses, to keep Sam on watch.
— I’m surprised by how short this overall monologue was, and how it ended without him even doing any actual stand-up, but I enjoyed what this contained.
STARS: ***


ADOBE
the little $179 Mexican import car is made out of clay

— Very funny concept of a car made of clay.
— I like Phil demonstrating the features of the car.
— Great montage of various people using the clay cars, especially the part with Nora molding a dent in her car back into shape, and the tennis couple exiting from their car with the backs of their outfits being clay-stained.
— A solid and memorable commercial overall.
STARS: ****


PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE
at parent-teacher meeting, (host) tells (JAH) & (KEN) their kid is stupid

— Already a laugh just from Sam walking on as a school teacher.
— Hilarious part with Sam’s theory of why he can’t get through to Jan and Kevin’s daughter, which is him bluntly saying “she’s so stupid”. Great reaction from Jan and Kevin as well.
— Love the part with Sam showing Jan and Kevin the sun outside and asking them if they see a smiley face on it.
— I’m enjoying how worked up Sam’s getting when talking about a disturbing Vietnam story he wrote for his students.
— An okay reveal at the end that Dana’s the real teacher, leading Sam to jump out the window. I probably would’ve enjoyed that ending more if it didn’t end up becoming a go-to ending that SNL would sometimes have a tendency to use as a lazy cop-out (e.g. the Park Ranger Tree Slice sketch with Tom Arnold).
STARS: ***½


JUNGLE ROOM
Chick Hazard (PHH) keeps an eye on ’40s club owner Eddie Spimozo (JOL)

— Here’s this era’s very first instance of a black-and-white sketch set in an earlier decade, which is a type of sketch this cast would go on to really excel in.
— There’s especially a strong part right now with all the back-and-forths between Jon and Phil, reminding me of their great chemistry in the memorable Johnny O’Connor sketch from earlier this season.
— Another sketch that showcases Jon’s fantastic singing voice. I especially loved the long operatic note he held at the end of this number. Speaking of which, I think this is the musical number they show during the ending credits of Jon’s Best Of special.
STARS: ****


FRESH BREAD
those plastic things keep bread fresher than those twisty deals

— Wait, what the heck did I just watch?  This segment was so random and brief, I almost missed it. This seemed intended as a quick, throwaway, going-to-commercial bit, being only 5 seconds long, which makes this one of the shortest segments in SNL history.
— This also ended with awkward silence from the audience, as if they were like me and didn’t know what to make of this segment.
STARS: N/A (too short to rate)


PET CHICKEN SHOP
Ching Change (DAC) doesn’t want to part with the chickens in his pet shop

— OH NO. The debut of… THIS character. Oh, how I had long been dreading having to eventually cover these sketches.
— As if I ALREADY hadn’t been enjoying where this sketch was going, now Dana breaks out into a song. (*groan*)
— Overall, yikes. Really don’t know what else to say here, other than the fact that I shudder at how many more of these Ching Change sketches I have to put up with these next few seasons.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Love You, Suzanne”


LOVE CONNECTION
host relives his hellish date with a pair of lesbians

— I always forget that Sam’s a former minister. I can’t picture him in that position at all.
— We get the return of Jan’s Marge Keister character from the Quiz Masters sketch in the season premiere. I’ve always felt this was one of Jan’s more underrated recurring characters from her overall SNL tenure, and I like how they always work her into a different random setting in each of her appearances.
— We also get the return of an even lesser-known character: Nora’s butch Dr. Norma Hoeffering character from the Donahue sketch earlier this season.
— I got a huge laugh from Sam’s eyes-rolled-up possessed facial expression when its mentioned that his two dates took him to a horse farm.
— What’s with the audio all of a sudden? During the interview with Nora and her female partner, Sam and (especially) Kevin’s dialogue keeps occasionally sounding strangely echo-ish?
— Sam keeps stepping on Nora’s lines with his screaming ad-libs, which completely drowned out one of her lines at one point.
— Overall, this sketch got some good laughs out of me. But if you’re not a fan of Sam Kinison’s screaming outburst routine, I can definitely understand why you wouldn’t like this sketch, as that’s basically all this sketch turned into after a while.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
footage of VIJ’s undercover Central Park mission to look for terrorism

