SCTV Review: Match Unto My Feet (1-5) / Memoirs of Anton Chekhov (1-6)

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RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** - Classic
**** - Great
*** - Good/Average
** - Meh
* - Awful

“Match Unto My Feet” (season 1, episode 5, aired Jan. 13, 1977)

PROMO: BAA, BAA, BLACK AND WHITE SHEEP

  • After Pearl Harbor brought her down, a flying nun (Andrea Martin) assembled a crack squadron of sisters.

  • A silly conflation of The Flying Nun and then-current TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep.

  • Some laughs from the cheap Chroma-key effect and Martin’s very simplified version of “Dominique”, her rejecting Dave Thomas’s wimpy nun, as well as several of the male cast members being identified as Margaux Hemingway and Marisa Berenson.

***

SUNRISE SEMESTER: FAKING ORGASMS WITH DR. CHERYL KINSEY

  • Dr. Cheryl Kinsey (Andrea Martin) teaches some phrases to convince your partner of his sexual prowess.

  • Another debut of a recurring character, Andrea Martin’s repressed sexologist, who twitches anytime she mentions anything sexual. This is another trunk bit from the Second City Toronto stage, and the “passionate phrases” Kinsey coaches viewers on are hilarious with her cold delivery (particularly “Make me a woman, big boy” delivered in a manner more suited to training a parrot).

****

PROMO: IT’S AN UNUSUAL WORLD, ISN’T IT?

  • A newsmagazine of odd stories from around the world, including a telekineticist, a sanitarium for deceased celebrities living as vegetables, and a karate master.

  • Another short promo, with some funny sight gags (the telekineticist not being able to fix a stuck zipper, the giant vegetables, the karate master injuring everyone with a single brick).

  • The original Rhodes syndication package version of this sketch features a redone voiceover from Joe Flaherty: Ramis’s character (real Israeli illusionist Uri Geller) is renamed Uriah Geller, and the scene with the vegetables removes a reference to “Nogales, New Mexico” and “V.I.C.'s - very important corpses”).

***

WITNESS TO YESTERDAY

  • Actress Bonnie Lightfeather (Brenda Donohue) didn’t prepare for her role as Joan of Arc.

  • A great and very underrated early sketch, with John Candy giving some great frustrated reactions to Donohue’s character’s hastily improvised version of the Joan-of-Arc story (too many great lines to list).

  • Witness to Yesterday was a real Canadian series hosted by Patrick Watson; the show originated on original SCTV home Global Television Network as part of their Canadian content (at the end of the sketch, Candy complains “I don’t care about Canadian content!”)

  • This is another sketch that originated on the Second City stage (in Toronto revue Wizard of Ossington); Brenda Donohue was in the mainstage cast at the time, and was credited with the regulars in the original opening credits of this episode. Sadly, Donohue died of cancer in 1979.

****

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • Earl Camembert’s (Eugene Levy) filmed report on a potential earthquake in San Francisco was hampered by his decision to save money by driving there with a friend.

  • The dynamic between Earl and Floyd is established a little further, with Earl’s incompetence as a reporter (he doesn’t even make it to California thanks to car trouble in Arizona) annoying and frustrating Floyd. Levy’s look of panic as soon as the feature story is mentioned is priceless, as is his defeated “big deal” when told he would have to pay back the money given for airfare.

  • This is one of the rare times that the hangglider footage is seen at the start of the SCTV News title sequence; most of the time it starts on the man falling.

*** 1/2

AMANDA II MICROWAVE OVEN

  • Powerful enough to cook a whole 9 pount roast, among other things, in three seconds.

  • Another strong Dave Thomas blackout commercial parody.

*** 1/2

PSA: WARNING SIGNS

  • Chiropractor Maurice Green (Harold Ramis) lists the seven warning signs that you may already be dead.

  • This is one of those pieces I’ve always enjoyed since I first saw it years ago, particularly the later warning signs.

  • Moe Green makes his second appearance, but is not yet established as the station manager or even as an SCTV employee/personality.

*** 1/2

MATCH UNTO MY FEET

  • Father John Duffy (Joe Flaherty) attends a chaotic Passover seder at the home of Morris Dithers (Eugene Levy) and family.

  • This sketch, whose title parodies real CBS religious show Lamp Unto My Feet, features a prototype of Levy’s Sid Dithers character; Morris Dithers isn’t as short, cross-eyed and addled as Sid, though he does originate the “San Francisky, so how did you came, you drove or did you flew” line, and he has a funny moment where the Hebrew-sounding chanting was really him singing “If I Were The King of the Forest” from The Wizard of Oz. Flaherty also deserves some praise here as the calm in the middle of the storm.

