Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (PHH) can’t answer any of census-taker’s (VIJ) questions
— Unless I missed it, they haven’t mentioned that it’s Ronald Reagan who Phil is playing here, though you can still tell. This is apparently a parody of Reagan’s behavior at then-recent Iranscam hearings, where he gave non-answers to almost every single question he was asked.
— For something that is one-joke, this is still coming off solid. Most of it is because of Phil’s performance and delivery, but it’s also because of his many variations of “I don’t know”.
— Even the comically awkward, drawn-out ending with Phil’s Reagan getting locked out of his house and unintentionally setting off the alarm made me laugh, even if it seemed like they were reaching for material there.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Some decent dry humor here, with Debra’s self-deprecating mentions of how quietly her career is currently going.
— Interesting ending with Debra flat-out saying “This is the end of the monologue”, keeping with the dry theme of this overall piece.
STARS: ***
WAYNE’S WORLD
Oscar Picks; Chick Court finds that (host) is not a slut
— For some reason, Wayne’s wearing a black long-sleeved sweater instead of his usual black short-sleeved shirt.
— Solid “Wayne’s World Oscar Picks” segment.
— Debra looks almost unrecognizable in that wig.
— The idea of this “Chick Court” segment is pretty fun.
— Interestingly, during a discussion between the characters, there’s a mention of a rumor-starting schoolmate named Tim Meadows… the same name of a certain future cast member who SNL hires a year later. Apparently, he and Mike Myers were friends from their Second City improv days together, and Mike threw his name into this sketch as a shoutout. Amusingly enough, the Tim Meadows that’s discussed in this sketch is referred to as a “gimp” and a “liar”, among other unflattering things.
— Haha, SNL makes yet ANOTHER Lambada reference.
STARS: ***½
URBAN TOONCES
Urban Toonces joins Bud (DAC) & Sissy (host) for tequila & a bull ride
— Dana’s Travolta is hilarious as always.
— Another good use of Toonces in a movie spoof, after the Driving Miss Daisy sketch earlier this season.
— Very funny visual of Toonces drinking tequila and then riding on the mechanical bull.
— Ha, for once, a Toonces sketch uses a different stock footage clip of a car driving off a cliff, since this scene is supposed to take place at night, whereas the usual stock car-off-a-cliff footage these Toonces sketches often use takes place at day.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Alibis”
WEEKEND UPDATE
demostration of HDTV makes DEM Sam Donaldson-like
Mr. Subliminal gives an editorial about Donald & Ivana Trump
— The bit with the HDTV version of Dennis looking like Sam Donaldson was pretty funny.
— I liked Dennis’ random “The Japanese bought EVERYTHING this week” one-liner news story.
— Odd technical error where a graphic of Mr. Subliminal’s name showed up on the bottom of the screen for only a nanosecond before immediately disappearing.
— Oh, never mind. After another occurrence of the quickly-disappearing “Mr. Subliminal” graphic, it’s obvious that it’s an intentional gag in which his name appears subliminally. Clever touch.
— The usual funny subliminal remarks from Mr. Subliminal, especially his sexual comments towards Marla Maples.
— We’re getting a string of brief, rapid-fire jokes from Dennis all of a sudden.
STARS: ***½
THE ADVENTURES OF CALAMITY JANE
therapy helps explain Calamity Jane’s (host) nature
— Two western-themed sketches tonight? And interesting how they both take place in a bar.
— I like the line about a reformed Wild Bill Hickok changing his name to Well-Adjusted Hickok.
— Jon’s exaggerated facial reaction to Calamity Jane pointing a gun at him was really funny (last screencap above).
— Overall, ehh. I liked this overall piece more for the idea and committed performances than for the actual execution. The resulting sketch came off kinda dull and overlong.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pretending”
SATAN’S ALBUM
Mephistopheles defends his album at Senate hearings on record labelling
— Funny beginning with Phil as Ozzy Osbourne.
— First time Nora Dunn has appeared all night. Lately, it feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of her with each passing episode, which makes me realize there’s truth to what Jon Lovitz has claimed in an interview in recent years, where, IIRC, he basically says at one point that towards the end of Nora’s SNL tenure, she was being phased out of the show even BEFORE the infamous boycotting stunt she pulls when a certain controversial stand-up comedian hosts a little later this season.
— I liked Mephistopheles’ only defense of his hellish lyrics being “I live in hell; I write what I know.”
— Hilarious Frank Zappa impression from Dana.
— I’m disappointed to see that this sketch is nowhere near as great as I had remembered it. Portions of this sketch feel kinda dead and aren’t doing all that much for me.
STARS: **½
THE WHITE PARROT
other castmembers upstage JOL’s attempt at a romantic scene with host
— I was wondering where this sketch was going, but Phil’s silly performance right now as the waiter is giving me some laughs.
— I like how the white-colored dessert Phil offers is “chiclets and the inside of an Oreo cookie”.
— Interesting fourth wall-break with Jon calling out Phil on trying to upstage him. I kinda saw it coming that this would turn meta by revealing this is a Jon Lovitz-written sketch, after all the unrealistic flirtatious comments Debra was making to Jon earlier in the sketch.
