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on, he’s more lively and animated, if a little green, but toward the end of the season, he is a little more sullen and withdrawn.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: 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.

Classic SNL Review: January 24, 1981: Robert Hays / Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crown, 14 Karat Soul (S06E08)

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

OPENING: AMERICA NOT HELD HOSTAGE ANYMORE
-Following the release of the hostages, Ted Koppel (Joe Piscopo) keeps Nightline on the air by counting down the days the hostages are out of captivity.
-Nothing outstanding, but decent satire of the news media’s tendency to milk a story, which would be done better for Buckwheat Buys The Farm two years latter.  Actually, so would Piscopo’s Koppel (still not really a fan of the impression, though).
-I did like Koppel positioning the freeing of the hostages as the tragedy, and there was a little bit of scattered applause for the line about harassing the victims’ families.  Ann Risley’s part seemed pretty unnecessary, though.
**1/2

MONOLOGUE
-Robert Hays draws attention to an instant Nielsen rating that appears on the screen, which goes down once he starts bad-mouthing Nielsen families.
-Not a bad concept, and they ended it when it needed to, but this was way too similar to Buck Henry’s May 1979 monologue (thanks to TheLazenby for calling that) and not as well-executed.
**

COMMERCIAL: DAZOLA
-Indian (Denny Dillon) speaks highly of the spread that’s low on cholesterol and high on psylocibin.  Really highly.
-A spoof on the “You call it corn, we call it maize” Mazola commercials, right down to the tagline (“You call them mushrooms.  We call them magic”), but is essentially one big drug joke on par with Dopenhagen from the David Carradine show.
-What amused me more than anything was the goofy facial expressions on vegetable costumed Yvonne Hudson, Matthew Laurance and Gilbert Gottfried.  I wonder who got stuck in the pea outfits.
-Incidentally, the actual Mazola commercial they spoof is in my recording of last week’s show.
**

SHOW: LOVE AMERICAN STYLE
-In “Love and the Celebrity” by Sid “Slappy” White, Robert Hays gets companionship on a lonely promotional tour when an inflatable prostitute (voice of Gail Matthius) appears.
-Another merely OK bit, largely carried by the timing of the string pulls and the reactions from Robert.  The predictable ending was made up for by the strong sight gag of an inflatable pimp.
**1/2

SHOW: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SPORTS CENTRAL
-Matthew Laurance interviews Asteroids champ Eddie Atari (Eddie Murphy) from inside his ship, and witnesses him lay waste to flying saucers and the Goodyear blimp.
-Piscopo’s sports anchor persona anchors this sketch, and gets some amusing material with his overpoetic descriptions of Eddie Atari’s Asteroids technique, but once again Murphy walks away with the whole sketch, doing more with relatively few and succinct lines than either Piscopo or Laurance.
-Piscopo’s “Oh, the humanity!”  got some laughs and applause.  I’m wondering when Herbert Morrison’s quote from the Hindenberg became a common pop-culture trope: I know it was used in WKRP’s “Turkeys Away” show (probably the best-ever example of it in pop-culture, IMO), but right now it’s so common it’s cliché.
***

COMMERCIAL: REAGANCO
-Celebrate the new Reagan administration with decorative and cosmetic products by Reaganco.
-Written by Ferris Butler with assistance from Jeremy Stevens.
-Not bad, although the amount of ridiculous products that have been legitimately marketed to capitalize on the Obama inauguration make this one seem quaint in comparison.
-The audience really liked the line about the rouge that made even a corpse come alive.  Cheap, but sometimes cheap works.
***

SHOW: SAVE-A-NETWORK TELETHON
-Joe Piscopo emcees a telethon where viewers are invited to pledge a premise to the struggling network.
-Alright idea, but I found this more interesting for the on-screen appearances of cue card man Al Siegal (playing deli worker Sidney Sharkman), cameraman Al Camoin, and announcer Don Pardo (only his second on the show, and first where he’s introduced as himself).  The audience goes wild for Pardo, and he seems to be enjoying himself, especially while singing.
-One cringeworthy line in the part about Pink Lady & Jeff and Shogun.
-I can’t tell who most of the phone bank volunteers are (the recurring extra with the combover and glasses is one of them), but it looks like Neil Levy on the right side of Gilbert Gottfried’s table.
-I noticed Ann Risley adlibs a “right” after an audience member says “yay” to the NBC peacock sheets she holds up.
***

SHOW: PRE-SUPERBOWL PRE-GAME PREVIEW
-A panel (Robert Hays, Ann Risley and Charles Rocket) overinflates the importance of tomorrow’s big game.
-Weak.  The main jokes (the hype-up of the game and the football/ballet metaphor) were stretched way past their breaking points, and the final payoff (the anchors don’t even know who are playing tomorrow) underwhelmed.
*1/2

FILM: “THE FOREIGN FILM” – WILLIAM DEAR
-A short segment from “Elephant Parts” features a man (Michael Nesmith) and a woman spouting subtitled gibberish.
-The audience liked this a bit more than the last sketch, but it still suffered from the joke being stretched past the breaking point.  Gibberish is funnier than hyperbole and weak metaphors, though.
**

SKETCH: FUNERAL
-Inappropriate music selections from substitute organist Harry Osborne fit a sports game more than a dignified funeral.
-This was a little predictable once he started playing his first number, but it was silly enough to be worthwhile, largely because of the mourners’ reactions to the music.
-Best part for me was the organ swipe when the widow (Denny Dillon) closed the casket because she didn’t want her husband to hear it.
-I’m still not sure if Harry Osborne is a real person or just some outside actor or production staff member; the leading SNL sites list him as a real person so unless I get other information I’m going to treat him like a cameo.
***

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best Jokes: Reagan letter (for the graphic), Margaret Trudeau
-Most of the jokes were pretty bad this week (worst: Mondale and Eldridge Cleaver jokes…).  They’re at least curbing the forced chemistry between the anchors (only one attempt this week) and Gail seems to be getting better, although I don’t think anyone could have made the Eldridge Cleaver joke work.  Probably would have been something Brian Doyle-Murray would have done next season.
-Charles Rocket gets a short bit getting an “apology” from the same dummy of Ayatollah Khomeini they used on the show last season (100th show).   Meh.
-Tiffany Fleur (Ann Risley) shows some of her fashions for the engineering student.  A few easy nerd “slide rule” and “pocket protector” jokes but the sight of the pocket protector glued to the one model’s chest woke up the audience.  That’s writer David Hurwitz playing Paul (the bearded guy), while Robert is one of the administrative staff (no name, unfortunately, but it’s the same guy as in Taped Confession).
-Joe Piscopo gets another prop-based Saturday Night Sports, this time predicting the outcome of Super Bowl XV with an electric football game.  The audience liked his dismissal of the Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles as mediocre teams.
-Eddie Murphy gets the strongest segment, discussing how he was out both reefer and heating oil money thanks to frozen Iranian assets.  Murphy actually tells a few audience members that applaud at the beginning of his commentary to “hold it”.  Good payoff.
**

COMMERCIAL: DISCO MELTDOWN
-Dena Disco (Denny Dillon) invites dancers to watch her change colors from “disco radiation” at her nightclub inside a nuclear reactor.
-Not good.  My main problem with this was that it was a thin premise to begin with, but it didn’t really seem to build on the main joke or have any payoff.  It was also a little too dependent on the greenscreen.  Disco was already on the decline by that point so it dated pretty horribly.  Dillon tried, though.
-The song was written by Dillon, with Kenny Vance and Philip Namanworth.
-Vance is actually one of the dancers, as is Wendie Malick.  I think I see Liz Welch in there, and in the promotional photos for this sketch, you can see Yvonne Hudson and Neil Levy in the crowd.
*

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT – REAGAN
-From Washington, DC, Charles Rocket tries to show us what a day in the life of the President is like.
-Not one of Rocket’s stronger reports: Rocket is at his best when he’s interacting with other people and this was sorely missed.  It had a few funny moments (Rocket saying the cop in riot gear was Reagan atop his horse “Darky”…though, what’s with the racial jokes tonight?)
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: THE PACESETTER
-Liven up plays killed with slow pacing by administering electric shocks to the actors.
-Once again this was an idea milked a little too long.  I found the button noise a bit irritating as well.  Compared to some of the other material tonight it was merely OK.
**

COMMERCIAL: RAVI SINGS
-Master sitar player Ravi Shankar (Patrick Weathers) has a new album of romantic American ballads.
-I guess the joke is from the juxtaposition of Indian sitar music with American love songs but it really just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, with the brownface makeup and bug-eyes.  The audience seemed to be laughing more at the cartoonish impression than the concept.  It might have played a little better as a photo montage.
-Weathers is lipsyncing to a recorded track here (like Gilda Radner in Stretch Marks).
*

SKETCH: CUT ‘N CURL
-Roweena (Gail Matthius) and Nadine (Denny Dillon) don’t see eye-to-eye on the Reagan inauguration,
-They probably could have used The Pacesetter for this as it felt pretty leaden.   This ended up being weaker than the other Cut ‘N Curl sketch; the asides to the audience just seemed to derail the bit.  Both Matthius and Dillon seem to be having trouble with a few of their lines.
-One thing I didn’t pick up on until someone pointed it out was that Dillon’s wearing the exact same outfit (well, a cheap copy of it) that Nancy Reagan wore to her inauguration a few days before, right down to the hat (which was the subject of a photo joke on tonight’s Weekend Update).
*

MISCELLANEOUS: PROMOTION
-Eddie Murphy announces that he has been promoted to the full cast of “Saturday Night Live”
-Not a rateable segment, but the audience seemed to think Murphy deserved his promotion.  Funny visual gag with the rings, sunglasses and mirror too.

