TTH 6/3/26

Classic SNL Recap - Season 29 Finale

Season 29 ends with Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen hosting. (I will describe them interchangeably, after all these years they still blend in my mind.) These are two women who by this point had been in front of the camera for literally their entire lives, but they never became particularly skilled as actresses. It’s little surprise, therefore, that there wasn’t much that was special about this episode.

There was one big departure at the end of this season. This was Jimmy Fallon’s farewell as a regular. I think he may have been the single most frustrating cast member in the show’s long history. He is of course notorious for being a frequent violator of Lorne’s “no breaking” edict. He frustrates me because when he cares to be professional, he proves himself to be a talented impressionist. He was a valuable component in the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. In a perfect world he would be best remembered for that, instead the first thing you think of when his name comes up is his “aren’t I adorable?” look as he smirks at the camera before losing his s***.

The show gave him multiple opportunities to say farewell, including a final pairing on Update with his main partner in crime, Horatio Sanz. Sanz appeared in a desk piece as the head contractor for the upcoming Athens Olympics, the premise being that construction was far behind schedule. That was a secondary concern; the main purpose was for the two to attempt to crack each other up. Fallon ended Update by offering a sincere thank you to the audience. This week also included another appearance from Fallon’s most abrasive recurring character, the wacky Morning Zoo DJ.

As a demonstration of how non-essential the hosts were, it is instructive that the best piece of the week barely featured Ashley-Kate at all. It was a commercial for a backpack store in which the writers gave Sanz and Maya Rudolph as many tongue twisters as they could possibly fit into a sketch. Man, Rudolph is such a treasure.

Most of the pieces this week could be classified as mildly amusing at best, such as the recurring bit which featured Amy Poehler’s paparazzi character. The twins joined her as red carpet photographers seen trying to draw the attention of a variety of unseen celebs. Another Poehler character appeared in a sketch parodying one of the most heinous reality programs of this era, The Swan. Poehler’s one-legged character Amber was one of the contestants along with an Olsen twin. The sketch included a scene in which Ashley-Kate tried their best to replicate the classic Groucho/Harpo mirror gag. Suffice it to say that the Olsen twins are no Marx Brothers.

There was also an Access Hollywood sketch in which Pat O’Brien (Fallon) interviewed the Olsens as they were promoting their newest movie. In this sketch we learned that the twins are actually triplets, their other sister Betty Faye (Fred Armisen) had all of her scenes cut from the movie. Of course, at this time little did we know that there actually was another Olsen sister, who has in fact monopolized the acting talent in the family.

In the closing goodbyes the Olsens also addressed an elephant in the room. One of the creepier moments in internet history was the website some loser set up to countdown to the day in which they would turn 18. One of the twins helpfully informed the audience that they will be legal in a few weeks. Ick. Next week it will be time to turn to season 30. Thankfully a more experienced SNL host had presiding duties over that one. Ben Affleck will be in the house.

Who Ya Got?

America and the world, we are going to get what we all want for the NBA Finals - a rematch of the Emirates Cup Final! I kid, I kid. This promises to be an intriguing matchup - a team which has been on the hottest streak in playoff history against the team considered to be the future of the league making it this far much earlier than anyone outside of San Antonio could have possibly anticipated. Whichever team wins, it will be the 8th different champion in as many years, an unprecedented run of parity.

Speaking of unprecedented, the Knicks are entering the finals on a historic roll. Not only have they won 11 consecutive games, they have done so with the largest point differential in NBA playoff history. Plus, the only 2 games that they lost to the Atlanta Hawks in their first round series were 1 point losses. It has been a wonderful thing to see how well this team plays together. They are selfless, every player knows his role, and the roster has been constructed perfectly.

New York fans of a certain age practically worship the 1970’s Knicks teams, although sometimes it comes with an uncomfortable “they play the game the right way” dog whistle. That said, this squad is a worthy heir to that team. To me, the player who really makes the machine whirl is the human Swiss Army Knife known as Jason Hart. Take a look at the stat sheet after a typical game; he fills out just about every box. He contributes in so many ways that it makes things easier for the big stars. That is most obvious with Jalen Brunson. One of the best pure scorers in the league, he does have a noticeable defensive weakness. So what, his contributions on the offensive end more than make up for that, and the rest of the starting lineup fill their roles sufficiently enough to give Brunson the room he needs to thrive.

This is subjective, but I really believe that the Knicks are the alpha dog among the team sports in New York. Unlike the other sports, in which fan loyalties are divided between different teams, the Knicks have the town to themselves. (No, the Nets don’t count. Have you ever seen a Nets fan in the wild? They must exist, but I have no concrete proof of that.) I can only imagine how insane New York will be if they seal the deal. Keep this in mind, their last title was in 1973. A 53 year drought is only 1 season less than the gap between Stanley Cups for the Rangers which they finally broke in 1994.

I don’t intend to ignore the Spurs’ chances but I have certainly made clear my astonishment over how good Victor Wembanyama is. You can see how quickly this team is growing in real time. Stephon Castle is well on his way to becoming this team’s Pippen and Dylan Harper’s game is growing by leaps and bounds. This team is just as deep and unselfish as the Knicks are.

