Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
JIMMY CARTER IN CUBA
Fidel Castro (WIF) recaps embarrassments of Jimmy Carter’s (DAH) tenure
— (*sigh*) Well, here we go. Will Ferrell’s final episode. Of all the cast members I’ve reviewed and become attached to during this SNL project of mine so far, Will’s gonna be one of the hardest for me to let go. And knowing what the following three seasons are going to be like without Will makes his departure that much more difficult to take.
— A solid Jimmy Carter voice from Darrell, and his make-up and facial expressions are amusing me.
— Some laughs from Will’s Fidel Castro bringing up infamous and embarrassing things from Carter’s presidency. It’s especially funny how Castro is harping so much on Carter’s rabbit attack.
— Solid delivery from Maya as Castro’s translator.
— Maya delivers her very first “Live from New York…”. Odd how they’re having her deliver it with the about-to-depart Will, though, not to mention how Will only gets to deliver it in Spanish here. You’d figure they’d have Will deliver a solo LFNY for his final episode.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
TRM alerts host to the existence of dressing room security cameras
— The concept of a monologue showing live scenes from backstage security cameras reminds me of John Goodman’s season 21 monologue.
— I love Ana and Darrell being shown having an argument about him possibly being the father of the baby she’s pregnant with.
— I absolutely LOVE the footage of the featured players (Dean, Jeff, and Seth) contemplating which SNL veterans besides Will are possibly leaving. Reminds me so much of how online SNL boards always heavily speculate which cast members may possibly be leaving whenever we head towards the end of a season. I also like the part with Dean, Jeff, and Seth giving a “Yeah, right”-type of laugh at the possibility of Tracy leaving.
— Lots of other funny security camera footage, including Jimmy secretly peeing in Lorne’s coffee pot, and Will spraypainting an obscene goodbye message on the wall.
STARS: ****
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Dave Matthews (JIF) & Bjork (host); Alex Trebek cameo
— Our final edition of Celebrity Jeopardy, until the sketch would occasionally be resurrected in some of Will’s future hosting stints and SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special. I certainly hope tonight’s installment is better than the underwhelming one from earlier this season.
— Great line from Darrell’s Sean Connery about cutting an album of filthy limericks just so he’d be eligible for the rock-and-roll edition of Celebrity Jeopardy. I also love the filthy limerick he demonstrates, before Will’s Alex Trebek prevents us from hearing the particularly dirty part.
— Good to see Jimmy back in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, after skipping the one from earlier this season. He’s doing a spot-on Dave Matthews impression.
— I like the voice and bizarre ramblings that Winona’s doing as Bjork.
— Alex Trebek, to Bjork: “Are you Icelandic or retarded?” Meh, that’s just a lazy variation of the “Are you English or retarded?” line that Will’s Trebek delivered to Molly Shannon’s Minnie Driver in a previous Celebrity Jeopardy.
— Dave Matthews being accompanied by a violin-playing Boyd Tinsley during one answer is pretty funny. Tinsley is played by Dean here, but at dress rehearsal, Tracy played him.
— I love Trebek cutting off one of Bjork’s long ramblings with “Aaaaaaaand SHUT IT.”
— Brief screen glitches have now begun occasionally showing up during this sketch (example below).
This isn’t a local station error; these screen glitches are actually from SNL’s end. SNL’s control room was experiencing “power burps”. I remember this was confirmed on the SNL newsgroup (alt.tv.snl) by a mysterious SNL insider who occasionally posted under the name “He Who Knows” (and, yes, he was a reliable source for inside SNL info). Reportedly, people at SNL were upset that these screen glitches were occurring on the big Will Ferrell farewell episode.
— Oh, I had forgotten until now that the real Alex Trebek walks on at the end of this, to help officially conclude the series of Celebrity Jeopardy sketches.
— A nice and meta way for the sketch to end.
— Overall, definitely a step up from the Celebrity Jeopardy installment from earlier this season, but still falls quite short of measuring up to a typical classic installment. It’s a bit of a shame that this very reliable recurring sketch started kinda fizzling out towards the end of its original run, but that was probably inevitable. Despite that, this has still always been a funny recurring sketch, even in its lesser installments.
