SNL Season 6: Final cast and episode summary

The cast:

Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried

Denny Dillon:
Dillon made a strong impression fairly early on, carrying a lot of the sketches in the first two shows of the season, having the first recurring character of the season, and bringing needed energy to weaker sketches.  There was a little bit of a sameness to her performances that became more evident over the season, but she was a consistent, dependable performer.  She gave a lot of her castmates a boost whenever she shared sketches with them (Gail Matthius’ Vickie was better once she had Dillon’s Debbie to play off), and just seemed to exhibit a willingness and commitment in whatever she appeared in.  [MVP: Gould, McDowell]

Gilbert Gottfried:
It’s a little disarming to see Gofffried in these shows, with his eyes wide open and not speaking in that famous stilted squawk, and a tad green.  Where Dillon jumped in, Gottfried had a tendency to hold back: the legend goes that he didn’t want to use his A-material on the show because he was concerned the network would claim ownership.  Gottfried’s performances would end up being the clearest barometer of the Jean Doumanian era: early on, he’s more lively and animated, if a little green, but toward the end of the season, he is a little more sullen and withdrawn.  Maybe it’s because he got some of the most thankless jobs on the show that didn’t go to featured players (having to wear the Master Po makeup all night in Carradine, playing a vegetable along the featureds in Dazola, and his nadir: being the corpse in a funeral sketch).  Like most of the cast, though, he was not without his moments: he worked well with Dillon as the Waxmans, and I thought his collaborations with writer Ferris Butler were particularly fruitful.  [MVP: Kellerman]

Gail Matthius

Gail Matthius:
Matthius definitely had potential to be a great cast member, and hit the highest highs out of all three female leads, but she also had a few really frustrating moments on the show.  Impressions were her weakest point, and despite her efforts, she didn’t really have the ability to rise above some of the material she was given.  She had a rough time on Weekend Update as well; fumbling a bit in the early shows, and getting saddled with some of the worst jokes ever written.  These missteps seem even more disappointing because when she was actually given good material, she really did well with it: I especially liked Francis Lively, the little girl character she played in “Lonely Old Lady”, and she ended up going out on a strong note with “Same”.    I only wonder how she would have fared on a different incarnation of the show.  [MVP: Carradine, Harry]

Joe Piscopo

Joe Piscopo:
Piscopo ended up being one of the two castmembers that stole Rocket’s thunder this season by demonstrating he was a better fit for the characters and celebrity impressions that the show built its name on in the first five seasons.  Piscopo was consistent, well-rounded, and seemed to feel more natural in the prominent roles that Rocket was being schooled for.  I’d draw the line at calling Piscopo an MVP of the season: I believe the key to his relative success this year were clear and repeated hooks in his signature bits (SNL Sports and Paulie Herman; Sinatra developed more fully after Ebersol took over), but he was always more of a “safe” performer and didn’t have the kind of charisma that demanded attention like Eddie Murphy would provide, a quality that was desperately needed this season. [MVP: Gould]

Ann Risley:
I actually thought Risley handled the straighter roles fairly well.  Risley never managed to have a recurring character, and there were a few performances of hers that were pretty dodgy (mainly as the hosts of “Dying To Be Heard” and “Was I Ever Red”), but I wonder how much of it was actually her acting style (she’s more of a straight actress) and how much of it was the writers not finding a breakout role for her (she did come close with the Toni Tenille sketch).  Some say that she was a poor fit for SNL, but I see a few small glimpses at a potential Kristen Wiig-style performer whose true gift was understatement, although Wiig had the added benefit of being able to write for herself.  A key part of success on the show is either writing for yourself or finding the right writer to collaborate with; I don’t know whether Risley had that support for herself.

Charles Rocket and Ann Risley

Charles Rocket:
Doumanian was banking too much on Rocket to be the breakout star: usually when something is pushed so heavily, it only helps build a backlash toward the performer.  Rocket was no exception, and he had a few liabilities that probably hurt him on the show: his impressions were weak, and whenever he tried to play big (like his February Updates or even in Billy-Gram), he chewed so much scenery it was distracting.  When he dialed it back, though, he was a decent utility player, and his strengths in those roles presage his respectable career as a character actor.  Rocket’s true strength on the show, though, was catching people off-guard during The Rocket Report, where a different type of charm emerged than when he was doing sketches.  Unfortunately, Rocket became the public face for Jean Doumanian’s mistakes on the show, and that one moment during the Charlene Tilton goodnights overshadowed pretty much everything he did since, even after he took his own life.  [MVP: Black]

Yvonne Hudson:
SNL’s first black female featured player was essentially doing the same types of roles she had been doing uncredited the previous couple of seasons; aside from some increased prominence in sketches for a few episodes, she was still essentially an extra on the show.  There is actually one episode where she has less lines that SNL’s resident “old man” extra, Andy Murphy.  Despite no longer being in the opening credits, she was kept around as an extra the next few seasons.

Matthew Laurance:
Aside from Eddie Murphy, Laurance was the most prominent of the featured players.  I thought he was decent as a utility man, and served as a good counterpoint to the more exaggerated performances of Rocket and Piscopo, even if he didn’t make a strong impression on his own.  I wonder how he would have done in a pitchman role that usually went to either of those two.

Matthew Laurance and Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy:
From his first speaking role, Murphy demonstrated why he was full cast material.  There were a few appearances of his that betrayed his inexperience (particularly Newsbreak in Harry), but he had a confidence that the others in the cast seemed to lack, and made stronger impressions than much of the cast that had a heavier sketch load.   [MVP: Burstyn, Sharkey, Hays, Tilton]

Patrick Weathers

Patrick Weathers:
His Bob Dylan sketch in Carradine was the main thing that distinguished him; he might have made a bigger impact if he was given more to do.  I won’t hold Ravi Sings against him.

Robin Duke

Robin Duke:
Out of Dick Ebersol’s three full-cast hires, Duke made a smallest impression of the three, getting a band intro, a leftover Jane Curtin role, a decent part in a five-man sketch and a last-minute voice-over in the bag lady film.  None of these roles really showed what she was known for on SCTV, and viewers would get a better glimpse of her the next season.  Part of this can be attributed to the fact that Duke was a last-minute addition: Catherine O’Hara was originally slated to be on the show in her place (and was listed in news articles as late as five days before airtime), but O’Donoghue’s first staff meeting scared her away from the show.  O’Hara recommended old friend Duke for the show, and a month later, O’Hara was on the same network with the resurrected SCTV.  If the strike hadn’t happened, Duke could have been making an impact as soon as the next show.

Tim Kazurinsky:
Kazurinsky seemed to fit SNL immediately, and ended up dominating the first Ebersol-produced show.  Part of Kazurisnky’s strong first outing comes from his prominence in two of the longer pieces, but being a combination writer/performer, and coming from an improv background certainly would have helped.  It was John Belushi’s recommendation that got Kazurinsky hired on the show, and Belushi’s instincts turned out to be correct.  [MVP: Finale]

Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato

Tony Rosato:
Like Duke, Rosato came from SCTV, and like Kazurinsky, he was hired as a writer/performer and made a fairly strong impression in his first show.  He and Kazurinsky worked well together in their two main sketches, but he would find a stronger footing the following season.

Laurie Metcalf

Laurie Metcalf:
One of the most successful people to have an incredibly brief SNL tenure, Metcalf’s sole appearance on the show was a pre-filmed “man on the street” piece.   I can’t assess how she would have fared if Ebersol kept her on based on that one segment.

Emily Prager

Emily Prager:
Prager didn’t even appear on-camera during her only live show.  She has, however, appeared on the show before and after (she was a girlfriend of Tom Davis’ and appeared occasionally as an extra around 1977-78; she and Davis also appear in the Button film next season).

Strongest shows:
1. Karen Black / Cheap Trick, Stanley Clarke: (Average rating: 3.18/5)
The show where everything seemed to go right.  It’s not flawless (SNL rarely is) but the combination of an energetic host, more determined writing and a receptive audience worked wonders.  As much as Black and the audience kept things lively, its really the cast and writers’ victory.
2. Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton: (Average rating: 3.11/5)
This is the textbook example of the host bringing a boost to the show.  The last four shows were dispirited affairs, and the prior show in particular contained the moment that overshadowed the rest of the Doumanian-era.  Murray shows up and infuses what would be the final Doumanian-produced SNL with energy and the sense of fun that had all but vanished in the second half of the season.
3. No Host / Jr. Walker & The All-Stars: (Average rating: 2.88/5)
Ebersol takes over, cleans house (as much as the budget would allow), and makes an appeal to nostalgia with his first show.  It’s weighed down by Chevy Chase’s disappointing Weekend Update return engagement, but this one remains consistently watchable if not an all-out return to form.

Weakest shows:
1. Robert Hays / Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crown, 14 Karat Soul: (Average rating: 2/5)
The string of mediocre-to-bad sketches that come after Weekend Update is the air seeping out of the SNL ’80 tire that they finally were able to inflate the week before.
2. Jamie Lee Curtis / James Brown: (Average rating: 2.22/5)
The first three shows of the season had enough highlights to counteract the weaker material.  Here is where the good to bad ratio finally tips to to the other side; while nothing in this show is as bad as “Commie Hunting Season”, a lot of the sketches were underdeveloped and uninspired.
3. Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince: (Average rating: 2.26/5)
A fair amount of OK material here, but the backstage runner that culminates in “Who Shot C.R.” is underwhelming, and the highs don’t really offset the lows enough.

Best sketches:
1. The Writer (03/07/81)
Bill Murray is in front but playing it straight, while the new cast gets the fun of acting out the revisions he makes to his story.  Just a good sketch done well.
2. Hospital Bed (01/17/81)
Probably one of the saddest sketches the show has ever done, with Gilbert Gottfried’s disembodied voice communicating the thoughts of a stroke victim.  It’s punctuated enough with humor to avoid mawkishness, but the writers wisely put the emotion of the scene first.
3. Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood (02/21/81)
The debut of one of Eddie Murphy’s signature sketches, pretty much fully-formed.  The audience is on board by the end of the theme song.
Honorable mention: The Rocket Report – Fifth Avenue
Charles Rocket’s signature piece remains the place where his talents were best put to use.

Worst sketches:
1. Commie Hunting Season (11/22/80)
SNL tries to make a pointed statement about the Greensboro Massacre acquittals; it’s uncomfortable and alienating, but without the humor to redeem it.
2. Ravi Sings (01/24/81)
The only joke in the sketch: a cartoonish portrayal of an Indian musician singing American love songs.
3. Badgers (12/13/80)
A grating, amateurish sketch that hinges on a pun.

Best musical guests:
1. James Brown
His sweat-drenched eight-minute medley of classics is a high point for both the season and the series, especially taking into consideration that the band exceeded their allotted time.
2. 14 Karat Soul
Five young singers with no instrumental accompaniment get one of the biggest reactions from the audience this season.
3. Stanley Clarke Trio
Instrumental jazz-fusion that rocks as hard as any other musical guest this year.

Worst musical guests:
To be honest, I couldn’t really say that there were any truly bad musical guests.  Joe “King” Carrasco may have had a rough and raw sound but it was clear the band was going for energy over technique, and the worst I could really say about Ellen Shipley is that she was decent but a little generic-sounding.  The other musical guests only really pale in comparison to the stellar choices Doumanian (and whoever else was involved in snagging musical guests) made this year.  I wonder how much of the booking strategy was intentional and how much of it was necessity, but this was where the Jean Doumanian show had some of their biggest victories.

Writer tally and turnover:
(*) indicates the writer returned the next season, (~) indicates return to SNL.

Aside from Ferris Butler’s contributions (special thanks goes to Butler for providing a lot of insightful information about the season, by the way), knowledge of Blaustein & Sheffield’s partnership with Eddie Murphy and a handful of other sketches whose writers have been identified, I don’t really know what each specific writers’ voices are in the show and whether any shifts in quality were from writers joining or leaving, or being favored or disfavored.  If anyone has more information regarding who was responsible for any sketches, please feel free to drop me a line.

Full season:
Barry W. Blaustein*
Billy Brown & Mel Green
Patricia Marx
Douglas McGrath
Pamela Norris*
David Sheffield*
Terrence Sweeney

Full Doumanian run:
Larry Arnstein & David Hurwitz
Ferris Butler
John DeBellis
Jean Doumanian
Brian Doyle-Murray*~
Leslie Fuller

Shorter tenure:
Mason Williams (head writer, Gould through Carradine)
Jeremy Stevens & Tom Moore (head writers, Sharkey through finale)
Nancy Dowd (Gould and McDowell only)
Sean Kelly (Gould and McDowell only)
Mitchell Kreigman (Gould through Carradine)
Mark Reisman (Harry through finale)

Post-hiatus hires:
Mitchell Glazer
Judy Jacklin
Tim Kazurinsky*
Matt Neuman~
Michael O’Donoghue*~
Tony Rosato*
Dirk Wittenborn

An essay regarding the season as a whole will follow in a subsequent post.

