October 31, 1992 – Catherine O’Hara / 10,000 Maniacs (S18 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) talks about dirty tricks played on him by the GOP

— A big laugh from the altered photo of Perot’s daughter making out with Madonna.
— Perot’s far-fetched story about engaging in combat with four men and a talking dog is really funny.
— Another funny absurd story from Perot, this time with him talking about a plot by the republicans to yank out his family’s dental work and replace it with transmitters.
— I’m cracking up at Dana-as-Perot’s various “You are not listening!”-type responses to the reporters.
— Good meta ending with Dana’s Perot and Rob going back and forth on how the show’s going to start if Perot doesn’t say “Live from New York…”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Nice Halloween costume that Catherine makes her entrance in.
— Funny reveal that she put a real arrow through her head, mistakenly thinking that’s what Steve Martin did back in the day.
— Good punchline to Catherine’s scary Halloween story.
STARS: ***½


ASS DON’T SMELL
an anonymous gift of Ass Don’t Smell gives (KEN) a scent-free butt

— A huge laugh from Kevin finding a can of Ass Don’t Smell on his desk, as a “gift” from an anonymous co-worker. I also liked Kevin’s “Maybe somebody’s trying to tell me something” response to that.
— Funny montage of Kevin’s unsuccessful attempts at getting rid of his scent.
— Tim: “But your ass doesn’t smell!” Kevin (self-satisfied, looking into the camera) “Exactly.”
— Overall, a very low-brow concept, but was executed in a very funny and solid way.
STARS: ****


NANNY GREENWOOD
(PHH) & siblings grow weary of Nanny Greenwood’s (host) cloying songs

— A perfect role for Catherine.
— Some good laughs from Nanny Greenwood breaking out into a sappy kiddie jingle for every situation, much to the others’ increasing frustration.
— I love Nanny Greenwood returning while singing an inappropriately upbeat song with a guitar during Julia’s very emotional reveal that her husband left her two months ago.
— Phil’s suddenly angry outburst to Nanny Greenwood is great.
— Excellent out-of-left-field turn with a gunshot suddenly being heard from the other room, making you think Nanny Greenwood committed suicide (after the others have finally told her they’re sick of her songs), only for her to then slowly reveal through a song that she only pretended to shoot herself.
— I recall hearing this sketch was written by former SNL writer Conan O’Brien along with somebody else (I forget who).
STARS: ****


COPY MACHINE
Richard Laymer does his thing for Halloween costume-wearing co-workers

— Our first Richmeister sketch of the season.
— Kevin entering as a scantily-clad Madonna is hilarious.
— The various Halloween costumes are providing a pretty fun change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— Good turn with the grim reaper showing up to take Richmeister away.
— Funny reveal that Richmeister’s death was caused by radiation from the copy machine, a fate that Richmeister notes is ironic.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

on dropping your keys in lava
— Not included in my copy of this episode.


MY DINNER WITH SISTER SOULJAH
(TIM) ignores Sister Souljah (ELC)’s black-power tirades

— I have no idea who Sister Souljah is, and Ellen’s performance as her isn’t doing a thing for me.
— Tim’s out-of-place light-hearted responses are a pretty funny contrast to Souljah’s stern, militant, black-power statements, with Tim being his usual likable self.
— Speaking of Tim, man, what a rough season the poor guy has been having so far, even moreso than his preceding two seasons before this. Out of the five episodes so far this season, Tim spent two of them not being in ANY sketches (Nicolas Cage and Christoper Walken), and in the three episodes that he HAS appeared in, he’s only been used in straight roles, all of them being just small parts until his big role here. At least his straight role in this sketch is actually providing laughs, though.
— A lot of Madonna references in tonight’s episode so far. I know her “Sex” book was huge at the time, but it feels kinda weird seeing her mentioned THIS prominently throughout an SNL episode that has nothing to do with her directly.
— David as a waiter got a good laugh with his reaction to a statement Sister Souljah made towards him.
— Wow, that’s it? The sketch is already over?
— Despite the laughs that Tim and David provided as straight men, I didn’t care much for this sketch as a whole. Ellen’s performance brought it down for me and something about the writing felt kinda underdeveloped, though I might’ve appreciated Ellen’s performance more if I was familiar with who she was playing.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “These Are Our Days”


WEEKEND UPDATE
while reviewing Madonna’s book Sex, CSR decries lack of good black porno
ADS offers some more low-cost Halloween costume ideas

