Tag: Madeline Kahn

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December 16, 1995 – Madeline Kahn / Bush (S21 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NBC’S CHRISTMAS SALUTE TO OUR BOSNIAN TROOPS
Jay Leno (DAH) & other celebrities perform for USA’s Bosnian troops

— After getting some brief samples of Darrell’s Leno voice earlier this season, we finally see him actually playing Leno.
— I liked Darrell-as-Leno’s “Some of these are apparently just for me” line after some of his jokes have gotten a tepid audience reaction.
— Jesus, Tim’s face looks hideous in drag. And where are his eyebrows?
— The debut of what would go on to be one of Molly’s most famous impressions: Courtney Love.
— Very funny Courtney Love impression from Molly, and after having recently sat through Hole’s unintelligible singing when covering the preceding season’s George Foreman episode, I’m enjoying Molly’s dead-on imitation of Love’s singing style.
— I’m loving Norm’s George Burns impression.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Ain’t Got No Home” in soprano & frog voices

— Another variation of The [George] Carlin Line (“I did such a good job hosting (insert large number here) years ago that they couldn’t wait to have me back”), with Madeline mentioning that her last time hosting 18 years ago “seemed to go really well”.
— Some good laughs from Madeline detailing how she waited and waited for the phone call to host SNL again after her 1977 hosting stint.
— Uh, not sure at all what to say about Madeline’s “Ain’t Got No Home” number, except it feels like a waste of her talents. It’s also a stiff musical performance that not even the two front-and-center SNL Band members are adding much life to.
— Okay, Madeline changing her pitch to a froggy, gravelly voice made me laugh at first, but got old after a while.
STARS: **


GANGSTA BITCH BARBIE
Rerun from 10/7/95


BASKETBALL GAME
at a basketball game, Craig & Arianna do more unsanctioned cheering

— These characters officially become recurring.
— As sick as I know I’m eventually going to get of this soon-to-be-overused-and-grating sketch, I’m still finding these characters fairly fun and endearing in this second installment. And after the troubled preceding season, I understand the need for SNL to push big and energetic recurring characters like this.
— I loved the brief Shaft bit that the Cheerleaders did just now.
— The Ice, Ice Baby performance is really fun.
— Overall, I think I actually liked this even more than the first installment. Enjoy my goodwill towards these Cheerleaders characters while it lasts, folks, because this is probably as high as my praise is going to get (minus the installment with Jim Carrey).
STARS: ***½


JOHN-JOHN MACKEY’S STORM TRACKER ACCU-CAST
macho weatherman John-John Mackey (TIM) lets storms know who’s boss

— Tim continues to have a fantastic season. Here’s yet another great showcase for him that I’ve always loved.
— Great part about how John-John Mackey tells a storm “That’s right, bitch, now go make me a sandwich!”
STARS: ****


BIRD CLAWS
while in a giant bird’s talons, (DAK) & (host) lay blame for predicament

— Oh, I absolutely love this. Such a creative premise and a unique format, especially with all the dialogue consisting entirely of Madeline and Koechner sarcastically quoting something the other said before they ended up in this predicament.
— The constantly-changing sky scenery in the greenscreen background is distracting. Could SNL really not find one continuous shot of a sky?
— While lowbrow, I liked the “They can’t poop when they’re flying!” ending.
STARS: ****


LEG UP
Russian ballerina’s (host) culture gap is eventually bridged

— Yeah, I’m officially tired of seeing this recurring sketch.
— Still some funny zingers from Molly and Cheri, but tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch has such a meh feel compared to the first two installments.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Comedown”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Bronx-born St. Nicky (COQ) tells how he became Santa Claus

— I liked Norm’s “Probably gonna end up in Jersey with a meathook up my ass” ad-lib after his joke about Frank Sinatra.
— SNL writer Colin Quinn debuts his THIRD Update character in the last four episodes. Can somebody remind me again why SNL has yet to begin crediting Colin as a featured player at this point? Hell, he’s certainly been getting more consistent airtime than credited repertory player Jim Breuer, who, by the way, is completely absent in tonight’s episode. We’re only halfway through this season, and Jim has already been absent in TWO or THREE episodes so far. Jesus Christ.
— Some funny wiseguy lines from Colin’s St. Nicky, but this commentary has too much of a same-y feel to Colin’s earlier Update characters, and this particular character isn’t working for me as well as Joe Blow and Lenny The Lion.
— Unlike in the preceding episode, tonight’s “Or so the Germans would have us believe” joke is followed by Norm doing a camera staredown, which would go on to be a tradition for that running joke.
— Funny hearing Norm casually mention Dayton as part of a news story, since this is just a few episodes after the Stan Hooper sketch from the Laura Leighton episode, where Norm’s Hooper kept incredulously repeating the word “Dayton” throughout the sketch.
STARS: ****


