Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) rejects “quitter” label & lays out his plans for the USA
— I loved Dana’s Perot “sealing the deal” on all the talk about his big ears.
— Only a minute into this sketch so far, and Dana’s Perot has already had lots of funny lines.
— A big laugh from his idea of a national wake-up siren.
— Great silly ending with him performing a quick, fun “Shortenin’ Bread” song-and-dance number to leave us with a smile.
— This cold opening would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
LOM dreams that host rants against General Electric & gets SNL cancelled
— Eerie, uncomfortable silence from the studio audience after Robbins’ funny G.E. slogan: “G.E., we bring good things to…. death”. This isn’t the only time tonight where there will be eerie, unsettling silence in the studio after something happens (hint: tonight’s musical guest).
— Odd how this is the second monologue in a row with Lorne calling the host backstage after the host has talked about something touchy onstage.
— Some really good back-and-forths between Robbins and Lorne, and I loved Lorne’s response to Robbins tossing away the monologue script he was given: “Don’t throw that away. A lot of this could be used next week with Joe Pesci.”
— Very funny part with NBC suddenly cutting off Robbins’ G.E. rant to Lorne and announcing that SNL has been canceled.
— I love the cutaway to Lorne waking up in bed and letting out a hilarious-sounding brief scream. We also get a funny reveal of Phil being in bed with him.
— Since Phil’s playing himself here, why is he wearing a wig?
STARS: ****
CARACCI’S PIZZA
Caracci’s Pizza guarantees that any unsanitary pie is half-price
— Fast costume change for Robbins, considering this live sketch is airing immediately after the monologue with no commercial break in between.
— Some really good laughs from each employee telling us the awful things they won’t do to your pizza.
— The constant cutaways to Robert Smigel gleefully announcing an Italian-accented “You get half off a-da pizza!” are hilarious.
STARS: ****
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on a movie about a brain-damaged scientist
FOUNDING FATHERS
media probes time-warped historical figures’ scandals
— Tim Meadows makes his first appearance of the season (and, of course, he’s being wasted in a bland and minor straight role), after both he and David Spade were shut out of the season premiere. I see Tim has a new haircut this season and has gotten rid of his braided hairstyle from his preceding seasons. I’ve always liked that braided hairstyle of his.
— Now we get David making his first appearance of the season.
— Despite the promising concept, this sketch has been turning out to be fairly dull and a little slow. Some of the reporters’ questions are providing a few chuckles, though.
— Very funny ending “preview of next week’s episode” scene with Phil’s Ben Franklin dressed as Marilyn Monroe and singing “Happy Birthday” to an unseen JFK.
STARS: **
COOKING WITH DENNIS MILLER
guest DAS helps prepare a dish
— Interesting use of Dana’s always-fun Dennis Miller impression.
— Dana’s imitation of typical Dennis Miller jokes is so spot-on that he even did a variation of the famous Weekend Update joke from season 11 where Dennis talks about how shocking it is that then-president Ronald Reagan has turned 70 years old and has access to the button (“I have a grandfather who’s 70 and we don’t even let him use the remote control for the TV”).
— I like the idea of the very underused David Spade playing himself as a guest in this sketch, and we get a recreation of that great rapport between Dennis and David that we saw back in season 16 whenever David would do a commentary on Update.
— A pretty good laugh from Dana’s Dennis calling David out on trying to work his stand-up act into Dennis’ show.
— The ending seemed a little abrupt.
— Nice meta bit at the very end, with the recently-just-left-SNL Victoria Jackson being announced as Dennis’ next guest.
STARS: ***½
THAT’S NOT YOGURT
(KEN) wants to know what’s in the food substitute
— Good premise that was obviously inspired by “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”.
— I’m liking the direction this is taking, with Kevin and Julia’s joyful moods gradually changing into stern insistence in getting the voice-over (Phil) to reveal what Kevin just ate. I’m also enjoying Phil’s happy delivery as he keeps refusing to reveal what the “yogurt” really is.
