Chase holds a hotel room key and double-talks his goodnight speech. He shakes Jon Lovitz’s hand and side-hugs Sheila E., but as soon as the credits start rolling, you can see him make his way to the back of the crowd. Given the backstage stories about him alienating the cast and writers with his insults that week, it makes sense he doesn’t really try to keep up the happy goodnights charade.

The closing credits now have the headers in green and in all caps.

Final thoughts: A fairly weak show; in some respects, this was a rougher night than the Madonna show. A large part of the blame for that is Chevy Chase himself; maybe the stories about this week in Live From New York overshadow the actual material in the show, but even without the backstage drama, Chase is having an off night. He seems to be performing in a vacuum and not on the same page as the rest of his scene partners. Chase would check into the Betty Ford Clinic less than a year later for his painkiller addiction, so it is possible that his behavior and performance were exacerbated by that factor. The cast still isn’t gelling, largely because of the younger performers, but Randy Quaid continues to be the show’s lynchpin, and tonight gave us a better idea what Jon Lovitz, Damon Wayans and Nora Dunn are capable of. [Addendum (05/22/19): After finally seeing the original airing, I was shocked by how heavy the used of canned laughter and applause was for the rerun, especially since some of the most heavily sweetened sketches (except for Craig Sundberg) still got some healthy responses from the audience. Despite a few jokes not landing (particularly Danitra Vance’s “If Phil Donahue can be a feminist, I can be a feminist!”), it felt more like the audience was still just getting used to the show’s new dynamic. I can see why they added more laughs in, but it dilutes the authentic responses the sketches received and the genuine live atmosphere of the show.]

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

The Life of Vlad The Impaler

Pathological Liars Anonymous

The Pat Stevens Show

Those Unlucky Andersons

SHOW LOWLIGHTS

Monologue

The Blue, The Grey, and The Yellow

Firefighters

Trojans

Drums, Drums, Drums

MVP:

Randy Quaid

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:

cast

Joan Cusack : 4 appearances [Those Unlucky Andersons, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Life of Vlad The Impaler, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow]

Robert Downey Jr. : 5 appearances [Firefighters, Ford & Reagan, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

Nora Dunn : 5 appearances [The Pat Stevens Show, Those Unlucky Andersons, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

Anthony Michael Hall : 6 appearances [Firefighters, Wacky Glue, Those Unlucky Andersons, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

Jon Lovitz : 7 appearances [FIrefighters, Monologue, Ford & Reagan, Those Unlucky Andersons, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, Pathological Liars Anonymous, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

Dennis Miller : 1 appearance [Weekend Update]

Randy Quaid : 6 appearances [Firefighters, Wacky Glue, Ford & Reagan, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Life of Vlad The Impaler, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow]

Terry Sweeney : 4 appearances [Firefighters, Ford & Reagan, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

Danitra Vance: 2 appearances [The Pat Stevens Show, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow]

featured players

Damon Wayans: 3 appearances [Firefighters, Those Unlucky Andersons, Weekend Update]

unbilled crew, extras and bit players

A. Whitney Brown : 1 appearance [Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl]

Al Franken : 2 voice-overs [The Life of Vlad the Impaler, The Blue, The Gray and the Yellow]

Mark McKinney : 3 voice-overs [The Pat Stevens Show, The Life of Vlad the Impaler (live only), Pathological Liars Anonymous]

Don Novello : 1 appearance [Firefighters]

Don Pardo : 1 voice-over [The Life of Vlad the Impaler (rerun only)]

Robert Smigel : 1 appearance [Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl]

Dan Vitale: 3 appearances [Firefighters, Those Unlucky Andersons, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant]

guests

Chevy Chase : 7 appearances [Firefighters, Monologue, Ford & Reagan, Those Unlucky Andersons, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Life of Vlad the Impaler, Drums, Drums, Drums]

Sheila E.: 2 appearances [“Holly Rock”, “A Love Bizarre'‘]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:

January 11, 1986

Known alterations:

Wacky Glue and Trojans I removed

Trojans II (from 12/14/85) added

Audience sweetening: None to mild: Firefighters, Monologue, Drums Drums Drums, Pathological Liars Anonymous Moderate: Ford & Reagan, Weekend Update, Jose Cuervo’s Party School Bowl, The Life of Vlad the Impaler, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow] Heavy: The Pat Stevens Show, Those Unlucky Andersons, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant

Edits: The Life of Vlad the Impaler, The Blue, The Gray, and the Yellow, Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant.

Dress substitutions: Chevy Chase’s intro to “A Love Bizarre”.

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.