April 17, 1993 – Kirstie Alley / Lenny Kravitz (S18 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL’s recurring characters sing “Fire Bad” for post-Rodney King unity

— Very fun concept of some of this era’s biggest recurring characters coming together in a We Are the World-esque unity song.
— I absolutely love the way the many different recurring characters are being incorporated into this, how their individual lyrics about unity pertain to their known traits, and how we’re seeing the characters paired off in twos.
— You can really see just from this cold opening what a fun and memorable era this is for recurring characters.
— For some odd reason, Rock’s Nat X is blatantly lip-syncing to a completely different voice. I have no idea why they’re doing that, but it always cracks me up whenever I watch this. In the live version I’m currently watching, you can kinda hear Rock’s real voice singing under the lip-synced voice. I believe that would later be muted out in reruns.
— Very interesting and fitting how Wayne and Franz are paired together, considering they’re two characters that can’t be performed regularly anymore after Dana Carvey’s departure. (That being said, Mike does later attempt a Garth-less Wayne sketch the following season, in a Melrose Place parody)
— I love Rob’s big solo as Richmeister.
— Very catchy song, especially the chorus.
— Great ending with Tim as himself lampshading the fact that he couldn’t participate in the musical number because he doesn’t have any recurring characters, then receiving compensation for that by getting to deliver his very first solo “Live from New York…” (which you can tell he was thrilled to do).
STARS: *****

MONOLOGUE
castmembers pretend to be host’s Cheers co-stars to make her feel better

— When mentioning how emotional it was recently taping the final episode of Cheers, Kirstie mentions losing her voice, which seems to be her explaining why her voice sounds so hoarse tonight. To be honest, her voice has always sounded kinda raspy to me, though.
— A fantastic callback/parody of Kirstie’s previous monologue, with the SNL cast now impersonating Kirstie’s Cheers co-stars, resulting in a gradually disillusioned Kirstie.
— Funny detail with Farley nailing George Wendt’s distinctive walk.
— Another funny detail is Phil’s dead-on imitation of Kelsey Grammer’s smile.
— Hilarious visual of Adam as Rhea Perlman.
STARS: *****

CHAMELEON XLE
Rerun from 11/14/92

LA CANTORIA
the overamorous Italians attend to vacationing Kirpatricks in hotel room

 

— Much like the monologue, this is another follow-up to a classic piece from Kirstie’s first episode. I like how this follow-up to the Italian Restaurant sketch is now taking place in a hotel.
— Last time they did this sketch, Dana Carvey played the leader of the Italian employees. Tonight, due to Dana’s departure, Rob’s character seems to have taken over as the leader. Rob’s doing a strong job in this role.
— Mike’s character looks completely different from how he looked in the first installment of this sketch. In the first installment, he didn’t wear a gray wig or glasses, instead just having his real hair greased back and wearing a fake tipped mustache.
— Rob seemed to mistakenly say “I come back” way too early, as he ends up staying for a good while after saying it, and then he later repeats the line right before he actually does leave.
— Like last time, the Italian employees’ perverted amorous actions towards Kirstie are a freakin’ riot, as are Kevin’s outraged reactions.
— Kevin happily singing to himself in Italian while eagerly disrobing when getting ready for his and Kirstie’s lovemaking is cracking me up.
— Hilarious entrance from Adam in a meat bikini.
— Great continuity with Kevin now recognizing the employees from the Italian restaurant.
STARS: *****

THE MONTEL WILLIAMS SHOW
audience member’s (host) comments fall flat

— Things seem to be looking up for the criminally-underused Tim Meadows lately, between his big role here, his getting to say “Live from New York…” earlier tonight, and his many co-starring roles in the preceding week’s Jason Alexander episode. IIRC, his sudden upswing in airtime doesn’t last, though.
— Ha, I like how Farley’s entrance receives a wolf-whistle from someone in the talk show audience.
— I cracked up at Rock’s delivery of “That’s like saying ‘I just ate my next door neighbor, but I don’t consider myself a cannibal’!”
— The main joke with Kirstie’s failed attempts at witty one-liners is only okay, but nothing special. The other aspects of this sketch are actually funnier to me.
— The subject matter of the Phil/Melanie/Farley portions of this talk show reminds me of a Ricki Lake sketch the show would later do in the Bob Newhart episode from season 20. I swear Farley even wears the exact same shirt in both sketches, except that in tonight’s sketch, he’s wearing a blazer over it.
— “The Jane Pratt Show”? They keep mentioning that throughout this sketch. It must’ve been a daytime talk show that, unlike The Montel Williams Show, went on to completely fall by the wayside, as I have absolutely no memory of it.
— This overall sketch started fizzling out for me towards the end.
STARS: **½

DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

BACKSTAGE
Zoraida annoys host by confusing Cheers with real life

— Something odd and funny I’ve always noticed about this sketch: at the beginning, as stage manager Joe Dicso is walking Kirstie backstage, you can see Farley initially following them, then making a startled face at the camera when he realizes he’s walked too far and isn’t supposed to be on camera, then he embarrassedly exits the shot in a hurry.

