The 4th episode of Season 11 and the 199th episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by actor John Lithgow, star of the hit films Footloose, Santa Claus: The Movie, The Manhattan Project, Harry and the Hendersons, Memphis Belle, Ricochet, Cliffhanger, A Civil Action, Shrek, The Pelican Brief, Late Night, Bombshell, Love Is Strange, Miss Sloane, Beatriz at Dinner, Dreamgirls, and Daddy's Home 2, with musical guest Mr. Mister, an rock band. Special guest appearance by stand-up comedian Sam Kinison. It premiered on December 7, 1985.
This was John Lithgow's first-time as host, as well as the only musical guest appearance on SNL for Mr. Mister.
Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other
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Summary
Halley's Comet
Dr. Federico (John Lithgow) and Bruce Winston (Robert Downey Jr.) warn Reagan (Randy Quaid) that Halley’s Comet is on a collision course with Earth, but the President won’t spare a missile to destroy it.
Opening Montage
The last intro for the intro introduced in the 1st episode (in it's initial broadcast). This intro was used for the first 4 episodes, and starting with the next episode, a whole intro is introduced, and is used for the rest of the season.
Monologue by John Lithgow
Hosting for the first time, John Lithgow thinks he's performing the dress rehearsal until director Dave Wilson reminds him, he forgot to change his watch from L.A. time.
Where You're Going
Repeat of November 9, 1985.
Posterior Arthropod
A visit to the doctor uncovers the cause of Bob Danielson's (John Lithgow) sarcastic, uptight and grouchy demeanor.
Master Thespian
Master Thespian Jonathan Lanculovici (Jon Lovitz) and mentor Baudelaire (John Lithgow) duel with their superior acting ability.
Double Rolls
Texan businessman Rudy Randolph Jr. (Randy Quaid) bought the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's Rolls Royce collection in bulk, and he's passing the "savings" on to the customer.
Mr. Mister Performs "Broken Wings"
Mr. Mister - Broken Wings - SNL - 7 Dec 1985-2
Ad Council
Pitchman's (Rex Robbins) spiel through various stock commercial settings embodies "wasting your time in various ways for no good reason".
Cliches
Clichés - SNL
Debbie (Joan Cusack) is experiencing marital trouble, but her well-meaning father (John Lithgow) can only respond with an endless stream of cliches.
Weekend Update With Dennis Miller
Miller’s still coming into his own with his “I just don’t give a fuck” delivery; the audience responds well to the “Punch Mary Lou Retton in the Teeth Lottery”, and even though the “President stuffs the turkey” felt like an old joke, Miller gives it extra leverage by adding “easy…easy…”. He’s still doing the videotape footage jokes, this week as a grim punchline to the story about the Find Cap’n Crunch contest. Damon Wayans returns with a follow-up commentary about what the Reagan-Gorbachev summit accomplished. Most of it is forgettable, aside from Wayans’ warning about terrorists “hijacking the planet in the name of Allah” being more of an threat than a US-Russia nuclear war, and hypothetical scenario where “Abdul straps an MX on his back and threatens to jump off the World Trade Center”.
Vegas Nancy
Bored during one of Ron’s (Randy Quaid) meetings, Nancy Reagan (Terry Sweeney) fantasizes about the road not taken, where she’s a Vegas headliner performing “That Old Black Magic”.
Guest Performance: Sam Kinison
Guest Performance- Sam Kinison 1 - Saturday Night Live
Sam Kinison does stand-up about failed relationships, using his coat to intimidate convenience store employees, and Jesus.
U.S.S. Cameron
Sailors’ (Robert Downey Jr., Jon Lovitz, Randy Quaid and Terry Sweeney) poor organization and easy capitulation doom their attempts at a mutiny against their captain (John Lithgow).
Mr. Mister Performs "Kyrie"
The Limits Of The Imagination
In this installment, customers at an “all you can eat” fish fry are paid to be force-fed seafood. With Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Nora Dunn, Terry Sweeney and Damon Wayans as the patrons, Jon Lovitz as waiter, Danitra Vance as the waitress and Randy Quaid as floating head.
In Memoriam
Goodnights
John thanked the audience for watching.
Trivia[]
This was the final episode for original writer Michael O'Donoghue, as he was fired from the show after this episode, 4 episodes in.
O'Donoghue was originally hired to write short films for the show, but those were neither aired nor even written. O'Donoghue (who was previously one of the show's original writers from 1975-1978, and returned to become head writer for the last episode of Season 6 the first-half of season 7 in 1981), overall wrote for the show for six non-consecutive seasons.
His final contribution to the show would be the "The Boulevard of Broken Balls" sketch, which was performed by actor Christopher Walken when he hosted the show on October 24, 1992, which O'Donoghue wrote with his then-wife/band leader Cheryl Hardwick.