Month: January 2020

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December 11, 1999 – Danny DeVito / R.E.M. (S25 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NBC SPECIAL REPORT
Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) says the world will be unaffected by Y2k

— The debut of Darrell’s Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.
— I’m finding Darrell’s Arnold impression better here than it would later be. Even though it’s still not all that spot-on here, his impression is a lot funnier to me than his later version.
— Some laughs from the odd things Darrell’s Arnold says are going to be the same when the new millennium enters.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— After mysteriously not appearing in the last episode’s opening montage, the 25th anniversary SNL logo and Jimmy Fallon’s season 25 opening montage photo is back. However, Chris Kattan’s opening montage photo hasn’t been changed back to the season 25 version, though it eventually would.
— A noteworthy Don Pardo blooper, in which he accidentally announces the SNL Band as “Musical guest R.E.M.”. Then when R.E.M.’s picture shows up afterwards, Pardo pauses silently when realizing his mistake and then awkwardly just says “R.E.M.”. Then when Danny DeVito’s picture shows up afterwards, Pardo again pauses silently and then says kinda half-heartedly “Your host Danny DeVito”, without preceding “your host” with the usual “and”. SNL would later fix all of these mistakes in reruns.


MONOLOGUE
host is sprayed with apple after receiving Mr. Peepers as a gift

— Great to see Danny DeVito hosting for the first (and what would end up being only) time in this era.
— Danny mentions that this is his fifth time hosting, and that he’s joined “The Five Club”, as he calls it. Someone at SNL didn’t do their research, as this is actually Danny’s SIXTH time hosting, not fifth. Some people have a theory that SNL isn’t counting Danny’s season 9 episode, because he didn’t host it alone – Rhea Perlman co-hosted with him. However, I think it’s a real stretch that SNL wouldn’t count that. Co-hosting the show with someone else still counts as hosting. After all, Alec Baldwin’s fifth hosting stint had him mention in passing in his monologue that it was his fifth time hosting, which means they were counting his fourth episode, in which he co-hosted with Kim Basinger.
— I like how Danny’s making a big deal about how he’s the last guy in the millennium to host SNL.
— Will, on the gift SNL is giving to Danny: “We asked Lorne to chip in, but he refused.”
— They waste the prestigious so-called final monologue of the millennium on a Mr. Peepers bit??? And right after we just saw him a mere two episodes ago?
— I got a laugh from Mr. Peepers ripping right through the winter backdrop.
— Danny is a blast in this monologue and is helping make this Mr. Peepers bit more tolerable than usual.
— Danny, on this whole Mr. Peepers bit: “Trust me, my kids are at home and they love this, so screw it!” If that’s truly the case, then who am I to argue?
STARS: *** (mainly just for what Danny brought to this)


PRESS CONFERENCE PLAY SET
kids can practice media relations with the Press Conference Play Set

— Ehh, not too sure about this premise, though the execution has its charm at points. However, this commercial feels a little out of place on SNL.
— I laughed at the messy-haired kid at the end who panickedly said “I will no longer be trying new foods.”
STARS: **½


THE DELICIOUS DISH
after Y2k meltdown, chef (host) is permanent guest of Margaret Jo & Terry

— Surprisingly, this is the first time this sketch has appeared in a year. This also ends up being the only installment of this sketch that we’ll be seeing this season.
— A great scenario of Delicious Dish dealing with the apocalyptic aftermath of Y2K.
— I like the passing mention of a roving sex gang.
— Funny line about Danny being Delicious Dish’s only guest in every episode ever since Y2K struck.
— A great dark turn this takes with Danny’s character and his defeated demeanor.
— A good laugh from Molly’s line about spending the night with bikers in exchange for a packet of ketchup, and how Ana immediately changes the subject.
— A hilarious reveal of Danny’s clam chowder having been made out of whiteout and dice.
STARS: ****½


MANGO
Christmas Fairy (Michael Stipe) shows why Mango’s dad (host) rebukes him

 

— Mango continues to be shoved down our throats this season. Oh, and also, do we really need Mr. Peepers AND Mango in the same episode? A certain somebody in the cast needs to come up with some new characters.
— Kattan’s portrayal of Mango seems to be getting increasingly more goofy and animated with each passing appearance this season.
— This feels like the first time in a while we’ve seen Horatio. His airtime has been getting pretty bad these last few episodes. He wasn’t even in any sketches in the preceding Christina Ricci episode.
— I guess it’s fairly interesting seeing Mango’s family.
— Danny’s anger towards Mango is making me laugh.
— Nice inclusion of Michael Stipe as the Christmas Fairy.
— In the black-and-white 1944 scene, I like the detail of Guava’s admirers outside of his dressing room being sailors.
— Funny Jimmy Stewart impression from Jimmy.
— Decent running bit with the occasional references to R.E.M. songs.
— Overall, not too bad for a season 25 Mango sketch, even if I still wasn’t all that crazy about this as a whole.
STARS: **½


METAL SHOP
in shop class, Sully & Denise videotape an interview with teacher (host)

— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— Jimmy’s Sully character becomes more defined, as this is the first time we see him wearing his traditional Nomar Garciaparra Red Sox jersey.
— The debut of Horatio’s Boston Teens character, Frankie. With this addition, I like that this recurring sketch stars three of the four newer people in the cast (Jimmy, Rachel, and Horatio), giving this recurring sketch a “new SNL generation” feel.
— Sully’s line about getting Denise nipple warmers for a Christmas gift was very funny.
— Horatio’s performance is providing good amusement.
— Funny bit with Danny showing his glass eye to the camera.
STARS: ***½


HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon Phelps sings “Merry Christmas To The Ladies”

— A nice change of pace for The Ladies Man.
— Fun song from Leon Phelps. I especially like the dirty lyric about licking his candy cane.
— Nice assistance from the two backup dancers.
— Leon: “Santa Claus comes but once a year, whereas yours truly has been known to come a lot more often than that.”
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- intrusive journalists dominated 1999

— I’m getting good laughs from the raunchy direction the opening Barbara Walters scene is going.
— I like how this TV Funhouse is an amalgamation of various big news stories of the year.
— Funny visual of a fat guy loudly chomping on a hoagie in the background of President Clinton’s Early Show interview.
— Wow, a Columbine scene? Even for Robert Smigel’s daring standards, I’m kinda surprised he’s touching Columbine, though the scene is actually pretty tame.
— The Barbara Walters scene now gets even raunchier, with her hilariously bringing out a vibrator that has a replica of her own face on the top of it.
— Overall, some really funny stuff here and there, but in my opinion, Smigel has yet to have a great TV Funhouse so far this season. And why have all of his TV Funhouses this season so far been “Fun With Real Audio”?
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
ALF & bitter teen Joe Franken [real] introduce the Al Franken Millennium

— I absolutely love that SNL is continuing the 10-year tradition of Al Franken declaring who the upcoming new decade will belong to, with us now seeing a middle-aged Al and teenaged Joe Franken, after the last decade bit they did together on Update 10 years earlier.
— I’m enjoying Joe Franken acting like a typical angsty teen who’s embarrassed of his father.
— Joe Franken, on how viewers don’t care about Al’s decade bit: “They just wanna see Jimmy Fallon, not some sad old guy with a tired bit.” Al’s frozen unhappy stare at Joe afterwards is also great.
— The overall Al/Joe Franken commentary was nice official closure to the traditional Franken decade storyline. Al’s declaration of “The Al Franken Millennium” guarantees that SNL will no longer do 10-year follow-ups on this.
— Funny bit with Colin accidentally pronouncing “dictator” as “dictrader”, and then making an ad-lib towards the audience’s reaction to that.
— The first of many Elian Gonzalez references that we’ll be seeing on SNL this season.
— I’m surprised we went through this entire Update without having a final “The Millennium” segment (a recurring segment they’ve been occasionally doing on Update this season), considering tonight would’ve been their last opportunity to do one. I thought I had remembered there being one more left that I haven’t reviewed yet.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Great Beyond”


ROCKETTES AUDITIONS
50 year-old Sally O’Malley (MOS) tries out for the Rockettes

— The first original, non-recurring sketch all night. Until now, this episode was shaping up to rival season 22’s Rosie O’Donnell episode as an episode comprised entirely of recurring sketches.
— There’s the debut of Sally O’Malley, who, as we know, would eventually become recurring.
— It feels weird calling Sally O’Malley a new character, probably due to her already feeling like a tired character that’s appeared many times before. Maybe that’s because of how Molly’s using basically the same voice she uses for her Helen Madden character, or maybe because of how increasingly one-note Molly has been becoming as a performer in general lately.
— Another fun performance from Danny tonight, who’s giving me my only real amusement in this sketch.
— The one Rockette on the left end of the screen screwed up the ending of the choreographed dance that she and the other Rockettes do in unison when making their entrance.
STARS: **


TRIAL
in court, Mrs. Parker & (host) show motherly love for their hoodlum sons

— After a one-sketch break, we’re back to non-stop recurring characters tonight.
— I like the tense back-and-forth exchanges between Tracy and Danny’s mother characters.
— This ends up going in the same direction as the last installment of this sketch, where Tracy’s character breaks out into a tender song, but I kinda like how the song has become a duet with both Tracy and Danny.
— The ending of this sketch gets awkwardly cut off due to the show starting to run long. There’s still a second R.E.M. musical performance remaining after this sketch, but because of how significant and relevant the particular song that R.E.M.’s about to perform is (“Man On The Moon”, as this is when the Andy Kaufman biopic of the same title was released and featured said R.E.M. song), I guess SNL didn’t want to risk it getting cut short for time, so they instead cut off the ending of this sketch. I believe they would later show this sketch’s full ending in reruns.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Man On The Moon”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An okay Christmas episode. Nothing special to me, and no sketches stood out as particularly great other than Delicious Dish, but I enjoyed the show enough, even with the overload on recurring sketches. Danny DeVito added his always-fun charm and energy to the show, in what unfortunately ends up being his last hosting stint to this day.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christina Ricci)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter a new decade and century. Jamie Foxx hosts the first SNL of both the 2000s and the 21st century.

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December 4, 1999 – Christina Ricci / Beck (S25 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES
Bill Clinton (DAH) points out GOP presidential hopefuls’ weaknesses

 

— Very early in this cold opening, when Darrell’s President Clinton begins to talk about the bad week the Clinton presidency suffered, a loud crash is heard from off-camera somewhere in SNL’s studio. Darrell briefly shifts his eyes in the direction of the crash in a humorous way while continuing to say his scripted dialogue. The sound of the loud crash would later be muted out in reruns, though you can still see Darrell shifting his eyes in the direction of the crash.
— I love this premise of Darrell’s Clinton doing a breakdown of each republican presidential hopeful.
— Bill Clinton, on Al Gore: “He’s as dull as sober missionary sex with someone you know.”
— I like Clinton’s comment about how Steve Forbes looks like someone at a 7-11 after a midnight showing of Fritz The Cat.
— Good bit with Clinton realizing his own similarities to George W. Bush.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— For some reason, they’ve temporarily done away with the 25th anniversary SNL logo in the opening montage, and are back to using the regular SNL logo from season 24’s opening montage.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, the respective photo of Jimmy Fallon and Chris Kattan have also reverted back to the old respective photo of them from season 24’s montage.

What’s the reason for these changes in tonight’s montage? IIRC, these changes only last for tonight’s episode.


MONOLOGUE
host’s twin sister Bettina (RAD) wishes they were still an acting team

— I love Christina Ricci’s line about how she’s watched the “original” SNL cast, with David Spade, Adam Sandler, and Tim Meadows. SNL would go on to occasionally use a similar joke in monologues from other young hosts in their late teens/early 20s, like Justin Timberlake (in his first hosting stint) and Taylor Swift, the latter going even further with the joke by having all of the “old” cast members that Swift mentions be people who were actually still in the cast at the time (Bill Hader and Andy Samberg).
— Just now, Christina has said that she’s never worked on live TV before. Uh, what about the two live SNL cameos she made in the early 90s as a child actress to promote the two Addams Family movies she was in?

— I can see how they came up with the idea of Rachel playing Christina’s twin, as there’s some similarities between their eyes.
— Funny part with Rachel and Christina communicating to each other in their secret twin language.
STARS: ***½


HOLIDAY PARADE
at holiday parade, (host) disses Craig & steals Arianna’s boyfriend (JIF)

— Very cool how the preceding monologue transitioned into this Cheerleaders sketch, by having the camera pan from the home base stage where the monologue was taking place to the set where the Cheerleaders sketch is taking place. I can think of only two later episodes where SNL would do this same transition from a monologue to the first sketch: Gwyneth Paltrow’s episode from season 27 and Drew Barrymore’s episode from season 32.
— Believe it or not, this is the first Cheerleaders sketch in over a year. This also ends up being the final Cheerleaders sketch.
— It looks a little weird seeing 1999 Will Ferrell still doing a Cheerleaders sketch. He looks a bit different and is noticeably a little doughier at this point than he was around 1995-1997 when Cheerleaders sketches were very common.
— Craig yelling “SCREEEEEECH!!!” in a loud, high-pitched voice is cracking me up.
— I like the little part with Arianna briefly stopping in the middle of her wild make-out session with Jimmy’s character to have water squirted into her mouth by Craig.
— Arianna, upon hearing that her boyfriend isn’t wearing any underwear: “Oh my god, Craig, my boyfriend is freeballing!”
— Overall, not bad for what ends up being the Cheerleaders’ final sketch. Much like what I said about Mary Katherine Gallagher in my review of her final sketch, I’m pleasantly surprised by how tolerant I’ve been of the Cheerleaders in my reviews. Before I reached this SNL era in my project, I was absolutely dreading having to eventually cover all of the Cheerleaders sketches, but I ended up finding them to not be too bad, for the most part, and I’ve found that the characters of Craig and Arianna have a charm to them.
STARS: ***


AND SO THIS IS CHANUKAH
star-packed special is vaguely Judaism-related

— A very funny Tori Amos impression from Molly, especially when she gets overly sensual and starts basically giving fellatio to the microphone in front of her before the camera quickly cuts away.
— I like Tim’s D’Angelo scene with him singing about wanting his girl’s “Chanukah bush”.
— Christina-as-Britney-Spears’ line about “forgiving our Jewish friends for killing our lord” would end up causing some controversy in real life, though apparently not enough to remove that line from reruns, as I remember it was still left intact in NBC’s summer 2000 rerun of this episode, which was my very first viewing of it.
— Terrence Trent D’Arby was still relevant in 1999? This sketch named him among the rapid-fire listing-off of then-popular singers who will be performing in this Chanukah special.
— Why is Kattan lipsyncing to someone else’s voice during his Ricky Martin bit? Regardless, he’s doing a pretty fun parody of “Livin’ La Vida Loca”.
STARS: ***½


