Tag: Al Jarreau

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February 10, 1990 – Quincy Jones / (many musical guests) (S15 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- a muscle serenade for Valentine’s Day

— Yet another deviation from the usual Hans and Franz formula.
— Hans and Franz singing famous songs altered to have a muscle theme is decent, especially the song “Someone Left His Buttocks in the Rain”.
— Pretty short cold opening overall. I’m surprised they didn’t do more with this than just having the characters sing a few quick songs.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— We get a record-high number of musical guests tonight; too many to include in the header of this review. (For anyone curious of who the musical guests are, they’re listed in the tags at the end of the review) In fact, there’s SO many musical guests that Don Pardo has a lot of trouble getting through all the names, announcing them too slowly and awkwardly, and messing up some of their names. He announces Melle Mel as “Melanie Mel”, and announces Quincy D III (which is supposed to be pronounced “Quincy D 3”) as “Quincy D the 3rd”. SNL would later fix all this in reruns by using a different take where Pardo announces all the musical guests’ names quickly and without any mistakes.


MONOLOGUE
host conducts SNL Band in “Manteca” to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s freedom

— Hmm, the home base stage looks a bit different, with the walls on the left and right side gone, giving the stage a much wider look and overlapping it with the musical guest stage. There’s also a much larger number of SNL Band members than usual (looking more like a full orchestra than a band), which probably explains why the SNL theme music had a bit of a different sound tonight.
— Not any comedy here. We get Quincy conducting the enlarged SNL Band in a nice instrumental to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
— Okay, they threw in a little joke at the end just now, with Quincy admitting he lied about a few things at the beginning of the monologue, mainly about how he’s happy to be here. Turns out he DOESN’T want to be here; he just cares about Mandela’s freedom. Hmm. It remains to be seen whether that comment was just a good-natured joke or 100% genuine.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


CENTURY 21 MARRIAGE COUNSELORS
relationship advice has been franchised

— Here comes a fake ad that would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a cut dress rehearsal piece with Quincy Jones advertising an album of himself performing music scores from movies.
— The employees’ odd-looking bright green suits are making me laugh, though I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be funny.
— For the second time in the last three episodes, Victoria makes her only appearance of the night in a pre-taped commercial. She didn’t even have any lines in this one! I know Victoria isn’t the most versatile performer, especially when compared to her two female castmates, but I still feel bad for her getting shut out of so many live shows lately.
— This overall commercial had a fairly clever idea, but the result of it was kinda forgettable.
STARS: **½


DRIVING MISS DAISY
after Hoke (host) quits, Toonces takes over Driving Miss Daisy (JAH)

— I liked Quincy’s long-winded insult to Miss Daisy that started with “old, ugly, dried-up camel…”.
— Funny how Quincy gets up and leaves while the car is still driving, causing the car to crash off the cliff with Miss Daisy still inside.
— Ha, I love how in the scene immediately after the aforementioned crash, we’re shown a completely unharmed and casual Miss Daisy in her bedroom.
— Interesting seeing Phil playing Dan Aykroyd’s character from the real Driving Miss Daisy.
— Great reveal of Toonces being Miss Daisy’s new driver.
— While nothing unexpected or exciting happened for the remainder of the sketch after the initial reveal of Toonces as the new driver, this still provided reliable laughs as usual.
STARS: ***½


THE BOB WALTMAN SPECIAL
Marion Barry (host) & Ronald Reagan (PHH) cry

 

