Author: Stooge

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March 15, 1986 – Griffin Dunne / Rosanne Cash (S11 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Tommy Flanagan clears up rumors about SNL’s poor ratings & reviews

— This is now the THIRD cold opening in a row starring Tommy Flanagan, and his fourth appearance in the last five episodes. Man, they’re definitely hurting for popular characters this season.
— This is the first time SNL is openly acknowledging how poorly-received this season has been.
— Several good laughs from Flanagan’s false claims of how well SNL’s ratings and reviews have supposedly been, only for him to hesitate when having to go into details of those ratings and reviews.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After making a few uncredited Weekend Update appearances earlier this sesaon, writer A. Whitney Brown finally receives his first credit as a featured player tonight.


MONOLOGUE
host plays the “Wipeout” drum solo with only one hand

— Pretty funny gag with a chunk of Griffin’s hair coming out when he casually brushes it back with his hand while claiming he’s not nervous.
— Strangely, after only a minute, he makes it seem like this monologue is already ending, by announcing tonight’s guests (Roseanne Cash, Penn & Teller), but I’m aware that this monologue ends up going on for a lot longer.
— I got a pretty good laugh from the reveal of the giant pit stains on Griffin’s shirt.
— Was that a freakin’ rimshot I just heard after the aforementioned pit stain reveal? What the hell?
— Anthony Michael Hall makes his first SNL appearance after a two-month hiatus from the show while filming the movie “Out of Bounds”.
— Griffin doing the drum solo from “Wipeout” by musically patting his hand on a surfboard is cracking me up. It’s one of those “so dumb, it’s funny” things.
— Geez, only one sketch in, and Anthony Michael Hall is ALREADY reminding me why I was so happy we got a break from him the past two months. His mugging during Griffin’s hand-drum solo is pretty damn bad. And honestly, Terry’s facial expressions here aren’t much better.
STARS: ***


FERDINAND MARCOS MALACANANG PALACE LIQUIDATION SALE
Double R & son stage Ferdinand Marcos Malacanang Palace Liquidation Sale

— Another Double R sketch this season.
— I’m liking the overly-specific odd-sized clothing that Randy’s hawking.
— As usual, some laughs from Robert’s goofy character.
STARS: ***


MR. MONOPOLY
lawyer Mr. Monopoly (JOL) uses game cards to help his client (host)

— Ah, here an infamous sketch.
— And there goes the reason why this sketch is infamous: Damon is rebelliously playing his cop role in a stereotypical gay manner (basically doing the same voice he previously used in his Beverly Hills Cop appearance and would later use in the famous Men On Film sketches on In Living Color), when the character was just supposed to be played in a generic straight (both figuratively and literally) way. In the “Live from New York” book, there’s a whole backstory as to why Damon decided to do this. He was already not too crazy about having to perform this sketch in the first place, as he realized during read-throughs that it was a weak one-joke bit. During the dress rehearsal that Saturday, Damon and Randy’s cop characters in this sketch were dressed in trendy Miami Vice-style clothes. After the sketch ended, Lorne came up to Damon and complained “The sketch isn’t working; you look like a pimp!” Astounded over the fact that Lorne was apparently blaming him for the sketch not working, Damon had finally had ENOUGH. Damon’s growing frustrations with working at SNL had finally reached its boiling point, and he decided that he would sabotage the Mr. Monopoly sketch by rebelliously changing his cop character into a big-ol’ gay stereotype during the live show, which ended up adding confusion to the sketch, as Damon’s character being flamboyantly effeminate makes no sense concerning the scene. Needless to say, Lorne was EPICALLY PISSED. Upon exiting the sketch after it was over, Damon was confronted by Lorne, who absolutely WENT OFF on him in a heated, expletive-filled rant that ended with him basically telling Damon he’s fired. Despite this, Damon still gets to perform in a sketch later tonight and even appear during the goodnights (where I recall him just standing alone in the back the whole time while staring down the camera with an unhappy facial expression).
— Okay, after all that, let’s get back to the actual sketch at hand…
— It’s a testament to Randy Quaid and Griffin Dunne’s professionalism that they aren’t letting their confusion over Damon’s changed characterization register on their faces.
— The reveal of Jon entering the scene as Mr. Monopoly was ruined by the opening theme song, which already gave away the main premise. Jon’s entrance would’ve worked better without that spoiler.
— I did like Randy’s line just now about growing up in a house on Baltic Avenue.
— It feels kinda funny watching Damon at the very end of the sketch while the jolly Mr. Monopoly theme song is playing, when you’re aware Damon’s about to get epically chewed out by an angry Lorne.
— This overall sketch didn’t do much for me, though Jon gave a good performance as usual. Damon wasn’t exactly wrong in his assessment of this being a weak sketch, though I feel it wasn’t as one-joke as he claimed.
STARS: **


YOU BET YOUR FINGER
a malfunctioning mini-guillotine butchers (host)

 

— I’m already chuckling at the initial sight of the tiny guillotine that’s placed next to Griffin.
— Haha, hilarious part with the guillotine’s first premature drop. Griffin’s reaction had me DYING.
— Okay, it’s not necessary to repeat the gag of the guillotine prematurely falling over and over again. Hey, Damon, I think THIS is the one-joke sketch you were looking for.
— Our second Bruce McCulloch sighting of the season, seen in a still photo as a recent winner happily holding up a hand of missing fingers.
— Randy’s “give me a high three” line to Griffin was funny.
— Overall, despite some laughs, there weren’t enough variations on the repeated falling guillotine gag to keep it from running out of steam.
STARS: **½


BAD SEED
Nancy Reagan (TES) counters her daughter’s tell-all with her own book

— What was with Terry’s unnatural-looking silent book-reading at the beginning? Was that an intentional joke, or just bad acting on Terry’s part?
— What the hell? Just now, someone passed by right in front of the camera, briefly blocking our view of Terry.
— Fairly funny reveal of the “Bad Seed” book title directed towards Nancy Reagan’s daughter.
— I like how Steven King is randomly a co-writer of the Bad Seed book.
— Overall, some funny lines, but too many parts of this were kinda slow and dull.
STARS: **


BUON GIORNO IRELAND BUON GIORNO
Gianni Tucci (DON) doesn’t sing Ireland’s music in the original language

— Don Novello has a really nice singing voice, though he appears to be lip-syncing to a pre-recorded track of his own voice.
— Uh, where exactly is the joke here, besides the basic premise of an Italian singer doing Irish songs (which isn’t THAT funny)?
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hold On”


TWO JONES’ CABLE INSTALLERS
the “brothers” can get you a special deal

— Here’s the aforementioned sketch that Damon still gets to perform despite being fired.
— Damon’s hobo-from-In-Living-Color-esque voice in these Jones Brothers sketches always cracks me up.
— Wow, I thought Anthony’s camera-mugging during the monologue was bad, but THIS takes the cake. Anthony’s awful facial expressions throughout this sketch are just plain ANNOYING, as well as distracting.
— Overall, the writing itself was fine enough, but damn, couldn’t Damon have just done this sketch by himself, or at least have had a more competent scene partner than Anthony Michael freakin Hall?
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update Dancers are “Addicted to Love” over Ivy League sex scandal
AWB discusses whether giving $100,000,000 to the Contras is a good idea
DEM removes Central America from the Weekend Update map with a chain saw
Pinochet Countdown Contest- viewers guess when the Chilean leader will go

— Dennis’ whole mini-commentary about the Miranda Ruling was great.
— (*groan*) Here’s our obligatory pointless Weekend Update Dancers segment of the week.
— A. Whitney Brown’s overall commentary about the Contras had his usual funny quips and sarcastic statements. I especially liked the velvet paintings comment.
— An absolutely fantastic bit with Dennis chainsawing Central America off the Weekend Update map in the background. Unique, groundbreaking things like this just show why Dennis was such a breath of fresh air as an anchorperson after the endless string of dull, interchangeable anchorpersons that preceded him the previous five seasons.
— Interesting announcement of a “Pinochet Countdown” contest, where viewers will try to predict how long Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet will last. SNL continues to get self-deprecating humor out of their own troubled state this season, with Dennis amusingly explaining the contest is only good while SNL is still on the air, “so you might wanna get on that pretty soon”, and then adding “See who lasts longer: Pinochet or Saturday Night Live”. This really makes you realize how strong the possibility was of NBC canceling SNL before the end of this season. (In fact, I believe it’s mentioned in the “Live from New York” book that NBC president Brandon Tartikoff briefly DOES end up deciding to cancel SNL a little later this season, somewhere around the time of the Oprah Winfrey-hosted episode, before having a change of heart and immediately un-canceling the show) That feeling is even more evident in the very special next episode (you’ll see which episode that is at the very end of this review), where they REALLY double down on the “SNL is a sinking ship this season” sentiment and the whole episode has a “This may possibly end up being the last episode ever” undertone… but I’ll go into more details about that in my review of that episode.
STARS: ***½


YOU CAN PICK YOUR FRIENDS, YOU CAN PICK YOUR NOSE, BUT YOU CAN’T PICK YOUR FRIENDS’ NOSES
(host) is chided for trying to pick (RAQ)’s nose during panel discussion

— I’m already getting a laugh from the opening reveal of the title alone, as well as the ensuing dignified atmosphere of the show.
— Hilarious close-up of Randy speaking while Griffin’s finger enters the shot, slowly reaching toward’s Randy’s nose.
— More laughs with Griffin now using some kind of grabber device to try picking Randy’s nose.
— Jon as the stern host suddenly having a mood change and attempting to pick Randy’s nose himself was kinda funny, though it bombed with the audience.
— An overall very silly sketch that really tickled me in its execution.
STARS: ***½


PENN AND TELLER
Penn & Teller [real] demonstrate VCR-based card trick you can do at home

 

— Penn: “(to Teller) Do you watch Saturday Night Live?” (*Teller grabs throat and makes gagging face*) I see we’re getting MORE jokes about SNL’s dying state this season.
— Funny trick with Penn as a preacher on the TV screen revealing the card.
— I’m really enjoying the carefully-detailed explanation of how viewers can do the VCR card trick on their friends.
— Overall, the usual solid Penn and Teller piece.
STARS: ***½


BUSINESS BEAT
panelists are literal examples of workplace cliches

— Danitra is just now making her first appearance of the night, pretty late in the show. Feels like we see less and less of her with each passing episode lately. It’s a shame SNL doesn’t know what to do with this talented woman.
— Right off the bat, Danitra messes up the title of the show and then saves herself by making a bit out of it. I’m guessing her real-life dyslexia is what causes these frequent line-misreadings that I’ve been noticing from her quite a bit throughout this season.
— The workplace items on display aren’t particularly funny so far. There haven’t been any real laughs yet.
— Okay, Griffin’s kicking device initially made me chuckle, but even that portion of the sketch ended up petering out after a while.
— At the end, Dantira did a good job continuing to play off of her title flub from the beginning of the sketch, making it seem natural, but this overall sketch itself was a waste.
STARS: *½


