Month: August 2019

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November 21, 1992 – Sinbad / Sade (S18 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
depressed George Bush (DAC) gives Bill Clinton (PHH) a White House tour

— A great passing of the torch between presidential impressions, and a fun use of Dana and Phil’s chemistry.
— Phil-as-Clinton’s claims of “I can feel your pain!” are really funny.
— Amusing bit from Bush about his unsuccessful attempts to get photographic proof Hillary Clinton being a lesbian.
— A lot of laughs from Clinton trying to get Bush to open up, and Bush eventually breaking down over the fact that he’s a one-termer, crying “I’m a Jimmy Carter!”
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about how to act around Dracula

— For some reason, I love his very 1992-looking shirt.
— Very funny stand-up so far with almost non-stop laughs. I particularly like all of his questioning of cliches in Dracula movies.
STARS: ****


THE CLUCKIN’ CHICKEN
Clucky’s head narrates as his body is turned into food

— Second episode in a row with a fake ad that’s always been one of my favorites.
— Fun voice work by Adam here.
— I love Clucky happily detailing the process of how he’s cooked as we’re shown the disgusting visuals.
STARS: *****


THE GLORIA BRIGADE
gay Civil War unit has dinner with black soldiers

 

— Lots of gay stereotypes here, but this is being executed well and I feel these characters are coming off likable.
— Farley’s irate delivery of “I’ve been cookiiing… all morniiing!” made me laugh.
— Funny how Kevin’s character always manages to find away to say “There’s no need to be snippy; we’re all under the same pressure” in every situation.
— Good ending with a confused Tim conflicted over which unit he belongs to: the black one or the gay one.
STARS: ***½


BLACK MOTORIST TODAY
guests discuss how to avoid harassment by troopers

— I like how Rock is cast as himself here.
— Rob is particularly funny in this with his amiable delivery of racial statements, especially him saying that, regarding black people, the police are always going to find something in their car, no matter what.
— Kinda surprised by how short this overall sketch was.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Ordinary Love”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Hollywood Minute- DAS skewers celebrities that annoy him
KEN joins in while ADS plays guitar & sings “The Turkey Song”

 

— Good random bit with Kevin doing a “dramatization” of a news story with the use of dark lighting and a very dramatic delivery.
— Some really good one-liners throughout David’s Hollywood Minute commentary tonight, such as the “Hi, I was skinny for 10 minutes” line about Oprah, the “Why the long face?” question towards Ric Ocasek, the whole bit about Hammer, and David passing up the opportunity of a Milli Vanilli joke because it’s “too easy”.
— Kevin introduces Adam’s commentary by saying this is the start of what they hope will be a Weekend Update tradition where every Thanksgiving, a cast member composes and sings an original song for the holiday. I wonder if they were serious about that idea at the time, because as we know now, nothing ever became of it. It would instead start a tradition of Adam doing guitar songs on Update for various holidays. And what better way for that tradition to start than with the now-legendary Turkey Song?
— Very catchy melody to Adam’s Turkey Song, especially the key change in the middle.
— Fun random, irrelevant lyrics throughout the Turkey Song, especially “Can’t believe Tyson gave that girl VD.”
— Now the Turkey Song has gotten even more fun with Kevin joining in.
— The overall Turkey Song was fantastic, and was a great inaugural Update guitar song for Adam. Strong way to end tonight’s Update too. It’s very rare in this era for Update to end with a guest commentary.
STARS: ***½


SUPERMAN’S FUNERAL
superheroes pay their last respects at Superman’s funeral

 

— This is immediately coming off as a very fun sketch. Kinda of a spiritual successor to the also-fun and memorable superhero party sketch from the Margot Kidder episode in the original era.
— I love Al Franken’s Lex Luthor dropping his sorrowful act and admitting he’s glad Superman is dead and that “This should be a great year for me.”
— Good bit showing Lois Lane being oblivious as to why Clark Kent hasn’t shown up at Superman’s funeral.
— Very funny cutaway to Robert Smigel as Penguin seemingly doing his trademark laugh, only to reveal he’s actually crying.
— Hilarious turn with Sinbad crashing the funeral as Black Lightning and nobody there having any idea who he is.
— Tom Davis accidentally addresses Spider Man as “Superman” at first, before correcting himself. I’m not sure if they fix that in reruns or not.
— Great bit with Hulk putting on glasses and suddenly speaking perfectly when reading from his written speech.
— Funny reveal of Black Lightning sneakily stealing from the bowl of shrimp when all the other heroes are leaving in a hurry.
— Nice comic book animation ending.
STARS: *****


AT HOME WITH MONICA / BLACULA / GILLIGAN’S BIOSPHERE
At Home With Monica- tennis star Seles (MEH) grunts around the house
Bram Stoker’s Blacula (host)- a new version of the blaxploitation classic
Gilligan’s (DAC) Biosphere- Skipper (CHF) & castaways live in a bubble

— Melanie imitating Monica Seles’ loud, unique tennis grunting sounds while performing simple tasks is cracking me up.
— Funny touch with Blacula playing a slow jam on the stereo to woo Ellen.
— Very unique and fun structure to this sketch with all the different shows they’re cutting back and forth to.
— Phil as the professor from Gilligan’s Island is perfect casting from a physical standpoint.
— Farley’s arms noticeably have a faint greenish color to them here. Obviously, they weren’t able to wash off all the Hulk makeup in time for this sketch.
— Farley’s impression of Skipper is freakin’ hilarious.
STARS: ***½


THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Joe Jackson (host) reacts to TV movie about Jackson family

— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch during Rock’s tenure as a cast member, not counting when they bring it back during his 1996 hosting stint.
— Great intro to Joe Jackson’s interview: “My first guest is the envy of most men in America because he is known to have slept with Janet Jackson. Please welcome her father, Joe Jackson.”
— Nat X to Joe Jackson: “Sit yo ‘I don’t believe in birth control’ ass down!”
— I like how Joe’s “talents” that Nat brings up turn out to be about Joe’s ability to beat his kids.
— Funny visual of Joe punching out Sandman.
— What was with Rock’s delayed reaction to getting punched in the face?
— An unusually short Nat X sketch overall. Felt like it should’ve had more to it, especially considering how well the sketch had been going.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cherish The Day”


THE PROUD PATTERSONS
overacting dramatizes the black condition

— Nice to see the underused Chris Rock in so many sketches tonight for a change, especially given how many episodes he’s sat out this season so far (including the previous week’s Michael Keaton episode). Rock is having easily the biggest night of his entire SNL tenure. A little sad that all it took for that to happen was SNL having a black host, as it means Rock will most likely go right back to being severely underused after this.
— Very funny performances from everyone, and good execution of this concept.
— Good contrast between Tim and the rest of the family, with Tim being the only one who doesn’t approach everything in an overdramatic manner.
STARS: ***½


OFFICE THANKSGIVING PARTY
at an office Thanksgiving party, (host) translates for friend (DAC)

 

— Funny format with various people coming up to Sinbad making increasingly dirty-sounding vague references to past encounters, only for Sinbad to clarify to a confused Dana what innocent thing they were really talking about.
— Adam steals the sketch with a hilariously random usage of what’s known to some SNL fans as his “abbie doobie” routine (a spelling that comes from a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch where Jimmy Fallon plays Adam).
— Good follow-up to the Adam bit, with Tim (who, like Rock, has refreshingly been having an unusually busy night tonight) entering and doing the exact same thing Adam did, only for Sinbad to reveal that he’s just making fun of Adam’s character.
— Solid ending with Sinbad having no translation for Kevin’s long, crazy spiel.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very fun and consistently good episode. I enjoyed everything in it and, while it certainly wasn’t what I would call a classic episode, it had an atmosphere throughout that I loved. Sinbad added to the fun vibe of this episode with his solid performances.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Keaton)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Arnold, filling in for the originally scheduled host Gary Oldman, who was even announced by Don Pardo tonight in a bumper promoting the next episode’s guests.

We also get the return of cast member Mike Myers, after being on hiatus all season so far filming So I Married an Axe Murderer.

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November 14, 1992 – Michael Keaton / Morrissey (S18 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) calls campaign contributors to apologize for losing

— A fairly mundane premise, but is coming off pretty funny due to some amusing lines and Dana’s always-reliable Bush, who’s making one of his final appearances after the real Bush had just lost the election. Speaking of which, I wonder what SNL’s plan was for if Bush had won. Considering Dana already has one foot out the door at this time, what would SNL have done for Bush’s hypothetical second term?
— The bit with one particular caller using a call-waiting excuse is good.
— I recall once reading an interview with Julia years ago where, at one point, she was asked about her most embarrassing moment on SNL, and she brought up an incident from this particular cold opening where she mistakenly was about to make her exit much earlier than she was supposed to, until Dana, in character, asked her to stay a while longer. Dana and Julia both did a good job making that seem like it was part of the sketch, as I’m sure viewers didn’t even notice it was a blooper (I know *I* didn’t until I read that interview… and funny enough, the exact same thing could be said about the botched ending of that Marilyn Monroe/JFK sketch with Catherine O’Hara in the last episode).
— Great twist after the “Live from New York…” delivered by Phil as the newly-elected Bill Clinton where, instead of immediately cutting to the opening montage, we go back to Dana’s Bush who, after letting the audience’s premature applause die down, says in a sorrowful tone “*I* used to say that.”
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
Audience McGee lectures host after fellow audience member (TOD) is tossed

— I love Michael constantly breaking from his monologue to call out an audience member (Tom Davis) on his refusal to applaud with everyone else.
— Michael’s getting good laughs trying to convince the audience member to watch the show at home, eventually getting security to remove him from the studio.
— Audience McGee officially becomes recurring.
— Funny turn after McGee convinces Michael to bring back the kicked-out audience member, where Michael suddenly gets security to remove McGee instead.
STARS: ***½


CHAMELEON XLE
nice interior & trashy exterior make Chameleon XLE a practical luxury car

— Here comes one of my personal favorite fake ads of this entire era.
— Great concept of a thief-proof car that looks very shoddy on the outside but is very luxurious on the inside.
— So many funny details in all of the unflattering features of the car that Phil as the spokesman (brilliant in that role as always) displays.
— Nice bit with the marble rolling on the car, parodying a real car commercial from this era.
— Great tagline at the end: “They might tow it away… but they’ll never steal it.”
STARS: *****