STARS: ****
UNCLE MIKE & UNCLE DANNY
bride’s (host) two dads (WIF) & (CHP) sing at her wedding reception
— Yet another example of a gay stereotype sketch that I found hilarious at the time, but now find that this type of humor comes off tired and doesn’t hold up well.
— I absolutely love the way Will intensely and exaggeratedly sings the lyric “There’ll be no distance between us”.
— Horatio being brought in as an interpretive dancer is fairly funny.
— The constant cutaways to Kattan and Rachel’s put-off facial reactions to the singing are getting very old.
— Screen glitches have begun showing up again.
— It’s hard to tell, but at the end of this sketch, it looks like Horatio accidentally trips and begins falling down when walking off the platform as the camera fades to black.
STARS: **
BEAROLOGIST
bear researcher (WIF) is double-crossed in a plot to kill his wife (ANG)
— After getting cut from the live show many times this season, this sketch has finally made it on the air, most likely as a favor to Will for his final episode.
— I love Ana’s accent as Will’s wife, as well as the unexplained detail of her wearing a neck brace.
— Hilarious part with the bear following orders to kill Ana, but doing so by unexpectedly picking up a gun and shooting her. However, due to Ana’s very pregnant state, we don’t get to see her reacting to the gunshot by doing a great jump in the air, which she was previously seen doing in a rehearsal of this sketch shown in a behind-the-scenes SNL documentary that A&E did on this season’s Gwyneth Paltrow episode.
— Will’s frustration over the bear shooting his wife instead of strangling her is great.
— Will, to the cop: “I swear, a TV-watching bear killed my wife!”
— Excellent twist ending with the bear turning out to be the brother of Will’s character, disguised in a bear costume.
— Seth: “14 years in a bear suit FINALLY paid off!”
— Brilliant sketch overall, and Will’s final classic sketch during his tenure as a cast member.
STARS: *****
BOTOX
the stroke-victim look is only a needle of poison to the face away
— SNL’s very first mention of the Botox craze going on at the time.
— A lot of funny lines from the ladies touting the wonders of Botox. I especially like Winona’s “It’s like a little stroke you shoot into your head with a needle.”
— A great ending shot of the ladies all drooling while speaking out of the corner of their mouths.
— This ends up being the only segment all night that Will doesn’t appear in (not counting Moby’s musical performances).
STARS: ****
GIRL NEXT DOOR
one-legged Amber & other contestants compete to be a Playboy centerfold
— Great line from Maya about flashing her “ebony beav”, and how she’ll be flashing it for Harriet Tubman.
— Amy’s one-legged Amber character has now become recurring.
— I love Maya saying “This is MY underground railroad” while gesturing towards her crotch.
— Like the previous sketch featuring this character, Amber is getting laughs from me with her bragging about undesirable things about herself. I worry that I’m eventually going to get sick of this character, but so far, she’s been funny in her two sketches that have aired up to this point. It also helps that tonight’s sketch has a lot of other funny characters surrounding Amber.
— Maya continues to kill in this sketch, with yet another great line, in which she tells one-legged Amber “Shut up, pogo stick!”
— I like Ana’s overdramatic delivery when revealing the winner.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
childless TIF, RAD, AMP, MAR are sick of biological clock reminders
Neil Diamond (WIF) & friends sing “Cherry, Cherry”; Neil Diamond cameo
— Jimmy’s Luciano Pavarotti joke received a very bizarre-sounding laugh from a male audience member, which Tina physically acknowledged by shooting a funny look towards that audience member’s direction.
— Very funny rant from Tina so far, regarding the pressure put on women to have children. Some funny lines during Tina’s rant include “Either your cooter works or it doesn’t” and “I was an ugly baby. I looked like a cross between that chick from the Indigo Girls and… the other chick from the Indigo Girls.”
— I like Tina now getting the rest of the non-Gasteyer female cast members involved in her baby rant, and they’re all adding to the humor here.
— Tina, Rachel, Maya, and Amy talking about how unenthusiastic they are to have babies is even funnier in retrospect, knowing that they’re all moms today. (Actually, I’m not 100% sure about Rachel. Is she a mom? Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.)
— A good laugh from Will’s Neil Diamond mistaking this for being a Cheers reunion.
— Ah, now Will’s Diamond brings out “the 2002 Weekend Update All-Stars”: Gay Hitler, Geraldo Rivera, Drunk Girl, aaaaaand… the real Neil Diamond, the latter being our second cameo tonight from a celebrity who Will has famously impersonated over the years. SNL is really going all out tonight for Will’s last show.
— The real Neil Diamond didn’t appear during this episode’s dress rehearsal, which would explain why he looks kinda lost and under-rehearsed during his singing here.
— A nice way to end this season of Update.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Are All Made Of Stars”
LOVERS
in hotel hot tub, Roger & Virginia re-encounter Dave & win over (host)
— I would normally question why they’re doing ANOTHER Luvahs sketch so soon, just two episodes after we last saw them with Alec Baldwin, but they’re obviously only doing this sketch tonight for closure before Will leaves.
— Some pretty funny vocalizations from Roger when he and Virginia recognize Jimmy’s character, Dave, from the Luvahs sketch from this season’s Drew Barrymore episode.
— Roger’s odd way of always pronouncing “hot tub” as “hah-TAHB” finally gets called out.
— There’s our final go-around of Will’s usual attempts to crack Jimmy up. I remember some of the news articles about Will’s departure from SNL asked “Now that Ferrell’s gone, who’s gonna make Jimmy Fallon laugh during every sketch?” They clearly forgot about Horatio, who’s traditional attempts to crack Jimmy up would unfortunately go into overdrive starting in the following season (and be far less forgiving than Will’s traditional attempts to crack Jimmy up), to the degree that people today now remember Horatio as the resident “Fallon breaker” and forget that Will was heavily associated with that role before Horatio was.
— Jimmy’s character, when feeling somebody underwater touching him in a certain area: “Who’s hand is on my cul-de-sac right now?”
— This sketch is getting awfully muddied. This has become a cacophonous mess of everybody squirting food into each other’s mouths while Jimmy repeatedly cracks up as he delivers a long rant about something that I can’t even pay attention to, and other nonsense. The audience isn’t laughing during this incoherent mess, and neither am I.
— A twist on the traditional, played-out “Ow my back” endings of these Luvahs sketches, but this twist still didn’t work for me.
— Overall, a poor way for The Luvahs to go out (not counting their future appearance in the following season’s Christopher Walken episode that Will cameos in). Despite that, I’m proud to say that doing this SNL project of mine has made me come around on The Luvahs, after hating them with a fiery passion back when their sketches originally aired.
STARS: **
MANGO
while out with host & musical guest, Mango is arrested for shoplifting
— Oh, dear god. Mango. Thankfully, this ends up being the last Mango sketch ever. (And no, Kattan’s unfortunately not leaving with Will. Kattan probably just got sick of doing Mango sketches and decided to officially stop after this season.)
— Mango’s initial appearance here is welcomed by absolute DEAD SILENCE from the audience. That speaks volumes of how played-out and horribly past his prime Mango is by this point.
— Moby’s “I heart Eminem” shirt is presumably his response to being dissed by Eminem in the preceding episode, when Eminem performed “Without Me”.
— A very weak way of spoofing Winona’s shoplifting scandal.
— I could do without the overlong and unfunny photo montage of Mango’s mugshots, though they’re probably only showing this to give Kattan time to change into his prison outfit for the next portion of this sketch.
— Mango and Winona having a wild make-out/sex session with each other on the opposite sides of a pane of glass is kinda funny, but I think I’m just desperate to find SOMETHING to laugh at in this sketch.
— Terrible ending.
— Much like the final Mr. Peepers sketch from a little earlier this season, tonight’s overall Mango sketch was a pathetic last gasp of a dying recurring sketch. Good riddance to Mango.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “South Side”
— SNL abruptly cuts this musical performance off mid-progress, presumably because the show is starting to run long and they want to leave enough time for the special piece that follows this musical performance.
WILL’S FINAL SHOW
on WIF’s final show, all cast members but TRM have fond memories of him
— Kinda meaningful in retrospect that Ana is the first person who speaks in this Will Ferrell tribute, considering she would end up leaving with Will, but neither SNL nor Ana herself knew it at the time. She had publicly announced before the end of this season that she plans on returning the following season. I guess having motherly duties after giving birth to her baby over the summer gave her second thoughts about staying on SNL, and she would publicly announce sometime before the following season started that she’s not returning. A shame she never got the opportunity to say goodbye on the air.
— When Darrell begins stating, in regards to Will, “I came into this place with him…”, he takes a pause before continuing “…and I’m gonna miss him.” I remember when this originally aired, my heart kinda jumped when I seriously thought for a second that Darrell was going to follow “I came into this place with him…” with “…and I’m gonna leave this place with him.” If he did say that, though, I guess that would’ve kinda taken away from this being Will’s farewell piece, not to mention it would’ve probably made some people feel bad for Darrell that his departure is being so overshadowed by Will’s. In retrospect, though, this clearly should’ve been the point where Darrell left. For the remaining seven(!) years of his SNL tenure, his relevancy on the show sadly drops off more and more with each passing season, and he gradually comes off more and more unenthusiastic in his performances, to the degree that I remember sometimes actually being kinda bothered watching this man who visibly didn’t seem to give a shit anymore about being on SNL.
— Very nice how we’re seeing testimonials about Will from every repertory player except Amy (who I guess is excluded from this because she’s only worked with Will for one season… less than one season, really, when you factor in the three episodes that Will missed this season). You can really see just how much love and respect the cast genuinely has for Will.
— Very interesting and bold how Parnell is openly addressing his firing and eventual rehiring, and how Will made that rehiring happen.
— Up to this point in SNL’s run, this is by far the biggest deal SNL has ever made on the air about a beloved cast member leaving. I remember how unusual and unprecedented it felt at the time seeing this. I think the only future example that would compare to the huge deal SNL’s making about Will’s departure is Kristen Wiig’s farewell piece 10 years later.
— Tracy, as soon as the camera cuts to him: “*I* got a story.” Oh, you know THIS is gonna be good.
— So many hilarious lines from Tracy dishing dirt on Will, despite 30% of Tracy’s dialogue here being an unintelligible garblefest.
— Ha, speaking of how some of Tracy’s dialogue here is an unintelligible garblefest, am I hearing him constantly mispronounce Will’s last name as “fuh-REL”?
— Reportedly, in the dress rehearsal version of this piece, among the many terrible things Tracy accused Will of included “He made sure all of Dean’s sketches got cut!” A hilariously meta reference to Dean’s extreme lack of airtime, but unfortunately, that line didn’t make it to the live version, which, in a way, further proves Tracy’s point. Something else that unintentionally makes that line of Tracy’s even funnier is the aforementioned fact that Dean replaced Tracy as Boyd Tinsley in the live version of the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch earlier tonight.
— Ah, and here’s the man of the hour, Will. Pretty funny how he’s confirming all of the awful things Tracy said about him.
— Very sweet ending between Will and Tracy.
STARS: N/A (not sure if this is a rateable segment)
GOODNIGHTS
— SNL continues to go the whole nine yards for Will’s final episode, by flashing a “BYE WILL” light above the stage door, and a hand being shown holding up a “We’ll miss you, Will – the crew” sign in front of the camera.
— Man, seeing Maya in tears when hugging Will is really getting to me.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good season finale, though there was a drop-off with the first few post-Weekend Update sketches. This was also a satisfying Will Ferrell farewell episode, with the show getting pretty much all the mileage out of him that they possibly could for one last time, having him appear in a whopping ten sketches(!), which I believe holds the all-time record for most appearances by a cast member in a single episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kirsten Dunst)
about the same
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2000-01)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 28 begins, with host Matt Damon, and the addition of two new featured players to the cast
Rachel has a son.
Farewell, Will and Ana. Tomorrow: an 11-year tenure, and an 8-year tenure begin…
Yes, but Rachel had him almost a decade later.
My point is, it’s understandable how he could be unsure.
Well, sure, but he asked about her. Just answering, that’s all.
Like Stooge alluded to I was initially thrown off by the tribute at the end as the show had never done that before. Still a super cool moment.
As I’ve stated several times in the comments this wasn’t my favorite era by a long shot but of course Will was an all timer.
Still can’t believe there is one more season left of Kattan. Weird to think he was actually in the same cast as Armisen and Forte.
So these next three seasons are pretty rough for the most part, right? Culminating in the horrendous season 30
Btw, does anyone remember the online speculation/hope that .Sandler would appear on this show? Winona was promoting Mr. Deeds and her and Sandler were doing a bunch of press together. In retrospect probably was never going to happen because they didn’t want to take the focus off Will’s night.
Of course Sandler cameos early the next season
I might be in the minority but at the time I remember thinking Kattan had gotten a bit more tolerable in his final season. The big new character he introduced that seasons (the washed up Vegas comic) was a lot of fun even if they maybe did it one too many times. Armisen with the badly timed rimshot always cracked me up. Plus it seemed like by that final season Kattan had retired all his most annoying stuff. At the time I thought he sorta redeemed himself a little bit with that final season of not being quite so annoying.
Yeah, Kattan’s final year is far from his worst – no Mango, no Peepers, and his all-time best character. He was far from amazing, but his Vegas character really worked for me.
Also, as bad as it’s going to sink over the next three years, I’m really looking forward to Stooge revisiting 04-05 and discussing exactly what went wrong and why it’s not widely regarded as at terrible season. I’m also looking forward to Will Forte, who is absolutely one of the most fearless castmembers in the show’s history.
When Will hosted this past season and started imitating Tracy Morgan in his monologue I couldn’t help but notice he kept saying “Will Fah-rell” making me think back to Tracy’s rant in this farewell sketch.
I think Rachel told a funny story about how not long before her pregnancy (it was completely unplanned) she went to a psychic who told her she would have a child, and she didn’t believe it.
Winona Ryder was the “it girl” for much of the late ’80s and early ’90s, but she’d mostly become a tabloid fixture by 2002. Similar to Janet Jackson’s appearance a few seasons later, I think this episode managed to mine her plight for ratings purposes without being openly exploitative or cruel. I know when David Harbour hosted some were hoping she might cameo, but no one from Stranger Things cameoed so I guess it just wasn’t a thing that week…
Seth being the big reveal in Will’s last big sketch as a cast member is another of those unintended passing the torch moments that I always appreciate with SNL.
I still don’t think the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches are ever the same without Norm, as much as Darrell and Will do their part.
Until now I never knew Ana initially planned to stay another season. While I too am sorry she never got a goodbye, I’m kind of glad she left when she did – overall her entire tenure is strong, but the first four seasons are her best. 2000 is when the show starts to shift more towards the forced camp and mugging which I don’t think suited her talents. I remember Ana for Delicious Dish or the Culps, not Gemini’s Twin.
Ana was one of my main favorites – probably my absolute favorite – in these years. One of the main reasons is because she felt like a throwback to a more nuanced era of SNL, and more complex female cast members like Laraine Newman, Nora Dunn, or Jan Hooks. As I’ve enjoyed this runthrough more now than I did at the time (the benefit of being able to go through faster and having lower expectations), I wasn’t sure if I’d rank her quite as high. Fortunately, I still rank her pretty high, especially those first years. She hit the ground running in spite of not being in the easier-for-audience-consumption shout-shout-mug-catchphrase, and in spite of the eternal difficulty female cast members had at managing to find a niche on the show. Nancy Walls had just been let go even though she was a perfectly fine cast member, just because of that same burden on women in the ensemble. It’s a credit to Ana that I immediately liked her in spite of her replacing Nancy (who I was very fond of) and also that she managed to complete a trifecta with Molly and Cheri. They never seemed to be competing for airtime and they were all able to enhance the show not just as the increasingly token roles that female cast members had been put into, but as equals for the male cast. If not for this strength then I’m not sure Lorne would have finally made the wise decision to have four women in the cast on a more permanent basis.
