Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
nuke-wielding Kim Jong Il (HOS) makes demands at fawning press conference
— Seth reprises his Brian Williams impression for the first time since Seth was only in his fourth episode on SNL.
— (*groan*) Looks like I’m in for a typical Horatio Sanz ham-fest and shout-fest.
— Four minutes into this sketch, and all I’ve been seeing is a whole bunch of tepid, unfunny dialogue, a whole bunch of bad Asian accents, and, of course, Horatio both hamming and screaming it up.
— Overall, no. Didn’t enjoy a moment of this.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
host & AMP plug Arrested Development so that it won’t be cancelled
— The mentions of Jason Bateman’s Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett being Amy’s husband reminds me that Arnett actually made a cameo in a dress rehearsal sketch from this episode (an award show sketch, I think), but it got cut from the live show. Odd how they would cut a Will Arnett cameo from the live show.
— Jason, on Arrested Development being up against Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: “Who’s gonna watch us when they can watch a hot shirtless guy build a skate ramp for a kid with no bones?”
— Amy’s pretty funny throughout this monologue.
STARS: ***
ME-HARMONY.COM
me-Harmony.com matches narcissists with their opposite-sex alter egos
— Blah. I find this comedic premise weak, and basically just a cheap excuse to throw everybody into drag.
— Will Forte in drag is a pretty horrifying sight.
— Oh, and because this is fucking season 30, we have to end this commercial with a token gay joke, with the lame he-harmony gag with Seth. Ugh. Also, they didn’t even try to make Seth’s gay clone look like he was realistically standing behind him, unlike how they made everybody else realistically look like they were interacting with their opposite-gender clone. Seth looked like he was standing in front of some cheap projector that was showing his gay clone.
STARS: *½
MONKEYS THROWING POOP AT CELEBRITIES
Sean Connery (DAH) gets hit
— Okay, we definitely need to discuss this sketch. This sketch seems to have a negative reputation among a lot of (or is it just some?) hardcore online SNL fans, and seems to be considered a nadir of this season. At the risk of getting stones thrown at me (or, more fittingly, poop thrown at me), as I go through the sketch, I will proceed to argue all the reasons why I’ve always felt this is actually a good sketch.
— I absolutely love the opening shot of this sketch, with Chris, dressed like a rich snob (complete with a smoking pipe, a great little detail), saying into the camera with a very deadpan voice and face “And now, it’s time for Monkeys Throwing Poop At Celebrities.” I can’t think of a more perfect way to open a sketch that has such an iffy and off-putting subject matter. Chris’ reliable, Phil Hartman-esque deadpan is perfect here. (I know, I know. Some of you reading this probably don’t want to imagine Phil Hartman being in a sketch like this.)
— Speaking of Chris, after his aforementioned intro at the beginning of this sketch, I like the subsequent theme song sung by him in the opening title sequence.
— Jason’s kinda stumbly with his lines early on in this.
— A rare non-Celebrity Jeopardy appearance from Darrell’s Sean Connery.
— Right from Darrell-as-Connery’s entrance, I love him immediately halting the proceedings and being very suspicious of what this show is about, and questioning so many things about the show. The way Darrell is playing this so sternly and tensely is cracking me up, and is really making this sketch work so well.
— Darrell’s Connery finally getting poop thrown at him, and him jovially laughing about it isn’t quite as hilarious as I had remembered it, but it’s still working for me.
— I was about to say that the preview of the next episode, with celebrities such as Carrot Top (Seth) and Sharon Stone (Amy) getting poop thrown at them, was pushing it and wasn’t necessary, but then the final shot in that preview, with Kenan as Bill Cosby getting poop thrown right onto his forehead and it sticking on there while he stares at the camera in a deadpan manner with a cigar in his mouth, is an unforgettable image to me and got me back to laughing.
— Overall, yep. I like this sketch. In the past, I used to feel that the people who hate this sketch aren’t giving the actual content of it a shot and are just unfairly judging it by its mere juvenile premise combined with the fact that it’s airing in a bad season like this. In more recent years, I’ve come to accept the fact that people who hate this sketch perhaps ARE fairly judging this sketch as a whole, not just the juvenile premise, and they simply don’t enjoy the sketch at all. I can understand that. However, I personally will defend this sketch to the grave.
STARS: ***½
AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY
Kenny Wilkins (FIM) nixes skydiving
— Will looks like he’s wearing his John George Peppers wig from the famous Key Party sketch, only with sideburns added.
