January 19, 2002 – Jack Black / The Strokes (S27 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRETZEL INCIDENT
pretzel took blame for Dick Cheney’s (DAH) abuse of George W. Bush (WIF)

— Great to see Will back after how sorely missed he was during his absence in the last episode.
— I remember how eager a lot of SNL fans at the time were to see SNL parody President Bush’s then-recent pretzel-choking incident.
— Funny reveal of Darrell’s Dick Cheney having been hidden behind the couch in a wifebeater.
— I like how gradually clear it’s becoming that the pretzel-choking is a made-up excuse to hide the real reason for Bush’s injury.
— Not only do we FINALLY, for the first time all damn season, have someone in the cast who’s NOT Darrell or Will say “Live from New York…” (I just mean among the cast members, in case anyone wants to point out that Rudy Giuliani said LFNY in the season premiere), but it’s Jimmy, of all people, who delivers it. Believe it or not, Jimmy had never gotten to deliver a LFNY until now, four seasons into his SNL tenure.
— I was surprised how early this cold opening ended. Not sure what else they could’ve done with it, but the finished product of this cold opening felt only half-cooked.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
narcissistic host sings of his place in comedy history; Kyle Gass cameo

— A funny sudden turn in Jack Black’s initially humble song, about how we’re the lucky ones for getting to watch him on SNL.
— I love the interlude during the song, about how amazed Jack is to be standing on the same stage that such SNL legends as Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner stood on, before singing about how he’s blowing those SNL legends away with his “intensity”.
— A solid inclusion of Kyle Gass towards the end.
STARS: ****

FLENDERSON’S
without one of Flenderson’s huge bows, a gift car is sure to disappoint

— Seth, to Amy, regarding the new car she got him as a gift: “It doesn’t have one of those huge oversized bows on it… so I hate it.”
— An overall simple but funny parody of the tradition of car commercials showing people receiving a huge-bow-wrapped car as a gift.
STARS: ***

RUSSELL PUTNAM, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
stoner journalist (host) hazily investigates federal marijuana conspiracy

— Odd usage of Darrell throughout tonight’s episode so far. They seem to be casting him in lots of Chris Parnell/Will Ferrell-esque important utility roles, which shows that, even though Will is temporarily back from his filming of the movie Old School, Will’s availability this week must’ve been limited and some roles that normally would go to him had to be given to other performers.
— Good premise of Jack as an investigative reporter for High Times magazine, complete with his own opening title sequence.
— Speaking of the opening title sequence, I remember some online SNL fans at the time wondered if Jack getting hit on the head with a boom mic during one part of the title sequence (the fifth above screencap for this sketch) was a Christopher Guest-esque genuine gaffe (remember when Guest accidentally bumped his head on a boom mic in the Ed Grimley sketch from the first episode of season 10?). Thinking that was a real gaffe is silly, considering this opening title sequence is clearly pre-taped (dead giveaway: Jack is wearing a completely different shirt in it than the one he’s wearing in the live portions of this sketch).
— Funny bit with Jack playing back an audio tape that he secretly recorded of the mayor, only for it to turn out to be a tape of the conversation that Jack literally just had with his stoner friends when setting up his playing of the tape.
— This overall sketch was just average, and nowhere near a strong as it initially seemed like it was going to be.
STARS: ***

TALES OF VALOUR
monster (host) would prefer a slut to virgin (AMP)

— Darrell’s rare big night continues, as he’s cast in YET ANOTHER Chris Parnell-esque role (though Darrell did previously play a role just like this in the Scarlett Letter sketch from the preceding season’s Lara Flynn Boyle episode, back when Parnell was actually still in the cast).
— Great demonic voice from Jack, as well as great demonic make-up on him. By the way, he appears to be wearing the same make-up prosthetics that Will wore in the Lucifer Songs sketch from season 25’s Garth Brooks episode (side-by-side comparison below).