ANTIQUE SHOP
Lucien & Fagin are bound by their antique shop’s 90-day return policy

— When Koechner’s Fop character pops in, you can hear only one sole audience member give him recognition applause.
— An interesting and very different use of these Fops characters compared to what we’re used to seeing from them.
— This Fops installment isn’t well-liked among SNL fans compared to the more traditional Fops appearances, but I’m enjoying this sketch and am still getting the usual laughs from Koechner and Mark’s performances.
— I like Madeline’s rant regarding the bad luck she wishes upon the Fops.
STARS: ***


FUZZY MEMORIES BY JACK HANDEY
putting his head out of the car window

— Surprisingly, this is the first time Fuzzy Memories has appeared in quite a while. I had been under the impression that these Fuzzy Memories segments were a weekly thing this season.


SPADE IN AMERICA
DAS gives his wish list for 1996

— Good bit from Spade about women going into modeling just to get proof of their attractiveness.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Spade’s brief-but-relatable bit complaining about co-workers eagerly asking if he saw the previous night’s episode of Friends.
— The segment about overused expressions Spade hopes will go away in the upcoming year 1996 has some laughs, especially the meta Buh-bye bit.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Glycerine”


WEDDING VOWS
(WIF) & (host) express their love with clumsy, self-composed wedding vows

— So many hilarious lines in Will and Madeline’s wedding vows, especially the “good like wood” bit, Will’s diamond balls analogies, Madeline calling Will a “thing filled with goo”, and Madeline’s detailed spiel about “weird humpin’”.
— A great use of both Madeline and Will’s talents.
STARS: ****½


FUZZY MEMORIES BY JACK HANDEY
responding to a family crisis

— Two Fuzzy Memories in one night?


OLD GLORY INSURANCE
— Another rerun tonight, this time from 11/18/95


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode, with a hint of a meh vibe, especially for a Christmas episode from such a good season like this. The second half of this episode also had an off feel, with an unusual amount of filler segments and repeated fake ads. I also don’t like how Madeline Kahn’s talents felt kinda wasted in some sketches, though the Wedding Vows sketch made up for that.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (David Alan Grier)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 1996, with host Christopher Walken

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October 8, 1977 – Madeline Kahn / Taj Mahal (S3 E2)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
pie-thrower (JOB) attacks Lee Harry Oswald (BIM) a la Jack Ruby

   

— Some technical gaffes with the opening disclaimer.
— After only one episode, Dan’s mustache is already back (temporarily, I think), though it’s lighter than his mustache from the first two seasons.
— The Oswald/Ruby gunshot being replaced with a pie hit was a funny twist that gave me a big laugh, though it made this kinda feel like an opening they would’ve done with Chevy Chase. At least this time, Belushi managed to actually hit his target, unlike the last time a cold opening ended with him throwing a pie.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Only the second episode of the season, and there’s ALREADY been major modifications made to the opening montage.

   

— For starters, this montage takes place when it’s dusk outside, while the montage from the season premiere took place when the sky was pitch black.
— The camera is farther back from the jumbotron and you can see more of the surrounding Times Square area than you could in the season premiere.
— Some of the animated graphics in between the guests’ names weren’t seen in the preceding episode, such as a hand playing with a yo-yo and then pulling a mouse’s tail.
— The way each cast member is shown is completely different this time, and I like it a lot better than the semi-creepy, ghostly way they were shown in the premiere.
— From my knowledge of what little I’ve seen from this season years ago, I think the first month or so of this season would film a new version of the jumbotron opening montage each week. They eventually would stop doing that and would stick to a static, unchanging version of the jumbotron montage that would be used for the remainder of the season, presumably because filming a new version of the montage each week was becoming too expensive.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— The “we are all going to die” part was pretty funny.
— The monologue’s over already??? That it??? This was barely a minute long and felt pointless.
— I get the feeling this monologue was hastily rewritten after dress, because you can’t tell me THIS is the best “comedic” monologue SNL’s writing staff at the time could conjure up for Madeline freakin’ Kahn.
STARS: **