ELEVATOR
elevator operator (ROS) gives nervous trainee (host) tips on small talk

— A pretty simple premise for a lead-off sketch, but Michael is getting really good laughs out of it with this awkward, slow-witted character, and I’m also really enjoying Rob’s performance as his boss.
— I loved Rob’s “Now you’re scaring the people” to Michael, telling him he’s coming off too “homeless-y”.
— Good panicked reaction from Michael when various people unexpectedly enter the elevator simultaneously.
STARS: ****


THE FIRST ANNUAL GUTENBERG AWARDS
Billy Crystal (ROS) emcees publishing industry honors

— Rob has been having a strong showing throughout tonight’s episode so far, continuing the great season he’s been having in general. His impression of Billy Crystal is nailing Billy’s hamminess and penchant for corny ad-libs.
— The song medley was too long and uninteresting for my likes and could’ve been shortened.
— I like Julia-as-Susan-Sontag’s way of saying the book title “Meat: The World of Meat”.
— I love that Rob’s now imitating Billy’s annoying penchant for breaking into an imitation of an old Jewish man’s voice. (Too bad Rob didn’t also lampoon Billy’s even-worse penchant for breaking into a stereotypical black voice)
— Nice to see Farley for the first time in a while, after being absent in the last two episodes due to being in rehab. Unfortunately, he ends up back in rehab only a little over a month later.
— I like Phil’s anger over having to go through with the corny award show banter.
— Not a particularly good sketch overall. A lot of this kinda dragged, and some of the imitations of typical award show segments came off almost as dull as the real thing. That’s unfortunately a common flaw with SNL’s award show parodies in general. Rob’s lampooning of Billy Crystal kept me entertained throughout this, though.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Glamorous Glue”


WEEKEND UPDATE
moron Hank Fielding (RBS) gets his facts wrong during election analysis

— Interesting concept of Robert Smigel as a character giving a moron’s perspective on the election. This soon-to-be-recurring character ends up being easily the biggest onscreen role Smigel would ever get during his SNL tenure.
— Funny detail of Hank Fielding’s name being very slowly spelled out in cursive in a graphic displayed on the bottom of the screen during his commentary.
— Fielding’s ignorant statement about how the Ayatollah is “once again rearing its ugly head in Iraq” supports my theory that Smigel wrote (or at least co-wrote) that rarely-seen Dance Party U.S.A. sketch from the season 16 Kevin Bacon-hosted episode, as Farley’s character in that sketch makes a similar ignorant statement linking the Ayatollah and Iraq. In my review of that sketch, I explained that my theory of Smigel writing that sketch is based on the similarity it shares to a bit I saw in the early 2000s on Conan O’Brien’s NBC “Late Night” show.
— Lots of funny idiotic comments from Hank Fielding throughout his commentary, made even funnier by his smug obliviousness to how wrong all of his facts are. I especially liked the Spider Man bit at the end.
STARS: ***


FIRST DAY
(host)’s attempts to join new co-workers’ jokes come off as mean-spirited

— Phil’s such a great performer that he even has the ability to get laughs out of the corny light-hearted banter his character has with the employees.
— When Michael insults the picture of Rob’s wife, something about the way Rob stares at Michael and says an offended, taken-aback response of “……..That’s my wife” made me laugh a lot.
— Some good laughs from Michael’s mean, offensive attempts at playful banter with everyone.
— Michael’s line at the end fell a little flat, but for some reason, I like how as the camera slowly zoomed out during the sketch-ending audience applause, Phil just stood there in the middle of the office set with a deadpan look on his face, his hands in his pockets, and standing perfectly still.
STARS: ***


FIRST DATE
on a first date, (host) finds out that (JUS) is no longer a nymphomaniac

— I’m laughing at Michael’s excitement early on over what he thinks is going to happen between him and Julia later that night.
— A lot of laughs from Julia’s various revelations of what a wild horndog she used to be before reforming herself, and I’m loving Michael’s subtly frustrated reactions.
— Great ending with Michael’s dad (Phil) being ANOTHER guy who recognizes Julia, and then saying “Hey, our table!”, as a callback to a story Julia told earlier in the sketch about a certain something she once did to a date under a restaurant table.
STARS: ****


LOOKING AFTER GRANDMA
to facilitate makeout session, (host) asks (CHF) to occupy grandma (ADS)

— Funny seeing Michael and Julia playing a couple getting ready for sex, considering the sketch that preceded this.
— Michael’s increasingly brutal roughhousing of Farley is cracking me up.
— Michael angrily returning to the scene in his leopard-skin underwear is hilarious.
— When Adam says to a lying-down-on-the-floor Farley “I’m sorry, but you brought this onto yourself”, Adam is stifling laughter. This is probably because of what happened during the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, of which portions are shown in Farley’s “Best Of” DVD. In that version of this sketch, Farley wore a wig and it kept falling off throughout the sketch whenever Michael would rough him up. As the sketch progressed, it became harder and harder for the performers to keep a straight face, culminating in an ending scene where Farley, Adam, and Michael are laughing especially hard while gathered together on the couch.
— Heh, what was with the weird hint that Adam’s character is actually Farley’s mother instead of his grandmother?
— Overall, probably not a particularly strong sketch, but I’ve always found several aspects of it to be fun. The blooper-filled dress rehearsal version is probably preferable, though.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Suedehead”


OUTWEEK
(host) & (DAC) don’t limit celebrity exposes to homosexuality

— Dana makes his first appearance since way back in the cold opening. His diminishing presence this season sometimes makes me kinda forget that he’s still in the cast (which I’m aware I also said about Victoria Jackson a few times in my reviews of the preceding season).
— Michael and Dana’s performances are getting good laughs, and this sketch has a fun format, especially with the fast pacing of it.
— This is getting hilarious as the subject matter of the celebrity outings becomes more and more outlandish, such as Roger Moore being outed for wearing adult diapers and Bonnie Franklin being outed as a lousy lay. A lot of this has me howling.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode, and there was only one sketch I was underwhelmed by (Gutenberg Awards). I’m glad Michael Keaton was given a second chance after his flawed hosting stint from 10 years earlier, as he was FAR better tonight. He was a strong host, consistently made me laugh throughout the episode, and seemed much more at ease than he did last time.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Catherine O’Hara)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sinbad

Posted on

October 31, 1992 – Catherine O’Hara / 10,000 Maniacs (S18 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) talks about dirty tricks played on him by the GOP

— A big laugh from the altered photo of Perot’s daughter making out with Madonna.
— Perot’s far-fetched story about engaging in combat with four men and a talking dog is really funny.
— Another funny absurd story from Perot, this time with him talking about a plot by the republicans to yank out his family’s dental work and replace it with transmitters.
— I’m cracking up at Dana-as-Perot’s various “You are not listening!”-type responses to the reporters.
— Good meta ending with Dana’s Perot and Rob going back and forth on how the show’s going to start if Perot doesn’t say “Live from New York…”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Nice Halloween costume that Catherine makes her entrance in.
— Funny reveal that she put a real arrow through her head, mistakenly thinking that’s what Steve Martin did back in the day.
— Good punchline to Catherine’s scary Halloween story.
STARS: ***½


ASS DON’T SMELL
an anonymous gift of Ass Don’t Smell gives (KEN) a scent-free butt

— A huge laugh from Kevin finding a can of Ass Don’t Smell on his desk, as a “gift” from an anonymous co-worker. I also liked Kevin’s “Maybe somebody’s trying to tell me something” response to that.
— Funny montage of Kevin’s unsuccessful attempts at getting rid of his scent.
— Tim: “But your ass doesn’t smell!” Kevin (self-satisfied, looking into the camera) “Exactly.”
— Overall, a very low-brow concept, but was executed in a very funny and solid way.
STARS: ****


NANNY GREENWOOD
(PHH) & siblings grow weary of Nanny Greenwood’s (host) cloying songs

— A perfect role for Catherine.
— Some good laughs from Nanny Greenwood breaking out into a sappy kiddie jingle for every situation, much to the others’ increasing frustration.
— I love Nanny Greenwood returning while singing an inappropriately upbeat song with a guitar during Julia’s very emotional reveal that her husband left her two months ago.
— Phil’s suddenly angry outburst to Nanny Greenwood is great.
— Excellent out-of-left-field turn with a gunshot suddenly being heard from the other room, making you think Nanny Greenwood committed suicide (after the others have finally told her they’re sick of her songs), only for her to then slowly reveal through a song that she only pretended to shoot herself.
— I recall hearing this sketch was written by former SNL writer Conan O’Brien along with somebody else (I forget who).
STARS: ****


COPY MACHINE
Richard Laymer does his thing for Halloween costume-wearing co-workers

— Our first Richmeister sketch of the season.
— Kevin entering as a scantily-clad Madonna is hilarious.
— The various Halloween costumes are providing a pretty fun change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— Good turn with the grim reaper showing up to take Richmeister away.
— Funny reveal that Richmeister’s death was caused by radiation from the copy machine, a fate that Richmeister notes is ironic.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on dropping your keys in lava
— Not included in my copy of this episode.


