Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE LADIES’ MAN
skanks (Sarah Michelle Gellar), (Gina Gershon), Florence Henderson [real]
— A fitting choice to start off what ends up being Tim Meadows’ final episode, whether he or SNL was aware of it at the time or not.
— Fun change of pace for a Ladies Man sketch, having this edition be a Dating Game-esque game show titled “Who Wants To Be My Skank”.
— Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a cameo for the second consecutive episode.
— Very funny to see a Florence Henderson cameo in this specific context.
— Florence Henderson: “Let’s get skanky!”
— Florence continues to steal the sketch, especially her raunchy line about a bottle of Wesson Oil, which got a great audience reaction.
— I like how Leon Phelps nicknames Florence “Flo-Ho”.
— During the group “Live From New York…” at the end, Tim looked genuinely emotional. Perhaps he is aware that this is his last show.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host bests Steven Seagal (WIF) & other martial arts also-rans
— Right off the bat in this monologue, Jackie Chan’s very thin grasp on the English language is pretty charming, though it makes me wonder how he’ll fare in delivering lines in sketches.
— Funny Steven Seagal impression from Will.
— A good laugh from the “Legionnaire” bit with Kattan’s Jean Claude Van Damme.
— Decent bit with Horatio’s Sammo Hung questioning why he’s stuck on the show Martial Law with Arsenio Hall.
— The non-comedic choreographed fight at the end was okay, I guess.
STARS: ***
NICK BURNS, YOUR COMPANY’S COMPUTER GUY
Nick Burns & fellow nerd (host) belittle office workers’ tech problems
— I like how it’s become a regular thing at the beginning of these Nick Burns sketches for Kattan to go “I don’t like that guy.”
— Pretty funny sight of Jackie as a computer nerd, named Wang.
— Nick Burns’ fat jokes about Horatio in these sketches always make me laugh, especially him responding to Horatio’s trouble finding the menu on his computer with “The last thing I expect you not to be able to find is a menu.”
— Nick Burns: “I guess we gotta make like Microsoft…” Wang: “…and split!” A clever topical joke, referencing the then-recent decision to split Microsoft into two companies, though I’m not sure the joke has aged well with a lot of viewers nowadays.
— Overall, just an average installment of this sketch. I enjoyed the previous installments a little better.
STARS: ***
BAND SHOT
G.E. Smith [real] plays guitar
RENAISSANCE FAIR
Marty & Bobbi do a medieval-themed medley at the school Renaissance Fair
— Hmm, Tim playing someone who’s retiring seems to be another possible acknowledgment that this is Tim’s last show.
— Tim’s deadpan Spanish statements are very funny.
— Tim briefly looked like he was going to laugh right as he angrily yelled “Stop throwing taco meat!”
— Interesting renaissance costume on the Culps tonight.
— Funny bit with Marty Culps’ “minstrel period” line coming out sounding like “menstrual period”.
— The Culps make a mention of a weaver named Cheryl Hardwick. That’s an inside reference, as Cheryl Hardwick is the name of a longtime SNL Band member who’s retiring tonight.
— Now the Culps namedrop students named Bob Van Ry and Charlie McKittrick. Bob Van Ry is the name of a longtime SNL stage manager who’s also retiring tonight, and Charlie McKittrick is the name of Ana’s real-life husband. A lot of interesting inside references with the character names in tonight’s Culps sketch.
— I like how the song medley that the Culps do tonight is renaissance-themed versions of hit songs.
— I love the Culps covering “The Thong Song”, especially after I recently had to sit through Sisqo’s LAUGHABLY bad performance of that song when he was a musical guest a few episodes earlier.
— Nice how they’re now having the departing Tim Meadows join in on the song medley.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Some Real Audio” by RBS- Madonna indulges fans’ intimate wishes
— Hmm, a bit of a change, with the title “Fun With Some Real Audio”.
— The first father introducing his son to Madonna sounded at first like he’s being voiced by Adam Sandler, oddly enough. After a while, though, I no longer hear Sandler in his voice. I think it’s Robert Smigel himself doing the voice.
— A big laugh from the father telling Madonna that both he and his son have masturbated to her.
— The bit with the Hispanic family taking turns sticking their finger in Madonna’s asscrack is very funny.
— A little odd how this entire cartoon (aside from the very first shot of Madonna dancing and singing) is just using one far-away camera angle. There’s no close-up shots or anything.
— Madonna deep-throating random things is kinda funny, but this cartoon is starting get kinda old.
— The Don McLean walk-on made me laugh at first, wondering where it was gonna go, but it just ended up going the same “Can I stick my finger in your asscrack?” route. Meh.
STARS: **½
SPARKS
(MOS) & (host) get embroiled in Zimmermans’ erotic miniature golf game
— Is tonight’s episode going to be nothing but recurring sketches?
— This ends up being the final appearance of the Zimmermans, as this is Cheri’s last show.
— So far, the Zimmermans’ usual antics have a tired feel tonight. It’s a good thing this ends up being the final installment.
— Haha, whoa at the part with water spraying out of the crocodile that Cheri is suggestively sitting on.
— The timing in this sketch feels kinda off.
— Overall, a weak way for the Zimmermans to go out.
— This sketch would later be cut from reruns and replaced with an Adam McKay short film titled “The Procedure”, starring Andy Richter and Willem Dafoe. I’ve heard a theory that perhaps the reason SNL refrained from re-airing this Zimmermans sketch is possibly because you could see through Cheri’s wet shirt after the aforementioned part where water sprays on her.
STARS: **
LEGENDS IN CONCERT
Asian Elvis impersonator (host) wins over a skeptical Las Vegas crowd
— Parnell’s Tom Jones number at the beginning of this sketch is funny.
— Good singing voice on Jackie.
— Jackie’s delivery when speaking to the audience is pretty rough.
— Ha, Kid Rock as Jerry Lee Lewis. Also a funny use of Joe C. as Lewis’ child bride, though the sight of Joe C. in drag is quite bizarre.
STARS: **½
WEEKEND UPDATE
Bobby Knight (DAH) relates lessons learned from an anger management class
— This is it, folks. The final Colin Quinn Weekend Update.
— Some pretty rough jokes from Colin early on in this Update. The audience is liking some of these jokes more than I am.
— Like in the preceding episode’s Update, Colin keeps occasionally fanning himself with the papers in his hand. Another unbearably hot New York day in May, I take it?
— Darrell’s Bobby Knight angrily breaking the glass in his hand while having a fake smile is KINDA funny, but I think I’m just desperate for a laugh at this point. This Bobby Knight Update commentary in general isn’t doing anything for me, and the audience is dead.
— Wow, that’s the whole Bobby Knight commentary? That was awful. I don’t know whether to blame the writing or Darrell’s odd performance, but either way, this commentary did NOT work.
— Some of Colin’s ad-libs in between his jokes tonight are KINDA making me laugh for once, more than most of Colin’s jokes themselves.
— Overall, despite a bit of an upswing in Colin’s jokes towards the end of tonight’s Update, I found this Update as a whole to be a poor way for Colin to go out, being a step below his usual Updates (which is saying something, as I typically find his Updates to be fairly subpar).
— These last two-and-a-half seasons of Update with Colin at the helm have been a somewhat rough patch for SNL, though Colin occasionally had his moments. But now, all I can say is an excited BRING ON THE NEXT UPDATE ERA!
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “American Bad Ass”
PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen’s new boyfriend (host) teaches GymNasty
— DAMMIT.
— Boy, the quality of tonight’s season finale has really been dropping off.
