October 31, 1987 – Dabney Coleman / The Cars (S13 E3) [THROWBACK REVIEW]

Cold Opening – Lifestyles of the Rich, Famous and Scary

• Dana looks really funny in that getup, and this cold opening is pretty fitting for our Halloween episode.
• Whoa at Elvira’s entrance here. A pretty random cameo to be honest with you all, even though she’s coming as funny & likable as usual.
• At least the show is acknowledging a certain… uh… um… unique feature about Elvira. She’s a great sport as expected about it.
• Wow, this is over already? At least it was fine enough.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• God, I love Dabney Coleman. He has always been one of my personal favorite actors, and he’s especially fantastic in Boardwalk Empire. Him hosting & the fact that this episode is almost entirely comprised of nothing but solid, silly, creative, and one-off sketch concepts are the reasons I decided to review it.
• Some good laughs from Dabney’s always-reliable delivery, and he’s coming of his usual charismatic self in this monologue.
• Funny “communists” ad-lib from Dabney after one of his lines got a tepid reaction from the audience.

Rating: ***

Nature’s Broom

• I’m liking the general feel & look of this sketch, and it looks like a solid showcase of Nora’s talents.
• Great singing voice on Nora, never knew that she could sing this good.
• I’m not that familiar with Peggy Lee, but knowing Nora, I’m sure she’s doing a good impression of her.
• I’m really enjoying the premise of the altered lyrics, even when it’s not laugh out loud funny to me, it’s still providing me with amusement.
• Ok, the “feels like something died inside us” lyric made me laugh out loud just now.
• Solid piece overall & Nora came off both funny here and charismatic as expected.

Rating: ***1/2

The Winning Spirit

• A favorite of mine, and I’m certain many others.
• A solid & unique sketch concept with Dabney’s blind character lamenting his own visual impairment, and Dabney’s acting talent is used to perfection here.
• A big laugh from the reveal that Dabney’s cause of blindness is “porcupine-oriented”.
• Jan is an excellent straight man here; a good showcase of her versatility as a performer.
• I’m loving the silliness of this sketch, and Dabney’s sarcastic responses to Jan are great. This sketch is a PERFECT usage of Dabney’s dramatic skills & sharp delivery.
• Love Dabney’s little dance just now, his execution of the fantastic material in general is so top-notch.
• Great escalation with Jan just giving up on doing the interview with Dabney and have an emotional breakdown. His reaction to her crying is hilarious.
• Fantastic line from Dabney about how the only positive thing about his blindness is that he can look directly at an eclipse.
• A true classic, overall. One of my personal favorite SNL sketches of all time.

Rating: *****

Don’t Go Down To The Basement

• Here comes Dana & Jan as a couple once again in this era.
• A very Halloween-themed concept.
• Wow, this sketch turns out to be Phil’s second & FINAL appearance all night long. This episode has to be, hands down, one of the quietest nights in his entire tenure.
• Some good laughs from Phil’s lines, selling them like the pro he is, even when the sketch overall feels a little underwritten. This could’ve been vastly improved & made more memorable. It was still fine at the end, though.

Rating: ***

Campfire Stories

• Dabney’s voice is so perfect for a scary campfire story. I’m also absolutely loving how the show is giving him all of these unique sketch concepts and have him basically front-and-center in all of them.
• I’m really enjoying how Dabney’s scoutmaster character’s story about the woman in white is turning more and more about his ex-wife.
• The pacing of this sketch in general is very solid, and the performers are complementing the material, especially Dabney who’s nothing short of excellent here.
• Some solid lines from Dabney throughout the sketch in regards to his ex-wife, the Twinkies line in particular stands out to me.
• Very funny ending with the moral of Dabney’s story being that women are no damn good.

Rating: ****

Weekend Update

• Great joke from Dennis about then-vice president Bush being the Barney Five of world politics.
• Some sharply-delivered jokes so far as expected from Dennis, and his whole book reading bit is a quintessential one for his style.
• I’m enjoying Dennis’ rapid-fire string of jokes towards the camera, even though it’s pretty weird to see him not delivering it while the news screen is behind him.
• Yeah, you could really tell a very jarring edit just now, as you could see the shadow of Elvira about to sit next to Dennis to deliver an Update commentary about Halloween, which got edited out from this episode’s reruns & is sadly very hard to find. Elvira claimed in her book that she was supposed to host this episode earlier in the week, even though there is no announcement of her hosting, and that throughout the week she was being slowly phased-out, till Dabney was brought in to be the host instead. I do find the whole claim dubious to say the least, as several sketches in this episode were CLEARLY written for Dabney’s strong dramatic skills, such “The Winning Spirit” & “Campfire Stories”. I do think, however, that something happened around Update for Elvira to be flat-out erased from it, and it makes it feel that Lorne was basically forced to have her on the show.
• A pretty good Update overall, despite that jarring edit & it having a hollow feel due to the lack of any commentaries & how short it was.