MY DINNER WITH SISTER SOULJAH
(TIM) ignores Sister Souljah (ELC)’s black-power tirades

— I have no idea who Sister Souljah is, and Ellen’s performance as her isn’t doing a thing for me.
— Tim’s out-of-place light-hearted responses are a pretty funny contrast to Souljah’s stern, militant, black-power statements, with Tim being his usual likable self.
— Speaking of Tim, man, what a rough season the poor guy has been having so far, even moreso than his preceding two seasons before this. Out of the five episodes so far this season, Tim spent two of them not being in ANY sketches (Nicolas Cage and Christoper Walken), and in the three episodes that he HAS appeared in, he’s only been used in straight roles, all of them being just small parts until his big role here. At least his straight role in this sketch is actually providing laughs, though.
— A lot of Madonna references in tonight’s episode so far. I know her “Sex” book was huge at the time, but it feels kinda weird seeing her mentioned THIS prominently throughout an SNL episode that has nothing to do with her directly.
— David as a waiter got a good laugh with his reaction to a statement Sister Souljah made towards him.
— Wow, that’s it? The sketch is already over?
— Despite the laughs that Tim and David provided as straight men, I didn’t care much for this sketch as a whole. Ellen’s performance brought it down for me and something about the writing felt kinda underdeveloped, though I might’ve appreciated Ellen’s performance more if I was familiar with who she was playing.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “These Are Our Days”


WEEKEND UPDATE
while reviewing Madonna’s book Sex, CSR decries lack of good black porno
ADS offers some more low-cost Halloween costume ideas

— Lots of pretty good presidential election-related jokes tonight, with this being the final episode before Election Day.
— Yikes, Kevin’s delivery of the Norman Schwarzkopf joke was awkward as hell. It looked like he wasn’t even sure of half the words he was reading there. Yet another example of how his flubbiness as an Update anchor can drive me nuts.
— More Madonna references tonight, with Rock’s commentary focusing on her.
— Rock is getting lots of laughs ranting about how bad black porno magazines are, especially his line about seeing a big bullet wound in one magazine model’s ass.
— Adam returns for his second annual Halloween costume Update commentary.
— Hmm, Adam suggests that it’s not too late right now for trick-or-treaters to try to get some more candy. Heh, it must’ve been around 12:15 by this time. Who the hell goes trick-or-treating that late? I know I’d be pissed if some idiot rang my doorbell that late at night on Halloween while yelling “Trick or treat!”
— Adam’s always-funny cheap costume suggestions are particularly funny tonight, and have the usual goofy charm. Amazing how Adam has the ability to get so many laughs out of such a simplistic premise.
— I’m surprised Adam’s commentary didn’t end with Kevin displaying a cheap costume of his own and Adam humbly responding “You have topped me again, Kevin Nealon!” I thought it was a tradition for all of his Halloween costume Update commentaries to end that way except for the first one.
— Ah, it turns out that at the very end of this Update (a good while after Adam has left), we DO end up seeing Kevin displaying his own cheap costume, right before the camera fades to black (screencap below).

STARS: ***½


PUMPING UP HALLOWEEN WITH HANS & FRANZ
Hans & Franz belittle trick-or-treaters’ costumes

— Wow, we haven’t these characters in an entire year. Feels odd seeing them again after such a long hiatus. This ends up being their final appearance during Dana’s tenure as a cast member.
— The “candy” that Hans and Franz hand out to trick-or-treating kids, like metabolic bulk enhancer, is pretty funny.
— An overall mildly funny installment, but nothing special, and a noticeable step down from Hans and Franz’s usual work. Not even the Halloween aspect could breathe much life into a recurring sketch that had already run its course by this point. Tonight’s sketch was at least not as depressing as Hans and Franz’s last appearance before tonight, where I witnessed their popularity dying right before my eyes.
STARS: **½


PROUD CANADIANS
via song, Canadians PHH & host gloat about Toronto’s World Series victory

— Interesting piece, and a nice pairing of real-life canucks Phil and Catherine. I love seeing these two sketch comedy greats being paired together.
— Pretty funny lyrics from Phil and Catherine, especially their various criticisms of America.
— Overall, not a particularly hilarious piece, but certainly an entertaining and charming musical number with funny lyrics.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on really knowing what sensuality is
— Not included in my copy of this episode.


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart tells a scary story with a happy ending

— Ha, yet ANOTHER sketch tonight that references Madonna. It would probably be faster to list off the sketches tonight that DIDN’T mention her.
— I liked the bit with Stuart saying he originally wanted to dress as a feeling for Halloween.
— Funny mention of him handing out rice cakes to trick-or-treaters.
— His idea of a “scary” story has provided a good laugh.
STARS: ***½


CERAMIC MUGS
after years of drinking from Mexican mugs, (host) exhibits brain decay

— When Catherine asks why the occupation of bond analyst sounds familiar, I liked Phil’s mildly-annoyed-but-patient delivery of “Well, honey… that’s what you do.”
— Meh, the constant forgetfulness of Catherine’s character isn’t that funny. Not even a true comedy pro like Catherine can do much for this material.
— Rob is stealing the sketch with his funny direct-to-camera bit.
— The whole ceramic mug poisoning twist was okay, but wasn’t funny enough to redeem this sketch as a whole.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Candy Everybody Wants”


AFTER THE HALLOWEEN PARTY
Marilyn Monroe-costumed (host) wakes up next to JFK doppelganger (KEN)

— Very interesting structure to this.
— Some really good silent acting from Catherine, and she’s helping give this sketch a slice-of-life feel.
— Very busy night for Kevin in this episode. He’s appeared in almost every single sketch.
— I liked Kevin’s “Thank god I still have my spleen.”
— The Madonna theme throughout tonight’s episode concludes with Kevin humorously mistaking Catherine’s Marilyn Monroe costume for a Madonna costume.
— The ending with Catherine laying against the door, then very slowly sliding down to the floor, and then sobbing was VERY odd and way too drawn-out. It also took the audience an unusually long time to applaud at the end. Turns out, there’s an interesting backstory to this sketch’s ending, which explains why it was so painfully awkward. According to Catherine in this article, the original ending of this sketch was apparently shortened after dress rehearsal and the director was now supposed to fade the sketch to black after Kevin exited. However, the director apparently didn’t read the alterations made to the script for this sketch and just kept the sketch going after Kevin’s exit, leaving a panicked Catherine on the air with no further material to work with and a silent studio audience. Not knowing what to do, Catherine leaned against the door on the set to signal the director to fade the screen to black and cue the “applause” sign, but nope, didn’t work. Then Catherine very slowly slid down to the floor as another way of hinting to the director that the sketch is over, but that STILL didn’t work. All of this is the reason why after Catherine finishes sliding to the ground and then begins sobbing (in character) in a slumped-over posture, there’s such a long pause before the audience finally applauds and the sketch finally fades to black.
— I recall hearing that some local NBC affiliates prematurely cut this sketch off long before the aforementioned painfully awkward ending, because the show had run long.
— In reruns of this episode, this sketch ends like it was supposed to, with Kevin exiting.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Wow, this must be the shortest goodnights in SNL history. It lasted literally all of ONE SECOND and got cut off before Catherine even said anything. What you see in the above screencap is pretty much all that aired of these goodnights. Obviously, the mishap at the end of the last sketch caused the show to run long and left no time for the goodnights.
— I recall that in the full version of these goodnights shown in reruns, Catherine spits out her goodnights speech in rapid-fire speed in an attempt to beat the clock, and then says in kind of a mock-panicked manner “I wish I had time to explaaiiiinnn!”, which must be referring to how she wanted to explain to us what went wrong during the last sketch, but couldn’t because the show didn’t have enough time.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, though felt a little average for this season’s standards. Only a few things tonight stood out to me as particularly great, and there were also a few weak spots here and there. Still an enjoyable show as a whole. And the reliable Catherine O’Hara helped give a fun vibe to this episode, much like her first hosting stint. Another fun aspect to this episode was the heavy Halloween theme throughout the night. (Really makes you wonder why after this episode, SNL would stop doing live episodes on the Halloweens that happen to fall on a Saturday) There’s also that weird Madonna theme that I kept pointing out throughout the review……..


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Michael Keaton

Posted on

October 24, 1992 – Christopher Walken / Arrested Development (S18 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) ditches Admiral Stockdale (PHH) on the side of the road

— A very topical cold opening that still holds up, despite the Admiral Stockdale incident that this is based on (from the then-recent vice presidential debate) being obscure to later audiences. What helps this topical cold opening still remain very funny to later audiences who have no knowledge of Stockdale is Phil’s absolutely priceless performance and the fact that Dana’s Perot gives a nice rundown of all the bizarre things Stockdale did at that VP debate, the latter of which in retrospect provides good context to later viewers.
— It wasn’t until years after I first saw this cold opening that I was finally exposed to clips of the real Stockdale at the VP debate. “Oh. My. God.” is basically all I can say in response to his behavior there. Hell, at one point in that debate, Stockdale really did say “Who am I? Why am I here?”, which Phil’s Stockdale also famously says here (which is why the audience applauds when he says it).
— Huge laughs from Dana’s Perot going on and on about how all of the questionable things Stockdale did at the debate were pure brilliancy.
— Phil is absolutely killing me in this. Every single thing he’s doing and saying here is an absolute riot. I especially loved the random exclamation of “I’m outta ammo!” Definitely one of Phil’s funniest performances of all time.
— Classic turn with Perot suddenly zooming off in the car when Stockdale has stepped outside.
— Hilarious sudden reveal of Stockdale running after the car.
— Overall, this is hands-down one of my absolute favorite cold openings of all time.
— This ends up being Dana’s only appearance all night. After appearing in a normal amount of sketches in the first three episodes of the season, tonight’s episode begins the phasing-out of Dana, as we’re not too far away from his mid-season departure. In most of the remaining episodes of his SNL tenure, we’ll be seeing him in a significantly reduced role, and there will even be some episodes in that stretch that don’t feature him AT ALL.
STARS: *****


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Let’s Face The Music” & dances with castmembers & others

— Tonight, it officially becomes a tradition for Christopher to break out into a fun song-and-dance for his monologues.
— Very charming seeing Christopher taking turns dancing with each individual female cast member.
— Now this is getting even more fun with Christopher going off-stage, running into a robed Jan Hooks backstage, and then her joining him in a dance.
— I love Lorne sternly putting a stop to Christopher and Jan’s dancing, then refusing Christopher’s offer to join him in a dance, then suddenly giving in. I also love the use of a starry spotlight during the Christopher/Lorne dance.
— Fantastic monologue overall.
STARS: ****½


JIFFY EXPRESS
Jiffy Express will take the blame for packages you send late

— Great concept for a fake ad, and feels like a companion piece to the Einstein Express fake ad from the late 80s.
— Very solid spokesperson performance from Rob, continuing the strong season he’s been having so far.
— I love the footage showing the company’s process of making your package look beat up.
— Kevin’s irate delivery of “You guys are pathetic! People get fired over this kind of thing!” always cracks me up whenever I see this commercial.
STARS: ****½


THE CONTINENTAL
The Continental flirts when a woman comes to reclaim her glove

— Here comes another thing that officially becomes a Christopher Walken SNL staple tonight.
— This has always been my favorite installment of this great recurring sketch, though I might be biased since it’s the installment I’ve seen the most. (It’s also the installment that’s rightfully included in Christopher’s “Best Of” special)
— Julia’s brief appearance, fleeing from The Continental’s apartment in a panic, is the only time a performer other than Christopher Walken has ever appeared in a Continental sketch.
— I love the little part with The Continental playfully wrestling the coat away from the woman who we’re seeing the perspective of.
— As usual, big laughs from the woman bolting towards the door after The Continental says something particularly rude, only to have The Continental hurriedly jump in front of the door to block it. That never fails to be funny in these sketches.
— I got a big laugh from the woman suddenly throwing her drink into The Continental’s face after he compliments her “decolletage”.
— A pretty memorable blooper right now, where after the second time the woman throws her drink into The Continental’s face, Christopher’s fake mustache starts peeling off (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which gets a huge reaction from the audience. His deadpan facial reaction during all of this is great.
STARS: *****


