Month: February 2020

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October 7, 2000 – Rob Lowe / Eminem (S26 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Jim Lehrer (CHP) moderates Al Gore (DAH) vs. George W. Bush (WIF) debate

— I remember when this first aired, there was a lot of confusion on online SNL forums over who was playing Jim Lehrer, as the heavy prosthetic makeup made Parnell hard to recognize. Some people back then, including myself, wondered if it was host Rob Lowe playing Lehrer.
— Will and Darrell’s Bush and Gore impressions have really improved over the summer. Hell, Will and Darrell now even look pretty uncanny as the two candidates.
— Funny split-screen shot of Darrell’s Gore making an impatient face while Parnell’s Lehrer is listing off programs currently airing on Pay-Per-View.
— Bush: “Don’t mess with Texas.”
— Very memorable part with Gore going on and on about his “lockbox” plan.
— I absolutely love Bush answering one question with “Pass”.
— Hilarious part regarding Bush’s famous nonsensical quote about sex and violence in movies.
— Bush’s puzzled, intense facial expression during one very complicated question that Lehrer asks him is great.
— Gore, after Lehrer asks Bush a question: “Jim, I’d like to interrupt here and answer that question as if it were my turn to speak.”
— Yet another great highlight, with Gore’s story about an old lady with a variety of ailments.
— Bush, on a statement that Gore just made: “I believe that some of his figures may be in-ac-ur-it.”
— A very long debate cold opening, but it’s definitely worth it. When this originally aired, however, I remember 16-year-old me impatiently waiting and waiting for them to finally say “Live from New York…”, but that was only because I was eager to see if this season premiere was going to have a new opening montage.
— And there’s the iconic moment of this already-fantastic debate sketch: Bush saying “Strategery” as his final word.
— Overall, such a well-written and expertly performed debate sketch.
— A very strong way to kick off a season. This may be the first time in my SNL project that I’m giving a five-star rating to the first cold opening of a season. No other instances come to mind, but maybe I’m forgetting something.
STARS: *****


OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.

— For the first time since all the way back in season 19, the opening montage has moving shots of the cast, instead of still photos.
— The new cast members joining tonight are Tina Fey and Jerry Minor, the former having already been an SNL writer and occasional onscreen extra the past few seasons.
— Rachel Dratch is still a featured player, which I remember surprised a lot of online SNL fans back at this time, including myself, considering the fact that it was felt at the time that Rachel had a strong first season, plus the fact that we weren’t yet aware of the then-new “two seasons as a featured player” addition to SNL players’ contracts. Speaking of Rachel not getting promoted to repertory player, she ends up not even appearing in any sketches tonight, which makes this the SECOND consecutive episode that she’s absent in, as she was also M.I.A. in the preceding season’s finale. Geez, poor Rachel. I remember some online SNL fans having a theory that Rachel refused to show up for this season premiere because she was perhaps upset over not being promoted. A pretty silly theory, honestly.
— A Cartoon By Robert Smigel is credited in tonight’s montage, but no cartoon ends up airing tonight. The cartoon was going to be the “Sex and the Country” cartoon that ends up airing later this season and would cause controversy.
— SNL Band saxophonist Lenny Pickett is now credited in the opening montage as the leader of the SNL Band, feeling like a nice throwback to the days when G.E. Smith got that honor.


MONOLOGUE
audience members ask West Wing star host some presidential questions

— The dumb questions the audience is asking Rob Lowe are fairly funny so far, but ehhh, nothing great.
— The Emmy bit between Rob and Paula Pell is really funny.
— A big laugh from Jim Downey’s question about “the room where they blow the president”.
— Rob ends this monologue by saying “Eminem is here, so wake up the kids!”, an interesting variation of the usual “stick around, we’ll be right back” tagline.
STARS: ***


CORN CHIP NAIL TIPS
Corn Chip Nail Tips are both fashion accessories & tasty snack treats

— An okay concept. More cute and flashy than funny, but I’m enjoying this enough. I remember finding this commercial dumb back when it originally aired, but I can appreciate it more now.
— I believe this is the very first thing that SNL writer James Anderson got on the air. This is his first episode as a writer, and he’s still writing for the show to this day, 20 years later.
— Some funny one-liners from Horatio’s hobo character, especially his excited “…and beef!” when the flavors are listed off.
STARS: ***


MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Dennis Miller (JIF) gets arcane during pregame

— Darrell’s Al Michaels voice just sounds like a variation of his Frank Gifford voice. I’m not too familiar with either Michaels’ or Gifford’s voice, though.
— Will’s mere look as Dan Fouts is making me laugh.
— I remember an SNL podcast pointing out that Maya strangely looks about 14 years old in this sketch. I can see that.
— Speaking of Maya, when this sketch originally aired, I mistook Maya for Tina Fey. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with either Maya or Tina (I hadn’t yet seen the very few appearances that Maya made at the tail end of the preceding season, and I had no memory of the onscreen appearances that Tina previously made as a writer), and I assumed that Maya would only be cast in black roles on SNL, which is why I assumed that the white-looking woman playing the role of a white sideline reporter in this sketch must’ve been Tina Fey.
— There’s Jimmy’s Dennis Miller impression, which I remember had some hype online beforehand.
— Jimmy’s Dennis Miller is kinda making me laugh and he’s got Dennis’ essence down, but the voice? Ehhhh.
— I like the look on Will’s Dan Fouts whenever he laughs at Dennis Miller’s jokes.
— Funny in retrospect how all of the then-new ABC shows that Darrell’s Al Michaels keeps shoehorning plugs for are shows that would soon end up being canceled pretty fast, though I’m not 100% sure.
— Tracy’s incoherent, rambly report as Eric Dickerson is hilarious.
— Some good laughs from Dan Fouts always stating the obvious in his reports.
STARS: ***


BACKSTAGE
backstage, host & Ralph Nader [real] talk past one another

— Pretty nice to see a Ralph Nader cameo, as he has some good history with SNL.
— Rob’s inner thoughts about not knowing who Nader is are providing some pretty good laughs.
— Nader’s inner thoughts right now are even funnier.
STARS: ***½


PROS & CONS
vigilante snoops Scooby & Shaggy (host) defend their methods

— Odd in retrospect seeing such a low-key, serious Nancy Grace impression, but I guess this was long before Nancy Grace became easy to make fun of.
— I like the camera slowly zooming in on the sinister face of the criminal next to Parnell’s character.
— I’m loving the Scooby Doo concept of this sketch, and Rob is doing an absolutely spot-on and funny Shaggy imitation.
— I think I once read somewhere that Scooby was also voiced by Rob in this sketch, in pre-taped voice-over form. If so, that’s another spot-on impression from Rob.
— For some reason, this sketch claims that Shaggy’s full real name is Warren Shagowski. I thought it was somewhat well-known that in the actual Scooby Doo cartoons, Shaggy’s full real name was Norville Rogers.
— A good laugh from the bit with Parnell’s character misreading “meddling” as “sodomy”.
— Shaggy: “(angrily) Zoinks you in the ass!”
— I love all the little mentions of familiar cliches from Scooby Doo episodes.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Dido [real] perform “Stan”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Leon Phelps discusses sex in Hollywood cinema & promotes his movie
TIF’s advice to Britney Spears- “enjoy your ass while it lasts”
Grand Master Rap (JEM), Kid Shazaam (HOS), musical guest rap old school

— We officially enter a brand new era of Weekend Update.
— SNL returns to the dual anchor format for the first time since way back in the early 80s.
— This may be the very last time in my SNL project that I get to cover a new Update era that has no holdover anchorpersons from the preceding Update era. To this day in 2020, every era of Update after the Fallon/Fey era has had one anchorperson from the preceding era stay on. So, unless current anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che both step down from Update together before I finish my SNL project, this is the very last time I’ll get to experience the excitement of covering an ENTIRELY new Update era.
— After saying their names, Tina and Jimmy start this Update by saying in unison, “And when we get together, it’s news.” Uh… all I have to say about that is I can DEFINITELY see why that didn’t go on to be a regular thing for Fallon/Fey Updates.
— Another aspect of tonight’s inaugural Fallon/Fey Update that would soon get dropped is Tina and Jimmy each throwing to the other anchorperson after a joke, by asking their name, like real news co-anchors do.
— As a new Update anchorperson, Tina is immediately coming off very comfortable, poised, and confident, as if this was something she was born ready to do.
— Jimmy doesn’t have an anchorman-type look or demeanor at all, but he’s strangely working well enough and has a likability to his approach, though he’d gradually get even better as the next few seasons progress.
— Now we get Jimmy and Tina’s very first interaction piece with each other, with Tina grilling Jimmy about whether or not he watched the presidential debate earlier this week. This piece establishes Jimmy and Tina’s Update personas, with Tina as the mature, stern anchor who takes her job seriously, and Jimmy as the young, slacker goofball.
— Ha, in just his first episode after leaving the show, Tim Meadows ALREADY makes a cameo, to plug the upcoming release of the SNL movie The Ladies’ Man. Considering how long Tim was in the cast, it strangely kinda makes sense in a way for him to make a cameo in the first episode after he left.
— Speaking of Tim’s longevity in the cast, I didn’t realize until now how odd it’s going to initially be for me to have to get used to no longer reviewing Tim, after I’ve reviewed NINE-AND-A-HALF straight seasons of him.
— I love Leon Phelps beginning his commentary by telling Tina “Thank you Colin… ooh, it’s a lady!”
— Leon Phelps: “One man’s porno is another man’s Sleepless In Seattle.”
— Interesting turn in the Leon Phelps commentary, with Tim dropping character and admitting that the only reason he came back to the show tonight, other than to plug the Ladies’ Man movie, is because he already misses being on the show, before segueing into a comically shameless plug for the (doomed) Michael Richards Show that he’s in.
— Tina now gets her own side segment, titled “Women’s News”. I’m enjoying all the new, different things SNL is doing with Weekend Update, now that we have two anchorpersons.
— I love how Tina starts off her “Women’s News” segment by saying “As a mother of two, which I am not…” I guess she can’t say that line anymore nowadays, though.
— Tina’s rant about Britney Spears is classic, and is a great early display of Tina’s typical sense of humor.
— Jerry Minor gets his first big showcase.
— I like the detail of how Horatio and Jerry’s old-school rappers pluralize random words in their sentences.
— The rap from Horatio and Jerry’s characters is a spot-on parody of early-era rap.
— An okay inclusion of Eminem in the Horatio/Jerry commentary.
— At the end of this Update, Tina signs off with “Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow”, a callback to the original SNL era. I remember in an interview that Jimmy and Tina did not too long after this episode, either Jimmy or Tina claimed that they’re only using “Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow” as a temporary placeholder while they try to come up with their own original sign-off. They would end up NEVER coming up with one. “Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow” would end up being used for the entire Tina Fey era of Update.
— At the very end of this Update, right before the screen fades to black, Tina apparently incorrectly thinks her microphone has been turned off and she can be heard excitedly exclaiming to Jimmy, “We’re set, baby!” A charming little moment that shows how excited Tina was to have successfully gone through her first Update, but SNL would later remove that statement of Tina’s from reruns by fading to black right before Tina says it.
— Overall, a good and promising start to the new Update era. Jimmy and especially Tina did well and there was a fun atmosphere that I found was missing from the Colin Quinn era of Update. I’m not always a fan of the dual anchor format, but it works here and I can see why it was considered a necessity after the Colin Quinn era.
STARS: ***½


