January 18, 2003 – Ray Liotta / The Donnas (S28 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
Donald Rumsfeld (DAH) says “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” over Iraq

— I almost thought that was the no-longer-on-the-show Ana Gasteyer doing the opening voice-over.
— Some laughs from Darrell’s Donald Rumsfeld gradually breaking into a speak-singing of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” during his answers to the press’s questions.
— A decent musical number at the end, but not comedic.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
when host is “Getting To Know You,” expect a mix of amicability & menace

— I’m enjoying the subtly unsettling psychotic aspect of Ray Liotta’s cheery attitude.
— A funny visual of Tracy and Kattan quickly bolting away when Ray goes over to greet them.
— Fun part with Ray going up to the audience in the balcony seats.
— I love the tense turn with Ray sternly telling one audience member (SNL writer Leo Allen) not to interrupt his friendly exchange with another audience member (SNL writer Emily Spivey).
STARS: ***½

LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY
Regis Philbin (DAH) and Kelly Ripa (AMP)’s rapport is poor; David Caruso (host)

— Our very first of several Regis & Kelly sketches with Darrell and Amy.
— At the beginning, you can unintentionally see the device that the fake snow in the background window is coming from.
— The way Amy and Darrell play off of each other as Regis and Kelly is fun. It’s also nice to see a rare display of Darrell having strong chemistry with one of the newer people in the cast.
— Oh, god, and here’s my least favorite aspect of these Regis & Kelly sketches: a stereotypically gay Gelman, played by, who else? KATTAN.
— Some pretty good laughs during the interview with Ray as David Caruso.
STARS: ***½

THE FUN FRIEND CLUB
onset of puberty has made chesty (RAD) unsuitable for cast of kids show

— A wild premise, and there are so many laughs from Rachel’s innocent, jolly child character’s incongruously big chest bouncing up and down during the dance sequences. Ray also has a good freaked-out reaction at one point, angrily saying “It’s like Girls Gone Wild over here!”
— Rachel’s playing her character’s innocent cluelessness really well. There’s been quite a number of strong Rachel Dratch-starring sketches this season, and this is yet another one.
— A horrible ending to an otherwise very strong sketch.
STARS: ****½

THE FALCONER
Donald attends a frat party while The Falconer is trapped under a log

— This great sketch has officially become recurring.
— I’m surprised to see that tonight’s Falconer installment is still using the original, longer version of the opening title sequence, as I thought it was only used in the first installment of this sketch. As I pointed out in my review of the first installment, the rerun version that I reviewed of that installment replaces the original, longer opening title sequence with the truncated version that’s used in most of the subsequent installments. And as I also pointed out in my review of the first installment, the voice-over in the original, longer opening title sequence doesn’t say at one point, in regards to Will’s Ken Mortimer character, “Then, for reasons known only to him, he left his wife and career, and moved deep into the forest”, and it instead goes into a bit of detail of why he left his wife and career, which includes a photo of  him looking into a mysterious package at home (screencap below).

— I love Will-as-The-Falconer’s scream of “MY LIFE HANGS IN THE BALAAAAANCE!”
— Funny montage of Donald the Falcon partying with wild sorority girls.
— Odd seeing Rachel flashing her breasts (censored, of course), given the sketch that preceded this.
— I love Donald the Falcon suggesting that The Falconer, who is trapped under a log, cut his leg off with the saw that Donald had just given him.
STARS: ****½

STRAIGHT TALK
Global Century Investments representative (CHP) is upfront about deceit

— Hilarious how Parnell is flat-out admitting crooked things about himself and his company, in a very professional, affable manner. Parnell is so perfect for this.
— I absolutely love the tone and humor of this smart piece. Very much a quintessential example of Jim Downey’s wit as a writer.
— Very funny speech from Amy casually admitting to Parnell that she originally came here to kill him, but has become impressed by his straight talk.
— A solid back-and-forth between Parnell and Jimmy at the end.
— This great pre-taped piece ends up being Parnell’s only appearance all night. He makes no live appearances at all in this episode.
STARS: ****½

HANNIBAL
Hannibal Lecter (DAH) & Paul (host) open an eat-your-own-brain restaurant

— Darrell has surprisingly been getting a lot of great airtime tonight. A huge turnaround from how little he appeared in the last few episodes.
— Ray’s forehead/brain make-up looks eerily convincing.
— A solid and committed performance from Ray as he’s expressing how much he loves the taste of his own brain.
— Interesting how this has suddenly turned into an Access Hollywood spoof, kinda giving this sketch an epic, movie-like feel that’s reminiscent of some of SNL’s long, epic sketches from seasons 4 and 5.
— Odd, though, how this is the second episode in a row to have an Access Hollywood spoof, and SNL even shows some continuity with that by having Jimmy’s Pat O’Brien do a follow-up to his “I don’t breathe through my nose ever” opening line from the last episode.
— Dean’s Wayne Brady impression is very spot-on and funny. This reminds me that SNL kept attempting to get a sketch on the air around this time, spoofing Wayne Brady’s talk show, but it never made it past dress rehearsal.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
if elected president, Tim Calhoun will champion some peculiar policies