— Great to see this back.
— I forgot to mention this in my review of this sketch’s debut the previous season, but I found out a few months ago that these sketches are supposed to be a parody of Barbara Walters, right down to the name (Bob Waltman). I was surprised to learn that, because I had always assumed from these sketches that Bob Waltman was a real person. Heh, then again, I’m the same guy who also thought Referee Pitman was a real person.
— I always love Nora’s look as Leona Helmsley.
— Very funny how Waltman makes Helmsley finally bust out in tears by mentioning she recently had to fly coach.
— Great touch with Quincy’s Marion Barry doing a cocaine-snorting motion while sniffling during his crying.
— Loved how the Tammy Faye Bakker interview IMMEDIATELY began with her breaking out in tears (complete with the usual running mascara) without even being emotionally prompted by Waltman, resulting in Waltman giving his usual goofy smile into the camera while also confusedly shrugging his shoulders.
— Funny use of tear gas to make Phil’s Reagan cry.
STARS: ****


JAZZ PERSPECTIF
obsequious hipsters (DAC) & (JOL) idolize “le Q” host

— In the copy I’m reviewing of the live version of this episode, the beginning of this sketch is missing due to technical glitches the local NBC affiliate was having during the preceding commercial break.
— Jon and Dana are hilarious as the Frenchmen hosts, and I like how they call Quincy “Le Q”.
— You can tell Quincy is genuinely amused during this sketch.
— Dana and Jon’s increasingly insane requests to Quincy are cracking me up, especially Jon eating a plate that Quincy ate off earlier, and Dana holding Quincy’s lips while Quincy’s telling a story.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “Prologue (2Q’s Rap)” & “Back On The Block”


WEEKEND UPDATE
DOP tells what the Gotti jury has won for finding the mob boss not guilty

— Odd moment where before doing one particular joke, Dennis confusedly pauses for a long time, then tells someone off-camera “That’s not the right joke, we gotta do THIS joke”.
— The whole bit with Don Pardo doing a gameshow-type announcing of what the Gotti jury won wasn’t all that great and didn’t work for me.
— The brief bit with Dennis revealing that his rap name is also Dennis Miller bombed with the audience.
— What was with Dennis half-assing his usually-energetic arm-swipe when doing his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move after his sign-off? Reminds me of how lethargic he would come off in quite a number of Updates from the second half of his final season next year, where you could tell his heart wasn’t into it anymore and he was ready to leave.
— No guest commentaries tonight?
— Overall, yikes, an unusually rough Update from the Dennis Miller era. Easily one of his weakest.
STARS: **


CROWN HEIGHTS
reverend (host) & rabbi (JOL) try to repair a rift between blacks & Jews

— Quincy Jones in that wig is a pretty funny sight.
— I liked the camera briefly cutting to the rappers just sitting with stone-faced expressions after Jon makes a corny joke.
— After a very dull and uninteresting first half, this sketch has gotten a little better with the rappers performing a hilarious anti-Italians rap.
STARS: **


SWIMSUIT ISSUE
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein peruse Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue

— Funny gag with Frankenstein quickly “clearing” the table by just tipping it over.
— As the guys are looking at one particular page in the swimsuit magazine, I liked Tarzan’s line “Jane had body like that once, before boy.”
— Another funny line, with Tonto responding to seeing a picture of a 6’1 model by saying “Tonto live on her like reservation.”
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & musical guests perform “The Verb To Be” & “Wee B. Dooinit”


SOVIET CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Soviet Central Committee rubber-stamps Gorbachev’s (PHH) wild proposals

— Here comes ANOTHER sketch tonight that would later be removed from reruns. This would be replaced in reruns with something cut after dress rehearsal: a semi-dramatic, semi-musical piece with Quincy as a therapist and Phil as a patient pouring his heart out to the therapist.
— Some of the bizarre proposals Phil’s Gorbachev are making are kinda chuckleworthy, but the execution of this sketch has been coming off way too dull and repetitive so far.
— Okay, I did finally get a genuine laugh just now, with Gorbachev pulling a trick by switching the order of “all opposed” and “all in favor”.
— Bah, this is now just turning into a whole bunch of cheap poop jokes. What the hell?
— The explosion ending didn’t do anything for me.
— Overall, oof. Let’s just say I can definitely see why they would later cut this sketch in reruns. The therapist sketch that replaces this is FAR better.
— I also wonder if the reason they replace both this sketch and the Century 21 Marriage Counselors commercial is to include Quincy Jones in the show more, as he is pretty much non-existent in the last quarter of the live version of this episode.
STARS: *½


