Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
a drunk GAK laments his lack of inclusion in sketches
— Nice to see a cold opening centering around the running gag of hapless Gary Kroeger always getting a raw deal on SNL.
— Tim: “Hey, Gary, what’re you doing here? Did ya come to watch the show?”
— Hilarious how increasingly worse Gary’s situation keeps getting.
— Nice passionate angry outburst from Gary (“The only joke on this show is MY CAREER!!”).
— Great fake-out at the end, with Gary seeming like he’s about to commit suicide via gunshot to the head while starting to say “Live from New York…”, only for the gun he fires to pop out a flag with the words “It’s Saturday Night” (in the same font as the then-current SNL logo; nice touch). Fun way to change up LFNY as well.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host blames the moviegoing public for his psycho reputation
— WTF at his opening “I almost had to swim here” joke?
— Hmm, after calling himself out on the lameness of his aforementioned joke, he adds an earnest “We almost lost our house a couple of weeks ago.” Did his house recently have a severe flood?
— I like him specifying each of his disturbing movie roles.
— Great dark turn this has taken with his menacing “It’s you!” realization as he points to us viewers.
— His whole psychotic viewer-blaming rant as the camera is slowly zooming closer and closer to him is hilariously creepy. I’m loving his violent threats to us.
STARS: ****
BUCKWHEAT JEANS
they’re “O-Tay”
— Good twist with the person in the jeans the camera is slowly panning up to turning out to be Buckwheat. Funny to see him doing a commercial like this (especially when you know what’s going to happen to him later tonight).
STARS: ***
THE CLAMS
— Boy, they’re STILL falling back on this often-reaired commercial from season 7?
DONNY & MARIE ST. PATRICK’S DAY SPECIAL
brotherly love on Donny (GAK) & Marie’s (JLD) St. Patrick’s Day Special
— A very pregnant Marie…
— They mention their famous appearance on Gumby’s Christmas special from earlier this season. I always like whenever SNL makes a passing mention of a previous episode or sketch.
— A rehash of the gag where Donny and Marie’s song gradually turns into them incestuously making out with each other. It was hilarious the first time, but is it REALLY necessary to repeat? Though they did kinda up the ante this time by having Julia jumping on Gary during the makeout session, which she didn’t do last time.
— This sketch suddenly gets “interrupted” by a special report, leading us into our next segment.
STARS: not sure if I should rate this, since it’s an incomplete sketch that got “interrupted” as a set-up to the following segment, but I’ll give it a ** rating
SPECIAL REPORT
Ted Koppel (JOP) reports- Buckwheat’s been fatally shot; Texxon sponsors
— Ah, this is it, folks…
— There’s the now-legendary “Buckwheat has been shot” announcement & subsequent footage of the incident.
— I criticized Joe’s Ted Koppel impression in some of my earlier reviews (essentially calling his impression just “Joe Piscopo in a wig”), but his Koppel voice seems to have noticeably improved tonight. Or maybe it’s just grown on me.
— Unseen Assassin: “Hey, Mr. Wheat!” (*gunshots fire*)
— Love the wide-eyed, teeth-gritting look on Buckwheat’s face when he gets shot. Good subtle acting choice from Eddie, when most performers would’ve just made a generic anguished face when “getting shot”.
— I like the “America Stunned” graphic.
— Yet another use of SNL’s fake sponsor “Texxon” from earlier episodes.
— Excellent inclusion of Mary as Alfalfa reacting to the tragedy.
— You gotta love how they’re going all out on this whole thing.
— LOL at how Joe’s Koppel is using every excuse in the book to replay the same clip of Buckwheat getting shot. That’s a dead-on spoof of typical news coverage of tragedies like this. I also like how with each repetition, the Buckwheat assassination clip is played in increasingly slower motion.
— Joe’s Koppel has now announced the official death of Buckwheat. Wow.
— A big laugh from Texxon’s addendum to their usual “Life goes on, and Texxon is there” slogan: “Because Buckwheat would have wanted it that way”.
— A funny memoriam montage of Buckwheat.
— Overall, this epic sketch was a masterpiece and flawlessly executed. Truly deserving of its reputation as one of the best pieces in SNL history.