WHO WANTS TO EAT
Bosnian refugee (host) seeks sustenance on game show

— A very funny and clever concept for a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parody. However, I recall an SNL reviewer from 1999 claiming that SNL stole this premise from The Onion. No idea if that’s true or not.
— I love how Darrell’s Regis Philbin in this sketch is named Rajneesh Philbin and has a more ethnic look while still speaking in his regular voice.
— Funny bit with Christina instantly guessing Sally Struthers as the answer to the question before Rajneesh Philbin can even list off the options. Took me a few seconds to get why Christina’s character would be so familiar with Sally Struthers.
— Christina: “Can’t I have the rice?” Rajneesh Philbin: “No, I’m sorry, we’re feeding it to the goat.”
STARS: ****


TAXICAB CONFESSIONS
stripper (host) distracts cabbie (TIM) with sex talk

— Kinda funny how this is Tim’s second time playing a taxi driver in a Taxicab Confessions parody, after season 20’s George Clooney episode.
— I like the various lighting effects SNL is using to make it look like the taxi is driving in a street. Other times, SNL would’ve simply used a greenscreen background.
— Some good laughs from Tim suddenly making sharp turns with the cab after each time he’s gotten distracted by Christina.
— Tim, to Christina: “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you having sex.”
— Hilarious part with a body crashing into the windshield of the taxi while Tim has his head turned towards Christina.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Millennium Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- the Friends are oblivious to the apocalypse

— Kinda interesting seeing a Friends parody on SNL just one episode after Jennifer Aniston hosted.
— The Y2K-fueled apocalyptic chaos in the background is pretty funny, as is how the Friends characters are completely unaware of it.
— Funny visual of the Antichrist first being represented by a giant superimposed Adolf Hitler head and then transforming into a giant superimposed head of certain other famous people one-by-one: Sally Jessy Raphael, Donald Trump (a transformation even more relevant today than it was when this originally aired in 1999), and… some other people I don’t recognize. Anyone know who they are? (screencaps below)

STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
WTO spokesman Jacob Silj (WIF) can’t modulate the volume of his voice

— Colin: “The delay of the WTO conference until yesterday was seen as nothing short of evidence that America is gripped by madness and anarchy. Now what would ever give people that idea?” (a picture of a “Trump for President” poster shows up on the Weekend Update news screen)
— Man, Colin’s Hillary Clinton joke bombed HARD.
— Some pretty cringey and lame jokes from Colin so far tonight.
— Colin finally had a joke that I liked, but then he ruined it by actually explaining the punchline afterwards. Jesus Christ, Colin, give the audience credit – we GOT the joke on our own.
— It’s become a running joke lately for an Update punchline to be a Chris Gaines photo placed onto something unrelated to him.
— The debut of Will’s voice immodulation character, Jacob Silj.
— Will is hilarious as this character, especially his offended loud remarks to Colin, and his failed attempt to make a quiet aside to himself.
— Nice touch at the end of this Update with Jacob Silj following Colin’s usual “that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it” sign-off by saying “That’s a stupid tagline, if you ask me.”
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mixed Bizness”


GOTH TALK
Circe, Baron Nocturna, (host) conduct Azrael’s funeral

— Much like the Cheerleaders, Goth Talk makes its first appearance in over a year. I recall hearing that the reason for the long absence of Goth Talk sketches is because of the notorious Columbine school shooting from April of this year (1999). In the wake of that tragedy, SNL reportedly didn’t feel comfortable continuing to do a recurring sketch making fun of goth teens, due to misconceptions about the two Columbine shooters being goths.
— Also like the Cheerleaders, this ends up being the final Goth Talk sketch. However, Molly and Kattan’s characters from this recurring sketch do appear in one more sketch: a Blair Witch parody in the following season’s Charlize Theron episode.
— Some laughs from Azrael Abyss’ horrifying 9th grade yearbook picture.
— Pretty funny visual of Will showing up in both his goth makeup and his job uniform.
— Like I said in my review of the preceding Goth Talk installment, this sketch is missing something without Jim Breuer’s character.
— I love how the “spooky” clip of Azrael turns out to be an embarrassing childish Christmas video of him from just a few years ago when he still would’ve been in his teens. Kattan is so convincingly childlike in his actions and delivery in this clip.
STARS: ***


SALLY
Sally Jessy Raphael (ANG) unsuccessfully tries to tame wild teen (host)

— Funny seeing a Sally Jessy Raphael sketch after she was one of the celebrities portrayed as the Antichrist in the TV Funhouse from earlier tonight.
— Christina’s character is such a spot-on parody of wild teens on trashy daytime talk shows from this era.
— Christina: “Sally, you know you want me!” Sally Jessy Raphael: “That is a whole other show.”
— In what’s supposed to be a fake punch to Ana’s nose, Christina actually connects the punch by accident (the third above screencap for this sketch). Christina then immediately drops character, says “Oh!”, and has a look of genuine concern on her face while covering her mouth in shock (the fourth above screencap for this sketch), before getting back into character.
— A very funny part about guests of the show staying in Lorimer Dog Cages.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Christina being replaced as Molly’s daughter by an unknown Asian girl.
— The chaotic ending scene is a bit much for me, though I am laughing at a now-blind Tracy beating on the Asian girl with a bat.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sexx Laws”


IN MEMORIAM
clip of Madeline Kahn’s “I Feel Pretty” SNL performance marks her passing

— A brief clip is shown of a fantastic season 1 sketch with Madeline Kahn, who passed away just a day before tonight’s episode. A very sad loss.
— An eerie SNL-related thing I recall seeing someone once point out about Madeline Kahn’s death: the musical guest of her last SNL episode, Bush, was also the musical guest of the last Phil Hartman-hosted episode. Both Madeline and Phil would meet an untimely death just a few years after their aforementioned last SNL episode. Yikes, let’s just be grateful that Bush never appeared as a musical guest a third time.
— I wish this tribute clip to Madeline was longer (my review of this is much longer than the clip itself was), but even this brief clip is more than what SNL sometimes does in more recent years when a former host passes away, where SNL just shows a bumper picture of said host from an episode they hosted.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently decent episode. While there weren’t many things that stood out as great to me, the show flowed fairly well and had no sketches that I disliked.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jennifer Aniston)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The 1990s come to an end, as does the 20th century (I won’t say millennium, because I know some people will nitpick that this particular millennium technically didn’t end until December 31, 2000). Danny DeVito hosts the final episode of both the decade and century.

Posted on

November 20, 1999 – Jennifer Aniston / Sting (S25 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM DONALD TRUMP
Donald Trump’s (DAH) running mate is millionaire John Carpenter [real]

— Darrell’s still portraying Donald Trump with the New York mobster wiseguy-type voice that he used earlier this season, which sounds nothing like how his impression would later go on to famously sound.
— In retrospect, it’s quite odd seeing this 1999 sketch having Trump going on about how he’s gonna be president and we might as well not fight it.
— Funny line about a see-through bathtub.
— A cameo from John Carpenter, the winner of the previous night’s episode of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. By nature, this cameo has aged oddly (then again, so has this entire cold opening).
— The voice of Carpenter’s dad on the phone is played by SNL writer Tim Herlihy. This is his sendoff, as tonight is his last show . He’s funny in this cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host gets MOS, ANG, CHO, RAD to join her Catfight Club

— Tina Fey’s voice still sounds so different in her pre-cast member appearances. Kinda hard to believe that tonight’s appearance is less than a year before she starts doing Weekend Update. However, she has been gradually starting to look like how she would in her Update days, as she’s noticeably been losing weight.
— I like Jennifer Aniston’s passing mention of a restraining order she has on Tina.
— I absolutely love this turn with a Fight Club-esque violent fight between Jennifer and the female cast members. Very fun.
— Jennifer’s “Superstar” taunt to Molly was really funny.
— Good line with Jennifer ashamedly admitting that she hasn’t even seen her boyfriend Brad Pitt’s movie Fight Club yet.
— I like the inclusion of Rachel, and how she’s being pushed around by her female castmates because she’s a newbie. It feels odd in retrospect seeing her and Cheri interacting, considering this would be their only season together and I can’t think of many other sketches later this season that we see any onscreen interaction between them (besides the Ugly Models sketch from the Freddie Prinze Jr. episode and the Office Skank sketch from the John Goodman episode).
— I love Rachel’s excited yell of “This is freakin’ awesome!” into the camera.
STARS: ****½


PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen & horny self-esteem guru (musical guest)

— Oh, god, here we go. Though I do remember this particular Pretty Living installment being a little more tolerable than usual.
— Kinda interesting having a musical guest appear in a Pretty Living sketch for once, and Sting’s sketch work is always solid.
— Jennifer’s collage is really funny.
— Jennifer’s bitterness throughout this sketch is helping to indeed make this Pretty Living sketch more tolerable than usual.
STARS: **½


NICK BURNS, YOUR COMPANY’S COMPUTER GUY
Nick Burns (JIF) condescends while giving tech support to officeworkers

— Nick Burns makes his debut.
— Between the debut of the Boston Teens in the last episode and now Nick Burns’ debut tonight, Jimmy’s been doing a lot of character work all of a sudden, after previously doing mainly just celebrity impressions and guitar songs on Weekend Update.
— Ah, a character with an opening title sequence and theme song, feeling like a throwback to SNL’s late 80s/early 90s era. A memorable and fairly catchy theme song that Nick Burns has.
— Speaking of SNL’s late 80s/early 90s era, I’ve always thought that Nick Burns kinda feels like a character that Mike Myers would’ve played back in the day.
— Nick Burns’ snarkiness and arrogance throughout this sketch is pretty funny, and a good spoof of the type of computer experts who are exactly like this.
— Good turn with Burns having difficulty for once when trying to fix Jennifer’s computer problems.
STARS: ***½


WAYNE PORTER
castaway Wayne Porter (CHP) wants to be reelected as leader of the island

— A great and very creative premise, and Parnell is perfect in this.
— I love the line from Parnell about how he knows this commercial isn’t airing on TV, as he’s staring into a hole in a coconut.
— A little bit of awkwardness at the end of the live version I’m watching of this, especially the timing issues with Darrell’s ending voice-over.
STARS: ****½


PRIVOLIN
(host) confuses co-workers by breaking fourth wall for genital herpes ad

— A great twist on the cliche of someone in a commercial secretly speaking to the camera while being among a group of people.
— Jennifer is giving a very strong performance here.
— Ana: “She’s talking to the wall about herpes medicine!”
STARS: ****½


BAND SHOT

— I absolutely love how the preceding sketch carries over into this band shot, with Jennifer suddenly blocking the SNL Band by (silently) continuing to plug the Privolin medicine in front of the camera.


SEX AND THE CITY
Carrie (host) recounts her rendezvous with Mr. Peepers

— Our first time in a while seeing a Mr. Peepers sketch. Still not a long enough of a break, in my eyes. Not even crossing him over with a Sex And The City parody seems like it has potential to me.
— The portion of the sketch parodying Eyes Wide Shut is kinda clever, at least.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
wired George W. Bush (WIF) plugs his book & fields COQ’s questions
subtitles reveal the truth behind the polite race discussion of COQ & TRM

— Some of Colin’s jokes are getting a really strong audience reaction. Too bad his delivery is still iffy for me.
— Like the first time he played Bush earlier this season, it’s interesting seeing how different Will’s early portrayal of Bush is from the portrayal that we would later become familiar with. Tonight’s particular Bush portrayal is playing up Bush’s coke habits, which Will is pulling off hilariously.
— Bush: “Is it cool if I do a couple of lines?” Colin: “What?!?” Bush: “…of my book!”
— I like how you can already hear audience members chuckling as soon as Colin begins a Michael Jackson joke, long before he’s even gotten to the punchline.
— Good to see Tracy playing himself again after the epic backstage sketch he did with Garth Brooks in the last episode.
— The captions of what Tracy and Colin are really thinking during their discussion are decent. I especially like Tracy’s caption “’Til my sitcom on the WB.”
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Brand New Day”


CHRISTMAS URCHINS
rented street urchins (host) & (RAD) entertain a family by begging

— This has always been a favorite sketch of mine, partly for reasons I’ll mention during the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” at the end of this review.
— I love this very random premise of 19th century street urchins being used by a family as Christmas lawn ornaments. Rachel’s portrayal of an urchin is particularly hilarious, and she’s getting great reactions from the audience. I remember when I first saw this episode, this was one of the very first sketches that really endeared me to then-newbie Rachel.
— Darrell’s line about the urchins having lice gave me a laugh.
— The urchins’ increasingly disturbing songs are a riot, particularly their final “I’d (insert unsettling action here) for you” song. Of the final song, I especially love the “I’d decapitate a whore for you” lyric, because hearing it in retrospect, it’s a very Tina Fey-esque line (she wrote this sketch).
STARS: *****


KIM PLUNKETT
Wayne Porter’s rival Kim Plunkett (WIF) counters with an attack ad

— Will’s portrayal of his psychotic character is absolutely priceless, especially him randomly starting to bark as one of his points.
— I love the odd photo of Will’s character wearing some kind of fancy outfit and holding a smoking pipe (the last above screencap for this sketch).
— A perfect ending yell from Will of the line “I’M GONNA EAT YOU!!!”
STARS: *****


POKEMON
parents (DAH) & (host) are worried because their kid isn’t into Pokemon

— Interesting how they’re using a real child in this large role, instead of having a cast member play it. Also interesting seeing Darrell in such a major non-impression role, which is a huge rarity for him.
— A good take-off on the Pokemon craze from this time, which, when watching this in retrospect, serves as a nice time capsule for 1999.
— Jennifer and Darrell’s mean-spirited reactions to their son’s dislike of Pokemon has many great lines, especially Jennifer flat-out telling her son he’s a dumbass and Darrell telling him they’re so disappointed in how he’s turned out. This era is great at doing sketches with kids being berated by adults (e.g. various Will Ferrell sketches, Colin Quinn’s debate with a little girl on Weekend Update earlier this season).
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Cheb Mami [real] perform “Desert Rose”