BLIND DATE
(WIF) & (MOS) endure an awkward blind date at an airport bar

— Feels kinda odd how this is Molly’s first (and I think ONLY) appearance all night.
— Such a strange atmosphere to this sketch, but I’m enjoying it. There’s a humorously realistic, slice-of-life feel to this sketch that feels rare for this era. I recall there being a theory on online SNL forums that the cue cards got lost for this sketch during the live show, forcing Will and Molly to improvise. While I’m 100% certain that’s not the case, this sketch does kinda have an improvised feel.
— I like the bit with Will quoting Molly’s constant “I’d really rather not talk about it right now” response before revealing he was just kidding, only for Molly to be offended.
— Chris Kattan (who I believe is also making his first appearance of the night) has the ability to get laughs from the audience even with just subtle, low-key things he’s doing, like the way he softly taps the table each time before he leaves.
— When Molly’s about to exit, I’m laughing at her always answering “Yeah, no” whenever Will asks her something.
STARS: ***½


DATELINE PRE-TAPES
perfectionist Stone Phillips (host) records intros for Dateline NBC

— Wow, where has Rob Lowe been? For a host, he’s been absent from a surprising amount of sketches tonight.
— Rob delivers another spot-on and hilarious impression tonight. He is knocking it out of the park tonight with these impressions.
— Rob has the great ability to always get laughs from his constant repetition of a simple line in that impeccable Stone Phillips voice.
— Will always immediately agreeing with everything Stone Phillips suggests is funny.
— I love the part with Stone Phillips doing three takes in a row in rapid-fire speed, even if Rob got a little mixed up with some of the words there.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Real Slim Shady”


PERSONAL PROFILE
NBC gets Up Close & Personal with CHK before a skit; Brendan Fraser cameo

— I love the idea of this, doing an Olympic-type profile on Kattan getting ready for a sketch.
— Brendan Fraser makes a random silent cameo as Kattan’s agent. This was actually a last-minute addition to this sketch. Fraser was originally going to appear tonight in a noteworthy role in a Mango sketch (the premise of the sketch had Mango being tricked into doing a porno, from what I remember of the description I read of it back at this time in 2000), but the sketch got cut after dress rehearsal, so SNL threw Fraser into a walk-on role in this Personal Profile sketch during the live show, as a way of keeping him in tonight’s episode.
— Commentator, on Kattan: “This is not his best event. He’s better with gay characters. He’s not good with words.”
— In the video package shown of Kattan, we see a clip from an unaired Weekend Update commentary that Kattan did at dress rehearsal at some point in the second half of season 23, judging from the Update set seen in the clip (the second above screencap for this sketch). From what I remember finding out online, this unaired Update commentary had Kattan playing a character named Zip Zing, a take-off on Kattan’s real-life father, actor Kip King. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the season 23 episode that this unaired Update commentary comes from is the Julianne Moore episode.
— The shot of Kattan emotionally staring at the camera during his flood story is hilarious.
— A priceless bit about Tracy not being able to perform in tonight’s show because traces of banned substances were found in his urine.
— I love how Kattan’s parents are fittingly portrayed as a monkey and a drag queen. Am I crazy for thinking that the guy playing the drag queen kinda resembles former cast member Mark McKinney? (the last above screencap for this sketch)
— This sketch is such a spot-on and funny parody of typical Olympic athlete profiles.
— The whole premise of this piece is to show Kattan getting ready for a Looks At Books sketch that he’s about to do, and this piece even ends with him entering the Looks At Books set and sitting in his seat for it. However, we end up never seeing the Looks At Books sketch itself. It was originally supposed to follow this Personal Profile sketch, but the show ran long and the sketch had to get cut, kinda rendering this Personal Profile sketch a bit pointless, though still very strong.
STARS: ****½


DREAM TEAM 2000
Dream Team 2000 video documents arrogance of USA Olympians in Sydney

— A great parody of American athletes’ classless, unsportsmanlike actions at the then-recent 2000 Olympics.
— This commercial is making yet another very funny use of Parnell’s always-fantastic voice-over work.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid season premiere. I liked every single segment, and several stood out as very strong, including a classic cold opening, a very fun Scooby Doo take-off, and two inspired Olympic-themed pieces towards the end of the show. Rob Lowe strangely didn’t appear much for a host, but he made great use of his limited airtime, especially with how he displayed some spot-on and very funny impressions (Shaggy, Stone Phillips, and possibly Scooby Doo).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1999-00)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kate Hudson

Posted on

May 20, 2000 – Jackie Chan / Kid Rock (S25 E20)

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.

Posted on

May 13, 2000 – Britney Spears (S25 E19)

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.

Posted on

May 6, 2000 – John Goodman / Neil Young (S25 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
Time Warner interrupts celebrity contest

— Darrell’s Regis Philbin introducing Lance Bass as being from “Flash In The Pan, Florida” gave me a good laugh.
— Kattan’s David Duchovny impression is cracking me up with his facial expression alone.
— The constant “Disney has taken ABC away from you” disclaimer interruptions, parodying an actual ABC interruption that had recently happened, are making me laugh, even if they’ve gotten a bit tedious after a while.
— I love Darrell’s Regis introducing Cheri’s Kathie Lee Gifford by saying “The next voice you hear will be that of SATAN!!!”
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Maya Rudolph has been added to the cast tonight.

I wonder what the reason is for adding her so late in the season. Perhaps Lorne was worried that he might lose both Cheri Oteri AND Molly Shannon over the then-upcoming summer?


MONOLOGUE
plastered host mistakenly thinks he acted in the Flintstones prequel

— In the cutaway to a confused Tim and Will during John’s goofy Flintstones dancing, I love Tim saying “He’s not in the Flintstones movie” and Will saying “He is plastered.”
— Funny turn with Jimmy, Horatio, and Neil Young being the only ones who are into John’s Flintstones dancing, and agreeing with each other that “he’s kickin’ ass!”
— Not too sure this “John’s an alcoholic and needs an intervention” premise is working.
— Overall, ehh, a fairly tepid monologue, but with a few highlights.
STARS: **½


PLATINUM MACH 14
Gillette’s Platinum Mach 14 razor is more advanced than the Triple-Trac

— I’m reminded of SNL’s Triple-Trac commercial from the very first episode, which treated the now-marketable idea of three-bladed razors as silly.
— After about a minute-and-a-half into this commercial, I finally got my first laugh, from the bit about a phantom blade that’s only there to provide stabilization.
— The ending shot of Will with his face all cut up is kinda funny, but overall, I wasn’t crazy about this commercial as a whole.
STARS: **


WANNA BE A VJ 3
Raymond (CHK) & Shannon (ANG) compete for a job at MTV

— The debut of Jimmy’s Carson Daly impression and his accompanying catchphrase, “I’m Carson Daly, and I’m a massive tool.”
— John Goodman playing MTV’s Dave Holmes? Oooookay, bizarre casting there. Is this just an excuse to work John into this sketch?
— I got a laugh from “Play some damn videos” getting the most votes on the MTV poll.
— The video package of Kattan’s character is pure “WTF?”, but I laughed out loud at the very random shot of him holding his crotch in pain while yelling “Ohh, you got me in the—”.
— It feels so odd seeing Maya Rudolph at this point of my SNL project. This is making me realize that I’m slowly beginning to get closer and closer to SNL’s modern era. When I eventually reach the respective debuts of cast members like Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, and Bill Hader, I’m sure it’ll also feel very odd. To say nothing of what it’ll feel like when I reach Kenan Thompson’s debut just a few seasons from now.
— Ana’s video package is funny.
— I love Ana trying to hide the fact that she obviously doesn’t know who Method Man is. I especially like her delivery of the line “I love the Wuuuuuuu!” when claiming she’s familiar with the Wu Tang Clan.
— Overall, this sketch picked up in the second half when it focused on Ana, but too much of this sketch felt less like an MTV parody and more like the exact type of stuff that you’d see on MTV in this era.
STARS: **½


OFFICE FLIRT
co-workers endure office vamp Adele’s (CHO) unsubtle sexual innuendo

— Nice to see Cheri attempting a new character, especially considering that this late stage of season 25 we’re in ends up being the homestretch of Cheri’s SNL tenure.
— Cheri-as-Adele’s over-explaining of her sexual innuendos is really funny.
— Good bit with Adele using an unwilling Rachel to demonstrate how she can “go both ways”, leading poor Rachel to explain “I’m just a temp!”
— Very funny ending line from Adele about her office having a waterbed and KY.
— Overall, a great sketch, and ends up being probably Cheri’s final great original SNL moment (not counting any recurring sketches). I’m glad that Cheri’s upcoming departure prevented SNL from eventually turning this into an unnecessary recurring sketch.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“The Life of a Catchphrase” by RBS- “Yeah, That’s The Ticket” is tracked

 

— It’s obvious that a lot of the animation in the opening Lorne segment is reused from the TV Funhouse cartoon that aired in SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special. You can even see a Dennis Miller doll next to Lorne at one point, which the 25th Anniversary cartoon did a bit with, by having the talking doll spout off an angry Dennis Miller rant when you pull its string.
— I love Lorne reading off a profanity-filled fan letter complaning about SNL’s habit of running things into the ground.
— Great part with Lorne using certain cast members to demonstrate catchphrases that work and don’t work, such as Rob Schneider receiving audience cheers from saying “Makin’ copiiieeees!” but getting his head torn off by the audience when saying “You like-a da juice?”
— SNL gets in YET ANOTHER dig about Joe Piscopo being a has-been, for the second consecutive episode.
— I’d like to think that the part with Molly Shannon is Robert Smigel’s way of acknowledging how badly downhill Molly’s been going lately.
— I’m absolutely loving the meta-ness of this whole cartoon.
— Great turn with Jon Lovitz’s popularity from the phrase “Yeah, that’s the ticket” coming to a halt as soon as Lorne brings in newbie Dana Carvey and his catchphrase “Well, isn’t that special?”
— Why in the world is Jenny Jones animated as a black woman?!? (the woman on the right in the third-to-last above screencap for this TV Funhouse, if that’s indeed supposed to be Jenny Jones. It may just be a Jenny Jones guest, though. If so, disregard what I said.)
— A very good sequence showing Jon’s “Yeah, that’s the ticket” popularity gradually diminish, eventually leading to an older Jon watching himself saying that catchphrase on a Comedy Central rerun (complete with the now-old-school Comedy Central station bug on the bottom corner of the TV screen). Interestingly, this cartoon is predicting that SNL reruns would still be seen on Comedy Central in the year 2019, which sadly didn’t turn out to be true.
— During the scene with aliens worshiping Jon after witnessing him in a Comedy Central SNL rerun, I love Jon quickly destroying the aliens’ TV screen as soon as a Church Lady sketch pops up on it.
— An overall brilliant cartoon.
STARS: ****½


THE CHRISTOPHER LOWELL SHOW
fey panelists laud decorating ideas

— A typical Chris Kattan role, but I’d be lying if I said he didn’t make me laugh early on in this sketch, before I realized the one-note route this sketch was going to take.
— Oddly, John in that Christopher Lowell-esque get-up makes him look like Dom DeLuise.
— John’s various “MMM-mmm!”s and “AHH-ahh”s are making me laugh. Not sure why his “MMM-mmm!”s and “AHH-ahh”s are making me laugh more than Kattan and Jimmy’s, but they are.
— Overall, I got some laughs from the silliness here, but as a whole: ehhh.
— SNL would later replace this sketch in reruns with the dress rehearsal version, which contains a blooper at one point in which Kattan’s fake beard peels off a bit, resulting in a funny ad-lib from Kattan (something like “I haven’t shaved all week, so…”, I can’t remember the exact line).
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Razor Love”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Kevin Brennan [real] downplays the value of familial relations
lame duck Bill Clinton (DAH) tells Cuban-Americans to shut up

— After a joke just now, I love how Colin ad-libbed “MMM-mmm!”, as a callback to the Christopher Lowell Show sketch from earlier tonight.
— Good to see SNL writer Kevin Brennan in his second (and final) Update commentary. His previous commentary gave me an A. Whitney Brown vibe that I liked.
— Brennan’s overall commentary was decent, though nothing memorable. However, if SNL was prepping this guy to potentially take over Colin’s anchorperson spot the following season, NO. In my opinion, Kevin Brennan as an anchorperson would NOT have worked. His delivery is too monotone and lethargic to anchor Update. Audiences would probably have gotten bored of him fast, and I doubt he would’ve been the upswing that Update needed after the Colin Quinn era. Brennan is more suited to A. Whitney Brown-type guest political commentaries. We end up not getting him in any capacity the following season, as he doesn’t return to SNL that season.
— For the second episode in a row, Colin himself does a Weekend Update Editorial, this time an amusingly brief, wordless one where he bitterly tears up a paper regarding a Kentucky Derby horse race that he lost a bet on.
— Is Colin EVER capable of making an ad-libbed statement towards the audience without trailing off towards the end of his sentences? I can rarely fully decipher his muttered ad-libbed statements.
— Great to see Darrell’s President Clinton back at the Update desk.
— I love Darrell’s Clinton saying “Shut the eff up” towards the upset Cuban community in regards to the Elian Gonzalez saga, then smugly informing us that he can speak freely at this point because “What are ya gonna do, impeach me again?”
— What the hell? A brief snippet of the Weekend Update theme music has LOUDLY played right in the middle of Darrell’s commentary just now. I’m surprised that very noticeable technical gaffe didn’t throw Darrell off.
— Darrell’s overall Clinton commentary was awesome as usual and killed with both me and the audience.
STARS: **½


ROCK & ROLL RESTAURANT
Jim Morrison impersonator (HOS) waits on diners at rock & roll restaurant

— I love Tracy’s impression of the lead singer from Cameo.
— When Jimmy asks if they can get another waiter because they don’t remember the lead singer from Cameo, I got a good laugh from Tracy bitterly responding “Yeah, and I guess my kids can eat dirt!” and then pushing Jimmy’s head when making his exit.
— I’m liking Horatio’s as a latter-years Jim Morrison.
— The rock-and-roll-themed menu items that the customers are reading off are pretty funny.
— You can tell that this sketch is fairly early in Horatio and Jimmy’s SNL tenures, as Horatio is going fully over-the-top right next to Jimmy, yet Jimmy is staying perfectly in character, not cracking a smile. If this sketch were from 2002-2004, you know that both Jimmy and Horatio would be absolutely losing their shit at Horatio’s own antics.
— Okay, the whole Jim Morrison bit is getting old, though Horatio is giving it his all. This sketch feels kinda like a poor man’s version of Horatio’s Just Enjoy The Ozzy And Keep Your Mouth Shut sketch from the preceding season.
— I did get a laugh from Horatio suddenly grabbing at the customers’ inappropriate areas.
— I liked John’s line to the customers about how they need to accept the fact that when you see the latter-years Jim Morrison, he’s gonna show you his wiener.
— Hmm, after I’ve pointed out how perfectly in character Jimmy is staying while watching Horatio’s antics, Jimmy now looks like he’s trying to hide his laughter after Horatio began exaggeratedly singing into Jimmy’s face.
— Horatio smashing a bottle on Jimmy’s head before diving onto the table was pretty funny.
— After the table of customers leave in an upset manner, I love Horatio yelling towards them “Buncha JACKHOLES!”
STARS: **½


TRAFFIC STOP
troopers (host) & (TIM) administer sobriety test to the Bloater brothers

— The Bloater Brothers officially become recurring characters. As I explained in my review of their first appearance, these characters are big guilty pleasures of mine, and I’m well-aware that I’m in the minority.
— The Bloater Brothers’ singing of their refrigerator commercial jingle is amusing me.
— Tim gets a great laugh from his blunt delivery of “I’m gonna take this nightstick and hit ya in the head.” That’s the type of line that only Tim Meadows could get such a big laugh out of with his delivery.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Silver & Gold”


TEK-CO
Tek-co Mechanical Currency Masticator automates coin valuation via biting

— Will has surprisingly been having a very light night. This is his first appearance since all the way back in the Platinum Mach 14 commercial right after the monologue.
— I love Will revealing his missing teeth when saying he bit the coins in the last treasure chest.
— A very random premise for a Chris Parnell pitchman ad, but I’m liking this randomness.
— Parnell surprisingly flubbed a word just now (reminds me of how surprised I would always be when seeing the rare times that Phil Hartman messed up), but he immediately recovered well.
— I like the part with Parnell listing off various ridiculous terms for coins.
— A funny visual of John with his finger coyly in his mouth when Parnell catches him trying to pass off a fake coin as a real one.
— Hmm, all of this lengthy, complicated, speedy dialogue may be a bit too much for Parnell, as even a consummate pro like him seems to be having a little trouble getting through some of these lines.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not quite as terrible as I had remembered it, but it was still a subpar episode and had a forgettable feel. John Goodman also gave YET ANOTHER forgettable hosting performance in which he disappeared into the background, aside from some laughs here and there. You know, I really hate to say what I’m about to say about John Goodman, and this may result in me getting stones thrown at me, but after reviewing 11 straight seasons in which John Goodman hosted, I’m honestly starting to wonder why he was such a frequent host who was brought back season after season. I love John Goodman as much as the next guy, but he rarely, if ever, stands out as a host, and he just plays forgettable, thankless roles most of the time. He doesn’t have that Buck Henry quality, either, that would justify frequently bringing back such a host that rarely stands out in sketches. I’d understand John hosting every few seasons or so, but on an annual basis??? It’s probably a good thing that he ends up taking a one-year break from hosting SNL the following season.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tobey Maguire)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Britney Spears

Posted on

April 15, 2000 – Tobey Maguire / Sisqo (S25 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE STUDIO 8H RULES
host reads the Studio 8H Rules to orphan castmembers

— Darrell gets his first noteworthy role in weeks. His airtime had really taken a hit lately.
— A pretty fun idea for an SNL-related Cider House Rules parody.
— Hilarious visual of Kattan as a bubble boy.
— I like Cheri and Tracy laughing off the SNL rule Tobey Maguire reads off stating “No sketches longer than three minutes.”
— SNL makes yet another slam about Joe Piscopo being a has-been.
— Funny random mention from Lorne about Jimmy having left the show to join the cast of Ally McBeal.
— Tim’s line about Lorne “manipulating us into signing long contracts for low amounts of money” was a good self-deprecating mention of Tim’s long tenure on the show.
— A good laugh from Tobey walking in on Lorne sniffing ether.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
audience member Keith (Adam McKay) isn’t familiar with host’s oeuvre

— Adam McKay interrupting Tobey’s monologue to randomly yell “Hey, Tobey, man, show me the money!” is funny, as is him eventually revealing that due to Tobey’s last name, he’s mistaking Tobey for having been in the movie Jerry Maguire.
— I like Adam now mistaking Cider House Rules as a cheer for a fraternity.
— Adam McKay: “I saw the movie where the dude humped a pie. Are you him?”
— Funny ending with Adam getting mad at Tobey for ruining The Phantom Menace after Tobey begrudgingly claims he’s Jar Jar Binks.
STARS: ***½


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Keanu Reeves (host), Hilary Swank (JIF)

— Great opening bit with Will’s Alex Trebek telling us that he’s stuck miserably doing another Celebrity Jeopardy after Regis Philbin recently did a Celebrity Millionaire.
— Keanu Reeves: “I know kung fu.” Alex Trebek: “For the last time, no, you don’t.”
— Jimmy loosely playing Hillary Swank is quite out of the ordinary for Celebrity Jeopardy, but it’s working for me. I especially like the detail of the fake overbites and how Jimmy doesn’t even have to wear a wig for this role.
— Hilarious bit with a paper stating “Things Trebek Sucks” being taped over one of the categories, and it being revealed that Darrell’s Sean Connery, of course, was the one behind that prank.
— We get our obligatory classic category mix-up, with tonight’s being Connery mistaking “Foreign Flicks” for… uh, let’s just say that Connery thought the “l” and “i” in the word “flicks” were a single “u”.
— An interesting change of pace with a Video Daily Double segment, featuring Kattan’s Ricky Martin impression. There seemed to be a music malfunction at the beginning of this segment, though. Kattan appeared to be awkwardly vamping for time while waiting for the music to kick in.
— I love Trebek’s anguish when finding out that the Final Jeopardy category is Famous Mothers, a reveal that Connery responds to with “My day has come!”
— Alex Trebek, in regards to what Keanu Reeves wagered: “Eleventy billion dollars. That’s not even a real number.” Keanu Reeves: “….yet.”
— A very funny cutaway to Parnell as Hillary Swank’s crying husband in the audience during her Oscars-esque acceptance speech.
STARS: *****


BURGER CASTLE
Burger Castle employee Nadeen tells customers to “simmer down”

— The third and final appearance of Cheri’s “Simma dah nah” character, Nadeen.
— Nadeen’s rude comments about Horatio’s weight are pretty funny.
— Nadeen’s “Simma dah nah” routine is coming off pretty tepid tonight, compared to the last two installments where it was somewhat fresh. It’s a good thing this ends up being the final installment. If Cheri hadn’t left after this season, who knows how much further SNL would run this recurring sketch into the ground.
— Tobey’s doing a surprisingly good job doing the “Simma dah nah” routine.
STARS: **


TV FUNHOUSE
“Up Close With Geppetto” by RBS- Pinocchio humps interviewee Sharon Stone

— Geppetto’s goofy accent is cracking me up. I can tell that’s Robert Smigel who’s voice I’m hearing.
— Pretty weird cartoon so far. Not sure what this is going for.
— Hilarious sudden turn with Pincocchio going wild after getting horny from seeing Sharon Stone’s leg-crossing. I also like Geppetto reacting to that with a proud declaration of “He’s a real boy!”
— Now we’re going back to the “WTF?” territory we were in earlier in this cartoon, with all three characters in this cartoon dancing in unison for no reason, and then a huge whale eating the house they’re in. What was that all about?
STARS: ***


INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO
Dustin Diamond (host) on being Screech

— An absolutely priceless idea to have James Lipton interview Dustin Diamond and fawn over Diamond’s screenwork as Screech.
— Tobey is fantastic as Screech. Even his mere facial expressions and body gestures are hilarious enough.
— James Lipton: “In 1992, a made-for-television film came out that changed the face of American cinema. That film, of course, is Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style.”
— I love Will-as-James-Lipton’s head-thrown-back laugh after saying “You are a delight.”
— A good laugh from Tobey-as-Dustin-Diamond’s idea of stretching his acting chops being him moving on from Saved By The Bell to Saved By The Bell: The New Class.
— James Lipton: “What turns you off?” Dustin Diamond: “When someone throws garbage or feces at you.”
STARS: *****


TENNIS LESSON
Mrs. Attebury indelicately plies tennis pro’s (host) institutionalization

— Oddly, we get the return of obscure recurring characters The Atteburys, for the first time since way back in season 22 when Ana was a new cast member. The long-departed Mark McKinney played the husband in all previous installments of this sketch, but Will takes over as his character tonight, making this a very rare case of a single recurring character being played by different performers at separate times.
— Ana’s performance as this character remains solid, but Will’s performance as the deadpan husband doesn’t work for me as much as Mark McKinney’s great take on this character did. Will’s dialogue itself is still funny, though.
— Ana unintentionally offending Tobey’s psychotic character is providing some pretty good laughs.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
Angelina Jolie (MOS) & brother James (CHK) address relationship rumors
for National Lingerie Week, Joy Lipton shows some boudoir fashions

— Hmm, a change of pace with Colin himself doing a “Weekend Update Editorial” segment. However, I could’ve done without him starting the segment by saying “Here’s Colin Quinn” and then looking to the side and saying to himself “Thanks, Colin.” That’s giving me bad Brad Hall flashbacks.
— Colin’s rant to Martin Scorsese during the Update Editorial segment of Colin’s is decent.
— Colin, regarding President Clinton agreeing to be interviewed by Leonardo DiCaprio: “Apparently, Clinton agreed to the interview after he saw DiCaprio’s picture and, quote, ‘thought she was hot’.”
— Funny to see a parody of Angelina Jolie’s infamous behavior with her brother at that year’s then-recent Oscars . Kattan is well-cast in this creepy role.
— An absolutely priceless walk-on from a deformed lovechild of Angelina Jolie and her brother, played by Rachel in the very first appearance as what would go on to be a recurring character of hers: Qrplt*xk.
— Hmm, an odd twist to the Angelina Jolie commentary, with it being revealed that Qrplt*xk is just an act put on by child actor David Mack Wilson, made even odder by the fact that David Mack Wilson is, I believe, the same child actor character that Rachel played in the Elian The Cuban Boy sketch from the preceding episode. But what in the world is the point to this twist in the Angelina Jolie commentary? It’s adding nothing.
— The second and final Joy Lipton appearance.
— Some really good laughs throughout Joy Lipton’s commentary, such as her displaying a sun-shaped vibrator, and her displaying bull-head strap-on underwear. I’m actually enjoying this Joy Lipton commentary more than I did her first one.
— An overall decent Weekend Update tonight, for Colin Quinn era standards.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Thong Song”


YOGA CLASS
after three years of effort, yoga student (WIF) achieves self-fellation

— An absolutely hilarious reveal of a stretching-forward Will giving himself fellatio while having his head buried inside his pants. I also love the initial reactions from the other characters.
— As I mentioned in my review of the Savin’ It sketch in the Julianna Margulies episode earlier this season, there’s one small portion of that sketch where Will struggles and fails while attempting to demonstrate a yoga move where he fellates himself. I’d like to think that his character in this Yoga Class sketch is the same character from the Savin’ It sketch after he finally learned how to successfully do the yoga move he desperately wanted to do.
— I love Will’s various lines to the class during the occasional times he pops his head out of his pants to say something.
— Tobey, to the yoga class: “Find your nirvana.” Will, while in the middle of fellating himself: “I found my nirvana!”
— The timing and delivery from the performers who aren’t Will or Tobey seem a little off, even the usually-reliable Tim Meadows.
— Rachel, to Will: “Could… could you teach a girl to do that?”
— Solid ending taking place years later, with a now-long-haired and long-bearded Will still asking for a little more time to finish his self-fellatio.
STARS: ****


STAVENHAGENS PAWN SHOP
by Adam McKay- (Steve Buscemi) pays cash for food

— Steve Buscemi! Great to see him on SNL again.
— I love Tracy’s line about “these sweet-ass waffles”.
— Great scene with Will’s hobo character trying to convince Steve that gum is food.
— Will: “By the way… I took a crap in your store.” Steve: “That’s not food, either.”
— Horatio has appeared in every Adam McKay short film that SNL has aired up to this point, and he’s always in his element in these. In tonight’s film, I especially like Horatio’s mention of how, in the past, he enjoyed “throwin’ dobermans at old ladies and coldcockin’ redheaded dudes just for the eff of it.”
— Adam McKay is funny in his appearance as a robber failing in his attempt to hold up the store.
— Good ending with Horatio sleeping while standing up.
— Overall, my favorite of the three Adam McKay short films that have aired up to this point.
STARS: ****½


CONVENIENCE STORE
store clerk (host) clues (ANG) to fiance’s (WIF) porn proclivity

— Funny situation with the store clerk remembering Will’s embarrassing old weekly habit of always buying porno magazines with raspberry soda and a Mars bar.
— Between the preceding Adam McKay short film and this sketch, tonight’s episode is utilizing Horatio well in roles that fit him.
— Not sure if slice-of-life is the right term for this sketch, but I’m really enjoying the realistic atmosphere and approach to this. Sketches like this feel kinda rare in this era.
— Good ending with Will begrudgingly going back to his old raspberry soda/Mars bar/porn-buying habits after Ana dumps him.
STARS: ****


WEST LINK
after nebulous pitch, West Link admits “even we don’t know what we do”

— Pretty funny “Even we don’t know what we do” tagline, after the seriousness that preceded it. Kinda reminds me of the Ad Council commercial from season 11, though that one was better-executed.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode, keeping up the streak of above average episodes that this season has been churning out lately. Tonight’s episode had some classic installments of tried-and-true recurring sketches (Celebrity Jeopardy and Inside The Actor’s Studio), and a string of great pieces in the second half of the show.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Our annual John Goodman episode. (By the way, this is the last time I’ll be able to say “Our annual John Goodman episode”, as the following season breaks Goodman’s impressive streak of hosting in every season since 1989.) We also get a late-in-the-season addition of a new female cast member.

Posted on

April 8, 2000 – Christopher Walken / Christina Aguilera (S25 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CAPITOL BUILDING
George (DAC) coaches son George W. (WIF) Bush on how to be evasive

— Dana Carvey!
— I love Will’s Bush repeatedly chanting “I’m a uniter, not a divider”, and Dana’s Bush snapping him out of it my slapping him back and forth.
— I see Dana’s still got it as Bush Sr.
— Bush Sr.’s various tips to Bush Jr. are very funny, and there’s some charming chemistry between Dana and Will.
— Bush Sr.: “Should we send the Gonzalez boy back to Cuba?” Bush Jr.: “I don’t give a rat’s ass.”
— The visual of Bush Jr. sitting on Bush Sr.’s lap kinda reminds me of SNL’s running gag of Dan Quayle doing the same to Bush Sr. back in the early 90s.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Saturday Night Is The Loneliest Night Of The Week” & dances

— I like Christopher’s “I miss this place” line, whether it was intended to get laughs or not.
— Christopher reprises his “crazy make-em-ups” line from the questions-from-the-audience segment in SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special (which he was absolutely hilarious in).
— Here’s our obligatory Walken monologue song-and-dance.
— An overall charming and pretty fun Walken monologue song-and-dance as always, though this one didn’t have anything noteworthy, unlike his last two monologues, one in which he sang lots of fun winter-related songs, and one in which he danced with each female cast member one-by-one and then danced his way to SNL’s backstage area.
STARS: ***½


BEHIND THE MUSIC
cowbell dominates Blue Oyster Cult recording session

 

— Here’s an absolutely legendary and iconic SNL sketch.
— Christopher is playing a perfectly Christopher Walken-esque Bruce Dickinson.
— Bruce Dickinson: “I put my pants on just like the rest of you, one leg at a time. Except, once I put my pants on, I make gold records.”
— And there’s the first instance of Will’s cowbell banging. Even in the straightforward, low-key manner he’s doing it this first time, it’s amazing how Will is still able to make it hilarious.
— Bruce Dickinson, in regards to the first track: “I coulda used a little more cowbell.”
— And now we get the absolutely classic turn in the second track, with Will exploring the studio place by going wild while banging the cowbell all over the place, complete with his belly flopping out of his tiny shirt. An extremely memorable visual.
— I love an unhappy Will deliberately slowly playing the cowbell right next to Parnell’s face.
— When trying to deliver the simple line “Quit being so selfish, Gene!”, Jimmy busts out laughing, which leads to Will himself cracking up a bit. After this happens, it’s quite funny watching Jimmy in the background trying his damnedest to get himself back into a straight face during Will’s poignant speech about how important it is for him to play the hell out of the cowbell. When Jimmy finally does regain his composure, he IMMEDIATELY loses it again and ducks his head in laughter when Will’s voice unexpectedly cracks in a funny way while saying “I’d be doing myself a disservice– etc.” (you can hear Horatio bust out laughing off-camera during that part too). One of the very few times you’ll hear me say that a Jimmy Fallon character break actually added to my enjoyment of a sketch.
— Bruce Dickinson: “Guess what?!? I got a fever… and the only prescription… is more cowbell!”
— I love Horatio’s spaced-out look shortly before saying “He speaks for all of us.”
— Bruce Dickinson: “Babies, before we’re done here, ya’ll be wearin’ gold-plated diapers.”
— A great “in memoriam” freeze-frame of Will’s Gene Frenkle at the end, made even better by the fact that he’s not even a real person.
— Overall, such a perfect sketch, in every single way.
STARS: *****