Classic SNL Review: April 11, 1981: (no host) / Jr. Walker & The All Stars (S06E13)

RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****   – Great
***     – Good / Average
**       – Meh
*         – Bad

OPENING: STOREROOM
-Due to cutbacks at NBC, Chevy Chase is forced to change in a storage room holding cobweb-covered artifacts from the old show.  When he finds Mr. Bill (voice of Walter Williams) among the props and costumes, the two of them reminisce about the good old days.
-Although this was a shamelessly calculated attempt to link the retooled show with the original five years, it did get the audience in the right mood: they give big rounds of applause for Chase, the cobweb-covered Land Shark head, Mr. Bill, and the obligatory pratfall from Chase that preceded the “Live From New York…” line.  Once you saw Mr. Bill you had an idea what was coming, but I thought Mr. Bill’s mangling coming from Chase carelessly picking away at him, etc. worked.
-They worked in a dig at Chase starring in Oh, Heavenly Dog!, and the line “Yeah, you’re a little late, but they all are!” refers to the delay of the fall television season caused by the actor’s strike the previous year.
-Props seen/used: Bees Costumes, Coneheads prosthetic heads, the NBC Dancing N, the Land Shark head.  There are also boxes upon boxes of Bambu rolling papers.
***

MONTAGE
-A collection of still photographs taken around New York City by Patti Perret, with no animation or camera pans and zooms, ending with the camera pulling out to reveal the last shot is on a display stand on home base before a stagehand carries it away.
-The cast appear in random snapshots with text a simple white font for the main cast, and no text for featured players.  Among the highlights: Robin Duke’s slide of her posing while holding up a dress in front of a mannequin is crooked (you can see the film sprockets), Tim Kazurinsky is getting a haircut, Gail Matthius stares blankly while crawling between two carousel hourses, Eddie Murphy blows out candles on a birthday cake, and Laurie Metcalf reclining on top of a ping-pong table.  The picture of Joe Piscopo has to be seen to believed.
-I particularly like the shot of the Statue of Liberty.
-The band reverts back to the original 1975-79 theme song.
-Incidentally, two of the new cast additions can be seen on the local station promos advertising SCTV right after tonight’s show on my copy (from WNBC): Robin Duke is in the one right before the cold opening, and Tony Rosato can be seen at the end of the one that airs before the Wedding Day sketch.

SHOW: DRIVE FOR AMERICA
-Frank Sinatra (Joe Piscopo) solicits support for the American auto industry through guilt trips, jingoism and openly bashing the Japanese.
-I do have to give credit to Piscopo’s Sinatra impression, but right off the bat I’ll say that all the anti-Japanese slurs were very cringe-worthy, even if they tie in well with the whole theme of the sketch.
-Of the three other castmembers appearing in the sketch, Rosato did OK with a relatively serviceable part, Matthius had an excellent “little girl” voice (although the pathetic facial expression was a bit much), and Kazurinsky had the best part (especially the sight gag with him raising his amputated arm by mistake).
-Former featured player Yvonne Hudson makes a non-speaking appearance as the nurse pushing Matthius’ wheelchair.
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: LITE BEER
-In a bar, Bill Cosby (Eddie Murphy) recommends Lite Beer to a table of young children, because regular beer’s too heavy for them.
-Funny concept, with some good lines (“By the time you’re nine you’ll be drinking like a 37-year-old”).  The whole thing has a very loose feel to it and is mostly an excuse for Murphy to do his impression of the Cos, but was a good sendup of how he seemed to pitch anything back then.
-Denny Dillon is the waitress, but has no lines.  Talent coordinator Liz Welch can be seen at the table behind Murphy and the kids, sitting with the two African-American extras (is that Hudson?  I’ll add her to the sketch listing once I get a corroboration).
***

SKETCH: I MARRIED A MONKEY
-A cuckolded husband (Tim Kazurinsky) confronts chimpanzee wife Madge about her affair with his best friend (Tony Rosato).
-This really gets the audience going: they like Madge enough and respond well to her (particularly when she starts drinking the sugar bowl), but what really makes this memorable is the blooper with the “baby” not wanting to let go of the trainer to go onstage.  Kazurinsky gets applause after his line about Madge having turned the baby against him.
-Kazurinsky acquits himself well in this sketch, and does a good job of playing off some of the chimps’ unexpected behavior.  For all the cheesiness of the concept (right down to the old-timey soap opera organ stings), Kazurinsky commits to it, and that helps the sketch.
-Rosato’s character’s name is Mike Short, a shout-out to Martin Short’s older brother, a writer who worked with both Kazurinsky (on Big City Comedy) and Rosato (on SCTV).
***1/2

MISCELLANEOUS: JOHNNY CASH AT SPANDAU PRISON
 -A brief fake NBC promo slide.  Definitely a Mr. Mike bit.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “ROADRUNNER/SHOTGUN”
-Robin Duke promises she’ll have more to do next week (oh, the irony) before talking about how they used the original SNL theme again, and how that was written with Walker’s sound in mind.
-Walker is very energetic and his band has a very spare and simple sound; very back-to-basics R&B.

WEEKEND UPDATE I: WITH CHEVY CHASE
-At the beginning, an intense announcer with a British accent reads in an exaggerated tone (that reminds me of a goofy Paxton Whitehead impression for some reason) that Weekend Update is sponsored by “Smitt-Burney” who makes money “the old-fashioned way: we steal it”.  I’d love to know who is doing the voiceover: it’s not Pardo and doesn’t sound like anyone in the cast.
-Best joke: Bad day for the Little Engine That Could.
-The audience gives a lot of applause for Chase sitting at a recreation of the old Weekend Update set from the first seven shows, and he keeps the flashback alive by saying “You still aren’t”.  Unfortunately, his delivery seems to be really lax this time around, with a lot of pauses and speech fillers (“uh”).  Hill & Weingrad mention that when Chase was on the fence about showing up because it might cut into a movie shoot, Ebersol offered to let him fly back from Hollywood on the day of the show.  Whether or not that is what happened is yet to be confirmed, but it would account for why he’s essentially cameoing instead of serving as an official host, as well as for the sloppiness of this week’s Update.  The jokes themselves seem to be an improvement over the Doumanian WUs, though.  I wonder who was writing them, since Brian Doyle-Murray is not credited as a writer this week.
-In light of the allegations Mackenzie Phillips made in her memoir High on Arrival, the joke about her and father John announcing their wedding plans really comes off more disturbing than intended.
-Raheem Abdul Mohammed (Eddie Murphy) gives a review of Stir Crazy that reveals he was watching Altered States instead.  Not one of the better outings for the character, although this is the first time where they establish him as their film critic.  He isn’t quite as angry as he would become, and at the end offers to sell Chase some marijuana.
-Laurie Metcalf makes her only appearance as an SNL featured player in a short “man on the street” film where she asks people if they would take a bullet for the President.  This was an odd segment: it was played completely straight in the wake of the recent assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.  I give them credit for doing something different and tasteful, though.  Once the film ends, the band starts playing and goes to commercial.  Some places list Weekend Update as one segment for this episode, but for the purpose of this review I will list them as two separate bits.
**

WEEKEND UPDATE II: WITH CHEVY CHASE
-Best jokes: Jean Harris, Microwave Baby
-Pardo introduces Chase this time around.  Chase reprises more of his old Weekend Update bits, including the nose picking, Franco Dead (which gets a little applause), the “nations of” joke.  There are a few better jokes than in the other segment but Chase is still half-assing it.
-The “Microwave Baby” joke refers to a Mrs. “Nelson Lyon”, a shout-out to the Telephone Book writer-director, who O’Donoghue would bring onto the writing staff next season.  That joke has to be another Mr. Mike contribution.
-Al Franken brings back his “Al Franken Decade” routine, including his name appearing superimposed whenever he mentions it, to explain the show’s tumultuous season and ask that viewers send letters requesting that NBC “Put SNL To Sleep” (but not before next week’s show with him, Tom Davis and the Grateful Dead).  While Franken says he doesn’t want to be cruel to Jean Doumanian, this bit is essentially SNL formally disavowing the past twelve shows, and the audience applauds Franken for saying he has nothing to do with the new show.  He gets in a dig at Chase (“Then, Chevy left. And the show, of course, got even better”), and doesn’t spare new producer Dick Ebersol either, sarcastically calling him “Mr. Humor” and playing up some questionable shows he brought to the network, such as The Waverly Wonders, Rollergirls, and Joe & Valerie (a promo for the latter’s April 1978 premiere is on Youtube, as well as the Rollergirls opening title sequence).  His conclusion: “he doesn’t know dick” about comedy.
-In a way it does feel like this is a potential final episode, because the Writer’s Guild of America strike had began that day (Chase alludes to it after one of his jokes bomb); knowing the rest of the season (including the Franken & Davis / Grateful Dead show, as well as a Dan Aykroyd-hosted show for April 25) had to be scrapped makes Franken’s commentary seem even more like it’s a part “SNL is dead, long live SNL”, and part pouring gasoline on the studio, lighting a match and walking away.
***

MUSICAL SKETCH: “SAME”
-Irene Cara (Gail Matthius) sings about how tedious it is for her to keep singing “Fame” over the past year.
-What turned out to be Gail Matthius’ last hurrah was a funny parody of “Fame”.  Her singing’s a little dodgy/shouty in this one but the bit was enjoyable and helped increase the show’s energy.
-I especially dug the outro with Matthius and the dancers exiting out of Studio 8H to the music.  Still adds to the “potential last show” feeling though.
***1/2

COMMERCIAL: THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
-A new NBC series features holier-than-thou professionals one-upping each other on who takes their job the most seriously.
-Probably the best-written sketch all night, despite the tepid audience response.  It built on the joke nicely, with a nice payoff in the form of Eddie Murphy as a patient demanding the right to die with dignity (for a flesh wound).  O’Donoghue’s narration worked for me too.
****

SKETCH: WEDDING DAY
-Italian Papa (Tony Rosato) imparts Old World advice to son Frank (Tim Kazurinsky) on his wedding day, but tensions between the two build to shouting matches.
-A slower, somewhat sweet character piece with a bit more emotional depth.  Rosato does alright, but Kazurinsky is better in the straight role.  I prefer the second appearance of these two characters a little better just because while the obscene gesture fight toward the end of this one was a little funny, the big fight in the other one was a bit more impressive.
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: THE FAMOUS BROADCASTER’S SCHOOL OF CUE-CARD READING
-Pitchman (Joe Piscopo) betrays the quality of the school’s education on discreet card reading and camera switches.
-Pretty one-joke but goofy enough for it to work.  Best part in this was Kazurinsky as the cue-card holder repeatedly turning his head to read the address of the card he’s holding.
-The logo for the school looks so cheap!
***

MISCELLANEOUS: FRIENDS
-Chevy Chase thinks Saturday Night Live is bouncing back, but friends Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams don’t back him up on that.
-Not really going to rate this as it’s mainly a musical guest intro with a few cameos, just thought it warranted a mention.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “HOW SWEET IT IS/WHAT DOES IT TAKE”
-”How Sweet It Is” is a bit more relaxed, but I really thought “What Does It Take” was the best song they did all night, with the band sounding more intense than ever.

COMMERCIAL: WILD COUNTRY GUN CARDS
-Families bond when they learn about different species of firearms together.
-An old sketch: there is a still photo on Gettyimages that shows the original cast performing this sketch (mislabled as the “Lupner skit”) at a dress rehearsal sometime in season 2, with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin as the parents, and John Belushi and Gilda Radner as the children.  Knowing that kind of ruins the sketch for me because I can’t help but compare Rosato’s more relaxed delivery with how I would imagine Aykroyd would do it.  The casting seems a little odd too (Piscopo is usually the patriarch in family sketches, while Duke usually played children the next season). Dillon actually works in the Radner role, though.  Nice dark ending with them shooting what they thought was a burglar.
-Addendum: Dennis Perrin confirms this was another Michael O’Donoghue sketch.
**1/2

FILM: “BAG LADY”
-Offscreen voices criticize a homeless woman (Denny Dillon) for being derivative of other downtrodden characters in media.
-The film Neil Levy discusses being suckered into taking credit for by Dick Ebersol in Live From New York.  It’s not quite as bad as he makes it out to be: without the overdubbed voices it would have come across as mawkish.  While still pretty unremarkable, it was good enough as a filler piece.
-Matthius and Duke are two of the offscreen voices.  Any idea who the others are?
**

GOODNIGHTS
-Chevy Chase kisses Madge while Kazurinsky thanks the audience.  The chimps’ trainer Dave Sabo joins Chase, the All-Stars and the cast on home base.  Irene Cara (Gail Matthius) and her dancers come down the stairs for a reprise of “Same”.
-The original broadcast ends at the Eaves-Brooks credit and Matthius breaking character to say “You gotta put me down now, Chevy!”.  The full goodnights (on the repeat version aired on Comedy Central) have Matthius and the dancers going around the studio.  The credits are in a different font than normal; acting coach Del Close is credited as “House Metaphysician”.