— The running gag in these Pretty Living sketches with Ana having a smiling facade while disclosing something bitter about her personal life is getting old. Like I said in an earlier review, SNL has Ana play a few too many characters with this trait. The Hello Dolly sketches, for example.
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from Ana’s good delivery of the line “I would jump your bones right now, but my entire sex drive is muted by high doses of lithium.”
— I got another very rare Pretty Living laugh, this time from the title of Jackie’s instructional sexual gymnastics video: “Giving Good Headstands”.
STARS: *½
CALGON
(host) beats (CHP) to prevent exposure of ancient Chinese secret
— Only two episodes into her SNL tenure, and Maya Rudolph is already proving to be a chameleon when it comes to playing various ethnicities. And something about her performance in this commercial is kinda adorable to me.
— Speaking of Maya, this pre-taped ad is her only appearance all night. Her only live appearance all season was in that MTV VJ sketch from the John Goodman episode. Her sole pre-taped appearance tonight is still more than what poor Rachel Dratch gets, as Rachel is completely shut out of this season finale.
— Much like we saw in The Rock episode earlier this season, Parnell shows how damn good he is at taking a fake beating in a sketch.
— Overall, a short and simple gag, and, while Jackie’s sudden beatdown of Parnell was kinda funny, it felt like this commercial should’ve had a funnier twist on the old Calgon ad it was parodying.
STARS: **½
HOLE DIGGERS
at the Earth’s center, expert hole diggers form international brotherhood
— Funny bit with Will and Jackie questioning why the hell Parnell would want to dig to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
— Pretty funny how more and more random hole diggers from various countries keep entering.
— A fairly fun song that has a nice charm. Even though the song’s not comedic at all, I strangely find it a kinda fitting way to close out the final sketch of the season.
— I love the ending disclaimer after the jovial song: “And eight minutes later they were all dead!”
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Only God Knows Why”
GOODNIGHTS
Cheryl Hardwick [real] blows a kiss to mark her final SNL
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A disappointing season finale. The first 1/3rds of the episode was decent, then the show seemed to gradually get worse and worse, though it picked up at the end with the Hole Diggers sketch. The Ladies Man cold opening was the only thing all night that stood out to me as strong. Also, Jackie Chan, while he came off charming at times and had a fun attitude, maybe wasn’t the best choice for a season finale host.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Britney Spears)
a step down
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1998-99)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 26 begins, with host Rob Lowe. We get two new cast members and a revamped Weekend Update with a new anchorperson team.
I would agree that Jackie Chan would have been perhaps an okay host earlier in the year, maybe when the energy level was higher and people could think of better ways to use him as a host rather than just dump off lots of recurring characters. But SNL’s season finale history has always been erratic.
And next episode will provide a connection to the current show. James Anderson’s first show as a writer and he’s still there till this day
I try not to judge season finales too harshly as they are more often than not tired affairs, but this episode just ended up reminding me again of how much a number of the recurring characters of this era negatively affect my enjoyment.
I tried to be fair and sit through a Nick Burns, but they just don’t work for me at all. The rude-to-everyone-and-that’s-hilarious premise feels like leftover David Spade, but Jimmy’s stumbling delivery and hesitancy over how to play the scenes gets in the way of any laughs, along with how rigidly one-note the material is. The whole thing is a harbinger of SNL giving Jimmy way more than he could handle as a cast member.
I couldn’t even bother with the Zimmermans, probably among my least-favorite recurring characters in SNL history. I made it through Pretty Living, mostly just because of the fun use of Jackie’s gymnastics, but the lack of audience reaction to Jackie using Molly’s catchphrase was complete cringe. Even the Culps sketch feels warmed over.
The best, I suppose, was the Ladies’ Man, as Florence Henderson was incredibly entertaining, but SMG’s talents ended up being wasted.
Much of Jackie’s original sketch material, aside from the digging sketch, has that this-is-racist-but-if-we-make-fun-of-it-that’s-OK vibe which will also pop up with Lucy Liu before too long. I’d say the approach works best with the Calgon ad, which is an endearing enough spoof of those old and real commercials, but the Elvis sketch is just such a mess. It had the same incredibly confused approach too much of the current show has. Way too much time was devoted to the Ana and Will characters making racist remarks, as soon after Jackie’s character wowed everybody, instead of any moment of triumph, he quickly left the stage for the embarrassing (for more than one reason) Kid Rock cameo. If the idea was to show off Jackie’s lovely singing voice, they should have just given him one of those old compilation album pieces.
I agree that this wasn’t a good way to end Colin’s Update. I did laugh that even he acknowledged how bad the Bobby Knight piece was. I had mixed feelings about the Update changes at the time (initially I enjoyed Tina and Jimmy but as season 26 progressed they became to feel more and more empty and smirky for me). I’m not sure how I will feel now.
I still end up confused over who had already decided they were leaving. Colin’s Update doesn’t seem final. Cheri got the little moment with her mother the previous episode, and she is standing right at the front in these goodnights…so maybe she knew? Tim doesn’t get much of an official sendoff for a 10 year cast member. I know it wasn’t as common at this time but Phil had gotten one and so does Will a few years later – although based on how rarely Tim has come back and his hurt that he wasn’t asked back for the Bill Braskey sketch 6-7 years ago, maybe they didn’t have a warm enough relationship for that, I don’t know.
Anyway, Tim talks here, with Dennis Miller, about why he decided to leave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXK8TNeqWDo
I was a little disappointed, in my rewatch, about how disconnected Tim started to feel from the rest of the show in his last 2-3 seasons, but that’s often what happens with longtime cast members (Kenan Thompson may be one of the only exceptions). I always liked Tim back then – he and Ana and then Parnell kept me going for long stretches of time – and now seeing his full tenure, rather than just dipping in and out, I can appreciate his talent and his commitment to everything he was given to do. It can’t be said enough how important he was in keeping the show afloat in 94-95, a season where so many in the cast were either nakedly self-indulgent or completely demoralized and traumatized. Tim connected with every sketch, and was as at home with the “bad boys” as he was with Ellen Cleghorne. He also gave us Perspectives, possibly SNL’s most underrated recurring segment. So much of SNL’s history seems to be determined by fate, and one of the kindest strokes of fate was that the decision to let Tim go in 1995 was reversed, giving him five more seasons to establish himself as a steady force and help pave the way for the consistent success he has more than earned. With Tim’s exit, we lose our final connection to what I’d say are the last best years, but at least we can always look back.
My feelings about Cheri at the time were complicated – even with some of the face-pulling, I enjoyed her as a performer…I just couldn’t tolerate some of her main recurring characters. That’s pretty much remained the case. The only difference is I’ve gained more appreciation for her abilities, and realized how important she was to those key rebuilding seasons of 95-98. She was full of gusto right out of the starting gate, yet for all her energetic and at times OTT performances, she was still able to work just as well in a duo with old Groundlings partner Will Ferrell – Morning Latte being one of the best double acts the show has ever had. Beyond Cass, I’d say Rita Delvecchio is another wonderful creation, one who still had more left to give. I think Cheri also still had more left to give, but I’m glad that she went at the time she felt was right, and I am glad that she has become a little more visible in the last year so that her story won’t always just be remembered as leaving and not being known for anything post-SNL.
