Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
A MESSAGE FROM JEFF GILLOOLY
Jeff Gillooly (ROS) relates his concerns about Clinton health care plan
— What was that holler in the background while Don Pardo announced “The following is a message from Jeff Gillooly”? It sounded like an audience member shouting “LOOOOOSEEEEERRRR!” or something like that, which seemed to crack the audience up.
— Some pretty funny lines from Rob’s Gillooly so far.
— After a decent beginning, this ended up kinda dying off. A fairly dull opening overall, and not the most exciting way to start the show.
— Some interesting trivia: the cold opening in this episode’s dress rehearsal was actually a Dick Clark’s Receptionist piece, in which David’s character is working in the 30 Rock lobby. He won’t let Martin Lawrence and his posse go upstairs to SNL’s studio, until Martin’s bodyguards lift David in the air, causing him to scream out “Live from New York…”. I think I would’ve preferred that cold opening to this fairly dull Jeff Gillooly piece.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about penile dismemberment & feminine hygiene
— Oh, here we go. I’ve long been dreading having to cover this monologue, but now that I’ve arrived here, I do think this will be very interesting to talk about.
— I did get a laugh from Martin’s opening line when seeing the audience: “Man, look at all these white people.”
— “Pillypacker”? Really, Martin? I know he can’t say whatever dirty penis euphemism he would normally say in his uncensored stand-up act, but he went with “pillypacker”? Fucking “pillypacker”?!?!? And he somehow repeats it about 50 times throughout this monologue with a straight face!
— Now here comes the notorious turn this monologue takes, starting with Martin bluntly stating towards women “Some of you are not washin’ ya ass properly!”
— Needless to say, it’s sure is something hearing this raunchy feminine hygiene routine in a 1994 SNL monologue. I don’t know what in the world made Martin think he could get away with doing this material on NBC in freakin’ 1994.
— When telling women they need to put a Tic-Tac or a Cert in their vaginas: “This looks like a good place for a stick-up up in your ass!” I remember it took me years after I first saw this uncensored monologue until I finally found out what that line was referencing.
— God, now he’s going on about what it’s like to get a yeast infection on your lip when going down on a woman. The hell am I watching?!? This is probably something I might find funny in an uncensored HBO stand-up special, but in a 1994 SNL monologue?!?
— To cap it all off, he ends this monologue by bizarrely tearing off his shirt and doing absurd karate moves while mugging the camera to extreme levels.
— I can’t quite remember what the behind-the-scenes story is regarding what Martin was supposed to do for his on-air monologue. I think Jay Mohr mentions in his SNL book that Martin performed this same feminine hygiene material in dress rehearsal, but was told between dress rehearsal and the live show to either tone the feminine hygiene material way the hell down or replace it with something entirely different (can’t remember which). And, of course, Martin went on the air and didn’t do what he was told. Phil Hartman would later be quoted somewhere as saying Martin “stabbed us in the back”.
— Reruns of this monologue edit out the much-complained-about feminine hygiene portion and famously replace it with a Jim Downey-read disclaimer explaining in a very professional way what Martin discussed in the edited-out portion and how much it got SNL into trouble. That whole disclaimer is actually funnier than anything in the actual monologue. Something about the combination of Jim Downey’s dry voice-over and the overly serious wording of the disclaimer is unintentionally hilarious, especially hearing Downey paraphrase Martin’s raunchy rant in such a professional manner.
STARS: *½
MCINTOSH POST-IT NOTES
— Rerun from 10/23/93.
— What’s with the audience’s weird sounds during this? Am I hearing them having conversations while this is airing?
THUGS
muggers (host) & (PHH) offer commentary during a night of work
— I swear I recall seeing In Living Color once use this exact same premise of a Cops parody that follows the criminals instead of the police, during this same season (1993-94). Am I crazy, or did that really happen? If so, which sketch came first, the In Living Color version or this SNL version? I’d hate to think SNL stole from ILC, especially something from ILC’s 93-94 season, which was a lesser year for that show, from what I remember (this was after the Wayans family left, right?). Then again, Martin brought in some of his own writers this week (their names are seen during the third screencap of the goodnights later in this review), so maybe one of them is responsible for the possible sketch thievery.
— This sketch is sometimes cited by SNL fans as a prime example of how poorly utilized Phil is this season.
— Martin playing a typical Martin Lawrence character, involving tons of excessive mugging into the camera……
— The use of pre-taped outdoors footage is kinda fun, as it’s rare to see that in this era.
— The repeated “You got the time? *punch*” gag is getting really old.
STARS: **
DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
initially-hostile host eventually opens up to Stuart
— I kinda like the opening with Stuart Smalley’s uncomfortable, intimidated looks into the mirror while Martin is behind him staring him down with a disapproving look.
— I want to appreciate the change of pace in this installment, but Martin playing himself as an angry black man isn’t working for me.
— I got a laugh from Stuart doing his typical “Trace it, face it, and erase it” spiel towards Martin’s racial anger.
