Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DREAM DEBATE
Bob Dole (NOM) dreams of debating Independence Day president (host)
— Hmm, another Dole debate preparation cold opening, for the second episode in a row.
— During the bed scene, you can tell Norm has a suit hidden under his pajamas, for the debate scene that follows.
— I love Dole’s line regarding Clinton’s performance at a debate: “That damn hillbilly whipped my ass again.”
— Pretty interesting dream sequence with Dole debating the president from “Independence Day”.
— Very odd how this is the closest this season would get to doing a “real” debate sketch this entire season. I believe this is the only time during Lorne’s years as producer that SNL goes through a whole election year without doing a traditional presidential debate sketch.
— I like Tim’s casual reveal of “Oh, I was impregnated by the alien.”
— What’s up with Tim’s fake right hand? I know he’s using a fake hand because his real right arm is hidden in his fat suit (for something he’s going to do at the end of this cold opening), but his fake right hand looks oddly skeletal, and also looks like it’s backwards.
— I love Don Pardo doing the voice of the alien who bursts out of Tim’s chest to say “Live From New York…”
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Wow, this is ending already? A very short monologue that contained nothing noteworthy or special.
STARS: **
HOME SECURITY DECOYS
make criminals think you’re already a victim with Home Security Decoys
— Mark finally gets his first lead role of the season. And even here, it’s just a role that he has to play very straight. Three episodes in, and SNL has yet to give Mark ANY actual comedic roles in season 22.
— Very funny concept of an intimidating-looking burglar decoy causing comfort for people.
— I got a good laugh from the talking decoy saying in a very mechanical, muffled voice “I’m gonna put my evil inside you!”
STARS: ****
AT&T OPERATORS
AT&T operators Janice (WIF) & Kelly (CHK) chat & grouse between calls
— Trying to be the new Gap Girls, are we?
— Chris is merely recycling the exact same voice he used as Kippy Strug from just two episodes prior. Okay, that sorta worked for you once, Chris, but…
— Will, on the other hand, is using a voice I’ve never heard him use before or since. He’s disguising his voice well here. If I were listening to audio of this sketch without being able to see it, I’d probably have a hard time telling which cast member was playing Will’s character.
— Boy, something tells me I’m not gonna be too crazy about this sketch.
— Yep, I was right. I’m now a few minutes into this sketch, and from my perspective, it’s been practically nothing but a whole bunch of unfunny incomprehensible high-pitched screeching.
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from Will’s line “When my blood sugar drops, I turn into the devil!”, just because it’s such a perfectly Will Ferrell-esque line.
STARS: *½
TIC TAC TOE
obvious strategy & cumbersome game board make for dull show
— I love the inexplicable concept of Norm as a grizzled stagehand having to hammer each letter onto the big board.
— Very funny lengthy part with Norm taking a long time setting up the nails for an “X” he’s about to hang up.
— The dry nature of this sketch is great, and Norm is perfect for it.
— I like Mark demonstrating the home version of the game, which is just a miniature version of the gameshow’s big board that you inexplicably still have to hammer the letters onto.
— Yikes, Bill’s performance as the gameshow host is not working for me AT ALL. I understand he’s going for a “cheesy gameshow host” characterization, but he’s trying WAY too damn hard.
— Great cutaway to a silent, stone-faced angry Norm after Cheri picks her letter spot.
— While Norm’s hammering an “O” onto the board, there’s a funny unscripted blooper in which the “X” hanging right above him falls off and hits him on the head.
— The speed round is hilarious.
STARS: ****
THE RULES SHOW
(ANG) & (MOS) lay down guidelines for want-to-be brides
— Quite a lot of female-oriented talk show sketches this season so far.
— I wonder if SNL intended this to become a recurring sketch for Ana and Molly. We end up never seeing this sketch again.
— Ana and Molly’s performances as the hosts are giving me a bit of a Nora Dunn/Jan Hooks flashback. It wouldn’t be fair to compare this sketch to Attitudes, though, because if I do, this is going to pale badly in comparison. Attitudes is untouchable in my eyes.
— Some pretty funny rules from Ana and Molly.
— I almost thought the first caller’s voice was Julia Sweeney at first, until recognizing it as the voice of Paula Pell.
— I like the “Oh my god, where’s my ring?!” bit with Ana.
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- liabilities of Bill Clinton & Bob Dole show
— The caricature drawings of various figures are even funnier here than in the preceding episode’s Fun With Real Audio cartoon.
— This is freakin’ priceless so far. I love all the various things happening to Dole’s face during his speech.
— The caricature drawing of Hillary Clinton right now is particularly funny.
— I’m surprised this is over already. I wanted it to go on longer.
STARS: ****½
WEEKEND UPDATE
Harry Caray’s (WIF) World Series thoughts have little to do with baseball
— The debut of Will’s Harry Caray impression, which would go on to be very popular.
— Will’s Caray impression is more of a characterization than an accurate imitation, but it’s cracking me the hell up.