  • There’s a nice camera pan at the very beginning (though you can see the boom mic at the top of the screen as Andrea Martin enters).

  • Brenda Donohue gets some very funny lines with her threats to her (offscreen) kids (“If you don’t shut up, this priest is going to hit you!”); Catherine O’Hara seems a little wasted in her role as Ramis’s gentile wife, though.

*** 1/2

PROMO: AC/DC

  • By day, Ms. Jones (Andrea Martin) a married executive, but at night, she swings the other way.

  • A little outdated, but I did laugh at Martin’s butch portrayal.

  • Music at the disco: “How Long” by Ace

***

WORDS TO LIVE BY: FATHER JOHN DUFFY

  • Father Duffy (Joe Flaherty) has some thoughts about the importance of a sense of humour.

  • Not the most memorable, but I did like Flaherty’s characterization of the priest.

  • This looks like it was shot at a different time than the Match Unto My Feet sketch; I’m guessing Sheldon Patinkin noticed Flaherty was playing characters with the same name in two sketches and decided to put them in the same episode.

  • This is the first episode in which Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara are credited as writers.

  • Music: “Emilia’s/Always In The Way/Helena” by The Stanislawski Polka Band

** 1/2

Final thoughts: A solid episode, and one where the cast is starting to get a little more bold about straying away from a unifying theme in the episodes, though they’re still largely sticking to the familiar ground of trunk material and established formats.. It’s a shame that this is the late Brenda Donohue’s only episode in the cast, because she has some of tonight’s most memorable moments.

MVP:

  • (tie) Eugene Levy / Brenda Donohue

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Baa Baa Black and White Sheep (moved to 1-3), Sunrise Semester: Faking Orgasms, It’s An Unusual World Isn’t It (moved to 1-11, voiceover redone), SCTV AM News Today, Amanda II Microwave Oven (moved to 1-3), AC/DC (moved to 1-7)

  • Added: Spray-On Socks (from 1-4), Sunrise Semester: Do It Yourself Dentistry (from 1-11), Sports World (US only), Promo: 15 Minutes (from 1-7), and North American Stethoscopy Institute (from 1-3).

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Sunrise Semester: Faking Orgasms

  • Added: new promo for Masterpiece Theatre (with Corness v/o)

  • Edited: Words to Live By (new Corness v/o)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“Memoirs of Anton Chekhov” (season 1, episode 6, aired Feb. 10, 1977)

LABRADOR SLUGGER

  • Baby seal (voice of Harold Ramis) laments Air Canada bringing visitors to his habitat.

*** 1/2

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • Underpaid and overextended Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) has trouble staying awake during an early morning newscast.

  • A strong news segment; Earl comes off as sympathetic if unprofessional, and this seems to be the point where Floyd’s contempt towards him is starting to be a key part of the character’s chemistry.

  • Eugene Levy’s hair as Earl Camembert is much shorter/smaller than normal.

  • Nice dark joke about Porky and Petunia Pig succumbing to swine flu, which pretty much dates this to the 1976 outbreak.

****

HEAVENLY BODIES

  • Sister Mary Innocent (Catherine O’Hara) leads a workout of genuflection, grovelling and self-flagellation for practicing Catholics.

  • Catherine O’Hara finally gets a solo showcase! She throws herself into the material here and we get a bit more of a hint of how integral to the ensemble she would soon become.

  • For some reason, I really notice how crooked O’Hara’s teeth are in this and other early sketches. She mentions in one of the DVD commentaries about how SCTV was before she got her veneers, but I kind of like seeing this reminder that at the time, she was just a 22-year-old who was working on both the Second City Toronto stage and a low-budget TV sketch show, not yet the comedic legend she is now.

*** 1/2

MR. SCIENCE

  • Hungover Johnny LaRue (John Candy) teaches Donald (Donald Cowper) “science” by having him make coffee.

  • Another fun Johnny LaRue sketch; while he is in no way an appropriate kids’ show host, he has a particularly good chemistry with his young helper (played by Candy’s real-life nephew).

****

THE HOUSE OF BEAUTY

  • If unsightly facial hair is a problem, Mr. Bruce (Joe Flaherty) can help you fix it.

  • Silly, based around a sight gag with Martin wearing a (really bad) fake beard, but it worked. I also liked how annoyed Flaherty’s stereotypically gay beautician sounded when he mentioned he didn’t work Sundays.

  • For some reason I love Catherine O’Hara’s “dancing” at the beginning of the sketch where she’s just rocking her head and torso from side to side.

  • This has a lot of the same extras from the AC/DC promo in the previous episode.

