Cold Open: Danny Boy
4 Stars
Garrett hates that his song is interrupted
Garrett sings Danny Boy as words start to scroll in front of him. The text was written by Garrett himself, who hates that every time he sings, words scrolls across the screen. The words always make the audience laugh during his song. Then he just starts filling space with sentences about how he's just writing to make the text stop by the end of his song. This seemed like a last minute idea thrown together but it was a clever idea. I'll take a silly cold open over a boring political one any day.
Jill Clayburgh Monologue
Garrett sings Danny Boy as words start to scroll in front of him. The text was written by Garrett himself, who hates that every time he sings, words scrolls across the screen. The words always make the audience laugh during his song. Then he just starts filling space with sentences about how he's just writing to make the text stop by the end of his song. This seemed like a last minute idea thrown together but it was a clever idea. I'll take a silly cold open over a boring political one any day.
Jill Clayburgh Monologue
2 Stars
Jill doesn't think her first monologue was very good
Rerun of Royal Deluxe II
The Olympia Cafe
3 Stars
More cheeseburgers from The Olympia Cafe
Basically the same sketch we saw in the Robert Klein episode with a few tweaks. Laraine is training a new waitress, played by Jill, but other than that it's a lot of "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger". Still solid for a couple of laughs though. Bill was a highlight as the employee who doesn't speak English and only knows "cheeseburger".
Sybil III
Basically the same sketch we saw in the Robert Klein episode with a few tweaks. Laraine is training a new waitress, played by Jill, but other than that it's a lot of "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger". Still solid for a couple of laughs though. Bill was a highlight as the employee who doesn't speak English and only knows "cheeseburger".
Sybil III
3 Stars
A doctor tries to fix a woman's multiple personalities
Jill is a psychiatrist who has come close to a breakthrough with her patient who has multiple personalities. The patient doesn't have multiple personalities however, she's just 3 different people, all with the same name. Jill talks to them as they are one person but they assert that they are 3. This is probably better written than it needed to be, if that makes sense. It's less laugh-out-loud funny and more funny in its cleverness. It was nice to see the women get a sketch where they could all be funny together as none of them had to really play the straight man.
Bad One-Man Theater
Jill is a psychiatrist who has come close to a breakthrough with her patient who has multiple personalities. The patient doesn't have multiple personalities however, she's just 3 different people, all with the same name. Jill talks to them as they are one person but they assert that they are 3. This is probably better written than it needed to be, if that makes sense. It's less laugh-out-loud funny and more funny in its cleverness. It was nice to see the women get a sketch where they could all be funny together as none of them had to really play the straight man.
Bad One-Man Theater
2 Stars
Leonard Pinth-Garnell presents some one man shows
Leonard introduces us to An Evening With... which is not only a one man show but it's 5 one man shows going on at the same time. Tom Schiller is Mark Twain, John is Harry Truman, Bill is Edgar Alan Poe, Garrett is Paul Robeson and Jane is Eleanor Roosevelt. They all talk at the same time. Much like the bad theater it's mocking, this is not very entertaining.
Eddie Money
Leonard introduces us to An Evening With... which is not only a one man show but it's 5 one man shows going on at the same time. Tom Schiller is Mark Twain, John is Harry Truman, Bill is Edgar Alan Poe, Garrett is Paul Robeson and Jane is Eleanor Roosevelt. They all talk at the same time. Much like the bad theater it's mocking, this is not very entertaining.
Eddie Money
"Baby Hold On"
I always liked how Eddie Money's voice doesn't sound that great. He has to strain to hit some of the high notes and it's not super pleasant. But that makes it cool.
Nutrifix
3 Stars
A nutritious and instant breakfast
Nutrifix is a breakfast injector that you shoot into your veins like heroin. Jane shoots up her daughter, son and husband and then sits alone to enjoy her own fix. Short and sweet.
Weekend Update
Nutrifix is a breakfast injector that you shoot into your veins like heroin. Jane shoots up her daughter, son and husband and then sits alone to enjoy her own fix. Short and sweet.
Weekend Update
Blah, blah, blah, I don't like Weekend Update...
Laraine Newman interviews mine inspector Lester Crackfield. Right as he starts to talk about safe the mine is there's a cave-in.
Roseanne Roseannadanna comes out for the 80th time this season. She suppose to be talking about taxes but ends up a stinky blouse she wore and other stinky things. She rambles and rambles until Jane screams at her and cuts her off.
Blurry
Roseanne Roseannadanna comes out for the 80th time this season. She suppose to be talking about taxes but ends up a stinky blouse she wore and other stinky things. She rambles and rambles until Jane screams at her and cuts her off.
Blurry
2 Stars
A world traveler with bad vision
John and Jill are on a train. John doesn't like any of the sights outside as everything's blurry. He describes the blurriness of all the landmarks he's seen until Jill gives him her glasses. That makes everything more blurry which prompts John to leave, only to come back to the same seat since his eyesight is so bad. A little more cute than funny. It's weird to say this but I think the main problem with this one is that they are acting too well. It seems so well rehearsed that it doesn't feel live and feels more like a film. Both John and Jill seem more interested in understanding the characters than nailing the jokes.