ELIAN, THE CUBAN BOY!
stage adaptation of international custody battle

— A very funny idea of making a stage musical out of the Elian Gonzalez saga.
— Darrell makes his ONLY appearance of these last two episodes as a barely-visible guy in the back of a boat of singing immigrants (you can see him behind Molly in the first above screencap for this sketch). He looks as if he was possibly thrown into this sketch at the last minute, especially given how he’s off on his cue to raise his fist in the air in unison with his scene partners. I didn’t realize until now that he wasn’t in any sketches in the preceding episode, hosted by The Rock.
— Christopher’s Fidel Castro is hilarious, as is the song he’s singing. I remember an old SNL review from this time in 2000 saying Christopher managed to look even creepier than the real Fidel Castro.
— I love Rachel’s cheesy, theatrical portrayal of Elian Gonzalez.
— This is Will’s first time playing Janet Reno in quite a long time. Great to see this back.
— As much as it pains me to say anything negative about this great sketch, we unfortunately get our second of three moments from seasons 25 and 26 in which Will and Kattan kiss each other on the lips for an unnecessary cheap laugh.
— As a whole, a very well-done sketch.
STARS: ****½


THE CONTINENTAL
The Continental gets amorous when a lady arrives to retrieve her mail

— Always glad to see our obligatory Continental sketch.
— Must be some audio problems, as we’re not hearing the usual piano music during the obligatory opening Phil Hartman voice-over.
— Ah, now the piano music has started playing, at the very end of Phil’s voice-over. Not sure if this delay in the piano music would later be fixed in reruns or not.
— Funny mention from The Continental of having a tattoo of two dogs “doing it”.
— The Continental: “You are skittish… like Siberian palomino.”
— We now get The Continental’s very first utterance of “Wowie wow wow wow!”, which would go on to be a well-liked catchphrase of his.
— A very funny part with The Continental being caught slipping a mickey into the woman’s drink.
— The Continental: “Did you see my painting? I got it from Target.”
— A hilarious and memorable part with The Continental being seen staring into the bathroom through the other side of the bathroom mirror while he’s lighting a cigarette.
— I love the part with The Continental getting sprayed by mace, made even funnier by him screaming “WAAAAUUUGGHH!” in response. Freakin’ priceless.
— Ha, the aforementioned mace part has now gotten even funnier with the woman flat-out punching The Continental in the face to get him out of the way of the door.
STARS: *****


VIAGRA
wives sarcastically thank Viagra for restoring husbands’ intumescence

— Very amusing to hear Christopher talk about Viagra in his usual dry manner.
— Tina Fey makes an appearance as the only person I recognize out of all of the non-Walken/Gasteyer couples in this commercial. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe this ends up being her last onscreen SNL appearance before being added to the cast in the following season.
— Good ending visual of Ana flushing Christopher’s Viagra pills down the toilet.
STARS: ***½


JENNY JONES
audience member (host) imparts wisdom to panelists

— Rachel is pretty spot-on in her portrayal of Jenny Jones.
— Jimmy’s performance as a wannabe-black character is hilarious.
— Jimmy, to Molly: “You look like you sewed someone’s ass to your chest!”
— As with the Sally Jessy Raphael parody earlier this season in the Christina Ricci episode, this sketch is a spot-on parody of Jenny Jones’ show.
— Christopher’s various one-liners to the guests, such as “Checkity-check yourself before you wreck yourself” and “Let your freak flag fly”, are coming off priceless being delivered in Christopher’s usual manner.
— Parnell, on how he lost weight: “For a year, I ate only candy necklaces and Pedialyte.”
— Tracy makes his obligatory sole appearance of the whole night. This is getting ridiculous. I cannot remember the last time he appeared in more than one sketch in an episode.
— It’s a very small detail in the sketch, but I’m cracking up at Christopher’s frozen, speechless, somewhat-taken-aback facial expression in the background when Kattan enters as a woman.
— Rachel-as-Jenny-Jones’ ending line about having a crappy local band play the show to commercial is such a dead-on detail in regards to the real Jenny Jones show.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob Silj bemoans being afflicted with voice immodulation

— Colin: “As members of the media, we’re required to say the word ‘Elian Gonzalez’ every 10 minutes.”
— I like the News From The Future segment about a 21-year-old Elian Gonzalez in the year 2015.
— I’m getting a kick out of the audience’s somewhat uproarious reaction to a punchline of Colin’s, in which he quotes an infamous bigoted John Rocker rant about “having to take the 7 Train sitting next to some queer with AIDS, some kid with purple hair, a 20-year-old mom with 4 kids, etc.” Since John Rocker’s name wasn’t directly mentioned anywhere in the joke, I’m sure the joke would go over a lot of viewers heads in more recent years, which might make it look like Colin was just randomly saying those bigoted things about passengers of the 7 Train for the hell of it.
— The return of Will’s Jacob Silj character. This seems like kind of a thin character to make recurring, but I know Will is going to manage to always make this character work.
— I like Jacob Silj explaining that some people get voice immodulation disorder from being born two months late and having been exposed to gold dust.
— At the end of this Update, Colin randomly saying “Elian Gonzalez” after his usual sign-off tagline was a nice callback to an earlier bit from the beginning of this Update.
— Overall, better than Colin’s usual Updates, keeping up the great atmosphere of tonight’s episode.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Turn To You”


THE CENSUS
census taker (TIM) records apartment dweller’s (host) crazy responses

— An all-time favorite of mine.
— Oddly, this is Tim’s first (and ONLY) appearance all night.
— A perfectly Christopher Walken-esque oddball role for Christopher.
— Just some of my many favorite Christopher Walken lines in this endlessly funny sketch are him counting plants and candy bars as people who live with him, his reveal of his wife being a bobcat, and him saying he has dual citizenship with the United States and Florida.
— Tim is a fantastic straight man here.
— Tim: “Let’s just proceed as if this is going really well.”
— I love the ending with Christopher saying to his off-camera bobcat wife “Again? We just did it!”
STARS: *****


BEAUTY PAGEANT
Sally O’Malley crashes the Miss Greenwood Hills Beauty Pageant

— I like the odd name of Christopher’s character, Brett Lighthorse.
— Cheri, regarding the burn unit of a children’s hospital: “I would just love to see their little red faces light up when they see me!”
— A pretty good laugh from Ana’s passing mention of wanting her baby back from “that miserable drummer”.
— The great atmosphere of tonight’s episode comes to a screeching halt with the appearance of Sally O’Malley. I’ve said enough in earlier reviews about my dislike of this character.
— One thing I’ll say I consistently like about these Sally O’Malley sketches are the hosts, as Danny DeVito, Ben Affleck, and now Christopher Walken have provided enjoyment for me in the Sally O’Malley sketches I’ve covered so far.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “At Last” & “What A Girl Wants”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An absolutely fantastic episode. An impressive number of highly-rated sketches, two true classics (Behind The Music, The Census), one of my all-time favorite Continental installments, and Christopher Walken being his usual self. So many things to love here.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (The Rock)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tobey Maguire

Posted on

March 18, 2000 – The Rock / AC/DC (S25 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BACKSTAGE
Vince McMahon [real] warns wrestlers not to mess with host during show

— I like the opening visual of Tim casually having champagne with Lorne, showing what a long-time SNL veteran Tim is by this point, as well as the great relationship he has with Lorne.
— This whole backstage conversation between Vince McMahon and the wrestlers is a nice way to set up tonight’s episode.
— Very funny gag with Big Show meekly revealing that he has a folding chair hidden behind him.
— Good bit with Big Show and Mango, even if that makes this Mango’s 1,000th appearance this season. (Thankfully, it ends up being his last appearance for almost an entire year.)
— Great “Live From New York…” delivery from McMahon.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Mick Foley, Triple H, Paul ‘Big Show’ Wight [real] wish host luck

— A huge audience reception for The Rock at the beginning of this, including a group of people being heard chanting “Rocky!”
— I love the bit about how Tracy won’t be in tonight’s show (it’s not like he would’ve appeared much tonight anyway, given how the show seems to be content with giving him only one appearance per episode lately) due to The Rock accidentally giving him two broken legs earlier in the week.
— Funny visual of SNL writer Hugh Fink getting manhandled out of his seat by the wrestlers. Fink always seems to play hapless audience members getting disrespected in SNL monologues.
— Good line from The Rock about how he looks like a sexy Rob Schneider. I definitely see the resemblance.
— The Rock, when seeing Triple H: “Ah, Triple H. I thought I smelled dandruff shampoo and monkey turds.”
— An overall very fun monologue.
STARS: ****


UNCLE JEMIMA’S PURE MASH LIQUOR
Rerun from 2/5/00


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon is in love with crossdressed undercover cop (host)

— Funny performance from The Rock in drag, who Leon Phelps is convinced is a real woman. I like how The Rock’s not even attempting to change his voice for his drag role.
— Good reveal of The Rock being an undercover police office and Leon initially still not getting it.
— Interesting line flub from The Rock, accidentally saying “drug queens” instead of “drag queens”, which is almost funny in itself.
STARS: ***½


PAPA PEEPERS
paleontologist (WIF) reunites Mr. Peepers with his father (host)

— I see SNL’s breaking out some of their biggest recurring characters for tonight’s big episode.
— A solid turn with The Rock entering as Mr. Peepers’ similarly-traited father. The Rock is spot-on and funny in his imitation of Mr. Peepers.
— Ha, one of The Rock’s fake monkey ears has become unglued and is hanging off of his head, flopping around.
— The out-of-control nature of this sketch is making it fun.
— Overall, one of the better Mr. Peepers sketches.
STARS: ***½


MORNING LATTE
Tom & Cass can’t separate host from his in-ring persona

— The usual funny opening banter between Will and Cheri.
— I love Will exclaiming to The Rock “You are a HORSE!” after greeting him at the beginning of the interview.
— Cheri and Will constantly flinching from The Rock is pretty funny.
— Will, after The Rock says he likes board games: “I’d let you win… cuz I’d like to see my kids grow up.”
— Good turn with Mick Foley and Big Show humorously backing up The Rock during his tender singing.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jasper Hahn’s presidential candidate caricatures start out dirty
JIF plays guitar & sings Spring Break-themed songs based on pop hits

