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Night Of A Hundred Songs

Where I felt like last night's episode hosted by Lauren Hutton was too chalked full of fake commercials, I felt this episode was too chalked full of songs. That not to say that any of the performances bad, in fact, I fully expected to see Bernadette Peters perform at least one or two songs because that's part of her act that makes her fun.

That said, she's also the first guest from this season who already had an established comedic career, so I felt a little ripped off that she had to share the show with two musical guests. Luckily, not only were Bernadette's songs fun but the other guest in question were The Go-Go's and Billy Joel. I just wished that they used one of the two guests to fill the time with one of the lamer hosts.

I guess I'm just saying that I wished to see more Bernadette on this otherwise fantastic episode. Not only was it great to see The Go-Go's and Billy Joel, but it was also nice to see them perform one of their hits as opposed to the B-side singles that most of the past musical guest seemed to be performing up to this season.

Speaking of which, all of the musical guests have been amazing. Both the bands and the song choices have been amazing so far, and I'm even more impressed by some of the names that I see in the upcoming queue. This may be the first and potentially the only season that I've looked more forward to the musical performances than I've been interested in the host.

Usually, I can give or take the musical act, though I do appreciate that they have the segment I used to treat it more like the seventh inning stretch. When not watching an episode as part of this challenge, I've always used the performance break as a chance to use the bathroom or refresh my drink, unless it was a band or group that I really really liked. Even then, me and whoever I was watching the show with would also use it as an opportunity to talk about the sketches we just watched.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's show because I already have the subtitle based on the guest alone which will be something to the effect of Tim Curry With A Side Of Meatloaf. Which also means back to back episodes where I am a fan of both the host as well as the band.

Alright, enough rambling about my relationship with the musical segment of Saturday Night Live because it's now time to move on and share what I saw as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's episode starts with a reminder from the show's "sponsor" Texxon, "Where Life Is Second Only To Money." There's still no mention of, "Live from New York..."
Again, there's also not a monolog as they are still doing the dumb yearbook photo thing where the host and the cast rush to the stage and pose for a second before starting the show.
Bernadette Peters then plays Betty Boop for a black and white video for The War Department called Johnny Keep Your Gun Clean where she does a Betty Boop song and dance to soldiers about keeping their "guns" clean from STDs.
Escape From Escape From New York is a fake movie trailer for a movie about a theater audience trying to escape the movie Escape From New York.
I Married A Monkey returns for the classic installment that I thought was the only one with Sweetchuck in bed with his bride of a chimp. He tries to save the relationship only to be ignored by the monkey who we find out is a pill popper. We also get another visit from their kid.
We then get a message to "all the white viewers" from Eddie Murphy about how much money he's making without a college education and how when it comes to talent, you either have it, or you don't so if the answer's the latter you may as well just drop out.
Hidden Photo is a Candid Camera parody where they try out a prank in a diner called Hot Fork where they heat up the forks until they are glowing red before giving them to their customers along with their orders of cheesecake. We also meet a blind homeless guy by changing his "Please Help" sign to warn of his vicious dog, and then swaps out the dog for a pig. We also go to an elementary school to prank kids by telling them they are going up for adoption.
Mary Gross and Robin Duke then get a bedtime story where the dad simply states, "Once there was a camel that could upholster furniture," and that's it. That's the sketch.
We then get a teaser that Billy Joel will be performing later from his home studio.
The Go-Go's then hit the stage to perform Our Lips Are Sealed.
Man Ray And Mic is a short film of a dog just sitting there. It's the same dog from the short film where all we did was watch it eat peanut butter. In this installment, the dog just continues to sit and then eventually drops something that it was hiding in its mouth so that it lands right in front of a microphone, but the problem is, the quality is so low that I can't tell what this object is.
We then go to Tony Rosato and Christine Ebersole who are doing a sketch about installing curtains. Then the power goes out on the set leaving the actors to have to perform in the dark making all of the curtain rod talk seem extra dirty, enough so to bring in the censor who goes nuts when they start yelling for Dick, the producer Dick Ebersole that is.
Piscopo and Murphy then start to fight over who gets to promote the upcoming Billy Joel performance.
Bernadette Peters then performs a song about masturbation called Making Love Alone.
Billy Joel then hits the stage to perform Miami 2017.
42nd Street is a short film that gives us a video tour of the adult entertainment that was available in New York at the time. This evolves into a sketch where Tony Rosato plays a porn producer and Bernadette Peters auditions as if this wasn't porn. She then meets Eddie Murphy as Miles Long who gets her to change her mind. Then, the producer doesn't seem interested because she won't play along with the casting couch rules where everyone keeps telling her that she has to "Feed the bear," and now she's back to not being interested while everyone else is back to having her on board. It keeps going back and forth like this only it seems more inconsistent than funny.
Once again, Brian Doyle-Murray gives us the news on his own. This week they audition David Stockman (Sweetchuck) to be their financial news specialist whose nose grows with each of his lies about the economy, and that's it. This was a very short segment this week.
The Go-Go's then returns to perform We Got The Beat.
Nick The Knock is a surreal stage play with Piscopo as a jester who meets a Tinker Bell-like character who gives him a poetic breakdown of the importance of truth and then he eats her.
Billy Joel then returns to perform She's Got A Way.
Rock 'N Roll Heaven Inc. is a company that profits off of dead musicians by taking over their merchandising after death, keeping in mind that this was a time when selling out was a negative thing in music.
Finally, Bernadette Peters closes the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

Though there were a lot of music performances that limited my options for favorite sketches, this was a solid enough show all the way through to where I was still easily able to find these favorite moments. First, I loved seeing Bernadette Peters as Betty Boop because she's an adorable fit and it was a pretty funny song. Next, I really liked the Hidden Photo sketch, for one, I was a fan of Candid Camera, but also because this was the first example of this cast doing well with a longer sketch to where I never felt bored or annoyed. Finally, I was a fan of I Married A Monkey because it reminded me of a simpler time where all that it took was a monkey in people's clothing to genuinely make me happy.