"Boy, my penis sure hurts when I urinate"
Cold Open: The President's Message On Inflation
2 Stars
Jimmy Cater is asking you to burn your money
President Carter addresses the problem of inflation. His solution is to burn 8% of your money. With less money in the system, prices will inevitably go down. With the help of his daughter Amy, he burns a dollar bill and places it on a stand that says "The buck burns here". Not much more to say about this, Carter was an ineffectual President and there's your joke.
Michael Sarrazin Monologue
President Carter addresses the problem of inflation. His solution is to burn 8% of your money. With less money in the system, prices will inevitably go down. With the help of his daughter Amy, he burns a dollar bill and places it on a stand that says "The buck burns here". Not much more to say about this, Carter was an ineffectual President and there's your joke.
Michael Sarrazin Monologue
1 Star
Michael is nervous to be performing on Booth Day
It's April 15th, which is not only the day taxes are due but it is also the anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic and the day Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor. Superstitious actors think this is a bad luck day in the theater since an actor shot the president. Not much to this monologue but the main reason I rate it so low is because Michael Sarrazin isn't inspiring me with any confidence that he can handle a humorous sketch. Not totally writing him off yet but my expectations are already very low for this episode.
Rerun of Angora Bouquet
It's April 15th, which is not only the day taxes are due but it is also the anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic and the day Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor. Superstitious actors think this is a bad luck day in the theater since an actor shot the president. Not much to this monologue but the main reason I rate it so low is because Michael Sarrazin isn't inspiring me with any confidence that he can handle a humorous sketch. Not totally writing him off yet but my expectations are already very low for this episode.
Rerun of Angora Bouquet
Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker
5 Stars
A TV movie about venereal diseases
This sketch was so long I started to think that it was going to be the whole episode. At about 11 minutes and 5 sets this probably could have benefited from a little fat trimming but the performances were so enjoyable that I didn't mind. Bill and Laraine are high school sweethearts who get a classroom visit from Michael playing Peter Fonda playing Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker. He tells them that V.D. is nothing to be ashamed of but needs to be taken seriously. Laraine thinks she might have V.D. and given it to Bill, who has a burning sensation when he urinates (the highlight of the sketch). Later at Bill's house, Michael, Laraine and Bill's outraged parents all gather to have a serious discussion about V.D.. I loved everyone's performance in this one. They all took it just seriously enough while still winking at the melodramatic style of an after school special. Bill was especially hilarious here but Dan and Gilda as his parents were also very funny scolding him for having sex before marriage.
Keith Jarrett
This sketch was so long I started to think that it was going to be the whole episode. At about 11 minutes and 5 sets this probably could have benefited from a little fat trimming but the performances were so enjoyable that I didn't mind. Bill and Laraine are high school sweethearts who get a classroom visit from Michael playing Peter Fonda playing Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker. He tells them that V.D. is nothing to be ashamed of but needs to be taken seriously. Laraine thinks she might have V.D. and given it to Bill, who has a burning sensation when he urinates (the highlight of the sketch). Later at Bill's house, Michael, Laraine and Bill's outraged parents all gather to have a serious discussion about V.D.. I loved everyone's performance in this one. They all took it just seriously enough while still winking at the melodramatic style of an after school special. Bill was especially hilarious here but Dan and Gilda as his parents were also very funny scolding him for having sex before marriage.
Keith Jarrett
"Country"
An instrumental jazz piano piece. Not the most exciting thing to watch on live television but the music is pretty and Keith Jarrett is a very animated performer.
Judy Miller
3 Stars
Judy Miller does a show about her sister
2nd appearance of Judy Miller, and surprisingly the last. With the show's history of running things into the ground (especially Gilda's characters) you would think they would bring this back every other episode. This is a pure performance piece from Gilda as she jumps around her room and puts on a show about how much she hates her sister.
Weekend Update
2nd appearance of Judy Miller, and surprisingly the last. With the show's history of running things into the ground (especially Gilda's characters) you would think they would bring this back every other episode. This is a pure performance piece from Gilda as she jumps around her room and puts on a show about how much she hates her sister.
Weekend Update
We get our 2nd Point/Counterpoint segment, this time about the neutron bomb. Jane takes the stand against weapons of mass destruction while Dan hates communists and wants them all to be killed. This segment has brought a little life into Update and gives Dan a piece to perform, making his inclusion worthwhile. This whole season I kept wondering why Dan Aykroyd was put in a position where he was almost forced to be unfunny.
Bill Murray profiles a hot new Hollywood star, the leading lady of American Hot Wax, Laraine Newman. He goes to her hotel room to interview her, watches her take a bath and poses with her in front of the Central Park replica that Paramount Studios built for her in Hollywood because she was homesick.
Roseanne Roseannadanna comes out to talk about Spring Fever, but of course, just like the 50 other times she's been on Update, she talks about something else. Jane gets mad and yells at her as she starts talking about people spitting in drinking fountains.
