Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Coffee Talk- alone & farklempt Linda takes calls on Mother’s Day
— A few minutes into this and I haven’t really been getting any real laughs, which is business as usual for me when watching these Coffee Talk sketches.
— Okay, I did like Linda Richman’s line just now about calling a half-Episcopalian half-Jewish person a “pissy-jew”.
— This is the first Linda Richman-hosted Coffee Talk sketch to feature no guests.
STARS: *½
MONOLOGUE
during her week in NYC, host visited malls instead of unique attractions
— A fairly lazy and one-joke premise. Christina is at least coming off likable, though.
— I do like the ending with her pointing out how the studio has the shape of a mall.
STARS: **
NERF CROTCH BAT
Nerf bats & missiles are OK for use with crotch, the pure stuff is not
— A priceless concept that’s being pulled off hilariously.
— As a 90s kid, this brings back a lot of childhood memories of the real Nerf commercials from this era. This spoof is perfectly capturing the look and feel of those commercials.
STARS: ****½
FOCUS ON BEAUTY II
Cher (host) loves Lori Davis’ (CHF) no-alcohol spray
— For some reason, the VERY early 90s-sounding music used as the Focus On Beauty II theme cracks me up.
— I have no familiarity with Lori Davis, but Farley’s performance as her is fantastic. This is just the first of two well-known Chris Farley performances in tonight’s episode. I’m sure you can guess what the other one is.
— When the ladies are asked if they use hairspray, I liked Melanie’s “I use it… but I hate it.”
— The ladies’ constant failure to understand simple things they’re learning from Farley’s Lori Davis is really funny.
— There’s the memorable part with Farley’s Lori Davis running her hands through her hair in fake slow-motion.
— Hartman’s now stealing the sketch with his very funny stilted, uncomfortable delivery as the scientist.
— I love the disappointed “No” from Phil Hymes (SNL’s lighting designer) when asked if there’s any alcohol in the sample that was sprayed in his mouth.
STARS: ****
SAN LUIS OBISPO EXPERIMENTAL THEATER
The Backwards Romance- the events in (PHH)’s play are anti-chronological
— A big audio glitch at the beginning, which causes us to not hear anything until shortly after Phil has started speaking.
— The bizarre premise of a backwards play, with all the action and dialogue being done in backwards order, is right up my alley.
— Phil’s interjections with him eagerly explaining various aspects of the play are cracking me up. I love his gleeful over-enthusiasm.
— Hmm, the sudden non-backwards ending of the play didn’t really work for me, nor did Phil’s explanation for it. I wanted the backwards stuff to go on further and continue getting more and more bizarre.
— Pretty good bit at the end with the preview of an upside-down murder mystery play.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Truganini”
WEEKEND UPDATE
ADS plays guitar & sings “I Love You Momma,” KEN also tries a few verses
— The graphics for Kevin’s Christian Right joke got screwed up really badly, causing the joke to make no sense and die with the audience.
— Adam gives us yet another charmingly goofy Update guitar song with silly lyrics. This song isn’t as well-remembered nowadays as his preceding two Update songs (The Turkey Song and Red-Hooded Sweatshirt), but I’ve still always liked this a lot. And the “I love you, maaaaaamaaaa” chorus is very catchy.
— A blooper happens during one part of Adam’s song, where he stops mid-lyric because he’s having a hard time reading that lyric off the cue-cards. This blooper is coming off more charming than unprofessional, though I find it odd that Adam wouldn’t already know the lyrics of this song by heart considering he (presumably) composed it himself.
— As always, I love Kevin’s participation during Adam’s song, especially him imitating Adam’s high-pitched singing whenever he says words that end with “ama”.
STARS: ***½
THE GAP
Kristy & Lucy help orient a new employee (host) at The Gap
— It’s fitting that this recurring sketch is appearing in a Christina Applegate-hosted episode, especially given the theme of her monologue earlier tonight.
