Classic SNL Review: May 23, 1987: Dennis Hopper / Roy Orbison (S12E20)

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

OPENING: EASY RIDER

  • After being shot by rednecks, Billy (Dennis Hopper) and Captain America (Dana Carvey) get patched up and reunite with George (Jack Nicholson).

  • This wasn’t amazing or anything, but it was fun and set the tone for tonight’s show with a nod to Hopper’s career, as well as poking fun at his past substance abuse.

  • Phil Hartman's dead-on Jack Nicholson makes its first appearance.

  • During the first shot of the green-screened motorcycle ride sequence, you can see Jon Lovitz’s arm waving from off camera.

  • Written by George Meyer.

  • Rerun alterations: Laughter added to the beginning of the cheers and applause during the Easy Rider film clip. A few seconds before the motorcycle ride sequence is cut; audio is shifted, and Carvey’s “All right, man” is removed.

***

MONOLOGUE

  • Dennis Hopper reflects on his career and expresses gratitude for his sobriety.

  • Not a lot of laughs aside from some mildly funny jokes, but a pretty heartfelt monologue from Hopper.

  • Instead of the pages opening the studio doors, the montage fades to the SNL Band (with Robin Eubanks filling in for Steve Turre again, plus Tony Price on tuba) on the side stage; there is a “Festival ‘87” banner up. The main stage again has the divider used for most musical performances.

  • Hopper mentions his first live television appearance on The Kaiser Aluminum Hour with Natalie Wood; the two stared in “Carnival”.

  • Rerun alterations: None.

***

SHOW: CHURCH CHAT

  • Church Lady (Dana Carvey) upsets Jenny (Victoria Jackson) with more accusations of hanky panky and finds common ground with Dennis Hopper.

  • A surprisingly low-key installment tonight; the part with Jenny was pretty much the usual, but the Hopper interview has more of a relaxed vibe, and Hopper has some fun responses to the Church Lady.

  • Jenny’s last name is now Baker in this installment, which is also the character’s final appearance; this is also Victoria Jackson’s only appearance all night.

  • Rerun alterations: Audience applause mixed out of intro until Hartman’s voiceover ends. The audio is fixed on Carvey’s first line. There are also a lot of very short cuts throughout the whole sketch to remove dead air, as well as different camera shots used in two brief instances.

***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “CRYING”, “OH, PRETTY WOMAN”

  • Roy Orbison plays two of his biggest hits from the early 60’s, both of which he had recently rerecorded for the new album In Dreams: The Greatest Hits released that month.

  • Even with the mild 80s flourishes (particularly the synthesizer), both songs translate well to the (then) present day, and Orbison’s voice is lovely. He’s also clearly enjoying himself too, especially on “Oh, Pretty Woman”.

  • The home base stage has more art added to it than it did all season.

  • Rerun alterations: No changes.

SHOW: FRANK BOOTH’S “WHAT’S THAT SMELL?”

  • Frank (Dennis Hopper) sadistically administers odorous gasses to Robin Leach (Dana Carvey), Tammy Faye Bakker (Jan Hooks) and Judd Nelson (Jon Lovitz).

  • Some of the Leach and Bakker stuff feels a little too similar to what’s already been done (especially the “demonic sweater, I rebuke you” part) but I have to give points for the sketch concept itself, plus the attempt at making Hopper’s Blue Velvet character network TV-friendly (“I’ll freak anything that moves!”). The dark ending is also great.

  • Rerun alterations: Hopper asking Robin Leach to sniff his velvet is from dress to remove a line flub. The camera switch and title graphic at the end are both a little earlier in the rerun.

*** 1/2

WEEKEND UPDATE

  • Best jokes: Reagan health issues, Nancy Riddler, Bakker dog house, Ernest.

  • Opening music: “Born To Run” - Bruce Springsteen

  • Miller starts off pretty strong tonight, including a callback to a joke last week about Nancy Reagan in Frank Gorshin’s Riddler costume, as well as some more fun with the Bakkers, Joan Rivers and Donna RIce, before ending the season with taking a Polaroid as “something to remember you by” and saying he’s off to grow his hair.

  • Pathological liar Tommy Flanagan (Jon Lovitz) returns for the first time since February, this time as Oliver North’s attorney. Probably not the most memorable outing, but as usual there are funny moments, particularly the claim about being undercover as a fish that ended up fileted and eaten (with a cleverly done bathroom joke), and crashing in the Himalayans with wife Morgan Fairchild (“whom I’ve slept with/seen naked”) and eating the survivors (“…cause the dead ones were rotten”).

  • A. Whitney Brown returns with some advice for the Class of ‘87, and literally demonstrates the difficulty of juggling priorities. Again, the usual good stuff from Brown, with some digs at USA Today.

  • Rerun alterations: None.

*** 1/2

SKETCH: PROBLEM DRINKERS FROM OUTER SPACE

  • Sozzled spacemen (Dennis Hopper and Phil Hartman) land in Washington to demand that earthlings make booze, not war.

  • This one’s a disappointment; there are some funny parts here and there, and Phil Hartman’s performance in particular is great, but aside from that, it felt like an idea for a written piece that didn’t quite translate to the screen.

  • The flying saucer footage is from 1956’s Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

  • Rerun alterations: Crash/explosion sound effects are added to the ending film clip; audience noise mixed out until “The End” graphic appears. A band shot featuring Cheryl Hardwick and Leon Pendarvis singing “Ebony and Ivory” together is also cut from reruns.