TEA AND SYMPATHY
undead (host) receives counsel from his old girlfriend’s mother (JOC)

— This has an okay premise, but the execution isn’t coming off well so far.
— This is when I start to realize Nora Dunn hasn’t appeared in tonight’s episode AT ALL. Joan’s character in this sketch feels like a role that Nora would’ve fit perfectly. From my past viewings of this episode, I recall Nora being completely M.I.A. all night. Does anyone know what happened to her that week?
— Now we get a walk-on from a female extra playing Joan’s teenage daughter, and she even gets a little bit of dialogue, making it even more obvious that Nora Dunn isn’t in the building tonight. Any other week, I’m sure this sketch would’ve had Joan playing the daughter role that the female extra played while Nora would’ve played the mother role that Joan’s playing.
— Overall, they had a promising idea with this sketch, but couldn’t back it up with good writing, resulting in the sketch just coming off dull and forgettable. A letdown.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Know Why”


GOODNIGHTS

— Ah, there’s Damon’s aforementioned camera staredown, though he doesn’t look quite as pissed-off as I had remembered. (you can see him in the background on the right side of the screen in the last screencap above)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— In my past viewings of this episode, I used to think it was absolutely TERRIBLE. Like, “one of the worst SNL episodes ever” levels of terrible. Back then, I considered this episode a perfect representation of this troubled season as a whole, and felt the episode also came off just sad (which wasn’t helped by the overabundance of self-deprecating jokes about the poor state of this season and how close the show is to getting canceled). Watching this episode again just now, I see it wasn’t quite as horrible as I had remembered. There were a few more highlights than I gave the show credit for in my past viewings, most of the bad sketches weren’t as trainwreck-y as I had recalled, and all-in-all, this is certainly not what I would now consider “one of the worst SNL episodes ever”. That being said, this was still a BAD episode. After a decent beginning with the cold opening, monologue, and Double R sketch, it didn’t take long for mediocrity to take over the show. However, there was at least a nice upswing in the middle of the show, where we got three solid consecutive segments (Weekend Update, You Can’t Pick Your Friends’ Noses, and Penn & Teller), though that was of course immediately followed by a string of more weak sketches.
— The most interesting thing about the whole show still remains Damon Wayans’ Mr. Monopoly/gay cop incident. It’s a shame that we would end up losing Damon over something like that (though he does end up getting invited back for the season finale, to perform a stand-up segment), especially considering how he’s been one of the very few cast members this season who’s consistently been reliable for laughs. If Lorne hadn’t fired him, one has to wonder how he would’ve fared had he carried over into the next season’s fantastic revamped cast.
— This has been the third subpar episode in a row. A few episodes ago, I said even though I see the many problems of this season, I felt this season has had more good episodes than bad so far. However, I now seem to have officially reached the point where the badness of this season is in full swing.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jay Leno):
— a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola. One of the most fascinating, conceptual, format-breaking episodes in SNL history, with a running premise of Coppola “directing” the show.

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February 22, 1986 – Jay Leno / The Neville Brothers (S11 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL executive producer Tommy Flanagan gives host a tour of the studio

 

— I’m already laughing from the start at Leno’s very 80s-looking outfit.
— Our first Mike the Dog sighting of the night. Only in season 11 would you have weirdness like a freakin’ dog being credited as a special guest.
— Second cold opening in a row to feature Tommy Flanagan.
— Fun way to show a tour of SNL’s backstage.
— The background Abe Lincoln that always appears in SNL’s backstage sketches actually gets acknowledged here, with Tommy Flanagan telling Leno that the Lincoln is a liar.
— I’m really enjoying the visual of Flanagan and Leno walking through the sets of various sketches that we’ll be seeing later tonight.
— Bad lighting at the end, where Jon’s face is completely obscured by the shadow of an Orbiter camera seat. (last screencap above)
— A decent cold opening, overall.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about TV shows, celebrity endorsements, Charles Manson

— Really good bit about the intelligence level of dating game show contestants.
— I liked the comment about a cup of coffee being a sedative to David Bowie.
— This stand-up routine is getting pretty long.
— At the end, the camera pans up to the SNL Band on the home base stage’s rooftop as they play the show to commercial. I believe this is the very first time in SNL history where a commercial break was preceded with a shot of the SNL Band playing, which would soon go on to be a regular thing starting next season. Pre-commercial shots of G.E. Smith rocking out on a guitar is one of many things that would define the late 80s/early 90s years of SNL.
— Overall, as someone who’s had a strong hate for Tonight Show-era Jay Leno, I was surprised to find myself actually laughing during this stand-up monologue. Looks like Leno actually used to be pretty funny in his pre-talk show-hosting days.
STARS: ***


TARGET EARTH
aliens from a less-advanced civilization act tough

— Robert’s probably overdoing it a bit with the smug facial expressions, but I’m liking his and Jay’s snide, entitled delivery as the aliens.
— I’m getting an unintentional laugh from the Ronald Reagan picture hanging on the office wall in the background, as it’s the same Reagan picture that Howard Hesseman famously mooned (and encouraged viewers to moon) in his February 1983 monologue.
— I love Randy getting angry about the two aliens’ smug attitudes when Nora and Dennis bring him to the realization of just how uncivilized the aliens’ planet really is.
— Jay and Robert’s mentions of their “advanced” civilization has some really funny lines, especially their “sophisticated network of dirt roads” and the “awesome power of our muskets!”
— The ending came off a little too drawn-out.
— An overall pretty solid sketch, and I liked all the funny details in the writing.
STARS: ***½


DINNER WITH MIKE
Mike The Dog [real] has dinner with an old friend (RAQ) in a restaurant

— Here’s our obligatory Mike the Dog-starring sketch.
— Strange but kinda interesting having a sketch featuring a dog in a co-starring role. He’s doing a pretty good job hitting all his cues.
— The bit with Randy receiving a doggy bag was kinda funny, but I’m really hard-pressed to find stuff to laugh at in this sketch so far.
— Overall, this just didn’t work for me. At best, it was more cute than funny. At worst, it was kind of a waste.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Big Chief”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update Dancers try “Living In America” during a flu outbreak
AWB says that there are no good guys in the Iran-Iraq war

— Loved Dennis’ bit about the total number of electoral votes Walter Mondale received in the 1984 elections.
— Here’s our obligatory pointless Weekend Update Dancers segment of the week.
— I’m starting to realize that while I love Dennis’ style, sometimes his jokes and one-liners are so fast-paced and random that before they can register with me, he’s already moved onto the next joke. It’s been happening quite a number of times tonight.
— A still-not-credited-as-a-featured-player A. Whitney Brown’s Big Picture segment officially becomes recurring in this episode.
— Loved A. Whitney’s one-liner about Iran wanting Iraq to change its name to “Boot-Licking Lackey of the Degenerate She-Devil”.
— I believe A. Whitney’s talk about Saddam Hussein is the very first time Hussein has ever been mentioned on SNL. You can tell by the way A. Whitney described him here that he wasn’t too well-known in the U.S. at the time.
— An overall good Big Picture commentary, though I didn’t find this one to be quite as strong as A. Whitney’s first one from a few episodes ago.
STARS: ***


STAR SEARCH
uppity spokesmodel (NOD); (DEM) & (JOC) do Olympia Cafe skit

— Looks like the same set they used in the Miss Pregnant Teenage America Pageant sketch from the Dudley Moore episode.
— When Randy’s Ed McMahon mentions some of the former Star Search winners, Sinbad was the only name I recognized. I never knew that Star Search was where Sinbad got his first big break.
— Interesting use of Terry.
— Too bad Terry’s scene ended up being weak.
— Funny visual of Randy’s Ed McMahon eating from a can of Alpo dog food. Other than that gag, however, I’m not caring for his McMahon impression at all.
— I got a good laugh from the meta bit with the “coffee shop” play turning out to be a blatant knock-off of SNL’s famous Olympia Cafe sketches from the original era. This was made especially funny by Dennis using his typical Dennis Miller delivery when cheesily spouting off the Olympia Cafe catchphrases (“No Coke, Pepsi” etc.).
— Jon’s overly-Jewish stand-up routine feels like something Billy Crystal would’ve done the previous season.
— Here’s the part of the sketch I remember the most from my past viewings: Damon Wayans as “The Angry Comic”. Also, it’s good to actually see Damon in a sketch for what feels like the first time in a while. I’d better enjoy Damon while he lasts, as tonight’s the last episode before a certain infamous incident in the next episode that gets him fired.
— Damon: “(sternly) A funny thing happened on my way down here tonight… I killed three white people!”
— Great blooper with the off-camera rimshot delay causing Damon to start cracking up, which he amusingly tries to hide by turning away from the camera (last screencap above).
— Love how Damon’s intimidating stare at the graphic of the judges’ scores instantly changed them into perfect scores.
— LOL at Damon telling Randy’s McMahon what exactly he plans to do with the prize money.
— Overall, a mostly weak and overlong sketch that Damon completely ran away with during his portion (which offers yet more proof that Lorne was foolish to eventually fire him). Other than him, this sketch didn’t have anywhere near enough laughs to justify its long length.
STARS: **


EVIL TWIN
mustache lets host become his evil twin “Wayne” when (JOC) won’t put out

— Some laughs from Jay displaying so much sensitivity to Joan.
— Decent reveal of Jay’s mustached “evil twin” just turning out to be an act.
— A surprisingly very short sketch overall. Not even sure what to think about it as a whole. I liked what it contained, but it felt like it was too short for its own good. I think it would’ve benefited from being more developed.
STARS: **½


STAND-UPS
a veteran comic (host) visits the observational stand-ups backstage

— Good to see the return of these characters.
— Interesting addition of Dennis to the group this time. By the way, Dennis has been getting tons of airtime tonight, which is surprising as it’s usually pretty rare to see him outside of Update.
— One of the comedy club’s promotional posters seen in the background showcases stand-up comedian Carol Leifer, which is an inside reference as she’s actually an SNL writer this season.
— Funny reaction from Damon after he flubbed his “unanswered mysteries” line.
— Great lines about Fred Flintstone’s feet.
— I like Jay as an old-school comedian talking about the differences between comedy in the old days and comedy today.
— Overall, another good installment of this sketch, though this felt like it was missing something without Tom Hanks, who was so damn good in the first installment.
STARS: ***


MAN BEAT
Lyle Alzado (RAQ) supervises (RDJ) during ad for Man Beat magazine

— What the heck IS this?
— No idea what to think of Terry’s flamboyant desk secretary character, though it’s getting a good audience reaction.
— Overall, yeah, I’m not sure what this sketch was going for, other than a whole bunch of implied homoeroticism.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Midnight Key”


THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BIFF AND SALENA
shy Biff (JOL) & Salena (JOC) talk to each other in her diner