 

— Dennis begins this Update by randomly ad-libbing “Never let ’em see ya sweat”, which receives a great amount of applause from the audience. There’s actually a backstory to this. According to an old SNL newsgroup post from someone who claims they were at the show the night of this episode (read the post here, though you may have to scroll down to see it; also, it’s a bit confusing, as the poster remembers the incident as happening in the Justine Bateman-hosted episode from next season… who knows, maybe it happened in both the Kinison and Bateman episodes), SNL’s stagehands took longer than usual assembling the Weekend Update set and barely made it in time before the show returned from commercial. This is supposedly what prompted Dennis’ “Never let ’em see ya sweat” ad-lib. I think this story is legit, because I noticed that when the camera first showed Dennis at the beginning of this Update, you can see the clock in the background winding around VERY fast, as if the stagehands weren’t finished setting the correct time on it.
— Another Victoria Jackson video clip that just turns out to be her playing with her baby.
— Fairly funny how Victoria is heard cracking up in the middle of her voice-over during the video.
— After the video ends, Dennis mocks Victoria’s aforementioned laughing, which was a cute moment.
— Kinda sad that these baby home video Update commentaries have been the ONLY big things Victoria has done so far in her SNL tenure. She’s definitely been struggling to leave a mark this season, unlike her fellow newbies who have all gotten a significant number of things to do so far and have all made a strong impression on audiences.
— Strong joke from Dennis about Ted Turner wanting to colorize the first 20 minutes of The Wizard of Oz.
— Dennis’ random suggestion for everybody to cough tomorrow at 10 a.m. to mess with people’s heads initially receives silence from the audience, then a few boos for some reason. Weird.
STARS: ***


DANCING LORD
(JOL) uses reverse psychology to sketch portrait of a dancing king (DAC)

— Funny seeing Dennis dressed as an 18th century character at the beginning of the sketch.
— This hyperactive foppish character seems like a role that Dana Carvey was born to play.
— Clever turn with Dana dancing himself to the point of collapse, which was a ruse by Jon to keep Dana still so he can sketch him.
STARS: ***


KRYPTON SURVIVES
after Jor-El (host) sends Superman to Earth, Krypton doesn’t blow up

 

— First time we’ve really seen Sam in character and in a wig all night.
— I got a laugh from Sam telling Nora “You know, there’s still time to squirt one off if you want.”
— When the phone ringing sound effect continues to play even after Sam has picked up the phone, he ad-libs into the receiver “Yeah, I answered the phone, will ya stop ringing it?”, which gets a great audience reaction.
— Okay, here’s where the decision to turn practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight into a Sam Kinison scream-fest is starting to take its toll on me. His screaming isn’t working for this sketch at all.
— An unintentional laugh from seeing A. Whitney Brown of all people (in his ONLY appearance all night, by the way) in a non-speaking bit role as a tough criminal.
— Overall, a sketch that started out okay but slowly died a terrible death over the course of four minutes. Bad sketch as a whole.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Original Wrapper”


SAM KINISON STAND-UP
host does stand-up about how he’s misunderstood- he actually loves women

— Oh, looks like we DO get some Kinison stand-up tonight after all.
— Some laughs from him talking about his bad knack for choosing women who he knows will “bust him up good”.
— Good risque humor from the bit about guys trying to crack women’s “combinations”.
— Decent stand-up set overall.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This appears to be a fairly polarizing episode, and I suppose which side you fall on depends on your view of Sam Kinison. As someone who’s always enjoyed Sam’s comedy, I used to absolutely love this episode in my past viewings. Hell, I used to consider this and the following week’s Robin Williams-hosted episode the point where this SNL era officially took off. Looking at this episode through a more critical eye now, especially after recently discovering that Sam’s stand-up performances in his earlier SNL appearances were surprisingly hit-and-miss, I still enjoyed this episode, but can see that there were some things that really didn’t work, and I can also see that 90 minutes of Sam’s screaming shtick DID start wearing thin towards the end of the night. So overall, I’m no longer as big on this episode as I used to be, but I’d still call it a good show as a whole.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rosanna Arquette):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Robin Williams

