Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Wayne’s World- Wayne & Garth give their thoughts on some 1993 movies
— With an upcoming release of the movie Wayne’s World 2, we get a special return of both a Wayne’s World sketch and Dana Carvey, the latter making his first SNL appearance since leaving the cast halfway through the preceding season.
— Very funny line from Garth about going as Barney the Dinosaur for Halloween and getting his ass kicked.
— Surprised they’re not doing a Top 10 list.
— Okay, the Leprechaun/flashlight bit was funny at first, but is going on WAY too long.
— According to GettyImages, the dress rehearsal version of this sketch had Wayne and Garth holding up a chart that recaps their thoughts on the movies they’ve reviewed (pic here). We never see that chart in the live version. Also, judging from the chart in the pic, some of the movies discussed in the dress version of this sketch weren’t discussed in the live version, such as Demolition Man.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host engages in Risky Business to make up for Tom Cruise not being there
— (*groan*) This season’s increasingly overused questions-from-the-audience monologue trope appears for the second episode in a row.
— Norm doing a very Norm Macdonald-esque long pause in the middle of his question was hilarious. He’s always a bright spot in this season’s questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Yeah, tonight’s monologue seems to be the point where I’ve officially reached my breaking point with the overreliance on questions from the audience, as I’m not finding myself enjoying this one anywhere near as much I did the Jeff Goldblum and (especially) Rosie O’Donnell ones from earlier this season.
— Chris’ fearful “What’s happening, Lorne?” was funny.
— The turn with Nicole doing the famous Risky Business dance is both fun and nice eye candy.
STARS: **½
THE DENISE SHOW
Denise’s best friend (host) is interested in Brian
— Another display of this season’s bad habit of frequently bringing back sketches that were fine as a one-off but don’t deserve to be recurring.
— Shannen Doherty still being shown as Denise in a picture on Adam’s table seems kinda silly. I can just imagine viewers who didn’t see the Shannen Doherty-hosted episode earlier this season but caught this episode would be confused when seeing the Denise photo. I’m sure they were confusedly asking themselves “What the hell? Is that Shannen Doherty in the picture with Sandler? Why???”
— I like the “Brian’s Fantasy” segment, especially when he yells “Stand over there, Denise!” in the middle of his acted-out argument with Denise’s new boyfriend. I also like how that acted-out argument suddenly gets interrupted by Denise’s new boyfriend (voiced by Mike Myers) confronting Adam via phone.
— A good laugh after the romantic kiss Nicole gives Adam, where Adam’s only response is an announcement that “The Denise Show has been officially canceled.”
— So, with tonight’s not-great-but-still-good Denise Show installment concluding with the aforementioned “The Denise Show has been officially canceled” announcement, that seems like a perfect way to officially put closure to this recurring sketch for good, right? So then why the hell do we end up getting an even more unnecessary THIRD installment of this sketch later this season?!?
STARS: ***
BAND SHOT
Wednesday (Christina Ricci) & Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) Addams & SNL Band
PLAYGROUND
hyperactive Phillip (MIM) talks with another kid (host) at the jungle gym
— The debut of the short-lived-but-memorable character Phillip the Hyper Hypo.
— I’m liking the idea of this character for Mike.
— Funny story from Phillip about his family feeding him a Snickers bar and a can of coke so he can tow the family’s broken-down car home.
— For some reason, I absolutely loved Nicole’s whole “I’m gonna talk like a robot” random bit.
— Solid characterizations from both Mike and Nicole, and I’m enjoying the way they’re playing off of each other.
— Fun pre-taped ending with Mike running through the city with a jungle gym attached to him.
— Too bad this sketch later ends up being yet ANOTHER victim of season 19’s aforementioned bad habit of frequently making recurring sketches out of stuff that was better left as a one-off. The second installment of this sketch even reuses the exact same pre-taped ending from this first installment!
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Creep”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Ike Turner (TIM) continues his love-hate relationship with KEN
Bruce Springsteen (ADS) sings about how much he loves to eat turkey
— At least Kevin sounds a little better than how hoarse he sounded in the preceding episode.
— Not too crazy about a lot of Kevin’s jokes so far tonight.
— As usual, I love the way Tim and Kevin play off of each other in these Ike Turner commentaries. I also love how Tim’s Ike always refers to Kevin by his full name.
