Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Tonight Show- guests are Andrew Dice Clay (JOL) & Mikhail Gorbachev (PHH)
— Funny gag of an absent Ed McMahon being filled-in by a machine recording of his voice, only saying his catchphrases.
— Jon’s Andrew Dice Clay impression is solid, and there IS a pretty strong facial resemblance.
— Hmm, Phil has shown up as Mikhail Gorbachev. I wonder if that’s why they had to resort to replacing McMahon with a machine.
— Dana-as-Carson’s Azerbaijan bit was really funny.
— Immediately after Phil says “Live From New York…”, there’s suddenly a mysterious loud, high-pitched whirring sound that overlaps with the beginning of the theme music. I have no idea what that whirring sound was, but it would later be muted out in reruns.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host shows excitement by singing “Throwin’ A Ball Tonight” & tap-dancing
— When mentioning how audiences say he comes off cold and sinister in movies, Christopher says he always hears a criticism that he often sounds like he’s reading his lines off cue cards. That’s even funnier in hindsight, considering the cue card-staring penchant his SNL appearances would go on to become famous for.
— He launches into a song early on in this monologue, which would go on to be a tradition in his subsequent SNL monologues.
— Very upbeat number.
— Great tapdance break in the middle of the song.
— Excellent touch with the two fancy sets of stairs that the cast members enter from.
— An unintentional laugh from Christopher’s hat almost falling off backwards during a close-up of him at the end of the number, resulting in him making an alarmed “OH!” face as he quickly catches the hat.
STARS: ****½
COLON BLOW
— Rerun
ETERNITY
mysterious drama permeates perfume-inspired game show
— Very funny premise of a Calvin Klein commercial-esque gameshow. I know this sketch is based on one specific Klein commercial, which I (and I’m sure a lot of viewers today) have no memory of, but as long as you’re familiar with what Calvin Klein ads from this era were typically like, you still get exactly what this sketch is going for.
— Love the sky background behind the contestants as they’re saying their dramatic lines.
— This sketch is perfect for Christopher Walken’s style. His dramatic reading of his “deep” answers is hilarious.
— Christopher’s “Liar!” outburst to Kevin cracked me up.
— Funny touch with Jan’s frantic hand movements when she and Christopher were shown writing their Final Eternity answer.
— Priceless reveal of Christopher’s written answer being a drawing of the famous painting “The Scream” (last screencap above).
— Even without saying a word, Jan is very good in this.
STARS: ****½
THE DUMPER
surrogate dumper (host) employed by (VIJ)’s boyfriend ends relationship
— The idea of someone sending a delivery man to tell his girlfriend he’s dumping her is really funny.
— A good laugh from Christopher responding to Victoria’s crying with an insincere, monotone “There, there” and pat on the back.
— Funny aspect of Christopher even having Victoria sign various pages of a document “to show that you’ve been dumped”.
— Great ending reveal that there’s another woman in the same building who the boyfriend sent Christopher to deliver break-up news to.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Have a Heart”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Annoying Man (JOL) expresses his love for DEM in strange ways
— Lots of great jokes so far about Marion Barry’s infamous then-recent crack bust.
— Dennis’ reactions to Annoying Man always make me laugh.
— Great turn with Annoying Man’s deep-voiced sudden “I love you” reveal to Dennis.
— Some great bits of business right after the Annoying Man commentary ends. First, Dennis tells us that Jon Lovitz has to get a lot less annoying than usual to get into that character. Jon as Annoying Man then rushes back to the Update set and gives Dennis’ cheek an unscripted lick with the tongue before immediately leaving again. Dennis then hilariously says to the camera “Licked by Lovitz. What concentric circle of hell is THAT?”
— Pretty funny how Dennis’ joke poking fun at the recent death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh received some hisses from the audience, which Dennis of course played off of with some great ad-libs.
STARS: ***½
THE CONTINENTAL
viewers experience what it’s like to be charmed by The Continental (host)
— The debut of a Walken SNL staple. Feels a little odd in hindsight seeing this buried in the second half of the show, as I believe all the subsequent installments of this sketch would be recognized as an important part of the night and be placed in the first half of the show.
