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on, he’s more lively and animated, if a little green, but toward the end of the season, he is a little more sullen and withdrawn.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: November 22, 1980: Malcolm McDowell / Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band (S06E02)

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

COLD OPENING: EXECUTION
-A remorseful condemned man (Gilbert Gottfried) is lead to the electric chair.  His mother (Denny Dillon) is allowed one last word for him: “Sit up straight!”.
-The audience was completely silent for this.  At best a lame blackout bit, but the way it was performed in the lead-up to the punchline was far too real and grim for it to work, particularly Gottfried remorsefully saying “I’m sorry, Father” over and over again.
-Where was this performed?  It doesn’t look like it was done inside the studio or even the halls outside of  8H.
*

MONOLOGUE
-Malcolm McDowell explains his difficulties getting a new work permit almost stopped him from hosting tonight’s show.
-This is pretty much a straightforward “talk” monologue.  A lot of people take issue with the story not really being humorous in any way but it seems like your typical early years “introduction” monologue without a comedy routine.
-Of note is that McDowell mentions his marriage to an American woman and that he’s about to become the proud father of an American baby.  The “American woman” in question is Mary Steenburgen, whom McDowell was married to from 1980 to 1990.  Their baby Lilly would be born January 31 of the next year, while younger son Charlie, born two years later, would later go on to create the blog/Twitter feed Dear Girls Above Me.
**

SHOW: MUTUALLY OMAHA’S WILD KINGDOM
-Marlin Perkins (Charles Rocket) narrates “In Search Of The Negro Republican”, in which Jim Fowler (Joe Piscopo) infiltrates a cocktail party.
-Written by Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield.
-Not particularly funny, but an amusing concept with OK execution and a few chuckles here and there, particularly the false alarm where a potential Republican is merely the owner of a funeral home.
-Rocket shows that he’s not really an impressionist with Marlin Perkins, something that becomes more evident as the season goes on.
-This sketch is notable for being the SNL debut of future featured player and cast member Eddie Murphy, seen here as just a lowly extra.  Also visible are other eventual featured players Yvonne Hudson, a bit player from the previous few seasons, and Matthew Laurance, twin brother of former SNL staffer and future “Not Necessarily The News” cast member Mitchell Laurance (incidentally, SNL ’80 writers Larry Arnstein and David Hurwitz would eventually write for NNTN).
-The main role of the “negro Republican” was played by an unidentified middle-aged day player.  He wasn’t that great with delivering the lines, though.  If anyone can identify the actor or any other extras I have missed, please leave a comment.
**1/2

COMMERCIAL: TOBACCO GROWER’S ASSOCIATION
-Joseph Richman (Gilbert Gottfried) says that lungs are the reason people get lung cancer, not cigarettes.
-The first segment that was actually funny in tonight’s show, largely thanks to Gilbert Gottfried’s slow-burn as the oily Tobacco representative.  He’s still a little green as a performer here and doesn’t fully come off as comfortable in front of the camera first, but you definitely see the hints of what was to come in his career.
-I enjoyed Gottfried accusing the lung of intentionally trapping cigarette smoke and chiding it for not being able to get rid of smoke like his 7-year-old daughter’s fan can.  I also chuckled at the “persons without lungs need not worry” line when the lung was going to be recalled.
-There’s a blooper at the very beginning where Jan & Dean’s “Surf City” (for the next sketch’s opening title) starts playing for a few seconds before shutting off.  The Comedy Central 60-minute edit cuts this out.
***1/2

SKETCH: SERF CITY
-In feudal times, Lord Jack (Charles Rocket) shows an Earl (Malcolm McDowell) a new way to abuse peasants: stand on their backs and ride them while wenches (Gail Matthius and Ann Risley) tickle them with feathers.
-A pun-filled sketch that didn’t get as many laughs as it wanted to.  In fact, the first thing people laughed at were the names of the sexy wenches: Bingo and Moondoggy.  McDowell was largely used for setups while Rocket got the “laugh” lines.
-The ending where Rocket rejects McDowell’s idea of riding actual waves felt like a pale imitation of Franken & Davis’  Theodoric of York.  I did chuckle slightly at the serfs groaning “oh no…” off-camera.
-Any idea who was playing the serfs?  Neil Levy’s one of them.  Can’t place the other two.
*1/2

