Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
Rudolph Giuliani (DAH) & Hillary Clinton (ANG) on adulterous politicians
— I always like Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani impression.
— Some laughs from the goals Darrell’s Giuliani lists off, such as “Get my cops to stop shooting old black people.”
— Ana has some decent lines as Hillary.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— After debuting in just the last episode, Maya Rudolph has ALREADY been removed from the opening montage. Don’t be mistaken, she hasn’t been Emily Prager-ed or Laurie Metcalf-ed (the terms used for when a cast member lasts only one episode), she’s just not appearing in tonight’s episode. I guess SNL’s experimenting a bit by going back to their old practice of only crediting some of the featured players on certain weeks instead of crediting them on a regular basis. As we’ll soon see, upcoming season 26 hire Jerry Minor will go through this at an early point in that season.
MONOLOGUE
host unsuccessfully refutes rumors that she lip-syncs & has fake boobs
— A fairly funny, though simple, lip-sync bit.
— A good laugh from the bit with Britney’s breasts moving by themselves while she refutes rumors of having breast implants. I’d like to think that SNL is using the same special effect they used in a similar memorable bit that Pamela Stephenson once did on the show 16 years earlier.
— Wow, it’s over already? A surprisingly VERY short monologue, but it was pretty good for what it was, and was also pretty impressive that Britney could carry a solo monologue.
STARS: ***
GAP FAT
HOS & other khaki-clad plus-size people dance to “Cool”
— A spot-on and hilarious shot-by-shot parody of an actual Gap ad from this time. This is probably still funny to viewers who aren’t familiar with the source material this is spoofing.
— Horatio’s dancing is very funny, as is the close-up of him mouthing the words “real cool” to the camera.
STARS: ****
MORNING LATTE
disgruntled former Mouseketeer (host) slams Britney Spears
— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch.
— Boy, Cheri’s voice is absolutely SHOT. She must have come down with laryngitis. For this reason, this ends up being the only sketch she appears in all night, not including a musical guest intro that she does with her mother later tonight.
— Cheri, on how hot the weather is: “Hey, Janet Reno, did you put a gun in spring’s face and send it back to Cuba too?”
— Cheri’s character now mentions in passing that she has laryngitis, as SNL’s way of working Cheri’s voice problems into the sketch.
— Cheri: “I am sweating like a prostitute in church.”
— Cheri: “I believe that people should be judged based solely on their appearance.”
— I’m laughing at how Will and Cheri are scared of Britney’s hood character.
— Good characterization from Britney.
— Cheri attempting to imitate Britney’s crotch-grabbing dance move is quite a funny visual.
— An overall pretty solid final installment of this sketch, and Cheri in particular had a lot of good moments. A good way for this sketch to go out.
STARS: ***½
COLONIAL MUSEUM
Sully & Denise meet butter churner (host) at a colonial history museum
— Sully, to Britney, in regards to her low-cut colonial dress: “Hey, where’d you get that dress, Ye Olde House of Juggery?”
— I got a pretty good laugh from Denise’s line about how Sully’s mother’s breast milk is like Bailey’s Irish Cream.
— Hilarious line from Denise about getting fired from her last job for using a foot measurer inappropriately.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Trouble Coming Twice” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo at the NBA Finals
— Wow, this is the first Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon in a fairly long while. As funny as these AGD cartoons are, I can understand why Robert Smigel is phasing them out.
— A big laugh from the visual of Ace and Gary in Village People costumes.
— The villains’ floating robotic device has a lot of funny dialogue.
— I like the change of pace with this AGD cartoon having a climactic scene taking place at the NBA Finals.
— Great visual of Gary suggestively blowing on the bird villain’s beak after squeezing it into a phallic shape.
— A hilarious ending shot of Ace patting Shaquille O’Neal’s bare butt in the L.A. Lakers’ locker room.
STARS: ****
WOODROW
smitten host is serenaded by Woodrow (TRM) at his place in the sewer
— I love the idea of this odd character for Tracy, who’s playing this role perfectly.
— Very funny line from Woodrow about stealing a mailbox because it has secrets about him.
— Woodrow’s absolute nonsense song with insane, non-sequitur lyrics is priceless and memorable.
— I’m loving how this sketch has both great humor and genuine sweetness, the latter feeling rare for this era.
— Overall, a Tracy Morgan classic.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Sarah Michelle Gellar [real] introduces host
— Random cameo, needless to say. It’s always welcome to see Sarah Michelle Gellar on SNL, though. It would’ve been nice to see her in an actual sketch tonight… oh, wait, that comes next week.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Oops!…I Did It Again”
WEEKEND UPDATE
CHP performs a hardcore rap about going on a dream date with host
Angelina Jolie’s (MOS) brother James (CHK) is upset that she got married
— Very nice to see Parnell doing an Update commentary as himself for a change.
— Parnell’s song unexpectedly turning out to be a hardcore rap song is freakin’ hilarious.
— Parnell’s rapping is INCREDIBLE. Who would’ve guessed at the time that he, of all people, could rap like that?
— So many great little things throughout Parnell’s rap, such as him doing the rhythmic tilted head turns (I can’t come up with a better description of that move) and the way he censors himself from saying “shit”.
— I love Parnell’s final lyric, mentioning that he has a “mother effin’” date with the special guest we just saw earlier tonight, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
— An overall absolutely amazing Chris Parnell commentary, and a great breakout moment for him. I also love hearing the huge audience reception he gets after he finishes his song.
— Humorously, a male audience member can be heard groaning after Colin’s mention of Paula Jones being in negotiations to pose nude for Penthouse. Colin has a somewhat funny reaction to that groan.
— All throughout this Update, Colin keeps fanning his face with the papers in his hand. I guess it really IS unbearably hot in New York at this time, as was mentioned earlier tonight in the Morning Latte sketch. Doesn’t SNL have air conditioning in their studio?
— Pretty spot-on casting of Jimmy as Billy Bob Thornton, as I can see somewhat of a facial resemblance. SNL later gets mileage out of this facial resemblance when Billy Bob Thornton hosts in season 27, by casting him as Jimmy’s father in a Nick Burns sketch.
— Pretty funny turn with the Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob Thornton commentary being crashed by Kattan as Angelina’s brother.
— Rachel returns as her deformed lovechild character, Qrplt*xk. This character of Rachel’s is always good for a big laugh, but are we supposed to forget the fact that in the previous Angelina Jolie commentary on Update a few episodes ago, it was revealed that Qrplt*xk was just an act put on by a professional child actor?
— Jimmy’s having a hard time staying fully in character throughout this commentary. There’s too much of a jokey demeanor in his performance here.
— Haha, boy, this Jolie/Thornton commentary is getting INSANE.
STARS: **½
AUDITION
dance moves of Kyle DeMarco & brother Sean (CHP) reflect host’s lyrics
— The return of a one-off Chris Kattan sketch from way back in season 22, now with the addition of Parnell as Kattan’s brother, a duo that would go on to become recurring characters.
— Feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of Tim Meadows as we get closer and closer to the end of this final season of his. Is this sketch his ONLY appearance all night? And he looks really bored during this sketch, though I’m aware that’s just him acting in character.
— A good laugh from the anal sex position Parnell and Kattan hold a frozen pose with when the lyric “I’m not that innocent” is played at the end of the snippet of the song “Oops!…I Did It Again”.
— Tim: “We gotta keep this thing moving, because if we don’t, I may have to shoot myself in the face.” That is such a perfect Tim Meadows-y line, much like his “I’m gonna take this nightstick and hit ya in the head” line from the preceding episode’s Bloater Brothers sketch. Good to see that SNL’s still getting some good mileage out of Tim’s delivery in this late stage of his SNL tenure.
— I just know I’m gonna get sick of this recurring sketch very soon, just as much as the next guy, but honestly, I haven’t been hating tonight’s installment so far. Maybe because it’s the first installment with both DeMarco brothers, so I’m going a little easy on it, or maybe because I’m on such a Chris Parnell high tonight after his amazing rap on Weekend Update. There’s a goofiness to this sketch that I’m finding a little charming (especially from Parnell), though not particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***
AMERICA’S WORST MOMENTS
America’s Worst Moments commemorative plates immortalize cultural shames
— After such a serious beginning regarding the Elian Gonzalez saga, we get a very funny reveal of the infamous “a terrified Elian Gonzalez being captured by soldiers” picture being proudly displayed in a commemorative plate.
