SNL: S20E01... HOST: STEVE MARTIN... DATE: SEPTEMBER 24, 1994

SNL: S20E01... HOST: STEVE MARTIN... DATE: SEPTEMBER 24, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with their Clinton Auditions to determine who will take over the Bill Clinton impersonation now that Phil Hartman has left the show. I love this type of sketch because it cracks me up when they have the entire cast try out an impersonation whether or not there is any legitimate chance for them to be a suitable fit. As always, this being the opening sketch, it built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Steve Martin then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to host this opening episode for the twentieth season of the show. He then went on to perform a horrible standup routine about how many soup options there are these days. This routine was so bad that it sent Steve Martin into an out of body experience where he attempted to figure out where the seed of a joke went so wrong as we followed him throughout his day where it was the only thing he could talk about. Out of body Steve was then reunited with his body where he shared how even though performer Steve is powering through the joke, he’s going to hate himself in the morning.
  3. This was followed by a fake ad for H.H.T. Home Headache Test which was a product that tells you whether or not you actually have a headache when you may feel absolutely fine.
  4. We then got parody coverage from Court TV of the opening statements for the O.J. Simpson Murder trial. This was a fascinating sketch because it was only a week into the trial in reality and they were already predicting the crazy spectacle this would turn out to be.
  5. Steve Martin's All-Natural Penis Beauty Cream was as the title suggests, a fake infomercial for a celebrity-sponsored penis cream with Steve Martin’s name and face on the package.
  6. Total Bastard Airlines then returned for another installment where this time David Spade teamed up with Ellen Cleghorne to play flight attendants to passive-aggressively send off the passengers of their flight with their, “Buh Byes.” At one point, Cleghorne had to leave only to be replaced by Steve Martin who played the pilot that joined in on the “Buh Bye” routine.
  7. Eric Clapton then took to the stage to perform I'm Tore Down.
  8. This week, Norm MacDonald took over to give us what he called “The Fake News” where Laura Kightlinger dropped in with a commentary on getting fired and how she might have a fear of success while she shared some crazy examples of how she came to this conclusion. Adam Sandler also dropped in as a new character named Gill Graham to review several concerts from the year where, for the most part, he kept getting beat up and having to listen to the end of the show from the bottom of a garbage can or some other secluded area where he ended up getting thrown by his bullies.
  9. The Ron Wood Show was a parody talk show parody where Ron Wood from The Rolling Stones rambled on unintelligibly while talking to a collection of incoherently speaking celebrity guests.
  10. Michael McKean then sang a folk tribute Buck Daniels where Steve Martin acted out the actions of the song that starts very normal but then it got to the end where Buck Daniels had an affair with Jackie Mason and killed himself by drinking Raid.
  11. Nut-Rific Ad Campaign was a sketch where Chris Elliott and Kevin Nealon pitched their idea for a new ad campaign where they play on words claiming that the candy is, “Nut very good,” doesn’t go over all that well with the executives. Elliott and Nealon are so proud of their play on the word nut that they can’t except that fact that they are actually saying that the candy bar is, “Not very good,” and kept getting it wrong despite being given multiple attempts to revise.
  12. Eric Clapton then returned to the stage to perform Five Long Years.
  13. Super Sports Tours was a fake ad for a line of cruises where you can get trapped on a boat with some of your favorite baseball players from the major leagues. Now that these themed cruises are more commonplace, this sketch didn’t seem all that strange, until they started to list all of the people you’d be sharing the sea with. At this point, they listed what appeared to be every single player from every single team to the point where there are only eleven spots open for non-MLB passengers.
  14. Babies was a sketch where Chris Farley and Janeane Garofalo played a couple who were visiting Steve Martin and Laura Kightlinger who just had a baby. The two couples then went on to competitively compare their kids, even though it only seemed like Farley and Garofalo were playing along since their baby was the clear loser in this competition. This was made clear when Martin and Kightlinger were left all alone to reflect on the evening's argument.
  15. Finally, Steve Martin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E02... HOST: MARISA TOMEI... DATE: OCTOBER 1, 1994

SNL: S20E02... HOST: MARISA TOMEI... DATE: OCTOBER 1, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The President Of The United States where we learned that Mark McKean landed the role of Bill Clinton following Phil Hartman’s departure from the show. The address itself was actually about his failure to pass the Universal Health Care Reform Legislation thanks to Congress voting against Hillary’s ideas. He then went on to share his backup plan where he wanted to send every American a First aid kit and a home remedy-style book to help them solve any health problems on their own. Of course, this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Marisa Tomei then officially opened the show with a monolog about the controversial claims that she didn’t really win the Oscar for her role in My Cousin Vinnie after rumors swirled about claiming the Jack Palance read off the wrong name. She then went on to share several other awards that she won with Jack Palance as the presenter. Finally, she finished her opening routine by sharing some insider secrets about New York City being that she’s a local, only all of her suggestions are for items and establishments that could be found in any city.
  3. This was followed by a fake ad for the Lexon Paradox car which was designed for both luxury and affordability. This design plan led to a mutant of a machine because every single design choice led to a contradiction. Unfortunately, they never revealed the car, but the description was rather atrocious.
  4. We then got more parody CourtTV of the O.J. Trial that was still in its infancy phase at the time. During this installment, Marisa Tomei and revised her My Cousin Vinnie character to act as an automobile expert in an effort to help the defense prove that O.J. was not guilty.
  5. Piercing Today was a talk show sketch where host Marisa Tomei played a piercing fanatic who interviewed her pierced quest about their extreme choices in body modification since aggressive piercing was the growing trend of the day when this episode originally aired. Her first few guests looked like your typical Grunge fan, but then we met guest three who had a piece of rebar going through his head due to a freak accident.  
  6. Bonnie Raitt then took to the stage to perform Love Sneaking Up On You.
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Mike Meyers got an extremely quick segment to talk about the postponing of the hockey season where he only said, “It’s stupid.” Tim Meadows followed this up with his input on the hockey delay acting as if the sport was vital to him and the black community. David Spade also introduced his new cool guy character who was too cool to say a single word with a look that sort of seemed inspired by a combination of Dave Navarro and Bono.
  8. Chris Elliot and Janeane Garofalo then hosted a Making Better Love Workshop through the continued education program at the local high school. As much as the two instructors try to keep the class serious and mature, most of the students are just middle-aged perverted men who were there to watch the live sex that was promised, as part of the demo.
  9. Daily Affirmation returned after a long while off. This time, host, Stuart Smalley had on “Michael J.” and “Lisa Marie P.” to discuss their marriage and awkward relationship where it was hard to tell which was the weirder celeb.
  10. Monsters Of Monologue '94 was a sketch that tried to turn one-man-show performances into a major competitive event like it’s the Super Bowl of Off-Off-Broadway.
  11. Bonnie Raitt then returned to the stage to perform Storm Warning.
  12. Bobby Camilarri's Bridal Fair 2000 was a fake ad for a bridal fair for those who don’t want to pay top dollar for their wedding needs since they are not entirely sure their relationship will last long enough to justify the cost.
  13. Framington High Fall Mixer was a sketch that took place at a high school dance with Adam Sandler and Marisa Tomei play awkwardly nervous teens at their first dance, trying to make small talk while keeping up with the song.
  14. Finally, Marisa Tomei closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.
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SNL: S20E03... HOST: JOHN TRAVOLTA... DATE: OCTOBER 15, 1994

SNL: S20E03... HOST: JOHN TRAVOLTA... DATE: OCTOBER 15, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of Saturday Night Fever with the theme song, Stayin' Alive playing in the background as John Travolta strutted around the backstage area while preparing for the night. This was coming off of his success in Pulp Fiction, so he was dressed more like Vincent Vega than Tony Manero. Either way, this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. John Travolta then officially opened the show with a monolog about how both Welcome Back Kotter and Saturday Night Live both debuted around the same time then went on to question why he’s been hesitant to host for so long. He then went on to joke that he finally agreed just to promote Pulp Fiction which turned out to be the start of his comeback of a career. As always, I hate when a host even jokes about just being there for the plugs but at least at this point, I was holding up hope that the show would still turn out to be good based on the titles alone.
  3. This was followed by the classic fake ad for Bathroom Monkey which was a disposable monkey slave that one would buy for their bathroom to clean the room when they're done.
  4. We then got another installment of Coffee Talk where, once again, host, Linda Richman, does her Coffee Talk thing. In this installment, John Travolta played a drag queen who not only legally changed his name to Barbra Streisand but also genuinely thought she was his true identity which was disputed by Linda a couple of times, but for the most part it was the same routine.
  5. Dracula's Not Gay was sort of a parody of both Bram Stokers Dracula and John Travolta’s real life where every time Travolta went in to suck some blood; he overheard his victims questioning his sexuality. Instead of giving into his needs to eat Travolta as Dracula got so defensive that it became more important for him to prove that he was straight over giving into his need for blood.
  6. Seal then took to the stage to perform Prayer For The Dying.
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Chris Farley dropped in for a segment to complain about the MLB player’s strike from that year. During the segment, he shared a few examples of what he will miss most, and every single example was of an instance where he rushed the field making the event more about him over the game or any of the players. David Spade and Adam Sandler also introduced their new characters, “Two Guys From A Religious Cult,” who gave us the weather while spreading their religious propaganda.
  8. This was followed by a parody of Quentin Tarantino's "Welcome Back, Kotter" which put John Travolta back in the Vinnie Barbarino role for a Tarantino-style reboot of the classic show with the kids from the class acting as the characters from Reservoir Dogs. Though the overall parody was pretty funny, my favorite part was when the real Lenny and Squiggy kicked down the door toward the end only to then be shot dead by Steve Buscemi who dropped in for a cameo.
  9. We then went to a Women's Self-Defense Class for Chris Elliott’s first day as the class’s living attack dummy who goes on to get kicked in the genitals over and over again as the women learned to take out an attacker.
  10. We then got a parody of Larry King Live where Kevin Nealon played the old curmudgeon to interview “Marlon Brando” who was past the point of return in the eccentric stage of his life. Between “Brando’s” quirky ways and Larry’s unprepared interview style, this meeting of the minds turned out to be more of a ramble-fest than an interview that made any sense.   
  11. Seal then returned to the stage to perform Crazy.
  12. Small Office was a sketch that took place in a tiny office with Tim Meadow and Chris Farley playing two extremely volatile officemates who both yell and freak out over even the tiniest of incidents that get in the way of their work. After a while of this yelling and screaming, John Travolta entered the scene as the boss to remind them that it’s only the small space was causing their problems and how they used to get along. We then got a flashback of their very first day where they only seemed to get along for the first second. Finally, the sketch ended with the two sharing a vast office space where they violently attack one another.
  13. Deaf Drug Dealer was a sketch where John Travolta played what seemed to be an aggressive drug dealer only it turned out that every time he used phrases like, “Did I hear you correctly…,” he wasn’t being confrontational but literally couldn’t hear.
  14. Finally, John Travolta closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights which then ended with a parody of Grease where John Travolta and Seal flew off in a convertible together.
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SNL: S20E04... HOST: DANA CARVEY... DATE: OCTOBER 22, 1994