SWILL
BIM prefers Swill, the viscous mineral water dredged from Lake Erie

   

— A famous fake ad from this era.
— Why are some of Bill’s lines very blatantly dubbed in?
— A lot of great little touches in this, such as the way the ketchup ironically poured very quickly onto the burger, the use of the song “Anticipation” while the disgusting-looking “swill” was very slowly pouring out of its bottle, a soda can top being seen in the “swill”, and Bill adding a lemon twist to the drink for good measure.
— Overall, an all-time classic and Bill was a perfect spokesman for this. And as proof of how timeless the comedy in this is, the ad would later be re-aired decades later in a 1999 episode that Bill hosted.
STARS: *****


BAD OPERA
(host) suffers larynx lock during Die Goldenklang performance

   

— I’m not used to seeing the “Bad” showcase sketches so early in the show.
— Dan’s Leonard Pinth-Garnell voice sounds gruffer than usual.
— Nice use of Garrett’s knack for singing opera.
— I thought Madeline’s non-stop high note would go on longer. Also, the bit wasn’t all that funny since we already saw it coming due to Dan spoiling it in his intro.
— Ha, the garbage can failed to close when Dan let go of the lid at the end of this.
— Overall, not one of the better “Bad” showcase sketches.
STARS: **½


ANYONE CAN HOST
LOM announces the Anyone Can Host Contest

 

— Ah, our introduction to the famous Anyone Can Host contest.
— I liked the quick reference to the Beatles offer.
— Some funny lines from Lorne, but I don’t think I’m going to rate this mostly-straightforward segment.
STARS: N/A


BIANCA JAGGER AND THREE OR FOUR OF HER CLOSE PERSONAL FRIENDS
Bianca Jagger (host) talks with “close personal friends” at dinner table

— Madeline’s delivery is top-notch in this, but man, what the heck am I watching???
— Overall, I didn’t understand what this sketch was going for and it became a chore to sit through after a while. For all I know, maybe the mockery of Bianca Jagger was spot-on but just hasn’t aged well at all.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE


THE ACID GENERATION: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
by TOS- old hippies reminisce

   

— Our very first Schiller’s Reel! Hopefully, this means Gary Weis is no longer making films for the show.
— The joke of hippies from a decade earlier already being very old is funny, as is hearing these mild-mannered-looking old people recalling their wild acid-taking days.
— Wow, that was short. I was expecting more.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
NBC Dancing N hands DAA a bulletin- fevers should be raped & strangled
DAA uses fake Russian to narrate faux footage of the launch of Sputnik
BIM advises Marie Osmond to drop her sexy new image
DAA announces that it is former Weekend Update anchor CHC’s birthday

       

— This Update oddly opens with 1970s-sounding squeaky synthesizer sounds within the news theme music, which is reminiscent of the same squeaky synthesizer sounds the show has been using in the opening montage theme music this season. Like I said in the preceding episode’s review, we seem to have reached the point in the 70s when that type of synthesizer music was all the rage.
— What the hell? This Update ALREADY begins on a bad note with Dan’s inexplicable delays at the beginning: first, he seemed to miss his cue to say his sign-on, thus there was just dead air as Jane was waiting for him to say it, then when he did finally say it, he could not have said it any more awkwardly (“I’m Dan………. uh…………… Aykroyd”) and then he practically buries his face into his hands in response (first screencap above).
— And now, there’s even more awkward dead air as Dan fails to realize that it’s his turn to do the next news story. His ad-libbed “I’m going home” response was kinda funny, but man, he is doing TERRIBLY tonight.
— Very random but funny bit with the NBC dancing N.
— And now, as if he hasn’t been having enough of a rough Update, Dan’s clip-on mic has fallen off and we have to wait for him to reapply it.
— The bit with the camera catching Dan doing a disguised voice-over for the Russian rocket launch video was fairly funny, but they already used that joke countless times back when Chevy Chase was the anchorperson.
— Right off the bat at the beginning of Bill’s commentary, we get his “now get out of here” catchphrase.
— Overall, Bill was his usual funny self and I like how it’s become a recurring Update segment for him to do movie/TV show reviews.
— A mention of Chevy Chase’s birthday. They wish him a “happy 37th”, which the audience laughs at in response. I’m not sure what exactly the joke there was, considering Chevy’s real age at the time wasn’t too far removed from 37.
— After saying his sign-off (and he even did THAT awkwardly), Dan ends this Update by jokingly laying across the desk, probably in exhaustion from barely making it through this Update.
— Overall, tonight’s Update had a few funny jokes here and there, but boy was the overall segment marred by an absolutely terrible, clumsy performance from Dan. He was a mess and you can tell he knew it. It feels weird being so down on him, considering that while reviewing this era of SNL, he’s become my new personal favorite member of this cast. But people were not kidding when they said he made for one hell of an awkward Update anchor. It appears that I’m in for one rough season of Update this year.
STARS: **