— Lots of pretty good presidential election-related jokes tonight, with this being the final episode before Election Day.
— Yikes, Kevin’s delivery of the Norman Schwarzkopf joke was awkward as hell. It looked like he wasn’t even sure of half the words he was reading there. Yet another example of how his flubbiness as an Update anchor can drive me nuts.
— More Madonna references tonight, with Rock’s commentary focusing on her.
— Rock is getting lots of laughs ranting about how bad black porno magazines are, especially his line about seeing a big bullet wound in one magazine model’s ass.
— Adam returns for his second annual Halloween costume Update commentary.
— Hmm, Adam suggests that it’s not too late right now for trick-or-treaters to try to get some more candy. Heh, it must’ve been around 12:15 by this time. Who the hell goes trick-or-treating that late? I know I’d be pissed if some idiot rang my doorbell that late at night on Halloween while yelling “Trick or treat!”
— Adam’s always-funny cheap costume suggestions are particularly funny tonight, and have the usual goofy charm. Amazing how Adam has the ability to get so many laughs out of such a simplistic premise.
— I’m surprised Adam’s commentary didn’t end with Kevin displaying a cheap costume of his own and Adam humbly responding “You have topped me again, Kevin Nealon!” I thought it was a tradition for all of his Halloween costume Update commentaries to end that way except for the first one.
— Ah, it turns out that at the very end of this Update (a good while after Adam has left), we DO end up seeing Kevin displaying his own cheap costume, right before the camera fades to black (screencap below).

STARS: ***½


PUMPING UP HALLOWEEN WITH HANS & FRANZ
Hans & Franz belittle trick-or-treaters’ costumes

— Wow, we haven’t these characters in an entire year. Feels odd seeing them again after such a long hiatus. This ends up being their final appearance during Dana’s tenure as a cast member.
— The “candy” that Hans and Franz hand out to trick-or-treating kids, like metabolic bulk enhancer, is pretty funny.
— An overall mildly funny installment, but nothing special, and a noticeable step down from Hans and Franz’s usual work. Not even the Halloween aspect could breathe much life into a recurring sketch that had already run its course by this point. Tonight’s sketch was at least not as depressing as Hans and Franz’s last appearance before tonight, where I witnessed their popularity dying right before my eyes.
STARS: **½


PROUD CANADIANS
via song, Canadians PHH & host gloat about Toronto’s World Series victory

— Interesting piece, and a nice pairing of real-life canucks Phil and Catherine. I love seeing these two sketch comedy greats being paired together.
— Pretty funny lyrics from Phil and Catherine, especially their various criticisms of America.
— Overall, not a particularly hilarious piece, but certainly an entertaining and charming musical number with funny lyrics.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on really knowing what sensuality is
— Not included in my copy of this episode.


DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart tells a scary story with a happy ending

— Ha, yet ANOTHER sketch tonight that references Madonna. It would probably be faster to list off the sketches tonight that DIDN’T mention her.
— I liked the bit with Stuart saying he originally wanted to dress as a feeling for Halloween.
— Funny mention of him handing out rice cakes to trick-or-treaters.
— His idea of a “scary” story has provided a good laugh.
STARS: ***½


CERAMIC MUGS
after years of drinking from Mexican mugs, (host) exhibits brain decay

— When Catherine asks why the occupation of bond analyst sounds familiar, I liked Phil’s mildly-annoyed-but-patient delivery of “Well, honey… that’s what you do.”
— Meh, the constant forgetfulness of Catherine’s character isn’t that funny. Not even a true comedy pro like Catherine can do much for this material.
— Rob is stealing the sketch with his funny direct-to-camera bit.
— The whole ceramic mug poisoning twist was okay, but wasn’t funny enough to redeem this sketch as a whole.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Candy Everybody Wants”


AFTER THE HALLOWEEN PARTY
Marilyn Monroe-costumed (host) wakes up next to JFK doppelganger (KEN)

