“I was told when I came on the show that I would not have to work with the bees”
Cold Open: Wheelchair
4 Stars
Chevy drops his lighter, gets out of wheelchair to pick it up, and sits back down. Amazed at what he just accomplished, he tries it again but falls to the floor. I enjoyed the story this pratfall told and Chevy played it perfectly. Oh, and he says “Live from New York…” after he falls down.
Rob Reiner Monologue
Rob does a meandering lounge singer act which is almost prescient in how much it resembles Bill Murray’s Nick. Goes on a little too long but had some good bits, his jazzy rendition of Blowin’ In The Wind dedicated to Bob Dylan who he thought was dead. Also him announcing Irving Berlin in the audience only to show a guy who is not Irving.
National Pancreas Association
John doesn’t feel good so he gets his pancreas checked out. Fun performance from Dan as the doctor but this didn’t have much to it. It felt like it was missing something. When it got to the end you’re left with a feeling of “that was all?”.
Fashion Don’ts
Rob is joined by his wife Penny Marshall to show off some fashion faux pas. Gilda is wearing her underwear on the outside, Laraine forgot to remove the hanger and dry cleaning bag from her outfit, Garrett has a chair strapped to his back, Jane is wearing a hamster head, Dan has a leisure suit, John has lobsters attached to his eyebrows, and Mr. Mike has toilet paper on the back of his tuxedo. All the visual gags worked for me which is good because that’s pretty much all this was.
Golden Needles
The immortal George Coe finally shows up. They dropped him from the credits but he still gets a sketch. He’s selling voodoo acupuncture so you can have medical procedures without interrupting your busy day. Good concept but it’s hard to watch this and not think about how Dan would kill it. Not that George is bad he’s just not Dan. I felt the same when Gary Kroeger did a similar sketch in Season 8. Joe Piscopo was the pitchman of that era and this era has Danny.
Andy Kaufman
Andy lipsyncs Pop Goes The Weasel. In some ways this feels like a pale imitation of the Mighty Mouse routine which I think is unquestionably brilliant. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a big, stupid grin on my face the whole time. There’s no side jokes like the first time (coming in at the wrong time, taking a sip of water) he just mouths along to the record. You shouldn’t be allowed to do this on television and I think that’s what’s great about it. The ultimate joke is on you for watching it.
Dangerous But Inept
Jane interviews Squeaky Fromme who keeps trying to shoot her but the gun keeps misfiring. Short and sweet with a fun performance from Laraine.
Felina Cat Food
Two casseroles, one made from tuna and the other made out of cat food. A woman tastes both and likes the cat food casserole and gives a disgusted look when she finds out what she ate. Not much else to this, it could have used another beat.
The Lockers
Weekend Update
The Peacock version is missing a piece called Wrigley’s which I’m assuming was mid-Update as Peacock put Middle American Van Lines there but according to SNL Archives that was later in the night. Point is, I didn’t get to see it.
With A Little Help From My Friends
John sings as Joe Cocker. This was captivating. Maybe it’s just because this is John’s first showcase but I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing something like this. Just a straightforward musical impression shouldn’t be as enthralling as this is but I couldn’t take my eyes off it. This is a star being born.
Droolers Anti-Defamation League
Chevy speaks on behalf of droolers as he himself drools. He starts laughing which makes this the first time in SNL history when I think giggling ruins the sketch.
Middle American Van Lines
As previously stated, this is thrown in the middle of Update in the Peacock version. The slogan “We move people” is taken literally and movers pick up humans and throw them on a truck which is a decent enough gag.
Square Dance
Dan calls a square dance and makes people punch each other, stomp on their faces, rip off their clothes, and shoot themselves. All the while laughing maniacally. This was a whole lot of fun. It was super clear what was going on so you could enjoy the silliness until everyone was dead.
The Land Of Gorch
King Ploobis’s son has been smoking craters. This was the lamest yet. You’d think puppets getting high would be rad but this came off extremely unhip. They once again go to the Mighty Favog for advice and he says the answer is blowin’ in the wind which I don’t think you can classify as a punchline.
Denny Dillon & Mark Hampton
1 Star
Denny Dillon? Gotta admit, I had no idea about this. It’s bringing me back to when I watched Season 6, mainly because it’s not funny. That was unfair to Season 6 but this was very uninteresting. Denny plays a nun hosting a talent show. She calls out other nuns in the crowd and tells purposefully lame jokes. It was about as funny as church so at least it was realistic. It ends in a Kumbaya sing-along for Christ’s sake.
What Gilda Ate
4 Stars
Gilda tells us what she ate that day in great detail. It gets progressively funnier as she talks about the milk dud she found in her purse and when she said she was going to the bathroom but actually snuck out for an apple pie. Such a nice intro to Gilda who can be funny as she rambles.
A Film By Albert Brooks
Operation
Rob intros a film from his best friend Albert Brooks which i know to be true thanks to a recent documentary about Albert directed by Rob. Albert wants to perform open heart surgery so he arranges that to happen. It wasn’t until this was over I realized how long this was. I thought Peacock was just randomly throwing in commercial breaks but apparently this had a commercial when it aired live too. It has plenty of fun moments but you feel the length, especially in a show filled with quick one-joke sketches.
Bees
Rob and Penny are on a date. They’re both having an affair and while they play out their dramatic scene the bees enter in the background. Rob stops the sketch as he didn’t want the bees in the show as they didn’t work in the first two episodes. John tells him off and explains that they don’t want to be bees they’re just victims of bad writing. Rob has Norman Lear writing his show and they’re just bees. I loved this and it was another solid showcase for John. I also think I finally understand the bees. This may have been the missing piece to the puzzle.
FINAL ANALYSIS
“I thought I made myself perfectly clear that I didn't want the bees”
Average
3.2 Stars
MVP
John Belushi
National Pancreas Association, Fashion Don’ts, With A Little Help From My Friends, Square Dance, Bees
Best Sketch
With A Little Help From My Friends
Worst Sketch
Denny Dillon & Mark Hampton
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
Still experimenting. We don’t get any Goodnights in this one so the show just kinda ends which is weird. Also no photo bumpers but that’s more of a me complaint because I like to use them for the beginning of these posts. I still love the pace of the show. The only times it dragged were a little in the Albert Brooks film (you could easily trim about 5 minutes off it) and the one-two punch of Land Of Gorch and Denny Dillon. So it’s the long stuff that’s not working. Keep it short. Brevity is the soul of wit.
Host Analysis
He’s the first one who felt like a host in the modern context but still more on the Master Of Ceremonies side. He introduced everything and played himself in two sketches but his lounge singer monologue was interesting.
Final Thoughts
A very fun episode and it was good to see the cast shine after the first two episodes where they were barely present. Everybody got a little something to do with John and Gilda coming off as breakout stars. But Dan got the square dance caller, Laraine had Squeaky, Chevy fell down, Garrett had the hard of hearing bit, even George Coe got some play. It’s starting to feel like Saturday Night Live instead of a weird late night special. Plus we got Andy Kaufman and The Lockers which added to the fun. Those two segments and Joe Cocker had me transfixed to my screen which honestly hasn’t happened in a while. I find myself passively watching the show a lot especially with newer seasons. Political cold open, monologue, two sketches, musical guest, long Update, two more sketches, musical guest, 10-1. Not that I don’t like it, it’s just hard to surprise me. I’m having a ball so far because I honestly don’t know what’s going to come next. Denny Dillon may show up for all I know.
Up Next
Candice Bergen and Esther Phillips
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