DIALS & GAUGES
House Committee On Dials & Gauges questions (KEN) about unsafe controls

 

— Hilarious beginning with Dana’s sinister laughing when speeding up the ferris wheel to an insanely-high level.
— Love the randomness of Kevin’s last name being Amalgamated.
— The increasingly-ridiculous dangerous levels on the controls that are displayed are really funny.
— Hoo, boy, the audience is DEAD SILENT during this great sketch. The awful Gorbachev sketch that preceded this probably killed all the audience’s energy.
— Nora: “Did you make this gauge here, which controls the temperature in this room?” Kevin: “For the purpose of this sketch, yes.”
— Hilarious how Nora asking Kevin “Look around you; do you see any cannibals in this room?” results in Kevin literally looking around the room for a long time, which Nora finally stops by telling him it was just a rhetorical question.
— Solid ending with the electric chair.
— When I was younger, I used to think this overall sketch was weak, due to the slow pacing and the dead audience, but I can appreciate this sketch a lot more now. There were so many funny things going on here, the bizarre humor is right up my alley, Kevin and Nora’s dead-serious performances complimented the material nicely, and this sketch comes off very welcome when compared to some of the dull sketches from earlier tonight.
STARS: ****


WE ARE WORLD
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “We Are The World”

— Very funny as always.
— Nice touch with them having headphones on just like the real “We Are the World” artists.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Sadly, SNL’s perfect long streak of good episodes since the beginning of season 14 has ended tonight, as we have our first episode that I was underwhelmed by since season 13. That’s not to say this was a flat-out bad episode, but the comedy portions as a whole were VERY mixed and featured a lot more weak material than we’re used to seeing these last two seasons. Even Weekend Update had an off night and seemed to be the point where this episode truly started falling apart, though they eventually bounced back nicely at the end with two very solid pieces to close the show (Dials & Gauges and We Are World). So, again, not an outright bad episode, but a lesser one from this era. This episode comes off a little better if you watch the rerun version, due to the superior sketch replacements mentioned earlier in the review.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Hanks / Aerosmith

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March 17, 1984 – Billy Crystal / Al Jarreau (S9 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
on St. Patrick’s day, Siobhan Cahill finds Purim revelers; Ed Koch cameo

   

— Some really good laughs from Gary whole’s drunk Purim talk.
— I didn’t get who Julia and Brad are dressed as, even though the audience sure seemed to.
— Good characterization from Tim.
— Mayor Ed Koch is pretty funny in his cameo here.
— An okay twist on “Live from New York…”
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
BIC does stand-up about what it was like to go through puberty

    

— You know it’s 1984 when you see Billy Crystal in black leather pants.
— Nice callback to the Purim theme of the cold opening.
— I really liked him explaining the difference between the class clown and the class comedian.
— Love the deep “NOW NOW NOW” voice he’s using to represent his teenage glands.
— Good ending with the dog comment.
— A strong stand-up monologue overall.
STARS: ****


HUNG LIKE ME
TV movie has Pee Wee Herman (MAG) as woman dressed as a man

  

— I like the ominous background music being played during Mary’s male transformation.
— Funny reveal that Mary’s male transformation ends up being Pee Wee Herman.
— Love the “Hung Like Me” title.
STARS: ***


WINSTON UNIVERSITY
representative of fake college (BIC) makes secret pitch to high schoolers

     

— Love the sudden turn this has taken as soon as Robin’s teacher character has left.
— I’m really liking this, and the repeated “We will find you and we will kill you” are cracking me up.
— Julia’s hairstyle is looking kinda Elaine Benes-esque.
— Overall, yet another strong Andy Breckman-written sketch (special thanks to commenter Dkrom for letting me know Breckman wrote this).
STARS: ****