At the time my feelings about Will were more negative – even then I appreciated some of his talents (Harry Caray and the Culps are timeless and priceless to me), but I had a harder time getting past all the shouting, bad recurring characters, and some of the more annoying affectations of those last few seasons (the lazy gay jokes and some of the smarmier roles). I’ve appreciated him more this time around, enjoying more of the curio pieces I didn’t really notice then, and seeing how hard he had to work as essentially the show’s leading man for nearly all of his run. Nobody should be in that position for 6 years, and few could have taken that role as confidently as Will did. In spite of such a long time in an exhausting role, I rarely, if ever felt that he was showboating, trying to overshadow other players, or phoning it in. In years past I would often sneer a bit at people saying Will was one of SNL’s all time best. I’d say – haven’t you heard of this person or that person? Now I understand, and I fully appreciate his work.
Lately, with the current aborted season ruining the goodbyes that I have a feeling at least 4-5 cast members probably had planned, I’ve started to think about just how many times SNL eras have never really had the goodbyes they deserved. Whether it be the somber, at times unsettling final season for the original cast, the extremely sour ending of 89-90 and the poor exits for Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz (this STILL upsets me and it’s been 30 years!!!), the abrupt firings of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, the abrupt firings of Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam, Chris Parnell being fired twice with no closure…it happens over and over. I now see that Lorne may just want to seize on those emotional moments when they present themselves.
So now we’re on to 02-03. I won’t lie, I’ve had a time slogging through early 01-02 (maybe it drastically improves from then on…) so I am not even sure where I will be going with 02-03. Maybe I will surprise myself. If nothing else I will be interested to see just how much the male cast will buckle this season. Thank goodness the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Will Forte will be there for 3 years of excruciating lifting.
Yeah, while Ferrell has grated on me over the years (more so for his post-SNL things), you can’t deny the guy was SNL’s MVP for years and never phoned anything in. I would argue that only Eddie Murphy is anything comparable to Ferrell’s tenure on the show, in terms of length and importance.
For me, Trebek and Diamond showing up weakened their sketches. This Jeopardy! was better than the premiere’s, but the drawn-out “men’s jacket” bit with a soft payoff and no Final Jeopardy answers made it feel lacking. And Neil Diamond saying “Leave it to the professionals”, then proceeding to bungle his cue and make obnoxious clapping sounds with the microphone is cringe-worthy. The real-Neil-less dress rehearsal version is probably better, especially if they let Will-as-Neil ramble on longer.
“Hot Take” time: I honestly think season 28 has more good than bad, but I agree that the shows that open with a dull Bush address or slowly-paced translator pieces start the episode off on a weak note, something that sadly remains for the rest of Downey’s run through 2013. 02-03 still has mostly the same writing staff that won the Emmy weeks before the season began, minus Matt Piedmont and Hugh Fink (and Jack Handey, who had a muted presence in 01-02. Besides My Big Thick Novel and Best List 2001, I don’t think he wrote any sketches to make it to air. Maybe “Jarnsback family vacation” with Ellen DeGeneres? “Dissing Your Dog” also could be his work, if only because I think he used the name Dale Sturtevant or some variation in a previous sketch).
Yes, Ferrell is sorely missed, but Tracy gets the most airtime of his tenure during his final season and is always good for some belly laughs, Dratch and Poehler do lots of solid character work, and Forte & Armisen charge in with amazing bits throughout the season. Kattan has some great moments with Buddy Mills, the “twins” sketch, and I always loved the “self-involved guy” piece in his penultimate episode, despite the somewhat derivative premise of a Corbin Bernsen sketch from 1990, plus the Terrible Re-Enactment of his SNL career is a very fun way to send him off.
It’ll be interesting as always to read your thoughts on this upcoming varied season, Stooge, but there are definitely lots of gems to be found, more than in seasons 29 and 30.
Jim Downey wrote “Dissing Your Dog.” I do know that the name “Dale Sturtevant” was used in a joke in one of Norm’s early Updates.
Well I guess I’ll post this here. Comedy Central cancelled Spade’s show. Have to admit that bums the hell out of me
Anyone else a fan of the show?
Hopefully it can get picked up somewhere else
I loved Spade’s new show, watched it every night. That’s a complete bummer.
How? I thought it was doing well in the ratings? Sucks, but unfunny. preachy Daily Show soldiers on.