ED GLOSSER, TRIVIAL PSYCHIC
Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic (host) annoys co-workers with ho-hum visions

— Fantastic concept of Christopher having the unimpressive ability to see insignificant things in people’s future.
— Some really great creepy close-ups of Christopher’s face throughout this, especially during his scene with Rob and Phil.
— I loved Christopher’s passioned “You don’t get it, do you? You’re wasting coffee!” to Rob.
— Christopher’s trivial visions are all hilarious.
— Solid ending to what is absolutely one of Christopher Walken’s all-time best sketches.
STARS: *****


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the status of pudding-traversing ants
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tennessee”


WEEKEND UPDATE
undecided voter Jan Brady (MEH) likens candidates to her family members
Hollywood Minute- DAS defines terms for public figures on the decline

— Melanie’s Jan Brady is funny as usual, this time talking about the presidential election. Like with her last Update commentary, it’s fun seeing Melanie’s Jan relate things to famous scenes from random Brady Bunch episodes.
— David’s breakout Update segment, Hollywood Minute, officially becomes recurring tonight.
— Like in his inaugural Hollywood Minute from earlier this season, we’re getting a nice fast-paced, energetic, snappy delivery from David, which is quite different from his more deadpan, lower-energy delivery that would soon become his trademark a little further into his SNL tenure.
— Some of my favorite slams in David’s overall commentary tonight were about Vanilla Ice, Madonna’s “Sex” book, Kriss Kross, and the Encyclopedia Britannica guy.
— Fairly solid night for Kevin, with a lot of funny jokes and very minimal line flubs.
STARS: ***½


STALK TALK
guests discuss the nature of their obsessive trailing

 

— A huge laugh from Christopher claiming his girlfriend’s name is Bitch.
— Christopher is perfect as this creepy character.
— Jan is a riot as an obsessed David Hasselhoff fan. I even liked the little bit with her staring down Rob after Rob says he also likes Hasselhoff “……a lot”.
— Christopher’s story about hiding in the bushes and making bird noises to distract his girlfriend is priceless. I also like how when saying he got arrested for that incident, he mentions he was also naked during it and that “there were a variety of charges” made against him.
— Great ending with Christopher very randomly telling Julia “I think about you when I masturbate. I bet that… that disgusts you , doesn’t it?”
— A very strong sketch with solid ensemble work from everyone, though Christopher and Jan definitely ran away with this.
STARS: ****½


IT’S PAT
androgynous Pat’s new boss (host) is discombobulated by gender dysphoria

— Another Pat sketch already, after we just got one in the last episode? I’m not complaining, though.
— When Julia makes her entrance as Pat, part of a female stagehand can accidentally be seen behind Julia for a good while (the first above screencap for this sketch) before moving out of the shot. This shot would be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
— Christopher’s prolonged dramatic asides to Phil about how troubled he is by Pat’s androgyny are freakin’ hilarious, especially Christopher’s mention of how he’s “in a tizzy” and how Pat’s behavior is “not at all the norm”.
— This is such an unconventional Pat sketch, but I am absolutely loving it. The lack of focus on Pat and the redirected focus on Christopher’s perplexed reactions to Pat is very interesting, and Christopher is making this priceless in his typical Walken-esque way.
— I love how when Christopher “jumps” out of the window, he casually just walks out of the scene through the window and doesn’t even attempt to make it look like he jumped. That’s the type of “not giving a damn” acting that Christopher (and Norm Macdonald) can make funny.
STARS: ****½


SINEAD O’CONNOR GOODTIME HAPPY JAMBOREE
Sinead O’Connor (JAH) is booed off-stage during a Goodtime Happy Jamboree

— Another great use of Jan tonight.
— I know SNL making fun of the Sinead incident in this manner probably doesn’t sit well with a number of people, considering Sinead wasn’t exactly wrong in her point about the Catholic church (and that’s all I’m going to say about it; I really prefer not to use my SNL reviews to go into this type of serious issue), but personally, this spoof doesn’t bother me at all.
— Good walk-on from Phil as Kris Kristofferson silently consoling Jan’s Sinead, parodying what happened while Sinead was booed at a then-recent concert.
— An overall short but inspired, very funny, and memorable piece.
STARS: ****


PROFESSOR C AND THE SUPER SLEUTHS
sleuths watch their mentor (host) undergo embarrassing medical procedures

 

— Funny little part with the comically fake sound effect of the dog in Kevin’s arms barking.
— Pretty funny with the sleuths’ awkwardness when having to stay in the room while Christopher’s using a bedpan.
— Another laugh now from Phil detailing how he’s about to catheterize Christopher’s penis.
— Good ending with Christopher happily taking a newspaper photo while Ellen gives him an enema.
STARS: ***½


PLEA
Audience McGee (ADS) to Sinead O’Connor (JAH)- “love, don’t hate”

— More good comedy mined from the Sinead incident.
— Very funny with the various notorious figures who’s picture Jan’s Sinead keeps claiming she REALLY meant to tear, only to panickedly try to come up with another notorious figure when the audience disapproves. I’m getting big laughs from how Jan keeps quickly transitioning from a fiery, angry voice to a suddenly sheepish demeanor whenever she gets booed.
— We get the debut of Adam’s very funny Audience McGee character. He’s particularly hilarious in this sketch.
— Fun ending.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “People Everyday”
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.


THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN BALLS
(host) sings about catching crabs on “The Boulevard Of Broken Balls”

— This memorable musical piece ends up being the final sketch submitted by former SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue.
— An overall excellent musical number with priceless and well-written lyrics. I can definitely picture this O’Donoghue-penned piece appearing in the original era.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

— Christopher congratulates Toronto on having just won that night’s World Series against the Atlanta Braves.  During the ensuing cheering in the studio, canuck Phil Hartman can be seen letting out particularly loud and energetic cheers, while Georgia-born Jan Hooks comically pouts and boos (the first above screencap for these goodnights). Phil’s Canadian pride over Toronto winning the World Series would later be turned into a musical sketch the following week, where Phil is accompanied by a certain female canuck who happens to be hosting that night.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— And so ends what I’ve always considered to be probably my favorite SNL episode of all time. After watching this episode just now, my opinion has not changed at all. This was such a phenomenal episode, and I had an absolute blast from beginning to end. And not only was there nothing that I disliked, but almost every single segment received an impressive four or five-star rating. Add in Christopher Walken doing his second fantastic job as a host and solidifying himself as a sure-fire thing for SNL, and you have an episode that’s a force to be reckoned with. Just a perfect, perfect episode in my eyes, and holds a very special place in my heart.
— No Chris Farley in tonight’s episode. He’s going through a rehab stint at this time (his first of two this season alone), which will cause him to also miss the following week’s episode. Interesting how we have both his and Mike Myers’ temporary absence overlapping with each other, plus there’s also Dana’s diminishing presence. I guess this is one of the positive things about having such a large cast this season, because in a much smaller cast, the simultaneous lack of appearances from three standout audience favorites would impact the show HUGELY.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joe Pesci)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Catherine O’Hara hosts SNL’s third and (as of 2019) final live episode to air on Halloween

Posted on

October 10, 1992 – Joe Pesci / Spin Doctors (S18 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC), Bill Clinton (PHH), Ross Perot (DAC) debate each other

— Great debate title, “The Challenge To Avoid Saying Something Stupid”, which is in the same vein as the title to the preceding season’s democratic candidates debate sketch, “The Race to Avoid Being the Guy Who Loses to Bush”.
— It cracks me up that two of the three presidential candidates here are played by the same performer (Dana). They’re able to pull it off by having all of the Perot portions be pre-taped, but during the shot of all three candidates making their entrance together, David Spade is actually standing in as Perot (third screencap above). SNL would also utilize David as a Perot stand-in during that year’s SNL Presidential Bash special (which was filmed sometime around this week, I believe, and aired in early November) when all three presidential candidates make their entrance together for the monologue.
— Kevin’s Sam Donaldson going on and on to Clinton about redneck stereotypes is hilarious. (Clinton’s response: “I’m sorry, Sam, do you have a question?”)
— Very funny story from Bush about being assaulted by inbred mountain people.
— I liked Tim’s uncalled-for scenario of Kitty Dukakis being raped and murdered.
— I’m getting good laughs from Clinton always claiming how “advanced” his state of Arkansas is.
— A lot of laughs from Perot’s details of how he would handle Kitty Dukakis’ hypothetical assailant, involving tying him to a stake and using ants to torture him.
— A particularly classic part with us seeing each candidate from the perspective of the other candidates, with Clinton being viewed as a pot-smoking hippie, Bush as an old lady, and Perot as a munchkin from The Wizard of Oz.
— Nice touch with the meta bit at the end, with Perot explaining he can’t say “Live from New York…” because he’s on tape, so he asks “live boy” Bush to say it.
— Overall, one of the absolute best presidential debate sketches in SNL history, along with some of the best political satire the show’s ever done. This cold opening consistently kept me laughing all throughout and featured lots of great lines and moments.
STARS: *****


MONOLOGUE
host criticizes Sinead O’Connor’s actions & shows repaired Pope picture

— He’s immediately addressing the controversial Sinead O’Connor picture-tearing incident from the last episode. I’m sure a lot of viewers at the time were wondering how SNL would respond to the incident.
— Joe displays the now-pasted-back-together Pope picture that Sinead tore up.
— When going on about what he would’ve done to Sinead if she pulled that move on his show, I got a guilty laugh from Joe’s line “I would’ve grabbed her by her… uh, eyebrows…”
— Joe: “I’m not like the Pope… I’m Italian.”
STARS: ***


GREEN & FAZIO
lawyer Barry Green (PHH) says you don’t have to be in an accident to sue

— A solid satire of lawyer commercials, and excellent performance from Phil.
— I love Phil’s ridiculous listed-off types of “accidents” that this company handles.
— The black-and-white dramatization with Kevin’s whole “Green, stop harassing me!” rant on the car phone cracks me up, even though I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be funny.
STARS: ****