I think time has been a little kinder to Colin than general opinion in these years, but still, I wish that his very solid sketch work was better known than it is. I also think his Update work needs to be looked at more as a bridge – between Norm, an anchor who at times actively tried to alienate the audience, and a series of anchors (Tina, Jimmy, Amy, Seth) who tried very hard to show the audience how Clever and Sharp and Adorable they are. Colin did neither of these things – he just read the news, somewhat awkwardly, and let people feel what they wanted to feel. There were hints of more (his solo news segments were more compelling, and his softer moments with certain cast members, like Cheri, always stood out), but for the most part he did a decent enough job with what the limited him into being. I do think it was time for a change though…and we will certainly be getting one.
We’re heading into a crossroads between very talented performers who could have given laughs and entertainment in a variety of ways, and badly used, overexposed performers who go the cheapest route and end up shorting themselves – and viewers – out. We’re also heading into the start of what I’d call the “I like you for you” period, where there are a number of performers I see as gifted and easy to appreciate, but almost in spite of what they are given to do onscreen (Parnell, Rachel, and to a lesser degree Maya were the performers I most tended to see this way – sadly this is the same approach I have to take to many current cast members). We’re also headed for even deeper cast splits that really are going to ramp up once Will and Ana are gone.
Still, for the most part, 99-00 was a pretty decent season, one that didn’t fall apart toward the last third the way 98-99 for me, and I thank you for your blog allowing me to go back through these years with a fresh eye.
I definitely remember this one – but I never saw the live version, for some reason. I saw it with “The Procedure” (which makes me laugh every time I hear ‘Private Eyes’).
Given Quinn’s later shows and stand-up routines, he’s the Brad Hall of the Will Ferrell era. He WANTS to deviate from the formula, and does on occasion, but SNL neuters everything that makes him good in his role. I won’t say I miss Quinn on WU – ESPECIALLY those camera asides – but this is the last night Weekend Update has a pure “news satire” feel.
While I don’t mind the formula currently in place, the contrasts between WU anchors become less pronounced starting with Fallon and Fey. I admit WU has its highlights after Quinn, but it becomes less at odds with the rest of SNL, and leaves the more incisive satire to a Daily Show that Jon Stewart starts to make his own. No surprise Comedy Central develops shows in the TDS vein, and Quinn finds more success on shows and specials that reveal his depth beyond “hey, Irish, Brooklyn, I know things”.
I did not like this eisode at all. T Bone and G. E. sat in with the SNL band for Cheryl’s last show. That was all that I liked from this episode.
If I recall, I think it was assumed Tim would be leaving because I think the announcement he was joining (what would be one of many doomed sitcoms starring the Seinfeld cast) The Michael Richards Show in the fall. I mean, it did seem like it was time for Tim to go because he did seemed to be getting a bit burned out, but damn of all the projects for him to end a landmark (at the time, longest running castmember) SNL tenure for?
As much as I’m a Norm loyalist and was ready to hate Colin when he replaced him, I never thought he was THAT BAD and I always thought people were over-exaggerating when sayign he how bad he was. I feel like his first half season was actually when he was the strongest now that we’ve been going over these again, as you pointed out with every season it definitely felt like too much network interference kept getting in the way and he was pretty much neutered by the end with him do the generic reading the news stories by the end. I feel like what he did with Tough Crowd (and even his short lived NBC show before that, which he worked on with Tina Fey, Paula Pell, and a few other SNL writers- good luck finding any clips on that online!) was closer to the kind of stuff he wanted to do. I don’t remember the muttering adlibs being an issue for me as much as I often remember he had a habit of not being able to let it go whenever a joke didn’t get as big a laugh as he thought it should and not being able to hide his annoyance with the audience. A trait he still has to this day, though it often plays as funnier and more playful when he does it on talk shows than on Weekend Update where it just came off as uncomfortable and awkward.
I recall Cheri Oteri’s depature being the biggest surprise of the 3 that summer. I do think as someone mention in the last episodes coemments, Scary Movie being a big hit that summer probably made her feel like it was time to move on. It’s a shame, she seemed to have a promising career ahead, but the only thing of note I remember her doing after was that universally hated Dumb & Dumber prequel and that weird ass Southland Tales movie. I’ve always been curious what happened between her and Will Ferrell, they seemed like the cast members the most closely associated with each other when the “new cast” started, and Will seems to still work with a lot of his former castmates quite often but as far as I know hasn’t ever been involved in any projects with her since SNL.
Poor Joe C. Would die six months later
Sadly, Kid Rock is still alive.
I’ll confess: seeing Joe C. as the bride earned my biggest laugh when this episode first aired.
I always liked Jackie Chan, but remembered being worried about how it would play on live tv, with his English being what it was, I believe he was fully fluent in English but usually when I saw him on talk shows he spoke slowly and there’d be a lot of pauses, which I figured might play awkwardly in sketches. But I thought he did fine, they were smart to feature him singing in several sketches as he seemed more at ease singing than delivering spoken lines. Probably an episode that would’ve benefited from more pre-taped stuff like they do nowadays. I almost would’ve thought the natural choice to go with for Rush Hour would’ve been Chris Tucker, who was equally as big at the time. Another big name from that time period who I’m surprised never hosted, obviously never going to happen now as he’s mostly disappeared since then.
I forgot how for a while in the 90s up to the early 00s Florence Henderson had a “wholesome older actress who it’s now funny to see saying dirty things” point in her career, before it was passed to Betty White, probably somewhere after she was in Lake Placid.
Florence kept that going pretty much until she passed away. I thought she leaned into it a bit too much at times, but this cold open reminded me what a good comedienne she was when given the chance.
Well, sure – Jackie Chan’s known as a singer overseas just as much as he is an action star.
I hate the Kid Rock performances in this episode. Douchechills for days.
I still think Florence Henderson’s funniest TV appearance was as the night’s special guest star on “Police Squad!” (In Color)
I’ve always felt that if Cheri had come along like 5-10 years later she could have had her own sketch show (something akin to The Insert Sponsor Here Dana Carvey Show) somewhere on cable. Sadly, that just wasn’t an option in 2000.
Here are the average ratings for Season 25:
*may not represent review’s perception*
2501: 7.3 (Jerry Seinfeld)
2502: 6.5 (Heather Graham)
2503: 7.6 (Norm Macdonald)
2504: 5.9 (Dylan McDermott)
2505: 7.1 (Garth Brooks)
2506: 7.3 (Jennifer Aniston)
2507: 6.6 (Christina Ricci)
2508: 6.1 (Danny DeVito)
2509: 6.4 (Jamie Foxx)
2510: 6.0 (Freddie Prinze Jr.)
2511: 6.2 (Alan Cumming)
2512: 6.7 (Julianna Margulies)
2513: 6.9 (Ben Affleck)
2514: 7.5 (Joshua Jackson)
2515: 6.9 (The Rock)
2516: 8.0 (Christopher Walken)
2517: 7.3 (Tobey Maguire)
2518: 6.0 (John Goodman)
2519: 7.1 (Britney Spears)
2520: 5.5 (Jackie Chan)
Best Episode: 2516 (Christopher Walken)- 8.0
Worst Episode: 2520 (Jackie Chan)- 5.5
Season Average: 6.7
Farewell to Colin Quinn. Quinn was super like-able and down-to-earth, but…man…he never really got comfortable behind that Weekend Update desk. I’m glad to see him go. I actually preferred his sketch work on the show (…I’m sure he did too).
