November 8, 2019 – The 'One SNL a Day' Project

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
Bob Dole (NOM) is willing to change to beat Bill Clinton

— SNL has gotten a lot of good mileage this season out of Darrell’s Ted Koppel impression.
— This feels like the first time we’ve seen Darrell’s Clinton impression in quite a long while. Hell, I think his last appearance was way back in December when he did his “The American President” review on Weekend Update.
— Very funny announcement from Darrell’s Clinton that he’s resigning from the presidency so he can focus on his presidential campaign.
— Another hilarious announcement from Darrell’s Clinton, that he’s now divorcing his wife.
— I like Norm-as-Dole’s bad, outlandish attempts to one-up Clinton’s big announcement, especially him announcing he’ll be converted into a beam of energy, which is made even funnier by Darrell’s Koppel asking him to go into details of how that can be possible.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
to please an audience member, host reverts to his popular catchphrases

— This monologue is already starting off funny and unique with Carrey’s echo-ish, alien-esque announcement to the audience.
— A particularly funny line during Carrey’s above-mentioned announcement to the audience: “Talking out of one’s buttcrack is a sign of one’s personal confidence.”
— Carrey’s even managing to make his “movie catchphrase quotes” bit with Adam McKay funny.
— I love Carrey throwing in some Fire Marshall Bill at the end.
STARS: ***½

WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
Craig & Arianna welcome an exchange student (host) to their squad

— I like the opening foreign dialect bit between Carrey and Mark.
— Carrey is adding a lot of fun life to this overused recurring sketch.
— Arianna: “He’s foreign. That means he has an accent and is kinda stinky.”
— I like the turn with Carrey being exposed as taking performance enhancing pills.
— I’ve always loved the “I Like Big Butts” number the Cheerleaders do at the end. Probably my single favorite moment from any Cheerleaders sketch.
STARS: ***½

THE ROXBURY GUYS
(host) & fellow Roxbury Guys work their moves in non-traditional venues

— After the first Roxbury Guys sketch from earlier this season used a song I didn’t recognize, tonight’s installment opens with the very catchy “What Is Love” song making its very first Roxbury Guys appearance, thus kicking off what ends up being THE definitive Roxbury Guys installment.
— Koechner, in what ends up being his final SNL episode, makes his ONLY appearance of the night in a silent bit role as a bartender who mostly stands in the background and then VERY briefly appears in front of the camera when ushering the Roxbury Guys out of the club after they start getting out of control (screencap below).

This appearance from Koechner is very easy to miss when watching the sketch, which is what led to the common misconception that he doesn’t appear in his final episode. Still, even though he does appear, this is a VERY sad way for him to go out, especially for someone who added a lot to this season and had such a strong first year.
— I love how this Roxbury Guys sketch is going much further than the embryonic version of this sketch that appeared earlier this season. So many things are fun and infectious about this sketch: the music, the head-bopping, the various changes of scenery, the brief car scenes interspersed throughout the sketch, etc.
— Very funny turn with the music in the car temporarily stopping when there’s dust on the CD.
— This sketch is getting funnier and funnier, with the Roxbury Guys now trying to pick up ladies at a retirement home.
— Great ending to this all-time classic sketch with Carrey proudly holding up his elderly date’s dentures as a “souvenir”.
STARS: *****

JACUZZI LIFEGUARD
an overprotective lifeguard (host) monitors jacuzzi-goer (WIF) closely

— A perfectly Jim Carrey-esque premise that I can’t picture anybody but him selling.
— Loved Carrey’s throwaway line about a “bloated carcass stuck in the filter”.
— A lot of laughs from how seriously Carrey’s character takes his job, even needlessly using binoculars and a bullhorn towards Will when he’s right in front of him.
— Carrey is killing in me this sketch.
— A great increased absurdity with Tim now coming in to briefly do laps in a divided part of the jacuzzi.
— I’ve always used this sketch as a prime example of what a great straight man Will always makes, and how underrated he is in that role. I especially love his exasperated “I’M OKAY! I AM OKAY!” response after receiving CPR from Carrey.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE

— Norm is on fire tonight with a lot of great jokes so far.
— Ha, we get ANOTHER O.J. joke a few minutes after we already got one.
— Wow, no guest commentaries at all in tonight’s overall Update. I’m glad, though, because not only did that mean we got an entire uninterrupted Update of pure Norm jokes, but I feel this is one of Norm’s strongest Updates of all time. A nice rebound after a string of good-but-not-great Updates in the last few preceding episodes.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— A great Roxbury Guys-themed intro to the musical guest.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pretty Noose”

I’LL SEE YOU IN HELL
(host) says “I’ll see you in Hell” so much, the phrase loses its impact

— I love Carrey’s first outburst of “I’LL SEE YOU IN HELL!”, even though I’m aware of where this sketch is going.
— Yep, Carrey’s endless repetition of “I’ll see you in hell” is losing its humor in theory, but Carrey is so damn funny that I’m still finding myself laughing at it.
— I got a laugh from Will starting to tell Carrey “Okay, that worked for you once…”
— Okay, this sketch is starting to work less and less for me. Oh, well; I guess even a classic episode like tonight’s needed one subpar sketch.
— This is winning me back over with Carrey’s sudden heart attack.
— I love the screen card saying “78,043,721,902 years later”.
— Good ending.
STARS: **½

