Saturday Night Live Season 16 Reviews - Episode 17 - Catherine O'Hara / R.E.M.

"I figured after we shtup we could eat some chink food"

Cold Open: Affair

5 Stars

Nancy Reagan and Frank Sinatra consummate their affair

Before the sketch, Don Pardo reads a disclaimer that this is a dramatization based on rumor and innuendo.  Nancy Reagan is alone in her bedroom while her husband Ronald is about to give a speech to the nation.  A Chinese food delivery man comes to the door but it’s actually Frank Sinatra in disguise.  He’s made it with every First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.  Nancy’s got the best rack, Bess Truman had the best ass and he once did Pat Nixon in an airplane bathroom.  After some playful banter they get on the bed and begin to make love as Nancy turns on Ronald’s speech, it gets her hot to have him watch.  On the TV, Ronald, also played by Hartman, speaks about selling arms to Iran and hiring the captain of the Exxon Valdez.  As their sex gets more loud and violent, the ceiling starts to cave in on Ronald.  He seems to be completely aware of what’s going on as he tells the American people that Frank and Nancy must be going at it upstairs.  This was apparently based on an unauthorized biography about Nancy that just came out but you need no context to enjoy.  Hartman is fantastic pulling double duty and at one point posing as a coat rack to hide from security.

Catherine O'Hara Monologue

3 Stars

Catherine improvises a song

Catherine hasn’t been in front of a live audience since her improvisation days so because of that she wants to improvise a song based on a book title suggested by an audience member.  Bob Odenkirk is in the audience and suggests The Bonfire Of The Vanities but she doesn’t like that.  Another woman suggests The Art Of The Deal but Catherine would much rather do Presumed Innocent.  She also informs us that she will be singing in a foreign language and she brought along an improv group to translate.  She sings gibberish while Julia, Farley, Dana, Mike and Victoria pretend to be unfunny improvisers.  I liked the first part where Catherine was doing everything but improvising, the actual improv part wasn’t really funny.  I feel like the joke would be better if they admitted that they were in fact SNL cast members and this entire bit was scripted.  This felt kind of thrown together last minute.

Rerun of The Dancer

Sprockets

3 Stars

Dieter welcomes Germany's biggest actress to the show

Dieter welcomes Veronika Goethe, Germany’s greatest actress to his show.  She shows some clips of films she has been in like a black and white film where she plays a head in a rusty metal box and another one where she plucks petal from a flower next to a deer before opening a door to see a fat man in a diaper.  Dieter asks her to tell an amusing anecdote but grows tired of it quickly and before you know it, it is the time on Sprockets where we dance.  The filmed bits were funny and this had some good lines.  I have never been a big fan of Dieter but at least this was briskly paced.  They stick to one guest, their dialogue is rapid fire and he clips break up the monotony of the typical talk show sketch.

MTV Spring Break 1991

2 Stars

Spring break at the Kennedy compound

Victoria is playing Christina Applegate and is hosting MTV spring break live from the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach.  Phil comes out as Ted Kennedy, sans pants, and invites her up to his room.  Spade and Spike Feresten show up as The Nelsons and interview a Kennedy cousin who plays a game of how quickly he can pick up a girl.  Rock is Flavor Flav and is with the winner of the "Spend a week with a Kennedy contest winner".  The winner is Mike who is less that enthusiastic that the Kennedy he is saddled with is Rose, the elderly wheelchair bound matriarch who complains about being cold.  There were a few good gags in here but it was way too long.  I'm sure it was based on something topical at the time.

It's Pat

2 Stars

Pat goes shopping

We get our first appearance of the It's Pat theme song.  Pat goes shopping and the storekeeper, Catherine, is confused as to Pat's gender.  She tries to ask leading questions to Pat and Pat keeps deflecting.  If you've seen one Pat sketch you've seen every Pat sketch.  Catherine thinks she has figured it out when Pat asks for condoms but Pat declares that safe sex is the responsibility of both partners.  When Pat leaves, Catherine passes out.  I felt that the last Pat sketch was a little mean spirited, this is worse.  I gotta keep this in a 1990 frame of mind but I felt this was homophobic and trans-phobic.  The fact that Catherine passed out at the end due to exhaustion or fear, I don't know, felt very mean.  I'm wondering if anyone who identifies as a different gender than what they were born as watched this at the time and felt the same way.

 We get a Deep Thoughts that gives advice as to what to do if you're falling from the Sears Tower.  Go real limp because people will think you're a dummy and try to catch you.  Because you know, hey, free dummy.

R.E.M.
"Losing My Religion"

Barry Judd from High Fidelity would refer to this as 'sad bastard music'.  It's weird, this song is not especially toe tapping but I find my toe tapping regardless.

Weekend Update

"And I am getting sick of getting hassled by the man"

We get jokes about Kitty Kelley's Nancy Reagan biography and a scandal at the Kennedy compound which make the previous sketches makes sense.  Then there's a weird reaction to a story about Merv Griffin being accused of sexual harassment by a man.

"So wait a second, is Merv Griffin gay?  Well then what am I doing watching Wheel Of Fortune?  Wait a second, Wheel's a great show.  Does it matter if the creator is gay?  I guess I got a lot of growing up to do."

He also gets a dig at former cast member Jon Lovitz when he reacts to a story about Jon playing an out of work actor who kills his competition to get a part as typecasting.  He apologizes during the goodnights by holding up a sign that says, 'Lovitz, I was just kidding'.

David Spade returns with another In & Out segment.
Out: Sleeping With The Enemy.  In: Sleeping with me.
In: Catherine O'Hara.  Out: Sucking up to the host to get cast in the Home Alone sequel.
Out: Not enunciating so the censors can't bust me.  In: *mumbles something incoherent that sounds like 'going out to get some pussy'*

Justice League

1 Star

Fantastic Woman's method of flying is called into question

This felt like a sketch I would have liked as a kid because it involves lame and obvious jokes and superheroes.  It feels like a sketch I could have written as a kid for the same reasons.  Superman calls in Fantastic Woman to address the fact that she flies standing up rather than laying down.  He thinks this is weird and wants her to fly the proper way.  He is seconded by The Incredible Kiss Ass and we also see fellow Justice League members Prissy Man, Calcium Man, Super Pope and Mighty Zombie.  So many costumes went into this sketch but they forgot to write any jokes.  I often wonder when I'm watching SNL if they sometimes pick sketches based on the set.  The audience is completely silent for this which leaves me to believe that it probably didn't do that well in dress rehearsal either but I doubt they would cut it seeing as how they spent so much money on it.

Frank Gannon, P.I. P.I.

2 Stars

A politically incorrect private investigator

A man has been murdered and Frank Gannon is called in to investigate.  Gannon is a P.I. P.I. as in politically incorrect private investigator.  He is confused because he was told the victim was a professor but the dead man is black.  When told that the black man was a professor he assumes that he must have been a professor of black studies.  He is also confused when Catherine introduces herself as the victim's wife and that she didn't take his name and that she's a professor herself.  Things get more confusing for Frank when Tim is also a professor and that this crime didn't seem to involve drugs at all.  Scenes from next week's episode show Gannon trying to figure out a lesbian couple and their adopted son.  I hate to micro-analyze a stupid sketch from 30 years ago but, then again, what am I doing if not that.  Gannon is not brazenly politically incorrect like his title says, he seems more ignorant to how other people live their lives.  When his views are questioned he's never adamant that he's right and is just un-PC but he just gets more confused.  Archie Bunker is politically incorrect, this guy is just an idiot.

In Conclusion Theatre

4 Stars

The ending scene of a weird play

In Conclusion Theatre is a segment that just shows the ending to plays.  This week's installment is Inherit The Pride Of The Wind where Phil is leaving a house after renting a room.  He apologizes for telling them that he was from outer space and Catherine tells him he should see a doctor for all his raccoon bites.  Randy Quaid (for some reason) is sitting on the porch with tiny legs, Mike has an Elvis Costello wig and Dana has one of his eyes hanging from its socket.  Kevin comes in wearing a viking helmet, angel wings and a grass skirt and Catherine is excited to see that all his dreams finally came true.  Farley comes in on crutches and Catherine shoots him dead.  A raccoon laughs.  The audience was dead for this and understandably so.  It took a second for me to figure out what was going on but once I was on board I thought this was an absurd delight.  I think maybe the audience response led to a lack of commitment from the actors.  I needed something this weird in an episode like this.  It's one of the rare sketches where I can say I would like to see this again.

R.E.M. returns with "Shiny Happy People" which is the exact opposite of the previous song.  Michael Stipe and Kate Pierson of The B-52's sing and dance about people laughing, smiling and holding hands and loving life.  It's a fun song but man, this is very repetitive.

Daily Affirmation

3 Stars

Stuart talks to the Kurds in Iraq

Stuart Smalley has had a hard time focusing on himself since he's been spending too much time thinking about Iraq.  He wants to send out a special affirmation to any Kurds that might be watching.  They are angry at their situation and at Bush and at Saddam.  But that's okay.  People are not perfect and they are entitled to their anger.  Stuart was once in a similar situation when he was in a 3 year relationship with a rageaholic.  Stuart starts to lose track of his narrative and admits that this might not have been his best show.  This is the 3rd time we've seen Stuart and I think it's about time we see him win just once.

Wedding And A Funeral

1 Star

A woman gets married to a dead man

People at a funeral are talking about the deceased and how he managed to avoid getting married even though he lived with his girlfriend for 17 years.  As the preacher starts to give the eulogy, Catherine comes in wearing a wedding dress apparently thinking that it's better to be late than never.  The preacher is confused and starts doing half a wedding and half a funeral.  The sketch never goes anywhere after the initial reveal of O'Hara in a dress.  I feel like this could have been a funny sketch but the main character doesn't even have any lines so it's hard to figure out what's going on until it's too late.  It just ends with Catherine slamming a wedding ring on the coffin and throwing her bouquet.

FINAL ANALYSIS

"You pull down my pants and taunt me"

Average

2.6 Stars

MVP

Phil Hartman
Affair, MTV Spring Break 1991, Justice League, In Conclusion Theatre

Best Sketch

Affair

Worst Sketch

Justice League

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

Shorten MTV Spring Break and make it the cold open and then figure out a clever ending to Affair and make it the lead off sketch.  Placement was fine for the rest of the episode, pretty much all of the sketches were lame so it doesn't matter where they go.  That Justice League sketch really needed a second or third draft.  It had some interesting ideas but they had no idea what to do with them.

Host Analysis

They obviously trusted Catherine O'Hara as they put her out center in almost every single sketch.  If only they gave her something funny to do.  I don't blame her at all for the quality of this episode.

Final Thoughts

The back end of this season has turned into a real snooze-fest.  Maybe I'm running out of steam too because I can't think of anything else to say except that I didn't like this much at all.

Up Next

Oh, here we go!  Steven Seagal.