October 17, 1998 – Lucy Lawless / Elliott Smith (S24 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NBC SPECIAL REPORT
GOP leadership is upfront about coup d’etat plans & disdain for citizenry

— The debut of Parnell’s Tom Brokaw impression.
— Right from this first appearance, Parnell’s Brokaw voice is spot-on and very funny.
— I like the voice Will’s using for Henry Hyde.
— Darrell’s Jesse Helms impression is always good for laughs.
— I like the random running bit with the republicans holding in a still, smiling pose towards the camera whenever they shake hands with each other (the fifth above screencap for this cold opening), which is a type of funny, silly gag that I find very representative and typical of this SNL era.
— The obnoxiously arrogant, gloating attitudes of the republicans is providing some good laughs here.
— Henry Hyde, on the possibility of America ever making a President Bruce Willis possible: “You’re all probably dumb enough to do it!”
— Creative use of “Live from New York…”, with the republicans hypnotizing the SNL audience and various others in the studio into saying it.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— The new theme music has been changed ONCE AGAIN. I don’t think there’s any other SNL season that’s experimented with the theme music as often as this season has been doing so far. The theme music being used tonight is the one that would soon go on to be regularly used for this opening montage, but until then, we still have a few more episodes where SNL will continue to experiment with different theme music.

MONOLOGUE
audience members’ questions of host assume that Xena is a lesbian

— Even as a newbie, Horatio is already able to get laughs from the audience without even saying a word as soon as he stands up.
— I love Horatio and his buddy (played by SNL writer Matt Piedmont) cheering and dancing like idiots after Horatio’s “We’re both into chicks!” slam at Lucy Lawless.
— I believe this is the first comedic role that Tina Fey has ever appeared in on SNL. Hard to believe this is only two years before she would start doing Weekend Update, as her voice sounds so different in the pre-cast member appearances she makes.
— Paula Pell’s whole bit is hilarious, especially her asking Lucy “Are ya feelin’ it?”
STARS: ***½

SHIRT IN A CAN
(TIM)’s emergency garment is little more than spray paint

 

— Tim’s mysterious absence in the last episode (was he out sick?) made me realize just how much I value him in this cast, as it feels exhilarating to see him return tonight.
— Tim’s eagerness throughout this commercial is really funny.
— This commercial has such a wonderfully silly concept that Tim is absolutely perfect for. I’m not sure there’s anyone else in this cast who could sell this commercial as well as Tim.
— Some funny warning disclaimers thrown in throughout this (e.g. “Not for use on genital areas”).
— I love Tim’s panicked exclamation of certain lines, such as “It’s burning my skin!” and “DAMMIT!”, the latter of which seems to be the most well-remembered part of this commercial.
STARS: ****½

JUDGE JUDY
Judith Sheindlin [real] finds for slutty clown (host)

— Ana continues to play the defendant in every single Judge Judy sketch. I can’t understand why, other than the fact that Ana is always good at playing indignant roles like this.
— Lots of rooting for the Yankees throughout tonight’s episode. (The Yankees were in a World Series game that aired during this episode.)
— I love Tracy’s reaction to Lucy doing her whore clown dance on him.
— Just now, the real Judge Judy memorably walks on and replaces Cheri’s impression.
— I like the real Judge Judy’s comments about Cheri’s “bony ass”.
— [sarcasm]Oh, what a surprise. Another Judge Judy sketch with the plaintiff “surprisingly” winning once again.[/end sarcasm]
— You’d figure that, after the real Judge Judy took over tonight’s installment, that SNL would officially retire these Judge Judy sketches. But nope. Much like how SNL foolishly kept The Joe Pesci Show sketches going for one more installment after the real Pesci and DeNiro famously appeared, SNL still does one more Judge Judy sketch, proving once again that this era doesn’t know the proper time to quit with certain recurring sketches.
STARS: ***

THE HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL SCANDAL
Andrew Johnson had sex with a bird

— Fairly funny. Nothing else to say about this brief piece, other than it kinda reminded me of that short-lived recurring “Brief Histories” segment from the first two episodes of season 22.
STARS: ***

THE CLINTON MARRIAGE: WHITE HOUSE IN CRISIS
Clinton scandal discussion becomes a slumber party

 

— I’m liking the increasing shallowness of the female anchors’ conversation about the Clinton scandal.
— Now this is getting funnier and funnier as this gradually is literally transforming into a girls’ slumber party, right down to the female anchors suddenly wearing pajamas, eating popcorn, and giggling like schoolgirls. A very cute, charming, and fun sketch.
— This is a quintessential example of how strong this era’s female cast is when working together. Whenever I think of the fun chemistry the Gasteyer/Shannon/Oteri female group had, this is always one of the first sketches that comes to mind.
STARS: ****½

TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- LOM & Howard Stern pair up for big ratings

— Why does the animated version of Will Ferrell have gray hair?
— I love the comical exaggeration of how wild the audience is going during the Cheerleaders sketch (which isn’t too far removed from the real audience’s reactions back when the Cheerleaders were at their peak of popularity), especially one pregnant female audience member being so excited that she gives birth on the spot.
— This is a very clever spoof of Howard Stern’s criticisms of SNL, and the fact that his show was competing against SNL at this time.
— The “Lorne and Howard Stern falling in love with each other” turn isn’t working for me.
STARS: ****

STEVIE NICKS’ FAJITA ROUNDUP
Stevie Nicks’ (host) Fajita Roundup offers music & Tex-Mex cuisine

— Here comes a well-remembered sketch among SNL fans.
— Very funny random concept of Stevie Nicks promoting a fajita restaurant of hers.
— Lucy is doing a fantastic Stevie Nicks impression.
— A lot of laughs from the fajita-themed versions that Lucy’s Nicks is singing of her hit songs.
STARS: ****½

THE HOW DO YOU SAY? AH YES, SHOW
Antonio Banderas (CHK) is too sexy

— The debut of this soon-to-be-recurring sketch.
— While I often complain about SNL’s tired trope of giving a celebrity impression their own talk show sketch, this particular sketch has an amusing-enough atmosphere that makes me a little more forgiving.
— Though he’s playing a broad Mexican stereotype, Horatio’s goofy one-liners are cracking me up.
— Overall, this sketch was merely okay and I liked Kattan’s performance, but I can tell I’m going to get sick of this sketch fast when they make it recurring later this season.
STARS: ***

THE HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL SCANDAL
Mexican whores knew LBJ as “el BJ”

— Quick, simple, and hilarious.
— Considering the Mexican theme of this, it’s funny how this immediately followed the Antonio Banderas talk show sketch.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ talks about atmosphere surrounding the denunciation of Bill Clinton
murderous doll Chucky gives a reasoned commentary about Clinton scandal
in an attempt to kill COQ, Chucky returns disguised as Dominican Lou

 

— For the third consecutive episode, Colin precedes the Weekend Update opening title sequence by doing a straight-to-camera stand-up-style rant, though this time, they’ve done away with the green-screen behind Colin and now have him standing in front of a darkened Weekend Update set. Probably more fitting, as the use of a green-screen for Colin’s rants was a bit much.
— Colin’s opening rant ended abruptly, though they often seem to. He needs to come up with actual segues.
— Very unusual and interesting seeing Chucky from the Child’s Play movies making a live SNL appearance (promoting the release of Bride Of Chucky). When it comes to the most unconventional cameo guests in SNL history, Chucky is probably only second to Mike The Dog (from season 11’s Jay Leno-hosted episode).
— What was up with Colin abruptly saying “I don’t think so, Chucky” and Chucky responding (ala Joe Blow) “I’m serious, Colin, I wanna have this beer”? Chucky never asked Colin for a beer in the first place, so why did Colin respond like he did get asked? They completely skipped a line for some odd reason. Some kind of glitch with the Chucky doll?
— The Chucky commentary had a very weak ending that came off lame.
— I like seeing Colin using the punchline of a joke to go off on a mini-tangent about the whitewashing of terrorists in movies and TV shows. As I always say, Colin is much better and more comfortable at doing this stand-up type of material than he is delivering straightforward news jokes that require him to use a straitlaced delivery.
— And here’s something else I always say: Colin needs to ditch his habit of muttering awkward ad-libs towards the audience after certain jokes. They never work for me.
— Ha, Chucky coming back out, disguised as Dominican Lou. Pretty funny twist.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Waltz #2”

