Retro SNL 2-18-95: Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi

Today we take a look at the Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi episode from the much maligned 1994-1995 season.  I've always defended this season for not being as bad as people make it out to be, although don't get me wrong, there are huge moments of suckitude throughout the year.  Having Deion Sanders host your show is also a low point.  Deion freaking Sanders for Pete's sake...

Cold Open: The Simpson jury takes a field trip to OJ's house.  We were smack dab in the middle of the OJ trial at this point.  In the sketch, OJ (Tim Meadows) tries to sway the jury by showing off all his cool things.  David Spade shows up as Kato Kaelin and Janeane Garofalo plays some blonde bimbo.  Everything degrades into a big party.  The crowd during all this is deathly quiet, as they should be. 

Monologue: It's all about Deion, and he also manages to refer to the current season as a "rebuilding effort".  The crowd is not amused. 

Baseball Players Meeting: Players talk about the strike.  Deion tries to rally the troops but keeps getting interrupted with lucrative offers. 

Espy Awards: I've always loved this sketch, which spoofs stupid and needless award shows like the Espys.  Chris Elliott plays Chris Berman and pokes fun at his nicknaming habits ("Steve 'The opposite of old is' Young).  Farley plays Espys host John Goodman in what must be the only instance that Goodman wasn't available to make a cameo on SNL in the last 15 years.  Sandler plays Bobcat Goldthwait, Jay Mohr does Dick Vitale. Had the crowd not already been beaten into submission I think this would have gotten a better reaction. 

Bon Jovi performs "Always": It's Bon Jovi.  Either you like them or you don't.

Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald: Norm hits at least five jokes right out of the park, although the slavery one nearly turned the crowd against him.  Sandler shows up to do Opera Man.   

The Juggernaut Force: This is another sketch that isn't as bad as it's made out to be.  Aliens land and the Juggernaut Force enters the craft one by one, only to be humiliated in ridiculous sexual ways and then sent back outside.  Farley's pants fall off at one point which causes the entire cast to break character, however the reactions have been snipped out of repeats and Farley's ass has been digitally blurred.  Chris Elliott's role in this is amusing, but he'll later put the whole segment down in the Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live book as an example of the awfulness of the entire season he was on the show. 

Peace, We Outta Here!: Sandler, Sanders and Tim Meadows play a rap trio.  They rap very short, nonsensical things.  And that's that.  Goes on FAR too long. 

Bon Jovi performs "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night": See their first appearance.

Perspectives: This series of sketches ALWAYS makes me laugh.  Unfortunately, Deion almost wrecks it using a stupid voice though.

Deion visits a sick kid: The host plays himself and promises a dying kid (Farley) that he'll showboat during a game. 

Deion Raps: The third musical segment of the show has Deion and his crew come out and kill a lot of time by rapping.  At least the dancers were scantily clad.

Final score for this episode: Not good, not good at all.  Weekend Update (as will often be the case during Norm's time on the show) was the only true bright spot.

Comments

[drewsky]

What was Norm's slavery joke? I looked the WU segment up on the SNL Transcripts page, and whoever did the transcript must have used E! or Comedy Central's 60-minute edit of the show with the joke missing. I'm curious.

[drewsky]

What was Norm's slavery joke? I looked the WU segment up on the SNL Transcripts page, and whoever did the transcript must have used E! or Comedy Central's 60-minute edit of the show with the joke missing. I'm curious.

[dvdguy]

"130 years after the Civil War, the state of Mississippi has finally voted to abolish slavery. Representatives say they would have liked to have done it sooner, but they were delayed due to some awfully big cotton crops."