Saturday Night Live Season 2 Reviews - Episode 6 - Buck Henry / The Band

“I’m in love and my hives are cured”

Cold Open: Halloween Jaws

3 Stars

Gilda gets a trick or treater at 2am but it’s the land shark again.  It was nice to see Chevy’s head pop out to say “Live from New York…” knowing that it’s the last time we’ll be hearing it for a while.

Buck Henry Monologue

3 Stars

Buck praises the cast and spills some secrets.  John is in debt to the mafia, Dan sleeps with a bicycle chain in his mouth, Gilda is uncomfortably close to her brother, Garrett is a cannibal, and Chevy is leaving the show to open a dress shop with a guy named Lloyd.

Samurai Stockbroker

3 Stars

Not too crazy about seeing Samurai Futaba for a 6th time.  I also think stockbroker is the least fun environment we’ve seen him in.  I do enjoy Buck’s one-sided conversations and he’s really the only foil who works in these sketches.  This does have the infamous moment where Buck gets cut in the forehead.  You see him react just slightly to getting grazed by John’s sword, then to make matters worse he is forced to jump through a window and doesn’t seem to have the smoothest of landings.

Not For First Ladies Only

3 Stars

Baba Wawa interviews Betty Ford and Roslyn Carter.  I’m already tired of Baba Wawa but there were a lot of fun bits with the prospective First Ladies.  Betty is the kind of person you can’t picture going to the bathroom, Roslyn lusts after her husband, Jimmy likes to dress like Eleanor Roosevelt.

Roots

3 Stars

Garrett tells the story of his ancestors complete with photographs, most of whom played by Garrett.  Some good lines but it goes on way too long.  The payoff of it leading to a Hollywood Squares intro was so dumb it made me laugh but it was a long journey to get there.

Debate ‘76

4 Stars

The first thing you notice is the big ass bandage on Buck’s forehead.  Chevy wears one as well in solidarity.  We’ve come to the final round of the debate, the swimsuit competition.  Buck’s introductions of the candidates as if they were beauty queens are hilarious.

Weekend Update

Chevy’s bandage seems to have gotten bigger and tonight’s top story is about a drugged out Belushi slicing up Buck Henry.  We get an attack ad on Jimmy Carter that is audio of his Playboy interview and an attack ad on Ford that’s simply his pardoning of Nixon.

Bat-O-Matic

3 Stars

For the witches and warlocks, a blender for bats to speed up your spells.  At first I shrugged a Bass-o-Matic knockoff but then I remembered that this is the Halloween episode so all is forgiven.

Jane gets a couple of Update jokes and says that Chevy will be leaving to replace Johnny Carson.  Then we get an odd transition where it pans from Jane to a two shot and then to Chevy leaving Jane to just stare awkwardly at the camera for a while.  Chevy ends his final Update with a call from Francisco Franco.  It is crazy that Chevy was in less than 30 episodes.  Just a drop in the bucket of a 50 year saga, only a few more episodes than Brian Doyle-Murray, but when I was a kid he was the untouchable legend.  Now that I’ve seen every Chevy Update, what do I have to say?  He was fine.

The Band

“Life Is A Carnival / The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down / Stage Fright”

This was fairly epic.  I have no knowledge of the history of this band but I didn’t need to.  This felt like a moment.

The OintMENt

1 Star

Buck and Jane are bemoaning their son Damien.  There’s an impaled priest, a dead nanny, a visit to a pet cemetery, this was long and dull.  Granted, it’s been a while since I’ve seen The Omen so maybe I’m missing some subtle jokes but I had no idea what this was going for.  Down to the title I’m confused, they talk about ointment at the very end but it had nothing to do with anything else.

It’s Halloween Tonight

4 Stars

Another Gary Weis film I’ve enjoyed this season.  It’s nothing exemplary but it’s more than just an interview with some dude I don’t know.  Buck gets into makeup for Halloween and transforms into a woman, looking very Golden Girls chic, while a cool Howard Shore song plays.

Houdini’s Grave

Buck talks to Garrett from Houdini’s grave.  He was scared from some Spanish guy named Frank Sanfrancisco.

Mr. Mike’s Least-Loved Bedtime Tales

4 Stars

Mr. Mike tells us about The Enchanted Thermos where a little Eskimo finds a genie that feeds him snow casserole which kills him so he robs the corpse…it’s better when he tells it.

Houdini’s Grave

3 Stars

Payoff to the previous scene with Garrett at Houdini’s grave.  Now he’s got himself a fright wig.  A nice flow to this back half with Buck introducing each segment and everything has a Halloween feel.

The Band

“Georgia”

This is either too much keyboards or not enough keyboards.  Also, is this like the greatest band ever assembled?  No lie, I need to listen to their stuff.

FINAL ANALYSIS

“…and a generous glass of slush”

Average

3.1 Stars

MVP

Garrett Morris

Roots, Debate ‘76, Houdini’s Grave

Best Sketch

Debate ‘76

Worst Sketch

The OintMENt

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

I wonder how much was shuffled around to cover for Buck’s injury.  Ending with The Band was a good choice.  I also enjoyed the back half run with Buck setting up the Gary Weis film, Garrett, and Mr. Mike.  It’s all good except for The OintMENT so you can cut that if you want, I wouldn’t mind giving The Band another song instead.

Host Analysis

A great Master of Ceremonies and sketch player as well as one of the best straight men in the business.  Buck’s an awesome host plus, you know, he got his head sliced open by a samurai sword and still finished the show.  So that’s gotta earn some points.

Final Thoughts

A very good episode and it had a nice sense of finality for Chevy’s farewell.  I’m glad they didn’t make a big deal out of him leaving but having The Band there almost seems like it’s a grand finale.  When we come back it will feel like a different show and I’m looking forward to it.  Nothing against Chevy, I’m just a creature that craves change.  This episode felt like a cool hang.  I put this on and fell into a nice groove.  The Band added to that.  While they were playing their medley I snuck into the kitchen to get some cheese.  I’m slicing up cheese, eating cheese, and grooving to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, my life could be way worse right now.

Up Next

Dick Cavett returns with musical guest Ry Cooder