— Boy, here we see Joan doubling down on the slow, mentally challenged-sounding voice that she’s had a bad tendency to rely on at times this season.
— So far, I have no idea what I’m watching, nor what to make of Joan and Jon’s characters.
— Okay, the ending “Ow!” “Sorry” exchange between Joan and Jon made me laugh.
— Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this sketch. On one hand, I can now see that this was attempting a sentimental, charming, softer piece, which I appreciate, but on the other hand, I couldn’t help but see unfortunate implications with these two characters, who came off “special”.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Not too great. There was at least a higher number of good sketches than the last episode had, but there were still too many weak pieces and, like the last episode, no sketches stood out as particularly great. I’m also not crazy about how the show ended with two baffling, hard-to-figure sketches (Man Beat and Biff & Salena).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jerry Hall):
— a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Griffin Dunne

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February 15, 1986 – Jerry Hall / Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (S11 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Rolling Stones manager Tommy Flanagan & host in a bar; Mick Jagger cameo

— Amusing story from Tommy Flanagan about how he and Mick Jagger were in Vietnam together.
— Funny how Mick Jagger is getting involved in the lying, making up a story to Jerry about why he was late coming home one day.
— Overall, a pretty good Tommy Flanagan cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— The theater doors behind Jerry look to be in a darker color than they’ve usually been this season.
— And the monologue is over already. This was a very brief, nothing monologue with weak humor. Also, I kinda hate the strange way this ended with Jerry saying “Stevie Ray Vaughan is here and he’s funky… Sam Kinison is here and he’s funny.” That was an unusual way for the ending of a monologue to address tonight’s guests, and has always come off to me like SNL was desperately trying to drum up excitement in what they were aware was a dying season.
STARS: *


THE LIMITS OF THE IMAGINATION
Maggie The Cat (host) desires gay (TES)

— (*sigh*) The THIRD episode in a row with this recurring sketch.
— I liked the bit with the Floating Head (Randy) beginning to count to infinity, only to finally stop when a gun gets pointed at his head.
— Terry’s avoidance of Jerry’s sexual advances, and the hints he’s frantically dropping about his sexuality are pretty funny.
— Surprising hearing Terry proclaiming “I’m a f*g with a capital ‘f’!”
— Overall, despite some laughs, this wasn’t one of my favorite Limits Of The Imaginations, though it was still a step up from the dull one in the last episode with Ron Reagan.
STARS: **½


MODELS AGAINST THE WILDERNESS
host & Brooke Shields (JOC) in plane crash

 

— Some laughs from the cheap plane toy model used to represent the plane the characters are riding in.
— Terry’s funny as Brooke Shields’ chain-smoking mother
— An okay walk-on from Randy as a gravelly-voiced Bob Guccione.
— Overall, another sketch tonight that, while having some individual funny moments, wasn’t great as a whole and fell short of the strong epic sketch they probably wanted this to be.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Say What”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update Dancers ask “How Will I Know” about Anatoly Shcharansky
sex kitten Babette (NOD) talks about her trip to Manila

— As a fan of classical comedy teams, I love how the theme music used for the opening of tonight’s Update was the Laurel & Hardy theme.
— Good random Dennis Miller one-liner: “Boy, that Nell Carter is a big woman, isn’t she?”
— (*groan*) The Weekend Update Dancers bit officially becomes recurring tonight. Should’ve just kept this a random one-time thing.
— Something about the Weekend Update Dancers segment caused something to go wrong with Dennis’ mic. (Maybe it was his dancing in his seat that messed up his mic) Right after the WU Dancers leave, Dennis makes a comment to the camera that’s completely inaudible, and then apparently, a boom mic is now being used to pick up his dialogue for the remainder of this Update.
— The debut of Nora’s French sex kitten character Babette.
— Nora’s overall commentary didn’t do much for me, though her characterization was good. Can’t say I’m looking forward to seeing more of this character in future episodes.
STARS: ***


MASTER THESPIAN
unrequited love for co-star of jungle movie (host)

 

— I got a laugh from Master Thespian’s giddy “Oh, happy day!” during his opening journal writing.
— I think there’s a part in the “Live from New York” book where Damon Wayans (who’s nowhere to be seen in tonight’s episode and didn’t receive his usual featured player credit in the opening montage) talks about how he refused to appear in this sketch because they wanted him to just stand in the background as a barely-clothed jungle native, holding a spear and having no dialogue. This is probably one of the many things that added to Damon’s growing frustrations working at SNL, which soon reaches its boiling point two episodes later when Griffin Dunne hosts.
— Very memorable part with Master Thespian secretly telling the camel “Be prepared to improvise!” Such a classic little Jon Lovitz moment.
— I liked Master Thespian’s misguided “You’re too kind” after Jerry’s comment about his big thunder stick.
— Jerry’s delivery of “I was… ACTING!” was pretty cringeworthy, and resulted in eerie dead silence from the audience (which I believe would later be “fixed” in reruns by using the typical season 11 practice of sweetening audience reactions).
— Weak ending, though I did kinda like the visual of Master Thespian following the camera off the set as it’s backing away.
— Overall, there were some good highlights from Jon in the first half, but this sketch died off very badly in the second half.
STARS: **½


SAM KINISON
Sam Kinison [real] does stand-up, sings “love song” to former girlfriend

— What was with the drawn-out, awkwardly silent beginning after Sam made his entrance?
— Boy, this is slow so far and the audience is DEAD.
— I liked Sam’s weird vocalization after saying he loves women.
— Okay, this is finally starting to take off, especially with his outburst when acting out waking up next to his wife.
— I caught a near f-bomb from Sam before he caught himself and cut himself off.
— Interesting turn with Sam now launching into a love song.
— Haha, the “love song” turning out to be an entirely screamed rant with angry, violent “lyrics” after such a tender set-up was probably an obvious joke but still made me laugh out loud.
— Overall, some good laughs, but there were some really rough patches in the first minute or so, and I’m starting to get tired of how all of Sam’s SNL stand-up pieces seem to mostly focus on bitter relationship issues.
STARS: **½


LINE OF DEATH
Kaddafi (JOL) threatens (host) & (NOD) after they cross his line of death

— Not too funny so far, though I like Jon’s amusing delivery of his lines.
— Wow, that first soldier’s dive into the “water” looked fake as hell.
— I got a pretty good laugh from how after the first soldier drowned, Jon’s Kaddafi told the two women that he’ll now send a soldier who can actually swim.
— The nice sight of Jerry Hall’s bare legs throughout this sketch has been one of the very few things keeping my interest.
— Overall, a very forgettable, sluggish sketch, and the lack of audience reaction gave it a hollow, dead feeling (which I’ve been noticing quite a lot throughout tonight’s episode, actually).
STARS: **


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
host shows how to hang upside-down & maintain looks

— ANOTHER recurring sketch that’s making an appearance for the third episode in a row. Man, this season is really hard up for recurring sketches to bring back.
— Also, what’s this doing on so late tonight? The prior installments of these Pat Stevens sketches have always been in the first half of the show.
— Pat Stevens’ opening demonstration with the blindfold wasn’t as funny as some of her previous demonstrations in earlier sketches.
— A strange but kinda-interesting turn with the interview now being conducted with Nora and Jerry hanging upside-down. Was the idea for this inspired by Penn and Teller’s famous upside-down act in the last episode?
— Jerry is clearly amused by this upside-down interview, as she’s laughing through her lines.
— This overall sketch was one of the lesser Pat Stevens installments. There just wasn’t much to laugh at here, and Jerry didn’t really add anything. This recurring sketch definitely seems to be suffering diminishing returns now that they’ve been overusing it so much lately.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Change It”


SORE TOE
hammer, snapping turtle, soup threaten to worsen (RAQ)’s sore big toe

 

— Funny visual of Robert wildly swinging the hammer around on the floor, narrowly avoiding Randy’s sore toe.
— Boy, Joan’s slow southern accent is awful.
— Some awkwardness during the close-up of Jerry telling Randy the soup’s ready. It appears that Joan mistakenly jumped ahead of the script and started saying her next line too early while Jerry was delivering her own line.
— Pretty funny blooper with Joan having to turn the wandering turtle around to face the correct direction when we’re supposed to believe it’s staring at the sore toe.
— More unintentional laughs from Jerry’s real-life difficulty in setting up the rickety table after one of its legs accidentally come off.
— The “Your father has hung himself” ending was weak (though I remember the ensuing audience applause being a lot more abrupt in the rerun version than in the live version I’m reviewing). Poor way for an otherwise amusingly silly sketch to end.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A weak episode with a lot of underwhelming sketches, and nothing standing out as particularly strong. We also got unusually subpar installments of some usually good recurring sketches that the show has begun to over-rely on lately (Master Thespian and Pat Stevens). As I mentioned a few times throughout the review, the episode also had a dead feeling during several spots, with the lack of audience reactions.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ron Reagan):
— a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Jay Leno

Posted on

February 8, 1986 – Ron Reagan / The Nelsons (S11 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
parents are at Camp David, so host engages in White House Risky Business

— The line about George and Barbara Bush was pretty funny.
— Fun Risky Business turn with Ron.
— A good laugh from the cutaway to an exterior shot of the White House showing a stick figure of Ron dancing in the window.
— An overall energetic way to start the show.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— I liked his opening ad-lib “You haven’t lived until you’ve hyperventilated on live television”.
— Pretty funny with him pointing out he’s supposedly the second most powerful person in the world.
— Overall, while nothing special, this was a decent enough monologue.
STARS: ***


WHERE YOU’RE GOING
— Rerun


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
Little Richard (DAW) says everyone steals his ideas

— Pretty funny with Pat demonstrating how holding a magazine picture against your forehead can boost your mood.
— Another good use of Damon in a Pat Stevens sketch.
— Damon’s Little Richard impression seems like it could be better, but he’s giving a good performance.
— Pretty funny claims from Damon’s Little Richard that everybody steals his  ideas.
— What was with Damon’s Little Richard lifting Nora’s skirt up a little to sneak a peek while she had her eyes closed?
— Wow, the “ending” (if it can even be called that) was very abrupt.
STARS: ***


DALKON SHIELD TROUT LURE
defective Dalkon Shields make great trout lures, says (RDJ)

— An okay concept.
— Overall, this was short and to-the-point, but I didn’t find it to be anything too great, and this was another example this season of Robert Downey’s youth making it hard for me to buy him in a mature role like this.
STARS: **½


BACK TO THE FUTURE
host goes Back To The Future to Hellcats Of The Navy set to unite parents

 

