Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
JANET’S BEDROOM
in her bedroom, girlish Janet Reno (WIF) has a Bill Clinton (DAH) fantasy
— A funny childlike scenario for Will’s Janet Reno. Also a humorous detail with the Jonathan Taylor Thomas poster on her wall in the background.
— I love Reno’s line “I have nails for dinner, and for dessert, I eats A-bombs! Aoow-oww!”
— Interesting voice that Tim is using as John Conyers.
— John Conyers: “What are you going to wear to the justice department?” Janet Reno: “My one blue dress.”
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— The new theme music from the first two episodes of this season has been replaced with a different one tonight, which is the one that will be used for the remainder of this season. This new theme music fits this opening montage decently enough, but I personally have never cared much for this music, which I guess is even more fitting, since I don’t care for this opening montage.
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Interesting out-of-the-ordinary entrance from Brendan Fraser, with him entering by swinging on a rope, ala George of the Jungle.
— I’m enjoying this monologue’s unconventional, laid-back premise of Brendan just listing off the many things he likes, especially when his likes start getting random and absurd.
STARS: ***½
LEMON GLOW
Lemon Glow floor cleaner convinced wild (MOS) to settle in suburbia
— A solid Molly Shannon showcase, and lot of laughs from how her details of her disturbing, troubled past is being interspersed with dissonant shots of her pleasantly showcasing the shine that Lemon Glow is giving her floor.
— Great detail with the seedy tattoo being seen on Molly’s arm.
STARS: ****
XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS
fight between Xena (MOS) & Urswina (host) contains hints of lesbianism
— I’m liking Ana’s performance as Gabrielle.
— A funny opening spiel from Brendan when he makes his entrance.
— A classic blooper right now, where Molly accidentally yanks off Brendan’s wig, and Brendan, after getting thrown to the floor, frantically tries to put his wig back on in a hurry. This blooper causes both Brendan and Molly to uncontrollably laugh their way through the rest of the sketch. Without this great blooper, this would be a forgotten sketch.
STARS: ***
ISSUES
stoners (host) & Jeff (JMB) lose focus when topic’s not legal pot
— After two seasons of Joe Pesci and Goat Boy, Jim attempts a new recurring sketch, in a role that he was born to play: a stoner.
— I’m aware that Brendan’s giggling is purely in character, as he’s playing someone who’s high, but I wonder if some of it is genuine leftover giggliness from the Xena wig blooper that happened mere minutes ago.
— Accurate stoner characterizations from Jim and Brendan.
— I got a laugh from Brendan’s line “Bake sale? I’ll be there.”
STARS: ***
THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry talk gourds with controversial squash expert (host)
— Very scattered recognition applause from the audience at the beginning of this.
— Amusing bit with Ana and Molly looking at vacation photos that we can’t see, while making very vague comments about them.
— A laugh from Brendan’s passing mention of his squash-inspired haikus.
— I love Ana’s playful “We can get in a lot of trouble for this show; I hope the censors aren’t listening” line after Brendan brings up something very tame and innocent.
— Very funny how the trivia segment is only one question, which Brendan already answered earlier in the sketch.
— For the very first time, a Delicious Dish sketch has a caller that’s NOT Cheri or the recently-departed Mark McKinney. This time, it’s Tim.
— Overall, one of the better installments of the always-good Delicious Dish.
STARS: ****
THE GOLORDS
Golords beat robots but fail to save NYC from Bill Gates’ nuclear warhead
— I’m surprised to see this so early in tonight’s episode, considering its debut in the preceding episode aired towards the end of the show, and that’s where I remember most of these Golords films airing.
— I didn’t realize until now how catchy that Golords theme song is.
— I got a huge laugh from the male Golord telling Bill Gates “Hands up, dickweed!”
— Another laugh-out-loud line, this time from Bill Gates bragging “I use $100 bills to wipe my ass!”
— Very funny scene with the female Golord trying to make the robots go haywire by taking off her clothes, suggestively eating a banana, and washing a car.