Farewell to Tim Meadows. By the time he left he was practically an institution on the show. He definitely had to “serve his time” when he was backseat to the “Bad Boys” of the early 90s, but he really blossomed once he became an “old veteran” in the cast. It’s too bad he hasn’t had more of a career since his departure, super talented and funny. It will be weird to see him go after being in these daily reviews of yours for so long, Stooge. 🙂
Farewell to Cheri Oteri. I will always have a special place in my heart for Cheri. My junior year of high school, for Spring Break, our drama class went to Hollywood/LA for the week. We went to a performance of the Groundlings, and Cheri Oteri was there as a guest performer (this would have been shortly before she left the show). It was amazing to see her perform improv! Incredible. We got to meet her after the show, do a quick Q&A, introduce myself and get a big hug from her! I was shocked how short she was, I’m pretty tall (6’4″), I dwarfed her! 🙂 Some of Cheri’s characters we’re a little one-note, but I’m a sucker for “Simma Down Na!” and I loved her as a Spartan Cheerleader, the brain dead co-host of Morning Latte, and Rita DelVecchio (would have liked to have seen more from her…they retired her a little too early). Never a big fan of the Zimmermans, but they had their moments. She hammed it up from time to time, but she was big part of the show’s comeback in the late 90s. I’ll miss her. It’s shocking to me that she has not returned to the show (I don’t expect her to host or anything, but not even a guest spot/cameo?…come on!)
Tim has done a fair amount of character work over the last 20 years, but its Cheri who all but disappeared. Tracy’s book suggested some diva behavior and being unpleasant to work with. That might explain why she’s been absent from every SNL-adjacent project since 2000.
Tim is still around, definitely, it’s just too bad that he isn’t a bigger name. I’ll always love his guest role in The Office episode where they do the business meeting at Chili’s 🙂
Yeah, Cheri has definitely fallen off the map…sad to see.
Fey’s book also includes an allusion to a female castmember who was very against Dratch’s hiring, assuming that four women was too many. It really reads like Oteri.
Tracy calls out Kattan and Oteri in his book for refusing to work with him.
Wasn’t there a story of Oteri locking herself in her dressing room and refusing to come out when a sketch of hers got cut?
This is a reply to Carson’s comment of February 17th. I have a copy of Fey’s “Bossypants” handy. It says on pp. 87-88 that at 5 AM after an exhausting night of writing, “one of our most intelligent actresses” was angry about the rumored future addition of a certain other (unnamed) woman to the cast. Besides worrying that there wouldn’t be enough parts for the women, the established actress also felt that the new hiring would be too similar to her.
Just from what’s in the book, there’s no telling whether Dratch was the rumored new hiring in the story. The book doesn’t mention the year this happened or how many women were already in the cast.
Fey argued that there could always be enough parts for women since the writers and cast created the show. “A bunch of us suggested that they collaborate instead of compete. And, of course, that’s what they did, with great success, once they were actually in a room together.”
From that information, I’m sure most of you (including Carson, who’s written many informative comments that I enjoyed) can make better guesses than I can. I don’t even know if Oteri and Dratch ever collaborated.
I think it’s just an informed hypothesis. There a four women excluding Fey who joined during Fey’s tenure on the show – Dratch, Rudolph, Poehler and Wiig. Dratch was an addition to a long-established three-woman cast, so a part of me is surmising that that interruption to the status quo may have set off a few castmembers. Then again, Rudolph was sort of an unprecedented addition too (a FIFTH woman? What kind of henhouse horseshit is this?). By the time Poehler and Wiig joined, the female cast was already set at a larger number and wouldn’t have been viewed as such a threat, so your best bets are one of the two that joined in 99-00. The next clue is about the similarity between the established performer and the new hire. I have a hard time linking anyone’s performance style to Rudolph’s, especially since Rudolph took a couple seasons to come into her own. Molly maybe? But it seems a stretch. On the other hand, both Dratch and Oteri share a “diminutive clown” type that I could see being possibly linked. This is all a guess, but the clues really suggest it was a Dratch-Oteri thing. Also, they did collaborate at least once on the Ugly Models sketch from the Freddie Prinze epiosde.
OK, thanks for the thoughts and the info.
I was thinking the same thing, for many of the same reasons. Further proof is the Betty White episode from season 35. Fey, Shannon, Gasteyer, Wiig (still in the cast) all appear, as do all of the lady castmembers who joined during Fey’s run: Poehler, Rudolph, Dratch… but not Cheri. I remember finding that really odd, till I remembered it was a Mother’s Day episode and Cheri doesn’t have kids. But a rift seems more likely.
For anyone interested, here are all the sketches under 2 stars from the last five years
Season 21
SUCH A PRETTY FACE (David Schwimmer) *1/2
SPADE IN AMERICA (Gabriel Byrne) *
WHITE TRASH AROUND A CAMPFIRE DEALING WITH AN OVERABUNDANCE OF FLUIDS (Quentin Tarantino) *
MONOLOGUE (Tom Arnold) *1/2
MIRACLES OF SCIENCE (Tom Arnold) *
MRS. KOGEN (Tom Arnold) *1/2
TREE SLICE DISPLAY (Tom Arnold) *
Season 22
AT&T OPERATORS (Bill Pullman) *1/2
ADVENTURES OF THE WHITE TRASH DISASTER TRAILER (Neve Campbell) *1/2
CHARLIE ROSE (Chevy Chase) *1/2
7 ACTION NEWS (Chevy Chase) *1/2
SENSE OF HUMOR (Pamela Lee) *1/2
Season 23
MTV NEWS (Matthew Perry) *1/2
YUM BUBBLE GENITAL HERPES GUM (Chris Farley) *1/2
POOLSIDE LOVIN’ (Samuel L. Jackson) *1/2
PRETTY LIVING (Julianne Moore) *1/2
PRETTY LIVING (Matthew Broderick) *1/2
Season 24
WET ‘EM DOWN! (Kelsey Grammer) *1/2
LONDON PEEPERS (Kelsey Garmmer) *1/2
PRETTY LIVING (Ben Stiller) *1/2
KNICKS CITY DANCERS (Bill Murray) *1/2
PRETTY LIVING (Cuba Gooding Jr.) *1/2
Season 25
DRESSING ROOM (Garth Brooks) *1/2
PRETTY LIVING (Jackie Chan) *1/2
Here are the five star sketches from the 99-00 season:
Dillon/Edwards Investments (Jerry Seinfeld)
Monologue (Norm Macdonald)
Great Moments in Yankee History (Norm Macdonald)
Celebrity Jeopardy (Norm Macdonald)
Backstage (Garth Brooks)
Christmas Urchins (Jennifer Aniston)
Kim Plunkett (Jennifer Aniston)
Doctor’s Office (Freddie Prinze Jr)
Uncle Jemima’s Pure Mash Liquor (Alan Cumming)
Bird Family (Juliana Margulies)
Erectile Dysfunction (Juliana Margulies)
Lez It Up (Joshua Jackson)
Behind The Music (Christopher Walken)
The Continental (Christopher Walken)
The Census (Christopher Walken)
Celebrity Jeopardy (Tobey Maguire)
Inside The Actors Studio (Tobey Maguire)
Woodrow (Britney Spears)
18 sketches – a decent jump from the previous year and the highest total from this five year era. I think that’s probably about right. This would be in the range of my total number, though I’d swap an ad parody in as well as a MAJOR Will Ferrell sketch (The Devil) and possibly Elian the Musical.
And now the ****1/2 sketches:
Javis Home Security Systems (Jerry Seinfeld)
Oz (Jerry Seinfeld)
Interrogation (Jerry Seinfeld)
Little Critters (Heather Graham)
InsIde The Actors Studio (Norm Macdonald)
The Smurfs (Garth Brooks)
Lucifer Songs (Garth Brooks)
Monologue (Jennifer Aniston)
Wayne Porter (Jennifer Aniston)
Privolin (Jennifer Aniston)
The Delicious Dish (Danny DeVito)
The Sopranos (Freddie Prinze Jr.)
Fanatic (Ben Affleck)
Clark Kent (The Rock)
Nicotrel (The Rock)
Capitol Building (Christopher Walken)
Elian, The Cuban Boy! (Christopher Walken)
Stavenhagens Pawn Shop (Tobey Maguire)
TV Funhouse (John Goodman)
Alright, here are my rankings of Stooge’s five-star sketches from 95-00. As was discussed in the Lance Armstrong/Sheryl Crow thread, this era may have had an iffy cast (I ran hot and cold on a bunch of these castmembers), but the writing, when not feeding the recurring character machine, was really sharp, experimental and driven. Even though my personal five star sketches top out at about 40 on this list, I consider most of the remaining 30 or so to be still quite strong. Even with this era’s flaws, I think we’d kill to have some of the ingenuity and weirdness of this group available to us now.
Anyway, here’s the list:
1. Wake Up and Smile (David Alan Grier) 95-96
A masterpiece of escalation. A great concept yields a fantastic turn followed by several escalations doled out patiently until it all goes absolutely too far. Dark, absurd, violent and the most thrilling thing the show had done in…maybe ever? The dark 70s writers would have killed for a sketch of this caliber. OSNLAD commenter John’s criticism of “Yelling Ferrell” is hogwash. It was a tool in his arsenal, but never a crutch. He’s perfect here, but then again, everybody is.
2. The Late Show With David Letterman (Kevin Spacey) 96-97
Norm had a spiritual understanding of the discontent Letterman lived with during this era (pre-bypass surgery basically). A man too smart, too disgusted by the business and yet still beholden to it. I’m discussing both Letterman and Norm here. Norm captures the indulgence, the anarchic spirit and the blatant disgust for himself/others perfectly (watch Norm strip off his coat and storm off the stage as soon as the sketch ends – perfect). Mckinney is equally brilliant as a braying Paul Shaffer, but the magic of the sketch is in witnessing one genius telepathically channeling another, creating a bond that continues to this day.
3. Behind The Music (Christopher Walken) 99-00
Some were saying they didn’t see how this sketch could be so big when it first aired. I could. It immediately felt iconic to me, especially as the rapturous applause faded into a blistering J Mascis solo during the band bumper – the excitement was palpable. Yes, the sketch is padded out by some corpsing (a facet of some of 99-00’s best sketches, weirdly), but “Cowbell” is really a perfect marriage of two different comedic voices – Ferrell’s lumbering, childish obliviousness and Walken’s stilted, jazz like rhythmic patter. To quote the sketch itself, these two perform the HELL out of this thing. It’s reputation has reached absurd levels and I never need to hear some bro say something about “more cowbell” ever again, but nothing can really sully the enduring power of this sketch.
4. The Real World (John Goodman) 95-96
Think about how much difficulty SNL has these days with their political satire. So much shit thrown at the wall with almost none of it sticking. SNL’s most tried and true method of political satire has been meshing it with pop culture satire – Obama as the Incredible Hulk, GWB in the Odd Couple, GWB in a soap opera, GWB in Friends, Clinton in Cops. Pop culture is SNL’s most comfortable domain, so it tends to have more success when it plays to its strengths. This Real World parody is the best way to do the old “stuffy, out of touch guy” routine by putting him in a fish out of water. Norm, naturally, is brilliant as Dole (very few less than good Dole sketches) but cast against a very convincing Real World parody takes it to another level. Dichotomy is still the quickest way to my heart when it comes to political satire (instead of merely rehashing news events). This is possibly the best ever.
5. Bird Family (Juliana Margulies) 99-00
If you’re going to go for gross-out humor, make it absolutely undeniable. The Bird Family is like a game of chicken (pardon the pun) in that it presents a challenge to both the performer and the audience – who will flinch first. In the end, everybody flinches here. It’s kind of awesome.
6. NFL on NBC (Chevy Chase) 95-96
A part of me misses the old days when we’d have to wait DAYS for a comedic response to a major news event. Now, much to SNL’s chagrin, it’s a game of speed, with real time reactions dulling the impact of SNL’s take. This is the quintessential “I wonder what SNL will do with THIS” moment. They said there wasn’t much on paper, but the way they get to the big “I did it” moment is superb. This is one of the great “moments” in the show and it makes me wistful for the days when SNL could be first in line to take a bite of a big story.
7. Delicious Dish (Alec Baldwin) 98-99
What can I say? The first time I watched this live, I did an honest-to-God spit take while I was alone. Can’t think of a better testament to this sketch’s quality. That said, I think the true masterstroke of this sketch is not the naughty pun conceit (a well SNL would return to in the future to diminishing returns) but the fact that it felt like a real change-up to the recurring piece’s whole comedic tone. More recurring pieces should be able to pull that off.
8. Doctor’s Office (Freddie Prinze Jr) 99-00
There is something incredible when watching this sketch in the context of its episode. This is a DEAD show. The cast is sick, the host is a non-entity and the audience barely rises above a slight murmur. It’s a struggle episode of the highest order. What’s amazing is how everyone involved kind of will’s this sketch into the audience’s good graces. Ferrell, fearless as ever, leans into his weirdness with extended pauses, changes in tone and the narrowing of his eyes. I was howling at home, it took the audience a little longer, but eventually everyone was laughing.
9. Jacuzzi Lifeguard (Jim Carrey) 95-96
A classic, absurdist idea that is given all the right beats and heightened levels (Meadows’ appearance is sublime). This is the kind of sketch that would have worked in 75 and would still work today.
10. Dysfunctional Family Dinner (Sarah Michelle Gellar) 97-98
The sketch turned into a million bros (myself included) screaming “I drive a Dodge Stratus,” which is a shame, but this slow burn classic gets all the details right from the scraping silverware to the abrupt outbursts.
11. Bull & Bear – Brasky (Alec Baldwin) 98-99
The one with Baldwin AND Goodman. All Bill Brasky sketches are great, but I remember finding the 98 edition ESPECIALLY sharp with the horrifying laugh lines.
12. Clara Turley’s Bible Challenge (Quentin Tarantino) 95-96
The concept is a bit of a stretch (Christian game show requires solely on contestants’ honesty), but the execution, with Norm at his non-performance best, is a an absolute delight.
13. Big Bernard (Kelsey Grammer) 98-99
Shaquille O’Neal’s SNL guest spot maybe only amounted to a couple appearances, but this early Tracy Morgan classic capitalized on the casting coup in a major way, playing with the height discrepancy in a timeless manner. Like I’ve already said, this one would have worked in 75 and would still work today. A funny visual is timeless. Even the tender ending lands.
14. Monologue (Norm Macdonald) 99-00
The “SNL sucks since I left” trope had been used before (John Belushi) and after (Chris Kattan for some reason), but no one could make the dig actually sting like Norm, whose delivery is just playful enough to ride the edge of laughing with you and laughing at you. Norm is an effortless standup and despite getting his own segment for 3.5 seasons, I still appreciate every opportunity for Norm to just be Norm.
15. Brokaw Pre-Tapes (Dana Carvey) 96-97
A holdover from the Dana Carvey Show. Carvey and Smigel obviously knew they had a goldmine on their hands. Just a perfect and air tight piece of comedy.
