Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
because it’s DEM’s last show, LOM lets him say the opening line
— A good way to announce on the air that this is Dennis’ last episode.
— This is the first time Dennis has appeared outside of Weekend Update since all the way back in season 14.
— I loved Lorne asking Dennis “You’re not gonna come back every week and hang out on the set like Lovitz, are you?”, and then going on and on about how pathetic Lovitz is for doing that. I recall hearing that Lovitz actually got upset by this when watching the show this night. Maybe Lorne should’ve stood on stage during the goodnights while holding up a “LOVITZ- I WAS JUST KIDDING” sign, ala Dennis in the goodnights of the Catherine O’Hara episode.
— Dennis makes a big deal about how he’s always wanted to say “Live from New York…”, as if he’s never gotten the chance to say it before. He must’ve blocked season 11 out of his mind (or took to heart Madonna’s claim that season 11 was a “horrible, horrible dream”), because he actually DID say “Live from New York…” previously, in the Burger King/Herb cold opening from the aforementioned season 11.
— Funny how Dennis’ “Live from New York…” in this cold opening doesn’t start the show, as Lorne just keeps this opening going.
— Very interesting having Lorne be the one who delivers the official “Live from New York”, the only time in SNL history he would ever do so.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host manhandles a lookalike of Queen Elizabeth
— George’s rough handling of the queen is pretty funny so far.
— I like the queen fearfully trying to walk away as soon as George begins talking about wrestling.
— Great camera perspective of the queen being spun around.
STARS: ***½
LIL’ GENERAL FIREWORKS
kids love to have harmless fun with explosives
— Good idea for a summer commercial.
— Pretty funny treatment of huge explosives as family-friendly fun. The explosions of casual things are providing some laughs.
STARS: ***
MR. NO-DEPTH PERCEPTION
two-dimensional guy (KEN) throws a dinner party
— This can be considered a sister sketch to Tom Hanks’ Mr. Short-Term Memory, as the name, opening credits sequence/theme song, and concept are in a similar vein. Wonder if both characters are from the same writer.
— Kevin is perfect for this character and is pulling off this humor really well.
— I particularly like the part with Kevin casually sticking his head straight through the glass window (and not even reacting to it) when checking to see if their friends are outside the house.
— Kinda surprised this overall sketch remained a one-off and never became recurring.
STARS: ****
BILL SWERSKI’S SUPER FANS
Bob Swerski (host) & other Super Fans talk about the Bulls & the Bears
— George Wendt takes over as the new host of this sketch, Bob Swerski, replacing Joe Mantegna’s Bill Swerski, who the show writes off as recovering from a heart attack.
— Much like the last time they did this sketch, we get some funny outlandish Bears scenarios from the guys.
— An overall enjoyable installment, though I didn’t find this quite as strong as the first installment. There would be better ones to come later on.
STARS: ***½
MIDDLE-AGED MAN
Retired Man (host) helps Middle-Aged Man battle Independent Widow (JAH)
— This ends up being this character’s final appearance.
— Love the addition of Jan as Independent Widow.
— A funny turn with cookies being Middle-Aged Man’s kryptonite.
— I like how we meet Retired Man, who was mentioned in an earlier installment of this sketch.
— Jan’s screaming reaction to the giant roach was really funny.
— A big laugh from the gruesome blood that results from Middle-Aged Man crushing the giant roach.
— Nice little touch with the roach crawling over the text in the disclaimer shown at the end.
— I like how this overall installment had a more epic feel than the first two Middle-Aged Man installments, involving more characters, more action, and more scenery changes. In retrospect, a nice way for this character to go out.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Other Side of Summer”
WEEKEND UPDATE
General Norman Schwarzkopf (CHF) challenges Evander Holyfield to a match
CSR tells why there won’t be a black vice president
— (*sigh*) Hard to believe we’ve officially arrived at Dennis Miller’s final Weekend Update.
— Farley makes his very first visit to the Update desk, though he appeared in two previous Updates “via satellite” (the Roseanne/Tom Arnold commentary and the marathon runner commentary).
— A classic turn in the middle of Farley’s commentary, with him suddenly getting up, declaring “I WANT HOLYFIELD! I WANT HOLYFIELD!”, and hyping up a huge match between him and Holyfield. A great early display of Farley’s Belushi-esque knack for playing roles where he slowly goes from calm and professional to worked-up and loud. I’m also loving watching Dennis’ reactions to him. Over the course of this season, it’s been fun seeing Dennis’ interactions with the new kids in the cast.
— Lots of very funny comments from Rock about how we’ll never see a black vice president, because some black guy will just kill the white president so the black VP can become president. I especially love Rock saying how he would have nothing to worry about if he got arrested for killing the white president, because every black guy in prison would treat him like a hero.
— Dennis’ final Update joke is unfortunately a lame “misinterpreting a photo” type of joke, something that he’s been relying on way too much this season.
— A very nice, sentimental, and classy goodbye speech from Dennis at the end, with him thanking everyone he’s worked with at the show and saying he’s gonna miss working here. You can tell by his voice that he was on the verge of tears.
— After getting so used to reviewing Dennis Miller Weekend Updates for the past six seasons (the longest-tenured Update stint at this point in the show’s history), it sure is going to feel weird reviewing a brand-new version of Update next season.
STARS: ***
THE CARSENIO SHOW
Johnny Carson (DAC) borrows from Arsenio’s program
— An absolutely hilarious concept. I love this hybrid of Arsenio and Johnny Carson.
— I like how this is bringing back memories of another fantastic Arsenio parody the show did previously with Rob Lowe.
— Carsenio: “Buddy Hackett is in my house!”
— Good segment with Carsenio breaking down the street lingo he’s been using.
— Phil as Ed McMahon: “That is the straight stuff, o funkmaster!”
— I love Carsenio demonstrating how to do “the wild thing”, while asking “Is this dope? Is this dope stuff?”
— When asked about the whooping audience, I got a big laugh from George’s response being a blunt “The truth is, Johnny, they’re morons.”
STARS: *****
BURGER BARN DRIVE THRU
a family’s order at Burger Barn’s drive-through gets very complicated
— A lot of laughs from George being forced by his family to make increasingly confusing and complicated changes to their fast-food order.
— I especially love Jan as the grandmother, and she has some really funny lines.
— Good growing frustration from George.
— Excellent angry loud outburst from George at the end when putting an end to the madness and starting over with a simple fast-food order.
— An overall very solid and relatable slice-of-life sketch.
STARS: ****½
THE SHINDELLS
lyrics of doo-wop group stray into members’ personal lives
— Pretty funny doo-wop performance from the guys.
— I like Dana awkwardly trying to keep the song going by sporadically adding in melodic “shwop-shwop”s into the middle of his argument with George.
— George to Farley: “Why didn’t you tell me, you fat pig?” Farley: “Hey, you’re just as fat as I am, man!” Other guys: “(singing) Maaaaaybe fatter!”
— Nice conclusion.
STARS: ***½
IT’S PAT
barber’s (host) small talk doesn’t reveal the sex of androgynous Pat
— A lot of characters tonight with their own opening credits sequence and theme song, between Mr. No-Depth Perception, Middle-Aged Man, and now Pat.
— The usual laughs from Pat responding to potentially-gender-revealing questions with gender-unspecific answers.
— I like the mention of Pat having a group of friends named Terry, Frances (or Francis), and Robin.
— A priceless part with George’s very focused brushing around Pat’s chest and crotch.
— This sketch ended a little awkwardly.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on memories of family outings
I’M CHILLIN’
Onski plugs Long Leak malt liquor & You’re That Guy credit
— Quite a lot of airtime for Rock tonight, which is refreshing.
— On a similar note, Farley’s been in tons of sketches tonight; far more than a featured player typically gets. A nice way to end what has been a fantastic rookie year for Farley, by far the standout newbie of the season.
— Great “Mother joke of the day” delivered by Rock: “Your mother’s so old, I told her to act her age and the bitch dropped dead.”
— Very funny photo of a grimacing Don Pardo wearing a trendy 8-ball jacket.
— Rock’s description of the “You’re That Guy” credit is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “So Like Candy”
THE SUNRISE SHOW
singer of kids’ songs (host) switches to raunchy lyrics
— (*sigh*) Jan Hooks’ final sketch as a cast member. I’m glad they gave her the 10-to-1 spot of the season finale, even if they (I assume) weren’t aware at the time that she’s leaving.
— Ha, is George wearing Elvis Costello’s beard?
— I like Jan’s gleeful singing of George’s kid-friendly songs, as a sample of his work.
— George suddenly breaking out into a raunchy sexual song is very funny, made even more priceless by the way his thick fake beard makes his raunchy facial expressions look.
— Another great turn with the tone of George’s raunchy song suddenly changing to a jolly, kid-friendly melody as he sings about wanting to get a woman to make various animal sounds during sex.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently very solid and fun episode, with no real lowlights. A great way to end the season. George Wendt was a strong host, and was allowed to give even funnier performances than the unique previous episode he hosted.
— This was the final episode for both Jan Hooks and, of course, Dennis Miller. Dennis’ tenure ended with a bit of a whimper, as he was clearly burned-out during the last three months and began using a more monotone and low-energy delivery, looked fairly tired, and half-assed his trademark scribble-wildly-on-a-sheet-of-paper move during his tagline. It didn’t help that the quality of his jokes went downhill as well, often relying too heavily on corny “misinterpreting a photo” type of jokes. However, none of this takes away from the amazing tenure he had as a whole. Right from the start, he completely reinvented Update at a time where the segment desperately needed a boost after the dire quality of it during the non-Lorne years in 1980-1985. Dennis made Update important, hip, laid-back, and most importantly, very funny. And as much as I kept harping on the lethargy of his performances during his last three months, he still was reliable for laughs, especially with his usual knack for funny ad-libs. All-in-all, Dennis is easily my favorite Update anchor of all-time (tied with Norm Macdonald). And as for Jan Hooks, I cannot find enough great things to say about her. She ended a fantastic tenure that was consistently strong from beginning to end. She was an incredibly valuable cast member who could do pretty much no wrong and could handle ANYTHING the writers threw at her. Much like how Dennis is my favorite Update anchor of all-time, Jan is my favorite female cast member of all-time and one of my all-time favorite cast members in general. She will be sorely missed in the cast, especially when you’re aware of how badly the female cast ends up struggling during the next few seasons. However, at least we eventually get frequent special guest appearances from Jan during seasons 18 and 19.
— Season 16 as a whole was another in a long line of very good seasons, even if this one wasn’t QUITE as strong as the season that preceded it. Aside from the notorious Steven Seagal flop, this was a season impressively filled with episodes that ranged from okay to excellent. This was also a very exciting year with a lot of freshness, as we got a huge influx of new featured players over the course of the season, as well as lots of debuts of big recurring segments (including Deep Thoughts). This combo of new featured players and important new recurring segments have kicked off the gradual start of an era of its own, even as this season held on to many important aspects of the preceding 1986-1990 era.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Delta Burke)
a step up
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1989-90)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 17 begins, with host Michael Jordan. We start off the season with three new featured players and a new Weekend Update anchor.
There’s an element of sadness hanging around this brilliant 86-90 cast as they leave. Phil and Jan, knowing that they would pass away far too soon. Nora, who left on a messy note and who never really got a big break off the show. Dennis, who never really found a better niche for his talents and depending on your point of view became a grumpy curmudgeon (I guess, not shocking!). Victoria, who seemed like a friendly kook, turning into a super, grumpy conservative, especially during the Obama presidency.
I agree: Lovitz seems to have followed Victoria’s lead, and then Dana Carvey almost died from the botched heart surgery. Many sad, weird fates for this amazing cast. As for Kevin, I always thought that he somehow lost his mojo before the beginning of this season. His penchant for writing bizarre, nuanced sketches seems to have vanished. And he no longer does a lot of one-man pieces, straight to camera. I guess his new assignment for season 17 will change that, but it just isn’t the same.
And here’s an unrelated, useless post… I always thought it was cool that they ended this and the next three seasons with a Cheers castmember as host… until I finally noticed that in season 18, it was actually the 3rd to last episode (Kirstie Alley), and 4th to last the year after (Kelsey Grammer). Still, would have been a cool tradition to have.
Mike Myers’s two older brothers Peter and Paul can be seen in the audience during the Carsenio sketch.
So ends another great season of SNL with a great episode.
Farewell to Dennis Miller. It’s kind of a shame that Dennis has never made a return to the show (although he was at the 25th anniversary special). I’m with you, Dennis was the best Weekend Update anchor the show’s ever had. Let’s face it, he saved Weekend Update. Not only was he the longest tenured anchor when he left, he was by a mile. And to this day is still the longest tenured solo anchor in the show’s history. He will be missed. I love Kevin Nealon, and I liked his unique approach to the Update desk (mostly playing a parody of a “real” newsman, rather than himself), but he never really seemed to find his comfort zone as the anchor.
Speaking of Kevin, it’s kind of crazy how little he appeared this season (sometimes only making 1 or 2 appearances an episode). Yes the cast got bigger, but it’s always interesting to see veteran cast members fade into the background. It’s pretty amazing that he stuck around for 4 more seasons (even staying around for season 20 even though he lost the anchor spot to Norm).
Also, farewell to Jan. Thankfully, she’ll come back a number of times to play Hillary. Jan is definitely an underrated SNL star. She will be missed greatly. Unfortunately, we won’t get a strong female cast member again until Molly Shannon/Ana Gasteyer/Cheri Oteri in the late 90s. Julia Sweeney tried her best, but she was underused and not happy on the show, and it shows in her performances. Ellen Cleghorne had her moments, but yes, we are entering a dismal time for women on the show. But, we do have the Bad Boys! 🙂
Elvis Costello had no other musicians with him, so he was entirely backed by the rhythm section of the SNL band. I don’t believe Leon was on this episode, so it’s just Cheryl, GE, Chris and T-bone. In fact, this was Chris and T-bone’s last show. Chris is still an active performer on drums, but we lost T-bone a few years ago. Heart attack at 57. Cruel way to go.
Chris has come back to the show a few times whenever Shawn Pelton was unavailable. He’s listed in the credits for the 1997 Christmas show hosted by Helen Hunt.
Alright gang, here are the five star sketches from 90-91:
Twin Peaks (Kyle MacLachlan)
All My Luggage (Susan Lucci)
Carl’s Wuik-Stop (George Steinbrenner)
Pumping Up with Hanz & Franz (Patrick Swayze)
Chippendales (Patrick Swayze)
Mouse Trap Seminar (Patrick Swayze)
Chia Head (Jimmy Smits)
McLaughlin Group (John Goodman)
Monologue (Tom Hanks)
Game Beaters (Tom Hanks)
The Global Warming Christmas Special (Tom Hanks)
A Dysfunctional Family Christmas (Dennis Quaid)
Mustang Calhoun (Dennis Quaid)
Elevator (Sting)
The Sinatra Group (Sting)
Happy Fun Ball (Roseanne Barr)
America’s Most Wanted (Michael J. Fox)
Musicians For Free-Range Chickens (Steven Seagal)
Wayne’s World (Delta Burke)
The Carsenio Show (George Wendt)
Hoowee, 20 sketches. A new record, and by a decent margin too! Would that make 90-91 the best season up to this point? It’s definitely in the range, though I’d suggest Stooge is maybe a little more liberal with his grading here. Then again, Bad Idea Jeans isn’t on this list, so it might be a wash.
As a companion piece to Carson’s list, here’s an Honorable Mentions list compiled of all the sketches I rated four-and-a-half stars this season:
Monologue (Kyle MacLachlan)
Bad Idea Jeans (Kyle MacLachlan)
Sprockets (Kyle MacLachlan)
Monologue (Susan Lucci)
Game Breakers (Susan Lucci)
Attack Of The Colossal Killer Lincoln (George Steinbrenner)
Ultra Slim-Fast (George Steinbrenner)
Ghost (Patrick Swayze)
Super Feud (Patrick Swayze)
Church Chat (John Goodman)
Wayne’s World (John Goodman)
Subliminal Report (Tom Hanks)
Hello New York (Joe Mantegna)
Wayne’s World (Sting)
The Dark Side With Nat X (Kevin Bacon)
Metrocard (Roseanne Barr)
Misery II (Roseanne Barr)
The Sinead O’Connor Awards (Alec Baldwin)
Monologue (Michael J. Fox)
Burger Barn Drive Thru (George Wendt)
Hot damn, between this and Carson’s list, this is one hell of a season.
Here are the average ratings for Season 16:
*may not represent review’s perception*
1601: 8.0 (Kyle McLachlan)
1602: 7.2 (Susan Lucci)
1603: 6.8 (George Steinbrenner)
1604: 7.8 (Patrick Swayze)
1605: 6.2 (Jimmy Smits)
1606: 6.4 (Dennis Hopper)
1607: 7.6 (John Goodman)
1608: 8.4 (Tom Hanks)
1609: 6.6 (Dennis Quaid)
1610: 7.5 (Joe Mantegna)
1611: 7.2 (Sting)
1612: 6.8 (Kevin Bacon)
1613: 7.2 (Roseanne Barr)
1614: 6.8 (Alec Baldwin)
1615: 6.2 (Michael J. Fox)
1616: 6.7 (Jeremy Irons)
1617: 6.6 (Catherine O’Hara)
1618: 4.9 (Steven Seagal)
1619: 6.2 (Delta Burke)
1620: 7.5 (George Wendt)
Best Episode: 1608 (Tom Hanks)- 8.4
Worst Episode: 1618 (Steven Seagal)- 4.9
Season Average: 6.9
I’m curious what Vax Novier’s list of average ratings would look like if it was ranked from best episode to worst, so I’ll do it below:
1608: 8.4 (Tom Hanks)
1601: 8.0 (Kyle MacLachlan)
1604: 7.8 (Patrick Swayze)
1607: 7.6 (John Goodman)
1610: 7.5 (Joe Mantegna)
1620: 7.5 (George Wendt)
1602: 7.2 (Susan Lucci)
1611: 7.2 (Sting)
1613: 7.2 (Roseanne Barr)
1603: 6.8 (George Steinbrenner)
1612: 6.8 (Kevin Bacon)
1614: 6.8 (Alec Baldwin)
1616: 6.7 (Jeremy Irons)
1609: 6.6 (Dennis Quaid)
1617: 6.6 (Catherine O’Hara)
1606: 6.4 (Dennis Hopper)
1605: 6.2 (Jimmy Smits)
1615: 6.2 (Michael J. Fox)
1619: 6.2 (Delta Burke)
1618: 4.9 (Steven Seagal)
For fun, here are this season’s episodes ranked from best to worst based on the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” that I wrote in my reviews:
Tom Hanks
Patrick Swayze
Kyle MacLachlan
Joe Mantegna
Roseanne Barr
George Wendt
Susan Lucci
John Goodman
Sting
Kevin Bacon
Jeremy Irons
Alec Baldwin
George Steinbrenner
Catherine O’Hara
Dennis Quaid
Dennis Hopper
Jimmy Smits
Delta Burke
Michael J. Fox
Steven Seagal
Wow, even Jan and Victoria were hugging and holding hands in these goodnights!
After getting the urge to see Carsenio tonight, I ended up watching the whole thing. One thing I realized as everyone said goodbye to Dennis at the end: he was not just the longest-running WU anchor up to that time, he was the longest-tenured castmember ever. No one had ever been on SNL for 6 whole years up to that time, unless you count Al Franken… and he had only technically been credited as a castmember/featured player for a total of 5.5 seasons up to that point (according to “Saturday Net”)
Just a thought: had the Steven Seagal episode been significantly better (at least on par with the rest of the episodes of the season), would S16 be on par or even surpass S15? I know the Quincy Jones episode from the previous year was a letdown, but it was definitely a classic compared to Seagal’s show
I always enjoy Dennis Miller’s updates even during the latter years when it was clearly on the decline. I rank him in the top 3 all time WU anchors but I dunno, by 1991 his “smug, too-cool-for-the-room wiseass” persona was pretty played out. People were getting tired of getting more of the same as evidenced by some pretty harsh boos from the audience this season. I think he should’ve left at the end of the previous season. Does anyone agree?
About Jan, is she perhaps the largest example of “someone well loved by SNL fans, who would rank her as one of the top cast members, yet perhaps not well known at all by the general public”?
I would say she’s the quintessential answer, yes. Though I’m younger, and it’s really sad how few of my friends know Phil Hartman outside of maybe being “that guy from the Simpsons”.
“It’s sad how few of my friends know Phil Hartman outside of maybe ‘that guy from the Simpsons’.”
That’s something I was guilty of at one point. I remember when I first watched “The Best of Chris Farley” DVD (the original version released by Trimark that had unskippable previews) and immediately thinking “Holy shit, it’s Troy McClure!” when they mentioned Phil’s “best-of” special during the promo for other SNL DVDs.
Now that I’m more familiar with his SNL work, I now look at him as “the guy who helped save SNL” whenever they show a Simpsons episode that features his voice.
Jan would certainly be one of the first to come to mind, especially since it felt to me like she wasn’t that well-remembered for a number of years until she passed away. There are some others, but they are probably more niche (like Danitra Vance) or are in the more modern era where even if you aren’t a name, you get a ton of regular work and recognition (Nasim Pedrad, Vanessa Bayer, Will Forte, etc.).
In more recent years, Kattan would be one of the biggest I can think of in terms of SNL popularity vs post SNL popularity.
Graffi was a great parody of children’s singer Raffi who sort of tried (unsuccessfully) to move towards a more adult audience (not in the vein we see in this sketch lol) in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Loved that sketch.
Stooge,
Imagine that Hooks hosted the Christmas episode of 2002, with musical guest Robyn, instead of Al Gore. Do you think so?
SNL Fan, please stop your habit of repeating the same posts. Anyway, to answer your question, I would’ve welcomed Jan Hooks hosting at any time, though I’m not sure why you picked it to be in place of the Al Gore episode, considering that Gore episode is solid and one of the highlights of the mediocre season 28. I’d rather a Hooks-hosted episode be in place of a weaker, more expendable episode.
Season 16 is tied with Season 14 for my favourite overall season, especially so if you just act like the Steven Seagal sketches never happened, are non-canon, etc. most of the 1986-90 Renaissance Era cast is still there, minus Lovitz and Dunn, and it has the same depth of writing, characterization, intelligence, etc. that these seasons have, only now the palette has expanded vastly, and is notably more chaotic thanks to the inclusion of Sandler, Farley and the other Bad Boys. There’s never been another SNL season like this one and there never will be. Just a perfect, special, fleeting moment in time.
You see in the goodnights an emotional Miller too. He was burned out but you still see the love he felt for them all. There is a big difference between him and Chase who thought he was so much better than the those he worked with. I think this is also what made Miller better. Not that Chase was bad. He wasn’t but I think that is what gave Miller the edge in my book.
To think somewhere in the studio audience a 16 year old Jason Sudeikis is watching this live.
Depth Perception Man is another one of those deals where the premise is kinda stupid and they also didn’t come up with enough jokes to support it. Wonder why they bothered. But Chicago native George Wendt in Superfans was genius. And a classic. Pretty average final news cast from Dennis Miller.
I like Carsenio better than Danas Carson impression. His Carson impression isn’t particularly funny. He just repeats “wild wild stuff” and thinks its entertainment. The Carsenio sketches usually have humor. The drive-thru sketch is funny because its real and relatable. Which is odd because almost all SNL sketches are some sort of weird fantasy setup. The Do-Wop sketch would have been better with Phil. He’s a good singer. And he’s great at playing angry. Still find Pat annoying.
This was a solid episode and strong season for Dennis Miller to end on. At this point he had been the longest running cast member. He was there was Lorne had to come in and fix a broken show and stayed long enough to see some fantastic people come in and make their mark. Also it was smart to put a stand up comedian on the job. He contributed a lot. He and Jan leaving signal the end of a special era. Debatably the best era. I’m glad the last sketch of the night wasn’t garbage, as it often is, and I’m glad Jan got to participate in it. Once again Victoria dressed up for the good nights.
Season 16 was great and saw the addition of some world class talent. Most of these people would later be called legendary. Though knowing what happens to Hartman and Farley makes me a little sad. On the other hand, knowing the outrageous success the new guys will see makes me happy. The only low point was Steven Seagal and DAMN, that is like the lowest of the low points. His whole episode was not terrible, but each of his sketches were the worst ever. Also I agree with some posters here that having such a strong cast and good writing helped save the show and cement it for decades to come. Season 11 was so terrible it almost died entirely.