Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
HOMELAND SECURITY SYSTEM
colors of Tom Ridge’s (DAH) terrorism alert scale are confusingly neutral
— Why does every cold opening around this period of the season have to be a “political figure sits behind a desk and addresses the nation” piece? This is the THIRD consecutive one, and it’s getting redundant. I also see we’re unfortunately going back to this season’s old habit of Darrell and Will being the ONLY cast members to say “Live from New York…” this season.
— Some pretty good laughs from how the color coding choices for the terror alerts are all variations of white.
— A particularly funny part with Darrell’s Tom Ridge realizing they mistakenly put “Enormous risk of terrorist attack” for two different colors.
— I like Darrell-as-Ridge’s monotone deadpan while pointing out his bitterness.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host sees the SNL troupe as a worthy extension of theater tradition
— You can already tell that Ian McKellen is going to be a fun host just from his very upbeat entrance in this monologue.
— Ian: “People are always telling me I should do more comedy. Well, this show will show them. They’ll never ask that again.”
— Ian’s comment about Jimmy Fallon is pretty funny.
— A classy part with Ian giving the SNL cast their due.
— Ian is coming off as a complete natural here and is also getting a lot of laughs.
— Ian, on gays not being welcomed at New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade this year: “They don’t seem to mind the priests, though, do they?”
— Great to see two consecutive episodes with a host doing a real monologue.
STARS: ****
KOTEX CLASSIC
bulky 1950s-era sanitary napkins are impractically retro
— I love the 50s aesthetic at the beginning of this.
— Hilarious visuals of the huge, bulky, impractical pads from the 50s, especially the ways the female cast is trying to make them look sexy and casual.
— Tina: “This IS your mother’s pad.”
— Ana is reduced to a much smaller role here than the rest of the female cast, but that’s probably because of her pregnancy. In retrospect, though, it feels like yet another sign of her being on her way out while the Fey/Poehler/Dratch/Rudolph group of female cast members gradually starts to take charge.
— Very solid commercial overall. I might be forgetting something, but I think this is the first of quite a number of memorable Tina Fey-written woman-centric commercials that star the entire female cast. [ADDENDUM: According to commenter Matt Vandermast, this was actually written by Paula Pell, though Tina helped advocate for it.]
STARS: ****½
VERSACE OSCAR PARTY
Bono (CHK) & Yves St. Laurent (host) shmooze
— This sketch has suddenly gone from always appearing towards the end of the show to now being the post-monologue lead-off sketch.
— A nice way to work Ana’s real-life pregnancy into the show, having her play the then-also-pregnant Elizabeth Hurley.
— Ian’s mere walk-on as Yves St. Laurent is already cracking me up.
— I like Ian’s eager dancing with Versace’s shirtless male assistants at the end.
— Overall, I didn’t find myself laughing all that much throughout this sketch, aside from the stuff with Ian, but I still enjoyed the overall sketch enough and found it had an entertaining atmosphere. Unfortunately, I recall it being all downhill from here in the subsequent Versace sketches (which is saying something, considering I wasn’t crazy about these Versace sketches to begin with). We’ll see if that still holds true or not.
STARS: ***
THE DELICIOUS DISH
Lynn & Margaret Jo learn of (host)’s Irish dishes’ ties to dead relatives
— They’re STILL doing the post-Molly Shannon era of these Delicious Dish sketches? I would’ve assumed they only resurrected this sketch once after Molly’s departure just as an excuse to do an (unnecessary) sequel to Schwetty Balls. Anyway, tonight’s Delicious Dish installment ends up being the final appearance of this recurring sketch during its original run, not counting when they would resurrect it years later for the Betty White episode in 2010.
— I like Ana’s comment about Rachel being “dangerously anemic”.
— Rachel’s long, disturbing spiel about how cooking cabbage makes her feel like a woman is very funny. Her Delicious Dish character is growing on me (too late, though, considering this is the last we ever see of her), though I feel like her delivery as this character, while soft-spoken and low-key as it should be, is on a bit of a different page than Ana’s delivery, which makes it hard for me to feel the same chemistry between them that I felt between Ana and Molly.