Final Thoughts:
Not a bad first outing for Dick Ebersol.  A little over-reliant on the nostalgia, yes, and Chase’s lazy performance prevented the Weekend Update doubleheader from being a highlight, but there are no truly bad sketches.  Murphy and Piscopo both appear in one fewer sketch each than new regulars Rosato and Kazurinsky, the latter standing out above the others tonight.  Poor Robin Duke and Laurie Metcalf don’t make as big impressions, while Emily Prager doesn’t even show up in tonight’s show.  This show doesn’t exactly feel much like a triumphant return, though: as I said a few times in the review, this show had a feeling of them knowing it could very well be their last show, and it gives the whole show a bittersweet aura.  Even the use of the 1980-81 home base sets made it feel a little like everyone snuck into an abandoned building right before demolition to have one last party.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-The Self-Righteous
-Al Franken commentary (Weekend Update II)
-Same
-I Married A Monkey

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Bag Lady
-Weekend Update I

MVP:
Tim Kazurinsky

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast:
Denny Dillon: 4 appearances [Storeroom, Lite Beer, Wild Country Gun Cards, Bag Lady]
Robin Duke: 2 appearances [The Self-Righteous, Wild Country Gun Cards], 1 voiceover [Bag Lady]
Tim Kazurinsky: 5 appearances [Drive For America, I Married A Monkey, The Self-Righteous, Wedding Day, The Famous Broadcaster's School of Cue-Card Reading]
Gail Matthius: 2 appearances [Drive For America, "Same"], 1 voiceover [Bag Lady]
Eddie Murphy: 4 appearances [Lite Beer, Weekend Update I, The Self-Righteous, Wild Country Gun Cards]
Joe Piscopo: 4 appearances [Drive For America, The Self-Righteous, The Famous Broadcaster's School of Cue-Card Reading, Wild Country Gun Cards], 1 voiceover [Lite Beer]
Tony Rosato: 5 appearances [Drive For America, I Married A Monkey, The Self-Righteous, Wedding Day, Wild Country Gun Cards]

featured players:
Laurie Metcalf: 1 appearance [Weekend Update I]
Emily Prager: 0 appearances [credited in montage]

non-cast:
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [Drive For America]
Michael O’Donoghue: 1 voiceover [The Self-Righteous]
Liz Welch: 1 appearance [Lite Beer]

guests:
Jr. Walker & The All-Stars: 2 appearances ["Roadrunner/Shotgun", "How Sweet It Is/What Does It Take?"]
Chevy Chase: 4 appearances [Storeroom, Weekend Update I, Weekend Update II, Friends]
Al Franken: 1 appearance [Weekend Update II]
Christopher Reeve: 1 appearance [Friends]
Robin Williams: 1 appearance [Friends]
Walter Williams: 1 voiceover [Storeroom]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
September 26, 1981
Known alterations: ”Drive For America” and “Bag Lady” are removed; “60 Minutes” from Karen Black (s06e07) and “Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood” (s06e11) are added.  Opening montage removes blurry picture of the World Trade Centre and replaces it with a shot originally seen later in the montage; it also segues into I Married A Monkey.  Full closing credits.

Additional screen captures from this episode can be seen here.

Classic SNL Review: March 7, 1981: Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton (S06E12)

RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****   – Great
***     – Good / Average
**       – Meh
*         – Bad

OPENING: DRESSING ROOM
-Bill Murray advises the cast not to worry about the negative reviews and comparisons to the original show.
-This was the first time the show openly acknowledged the bad press that they’ve been getting all season.  Later seasons with bad publicity tended to sour the mood of the show whenever they referred to how bad the show was, but I didn’t get that feeling from this opening.  While Murray does in a way playfully validate a bit of the criticism (Rocket copying Murray, Gottfried’s sad-sack demeanor), bringing up the criticism only to adopt an attitude of “it just doesn’t matter” helped a lot.
-A lot of the credit for the success of this segment rightfully belongs to Bill Murray, who just has a way of infusing a scene with energy.  The audience cheers the loudest it has all season for the Live From New York line here.
-ADDENDUM: The whole cold opening is a reference to a scene in Meatballs, right down to the shirt Murray is wearing.
***1/2

MONOLOGUE
-A manic Bill Murray has the band play the theme again and picks up an audience member, nearly dropping her on her head.  Eddie Murphy rushes out to stop him, and the two declare themselves a new Pryor and Wilder by declaring “we bad”.
-Right away, Murray brings the energy in what is easily the most memorable of the season 6 monologues.  Murphy and Murray play off each other well, with laughs from Murphy saying “we terrible, gimme 15!” and dismissing Murray’s suggestion of the two doing an Irish jig as “bad and dangerous”.
-Murray is the first host to enter the home base set through the elevator instead of the stairs; the only time the elevator had been used all season was in the Gould monologue (he still used the stairs) and in the Handgun Association commercial from the Karen Black show.
***1/2

FILM: FORMULA FOR THE GOOD LIFE
-New Jersey chemical plant worker Paulie Herman (Joe Piscopo) is proud of his job and of where he’s from.
-I liked this a bit better than the other Paulie Herman bits this season for some reason; maybe its just that the pre-filmed aspect took a bit of the edge of his irritating qualities or that the character worked better in a documentary context.
-Nice little sight gag there with Paulie talking about how lunch tastes better at the plant before a bunch of white powder spills from his hat onto his food.
***

SKETCH: THE WRITER
-While a writer (Bill Murray) makes revisions to his script, actors performing the scene behind him struggle to keep up with the changes.
-This was such a simple idea, but still so clever and so well done, that it’s a highlight of the season.  This escalated nicely and had a good ending.
-While Murray was the perfect choice to serve as the anchor of the piece, special mention has to go to the castmembers involved: they do all the comic business and mix their “performances” as Murray’s characters with great reactions to the last-minute changes he makes.   There’s a sense of fun to their performances here that seemed absent through a lot of the last few shows, especially the part where Matthew Laurance and Ann Risley struggle to hold their pose.
-I especially thought Risley had a good part in this, as the actress who is either removed from the scene or forced to be the pitiful, sickly maid.
-Addendum: Ferris Butler informed me that this was a Billy Brown and Mel Green piece.
*****

SKETCH: ALTERED WALTER
-Just-retired Walter Cronkite (Bill Murray) alarms wife Betsy (Denny Dillon) and Dan Rather (Joe Piscopo) with his obsessive experiments in drugs and isolation chambers.
-I have to give credit for the interesting concept (a parody of Altered States with Walter Cronkite) as well as the topicality of this sketch (this original aired the day after Cronkite’s last day as CBS Evening News anchor), even if it did stetch on a little long.  I still thought it was fairly well done if not hilarious, and ended on a strong note (with Cronkite turning into a test pattern).
-The trip sequences, while well-done, did feel a little like padding (although with excellent music choices, including Frank Zappa’s Uncle Meat Variations).  I’ve never been a fan of Piscopo’s Dan Rather, but Murray carries the whole piece anyway.
-One thing I noticed about 1980-81 is that they always seemed to try to squeeze in three segments between commercial breaks, excluding musical guests and Weekend Update, and usually not really late in the show.   I think the emphasis on doing a lot of shorter material ended up hurting the season in the long run: although longer sketches have the danger of seeming indulgent or tedious, a lot of the time I’ve been seeing underdeveloped ideas, and packing the show with so many sketches seems to make them seem longer.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “GIVING IT UP FOR YOUR LOVE”
-Bill Murray introduces McClinton as someone who once sang with Jake Blues, and mentions Bonnie Bramlett joining him tonight.
-Tight and energetic performance of McClinton’s only Top 40 hit, with SNL Band members Ronnie Cuber, Lou Marini, Alan P. Rubin and Tom Malone playing alongside regular McClinton saxman Robert Harwell.

SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE: SCIENCE BREAK WITH DR. JONATHAN LEAR (MARK KING)
-The news segment gets another major overhaul for the third time this season, split into three shorter segments spaced throughout the show’s middle third: no Pardo voiceover introducing any of the segments.
-This was amusing and kept short; it reminds me of the Dr. Jack Badofsky segments Tim Kazurinsky would do in the following seasons: both featured a guy with an exaggerated nerdy voice displaying jokes on cards.
-Too many places list this Mark King as the same one that was in Level 42; this is the Mark King appeared on Cheers about two seasons later as a nerdy scientist character Carla fools into thinking he’s the father of her baby.
***

COMMERCIAL: CHAPSTICK
-Autograph seeking girls (Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius) find that Dr. J., Sammy Davis, Jr. (Eddie Murphy), John Kenneth Galbraith (Joe Piscopo) and Roman Polanski (Gilbert Gottfried) have adopted “ChapStick” as their surnames.
-This is a spoof of the ChapStick commericals (“Suzy ChapStick” is the best known example, but the version with “Dr. ChapStick” was airing at this time; this is a parody of that commercial).  I chuckled at the absurdity of the girls getting excited over Galbraith, but the Roman Polanski part with the girls going in with him just felt a little tasteless (though I though Matthius wailing “Roman Polaaaaanskiiiiiii” was funny).
-Who was playing Julius Erving?
**

SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE: ARTS & LEISURE WITH BILL MURRAY
-Murray bringing back his “Oscar Nominations” board for the fourth year in a row went over well with the audience, and after his usual “nobody cares” remark about supporting actors.
-More notable for the sentimental quality of nominating his former castmates than anything funny, although the big “Caddyshack” magnet slapped on the board for Best Picture was funny.
***

SKETCH: NICK RIVERS
-Aboard a riverboat paddling down the Mississippi, lounge singer Nick (Bill Murray) and pianist Paul Shaffer entertain a crowd including a former hostage (Yvonne Hudson) and some Mary Kay representatives (Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius).
-Another sentimental favorite brought back.  Murray carries this, and he and Shaffer get the audience going with their version of “Celebration”.
-Neil Levy plays the magician at the beginning, and costume designer Karen Roston can be seen among the lounge patrons, as can Patrick Weathers.
***1/2

SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSLINE: WITH CHARLES ROCKET
-Best joke: Welles / Winters
-Still nothing great, but Rocket seems comparatively toned down this week, despite still adopting a Bill Murrayesque delivery.  I wonder how this would have played out if they kept him on.
-Piscopo’s bit seemed a little weaker than usual.  Dom Irrera and Dennis the recurring extra are the two hockey players.  Rocket pokes fun at his F-bomb in the last show by asking “Did you say Puck?”
**

FILM: “CUT FLOWERS” – MARY PAT KELLY
-A florist (Bill Murray) tries to find just the right flower for an exacting customer (Brian Doyle-Murray).
-This was directed by the show’s associate producer, who was Murray’s sister-in-law at the time; Murray’s then-wife is credited with the idea for the short.
-I thought this one had a good payoff, and it looked and sounded significantly better than a lot of the films that ran this year.  Very nice use of tight closeups.
-This was shot at the Associated Cut Flower Company on West 28th St. in New York; incidentally, they are wholesale only and do not sell to retail customers as depicted in the film
-Looks like Dennis the recurring extra is in here as well (he’s the first person you see in the film).
***

COMMERCIAL: NO SEX WITH MARY
-Despite leaving Bendix for Seagram’s, Mary Cunningham (Gail Matthius) still can’t get away from executives making suspiciously specific denials that they sleep with her.
-This is another topical sketch based on a real story at the time: Mary Cunningham resigned from a corporate position at Bendix due to speculation that she was promoted because of a relationship with the CEO, and had just gotten a new position at Seagram’s at the time of the show’s original airing.
-Basically a one-joke premise, with the executives all denying affiars, but decent performances from all (Rocket seems very reigned-in), especially Matthius with her non-verbal mortified reactions.  Gottfried (as the janitor) gets the biggest laugh from me with his “I think she’s frigid” comment after his denial.
-Dennis the recurring extra is Jim Deacon, and has one line (“No”).
**1/2

SKETCH: CAT’S NAME
-Frustration rises as Richard (Bill Murray) and Marilyn (Ann Risley) struggle to remember the name of their friend Ron’s (Matthew Laurance) cat.
-This feels like a sketch that could play in any season, largely getting laughs from how universal the situation would be.  Murray gives good energy and carries the whole scene, but I also thought Risley did alright here.  I wonder how she would have played if she was used more like Kristen Wiig was in the earlier years of her tenure.
-One observation: they establish it to be a female cat earlier on but the name ends up being Herman.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “SHOTGUN RIDER”
-A more laid-back tune this time.  Good performance from McClinton and Bramlett.

