Saturday Night Live Season 11 Reviews - Episode 12 - Griffin Dunne / Rosanne Cash

 

"This darn guillotine!"

Cold Open: Rumors

 

3 Stars

Tommy Flanagan addresses some bad press the show is getting

There's a big recognition applause when Tommy introduces himself, no surprise there, this is his 7th appearance.  The show is basically becoming Saturday Night Live with Tommy Flanagan.  He's now the official spokesman of NBC, scratch that the president, I mean the owner, yeah.  He's here to clear up some rumors you may have heard about the show, the ratings have actually been astronomical, tied with The Cosby Show, and they just got nominated for an Oscar.  As he says all this the one thing he can't seem to lie about is the reviews the show's been getting.  This started the show of in a very self deprecating way which can be cute but I always find it lazy.  Instead of commenting on the fact that your show sucks, make a less sucky show.  In all honesty, 12 episode in and I'm liking the season so far.  There have been a few stinkers here and there but some really good stuff mixed in as well.

A. Whitney Brown gets his first credit in the opening titles as a featured player

Griffin Dunne Monologue

 

4 Stars

Griffin is really nervous about his monologue and then shows off a special talent

Dunne comes out an he's really worried about being on live TV.   He rubs his hands through his hair and pulls out big clumps and then removes his jacket to reveal huge sweat stains.  This is all pointless lead-up because the real show starts when he says he has a special talent.  He can play the drum solo from 'Wipeout' one handed.  Anthony Michael Hall (hey, where's he been?) and Terry Sweeney bring out a surfboard and Dunne strikes up the band and then drums with one hand the drum solo.  It actually is kind of impressive, if silly, and sounds remarkably like the actual drum solo.  I really liked this because it seemed like something Griffin Dunne came up with rather than having something written for him.

Ferdinand Marcos Malacanang Palace Liquidation Sale 

3 Stars

Rudy Randolph Jr. is passing the savings on to you

I don't know the context of this and I don't care to look it up.  I remember the name Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from when I was a kid but I can't remember what their place in history was.  Point is, Rudy Randolph Jr., and his very irritating son, have a bunch of stuff they need to liquidate.  They got 3,000 pairs of Italian shoes, monogrammed shirts (perfect if your initials are FM, Fred Morris, come on down) and brassieres.
"If you're a size 38AA, you just turned down lucky street"

Mr. Monopoly

 

3 Stars

Mr. Monopoly is now a lawyer and gets his client off

Here it is, the sketch that got Damon Wayans fired.  He apparently was upset about his lack of screen time to develop homophobic characters so he took out his frustration by not telling anyone that he was going to play his random cop role flamboyantly and offensively and needlessly gay.  He's lisping, sashaying and, for some reason, thrusting his crotch at people.  The sketch is actually pretty stupid.  Dunne is getting interrogated by Wayans and Quaid when Mr. Monopoly shows up.  What could have been a fun sight gag is ruined because they had to include a theme song for Mr. Monopoly before the sketch so you knew it was coming.  Lovitz is really funny though, which is good because the sketch just becomes a bunch of Monopoly puns.  He gives Dunne a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card, He says he tore down Quaid's little green house on Baltic Avenue to build a big red hotel, he hopes everybody paid their luxury tax and he mentions that he's parked in 'Free Parking'.  A really stupid sketch is helped by a tremendous Lovitz performance and then hampered by an offensive Wayans performance.

You Bet Your Finger

 

3 Stars

Game show where you pay a price for an incorrect answer

So, you know what's gonna happen, right?  They should have just mailed us the punchline last week.  Quaid straps Dunne, a court stenographer, into a mini guillotine and says if he answers 3 questions correctly he wins a vacation, if he answers incorrectly he loses a finger.  Before Quaid can ask the question, the guillotine malfunctions and Dunne loses a finger.  AMH comes out to fix the machine, Dunne puts his next finger in it and it goes off again.  I will say, for what this was it was fairly well executed.  The performances were just over the top enough that it kept the sketch moving even though I knew where it was going.  The final gag of Dunne losing a finger because Quaid misheard him even though he got the answer correct was a nice touch.  I feel like an 8 year old me would think this was a hilarious sketch.  Watching it now I was more impressed that there were no technical snafus with the guillotine.  The show today can't seem to pull off things like this effectively anymore, something always seems to break which makes Jimmy Fallon laugh.

Bad Seed

 

3 Stars

Nancy Reagan clears up misconceptions about her daughter's book

Nancy's daughter, Patti Davis, has written a book which is a first person account of a young girl growing up rebelling against her idealistic and tyrannical parents who happen to be the governor and first lady of California and later end up in the White House.  Nancy wants to ensure America that the book is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to anyone.  She's also written her own book about an ungrateful daughter who takes advantage of her poor, kind hearted mother.  This is just a straight to camera monologue that seemed very well rehearsed.  I enjoyed the performance by Sweeney even if it wasn't the most humorous thing ever.  Not so well rehearsed was the stage hand who walks in front of the camera as she starts talking.

Buon Giorno Ireland Buon Giorno

 

2 Stars

Ireland's most famous Italian singer

This was silly at first and then just got repetitive.  Once you get the joke that Don Novello is singing Irish folk songs in an Italian accent you realize that is all there is to this sketch.

Rosanne Cash

"Hold On"

I was completely unfamiliar with Rosanne Cash or this song and I liked it.  It's a fairly cool 80s ballad.  It is a bit of a bland performance for such a repetitive song though.

Two Jones' Cable Installers

 

2 Stars

$50 gets you free cable, as long as your neighbor has it

The Two Jones are here to help you get free cable with their splitter.  They'll steal your neighbor's cable, give it to you and if you have to work that day, just leave the key under the mat.  Hall keeps falling asleep during the sketch which I think is supposed to be funny.  Turns out, I haven't missed AMH from the cast while he was gone.

Weekend Update With Dennis Miller

 

"I saw an old rerun of Dragnet the other night.  What the hell was that all about?"

We're very topical this week and full of rants.  I'm guessing the big story in the news this week was the Contras.  He talks about what a hellhole Central America is and chainsaws it off the map behind him.  He also introduces a new contest called 'The Pinochet Countdown' where viewers can guess when Pinochet is going to lose power.  He goes through the rules and regulations for so long that I started to think there wasn't going to be a punchline but finally he hits us with the fact that the contest is only valid if SNL is still on the air, so you better hurry up.

"See what lasts longer Pinochet or SNL"

  We get another visit from the Weekend Update Dancers which started off as fun and absurd but has now turned into repetitive and expected.

A. Whitney Brown shows up again with The Big Picture.  I'm starting to think that this is less a segment and more of just a stand-up act disguised as a news segment.  Brown is smart and witty and talks here about how we shouldn't lend Nicaragua money, like they're ever going to pay it back.

You Can Pick Your Friends, You Can Pick Your Nose, But You Can't Pick Your Friend's Nose

4 Stars

A topical news show with one rule

If you're like me you started to check out at the name of the sketch, but stick with it, it's gets better, stupider, but better.  Lovitz is the host and the topic today is the criminal justice system.  Dunne thinks that it is broken while Quaid disagrees.  While Quaid talks, Dunne can't seem to control himself and starts moving his finger towards Quaid's nose.  Lovitz stops him as this is the one rule the show has, you can not pick your friend's nose.  Quaid doesn't seem to mind, him and Dunne are very old friends but Lovitz is adamant that the nose picking stop.  This was very reminiscent of a Monty Python sketch, especially with Lovitz being very serious while saying silly things.  Dunne at one point pulls out a mechanical grabber to try to get into Quaid's nose to no avail.  After Lovitz ties Dunne's hands together he begins to give into his urge to pick.  Quaid is disgusted as Lovitz is not his friend.  Lovitz apologizes for succumbing to his impulses.  This was so stupid but I really liked it.  Why does everyone want to pick Randy Quaid's nose so bad?  Why does he not mind if friends do it but is offended if strangers do it?

Penn & Teller

4 Stars

Penn & Teller teach you a trick to do at home

This was terrific.  It was entertaining and taught you a simple card trick.  Have your friend pick a card, guess wrong and then turn on the TV only to have them see the card they chose.  This all of course hinges on the fact that your friend doesn't watch Saturday Night Live, but that's a given at this point, right?

Business Beat

1 Star

Um, people wear stupid hats?

Business Beat, or Business Week as Danitra Vance says before correcting herself and then says she doesn't like the name of her own show, is a show where they interview people who invented things that help them in the workforce.  Randy Quaid comes on wearing a hat with a carrot on a string attached.  This helps motivate him, even though he doesn't even like carrots that much.  Joan Cusack comes in with blinders on the side of her head that keep her focused.  Griffin Dunne comes out wearing a backpack that has a boot on it that kicks him in the butt randomly.  This was uncomfortable to watch, the audience was completely silent, not that I blame them, there were absolutely no jokes.  It's like these talented actors were just forced to make these props funny.  Vance ends the show hoping that they will be back next week with a better name for the show.  As if that was the joke the whole time, she doesn't like the name of her own program?  Huh?

Rosanne Cash sings I Don't Know Why which I liked better than the first song.  It reminded me of almost every single 80s movie and that song they would play when the two lovers breakup before getting back together and you see the montage of the fun they used to have together.

Tea And Sympathy

1 Star

A ghost has a heart to heart with his ex-girlfriend's mother

Joan Cusack sees a ghost at the window and lets him in.  They converse in a very matter of fact style and we learn that the ghost dated Cusack's daughter and then crashed his car and still hangs around with unfinished business.  Actually, they broke up a couple of weeks before he died and she wants nothing to do with him.  This scene played for almost no laughs, to the point where I don't think it was supposed to be funny.  Everybody in the sketch is sad.

FINAL ANALYSIS

"Friends, fine.  Noses, fine.  Friend's noses, out of the question"

Average

2.75 Stars

MVP

Jon Lovitz
Rumors, Mr. Monopoly, You Can Pick Your Friends...

Best Sketch

You Can Pick Your Friends, You Can Pick Your Nose, But You Can't Pick Your Friend's Nose

Worst Sketch

Business Beat

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

I would save Rumors for an end of the night sketch or an Update piece.  I don't like starting the show with a guy telling me that the show sucks.  I would move You Can Pick Your Friends... up to the lead off spot as it was the best of the night.  There's not much else you can do other than that.  The sketches just weren't good, doesn't matter when you watch a turd, it's still a turd.

Host Analysis

Griffin Dunne really should have had a bigger career.  He had a good sense of comedic timing and was fun in all of his sketches.  The best sketches involved nose picking though and the worst sketch involved him getting kicked in the ass with a boot.  I don't blame him for this episode not being that great.

Final Thoughts

This had a lot more bad than good.  The good was passable but not great, my favorite bits had nose picking and fingers getting chopped off.  The bad was really bad though.  Business Beat will assuredly make my list for worst of the year and Tea And Sympathy was a way too maudlin and unfunny way to the end the show.  Throw in Damon Wayans acting gay, Anthony Michael Hall acting black and Robert Downey acting mentally challenged and you got a stinker.  Also, I understand the thinking behind why they would throw out so much self deprecating humor but to the start the show with it was a misfire.  You come right out at the top and say this show kinda sucks, so why should I even watch it?
Up Next

This is the episode I've been looking forward to the most as George Wendt hosts with special guest Francis Ford Coppola.  Coppola takes over directing the show and interrupts sketches all night.  It's gonna be a weird one.