BIOGRAPHY
Jack Perkins (DAH) boozes during profile of Puff Daddy (TIM)

— Pretty funny seeing Darrell’s Jack Perkins doing a biography on Puff Daddy. I also love Darrell-as-Perkins’ way of pronouncing “Puffy” as “Poofy”.
— A funny visual of Tracy’s Suge Knight being interviewed from jail.
— The portions of this sketch with Darrell’s Perkins seems to be focusing a lot less on his drunkneness than usual, which is probably good, as that gag seemed like it would’ve gotten kinda old after a while.
— Hilarious how Tim-as-Puff-Daddy’s “Come With Me, Part 2” song is literally just him repeatedly saying “Come with me” over an old Aerosmith track.
— A very funny visual gag with Lucy’s Jennifer Lopez placing her oversized butt in front of the camera while making out with Tim’s Puff Daddy.
— Pretty funny Steven Tyler impression from Jimmy.
— Tracy’s comments as Suge Knight are hilarious.
— A big laugh from Darrell’s Perkins randomly speak-singing lyrics to “Rhinestone Cowboy”, then going off on a tangent where he questions what the hell ever happened to Glen Campbell.
STARS: ****

ART CLASS
Terence Maddox disgusts (host) & her class of sculpture students

— The copy I’m reviewing of this episode is unfortunately missing the entire first half of this sketch.
— When Terrence Maddox displays his pose “The Stinker”, both Tim and Ana can be seen breaking character and cracking up. Will Ferrell is so damn funny that he can even get the unbreakable Ana Gasteyer to lose it during a sketch.
— A hilarious part with Maddox misguidedly bragging about the A’s and B’s he got on a test he recently took for hepatitis.
— I love Maddox’s line about “grading on a curve”, referring to the shape of the erection he’s currently sporting.
— Will’s over-the-top crying as Terrence Maddox always kills me.
— Even though a lot of this sketch just feels like a rewrite of the first Terrence Maddox sketch, Will is still making this work for me.
STARS (for the half that I saw of this sketch): ****

GOTH TALK
Circe & Azrael report on grand opening of The Emporium of Evil

— This is the first Goth Talk installment without Jim Breuer, who’s character in these sketches will be missed.
— It took Lucy a pretty long time to realize she was mistakenly holding the newspaper upside-down when showing it to the camera.
— Jimmy and Horatio seem to be basically playing surrogates for Jim Breuer’s character.
— Ha, Will is playing his backstage alter-ego, Ron! For a description of who “Ron” is, read this explanation I gave in the comments section of a recent episode review.
— Overall, not one of the better Goth Talk sketches, though it had its moments.
STARS: **½

NATIONAL ANTHEM
at the World Series, Marty & Bobbi marry a medley to the National Anthem

— Feels very weird seeing a Culps sketch airing in the 10-to-1 timeslot.
— A good change of setting for the Culps, having them perform at the World Series.
— Pretty funny when a hot dog is thrown at Bobbi from off-camera when she and Marty try to kiss each other.
— During the song medley, I love the transition to “The Roof is On Fire”, especially hearing Bobbi Culp say “mother-trucker” as a way of censoring herself.
— The show must be running long, as the sketch-ending audience applause and the crossfade to an SNL bumper picture of Lucy Lawless is cued up a few seconds too early, before Will and Ana have even finished singing their final note.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS

— Yep, the show was indeed running long. These goodnights got cut off very early.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and fun episode. This episode had the type of fun-loving vibe that I typically associate with this late 90s SNL era (specifically this season and the following season 25). There was a good number of strong, memorable sketches tonight, and none of the sketches were particularly terrible for me.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kelsey Grammer)
a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Four-episode season 14 featured player Ben Stiller makes his SNL return as a movie star