— Odd fourth-wall break with Bill Gates pandering to the live SNL audience by praising New York City’s crowd, resulting in SNL’s audience being heard cheering in response. Not sure what the point of that is, unless it’s a reference to something Bill Gates said in real life.
— Overall, The Golords continue to be a solid new addition to this season.
STARS: ****
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Frank Gifford (DAH) mixes NFL & personal matters; Eric Dickerson cameo
— There are some laughs from Darrell’s Frank Gifford ranting endlessly in a professional sportscaster voice about problems in his personal life, but this sketch is pretty one-note.
— When talking about problems he has with his wife Kathie Lee (who’s identity he thinly hides here by substituting her name with “the Jacksonville Jaguars”), I like Frank Gifford’s passing reference to “that K-Mart sweatshop thing”.
— Boy, Eric Dickerson’s cameo has been met with DEAD SILENCE from the audience.
STARS: **
PHARMACY
Colette Reardon explains her medication needs to pharmacist (host)
— Cheri’s Colette Reardon character officially becomes recurring.
— I like this character of Cheri’s, but is it necessary to have her second appearance be in the exact same pharmacy setting that her first appearance was in? Seems kinda lazy. At least in her subsequent appearances, they place her in different settings, such as Weekend Update, her home, and a school classroom.
— When seeing Brendan’s pharmacist character, Colette asks “Where’s Cliff?” I wonder if Cliff is the pharmacist that John Goodman played in the first installment of this sketch. If so, at least we’re getting some continuity in this recurring sketch.
— Brendan: “What kind of dog is he?” Colette Reardon: “He’s an amputee.”
— Colette Reardon on her menopause: “Menopause, you know, meaning no chance of gettin’ pregnant.” Brendan: “I think that’s good news for all of us.” Colette Reardon: “Ha ha haaaa! Yeah!” Brendan: “I’m serious.”
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
Harry Caray’s (WIF) World Series analysis mostly deals with team mascots
— Boy, Norm’s first few jokes tonight are getting a very tepid audience reaction. However, their reaction isn’t quite as bad as I had remembered. My memory of this Update had Norm’s first two jokes getting literally ZERO laughs from the audience.
— Weird seeing Will’s Harry Caray appearing for the second consecutive episode, though he has an excuse to appear tonight, with that year’s World Series going on.
— As always, tons of funny kooky lines from Harry Caray, especially the whole bit regarding scalps and Indians.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bachelorette”
BIOGRAPHY
Jack Perkins (DAH) drinks during Courtney Love (MOS) profile
— Darrell’s drunken Jack Perkins is always worth some laughs. I worry, though, that this joke might get a little old if they do one more Biography sketch, but IIRC, the only remaining Biography sketch is a bit of a different one where Darrell’s Perkins is bitter because he’s being replaced by a new host, Harry Smith, and thus, Perkins does a very slanderous biography on Smith.
— I love the part with Courtney Love’s mother revealing that Courtney invented crack as a child.
— Funny contradictions between Courtney and Brendan’s respective interviews regarding Courtney’s stint as a stripper.
— Haha, holy hell at Jack Perkins’ line “They call that shotgunning a beer… and it was a shotgun that Courtney’s husband Kurt Cobain used to BLOW HIS HEAD OFF!”
— I never can get enough Frank Sebastiano sightings on SNL (the sixth above screencap for this sketch).
— Wait, former SNL stage manager Joe Dicso?!? (the last screencap above) What’s he doing here? I thought he left after season 21. And no, his (pre-taped) appearance in this Biography sketch isn’t a clip from the Courtney Love Show sketch that he appeared in back in the Christine Baranski episode from season 21. Even though he gets wildly kissed by Molly’s Courtney Love in both this sketch and the season 21 Courtney Love Show sketch, they’re both different scenes. Maybe this scene is from a cut dress rehearsal sketch from back when Dicso was still working at SNL? That’s the only explanation I can think of.
— The ending felt a little abrupt. I was expecting more scenes.