— Ian’s constant dead relative stories are okay, especially the particularly dark story regarding the death of a cousin who had the mind of a child. The voice Ian’s using is also adding to the comedy.
— Overall, not bad, though this didn’t quite measure up to a typical Molly Shannon-era Delicious Dish installment, in my eyes.
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Bjork’s swan dress comes alive at Oscars
— A big laugh from Charlton Heston pulling out a gun when Bjork’s Swan dress comes to life, only for Heston to be stopped by Tom Hanks.
— As usual in Fun With Real Audio, a lot of pretty funny little actions happening all throughout this in rapid succession.
— It’s pretty fun trying to recognize the celebrities being portrayed in animation form. I’m having a hard time recognizing some of them, though.
— A good cheap laugh from the quick ending gag with Winona Ryder stealing the Oscar statuette.
STARS: ***½
HOT AIR BALLOON MYSTERY THEATER
(host) solves murder in cramped basket
— Right out of the gate, I love this silly concept.
— Fun goofy British accents from the cast.
— I like the flashback sequence that’s obviously being performed live. Also, the flashback shows why Kattan was cast in his particular role. Before then, I was wondering to myself “Are they really relegating Kattan to just playing a dead body in a sketch? Boy, if Kattan doesn’t see that as enough of a sign that it’s beyond time for him to FINALLY get the heck off of this show…”
— The chase sequence in that tiny basket space is hilarious.
— Great ending with Ian randomly and jovially jumping out of the hot air balloon to his apparent death, and the balloon passengers nonchalantly going on with their sight-seeing immediately afterwards.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Maggie Smith (host) makes Oscar predictions & flirts with JIF
Paula Jones (RAD) & Tonya Harding (AMP) review Celebrity Boxing match
during a news item, JIF accidentally summons Louie Anderson (JER)
— I like Tina’s little Strom Thurmond impression during her joke about him.
— Considering the connection he has to her, it’s very funny seeing Ian playing Maggie Smith. He’s giving a solid performance as her.
— A very memorable moment with Ian faking Jimmy out by kissing him on the lips after innocently asking for a kiss for luck. For various reasons (one being that it was a callback/punchline to one portion of Ian’s monologue from earlier tonight), this particular kiss avoids coming off like this era’s overused, tired “men kissing each other for a cheap laugh” gimmick that hasn’t aged well.
— Of Jimmy’s seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience after the big kiss, the first two (“Maggie Smith should shave” and “Does this mean I’m knighted?”) weren’t actual ad-libs during the live show, according to an online SNL fan who was in the audience for this episode’s dress rehearsal and revealed that Jimmy made those same two remarks after the kiss in dress rehearsal. However, Jimmy following up “Does this mean I’m knighted?” with “Or did I get queened?” was an actual ad-lib. You can also tell by Tina’s genuine reaction to it.
— Good to see Rachel appearing a lot in tonight’s episode, after how very little she appeared in the last handful of episodes.
— Rachel’s Paula Jones saying her occupation is “a stay-at-home actress” is very funny.
— I like Amy’s Tonya Harding and Rachel’s Jones running off in fear when Tina threateningly takes off her glasses and steps up to them.
— Funny bit with Louie Anderson unintentionally being summoned by the mention of McDonalds and Family Feud.
— Jeff continues to amaze with his celebrity impersonation skills. What was with the awkward long pause before the Louie Anderson bit concluded, though? Did Jeff forget a line?
— I like how it’s become a running joke in this season’s Updates to use Martin Landau’s testicles as a random punchline to an unrelated joke. Kinda feels like a throwback to the Norm Macdonald era of Update, where he would have a countless number of running punchlines.
— A very long overall Update tonight, but a strong one.
— Finally, an Update with no Kattan, for the first time since we’ve entered the year 2002.
— This Update ends up being Jimmy’s only appearance all night. A very rare occurrence during the Fallon/Fey era in which Tina actually makes more non-Update appearances than Jimmy, which makes me wonder of an alternate universe in which Jimmy’s the co-anchor who regularly only appears on Update while Tina’s the co-anchor who regularly juggles both Update and sketches.
STARS: ****
THE FEREY MÜHTAR TALK SHOW
club owner (host) on Turkish program
— As I mentioned in some earlier reviews, I run hot and cold on Horatio’s penchant for occasionally relying on hammy overacting. This is one of the times I run hot on it. It’s working for me in the setting of this inherently silly sketch.
— Yet another funny entrance from Ian during a sketch.
— Uh-oh. Darrell’s fake mustache is hanging half-peeled off of his face.
— Haha, while Darrell’s delivering a line, Ian ad-libs by adjusting Darrell’s hanging-off mustache, causing Darrell to now start uncontrollably laughing his way through the rest of the sketch.
— When chastising Darrell’s character, Horatio makes a great ad-lib: “You can’t even grow a ‘stache, man!”, making Darrell crack up even more.
— Some good laughs from the detail of Ian… uh… adjusting his crotch throughout the sketch.
— Heh, why did Ian completely lose his fake Turkish accent during his rant to Darrell just now? He’s using his natural U.K. accent for some reason.
— Just now, when the camera cuts back to Darrell and Ian after a close-up of Horatio, Darrell’s fake mustache is suddenly completely missing. When noticing this, Ian makes yet another hilarious ad-lib by jokingly slapping Darrell’s face a few times. This is a riot. All of the fun bloopers and ad-libs throughout this sketch are giving it a huge boost.
STARS: ****
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES DICKENS
(host) makes many quick changes during one-man show about Charles Dickens
— Yet another sketch with an inherently silly vibe that works for me.
— Ian is absolutely incredible here with his constant campy character transformations and onscreen quick changes.
— I’m loving how this sketch has a very old-school feel and is completely different from typical sketches in this SNL era.
— I particularly love the part with Ian acting as five children in rapid succession.
— Ha, now Ian’s even playing a cat.
— When this sketch originally aired, some online SNL fans (including myself, as seen in my original 2002 review here, which, by the way, trashed this episode) assumed the voice heard loudly saying “Finally!” at the end of this came from an impatient SNL audience member who did not enjoy this sketch. That utterance of “Finally!” was actually a scripted part of the sketch, as it’s implied that the audience within the sketch was relieved to see Ian’s character finally perform the soap opera character that he’s most famous for. One dead giveaway that the utterance of “Finally!” was scripted is that the voice saying it is clearly mic’ed. Another dead giveaway is that the voice is provided by, I believe, Rachel, though it also kinda sounds like it could be Amy. A little hard to tell, but I’m fairly certain it’s Rachel.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In Your Eyes”
KEVIN AND RICHIE’S COMIC BOOK ZONE
Dr. Who impersonator (host)
— ANOTHER talk show sketch tonight hosted by Horatio?
— This is such a blatant attempt at a new recurring sketch, but this ends up never making an on-air return. There is an attempt to bring this back in the Kirsten Dunst episode from later this season, but the sketch gets cut after dress rehearsal.
— So far, this sketch isn’t particularly hilarious, but there’s some laughs and an infectious charm to the atmosphere (even if Horatio’s a little TOO giddy here). Thankfully, we have Ian now making an entrance, and we know he’s gonna give this a boost.
— Something about Horatio’s delivery of “Congratulations on a new P-Zone” made me laugh out loud and has stuck with me for a few years after the original airing of this sketch, even though I could never remember which sketch or performer that line came from.
— As expected, Ian is indeed adding a lot to this sketch.
— Ian’s various impressions of his own movie characters are fun.
— When this sketch ends, I love the unscripted (I assume) detail of Cheetos spilling all over the place when Ian waves goodbye with his open Cheetos bag.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode. While not perfect in itself, every sketch in this episode was enjoyable to me and there was a very fun atmosphere to this episode that gave even the lesser sketches a boost. A huge part of the fun atmosphere of this episode can be attributed to Ian McKellen, who was an absolutely fantastic host, and, ever since I saw this episode back when it originally aired, has always been somewhere in the top 5 of my hypothetical list of hosts who surprised me by how funny they turned out to be. Ian also helped give the atmosphere and some of the sketches the feel of an episode from an earlier SNL era, including some sketches that already had that atmosphere and feel on their own (e.g. Hot Air Balloon Mystery Theater, The Life and Times of Charles Dickens).
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jon Stewart)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Cameron Diaz