SKETCH: BUBBA’S WASH, FAYETTA’S DRY
-Divorced couple Bubba (Bill Murray) and Fayetta (Denny Dillon), still sharing their laundromat after marriage has ended, snipe each other about their new significant others.
-A slower character piece that has some surprising emotional moments towards the end: good work from both leads here.
***1/2

GOODNIGHTS
-Bill Murray announces that next week’s show will be Robert Guillaume with Ian Dury & The Blockheads, and apologizes to the old cast for appearing on the show.
-The cast gives him a one-sided group hug.  Murray seems more interested in bonding with Murphy, who hugs Patrick Weathers as well.  Charles Rocket wears horrific pink pants.
-No Don Pardo credit voiceover; judging by the runtime of the Comedy Network version, the show must have run long and had the goodnights cut off on original broadcast.

Final Summary:
The Jean Doumanian era ends on a high note; while Karen Black’s show had a few more peaks, Murray brought an energy that seemed to erase the combination of defeat and panic that lingered over the last few shows.  Rocket’s over the top tendencies were reigned in, Risley seems to find her niche, and everyone seems to be having fun again.  The reduction in the number of sketches seems to have also helped tonight.  Most importantly, I didn’t have a feeling of “this may be our last show”; if the show had continued with the same cast, writers and producer, I wonder if they would have come up with for Guillaume / Dury.  NBC would fire Doumanian the next week, and when the show returned the next month, Rocket, Risley and Gottfried were no longer in the cast, and the writing staff was now without Larry Arnstein & David Hurwitz, Ferris Butler, John DeBellis, Brian Doyle-Murray and Leslie Fuller.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-The Writer
-Nick Rivers
-Monologue
-Dressing Room
-Bubba’s Wash, Fayetta’s Dry

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Newsline (Rocket/Piscopo segment)
-ChapStick

MVP:
Bill Murray

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast:
Denny Dillon: 6 appearances [Dressing Room, The Writer, Altered Walter, ChapStick, Nick Rivers, Bubba's Wash Fayetta's Dry]
Gilbert Gottfried: 3 appearances [Dressing Room, ChapStick, No Sex With Mary]
Gail Matthius: 4 appearances [Dressing Room, ChapStick, Nick Rivers, No Sex With Mary]
Eddie Murphy: 4 appearances [Dressing Room, Monologue, ChapStick, Nick Rivers]
Joe Piscopo: 6 appearances [Dressing Room, Formula For The Good Life, Altered Walter, ChapStick, Newsline, No Sex With Mary]
Ann Risley: 3 appearances [Dressing Room, The Writer, Cat's Name]
Charles Rocket: 4 appearances [Dressing Room, The Writer, Newsline, No Sex With Mary]

featured players [none credited in montage]:
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [Nick Rivers]
Matthew Laurance: 3 appearances [The Writer, Altered Walter, Cat's Name]
Patrick Weathers: 1 appearance [Nick Rivers]

non-cast:
Ronnie Cuber: 2 appearances [Monologue, "Giving It Up For Your Love"]
Lawrence Feldman: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Tom Malone: 2 appearances [Monologue, "Giving It Up For Your Love"]
Lou Marini: 2 appearances [Monologue, "Giving It Up For Your Love"]
Chris Palmaro: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Leon Pendarvis: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Karen Roston: 1 appearance [Nick Rivers]
Alan P. Rubin: 2 appearances [Monologue, "Giving It Up For Your Love"]
David Spinozza: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Buddy Williams: 1 appearance [Monologue]

guests:
Bill Murray: 9 appearances [Dressing Room, Monologue, The Writer, Altered Walter, Newsline: Arts & Leisure, Nick Rivers, Cut Flowers, Cat's Name, Bubba's Wash Fayetta's Dry]
Delbert McClinton: 2 appearances ["Giving It Up For Your Love", "Shotgun Rider"]
Bonnie Bramlett: 2 appearances ["Giving It Up For Your Love", "Shotgun Rider"]
Mark King: 1 appearance [Newsline: Science Break]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not repeated on NBC.

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

Classic SNL Review: February 21, 1981: Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince (S06E11)

RATING SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****   – Great
***     – Good / Average
**       – Meh
*         – Bad

OPENING: SUPER FIGHT
-Joe Piscopo teases the upcoming paperweight championship between Marc Weiner’s puppets Rocko Weineretto and Weindulah.
-This was a very short cold opening (under 50 seconds) and mainly served to tease a segment later in the show, so I can’t really rate this.  This is the same reason why I didn’t rate the opening segment to the Danny DeVito show from the following season.  I did get a laugh from the “stats” presented for the boxers (no neck on either).

MONOLOGUE
-Charlene Tilton mentions how Charles Rocket took her under his wing this week.  Backstage, Gail Matthius tells Joe Piscopo that girlfriend Ann Risley was at Rocket’s place last night.  Piscopo vows revenge.
-Tilton is energetic and enthusiastic, almost distractingly so:.  The joke about escaping the crime, sex and corruption of Dallas by going to New York was a little corny, but this monologue’s real purpose was to set up tonight’s runner by having Tilton talk about how Rocket serve as a mentor during this week and be the only one who hasn’t tried to take advantage of her.
-I’m counting this as a combined segment with the backstage antics; not really much to laugh at although I though Matthius seemed to be giving it her all (especially on the line “Joe, get with it!”).
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: GREATEST RECORDS OF ALL TIME
-Music by the likes of Jack Webb, Jerry Lewis, Robert Mitchum and Hugh Downs is perfect to get you and your loved one in the mood.
-There’s really not much more to the joke than the fact that this “makeout music” is mostly comprised of one-off albums by unlikely singers, but it wasn’t bad.  I still have to chuckle at the fact that there is a real album called “An Evening With Hugh Downs” (just the album cover alone, with Hugh and his guitar, makes me laugh).
**1/2

SHOW: MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
-Mister Robinson (Eddie Murphy) gives a lesson on how to say “bitch”, gets a “chemistry kit” from Mr. Speedy (Gilbert Gottfried) and shows why he can’t get a cab.
-The audience was won over by the end of the theme song.  Pretty much all the basic pieces of the sketch are intact here, from the theme song and the “word of the day”, to Mister Robinson’s “reaction face” and the way people answer the door in his neighborhood.  (“WHO IS IT?”).
-Lots of great lines in this one: my favorite ones were “Did mommy slap you? Then you said it right!” and the dig at Richard Pryor’s freebasing accident.
****

SKETCH: PORK PARADE
-Former Culhane’s Pork Queen Sally (Gail Matthius) gives her successor Starla (Charlene Tilton) advice before the big Osceola Pork Parade.
-Pretty laugh-free, with the few laughs in this coming from whenever Matthius makes a snorting noise.  I suppose the fact that they treat pig meat so seriously is the big joke, but it really just dragged on.
-Once again, Yvonne Hudson (appearing here as the “Chitlin Princess”) gets no lines.  She honestly had more to do when she wasn’t billed in the opening credits.
-There seems to be a fair number of mistakes in this sketch: Matthius stumbles on one of her lines, Dillon calls Risley the wrong name (Mary Jean instead of Mary Ann), and at one point Matthius’ sash slips off her shoulder.
*

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT- SUBWAY
-Charles Rocket takes Charlene Tilton on her first New York City subway ride.
-A return to form for Charles Rocket, with him asking passengers if they stole their stereo equipment.  The funniest moment doesn’t belong to Rocket or Tilton, though: the old lady with a few teeth missing describing an unpleasant subway experience gets the biggest laugh by talking about how someone was “fooling around” so she hit him.
-Tilton’s a little annoying in this one.
***1/2

COMMERCIAL: A FIDDLER BE ON THE ROOF
-In the tradition of the all-black “Hello Dolly” and “The Wiz”, Stevie Wonder (Eddie Murphy) plays Tevye in an adaptation of “Fiddler On The Roof”.
-The audience liked this one and started clapping along to the music.  Murphy did alright matching the Stevie Wonder visual with a wheezy “old Jew” voice.
-I’m pretty sure that’s Neil Levy in the shadows with the violin, going by the outline and the fact that he’s played violin on the show on several occasions.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “HEALER” – TODD RUNDGREN
-A full band rendering of one of Rundgren’s one-man recordings, and they do a good job of it in this lively performance.
-Once again, a different set is used for the musical guest.  This set reminds me a little of the early 90s set with the working fan.
-Backing band: Pat Travers (guitar), Kasim Sulton (bass), Roger Powell (synthesizer), Ralph Schuckett (keyboards), Ernest “Boom” Carter (drums), Mike Shrieve (percussion), Eric Troyer (vocals), Rory Dodd (vocals).  Schuckett appeared with Ellen Shipley two months before.  Dodd appeared with Meat Loaf in 1978 and is the guy who sings “Turn Around” on Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse Of The Heart.

WEEKEND UPDATE: WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best Joke: Budget cuts rant
-If I thought Charles Rocket was over the top in the last two shows, it’s nothing compared to how he was tonight: he’s powering through the jokes at manic speed, and at one point he’s stomping his foot after the punchline to a joke.  It really is a shame to see Rocket go from cool and reserved to all but begging for laughs.  Poor Gail Matthius gets her worst set of jokes and actually gets a bit more response to her reactions to each joke that dies than to the actual jokes.  This was a shorter-than-normal edition; that saved it from being a one-star.
-Reagan budget director David A. Stockman (Gilbert Gottfried) proposes a new social program where the receipt of food stamps depends on claimants ability to catch criminals.  Gottfried’s voice in this segment sounds almost like the stilted voice that has become his trademark, with a little less squawk to it (and of course no squinting).  This wasn’t too bad and provided a welcome break from the jokes.
-Rocket ends Weekend Update by promoting the fight later tonight.  His face when he was saying “Where’s Joe Piscopo?” might have been an attempt at goofiness but I couldn’t help but read a little bit more into that.  Matthius ends her last Weekend Update by pretending to write something in an exaggerated way; that was probably funnier than most of what she was stuck with for all six shows.
*1/2

SKETCH: LINCOLN BEDROOM
-Nancy Reagan (Gail Matthius) leaves her detested daughter-in-law Doria (Ann Risley) to fend with the ghosts in the Lincoln Bedroom.
-Not very strong, but better than it could have been, despite the underdeveloped feeling and weak ending.  I’m not a fan of Matthius’ Nancy Reagan, but I have to give some credit for whatever did work in this sketch to her and her delivery choices (especially “Of course I’m right”).
-For some reason I laughed at the absurdity Mary Todd Lincoln (Denny Dillon) breaking from a moan to “Oklahoma!” (and Risley’s line after).
-Goof: sounds like the knock for the Ford’s Theatre apparition (Eddie Murphy) came a bit too early.
**

MISCELLANEOUS: BACKSTAGE
-Charlene Tilton learns of Rocket’s two-timing from Gilbert Gottfried, who is jealous of Rocket going out with all the hosts.
-Again, mostly there to propel the runner, but not without humor (the movie Gottfried mentions he wouldn’t mind seeing again is Insatiable, a 1980 adult film staring Marilyn Chambers).  Gottfried’s a little more sullen in this, although for some reason that made his reading of “Ann’s carrying Charlie’s baby” a bit funnier.
-Listing Malcolm McDowell as one of the hosts Rocket went out with and Laurance telling Gottfried he’d go out with him reminds me a little of how the current writers tend to add a gay reference as a joke.
-Goof: you can see a hand-held microphone in the shot at one point.
-Is it just me, or would this shot of “Angry Young Gillie” make an awesome meme on par with Unsure Fry?
**

COMMERCIAL: THE COMPETITION
-Finger-breaking is fair game for the piano rivals (Gail Matthius and Joe Piscopo).
-A parody of the then-current movie of the same name starring Amy Irving and Richard Dreyfuss (Piscopo’s definitely imitating Dreyfus’ delivery here).  This worked largely because it was so short and ends on the joke; honestly, I thought it held up even without knowing what it’s supposed to be a parody of.
-The commercial that was being parodied actually aired during the network commercial break in the original broadcast of this show (after Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood).
***

SHOW: SPEAKING OUT
-Officer Ruth Warren (Denny Dillon) alerts the public of the disturbing upswing in illegal handicapped restroom stall use.
-Pretty weak sketch: Dillon tried, but there really wasn’t anything there to carry.  Matthew Laurance got a prominent but thankless role; the whole thing felt pretty lopsided right down to the microphone levels (Dillon’s was much louder than Laurance’s).  At least it was short.
*1/2

SKETCH: WOMEN BEHIND BARS
-Hardened female inmates give a fresh-faced new prisoner (Charlene Tilton) “the treatment”: a debate on whether America’s public school system was adequate during the Industrial Revolution.
-A takeoff of the 1950 movie “Caged”.  I have to give this sketch credit for having a good twist in the usual premise, but I felt there wasn’t too much more to the sketch beyond that.  The structure felt a little stronger than some of the other bits from tonight, though.
-Written by Ferris Butler with assistance from Billy Brown and Mel Green.
-Aside from the reveal, the part where Dillon’s character had a graph about illiteracy was probably the best part of the sketch.
-Yvonne Hudson gets her first lines of dialogue in over a month.  Looks like the older female extra from this season as the matron too.
**1/2

SHOW: SNL SPORTS
-Joe Piscopo and Don King provide commentary on the big fight between Rocko Weineretto and Weindulah.
-More amusing than out-and-out funny, but it helps that the audience seems really involved in the outcome of the bout, and the presence of Don King helps the commitment to the whole segment.
***

COMMERCIAL: SUBMISSIVE SUGAR DADDIES
-A new referral service matches wealthy old men with attractive women who like their money and gifts, but like to remain in control.
-Pretty much a one-joke segment.  It lasted the right amount of time.
-The actor playing “Ralph” was one of the hoodlums from last week’s “Sinatra Interview” cold opening.
**

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “TIME HEALS” – TODD RUNDGREN
-More poppy than the first song (that hook is going to be stuck in your head for days), ending with Rundgren going nuts on the guitar.
-Man, his pants leave very little to the imagination.