STARS: ***½
MANGO
(host) becomes obsessed with enigmatic male stripper Mango (CHK)
— Ohh, boy. Right from the start of this sketch, I can already tell which dreaded character is about to enter.
— Yep, there he is. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut! I feel wrong for saying that with an exclamation point, as if I’m excited about that. It’s merely a catchphrase of mine that I copy-and-paste whenever I reach the debut of a particularly big recurring character, whether the character is good or bad.
— As I often do when covering the debut of this era’s most polarizing recurring characters, I’m going to approach this Mango debut by treating it as a standalone sketch, pretending that I’m unaware it’s the first of a series of sketches.
— I do like Brendan’s befuddled facial expressions when Mango is seducing him.
— Aaaaand the sketch is now over, with me having said practically nothing about it. Geez, even in its first installment, this Mango sketch already wasn’t good. I will admit that I did kinda appreciate what the format and narrative of this sketch was going for, but it just wasn’t very funny or entertaining. I did notice, though, that Chris’ take on Mango was lower-key here compared to how exaggerated and cartoonish his characterization of Mango would gradually become over time.
STARS: **
THE SHARK CHANNEL
Shark Channel programming only partially reflects network’s implied focus
— I’m enjoying the absurd escalation from normal shark programming to increasingly un-shark-like programming, especially the shark-themed teen pregnancy show.
STARS: ***½
BUDDY SONGS
creeped-out cast watches as host sings about his new best friend WIF
— Very interesting premise, and I almost always like the rare times that post-1985 SNL has a sketch that takes place on the home base stage. That was much more common in SNL’s first 10 seasons.
— Geez, I keep forgetting that Colin is even a cast member this season. He’s JUST NOW making his first and only appearance of the night, in a small supporting role in this 10-to-1 sketch, and he’s obviously only appearing in this because it’s a (sorta)full-cast sketch. Will somebody please remind me why SNL promoted him to repertory player this season? We’re three episodes into this season, and he has done jack squat except for that Friends sketch from the preceding episode. Hell, I think he got more airtime back when he was just an occasionally-credited featured player.
— But hey, at least Colin’s actually appearing tonight, which is more than I can say for poor Tracy, who isn’t in ANY sketches tonight (which is something he’ll sadly have to get used to these next few seasons, as this is far from the last time this will be happening to him). Hell, Tracy gets far more face time during this episode’s goodnights than he does during the actual show, which reminds me of a certain important Weekend Update commentary he would do as himself in the very next episode (you’ll find out what commentary that is when we get to it).
— I’m loving this sketch, and there’s a lot of amusement from Brendan’s sappy buddy song. And something about the simplicity, innocence, and friendliness of the song lyrics make this sketch feel connected to Brendan’s “Things I like” monologue from earlier tonight.
— Great touch during the song with Will just sitting there with a frozen smile on his face the entire time while having his hand placed on Brendan’s leg.
— When the camera pans across each cast members’ disturbed facial reaction to the song, I love how the shot ends on Norm with a big gleeful smile on his face. (Unfortunately, this “camera panning across a group of people who are weirded-out by what they’re witnessing, except for one individual who’s actually enjoying it” gag would go on to be overused in later SNL eras.)
— Funny line about Colin’s Hip Hop Napoleon sketch getting cut.
— Norm’s very awkward delivery of his line about growing apart from his buddy is unintentionally hilarious in the way that only Norm could make it.
— More laughs from Norm, this time with his badly out-of-sync attempt to sing in harmony with Will and Brendan.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. A lot of fairly solid segments, a few great segments, and not too much that didn’t work for me.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew Perry)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
A near-death Chris Farley
No idea how accurate this is, but I just saw this as the top comment for the “Buddy Song” video on YouTube (after reading your review I had to go and see that one again, forgot all about it) claiming Norm wrote the sketch: “written by Norm as a joke on Kattan and Brendan being weirdly close all week (they went on to make Monkeybone), Will is playing Kattan, Thats why Will makes those Kattan-style shrieks, bc Chris K refused to do anything w Norm cuz Norm always trolled him” ha, thats hilarious if true and totally on for Norm around this time, I think that infamous “Rolling Stone interviews the SNL cast” issue was weeks from coming out at this point.