THE BENSONHURST DATING GAME
bachelor competition creates racial tension

— Rock appears to be playing the same character he played in the famous Sabra Price is Right sketch from late last season, as his character in tonight’s sketch has the same name: Kevin Stubbs.
— Good to see Rock actually in a sketch this week, by the way, after his sullen attitude during the last episode’s goodnights when he wasn’t in any sketches that night.
— A lot of laughs from Joe’s various discriminatory interactions with Rock.
— I’m loving Adam and Dana’s goofy performances here.
— I liked Julia’s passing mention of having already been with Adam and Dana.
— Very memorable gameshow sketch overall.
STARS: ****½


PINKY RINGERY
(host) shops for a pinky ring that’ll go with his style of communication

— Simple premise so far, but there are so many laughs from Joe’s miming into the mirror to test out various pinky rings, especially now that his miming is starting to get overly detailed with him acting out an actual conversation. Even just hearing the audience’s laughter during all of Joe’s silent miming is somehow adding to my enjoyment.
— Classic turn right now with Joe getting into a heated, silent argument during the miming and clearly mouthing “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck me? No, fuck YOU!” Also a great touch in the middle of that, where Kevin asks him what he thinks of the ring and Joe says “Wait, I’m not finished” before continuing the mimed argument.
— An overall very well-done and perfect little sketch.
STARS: *****


GREEN & FAZIO
Barry Green offers some more ways to get rich through litigation

— More laughs from additional ridiculous listed-off types of “accidents” that Phil’s company handles, such as being shot while committing a robbery.
— Some pretty funny testimonials from customers here. I especially liked Farley’s emotional delivery of “But who will give me back my tooth?”
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN gives a subliminal editorial on election campaign mudslinging
Cajunman tells KEN why he would be a better presidential candidate

— My growing frustration with Kevin’s penchant for flubbing jokes continues tonight, as he seems to be misreading a lot of words and then correcting himself. It’s odd how I’ve never had any real problems with Kevin’s Update tenure until doing this SNL project. I wonder if reviewing six straight seasons of Dennis Miller spoiled me and makes me enjoy Kevin’s Updates a little less than I used to.
— I’m a little surprised to see another Subliminal Editorial so soon after Kevin just did one just two episodes go.
— Kevin’s overall Subliminal Editorial tonight was thankfully an improvement over his surprisingly forgettable last one. Various good subliminal lines tonight.
— Cajunman’s routine is coming off as funny as always.
— Hmm, what was with the random ending to Cajunman’s commentary, with him saying an uncharacteristic “Have a very good Columbus Day”?
— More bad misreadings and flubs from Kevin.
— Overall, despite the frustration I expressed towards Kevin throughout this Update, he did have a few really good jokes tonight, a solid Subliminal Editorial, and got some nice assistance from Adam’s reliable Cajunman routine (Kevin’s interactions with him are always fun too).
STARS: ***


SINGLE WHITE PERSON
androgynous Pat gets an obsessive roommate (MEH)

— A very interesting, inspired, and fun change to the usual Pat format, crossing it over with the then-recent movie Single White Female.
— Some good laughs from Joe as the gay roommate, just because it’s Joe Pesci, of all people, playing the role (and he’s absolutely nailing it).
— Very good part with Melanie entering with Pat’s hair, glasses, and attire. I also loved Pat’s “You have GOT to be kidding me” response.
— Good casting of Melanie in this role, and I’m liking her performance.
— Nice to see Dana’s Chris character again, for the first time since this character’s debut in a Pat sketch from two seasons earlier. I’m surprised this character hasn’t been utilized in more Pat sketches.
— Solid climax with the whole fighting sequence.
STARS: ****½


BANK ROBBERS
bank robbers waiting for TV news exposure sit through endless commercials

— The shot of Farley in the diarrhea commercial is hilarious (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Is playing news anchors all that Tim is going to get to do this season? It’s literally the only type of role he’s been getting so far this season.
— I’m enjoying the robbers’ growing frustration over having to wait and wait for the news report about their bank robbery, and always managing to run into the same “Hungry Puppy Dog” commercial no matter what channel they turn to.
— I’m cracking up at how Phil’s anchorman keeps throwing to commercials each time he’s about to reveal details of the bank robbery.
STARS: ****


BULLIES
(host) & (ROS) relay fake insulting phone messages to passers-by

— The tense part with Phil slowly walking up to Rob and suddenly going into a VERY angry rant at him had me dying with laughter, even if I’m not sure that part was intended to be funny (I seem to be saying that quite a bit in this episode review).
— Fun performances from Joe and Rob here.
— Another screaming outburst from a passerby, this time with Farley’s whole “Don’t get on my bad side!” rant, though it didn’t make me laugh as much as Phil’s rant from earlier in the sketch.
— Good turn with David and Adam as another pair of wise-asses one-upping Joe and Rob on their own “(insert person here) called, they wanted their (insert thing here) back” routine. It’s fitting that David would be cast in this role, given his knack for snark and the fact that the whole “(insert person here) called…” routine would kinda go on to be one of his catchphrases.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”


BACKSTAGE
Robert DeNiro & Martin Scorsese [real] show up when Zoraida hassles host

— Oh, god, here comes our first Zoraida sketch of the season…
— Meh, as usual, I’m not caring for Zoraida’s routine here.
— Okay, I admit, I’m getting laughs from the part right now with Zoraida asking Joe tips for where to hide a dead body.
— A great and memorable sudden appearance from Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro at the end (back in the days when a DeNiro cameo on SNL was actually a positive thing).
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and had a mostly consistent quality. This is the first episode this season that I felt really highly about. Most of the sketches tonight were great, we got some classics and near-classics, and even the Zoraida sketch had its redeeming qualities.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tim Robbins)
a fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christopher Walken, a very special episode for me, as it just may be my personal favorite episode of all time

Posted on

October 3, 1992 – Tim Robbins / Sinead O’Connor (S18 E2)

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

Posted on

September 26, 1992 – Nicolas Cage / Bobby Brown (S18 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Woody Allen (DAC) runs into Mia Farrow (JAH) outside a movie theater

— Decent idea to start the season, addressing Woody Allen’s scandal from the summer.
— Fantastic Woody Allen impression from Dana.
— Farley’s hilarious “scumbag” comment was apparently too much for the NBC censors, as SNL would later redub the line to “sleazebag”.
— Oh, Jan Hooks, how refreshing it feels to see you again after a season.
— All of Dana’s neurotic rambling as Woody is cracking me up.
— Interesting casting of Adam as Tony Roberts. I like the detail of his odd-looking ears.
— Now this has gotten even better with Phil’s Frank Sinatra showing up.
— Loved Sinatra’s line about Mia Farrow playing “musical Jews”.
— Another great Sinatra line, this time saying about masturbation “When you’re a one-man band, nobody gets hurt.”
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage as the last two seasons.
— Mike Myers has been removed from the montage, despite still being a cast member. He’s been given a significant amount of time off from the show to film the movie “So I Married an Axe Murderer”. We won’t be seeing him return until December.
— Rob Schneider has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— Melanie Hutsell, while still a featured player, has gone from being in the second category of featured players who only get credited sporadically and have a still-photo shot in the opening montage to now being in the first category of featured players who are credited every week and have a live-action moving shot in the montage.

— No new cast members this season.
— When announcing G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band, Don Pardo messes up and says “G.E. and the……Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band”.
— Former cast member Jan Hooks receives her first of many “Special guest appearance by” credits within these next two seasons.

— Starting tonight, hosts are announced in the montage with the billing “And your host”, which would go on to be a tradition that continues to this day in 2019. (Before this episode, hosts were announced with the billing “And starring” from 1986-1992, and before that, hosts were usually announced with the billing “With host”, “With”, or “Starring”).


MONOLOGUE
LOM asks host to stop talking about his female co-stars’ body parts

— Funny cutaways to the disturbed reactions of “audience members” while Nicolas is going on about his female co-stars’ body parts.
— I loved Nicolas’ sudden “HEY, THAT’S MY COUSIN!” outburst and threateningly grabbing Lorne by the collar when Lorne mentions Sofia Coppola’s “killer bod” to prove a point.
— Nicolas: “They probably think I’m the biggest jerk who’s ever been on the show.” Lorne: “No, that would be Steven Seagal.”
— Funny little moment with Farley’s “Hey, the monologue’s going GREAT, man!” to Nicolas as he’s heading back to the home base stage.
STARS: ***½


CANIS
a poolside rendezvous captures the spirit of Canis cologne for dogs

 

— Very funny how this authentic and spot-on parody of typical Calvin Klein ads has a sudden turn with the guy making out with the dog.
— Good “Cologne for dogs” reveal at the very end of the commercial.
STARS: ****


TINY ELVIS
Tiny Elvis (host) dislikes buddies calling him “cute”

— A goofy charm to this simplistic sketch.
— I like the stock footage shown during the scene transition, where the camera shows a sideways-tilted tracking shot of a city.

