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.
No comments:
Post a Comment