To your Colin point, I gotta think if Norm hadn’t gotten canned from Weekend Update mid-season, Colin likely wouldn’t have lasted beyond this season. They did at one point try to give him his own mini-WU type segment for a few episodes later this season, maybe they were testing him because they probably figured this would be Norm’s final season anyway, just not expecting it to happen mid-way thru the season.
Another thing of note on the Mango sketch, is Tina Fey makes her very first on-screen appearance at the beginning, you can kinda see her in the first screencap in the top corner. Remember her pointing that out and showing the clip on (I wanna say Conan?) a late nite show years ago.
That would explain a lot about the sketch, especially the frequent reminders to viewers of how disgusted we’re supposed to be, which unfortunately takes away some of the humor and reminds me way too much of the way this type of material is written in recent years.
I never can understand why a number of cast members do well when they’re featured players then hit a wall when they become regulars. It happens to some of the weaker performers (Finesse Mitchell) and some of the all time greatest (Bill Hader). Colin had had major roles in sketches even before he was credited as a player, if memory serves, and his sketches were frequently seen in 96-97. I’m not sure why they pulled back.
Here’s the article. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/looking-for-the-heart-of-saturday-night-live-188969/
Thanks for sharing that – I’d heard of the article but never read it. Interesting to see Steve Martin still floating around even though he so rarely appeared oncamera at this point. And lots of behind the scenes stuff about the cast of this era I’d never known. You can sort of feel the end is near for Norm on SNL.
The version of “Buddy Songs” on YouTube is the dress version. I remember seeing the live one once and, among other things:
– Tim isn’t wearing glasses in the dress version.
– The dress version doesn’t have the harmonizing Stooge mentions (which I remember from the live one).
– As I recall, the mention of Colin’s “Hip Hop Napoleon” sketch is different: in the live version, I think they mention Colin being bitter because the sketch was cut, and Colin goes into a mournful Napoleon “hand on chest” pose, while in the dress version, Brendan uses the sketch as a threat, and Colin begrudgingly allows them another song.
-totally ON BRAND for Norm- that shouldve been
Well Stooge only 15 (!) more Mango appearances to go in Katan’s run as a cast member . Fight the good fight!
Oh man the next episode is so sad. I don’t even know what to say about it. I’ve been wondering how you’re going to handle it
Wonder if Jim had filmed Half-Baked by this point already? It came out in early 98, so probably. He’s basically doing his Half-Baked guy here, kinda surprised it took that late into his SNL run for him to play a stoner since those are the kinda roles he’s been known for every since.
Oh and next show sees the first sketch Tina ever wrote to make air. Sally Jesse Raphael
I didn’t realize until seeing them back-to-back how much Colette and Harry Caray remind me of each other at certain points – especially the vocal deliveries. I guess the time spent at The Groundlings had Will and Cheri more in sync than even they may have realized.
Brendan was a good host. I don’t remember very much about his season 24 episode, but this one managed to tap into his off-kilter energy without seeming too tryhard. The monologue toed the line just right and set a good pattern they followed through his other appearances. Delicious Dish was terrific – maybe the best along with Danny DeVito’s a few years later.
If they were using up old footage then it would explain why they brought back a Courtney Love impression which by this point had been done several times over and had no comedy left to mine. Shannon and Hammond are fine, but this entire sketch could have been cut with no real loss.
Another funny Golords – they’re still managing to make the completely apathetic treatment of strange and messed up stuff work. The complete lack of reaction to the nuke gave me a good laugh.
Norm’s delivery and the audience’s reactions to him both have such a frailty by this point – a bit unsettling to watch. It was also strange to see him playing such a boring straight man role in the boring Frank Gifford sketch – if there was ever a time I wanted to see him get to cut loose, it was then.
Mango – I think you said it all.
