Month: March 2020

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April 14, 2001 – Renee Zellweger / Eve (S26 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

H&R BLOCK
at H&R Block, Marty & Bobbi entertain last-minute filers with tax medley

— Yet another interesting setting for The Culps. I like the times where they’re placed in settings other than their more conventional settings like a school assembly, etc.
— The usual solid pre-song banter between Marty and Bobbi Mohan-Culp.
— I like Bobbi’s sound effect imitations during The Culps’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Money”.
— The usual fun Culps song medley, especially their tax-themed variations of Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up” and Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me”.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host recounts her film career by reading entries from her diary

— I got a good laugh from Renee Zellweger’s diary entry about her and Alison Janney in the bathroom at the Golden Globes doing a line of coke.
— Some of the other diary entries are pretty funny.
STARS: ***


SUBSHACK
Rerun from 3/10/01


JERRY MAGUIRE 2
Jonathan Lipnicki’s (HOS) growth spurt complicates Jerry Maguire 2 shoot

— A funny corny “Show Me The Sequel” subtitle to this Jerry Maguire sequel.
— An okay concept of Horatio as a heavier and more grown Jonathan Lipnicki.
— I like the mockery of the corny “deep” dialogue from the first Jerry Maguire movie.
— Jerry Minor makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in a very unnoticeable role as a silent stagehand standing in the dark background behind Cameron Crowe’s director chair. I remember when this originally aired, I didn’t even notice him in this sketch until months later when somebody on an SNL board pointed him out. Until then, I had assumed that Jerry was completely absent in this episode. (Unfortunately, Tracy is also completely absent in this episode, which is pretty sad that SNL’s only two black male cast members were basically shut out of this episode.)
— This sketch is already getting kinda old.
— Okay, the erection part is pretty funny.
— I like the passing mention of “L. Ron Hubbard almighty” from Jimmy’s Tom Cruise.
— Meh, Kattan being stuck in one of his stock gay roles, and shortly after Renee made a gay joke about Kattan in the monologue.
— Pretty funny visual of Horatio’s Lipnicki entering in oversized glasses and holding an oversized juice box, in an attempt to make him look smaller.
— Could’ve done without the fart ending with Horatio. Made this ending feel like a precursor to that god-awful Chubb Hotty recurring sketch that Horatio would later do in the troubled season 30 (a recurring sketch with Horatio as a morbidly obese rapper hosting his own talk show).
STARS: **½


HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS
Chris Matthews (DAH) shamelessly belittles Paul Begala (CHK)

— A funny visual of Parnell’s big-lipped Bob Barr.
— Darrell-as-Chris-Matthews’ various responses to his guests are making me laugh as always.
— The increasingly nonsensical proverbs from Renee’s Molly Ivins are providing some pretty good laughs.
— I like how Parnell seems to always get the funniest lines in these Hardball sketches so far.
STARS: ****


A WEDDING STORY
eager bride-to-be (host) consents to KISS-themed nuptial

— Great look for Will’s character.
— Some good laughs from Rachel as Renee’s crying mother, especially her crying even more when Will shows up in his briefs.
— I love the visual of Parnell as a priest in KISS make-up, speaking in a straitlaced, professional manner.
— Renee’s drunken rant on the bus is going on too long and isn’t doing much for me. A weak way to end this sketch.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Survivor hype makes Bryant Gumbel suicidal

— Pretty funny premise with Bryant Gumbel’s various attempts to kill himself during his interview of Survivor contestants.
— This Fun With Real Audio cartoon feels more like the early ones from season 22, Smigel’s first season doing TV Funhouse for SNL.
— According to the ending credits of this cartoon, Louis C.K. had a hand in writing this.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob Silj thinks TIF is insensitive to the trauma of voice immodulation

JIF makes up review of The Producers by extrapolating stars’ movie roles

— Our final Jacob Silj appearance during Will’s tenure as a cast member.
— I laughed pretty hard at Jacob Silj listing “the guy who played Raj on What’s Happening” as one of the celebrities who suffers from voice immodulation, even though I don’t recall Raj having an overly loud voice.
— Jacob Silj’s “And a little bit softer now… and a little bit softer now… and a little bit softer now…” bit has stuck in my memory over the years.
— Will is stumbling over some of his lines throughout this Silj commentary.
— Tonight’s overall Jacob Silj commentary provided some laughs, but I’m kinda glad this ends up being his final appearance (until Will revives him years later in a 2018 hosting stint), as this just felt like it was mostly treading old territory and it seems that SNL has done everything with this thin concept that they can.
— Jimmy’s side segment on what he thinks the movie The Producers is about is in the same vein of his Meet The Parents review earlier this season, but I’m enjoying this, especially his Matthew Broderick impression (complete with Jimmy doing the *chicka chicka OH YEAH* sound from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off).
— During Jimmy’s Mike Myers joke, I like him doing an impression of Mike, right down to doing the Wayne Campbell mannerism of pushing his hair back behind his ear while bobbing his head forward, a nice little touch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Gwen Stefani [real] perform “Let Me Blow Ya Mind”


AWESOME DATE TIME
inept romantic’s TV theme song CDs don’t get his date (host) in the mood

— The set-up of this kinda reminds me of another Kattan-bringing-home-his-date-after-a-night-out sketch: the seductive dancing one with Teri Hatcher, which was one of Kattan’s very first big sketches when he was a new featured player. Even the living room set of both the Hatcher sketch and tonight’s sketch look similar. I wonder if it’s intended for Kattan to be playing the same character in both sketches. If so, this may hold the record for longest gap between a recurring character’s first and second appearance (not counting characters who didn’t become recurring until the cast member who plays them came back to host SNL after leaving the show).
— The various “sexy” music that Kattan plays turning out to be cheesy TV show theme songs is fairly funny.
— I like Kattan explaining his mistake of having a TV show theme song CDs in his stereo as “I forgot. I bought those with my money and I put those in there.”
— I’m laughing at this sketch more than I feel like I should.
— Kattan accidentally tripped and almost fell when walking over to Renee just now.
— It’s been quite a long time since SNL last used the ol’ fake vomit gag. I’m getting a good laugh from Kattan suddenly vomiting on Renee, just because of how out-of-nowhere it came, and for Renee’s facial reaction. I now wonder if the hidden vomit hose in Kattan’s pant leg is what caused the earlier blooper where he tripped.
— Renee: “(in a taken-aback manner) You just puked… penguin… all over me.”
STARS: ***


DOCTOR’S OFFICE
irresponsible Dr. Beaman scares two pairs of expectant parents; MOS cameo

— The return of Will’s crazy doctor sketch. I kinda have mixed feelings about them doing a sequel to this classic sketch from the preceding season, especially after how let down I was by the Schwetty Balls sequel in the preceding episode, but I’m sure this one will still be good.
— Random Molly Shannon cameo, for the first time since leaving the cast only two months prior. The REAL reason she’s at SNL this week is for a Mother’s Day special that SNL is taping immediately after this episode ends, and would air a month later on Mother’s Day. Molly has been brought back to join the rest of the cast in the special, despite the fact that she was no longer a member of the cast by this point.
— Ha, we now see that Molly is randomly playing herself as a nurse in this sketch, being addressed as “Molly Shannon”. I guess this is SNL’s way of trying to top how the nurse in the first installment of this sketch was Rachel as an ugly model character that she had played in an earlier sketch that night. This doesn’t quite top that gag, in my opinion.
— The various vagina euphemisms (e.g. “Choo-choo”, “The love llama”) that Will’s Dr. Beaman is telling Darrell and Maya are funny.
— I like the callback to the first installment of this sketch, with Dr. Beaman having another phone conversation with his old friend Beverly.
— Hilarious how Dr. Beaman explains that the heartbeat Renee heard from the baby she’s pregnant with was actually from the bass drum from the Toto cover band that lives next door.
— Aaaaaand there’s Jimmy’s obligatory character break, in response to Will yelling an apparently ad-libbed angry treat at him. This breaking is nowhere near as funny as the epic breaking from Will and Molly in the first installment of this sketch when Tim Meadows did The Robot.
— Will’s panicked, high-pitched screaming when Renee goes into labor is slaying me.
— Overall, this paled in comparison to the first installment, but I still liked it quite a lot. On it’s own, it’s a solid wacky Will Ferrell sketch, if not particularly memorable.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Who’s That Girl?”


CLASSICAL MUSIC CLASSICS
Classical Music Classics have been “improved” via addition of lyrics

— Funny concept of an album altering classical instrumental songs by giving them “awesome”, sophomoric lyrics, made even funnier by how those lyrics are sung in such a straight manner by the Will/Ana/Horatio/Maya choir.
— I love Parnell’s mention of the young man who came up with these new lyrics having a hole in his face from huffing paint thinner.
— A lot of funny lines from Parnell in general, who’s perfectly cast in this role.
— I like the passing mention of the song “Ave Maria” being altered into “The Lorena Bobbit Rap”.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode, but enjoyable and had its highlights, even the fairly-inferior sequel to the Doctor’s Office sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Pierce Brosnan

Posted on

April 7, 2001 – Alec Baldwin / Coldplay (S26 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
George W. Bush’s (WIF) solo negotiation effort produced bad Chinese deal

— SNL’s been going awfully heavy on Bush-addresses-the-nation cold openings lately.
— Of the bold decisions that Will’s President Bush says he made regarding his meeting with the Chinese president, I love one of the bold decisions being “No translators”.
— A lot of things that Bush is listing off in the agreement points he made with China are giving me some really good laughs. The humor in this cold opening has been a step above the last two Bush-addresses-the-nation cold openings.
— A particularly funny bit about an Ed “Too Tall” Jones Appreciation Week.
— An unintentional laugh from Will struggling badly through the line about Darryl Strawberry voluntarily entering a drug treatment “procility”. Considering Will is playing Bush here, it’s hard to tell just what parts of the line Will genuinely screwed up, but “procility” might not have been one of them, as it was probably just supposed to be a typical Bush-ism.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Bill Clinton (DAH) mentors recently-divorced host to pursue females

— Feels like there’s been quite a longer-than-usual gap since the last time I covered an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode, compared to the frequency of his previous hosting stints, making me realize that this is the very first time that Alec has skipped more than one calendar year between hosting stints.
— Pretty funny ambiguous mention from Alec of the divorce he had recently gone through at the time with Kim Basinger.
— An interesting out-of-the-ordinary use of Darrell’s Bill Clinton in this monologue.
— Bill Clinton, when pointing out to Alec the opportunities he has with ladies now that he’s single: “You’ve got it made in the shade with pink lemonade… and I do mean pink.”
— I love how Clinton just busts out laughing when being asked “But aren’t you still married?”
— So many funny lines from Clinton in this.
STARS: ****


RELIABLE INVESTMENTS
Reliable Investments broker (host) talks up market while he plummets

 

— The camera angles and visual style of this commercial are an accurate spoof of commercials in this vein.
— Hilarious turn with Alec casually and happily continuing the phone conversation with Ana as he jumps out of his office window to his death. Alec is selling this very well with his performance.
STARS: ****


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Lynn (RAD) & Margaret Jo are in awe of Pete Schwetty’s wiener

— Well, looks like SNL has dared to do a Delicious Dish sketch in which they replace the Terri Rialto character played by the recently-departed Molly Shannon with a new character, played by Rachel. Can’t say this is a decision I agree with at all. Should’ve let this recurring sketch end gracefully with Molly’s departure.
— And now we see why SNL has revived this sketch, as Alec returns as the memorable Pete Schwetty. Yeah, I definitely don’t agree with this decision. Having Alec do a direct Schwetty Balls sequel that just lazily repeats the same gag, only replacing balls with wiener, is a D.O.A. choice, in my eyes.
— Yeah, so far, this sketch is paling badly in comparison to the original Schwetty Balls classic.
— I kinda like the audience’s groaning laughter during the turn in the Schwetty Wieners conversation where Alec’s character begins to bring up kids.
— Okay, I got a good laugh from the “Maybe we can cut it in half” “I’d rather you didn’t” exchange between Margaret Jo and Pete Schwetty, regarding the wiener.
— A memorable and very funny blooper with Ana mistakenly saying “wiener” as “piener”, resulting in both her and Rachel busting out laughing. Very rare to see Ana break this badly. Also, even as Ana and Rachel are losing it right next to him, Alec stays completely in character and keeps an absolutely perfect stone-faced expression. He does it in a way that almost makes it seem like he’s annoyed by Ana and Rachel’s breaking, but I’m not Alec, so I can’t say for sure.
— Nice ad-lib from Ana after she regains her composure from her breaking: “A little verbal diarrhea there.”
— Ah, as I wondered in my review of the original Schwetty Balls sketch, this Schwetty Wieners sketch contains a “Wow, the phones are really going crazy” acknowledgment that I had incorrectly remembered being in the original Schwetty Balls sketch.
— I do like the new direction this sketch has taken, with Parnell as a caller who’s obviously doing a certain something to himself while breathlessly asking Pete Schwetty to “tell me about your wiener”. (By the way, Parnell’s character should talk to Jonah “Ask me about my wiener!” Hill. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
— Overall, yep, a sequel that I found unnecessary and couldn’t come close to living up to the original, but this still had its share of highlights.
STARS: **½


TOUGH GUY
lone Marine (host) tries to rally spyplane crew to attack China

— Great turn with a war cliche character played by Alec suddenly stepping up. I love some of the soldiers’ reaction to his “… or we could take ’em!” suggestion early on.
— Just now, a cue card accidentally blocks the camera during a close-up of Rachel and Will (screencap below).

SNL would later replace this brief portion of the sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. If you watch the rerun version of this sketch, you can tell when the brief dress rehearsal portion comes in, because Will has his real hair in it, whereas he wears a wig in all of the other portions of the sketch (side-by-side comparison below).

— Alec’s various insane suggestions are providing tons of laughs.
— A priceless line from from Alec about China’s womenfolk having sideways vaginas. I also love the intense closed-eyes facial expression he has afterwards during the lengthy audience laughter from that line (screencap below).

— Tracy steals the sketch with his one and only line of the whole thing. This has been quite a good season in general for Tracy lately. He’s definitely gotten to the official point where his onscreen persona is so defined, so comfortable, and such a sure-fire laugh-getter that SNL knows they can throw him into ANYTHING just being his normal self and he’ll kill it.
— The text crawl ending didn’t work for me (though we get a great freeze-frame shot on Alec panickedly lunging at the camera), which is my only complaint about this otherwise strong sketch.
STARS: ****½


INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO
Charles Nelson Reilly (host) is feted

— Will-as-James-Lipton’s traditional opening blank stare towards the audience isn’t quite as funny as usual (the first above screencap for this sketch).
— Great reveal of Charles Nelson Reilly being the guest who James Lipton is speaking so glowingly about at the beginning of this sketch.
— Alec’s impression of Charles Nelson Reilly is absolutely hilarious.
— James Lipton’s made-up word to describe Match Game’s perfection: “Scrumtrulescent”. To me personally, that made-up word is on the same level as another made-up word delivered by Will this same season: “Strategery”, even if “Scrumtrulescent” doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as famous to the general public as “Strategery”.
— James Lipton to Charles Nelson Reilly: “I am not alone in thinking that your brilliance is so pure that you make Gandhi look like a child pornographer.”
— I recall hearing that Alec’s next hosting stint the following season was going to have a follow-up to this Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch, with Alec reprising his Charles Nelson Reilly impression in the same setting, but the sketch ended up getting cut after dress rehearsal. Not sure what they could’ve done in a follow-up to the original Reilly Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch, but if it was just a lazy carbon-copy of the original sketch, then it’s for the best that it got cut, if the Schwetty Wieners sketch taught me anything. Then again, there’s a good chance that the cut Reilly Inside The Actor’s Studio sequel went in a new and different direction. After all, that same season (season 27) has an Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch with Billy Bob Thornton that ends up taking a VERY different and unique route than these Actor’s Studio sketches usually take.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
TRM explains the circumstances behind Darryl Strawberry’s non-kidnapping

I Have An Opinion- JIF tries to analogize the China-spyplane situation

TIF deconstructs & evaluates Hugh Hefner’s young, blonde harem

DAS & Kid Rock [real] trade respective Hollywood Minute & music roles

— Jimmy’s crack punchline about Darryl Strawberry felt very Norm Macdonald-esque.
— Great to see Tracy in his own Update commentary. This feels like the first in quite a long time that he’s done an Update commentary as himself.
— Tracy acting out a hypothetical conversation between Darryl Strawberry and his wife has some laughs, but this segment is mostly falling pretty flat, surprisingly. Not one of Tracy’s better moments.
— Jimmy’s recurring “I Have An Opinion” side segment continues to not do much for me.
— Tina, on one of Hugh Hefner’s seven girlfriends being named Tina: “Wherever two or more whores are gathered, there’s always a Tina. Thanks, mom.”
— I absolutely LOVE this whole side segment with Tina doing a deconstruction of Hugh Hefner’s seven girlfriends. This segment is pure, classic Tina Fey.
— SNL gets in their very first reference to the hot new show at the time, The Weakest Link, which really takes me back to how huge that show was in pop culture for a while (and, boy, did that show’s popularity seem to come and go at the blink of an eye, IIRC).
— Oh, wow. We’re getting the return of David Spade and the Hollywood Minute?
— Oh, it’s just David’s Joe Dirt co-star Kid Rock, filling in for David.
— When Kid Rock hesitates to finish his dirty line about David Spade being “eight inches off my, uh…”, I love Jimmy’s ad-lib where he finishes Kid Rock’s sentence with “….piener?”, cleverly referencing Ana’s memorable gaffe from tonight’s earlier Delicious Dish sketch.
— Boy, Kid Rock’s Hollywood Minute jokes are just plain stupid (though I admit the Britney Spears/Hamburglar one kinda made me laugh in spite of myself). They feel like stuff written by a 10-year-old kid who thinks they’re funnier than they are.
— Ah, THERE’S our David Spade! Don’t understand why he couldn’t have just done a Hollywood Minute himself.
— A fairly fun and energetic ending to tonight’s Update with David and Kid Rock’s little number, even if I’m far from a fan of Kid Rock’s music.
— This was the first long Update in quite some time, compared to the very short Updates from the past few months.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Yellow”