MISCELLANEOUS: MARY LOUISE
-Denny Dillon’s solo performance of her character, a bossy little girl who uses her hand puppet Sam The Snake to terrorize her friends at her birthday party.
-Nice to see Dillon bring this back (again, viciousness filtered through puppets is one of my weaknesses); I found it interesting that this was a solo performance. I would have liked to have seen some back-and-forth with someone, though, and overall this wasn’t quite as good as the last time she did the character.
**

SHOW: AFTER MIDNIGHT
-Vince Calypso (Charles Rocket) and Marilyn “Kitty” Sparks (Gail Matthius) get suggestive while bathing a dog on a kinky cable show.  When the sketch is interrupted by a sniper’s bullet, the question is “Who Shot C.R.?”
-Again, mostly there to prop up the runner, although this one has a few funny unscripted moments thanks to the dog continually walking away.
-There’s also a funny moment when, in the middle of the ensuing panic, Tilton casually accepts Gottfried’s brunch invite.
-Seen in the ensuing kerfuffle following the gunshot: Billy Brown (orange shirt), Joe Dicso, Neil Levy and Liz Welch.
**1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “PARTYUP” – PRINCE
-An all-time classic.  Backing Prince is Dez Dickerson (guitar), Andre Cymoné (bass), Lisa Coleman (keyboards), Doctor Fink (keyboards) and Bobby Z. (drums).  Perfect ending with Prince forcefully knocking the mic stand to the ground and the band all leaving the stage.
-Prince sings “Fighting war is such a fucking bore”

GOODNIGHTS
-With some time to kill, Charlene Tilton asks Charlene Rocket how he’s doing.  Rocket replies: “Oh man, it’s the first time I’ve ever been shot in my life.  I’d like to know who the fuck did it”, then smirks.  Everyone’s reaction is priceless: Tilton cackles, Dillon locks shocked, Risley puts her hand over her mouth, Murphy makes a face similar to his Mister Robinson reaction shot before breaking into a huge grin, Laurance really seems to enjoy it, and Matthius has this naughty look on her face.
-The band start to play, and the camera makes a rare pan over to the side stage: you can see pretty much the whole group there.
-Over the closing theme, Don Pardo announces the next show will be in two weeks with Bill Murray, and confesses that he shot Charles Rocket for fooling around with his wife, with a Smith & Wesson bought from the Spiegel catalog (“Chicago, 60608″).

Final thoughts:
If it weren’t for the incident during the goodnights, this would just be a typical 1980-81 show, with maybe a slight improvement over the three previous shows thanks to Mister Robinson, a better Rocket Report.  There’s still one long pointless sketch, a few bits that fail to fully live up to their promise or are saved by their brevity, and a Weekend Update that seems to be aware of how bad it is, but there are still signs of life throughout the show.  One thing I’ve noticed about watching this particular episode is that now that you know what happens during the goodnights, it helps the runner feel more like it’s leading up to something.

Rocket’s comment seems more deliberate than just a mere slip a la Jenny Slate or Paul Shaffer, but it still has the feeling of something tossed off and in-the-moment.  It would be what led to the end of the line for Doumanian’s version of the show and end up following Rocket to his grave, but it still seems more like a quick lapse in judgement than anything else.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:
-The reaction to Rocket during the goodnights.
-Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood
-The Rocket Report

SHOW LOWLIGHTS:
-Pork Parade
-Weekend Update
-Speaking Out
-Submissive Sugar Daddies
-Backstage
-Mary Louise
-Lincoln Bedroom

MVP:
Eddie Murphy

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast:
Denny Dillon: 6 appearances [Pork Parade, Lincoln Bedroom, Speaking Out, Women Behind Bars, Mary Louise, After Midnight]
Gilbert Gottfried: 5 appearances [Greatest Records of All Time, Mister Robinson's Neighborhood, Weekend Update, Backstage, After Midnight]
Gail Matthius: 7 appearances [Monologue, Pork Parade, Weekend Update, Lincoln Bedroom, The Competition, Women Behind Bars, After Midnight]
Eddie Murphy: 4 appearances [Mister Robinson's Neighborhood, A Fiddler Be On The Roof, Lincoln Bedroom, After Midnight]
Joe Piscopo: 5 appearances [Super Fight, Monologue, The Competition, SNL Sports, After Midnight], 2 voiceovers [A Fiddler Be On The Roof, The Competition]
Ann Risley: 6 appearances [Monologue, Greatest Records of All Time, Pork Parade, Lincoln Bedroom, Women Behind Bars, After Midnight]
Charles Rocket: 5 appearances [Monologue, Pork Parade, The Rocket Report, Weekend Update, After Midnight]

featured players
Yvonne Hudson: 2 appearances [Pork Parade, Women Behind Bars]
Matthew Laurance: 2 appearances [Backstage, Speaking Out]

non-cast
Billy Brown: 1 appearance [After Midnight]
Joe Dicso: 1 appearance [After Midnight]
Neil Levy: 2 appearances [A Fiddler Be On The Roof, After Midnight]
Liz Welch: 1 appearance [After Midnight]

guests
Charlene Tilton: 7 appearances [Monologue, Pork Parade, The Rocket Report, Backstage, Women Behind Bars, Submissive Sugar Daddies, After Midnight]
Todd Rundgren: 2 appearances ["Healer", "Time Heals"]
Prince: 1 appearance ["Partyup"]
Don King: 1 appearance [SNL Sports]
Marc Weiner: 2 appearances [Super Fight, SNL Sports]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

Classic SNL Review: February 14, 1981: Deborah Harry / Funky 4 + 1 (S06E10)

RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****   – Great
***     – Good / Average
**       – Meh
*         – Bad

OPENING: SINATRA INTERVIEW
-Ronald Reagan (Charles Rocket) discusses the most pressing issue in America today: is Frank Sinatra (Joe Piscopo) a hoodlum?
-A weak opening hampered by a fairly obvious joke (Reagan naming the mobster, then giving the nickname).  At least Piscopo’s Sinatra impression is better than Rocket’s Reagan.
-The ending with Sinatra getting Reagan to pose with him and a bunch of mobsters (one played by Dom Irrera) was unnecessary.
*1/2

MONOLOGUE
-Deborah Harry introduces her blonde-wigged parents, and celebrates Valentine’s Day by having Cupid (Eddie Murphy) shoot an obnoxious audience member (Neil Levy).
-This was fast-moving enough to prevent it from overstaying its welcome, even if there really wasn’t that much to it.  It’s worth it to see Eddie Murphy in the costume, though.
-The “parents” are the same older extras I’ve been seeing all season.
**

COMMERCIAL: DON’T LOOK IN THE REFRIGERATOR
-The horror that awaits when you return from a month-long vacation and want a snack…
-This feels like something that would have been on a kid’s show, not SNL.  Mercifully short, though.
*

SKETCH: LIVELYS II
-Phil (Charles Rocket) and Frances (Gail Matthius) keep the game show going with a nursing home representative (Ann Risley).
-Aside from the choice of having Don Pardo playing Dad, this was an unnecessary retread of the sketch from the Karen Black show, with many of the basic jokes repeated instead of built on; it reminds me of all the recurring sketches from the last few years that just use the same beats with very minor variations.
-While the audience is a bit more tepid, I did laugh a little at “Back to you, Beverly!”, and the audience still liked Matthius making the buzzer noise in Risley’s face.  I actually though Risley did alright in the straight role.
**1/2

MISCELLANEOUS: NEWSBREAK I
-Eddie Murphy reports on Jean Harris, the Las Vegas Hotel Fires and a suspicious order to a Soviet “Chicken Delight” restaurant from Poland.
-This was alright, even if its main purpose was to set up a runner for tonight’s episode.  Eddie Murphy seems a little uncomfortable here, but no worse than the Rocket / Matthius Weekend Update Team.
**1/2

SKETCH: WHERE’S COOTER?
-The ordinary and repetitive existence of Cooter (Gilbert Gottfried) hillbilly family is deemed a one-act play by the Tennessee Williams Authority.
-The main thing that this has going for it is the twist where Matthew Laurance appears as the Authority representative, because the part before that was very repetitive and tedious.  At least Gottfried does a good bumpkin voice, and things picked up a little when Matthius ran in as Raylene (whose stretches on the “mmmmmmmmmama” line seem to be getting bigger as the sketch goes on).  I thought Rocket was playing too big to the point of distraction.
-In the audience watching the family as a one-act play: Yvonne Hudson, Wendie Malick, Andy Murphy and the older couple from the monologue.
**

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT – CENTRAL PARK
-Charles Rocket looks for danger in the park’s trails, tunnels and playgrounds.
-Again, a weaker Rocket Report; not very much interruption or interaction with people (except from a distance).  Probably the weakest one overall.
-The audience laughed loud at Rocket slipping and falling when he runs away from a jogger, and at least the unexpected slide gave Rocket a few impromptu comments.
**

SKETCH: CARD STORE
-Jersey guy Paulie Herman (Joe Piscopo) meets his female counterpart (Deborah Harry) while browsing for cards.
-A little predictable, and again still not my favorite character, but Harry gave a good effort (the audience seemed to like her approximation of Piscopo’s nasal Jersey whine) and it ended at exactly the right point.
-Hudson appears as an extra at the very beginning of the sketch, again with no lines.  She has not had a single line in a sketch since the Karen Black show.  I’m not sure who the other two people looking at cards are.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “LOVE TKO” – DEBORAH HARRY
-Harry covers Teddy Pendergrass’ signature song; I always liked her version in this show (with a bit of a reggae tinge to the verses), especially the organ/bass sound during the choruses.
-Personnel: Chris Stein (guitar), Georg Wadenius (guitar), Lou Marini (sax), Leon Pendarvis (piano), Chris Palmaro (organ), Marcus Miller (bass), Buddy Williams (drums), Errol “Crusher’ Bennett (percussion), Janice Pendarvis (backing vocals)

WEEKEND UPDATE: WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best joke: Michael Reagan.
-Rocket’s decline in delivery is really apparent now, with the most egregious example being the first joke: not only was it a horrible joke to begin with, Rocket’s desk slap afterward really comes off as a panicky and desperate move.  Matthius is mostly given crap to read, but her delivery seems to be getting better this week.
-Who is that in the picture being described as the agent who issued Sinatra his gaming license?
-Gottfried’s commentary as “Reagan philosopher” Atkinson Peabody III about how there aren’t any poor people in America wasn’t bad.  It might have felt a little exaggerated back then, but now sounds like something you’d expect to hear for real on Fox News now.
-Rocket was really overdoing it on the reveal of the Polish invasion of the Soviet Union; the interview with the Polish ambassador (Andy Murphy) had a few funny lines but the pacing felt off.
-After a mistaken throwback to Matthius, Rocket introduces Piscopo who has puppeteer Marc Weiner back.  The audience liked the Weindulah rap (who was doing the voice) but I thought this was a bit weaker than the first Weiner segment because it didn’t really have all that much to it besides the puppet “dancing” and rapping.
*1/2