— Will’s overall commentary was good, though it doesn’t measure up to his later Harry Caray appearances where he famously asks absurd questions like “If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?”
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Hit Me Off”
HOLLYWOOD PARTY
host meets gossipy sots Beatrice (MOS) & Sebastian (CHK)
— An out-of-the-ordinary-seeming sketch.
— Chris and Molly are doing accurate parodies of 1930s Hollywood types, and their chemistry is good.
— Hmm, this sketch hasn’t been working much for me. Despite my earlier praise for the accuracy and chemistry between Chris and Molly, I’m not finding myself being entertained much here. This sketch feels too self-indulgent for my likes.
STARS: **
THE QUIET STORM
soul deejay Chris Garnett (TIM) remains mellow on-air despite calamities
— The debut of a short-lived Tim Meadows recurring sketch.
— Tracy makes his ONLY appearance of the whole night in a silent role as a guy slow-dancing with his woman.
— A very solid characterization from Tim here.
— I love Tim saying “You son of a bitch, you can kiss my ass” in that smooth R&B radio announcer voice.
— Another line from Tim that comes off funny being delivered in a smooth R&B manner: “I just burned my hand with scalding hot coffee.”
— I like Tim smoothly narrating in real time the physical fight he gets into with his station manager.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “I’m Still In Love With You”
THE HEYWARD FOUNDATION
rich (host)’s literal “camel through needle’s eye” reading spurs research
— The Heyward Foundation’s asinine concept is fairly funny.
— I’m liking this sketch more and more as it goes along. I love the insanity of the company pureeing a camel into a liquid so they can pour it through the eye of a needle.
— Jim has seemed really invisible tonight. He’s barely appeared in anything.
— I like Bill telling the scientists that the tiny camels are “not small enough; have them destroyed.”
— An overall very solid oddball sketch. From my past viewings, I had remembered this being an insufferably dull sketch, but I’m glad to have come around on this.
STARS: ****
HIDDEN CAMERA
pranks of FRW & Adam McKay [real] involve hitting people
— This ends up being Fred Wolf’s swan song, as tonight is his final episode. I have no idea what the story is behind why he leaves after only three episodes this season.
— Two Upright Citizens Brigade performers appear in this as bystanders getting whacked with a wooden board: Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
— Some pretty funny dumb silliness here.
STARS: ***
WOMEN’S KICK BOXING ASSOCIATION
women’s kick boxing is an opportunity to see females hit each other hard
— No idea what to say about this. Feels a little like pointless filler, and isn’t providing many laughs.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not quite the dud I had remembered it being, but this was still a somewhat “meh” episode. A few things really worked for me, a few things really didn’t work for me (two of them co-starring Chris Kattan, interestingly enough; and I usually have a higher tolerance of his early SNL years than most people seem to), and everything else can be filed under “not terrible, but forgettable”. This continues the odd trend this season of episodes that are unexciting and unmemorable. I don’t know what’s going on this season. Why are they having a hard time keeping the great momentum they gained in the homestretch of the preceding season?
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lisa Kudrow)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Well, things are looking up. Dana Carvey hosts, kicking off SNL’s “Distinguished Alumni” series of five consecutive episodes hosted by a former cast member.
I almost wonder if the previous season ended “too well,” as in everyone felt good about how things ended, and so things coasted to begin the year. There’s also a feeling almost of “stockpiling scripts,” as the hosts are rarely used to good effect early on (I can accept Pullman, who wasn’t really a comedic actor, but Kudrow had improv experience and Hanks is Hanks).
Re: Pulman as the “Tic Tac Toe” host
There was a long simmering rumor in the vast online community of Game Show fans that Pulman was trying to do an impression of Patrick Wayne (John Wayne’s son); who happened to host a poorly received 1990 revival of “Tic Tac Dough”. Wayne was widely criticized for being too still one minute, and getting a little too over the top the next. Here’s a “Lowlight” reel courtesy of the site “Game Show Garbage”, Basically, Pulman was trying to do his best “YOU WIIIIIINNNN!”:
https://youtu.be/dSRN9hBw9Ck?t=136
*Too Stiff
I recall Norm (on NML, I think on the Bill Hader episode) talking about being annoyed by how Pullman was overdoing it so much in the live show and blames him for ruining the sketch.
The Tic Tac Toe sketch is a great example of someone trying to get laughs without understanding where the humor is coming from. Pullman thinks his performance is extracting more laughs, but a more subdued performer (like Phil Hartman) would actually add to the humor.
Funny you mention that, Carson:
https://twitter.com/normmacdonald/status/953793414465708032
You know what this season could use a lot more of so far? David Koechner and Nancy Walls.
Yeah, overall this season felt like a not quite good 95-96, but I did like the long string of former SNL hosts we got this year at least, I think this one does pick back up a bit once they stop cramming the Cheerleaders and MKG into every other episode, or does that not happen for a few seasons? I think I almost liked the following season a bit better overall, despite Normy getting the boot from Update mid-season and the dreaded debut of Mango.