— I’m already laughing right from the beginning, with the “A Take Your Oscar and Shove It Production” screen card shown during the opening credits.
— A really good laugh from Terry’s Nancy Reagan walking on as a drab, hair-in-rollers housewife.
— Nice touch with an “Exposition (listen carefully)” subtitle showing up on the bottom of the screen.
— Love Jon’s Doc Brown impression.
— Okay, the occasional subtitles are getting to be a bit much.
— I like Terry-as-Nancy’s Nicky/Nike mix-up regarding Ron’s name.
— Okay, the occasional subtitles are back to being funny again, with a “Cheap joke” subtitle shown during the bit about President Geraldine Ferraro being impeached.
— Pretty funny segment with Ron convincing his dad to become a republican.
— Loved the ending with Danitra angrily throwing Ron out of the house.
— Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. I liked the epic feel, the performances were strong, and this came off as a surprisingly well-written and well-thought-out sketch for this season’s standards. The lengthiness of it didn’t bother me.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Walk Away”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update Dancers say “When The Going Gets Tough,” oil prices fall
AWB puts Uranus, Angola, the Contras into The Big Picture

— Funny beginning with Dennis delivering a loud “Wake up, babe!” message to Ronald Reagan through the TV screen.
— Very interesting audience reaction to the Aquino/Marcos joke, which of course Dennis gets a great ad-lib out of.
— Oh, no, the debut of the Weekend Update Dancers, which would go on to become a recurring bit this season, and I recall always hating it in my past viewings of this season.
— I ended up finding tonight’s Weekend Update Dancers debut surprisingly okay as a silly one-time segment, but I am dreading seeing this in pretty much every Update for the remainder of the season.
— A not-yet-credited-as-a-featured-player A. Whitney Brown makes his Weekend Update debut.
— Interesting introduction A. Whitney gave his “The Big Picture” title in this.
— Really good line from A. Whitney about Contras asking for financial aid when they don’t even have a country.
— A. Whitney had another great line just now, saying the global village is as interrelated as an Appalachian coal town.
— An overall great debut of A. Whitney’s The Big Picture segment, already featuring the smart and witty political commentary that I’ve always remembered from his Update appearances over the years.
— Classic bit at the end with Dennis being amazed that President Reagan is 75 and has access to the button, leading into a memorable quip about how “my grandfather’s 75 and we won’t even let him use the remote control for the TV”.
— An overall exceptionally strong Update. Dennis seemed really “on” tonight.
STARS: ****


PENN AND TELLER
upside-down Penn & Teller [real] do tricks big-name magicians can’t match

— Oh, I’ve always loved this particular Penn and Teller appearance.
— Having seen this bit before, I know why the audience is immediately laughing at the seemingly-normal initial sight of Penn and Teller, though I’m sure home viewers who were watching this live were confused about the laughter.
— This segment has great rewatch value even knowing what the surprise ending is going to reveal.
— I love the constant “Are we live? Yeah!” call-and-response.
— And there’s the great upside-down twist at the end. Perfect reveal. I remember the first time I saw this, the upside-down reveal blew my mind and then had me going “Oh, that explains EVERYTHING.”
— Overall, this has always been my favorite out of all of Penn and Teller’s SNL appearances.
STARS: ****½


THE LIMITS OF THE IMAGINATION
family & friends fail to recognize (host)

— Another one of these?
— I didn’t get the part with the Floating Head (Randy) demonstrating how he “can make you grow older”. All Randy does there is just smile cheesily at the camera. (screencap below) Was there a special effect failure during that part or something?

— Hilarious bit with the Floating Head chewing on aluminum foil to send us “screaming into the night”.
— I liked Jon’s “Stand back, I’ve got a gun… and I know where it is too” line.
— I usually enjoy these Limits Of The Imagination sketches, but I wasn’t crazy about this overall one. The intentionally bland, mundane twist just made the sketch come off… bland and mundane.
STARS: **


SHAKESPEARE IN THE SLUMS
Flotilla Williams (DAV) explains Romeo & Juliet using ghetto terminology

— Here’s the type of solo sketch where Danitra usually comes off at her best.
— Strong characterization from Danitra here.
— She has a lot of funny interpretations of Romeo & Juliet dialogue, and she’s going a good job going back-and-forth from dignified Shakespearean speak to ghetto speak.
— I liked the “I don’t know what that part mean” non-translation.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Do You Know What I Mean”


DAVID’S DATE
(JOC) is upset with her boyfriend David’s (JOL) Woody Allen obsession

— Good Woody Allen voice from Jon.
— I really liked Jon’s Joseph Goebbels comment about Joan.
— Overall, while nothing particularly special, I found this to be okay as a 10-to-1 piece. I seem to be in the minority, as none of the reviews I’ve read of this episode over the years liked this sketch.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid episode, and definitely one of the best of the season. Most of the sketches tonight were good, some were memorable, and Ron Reagan did well for a non-actor and also came off likable.
— So far, this season has had more good episodes (Herman, Lithgow, Hanks, Moore, Reagan) than bad (Madonna, Chase, Garr, Stanton). This season IS still somewhat young, though, and the number of bad episodes will probably have quite a significant increase as this season progresses, but so far, this is shaping up to be the least worst of SNL’s “Infamous Three Seasons”. While I found season 6 to not be quite as horrible as its reputation, it was still weak, and though we haven’t reached season 20 yet in my SNL project, I’m VERY familiar with that entire season and I’ve always found it to be WRETCHED.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dudley Moore):
— a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Jerry Hall

Posted on

January 25, 1986 – Dudley Moore / Al Green (S11 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
monks break their vow of silence & discuss their yearly Super Bowl bet

— Funny hearing Dennis Miller using his typical delivery in this monk role.
— The Super Bowl twist is okay.
— I recall hearing that Damon is one of the monks in this (and it ends up being his only appearance of the whole night), but I can’t spot him. Must be a non-speaking role, which makes this yet ANOTHER example of this season wasting Damon’s talents. No wonder he was so miserable working at SNL.
— Overall, a pretty meh cold opening. Didn’t care too much for this as a whole.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host plays classical variants of Bridge On The River Kwai theme on piano

— I like how he mentions that he previously hosted exactly 10 years ago on this exact Saturday (January 24, 1976), even though this leads into a variation of the obligatory “I did such a great job (insert large number here) years ago, they couldn’t wait to have me back” joke, as well as a joke that his next hosting stint will be 10 years later in 1996.
— Fun bit with the piano so far, and I like the different ways he keeps breaking into the march song from The Bridge On The River Kwai.
— I like how into it he’s getting.
— The camera showed an interesting low undershot of Dudley at the end, a rare type of camera angle that would be repeated in the monologue of the George Wendt/Francis Ford Coppola episode later this season.
— Overall, a pretty entertaining monologue.
STARS: ***½


MISS PREGNANT TEENAGE AMERICA
(JOC) & Cabrini Green compete in Miss Pregnant Teenage America Pageant

— Kind of a cringey joke having Roman Polanski as host of a pregnant teen pageant.
— The opening “Let’s Hear It For the Boy” dance number is kinda cute, but is going on WAY too long for something that doesn’t contain any jokes.
— Here’s our Terry Sweeney drag role of the week.
— Terry’s scene came off kinda awkward.
— An interesting, different way to use Danitra’s Cabrini Green.
— A technical error with the microphone not being on when Danitra first speaks into it.
— Robert’s scene was okay.
— Joan’s bad poem to her baby is making me laugh.
— Dudley seems to be making lots of little ad-libbed asides throughout the sketches tonight, and I’m not sure it’s working for me.
— I liked the bit about if the winner shall bring disgrace upon this pageant.
— Overall, for something that came off as a big production, this didn’t quite pay off for me. I didn’t laugh all that much throughout this, and it felt weird how it wasted Cabrini Green in a largely silent role.
— This sketch would later get removed from all reruns and be replaced with some repeated pre-taped segments and a cut dress rehearsal sketch titled Just Like Phoebe. I wonder why this was removed from reruns, especially considering how elaborate it was and how many extras were heavily involved.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Going Away”


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
poses that build self-esteem; Jackie Stewart (host)

— Pat Stevens’ demonstrated advice to strike a pose while reading Vogue Magazine is pretty funny.
— I like Pat’s bad ways of relating Dudley’s stories to something that happened to her.
— This ended abruptly. I recall getting more laughs from the dress rehearsal version that’s shown in reruns, where the sketch was longer and Dudley was given funnier dialogue.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
Tommy Flanagan says he saw Ferdinand Marcos’ war heroics first-hand
a ten second gap of blank air, courtesy of SNL & Ronald Reagan

— Kinda chilling hearing a joke about Space Shuttle Challenger, as this is just a few days before the infamous Challenger disaster. For this reason, the first half of this Update would later be replaced in reruns with the dress version, where Dennis doesn’t do the Challenger joke.
— Dennis’ joke about Herb from Burger King’s “Where’s Herb?” campaign was hilarious, as was his ad-libbed aside afterwards.
— Interesting seeing Tommy Flanagan in an Update commentary.
— Flanagan’s line about flying Japanese sand tigers was really funny
— Some laughs from Flanagan’s obvious doctored photo.
— Flanagan’s overall commentary was pretty solid, with some fun lies as usual.
STARS: ***


THE LIMITS OF THE IMAGINATION
comic’s (host) audience is over-responsive

 

— The usual good laughs during Randy’s Floating Head intro, especially the part where he electrocutes an off-camera person and we hear them scream wildly.
— The debut of Jon’s Mephistopheles character, though his costume has some minor differences from the one he would later wear regularly.
— Seemed to be a miscue with one audience member in the club being heard starting to ask “How cold is it?” earlier than they were supposed to.
— This is hilarious with the over-responsive audience ruining Dudley’s jokes by asking him non-stop questions in unison after every little thing he says, which eventually drives Dudley mad.
— Overall, my favorite Limits Of The Imagination installment so far.
STARS: ****


NAME THAT TUNE
contestants (JOC) & (host) fail to identify simple songs

— Awkward silence at the beginning, where I’m assuming the “Name That Tune” theme music failed to play.
— The bidding part was really funny.
— Nice little detail of Joan picking lint off of her outfit while Jon is explaining the game rules to her.
— Overall, they managed to get a decent amount of humor out of a such a simple, one-note premise.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “True Love”


MASTER THESPIAN
a rehearsal with rival actor Sir Roger Tewksberry (host)

— Tons of airtime for Jon Lovitz tonight. And in this episode alone, we’ve gotten the three recurring characters that Jon’s probably most remembered for nowadays (Tommy Flanagan, Mephistopheles, and Master Thespian).
— LOL at Don Pardo doing a dignified thespian accent during his opening voice-over. I don’t remember him doing that in the previous installment of this sketch earlier this season.
— Classic blooper where Dudley’s thrown shawl unintentionally lands on the chandelier behind him, resulting in Dudley giving “wink-wink”-type looks to the laughing audience while Jon ad-libs a great “Thank you for the lampshade!”
— Jon’s stretched-out delivery of “The gooooooaaaaaaatsssssssss” was pretty funny.
— Did I just hear Dudley call Jon by the name “Tewksberry”? Tewksberry is supposed to be the name of Dudley’s character, not Jon’s.
— A pretty good laugh from Dudley’s character coming to the realization that he’s “stabbing” Master Thespian with a feather.
STARS: ***½


