Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
NIGHTLINE
Ted Koppel (DAH) covers Michael Jackson’s (TIM) back injury
— Kinda surprised to see Darrell’s Ted Koppel two consecutive episodes, but I’m certainly not complaining, as his Koppel is always good for laughs, and this is probably the most quintessential appearance it would ever make.
— Absolutely priceless hearing Darrell say “Jacko on his backo” in that Ted Koppel voice.
— I love all the serious discussion using the ridiculous terms “Jacko” and “backo” in such a professional manner.
— Funny random gag with the accidental cutaway to the opening credits of Renegade when Tommy Mattola’s interview is supposed to begin.
— Koppel’s increasing desperation to hear other human beings say “Jacko on his backo” is fantastic.
— Very funny back-and-forths between Koppel and Michael Jackson. I especially like Koppel’s “Good, you’re halfway there” when finally getting MJ to refer to himself as “Jacko”.
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about religion & boxing
— Funny opening line about being “the black guy” on In Living Color.
— Nice to see a stand-up monologue.
— Some good laughs from Grier’s boxing routine so far.
— I’m surprised this monologue is over already. I wanted this to go on longer.
STARS: ***½
THE ROCKY ROADS
(NAW), other Rocky Roads (WIF), (host), (TIM) moralize at school assembly
— God, I’ve always loved this particular sketch ever since I first saw it. I remember so many things about this sketch fondly.
— Will is playing such a hilariously cheesy Will Ferrell-esque character. I love it.
— The “Honky cracker” bit is great.
— A very funny brief falsetto singing voice from Grier.
— The corny Black White song is really catchy.
— Another catchy corny song right now, with the Freaky People number. I also love the use of freaky shadows behind the Rocky Roads members.
— Overall, while I know this sketch isn’t considered a classic or is even remembered by most SNL fans, I personally absolutely love every single thing about this sketch, and consider it to be very underrated.
— SNL would later bring this sketch back during Grier’s second hosting stint a season later. I have pretty much no memory of that second installment of this sketch, other than the fact that the character played by the no-longer-in-the-cast-in-season-22 Nancy Walls is replaced by both Molly Shannon AND season 22 newbie Ana Gasteyer. I’m eager to see if that installment of this sketch is as good as this first installment, though I don’t want to get my hopes up.
STARS: *****
TODAY
Bryant Gumbel’s (host) off-air persona is much more ethnic
— Priceless Bryant Gumbel voice from Grier.
— A hilarious and very memorable premise with Gumbel turning ghetto whenever the cameras are off. Grier is absolutely PERFECT for this sketch.
— I love Ghetto Gumbel’s line about Katie Couric’s Liz Taylor Scent perfume: “It smell more like Lawrence Taylor Scent.”
— Koechner is great as a corny Willard Scott.
— Grier is navigating this sketch FLAWLESSLY.
— Interestingly, Gumbel’s two “bitches” are played by the same extras who played Keith Richards’ two bimbos in the Cooking With Keith sketch in the Gabriel Byrne episode.
— Very funny hearing Koechner’s Willard Scott, in that corny voice, request some “bee-yatches”.
— An overall terrific sketch. Perfect.
STARS: *****
THREE WISE MEN
one of the Three Wise Men (host) gives baby Jesus some last-minute gifts
— A fairly funny and relatable twist on the traditional Three Wise Men story.
— Some laughs from the cheap gifts Grier’s Wise Man brings Baby Jesus, especially the “Chris” license plate, which Grier tells Joseph and Mary they can just draw a “t” on the end of it.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) likes The American President’s “dead First Lady” plot
Lenny The Lion (COQ) is a victim of the animal control system
— Interesting idea to have Darrell’s President Clinton appear on Update to give a movie review.
— A classic turn during Clinton’s The American President movie review, with him following up his mention of the president in the movie having a dead wife by saying “I. Love. This. Movie!”
— Darrell’s Clinton impression is slowly starting to develop into the version that everybody today is familiar with, especially the trademark laugh.
— We get the debut of Norm’s “Or so the Germans would have us believe” recurring gag, though he doesn’t do the camera staredown this time, which is a shame, as that’s part of what makes it funny.
— SNL writer and future cast member Colin Quinn debuts another new Update character, Lenny The Lion.
— This Lenny The Lion commentary is following the same structure and format of Colin’s Joe Blow commentary from earlier this season, though Colin’s using a different voice.
— I’m not liking this Lenny The Lion commentary quite as much as the previous Joe Blow one, but it’s still pretty funny and there are some decent lines here.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tomorrow”
WAKE UP AND SMILE
TV fluffs (WIF) & (NAW) devolve when teleprompter breaks
— Ohho, here we go. The centerpiece of tonight’s episode, an all-time SNL classic, and one of my top 10 all-time favorite SNL sketches.
— When repeating the line “I understand you’ve got some cooking tips for us, Diane” over and over (due to a broken teleprompter), I like the little touch of how Will says that line with a different inflection each time.
— And so it begins, with the initially-subtle panicking of Will and Nancy due to the broken teleprompter.
