February 6, 1993 – Luke Perry / Mick Jagger (S18 E12) [THROWBACK REVIEW]

Cold Opening – Open House

• Feels good to review Phil’s Bill Clinton impression, and as expected, he’s doing a spot-on impression of him.
• Rob’s whole bit cracked me up much more than it should’ve. Rob’s always-sharp & reliable delivery helped in making his dialogue even funnier than it is.
• Lovely to see Jan here, even though her Hillary Clinton is pretty generic & not as memorable to me as the Ana Gasteyer & Kate McKinnon versions. Yet, I wouldn’t mind seeing some Jan Hooks on my screen.
• Some fun & goofy characterization from the performers here, even Chris’ role, while it feels like an unfortunate omen to things to come from him later in his tenure, is fun enough here.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• I love Luke’s energy & demeanor right from the start.
• This is a memorable monologue, with Phil as Obi-Wan Kenobi giving Luke advice on what to do on stage and how to handle his monologue.
• Coming as no surprise, Phil is doing a solid job in channeling Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan & the whole premise of Obi-Wan advising Luke is tons of fun.
• The cue cards bit made me laugh, due to Phil’s always-excellent delivery.
• Phil’s Obi-Wan telling Luke to beat the guy that yelled “You Suck!”, saying “Kick his ass and take his wallet” slayed me.
• An overall memorable & fun monologue. Phil was hilarious here.

Rating: ****

The Tampon Prince

• Great makeup on Dana’s Prince Charles, especially the nose & ear prosthetics.
• Mike’s Queen Elizabeth voice is cracking me up. He always manages to surprisingly pull off drag roles & not come off hacky.
• A very dumb, yet funny premise of Prince Charles transforming into a tampon so he could live in Camila Parker-Bowles’ trousers.
• Mick Jagger absolutely STEALS this entire sketch with his fantastic line deliveries which gets a huge audience reaction.
• A hilarious visual of Dana’s Prince Charles as a tampon & his yell to an emotional Camilla is very funny.
• This ends up being Dana’s final lead role during his tenure, as this is his final episode, and he makes another appearance later tonight in an ensemble sketch. While I had a few problems with Dana as a cast member, he had an absolutely fantastic tenure & deservedly became a highly-regarded and beloved SNL legend. So, for him to leave the show in such a way, without a sendoff or a great final episode is a shame, but I guess he wanted to leave on a quiet note.

Rating: ***

Yard Boy

• I’m enjoying the look & feel of this sketch, and Julia’s characterization is very solid.
• A good premise of Julia’s older lady’s flirtations with Luke’s character not going anywhere, due to him not getting the hints; a good use as well of Luke’s heartthrob status at the time, yet in a way that doesn’t feel pandering.
• The sketch feels a little slow so far, and is not turning out to be as solid as I want it to be, but the performances are making it up for me, especially Julia’s, who’s been having a fantastic season, becoming the beloved main female utility player of the cast. That feels a little sad in hindsight, seeing Julia’s heavy utilization during this season, knowing how the next two seasons of this era will be like for the female performers.
• I do love the ending with Phil, and he came off as funny as ever in it.

Rating: ***

Weekend Update

• I’m not really caring much for some of Kevin’s jokes here. I love him as a comedian as much as the next guy, but he rarely worked for me behind the Update desk.
• Hey, at least I get to cover Operaman, one of the (very) few things that Adam did throughout his tenure that I really liked.
• I do like Operaman’s lyrics about the President being scared of Hillary, and his bit about Gore is also fun.
• Boy, talk about a time capsule. Kevin’s joke about cellphone users aged pretty poorly, to say the least. It kinda reminds me of the jokes about the internet not lasting after the 90s.
• A rare visit to the Update desk from Mike, and this one is a very famous one with Mick Jagger playing Keith Richards, while Mike is playing Mick Jagger. Both here doing a Point/Counterpoint commentary.
• Spot-on Mick Jagger voice from Mike, and his mugging tendencies are actually fitting for this impression.
• Solid callback with the famous “Mick, you ignorant slut” moment, which is a reference to the legendary moment in a Point/Counterpoint installment from the original era.

Rating: ***

Magic Fish Town Meeting

• I’ve always loved this sketch in the past. The very creative concept, as well as the subtle execution makes it even better. And, much like the highs of the John Malkovich episode that I very recently reviewed, it focuses on humor that I love.
• I’m also really enjoying how this sketch serves as an ensemble piece for the cast & even some of the writers and crew members.
• Phil is simply perfect as the head speaker of the town meeting.
• The visual of (I think) Al Franken with that huge head is hilarious.
• The whole sequence with Mike pulling on his ear with a hand, and spanking with the other his behind is quite funny.
• I’m loving the bizarre, absurdist humor here, especially with how casually it’s treated.
• Great visual with Phil’s head exploding out of nowhere, which made me actually laugh out loud. And a solid twist with Dana’s character being behind it.