COMMERCIAL: DREAM DATE
-A chance at a $40,000 dream date with your ideal partner and location has just one particular step…
-The only joke is the $40,000 in cash that Rocket goes on about being a part of the dream date is supplied by the contestants themselves.
*

COMMERCIAL: ORDINARY ELEPHANT PEOPLE
-The new movie with a family as disfigured internally as they are on the outside.
-My recording is missing this sketch (damn Comedy Network didn’t run short station break segments), but the transcript makes it sound like one of the more worthwhile bits tonight.  I can’t actually rate it until I see it, though (Canadian Netflix only has seasons 20-35, and I can’t access Hulu).

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “I WISH THAT WE WERE MARRIED”, “THIS TIME IT’S FOR REAL” – 14 KARAT SOUL
-After the last group of segments, this was more than welcome.  An excellent a capella performance; the audience response was so huge that it actually delayed the start of the second number (you can see Glenny T. Wright start to snap his fingers for a few beats before stopping).  The second song had the audience clapping along.
-I wonder why they had both musical guests scheduled so late in the show (after the 12:30 station break)

SKETCH: NATIONAL ENQUIRER
-Editors of the tabloid work on compiling stories for the latest issue.
-Another mostly laugh-free sketch that dragged on for  a little too long.  It felt a little like they were going for going for shock/bad taste jokes (cartoon of a man throwing his wife into a treeshredder, “cripples are big now”, romantically linking Desi Arnaz Sr. with Jr.).
-Rocket was doing a character voice for his role but it took me out of the sketch.
*

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “DONT BUG ME BABY” – JOE “KING” CARRASCO & THE CROWN
-For the longest time, I thought this was terrible, but now I’m actually starting to enjoy it.  Most if it is from how entertaining the performance is: Carrasco goes wild here, jumping off amps and diving into the audience.  Music-wise it was pretty raw: I thought the guitar was the weak link, but the main things driving the song were Kris Cummings’ organ and Brad Kizer’s drumming.  This brought the energy up in a show that really needed it.

GOODNIGHTS
-Robert Hays almost accidentally exposes Gail Matthius’ left breast.
-Don Pardo does not announce an upcoming host but continues to show off his singing ability.

Final Thoughts:
I actually was a little taken aback at how weak the show was when I rewatched it.  After last week’s strong episode, this one started off as somewhat of a step down to “business as usual” before crashing after weekend Weekend Update.  I wonder if it was they were exhausted from pulling off three live shows in a row or if there was another factor.  What’s unmistakable is how much dreck comes in the second half of the show, and how much it makes the musical performances seem like a relief.   Hays really didn’t distinguish himself either way.  Even the usually reliable “Rocket Report” was sub par.  I think the biggest disappointment about this episode is that the cast and writers already proved themselves as capable as last week: it felt almost like this is the point where the bad press is starting to seep in.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Eddie Murphy’s segments in his sketches.  I know it’s a lazy way to list highlights, but this week it really felt like he was the only thing in the show that was really standing out (aside from the music performances), and he managed to do more to make the audience laugh in three short appearances than everyone else who had more airtime tonight.

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Ravi Sings
-Disco Meltdown
-Dream Date
-National Enquirer
-Cut ‘N Curl
-Pre-Super Bowl Pre-Game Preview
-The Pacesetter
-Dazola
-Monologue
-The Foreign Film

MVP:
Eddie Murphy, 14 Karat Soul

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN
cast
Denny Dillon: 4 appearances [Dazola, Funeral, Disco Meltdown, Cut 'N Curl]
Gilbert Gottfried: 5 appearances [Dazola, Save-A-Network Telethon,  Funeral, Ordinary Elephant People, National Enquirer]
Gail Matthius: 4 appearances [Monologue, Save-A-Network Telethon, Weekend Update, Cut 'N Curl], 1 voiceover [Love American Style]
Joe Piscopo: 6 appearances [America Not Held Hostage Anymore, Saturday Night Live Sports Central, Save-A-Network Telethon, Weekend Update, The Pacesetter, National Enquirer], 2 voice-overs [Ravi Sings, Ordinary Elephant People]
Ann Risley: 6 appearances [America Not Held Hostage Anymore, Save-A-Network Telethon, Pre-Superbowl Pre-Game Preview, Weekend Update, The Pacesetter, Ordinary Elephant People]
Charles Rocket: 8 appearances [Reaganco, Pre-Superbowl Pre-Game Preview, Funeral, Weekend Update, Rocket Report, The Pacesetter, Dream Date, Ordinary Elephant People, National Enquirer], 2 voiceovers [America Not Held Hostage Anymore, Save-A-Network Telethon]

featured players
Yvonne Hudson (uncredited): 2 appearances [Dazola, Disco Meltdown]
Matthew Laurance: 4 appearances [Dazola, Saturday Night Live Sports Central, Funeral, National Enquirer]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [Saturday Night Live Sports Central, Weekend Update, Promotion]
Patrick Weathers: 2 appearances [Ravi Sings, National Enquirer]

confirmed non-cast
Al Camoin: 1 appearance [Save-A-Network Telethon]
David Hurwitz: 1 appearance [Weekend Update]
Neil Levy: 2 appearances [Save-A-Network Telethon, Disco Meltdown]
Wendie Malick: 1 appearance [Disco Meltown]
Andy Murphy: 1 appearance [Funeral]
Don Pardo: 1 appearance [Save-A-Network Telethon]
Kenny Vance: 1 appearance [Disco Meltdown]
(any confirmation that’s Liz Welch?)

guests
Robert Hays: 5 appearances [Monologue, Love American Style, Pre-Superbowl Pre-Game Preview, The Pacesetter, National Enquirer]
14 Karat Soul: 1 appearance ["I Wish That We Were Married/This Time It's For Real"]
Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crown: 1 appearance ["Don't Bug Me Baby"]
Michael Nesmith: 1 appearance [The Foreign Film]
Harry Osborne: 1 appearance [Funeral]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures of this episode can be found here.

Classic SNL Review: January 17, 1981: Karen Black / Cheap Trick, Stanley Clarke Trio (S06E07)

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

OPENING: WHITE HOUSE STRIP
-The Carters take everything of value from the White House before Ron and Nancy Reagan move in.
-A strong, fast-paced opener that got a good reaction from the audience.   Good work from everyone all around, and Ann actually succeeds pretty well as lead here.
-Funniest bits for me were Amy asking if Nancy Reagan has killed anyone and Rosalynn explaining that she just “marries them instead”, and Jimmy Carter stealing the hotline as it beeps.
-The only major complaint I have is the awkward shoehorn of the LFNY line, but this gets the show running on a promising note.
***

MONOLOGUE
-Karen Black shamelessly says anything she thinks will get the audience to applaud.
-A bit reminiscent of Chevy Chase’s monologue from February 1978, but this is helped by its relative brevity and Black being so energetic and animated here.
-Black addresses son Hunter Carson (who appeared with her during her monologue four and a half years ago, memorably grabbing her left breast) at the end of the monologue.
***

COMMERCIAL: THE LEGENDARY COMPOSERS
-A new record offer exploring the links between the great classical works and modern pop hits like “Whip It”.
-Didn’t care for Rocket’s choice of character voice (high-pitched and nasal with slight accent), and he seemed to muff a line, but the concept works and the audience reacts well.
*** 

COMMERCIAL: FOUNDATION FOR THE TRAGICALLY HIP
-In a moment with Sir William Martin (Bill Martin), he solicits donations for the terminally materialistic.
-Another one of the Michael Nesmith acquisitions aired on the show during January 1981 (Nesmith appears in a cameo at the end as Foyer the butler).  This is perhaps most well known as the comedy bit that inspired the name of Canadian rock group The Tragically Hip.
-I thought this worked better than the Nesmith pieces that aired the week before, helped by a good concept (especially the “machines which keep Bobby alive”) and a good punchline.
***1/2

 SKETCH: THE LIVELYS
-TV host Phil Lively (Charles Rocket) and wife Frances (Gail Matthius) extend the game show format to a dinner party with new neighbors (Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried).
-A genuinely great sketch for the season, with a solid premise, good development, and strong work by Rocket and Matthius with Gottfried and Dillon doing  well in straight roles.
-There are lots of funny bits here, particularly Matthius instantly changing outfits when presenting their dining set, her singing the Jeopardy! “think music” when Gottfried and Dillon try to guess the vintage of the wine only to make the buzzer sound (loudly).  The Livelys showing the guests out (a la game show losers) for not guessing correctly was a good ending as well.
****

SKETCH: SINATRA & REAGAN
-The Chairman of the Board (Joe Piscopo) advises Ronald Reagan (Charles Rocket) on his inauguration and recommends he dump George Bush for First Lady Nancy (Gail Matthius).
-Historically important for Joe Piscopo’s first appearance doing Frank Sinatra, which would be his signature impression.  Rocket’s Reagan is still weak but I thought the dynamic between the two worked enough to establish Sinatra as the more powerful.
-The reveal of Nancy hiding in the dressing room and being the one behind Sinatra’s request worked pretty well.  I liked the way they ended with the shot of the mirror, too.
***1/2