Shower Mike
John and Jill are on a train. John doesn't like any of the sights outside as everything's blurry. He describes the blurriness of all the landmarks he's seen until Jill gives him her glasses. That makes everything more blurry which prompts John to leave, only to come back to the same seat since his eyesight is so bad. A little more cute than funny. It's weird to say this but I think the main problem with this one is that they are acting too well. It seems so well rehearsed that it doesn't feel live and feels more like a film. Both John and Jill seem more interested in understanding the characters than nailing the jokes.
Shower Mike
3 Stars
Talk show from a man's shower
What first looks like a man messing around with his wife in the shower turns into a talk show. The couple's next door neighbor comes in the shower with them as a special guest and is reconciled with his wife who also joins them in the shower. I like the concept of this but I wanted a touch more absurdity. It's funny that he's inviting the neighbors into the shower, it would be funnier if he invited a celebrity or a guest with a book to plug and did an interview while his wife got more upset and confused.
The Coneheads On Earth
What first looks like a man messing around with his wife in the shower turns into a talk show. The couple's next door neighbor comes in the shower with them as a special guest and is reconciled with his wife who also joins them in the shower. I like the concept of this but I wanted a touch more absurdity. It's funny that he's inviting the neighbors into the shower, it would be funnier if he invited a celebrity or a guest with a book to plug and did an interview while his wife got more upset and confused.
The Coneheads On Earth
3 Stars
Beldar is caught cheating with an Earth woman
Beldar is in bed with one of his driving students, a plot line reused for the Coneheads movie. Prymaat knows something is fishy immediately when Beldar comes home with lipstick on his cone and the sensor rings out of the sleep chamber. This one gave us more character growth for the Coneheads in lieu of jokes. They may be a little played out at this point but the performances are still there.
Celebrity Crackup
Beldar is in bed with one of his driving students, a plot line reused for the Coneheads movie. Prymaat knows something is fishy immediately when Beldar comes home with lipstick on his cone and the sensor rings out of the sleep chamber. This one gave us more character growth for the Coneheads in lieu of jokes. They may be a little played out at this point but the performances are still there.
Celebrity Crackup
1 Star
Stars talk about their issues
I'm obviously missing something, but this ain't funny. Jane interviews Tony Orlando, Robert Blake, Richard Pryor and Claudine Longet (no idea who this is but sketch context leads me to believe that she shot someone). They all talk about their problems with mental illness.
Eddie Money
Somebody in the control booth decided to get fancy so we got 4 Eddie Moneys for the price of one.
Serious Song
I'm obviously missing something, but this ain't funny. Jane interviews Tony Orlando, Robert Blake, Richard Pryor and Claudine Longet (no idea who this is but sketch context leads me to believe that she shot someone). They all talk about their problems with mental illness.
Eddie Money
"Two Tickets To Paradise"
Serious Song
3 Stars
A song detailing a relationship
Jill ends the show with a song about a relationship from beginning to end. From the times where you pretend to laugh at each other's jokes to the times where you get tired of hearing them. Not particularly funny but Jill's voice is pretty and she sells this.
FINAL ANALYSIS
Jill ends the show with a song about a relationship from beginning to end. From the times where you pretend to laugh at each other's jokes to the times where you get tired of hearing them. Not particularly funny but Jill's voice is pretty and she sells this.
FINAL ANALYSIS
"So, until next time, watch this time, and it's gonna be long and it's gonna be funny"
Average
2.6 Stars
MVP
Bill Murray
The Olympia Cafe, Bad One-Man Theater, Shower Mike, The Coneheads On Earth, Celebrity Crackup
The Olympia Cafe, Bad One-Man Theater, Shower Mike, The Coneheads On Earth, Celebrity Crackup
Best Sketch
Sybil III
Worst Sketch
Celebrity Crackup
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
This definitely felt like a mid-season slump episode. We got a bunch of recurring characters and it seems like we're just coasting this week. Even the commercial after the monologue was a repeat when they could have started with Nutrifix. That's the only change I would make, put Nutrifix up front and maybe give me one more original sketch and save either Olympia Cafe or Coneheads for another show.
Host Analysis
She was good but not very funny. She didn't get many opportunities to be as she spent the night playing the straight man. I think she's a fantastic actress but SNL probably isn't the best fit for her talents. She certainly did bring her A-game though. She had to handle a lot of dialogue this episode and she seemed to be memorized and prepared, despite what she said in the monologue. It would have been nice if she was given one sketch where she could get the laughs.
Final Thoughts
Not a bummer to watch but also one of the weaker episodes of the season. Nothing was really great but nothing was terrible. It was a middle of the road episode for the middle of the season. Not a lot of hard work went into putting this one together. Fill the show with Coneheads, Cheeseburgers and Roseanne Roseannadanna and sit back and relax and rest on your laurels.
Up Next
Christopher Lee hosts with musical guest Meat Loaf.
Christopher Lee hosts with musical guest Meat Loaf.
No comments:
Post a Comment