SNL: S20E04... HOST: DANA CARVEY... DATE: OCTOBER 22, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The Former President Of The United States where the real George Bush Sr. took part in a pre-taped segment where he threatened to get revenge on Saturday Night Live for all the jokes that they made at his expense during his reign as president. He then went on to introduce Dana Carvey while throwing in a couple of jabs at him and his work. He also did something very unpolitician-like when he turned down the chance to announce the famous opening lines since he was pre-recorded from Houston mean he would be telling a lie. This led Don Pardo to have to announce, “Live from New York…”
  2. Dana Carvey then officially opened the show dressed as George Bush Sr. to do a bit of a routine about his current role in politics before performing a rap song about the year’s mid-term elections. Halfway through his rap, the real George Bush Sr. chimed back in to criticise Dana’s impersonation.
  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Virtual-Reality Books that puts you in a virtual room where you can virtually sit to read your favorite novels virtually. This must have seemed really silly at the time but other than the old school Commodore 64-style cheesy graphics, I’m pretty sure are multiple version of this exact piece of software in any app store that you use.
  4. We then went to week three of parody CourtTV coverage of the O.J. Trial where Dana Carvey brought back his old Johnny Carson impersonation to join O.J.’s all-star defense team. Not only did he use Carson’s interview style to question the witnesses but he also brought in Joan Embrey and implemented Carson’s Carnac The Magnificent character into the circus that was the O.J. Trial.
  5. Ross Perot Greets Trick-or-Treaters was another sketch that allowed Dan Carvey to dress up as one of his classic characters to hand out Halloween treats to the kids while critiquing the kids on their costumes and rewarded the good ones while denying the kids who he felt needed to put more effort into their attire. Eventually, he had a run-in with one of the children’s dad and went on to Ross Perot it up until the dad simply gave in and went away.
  6. Edie Brickell and Paul Simon then took to the stage to perform Green.
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week Al Franken dropped in to talk about the year’s mid-term election and how this has been the most vicious election cycle that he’s ever seen then went on to share several examples of parody attack ads. Hans and Franz also dropped in for an editorial on SNL’s reoccurring characters and how Weekend Update is the place where these characters are sent to die.
  8. We then went to a fancy Italian restaurant where Adam Sandler shadowed Dana Carvey during his first day as an apprentice to become the restaurant’s next Pepper Boy which turned out to be a more laborious task than you would think. Sadly, by the end of the sketch, both pepper people were replaced by an electric pepper mill.
  9. Nobel Prize Awards was a sketch that made the Nobel Prize ceremony look like the academy awards which allowed the entire cast to perform their obscure impersonations to fill the lineup of the usual award show events that go down.
  10. Edie Brickell and Paul Simon then returned to the stage to perform Tomorrow Comes. 
  11. Work Excuses took place in an office where Tim Meadows played a character who was late to a meeting and came up with a crazy tale to explain his tardiness. Once the meeting ended and the group all went their separate ways Meadows confided to Mike Myers that he was actually lying. He then went on to compulsively lie to get out of even the slightest work conflicts that arise, even for things that weren’t an issue in the first place.
  12. This was followed by another installment of Mike Judge’s short cartoon series, Office Space: Part 3. This time, our hero, Milton, has been moved down to the basement when he gets alerted that the building maintenance team would be setting off a bunch of bug bombs leading Milton, to once again, threaten to blow up the entire building.
  13. Finally, Dana Carvey closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E05... HOST: SARAH JESSICA PARKER... DATE: NOVEMBER 12, 1994

SNL: S20E05... HOST: SARAH JESSICA PARKER... DATE: NOVEMBER 12, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of Decision '94 that made fun of the mid-term election coverage from that year. The “coverage” in question was a concession speech held by Chris Elliott, who played, what I’m guessing was, a well-liked Democratic candidate who the sketch seemed to suggest lost due to the fact that he didn’t follow the trend of using negative attack ads during his campaign. Instead, he resorted to print media and celebrity endorsement which just seemed to go unnoticed. I’m sure that this made much more sense during this time before the internet but when compared to the chaos of modern politics this opening came across really dry, but it did stick to the tradition when it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”   
  2. Sarah Jessica Parker then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she grew up in New York and how great it was to host. She then broke character to admit that it actually wasn’t that great of a week since she put in a lot of effort into the Mario Cuomo campaign that lost. She then went on to sing the song Tomorrow from Annie while shouting out encouragements to all of the losing Democrats from that year. She eventually got cut off by Mike Myers and David Spade who informed her that the entire cast and crew are actually Republicans who are happy about the backlash at Clinton Republican wins.
  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Eterna Rest which was a fancy mattress for coffins that provided comfort to love ones lost throughout their entire afterlife underground.
  4. Good Morning Brooklyn was a parody of a local Good Morning America-style show that’s based out of Brooklyn. This sketch mainly made fun of the Brooklyn accent and style from that time which just felt super cliché when watched through modern eyes. Thankfully, Chris Farley saved the last bit of the sketch with a bit on non-accent-based physical comedy.
  5. Sarah Jessica Parker then teamed up with Michael McKean for a sketch called Nice And Naughty Guitarists where the two sang a duet of a pleasant sounding song with McKean on guitar. About halfway through the song, it changed to have a harder edge as Adam Sandler joined is as the naughty guitarist for some rock ‘n’ roll interludes as it turns out that the song is about her having an affair on the nice guy.
  6. R.E.M. then took to the stage to perform What's The Frequency, Kenneth? 
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week Adam Sandler’s Gil Graham dropped by again, this time to share his experience of winning V.I.P. tickets to see several shows where once again he spent more time getting beat up and bullied to see a single song being performed.
  8. We then went to a fortune cookie writing room filled with a staff who really take their work seriously while Mike Myers plays a horrible Asian stereotype of a boss who wants quantity over quality from his cookie scribes. One by one the staff quit over the hypercritical feedback until Mike Myers was left to do all the work on his own. This was when Chris Farley entered the scene as Confucius and even he wasn’t deemed to do a fortune cookie right.
  9. The Casting Couch was a talk show sketch that took place on a casting couch with Michael McKean playing a host called Robert Evans who interviewed Sarah Jessica Parker’s young aspiring actress, where he offered her gigs while trying to get her into bed. This was another sketch from the night that fell flat while watching through modern eyes especially during this era where all of these sleazy Hollywood antics aren’t just jokes to be ignored.
  10. R.E.M. then returned to the stage to perform Bang And Blame. 
  11. We then went to OZ to meet The Munchkins. In the sketch, Janeane Garofalo played Dorothy with Sarah Jessica as the good witch who claims that said Munchkins would love to thank the person who killed the evil witch. It turned out that the Munchkins were all grumpy and didn't want to get involved in this war of the witches and want nothing more than for Dorothy and her dog to leave.
  12. R.E.M. then returned to the stage yet again to perform the song I Don't Sleep, I Dream.
  13. Bill Murray then took to the stage for Michael O'Donaghue Tribute after the passing of Mr. Mike, who was probably the creepiest writer to date who was obsessed with sketches of molestation with women of various ages getting groped.
  14. Finally, Sarah Jessica Parker closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.
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SNL: S20E06... HOST: JOHN TURTURRO... DATE: NOVEMBER 19, 1994

