When we last left the Season 6 team from SNL, they basically left us in the fetal position.
It isn't too often that you walk away from watching SNL feeling that you watched something so dark and dreary and bizarre in addition to not being funny the majority of the time.
With the network now starting to greatly interfere in the behind-the-scenes process with some trying to push for the immediate dismissal of Jean Doumanian, she herself decided she would make her own changes.
This included firing two writers by the name of Sean Kelly and Nancy Dowd, while also deciding she was going to become more stubborn in dealing with the network...something that she stole from Lorne Michaels and how much he would frequently battle network interference.
In this episode, there were 3 sketches (one of them a pre-tape) that riled up the network so much that they fought her hard on getting them removed.
While she agreed to tone down the two sketches, she tried to stand her ground on the pre-tape. She ended up losing the battle and the tape was discarded (though we will see it in the upcoming David Carradine episode).
I will make sure to point out these two sketches, because one of them is relatively tame by today's standards (though still rather dark in its approach) while the other seems so inconsequential that you may struggle to even understand the problem...well unless you are an Evangelical Republican who is ruining the country.
At any rate, the staff got a week off after the Malcolm McDowell trainwreck and I think that break did allow them a bit of renewed energy as this episode, while not great, is a marked improvement over the previous two.
Ellen Burstyn is arguably the most prestigious performer they get to host this season, but I will comment more on her when we get to her monologue.
Let's start discussing the episode and I will make sure to comment on those two sketches and where we start to see some slight improvements.
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COLD OPENING: Rockefeller Announces the U.S. is going Co-op
As we learned in the last episode with his takes on Ronald Reagan and Marlin Perkins, Charles Rocket is not a man for impressions.
But damnit, he is the star and Jean Doumanian wants him front and center every chance he has!
In the case of this sketch, David Rockefeller is not exactly a person that is known much for how they talk or their personality aside from just being the stuffy CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank.
I suppose we should just thank the lord that we aren't having to watch his Reagan impersonation again...although we will sadly have to deal with that more once Reagan takes office a few episodes later.
The idea of the U.S. going co-op and basically evicting poorer citizens to countries like Cambodia and Haiti is actually rather humorous and I think the way this is written actually works. It certainly hits better than a lot of the cold openings I have seen from recent seasons.
What DOES hurt the sketch is the truly lazy shoe-horn of "Live From New York".
Rocket says, "We will welcome you back, and soon you will be -- LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!" while giving us the most wide-eyed hammy spaced-out facial expression for seemingly no reason other than to appear comedic.
Geez, Rocket...you were doing so well!
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OPENING MONTAGE followed by Ellen Burstyn's Monologue
There is a story in the Hill/Weingrad book that Lorne Michaels was having a talk with Burstyn in the early days of SNL before the show even premiered about her hosting during the first season. This ended when Chevy Chase entered and proceeded to act out the scene from The Exorcist where Linda Blair peed herself all over the carpet (with Chase using a watering can to simulate).
This is speculation on my part, but it wouldn't shock me if Burstyn caved to hosting SNL as a means to promote herself and her film Resurrection which had opened two months earlier and had been bombing at the box office. Aside from a quick mention in the monologue, they don't flaunt the film at all.
There isn't much to the monologue, but I suppose the premise works better than the previous two monologues did thanks to Burstyn's energy and just the idea that due to her mostly dramatic material, it is time for her to have fun and lighten up...especially since it is her birthday.
An okay monologue, I suppose.
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COMMERCIAL: Ed McMahon's School of Laughing
This is the first instance of seeing Joe Piscopo in a commercial pitchman role, and while he is certainly no Dan Aykroyd or Phil Hartman or Harry Shearer, he is still one of the strongest in the show's history to do this kind of material.
The idea of this being a way to make easy money by becoming part of a sitcom laugh track is kind of fun...as is the sampling of all the various laughs you often hear on those tapes.
I do have to call out Ann Risley though for some truly unconvincing fake laughter as she acts as though she isn't even trying. It literally does sound like she is saying "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." with only a slightly heightened affection.
As expected, Charles Rocket comes off annoying as one of the laughers while Matthius and Dillon seem more charming.