— I love Finesse’s sudden outburst of “HELL NO!”
— Very funny ending with a text crawl revealing that what we just saw was the first black man to say no to a recreational activity only a white man would think to do.
STARS: ****
THE BEST OF T.T. & MARIO
T.T. (MAR) & Mario’s (KET) songs all refer to getting freaky
— The sudden “booty so tight” turn in Maya and Kenan’s first song made me laugh.
— I love how the sexual song right now about “putting it in” suddenly ends with the blunt lyric “JUST A TIP!”
— I like the Kenan and Maya’s monotone “Oh my god, it’s an earthquake” tacked on at the end of an otherwise very unrelated raunchy song for an earthquake movie.
— The intros with Jason and Amy are increasingly hilarious.
— Kenan and Maya’s scenes are kinda hit and miss, but the hits are really working for me.
STARS: ***½
SUBWAY PERFORMERS
subway passenger (host) empties his wallet for pushy in-car performers
— Lots of pairings of Amy and Jason tonight, possibly because of Jason’s Arrested Development co-star being Amy’s husband. I remember some online SNL fans back at this time in 2005 wondering if Amy and Jason constantly playing a romantic couple is SNL’s way of playfully trolling Arnett.
— A laugh from the obvious made-up charity that Finesse says he and the young boy with him are collecting money for.
— Finesse and the young boy’s choreography is pretty funny.
— I’m enjoying all of Rachel’s harsh one-liners to the various subway performers.
— When Jason and Amy try to pretend they’re not there so Kelly Clarkson’s blind character won’t ask them for money, I love Clarkson’s stern delivery of “Pay up, I can smell you.”
— Weak ending.
STARS: ***
AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY
Kenny Wilkins nixes direct deposit
— Finesse’s sudden delivery of “HELL NO!” continues to crack me up, even though it’s just the same joke from last time. Could’ve done without the subsequent text crawl being the exact same from last time, though.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time saying this Important Moment In Black History runner felt too much like an inferior imitation of the type of biting racial humor that was regularly seen at the time on Chappelle’s Show. I can see that, but I’m still enjoying this Important Moment In Black History runner on its own merits.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Since U Been Gone”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Prince Charles (SEM) thinks Camilla Parker Bowles (FRA) is quite a catch
TIF & AMP sing “War Is All Around” in honor of Condoleezza Rice
not wanting to anger Bill Cosby, KET passes on a chance to denigrate him
— Blah at that clapter-inducing anti-Bush joke of Tina’s.
— Did we really need extended audience laughter from Amy’s tepid joke implying Howard Dean has no neck?
— The apple-eating/knife bit between Tina and Amy was weak, especially Amy’s stupid extended nervous babbling of a cartoonish “Hupupupupup!”
— OH FUCKING NO. The debut of Seth and Fred’s Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles Update commentaries. I absolutely hate these, mainly for a reason that I’ll state when it occurs in tonight’s commentary.
— An okay ad-lib from Seth after he messes up a line.
— OH, GOD. And there goes the main reason I hate these awful Charles/Camilla commentaries: the cheap, hacky, and unfunny punchline being a man-on-man kiss between Seth and Fred, which is all this whole commentary seemed to be leading up to. As if this SNL era (particularly this season) hadn’t ALREADY been relying way too goddamn heavily on the “hilarious” and “shocking” sight of men kissing each other for a cheap, unnecessary laugh.
— Boy, I am HATING most of Tina and Amy’s jokes tonight, even moreso than usual in the Fey/Poehler era of Update.
— Oh, no. Now I have to sit through Tina breaking out into a song?
— Ugh, that whole bit with Tina and Amy singing an altered version of the Mary Tyler Moore theme song during a Condoleezza Rice photo montage was awful, as was Amy’s dumb and unfunny ad-lib afterwards about how she and Tina look like synchronized swimmers in the freeze-frame of them throwing their hats into the air. Jesus Christ, tonight’s Update is destroying me with how bad it is.
— I see this must’ve been when the Bill Cosby rape allegations first started, 9 long years before those allegations started being taken much more seriously (thanks to SNL’s own Hannibal Buress, IIRC), leading to Cosby eventually being found guilty and sentenced to prison.
