November 17, 2001 – Billy Bob Thornton / Creed (S27 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS BRIEFING
professorial Donald Rumsfeld (DAH) cows reporters during a press briefing

— The return of Darrell’s Donald Rumsfeld impression that debuted at the end of the preceding episode (in the Fiesta Politica sketch). I like how he’s really exaggerating the Rumsfeld eye-squinting tonight.
— Heh, even in just a normal straight small role here in which he doesn’t have any comedic lines, the audience STILL reacts well to Will’s appearance.
— Kinda of an oddly-paced cold opening, but I’m liking Darrell-as-Rumsfeld’s snippy, grumpy responses to the reporters’ questions.
— Some good laughs from the recurring bit with all of Rachel’s questions sounding awfully similar.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
castmembers’ Sling Blade impressions irk host; Ashton Kutcher cameo

— Good to see the return of Darrell’s Sling Blade impression from the Mike Myers episode from way back in season 22.
— A good laugh from Billy Bob Thornton mistaking Dean for Tracy. It’s also nice to see Dean getting to introduce himself by name immediately afterwards and say that he’s a new cast member, which actually receives a good amount of hearty applause from the audience. Too bad this bit doesn’t help him in the long run, though. In fact, starting in the very next episode, his airtime (which actually hadn’t been too bad up until this point, compared to what’s to come) takes a turn for the worse and NEVER recovers, despite how he ends up being on the show for TWO. ENTIRE. SEASONS.
— Billy Bob to Dean: “Just so you know, there are no black hillbillies.”
— I love the angry reveal from Steve Higgins that his daughter’s (Amy) Sling Blade “impression” is actually her real voice.
— Very random Ashton Kutcher cameo. I do love Billy Bob’s put-off facial reaction to him and then telling him “You’re not even a cast member.”
— After saying “We got a great show for you tonight; Creed is here”, I like Billy Bob adding in “…and evidently, french fried taters are here.”
STARS: ***½

FESTIVE THANKSGIVING
at the first Thanksgiving, gay (host)’s flamboyance embarrasses Pilgrims

— Meh, yet another “lol gay stereotypes = funny” sketch from this era. Lots of lazy, cliched humor in this particular sketch so far, despite good commitment from Billy Bob.
— I did get a laugh from Billy Bob rudely referring to an old lady pilgrim as “Goody One-Foot-In-The-Grave”.
STARS: **

E.P.T
Rerun from 11/3/01

NICK BURNS, YOUR COMPANY’S COMPUTER GUY
Nick Burns & his dad (host) humiliate users while fixing computers

— This is Nick Burns’ first appearance in a year, and his final appearance ever.
— I wonder why Jeff is replacing the role that Horatio usually plays in these Nick Burns sketches.
— Something about the pairing of Jimmy and Billy Bob as father and son seems very fitting.
— Hilarious line about Jeff refusing to open his email because he thought he’d get anthrax.
STARS: ***

BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
a goat & a miniature horse cause confusion

— Despite this sketch debuting way back in season 24, this is only the third installment of this sketch, as these have been appearing VERY sporadically so far. Tonight is actually the beginning of this sketch starting to appear on a regular basis.
— After Tracy has played nothing but effeminate roles in the preceding two episodes, that streak has continued tonight with this Brian Fellow sketch. Very odd.
— For the first time in this recurring sketch, Tracy has begun mistakenly saying his own character’s last name as “Fellows” instead of “Fellow”.
— I love the look of Rachel’s character, which is a very accurate imitation of the look of quite a number of animal experts.
— So many laughs from Brian Fellow going on about the weirdness of Rachel’s goat.
— I howled at Brian Fellow saying “That’s the biggest dog I’ve EVER seen!” in regards to the miniature horse that Chris brings out.
— A very memorable Brian Fellow line about how “that goat had devil eyes!”
— Tracy’s one-liners as Brian Fellow are funnier than ever tonight, making this one of the better installments of this sketch.
STARS: ****

INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO
host is motivated to hunt James Lipton (WIF)

— Good reaction from the audience at the beginning of this. You can tell they’re excited to see this sketch appear again.
— This is the second recurring sketch tonight that’s making its final appearance ever. This is also the third consecutive recurring sketch to appear tonight.
— James Lipton: “If I had a choice between interviewing my next guest or getting in my homemade time machine, going back in time, and interviewing William Shakespeare, I would tell The Bard of Avon to go screw himself.”
— Unusual for an SNL host to play themselves in an Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch, but it makes sense in retrospect when you’re aware where they’re going with this.
— I love Will’s James Lipton referring to Billy Bob as William Robert Thornton.
— A good laugh from Lipton saying in amazement, when listing off “significant” things that Billy Bob did growing up, “When you were eleven, YOU BOUGHT A HAT.”
— I’m enjoying Billy Bob’s puzzled, frustrated reactions to Lipton’s bizarreness.
— A very interesting out-of-the-ordinary turn with the sudden cut to Will’s Lipton watching his Billy Bob Thornton interview in the editing room.
— For some reason, when Lipton’s Billy Bob interview is shown on the monitor in the editing room, Billy Bob’s cap appears to be on backwards, even though it was on forwards during the actual interview we had just seen in real-time.
— I love the further out-of-the-ordinary turn in this sketch, with Will’s Lipton now being shown roaming the streets while Billy Bob plans his violent revenge on Lipton. They are truly going outside the box in tonight’s Inside The Actor’s Studio installment, and I absolutely LOVE it. Ah, if only SNL’s recurring sketches could go outside the box like this more often.
— Funny visual of Will’s Lipton chomping on every food item in sight even while he’s running for his life as Billy Bob is hunting him down.
— Billy Bob starts cracking up when Will’s Lipton is struggling in his injured state to reach an index card. There’s something strangely charming about seeing someone like Billy Bob Thornton losing it and cracking up out of character.
STARS: ****½

