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
“That’s Not Yogurt” sounds a lot like “Almost Pizza” from years later…. a product of that plagiarizing writer you often mention?
Steven, I never really thought of that, but it very well may be a product of that certain writer. I remember when the Almost Pizza commercial originally aired, I noticed the initial similarities to That’s Not Yogurt, but then it went in its own direction after a while and had a lot of good creative turns. (You can read my old review of the original airing of that commercial here). I feel That’s Not Yogurt and Almost Pizza are both solid commercials, but personally, I may actually prefer Almost Pizza.
Who is the woman in the Bob Roberts sketch?
At first when I saw “MEH” I thought…wow, you really don’t care for this sketch. Then I realized that was Melanie Hutsell’s name. Oops.
I thought maybe Phil was styled a bit like Suzanne Pleshette in the Newhart scene, but then wondered if he was just dressed that way for some kind of ad being filmed at the time (wasn’t the scene with Lorne a pre-tape?). Speaking of Phil and his not being in the episode much, even some of his voiceover and straight man announcing roles were taken by Kevin and Rob.
I also thought, without looking closely, that that was Julia Sweeney as Marilyn Monroe…
When I see Kevin as Larry King I just end up thinking of how much I enjoyed Norm’s version, although Kevin does a decent job. I kind of like this sketch as it is a contained madness, watching everything slowly go off the rails until Wilson and the callers are completely confused. It’s also a good showing of what a disoriented interviewing style King had. I do think that the Perot bits distract, because you expect that to be the center of the sketch.
I’m surprised they never had Smigel’s Caracci character become recurring (or did they?), as it’s such an easy catchphrase for this era. Maybe he realized it was a little too easy. Anyway, this is a fun sketch, even if it could have used a trim.
I got the feeling Al Franken wrote this Stuart Smalley sketch mostly to endorse Clinton on-air, but it’s a pretty well-performed sketch (and the Smalley sketches were always a good palate cleanser).
Rob’s heavy focus here just makes me wonder even more why he was such an afterthought in his last season.
The best part of the Sweet Jimmy sketch is the theme, although Tim’s performance goes a long way to making a somewhat crass and lazy premise work.
Having a break from Myers makes these episodes feel less formulaic to me, although part of that is down to having two good male hosts who can take some of his load.
Susan Sarandon is one of those people I thought at one time would have made a good host. Never happened, although she did appear in one of those Samberg/Timberlake videos (she also did a bit on Mad TV, as her kids were fans of the show).
I don’t think anything can be said about Sinead that hasn’t already been said. Given that even now, material about Catholics and the abuse scandal causes backlash (see the response to John Mulaney and Pete Davidson last season), she really did go through some extra hell at the time this aired. Say what you will about her, or whether this was the appropriate venue, but her performance is incredibly chilling, and stands the test of time.
Re: “Who is the woman in the Bob Roberts sketch?”
If you’re referring to the woman with the short blonde hair next to Spade, I think that’s writer Christine Zander.
Thanks! I knew she was in a few other sketches but didn’t recognize her. I think she was in the monologue the week before this too.
“Say what you will about her, or whether this was the appropriate venue, but her performance is incredibly chilling….”
THIS. It’s what I remember to this day about watching that night’s episode as it aired. Everything about that performance – the lighting, her mournful and haunting singing, her intense stare into the camera – was eerie, almost scary. Something just felt too strange about it…and then she held up the photograph and we know what happened next, and the silent studio at the fade completed the eeriness. Those screengrabs are still enough to bring back that chill all these years later.
Spade and Dennis are still close to this day as Miller is supposed to be a guest on Light Outs this week. Also, in hindsight Sinead was correct about the Catholic Church specifically in regards to the priests sex abuse scandals. As for Susan Surandon, she likely respected Sinead for her stance. She was on the Late Show a few years ago and tore into Hillary Clinton for not being liberal enough on various issues. So I think this fits in with that stance.
Dana was also on Spade’s show recently – still doing his Miller impression (it’s on Youtube). It’s nice they’re all still friendly. They talk a little about the election special done around this time and also about Spade wanting to play Perot. He gets to, in the special, but it doesn’t work out the way he expected, leading to Dana having to try to console him afterward, while still in character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=281&v=gdrPx5lne5A
Spade has managed to get a long career off the back of his Hollywood Minute pieces. I did enjoy some of them, but they’re harder to watch now because the sheer bitterness they contain are sort of emblematic of how increasingly toxic and mean-spirited the show became over these seasons.
I get the criticism of this era but from a personal standpoint these are my favorite years of the show. Of course excluding 94-95. I was in junior high and the beginning of high school during these seasons so they hold a real nostalgic place for me. In fact revisiting these shows in these reviews sorta gives me chills like I’m right back in 8th grade and desperately waiting for the show to start at 11:30
Also this was the first time in the show’s history where they were outwardly trying to appeal to teenagers. It was inevitably going to irk a lot of fans. Especially those who’d been there since the beginning
I was a little younger than that when I first got into SNL and my first cast was the 89-90 group, so that era always holds sentimental value to me. It also made it a little more difficult, and still makes it somewhat difficult, to be entirely rational about some of these years, as at the time I would dip in and out and wonder why the show had become what felt to me at the time like week after week of Chris Farley screaming and falling down. Now that I’m so much older I see the show was always more than that, and I try to be more objective, but sometimes those old emotions still return to the surface.