Posted on

November 8, 1986 – Rosanna Arquette / Ric Ocasek (S12 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DISCLAIMER
newsreel shows why World Series caused SNL to be taped; Ron Darling cameo

— Interesting way to open the show, explaining in a newsreel footage-esque piece how for the first time in SNL’s 11-year history, a live episode was pre-empted and had to be taped for a later week.
— Random observation: Ron Darling strongly resembles Andy Kaufman.
— Funny how comically serious Ron Darling’s speech about finding out SNL was pre-empted is.
— Overall, I loved how they presented this whole thing, and Don Pardo’s dialogue was well-written.
— I really have to wonder how hardcore SNL fans back then, especially ones who aren’t baseball fans, reacted on that fateful night of October 25th when finding out that a live episode they were probably eagerly awaiting (especially in a new-and-improved season of SNL like this) wasn’t going to air after all. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like if that happened nowadays (even though I’m currently on a hiatus from watching new SNL episodes).
— Also, here’s something else I’ve always wondered: if this episode was originally scheduled to air on October 25th but got pre-empted, why did they wait TWO weeks to air it on November 8th? Why not air it on November 1st, the week after it was originally scheduled? Was a non-SNL program already planned to air in SNL’s timeslot on November 1st?
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


COLD OPENING
Tommy Flanagan poses as LOM, sells host on a “neck with producer” sketch

— The whole “Neck with the Producer” thing is pretty funny.
— Here comes yet another Tommy Flanagan appearance. But not to worry, because IIRC, after tonight’s episode, SNL goes really light on him for the rest of the season, and he barely (if ever) appears in any of the subsequent seasons of Jon Lovitz’s SNL tenure.
— I like Flanagan’s ridiculous claims to Rosanna about how the “Neck with the Producer” script contains a hidden message about the homeless.
— Uh-oh. During Flanagan’s long consecutive string of lies, I can tell they’re adding in canned laughter. It’s the dreaded return of season 11’s infamous practice of sweetening audience reactions in reruns. I understand why they had to use that practice back THEN, considering season 11’s dire quality, but why use it NOW, during an actual good season? Me thinks Lorne is taking a few too many liberties with the fact that he had several weeks to tweak this pre-empted episode before it aired.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Lorne’s reaction to the “Neck with the Producer” script.
— Overall, one of the better Tommy Flanagan sketches in a while.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Rosanna immediately starts this monologue by excitedly asking the audience “How about those Mets?!?”, which reminds me of how Malcolm-Jamal Warner similarly started the last monologue by asking “How about those Red Sox?” Unlike that, however, Rosanna’s Mets mention would later still be left intact in reruns.
— A fairly promising idea, with Rosanna thinly veiling her criticisms of President Reagan to appease the equal time rule.
— Wow, it’s over already? This was a VERY short monologue; too short, in fact. This felt like it had good potential to go further.
STARS: **


THE PEOPLE’S COURT
a white trash hairdresser (host) sues Mephistopheles

 

— I love this premise and it’s a great way to use Jon’s Mephistopheles. This is the most well-known Mephistopheles sketch, and probably the absolute best.
— Very funny reveal of Jan’s character being Rosanna’s mother, when both characters look almost the exact same age.
— Love the various split-screen parts of this.
— Memorable ending with Mephistopheles’ message into the camera, ordering us to worship him.
— Overall, a fantastic sketch that’s well-deserved of its high status.
STARS: *****


CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady scolds Jenny Baker (VIJ), host, musical guest