— Nora’s scene didn’t work much for me, though I liked Jon’s delivery of “Oh, are you DONE?!?” in response to Nora’s overdramatics.
— I like Jan now trying to steal the sketch as a restaurant singer.
— A nice, charming ending between Debra and Jon.
— Despite the laughs I got and the great premise, I couldn’t help but feel this sketch could’ve turned out a little better than it did. Something felt kinda missing in the execution, making the overall piece come off just average to me.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wonderful Tonight”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty forgettable episode. I dunno, I’m just not too crazy about what I watched as a whole. Thinking back on it, there were actually some pretty solid things in the first half, but the second half had an odd, ho-hum feel, and the show ended without there being ANYTHING all night that I felt stood out as particularly great. Even the subpar Quincy Jones episode from earlier this season had a few standout strong pieces. I also don’t like how tonight seemed to have an unusually small number of sketches, which I guess is due to Eric Clapton getting three musical performances, the third of which was quite long (albeit beautiful).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rob Lowe)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Corbin Bernsen
From what Nora said in that Salon interview a few years ago, she was tired of the show before she left, sick of having to write sketches, unnerved by the new cast members who did solo pieces instead of being part of the ensemble (this last part would ultimately damage SNL a lot by the mid-90s I think), so I imagine the phasing out was mutual.
I wonder how Debra was at SNL. She had a reputation in these years for being difficult. Clearly she wasn’t that difficult at the show as there are no stories about her that I’ve heard…still, she is such a distinctive personality. I’m sorry the writing wasn’t a bit more in line with her talents.
Here’s a promo (sometimes I forget just how many years they didn’t have cast members in the promos).
Nora was a feminist back when feminists were just dismissed as being “difficult.” I’ve read her accounts of her time at the show and Lovitz was kind of an asshole to her.
I say good for Nora for standing up for what she believed in.
The same goes for Debra actually. If she was a man she would’ve been called a perfectionist or something rather than difficult. Stupid double standards.
I am kind of surprised about Nora’s comments about new cast members who weren’t being part of the ensemble. The only new cast member she really worked with was Mike Myers. Was she referring to Wayne’s World or something?
Well Mike didn’t even want Dana on WW to begin with. Sprockets was also a solo piece.
In LFNY, there’s the story where Victoria Jackson calls out Nora Dunn for being a jerk and Dana Carvey says no one disagreed with her. Maybe Nora’s account is wrong. Lovitz was good friends with Hartman and Carvey, fwiw.
Winger seemed much colder when she was unexpectedly spotted in the audience with then-beau, then Nebraska Governor Bob Kerry during the Pee-Wee Herman Thanksgiving Special (11/23/1985):
https://i.imgur.com/ZtqOtZC.png
https://i.imgur.com/m62IQLT.png
Well, would YOU want to be seen in a 1985-86 episode? 😛
I agree that as the show moved into the 90s the ensemble vibe definitely started to wane. And mostly to the show’s detriment (particularly when Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman left the show). However, solo acts and showcases have always been a big and important part of the show…Nora Dunn included (Pat Stevens anyone?) 🙂
This was, without question, a ho-hum episode. That was very perfectly put on the ending of your review. However, to add to the three classic performances from Eric Clapton, it should be noted that he joined the SNL band on the good nights. I thought his guitar riffs were pretty rockin!
A small detail mind you, but one I noticed recently while archiving my episodes.
Yeah, this episode had kind of a blah feel to it. It wasn’t terrible, but after a string 6 or 7 strong episodes before this it paled in comparison. The Calamity Jane sketch had the right premise, but went on for too long. Toonces was hilarious though, riding the mechanical bull. And I love Dana’s Frank Zappa impression!
I actually quite enjoyed this episode, but wasn’t that into the Rob Lowe episode. I guess the biggest difference is that I found Arsenio Beckman to be repetitive and confusing, but think the Satan hearing is a classic (especially that song) .
I absolutely loved the Jon Lovitz skit with all the cast members interrupting his serious scene. It was clearly done as a goodbye to Jon with all the cast members paying homage to him, and it was very sweet, especially Victoria’s signature crying. Very well-written too and everyone’s acting was top notch.
I’m not so sure that sketch was intended as a goodbye to Jon, though it kind of feels like one in retrospect. While Jon’s contract was up after this season and he ended up leaving, he’s said in interviews that he loved doing SNL and was hoping to stay on.
The reason he left was because he was offered a part in Mom and Dad Save the World, and the shooting schedule would’ve required him to miss the first two shows of Season 16. Lorne Michaels refused to give him time off, so he quit to do the movie. And for what it’s worth, he’s acknowledged that the movie isn’t that great, but he claims the original script was much better.
On the Fly on the Wall podcast, Marci Klein mentions an episode where Mike Myers had to perform as Wayne, while being very sick in real life. I wonder if this was the episode, given that Mike is wearing a long-sleeved sweater and is basically absent for the rest of the show. He sounds like he might be a little congested too.