In previous seasons of Saturday Night Live, the female cast members have pointed out how much difficulty the male writers have had writing for them. In Season Seven, single-year cast member Christine Ebersole sang a whole song about it.
But in Season Thirteen, the gap between men’s roles and women’s roles is as stark as ever. The men get meaty, attention-grabbing roles, while the women are relegated to bit parts, typically playing nagging girlfriends and wives or, in many cases near the end of the season, prostitutes.
But that doesn’t mean the men don’t make the most of their opportunities. On his second season of SNL, Phil Hartman takes a big step forward, turning in some amazing performances - from a subway rider who quickly changes personalities to televangelist Jimmy Swaggart to a funny bit as Ann Boleyn’s personal assistant. Hartman dominated the strike-shortened season.
Of course, Dana Carvey, also in his second year, had his moments. The show lucked out this season in that just as Carvey’s “Church Chat” was taking off, a number of national televangelists were immolating themselves, allowing the Church Lady to condemn them in hilarious ways. With Kevin Nealon, Carvey also rolled out “Hans and Franz,” a bit that took a while to register with audiences, but once it did, it found itself in pretty much every episode.
Dennis Miller once again helmed Weekend Update more capably than anyone had before him. The first episode of the season features an Al Franken WU bit that is so prescient, it is almost hard to believe.
As for hosts, the show in Season 13 reaches back to some favorites (Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Candice Bergen, Danny DeVito, Paul Simon, Robin Williams) and to some Hollywood legends (Robert Mitchum, Angie Dickinson). Perhaps the greatest surprise was the strong hosting effort given by Carl Weathers of Rocky “Apollo Creed” fame.
We discuss all these topics and much more on this week’s episode of “Wasn’t That Special.” Please subscribe and join us for a trip through every year of SNL. And consider joining at the Executive Producer level, where you get a whole load of extra commentary and clips that will help you become an SNL expert.