SKETCH: BIG BROTHER
-The milquetoast dictator (Gilbert Gottfried) gets his courage together and asks prole Michelle (Deborah Harry) out.
-Best sketch of the night, with a good concept and funny dialogue (especially Melvin/Big Brother saying he’d feel like a schlep if  he still had to address Michelle every morning even after she turned him down), and helped by having a strong ending (Melvin deciding Michelle is too easy after she accepts and has her reprogrammed).
-Gottfried does well although Harry has a little trouble with her lines.
-Written by Ferris Butler, with assistance from Gilbert Gottfried.  Music during the wake-up sequence: Petrushka, Scene I (The Shrovetide Fair) by Igor Stavinsky.
***1/2

FILM: “SWEET HEARTS” – LEON ICHASO
-In a foreign/gangster movie pastiche, robbers Swifty (Kenny Vance), Vinnie (Matthew Laurance) and their female ringleader successfully steal women’s undergarments from a laundromat, but turn on each other after a discovery.
-Aesthetically this was pretty well done; not really funny but more along the lines of Schiller’s pieces for the show.  I liked this a bit more than Ichaso’s other piece for the show (Pepe Gonzales).
-Any idea who’s playing the ringleader?  It doesn’t look like anyone in the cast or Harry.
***

SKETCH: SOHO
-Susan (Deborah Harry) tries to come out subtly during a surprise visit from her aunt and uncle, Pinky (Denny Dillon) and Leo Waxman (Gilbert Gottfried).
-I always liked this one; a very low-key sketch that wouldn’t have felt out of place in the earlier seasons, and a nice way to get the Waxmans (who get some recognition applause) into a new context.
-I noticed a few audience members laughed nervously when Harry tells Matthius that she loves her.  Just found that interesting.
-Check out the audience at the end; in the row behind the audience member that gets the caption, you can clearly see Glenn Close.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “COME BACK JONEE” – DEBORAH HARRY
-A Devo cover; same personnel as before except Clem Burke on drums instead of Williams, no Marini or Bennett, and only the female backup singers this time.  Stein is wearing a pink mask.
-Georg Wadenius and Marcus Miller are really playing the hell out of their instruments.  Chris Palmaro seems quite into it too (rocking on his organ bench).

MISCELLANEOUS: NEWSBREAK
-Eddie Murphy gives an update on the Polish invasion of the Soviet Union.
-Murphy actually has a bit of a rougher go here; he really starts to stumble on his lines about halfway through the bit.   He seems a little less confident here too.  Aside from the monologue, the two Newsbreak segments were the only things he appeared in all show.
-The filmed vox pops were the best part, with one passerby commenting about how it’s about time someone stood up to Russia.
-The runner ends with the Polish army turning toward the Arctic circle and all marching into the sea.  I give the show credit for trying a running joke throughout the show but it felt like there should have been more done with this for it to work.
**1/2

SKETCH: BIG APE
-Faye’s (Deborah Harry) comment to her date (Joe Piscopo) leads to a chain of events right out of “King Kong”.
-Not very much to it.  The sketch seems to be written as an excuse for Piscopo to do his King Kong impression, which was somewhat funny.
-Harry’s delivery was off again, although I did like how she delivered “your bullets have killed my date!” in a mildly annoyed tone.  Something about that stuck me as funny.
-Who’s the other cop shooting at Piscopo with Gottfried?  He has a mustache and doesn’t look like anyone in the cast.
**1/2

SKETCH: DROPOUT
-Vickie (Gail Matthius) tries to impress dropout Tina (Deborah Harry).
-Matthius did her best, and it was good to see her continue to put the character in new situations, but overall this was fairly forgettable.
**
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “THAT’S THE JOINT” – FUNKY 4 + 1
-Notable for the historic importance of being the first rap act to appear on a national television act.
-This is just the first two minutes of the song with them rapping as a group; the individual raps on the 12″ are a better example of their ability.

GOODNIGHTS
-Some people on the stage are waving Japanese flags (both the state flag and the Rising Sun), and someone is dressed in military garb.  I assume that must have been a sketch cut from the show.
-Gilbert Gottfried is now starting to dress like Charles Rocket.
-Don Pardo announces next weeks guests Charlene Tilton and Todd Rundgren and reminds the audience that there is eight days until his birthday, but begs “please, no more toasters!”

Final summary:
Most of the show fell in the “forgettable” category more than truly wretched, with the possible exception of Weekend Update (slipping even further), the weak cold opening, and the dumb “Refrigerator” commercial.  There were still a few bright spots, especially in the segments right after Weekend Update, and a few twists that helped some otherwise weak sketches.  Deborah Harry may not have been the best at sketch comedy but she seemed to try to put an effort in places, and is more engaged than Kellerman was at least.  Still, her best performances were the two covers she performed with Chris Stein, Clem Burke and the SNL band.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Big Brother

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Don’t Look In The Refrigerator
-Weekend Update
-Sinatra Interview
-Where’s Cooter
-Dropout
-The Rocket Report

MVP:
Deborah Harry / Gail Matthius

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast
Denny Dillon: 3 appearances [Where's Cooter?, SoHo, Dropout]
Gilbert Gottfried: 5 appearances [Where's Cooter?, Weekend Update, Big Brother, SoHo, Big Ape]
Gail Matthius: 5 appearances [Livelys II, Where's Cooter?, Weekend Update, SoHo, Dropout], 1 voiceover [Big Brother]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [Monologue, Newsbreak I, Newsbreak II]
Joe Piscopo: 4 appearances [Sinatra Interview, Card Store, Weekend Update, Big Ape], 1 voiceover [Big Brother]
Ann Risley: 2 appearances [Livelys II, Where's Cooter?]
Charles Rocket: 5 appearances [Sinatra Interview, Livelys II, Where's Cooter?, The Rocket Report, Weekend Update], 1 voiceover [Don't Look In The Refrigerator]

featured players:
Yvonne Hudson: 2 appearances [Where's Cooter?, Card Store]
Matthew Laurance: 4 appearances [Sinatra Interview, Where's Cooter, Card Store, Sweet Hearts]
Patrick Weathers: 2 appearances [Sinatra Interview, Dropout]

non-cast:
Errol “Crusher” Bennett: 1 appearance ["Love TKO"]
Dom Irrera: 1 appearance [Sinatra Interview]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Wendie Malick: 1 appearance [Where's Cooter?]
Lou Marini: 1 appearance ["Love TKO"]
Marcus Miller: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", "Come Back Jonee"]
Andy Murphy: 2 appearances [Where's Cooter?, Weekend Update]
Chris Palmaro: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", "Come Back Jonee"]
Janice Pendarvis: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", Come Back Jonee"]
Leon Pendarvis: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", "Come Back Jonee"]
Kenny Vance: 1 appearance [Sweet Hearts]
Georg Wadenius: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", "Come Back Jonee"]
Buddy Williams: 1 appearance ["Love TKO"]

guests:
Deborah Harry: 9 appearances [Monologue, Don't Look In The Refrigerator, Card Store, "Love TKO", Big Brother, SoHo, "Come Back Jonee", Big Ape, Dropout]
Funky 4 + 1: 1 appearance ["That's The Joint"]
Clem Burke: 1 appearance ["Come Back Jonee"]
Chris Stein: 2 appearances ["Love TKO", "Come Back Jonee"]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures from this episode can be seen here.

Classic SNL Review: February 7, 1981: Sally Kellerman / Jimmy Cliff (S06E09)

RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****    - Great
***      - Good / Average
**        - Meh
*          - Bad

DISCLAIMER
-The Battle of the World Superpowers will be delayed tonight.

OPENING: REAGAN & THE ECONOMY
-Ronald Reagan (Charles Rocket) uses some visual aids to explain the sorry state of the U.S. economy as well as his advanced age. -The audience was amused enough by this, it was concise, and to be honest it had a few funny lines, but I thought it suffered from Rocket’s unsteady Reagan impression, which seemed to go back-and-forth into his regular voice (especially on the “optical illusion”).  It looks like someone was a little late for their cue too because Rocket waited around for a second and coughed right before Matthius and the extras came into view.
-Writer Terry Sweeney makes an appearance as one of the guests; judging by the way he’s dressed (and the picture in the background of the stage), I’m assuming he’s playing Ron Jr.  Talent scout Liz Welch is right beside him; I’ve been seeing the bald guy with the glasses everywhere this season (and the season after) too.
**

MONOLOGUE
-Sally Kellerman mentions all the films she was in before Dave Wilson cuts her off. -If it looks like there’s really no point to the monologue based on my description, you’re right.  A “talk monologue” would be an improvement over this, which only really made Kellerman seem unlikable.
*

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT - HOSTAGES
-Charles Rocket reports from the ticker-tape parade for the returned hostages and greets Barry Rosen. -This was filmed on January 30, and while it was an improvement over the previous Rocket Report, it still fell a bit short of the usual standard; not a lot of actual interaction with people.
-Rocket does get a funny moment when he misreads a truck sign as being “the council of salutes”.
**1/2

SKETCH: THE AUDITION
-An aspiring stand-up comic (Gilbert Gottfried) does his act for a talent scout (Sally Kellerman) and his lower-class Italian-American family. -Better than expected, despite the overly broad to the point of stereotypical characterizations.  The audience was amused by Dillon’s old lady character dusting around the house and singing to herself; I have to admit it was a little funny even it was milked for all it was worth.
-The best moments in the sketch belong to Gilbert Gottfried, who is as animated as he would be throughout the show’s run.  He gets a good chunk of the sketch’s laughs, especially during his routine.
-Sally Kellerman was decent as the straight character, who didn’t really have a whole lot to do but react to the other characters.
***

SHOW: NAME THAT SIN
-Constestants (Ann Risley and Eddie Murphy) try to identify perversions from the audio clues on this game show. -A lot of randomness and non-sequiturs (“anal vanity”, “freeze-dried sodomy”), which I have to admit I like, but this was also helped by the pacing (one example where Rocket playing over-the-top helped the sketch), and the “historical sins” section actually built the joke pretty well.
-Written by Ferris Butler; this is an adaptation of another one of his pieces from “Waste Meat News” with some of the dialogue toned down to be acceptable for network television.  Charles Rocket assisted with some of the dialogue.
-It sounds like Gail Matthius and Denny Dillon doing the sin sound effects for the first round.
***

FILM: EYE EAR NOSE & THROAT
-A pianist plays “If You Knew Susie” with their nose as various other body parts are seen in close-up. -I’d say this was alright, I suppose.  Not very much to it.
-Where did this film come from?  I can’t find anything about this film, either a director or the year it was made.  It doesn’t look specifically produced for the show and was probably already a few years old by the time SNL acquired it; the young man whose face is partially visible in a lot of the closeups looks an awful lot like Jeff Goldblum.
**

SHOW: WAS I EVER RED
-Carmen Campbell (Ann Risley) hosts a panel discussion of socially-escalated women’s most embarrassing breaches of dinner etiquette.

-This was bad.  The audience only started giving a response when it proceeded into the meat of the sketch, which was Kellerman’s character’s story.  That part just really gave a “trying too hard” feeling, as it was just one gross-out after another.  The payoff of the true horror coming from cold soup felt weak too.
-I found the “snooty” voices that Ann Risley and Gail Matthius were using were so over-the-top to the point of being distracting.  (Risley used a lower register that I guess could be described as someone making fun of Lana Del Rey even though this was taped years before she was born; Matthius was doing this exaggerated high voice with a lot of syllables drawn out).
*

COMMERCIAL: IRANIAN JOKE BOOK
-Play pranks on your hostages the way the Iranians do, like the classic “fake execution” bit. -This was short and didn’t have a lot to it, but didn’t stretch the joke too long.  Rocket is starting to appear manic here.
-According to Ferris Butler, the hostage was played by writer Billy Brown.
** 1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “I AM THE LIVING” -This is a more stripped down performance than on the LP, which has horns.  Cliff is energetic and dancing around.
-Cliff’s songs were performed on a different stage than normal.  Lani Groves is one of the backup singers (thanks to Raj for the ID).