THANKSGIVING DINNER
Roberta ruins the family Thanksgiving dinner to which she invited herself

— The return of a character, Roberta, who Cheri previously played only once, very early in her SNL tenure. Very odd that they’re bringing this character back FOUR YEARS LATER. That has got to be one of the longest-ever gaps between a recurring character’s first and second appearance when the performer who plays them was in the cast (I’m not counting times when cast members came back to host).
— If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear this is the same family from the Urchins sketch earlier tonight. Like that sketch, we have Parnell as a gray-haired dad, Ana as a mom, and Darrell as a crotchety old grandpa. Speaking of Darrell, he’s surprisingly been playing a lot of noteworthy non-impression roles tonight.
— Roberta’s cat names are pretty funny.
— Cheri’s delivery as this character sounds different from how I remember it sounding the last time she played her. I guess going four years without playing this character will do that.
— A big laugh at the end from Cheri’s disturbing story regarding unwashed sheets at a hotel.
— Overall, while I remember being disappointed by the first Roberta sketch, I actually kinda enjoyed this one. It wasn’t anything particularly great and had kind of a generic “Cheri Oteri plays yet another weirdo” feel, but I got enough laughs from this.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— With this being SNL writer Tim Herlihy’s last show, Tim Meadows can be heard repeatedly shouting “HERLIHY!”, and Will holds up a card saying “Thank you, Tim Herlihy!”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— (***LONG STORY ALERT***) This episode plays a HUGE importance in my SNL fandom. I first saw this episode when NBC reran it during summer reruns in the year 2000, back when I was still a casual SNL viewer who usually only tuned into bits and pieces of the show. During that viewing of this episode, I fell in love with the episode so much that I ended up watching it constantly the next few weeks on the VHS tape that I just happened to record the episode on. That, in turn, heightened my interest in SNL and led to me watching and recording the entire episodes on a regular basis on NBC every Saturday night, and also finding online SNL sites and message boards, which all quickly turned me from a casual SNL viewer to a diehard SNL nerd. Getting back to my first viewing of this episode, shortly after that viewing, I, as mentioned in my review of the Sabra Price is Right sketch from season 17’s Tom Hanks episode, recorded audio from Jennifer Aniston’s Fight Club monologue and the Christmas Urchins sketch onto a cassette tape (which also contained audio I recorded from a few other SNL sketches, which are mentioned in the Sabra Price is Right review I linked to) that I ended up listening to on a VERY frequent basis. Because of that, and because of how much I fell in love with this episode in general during my first viewing, the Fight Club monologue and (especially) Urchins sketch will forever be significant to me. All in all, this episode holds a very special place in my heart for all of the reasons I’ve just mentioned, and thus, I may be biased when saying right now that this is one of my personal all-time favorite episodes. Even judging this episode on the same level of other SNL episodes, I still feel that this episode is strong. There was a good number of standout great sketches, and even Pretty Living managed to be less insufferable than usual. Jennifer Aniston was also a very solid host and did a great job in every sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Garth Brooks)
technically about the same, but on a personal level for reasons I mentioned earlier, a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christina Ricci

Posted on

November 13, 1999 – Garth Brooks / Chris Gaines (S25 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NRA HEADQUARTERS
NRA members celebrate gunman (HOS) after he shoots up their headquarters

— Interesting fake-out at the beginning, where this starts out with stock footage of a Cheerleaders sketch (from season 23’s Matthew Perry episode), before it thankfully gets cut off by an NBC special report.
— I like it being pointed out how ironic it is that a mass shooting is occurring at the NRA headquarters.
— Will is doing the most bizarre Charlton Heston impression I’ve EVER seen. It’s certainly making me laugh, though. Also, is Will wearing fake arms for whatever reason? His arms are strangely hanging in a limp, un-moving manner.
— Hilarious line from Will’s Heston about the mass shooter’s rifle: “Upon seeing it, I instantly achieved an erection.”
— I love the detail of the shooter (Horatio) being an unemployed women’s softball coach.
— Interesting social commentary throughout this cold opening.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
whereas host was smitten with Mango, Mango has a thing for musical guest

— (*groan*) Mango makes an appearance for the SECOND episode in a row. While it’s understandable in tonight’s case, considering how famous the Mango installment from Garth Brooks’ last episode was and that people would’ve been expecting a follow-up tonight, I still have to complain. SNL knew during the week of the preceding Dylan McDermott episode that Garth was hosting the next episode, and thus, they should’ve just waited until Garth’s episode to do a Mango sketch, instead of shoving Mango down our throats two consecutive weeks. Then again, considering McDermott did a Mango imitation in the Mango sketch from his episode, I wonder if he was already a fan of the character and requested a Mango sketch during that week’s pitch meeting. Still, there had to have been SOME way to avoid having a Mango sketch in two consecutive episodes.
— Garth is funny with his tense reaction to seeing Mango again.
— I do like that we’re seeing a clip from the last Mango sketch that Garth appeared in, just because the clip is a fun and well-done scene.
— Garth’s delivery of “Mango’s got the hots for Chris! Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk!”was odd but charmingly hillbilly-ish.
STARS: **


TODAY IS NEVER YESTERDAY
James Bond (CHP) informs former sex partners of his 107 venereal diseases

— An absolutely priceless reveal of Parnell’s James Bond having 107 different venereal diseases. I love the James Bond music sting that plays when the camera shows Bond’s taken-aback reaction.
— When asking Bond how hasn’t he noticed all of the awful symptoms of his venereal diseases, I got a big laugh from Garth saying “Surely you’re aware of the stench that even fills this room.”
— Hilarious sequence with Bond calling up all 8,000 of the people he’s slept with in the last five years. I especially like him calling up Martha Stewart and both Batman AND Robin.
— Funny ending with Ana revealing to Bond that her name is Connie Lingus.
STARS: ****


THE SMURFS
cartoon imps are dramatized in star-studded epic miniseries

 

— A hilarious concept of the Smurfs being turned into an epic NBC miniseries.
— A lot of fun celebrity choices for Smurf portrayals. I especially like Darrell’s Sean Connery as Papa Smurf, and Tracy as Little Richard.
— Very funny passionate line from Rachel to Garth: “I want you to Smurf all over my Smurfs!”
— An absolutely priceless inclusion of Ana’s Celine Dion singing a dramatic, powerful rendition of the Smurfs theme song.
STARS: ****½


HICKORY FARMS
Boston teens Sully (JIF) & Denise (RAD) videotape Hickory Farms job quest

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Rachel gets her very first lead role.
— I love Garth’s friendly delivery of “I’m gonna have to ask you not to dry hump by the food products.”
— Rachel: “Everybody calls me Zazu!”
— Right in this first Boston Teens sketch, Jimmy and Rachel already have a good handle on their characters, which makes sense in Rachel’s case, as she previously did these sketches with Tina Fey in their improv days.
— We get our very first “Nomah” mention.
— Another great line from Garth: “I don’t think you have the skills needed to hand out free pieces of cheese.”
STARS: ***½


BACKSTAGE
TRM tells host he thinks musical guest is fruity, then bosses LOM around

— Oh, here comes a very important game-changer in Tracy Morgan’s SNL tenure.
— Tracy is priceless in his negative rant to Garth about Chris Gaines, particularly this perfectly Tracy Morgan-esque line: “Chris Gaines is a weenie beenie bing-bong freak!”
— An absolutely legendary part right now with Tracy telling Lorne “Go get me a soda…. BITCH!” I also love how that’s followed by Lorne just pausing for a while and then saying “Okay.”
— Yet another killer line from Tracy, this time about how if Garth were as fat as Chris Gaines, they’d be calling him “Girth Brooks”.
— Garth’s flustered and horrified facial reactions throughout this are great.
— I enjoyed the little ending with Lorne’s “These are strange times, homes” and Tracy telling him not to do that.
— Overall, a true classic, and would be the sketch responsible for helping shape what would go on to famously be known as Tracy’s trademark onscreen persona.
STARS: *****


GREAT MOMENTS IN CORPORATE HISTORY
plethora of Warner-Lambert execs nixes merger with American Home Products

— Will has the great ability to make a reading-off of an endless amount of names funny.
— Will’s reading-off of names is made even funnier by the occasional moments we see the camera panning across a table of execs.
— Great fake-out with Will stopping his reading-off of names to take a drink of water, only to continue with the names immediately afterwards.
— Funny turn with Will calling the merger off just because Rachel messed up her name.
STARS: ****


EXPRESS FLOWERS
ordering flowers for girlfriend via phone, (host) mulls message for card

— A big laugh from the first message that Garth requests to be put on the card for flowers he’s sending to his girlfriend: “I screwed up, you screwed up, now let’s screw. Horniest wishes – Donnie.”
— The increasingly disturbing revisions Garth is making to the card are very funny.
— Solid ad-lib from Garth when he messes up a line.
— Garth: “I’ve got 800 bucks in the bank, a well-thought-of penis, and an NFL football phone.”
— I love how Garth is now directing his flower card to his girlfriend’s sister, and how he signs his name at the end of it as “The Night Dog”.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Millennium- Darryl Dawkins is named Man Of The Millennium
MOS says Julianna Margulies is crazy for turning down $27,000,000 from ER

— Great to see another Millennium segment, as these are always solid.
— An overall very funny Millennium segment on basketball player Darryl Dawkins, especially the part about how he was chosen for “Man of the Millennium” over William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein, and the line about his “almost-pornographic dunks”. All of this is made even funnier by Parnell’s great voice-over delivery.
— Colin finally had a post-joke ad-lib that made me laugh, after his Louis Farrakhan joke: “I can’t get a laugh on a Farrakhan joke in the Garth Brooks show; that’s a little politically correct for my tastes.”
— As I said in my last review, I keep forgetting that Molly is even still on the show, due to her lack of appearances lately. This is her first big role in an entire month.
— Throughout Molly’s commentary, they keep making a big deal about this being a new editorial commentary segment, as if they’re setting it up to become recurring. We end up never seeing this segment again.
— Not caring much for this commentary of Molly’s. I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 1999 saying that this commentary just seemed to be an excuse for Molly to do a thinly-veiled Adam Sandler impression. I can definitely see the Sandler similarities in some parts of Molly’s performance here.
— For no good reason, Molly, during her goofiness at the end of her commentary, slips in an “I like a-dawgs!”, which is her catchphrase from the Dog Show sketches. This just further proves to me how one-note Molly’s gradually becoming as a performer lately.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Way Of The Girl”


DRESSING ROOM
host reveals that his Chris Gaines persona was a ploy to get with Mango

— Jesus Christ, our THIRD Mango sketch within these last two episodes alone.
— I guess it’s kinda funny that Garth reveals he created his Chris Gaines persona just to get close to Mango.
— For some reason, this sketch randomly ends with Mango plugging the host/musical guest line-up of the next episode, then saying “I’ll see you then… or will I?” Man, I sure hope not. Three episodes in a row with Mango would be pure murder on me.
— Overall, despite the potentially interesting Garth Brooks/Mango/Chris Gaines story arc tonight, I didn’t care for this sketch at all, and I found Mango even more annoying than usual here, which is certainly saying something.
STARS: *½


LUCIFER SONGS
(host) will sell his soul for a hit song, but Lucifer (WIF) can’t deliver

— Great makeup on Will’s Lucifer.
— Lucifer’s uncharacteristically cheesy songs are all really funny, especially the “Fred’s got slacks” song and the English-accented “love bat” song.
— Will is giving a hilarious performance in this sketch, especially whenever he gets frustrated.
— Lucifer’s bad attempt at a rap song slayed me.
— The “The devil can’t write no love songs” song that Garth makes up at the end actually sounds like it could’ve been a legitimate hit song for Garth in real life.
STARS: ****½


WILSON’S
department store employee Nadeen (CHO) tells customers to “simmer down”

— The debut of Nadeen, Cheri’s “Simma dah nah” character, who’s a variation of a supporting character Cheri played in the Cathouse Computer System sketch from the preceding season’s John Goodman episode.
— A very funny line from Garth to Tim about how the clothing that Tim’s returning isn’t meant to be “dragged through the valley of your buttocks”.
— I’m getting some laughs from Cheri and Garth’s various ways of using visual aids to break down each word in the “Simma dah nah” phrase and variations thereof.
— Overall, while this was a pretty one-note and catchphrase-driven sketch, I didn’t find it too bad for this first outing. Not sure how I’ll react to the subsequent installments of this sketch from later this season. I remember getting sick of these sketches when they originally aired.
STARS: ***


ROYAL DELUXE II

— An encore presentation of a classic season 3 commercial. They’re re-airing this to commemorate SNL’s milestone 25th season, as evidenced by the fact that the beginning of this repeated commercial is framed with a “Saturday Night Live 25” logo (which the “Chess For Girls” rerun earlier this season wasn’t, for anyone who was wondering if that rerun may have also been to commemorate the 25th season). If this was intended to be the beginning of a regular thing this season to re-air classic old commercials, it doesn’t take off, as this ends up being the sole occurrence all season.
— So great to see some of the original SNL cast members again.
— For my thoughts on this commercial, read my original review of it in this episode review.