RED SHIPS OF SPAIN
Robert Goulet (WIF) & relatives (CHP), (host), (ANG) create bad theater

— An interesting new setting for Will’s always-funny Robert Goulet impression.
— Announcer: “Robert Goulet: the man Time Magazine… once mentioned.”
— Nice inclusion of Parnell and Alec as two Goulet brothers.
— The negative newspaper reviews of the play are providing good laughs.
— The name Diane Carbonal is used for one of the newspaper critics, which is also the name of an Ana Gasteyer recurring character. I remember pointing out in an older review that the name Diane (or Diana) Carbonal was also used in a sketch that pre-dated Ana’s recurring character, but I can’t remember what sketch it was.
— The disturbing nature of Robert Goulet doing a romantic scene with his own daughter is very funny. And we get some great awkward facial reactions from Ana as the daughter when Robert Goulet tries to pull her closer and kiss her.
— Now the name Tony Dungy is used for one of the critics, which I believe is also the real-life name of an NFL coach.
STARS: ***½


THE BUSH TAX CUT
Tom Daschle (CHK) & Dick Gephardt (DAH) press conference tries too hard

— A good and funny Dick Gephardt voice from Darrell.
— Very funny turn with the reveal that middle-class families will get a dead squirrel for dinner under the Bush tax plan.
— I’m enjoying the answers given to the press regarding the dead squirrel.
— Some laughs from Darrell and Kattan’s teeth-gritted angry voices when “secretly” arguing with each other while having their backs turned to the camera.
— A pretty slow-paced sketch, but it might just feel that way because of the slow way Darrell’s speaking as Gephart.
STARS: ***


LASTING IMPRESSIONS
make your photo classy by electronically placing it into a brandy snifter

— Horatio is JUST NOW making his first appearance of the whole night, in the final sketch of the show. That’s still more than what Maya gets, though, who’s completely absent tonight. Quite a contrast from the preceding episode, in which Maya pretty much dominated.
— Horatio at least makes the most of his one and ONLY line of the whole night: “(delivered in an exaggerated Italian wiseguy manner) What frigging jackass took this picture anyways?!?”
— Fitting character for Alec, who can do roles like this in his sleep at this point.
— The prom picture of Will and Ana (screencap below) is the same one that was used in the I Took A Gay Guy To Prom pre-taped piece from season 23’s Steve Buscemi episode.

— Some pretty good laughs from the examples of things you can put a picture of inside a brandy snifter to make it look classier.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Panic”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not a particularly memorable Alec Baldwin episode, but certainly not bad. One of the more average Baldwin episodes, but there were still some strong pieces in the first half of this episode. Alec did his usual reliable job as a host.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julia Stiles)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Renee Zellweger

Posted on

March 17, 2001 – Julia Stiles / Aerosmith (S26 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MARTHA STEWART LIVING
homey tips class up St. Patrick’s Day

— A refreshing choice for a cold opening, and a rare non-political cold opening for this season.
— This feels like the first Martha Stewart Living sketch in quite a long time.
— A big laugh from Ana’s Martha Stewart translating an Irish message as “You must be Irish, ’cause my penis is Dublin.”
— As usual, lots of funny lines from Ana’s Martha all throughout this, even if there’s a bit of a one-note feel to all of the drinking-related stuff after a while.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
TRM hopes he & host can reprise interracial kiss from Save The Last Dance

— Julia Stiles quickly mentions in passing that this is SNL’s 500th episode, before immediately getting interrupted by Tracy. I remember being bothered at the time that SNL didn’t make a much bigger deal about this being their milestone 500th episode, and also didn’t get a more SNL-related host for it.
— A Tracy Morgan-centric monologue in the tradition of Charlize Theron’s monologue and the backstage sketches that Tracy did with Garth Brooks and Jamie Foxx. And just like in those, Tracy is a riot just being his natural self. He’s effortlessly funny in stuff like this.
STARS: ***½


HOMOCIL
Rerun from 2/17/01


WAKE UP WAKEFIELD!
Megan (MAR) & Sheldon (RAD) emcee middle school show

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Already some pretty good laughs right out of the gate from the shy awkwardness of Rachel’s Sheldon character.
— This sketch and the performances in it are accurate at portraying a typical awkward middle school atmosphere. There’s a charm to this.
— I like Sheldon’s line “Things are weird at home.”
— I remember when this episode originally aired, Horatio’s teacher character reminded me so much of the Driver’s Ed teacher that I currently had at the time. Horatio’s character reminded me of him not just in personality, but even in looks. Watching Horatio’s character now, all these years later, takes me back to those high school days of mine.
— The second segment in a row tonight with someone hyperventilating into a brown paper bag at one point, with the first instance being the rerun of the Homocil commercial.
— I like Sheldon’s little hand salute when signing off at the end.
STARS: ***


POST OFFICE
(host) gives attitudinal postal worker Jackie a taste of her own medicine

— Oh, no. Not the return of these tepid characters from the airport sketch in the Mena Suvari episode. Thankfully, though, this ends up being their final on-air appearance. There was another sketch of theirs planned for the following season’s Derek Jeter episode, in which Maya’s character, Jackie, works at the ticket booth at Yankee Stadium (Jerry’s character wasn’t in the sketch, obviously, as he was no longer in the cast that season), but the sketch got cut after dress rehearsal.
— Odd how the first two lead-off sketches tonight, Wake Up Wakefield and this, both star featured player Maya and a fellow featured player (Rachel in Wake Up Wakefield, Jerry in this). It’s not very common for an episode to lead off with so many featured player-starring sketches.
— I see Maya’s Jackie character has replaced her groan-worthy sassy line from her first sketch, “If ya put up a fight, ya ain’t gettin’ on the flight”, with another equally groan-worthy sassy line: “If you wanna whine, you’re goin’ in the back of the line.”
— What’s with the Jungle Fever theme tonight? In the monologue, Tracy referenced Jungle Fever and sang the theme song from it, and now Maya’s Jackie character in this sketch hums the Jungle Fever theme song while filing her nails.
— This sketch is so dull that Kattan’s line flub “It’s not a letter… it’s not a package, it’s a letter” has made me chuckle more than a lot of the actual scripted material in the sketch.
— Now Parnell gets an unintentional chuckle from me with a line flub of his own: “This has got to the most…… LEAST organized government-run office in the city!”
— Julia is at least doing a good job with her sudden use of Ebonics when telling Jackie off.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jaded”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) tells why he should be California’s governor

David Copperfield [real] magically makes words appear on cue cards

 

— Uh-oh. Right out of the gate, we get technical snafus, as the news picture graphic doesn’t show up next to Jimmy (the first above screencap for this Update).
— And now, the graphics are screwing up throughout this Update in general. Quite distracting. Are the people in the control room doing a little St. Patrick’s Day celebration on the job, if you catch my drift?
— Jimmy now actually stops mid-joke and acknowledges how out-of-hand the graphics screw-ups are getting (the fourth above screencap for this Update).
— Darrell’s Arnold Schwarzenegger commentary is pretty funny, especially his whole bit about how, to make himself a natural born American, he would go inside a fat woman’s womb and come out head-first waving an American flag.
— Tina, after detailing the convoluted changes that different armies are each making to their berets: “In a related story, these guys need a war!” Be careful what you wish for, Tina, considering what ends up happening soon enough…
— Quite a lot of fun jokes from Jimmy and Tina tonight.
— A random David Copperfield cameo as SNL’s cue card guy.
— What exactly was the point of Copperfield’s whole bit?
— Tonight’s overall Update was the first somewhat normal-length Update in quite some time, though it still felt a little on the short side.
STARS: ***½


OLD HOLLYWOOD
in the 1920s, movie director Suel Forrester bewilders his cast & crew

— Wow, is this Will’s first appearance all night (not counting the rerun of the pre-taped Homocil commercial)? Very odd for him, but I guess that’s a by-product of tonight’s episode focusing heavily on the featured players.
— Surprisingly, this is the first Suel Forrester sketch in two seasons. This also ends up being the final Suel Forrester sketch.
— This sketch features the usual laughs that ensues from Suel’s unintelligible utterances and everyone’s confusion over them. I especially like the “Lick a turkey leg” bit.
— Parnell, when thinking Suel Forrester has called him a Jew: “Sir, I am not a Jew!…. anymore.”
— This Suel Forrester installment feels like it’s going on a little longer than it needs to.
STARS: ***