DUDLEY MOORE AND THE SNL BAND: “I GOT YOU”
host & SNL Band mix Tchaikovsky with “I Got You”

— Loved Dudley’s facial reaction to the SNL Band unexpectedly breaking out into “I Feel Good”.
— I like how Dudley’s joining in on “I Feel Good” by playing classical piano notes in tune to the song.
— Nice touch with SNL Band member Leon Pendarvis constantly looking back at Dudley with amused expressions.
— Overall, another pretty entertaining piano number tonight.
STARS: ***


DIE FOREIGNER DIE!
— Rerun


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode with a nice flow that felt very consistent, even though there were a few subpar things in the first 25 minutes (cold opening, Miss Pregnant Teenage America). While the overall episode wasn’t as strong as the consecutive three-episode Herman/Lithgow/Hanks run, this will still probably end up standing out at the end of the season as one of the better 1985-86 episodes by default.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Harry Dean Stanton):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Ron Reagan

Posted on

January 18, 1986 – Harry Dean Stanton / The Replacements (S11 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
solemn, wheelchair-bound Herb (RAQ) explains why he’s never had a Whopper

— Interesting use of Dennis’ anchorman role outside of Update.
— A cold opening based on Burger King’s “Where’s Herb?” campaign about the only man in America who’s never had a Whopper.
— I laughed at Randy smiling pathetically at the camera while a simple graphic of the name “Herb” is displayed under him.
— Randy’s specific explanation of his refusal to try a Whopper has some laughs here and there, especially the part about the glue in the burgers.
— Overall, despite a few laughs, this cold opening was too dry and slow-paced for its own good. The whole thing badly died off toward the end.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music is in a MUCH faster tempo than usual. In a way, I kinda feel like it fits this opening montage more than the slower-tempo theme does.
— The shots of Anthony, Jon, and Terry have been changed to shots that would be used for the rest of the season. This is actually the second time they’ve changed Terry’s shot, and the one introduced tonight is a definite downgrade; I’ve never liked that cheesy big smile in his pic. (comparisons between each of the three performers’ various shots are below)


MONOLOGUE
host & SNL Band perform “Baby What You Want Me To Do”

— Yeah, you can tell right off the bat that he’s drunk. Reportedly, he was drinking backstage with The Replacements before the show.
— At least the speaking portion of this monologue was short, before he launched into a blues song, where he’s coming off more in his element.
— Very cool how he’s climbing up the fire escape into the rooftop to join the SNL Band.
— Feels like the first time all season that G.E. Smith has gotten major face time, something that he’ll regularly be getting in the upcoming SNL era that starts next season.
— Overall, even though the musical number didn’t contain any intended comedy, this was pretty fun and likable.
STARS: ***


GULF COAST FURNITURE WAREHOUSE
Double R & son have a “stink sale” to move death-scented furniture

— Hilarious concept of a “stink sale” of furniture plagued with the scent of Double R’s dead father’s body.
— I like the pictures of Robert showcasing the bad-smelling furniture while disgustedly covering his nose.
— Robert’s goofy clapping dance at the end is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


CLEVELAND VICE
(host) & (RAQ) investigate a rash of bowling ball thefts

— Are the women’s “pregnant” bellies supposed to be concealed bowling balls?
— Yep, I guess they ARE, since bowling ball thefts has turned out to be a part of the sketch’s plot.
— Reportedly, Randy’s delayed entrance (“Sorry I’m late”) wasn’t in the script. He took longer than usual changing from his Double R costume to his Cleveland Vice costume.
— A way-too-long, dull parody of the Miami Vice opening credits, though I got a laugh from the “In Mono” graphic with half a headphone set.
— I like how they’re using the SNL home base stage for a street scene in this.
— Some laughs from how Randy and Harry have to bring the suspect to the police station by bus.
— A pretty funny Joan Rivers impression from Terry, but WHAT IN THE WORLD was it doing in this sketch? It had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the sketch, and she wasn’t even shown with either of the two main characters. A complete non-sequitur.
— This sketch is getting way too long and repetitive, and the whole thing has really lost steam.
— Weak ending.
— An overall poor sketch that highlighted some of the problems with this season’s writing.
STARS: *½


DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER
Bat Masterson (RAQ) schedules showdown with (host)

— Randy Quaid has been extremely busy tonight, appearing in a lead role in EVERY SINGLE SKETCH so far.
— Damon’s stereotypical-speaking servant character is just plain cringeworthy, especially knowing Damon’s behind-the-scenes frustration working at SNL.
— The extended chair-creaking part made me laugh.
— Haha, the random train set bit was really funny.
— I’m liking the direction of this. This is coming off as a good, silly writer-ly piece.
— Overall, a funny sketch that reminds me a little of two other solid writer-ly pieces from earlier this season: Vlad the Impaler and U.S.S. Cameron.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bastards of the Young”


NEW PARENTS
new father (JOL) is mad about what wife (JOC) said about him during labor

— An okay line from Jon about how all newborn babies look like Edward G. Robinson.
— LOL at the line about how Joan called Jon a “wimpy jew” while in labor.
— Sloppy delivery from Danitra, messing up the last name of Joan’s character a few times.
— Strange how they’re using a real newborn baby in the scene.
— This overall sketch didn’t work as a whole. Not sure what, but it felt like a lot was missing from this.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE

— Tonight’s Update opens with the Dick Van Dyke Show theme song. At this point, I think safe to say that it’s become a regular thing for each of Dennis’ Updates to open with a different non-news-related song, though he’s only been using movie/TV theme songs so far. I wonder at which point he starts using rock songs, which I remember his Updates from seasons 12-16 opening with.
— Dennis’ “Goetz Gets Off” joke was hilarious.
— Dennis’ jokes in general are really good so far tonight.
— Overall, a very short but solid Update. Like I recently said, I’m enjoying how this season’s revamped version of the news is focusing very little on guest commentaries, of which there were none tonight.
STARS: ***½


THAT BLACK GIRL
Latoya Marie’s (DAV) agent Seymour (TES) gets her a part

— Great concept, and I love the That Girl-style opening credits.
— Funny performance from Damon as the boyfriend.
— I like Jon’s characterization as the lenient landlord.
— An overall decent sketch, led by a great performance from Danitra.
STARS: ***


SAM KINISON
Sam Kinison [real] does stand-up about honesty in relationships

— Love the bit about a donut shop worker snapping and going postal.
— Some laughs from the part about women discreetly offering him pleasure.
— Lots of funny lines from the whole part about relationships.
— Overall, a good stand-up performance and an improvement from Sam’s more hit-and-miss appearance from earlier this season.
STARS: ***½


BIG BALL OF SPORTS
footage of the 1914 Balkan Dirt Diving Championship

— “Balkan Dirt Diving” is a pretty funny random concept.
— I almost thought the scratchy black-and-white footage truly was an old film, before realizing this is newly-filmed footage made to look old. Great job with the authentic look of this.
— I like Al Franken’s voice-over in this.
— Haha, this film is weird as hell so far, but hilarious.
— I’m getting a lot of laughs from the different vocalization each competitor makes right as they’re about to dive.
— Freakin’ hilarious part with the second diver having his dislocated shoulder be PAINFULLY snapped back into place, resulting in him screaming in agony.
— I like how when the announcer says “A hush falls upon the spectators”, the cutaway to the hushed crowd shows a close-up of a man chomping into a hot dog (or a similar-looking food) while eagerly watching the dirt diver in anticipation.
— LOL, holy hell at third diver flatly landing face-first into the dirt, dying instantly. Haha, this film is an absolute riot.
— Overall, a hilariously random film that had me in stitches.
STARS: ****


NO OFFENSE
in a bar, drunk (host) bothers patrons (RDJ) & (JOC)

— Harry Dean Stanton playing a drunk? Not much acting involved there, I see…
— This sketch has been going nowhere for me so far.
— Overall, wow, I have nothing interesting to say here. This whole sketch just washed right over me, with nothing particularly funny or noteworthy standing out.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Kiss Me on the Bus”


JACK’S DISCOUNT EMPORIUM
a store insensitively uses MLK Day as an occasion to stage a white sale

— Very funny with Jon as a spokesperson touting a Martin Luther King Day “white sale”.
— The cutaways to various badly-impersonated famous historical figures such as George Washington and Sitting Bull are fun.
— A lot of laughs from Jon inappropriately using MLK-related phrases to hype up his store’s sales.
STARS: ***½


SAY NO TO THE ARMY
— Rerun. This Anthony Michael Hall-starring commercial is serving as a reminder that tonight’s episode is the beginning of Anthony’s two-month SNL hiatus while he’s filming “Out of Bounds”.


GOODNIGHTS

— They forgot to update the 1985 copyright year into 1986. (last screencap above)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Not a very good episode, though not a terrible episode either. There were enough highlights to make the overall episode merely underwhelming rather than outright bad. The middle of the episode at least had a nice streak of good segments from Weekend Update to Big Ball Of Sports.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Teri Garr):
— a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Dudley Moore

Posted on

December 21, 1985 – Teri Garr / The Cult, The Dream Academy (S11 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Cabrini Green takes a Christmas gift to a rapper wrapper (DAW)

— Damon’s rapping started out okay, but this bit has quickly gone downhill, especially once Danitra joined in on the rapping.
— Why is Danitra dressed as her Cabrini Green character? Nothing about Danitra’s role in this sketch is specific to that character; she might as well be dressed as a generic unnamed character.
— Okay, I did get a laugh from Damon’s jokingly-awkward “…yeah…” ad-lib after he messed up a verse.
— Overall, a weak way to start tonight’s show, even if the rapping in this wasn’t QUITE as cringeworthy as I had remembered it being.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host & Father Guido Sarducci do “I Got You Babe” as Popes Lois & Maurice

— A continuation of Father Guido Sarducci/Maurice’s People’s Catholic Church commentary from Weekend Update.
— This monologue hasn’t been working for me, especially now that they’ve broken out into a rendition of “I Got You Babe”. Meh.
STARS: **


CRITIC
— Rerun


A DOZEN EGGS
island residents (RAQ) & (host) discuss the latter’s price in eggs

— Nice opening overhead camera angle.
— The opening egg/bacon conversation between Randy and Jon has some laughs.
— Boy, this sketch sure has looooong stock-footage transition shots between scenes.
— Overall, despite some okay lines, I didn’t care much for this sketch. Perhaps this would’ve come off better in the 10-to-1 slot, but certainly not as the lead-off sketch of the night. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of tonight’s episode (and we’ve already been off to a bad start with the cold opening, monologue, and this sketch).
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dream Academy performs “Life In A Northern Town”


TIME MACHINE TRIVIA GAME
(AMH)’s time-travel excursions affect his parents’ Trivial Pursuit game

