Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Iran’s Most Wanted- Salman Rushdie (DAC) re-enactment with Mephistopheles
— Second episode in a row with a sketch that’s an Iranian version of an American TV show (Iranian People’s Court being the previous one). I like that this seems to be becoming a weekly theme lately, though it doesn’t continue after tonight’s episode.
— I like how Phil’s playing his foreign Iranian host character with a very American, John Walsh-esque accent.
— Some good laughs from Jan’s intentionally bad acting in the re-enactment.
— Good use of Jon’s Mephistopheles.
— I like all of Phil’s various different “If you see him, kill him” warnings.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Interesting mention of how he used to be a dramatic actor before things like Airplane, Police Squad, and Naked Gun led to him mostly playing funny roles in goofy comedies. It’s true. I’ve always said to myself that his and Tom Hanks’ movie careers went in the exact opposite direction of each other.
— Some decent examples of the non-difference between his serious and comedic delivery.
STARS: ***
NEUBURG’S BLEU CHEESE COOLER
— Rerun
SUBLIMINAL TECHNIQUE
in a bar, (host) uses Mr. Subliminal’s technique incorrectly
— Surprisingly, this is the first time Kevin’s subliminal routine is appearing since his VERY FIRST EPISODE. I wasn’t aware that it took them so long to make this bit recurring.
— Lots of great laughs from Kevin’s subliminal lines, especially during his back-and-forth with Jan.
— Kevin’s “spank me” line when exiting the scene was great.
— Strong ending with Leslie’s terrible attempt at using the subliminal routine on Phil as the cop.
STARS: ****
SNAP DECISION
contestants try to deal with arbitrary game show rules
— Funny intro with each contestant.
— Love how increasingly confusing this gameshow is getting, as it appears Leslie’s character is making up stuff as he goes along.
— Very impressive delivery from Leslie here.
— Good bit with Jon getting disqualified for working at Price Waterhouse.
— I loved Nora’s softly-delivered, deadpan “Shut up” after Leslie asks her “Can you come back tomorrow?”
STARS: ****
THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
Kim Alexis, Beverly Johnson, Cheryl Tiegs [real]
— A bit of a change of pace in this installment with all the real-life models as guests.
— Funny inclusion of Leslie as a lesser model.
— I liked Nora line to Leslie regarding rubbing Grecian formula.
— Very funny part with Leslie recalling a childhood incident with a man offering him a modeling contract but turned out to be something different.
— All the cutaways to the facial expressions of a silent Leslie are getting good laughs.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Jane”
WEEKEND UPDATE
ALF tells political reference-heavy jokes for MacNeil-Lehrer viewers
— Hmm, wonder what Al Franken’s “Jokes for MacNeil-Lehrer Viewers” segment is going to be like.
— Al’s Ted Kennedy joke made me laugh, though the rest of the segment wasn’t all that special to me.
— I liked Dennis’ random “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” Jimi Hendrix bit.
STARS: ***
THE 1960’S MOVIE
film contains farcical elements typical of the genre
— Pretty fun opening credits sequence.
— Leslie to Victoria: “By the way, I’m terrified of gorillas, so please don’t dress like one.”
— Love the part with all the characters being surprised to run into each other in the same room.
— I enjoyed the randomness and goofiness of this overall sketch, especially the gorilla appearance at the end.
STARS: ***½
GERITECH
host pitches Geritech products Blotch-Off, DripMaster, Bungking, Solidex
— Leslie’s opening line: “Hi, I’m Leslie Nielsen, liver spot sufferer.”
— This is starting to get especially funny with the shift to bladder control issues.
— The “I’m relieving…….myself right now” part is great.
— The “Bung King” hemorrhoid cream is hilarious, and has always been the part of this sketch I’ve remembered the most.
— This is getting funnier and funnier.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Misguided Angel”
SAYING THE WRONG THINGS
on a date with (JAH), (host) always finds the exact wrong thing to say
— I’m getting good enjoyment from Leslie constantly saying inappropriate things to Jan.
— Funny part with Leslie refusing to believe that Jan isn’t drunk.
— I liked the “You can just owe me” ending.
STARS: ***½
WAYNE’S WORLD
Wayne’s (MIM) guests are buddy Garth (DAC) & his dad Beev (PHH)
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut! Can you believe that Wayne’s World, a sketch that would go on to be larger than life, debuted at the end of an episode, in the 10-to-1 slot? Then again, at this point, Mike Myers IS an unproven new featured player who’s in only his fourth episode, so I guess that makes sense.
— Funny to see how different the intro sequence is in this first installment. The usual Phil Hartman-announced “You are watching Cable 10: Aurora, Illinois’ community access channel” is played during a different shot (first screencap above) than the one it’s usually played during, and the shot that it IS usually played during is instead shown right afterwards during an additional announcement of “Cable 10 is not responsible for the views of… etc.”, which is an aspect of this sketch that I believe was dropped after this debut installment.
— The “Wayne’s World” theme song sounds lower key than how we’re used to hearing it.
— Phil’s look is very funny. By the way, it feels like Phil surprisingly has barely appeared in any sketches tonight.
— Phil has a little bit of Paul Lynde going on with the voice he’s using here.
— Another oddity in this debut installment is that the Top 10 list is a very quick segment that Wayne speeds through. I’m so used to the Top 10 list being a much longer, more fleshed-out, and important segment of later installments of this sketch.
— Good part with Wayne breaking out into the song Dream Weaver in an attempt to impress Jan.
— Hmm, they’re taking viewer calls, which I don’t remember them doing in later installments.
— Funny call from Jon talking about how his girlfriend blew “gnarly” chunks on him.
— Wow at the turn that Jon’s call took, with what Wayne and Garth subtly suggested that Jon should do to his passed-out girlfriend. That’s one of several things about this sketch that would never fly nowadays.
— Overall, it was so fascinating to witness the birth of this sketch. You can definitely see all the potential, though this first installment feels so low-key compared to what the sketch would later become.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another in a long line of solid season 14 episodes, and I liked pretty much everything tonight. There were some very memorable sketches like Snap Decision and Geritech, we got an important recurring sketch debut at the end of the show, and Leslie Nielsen was as funny and reliable a host as you would expect.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ted Danson)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Glenn Close