Monday, May 27, 2013

Jill Clayburgh/Eddie Money (3.18.1978)

Disclaimer – “Bowling for Medicine” is being pre-empted. This was one of the sillier ones. Hopefully, they get back on track if they do more of these. B-

Cold Open – As Garrett sings “Danny Boy” (sitting on a toadstool in a leprechaun outfit), the obligatory crawl makes its way up the screen (which was written by Garrett himself at his insistence) saying that it bothers him how people laugh at the words on screen (which he doesn’t mind) during his performances because it covers up his singing. He also states how the crawl shouldn’t distract viewers from his singing saying that “they shouldn’t miss anything if they don’t bother to read it” just before going on about how badly he had mistimed what he’d written. Garrett’s singing is remarkable, but the crawl is kind of an overdone trope at this point (counting some monologues.) The crawl is usually good for only a couple of laughs anyway before it gets too distracting (see kids, this is where the pause button comes in handy). That being said, I chuckled at his casual mention of his suit and toadstools being 40% because they got them the day after St. Patty’s and Garrett’s attempt to hold his last note longer to accommodate the long crawl. He also says “LFNY” in a rather awkward sounding Irish brogue. B-

Monologue – Jill Clayburgh comes out on stage and says that the one thing she learned from watching the repeat of her ’76 hosting stint is that she should’ve prepared more from the monologue because it’s the audiences’ only chance to see the host as themselves. If there’s one thing she learned from THIS week, it’s that she didn’t learn from ’76 because this monologue should’ve been both longer AND funnier. She closes saying that if they ask her back again (spoiler alert: they didn’t) she’ll work on making her next monologue even better and funnier. This was another awkward moment in the show. She was right about this monologue not being funny, but thankfully she was right about it not being long. Also, I didn’t remember much from her first hosting stint (or this one for that matter) until I skimmed the SNL archives and suddenly remembered seeing her first show on Classic SNL. She doesn’t look like she’s aged particularly well in those two years either. C-

Royal Deluxe II – Repeat from Steve Martin/Jackson Browne (9/24/1977)

Olympia Café II – In this retread to the famous Greek eatery, Sandy (Newman) is training a new waitress (Clayburgh). Pete (Belushi) states that she won’t say because they all want money, even his cousin Niko (Murray) despite being put up to live in the back and getting free food. Curitn comes in and asks cousin Niko to put up a poster for a benefit in the window but Gilda must tell her that Niko doesn’t speak English and then asks fry cook George (Aykroyd) to translate a joke he doesn’t get. Curtin asks Pete about the poster, but in true fashion he goads he into buying a cheeseburger and a tea first. The new waitress argues with Niko over the pronunciation of “cheeseburger” until she gets fed up and leaves. This was funny, but not as good as the first Olympia Café sketch in general. I did like how Curtin kept ordering a tea and then got one after she said “nothing to drink” and how her benefit was for two kids who ate a balloon. I also liked the “water/Pepsi” joke at the end. B+

Cybil III – This faux-sequel involves psychiatrist Dr. Emma Wilbur (Clayburgh) interviewing three women, Sybil Connoly (Curtin), Sybil Weintraub (Newman) and Coleen Fernman (Radner) whom Dr. Wilbur mistakenly believes are all one woman named Sybil Dorsett (Radner). Dr. Wilbur is concerned with the one personality that isn’t expressing herself (Radner) because as Curtin explains “because she’s vegged out” The three ladies fail to convince her otherwise but they manage to successfully come to terms with the fact that their mothers all hung them upside down and gave them ice water enemas. She tries and fails to get them all to admit that all of us have different personalities inside ourselves but reveals that she has at least 27 different personalities in the process. Curtin and Newman sneak out while she is giving this speech with her backs to them leaving Radner all by herself mistakenly leading Clayburgh to the conclusion that she has “cured” her. This was a very funny and clever take on “Cybil”. It may have sounded like a thin premise on paper, but the writing saved it. I especially liked Gilda being inadvertently shoved off the couch, Clayburgh and Curtin going back and forth about how Clayburgh “cured” 10 of her previous 13 personalities because the ten other women just stopped showing up and the ending with several women named “Deborah” filing in. B+