— Feels a little weird seeing Farley playing his second drag role tonight.
— I liked David’s “Don’t play God, alright?” line to Christina.
— Rob’s Donut Hut character always cracks me up.
— Loved the part with David’s recalling of a phone conversation delivered entirely in Spanish.
STARS: ***½
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
motivational speaker Matt Foley (CHF) warns two teens about using drugs
— Oh, here we go, folks…
— When it’s mentioned that the cleaning lady found a bag of pot, I loved Christina’s only response being “She didn’t smoke it, did she?”
— Immediately, mere seconds after his entrance as Matt Foley, Farley is already killing me.
— So many memorable lines from Matt Foley throughout this. I’m especially partial to “Well, la-di-FRICKIN-da!”
— Now comes the classic turn where David and Christina begin visibly cracking up helplessly, David in particular. This is definitely one of the best and most famous examples of breaking on SNL. Supposedly, there’s an interview Christina did shortly after Farley’s death where she talks about this sketch at one point when being asked about working with Farley, and she mentions that at rehearsals, Farley was more toned-down in his Matt Foley performance and didn’t perform the character quite as over-the-top and high-energy until the live show, which would explain why David and Christina keep losing their composure.
— Farley is amazing to watch throughout this sketch. He’s also throwing in so many priceless touches into his characterization. His arm movements when miming running while saying “How can we get back on the right track?!?” is something that particularly always kills me in this.
— I love Phil’s slowburn facial reactions to the things Matt Foley yells in his face throughout this.
— The part with Matt Foley crashing through a breakaway table actually wasn’t in the script, nor did Farley’s scene partners expect it. It was added to the sketch before the live show in an attempt to make Farley’s scene partners crack up. The reactions you see from them when Farley crashes through the table are 100% genuine. David’s reaction is interesting: he initially leans forward in concern while covering his mouth in shock, apparently thinking Farley truly did crash through a real table and hurt himself, and then David cracks up when realizing it was just a gag. Even the usually-professional Julia Sweeney breaks a bit. Of all the non-Farley performers, Phil is the ONLY one who doesn’t break during that part, proving once again how amazing that man is.
— Great ending with the family fearfully gathered together in a circle, concluding an absolutely legendary Chris Farley sketch that is probably tied with Chippendales as his most defining SNL moment.
— Part of the reason this sketch worked so well is that it wasn’t all that common at the time for Farley to scream his way through sketches (yet), and thus, him doing it in this sketch came off fresh and somewhat unexpected. I’ve always believed that the strong reception this sketch received is what would unfortunately lead to SNL’s upcoming gradual over-reliance on Screaming Chris Farley Sketches the following two seasons.
STARS: *****
YOU BET YOUR LIFE
Bill Cosby (ADS) babbles his way through the game show
— Oh my god at Adam’s Bill Cosby… uh… impression.
— This has always been one of my favorite Stupid Adam Sandler Sketches. So many things about his Bill Cosby impression make absolutely no sense, including the coherency of his dialogue, but it’s hilarious to me. Adam is fun here at puling off gibberish sentences and making them seem perfectly normal.
— You can tell Tim is genuinely amused by Adam throughout this, as he keeps visibly stifling his laughter, which is starting to become a theme tonight.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Country”
HANGIN’ WITH MTV
G-Spot members (TIM) & (CSR) sing “All I Wanna Do Is Suck Your Big Toe”
— I’m loving the melody to this Big Toe song.
— The comedic lyrics are hilarious and well-written. Rock especially has some funny ones, like the “suck on my Tic Tac” one, him mentioning how he doesn’t mind a corn on a toe because he loves the “extra meat”, and his whole “this little piggy” bit.
— Rock taking his shirt off when getting REALLY into the song is hilarious. My god, is he skinny.
— The pre-taped foot clips shown during the song are adding to the humor.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
CASTING AGENCY
an actress (host) gets some worrying warnings just before an audition
— I’m loving Kevin’s increasingly disturbing descriptions of the people who Christina will be auditioning for. This is the type of sketch that I always refer to as a quintessential Kevin Nealon sketch. He always excels at this kind of humor and dialogue.
— Great ending, and I loved the frozen stare on Christina’s face as Kevin is walking her into the audition room.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Despite a slow, unpromising start with the cold opening and monologue, this ended up being a very strong and memorable episode, with a legendary centerpiece (Matt Foley) and a high number of really solid sketches surrounding it. I’ve always felt this is an episode that well-defines SNL’s early 90s era, and I think there are other people who share that same viewpoint.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kirstie Alley)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 18 comes to an end, with host Kevin Kline. It’s also the end of the road for Chris Rock and occasional featured player Robert Smigel.
One of the episodes responsible for making me an SNL fan long ago, albeit a 60 minute edit.
They really were able to nail the vibes of the era with their commercial parodies back then. The Nerf one here obviously, and next season’s “Philadelphia Action Figures” (my favorite example) as well. Having had my formative years in the early 90s, I can attest that these parodies really ‘feel’ like the real things!
Ah, Matt Foley’s debut. Everything about the sketch here clicks perfectly, with the character-breaking putting it totally over the top. A true classic. Even the subsequent, progressively-unfunny (IMO) Foley skits – which mainly just switched the settings but played out more-or-less the same – can’t dilute the magic of this one here!
I can’t remember if the Adam Sandler Bill Cosby sketch was in the old Comedy Central 60 minute edit. I don’t *think* it was, but it looks really, really funny! Fun Fact: Pre-SNL, Sandler was in few episodes of Cosby’s show as one of Theo’s friends!
I agree that none of the other Matt Foley sketches were as funny, but it’s hard to blame them for trying more. But that was really a lightning in the bottle type sketch.
Many have stated that this is the quintessential “bad boys” era show and I’m inclined to agree. Everything about this episode, including the commercial parody, basically summarize early 90s pop culture. Even the music, fashion, overall aesthetic of the show defines the era
It’s also one of the episodes that gets the balance for the younger cast right. The dynamics of the bad boys era are better with Chris Rock still there. Replacing him with Jay Mohr not only isolated Tim Meadows and Ellen Cleghorne, but also meant they hired someone who was just a little too similar to what they already had in Sandler (a young guy who could make funny faces and voices, but was also cute enough to get female fans and not alienate older viewers). That meant when they really began doubling down on the same beats with Farley, Spade and Sandler, there was nothing to act as an alternative.
“Fuck it, it’s dress..”
Jordan, first thing I thought of with that sketch
Christina Applegate was an absolutely terrific host. She could have easily been mistaken for a cast member if you knew nothing about the show and were just tuning in at random. She gives good performances in every sketch – I’d say that she’s even one of the reasons the Matt Foley sketch works, even though Farley is of course the heartbeat. SNL was lucky that the hosts they chose in 92-93 because of youth popularity turned out to be able to slide into the show’s format.
This is one of those episodes that gets much better as it goes along. Coffee Tawk just feels like they didn’t know how to open the show, and the backwards theater sketch doesn’t really work for me at all. Gap Girls is about the same as usual, but enlivened by Applegate and Rob Schneider. Then the good stuff starts post-WU.
They kept trying to do those R&B songs throughout 92-95, but this is one of the only times it really worked for me – I guess that’s what happens when you have more than one black man in your cast.
Sandler’s Cosby impression was a lot of fun. And it was nice to see a lack of brownface (I can’t remember if he wore any brownface on SNL or not).
This is the second WU episode in a row with glaring technical errors, isn’t it? No wonder Kevin Nealon seemed increasingly thrown off throughout his tenure.