Also, whichever team wins would be an unusual champion. The Knicks would be one of the rare champs without a clear top 5 NBA player on their roster. Who would have been the last, the 2004 Pistons? Maybe the 2014 Spurs, but at least they had an aging Tim Duncan and a rising Kawhi Leonard. As for this year’s Spurs their win would mean they did not methodically climb the stepladder the way most champs do. Going from an elongated playoff drought to a title, all while virtually all of the rotation players have zero playoff experience is unheard of. Furthermore, Wemby winning as the team’s best player in only his third year in the league is equally unusual. Even GOATS such as MJ & LeBron took several years to reach the pinnacle. You would have to go back to Magic & Bird (and Bill Walton) before them to find the equivalent, and even Magic was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sidekick in his rookie year.

RIP Part 1

Several noteworthy people have passed away in recent weeks, from an inner circle jazz legend, to Hall Of Fame sports figures, to musician/singers whose names you may not immediately recognize but whose work you certainly know. I’ll play a bit of catch-up over the next several posts. Here goes.

Because NFL offenses have changed so radically, it is exceedingly difficult to compare the stats of players across eras. The career totals of Colts wide receiver Raymond Berry appear mundane by today’s standards, but he was one of the major pass catchers of his era, setting several standards of achievement on his way to becoming a Pro Football Hall Of Famer in his first year of eligibility as well as earning spots on both the 75th & 100th anniversary NFL teams. He was particularly productive in the legendary 1958 championship game, making a series of catches down the stretch and in overtime to make the Colts victory possible. He was also the rare New England Patriots head coach to have a winning record in the franchise’s first 4 decades, coaching the team to a spot in Super Bowl XX where they became the hapless victims of the Chicago Bears juggernaut. Berry was 93.

One of the ways in which 30 Rock blurred reality was that the viewer was never sure where Tracy Jordan the character differed from Tracy Morgan the actor. Case in point, part of Morgan’s real life entourage was a gentle giant of a bodyguard, Grizz Chapman. The 7 foot tall Grizz essentially played himself on 30 Rock, and his sweet nature made him a very popular supporting character. He didn’t get a chance to do much acting outside of 30 Rock, but he was a likable presence on one of the great comedies in TV history. After a years long struggle with kidney disease, Chapman died at 52.

Saxophonist Dick Parry was a prolific session musician, most notably with Pink Floyd. That is Parry playing the memorable flourish on Money, the atmospheric tones on Us & Them, and the extended instrumental portions on Shine On You Crazy Diamond. He was a big favorite of David Gilmour, touring for years with both Pink Floyd and with Gilmour as a solo artist. Parry was 83.

More to come.

50 Years Ago - Silver Streak

Comedy by its nature is meant to push boundaries, as a result it is quite common to come across something which ages poorly. There is no shortage of older movies that I still love but which have scenes or plotlines which are uncomfortable to watch today. It’s one thing if the aforementioned scene is relatively unimportant - think of the whole Pinto with an underaged girl portion of Animal House - but it’s a lot different when a film’s most famous scene is one which would not fly today. Such as was the case with Silver Streak.

Silver Streak is a comedic take on the standard Hitchcock plot. An innocent man finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy, in this instance a book editor portrayed by Gene Wilder. While traveling on the titular train, he witnesses a murder which he will eventually be accused of. He must clear his name, defeat the real bad guys, and protect the leading lady (Jill Clayburgh.) And like a good Hitchcock tale, the MacGuffin contains just enough exposition to make sense without becoming overly convoluted. If the viewer doesn’t care to examine the minute details, that’s OK. The story is compelling enough to remain interesting even if the puzzle pieces don’t fit perfectly.

One of the running gags in the movie was that Wilder was thrown from the moving train multiple times. After one such occurrence he crosses paths with a car thief (Richard Pryor) who winds up assisting him the rest of the way. This leads to the scene which I referenced earlier. Wilder was preparing to re-board the train at its next stop; only to discover while at the train station he sees that he is wanted by the police. So, he needs to put on a disguise in order to safely board the train. The disguise involves shoe polish. As Wilder struts through the train station with a boom box held up to his ear, is it old school Al Jolson blackface? And if so, is it enough to ruin the rest of the movie? Your mileage may vary.

There are some great 1970’s names in this movie. Patrick McGoohan is the bad guy, and Richard Kiel is his chief henchman. Ned Beatty appears as an FBI agent who may or may not be on Wilder’s side. And by this point it seems as if Scatman Crothers had a supporting role in every single movie that was made in 1976, so of course he is here. But more than anything, this movie stands out because it was the first team up of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.

They would co-star in 4 movies all told, with admittedly diminishing returns. (I wasn’t much of a fan of Stir Crazy, and both actors had lost their fastballs by the time of their later movies.) Their chemistry was so smooth that one wonders what Blazing Saddles would have looked like had Pryor been cast as Sheriff Bart as had been originally intended before the studio refused to sign off on that.

It’s been years since I have seen Silver Streak; I liked it very much back then but I wonder how uneasy of a watch it would be now. I don’t think the blackface scene would be a deal breaker, but who knows? If nothing else, it was yet another entry in Gene Wilder’s spectacular filmography, and a decent “safe” way to give Richard Pryor a mainstream showcase.

Closing Laughs

And just like that, we are done for yet another day. And time for another small request - I depend a lot on word of mouth when it comes to increasing my audience, so please spread the word if you like what you see. Consider that your good deed of the day. Thank you for your support, and I will see you all again on Friday.