— Now we have Martin calling Stuart homophobic slurs, though I suppose it was only a mater of time before there was a Daily Affirmation sketch in which Stuart’s sexual orientation was finally addressed at length (the Daily Affirmation sketch with Roseanne and Tom Arnold in season 17 had Tom disparagingly calling Stuart a “little fruit” at one point, but nothing more was said about it and that sketch quickly moved on). Not sure if THIS is the way to address his sexuality, though.
— Nice to see Stuart standing up for himself for once, and going off on Martin.
— I’m conflicted on the turn with Stuart finally connecting with Martin and getting him to open up. It’s actually a good turn and is pretty well-written, but I dunno about all the unnecessary typical Martin Lawrence hamminess.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”
WEEKEND UPDATE
NOM says Michael Jackson may be a child molester, but he’s no plagiarist
Hollywood Minute- DAS talks about Jim Carrey, Gerard Depardieu, others
— I liked Kevin’s dismissive “Tonya Harding, blah blah blah, Nancy Kerrigan, blah blah blah” opening joke, but it seems hypocritical of SNL, considering who they end up booking as host for the very next episode (you’ll see who at the end of this review). Granted, word has it that NBC is the one to blame for that booking.
— A lot of huge laughs from Norm “defending” Michael Jackson in a very typically Norm Macdonald-esque way, by explaining that Michael is merely a child molester, not something horrible like a plagiarist. Hilarious bit.
— As Kevin introduces David’s commentary, we get an accidental early cutaway to David getting a clip-on mic applied to his tie by an off-camera assistant (screencap below).
— David seems more animated than usual during tonight’s Hollywood Minute, often playing to the audience in between jokes (just look at his face in some of the screencaps above, as well as in the below screencap).
— David’s overall Hollywood Minute commentary tonight wasn’t my favorite from him, but I still enjoyed it as a whole and got some good laughs, such as his comparison between Kate Moss’ “Obsession” ad and Schindler’s List, and his comment about Ann Wilson’s ribs.
— Rob had a commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, in which he reprised his Sports Bloopers bit from earlier in the season. Yeah, not sure we needed to see that again. (We eventually end up seeing it again anyway next season, only with Jay Mohr being the one who presents the bloopers, though he has a different spin on it.)
STARS: **½
SCARED STRAIGHT
Matt Foley & fellow prisoner (host) scare juvenile delinquents straight
— In one portion of Jay Mohr’s SNL book, he discusses this sketch at great length and gives a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about it. As this sketch goes along, I’ll share each tidbit as they occur.
— MOHR TIDBIT #1: Jay says that right before he was to arrive at the set for this sketch in the live show, he started feeling a panic attack coming on (which is something that happened to him very often during his SNL tenure), so he brought a Klonopin (I think) pill with him and kept it hidden in his hand during the sketch so he could sneakily ingest it if needed be. Supposedly, over the course of the sketch, Jay’s hands became so sweaty that they caused the pill he was holding to dissolve into powder. However, I’ve been paying attention to him since this sketch started, and neither of his hands look like there’s anything hidden in them.
— Interesting use of Matt Foley. I like how starting with the Sally Field episode, they’ve been putting Matt Foley into creative new settings.
— MOHR TIDBIT #2: The huge sweat stains on Matt Foley when he enters wasn’t part of the script. Chris added that right before the live version of the sketch, in an attempt to crack the other performers up. Jay explained in the book that his amusement at seeing those huge sweat stains ended up soothing his pending panic attack.
— I’ve been noticing throughout this SNL project of mine that Chris has been increasingly exaggerating his Matt Foley voice with each passing sketch this character appears in. Not sure that’s working for me. I prefer the voice he used in the very first installment. The voice he’s using in tonight’s installment seems like he’s playing a caricature of his own character.
— MOHR TIDBIT #3: When Chris is supposed to say “Sold – seven bitches to the homey in the cornrows!”, he instead just stands there silently for a long time, seemingly forgetting it’s his turn to speak. Then he quickly spits out “Sold – seven bitches to the corny in the homeroars!”, then goes “Oops!” in embarrassment when realizing he mangled the line. This causes EVERYONE in the sketch (except Martin) to crack up – even the usually-unbreakable Phil Hartman!
— Reruns use the dress rehearsal version of most of this sketch (up until the climax with Matt Foley and Martin having a chair fight), and you can tell the exact point when they switch from the dress rehearsal version to the live version, because Chris’ shirt suddenly goes from having no sweat stains at all to having a crapload of sweat stains all over.
— MOHR TIDBIT #4: After Matt Foley’s pratfall through the prison wall, the teen delinquents suddenly making a mad dash out of the wall hole wasn’t part of the script. You see, Adam Sandler concocted a plan after dress rehearsal, in which he and the other performers playing the teen delinquents would pile on top of Chris immediately after he pratfalls through the wall during the live sketch, so Chris wouldn’t be able to finish the sketch, thus sabotaging the sketch’s ending on live TV. (A prime example of Adam’s growing unprofessionalism) However, it turns out Chris impressively was strong enough to push off each of the guys piled on top of him, and he was able to finish the sketch as scripted.
