Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
at a press conference, Jesse Helms (MIM) expands his presidential threats
— Feels a little weird seeing Mike playing Jesse Helms, since he isn’t usually cast in roles like this and I’m more familiar with Darrell Hammond’s later take on Helms.
— Some good lines here, and I’m finding Mike’s performance to be fun.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Roseanne’s rants against Hollywood are certainly getting big audience reactions, but it’s not making me laugh all that much. There are a few laughworthy barbs here, though.
STARS: **
HHT
Rerun from 9/24/94
USAIR
USAir employees talk about the airline’s improved flight safety measures
— A lot of laughs from all of the safety changes that Kevin lists off.
— For some reason, the little detail of Farley’s character’s surname being Manley makes me laugh.
— Elliott’s whole testimony is hilarious.
— Some really solid satire throughout this sketch.
STARS: ****
A WOMAN EXPLOITED: THE MADONNA & TOM ARNOLD STORY
parallels to host’s life in Tom Arnold (CHF) & Madonna (JAG) TV movie
— I recently learned that this sketch is an amalgamation of two different TV movies airing around this time, one being a Madonna movie and the other a Roseanne & Tom Arnold movie. Until finding out about that, I used to wonder what the hell was with this sketch’s random pairing of Madonna and Tom Arnold.
— For some reason, the way Janeane’s Madonna looks reminds me a little of future cast member Mark McKinney’s Chicken Lady character.
— So far, this sketch is not working for me at all. Not even Farley’s usually funny Tom Arnold impression is doing much to elevate it.
— The intentionally overlong Johnny B. Goode number felt unnecessary.
— Okay, we get it, Roseanne. You hate Tom Arnold and think he has a small penis. As if she hadn’t already spent more than enough time in the monologue making those points.
— The physical fight at the end between Roseanne’s Rosie O’Donnell and Farley’s Tom Arnold fell was just plain dumb and fell completely flat.
STARS: *½
RESCUE 911
rude operator (host) answers emergency calls in Philadelphia
— I used to wonder if Roseanne’s phone operator character in this is supposed to be the same one she previously played in the great Metrocard sketch from her season 16 episode. It probably isn’t, but either way, I’ve always felt this sketch pales horribly in comparison to the Metrocard one.
— Elliott’s useless role is one of the biggest wastes of his talents this season.
— Man, this sketch is falling REALLY flat. This has a really dead atmosphere and is lacking so many things that made the Metrocard sketch so strong.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When I Come Around”
WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS to striking athletes- “entertainers lack marketable skills- I know”
ACLU representative Naomi Green (JAG) stands up for prisoners’ rights
ADS plays guitar & sings a Hanukkah song about celebrities that are Jews
— There’s what would go on to be a legendary Norm Macdonald Weekend Update joke, regarding a Kenny G Christmas album: “Hey, happy birthday, Jesus, hope ya like crap!”
— Norm’s Update has been starting hot tonight, with a string of hilarious jokes. Considering he’s only been doing Update for three months so far, it’s very impressive how quickly he’s hit his stride as an anchorperson. Such an improvement over how blah Update tended to be during the preceding season when Kevin was in his final year as anchorperson.
— David’s giving his typical season 20 half-assed performance that I always hate, but his commentary has some laughs, especially the meta bit about how his request for a raise resulted in the president of NBC asking him a Dick Clark’s Receptionist-esque “And you aaaarrrrreeee…?”
— Not sure what to think of Janeane’s overall commentary, though I guess it had a pretty funny ending. I especially liked Norm’s “You’re really giving me the creeps” response to her.
— Yet another Norm Macdonald Update joke tonight that would go on to be a classic: the “Yippie! Jerry Rubin died last week” one.
— Speaking of classic, here comes one of Adam’s most popular guitar songs of all time.
— Feels a little odd seeing Adam doing a guitar song in an Update NOT anchored by Kevin Nealon.
— Adam sounds even shakier than usual during his pre-song spiel.
— A particularly strong song from Adam, and there are a lot of really classic, charming, and memorable lyrics about which celebrities are Jewish. It’s no surprise to anyone who’s familiar with me that my personal favorite lyric is “But guess who is: all Three Stooges”.