Penalty Box
1 Star
Two hockey players share a penalty box
Not sure what this was about. Dan and Michael are two Canadian hockey players in the penalty box. They strike up a conversation about being French Canadian in cities like Cincinnati ans San Antonio. The audience was pretty silent for this, deservedly so as it wasn't very funny.
E. Buzz Miller's Exercise World
3 Stars
E. Buzz and Christy show you some exercise moves
This time E. Buzz Miller, a sleazy character who hosts a late night public access show brings out his co-host Christy to do some exercise moves that Buzz finds sexual. While still fun, this one bugged me slightly as the object of Buzz's leering was an actual woman. He was a little more innocent when he was just getting boners from artwork and footage of animals doing it. This one was slightly creepy as he pawed Laraine as she did squats and leg lifts.
Keith Jarrett returns with "My Song". No offense meant to Mr. Jarrett but this sounds like background music you'd hear in a fancy hotel lobby.
This time E. Buzz Miller, a sleazy character who hosts a late night public access show brings out his co-host Christy to do some exercise moves that Buzz finds sexual. While still fun, this one bugged me slightly as the object of Buzz's leering was an actual woman. He was a little more innocent when he was just getting boners from artwork and footage of animals doing it. This one was slightly creepy as he pawed Laraine as she did squats and leg lifts.
Keith Jarrett returns with "My Song". No offense meant to Mr. Jarrett but this sounds like background music you'd hear in a fancy hotel lobby.
Schiller's Reel
La Dolce Gilda
2 Stars
Gilda and Dan run around in a foreign film
Before the camera pans to a random audience member, we see Bill Murray as Abraham Lincoln not sure who the camera is gonna land on.
Archaeologicus
I know this is a parody of La Dolce Vita and other Italian films but it's not a genre of film I have too much of a familiarity with, so this didn't work for me at all.
Archaeologicus
4 Stars
Findings in a Florida condo
Laraine, in the future, takes us through the archeological findings at a Florida condo. Since the air conditioning was set so low at the time of Morton Kamen's death, all of his artifacts have been preserved perfectly. Items found at the site include a collection of shirts with alligators printed on them, golf clubs and balls and an answering machine that asks for people to leave their number. All of this makes the future society believe that Morton was very wealthy and must have been some kind of king.
Gravity
While this is funkier than you'd expect a tuba quintet to be, it's still a tuba quintet. A jazz pianist and a tuba band, what a bizarre musical booking this week.
FINAL ANALYSIS
Laraine, in the future, takes us through the archeological findings at a Florida condo. Since the air conditioning was set so low at the time of Morton Kamen's death, all of his artifacts have been preserved perfectly. Items found at the site include a collection of shirts with alligators printed on them, golf clubs and balls and an answering machine that asks for people to leave their number. All of this makes the future society believe that Morton was very wealthy and must have been some kind of king.
Gravity
"Tuba City Gitback"
FINAL ANALYSIS
"Why eat garbage on your wedding night when you can eat steak?"
Average
2.6 Stars
MVP
Laraine Newman
The President's Message On Inflation, Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker, Weekend Update, E. Buzz Miller's Exercise World, La Dolce Gilda, Archaeologicus
Best Sketch
The President's Message On Inflation, Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker, Weekend Update, E. Buzz Miller's Exercise World, La Dolce Gilda, Archaeologicus
Best Sketch
Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker
Worst Sketch
Penalty Box
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I would start with a better musical guest. The musical segments aren't something I rate but they do add to my enjoyment of the show. This episode was kind of forgettable. They had two good sketches, two recurring sketches and then a lot of "meh". A really good musical guest would have made this episode interesting. Instead we got a jazz pianist and a tuba band.
Host Analysis
Host Analysis
Michael Sarrazin only appeared in 2 sketches and that was just enough. When I saw he was hosting my initial thought was "Oh, this is probably gonna be bad". Then when I saw his monologue I thought, "Yep, this is gonna be bad". His first sketch appearance he played the straight man and he was adequate and then his second appearance was in the hockey sketch and nobody could have made that fun. I forgot he was hosting for the majority of the episode. So, he was lame but at least there wasn't much of him.
Final Thoughts
This was a good episode for Laraine Newman fans as she gets her 2nd MVP of the season, although the first one was in the pretty terrible Christopher Lee episode. There was too much crap in this episode to make it one I would recommend but if you keep your finger on the fast forward button there's enough to enjoy. Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker is a sketch that keeps making me laugh the more I think about it and both Judy Miller and E. Buzz Miller can still generate chuckles. This one had too much other stuff though, plus the musical guests were pretty lame, the host was bland and previous incarnations of those two recurring characters were better. You can easily skip this one, just watch Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker. Unfortunately, that sketch isn't on YouTube or NBC.com.
Up Next
Here we go. Steve Martin hosts for the third time this season with musical guest The Blues Brothers. Sounds like a fun one.
Here we go. Steve Martin hosts for the third time this season with musical guest The Blues Brothers. Sounds like a fun one.
No comments:
Post a Comment