Opening — Beauty Pageant — 4
Chevy Chase plays a beauty pageant host who is thrown off when the winner decries the whole contest as degrading to women, leaving Chevy to fumble awkwardly into a very bad pratfall. It is clear the skit is only for the fall by Chevy.
Monologue — Robert Klein — 5
Robert Klein talks about the dangers of live TV and animals. It starts off slow, but eventually gets funnier, and Klein's talking about a nude scene he did seems ahead of its time for 1975. The routine seems less polished than most standup routines these days.
ABBA — SOS — 7
Someone got the bright idea to highlight the song's title by setting the performance on a “Titanic” set, introduced by Robert Klein as the ship's captain. The music appears as though it might be canned, but the girls in ABBA are actually singing. Klein spends the entire performance trying to stop a leak in the ship. The whole thing strikes more of a Sonny and Cher bit than an SNL music performance.
Pong — Franken and Davis — History Class — 7
Al Franken and Tom Davis do a voice-over on a pong game about Franken bombing a history test. I do not remember ever seeing these filler sketches. It appears they might be meant to buy time while the show rearranges sets or gets actors into position with the Pong game providing visuals for what is essentially a spoken word routine. They're more amusing than laugh out loud funny, but so different that I have enjoyed seeing them.
Minute Mystery — 7
A crime photographer shouts instructions at the victim like she was a model, and then we're introduced to a crime. Chevy Chase confesses to the crime, but the photographer, played by Dan Aykroyd and the investigator, played by John Belushi, have it all figured out. Does the viewing audience? What is interesting about these old sketches is that the cast seems better equipped to take a thin premise and make it at least watchable. And the premises seem less character driven in the 1970s than they do today.
Bee-Centennial Minute — 6
With the Bicentennial approaching, history minutes weren't uncommon. This spoofs this with Garrett Morris in a bee costume talking about a bee who managed to get himself entwined in a historical moment, only to be crushed. Short and amusing.
Loudon Wainwright — Bicentennial — 4
A patriotic song by Loudon Wainwright that honestly sounds like a joke. And it probably was.
Gregg Allman, How's Your Love Life? — 3
A short bit with Chevy Chase playing Gregg Allman. Amusing to see Chevy as Allman, but other than that, not funny. This again seems to be a short time filler to setup the next sketch.
Sam Peckinpah does a Romantic Comedy — 8
John Belushi plays the legendary director of bloody action films, Sam Peckinpah, doing a romantic comedy. Gilda Radner plays an actress who can't deliver the line the way he wants it, so he tries to get her around to his way of thinking by beating up on Gilda. Hard to see this getting laughs today, but it is pretty funny, especially the way that Gilda seems more and more afraid and falls all over the set.
Weekend Update — 5
More jokes about Gerald Ford's klutziness. Interesting is a joke about gulls being sucked into the engine of a DC-10, and a report on the bird victims of the incident. A similar joke was done in 2009 after the so-called miracle on the Hudson by Andy Samberg during Weekend Update. Some pointed jokes on George Wallace probably wouldn't fly today. It is interesting that Chase seems more frustrated when jokes bomb than the anchors do these days. Chase does another visual mocking of a man who is replying to a WU editorial. Chase's facial expressions are funny, but the bit seems to already be wearing out its welcom.
Jamitol – 4
A vitamin commercial that probably was funnier in the context of the times. George Coe shows up again here.
Exterminators — 7
Two guys in camoflague, played by John Belushi and Robert Klein, play exterminators battling cockroaches, playing the scene with every sort of war movie cliche. The sketch moves into even sillier territory as Klein talks about the history of the roach as a film of the roach walking past a historical mural is shown.
Fireman — 3
Gilda plays a firefighter, and gives a monologue about being one. Not very funny, but very different from a sketch you'd see today.
Jim Henson Muppets — 5
Mostly painful physical humor form the Muppets. Woefully out of place here. But see if you can spot the voice of Zoe from Sesame Street as her character does a sensual dance.
Robert Klein Routine — 7
A much funnier routine than the opener as Klein talks about colleges, science, pot and more.
Price is Right Stamp Gun — 7
Inflation getting you down, then just simply make your own prices and putting them on the items you buy at the grocery. A funny bit that is completely meaningless today with UPC scanners. When was the last time you saw anything marked with a pricing gun?
Loudon Wainwright — Unrequited to the Nth Degree — 9
A crazy, funny, ditty by Loudon.
Looks at Books — Emily Litella — 6
Perhaps the first appearance of Gilda Radner's Litella, as she talks about the childrens books she has written. The sketch ends on a funny note as Litella creates an awkward moment in which her books appear to be headed into very adult territory.
Ambassador Training Institute — 1
Unfunny repeat of an unfunny fake commercial.
Robert Klein — I Can't Stop My Leg — 8
Klein's classic bluesman routine. Goofy, but very funny.
ABBA — Waterloo — 7
In light of recent SNL problems with people like Ashleigh Simpson, it is funny to see an admission that “Right now, ABBA is Lip Synching, It's not their fault, the tracks didn't arrive from Sweden.” Again the song takes place on a Titanic with Klein faking the plugging of a leak on the set. In the middle of the song the ship goes down.
Overall — 7
No real classic moments here, but the episode has some funny moments and no real jaw droppingly horrible moments like today's show seems to be full of.