FAMILY IN THE ATTIC
a couple realizes they forgot to tell people hiding in attic WWII’s over

    

— The fact that right at the beginning, we’re informed this sketch takes place in 1983 despite the fact that tonight’s episode is from 1984 makes it obvious this is one of those Eddie Murphy sketches that was taped right before this season started.
— Strange moment with a “These are Dutch accents if you want to know” disclaimer showing up on the bottom of the screen. Seemed kinda pointless.
— Great realization from Tim and Robin that nobody ever let out the Jewish family hiding in their attic since WWII.
— Another instance of a then-current SNL writer’s last name being used in a sketch, with Eddie’s character in this being named Mr. Breckman.
— Eddie’s old jew voice is coming off even funnier than usual in this.
— Mary talking about her puberty-induced horniness is pretty funny. I almost expected a “NOW NOW NOW” callback, before I remembered this sketch was taped long before tonight’s episode.
— I like Eddie’s disappointment whenever he opens a platter of food given to him.
— The “To hell with zem” ending was good.
STARS: ***


SAMMY & REAGAN
Ronald Reagan (JOP) asks Sammy Davis Jr. (BIC) to hug Democratic rivals

   

— The debut of Billy’s Sammy Davis Jr. impression, which would go on to become one of his most remembered roles during his upcoming stint as a cast member.
— I like Billy’s Sammy explaining that as a black and a jew, he’s conflicted on whether or not to support Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson’s presidential campaign.
— An overall pretty good sketch, and Joe and Billy played well off of each other.
STARS: ***½


UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE
Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer on Unanswered Questions of the Universe

— I love the “Who was Casper the Friendly Ghost before he died” question, as well as Tim’s answer (Wally Cox).
— The armpit-shaving part was awful.
— I like the “Why don’t sheep shrink in a rainstorm?” question, though Tim’s answer to it left a lot to be desired.
— Tim asking whatever happened to “I Will Survive” singer Gloria Gaynor is pretty funny.
— A reference to the “Where’s the beef?” craze from this time period.
— A hit-and-miss sketch overall.
STARS: **½


BAD CAREER MOVES
Herve Villechaise (BIC) says why he quit Fantasy Island

— Pretty funny visual of Billy as Herve Villachaize (however you spell it), even if that makes this yet another ethnic role for Billy tonight, as well as his second sketch appearance in a row wearing dark make-up. This is all something I’d better get used to, as we’re going to be seeing LOTS of ethnic roles from him during his tenure as a cast member.
— This sketch hasn’t been going anywhere great, and some of the “short” puns are pretty groanworthy.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mornin'”


GOD’S PLACE
in Heaven, JFK (BIC) is upset that Gary Hart is copying his style

 

— Another funny Purim reference.
— The bit with Abe Lincoln was really funny. Also, an Yvonne Hudson sighting next to him! I can’t remember the last time I spotted her in a sketch.
— An overall okay sketch, but not much to say about it.
STARS: ***


THE WOMB
a play about a mother (MAG) & daughter (JLD) relationship

 

— Loved Mary and Julia’s head-thrown-back laugh in unison.
— Oh, they’re playing mother and daughter? Mary doesn’t look convincing as Julia’s mother at all; they both look around the same age in this.
— This overall commercial was pretty funny and featured good performances from Mary and Julia.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Fernando (BIC) lists presidential candidates’ celebrity endorsements
ROD gives the Michael Jackson Report
GAK reviews Splash & complains how Darryl Hannah’s hair hid her breasts
write-in presidential candidate JIB raps his policy statements

     

