Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
in light of budget deficit, George Bush (DAC) says “no huge new taxes”
— Second season finale in a row with a Bush address as the cold opening. That’s also how this season began.
— Some great laughs from Bush demonstrating the budget deficit with hand gestures.
— He’s cracking me up with his drawn-out hesitance to announce the news that he’s going to raise taxes.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host is the focus of a Las Vegas-style production number praising “Candy”
— Some pretty good laughs from her bragging about how she doesn’t need SNL as a comedic vehicle anymore now that she has “Murphy Brown”, and from her regretting her promise to host this season after turning down an appearance at SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special.
— Interesting and entertaining turn with the big production number, even if it’s not laugh-out-loud funny.
STARS: ***
TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
jealous Toonces abducts & impersonates (host)’s gifted driving cat Spunky
— I liked the cutaway to Toonces’ jealous reaction to Spunky’s good driving school grades.
— Not much to say about the overall sketch, but it was executed well, featured some very funny visuals involving the cat puppets, and was the usual solid and fun Toonces piece.
STARS: ****
SINGLE MEN IN THEIR THIRTIES AND EARLY FORTIES
loser Craig Talbert (JOL) to women in thier 30s- “lower your standards”
— I’ve always considered this sketch Jon’s last hurrah, as it’s his final big role as a cast member.
— I’ve always had a bit of a theory that this is supposed to be the same character that Jon played in the Girl Watchers sketches with Tom Hanks. Much like those sketches, Jon’s character here has a unibrow, is wearing the same shirt he wore in at least one of the Girl Watchers sketches, and has the same laid-back and overly-confident demeanor.
— Pretty funny “lower your standards” advice to women.
STARS: ***
THE TONIGHT SHOW
guests are Jay Leno (KEN) & a 92 year-old woman (JAH)
— Kevin’s Jay Leno impression is very funny and spot-on.
— Nice old make-up on Jan.
— Loved Phil-as-McMahon’s “Hey-o!” after Jan’s old lady character says she has no sexual drive.
— Some good laughs from the comically mundane nature of the old lady interview.
— Good part with Carson and McMahon forcing the old lady to sing.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Railroad Worksong”
WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB examines why racial tension in NYC continues to be a problem
— I liked Dennis’ random Hammertime bit, with him wheeling his chair back-and-forth to mimic M.C. Hammer’s dancing, and then saying a very un-hip “You can’t touch this!” to the camera.
— I’m a little disappointed that A. Whitney broke his tradition of directing his season finale Update commentaries to that year’s graduating class. He had been doing that in every season finale since he first joined the show (not counting season 13, as that had no official season finale thanks to a writers’ strike)
— A. Whitney: “Last week, a mob attacked a white attorney because he was defending someone accused of killing a black man, and that’s wrong. He should’ve been attacked because he’s a lawyer.”
— A. Whitney, on the hardships of black people nowadays: “I can’t even imagine how it must feel to pick up the paper in the morning and read that Al Sharpton has just appointed himself your spokesman.”
— An overall average Update to end the season, accurately symbolizing the slight step down that Update has taken this year in general.
STARS: ***
WAYNE’S WORLD
a fantasy summer romance with Garth’s mom Hillary (host)
— First time in a while where this sketch appeared in the post-Update slot.
— Loved the meta part during the movie reviews, where Garth’s review of Dana Carvey’s “Opportunity Knocks” only consists of him saying “Sucked!” after Wayne gave it a positive review.
— Nice callback to Phil’s now-forgotten Beev character from the early installments of these sketches.
— The fantasy sequence is very fun.
— Wayne: “I like my coffee like I like my women: milk and two sugars.” Mrs. Algar: “What does that mean?” Wayne (deadpan): “I don’t know.”
— In the live version I’m watching of this episode, during the “I guess it was all a dream… or was it?!?” bit, there’s a VERY distracting technical error regarding a displayed graphic of the Wayne’s World logo.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love You Too Much”
ONCE UPON A TIME
(MIM)’s sheep turds cheer up unhappy queen (host)
— Writer Rob Schneider gets his obligatory bit role of the week.
— And now Schneider’s fellow new writer/future castmate David Spade has shown up in HIS obligatory bit role of the week.
— Geez, Nora is JUST NOW making her first appearance of the night (and her first appearance since “the incident”), this late in the show, and in what ends up being a small role. The only other time we’ll be seeing her later tonight is in an even smaller role during the 10-to-1 sketch. She got shafted BIG TIME in this episode, and I doubt it’s a coincidence. I’ve always had a suspicion that this was the “punishment” the show gave her for what she infamously pulled the previous week.