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best joke: Crazy Eddie-style budget cuts, Brenda Vaccaro -Charles Rocket’s delivery is really starting to become more frantic by this point; Ferris Butler attributes it to the uncertain future of the show.  Unfortunately, whatever effort Rocket is putting into the jokes can’t distract from how weak they are.   Gail Matthius gets the weakest jokes once again aside from the Vaccaro joke. -Eddie Murphy’s commentary on the Emancipation Proclamation not being valid because Lincoln forgot to sign it was his usual boost to the show, and he gets a little back-and-forth with the audience: after someone laughs at the reveal of the invalid document, he ad-libs “I don’t think that’s funny!”.  There’s also a funny moment when he thanks Matthius for introducing him, and she catches him off-guard by saying “you’re welcome”.  His delivery is starting to become more confident. -Piscopo also gets the audience going with his Saturday Night Sports feature, a guest performance by puppeteer Marc Weiner as Rocko Weineretto.  Piscopo touts the fighter as the new future of boxing, and this serves to set up a segment that will air on the show two weeks later.
-According to the Hill & Weingrad book, Rocket was not happy that Piscopo was bringing in outside performers on Weekend Update.
-I found a few pictures of segments that were cut before air on Getty Images: one was a commentary by Matthew Laurance, and another featured Gilbert Gottfried dressed as an Eskimo, holding a newsletter with a picture of Fidel Castro and the headline “Big Man in Tropics is Wimp in Arctic”.  The latter was an adaptation of “Eskimos Against Castro”, another “Waste Meat News” sketch by Ferris Butler.   Butler also had another piece in dress rehearsal called “Failure Magazine”.
**

SHOW: PARENT AND CHILD
-A demonstration of the proper way to handle when a child (Gilbert Gottfried) walks in on mom (Ann Risley) and dad (Joe Piscopo) during a little BDSM.
-This has a few good moments, particularly Piscopo hopping to and from the bureau in ankle cuffs, and donning glasses and smoking a pipe when he goes into “dad mode”.  I thought it did suffer a little from Matthius’ delivery in the intro and outro, which came across as stilted, and this sketch could have developed the scenario or the parents’ explanation a bit further.
-Gottfried’s exaggerated childlike facial expressions were funny.
**1/2

FILM: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HOSTAGE
-A first-person perspective shows that while freed from Iran, the released hostage has a new captor: the attention from his friends, neighbors and the media. -More satirical and pointed than out-and-out hilarious, and the point is driven home by the closing visual of Uncle Sam strangling the hostage with a yellow ribbon.
-Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield are seen around the piano at the bar; no idea who any of the other actors are.
***

SKETCH: LEAN ACRES
-Lois (Ann Risley) and Tina (Denny Dillon) are prisoners of a fat farm.  An audience member decries the sketch as insensitive to the overweight, and discovers the sketch’s writer is fuller-figured herself. -Maybe the whole “fat farm = prison” trope hadn’t been done to death at the time, but in the wake of jokes on “The Simpsons” and “South Park”, I can’t help but feel that it was a tired idea even back then.  Maybe that’s why they used the fake audience member to shake things up.
-Kellerman seems to be playing her role as the sadistic counselor exactly the same as her other roles tonight: slightly aloof, affected…I have to credit the writers for using her in roles where that seems to fit.
-I appreciate that the show was trying to do some of the fourth-wall breaking that the original show used to do (e.g., The Killer Bees), and while it wasn’t executed as smoothly as it could have been, it was a noble try.
-Ferris Butler identifies the audience member as Karen Roston, the show’s costume designer.  It does look a bit like her (especially going by the wild salt-and-pepper hair, although she normally wore glasses) but I’m still going to hold off on listing her as a confirmed extra until I get a second corroboration.  The writer was apparently a paid extra though.
**

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “GONE CLEAR” -I actually liked the recorded version a little better, but this wasn’t bad at all.

SKETCH: IRANIAN STUDENT COUNCIL
-The Tehran University Class of 1981 discusses the success of their latest fundraiser and try to figure out how they’ll follow the hostage-taking. -The audience was completely silent for this aside from a few titters, but this had a decent concept behind it, treating the international incident as a mere extracurricular activity arranged by young, nauseatingly enthusiastic keeners.
-The audience member who is captioned with “Wishes she was a hostage” looks like she fits that caption.
**1/2

FILM: “NEW YORK” – C.F. BRESSLER
-A short claymation cityscape set to Ray Charles’ “New York’s My Home”
-More technically impressive than anything else, but I thought this was a good palate-cleanser, similar to how the films were used before.  I liked the mood this one set.
-The audience audio was not mixed in with the sound from the film, similar to how the audio was during filmed segments in the first season.
***

SKETCH: PILLOW PETS
-A woman (Ann Risley) is upset her husband (Gilbert Gottfried) seems to favor the dog over her, especially since the “dog” is just a stuffed pillow.
-This sketch has probably my favorite concept of the night, and probably would have been more highly regarded if it were performed either on a different show, or on SNL more than 20 years later.  I honestly could see Will Forte doing something like this.
-Gottfried is a little withdrawn and sullen in his delivery, but I thought it helped him with a few of the lines (especially “Oh, you were wrong” to Risley thinking that a man who loved the pillows so much could give her a lot of love).
***

SKETCH: TELEVISED TRIAL
-In the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling, a televised small claims trial takes the format of a late-night talk show.
-This wasn’t bad; it didn’t outstay its welcome, and Gottfried did well as the plaintiff suing a restaurant for putting a ball bearing in his food.
-The cameo by Jim Fowler worked well, and he gets a few of the best lines.
-I thought having the image inset into a graphic of a television was a little unnecessary.
-Dom Irrera, one of the people passed over for the new cast, is the juror whispering the verdict to the foreman.
***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “STARTING OVER AGAIN”
-Sally Kellerman performs the Donna Summer and Bruce Sudano-penned song about a middle-aged couple’s dissolved marriage, which was then a recent hit for Dolly Parton.
-She’s not a bad singer, but it doesn’t seem like something you’d end an SNL on.

GOODNIGHTS
 -Kellerman doesn’t seem as affected here, amazingly enough.  Rocket sniffs her head amorously, and Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried hug.
-Don Pardo announces Deborah Harry is hosting next week, and says “happy birthday” to the President before mentioning his birthday is on February 22 and soliciting birthday gifts.
-The costume house that SNL used underwent a name change between the Hays and Kellerman shows; Brooks-Van Horn was acquired by the Eaves costume company and became Eaves-Brooks.

Final Thoughts:
I was surprised how high I rated the sketches; it always seemed like it was worse than it actually was, thanks to a limited host (Kellerman seemed to only play snobbish), an overabundance of jokes on the same topic, a dead audience in places, and a creeping self-awareness that the show’s days (with that staff) were numbered.  But  the more I think about it, aside from the monologue and Was I Ever Red, I didn’t strongly dislike very much of the show, and could find pieces of worth in a lot of tonight.  It seemed more that the show’s biggest issue was a lot of sketches that were sub-par (in either concept or execution), but weren’t balanced out with standout pieces as in other Doumanian shows; even the usually reliable Rocket Report wasn’t up to standard.  Ann Risley had the most appearances out of anyone tonight (I have to wonder if that colors people’s perception of the episode), but for me, it was Gilbert Gottfried who stood out.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-commentaries on Weekend Update.

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Was I Ever Red
-Monologue
-the jokes on Weekend Update
-Reagan & The Economy
-Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat

MVP:
Gilbert Gottfried

CAST & GUEST RUNDOWN:
cast
Denny Dillon: 4 appearances [The Audition, Was I Ever Red, Lean Acres, Iranian Student Council], 1 voiceover [Name That Sin]
Gilbert Gottfried: 4 appearances [The Audition, Parent & Child, Pillow Pets, Televised Trial]
Gail Matthius: 5 appearances [Reagan & The Economy, Was I Ever Red, Weekend Update, Parent & Child, Iranian Student Council], 1 voiceover [Name That Sin]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [Name That Sin, Weekend Update, Iranian Student Council]
Joe Piscopo: 5 appearances [The Audition, Weekend Update, Parent & Child, Iranian Student Council, Televised Trial]
Ann Risley: 7 appearances [The Audition, Name That Sin, Was I Ever Red, Parent & Child, Lean Acres, Iranian Student Council, Pillow Pets]
Charles Rocket: 5 appearances [Reagan & The Economy, The Rocket Report, Name That Sin, Iranian Joke Book Weekend Update], 1 voiceover [A Day In The Life of a Hostage]

featured players:
Yvonne Hudson: 0 appearances
Matthew Laurance: 3 appearances [Iranian Joke Book, Iranian Student Council, Televised Trial], 1 voiceover [A Day In The Life Of A Hostage]
Patrick Weathers: 2 appearances [Iranian Joke Book, Televised Trial]

confirmed non-cast
Barry W. Blaustein: 1 appearance [A Day In The Life of a Hostage]
Billy Brown: 1 appearance [Iranian Joke Book]
Dom Irrera: 1 appearance [Televised Trial]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Iranian Joke Book]
David Sheffield: 1 appearance [A Day In The Life of a Hostage]
Terry Sweeney: 1 appearance [Reagan & The Economy]
Liz Welch: 1 appearance [Reagan & The Economy]
Dave Wilson: 1 voiceover [Monologue]

guests
Sally Kellerman: 5 appearances [Monologue, The Audition, Was I Ever Red, Lean Acres, "Starting Over Again"]
Jimmy Cliff: 2 appearances ["I Am The Living", "Gone Clear"]
Jim Fowler: 1 appearance [Televised Trial]
Lani Groves: 2 appearances ["I Am The Living", "Gone Clear"]
Marc Weiner: 1 appearance [Weekend Update]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures from this episode can be found here.

Random pictures of SNL writers

I should be getting the Robert Hays show reviewed on the weekend, but in the meantime, I’d like to call attention to a Tumblr I created: Fuck Yeah SNL Writers is just a place where I post pictures of the SNL writers that have had walk-on appearances or bit parts in various sketches over the years.

I’m kind of blown away to the response I’ve been getting to my Splitsider article.  Thanks to everyone who said they liked it!

Getting back on track

I have a new article at Splitsider!  It’s about the “lost sketches” of The Kids In The Hall not included in the DVD sets.

I want to apologize for the lack of substantial updates on Existential Weightlifting for the last little while.  I’m working through a few other priorities in meatspace right now (including a friend’s wedding a few weeks ago).  I promise that my SNL season 6 reviews will finish soon, and I’ll be constructing my thoughts on the most recent SNL season just as soon as I have some time to put them together.  I also decided on a new look for the site that I’ll be implementing fully in the coming weeks.

Classic SNL Review: May 15, 1982: Danny DeVito / Sparks (S07E19)

RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** – Classic
****   – Great
***     – Good / Average
**       – Meh
*         – Bad

OPENING: ANDY KAUFMAN WRESTLING TEASER
-A short clip of Andy Kaufman’s April 5 wrestling match against Jerry Lawler with voiceover from Piscopo teasing Kaufman’s first time wrestling a man.
-I’m not going to review this as it is too short to really comment on and it’s strictly a teaser for a segment later on in the show.  As well, my recording begins about halfway through the opening montage.

MONOLOGUE
-Danny DeVito announces that Taxi has been cancelled by ABC, to the audience’s dismay.  He reads a letter from his mother Julia that bad-mouths the network.  Because the season finale was taped two months earlier and the cast did not know the network was cancelling the show, Danny then introduces castmates Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza and Judd Hirsch for a belated final bow.
-DeVito comes off as an engaging and enjoyable host right away, and it’s no surprise that he would end up doing the show five more times as host.
-Even though this wasn’t a strict comedy monologue, this gets the show off to a good start.  The audience response was really strong going by the applause DeVito gets at the beginning, their boos at ABC for cancelling Taxi, and the standing ovation they give the cast as they all assemble on stage.
-You can see Marilu Henner through the window on the set…she’s obscured by  the cloudiness of the glass but it’s her going by the outfit she’s wearing.
-Of course, NBC would pick up Taxi for the next fall.
****

FILM: TAXI
-Louie DePalma (Danny DeVito) gets his revenge on ABC.
-A good companion piece to the monologue.
-Of course, in a post-9/11 world, Louie bombing the ABC headquarters via remote control would NEVER be allowed on the air.
****

SKETCH: WHINERS
-Aboard an airplane, Doug (Joe Piscopo) and Wendy Whiner (Robin Duke) complain loudly to a stewardess (Mary Gross) and the man in the seat next to them (Danny DeVito).
-The audience gives Piscopo and Duke recognition applause right at the start of this sketch, which really felt too similar to the last one.  I also find Duke and Piscopo’s voices really grating in these sketches, which was probably the effect they were going for. Duke’s Wendy Whiner moan reminds me a little of Julia Sweeney as Pat.
-The main thing this sketch had going for it was DeVito, who was an excellent foil for the Whiners, and a great ending where after being nagged repeatedly by Doug and Wendy to be careful with a package of china, DeVito aggressively kicks and shakes the box while the couple is distracted by “What I Did For Love” on their headset, all the while mimicking their repeated admonitions in a nasal, mocking voice.
**

SKETCH: STRESS TEST
-Bill’s (Danny DeVito) excitement over his promotion is short-lived as a perfect storm of personal crises converge.
-I apologize that the sketch name gives away the twist at the end of the sketch, but all the episode guides (including the official show sketch titles) call it that or a variant of that.
-DeVito stumbled a little at the beginning but again was a good straight man for all the antics in the sketch.
-I really enjoyed Joe Piscopo’s smug snake co-worker character commenting as the drug dealer (Eddie Murphy) gives DeVito some cocaine and threatens him with a knife for not paying, but the others had some good moments, particularly Christine Ebersole screaming “YOU ANIMAL!” at DeVito for giving her herpes and Mary Gross’ orgasmic moans over the speakerphone.
-The twist with it all being a test the CEO orchestrated to see how Bill handles pressure was pretty funny, especially the denouement with DeVito muttering and growling while holding a knife.
***1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “MICKEY MOUSE”
-Ron Mael, toothbrush-mustached keyboard player and songwriter for Sparks, prefaces the number with a lecture about the mouse.
-Crunchy, guitar and synth heavy power-pop, but the real fun is the contrast between energetic lead singer Russell Mael and his brother with the Hitler mustache.  Ron’s facial expressions and upstaging activities make the performance for me, especially the part where they cut to the different band members singing and Ron is just smiling creepily.  Plus, Ron gets his own dance solo during the instrumental break.