— The debut of another Billy Crystal season 10 staple, his Fernando Lamas impression, anchoring tonight’s Saturday Night News.
— There’s our very first utterance of “You look mahvelous”, another thing I’m soon going to have to deal with ad-nauseum during Billy’s cast member stint.
— Fernando’s talk about which celebrities are endorsing which presidential candidates isn’t really working for me. Also, this feels like something that was already done on Saturday Night News either this season or last.
— Very interesting to see Robin doing a commentary as herself for a change.
— I liked Robin’s line about some of the slower students coming to school dressed as Jermaine Jackson when other students dressed like Michael Jackson.
— Pretty funny visual of a Michael Jackson doll with a flame-ignited head.
— I liked Fernando’s line about being the father of at least four members of Menudo.
— Gary “censoring” himself by saying “boobs” backwards was funny.
— Good bit with Gary doing a demonstration using a blow drier and a mermaid doll.
— Gary imitating an underwater conversation between two people is really good and very reminiscent of his educational film narrator voice.
— At the end of Gary’s commentary, they mention Daryl Hannah will be hosting the show three weeks from now, which never ended up occurring. What happened to that? IIRC, they had to cut an episode from the schedule somewhere around this point of the season due to SNL going over budget (which is why this season only has 19 episodes instead of the usual 20), so maybe the Hannah episode was a casualty of that.
— Once again, here’s Rappin’ Jimmy B, for the third episode in a row.
— Jim trying to make a recurring Saturday Night News feature out of rapping news stories isn’t working for me. His rapping shtick was much better when he just did it as a random cold opening a few episodes ago.
— Another “Where’s the Beef?” reference tonight, this time during Jim’s rap.
— Tonight’s overall edition of Saturday Night News was another long one, so of course, in typical Comedy Central fashion, they move it to the end of this episode.
— I just realized, they haven’t used the news screen at all in the last few editions of Saturday Night News. Shows how unconventional the segment has gotten after Brad’s firing as anchorperson.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Trouble in Paradise”


THE FIRST SHOW
BIC tells how he got bumped from the first-ever SNL episode

— He mentions that tonight is SNL’s 370th episode. He must be counting reruns. After all, it took SNL five seasons to reach their 100th episode, so there’s no way they’d be on their 370th episode a mere four seasons later.
— Interesting how he’s talking about how he was scheduled to do a stand-up piece on SNL’s first episode ever, only to get bumped from the live show.
— When name-dropping Valri Bromfield as one of the stand-up comedians who performed in SNL’s first episode, Billy makes a passing mention that she’s currently on Lorne Michaels’ (ill-fated) “The New Show”, which makes this probably the only time that show was ever referenced on SNL.
— An obvious but decent punchline with Billy starting to do the stand-up piece he never got to do in the first episode, only to immediately get cut off by director Dave Wilson.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode and had some strong material early on, but the show as a whole wasn’t particularly memorable.
— Billy Crystal fit in on the show really well. Maybe because I know what’s coming, but at times tonight, he kinda felt more like a cast member than a host. I enjoyed most of his performances tonight, despite some things that I know I’m going to have issues with when we reach his tenure as a cast member.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Edwin Newman):
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Douglas

Posted on

February 14, 1976 – Peter Boyle / Al Jarreau (S1 E13)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
during St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, valet (CHC) is riddled with bullets
 
— John Belushi has the ability to already get a good laugh from the audience by just simply walking into a scene with a fake mustache and accent.
— For some reason, I’m getting amusement out of watching Garrett’s background acting as the waiter.
— Chevy upped the ante with his usual falls, doing two consecutive big falls this time.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host sings “My Funny Valentine” while girlfriend runs off with a stranger
 
— He’s holding a microphone already. Will he be doing stand-up?
— Oh, he’s going to sing, which, as I might have said before, is something I usually dread in monologues. But this IS Valentine’s Day, after all…
— Haha, great comedic twist with Peter’s sweetheart getting involved with the guy sitting next to her. I had been wondering why that guy was staring at her funny when Peter first introduced her to us.
STARS: ***½

THE CORRIDA
Ricardo Montalban (DAA) talks about the Corrida automobile’s faux luxury

