Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE PRESIDENT ON TRIAL
interviewee Linda Tripp (John Goodman) is defensive about Lewinsky affair
— An absolutely classic and epic part with Darrell-as-President-Clinton’s post-acquittal address to the nation only consisting of him saying “I. Am. Bulletproof.”, then beginning to walk away, only to return to add “Next time, you best bring Kryptonite.” Between the preceding episode’s “I Will Not Gloat” cold opening and now this moment, I love that we’re at the point where Darrell’s Clinton is in full-on badass, don’t-give-a-fuck mode.
— Yet another John Goodman cameo this season.
— The audience practically screams in laughter at the initial visual of John’s Linda Tripp in this.
— John has updated his Tripp impression. He’s not wearing the usual dress nor the glasses, and he’s making a whole bunch of exaggerated facial expressions that he never made as Tripp before. (He also seems to be wearing his fake overbites from the Bill Brasky sketches.) I’m guessing the exaggerated facial expressions are modeled after the Today Show interview that the real Linda Tripp had recently done.
— John’s exaggerated facial expressions are kinda reminding me of the facial expressions that Melanie Hutsell was (in)famous for making during her SNL tenure.
— A lot of good laughs from John’s performance and dialogue.
— I like the meta part with John’s Tripp being asked about her reaction to John Goodman’s impression of her, and her eventually saying that she can’t believe Goodman didn’t get nominated for The Big Lebowski.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host discovers that TOD has been locked in a bomb shelter since 1977
— Fantastic seeing a cameo from Tom Davis.
— I love Tom’s rat version of SNL, complete with the rats wearing the old Bees costumes from the original SNL era.
— A good laugh from Lorne nonchalantly revealing that he’s the one who locked Tom in the fallout shelter.
— Good part with a Mary Katherine Gallagher rat doing a pratfall, prompting Lorne to have a greedy fantasy of making money off of that rat.
— When pleading his case to Lorne in regards to Lorne’s claim that Tom screwed him out of a pot deal back in 1977, I love Tom saying “I bought it from Garrett!”
STARS: ****
BIO FLEX
(WIF) stays in shape by defending himself against BioFlex proto-sapien
— Hilarious premise of the “workout kit” just being a creature who beats the living hell out of Will.
— I particularly love the part using graphics to detail how the beatdown from the creature gets certain parts of your body into shape.
— Surprisingly, this pre-taped fake ad ends up being Will’s ONLY appearance all night. Very surprising for his standards, considering how heavily SNL typically utilizes him. Excluding three episodes that he would be completely absent in during his final season (due to him getting time off from SNL to film the movie “Old School”), this is the ONLY episode during Will’s entire SNL tenure that he makes no live appearances in.
STARS: ****
JUDGE JUDY
squeaky-voiced singer (host) sues over helium exposure
— Much like they did with The Joe Pesci Show sketches after the real Pesci and DeNiro famously cameoed, SNL inexplicably keeps the Judge Judy sketches going for one final round after the real Judge Judy “crashed” the last installment, which obviously would’ve been the most logical time to retire this recurring sketch.
— Finally, a Judge Judy sketch where the defendant ISN’T played by Ana.
— Brendan’s helium voice is priceless and impressive.
— Some of Cheri-as-Judge-Judy’s threats are really cracking me up.
— They finally change things up by having Judge Judy end up siding with the defendant for once, instead of the plaintiff.
— Overall, despite the fact that it feels like they should’ve retired this recurring sketch with the real Judge Judy’s cameo, tonight’s final installment wasn’t bad. In fact, I’d say it actually had slightly better writing than the one with the real Judge Judy.
STARS: ***
JUST ENJOY THE OZZY
(HOS) forces Ozzy tunes on diners (host) & (MOS); George Plimpton cameo
— Hilarious turn with Horatio’s polite, soft-spoken waiter suddenly busting out into a perfect Ozzy Osbourne impression when singing for the customers’ entertainment.
— Horatio’s Ozzy songs are getting a great audience reaction.
— Great bit with Horatio biting off a chicken head ala Ozzy.
— I love Tim’s stern delivery of “First off, sir, Ozzy rules” after Brendan complains to him about Horatio’s Ozzy songs. I also like the subsequent bit with Tim blackmailing Brendan into giving him $1,000.
— Tim: “Next time, just enjoy the Ozzy and keep your mouth shut.”
— A funny random use of a George Plimpton cameo.
STARS: ****
SPARKS
Zimmermans run hot & cold with trainer (host) during health club session
— A good setting for these characters, though these sketches always follow the exact same formula. I don’t mind these sketches, though. I can tolerate them more than some other people seem to.
— Funny visual of Cheri keeping her body locked in a stiff position when Brendan is carrying her away (the fifth above screencap for this sketch) after she had her legs wrapped suggestively around Chris.
— I love Brendan’s angry outburst of “I did not study at The Fitness Institute for THREE WEEKS for this!”
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- The Poetry of Jewel is mockingly dramatized
— Great background gag with the stars in the sky spelling out “This sucks” during Jewel’s poetry reading.