STARS: ***½
SUNDAY MORNING VIDEOS
(ROS) & preacher (host) on what makes “great sex”
— Robbins is doing a spot-on impression of a typical preacher.
— Great turn with Robbins’ unexpected reveal of who provides truly great sex.
— Robbins suddenly angrily punching Rob when Rob implies that the best sex is with the Lord had me howling. It was also made funny by Rob’s great pratfall out of the chair.
— The punching gag continues to be funny even with repetition. I especially like when it happened during the closing titles as the sketch was ending.
— Rob and Robbins both sold this overall sketch really well.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Success Has Made A Failure Of Our Home”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Hollywood Minute- DAS offers to-the-point career advice to stars
— A huge turning point occurs for the struggling David Spade, as he debuts a soon-to-be-recurring-and-very-popular Update segment that would provide the breakout of his SNL tenure.
— David’s snarky delivery here is great, and is noticeably faster-paced, sharper, and more energetic than most later editions of Hollywood Minute.
— Tons of great slams and one-liners from David here, with my favorites so far being the Michael Bolton and Erik Estrada ones, as well as the very quick self-deprecating one with David saying “Hi, I burn bridges” when a picture of himself shows up.
— David’s overall inaugural Hollywood Minute tonight killed and was a huge success. It’s pretty well-known that THIS is what saved the very underused Spade from potentially getting fired. This would go on to open a lot more doors for him on SNL. While he would go on to do various funny things on the show, I feel that Hollywood Minute would remain the best use of his talents on SNL.
— I’ve been noticing that my reviews of the last handful of Weekend Updates almost never mention anything about the actual Kevin Nealon portions and only mention the guest commentaries. I feel a little bad about that, but I guess I’ve kinda run out of things to say about Kevin as an Update anchor. A lot of people seem to not be crazy about Kevin’s Update tenure, but as for me, in the past, I used to really appreciate the mock-serious newsman approach he brought to Update, even if it doesn’t measure up to neither his predecessor (Dennis) nor successor (Norm). But lately, I’ve been finding Kevin’s portions of Update to be blandly average, despite some really funny jokes. I’ve also started to be driven a little crazy by his penchant for flubbing punchlines. And from what I remember, his Updates only get worse next season.
STARS: ***½
BOOK BURNING
Bob Roberts & young conservatives sing songs & burn books in a campfire
— Good to see they’re doing a sketch based on Robbins’ then-new movie Bob Roberts, considering it originated as a short film on SNL back in season 12. I admit that I still have yet to see the actual Bob Roberts movie, but I enjoyed the SNL short back when I reviewed it.
— David’s strong night continues, as he finds himself in yet another big role here. Amazing what a turnaround his airtime has taken.
— Interesting approach used in this sketch, and much like the aforementioned Bob Roberts SNL short, I’m getting good laughs from Robbins’ various reactionary songs, especially the “I’d rather be a monkey if I can’t be white” number.
STARS: ***½
LARRY KING LIVE
show atmosphere puts Brian Wilson (host) on edge
— I’m enjoying Robbins’ oddball, shaky performance as Brian Wilson.
— Not caring for the side bit with Dana’s Perot alternately announcing he’s back in the presidential race and then dropping out of the race.
— (*groan*) A few minutes later, and they’re still repeating the side bit with Perot jumping in and out of the presidential race, and predictably, it’s still falling flat.
— Despite some laughs early on and a good performance from both Kevin and Robbins, this overall sketch gradually ran out of steam as it went along. By the final minute, I was getting almost no laughs.
STARS: **
TORI
Tori Spelling (MEH) previews new 90210 season & trashes Shannen Doherty
— As usual for Melanie, quite a number of line flubs and awkward pauses early on here.
— Also, as usual for Melanie’s Tori Spelling impression, there goes that famous facial expression… (the second above screencap for this sketch)
— I like Melanie’s Tori going on about her confusion over having to play a high school senior on 90210 when she herself already graduated in real life.
— Something about Melanie’s front two teeth look strange in this sketch. It looks like there’s a gap or a chip in her front teeth that was never there before.
