or...

The Man To Cast For A Comeback

One of the fun things about this SNL challenge is to see which reviews get a reaction. Keep in mind that I do absolutely zero to promote this site other than to add a link and hashtags to my Twitter posts and then copy and paste that post to my Wicker Breaker Facebook page. This only leads to a couple dozen readers a day so any form of reaction is pretty big when considering the tiny number involved with my hit count.

So far, John Larroquette's last visit led to the biggest response through social media. Keep in mind this big response was a comment, retweet, and several likes that were all initiated by the leader of a John Larroquette fan club. I don't know what surprised me more, the fact that there is a John Larroquette fan club or the fact that it's active enough to find my post mere moments after hitting publish.

This led me to think that if I was still writing screenplays he could be one of those people who is ready for a late career comeback kind of like what Quentin Tarantino likes to do being that I got an instant reaction with such small numbers involved so I could only imagine the potential if you were to scale up the effort.

Keep in mind, this is a half joke because I'm basing this theory on literally and hand full of interactions but I do think that if I were in charge of casting and had a part that would be a fit for Larroquette I'd give it a shot based on this casual observation.

Other than that, this was an interesting episode because I don't really think that the writing was good but I never got bored and it still felt fun and entertaining. Some sketches were too on the news, while others felt random and went nowhere but at the same time both the cast and host seemed to be having fun and their acting was good enough to carry the night without creating a chore to watch.

So, now that I've got my thoughts on John Larroquette's career and quality of today's viewing out of the way, it's now time to switch gears and share what I saw, as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started at the Dukakis headquarter with his campaign manager yelling at him about his bland personality and how it is turning off voters. Soon after the campaign manager leaves the room, it's revealed that Dukakis is actually an alien as he takes a teleconference with the leaders of his home planet, who talk just like him, about his failed attempt to take over as the Earth's leader starting with a presidential win. He almost gets caught but then vaporizes the intruder before announcing, "Live from New York..."
John Larroquette then officially opened the show with a monolog about how excited he is to be back as the host with the monolog being his favorite part because of the fact that this portion of the show is all about him with no one to steal his spotlight. He then challenges the audience to even attempt to take his place in a very aggressive way which leads what looks to be a rugby player from college to rush the stage only to be taken down immediately. This only heightens Larroquette's power trip which leads Dana Carvey to come out and try to tone him down only to end up on the losing side of a surprise game of mercy with Larroquette taking on the posture of an evil overlord.
Come Back To Carbon Paper was a fake ad for old school carbon paper for those moments with the photocopier goes down.
Dan Quayle: President was a sketch that took place in the future, which correctly predicted that George Bush Sr. won, showing the world after Bush has died, leaving Dan Quale in charge of the free world with him being just afraid of this potential outcome as the rest of the White House staff.
Portrait Of The Artist was a PBS style sketch where we see the late life activities of Pablo Picasso where he's at a cafe and has grown to be so arrogant about his work that he treats even the slightest of efforts to be the creation of a master piece that can be treated as currency only to end having to wash dishes after realizing that he forgot his wallet at home and could not pay the bill.
This was followed by a fake TV ad for a country album called The Crests And Troughs Of Vernon Hawley Jr. that makes fun of the traditional country themes of drinking, trucks, and old dogs.
We then got a fake political Vote Bush ad promoting the potential president over Dukakis simply because he is tall.
Pete's Fountain was a sketch that took place in a diner where everyone speaks in sexual innuendos. Then John Larroquette enters as the health inspector only to quickly leave without finding a problem and the other patrons quickly follow as well. This leaves Nora Dunn alone as the waitress with a big ass who closed up shop and then makes a whole lot of noise as she crams her ass into the booth to enjoy her after work meal to end this sketch where nothing actually happens.
We then got another fake political Vote Bush ad where this time they promote the potential president simply because his parents were born in America when Dukakis's were not.
Randy Newman and Mark Knopfler then took to the stage to perform It's Money That Matters.
Once again, Dennis Miller gave us the news. This week, Al Franken played Lyndon LaRouche to give a commentary on how horrible both candidates were making it sound like the 2016 presidential race only scaled down and less aggressively polarizing. Kevin Nealon also dropped in to talk about the election but as always he ended up rambling on about everything other than the initial topic. Finally, Dana Carvey came in as Dennis Miller once again for another rebuttal of his own statements.
Restaurant Sex Talk was, as the title suggests a sketch that took place in a fancy restaurant with John Larroquette on a double date where he and Victoria Jackson talk nothing but sex which makes the other couple super uncomfortable as well as the other patrons. Once confronted, it turns out that all of this sex talk is to over compensate for the failure that their relationship actually is which makes the uptight couple feel like jerks until their hear Larroquette and Jackson having sex in the bathroom when they were supposed to be collecting themselves after share their potential relationship doom and tales of their rough childhoods that led them to live this type of life.
Randy Newman and Mark Knopfler then returned to the stage to perform Dixie Flyer.
We then got a parody of the show This Old House with John Larroquette as Bob Villa who is remodeling a couples house that is haunted by an aggressive spirit while giving tips on how to cover words written in blood and house to sound proof a room from demons.
We then got yet another fake political Vote Bush ad this time the argument is that Bush should be picked over Dukakis simply because Bush has white European ancestors and Dukakis doesn't
Gay Communist Gun Club was a public access show sketch where John Larroquette and Phil Hartman play gay communist gun owners who take calls from the audience who mainly question if they can join the club with only one or two of the titular qualifiers.
Finally, John Larroquette closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Though this might not be my favorite episode of this new season, it still had these three moments that make this episode worth watching. First, I loved the parody of This Old House because I used to like that show as a child and I loved the added angle that Bob Villa was fixing up a haunted house complete with souls stuck in the walls. Next, I really liked the Portrait Of The Artist sketch because it was funny to see Picasso as an asshole who treats even a scribble as a masterpiece/piece of currency. Finally, I was a fan of the Gay Communist Gun Club sketch because though it was simply a silly joke at the time, I'm sure this is currently a legitimate group that meets weekly without any sense of irony that take themselves very serious.