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SHOW SKETCH: What's It All About? w/ Pinky and Leo Waxman
After making its debut in the season premiere, this sketch returns and actually manages to improve upon the first outing.
The premise hasn't changed much, but I think what works so well is how much Burstyn responds to these two with charm rather than anger like Elliott Gould did.
I do think its fun that that they don't even know her name.
Pinky calls her Helen Bernstein, and the Leo calls her "The Exorcist".
I really love how much they focus on Burstyn's abilities as an actress in this segment and how much Pinky wants to impress her.
My favorite bit is when Pinky mentions she once played Linda Loman (or "Linder" as she says) in Death of a Salesman at a local dinner theatre. She is very proud of this performance and the audience response, saying one of my favorite lines: "They wept, Ellen. They put down their forks and they wept".
Gottfried also excels in this thanks to his thick Yiddish accent when he says that her performance in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was so convincing that he wanted to order a sandwich from her...or when he was intrigued by her adultery in Same Time Next Year...which leads to Burstyn actually starting to flirt with him, much to the shock of Pinky.
I also love when Leo bluntly assumes that Burstyn is bisexual, to which she replies she is "multisexual", which admittedly I don't know how much truth there is to that.
Overall, I liked this one...and so far, this episode is off to a good start.
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THE ROCKET REPORT: A trip on the Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a crucial source of public transportation as it is one of the only ways that residents of Staten Island can actually get to and from Manhattan unless they drive a car over the Verrazano Bridge.
Those orange ferries zig-zag across New York Harbor 24/7...and I should know, I see them from my balcony window seemingly every time I look out it.
As I have established thus far, Rocket does well in these segments...and within the first moments, Rocket reveals his premise. He is convinced that all of the people riding on the ferry back to Staten Island have spent the day in Manhattan having sex.
Right away, the premise sounds fun...and one very charismatic man plays along with Rocket.
ROCKET: How much sex would you say you had today?
MAN: Oh let's see...I had BEAUCOUPS of sex!
But from there, it just sort of settles into a malaise. Instead, it is obvious that he is approaching people and probably asking them how they like commuting the 25-minute ferry ride each day, but it is edited to seem as though it is still about the sex.
While not the weakest Rocket Report we will get, it is still a missed opportunity that didn't live up to its strong beginning.
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SKETCH: Paulie Herman Wants to Date
In many ways, this is the moment that a star was born.
Despite the fact that we've had success with characters like The Waxmans, there is certainly a bit of a lightning bolt with the reveal of Joe Piscopo's Paulie Herman.
Paulie Herman is a character that is certainly divisive...and I won't argue that they dive a tad too much into the well in just the span of 10 episodes, but I do sort of enjoy him.
Paulie is a chemical plant worker from Piscataway who is very proud of his New Jersey roots. Here, he is about to participate in a video dating service and the employee asks for his name and where he is from which leads to his immortal catchphrase:
"I'm from Jersey! (obnoxious laugh) Are you from Jersey?! (obnoxious laugh) I'M from Jersey!"
As a native Jersey-ite, Piscopo is definitely having a ball doing this character...particularly with how he proceeds to serenade Gail Matthius with Anthony Newley's "Who Can I Turn To?" or when he gleefully and proudly states he would take his date to the Paramus Mall.
With Piscopo staring down the barrel of the camera with his scrunched-up face, I gotta admit...I find it a lot of fun...even if a lot of the sketches that utilize him following this fail to really come close to the excitement from here.
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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Aretha Franklin performs "United Together"
While not a song that is remembered from her canon, I have to say that Ms. Franklin sounds exquisite here on this very jazzy/Easy Listening tune.
It definitely has that late 70s/early 80s Adult Contemporary vibe, but Franklin does find a way to impress with her remarkable voice.
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WEEKEND UPDATE with Charles Rocket but it is actually stolen by an uncredited extra....
So yes...this installment of Weekend Update is most known for being the official true debut of Eddie Murphy on SNL...but I will get to that in a moment.
First off, you can tell that people noticed about the dark set/lighting in the previous two episodes which now has lighter fixtures and a world map behind Rocket...but the lighting is still a little dim, which will become very noticeable later on.
