Pryor, as I expected, was the highlight in this episode. I've started watching selected eps since PeacockTv made all 46 seasons available for free streaming. This was the first choice and, man, was it a great choice. It isn't the best episode I've seen but a great intro as some of the trademark sketches were just being broken in. There are some misses but all skits have something interesting to offer. Guest musician, Gil Scot-Heron, who's cut short on his second number, looked and sounded great. And they let Pryor loose near the end. One of the fun ones!
2 Reviews
First Check Into The Hotel But Whose The Bellboy
DKosty12317 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This episode hosted by Richard Pryor hits more often than most of the episodes of the first season. It is the first episode to feature John Belushi as the Samarai & as a bonus in this one- Richard Pryor is in the sketch as a second one. This is a very good start for this series of sketches.
The episode opens with Dan Akroyd & Lorraine Newman seated at a table with Garrett Morris as the Waiter. Morris is getting ready to do the opening fall when Chevy Chase shows up to argue about who is supposed to do it. Then Chase does a magnificent fall but Morris says "Live From New York..." Pryor then does a good monologue, & then Chevy checks into the Samerai Hotel. This episode features a classic routine with Chase as a hiring manager interviewing Pryor for a Janitor job. Another good one is Ackroyd & his family sitting at a table & his family magically transforms into a different family while he talks about them taking over.
The Muppet routine is a little better this episode & Brooks film is OK even though Brooks is Ill. This is the first week-end update with Gilda Radners classic Emily Littel Editorial reply where she is off track & winds up telling the audience to "never mind". This is the first week that Francisco Franco is still dead & this would continue for several weeks.
The musical guest performs well including a song called Johannesburg. Don Pardo wants to escape, & Pryor finishes the show saying that he hoped we either enjoyed the show or had a good time with it on as a night light (my G-Rated version).
This humor really seems simple today as humor today is much more complex. That is why Al Franken is no longer writing comedy as his humor and the rest of this would not make it today. The Physical Comedy is timeless, but the verbal stuff with the exception of Pryors is too simple.
A great thing about this is a reminder of how good Pryor was as he mixes complex oral Comedy with Physical Comedy in his monologues.
The episode opens with Dan Akroyd & Lorraine Newman seated at a table with Garrett Morris as the Waiter. Morris is getting ready to do the opening fall when Chevy Chase shows up to argue about who is supposed to do it. Then Chase does a magnificent fall but Morris says "Live From New York..." Pryor then does a good monologue, & then Chevy checks into the Samerai Hotel. This episode features a classic routine with Chase as a hiring manager interviewing Pryor for a Janitor job. Another good one is Ackroyd & his family sitting at a table & his family magically transforms into a different family while he talks about them taking over.
The Muppet routine is a little better this episode & Brooks film is OK even though Brooks is Ill. This is the first week-end update with Gilda Radners classic Emily Littel Editorial reply where she is off track & winds up telling the audience to "never mind". This is the first week that Francisco Franco is still dead & this would continue for several weeks.
The musical guest performs well including a song called Johannesburg. Don Pardo wants to escape, & Pryor finishes the show saying that he hoped we either enjoyed the show or had a good time with it on as a night light (my G-Rated version).
This humor really seems simple today as humor today is much more complex. That is why Al Franken is no longer writing comedy as his humor and the rest of this would not make it today. The Physical Comedy is timeless, but the verbal stuff with the exception of Pryors is too simple.
A great thing about this is a reminder of how good Pryor was as he mixes complex oral Comedy with Physical Comedy in his monologues.
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