— Great premise of embarrassing events in American history being celebrated in commemorative plates. I especially like the mention of the “Clarence Thomas coke can” incident.
— Parnell is so perfect for this. He’s having such a strong night in tonight’s episode in general.
— Ah, I see SNL recognizes that tonight’s episode is the 10th anniversary of the controversial SNL episode that Andrew Dice Clay hosted (May 12, 1990), as they mention him in this sketch as one of the examples of America’s worst moments. Nah, I know the mention of him in tonight’s episode is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with the 10th anniversary of his SNL hosting stint; I’m just a nerd when it comes to coincidental similarities between SNL episodes that happen to have a corresponding airdate.
STARS: ****
COMEBACK TOUR
on-stage, band of abusive diva Deandra Wells (ANG) reaches breaking point
— There’s Parnell ONCE AGAIN tonight. This is really his night. I’m very happy to see this happening to such an underappreciated performer.
— An interesting new character for Ana, who’s doing her usual solid job here.
— Strangely, you can see loose pieces of scotch tape holding up Ana’s long fake fingernails (the second above screencap for this sketch).
— I got a pretty good laugh from Ana’s message to a “huge” audience member in the crowd.
— Funny cutaway to Will’s angry speechless facial expression in reaction to a passive-aggressively rude thing that Ana’s telling him.
— A great sudden turn with Parnell’s FURIOUS outburst at Ana. Fantastic delivery from Parnell here.
— Pretty funny ending with Ana awkwardly going back to her song after getting chewed out by her disgruntled band.
STARS: ***½
UNCLE JEMIMA’S PURE MASH LIQUOR
Rerun from 2/5/00
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
CHO wishes her mom [real] Happy Mother’s Day & introduces host
— A nice Mother’s Day moment between Cheri and her mom. It also comes off somewhat as a bittersweet Cheri Oteri moment in retrospect, considering this ends up being Cheri’s second-to-last episode as a cast member.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, containing nothing that I disliked (aside from some Colin Quinn portions of Weekend Update). Even the weakest sketch of the night, The DeMarco Brothers, was still tolerable for me. For a young pop singer, Britney Spears was not bad as a host. Her childhood experience in The Mickey Mouse Club probably helped her work well in SNL sketches, as it would her fellow Mouseketeer-turned-pop-singers who would later do an impressive job hosting SNL: Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. And it can’t be said enough what a strong night Chris Parnell had in this episode. I recall an SNL fan or two saying that this was the episode that made them finally start to really take notice of Parnell.
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 fairly big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 25 comes to an end, with host Jackie Chan. It’s also the end of the road for Cheri Oteri, Colin Quinn, and long-time veteran Tim Meadows.
During the DeMarco brothers sketch, I love how Britney keeps putting her hand near her mouth to keep from breaking.
I wish they had used Parnell’s random rapping ability more. Andy Samberg got good mileage out of him in his last season, but I can’t remember much else.
This is another I watched live and I will never forget the Britney rap – absolutely nothing in Parnell’s two seasons as a cast member had given an indication of what he was about to do, which is one of the reasons you have the priceless audience reaction of 1) shock at him rapping and 2) shock that he’s actually good at rapping.
Up to this point, most SNL material involving rapping had involved mocking rap (like “Peace, We Outta Here” in the Deion Sanders episode). This was probably the first time SNL was not using rap as comedy in of itself and instead used rap to subvert expectations and to sell the joke.
At the time I did hope it would help establish Parnell more on the show. Sadly I don’t think it did, but once we get past the few repeats of this format, we see how much Chris would change the show in ways never anticipated back during this Update – I don’t think they ever would have been as confident in allowing Andy Samberg to make Lazy Sunday without remembering audience reception to this moment. And the show has never been the same after Lazy Sunday. Even post-Samberg, you still have the influence, to the point where some episodes would have two extensive rap pre-tapes. Of course that isn’t all on Chris, but yeah, I’m going to go ahead and give him credit for opening the door.
