"That’s all right, as long as it’s pink in the right places."
Cold Open: Afterlife Styles Of The Rich And Famous
3 Stars
Robin Leach visits with the recently deceased Liberace
Dana Carvey is Robin Leach reporting from the Pearly Gates, which would set you back one billion dollars on Earth. The gates open to reveal Liberace, playing piano on a cloud. Liberace tells Robin what it's like to die and what heaven is like and then The Devil appears. He is here to take Robin to hell.
"I'm not a sinner, I'm a television host."
"There are many sins, greed, envy, a loud and annoying voice."
Robin accompanies The Devil to hell and Liberace opens the show. A fun premise was better than the execution. I got a good laugh when Robin went to meet Liberace but their interaction wasn't very humorous. By the time The Devil showed up I started to lose interest. It's one of those sketches where once you get the joke it doesn't really go anywhere.
Willie Nelson Monologue
Dana Carvey is Robin Leach reporting from the Pearly Gates, which would set you back one billion dollars on Earth. The gates open to reveal Liberace, playing piano on a cloud. Liberace tells Robin what it's like to die and what heaven is like and then The Devil appears. He is here to take Robin to hell.
"I'm not a sinner, I'm a television host."
"There are many sins, greed, envy, a loud and annoying voice."
Robin accompanies The Devil to hell and Liberace opens the show. A fun premise was better than the execution. I got a good laugh when Robin went to meet Liberace but their interaction wasn't very humorous. By the time The Devil showed up I started to lose interest. It's one of those sketches where once you get the joke it doesn't really go anywhere.
Willie Nelson Monologue
Willie sings a song
Willie comes out and welcomes the audience to the show and then immediately starts playing his song, "Nightlife". He didn't attempt any jokes just said, hey I'm Willie Nelson, we got a good show, now here's a tune. I'm not really familiar with Nelson's music but I liked this. It was a slow song with good lyrics. I suppose this is the best way to go for a singer host but knowing that he is also the musical guest and we're probably gonna get 2 more performances, I wouldn't be upset if this was cut.
Rerun of General Dynamics
Great Moments In The History Of White Trash
Profile of a truck stop waitress
Phil saddles up to a bar and starts flirting with the waitress, played by Jan. They exchange some pleasantries and eventually she agrees to a ride in his Trans Am. Willie then breaks in and says that Audra Foley went on to become an overweight divorcee with a pack of illegitimate children. She never went on to much but she sure was good people. I’m not sure what this was.
Police Wire
A mobster informant doesn’t want to hear stories about himself
Danny DeVito is being fitted with a police wire. He’s gonna rat out one of his mobster friends in order to get off the hook for tax evasion. Jon Lovitz plays Fat Tony, who is the big fish the cops are after, but all he wants to talk about is Danny’s past.
“Remember the time you rubbed out Frankie at the ball game?”
He goes on to congratulate him on the 30 or 40 elusive murders he’s committed and the fact that he single handedly ran the heroin trade in New York City. All the while the cops listen intently. Another mafia don is coming to the meeting and is instantly enamored with DeVito.
“The Angelo Brignali? The guy who shot Lieutenant Patrick Ryan? The one unsolved cop murder in New York City?”
The meeting turns out to be about raising funds for a new basketball court for the local catholic school. They also mention that they bribed the judge in Danny’s tax case so he has nothing to worry about. This was such a simple concept I’m surprised I haven’t seen it done before.
Great Moments In The History Of White Trash
2 Stars
Willie spotlights another white trash hero
Kevin comes into a bar and talks about how he met a welfare mother with 7 kids. When asked if he intends to marry her he says no because the government will cut the benefits. He then offers somebody a ride in his Trans Am. Willie calls him a no account good for nothing, but still good people. Liked this better than the first but I still don’t get this.
Church Chat
3 Stars
Church Lady invites Willie, DeVito and Ann Landers to her show
Enid’s first guest is Danny DeVito who is plugging his new movie Tin Men where he plays an aluminum siding salesman who has an affair. Enid doesn’t see anything funny about his R-rated adultery comedy. Before she can kick him off the show, DeVito gets up to do his own Superior Dance. The have a superior dance off before he leaves. Weird how this is only episode 12 but this sketch feels like a cultural phenomenon already. Before YouTube, Twitter and even reruns on cable, a show that everyone said sucks was able to catch hold of America. Her next guest is advice columnist Ann Landers, played by Nora, who reads a letter from a concerned catholic mother torn over wether to teach her children about contraception. She says you have plastic covers for your couch so you should have them for your children as well. Enid thinks she is encouraging children to fornicate and kicks her off the show. Her final guest is Willie Nelson who is here to promote his new movie The Red Headed Stranger. He also brought a gift for the Church Lady, a red cowboy hat. She puts it on and they sing ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ together. Dana seems to be having fun here but I thought this was out of character for The Church Lady and had one guest too many. It felt like half the show was this sketch.
Weekend Update
Enid’s first guest is Danny DeVito who is plugging his new movie Tin Men where he plays an aluminum siding salesman who has an affair. Enid doesn’t see anything funny about his R-rated adultery comedy. Before she can kick him off the show, DeVito gets up to do his own Superior Dance. The have a superior dance off before he leaves. Weird how this is only episode 12 but this sketch feels like a cultural phenomenon already. Before YouTube, Twitter and even reruns on cable, a show that everyone said sucks was able to catch hold of America. Her next guest is advice columnist Ann Landers, played by Nora, who reads a letter from a concerned catholic mother torn over wether to teach her children about contraception. She says you have plastic covers for your couch so you should have them for your children as well. Enid thinks she is encouraging children to fornicate and kicks her off the show. Her final guest is Willie Nelson who is here to promote his new movie The Red Headed Stranger. He also brought a gift for the Church Lady, a red cowboy hat. She puts it on and they sing ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ together. Dana seems to be having fun here but I thought this was out of character for The Church Lady and had one guest too many. It felt like half the show was this sketch.
Weekend Update
"She came in 12th"
I noticed a lack of energy and commitment from Dennis this week. He had a good bit about condom stock prices rising that went on to just be a rant laced with sexual innuendo. Then he ended with his reasoning for distrusting trains.
“I avoid any form of mass transit where the general public has access to the brakes. I’d hate to find out that we went off the tracks at 200mph because Gus thought he saw a woodchuck.”
Victoria Jackson is here to talk about the controversial new miniseries, America. She is proud to live in a country where she has the freedom to do the news while doing a handstand and wearing American flag underwear. She does and ends up falling over into the splits. It was cute.
A. Whitney Brown compares the Russian peace talks to the Rolex he bought in Time Square. He also mentions that China has a billion people, which means that even if you’re one in a million there are still a thousand just like you.
Redneck Tanning Parlor
A tanning salon that specializes in just the neck and arms
Several satisfied customers leave with white bellies and bright read arms and necks. Willie comes in as a stylist who mourns the demise of the redneck (turns out they had nothing to worry about). You get the joke of this from the very beginning and it does nothing at all to surprise you.
Willie Nelson
"Partners After All"
Willie sings a slow, soulful love song.
Great Moments In The History Of White Trash
2 Stars
Willie tells one more tale of redneck ingenuity
Nora and DeVito are in a restaurant sneaking booze into their coffee. They want to drive down to their honeymoon but unfortunately the Trans Am is up on blocks. We then get a text revealing that they are not only married but first cousins as well. Willie says that they sure were good people.
Nora and DeVito are in a restaurant sneaking booze into their coffee. They want to drive down to their honeymoon but unfortunately the Trans Am is up on blocks. We then get a text revealing that they are not only married but first cousins as well. Willie says that they sure were good people.
Bar
2 Stars
Tommy Flanagan meets Willie in a bar
Willie grabs a bar stool next to Tommy Flanagan, he lies a lot, if you somehow missed the first 27 Tommy sketches. He is bragging about his new job of welding sheep and Willie brags about his new movie, The Red Headed Stranger.
“Oh yeah. I heard about that movie on Church Chat.”
“You watch that show?”
“Religiously.”
The SNL nerd in me jizzed a little with this meta reference. To know that all the SNL characters live in the same universe and are aware of each other, the possibilities are endless. Come to think of it, why didn’t they attempt an SNL movie? Wayne’s World gets cancelled due to political pressure from The Church Lady. Then Richmeister has to speak to congress and a last minute reprieve is issued by senator Cajun Man. Anyway, this bit is running out of steam. It’s been done so many times that the people in the sketch seem to know where it’s going. As soon as Willie comes to the bar he seems to know that Tommy is a liar. There’s no need for build up at this point just get to a lie and then get out.
The Boyfriend Song
2 Stars
Victoria wants to sing a song with Willie
Victoria and Willie sing a song together but mostly they just giggle while trying to sing a song. The song is about all the different boyfriends she has but she only needs one to be with her forever. It’s cute but the constant giggling from both of them lessened my enjoyment.
Truck Stop Cafe
1 Star
A trucker hits on a waitress
It’s hard to rank this one because it wasn’t going for funny. This was a sweet little play about a trucker hitting on a waitress she resists his charms until he puts ‘Crazy’ by Patsy Cline on the jukebox, they dance and she melts. While it wasn’t funny, it also wasn’t that interesting. Jan had a handle on her character but Willie isn’t the greatest actor. This was not what I was expecting or wanting and I didn’t enjoy it.
Willie Nelson ends the show with one more country ballad, this one entitled “Blue Eyes”
FINAL ANALYSIS
Average
2.3 Stars
MVP
Victoria Jackson
Weekend Update, Redneck Tanning Parlor, The Boyfriend Song
Weekend Update, Redneck Tanning Parlor, The Boyfriend Song
Best Sketch
Police Wire
Worst Sketch
Truck Stop Cafe
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I needed some more Danny DeVito. I knew I wasn’t in for the greatest comedic styling with Willie Nelson but then he said that DeVito was here. Then the first sketch had DeVito and so did the 2nd, then he disappeared. Either save Police Wire for the end of the night or put DeVito in more things. I would also move the 2nd white trash segment to last as it was the strongest.
Host Analysis
It’s interesting that Willie kept bringing up his new movie when he obviously can’t act. He played himself or Willie Nelson like characters all night so there wasn’t anything he did that drew attention for the wrong reasons but seeing that Danny DeVito was in the building all night and willing to do sketches, why not make him the host. We would get a better monologue, he would be a better foil for Tommy Flanagan and we wouldn’t get the lame redneck tanning parlor or truck stop cafe sketches.
It’s interesting that Willie kept bringing up his new movie when he obviously can’t act. He played himself or Willie Nelson like characters all night so there wasn’t anything he did that drew attention for the wrong reasons but seeing that Danny DeVito was in the building all night and willing to do sketches, why not make him the host. We would get a better monologue, he would be a better foil for Tommy Flanagan and we wouldn’t get the lame redneck tanning parlor or truck stop cafe sketches.
Final Thoughts
A fairly weak episode content wise but it was an easy watch. Nelson’s songs were spread out enough that it made me forget that the sketches weren’t funny. I should add that I watched this episode late at night so maybe that helped my enjoyment. Looking back on the episode I can’t find much that I liked but I smiled a lot while watching it.
Up Next
Valerie Bertenelli hosts. I know her as the host of Kids Baking Championship on The Food Network. I also know her as the wife of Eddie Van Halen. Come to think of it, that’s all I know about her. Did she have a sitcom or something?
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