Rocket's jokes, as mostly written by Brian Doyle-Murray, are still very weak but maybe not near the level of painful dreck that the previous two installments provided. The audience also seems far more receptive this time, which is probably due to the fact that the episode so far has not featured sketches about redneck Nazis.
One of the more successful jokes comes from this installment is the one is about Ed Koch being found kissing Bella Abzug, which was meant more as knock to Koch to the rumors of him being gay.
Piscopo comes on as his sportscaster character, still not fully in form yet, but as the legend goes, he allowed some of his time to be chopped off so that Eddie Murphy could have his official speaking debut.
The premise was originally created by Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, who saw an article about how a judge in Cleveland declared that for the sake of racial equality, there needed to be a certain number of white guys on high school basketball teams.
Murphy met with the two and they devised a monologue and character: Raheem Abdul Mohammed (who would go on to become a recurring character though not in this same context).
As soon as the camera pans to Murphy, you just instantly know this guy has something...and then hilariously, they have to adjust the lighting because...embarrassingly, it is so dark that is hard to see him clearly at first.
Right off the bat, you get the line about how he has been a junior at the high school for "going on 7 years now" which isn't met with much response, but detail is fantastic.
The meat of the monologue is about how white people try to appropriate black things, such as how we style our hair, wearing platform shoes, and how by 1981, white people will be on welfare.
By this point, the audience is laughing and applauding to which you get the only glimmer of Murphy sort of appearing "green" in that he awkwardly pauses not expecting to get that applause break.
The moment finally ends when Murphy proclaims that if God wanted "whites to be equal to blacks, everybody would have one of these", to which he pulls out a ghetto blaster to much uproarious laughter and applause.
Just like that, this 19 year old kid who grew up on Long Island and was treated like dirt by most of the entire staff, waltzed onto Weekend Update and stole the show in less than a minute.
This is quickly followed by the camera cutting back to Rocket (who is now practically blinded by the sudden change in lighting) and he tries to do a stupid bit about a report being handed to him and not actually commenting on what it says...which promptly dies with the audience.
We do get another Gilbert Gottfried character named Dr. Calvin Zuko, who is saying he doesn't believe that the female orgasm exists because he "has been with a lot of women, and not a single one of them has had an orgasm". While not the greatest bit ever, I do commend Gottfried for not having any shame in directly making himself the butt of the joke.
This will end up being one of the better installments of Update this season by default. Rocket simply doesn't improve as he will find new ways to make us squirm as we watch each time.
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SHOW SKETCH: Our Front Door
This is the first of the two sketches tonight that got relentless protests from NBC's team.
A perky suburban family straight out of a 50s sitcom is overjoyed and intrigued when a junkie comes to their door looking to sell potholders to further keep up his habit.
Piscopo does well as the stuffy father who tells his wife that a junkie is at the door, which leads to Matthius as the wife saying in this sort of sing-songy voice: "A junkie? Well, ask him IN!"
I think this sketch mostly falls into misguided rather than all-out terrible.
It feels like a sketch that might've fit more into one of the last two episodes due to its darker undertone...particularly when Gottfried as the son asks if he ever OD'd and later when Rocket shows them his track marks...which is one of those moments where you can feel the audience's tension, even if it is broken by Piscopo's great line delivery of "That's quite an arm!".
While not as rough as some of the worst sketches from the first two episodes, this is still the first true dud of the night and that is actually kind of a major win for this season thus far.
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SHORT FILM: Pepe Gonzalez
It's cute and sort of fun, but this film featuring Gilbert Gottfried as NYC's only matador is just not my cup of tea. I do love a lot of the street visuals as I am a sucker for NYC in that era...but it isn't really worth much beyond that.
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SKETCH: Planned Parenthood
This is the second sketch that the network had an issue with.
Nowadays, I am sure a lot of Republicans would even hate the idea of this sketch even happening...just as I am sure they probably did then.
Although, I think the direct talk about sex/orgasms/birth control is what really drove the network to be offended...but of course, they didn't seem to be offended about Gilbert Gottfried's take on the subject of orgasms.
