Your Morning Read

SNL Season 8 Finale

The host for the season finale was none other than Hizzoner, New York Mayor Edward I. Koch. It’s actually a little surprising that it took him this long to host the show, as he was such a shameless self promoter. His legacy as mayor is complicated, so I’ll simply say that he was a quintessential New York Character, as well as being as enthusiastic of a cheerleader for his city as one can imagine. That’s a sharp contrast from Our Current Dips*** Mayor, who continuously brands the city he leads as a dangerous hellhole. How were Koch’s comedic chops? He predictably opened his monologue by asking the audience “how am I doing?” His line readings were as stiff as you would expect, and ultimately there was little for him to do in the episode. He had a fairly important day job after all, it’s not as if he could spend a lot of time in rehearsals.

Season finales are often filled with more recurring bits than normal. By this point in the year the cast and writing staff has to be pretty exhausted, so it’s easier to stick with the familiar and this week was no exception. All of the Saturday Night News correspondent pieces were repeaters - Mary Gross ranting, Tim Kazurinsky’s eastern swami (this time dealing with an audience heckler,) Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ eye-rolling teen, and Joe Piscopo’s sportscaster, this time featuring a Don King cameo. He cut King’s signature mane on camera, although I’m fairly certain he chopped off a wig and not pieces of King’s actual hair. Brad Hall continued to be a real stiff in the anchor chair.

It was a good week for Eddie Murphy. Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood made another appearance here. This was a sketch that really showed Murphy’s range. He could turn on a dime as he goes from childlike kiddie show host to inner city tough guy, and his innate charm shines through. He also once again appeared as Gumby on David Letterman. Murphy’s take on Gumby was fitting. Those of us old enough to remember Gumby can vouch that it was one of the oddest shows imaginable; so why not present the “real life” Gumby as a bizarre old school show biz vet? As a bonus, the Letterman sketch also included a Marv Albert cameo.

The episode, and season, ended with a Harry Anderson standup set. This was before Night Court softened his image; his onstage character was that of an old timey film flam man. In this appearance, Anderson and his wife did dueling recreations of Harry Houdini stunts. She was tied to a chair, and he was bound in a straitjacket. They competed to see who would escape first. The joke was that she broke free of her bonds first despite his attempts at sabotage; he pushed her chair offstage and at one point asked an audience member for a little help undoing his straps. All to no avail; Anderson’s wife Leslie was triumphant.

A final note on season 8. My strategy is to sample each season’s first, middle, and last episodes. So that means the sketches that I see are dependent on the luck of the draw, and I often wind up skipping episodes which contain true classics. I was reminded of what was arguably the season’s high point in a commercial parody sketch for the National Enquirer. It made reference to Buckwheat’s assassination, which took place earlier in the season. That particular sketch didn’t air in one of the episodes I’ve rewatched, but damn, that was a brilliant one.

This brings season 8 to a close. Ed Koch was exactly what you would expect from someone moonlighting. Next week I’ll look at the season 9 premiere, a year that among other things would serve as Eddie Murphy’s farewell. In this one the gang gets a chance to poke fun at their boss as Brandon Tartikoff serves as host.

TV Of The 21st Century - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

They’re alive, dammit! It’s a miracle!

There are multiple reasons why I loved this show, not the least of which because it was so damn funny. Co-created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, it had some crucial similarities to 30 Rock. The jokes came in a rapid fire pace, and the characters were wonderfully cartoonish. What truly made it special was that it had an exceptionally dark premise, and it never lost sight of that fact.

Ellie Kemper starred as the title character, among 4 women rescued from a 15 year long captivity in an underground bunker. Their captor was a phony preacher who convinced them that they were the final survivors of an apocalypse. After an appearance on the Today Show following their rescue, she realized she would always be thought of as one of the Mole Women, and snuck away to establish a new life for herself.

By the conclusion of the pilot, she had found her new family. Tituss Burgess as her struggling actor roommate, and one of the most quotable characters we’ve ever seen. Carol Kane as her landlady, a lifelong New Yorker with quite a past. Jane Krakowski as a spoiled socialite. (Krakowski was great, and her character was often hilarious. My two quibbles are that at times she felt a little too similar to Jenna Maroney. And her backstory that she was a Native American passing for white was cringeworthy.)