— It’s quite something in hindsight hearing Phil Hartman’s Continental voice-over intro being used for the first time, knowing that voice-over would famously go on to be used in all subsequent Continental installments, not only even after Phil’s SNL departure, but even after his passing.
— Love this format of a first-person camera perspective.
— Some odd little bloopers so far. Firstly, after the female guest (the cameraman) rings the doorbell, a strange, loud “FWOOMP” sound is suddenly heard. It sounded like it possibly came from the clip-on mic of an off-camera Christopher Walken. Secondly, when Christopher puts the keys down on the table after letting his female guest in his apartment, the keys IMMEDIATELY fall off the table by accident and make a loud crash sound, which Christopher tries to save with a brief ad-libbed statement: “Broken glass.”
— There’s the very first utterance of the Continental’s immortal pronunciation of champagne: “cham-PAN-yuh”.
— Great part with Continental lighting both cigarettes in his mouth simultaneously.
— Nice effect of the camera (the female guest) smoking a cigarette.
— Needless to say, Christopher is absolutely perfect in this.
— The female guest’s constant racing for the front door after an offensive statement by Continental is always funny, especially when she does it immediately after Continental asks her “Would you like to see… the bedroom?”
— Absolutely hilarious part with Continental showing his masseuse diploma from the University of Beijing.
— Interesting camera angle while the female guest is getting massaged.
STARS: *****
ATTITUDES
a talk with sports event proselytizer Rainbow Head (host)
— Surprisingly, this is the first (and probably only) time we’re seeing Nora all night.
— Absolutely LOVE the idea of Christopher being cast as the famous Rainbow Head guy from sports games.
— Christopher’s usual deadpan, oddball delivery is coming off PARTICULARLY priceless in this role.
— A big laugh from Christopher’s Rainbow Head calling the San Diego Chicken a whore.
— Very funny bit where after Rainbow Head describes his wig as an afro, Jan and Nora clarify to viewers in a sincere voice “Afro-Americans.”
— Another great aside from Jan and Nora, this time regarding the bible being the “best-selling book ever”.
— Nora: “Is there a pot of gold at the end of Rainbow Head’s rainbow?” That already-hilarious line was topped even further by Christopher’s silent, stone-faced reaction, which got a great response from the audience (and resulted in Christopher smirking).
STARS: *****
LEASE WITH AN OPTION TO KILL
Max Zorin’s (host) headquarters isn’t ready
— When being told by his henchman that they’ve captured James Bond, I loved Christopher-as-Max-Zorin’s panicked reaction: “No, you idiot! I’m not ready; LOOK at this place.”
— Every time I’ve seen this sketch over the years, I always crack up to no end at Zorin’s bizarre threat to Bond that he’s going to use a laser to “cut your ass in half”. It’s not just the line itself; it’s Walken’s delivery of it that kills me.
— Loved the “Here’s the shark excreting you” drawing that Zorin shows Bond.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thing Called Love”
HARDBOUND
interviewer (KEN) is eager to learn more about writer (host)
— Here comes a sketch that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a Schiller’s Reel.
— Funny how Kevin constantly keeps making little statements of admiration while his favorite author (Christopher) is speaking. This is such a Kevin Nealon-feeling premise that I can tell he mostly likely wrote this sketch himself (which I know is something I’ve said a lot about Kevin throughout this SNL era, but he does have a very distinctive writing style and humor).
— Kevin’s increasing anger whenever Christopher mentions anyone other than himself is giving me some good laughs.
— Christopher’s exaggerated tongue-sticking-out face when forced to talk only about himself is priceless (last screencap above).
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— Christopher Walken’s only words during his goodnights speech: “Thank you for coming and I….. thank you for coming.”
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An exceptionally strong episode where the show was firing on all cylinders, made even more significant with this being Christopher Walken’s SNL debut . As a performer, Christopher immediately displayed all the odd soon-to-be trademarks that would make all of his SNL hosting appearances so great and lovable. The show also used him well tonight, playing to his strengths by casting him in roles that perfectly utilized his unique personality and dry delivery (particularly the Eternity, Dumper, and Attitudes sketches).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ed O’Neill)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Quincy Jones and a ton of musical guests