"These pants are so tight you can tell what religion I am."
Cold Open: Earpiece
4 Stars
Reagan gets assistance with his press conference
Robin Williams as Ronald Reagan is getting fitted for an earpiece. His assistant, Phil Hartman, says they are going to be speaking into his ear during his press conference as the briefings usually just confuse and tire him. He then goes out to the press to take questions. The first reporter asks him if the secret arms deal with Iran was a mistake.
"I would like to answer that with a definitive..."
"No." says Hartman through a microphone
"No."
He then starts to pick up some interference through his earpiece and starts transcribing police reports at one point telling a room full of reporters that the perpetrator is a 'burly male negro'. He also picks up a basketball game and starts doing the play by play as well as speaking in Spanish, throwing to a traffic report and singing 'Hello I Love You' by The Doors. This was fun and gave Robin a chance to maniacally ad-lib.
Robin Williams Monologue
Robin Williams as Ronald Reagan is getting fitted for an earpiece. His assistant, Phil Hartman, says they are going to be speaking into his ear during his press conference as the briefings usually just confuse and tire him. He then goes out to the press to take questions. The first reporter asks him if the secret arms deal with Iran was a mistake.
"I would like to answer that with a definitive..."
"No." says Hartman through a microphone
"No."
He then starts to pick up some interference through his earpiece and starts transcribing police reports at one point telling a room full of reporters that the perpetrator is a 'burly male negro'. He also picks up a basketball game and starts doing the play by play as well as speaking in Spanish, throwing to a traffic report and singing 'Hello I Love You' by The Doors. This was fun and gave Robin a chance to maniacally ad-lib.
Robin Williams Monologue
3 Stars
He starts off with his preacher character and then his Reagan impression and then launches into a big chunk on Reagan. His stand up is less about the actual jokes and more about the manic energy.
"Calling Reagan the great communicator is like calling Gandhi the great caterer."
It's weird to compare the political comedy of yesteryear to today. Now that we are in the era of 24 hour cable news and late night political comedy talk shows everything becomes instantly dated. Back then you could work for months on a political chunk and most of it would still be relevant by the time you got to an audience. Now you have to go, hey remember last week when Trump did such and such and come up with a different take that hasn't been covered by millions of people on Twitter.
Ticket Line
5 Stars
Paul Simon and his date meet passersby while waiting on line
Paul Simon and his date are in line for a movie, it's reportedly the most recent movie of the year according to the reviews. The guy behind them asks Paul if he remembers him.
"You probably don't remember me but I did some session work on your first album."
"Lenny Barnes. You play bass and you brought your mother to the studio. How is she?"
Then Victoria Jackson comes up to him and asks if he remembers the time she picked him up from the airport.
"Carol. You were a political science major then."
Then a couple comes up who saw him in his concert in Central Park.
"You were sitting on a plaid blanket under an elm tree. You've changed your hair. Thank you for yelling, 'more'."
Jon Lovitz tells Paul that he bought his album at a record store and needed to return it. Paul remembers that there was a scratch on the B side. He also wishes his sister well. The next passerby is Art Garfunkel who comes out to shake Paul's hand. Paul has no memory of him whatsoever.
"Partner for 11 years? Garfunkel?"
It was weird leading off the episode with a sketch showcasing the musical guest. I wasn't even aware that Simon was the musical guest. I wasn't paying attention during the opening credits and Robin Williams sped through his introduction. That aside, this was really cute.
Hamlet
3 Stars
The new Shakespearean actor has a penchant for improvisationWilliam Shakespeare is rehearsing Hamlet and is upset when he is told by Phil Hartman that they have a new lead actor, Robin of Wilshire. As he's rehearsing the 'alas poor Yorick' speech he ad-libs with the skull, pretends to bowl and does a Topo Gigio act with it. Hartman loves it but Shakespeare is not pleased. There's a rhyme and reason to every word and the actors are not supposed to go off script. Hartman tells him that the queen insists as she saw Robin's act and loves him. The next day, Paul Simon is a critic in the audience who hopes this play is better than Shakespeare's last. Robin comes in wearing an over-sized codpiece and starts doing crowd work. The audience loves it but Shakespeare grabs a sword and stabs him to which Robin starts to give a dramatic death speech before again hamming it up for the crowd. This was fun and gave Robin a chance to do his spastic ad-lib thing but I like how there was at least one person in the sketch who refused to reward his buffoonery.
Paul Simon
"Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes"
Ladysmith Black Mambazzo starts a chant behind Simon before the song transitions to the musical accompaniment. This is a toe tapping pop song that was fun to listen to. Ladysmith Black Mambazzo continued to dance around him as he played.
The New York Word Exchange
2 Stars
Phil Hartman advises you on how to invest in words
I didn't really understand the joke here but I liked Hartman's pitchman delivery. He says that you can make a lot of money by investing in words. For instance, the word 'mesquite' is up 65 cents a share. He does advise to be cautious because some words can drop drastically just as the word 'negro' did in 1964. You can't go wrong with swear words though as profanity should have a bright future. This was better in execution than it was premise.
Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Her face has been frozen like this since her wedding night
I had to double check and make sure I wasn't watching this on fast speed. Dennis is rushing through all of his jokes, stumbling on his words and not pausing for laughter. I'm wondering if Robin's ad-libs ate up too much time and they were forced to get through this quicker. I would have just cut a few of the weaker jokes, but what do I know?
There's one segment where they play a clip from Reagan's press conference and run a disclaimer underneath saying that he's lying. My favorite gag had to do with the Ayatollah calling Reagan the devil but in fact the 666 tattooed on his head is actually just the combination to his gym locker that he keeps forgetting.
A. Whitney Brown is back with another installment of 'The Big Picture'. He's pretty concise this time, focusing on one topic, this week is about the network censors. He doesn't see a point in censoring SNL because people who get easily offended have learned not to watch the show.
"We have widowed our viewership down to a jaded thick skinned group of thrill seekers. If we give the viewers fluff they will pop over to the movie channel faster than Phoebe Cates can take off her shirt. The enemy is not the moral majority, the enemy is Phoebe Cates's breasts."
He ends with an impassioned speech to the censors.
"Give us the chance to stand up and say...well, whatever we want to say, we'll think of something."
Baycrest Jewish Retirement House
There's one segment where they play a clip from Reagan's press conference and run a disclaimer underneath saying that he's lying. My favorite gag had to do with the Ayatollah calling Reagan the devil but in fact the 666 tattooed on his head is actually just the combination to his gym locker that he keeps forgetting.
A. Whitney Brown is back with another installment of 'The Big Picture'. He's pretty concise this time, focusing on one topic, this week is about the network censors. He doesn't see a point in censoring SNL because people who get easily offended have learned not to watch the show.
"We have widowed our viewership down to a jaded thick skinned group of thrill seekers. If we give the viewers fluff they will pop over to the movie channel faster than Phoebe Cates can take off her shirt. The enemy is not the moral majority, the enemy is Phoebe Cates's breasts."
He ends with an impassioned speech to the censors.
"Give us the chance to stand up and say...well, whatever we want to say, we'll think of something."
Baycrest Jewish Retirement House
3 Stars
The Sweeney Sisters play a retirement homeRobin plays an old Jew who introduces The Sweeney Sisters who got booked as the entertainment in the Baycrest Jewish Retirement Home. They sing a medley of Jewish songs like 'Hava Nagila' and 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker'. Then after their performance they have a nosh with the audience. Paul Simon is one of the old men and he says that he used to be an entertainer. For some reason the sketch ends with Paul and Robin singing 'Alone Again, Naturally' as two old Jewish men. The Sweeney Sisters are not particularly funny but I like their energy, the addition of Williams and Simon seemed superfluous.
And So Adieu
4 Stars
Master Thespian is unable to nail his line
FINAL ANALYSIS
It's Hollywood 1937 and there is one last shot to get in a film being made. Robin is the director and he calls Master Thespian to the set. The part is simple, Phil Hartman hands him some papers and Master Thespian says his line, 'and so adieu' but he is having trouble with it.
"And so you're off to France."
"Where?"
"And so you're off to France."
This was simple and cute and Lovitz was as funny as he usually is with this character.
"And so you're off to France."
"Where?"
"And so you're off to France."
"What?"
"And so you're off to France."
"Am I?"
"And so you're off to France."
"No, straight home for me."
"And so you're off to France."
"Don't be silly, I'm here to do the film."
Finally the director has had enough and say he's leaving to which Master Thespain responds with 'and so adieu' and they have grabbed the shot.This was simple and cute and Lovitz was as funny as he usually is with this character.
Translator
Whoopi Goldberg introduces Paul Simon while Robin speaks in foreign gibberish. Not a rateable segment or a particularly funny or memorable one but I thought I'd include it.
Paul Simon returns to sing "The Boy In The Bubble" which is a cute little pop song. I'm having a little trouble recalling how it goes as I'm typing this though.
Automobile Club Of America
5 Stars
Kevin Nealon advises you on how to read a road map
Kevin is here with a bit from his stand-up act, I mean, a public service announcement from the Automobile Club of America. He says that 12 million Americans don't know how to read a road map so he's here to give us some handy hints. He talks about how some people will point to things not on the map while still referencing the map and instead of having a mile scale down at the bottom it should just be a picture of a thumb and finger. He then tells us about his recent vacation to Idaho, which he details on the map, even though he doesn't have a map of Idaho. So he folds the map into the shape of the state and then rips a piece off to depict his trip to Hawaii. I laughed a lot during this even though it was obviously just a bit lifted from his act. It was integrated with the premise of the sketch very well.
Paul Simon closes out the show with "The Late Great Johnny Ace" which opens with a picture of JFK. He then sings about a bunch of dead guys named Johnny including Kennedy, Johnny Ace and John Lennon. What a fun way to end the show.
Paul Simon closes out the show with "The Late Great Johnny Ace" which opens with a picture of JFK. He then sings about a bunch of dead guys named Johnny including Kennedy, Johnny Ace and John Lennon. What a fun way to end the show.
"Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, what the hell kind of attitude is that?"
Average
Average
3.6 Stars
MVP
Jon Lovitz
Ticket Line, Hamlet, Baycrest Jewish Retirement House, And So Adieu
Ticket Line, Hamlet, Baycrest Jewish Retirement House, And So Adieu
Best Sketch
Ticket Line
Worst Sketch
The New York Word Exchange
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I know when you're watching the show live in its normal time slot Paul Simon's music at the end of the show was probably meant to lull you into a sound and satisfied sleep. I watched this episode at 11am and thought to myself, where the hell are all the sketches? After Master Thespian we got Paul Simon, a Kevin Nealon bit and Paul Simon again. Move one of those up a bit to give them some separation. The other thing I would do is move Hamlet to the lead off spot and save Ticket Line for after Paul Simon's first musical appearance. It's fine to have Paul Simon in your sketches but a sketch that centers solely around him in the lead off spot is just weird. Robin Williams is in the cold open, does the monologue and then the first sketch stars Paul Simon.
Host Analysis
Speaking of which, Paul Simon was all over this episode. He was basically a co-host. Robin was fun although a little too much at times. There was a moment in And So Adieu where he said the wrong line then apologized and tried to make a bit out of it. I'm sitting here thinking, dude, just move on. Not everything has to be a bit. Just slow down and breathe for a second.
Final Thoughts
An all around solid episode with well written sketches and fun performances. It had one too many Paul Simon songs to keep me from saying it was perfect but it was damn near close. Not much else to say other than I hope they keep up the good work.
Up Next
I'm really excited for the next episode. We got Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short all hosting to promote ¡Three Amigos! with musical guest Randy Newman and a special guest appearance from Eric Idle. Episode of the season? We'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment