Tag: Prince

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November 1, 2014 – Chris Rock / Prince (S40 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE KELLY FILE
Chris Christie (BOM) quarantines Ebola nurse (KAM)

— Cecily-as-Megyn-Kelly’s opening line about Blacula being, in fact, white landed with a thud, bombing hard with the audience. I wonder if that already sets the tone for this infamous episode.
— Already a fun energy from Bobby as a brash Chris Christie, right from the start of his interview.
— Speaking of a fun, brash energy early in someone’s appearance, Kate is coming in super hot in this sketch, stealing it with a very funny performance.
— Hilarious exchange between Kate’s Kaci Hickox and Bobby’s Chris Christie when he confronts her by showing up out of absolutely nowhere in her house. Hickox: “What the hell are you doin’ here?!?” Christie: “I’m Chris Christie – I’m everywhere!”
— When Kate’s Hickox tells Bobby’s Christie that she cannot wait to sue him, I absolutely love him responding, “Oh, yeah? Well, get in line! It starts all the way back at the G.W. Bridge, and traffic is VERY slow!”
— The ending felt rather abrupt.
— An overall funny and mostly well-paced cold opening, thus making it this season’s first actual GOOD cold opening. Can’t believe it took this season five long episodes to achieve a good cold opening.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
CSR does stand-up about terrorism, Jesus & Christmas materialism, guns

— You gotta admire Chris Rock’s extremely ballsy choice to open his stand-up monologue with material on the Boston marathon bombing. Tonight’s already-subdued audience was clearly too nervous to laugh at this touchy material when it began, but they’ve gotten more and more into once they realized it’s okay to laugh.
— Uber mention #1 tonight.
— Chris: “People joggin’ for 26 miles! Their knees are hurtin’! Their feet are killin’ em! If you’re a woman, there’s blood comin’ out’cha titties!”
— Chris’ hot streak continues, as he gets more great material out of another ballsy, touchy subject matter, with him questioning the decision to build the Freedom Tower and why anyone would want to go inside of it.
— Chris, on how he’s never going in the Freedom Tower: “I don’t care if Scarlett Johansson is butt-naked on the 89th floor in a plate of ribs – I’m not goin’ in there!”
— Chris’ scenario about a hypothetical commercial cashing in on Martin Luther King Day by saying “These Toyotas are practically free at last! Free at last!” reminds me of a sketch SNL actually did on that topic of the commercialization of MLK Day (and I think even had Jon Lovitz saying the “practically free at last!” line) way back in season 11’s Harry Dean Stanton episode.
— Chris is doing an outstanding job in this monologue, much like his previous monologue from his season 22 hosting stint. (I’ve heard some not-so-great things about his season 46 monologue, which I’ve yet to see for myself, but we’ll see how I’ll react to it when I review that episode.)
— Some great punchlines to yet ANOTHER very ballsy, touchy topic Chris is covering: gun control.
STARS: ****½


HOW 2 DANCE WITH JANELLE
teen vlogger Janelle (SAZ) is oblivious to her sexiness

— Refreshing to see the very-underused Sasheer front-and-center in a rare lead role, and in a sketch with a very “current” style.
— A good awkward supporting character from Kyle.
— Yikes, HORRIBLE positioning of the performers in Jay’s first brief appearance in this sketch, as Chris is completely standing in front of him the entire time, which makes it mostly impossible to see him while he’s speaking (he’s behind Chris in the fourth above screencap for this sketch). Clearly, this was not planned. Is director Don Roy King to blame, or was either Chris or Jay standing in the wrong spot? Either way, it rendered Jay’s scene awkward as hell.
— Chris’ timing is very off at some points during this sketch, but he’s still getting some laughs from me in his performance.
— Nice bit with Chris and Sasheer dancing in unison.
— Wow, this sketch died a sad death in its final 35 seconds or so. In particular, the ending with the computer screen filter was AWFUL and came off very badly-executed, almost as if Chris was vamping very poorly.
— An overall decent sketch, but with a few really bad missteps, as mentioned.
STARS: ***


GOPROBE
GoProbe is colonoscopy camera of choice for middle-aged extreme sportsmen

— In a way, this can kinda be considered a companion piece to the Preparation H commercial from the season 27 premiere (where “x-treme” teen skateboarders were touting the great effects of Preparation H). Kinda funny to imagine that the middle-aged “x-treme” characters in this GoProbe commercial are actually aged versions of the same characters from the Preparation H commercial.
— The “Your Grandpa’s Colonoscopy” scene is hilarious.
— A good laugh from how, when shown the polyps in his colon, Beck responds “Sick!” in an upbeat, cool manner, and then Kenan as the doctor responds to that with a very matter-of-factly “Yes.”
— Overall, an improvement over the aforementioned Preparation H commercial (which itself wasn’t bad, but was nothing special).
STARS: ***½


HOW’S HE DOING?
black analysts cut Obama an infinite amount of slack

— The third and final installment of this sketch.
— I don’t recall previous installments of this sketch opening with the PBS station I.D. that tonight’s installment opened with, but maybe they did and I just forgot.
— Hmm, the second installment of this sketch already used tonight’s joke about President Obama’s approval rating among black voters dropping down to the “extremely” low percentage of 90-something.
— I love that we have much more guests than usual in tonight’s How’s He Doing installment, showing how much SNL’s black cast has grown after the first two installments of this sketch. It’s also nice to see Sasheer in her second big role for the second consecutive sketch tonight.
— I like how the wig Chris is wearing appears to an intentional replica of his hairstyle from his years as an SNL cast member (side-by-side comparison below).