I started watching in 87 when I was around 8 or so. Love those late 80s years as well but I hold early 90s in higher regard because I felt it was the first cast that appealed to my specific generation
I think 1992-93 is still mostly really good, although by 1993-94 the bloom really starts to come off the rose for me. I always thought that Phil stayed one season too long.
Phil was raised Catholic, so it’s no wonder he wouldn’t want to be on the same stage as her.
Sinead was right. And she was professionally destroyed for being right.
I saw both the live and dress version of Sinead O’Connor’s “War” number. The live version was certainly shocking as a Catholic watching it, that’s for sure! I watched the dress version in the rerun because the newspaper alerted me to the alteration. But I’ll save that discussion for when the Peter Saarsgard review is uploaded and a blooper-laden sketch is mentioned…
Sorry, I meant to write “Sarsgaard”.
I would truly love to get the lyrics for “I’d rather be a monkey if I can’t be white” number.
It is sooo un-pc, It cant be found.
Sinead talks about the night and the immediate aftermath:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope-memoir-1174191/
Uh.. The audience laughed throughout the entire Larry King segment. There was a problem with the crowd audio playing through Perot’s “caller” feed. This was an audio issue. Not remotely close to a dead audience, as you insinuated. Also, the best part of that segment was that every time King screamed out a city name, he did it with such force that it blew Wilson’s hair back. Decent skit that you missed on every front, man.
^ Mr. Nealon, I presume?
RIP Sinead O Connor
Sinéad was right.
R.I.P.
R.I.P. Sinead. You were proved right in the end.
Though I’ve experienced the losses of musicians far more influential to me personally, this is the first time I’ve cried over a musician’s passing. RIP, Sinead.
Musical Performance #1: “Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home”
-Wow @ the full orchestra behind Sinead. The string section is especially impressive to see.
-Sinead averting her gaze as she sings the song could be attributed to shyness, but I think it fits well with the lyrics she’s singing- as if she’s feeling belittled, standing in the shadow of the lover who became successful and grew apart from her.
-Sinead also sounds great. Her silky smooth voice on the verse fits this song well.
-Although I know it comes with the territory when performing standards like this, I do think the orchestration is a bit melodramatic. But that’s an issue to take up with the arranger, not the performers.
-Love the prominent piano chords towards the end of the second verse.
-The way Sinead keeps looking down gives me the (incorrect, I’m sure) impression that she’s reading the lyrics as she goes.
-Sinead’s belting on the bridge/outro is perfect, and I find her gestures endearing (her waving her hands when she sings “Stop what you’re saying” and her fist-pump on the line “You’re killing me”).
-Love how, after belting “Am I not your girl?” several times with an intense expression at the end of the song, Sinead drops character once the applause starts, smiling and even jumping up and down.
-Thematically, although it’s a cover, this song wouldn’t sound out of place on Sinead’s previous album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. Excellent song choice.
Stars: ****
Musical Performance #2: “War”
-I haven’t actually seen this performance before, despite it being so famous.
-I read that Sinead changed her mind on which song she was going to perform on the day before the show, and her previous choice was “Scarlet Ribbons” (which appeared on the album she’s supporting with this SNL appearance). Given that her recording of “Scarlet Ribbons” features very minimal instrumentation, I wonder if she was planning to sing a cappella, just like she sings “War” here. I’m glad she wasn’t planning on doing another song with the orchestra, as I’m sure they wouldn’t have been happy about her dismissing them one day prior!
-Already the tone of this performance is very somber, with Sinead staring down the camera as she delivers each line. It feels as if she’s directly addressing the viewers, intentionally shaking them out of the good mood that watching SNL has put them in.
-For inexperienced singers, it can be hard to stay on pitch when singing a cappella. Sinead is by no means an inexperienced singer, and she’s doing a great job. It sounds like she’s sung this song many times before.
-The lines about child abuse are original to this version of the song, and these lines are sung with more passion than the ones preceding them.
-Beautiful mixed register tone from Sinead on the lines “war in the east, war in the west, war up north.”
-And here’s the famous part, which I’m discovering has always been misinterpreted to me. I always assumed Sinead made her “Fight the real enemy” statement before ripping up the picture, and that she did so in a bolder way, more like a rallying cry. Instead, she holds up the picture as she sings the final word of the song, “evil,” making it very clear who she believes to be evil, and then rips up the picture and makes her statement with a straight face. I’m extremely impressed right now with how calm and confident she seems to be.
-And now I’m crying again…
-The lack of applause was a judgement call from SNL’s director, but it also feels fitting when paired with the seriousness of Sinead’s message.
-Sinead’s calmness that I noticed before continues to the end, with her blowing out the lit candles beside her and walking away.
-I wonder if the person who yelled “Bravo!” at the end (because I do agree with Stooge that it sounded like someone yelling “Bravo!”) was the same person who yelled “Okay!” at the start of the performance.
Stars: ***** (I’m almost certainly letting my emotions get in the way of my objectivity, but not only was there nothing for me to negatively criticize about the performance, I also loved it and thought the presentation, her vocals, and her song choice were effective. So what more do you need to give a five star rating?)