Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) proves he’s in good health despite Graves’ disease
— Only Dana’s Bush can make the term “atrial fibrillation” sound funny.
— Very funny facial expressions from Bush when making himself sexually aroused to test his heart rate.
— The whole spiel about ailments former presidents suffered had some decent lines, particularly Zachary Taylor having Elephant Man’s Disease and JFK having the clap.
— When showing off his Nike sneakers, I liked Bush pronouncing the “Just do it” slogan as “Just dah ihh”.
— Pretty good bit at the end with the treadmill.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
a beauty pageant-like retrospective of host’s week at SNL
— A decent beauty pageant-esque video package of Delta’s week at SNL, though it’s coming off more cute than funny.
— I like how this has now become even more beauty pageant-esque with Jan doing color commentary from SNL’s audience balcony.
STARS: ***
BALZ-OFF
(JAH) tells how testosterone blocker Balz-Off made (KEN) an ideal husband
— A clever and very funny premise.
— Excellent spokesperson performance from Jan, in what ends up being her final SNL fake ad.
— Very funny portrayal from Kevin, displaying Balz-Off’s effects on his masculinity.
— SNL would later do a rip-off of this commercial in a season 30 sketch, with Amy Poehler in the Jan Hooks role and Will Forte in the Kevin Nealon role. I have a theory that the same writer who I once brought up as possibly being responsible for a rip-off SNL would later do of the Corbin Bernsen-starring “Conceited Guy” sketch is also responsible for the Balz-Off rip-off. The writer in question is a certain long-time SNL writer from the 2000s and 2010s (still currently working at the show today) who’s been accused quite a number of times of plagiarism. I won’t name him until I eventually review the aforementioned rip-offs of Balz-Off and Conceited Guy.
STARS: ****
WAYNE’S WORLD
a dream sequence game of Truth Or Dare with Madonna [real]
— Believe it or not, this is the first time a Wayne’s World sketch has had a Top Ten list since the sketch’s very first installment. Considering how much the Top Ten list would go on to be an ingrained and important feature of Wayne’s World, it’s surprising that it took this long for it to become recurring.
— Wayne and Garth’s Top Ten list of babes is great and has a few very funny unexpected entries, such as Granny from “The Beverly Hillbillies” and the callback to Garth’s mom (portrayed in an earlier Wayne’s World sketch by Candice Bergen).
— Classic fantasy sequence with Wayne and Garth meeting Madonna in a “Truth or Dare”/“Justify My Love”-esque setting. It’s great that SNL managed to get Madonna to participate in this.
— I’m loving all the callbacks to Wayne and Garth’s commentary from an earlier sketch where they watched the “Justify My Love” music video (e.g. “It’s Prince!”, “Look at the unit on that guy!”).
— Strong ending after the fantasy sequence concludes.
— A legendary Wayne’s World sketch overall.
STARS: *****
NRA THEATER
nightmarish scenario shows America under the Brady Bill
— Nice that we get Phil’s great Charlton Heston impression for the second episode in a row.
— Kevin’s intentionally stiff delivery of “What?!?” (as a spoof of the bad acting you typically see in dramatizations like this) during his conversation with Dana made me laugh.
— A big laugh from Dana giving Kevin a medieval spiked ball mace as a loaner until he can receive his gun.
— Great little moment with Kevin’s “I’m so edgy, I’m sleeping in my clothes!”, as he pulls off the bed covers and reveals he still has his clothes on from an earlier scene in this sketch. A funny meta joke about how it wasn’t possible for Kevin to change from his regular clothes into a pair of pajamas in such a short amount of time during this live setting.
— I like Rock constantly saying Tim’s full name (Willie Horton) in front of the family they’re holding up, which increasingly angers Tim.
— An absolutely priceless pratfall from Farley over the coffee table. This is the very first of MANY breakaway furniture that Farley would crash his way through during his SNL tenure. SNL would later even do an epic montage of Farley’s various furniture-breaking pratfalls, in his “Best Of” special.
— When the camera goes back to Phil’s Heston, even HE had to point out how funny Farley’s pratfall was.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on a cowboy literally loving the land
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wicked Game”
WEEKEND UPDATE
ADS does his half of a Mother’s Day mealtime conversation
— Very funny how the song playing during the opening title sequence is the Loews Theater jingle.
— Second episode in a row with Adam doing an Update commentary as himself.
— Fun concept with Adam acting out his half of a dinner conversation with his mom, so she can record this from home and then play it at a restaurant the next day on Mother’s Day.