BEPPI & BUSHKA
immigrant janitor Beppi (RAD) trumps woes of office workers (ANG) & (MAR)

— Yet another featured player-dominated sketch tonight.
— Julia and Rachel’s immigrant characters relating Maya and Ana’s problems with their own far-worse problems that they experienced in their home country is providing some good laughs. Rachel is particularly funny in her performance and delivery here.
— Rachel’s whole rant about a particular horrible thing that once happened to her is very good, as is her eventually revealing that she stole it from a Lifetime movie.
STARS: ***½


THE DOBERMAN!
by Adam McKay- (WIF) receives house call from vicious dog

— Ha, I like the little detail of Saved By The Bell being heard playing from Will’s TV at the beginning of this.
— Hilarious randomness of some German nihilist-looking guy showing up at Will’s door and siccing a dog on Will.
— Will’s high-pitched screaming during one portion of the dog attack is absolutely slaying me.
— Great bit with Will forcing himself to jump off his balcony to escape the dog, only for the dog to actually jump off the balcony onto Will.
— The intentionally low-budget look to occasional portions of this film is adding to the humor.
— Very good reveal at the end that Will actually ordered a door-to-door doberman attack.
STARS: ****


APOLLO AMATEUR NIGHT
whitebread (host) plies cheerleader moves at Apollo Theater amateur night

— Maya continues to be very dominant in tonight’s episode.
— Maya’s mockery of the singing style of soulful female singers kinda feels like a precursor to her famous National Anthem sketch from later in her tenure.
— Ana and Parnell’s corny Wisconsin accents are fairly amusing.
— Tracy has a lot of funny little one-liners throughout this sketch.
— Not caring at all for where this sketch has been going once Julia’s character has taken the Apollo stage.
— Yeah, this sketch has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Not even Jerry in a somewhat-rare noteworthy comedic role is doing anything to save this sketch.
— And the sketch is now over. What was even the point behind this?
STARS: *½


WILLY SLUGGS’ EYE POPPERS
Willy Sluggs (JEM) pushes magic tricks in lame self-produced infomercial

— Wow, yet ANOTHER sketch tonight starring a featured player.
— Julia: “You may recognize me from earlier in this commercial.”
— Will managed to get a good laugh from his delivery of “Thank you for the cognac and grapefruit juice.”
— Unlike the preceding Apollo sketch, Jerry is really in his element in this sketch. I’m really enjoying his performance, his intentionally-stilted infomercial acting, and his character’s quirks, more than the audience seems to.
— The bad testimonials are pretty funny.
— During the occasional shots of the “Willy Sluggs’ Eye Poppers” title graphic, I love the voice-over saying “Eye Poppers! Haw, haw, hawww!”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Big Ten Inch Record”


DER LACHELN BEHERRSCHT
German “smile masters” populate scary kids show

 

— Ooh, right out of the gate, we see that this is going to be a VERY bizarre and dark sketch. I’m already on board.
— I love the insane opening credits sequence, with the spooky-sounding German singing and the odd random photos thrown in.
— The German-accented skeleton singing an “I’m inside every one of you!” song to the frightened kids is hilarious, especially when you’re aware that that’s Tina Fey’s voice.
— Overall, I absolutely LOVE this sketch. One of the most hilariously fucked-up things that SNL has ever aired. I love that this sketch was basically just an excuse to throw in every bizarre, dark, and scary thing that the writers could come up with.
STARS: *****


HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY
for St. Patrick’s Day, Van Morrison (JIF) sings & overimbibes Guinness

— Hmm, a change of pace with this unusual segment on SNL’s home base stage.
— I’m not the right one to judge the accuracy of Jimmy’s Van Morrison impression, but considering celebrity impressions are one of Jimmy’s specialties, I’m assuming his Van Morrison impression is good.
— Ehh, a minute later, I’m not caring much for this sketch.
— Overall, no idea what to say, except that I didn’t laugh, though I kinda appreciate how Jimmy put his all into how wild he went at the end of this.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An up-and-down episode. There was a little more good than bad, but this episode as a whole isn’t particularly noteworthy or memorable. It was interesting and pretty refreshing, though, how much SNL let the featured players (Rachel Dratch, Jerry Minor, Maya Rudolph) dominate this episode, something that I wish SNL wouldn’t be hesitant to try more often.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Conan O’Brien)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin

Posted on

March 10, 2001 – Conan O’Brien / Don Henley (S26 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
unlike ailing workaholic Dick Cheney, George W. Bush (WIF) has no worries

— I like the twist on the usual Don Pardo-read “Saturday Night Live, normally seen at this time, will be delayed– etc.” announcements that these presidential address-to-the-nation cold openings usually begin with, by having Pardo now say “Saturday Night Live, normally delayed at this time, will be delayed again so we can give you this following– etc.”
— Will-as-Bush’s health comparisons between himself and vice president Dick Cheney have some laughs.
— A classic Will-as-Bush moment right now, with his definition of 24/7: “That’s 24 hours a week… 7 months a year.”
— These Bush-addresses-the-nation cold openings lately have been pretty average. These don’t seem to work as well as sketches where Will’s Bush plays off of other people. Also, I don’t think these latest Bush sketches have been written by Jim Downey, who wrote the acclaimed Bush sketches during the election in the first half of the season, so that may explain the drop in quality.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
TRM & Japanese tourists accompany host to his studio; Max Weinberg cameo

— Nice touch with Conan doing the same physical moves after his entrance that he regularly did around this time after making his entrance on his Late Night show on NBC.
— I like how he’s openly acknowledging that he started out as a writer on SNL.
— A very fun montage of Conan’s onscreen bit roles in sketches from his SNL writer days, complete with a fake clip of two people in a horse costume at the end.
— I love how Conan’s taking us on a trip to his Late Night studio, right here on live TV. Very unique for SNL. In my review of Buck Henry’s May 1976 monologue, I compared that to this Conan monologue, and pointed out how extremely rare and ambitious it is for SNL to do something this extensive on live TV.
— Tracy: “I’ve never seen a television studio before!”
— Tracy’s very Tracy Morgan-esque reaction to realizing he’s on TV is great.
— Very funny little touches with Conan running into random people like Japanese tourists and “live-saving paramedics”, and inviting them to join him on his journey to his Late Night studio.
— Hilarious turn with Conan finally entering his studio and finding Max Weinberg having sex on Conan’s desk.
— Watching this monologue nowadays, it’s a very nice and bittersweet blast of nostalgia to see Conan’s Late Night studio from this era.
— I love the unconventional way this monologue ends.
— Overall, this entire monologue is a personal favorite of mine.
STARS: *****


SUBSHACK
overstuffed Subshack sandwiches fatten up Jared Fogel (JIF) & friends

— (*tries hard to ignore the awkwardness of looking back at an old Jared Fogel portrayal in today’s age*)
— (*groans when just now remembering that I have an actual Jared Fogel cameo to eventually cover in the Michael Phelps episode from season 34*)
— Seeing Tracy in that fat suit reminds me of how much heavier he used to be during his first season on SNL, though he was certainly nowhere near as heavy as he is in the fat suit he’s wearing in this commercial.
— Overall, this commercial was funny enough, even if this isn’t quite as funny or as noteworthy as I had remembered it (and, no, it’s not the whole Jared thing that makes this less funny to me nowadays).
STARS: ***


CUMBERLAND FARMS
underage Sully manages to buy booze for Denise, (host), Donny Bartolotti

— In an interview that Rachel had then-recently done on Conan’s Late Night show, she and Conan mentioned Conan’s then-upcoming SNL hosting stint and they both gave a hint that Conan’s going to appear in a Boston Teens sketch in his SNL episode, given the fact that Conan is a natural-born Bostonian himself.
— Conan’s opening line: “You’re undah arrest for public display of a bonah!”
— As no surprise, Conan is fitting in this perfectly, and he’s adding a very fun vibe to this sketch.
— I like the whole conversation that Rachel’s Denise and Conan have about a past relationship they had together.
— Ben Affleck cameo! Nice to see him reprising his solid Donnie Bartolotti role from the Boston Teens sketch that he appeared in the preceding season. That sketch was, in my eyes, one of the best Boston Teens installments, and I feel that tonight’s installment is also one of the best ones.
— A rare Boston Teens sketch that doesn’t contain the traditional sexual innuendo/“Tommy, please tell me you got on tape!” moment.
STARS: ****


MOLECULO
catchphrase betrays secret identity of Moleculo, The Molecular Man (host)