— Ha, another Update this season where the audience boos as soon as John Rocker’s photo shows up on the Update news screen.
— I love the updated look of Horatio’s Jasper Hahn, with bushy hair and a mustache. Horatio seems to be playing him in a goofier manner tonight too.
— It’s always interesting seeing how Jasper Hahn’s initially dirty drawings turn into innocent animal drawings.
— A good laugh from Jasper’s deadpan “No” when asked by Colin if he’s going to change his naked-woman-bending-over drawing into some kind of animal.
— Holy hell. Eerie in retrospect how immediately after a joke of Colin’s that is accompanied by the Update news screen showing a photo of the New York City skyline with the World Trade Center being very visible, we get an unrelated joke about Osama Bin Laden.
— Now shortly after the Osama Bin Laden joke, we get an unrelated joke about a plane hijacker. Geez, this Update’s getting way too prescient for my likes.
— I’m kinda surprised this is the first (and ONLY) appearance this season for Jimmy’s Update guitar songs, considering they were more common in the preceding season.
— Great vocal impression of Dave Matthews from Jimmy during one portion of his guitar song medley.
— Jimmy’s overall guitar song medley tonight was decently fun, even if barely anything stood out to me here.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stiff Upper Lip”


CLARK KENT
Daily Planet employees toy with Superman’s (host) not-so-secret identity

— Very funny detail of The Rock’s Clark Kent clearly having his Superman costume poorly hidden under his suit.
— I love the line about how when Clark Kent first got this job, he used the fake name Supe R. Man.
— Hilarious bit with Clark Kent’s co-workers reading an article he wrote in which he didn’t even edit out all the mistakes in which he caught himself accidentally referring to himself as Superman and tried to backtrack.
— Parnell: “You get Superman in a truckstop men’s room, you won’t need Kryptonite to bring him to his knees.”
— A very humorous article photo of Superman just haplessly shrugging.
STARS: ****½


THE GOOMBAHS
(host) & (ANG) star in Showtime’s rip-off of The Sopranos

— I’m getting some good laughs from The Rock’s bad, goofy Italian accent while just saying dumb things like “meats-a balls-a!”
— Overall, short and dumb, but it worked for me, mostly just due to the charming goofiness that The Rock brought.
STARS: ***


NICOTREL
Nicotrel (host) uses physical violence to help (CHP) stop smoking
Mick Foley, Triple H, Paul ‘Big Show’ Wight [real], host beat up on CHP

— Great concept of The Rock as the human embodiment of a way to quit smoking.
— Very funny visual of The Rock throwing a dummy of Parnell out the window.
— After Parnell tells Nicotrel to get his hands off Parnell’s wife, I love Nicotrel getting up from the couch while bellowing “YOU DON’T TALK TO NICOTREL LIKE THAT!”
— Hilarious how Nicotrel tosses a cigarette over to Parnell just as an excuse to beat him up again.
— Parnell is so damn good at taking fake beatings in a sketch. His whimpering throughout this is also very funny.
— Pretty good turn with the other wrestlers crashing the sketch to show The Rock how to give Parnell a realistic beatdown.
STARS: ****½


TODAY’S LADY
(RAD), (CHO), (MOS) throw themselves at stud (host)

— What was with Rachel’s coughing fit right before saying the odd name of her character, Gwyneth Paltrownian? Was that coughing some kind of intentional joke, or was Rachel going through a genuine coughing fit?
— Random running gag throughout this sketch with every character having a strange last name.
— Not sure I care for where this sketch is going.
— Yeah, so far, this sketch isn’t doing much for me.
— Great sleazy line from The Rock offering the ladies a “meating”.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shook Me All Night Long”


COLONEL BELMONT’S OLD FASHIONED HORSE GLUE
Another rerun tonight, this time from 1/15/00


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fun and pretty solid episode that had a special feel, due to the WWF theme and, to a lesser extent, having a legendary rock band as the musical guest. Regarding the WWF theme, this semi-departure from a typical SNL episode was a definite success. I also like how, due to the WWF fans in the building tonight, the audience was particularly loud and energetic throughout the show, rivaling this season’s Jamie Foxx episode as the season 25 episode with the rowdiest audience. The Rock did a great job for his first hosting stint, especially considering the fact that this was before he became an actor, though he would come off even more polished in his later hosting stints.
— After going through a somewhat-slump of unmemorable episodes from December to early February, this season has really picked up steam these last few episodes. And it’s nice to know that that winning streak will continue, considering what the very next episode is (as you’ll see at the very end of this review).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joshua Jackson)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christopher Walken, a.k.a. the episode with the legendary More Cowbell sketch

Posted on

March 11, 2000 – Joshua Jackson / ‘N Sync (S25 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NEWS ANCHORS
Ted Koppel (DAH), Tom Brokaw (CHP), Bernard Shaw (TIM) hate Bush vs. Gore

— A good laugh from Parnell’s Tom Brokaw and Darrell’s Ted Koppel greeting each other with the then-popular phrase “Wazzuuuuuup!”, which is really bringing me back.
— A lot of good lines from the news anchors about how boring and mundane an election between George W. Bush and Al Gore would be. But, boy, how wrong SNL ended up being with that prediction.
— I love Tim playing Bernard Shaw all laid-back and badass.
— Molly Shannon playing herself as Bernard Shaw’s ho? How random.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host assures older generations that the show will be a good one

— Joshua Jackson’s message to little league coaches who send him creepy letters is pretty funny.
— I like the whole part with Joshua listing off hypothetical teen heartthrob host/musical guest lineups for other SNL eras: Jason Priestley/Color Me Badd for the early 90s, Kirk Cameron/Frankie Goes To Hollywood for the mid 80s, and John Travolta/ABBA for the 70s.
— Very funny part with us being shown the opening montage of a (non-existent) 70s SNL episode with Epstein from Welcome Back Kotter as the host and Foghat as the musical guest. Nice seeing the season 4 opening montage again as well (though they’re using the season 19 theme music, for some reason).
— Overall, a solid straightforward monologue that was short and sweet. Joshua handled himself surprisingly well here for what was a solo monologue by a teen heartthrob.
STARS: ***½


HAMBURGER HELPER ANTIBACTERIAL
Rerun from 1/8/00


REGIS AUDITIONS
Regis Philbin (DAH) interviews potential Kathie Lee Gifford replacements

— Darrell’s Regis Philbin, regarding Kathie Lee Gifford’s departure from the show: “Satan is quitting the show!”
— You can already tell this is going to be a fun sketch. The enthusiastic audience is also helping.
— It feels a little odd seeing a Janeane Garofalo impression on SNL, but Rachel is nailing Janeane’s demeanor.
— Joshua’s Donny Osmond is freakin’ UNCANNY. He’s a dead ringer for him here.
— Kattan’s laid-back Gelman is making me laugh. I prefer this to the stereotypical flamboyantly gay Gelman SNL would later have Kattan regularly play.
— A good topical bit with Ana as Darva Conger from FOX’s Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire. However, the topicality of this portion of the sketch most likely hasn’t aged well with a lot of viewers nowadays.
— Speaking of not aging well, holy fucking shit at Jimmy donning dark makeup to play Chris Rock – in a sketch from the year 2000, no less.
— I will say that Jimmy’s imitation of Chris Rock’s voice here keeps coming and going. At some points, he sounds just like Rock, but at other points, all I hear is Jimmy Fallon.
— 11 years later, SNL would do a successor to this sketch, in which Kathie Lee Gifford’s replacement, Kelly Ripa (played by then-cast member Nasim Pedrad), is the one auditioning celebrity co-hosts, in light of Regis Philbin’s departure from the show. I don’t recall that sketch being as memorable as this one, though.
STARS: ****


WEDDING SINGERS
(WIF) & (HOS) ruin wedding reception by playing “Died In Your Arms”

— Will and Horatio are hilarious in their constant, badly-timed singing of just one part of the song “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”.
— All of the back-and-forths between Will/Horatio and Joshua are cracking me up, especially when it gets tense and they’re just yelling at each other.
— Funny ending with Will and Horatio revealing they only know that one part of “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”, followed by Joshua angrily lunging at them and having to be held back by others.
STARS: ****


ON THE ROAD WITH THE BOYS
7 Degrees Celsius meets the press & unveils opening act (musical guest)

— The third and final installment of this recurring piece.
— Unlike the previous installments of this sketch, we don’t have the host playing a 7 Degrees Celsius member, instead playing an obsessive male fan of the band.
— The look of Horatio’s character in these 7 Degrees Celsius sketches always instantly cracks me up.
— Good to see Will’s band manager character back, after he was absent in the last installment of this sketch.
— A good laugh from the reveal of the band manager being banned from certain states for going “a little crazy online when I got my scanner”.
— Unlike the dead audience from the last time this sketch appeared in the Freddie Prinze Jr. episode, Ana and Cheri’s parts are getting good audience reactions.
— A fitting use of tonight’s musical guest, ‘N Sync. And with this, we get a young Justin Timberlake making his very first SNL sketch appearance. Ha, and look at him trying to appear all gangsta with one of his pantlegs rolled up (as seen on the right end of the screencap below).

— Overall, better than the last installment of this sketch, as they took this one into a lot of different directions from the previous installments.
STARS: ***


LEZ IT UP
to frat boys’ dismay, magic wish yields real-life lesbians (RAD) & (ANG)

— A laugh early in the sketch from Parnell exclaiming “Ellen DeGeneres was radiant!”
— Very funny turn with the magically-appearing lesbians being unattractive, middle-aged, realistic lesbians, instead of the kind the guys were hoping for.
— When expressing disappointment in the lesbians they’re given, I love Tim asking “Where’s the Asian one?!?”
— Lesbian stereotypes galore here, but this sketch is hilarious.
— Another fantastic line from Tim: “This thing is giving me a hard-OFF!”
— I love Horatio coming to the realization of “Dude, you forgot to say ‘hot’!”
— Heh, how many times during this sketch has Tim angrily thrown that same towel onto the floor?
— Funny detail with Parnell being the only one who’s into it throughout this sketch.
— I love Tim’s goofy dancing at the end.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Kevin Brennan [real] compares elites Al Gore & George W. Bush

— A lot of tepid election-related jokes from Colin to start off this Update, and even tonight’s energetic audience agrees with me.
— Hmm, Colin’s jokes have started getting better all of a sudden, especially the great one about Calista Flockhart in a boat with Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp.
— Well… this is new. SNL writer Kevin Brennan doing a political Update commentary as himself. Is SNL going for an A. Whitney Brown-type of thing here? If so, I like that.
— Kevin Brennan’s overall commentary tonight had quite a lot of funny comments. His delivery and demeanor are quite monotone and lethargic, but strangely, that kinda works in his favor. I’m interested in seeing his second (and final) Update commentary from later this season.
— Wow, an overall short Update tonight. Actually, I feel like I’ve been saying that quite a lot lately. Considering the typical quality of Colin’s Updates, maybe shorter Updates are a good thing. I’m also wondering if it’s a sign that SNL is already planning big changes for Update in the following season and have begun slowly phasing out Colin.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bye Bye Bye”