MISCELLANEOUS: NEXT WEEK
-Tim Kazurinsky has Danny DeVito guess who next week’s special guest is.
-Good break from the usual format, which also felt like this was a way for them to get rid of a little extra time.

SNL NEWSBREAK WITH MARY GROSS, CHRISTINE EBERSOLE AND BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY: MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT DR. JACK BADOFSKY (TIM KAZURINSKY), WEATHER WITH LOU GRANT (TONY ROSATO)
-Best joke: Death penalty in NJ/Rely tampon
-An improvement over the past several SNL Newsbreaks, partially because of a shorter running time (only 12 minutes) and also because they don’t use the photo montage like they had been the last few weeks, even if they still use their other crutch, the crawl with names.  Still not great, but it doesn’t weigh down the show as much as it had been the last few weeks.
-Dr. Jack Badofsky gets a big round of applause, but this was one of the weaker outings this season, with more groan-worthy puns.
-Mary Gross gets an amusing “ditzy correspondent” segment, thanks largely to the dog that’s supposed to be playing “Sandy” spooking (you can hear him growl) and she makes a few adlibs as she tries to get him back on the bench.  She also gets a good adlib after another one of Brian Doyle-Murray’s marblemouth moments.
-Falkland Island Rorschach Crawl was alright, again preferable to the photo montage bits they did the last few shows, with some unintentional humor coming from Doyle-Murray and Ebersole having time to kill before the crawl finishes.
-Tony Rosato returns as Lou Grant, fresh off his just-cancelled CBS drama and reduced to doing the weather, where he promptly changes the subject and appeals for aid in El Salvador before Doyle-Murray tells him that Grant Tinker has cancelled the weather report.  For some reason I like Rosato’s Asner/Lou Grant a little more this time in spite of the makeup job (they didn’t do a great job on John Belushi when he played Lou Grant either).  The whole thing where Lou Grant claims he fixed Tinker up with Mary was a little cute for my liking.
***

SKETCH: SOLOMON AND PUDGE
-Solomon (Eddie Murphy) and Pudge (Joe Piscopo) discuss the Falkland Islands.  Wino buddy Willie (Danny DeVito) reunites with his friends in time to watch Solomon dance.
-This sketch was again carried by the chemistry between Piscopo and Murphy, although the mood was distinctly lighter than the previous Solomon and Pudge sketch.  DeVito’s character was a good addition and fit the mood of the sketch.
-Best line was Solomon talking about the “Puerto Ricans in the Falklands!” and Thatcher being “out of her Falkland mind”.
-Eddie Murphy doesn’t really appear in this episode much; this is his only starring role and he only appeared in one other sketch before and none after.
***1/2

MISCELLANEOUS: KAUFMAN VS. LAWLER
-Brian Doyle-Murray interviews Andy Kaufman about his April 5 match against Jerry Lawler and shows highlights.  Kaufman announces he will never wrestle again and apologizes for his past matches against women.
-When I first saw this episode, I thought this segment was boring, particularly because it was a wrestling match framed by what looked like a straight interview between Doyle-Murray and Kaufman, even though Kaufman had a good line about wrestling women bigger than Jerry Lawler.  Since it became known that the “feud” between Kaufman and Lawler was actually as staged as any other professional wrestling storyline and the two were actually close friends, I have to admire their commitment to the hoax.
-As well, the wrestling match also plays pretty well as a slapstick/silent movie type deal with Kaufman mocking Lawler, running away and putting Lawler in a headlock only to get slammed with a pile driver.
-Funniest moment for me: when Lawler taunts Kaufman “Are you here to wrestle or act like an ass”, the commentator (Lance Russell) repeats the comment but pauses and says “so and so” instead of “ass”.
****

COMMERCIAL: ENZO
-Ozzy Osbourne (Tim Kazurinsky) touts the enzymatic mouthwash’s ability to remove various animal parts from his teeth.
-Slightly fillerish.  The funniest part was Robin Duke as the groupie slurring “Wowts rull min-tee” and swigging from the bottle in the last shot.
**

COMMERCIAL: COME ON OUT AMERICA [RERUN FROM 03/27/82]

SHOW: TABLE TALK
-Tony Rosato demonstrates how to intimidate the wine steward (Nate Herman).
-Rosato is in fine form here.  I’ve finally figured out that he reminds me a LOT of Jason Sudeikis, because they both can play both the straight and support roles as well as somewhat boorish, obnoxious types.   I’d say he was the perfect choice to do this segment and he carries it well.
-The part where Rosato does a quick devilish laugh after demonstrating his displeasure to the wine steward reminds me of Vic Salukin after his crank call.
-Nate Herman reportedly was a last-second fill-in for a regular cast member.  For all the screen time the original writers of SNL got, Ebersol and Doumanian didn’t really give their writers many bit parts (except for Andy Breckman) so for a writer to have a big role as this is rare.
***1/2

SHOW: LOOKS AT BOOKS
-Karen Block (Mary Gross) interviews “A Hard Day’s Reich” author Dr. Simon Radlauer (Tim Kazurinsky), who asserts the Beatles stole their ideas from the Nazis.
-While the doctored Beatles covers were funny, the joke really runs out of steam and it doesn’t really feel like they worked too hard on fleshing out the idea.
-This is notable for being the only time the show would use the title “Looks At Books” after the original cast left.  Most of the time Ebersol book review show sketches would be “Book Beat”
-Gross’ exaggerated delivery at the beginning was a little irritating.  Also, if the Nazi music records were supposed to be LPs then that would be an anachronism seeing that the 33 1/3rd RPM LP wasn’t developed until after the war.
**

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “I PREDICT”
-You can see Danny DeVito dancing on the side stage as the band starts playing.
-Another catchy number.  Ron seemed to be cracking up a little at Russell at one point.
-One of the song’s jokes (pointed out elsewhere): the prediction that the song will fade out, but it actually ends cold.

GOODNIGHTS
-Danny’s mother Julia DeVito (who’s even shorter than he is) curses out ABC in Italian to cheers from the cast and audience.
-A few audience members can be seen standing up in the balcony, evidently trying to start another standing ovation.  It doesn’t take.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Easily one of the highlights of the season and definitely a highlight of the later part of the year.  Danny DeVito was the strongest host the show had in a while, perhaps since Bill Murray, and while the show still had a few stumbles, overall the cast and writers seemed to have a good night.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Monologue/Taxi Film
-Kaufman vs. Lawler
-Table Talk
-Stress Test
-Solomon & Pudge

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Looks At Books
-The Whiners
-Enzo

MVP:
Danny DeVito

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast
Robin Duke: 2 appearances [Whiners, Enzo]
Christine Ebersole: 3 appearances [Stress Test, SNL Newsbreak, Enzo]
Mary Gross: 4 appearances [Whiners, Stress Test (voice only), SNL Newsbreak, Looks At Books]
Tim Kazurinsky: 4 appearances [Next Week, SNL Newsbreak, Enzo, Looks At Books]
Eddie Murphy:  2 appearances [Stress Test, Solomon and Pudge]
Joe Piscopo: 4 appearances [Wrestling Teaser (voice only), Whiners, Stress Test, Solomon and Pudge]
Tony Rosato: 4 appearances [Stress Test (voice only), SNL Newsbreak,  Enzo, Table Talk]
featured players
Brian Doyle-Murray: 3 appearances [Stress Test, SNL Newsbreak, Kaufman vs. Lawler]
non-cast
Nate Herman: 1 appearance [Table Talk]
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [Whiners]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Whiners]
guests
Danny DeVito: 6 appearances [Monologue, Taxi, Whiners, Stress Test, Next Week, Solomon & Pudge]
Sparks: 2 appearances ["Mickey Mouse", "I Predict"]
Andy Kaufman: 2 appearances [Monologue, Kaufman vs. Lawler]
Tony Danza: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Marilu Henner: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Judd Hirsch: 1 appearance [Monologue]
Christopher Lloyd: 1 appearance [Monologue]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
September 18, 1982
Known alterations: Next Week is removed, The Khaddaffi Look (from 10/03/81) is added.

Additional screen captures are available here.

The SNL Archives

Sorry I haven’t been posting my SNL reviews, but I just wanted to make sure I put in a plug for my favorite SNL resource, The SNL Archives.   This website has episode summaries and screen captures for EVERY SNL aired since 1975, and has a database of all the various cast members through the years, the characters they played and the impressions they did, not to mention a thorough listing of the different guests the show had over the years, whether they were hosts, musical guests, special guests or just making a cameo appearance.  Joel, the webmaster, has put many hours of work into the site over the years and it is an impressive and useful page for any fan of the show.

The centerpiece of  the website is the episode guide, which contains segment descriptions for nearly every sketch, music performance, Weekend Update, cold opening, monologue and commercial parody on the show.   Everyone that appears in a segment is listed in the summary, along with their role if appearing in a sketch as a character.  Impressions, recurring sketches and characters are linked to their own specific page on the database with details about the different times they had appeared on the show.  As well, the show has listings for many of the writers and miscellaneous production staff that appear in walk-ons during the show, so one can use the searchable database to find the sketches where Conan O’Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Larry David or Dave Attell are in the background.  You can even find on-screen appearances for future Simpsons writer (and noted recluse) John Swartzwelder.

If there is a sketch that is missing, it either was a dress rehearsal segment or pretape that replaced another sketch in the rerun, or that the original live broadcast was not available for capture.   Also, A handful of episodes are still in the rebroadcast running order due to a lack of verifiable information regarding the original live show rundown.  I’ve been happy to assist the webmaster with verifying information in the guide and providing access to rare sketches that have been excised from the reruns,  but there are a few noticeable gaps that remain and if anyone can assist, please do so.

These are, to my knowledge, the missing segments in the database:
-Live broadcast running orders for: Chevy Chase / Queen (09.25.1982), Robert Blake / Kenny Loggins (11.13.1982),  Bruce Dern / Leon Redbone (03.12.1983), Susan Saint James / Michael McDonald (04.16.1983), Father Guido Sarducci / Huey Lewis and the News (01.14.84), Michael Palin and his mother / The Motels (01.21.1984).
-Best Little Whorehouse on the Prairie and Dick Ebersol: No More Andy Kaufman from Robert Blake / Kenny Loggins (11.13.1982)
-Know Your Neighbor (description only, no capture) and Casino Quintet (Fantasy For Auto Horn and Electronic Pulse in D Minor) from Smothers Brothers / Big Country (12.03.1983)
-Top Of The Sushi from Billy Crystal, Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Father Guido Sarducci and Betty Thomas / The Cars (05.12.1984)
-Christmas Shopping from Tom Hanks / Sade (12.14.1985)
-The Miss Pregnant Teenage America Pageant from Dudley Moore / Al Green (01.25.1986)
-Cliff Robertson for AT&T from Tony Danza / Laurie Anderson (04.19.1986)
-Pango, Giant Dog of Tokyo! from Rosanna Arquette / Ric Ocasek (11.08.1986)
-First Impression from Sting (01.19.1991)
-Dance Party USA from Kevin Bacon / INXS (02.09.1991)
-promos for next week’s shows from Tim Curry / Meat Loaf (12.05.1981), Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band (01.23.1982), Teri Garr / Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo (11.12.1983) and Barry Bostwick / Spinal Tap (05.05.1984), possibly others.

As one of the many people who have assisted Joel with verifying information and giving access to hard to find material, I ask that if you have any of these segments or can contribute information in any capacity to contact him directly by email at snlmedia@comcast.net.  The amount of work Joel puts in on the site is staggering, but he also relies on and appreciates the various ways other people have contributed over the years.