While the cold opens for these years are still better than most of what we get today, this particular cold open gave me flashbacks for just how unbearable the political material would become for me in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Hammond’s Clinton is just grating as all get out in this cold open, and it’s similar to the Janet Reno sketch in the premiere in that it seemingly has no real reason to exist and few laughs. They even repeat the “comedy” of Hammond and Ferrell kissing on the lips. I should prepare myself for a lot more of these as I know they will be hanging all over the show by January ’98.
I recall very little about this episode, which is very rare for me when it comes seasons 18 to about 24-25. Perhaps I missed the live airing.
Interesting choice to use Eric Dickerson on the Monday Night Football sketch given he would have a brief (and widely panned) stint as a sideline reporter for MNF the same time Dennis Miller came aboard in 2000. Dickerson last played in the NFL in 1993, was doing anything notable at the time?
Funny to see Tracy goofing around with Dickerson in the goodnights, was hanging around him what inspired Tracy to start impersonating him a few seasons later? Tracys impression of him wasn’t particularly flattering, portraying him as an unintelligible idiot most the time, I think those were also the same sketches where Fallon debuted his Dennis Miller impression, which seemed like a bad rip-off of Carvey’s much funnier impression.
I vaguely recall there being buzz that Jimmy had this dead on Miller impression that was going to become a staple of the show. Boy, did that turn out to be false.
That also reminds me no fewer than three cast members (MacDonald, Hammond, Sudeikis) have portrayed Al Michaels in sketches. None ever really looked or sounded like him. Michaels has a distinctive voice, but I guess his cadence doesn’t lend itself well to impressions
This is a bad episode for me. I think of a lot of it has to do with Brendan Fraser. I don’t know…I just have never liked him. He was all the rage in late 90s/early 2000s…and he just annoyed me.
Anyway, the only sketch I really like here is Delicious Dish. And Jim Breuer’s stoner gag is pretty good, I guess. Everything else is pretty lazy. (particularly the cold opening and Monday Night Football sketch)
I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for the recurring characters of this era (Mary Katherine Gallagher, Spartan Cheerleaders, hell even Mr. Peepers)…but I really can’t defend Mango. I’m with you, his debut here is not that good…and they just ran this skit into the ground…BIG TIME…and each skit was EXACTLY the same…ugh…
I’m curious how a Kids in the Hall-style take on Mango would have gone, one that had better defined characterizations for both the character and the foil of the week. With a couple exceptions (Jennifer Lopez jumps to mind), I remember the hosts taking a backseat to an off-putting character who ended up being presented as the show’s mascot diva.
Oh, jeez, Farley’s episode is up next.
The Giuliani episode has aged awkwardly in hindsight. The Farley episode was aging awkwardly in real time.
Hey, I’d take the Giuliani episode over the Farley episode. At least that one gave me my favorite sketch of the entire season: “FRIGGIN’ GIULIANI!!!!”
THAT’s your favorite sketch of the season???
“I didn’t realize until now how catchy that Golords theme song is”
This. I almost never watched this show during this era; maybe I saw Golords twice that year and never since…but that damned theme song has been in my head since reading yesterday’s review.
Oddly enough, I like Mango for some reason. I dunno. I don’t find the character hilarious, but I’m not bothered even with the constant repetition.
I actually don’t mind the theme they introduced in this episode. That being said, it’s a poor fit for this particular montage.
This will be the vintage episode on Saturday.
I love that their picking one of Norm’s bad Updates.
Even though you weren’t a fan of the theme they settled on this season, what are your thoughts on its usage in the more New York-centric montages found on many of the “best of” compilations from the late 90s?
I guess I’m just curious as to your thoughts on those montages in general, especially if that template would’ve been suitable for a regular episode.
The “best of” montage and the usage of the theme song in it are fine enough, I guess. I’ve never felt particularly strongly one way or the other towards it. I can’t really picture that montage template appearing in a regular episode from that era, though.
“Wow, look at that shine!” has lived rent free in my head, as the kids say, since 1997.