— The whole bit with the frustrated tiger is solid.
— Funny ending disclaimer (screencap below).
STARS: ***½
YOU’RE A CHAMPION, CHARLIE BROWN
Lucy’s (ANG) prank yields gore
— Hilarious makeup job on the performers.
— A classic dark turn with Lucy’s usual football prank resulting in Charlie Brown splitting his skull open on the ground.
— I got a huge laugh from Franklin vomiting when he and Linus see Charlie’s bleeding head wound.
— I love Franklin telling Linus “Shut the hell up!” when Linus refuses to give up his security blanket.
— Funny line from Lucy about her doctor gig just being a scam to make nickels.
— Perfect ending with the off-camera paramedic speaking in the muffled “womp womp womp” voice that the adults in Peanuts always speak in.
STARS: *****
WEEKEND UPDATE
Larry Smith (TRM) rolls a joint while rambling about Oscar nominations
Jerry Falwell (DAH) offers proof that Teletubby Tinky Winky is gay
JIF plays guitar & sings Valentine’s Day versions of popular songs
— This is the second Update in a row to not have an opening straight-to-camera rant from Colin. It’s safe to say that his rants are officially gone for good. Is this a result of executive meddling from NBC? (And no, we can’t blame Don Ohlmeyer once again, as he had retired from NBC sometime in 1998.)
— I love the look of Tracy’s character, especially the sideburns.
— A good laugh from Tracy casually beginning to roll a joint right in the middle of his commentary.
— Colin seems to have completely done away with his usual ad-libbed asides towards the audience after each of his news jokes. He hasn’t been doing ANY tonight, which has to be a first for his era of Update. I wonder if this is another result of executive meddling from NBC, giving him orders to knock it off with the constant ad-libbed asides. With the removal of Colin’s ad-libbed asides and opening straight-to-camera rants, NBC is really neutering him, just turning him into a bland Update anchor who only tells straightforward news jokes with an iffy, stilted delivery that doesn’t quite work for him in this format. Those opening straight-to-camera rants and ad-libbed asides, as wildly hit-and-miss as they were, were the only things giving Colin an identity as an Update anchor.
— Pretty funny commentary from Darrell, skewering Jerry Falwell and his ridiculous “Tinky Winky is gay” paranoia from this time period.
— Jimmy’s Update song routine officially becomes recurring.
— I’m not finding myself being quite as amused by Jimmy’s song parodies tonight as I was in his last Update commentary, but as usual, his charm is making this commentary enjoyable enough.
— I like the use of flashing studio lights during the climax of Jimmy’s last song parody.
— An overall long and jam-packed Update tonight, with three guest commentaries, which feels rare for the Colin Quinn era of Update.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme Some More”
TWO FAT LADIES
supposedly-healthy snacks are prepared
— I love that Darrell is still wearing his Jerry Falwell pudgy facial prosthetics from Update, which fits this Two Fat Ladies role perfectly.
— I’ve never seen the real Two Fat Ladies show that this sketch is parodying (though I recall once finding out on an SNL site that one of the Two Fat Ladies ended up dying mere months after this episode), but this spoof is certainly making me laugh.
— A lot of funny disgusting visuals of the unhealthy food that the Two Fat Ladies are making, especially the “rice cakes”.
— Good bit with the Two Fat Ladies bringing out IV tubes full of pudding to feed themselves.
STARS: ****
MALE ESCORT
Carrie Donovan’s (ANG) request to be serviced makes escort (host) nervous
— It’s a good thing I remember this Carrie lady from the Old Navy commercials who Ana is playing, or I’d probably be completely lost during this sketch. I recall one SNL reviewer from 1999, who apparently wasn’t familiar with the Old Navy commercials, asking if Ana was supposed to be playing a female Harry Caray.
— Pretty funny bit with Ana’s Carrie letting Magic, the dog from the Old Navy commercials, join her and Brendan on the bed.
— Ana’s Carrie impression is pretty amusing, but I dunno, something about this sketch feels lacking. I want to like it more than I actually am.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tear Da Roof Off”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another in a long line of solid season 24 episodes. This season is on a roll. (It must be some kind of ten-year thing: Season 4, season 14, and now season 24: all exceptionally strong seasons where those respective SNL eras were in the middle of a peak. This tradition continues ten years later with the also-great season 34. Unfortunately, it looks like the not-too-great season 44 broke that tradition, though I myself have only seen the first 1/3rd of that season, so I’m not the right one to say.) The first half of tonight’s episode was particularly good. The overall show was a little oddly-structured, though, with the post-Update half feeling very short, aside from the two musical performances. I wonder if the longer-than-usual Weekend Update had something to do with that.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Gwyneth Paltrow)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Bill Murray
All SNLs to some extent fall victim to “time capsule” era-ness, but wow, even me, a person fully alive in the 1990s, struggles to remember the movie Blast from the Past, Jewel’s poetry, Tinky Winky-is-gay, Two Fat Ladies, and Carrie Donovan, all of which is parodied in this episode. I’m not complaining, just noting this episode hit a particular sweet spot in stuff I don’t remember!