   

— I already said this in one or two previous episode reviews this season, but it bears repeating that all of the Ebola talk in these early season 40 episodes is eerily very applicable to our current COVID times.
— Tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch has been decent so far, but doesn’t feel as strong as usual. There’s not much standing out here.
— Okay, I do like the part regarding a scenario of Obama having a lenient reaction to his daughters acting very rude towards him.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & 3RDEYEGIRL [real] perform “Clouds”, “Marz” & “Another Love”


WEEKEND UPDATE
ignorance of latex condom allergy led to PED sexting his mom

Katt Williams (JAP) & Suge Knight (KET) respond to camera theft charges

— Lame opening joke from Colin.
— Wow, I had forgotten how extremely frequently Pete did Update commentaries in his first few episodes, which is understandable, given how strong and very well-received his first one was. Hopefully, tonight’s commentary goes better than his underwhelming and unconfident-feeling second one.
— Another early SNL mention of Pete’s mom. Some very funny lines about her from Pete tonight, particularly one, in regards to how she’s seen plenty of penises because she’s a nurse: “My penis should be the most important to her in every way except one.” (My quoting of that line doesn’t do it justice. It’s Pete’s great delivery of that line that absolutely sold it.)
— Pete, upon receiving great news from a doctor that he no longer has to wear condoms: “What else? Is my dad comin’ back?!?”
— An overall pretty solid commentary from Pete, and an improvement over his second commentary.
— Yikes, Michel flubs his Tim Cook joke VERY badly. However, he saves himself with an absolutely fantastic ad-lib: “Prince, ladies and gentlemen!” Speaking of Michael and flubs, he surprisingly hasn’t been flubbing jokes anywhere near as often in these early Updates of his as I had remembered.
— Uber mention #2 tonight.
— Some amusing lines from Jay and Kenan’s Katt Williams and Suge Knight, but I can’t find anything specific to say about their commentary.
STARS: ***


SHARK TANK
moguls consider an investment pitch from members of ISIS

— I kinda liked Aidy’s mock-dramatic delivery of “I am RUINED!”, but something about it seemed off, possibly because she was thrown off by flubbing her line prior to that. (Why are so many performers flubby tonight anyway?)
— Hooooooooooooo, boy. This ISIS premise……. Look, I love me some ballsy humor, as my review of tonight’s monologue showed, but this? Wow, SNL.
— I remember some online SNL fans comparing the bad taste of this sketch to infamous bad-taste season 20 sketches (because this season apparently ALWAYS had to be compared to season 20 by some folks) like America’s Funniest Hate Videos (a sketch I actually like, as dumb and questionable as it is).
— I am currently two minutes into this ISIS thing, and I have yet to get a single laugh from it.
— Three minutes and counting, and still not so much as a mere smirk from me. Plenty of sighing and uncomfortable feelings from me, though.
— Was that ending even supposed to be comedic? The hell was that? Sure, it’s satisfying that the ISIS members deservedly got tricked into being arrested by the FBI, thanks to Kenan’s Daymond John, but that doesn’t automatically make it a well-written or well-executed conclusion. (Let’s remember that the aforementioned widely-disliked America’s Funniest Hate Videos sketch also ended with the skinhead characters being tricked into getting arrested, and that still doesn’t stop people from deeming that sketch to be horrible.) Something about it felt like an off way to end an already-very-off sketch.
— Overall, in a word: oof.
STARS: *


SWIFTAMINE
Swiftamine fights vertigo caused by Taylor Swift fan cognitive dissonance

   

— Lots of big laughs from the overdramatic vertigo symptoms various people display when finding out Taylor Swift is the singer of the catchy new song they love.
— Great performance from Beck as the spokesperson, and I love the silly little detail of him being named Dr. David Doctor.
— Funny reveal of the Swiftamine medication name, and the execution of this whole idea is very strong.
— Love Leslie’s wig, which is a funny little detail of her character.
— A hilarious slow motion shot of Aidy saying “Taylor Swift!”
— Absolutely priceless ending with Leslie in the ballerina costume.
STARS: ****½


THE COUPLE
an old couple (CSR) & (LEJ) argues while preparing for anniversary outing

