During Season 18 of Saturday Night Live, it is clear the classic run that began in Season 12 with the likes of Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and others is gone.
I still find Phil to once again be undeniable for MVP this season, especially with the addition of his Clinton to repertoire, but absolute respect for giving Julia and Rob the recognition they deserve. Those two really held down the fort and I don’t think the season would have worked without them, especially Julia who basically had to carry the weight of Victoria, Nora, and Jan (when she wasn’t putting in amazing guest appearances). As for Rob, I think his time is totally misremembered due to his subpar output and commentary post-SNL. He reminds me of Kazurinsky in his ability to lynchpin a sketch with a perpetually articulate and unwavering demeanor, regardless of if he is the straight role or playing the buffoon.
From the desk of the Have It Your Way: A McDonalds Pod (not real (that I know of) but should be)…since it was brought up in that classic Clinton sketch, the story of the McLean, and the disastrous Deluxe line:
It’s fair for 1992 US audiences not to be aware, but do yourself a favor and watch Miranda Richardson in the various Blackadder series. She’s mostly in the second one as Queen Elizabeth I
I appreciate your kind words for Julia Sweeney. Her screentime takes a nosedive in Season 19 because her sweetness no longer fits well with the show's increasingly crass writing. She has done several delightful interviews recently, so she'd be a good guest for this podcast if you guys can land her.
Scot: Man, you nailed it. I'm going to make this exact point on the S19 pod (spoiler). The very qualities that make Sweeney valuable also make her unusable with the current cast structure. She's nice and sweet and charming and that is *not* the ethos.
Another great episode. In real time, I thought this season was pretty lame, but I wondered if that were simply a case of just not being at the same level as the prior seasons. Glad to hear that my original impression was correct. Never cared for Sandler’s recurring WU characters.
Other notes:
—-The Whipmaster was great. Broke that one several years ago when my youngest son acquired an actual whip.
—-Ben Stiller Show was, IIRC, one of the *many* Fox shows that never found an audience because the network kept changing its timeslot.
—-Tim Robbins was not only a terrible SNL host, he looked every day of his 65 years in last night’s Oscar broadcast. Not good.
Scot: Cajunman is the only Sandler WU desk spot I've really liked. Operaman is meh (or whatever the 1993 equivilent of that word was). I can't stand the silly Halloween costume bits.
At least Opera Man “survived” all the way to the 9/11 Tribute Concert, his hosting return, and even his Twain Award ceremony because the joke wasn’t trying to come up with words that rhymes with Cajun, or torture them in a way to rhyme.
Well I guess Opera Man technically does that, but it is more based on the verses being sung as opposed to the whole freaking premise of the bit!
I think there is a meta-ness to the Halloween bit, in terms of mocking the idea of anyone no longer pre-High School that is out legit trick or treating and not chaperoning siblings/family members and their friends…or I’m trying way too hard to justify lazily written material for the sake of some 12:20am laughs ;)
FACT CHECK/COMMUNITY NOTES: Thomas Jefferson’s…relations with his…slave…Sally Hemings was well known by yellow journalists of the day (not quite the era yet where the term was first coined), very much always a dark chapter of his bio through the centuries and certainly something worthy of bringing up if TJ was transported some two hundred years after serving his Presidential terms…Not as prescient as you’d think ;)
🤔 This might be too inside baseball for fans of a certain mammal mascoted basic cable news network’s nightly comedy show.
But Rob’s plight from the heights he is being rediscovered as having here, to seemingly being the Turtle to Adam Sandler’s Vinny Chase is giving me hope for a certain Alaskan based divorced dad standup comic who often of late is joked about as been hanger on of Rob Scheinder ;)
I still find Phil to once again be undeniable for MVP this season, especially with the addition of his Clinton to repertoire, but absolute respect for giving Julia and Rob the recognition they deserve. Those two really held down the fort and I don’t think the season would have worked without them, especially Julia who basically had to carry the weight of Victoria, Nora, and Jan (when she wasn’t putting in amazing guest appearances). As for Rob, I think his time is totally misremembered due to his subpar output and commentary post-SNL. He reminds me of Kazurinsky in his ability to lynchpin a sketch with a perpetually articulate and unwavering demeanor, regardless of if he is the straight role or playing the buffoon.
Scot: The Kazurinsky comparison is strong.
From the desk of the Have It Your Way: A McDonalds Pod (not real (that I know of) but should be)…since it was brought up in that classic Clinton sketch, the story of the McLean, and the disastrous Deluxe line:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's_Deluxe_line?wprov=sfti1
The McDLT also made an appearance…that was also a sadly overhyped disaster :(
I think the McRib was the only non-staple mentioned in that entire sketch that endures to this day!
It’s fair for 1992 US audiences not to be aware, but do yourself a favor and watch Miranda Richardson in the various Blackadder series. She’s mostly in the second one as Queen Elizabeth I
I appreciate your kind words for Julia Sweeney. Her screentime takes a nosedive in Season 19 because her sweetness no longer fits well with the show's increasingly crass writing. She has done several delightful interviews recently, so she'd be a good guest for this podcast if you guys can land her.
Scot: Man, you nailed it. I'm going to make this exact point on the S19 pod (spoiler). The very qualities that make Sweeney valuable also make her unusable with the current cast structure. She's nice and sweet and charming and that is *not* the ethos.
Another great episode. In real time, I thought this season was pretty lame, but I wondered if that were simply a case of just not being at the same level as the prior seasons. Glad to hear that my original impression was correct. Never cared for Sandler’s recurring WU characters.
Other notes:
—-The Whipmaster was great. Broke that one several years ago when my youngest son acquired an actual whip.
—-Ben Stiller Show was, IIRC, one of the *many* Fox shows that never found an audience because the network kept changing its timeslot.
—-Tim Robbins was not only a terrible SNL host, he looked every day of his 65 years in last night’s Oscar broadcast. Not good.
—WARLORDS.
Scot: Cajunman is the only Sandler WU desk spot I've really liked. Operaman is meh (or whatever the 1993 equivilent of that word was). I can't stand the silly Halloween costume bits.
Each was a single joke just beaten into the ground.
At least Opera Man “survived” all the way to the 9/11 Tribute Concert, his hosting return, and even his Twain Award ceremony because the joke wasn’t trying to come up with words that rhymes with Cajun, or torture them in a way to rhyme.
Well I guess Opera Man technically does that, but it is more based on the verses being sung as opposed to the whole freaking premise of the bit!
I think there is a meta-ness to the Halloween bit, in terms of mocking the idea of anyone no longer pre-High School that is out legit trick or treating and not chaperoning siblings/family members and their friends…or I’m trying way too hard to justify lazily written material for the sake of some 12:20am laughs ;)
FACT CHECK/COMMUNITY NOTES: Thomas Jefferson’s…relations with his…slave…Sally Hemings was well known by yellow journalists of the day (not quite the era yet where the term was first coined), very much always a dark chapter of his bio through the centuries and certainly something worthy of bringing up if TJ was transported some two hundred years after serving his Presidential terms…Not as prescient as you’d think ;)
If not for Jennifer Flowers and others (IIRC), that “trust me, there’ll be A LOT more things we won’t tell Mrs. Clinton” would be very prescient ;)
🤔 This might be too inside baseball for fans of a certain mammal mascoted basic cable news network’s nightly comedy show.
But Rob’s plight from the heights he is being rediscovered as having here, to seemingly being the Turtle to Adam Sandler’s Vinny Chase is giving me hope for a certain Alaskan based divorced dad standup comic who often of late is joked about as been hanger on of Rob Scheinder ;)