— Good to see this back.
— More signs that tonight’s pre-empted episode was heavily tweaked before airing: I can tell this sketch is a mixture of live and dress rehearsal, because the Halloween decorations on Church Lady’s desk keep disappearing and reappearing in different shots. (compare her desk in the two screencaps below)

— I didn’t know Rosanna Arquette had a reputation for being so political, which now explains the monologue she did earlier tonight.
— Ric Ocasek seems pretty out of it here, though maybe that’s just acting.
— Love Church Lady’s reaction to the raunchy clip played from a The Cars music video.
— Church Lady has some really hilarious comments to Ocasek.
— Interesting part with Rosanna’s angry rant to Church Lady, ending with her calling Church Lady a bitch, which appears to humble her for a moment.
— At the end, they transition from this sketch to the next segment by using the same “page turning” screen effect that they used at the end of Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s monologue.
— Overall, a bit of a step up from the debut of this sketch back in the season premiere, but this still isn’t quite at the level these sketches would later be, and they still need to cut back on the overabundance of “Could it beeeeee…. SATAN?!?”s.
STARS: ***½


HELMSLEY SPOOK HOUSE
Leona Helmsley (NOD) shows off her high-class den of horrors

— The debut of Nora’s Leona Helmsley impression, which has always been one of my favorite Nora Dunn roles.
— An okay piece overall, though this didn’t really seem to be trying to be all that funny. It felt like the realistic haunted house features could’ve had more laughs.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Emotion in Motion”


PORK
pole-vaulter (KEN) plans on dining on pork- his body can take it

— Funny reveal of pork being athlete Kevin’s training food of choice, and the announcer’s tagline to eat pork while you’re still healthy.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB discusses how censorship is futile & hypocritical

— Loved Dennis screaming “AAAAH!” as a save when he screws up his U.S./Russia joke, and then reveals to the audience “I am a human being too”.
— A. Whitney’s overall Big Picture commentary tonight was one of his better ones in a while. Some of the noteworthy funny comments were about degrading eye shadow, anti-crack commercials, and how HBO is currently re-running C.H.U.D. for the 47th time.
— Overall, this has got to be the least amount of things I’ve ever had to say about a Weekend Update in all the episodes I’ve covered so far, but that’s not to say this was a poor Update or anything. I still got my usual laughs.
STARS: ***


TWO SAMMIES
Sammies (KEN) & (DAC) watch TV, drink beer, doubt self-improvement odds

— I really like Kevin and Dana’s characterization and chemistry here.
— Haha, Kevin’s line about having to “cop a squirt” got a really good audience reaction.
— “Ahh, that’s ANOTHER thing I’m never gonna do, right?!?”
— Interesting camera angle from the top of the stairs when Phil and Nora are leaving. (third screencap above)
— Fun turn that Phil’s character ended up taking at the end.
— Pretty good sketch overall. You can tell they were setting these two characters up to become recurring. However, here’s the strange thing: these characters only ended up coming back once, and it was TWO YEARS LATER. Geez, by that point, most SNL fans at the time probably completely forgot about these characters’ first appearance.
STARS: ***


DOG BASEBALL
by William Wegman- canines’ owners watch their pets play

— The return of William Wegman. Back in the original SNL era, he did some short films with his dog Man Ray. I also recall him doing one in the Ebersol era.
— Instead of being with Man Ray this time, Wegman is shown with a whole bunch of dogs.
— Wegman’s amusingly-monotone voice-over and descriptions of each dog are making me laugh.
— Overall, I have mixed feelings about this film as a whole. On one hand, some of it bordered on being a little boring, but on the other hand, I like how this had an almost Jack Handey-esque feel, with the bizarre atmosphere, comically-mundane presentation, and monotone voice-over.
STARS: **½


