Patman reviews SNL: 25th anniversary special
Patrick M. Geahan
<spoiler space, I guess>
Although there isn't much to spoil here, being an anniversary show, and
mostly a retrospective, I'll leave the spoiler space in.
Summary: One of the better done retrospective shows I've seen, I must
admit I really enjoyed this special.
THE GOOD THINGS:
- Bill Murray's opening was absolutely classic. From "I loved your
father" to Michael Douglas, to "Turn off the mike - we're glad you cleaned
up" to Drew Barrymore, the opening ruled. Extra kudos to doing Garrett
Morris' "News for the Hard of Hearing" with the opening line, especially
because Lorne Michaels complained the other day that with the rampant PC
out there today, he wouldn't be able to do that sketch anymore.
- The retrospectives of the passed-on cast members. Each one really
seemed to showcase their best work, and the introductions were genuine.
So often, when you see a tribute, you'll see someone introducing the
tribute that has no connection with the tributee, and just happens to be
famous at the time. Rather, for the tributes they did, it was obvious
that the people involved were really broken up - Jon Lovitz almost burst
out while introducing the Phil Hartman retrospective, and David Spade's
speech about Chris was both funny and touching - "Instead of saying 'bless
you', we tried saying 'Black Sheep' - it didn't really catch on though, it
was more Chris's idea"
- Norm Macdonald's return. Handled very well and turned on to be win-win
for both. NBC got to have Norm back, and Norm got in a well-placed dig at
the show - "I was at a party at Eddie Murphy's - he's making fun of you,
ya know. "
- The rememberance of the other deceased SNL members. Face it, not
enough people remember Denetra Vance to give her a whole retrospective,
but it was still nice to see her name in lights.
- Chris Rock's opening. Veyr low-key, and perfect for the night.
- The humor on the part of the players about SNL's shaky foundation - "We
were popular, then we slumped, then popular, then massive slump, then
everyone hated us, then everyone loved us. THen came season 2." Nice to
see them have a sense of humor about themselves.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD THINGS
- The skit chosen for Hartman's retrospective. Hartman's best works were
always his impersonations. Why they picked this weird dancing thing, I
will never know.
- THe absence of Kevin Nealon from the Weekend Update segment. IIRC, he
was on there a lot longer then Norm Macdonald, and definetly longer then
Bill Murray. He also had some of the funnier skits - Him making up with
Ike Turner was classic.
- No live performance by the Blues Brothers. Arguably the most
successful franchise spawned by SNL, with the possible exception of
"Wayne's World", I would've really liked to see Dan, John Goodman, and
maybe Jim Belushi do a song or two.
- Shots of the most recent cast were too long. Sorry, guys, but you're
still around - I wanted to see more classics.
QUESTIONS:
- Who was the lady with Dan Akroyd during the casino sketch at the
beginning? Since she got lines, I'm assuming she's someone I'm supposed
to know, but I didn't recognize her.
- Who was the lady introducing the Belushi retrospective with Akroyd?
Belushi's widow?
All in all, a good retrospective, and a good way to pay tribute to 25
years of SNL.
--
-------Patrick M Geahan----...@mtu.edu-------ICQ:3784715----------
USENET Quote of the Week: "I've known about the dangers of sex for quite
a while, but having some girl shatter my skull with her tongue wasn't one
that I'd have expected." - Otto on alt.video.dvd
Gary Anderson
>
> QUESTIONS:
>
> - Who was the lady with Dan Akroyd during the casino sketch at the
> beginning? Since she got lines, I'm assuming she's someone I'm supposed
> to know, but I didn't recognize her.
>
> - Who was the lady introducing the Belushi retrospective with Akroyd?
> Belushi's widow?
Larraine Newman on both counts. Took me a beat to recognize her too.
Patrick M. Geahan
That's what I was thinking. Wow, she's changed - and I'll be damned, but
I think she looks YOUNGER now then she did 25 years ago.
Dancer
wrote:
>PATMAN'S REVIEW OF SNL: 25th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
>
>
>
><spoiler space, I guess>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Summary: One of the better done retrospective shows I've seen, I must
>admit I really enjoyed this special.
Really? I thought it was awful - it didn't do justice to the show at
all. It missed the boat on Belushi, Radner, Hartman and even
Farley - those retrospectives were terrible. It jumped around,
the clips weren't very good and there was little to no emotion
the whole night.