Yup, especially because Ana hasn’t yet established herself.
This episode’s Saturday TV Funhouse designer, David Wachtenheim, takes over the bulk of TV Funhouse’s output with Robert Marianetti under Wachtenheim/Marianetti around 1999-2000 once the two leave J.J. Sedelmaier:
https://nypost.com/2002/12/08/starr-report-358/
Losing Koechner was probably the worst thing to happen to Mark, he seemed to be the guy he collaborated best with, he never really seemed to gel much without anyone else in the cast, he seemed pretty lost (or just bored) through much of this season. Was it ever confirmed if he quit or was fired from SNL?
Yeah, these last 3 episodes were kinda rough, but now comes the reward.
About that monologue — writer Hugh Fink told a story once that the original monologue consisted of audience members asking questions (I think), but mistaking Pullman for Bill Paxton. However, Pullman called Fink into his office and expressed his annoyance at it; according to Fink, Pullman even bellowed at him (paraphrasing), “Don’t act like a used car salesman, Hugh! Don’t bullshit me right now!” Fink ultimately failed to placate him, hence this monologue.
I think Fink told the story on the “This Week in Comedy” podcast with Ed Crasnick, but I can’t find that specific clip anymore.
Here’s the description to the monologue used in the show:
“ Having played the President of the United States in “Independence Day”, Bill Pullman is proud to now be considered a sex symbol.”
Dear god, how self-indulgent can you get!?
I can’t remember if it was Bill Pullman (I actually think it’s Judge Reinhold), but I remember a story in the SNL book about how a writer noting the toughest hosts are the people who just sort of hit their peak fame right around the time they host. I feel like Pullman probably falls in that group.
Yeah, I want to say it was Greg Daniels saying that about Reinhold.
The opening and Tic Tac Toe notwithstanding, I prefer the post Update half of this episode, especially the Heyward Foundation and Quiet Storm sketches. Perhaps the cast and writers were a little too overconfident coming off of the previous season.
It can’t be stressed enough how much Ana is struggling here, it’s not until Tina Fey joins next season and the Delicious Dish sketches start, among other things.
This has a very heavy 93-95 (mostly 94-95) feel.
– a scattershot cold open
– the host is all over the episode
– there are various dark concept-heavy sketches and filmed pieces (mostly in the back half)
– men in drag screeching for laughs
– Tim and Norm provide most of the highlights
– that lady kickboxing piece, complete with “women’s sports aren’t real lol” tag
– no recurring characters
With that said, I will take the better aspects of 93-95 over an episode mostly full of poor recurring characters shouting at the camera.
(speaking of shouting at the camera, that Hollywood retro piece would have been so much better without Molly and especially Kattan hamming it up so viciously – imagining, say, Phil Hartman and Nora Dunn, or Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig [in her more restrained moments] and I’m seeing a vast improvement)
I’ve liked Bill Pullman ever since his Ruthless People days, so I was disappointed at how bad he ended up being in much of the episode. His performance in The Rules sketch (which reminded me of some prototype version of the Bronx Beat sketches) is one of the worst I have ever seen from a host. It’s what you’d get from a cheesy musical guest who is given a cameo. I think the only time I enjoyed his work, aside from the Heyward sketch late in the night, is the monologue, where he says being named one of Playgirl’s sexiest men means gay men love him.
The Heyward sketch is just about perfect (and such a dark twist – the moment when he says they will just kill the latest batch of camels and we see Mark McKinney’s face fall is one of McKinney’s best performances on SNL). The prank film is also pretty good. So is the quiet storm sketch, although it feels very disjointed – Tim’s performance is what holds the material together.
I will say that although Pullman is also bad in the game show sketch, I don’t think he ruined it. The performance from Norm is what the material lives or dies on, and he gives a brilliant performance. (I should also praise Will and Cheri for their supporting work – between this, the debut of Harry Caray [probably my favorite character/impression of his] and being the main laugh-provider in the call center sketch, Will had a good night).
I have vague memories of the fake ad with the burglary decoy. It’s very very good – a different style to it than some other pieces of this era, and great performances from the cast. Was the old woman the same one in Duchovny’s monologue and in the Nobel Peace Prize sketch in Carvey’s episode?
Harry’s initial prediction of Yankees in 6 came true!
Tic Tac Toe would have been a downright classic…but Bill Pullman is SO incredibly hammy in it, he *almost* (not quite) ruins the sketch.
The Rules sketch was inspired by the self-help book at the time that was VERY popular.
I miss how lively and well-drawn Smigel’s earlier cartoons were. When he switches to digital coloring a few episodes from now, they gradually start to get stiffer and stiffer.
Never realized until now that there’s kind of a resemblance between Bill Pullman and future cast member James Austin Johnson. I particularly see it in The Heyward Foundation sketch.