Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Bill Clinton (PHH) makes an Indecent Proposal to Boris Yeltsin (CHF)
— Great sudden Indecent Proposal twist with Phil’s Clinton making an offer for a night with Boris Yeltsin’s wife, Naina.
— I got a laugh from the reason Phil’s Clinton gives to Mike’s George Stephanopoulos for his indecent proposal to Yeltsin: “I’m gonna give him the money anyway. Might as well have some fun.”
— Julia as Naina, in her accent: “It’s not my soul, it’s just my wagina.”
— I like the fact that this is the second consecutive episode with the underappreciated Julia Sweeney getting to say “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version. Same goes for the following monologue.
MONOLOGUE
host dresses like Peter Pan & performs a static version of “I’m Flying”
— Pretty fun performance from Jason during the musical.
— Amusing turn with a disenchanted Jason stopping the musical, being “flown” over to Lorne, and Lorne being raised on a mechanical platform so he can be higher than Jason.
STARS: ***
JIFFY EXPRESS
Rerun from 10/24/92
WOODY ALLEN FAN CLUB
Woody Allen’s legal troubles are discussed at a meeting of his fan club
— Jason being cast as a Woody Allen-sounding fan seems very fitting.
— Good Woody Allen voices from all the guys. Jon Lovitz would’ve been perfect for this sketch if he were still in the cast (or available for one of his many cameos in this era), as he had a lesser-known recurring character in his early seasons who was basically the same as these Woody Allen fans in this sketch.
— David’s character is named Andrew Breckman, after frequent SNL writer Andy Breckman. I don’t know if this means he had a hand in the writing of this sketch (I don’t think he’s credited as a guest writer this week).
— The fan club members’ various ways of downplaying Woody’s problems are pretty funny.
— I like the ending with Jason doing a Woody Allen-esque direct-to-camera message.
STARS: ***
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
HUB’S GYROS
workers at Hub’s Gyros talk about (host)’s affinity for “the juice”
— A lot of things about the look of this sketch bring the original era’s Olympia Cafe sketches to mind. Even the layout of the restaurant set is kinda similar to Olympia Cafe’s set.
— Ha, there goes the first utterance of the soon-to-be-immortal line “You like-a the juice?”
— Robert Smigel’s accent in this sounds similar to the voice he would later use for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
— The ridiculous, endless repetitiveness of this is increasingly funny when you’re aware this is meant as a meta spoof of one-joke, catchphrase-driven sketches.
— I love how this has now gotten really meta with David entering the scene and asking the Hub’s Gyros employees for the sketch to finally end, and all the characters lampshading how unbearably repetitive the sketch is. I especially love Smigel’s line “Audience is getting pissed off.”
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Steam”
WEEKEND UPDATE
unattractive Bennett Brauer (CHF) explains why he’s an audience turn-off
— Farley debuts a new Update character: Bennett Brauer, which would go on to be a fairly well-known character of his.
— Funny format of the Bennett Brauer commentary, with his increasingly unpleasant revelations about himself while using air quotes. The quote about “not using silverware when eating” especially got a good laugh.
— Kevin’s “This just in” bit about the Rodney King jury verdict was awful. Not only was it not funny, but what the hell was with Kevin’s delivery? Judging from his awkward, hesitant delivery, it sounded like even he had no confidence in the material.
— David had a Hollywood Minute commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, which is surprising considering the popularity of the segment. Judging from the description I read of this cut Hollywood Minute, it’s the same one that would later make it on the air in this season’s finale.
STARS: ***
FOOD UNION
grocery store employees (host) & (ROS) try to find sanctuary during break
— I’m enjoying the escalation of this, with the increasingly smaller and less-convenient break rooms.
— Canteen Boy officially becomes recurring, making a random small “cameo” in this sketch.
— I’m actually liking Canteen Boy better in this small appearance than I do in most of his own sketches.
— Solid ending with the crawl space break room, and Rob having his ear chewed by a mouse.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
WEAK CRIME BOSS
mob boss (host) repeatedly errs by having thugs release (TIM) prematurely
— I loved Phil’s delivery of “Remember this YOUNG PUNK?!?” when he and Kevin bring Tim into Jason’s office.
— Funny turn after Jason initially tells Kevin and Phil they can leave, with Tim immediately beating Jason up.
— Great performance and character work from Jason.
— Okay, the repetitiveness of this sketch was funny to me for a good while, but is now starting to get tired to me towards the end of this.
— Overall, not a particularly great sketch, but I didn’t hate this anywhere near as much as I used to. There was a silliness to this sketch that kinda worked, and this was well-performed by most of the actors involved. However, I will never understand why this sketch is included in this season’s “Best Of” compilation special. What were they thinking?!?
STARS: **½
IGNORANT PROPOSAL
stakes lowered considerably in all-black version
— Wow, two consecutive sketches tonight with the criminally-underused Tim Meadows in a co-starring role. A huge rarity for him in this era.
— I like that we’re getting two different Indecent Proposal parodies tonight.
— Rock’s insistent line “If you don’t sleep with him, I will” was funny.
— Wait, now it’s revealed that Rock is playing Eddie Murphy? Boy, is that a weak impression of Eddie.
— Ellen playing Mary J. Blige here is amusing, considering Mary J. Blige was a musical guest on the show just two episodes earlier.
STARS: ***
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
TALES OF IRONY
three vignettes fail to contain any real ironic element
— I love Jason’s intense, over-dramatic performance as the host.
— Jason’s understated confused reaction to the spaceship vignette is cracking me up.
— The increasingly bad examples of irony in the vignettes are really funny, as are Jason’s increasingly baffled, frustrated reactions.
— I got a big laugh from the ending with Jason bitterly tearing a sheet of paper apart and angrily chewing it.