WXLU
ruinous newscast intro sequence devised by (WIF) has a kids show motif

— I love how this begins with Tim telling the quiet room of employees “Alright, everybody, settle down now”, as a reference to the “Simma dah nah” sketch that just aired.
— Wow, Ana has appeared in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight.
— The news station used for this sketch, WXLU, is the same one used in the Lotto sketch from the last episode. Will is even playing the same character he played at the beginning of that Lotto sketch: Max Gibbons.
— Tim: “Words like ‘stiff’, ‘impersonal’, and ‘jackass’ kept coming up again and again.”
— I didn’t even recognize Garth at first in that wig.
— A lot of funny random lines in this sketch so far.
— The silly Zoom-esque kiddie intro for the news team is very funny. I especially like Parnell’s deadpan, emotionless bit about how he likes to think.
— I love the visual of Garth hiding his face in shame after the aforementioned Zoom-esque intro ends.
— Great ending with Will trying to fool Tim into believing he’s fired, then doing a fake freeze-frame while in the middle of laughing. After Will slowly walks out of the shot while still holding his freeze-frame pose, I also love Tim’s angry yell of “GIBBOOOOOOONNNNNNSSS!!!”
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A great episode, with a lot of highly-rated sketches, and a classic (Backstage). Garth Brooks did yet another strong job hosting, and he works with this cast so well. A damn shame that this ends up being his final hosting stint.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dylan McDermott)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jennifer Aniston

Posted on

November 6, 1999 – Dylan McDermott / Foo Fighters (S25 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRACTICE
Bobby (host) kisses his law partners & Ally McBeal (RAD)

— Some laughs from the constant make-out sessions between Dylan McDermott’s Practice character and his female co-workers during tense confrontations.
— I like the visual of Dylan exuberantly sliding across the table to eagerly make out with Horatio as Camryn Manheim’s character.
— I’m not familiar with the actor from The Practice that Darrell is playing, but I remember incorrectly thinking Darrell was playing Gilbert Gottfried when I first saw this sketch in an NBC rerun in 2000. As crazy as that mistake of mine probably sounds to you readers, it was the raspy voice and squinty eyes Darrell was doing that caused my mistake. I remember being very confused as to why Darrell was even playing Gilbert Gottfried in this sketch, because I was aware that Gottfried wasn’t in The Practice’s cast, and Jimmy Fallon was SNL’s resident Gilbert Gottfried impersonator at this time.
— The constant joke of Dylan making out with his co-workers is getting a little old.
— Great turn with Rachel randomly appearing as Ally McBeal from David E. Kelley’s other show. Kinda odd, though, how Rachel has done her Calista Flockhart impression in her first two episodes. I remember some SNL reviewers from back at this time in 1999 saying stuff like “I sure hope Calista Flockhart isn’t all that Rachel Dratch can do.”
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host humors former co-star HOS’s desire to play Santa Claus

— I wonder if Dylan’s story about being a bartender for the original SNL cast is true. Bruce Willis had a similar story in his season 15 monologue about being a caterer for the original cast, though I can’t remember if that story was true or obviously fake.
— A good laugh from how, after Dylan prompts the audience to applaud for Horatio’s walk-on, Horatio just says “They know who I am.”
— A big night for Horatio so far, between his role in the cold opening, getting to say “Live From New York”, and now this monologue focusing on him.
— Nice seeing an old clip of Dylan and Horatio together in Miracle On 34th Street.
STARS: ***


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
Elizabeth Dole (ANG) is ambushed in an interview

— A topical parody of a then-infamous Pete Rose interview that Jim Gray had recently done.
— I’m getting some laughs from Parnell-as-Jim-Gray’s graphic detailing of the type of sex that Elizabeth Dole has with her husband Bob.
STARS: ***


GUMBEL’S OFFICE
feud of Bryant Gumbel (TIM) & Katie Couric (CHO) pains Matt Lauer (host)

— Solid line from Cheri’s Katie Couric about how Bryant Gumbel sucks his co-hosts’ soul out and leaves a perky little carcass.
— I’m enjoying the catty barbs between Cheri’s Couric and Tim’s Bryant Gumbel.
— I love Cheri’s Couric telling Tim’s Gumbel “Bring it on, Oreo!”
— Bryant Gumbel to Katie Couric: “If I wasn’t married and you were better-looking, I’d definitely go out with you.”
— At the end, while threatening each other with broken glass, there’s a cute little unintentional moment with Tim and Cheri cracking each other up, then hugging each other out of character right before the camera fades to black.
STARS: ***½


FAREWELL ASSEMBLY
Marty & Bobbi do a medley at assembly honoring departing principal (host)

— Why did Rachel run to the left exit of the stage after she made her exit on the right side of the stage? New cast member greenness? I think this possible gaffe of hers is removed in reruns by showing the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, though I’m not sure.
— A bit of a change of pace for the Culps, with the addition of Dylan’s character.
— I like the froggy voice Dylan is using here.
— Dylan’s adding a lot of fun energy during the Culps’ song medley.
— During the Culps’ and Dylan’s performance of Eminem’s “My Name is” song, I like Bobbi Mohan-Culp singing the words “wicki-wicki” whenever she imitates the record-scratching sounds from the real song.
STARS: ***½


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
interviewee Danny Glover (TIM) won’t apologize

— Ah, a runner tonight.
— Overall, meh. A weak follow-up to the first installment of this earlier tonight.
STARS: **


WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
game show contestant (ANG) has a breakdown

— The first of many Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parodies this season, back when it was a very hot show.
— Darrell debuts a solid Regis Philbin impression.
— Not sure I care for this turn with Ana’s emotional breakdown, but Ana is pulling it off fairly well.
— A pretty good laugh from the cutaway to Horatio as Ana’s husband hanging his head in shame.
— Paula Pell’s deadpan, unsympathetic voice during Ana’s emotional phone call to her is pretty funny.
— A weak and predictable ending with Ana finally answering the quiz question, only to get it wrong.
STARS: **½


MANGO
after Mango gets shot in the butt, cop (host) goes undercover as him

— (*sigh*) Get ready, folks. This is our first of MANY Mango sketches this season.
— Interesting turn during Mango’s striptease, with him getting shot in the butt.
— A good laugh from the newspaper headline “Mango Takes It In The Butt!”
— Tim’s comically emotional praying for Mango is pretty funny, though it got no reaction from the audience.
— When Mango is reading “get well soon” cards from celebrities, one of them turns out to be a love letter from Norm Macdonald, who’s letter Mango responds to by asking himself “Norm Macdonald?!? Who is that?!?” before dismissively tossing the letter away. While it’s kinda interesting how SNL is referencing not only a former cast member but the host of the last episode, this bit actually bothers me. I definitely understand that Kattan and Norm didn’t get along, and Norm has certainly been known to ruthlessly make way-too-harsh barbs about Kattan’s alleged “gayness” in a Rolling Stone interview and behind the scenes at SNL, but at least he never did it ON THE AIR. That’s more than I can say for Kattan’s jab at Norm here.
— Dylan’s Mango impression is pretty funny.
— Clever twist with Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani being revealed as the shooter, as a topical reference to the real Giuliani’s attempt to shut down New York’s strip clubs.
STARS: **½


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
as a matter of principle, host refuses interview

— Cool how the end of the Mango sketch transitioned into this Jim Gray sketch, as Dylan and Kattan made their exit from the Mango sketch’s set.
— Nice that they’re doing something a little different for this third Jim Gray installment, even if it’s still not particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE

— Colin: “In a television appearance this week, Donald Trump said that if elected president, he would appoint himself U.S. trade representative, and then, quote, ‘our partners would have to negotiate across the table from Donald Trump.’” That’s not the punchline to Colin’s joke; it’s just the set up. I just felt it would be interesting to quote it in today’s age, for obvious reasons.
— Colin’s former habit of frequently muttering ad-libs to the audience after his news jokes, which mysteriously disappeared halfway through the preceding season, has returned with a vengeance, as tonight’s Update has been riddled with them. Good for him, but too bad his ad-libs still aren’t funny, for the most part.
— No guest commentaries in tonight’s overall Update. Too bad, because this Update was in desperate need of one. We got the usual blah-ness from Colin, with only some occasional strong jokes.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Learn To Fly”


COLLETTE AT HOME
Colette Reardon pops pills during a visit from telephone repairman (host)

— Interesting seeing Collette Reardon at home for a change.
— I always like the odd names of Collette’s various doctors who she always mentions in passing in her appearances.
— Overall, like I said in my review of the last Collette Reardon appearance, I’ve run out of things to say about her, but this sketch as a whole was still decent.
STARS: ***


LOTTO PICK 4 HOSPITAL
lottery numbers are revealed during medical drama

— Doing a hybrid of a Lotto drawing and a hospital drama is a pretty solid idea for a sketch. Feels like a sister sketch to that The Life We Lead sketch from season 21’s Tom Arnold episode, in which they did a hybrid of a newscast and a soap opera. I wonder if the person who wrote that sketch also wrote this Lotto sketch.
— Here comes Tracy finally making his first appearance of the night, being stuck in his usual useless bit role with only one line.
— A funny disgusting close-up of the blood-covered Lotto ball that was extracted from Horatio’s insides.
— Speaking of a cast member’s first appearance of the night, Molly finally makes her first and ONLY appearance not only of this episode, but of these last two episodes, as she was completely absent in the last episode. Wow, that live-action Grinch movie she’s filming is really taking away a lot of her time at SNL. By this point, I’m almost starting to forget she’s even still in the cast.
— With Molly and Dylan’s make-out session in this sketch, Dylan has now officially made out with every single female member of this cast during a sketch. Did the female cast make that a clause in Dylan’s hosting contract or something?
— I’m enjoying the creative ways they’re revealing each Lotto number in each scene. Dylan’s sly performance when holding up each Lotto ball to the camera is fun.
— Very funny gag with the Lotto ball popping out of the pregnant woman’s off-camera vagina.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stacked Actors”


NOT MY BABY!
“Not my baby!” says Mrs. Parker (TRM) to charges that her son deals drugs

— What’s this? Tracy Morgan with a LEAD ROLE??? Wow, I almost forgot what that’s like, considering how bad his airtime has been this season.
— While this initially seems like a cheap drag role, I’m loving Tracy’s performance here.
— I’m cracking up at the intimidating, silent demeanor of Tracy’s “baby”, Dante.
— The close-ups of Dante with that frozen mean look on his face during Tracy’s tender singing of “The Greatest Love of All” are very amusing.
— I like the ending with Tracy telling Dante “I’m-a whoop yo ass when we get home!” while dragging him out of the courtroom like a bad child.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. There were a few weak spots, a lot of pretty good sketches, and absolutely NO sketches that I found great (nothing got a rating higher than three-and-a-half stars from me). An overall episode so average that I’ll probably have forgotten it by the time I reach the end of this season. Dylan McDermott surprised me with how uncharacteristically silly and amusing he was in some sketches; I particularly liked his performances in the Culps, Mango, and Lotto sketches.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Norm Macdonald)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Garth Brooks / Chris Gaines

Posted on

October 23, 1999 – Norm Macdonald / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Eminem (S25 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WORLD SERIES BET
Rudolph Giuliani (DAH) wanted higher stakes for mayoral World Series bet

— Tim’s brief appearance in the opening portion of this sketch isn’t seen in reruns, as reruns replace this cold opening with the dress rehearsal version. With Tim’s appearance here missing in reruns, the rerun version of tonight’s episode has Tim making his ONLY appearance of the night in a Michael Jackson sketch that doesn’t air until towards the end of the show.
— Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani impression makes its debut.
— As no surprise, Darrell’s Giuliani impression is solid.
— Ha, after Darrell’s Giuliani praises the Mets, you can hear a sole “Boo!” from one person in SNL’s audience.
— Darrell has carried over the “laugh, then suddenly put on a straight face” mannerism from his Bill Clinton impression.
— A lot of funny lines from Darrell’s Giuliani as he’s going on about what he and the mayor of Atlanta have agreed to give each other if the Yankees or Braves win that year’s World Series. I especially love the one about New York getting the severed head of John Rocker on a stick. For anyone who remembers the colossal bigoted douchebag that was John Rocker (Will Ferrell does a great Weekend Update commentary as him later this season), you hopefully appreciate that joke.
— Another great line, this time with Giuliani’s bet about how if the Braves win, he’ll dress up as Scarlett O’Hara and the mayor of Atlanta can romance him with a plunger.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Rachel Dratch has been added to the cast tonight as a featured player.


MONOLOGUE
NOM deduces that SNL has gotten much worse in the time since he was fired

— Ah, it feels so great to see Norm making his entrance on SNL’s home base stage as the host.
— When a few people in the audience yell out “NORM!”, Norm asks “What was that?” and they repeat it, then Norm responds “Well, you’re absolutely right, that is my name.”
— Awesome how Norm is openly addressing his controversial firing from SNL, in the way that only he can.
— Norm’s great description of the disagreement he had with the management: “I wanted to keep my job, right? And THEY felt the EXACT OPPOSITE.”
— I love Norm pointing out how asinine it is that in just a year and a half, he’s gone from being considered not funny enough to even be allowed in the building to now hosting the show.
— Just now, Norm has gone “Heeeeeeeeeeeeey!” in the same way he hilariously did in the Sarcasm 101 sketch from season 23’s Matthew Perry episode.
— Norm: “How did I suddenly get so GODDAMN funny???”
— An absolutely priceless realization from Norm that he hasn’t gotten any funnier; the show has gotten really bad.
— Norm: “So, yeah, I’m funny compared to… well, you’ll see later.”
— Even the trademark sign-off line that every monologue ends with has a funny variation tonight, with Norm saying “We got a bad show for you tonight.”
— Overall, an absolutely epic monologue to end all monologues. One of the all-time best in SNL history.
STARS: *****


MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA
in the wake of her successful IPO, Martha Stewart (ANG) enjoys being rich

— A change of pace for a Martha Stewart sketch.
— Lots of great lines from Ana’s Martha bragging about her IPO.
— Martha Stewart: “The real Martha Stewart is a frigid 58-year-old divorcee with a filthy mouth and a mean streak.”
STARS: ****


GREAT MOMENTS IN YANKEE HISTORY
Lou Gehrig (NOM) was being sarcastic

— A hilarious and very Norm-esque twist on the famous Lou Gehrig speech, revealing that he was being sarcastic and starts going on about how horribly unlucky he is.
— Strangely, no audience applause can be heard at the end of this sketch in the live version.
— Overall, very short but sweet, and a quintessential Norm Macdonald sketch.
STARS: *****


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
French Stewart (JIF), Burt Reynolds (NOM), Sean Connery (DAH)