— A good laugh from Jack’s character unexpectedly requesting Jimmy to bring him a slutty girl instead of a virgin.
— I’m really enjoying the realistic turn this has taken with the conversation Jack and Jimmy are having about virgins vs. experienced women.
— Hilarious ending with Tracy randomly appearing as himself to join Darrell’s character in ogling dirty pictures in a storybook that Darrell’s reading from. I love that Tracy’s defined and reliable onscreen persona has gotten to the point where SNL can just randomly throw him as himself into out-of-place settings like this, and they know it’ll work. (Years later, SNL would occasionally do the same thing with Leslie Jones.)
STARS: ****

MOUNTAINTOP LOVERS
at (host)’s ski lodge, Roger & Virginia unsettle (CHK) & (AMP)

— I recently read an old SNL review that stated The Luvahs are basically just a much-older version of The Zimmermans (the sex-crazed married couple characters that Kattan used to play with Cheri Oteri). I guess I can kinda see that, though I think The Luvahs are inherently funnier characters than The Zimmermans (though I’m more tolerant of the Zimmermans sketches than quite a number of people are), and are thankfully much more low-key.
— Rachel’s Luvahs wig looks kinda different tonight.
— I’m getting my usual amusement from the Luvahs here, though there’s nothing new so far.
— Ha, a walk-on from Jack as a Luvahs-esque character.
— I love Rachel’s line about anxiously awaiting the delicious taste mixture of chest hair, chin sweat, and goose juice.
— Will’s line about how he climaxes very loudly at exactly 7 AM each morning is hilarious.
— Jack’s distinct delivery of the words “elvin cloak” in that Luvahs-esque voice was great.
— During his spiel right now, Will seems to be intentionally milking his character’s usually odd inflections of syllables in some words, with the way he’s now saying “Su-BAH-ru” and “tow-TRUCK”.
— When Jack’s character is speaking while he and The Luvahs are in a casual three-way fondling session, Will starts feeling up Jack’s upper leg/butt, which you can tell Jack didn’t expect, as his voice suddenly raises an octave in surprise and he then is seen stifling some laughter, though he gets back into character fast.
— (*groan*) There goes the tepid traditional “Ow, my back” ending, though this one is a variation, with Will’s back catching on fire from the fireplace. Still not necessary.
STARS: ***½

FRIENDS
in its seventh season, Friends is running out of character pairings

— A laugh from this Friends promo teasing an incestuous relationship between Monica and Ross.
— An amusing ending confession from the announcer that “we’re kinda running out of combinations”.
STARS: ***

NOW THAT’S WHAT ACTORS CALL SINGING!
album features stars’ vanity bands

— Funny premise mocking the trend of celebrities attempting side careers as singers.
— I’m particularly enjoying Will and Jack’s performances in the Bacon Brothers scene.
— A huge laugh from the singer name used for Al Roker (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Jeff steals this whole sketch with an absolutely hilarious and spot-on Kevin Spacey.
STARS: ***½

BASS-OFF
hype ensues when (WIF) challenges electric bass master (host) to a duel

 

— Will’s “bass face” when jamming out on his bass is hilarious.
— Yet another sketch tonight in which Will and Jack play off of each other really well.
— I love the phone gossip montage with quick cutaways to various random characters spreading word of Will and Jack’s bass-off, and it’s a good way to include most of the cast in this sketch (including a then-rare non-Update appearance from Tina). Also, in the shot of Jack’s character during this phone gossip montage, why in the world is he randomly wearing lip gloss, when he didn’t wear it earlier in the sketch?
— Wow, there’s Darrell in yet ANOTHER non-impression role. For some reason, his grumpy, cigar-smoking character in this sketch is making me laugh, even though it’s just a very small role.
— During the bass-off, I like Jack’s shocked reaction when Will starts playing Jack’s bass during his own bass solo.
— What’s with the whole gas leak thing?
— A fairly weak and unnecessary text crawl ending.
— Amy is the ONLY cast member who was missing from this overall sketch.
— After a solid first half, this sketch kinda fell apart in the second half. Promising sketches fizzling out towards the end seems to be a theme tonight, between the Bush cold opening, the Russell Putnam sketch, and now this sketch.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF gives her thoughts on the absurdly awful Enron scandal

shy & adorable Amelie (CHK) visits Weekend Update

I Have An Opinion- JIF thinks Camp X-Ray living conditions are just fine

Tenacious D performs “Hornet’s Nest” to comment on world politics

 

