You Don't Know Dick: The Comedy Mind of Richard M. Nixon

Shearer as Nixon for the 40th anniversary of the resignation

You Don't Know Dick: The Comedy Mind of Richard M. Nixon

Comedy Central

August 1994

Satire

VHS
B-

Shearer's offbeat way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Nixon resignation is to analyze tapes of the soon-to-be ex-President from shortly before his resignation speech.  The second half, where Shearer's old colleagues Lander and McKean (yes, Squiggy and Lenny), appear on an infomercial, with Shearer as "Rich" Nixon, is better.

Ellen: The Trainer

Ellen: The Trainer
ABC
November 23, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B

Holly Hester wrote this story, her first of two for Ellen, where Paige begs Ellen to pretend to be a personal trainer for Paige's boss at the movie studio, Ted Layton (Harry Shearer, underplaying where other actors would overact).  He ends up making Ellen an executive, which is Paige's dream.  It's up to Ellen to straighten things out.  Meanwhile, Adam tries to avoid his building-super duties.

IMDB has Courtney Pakiz uncredited as the Yoga/Fitness Instructor, but we don't see her onscreen, unless I missed it; she would be a Ballet Dancer on the series the next year.

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

This episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
Late December 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B-

This "best of" covers the nine months of the show, not every episode, but quite a few.  Ellerbee is tagged for the discussion of her Maxwell House commercial.  Burns concludes with a hope that WoM can find another home, but as far as I know it didn't.  Pity, since it would've been interesting to hear the panel react to the '90s.

As for the '80s, this probably isn't the last of my shows from that decade, since the '70s keep popping up.  But this is as good a place as any to get ready for another decade summary....

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

Almost 20 years after this episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
December 14, 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B

I'm guessing since Burns ended the '80s look-back episode with a promise to look ahead at the '90s the next time, that this aired a week after the one from December 7th.  (Or maybe that's when these were taped.  No matter.)  In any case, they get some things right about the '90s, like the "nerding of America" and the increasing fragmentation of the television audience with the continuing impact of cable, and some things wrong, like the "moralistic" attitudes of computer nerds and, thank goodness, the marketing of videotapes with a very short shelf life.  This is the "next to last" episode, with the compilation coming up....

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

From this episode!

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
December 7, 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B

Merrill Markoe uploaded this to her Youtube channel, and it has the airdate, so I can be more precise than usual.  (Plus one of the panelists points out that it's after the Thanksgiving episode.)  Having five rather than four people seems to make for a livelier discussion, or maybe the general topic of "The Eighties" helps.  Note that Schickel says that in a decade of "greased pigs," Donald Trump was "the greasiest and the piggiest."  And I used to quote Markoe's line about Madonna, "She's been blonde, she's been brunette...," for years afterwards.

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

Again, a different episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
Late November 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B-

Van Gordon Sauter is off on a Thanksgiving or post-Thanksgiving holiday, although he and Burns pretaped a segment.  Harry Shearer is a welcome substitute, and not just for his Jackie Mason impression.  The panel of "misanthropes" talk about what they're grateful for.  And Merrill explains the differences between "Muesli" (with an umlaut) and "Mueslix" (with an X).

Saturday Night Live: Elliott Gould & Gary Numan [Condensed]

Saturday Night Live: Elliott Gould & Gary Numan [Condensed]
NBC
February 16, 1980
Variety
VHS
B-

This is one of the hour-long (I think they were called Best of Saturday Night Live) editions that were syndicated later in the '80s, in this case '87.  The highlights here are Kramer vs. Godzilla and the Wizard of Oz parody, although the latter does have regrettably racist casting of Morris as a flying monkey.  (Poor Garrett was in tears a few days afterwards, after five years of mistreatment.)  Numan sings "Cars."  The running joke of Father Guido Sarducci waiting to interview Nixon live outside his new apartment building gets tedious, until there's an unexpected pay-off right at the end.

And, yes, the jokes about candidates Carter and Reagan are pretty ironic of course, especially the one about Reagan being senile.  (He had recently turned 69, which is right between the ages of current candidates Clinton and Trump, although at the time he was definitely the oldest American presidential candidate ever.)