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT – DAREDEVILS
-Charles Rocket profiles one of the biggest risk-takers in a city full of them: cab driver Richard Schmaltz.
-A classic Rocket Report, and probably the best one of the entire series, even stronger than the 5th Avenue one thanks to the more specified focus.  The audience also loved it, especially Schmaltz’s “stunt” of the left turn across three lanes of traffic.
****1/2

SKETCH: MONA LISA
-Museum guard (Charles Rocket) breaks off his romance with famed Da Vinci painting Mona Lisa (Karen Black).
-Perhaps it is a little too cute and broad, but I can’t help but like this sketch, buoyed by good work from Rocket and Black.
Funniest parts: Mona Lisa wanting a baby after talking with Madonna With Child, “You wish I had legs!”, her disparaging the Renoir nudes that the guard had been seeing (“Those SLUTS! With little tiny brush strokes, no DEPTH at all!”), the visual of her smiling wearing the guard’s parting gift (a cowboy hat) at the end.
***1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “BABY LOVES TO ROCK” – CHEAP TRICK
-Rawer and noisier than the version on the George Martin-produced All Shook Up album.  Pete Comita is on bass.
-The band plays their numbers on a different set than the regular SNL musical guest stage.

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best jokes: Inauguration, Reagan family portrait
-Rocket and Matthius had a better night than usual with their material, but I thought the attempts at chemistry between the two (Rocket making drinks for them both, “never with a co-worker” after the Sunbelt film) didn’t succeed, and were met with silence from the audience.  Rocket’s increasingly manic delivery worked particularly well in the description of the inauguration and had a good payoff.
-Matthius still has a few rough patches, slipping up Risley’s character’s name after her segment (and looking a bit embarrassed) and losing her place again as she starts her intro to the Sunbelt segment.  She also sort of tries to do Rocket’s manic thing on the Winnebago One joke.  The receptive audience keeps the energy level up, though.
-Risley’s “tips for stupid dieters” segment was a bit weak, and it seemed a little like Risley was thinking it too as she went for a slightly exaggerated delivery as she went along.
-Rush To The Sunbelt worked for me, just because I like stock footage bits.  I like the joke about the “belt” before the sun was added in 1972.  Can anyone confirm who was doing the voiceover on that?
-Piscopo’s Saturday Night Sports appears yet again, now firmly entrenched as an audience favorite.  Piscopo tries to scalp Super Bowl tickets, which leads to another funny “upstage Rocket” bit when he waves the tickets in front of his face as he tells a joke.  Rocket plays along, though.
***

SHOW: 60 MINUTES
-Dan Rather (Joe Piscopo) investigates the lack of female journalists at his network in “No Babes In Newsland”
-A decent parody of the CBS newsmagazine, helped by making this a filmed parody with studio bookends.  Some good bits in here, such as an “anonymous” Walter Cronkite explaining that Mike Wallace doesn’t want to work with women because of friend Harry Reasoner’s “vicious castration” at the hands of Barbara Walters, and Wallace blatantly lying about making threatening signs.
-This is notable for being the debut of Piscopo’s Dan Rather.  This is also notable for not featuring any other cast or featured players: aside from Piscopo, the principal speaking parts are done by various show personnel, including associate director Peter Fatovich as CBS News president Bill Leonard and Jeannine Kerwin as journalist Heather Clark (thanks to Ferris Butler for the ID).  Other show staff can be seen in the background, including writer Barry W. Blaustein.
-Another cool detail: the shelves of video tapes in the background of the interview segments are actually recordings of actual SNL episodes.  You can see names like Art Garfunkel and Elliott Gould with the show numbers on the spine as well.  (Every episode of SNL that aired in late night, including repeats, were numbered sequentially up until the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike: after this point, only the original airings get the episode numbers.  But that’s another post…)
-I still have no idea who is playing Mike Wallace in this sketch: it’s such a non-impression I actually find it funny.  Any idea who was Cronkite as well?
***

SKETCH: HOSPITAL BED
-A view from the perspective of stroke victim Morris Birnbaum (voice of Gilbert Gottfried), including the thoughts he is unable to communicate to his nurse, greedy daughter and old flame.
-Like with the Old Lady sketch from Burstyn, the 1980-81 season really nailed the bittersweet sketches that Marilyn Suzanne Miller used to do.  I thought this actually was even better than the Old Lady piece, helped by the unusual setup (single camera perspective with voiceover).  Gottfried’s voice carries the sketch as the bitter, self-pitying Birnbaum.
-The change in tone in the sketch when Dillon entered as Rachel was also very effective, particularly Birnbaum begging Rachel not to start singing, only to start “singing” along in his head.  I liked that they also didn’t try to end it on a light note…just having the sketch end with Birnbaum going out of consciousness
****1/2

SHOW: SATURDAY NIGHT SPORTS- FAIR DINKUM
-Joe Piscopo covers the championship match of the kilt-pulling Scottish game of manhood.
-Like with the Nose Wrestling segment in Gould, this was a short segment played more for the concept than hard laughs, anchored by strong work from both commentator Piscopo and referee “Mc”Gottfried.
***

SKETCH: NEIGHBOR
-When her neighbor’s (Eddie Murphy) noisy stereo keeps her up at night, (Yvonne Hudson) goes to his apartment door to confront him.
-Good use of featured players Murphy and Hudson.  I thought it was a bit similar to the insult contest stand-up Murphy did the week before, and he blew a bit of his delivery early on, but once he reacted to the unnamed extra playing Hudson’s boyfriend, he really came together.
***

SKETCH: TURNPIKE DINER
-Paulie Herman (Joe Piscopo) ends up in a recreation of the famous diner scene from “Five Easy Pieces” when he sits with a Texan (Karen Black) in an overcrowded diner.
-Still not a big fan of Paulie Herman, but this one at least gives the character a new setting and something different to mix in with the “I’m from Jersey”.  The audience now recognizes and applauds the character.
-This sketch picked up a bit once they got to the Five Easy Pieces “chicken salad sandwich” homage.  Karen Black seemed to be amused and having fun doing it, as she was starting to crack up.
**1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “CAN’T STOP IT BUT I’M GONNA TRY” – CHEAP TRICK
-A slower but intense song about addiction.  Again, rawer than the LP version, which was somewhat fuller-sounding.
-Drummer Bun E. Carlos gives a little thumbs up after the end of the song. 

COMMERCIAL: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ACTION DOLLS
-Charles Rocket shows how you can create your own backstage drama with dolls of the new Saturday Night Live cast.
-Rocket brings his manic pitchman mode back for this, which works as the moment the cast is fully established as a unit rather than just as the substitute players that took over when the original group left.  It seems to be a conscious effort to set an offstage “reality” for the group like the backstage sketches did for the original cast.
***

SHOW: WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT
-Pinky and Leo Waxman (Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried) continue to stray from their guests, this time taking Karen Black’s mental stability in the process.
-This one actually felt like an afterthought, and the Waxman’s tangents weren’t as warmly recieved this time.  It also seemed like they were rushing toward the end.
-The breakdown was a decent way to end the sketch, with Black crouching on the ground with a banana like a monkey,  This part had a few good lines too, like “I think the camera should have a breakdown!” and Leo Waxman commenting on the mess Black made.
**

COMMERCIAL: NATIONAL HANDGUN ASSOCIATION
-A mugging scenario reminds the audience that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.
-Not really a lot to this other than what I described, but I did laugh a little at Matthew Laurance shoving Eddie Murphy’s head right into Ann Risley’s face.  Nice to see the home base elevator actually get used.
**

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “WILD DOG” – STANLEY CLARKE TRIO
-Black introduces the performance by mentioning how Clarke has topped polls regarding bass players since 1976 and introduces him as her friend.  I’m guessing they knew each other through their involvement in Scientology.  Accompanying Clarke is George Duke on keyboards and John Robinson.
-This is one of the best performances on the show this year, especially for a 10-to-1 slot.  Clarke’s signature technique makes this an interesting performance: he thrusts his right hand downward, almost strumming.  Good solos from Clarke and Duke, and another performance that has more life to it than the studio counterpart.  The audience goes wild for the thundering conclusion.

GOODNIGHTS
-Karen Black says she had a stupendous time.  Gail Matthius tugs her ear a la Carol Burnett.
-Don Pardo announces next week’s show with Robert Hays and Joe “King” Carrasco before the studio feed cuts out as Jean Doumanian’s credit begins to appear.