— What’s with Jon’s gray hair dye?
— Anthony Michael Hall makes his first live appearance in weeks.
— Pretty good premise, with some funny altered trivia question answers after Anthony’s constant history-changing.
— After Anthony picked up the phone, the camera seemed like it didn’t know who to follow, first following a walking-away Randy before immediately awkwardly panning over to Anthony talking on the phone.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch, even if the execution felt a little sloppy, not to mention a typically weak performance from Anthony. (Thankfully, tonight’s the last episode we’ll be seeing Anthony for quite a while, as he misses the next two months of episodes)
STARS: ***½


HILDY
the Deavers’ maid (TES) rewards herself for saving Christmas

— This sketch has the same living room set that was just seen in the Time Machine sketch that preceded this. I’m aware, however, that the sketches didn’t originally air in this order; the order has been shuffled around in the rerun version I’m watching. In the original live airing, the Time Machine sketch was the final sketch of the night.
— Yet another drag role for Terry. This particular one seems to be a parody of the 50s/60s sitcom Hazel.
— I liked Joan’s line to Hildy just now: “Without you, I’d have to get my life together and be a real mother.”
— Is that a real blooper with Terry having an extended amount of trouble finding Robert’s gift under the tree?
— I got a laugh from Jon slapping Robert on the head after Robert says “Yeah, we knew you’d like it” to Hildy.
— This audience is liking this sketch a lot more than I am.
— The ending was actually okay, but most of the rest of the sketch didn’t work for me (I feel like I’m saying that a lot in this review).
— It kinda feels like this was set up to become a recurring sketch, but thankfully, it ended up never returning.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
poorly-obscured mob informant (DON) doesn’t have interesting information

— Tonight’s Update opens with the theme music from Bonanza.
— Always weird seeing Don Novello in a non-Father Guido Sarducci role.
— Some laughs from the censor bar that the camera is superimposing over Don’s eyes, and how it’s doing a bad job of following him whenever he moves his head.
— Man, this Novello commentary going on WAY too long, and the censor bar gag has completely lost its novelty.
— Okay, Novello’s Ted Koppel comment made me laugh.
— Overall, kind of an unnoteworthy Update for Dennis Miller standards, though he still got in a few of his usual random one-liners that made me laugh.
STARS: **½


A ROY ORBISON CHRISTMAS
NBC broadcasts the six unaired minutes of A Roy Orbison (RAQ) Christmas

— Nice use of the SNL Band.
— Randy’s doing a good impression of Roy Orbison’s singing voice.
— The sound mixing is pretty bad during the “Santa’s Little Surfer Girl” number, as you can hear the backup singing from the SNL Band much more than you can hear the actual main vocalists.
— The overall “Santa’s Little Surfer Girl” number was okay, but nothing funny even happened in it.
— Danitra’s Leslie Uggams reading a letter from a mental patient is really funny, especially as the letter eventually begins a descent into nonsensical madness. Also, a funny touch with Danitra turning the crazed letter in a slow, circular motion as she’s reading off of it.
— Good casting of Anthony as Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, as Anthony does have a pretty strong resemblance to him.
— Overall, this could’ve been a lot funnier. Most parts of this felt too much like a real holiday special. Danitra provided most of my only real laughs.
STARS: **


PENN AND TELLER
Penn & Teller [real] take turns being The Incredible Electric Boy

— Funny explanation from Penn about how Teller became the Incredible Electric Boy, and how lonely his life has been since then.
— Nice fire-eating stunt from Penn.
— Interesting turn with Penn calling out Teller for overplaying the bit and “ruining” the trick.
— Overall, this was fine, but I didn’t find this quite as enjoyable as Penn and Teller’s usual SNL stuff.
STARS: ***


THE BIG TREE
a disaster movie about a huge, unsafe Christmas decoration

 

— The long cast intro at the beginning of the sketch feels unnecessary and is ALREADY getting this sketch off to a bad start.
— Being familiar with Nora’s five-year SNL tenure, it feels kinda strange in hindsight seeing her playing a flaky high-pitched drunk in this sketch. Very different from the type of roles Nora usually played on SNL.
— Jon has wore gray hair dye in just about every sketch he was in tonight. Reminds me of how Dan Aykroyd would sometimes do that in some episodes from the original era.
— This feels like the very first non-Update appearance Dennis Miller has ever made.
— Boy, I am NOT enjoying this sketch so far.
— This sketch illustrates the problems of having such a young cast this season. I find it hard to buy Robert Downey in the high-profile role of a construction company owner when he looks like he’s still in high school.
— The repeated throwing-drinks-in-faces bit is just plain dumb and has come off under-rehearsed.
— Jesus Christ at Anthony’s VERY obvious cue-card reading after whipping off his sunglasses during his argument with Robert. There’s even an awkward brief pause while we have to wait for Anthony to actually find his line on the cue card.  This is almost unintentionally hilarious in how bad it was. In the “Live from New York” book, Anthony recalls a friend of his once humorously compiling a tape of Anthony’s most blatant cue card-staring moments from his SNL tenure. I’m guessing a clip of this sketch was DEFINITELY included.
— Now we get a sudden random gunshot ending, which is our “cliffhanger”. Bah. I only chuckled at that part because of someone’s (Joan, I think) loud scream after the gunshot goes off.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Before segueing into an introduction to the musical guest’s performance, we’re comically told that due to audience disinterest, there will be no “part two” of the Big Tree sketch. All I have to say is: thank god.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Cult performs “She Sells Sanctuary”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Oof. A very rough episode. Pretty much as bad as I remembered it being from my past viewings. Very little in this episode was worthwhile, and even the better stuff wasn’t particularly great. It says something when even Penn and Teller and Dennis Miller’s Weekend Update weren’t as strong as they’ve usually been.
— After having just gone through three strong consecutive episodes, this episode was a hard crash back into the reality of the troubled season 11. This is the most negative review I’ve given in a long time; probably since season 6.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks):
— a huge step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1986, with host Harry Dean Stanton

Posted on

December 14, 1985 – Tom Hanks / Sade (S11 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Entertainment Tonight- Brooke Shields (JOC), George Michael (RDJ), others

 

— Right at the beginning of his first SNL appearance, Tom Hanks is ALREADY coming off funny by humorously vocalizing along to the Entertainment Tonight theme song.
— The cutaway to Terry nodding (in drag, of course) made me laugh.
— The various inane polls are pretty funny.
— The repeated cutaways to the same shot of Terry nodding reminds me of the joke they always did with Harry Shearer’s Robin Leach in the preceding season.
— I’ve always liked the part with Anthony, on the set of his movie “Out of Bounds”, explaining that the reason he wasn’t in the previous week’s SNL episode is because his parents grounded him. A good way to get humor out of Anthony’s absurdly young age for an SNL cast member. Also, this ends up being Anthony’s only appearance tonight, meaning he wasn’t there live in the studio that week either.
— I got a big laugh from Tom doing a sad vocalization of the Entertainment Tonight theme during the in-memoriam part.
— Okay, the constant cutaways to Terry nodding are gradually losing their humor.
— Boy, this cold opening is long. They seem to be going out of their way to work in every cast member.
— Okay, the “Terry nodding” cutaway has made me laugh again, only because of the absurdity of how it was shown during an interview with Terry playing another role (Joan Collins).
— Overall, parts of this could’ve been better, but this had a fun energy that I really liked.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Finally, after the overly-simplistic, low-budget, still-photos opening montage used in the prior episodes from this season, we get a new live-action montage.

 

— The opening overhead shot of the city (first screencap above) is different from the one that would be shown in the modified version of this montage in this season’s subsequent episodes.
— Dennis casually hopping onto the back of a passing garbage truck has always been my favorite part of this montage.
— The text showing the cast members’ names looks a bit different from how it would soon look in the modified version of this montage in later episodes. In tonight’s montage, the lettering of the cast’s names aren’t bolded, which makes some of them kinda hard to read, especially in Danitra’s shot (third-to-last screencap above).
— For the first time in SNL history, the host isn’t the first person announced in an opening montage. Starting tonight, the repertory cast is announced first, then the host, then the rest of the night’s guests, and then lastly, the featured players.
— Overall, a solid set of opening credits, and I like the unique format, showing the perspective of the host traveling in a limo from the airport to Rockefeller Center.


MONOLOGUE
host wants to watch himself on TV while doing the monologue

— Lots of good little lines from Tom so far.
— Funny how he’s achieving his desire to watch himself on TV while hosting SNL by excitedly looking at himself in the monitor.
— The compact mirror bit has made this even funnier.
— Overall, a good first monologue for Tom Hanks, and he handled this with ease.
STARS: ***½


TROJANS
a message about the importance of freedom from Trojans

— The sudden Trojans reveal at the end after all the noble freedom talk was pretty funny.
STARS: ***


LIARS
Tommy Flanagan & brother Earl (host) visit mom (NOD) for the holidays

— Interesting premise, showing Tommy Flanagan’s family.
— Jon’s mention of Pathological Liars Anonymous receives some scattered recognition applause from the audience.
— I like Nora listing off various lies of Tommy Flanagan’s childhood, all of which Nora believes as true.
— Good casting of Hanks as Tommy Flanagan’s similarly-lying brother.
— I like Jon and Tom ganging up on Robert, calling him out as a liar. I remember in my first viewing of this sketch years ago, I hated Robert’s part because I had felt that he ruined the flow of the sketch, from the great chemistry we were seeing between Jon, Tom, and Nora, and I felt that Robert couldn’t measure up to their solid performances. Watching this sketch again now, I see that I was too harsh on Robert back then. He’s fine in this sketch and isn’t “ruining” anything.
— Pretty solid sketch overall.
STARS: ***½


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
how to hail a cab; Louis Farrakhan (DAW) cries

— Man, between Tommy Flanagan and Pat Stevens, this season has been relying on the same recurring sketches an awful lot so far (and it only gets worse as the season goes on).
— Pat Stevens’ cab-hailing demonstration was okay, but not as funny as her past demonstrations in prior installments of this sketch.
— Damon as Farrakhan: “I like a woman so black, she’s blue! With blonde hair.”
— Haha, Damon clearly keeps trying not to crack up throughout this sketch. He keeps lowering his head whenever he starts smirking.
— Damon’s emotional breakdown was pretty funny.
— Funny bit with Nora-as-Pat’s reaction to the napkin that Damon blew his nose into.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Is It A Crime”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DEM tries to explain the GE-RCA-NBC merger with a fridge, dog, peacock
DEM’s Sports Fantasy- fulfilled wish to be a boxing referee goes wrong

 