SKETCH: ADOPTED AMY CARTER
-Amy Carter (Denny Dillon) prefers being raised in privilege by new parents Ronald (Charles Rocket) and Nancy Reagan (Gail Matthius).
-The audience woke up for this one and relatively speaking, one of the stronger moments in tonight’s show.   A little cute, but the audience got a kick out of little Amy’s hatred for grits and calling her grandmother a dope and her parents losers.
-My favorite bit was a call-back to Amy saying she hates riding the bus earlier in the sketch: when she hides under the table when her parents call, she yells “Tell them I rode the bus!”  I also liked the look Rocket shot Dillon when she has the line about wearing make-up like him.
-Not everything works, though.  They seemed to be reaching with the “Uncle Bert was indicted!” (Bert Lance scandal in 1977) and “Uncle Hamilton eats powdered donuts!” (a reference to the alleged cocaine use of Hamilton Jordan).
-Charles Rocket and Gail Matthius debut their Ronald and Nancy Reagan impressions.  Rocket doesn’t wear a Reagan wig this time out and appears to be wearing a minimal bit of old man makeup, while talking in a gravelly voice.  Matthius speaks slowly and exaggeratedly.  Dillon does her exaggerated Amy Carter but it brings the energy level of the sketch up, and she’s at least giving an effort.
-This is the last time we see Gail Matthius all night, and her only appearance in the show aside from playing a wench in Serf City.  She’s also visibly glancing at the cue cards quite a bit when reading her lines, which is particularly noticeable at the beginning when she’s sitting at the table across from Rocket.
-The extra who played the negro Republican plays Buster, the Reagans’ servant in this sketch.
***

COMMERCIAL: AMERICAN MILK ASSOCIATION
-Alex De Large (Malcolm McDowell) endorses the stimulation and nutritional value of Moloko Plus.
-This gets a little recognition applause for McDowell in his Clockwork Orange getup, but the whole thing doesn’t come off as well as the idea had the potential to be, and is awkward more than anything else.
-Apparently, the inspiration for this bit was McDowell being offered a half-million to reprise Alex for a milk commercial in Japan (which he turned down).
**

SHORT SHOT: “SHOWDOWN” – KEN FRIEDMAN
-Ned and Sam vie for the affections of Rose with a ultraviolent Peckinpah-esque gun battle.
-Not quite on the level of last week’s film, but an amusing diversion.  The main humor comes from the excessive violence and carnage (complete with slow-mo at one point, definitely a nod to The Wild Bunch) as well as the way the bloodied cowboys nonchalantly walk away from it all when they realize they’re fighting over nothing.
**1/2

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “HOT HEAD” – CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND
-Captain Beefheart’s definitely an acquired taste, but his later stuff is a little easier to get into than Trout Mask Replica.  It’s almost kind of this minimalistic punkish music with a really interesting rhythm.  Actually, almost like a weird square dance.
-You can hear Beefheart’s influence on Tom Waits’ post-Swordfishtrombones output.
-The moment that sticks out is when the guitar starts playing its usual line after Beefheart’s verse only to be drowned out by this high-pitched note from Eric Drew Feldman’s keyboard (Mellotron?)
-You can see people going up the stairs through the window behind Feldman.
-Captain Beefheart was 39 when he appeared on SNL but looks much older; if you see pictures of him from about 10 years earlier it’s even more obvious.  He also appeared to be in the early stages of multiple sclerosis at this time.
-The live show has a brief second after the song ends before the applause starts.  The Comedy Central 60-minute version dubs canned applause over the tail end of the performance.

WEEKEND UPDATE WITH CHARLES ROCKET
-Best joke: Iranian earrings
-Wow, Charles is really having a bad night.  A few line flubs here, but that’s nothing compared to the number of jokes that meet no response from the audience, including the very first one about the Las Vegas fire escapes, or elicit groans, such as the Bob Hope comment on Mary Crosby being the one that shot J.R. or the reactionary violence being a return to “traditional values and morality”.
-The interview with John Lennon (Malcolm McDowell) and Yoko Ono (Denny Dillon) is enjoyable.  Despite Dillon being miscast as Yoko, this had some funny lines (yes, even “Yoko is just loco about my cocoa”) and Lennon’s overdomesticated obsessions with clean dishes and finding a fabric softener that shows his family he loves them.
-My favorite little detail was Yoko pouring the cocoa over the burnt cake Lennon was upset about.
-Apparently the real John and Yoko saw this and got a kick out of it.  According to an interview, McDowell had felt bad for doing the sketch so close to Lennon’s murder but after hearing years later the Lennons enjoyed it, he felt better about it.
-Joe Piscopo gets his first Saturday Night Live Sports feature on Weekend Update.  His delivery is still low-key but he’s starting to get into his usual rhythm.
-Here he comments on the upcoming WBC welterweight championship rematch between Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard (what would eventually be known as the “No Mas Fight”) using Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.
-The audience is more awake for this segment, and it’s starting to become clear that while Rocket is the one being groomed for stardom, Piscopo is starting to emerge as the audience favorite.
-Dr. Murray Abramowitz (Gilbert Gottfried) complains about the poorer taste material from last week’s episode in an editorial reply, and suggests SNL’s cast, writers and crew need analysis.  This was not a wise move on the show’s part: by doing this self-deprecating stuff so early when the cast hasn’t really done much to distinguish itself aside from getting negative press, this seems to be giving them the message “you’re right!”  It reminds me of something Kate Beaton (the history comics artist) said about how you can’t really develop a following if you don’t stand behind your own work.
-I did chuckle at “Who writes this show, Hitler?” (in response to all the Jewish jokes in last week’s show).
-Gottfried’s voice in this bit sounds a little like Jerry Seinfeld with a little bit of an exaggerated accent.
**

SKETCH: GOTHIC ROMANCE NOVEL SHOP
-A discerning customer (Ann Risley) hopes the shopkeeper (Malcolm McDowell) fills her precise request for a romance novel.
-Somewhat Pythonesque sketch, and McDowell handled the laundry list variations on Risley’s requests well.  The dialogue seemed better than average too.  Shame the audience was so quiet.  Risley does not seem to do a bad job in this sketch either, which is her only appearance besides Serf City.
-The ending, with McDowell emerging as the hero of Risley’s ideal romance novel is a little cute for my taste but it works.
***1/2

FILM: THE 100 YEARS WAR
-A university extension course barely summarizes the conflict between the houses of Valois and Plantagenet.
-Fillerish, to be honest.  I can see what they were going for, but like “American Milk Association”, the execution didn’t really come anywhere close to the potential of the idea.
**
SHOW: THE LEATHER WEATHER REPORT
-Dominatrix Thelma Thunder (Denny Dillon) gives a BDSM-themed weather forecast with her masochistic weather map John (Charles Rocket).
-Ferris Butler originally wrote this sketch for his Manhattan cable show “Waste Meat News” in 1978 and rewrote it for SNL with Billy Brown and Mel Green.
-This sketch gets a bad reputation and is often used as the example of SNL ’80′s tendency to lean on shock and raunch for laughs.  It’s an easy target, though, and it’s nowhere the comedy abyss as everyone makes it out to be.
-Dillon seems to be really making the most out of her role and recovers nicely from the aerosol can “snow” malfunction”.  I did also like some of Charles’ comments.
-A lot of you are going to thinking I’m being generous with the ratings but while it’s not amazing (more notable for the subject matter than anything), it does succeed at what it aims to do.
***

SKETCH: COMMIE HUNTING SEASON
-In Greensboro, NC, the local redneck population is ready to get going on the first big Commie hunt in 20 years.
-According to Ferris Butler, this was Larry Arnstein and David Hurwitz’s sketch.
-Now this is just awful.  Likely the worst sketch of all time.  This was supposed to be a comment on the acquittal of the defendants in the Greensboro massacre, but it just fails on so many levels, and it ends up being more of a despicable comedy void than the Leather Weather Report was made out to be.   Once you know exactly what they were trying to do, it makes the sketch that much worse.
-This also has the single worst line in an SNL sketch ever: “All’s you got to do is shoot a Jew or [n-word].  Chances are, you’ll be getting a Commie anyway!”.  That line completely killed the sketch and there’s an eerie silence afterward as if they were waiting for an audience to laugh.  The darker than normal lighting doesn’t help.
-Any idea who any of the extras aside from Andy Murphy are?
-I rate this one star because no stars is no rating, and my system is exclusively one-to-five star.  It barely qualifies as one star.
*

FILM: THE ROCKET REPORT – 5th AVENUE
-Charles Rocket spontaneously talks to passers-by on 5th Avenue.
-The best part of what has turned out to be an awful show so far, and after a piece of shit like Commie Hunting Season provided much-needed laughs.
-I think this works so well because the show takes the opportunity of being in New York and working with Charles Rocket’s real strength with off-the-cuff, unrehearsed interactions, rather than shoehorning him into a faux-Chevy Chase role or having him do a bunch of impressions.
-Best moment: the older man who Rocket assumes is on drugs because he’s so happy.
****

SKETCH: JACK THE STRIPPER
-Dotty old prude Dame Lydia Snoot (Malcolm McDowell) and Dr. Woofta (Denny Dillon) investigate a wave of embarrassment caused by “Jack The Stripper”.
-Another terrible sketch.  Hill and Weingrad referred to it as the worst thing the show had done in their book Saturday Night, but this is a little better than Commie Hunting Season in that there’s a few ideas that could have worked if they were executed better.  As it was, though, it came off as a indecipherable mess and was still ultimately terrible.
-Joe Piscopo as “Carl Gustav The Stripper” (complete with cartoony Swedish accent) was so bad it was almost funny, but the reveal with the real Stripper being Prince Charles (Charles Rocket) just didn’t play well.
*