— The scene that takes place inside a car has some technical gaffes, where the entire screen suddenly gets this weird green tint (the fourth above screencap for this sketch). This would later be fixed in reruns by replacing the second half of this sketch with the dress rehearsal version.
— I remember the first time I saw this episode, I for some reason thought that was Louie Anderson playing Farley’s role. It was something about the girth and the way Farley’s face looked from what little we saw of it here (since he had his back to the camera the whole time). I remember thinking to myself “Why is Louie Anderson randomly appearing in the middle of this sketch, and why didn’t the audience give him any applause when he was first shown?”
— Some more technical issues, this time with some kind of chyron accidentally showing up on the chroma-key screen in front of the car (in the lower left corner of the chroma-key screen in fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Overall, while the sketch had a silly charm, was this REALLY the best choice as the lead-off sketch for a season premiere? This is not the way to kick off a season. This is a sketch best left after Weekend Update.
STARS: ***


POWERFUL PEROT
Ross Perot (DAC) uses money to demonstrate his influence over others

— Dana’s Ross Perot impression officially becomes recurring, and is more developed here than it was in its debut late last season.
— Pretty funny premise with Perot giving citizens an insane amount of money for doing random things he requests.
— I’m liking Perot’s various country-style analogies (e.g. “As serious as a bedbug in a whorehouse”).
— Good ending bit with Perot making Farley get down on all fours and act like an angry spitting pig while Perot rides him out of the scene.
— A pretty fun overall sketch, but this still doesn’t feel right as the post-lead-off sketch in a big season premiere. Both this and the Tiny Elvis sketch are giving this season premiere the feel of an average, kinda-slow, and quiet start. Compare this to the last two season premieres, where the first two lead-off sketches in both episodes were phenomenal (the First Black Harlem Globetrotter and Super Fans sketches from the Michael Jordan episode, and the Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos and Twin Peaks sketches from the Kyle MacLachlan episode).
— According to GettyImages, Nicolas had a role cut from the live version of this sketch where he played some kind of shady-looking character (pic here).
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the truth about Uncle Caveman {rerun}

— Apparently, this is a rerun from the preceding season’s Susan Dey episode, but it wasn’t included in my copy of that episode.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Humpin’ Around”


WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN endorses Bill Clinton during a subliminal editorial on the election
CSR gets worked up while discussing Peanuts’ Franklin’s lack of depth
Operaman sings recent headlines & gets a standing ovation

 

— Kevin’s Subliminal Editorial on the presidential election ended up being briefer than the usual Mr. Subliminal bits, and was only decent. No particular lines stood out in this one, surprisingly.
— Good to see another Chris Rock commentary on Update. Surprisingly, it feels like he didn’t do much of these last season.
— Very strong overall commentary from Rock tonight; one of his best. A lot of fantastic irate comments from him about being bused to a predominately white school during his childhood and especially about the character Franklin from Peanuts being unfairly neglected.
— Nice to see Operaman once again, even if he did appear in just the last episode (granted, there was a whole summer break between these last two episodes, though it’s easy to forget that when watching these episodes chronologically on a daily basis).
— I didn’t get Operaman’s bit about Jay Leno blowing off a female producer. I’m a little curious about that story.
— A classic Operaman bit right now, with him singing about Sarah Ferguson’s “nippolas” and announcing he has a “grande stiffo”.
— At the end of Operaman’s commentary, we get a random cutaway to Nicolas and Cher(!) in the studio audience, giving Operaman a standing ovation. Is this a Moonstruck reference?
STARS: ***½


BABY NAMES
expectant father (host) rejects baby names that have taunting potential

— Lots of laughs from Nicolas’ ways of finding potential teases for EVERY SINGLE innocent name Julia suggests. I love how over-the-top Nicolas is getting with his hypothetical insults.
— I like how towards the end, Nicolas begins really reaching to find insults for the names, and I also like how Julia is now starting to call him out on how unlikely those insults are.
— An absolutely priceless reveal from Rob of Nicolas’ name being Asswipe Johnson, and Nicolas then explaining to Rob that his first name is pronounced “oz-WEE-pay”.
— Overall, a fairly simple but excellent sketch. This was perfect for Nicolas Cage’s acting style, and featured a fantastic punchline at the end.
STARS: *****


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the top thing an Indian can do


NIGHTLINE
stupid undecided voters question patient Bill Clinton (PHH)

 

— I always love Dana-as-Ted-Koppel’s way of saying “THIIIIIIS………. is Nightline.”
— The debut of a Hillary Clinton impression on SNL.
— So many of the things that Dana’s Koppel is saying are coming off very funny due to his comically stiff, slow, monotone delivery, especially him telling Farley an annoyed “Then sit… down…. NOW.” and his whole back-and-forth with Rob, culminating in him telling Rob “Don’t make me come down there and slap you around.”
— I like Melanie’s stoner-type characterization and her deliveries of “Where’s my stuff, man?”, even if her scene is going on a little too long.
— Lots of random cutaways to Jan’s Hillary just silently nodding with a smile while someone else is speaking (the fifth screencap above for this sketch). I guess those cutaways are intentional, probably parodying Hillary’s real-life supportive demeanor during her husband’s campaign speeches and TV appearances throughout this election, but they’re kinda coming off as awkward technical gaffes.
— After sitting silently for most of the sketch, Jan’s Hillary finally speaks!
— Jan’s portrayal of Hillary is coming off great right in her very first sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Good Enough”


THE QUEEN SHENEQUA SHOW
musical guest; no blacks in Woody Allen movies

— Ellen’s recurring Weekend Update character gets spun-off into her own sketch. It doesn’t stick, though, as this potentially-recurring talk show sketch ends up being a one-off.
— I like the style of this sketch’s opening title sequence. Very early 90s, and I’m enjoying the use of Arrested Development’s song “Tennessee”.
— All the playful banter between Shenequa and Bobby Brown is cute, but I’m not finding much to laugh at here.
— The conversation right now about Woody Allen has one or two okay lines.
STARS: **


MR. CASUAL SEX
Mr. Casual Sex (ROS) responds to Dan Quayle a la Murphy Brown

— I’m aware that some SNL fans at the time (and even some newer fans today) were confused by Lorne explaining that SNL’s recurring character Mr. Casual Sex received public complaints from vice president Dan Quayle. Those fans don’t realize that this is all tongue-in-cheek. The character Mr. Casual Sex was never a thing before tonight. This is all made-up as a spoof of the Murphy Brown/Dan Quayle controversy from this time, where Quayle infamously criticized the show Murphy Brown for its decision to have Murphy have a baby out of wedlock.
— Another sketch tonight with a good opening title sequence, with this one being done in the familiar style of other sketches from the late 80s/early 90s years like Mr. Short-Term Memory.
— I’ve been noticing throughout tonight’s episode that Rob’s hair has changed over the summer. He ditched his trademark Elvis style and now has the top half of his hair dyed a dark blond/light brown-ish color.  This ends up only being temporary, though.

— Some decent laughs from all of the party guests’ bad, corny riffing on Dan Quayle’s inability to spell “potato”.
— Nice turn with Rob breaking the fourth wall and walking off the set to introduce a group of men who have illegitimate children, parodying what Murphy Brown famously did as a rebuttal to Quayle’s criticisms.
STARS: ***


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on being temporarily insane {rerun}
— Another rerun tonight.


GOODNIGHTS

— The size of the cast seems fairly small here (for early 90s SNL standards), but there’s a reason for that. It’s not just because of the lack of Victoria Jackson, Siobhan Fallon, Beth Cahill, and the temporary lack of Mike Myers. David Spade and Tim Meadows are both also missing from the stage in these goodnights, despite the fact that they’re still in the cast. Turns out, neither of them appeared in ANY sketches tonight. Damn, completely shut out of the season premiere? Ouch! Odd how they’re absent from these goodnights, though. Usually in this era, even if a cast member has nothing to do during a particular episode, you’d still see him or her onstage at that episode’s goodnights. What, were David and Tim both so pissed off about getting shut out of this season premiere that they refused to show up onstage for the goodnights? Just judging from tonight’s premiere, you’d think this is going to be another rough season for the perpetually neglected David and Tim, but a huge turning point for David occurs in the very next episode. Tim, on the other hand, will sadly have to wait a few more years before he gets his turning point.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A surprisingly fairly average season opener. Aside from Baby Names and the cold opening, there weren’t any sketches that stood out to me as particularly strong. Most of the show was just pretty good, which is still fine; just kinda underwhelming for a season premiere in this era, especially considering how strong the last two season premieres were.


Before finishing the review, I now introduce what will be a regular feature in my post-episode wrap-ups:
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1991-92)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tim Robbins, featuring a well-known controversial moment from musical guest Sinead O’Connor

Posted on

May 16, 1992 – Woody Harrelson / Vanessa Williams (S17 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
The Tonight Show- late walk-ons ruin Johnny Carson’s (DAC) last show

 

— Phil as a drunk Ed McMahon is hilarious.
— I absolutely love the taped farewell messages from other talk show hosts, with Kevin as Jay Leno rambling about how Carson’s retirement is great for him (Kevin’s voice constantly changing pitches throughout that speech kills me), Rock-as-Arsenio-Hall’s deep, intense philosophizing as the camera slowly zooms into his mouth, and Dana reprising his impression of his former castmate Dennis Miller, ranting about how badly his talk show is doing.
— Adam’s David Brenner impression is cracking me up.
— I like the insane turn this has taken during Carson’s final minute on the air, with a tiger cub going wild and peeing all over the place while attacking David Brenner, before being wrestled by drunk McMahon.
— According to GettyImages, Victoria (who’s final night on the show is tonight) was cut after the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, playing herself performing a ukulele song (pic here). Farley was also cut playing who appears to be Marlon Brando (judging by what it says on whatever that thing is he’s holding in his left hand in this pic) (another pic here).
STARS: ****½


OPENING MONTAGE
— The only second-category featured players (i.e. the featured players who only receive a still photo in the opening montage and are only credited occasionally) who are credited tonight are Beth Cahill and Melanie Hutsell, but reruns of this episode would add in Robert Smigel, presumably because he appears in a Super Fans bit later tonight.
— A very minor note, but it’s something I’ve always found strange: around the middle of this episode’s theme music, G.E. Smith’s plentiful guitar-playing suddenly stops for a long time before eventually continuing towards the end. I wonder what happened there.


MONOLOGUE
after denying ego problems, host plays guitar & sings a song about SNL

— A rare occurrence of G.E. Smith being heard speaking on camera, when handing a guitar to Woody.
— Some good laughs from Woody’s constant stopping before singing, to assure us of how his fame doesn’t affect him.
— His SNL tribute song is funny with its lyrics that’s repeating everything he just said about SNL before launching into the song.
STARS: ***½


ACTION CATS
— Rerun from the Mary Stuart Masterson episode.


TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF
(host) encourages grotesque-bodied beachgoers to take off their shirts

— I like how the body reveals are starting off conventional with Woody’s body, then gets just slightly odd with Farley being Farley, and then is getting flat-out grotesque starting with Kevin’s insanely hairy body.
— Adam’s phallic outie belly button is an absolute riot, as is Tim’s snarky one-liner as a passerby: “Can I put a bun and mustard on that thing? I’m gettin’ kinda hungry.”
— Woody’s encouragement to each guy after they take their shirt off is making me laugh, like him asking hairy Kevin “Did Burt Reynolds just ask me a question?” (though that line was kinda drowned out by audience laughter).
— Farley’s spastic gesturing while playing catch football with Kevin causes Woody to break.
— Considering Dana’s real-life infamous botched heart surgery from the late 90s, his character in this sketch having had heart surgery is eerily prophetic. That being said, I love the particularly disgusting visual of his transplanted baboon heart being outside of his chest.
— Another great snarky one-liner from a passerby, this time with Siobhan asking a feminine breasts-having Mike “Didn’t I see you on the cover of Juggs Magazine?”
STARS: ****½


SPROCKETS
(host)’s EuroTrash theme park is a rebuttal to EuroDisney

— They did a Sprockets sketch last time Woody hosted SNL, but his character in tonight’s Sprockets is different from the one he played last time. For some reason, I kinda love the name of the character he’s playing tonight: Graus Grek (which was used in an earlier Sprockets sketch as a name that Dieter mentioned in passing).
— I like Woody’s bizarre wig.
— The pictures that Woody’s displaying of his EuroDisney alternative, EuroTrash, have some funny pictures, especially the Diseased Bear Jamboree.
— I love the part with Dieter going on about what a Fred Flintstone fanatic he is.
— This ends up being the final Sprockets sketch in its normal (if it can be called that) format during Mike’s tenure as a cast member. All future Dieter appearances during Mike’s cast tenure are outside of the typical Sprockets format.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on having “impressions” during a math test


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Save The Best For Last”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Super Fans offer tips to Knicks fans on what to do after the Bulls win
Operaman sings about Ross Perot, L.A. riots, Mark Messier, Johnny Carson

 

— Very interesting seeing the Super Fans appear on Update for a change. However, it appears George Wendt was too busy this week to cameo (which is funny since his Cheers co-star is hosting tonight). Feels odd seeing the Super Fans without a “lead character” like Wendt or Joe Mantegna.
— I loved Smigel’s disparaging comment on what a Knick is: “It’s what a New York man gets when he shaves his leg before going into a Greenwich Village bar.”
— Operaman officially becomes recurring, only two episodes after making his debut.
— Fantastic biting satire with Operaman singing about President Bush sleeping during the L.A. Riots.
— Another great part during the Operaman commentary, with him lamenting “El chin-o” (Jay Leno) replacing an about-to-retire Johnny Carson. I like that SNL’s not afraid to take shots at Leno tonight after he had just cameod on the show a week earlier.
STARS: ***


DELTA DELTA DELTA
Pam, Di, Meg don’t want to give their notes to Sigma Chi frat brothers

— Here comes what ends up being the final installment of this sketch (though Melanie’s character would end up making a “cameo” in the very first Gap Girls sketch next season).
— Boy, am I glad I’ll never have to hear that annoying-as-hell catchphrase “Delta Delta Delta, can I help ya help ya help ya?” anymore after this episode.
— David’s constant sotto-voced attempts to persuade Beth are kinda funny.
— I found this overall installment to be really meh and mostly unnoteworthy. A step down from the surprisingly semi-tolerable preceding installment from the Mary Stuart Masterson episode.
STARS: **


COWBOY SONG
lonesome cowboys sing about how they’re proud they’re not minorities

— Another recurring sketch making its final appearance tonight. This sketch debuted the last time Woody hosted.
— I’m getting a lot of “That is SO wrong” laughs from the cowboys’ bigoted lyrics about minorities and “girl-boys with big ol’ girl vaginas”.
STARS: ****


BACKSTAGE
Zoraida confuses host’s Cheers & White Men Can’t Jump roles with reality

— (*groan*) This character again…
— Ugh, this routine with her confusing hosts’ fictional characters with real life is BEYOND tired by this point.
— An overall particularly tepid, by-the-numbers Zoraida installment. No redeeming factors at all here.
— While I was never all that crazy about this character’s routine to begin with in her debut in the season premiere, it’s amazing how quickly they milked it dry over the course of just one season.
STARS: *


FRANK GANNON, P.I. P.I.
politically incorrect P.I. looks into abortion clinic vandalism

 

— Good to see this character officially become recurring, though we end up never seeing him again after this episode.
— Frank Gannon assuming the “Baby Killers” graffiti was the abortion clinic’s real sign was hilarious.
— Lots of funny offensive, bigoted (I seem to be using that word quite a lot tonight) assumptions from Gannon throughout this, especially his theory that young black men from the L.A. Riots looted the abortion clinic and stole the files so they can know the names and addresses of all the loose women in the neighborhood.
— I like the addition of Woody as Gannon’s rookie assistant, Rudy.
— The close-up of Gannon’s dopey, cocky grin into the camera as Ellen is getting arrested is great (second-to-last screencap above).
— It’s Victoria’s final episode as a cast member, and she’s JUST NOW making her first appearance, in the last 20 minutes of the episode.
— I love Victoria’s tearful “You’re an idiot!” to Gannon at the end.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Comfort Zone”


THE SENSITIVE NAKED MAN
The Sensitive Naked Man attends a baseball game with his son

— Much like Frank Gannon, this character makes his second and last-ever appearance. Seems to be a lot of characters unknowingly taking their final bow tonight (Delta Delta Delta, Singing Cowboys, Frank Gannon, Sensitive Naked Man, Sprockets sorta… too bad Zoraida’s not one of them).
— I got a laugh from Rob thinking he’s ridiculed by his son’s friends just because he’s a social worker.
— An overall surprisingly forgettable installment of this sketch. The ending especially came off weak, and the sorta-reveal of Rob’s bare behind fell flat. This overall installment doesn’t hold a candle to the far-superior installment from earlier this season.
STARS: **½


BAD EXPECTANT MOTHER
(VIJ) unwittingly sets examples of what expectant mothers shouldn’t do

— Much like Jan Hooks in the preceding season’s finale, I’m glad they gave Victoria the 10-to-1 spot in this season finale even if I’m not 100% sure if they knew at the time that she’s leaving (though the fact that she gets to stand at the front of the stage during the following goodnights suggests they possibly were indeed aware).
— I liked Woody’s line about it being safe for Victoria to drink Irish coffee because “the alcohol and caffeine will probably just cancel each other out”.
— A lot of big laughs from Victoria doing a succession of actions that pregnant women should never do, such as sniffing glue, putting her belly in the microwave when trying to fix it, etc.
— A great cutaway to a pre-taped Jon Lovitz revealing that the sketch was based on his mother when she was pregnant with him, and then plugging his upcoming FOX special.
— An overall strong note for Victoria to go out on. One of her best sketches ever.
— In reruns, SNL moves this sketch up to a much earlier timeslot in the first half of the show. I can kinda see why, but I like this better in the 10-to-1 slot, as this is Victoria’s last show, and it’s also a solid way to close the season. (Reruns place the underwhelming Sensitive Naked Man sketch in the 10-to-1 slot, which is a pretty poor way to close the season)
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly solid season finale, even if it doesn’t measure up to the two fantastic episodes that preceded it. Despite tonight’s episode being weighed down by a few recurring characters I dislike (Delta Delta Delta and Zoraida), there was still plenty of good material in the show. We also got a surprisingly large amount of delightfully offensive, un-PC material in the post-Update half, such as Cowboy Song, Frank Gannon P.I. P.I., and Bad Expectant Mother.

— Tonight ended up being the final episode for veteran Victoria Jackson and first-year newbies Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill. Victoria’s tenure ended with a very forgettable final year for her, as she was gradually phased out (hell, as mentioned earlier in this review, she didn’t even appear in her final episode until the last 20 minutes) and did very little of note in the second half of the season. Overall, though, I feel Victoria’s SNL tenure as a whole was pretty good. While she was very limited in her range and does not measure up to the fantastic work of most of her original late 80s castmates, I appreciate what she brought to the show, especially on Weekend Update during the Dennis Miller era. And she had a likability about her that made her lack of range more forgivable. Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill are both interesting cases, given their short time on the show. I feel Siobhan showed a lot of potential in her somewhat-limited airtime and also had a professionalism that I liked. However, she did sometimes have a tendency to kinda overact in her delivery during some walk-on roles. I feel that overall, she definitely deserved a second season, but supposedly, the reason she was dropped was because her strong religious beliefs caused her to turn down the more “un-clean” roles she was offered on the show (I was told that the “Their Eyes Were On Their Breasts” sketch was one of them), which apparently was frustrating for the writers. Beth Cahill is difficult to assess, given her extreme lack of airtime and generic roles she was usually stuck in. I did find her Denise Swerski character to be decent, but other than that, I’ve always felt Beth usually had kind of a blandness to her as a performer. But again, it’s hard to tell, considering how little she was used and how non-descript her roles typically were. She deserved a second season just to see if she would’ve gotten more of a chance and developed, but that probably wouldn’t have happened much in season 18, with a still-gigantic cast and a slowly-increasing Boys Club mentality. I could go on about how unfair it is that the very limited and occasionally very annoying Melanie Hutsell got to stay over either Siobhan or Beth, and I do feel that way, but I’ve been a little more lenient on Melanie in this SNL project than I’ve been in the past (anyone who remembers the standalone 1990-1994 reviews I did on SNL message boards back in 2010 would know that). During this SNL project, I’ve found myself having more recognition of and appreciation for Melanie’s non-annoying moments. I’m not sure how much longer that’ll last, considering I recall her performances being consistently bad two seasons later during her final year (season 19).

— Season 17 as a whole was yet another in a long line of strong seasons. As much as I absolutely love the preceding season 16, I think I enjoyed season 17 slightly more as a whole. I felt this season had even bigger highs than season 16, and had impressive stretches of solid consecutive episodes at various points of the season. And the historically gigantic cast strangely helped give this season a fun feel to me, especially the times the show would go out of their way to work all or most of the cast into sketches (e.g. Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight, Partridge Family vs. Brady Bunch, History Class).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a mild step down


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1990-91)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 18 begins, with Nicolas Cage as host, and a slightly smaller cast

Posted on

May 9, 1992 – Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen (S17 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) offers to base his presidential salary on America’s GNP

— The debut of Dana’s memorable Ross Perot impression.
— Right off the bat, this begins with Dana’s Perot addressing the L.A. Riots, which had occurred the previous week when SNL was in reruns. I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like if SNL had a live episode during the weekend the L.A. Riots were still occurring.
— Solid part with Perot displaying a check to pay for damages made during the L.A. Riots.
— Dana’s Perot impression is coming off pretty low-key here compared to his more goofy portrayal in later appearances. This is also the only time he ever plays Perot without glasses.
— Perot, regarding his aforementioned check: “This a one-time deal. If you burn down a buildin’ tomorrow, that’s your problem.”
— Very funny line about training the Crips and the Bloods to operate computers, as part of Perot’s plan to rebuild L.A..
— A lot of laughs during his proposal on how much we pay him proportionate to the percentage of growth in the economy during his hypothetical presidency.
— Great part with him reading off an ad for Munsingwear underwear, as part of a deal for the airtime he was given.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
last-minute replacement for Joe Pesci host asks PHH “How am I funny?”

