“Maintain low tones”
2 Stars
Dan and Gilda wait outside the elevator for Ralph Nader’s arrival. He shows up in a cowboy hat, flashy jacket, and a good old boy attitude, excited for his showbiz debut. His consumer advocacy rears its head when red dye #2 and hotdogs filled with rat excrement come up. Not a bad use of the host but I can’t say it’s instilling me with confidence that he’s gonna be funny. The ending gag of Laraine popping his airbag seemed to be mistimed as nothing happens but Ralph keeps it moving by quickly saying “Live from New York…”.
Ralph Nader Monologue
Quick and breezy monologue, as Ralph starts talking about NBC's parent company we cut to a graphic claiming technical difficulties. The camera also starts panning away from him as he mentions his lawsuit with the network.
Long Distance
4 Stars
Who’s this dude? The opening credits made no mention of a new cast member. In a way it’s funny that he wasn’t credited as it probably made this look like a real commercial at first for some. But in all other ways it stinks because Bill is really funny in his first appearance. He’s an old man waiting for his grandson to call and gets more angry the longer he waits, eventually admitting that he hopes the ungrateful idiot dies and goes to Hell.
T.V. Execution
4 Stars
I thought this was another reference to Gary Gilmore but this is about a different guy who will be having a public execution (although I don't think this is based on any real case). We see the dress rehearsal where some guy who looks like a younger version of the dude in the Long Distance ad directs the warden and prisoner on their line delivery and motivation. Bill is once again killing it here in his first episode. I liked Dan's stiff and awkward performance as he uncomfortably reads off cue cards. Tom Schiller also does good work here. A nice touch with the electric chair being a Mainway Fry King.
Baba Wawa Talks To Herself
2 Stars
Baba Wawa promotes her new special where she has no guests and will be talking to herself about her favorite subject, herself. I think Gilda is good in these but maybe it's my distance from Barbara Walters that causes these to wash over me and be totally forgettable. This is also a case of "show, don’t tell". It's just Gilda talking about a special we'll never see. It may have been more fun to see some clips of the show she's promoting, maybe a cutaway of her giving a cooking demonstration to a mirror.
George Benson
“Masquerade”
Nader / Carter
3 Stars
A good opening laugh with Ralph Nader buckling the seatbelt on his chair to fasten himself in for a nap. He dreams of meeting with President Carter and pitching him all his ideas. The President is receptive to his entire agenda but also has plans to restart the Confederacy. Like with all political material I will always feel like I’m missing something but this isn’t inside baseball. As soon as Dan starts his yee-haws you realize it’s just supposed to be a silly sketch.
Weekend Update
Speaking of the new guy, Bill Murray gets his first Update appearance. It’s also the first time we hear his name. He gives a report about Rosalyn Carter that focus solely on the back of her leg.
Laraine interviews Texxon chairman Mr. Rigg who will be fine with solar energy as long as they can legally own the sun and price gouge to the eclipse.
Emily Litella returns again. It’s been one month in real time but I just saw her in the last episode. This time she’s mad about making Puerto Rico a steak and they repeat the same ‘bitch’ tag that they introduced last time. They add bunny ears, so that keeps it fresh I guess.
Andy Kaufman
5 Stars
The classic Foreign Man does impressions bit. Andy does terrible impersonations of Jimmy Carter and his Aunt Esther before launching into Elvis. Ending with a “Tank you veddy much”, I shouldn’t have to explain why this is funny.
Party Dolls
3 Stars
The good ol’ make-the-host-look-like-a-weird-sex-pervert sketch. Garrett comes to interview Ralph while he’s “safety testing” a bunch of blow-up dolls and berating them for being naughty. I love the idea of this but Nader just isn’t a good comic foil. It should be a lot funnier than it ends up being.
Rerun of the Gary Weis film Garbage from Season 1
The Coneheads At Home
4 Stars
A late in the night debut of a classic recurring sketch. The Coneheads make their first appearance and I was surprised how much of the lore was set up in this first sketch. Beldar explains how they came to this planet and started a family and got a job as a driving instructor. It feels like a Coneheads pilot but that could be me knowing I’m gonna get more of this. Because there’s no way they thought this was gonna be popular enough to come back week after week, right? It’s just so bizarre that you’re probably lucky to get it on once. But this is the same show that keeps bringing bees and Emily Litella for every show so I imagine they’ll milk it for all it’s worth. Bill continues to shine tonight doing great straight man work as Connie’s boyfriend.
George Benson returns with “Gonna Love You More”
Youth Asks The Questions
3 Stars
Young people ask dumb questions to Ralph Nader. Laraine’s valley girl, Gilda’s Long Island Jewish princess, and Bill all take turns with irrelevant questions about Ricardo Montalban. It’s funny with good performances but you get the joke quick and they just keep repeating it. Bill continues his good work as a guy who really wants to know where to get the best deal on stereo equipment.
Rerun of Ambassador Training Institute from Season 1
FINAL ANALYSIS
“Not today, I have a yeast infection”
3.3 Stars
MVP
Bill Murray
Long Distance, T.V. Execution, Weekend Update, The Coneheads At Home, Youth Asks The Question
Best Sketch
The Coneheads At Home
Worst Sketch
Baba Wawa Talks To Herself
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I had no complaints on this one, the episode flowed nicely and the excitement of new blood probably helped a lot. I’m glad they put him in a bunch of stuff right out the gate. I guess the one thing you could have done is credit him. The only thing I didn’t like was the Gary Weis film but Garbage oddly felt at home in the Ralph Nader episode.
Host Analysis
It’s SNL 101, you got a host who’s not an entertainer then have them play themselves in every sketch and have them lust over inflatable hump dolls in at least one sketch. He was perfectly fine in what they gave him and wasn’t in enough of the show to get in the way of anything funny.
Final Thoughts
Way better than I was expecting from the Ralph Nader episode. After Dick Cavett and Paul Simon and Norman Lear to a lesser extent, I was dreading another non-actor taking the reins but he was fine. This was also boosted by the Bill Murray energy. I didn’t know this was his first show until he showed up. I had to rewind to see if I missed him in the opening credits only to find he wasn’t in there. I also didn’t realize John wasn’t in this episode until they said something so shows how observant I am. Did you know Chevy left the show? A solid outing for Bill who really dominated tonight. One of the most impressive first episodes for a cast member in the show’s history. Goes to show you how the show can evolve and how nobody is irreplaceable. I haven’t missed Chevy, I didn’t miss John tonight, and I already want more from the new kid.
Up Next
Ruth Gordon becomes SNL’s oldest host.
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