— Kenan’s brief appearance during Tina and Amy’s Bill Cosby bit feels kinda odd to watch now. To think now that there was once a time where Kenan wanted to refrain from making jokes about Bill Cosby’s rape allegations because Kenan wanted to continue working in Bill Cosby projects like the Fat Albert movie he had then-recently starred in. If he only knew…
— Tina and Amy’s losing streak in tonight’s Update continues, as their whole Bill Cosby bit did not work for me. Seemed mostly like YET ANOTHER excuse for lame Fey/Poehler self-indulgence, with them wasting airtime by taking turns doing bad Cosby impressions for half a minute.
— I will say that I did like Tina’s Tracy Morgan joke just now.
— And tonight’s Update has mercifully ended. Overall, oof. What a wretched Update, and further backs up my viewpoint that the Fey/Poehler era was a Dark Age for Weekend Update.
STARS: *½
GAYS IN SPACE
homosexual rocketmen encounter sperm-seeking lesbians
— I’ll say for the second time tonight: OH FUCKING NO. The debut of a recurring sketch that I’ve always despised with a fiery passion, and consider to be the bane of season 30’s aforementioned hyperfocus on hacky stereotypical gay humor.
— Did Jason just say “Bokay” instead of “Okay” just now? That would later become a somewhat common thing Kenan would later say in the Deep House Dish sketches (another recurring sketch I’ve always despised with a fiery passion).
— Literally NOTHING in this awful marathon of gay stereotypes is working for me. This sketch represents so many things I hate not only about this season of SNL, but about James Anderson’s tendencies as a writer.
STARS: *
LOOPING SESSION
in the voiceover booth, Bill Kurtis (DAH) mixes graphic script & chitchat
— I love how Darrell’s Bill Kurtis is constantly and seamlessly going back-and-forth between having a family-friendly conversation with the technicians and reading the increasingly disturbing and graphic murder details into the microphone. This is being executed really well, especially considering this is a later-era Darrell Hammond performance, long after he started seeming checked-out as a performer. His performance and timing in this sketch is top-notch.
— Hmm, maybe I spoke a bit a little too soon about Darrell putting rare effort into this sketch, as he didn’t even commit to that guitar ending. He can be seen IMMEDIATELY putting the guitar back down before the screen even faded to black. Certainly not a big deal, though, and has no effect on this strong sketch.
— Overall, a forgotten and underrated sketch.
STARS: ****
AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY
Kenny Wilkins nixes sushi
— Once again, the same “HELL NO!” gag as the last two times, but the funny sushi-eating premise of this one made it funny. However, this runner would probably be better if, instead of always showing the very first instance of a “HELL NO!” in different situations, the second and third installment of this runner showed the very first instance of other black phrases.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Breakaway”
RAP NIGHT WITH CHUBB HOTTY
Chubb Hotty sings a duet with his girlfriend (musical guest)
— FUCKING KILL ME. This dreck again.
— When Horatio’s Chubb Hotty made his entrance in this sketch, what was with the awkward way the curtain he was standing behind raised up in the air, then got pulled to the side? Was that an intentional joke? If so, it came off completely half-assed and poorly executed.
— Like last time, Kenan is the only thing that comes even remotely close to holding this horrible sketch together, especially his solid delivery of his line about Chubby Hotty eating Free Willy in front of kids at Sea World.
— Chubb Hotty: “Yesterday, I took a poop the size of a Hyundai.” Again, I ask: FUCKING KILL ME.
— That pre-taped behind-the-scenes video was awful.
— Aaaaaaaand there goes the obligatory huge fart in tonight’s Chubb Hotty sketch.
— Wait, you mean to tell me we get MULTIPLE huge farting this time, instead of just one huge fart like we got in the first installment of this sketch?!? I ask one more time in my review of this sketch: FUCKING KILL ME.
STARS: *
PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS
students at a public speaking workshop exhibit presentational defects
— After two consecutive episodes of being stuck in Non-Speaking Bit Role Hell, Rob Riggle finally gets another chance to remind the audience that he’s actually funny.
— I’m enjoying how the performers in this sketch are each getting a comedic showcase one-by-one that’s different from one another.
— Yet another romantic pairing of Jason and Amy. Yep, I’m starting to see what some people meant by SNL playfully trolling Will Arnett.