— I’m enjoying how overly vivid Adam’s conversation is getting.
— Adam’s overall commentary was good, though he would later do another version of this bit (where it was Thanksgiving instead of Mother’s Day) that’s actually funnier than this one.
— An unusually short Update tonight overall, but no big loss given Dennis’ somewhat forgettable jokes and less-than-stellar delivery as of late. Hard to believe, though, that there’s only one Update left in the Dennis Miller era.
STARS: **½
WEIGHT WATCHERS MEETING
Stuart Smalley & food group freak (host) attend a Weight Watchers meeting
— Julia’s characterization is a dead-on portrayal of this type of support group leader.
— I love Farley barging into the meeting with a slice of pizza, a cigarette, and a six pack of beer.
— Farley’s performance in general is hilarious in this.
— Very interesting seeing Stuart Smalley appearing outside of his talk show, in a group setting. It’s nice seeing what his life is like outside of his show.
— A good laugh from Farley muttering “This is a friggin’ circus” when observing the craziness at the meeting.
— I liked Victoria’s tearful outburst before running out of the room.
— I’m enjoying all the various characterizations in this, and the solid ensemble work being done.
STARS: ***½
HOLLYWOOD MINUTE
Ocean’s Eleven clip has gay Sammy Davis, Jr. (TIM) & Frank Sinatra (PHH)
— Decent setting with a homoerotic “Ocean’s Eleven” encounter between Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
— I love Tim’s laugh as Sammy.
— A short-and-sweet sketch.
STARS: ***½
KARAOKE BAR
bar patrons (PHH) & (KEN) stage revolt against karaoke machine hog (host)
— Chris Isaak’s dorky, awkward dance moves during his opening karaoke number are pretty funny.
— Very awkward beginning to Delta’s singing of “Reunited”, where she unintentionally misses her cue to start singing and then nervously giggles her way through the beginning of her singing. I’ve never seen the rerun version of this sketch, and I’m curious if Delta’s blooper is fixed in it.
— Not caring too much for where this sketch is going.
— Phil’s angry lines about how much he hates Delta are making me laugh.
— Finally, we get a somewhat decent turn with Phil and Kevin deviously planning a retaliation against Delta.
— This overall sketch didn’t amount to much. Considering the promising dark direction this appeared to be headed in halfway through, it felt like this overall sketch could’ve been a lot better.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Diddley Daddy”
COFFEE TALK WITH PAUL BALDWIN
Paul Baldwin & ex-girlfriend (host) on java & baseball
— For the first time, the theme music used for Coffee Talk is the one we’re now familiar with, but we’re still seeing Mike as his proto-Linda Richman character, Paul Baldwin.
— This is unfortunately going in the same direction as the preceding Coffee Talk installment, where the only joke is New York-accented characters constantly pronouncing words that have “aw” sounds. Again, I can relate to this as a heavily-accented New Yorker myself, but that doesn’t make it funny.
— Okay, I admit, I’m now starting to find a certain charm to this humor. But there’s absolutely no way this thin premise would’ve lasted long-term if they had kept these Paul Baldwin-hosted Coffee Talk sketches going for years. I can see why they would soon revamp this into the Linda Richman sketches we’re now familiar with. Again, I’m not a Linda Richman fan, but at least those sketches have an actual premise.
STARS: **
SHOUTING MOTHERS
women (host) & (JAH) interrupt their conversation to yell at their kids
— Hmm, a sketch with friends in a backyard constantly stopping mid-conversation to yell at their off-camera kids who won’t stop doing something they’re repeatedly told not to do. This is coming off as an inferior precursor to a certain memorable future Will Ferrell sketch (“Get off the shed!”).
— Jan’s adding good realism to this with her performance, which is the only highlight I’ve been able to find about this sketch so far.
— Seeing Jan and Delta paired together reminds me, doesn’t Jan eventually replace Delta on “Designing Women”, right after this season, in fact? I don’t remember the whole story of why Delta was fired from that show.
— I finally got a laugh, from Julia’s intense coughing fit as the elderly grandmother.
— Yeah, this overall sketch just didn’t work for me.
STARS: *½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly pretty good episode, but ended poorly with an underwhelming string of sketches in the last 20 minutes. Before that, things were fine, even if nothing stood out as particularly memorable except for an all-time classic Wayne’s World installment.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steven Seagal)
a step up (needless to say)
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 16 comes to an end, with host George Wendt. We also get the last hurrahs of Dennis Miller and Jan Hooks.