— Ohhhh, here’s a very infamous sketch.
— Uber mention #3 tonight. Yeah, I’m starting to see what people mean when they complain about the excessive Uber mentions that this episode contains. However, the Uber mentions aren’t quite as frequent as those complaints had me expecting. (Also, I recall the following season’s Elizabeth Banks episode also having multiple Uber mentions, yet nobody seemed to complain about that.)
— Both Chris and Leslie’s delivery is already coming off pretty clunky early on in this sketch.
— I’m almost starting to think I should start an “Ebola mention” count, like the “Uber mention” count I’ve been doing.
— Chris: “When the government shuts down the cloud….I’ma have Luther!”
— OH. NO. And theeeeerrrre’s the most notorious moment of this sketch and one of the most notorious moments of this entire episode, where Leslie accidentally exits the scene WAY earlier than she was supposed to, realizes her gaffe, comes back into the scene, stands back in the proper spot where she had been standing, looks around completely lost, stares off-camera at a specific person (Lorne?) for a few seconds while having her shoulders shrugged and a very confused “What am I supposed to do?!?” look on her face, then pauses for ANOTHER two seconds, then finally continues with the script, only to immediately flub yet another line. All of what I described, by the way, happening to uncomfortable and PAINFUL dead silence from the audience. Ohho, man. That entire moment I just described has to be, hands down, one of the most cringeworthy moments in SNL history. I mean, WHAT…THE…HELL was that all about?!? Love ya, Leslie, but what HAPPENED?!? That’s also our very first of what would be a number of displays over the years of Leslie’s greenness as a live TV performer.
— Aw, dammit. Leslie even managed to flub her potentially-great “I will Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes this bitch to the GROUND!!!” line. Granted, the line itself was funny enough that it still got a decent laugh from both me and the audience, but still……
— I’m now a little further into this sketch, and Leslie and Chris’ delivery continues to come off clunky and flubby.
— I actually really appreciate the slice-of-life feel this sketch is going for, but man, it’s being completely undermined by how HORRIBLY rehearsed this sketch seemingly is. I mean, yeesh! This is a mess. Feels like I’m watching amateur hour.
— An angry Sasheer pops in out of absolutely nowhere.
— An actual funny ending reveal of this being Chris and Leslie’s anniversary.
STARS: *½


ROBBERS
bank robbers (BEB), (BOM), (KYM) prove to be unironically accommodating

— Much like the Miley Sex Tape short, this Good Neighbor short (this is a Good Neighbor short, right???) has Bobby basically being a Nick Rutherford stand-in.
— Great delivery from Bobby of his simultaneously concerned and intimidating “He said sparkling…(*cocks his rifle*)…or still!” line when Kyle is offering Sasheer some water.
— I love all the subversions with how the buildups to something tense the robbers are seemingly about to do to a customer turns out to be something very kind and caring. I especially like the random Civil War lesson that Kyle and Bobby give to Taran’s character’s son.
— A very funny little “Look I got the money!” jolly musical number the robbers end their robbery with. The gleeful look on Beck’s face during that number is particularly good.
STARS: ****


WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
1990s training video has curious diversity advice

— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— Yet another wig on Chris tonight that seems to be a replica of his early 90s SNL hair.
— Vanessa’s bad attempt at a “black handshake” is hilarious.
— An apparent genuine gaffe, in which Vanessa accidentally talks over Chris at one point before cutting herself off. That’s yet ANOTHER example of how flubby the performers are throughout tonight’s episode, but that particular flub of Vanessa’s actually fits really well in this sketch, given the intentional bad, stiff acting it features.
— Like the previous installment of this sketch, we get some good humor from all of the absurdity and comical awkwardness in the training video scenes, and it’s a rare example of very random James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written humor coming off well (if they indeed are the ones who write these sketches).
— Interesting continuity with having Taran show up as the same character he played in the first installment of this sketch, complete with the same wig and cheesy sweater.
— Speaking of Taran, I like the way he randomly and slowly lowers to the ground in a stiff manner at the end of his scene.
— A funny biracial couple/“And I don’t do that” ending.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not as bad an episode as its very negative reputation. That being said, what was bad in this episode was PAINFUL: that Shark Tank/ISIS mess, the promising-but-gaffe-filled-and-seemingly-under-rehearsed The Couple sketch, even a few moments of the otherwise-decent How 2 Dance With Janelle sketch, and a general sloppy feel to the night (especially with all the line-flubbing). However, if you ignore those things, you actually have a decent episode, a few very strong highlights, and an absolutely epic musical performance from Prince. Still, the mild shakiness of this first quarter of season 40 is undeniably still being felt.


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

 


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Swiftamine
Robbers
The Kelly File
GoProbe
Women In The Workplace
How’s He Doing?
Weekend Update
How 2 Dance with Janelle
The Couple
Shark Tank


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jim Carrey)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Woody Harrelson

Posted on

February 4, 2006 – Steve Martin / Prince (S31 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SABOTAGE OF BALDWIN
host prevents Alec Baldwin [real] from tying SNL record; Kelly Ripa cameo

— Quite a random and rare way to start the show, with an entirely pre-taped cold opening. Yet another sign that SNL is moving into the virtual age. Given the fact that this is Steve Martin’s big return to hosting after a 12-year hiatus, along with the fact that this starts with him and Kelly Ripa, of all people, on a date with each other, the pre-taped format of this gives it an epic, special feel that I like.
— Funny touch with the Viagra clock.
— I love Steve’s reaction when hearing that Alec Baldwin is hosting SNL tonight and will tie Steve’s hosting record.
— A funny and very Steve Martin-y bit with the limo and taxi.
— Alec, while looking at himself in a mirror: “It’s your night, big guy. The night we crush that little clown monkey.” Also, immediately after that great one-liner, we get a fantastic tilted shot of the NBC Studios sign (the sixth above screencap for this sketch) that may have possibly been the inspiration for the final shot in the new SNL opening montage that’s introduced the following season (I’ll do a side-by-side comparison shot in my review of the following season’s premiere).
— Always fun to see two (or more) SNL hosting legends appear together in the same sketch.
— Great shot of Steve walking down the SNL halls with Alec tied up in a rug.
— I love the bit with Lorne panickedly saying “We can’t find Alec Baldwin. Somebody call Tom Ha–”, then getting cut off by a punch to the face from a passing-by Steve.
— Solid ending with Steve throwing Alec out of the window onto the Rockefeller Center skating rink.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host’s Viagra kicks in while welcoming MAR back from maternity leave