That has always looked like a genuine blooper to me, but I once read a theory that it may have been part of the script as a background joke, as perhaps the reason for Farley’s startled face and his exiting the shot in a hurry is because he spotted Zoraida and didn’t feel like dealing with her usual nonsense, so he quickly bolted. That is an amusing and plausible theory, but I feel like if that were part of the script, they would’ve made it more obvious and noticeable.
— (*groan*) This character again. At least they waited a pretty long time since Zoraida’s last appearance, which was in the Joe Pesci episode all the way back in October. Tonight ends up being the final full-fledged Zoraida sketch (not counting her appearance in next season’s So Long Farewell, a musical piece pairing together various recurring characters much like tonight’s cold opening). Ellen wanted to do a Zoraida sketch in next season’s Sally Field episode, but if you read Jay Mohr’s SNL book, you’ll know that Sally Field had a less-than-pleasant response to Ellen pitching that sketch to her.
— Oh, gee, what a surprise: Zoraida is confusing the host’s TV character for reality once again.
— Okay, I’m actually laughing at Zoraida going on about how her so-called stupid boyfriend makes love like “a big dumb, stupid animal”.
— Ha, when talking about how the Cheers actors are now going to be out of a job, I loved Zoraida’s line “That fat guy Norm, he’s around here all the time”, obviously referring to George Wendt’s many SNL cameos in this era.
— I like Kirstie getting sassy and actually standing up to Zoraida, unlike how most hosts blandly put up with her nonsense until eventually walking off in frustration.
— Overall, this was surprisingly one of the more tolerable Zoraida sketches. A decent way for the character to go out.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Are You Gonna Go My Way”

WEEKEND UPDATE
Nipsey Russell (CSR) recites a poem about the Rodney King verdict
Operaman sings about Marla Maples, Grateful Dead, Demi Moore, Rodney King

— This may be the earliest an Update commentary occurred during a Kevin Nealon-anchored Weekend Update. Kevin was only about a minute into tonight’s Update when he introduced the first guest.
— Rock’s overall Nipsey Russell commentary was merely okay. It did have a pretty fun atmosphere, though.
— Operaman’s overall commentary was solid as always, even if there weren’t as many noteworthy bits tonight as these Operaman commentaries usually have.
STARS: ***½

ORIGINALS
new employee at make-up counter (host) tends to customers (JUS) & (MEH)

— David’s little “You should model; I am serious” aside to Julia’s old lady character made me laugh.
— I liked David inhaling a bottle of tranquilizer makeup to calm himself down after getting worked up.
— A few minutes into this sketch and I’m now realizing that David has been providing my ONLY laughs so far.
— Okay, I got some laughs just now from Kirstie’s many backhanded comments to poor Melanie.
— Another chuckle during the Kirstie/Melanie scene, with Kirstie telling a walking-away Melanie that she can be a runway model, then saying “…at LaGuardia” under her breath.
STARS: **

BAD TASTE SKETCHES
disclaimers fail to warn viewers about sketches involving vomit

— A good laugh from how immediately after Phil’s warning that the scene we’re about to see doesn’t contain sex with animals or vomiting, the scene ends up being a trashy hillbilly scene that features exactly what Phil claimed we wouldn’t see.
— The sudden vomiting from increasingly unlikely people is cracking me up, especially when it happens with Phil. Sophomoric, yes, but I feel this material is being executed well, even if it can be seen as an unfortunate harbinger of the following two seasons being dominated by bad, tasteless, juvenile humor. At least this sketch is self-aware, though. Speaking of harbingers and the following two seasons, this sketch has always felt to me like a precursor to another sketch featuring a chain reaction of vomiting: the notorious Rookie Cop from season 20, a sketch that you might be surprised to learn that I actually… like. Yes, I fully admit it, at the risk of getting stones thrown at me. That sketch is very hard to defend, as it epitomizes some of season 20’s many problems, but I’ve just always found that particular sketch stupidly funny, and I like the ridiculous escalation in how complex and extensive the structure was, both in how it featured many different scenes involving various sets and how it utilized the entire cast one-by-one. Obviously, I’ll go into more detail when I eventually cover that episode.
— Getting back to this sketch, I enjoyed the ending with Adam and his pig wife.
STARS: ***½

CARRIAGE RIDE
Toonces chauffeurs disaster-bound 19th-century women (host) & (JUS)

— I like the format of this sketch, with the succession of happy news Kirstie and Julia reveal to each other being a future historical tragedy, with each reveal being accompanied by eerie foreshadowing music.
— Great sudden reveal of Toonces, in yet another inspired and random “cameo” from him at the end of a sketch. This ends up being Toonces’ final SNL appearance ever. It’s been fun covering all of his appearances over the last few seasons. I’ve always appreciated his sketches.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Always on the Run”

STOP THIS CRAZINESS!
Susan Powter’s (host) videos center around revenge against her ex-husband

— This was originally supposed to air in the Miranda Richardson episode from earlier this season, but got cut after dress rehearsal. In it, Richardson played the Susan Powter role.
— I kinda like the idea of the gradual tape-within-a-tape-within-a-tape reveals, but the sketch itself isn’t doing anything for me.
— Kirstie is fine in her performance, but I can’t help but wonder if Miranda Richardson pulled off this role better in her unseen dress rehearsal version of this.
— Farley and Melanie’s testimonials fell flat for me.
STARS: *½

WHILE THE CITY SWEEPS
by TOS- a variety show by & for janitors

— Very fun sudden turn after the last of the business personnel leaves, with the building’s night staff putting on a variety show for each other.
— Rob is absolutely fantastic in the lead role here. This film is always one of the first things that come to mind whenever I think of how underrated Rob’s SNL tenure is.
— Farley’s lip-syncing of a baritone Roll Out The Barrel is killing me.
— I love the emotional, melancholy ending after the variety show has concluded.
— Overall, Tom Schiller does it once again with yet another excellent film that was entertaining, charming, and had heart. This is one of my personal favorites of his Schiller Reels.
STARS: *****

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Another very solid Kirstie Alley-hosted episode, even if this one wasn’t as consistently strong as her first episode. Still, the highs of tonight’s episode were VERY high and memorable, especially within the first 15 minutes, which helped give the overall show a fun vibe, despite some things falling flat.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jason Alexander)
a mild step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Christina Applegate