— Very interesting structure to this.
— Some really good silent acting from Catherine, and she’s helping give this sketch a slice-of-life feel.
— Very busy night for Kevin in this episode. He’s appeared in almost every single sketch.
— I liked Kevin’s “Thank god I still have my spleen.”
— The Madonna theme throughout tonight’s episode concludes with Kevin humorously mistaking Catherine’s Marilyn Monroe costume for a Madonna costume.
— The ending with Catherine laying against the door, then very slowly sliding down to the floor, and then sobbing was VERY odd and way too drawn-out. It also took the audience an unusually long time to applaud at the end. Turns out, there’s an interesting backstory to this sketch’s ending, which explains why it was so painfully awkward. According to Catherine in this article, the original ending of this sketch was apparently shortened after dress rehearsal and the director was now supposed to fade the sketch to black after Kevin exited. However, the director apparently didn’t read the alterations made to the script for this sketch and just kept the sketch going after Kevin’s exit, leaving a panicked Catherine on the air with no further material to work with and a silent studio audience. Not knowing what to do, Catherine leaned against the door on the set to signal the director to fade the screen to black and cue the “applause” sign, but nope, didn’t work. Then Catherine very slowly slid down to the floor as another way of hinting to the director that the sketch is over, but that STILL didn’t work. All of this is the reason why after Catherine finishes sliding to the ground and then begins sobbing (in character) in a slumped-over posture, there’s such a long pause before the audience finally applauds and the sketch finally fades to black.
— I recall hearing that some local NBC affiliates prematurely cut this sketch off long before the aforementioned painfully awkward ending, because the show had run long.
— In reruns of this episode, this sketch ends like it was supposed to, with Kevin exiting.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Wow, this must be the shortest goodnights in SNL history. It lasted literally all of ONE SECOND and got cut off before Catherine even said anything. What you see in the above screencap is pretty much all that aired of these goodnights. Obviously, the mishap at the end of the last sketch caused the show to run long and left no time for the goodnights.
— I recall that in the full version of these goodnights shown in reruns, Catherine spits out her goodnights speech in rapid-fire speed in an attempt to beat the clock, and then says in kind of a mock-panicked manner “I wish I had time to explaaiiiinnn!”, which must be referring to how she wanted to explain to us what went wrong during the last sketch, but couldn’t because the show didn’t have enough time.


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, though felt a little average for this season’s standards. Only a few things tonight stood out to me as particularly great, and there were also a few weak spots here and there. Still an enjoyable show as a whole. And the reliable Catherine O’Hara helped give a fun vibe to this episode, much like her first hosting stint. Another fun aspect to this episode was the heavy Halloween theme throughout the night. (Really makes you wonder why after this episode, SNL would stop doing live episodes on the Halloweens that happen to fall on a Saturday) There’s also that weird Madonna theme that I kept pointing out throughout the review……..


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Michael Keaton

February 27, 1988 – Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs (S13 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- USA Olympic skier (host) isn’t very pumped

— During their simulated pummeling, I like how Hans and Franz are rapidly repeating “pummela pummela pummela” over and over.
— Memorable part with Hans and Franz’s chests moving in unison.
— I got an unintentional laugh from how the box of “Weaties” is noticeably spelled without the “h”. (last screencap above) I’m assuming that’s for copyright reasons, kinda like how when some of the fake ads from the Ebersol era would use real brand names, they’d spell it slightly differently (e.g. Buddweiser, Foldger’s Crystals).
— Overall, not too bad in itself, but to be honest, I’m starting to get kinda tired of these characters. Until doing this SNL project of mine, I never realized how one-note Hans and Franz are. After a few installments, you start to realize that their shtick isn’t all THAT funny. Did we need to see these one-note characters so frequently this season?
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host whistles a cowboy song

— Interesting turn this has taken, with the home base stage being darkened and stagehands putting up western-like set pieces as Judge describes a story.
— This whistling song kinda has a charm, but it’s going on far too long for my likes. Some of the brief stuff Judge is doing in between the whistling is fairly funny, though.
STARS: **


WILSON TRAP DOORS
they reliably remove unwanted people from your office

 

— Even though I’ve never seen tonight’s episode before, I’m very familiar with this fake ad. I must’ve seen this in one of the “SNL Goes Commercial” compilation specials.
— Love Jon’s nervous smile when Phil looks at him after noticing his failed trap door attempt.
— Dana’s scream when falling down the trap door was very funny.
— Excellent part with an innocent guy suddenly crashing leg-first through the floor while he was casually walking towards Jon’s desk. I also love how Jon angrily bangs his fists on his desk during that part.
— This commercial is freakin’ hilarious so far.
— Great ending with Kevin, and I absolutely LOVED his scream when falling down the trap door. That scream of his had me howling.
— This overall commercial has always been one of my absolute favorite SNL fake ads of all-time, and is usually one of the first things that come to mind whenever I think of how great the fake ads in this era were.
STARS: *****


CHURCH CHAT
televangelists Pat Robertson (ALF) & Jimmy Swaggart (PHH)

— Good to see Al Franken’s funny Pat Robertson impression back. That smile alone always cracks me up.
— Pat Robertson: “Hitler’s brain is being kept alive in Paraguay.”
— Very funny entrance from Phil as an over-the-top crying Jimmy Swaggart.
— Some really great lines from Church Lady towards Swaggart.
— Phil’s performance is hilarious.
— The back-and-forths between Robertson and Swaggart are cracking me up.
— The “If You’re Happy and You Know It” number was an okay ending to the sketch.
STARS: ****½