Final thoughts:
Best show of the season so far, with Black being an energetic and game host, and the cast and writers proving they are capable of pulling off a consistently strong show.  This particular show is a highlight of the Doumanian era, and actually manages to be a better show than Black’s first appearance in 1976.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Hospital Bed
-The Rocket Report
-The Livelys
-Mona Lisa
-Sinatra & Reagan
-Foundation for the Tragically Hip

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS
-What’s It All About
-National Handgun Association

MVP:
Karen Black / Charles Rocket

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
cast
Denny Dillon: 5 appearances [White House Strip, The Livelys, Hospital Bed, Turnpike Diner, What's It All About], 1 voiceover [Mona Lisa]
Gilbert Gottfried: 4 appearances [The Livelys, Sinatra & Reagan, Saturday Night Sports, What's It All About], 1 voiceover [Hospital Bed]
Gail Matthius: 3 appearances [The Livelys, Sinatra & Reagan, Weekend Update], 1 voiceover [White House Strip]
Joe Piscopo: 7 appearances [White House Strip, Sinatra & Reagan, Weekend Update, 60 Minutes, Saturday Night Sports, Turnpike Diner, National Handgun Association]
Ann Risley: 3 appearances [White House Strip, Weekend Update, National Handgun Association]
Charles Rocket: 9 appearances [The Legendary Composers, The Livelys, Sinatra & Reagan, The Rocket Report, Mona Lisa, Weekend Update, Hospital Bed, Saturday Night Sports, Saturday Night Live Action Dolls]

featured players
Yvonne Hudson: 2 appearances [Hospital Bed, Neighbor]
Matthew Laurance: 4 appearances [White House Strip, Sinatra & Reagan, Saturday Night Sports, National Handgun Association]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [Hospital Bed, Neighbor, National Handgun Association]
Patrick Weathers: 3 appearances [White House Strip, Sinatra & Reagan, Saturday Night Sports]

non-cast
Barry W. Blaustein: 1 appearance [60 minutes]
Pete Fatovich: 1 appearance [60 Minutes]
Jeannine Kerwin: 1 appearance [60 minutes]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Turnpike Diner]

guests
Karen Black: 5 appearances [Monologue, Mona Lisa, Hospital Bed, Turnpike Diner, What's It All About]
Cheap Trick: 2 appearances ["Baby Loves To Rock", "Can't Stop It But I'm Gonna Try"]
Stanley Clarke Trio: 1 appearance ["Wild Dog"]
Bill Martin: 1 appearance [Foundation For The Tragically Hip]
Michael Nesmith: 1 appearance [Foundation For The Tragically Hip]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here

Classic SNL Review: January 10, 1981: Ray Sharkey / Jack Bruce & Friends (S06E06)

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

OPENING: TO TELL THE TRUTH
-One of three people (Matthew Laurance, Charles Rocket, Eddie Murphy) is the real mob informant Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno.
-A topical blackout written by Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield.  This was merely OK, with the humor value diminished a bit if you weren’t aware this was a then-current news story although I did laugh a little at the different characterizations (Laurance doing a straight impression, Rocket doing a raspy-voice 20′s gangster and Murphy getting a big laugh being more or less himself).
-This would be a forgettable cold opening if it weren’t for the fact that this is the first time Eddie Murphy opens the show with “LFNY”, before full cast member Ann Risley even gets the chance.   I like Murphy’s delivery choice here too, delivering the line in a panicked, frightened tone as Rocket holds the gun to his head.
**1/2

MONTAGE
-With this episode, the SNL logo is altered to remove the “’80″ that was added for the previous five shows.

MONOLOGUE
-Ray Sharkey discusses how he loves being back home in New York and talks about the red-eye flight he took from Los Angeles.
-Sharkey is energetic and glad to be here, and gets the crowd going by saying “New York is the greatest (mouths “fucking”) city in the world!” but this wasn’t quite as entertaining as even a regular “talk” monologue.  The liberal use of “fuhgeddaboutit” seemed like it was intended to be funny but its overuse just made the segment drag on.
-I think Sharkey was wearing a hairpiece here: I’ve seen him in a few Barney Miller episodes from about five years earlier and he had noticeably less hair.
*1/2

COMMERCIAL: WORK TIME
-Manual laborers do the more logical thing when they start their day by getting sloshed.
-A spoof of Miller Beer “Miller Time” commercials.  Overall it was amusing (particularly the guy grinning as the individual bricks fell on his head) but I couldn’t help but find it tried a little too hard at times (the “vomiting noise”).  The punchline was strong.
-This was an outside production with its own set of credits: the piece was written and directed by the late Patrick Kelly, who was the co-writer of the well-known Federal Express commercials featuring John Moschitta Jr.
***

SKETCH: INTERPRETER
-Marcello Bellini (Ray Sharkey) interprets the repressed emotions of a WASP couple (Charles Rocket and Ann Risley).
-This sketch had a decent enough concept, a few good lines, and Sharkey put a lot of effort into his performance, but I thought the whole thing was too repetitive (neutral statement, then passionate “translation”).  The ending with Risley unleashing a bit of emotion of her own wasn’t bad.
-Charles Rocket and Ann Risley were playing characters with the same first names.  There was also a bit of “hot mic” at the beginning.
**

SKETCH: TOMMY TORTURE
-Underage Vickie (Gail Matthius) and Debbie (Denny Dillon) sneak into a punk club where Tommy Torture (Ray Sharkey) performs ”Abuse Somebody”.
-The audience is completely silent for the first few minutes, although I thought I did detect a little reaction to the “urinating into a saxophone” line.  When Matthius and Dillon do their “Another One Bites The Dust” and get no reaction from the audience, it is a little chilling.  Sharkey’s slurry voice reminds me a little of Mike Myers’ Ron Wood.
-Tommy Torture’s song was co-written by Barry Blaustein, David Sheffield, Kenny Vance and Chris Palmaro.  The latter two are actually in Tommy Torture’s band, on guitar and keyboards, respectively.  The other band members are Tom Malone (bass), Elliott Randall (guitar solo) and Buddy Williams (drums).  I don’t know if Blaustein and Sheffield wrote the whole thing or if they just did the song.  It actually feels a little like they combined a separate sketch idea with a Vickie and Debbie sketch.
-I have to give Sharkey and the band credit for the song (the extra half-star), but overall, the sketch really did not work.
*1/2

COMMERCIAL: CITIZENS FOR A BETTER AMERICA
-Dissatisfied with a shoddy enema, Dr. Swen Gazzarra (Gilbert Gottfried) bemoans the lack of pride people take in their work and that people resent doing “hum jobs”.
-Written by Ferris Butler with Gilbert Gottfried
-Some may think this was pretty sophomoric, but this is one of the more memorable segments of tonight, and one that holds up better than their attempts at topicality.  It strikes me as a spiritual forerunner to Alec Baldwin’s Schweddy Balls “Delicious Dish” sketch, although not quite as intricate or elaborate, or the sophisticated level of the lines being said over radio.   The audience responded decently once the “hum jobs” lines came, and it didn’t stretch past its welcome.
-I still thought Gottfried’s delivery was off, with him visibly reading the lines off of cue cards.  It didn’t seem like he was putting enough effort into the lines.
***

SKETCH: BOBBIE’S BAR / JANUARY 11th

-Jimmy Carter (Joe Piscopo) commiserates with a fellow member of the unemployed (Ray Sharkey).  Charles Rocket cuts in from the corner of 5th and 50th with coverage of the lead-up to January 11th.
-This felt like two good ideas that weren’t fully fleshed out slapped together. I wonder if they would have been more effective as separate segments, but I’m grading them together.
-The bar scene is promising enough as Piscopo does Carter, one of his stronger impressions and Ray Sharkey gives a good performance, but the scene just sort of peters out with a joke about Carter being indecisive, and there’s no resolution to the scene after the January 11th celebration.
-As for the celebration, while the idea could have been set up a bit better, it is pretty inventive, it is a good use of Rocket playing to his strengths, and it was nice to get some out-of-the studio stuff in the show.  Some unintentional humor comes from the one person going on obsessively about Barbra Streisand.
**1/2

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET & GAIL MATTHIUS
-Best jokes: Instant justice, Martina Navratilova/John McEnroe.
-This is the debut of the show’s return to a dual-anchor format, with Charles Rocket joined by Gail Matthius.  This pays mixed dividends: while being able to switch between anchors gives the segment an added energy, Matthius seems almost apologetic for some of the weaker jokes and has a few stumbles, fumbling through her notes right after returning to her chair following Piscopo’s segment.  She also reacts in a similar manner to Colin Quinn when a joke dies, usually just making a comment.  Rocket’s delivery is more exaggeratedly pronounced by this point as well.
-Gilbert Gottfried as morning show weatherman-like Marv Peters gives the crime forecast.  A little different from his previous Weekend Update characters, and while a decent idea, it was fairly forgettable.  The audience gives a scattered applause when New York is mentioned in the murder map.
-Joe Piscopo is now completely into his Saturday Night News character, and the audience is quite glad to see him this time.  They react pretty enthusiastically when he brings out the toy bowling game with the wind-up bowling ball, and there’s a good ad-lib about getting two chances when the ball hops off the game.  Piscopo also manages to upstage Rocket during his next joke (Reagan in “The Al Jolson Story”) by having the ball hop across Rocket’s side of the set as he tells the joke.
-As much as Piscopo steals Rocket’s thunder, Eddie Murphy walks away with the whole Weekend Update.  His segment about not wanting to be drafted, makes fun of the whole notion of a “token black” in the cast.  It’s a chance for Murphy to debut his Stevie Wonder and Bill Cosby routines, as well as get a somewhat nasty dig in at Garrett Morris, who “has a lot of time on his hands”.
**1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “DANCING ON AIR”
-The  ”friends” are Clem Clempson (Humble Pie, Colosseum) on guitar, David Sancious (Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tone) on keyboards and guitar, and drummer Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra).  Sancious would actually appear on SNL exactly ten years and nine days after this appearance when he plays as a sideman with Sting.  Cobham was actually a fill-in on drums for the SNL band before (I think it’s the Eric Idle 1978 show he sits in with the band).
-This is another song I’ve been able to compare to the studio recording, and I prefer this one: the studio version’s a little cooler and less passionate.  This song has some pretty interesting dynamics and some soloing from Sancious and Clempson, as well as a lot of interesting drum fills from Cobham, an especially good drummer.