MAKE JOAN BAEZ LAUGH
Howie Mandel’s (JOL) glove-on-head does it

— Interesting concept for a gameshow sketch.
— Phil’s gameshow host is named Big Bill Franklin, which is also the name of the gameshow host he played in the Quiz Masters sketch from the season premiere.
— Nora’s portrayal of a humorless Joan Baez is really good.
— I liked the “whatever” face Phil gave to the camera as an aside after one particular dour statement Nora’s Baez made.
— Jon’s portrayal of Howie Mandel is hilarious. His constant “What? What? What?”s are confusing to me, though. I’ve never known Mandel to constantly say “What?”, but it must be an accurate part of the impression because I recall future cast member Mike Myers later doing the same thing when playing Mandel in a locker room sketch from the Wayne Gretzky episode in season 14.
— Good conclusion with Nora’s Baez doing a laughing spit-take when seeing Jon’s Mandel do the “surgical glove on the head” trick.
STARS: ***½


PORK
enjoy pork after a workout- it’s when your heart can withstand it

— A decent continuation of the earlier pork commercial, and a funny ending visual of a cooked pig.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep on Laughin'”


MISS CONNIE’S FABLE NOOK
clowns Koko (DEM) & Mishu (DAC) teach giant Lebee (KEN) about patience

— Here’s a fleshed-out version of the Koko character that Dennis gave us a sample of in the season premiere’s Weekend Update.
— I wonder if the “Mishu, you’re standing in the stream” part was a real blooper or just part of the script.
— Kevin’s orge-ish grunting as the giant is KINDA amusing me, but I’m just desperate for a laugh at this point of the sketch.
— Boy, Dennis looks like he’s about to start busting out laughing any second.
— Wow, overall, I have absolutely no idea what to make of this sketch. All I know is I didn’t laugh. This sketch felt really out of place on SNL, and seemed like one big inside joke on Dennis.
STARS: *½


I SAW GOD
(host) sings “I Saw God”- He supports her decision to become a star

— Geez, where has Rosanna been? This is the first time we’ve seen her in a sketch since the first half of the episode.
— The audience seems to kinda like the “I Saw God” song so far, but it’s not working for me. I do kinda find the chorus melody catchy, though. Rosanna’s singing voice, on the other hand – yeesh.
— Overall, another strange, random sketch tonight that left me more puzzled than amused. Maybe this was attempting a more charming, softer piece, but if so, it missed its mark for me.
STARS: **


PANGO, GIANT DOG OF TOKYO!
Japanese miniatures are terrorized

     

— Wow, I thought the preceding two sketches were weird, but I can already tell that THIS is gonna take the cake.
— The overly-detailed dialogue during the science lab scene is making me laugh.
— The subsequent scenes has some pretty funny dialogue as well so far.
— Overall, yep, as I expected, a very bizarre film. There were some amusing lines throughout most of it, but the film went on too long and started kinda dragging towards the end.
— This film would later be cut from all reruns and be replaced with a different film titled “Coffee and Cigarettes”, starring Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright. Strange, by the way, how tonight’s episode would receive modifications in reruns, considering the original airing wasn’t even live. You’d figure they’d ALREADY have made all the necessary modifications to the episode before it even first aired.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The episode felt underwhelming compared to how this season had been going, and kinda had the typical burned-out feel that a lot of “third consecutive week” episodes have. There was actually some good stuff in the first half of this episode, however, particularly The People’s Court. It was the back half of the show where the quality seemed to gradually die off very badly. There were lots of strange things towards the end of the show that just didn’t work and confused me over what they were going for.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Malcolm-Jamal Warner):
— a fairly big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Sam Kinison, fresh off his controversial stand-up performance in the Malcolm-Jamal Warner episode

Posted on

October 18, 1986 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner / Run DMC (S12 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Frank Bartles (PHH) & Ed Jaymes (AWB) warn about the dangers of crack

— I like Phil’s blunt reveal that the subject of this Bartles & Jaymes message is… CRACK.
— Some funny background gestures from A. Whitney.
— I believe this is the only time A. Whitney would ever get to say “Live from New York…” during his entire SNL tenure.
— Decent cold opening overall, and an amusing way to address the crack epidemic going on at the time.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
DAC gives host the confidence he needs to do his dance