SNL: S20E06... HOST: JOHN TURTURRO... DATE: NOVEMBER 19, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with the parody; It's A Wonderful Newt that starts out with Newt Gingrich ready to throw himself off a bridge after losing eight thousand dollars from The House Bank which caused his to wish that he was never The Speaker Of The House. We then got to see what the world would be if Newt wasn’t there to block all of the Democrats from passing their progressive legislation. Even though the world seems like a better place, Newt can’t stand seeing all of the changes. We then learned that without Newt, Hillary Clinton won the presidency which was enough to scare Newt back into his original timeline where he woke to announce, “Live from New York…” 
  2. John Turturro then officially opened the show with a monolog about by discussing his new movie Quiz Show which then led to a bit of a sketch where he claimed to be competing against another contestant where the winner gets to host. They then brought out an isolation chamber to reenact the famous quiz show scene where Turturro sweats his ass off while trying to pull off the lie that he’s actually cheating. We then learned that Joey Buttafuoco was his competition before they through to the official first sketch.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the “Eych” commercial from last season which was the “Only hairball medicine cats ask for by name.”
  4. Christopher Walken's Celebrity Psychic Friends Network was a parody of the Dionne Warwick ads from the time that allowed the cast to try out their obscure celebrity impression in order to tell the future. Not that the celebrities being impersonated were obscure, but these gathering of celebrity sketches seem to be an excuse to try out impersonations they’re not known for, which is what makes them extra fun.
  5. Phone Hang-Ups was a sketch where Janeane Garofalo was talking on the phone with her friend while John Turturro was waiting to speak next by her side. As much as he tries to remind Janeane that he wants to talk next, she keeps hanging up before he got a chance to speak. This happens over and over again even when he blatantly tells her to wait, and she blatantly says that she will.
  6. Tom Petty then took to the stage to perform You Don't Know How It Feels. 
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, “Judge Lance Ito” dropped in to explain a recent TV interview that he had that was controversial since the O.J. Trail was still going strong at the time. His visit was serious at first, but then Ito admitted that he did the interview because he is an enormous star and has the power to do whatever he wanted and that there was nothing anyone could do about it. The real David Hasselhoff also dropped in to discuss his latest World Tour. Even though the Hoff wanted to focus on Asia, Norm kept trying to trick him into talking about Germany since he’s signed off every week of Weekend Update by stating his theory that the Germans love David Hasselhoff.
  8. This was followed by a parody of an E! Channel behind the scenes look at a new Broadway play called Taxi Driver: The Musical which as the title suggests was a musical version of the movie Taxi Driver.
  9. Stop That was a talk show sketch with John Turturro as the host who would annoy the hell out of his guests until he got them to storm off the stage.   
  10. Jamaica Tourism Ad was a fake ad for a Jamaican vacation where Ellen Cleghorne and Tim Meadows passive-aggressively welcome all of the white folks to come down to their home country and treat it like a frat house and party it up without even thinking about the locals who have to do the cleaning. 
  11. Dr. Ira Resnick was the start to a series of parody political attack ads only instead of politicians slinging dirt we saw the first shots being fired from John Turturro as a dentist who was calling out Chris Elliott while making dark claims about his practice.
  12. The Movie Club was a sketch where John Turturro and Adam Sandler play nerdy brothers who review movies for a public access type show. It turned out, instead of actual reviews, these two nerds just watched the movie and talked over it like one would do with their best friend kind of like a reaction video on YouTube.
  13. Dr. Josh Levine was a rebuttal attack ad from the first Dr. Ira Resnick series where this time Chris Elliott attacks John Turturro’s dental practice.
  14. Tom Petty then returned to the stage to perform Honey Bee. 
  15. Dr. Ira Resnick was the final ad in the dentist attack ad series where this time, the focus was on who had a better waiting room while sneaking in a few extra jabs and Elliot’s ethics.
  16. Finally, John Turturro closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E07... HOST: ROSEANNE... DATE: DECEMBER 3, 1994

SNL: S20E07... HOST: ROSEANNE... DATE: DECEMBER 3, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of a Jesse Helms Press Conference where Mike Myers played Jesse Helms complains to the press about the Clinton White House while making several vague threats toward the president as well as his staff and family. I’m guessing this was in response to a recent incident that was making the news. Either way, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Roseanne then officially opened the show with a monolog about a recent round of negative press that she was getting from the media. She then went into a routine where she ripped into the news outlet for their coverage from everything from high profile crimes to all of the corruption going on in politics. Finally, she finished her routine by giving a prophetic warning about letting the media play any part in determining who you vote for since their intentions are never good.
  3. We then got a repeat of the fake ad for the H.H.T. Home Headache Test from earlier this season which was a device that looked like a home pregnancy test to tell users whether or not they have a headache even if they don’t feel it.
  4. This was followed by an announcement from Kevin Nealon who played the CEO of USAir where he promised that his airline was going to put more effort into keeping their planes in the air. We then heard from several flight crew members about their plans to help achieve this goal.
  5. A Woman Exploited: The Madonna And Tom Arnold Story was a parody miniseries about a fictional timeline where Tom Arnold met and married Madonna and took her for all of her money. In the parody, Tom is a lead singer instead of a stand-up comedian making it seem like an autobiographical sketch about Roseanne.
  6. This was followed by a parody of the show Rescue 911 where Roseanne played the 911 operator for the scenes being reenacted for the show. Even though each story is severe to end in someone’s death, Roseanne’s character was so bored and rude that she never provided any help at all.
  7. Green Day then took to the stage to perform When I Come Around. 
  8. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, David Spade dropped in to talk about the multiple strikes going on in sports at the time, as always blaming the athletes for wanting more of a cut of the profits that are going to the owners who don’t even play the sport yet everyone respects their need for higher pay. Janeane Garofalo then stopped by as someone from the ACLU to defend Jeffery Dahmer’s rights to feel safe in prison following his death at the hands of one of his fellow inmates, while acting like he didn’t deserve this brand of karma. Finally, Adam Sandler also got a segment to sing his Chanukah Song.
  9. Low-Fat Yogurt was a sketch that took place in a frozen yogurt place that sells a new fad-diet yogurt. Not only is this yogurt too good to be true but it’s also hazardous to eat, even when it comes to the location of the restaurant but that still doesn’t stop Roseanne and her friends from wanting to give it a try.
  10. Civil War Memories was a brilliant sketch that had people of average intelligence and a public education try to explain the Civil War. This led to a tale made up of a blending of events throughout history mixed with facts that were misinterpreted or completely made up. This sketch reminded me of Drunk History, but the history lesson involved was even more extreme in how far off from the facts it was.
  11. We then went to a therapy session between Roseanne and Norm MacDonald to address her Multiple Personalities. The first personality that Norm met was overly obsessed with sex which seemed to turn Norm on. Roseanne then jumped to another personality, this time she was an innocent child, which got Norm to ask if he could go back to talking to the “whore.” Norm then spent the rest of the session sorting through the endless stream of Roseanne’s personalities in an effort find this “whore” because he’s bored by the rest of her fragmented mind.
  12. Green Day then returned to the stage to perform Geek Stink Breath. 
  13. We then went to a store called Funny Strange where the customers kept assuming it was a novelty/prank shop only to have the shop owner, played by Chris Elliot explain that this place is more of a place that sells curiosities that are funny and strange like two-headed taxidermy. We also learned that there was another store just down the street called Funny Haha, which did sell novelties and was owned by Chris Elliott’s twin, who got killed during a jealous brother fight.
  14. Lock-Up was a talk show sketch that took place in a woman’s prison with Laura Kightlinger as the host who puts on a late night-style talk show for all of the other women in jail with Roseanne as her cellmate/guest.
  15. Finally, Roseanne closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.
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SNL: S20E08... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: DECEMBER 10, 1994

SNL: S20E08... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: DECEMBER 10, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Statement By Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders who was played by Ellen Cleghorne to defend the Surgeon General’s stance that masturbation should be taught in school as a form of birth control to be taught during sex education. Where the real Joycelyn Elder’s was more focused on the birth control aspect, in the sketch it was more about making sure that the children left school knowing the proper techniques in order to avoid any major accidents. As always, this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Alec Baldwin then officially opened the show with a monolog about how this was his Five-Timers episode and how he feared that he wouldn’t be able to achieve this goal thanks to the Cantina Boy sketch from his last episode where he pretty much molested the Boy Scout. Baldwin then pointed out the fact that the controversial sketch ended up bringing people together to share their hatred of the characters. Cantina Boy then joined Alec on the stage to repeat a segment of the sketch only with Sandler giving consent to being felt up by Baldwin.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the Lexon Paradox ad from earlier in the season which was the car that was designed to be both luxurious and affordable only to end up an eye-sore of a machine.
  4. Santa Believers was a sketch where Alec Baldwin and Janeane Garofalo played parents who still truly believed in Santa which led their entire family to be confused why they kept getting ignored by the jolly fat man. At one point, Kevin Nealon entered the scene as a cop who couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he was dealing with adults who never learned the truth about Christmas. He then attempted to break the news softly, but both Baldwin and Janeane were such firm believers they instantly dismissed Nealon as if he were the one who was crazy.
  5. L.A. Breast And Penis was a parody of a hospital show that took place in the Breast and Penis wing of a hospital. In this week’s installment, the team was stuck dealing with a high volume of patients due to a horrible train accident that led to an “all hands on deck situation.” Being the top paid specialist that they are, the L.A. Breast and Penis team focused on the enlargement of the victim’s breasts and penises instead of their actual injuries.
  6. Japanese Game Show was as the title suggests, a parody of a crazy Japanese game show with several cast mates and Baldwin doing not so offensive Japanese impersonations, in that they all had black hair and spoke what sounded like actual Japanese with no effort to add an extra slant to their eyes or just make funny sounds in place of words. In the sketch, Chris Farley played an American was the only English speaker who had no idea what was going on and struggled to figure out the game, especially after witnessing his fellow contestants have to chop off their own fingers for getting their questions wrong. Somehow, Farley made it to the final round where they shocked his balls for every question he got wrong.
  7. Beastie Boys then took to the stage to perform Sure Shot. 
  8. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week was an all-news week with just Norm and no guest at all.
  9. Jay Mohr then played a Rookie Cop who couldn’t stomach seeing his first dead body, so he threw-up all over the crime scene. This triggered a run of cops vomiting for various reason. Some cops joined in from merely smelling Mohr’s vomit while some cops were legitimately sick, and others had reasons of their own. Things just got worse when a news reporter arrived which led to viewers puking along at home. Meanwhile, the best part of this sketch was when the timing of the puke was a little off and the fact that you could full-on see the hose running up everyone’s legs and down the sleeves of their shirts.
  10. The Young And The Youthful was a soap opera parody that pretty much made fun of the soap opera-style acting as well as other conventions of the genre, mainly focusing on the evil twin cliché only instead of an evil genius, Alec Baldwin’s twin played an evil simpleton. One of my favorite aspects of this sketch is how whenever anyone stands while getting out of bed the sheets magically cover their stuff, keeping them descent without the use of their hands.
  11. Family Road Trip was a sketch where we saw the backseat point of view while Michael McKean drives with Janeane Garofalo in the passenger seat as the mom. Throughout the entire sketch, the two parents kept yelling at the kids to calm down while also seeing evidence of the utter chaos that was hinted at through all of the yelling.
  12. Beastie Boys then returned to the stage to perform both Ricky's Theme and the song Heart Attack Man back to back. 
  13. We then went to a bridal show/bachelorette party on the night before Janeane Garofalo’s wedding for a sketch called The Exotic Dancer with the titular character played by Chris Elliott who danced his ass off in his white tee-shirt and boxers which was anything but a turn on. In fact, Janeane was so turned off that she sued Chris Elliott for ruining her wedding and she won.
  14. Celebrity Memorabilia Auction was as the title suggests a sketch where two mafia type auctioned off a bunch of celebrity memorabilia that was clearly stolen based on the way that the items were introduced.   
  15. This was followed by another installment of Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey after a long hiatus where this time Jack share his thoughts on what makes a jellyfish look so beautiful.
  16. Finally, Alec Baldwin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights. 
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SNL: S20E09... HOST: GEORGE FOREMAN... DATE: DECEMBER 17, 1994

SNL: S20E09... HOST: GEORGE FOREMAN... DATE: DECEMBER 17, 1994

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Christmas Message From The President And Mrs. Clinton with Michael McKean as Bill and Janeane Garofalo as Hillary Clinton who shared their message of about how Bill’s new tax break for the middle class should provide enough extra cash for an extra special Christmas, while completely ignoring the poor. There was also a reference to another plane hitting the White House, which is another one of these news stories from this year that I barely remember since it never led to anything. It must have been funny back then because it did get a few laughs before leading to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. George Foreman then officially opened the show with a monolog about his late-life comeback to boxing which led him to joke about how easy it was to beat up the entire cast during any disagreements that came about during their rehearsals.
  3. Time Boxer was a sketch where George Foreman played himself as a time-traveling boxer who accidentally got sent back to 1939 where he ended up in a boxing match with Adolf Hitler. The beating he gives to the angry dictator inadvertently created a butterfly effect where George Foreman ended up the Fuehrer of the world, only using peace while avoiding the whole holocaust.
  4. Looking Good was a makeover infomercial with Janeane Garofalo and George Foreman as the pitchman. The way this system being sold works is that George Foreman beats the ugliness out of his customers.
  5. Hole then took to the stage to perform Doll Parts. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Janeane Garofalo dropped in as Martha Stewart to share some ideas to make your house more festive for the holidays only Norm MacDonald kept getting hung up on her fancy choices of words. Adam Sandler and David Spade also returned as their, Two Guys From A Religious Cult, characters who reviewed a new New York City restaurant. We also got to hear from Chris Farley who played the cult leader who joined in on the review via satellite.
  7. Matt Foley: Motivational Trainer was a sketch where Chris Farley’s motivational Matt Foley character returned to share the tale of how he was the one who trained the great George Foreman for his amazing late-life comeback to the sport of boxing. Mainly, Foley’s annoying ass inspired Foreman to want to hit people again, after he had found peace and swore off any acts of violence.
  8. George Foreman then played a character named Uncle Joe who was attending his niece's wedding. Even though he just wants to enjoy his time as a guest, the host of the night keeps pressuring Uncle Joe to get involved and provide the entertainment by singing multiple songs even though he keeps aggressively saying no.
  9. We then got a parody of The Incredible Hulk where Tim Meadows played Bruce Banner who kept turning into Foreman as the Hulk over even the slightest of injuries. Fortunately, since the Hulk was so old, he kept having to nap before he could do too much damage to the room. Eventually, the Hulk broke the sketch to complain to the writers about how their sketches are so repetitive.
  10. Hole then returned to the stage to perform Violet. 
  11. Chris Elliot's Bedtime Story was a sketch where Chris Elliot barged into George Foreman’s dressing room in order to take a nap on the couch and demands that our host read him a bedtime story since he can’t sleep without a tale to send him into slumber. George then read the book Goodnight Moon while Elliott acted like a child who kept chiming in with questions about the simple plot.
  12. "Stalking" by Bruce McCulloch was a short film written, directed, and starring the founding member of The Kids In The Hall where he got caught stalking Janeane Garofalo. Even though she doesn’t accept him as a mate, she does seem excited about the introduction.
  13. Jackie Stallone's Psychic Circle was a parody of Jackie’s Psychic ads only in this version she claimed to be able to predict if her caller would be a success like her son Sylvester or a failure just like Frank.
  14. Finally, George Foreman closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E10... HOST: JEFF DANIELS... DATE: JANUARY 14, 1995

SNL: S20E10... HOST: JEFF DANIELS... DATE: JANUARY 14, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started on Capitol Hill for parody C-SPAN coverage of Newt Gingrich as the Speaker Of The House while he rapidly passed legislation to push the Republican agenda after winning the House Majority during the mid-term elections. All that it took was for a Republic to simply share the title of the legislation they were trying to pass to get Gingrich’s approval. Meanwhile, any Democrat was instantly silenced while their allotted time kept getting taken away. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Jeff Daniels then officially opened the show with a monolog that started with the promotion of his new movie Dumb And Dumber before going on to talk about Jim Carey and how he became a breakout star and how he got better treatment before, during, and after the filming of the movie. These jokes came from a place of self-deprecation and didn’t feel like Jeff was expressing hidden envy though I’m sure some of the playful jealousy was real.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the Eterna Rest sketch from earlier in the season which was a coffin mattress that adjusts to one’s needs throughout their afterlife.
  4. We then went to an office space where two white guys discussed what they’d be doing with their time off for Martin Luther King Day. While alone, Jeff Daniels and Chris Elliot came up with plans to hang out and goof off only to have their story change the moment Tim Meadows entered the room. From that moment on everyone made claimed that they’d venture out to learn about the black experience while trying to hide their white guilt. Meadows was fully aware of this play, so he used their guilt against them and ended up walking away with a handful of last minute presents.
  5. Connie Chung Vs. Mrs. Gingrich was a sketch that parodied Gotcha-style reporting where “Connie Chung kept tricking Newt Gingrich’s mom into giving her damaging information and made her comments seem even worse through dishonest editing. This was an example of a sketch where the instance being reference is no longer significant with the passage of time, but the overall concept was funny enough to where it still had legs unlike the other insignificant political sketches from the first half of the season.
  6. We then got a parody of Entertainment Tonight where Ron Wood from The Rolling Stones returned to do an interview with “Jodie Foster” and “Liam Neeson” on the set of Nell. Between the fact that “Jodie Foster” was still in her Nell character, “Ron Wood’s” Slurred speech, and “Liam Neeson’s” deep accented voice, it was impossible to understand anyone involved at all. 
  7. Luscious Jackson then took to the stage to perform City Song.
  8. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, David Spade dropped by to complain about the concerts that he went to throughout the year as the shows new music specialist. Ellen Cleghorne also got a segment as Marquerita Simpson to sing a parody of the song You Gotta Be only this version was about how she managed to come out of her marriage to O.J. without losing her life.
  9. We then went to a Mystery Dinner Theater that started out like the movie Clue where everyone tried to piece together why they were invited since nobody seemed to know the host first hand. During a surprise blackout, Jeff Daniels attempted to beat Chris Farley to death which ends up taking forever and gets extremely violent as Chris Farley yelled in pain but just would not die no matter how hard Jeff Daniels tried. 
  10. Film Beat was a film review sketch where Chris Elliott interviewed Jeff Daniels as himself about his movies. The only problem was, Elliott only focused on the scene from Dumb And Dumber where Jeff Daniels’s character Harry got stuck on the toilet during the date and shared the same clip over and over again while angering his guest in the process.
  11. Gay Stripper Theater was, as the title suggests, a sketch where gay strippers performed “scenes” from mini-plays that were nothing more than their gay strip routines where the titles implied the stories since there was zero acting at all.
  12. Luscious Jackson then returned to the stage to perform Here.
  13. We then got a fake ad for a new Aerosmith Album that made fun of the fact that all of Aerosmith songs sound the same in the years especially between 1990 and 1994.
  14. This was followed by another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared his theories on how cowboys would relieve their stress back in the cowboy days.
  15. Finally, Jeff Daniels closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E11... HOST: DAVID HYDE PIERCE... DATE: JANUARY 21, 1995

