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Reviews
Saturday Night Live: Justine Bateman/Terrance Trent D'Arby (1988)
Another Amazing Sketch
The cold opening of this show is the second in a series of two sketches that are among the best ever produced for the show. In this sketch, we see a debate among the Republican candidates for president in 1988. Nora Dunn served as the moderator in the guise of Pat Schroeder of Colorado. Kevin Nealon appeared as Pierre "Pete" DuPont. Future Democratic punchline Al Franken played then current Republican punchline Pat Robertson. Phil Hartman played Jack Kemp explaining how the economy would give 150% like the Buffalo Bills did in his day. Dana Carvey played George H.W. Bush for the third time. He was just starting to get the rhythms of Bush Sr. down, but perfection would come just a little bit later when he hooked on to the expression, "Not at this juncture." The real star of this sketch, though, was Dan Aykroyd as Bob Dole. This was the first time he had been on the show since he left in 1979 and showed why SNL was the perfect vehicle for his talent. His Bob Dole is a masterpiece of rage and humor. There comes a point in the sketch where he almost breaks up and you can just tell how much fun he had being there in Studio 8-H one more time. Check it out if you can find it sometime. It should be coming to DVD in about 2018.
Saturday Night Live: Carl Weathers/Robbie Robertson (1988)
One of the Best of This Season!
This episode contains the first in a series of two sketches that involve all of the presidential candidates of the 1988 election. These are two of the very best sketches in Saturday Night Live History. Host Carl Weathers played the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Phil Hartman plays Bruce Babbitt of Arizona. Dana Carvey plays Dick Gephardt. Jon Lovitz Plays Mike Dukakis (a characterization that would only get better as the election went on). Future senator Al Franken plays then current senator Paul Simon ("And that's why I wear... the bow tie"). Kevin Nealon plays Al Gore. Future Repulican joke Dennis Miller played the current Democratic joke Gary Hart. The debate is hosted by Nora Dunn playing Pat Schroeder who had recently bowed out of the race in a crying fit. A couple of weeks after this episode aired, I went to a Jesse Jackson political rally where Rev. Jackson repeated the rap that Carl Weather used in impersonating him in the sketch almost verbatim. I almost fell out of my chair laughing.