— A very fun character for Conan, and yet another role tonight that fits him perfectly.
— I love the recurring gag of Conan’s character always following someone saying his name, Moleculo, with exclaiming “The Molecular Man!” as the camera zooms in on him.
— Great turn with the “The Molecular Man!” exclamations and camera zoom-ins happening helplessly to a disguised Conan when his alter-ego’s co-workers keeps saying “Moleculo” around him. I especially like him doing it after he crashes through the wall.
— The whole Mexico scene is a perfect ending to this.
STARS: *****


NAPSTER TESTIMONY
Right Said Fred (host) & other one-hit wonders give Napster testimony

— The return of Kattan’s David Lee Roth impression, last done in a “Hey, Remember the 80s?” sketch in season 22.
— Conan is hilarious as Right Said Fred.
— Fun concept of this sketch, with performers coming on one-by-one giving testimonials as washed-up singers from the 80s and 90s.
— We get the return of another impression that a cast member once did in the past, this time Tracy as the guy from Cameo.
— Even though you know what the statement is going to be, I love the drawn-out set-up to the guy from Cameo’s statement, with him putting on glasses, drinking from a glass of water, and pulling out a sheet of paper with the statement.
— Rachel has refreshingly been getting a lot more airtime tonight than she usually gets this season.
— Geez, Jimmy screwed up the name of the celebrity he was playing, accidentally introducing himself as “Nigel Tennant” before correcting himself and saying “Neil Tennant”. We also get a tepid joke afterwards about Jimmy’s Neil Tennant working at an actual pet shop nowadays. They used a similar joke about another celebrity to better effect in a then-recent sketch, but I can’t remember what sketch I’m thinking of.
— Okay, I do give Jimmy credit for doing a spot-on imitation of Neil Tennant’s singing voice when just now singing a small sample of “West End Girls”.
— Horatio is priceless as a now-fat Rico Suave. I especially like his “Chocolate…. dooonuuuts!” line explaining what happened to his body.
— A funny bit about Will’s Corey Hart driving with sunglasses at night.
— A lot of laughs from Conan’s Right Said Fred disguising himself as the beekeeper from the Village People, before being called out on the fact that there was no beekeeper in the Village People.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Everything Is Different Now”


WEEKEND UPDATE

— During Tina’s Rudy Giuliani joke, I love the meta punchline about SNL’s own Tracy Morgan, showing once again how defined Tracy’s onscreen persona has become.
— I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2001 pointing out that Jimmy’s Chocolat joke (“The movie Chocolat was so choco-long and choco-boring that I wanted my choco-money back”) felt like something that Mike Myers would’ve said as Wayne Campbell in a Wayne’s World sketch. I can definitely see it, especially with the way Jimmy delivered that joke.
— Wow, that’s it? That’s the entire Update? The then-recent trend of Update getting shorter and shorter by the week continues, as tonight’s has got to be one of the shortest Updates of all time, or at least of the three most recent decades today. There also were no guest commentaries.
STARS: ***½


NO TAINT
(HOS) is distressed to learn that he lost his taint in a car accident

— There’s Rachel once again tonight.
— I’m loving all of the random absurdist humor that this sketch is filled with right out of the gate, such as Horatio preferring to travel all the way to another city just to get to the “good” McDonalds, Bruce Jenner being on Inside The Actor’s Studio, and Horatio foolishly thinking that if he drives 130 miles an hour, it’s possible for him to make it to another city and back home in just 10 minutes.
— Ana’s hillbilly prank on Horatio is very funny.
— Hilarious turn with Conan as a doctor revealing to Horatio that they were forced to remove his taint, resulting in a confused reaction from Horatio over what the hell a taint is. I also love Conan’s description of just what exactly a taint is.
— I got a big laugh from Horatio describing a taint as a “fleshy fun bridge”.
— Horatio: “Where’d you get your medical degree? In a box of Hill Street Blues cereal?”
— Funny running gag of Conan’s difficulty in pronouncing the simple name Brown.
— The random absurdist humor of this sketch beautifully continues, with Will (playing a perfectly Will Ferrell-esque sleazy character) entering wearing a blazer with no shirt underneath.
— The things being said in the text crawl make me think that this sketch was written by whoever (possibly Adam McKay) wrote a certain other great sketch, Buckwell’s Follies, from season 21’s Alec Baldwin episode, as that had a similar message in its text crawl ending.
— A hilarious listing-off of taint-less celebrities. I especially love the little bit with the announcer, Parnell, accidentally misreading the name of basketball player Pervis Ellison for the name of another basketball player, Purvis Short.
— When Parnell as the announcer tells us that we probably had no idea that he has no taint, I love the distinct voice of Tracy responding “Nah, we knew! We knew!”
— Overall, my god, what a bizarre masterpiece. One of my absolute favorite oddball sketches from this entire era.
— SNL would later replace this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. It’s been ages since I’ve seen the rerun version of this sketch, but off the top of my head, the only big difference I remember is that Conan wears a wig in the dress rehearsal version, whereas he has his real hair in the live version.
STARS: *****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Find The Black People At The Knick Game” by RBS- off-the-court, not many

 

— Wow, what a very random concept (quite a lot of random humor in tonight’s episode in general, which is right up my alley). But I love it.
— A rare instance of a non-animated TV Funhouse.
— I love the how, after running out of black people in the stands, this has now desperately resorted to finding black people among the players on the court, where the circles go off like mad.
— An odd but strangely good ending with Horatio and Tracy as themselves randomly being in the stands.
STARS: ****


VH1 DIVA-THON
during a concert, Deandra Wells barely avoids a mutiny by her band

— The second and final appearance of Ana’s Deandra Wells character.
— Ana’s doing another solid job as this character, but so far, this sketch is following the exact same formula and pattern as the first installment.
— We at least get an inclusion of Conan as an additional band member, Deandra Wells’ son.
— Deandra’s comments about her son are really funny.
— Like last time, we get another angry outburst from the band towards Deandra. This sketch in general is a little too derivative of the first installment for my likes.
— I like Conan complaining to Deandra about her decision to have Anthony Michael Hall play him in a “movie of the week” about his life story.
— Ana’s initial reaction when Will actually strikes her during an angry confrontation made me laugh.
STARS: ***


DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Marc Rich (CHK) can afford to be against a tax cut because he doesn’t pay

— At the beginning, I like the audience’s groaning when it’s revealed that Kattan’s playing Marc Rich.
— Quite an oversized-looking suit on Kattan. Is that intentional?
— Overall, blah. A few light laughs, but this was mostly dull and forgettable.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Heart Of The Matter”

— This musical performance would later be removed in NBC reruns and be replaced with a cut-after-dress-rehearsal DeMarco Brothers sketch involving Don Henley. Odd decision to replace a Henley musical performance with a sketch that Henley co-stars in, but from what I remember, this DeMarco Brothers sketch was actually a rare funny one, as Conan played a third DeMarco Brother, and hilarity ensued as his character awkwardly tried to fit in with the other two DeMarco Brothers.


SPORTS CENTURY
black opponents end career of boxing pioneer (host)

— A good laugh from Conan’s old-timey boxer character having a handlebar mustache in his baby picture.
— Yet another role tonight that Conan is perfectly cast in.
— The Conan/Kattan fight with both of them just waving their fists for a countless number of rounds is cracking me up, even if the gag is being stretched a little longer than it should.
— Hilarious turn with Conan’s character immediately getting endlessly punched in his first match against a black boxer.
— A great image of Conan’s head immediately bleeding at the beginning of a match before any punches were even thrown. I also love his line to his opponent during that bleeding: “I’ll baste your turkey!”
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fantastic episode. Not only is this one of my favorite episodes of both this season and this entire era, but it’s one of my favorite episodes of all time. This episode was filled with the type of Conan-inspired fun, creative, oddball silliness that epitomizes my comedic tastes. Conan O’Brien was a truly remarkable host as expected, and I love how the roles he was given fit him to a T and played to his strengths. A lot of the sketches he was in were the type of comedy bits that I can picture appearing in this same era of his Late Night show (one of the writers and frequent onscreen performers of Conan’s Late Night show, Jon Glaser, was credited as an additional sketch writer in tonight’s episode, so I’m sure that at least partially explains why).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Katie Holmes)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Julia Stiles hosts SNL’s 500th episode

Posted on

February 24, 2001 – Katie Holmes / Dave Matthews Band (S26 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE CLINTON GANG
Bill Clinton (DAH) & relatives are a giddy & unrepentant gang of outlaws

— I like Darrell’s Bill Clinton explaining “I do what I likes, and I likes what I do.”
— A funny sudden laughing outburst from Ana’s Hillary Clinton after saying something stern and uptight to Bill.
— A great “The Clinton Gang” turn, as well as Bill proudly going on about how redneck-y his family is.
— Feels a little weird seeing Ana portraying Hillary as so laid-back and jokey for once, but it’s refreshing.
— I love Parnell-as-Roger-Clinton’s line “Hell, I already been on Cops!”
— Speaking of Parnell, I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2001 (Mark Polishuk, I believe) saying Parnell’s portrayal of Roger Clinton strangely came off George W. Bush-esque and that “maybe Will Ferrell might not need to be around for all four years after all”. Quite prescient of that reviewer.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
WIF tries to match host’s tap-dancing with a series of goofy steps