SILVER BALLS & GOLDEN PINS
(host) sings “Silver Balls & Golden Pins” during (BIM)’s bowling sermon

   

— What the heck am I watching with Madeline as… some kind of singing trophy, I think?
— I don’t get this sketch at all. The musical interludes with Madeline are just weird and is boring me. I admit that the song has a very nice melody, however.
STARS: **


REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
(JOB) & blind African-American (GAM) compete to get into law school

   

— Lots of Bill Murray tonight.
— Funny turn this has suddenly taken with everybody fooling blind Garrett into thinking John is black. Everybody’s stifled laughter when pulling off this scheme is also funny.
— Great ending with Garrett’s two huge bodyguard-looking brothers finding out about John’s lie.
STARS: ***½


AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- host sings while seeing the sights

   

— ANOTHER song from Madeline?
— This wasn’t introduced as a Gary Weis film, but I get the bad feeling it IS one; this has his fingerprints all over it. Man, I was hoping he was gone this season; I’ve gotten so tired of his films. And with Tom Schiller now behind the camera, there’s no real need for Weis anymore.
— Come to think of it, didn’t Weis already do a film in season 2 with various people around the city singing this exact same song (Autumn in New York)?
— The film itself isn’t terrible, but man, I’ve had beyond my fill of singing sketches for the night.
— I’ll admit, the ending shot was beautiful, with the camera zooming out on Madeline in the middle of the Times Square jumbotron. Plus, that reminds me of this season’s opening montage.
STARS: *½


THE PINK BOX
(LAN) tries to figure out what (GIR)’s ultra-personal feminine product is

 

— It doesn’t feel like we’ve seen much of Laraine or Gilda tonight.
— An overall pretty solid ad with a good premise of the girls not even knowing that what the product they’re touting is. I feel like SNL went on to reuse that premise in a sketch or commercial years later, but I’m not sure which sketch/commercial I’m thinking of.
STARS: ***½


HERCULES
(DAA) dubs a Hercules (JOB) movie into English by doing all the voices

   

— Gilda’s Italian speaking is making me laugh.
— Haha, I love the part with the cast acting out the film in reverse by moving and talking backwards as the video was being being “rewound”. For some reason, I always get a kick out of seeing stuff like that in sketches, where performers act out a video being fast-forwarded, rewound, played in slo-mo, etc.
— Dan’s dubbing is hilarious.
— Funny that Bill is in this sketch, because the premise reminds me of a sketch I’ve always liked that the show would do years later when Bill hosted in 1987: “Il Returno De Hercules”.
— Overall, a simple but funny sketch that I’m surprised didn’t go further. It ended unusually early.
STARS: ***½


DAME EDNA
host interviews British stage actress Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries)

— Well, I can tell THIS is going to be a strange segment.
— All I can say so far is that it’s a little weird seeing what Dame Edna looked like in the 70s, as I’m more familiar with her from the 90s and onward.
— Madeline’s performance in this is odd and I’m not liking that.
— Ugh, this is another segment tonight that feels like a chore to get through. Nothing in this has been enjoyable to me.
STARS: *


POCKET PAL
the Pocket Pal warns passenger (DAA) of an impending midair collision

  

— A very funny concept.
— Love the way Dan suddenly went from professional spokesperson mode to screaming in horror in a comically stiff manner.
— Overall, a great ad with a hilarious payoff. This season has had a lot of strong pre-taped commercials so far.
— After that brutal Weekend Update, I’m glad Dan has been having a great second half of the show, which is serving as a reminder of why he’s my favorite of this cast.
STARS: ****


PHONE CALL
(GIR) & (host) tell each other secrets while waiting for a man to call

— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller slice-of-life piece.
— This had a slow start, which worried me after how underwhelmed I’ve been with a lot of this episode, but this is now getting better and I’m really enjoying the fun chemistry between Gilda and Madeline.
— Gilda’s questioning of why women who cry in movies never have to blow their nose is pretty funny.
— Overall, a pretty well-done, realistic piece with a sweet ending that had heart.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