For the second straight year, Will did his Robert Goulet on Late Night w/ Conan the day before the season finale
Observations,
– Will and Ana’s departures are a blow to the show as they were the most consistent and reliable performers from their era. At this point in Stooge’s Reviews, there’s only a few years separating us from the 1995 overhaul that introduced us to Will, Darrell, Cheri and a resurgent Tim and Molly. This finale truly does feel like that era is ending and we’re onto something different. From history, we’re led to believe it’s an unstable period like it’s the 19th season again and again, but I’m curious to see how that argument holds up as Stooge moves forward. I remember the 28th season being decent but unfocused.
– Will’s departure obviously receives the most attention and rightfully so here, but don’t forget about Ana. She, along with her cast mates, not named Will Ferrell, from the late 90’s get shuffled and forgotten. Seth Meyers mentions this when he appeared on Howard Stern’s show a while back. While I wish Ana received more love it was for the best that she departed at this moment. The timing just felt right. She found that comfortable spot between Cheri leaving maybe too early and Molly overextending her welcome. Ana left at the right time, plus it felt like she was being squeezed out with the talents of Amy and Maya dominating the scene.
– I remember this era overwhelmed by Jimmy and Horatio’s breaking in sketches, but I’m surprised by how tame it’s been so far. Perhaps “tame” isn’t the right word, but the breaking isn’t as excessive as I remembered. It must become badly distracting the next two seasons before Jimmy departs. Right now its probably a slight foreshadow.
– I’m surprised by Tracy Morgan. I originally remember him overextending his welcome but he’s been quite refreshing. This season his two signature characters take off and his persona is now perfected. I’m disappointed he only has one season left when he’s only come into his own the past year. Perhaps, like Ana it was the perfect time; Darrell and Kattan should have taken notes about.
I’ve been surprised at how much less airtime Tracy has had than I remembered. I guess he had such a big presence, my memories were of him being more prominent. Maybe this is why I generally always enjoyed his time on the show and didn’t ever get sick of him the way I did some others in these years.
Here are the average ratings for Season 27:
*may not represent review’s perception*
2701: 5.8* (Reese Witherspoon)
2702: 7.0 (Seann William Scott)
2703: 5.8 (Drew Barrymore)
2704: 7.3 (John Goodman)
2705: 6.0 (Gwyneth Paltrow)
2706: 7.1 (Billy Bob Thornton)
2707: 7.1 (Derek Jeter)
2708: 6.8 (Hugh Jackman)
2709: 7.2 (Ellen DeGeneres)
2710: 5.6 (Josh Hartnett)
2711: 7.0 (Jack Black)
2712: 6.6 (Britney Spears)
2713: 5.8 (Jonny Moseley)
2714: 7.7 (Jon Stewart)
2715: 7.5 (Ian McKellen)
2716: 6.3 (Cameron Diaz)
2717: 6.5 (The Rock)
2718: 6.7 (Alec Baldwin)
2719: 6.3 (Kirsten Dunst)
2720: 6.6 (Winona Ryder)
Best Episode: 2714 (Jon Stewart)- 7.7
Worst Episode: 2710 (Josh Hartnett)- 5.6
Season Average: 6.6
Here are the five star sketches from the 01-02 season:
Show Your Patriotism (Seann William Scott)
Dissing Your Dog (Derek Jeter)
Monologue (Ellen Degeneres)
TV Funhouse (Ellen Degeneres)
Music International (Jack Black)
Astronaut Jones (Britney Spears)
Monologue (Jon Stewart)
Talkin’ To The Stars With Rachel And Tracy (Jon Stewart)
Bearologist (Winona Ryder)
Nine sketches. Down six (!) from the previous year and the first time we’ve dipped to single digits since the dreaded 94-95 season. In fact, this is two sketches less than the also dreaded 93-94 season, though to be fair, Stooge rated Hartman’s goodbye, but not Ferrell’s. I agree with Stooge’s conclusion that this season is a slight step up from the previous year (both seasons are the class of the 00-05 era), but you wouldn’t really know it from the lack of five star sketches that appear here. There are a handful of sketches that I would really stump for as having tremendous replay value that weren’t really given a sniff on Stooge’s ratings and I’m also pretty surprised something like Kotex Classic didn’t get a five. I’m sure the 4.5 star list will be lengthy.
