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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