LET’S TALK BOOKS
experts consider works with naughty title-author combos

— A lot of good immature laughs from the many dirty book title-author combos, such as The Yellow River by I.P. Freely, Through A Brown Darkly by Eileen Dover, and Stain On The Great Wall by Hu Flung Poo. For such a sophomoric concept, it’s being executed very well in a mature package.
— Tim, regarding author duo Harrison Butts and Randall Dixon: “We all love Dixon-Butts.”
— Will, regarding author Henri de Balsac: “I can think of nothing I’d rather do on a cold wintry night than curl up with a leathery, musty old Balsac.”
STARS: ****


PARENTS DAY
Colette Reardon shows up at nephew’s (host) school’s Parents Day

— A good setting for Collette Reardon, who’s making what ends up being her final appearance.
— Hmm, Joey Fatone playing an obviously-gay character. I wonder how the then-closeted Lance Bass felt about that.
— Collette Reardon’s lines to the students are providing good laughs.
— Will, to Collette Reardon: “I will not sit here and listen to your bus driving/medication/pooping tales.”
— Overall, one of the better Collette Reardon appearances.
STARS: ***½


NEIL ARMSTRONG: THE OHIO YEARS
by Adam McKay- Neil Armstrong rests on laurels

— This film is already starting off very weird, right down to the child-sung song about Neil Armstrong.
— I like Armstrong scoffing at Tang drinks he sees at the supermarket.
— Horatio (the first recognizable performer in this whole film) is funny as the store clerk, especially his opening line about a Rocky marathon on TV.
— Armstrong’s various inner thoughts bragging about landing on the moon are very funny.
— Interesting progression to this film.
— An overall well-done film. In addition to being funny and entertaining, I liked the various interesting filming choices used by Adam McKay throughout this, giving this a very different feel for this SNL era.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Thought She Knew”


THREE-WAY
Warren’s attempt to draw lawnboy (host) into a menage-a-trois upsets Fran

— Good to see this slice-of-life sketch from this season’s Heather Graham episode become recurring, though this ends up being the final installment.
— A big laugh from Joshua responding to Parnell’s three-way proposition by initially just staring at him with a frozen deadpan expression (the second above screencap for this sketch), and then bolting out of the house (the third above screencap for this sketch).
— Nice continuity with there being a passing mention of Heather Graham’s character from the previous installment of this sketch.
— Parnell, to Ana on how often they have sex: “Twice a month. Take those away, we’re practically brother and sister.”
— Very funny line from Ana about a fishnet body stocking Parnell gave her as a Mother’s Day gift.
— I love the line from Parnell about how during sex, Ana laughs at him so hard that he slips out of her.
— Overall, another very solid installment of this sketch. A shame that they don’t continue any further with these sketches. These represent a realistic, smarter, more mature direction that this SNL era needed to go further towards.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— One of the best episodes of the season. A very strong effort tonight, with lots of great, standout sketches, and no real flops. Who would’ve guessed back in 2000 that an episode with such a teenybopper-centric host/musical guest line-up would turn out to be so good?


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ben Affleck)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dwayne Johnson makes his hosting debut, back when he was known as The Rock

Posted on

February 19, 2000 – Ben Affleck / Fiona Apple (S25 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NIGHTLINE
Peanuts characters mourn the passing of Charles Schulz

— Feels like we haven’t seen Darrell’s Ted Koppel impression in a long time.
— Good to see another sketch with the cast playing Peanuts characters, after the classic Charlie Brown parody SNL did in the preceding season.
— I love the visual of Horatio’s Pig Pen.
— Franklin: “Back then, it was hard for a brother to get in the funnies. No one wanted to take the time to do the shading.”
— I love Rachel-as-Marcie’s scream while raising her head, after saying Peppermint Patty didn’t reciprocate Marcie’s feelings towards her.
— A pretty good laugh from the off-camera Nightline producer’s voice being represented by the “womp womp womp” voice that the adults in Peanuts always speak in, even if SNL already used that joke in the last Charlie Brown sketch.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Gwyneth Paltrow [real] comes on-stage & steals spotlight from host

— A nice callback to Gwyneth Paltrow’s monologue from the preceding season, in which Ben Affleck made a cameo from the audience.
— A lot of fun barbs between Ben and Gwyneth, especially the whole bit about winning an Oscar. And like Gwyneth’s last monologue, both her and Ben are proving themselves to be good sports.
STARS: ***½


VICTORIA’S SECRET
Marisa’s boobs ask “what is desire”

— A silly but funny parody of real Victoria’s Secret ads from around this time.
— Good bit with the deep-voiced talking butt (or was that a crotch?) trying to interrupt, only to get cut off by the talking boobs.
STARS: ***½


BAND SHOT
G.E. Smith [real] plays guitar

— G.E. Smith’s back tonight!


MANGO
host pretends to be Matt Damon in order to get close to Mango

— At least this season managed to go through a month (January) without resorting to a Mango sketch, which is a big feat considering how much they’ve been overusing Mango this season.
— Mango: “Ben Who-fleck?!?”
— A good Talented Mr. Ripley turn, with Ben trying to pass himself off as Matt Damon.
— The stripping scene in the dark is pretty funny, as is Ben losing control and assaulting Mango on the floor.
— Overall, one of the better Mango sketches, mostly helped by Ben’s performance, even if his demeanor came off a little more smiley and jokey than his role required.
STARS: ***


DONNIE’S PARTY
Donnie Bartolotti’s (host) attentions toward Denise make Sully jealous

— I remember an old SNL review from 2000 pointing out that Ben seemed to be trying to emulate Adam Sandler in this sketch, right down to the Happy Gilmore-esque jersey he’s wearing. I can see it; he looks eerily Sandler-esque at some points of this sketch.
— After exclaiming the word “Irregahdless!” in a Boston accent, Jimmy cracks himself up.
— I love the parts with Rachel and Ben acting out rewinded scenes, especially the slow-mo scene.
— Now Jimmy has begun cracking up again, this time in response to Ben just saying “Bro” over and over to him, which I can forgive, as I’ve been enjoying Jimmy and Ben’s chemistry throughout this sketch. However, this sketch can be pinpointed as the official point in Jimmy’s SNL tenure where his frequent breaking started becoming noticeable.
— Denise: “Don’t hurt him! He’s got a haht murmuh!”
— Some laughs from Ben’s character and Sully listing off the goofy names of their friends.
— Overall, this has always been my personal favorite of the Boston Teens sketches.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“The All New Adventures of Mr. T” by RBS- Ibsen play is a chance to work

— Robert Smigel must be very busy, as we’re more than halfway through this season and this is only the fourth TV Funhouse of the season, which is a small number compared to the amount of TV Funhouses that appeared in the preceding three seasons.
— Very funny idea of a Mr. T-starring TV Funhouse, in the style of a typical 80s animated series, a style that Smigel is doing a dead-on emulation of.
— Mr. T: “I’m back! And I need work!”
— Some good laughs from Mr. T randomly throwing in out-of-place educational tips throughout this.
— The stiffly-animated corny fight scene is very funny.
— Mr. T: “If you believe in yourself, drink your school, stay in drugs, and don’t do milk, you can get work!”
— Great touch with the Charles Schulz tribute during the TV Funhouse closing credits, which leads into an SNL Band shot of Cheryl Hardwick playing a Peanuts tune on the piano.
STARS: ****


FRETTS FILM FORUM
small-town movie reviewers offer clever quotables

— I’m surprised that this is the first appearance all night for the usually-dominant Will Ferrell.
— Will: “Fantasia is fantas-great.”
— Some good laughs from the critics thinking Stuart Little is a real mouse and assuming he’s the same mouse from Mouse Hunt.
— Great bit with Will’s whole hand demonstration when talking about Richard Gere’s beautiful acting and comic timing.
— The critics’ increasingly bad puns and fawning over questionable movies are funny.
— I like it now getting to the point where the critics each give up after starting to really reach with their puns.
STARS: ***½


FANATIC
obsessive (host) wants Anna Nicole Smith (MOS) to be his mom

 

— A change of pace for this era.
— IIRC, director Paul Thomas Anderson was the one behind this pre-taped sketch.
— This is such a well-done and spot-on parody of the real Fanatic show on MTV, especially the visual look and camera angles.
— Even though it’s a very typical Molly Shannon moment, I howled at the intro shot of Molly’s Anna Nicole Smith, with her randomly yelling “I WILL KICK! YOUR! ASS!”
— Very funny visual of a braces-wearing Ben, especially him screaming on the floor when Jimmy is excitedly jumping on him.
— Funny concept with Ben wanting to get Anna Nicole Smith to adopt him.
— Nice touch at the very end, with Ben missing his elevator after speaking to the camera.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
George W. Bush (WIF), John McCain (CHP), Alan Keyes (TIM) speechify

— We’re starting off with a LONG string of “George W. Bush is dumb” jokes from Colin.
— And now we go to a press conference with Will’s Bush. A nice change of pace for an Update segment.
— Ah, now we get a press conference with Parnell’s John McCain giving a concession speech, saying racist things about the Vietnamese.
— The whole scene with Tim’s Alan Keyes holding a press conference in an empty room is pretty funny.
— Short Update overall.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Limp”


SPARKS
salesman (host) is embroiled in Zimmermans’ sexy search for a used car

— After a weaker and somewhat off-putting installment of this sketch from the Heather Graham episode, there’s hopefully nowhere for this sketch to go but up.
— Ben’s performance as an Armenian car dealer is very funny, especially the slang he keeps using (e.g. “homesnakes”).
— Good bit with Cheri and Kattan occasionally honking the car horn to censor their expletives during their dirty talk to each other.
— Hilarious visual of Ben revealing his leopard skin speedo with an excessive amount of bushy pubic hair sticking out.
— Overall, not bad, and a definite improvement over the last installment.
STARS: ***


POLICE TRAINING
Sally O’Malley barges in on a police academy exercise training session

— I love Ben’s performance in this, especially the Chicago accent he’s doing.
— Meh, I can certainly do without the return of the Sally O’Malley. I know this character has her defenders, but she simply does not work for me. Sure, SNL changes the scenery in every Sally O’Malley sketch, unlike with Molly’s similar Helen Madden character, but that’s not enough to make Sally O’Malley funny or less one-note to me. To me, these sketches have always epitomized the decline Molly took as a performer in her later seasons.
— The ending fight scene is kinda entertaining, at least.
STARS: **