SKETCH: TAPED CONFESSION
-Interrogator (Ray Sharkey) plays director to lowlife Vic Lazlo’s (Gilbert Gottfried) actor when taping a confession.
-This is carried by another good performance from Sharkey, and helped by a stronger concept, especially when Lazlo starts to disagree with his interrogator’s directions.  Gottfried puts more energy into this as well.
-This was another Ferris Butler piece with Gilbert Gottfried helping on the dialogue.
-If anyone has the name of the younger extra in the uniform with Andy Murphy, please let me know.
***1/2

COMMERCIAL: HAVE A NICE DAY
-A new horror movie ad featuress the ubiquitous yellow smiley faces in bloody scenes of carnage.
-This is an excerpt from Michael Nesmith and William Dear’s “Elephant Parts”.   I actually saw it in proper context and it seems to work better surrounded by pieces with the same sensibility, but on its own as an SNL piece it did leave me a little cold.  It didn’t help that the audience didn’t really react to it.
-Is that Nesmith as the Norman Bates style psycho in the first segment?
-Seeing it as an “Elephant Parts” segment also made me realize just how bad the telecine was at SNL until about halfway through the next season.
**1/2

SKETCH: BLACK MARKET BABY
-In the park, a childless couple (Ann Risley and Joe Piscopo) considers buying a baby from a black market salesman (Eddie Murphy).
-Eddie Murphy fares best here and carries the piece, although Denny Dillon and Ray Sharkey do alright.  Although overall this was a middling sketch, it is helped by some good lines, especially about the other couple buying a white baby that turned out to be a bowling pin, and a strong ending.
-The audience didn’t react to this very much (although Dillon calling the baby “Splotchy” got laughs).
-The end of this segment also has SNL’s first audience caption in years.  Unfortunately, “This man has a lot of cole slaw in his underwear” is particularly inept for an audience caption.  The original captions weren’t as wordy, and this one sounds desperate for a joke.
**1/2

SKETCH: SURROGATE MOTHERS
-Unruly surrogate mothers (Denny Dillon and Yvonne Hudson) use their unborn babies’ welfare as leverage against their employers (Ann Risley and Gail Matthius).
-This really dragged at first, but picked up a little when Dillon’s character started with her blackmail about halfway through.  I had to laugh at “When I get bored, I take LSD!”
-They could have given Matthius and Risley some funnier material, and poor Yvonne Hudson seemed to only be there so they could use the Butterfly McQueen “Gone With The Wind” line at the end (“I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies”).
**

FILM: “THE MAN IN THE BLACK HAT” – MICHAEL NESMITH & WILLIAM DEAR
-Townspeople don’t comment on a nice man’s dropped pants.
-I didn’t see this segment in “Elephant Parts” but it was shot around the same time.  Was “Elephant Parts” compiled/released after the SNL airings of Nesmith and Dear’s short films?
-This only got mild titters from the audience.  Harmless piece, but again kind of at odds with the SNL style.
**

COMMERCIAL: STOP-A-NUT
-Guard yourself from unstable attackers and annoying boomboxes by wearing full body armor that also lets you fight back.
-One of the better segments of the night, with Rocket doing his manic pitchman again, and a good idea for a product.  The audience seemed to enjoy this one as well.
-When Rocket asks “Too good to be true”, the suit makes another blast interrupting him and forcing him to start again, with a little bit of a chuckle.  Definitely seems unscripted.
-The audience loved the suit making short work of the boombox with “Rapper’s Delight” blasting.
***1/2

SKETCH: THE WAITER-MAKER
-Vinnie (Ray Sharkey) Svengalis hapless busboy Domingo Santiago Guadalupe Hidalgo (Gilbert Gottfried) into replacing service industry superstar Joey Dee (Charles Rocket).
-This is the “host sketch” of the night, which is supposed to be a spoof of The Idolmaker, the movie Sharkey would win a Golden Globe for at the end of the month.  Knowing this is supposed to be a spoof of the plot of the movie (with Gilbert Gottfried in the Peter Gallagher role) helps, but even being aware of the plot of the movie doesn’t help this sketch very much.
-I did like the “he was a slow learner” intertitle as Gottfried changed wardrobe and the set was being redressed to put the new picture up.
*1/2

COMMERCIAL: COMMERCIAL FOR NOTHING
-Spokesman (Joe Piscopo) has the pitch style but not an actual product to sell.
-This seems like filler and a sign that the show was desperate to fill airtime.
*

MISCELLANEOUS: INSULT CONTEST
-With time to kill, Eddie Murphy does a stand-up routine about black people fighting with “yo mama” insults.
-The story behind this segment is well-known: when the show was short of material, Neil Levy had Eddie Murphy go on-stage and do a cleaned-up version of the stand-up routine from his audition.
-Murphy has the audience fully engaged with this routine.  It is a little rough around the edges, but the audience that would not react for minutes on end would come to life for this, and right away you can see Murphy cementing his place in the show’s history.
****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “LIVIN’ WITHOUT JA”
-Sancious is now on guitar, and the band is visibly enjoying themselves on this uptempo number.  One of the guitar players gets a “Day Tripper” quote in there as well.

GOODNIGHTS
-Ray Sharkey exclaims “We had a ball!”
-Don Pardo announces that next week’s guests are Karen Black and Cheap Trick, before bemoaning that NBC won’t give him a show of his own because they think of him as an announcer.

Final Summary:
An “off night” for the show, with a deader-than-normal audience in places.  At the same time, this is an important episode in the show’s history because this is where Eddie Murphy says his first LFNY, kills with a Weekend Update bit, and does his solo stand-up on the show.  The show also is using more outside material for film acquisitions, with the departure of in-house filmmaker Mitchell Kriegman.  Backstage there were a few more shakeups over Christmas break, with new head writers Jeremy Stevens and Tom Moore replacing the departed Mason Williams, and Del Close now doing improv coaching with the cast.  The changes would pay off next week, but this show seemed like they were slow getting up and running again after Christmas break (something that still continues on the show to this day).  The weakness of the show is not a reflection on Ray Sharkey, though, who carried much of the show on his back and did a commendable job tonight.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Insult Contest
-Stop-A-Nut
-Taped Confession

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Commercial For Nothing
-Tommy Torture
-The Waiter-Maker
-Monologue
-anchor segments of Weekend Update
-Surrogate Mothers
-Intepreter
-The Man In The Black Hat

MVP:
Eddie Murphy

CAST & GUEST RUNDOWN
cast
Denny Dillon: 4 appearances [Tommy Torture, Black Market, Surrogate Mothers, The Waiter-Maker]
Gilbert Gottfried: 4 appearances [Citizens For A Better America, Weekend Update, Taped Confession, The Waiter-Maker]
Gail Matthius: 4 appearances [Tommy Torture, Weekend Update, Surrogate Mothers, The Waiter-Maker]
Joe Piscopo: 4 appearances [Bobbie's Bar/January 11th, Weekend Update, Black Market Baby, Commercial For Nothing]; 2 voice-overs [To Tell The Truth, Work Time]
Ann Risley: 4 appearances [Interpreter, Black Market Baby, Surrogate Mothers, The Waiter-Maker]
Charles Rocket: 7 appearances [To Tell The Truth, Interpreter, Tommy Torture, Bobbie's Bar/January 11th, Weekend Update, Stop-A-Nut, The Waiter-Maker]
featured players
Yvonne Hudson: 3 appearances: [Interpreter, Bobbie's Bar/January 11th, Surrogate Mothers]
Matthew Laurance: 3 appearances [To Tell The Truth, Tommy Torture, Bobbie's Bar/January 11th]
Eddie Murphy: 6 appearances [To Tell The Truth, Bobbie's Bar/January 11th, Weekend Update, Black Market Baby, Stop-A-Nut, The Waiter-Maker]
non-cast
Tom Malone: 1 appearance [Tommy Torture]
Andy Murphy: 1 appearance [Taped Confession]
Chris Palmaro: 1 appearance [Tommy Torture]
Elliott Randall: 1 appearance [Tommy Torture]
Kenny Vance: 1 appearance [Tommy Torture]
Buddy Williams: 1 appearance [Tommy Toture]
guests
Ray Sharkey: 8 appearances [Monologue, Interpreter, Tommy Torture, Bobbie's Bar/January 11th, Taped Confession, Black Market Baby, Stop-A-Nut, The Waiter Maker]
Jack Bruce & Friends: 2 appearances ["Dancing On Air", "Livin' Without Ja"].

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
Not rebroadcast on NBC.  This was also skipped over by the Comedy Network when they aired 90-minute versions of 1980-81 in the fall of 1998.

Additional screen captures not seen above are available here.

