or...

A Silly Night With Sarah Connor

I don't know why I'm still surprised by the fact that more often than not these non-comedic hosts tend to put on a solid show. Though this isn't always the case with the bigger names of dramatic actors who simply seem to use the show as a promotional tool, these successful but midlevel celebrities like Linda Hamilton almost always turn out to be great.

I think this is due to the fact that they are still hungry leading them to be more willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to pull off a joke, as opposed to the bigger names who tend to lean toward safer roles that tend to be entertaining but don't generate many laughs. This extra step to include humor is what can take a low expectation show from being just okay to being pretty good.

Again, this isn't an episode that will make any of my top ten list as a whole but it did contain two sketches that make me a little depressed that I only transfer my number one sketch of the night over to my accumulating list of favorite sketches of all time because they are both right up near the top.

The first sketch being the introduction of Massive Headwound Harry because of how you can almost literally feel that excitement from the crowd while the dog goes nuts while ripping away at Dana Carvey's fake head wound. That and the idea is just random and hilarious in general to the point where I spent most of the night without a thought that it would be topped tonight.

Then, right at the end, we got a short film from Tom Schiller that I always thought was just a traditional sketch and not something that was prerecorded. This classic sketch/short is the one that parodied the old hidden camera ad where a cafe would replace their customer's expensive gourmet coffee with some cheap instant stuff highlighting how the cheap stuff is so good that no one can tell the difference and are pleased as punch when they find out that they've been deceived.

However, in the parody version of this commercial, Chris Farley causes a major scene after being informed of the trick. His slow evolve from gentle giant to complete monster over this little lie has always been so funny to me especially while having the phony ass "real" commercial on my mind landing it high on my list of all-time favorite winning over poor Harry and his injured head.

Oh well, it is what it is and only the best can win. Now that I've made my choice, it's now time to switch gears and move on to sharing what I saw as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a Special Weekend Report with updates in the year's non-presidential election results that led up to parody coverage of David Duke's Concession Speech, who was an Ex-Klansman that was running for Governor of Louisiana at the time. Dana Carvey played Duke who reminisced about the beautiful racist sentiment that he experience while on the campaign trail while trying to mend fences with the Nazis for when he runs again. As always, this being the opening sketch it eventually built up to Duke's announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Linda Hamilton then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she is more than just the action star that we all know from Terminator. She then went on to show "clips from her growing up" only it was filled with nothing but explosion juxtaposed with her very innocent tale of her youth.
This was followed by a fake ad with a catchy commercial tune for Leevi's 3 Legged Jeans which were jeans with an extra leg that serve no actual purpose.
The Tooncinator was a parody of Terminator II with Toonces The Driving Cat returning to the show to play the role of the shape-shifting Terminator from the real movie and is after our host Linda Hamilton with Edward Furlong also reprising his role as a quick cameo for the night, and Phil Hartman playing Arnold. As per usual, this sketch inevitably built to Toonces driving off a cliff while taking everybody with him.
It's Pat also returned for another segment. This time Pat showed up at a gym where Linda Hamilton played a trainer who struggled to figure out how to perform the new member evaluation because of the gender mystery. The sketch built up to where we were about to learn Pat's sex as he/she was left to choose which locker room to enter only to have the scene interrupted by an unimportant Weekend Update Report.
Massive Headwound Harry then made his debut to the show with Dana Carvey playing the titular role and tries to navigate an otherwise normal day with an untreated massive head wound while claiming to be okay. This week, he visits a cocktail party to freak everyone out with his affliction by being thoughtless about his major wound. It started simple with him just startling guest who were unprepared for such a site but then builds to him sticking his head into the snack why reaching down to pick up a dropped knife and ended with him lying down from feeling light headed only to have a dog try to eat his open wound, which is the most hilarious scene ever because the dog really goes to town, but in the world of the sketch this was the final straw that caused everyone to leave the house.
We then got a Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey segment where Jack share how a sunset once reminded him of a day fishing salmon.
Ellen Cleghorne's NBC page character named Zoraida made her return to the show to pester Linda Hamilton while sharing that fact that she is such a huge fan of her TV series Beauty And The Beast while thinking the Beast was actually real. She does all this while acting completely unaware and/or uninterested that Linda is actually in a rush to get ready for the next sketch.
Mariah Carey then took to the stage to perform Can't Let Go.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, Dana Carvey introduced a new Vaudeville era entertainer who discussed the controversy of Michael Jackson's new Black Or White video which had some questionably anti-Semitic scenes in the original cut, only to end up defending the King Of Pop with a bunch of backhanded remarks.
Barroom Brawls was a sketch that took place in a bar where Mike Meyers and Victoria Jackson are on a date and noticed Linda Hamilton as herself having a drink by herself. Mike Myers is so excited to see his favorite female action start that he just won't shut up about her. The two then go over to say hello only Victoria and starts to pick a fight. At first, Linda tried to ignore the aggressive behavior but then ends up forced to fight and when the other women witness this it triggers an out and out battle over who is the alpha female.
The Chris Farley Show also returned for another installment where a nervous but excited Farley fanboys out over his guest, Martin Scorsese, while asking him if he remembered the most famous scenes from his films.
This was followed by another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared a tale of the day where it was raining out yet all he could hear was urine.
Mariah Carey then returned to the stage to perform If It's Over.
Baby Talk Dinner was a sketch with Phil Hartman and Julia Sweeney on a double day with Dana Carvey and Linda Hamilton where Linda and Dana are too into baby talk to the point where it's downright disturbing.
We also got another short film from the Schiller Visions series. This week's installment was fake mini-documentary Sweden that exposed a cut scene from an American Hidden Video Commercial where they swapped out Chris Farley's gourmet coffee with a cheap instant brand. Rather than be impressed like in the real commercials from the time Chris Farley goes nuts and takes out his anger on the entire restaurant as if he were a mini King Kong with everyone jumping on his back making efforts to stop his attack making this one of my favorite sketches of all time.
Finally, Linda Hamilton closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

Again, I love these non-comedic hosts who exceed my expectations by being involved in episodes that put out content like these three of my favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the Schiller Vision: Hidden Video Gourmet Coffee Swap short film because the way things escalate to chaos in this scene is so perfect that I've always found this to be one of my favorite sketches in the world, especially being a gentle giant who has fits of rage as well. Next, I really liked the debut of Massive Headwound Harry because the dog literally ripping at his wound is a hilarious site that's been burned into my memory since the night this originally aired. Finally, I was a fan of The Tooncinator because I am a fan of both franchises, especially from that time.