 

— They seemed to be running very short on time, judging from how Madeline was barely given time to say anything before the goodnights music kicked in.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Boy, this was surprisingly a fairly tough episode for me to sit through. Several sketches left me very bored, and there were an awful lot of times throughout the episode where I found myself asking “What am I watching?” Thinking back on the show as a whole, it was more up-and-down rather than consistently weak; there were several highlights, but they weren’t enough to make up for the underwhelming parts that kept popping up during the night.
— Madeline is usually a great host, but her overall hosting performance tonight was a step down from her preceding one from 1976. It felt like there was too much of a sameness to her performances in tonight’s sketches, and I also could’ve done without all the joke-less singing from her. I can’t help but notice that a lot of the segments I gave low ratings to happened to be ones that had her in the starring role, while most of the segments that received a high rating didn’t have any appearances from her. It feels kinda wrong to be so down on a Madeline Kahn hosting stint, but what can I say? She wasn’t given much strong material tonight, and a lot of her performances left a little to be desired compared to her season 1 episode.


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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Hugh Hefner

Posted on

May 8, 1976 – Madeline Kahn / Carly Simon (S1 E19)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
blues organist Ronald Reagan (CHC) blows hip image by calling (GAM) “boy”
 
— I never knew Chevy had ever played Ronald Reagan, though he’s doing it in the same manner as his Ford “impression”.
— And now we get a comedic disclaimer similar to the ones used in the first two Ford sketches.
— Garrett’s non-verbal offended reactions to being called “boy” is making me laugh.
— Loved the punch & fall at the end.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host musically expresses gratitude for gifts she’s received from her mom

— This is the type of reliable humor I’ve come to expect from her.
— I’m loving how her badly-written Mother’s Day song/poem is going through each letter in the word “mother”.
STARS: ***½

WILDERNESS COMEDIAN
a movie about Shecky Adams (JOB), fauna entertainer
 
— John fighting the obviously fake bear is pretty funny.
— Overall, not a bad parody of generic stand-up comedy, but the initial set-up had me expecting this to be a lot funnier.
STARS: ***

NOT FOR LADIES ONLY
Baba Wawa (GIR) & Marlene Deutschland (host) talk

— The return of Baba Wawa!
— Madeline is a natural at doing the ‘w’ talk that Gilda’s Baba does.
— Loved the confusion over what Madeline meant when saying “weaw”.
— Great Elmer Fudd reference with the “siwwy wabbit” line.
— A lot of fun watching Gilda and Madeline play off of each other so well.
STARS: ****

SLUMBER PARTY
(host) tells fellow slumber partygoers (GIR), (JAC), (LAN) all about sex
 
— I’ve heard lots of good things about this sketch.
— Interesting how Madeline and the female cast are using their own first names, even though it seems kinda out of place in this scenario.
— Very enjoyable so far, with it’s cuteness and realism.
— Jane’s “child voice” in this sounds so drastically different from her normal voice.
— Gilda’s comment about adopted children was hilarious.
— This is getting funnier and funnier as it’s going along.
STARS: ****

FONDUE SETS FOR NAMIBIA
Namibian (GAM) solicits donations of fondue sets for his country

— For some reason, it always cracks me up whenever Garrett does African or Jamaican accents.
— The initial reveal of “We need your fondue sets” after the serious set-up is pretty funny.
— The humor didn’t really escalate after the reveal, but the overall sketch was okay.
STARS: ***

MUPPETS BEATLE OFFER
Mighty Favog says he can deliver the Beatles if the Muppets return to SNL

— Ah, I see they’re still keeping the Muppets in the storage room. I had been wondering how they continued doing these sketches after they seemingly “retired” the Muppets into the trunk in the preceding episode.
— Overall, nothing too special, but I’ve been finding these last few Muppets appearances more tolerable than their sketches from around the middle of the season.
STARS: **½

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Bride Of Frankenstein (host) & SNL Band perform “I Feel Pretty”
   
— I had always been curious what this whole sketch was like, after SNL showed a clip from it at the end of a December 1999 episode in tribute to Madeline after her passing.
— I like the different fun gimmicks they’ve been doing throughout this season with Howard Shore and his band. First they were an all-nurse band, then they were a band of angels, now they’re an all-monster band.
— Madeline is absolutely fantastic in this.
— I love how the cast is now getting involved.
— Wow. Overall, this was perfect.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s report on an Italian earthquake consists of an amiable phone chat
CHC solicits samples for a study of marijuana’s effects on memory

— Tonight’s Update has been doing okay so far, though no particular jokes have stood out yet.
— The “still to come” bit about Jimmy Carter secretly touching negroes was hilarious.

