Saturday Night Live Season 3 Reviews - Episode 9 - Steve Martin / The Dirt Band / Randy Newman

"Does our audience bite the big one?"

Cold Open: State Of The Union 1978

3 Stars

Tom foolery at the State Of The Union

Bruce Jenner Wins The Javelin Catch will not be seen tonight, instead Jimmy Carter delivers the State Of The Union Address.  Tip O'Neil drinks a beer behind him.  The Speaker Of The House and the Vice-President throw paper airplanes, play cards and rock, paper, scissors.  In the audience, text appears underneath Senators and Representatives giving us their inner thoughts.  I'm guessing The State Of The Union was this week but I'll take something stupid like this over actual political comedy.

Steve Martin Monologue

4 Stars

Steve accuses Belushi of stealing $50 from him before finding the money in his other pocket.  He spills some water and gets an electric shock from the microphone then tells us how we can be a millionaire without paying taxes.  First step, get a million dollars, then tell the taxman that you forgot.  A few minutes of silliness from the master of silly.  Nobody does purposefully stupid quite like Steve Martin.

Rerun of Swill

The Mystery Of Bigfoot

3 Stars

A park ranger searches for Bigfoot

Steve comes into a couple's home looking for Bigfoot.  He's been tracking giant footprints in the snow but fails to realize that both the man and woman have enormous feet.  After the reveal of the over-sized prop shoes, the sketch keeps going.  It's got a few good gags though like Gilda saying she got a new oven in her Christmas stocking and telling the park ranger he can use one of her socks as a sleeping bag.  I also liked Steve breaking every bit of glass in the window before pointing his gun out of it to shoot John in a fur coat.

Festrunk Brothers

4 Stars

The Festrunk Brothers meet some foxes

The Festrunk Brothers are back and they have signed up for computer dating.  When the girls come over they are Croatian immigrants played by Jane and Laraine who also speak in broken English and catchphrases they picked up.  John also gets in on the action as their uncle who wants to swing.

The Dirt Band

"On The Loose With The Blues"

Not my usual style of music, but I really liked this.  We get a harmonica and violin solo.  Sounds like a bad thing but this was pretty rad.

The Body Floss

2 Stars

A floss for your whole body

First there was soap, then the washcloth, now Body Floss.  It's a rope you scrub your body with.  I feel like everyone in this sketch knows how stupid this is.

Weekend Update

Jane talks about Jimmy Carter's first year as President and runs down a list of his scandals including his best friend being accused of questionable banking practices, his son having marital problems, his brother being a drunk, his mother being crazy, his Chief Of Staff getting a divorce and his sister associating with Larry Flynt.  Sounds to me like this man is the finest person to ever be elected to the office of the Presidency.

A letter from a man with no heat in his apartment sparks a commentary by Roseanne Roseannadanna about finding a hair in her soup and a toenail in her hamburger.

Randy Newman

"Short People", "Rider In The Rain"

I love this simple, stupid and catchy song.  It gets stuck in my head all day.  The Dirt Band backs him up on vocals and gets on their knees for the chorus.  Randy says that he's gotten some hate from people offended by the lyrics of his Short People song and to that he gives them all a raspberry and goes into Rider In The Rain.

Family Feud

5 Stars

The Coneheads compete on Family Feud

I shouldn't like this.  I shouldn't love a game show sketch.  I shouldn't love a recurring character sketch, much less the 7th appearance.  But this did everything right.  It put the characters in a new situation where they would be instantly uncomfortable and it provided some quality jokes.  I loved Steve as the spokesperson for romaine lettuce who uses the vegetable as his answer for every question.  Bill's Richard Dawson impression is pretty good, even with the mustache.  And the answers Beldar and family give is the best way their speech pattern has worked comedically.

What If?

2 Stars

A dramatization of what would happen if Napoleon had a B-52 Bomber

Didn't care much for this at all.  Jane interviews a historian, Garrett, and a general, Bill, and asks the question, What if Napoleon had a B-52 Bomber during the Battle Of Waterloo.  They debate it seriously and then we see a dramatization of Napoleon in the bomber.

A Film By Gary Weis

Hollywood Homes

3 Stars

Steve tours the homes of the stars

Steve gets a map to the houses of movie stars from a lady off the street.  He goes to the homes of Jerry Lewis, Debbie Boone, Sonny Bono, Ray Croc and Carl Reiner and yells at them from their driveways.

The Dirt Band

"White Russia"

Steve joins the band on banjo for a rocking instrumental that includes a harmonica, saxophone, clarinet and a guy playing two woodwind instruments at once.  This was pretty rad.  I'm enjoying the music of this season almost as much as the comedy.

FINAL ANALYSIS

"Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!"

Average

3.25 Stars

MVP

The Dirt Band

From the cast: John Belushi

State Of The Union 1978, Monologue, The Mystery Of Bigfoot, Festrunk Brothers, Family Feud, What If?

Best Sketch

Family Feud

Worst Sketch

What If?

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

The music was so good in this episode that I didn't mind that there were so few sketches.  The show flowed nicely like a fun late night hang-out jam.  I would have swapped Family Feud and The Mystery Of Bigfoot just to start the show off stronger.  You could also cut What If? and give The Dirt Band another song.

Host Analysis

His fourth time hosting in 2 years, there's a reason they kept having him back.  He just fit in so nicely with the whole cast and had a terrific chemistry with each and every one.  He kind of slipped into the background of this episode but his presence was felt throughout.

Final Thoughts

The first episode back after Christmas break is usually not that great.  Steve mentioned in the monologue that the amount of snow they got in New York City forced them to miss rehearsal.  This doesn't feel like they're taking things that seriously.  There's an air of silliness surrounding the proceedings.  Starting with John and Bill goofing off during the State Of The Union Address and ending with Steve jamming with the band at the end, this show had a feel good atmosphere that made it a fun watch, even if not everything worked.

Up Next

Robert Klein hosts for the second time, after hosting the 5th episode of the first season, joined by musical guest Bonnie Raitt.