Classic SNL Review: December 20, 1980: David Carradine / The cast of “The Pirates of Penzance” (S06E05)

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

COLD OPENING: PARDO IMPRESSION
-Backstage, Joe Piscopo works on his Don Pardo impression to potentially get an extra paycheck.
-A very short “blackout” cold opening with very little audience reaction.  For what it was, though, it wasn’t painful.
-They seem to be carrying on the original cast’s running joke of Pardo being this disembodied voice (see Waiting For Pardo, Don Pardo: The First 50 Years), now with added omniscience. -I can’t really say I’m a fan of Piscopo’s impression: like with a lot of Piscopo impressions it’s mitigated by too much of Piscopo’s natural voice tone.
**

MONTAGE
-After two and a half seasons as an uncredited bit player, Yvonne Hudson is credited for the first time as a featured player.

MONOLOGUE
-David Carradine sings “I Want To Be A Dancin’ Man” and deflects Charles Rocket’s protests that SNL is for comedy, not soft-shoe.
-Carradine seems to be ad-libbing a lot here: at one point, he says “I’m supposed to say this really fast”, and when the joke about his father saying “no son of mine is going to make a living with his feet” got no reaction, he says “that didn’t work”.  He even says “Just reading the cards, that’s all”.
-The rumors say he under the influence that night, but  he actually doesn’t do too badly in the monologue.  The musical number was entertaining to watch, and him (literally) kicking Charles Rocket off the stage got a good reaction.
***

COMMERCIAL: GUN CITY
-Crazy Eddie-style pitchman (Joe Piscopo) recommends weapons as Christmas gifts.
-Short and carried by Piscopo’s manic delivery.  This benefits from having a few good lines, most notably a dig at Nancy Reagan with the “teeny-weeny guns” line.
-After watching a few real Crazy Eddie ads, I can appreciate Piscopo’s impression a little better.
***

SKETCH: KUNG FU MENSWEAR
-Caine’s (David Carradine) journeys lead him to a black menswear shop and conflicting fashion advice from its owner (Eddie Murphy) and Master Po (Gilbert Gottfried).
-David Carradine is a mess here, constantly looking at the cue cards and mumbling his lines.  His delivery actually bungles a lot of the funnier jokes.   Eddie Murphy does his best to carry the sketch, but despite his efforts (particularly the reactions) the sketch falls apart due to pacing problems, a weak ending and a badly cued music sting.
-Gilbert Gottfried appears heavily made-up as Master Po from Kung Fu, although not really doing an impression so much as talking in an ominous tone of voice.  He gets some good lines, and the characterization as slightly annoyed and contemptuous of Caine was good for a few chuckles.
-This was the first of three Kung Fu segments in the show.  Ferris Butler confirms they were going for working in Cain throughout the show as much as possible.
-Does anyone else find the “coming up” gag at the very end (Babes in Thailand) has a little bit of an unintentional irony considering where Carradine died?
**

SKETCH: CEDAR MALL
-Vickie (Gail Matthius) and Debbie (Denny Dillon) try to impress some guys (Charles Rocket and Joe Piscopo) at the mall.
-Matthius is especially good here, particularly when she recounts her conversation with the guy with a string of “and he said, and I said…”
-Despite the audience not really being into this one (except for Rocket’s little garbage throw routine), I thought it was a good low-key sketch.
-I can see Yvonne Hudson in the background; I wonder if any of the other extras were writers.
***

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT: SANTA CLAUS
-Charles Rocket talks glowingly about Jolly Old St. Nick while a derelict Santa (also Rocket) stumbles around New York.
-A bit short of the better Rocket Reports.  What makes them work is Rocket’s interactions with other people, and while there was a little of it with Santa hitting on women and lighting up with a fellow pedestrian, it took a backseat to the juxtaposition of Rocket’s effusive narration and Santa’s seedier activities.
-This is the first appearance of the “skyline” title card that would be used for the Rocket Report for the rest of the season.
***

SKETCH: DYLAN & GUTHRIE
-Bob Dylan (Patrick Weathers) cribs ailing hero Woody Guthrie’s (David Carradine) conversation during a hospital visit.
-This is a genuinely good sketch with a solid premise and strong performances from Weathers, who does a very good “young Dylan”, and Carradine.
-Nice little detail: Dylan’s “This machine kills facists [sic] too!” on his guitar.
****

COMMERCIAL: THE HOME VERSION OF DALLAS
-Dysfunctional family drama can be made entertaining just by pretending you’re the characters from the prime-time soap.
-This was brief but amusing, particularly the visual of the dysfunctional family wearing the cowboy hats and wigs.
***

FILM: “MR. BILL’S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL” – WALTER WILLIAMS
-A now homeless Mr. Bill reflects on Yuletide mangling at the hands of Mr. Hands and Sluggo.
-Best mangling: Sled, bike spokes
-A little short of the classic Mr. Bill segments from the original cast years.  This Mr. Bill has a (relatively) happier ending, with all of Mr. Bill’s dismemberment happening solely in flashbacks.  Then again, Mr. Bill, Miss Sally and Spot are homeless during the winter…
-I wonder if this segment was originally made for the previous season, because some of the clips (the train set, Sluggo In A Box and the sled) were in “Mr. Bill Gets Help” from the Teri Garr episode eleven months before.  I can even hear some of the same dialogue in the clips under the voiceovers in “Gets Help”.  This would make sense in the story timeline too.
***

COMMERCIAL: KUNG-FU CHRISTMAS
-Caine (David Carradine) and Bruce Lee (Eddie Murphy) battle evil Santas in a Christmas movie trailer.
-This worked in spite of itself: it was a fairly weak idea and the whole thing seemed kind of slapped together at the last minute, but I thought that actually kind of made it a bit funnier.
-I couldn’t help but laugh at “Bruce Lee is back, but this time he’s black!” and Master Po saying “You must kick their butts, grasshopper” in that tone of voice.
-Gottfried’s last sketch of the night.
**1/2

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET
-Best jokes: Rupert Murdoch apologizes, Ronald Reagan resigns.
-Short Update tonight.  Including the two commentaries, this clocks in at about 5 1/2 minutes, and was likely truncated to make room for the musical performances.  Rocket had a comparatively good week this time.  Was the Rupert Murdoch joke the first SNL mention of the Australian mogul?
-Ann Risley’s holiday tips that revolve around suggesting “lard wrapped in a plastic bag” come off as an attempt at weird humor that may have worked a little better with a different performer.  I still can’t decide whether it’s bad, or so bad it’s good.
-Joe Piscopo has a brief Saturday Night Sports about the NFL on NBC’s “silent game” that aired earlier that day, criticizing Don Ohlmeyer for how boring it really was, and demonstrating what it would be like if applied to his own segment.  This is more notable for Piscopo creating more of a character for his Saturday Night Sports persona (as a poorly paid counterpart to real-life sportscasters) and doing a Christmas greeting in the same style as his intros.
**1/2

MUSIC PERFORMANCE: PENZANCE MEDLEY: “I AM THE VERY MODEL OF A MODERN MAJOR GENERAL”, “OH, IS THERE NOT ONE MAIDEN BREAST”, “POOR WANDERING ONE!”, “WHERE THE FOREMAN BARES HIS STEEL” – THE CAST OF “THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE” FEATURING LINDA RONSTADT, REX SMITH, & GEORGE ROSE
-This was a very interesting idea to actually book the cast of a Broadway show as musical guest.  It was a little difficult to crowd all these people on the tiny SNL home base stage (especially in “Where The Foreman Bares His Steel”) but it makes me wish SNL would do something like this again with a musical guest booking.
-The scheduling in the show was wisely done: usually SNL musical performances are done before Weekend Update, but this longer performance flows better in the show here.

SKETCH: HEROIN IN HARLEM
-Rich white drug users (Joe Piscopo, Charles Rocket, Ann Risley and Gail Matthius) seeking the “real experience” go to Harlem for their heroin.
-While the rich drug users’ characterizations seemed a little too cartoonish for my liking, I actually thought this was a decent sketch with a good payoff at the end, the black junkies actually being undercover cops.  I liked the visual of Rocket taking a picture of the pusher threatening Matthius with a knife at her throat.
-Eddie Murphy’s line ends the sketch on a strong note:  ”Look — I am SICK AND TIRED of you junkies coming up and giving Harlem a bad name! You should have STAYED on Park Avenue where you belong!”
-One line, “you’re probably the kind of guy who worries about dirty needles” takes on a whole new light since the AIDS crisis began.  This actually aired less than six months before the disease was first reported.
***

FILM: “VIRGIN SEARCH” – LINDA LEE
-NBC executives (Neil Levy, Matthew Laurance, Mitchel Kriegman) search for the next female SNL cast member takes them from Anytown, USA to Paris to Rome to LA, all in search of a virgin.
-This is the film that was originally the subject of the big battle with standards for the Burstyn show; I don’t know if there was anything that was altered for it to finally air on the Carradine show.  I’d say it was alright but not particularly memorable.
-Gail Matthius gets a good workout, having to play four different characters, including an all-American cheerleader, a Parisian schoolgirl, a Roman Catholic nun and a version of herself with garish New Wave makeup and a Carl Sagan obsession.
-The joke with the Parisian schoolgirl not being a virgin because of Roman Polanski was a little tasteless, but the nun’s “Damn you, Father Sarducci” got a good response.
-Does anyone have an ID for the actor who played the network president?  He looks very familiar: I think they actually got a local character actor instead of using show personnel like they normally do for small roles.
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: DOPENHAGEN & HAPPY DAZE
-Country singer (David Carradine) gets his THC from a dipping tobacco-like product.  Now with a starter variety for the kids.
-Weaker segment.  While Heroin in Harlem was also a drug bit, it had a bit more substance than just substituting marijuana for chewing tobacco.  This commercial really didn’t have any more to it than that.
-Carradine’s delivery was off (he even says Copenhagen instead of Dopenhagen at first).
**