for his own sake, TRM asks Condoleezza Rice to defend affirmative action

Weekend Update Joke Off- JIF & TIF riff on concept of a naked airline

— Jimmy’s AOL joke, in which he just says “Welcome. You got fired” while a photo of a particular man in shown, hasn’t aged well at all, because, even though I certainly get the “Welcome. You’ve got mail” soundbyte reference, I have no memory of who the man in the photo is (the second above screencap for this Weekend Update), nor what topical story this is referencing.
— Tina sure ruined her Madonna joke by badly flubbing it, but she saved herself with a good ad-lib.
— Our second instance tonight of a Will Forte character officially becoming recurring: Tim Calhoun. Man, Will is on fire tonight.
— Tim Calhoun: “I propose a little more California, and a little less Mexico.”
— Tim Calhoun: “Horsey sex is bad. I wanna make a law against that. Horseys are for riding.”
— Tim Calhoun: “Blind people think they’re sooo cool.”
— Believe it or not, tonight’s overall Tim Calhoun commentary was the first guest commentary that I’ve liked on Update since the first Tim Calhoun commentary from all the way back in the THIRD EPISODE OF THIS SEASON. I kid you not, folks. SNL really did go THAT long without a single good guest commentary on Update (in my opinion, at least), which just goes to show you what a huge step down Update has taken in quality this season.
— Quite a number of bad jokes from Tina tonight.
— Tracy’s outfit is hilarious.
— Tracy points out how he isn’t in any actual sketches this week, which is true (this Update commentary and his brief non-speaking appearance in the monologue are the only things he does tonight). The fact that Tracy is treating his exclusion from sketches tonight as a rare thing and, at one point here, even calls himself “The star of the show”, just shows you how far he’s come along in airtime this season, as him being excluded from sketches used to be all too common in his earlier seasons. By the way, there seems to be quite a number of cast members tonight with little-to-nothing to do: Tracy’s not in any actual sketches, Parnell’s only appearance was in a pre-taped commercial (as I pointed out earlier), and both Jeff and Horatio are completely absent in this entire episode (I’d like to think the latter was shut out of tonight’s show as punishment for his and Jimmy’s Aquarium Repairmen debacle from the last episode, but I know that’s not the case).
— A good laugh from Tracy breaking into a tender singing of “Remember The Time” when directing a loving message towards Condoleezza Rice.
— Tracy’s overall commentary certainly made me laugh, but I dunno, something about it felt below par for his standards. He seemed to be kinda coasting, and this commentary had the feel of SNL just throwing Tracy out there just for the sake of giving him something to do tonight.
— After Tina screwed up a joke earlier tonight and then saved herself with a good ad-lib, Jimmy himself flubs a joke just now, but tries way too hard in his attempt to save himself with an ad-lib.
— Ah, the return of the fun Weekend Update Joke Off segment, this time about an airline containing naked passengers.
— Tonight’s weekly end-of-Update walk-on from SNL writer Eric Slovin has him dressed as a burglar and stealing Jimmy’s pencil right out of his hand. I’m loving this new random running gag at the end of every Update.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Take It Off”

THE HANGMAN
to The Hangman (host), frontier justice requires sex with a grandma (RAD)

— Will’s big night continues, as he now appears in yet ANOTHER big role. Great to see things coming along so well for him so early into his SNL tenure.
— Funny how Rachel has played an adolescent girl and now a very elderly lady in the same episode. That’s nice range.
— A good laugh from Ray revealing he wants to work out a deal where he gets to have sex with Will’s grandmother.
— Amy being way too willing to sleep with Ray AND his buddies without even being asked is very funny.
— Great mock-dramatic delivery from Amy of the line “I am not gonna ask my grandma to bone The Hangman!”
STARS: ***½

TOP O’ THE MORNING
Gangs Of New York fires passions of Patrick & William

— This has officially become recurring. Unlike the Forte stuff that’s become recurring tonight, I’m not excited at all about the return of this Mike Myers pastiche.
— A laugh from Jimmy and Seth advertising Jamison’s Irish Whiskey as medicine.
— Good meta part with Jimmy and Seth looking at each other with guilty facial expressions after Jimmy’s character angrily asks, when complaining about the unconvincing Irish accents in the then-new movie Gangs Of New York, “Who wants to see a bunch of Americans do their best impression of Lucky Charms guy?”
— Why the hell can Jimmy never keep a straight face after punching a hole in the wall in these Top O’ The Morning sketches?
— Man, I swear Jimmy is INTENTIONALLY imitating Mike Myers whenever he and Seth do the “Not here, not now” crying bit. He’s even got Mike’s physical mannerisms down pat.
— Much like John McCain in the first installment of this sketch, this sketch is made a little more watchable by a fun character from Ray.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Who Invited You”

THE RIALTO GRANDE
over-the-hill Vegas lounge comic Buddy Mills (CHK) does his geriatric act

— The debut of Buddy Mills, one of Kattan’s better characters from his later seasons. This is the beginning of what I call The Redemption Of Chris Kattan, as Kattan would go on to do quite a number of solid things in the second half of this final season of his that redeem him from how awful he was in the preceding season and how useless and invisible he was in the first half of this season. That being said, these Buddy Mills sketches follow a VERY strict formula in every single installment, and I worry I’m gonna get tired of it after reviewing two or three installments, especially given how frequently these sketches appear in the second half of this season.
— A funny running gag with the delayed rimshot from Fred’s old drummer character, though that’s something that I’m especially worried I’ll eventually get tired of when it gets repeated in every single subsequent installment of this sketch.
— I love the sounds Kattan’s Buddy Mills makes whenever he laughs (e.g. “Haaaaaa, my prostate, I can’t!”).
— Nice touch with the female cast members each walking by, one-by-one, throughout the sketch as frumpy waitresses.
— Some funny corny banter between Kattan and Ray.
— A huge laugh from Fred doing a delayed rimshot during a dark, emotional conversation between Kattan and Ray.
— Nice ending.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. There was a consistency to most of the episode, there were some really strong segments (especially the one-two-three punch of The Fun Friend Club, The Falconer, and Straight Talk, all of which aired one after another), and the overall show had a vibe to it that I really enjoyed. Ray Liotta was a fun, energetic, and committed host, adding to the enjoyable vibe of this episode. All of this served as a nice rebound from the very lousy, troubled episode we got the preceding week.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jeff Gordon)
a big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Matthew McConaughey