SNL: S20E11... HOST: DAVID HYDE PIERCE... DATE: JANUARY 21, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with more parody CourtTV coverage of the O.J. Trail where this week Judge Ito had to sort through the evidence and shared his rulings on what evidence was and wasn’t acceptable to use during the actual trail. It turns out all of the other O.J. sketches from last year were in reference to the pre-trial. In the sketch at hand, however, the evidence examples got crazier and crazier as the scene went on while building to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. David Hyde Pierce then officially opened the show with a performance of a parody of the song The Very Model Of A Modern Major General. In this version, Hyde Pierce, as the General, changed the lyrics to fit what he might have said as a monolog while several male members of the cast dropped in during the call and response portions of the song to sing backup.
  3. This was followed by a fake ad for the Amazin' Laser where Chris Elliott played a pitchman to sell a laser that was powerful enough to get rid of the yard waste around your house with the squeeze of a trigger. Throughout the commercial, there were also many disclaimers that highlighted how dangerous this device could be if used for non-landscaping purposes.  
  4. We then went to a Poetry Class with David Hyde Peirce as a teacher who was tricked by Chris Farley who turned in the lyrics to the song Highway To Hell by AC/DC as his poetry assignment. Though the class made fun of Farley for his attempt to cheat, not only did Hyde Peirce buy it one hundred percent but it turned out that several other students used this cheating technique as well and Hyde Peirce was fooled by every single one of them. At the very end of the sketch, we found out that Hyde Peirce was onto them the entire time and was an aging hippie in disguise.
  5. Tales Of Little Women was a parody of Little Women where Hyde Peirce and several castmates played prim and proper children who were preparing to ice skate on the pond. Even though they’re super polite when they are nice and dry, the moment that they fell through the ice into the freezing water, they all instantly started to cuss and scream like a bunch of truck driving fishermen.
  6. Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly was a talk show sketch hosted by Mike Myer’s and, new cast member, Mark McKinney who played two aggressive soccer hooligans. At first, they discussed their favorite sport of soccer, then went on to invite their guest played by David Hyde Pierce who played a tennis hooligan. Though Hyde Pierce was just as fanatic of a fan of his favorite sport as the hosts were of soccer, he was extremely polite and appropriate when it came to audience participation. This didn’t go over well with the aggressive hosting pair and led them to headbutt him in the nose and kick him while he was down on the ground.
  7. Live then took to the show to perform I Alone. 
  8. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Tim Meadows returned for a follow-up segment about the hockey strike where he shared how excited he was for the whole ordeal to be over so that he could watch his favorite sport once again. Jay Mohr also dropped in for a sports report where he shared a parody of a blooper reel with bloopers that weren’t really bloopers at all but instead were just clips that had been altered through simple editing techniques like pausing the screen or playing the clip in reverse.
  9. Robot Spy was a sci-fi sketch that took place in the future filled with idiots who are so dumb that they think David Hyde Peirce was a robot merely because he was smart. We eventually learned that Chris Farley was the actual robot, but that didn’t help Hyde Pierce’s standing with the crew who still ended up killing him simply because they thought he was an annoying nerd.
  10. Nervous Habits was a sketch that took place in a law firm where David Hyde Pierce revealed that he had a nervous habit of shearing sheep whenever he felt overwhelmed by the pressures of his job.
  11. Foreigner And Jersey Kids was a sketch that took place on a train with David Hyde Peirce as a foreigner who kept getting goofed on by David Spade and Adam Sandler as the titular Jersey kids who kept suggesting crazy terms whenever Hyde Peirce was searching for the proper English words.
  12. Perspectives with host Lionel Osbourne, played by Tim Meadows, then made its show debut at 4:45 in the AM to interview Ellen Cleghorne for his fifteen-minute show that is only produced to fulfill the network’s requirements to diversify their television programming. That said, he doesn’t treat the gig like an affirmative action hand out but puts on a PBS-style show while he and Cleghorne had a very dull conversation about a current African-themed display at a local museum. (Note: the interview was boring and not the cultural museum piece.
  13. Live then returned to the stage to perform Selling The Drama. 
  14. This was followed by a sketch called The Internet that made fun of how most of the cybersex that took place back in the chat room days was usually between two guys with one participant being catfished. In this sketch, Mark McKinney played a nerdy computer nerd who got catfished by Chris Elliott who portrayed a sexually aggressive fourteen-year-old girl named Claire. Luckily, McKinney played an innocent who didn’t fall into the pedophile baiting trap because I’m sure this would have gotten super dark and creepy back with the original cast. If anything, McKinney became a bit of a victim in this sketch.
  15. Movie News was a sketch where David Hyde Pierce played a Hollywood reporter who shared how many Disney movies were getting killed in the box office while the subtitles pointed out that every movie being referenced was actually a part of the Disney Family and that this fact is hidden by Disney’s use of subsidiary production companies.
  16. Finally, David Hyde Piers closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E12... HOST: BOB NEWHART... DATE: FEBRUARY 11, 1995

SNL: S20E12... HOST: BOB NEWHART... DATE: FEBRUARY 11, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of the Colin Ferguson Trial where they made fun of the Long Island Railroad shooter’s attempt to defend himself in court even though he was batshit crazy whose reality wasn’t grounded on Earth. In the sketch, he even went as far as to accuse his victims of shooting him. Of course, this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Bob Newhart then officially opened the show with a monolog where he joked about this being his second time hosting the show and how the fact that it only took them fifteen years to invite him back made him feel like he must have done a good job. This led him into one of his stand-up routines where he portrayed a security guard working his first night at The Empire State Building which also happened to the night that King Kong made his famous climb.
  3. This was followed by a parody of The Ricki Lake Show with Jay Mohr as Ricki Lake and Bob Newhart as a guest fad psychologist who was there to help mend the friendship between Chris Farley and David Spade after Spade had sex with Farley’s mother as well as his father. Rather than make any claims that he can solve these significant problems in an hour-long show, Newhart was blatantly honest and announced that these people need some major help and may even be broken past the point of being able to be fixed.     
  4. Book Buzz was a talk show about books with Newhart as the host who interviewed Chris Farley who played the writer/editor/compiler of a book meant to compete with The Guinness Book Of World Records filled only with feats that he has personally verified. For example, his world’s tallest man is Farley’s buddy who is only slightly over six feet tall. This baffles Newhart since none of the accomplishments in Farley’s book come anywhere near any of the Guinness records.  
  5. Des'ree then took to the stage to perform You Gotta Be. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Norm share “a clip” from the O.J. Trail where Chris Elliott played a witness who kept making faces at the CourtTV camera after sharing a story about how Judge Ito was getting annoyed by all of the courtroom media coverage since it had grown to be too distracting. David Spade then dropped in to report on the fact that Cindy Crawford just got a divorce from Richard Gere then went on to predict who will be the male celebrity that would take Richard’s place. Adam Sandler also dropped in to perform another song; this one was called Sex Phone Lady.
  7. This was followed by a parody of Baywatch where Bob Newhart had to step in as a civilian to save Chris Farley since the Baywatch staff too sexy but stupid to actually do their job.
  8. We then went to the US Post Office for a sketch called The Evaluation where Bob Newhart had to perform an evaluation on an employee as a way to prevent any potential postal workers from snapping and shooting the place up which was a popular trend at the time.
  9. "Hi, Bob" was a sketch where Chris Farley and Chris Elliott were playing a drinking game in the SNL lobby where they had to do a shot for every time someone said, “Hi, Bob” when passing this week’s host. I guess this was a popular drinking game that people used to play while watching the Newhart show.
  10. Des'ree then returned to the stage to perform Feels So High. 
  11. Sports Beat was sports talk show sketch hosted by Kevin Nealon who interviewed Bob Newhart who played a manic-depressive sporting announcer who was inconsistent at his job since sometimes even the most insignificant plays where announced with manic excitement while a major play would barely get a response at all.
  12. We then got another installment of Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared the tale of a volcano that spits out gold nuggets back when his grandpa was a child.
  13. Finally, Bob Newhart closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
  14. After the goodnights, there was a quick parody of the final episode of the Newhart show where Newhart woke up to find that the entire night was just a dream.
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SNL: S20E13... HOST: DEION SANDERS... DATE: - FEBRUARY 18, 1995