— This is the second Weekend Update in a row to use a famous TV/movie theme during the Update intro (we get the Mission: Impossible theme tonight), which makes me wonder if I was wrong in my last episode review where I said it’s not until next season where it becomes a weekly thing for each of Dennis’ Updates to open with a different song.
— The bit with Dennis breaking down the G.E./RCA merger using toys is pretty funny, especially his various ad-libbed side comments.
— Even though it got a good audience reaction, I didn’t like Dennis’ corny Sardi’s joke.
— Dennis’ mini-rant about record censorship labels was okay and made a good point, even though I normally abhor preachiness in comedy.
— Hmm, a follow-up to the “Dennis Miller’s Sports Fantasy” bit from the season premiere.
— Tonight’s Sports Fantasy segment is basically using the same joke of the first one, presenting stock footage of a real sports injury as something that happens to the Sports Fantasy participant. This one wasn’t as funny.
— I did like Dennis’ funny comments about the Sports Fantasy participant during the live outtro.
— I didn’t get the punchline of the “alternate ending to Clue” joke. Maybe because I haven’t seen that movie in ages.
— Loved the Bernard Goetz joke.
— No guest commentaries in tonight’s overall Update. One of the things I like about this season’s revamped version of the news is that it’s been light on guest commentaries so far, which is refreshing after I’ve had to deal with the Ebersol era being so overly reliant on guest commentaries, often focusing far more on them than on the actual news jokes from the anchorperson.
STARS: ***


FANTASY
(host) has thought about what life will be like after his wife (JOC) dies

— You can already tell this sketch is going to get good just from Tom’s “Well… here’s something…” in response to Joan saying that nothing about Tom’s fantasies will shock her.
— Great line with Tom bluntly telling Joan “I sometimes have this fantasy that… you die.”
— I love how overly detailed and lecherous Tom’s fantasy is getting.
— Good facial reactions from Joan as well.
— Also some humor out of Tom trying to downplay how often he thinks about Joan’s death.
— Funny breakdown from Terry after accidentally stabbing Joan.
— Great ending.
— An overall fantastic sketch that was so perfect for Tom Hanks. Reportedly, this sketch was originally attempted with every male host this season (well, I’m guessing not Pee-Wee) prior to Hanks, but always kept getting cut after read-through. Definitely a good thing in hindsight that it didn’t make it on the air until Hanks came along. Lithgow would’ve been fine in this sketch, but probably not quite up to Hanks’ level. And as for Chevy? NO. Well, I admit 1975 Chevy probably would’ve killed with this sketch, but certainly not 1985 Chevy.
STARS: ****½


STAND-UPS
stand-up comics (host), (JOL), (DAW) do observational humor backstage

— I’m really liking the Jerry Seinfeld-esque delivery from Tom and Jon.
— Great addition with Damon now getting involved in the Seinfeld-esque musings.
— Genuinely funny observational humor here, especially the Miami Vice part.
— A strong, fun sketch overall.
STARS: ****


STEVEN WRIGHT
Steven Wright [real] does stand-up & sings a song about his girlfriend

— Our first (and only, I think) returning stand-up guest performer from the Ebersol era.
— Some of my favorite random one-liners so far tonight are the ones about his girlfriend doing her nails with white-out, him asking what’s another word for thesaurus, and his revelation that he stole all the erasers to all the miniature golf pencils in the world.
— Nice change of pace with him doing a guitar song now.
— I love the (false) title to the song about his girlfriend: “They’ll Find Her When The Leaves Blow Away, Cuz I’m Not Raking Till The Spring”.
— Another one-liner that made me howl was the whole bit about his girlfriend having poison ivy on the brain.
— Great explanation of how having sex with his girlfriend is like being at a concert.
STARS: ****


HOLIDAY MOMS
(NOD) & (JOC) take a break from shopping for their kids’ Christmas toys

— Some pretty funny realistic humor here during Nora and Joan’s conversation.
— I’m surprised this sketch ended as early as it did.
— An overall decent slice-of-life piece with good performances from Joan and (especially) Nora. I can easily picture this sketch being done with Gilda and Jane in the original era.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “The Sweetest Taboo”


FISHERMEN
fishermen (host) & (RAQ) react after the sea gives them a treasure chest

— Some laughs from Tom and Randy’s angry Italian gestures when “cursing” the sea.
— Half of Randy’s fake mustache has peeled off, causing him to start laughing.
— Haha, Randy’s mustache is now gradually coming off even more. This is causing the audience to laugh through Randy’s long speech right now. This sketch is getting completely derailed in a good way.
— Good ad-lib with Randy’s “I think I can hear the sea laughing already”.
— The very end of this sketch seemed to get cut off in the live version I’m reviewing. The show must’ve been running late.
— Overall, thank god for that mustache blooper, because this sketch would’ve been pretty much completely worthless without it.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Another great episode, which makes this three in a row now. Aside from the weak final sketch, the segments in this episode ranged from good to fantastic. And just from this episode, you can see why Tom Hanks would go on to be one of SNL’s greatest recurring hosts of all-time.
— The fact that we’ve now had three very solid episodes in a row must’ve lulled then-current viewers into a false sense of security, making them think that after a slow first two episodes, this season has officially taken off and things are going to be alright. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last. The trouble this season was in during the first two episodes soon returns.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Lithgow):
— a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Teri Garr hosts the Christmas episode

Posted on

December 7, 1985 – John Lithgow / Mr. Mister (S11 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (RAQ) won’t heed Dr. Lizardo’s (host) Halley’s Comet alert

— John Lithgow’s energy and accent in this is great.
— Geez, Randy looks as un-Reagan-like as ever in this sketch. I believe next season is the first season where SNL finally made it an unwritten rule to always make the performers look like the celebrities they’re playing.
— The science lab set in this sketch looks like the one that I once pointed out was used in a few sketches from late in the Ebersol era (Robin Duke’s Turkey Lady sketch being one of them).
— Randy’s getting some laughs with his performance.
— I’ve always loved Lithgow’s wild “Live from New York…” delivery in this.
— Overall, while this cold opening wasn’t too bad and featured mostly solid performances, a few parts here and there kinda disinterested me.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Getting To Know You” to cope with stress caused by live show

— Lithgow thinking this is dress rehearsal is a really good concept.
— Funny reveal that the reason for Lithgow’s mix-up is because he forgot to change his watch from L.A. time.
— Lithgow is doing an excellent silent gradual descent into horror when realizing he is indeed live.
— I have to wonder how they did this monologue in the actual dress rehearsal earlier that night, since the premise obviously wouldn’t have worked as well there.
STARS: ***½


WHERE YOU’RE GOING
— Rerun


POSTERIOR ARTHROPOD
(host)’s outlook improves after getting the bug removed from his butt

 

— Already, this is coming off as a perfect role for Lithgow.
— Funny little gag with Damon leaving from his doctor’s appointment with an uncomfortable stiff walk.
— LOL at the audience already laughing as soon as Lovitz puts on gloves for what appears to be a rectal exam.
— Some good laughs from the bug-removal from Lithgow’s “posterior”.
— I like Lovitz’s list of bug-up-the-butt symptoms, especially “Are you an attorney?”
— Overall, this was a pretty well-written sketch, and had a well-structured format that feels rare for this season.
STARS: ***½


MASTER THESPIAN
Master Thespian (JOL) has an acting duel with mentor Baudelaire (host)

 

— The debut of one of Lovitz’s signature characters. Debuting this in a John Lithgow-hosted episode is great, considering Lithgow’s soon-to-be recurring Baudelaire character is the perfect scene partner for these sketches.
— I love Lithgow’s constant “I was merely… acting!” reveals after playing various tricks on Lovitz.
— Funny fencing match between the two of them.
— Great line with Lovitz revealing “I am dead and merely ACTING alive!”
— Overall, this was a fantastic debut.
STARS: ****


DOUBLE R ROLLS
Double R (RAQ) & son (RDJ) sell the Rajneesh’s Rolls-Royces

— Pretty funny premise, and good characterization from Randy.
— Robert’s walk-on is pretty funny, though I recall his character being a little funnier in the subsequent installments of this soon-to-be recurring sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Broken Wings”


AD COUNCIL
Wasting Your Time In Various Ways For No Good Reason

— Nice cinematography in this, especially the opening shot of the energy plant.
— The constant scenery shifts are a good parody of the type of ad cliches from that era.
— The close-up of the spokesman delivering a random “Mmm! That’s cracklin’ good!” is the part that I’ve always remembered the most from this ad.
— Good “wasting your time” tagline at the end.
STARS: ***½


CLICHES
(host) can only offer his daughter (JOC) cliches in her time of need

— Another perfect role for Lithgow tonight. He’s pulling this off well with his cheesy dad-type delivery of cliches in response to everything Joan says to him.
— I got a laugh from Lithgow’s absurd “windshield sneaking up on a bug” analogy.
— Pretty good ending with Lithgow’s character mixing Joan’s name with the name of one of his other daughters.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
DAW discusses Reagan-Gorbachev summit & where the arms race will lead

— Instead of opening with typical news-sounding theme music that all of Dennis’ prior Updates have opened with, this Update opens with the famous music sting from Jaws. Seems to be an early glimpse of what will later go on to be a weekly thing where Dennis’ Updates each begin with a different famous song. I think it’s next season where that becomes a regular thing.
— Great “Punch Mary Lou Retton in the Teeth” lottery bit, which got a big audience reaction.
— I really like the whole bit about the body of Cap’n Crunch being found.
— Dennis is on fire tonight.
— Dennis even managed to save the “president stuffing the turkey” joke from being a typical bad photo-based gag, with his comments to the audience afterwards.
— Good to see return of Damon as Update’s political correspondent.
— Funny line from Damon about “terrorists hijackin’ the planet in the name of Allah”.
— Another amusing line from Damon, this time regarding rapping to women about what’s left of their hair.
— Loved the quick Mod Squad bit Dennis did with Damon after Damon’s commentary.
STARS: ***½


VEGAS NANCY
Nancy Reagan (TES) sings & dances “That Old Black Magic” Vegas-style

— Another President Reagan sketch tonight? And much like the cold opening, I see SNL still can’t be bothered to make Randy look a thing like Reagan.
— At least we get to see Terry’s Nancy this time.
— Interesting concept, with us now going into Nancy’s fantasy sequence.
— Terry’s interactions with the backup dancers during the number is pretty funny.
— Fun turn with Terry-as-Nancy’s skirt-lifting “Fire!” part.
— Amusing touch with Terry clearly being out-of-breath when the Vegas fantasy sequence has ended and we’re shown him as Nancy still sitting next to Randy’s Ron in the White House.
STARS: ***


SAM KINISON
Sam Kinison [real] does stand-up about bitterness caused by his breakup

— The debut of Sam Kinison as SNL’s newest stand-up comedian guest performer.
— I love his intro, explaining how he’s different from SNL’s other stand-up acts by suddenly going into the audience and screaming into one audience member’s face.
— Good interaction with the couple in the front row.
— The “Bloopers, Bleeps and Blunders” bit fell flat.
— I’m getting some good laughs from the whole bit about how Jesus was the only guy who didn’t scare people when coming back from the dead.
— Overall, some laughs here, though this was a lot more hit-and-miss than Kinison’s stand-up material usually is. Reportedly, the dress rehearsal version of this went much better, which would later replace the live version of this in reruns. (I’m reviewing the live version of this episode)
STARS: ***