— Some good laughs from Steve constantly correcting himself on the date that the story he’s telling of the first time he hosted took place.
— I love the various photos of Steve with the original cast, comically cropped to only show a very small portion of the cast member in each photo with him.
— Great callback to the Viagra clock from the cold opening.
— Nice way to acknowledge Maya’s return from her maternity leave. It doesn’t feel as odd as I expected it would to see her back, given the fact that she was away for so long that I had forgotten all about her and it felt like she officially left the show, but maybe it doesn’t feel so odd because she’s not playing a character here.
STARS: ***½


A TEDDY BEAR HOLDING A HEART
a teddy bear holding a heart is the minimally-thoughtful Valentine’s gift

— I really like the visual quality of this commercial.
— Hilarious reveal of the “thoughtful” Valentine’s gift being a simple little teddy bear holding a heart, after such a big set-up from the female voice-over. Speaking of the female voice-over, I’m really enjoying her work here. Is that Paula Pell who’s voice I’m hearing?
— Lots of laughs from the many exaggerations this commercial is making.
— Great ending spiel from the voice-over about how this gift is “available literally almost everywhere”, including “I’m guessing wherever you buy milk.”
STARS: ****½


OPRAH
(host)’s memoir is as full of lies as James Frey’s

— Okay, now it feels a little odd to see Maya back, since she’s playing a role here instead of herself.
— I like the quivery-voiced “Oh, my god!” from an unseen Oprah audience member in response to something drastic Maya’s Oprah reveals.
— Funny look for Steve’s character.
— Steve’s constant contradictions about the honesty of his book is pretty funny, and a good use of Steve’s typical delivery.
STARS: ***


DON’T BUY STUFF YOU CANNOT AFFORD
Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford, says (CHP) to debtors (host) & (AMP)

— Very solid concept, and a great execution and exaggeration of the “complicated” concept of not buying things you can’t afford.
— Great reveal from Chris of the Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford book being only one page long.
— For some reason, it feels a bit odd hearing Bill do a voice-over at this early stage of his SNL tenure. Maybe it only feels weird because Chris is still on the show.
— I remember MADtv doing a sketch like this a little later. I can’t remember which sketch it is, though, but I remember it being pretty good in its own right. If anyone in the comments section can remind me which sketch it is, thanks in advance.
STARS: ****½


HAMAS PARTY
lucrative gig at Hamas victory celebration creates moral dilemma for host

— Heh, Bill keeps pressing his fake mustache with his hand. Not sure if that’s just an intentional mannerism of his character, or if he’s trying to prevent his fake mustache from peeling off.
— I love Fred’s quivery-voiced emphasis of the word “Israel” when telling Steve about “your well-known hatred of the state of Israel”.
— Fun performances from Fred, Bill, and Seth, but I’m not crazy about this sketch itself.
— Another well-delivered word in this sketch, with the way Bill said “broke-ish”.
— I also love Bill’s delivery just now when quoting Steve’s “Excuuuuuuuuse me” catchphrase before he, Fred, and Seth exit.
STARS: **½


TWO INCHES
(host) & (WLF) converse while standing two inches apart in kissing position

— A good laugh from how the loving way Steve and Will walk up to each other in slow-motion makes you think they’re going to randomly kiss, only for them to just get really close to each other’s faces and hold a normal, friendly conversation.
— A funny unpleasant turn Steve and Will’s conversation takes.
— Our very first Andy Samberg-less Digital Short.
— I’ve seen several online SNL fans over the years say this Digital Short could’ve and should’ve been performed as a live sketch, given that fact that there wasn’t anything about it that required it to be pre-taped. While I certainly don’t mind this as a Digital Short, I can see where those SNL fans are coming from. This indeed would’ve been fun and refreshing as a live sketch. That being said, one thing that this short benefits from by being pre-taped instead of live is the well-done way Will and Steve’s positions are filmed, including the nice camera angles from various distances.
STARS: ***½


QUICK ZOOM THEATER
camcorder-sponsored drama employs unnecessary zooms

 

— A sketch that seems questionable for the first minute or so, but then halfway through, it suddenly takes a fun turn with all of the (intentionally) botched camera zoom-ins.
— Very funny ending with Steve being forced to run up to and away from the camera when it fails to zoom in on him.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fury”


WEEKEND UPDATE

— I remember the bit with Amy quickly leaving the Update desk to have an abortion offended one online SNL fan, because they misinterpreted the off-camera sound of Amy’s car taking off for being the sound of Amy actually getting her abortion. Wow.
— This Update is over already??? This is by far one of the shortest Updates in recent memory, and also featured no guests. Certainly no complaints from me regarding SNL’s decision to keep a Fey/Poehler Update very brief and get it the hell out of the way so we can get more sketches. Also, it could be said that this is the last Weekend Update to this day, 14 years later in 2020, to not have ANY guest commentaries, though one could certainly make that argument about the Update from the episode that Maya hosts in 2012, and I’ll explain why when I review it.
STARS: **