STARS: *****
THE HOME FOR DISGUSTING PRACTICES
host tries to play a “normal” role
— Ha, the opening disclaimer (“And now, a scene in which Bruce Dern doesn’t play a psycho”) already has me very interested in this sketch.
— Wow, what an insane concept to this sketch.
— Great individual performance from each cast member playing a mental patient. Everybody’s allowed to shine here.
— Good groaner with Joe’s “They ain’t even been weaned yet” line regarding the puppies in his pants.
— Heh, Bruce is clearly amused by Mary’s performance, as he’s visibly trying not to crack up at her.
— A nice breaking-the-fourth-wall turn, with everyone dropping character and Bruce going back to his menacing viewer-blaming bit from the monologue.
STARS: ***½
THE BUCKWHEAT STORY
a TV movie starring Byron Allen
— A decent quick promo, keeping up tonight’s Buckwheat running premise by showing NBC cashing in on his death by doing a biopic about him.
STARS: ***
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
prominent figures express their sorrow over Buckwheat’s death
a new report includes spy photos of Soviet military secrets
Dr. Jack Badofsky lists varieties of venereal disease
Siobhan Cahill gives tips on how to have a great St. Patrick’s Day
— I love that tonight’s Buckwheat running premise is even carrying over into THIS.
— Ha, in Joe-as-Ted-Koppel fashion, Brad uses a cheap excuse to replay the Buckwheat gunshot clip once again.
— At first, I thought the pre-taped segment of celebrities addressing Buckwheat’s death was genuine footage filmed specifically for SNL, when the segment started with Charlton Heston and Henry Kissinger. I was about to say “Wow, SNL is REALLY fully committed to this Buckwheat premise”, but then the next two tribute clips were from President Reagan and the Pope, making it obvious that these are all just unrelated clips taken out of context to make it seem like they’re talking about Buckwheat.
— Hilarious how the Pope’s translated message eventually led to him throwing to yet ANOTHER replay of the Buckwheat assassination clip.
— Brad’s long-winded photo montage joke wasn’t that funny and, again, kinda reeked of something Brian Doyle-Murray would’ve done the previous season.
— I got a good laugh from Brad’s joke about cigarette companies now including a malignant tumor in each cigarette pack.
— Maybe it’s because my negative review of Dr. Jack Badofsky’s last commentary from a few episodes ago received several replies on Twitter (including from “That Week in SNL”) defending the character, or maybe because tonight’s episode has put me in a really good mood, but I’m enjoying tonight’s Badofsky commentary a lot more than usual. I’m actually laughing at these corny puns.
— Haha, I got a good laugh from the audience’s groaning reaction to Badofsky’s “Dacron-orrhea” pun. Tim’s doing a great job playing off of their negative reaction.
— A fun Badofsky commentary overall. I’m glad that I’m starting to come around on this character. Again, special thanks to those on Twitter who replied to my review of his last appearance and helped me understand the appeal of this character.
— Heh, immediately after Badofsky’s commentary, Brad has a groaner of his own, with his joke about the Statue of Liberty being “statutory raped”, which, much like some of Jack Badofsky’s puns tonight, receives audible hisses from the audience.
— Mary was okay in her overall performance here, but the commentary itself featured nothing noteworthy.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Sue”
JERRY LEWIS SCHOOL OF MANNERS
Mr. Flang (EDM) & Mr. Caca (JOP) in charge
— Good use of Eddie’s great Jerry Lewis impression. This is the third episode in a row that has done a sketch centered around a dead-on impression that Eddie does of a white celebrity, after his Elvis and Humphrey Bogart sketches from the last two episodes.
— Here’s the return of Joe as bitter older Jerry Lewis. Last time he did this impression (that “Two Faces of Jerry” horror movie trailer from last season’s Donald Pleasence episode), he nailed older Lewis’ demeanor, but (much like my former complaint about his Ted Koppel impression) the problem was the voice sounded too much like Joe’s real voice.
— Joe’s impression is coming off okay enough in this sketch. Maybe it’s because I’m in good spirits during this episode that I’m less critical towards his impression.
— Ha, Eddie seems to be trying to crack Joe up.
— It worked. Joe’s visibly smirking out of character now. Gotta love the chemistry that Eddie and Joe always have.
— A decently goofy sketch overall.
STARS: ***
GUMBYS
Gumby interrupts Gumby impersonator’s (host) St. Patrick’s Day story
— Hmm, Bruce as Gumby.
— He’s not even doing Eddie’s Gumby voice, instead doing a different type of character voice.
— Ah, here’s the “real” Gumby. Eddie has been absolutely DOMINATING tonight’s episode, even moreso than usual.
— Eddie’s noticeably wearing a lot less face paint than he usually wears as Gumby. I’m guessing they didn’t have enough time to apply the usual full amount of Gumby make-up due to all the various sketches that Eddie’s in tonight.
— At the end of the sketch right before Eddie and Bruce walk off, Eddie randomly breaks into his Jerry Lewis voice that we just heard in the preceding sketch.
STARS: ***
OLD NEGRO BEER
(JOP) & (EDM) are beer-loving stereotypes
— Wow, Eddie continues to be ALL OVER tonight’s show. Feels like he’s had a lead role in practically every single sketch tonight.
— I like Eddie’s sudden realization about his “negro” friend Joe: “Hey, you a white cracker!”
— Joe’s facial expression when he and Eddie simultaneously went “Aaahhhh” into the camera slayed me.
— An overall fun silly bit.
STARS: ***
SONGWRITERS
Schleimer & Laub create tunes for (host)’s Depression musical
— The return of Joe and Tim’s Vaudeville-esque songwriting team.
— Interestingly, the previous time they did this sketch also happened to be in a Bruce Dern-hosted episode, though Bruce himself didn’t appear in that installment of this sketch. Maybe he liked what he saw that night and asked Joe and Tim if he could appear in the sketch this week.
— I like Joe and Tim’s song “The Window Ledge Polka”.
— Not much to say about the overall sketch, but this was another enjoyable appearance from these characters.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When You Wish Upon A Star” & “I Ain’t Got Nobody”
RUBIK’S GRENADE
— Rerun
OLD JEW BEER
(JOP) & (EDM) are another pair of beer-loving stereotypes
— I oddly love how they’re making this a runner, with Eddie and Joe playing different ethnicities/cultures in each one.
— More fun voices and chemistry between Eddie and Joe.
STARS: ***
OLD CHINAMAN BEER
(JOP) & (EDM) are another beer-loving stereotype duo
— Wow, this one is going FULL-OUT goofy and over-the-top with the stereotypes.
— I can see why these racial stereotype beer sketches, ESPECIALLY this Old Chinamen Beer one, wouldn’t sit well with a lot of people, but to me, they’re just silly fun, and are helped a lot by Eddie and Joe’s always-great way of playing off of each other (which we’ve been seeing tons of tonight).
— During the “Old Chinaman Beer” title screen at the end of this, it sounded like Eddie broke out into his Jerry Lewis voice ONCE AGAIN tonight.
STARS: A very guilty ***
VEGGIE BURGERS
nerdy (GAK) finds his equally geeky parents but doesn’t realize it
— Strange sketch so far. I get what they’re hinting at with Gary’s character, but I’m not sure where the humor in the sketch is supposed to be coming from.
— Okay, this is starting to get charming.
— I like these characters’ interesting way of speaking, where they precede some of the things they say by declaring what kind of sentence it is ( e.g. “joke”, “question”).
— Overall, a cute, charming, low-key 10-to-1 sketch. The studio audience wasn’t into this AT ALL, though. I feel that this sketch was better than the crowd gave it credit for.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A consistently very fun show. I came into this episode expecting the epic “Buckwheat gets shot” storyline to overshadow everything else as the reason to tune in, and while it was by far the best part of the night, the rest of the show was no slouch, either. The overall episode was pretty solid and flowed very nicely, with a lot of fun to be had throughout the whole night. Even some of the lesser segments had an infectiously silly, enjoyable vibe.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Beau and Jeff Bridges):
— a huge step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Robert Guillaume