One could argue Parnell didn’t get out of it much as SNL did, but at least he’s still been making that commercial money…
I definitely remember seeing this one live and being blown away by Parnell. Probably the best example of the most unexpected talent from an SNL cast member. After 2 seasons of playing so many squares and corny dad roles, he was the last guy you’d ever expect a perfectly done gangster rap from. I’d argue he became the most valuable in the cast after Ferrell pretty quickly, one of the reasons his firing after the following season was still one of the biggest shock departures (before they ended up bringing him back) in my years of watching SNL. He was like the Hartman of this era, though not nearly as prolific or appreciated at the time.
Watched this one live as well. I missed the Goodman and the Chan episodes so I never realized Maya was even added until the next season.
Without repeating what has been said before in detail: Parnell’s rapping is amazing. One of the rare post 93-94 CC edits to leave in both musical performances. I remember being disappointed Update was cut for that.
The late Katreese Barnes (and future co-musical director) sitting in with the band and who would replace Cheryl Hardwick in season 26.
I found myself comparing Britney’s episode to more recent double duty episodes, where the hosts are in most of the sketches and in pre-tapes. Here, Britney mostly played herself, when she appeared in sketches at all, other than the fun Morning Latte bit. That isn’t a criticism of Britney or this episode – would anyone say, “Deandra would have been so much better if Britney had played her keyboardist” – just an observation of changing times and a shift on SNL’s part from being cast-centric to host-centric. It’s also a time capsule into how much the music industry has changed – pretty much no double duty host these days is likely to be as big as Britney was in this era. It was a huge coup for SNL to get her, but also an example of how central the show still was to the viewing public at this point.
I wouldn’t want to say it in the finale review, as I generally was fine with Colin’s Update tenure and respect the tough job he had to do, but I do agree with you about how irritating the constant asides have become after watching two and a half seasons of them.
I know Cheri didn’t decide about leaving until after the season was over, but I do wonder if she had an inkling and that’s why she had this very sweet moment with her mother.
As much as I enjoy the Culps and Delicious Dish, I’m tempted to say Morning Latte is the recurring feature of these years that holds up best all these years later, especially once we get past the early sketches that have the host raging at Cass for the punchline.
Parnell seems to have taken over the pitchman role which ended up going to others like Will when no one else in the cast could manage it. I think this suits Parnell a little more, and of course frees Will up to play the crazier roles.
Deandra is one of those characters I enjoyed well enough at the time but was never that invested in either way. I’m mostly looking forward to seeing the holiday-themed sketch Ana said was her biggest bomb on the show.
Wonder if her having a semi big role in a successful movie in Scary Movie over the summer was a factor in Cheri leaving? It was a big hit
As pretty much everyone else has stated, this was an outstanding episode for Chris Parnell.
It is bewildering to me that he wasn’t a breakout star on the show (…I guess Jimmy Fallon kind of overshadowed this batch of newcomers). Chris had some great impressions, but none really stood out tremendously…and had some great recurring character, but none really took off and became frequent hits or household names…it’s a shame.
I would agree he basically was the “Hartman-esque” role for this era. Really underrated cast member. And I agree that his firing was absolutely undeserved and shocking. Thankfully, Will was able to convince the big-wigs to bring him back.
This AGD instalment adapts Ace and Gary’s appearance in the December 1999 Playboy, as later featured in a 32-page promotional item with an Alex Ross cover ( https://www.jjsedelmaier.com/print-selfpromocomic ). Dick Ayers does lettering and layouts for the comic story. Ayers has an animator’s credit in the cartoon despite comics being his primary background, ’cause let’s be honest, Smigel wouldn’t pass up “DICK LAYS OUT ACE AND GARY!” as a selling point.
