Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
The Miracle Of Fatima ’89- American flag tells (host) “don’t burn me”
— I liked the random “Art Squad” opening credits featuring Jesse Helms (played by an extra) shooting the genitalia off a David statue. No idea what news story that was based on, though.
— Kind of a strange cold opening so far. Not too crazy about what I’ve been seeing here.
— Yeah, this hasn’t been working for me at all. It’s being well-performed, but hasn’t been funny nor interesting to me. Easily one of my least favorite cold openings from this entire era.
STARS: *½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Mike Myers’ pic has been changed from a fairly plain-looking one to a more professional, mature-looking one.
MONOLOGUE
host actually talks like VIJ- the sexy voice is just for movies
— Hilarious bit with Kathleen revealing her “real” voice, which is just her miming to Victoria Jackson’s naturally high-pitched voice-over.
— Kathleen is displaying great timing with her lip-syncing of Victoria’s voice-over and the way she’s able to seamlessly go back-and-forth between miming the voice-over and speaking in her own famously husky voice.
— I wonder if the rerun version I’m watching uses the dress rehearsal version of this monologue. I ask because at the end of this, I noticed an abrupt cut in Kathleen’s positioning when the camera switched from a close shot of her to a wide shot of the stage as the SNL Band plays the show to commercial. Perhaps in the original live version of this monologue, Kathleen’s lip-syncing was a bit too sloppy.
STARS: ****
PLUG AWAY WITH HARVEY FIERSTEIN
John Travolta (DAC), host, Lee Iacocca (PHH) promote selves
— I loved Dana-as-Travolta’s way of pronouncing “Look Who’s TAAAAHLKIN’”.
— Very interesting part with Kathleen trying to seduce Jon’s Fierstein.
— I always like Phil’s Lee Iaccoca voice.
— Funny part where, as soon as Merv Griffin is mentioned, Jon’s Fierstein looks dreamily into space while longingly saying “Merv….”
— The “gay bee” back-and-forth between Fierstein and a confused Iaccoca is a really funny part that I’ve always remembered fondly about this sketch.
STARS: ***½
DIE SQUAREN OST BERLINER
celebrity defections make game difficult
Donheiser (DAC)- German Donahue’s audience has defected to the west
— Funny concept of a foreign Hollywood Squares, with all the dialogue being delivered in German.
— A good laugh from how most of the celebrity guests are missing because they’ve defected.
— Nice use of Billy Joel.
— We even get to hear Don Pardo speaking in German.
— I’m enjoying Mike’s voice in this.
— It’s pretty amusing trying to figure out what everybody in the sketch is saying.
— Good bit with Jan being caught on her way out, complete with a suitcase.
— I love the mid-sketch commercial with Dana as an angry German version of Donahue.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Didn’t Start The Fire”
WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF gives drug war report from NYC crackhouse
PHH gives George Steinbrenner Health Watch update for hopeful Yankee fans
AWB says that the San Francisco earthquake is not the end of the world
— First time we’ve seen One Man Mobile Uplink Unit Al Franken in a long time. He completely skipped season 14, for some reason. I like how he’s reporting from a crackhouse tonight.
— Hmm, Uplink Unit Al even addresses the fact that we haven’t seen him in a while, and explains that the reason for his long absence is because he was addicted to pain pills (due to the strain of carrying all of that heavy mobile equipment).
— It might just be me, but the picture they showed of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (screencap below) kinda resembles future cast member Rob Schneider in Arab make-up.
Speaking of Rob Schneider, he joins the writing staff later this season and we’ll be seeing him (as well as his fellow added-to-the-writing-staff-later-this-season writer David Spade) appearing in lots of uncredited bit roles in the homestretch of this season, before eventually being added to the cast at some point next season.
— After just one episode, we already get a follow-up to the George Steinbrenner Health Watch segment.
— Despite the fact that Phil’s still playing himself like he did in the last Steinbrenner Health Watch installment, he’s wearing a rather strange wig this time for some reason.