MARTHA STEWART LIVING
tips to put a patriotic spin on Thanksgiving

 

— Wow, the THIRD consecutive full-length live sketch to be performed back-to-back with no commercial break in between. This is also the FOURTH consecutive recurring sketch tonight.
— Very funny line from Ana’s Martha Stewart about her having a giant Martha boner.
— A good laugh from the plate of yams made to look like Dick Cheney’s face.
— Hilarious bit from Martha about serving a juicy 50-pound bald eagle for Thanksgiving, instead of a turkey.
— Watching this sketch in retrospect, all of the patriotism and anti-Afghanistan sentiment presents an interesting time capsule of the war in terror and the general post-9/11 patriotic climate in America at the time. I recall hearing that SNL re-aired this sketch in their most recent Thanksgiving compilation special in 2019 (I didn’t see it myself), and people on an SNL board made the observation that the post-9/11 patriotic and anti-Afghanistan sentiment of the sketch felt terrifying and weird to see nowadays.
— A priceless ending with Martha ripping open her shirt, revealing a bikini top, and eating a sandwich while dancing to Britney Spears.
STARS: ****

WAR PARTY
at a party, the fall of Kandahar inspires an impromptu jazzy dance number

— SNL would later show the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns. In it, when Seth and Horatio make their entrance to deliver huge news, Horatio IMMEDIATELY cracks up for no apparent reason, leading to Jimmy also cracking up. My god. Jimmy also cracks up later in the dress version of this sketch, right after Tracy’s dramatic monologue. During that laughing of Jimmy’s, Will actually shoots Jimmy a very stern look (in jest, I assume), leading to Jimmy saying “Sorry” while putting on a straight face.
— I like the 1960s sound to the musical number that the partygoers suddenly break out into.
— Fantastic singing from Ana. Sure, we’ve long known that she’s a great singer, as her singing voice has been displayed in many prior sketches during her SNL tenure, but her voice comes off particularly strong in this sketch after hearing a few other cast members sing prior to her.
— This ridiculously extensive musical number (even featuring Maya doing a flip at point) is both very amusing and very fun. Sketches like this aren’t usually always my cup of tea, but it’s just working perfectly in this particular case.
— This sketch is another interesting time capsule of the post-9/11 patriotic and anti-Afghanistan sentiment of America at the time.
— Tracy’s streak of only playing effeminate roles has finally come to an end.
— The dress rehearsal version of this sketch shown in reruns humorously has Tracy’s noble character incongruously wearing a wild pimp outfit instead of the more logical dignified suit he wears in the live version.
— A hilarious and fantastic turn in this sketch with Tracy’s deep, dramatic monologue, complete with a spotlight, camera zoom-ins, and poignant camera angles.
— Will, regarding Tracy’s monologue: “Even though a lot of the words this wise man used are not real, he’s right.”
— The ending visual of Tracy’s cheesy whitebred dancing with the partygoers is cracking me up.
STARS: ****½

WEEKEND UPDATE
exhausting press junket has left Harry Potter (RAD) unable to do magic

— An unusually late spot in the show for Update. When I watched the original airing of this episode back in 2001, I remember it was somewhere around 12:30 when this Update started. That’s almost Ebersol era-levels of a ridiculously late spot for SNL’s news segment.
— Pretty big night for Rachel, who has refreshingly been more prominent than she usually is.
— Perfect casting of Rachel as Harry Potter. In that wig and glasses, she’s a dead-ringer for a then-very-young Daniel Radcliffe.
— Not much to say about the overall Harry Potter commentary itself. It was kinda on the forgettable side.
— Quite a lot of Jimmy and Tina’s jokes tonight are weaker than usual.
— Tina, in an actual strong joke, regarding a Victoria’s Secret brand of diamond-encrusted thong panties worth $750,000: “Thanks, Victoria’s Secret, but the only way I’m putting $750,000 worth of diamonds in my ass is if the Nazis are coming.”
— An overall short Update tonight, but I guess it had to be short in order for them to fit it into such a late spot in the show.
— At the end of this Update, the way they faded to commercial really early before the camera even did its usual zoom-out on the Update set makes me think that the show is running long, forcing SNL to speed through the rest of the show.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Sacrifice”

FENCED-IN AREA
redneck (host) mulls the fate of the fenced-in area located in his yard

— Billy Bob has been fairly underused for a host tonight. He’s strangely been missing from half the sketches. At least this particular sketch is something that he was born to do.
— I’m really liking the vibe of this sketch, as well as how it’s being well-executed by all performers involved. The silly-but-dead-serious treatment of Billy Bob’s ridiculous fenced-in area obsession is hilarious.
— Overall, such a great and well-done sketch.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bullets”

MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
tired of the Flannigans in chapter 702

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A largely solid episode, much better than I had remembered it being. Ignoring Weekend Update and the first musical performance, there was a long uninterrupted string of great sketches, from Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet to Fenced-In Area. The stuff outside of it, though, ranged from just average to weak, including a less-than-stellar edition of Weekend Update. The structure of this episode was very unusual, with us getting three full-length live sketches back-to-back with no commercial break in between (Brian Fellow, Inside The Actor’s Studio, and Martha Stewart Living), Weekend Update airing much later than usual, only ONE SKETCH airing after Update, and that one sketch being the ONLY thing to air in between Creed’s two musical performances. The latter three things I just mentioned may be explained by the show possibly running longer than planned and probably having to cut a scheduled sketch towards the end 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 (Gwyneth Paltrow)
a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Derek Jeter and, for the first time in what seems like ages, TWO separate musical guests (Bubba Sparxxx and Shakira)