Bad One Man Theater – This “Bad” showcase features Leonard Pinth-Garnell (Aykroyd) hosting a performance of “An Evening With…” which happens to be a particularly bad example of the already tedious format of “one man theater”. What makes it bad is that rather than one man, there are four men and a woman on stage. Nick Turner (Schiller) is Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain, Steve Bushakis (Belushi) is James Whitmore as Harry S. Truman, Ronnie Bateman (Murray) is Robert Vaughn in “An Evening Edgar Allen Poe”, Ray Hauser (Morris) is Paul Robeson in “Living Legend” and Helen Wegman (Curtin) is Eleanor Roosevelt in “Living With FDR” all performing over one another simultaneously. This was one of my favorite “bad” sketches. I liked Curtin’s droopy Eleanor Roosevelt voice and Murray’s opium line. Also, Schiller’s strangely high-pitched voice as Mark Twain made it a little hard for me to believe at first that he was playing Twain rather than Clayburgh or another female writer in his role. B+

Nutrifix – Curtin pitches this instant breakfast that you inject intravenously into your rear as she demonstrates on her daughter (Newman), son (Belushi) and father (Ayrkoyd) and lustily on herself at the very end. This seems like something Aykroyd had a hand in writing, but otherwise funny if not rather forgettable aside from Curtin’s part. She is really the stand out player tonight. C+

Weekend Update w/Aykroyd and Curtin – Best jokes: Walter Kronkite, Frank Rizzo, Ricardo Montalban. Newman delivers a remote from the Glen Rock Mine as the strike comes to a close. She interviews mine inspector Lester Crackfield (Franken) who declares this mine safe just as it collapses on them losing the feed. I liked this short punchy bit. Roseanne Roseannadanna (Radner) gives tax tips and tells you what you can and can’t deduct. This turns into her tale of going to talk to the IRS in a cheap suit that retained a previous odor which devolves into her tale of sitting behind smelly “Hernando Roseannedando” in grade school who ate egg sandwiches and green peppers for lunch and then hairs on soap. Curtin chews her out and she in turns recants a tale her father told her about a friendless rabbit who wears a smelly polyester suit. Roseanne was improving here as well. This was one of the better Updates this season. B-

Blurry – On a train, Belushi and Clayburgh are making small talk. Belushi talks about how everything out west is one big blurry out of focus disappointment as well as everywhere else he traveled. Clayburgh suggests going to an eye doctor and getting prescription glasses, but he doesn’t heed his advice and goes all around the train looking for another seat. This was a pretty one joke 94-95ish type sketch, but Belushi’s performance really saved it. At least it was shorter than I remembered. D+

Shower Mike II – Richard Herkiman (Murray) does his usual morning zoo DJ/lounge lizard shtick with his soap microphone. She introduces comedian neighbor Morty Coony (Belushi) to tell his hacky jokes in the shower. They all revolve around their garage, where Morty has been living. Richard then invites Morty’s wife Judy (Clayburgh) who invites him back in the house. The only thing really funny about this sketch was Murray and Belushi’s performance and the fact that he and Clayburgh entered a shower fully clothed. Otherwise, this doesn’t really hold up and wasn’t as good as the previous sketch with Buck Henry the last season. C-

Coneheads on Earth – In this eighth visit with the family from Remulak, we find that patriarch Beldar (Aykroyd) is cheating on Prymatt (Curtin) with his driving student (Clayburgh) in a sleazy motel. Prymatt and daughter Connie (Newman) are awaiting Beldars’ return as Connie prepares for her date with Ronnie Getsetter (Murray). Prymatt immediately discovers Beldar has been with a human upon seeing he has bought their sensor rings home. Suddenly, a man named “Jerry” calls for Prymatt and they swear off humans forever. I enjoyed seeing how the Coneheads handled infidelity. I also liked the sight gag of Aykroyd having large spider veins on his chest and Newman explaining how drives in movies contain “sexual release themes”. B+

Celebrity Crack-Up – Jane Curtin hosts this panel talk show where her guests reveal their deepest, darkest problems in hope that they will mutually benefit from each other. Her guests include Tony Orlando (Murray), Robert Blake (Belushi), Claudine Longet (Radner) and Richard Pryor (Morris). Orlando discusses the tragedy of his death of his close personal friend Charlie Chaplin as well as manic depression. Blake and Pryor discuss their divorces as everyone gets Pryor to open up. This was pretty well written satire and it somewhat still holds up. Garrett’s Pryor impression was strange as he had the voice and facial expressions down, but didn’t look the part at all. I liked Gilda’s line about how the best release is accidentally shooting someone in the stomach, but Morris’ “coke/cope” mix-up at the end felt a little trite and contrived. B+

Serious Song – Clayburgh alone on stage sings about reactions between two people in a relationship and the realization that your significant other is a total jerk off but you still love them. This song seemed really pointless and Clayburgh didn’t quite transition well enough between straight narration and dodgy singing. C-


Well, this episode has a couple of bright moments here and there, but it pales in comparison to her show from the first season. Next episode is Christoper Lee with musical guest Meatloaf.

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