As for the sketch itself, it is pretty solid. Gail Matthius is back as Vickie the Valley Girl character, but she gets paired with Denny Dillon playing her best friend Debbie...and automatically, it makes the sketch work a lot better.
I do think the idea of putting them in the Planned Parenthood setting does feel fresh...especially when taking into account that this aired in 1980 after a particularly conservative presidential candidate just won in a landslide.
Perhaps my favorite moment is when Vickie tells the counselor, played by Burstyn, that she already takes birth control to help with her acne...but that she steals it from her mother's supply and replaces the pills with saccharin.
I wouldn't say that the Vickie/Debbie sketches are necessarily great when they come along, but I respect them a lot because of the character work. When it comes to the true unsung hero of this season, I think a lot of people who watch this season now would agree with me that Gail Matthius is that person.
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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Aretha Franklin performs "Can't Turn You Loose"
While yet another song from her catalog that isn't exactly known today, Franklin does an excellent job with this up-tempo number. It serves as a great contrast to "United Together" and works well as a lively addition in the waning moments of the show.
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SKETCH: Mary Louise's Lesson
This is one of those sketches where I feel like the idea is fun, but it is just yet another example where I find the execution/pacing/timing of it to be a bit erratic.
The trope of someone using a puppet to vent out frustrations has been seen many a time, but I do think Denny Dillon does well enough as the snobby British child who can't help but interrupt her tutor's history lesson.
Although - this sketch is the first of the evening (not counting her lethargic laughing performance in the School of Laughing sketch) to feature Ann Risley in a somewhat prominent role as the cockney maid.
Here, we can see that Risley seemingly has a talent for accents but her nervous and subdued energy with it just doesn't work for the sketch. It almost feels like she is trying to restrain herself even though something a little bolder would work for the comedy.
Dillon's Mary Louise mocks the maid, saying how she is of "the lower class", which...of course...it is England...gotta love that stuffy class system. And that is what makes Risley snap...and while I do think the vulnerable nervous energy does make us side with her, something just feels off with the energy and the timing.
Burstyn plays the straight character as the tutor, but she provides the right kind of strict energy.
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SHOW SKETCH: The Toni Tennille Show - Live From the Westchester County Courthouse
Oh lord...
So, first off...Toni Tenille, best known as half of the famous husband/wife duo Captain & Tennille, briefly had a daytime talk show in the fall of 1980...and it was considered one of the biggest and cheesiest flops in the history of the talk show format.
The idea of putting a talk show like that in a very unlikely setting could make for some fun dividends, but instead...we get yet another case where the idea simply just doesn't work and I also think that another major issue comes from the sketch's lead.
Despite being so lightly featured in the first two episodes and barely even in this episode, the final half hour of this episode is dominated with Ann Risley in the previous sketch, the sketch following this one, and the chance to finally anchor a sketch herself here.
As Toni Tennille, she certainly does an okay job at the vain/narcissist energy (which judging by how Risley was described in the Hill/Weingrad book isn't exactly a stretch), but the opening in which she sings the famous "Love Will Keep Us Together" is laughable.
Risley doesn't appear to be a singer, as she seems to flip back and forth from being too sharp or too flat with the notes.
The actual setting is at the Westchester County Courthouse where she is set to interview Jean Harris, the woman accused of murdering Dr. Herman Tarnower, the man behind the Scarsdale Diet.
Dillon plays Harris, but she isn't given much to do. Most of the sketch, she just repeats some variation of "I didn't do it!" while Tennille talks to the camera about silly and somewhat problematic personal problems she has at home with her husband Daryl (The Captain) Dragon.
This post-Update section is not as strong as the pre-Update section, but thankfully we will see another uptick with the next segments.
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SHORT FILM/SONG: Fish-Heads
This is a truncated version of the now-cult favorite short film that is frequently credited to the late actor Bill Paxton.
Fish-Heads is such a bizarre little gem of a song that manages to stay stuck in your brain forever...and I think it is worth checking out the full video on its own separate from the cut version we have here.