SPADE IN AMERICA
DAS looks back at some of his Hollywood Minutes

— Well, this is it. The last hurrah of David Spade.
— I love the idea of Spade doing a “year in review” of this season’s cast.
— I particularly like Spade’s harsh-but-funny quote for Mark’s picture: “Hi, I’ve been in 40 sketches this season, name one.”
— As soon as Spade brings up Tim, the audience actually applauds. I love that. It shows what an effective year Tim has had and how he’s finally become known to the audience as a reliable veteran in a mostly unfamiliar cast.
— For some reason, Jim is the only new cast member this season who Spade didn’t comment on here.
— I love that we’re now getting a montage of Spade’s best Hollywood Minute moments from over the years. This montage is actually kinda touching in a way. A good way for Spade to go out.
STARS: ***½

THE JOE PESCI SHOW
Jimmy Stewart (host) & Jim Carrey (MAM)

— Carrey is priceless as an old, decrepit Jimmy Stewart.
— While I sometimes find SNL’s “cast member does an impression of a celebrity in front of the real celebrity” trope to be corny, I am often a sucker for the specific trope of “cast member does an impression of a celebrity while the real celebrity does an impression of another celebrity” (e.g. Mike Myers as Mick Jagger alongside Mick Jagger as Keith Richards), like we’re seeing here between Carrey and Mark.
— Carrey’s Jimmy Stewart to Mark’s Jim Carrey: “Smoke a lot of dope, do ya, son?”
— Some great self-deprecating humor with Carrey’s Stewart doing an unflattering Jim Carrey impression (e.g. “I need attention 24 hours a day! Look at me!”).
— I love Carrey’s Stewart telling off Breuer’s Pesci, then saying in regards to a bat “I wonder what it would look like… BURIED IN YOUR ASS!”, and then proceeding to beat the living daylights out of Pesci with the bat. The way this sketch is ending almost feels like this should’ve been the final Joe Pesci Show sketch.
— Overall, this has always been my favorite Joe Pesci Show installment.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Burden In My Hand”

JIMMY TANGO’S FAT BUSTERS
heat beads & crystal meth remove pounds

— Yet another perfectly Jim Carrey-esque premise, even if this sketch was originally intended for an earlier season, from what I heard.
— Great line from Carrey about how when he closes his eyes, all he sees are spiders and snails.
— I said it earlier in this review, and I’ll say it again: Carrey is freakin’ killing me in this sketch.
— I love the whispery “Ride the Snake” voice-over.
— Nancy’s cheerful delivery of the side effects she suffers is funny, especially her line “I cry in my sleep and I burn symbols into my housepets with a curling iron!” I’m glad Nancy’s getting some laughs in what unfortunately ends up being her final SNL appearance as a cast member.
— Much like Carrey, Will is playing a perfectly Will Ferrell-esque insane character. In my eyes, you can never go wrong with a batshit crazy Will Ferrell performance like we’re seeing here.
— All throughout this episode, it’s been fascinating seeing Carrey and Will interacting with each other, considering Carrey’s comedy star status at the time and the big comedy star Will himself would later go on to be known as. And it’s particularly fascinating seeing their interaction in this sketch. I love the face-off between them, and Will’s head suddenly bleeding is HILARIOUSLY insane.
— Overall, not only one of the best 10-to-1 sketches in SNL history, but one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time. I could not have asked for a better way for this season to end.
STARS: *****

GOODNIGHTS
host announces stage manager Joe Dicso’s [real] retirement

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— And thus ends one of my favorite SNL episodes of all time. In fact, this seems to be a favorite episode among many SNL fans, and it’s easy to see why. Between the very memorable sketches that dominated the night, some of this era’s biggest recurring sketches each having one of their best installments ever (especially The Roxbury Guys), and comedy superstar Jim Carrey bringing down the house with his trademark comedic style and expert sketch comedy experience, this episode is a true keeper. An outstanding way to end the season.
— Season 21 as a whole was the big turnaround that SNL desperately needed after the notorious season 20. This season delivered a solid new cast and a refreshing new writing style, all of which resulted in an overall enjoyable year that got better and better as it progressed, culminating in a strong final three months in which there was only one episode that I feel didn’t qualify as above average (Christine Baranski). Even this season’s heavy overuse of certain popular recurring characters (Cheerleaders, Mary Katherine Gallagher, The Fops) was understandable, as that was just part of what SNL needed to regain their relevancy and popularity after losing all of it in season 20. My favorite aspect of this season is the way it embraced weird sketches that contained creative, absurdist humor; stuff like Wake Up And Smile, Bill Brasky, Hi-C & Turkey, etc., which are among my favorite sketches of the season, as you’ll see a little later in this review. (Unfortunately, SNL’s increased focus on absurdist humor ends up being short-lived, IIRC, as SNL moves away from it starting next season.)

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christine Baranski)
a step up

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)