SUPER BOWL NATIONAL ANTHEM
Aaron Neville (HOS), Aretha Franklin (KET), Dr. John (JAS) at Super Bowl

— Blah, Horatio’s Aaron Neville has gotten old by this point.
— Kenan In A Dress alert. Oh, and in typical Kenan Thompson fashion, he’s playing this role in the exact same generic sassy manner he plays almost every black woman.
— We at least get Jason as Dr. John, which is a funny impression. I love the voice he’s using here.
— Did Kenan just crack up at his own line just now? Don’t tell me Horatio’s unprofessionalism is rubbing off onto other performers.
— Kenan’s Aretha Franklin requesting a stool to “rest my titties on” is….certainly something.
— I like Jason’s Dr. John returning with a gift that he had just “won and/or stole”.
— Speaking of Horatio’s unprofessionalism, he predictably cracks himself up during his own singing of the national anthem. (*sigh*) Only a handful of episodes left until Horatio is finally the hell out of here.
— Overall, despite a funny performance from Jason, this sketch was fucking terrible.
STARS: *


BACKSTAGE
with Alec Baldwin [real] & JIF on stand-by, LOM trumps (host)’s demands

— A fun idea for a backstage sketch in a Steve Martin-hosted episode.
— Great little detail with Steve wearing his Five-Timers Club robe.
— Funny cutaway to an injured and brain-damaged Alec.
— Random Jimmy Fallon cameo.
STARS: ***½


PRINCE SHOW
Prince’s personal chef (host) & Drew Barrymore (KRW)

— I’ve grown to strongly dislike these sketches, but at least we’ve gotten a long gap between these past two installments. We get an even longer gap between tonight’s installment and the very next one, which is, mercifully, the final one.
— You’d think the only reason they’re doing this sketch tonight is because the real Prince is going to appear in it, but as we know now, he’s nowhere to be seen in the sketch.
— There’s our inevitable instance of Maya and Kristen appearing onscreen together for the very first time. Doesn’t feel as weird to me now as I expected. It sure felt weird to me back in 2006, though.
— Kristen’s doing an absolutely spot-on Drew Barrymore impression, which is even funnier coming just one episode after the real Drew Barrymore made a cameo on Weekend Update.
— There’s the sequence with Fred’s Prince singing into his own mirror reflection, which absolutely seemed like a set-up for a Prince walk-on, but nope. It’s official: they’re just taunting us at this point.
STARS: **


STATE OF THE GALAXY 2145
George Q. Bush’s (WLF) State Of The Galaxy address rings familiar in 2145

— Very fun concept of a futuristic State of the Union, complete with an intro from Brian Williams 3000 and a Chris Matthews hologram.
— Funny line about how, even in the year 2145, they’re still “very close to capturing Osama Bin Laden”, which is even funnier in retrospect, given that tonight’s episode, in 2006, is only five years before Osama actually would be captured.
— Will’s Bush threw in a “We’re workin’ hard” just now. You know those words from Will’s Bush are poison to my ears after that dreadful first Bush/Kerry debate sketch from the preceding season.
— Rachel makes her first appearance ALL NIGHT in a very brief gag at the end of this sketch. The reason for her lack of airtime tonight is because she was sick for most of this week.
STARS: ***½


THE TANGENT
(FRA)’s endless anecdote spans a whirlwind movie career

— Fun to see two Digital Short shorts in the same night, and it gives this Steve Martin episode even more of a special feel.
— Solid format to this short, and there’s some fun cameos.
— Speaking of cameos, Scarlett Johansson’s “cameo” makes it obvious that this short was filmed the then-recent week she hosted SNL (and I believe this short had gotten cut after dress rehearsal from her and Peter Sarsgaard’s respective episode), though even with this short being aired outside of her episode, her appearance blends in well with all the other cameos in this short.
— Conan! And seeing his old Late Night set always makes me feel wistfully nostalgic.
— Chris’ performance and delivery as the movie exec is great. I especially like him, when upset, bluntly telling Fred “This is the problem: your movie ate (*bleep*) at the box office.”
STARS: ****


SURFERS
uncool (host) is incredulous upon learning of his ouster from surfer club

— Oh, no. I recall this sketch being DREADFUL.
— A mild chuckle from Steve asking “Even you, Dragon?” to Jason a second time, just a few seconds after he already asked him that during his whole “Even you, (insert surfer name here)?” sequence. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I’ve found even remotely amusing in this sketch so far.
— Seth exasperatedly saying “Oh my god” in reaction to Steve’s nonstop questioning matches my attitude during this horribly tedious sketch. This is awful.
— Overall, wow. Even with the aforementioned mild chuckle I got from one part, this was indeed a really bad sketch. Not even Steve could save it. In fact, it made him look really lame as a performer; the kind of lame that reminds me of the claim some people make that Steve has “lost it” as a comedian in his older age, which I only agree with in certain cases, like in those Pink Panther movies. He’s been mostly solid in tonight’s episode.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Tamar [real] perform “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed”

— A noteworthy little moment: Prince humorously ends this performance by saying “Superstah!” while doing the Mary Katherine Gallagher hand gesture.