— The beginning of Malcolm’s talk would later be removed in reruns. In the live version I’m watching, Malcolm starts this monologue by asking the audience “How about those Red Sox?”, which receives quite a negative reaction from the crowd, and Malcolm responds by saying his home team, the Angels, aren’t in the World Series this year, so he doesn’t care who wins. The reruns of this monologue cut out that entire part and just begin with Malcolm saying to the camera afterwards “Hi, Mom; hi, dad.” Not sure why the World Series portion was removed; maybe they felt it was too topical? The cold opening also started with a reference to the World Series (Hartman: “We are sorry the Mets lost… but what a slugfest that was.”), but I don’t remember if that was removed from reruns or not.
— Suffering through Anthony Michael Hall’s amateurish performances last season has made me a little wary of seeing another teenage actor on SNL so soon (Malcolm-Jamal Warner is only 16 years old in this episode), but so far, Malcolm’s actually handling himself pretty well for his age and is coming off likable.
— Dana’s odd, stiff dance moves are providing some good laughs.
— Now Dana’s comical facial expressions are adding even more to the humor of his dancing.
— The SNL Band’s music keeps drowning out a lot of what Malcolm and Dana are saying, including Malcolm’s whole “We got a great show for you tonight” spiel at the end.
— Overall, an okay monologue and a decent showcase for last week’s breakout newbie Dana Carvey.
— Interestingly, instead of a fade to black, this monologue ends with a “page turning” screen effect that transitions it into the next segment. Don’t remember that screen effect ever being used again to end a sketch.
STARS: ***


TEAM XYNEX
Team Xynex gives your employees the ability to goof off more efficiently

— Dana once again gets to steal a scene (this time with his phone-down-the-pants bit at the end).
— An overall quick but funny commercial with how this presented typical office tomfoolery in such a professional way. Also a nice way to use what I think was the entire cast (even A. Whitney Brown was in there).
STARS: ***½


DONAHUE
women in exploitive relationships explain their actions

 

— This sketch is immediately starting off strong with the debut of a very funny and spot-on Donahue impression from Phil Hartman. It’s getting a great reaction from the audience.
— Some really good laughs from Jan’s crying and her pathetic defense of her boyfriend’s terrible actions.
— LOL at Nora’s butch character’s book being titled “Women Good. Men Bad.”
— Good back-and-forth between Nora’s aforementioned character and Donahue, with his desperation to get her to go into details about her personal life.
— Kevin as a brash audience member is hilarious and he’s stealing the sketch.
— I like how when the three female guests are showing interest in Kevin’s character, Nora’s butch character asks “Any sisters at home like you?”
— Overall, a very good sketch and featured strong performances from just about everyone. That being said, there’s another Donahue sketch they do later this season that I’ve always liked even more than this one.
STARS: ****


THE CROSBY SHOW
Theo Huxtable (host) dreams he’s in Bing Crosby’s (PHH) family

 

— Haha, quite strange seeing Cliff Huxtable being portrayed by the cigar-holding hand of a black extra while an unseen Dana Carvey is doing the Bill Cosby voice-over. Something about that cracks me up to no end. But really, it makes the lack of any black performers in this season’s cast painfully obvious.
— Dana’s vocal impression of Cosby is very funny, especially him constantly ending his sentences with “Ya see?”
— Funny turn with this Cosby Show take-off turning out to star Bing Crosby in the dad role.
— Two great Phil Hartman showcases in a row tonight so far.
— I’m getting a good laugh from the constant off-camera whipping and screaming sounds.  Dennis especially had some funny-sounding screaming.
— Hilarious walk-on from Jon as David Crosby, being portrayed as one of Bing’s sons.
— I absolutely love the bizarre visual of a spooky giant superimposed Bill Cosby head suddenly appearing and addressing the Crosby family in a loud, booming voice (done once again by an off-camera Dana Carvey).
— After Cosby says “That was a long, long time ago”, there’s a very long and awkward pause that, for some reason, always makes me laugh whenever I watch this sketch. Jan is amused too, apparently, as the long pause eventually causes her to start cracking up.
— Why is the audience applauding during the end-of-dream scene transition with Malcolm’s pre-taped voice-over repeatedly saying the magic words “I won’t try, I will”?
— The bedroom ending was weak.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee) introduces musical guest while they beat up LOM