In Living Color had a Lori Davis sketch around this time. I can’t find it on Youtube now, but Jim Carrey played her as hysterical and unbearable. Alexandra Wentworth played Cher. They really went hammer and tongs at both ladies – SNL was mild in comparison. Their version is entertaining but I think overall the SNL sketch holds up a little better.
I was going to say Christina has to be pretty high up on the “gap in time between hosting,” since she doesn’t host again until the (somewhat underrated) 2012 episode. Apparently, the top three in that regard are Jeff Bridges (1983 to 2010), Bruce Willis (1989 to 2014), and Sigourney Weaver (1986 to 2010).
Here’s an In Living Color sketch ripping on You Bet Your Life (complete with a jab at a recent SNL alum…). Starts at about 13 minutes. (after the sketch you also get an…erm…attempt at impersonating Garrett Morris and Chris Rock)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4s23yztfM4
Here’s their Lori Davis.
The Matt Foley sketch is priceless. One of the best, most iconic skits of all time. The bonus of Spade and Applegate cracking up his funny, as well as Phil as the slightly smarmy parent is also sublime. It’s an testament to Phil’s incredible talent at how much humor he is able to mine from an essentially non-descript, straight role (“we don’t want to ‘come down’ on you” and “his speech is called ‘Go For it’). I also love how Phil and Julia refer to each other’s first names (Your father, Ted, and I…etc…) It’s just a funny little detail that adds a lot to the bit.
And then there’s Chris…an absolute dynamo who knocks this out of the park in a gigantic home run. It’s amazing to me that his most signature role didn’t come until so late in his tenure (especially since I believe he created Matt Foley pre-SNL during his time at Second City Theater in Chicago…I don’t if that’s accurate, I read it somewhere, can’t remember where right now). Anyway, he was sitting on a gold mine, Trebek!
The spastic motions, tightening and cinching his belt, the way he moves his glasses, the strained and powerful voice…it’s an art form. I memorized this skit and loved to lampoon it with classmates, etc. Even though “van down by the river” became the catchphrase, the true gems are “la-dee-FRICKIN-dah!” and the way he mimics walking for the “get back on the right track” oh my…it makes me laugh every time. The table crash is also spectacular. I never knew that the other castmembers weren’t prepared for the breakaway and thought the accident was genuine. Puts a new perspective on their reaction.
With all that said, I hate to say that Matt Foley definitely suffered from the law of diminishing returns. Probably more so than many other popular recurring characters. Pretty much the only other one I find truly funny is the Christmas one where he plays Motivational Santa. And let’s not even talk about the Matt Foley appearance in the episode when Chris returned to host…yikes, that one is REALLY tough to watch, almost tragic (the whole episode is tough to watch…for obvious reasons, I’m sure we’ll talk about it big time when we get there).
Anyway, got to give mad props to one of the best sketches in the show’s history. Doesn’t get much better than the first Matt Foley.
As for the rest of the episode, it’s fantastic. As good as Chris is in the Focus on Beauty II, Phil steals the sketch as the halting and somewhat creepy Doctor 🙂 I love the blooper from dress that they show in Best of Phil Hartman collection. Crotch Bat is also great. And even the 10-to-1 audition sketch is really good. I like Linda Richman a lot more than you, Stooge, but I agree that this edition of Coffee Tawk is really weak. It’s baffling that they used this as the cold opener for what is otherwise a fantastic episode. By the way Stooge, could you give us a little more info on why you dislike Coffee Talk so much? Did you enjoy the character when you were growing up watching the show? Or have you always liked her? Discuss. 🙂
Odenkirk wrote the sketch for Farley when they were at Second City about three years earlier.
Yup, and Odenkirk played Phil’s role, while Tim Meadows played Spade’s.
On stage, the parents were more permissive. There’s a couple good lines that sadly didn’t make it to air. Can’t you just hear Phil say, “We don’t want to say, ‘We’re the parents, quit doing illegal drugs!'”? Later, when talking about how dangerous things like crack are … “You knew what was in the acid. You knew what was in the LSD.”