— Sean Connery, after the contestants are warned by Alex Trebek to refrain from using ethnic slurs: “Ya think you’re pretty smart, don’t ya, Trebek? What with your dago mustache and your greasy hair!” Alex Trebek: “Look, what did I just say about ethnic slurs?!?”
— Nice to see the return of Jimmy’s eerily-spot-on French Stewart impression. In the first cutaway to him here, you can hear an audience member say “Oh my god” in surprise.
— Wonderful to see Norm’s Burt Reynolds make his triumphant Celebrity Jeopardy return.
— Absolutely classic how Norm’s Reynolds is requesting to be addressed as Turd Ferguson.
— We get TWO category mix-ups tonight. One being Burt Reynolds referring to the “condiments” category as “the condom thing”, and the other being Reynolds’ far-more-classic “Ape Tit” misreading.
— Alex Trebek: “This is the sound a doggy makes.” Sean Connery: “Moo.” Alex Trebek: “No.” Sean Connery: “Well, that’s the sound your mother made last night.” This is the very first “your mother” slam that Connery would make towards Trebek in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. Surprised it took this long.
— We now already get a second “your mother” slam from Connery in tonight’s sketch. (Alex Trebek: “We would’ve accepted ‘bow wow’ or ‘ruff’.” Sean Connery: “Ah, ‘ruff’ – just the way your mother likes it, Trebek.”)
— Yet another classic moment, with Norm’s Burt Reynolds/Turd Ferguson now walking up to Trebek with an oversized foam cowboy hat.
— After Reynolds walks away from Trebek after the aforementioned cowboy hat bit, I got a huge laugh the minor bit with Trebek incredulously saying to himself “What’s going ON?!?” I love that the show has gotten so ridiculous that Trebek has to briefly stop just to question the insanity that he’s been witnessing, by saying to himself “What’s going ON?!?”
— At the end of this sketch, I believe it’s an ad-lib when Norm places his foam cowboy hat on Will’s Trebek during the sign-off, which Will goes along with perfectly by growling in character “Would you get that off me?!?” while angrily yanking the hat off of his head.
— Overall, this has always been what I feel is the best and most quintessential Celebrity Jeopardy installment, which is really saying something, considering how strong these sketches always are.
STARS: *****


CROSSTALK
the sexiness of unhealthily-thin women is championed

— Some good laughs from Parnell’s rude comments about Cheri’s plus size.
— A great trick Ana is doing to make herself look freakishly skinny.
— Parnell’s skeevy lusting after extremely skinny women is very funny.
— Hilarious bit with footage of the rail-thin Lara Flynn Boyle being represented by a dancing skeleton from a black-and-white cartoon from what appears to be the 1930s.
— Rachel Dratch makes her debut doing a very funny Calista Flockhart impression, complete with a puppet body. Rachel’s making a great first impression here.
— When asked what her secret is to staying thin, I love Ana’s Helen Gurley Brown responding “Actually, I died six months ago.”
— Funny visual of Rachel’s Flockhart spitting out some vomit before answering a question.
STARS: ****


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) relates yet more News & Views

— Great to see this back. I’m always a sucker for these.
— Interesting how this edition of News & Views is being performed live, considering the previous ones were pre-taped.
— Larry King: “Of all the figures of the 20th century, one of the greatest has to be Robert Urich.”
— A typical classic Norm moment right now with him staring down the camera for a VERY long time after saying “Does anyone remember baseball cards?” (the last above screencap for this sketch)
— Larry King: “Margarine has its place, but nothing beats the real deal………………………………..(freakishly long pause)………………………………..BUTTER!”
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Charlton Heston rails against gun control

 

— Kinda surprising that the first TV Funhouse of the season isn’t airing until now, though there was an epic one at SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special right before this season began.
— The audience is dead during this so far.
— Funny visual of Heston’s gun acting like a pet and eating bullets as if they’re pet food.
— Tom Selleck’s constant stammering and unfinished sentences are strange, but are cracking me up.
— Overall, despite some laughs, I dunno, something about this cartoon as a whole did not work for me, especially when it got towards the end. I wanna give Smigel the benefit of the doubt and assume this cartoon was just too “smart” for me, but I’ve seen some other reviewers express disappointment towards this cartoon too.
STARS: **


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) delineates additional News & Views

— Good to see a second one of these.
— We get another long camera staredown from Norm, this time complete with him briefly taking a sip from his coffee mug in the middle of the staredown (the second, third, and fourth above screencaps for this sketch).
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Millennium- moments from the past 1000 years that never occurred
gold digger Marla Maples (CHO) tries to assail Donald Trump’s character

— Well… this Update feels a little awkward to watch, knowing who’s in the building tonight.
— Tonight’s “The Millennium” segment has a priceless succession of random events that never occurred, such as Lucille Ball being executed by Capt. Crunch.
— I love Colin’s joke about how TV networks will soon stop indicating whether an episode is a rerun or not, resulting in Colin asking us to watch next week’s “live” SNL episode: Fran Tarkenton/Leon Redbone.
— Pretty funny unscripted moment with Colin stopping mid-joke to humorously say “God bless you” to an off-camera audience member who sneezed.
— The only real laugh I’ve gotten from Cheri’s Marla Maples commentary so far was her remark about her “Park Avenue cooch”.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg perform “Still D.R.E.”


MCMULLINS HOUSE
between visits from trick-or-treaters, dentist (NOM) & wife (CHO) fight

— I like Cheri’s dancing to the Ghostbusters theme music.
— Cheri greets one trick-or-treating child by saying “Is that little Lori Nasso?”, an inside reference to an SNL writer with that name.
— Cheri to Norm: “I rue the day I ever uncrossed my legs for you.”
— Norm has some great barbs during his and Cheri’s various tense arguments.
— I like how one of the trick-or-treating kids is dressed like Austin Powers. Some of the other trick-or-treating costumes seen throughout this sketch provide a nice time capsule for 1999, especially the Pikachu and Jar Jar Binks costumes.
— Tracy makes his only appearance of the night being stuck in his usual useless bit role where he only gets one measly line. We’re THREE episodes into season 25, and Tracy has made only two appearances all season so far, and only one of those appearances was a noteworthy role where he got more than one line. Man, thank god this season’s Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines episode is coming up very soon, because Tracy desperately needs it at this point. (You’ll know why I’m saying that if you remember a certain famous and important piece Tracy does in that episode.)
STARS: ***


BAR
newly-single Michael Jackson (TIM) & Howard Stern (JIF) commiserate

— Given his many ruthless-but-hilarious homosexual pedophile jokes about Michael Jackson on Weekend Update back in the day, I love the idea of Norm playing a bartender having a chat with a depressed, recently-divorced Michael Jackson.
— Hmm, turns out Norm’s just playing a generic friendly bartender. This sketch would be FAR better if it had Norm just going full-on Norm, by riffing hard on Tim’s MJ all throughout the sketch.
— Very funny gag with MJ unintentionally showing Norm his “Macaulay” tattoo when attempting to show him a tattoo of his ex-wife’s name.
— For some odd reason, right in the middle of his story, Tim’s MJ randomly goes “So I says to the nurse, I says, I says…”, which appears to be an ad-libbed reference to a semi-famous Chris Farley bit. Norm cracks up uncontrollably after this apparent ad-lib of Tim’s.
— An interesting tidbit about the appearance from Jimmy as an about-to-be-divorced Howard Stern is that it was a last-minute addition to this sketch. News of Howard Stern’s divorce came out earlier the same day of tonight’s episode, and thus, SNL must’ve figured it would be fitting to throw in Jimmy’s Stern at the end of a sketch that’s already about a celebrity divorce. In fact, some SNL reviewers back at this time in 1999 have said that they didn’t even know about Stern’s divorce until watching this sketch. Some people, to this day, have a hard time telling who Jimmy is even supposed to be playing here, especially since his Stern is never mentioned by name within this sketch. It doesn’t help that Jimmy sounds like he’s inexplicably using a hint of an English accent for his Stern. I’m hearing some of Jimmy’s John Lennon in there. Sorry, Jimmy, but Michael McKean still remains the unquestioned SNL master of the Howard Stern impression.
— It looks like Tim made another ad-lib right now in an attempt to get Jimmy to crack up the same way he made Norm crack up earlier in this sketch, but Jimmy surprisingly keeps a completely straight face and stays in character. It’s not very often you’ll be hearing me say that about Jimmy as his SNL tenure progresses.
— The ending felt weak.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dr. Dre & Eminem perform “Forgot About Dre”


INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO
James Lipton (WIF) rankles Clint Eastwood (NOM)

— The debut of the Inside the Actor’s Studio sketches.
— A hilarious blank open-mouthed look on Will-as-James-Lipton’s face when this sketch begins (the first above screencap for this sketch).
— Nice detail of a huge stack of index cards that Lipton is using for this interview.
— I’m liking Norm’s Clint Eastwood impression, which we previously heard a brief voice-only sample of in the great In The Line Of Fire sketch from John Malkovich’s season 19 episode.
— Will’s absurd characterization of his James Lipton impression is freakin’ priceless.
— A very funny dark story from Eastwood about Lipton having his teeth kicked in while sleeping.
— Clint Eastwood, after being asked what he would like God to say to him: “James Lipton is in hell right now being raped by the devil.”
— Ha, just now, Norm has dropped three more unscripted “goddamn”s, after he did so once earlier tonight in the monologue. Unsurprisingly, all of his “goddamn”s in tonight’s episode would later be muted out in reruns.
— Overall, a fantastic debut for the Inside the Actor’s Studio sketches, though in my opinion, there are even more memorable installments of this sketch to  come.
STARS: ****½


CHESS FOR GIRLS

— A rerun… from TWO SEASONS AGO.
— Due to taking time off from SNL this week to film the live-action Grinch movie, Molly has not been seen at all in tonight’s episode (I believe that’s part of the reason Rachel Dratch made her on-air debut tonight), until this re-aired old commercial. I guess SNL’s re-airing this just to say Molly was in SOMETHING tonight, even though her appearance in this commercial is just a VERY brief walk-on. Odd how SNL had to go all the way back to season 23 just to find a pre-taped commercial that Molly appeared in. Was she seriously not in ANY pre-taped season 24 commercials? The only one that comes to mind right now is that Teeny Weenies commercial, but I think it was based on a then-current news story, and thus, was too topical to be re-aired in a season 25 episode. If they HAD to re-air a season 23 commercial that Molly was in, why not one that she appeared in for more than two measly seconds? Lemon Glow? The “I’m #1” hat commercial?


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As expected for a Norm Macdonald episode, this was very solid as a whole, mainly because of the first 1/3rd of the show, which was INCREDIBLE in my eyes. That portion of the show consisted of a very long string of sketches that I gave a high four-or-five-star rating to. After that, the quality cooled down for the remainder of the show, until we got a very strong Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch towards the end of the night. Norm Macdonald did not disappoint as a host, and it was wonderful to see him getting his chance in the host spotlight tonight.
— Felt like we barely saw most of the cast members tonight. Even the usually-dominant Will Ferrell was only in 3 sketches. Chris Kattan, Horatio Sanz, AND, as mentioned earlier, Molly Shannon were all absent tonight. Very rare to have an episode where THREE cast members aren’t in any sketches. There’s a common misconception that the reason for Kattan’s absence in this episode is that he refused to even show up this week due to the well-documented animosity between him and Norm. That’s incorrect, as according to an online dress rehearsal report I remember reading years ago from an SNL fan who was in the audience at this episode’s dress rehearsal, Kattan was in at least one dress rehearsal sketch that got cut from the live show, though I can’t remember any details given about the sketch. (I do remember the details given about another cut sketch from this episode, in which Norm reprised his Bob Dole impression, portraying him this time as hopped up on Viagra and eagerly awaiting sex with his wife Elizabeth, played by Ana Gasteyer. At one point in the sketch, Norm reportedly ad-libbed towards Ana’s Elizabeth, “Hurry up! Bob Dole’s about to fuck the couch!”)


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Heather Graham)
a fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dylan McDermott

Posted on

October 16, 1999 – Heather Graham / Marc Anthony (S25 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MODERATE CANDIDATE
moderate (HOS) is born from DNA of Al Gore (DAH) & George W. Bush (WIF)

— The debut of Darrell’s Al Gore impression.
— You can tell this is Darrell’s first time playing Gore, as his impression sounds almost nothing like how it would famously go on to sound. Hell, at one point in this cold opening, when Darrell’s Gore whines “Darn it, I cain’t do thiiiis!”, Darrell slips into his Bill Clinton voice, for crying out loud.
— Speaking of Darrell’s Clinton, we now get a cutaway to him, in obvious pre-taped form while Darrell is live as Gore.
— Now we get the debut of Will’s George W. Bush impression.
— Much like Darrell’s Gore, you can tell this is Will’s first time out playing Bush, as he’s just playing Bush as a generic southern fratboy and isn’t doing ANY of the specific Bush mannerisms that we’re now so familiar with seeing Will do. It’s so funny to think that this is just one year before SNL does the now-legendary Bush/Gore presidential debate sketch (the “lockbox/strategery” one) in the first episode of season 26, where Will and Darrell have absolutely perfected their Bush/Gore impressions.
— Bush, after Gore says he’s supporting the death penalty: “Hell, I’m from Texas; we invented the word ‘death’.”
— Some laughs from Bush and Gore finding so many similarities between each other, much to their frustration.
— Interesting bit with Horatio as the ultimate middle-of-the-road candidate, though it’s not anything particularly funny.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
TIM, WIF, CHP concoct ruses in order to expose themselves to host

— Why is Tim wearing a self-wig while playing himself in this monologue? As far as I can remember, he doesn’t wear a bald cap in any sketches tonight, which is usually the reason for cast members having to occasionally resort to wearing a self-wig when playing themselves. Plus, Tim’s self-wig in this monologue doesn’t even match his real-life hairstyle from this time period.
— The male cast’s pervy actions towards Heather are making me laugh, though the premise is lazy. After all, this is basically just a raunchier version of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s monologue that the show had just recently done at the end of the preceding season.
— When Heather tells Will (who is showing her his penis behind a door after claiming she got a phone call) “Uh, that’s not a phone”, I loved Will’s sleazy delivery of “Yeah, but it’s for you!”
— Great bit with Parnell, which can be seen as a precursor to SNL’s own “Dick in a Box”. Hell, it’s also a precursor to a bit Parnell himself would do with a watermelon in an Appalachian Emergency Room sketch from 2005.
STARS: ***


LITTER CRITTERS
Litter Critters molds let kids make fun toys out of cat crap

— Hilarious visuals of kids eagerly playing with kitty litter-covered cat feces. I also love hearing the uproarious audience reactions during certain portions of this.
— A funny quick shot of the kids encouraging their cat to eat a meal, after they’ve run out of cat feces to play with.
— Parnell: “What’s that smell?” Cheri: “It’s the smell of fun, honey!”
STARS: ****½


SPARKS
on an airplane, (host) wants husband (WIF) to emulate Zimmermans’ antics

— A random low-brow joke with Parnell’s name being Bruce Gaylord.
— Parnell’s deadpan interjections throughout this sketch are providing my biggest laughs here.
— Aaaaaaand there’s the “outrageous” part with Will and Kattan kissing each other on the lips, then both having an uproarious outraged reaction. I admit, that part of this sketch used to crack me up when I was a teenager during this era, but all these years later, I now see that kiss as an unnecessary attempt at a cheap laugh that doesn’t hold up for me anymore, not only because this is the early stages of SNL overusing the “men kissing men for a cheap laugh” gag to tiresome degrees, but also because this doesn’t even end up being the last time we’ll be seeing the particular pairing of Will and Kattan kissing each other in a sketch. Within this next season-and-a-half ALONE, there will be two more sketches with Will and Kattan kissing each other. I kid you not.
STARS: **