SNL: S20E13... HOST: DEION SANDERS... DATE: - FEBRUARY 18, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of the O.J. Simpson Field Trip where the jurors were taken on a trip to the O.J. house in order to explore the crime scene only to end up getting schmoozed by the former sports star as he showed off his abode with a bit of a braggadocios tone. While giving the tour, there was a run in with Kato Kaelin who was squatting in the house while claiming to be O.J. in order to score some chicks. It turned out that Kato was hosting a party that night and rather than end the tour right there, Judge Ito gave the jurors permission to join in and party as well. As everyone, including the prosecution team, joined in for drinks, Judge Ito announced, “Live from New York…”
  2. Deion Sanders then officially opened the show with a monolog about become a free agent after leading his team to a victory at the Super Bowl which he claimed why Lorne Michaels offered him a spot on his team of Not Ready For Prime Time players on Saturday Night Live.
  3. We then went to a conference room for a sketch called Baseball Strike Solidarity where we got to see the player’s side of the contract negotiations which led them into the strike. Of course, as with most sketches about athletes and/or entertainers when it comes to strikes, the central joke is that the players already earn enough while treating the team owners like they run some mom and pop shop who could do no wrong.
  4. This was followed by a parody of the 1995 Espy Awards which was, of course, another award show sketch that allowed the castmates a chance to try out some obscure impressions with this week’s focus on sports. Even though these sketches are never the best, it’s always fun to see just how random the cast can get with who they choose to be. The best part of this sketch was all of the jokes fell flat in the world of the scene, and they kept cutting to footage of Lou Diamond Phillips from some real award show where he was the only one in the room who laughs. They also brought in the real Manute Bol who dwarfed Laura Kightlinger and Bon Jovi who presented him with the award of this year’s tallest basketball player.
  5. Bon Jovi then took to the stage to perform Always. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Opera Man dropped by for another segment where he sang a tune inspired by the headlines making the news.
  7. UFO Mission was a sci-fi sketch that showed what happened on a day that a UFO made first contact. In the sketch, the people were so afraid that the aliens weren’t here to make peace, so they surrounded the ship with a Special Forces team who were armed to the teeth in order to fight the alien being if they were to step out of line. I thought this sketch was leading to the message of attack before getting attacked even if the visitors come in peace but then the first soldier went into the UFO only to come out a half-hour later filled with shame while not wearing any clothes. This patterned continued over and over again as soldier after soldier entered the ship only to return naked. Based on the clues, it was clear that the soldiers were getting anally probed only to become confused when they found that they actually liked it.
  8. Rappers with Simple Lyrics was a sketch where Deion Sander, Tim Meadows, and Adam Sandler played a rap crew with the most uncomplicated lyrics of all time. Their songs were mainly made up of the hype that a rapper might use to build a song up to its first line only to abruptly end with the who group shouting, “Peace, we’re out of here.”
  9. Bon Jovi then returned to the stage to perform Someday I'll Be Saturday Night. 
  10. It then turned to 4:45 in the AM, so you know what that means? It means it’s time for another installment of Perspectives where this week Lionel Osbourne interviewed Deion Sanders who played the leader of a bores athletic club and the two went on to have an incredibly dull conversation, well intentionally dull which is one of my favorite aspects of this reoccurring character.  
  11. Deion Meets Sick Boy was a sketch where, as the title suggests, Deion Sanders met a sick child at a hospital for a parody of the old Babe Ruth tale where he promised a home run to a die New Jersey child. In this version of the story, Chris Farley played the boy whose dying wish was to have Sanders “hot dog” it up and do a celebratory dance in his name.  
  12. Deion Sanders took to the music stage to perform Must Be The Money and the song It's On, back to back. Deion’s lip syncing was so extreme that he seemed caught off guard by the hard stop to both songs instead of them gradually ending like you would expect from a live performance.
  13. Finally, Deion Sanders closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E14... HOST: GEORGE CLOONEY... DATE: FEBRUARY 25, 1995

SNL: S20E14... HOST: GEORGE CLOONEY... DATE: FEBRUARY 25, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a special Black History Month segment where Ellen Cleghorne and Tim Meadows share some of the achievement of African American from that year. Unfortunately, they struggled to find a black person who made the news for anything positive. In between these negative jokes, they made some serious points about African American’s contributions to society as they built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. George Clooney then officially opened the show with a monolog about the benefits of working on the TV show ER in that, even though the show is fictional, he still managed to learn a lot about working in the medical field. It didn’t take long for Clooney to be interrupted by a “member of the audience” who shared that he was in town for an emergency liver operation. Without hesitating, Clooney offered to see if he could help then went on to perform a liver transplant with the help of Molly Shannon during her debut to the show.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the Lexon Paradox commercial from earlier in the season which as a fake ad for a car that was designed with both luxury and affordability in mind only to end up with a mess of a vehicle that was neither when all was said and done.
  4. We then went to SeaWorld where George Clooney and Chris Farley had a flirt off with Janeane Garofalo while sitting in the Splash Zone of a Shamu-style show. Though the three are sitting in a row, Farley is the only one to get soaked after each and every trick while Clooney and Janeane got to know more about one another.
  5. Next, we got a parody of Taxicab Confessions with a revolving cast of cab drivers who got hear a bunch of crazy confessions from several characters and then had to ask them to sign the release to air the ride as a segment. Even though these characters said the craziest things, not a single person thought twice when asked to sign the form.
  6. The Cranberries then took to the stage to perform Zombie. 
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Ellen Cleghorne checked in via satellite as an O.J. Juror to admit that she hasn’t been playing all that much attention to the trial because the process is completely boring. George Clooney also got a quick segment to comment on the fact that the show Chicago Hope, which was ER’s competition, had the nerve to use leeches in one of their storylines by merely saying it was wrong. To round out the news, Kevin Nealon dropped in to deliver a commentary on Medicare which was aimed at viewers with zero attention span and mainly used images of Pamela Anderson to hold these viewers’ attention.
  8. WR was a parody of ER with WR standing for Waiting Room, and the central drama was from the entire staff telling everyone to keep calm while they wait their turn to be seen.
  9. Tales Of Railroad Malfeasance was a sketch where Mark McKinney played a hick who was applying to be a train conductor and was asked a barrage of crazy questions during his interview. These questions started out as train specific queries but then grew crazier and crazier as the sketch went on until we discovered the George Clooney was just impersonating the boss.
  10. The Mack Reardon Story was a parody of a CMT version of VH1’s Behind The Music that followed George Clooney as a country star who was influenced by Boy George and opted to perform in drag. This didn’t go over well with the country folks, and the drag queens didn’t like it either since they thought they were the butt of his joke. His controversy grew with his next album which was entitled, “I’m Black,” when he wanted to distance himself from the drag controversy.
  11. The Cranberries then returned to the stage to perform Ode To My Family. This was a sad one because the performance started with Delores O’Riordan paying tribute to the man who signed the band to the label since he had recently died. Meanwhile, I learned, literally, moments before this viewing the Delores had died herself. 
  12. Zagat's was a sketch where Chris Farley and Adam Sandler played an old couple with Chris Farley as the wife who was overly cheerful and obsessed with using the Zagat’s Guide To Food to choose where they go to dinner while Sandler just wants to die.
  13. Emory, Illinois was a fake political ad from the town’s mayor who was making a call to visitors to stay in this town if they were heading to the area to protest abortions in the bigger cities that are nearby.
  14. Snowbird was another short film from Bruce McCulloch where he played a karaoke king at a local dive bar; only his singing was super flat. This doesn’t stop him from joining a karaoke contest where he turns to the song Snowbird as his secret weapon but still sings it super bad.
  15. Finally, George Clooney closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E15... HOST: PAUL REISER... DATE: MARCH 18, 1995

SNL: S20E15... HOST: PAUL REISER... DATE: MARCH 18, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody C-SPAN coverage of a press conference with Newt's Half-Sister where Newt met with his half-sister who is openly gay and had to pretend that he was completely fine with her lifestyle even though he is clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Paul Reiser then officially opened the show with a quick monolog about how great it is to be back in his home city which included a few jokes that evolved into his stand-up routine about how horrible he is at dating despite his celebrity status. He also had a few jokes about how people seem too comfortable approaching him for advice thanks to the fact that he usually played immensely likable characters which triggered the audience to get involved and ask several questions of their own.
  3. Where's Superman? was a sketch where Yellow Kryptonite weakened the superhero with a horrible bout of depression that turned him into a Fortress Of Solitude shut-in. During this time Superman became so depressed that he refused to help out humanity when a meteor was approaching the planet. Several other unknown superheroes dropped in to help, but none of them were powerful enough to save the planet without our top hero’s help. There was also a side running joke where Paul Reiser played a hero named the Night Stalker and was bummed to find out that the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, had already claimed that name.   
  4. Road To The Final Four was a sketch where Paul Reiser and Kevin Nealon played two sports announcers who struggled to fake their enthusiasm while covering the women’s basketball games and let their true feeling fly during the commercials.
  5. Annie Lennox then took to the stage to perform No More I Love Yous. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, David Spade dropped in as Jeff Foxworthy to do a segment called "You know you’re a tornado if…” to add some fun to the weather. Adam Sandler and Chris Farley also introduced two new characters named Frank Dippy and Hank Doodle who were two morons who do nothing but ramble on, too stupid to get to their points.
  7. Sparklebrite Toothpaste took place in a market meeting where Paul Reiser pitched his idea for a new advertisement campaign for Sparklebrite Toothpaste that was aimed at bi-racial couples. We then got to see the fake ad where the toothpaste worked so good, Molly Shannon and Tim Meadows made out for so long that it was uncomfortable whether or not there was a racial angle to the ad. This made the executives in charge very nervous, but they struggled to plead their case without coming across as racist. In order to get out of this pickle, the executive okayed the ad before blowing up the creator’s car to make sure that it never aired instead of pushing the issue.
  8. Daily Affirmation then made a return after a long absence. This time, host, Stuart Smalley went solo for a Saint Patrick’s Day special where he offered advice for things to do on Saint Patrick’s Day when you’re not a drunk. Halfway through the show, the shot got strange as it turned out Chris Farley played a drunk cameraman who ended up in an impromptu intervention.
  9. We then got another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared how his grandfather taught him about sex on a family visit to his farm.
  10. Aliens 4: Mad About You Aliens was as the title suggests a parody of an Aliens sequel mashed up with Mad About you since Reiser played a part in both franchises.
  11. Dating In The Nineties was a talk show sketch hosted by Molly Shannon who had a panel of guests to discuss dating in the ‘90s decade. Paul Reiser played one of the guests to promote his real-life book about dating, and Molly Shannon misinterpreted one of his statements to mead that he had only had sex a handful of time. This makes Reiser very defensive, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to come across as a misogynist, so he passively tries to explain his count while everyone else was focused on the misinterpreted low number.
  12. Annie Lennox then returned to the stage to perform Train In Vain. 
  13. One Brother Restaurant was a restaurant run by Paul Reiser that was named, not because he’s an only child but because he only has one brother who is his partner. This confuses the hell out of his guest who points out that from their point of view that the brother count is two. We then learned that the items on the menu are also very literal when it comes to counting with the three bean salad being made up of three of the same type of beans.
  14. O'Callahan And Son Pub was a sketch that took place in a pub the day after Saint Patrick’s Day with the father and son set of bartenders taunting their early morning/hungover patrons for taking it easy with their drinks instead of Irishing it up and getting bombed.
  15. Finally, Paul Reiser closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E16... HOST: JOHN GOODMAN... DATE: MARCH 25, 1995