— All of the above fun tidbits were almost enough to distract from the fact that this overall sketch just wasn’t very good. My least favorite Matt Foley sketch so far, but the worst from him has yet to come.
STARS: **
BIKE MESSENGER
bike messenger (MIM) waxes poetic about his job & talks with pedestrians
— This sketch was cut from the preceding week’s Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger episode. In fact, this sketch was actually scheduled to make it on their air that night, according to a photo I once saw (during some kind of SNL documentary) of that episode’s live schedule on a board on Lorne’s office wall. The rundown in that live schedule photo matches exactly how the live show goes, EXCEPT for Bike Messenger being listed as the final sketch of the night. The show must’ve run long and they had to cut the sketch for time.
— Another interesting fact about the version of this sketch that was supposed to air in the Baldwin/Basinger episode: Alec Baldwin was cast as Bike Messenger, not Mike Myers. It’s very hard for me to picture Alec pulling off this role after being familiar with Mike’s take on it. I’m guessing Alec’s characterization was very different from Mike’s.
— Speaking of Mike’s characterization, he seems to be recycling his voice from another character or impression of his, but I can’t put my finger on which one it is.
— Not only is the very brief shot of Julia her first and ONLY appearance tonight, but it’s the first time we’ve seen ANY of the female cast members tonight. We’re in the last 30 minutes of this episode, and the female cast members are just NOW making their first appearance. I kid you not. I wonder if this is the longest an SNL episode has ever gone without any female cast members appearing. This is a prime example of how neglected SNL’s female cast is gradually becoming in this increasingly Boys Club era.
— Phil’s voice trailing off at the end of his statement gave me a big laugh.
— I’m loving the absurd, offbeat nature of this sketch. This refreshingly feels very different for a sketch from this season.
— Excellent meta turn with Norm (who’s gradually becoming the savior of this season) in another perfectly Norm Macdonald-esque role, with him pointing out the flaws in this sketch and trying to find the logic in how Bike Messenger can hear any of the pedestrians while rapidly cycling past them. Norm’s lines are freakin’ hilarious.
— I’ve been noticing in his appearances throughout tonight’s episode that Adam’s been rocking some facial fuzz. Looks like he’s in the process of growing a goatee (screencaps below).
Strange to see that in Adam’s SNL tenure, as he’s usually always clean-shaven on the show.
— Mike’s bizarre one-liners are making me laugh more and more as this sketch progresses.
— It’s interesting seeing the different types of performances each cast member is giving as a pedestrian.
— Solid ending with Norm solving the logic problem by joining Bike Messenger on a bike of his own.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Afternoons & Coffeespoons”
BENCH WARMER
during a game, New Jersey Nets benchwarmer (host) shows (TIM) the ropes
— I’m a few minutes into this sketch, and I have no idea what to say, except this sketch is just Martin doing his typical shtick, which I’m beyond tired of seeing at this point of tonight’s episode. The preceding Bike Messenger sketch was a nice break from that.
STARS: **
RICKI LAKE
Joe Jackson (host) & Ike Turner (TIM) defend themselves
— Melanie (in her first and only appearance of the night) appears to be going for an imitation of Ricki Lake’s voice, but……. yeah, not sure it’s working for me.
— Tim’s Ike Turner appearing for the second week in a row? At least it’s a change of pace not seeing him on Update for once.
— Of course, after sitting still for most of the sketch, Martin suddenly has to get up and do his typical Martin Lawrence-esque wild physical gestures for the billionth time tonight.
— Tim’s Ike Turner hasn’t been adding much to this sketch.
— I got a laugh from Martin’s Joe Jackson expressing his regrets at once taking his son Michael to Disney World, because “now my boy thinks he’s Peter Pan.”
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As expected, a weak episode. While the controversy over the monologue overshadows nearly everything in the show, there wasn’t much in the show worth remembering anyway. Even Daily Affirmation was kinda iffy for once. It also feels like there was an unusually low number of sketches tonight, which must mean the sketches were longer than usual. Bike Messenger was the only sketch I felt highly about all night. While I’ve certainly found Martin Lawrence’s shtick funny at times in other venues (though most of those times were back when I was a kid, which may explain it), his act was spread way too thin over the course of tonight’s episode. It only took about one or two sketches for me to quickly get tired of his mugging, vocalizations, over-the-top gestures, etc., and yet he kept bringing it back sketch after sketch after sketch.
— This season lately has been starting to give off a tired, low-effort vibe that’s becoming really sad, almost depressing, especially when remembering how often the late 80s/early 90s years were on their game, even as recent as a mere year earlier in season 18.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Nancy Kerrigan. Well, THAT oughta cheer me up! [/end sarcasm] We also get a new addition to the cast.