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon & Rollergirl (host) review four porno movies

— Tim’s Leon Phelps wig has been updated tonight to make it a big afro, to match how his hair looks in the Ladies’ Man movie that was filming at this time, I believe.
— I love the photo montage of Leon Phelps at a porno theater.
— Good idea to have Heather reprise her character from Boogie Nights in this.
— Very funny bit with Leon mistaking Bill Murray’s Meatballs movie for a porno.
STARS: ***½


WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
a report on the post-SNL lives of Hans & Franz

— As I mentioned in my last review, this short film was cut from both SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special and this season’s premiere.
— Fun seeing these characters again, and how we’re being updated on what’s happened in their lives after their heyday.
— Hans’ panicked 911 call is cracking me up.
— Hilarious bit about Hans professionally performing buttocks readings on a boardwalk.
— Solid bit overall. Part of me kinda wishes it became a running thing this season to do “Where Are They Now?” shorts on other recurring characters from the past, to commemorate SNL’s milestone 25th season.
STARS: ****


NETAID
Bono (CHK), Busta Rhymes (TRM), Jewel (host) perform at NetAid

— I like Ana introducing herself with “Hi, I’m unknown VJ Lynda Lopez.”
— Kattan does a good imitation of Bono’s physical mannerisms while singing.
— After not appearing at all in the season premiere, Tracy makes his first appearance of the season here. And, of course, this ends up being his ONLY appearance of the entire night.
— Tracy’s Busta Rhymes impression is making me laugh, and he’s got Busta’s vocal pattern down cold.
— Will’s off-camera heckling during Heather’s bit as Jewel is cracking me up.
— I love the fact that Jimmy is playing David Bowie just one episode after Bowie himself was a musical guest on the show. Great detail of having Jimmy even wear the exact same outfit Bowie wore in the last episode (side-by-side comparison below).

— Jimmy does a solid impression of Bowie’s singing voice.
— Overall, despite some fun impressions, this sketch wasn’t all that funny as a whole. It had kind of an empty feel, and the songs being performed weren’t funny in themselves.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ takes delight in trouncing a little girl in an education debate
HOS & COQ launch a Latin comedy explosion with Telemundo-style humor

 

— Colin sounds livelier tonight than the monotone, bored, sluggish delivery he used in the Update from the last episode.
— One female audience member has a very distinctive laugh that’s sticking out throughout this Update.
— A little unusual how they’re using a real child for this debate bit with Colin right now.
— Okay, I’m now starting to understand why they’re using a real child for this particular commentary. Colin’s mean-spirited berating of her is hilarious (and wouldn’t work quite as well if it were an adult playing the child role), and I love that we’re seeing a whole new side of Colin here. I never knew he could pull off this type of acting.
— Wow, Colin has surprisingly been having quite a lot of really strong news jokes throughout tonight’s Update. Between that and his great performance in the debate commentary with the little girl, he’s having a rare “on” night.
— Funny lines from Horatio about a White Guy Explosion and Jackass Explosion in music.
— A fun silly Latin comedy bit between Horatio and Colin, and we get ANOTHER example tonight of Colin branching out and displaying a different side of himself.
— Nice touch at the end of this Update with Colin signing off in Spanish.
— Overall, one of the rare Colin Quinn Weekend Updates that are legitimately strong.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Need To Know”


DOG SHOW
(host) leads a seance to summon Mr. Rocky Balboa’s dead mother

— At the very beginning when the camera fades into this sketch, Molly can be heard saying out of character “A little scary…”, then she has an embarrassed reaction when realizing she’s on the air. There’s a story behind this. The cue cards for this sketch were a little late arriving on the set. Molly saying “A little scary…” was referring to that. Reruns of this episode would remove that remark of Molly’s.
— Speaking of Molly, this is surprisingly her first and ONLY appearance all night. She also didn’t appear much in the season premiere (then again, neither did any cast member not named Will Ferrell or Chris Parnell). The reason for Molly’s decreased airtime lately is because she’s busy filming the live-action Grinch movie starring Jim Carrey. That movie is going to be taking away quite a lot of time from Molly being at SNL during the first half of this season. In fact, there will be a few episodes this season that she’ll be completely absent in. It’s hard to complain about that, though, considering I’m honestly starting to get a little tired of Molly by this point of her tenure (and it only gets worse next season, IIRC).
— The cuteness of the dog who plays Rocky Balboa always gets me, especially in the adorable outfit it’s wearing tonight (the second above screencap for this sketch).
— It’s now a few minutes later, and sadly, Rocky Balboa’s cuteness has been the only joy I’ve been getting from tonight’s Dog Show installment. The silliness of Dog Show amused me in its first two sketches, but that didn’t last too long, as its appeal has been gone for me in these last two installments. I’m gradually starting to find these sketches a bit of a chore. Thankfully, I only have two more Dog Show sketches to endure (including a disastrous one with Tom Green and a squealing pig).
STARS: **


BLAIR WITCH
LOM’s promise not to do a Blair Witch parody turns out to be an empty one

— I like how this sketch is giving me such a throwback to how prevalent Blair Witch Project parodies were at this time.
— Tim seems genuinely amused by the clips they’re showing, as he can be seen with a big smile on his face whenever the clips end.
— The Blair Witch-esque “Thank you” video from the boy is both funny and has a charm.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “That’s Okay”


THREE-WAY
Warren (CHP) & Fran (ANG) analyze three-way with their babysitter (host)

— Just now, a stagehand could be seen quickly ducking behind the door window behind Heather (you can kinda see him in the first above screencap for this sketch).
— After the misleading beginning, this sketch had a great turn with it being revealed that Parnell, Heather, and Ana have all just had a three-way.
— Another great reveal, with us now finding out that Heather is the family’s babysitter.
— Ana’s whole rant about a “meal” is hilarious.
— I’m loving this sketch. Even with the comical sex theme, this sketch has a more mature, smarter, and old-school feel than most sketches from this era do. This is also helped by the fantastic acting from both Parnell and Ana, the two most consummate professionals of this season’s cast.
— Loved the ending turn with Parnell and Ana eagerly getting ready to watch back their sex tape.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. However, there were a few more weak spots than episodes from around this time typically have. There were still a few strong pieces, and Weekend Update was much better than it usually is in this Colin Quinn era.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jerry Seinfeld)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Norm Macdonald makes his triumphant return to the SNL studio (not counting the 25th Anniversary Special). We also get a new female addition to the cast.

Posted on

October 2, 1999 – Jerry Seinfeld / David Bowie (S25 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REFORM PARTY HEADQUARTERS
Pat Buchanan (CHP) & Donald Trump (DAH) vie to be Reform Party candidate

 

— A funny return of Cheri’s Ross Perot impression, which we haven’t seen in a few seasons.
— Solid Pat Buchanan impression from Parnell.
— Darrell’s Donald Trump impression makes its debut, interestingly in a sketch with Trump in 1999 vying to be the presidential nominee for the reform party.
— Wow, in its initial appearance, Darrell’s Trump impression sounds NOTHING like the version we would later become familiar with seeing Darrell do. In tonight’s appearance, Darrell seems to be going for the type of New York mobster wiseguy voice that Phil Hartman used to do when playing Trump back in the day. I’m guessing that’s how the real Trump’s voice sounded back in the 80s and 90s.
— Good bit with Buchanan donning a fake Hitler mustache.
— Very funny turn with Will’s Jesse Ventura crashing the meeting.
— An amusing blooper(?) with the wig falling off of the dummy of Parnell’s Buchanan when Will’s Ventura is repeatedly slamming it against the table.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— A “25” has been added to the SNL logo, to commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary.

— Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz have all been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Jimmy Fallon and Chris Kattan have both changed their respective photo from the preceding season’s opening montage. (comparisons below, with the first and third screencap being from the preceding season’s montage, and the second and fourth screencap being from this season’s montage)

— No new cast members tonight. We will soon get one a few episodes from now.


MONOLOGUE
for host, a typical day in NYC involves watching cheesy TV reruns nonstop

— A nice very extended applause from the audience early on in this.
— Some pretty good laughs from Jerry Seinfeld’s details of his mundane daily schedule, which mostly involves watching questionable TV reruns like Wings.
— A good laugh from the bit about a Spanish show called Aeropuerto, which Jerry says is a little like Wings.
— At the end, Jerry adds in a funny quick casual “Plus, I dated a couple of married women”, which is presumably referencing a controversy he was recently in.
— Overall, a pretty good stand-up monologue, but felt below Jerry’s standards, especially after his terrific season 17 monologue, which is a favorite of mine.
STARS: ***½


DILLON/EDWARDS INVESTMENTS
slow-to-get-online investment firm got stuck with clownpenis.fart domain

— As no surprise, Parnell is great at selling the seriousness of this ad so far.
— A priceless reveal of the ridiculous URL that the investment company was stuck with, made even funnier by how it’s being played so straight in such a serious ad like this.
— A lot of laughs from the female voice-over repeatedly saying clownpenis.fart in a soft, professional voice.
— A nice short length to this overall perfect commercial.
STARS: *****


MORNING LATTE
Cass’ husband Eli (CHP) & fruit-meat diet doctor (host)

— Interesting how we finally get to see Cheri’s character’s husband, Eli, after he’s been mentioned in the previous Morning Latte sketches.
— Cheri’s character, on her husband: “That’s my little Jew!”
— Will’s cracking me up with his repeated sayings of “What a weirdo!” regarding the Sixth Sense boy.
— A very funny deadpan from a barely-verbal Parnell as Eli whenever the camera cuts to him.
— Some good dark humor with the cutaway to Eli having a seizure on the floor.
STARS: ***½


ST. MONICA
Mary Katherine Gallagher falls for Jewish basketball star (host)

— This sketch is being done to promote the release of the Mary Katherine Gallagher movie Superstar, much like how the preceding year’s season premiere had a Roxbury Guys sketch to promote the release of their movie A Night At the Roxbury. And much like the Roxbury Guys after that particular sketch, Mary Katherine Gallagher ends up being retired after tonight’s sketch, not counting a brief musical piece she performs with the SNL Band in Molly’s final episode as a cast member, nor any times the character has been temporarily brought back in a Molly Shannon-hosted episode or in any anniversary specials.
— Very funny visual of a jewfro-and-yarmulke-wearing Jerry as “the Jewish Michael Jordan”.
— Tim’s tongue-clicking sounds as the Ethiopian student are cracking me up.
— Did Molly injure her foot sometime before the show? One of the shoes she’s wearing in this sketch seems to be some kind of healing shoe, which doesn’t match the normal shoe on her other foot. (screencap below)

— Funny line about a “slutty shiksa”.
— Overall, while this had some moments, this sketch as a whole didn’t do much for me. This sketch had a vibe of Mary Katherine Gallagher being past her prime.
— While Mary Katherine Gallagher’s overall run on SNL ended on a weak note tonight, I gotta say, I’m pleasantly surprised by how tolerant I’ve been of most of her sketches in these reviews of mine (I’m sure some of you readers have also been surprised by that). I entered this SNL era expecting to get very sick of Mary Katherine Gallagher fast, but aside from a few clunkers, I surprisingly ended up finding her sketches to be harmless enough, have a bit of a charm, and have occasional strong moments, particularly in the Black Angels installment from season 24’s Gwyneth Paltrow episode. All of these things I’ve just said will basically be repeated when I cover the Spartan Cheerleaders’ final sketch later this season, though the Cheerleaders are more hit-and-miss for me than MKG is.
STARS: **


JAVIS HOME SECURITY SYSTEMS
trust Javis Home Security Systems to keep out freaks like diaperer (WIF)

— A fantastic and hilarious sudden twist in what we’re initially led to believe is a tender diaper commercial. Ana’s “Who the hell are you?!?” and Will’s subsequent panicked dive out the window slayed me, as did the final reveal of this being an ad for a home security system. A very well-done piece.
STARS: ****½


ACTION 8 NEWS WATCH
anchors (host) & (ANG) deliver alarmist teases

— Some good laughs so far with the news anchors’ constant teases of urgent news that we’re told we have to wait to the end of the program to find out the important details of.
— I’m now a few minutes later into this sketch and, while the premise still remains funny, it’s too one-note. There needs to be an escalation to the gag.
— I love the fast-speaking bit with Will.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Millennium- sharks were unaffected by the past 1000 years of history
host & Jerry Seinfeld (JIF) do a Point-Counterpoint about The Gap

— An interesting new camera angle on the Weekend Update set at the very beginning of tonight’s Update as the camera is panning over to Colin.
— The debut of a recurring Update segment, The Millennium, which we’ll be occasionally seeing until the arrival of the year 2000.
— An overall funny random Millennium segment about sharks, made even funnier by Parnell’s always-strong voice-over work.
— Something about Colin’s delivery seems more monotone in tonight’s season premiere than it did the last two seasons. He sounds fairly bored tonight. If this is going to be the new direction that his anchorman approach is taking this season, then oof. Only one year, folks, until we get a much-needed change in Update anchors.
— Ah, the return of Point/Counterpoint.
— Fun premise of Jerry Seinfeld doing a Point/Counterpoint against himself, played by Jimmy, in the vein of the memorable Point/Counterpoints with two Dennis Millers debating against themselves.
— Geez, right at the start of this commentary, Jimmy already looks like he’s going to bust out laughing.
— A nod to a classic SNL catchphrase, as Jerry calls Jimmy’s Seinfeld an ignorant slut.
— Jerry is noticeably starting to do an exaggerated version his own voice. Jimmy would later go on to say in an interview that Jerry let him know beforehand that he would exaggerate his own voice in this Update commentary to match Jimmy’s over-the-top impression of him. Jimmy must’ve taken notes from this generous move of Jerry’s, as Jimmy would later do the same thing in a sketch from his first hosting stint in 2011, where he plays himself speaking to his mirror reflection, who is played by Andy Samberg. Andy’s Jimmy Fallon impression in that sketch isn’t very accurate, but Jimmy goes along with it and makes it work by exaggerating his own voice to match Andy’s take on him.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thursday’s Child”