— Good fake-out with the Ike Turner commentary abruptly “ending” and Kevin moving on to the next joke, only for Ike to suddenly interrupt him mid-joke by giving him flowers and a fur coat as an apology.
— Hmm, Kevin’s Update jokes are suddenly getting better and better.
— Interesting how Adam’s doing a Springsteen-ized variation of his famous Turkey Song from a year earlier.
— Hmm, this Springsteen song isn’t turning out anywhere near as funny as the original Turkey Song, and feels unusually long, as if we’ve officially reached THAT point in Adam Sandler’s tenure where he gets too much free rein to do whatever the hell he wants. All that being said, I’m still enjoying this Springsteen song of his. It’s pretty fun, and some of Adam’s typical irrelevant lyrics are making me laugh, such as the lowbrow-but-amusing “I hear George Wendt’s underwear has a huge skidmark” one.
— As always, fun participation from Kevin during Adam’s song.
STARS: ***½
SPROCKETS / DAS IST JEOPÄRDY!
(CHF), (host), shemale Susan play Das Ist Jeopardy!
— Big night for Mike Myers so far, who has been starring as lots of his now-famous characters like Wayne, Phillip the Hyper Hypo, and now Dieter.
— Yet another example of a Sprockets sketch changing things up in its format.
— I love the slogan of the sponsor German Eggo Waffles: “You will leggo my eggo. Now.”
— As always for Sprockets, we’re getting some good bizarre, disturbing humor.
— The audio daily double of what’s seemingly a German father berating his child is hilarious, especially the way he says “I excreted yoooouuuu!”
— A good laugh from the reveal that the winner will receive a tongue bath courtesy of The House of Velvet.
STARS: ***½
TAKEN
at a bar, a married woman (MEH) thinks all the guys are hitting on her
— A rare Melanie Hutsell lead role this season. Up until this point, she had been pretty invisible so far this season.
— Some interesting trivia about this sketch: it was originally cut after the preceding season’s Christina Applegate/Midnight Oil dress rehearsal, in which Melanie’s “I’m taken” character was actually played by Applegate, and instead of being set at a bar, the sketch was set at an office, where the “I’m taken” character was a businesswoman.
— Man, is Melanie capable of getting through a single sketch without flubbing a line?
— Only a little over a minute into this sketch, and I’m already tired of it. Melanie saying “I’m taken” in every single situation is too thin and not particularly funny of a premise. I’m also not getting any laughs from that clapping-and-laughing thing her character keeps doing after some of her lines.
— Kinda odd how neither Jay Mohr nor Norm Macdonald received their featured player credit in tonight’s opening montage, despite the fact that they both have a speaking role in this sketch.
— Norm’s screaming reaction to getting pepper-sprayed in the eyes is cracking me up.
— I got a laugh from Melanie assuming that even Ellen is trying to hit on her.
STARS: **
UNITED WE STAND AMERICA
Ross Perot (DAC) claims that (TIM) is the first NAFTA unemployment victim
— I had forgotten until now that Dana is a special guest tonight. I’m glad to see the welcome return of his Ross Perot impression.
— A great “WTF?” facial reaction from Tim when Dana’s Perot says Tim’s the first American to lose his job because of NAFTA.
— Geez, what was with the ending? Dana-as-Perot’s over-the-top endless loop of “Can I finish? Catch my drift? You’re not listening!” was a bit much.
STARS: ***
YELLING IN THE KITCHEN
(host), (PHH), (JUS), (MIM) take turns arguing in the kitchen
— Julia’s usually-long hairstyles during her SNL tenure have suddenly gone through a huge change, as she’s now sporting a very short hairstyle, which she keeps for the remainder of her tenure.
— Mike’s big night continues. He’s been all over tonight’s episode.
— Huge laugh from the first off-camera kitchen argument. Good stunned facial reactions from both Julia and Mike, as well.
— Even after you see where this is going, the repeated gag of the kitchen arguments is still remaining funny. Phil’s intense yells are particularly cracking me up.
— Okay, maybe I spoke too soon, as I’ve now started to kinda tire of the joke towards the end of this sketch, but it’s being executed so well that I’m still kinda liking it.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Naked Sunday”
CRYSTAL GRAVY
Rerun from 10/2/93
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, though not outstanding or anything. Still welcome for this season’s standards. The episode was fairly heavy on recurring or soon-to-be-recurring sketches, but a lot of the show’s quality was pretty good.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rosie O’Donnell)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Charlton Heston