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “ASHTRAY HEART” – CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND
-A little more abrasive and complicated than the other song, but interesting nonetheless.
-Through the window behind Feldman, McDowell can be seen running up the stairs and opening a little door in the side of the stage.  You can also see a few other people run up (stage manager?).
-After Beefheart’s free jazz sax solo at the end, there’s dead silence for a few seconds before someone (Radames Pera according to this site) quite clearly yells “shit!”

FILM: “SOMEONE IS HIDING IN MY APARTMENT” – MITCHELL KRIEGMAN
-Mitchell tells of the weird goings-on that have convinced him there’s someone else in his apartment.
-Nothing great, but not offensive.  A gentler piece to cleanse the palate that succeeds at what it aims for.  Shame Kriegman didn’t last long at the show.
***

SHOW: THE WINE CELLAR
-Carolyn Parker (Denny Dillon) takes aim at the wine snobs by showing some foods work better with American wines.
-Far from brilliant, and the joke was done better with SCTV’s Don Perignon (The Beer Of Champagne) commercial parody three years before, but for what it is it’s alright.
-Denny at least brought a little energy to the proceedings, and it at least ends the show on a lighter note.
***

GOODNIGHTS
-Malcolm McDowell delivers his goodnight in a southern drawl.
-Don Pardo announces that two weeks from tonight, Ellen Burstyn will host with musical guest Aretha Franklin, and next week, “Roadshow” with John Candy and Tom Waits will appear in the SNL timeslot.  Apparently this was a pilot for a new show.  There’s a review available here.
-[Addendum: this is the final show for writers Sean Kelly and Nancy Dowd.  The backstage shakeups begin...] 

Final Summary:
Bad.  This episode is widely considered one of SNL’s all-time worst shows, and is easily the nadir of the season.  Dreck like Commie Hunting Season, Execution, Jack The Stripper and a mostly laugh-free Weekend Update weighed down a show that obscured the odd highlight here and there like some dense, joy-sucking substance.  It’s bad enough when a show has awful to mediocre material to begin with but this one actually seems to have a depressing aura about it.  It’s unfortunate, though, because had they had a stronger second outing, the critics and fans might not have been so quick to write them off.   As it was, this show only made the rest of the season more of an uphill battle.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
-The Rocket Report
-Tobacco Grower’s Association
-Gothic Romance Novel Shop

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS:
-Commie Hunting Season
-Jack The Stripper
-Execution
-Weekend Update aside from Lennons and Piscopo
-Serf City
-Monologue
-100 Years War

MVP:
Denny Dillon

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:
Denny Dillon: 6 appearances [Execution, Adopted Amy Carter, Weekend Update, Leather Weather Report, Jack The Stripper, The Wine Cellar]
Gilbert Gottfried: 5 appearances [Execution, Tobacco Grower's Association, Weekend Update, Commie Hunting Season, Jack The Stripper]
Gail Matthius: 2 appearances [Serf City, Adopted Amy Carter]
Joe Piscopo: 5 appearances [Execution, Mutually Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Weekend Update, Commie Hunting Season, Jack The Stripper]
Ann Risley: 2 appearances [Serf City, Gothic Romance Novel Shop]
Charles Rocket: 9 appearances [Execution, Mutually Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Serf City, Adopted Amy Carter, Weekend Update, Leather Weather Report, Commie Hunting Season, The Rocket Report, Jack The Stripper]

confirmed non-cast:
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [Mutually Omaha's Wild Kingdom]
Mitchell Kriegman: 1 appearance [Someone Is Hiding In My Apartment]
Matthew Laurance: 1 appearance [Mutually Omaha's Wild Kingdom]
Neil Levy: 1 appearance [Serf City]
Andy Murphy: 2 appearances [Execution, Commie Hunting Season]
Eddie Murphy: 1 appearance [Mutually Omaha's Wild Kingdom]

guests:
Malcolm McDowell: 7 appearances [Monologue, Serf City, American Milk Association, Weekend Update, Gothic Romance Novel Shop, Commie Hunting Season, Jack The Stripper], 1 voice-over [The 100 Years War]
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: 2 appearances ["Hot Head", "Ashtray Heart"]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
This episode was not rebroadcast on NBC.

Additional screen captures not seen above are available here