Meadows also got two good lines. On stage, he was the one who asked “she didn’t smoke it, did she?” And it’s implied that he’s also sleeping with dad’s mistress.
Off the top of my head, another recurring character who had such a killer first installment and such lackluster followups was Debbie Downer.
Yeah that’s true, but I think *eventually* the Debbie Downer sketches at least got better once they realized they had to tweak the premise. The Santa one and (especially) the one where she falls for Steve Carell’s Bob Bummer were solid enough.
The Californians could be another example. Now that just sucked every other time.
The Californians, like many other recurring sketches around that time, felt like they were about the actors having fun, not what viewers really wanted to see. I mean, if cutting up means you keep someone like Bill Hader on your show longer, I’m fine with it, but I just can’t sit through those.
I hate the Californians sketches. The fact that it got a big sketch in the 40th anniversary really annoyed me.
Paul J, I had no problem with the Linda Richman character during the early years of my SNL fandom. Then some years later, I realized that the humor in those sketches just isn’t for me. And then around 2009 or 2010 when I watched season 19 in chronological order, I REALLY soured on the character, partly due to how overused she was that season. I’m not looking forward to revisiting that during my upcoming coverage of season 19.
Sorry, “or have you always *disliked* her?”
Looks like this may be the Vintage repeat this week now, instead of the Bill Murray/Sting episode.
A backwards play? Wasn’t that done before with MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG?
Promo:
Julia Sweeney recently talked about the now-famous Matt Foley sketch.
https://ew.com/tv/snl-julia-sweeney-chris-farley-sketch/
I think it’s interesting that Julia feels bad about breaking. Farley smashed through the table specifically to make everyone crack. The fact that everyone (except Phil, the absolute madman) broke at that moment is kind of what sells it.
I just re-watched this. If you take away those ho-hum first 10 minutes, this is an excellent episode. Thank you for pointing out those nuances to the first Matt Foley sketch; the original Second City sketch definitely characterizes the parents differently, but it wouldn’t have worked on early ’90s TV.
I definitely remember being familiar with Matt Foley back in the ’90s, especially quoting the “van down by the river” line. I don’t remember if I saw the original sketch or maybe the Halloween one first. It’s amazing to me the status that this character and sketch has been elevated to in the fandom and how many hits the sketch has on YouTube. I didn’t think of it at the time as a candidate for a “best ever” sketch. Farley is fantastic and the character has lots of amusing quirks, but I think the sketch lacks a “big idea” that truly sets the great ones apart. The only idea here is that they’re poking fun at motivational speaking, but they’re hardly doing that, as Foley right away takes on an identity you can’t compare to anyone else. So it’s great, but not a “greatest ever” for me. I also don’t think the Foley followup sketches declined in quality that much. The prison one is the worst one for me, but mainly due to Martin Lawrence’s part. I think there’s a lot to like about most of them. And I’m very happy we did get to see the van down by the river once, even though NBC won’t release that one online.
My second favorite line after the “van” one is the “oopsy-daisy” after he falls down. That just sounds like the exact right thing for a middle-aged, square guy to say at that moment.
Second City posted a copy of a stage performance of the Matt Foley sketch on YouTube in 2014. They made the video private at some point, but it remains viewable in the Wayback Machine. Not sure if some people might have issues playing the older YouTube video format, but pushing the play button on it works for me. The writing is extremely similar to the first SNL sketch, other than much more drug humor from the parents and no table-breaking pratfall. And one of their children is apparently adopted. SNL also upped “divorced” to “thrice divorced” which turned that into a funny line.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140228133253if_/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFVsRmgB-5M
Posted on Reddit today: the original Matt Foley skit performed at Second City in 1990. https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/11ijgsg/the_original_matt_foley_sketch_as_performed_at/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Happy 30th anniversary to the debut of Matt Foley.