16. You’re A Champion, Charlie Brown (Brendan Fraser) 98-99
The freak show makeup, Brendan Fraser’s loopy performance and one well-timed puke take (always underrated), You’re a Champion, Charlie Brown belongs in the pantheon of great SNL pieces that subvert more innocent pop culture, from Buckwheat and Gumby to Barney playing basketball and Kermit calling Justin Timberlake a douche. This is a wellspring that doesn’t run dry.
17. TV Funhouse (Helen Hunt) 97-98
Our second Peanuts parody. Robert Smigel’s satire tends to be sharp-edged and unwaveringly scatalogical. This was a pretty major change of pace as Smigel ended up landing on “sentimental,” a far cry from the Ambiguously Gay Duo and the strong of bad taste Real Audio pieces at the time. That about-face, however, is a major reason why this cartoon was so impactful. The satire is as sharp as ever, but the unexpected layers of heart really drive it home.
17. Sportscenter (Ray Romano) 98-99
A one-liner classic and another highly quoted sketch for me and my friends in high school. Tim Meadows may be the best straight man in SNL history. His ability to react in bafflement always tickles me. This may be his masterpiece.
18. Celebrity Jeopardy (Norm Macdonald) 99-00
Honestly, I got tired of all Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. Not at the time – loved them then until about 2001 – but looking back the formula kind of wears on me. That said, they were undeniably strong pieces, especially when Norm’s Burt Reynolds was involved. This one is clearly the best of the lot – Turd Ferguson et al – with the Connery formula running strong and Norm’s impression hitting new peaks.
19. Street Gang (Robert Downey Jr.) 96-97
No one ever capitalized on their outsider status more than Norm, who understood that his hook was zigging when the 95-98 cast zagged. Here, the meta gag is taken to ridiculous heights with Norm flummoxed by his cohort’s unspoken professionalism.
20. Accident (Sylvester Stallone) 97-98
More Norm, I know. Sue me – he’s just funnier than everyone else. It’s not even fair.
21. Lez It Up (Joshua Jackson) 99-00
The truly troubling gay panic of the Tina Fey era was beginning to rear its ugly head (no pun, I swear) by 2000, but this one finds a decent balance with great performance and some fab one-liners (“This is giving me a hard-off!”).
22. Monologue (Phil Hartman) 95-96
One of the great monologues, with a hundred great meta jokes to chew on. Hartman was a gift.
23. The Census (Christopher Walken) 99-00
SNL maybe always knew what they had with Christopher Walken as a host, but it was only during his fourth episode that the audience fully keyed into his singular weirdness. At some point, SNL started to really lean on this acceptance to minutely diminishing returns. This outstanding two-hander, even moreso than Cowbell, is the pivot point of that shift. Everything after this would be slightly less pure, if still very strong.
24. The Roxbury Guys (Jim Carrey) 95-96
Every edition before and after was a shrug, but this almost Chaplinesque vignette featuring physical phenom Carrey hit because there was nothing like it on the show. It remains timeless, as my kids ate this one up when I showed them.
25. The 7th Commandment (John Goodman) 97-98
Some of SNL’s Lewinsky material was sublime, some of it was wretched (one wonders how they’d treat Lewinsky in this day and age). This one stands near the top of the heap (the best is not on this list) for creatively putting the President to task.
26. Space, the Intimate Frontier with Harry Caray (Jeff Goldblum) 96-97
One of Ferrell’s lovably daffy impressions. What made Ferrell so brilliant wasn’t that he was an expert impersonator, but that he, at his best (Diamond, Goulet, Caray), would turn his impressions into paeans to male cluelessness, just rambling lunatics. His Caray was Ferrell at his most lovably looney.
27. Storytellers (John Goodman) 97-98
Less lovable, still beautifully nuts.
28. Riding My Donkey Political Talk Show (Roma Downey) 97-98
An absolutely batshit concept made timeless with one of the all-time great SNL bloopers. Tim Meadows is a pro here. It still stuns me that this one isn’t more regarded.
29. Airport Bar – Bill Brasky (Alec Baldwin) 95-96
Like the Continental sketches, all Bill Brasky pieces are great, if somewhat indistinctly so. Outside of the 98 edition with both Baldwin and Goodman, I give the edge to the early David Koechner versions.
30. Old Glory Insurance (Laura Leighton) 95-96
Deeply absurd and perfectly dry. An expert piece of work made even better by opting out of using actual castmembers.
31. Holiday Inn – Bill Brasky (John Goodman) 95-96
More Koechner-era Brasky perfection.
32. The Rocky Roads (David Alan Grier) 95-96
This sketch could have gone a few different ways. It could have been a Culps thing where the joke is that everyone hates the performers. Or it could have leaned harder on the “children’s performers say inappropriate stuff” direction. Instead, it does neither because the humor in the sketch inherent in the familiarity of the performances. Everyone is excellent here.
33. Great Moments in Yankee History (Norm Macdonald) 99-00
An O’Donghue-esque blackout – dark and direct. Norm is golden here.
34. Monologue (Mike Myers) 96-97
God loves a good go for broke monologue. I love it when SNL goes meta. I love it when I song-and-dance piece is still joke forward.
35. Monologue (Martin Short) 96-97
A second big energy monologue from a shameless Canadian. Martin Short would give his right lung to entertain you. On top of that, he’s smart and mean, which is just so much fun.
36. Star Wars 20th Anniversary Home Video 1 & 2 (Kevin Spacey) 96-97
I think the trope has become a little tired as it seems like just about the least organic way to get an impression on the air. Then again, when the impressions work, as they uniformly do here, it’s real thrill.
37. Woodrow (Britney Spears) 99-00
Tracy had a couple turning point moments on the show (The View, Big Bernard, Back Stage), but Woodrow felt like a confirmation of his viability – the moment Tracy proved he could consistently get on base.
38. Janet Reno’s Dance Party (Kevin Spacey) 96-97
The joke of big, lumbering, oafish Will Ferrell playing Janet Reno should have worn out almost immediately. The fact that it mostly retained its charm over five or so seasons and even withstood a sneaker-upper is testament to Ferrell’s exquisite energy.
39. Behind The Music: Fat Albert (Bill Paxton) 98-99
Another fun skewering of childhood pop culture and an absolute dinger from the still-underused Tracy Morgan. Lots of fun to be had here, including reliably great work from Tim Meadows (that season’s MVP) and a fun appearance from Beck.
40. Uncle Jemima’s Pure Mash Liquor (Alan Cumming) 99-00
By 2000, Tracy Morgan was a sure thing, even if not everyone (audiences and writers not named Tina Fey) knew it yet. Another lead role, another hit. It was becoming like clockwork.
41. Martha Stewart’s Home For the Holidays: Topless Christmas Special (Martin Short) 96-97
I’ll never quite understand why this sketch ever came into existence (as in, why topless), but the absurdity paired with Gasteyer’s brilliant read on Martha Stewart is undeniably fun.
42. Buckwell’s Follies (Alec Baldwin) 95-96
An underrated entry in the Alec Baldwin canon. There’s a helluva lot to love here.
43. Oops, I Crapped My Pants (Cameron Diaz) 98-99
A pretty great poop joke for what it’s worth.
44. Jingleheimer Junction (Cameron Diaz) 98-99
I feel less drawn to the sketch now that I’m an old man and couldn’t possibly be scandalized by some salty language, but I was as thrilled as everyone else at the time. A well-executed piece, if maybe not quite the thrill I thought it once was.
45. Bill Brasky’s Funeral (Alec Baldwin) 96-97
The 96-97 editions always felt like a step down, but not a significant one.
46. The Continental (Christopher Walken) 99-00
All Continental sketches are good. This one was overshadowed by a couple other major sketches from this episode (and the Elian sketch too, I would add), but it’s as good as any Continental.
47. Happy Smile Patrol (John Goodman) 98-99
Dark and really well-constructed. I have no memory of being terribly excited by this sketch and it’s been a few years, but this is the kind of tone I can get behind and a testament to the strength of the writing in this era.
48. Backstage (Garth Brooks) 99-00
A watershed moment for Tracy, though I think it holds up the worst of his major sketches from the era (including a few 96-97 pieces that aren’t on this list).
49. The Mad Tea Party (Steve Buscemi) 97-98
It’s structured like a classic and I would hold it up as one of the 97-98 season’s better pieces, but it never fully went out of the park for me. Maybe I’m distracted by John Hurt’s superfluous presence.
50. Hi-C & Turkey (Danny Aiello) 95-96
Early Mckay era madness that works well with Aiello, but could have been even better with a Walken.
51. Loews (Garth Brooks) 97-98
I did not know this was so well-loved and even considered the classic of its episode (I would have pegged Old French Whore), but it’s an undeniably tight piece with some fun details.
52. TV Funhouse (Julianne Moore) 97-98
Not hilarious, but noteworthy nonetheless. This one kind tries to split the difference between “saying something” and “saying something funny.” I’m as intrigued and compelled by this one as anybody, but yeah – not exactly a laugh riot.
53. Inside The Actors Studio (Tobey Maguire) 99-00
I always liked the James Lipton pieces, although I always felt that I was liking them a hair less than everyone else. This is the best version of the sketch, though, with Lipton overpraising dud performers. The ones with Eastwood and Barrymore seem to have less of a comedic hook.
54. Job Interview (Steve Buscemi) 97-98
Another one I didn’t realize was beloved. Lots to like about it with Kattan and Buscemi giving good performances. I do find the pacing a little too halting though.
55. Christmas Urchins (Jennifer Aniston) 99-00
An early strong piece for Dratch. Surprised this didn’t become a thing. Kinda grateful it didn’t too.
56. The Computer Station (Sylvester Stallone) 97-98
ANOTHER one I didn’t realize was a favorite, but still a really fun piece with a great performance by Sly. But yeah, still a tier below some of the big ones for me.
55. Celebrity Jeopardy (Ben Stiller) 98-99
The post-Norm Celebrity Jeopardies really locked into a winning formula. They were great, but a formula nonetheless – one I enjoyed immensely and have simply grown tired of in the years since. I have no desire to return to these, though I don’t begrudge anyone their enjoyment. The Ben Stiller edition always struck me as the best of the none Norm lot, thanks in large part to Fallon’s contribution.
56. TV Funhouse (Steve Buscemi) 97-98
Another really fun, really strong, really well-written TV Funhouse piece that’s JUST a little shy of actually making me laugh.
57. Jimmy Tango’s Fat Busters (Jim Carrey) 95-96
Honestly, there’s so much here that should love, and yet I don’t love it. Weird for weird’s sake is not a problem for me and I don’t have a problem with this piece, but I think I just prefer the other parts of this episode more. It’s more fun for me to see Jim Carrey breathe new life into old bits or classic setpieces, then see him totally off the rails.
58. Celebrity Jeopardy (David Duchovny) 97-98
Fun Jeff Goldblum. See 55.
59. Kim Plunkett (Jennifer Aniston) 99-00
A fabulous ending to a good runner. I had completely forgotten about this one.
60. Celebrity Jeopardy (Tobey Maguire) 99-00
See 55.
61. Lux 420XL (Phil Hartman) 96-97
This was a strong era for commercial parodies. I’d have this at the bottom of the top tier.
62. Today (David Alan Grier) 95-96
This would have been epic on In Loving Color. Lots to like here with strong performances, but too much of the sketch feels flabby. Could have used another writing edit and another rehearsal.
63. Celebrity Jeopardy (Drew Barrymore) 98-99
Eh.
64. Grayson Moorehead Securities Parts 1 and 2 (David Schwimmer) 95-96
It’s really good, but it’s not even in the ballpark of Downey’s First Citiwide Bank piece. Downey’s dry piece would get much worse (to the point of completely losing the joke), but to me this felt like the first time he ever came off just a hair too dry.
65. The Best of Horatio Sanz (Kelsey Grammer) 98-99
Funny meta-gag. Nothing more.
66. Quit Judging My Dreams! (Ray Romano) 98-99
A solid, quirky 10-to-1 piece at the end of a spectacular evening. I like it, but I’d have it ranked no higher than fourth on the evening.
67. Dillon/Edwards Investments (Jerry Seinfeld) 99-00
A third tier ad from the era. Funny enough, but nothing special at all.
68. Erectile Dysfunction (Juliana Margulies) 99-00
The template for basically 85% of the sketches since 2010. I cannot forgive that.
69 (nice). Baseball Dreams (Helen Hunt) 97-98
Never really enjoyed this. I mean, Ferrell is good, but…yeah. I always thought it clunked a bit.
Just wanted to say thanks for taking so much time to break down all the ratings and giving your thoughts on them. This is one of the best things about coming to Stooge’s blog – getting to see fans talking in such detail about what they enjoyed, or didn’t enjoy, about an era, a writer, etc.
Hey all, it’s been a looooooong time since I’ve done one of these longform lists, but I found a moment and crapped out this, my list of my Top 10 Sketches of the 95-00 to NOT Receive Five Stars From Stooge.
Before I begin, this time around I really tried to make an effort to not include 4.5 star sketches that I think need to be nudged over the edge. Frankly, while I may slightly disagree with Stooge, I can see why he didn’t give five stars to the first Celebrity Jeopardy (hadn’t quite hit the right beats yet), the Pulp Fiction Auditions (it’s basically Norm’s brilliant Tarantino and then a decent-ish impression parade) and the Deal With The Devil sketch (perfect sketch, but the end is drawn out). There are still some 4.5 star sketches here, but the one’s included here are absolutely flawless pieces that deserve their full due.
So here we go…
1. Shirt In A Can (Lucy Lawless) 98-99
Listen, Stooge performs an absolutely valuable service here, so I don’t want anyone to confuse what I’m doing with actual criticism. Stooge is a great reviewer with really terrific taste in sketch comedy, and when he stumps for a sketch that I’ve overlooked, it makes me re-appraise it. More often than not, Stooge’s take is bang on. That said, if Stooge has one glaring blind spot, it’s the fake ads of the 95-00 era. Yeah, he dished out five stars to a few of them (five actually – two of which – Grayson Moorehead and the Penis.Clownfart ad – I’m not wild on), but the era is an absolute boon for ad parodies. Gatorade Cookie Dough, Chess For Girls, I’m #1 Hat, Litter Critters and especially this loopy delight all belong in the top drawer of ad parodies. Literally every moment of the Shirt In A Can ad is a subtly absurdist dream. From Tim Meadows’ repulsive looking blueberry cobbler to his rage-fueled “dammit” (and it’s even more intense dramatization) to the narrator complementing Meadows’ body to every single weird edit in between. I can watch this sketch like the Zapruder film. Rich with detail and loaded with timelessly funny gags, Shirt In A Can is a sketch that likely influenced modern SNL weirdos like Will Forte, Tim Robinson, Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett. It still feels ahead of its time.