— This is already making me laugh from the start.
— Overall, a decent commercial, helped by Dan’s very funny performance.
STARS: ***

SAMURAI DIVORCE COURT
Futaba & wife (JAC) split their assets
 
— “Futaba vs. Futaba”? Ah, I see this is going to be a Samurai sketch.  Who’s gonna be the other Futaba?
— Samurai’s wife? Well, this is gonna be different.
— Jane is really selling the fake Japanese gibberish.
— The Godzilla fake-out/desk-chop part was pretty funny.
— Wow, they didn’t even attempt to make that little girl look Japanese.
— I liked the fake freeze-frame ending.
STARS: ***

THE SHAPIRO SISTERS
The Shapiro Sisters [real] lip-sync & dance to “This Will Be”

— Uhhhhhh… cute, I guess?
STARS: N/A

ACID TRIP
stoners Jason (DAA) & Sunset (LAN) present slide show for neighbor (host)
   
— I’m liking how 70s this is.
— Laraine’s hippie character is pretty funny, though the voice sounds quite similar to her Sherry voice.
— We’re supposed to believe that’s Dan’s foot in that picture they’re showing right now, but if you know your Aykroyd trivia, you’d know that can’t be his foot because he has webbed toes in real life.
— Loved Dan just saying “That’s mine” when the hairy nipple picture showed up in his and Laraine’s slideshow.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
famous art makes up artist’s rendering of Patty Hearst trial testimony
GAM reports Olympic news from deserted Innsbruck
LAN reports from outside a snuff director’s room at the Blaine Hotel
   
— Showing professional paintings as “artist’s renderings” of the Patricia Hearst trial is a pretty funny variation on the gag of showing childlike Tom Schiller drawings.
— Hilarious Dorothy Hamill/Gerald Ford joke.
— What the heck was with the delayed start to Garrett’s commentary? That didn’t seem intentional. What went wrong there?
— And is there supposed to be scenery behind Garrett that we’re not seeing? We’re just seeing a plain blue screen behind him, even though we’re supposed to believe he’s “at the Olympics”.
— This Garrett bit is just a tired variation of Laraine’s Times Square commentary from earlier this season.
— I have to say, though, Garrett’s lament over having to cover “white sports” was kinda funny, even though it’s a cliched joke nowadays.
— I got an unintended laugh from Chevy’s mention of “CIA director George Bush”.
— Laraine’s Blaine Hotel bit didn’t work for me this time; it fell flat. The ones she did earlier this season were better.

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
— (sigh) Yet another rerun. Man, when was the last time a NEW fake ad was aired during an Update this season? And why does this season’s Updates even need to break in the middle for a fake ad anyway? I guess it’s to make this seem more like an authentic news broadcast from that time, but honestly, I’ve gotten tired of this format. I definitely prefer when Update is just one continuous un-broken segment. I’m guessing they don’t start doing that regularly until sometime after Jane takes over the Update desk the next season.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella thinks that “canker” research is a waste of money

— For the 50th time, please stop using the “guests of SNL stay at the Blaine Hotel” promo. It was only funny the first time.
— Oh, man, and speaking of tired rehashing, now we get Emily Litella AGAIN. This now makes, what, the third or fourth episode in a row she’s appeared in? I know she’s a well-remembered character nowadays, but come on, she was not flexible enough to be used EVERY WEEK.
— While there are many aspects of 70s SNL that I feel make modern-day SNL pale badly in comparison, there’s at least ONE thing I prefer about modern-day SNL: they at least know how to space out recurring characters’ appearances. We thankfully don’t have instances of the same recurring character appearing on Update week-after-week nowadays, unlike how 70s SNL had no qualms about using Emily Litella or Garrett’s “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit for long stretches of consecutive episodes. If they did that with any existing modern-day Update character from, say, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, or Heidi Gardner, that would probably drive online SNL fans crazy.
— Please don’t tell me this baby sandpiper story Chevy’s telling is going to be the same one from the premiere.
— (sigh) I was right, it was the same story, right down to the exact same punchline.
— Overall, this Update was a huge letdown. The actual news jokes portion with Chevy was fine, but in regards the rest, there was WAAAAY too much lazy recycling for my likes. Easily the weakest Update of the season so far.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **

ALL-PRO WRESTLING
Bees (JOB) & (host) vs. WASPs (CHC) & (GIR)
   
— It’s been a while since we’ve last seen the Bees.
— This is pretty fun to watch, as we don’t usually see anything this physical in a live sketch.
— Dan is great as the fast-talking announcer.
— LOL at the random “drop the cow” ending. This is the second episode in a row that happened. Was this SNL’s new go-to ending?
STARS: ***½

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST
disguised Richard Nixon (DAA) philosophizes
 
— Haha, it’s Nixon!
— It’s hilarious hearing Dan do the gruff Nixon voice inside that ridiculous mask.
— Another great performance from Dan. I’m glad we’re seeing so much of him in tonight’s episode, considering how underutilized he seemed to be the last few episodes.
— Him doing the ‘ohm’ meditation thing gave me a big laugh just now.
STARS: ***½

PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
by Gary Weis- kids & Rubin Carter (GAM) recite Pledge Of Allegiance
 
— Is this gonna be another Gary Weis film? He’s been having a bad track record the past few episodes.
— It’s over already??? Uh… I’m definitely gonna need some clarification of what this was about, because I didn’t understand this AT ALL. Was this short making some kind of social or political statement? And who was Garrett playing at the end?
STARS: N/A

DUELLING BRANDOS
Duelling Brandos (host) & (JOB) trade Marlon’s famous movie lines
 
— They misspelled “Dueling” with two ‘L’s on the title card.
— Ah, yes, this is one of two sketches I was looking forward to seeing from this episode, after having only seen this in the form of a clip when Peter made a cameo in Ray Romano’s 1999 SNL monologue.
— I’m loving this, with Peter and John taking turns reciting increasingly-brief Brando movie quotes.
— Excellent ending with Peter and John yelling Brando’s rant from “On The Waterfront” in unison.
STARS: ****

JANITOR IN A FRIDGE
(JAC) convinces husband (host) that orgy participants are new products
   
— And here’s the second of two sketches I was looking forward to seeing, after reading a write-up about this just a few days ago.
— Jane is great acting like an overly-chipper commercial spokeswoman with that forced big smile. Between these last two episodes, Jane’s been getting a lot of nice showcases lately.
— Funny subtle bit with Garrett slowly walking away with Jane behind Peter’s back.
— Nice ending with Laraine.
STARS: ***½

A HOME MOVIE
by Howard Grunwald- a single shot of a house
 
— The audience is already chuckling and nothing’s even happened in the film yet, except for an exterior shot of a house.
— Oh, I get it. Haha, this is the entire “home movie”: a shot of a home. I love this type of humor.
STARS: ****

VALENTINE’S DAY CARD
GAM gives GIR a raunchy valentine

— Interesting pairing of Gilda and Garrett.
— Garrett’s increasingly-raunchy poem is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

HOMEWARD BOUND (GARY WEIS FILM)
— An encore presentation.

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host points out handcuffed Patty Hearst lookalike in audience
 
_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good, fairly-consistent episode. There wasn’t much to complain about, and it was a nice rebound after the underwhelming Dick Cavett episode.
— Peter Boyle did fine throughout the show, though it felt like he was given too many straight roles.
— Thankfully, no Muppets tonight, for the second episode in a row. You’d almost think that SNL finally dropped them from their show permanently, but I recall hearing that their final SNL appearance was the first episode of season 2. So it looks like I still have more Muppet sketches to put up with until then.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dick Cavett):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Desi Arnaz