OZ
host brings Seinfeld sensibilities to a maximum security prison

 

— A fantastic premise of Jerry’s punishment after the Seinfeld finale being to get transferred to the prison in the series Oz.
— Feels kinda weird seeing J.K. Simmons in this. He’s the only Oz actor in this that I recognize.
— Speaking of J.K. Simmons, there’s something interesting about him being in this: this is the first live regular SNL episode after SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special from the preceding week. When SNL later has their next anniversary special in 2015, guess who ends up hosting the final live regular episode before the special? J.K. Simmons. In other words, J.K. Simmons has appeared in both the first AND last live episode between SNL’s last two anniversary specials. Odd coincidence.
— J.K. Simmons: “You a Hebrew?” Jerry: “Yeah, but people don’t seem to have a problem with it on a national level.”
— This film is brilliant. I love how they’re doing a hybrid of Seinfeld cliches and what I’m assuming are typical Oz scenes (I’ve never seen the show Oz myself, but I don’t seem to need to be familiar with the show to enjoy this short film).
STARS: ****½


COMPLAINT LINE
(WIF) calls 1-800-EAT-SHIT in a futile attempt to report a bad driver

— I love how overly serious Will is treating the obviously-fake 1-800-EAT-SHIT sticker on the back of a truck.
— I like how further this is going, with us now actually seeing the 1-800-EAT-SHIT call center.
— Very funny how they keep narrowly censoring the use of the word “shit”. Reminds me of the classic Jingleheimer Junction sketch from the preceding year’s season premiere, though this sketch is nowhere near as memorable as that one.
— Will’s shocked, disgusted facial reaction to being told over the phone to eat shit is worth a good laugh (the last above screencap for this sketch).
STARS: ***½


…AND A PIZZA PLACE
TV execs give …And A Pizza Place its own series; A.J. Benza cameo

— A funny asinine concept, giving a TV show to the recently-dropped “…and a Pizza Place” from the sitcom title “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place”.
— Will, on marketing the show towards teens: “He-llo? Teenagers? Pokemon? Cha-ching!”
— The one non-cast member at the table of executives is played by real-life NBC late-night executive Rick Ludwin, who is notable as the executive who backed the sitcom Seinfeld when it was a new show that NBC didn’t have faith in. Ludwin recently passed away in late 2019, and as a tribute, NBC aired this episode on “SNL Vintage”.
— I love the ridiculousness of the mundane “…and a Pizza Place” scene we’re shown a clip of, complete with a laugh track.
— Geez, is Horatio JUST NOW making his first appearance all night? Isn’t this supposed to be his first episode as a repertory player? Then again, at least he’s actually in this episode, which is more than I can say for the perpetually-underused Tracy Morgan, who is completely M.I.A. all night in the big season premiere.
— I’m loving how extensive this sketch is, with us now being taken to a scene at the Emmy Awards.
— We end the sketch on… an A.J. Benza cameo? Really, SNL? I’m one of probably 20% of SNL viewers who know who he is. Even back at this time in 1999, a lot of SNL fans were completely lost on who he is.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rebel Rebel”


INTERROGATION
thug (WIF) alternately interrogates (host) & nurses him back to health

— Wow, am I watching SNL or The Will Ferrell Show? I know I said something similar in my review of the preceding season’s David Spade episode, but that statement of mine rings especially true for tonight’s episode. Will has had a lead role in almost literally EVERY SINGLE LIVE SKETCH tonight, and even in the few live sketches he didn’t have a lead role in, he was still in them playing a supporting role. I’m certainly not complaining, as I love Will, and he’s my favorite member of this era’s cast. But, man, I’ve rarely seen an SNL episode dominated so much by one cast member, and I’ve watched the entire Eddie Murphy and Kristen Wiig eras.
— I’m cracking up at Jimmy and Horatio’s blatantly fake repeated punches to Jerry’s face.
— I love the sudden turn with Will and his henchmen uncharacteristically acting as medical experts while trying to revive Jerry after brutally beating him into an unconscious state.
— Will, over the lack of an available CAT scan: “St. John’s has one; why don’t we have one? Damn this old warehouse!”
— Very funny how this sketch constantly keeps going back and forth between Jerry being tenderly treated by the thugs as a hospital patient and being pummeled by the thugs.
— A great Patch Adams turn with Will’s character.
— The endless rapid-fire successions of “He’s alive! He’s dead!” cause Jerry and Will to memorably lose it and crack up. Surprisingly, Horatio, of all people, is the only one in the scene right now who’s keeping anything close to a straight face. Jimmy is temporarily somewhere off the set during this portion of the sketch, but you know he’s cracking up, wherever he is.
— Speaking of Jimmy, has he said a single word during this entire sketch?
— At the end of the sketch when Will places a surgical glove on his hand in an odd way, some of the performers, including Jimmy, start cracking up again. This is because of a blooper that happened in dress rehearsal at the end of this sketch, where Will made a funny ad-libbed comment when having a difficult time putting on the surgical glove. That dress rehearsal blooper is shown in the “dress rehearsal outtakes” feature on one of Will’s “Best Of” DVDs.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

— After being in zero sketches in tonight’s season premiere, at least Tracy gets to make his sole appearance of the night playing his famous recurring character, The Guy Who Smiles Real Big At The Goodnights.
— Two odd things I caught in the scrolling credits: 1) A director credit for a “Hans & Franz: Where Are They Now?” segment, even though it didn’t air tonight. This is actually the second time that segment got cut. It was originally supposed to air the preceding week in SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special, but ended up getting cut for time, much like it did tonight. The segment would finally air in the next live episode. 2) Near the very end of the scrolling credits, there’s a special credit that states “Coordinator of Falconry: Adam McKay” (screencap below).

What in the world does “Coordinator of Falconry” mean, and why is SNL writer Adam McKay credited for it? Is it just some weird gag credit as an inside joke? Or was that always in this era’s goodnights credits, and I just never noticed it until now because the goodnights usually get cut off early in the live broadcasts I review of this era’s episodes?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall good season premiere. The first half was mostly just average, but the second half had lots of strong things, especially the brilliant Oz short film and the memorable Interrogation sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1998-99)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Heather Graham

Posted on

May 15, 1999 – Sarah Michelle Gellar / Backstreet Boys (S24 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

GRADUATION MEDLEY
recent car wreck victims Marty & Bobbi perform at high school graduation

— The Culps make their very first cold opening appearance.
— Interesting detail of the Culps’ neckbraces, which we’re eventually told is from a car accident that they go into humorous detail about.
— A laugh from Bobbi Mohan-Culp pronouncing Tommy Hilfiger’s last name as “hil-fye-jer”.
— Marty Culp: “They gave me Tylenol 3, and boy, I keep alternating between wanting to cry and having a violent orgasm.”
— This is the second episode in a row parodying Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning”, after Jimmy’s Weekend Update guitar song medley in the last episode.
— Funny in retrospect hearing Will Ferrell singing Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” in this, considering a certain legendary sketch involving a cowbell that Will would soon do in the upcoming season 25.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host rebuffs CHK, TIM, MOS, WIF, JIF after they each hit on her

— I like Kattan’s line about borrowing mood-enhancing videos from Colin.
— After getting rebuffed by Sarah, I love the little turn with Kattan beginning to ask about a certain Backstreet Boys member, implying that Kattan’s going to try flirting with him next. Between Colin’s gay joke about Kattan in the last episode’s Weekend Update and now this monologue bit, I see SNL is starting to go all in on the already-existing rumors about Kattan’s sexual orientation. At least he has a sense of humor about it.
— Funny turn with Molly slowly starting to hit on Sarah, then using Sarah’s girl-on-girl kiss in the recently-released Cruel Intentions movie as proof that Sarah is into chicks.
— A hilarious quick bit with Sarah IMMEDIATELY shutting down Will’s Hugh Hefner-esque attempt to hit on her.
— At the end of the long line of guys with flowers, I love the camera slowly zooming in on Horatio staring awkwardly into the camera while eating the chocolates he intended to give Sarah.
— While this was a pretty fun monologue overall, it felt like it really wasted Sarah, who’s proven in her last episode to be a very capable host, yet was relegated tonight to the type of monologue that’s usually given to much more generic pretty girl hosts who SNL knows are iffy at live sketch comedy.
STARS: ***½


TIGER BEAT’S ULTRA SUPER DUPER DREAMY LOVE SHOW
teen idols David Boreanaz, Seth Green, Howie D. [real] fear agent (DAH)

— The return of a sketch from Sarah’s last hosting gig.
— When each of the girls are detailing what kind of drink they would buy for their favorite star, I love Ana’s disturbing bit about how she’d buy a bottle of Drano for Neil Patrick Harris so they can both drink it and live in heaven together forever, which is followed by uncomfortable silence between the girls.
— Darrell’s star manager character pales badly in comparison to the one that Norm Macdonald epically played in the last installment of this sketch.
— Seth Green makes his first SNL appearance since appearing in a pre-taped “SNL Newsbreak” (the name for Weekend Update in season 7) segment as an unknown child actor in 1981. (side-by-side comparison between him in 1981 and 1999 below)

— I like the choices of random audio sounds used to cue each segment of this show.
STARS: ***


SPARKS
Zimmermans’ sexcapades trap couple looking to rent a cabin (CHP) & (host)

— “John”? Why’d they change the first name of Kattan’s Zimmermans character to that? It used to be Jack. Hell, at one point in the timeline of this recurring sketch, I think his name is also Josh, though I can’t remember if that’s already happened by this point, or if happens in a later Zimmermans sketch.
— Parnell, after seeing a typical display of the Zimmermans’ raunchy passion: “I see the deer’s not the only one who’s horny in this cabin.”
— The dress rehearsal version of this sketch had a blooper where Kattan accidentally exposed Cheri’s bare breast when mounting her on the wall. A clip of that blooper is reportedly shown in the “dress rehearsal outtakes” feature of either Cheri or Kattan’s “Best Of” DVD, though I’ve never seen the clip for myself.
— During the usual bit with the host starting to aggressively flirt with the Zimmerman member of the opposite sex, I like the sudden turn with it being Cheri who Sarah’s now aggressively flirting with.
— Hilarious bit with Parnell desperately de-pantsing himself to join in on the others’ raunchiness, resulting in Kattan initially mistaking Parnell’s apparently-small penis for a vanilla Tootsie Roll. Kattan’s “OH MY GOD!” outburst when realizing that’s Parnell’s penis absolutely slayed me, as did Sarah asking “That’s what it looks like in the light?!?”
— Overall, a bit better than the usual Zimmermans sketches, due to the whole bit mentioned right above this sentence.
STARS: ***½


GET ON THE BAG!
(WIF)’s exhortations to little leaguer son appall other parents in stands

— Ah, a variation of “Get off the shed”, though it’s kinda weird how they’re doing this THREE YEARS after the season that the “Get off the shed” sketches appeared in. “Get on the bag” is a decent variation, and a good spoof of hostile parents in the stands at children’s sports games.
— A good laugh from how Will’s “snow cone” is a can of beer. I also like Parnell’s line pointing out how Will is drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning.
— Will: “I WILL DOWNSIZE YOUR FACE WITH A SHOVEL IF YOU DON’T GET ON THE BAG!” Until recently, I always thought that great “downsize your face with a shovel” threat was from “Get off the shed”, not this sketch.
— Overall, a funny sketch, but doesn’t compare to the first “Get off the shed” sketch, in my opinion. However, it’s a step up from the second “Get off the shed” sketch, as tonight’s version thankfully didn’t have Christine Baranski grating on my nerves in her poor attempt to imitate Will’s comical screaming.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“The Ginsburg Gang” by RBS- Lewinsky lawyer show inspired by Scooby Doo

— Funny idea for a Lewinsky scandal-related Scooby Doo parody.
— I like the quick visual gag of William Ginsburg revealing a microphone implanted deep into his chest skin. During that part, a man in SNL’s audience can be heard loudly saying a quick “Ew.”
— This overall cartoon ended up going a little over my head due to being perhaps too topical. However, it seemed well-done, I still got some laughs, and I liked the parody of various Scooby Doo cliches.
— This was rumored at the time to be Robert Smigel’s final TV Funhouse. I’m glad that didn’t end up being the case.
STARS: ***


SHAME ATTACK!
(CHK) & (MOS) embarrass selves & each other in game show

 

— Kattan’s “cool” poser character is making me laugh.
— A crazy, nasty, and silly sketch, but I’m enjoying it, and it’s a pretty fun and spot-on parody of these types of MTV shows from this late 90s era (just watching this parody is kinda bringing me back to my high school years from this era), though I can’t remember if “Shame Attack” is a show just made up for this sketch or if it was a real MTV show at the time.
— After Molly gets covered in slime, some of the performers are having a hard time keeping a straight face while delivering their lines. That’s no surprise in Molly’s case, who’s devolving more and more into a giggly performer as we get closer and closer to the end of her SNL tenure. As I hinted in an earlier review, her frequent giggliness gets even worse the following two seasons.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Want It That Way”


WEEKEND UPDATE
now out of prison, Amy Fisher (CHO) is still edgy & jealous
Billy Dee Williams (TIM) doesn’t like that he’s not in The Phantom Menace

— Colin’s gun control joke (in the wake of the notorious Columbine school shooting tragedy from a month earlier) comes off particularly interesting to watch in retrospect, given the climate nowadays in regards to gun control.
— As usual whenever Cheri appears on Update, we get a flirty interaction between her and Colin at one point.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Cheri’s Amy Fisher sternly asking “Where does she live?” after being told by Colin that he has a girlfriend.
— Tim reprises his Billy Dee Williams impression for the first time since way back in SNL’s early 90s era.
— A great line from Tim’s Billy Dee Williams, about how he gradually realized while watching the new Star Wars movie that he’s not in it.
— A lot of funny comments from Tim’s Billy Dee.
STARS: **½


DUSTY’S LOVE
blind girl (host), monster (HOS), Paul Williams (WIF) in really bad movie