Rating: *****

SNL Halftime Spectacular

• Oh, this seems to be a very different, ambitious piece for SNL, as I can barely think of any examples where SNL would attempt something on this scale.
• I’m loving how very extensive, epic, and well-realized this whole sequence is, and Chris’ Michael Jackson impression here is cracking me up, especially the dance movements.
• This is an absolute BLAST so far, great energy to it as well. The whole sequence around the studio is lots of fun to watch.
• Great bit with Chris having a hard time keeping up with the Michael Jackson medley of songs, the meta commentary with this bit is hilarious.
• Hell yeah! Now we’re getting audience participation, reminding me of the classic The Zucchini Song number that I recently reviewed.
• Overall, this was fantastic & tons of fun to watch and review.

Rating: ****1/2

High School Liars Club

• What’s with the sloppy sketch construction right out of the gate?! The game board looks like a mess, first of all, and the answers are already up! I’d assume the crew barely had time to finish the set, so I’ll give them some slack for it.
• Yeah, I’m not too sure about the gameshow’s premise, considering how memorable the gameshow sketches usually are from the early 90s era, and this one is coming off fairly uninteresting.
• A fairly dull sketch so far, with barely any laughs to be had so far, despite me enjoying Phil & Luke’s performances in particular.
• Rob is injecting some energy into this sketch, as his whole bit with David is providing me with much-needed laughs.

Rating: **

Sassy’s Sassiest Boys

• Second sketch in a row with Phil as a host of a program.
• A pretty silly concept for a talk show sketch, and this feels like a piece that Phil could enhance with his always-fun performances and line deliveries.
• Phil’s very first “Sassy!” made me laugh out loud, even though I know where the sketch’s going.
• While the sketch seems a little one-note, it is harmless enough & Phil is absolutely elevating the material here.

Rating: ***1/2

Dark Moments in Black History

• What’s with Ellen’s very awkward pause early on? Was that part of the character?
• The focus on the Super Bowl here is making me lose interest in this sketch, as there’s nothing that funny about it.
• A weak piece overall, not even Ellen’s commitment could do anything for this one. What’s been happening to this episode after the first few post-Update sketches?

Rating: **

Saying Goodbye

• Oh, I remember this sketch being absolutely incredible back when I first saw this episode a few years ago, and has always stuck with me since then.
• A fantastic night for Phil, appearing in almost every single sketch tonight, and with many of them having him in a leading role. This has to be amongst the finest nights in his entire legendary 8-year tenure. The other nights where I could think of Phil being everywhere and getting tons of lead roles are the Paul Simon & Sally Field episodes from seasons 13 & 19, respectively.
• Melanie’s look is great & she’s absolutely slaying the studio audience throughout the sketch. Weird enough, I remember thinking that she looked like Rob here, as she’s wearing pretty much the same wig & a similar outfit that Rob would wear in a sketch from the Jeff Goldblum episode from the upcoming season.
• I LOVE the dramatic, slice-of-life feel that this sketch has, and the three performers are wonderful here. Phil’s voice & acting in particular are both absolutely FANTASTIC. One of his finest performances, and considering the spectacularly legendary tenure that he had, that’s most certainly saying something.
• This sketch is so touching, yet in the same time funny. I wonder who wrote it, if anybody knows that is. This is the type of humor that I would love the show to attempt more often, alongside silly, solid, and fun one-off sketch concepts instead of relaying on one-note characters & Wackytown sketches.
• A great, great ending with Phil & Melanie. Not only funny, but also very touching, and both were so fantastic here.
• Overall, what a wonderful way to close the episode on. Probably one of my favorite 10-to-1 sketches in SNL history.

Rating: *****

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Saying Goodbye

Magic Fish Town Meeting

SNL Halftime Spectacular

Monologue

Sassy’s Sassiest Boys

Open House

Yard Boy

Weekend Update

High School Liars Club

Dark Moments in Black History

Final Thoughts:-

• A pretty ok, yet unmemorable first half, but the post-Update half had some PHENOMENAL pieces, including two of my personal favorite sketches (Magic Fish Town Meeting & Saying Goodbye). The night also had some weak segments in said half, but they weren’t too bad, especially for such an outstanding SNL season. The three experimental sketch concepts in that half absolutely made this episode for me & are the reason I decided to cover it.
• Luke Perry was also a wonderful host, who came off very likable and charming. Needless to say, the musical performances by the legendary Mick Jagger also added to the episode’s overall vibes.

Up Next:-

• Garry Shandling / Los Lobos.