NATURALLY CRAFTING
(RAD) wants wreathmaker (host) to spend the night

— I remember this being another really bad sketch, but we’ll see.
— At least Rachel still gets a lead role tonight, even in her limited availability this week. You can tell here that she’s indeed still recovering from an illness, as her voice sounds kinda hoarse.
— Good performances from Rachel and Steve, but I’m not caring much for the material itself.
— I did get a laugh just now from Steve hornily asking Rachel “Midge, are those boiled wool mittens?” and Rachel seductively responding “Hand-loomed.”
— Meh, didn’t care for the ending of this.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not as strong as I had remembered, but this was still a pretty enjoyable episode overall. The first half of this episode had quite a number of really great things, but the quality dropped off quite a bit in the second half, especially during the last two sketches. I like how this episode had kind of a special and out-of-the-ordinary feel, which was fitting for Steve Martin’s long-awaited return as a host after 12 years. And Steve was as fun of a host as expected, for the most part.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Peter Sarsgaard)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Natalie Portman

Posted on

February 21, 1981 – Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince (S6 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
Rocko Weineretto & Weindulah weigh in before their upcoming bout

  

— Immediately, we’re already opening with Joe’s SNL Sports persona.
— He sets up the Rocko Weineretto and Weindulah boxing match that’s happening later in this episode.
— The weigh-in part is pretty funny.
— Overall, this was a very short, straightforward cold opening just here to set up the upcoming match.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MONOLOGUE
upon discovering girlfriend ANR was with CHR last night, JOP vows revenge

   

— Fun entrance from Charlene.
— This girl’s got energy and bubbliness for miles. I can see why it would annoy some viewers, but honestly, I’m finding it kinda endearing.
— The LFNY part was weird.
— That’s it? That’s the whole monologue?
— Oh, never mind, we get what appears to be a continuation of the monologue (or at least, I’m COUNTING it as a continuation), with Charlene meeting Charles backstage after having just talked about him when she was onstage.
— There’s another appearance of the “backstage SNL locker room” that we used to see all the time back in the original era.
— Joe “(menacingly) I’ll get that Charlie Rocket if it’s the last thing I do.” And tonight’s running premise is officially off. Unfortunately, it’s also not very funny so far.
STARS: **


GREATEST RECORDS OF ALL TIME
albums contain unlikely make out music

  

— Ann sure got changed fast from the monologue.
— LOL at “An evening with Hugh Downs”
— Not much to say here. Some laughs, but once you got the joke, there wasn’t much else to this.
STARS: **½


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
Mr. Speedy (GIG) delivers a package

     

— The debut of a legendary recurring Eddie Murphy sketch!
— I’m loving his version of the “won’t you be mine” opening song.
— Immediately, we get “bitch” as our very first “special word of the day”. Man this sketch is already starting hot.
— Classic bit with him asking viewers to test the word of the day on their mothers.
— We get the deep-voiced “Who is it?” door-answering bit, though I recall his delivery of it sounding a little funnier in some of the later installments of this sketch.
— Hilarious passing reference to Richard Pryor’s infamous freebasing accident.
— Overall, this was freakin’ great, and feels like such a breath of fresh air in a season like this. This sketch alone really embodies how much Eddie was the savior of this season. I’m looking forward to future installments of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


PORK PARADE
the Pork Queen (host) & her subjects get ready for the big parade

 

— Denny looks even tinier than usual, making her entrance through that little door at the beginning of this sketch.
— Okay, I finally got one laugh out of this dull sketch so far, at the reveal of Yvonne being known as the “Chitlin Princess”.
— Is Yvonne going to have ANY lines in this? Speaking of whom, what the hell has happened to her these last few episodes? It’s funny how back in my Karen Black episode review, I went on about how all the claims that Yvonne was a glorified extra during her featured player stint were exaggerated, as she had been getting a surprising amount of noteworthy speaking roles. I seem to have spoken too soon, as that Karen Black episode was followed by a long string of episodes where Yvonne either didn’t appear in or only appeared in a non-speaking bit role, including this sketch. She hasn’t gotten anything noteworthy to do since that Karen Black episode. This must be where her reputation nowadays for being such an underused cast member comes from.
— (groan) What in the world is this sketch going for?
— What’s with Gail occasionally making random pig snorting sounds? If that’s her attempt to save this awful sketch, it ain’t workin’. You know, I’ve liked Gail for most of this season, but I can’t help but notice that in the last few episodes, she’s begun resorting to playing some of her roles a little TOO cartoonish and over-the-top (e.g. Where’s Cooter, Was I Ever Red), which isn’t working for me. I can’t help but wonder if that’s an act of desperation from her, due to how badly this season has been bombing lately.
— Overall, boy, was this a bad, sloppy sketch. No idea why they thought this would be funny. This is exactly like the type of sketch that used to immediately come to my mind when thinking about how bad this season supposedly is.
STARS: *


ROCKET REPORT
CHR takes host for her first NYC subway ride

     

— Fun premise with Charles and Charlene at a subway, where Charlene is going to take her very first subway ride.
— Hey, Charles is actually interviewing people! This is the true strength of the Rocket Reports.
— Ha, the lights in the train suddenly going out brings back childhood memories of when that often happened when I rode on the New York trains as a kid.
— Overall, a pretty solid edition of Rocket Report. I’m guessing this ends up being the last-ever appearance of this segment. At least this ended on a good note.
STARS: ***½


A FIDDLER BE ON THE ROOF
a movie starring Stevie Wonder (EDM) as Tevye

 

— Funny visual of Eddie as Stevie Wonder singing Yiddish lyrics in Eddie’s now-famous old Jewish voice.
— Very short, and I would’ve liked to have seen them do more with this, but this was still fine for what it was.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Todd Rundgren performs “Healer”


WEEKEND UPDATE
David Stockman (GIG) prefers “Catch a crook, eat a meal” to food stamps

   

— (*sigh*) Here we go…
— As usual, a very tepid beginning with little-to-no reaction from the audience in response to the first few jokes.
— Oh, god, now Charles is resorting to repeatedly stomping his foot on the ground after a particular weak joke. Man, his increasing desperation for laughs these last few episodes is pathetic.
— Oh, great, now Charles is returning to the hyped-up, manic delivery he keeps falling back on these last few Updates.
— And now Gail has resorted to sheepishly repeating some of her punchlines after it bombs with the audience. God, Update is killing me with its sad desperation lately.
— The audience may not have seemed to mind that corny “Ragu music / Pastafarians” joke, but it had me groaning my head off.
— LOL, Gilbert looks like a little kid playing dress-up. What’s up with that? I guess his strangely-low chair has something to do with that, but seriously, if I had seen a screencap of this Update commentary without knowing that was Gilbert Gottfried, I’d probably think that was either a child or a woman under that wig and glasses.
— The “Catch a crook, eat a meal” program is a pretty funny concept in Gilbert’s commentary.
— The joke about President Reagan being a bad actor actually got a pretty good audience reaction.
— No idea how to respond to the bit with Charles delivering an exaggeratedly angry, manic rant towards President Reagan about saving money. Maybe I wouldn’t mind it if Charles hadn’t developed a tendency to randomly rely on hyped-up, manic delivery in general lately. This anti-Reagan/saving money rant also just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, which I probably wouldn’t have had a problem with back in those days, but our current Trump era has permanently burned me out on comedians relying on clapter in place of actual comedy.
— No Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary tonight, as Charles mentions that Joe will be hosting the aforementioned boxing match later in the show.
— An overall short Update tonight, which is one of the few saving graces of it.
STARS: **


LINCOLN BEDROOM
Lincoln Bedroom haunts Nancy Reagan’s (GLM) daughter-in-law Doria (ANR)

   

— Okay, this certainly looks like a weird sketch. I’m interested to see where this will go, though.
— What was with that random door-knocking sound when nobody was even knocking? Where did that come from?
— LOL at Eddie’s creepy entrance.
— Randomly throwing a Mary Todd Lincoln appearance into a sketch is usually always a sure-fire laugh-getter.
— Overall, despite an interesting premise and a good performance from Gail, this sketch didn’t amount to much.
STARS: **


GILLIE AND CHARLENE
rumors of CHR’s exploits lead both host & GIG to vow revenge against him

  

— Another instance of Gilbert being called by his backstage nickname “Gillie”.
— Gilbert’s sounding more sullen and bored than ever in this sketch.
— Now we’re resorting to a whole bunch of lazy gay jokes throughout this.
— Ha, that ending close-up of a sullen Gilbert Gottfried staring deadpan into the camera is a strangely classic image.
— Tonight’s “everyone wants to get revenge on Charles Rocket” throughline isn’t being pulled off well at all so far tonight. Only season 6 could manage to make a Dallas/“who shot J.R.?” take-off so dull.
STARS: *½


THE COMPETITION
a movie about finger-breaking piano rivals (JOP) & (GLM)

 

— This is a parody of a then-new Richard Dreyfuss/Amy Irving movie of the same title. The only reason I know that is because the copy I’m watching of this episode is the original live broadcast where, during one of the commercial breaks earlier in the show, there was actually a commercial for the Dreyfuss/Irving movie.
— Joe’s Richard Dreyfuss impression is fairly funny, though I’m guessing people who’ve seen this sketch without knowing what it was parodying have no idea he was even imitating Dreyfuss and they probably wondered why he was speaking in a high-pitched nasal voice.
— That’s it? Short, but kinda funny punchline, I guess.
STARS: **½


SPEAKING OUT
policewoman (DED) on unauthorized use of handicap toilets

— A very rare instance of Matthew Laurance starring in a sketch.
— Overall, this was a dull sketch that just washed right over me. I got a chuckle from one or two of Denny’s lines, but there was absolutely nothing noteworthy here.
STARS: *½


WOMEN BEHIND BARS
(DED) & (host) debate industrial revolution education

   

— The initial set-up to this is bringing back memories of that “Debs Behind Bars” sketch from season 5. It even looks like this is using the same set from that sketch.
— For some reason, it feels weird seeing Gail playing a tough, mean character.
— Yet ANOTHER silent role for Yvonne. Is that woman going to go through the entire second half of this season without speaking a single word?
— Never mind, Yvonne actually got one line just now. SHE SPEAKS!
— Pretty funny reveal that the dreaded “treatment” Charlene’s character will face is simply a debate involving the Industrial Revolution.
— Denny’s character pulling out a graph as a visual aid is kinda funny, and is the first noticeable laugh this whole sketch received from the studio audience.
— Overall, after taking a good unexpected turn mid-sketch, this unfortunately kinda petered out afterwards and was not as good as it should’ve been.
STARS: **½


SNL SPORTS
Weindulah outboxes Rocko Weineretto to win the title; Don King cameo

  

