Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ROOFTOP BATTLE
stunt doubles of BES & his old boss LOM fight kung fu battle atop 30 Rock
— A nice change of pace for a cold opening in this era, and a unique setting, taking place on the roof of 30 Rock.
— I like Ben Stiller mentioning to Lorne his very short-lived featured player stint from 10 seasons ago and how Lorne used to cut all his sketches. It feels like just yesterday, I was reviewing those episodes that Ben was a featured player in.
— The physical fight between Ben and Lorne is pretty funny, with the blatant use of Asian stunt doubles.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— This season’s ever-changing theme music has been changed back to the one used in the Cameron Diaz-hosted season premiere. I guess SNL only uses this particular theme music when one of the stars of There’s Something About Mary is hosting.
MONOLOGUE
BES relishes applause intended for David Cone & other Yankees [real]
— I love that this is a continuation of the cold opening, with the camera cutting away from the home base stage after Don Pardo announces Ben to Ben landing on a car outside of 30 Rock, after having been thrown off the roof at the end of the cold opening.
— Speaking of which, Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version of this episode cut the cold opening (presumably because they couldn’t clear the rights to the music used during the Ben/Lorne fight; however, I think the online version of this cold opening on NBC.com simply removes the music), causing the first half of this monologue to make absolutely no sense, especially Ben saying “I think Lorne’s a little pissed at me.” The edited version tried to makes things slightly less confusing by removing the shot of Ben landing on a car outside of 30 Rock.
— Tim: “You think Stiller’s smoking crack again?” Will: “No, Stiller doesn’t smoke crack; that’s me.”
— Before Ben shows up backstage and runs like hell towards the home base stage, there’s a miscue where the SNL Band can be heard off-camera briefly starting to play the theme music again, before abruptly stopping when realizing they’re too early. I believe this gaffe would later be muted out in some reruns.
— Ben mistaking the audience’s wild applause for the Yankee players behind him as applause for himself is an okay gag, though I feel like SNL (or probably other TV shows) did this same gag some other time.
STARS: ***½
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Adam Sandler (JIF), Tom Cruise (BES)
— Yes!
— Jimmy has his breakout SNL moment, debuting an absolutely killer Adam Sandler impression. The voice and mannerisms are uncanny, in a way that you can tell Jimmy idolized Adam during SNL’s early 90s era (which Jimmy has later gone on to say is the first SNL era that spoke to his generation).
— Celebrity Jeopardy delivers yet another classic category mix-up, this time with Darrell’s Sean Connery misreading “Famous Titles” as “Famous Titties”. I also like how after Will-as-Alex-Trebek’s clarification on what the category really says, Darrell’s Connery can be heard off-camera exclaiming a disappointed “DAMN!”
— Good to see Ben’s always-funny Tom Cruise impression.
— Connery, during the “This is how many fingers you have” question: “I’ll show you a finger, Trebek!”
— I love how Jimmy’s Sandler is now breaking out into the Hannukah Song, complete with a guitar from out of nowhere.
— Much like the obligatory classic category mix-up, we get a classic Final Jeopardy answer reveal, with Connery’s initial answer, “Indoors”, turning into “I (*heart symbol*) Boobs.”
— Alex Trebek, during his sign-off: “That’s it for Celebrity Jeopardy. I’m going home and putting a gun in my mouth. Good day.”
STARS: *****
PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen expresses love for her yogi (BES)
— Jesus Christ, SNL. How do you follow up an installment of my absolute favorite recurring sketch from this era (Celebrity Jeopardy) with an installment of my absolute least favorite recurring sketch from this era (Pretty Living)?
— After sitting stone-faced through the first two-and-a-half minutes of this sketch, I finally got a chuckle, from Ben entering with a fake lazy eye.
— Some okay lines from Ana occasionally disclosing unhappy things about her personal life while keeping a smiling facade, but I feel like this SNL era is starting to overuse that type of humor, especially with Ana (e.g. the Hello Dolly sketch from the Kelsey Grammer episode).
— Just now, Molly doing one of her many leg-stretch moves caused her chair to almost tip over backwards, though she didn’t seem too phased by it, despite both Ana and Ben briefly dropping character to concernedly keep Molly’s chair from falling backwards.
STARS: *½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Heteroy” by RBS- Roy Fletcher’s superpowers can cure homosexuality
— Yet another daring concept from Robert Smigel.
— A hilarious opening theme song.
— One of the Coalition Crusaders, when seeing a gay biker: “Where there’s spokes, there’s sodomy!”
— A big laugh from one of the Coalition Crusaders trying to give the gay biker an interest in heterosexual sports by showing him pictures of clothed football players with their butt and crotch areas covered by censor bars.
— The “Thank you, thank you, Lord, for keeping my anus clean” song that the Coalition Crusaders are singing is priceless.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thank U”
WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ likens Israeli-Palestinian relations to meeting with an ex-girlfriend
JIF plays guitar & sings Halloween carols inspired by current pop songs
roommates Yasser Arafat (CHK) & Benjamin Netanyahu (WIF) share Gaza Strip
— I like Colin randomly saying “I’m Fred Savage” during his sign-on after the Update opening title sequence.