— I love the odd little detail of Parnell having dark hair on his head but a red beard on his face.
— Parnell, on the reason why Sarah is blind: “If only I hadn’t been so drunk and so damn proud of my new flare gun.”
— Another great Parnell line, before he makes his exit: “I’m gonna go have some PCP and show mom my new spirit gun.”
— Very funny inclusion of Will as a superimposed transparent Paul Williams head singing a tender song during Sarah and Horatio’s odd face-touching sequence.
— What a hilariously bizarre and random sketch. By far, one of the strangest sketches SNL has ever done. As I’ve said in an earlier review, this SNL era is great at pulling off this type of random, absurdist humor.
— Freakin’ priceless how the sex scene between Sarah and Horatio is being censored by a “Humping Sequence Edited For Television” disclaimer screen that has a strange-looking photo of a man with his mouth open orgasmically while we hear a voice-over repeatedly singing “Doot doot dooooo”. This already-random sketch is increasingly getting even more random, and I love it.
— Haha, did Parnell’s red beard somehow get longer in the few minutes he was gone? (side-by-side comparison below)

— Solid ending with the TV station voice-over apologizing for letting this bizarre movie slip through.
STARS: ****½


PRESS CONFERENCE
Britney Spears (host) & others answer questions after Kids Choice Awards

— Jimmy’s whole bit as MTV VJ Jesse Camp probably goes over a lot of viewers’ heads nowadays, as I doubt many people today remember Jesse Camp or were ever aware of him to begin with. I remember him enough, and Jimmy’s impression of him is spot-on and perfectly captures what an oddball that guy was.
— Sarah is very funny as Britney Spears.
— The debut of Parnell’s Eminem impression, which I’ve always found funny.
— Even though this is 1999, seeing a Britney Spears and Eminem impression side-by-side makes me feel like I’m already in the 2000s.
STARS: ***½


HOLDING YOUR OWN BOOBS MAGAZINE
host & WIF solicit subscriptions to Holding Your Own Boobs Magazine

— I love the audience’s initial reaction to the surprising opening shot of a topless Sarah Michelle Gellar holding her own boobs.
— Funny concept of a magazine dedicated to holding-your-own-boobs photos, made even funnier by how this sketch is being played so seriously.
— Great inclusion of Will also holding his own “boobs” and proudly displaying photos of famous men doing the same. The Dave Thomas photo is particularly funny.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All I Have To Give”


BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
supposed animal expert Brian Fellow doesn’t know much

— Tracy’s Brian Fellow character, who debuted earlier this season in a Weekend Update commentary as a VERY different type of person than who we’re now familiar with, does his very first Safari Planet sketch.
— Much like Wayne’s World and Pumping Up With Hans and Franz (among some others that I can’t remember right now), Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet is on the list of popular recurring sketches that surprisingly debuted in the 10-to-1 slot.
— This 10-to-1 sketch is Tracy’s first and only appearance all night. Sadly, that’s business as usual for the underused Tracy Morgan, but I guess it can be considered somewhat of an honor to star in the final sketch of a season.
— Tracy’s updated characterization of Brian Fellow tonight is a huge improvement over that aforementioned Weekend Update commentary he did. Brian Fellow’s incompetence and oddness throughout this sketch are very funny, and Tracy has a good handle on this character, which would only improve even further over time as this becomes an established recurring sketch.
— I love Brian Fellow’s worries about getting bit by the turtle.
— For some reason, at the end of this sketch, the studio light in the window behind Tracy’s Brian Fellow turns off while he’s delivering his sign-off to the camera.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, and a pretty satisfying way for this season to end, officially making this what I feel is a season with a perfect streak of episodes ranging from so-so to fantastic, with no bad episodes in the bunch. While there wasn’t much in tonight’s episode that stood out as particularly great, the show flowed really well and had no sketches that underwhelmed me (unless the Colin Quinn portions of Weekend Update count). Despite a monologue that wasted her, Sarah Michelle Gellar had her moments tonight that showed what a good recurring host she is.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Cuba Gooding Jr.)
about the same


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)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1997-98)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
SNL’s milestone 25th season begins, with host Jerry Seinfeld

Posted on

May 8, 1999 – Cuba Gooding Jr. / Ricky Martin (S24 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DREAM
in Bill Clinton’s (DAH) dream, Monica Lewinsky [real] is his future wife

— Funny blooper right at the start of this cold opening, where the dog playing Buddy, seated next to Darrell’s President Clinton, runs out of the scene almost immediately. SNL would later replace this portion of the cold opening with the dress rehearsal version in reruns, in which the dog stays seated like it’s supposed to.
— Fun idea of Clinton having a futuristic fantasy of his own life, though it reminds me a little of that Oprah 2002 cold opening from this season’s premiere.
— Funny visual of Tim as a laid-back Vernon Jordan with two hookers by his side.
— And here comes Part 1 of tonight’s big Monica Lewinsky cameo, which I’m aware was heavily hyped in the media before tonight’s episode aired. Her appearance is the type of cameo that I’m sure I’d be very annoyed at if it happened when I was a current SNL viewer, but watching this decades later, it’s harmless enough.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host induces tension by bypassing chances to say “Show me the money!”

— Fun energy from Cuba Gooding Jr. early on in this monologue.
— After Cuba’s first subversion to saying the famous “Show me the money” phrase, you can hear an off-camera audience member shout the phrase himself, which Cuba humorously responds to by ad-libbing “Watch out, it’s my show.”
— I love Cuba’s Boyz N’ The Hood reference.
— I like Tina Fey’s thoughts saying “I’m gonna get up there and say it…. no I’m not.”
— Horatio’s angry inner thoughts are hilarious.
— Great bit with Horatio and Jimmy somehow communicating with each other through their thoughts, much to Jimmy’s bewilderment.
— I love Cuba’s wild dancing all over the stage when finally saying “Show me the money!”
STARS: ***½


LOTTO
Lotto casts itself as a sensible alternative to a life insurance policy

— Funny reveal of how Lotto, of all things, should be the insurance policy of choice for your newborn baby, after this commercial had such a serious set-up.
STARS: ***½


BIBLE MINISERIES
(CHP) directs rush-job Biblical miniseries by encouraging improvisation

— A promising sketch concept of actors being forced to perform an improvised version of a biblical miniseries.
— A lot of laughs from the awkwardness of Will and Cuba when they’re having a hard time coming up with dialogue.
— I love Will’s Jesus hesitantly making up the fact that he has heat vision.
— Very funny addition of Horatio’s boom mic guy being forced to play “Barry”. I like Horatio awkwardly playing him in a very casual, bro-type manner.
— Good part with Will trying to weasel his way out of this mess by saying, during the filming, “Oh, you didn’t hear? Barry died.”
— Parnell is great as the director.
— Horatio: “What’s up, Jesus? You talkin’ smack about me?”
— I like the ending freeze-frame shot of Horatio after he says “Barry power!”
STARS: ****


BACKSTAGE
Barbara Walters (CHO) asks TIM & MOS where she can find Monica Lewinsky

— A fairly fun Lewinsky-related backstage bit. Nothing else to say.
STARS: ***


PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen & boyfriend (host) are into genderology

— Oh, dear god, here we go…
— We at least get a funny opening line from Ana regarding her antidepressants.
— Molly keeps speaking over Ana’s scripted dialogue to make unnecessary ad-libs.
— Cuba in that outfit is a fairly funny initial visual.
— When Cuba had a put-off facial reaction to Helen Madden detailing how she’d like to shrink Cuba and wear him as earrings, I was hoping this sketch would take a turn with Cuba openly reconsidering his relationship with Helen, but unfortunately, he ends up just going along with Helen’s quirkiness.
STARS: *½


LOTTO
Lotto avers that playing represents the courageous act of an underdog

— A good laugh from the onscreen caption of how Horatio’s meager Lotto winnings was shared with four co-workers.
— I like Kattan as the deadpan redneck.
— Funny ending with the “Non-winner” caption for a smiling Tracy.
STARS: ***½


THE LADIES’ MAN
Monica Lewinsky’s [real] experiences yield sex advice

— Leon Phelps’ “phone sex” story was really funny.
— Some laughs from how Leon is hiding Bill Clinton’s identity by referring to him as William Howard Taft during Monica’s phone sex story about Clinton.
— Ha, we get YET ANOTHER season 24 John Goodman cameo, just one episode after he hosted the show. Interesting how he’s making this particular cameo via phone.
— Funny bit about the loud sounds from Linda Tripp’s end of the phone call being people throwing things at her from outside the phone booth.
— I like the “How big” fake-out question that Leon asks Monica.
— Overall, an improvement over the forgettable last Ladies’ Man sketch from the Bill Murray episode.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“AmbiguoBoys” by RBS- as teenagers, The Ambiguously Gay Duo fights evil

— Another interesting and fresh change of pace for The Ambiguously Gay Duo.
— Hilarious visual of Ace and Gary both pulling down their pants & underwear and bending over when they think the gym teacher is going to spank them as their punishment.
— Pretty funny seeing a young Big Head with hair.
— Very funny part with an off-camera Ace and Gary taking a very long time during the sequence where they’re supposedly changing into their superhero outfits together in the same bathroom stall.
— Hmm, during the ending credits of this TV Funhouse, Drew Barrymore gets a special credit as one of the voice actors. That makes her the second recent host to make a voice-only cameo in tonight’s episode. Are we getting a Ray Romano voice cameo next?
STARS: ****


BACKSTAGE
Barbara Walters (CHO) queries a maid as to Monica Lewinsky’s whereabouts

— Ah, this is a runner. A little strange how we have two different runners in the same episode (these backstage Barbara Walters bits and the Lotto ads).
— Funny bit with Cheri’s Barbara Walters speaking fluent Spanish during her and the Hispanic janitor’s foreign conversation.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Livin’ La Vida Loca”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jesse Jackson (DAH) relates wisdom he’s gleaned from popular culture
JIF plays guitar & sings songs with lyrics inspired by The Phantom Menace

 

— Colin: “If every guy went around killing guys who had crushes on them, I would’ve murdered Chris Kattan years ago.”
— Wow, Colin is having a rare “on” night in this episode. He has another strong joke just now: “What do you get when you cross Joey Buttafuoco with a college education?” and the answer is a photo of Bill Clinton, giving a thumbs-up with a goofy open-mouthed smile. I also love how immediately afterwards, Colin adds, in regards to Clinton, “And you know he’s watching tonight.” It took me two seconds to get why Clinton would be watching SNL tonight, but once I realized why, I was howling.
— Surprisingly, I think this is the first time Darrell has played Jesse Jackson since Darrell’s second season on SNL.
— Darrell’s overall Jesse Jackson commentary was decent, especially the bit about quoting B.J. Thomas to impress a foreign woman.
— I love the audience’s put-off reaction to Colin’s joke about a washed-up Andrew McCarthy eating out of garbage cans.
— Jimmy’s Star Wars guitar song parodies are fun so far tonight, and an improvement over his forgettable last Update guitar songs for Valentine’s Day. I especially like Jimmy’s Eminem “My Name Is” parody about the character Mace Windu.
— I love Jimmy now doing a “Livin’ La Vida Loca” parody. I’m always a sucker for Jimmy parodying a musical guest’s song just minutes after said musical guest performed that very song on the SNL stage, like Jimmy did earlier this season with Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U”.
— Overall, one of the better Updates from the Colin Quinn era.
STARS: ***½


MANGO
obsessed host finds that Mango has a traditional suburban home & family

— And, of course, right after the Kattan gay joke on Update, we get a Mango sketch. How fitting.
— Believe it or not, this is only the second and final Mango sketch of this entire season. I never realized until now how refreshingly little Mango appeared this season. A huge contrast to how over-saturated the upcoming season 25 is going to be with Mango sketches. Brace yourselves for that, folks. Hell, at one point that season, they do THREE Mango sketches within just two consecutive episodes. I kid you not, people.
— Cuba playing some Teddy Pendergrass on the stereo to seduce Mango is fairly funny.
— When stripping on top of a table, Cuba actually pulls down the back of his speedo and flashes his entire bare butt at Kattan (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which I hear wasn’t in the script, needless to say. After putting his speedo halfway on after that, Cuba also shows some buttcrack towards the camera (the second-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which the audience goes absolutely WILD at.
— Kinda interesting seeing Mango as a family man at home.
STARS: **½


LOTTO
Lotto appeals to the can-do American spirit of human achievement

— I almost mistook this for a real commercial at first, because it aired right in the middle of a commercial break that was left intact in the copy I’m watching of this episode. If you watch the same copy of the episode I’m watching and fast-forward through this commercial break, you’d probably miss this fake ad.
— Ehh, not much of a punchline here. The joke of these Lotto ads has gotten old.
STARS: **


MARTHA STEWART LIVING
Martha Stewart’s (ANG) Mother’s Day gifts hint at bitter familial ties

— A Mother’s Day-related Martha Stewart Living sketch? Are we getting a Joan Allen cameo, reprising her fantastic role as Martha Stewart’s mother?
— Nope, looks like there’s going to be no Joan Allen cameo. Too bad. I’m sure this sketch will still work, though, as these Martha Stewart Living parodies are always reliable.
— A big laugh from the drawing Martha Stewart’s daughter made portraying Martha as the devil.
— Martha Stewart: “My daughter sent me this ceramic Snoopy sleeping on a soccer ball. What the hell?”
— Martha Stewart: “About 10 years ago, my husband gave me this house and the finger. I haven’t heard from him since.”
STARS: ****


BACKSTAGE
bristling at the Monica Lewinsky hype, host wants more attention

— Pretty funny random opening bit about a Lincoln sketch that Tracy wants him and Cuba to do together.
— Good turn with Cuba being angry over getting overshadowed by Monica Lewinsky. I’ve always wondered if in reality, he truly did feel at least a little frustrated that Monica got booked as a special guest on what was supposed to be his week, but he seems like someone who’s a good sport.
— Cheri’s Barbara Walters, regarding Monica Lewinsky on SNL: “Monica could be their biggest ratings since Sinead went postal on the pope!”
— When Cuba’s complaining about what it’s like for an SNL host to be overshadowed by a scandalous guest, I like the bit about how nobody remembers who hosted the episode that Sinead O’Connor tore a picture of the pope in. Aww, poor Tim Robbins.
— Tracy: “(while shaking Lorne’s hand) H-hi, I’m Tracy Morgan!” Lorne: “(deadpan)……Right. (*immediately walks away*)”
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. Minus two bad recurring sketches (Pretty Living and Mango, though the latter had a few fun moments from Cuba Gooding Jr.), this episode flowed pretty well and had good stuff throughout. Even Weekend Update was better than it usually is this season. The somewhat heavy focus on special guest Monica Lewinsky throughout this episode also didn’t hurt the show as much as some people at the time might have been worried it would.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 24 comes to an end, with host Sarah Michelle Gellar