Review of 10-24-1998 episode (MD-322; OAD 4-25-1998) =========================== ================================================================= Nicole Sullivan rocks Nicole Sullivan rocks Nicole Sullivan rocks Tonight's episode was a rerun of the Lou Diamond Phillips episode from last season; I missed most of this one last time it aired due to a cable outage. ======================================================================== ===================== Kids Say the Stupidest Things: Kids are made fun of for admitting they believe in Santa Claus, etc. I have to admit I laughed at this segment. I'd rather watch this than the show that Bill Cosby hosts on Fridays. Best part: fat guy sticks a bottle of Jack Daniels (at least, that's what I think it was supposed to be; the bottle doesn't read "Jack Daniels," for trademark reasons, I guess") in front of a small girl and he and the crowd chant "drink, drink, drink." Opening Segment: Nicole Sullivan and Alex Borstein introduce "La Bamba" - uh, that's Lou Diamond Phillips. When he first comes out, I can't help but ask myself, "Isn't this the guy whose wife left him so that she could have a lesbian love affair with Melissa Etheridge?" He gets mad because everyone associates him with a role he played in a movie over ten years ago and pulls a Pete Townsend. The most memorable opening segment in some time, if not the best. Ms. Swan: Although this character is not one of my favorites, in my opinion this is probably one of the better Ms. Swan sketches. Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein) annoys the drive-in attendant (Chris Hogan) at a fast food restaurant, and he loses his temper and ends up throwing burgers at Ms. Swan. This sketch is good because by now the writers realized that the old "he looka like a man" punch line was getting a little old and so they changed the formula a little - although she does get a "looka like a burger" before the sketch is done! Mexican Wrestlers for Clinton: El Asso Wipo (Chris Hogan) and company warn the American public to leave Clinton alone. What made this funny is that at the end we see they have Lou Diamond Phillips tied up and they threaten to harm him if the public does not obey. This was OK, but I still didn't like El Asso Wipo that much (he was OK when they did the first sketch about him changing his name with Dave Herman as El Asso Wipo, but I never understood why they recurred him). Funky Walker Dirty Talker: Lou Diamond Phillips guest stars. This was OK; I guess the best part was the part about Uranus. Chris Rock Lullabies: The surefire way to get your unruly child (Alex Borstein) to go to sleep. Chris Rock (Phil LaMarr) applies his obnoxious humor to lullabies. Mostly he tells tales about how white suburban kids don't have to worry about drive-by shootings or getting eaten by rats. Not bad; pretty much up to par with the original Chris Rock parody ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner '98"). Corky and the Juice Pigs: They sing two songs, one about a psychopathic killer in the summertime, and the second one is about a janitor. The first song was OK, but the second one in my opinion is the funniest thing I've ever seen them do - especially when the fat one and the bald one start doing their impression of two schoolchildren. Spishak Farms: A segment about sausages that are mostly pig genital-free. I thought this was pretty funny, although some people might find it too scatalogical. Lowered Expectations: With some fat guy called "Manny" who tells a series of stupid one-liners. Not that funny. The Rosie Show 2150: Rosie (Alex Borstein) died in 2041, but thanks to cryogenic technology, the show goes on. Not as funny as the other "Rosie" segments, but still OK; as some people pointed out, what people really think about when they think of Rosie O'Donnell is that big head, and in that sense they hit the nail right on the head. Vancoma: The Vancome Lady (Nicole Sullivan) is one of my favorite recurring characters, and therefore it was good to see this sketch (the last Vancome sketch to date). Unfortunately, this was also one of the weakest Vancome sketches ever! Nicole Sullivan's voice-overs seem disjointed. Alex Borstein is good as the Vancome Lady's mother (standing in for Mary Scheer, who I guess was unavailable for this episode), although her Ms. Wajanowski is essentially an older version of the Vancome Lady, rather than an individual character with her own distinctive personality (as seen in "Casino Dealer"). Aries Spears is OK as the doctor, but a doctor wearing an earring (doesn't inspire confidence)?! Lou Diamond Phillips is good as a perverted priest, but even he can't do much to save this sketch. This is one of the few instances where you might end up feeling sorry for the Vancome Lady, not because she's a wonderful human being, but because she's the victim rather than the victimizer: her own mother wants to disconnect her life-support system, and the priest fondles her breasts, but for some reason she is portrayed as the villian. Spy vs. Spy: Black spy tries to torpedo the white spy, but his own torpedo is used against him, and he dies instead. Very good! ==================================================================== ========================= In summary, I would say this was a very uneven episode. Here we run the full gamut, from the rather disappointing "Vancoma" to the rather excellent "Corky and the Juice Pigs" segment, and just about every gradation of quality in between. So on the whole I guess I would put it somewhere in the middle rank of "Mad TV" episodes. Next Week: Halloween episode (Kiss guest stars, plus the return of Nicole Sullivan). ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