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SKETCH: Children Ruin Everything
Some have deemed this sketch to be way too mean-spirited and that it could be grouped in with the shock value material I have been complaining about, but in all honesty, I ike this one.
The setup is that Charles Rocket & Ann Risley tell their kids (Gail Matthius and writer Mitchell Kriegman making his only live appearance on the show) that they are getting divorced and that they are the reason for it.
Now, in the case, I am still not overly happy with the performances of Rocket or Risley for the most part but this is one where just the whole idea of the sketch helps carry it without too much concern for the performances.
I do love how the seem to blame their children for the downfall of the country, such as the assassinations of RFK and MLK Jr to the economy crashing...which leads to my favorite exchange:
MATTHIUS: Oh gosh, I'm sorry I was ever born!
RISLEY: Well, so are we darling...
The fact that Kriegman is here makes me wonder if he had a hand in writing this one. Despite Kriegman's genteel nature (and eventual success in children's TV), he did show moments of having a deliciously dark comedic side...which will blossom in a sketch in the next episode).
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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Keith Sykes performs "B.I.G. T.I.M.E."
The musical guest roster this season is undeniably impressive for the most part. In this case, we get the first of a new idea for the season which is the "New Talent" portion. Each week, an up-and-coming talent gets the chance to do a song on the show. For the most part, these artists don't leave a lasting impression (except for one major exception we get later this season) and I would loop Keith Sykes into that group as I am pretty sure I have not heard anything of him or his work outside of this one appearance.
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SKETCH: Lonely Old Lady
Who would've thought going into this season that this particular staff of writers and cast members would excel in doing the quiet semi-dramatic character pieces that were a staple of original writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller?
This sketch manages to be the season's first true success and while I wouldn't be shocked if many at the time wrote it off as being dumb and boring and pointless, they simply would've just been blinded by the worst aspects we encountered thus far.
The pairing of Gail Matthius and Ellen Burstyn is fantastic as the former gets to further do great character work and the latter gets a chance to really show her dramatic chops after telling the audience she was going to "lighten up" in her monologue.
Matthius plays a little girl wearing a bunny outfit who is dared to knock on Burstyn's door because she has a reputation as being a creepy old lady, whereas she's actually just incredibly lonely and mourning the loss of her family.
Matthius' little girl voice is fantastic and reminds me so much of the little girl characters that Gilda Radner would play, but the vocal work reminds me a lot of when Laraine Newman would get the chance to do those characters.
I had heard about this sketch before actually seeing it, so a lot of the shock of it didn't really land but I feel like this had to hit like a ton of bricks for those originally watching it. I feel like everything about this sketch works so well, and the crazy thing is that there is another bittersweet slice-of-life sketch from later in the season that I would consider even better than this one.
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GOODNIGHTS
The cast wishes Burstyn a Happy Birthday and noticeably, Eddie Murphy is front and center.
Right where he should be.
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
Compared to the first two episodes, this one was basically a success. It certainly had its downsides, but overall, it showed a lot of promise for this group.
While this episode is certainly known for being Eddie Murphy's real true debut moment, I think multiple viewings of it had made me appreciate that there truly was more to this group than may meet the eye. I think they just needed time to grow and to simply have a better leader at the helm...and perhaps fire one or two of the cast members.
This episode still establishes Denny Dillon's strength as a performer, but it also establishes the strengths of Joe Piscopo and Gail Matthius.
Even with all of that, there is no way to ignore or deny that Eddie Murphy in a matter of just a couple of seconds proved that he had whatever "IT" is to truly pop on TV. His natural presence and confidence was exactly what the show needed...and honestly, while you can see that in Piscopo, Matthius, and even Dillon, there is simply just something cosmic about how Murphy just steals everything so quickly.
A pretty solid show that happens to contain one of the best sketches of the whole season that is actually worthy of high praise.
I wish I could say that the high wave continues but the next episode ends up dipping again. I am not saying it'll get to Malcolm McDowell levels of bad (although the winter episodes will flirt with that), but the show is going to struggle more until we manage to get a surprisingly strong episode during a mostly dire winter stretch.
Stay tuned for the fourth episode of the season which will be hosted by then-Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis.
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