— SNL saves the best for last, as the underrated Chris Parnell absolutely steals this whole sketch with his very funny Gesture Dyslexia bit.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— A noteworthy unplanned and funny moment during these goodnights: as Jason is crouching down and acting playfully with the monkey from the Monkeys Throwing Poop At Celebrities sketch, the monkey suddenly swipes his arm kinda violently towards Jason’s face (not making actual contact) (the third above screencap for these goodnights), leading to Jason making a very amused and surprised “Ohhh!” face towards the audience (the fourth above screencap for these goodnights), and Rachel to put her hands over her own mouth in a shocked “Oh my god” manner. The camera then cuts to a different part of the home base stage, where Amy is seen looking up at the monitor and laughing her ass off at the monkey incident (the last above screencap for these goodnights). Great little goodnights moment here.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A lot of people seem to consider this episode to be a nadir of season 30. I feel like where you stand with this episode might also just so happen to depend on whether or not you like Monkeys Throwing Poop At Celebrities. (I’m not implying that sketch ALONE makes one like or dislike this entire episode; just that, from what I’ve seen, people who strongly dislike this episode also don’t seem to like that sketch.) I like that sketch, and I happen to feel this episode as a whole is okay-ish…for THIS season’s standards. That’s pretty much damning with faint praise, though. I’m apparently in the minority in not finding this episode to be among the worst of season 30. What can I say? While I found this episode to be somewhat hit and miss (especially the post-Weekend Update half of the show), the hits outnumbered the misses for me. However, it needs to be said that most of the misses were not only weak; they were fucking WRETCHED, particularly an even-worse-than-usual Fey/Poehler Update, and two of my absolute least favorite recurring sketches from this period of SNL (Gays in Space, Chubb Hotty), both recurring sketches of which epitomize so much of what’s wrong with this season.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paris Hilton)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Hilary Swank. The way a lot of people feel about the Jason Bateman episode is how *I* feel about this Hilary Swank episode. This episode pretty much BROKE me when it originally aired and led to me reaching my official boiling point with season 30, which I’ll be going into some detail about in my review of this episode.
“Hot Plate” coming up next episode. Yeah that might be the nadir of this troubled season
I’m indifferent on Monkeys Throwing Poop at Celebrities. It’s not inherently terrible, but a different cast would’ve done it better.
That being said, I agree with the belief that this is the nadir of S30, though the upcoming Johnny Knoxville episode gives it a run for its money. When I first saw it I was shocked at how bad it was. It’s telling that all of the apparently good sketches (Looping Session, Moment In Black History, Public Speaking Class) have completely escaped my brain, but everything in this episode that cratered I can remember vividly.
Kim Jong II Press Conference, Chubb Hotty, T.T. and Mario, Subway Performers, and Gays In Space is like the exact summation of everything I hate about modern SNL and desperately wish they would stop doing.
I didn’t know the rape allegations against Cosby went as far back as 2005. I thought they didn’t start until around 2013.
I thought the monologue was weak, and didn’t care for monkey/poop sketch. The subway sketch didn’t wow me either.
Gays in Space was pretty much one of the lowlights of this era, and part of the show’s over reliance on hacky gay-themed humor.
Who would have thought that this would be the earliest we would see of reports involving Cosby.
I think between Will Ferrell’s departure and the 2005 arrivals, SNL to me was in a bad and mediocre rut. Good sketches, characters, and even episodes were few and far between.
I think the writing is to blame more than casting, though not everyone had chemistry with each other, and as a whole.
Gays in Space was always “Meh” for me. Monkeys Throwing Poop at Celebrities was funny to me. Series of Important Moments in Black History was amusing. I looooove Looping Session especially all those back-and-forths! I think I remember laughing at Rap Night with Chubb Hotty but I don’t know how I’d feel about it now. I wonder of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ appearances in “Arrested Development” eventually contributed to her finally agreeing to return to “SNL” as guest host having performed with Jason and Amy there…
That should be “if” between “wonder” and “Julia”.
As far as monkey sketches go, I think I prefer Dana’s Cooking With Monkey.
Yeah, while this isn’t a great episode, I was surprised by so many commentators’ hate for it. I love the subway sketch (the barbershop quartet bit always slays me) and yes, I will defend the monkey sketch. I maintain that if the monkey sketch was in a better season, people would like it better. Also, Bateman is kind of stumbly, especially early on, so perhaps a host better suited for the kind of insane patter this sketch requires would help too. But the intentionally dumb intro and theme, the fact that the monkey has a human name and the handler has a monkey name, Connery insisting that this better not be the show about monkeys throwing poop…laugh riot for me.
Felt bad for Kelly Clarkson having to be in that Rap Night sketch.
Bateman is really really loud in the monologue, haha. He’s not bad in this episode, but I think people had higher expectations, considering how good he is as a comedic performer.
