At this point I realized what was so special about this episode of “SNL.” All of the sketches have endings. Most “SNL” sketches usually go until they’re done making jokes and then they stop. If it’s a recurring sketch, they run the theme song and go to commercial. Each of Seinfeld’s sketches build to a point, whether it is the winner of the stand-up game show, the teacher losing his will to educate or the payoff for Elijah which I don’t even want to spoil. You can still see it on Netflix.
After Elijah, the sketches drop in quality, but we’ve made it past the news which is a triumph for any episode. There’s a weird sketch about an office full of people stuck in one position. It’s silly, but conceptual and again pays off in the end. Seinfeld playing Superman on a radio talk show falls flat. Even the great Phil Hartman can’t save that one as the talk show host, but we know how Seinfeld loves Superman. A long section of it seems to revolve around the New York garbage strike of the early ‘90s, though it’s still referred to as Metropolis.
There’s an “I’m Chillin” sketch which is completely unmemorable, as Chris Rock struggled to find a recurring character. Apparently this episode also featured “Lank Thompson, I’m A Handsome Black Man,” but it was cut from the Netflix version. I do remember that lesser known Mike Myers character and was amused how he found new ways to spoof a schlocky self-help acting guru.
Any “SNL” episode with two great sketches is a good one, and three plus a monologue and a “Weekend Update” puts Seinfeld way ahead. As an added bonus, I realized the cold open of his episode was the famous pre-debate sketch where Phil Hartman as candidate Bill Clinton admits Ishtar was his idea, and offers to swap wives with opponent Gov. Jerry Brown. I still remember that sketch today, I just didn’t remember which episode it came from since it’s on before the host is introduced. That gives me all the cultural relevance I need to shoot this episode to the top.
Annie Lennox was the musical guest and I don’t remember what she sang. The musical acts are not included in Netflix either. But come on, it’s never about the musical guest, unless Sinead O’Connor or Ashley Simpson pull something. Seinfeld would host again after “Seinfeld” went off the air and do a funny sketch about getting transferred to the OZ prison, but would not equal the magnitude of shattering sketch comedy format, his own persona, the education system and an obscure (and completely unprovocative until now) Jewish tradition.
It’s funny that there was no major recurring sketch on the Best Episode Ever of “Saturday Night Live.” No “Wayne’s World” or “Church Chat,” but when I even tried to think of the best incarnations of those sketches, I don’t even think the best “Wayne’s World” or “Church Chat” would make a Best Episodes Ever. They were just characters we enjoyed seeing over and over. Seinfeld’s episode had “Lank Thompson” and “I’m Chillin’” and it survived.
Maybe the really popular sketches don’t in fact make the Best Episode Ever. The Best Episode Ever of “SNL” is the one that used the host to the best of his abilities, and exploited the format of the show to showcase him.
Bob Saget would do a similar thing when he hosted in 1995. He did a monologue that introduced his naughty stand-up persona. He did spoof his “America’s Funniest Home Videos” gig, but he was really dark about it. There were some absurd concept sketches like a track coach who kept telling his athletes to run fast, and a game show that spoofed “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego” but with too easy an answer. Then on Update he consoled a crying Ellen Cleghorne (again!) over the cancellation of “Full House.” Independently of Saget, his episode had Al Franken do a “Daily Affirmations” sketch where he angrily bitched about the box office failure of his movie Stuart Saves His Family.
So I think Seinfeld really perfected a formula that would work in future “SNL”s and of course was first honed by the likes of Steve Martin in the past. Seinfeld did it his way though. I’m picking Jerry Seinfeld, 1992 as the ultimate “SNL” episode. That’s about right in the middle of 40 years too, so I feel it’s pretty fair of me.