Rating: ***

Marriage Counselor

• I’m enjoying Dabney’s reactions to both Kevin & Nora, and knowing in hindsight where this sketch is going makes the setup even better.
• Yet another silly & solid sketch concept tonight with Dabney as the marriage counselor ignoring Nora & getting friendly with Kevin as the session is going along.
• Hilarious moment with Dabney sternly ordering Nora to sit her “big fat butt” down, and then going back to being friendly with Kevin’s character.
• I love the high-fiving bit between Kevin & Dabney.
• Great exiting line from Nora about leaving Dabney & Kevin alone so they can measure their penises.

Rating: ****

Count Dracula, Self-Taught Auto Mechanic

• Another very fun concept that’s not only fitting for the Halloween episode, but is tailored perfectly for Jon’s personality.
• How many times did Jan & Dana play a couple in their tenure? They play a couple TWICE this episode alone. I’m not complaining though, as they have a wonderful chemistry.
• Jon is executing this in the most Jon Lovitz way possible, he’s getting laughs out of me without doing much.
• I do like the ending shot of Jan.

Rating: ***1/2

The Pat Stevens Show

• Oh, no. I never liked this character aside from the memorable Barbra Bush installment. I enjoy Nora as a cast member, but this character rarely worked for me.
• A funny entrance from Dabney wearing all that fur, at least.
• Sharp deliveries from Nora as always, but this sketch isn’t making me laugh nor entertained so far.
• Ok, this is really getting somewhat dull, and the sketch in general is not working for me. Not even Dabney could save this.

Rating: **

Mascot Ideas

• Jan is always really convincing to me when playing young girls or teens. An area she was really underrated in.
• Dabney is perfect as a high school teacher, there’s both a sense of authority, yet hidden sweetness that he can bring with enough subtlety in this role.
• I love Jon as much as the next SNL fan, but he’s not convincing to me AT ALL as a high school student.
• I’m enjoying the silly nature of the sketch, and the performances really showcase the fun writing too.
• The “communists” suggestion from Dana is hilarious.
• Dabney is strongly anchoring the sketch, as expected. And I’m enjoying all of his comments and reactions.
• I do love that ending. A perfect closure to silly, solid sketch.

Rating: ****

Ed’s Secret Life

• This film was added to my copy, as it replaces Elvira’s cut Update commentary.
• So far, this is being played straight & has a pretty dull feel. Not to mention that this is a short film that’s made from outside of SNL.
• Strange seeing Heather Locklear here, as I didn’t know that she was on SNL aside from her season 19 hosting stint.
• Overall…. nothing much to say here but that this was light on the laughs & was very dull. Not as terrible as I feared it would be, at least.

Rating: **

Investment Firm

• As expected, very solid line delivery from Jon during his angry rant towards Dabney.
• I love the moment where after Jon breaks the plant on Dabney’s desk, Dabney just calmly dusts off the dirt from his desk as if nothing happened.
• This sketch seems to be aiming for a dramatic feel instead of a laugh out loud comedy, which I assume why it was placed in the 10-to-1 spot of the night. The performances make up for that to me, especially Dabney’s strong acting & characterization.
• The sketch ended abruptly in my copy just now, which I assume due to whomever recorded this rerun cut off the very last part of the sketch.

Rating: ***

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

The Winning Spirit

Campfire Stories

Marriage Counselor

Mascot Ideas

Count Dracula, Self-Taught Auto Mechanic

Nature’s Broom

Investment Firm

Monologue

Weekend Update

Don’t Go Down To The Basement

Lifestyles of the Rich, Famous and Scary

The Pat Stevens Show

Ed’s Secret Life

Final Thoughts:-

• A fairly solid episode, beside a few misfires in the post-Update half. As I mentioned several times throughout the review, this episode had a template of various silly, solid, creative, and one-off sketch concepts that dominated most of the night, and were executed perfectly. Another positive to this episode was our host Dabney Coleman, who was a fantastic & very strong host that was utilized very well, and was given multiple sketches to showcase his strong dramatic talents, especially in “The Winning Spirit” & “Campfire Stories”.
• I did also love how well-timed & structured the whole episode was, especially with the many short segments throughout the night (I recall the season 44 Halsey episode also having that uniquely-structured approach to it, with so many creative, silly, and fun sketch concepts dominating the entire show).

Up Next:-

• John Malkovich / Anita Baker.