Saturday Night Live Season 1 Reviews - Episode 2 - Paul Simon / Randy Newman / Phoebe Snow

“Happy as a monkey in a monkey tree”

Cold Open

Paul Simon

“Still Crazy After All These Years”

Just Paul sittin’ on a stool and singin’.  Since I don’t rate musical segments the average of this is gonna come with an asterisk.  Also, I’ve long since stopped trying to come up with something to say about every musical performance so this may be a short one.  After Paul sings, Chevy randomly walks on stage, trips over some chairs and says “Live from New York…”.  So we’re still getting some firsts as we get the first Chevy pratfall.  We’ve also just established a tradition going on half a century.

 Paul Simon

“Loves Me Like A Rock”

No monologue, instead Paul sings a song with The Jesse Dixon Singers.  I liked it.

The Berkeley Collection

2 Stars

Yippie! Jerry Rubin is dead!

The former anti-establishment icon is selling the rebellion of the 60s as vinyl wallpaper.  As far as comedy goes it’s whatever but it’s an interesting comment on the commercialization of counter-culture.  One could make a comparison to this era of SNL being sold on DVD best of sets.

Our first audience caption.  I never thought these were that funny so I’ll probably neglect grabbing screenshots of them going forth unless one particularly tickles me.

Paul Simon

“Marie”

Paul sings a Randy Newman song to introduce Randy Newman.

Randy Newman

“Sail Away”

Randy Newman also sings a Randy Newman song.

Bees

Our first meta gag as Paul tells the bees that they’ve been cut from tonight’s episode because nobody liked them last week.  Outside of Chevy this is the cast’s only appearance this week which was apparently intentional.  It feels like a slight dig though, like the Not Ready For Prime Time Players were the thing that didn’t work in the first episode but The Land Of Gorch was good enough to be brought back.

Weekend Update

Chevy tells a couple of jokes but this is mostly just an introduction to the next piece.

Basketball

4 Stars

Hey!  Something actually funny and fun!  Marv Albert interviews Paul and Harlem Globetrotter Connie Hawkins before their game of one-on-one.  Paul admits that their height difference may be a factor but goes on to cream him in a fun basketball montage scored to Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard.  Maybe it’s just because this is the first attempt at comedy tonight, but I really enjoyed this.

Simon & Garfunkel

“The Boxer / Scarborough Fair”

We come back from commercial with a Time Life-esque photo montage of Simon & Garfunkel scored to Mrs. Robinson.  Then Paul and Art have some awkward banter before some two part harmony.

Simon & Garfunkel

“My Little Town”

We come back from commercial and now they’re standing and singing.

Art Garfunkel

“I Only Have Eyes For You”

And Art sings a song solo.

The Land Of Gorch

2 Stars

It’s the first SNL recurring sketch!  The Land of Gorch is on the brink of default and the king goes to the stone thing again for advice.  Same gag as last time where the stone thing gives a Bazooka Joe style punchline.  His solution to the financial crisis is to eat one of the muppets so they have one less mouth to feed.  Once again, I’m impressed by the puppetry but this was so weak comedically and dragged.

A Film By Albert Brooks

Parent’s Home Video

4 Stars

Albert introduces himself as the guy who will be making short films for the show.  Seems like this would have been suited better in the first episode but I bet they knew this would get better ratings.  Albert has a very funny interaction with his daughter before she is escorted away by security then shows us some home movies.  We see his father filming young Albert using the bathroom for the first time and losing his virginity.  Then he shows us some unused Candid Camera like material of him dressed as a cow at the airport and trying to disguise himself as a dryer.  All good stuff.

Phoebe Snow

“No Regrets”

7 months pregnant singing a Billie Holliday song.

“Gone At Last”

Paul, Phoebe, and The Jesse Dixon Singers do an up-tempo gospel number.

Try Hard 1-11

3 Stars

A parody of battery commercials, 5 old people have had their pacemaker batteries on all night.  The next morning the one with the Try Hard battery is still up while the others have crashed.  It’s cute.

Paul Simon

“American Tune”

And Paul tucks us in with one more song.

FINAL ANALYSIS

“I’ve gotta stay with my strengths, basically singing and songwriting”

Average

3 Stars*

MVP

Chevy Chase

Cold Open, Weekend Update, being the only cast member with any lines

Best Sketch

Basketball

Worst Sketch

The Land Of Gorch

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

We’re still experimenting so I can’t be too critical.  Honestly, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would.  Sure, I may have been looking at my phone a bit during the musical numbers but I didn’t get bored.  At least all the songs were good.  The only thing that slowed the show down were The Muppets.

Host Analysis

Much like the first episode, the host is more of a Master of Ceremonies.  This was a Paul Simon concert with some comedy mixed in, but I dug it for what it was.  I don’t want more of this but Paul was a calming presence throughout and the episode flew by.  He was also pretty funny in the Basketball film.

Final Thoughts

A weird one but enjoyable.  If the first episode didn’t quite felt like SNL this feels like a different show altogether.  If you’re a Paul Simon fan then this is for you.  I like him just fine but I could think of several singer/songwriters I’d rather see instead of him and I had a nice time.  This probably benefited from low expectations.  No expectations actually, I figured this would be my new least favorite episode but I couldn’t hate it at all.  I sat on my couch with my dog curled up next to me and listened to some beautiful harmonies.  My day could be going way worse.

Up Next

After two episodes with, I would argue, too much music we get Rob Reiner and no musical guest.  I’ve actually never seen this one so looking forward to it.