— Jimmy’s big breakout night continues, as he now gets to do an Update commentary as himself. I recall some SNL fans who saw this episode live later saying that they knew Jimmy would go on to be SNL’s next big star as they watched this episode.
— Odd how, after playing Adam Sandler earlier tonight, Jimmy’s now doing guitar songs on Update, which is something closely associated with Adam from his time as a cast member. (I recall an old SNL review from 1998 saying in regards to this Update commentary, “Apparently, Jimmy Fallon still thinks he’s Adam Sandler.”) At least the comedic concept of Jimmy’s songs tonight is different from Adam’s, as Jimmy’s songs involve him doing parodies of current hit songs while imitating the singers’ voices. This is a good use of Jimmy’s knack for doing celebrity impressions.
— I love how 1998 Jimmy’s shirt is.
— Jimmy’s coming off charming here, especially whenever the audience is applauding him after each song.
— I like how Jimmy is now doing a parody of Alanis Morisette’s “Thank U” song just minutes after Alanis performed that very song on the SNL stage. I wonder if this is the only reason why SNL placed that Alanis musical performance before Update, considering the fact that musical guests’ first performance in this era is usually always placed after Update.
— Man, listen to that big audience applause when Jimmy’s commentary is over. Yep, a star is indeed born tonight.
— After the tepid audience reaction to Colin’s first news joke that followed Jimmy’s commentary, I love Colin saying “Jimmy Fallon” in a soft-spoken voice while gesturing towards where Jimmy had been sitting earlier. Reminds me of similar ad-libs (e.g. “Prince, ladies and gentlemen”) that Michael Che would later make in his early Update days whenever a joke of his would bomb.
— I often complain about the awkward ad-libs that Colin has a bad habit of muttering towards the audience after certain jokes, but quite a number of his ad-libs tonight have actually been amusing me.
— Colin is throwing around his favorite word, “folks”, more than ever tonight, even during the set-ups to jokes.
— Some fun from how Will and Kattan are playing off of each other in this Arafat/Netanyahu commentary, though the material itself isn’t doing all that much for me.
STARS: ***
SPARKS
at a Halloween party, Zimmermans’ sex play makes (BES) & (ANG) nervous
— I like Ana quickly saying a passive-aggressive “He really does fall asleep, though” after Ben jokingly makes a comparison to himself falling asleep after sex. However, this is yet another example of Ana playing a character who discloses something bitter about her personal life while keeping a smiling facade.
— A particularly raunchy and funny part with Kattan trying to open a champagne bottle in a suggestive manner near his crotch while Cheri dirty-talks him for encouragement, followed by Cheri eagerly drenching herself in the champagne when it finally spurts out of the bottle.
— A fairly funny gag with trick-or-treating kids walking in while Ben shouts a very risque sexual comment, though the timing of that seemed a little off.
STARS: ***
REAL STORIES OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL
(WIF) & (BES) harass motorists
— Will, when finding out Horatio’s name is Jesus: “Am I supposed to believe the Son of Man drives a ’93 Mazda with a broken taillight?”
— Will and Ben are cracking me up with their motor-mouthed grilling of Horatio and Tim, especially the racist statements they keep throwing in.
— Feels a little weird hearing SNL make a mention of Steve Jobs as early as 1998, when Will and Ben are telling Tim the name of the man who founded Apple Computers. His last name is mispronounced in this sketch as “Jobes”, oddly enough, which I guess shows how little people knew about him back in ’98.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Baba”
LIVING WITH HIS PARENTS
30 year-old (BES) living with parents is hypersensitive to their remarks
— Ben is adding good realism to his performance. However, he’s bordering awfully close on annoying me, but that’s probably the point.
— I love Parnell’s mundane little asides to Ana throughout this sketch.
— Hilarious ending where, after Ben exits the house after freaking out at his parents all throughout the sketch, Parnell casually says in a frank-but-affable manner “I can’t wait for my own death.” Perfect delivery from Parnell on that line.
STARS: ***
STEVE WYNN’S BELLAGIO HOTEL AND CASINO
art lends Steve Wynn’s (BES) Bellagio Hotel & Casino buttloads of class
— It’s certainly fitting having impressionist Darrell Hammond playing classic impressionist Rich Little.
— I love the bizarre visual of Kattan’s Howard Hughes.
— Ben’s performance is nice, but his portions of this sketch aren’t doing anything for me. Maybe if I were familiar with Steve Wynn, I’d appreciate this sketch more. This feels like something that Ben lobbied hard to get on the show.
STARS: **
COINTREAU FOR CONGRESS / MASON IN ’98
solutions to bat problem dominate campaign ads of (BES) & incumbent (TIM)
— A hilarious random premise of two political opponents using their respective campaign ads to address a bat infestation in their town.
— I love the even-more-random detail of Tim’s politician being named Boo Mason.
— Kinda odd how all of these campaign ads are airing back-to-back instead of being spread throughout the episode like SNL usually does with a series of mock campaign ads. However, it strangely works in this specific case.
— I’m loving all of the absurdist humor in this sketch.
