Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
EL ORATOR DE MOTIVACION
Matt Foley offers bilingual motivation for two latin kids (MWB) & (JAM)
— I’ve been completely burned out on Matt Foley during his last few appearances, but at least having him do a sketch where he speaks entirely in Spanish is a change of pace, even if they are basically just doing a Spanish recreation of the very first Matt Foley sketch. According to Jay in his SNL book, David Spade was even going to play the son in this sketch, as a reprise of him playing the son in the first Foley sketch, but ended up letting Jay play the role instead, because sometime right before rehearsals of this sketch, David had a perfect opportunity to score with a hot model. Goes to show you where David’s priorities are this season (even if I can’t blame him for not passing up an opportunity with a hot model).
— Farley is noticeably cracking himself up with his clumsy attempts at some of the Spanish words.
— I do like hearing the Spanish version of “van down by the river”.
— Morwenna looks like she’s trying not to crack up at Farley right now. Jay’s been stifling his laughter throughout this sketch as well, but that’s not surprising.
— One of the positives to this sketch is that Farley has thankfully toned down the AWFUL whine he kept speaking in during the last Matt Foley sketch from the George Foreman episode.
— I absolutely love that Matt Foley delivers “Live from New York…” in Spanish. I’m always a sucker for when SNL changes up the LFNYs, and I believe this is the first time LFNY has been delivered in Spanish since Gilda Radner did it in season 5’s Strother Martin episode…. and interestingly, that episode was one of the final ones of the original era, much like how tonight’s episode is one of the final ones of the early 90s era. Both episodes were also the final April episode of their respective season.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
Bruce Springsteen (ADS) joins host on-stage for “Dancing In The Dark”
— Feels kinda odd in retrospect to hear Friends being referred to as a new show.
— Fun premise with Courteney turning the tables on Bruce Springsteen by bringing him out of the audience to join her on stage.
— Kind of a thin monologue so far, but Adam is making this really fun (for season 20 standards) with his performance.
— They’re starting to go all Lou Diamond Phillips on that repeatedly-shown clip of Clarence Clemons clapping and dancing.
STARS: ***½
GOOD MORNING BROOKLYN
unlucky (CHF) receives “beating of the week”
— Unnecessary to make this tepid sketch recurring, and I certainly don’t need any reminders of the notorious Sarah Jessica Parker episode.
— A guy in the audience noticeably says an exuberant “YEAH!” after Jay tells Courteney to shut up. Make of that what you will.
— The “Please Stand By” bit fell completely flat.
— Much like in the first installment of this sketch, Adam’s entrance gets a HUGE audience reaction.
— Molly playing a character with her own first name.
— Speaking of Molly, she seems to be playing a variation of the character that Janeane Garofalo played in the first installment of this sketch, right down to wearing a similar wig.
— While this overall sketch was still weak, there was a big energy throughout it that I kinda liked, which made this installment slightly more tolerable than the first installment.
STARS: **
GAPARDY
Gap girls Kristy, Lucy, Cindy compete on a game show
— Farley and Sandler have been dominating tonight’s episode so far.
— Wow, this is the first time we’ve seen the Gap Girls in over a year. Interesting new format for these characters tonight, putting them in a Gap-themed gameshow. This idea has potential.
— The back-and-forth debate over Courteney’s eye color is going on way too long.
— Boy, what’s with Farley’s sloppily-applied blush makeup?
— Speaking of sloppy, the execution of this sketch feels sloppy (Farley even completely blanks on one of his lines at one point), though the sketch is still providing some laughs here and there.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Would You Say”
WEEKEND UPDATE
eccentric English teacher Louise Ingstrom (MOS) punctuates her commentary
— A lot of Norm’s jokes are getting a really strong audience reaction.
— Molly with her very first big character piece during her SNL tenure.
— Interesting format to Molly’s commentary with her verbalizing the punctuation of her sentences.
— Solid performance from Molly, which feels like an early glimpse of the type of performances we would regularly see from her in the upcoming new SNL era.
— An overall short but fantastic Weekend Update, helped even more by the very lively audience.
STARS: ****½
RIDE HOME
(CSE) takes advantage of teenage babysitter Melanie (MAM) in a car
— Hoo, boy. Here comes a fairly notorious sketch from this season that I’m sure will be uncomfortable to review.
— Another Kids In The Hall character that Mark is bringing to SNL. Interesting how every KITH character he’s brought to SNL so far (Darrill and Melanie) has been paired with Chris Elliott.
— My god, the skeeviness of this sketch is indeed uncomfortable. And most importantly, it’s not funny. As off-putting and disgusting as the subject matter of this sketch is, there can be a way to possibly pull it off. The controversial Canteen Boy/Scoutmaster sketch, for example, where they wrote actual funny lines throughout the sketch, alleviating the skeeviness of the sketch to some degree (your mileage definitely may vary on that, as I’m well aware that there’s quite a number of people who still find that sketch too disturbing to laugh at). The Uncle Roy sketches with Buck Henry might be a better example of a morally wrong concept being pulled off well. This Elliott/McKinney sketch, on the other hand, is hard to tell if it’s even being played for laughs. It’s coming off too realistic (yes, even with Mark in drag), and not in the admirable Marilyn Suzanne Miller slice-of-life type of way. What is this sketch going for?!?
— No idea what to say about that “I’d do it again!” ending.
— Overall, a rare misfire for Elliott. Actually, this is the second episode in a row where an oddball sketch starring him surprisingly didn’t work (Cirque du Soleil being the sketch from the preceding episode). I hope he’s not in a slump, especially since we’re in the homestretch of his short-lived SNL tenure.
— I recall SNL later doing a sketch with a very similar premise in season 30 (another really bad year for SNL), with Chris Parnell in the Chris Elliott role and Lindsay Lohan in the Mark McKinney role. That sketch, from what I remember, was also uncomfortably unfunny and played too realistically, though at least in that one, the guy’s plans to have his way with the underage girl got cut short, due to his wife (played by Maya Rudolph) showing up.
STARS: *
HIRING MANSON
offhand remark leads to hiring of Charles Manson (ADS) as office manager
— Hmm, an interesting premise for this season’s standards, though we’re almost a minute into this sketch and I haven’t gotten any laughs so far.
— Adam’s Charles Manson impression is cracking me up.
— Wow, this overall sketch was fairly short.
STARS: **½
COMPANY MIXER
(TIM) keeps (KEN) on the defensive by alternating truth with “jokes”
— This sketch was originally cut from both the Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger and Martin Lawrence episodes from the preceding season. In the Martin Lawrence version, Martin played Tim’s role. I definitely can’t picture that, as it’s a low-key, laid-back role that requires no spastic gestures or mugging, whereas Martin… well, you know.
— Kevin’s sudden deadpan “Yeah, I’m gonna have you fired” made me laugh.
— Pretty funny ending regarding the urinated-in punch.
STARS: ***
REPLACEMENT BASEBALL
a documentary on the scabs’ brief careers
— Right from the start, I really like this premise. This has potential to be a much better Ken Burns documentary parody than that Civil War Memories sketch from the Roseanne episode earlier this season.
— Elliott’s testimonial is really funny.
— For some reason, I love the character name Glenn Blumm.
— A lot of funny lines from the narrator, and the black-and-white photos being shown throughout this are adding to the humor.
— Wilma Jobads is another character name that’s oddly funny to me.
— I almost didn’t even recognize Morwenna (doing a convincing American accent) at first. She looks so different in every sketch she’s in. Maybe I feel that way because in all the years I’ve watched this season, I’ve never gotten used to Morwenna, due to her very brief time as a cast member.
— An overall well-done and underrated sketch.
STARS: ****
HIS MUSE FRIDAY
(host) & poetry editor (MMK) trade verse in film noir
— A huge and refreshing change of pace for the juvenile season 20. This is the type of sketch that would’ve felt right at home in SNL’s late 80s era.
— Wow, strong writing and performances here, and all the performers are nailing the 1940s style of speaking. Michael, in particular, is really in his element here, which makes you wish he was allowed to do pieces like this more often during his SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ants Marching”
MR. COOL
aloof (DAS) becomes obnoxiously cloying after a night with (host)
— Geez, Laura is just NOW making her first appearance of the night, in the final sketch. Molly, on the other hand, has gotten tons of airtime tonight. It’s like Lorne has already decided by this point of the season which of the two female featured players he would bring back next season.
— Very interesting use of David. I like the sudden turn his character takes halfway through the sketch, especially since it forces David to actually put effort and energy into a performance for once this season. He’s doing a good job here.
— Funny gaffe with David forgetting whether to call Courteney “Gumball” or “Sunshine”.
— Pretty good sketch overall.
— I believe this sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. I don’t remember the rerun version having the “Gumball/Sunshine” gaffe, and I remember David delivering his ending line in a much more serious, dramatic way instead of the comedic, exaggerated way he delivers it in the live version.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall okay episode, though the first half was kinda weak and very recurring character-heavy. However, that half of the episode also had a consistent fun energy that I liked, which caused even the Good Morning Brooklyn sketch to not make me want to rip my hair out for once. The second half of this episode, while certainly not perfect, was a lot better, and I really appreciate how it tried a lot of out-of-the-ordinary (for season 20 standards) sketch premises.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Damon Wayans)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Bob Saget