— Some good laughs from Phil’s detailing of Steinbrenner’s mundane health issues, especially him saying “Sadly, the blood did clot” regarding Steinbrenner cutting himself shaving.
— Dennis’ stern “Beauty And The Beast is not real; it’s just a TV show” rant to Beauty And The Beast fans was decent. I half-expected him to deliver a William Shatner-esque “Get a life!” at one point.
— Loved Dennis’ joke about a Tone Loc-ness Monster.
— A mention of the notorious then-recent massive San Francisco earthquake that infamously interrupted that year’s World Series.
— A. Whitney, on how the Cubs’ failure to win the pennant means the world is not ending: “It’s in the bible: when the small bears from the Windy Place take the flag, THEN you shall know the end is nigh.”
— An overall short and sweet commentary from A. Whitney.
STARS: ***½
EGG MAN
an ovum confidant (PHH) counsels (host) about her wild son (DAC)
— I like the bizarre concept of this, and we get a very funny visual of Phil as a glasses-wearing talking egg.
— A good laugh from Egg Man’s panicky reaction to being manhandled by Kathleen during her angry rant.
— Egg Man giving noble advice is pretty funny.
— Dana’s giving an amusing performance as the wild punk-ish son.
— A few seasons later, SNL would do a sketch with Chris Farley as an advice-giving bee named Shmee, which I’ve always considered to be a sister sketch to Egg Man. I wonder if both sketches were written by the same person. Jack Handey, perhaps?
STARS: ***½
REALLY ORDINARY PEOPLE
average-seekers (host) & (KEN) enjoy their run-of-the-mill blind date
— Took me a while to see where this is going. I’m not too crazy about this premise of Kevin and Kathleen’s friendly pointing-out of the other’s averageness.
— Okay, I did get a good laugh from Kevin’s line about how he likes to crank his radio up to about 5.
— This ended on kind of a weird, empty note.
— This sketch as a whole didn’t work much for me. A rare misfire for Kevin Nealon.
STARS: **
ALL ABOUT DEBORAH NORVILLE
Jane Pauley (JAH) faces competition
— I got a good laugh from how Kathleen-as-Deborah-Norville’s increasingly nervous speaking to Jan’s Jane Pauley eventually devolved to her saying “You good, me bad.”
— Love Jon’s hilarious look as Gene Shalit.
— Could SNL have found a black extra who looks any LESS like Bryant Gumbel? (fourth screencap above) At least this serves as a happy reminder that this is thankfully the final season where SNL doesn’t have any black cast members.
— I feel kinda lost on the topicality of this sketch, but I’m getting a lot of enjoyment anyway, for the solid writing and very committed performances from Kathleen and Jan.
STARS: ****
LANK THOMPSON: I’M A HANDSOME MAN
Lank Thompson (MIM) plugs his “I’m A Handsome Man” course
— Good characterization from Mike here, and I love that cheesy smile he does at the end of every mini-scene.
— An overall pretty good debut of this soon-to-be-recurring sketch, though I like some of its later installments better (e.g. the ones with Alec Baldwin and Tim Meadows, respectively).
STARS: ***
555-TOON
phone sex from Jessica Rabbit (host) & other animated babes
— An amusingly clever naughty use of Kathleen’s Jessica Rabbit voice.
— The Flintstones ending was funny.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Downeaster Alexa”
MAXWELL HOUSE
Linda Ellerbee (NOD) & Willard Scott (JOL) do final ad for Maxwell House
— Hearing the opening Maxwell House sound effect jingle (those rhythmic boink-type sounds) was a blast from the past for me, reminding me of frequently seeing those Maxwell House commercials during my childhood.
— Hmm, I have no memory of Linda Ellerbee ever being a Maxwell House spokesperson.
— Jon is absolutely PRICELESS as a goofy, bare-bellied, Hawaiian outfit-wearing, hula-dancing Willard Scott.
— This is another sketch tonight that seems to be based on a topical story that I have no familiarity with, but Jon’s performance alone is making this sketch for me.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. There were a few misfires, but not enough to drag down the quality of the show too badly or anything.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rick Moranis)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
James Woods