President’s Message on Inflation – Jimmy Carter (Aykroyd)
delivers a “plantside” chat addressing the problem of inflation (“too many
dollars chasing too few goods”) and proposes a solution that involves all
Americans burning 8% of all their money. He brings out Amy (Newman) to burn one
dollar to make a point about sacrifice. This was a decent political open. I liked
the lines about Carter’s administration maintaining high unemployment to fight
inflation “so people have less money to spend” and the ashtray that said “the
buck burns here.” Also, I wonder if Dan adlibbed the line about trying to “save
on fuel/butane” when his lighter didn’t work and he was forced to use a match.
B-
Monologue – Michael Sarrazin states his apprehension to do
the show because it’s different form movies, but everyone’s been nice to him
despite preparing for tax day. He’s also nervous because in addition to this
being tax day, April 15th happens to be the anniversary of the Titanic sinking
as well as “Booth day” which he explains as the day John Wilkes Booth
assassinated Abraham Lincoln giving actors everywhere a bad name and giving this
show two possible bad omens. This monologue was obviously light on laughs, but
thankfully it was kept short and somewhat informative. C-
Angora Bouquet – Repeat from Hugh Hefner/Libby Titus
(10/15/1977) but with considerably less of a strong audience reaction.
John Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker – Just before a V.D. lecture
from Ramsey played by Peter Fonda (Sarrazin), Johnny Ludlow (Murray) tells his
girlfriend Susie Edwards (Newman) that he has decided not to go to college next
year so they can shack up, but his parents don’t know. After the lecture, Susie
makes an appointment to talk to Ramsey at his clinic where she is made to give
him a list of sexual contacts and is squeamish about telling Johnny. Meanwhile,
Johnny finds that his penis hurts as he urinates as he and a basketball
teammate (Belushi) consider the possibility of V.D. His parents (Radner,
Ayrkroyd) are furious to read about this in the paper when Ramsey and Susie
show up and she confesses to having sex with one other boy. Suddenly, a phone
call comes in for Ramsey saying Susie merely has a yeast infection. This might
have seemed a bit tasteless at the time, but it was very funny and it still
holds up today. I especially liked Murray screaming from the bathroom and
announcing how much his penis hurts, the announcement at the game that Susie
Edwards has V.D., Radner stating Newman can’t use the bathroom and Murray’s
pure hatred for Newman throughout the end of the sketch. B+
Judy Miller II – Radner reprises her brownie girl character
from the Charles Grodin episode. This time, she is in her living room putting
on an imaginary show about how much she hates her sister Jennifer and how
everyone ele should while she is being put in her room for hitting Judy. She
talks about how she wants to go live in the woods in London until her mother
(Curtin V/O) says Jennifer apologizes. While this installment was entertaining,
I liked the first one better. This one just felt underwritten and lighter on
manic energy and raw physical comedy. It just came across as just a little
tired but I liked her line about how Jennifer goes to the bathroom with the
door open and carsickness. C+
Weekend Update w/ Curtin and Aykroyd – Best jokes: Ferrier,
Ted Kennedy/Susie Chapstick, Bert Lance, Arabian Disney purchase. Bill Murray
brings up the film “Hot Wax” and presents a filmed interview with the film’s
star, Laraine Newman. Laraine talks about making people want to watch her and
being impulsive while she takes a bath in her hotel room. This was a rather
intriguing in gag for the cast. I especially liked seeing Laraine drape her arm
across her neck Still, watching this film actually made me wish Laraine had
become a big star. Curtin and Aykroyd do a point/counterpoint on the neutron
bomb. Curtin implies Aykroyd is a fat, militaristic pig and Aykroyd calls
Curtin a stupid, dried out bleeding heart liberal. This one was missing the
classic “ignorant slut” line and wasn’t as funny or mean as some of the other
point counterpoints. Roseanne Roseannadanna (Radner) reads a letter from Doris
Powell (wondering about the significance of that impression) giving her tips on
how to fight depression in the spring. She starts out with an anecdote on how
she got depressed when her then boyfriend broke up with her which turns into
considering becoming a nun and then being more of a tomboy as a kid and
culminating in reading the book “Why Jane Can’t Go Swimming” and spitting in a
water fountain before Jane chews her out in search of the point. She closes
with a childhood poem form her Nana (Roseannadanna) that strangely ends with
“take it, Jane”. This commentary felt quite different from the rest, but I
liked Jane’s slow burn in this one. Good to see Update is sticking with the
winning formula. This wasn’t as good as last week’s Update, but still great.
Penalty Box – In a French Canadian hockey game, Novello
(Murray) and LaViloette (Sarrazin) join Sean Huburtise in the penalty box and
mutually discuss the differences between this game in Texas and their
lifestyles in Canada. At the end, Novello calls him out on his lack of loyalty.
This sketch may have felt pointless, but you could tell by the performances
that everyone was having fun (especially Aykroyd and Sarrazin).
E. Buzz Miller’s Exercise World – In this cable access
presentation, Buzz (Aykroyd) uses assistant Christie Christina (Newman) to
demonstrate some very sexually suggestive isometric exercises before doing some
fingertip pushups. This was better than the “Animal Kingdom” segment, but the
“Art Classics” sketch is still the funniest. I liked Newman’s fake breasts with
her protruding nipples, although it serves as a reminder of how unsettlingly
skinny she was then. B+
Schiller’s Reel: La Dolce Gilda – This mock French film
features Gilda as a glamorous socialite out on the town with Newman and
Aykroyd. It’s mostly people talking about how TV sucks and electricity kills
creativity and everyone else there is boring. Then, Aykroyd makes a random
woman give him a horsey ride. At the point where Gilda can’t handle the
sycophants any longer, she leaves and addresses the camera asking the audience
to “leave her dreams”. You could cut the pretension here with a butcher knife,
but its endearing pretension. This is a semi famous piece that has been
included in some “Best of Gilda” retrospectives and for good reason. Only Gilda
could make this material watchable and play such a character as likable. The
chicks looked classically hot…for whatever that’s worth. Speaking of which,
Laraine seemed to be reprising her impression of Lina Wertmuller seen in the
first two seasons. B-
Archeologicus – Tina Gemini (Newman) hosts this documentary
type program about a find in a vault in Palm Springs of “Treasures of Morton
Kamen” whom she identifies as “incredibly rich” and “surrounded by the spoils
of his generation” which include Dolce and Gabanna wear and alligator shirts
and his golf cart. Also, we hear his voice (played by Belushi doing a voice not
unlike Eddie Murphy’s Gumby) on his old answering machine. Basically, the life
style of the stereotypical old Jewish Floridian retiree is viewed through an
antiquated lens. This really didn’t go anywhere and doesn’t hold up well. C-
Well, this show started out strong but the cracks started to
show toward the end. Next is an encore of my old Steve Martin/Blues Brothers
review followed by a review of the episode with Richard Dreyfuss with Jimmy
Buffett and Gary Tigerman. See you then!
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