SKETCH: MOURNING THE COLONEL
-Chicken lovers (David Carradine, Denny Dillon, Eddie Murphy) grieve the passing of fried chicken icon Colonel Sanders.
-This wasn’t a bad idea for a topical sketch; kind of understated, with good work from all three (and one of Carradine’s better performances that night).
-This uses the same mall set as the Vicki and Debbie sketch from earlier tonight.
***

FILM: “THE DANCING MAN” – MITCHELL KRIEGMAN
-Hungover man (Bill Irwin) compulsively boogies whenever presented with “Shake Your Groove Thing”.
-This was good, carried entirely by Irwin’s skill as a mime; there is not a line of dialogue in the whole segment.
***1/2

SKETCH: KUNG-FU WELFARE
-Unemployed Caine (David Carradine) and Ms. Robley (Yvonne Hudson) are literally pimped out due to changes to their welfare requirements.
-Written by Ferris Butler, Billy Brown & Mel Green.
-This had the best premise of the three Kung Fu parodies, a good spoof of government doublespeak, and Dillon was good as the dismissive bureaucrat.
-I kind of liked the bits of business with Caine (still seeking water) not entirely sure what to do with the water cooler.
-Yvonne Hudson gets her first prominent role as a credited featured player, despite doing some fairly major sketch work the season before (“Bad Clams”).
-Carradine blanking out towards the end (“I am troubled by one thing, um…”) and Denny asking the question for him did not seem scripted.  It did derail the sketch, unfortunately, and the sketch never quite recovers.
-The last exchange between Carradine and Risley’s character is probably one of the dirtiest things I can think of them getting away with this season (think “water sports”).
**1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “O COME EMANUEL”, “THE FIRST NOEL”, “JOY TO THE WORLD”
-This was a nice touch, with the Penzance cast performing a capella (the only bit of instrumentation is the organ playing the key change for each new song), and snow beginning to fall for Joy To The World.

GOODNIGHTS
-David Carradine, the cast, and the Penzance performers are all crowded on or below home base.  Gilbert Gottfried is still in his Master Po robes.
-Don Pardo announces the show will return live on January 10th, and that he’ll be spending New Years’ at Art Fleming’s, snorting potpourri.

Final Summary:
This was a surprisingly consistant show, with no truly awful segments (at the very worst, the weaker segments were either forgettable or just not strongly executed) and one very strong sketch (“Dylan & Guthrie”).  Carradine wasn’t exactly a great host, though, and is responsible for derailing the Kung Fu Menswear and Kung Fu Welfare sketches, though he did alright in most of what else he was in.  That said, the show seemed to move quickly and was actually pretty enjoyable for the most part.  This is the last show before a significant upheaval backstage, though, with Mason Williams and Mitchell Kriegman out, and Jeremy Stevens and Tom Moore in by the next show.

MVP:
Gail Matthius

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-Dylan & Guthrie
-The Dancing Man

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Ann Risley’s WU commentary
-Dopenhagen & Happy Daze
-Kung Fu Menswear
-Pardo Impression

CAST & GUEST SUMMARY:
cast
Denny Dillon: 4 appearances [Cedar Mall, The Home Version of Dallas, Mourning the Colonel, Kung Fu Welfare]
Gilbert Gottfried: 2 appearances [Kung Fu Menswear, Kung Fu Christmas]
Gail Matthius: 5 appearances [Cedar Mall, The Home Version of Dallas, Kung Fu Christmas, Heroin In Harlem, Virgin Search]
Joe Piscopo: 6 appearances [Pardo Impression, Gun City, Cedar Mall, The Home Version of Dallas, Weekend Update, Heroin in Harlem]
Ann Risley: 5 appearances [Pardo Impression, Dylan & Guthrie, Weekend Update, Heroin In Harlem, Kung Fu Welfare]
Charles Rocket: 7 appearances [Monologue, Cedar Mall, The Rocket Report, The Home Version of Dallas, Weekend Update, Heroin In Harlem, Kung Fu Welfare]; 1 voiceover [Kung Fu Christmas]

featured players
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [Kung Fu Welfare]
Matthew Laurance:  1 appearance [Virgin Search]
Eddie Murphy:  4 appearances [Kung Fu Menswear, Kung Fu Christmas, Heroin In Harlem, Mourning the Colonel]
Patrick Weathers: 1 appearance [Dylan & Guthrie]

non-cast
Mitchell Kriegman: 1 appearance [Virgin Search]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Virgin Search]
Andy Murphy: 1 appearance [Kung Fu Christmas]
Don Pardo: 1 voiceover [Pardo Impression]

guests
David Carradine: 7 appearances [Monologue, Kung Fu Menswear, Dylan & Guthrie, Kung Fu Christmas, Dopenhagen & Happy Daze, Mourning the Colonel, Kung Fu Welfare]
The cast of “The Pirates of Penzance”: 2 appearances [Penzance medley, Christmas carols]
Bill Irwin: 1 appearance [The Dancing Man]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
February 28, 1981

Additional screen captures not shown above can be found here.

Classic SNL Review: December 13, 1980: Jamie Lee Curtis / James Brown, Ellen Shipley (S06E04)

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

OPENING: THE MEAN MAJORITY
-Members of the right-wing pressure group (Charles Rocket, Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius), smug from the Republican victory last month, dictate what TV shows America is not to watch.
-I can see what they were trying to do with this piece but it didn’t come off, and the whole thing felt like an extended riff on the same joke.
-Something about this felt very underwritten, and there were too many disconnects for it to work, particularly the ticker.  I don’t know if it was just timed wrong, but the way it went by without any link as to why they were running it just made it feel sloppy, without knowing a similar joke had been done before (and better) with Michael Palin in the What If sketch from January 1979.  The whole thing felt like it was written five minutes before air.
-The very quiet audience did not help, aside for the laughter at the titles of the verboten shows.
When Dillon, Matthius and Rocket do the “LFNY” line, there is absolutely no response and you can hear the band count-in.
*

MONTAGE
-Billed for the first time are featured players Matthew Laurance, Eddie Murphy and Patrick Weathers.

MONOLOGUE
-Jamie Lee Curtis explains that audiences have expectations of certain performers, and fulfills these tonight by letting out a blood-curdling scream.
-Par for the season: another very short “talk” monologue.  You could kind of see where this was going when she was talking about the other performers.
-Second week in a row that the host got a perm in between bumper photography and the live show.  Also, Curtis’ belt falls off as she walks down the set stairs and you can see her reattach it before she gets to the stage.
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: CLOVIN HIND I
-Brooke Shields (Gail Matthius) contorts, whistles and plucks her eyebrows, before confessing only her brains come between her and her Clovins.
-This spoof of Brooke Shields’ Calvin Klein jeans worked, and the audience responded well to it.  The periodic “ouch” from Matthius was a nice detail.
***

SKETCH: ATTACK OF THE TERRIBLE SNAPPING CREATURES
-Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her roommate (Gail Matthius) experience the horror of sentient wooden clothespins.
-Essentially one joke, and I felt the sketch could have been played a little bit sillier than it was, but it did have its moments.  Despite the show doing this sketch because of Curtis’ movies, this was Gail Matthius’s sketch to carry.  I noticed there were a few line trips earlier on, but she did an adequate job.
-The audience liked the clothes pin on Curtis’ nipple.
**

SKETCH: THREE CARD MONTY
-Paulie Herman (Joe Piscopo) meets a card hustler (Eddie Murphy) in a New York bus terminal.
-The audience gives Paulie Herman recognition applause, but Herman did not need to be brought back a week later and this sketch had too many similarities to the original one.  A character whose whole schtick is saying “I’m from Jersey, are you from Jersey?” gets old pretty fast.
-Eddie Murphy appears in his first speaking role outside of Weekend Update, and has his turn of doing the Herman schtick to get out of trouble with Rocket’s Irish cop character.  He’s still a little green with his delivery, but he’s already starting to build a voice and is the main highlight of an otherwise unnecessary sketch.
-Rocket’s Irish cop archetype reeked a little too much of lazy writing.
-Who was the really tall guy at the beginning with Levy?
*1/2

FILM: “WHO IS GILBERT GOTTFRIED” – LINDA LEE
-A short film traces Gottfried’s path from meager beginnings to SNL stardom
-Nothing overly special.  The joke with the revolving door where his family lived was overused, but I did chuckle at the Mexican toupee dance.
-Does anyone know who played the post office clerk handing Gottfried his diploma or the police officer who co-stars in the audition tape?
** 1/2

SHOW: DYING TO BE HEARD
-Female poets seeking posthumous fame kill themselves to have their works read on TV.
-I liked this one…a funny, if very dark concept, but executed well enough.  I liked the “poems” of the characters too.
-The only real liability in the sketch is Ann Risley’s awful delivery as the host: she seems to be trying for this grave tone that just makes her seem wooden and awkward.
***1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “RAPP PAYBACK” – JAMES BROWN
-Excellent performance from all involved.  Very tight, with Brown’s split second moves providing perfect flourish.
-SNL Band members Ronnie Cuber, Alan Rubin, Lou Marini, Tom Malone and Georg Wadenius are visible in the band (they’re the ones not wearing the same outfit that the JBs are wearing).