— Hilarious part with Will’s notion “Someone should get a group together with guns to sweep out those ghettos. Wait, what?!?” and how it immediately gets cut off by a “Please stand by”-type screen.
— The gradually-increasing but still-slightly-controlled panicking from Will and Nancy is getting funnier and funnier, especially the growling sounds they keep making in between lines.
— Yesss! Now Will is starting to go full Crazy Will Ferrell, for one of the very first times in his SNL tenure.
— I LOVE the part where Will starts letting out an insane loud scream and how it immediately gets cut off by another “Please stand by”-type screen.
— The cheesy ads occasionally being shown are an amusing contrast to the craziness of the Wake Up And Smile mental breakdown.
— Haha, oh my god at how the first thing we see after the return from the Kerry And The Gang promo is a now-torn-apart Wake Up And Smile set with burning torches and a shirtless Will with a dark handprint on his chest.
— A wonderfully gruesome and legendary part with Will holding up the now-severed head of the weatherman while screaming “THE WEATHERMAN IS DEAD!”
— Aaaaaand there goes my absolute favorite part of this sketch: Will chomping like crazy on the severed tendons hanging out of the weatherman’s neck. MY GOD. SNL has probably never been more insane than this moment right here. I remember when I first saw this sketch ages ago during a Comedy Central rerun, that part with Will chomping on the neck tendons gave me what still holds up to this day as one of the hardest laughs that I have EVER gotten from SNL. I truly could not stop laughing at that part of this sketch during my first viewing.
— And thus ends an SNL masterpiece. An absolute must-see sketch. Also a great early display of the excellent absurdity that writer Adam McKay is capable of, especially whenever his sketches involve an unleashed and full-out crazed Will Ferrell.
STARS: *****
SPADE IN AMERICA
DAS does a 1995 year-in-review Hollywood Minute
— Spade returning to his roots with a traditional Hollywood Minute.
— Not the funniest Hollywood Minute installment I’ve ever seen, but this is still providing laughs so far.
— Spade’s dig at Heather Locklear’s acting skills is funny in retrospect, because didn’t he later end up dating her for a while at some point?
— Aaaaaaand there goes Spade’s notorious Eddie Murphy joke: “Look, children, it’s a falling star, make a wish”, which gets huge “Ohh!” laughter from the audience. Later in the same night, Eddie, furious over the fact that this joke was coming from his former show and the same show that wouldn’t even be on the air at this time in 1995 if he hadn’t saved it from cancellation back in 1980-81, would call up SNL and give Spade the chewing-out of his life over the phone. This whole incident is said to be one of the reasons for Eddie cutting all ties with SNL for two entire decades.
— Oh, there’s the Powder/Michael Stipe joke that I mentioned a few episode reviews ago. In the Spade In America from the Quentin Tarantino episode, Spade made a humorous little aside about Billy Corgan being the guy from Powder. And then tonight, Spade does a variation of that exact same joke, replacing Corgan with Michael Stipe. Pretty lazy.
— Haha, some really harsh slams from Spade tonight.
— I like Spade’s “They’re not all winners” ad-lib when one joke bombs with the audience.
STARS: ***
BLACK PEOPLE
a look at Stepin Fetchit Honeydew Wilkins’ (host) career
— Something about the lazy title “Black People” kinda makes me laugh, though something about it also has a shoddy season 20 feel to me. They really couldn’t come up with a better title for this fictional show than “Black People”?
— Interesting random casting of Spade, in a rare season 21 sketch appearance, as one of the band members.
— Grier’s knocking it out of the park once again tonight with yet another great character voice.
— Some really funny lyrics from Grier’s Honeydew Wilkins about the ridiculous things he’ll do anything for the amusement of white people.
— I love Grier’s horrible brief trumpet playing at the very end.
— Priceless line from Tim about Honeydew Wilkins being the first black man to be lynched by black people.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pure Massacre”
PERSPECTIVES
Dr. Emery Coleman’s (host) show fills a similar niche
— Our first Perspectives sketch of this season. Feels odd seeing a season 20 recurring sketch appearing in season 21, but I certainly welcome the return of this particular sketch.
— I love the clip of Grier’s very similar show, Viewpoints.
— Great gradual reveal that Viewpoints won an Emmy on every odd-numbered year since 1973, while Perspectives won on the even-numbered years in that same stretch.
— Hilarious 70s photo of Tim and Grier’s characters smiling big while having afros.
— Good ending line about how the next episode of Grier’s Viewpoints will just be a re-airing of this Perspectives episode.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fantastic episode. Just perfect in my eyes. Not only did everything in it manage to work for me, but most of the material was great and there were THREE sketches I gave a perfect five-star rating to, one of which is a legendary piece (Wake Up And Smile). And as expected, David Alan Grier was a perfect and expert host, and made me wish more SNL hosts were sketch comedy veterans like him.
— I’ve always felt that, between the preceding week’s very solid and fun Anthony Edwards episode and tonight’s perfect episode, this is the point where this season had fully taken off and, I’m guessing, finally put away any remaining fears from viewers that this new era wasn’t going to save SNL from cancellation.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anthony Edwards)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Madeline Kahn hosts the Christmas episode