— Tina’s long-winded Enron rant, while having a few dead spots, was okay as a whole, but wasn’t as strong as her usual rants.
— Ha, a mention of the teen, Steve, from the Dell computer commercials at the time (pictured in the second above screencap for this Weekend Update). Just hearing a mention of him really takes me back.
— I like Jimmy and Tina’s random-but-funny “Oh, snap! / Oh, no you di-in’t!” bit after Jimmy’s sly double entendre about Jennifer Aniston getting “rear-ended”.
— No idea what to say about Chris’ overall VERY random Amelie segment. He did an accurate impression, at least, but, like a lot of things Chris does at this later stage of his SNL tenure, it came off too much to me like something that Chris had already done on the show.
— Some pretty funny ad-libs from Jimmy when the audience fails to applaud at the beginning of his “I Have An Opinion” side segment.
— Good to see a Tenacious D commentary. Weird to think that the last time Tenacious D appeared on SNL, they were an unknown band doing a “guest comedian” spot that seemed to be SNL’s attempt at a throwback to early seasons, where guest comedian spots were common.
— The usual entertaining Tenacious D song.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Last Nite”

AMERICA UNDERCOVER
gruff (host) & trashy white couple in love triangle

— Something odd I just noticed about these America Undercover sketches: the blurry, hard-to-distinguish background video used for the America Undercover opening title sequence is, for some reason, an SNL clip of Will and Vince Vaughn in the Exxon-Mobil Merger sketch from Vince Vaughn’s season 24 episode.
— The voice that Jack’s using is slaying me.
— I like the running gag with Jack’s failed attempts to climb the fence.
— Poor Dean, always stuck in these America Undercover sketches playing the role of a cop who holds a briefs-wearing Chris upside-down and has his face awfully close to Chris’ nether regions.
— This America Undercover installment is even more incoherent and crazy than the first installment earlier this season, but it’s making me laugh a lot.
— Funny reveal that Jack is Chris’ stepfather.
STARS: ***½

MUSIC INTERNATIONAL
(host)’s gothic rock opera serves as a Happy Birthday Song alternative

— A priceless entrance from Will asking “Does this look familiar?” while wearing a cheesy bowl cut wig. This receives what may be one of the most extended laughter breaks that I’ve EVER heard on SNL. Such a classic little Ferrell moment.
— A very funny exaggeration on how “complicated” and “difficult to sing” the traditional Happy Birthday song is.
— I love the sudden wild, perfectly Jack Black-esque turn that Jack’s new Happy Birthday song takes after a tender beginning.
— This sketch is now featuring more and more increasingly dark, bizarre, insane, and elaborate turns. Very unpredictable, fascinating, and fun.
— Amy is great as the witch.
— When Amy gets lifted into the air, one of her legs stick out, unintentionally revealing that she’s still wearing the blue pants from the preceding America Undercover sketch (screencap below), which is an amusing juxtaposition to the witch character she’s playing here.

— This is such a perfect sketch for Jack Black. I cannot imagine anybody else playing his role.
— I wonder if that falcon puppet (seen in the last of the above group of screencaps for this sketch, above the stray screencap of Amy being lifted in the air) is the same one that SNL would end up regularly using in the Falconer sketches that star the soon-to-join-the-cast Will Forte. Even the bird squawk sound effect is the same.
— Overall, what an epic masterpiece.
— IIRC, SNL would later move this sketch up to a much earlier spot in this episode in reruns. I can understand why, but this sketch is a far more perfect fit in its original late spot.
STARS: *****

MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
sprung by a monkey in chapter 828

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hard To Explain”

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, though not quite as strong I had remembered it (which I seem to be saying quite a bit this season). Even so, there was a nice consistency to the quality of the sketches all night, and we got one classic in the Music International sketch. Jack Black was a fantastic host, gave a strong and fun performance in every sketch, and fit SNL like a glove.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Hartnett)
a fairly big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Britney Spears