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET
-Best jokes: Vibrating rocket, Ted Koppel/Howdy Doody
-After a slight improvement last week, Rocket has a weaker outing tonight, not helped by him adopting a more exaggerated delivery and tripping on his words.  This also has perhaps the  biggest negative response to a Weekend Update joke of the Rocket tenure, if not all time, about the Republicans deciding that abortion was OK as long as the fetus was female.
-The audience responded well to Denny Dillon’s Woodswoman bit.  When they gave her a featured bit on the show, Dillon would usually deliver and at least clearly be throwing herself into the piece, whether it was any good or not.  Fortunately, this was one of her better pieces.
-Joe Piscopo’s Saturday Night Sports segment with his rhymes about the baseball trades also does pretty well with the audience.  For me, it’s something where I admire the craft but really don’t see too much humor in it (aside from some unintentional humor coming from the ball players’ hair and mustaches).
-Eddie Murphy gets his first solo Weekend Update commentary tonight, this week suggesting that poor people can get their nutrition from eating dog food.  This is a bit of an oddity because Murphy speaks in a nasal twang throughout, and this segment was not in the 60-minute syndication edit of this episode.  There is also a portion where the picture gets very jumpy, which is an issue with the master tape because I’ve seen this issue on both the Comedy Network and NBC classic airing of this show.  The bit itself seems only to exist for the visual of Murphy eating dog food.  Considering some of the movies Murphy’s made over the last couple of years, though, this is hardly the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done.
**

COMMERCIAL: POKER AND DRUGS
-Poker players make errors in judgement while under the influence in a public service announcement.
-This had a promising premise that eventually petered out due to inept execution.  Rocket’s overexaggerated narration didn’t work, and the sketch just ends suddenly.
-There were a few funny moments, such as Risley being convinced the Queen and Jack cards were having an affair, and Gottfried hepped up on eight cups of coffee, but overall it just seemed slapped together and not developed well enough.  Squandered idea of the night.
**

COMMERCIAL: CLOVIN HIND II
-Brooke Shields (Gail Matthius) contorts and sings “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”, then confesses that if her Clovins could talk, she could act.
-Another brief blackout bit that connected with the audience.
***

SKETCH: BADGERS
-Waitress (Jamie Lee Curtis) takes insults from a group of obnoxious lodge members (Charles Rocket, Matthew Laurance, Patrick Weathers, Eddie Murphy, Andy Murphy).
-I really did not care for this at all, with most of the humor being based on the double meaning of the word “badger”.   Unfortunately this sketch is as grating as the lodge brothers were, and the twist at the end with the hotel manager (Piscopo) being a brother was pretty lame as well.
-Eddie uses a similar voice as he did in WU, while Gottfried brings out an early version of his trademark screech.
*

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “MEDLEY”- JAMES BROWN
-One of the peaks of the season for sure, if not the entire 37 year history of SNL.  You can see the sweat coming off of Brown by the halfway mark.
-According to musical director Kenny Vance,  Brown performed for a much longer period of time than he was scheduled to, lasting for over eight minutes.  This may account as to why the last third of the show is oddly paced.

COMMERCIAL: TORTU-MATIC
-Increase your ability to withstand pain with a Rube Goldberg machine to administer abuse and toughen you up.
-Written by Ferris Butler, another remake of a Waste Meat News bit (originally titled “LA Test”).
-Rocket invokes Dan Aykroyd with his manic pitchman delivery, but the real laugh came from the prop used to beat Rocket up.   The over-the-top aspect of this one made it work for me.
***

SHORT SHOT: SCENES FROM “HOT DOGS FOR GAUGUIN” – MARTIN BREST
-Adrian (Danny DeVito) tries to get rich quick by taking a picture of a “chance disaster” and tries to rig one involving the Statue of Liberty
-DeVito’s performance made the portion of the film that was shown (a few minutes out of 22).  I probably would have rated this higher if it were the complete work on the show, but that would have taken away from the live element too long.
-Brest would later direct Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, as well as be responsible for the infamous Ben Affleck / Jennifer Lopez vehicle Gigli.
*** 

SKETCH: ROWEENA’S CUT ‘N CURL
-Cigarette-dangling, midwestern hairdresser Roweena (Gail Matthius) works on friend Nadine (Denny Dillon) as the latter gets a visit from her unrecognizable daughter (Jamie Lee Curtis).
-Good character work from Dillon and especially Matthius, but unfortunately the audience had checked out by this time, and the writing in the sketch doesn’t let it get off the ground.
**

COMMERCIAL: CLOVIN HIND III
-Brooke Shields (Gail Matthius) loses her balance as she tries to recite a limerick about her Clovins.
-Not as good as the other two segments.
-The show actually went back from commercial into this pre-taped bit, which indicates there likely was a timing issue cause by the James Brown performance.  Usually, SNL will come back from a break into a live bit, and at the time, usually sandwiched all the pre-tapes between two live segments.  I wonder what was cut.
**

SKETCH: THE OCELOTS
-Reporter Joyce Shrapnel (Jamie Lee Curtis) interviews a biker chick (Ann Risley) whose gang’s motivation is disposing of road kill.
-Risley at least tried with this character but aside from her grabbing the reporter’s microphone to sing badly, the tearfulness and tough accent just ended up grating after a while.  The sketch dragged and the props of the flattened animals didn’t really add much.
*1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “FOTOGENIC” – ELLEN SHIPLEY
-Decent new-waveish mainstream rock.
-I think that’s Ralph Schuckett on keyboards.

GOODNIGHTS
-Jamie Lee Curtis reminds the audience of the ten minute vigil for John Lennon to be held at 2 PM the next day.

Final Summary:
A weaker outing.  Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t really have to carry much of the material tonight, but the cast did seem to be trying their best.  There really wasn’t a whole lot to carry, though.  We got a mix of weak premises, underwritten ideas that could have been further developed (“Mean Majority”, “Poker and Drugs”, “Terrible Snapping Creatures”) and just plain laziness (the unneccessary Paulie Herman “Three Card Monty”).  The strongest segments were still musical performances, with “Dying To Be Heard” being the best of the live sketches and the Short Shot (the final in the series) being the highlight of the rear third of the show.  More individual lowlights this time, and fewer highlights, with the main thing keeping this show from being a new low is that the weak material is nowhere as bad as some of the bits from McDowell.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-James Brown (I normally don’t include musical guests in highlights/lowlights, but this was probably the main reason this was included as a Classic SNL on NBC All Night in 2005).
-Dying To Be Heard

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-The Badgers
-The Mean Majority
-The Ocelots
-Three Card Monty
-Clovin Hind III
-Weekend Update
-Attack of the Terrible Snapping Creatures
-Poker and Drugs
-Roweena’s Cut and Curl

MVP:
James Brown

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
Denny Dillon: 5 appearances [The Mean Majority, Dying To Be Heard, Weekend Update, Poker and Drugs, Roweena's Cut 'n Curl]
Gilbert Gottfried: 3 appearances [Who Is Gilbert Gottfried, Poker and Drugs, Badgers]
Gail Matthius: 7 appearances [The Mean Majority, Clovin Hind (3 part), Attack Of The Terrible Snapping Creatures, Dying To Be Heard, Roweena's Cut 'n Curl]; 1 voice-over [Poker and Drugs]
Joe Piscopo: 5 appearances [Three Card Monty, Dying To Be Heard, Weekend Update, Poker and Drugs, Badgers]; 3 voice-overs [Clovin Hind (3 part)]
Ann Risley: 3 appearances [Dying To Be Heard, Poker and Drugs, The Ocelots]
Charles Rocket: 5 appearances [The Mean Majority, Three Card Monty, Weekend Update, Badgers, Tortu-Matic]; 2 voice-overs [Who Is Gilbert Gottfried, Poker and Drugs]

featured players
Matthew Laurance: 2 appearances [Poker and Drugs, Badgers]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [Three Card Monty, Weekend Update, Badgers]
Patrick Weathers: 1 appearance [Badgers]

non-cast
Ronnie Cuber: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Three Card Monty]
Tom Malone: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]
Lou Marini: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]
Andy Murphy: 1 appearance [Badgers]
Alan P. Rubin: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]
Georg Wadenius: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]

guests and cameos
Jamie Lee Curtis: 6 appearances [Monologue, Attack of the Terrible Snapping Creatures, Dying To Be Heard, Badgers, Roweena's Cut 'n Curl, The Ocelots]
James Brown: 2 appearances ["Rapp Payback", "Medley"]

Rebroadcast history:
Not repeated on NBC as a regular rebroadcast.  This was the sole 1980-81 episode to re-air as part of NBC’s Classic SNL lineup (which was just a rebroadcast of the live air version).  This was pre-empted in many markets by the first papal mass of Pope Benedict XVI.

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.