At a glance, this may seem like an uncool episode of SNL. Today, Elliot Gould is probably best known as Ross and Rachel's father on "Friends", or as one of the less interesting criminals in the Ocean's 11 films. But during the '70s, he epitomized the quirky male leading man so popular in that era. For every Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds, there was also a Donald Sutherland or Dustin Hoffman. Not as cool as Deniro or Pacino, but still somewhere above old school Hollywood.
Anne Murray, however, was never cool.
THE HOST
Gould was popular, and would go on to host every year until being saddled with hosting duties on the first episode featuring the all new 1980 cast. He never returned. A connection? Who knows.
He's fine in this episode, solid in the skits, though most of his appearance centers on him having spent the night before with Gilda Radner, culminating in an on-air marriage during the ending credits. It's an early example of a recurring plot thread that runs through the episode, something fairly rare these days.
His monologue consists of him singing old standards. It's odd, and seeing him enter to thunderous applause feels strange even though I know he was huge back then. I guess I just didn't realize how popular he was.
He's solid, seems game for anything (he even seems a little high), so it's easy to see why they invited back so often.
THE GOOD
Finally, a strong Killer Bees skit. Portraying them as violent terrorists is a logical place to go with the joke, and Gould does a good job as the leader. The skit cops out on a punchline by intentionally falling apart, but it does result in the first on-air appearance of Lorne Michaels.
The Godfather therapy session is an early favorite of mine. Laraine Newman gets to show off her Valley Girl character (which feels pretty dated and less funny now), but more importantly, Belushi takes the spotlight with a great Brando impersonation. I think sometimes I sound a little biased toward Belushi in these reviews. I'm actually not a huge fan of his, it's just that in these early episodes, in which Chase is the breakout star, it surprises me to see Belushi give so many stand-out performances and yet not quite break out yet. Chase is excellent in his short stint on the show, but he's hardly the only strong performer in the first season.
Weekend Update makes good use of the Chevy Chase/Michael O'Donoghue Jamitol commercial that's been shown before, having O'Donoghue turn up on set as Chase's "wife".
We get a new commercial, Shimmer, the floor wax that's also a whipped topping. In my memory, Aykroyd was the pitchman for this. I was surprised to see it was actually Chase, with Aykroyd in the less showy role of the dad. Still a classic early commercial parody.
Albert Brooks delivers one of my favorites of his films, in which he test markets himself to see if he's funny or not.
I even like the Gary Weis film a lot, a montage of different people singing "Misty". It's arty but entertaining in a way that sadly many of his later contributions aren't. This was rerun a lot in syndication, also, so it's always stuck with me.
THE BAD
The Muppets. And, I guess that's it, so all in all, a strong episode.
THE MEH
The Gilda/Gould marriage skits are okay, but nothing hilarious. It's a cute thread, but I'm not sure it does much beyond fill time.
The opener, featuring a dead string quartet keeling over and, as a result, playing notes, is just okay. I guess they wanted to try something different. It feels like something out of the Ernie Kovacs Show.
It probably has its fans, but Interior Demolitionists is just average for me, as is the skit involving obstetricians.
Franken and Davis are a little more successful doing a comedy act than they are with their Pong skits.
And we get a rerun of the pacemaker battery commercial. The farther we get along, the more out of place these early commercials, featuring none of the cast, seem.
THE MUSIC
It's Anne Murray. Doing two songs I'm not familiar with. She feels out of place, as if she was supposed to be on a prime time variety show and walked through the wrong door.
GRADE:B+
Higher than I expected to give when I started this post, but it really is a strong episode.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Between Gould and Murray, and the "Misty" film, this episode feels even more '70s than usual.
Gould seems so cocky when he takes the stage. It's like he instantly thinks he's the coolest guy in the room.
NEXT: Another first, Buck Henry, joined by Bill Withers, Toni Basil, and some act called The Blues Brothers.
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