Brad
Annie Keitz
wrote:
>"Patrick M. Geahan" wrote:
>>
>> QUESTIONS:
>>
>> - Who was the lady with Dan Akroyd during the casino sketch at the
>> beginning? Since she got lines, I'm assuming she's someone I'm supposed
>> to know, but I didn't recognize her.
>>
>> - Who was the lady introducing the Belushi retrospective with Akroyd?
>> Belushi's widow?
>
>Larraine Newman on both counts. Took me a beat to recognize her too.
Speaking hard to recognize folks -- I was shocked at Paul Simon -- my
god did he look old. At first I thought he must have been a behind the
scenes writer guy that I didn't know.
Gary Anderson
My very thought! :-) Doesn't seem like it was *that* long ago
I'd last seen him. Also, I thought he was going to lose it at
first: he led off with this little high-pitched giggle that
sounded as if he was in for one of those can't-stop-laughing jags.
Heather Garvey
>On 27 Sep 1999 14:20:10 GMT, Patrick M. Geahan <pmge...@mtu.edu>
>>
>>
>>
>><spoiler space, I guess>
>>
>>
>>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Summary: One of the better done retrospective shows I've seen, I must
>>admit I really enjoyed this special.
>
>Really? I thought it was awful - it didn't do justice to the show at
I tuned in just in time to see Seinfeld and David Bowie,
both apparently having taken too much Valium, trying painfully to
banter (I'm guessing). It started off with "So, I hear you married
a black woman." and went downhill from there. I decided to keep my
happy memories of SNL and turned off the TV.
--
Heather Garvey (ra...@xnet.com) | So really, all I need to do is kick a
| fundie in the nuts, and say: "Sorry,
http://www.xnet.com/~raven/ | pal. You ain't gonna ever meet God now."
The Lady with the LART | -- Wabewalker <r...@best.com>
Patrick M. Geahan
: I tuned in just in time to see Seinfeld and David Bowie,
: both apparently having taken too much Valium, trying painfully to
: banter (I'm guessing). It started off with "So, I hear you married
: a black woman." and went downhill from there. I decided to keep my
: happy memories of SNL and turned off the TV.
I admit, that was pretty bad, but I never felt Jerry'd be a good SNL host
- that just isn't his thing.
Gary Anderson
>
> Heather Garvey <ra...@typhoon.xnet.com> wrote:
>
> : I tuned in just in time to see Seinfeld and David Bowie,
> : both apparently having taken too much Valium, trying painfully to
> : banter (I'm guessing). It started off with "So, I hear you married
> : a black woman." and went downhill from there. I decided to keep my
> : happy memories of SNL and turned off the TV.
>
> I admit, that was pretty bad, but I never felt Jerry'd be a good SNL host
> - that just isn't his thing.
He's done it before, and he was very good actually. Some of the
sketches he was in -- the "Stand-Up and Win" game-show, and also
the history-teacher sketch, for example -- were top-notch.
testy
>
> I admit, that was pretty bad, but I never felt Jerry'd be a good SNL host
> - that just isn't his thing.
>
Au contraire, Jerry's hosting stint around 1994 or so was a very funny show.
He did a classic monologue (New York cab drivers, airlines, etc.) and was in
some terrific sketches: Stand Up and Win, where he hosted the game show for
stand-up comics, played by Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, and Rob Schneider; the
history class, where he was the teacher for a group of woefully ignorant and
disinterested students; the Seder sketch, where he was Elijah the prophet;
and more.
But I agree that his "banter" with David Bowie was a bit off-kilter. Not
nearly as bad, IMHO, as Adam Sandler's bit with the writers which went on
about 3 times as long with very few laughs.
Testy
Don Porter
> ...Adam Sandler's bit with the writers which went on
> about 3 times as long with very few laughs.
I assumed that was a "tribute" to all the sketches in the past
24 years which have gone on too long.
--
| Don Porter dgpo...@erols.com |
| "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" |
| -- Adam West as BATMAN |
|______________________________________________________________________|
Elizabeth Eccher
> testy <te...@nomail.com> wrote:
> > ...Adam Sandler's bit with the writers which went on
> > about 3 times as long with very few laughs.
>
> I assumed that was a "tribute" to all the sketches in the past
> 24 years which have gone on too long.