JORGE GARCIA, NICE GUY DICTATOR
absolute power hasn’t corrupted Jorge Garcia, Nice Guy Dictator (host)

— They seem to like doing this type of sketch in this late 80s/early 90s era. In the preceding season 12, John Lithgow had that Reverend Dwight Henderson, World’s Meanest Methodist Minister sketch, and several years later, Tim Robbins stars in a (terrible) sketch titled Sweet Jimmy, The World’s Nicest Pimp.
— I liked Judge’s modest “sorry” after angrily yelling “SILENCE!”
— I got a laugh from Judge sternly ordering his soldiers to give Phil a ride home.
— This sketch is too slow-paced for my likes.
— Very weak and abrupt ending.
— This overall sketch as a whole didn’t work for me, despite some laughs early on.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Like the Weather”


WEEKEND UPDATE
electrical storm cuts one-man mobile uplink unit ALF’s Florida report

— Nice addition of a neck brace on one-man mobile uplink unit Al Franken.
— Excellent sight gag with Al suddenly getting struck by lightning.
— I already like this idea of A. Whitney doing an analysis of each of this year’s presidential candidates, where I can already tell there’s going to be some good lines.
— Very good bit about A. Whitney and his daughter each coming up with a lie against his wife.
STARS: ***½


DEREGULATED AIRLINE
(host) flies on a filthy, crime-ridden post-deregulation airline

— This kinda reminds me of the tobacco-spitting airline sketch from the previous season’s Garry Shandling episode.
— Some really good visuals in this sketch.
— Good part with Jan’s stewardess character suddenly tearing open her blouse when flirting with Judge.
— Decent ending with Jon as a preacher touting a bible.
STARS: ***


THE COP & THE PROSTITUTE
unlikely couple has career clash

— Judge’s cop being overly accepting towards Victoria’s profession is fairly funny so far.
— Not sure I care for where the rest of this sketch has been going.
— Overall, the audience seemed really tickled by the normalcy that Judge and Victoria’s odd relationship was being treated with, but I found myself fairly bored throughout this.
STARS: **


WHEN GREAT MINDS MEET
temporally disparate historical figures waste time

— The set-up of this reminds me of a really bad sketch the show would do several years later with Jeff Goldblum, titled History’s Great Over-Thinkers, where Goldblum tries to interview a panel of important historical figures like Leonardo DaVinci and Thomas Edison.
— I like how this is turning into the historical guests trying to get each other’s names straight.
— Some good laughs from the guests’ confusion whenever one guest casually mentions something that wasn’t around yet in the other guests’ respective time periods.
— I love Jon’s frustration.
— Good sketch overall. This was pretty much a far better version of the later History’s Great Over-Thinkers. Or more accurately, I should say History’s Great Over-Thinkers was a much worse version of this earlier sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s the Matter Here”


PIRATES
pirates (KEN) & (DAC) prefer birds other than parrots on their shoulders

— I love the visual of Dana and Kevin’s pirates having a penguin and swan on their shoulder instead of a parrot.
— Hilarious walk-on from Judge, with his shoulder having a bird perch with three small parakeets on it.
— I liked this overall sketch a lot. Something about the escalating silliness of it embodied what I love about this era of SNL.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Considering this ends up being the unintended final episode of the season due to a writers’ strike, this was not the best way for the season to end. There were still some really good things tonight, particularly a strong installment of Church Chat, but I felt the weaker segments weighed down the show quite a bit. Still, I found more good than bad in this overall episode; I just wish this season could’ve gone out with more of a bang.
— Season 13 as a whole continued the growth of this still-somewhat-new era, but the season was honestly not quite as strong as I had been expecting. I was kinda surprised to see that it was a little more on the average side than I had remembered. A majority of the episodes were just good or average, not great. Aside from Paul Simon and Tom Hanks, there weren’t any episodes that I feel stand out as classics or near-classics. However, on the other hand, there at least weren’t any particularly terrible episodes either. Angie Dickinson is probably my least favorite episode of the season by default, and even that episode was merely forgettable rather than outright weak. There’s plenty of things to like about this overall season, but much like the preceding season 12, it feels like SNL is still taking steps towards the full potential that this era eventually reaches.


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


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1986-87)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
After a long writers’ strike and summer break, SNL finally makes its return, in what I feel is possibly SNL’s greatest season EVER. Season 14 kicks off with host…… Tom Hanks?!?! Wow, didn’t we literally just see him host? I’m certainly not complaining, though. He’s indeed THAT good to bring back so soon.