— Fun Spike Lee appearance here.
— LOL at the priceless visual of Lorne getting manhandled by Run DMC.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Walk This Way”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN spouts numerous cliches while discussing the Reykjavik summit
Casey Kasem (DAC) answers viewer mail & declares Queen as top rock group

— Funny commentary from Kevin so far. I like his unfocused constant topic-changing and always saying “THAT’S what I’m really trying to say; forget the other stuff I was talking about.”
— I got a big laugh from Kevin’s line about a friend who was paralyzed from neck up, couldn’t wiggle his ears, and had to be confined to a hat.
— Loved Dennis’ whole “I don’t want to live in this world anymore” bit regarding D-Con Roach Spray and Mary Lou Retton’s appearance at a Statue of Liberty celebration.
— Unless I’m forgetting something, Dana’s Casey Kasem is the very first time a Dennis Miller Weekend Update has had a guest commentator who’s a celebrity instead of just a character or a cast member playing themselves.
— Great Casey Kasem voice from Dana.
— Funny hearing the disturbing story about Eddie Fontaine’s murder attempt being said in that cheerful Casey Kasem delivery. By the way, IIRC, Eddie Fontaine’s name  would later be bleeped out in reruns of this, I’m assuming for legal reasons.
STARS: ***½


INSTANT COFFEE
Sweeney sisters Frannie “Candy” (JAH) & Mary Ann “Liz” (NOD) sing medley

— The debut of the Sweeney Sisters. Interesting how their first appearance is as guests in some kind of morning talk show sketch, whereas their subsequent appearances would be in their own standalone sketches.
— Hmm, the Sweeney Sisters have different first names in this one. They introduce themselves here as Franny and Mary-Ann, whereas later installments of this sketch would have them named Liz and Candy.
— I really liked hearing the Sisters’ take on the song “Yesterday”, though I’m always a sucker for that song.
— There’s what’s always my favorite part of these Sweeney Sisters sketches: the energetic “Clang, clang, clang, went the trolley” bit.
— Nora and Jan’s chemistry is so damn strong here. We rarely ever saw this kind of chemistry between any of the cast members in the previous season.
— Fun song medley overall, and I liked the clever ways the Sisters connected the songs to each other with their transitions from one song to the next.
— Some funny little banter during the post-song interview conducted by Kevin.
STARS: ***½


PARENT-TEEN DRUNK DRIVING CONTRACT
host prefers youth-friendly version of parent-teen drunk driving contract

— An initial laugh from the oversized contract Malcolm brings out.
— Overall, a pretty straightforward piece that, while not really memorable, came off decent.  Malcolm’s delivery was solid and he, once again tonight, came off likable.
STARS: ***


SAM KINISON
Sam Kinison [real] does stand-up about family life & televangelists

— Another instance of the SNL Band playing badass music during Sam’s entrance.
— LOL at an audience member being heard imitating Sam’s scream right after Sam’s complaints about people on the street imitating his scream when they come up to him.
— Loved the whole “We’ll stop smoking crack if you give us the pot back!” part.
— He does a spot-on imitation of a typical televangelist voice.
— Funny ending with Sam imitating Jesus’ last words, which just turn out to be Sam screaming in pain while imitating the sounds of nails being hammered.
— Overall, one of Sam’s better SNL stand-up performances. Glad to see him stray away from the usual “marriage is hell” topic he usually always relies on in his SNL appearances.
— The more controversial portions of this stand-up performance (the parts about the crack epidemic and Jesus’ last words) would later get censored in reruns. Some reruns simply cut those portions out, but there are some old syndicated reruns that would censor those portions in a very odd way: instead of removing those portions entirely, they’d keep them in but mute out Sam’s dialogue while still leaving in the studio audience’s sounds (laughter, coughing, etc.). So, we see very long stretches of Sam speaking and screaming while no audio comes out of his mouth, all the while the audience is heard laughing hysterically at what he’s “saying” and “screaming”. It’s quite a bizarre sight. My guess is that edited syndicated version is taken from the original West Coast airing. Tape-delayed West Coast airings of live SNL episodes usually mute out any particularly offensive dialogue.
STARS: ***½