SNL: S20E16... HOST: JOHN GOODMAN... DATE: MARCH 25, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of This Week With David Brinkley where they already began to discuss the lineup of Republican hopefuls for the ’96 election which at the time was over a year and a half away. In the sketch, Dan Aykroyd made a special appearance as Bob Dole, to share why he should be the Republican’s pick, while the angle and demon that live on his shoulders steer his side of the conversation. Of course, this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. John Goodman then officially opened the show with a monolog about the added benefits of being a rare member of the Six-Timers Club and how he was allowed to do what he wants including the ability to join the Blues Brothers. Dan Aykroyd then joined him on stage and the two performed a song that I’m guessing is called One Last Kiss.
  3. Bill Swerski's Super Fans returned after a long break. This time, the beer-loving Bears fans, donned their Bulls’ attire to wish the team luck during this year’s NBA Championship. This sketch was filled with special guests… well… George Wendt and eventually also Dan Aykroyd who brought back his sleazy toy salesman from back when he was on the cast. Then just when you thought that was it, Brian Dennehy dropped by to announce that with him, they’ve broken the world record for the most fat guys in a single sketch at the same time.
  4. This was followed by a parody of The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder where Dan Aykroyd revisited his Tom Snyder impersonation to make fun of the meandering host interview John Goodman as himself to promote his show, Roseanne. Snyder got so caught up in rambling on about himself that he barely even acknowledged John Goodman and cut him off by taking calls whenever Goodman attempted to talk.
  5. The Tragically Hip then took to the stage to perform Grace, Too. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, we saw clips of David Spade as Kato Kaelin to show how bad his acting was during his time in the witness box during the O.J. Trial.
  7. We then went to an NYC Dog Park where John Goodman and Laura Kightlinger had a chat why watching their dogs play. This seemed like a typical situation until it was revealed that Adam Sandler was playing Goodman’s dog that kept trying to have sex with the real dogs in the park. It was unclear at first whether or not Sandler was supposed to be a real dog since Kightlinger played along in an effort to make this seem reasonable. It then became clear that in the world of the sketch he was a human in a dog suit when he went to hump Laura’s leg and she stopped playing into Goodman’s and Sandler’s delusions.
  8. Rush Limbaugh Vs. Howard Stern was a sketch where Dan Aykroyd played Rush, and Michael McKean played Howard who dropped by Limbaugh’s studio with Cleghorne as Robin to apologize to Rush for all of the horrible things that he said on the air. Adam Sandler also dropped in as Bababooey as we learn that Rush had not only stolen Howard’s routine, but he stole his crew and sponsors as well with Rush claiming to be the conservative’s king.
  9. Self-Deluded Losers was a sketch were Chris Elliott was having dinner with friends to discuss his latest job interview. Not only does he believe the polite but cliché way they said no but his friends believed it as well. We then went around the table where the rest of their friends truly believed all of the compliments given during various forms of rejection.
  10. We then got a parody of Unsolved Mysteries where the mystery of the night was the Big Bang explosion, complete with reenactments and interviews. The segment started back in 1956 when Molly Shannon found a mysterious message in a bottle which drove her absolutely nuts. The sketch then got extremely convoluted to the point where I didn’t really get the joke because it seems like they were tieing a bunch of unrelated Unsolved Mysteries-style stories to this mystery bottle with was supposed to hold the answer to what started the big bang. That said, Aykroyd’s impersonation of Robert Stack was spot on.
  11. The Tragically Hip then returned to the stage to perform Nautical Disaster. 
  12. We then met up with a bunch of Coal Miners for their lunch break where the filthy miners shared crazy tales of mining gigs from their past that all ended with cave-ins and death even though they made it seem like it was fun.  
  13. Penis-Measuring Device was a sketch that took place at the new (at the time) Denver Airport where Chris Elliott played an employee who had the task of polling travelers if they would be interested in the air port’s idea to add a device that would measure their penises for free. Chris Elliott ended the sketch by breaking the scene to announce that he will be leaving the show after being a cast member for ten years in order to build this penis measuring device. The sketch then ultimately ended with Chris Elliott getting assassinated for even thinking to dream of creating such a magnificent invention for the world.  
  14. Finally, John Goodman closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E17... HOST: DAMON WAYANS... DATE: APRIL 8, 1995

SNL: S20E17... HOST: DAMON WAYANS... DATE: APRIL 8, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Statement From Judge Ito where he defended himself against the allegations that he was dragging the O.J. Trial out because he loved his time in the spotlight. Not only did he defend his role as a judge but he also defended himself against the claims that he was playing up his Japanese accent. Since both of these claims were being put out by Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who’s proud of his Italian heritage, Ito fired back with some racism of his own by making fun of the Italian accent as he announced, “Live from New York…”
  2. Damon Wayans then officially opened the show with a monolog about how happy he was to host as a black man since he was used to seeing black people in much lower roles. This led to a bit of his stand-up routine that highlighted how black reporters got issued the crappy assignments like reporting in the middle of hurricanes. He then went on to joke about how black people were just used to crappy jobs and that they were probably the original crash test dummies and guinea pigs in other experiments.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the Bathroom Monkey commercial from earlier in the season which marketed monkeys as personal bathroom slaves.
  4. We then went to a Summer Day Camp where Damon Wayans, Ellen Cleghorne, and Tim Meadows played camp counselors at an urban day camp filled with African-American children who were all named after things like pharmaceuticals, grocery store products, standard ailments, or overly complex words.  
  5. The In Living Color sketch Men On Film then made its SNL debut where Damon Wayans’ character Blaine Edwards teamed up with Roger Ebert to review the latest round of films that were released to the theaters that year. At first, Roger seemed a bit uptight, and a tad homophobic until Blaine started to flirt which broke down every one of Ebert’s implied walls until it became closer to the original feel of Men On Film with two gay guys reviewing films. The sketch ended with David Alan Grier making a cameo to revise his character Antione Merriweather to express that he’s jealous of the new pair.
  6. Dionne Farris then took to the stage to perform I Know. 
  7. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, David Spade returned as Jeff Foxworthy to promote his new book, You Know You’re The Ebola Virus If… Adam Sandler also dropped by and made an effort to encourage Mike Tyson to beat up people for him by lying and claiming that anyone who did him wrong also talked trash about the formerly imprisoned champ.
  8. Trumpet Saliva was a sketch where Damon Wayans played a famous jazz trumpeter who continued to drench his audience whenever he’d clean his spit valve
  9. We then got more parody coverage of CourtTV’s coverage of the O.J. Trial. This week, Damon Wayans revised his homeless character, Anton, from In Living Color, to play a surprise witness and share his crazy take on the infamous night of the murders. Of course, with this being an Anton scene the eventually worked in a pickle jar with one pickle that’s supposed to be poop into the end of the joke.
  10. It then became 4:45 in the AM which meant it was time for another installment of Perspectives where host, Lionel Osborne interviewed Damon Wayans as the leader of a black militia. Though Wayans is very passionate, Lionel methodically sticks to the format of the show to the point where he almost seems disinterested.
  11. This was followed by a Cirque Du Soleil parody which was pretty much just Mark McKinney, Chris Elliott, new castmate, who I couldn’t remember to save my life, Morwenna Banks dressed up like French clowns, acting weird.
  12. This was followed by another installment of Deep Thoughts By Jack Handy where Jack shared a disturbing way to avoid mosquitos during the summer.
  13. Jay Mohr then got his chance to shine in a fake ad campaign called Christopher Walken For Skittles where, as you might guess, Walken pitched Skittles in a very Walken way.
  14. Dionne Farris then returned to the stage to perform Blackbird.
  15. Tom Jones' Used Underwear Sale was a sketch that didn’t answer the age-old question of what happens to the underwear thrown at Tom Jones during his show but is instead an infomercial that sells Tom’s disgusting undergarments that are extra sweaty and gross since they were the under-clothes from the nights of his live shows.  
  16. Finally, Damon Wayans closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E18... HOST: COURTNEY COX... DATE: APRIL 15, 1995