STARS: ****
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In Your Eyes”
BLACK COWORKERS
changing traits make (host) repeatedly misidentify new black co-workers
— Wow, THREE co-starring roles tonight for Tim. I love it.
— I’m being amused by the direction this is going in, with Tim and Rock constantly switching places or changing appearances, causing Jason to constantly confuse them for each other, which they get offended by.
— Funny line from Tim about how Jason is a balding white guy with a blazer, so “I guess that makes you Bob Hope”.
— I love the randomness of Ellen deciding to take a nap right at the table, of course leading Jason to mistake the “D” shaved in the back of her hair for Tim’s hair.
— I’m enjoying how the silliness is escalating even further, with Tim, Rock, and Ellen now having their names changed to African names when Jason has briefly stepped out once again.
— When Jason returns after the aforementioned African name changes, I love David’s panicked gestures when trying to prevent Jason from saying the black co-workers’ old names.
— Good ending with Jason’s direct-to-camera message (the second sketch tonight to end with Jason doing that) pleading with viewers not to hurt him or set his house on fire after the upcoming Rodney King verdict.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Though this wasn’t one of the more standout episodes of this season, it was a quietly solid show. I appreciate a lot of the original premises we saw all throughout this episode. There were no recurring sketches at all (Hub’s Gyros doesn’t become recurring until later this season); just a night filled with a lot of mostly-good premise-driven original sketches. Jason Alexander was a very solid host, and it makes sense how good he was at playing different characters and how well he worked in SNL’s live format, considering all of his stage experience.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Miranda Richardson)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Kirstie Alley
You like-a do reviews, ehhhh?
Love the monologue and the Woody sketch. Surprised you didn’t enjoy them more.
I can understand the Best of 1992 tape wanting a Jason Alexander sketch due to the popularity of Seinfeld, but almost every other option on this episode would have been better (and Jason is especially funny in Tales of Irony, if they didn’t want the more famous Hub’s Gyros). That said, while I remember absolutely hating that gangster sketch the first time watching it, there is a certain dopey charm to it after you watch it enough.
There is an interesting note about the feel of this episode
-Even though Jason is about as far from a “black” host as you can get, there are lots of lead roles for black cast members this episode.
-A LOT of the sketches in this episode involve the setup of a comically stupid thing repeating itself, frequently becoming more and more stupid. You can use that description to describe Hub’s Gyros, the food union, Tales of Irony, the weak crime boss, and the black coworkers sketch. They don’t all work the same, but this is certainly a repetition heavy episode. I think it avoids seeming too stupid or lazy by having different types of premises and a lack of recurring characters. Also, that arguably is my favorite type of comedic sketch setup anyway.
The only reason I can see why the monologue was replaced is Jason puts the Peter Pan hat on backwards in the live show. It’s really not that distracting though.
This isn’t an episode I rushed to go back and watch, as I found George so draining on Seinfeld (I know that was the character and not the actor), but seeing it again, Alexander was a more than fine host. I wish this hadn’t been his only stop in the role.
The iciness of Hartman’s Clinton never has left me, but watching it episode-to-episode really has brought the feeling back. From Hammond’s Clinton on, SNL has tried to make every President “likeable.” (the only exception might be Obama because they never had any idea what the hell they were doing with him anyway) Even Trump is repeatedly given moments that paint him as someone we can find amusing or sympathetic or smart. Hartman and the writers of this era seemingly had little interest in such phony pleasantries. Even in a broadly comic cold open like this one, the portrayal is so relentlessly offputting. It’s fascinating to watch. And Julia Sweeney is terrific.
It’s interesting to compare the “writerly pieces” of this season, which are taking more and more prominence in the back half of the season, to the attempts a few seasons later. How did something like the break room sketch work so well here yet two years later would have been a mess?
I was surprised at just how openly harsh the Woody Allen sketch was. I know there was never any great love between him and the show anyway, but wow.
I also have to take a moment to praise Lorne’s snazzy jacket in the monologue.
Maybe it worked so well because Phil Hartman was in it.
You lik-ah da SNL?
I’m surprised they never had Jason host again because he did a pretty great job here. Also surprised that there wasn’t a “Seinfeld” parody sketch, but am glad that we got all kinds of different sketches here. I do like that mob boss one. It maybe goes on about 1 minute longer than it should have, but it does have a very goofy charm and is pretty enjoyable.
Not a bad show.. taped it off the late night re-airing. I had to tape over it.. I regret doing it.
Jason was a darn fine host, shame he never came back. Also a shame Richards never hosted either, guess Lorne never forgave him for Fridays. Jason was very game and was willing to roll up his sleeves and as a result it’s a fun and wacky show. The Allen skit was always delightfully weird as was that Supermarket skit.. the whole idea makes no sense but it kinda does lol.
My favorite skit was either Tales of Irony or the Murphy/Williams Indecent Proposal parody.. I lean the former because of how pissed off Jason gets.. it’s hilarious. Even the smacking skit makes me laugh just due to how stupid it was.. I miss the days where they could put stupid skits on yet they were hilarious. Now it’s all drab.
Michael Richards was supposed to host the show that Nancy Kerrigan ended up hosting.
Looks like Chris Farley was a Peter Gabriel fan. Nice.
Thank you for doing this.
I thought of the grocery store break room sketch out of the blue tonight. I watched it almost 30 years ago after I got home exhausted from a long shift at a grocery store. I couldn’t find the sketch online but I found your site.
Jason gives off huge John Belushi vibes in the Tales of Irony sketch.
I’ve always been mildly disappointed in the cold opening in this episode. A Clinton / Indecent Proposal should’ve been a runaway classic, instead it’s only adequately executed.