OLD HOLLYWOOD
(JOL) breaks it to war movie star Johnny O’Connor (PHH)- he’s finished

— Here comes a very well-known sketch.
— Hell, even just the beginning with Jon by himself, talking to various people over the phone has some really good laughs, and I love his old-timey delivery.
— Great characterization from Phil here.
— There’s the most well-remembered part of the sketch: the fantastic fast-paced back-and-forth with Jon bluntily telling Phil he’s fired and a terrible actor while Phil is completely oblivious and desperately keeps asking Jon to give him the news straight. I absolutely love this portion.
— Another really big laugh, this time from Phil’s fast-paced “Is it the booze? The dames? The pills? The sheep? The ducks? Your wife?” The latter gets a great reaction from Jon.
— Wonderful sketch overall, and a quintessential display of Phil and Jon’s always-great chemistry.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hit It, Run”


CHALK FACTORY
(host) doesn’t want to follow in dad’s (DAC) footsteps at chalk factory

— Wow, what an initial visual of the whole chalk-covered set & characters.
— Pretty funny hearing a whiteface (or chalk-face) Malcolm-Jamal Warner speaking in the same English accent as Dana and Nora.
— This sketch is slow so far, but I liked the part with Dana’s character mistaking a stick of chalk for a cigarette, and the part with a chalk-covered Nora saying “I’ll go powder my nose.”
— I also kinda like the part right now with Malcolm revealing he’s interested in working at an eraser factory, which offends Dana.
— The billiard chalk bit with Jon was a fairly funny idea, but for some reason, it kinda ended this sketch on a flat note.
— Overall, a strange sketch. The audience barely laughed and, despite some okay lines, I can’t really say the sketch worked as a whole.
— This would later get removed from all reruns and be replaced with a dramatic short film about a black street performer. I think I recall hearing that film was directed by tonight’s special guest Spike Lee.
— With the removal of this sketch in reruns, Malcolm only appears in two sketches all night (The Crosby Show and Parent-Teen Contract), which is very unusual for an SNL host.
STARS: **


BUSTER POINDEXTER
Buster Poindexter [real] sings “Hit The Road Jack”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very good episode. Felt a lot more consistent than the season premiere, which had a slow first 15 minutes as well as too many musical interludes in the second half that threw off the flow. Tonight offered a lot of good comedy and had only one sketch I didn’t care for (Chalk Factory). This episode felt a little more like what’s now considered a typical episode from this era. It’s also nice to see this cast continue to grow and start showing some really strong chemistry with each other (e.g. Jan and Nora in Sweeney Sisters, Phil and Jon in Old Hollywood).
— This was really Phil Hartman’s breakout night. This episode was to him what the season premiere was to Dana Carvey. Much like how Dana was given three strong showcases in that episode (Quiz Masters, Church Chat, Derek Stevens), Phil was given three strong showcases in tonight’s episode (Donahue, The Crosby Show, Old Hollywood), all of which featured a fantastic performance from him and perfectly showed us the type of great and versatile performer he’s going to be these next 8 seasons. I love the format so far this season, where each week has special focus on one particular new cast member. Unfortunately, I don’t recall this format carrying over into this season’s third episode or beyond. Too bad; the next episode should’ve been Jan Hooks’ turn in the spotlight.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sigourney Weaver):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Rosanna Arquette hosts the first and (as of 2019) only live SNL episode to be taped and aired at a later date, caused in this particular case by a World Series game that ran very late and pre-empted the originally-scheduled live broadcast

Posted on

October 11, 1986 – Sigourney Weaver / (no musical guest) (S12 E1)

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