What I find amusing about this season is that while most people agree on the best episodes, the worst episode gets really varied reactions, which probably is one of the reasons why is this is a troubled season.
ANOTHER wildly uneven Year 30 show. It’s like Year 19 in miniature; what’s good is good, but what’s bad is dreadful. I would have forgotten “Me-Harmony” existed if not for Forte in drag, and the obligatory gay joke with Seth. I didn’t hate the “Mary Tyler Moore” theme song parody, but Update as a whole was nothing special. Darrell and Finesse were the MVPs that night.
I’m with Stooge: “Monkeys Throwing Poop at Celebrities” had every right to be dumb and awful, but it walked that fine line.
IIRC The Bill Kurtis sketch got cut from the Topher Grace episode. The tall guy in the barbershop quartet is James Anderson, who rarely appears on camera and the short guy is Tina Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond.
Here’s an interview with Anderson and Bowen Yang. It’s mainly about GP-Yass from Steve Carell / Ella Mai but it touches on Bowen seeing Gays In Space as important for representation.
https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/snl-gp-yass-james-anderson-bowen-yang-interview.html
Important Moments in Black History was written by Finesse with Lauren Pomerantz and J.B. Smoove which he revealed on Late Night with Seth. Couple of other good anecdotes about sketches that got cut.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6cUWMZTyKpc
I remember at the time thinking this was the worst show of that season, especially the “Monkey Throwing Poop” sketch. I recently started going through this season’s shows out of curiosity because I had only watched each episode 1 time when they first aired 15 years ago, but I skipped right over this episode, as well as the infamous Kate Winslet hosted show, just couldn’t get myself to watch those 2 shows again. I remember thinking the Tom Brady episode was kind of a mess as well. But overall I liked season 30. I never really understood what all the criticism for the season as a whole was about, although now re-watching the season I can see how a bunch of the recurring characters had become to overused and boring.
I can see why people would find this episode to have various strengths (the classroom sketch, the Bill Kurtis sketch, the subway sketch, the first “oh hell no” [the others are too much of the same for me]), even if I hate a lot of it. As Ruby said above, my opinion on this episode isn’t really down to the monkey sketch. I’ll boil down those reasons:
– doubling down on homophobia and cheap racial material. Not that it was anything new for SNL, or most TV, but the image of so many Asian extras having to watch various non-Asian actors doing “funny” voices is excruciating – one of the worst cold opens the show has ever done. And while I respect that Bowen Yang, and presumably many others, enjoyed Gays in Space and found it groundbreaking, I just don’t get any enjoyment out of seeing straight actors playing up the laziest stereotypes. The performances aren’t just stereotypical, they’re terrible (Bateman in particular is phoning it in, not that I can blame him). Even the beginning with Maya singing has some timing issues. There are one or two after this which are more tolerable (and I think Maya is replaced by Will, which is a marginal help), but overall, it’s just crap.
– the crass treatment of sexual abuse. Again, this isn’t exclusive to SNL, but the Michael Jackson stuff dates horribly, and even at the time I would not have laughed once. More surprising to me is the glib way that Tina and Amy, who are so often championed for adding female strength to the show, treat the accusations against Cosby.
– general cheapness and general weak writing. The whole episode is littered with lowest common denominator material, but even the better sketches struggle with an ending (subway, Bill Kurtis), and middling sketches falter with poor oversight. The TT and Mario sketch would be amusing (even if Kim Wayans and DAG did it much better on In Living Color) if it did not drag on and on and on and if they did not have the frequent intercuts to Amy and Jason. Jason really bungles most of the last segments, and Amy ends up getting lost as a result. The monologue is also poorly written, with the Jackson jokes and relying SO much on Amy saying “I don’t want to sell my boat!” over and over and over, to the point where the audience, embarrassingly, dies off completely. The only merit to any of this is completely unintended and ironic (Will and Amy being long divorced, and Amy being the rich person she is lampooning herself as here).
– weak host. I’m not a huge Jason Bateman fan, to be honest with you, but I know he has a knack for comedy. Unfortunately, whether it’s down to live performance, or being under the weather, he’s very off to me here, somehow worse than his sister, who was never an actress but at least did not weaken the material surrounding her. His performance in the Monkeys Throwing Poop sketch, which is a crass idea but I can see where it could be amusing (and Darrell is great – indeed, when he’s not doing the tired Clinton or his awful Ahnold, Darrell’s a quiet MVP for this season) with a better host. Jason is just about all wrong – not only stumbly, but bad energy and a performance that draws too much attention to himself rather than the material. He is close to everything Norm hated Bill Pullman for in that game show sketch back in ’96. And he is also “off” in various ways through other sketches, all the way to the end.