U.S.S. CAMERON
captain (host) has valid reasons not to give in to mutineers’ demands

— I love the concept of this. Seems like this will be the type of solid writer-ly sketch that I always enjoy.
— I like how writer John Swartzwelder is playing a character with his same last name. I guess the name “Swartzwelder” DOES have a pirate shipmate-type sound to it.
— Love Randy’s off-camera angry yelling outburst to the other sailors.
— Amusing blooper where the rug in front of the door has become bunched up, making it hard for the performers to re-enter the room.
— Funny characterization from Lithgow, who I’m assuming is doing a Charles Laughton imitation. I’m liking the comments Lithgow keeps making about how cold his food is getting.
— Haha, there’s some good unintentional laughs from Randy’s real-life difficulty in closing the door, thanks to the aforementioned bunched-up rug in front of it.
— The ending didn’t work for me, but this overall sketch was pretty solid.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Kyrie”


THE LIMITS OF THE IMAGINATION
fish fry is literally “all-you-can-eat”

— Randy as the Floating Head demonstrating some of the “amazing” things they can do in his universe always makes me laugh in these sketches. There was especially a funny one tonight with him showing how he “can make you change the channel” by disgustingly digging in his nose.
— Good dark turn with Danitra explaining that the advertised “all you can eat” dinner is very literal.
— Funny visual of various tortured customers simultaneously being force-fed fish by waiters.
— Overall, a huge improvement over the Limits Of The Imagination installment from the season premiere.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— I just realized while watching these goodnights that Anthony Michael Hall was nowhere to be seen all night. Probably explains why Robert Downey seemed to get more airtime than usual. This is the first of what will be quite a lot of episodes that Anthony will be missing this season, due to a movie he was filming at the time.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— While this didn’t have quite the fun vibe the preceding episode with Pee-Wee Herman had, this was still our second consecutive solid episode of the season. Aside from the cold opening, every single segment in this episode worked, though the only one that stood out as particularly great was Master Thespian.
— John Lithgow was a great host, and the show utilized him perfectly, giving him the type of roles that played to his strengths as a performer. I’m looking forward to his next two hosting stints from later this decade.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Pee-Wee Herman):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
The solid hosting choices continue, as Tom Hanks makes his hosting debut

Posted on

November 23, 1985 – Pee-Wee Herman / Queen Ida & The Bon Temps Zydeco Band (S11 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
cast watches as host walks a tightrope between World Trade Center towers

— The visual of the Pee-Wee toy model spinning around was really funny.
— It’s amazing how wildly the audience is reacting to every little thing in this, though their energy is infectious.
— Overall, a very simple and short cold opening, but it worked with Pee-Wee.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Novello and Dan Vitale have been added to the credits as featured players


MONOLOGUE
host wears various types of big shoes & dances to “Tequila” & “Fever”

— Very energetic beginning with Pee-Wee making the audience give him a standing ovation.
— Love the “I’m in your living room!” part.
— The “nicknaming the audience” bit is too repetitive, but still cute.
— Oh, here’s his famous Tequila shoe-dancing bit.
— Him awkwardly trying to do the Tequila dance in the big high-heeled shoes is a pretty funny visual.
— Good part with him badmouthing his movie’s biggest competition, Back to the Future.
— An overall very fun, charming, and energetic monologue. Paul Reubens has such an impressive way of captivating audiences with this character.
STARS: ****


SAY NO TO THE ARMY
(AMH) says “no” to Army despite (RDJ) & (Bruce McCulloch) peer pressure

— Young Bruce McCulloch!
— Meh at the “say no to the army” twist, after such a long build-up. I know I’m in the minority, but I never cared for this ad. I’ve always felt the army twist was weak.
— I did find this ad well-filmed, though, perfectly capturing the look and vibe of then-contemporary mid-80s anti-drug PSAs.
STARS: **


LOCKER ROOM
(RAQ) is interested in a hooker, but he can’t figure out how to tell host

— Pee-Wee’s various bad, far-fetched guesses as to what Randy’s trying to hint at him are quite fun.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***


PEE-WEE’S THANKSGIVING SPECIAL
Brooke Shields (JOC) & Diana Ross (TES) on host’s Thanksgiving Special

— Fun idea.
— Oh my god at the initial sight of Terry as Diana Ross.
— I admit, though, Terry is actually really funny in this role.
— It’s often said that you can see former cast member Robin Duke in the studio audience during Terry’s Diana Ross number. I’ve never been able to spot her during my past viewings of this sketch, but let’s see if I have better luck this time.
— Ah, THERE’S Robin! (you can see her in the bottom row of audience members in the third screencap above) Feels weird seeing her in this context, but it’s nice to see her on SNL again in any capacity.
— Hilarious brief scene with Anthony and Robert as Hall and Oates. Probably the first time all season Anthony gave me a legitimate laugh.
— This sketch wasn’t as long as I had remembered it being.
STARS: ***½


THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
dealing with runway drool; depression expert (RAQ)

— This has ALREADY become recurring after only one episode.
— Good part with Nora showcasing various faces in the Italian magazine. Nora has a way of making the littlest things she says as this character funny.
— Even better part with Nora’s “drool on the runway” demonstration.
— Some good laughs from Randy’s overly depressed demeanor. His facial expressions alone are really cracking me up.
STARS: ***½


DIE FOREIGNER DIE!
a gun-filled Sylvester Stallone & Chuck Norris movie

— LOL at the title of the film.
— I like the hyped-up, fast-paced vibe of this.
— The scrolling list of foreign nationalities who will be killed in the film has some laughs, especially “Indians [both kinds]”.
STARS: ***


JAIL CELL
cellmates Tommy Flanagan & host trade fibs while waiting to be bailed out

— Probably the role I most remember Dan Vitale for, which still isn’t saying much as it’s the usual type of un-noteworthy role he was always stuck with. This sketch probably contains most lines he ever had in a single sketch, however.
— Tommy Flanagan is another character tonight making its return after debuting in just the last episode.
— I like how Pee-Wee’s joining in on the false storytelling.
— Good part with Flanagan saying “I saw that accident” in response to Pee-Wee’s obvious made-up story about an accident.
— Funny how Pee-Wee is now filling in the blanks in Flanagan’s story, which is reminiscent of the Willie and Frankie sketches that Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest did the previous season.
— Overall, probably one of the more memorable Tommy Flanagan sketches ever.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
footage of Nancy Reagan & Raisa Gorbachev at Wardrobe Limitation Talks
DEM critiques David Bowie & Mick Jagger in “Dancin’ In The Street” video
Father Guido Sarducci declares schism- he’s People’s Catholic Church pope

 

— Troll Dolls existed in 1985? I thought they weren’t around until my childhood in the 90s, where they were EVERYWHERE.
— The Cherry Coke joke got a very interesting reaction from the crowd.
— I love the various ways Dennis always plays off the audience’s reactions.
— Very promising idea of Dennis deconstructing the Jagger/Bowie “Dancing In The Street” music video.
— I absolutely LOVED Dennis’ overall “Dancing In The Street” takedown, which is probably the most Dennis Miller-esque we’ve seen Dennis in his SNL tenure so far.
— Father Guido Sarducci makes his first Weekend Update appearance in years.
— Sarducci’s whole People’s Catholic Church bit is fairly funny. This is where we get his (temporary) name change into Maurice, which ends up carrying over into a later episode from this season.
— The bit with Sarducci explaining individual pieces of the pope costume is kinda dragging, though there’s some laughs from the portion with him talking about the female version of the costume
— I liked Dennis telling Sarducci he wants to be known as “Pope Shecky”.
STARS: ***


DINOSAUR TOWN
host looks for a mouse in a bottle of Coke to save (RAQ)’s Dinosaur Town

 

–Funny how Randy’s sarcastic, half-hearted suggestion to find a bottle of Coke with a mouse in it is being taken so seriously.
— I’m enjoying the silliness of this whole sketch.
— LOL at Damon’s performance as a pimp. Though I have to ask, what’s with this season constantly pairing Damon and Anthony together as urban characters?
— I liked the line from Anthony trying to compensate for the lack of a Coke containing a mouse by offering similar oddities: a Big Mac with some car keys in it, and a cream soda bottle with a cigar butt.
— Terry as an exec professionally displaying a suitcase containing “a million billion zillion “ dollars is pretty funny.
— Overall, charming execution of such a silly idea. This was another sketch that could only work in a Pee-Wee Herman-hosted episode.
STARS: ***½


LOVE LETTER
host’s love for his teacher Miss Patterson (JOC) is reciprocated

— Pee-Wee’s passion in this is pretty funny to watch.
— Wow, strange but interesting turn with Joan’s dark “love” monologue.
— An overall nicely done sketch with a softer tone. Easily Joan’s best performance so far this season.
STARS: ***


PREGNANCY TIPS
Cabrini Green gives expectant mothers tips on smoking, alcohol, drugs

— Another sketch with Danitra’s Cabrini Green delivering a message from the home base stage.
— Pretty funny premise, advising expectant mothers on what kind of cigarettes and booze their fetus will prefer.
— This ended up being another unusually short Cabrini Green sketch, but it was still pretty good for what it was.
STARS: ***


MONEY MAGNETISM SEMINAR
Hal Fisher’s (RAQ) Money Magnet Method- real estate & motivated sellers

— Randy is dead-on in his portrayal of a shady real estate promoter, but there haven’t been ANY laughs in this sketch so far.
— Okay, the comment just now about mentally incompetent people made me laugh.
— Robert’s look in his initial walk-on made it seem like his segment was going to have promise, but it ended up not containing any comedic lines.
— Overall, what exactly was the joke of this sketch? They might as well have just played a tape of a real get-rich-quick seminar, and the result would’ve been almost exactly the same.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS
host & cast sing & dance to “Sex Machine”

— A great deviation from the normal goodnights, having Pee-Wee and the cast dance to Sex Machine.
— Ha, right before the goodnights cut off early in the live version I’m reviewing, you can see an uncooperative Damon ducking out of the musical number by leaving through the doors on the stage. I guess he’s the Norm Macdonald of this season when it comes to having an aversion to participating in full-cast musical numbers.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Our first successful episode of the season. This episode was very fun, no doubt due to Pee-Wee Herman, who gave the show a huge boost. One of those rare experimental episodes, where letting the host take over the show and make it their own actually works. The overall episode had plenty of solid and memorable pieces, despite a (very) few glimpses of the weak writing we’ve often been seeing this season, like that baffling seminar sketch at the end.
— The musical guest’s performances were removed from the copy I reviewed of this episode, which is why there were no mentions of them during my actual review.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chevy Chase):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
John Lithgow