— Right out of the gate at the beginning of this monologue, when the camera is showing a shot of both Katie Holmes and the applauding audience, Katie’s dress strap accidentally breaks due to her putting her hands on her hips, and she quickly catches the falling strap and is forced to awkwardly hold it up onto her shoulder for the next few minutes (as seen in the first above screencap for this monologue). Whoops! The reason her dress strap broke so easily is because she’s wearing a breakaway dress that she’ll soon be removing during a sultry dance number of hers towards the end of this monologue.
— Yikes, Katie’s comedic “Dawson’s Creek has been crazy this week!” bit bombed HARD. Katie acknowledges that by sorta-comically shifting her eyes to the side in an awkward manner. Between the breaking dress strap and now this, Katie’s monologue has been kinda clumsy so far.
— Thank god Will has shown up to help this monologue.
— Will, regarding his dancing shoes: “Check out these Brogans!” I know Brogan is a type of shoe, but with Will delivering that line, I can’t help but be reminded of the Ted Brogan 37-year-old baby sketch that Will had recently done at the time.
— When a stagehand gives Katie her tapdancing shoes, that stagehand also pins Katie’s broken dress strap back together. A nice last-minute emergency save on SNL’s part.
— A good laugh from Will’s line about Savion Glover being his stepson.
— Will is very funny throughout this monologue, though this monologue itself is coming off fairly redundant after a while. It also doesn’t feel right how Katie herself is almost a complete non-factor in this monologue so far. She’s also coming off very bland during her interactions with Will.
— At the very end of this monologue, Katie seemed lost, as she was about to walk offstage a little too early before the camera faded to black, then she paused awkwardly after seemingly receiving a signal from an off-camera stagehand that it’s not time to exit the stage yet, then Katie looked around helplessly and confusedly, then did a sultry little dance as the camera faded to black. I gotta say, all of Katie’s awkwardness throughout this monologue is not giving me much confidence in her hosting skills.
STARS: *** (mostly due to Will’s performance)


DAWSON’S CREEK
Joey (host) & exchange student Mr. Peepers have sex

 

— Blah, Mr. Peepers. Hell, not even the audience applauds the reveal of him in this sketch.
— I’m now a minute later into this sketch, and to my complete surprise, I’m actually kinda liking Mr. Peepers in this Dawson’s Creek setting. Given my usual dislike of Mr. Peepers and my unfamiliarity with Dawson’s Creek, I don’t know why this sketch is working for me, but it is.
— I’m liking Jimmy’s James Van Der Beek impression.
— Ha, during the scene with Katie’s character having a heart-to-heart talk with Dawson, you can still see apple bits on Katie’s face from an earlier scene that took place on what we’re supposed to believe was a different day. This results in a funny ad-lib from Jimmy where he casually swipes off some of the apple bits on Katie’s face while delivering a line.
— Credit goes to Katie for keeping a straight face while acting unconscious as Kattan-as-Mr.-Peepers is doing a whole bunch of ridiculous things to her face in an attempt to revive her.
— When Mr. Peepers jumps off of a clothing chest that he was standing on, the chest unintentionally tips over and falls on Katie’s hand, which results in the audience actually gasping in shock. Katie doesn’t even seem hurt by the chest falling on her hand (the chest was probably light), but Kattan, out of genuine concern while still perfectly staying in character, lifts the chest off of Katie’s hand before continuing on with his scripted Mr. Peepers antics.
— Overall, for a Mr. Peepers sketch, this surprisingly wasn’t bad in my eyes. Easily one of his better sketches.
STARS: ***


KXLA SPECIAL REPORT
(MAR) reports as house of Drew Barrymore (host) & Tom Green (JIF) burns

— Some laughs from Maya’s cheesy fire puns in her news report.
— Jimmy is slaying me with his absolutely spot-on take on Tom Green. After I recently suffered through reviewing the Tom Green-hosted episode from earlier this season (one of the most frustrating reviews I’ve EVER had to do), Jimmy’s dead-on skewering of Green is what I needed. He is humorously nailing all of the things that I couldn’t stand about Green when reviewing his SNL episode.
— Katie’s Drew Barrymore impression, on the other hand? Ehhh. I can kinda see what she’s going for, but let’s just say she ain’t no Kate Hudson. She also keeps making some awkward pauses before delivering some of her lines. (Boy, I’ve been using the word “awkward” quite a lot to describe Katie’s performances in tonight’s episode.)
— Tracy’s fireman character, when asked if he can save Tom and Drew’s burning house: “(casually) Hell nah! That’s gonna burn down to the ground!”
— Tracy’s reactions to having his face licked by Jimmy’s Tom Green are very funny, especially him telling Jimmy’s Green “I sure wanna get high wit’choo!”
— An inner thought from the dog, in regards to Tom Green: “He makes David Arquette look like a genius!”
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Backstreet Boys” by RBS- sucking is salient feature of boy band

 

— Hilarious opening theme song.
— A great concept of Backstreet Boys being superheroes who use their suckiness to defeat villains.
— The choreographed bit that the Backstreet Boys are doing with folding chairs during their number reminds me of the LAUGHABLY lame bit that the real Backstreet Boys did with folding chairs in their musical performance on SNL in season 23’s Julianne Moore episode.
— The random involvement of John Tesh is great. I especially love the “You guys rock!” “Thanks, Mr. Tesh!” exchange as soon as he enters.
STARS: ****


LOVERS
professor Roger (WIF) & his lover Virginia (RAD) creep out (JIF) & (host)

— The Luvahs characters, Roger and Virginia Klarvin, make their debut.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Roger saying “fill our bellies with ham” at one point when he and Virginia are detailing their lovemaking routine.
— I used to HATE these sketches back when they originally aired, but during this current viewing, I’ve been getting some amusement from Will and Rachel’s characterizations and the way their characters word some of their sentences. And I admire how really into it Will and Rachel are in their performances.
— Jimmy and Katie’s uncomfortable reactions to the Luvahs are pretty funny.
— I love Jimmy nervously gulping down a drink in a quick manner during Katie’s Luvah-esque detailing of the lovemaking she’d like her and Jimmy to do.
— The “My back” ending between Roger and Virginia was pretty funny. Too bad SNL will go on to run that into the damn ground in the subsequent Luvahs installments.
— Overall, not a bad debut for The Luvahs, especially considering how strongly I used to dislike these sketches in the past. I have no idea how I’m going to react when covering the subsequent Luvahs installments, though.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Did It”


WEEKEND UPDATE
despite reservations, TIF is sticking with her shady male gynecologist

Elton John (HOS) & Eminem (CHP) make out after Grammys “Stan” performance

— What the hell?!? During Jimmy and Tina’s sign-on at the beginning of this Update, a drop-down screen starts lowering behind them into the shot (the first above screencap for this Update), only to IMMEDIATELY be raised back up out of the shot, without having been used or acknowledged. WTF??? I guess a segment utilizing the drop-down screen was cut at the last minute, and the crew member operating the screen didn’t get the memo.
— Tina’s Women’s News segment about gynecologists was surprisingly nothing memorable. I was expecting better. Also, I could’ve done without Tina re-doing the “As a (insert something here), which I am not…” line, which was much funnier the first time she did it in the Women’s News segment from her very first Update.
— I love Horatio and Parnell’s recreation of the “Stan” musical performance that Elton John and Eminem had recently done at the Grammys, even though there aren’t any jokes in this recreation.
— The big twist after the Elton John/Eminem performance, with them wildly making out with each other is yet another example of this type of homoerotic humor that I used to find hilarious at the time during this late 90s/early 00s SNL era, but now find that it doesn’t hold up well and just comes off as a cheap, lazy, unnecessary, and overused resort for laughs. Parnell and Horatio sure as hell are putting their all into this wild make-out session, though. I’ll give them that.
— For, I believe, the first time ever, Jimmy throws a pen towards the camera after signing off at the end of Update, which would go on to be an on-again/off again tradition of his on Update.
— Very short Update overall, for the second episode in a row.
STARS: ***


JARRET’S ROOM
Billy Joel lyrics help Daniel (CHP) woo coed (host)

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— After making little-to-no appearances outside of Weekend Update the last few episodes, Jimmy is absolutely DOMINATING tonight’s episode. So far, he’s appeared in every single post-monologue live sketch in either a starring role or very large supporting role.
— Like in the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, Horatio’s Gobi character is providing some laughs, but he sure is a one-note character.
— This sketch has died after Katie’s entrance. Nothing interesting is happening, plus Katie is adding nothing to this sketch and seems out of place. Compare her character and performance here to the character that Lucy Liu played in the first installment, who actually fit the sketch well.
— Parnell has breathed some much-needed life into this sketch as a roommate wearing a mesh tanktop and quoting Billy Joel songs to impress Katie.
— An overall blah Jarret’s Room installment, even worse than the first installment, in my opinion. This recurring sketch has not been showing much promise so far. One of my problems is that the main character, Jarret, isn’t remotely interesting. There’s no personality there. Nothing distinct about the character. He’s basically just Jimmy Fallon playing himself with a wig. And if Horatio’s Gobi character is supposed to be the personality of these sketches, then that’s another faulty decision, as Gobi is too one-note, like I said earlier, and he can only be funny in small doses.
STARS: **