SUPER ABSORBENT DRY HOSE
Rosie (JAC) recommends Super-Absorbent Dry Hose as leg moisture remedy
 
— Madeline seemed a bit thrown off when Jane unintentionally splashed some coffee onto her.
— Very funny visual of Madeline sitting on the table to absorb the spilled coffee with the pantyhose she’s wearing.
— I’m assuming this was a parody of a specific series of commercials from that time. I think I also remember a similarly-set parody SNL would do years later in 1983 with Teri Garr and Robin Duke.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella sees nothing wrong with there being “violins” on television
for viewers that are cows, CHC repeats the top news story via moos
   
— For some reason, Chevy started cracking up in the middle of the Generalissimo Francisco Franco story.
— Emily Litella – no comment. Though I just want to say, this “violins/violence” commentary she’s doing is the one I had remembered the most from her before doing reviews of these 70s episodes.
— After a long hiatus, they bring back the running “News for (insert group here)” gag, with cows being the subject this time.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
 
— Ha, what’s Chevy randomly doing there playing a cowbell?

FINAL DAYS
the final days of Richard Nixon’s (DAA) administration were stormy
   
— Dan’s Nixon is truly hilarious.
— Madeline is excellent in her scenes too.
— Loved the part with Dan’s Nixon telling the JFK painting that sex with women “never happened when Dick Nixon was in the White House”.
— Another very funny part is Nixon’s chink/gook differentiation.
— I really like the format of the sketch, showing multiple scenes by going back-and-forth between Nixon’s wife writing in the diary to Nixon in the Oval Office.
— Oh my god at Garrett’s Sammy Davis Jr. His impression is so bad, it’s hilarious.
— The Lincoln painting calling Nixon a “dip” is a famous part that I had always heard about.
— All-in-all, an excellent sketch and among some of the best political satire the show has ever done.
STARS: *****

NO REASON TO LEAVE NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- sports fan footage with Ray Charles’ “New York’s My Home”
 
— Ha, one of the stock footage New York shots was the same pizza chef footage used in the “Angola/Angelo’s Pizza” running gag on Weekend Update from earlier this season.
— The constant cutaways to a rowdy sports crowd are getting redundant, especially since we’re just seeing the same two or three people.
— I am enjoying all the scenic shots, though.
STARS: **½

I WILL FOLLOW HIM
(JOB) promises Ms. Mulwray (host)- “I Will Follow Him” through Chinatown

— I’ve kinda had my fill of all the singing in tonight’s episode, but the performances are making this one enjoyable.
— I liked the way they segued into “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” at the end.
STARS: ***

GILDA AND MADELINE
host & GIR imitate ice cream-eating baby & parakeet, respectively
 
— Oh, I know I’m gonna like this.
— A very charming and fun bit with Gilda and Madeline each showcasing a unique impression.
STARS: ***½

MADELINE KAHN: “LOST IN THE STARS”
host performs “Lost In The Stars”

— So far, this appears to be a serious, non-joke performance, much like Raquel Welch’s musical performance towards the end of the last episode.

GOODNIGHTS
 
— A strange moment just now where a camera angle of Madeline and the cast had some kind of disclaimer on the bottom of the screen, but the camera immediately cut to another shot before the disclaimer could be read.
— Rewinding that shot and pausing it, (it’s the second screencap above) I see that the disclaimer says “We thought this might happen so we made this slide”. Huh???

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Best episode in a while. Just about everything in the show worked tonight, and there was a good number of very strong sketches.
— Tonight felt a little heavy on the singing, but much like the Lily Tomlin episode earlier this season, I can excuse all the singing because most of it had such a fun vibe.
— Madeline Kahn was an excellent host; she was funny in every sketch, and fit in on the show perfectly. I also like how the writers seemed to cater to her comedic style, as it’s hard for me to picture a number of these sketches being done with any host except her.
— I thought I heard this episode had a Don Pardo-read apology for the Claudine Longet Invitational sketch. I didn’t see the apology. Was it removed from the DVD version of this episode I’m reviewing?

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Dyan Cannon