Malcolm McDowell+SNL= Good? Not So Much

Leave a comment

December 26, 2012 by mark81186

I’m a self-proclaimed student of comedy. People who know me know my sense of humor. I attribute my style of humor due to watching stand up comedians like Louis CK, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Jim Norton (I quote a lot of Jim Norton’s stuff), but one thing most of all is old reruns of Saturday Night Live.

I used to watch old episodes of SNL on Comedy Central everyday, even though it seemed like they showed the same rotation of episodes, but I digress. When I signed up for Netflix last year (I also signed up for Facebook last year, welcome to the mid-2000s, kid), I found, to my surprise, every single episode of SNL was on instant streaming. Since Comedy Central only showed certain seasons, I could now watch some earlier seasons and how they worked.

I searched through the database and one episode in general stood out to me. Malcolm McDowell in season 6. I’m a big fan of A Clockwork Orange and he is a great actor, so what could go wrong. Apparently, a lot.

This episode is SO BAD. I’ve watched it numerous times and I catch new things every time. I’ve dissected the show and picked up what was so wrong with it.

A little, or long, backstory on that season. Season 6 was the first season without creator Lorne Michaels. Michaels was under the pretense that the show would be cancelled when NBC didn’t adhere to his wishes to take some time off. NBC, to Michaels’ surprise, hired the talent booker Jean Doumanian to helm SNL. The cast and writing was a mess and the episodes were just simply not funny and this Malcolm McDowell episode was the worst episode of SNL that I may have ever seen.

The cold opening to the episode was Gilbert Gottfried playing a death row inmate being sent to the chair. The inmate’s mother yelled for them to stop so she can talk to his son. She did and told him to sit up straight as Gottfried gets the ol’ volts running through him. Haha?

Now here comes the host monologue. The monologue is usually meant to break the ice and show the audience in studio and at home what kind of host they could be. In this monologue, McDowell talked about how he is from England and his visa had expired. He had to leave rehearsal in order to renew it, which he finally did.

That’s. About. It. No real jokes other than a VERY weak one saying that the only reason he did the show was so NBC could get his visa renewed.

It just gets worse from here. “Serf City” with two medieval English men riding serfs while using surfing lingo. One of the characters,Lord Jack, called himself Jack Lord as in the actor from “Hawaii Five-O”. The writers I’m pretty sure pulled a hamstring with a stretch like that to get “gem” in.

“Weekend Update” had the WORST line I’ve ever heard ever uttered. Ever. People have told me in the past when family members die, but this is worse. In an “interview” with John Lennon (Malcolm McDowell) and Yoko Ono (Some cast member, who the hell knows), Lennon says, “Yoko is just loco for my cocoa”

“Yoko is just loco for my cocoa”

Let that settle for a minute. How the hell is that funny?! I wish I was inside the writers’ room for that one. “What rhymes with Yoko? Foko? Moco? Loco? LOCO! Yoko loco for cocoa! RUN WITH IT GUYS!” Kenny Bania says it best.

One of the later sketches was called “Jack the Stripper”. GET IT! It’s like Jack the Ripper, but instead of a lovable, murderous whore monger, its a guy who strips in front of unwilling women on the street. EH! EH! Joe Piscopo I’m pretty sure got his Swedish impression from the goddamn Swedish Chef from the Muppets, its that awful. It skit reveals that Jack the Stripper is in fact Prince Charles. Ah, shit! Take that Royal family! USA! USA! USA!

Perhaps the worst skit of the night many say is the worst skit in the history of SNL. Its a simple skit called “Commie Hunting Season”, where host Malcolm McDowell, Joe Piscopo, and Mainer (The 207 represent!) Charles Rocket play three North Carolinans? Carolinians? They’re from North Carolina anyway who go out hunting for Commies. The sheer awfulness of the skit comes out in the first few lines when the most racist, unfunny line is uttered by one Charles Rocket. He says, “All’s you got to do is shoot a Jew or nigger. Chances are, you’ll be getting a Commie anyway!” WOW! Where do you go from there? The most awkward thing was that they held for potential laughs, except the audience was DEAD SILENT. The most awkward thing I’ve ever seen.

This episode was pure rubbish. When people say that SNL sucks now, just look back about 30 years ago and watch season 6. I’ve seen every episode from that season based on this one episode alone and let me tell you, I’ve never seen more skits with a completely silent audience than the ones I saw from that season.