or...

Welcome To The Club... The Five-Timers Club!!!

First off, I'd like to congratulate Elliot Gould as this episode marks his entry into the Five-Timers Club. Of the three current members of the club, Gould's journey is the most interesting to me, mainly because up until I rewatched the sketch with Tom Hanks, that started this club, I completely forgot Gould was in it.

I'm also enjoying his journey more than the others because he grows on me more and more with every visit. For his first appearance, he must have been sticking to the style of his character from the movie he was promoting. He had shorter hair, a mustache and was dressed like Joe Namath during his Huggy Bear era of fashion.

Not only that, but he also carried himself like a smooth-talking womanizer which made me not a huge fan. It wasn't until his second appearance where his hairstyle made in recognizable to me. His Gilligan-like style and super friendly attitude instantly won me back. It turned out I was confusing his with an actor that always plays second fiddle in sleazy comedies who I thought was the sidekick in Blame It On Rio but I was wrong in every way and can't figure out how to find who it is that I'm actually thinking of.

Oh well, as I said, with each visit I've liked Elliot more and more because of the positive energy he seems to bring to the overall show. Once again, this was a hilarious episode, in a pretty fun season and now it's time to share what I saw. So with that, I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

Once again, the show starts with a Weekend Update special where Father Guido Sarducci was just released from prison following his "arrest" in "Japan" while trying to get a Paul McCartney interview from a sketch a couple weeks ago. Now he is outside of Nixon's brand new New York house and is waiting to sabotage him to get an interview. It turns out, Nixon and his wife are at a movie which gets the Father talking about film before slipping in, "Live from New York..."
Elliot Gould then opens the show with a monolog about how much he loves the show. This is the first time he didn't start with a song, they just jumped right into the show.
This was followed by a fake ad for Jewess Jeans that parodied an advertisement from Jordache.
Next, we had our first debate sketch of this presidential election season. The debate was between Ted Kennedy and Carter only Carter is too busy to show and is replaced by one of the current president's assistant.
This was followed by another fake ad called Because The Wine Remembers, which give a breakdown of crappy twist top wine, treating it how you would handle a high-end equivalent.
The Incredible man is the best of the long sketches to date because it's a parody of The Wizard Of OZ if it took place in Canada. Since there is enough source material to last as long as the sketch, it never feels like it's dragging on and there is no need for filler. We start out in Saskatchewan in black and white until our Dorothy gets bonked in the head sending her to some snowy location. She met by the good witch who sends her on her way, following a line of golden pee that is creating a path in the snow. On her way to meet The Incredible Man, she meets a Mounty who needs a wife (in place of the Scarecrow), a frozen Hockey Player who wants to be famous (in place of the Tin Man), and an insomniac Bear that just wants to hibernate (in place of the Lion). They get to this Incredible Man who lives in a trailer and solves all of their problems with rational solutions, sending our Dorothy back to Saskatchewan to reunite with her family.
Gary Numan then hits the stage to perform Cars.
Once again, Jane and Bill anchor the news and so far this is their best season as a team. This week the only guest spot is when they check back in with Father Guido Sarducci to see if he has any Nixon updates only Nixon has yet to return from the theater which leads to more talk about movies.
Then we go to prison where a sports agent is trying to recruit Garrett Morris, who is playing a character named Matoose. I'm not sure if this is based on a person from the news at the time or a racist way to highlight just how corrupt the college sporting program actually is as this agent offers Matoose the moon because the school has unlimited funds to finance anything when it comes to sports. Just like the Bel-Arabs sketch, the bad guys in the sketch is the establishment, but the ethnic minorities in these sketches get hit with a whole lot of shrapnel.
Harry Shearer then plays what I thought was the return of the Wayne's World radio DJ character, only it turns out he is a radio DJ only this time he hosts a call-in show that's only purpose is to deliver the time. Call after call asks him what time it is and he answers and transitions to the next call in a very radio DJ way.
Then we go to the subway where Garrett plays a rambling drunk. Gilda gives him a quarter just to go away, and he rewards her with his empty bottle of Thunderbird. I'm not sure why she opens the bottle and give it a whiff, but in doing so, she releases the Subway Genie who grants her three wishes that she has no control over and all are subway-themed.
Once again, we check in with Sarducci who is griping about the situation, unaware that the camera is on. He then finds a neighbor and decides to ask her the one question he wanted to ask Nixon, which is, "If you could be any animal, what would it be?" To which she gives a very standard answer that I didn't even think to write down, assuming the question was the point of the joke.
This was followed by another parody ad for the follow-up to the successful Kramer Vs. Kramer only the sequel is Kramer Vs. Godzilla.
Gary Numan then returns to the stage to perform Praying To The Aliens.
Finally, Elliot Gould closes the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

I keep saying that the shows this season are fun but not funny, but I'm not sure if this is really the case because the whole reason they are fun is the fact that they are funny. The problem is they’re just not the laugh until it hurts that I desperately need, but I'm the one that is getting in the way. So as we go on, always assume that my genuine feeling lean more toward the positive. If there is a show that I really hate, I'm sure I'll make that clear.

So, now that annotation is off my chest, here are my favorite moments. First, I loved The Incredible Man, partially because I lived in Canada for a year with another part being that I have a connection with the Wizard Of OZ after watching it three times in one year for unrelated/blog related reasons. Next, I also loved Because The Wine Remembers because I'm a huge fan of crappy twist-top wine. Finally, I was a fan of Kramer Vs. Godzilla because it's always been a dream of mine to own a gigantic foam rubber Godzilla suit.