— According to GettyImages, there was an Update commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal where Kevin played some kind of character (pic here).
STARS: ****½
SKIMPY’S FROZEN YOGURT
weight-conscious (host), (ELC), (LAK) investigate chemical-laden yogurt
— A rarity this season to see a very female-oriented sketch.
— Michael’s voice and accent sounds so much like a voice and accent that Phil Hartman once used in a sketch, but I can’t figure out which sketch I’m thinking of.
— For once tonight, Roseanne’s actually putting effort into a performance and looks happy to be there.
— The ladies’ performances are good, but not much here is making me laugh all that much. I did get a laugh just now from Michael listing off Advil among the ice cream ingredients.
— That’s the ending of the sketch? The payoff felt weak to me.
STARS: **½
CIVIL WAR MEMORIES
high school dropouts talk about Battle for Charleston
— Tim’s testimonial is kinda funny.
— Hey, Jay’s Good Morning Brooklyn character makes a random appearance. And hey, he’s still not funny.
— The idea of a ridiculously inaccurate version of the Civil War is pretty funny in itself, but this sketch isn’t being executed very well.
— Ugh, I see Mike is continuing his annoying streak of playing broad Asian stereotypes every week.
— Ellen’s story about her whole ass hanging out made me laugh, as well as the subsequent drawing shown of that incident.
STARS: **
MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES
of host’s multiple personalities, psychoanalyst (NOM) prefers the whore
— Surprisingly, this is Norm’s first sketch appearance of the whole season. After consistently being a bright spot of sketches in the rough second half of season 19, it’s odd how he’s been kept out of sketches the following season, a season that REALLY could’ve used his sketch-saving abilities.
— I’m aware that this is a sketch version of a stand-up routine that Norm used to do. This would also later be performed in a Norm Macdonald comedy album.
— I love Norm’s dissatisfaction when Roseanne cuts short her oral sex details to act as a little girl.
— A huge laugh from Norm flat-out asking “Lemme talk to the whore, is she around?”
— So many laughs from Norm’s lines and reactions, such as trying to convince Rosanne’s murderous personality to kill the librarian personality.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Geek Stink Breath”
FUNNY STRANGE
Funny Strange shop owner (CSE) envies twin’s (CSE) novelty store success
— Finally, after being wasted and misused in so many sketches so far this season, Chris Elliott gets a sketch to showcase the oddball brand of humor he’s known for.
— The little debate between Farley and Elliott over whether plastic puke is funny strange or funny ha-ha is cracking me up.
— I like the disturbing, odd turn with Elliott’s character meeting up with his twin and killing him (resulting in a great maniacal laugh from Elliott). I also, for some reason, like how the audience has no idea what to make of this scene.
— Not sure the ending with Kevin and his “twin” was needed.
— Overall, this won’t end up being among my favorite Chris Elliott oddball sketches of this season, but I found it enjoyable and I like that the show took a chance on something this bizarre and audience-alienating.
STARS: ***½
LOCK-UP WITH BOBBY BLAKE
Bobby Blake’s (LAK) women’s prison talk show; Rip Taylor cameo
— The very underused Laura Kightlinger gets her very first opportunity to play the lead comedic character of a sketch.
— A fairly interesting premise, but I’m not caring much for the execution so far, and I feel Laura’s coming off kinda bland.
— It is nice to have another rare occurrence tonight of a sketch centered around the neglected female cast, but I wish the sketches were better. This particular sketch is more of an interesting novelty than outright funny.
— Very random Rip Taylor cameo at the end.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’m not too crazy about this episode as a whole. There were some good and memorable things, but I had a meh feeling towards a lot of stuff, and the first two lead-off sketches were particularly rough (The Madonna & Tom Arnold Story and Rescue 911). I also felt Roseanne’s overall performance tonight was a step down from her previous two hosting stints, and she came off a little too obnoxious at times tonight, to say nothing of her excessive Tom Arnold jokes.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Turturro)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin