Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
HOOTIE’S MILLION MAN MARCH
Darius Rucker (TIM) sings “Hold My Hand” variant at D.C. frat boy march
— I love Darrell-as-Peter-Jennings’ pronunciation of the name “Hootie”.
— Pretty funny premise of Hootie holding a Million Man March.
— Our very first instance of Will’s knack for nailing the role of an idiotic fratboy.
— A good little laugh from Nancy’s “Get your hand off my ass” aside.
— I’m liking Tim as Darius Rucker.
— Did the recently-fired Adam Sandler write this song that Tim’s Darius Rucker is singing? The non-sequitur rhyming lyrics feel like something straight out of a Sandler Weekend Update guitar song.
— Wow, in every episode this season so far, Tim got to say “Live from New York…”. The perks of being one of the few seniors in a mostly-new cast. I love the screentime and attention that Tim’s been getting this season. He certainly deserves it, after spending his first five seasons being underappreciated, overshadowed, and underused.
— I like the way the off-camera SNL Band seamlessly segued from playing music for the Darius Rucker song to playing the SNL theme music after Tim’s “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host & Lisa Kudrow, Gary Coleman, Barry Williams, Jimmie Walker [real]
— Nice infectious energy from Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston joining David Schwimmer in his singing of the Friends theme song. Reminds me of Kirstie Alley’s season 17 monologue.
— I love how comically out-of-hand this is getting with stars from unrelated older sitcoms singing their theme songs.
— Ha, Jimmie Walker is butchering the lyrics to his own show’s theme song.
— Very fun monologue overall.
STARS: ****
GRAYSON MOORHEAD SECURITIES
Grayson Moorhead Securities founder (JID) tells his investing philosophy
— This two-part Grayson Moorhead commercial tonight has always been among my favorite SNL commercials of all time.
— Jim Downey’s lines are absolutely priceless, made all the more funny by his trademark dry, soft-spoken delivery.
— Even the black-and-white soft focus used for this commercial is somehow adding to the comedy.
STARS: *****
KIDS VS. GROWNUPS
game show questions are biased toward the adults
— There’s the character name Dale Butterworth, an obvious sign that this is an Andy Breckman-written sketch.
— The clitoris question is hilarious.
— I like Mark proudly answering “Yes” when asked if he’s an expert on premature ejaculation.
— Pretty funny premise and good execution of it, even if it’s far from my favorite gameshow sketch that Andy Breckman has written.
— I love how the prize the adults win is a bunny and a pot to cook it in.
STARS: ***½
GRAYSON MOORHEAD SECURITIES
more common-sense Grayson Moorhead Securities company guidelines
— Downey’s always great at starring in two-part commercials, much like the First Citiwide Change Bank series of commercials from the late 80s.
— Love the bit about what to do if Downey’s wife calls while he’s shagging his secretary.
STARS: *****
FRONT PORCH
Rita Delvecchio (CHO) confiscates kids’ items that land on her porch
— The debut of a Cheri Oteri staple.
— The show continues to push Cheri as the breakout star of the new cast.
— Pretty solid character work from Cheri, and I like the conversations she’s having with off-camera friends. This is a character monologue-type piece that Cheri most likely brought with her from the Groundlings.
— A famous unscripted moment where, when noticing her dress is accidentally caught on the hockey net, Cheri ad-libs “Look at this shit.” I’m guessing she temporarily forgot she’s on live TV and not onstage at the Groundlings, considering how new she is on SNL at this point. The audience has a pretty amusing delayed reaction to this s-bomb incident.
— Right after the s-bomb, you can kinda tell that Cheri realized her gaffe, but she’s doing a great job staying completely in character and not letting it affect her performance at all.
— Ending was a little weak.
STARS: ***
FUZZY MEMORIES BY JACK HANDEY
a seemingly turkeyless Thanksgiving
ELEVATOR
actions of fellow elevator passengers make (host) feel uncomfortable
— I’m enjoying the gradual buildup to this.
— For some reason, I like Schwimmer’s wordy, fast-paced “You’re standing on top of me, why?” rant to Jim and Tim.
— I’m absolutely loving the increasing absurdity of each passenger’s elevator-standing technique.
— New SNL writer and future cast member Colin Quinn makes his very first SNL appearance, playing a non-speaking bit part.
— Overall, though I don’t think this is a particularly well-remembered sketch among SNL fans, I’ve personally always loved this. Just an original, silly, well-done, timeless piece that hits the right spot for me. This is another sketch that shows how vastly different and refreshing the writing style of this season is compared to the preceding season, as I cannot picture this sketch ever appearing in season 20.
STARS: ****½
WEEKEND UPDATE
to re-enact the time he got beat up in a bar, JMB hits himself
Cleveland Indians fan (WIF) pretends to be an upset Native American
— After opening Norm’s previous two Updates this season with the theme songs of then-current NBC shows, tonight’s Update opens with generic music that would go on to be the regular theme music for Norm’s Updates. It’s the same theme music that was previously used for two superhero sketches from the late 80s/early 90s years: Drunk Man with Dana Carvey, and Young Superboy with Macaulay Culkin.
— Nice to see Jim finally getting his very first comedic showcase. (The Braveheart thing from the preceding episode mostly just had Jim playing straight man to Chevy.)
— Some pretty solid physical comedy from Jim beating himself up while re-enacting a bar fight.
— Will’s commentary is pretty funny, especially him saying the Cleveland Indians’ logo is the great Chief Wahoo.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Wonder”
SURPRISE PARTY DISCOVERIES
(DAH)’s friends discover his secrets while setting up his surprise party
— I’m getting some really good laughs from all the embarrassing things Darrell’s friends are finding in his apartment, especially the Urkel letter.
— Feels weird in retrospect to see Darrell in such a big role where he’s NOT doing a celebrity impression, a sight that would become more and more of a huge rarity as his tenure progresses. With this being one of Darrell’s earliest episodes, I guess SNL hadn’t decided yet that they were going to relegate him to just doing impressions.
— I love Tim’s delivery of “We read the letter to Urkel, man. WE READ THE LETTER TO URKEL.”
— Funny ending with Darrell dancing to the song Gloria with his blow-up doll of Nancy.
STARS: ****
SPADE IN AMERICA
Jennifer Aniston [real] objects to anti-Friends remarks
— Hey, Spade In America has a new set. It looks great, especially the spade symbols on the background wall.
— Nice change of pace having Jennifer Aniston join Spade this time.
— Our first time seeing Spade do a Hollywood Minute in a year-and-a-half.
— Great dig from Jennifer, insinuating that Spade can’t relate to being on a show that’s really funny, gets great ratings, and is loved by the critics.
— Another great dig from Jennifer to Spade, telling him “You should’ve left with Farley and Sandler.”
— Overall, an enjoyable, fun piece, and the first good Spade In America. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that Spade In America has finally taken off after they gave the segment a new set.
STARS: ***½
SUCH A PRETTY FACE
slim Shannon (NAW) is insensitively rude to plus size clothing customers
— IIRC, this is one of the first sketches (if not THE first) penned by new SNL writer Paula Pell.
— I want to like this sketch, especially since it’s one of SNL’s earliest Nancy Walls showcases, but it feels really dead so far.
— Nancy’s conversation with Mark’s character kinda has a chuckle or two, but maybe I’m just desperate for laughs by this point of the sketch.
— That’s it? The sketch is over? This felt like it was missing a punchline or some kind of satisfying comeuppance for Nancy’s rude character.
— Overall, this sketch just didn’t work. Nancy herself was fine, but almost nothing in the sketch landed and the script felt incomplete. This is the first thing all season that I’m giving a rating lower than two stars to, which at least shows how well this season has been going so far. (Season 20, on the other hand, couldn’t even make it past the season premiere without getting multiple one or one-and-a-half-star ratings from me.)
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Carnival”
TRIUMPH PERFORMERS
performers remain in showbiz despite severe disabilities
— Wow, two consecutive sketches starring Nancy Walls. I certainly hope she gets better material this time.
— I love Will revealing his paralyzation was caused by getting drunk and breaking into the zoo, looking for rough sex.
— Some nice little laughs from Will’s facial mime act.
— Koechner’s voice-boxed voice is slaying me.
— I love how Koechner’s ventriloquist dummy has a voice box as well.
— Good makeup on a face-burned Darrell.
— Interesting way to work in Darrell being an impressionist. However, since the joke of both Will and Koechner’s bits was how their life-changing injury limits their respective comedy act, I don’t get how Darrell’s burned face is supposed to hinder his impression skills. Is it because people would be too distracted by his burn scars to pay attention to his impression voices? If so, that joke doesn’t quite work.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
CHO puts money in the swear jar for saying “shit” earlier in the show
— Great off-the-cuff moment with Cheri having to put money in a swear jar for her s-bomb earlier tonight. This goodnights moment feels kinda like a throwback to how spontaneous the original SNL era was whenever something went wrong, such as when the cast decided to wear a band-aid on their foreheads after Buck Henry accidentally got cut in the forehead during a Samurai sketch, or when SNL used the goodnights to re-do a botched bit earlier in the episode where Chevy Chase was supposed to get hit in the face with a pie.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode with a very fun atmosphere. I enjoyed almost every single thing tonight (Such A Pretty Face was the only lowlight for me), and there were a few pieces I found particularly strong (Grayson Moorhead Securities, Elevator). Even Spade In America finally took off after a forgettable first two installments. This episode gives me continued confidence in this new SNL era.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chevy Chase)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Gabriel Byrne
Love the Grayson Moorhead commercials. Was it Dean Witter that they were spoofing? I can’t quite recall all these years later.
The Party Discoveries sketch is the first one that comes to mind when I try to think of Darrell Hammond playing a character instead of doing an impression. There certainly wouldn’t be a great deal from which to choose.
Yep, Dean Witter. These spoofs were dead-on, down to the little details, and I loved them. I still catch myself saying “that would be bad…as bad as losing the list” to this day.
I remember hating the Rita Delvecchio character at the time, but I see what they were trying to do with the overall show–there’s a nice mix of conceptual stuff, outright silliness, and character-driven material in this episode that even if you didn’t like one thing, you’d probably find something else to like more pretty soon.
The “Slim Shannon” sketch made me think of a lot of bad modern sketches in which the “joke” is apparently that a character (usually a woman) is a complete jerk for 5 minutes…and that’s that. A number of Wiig sketches fall in this vein as well as a lot of sketches whenever Melissa McCarthy hosts.
I’ve never seen the “Fuzzy Memories” stuff–for those who haven’t, are they basically like a live-action Deep Thoughts?
They are, although they (at least the ones I’ve watched so far) seem to have a retro presentation style, sort of like what you might’ve had in A Christmas Story, whereas Deep Thoughts never had a set time period.
I have few memories of these, but the one in this episode I did remember, as I thought it made wonderful use of a visual format instead of just having a joke with an added picture.
This has got to be one of the more underrated episodes of all time. I’ve always loved it.
This is a pretty good episode. I love the Elevator sketch. I also like Cheri’s Rita character. The Surprise Party sketch is also pretty good, and I like the novelty of seeing Darrell play just a normal character instead of an impression. Triumph Performers is also pretty interesting, I *guess* the point of Darrell’s character is that because of his face he doesn’t look like the celebrities he’s impersonating…? I guess…? Either way it’s kind of an awkward part that doesn’t land of an otherwise good sketch. Also nice to see Jim finally get something to do.
Also nice to see Spade in America be somewhat entertaining tonight. Overall, I’m not really a fan of the segments, but this one was OK. I am always still baffled that they kept David Spade to ease the transition to the new cast and have some “continuity”…and then they have Spade do ONLY these segments and not interact at all with the new cast. …? It really made no sense.
Stooge, any reason you’re not giving any kind of commentary to the “Fuzzy Memories” sketches?
“Stooge, any reason you’re not giving any kind of commentary to the “Fuzzy Memories” sketches?”
Same reason I didn’t give any commentary to Deep Thoughts. The segments are just quick, funny gags that I don’t feel warrant a review. Sure, the Fuzzy Memories segments are a little longer than a typical Deep Thoughts, but I wouldn’t have anything to say about them besides “Funny punchline”.
Got it. Thanks.
Paul Pell doesn’t seem to hit her stride as a writer until the early mid 2000s. Honestly she wrote a lot of hacky stuff early in her run. Well depending on what you think of the Cheerleaders I guess.
*Paula
Back then, it didn’t make sense to me that Spade was the “bad boy” they kept for Season 21, but now that I think about it, Farley couldn’t reliably come up with a new bit each week and Sandler probably couldn’t come up with a new song every week. However, Lorne knew Spade could probably dash off a quick bit each week during the ride from the airport to 30 Rock …
Oh shit, Mary Katherine Gallagher makes her first appearance in the next episode. I’ve never found her funny in the slightest.
MKG was a Molly and Steve Koren collab I believe, right?
Thanks for the warning. I’ve been enjoying these episodes so far – I’m sure I still will, but the lack of MKG, Cheerleaders, or Kattan has helped a great deal.
Yoshiko Hirashige joins the band tonight as the new regular guitarist. I don’t know why Jane Getter lasted only two shows.
Sadly, I don’t think that Yoshiko fit into the band. Jane was probably only going to be there for a short time.
The monologue in this episode has a great infectious spirit – such a great antidote to some of the sneering and putdowns that the sitcoms of this era (and since then) bathed in. I felt a bit sorry for Lisa Kudrow when Jennifer Aniston got more applause, but at least Lisa gets to host in a season. Lisa and Jennifer also seemed somewhat uncomfortable being on the stage in the middle of the big cheesy singalong (Barry Williams standing awkward and alone on the stage at the goodnights also kind of stood out…). Anyway, Aniston’s appearance with Spade was great – a strong use of her comic style. She had a better showing than David Schwimmer did.
Speaking of Schwimmer, I think they were wise to mostly use him as a straight man outside of the game show sketch. I thought he was great in that sketch, and the heel role – he should have tried more of those in his career. The sketch itself gave me real Dick Ebersol era vibes (I know Breckman wrote sketches in that era), with the silly-but-dark tone and the heavy use of child actors. A number of sketches in this episode (the elevator, the surprise party gone wrong) have that feel. It’s refreshing compared to what we’ve just had, and I wish it had lasted. The elevator sketch in particular is, aside from the gay joke that made me roll my eyes, perfect.
When I saw that they mentioned D&D in a negative way in the surprise party sketch, I thought of those fans who insisted last spring they were done with the show over the D&D/larping sketch and how SNL never would have made fun of D&D before. Oops.
I am very fond of Nancy Walls, but the clothing store sketch makes me see why she suffered in comparison to Molly and Cheri. She has a very spiky, nervous energy as a performer – both traits these ladies have in abundance, and were a little better at harnessing. Ana was more of a contrast to them. With that said, I still would have kept Nancy and instead gotten rid of Kattan, or maybe Jim (speaking of Jim, I admire how he just straight up did a standup routine on Update with zero attempt at changing things up [it was fun though]).
The “I keep it!” Cheri character in her version of “get off the shed!” but it’s another solo character of Cheri’s that I mostly enjoy. Watching this for the first time in a good long while I realize that, other than Jane Curtin’s season 5 run as Iris de Flaminio (and the many appearances of Gilda’s Roseanne Rosannadana of course), this was the first time we got such a loud, abrasive and unapologetic female recurring character, very much paving the way for what we’d get in later years with Wiig, Maya, Amy, among others.
I don’t think Spade ever appeared in the goodnights for any of his s21 appearances -in retrospect, his segments could have all been easily pre-taped (and if he were a regular on the show now, probably would be.) I know Norm almost never appears in the goodnights in this era – the one from s20 where Bob Newhart signs his “Button-Down Mind” album is the only one that comes to mind offhand.
Norm did briefly appear in the goodnights later in the Farley episode, but then quickly exits stage left.
Paula talks about the clothing store sketch here, along with the studio audience reaction.
https://afterellen.com/tv/200644-paula-pell-on-being-out-in-the-snl-writers-room-and-her-new-web-series
Here’s my review of the musical performances
Wonder
— Pretty rockin guitar solo to begin the tune. Not what I was expecting for Natalie.
— Her guitarist looks like Liz Phair, and she’s really stealing the spotlight here. She’s basically soloing continually throughout the song. I’m not complaining one bit, it’s actually a pretty novel tactic to have dual lead vocals and lead guitar at the same time. Natalie’s voice isn’t exactly intricate, so having an instrument solo as she sings works a lot better than it would with some other vocalists. It’s almost as if her vocals are the canvas for the guitar soloing, which is an interesting and creative choice.
— Nice energy from Natalie here. I like the cute little sway she’s doing between lyrics.
— Real solid song, performed by Natalie and her band with confidence and enthusiasm.
STARS: ****
Carnival
— More great work from the lady guitarist to start the song.
— Different look for Natalie on this one, matching the more somber musical vibe of this song.
— Wow, great guitar solo during the instrumental break! Geez this gal is really on fire.
— Typical, workmanlike Natalie Merchant-y job on the vocals. I don’t mind her vocals but again it was a real smart decision to emphasize the explosive guitarist.
STARS: ***1/2
Cheri and Molly were supposed to have a commentary here. No idea why Lorne is there too.
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/144754741/photo/saturday-night-live-season-21.jpg?s=2048×2048&w=gi&k=20&c=NZhFyFYCiL8mVNlkFmH8mzjf-eIvzUE9Obh8mCCcObE=
That Weekend Update segment ended up in the show a week later in the Gabriel Byrne episode
As mentioned above, you spend such a long time seeing Darrell Hammond as Clinton/Gore/Cheney/Trump etc. that it is downright jarring to see him NOT playing a celebrity in a sketch.
I watched this show live in my freshman dorm with my friends, and the Grayson Moorhead ads struck us as particularly funny. For weeks afterwards if someone mentioned something catastrophic (bad term paper grade, breakup, etc), it would be met with “That is almost as bad as losing the list.”