— Here’s the big boxing match the show kept hyping.
— Don King cameo.
— Weindullah’s various ways of taunting Weineretto are pretty funny.
— An overall decent bit, though I wasn’t laughing out loud and I almost started getting a little bored during some parts. But this had a goofy, fun charm to it, and I can appreciate all the commitment that went into this whole thing. I sure wouldn’t want to sit through another Weiner puppet fight, however.
STARS: ***


SUBMISSIVE SUGAR DADDIES
(host) shows why women should call Submissive Sugar Daddy Referral Service

 

— The visual of that jovial-looking old extra as a sugar daddy is kinda funny, I guess.
— That’s it? I didn’t care for this and it came off kinda pointless.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Todd Rundgren performs “Time Heals”


PARTY
Mary Louise rules her birthday party with Sam The Snake & an iron fist

 

— Hmm, what’s this? Joe introduces Denny as herself. Am I in for a random Denny Dillon stand-up segment?
— Hmm, she’s doing a character, in a one-woman show-esque piece. This is reminding me of how she previously did a guest spot on the show way back in SNL’s third episode ever, where she and her comedy partner (Mark Hampton) did a nun act.
— Oh, this is the same character she played earlier this season in the Ellen Burstyn episode.
— No idea how to feel about this act so far.
— Overall, I liked this character much better in a sketch format. Her routine doesn’t work as well in a one-woman show setting.
STARS: **


AFTER MIDNIGHT
(CHR) & (GLM) arouse each other while bathing a dog
when CHR gets shot during a sketch, the question is “Who Shot C.R.?”

     

— Charles is coming off more Bill Murray-esque than EVER in this. I can totally picture Bill playing this character.
— Boy, is this a weird sketch. Hope it’s a good one, though, because I’m kinda tired of being so consistently negative in tonight’s episode review.
— A sudden cut to a crosshair first-person perspective aiming at Charles. I now see where this is going.
— And there’s the gunshot.
— I’m suddenly getting excited about this sketch now, as we’re seeing a whole bunch of cast and crew members panickedly rushing into the scene and freaking out.
— Funny bit with Gilbert asking out Charlene in the middle of all the chaos.
— “Who shot C.R.?”
— Nice seeing the whole cast gathered together in the ending shot.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Prince performs “Partyup”

— Okay, it’s always been said that Prince supposedly drops an f-bomb when singing the lyric “Fightin’ war is such a fuckin’ bore”. However, I heard the lyric just now, and I’m 99.9% sure I heard him say “freakin”, not “fuckin’”. Is it just me?
— We’ll be returning to the discussion of f-bombs with a certain upcoming segment afterwards (you know the one)…


GOODNIGHTS
gun victim CHR says “I’d like to know who the fuck did it”

  

— Well, here it comes, folks…
— Aaaaaand there’s the legendary notorious moment. Charles: “Aw, man, it’s the first time I’ve ever been shot in my life. I’d like to know who the fuck did it.”
— The reactions from everyone onstage are freakin’ PRICELESS. Writing this review in real-time as I watch the episode, I can’t rewind to focus on each person’s reaction, but I’m quickly looking back-and-forth at various individual people, and there are so many funny different reactions. Meanwhile, Charles is just sitting there with a laid-back smug grin on his face like he’s proud of himself for what he just did.
— Even though I knew the f-bomb was coming and I’ve watched it quite a number of times in the past, it’s a VERY different experience now seeing it in the context of the entire season, where I’ve been watching and reviewing each episode in chronological order on a day-to-day basis for my SNL project. Arriving at the infamous f-bomb just now, I felt genuine shock when Charles said it and when I saw the cast’s reactions. That shocked feeling of mine made me come to the realization that due to my daily watching and reviewing of this season, I’ve developed a strange attachment to this cast. Definitely a different feeling from the last time I watched this f-bomb moment, where I had no kind of connection to this cast or season at all.
— I think I remember hearing that as soon as Charles dropped the f-bomb, one of the people working in the SNL control room threw his hands in the air, said “Well, there’s goes the end of live TV”, whipped off his headphones, threw it onto the control board, and walked right off the show, as if he thought SNL would be canceled right there on the spot.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Boy, am I getting tired of saying “another tepid episode”, but that’s become status quo for the show lately. Like I mentioned earlier, I kinda feel bad for being so consistently negative in my reviews these last few episodes, but I can’t help it if season 6 keeps handing me weak episodes lately. I’m starting to run out of different ways to say a sketch didn’t work. I loved tonight’s Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood debut, and about one or two other segments in this episode were fun (including Rocket Report), but there ain’t much else to praise here. At least the notoriety of the Charles Rocket f-bomb incident boosts this episode’s watchability, as otherwise, it would pretty much be indistinguishable from the rest of the string of mediocre episodes that began with Robert Hays.
— Needless to say, the f-bomb incident went on to cause a ton of controversy for SNL. The show (and particularly Jean Doumanian’s job as producer) had already been on thin ice with NBC brass throughout this troubled season, and the f-bomb incident is said to have been the final straw that would eventually lead to the firings of Jean Doumanian, Charles Rocket, and many of the remaining cast and writers. There’s still one episode left with everyone intact before the mass firings occur.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Deborah Harry):
— a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Bill Murray comes back to show them how it’s done