As I mentioned, as laugh out loud funny as the show was at its best, it never lost sight of the underlying tragedy. Kimmy suffered from obvious PTSD, and she often demonstrated superhuman strength, a trait she needed to develop in order to survive her captivity. And of course there was the reality that Jon Hamm’s character clearly abused his prisoners over that long period. Kimmy was the protector of her fellow captives; she often offered herself as the sacrificial lamb. Also, in one episode they flashed back to her abduction, and it was absolutely heartbreaking. She was so innocent and trusting as Hamm lured her into his van.

That’s what gave the show its depth, but at heart it was as reliable of a joke factory as you will find. In addition to the 4 core regulars, the show brimmed with outstanding recurring and guest characters. (Even Jon Hamm’s Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne. As repulsive as he was, you could see the devilish charm found in cult leaders.) Amy Sedaris played the most Amy Sedarisish character imaginable. You gotta love the irony of having Daveed Diggs portray a character who was an inept rapper.

The clear standout was the inspired casting of Lisa Kudrow as Kimmy’s mother. At first we saw Kimmy’s resentment - why didn’t her mother spend more energy searching for her? We eventually learned that Kudrow’s character developed significant coping mechanisms. She was addicted to riding roller coasters. As she explained, sometimes you just need to scream your head off, and on a roller coaster no one looks at you funny if you do it there. That’s poignant in its own way.

Originally aired on & currently streaming on: Netflix

Contemplating The Bandwagon

The Mets have not been officially mathematically eliminated from playoff contention yet, but it’s only a matter of time. No need to quote Dumb & Dumber, I wouldn’t say that there’s a chance. Which means that yet again I will need to choose the team that will earn my rooting interest for this year’s playoffs. Some seasons it’s easy, others it takes a bit of thought. There are a number of factors to take into account; in no particular order they are:

• Is there a team suffering through a long title drought? I’m a decent person at heart, just because my team has gone 37 years and counting without a championship does not mean that I wish the same type of misery on fans of other teams.

• Is there a respected veteran nearing the end of his career who has yet to enjoy a championship run?

• Are there players whom I would be eager to watch play for an entire month?

• Is there a team that I was a fan of when I was a child?

• Closely related to the above point - do I like a team’s uniforms?

• Are they the Yankees? This point is unlikely to be applicable this year, but after looking at the Mets’ record I can’t be smug about it.

• Does a team get penalized for poor ownership? The Orioles check several boxes, but do I really want to see Rob Manfred hand that piece of metal to John Angelos?

I’ve still got a week and a half to figure this one out. An eager nation awaits my decision.

Presented Without Comment

The phrase “every accusation is a confession” has been a tad overused, but my God, it’s amazing how often it’s applicable.

A Major Structural Flaw

3 of the 4 first round matchups in the WNBA playoffs finished in 2 -0 sweeps, with Las Vegas, New York, and Dallas all moving on to the semifinals. Connecticut and Minnesota play their deciding Game 3 tonight. There is something truly puzzling about the format, however.

For some reason, the schedule is set up so that the higher seed hosts Games 1 & 2, with any potential decisive Game 3s hosted by the lower seed. Huh? Isn’t the purpose of nabbing the better regular season record to earn the right to play the most important game at home? I understand that the league wants to cut down on travel costs; a 1-1-1 format is not realistic. But doesn’t it make more sense to have the lower seed host Game 1, with the home court advantage then carrying over to Games 2 & 3? What this also means is that the 3 teams eliminated in sweeps ended their seasons without playing any home games at all. Makes little sense to me.

A Few Quick Updates

It was looking a little shaky there for a while, but Adam Wainwright picked up victories in his two most recent starts to reach 200 career Ws. He was vintage Wainwright in Monday’s start, throwing 7 shutout innings. Once again, there’s no real difference between 199 victories and 200, but that “2” as an opening digit looks a lot better…. The first round of eliminations has been completed in the NASCAR playoffs, and I went 3 for 4 in my predictions of which drivers would be knocked out. Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are out of picture, along with, in what was a bit of a shocker, defending Cup champion Joey Logano. This makes him the first reigning champ to be eliminated in round 1… Freddie Freeman was making him sweat it out, but Luis Arraez went on another hot streak and now has what looks to be an insurmountable lead in the NL batting race. It’s still pretty amazing that a guy who was flirting with .400 for much of the first half of the season was in danger of not even winning the crown. As he falls well short of .400 we can now once again safely ignore looking at batting average… Shohei Ohtani has undergone elbow surgery. No one has specified the exact type of procedure, he has had, but his doctor stated that he should be fully ready to go for Opening Day and that he should be available to pitch again in the 2025 season. It will be fascinating to see to what extent that will affect the contract he receives in free agency.

The Curtain Drops

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