  • Music: “Cold Ethyl” by Alice Cooper, “People Gotta Move” by Gino Vannelli

*** 1/2

SCTV NEWS TODAY: ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES

  • Bob Park (Dave Thomas) and Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) fill in when the station’s regular announcers for the black and feminist perspective segments are out sick.

  • This sketch is something that definitely would not be done now, but as inappropriate as the sight of Dave Thomas wearing minstrel-show blackface, an afro wig and white gloves is (to say nothing about his attempt at a “black” voice), it’s mitigated by his immediately being called out on it (“That’s the most racist thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”) and his character clearly being in the wrong. This sketch is actually a pretty sharp poke at tokenism and white men trying to represent minority groups; Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) actually apologizes for “that tasteless display of white arrogance”.

  • Favorite exchange: Floyd: “I don’t blame them! That kind of thing went out with Al Jolson.” Bob: “JOLSON WAS A HONKY!”

  • Small error in Earl’s scene: Floyd introduces the feminist perspective announcer as “Erica Jamison”, but Earl later tells him “Jessica called in sick”.

****

CORNABIX

  • Gui Lefleure (Joe Flaherty) and Darryll Sittlerr (John Candy) struggle to shoot a cereal commercial.

  • Another import from the Wizard of Ossington revue, with Flaherty taking over for Peter Aykroyd in the role of Lefleure; this really works well as a TV piece, and there’s some nice escalation in there.

  • So many great parts here, particularly Sittlerr accidentally reading the French side of the box and “You want some Pepsi-Cola with it?” (Pepsi was an anti French Canadian slur).

  • Is that Brenda Donohue playing the director (with her back to the camera)?

*****

MASTERPIECE THEATER: THREE PLAYS

  • Alistair Cook (Joe Flaherty) previews three plays appearing this season: “Under Parsley”, a drama about Welsh garnish farmers; “The Great Fatsby”, a story about 1920s excess; and a new adaptation of “Swan Lake”.

  • The most successful Masterpiece Theatre sketch so far; instead of a long piece that slows down the show, this has three short segments that are much more effective. Levy’s “Swan Lake” in particular ends on a great joke.

  • Jayne Eastwood and Monica Parker (who are both credited with the regulars in the original opening credit sequence) appear in prominent roles here; I got a laugh from Eastwood taking all the parsley off the rest of the family’s plate.

*** 1/2

HOOKER HANDBOOK

  • Denise (Andrea Martin) tells Rochelle (Catherine O’Hara) about the lucrative world of prostitution.

  • Another strong commercial parody, and another good showcase for Martin and O’Hara, but it’s John Candy (who has a shorter haircut here) who steals the sketch without a single line of dialogue as Rochelle’s customer; his facial expression is hilarious, as is his hiding away from the camera as soon as he’s aware of it.

  • Great pratfall from O’Hara at the beginning.

****

THE MEMOIRS OF ANTON CHEKHOV

  • An assortment of characters awaits the arrival of the Russian writer, but another Chekhov (Dave Thomas) beams in.

  • This is a particularly inspired sketch, and one of the earliest examples of the show doing a multi-layered parody, which came from Dave Thomas’s desire to do a Star Trek parody and Joe Flaherty bringing his knowledge of Anton Chekhov’s work to get something that executive producer Bernie Sahlins would put on.

  • Everyone in the cast has something funny to do, and Thomas not only plays Chekhov but does the voices for Scotty and McCoy at the end; I especially enjoyed Martin’s Sonia (preoccupied with her own radiance) and Flaherty’s elderly butler.

****

PROMO: PLAINCLOTHES MOUNTIE (repeat from 1-3)

SCTV PM NEWS TODAY: FLOYD BREAKS UP

  • After reading a funny news item, Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) and the crew can’t stop laughing even as Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) tries to give an editorial.

  • The weakest of the three news segments in this episode, but it works as a closing piece, and the glimpse of the crew and the studios is fun.

  • This looks like it was a leftover segment from the taping that produced the news sketches in 1-2 and 1-5, going by Earl and Floyd’s hair and outfits.

***

Final thoughts: This week’s show was consistently great, and it feels like the cast is starting to turn a corner in both their writing and performances. Besides the classic Cornabix cereal commercial, there were a number of great sketches, and no stretches of dull or weak material. We also get a better idea of what Catherine O’Hara and Dave Thomas can do, and more of a sense of the voice of the show as a whole.

MVP:

  • Dave Thomas

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Cornabix, Hooker Handbook, Plainclothes Mountie (repeat)

  • Added: Famous Philosopher’s School (from 1-7), Promo: The Meatball Heroes (from 1-18), The Longjeans G-11 (from 1-9)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Labrador Slugger, SCTV News: Floyd breaks up

  • Added: new syndication promo for Beauty and the Beets (with Corness v/o)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.