TRILOCAINE
Trilocaine treats your dandruff & induces horrific hallucinations

— Very funny how the listed-off side effects quickly go from typical minor things to a very unsettling long description of insane hallucinations.
— I like how this has kind of a Deep Thoughts vibe.
STARS: ****


WHO WANTS TO BE GROPED BY AN ELEVEN THOUSAND-AIRE?
(host) paws (CHK)

— A very funny idea for a parody of FOX’s Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire show from around this time.
— Yet another great characterization from Ben tonight, who’s redneck performance in this is priceless.
— Funny how the prize is getting groped in the back of a rusted-out Maxima.
— Good bit with Ana regarding an alleged TV show she was in called Showering With Bill.
— After one particular thing Ben says towards Kattan, we get an amusing brief close-up of Kattan mouthing what appears to be “What the fuck?”, which the audience catches.
— Odd how this is the second sketch tonight with Ben sexually assaulting Kattan, after the Mango sketch.
— A pretty funny blooper at the end where Will accidentally trips on the floor when walking over to Cheri and Ana.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently solid episode, and the best episode in a good while. Minus Sally O’Malley, the show had an endless run of good sketches, some of which stood out as great. Even the Mango sketch managed to be decent. Ben Affleck was a very strong host in this first hosting stint of his, immediately showing the chops to become an eventual five-timer.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julianna Margulies)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Joshua Jackson

Posted on

February 12, 2000 – Julianna Margulies / DMX (S25 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
as Bill (DAH) lingers, wooden Hillary (ANG) Clinton speaks to New Yorkers

— Ana seems to have updated her imitation of Hillary Clinton’s speech pattern, as it sounds more accurate tonight.
— Great turn with Darrell’s Bill Clinton casually walking into the scene in the background, initially being unaware of the video Hillary’s doing, then playing to the cameras behind Hillary after he realizes what’s going on.
— Just now, Darrell’s Clinton began making one of his many walk-ons, but then made a panicked face and quickly jumped out of the shot. I can’t tell if that was an intentional bit or a genuine mistake on Darrell’s part.
— Some good laughs from the listed-off differences between the old and new Hillary.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s post-ER project deals with veterinary medicine; Noah Wyle cameo

 

— A funny “E.R.: Special Veterinary Unit” scene involving doctors trying to revive a guinea pig.
— I like how this monologue gets meta, with “audience member” Paula Pell mentioning that she’s not an audience member, but a writer on the show, and that she wrote what saying right now.
— Julianna Margulies’ under-the-breath insults to Paula are pretty funny.
— Good scene with an attempting-to-hide-his-identity Noah Wyle wearing a fake handlebar mustache and speaking in Spanish.
STARS: ***½


LITTER CRITTERS
Rerun from 10/16/99


BIRD FAMILY
(host) learns that her boyfriend’s (CHP) family feeds him mouth-to-mouth

— Here comes a very memorable sketch.
— I like the fake-out early on in this sketch, when Will begins cutting up Parnell’s meat for him, which made the audience think that was going to be the comedic concept of the sketch, judging from their laughter.
— Aaaaaand there goes the REAL comedic concept of the sketch, with the disgusting way Parnell is fed by Will. Absolutely priceless, especially hearing the audience reactions.
— Kudos to the performers for willing to do this.
— This one lady in the audience has a screaming laugh that keeps standing out. You can hear her all throughout tonight’s episode, actually.
— A blooper when Will begins choking on food while in the middle of angrily ranting at Julianna. Will humorously ad-libs “I’m upset!” during his choking. This scene is also another display of Parnell’s excellent skills in keeping a straight face when his scene partners lose it.
— Here’s Kattan doing his usual convincing job of playing a little kid.
— Great part with Kattan asking Julianna to chew his pie for him, resulting in the camera doing dramatic slow zoom-ins on each person while Julianna is contemplating what to do.
— Kattan’s facial expression after Julianna spits pie into his mouth is hilarious. Speaking of that part with Julianna spitting pie into Kattan’s mouth, Julianna kept a straight face just fine during this live version of that part, but in the “That’s When You Break” Digital Short from SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, they show a clip from the dress rehearsal version of this sketch where Julianna busts out laughing when attempting to spit pie into Kattan’s mouth.
— Great ending freeze-frame on Julianna about to spit pie into Parnell’s mouth.
STARS: *****


E! NEWS DAILY
Donatella Versace (MOS) expounds her theories of fashion

— The tense banter between Will and Cheri is providing good laughs.
— It feels absolutely bizarre in retrospect seeing Donatella Versace being played by anyone other than the soon-to-join-the-cast Maya Rudolph. Molly’s take on Versace is very different from Maya Rudolph’s later version, as Molly’s basically just playing it in a typical Molly Shannon-esque way, only with an accent.
— Funny bit with Julianna’s Elizabeth Hurley wearing a phone receiver on her chest as part of her outfit.
— Elizabeth Hurley, when a phone is heard ringing: “Is that my rack ringing?”
— What was with Molly being heard off-camera saying what sounded like (in her Versace accent) “Come on, they walk like the sexy hookers” when footage of models walking the runway is being shown after Molly’s portion of the sketch ended?
STARS: ***


AUGUSTUS GENERAL
Nadeen recommends that emergency room visitors should “simmer down”

— I found the first installment of this sketch passable, but yeah, not sure I needed to see this become a recurring sketch.
— Cheri’s character already gets some recognition applause from the audience after her opening yell of “Simma dah nah!”, which shows how much the first installment of this sketch resonated with viewers.
— I got a good laugh from Cheri’s engine-revving-type delivery of “Simma dah nah”.
— A very funny disgusting visual of Tracy’s severed hand being in a bag of ice.
— Julianna’s performance is pretty fun.
— Overall, not bad. I liked this better than I thought I would. Let’s hope I’ll also have this tolerant reaction to the third and final installment of this sketch later this season.
STARS: ***


THE CROCODILE HUNTER
Steve (CHK) & Terri (host) Irwin love angry animals

— Hoo, boy. The nature of this sketch is quite odd to watch in retrospect, given the way Steve Irwin would die in real life.
— I’m finding Kattan’s Australian accent as Steve Irwin to be humorously goofy, though I can see it annoying some people.
— Boy, tonight is one gross-out-heavy episode, between the repeated Litter Critters commercial, the Bird Family sketch, Tracy’s severed hand in a bag in the “Simma dah nah” sketch, and now all the stuff happening in this Crocodile Hunter sketch.
— Kinda surprised this sketch ended so early, but that’s probably a good thing. I started to get kinda tired of this towards the end.
STARS: **½


WEEKEND UPDATE
mousey Joy Lipton (CHO) shows Valentine’s Day gifts from the Erotic Attic

— Colin begins this Update by telling the audience “Simma down now”.
— Boy, did Colin botch the tossed salad/Hillary Clinton joke.
— The look and voice of Cheri’s Joy Lipton character kinda feels like a variation of Cheri’s Roberta character.
— Joy Lipton displaying a vibrating hero sandwich is really funny.
— Some laughs from Joy Lipton crouching on the Update desk while displaying an ill-fitting nightgown.
— Wow, it seemed to be a real blooper when Cheri fell backwards onto the floor off the Update desk when trying to get back in her chair. She recovered solidly, however, by immediately getting up and comically saying “It’s okay!”
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Party Up”


ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION
actor (WIF) is humiliated by commercial’s erectile dysfunction theme

— When going on about how Will is the face of erectile dysfunction, I love Parnell’s voice-over harping on Will’s face being all “hang-dog and sad” and having “goofy-ass ears”.
— Horatio often seems to play the boom mic guy in sketches where something is being filmed.
— This sketch is yet another example of SNL getting good mileage out of Parnell’s funny voice-overs. His drooping sound effect used to represent Will’s “droopy ol’ ding-dong” cracked me up.
— Very funny turn with Will’s girlfriend showing up and Will angrily exclaiming “Son of a bitch!” when she tells him the director said Will wanted her here.
— Funny little bit with Tim obnoxiously yelling the last word in his “And action, PEOPLE!” line into Horatio’s face after being told by Horatio that the crew has requested that Tim stop calling them “people”.
— I love how increasingly embarrassing each take of this commercial is for Will, with it now getting to the point where the voice-over gives out Will’s home phone number.
— Will’s high-pitched crying when telling an embarrassing beach sex story is hilarious.
— An excellent sudden reveal of this being a Tootsie Roll commercial, complete with a jolly animation playing on the screen. This sketch should’ve just ended like that. It was unnecessary to follow it with Will asking Tim “This was a Tootsie Roll commercial?” and Tim responding to him that it indeed was, which ended the sketch on a weak and awkwardly-executed note. I’m not 100% sure, but don’t they remove that portion of the ending in the rerun version of this sketch? I could swear I remember the rerun version just ending with the Tootsie Roll animation playing on the screen.
STARS: *****


SAVIN’ IT
girlfriends (host) & (ANG) sexually frustrate (WIF) & (JIF)

 

— Cheri’s face looks even cuter than usual in this sketch.
— Will’s tense actions during the intro shot of him and Julianna is very funny.
— Some laughs from Will and Jimmy’s reaction to Julianna’s suggestive yoga poses.
— Odd in retrospect seeing the part with Will failing in his attempt to demonstrate a yoga move that allows him to give himself fellatio, given that there would be a sketch later this season centered around Will successfully learning a yoga move that gives him the ability to fellate himself. It’s funny to think that Will is possibly playing the same character in both sketches.
— Good turn with Ana being outed as having had sex with someone other than her boyfriend.
— Ana: “I wasn’t sleeping with him! It was in the butt!”
— Funny ending with the wild sudden make-out session between Rachel’s nerd character, Will, and Jimmy.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s My Name”


HOTEL BAR
nerdy Kip (JIF) & Wayne (CHP) Bloater woo (host) but fail to consummate

— The debut of a recurring sketch that’s always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I don’t know why, but the endless corny one-liners from the Bloater Brothers always tickle me more than I assume they do other viewers.
— Good turn with the Bloater Brothers getting uncomfortable and speechless when Julianna actually offers to bring them upstairs to her hotel room.
STARS: ***½


PRICELINE.COM
priceline.com satisfies William Shatner’s (DAH) need to haggle

— Meh, Darrell’s William Shatner impression isn’t much to write home about. Not one of Darrell’s more accurate impressions.
— Why parody Shatner’s priceline.com ads, which are already tongue-in-cheek? This spoof isn’t much sillier than a typical one of those ads.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode. Two classic sketches (Erectile Dysfunction and Bird Family) and a lot of pretty good stuff, making this overall episode feel like somewhat of a return to form for this season after a long string of unmemorable episodes. Julianna Margulies was a pretty solid host.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alan Cumming)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ben Affleck makes his hosting debut