And now the ****½ sketches:
Presidential Address (Seann William Scott)
Liberty Medical Supplies (John Goodman)
E.P.T (John Goodman)
CBS Evening Anthrax Update (John Goodman)
Inside the Actor’s Studio (Billy Bob Thornton)
War Party (Billy Bob Thornton)
Fenced-In Area (Billy Bob Thornton)
Snow Globe (Ellen DeGeneres)
News Media (Jon Stewart)
Kotex Classic (Ian McKellen)
The Life and Times of Charles Dickens (Ian McKellen)
Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet (The Rock)
The Duets of Neil Diamond and Bigfoot (The Rock)
White Men Black Women (Alec Baldwin)
I feel like Ferrell was the last true “breakout star” on SNL.
Yeah, there have been cast members who went on to do successful TV series here and there since, but none of them became movie stars like Will did.
It’s a shame too.
Bridesmaids?
Hey Stooge,
Got a copy of this episode you’d be willing to make me a copy of?
I was at the dress rehearsal for this episode and it was awesome.
While Moby was warming up, I yelled YEA MOBY and he pointed at me and did a riff for me. Marci Klein got mad. He also played happy birthday for Tina.
Rest in peace, Alex Trebek. And not that long after Sean Connery either.
RIP to both Trebek and Connery.
This episode should be the next Vintage SNL airing as a tribute to the now gone Jeopardy! host.
Definitely should re-air this episode for the next Vintage SNL hour. Rest In Peace Alex Trebek and Sean Connery.
I got to meet Alex Trebek when I did standby for this show. He was awesome.
Will Ferrell had Joe Piscopo’s look and Bill Murray’s spirit. Ana was like the Mary Gross of her era.
For context, Ryder had been arrested for shoplifting 5 months prior to this episode. Her trial did not start until 4 months after this episode. She was convicted and received probation, community service and fines, but no jail time. This was her only TV appearance on an entertainment program after her arrest until 2010, according to her Wikipedia page. She continued working steadily in movies after her trial, but it’s fair to say they were in smaller and lower profile roles. In 2009 and 2010, she appeared in Star Trek and Black Swan, which could be described as her comeback into a mainstream Hollywood career.
I think Will’s farewell is worthy of a rating, and I’d give it a full *****. Up until the Stefon wedding bit, I don’t think the show ever did a better or more fitting farewell sketch for any cast member. It managed to be a poignant tribute to Will’s legacy on the show, but Tracy’s bit manages to work in the dark gonzo sensibilities that defined so much of Will’s best pieces on the show. It’s really a perfect marriage. I get why Stooge didn’t rate it, but I think it has merit.
LFNY Counter:
Will Ferrell: 8 (6 solo, 1 with Ana, 1 with Maya)
Darrell Hammond: 8
Jimmy Fallon: 1
Rudy Guliani: 1
Seth Meyers: 1
Maya Rudolph: 1 (With Will)
Steve Higgins: 1
Ana Gasteyer: 1 (With Will)
It surprises me that Winona hasn’t hosted since this episode, given Stranger Things’ phenomenal popularity. Maybe she’ll host again this upcoming season due to the Beetlejuice sequel.
Stooge,
It’s really a conidence on how both Alex Trebek and Neil Diamond made cameos during this episode, and both Trebek and Diamond are impressions of Will Ferrell, am I right?
I can’t answer for Stooge but to me, the word “coincidence” doesn’t apply here. They were both popular impressions done by Will and both asked to cameo as part of the send off for Will.
A coincidence would have been if both of them appeared only because they happened to be in NYC, or separate sketches happened to name check them, or some other random reason… and then it turned out that they had another connection to eachother.
Here’s a coincidence, for example: Tom Hanks hosted with musical guest Tom petty in 1996. They’re both named Tom. Was that planned? I doubt it. It’s a coincidence.
Fred Willard hosted with musical guest Devo in 1978. They’re both from Ohio. Planned? Probably not; coincidence.