A tribute to the show's most irritating aspect, eh... Reminds me of Niles
Crane's first encounter with a hatchback: "Right, name the car after its
worst feature!" (or words to that effect)
Since I never found Adam Sandler particularly funny, I thought he was just
carrying on his own tradition. Different strokes...
Testy
Barry Margolin
>But I agree that his "banter" with David Bowie was a bit off-kilter. Not
>nearly as bad, IMHO, as Adam Sandler's bit with the writers which went on
>about 3 times as long with very few laughs.
Hmm, just like many of the sketches that those writers have written for
the show...
--
Barry Margolin, bar...@bbnplanet.com
GTE Internetworking, Burlington, MA
Barry Margolin
<pmge...@mtu.edu> wrote:
> - The skit chosen for Hartman's retrospective. Hartman's best works were
>always his impersonations. Why they picked this weird dancing thing, I
>will never know.
Perhaps to remind people of his range. Everyone remembers his
impersonations, and many of them showed up in other clips during the show,
but this was something unusual that he did.
Matt Ackeret
Gary Anderson <gande...@unl.edu> wrote:
>Annie Keitz wrote:
>> Speaking hard to recognize folks -- I was shocked at Paul Simon -- my
>> god did he look old. At first I thought he must have been a behind the
>> scenes writer guy that I didn't know.
>
>My very thought! :-) Doesn't seem like it was *that* long ago
>I'd last seen him. Also, I thought he was going to lose it at
Maybe Edie Brickell is wearing him out.
--
mat...@area.com
Scallywag
>On 27 Sep 1999 14:20:10 GMT, Patrick M. Geahan <pmge...@mtu.edu>
>wrote:
>
>>PATMAN'S REVIEW OF SNL: 25th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
>>
>>
>>
>><spoiler space, I guess>
>>
>>
>>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Summary: One of the better done retrospective shows I've seen, I must
>>admit I really enjoyed this special.
>
>Really? I thought it was awful - it didn't do justice to the show at
>Farley - those retrospectives were terrible. It jumped around,
>the clips weren't very good and there was little to no emotion
>the whole night.
The sky must be falling. I'm agreeing on something with Brad.
Scals
101 Things I Hate:
# 100. Gays who enjoyed Donna Summer's music, then burned her records for
telling them where AIDS came from
101 Things I Hate About "Friends":
# 100. Yes, they've actually done 100 episodes. Can you believe?
'I feel the same as you. I tried watching it, forced myself to give it a
chance, ended up giving myself a headache. I could NOT understand all the hype.
It's overrated. It's not funny. It's just plain annoying. And don't get me
started on the casts whole "gimme more money" thing. (btw, I enjoy your "101
things I hate about Friends" list :)'
- Celeste on the subject of "Friends"
Elizabeth Eccher
> > Who was the lady introducing the Belushi retrospective with Akroyd?
> > Belushi's widow?
>
> Laraine Newman. I wouldn't have recognized her either if she had been on some
> other show. She did a cameo on Friends, didn't she, as Courteney Cox's mother?
Laraine Newman did indeed do a guest spot on "Friends" as the second wife of
Phoebe's long-lost father. Phoebe drives out to the house where he lives to meet
him, but the wife opens the door and says he's been gone for years. This is also
when Phoebe first meets her half-brother, Frank Jr., played by Giovanni Ribisi.
Monica's mom is played by Christina Pickles on a recurring basis.
Testy
Jgall657
>> god did he look old. At first I thought he must have been a behind the
>> scenes writer guy that I didn't know.
>
>My very thought! :-) Doesn't seem like it was *that* long ago
>I'd last seen him. Also, I thought he was going to lose it at
Maybe Edie Brickell is wearing him out.>>>>>>
Lucky guy. She's cute.
The New Bohemians will be playing in Dallas on Oct. 23. Go to
www.bodyofwater.com/edie/ for details.
Ubiquitous
>But I agree that his "banter" with David Bowie was a bit off-kilter. Not
>nearly as bad, IMHO, as Adam Sandler's bit with the writers which went on
>about 3 times as long with very few laughs.
Can you be a bit more specific? That describes nearly ALL the bits
on SNL.
--
"What I want to know is, what's the purpose of that big windmill
in the background that starts up at random times? My theory is
that it's a metaphor for when Daddy comes home after a bender."
Geoff Miller