**

SHOW: THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY

  • Sam Donaldson (Kevin Nealon) distracts from the panel discussion by leaning back in his chair and losing his balance.

  • Now this is a sketch that’s better than it sounds on paper, particularly due to Nealon’s goofy Sam Donaldson and the impressions from the other performers (Carvey’s George F. Will is a great foil here).

  • Written by Andy Breckman and Robert Smigel.

  • Rerun alterations: Audience mixed a little louder.

***

SKETCH: CANNIBALISM INTERVIEW

  • A job interview panel’s questions for an applicant (Dennis Hopper) mostly consist of questions about eating people.

  • This has a good premise, and the questions that the interviewers have for Hopper are pretty funny (“Do you like kids?” “Fat ones or lean ones?”) but the sketch never really takes off for some reason. Maybe it’s because Hopper is relegated to the straight role, though I thought Lovitz, Nealon and Hartman all sold the sinister nature of their lines particularly well.

  • The ending was a little too on-the-nose.

  • Rerun alterations: Traffic noises added to opening videotape. Camera switches earlier from Hopper leaving.

***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “IN DREAMS”

  • Roy Orbison performs another song he had also rerecorded recently, in a version co-produced by David Lynch and T-Bone Burnett following the song’s use in Lynch’s Blue Velvet. There’s a little more of an 80’s tinge here. but this is a fine showcase for Orbison’s vocal range.

  • Rerun alterations: None.

SKETCH: LAST CHANCE

  • In a desert gas station, a stranded stockbroker (Phil Hartman) finds out that the mechanics (Dennis Hopper and Jan Hooks) aren’t as ignorant about the market as he thinks.

  • A muted slice-of-life sketch; nothing particularly amazing, but it works overall, and has a good payoff.

  • Rerun alterations: None.

***

SKETCH: SWEENEY SISTERS

  • Before their 18-city summer tour, Liz (Nora Dunn) and Candy (Jan Hooks) close the season with a farewell medley.

  • Dispensing with the framing sketch this time, this was a fun way to end the show and the season on a high note (literally). Hooks’ screaming on the last note was particularly funny.

  • Rerun alterations: Some remixing, including on the Sweeneys’ last note, unfortunately burying the screaming a bit.

*** 1/2

GOODNIGHTS

  • Dennis Hopper says this show was “maybe the hardest job I ever had” and calls everyone the greatest people he’s ever worked with, and mentions that this was his vacation because he just finished directing Colors, which he’s going to go back and edit.

  • Don Pardo announces the show’s first summer repeat is Steve Guttenberg with Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders, which he remembers as a great show, and signs off as “your old Pardo”.

  • Rerun alterations: Audience noise and Don Pardo mixed out.

Final thoughts: Tonight’s show was a bit muted and low-key for a season finale, but also has the feeling of the show taking a collective sigh of relief. Dennis Hopper and Roy Orbison, both having made comebacks of their own recently, were an appropriate lineup to cap off what was the show’s own comeback season.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell”

  • Sweeney Sisters

  • Weekend Update

SHOW LOWLIGHTS:

  • Problem Drinkers From Outer Space

MVP:

  • Phil Hartman

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:

cast

  • Dana Carvey: 5 appearances [Easy Rider, Church Chat, Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell?”, Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, This Week with David Brinkley].

  • Nora Dunn: 2 appearances [Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, Sweeney Sisters]

  • Phil Hartman: 5 appearances [Easy Rider, Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, This Week with David Brinkley, Cannibalism Interview, Last Chance]; 2 voiceovers [Church Chat, Problem Drinkers from Outer Space]

  • Jan Hooks: 3 appearances [Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell?”, Last Chance, Sweeney Sisters]

  • Victoria Jackson: 1 appearance [Church Chat]

  • Jon Lovitz: 6 appearances [Easy Rider, Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell?”, Weekend Update, Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, This Week with David Brinkley, Cannibalism Interview]

  • Dennis Miller: 1 appearance [Weekend Update]

featured players

  • A. Whitney Brown: 1 appearance [Weekend Update]

  • Kevin Nealon: 3 appearances [Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, This Week with David Brinkley, Cannibalism Interview]

uncredited crew, extras, and bit players

  • Tom Davis: 1 voiceover [Sweeney Sisters]

  • Don Pardo: 2 voiceovers [Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell?”, Weekend Update]

  • Marc Shaiman: 1 appearance [Sweeney Sisters]

guests

  • Dennis Hopper: 7 appearances [Easy Rider, Monologue, Church Chat, Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell?”, Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, Cannibalism Interview, Last Chance]

  • Roy Orbison: 2 appearances [“Crying/Oh Pretty Woman”, “In Dreams”]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:

  • August 22, 1987

Known alterations:

  • “Ebony and Ivory” band shot removed

  • “Washington Center I & II” (from 02/28/87) added

  • Edits: Easy Rider, Church Chat

  • Dress substitutions: Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell” (five seconds)

  • Audio remixing: Easy Rider, Church Chat, Problem Drinkers From Outer Space, This Week with David Brinkley, Cannibalism Interview, Sweeney Sisters

  • Directorial changes: Frank Booth’s “What’s That Smell”, Cannibalism Interview

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.