That opening bit is, by far, my favorite “Presidential” moment on SNL since the Reagan Mastermind sketch. My ex and I would quote “Next time, you’d best bring Kryptonite” on a regular basis.
The CC edit of this show might has well of removed the entire monologue. Brendan enters and it immediately cuts to “We have a great show….”
They also joined Update in progress to just show the Falwell segment, if I’m not mistaken.
In Home Ec class, I wrote a skit where my friend Julie and I were the Two Fat Ladies because we got assigned Fats as a food group. I can still tell you that D, E, and K are fat-soluble vitamins!
I wasn’t looking forward to revisiting all the Lewinsky material, and I can’t say seeing it again has changed my opinion, but I have enjoyed Goodman’s Linda Tripp much more than I’d expected to enjoy it. Unlike his hosting stints, where he often feels stretched out and listless, these short appearances are a pure blast of gonzo fun. And the running joke of King Ralph being his great shame still makes me laugh.
Brendan reminded me a lot of Chris Kattan through the episode. They used him well, and with Will’s absence he basically was treated as a cast member, but I don’t think he would have been well served down the line so I’m kind of glad this was his last gig.
It’s a silly thing to pick on, but the whole idea of Tom Davis being locked away for 20 years just kept reminding me that he’d made appearances on the show up to 1995. I guess they knew most viewers wouldn’t notice or if they did it wasn’t really worth caring about, but it got in my way, just a little. Still, Tom is very, very funny and effortless here, and I’m so glad Lorne gave him a moment to shine going into the anniversary season.
The recurring bits were the weakest of the night, but I agree this was a decent Judge Judy to go out on – one of the better installments.
This episode reminds me of one of the main weaknesses with Horatio and Jimmy in that the show never knew when to say enough. Initially it’s funny and crazy to see him break out into Ozzy at a staid restaurant setting. When he does this 3-4 times, it loses most of its impact (and the length of the sketch also exposes how much Molly seems to struggle with her clunky lines). Jimmy on Update has some songs I found catchy, but there were too many, and his voice doesn’t suit too much focus.
In contrast, the Charlie Brown sketch is just the right length, and is the type of grisliness O’Donoghue would have loved.
I too enjoyed Ana’s Carrie impression but that whole sketch could have been left out. They seemed to be trying to go to dark places they weren’t confident with, and having such stilted-looking violence on the same night as the very violent and committed pre-tape with Will was not a good idea.
I agree that there must have been some network interference with Colin’s Update. We’re getting more guests now, and they seem to only shoot him from one very specific angle, which makes him even more ill-at-ease. It’s too bad.
After seeing the monologue, I realized it was likely a reference to his then-upcoming film Blast From The Past, which essentially had that plot- though not because of any monetary gain, but rather because the character’s father was paranoid to that extent.
It didn’t really help publicity- the film did underperform at the box office, but it is shown somewhat frequently on HBO, and I honestly didn’t make the connection until now.
This will be the Vintage SNL repeat tonight.
Kattan would shine in MonkeyBone as a dead body
Was there any reason Will didn’t appear live? Is he in the goodnights? Seems odd at this point in his tenure when he was well established as the alpha in the cast.
Also always thought Ferrell was out of the building this week, but he does have a sketch-specific voiceover in Judge Judy, & in the “full” goodnights (still only 30-some seconds) you can catch a coupla quick glimpses of him over Brendan’s left shoulder, wearing a wig & moustache, looking exactly like Ron Burgundy except blonde. With the mega-long-for-1999 Update & probably-truncated Old Navy Lady sketch, Will’s showcase piece must’ve been scheduled but cut. Fraser/Ferrell established great chemistry in last season’s buddy songs, so you’d think Brendan would push for at least one sketch with his BUDDY but sometimes the show politics fuck over even the all-time greats. Still, he gets a hilarious pre-tape in BioFlex (& according to SNL Archives that’s Parnell as the beast?! Tremendous team-up). And it is admittedly refreshing to see that SNL can still pull off a great show without over-relying on him, as they prove again 3 years later with Jon Stewart & Ian McKellen. (Josh Hartnett show, however, was the first glimpse of the show feeling a little bare without him starting the next season, though overall I think season 28 is quite underrated)
Ozzy: curious what Horatio or maybe Jimmy was doing to Molly off-camera when Tim comes in; she’s audibly laughing & somewhat shocked from the sounds of it. Maybe the chicken puppet went rogue
Some of the best animation ever on this TV Funhouse. The J.J. Sedelmaier toons had a unique somewhat unexplainable “hard-edge” quality in the designs that went missing after animation duties switched next season, though there are still plenty of classic cartoons to come. Smigel roaring as the tiger cracks me up,,,, kinda fun to pick out the incidental no-need-to-bring-someone-in voices he provides to a lot of his cartoons
Vintage:
Cold Open
Monologue
Bio-Flex
Judge Judy
Zimmerman’s
Weekend Update: Only Jimmy’s Valentine’s Songs
Musical Performance: Gimme Some More
Male Escort