2. The Clinton Marriage: White House In Crisis (Lucy Lawless) 98-99
The 95-00 era of SNL had a couple things really going for it: 1) The Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal; 2) A re-energized female cast. Those two strengths came together in a major way in what I would consider the show’s most concise and best aged skewering of the scandal. SNL is always at its most comfortable when it hits broader targets like the media than specific people. Look to the most recent era for the chasm in quality between cultural parody and character assassination (not that Trump doesn’t deserve shit, but man, it was rarely funny). This NBC News parody takes a wise target and then unleashes its talented trio of women (plus host Lucy Lawless) to escalate it to a wonderfully mad level.
3. Perspectives (Rob Lowe) 96-97
The original run of Lionel Osborne/Perspectives sketches were a low-key salve during a dire run through the 94-95 season. Tim Meadows’ workmanlike charm steadily grinded out laughs from modest material. The sketch never quite caught on but had enough of an inherent quality to find a second life at the exact moment Tim Meadows was having his own second life on SNL. This edition, featuring the green but game Tracy Morgan, grinds the Perspectives formula to perfection, building Osborne’s amiable inanity to a measured, but deeply hilarious crescendo. In the middle of a pretty red hot Rob Lowe episode (hey, I really like that first Goth Talk!), Perspectives quietly, subtly stole the whole show, not unlike how it did a couple seasons earlier when the competition was less fierce.
4. The Ladies Man (Cameron Diaz) 98-99
Stooge always seemed to like the Leon Phelps character, but I don’t think we ever really took stock in how impressively long that character stayed hot. Most recurring characters are dead in the water by appearance No. 3, but the Ladies Man sketches kept gathering momentum during its inaugural season before hitting its peak in the following season with this rowdy, bawdy edition. Hindsight might relegate the Ladies Man to the “Of Its Time” column, but Tim Meadows’ growing confidence and enduring charisma remain a timeless resource that we all-too-often overlook. He is absolutely aces here.
5. Weekend Update (John Goodman) 96-97
Before you go look it up, it’s the Will Ferrell puke one. If ever there were a Weekend Update to earn the five star rating, this would have to be it. I wanted to highlight a bunch of Norm sketches (Pulp Fiction Auditions, the first Celebrity Jeopardy, his litany off beautifully half-assed 97-98 performances), but this one, I believe, will suffice. Sure, Ferrell’s commentary on Ellen Degeneres is firmly entrenched in the “Of Its Time” column – we simply don’t do satire by representation anymore – but the central conceit that Ferrell only sees homosexuality as an object of “playful” derision and not as an actual lifestyle is a funny one. Like I said, probably not permissible in 2020 and possibly too subtle by half even in 1997 (before the vomit kicks in), but pretty sharp nonetheless. But beyond the commentary, it’s all about the moment. Sorry – THE MOMENT. I really believe that so much of SNL is about creating moments and the moment I’m talking about is about as close to a guttural roar from the audience as you will ever hear on SNL. The camera literally shakes. How do you not give five stars when Norm makes the cameraman literally shake with laughter? Pure comedy chaos and unlike anything you’ve ever seen on SNL or any other show for that matter. Norm was smart to end Update early.
6. Big Baby (Ray Romano) 98-99
Will Ferrell is obviously the king of this whole era. There are some naysayers who have whittled Ferrell’s contributions down to a single dimension, but for the vast majority, Ferrell was the be all and end all of his tenure (particularly from 97-02). This gem of a performance came at a time where people could start to take Ferrell’s capabilities for granted. Ferrell is in full King Midas mode and it was simple to just sort of miss the greatness in our midst. This sketch is, quite possibly, as good of a Ferrell performance as you will ever find. I wouldn’t say it’s less manic or over-the-top, but it’s *differently* manic and over-the-top. There are some technical issues that obstruct the sketch’s lift-off, but nothing that overrides this simple, brilliant Ferrell performance.
7. Food, Sex Or Cars (Rob Lowe) 96-97
I love game show sketches that effectively create their own universe or logic. Obviously, 2011’s Who’s On Top? is the king of this brand of sketch, but Food, Sex Or Cars is a wonderfully executed precursor for that.
8. Frett’s Film Forum (Ben Affleck) 99-00
“My pick for Best Actor was a non-mouse.”
This one jumped out to me big time in a semi-recent rewatch. I grew up with hack movie critics on my local AM radio station and this depiction is bang on, with delightful performances all around (particularly Ferrell’s Richard Gere run) and tight writing. This sketch doesn’t aspire to be a huge win, but it’s perfectly executed nonetheless. When I think of Ben Affleck’s extremely underrated run as an SNL five-timer, this is the sketch I go to that proves we should have known he had it in him all along.
9. Sylvester Stallone Monologue (Sylvester Stallone) 97-98
Listen, I know it’s not an all-timer or anything, but when you have an icon host – and don’t think for a second that Stallone isn’t an icon – you’ve got to hit those lay-ups with gusto. All this monologue has to do is goof on the Rocky franchise (the hard-hitting digs at Stallone can be saved for later in the night) and SNL’s B players (Jim Breuer, 1997 Tracy Morgan and, OK, maybe not quite Kattan) give it there all to create the kind of atmosphere needed to really get the show off on the right foot. Over the last 10 years of deathless musical monologues or those weirdly sincere “Resistance” monologues, it’s fascinating to go back to this era and see how much fun can be had at the top of the show.
10. Home Security (Kevin Spacey) 96-97
Considered by some to be the turd in the punch bowl of the beloved Kevin Spacey episode (an honor that should rightfully go to the Dead Parrot reprise), the Attebury Couple sketches are simply a different flavor in the rich tapestry of SNL characters. The laughs don’t come hard and fast, but the work done by Ana Gasteyer and Mark McKinney is a masterclass in sketch characterization. If you don’t know these kinds of couples yourself, I bet your parents do. Stooge wasn’t a big fan of this the first go-round, but he was gently cajoled into looking at it with fresh eyes. I think it’s a good thing to have tonal variety on SNL and these characters a big reason why. It’s worth another look.
That Perspectives is one of my favorite skits of all time. I met Tim Meadows once at a UCB show and had to tell him how funny it was. I still quote it to this day
Great season IMO. Yes there were straight up duds (most of Kattan, Cheri, and Mollys oversexualized characters) and too many repeats, BUT there is so much that i love that helped lay the legwork for some of the amazing formats the following seasons will have fun with. So excited
This era is basically “What if Dick Ebersol had Bill Murray in his cast?” Bill Murray being Will Ferrell.
twitter.com/FilmMomatic/status/1423870992573616128
Brad Allan, who appeared with Jackie in the monologue and worked with him for years, has passed away.
That Week In SNL just covered this episode and alluded to that Sarah Michelle Gellar was perhaps kept around from the past show in case Jackie had too much trouble with English and maybe needed to be swapped out. Can anyone confirm that? IDK if they would’ve done something like that to Jackie. Maybe they would’ve just demoted him to special guest.
LFNY Counter:
Darrell Hammond: 7
Tim Meadows: 4 (1 solo, 1 with Rachel and Horatio, 1 with Tim, Chris, and Molly, 1 with Florence Henderson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Gina Gershon)
Horatio Sanz: 3 (2 solo, 1 with Rachel and Tim)
Chris Parnell: 3 (1 solo, 1 with Darrell, 1 with Darrell, Molly, and Tim)
Will Ferrell: 2 (1 was archival footage)
Chris Kattan: 1
Ana Gasteyer: 1
Rachel Dratch: 1 (With Horatio and Tim)
Molly Shannon: 1 (With Darrell, Chris, and Tim)
Dana Carvey: 1
Tobey Maguire: 1
Vince McMahon: 1
John Carpenter: 1
Sarah Michelle Gellar: 1
Florence Henderson: 1
Gina Gershon: 1