TOUGH AS NAILS
(CHP) directs actress (host) to grab actor’s (WIF) crotch vigorously

— A great Will Ferrell performance that I had completely forgotten about until now. I’m glad to be reminded of this.
— Will’s increasingly pained reactions to having his testicles painfully grabbed during filming are giving me lots of laughs.
— I love Tracy’s character’s ad-libbed response to Katie’s overly-rough testicle-grabbing of Will during the filming: “Let go, man! That ain’t cool!”, then after the filming for that scene has stopped, Tracy gets another great line: “That was hurtin’ ME!”
— I like Parnell’s director character sadistically advising Katie to go at Will even harder, after kindly assuring Will that he no longer has to worry about doing any more painful testicle-grabbing takes.
— Very funny exclamation of “Cheese and biscuits!” from Will after getting kicked in the crotch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Space Between”


PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE PAM
Passive-Aggressive Pam’s (ANG) backhanded compliments sting co-workers

— Did Katie forget a line before Ana made her entrance? Right before Ana came in and started speaking, we got a long close-up of Katie awkwardly not saying anything (there’s that use of the word “awkward” once again to describe a Katie Holmes performance) and looking off-camera.
— An interesting character for Ana, and also an interesting live theme song for this character.
— I love the bizarre musical interludes throughout this sketch, with a barbershop quartet summing up the concept of Ana’s character. Will is particularly hamming it up like crazy as one of the quartet members, and I cannot stop cracking up at him. The combo of his extremely hammy performance, his barbershop quartet costume, and his handlebar mustache make it seem like he’s reprising his hilarious role as Thaddeus Garfield Ignatius Friday from the T.G.I. Friday’s sketch in the Charlie Sheen episode earlier this season.
— Ana’s various backhanded comments are making me laugh, and Ana is perfect for this role. I’m enjoying this sketch more than the audience seems to be.
— This overall sketch kinda feels like it was set up to eventually become recurring, but we end up never seeing it again.
STARS: ***½


SINGLES CRUISE
at the end of their singles’ cruise, (CHP) & Leilani Burke (MAR) settle

— Much like Jimmy, Parnell has been prominent throughout tonight’s episode, which is very refreshing in Parnell’s case. He rarely seems to get the airtime he deserves.
— It took Katie all night, but she’s finally doing a very solid characterization in a role that she’s losing herself in.
— I like the big awkward smile that Maya’s character occasionally does in reaction to certain things that Parnell’s character says to her.
— So far, this sketch is refreshingly slower, quieter, and more subtle than most sketches from this era. This sketch seems to be going for a bit of a slice-of-life feel that was far more common in early SNL eras.
— I love the reveal that Maya’s character works in an animal rescue crew and Parnell’s character is a furrier.
— Speaking of Maya’s character saying she works in an animal rescue crew, we’ll later be seeing this character of Maya’s (who’s name is Leilani) return THREE SEASONS LATER, in a one-off sketch in which she’s a pet psychic who hosts her own show.
— Overall, I liked this interesting piece, and the characterizations from Parnell and Maya were solid, as was Katie’s in a supporting role.
— After this sketch ends, I like how surprisingly quickly we see the crew disassemble the set, revealing the SNL Band (with special guest Junior Brown sitting in with them) onstage behind the set, playing the show to commercial.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Man, Katie’s even coming off awkward (there’s that word once again tonight) during her goodnights speech, with odd pauses and her strangely continuing her speech long after the applause and music has begun drowning her out. Her awkwardness here reminds me of the funny impression that Anne Hathaway would later do of her during some of Hathaway’s hosting stints.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode that had a mostly consistent quality to it. Jarret’s Room was the only sketch that I disliked. As for Katie Holmes, I did not enjoy her very much as the host. I’ll admit that she did have her occasional moments, particularly in the final sketch, in which she played her role very well and disappeared into character, but, as I said probably way too many times throughout the review, she had quite a lot of awkward moments during the show, even including the goodnights. I don’t know if she’s naturally this awkward (as I implied earlier in this review, this awkwardness does seem to be what Anne Hathaway is going for when she does an impression of Katie), or if it was just live TV jitters.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sean Hayes)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Conan O’Brien

Posted on

February 17, 2001 – Sean Hayes / Shaggy (S26 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
George W. Bush (WIF) says Iraq strike was meant to help Bill Clinton

— Funny reveal from Will’s Bush that he ordered a surprise military strike against Iraq just as an attempt to move former president Bill Clinton’s latest scandals off the front pages.
— Great “Live From New York…” fake-out with Bush setting it up by saying “I have just one more thing to say”, then starting to say “Live fr–” as the camera zooms in on him, only for him to cut himself off with “no, wait, two more things to say”, which results in the zoomed-in camera immediately zooming back out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen SNL play with a LFNY camera zoom-in like that in any prior cold openings.
— Overall, a pretty funny but average Bush cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host plays “A Fifth Of Beethoven” on piano & multitasks on-stage

— A very fun energetic and bouncy entrance from Sean Hayes.
— A lot of laughs and entertainment from all of the little things Sean’s doing during the funky portions of the “A Fifth Of Beethoven” song he’s playing. He is going ALL OUT on this, and I love it.
— Very strong monologue overall.
STARS: ****½


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry trip out after eating portabello mushrooms

— This strong recurring sketch makes its final appearance of Molly’s tenure as a cast member, as tonight is Molly’s last episode.
— During the mid-commercial shot of this sketch being set up on the SNL stage during the preceding commercial break, we see that tonight’s Delicious Dish installment oddly takes place in front of a greenscreen instead of the usual radio studio set, which should tell you that something unusual is going to happen in this installment.
— Great look for Sean’s character.
— I like Molly’s stern delivery of “Okay, that’s enough” after Sean says one too many corny mushroom puns.
— Very funny turn with Margaret Jo and Terry having bizarre psychedelic, trippy hallucinations after eating toxic mushrooms. Now we see why this sketch had to resort to a greenscreen background.
— Odd use of Will, briefly playing a weird man with a phone for a head, and yet, it’s strangely a very fitting role for him. The only reason I even know it’s Will in that costume is because during the aforementioned mid-commercial shot of this sketch being set up on the SNL stage, the stage manager can be heard on the P.A. calling Will’s name among the performers who are called for this sketch.
— While this is VERY different for a Delicious Dish, I’m loving this.
— I really like the outer space sequence with Margaret Jo and Terry’s floating heads taking turns saying random foods.
— The reveal that the mushrooms that Margaret Jo and Terry were supposedly tripping off from were actually just portabello mushrooms was pretty funny, but too reminiscent of a previous Delicious Dish sketch where Margaret Jo and Terry got drunk off of eggnog, only to eventually find out that it was non-alcoholic eggnog.
— Overall, a very fun and unique way for this fantastic recurring sketch to go out… during Molly’s tenure, that is. SNL would unwisely go on to keep this recurring sketch going for the remainder of Ana’s tenure, with a certain cast member replacing Molly’s role.
STARS: ****


HOMOCIL
Homocil helps anxious parents of homosexual children deal with gayness

— I’ve always absolutely loved this commercial. I’m not sure how well this commercial holds up with most people in today’s more PC, gay-friendly age, but I’ll try not to let that affect my enjoyment during this current viewing.
— The style of this commercial is a spot-on parody of a real commercial that aired at this time for medication for Social Anxiety Disorder. I forget what medicine company that was for.
— The whole “Who wants crème brule?” scene with Tracy’s character and his son is particularly hilarious.
— A memorable and funny image of Will’s frozen fake big smile and thumbs-up.
— The announcer’s ending line, delivered towards parents of gay children: “Because it’s your problem… not theirs.”
STARS: ****½


HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS
Chris Matthews (DAH) piles on in wake of Clinton pardon scandal

— The Hardball parodies have officially become recurring.
— The debut of Kattan’s Paul Begala impression, which will go on to become a recurring punching bag in these sketches.
— Chris Matthews, to Paul Begala: “You’re boring… and you look like a fetus!”
— Darrell looks like he’s breaking after the hands-tied-behind-his-back scenario that Parnell’s Arlen Specter suggests for Bill Clinton.
— The whole back-and-forth between Chris Matthews and Paul Begala is great.
— Parnell is on fire in this sketch, as his Arlen Specter is having lots of priceless lines in regards to various insane scenarios he has for Clinton.
STARS: ****


JEFFREY’S
fashion-hip clerks (JIF) & (host) belittle customers’ style

 

— This is the first actual live sketch that Jimmy has appeared in since all the way back in the Charlie Sheen episode from a month prior. This also ends up being his ONLY non-Weekend-Update appearance tonight, making this the third consecutive episode in which he does little-to-nothing outside of Update. I wonder what’s going on with his airtime lately. It’s like SNL is experimenting with having Jimmy only concentrate on Update for a few episodes.
— Stock gay stereotype characters here (which, let’s face it, you knew SNL was gonna give Sean Hayes at least once tonight), but I admit, I’m actually really liking Jimmy and Sean’s snarky insults towards customers.
— I remember some SNL fans back at this time saying these Jeffrey’s characters are basically a gay male version of the Gap Girls. I can kinda see that, though the Gap Girls sketches had more storylines and character development than these Jeffrey’s sketches, which are literally just Jimmy and the hosts’ characters endlessly insulting customers, and then interacting with Will’s character at the end of the sketch.
— I love Horatio’s line “For your informacione, guy, I have a half-eaten taco in my Terce-e-e-e-el!”
— Sean is stumbling over some of his lines throughout this sketch whenever he and Jimmy say something to each other in between dealing with customers.
— Will’s walk-on immediately results in smirking from Sean and Jimmy. Otherwise, Sean and Jimmy are doing relatively okay in keeping a straight face throughout Will’s scene. The version of this sketch that everybody’s probably familiar with, in which Sean and Jimmy break HARD during Will’s entire scene, is actually the dress rehearsal version. I’m currently reviewing the live version, in which Sean and Jimmy keep their composure for most of Will’s scene, aside from some occasional smirks.
— The aforementioned dress rehearsal version of this sketch shown in reruns also has quite a lot of breaking from Jimmy during Horatio’s scene, as well as a more loose performance from Horatio.
— Will is absolutely hilarious in his appearance in this sketch, especially the business with his tiny phone.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It Wasn’t Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
snubbed & angry Jamie Bell (host), aka the kid from Billy Elliot, dances

— During Jimmy’s “Weekend Update Inside Joke” segment, he namedrops insider names like Phil Hymes and Wally, who are actual crew members of SNL (Wally being Wally Feresten, the cue card guy).
— A rare instance of a host getting their own Update commentary.
— Sean is great as The Kid From Billy Elliot, and I love all of his angry one-liners.
— Fun turn with Sean dancing in front of the Update desk and then going into the studio audience.
— After Sean’s commentary has seemingly ended, we get a fantastic continuation, with Jimmy and Tina being informed via a breaking note that “The Kid From Billy Elliot is still mad”, followed by a cutaway to him at SNL’s backstage area dancing around the hallway and punching Kattan and Maya.
— An overall pretty short Update, but a strong one.
STARS: ****


HELLO DOLLY
on Valentine’s Day, (host) boosts merits of replica children

— I was about to say that this is the final edition of Hello Dolly, but I just now remembered that the following season’s Hugh Jackman episode has the final Hello Dolly.
— Not caring too much for tonight’s installment so far, though there are a few funny lines. I recall liking this recurring sketch when it started out, but I’ve gotten gradually tired of it after a while.
— Okay, the “Oopz” doll in a full-body cast is making me laugh.
STARS: **½


BAND SHOT
going to commercial, G.E. Smith & T-Bone Wolk [real] play guitar & bass


FASHION WEEK
at fashion show, Sally O’Malley encourages age pride & displays camel-toe

— I like Sean making his entrance on a scooter.
— Yet another fun characterization from Sean tonight. He has been an amazing host so far tonight.
— Uh-oh, a Sally O’Malley appearance. If you’ve been following my reviews for a while, you most likely know how I feel about these Sally O’Malley sketches. However, I’ll tone down the saltiness and go a little easy on this one tonight, because I don’t want to taint my review of Molly’s final episode by bitching and moaning too much about a sketch of hers. Despite my many complaints about Molly in these later seasons of hers where she’s gone downhill, I still like Molly as a performer in general and feel that her SNL tenure as a whole holds up.
— Just now, it looked like the camera tried to hide Molly’s obligatory breaking by immediately cutting to a close-up of Sean saying and doing nothing. Good work, SNL director. If only they did this during the countless other times that Molly broke during these last two seasons.
— Aaaaaaand there’s the famous “camel toe” sequence in tonight’s Sally O’Malley sketch. Molly’s having fun going all out here.
— I like Sean’s Sally O’Malley-esque phrase “I like to scratch, belch, and scratch! I’m 60!”
— Overall, surprisingly not insufferable at all. I think the atmosphere of this being Molly’s last show made this Sally O’Malley installment come off more tolerable and fun than usual.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Angel”


ACTION NEWS 4 MORNING REPORT
reporter (host) covers events precipitated by crash involving a clown car

— I like the odd news stories that Ana and Kattan casually mention briefly at the beginning.
— Hilarious premise of the news covering a clown car accident. Will and the other performers are slaying me in their performances as the injured clowns.
— After being very prominent in the last two episodes and getting lots of comedic roles in them, things have unfortunately gone back to usual for Jerry Minor, as he makes his only appearance of the night in a late-in-the-show sketch in which he plays his usual bit role that doesn’t really give him anything funny to do. For what I remember of the remainder of this season, it’s going to be quite a while until SNL gives Jerry his next comedic role.
— I love how they’re upping the ante of this sketch’s bizarre nature, by adding crazy assorted things to the already-crazy coverage of the clown car accident, such as Big Mouth Billy Basses and a busload of horny prison inmates.
— Great ending shot of Horatio in clown makeup popping up in front of the camera and laughing maniacally (screencap below).

I recall some SNL fans back at this time saying Horatio was a little too scary-looking in that portion of this sketch.
STARS: ****


LAST SHOW
Mary Katherine Gallagher sings “School’s Out”

— A fantastic brief musical number, letting the departing Molly Shannon bring back her retired breakout character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, to perform the song “School’s Out” with the SNL Band on the home base stage.
— I love the ending with MKG doing the “superstar” pose while exclaiming “Last show!” A great little sendoff for Molly.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
animals-that-people-make-clothes-out-of

— This sketch has officially become recurring… after TWO YEARS. When tonight’s episode originally aired, I remember being surprised that they were bringing back this forgotten two-year-old sketch from the season 24 finale. Obviously, SNL had no idea at the time how well-liked these Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet sketches would eventually become.
— During the usual Brian Fellow opening title sequence, tonight’s installment actually displays text of the usual voice-over intro about Brian Fellow not being an accredited zoologist. This, I believe, this ends up being the ONLY Brian Fellow installment to have that text be displayed.
— I think this is also the only time that Tracy ever wears a wig in a Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet sketch. It looks like it might be the same wig that Tracy wore the very first time he played Brian Fellow, in which Fellow was a Weekend Update sports correspondent instead of a host of his own animal show.
— A good laugh from Brian Fellow’s thought bubble of a rabbit taking a test.
— Just now, the rabbit in the thought bubble referred to Brian Fellow as “Brian Fellows”, something that would eventually go on to be a common mistake that Tracy himself would make in these sketches, leading to the common misconception among SNL fans that this character’s last name is Fellows instead of Fellow.
— Overall, a good installment of this sketch. Tracy’s characterization of Brian Fellow felt more developed here, and, unlike the first installment, this installment felt more like the Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet that people today remember.
STARS: ***½


CORN CHIP NAIL TIPS
Rerun from 10/7/00


TALKIN’ ‘BOUT ‘GINAS
female celebs speak frankly about their genitals

— A hilarious title for a Vagina Monologues knock-off. I’m guessing this has GOT to be a Tina Fey-written sketch.
— I love the format of this sketch, showing little snippets of female celebrities, one-by-one, talking about their vaginas.
— Nice how Molly’s been getting a lot more airtime than usual for her last episode.
— Will absolutely steals the sketch with his portion of the sketch, playing Chyna.
— Kinda chilling in retrospect how many of the celebrities portrayed in this sketch are now dead only 19 years later (Farrah Fawcett, Joan Rivers, Anna Nicole Smith, Chyna), most of them untimely deaths. I think Gayle King is the ONLY celebrity portrayed in this sketch who’s still alive today. I would ask if the woman who Rachel played is still alive today, but according to SNL Archives, she’s not even a real person. If that’s true, I find it odd that SNL made up a celebrity for Rachel to play in this sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode that has broken the rut that SNL had been in lately of episodes ranging from average to weak. This was the first strong episode since Val Kilmer/U2 from all the way back in early December. Sean Hayes was absolutely fantastic as a host tonight, and came off as someone who was born to do SNL. He was exactly the host that SNL needed after Jennifer Lopez’s blah outing as a host the preceding week. The difference between J.Lo and Sean’s hosting performances is like night and day.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jennifer Lopez)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Katie Holmes