— Mike is pretty funny as Slow Ned.
— I have no idea what to say about this sketch anymore. It’s starting to get pretty gross and low-brow, which is KINDA funny in this setting, but eh, I dunno. Not too crazy about this as a whole.
STARS: **
SHE DOES IT ALL
executive (host) insists on handling all menial office tasks herself
— Funny turn with Candice’s boss character asking the employees “Now can I get anyone some coffee?” immediately after sternly chewing them out.
— Uh-oh. As soon as Nora comes running into the office, in her second and final small role of the night, there’s a sudden cut to a black screen in the copy I’m watching of the live version of this episode. The screen stays black for almost a full minute (I kid you not), while no audio can be heard. Then we get a screen showing the local station ID for a while (this is Detroit’s NBC affiliate, for anyone wondering), making it obvious that the affiliate is experiencing major technical difficulties. Poor Nora. This WOULD have to happen during what ends up being her final SNL appearance.
— Okay, the sketch has finally come back on, right when Victoria is in the middle of speaking. We missed a funny line from her where, from what I remember in past viewings, she says something about having worked at the office for an entire year without doing a single thing.
— Oh, come on! Now the sketch gets cut off with ANOTHER sudden cut to a silent black screen. What the hell is going on at Detroit’s station?
— Okay, the technical difficulties thankfully ended up being brief this time.
— This is the perfect role for Candice Bergen.
— An overall decent sketch… from what I saw of it. It’s a shame that those huge technical difficulties had to happen during the final sketch of the season. Speaking of which, it’s a bit disappointing that THIS is the sketch SNL ends the season with. There’s nothing wrong with this sketch in itself, but couldn’t they have ended the season with something special or more exciting? Maybe even another Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein musical piece, considering this would’ve been the last opportunity for Jon to do one.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— They must have a lot of time to kill, as these goodnights are lasting longer than usual, long after the credits finish scrolling.
— Nora’s getting more screentime during these goodnights than she did during any of the actual sketches she appeared in tonight. Speaking of which, she’s looking kinda emotional during these goodnights. She must be aware that this is the end for her.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, though felt too average for a season-ender. Besides Wayne’s World and maybe Toonces, nothing stood out as particularly great to me, and the final two sketches of the night were a forgettable way to close the season. There was also a strangely low amount of sketches in this episode, with there being only two full sketches pre-Update, and three full sketches post-Update. Overall, not the most exciting way for a season to end, but I can’t complain much as I still enjoyed a lot of the show.
— This would end up being the final episode for Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn. Jon had a particularly great tenure, going from being the savior of the troubled season 11 to still standing out as an incredibly valuable and consistently funny player during the great ensemble from seasons 12-15. Nora’s tenure ended with a whimper, but that doesn’t take away from what she added to the show for most of her run. She was a very reliable and dependable player, basically being to this cast what Jane Curtin was to the original cast. While some of Nora’s comedy didn’t quite land with me, I can still appreciate what she was going for with it.
— Season 14 was a very tough act to follow, yet season 15 impressively held its own. Consistency-wise, however, I feel this season doesn’t quite measure up to season 14. Season 14 had amazing consistency where it managed to avoid having ANY disappointing episodes, and season 15 seemed to be heading in that same direction at first, but ended up hitting some speedbumps in the second half with two fairly weak episodes (Quincy Jones and Andrew Dice Clay), two kinda forgettable episodes (Debra Winger and Corbin Bernsen), and a decent-but-too-average season finale (Candice Bergen). There was also a bit of a drop-off in the quality of Dennis Miller’s Weekend Updates, which went from being consistently strong to becoming kinda shaky at times, a decline that unfortunately carries over into next season’s Updates. Overall, however, season 15 as a whole had incredible highs. I also love how this season took more chances with doing more creative and absurd sketches (the material in the Robert Wagner episode is a prime example of this), which is the type of comedy that defines part of what I love about this SNL era in general. And, hey, what else can you say about a season that had now-legendary SNL hosting regulars John Goodman, Christopher Walken, and Alec Baldwin all making their debut?
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Andrew Dice Clay)
a step up
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1988-89)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 16 begins, with host Kyle MacLachlan. We initially start out with only two new additions to the cast, but over the course of the season, there will be MANY more new additions to the cast, slowly transitioning the show into a new direction while still initially keeping a lot of the qualities that made the 1986-1990 years so phenomenal.