– Update. This is essentially everything terrible about Tina’s Update and the Tina/Amy Update duo, crushed into a blender. Smug, self-indulgent, and tin-eared. I HATE the “57% is an F” joke, which feels like something you would yuk at with your friends in a bad sitcom. I had as little use for W as she did, but 57% is a strong poll rating for modern Presidents, which she very well knew and ignored because the desperate need for clapter was too much to resist. Never have I wanted to see Norm wander onto the stage and prick a pin in such puffery more than I did in that moment. It’s one of the worst Updates of all time – just awful.
I don’t agree with your overall assessment of the episode, but on my recent half re-watch (I made it about a third of the way through Update), I noticed some dubious material. The approval rating joke is some liberal goalpost moving, which is just so insufferable about this era. The joke has no impact if it has to skirt around logic. And then there is a joke about the show JAG (and what it rhymes with) that it absolutely horrifying for this late in the show’s run.
It’s interesting to see the different ways people viewed Gays In Space. To me, it’s just cheap and lazy. Gay as a punchline. But if Yang thought it was a great moment in representation, who am I to judge? Obviously, however, he never saw Kids In The Hell, which was truly daring, progressive, smart and defiantly, gleefully gay. Watching that might have served his own comedy a bit better.
The JAG joke I blocked out until you mentioned it again. Just pure refuse.
I do think SNL has made a lot of good content, so I don’t want to get on my high horse, but I think that at times it matters more how young you are or where you are in life when you see a certain moment for the first time. And that is probably the cast with comparing SNL to other shows – by 2005, that and Mad TV were generally the only game in town (I can’t even remember if shows like KitH were being repeated; I think SCTV may have been on late night reruns but that might have stopped by this point).
From Bowen’s age and what he’s said about his life, he was 14, in a very conservative home, when he presumably first saw Gays in Space. I can see where that might have had an effect on him. My first experience with gay characters in sketch comedy was the Tracey Ullman Show – the gay dad and his partner played by Dan Castalanetta and Sam McMurray. We can make our criticisms of that of course, through 2020 eyes, but it was special to me, it set a very high bar for me, and I ended up being very sour toward much of SNL’s content in this area (although I skipped a lot of 93-95 on the original run so for me the bad stuff didn’t start until around 2000).
I don’t like how lowstakes the comedy in this era is. The other three “all-time worst” seasons would at least try some ambitious or weird stuff a lot of the time. S30 operates on just like three different modes: “gay”, “fart”, and “Maya with goofy voice.”
When I saw that Hilary Swank is our next host, all I can think of is, “I’m a girl, you know.”
Everyday, I lean ever closer to deciding that I’m going to skip these seasons, once my binge watch gets to them. I feel for you, Stooge–you haven’t had a great last few months, with this.
*****
To be very honest, it angers me that the cast from these years seem to view them favorably. That clip that was shared in the Paris Hilton comments just made me go, “Wow…” when Seth, Maya, and Fred were calling the sketches “great.”
And I listened to Bowen’s podcast episode with James Anderson, for some reason, and, when he praised “Gays In Space,” not knowing what it was, I assumed it must have been a peetty clever sketch, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Really, are there ANY examples of cast members from the past, say, fifteen years, looking back at sketches and seeing that they were awful? Because cast members from the first twenty years, in particular, seem very able to do that. Maybe I’m just missing certain interviews and stuff, since I hold the old casts in higher regard, mostly, but it seems like the recent groups just don’t have the ability to be critical of themselves…or even worse, they just have some really horrible comedy instincts.
Yeah, I don’t get the praise for the show’s gay humor from this period. This was 2005, not 1995. As someone said above, Kids in the Hall (produced by Lorne!) had done much more revolutionary stuff earlier. Will and Grace had been on for years.
I think part of it is more recent cast members have more to lose by being critical, as Lorne has a lot of ties in the industry, and also because the backstage atmosphere doesn’t seem to have been as toxic for recent casts (although that may just be because they don’t talk about it as much). Even some cast members who have spoken of unhappiness or feeling out of place (Taran Killiam, Abby Elliot, Sasheer Zamata, Casey Wilson, etc.) have mostly avoided the writing. The most I’ve heard is when some cast members have owned up to some of the material they played being offensive in current times.
When Pete Davidson leaves he’ll probably put some stuff on blast though…
Here’s an article from Salon.com from 2014 that touches on some of the performers from the ’90s and ’00s that contributed to how “soft” SNL had gotten by then (and even now). That might play into this season and the previous one too.
https://www.salon.com/2014/09/12/how_saturday_night_live_got_soft/
Thoughts?
I think there’s some truth to it, although I don’t think Tina has ever been “soft” (few people from SNL have ever managed to have their own specific voice and style for as many years as she has), and I have never understood the idea that Colin Jost being happy to be on Update was anything to see as bad (I do think he and Cecily were too ‘Up With People’ to work as a duo). I think that the firings of Taran Killam and Jay Pharaoh and the backstage tensions that spilled out around that time, along with Trump’s election, probably put paid to a great deal of the softness in the pipeline at that time. Beyond the above instances, I’d say Seth and Mulaney have both become much harder-edged (hell, Mulaney’s last monologue was possibly the most radical thing I’ve seen on SNL, even if it was mostly ignored by the press) about the world, if not necessarily about their time at the show.
Could’ve been more in depth, but no lies were told.
I enjoy monkeys throwing poop. It’s just ridiculous, shut your brain off type material. The theme and Chris’ opening is burned into my memory.
Fun fact: This episode partly airs 17 years to the day after Jason’s sister Justine hosted.
Not only do I think Monkeys Throwing Poop is a good sketch, I think it’s one of the great sketches of the season. It’s such a tricky balance to do stupid and lowbrow just right. Gays In Space and Chubb Hotty are prime examples of just how tiresome these pieces can get. There’s no sense of joy, no fun in the writing. Monkeys Throwing Poop, on the other hand, is positively…intelligent (?) about its premise. The joke is the premise, that’s what we’re making fun of. The majority of the sketch is Connery’s hesitant questioning of the show’s intent. Added details like Parnell’s “refined” opener and the fact that Forte and the monkey have swapped names are the little details that show that the writers were having fun with the whole premise. The only other sketch that carries a similar “lowbrow but we know it” vibe is future classic “Who’s On Top?” The other important element is how much the audience is buying into the silliness of it all. They know it’s stupid, but they also know that the SHOW knows it’s stupid. Everyone is having fun with the silliness. It’s too loose to be a five star sketch and the big moment only REALLY works with Cosby bit (one of the few timely jokes from this era that actually holds up), but it’s an absolutely winner for this season.
I don’t get to bent out of shape with *some* of SNL’s poor racial record from this era. The show has another decade of blackface, throwing black guys in dresses and other troubling racial stereotyping for me to really go after this era. Anything post-08, though, and it becomes super embarrassing. That’s all to say that while it’s not much of anything, I didn’t HATE the cold opening. I was at least tickled by Horatio air guitaring “Smoke On The Water” on the bomb. That’s a funny bit.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed TT and Mario on my most recent re-visit. A really strong piece for all involved. The bumpers kind of change-up the pacing, but I like the back and forth a lot.
I had forgotten all about Looping Session and Parnell’s brilliance at the end. Lots of strong content in this episode all around. Not quite sure why it has such a toxic reputation (despite the clear clunkers).
On top of everything else, Gays in Space isn’t even original; Cheech & Chong’s 1983 sketch movie Still Smokin featured a sketch called “Queers Wars”. It was about as good as you’d think
Meaning, something that seems like a good idea when you’re high, basically.
57% is a F is the same joke as Tina’s season 27 joke “President Bush’s approval rating is at an all time high of 83%, Bush is happy about it because it’s the first solid B he’s ever gotten”
Preceding Stooge’s coverage of this season one of the complaints of this year was the show’s attempts to make Seth the new face/star. Now that we’re halfway through the season I think it’s fair to say that hasn’t entirely been true. I actually feel like theyre pushing Horatio as the face/star, hard. And the overall quality of the show is suffering because of that push.
Leo Allen wrote Me-Harmony.
Hey, rssk, out of curiosity, did you get that and the Kenward/Woomba credit from an old forum post(?) from a crew member who worked on some S30/31 pre-tapes? I remember seeing those credits there (and a couple more from S31) and that’s also where I got the Downey/cheapkids credit.
Jesse, sorry I didn’t respond sooner.
I’m that crew member.
🙂
Promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPl_O3bEVXs
I guess that means there was going to be a Poehler Jackson sketch in this episode that was cut…real loss there…
Needless to say, parts of the monologue did not age well with Jason mentioning of Amy being married to his “Arrested Development” co-star Will Arnett (of course, they would later divorce). I was just thinking that as it was always the only part of the monologue that stayed with me to this day.
