Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DECISION 94
incumbent Democrat (CSE) gives concession speech amidst GOP landslide win
— My copy is missing the beginning of this cold opening, in which Kevin plays a news anchor introducing the concession speech that Elliott’s character gives. I only point this out because that ends up being Kevin’s ONLY appearance all night, and anyone watching the same copy I’m watching of this episode would think Kevin was completely absent all night. After getting a decent amount of airtime in the first four episodes of this season, I think tonight is the turning point where Kevin’s airtime takes a turn for the worse and he starts coming off invisible and unnecessary this season.
— A good laugh from Elliott’s mention of a murdered nun attack ad run against him.
— An okay walk-on from Jay’s Mickey Rourke and Tim’s Rick James.
— I liked Elliott’s “I honestly just felt people read more” line.
— Elliott sets up his delivery of “Live from New York…” by saying he has one more big regret. Much like Rob Schneider revealing “Live from New York…” as bad news in an apologetic manner in the preceding season’s Singapore Caning cold opening, this seems to be a self-referential way for SNL to acknowledge their own declining quality and the ire that viewers had developed towards the show lately.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
ex-Annie host sings “Tomorrow” for loser Democrats, MIM & DAS say “stop”
— Sarah: “This has not been a great week.” She ain’t kidding (see my post-show thoughts to understand what I’m referring to), though she’s not referring to SNL here.
— David: “We really don’t like the Annie song.” That makes two of us. I despise “Tomorrow”, and that includes Sarah’s parody of it here.
— David and Mike are doing nothing to help this tepid monologue. Even David’s comical line about even Ellen Cleghorne being a republican was delivered awkwardly.
STARS: *½
ETERNA REST
Eterna Rest coffin mattress is well-suited for your loved one’s remains
— It feels like every fake ad this season stars Janeane and/or Michael.
— Ugh, that disgusting animated graphic of a corpse slowly rotting. Only in season 20 would you see something like that. I remember an SNL fan once making a post on a (now-defunct) SNL message board, listing this animated rotting corpse among some of the many vile, tasteless things that season 20 contains. I always crack up when I think of that post. I recall the tasteless things listed off in that post being something like “…anal-raping UFOs, vomiting cops, a graphic of a rotting corpse, a sketch ending with two men being murdered just for pitching a commercial containing an interracial kiss, a sketch ending with 19th century children agreeing to be raped by a devil behind a shed, etc.” Seriously, someone could make a complete long list out of every single vile, tasteless thing this season contains.
— Didn’t care much for this overall ad, though the performances were fine, and I guess Michael’s ending line about how long the coffin air freshener lasts (“Just for the period where it would really stink”) was kinda funny.
STARS: **
GOOD MORNING BROOKLYN
(host) & James Barone (JAM) offer local flavor
— Here comes Jay Mohr’s attempt at a recurring sketch as an original character. I like Jay as a celebrity impressionist, but as for his character skills, ehhh, I dunno…
— This sketch so far – oof. Just a whole bunch of “fuhgettaboutit”s and other tiresome, lazy, cliched stereotypical New York humor.
— Adam’s walk-on gets a huge reaction from the audience.
— The clip of Adam’s Sleepless in Seattle “appearance” got a pretty good laugh from me.
— Adam’s interview ended weakly.
— Aaaaaand there goes our obligatory Farley pratfall of the night.
— Overall, a poor attempt at a recurring sketch. Unfortunately, they end up bringing this sketch back anyway, later this season. I guess I can understand, as the studio audience did seem into this.
STARS: *½
ALTERNATING GUITARISTS
host alternately sings duets with nice (MMK) & naughty (ADS) guitarists
— Okay, I can appreciate the change of pace they’re going for here, with the unique structure and the use of the home base stage, but man, this sketch is not coming off well AT ALL.
— The novelty of Sarah’s back-and-forth transitioning between Michael and Adam’s vastly different singing styles has gotten old fast, and Adam’s just doing his tired loud, crass shtick, immediately following a sketch where he had just played a loud, crass character.