SNL: S20E18... HOST: COURTNEY COX... DATE: APRIL 15, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a sketch called Matt Foley, Bilingual Motivational Speaker. In the sketch, Chris Farley’s character was sent down to Venezuela to warn a wealthy landowner’s kids about how they don’t want to end up, “LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER,” while speaking a broken version of Spanish while hopped up on coca leaves. Though the sketch was pretty fun, it was also basically the same routine with the backdrop of a foreign land. Of course, with this being the open sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Courtney Cox then officially opened the show with a monolog about her “new show Friends” before she went on to parody her break out performance in the Bruce Springsteen Dancing In The Dark music video with Adam Sandler imitating The Boss.
  3. Good Morning Brooklyn was a parody of morning talk show with Courtney Cox and Jay Mohr as a pair of hosts who play-up Brooklyn stereotypes while putting on their show.  
  4. Gapardy was a sketch where the Gap girls returned after a long hiatus to compete in a Gap themed game of Jeopardy.
  5. Dave Matthews Band then took to the stage to perform What Would You Say? 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Molly Shannon dropped by as an English teacher to discuss the issues with the modern education system while miming her punctuation throughout her entire rant.
  7. Chris Elliott and Molly Shannon then returned home from a date for a sketch called Melanie Babysits where Mark McKinney played the titular Melanie who Chris Elliott flirts with while driving her home. I’m guessing that the central joke is McKinney in drag because other than that, this is just a realistic scene of a lecherous creep who’s trying to hook up with a high schooler which wasn’t funny at all unless you count that the fact that he used Zima to get her drunk.   
  8. Hiring Charles Manson was a sketch where Mike McKean played an executive who was too busy to listen to his staff which led him to sarcastically say, “Go ahead and hire Charles Manson for all that I care,” during a meeting about a job opening. Since his staff was made up of brown-nosing yes men/women, they took his request to be literal. They then had to fight to get Manson out of jail even though McKean was actually against the idea. That is until Charlie showed up and turned out to be pretty good at the job.  
  9. Truth Vs. Jokes was a sketch that took place at a company party where Kevin Nealon could not tell whether or not Tim Meadows was joking since his playful fibs were told with genuine conviction.
  10. Replacement Baseball was a parody of a Ken Burns-style documentary that showcased the pathetic lives of the baseball scabs that took to the field during the baseball strike that was still being arbitrated during the start of this season.
  11. His Muse Friday was a parody of His Girl Friday via a black and white sketch with Mike McKean as a poetry publisher where everyone in the sketch spoke in poems while making fun of the old noir film with Courtney Cox as the femme fatale.
  12. Dave Matthews Band then returned to the stage to perform Ants Marching. 
  13. Obnoxious Co-Worker was a sketch were David Spade went from being the office’s man of intrigue due to his mysteriously arrogant ways to being a complete obnoxious needy nerd after a one night stand with Courtney Cox after her first day on the job.
  14. Finally, Courtney Cox closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.
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SNL: S20E19... HOST: BOB SAGET... DATE: MAY 6, 1995

SNL: S20E19... HOST: BOB SAGET... DATE: MAY 6, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From Tony Vallencourt where Adam Sandler played the titular wicked huge Boston Celtic’s fan who shared a few of his crazy drunken memories from the Boston Garden arena following the team’s final game in their old home before they moved on to a brand new venue. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. Bob Saget then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he needs more work on television since Full House was recently canceled. He then went on to reassure the audience that he was still doing fine thanks to his job on America’s Funniest Home Videos. The monolog then evolved into a bit of a stand-up routine which included a description of the craziest home video that he’s ever seen involving a monkey that the network deemed to be too obscene to air. Most of his other jokes highlighted how he is not the clean father figure type like his character Danny Tanner.
  3. This was followed by a repeat of the fake Amazin' Laser commercial from earlier in the year where Chris Elliott pitched a powerful laser to help expedite your efforts while doing yard work.
  4. We then went to a locker room for the halftime break of a track meet where Bob Saget played the Track Coach whose coaching technique was simply to tell his athletes that their goal is to be Fast no matter what they do.
  5. This was followed by the parody, America's Funniest Hate Videos were, as the title suggests, Bob Saget shared a collection of some of the funniest videos from hate groups.
  6. Fashion Designer was a sketch that introduced Chris Farley’s character, Dante who was an over-the-top flamboyant designer who acted almost like a supervillain who had no time or respect for his competitors, especially his arch-nemesis who was played by Bob Saget.   
  7. TLC then took to the stage to perform Creep. 
  8. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Morwenna Banks dropped in as a British child character simply called “the little girl” to share how she thinks the American media collects and distributes its news. Ellen Cleghorne also dropped by to share how sad she is over the fact that Full House was being canceled even though she had no idea who Bob Saget was when he stepped in to cheer her up. The news the ended on a clip of Howard Cosell from when he hosted the show in the ‘80s to honor his recent death.
  9. We then got the parody Where In The World Is San Diego, California? that tested the child contestants to see if they could find my hometown on a map through a series of clues. This was supposed to be the premiere of a spin-off of the show with a very similar name which led the cast, producers, and crew to be highly disappointed when Molly Shannon figured it out before a single question was asked.  
  10. This was followed by another parody only this was a parody of Boyz II Men as a band where three white guys and Tim Meadows played the all black band intercut with clips of women reacting to their music.
  11. We then got a segment of Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared advice to vampire children.
  12. Karl's Video Store was a sketch where Bob Saget and Kevin Nealon dropped by a video store to rent a movie only to be bombarded with recommendations from David Spade who played a movie nerd of a cashier. He doubles down on the pestering when it was revealed the Saget was playing himself only to get sent away to bother the other customers. Of course, with this being a video store sketch, it also included a moment where they joked about titles of porn.
  13. This was followed by a new Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared a story about finding a human skull in the forest and how he thought it was strange that it had deer horns attached.
  14. TLC then returned to the stage to perform Red Light Special. 
  15. We then got another installment of Daily Affirmation where host, Stuart Smalley shared how his new movie, Stuart Saves His Family, turned out to be a complete flop and then spent the rest of the segment trying to cope with his disappointment in order to put on his show.
  16. Pacemaker was a sketch that took place in a sweatshop where David Spade played the stingy shop owner who went cheap when he purchased his pacemaker to where he needed help from his mistreated staff in order to keep it running. Only it turned out that it wasn’t a sweatshop at all and Spade wasn’t actually the owner but instead was a jerk supervisor who didn’t grasp that no one would help him wind-up his heart management device since he treated everyone like such a jerk.
  17. We then got yet another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack share why he thought it would be cute to have a movie about a parrot who was raised by a bunch of eagles.
  18. Finally, Bob Saget closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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SNL: S20E20... HOST: DAVID DUCHOVNY... DATE: MAY 13, 1995

SNL: S20E20... HOST: DAVID DUCHOVNY... DATE: MAY 13, 1995

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with The Beastman Of Studio 8-H which was a sketch where Ellen Cleghorne warned David Duchovny that the SNL studio had an X-Files style curse that haunts the show which sent our host out to investigate. It turned out that the Beastman who was creating such chaos was just Chris Farley, who was playing a joke, but then right after this reveal, we quickly found out that Chris Farley’s claims were just a case of misdirection as the actual Beastman made a quick appearance. This better be a running gag throughout the night because there was no real closure other than the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
  2. David Duchovny then officially opened the show with a monolog about his portfolio of indie films that no one has ever heard of claiming they were the reason he was tapped to host the show, continuing the joke that nobody knows who he is. Since he’s from New York, they then took to the streets to interview Duchovny’s hometown peeps about his career, but even they didn’t know who he was. I hate to say it, but the delivery of this self-deprecating sense of humor is lowering my already low expectations of the night.
  3. You Think You're Better Than Me? was a show sketch filled with aggressive New York stereotypes who answer every question with, “You think you’re better than me?” This sketch could have been fun as a quick one, but it seemed to drag on forever on this night with the fewest sketches I think that I’ve yet to see.
  4. The Zagat's couple then returned where once again, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler played an old retired couple with Farley as the wife who loved to read Zagat’s restaurant reviews, and Sandler who just wanted to die to not have to hear her voice anymore. In this installment, Sandler ripped up the Zagat book which led Farley to seamlessly start to read show descriptions from the TV Guide. After getting in an entire sketch’s worth of content, David Duchovny was introduced to the scene as Farley’s sister who reset the scene by bringing in the latest Zagat’s book as a present.
  5. Rod Stewart then took to the stage to perform Leave Virginia Alone. 
  6. Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Laura Kightlinger dropped by to share what she would be doing over her summer break with a bit of a stand-up routine about growing old while being single and not interested in traditional things like marriage, children, and finding a traditional job. Mike McKean then dropped in as Adam West to talk about Batman following the release of the latest installment of the franchise at the time which was Batman Forever. Adam Sandler also dropped by for a special segment about Mother’s Day specifically devoted to the single mom that eventually evolved into Adam attempting to pick-up on these available women with children.
  7. New England General Store was a sketch that took place in a quaint bait shop run by small town folks who have a run in with Mike McKean who plays a pushy New York City customer who could care less about the small talk as he just wanted to buy his cigarettes and leave. After the verbal abuse of the small town folks grows to be too much, the locals react with a response similar to the Gimp scene from Pulp Fiction where they pull the city folks into a back room to beat the city dwellers to the edge of their existence.
  8. This was followed by another parody of The Ricki Lake Show where Jay Mohr as Ricki had on a hermaphrodite, played by Adam Sandler and a bunch of celebrity impersonators who all look the part but put no effort into playing their roles. The impersonation part was somewhat funny, but the hermaphrodite angle felt like a random add-on to be treated like a sideshow freak. Even though Sandler actually treated the character like a human who was aware of the other’s discomfort even though they were the actual freaks, which would have been nice if that was the actual point of the sketch instead of my interpretation while watching through modern eyes.   
  9. Rod Stewart then returned to the stage to perform Maggie May. 
  10. Rock & Roll Real Estate Agent was as the title suggests a sketch where Jay Mohr played a rock star wannabe who’s now selling real estate now that his band had failed.
  11. The Polar Bear Sketch took place at the zoo after closing time where a group cast members playing themselves broke in to hang out around the polar bear exhibit. Jay Mohr played himself as a bit of a Jackass-style character who jumped in with the bear claiming he could swim across the barrier pond and back without getting caught. Of course, he got mauled in the process. Then, one after another, the rest of the group kept jumping in to save the last person, only to get mauled as well.
  12. Finally, David Duchovny closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.
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