— A lot of laughs from Tim’s outlandish solutions to the bat problem (e.g. erupting a volcano to burn the bats, using larger and more aggressive bats to kill the bats).
— Tim suddenly getting attacked by bats right in the middle of his calm speech to the camera absolutely SLAYED me, especially his yell of “Son of a bitch!” right before the camera cut away from him. I cannot stop laughing right now.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. Aside from the Steve Wynn sketch and the insufferable Pretty Living, everything in this episode worked for me, plus I found one classic in the always-reliable Celebrity Jeopardy, a near-classic in the TV Funhouse cartoon Heteroy, and an underrated gem in the series of absurd campaign ads at the end of the show. After having such a brief and unsuccessful stint as a featured player, it was good to see Ben Stiller being given lots of chances to shine in this episode, and he did well with those opportunities, which is also likely helped by his experience from his own sketch comedy show.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lucy Lawless)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Another former cast member as host: David Spade
Heteroy is one of Robert Smigel’s greatest triumphs. They made the right choice in not making it recurring.
The main issue with Heteroy recurring is that it’s tied to its subject matter of conversion therapy ads that appeared in major newspapers around July-August 1998 ( https://www.newsweek.com/ex-ex-gay-pride-249282 ). Heteroy holds up better than other “ripped from the headlines” Smigel cartoons, but it makes its point. No use belabouring it.
If I’m not mistaken, that “Highway Patrol” sketch might’ve been a spiritual successor to the “Cops” sketches that Stiller used to do on his short-lived FOX show in the early 90s; Stiller even dresses the same, buzzcut, mustache & shades…
Thanks. I’d never seen this. I prefer this version as the one in the SNL episode felt a bit like it was trying to somewhat cautiously ape the type of sketch Mad TV would have done around this time – the “edgy” type of racial humor. Even if it was meant to make fun of the cops, seeing the audience chuckle along with racist jokes before the sketch just sort of abruptly ended was…not fun.
I watched this episode live when I was in 7th grade. You’re right, you knew it when you watched it that Jimmy was going to be huge. Every kid (including non SNL fans) was talking about it on Monday. Even my parents said “Wow, that guy’s good!” By the Alec Baldwin show he’s already getting screams when he shows up during the monologue.
Has anybody “broke out” like this since then?
Andy Samberg had “Lazy Sunday” but not until a half a season in and wasn’t a live sketch performer.
Pete Davidson had a big Update feature in his first show While he’s known, he’s not Jimmy Fallon huge even 5 years later.
I’d say the closest might be Leslie Jones, who was never really as big as Jimmy, but broke out as a writer and had big film roles within a year or two. Of course Leslie worked a long time to get into that position.
Jimmy is also the first cast member to become big entirely through the in-house system of SNL nostalgia and also shifts the fan view of cast members back (as it had sort of been this way in the ’70s) closer to just thinking they’re terrific as themselves, with their work being secondary. The place that the show has mostly stayed in with the fan response to performers ever since.
Happy New Year, everyone.
The cold open is an absolute classic. So completely ridiculous, and also a real risk, since I doubt most people even remembered Ben Stiller had been on SNL. It’s crazy that the whole thing works as well as it does.
The rest of the show is jumbled by the harsh shift between the recurring pieces and new material.
I just can’t take Zimmermans, and Helen Madden is, well it’s alright to have on in the background, but it’s a waste of a good host. Seeing Molly Shannon devote so much time to making the male hosts crack up in this sketch reminds me of Kate McKinnon in Close Encounters – another sketch I’m not that fond of. If they were going to have a recurring piece I’m surprised they didn’t go for Mr. Peepers, as Stiller and Kattan have a resemblance. Maybe he wouldn’t have wanted to play a monkey.
The best of the new material is the bat campaign ads at the end. A slow, confident build into insanity, one that feels different for this era (as usually here it would just sort of be dumped into one sketch with a faster pace). Stiller and Tim are both great. Since Tim’s part in the Turturro/Elliott campaign ads of ’94 was cut I’m glad he got to do this before he left. I also thought Stiller was great in that sketch about the annoying son living at home at age 30. In general he was great the whole night – it’s a shame he backed out of his 2001 hosting gig as I would have enjoyed seeing him as a fixture over the years. He was certainly one of the better cameos of recent seasons.
Heteroy was a very clever and creative Funhouse, but if shown more than once could have easily become muddled or just outright made conversion therapy seem like something fun. I’m glad they kept it to one and done.
In Kattan’s book, he references this episode and the fact that Stiller gave out Curious George Thank You Cards to all the cast and when Kattan opened his, it simply stated “Fuck You Kattan” because of Stiller’s jealousy towards Kattan’s then friendship with Cameron Diaz. Pure dick move.
I never was, nor am I now a Fallon fan, but I will say that his debut of his Sandler impression COMPLETELY towers over Stiller’s hacky Cruise impression which is just him doing Jerry Maguire mannerisms. *sigh*
They edited out a portion of the Jeopardy segment in the 60-minute version of this episode. Needless to say, I don’t think anyone was willing to pay royalties for the Batman theme.