— I kinda like the random inclusion of Tim as a Midas guy, but nothing funny is actually being done with him.
— Adam and Tim, to Michael: “(singing) We were only having fun, please put away your gun.” Uh, what gun? Geez, this sketch is so half-assed, they couldn’t even be bothered to give McKean a prop gun.
— Overall, I wanted to like this so much more than I did.
— Tonight’s episode has gotten off to a terrible start.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Gil Graham relates more of his hard-luck concert-going experiences
— Thank god Norm has come along to give me SOMETHING to laugh at tonight.
— Norm has developed what would go on to be his trademark of staring down the camera in a deadpan manner while the audience is reacting to the punchlines.
— Speaking of audience reactions, I love hearing their reactions to some of Norm’s very Norm-esque jokes, such as the one about a hangover-free vodka that causes “massive anal bleeding”. Much like “whore”, “anal” is another word that’s always inherently funny when delivered by Norm.
— I really could do without Gil Graham becoming a recurring character, though this thankfully ends up being his final appearance.
— I was a little lenient on the season premiere’s Gil Graham commentary, but his commentary tonight is noticeably weaker and is going on even longer. Adam’s cracking up at his own material more than I am.
STARS: ***½
FORTUNE COOKIE FACTORY
Confucius (CHF) visits the abusive owner of a fortune cookie shop (MIM)
— Oh, god, here begins a long streak of consecutive episodes featuring Mike “Should’ve Left With Phil Hartman” Myers playing bad Asian stereotype characters, almost all of whom have the EXACT SAME look and voice. (I’ll let it slide in the classic soon-to-come Japanese Game Show sketch, but don’t expect me to be lenient towards it in other sketches from this season.)
— What was with David’s Gap Girls-esque delivery of “Whatevaaarrr!” before angrily exiting the scene?
— Are Mike’s relentless insults to his employees even intended to be funny? This sketch is god-awful.
— Now they throw in Farley as Confucius to “save” the sketch.
— Farley’s exaggerated performance is doing nothing for me. He also keeps doing that certain over-the-top, hammy laugh that we would hear from him A LOT this season. I’ve always gone back-and-forth on that laugh; sometimes I find it kinda goofily endearing, other times I find it just plain annoying. Guess which side I fall on in this sketch.
— Confucius getting his wisdom from Bazooka Joe would’ve been a clever ironic twist in a better sketch, but is just falling flat in THIS sketch.
STARS: *
THE CASTING COUCH
Robert Evans (MMK) gives starlet (host) showbiz lesson
— Tonight’s episode continues to get more and more offensive and questionable, as we now get an uncomfortably skeevy sketch that has too much of a rape-y feel. Even if that’s the idea, there’s nothing laugh-worthy about this premise.
— The bit with one of the callers being a female oncologist expressing concern over the state of Robert Evans’ skin was a pretty funny idea, but even THAT’S not working. And what was with the oncologist initially speaking in a sultry voice before clearing her throat and suddenly speaking in a stern, professional voice? An odd gag that landed with a thud.
— Speaking of the uncomfortable nature of this sketch, the silence from the studio audience during the particularly skeevy portions of this sketch is UNSETTLING. This is a comedy sketch I’m watching?!?
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bang & Blame”
MUNCHKINLAND
the Munchkins want nothing to do with accidental hero Dorothy (JAG)
— (*sigh*) As if this episode hasn’t already been unbearable enough, here comes a notorious sketch that’s often cited as a prime example of this disastrous season’s faults, as well as how ridiculous it is that they built such a fancy, elaborate, expensive-looking set for such an abysmal sketch that lasted no longer than two-and-a-half minutes.
— I feel bad watching Janeane in this sketch after once hearing about a backstage story that another SNL fan read in a Laura Kightlinger autobiographical book. My memory of the story is fuzzy, but basically, sometime before this Munchkinland sketch was performed in the live show, Laura, Adam, Farley, and Janeane (the latter already wearing her Dorothy costume) complained to Lorne in his office about having to do this sketch. During that complaining, Janeane had an emotional breakdown, at one point yelling in tears “Why am I doing this?!? I’m killing my career!!” This sketch can pretty much be pinpointed as what officially broke Janeane and would lead to her looking miserable and joyless in a large number of her performances for the remainder of her short-lived SNL stint.
— We’re in the last 15-20 minutes of tonight’s episode, and Ellen is making her first and ONLY appearance of the whole night, just playing a small role in this tripe. She (understandably) looks just as miserable as Janeane must feel.
— Some of the other cast members also don’t look too happy performing this, especially David (though that’s par for the course for him this season).
— Sarah-as-Glinda-the-Good-Witch’s cheerfully delivered line about getting “pissed off” is only time I’ve come close to cracking a smile.
— Ohhh, god, this sketch is insufferable so far.
— Awful ending.
— Overall, yep, this sketch definitely lived up to its negative reputation, and truly does epitomize some of season 20’s problems. Jesus Christ, it’s almost becoming morbidly fascinating to see how low tonight’s episode can continue to sink.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”
MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE TRIBUTE
BIM eulogizes the recently-deceased MOD
LAN sings Madam Butterfly aria while MOD makes a Soiled Kimono {rerun}
— Sudden Bill Murray appearance. I should be excited by an SNL legend like him appearing, but I just feel sorry for him having to be associated with tonight’s trainwreck of an episode. I can’t even imagine what must’ve gone through his mind as he sat backstage witnessing tonight’s episode.
— As I chronologically go through SNL’s timeline in this daily SNL project of mine and become attached to so many cast members, it’s always sad to hear a mention of a cast member’s death.
— Some good dark humor from Bill, regarding Michael O’Donoghue going straight to hell.
— Bill’s tribute speech is simultaneously well-done, funny, and heartfelt. So nice to have Bill to add much-needed class to the proceedings tonight.
— A solid choice for a Mr. Mike sketch to show an encore presentation of as a tribute to him. For my thoughts on the original sketch, read it in this episode review.
— As I said in my afore-linked review of the original sketch, the encore presentation of this sketch really emphasizes how far SNL’s quality has fallen by this point in 1994. The contrast between the quality of this Mr. Mike encore and the rest of tonight’s episode is jarring and sad.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Aaaaaand the turning point of season 20 has officially begun. After a string of episodes ranging from decent to strong, the true reality of season 20 has suddenly come crashing down HARD. A dreadful, dreadful episode tonight, one that felt like it got worse and worse as the night progressed, culminating in a particularly abysmal and notorious Wizard of Oz sketch that practically destroyed Janeane Garofalo’s soul just for having to perform it. Not counting the cold opening, there wasn’t a single sketch that I came remotely close to liking all night. Not one. single. sketch. This may be the first time that’s happened since I covered the also-infamous season 11. Hell, this may even top the worst of season 11, and maybe even the worst of season 6. I mean, Jesus Christ, none of the actual sketches tonight got a rating higher than one-and-a-half stars. That’s GOTTA be a first in this SNL project. I don’t calculate average sketch ratings for each episode review, but if someone were to do that for every episode I’ve reviewed up to this point (or at least for every notoriously bad episode), I’m pretty sure tonight’s episode would be the one with the lowest rating average. If it wasn’t for Norm’s Weekend Update, I shudder to think how even more unwatchable I would’ve found this episode. I’m aware that this was a bad week for the show behind the scenes, between Michael O’Donoghue’s aforementioned death and Lorne’s baby being born with complications. Knowing all of that just adds to the already depressing vibe of this episode. What’s even more depressing is knowing that as bad as this episode was, it doesn’t even end up being what I feel is the worst of the season. Yes, there are a few soon-to-come instances of this season sinking even lower than tonight. (*shudder*)
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a colossal step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
John Turturro