Zach Galifianakis was a trial-writer during this period, he goes into detail about it here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iSngnajMsWo
Definitely a surprising episode. When I first heard of the announcement that Britney Spears was going to host, I was a little trepidatious as were a lot of people. But, she did a really good job. I find myself reciting a lot of her ghetto phrases from the morning latte sketch still to this day and getting a good chuckle out of it.
And I am in 110% agreement that Parnell broke out in this episode. I definitely took notice that he was in a lot of great stuff tonight. His rap, DeMarco brothers, the Deandra Wells sketch… All good things.
This episode gets ****1/2 from me.
Pretty sure Angelina Jolie’s brother was played by Jimmy Fallon, Not Chris Kattan
@Justin it might be a little fuzzy in the screen caps, but Jimmy is definitely playing Billy Bon Thornton (goatee), and Kattan is her brother (blonde hair). Impressively — out of the thousands of impressions @Stooge has had to ID during this project — he has yet to mis identify anyone that I can recall!
Long time reader, first time writer. I LOVE THIS SITE! Thank you for doing this project and persisting. Long time SNL fan and ever since peacock, I’ve been rewatching and reading along and why I love this site is your insight. We share a lot of the same feelings, and even when we don’t, it’s great getting a different perspective on comedy. What made me finally want to to reply, is the following season is what I started with in elementary, and now feel like I can share personal experiences, such as how Tracy Morgan, Parnell, Rudolph, Fey and Dratch really formed my sensibilities. Woodrow is the most hilarious thing this season IMO.
Once again, thank you for blog, I’ll be writing more soon.
This is the Vintage SNL tomorrow.
This could not be anymore timely, considering the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary that came out and getting a lot of press, not to mention having many, including myself, seeing Britney in a different light than how the press has portrayed her. I do wonder how social media is going to react to her episode after it airs.
It’s also going to be interesting seeing how better Britney was treated a celebrity when she hosted SNL. Even the show itself used to be favorable towards her until she last appeared in 2003.
Her one ex, Justin Timberlake, seemed to have been more of a friend to the show than her and made a lot more appearances (including the ones with N’Sync). I’m only bringing him up, because he has been criticized for helping to turn public perception against Britney, yet he was still well-loved.
Justin also apologized to Janet Jackson as well. She was last seen on SNL back in 2004 right after the Halftime Show fiasco involving her and Justin. Like with Britney, public perception was turned on Janet, though Justin emerged unharmed. Now, he felt the heat for either not doing anything or helping to do more harm towards both Britney and Janet.
Back to this episode, there is that Sarah Michelle Gellar cameo. She is back in the news as the creator of the “Buffy” TV show, Joss Whedon, is in the news for his toxic behavior on the sets of his movies and TV shows, which has been categorized as abusive and harassment. Sarah has supported one of her co-stars following news of Whedon’s conduct.
This is an interesting Vintage episode to relive for sure.
The vintage showing CUT PARNELL’S RAP!
Found this from Teen People, first off, it’s always great to see backstage photos of Will Ferrell as Ron and it looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar was brought in to do another Tiger Beat’s Ultra Super Duper Dreamy Love Show sketch that got cut at dress. Also cut, a Dawson’s Creek parody.
https://imgur.com/a/MZDjBws
Here are Molly and Will (who appears as himself but is dressed as Ron) on Late Night w/ Conan during Friday of this week. Molly mentions a character she pitched that got rejected called Hot Cocoa Girl. IIRC something similar to that got cut from Christina Ricci / Beck but if anyone has any insight into that it would be appreciated.
Video:
ew.com/tv/zach-galifianakis-bombed-saturday-night-live-britney-spears-sketches/
Zach Galifanakis talks about two sketches he pitched for this episode during his period as a guest writer.
(the belly button sketch sounds like something I could see in this era – I’m surprised they didn’t like it)
Interesting sounding dress sketch Colin Quinn describes here saying it was the last sketch he wrote before he left that he starred in with Tracy Morgan and Brittney Spears. Said it was cut because “it was too dicey for the air”, Found that interesting, because by this point I figured he wasn’t concentrating anymore on trying to get any sketches on and was just focusing on Weekend Update in those last two seasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shYWdYRqrNk&t=1406s