— Not a particularly good sketch overall, though I got a few laughs here and there from Melanie. My recent newfound leniency towards Melanie Hutsell has caused me to not hate this sketch as much as I used to in the past.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “War”
musical guest tears up a picture of Pope John Paul II
— Aaaaaaand there goes the controversial moment.
— This musical performance, even before the picture-tearing incident, already had an eerie and haunting tone, but that’s nothing compared to the eeriness and haunting-ness of the dead silence in the studio right after Sinead tears the picture. Reportedly, SNL chose not to light the “applause” sign, causing the show to just go to commercial with the chilling silence in the studio as Sinead exits the stage. However, I swear that if you listen during the silence, it sounds like you can hear one person in the studio exclaim “Bravo!”
SWEET JIMMY, THE WORLD’S NICEST PIMP
Sweet Jimmy (host) genuinely cares about his whores
— Needless to say, it feels quite odd and jarring watching this right after the Sinead incident.
— Melanie’s front teeth still have that strange chipped look that I pointed out her having in the Tori sketch earlier tonight. I wonder what happened to her.
— An okay-seeming premise of “the world’s nicest pimp”, in the same vein of late 80s sketches like World’s Meanest Methodist Minister (starring John Lithgow) and Nice Guy Dictator (starring Judge Reinhold).
— Boy, as it turns out, this sketch is really falling flat.
— Rob seems to be getting tons of airtime so far this season. Possibly a by-product of Mike Myers being temporarily gone, not to mention Rob’s recent promotion from featured player to repertory player.
— Overall, oof. This sketch did not work for me at all. And I don’t think it was just due to the unfortunate placement of this succeeding the Sinead incident. The material was very weak and dull. I’ve been enjoying so many of Tim Robbins’ performances tonight, but not even he could do anything for this sketch’s material.
STARS: *
DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart explains what he & Bill Clinton have in common
— It feels refreshing to have a Daily Affirmation sketch to bring a sense of normalcy back to the show after the mediocrity and controversy in most of the second half of this episode.
— As usual, we get a pretty good laugh from Stuart mentioning the title of a poorly-received recent episode of his, with the mentioned title this time being “Fear is a Dark Room Where Negatives Get Developed”.
— I really liked Stuart’s line about how he’s “should-ing” all over himself. Nice wordplay/swearing fake-out.
— Funny story about a past incident where Stuart got the crap beat out of him by his dad when trying to stand up for his mom.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
host wishes Susan Sarandon [real] a Happy Birthday
— During his goodnights speech, Robbins wishes a “Happy Birthday” to his love, Susan Sarandon, who is then shown in the audience holding a baby and receiving a bouquet of flowers. One has to wonder how Sarandon felt about seeing Sinead’s picture-tearing incident in person on her birthday of all days.
— Also during his goodnights speech, Robbins, who I recall hearing was raised Catholic, noticeably doesn’t thank Sinead, for obvious reasons.
— Phil (who’s had a surprisingly light night tonight) is missing from these goodnights. He reportedly refused to share the same stage as Sinead after what she did.
— Boy, Chris Rock looks miserable during these goodnights. He wasn’t in ANY sketches tonight, and he’s clearly upset over that, as he’s spending these entire goodnights just sullenly standing still on the left front edge of the stage like a statue, isolated from everyone else (as seen in the lower left corner of the last screencap above). He’s not waving to the audience nor is he interacting with ANYONE onstage, and is instead just sullenly looking towards the audience with his hands in his pockets. At one point, Farley even goes over to him and whispers something in his ear, but Rock doesn’t even really respond. The real sad thing about all this is, this ends up being far from the last time this season where Rock isn’t in any sketches in an episode. No wonder this ends up being his final season.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode that had a pretty strong first half, but gradually died off over the course of the second half, though it at least ended on an up note with Daily Affirmation. Not a particularly memorable SNL episode overall (aside from the Sinead incident), but there’s certainly a good number of things to like here.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Nicolas Cage)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Joe Pesci