— Tom mentions Joe Pesci was the originally-scheduled host for this episode but had to drop out due to the filming of his latest movie running late. Pesci would later end up making up for this by hosting early next season.
— Good bit with Tom’s over-the-top bragging about Pesci’s great year.
— Much like Tom’s season 14 monologue, this has a false ending where the screen fades to black but then suddenly continues with Tom being shown entering backstage when the show is supposedly in a commercial break.
— Tom’s great at doing Pesci’s famous “What do you mean I’m funny?” GoodFellas rant, especially when he gets really worked up by the end of it.
— Priceless visual of Tom smashing a bottle over Lorne’s head and then roughhousing him while heading towards the home base stage. I also love Tom’s hilarious angry gibberish during that (at one point noticeably saying “Bada bing, bada boom!”).
STARS: ****


JOHN CABRIZIO CHEVROLET MAZDA HYUNDAI
Los Angeles car dealer rep (ROS) announces sale on riot-damaged autos

— More good comedy tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Solid spokesman performance from Rob, and some good laughs from him proudly advertising destroyed cars from the L.A. Riots. I like how the condition of each advertised car is getting increasingly worse as the sketch goes on, such as a still-burning Chevy Pickup.
STARS: ***½


SABRA PRICE IS RIGHT
merchants of shoddy wares haggle with contestants

— Oh, here comes a classic sketch that has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan. I want to go into details about that, but since it’s a long story, I’ll save it for the end of this sketch.
— This sketch is improving upon the lesser-known original Sabra Shopping Network sketch from Tom’s last episode.
— A good laugh from Tom’s iffy, speechless reaction to a black contestant (Rock) entering the game.
— I love the cheap products being falsely advertised, such as a TV antenna being passed off as a satellite dish, and a “cordless telephone” that’s simply a home phone with its cord unhooked.
— The whole back-and-forth between Tom and Mike kills me, especially Tom’s endless “Nonono nonononononono” and Mike’s “It’s not even a CD player; it’s a child’s bank!”
— “Deesco, deesco, good, good!”
— I’m not sure, but I think portions of this sketch are replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. Some parts of the live version I’m currently watching don’t quite match the version of this sketch that’s been deeply ingrained into my memory since my teenage years (you’ll find out why it’s been so deeply ingrained into my teenage memory in a moment).
— An overall priceless, perfect, and very memorable sketch.
— Okay, now for the story of why this sketch has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan: Back when I was just starting to get into SNL, which was during my teenage years, I was first exposed to this episode in a rerun during a Friday night SNL marathon on Comedy Central. As I watched this particular sketch, I was absolutely enthralled by it, as I found it SO funny and quotable. Thankfully, I happened to be recording this Comedy Central airing on my VCR, and so, some days later, I replayed this sketch on my VHS tape while recording the entirety of its audio onto a cassette tape, which also contained three other select sketches that teenage me loved, so I could listen to all four of those sketches on my walkman while either drifting off to sleep or if I was at a place that didn’t have a TV (for those curious, the other three sketches I had recorded on that audio cassette tape was 1) one from next season’s Kevin Kline episode where Kline plays an Italian celebrity with an uncontrollable farting problem, 2) Jennifer Aniston’s Fight Club monologue from her then-recent season 25 episode, and 3) another sketch from that same Aniston episode, where she and Rachel Dratch play old-timey street urchins trying to get a modern-day family to take them in for Christmas). Boy, did I end up playing the hell out of that audio tape. I loved listening to all four of those sketches over and over, but especially Sabra Price is Right. I listened to that particular sketch on that tape SO much to the degree that, ever since then, I have the ability to recite almost all of the dialogue of the sketch by heart, word-for-word. All-in-all, teenage me’s constant listening to this sketch on that cassette tape has been partly responsible for me becoming an obsessive, hardcore SNL fan.
STARS: *****


MR. BELVEDERE FAN CLUB
weirdos speak at a meeting of The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club

 

— Boy, the hits keep on comin’ tonight. Here’s another personal favorite sketch of mine, even if it doesn’t have quite the historical significance to me personally that Sabra Price Is Right has.
— I love the detail of how, despite these people being huge Mr. Belvedere fans, they apparently don’t even know the name of the actor who played him, judging by how they named their club “The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club”.
— I like the club members proposing nicknames for Mr. Belvedere, culminating in them settling on the now-legendary-among-SNL-fans moniker Brocktoon.
— Great disturbed facial reaction from Tim during Farley’s long-winded declaration of his admiration for Mr. Belvedere.
— Farley at the end of his above-mentioned declaration about Mr. Belvedere: “I’m wondering… should we kill him?”
— The increasingly disturbing turns this meeting keeps taking are fantastic.
— Adam: “I should like watching Mr. Belvedere a lot, but I shouldn’t have to masturbate at the end of every episode.”
— There’s my absolute favorite part of this wonderful sketch: the entire “to tear the flesh” spiel delivered by a particularly creepy Phil. Tom’s taken-aback speechless reaction to that is also great.
— Excellent ending with Tim’s whole “You people are crazy!” rant being immediately followed by a cutaway to him locked in the giant jar that was mentioned earlier in the sketch.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lucky Town”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jay Leno [real] gives KEN the latest news on the L.A. riots
DAS uses a personal anecdote to explain why he prefers Mother’s Day
Queen Shenequa talks about the L.A. riots; Akeyla Cleghorne cameo

 

— Lots of good L.A. Riots-related jokes right off the bat… that is, when they’re not being bungled by Kevin’s stumbly delivery.
— Random appearance from Jay Leno, playing himself as an L.A. Riots correspondent.
— I liked Leno’s line about how he considers the sight of a black man and white man stealing a TV together as a sign of unity.
— A short overall commentary from Leno that was basically an excuse for him to do some stand-up jokes about the L.A. Riots.
— After Leno has left, Kevin says “We wish Jay good luck with The Tonight Show”, as this is shortly before Johnny Carson’s retirement and Leno taking over for him.
— David Spade FINALLY gets an Update commentary on the air, after getting a string of them cut from the last few episodes’ dress rehearsals.
— David tells a childhood story about his father giving him a Nerf football, which David responds to with a funny sarcastic “Ooh, it’s two colors. You spoil me, ya bastard.” I’m not 100% sure, but I think he later reprises that exact same bit during an edition of Spade in America from season 21, where he re-enacts a conversation he recently had with his dad when reuniting with him for Thanksgiving (one of my favorite editions of Spade in America).
— Some pretty solid humor from David here, especially him telling us how, after breaking the news to his mom that he can’t be there at Arizona for Mother’s Day because he’s busy working at SNL, his mom responded to him “Can’t you get someone else to stand there and wave goodnight?” A great self-deprecating dig at David’s extreme lack of airtime on SNL.
— Another Queen Shenequa commentary already, after we just saw her two episodes ago?
— Some fairly tepid jokes from Queen Shenequa overall tonight, but I enjoyed the Mother’s Day-related ending with her daughter, especially Shenequa explaining to us that her daughter’s Swahili name translates to “Little bitch, don’t even think about gettin’ pregnant”. By the way, this is the very first of many SNL appearances from Ellen’s real-life daughter Akeyla (not counting the goodnights of the Rob Morrow episode from earlier this season, where she can be seen being held high by Ellen).
— Kevin’s Mother’s Day poll on the most often-used phrases by his mother when he was growing up had a funny ending (second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: ***


SHE TURNED INTO HER MOTHER!!
(JUS) takes on the traits of her mom

— Very funny performance from Julia, who’s doing a great job pulling off her character’s uncontrollable back-and-forth transitioning from her normal voice into her mother’s voice. Tom is also a perfect straight man for this.
— I like the horror movie presentation of this whole thing.
— Solid ending.
— Overall, one of the best showcases that the underappreciated Julia Sweeney receives during her entire SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “57 Channels” & “Living Proof”


THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Nat X argues with disguised Rodney King trial jurors

— Nat’s line “I wanna say hello to all my fans watchin’ on brand-new TVs!” was yet another funny joke tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Nice topical variation of the usual White Man Cam segment, with it now being the L.A.P.D. Cam.
— I like how Nat’s guests tonight are the Rodney King jury. Some good laughs from them all entering with goofy disguises, such as David in a Cousin Itt wig and Julia with a Batman mask.
— Nat’s angry questions to the jury has some pretty solid laughs.
— I love the casual cutaway to Phil with a brown paper bag over his head that has the words “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME” on it.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on hoping that God likes enchiladas
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.


SHOWCASE PLAYHOUSE THEATER
(MIM) & (JUS) grow up wanting to fly

— You can immediately tell this sketch is a Jack Handey piece by the use of the character name Cameron Hormel, which is to Jack Handey-written sketches what the name Dale Butterworth is to Andy Breckman-written sketches, though to a much lesser extent in Handey’s case, as I can only think of one other sketch of his that uses the name Cameron Hormel (Tales Of Fraud And Malfeasance In Railroad Hiring Practices, from season 20’s George Clooney episode).
— A big laugh from Phil’s promo for the sponsor Nice Ass Baby pantyhose (Jack Handey knocks it out of the park once again with yet another great fake sponsor).
— Julia is getting a lot of good airtime tonight, which feels rare for her this season.
— Some really funny back-and-forth reveals from Phil of the legitimacy of the Nice Ass Baby pantyhose sponsor.
— I’ve always kinda had difficulty figuring out what to make of this sketch, but I can appreciate its weirdness. It’s far from one of my favorite oddball Jack Handey pieces, but all the flying fake-outs during the Mike/Julia scenes are amusing and Phil’s intro segments are solid.
— Pretty funny bit at the end with Phil randomly removing his mustache during his sign-off.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As usual when Tom Hanks hosts in the late 80s/early 90s years, this was a strong episode, even if it’s not my favorite episode he hosted. The first half of tonight’s episode was particularly great, where we got two all-time classic sketches back-to-back: Sabra Price Is Right and Mr. Belvedere Fan Club, one of the greatest one-two punches in SNL history (and coming right after an episode that itself had a fantastic one-two punch in its first half, with Stand Up And Win and History Class). There were also no sketches that I disliked tonight, for the second episode in a row.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jerry Seinfeld)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 17 comes to an end, with host Woody Harrelson. We get the last hurrahs of veteran Victoria Jackson and newbies Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill.