They may not have been doing these live episodes for too long, but I think this group needed a break.
Thanks to all of the hoopla with the 1980 election starting the season super late, the Doumanian team are only on their 5th episode as they approach the 1980 holiday break.
Behind-the-scenes tensions are the theme-du-jour and the network is now starting to interfere more than they ever had before with the show.
Doumanian placed a lot of the blame solely on the writers and felt that they were the reason that the show was floundering...and she seemed completely in denial about any of her shortcomings in the role.
Sure, the writing wasn't consistent by any means but so far, these 5 episodes do have solid moments amongst the disasters. We also see good concepts that aren't developed to their best potential...and that truly has to fall back onto Doumanian for not having the proper wherewithal to allow someone to oversee the writing.
Technically, Doumanian DID have a headwriter on staff. I did mention in the prologue post that the prolific Mason Williams had been hired but Doumanian seemed almost too weary to allow him any kind of creative control.
This would prove to be his last episode as he finally succumbed to the drama.
And truthfully, this episode is not really a success by any means. It also sets the tone for some strange dynamics going into the shows of Winter 1981.
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COLD OPEN: Piscopo Does Pardo
As of this episode, we've only really seen Piscopo do an impersonation of Jimmy Carter (which was okay) and Jim Fowler of Wild Kingdom (which was at least better than Rocket's Marlin Perkins) but here, I feel like we get a real taste of his talent.
Piscopo is, without a doubt, one of the more infamous SNL players as it seemed as though he was on top of the world, and then he lost it all. Out of morbid curiosity, I will tune into his radio show as I do live in NYC and while he is still very charismatic, he's also a right-wing lunatic. So much of Piscopo's career is known for his brief highs on SNL that got overshadowed by Eddie Murphy and then his career just never truly took off.
I do feel like Piscopo's impersonations were often solid at least, but he had many misfires (such as his take on Johnny Carson's Art Fern) and some successes (Frank Sinatra and David Letterman).
I think his biggest issue is that his own vocal timbre would bleed into some of his impersonations, which is sort of what happens here when he attempts to do his take on the show's long-time legendary announcer Don Pardo.
Piscopo's goal is to do the impression so he can find a way to make an extra paycheck, until Pardo chimes in from above ("I'm EEEVERYWHEREEEE JOOOOEEEE!") to put a stop to it.
That's followed by a silence and an awkward "Live From New York" shoe-horn.
It is fine for what it is...not to mention super quick.
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MONTAGE
&
MONOLOGUE:
I can't say that I have much of an opinion about David Carradine. As evidenced by how frequently it will be mentioned in this episode, Carradine was linked to the TV show Kung Fu.
To add to the obscurity, Kung Fu had already been off the air for 5 years at that point...and I have not seen a single episode of it. My knowledge of Carradine pretty much solely resides on his performance in Kill Bill and his death not long after that film. I have to admit that I usually pride myself on having a relatively decent amount of knowledge about a host's career so it is always a bit jarring and fascinating when I go into watch their hosting gig mostly blind to how they may come off.
Here - Carradine is clearly drunk/stoned out of his mind.
And perhaps in one of the more entertaining monologues of the season, he calls out the horrible writing handed to him twice.
"Well, that didn't work" soon followed by "Just reading the cue cards - that's all!".
Perhaps the interesting shift to this is that he decides he wants to perform a song-and-dance number only for Charles Rocket to intervene. His claim is that this is SNL and that it is a show meant for comedy and not for musical numbers such as this.
The irony of Charles Rocket of all people telling Carradine this after we've sat through painful silences during Weekend Update and cocky misguided character work...but you do have to wonder how the audience truly felt about Rocket at this point.
When Carradine forcibly kicks Rocket off the stage mid-dance routine, the audience actually cheers.
It does make me feel like the 1980 audience recognized the slimy copycat nature of Rocket's work.
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COMMERCIAL: Gun City
Piscopo gets to tackle a Crazy Eddie style of commercial parody here, and he does VERY well with it. However, the idea of a "Gun City" store where you can come by all of the guns you need does play as a bit rough in today's political climate.
The comment about how you could be compared to the "meanest brotha in the Bronx" certainly got a lot of love from the audience.
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SKETCH: Kung Fu at a clothing store
Sigh...sadly this is the beginning of a runner.
Like I mentioned earlier, Carradine was most known for his work on the show Kung Fu which had already been off the air for 5 years at that point.
And yet, this episode is about to devote THREE sketches to it...and none of them are really that successful.
With this runner, we also get Gilbert Gottfried in yellowface playing Master Po (a role that had been played by the legendary actor Keye Luke)...and it will be the only role he plays all night.
This sets Gottfried on a spiral where his sullen nature turns him into more of a catatonic presence...and understandably so. Also, I have mentioned it yet but let us not forget that David Carradine is a white man who played a Chinese monk on that show.
Even in the 1970s, the casting was considered controversial. George Takei, along with the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists, filed a formal complaint against the show for "performing unfair hiring practices".
Eddie Murphy gets to play a store clerk who is dressed exactly like his Velvet Jones, although he doesn't use the same voice. It has been said that Murphy actually developed Jones during this season but that some objected that the character was racially insensitive....
I mean... okay... I suppose that is admirable and I can see why they may think that, but do they see what else they are putting on during this season?!
At any rate, this sketch is mostly a dud so let's move on.
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SKETCH: Vickie & Debbie at the Mall
5 episodes in and we are now on our 3rd Vickie sketch.
We've had some recurring characters pop up already, but I think now would be a good time to discuss the concept of how often you should do a recurring character.
There is a sense of wanting to establish favorites, especially when you're so desperate to try to keep the show relevant so I can see why they may have felt eager to latch onto any characters that may have felt like they garnered a solid audience response.
I do enjoy the interactions between Matthius and Dillon because they certainly developed a close friendship behind the scenes that still continues to this day.
This installment works as a nice sweet character piece, though isn't necessarily funny.
It does seem to really establish more of the "catchphrases" for Vicki like "bored to the max" or, perhaps my favorite: "bite the bag".
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FILM: The Rocket Report
Despite the many qualms that one might have with Charles Rocket, I feel like he gets his glimmering moments when doing these Rocket Reports.
I suppose I appreciate the fact that he tried to keep it fresh by changing up the routine a little with this one, but the actual result is that it falls a little flat.
The previous iterations relied a lot on his interactions with the general public, but here, he focuses on the subject of Santa Claus but putting him in more of a Lost Weekend, Night of the Meek setting where we watch a drunken Santa roam the city (played by Rocket as well).
Some later iterations of the Rocket Report will stray from public interactions but they find ways to make it work a little better. Here, I just found it a tad boring.
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SKETCH: Guthrie & Dylan
This is my favorite sketch of the night and is often considered one of the best highlights of this infamous season. I would definitely rank it pretty high on that list, for sure.
Carradine gives his best performance of the night as Woody Guthrie, who is in the hospital getting visited by Bob Dylan, played by featured player Patrick Weathers.
Weathers doesn't get much of a chance to shine this season (sort of the same as other featured players like Matthew Laurence and Yvonne Hudson...Eddie Murphy was the only one who overcame it), but this is easily his biggest and best moment (aside from a more offensive moment of him in brownface which we will see in the Robert Hays episode).
Weathers' Dylan is first-rate and even Carradine does a very solid Guthrie, whose vocal style was sort of reminiscent to what Dylan would become synonymous with.
This is made apparent when Dylan begins singing: "Hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song" only for Guthrie to tell him to sing more like "HEY, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a SONG!"
I do also love how Dylan's guitar has a sticker that says "This machine kills fascists too".
It is pretty quick and to the point, and it feels like a breath of fresh air in tonight's episode...and just for a lot of the sketches from this season in general.
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COMMERICAL: The Home Version of DALLAS
This sketch starts off very intense with the yelling and the slapping that occurs between Piscopo, Matthius, and Dillon and for a quick moment, you think you are in for a really brash sketch that is going for shock value.
Thankfully, it veers off into a solid direction where Rocket plays a pitchman who is serving up a home game version of Dallas, the iconic primetime soap opera.
The idea of taking family dysfunction and sprucing it up with hats and wigs a la Dallas does amuse me...not gonna lie.
We cut back to the same scene with Piscopo now acting as J.R. and Matthius as Sue Ellen (complete with cowboy hat and also a wig similar to Linda Gray's hairstyle from that time).
My favorite visual, however, is when Denny Dillon enters as Lucy (Charlene Tilton) wearing a obnoxiously long blonde wig that she gets tangled up in when Matthius slaps her again.
A fun piece and it doesn't outstay its welcome.
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SHORT FILM: Mr. Bill's Christmas Special
The Mr. Bill shorts, which were a staple of the original era, are certainly fascinating when you view them standalone.
I had the Best of Mr. Bill VHS tape as a kid and I noticed how as they progressed, the stories of the shorts became serialized...though they eventually descended into madness with Mr. Bill going to jail and, as shown here, he becomes homeless with Miss Sally and Spot.
This short was originally going to be shown during the Christmas episode hosted by Ted Knight the year prior, but got cut...and honestly, despite a certain charm seeing the character again, something felt a little off with this one.
I do suppose the sleigh ride down the rocky cliffside is the most memorable highlight.
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SKETCH: KUNG FU CHRISTMAS
The second of three Kung Fu sketches tonight...and once again, I am not fond of any of them but this one manages to get the best moment.
They end up casting Eddie Murphy as Bruce Lee which leads to the line:
"Bruce Lee is back (Eddie Murphy jumps onscreen), only this time, HE'S BLACK!"
A nice comedic moment and it is delivered well...but it goes nowhere after that. Plus, we still get Gottfried in Yellowface yet again.
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A HOLIDAY WEEKEND UPDATE FOR US TO CHERISH...HOPE YOU ENJOY THE LARD! (I promise that will make more sense in a moment)
This is, thankfully, not a super long update segment but Rocket is still sort of sitting in that weird smarmy zone and given truly weak comic material.
Joe Piscopo gets his 4th Update commentary in a row as the sportscaster and seems firmly entrenched as an audience favorite...not to mention, he is very close to have finally developed the voice this character is synonymous for.
Although, if this Update segment should be seen for anything, it is the commentary done by Ann Risley.
Considering this is her 5th episode on the show, I suppose it might sense for a new cast member to have some trouble finding their bearings...but as I have stated, I am not sure Ann Risley was suited to sketch comedy.
While she managed to get a couple of showcases in the Burstyn episode along with a truly miscast one in the Curtis episode, this time she is handed a poorly written absurd commentary that repeatedly recommends that the best gift you can give to your loved ones is lard wrapped in a plastic bag.
I have to admit...it is almost so bad that it is good. It is such a bizarre concept that I could see it possibly working with a couple of rewrites but Risley was CLEARLY the wrong person to try to put this over.
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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: A Medley from The Pirates of Penzance
Maybe I am biased being someone who did a lot of musical theatre and loves the theatre in general, but I think it is actually a shame that SNL has never tried booking a musical again.
Even if they kept it to more of the "pop-friendly" selections, they could've had Ben Platt on to sing a number from Dear Evan Hansen...I am not saying I would've wanted that personally, of course ;-)
This was the centennial production of The Pirates of Penzance that was famously produced by the legendary impresario Joseph Papp, the man behind The Public Theatre and Shakespeare in the Park.
My experience with this particular production is only through filmed bits and the cast recording, but it is obvious to see why it caused such a craze at the time. Not to mention, a great cast that included George Rose, Rex Smith, and also Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline.
A truly infectious medley...and it works well at this portion of the show too.
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SKETCH: HARLEM HEROIN
This sketch is a doozy, and has become a bit of a talking point in recent years amongst SNL fans as more and more people watch these episodes.
While this sketch does fall under the whole "shock value" humor we have seen a lot so far from this season, I actually think this sketch is telling an interesting story about drug use and how white people were just as into it...if not more so...than what racial profiling and stereotyping might suggest.
Rocket, Risley, Matthius, and Piscopo all play waspy white Park Ave residents who have come uptown to score some primo heroin...which Matthius' character deems is as cool and in as sushi.
Move over, cocaine! Heroin is here as the new hot drug!
Although one line from this sketch really hits hard these days:
"You're probably the kind of guy who worries about dirty needles!"
Keep in mind, this aired in December 1980. Less than a year later, AIDS will get its first mention on the news.
Aside from that very prescient line that was far more prescient than the writers intended, it is the sketch's twist/ending that really sells it.
Murphy plays the drug dealer but is then revealed to be an undercover cop. As he arrests the group, he proclaims how he is tired of white people coming to Harlem and giving it a bad name.
"You all should've stayed on Park Ave where you belong!"
A very fascinating snapshot of a city on the cusp of drastic change.
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SHORT FILM: The Virgin Search
This was the third bit that Doumanian had fought with the censors over for the Burstyn episode, but she managed to win the day.
As a concept, it is certainly a bit crude, but what makes it work is that it becomes a great character showcase for Gail Matthius.
Bascially, NBC lays down an ultimatum: They need to hire a girl and she HAS to be a virgin.
All the girls are played by Matthius.
First we have a small town cheerleader who ends up not being a virgin but then it descends fast as they end up in Paris and talk to young Parisian schoolgirl. She's not a virgin because she was a conquest of Roman Polanski (a joke the audience LOVED by the way).
Then we get to the moment that the censors hated (because they were okay with pedophilia seemingly) where they ask a nun but it turns out she had sex with Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello's well known character he did on SNL in the 70s).
The ending segment is what makes it. When the trio of NBC execs are so dejected, they drown their sorrows in a bar only to come across a bizarre New Wave girl who admits she is a virgin because she's "SAVING MYSELF FOR CARL SAGAN!".
And this girl is revealed to be Gail Matthius and the "true story" as to how she became a new cast member. So yes, a crude topic but I do love what Matthius does here and the ending twist is a lot of fun.
Plus, just the fact she is saving herself for Carl Sagan is funny in of itself.
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COMMERCIAL: DOPENHAGEN and HAPPY DAZE
Ugh...for the love of...
In this bit, you can REALLY tell how under the influence Carradine really is...and while that sort of ties into the whole theme, Carradine struggles with this and flubs his lines.
And it isn't even like the material rises above just basic cheap drug humor anyway.
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SKETCH: The Death of Col. Sanders
A topical sketch for its time, this one aired shortly after the death of the iconic founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Col. Harland Sanders.
We get an interesting pairing of Carradine, Murphy, and Dillon here as three people mourning his loss while eating from buckets of KFC.
A decent sketch, and I think the more bumbling energy from Carradine works better here in solemn mode. Plus, he has Murphy and Dillon there to balance him out.
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SHORT FILM: The Dancing Man by Mitchell Kriegman
The great Bill Irwin!!!!
I have always been a fan of Irwin because not only is he great at being a physical comedy/mime work (on top of being a clown), but he is a stellar dramatic actor too. I still marvel at seeing his Tony Award winning role as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Here, we get to see him in mime mode...but more fun than what you might expect.
We watch him just go about his morning routine but the moment he hears "Shake Your Groove Thing", he basically has to...well...shake his groove thing.
His manic dancing is hilarious, especially when it occurs as he is pouring orange juice or trying to walk down the stairs.
Sadly, this will be the last segment of Kriegman's on the show as he would get fired over the holiday break. I feel like his comic sensibilities, while not always hilarious, were a nice feel in what would often be very brash episodes.
It also doesn't hurt that he had Bill Irwin to work with here.
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SKETCH: Kung Fu Weflare Counseling
Why they felt the need to keep draining from the Kung Fu well baffles me...because I think they could've come up with something better...even if the quality output this season has been rather questionable at times.
Having Carradine's character along with Yvonne Hudson get told that they should take up prostitution as a source of income at the welfare office is...odd.
It seems like it COULD be funny but it is also kind of offensive at the same time...especially with Hudson's presence.
Also - this sketch has Carradine slipping back into a dark abyss where he seemingly forgets a line which leads Hudson to try to find a way to skip ahead to get back on track with the sketch.
And to top it all off, we get Gottfried as Po again.
An absolute disaster of a sketch.
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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: The Cast of Penzance sings a holiday medley
This was a nice use of the Penzance cast while also ending the show on a nice festive note before the holiday season...and anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love the holiday season and will listen to the music a lot during that time for a pick-me-up.
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GOODNIGHTS:
With the Penzance cast and the SNL cast and anyone else who might try to crowd onstage during the Goodnights, this could be the most crowded we've ever seen the home base be.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the Goodnights is simply seeing Gottfried, finally out of his yellowface, looking so dejected and morose. This truly is the beginning of him mostly becoming a dreary presence for the remainder of the season aside from the occasional glimmer here and there.
Frankly I don't blame him...and he has another episode coming up where he has a string of sketch characters that are dire in other eays.
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
As we come to the end of the "first half" of the 6th season, I do think that this episode was a rather bizarre outing to leave on. It may have had an inspired musical guest, but most of the sketches were weak aside from a scant couple.
This episode marks the end for writer Mitchell Kreigman as I mentioned earlier but was also the final show for headwriter Mason Williams.
Williams' sensibilities seemed to be crushed by Doumanian's own bizarre insecurities and he was never truly allowed a chance to shine. Sometimes I do wonder what might've happened if Doumanian allowed Williams to have more legit reign over his team...but alas, Doumanian just seemed destined to make one wrong decision after another.
Going into the winter episodes, the show is in a very precarious position. New headwriters come in (which I will discuss in the next episode) but there isn't much of a shift in terms of the quality.
Although strangely, one of the best episodes (if not THE best epsiode) of the season will come during this stretch...along with the worst episode since Malcolm McDowell.
Not to mention one of the more lifeless and aloof hosts to have ever come onto SNL.
Stay tuned as we prepare to enter the winter shows of 1981.
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