In a big surprise to me (given that it’s been 15 years), Jason will be hosting the next SNL episode. Congrats to him (and to SNL), and may this one be better than the first…
I would actually be shocked if the upcoming episode has anything as solid as this episode’s best pieces.
I only enjoy two sketches in this episode (Bill Kurtis and the classroom sketch), which is about where I am with most SNL of modern times (if I can enjoy 2-3 pieces I can take that). It just depends on how bad the bad stuff is. The bad stuff in this episode is among some of the most wretched I have ever seen on SNL.
I enjoy those two as well as Monkeys and TT & Mario. Subway Performers is fine too. The batting average is pretty standard (if not above average), but the strike outs are flailing messes (Update included).
Subway is one of those I want to like; it does have positives (and Kelly Clarkson would have been a good host).
To be fair though, I’d be shocked if it had anything near as bad as Gays in Space.
Jason is returning to host on 12/5/20. Hopefully we’ll get better show than season 30.
Too bad it’s also where Morgan Wallen is booked.
It’s funny that Jason’s monologue was basically just him (comically) begging people to watch Arrested Development. All these years later and its still baffling to me how that shows ratings were so terrible .
Monkeys Throwing Poop and TT & Mario showcase the goofy energy that makes it hard for me to completely hate this era, though sketches like Gays in Space remind me why most of it doesn’t hold up. It’s funny, if James Anderson wasn’t gay, I’d assume he was a raging homophobe. Surprised Horatio didn’t play Kenan’s part in TT & Mario (though I like his performance much more than I would have probably liked Horatio’s). That definitely feels like a typical role he would play in this era.
I agree with that online fan. While I still like the Important Moments in Black History sketch, it definitely felt like the show trying to capitalize off the success of Chapelle show. It actually reminded me of their When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong sketches, which are far superior (though obviously almost anything from Chappelle’s Show is far superior to almost anything from Season 30).
Ok was this episode REALLY that bad? I found myself laughing my ass off at almost every sketch! I will however agree that the Fey/Poehler Update era was God awful! Bateman seemed incredibly nervous in the monologue but then warmed up a bit more as the night went on. I even liked the Chubb Hotty stuff was a tad funny. I’m also partial because I love Kelly Clarkson. Let’s see how Bateman does tonight!
Bateman’s monologue tonight is about the monkey incident!
Was just about to post that! Bateman mentioned the monkey trying to attack him in his monologue! Ha!
Bateman interestingly basically spent his whole monologue recapping and showing the monkey incident from the goodnights. Kind of a weird idea for a monologue, which makes me wonder if Bateman himself really really remembered it.
From the looks of tonight’s show it looks like James Anderson returned with Cecily.
Yea Bateman’s 0-2 so far with SNLs. At least the Eminem parody tonight was good (I’ve actually liked most of Pete’s songs this year, especially the one with Sandler).
And yea, Cecily’s one of my favorite performers on the show, but tonight shows why she needs to leave. Her first 2 roles in months and they’re just variations of characters she’s been playing for years.
If James Anderson returned, then he didn’t appear in the credits.
Did anyone else think the mall Santa sketch had a 94/95 feel with the constant falling down and blood? Bateman and Cecily even said “son of a bitch!” like Farley over and over again
It felt more like a Ferrell showcase to me. That was actually my favorite live sketch of the night, though. Otherwise, it was yet another episode from this cast that would have been close to unwatchable without Update & the pre-tapes.
Also, wow at that Kate sketch being the lead off. I know the show makes a lot of sketches recurring that don’t need it, but man, that was almost a line-for-line recreation of the sketch from the Driver episode.
I thought this episode was better than his last, although nothing was as good as the classroom sketch. On the positive side, Update and the pre-tapes were fine, the cold open was cameo-free and had some laugh lines (not great but this is the best I can say about modern SNL cold opens), and nothing came close to being as bad as about 3 things in this first episode. To be honest I don’t think you’re going to get a lot more from Bateman. This was mostly a boilerplate episode which continues what we’ll get until a number of current people (Kate, Kyle, Cecily, Jost, Che, etc.) leave.
James Anderson apparently was not in the credits, so maybe Cecily and Kent Sublette wrote that piece (I too thought James must have written it).
Here is Jason talking about the goodnights.
Same, I thought for sure Anderson wrote the lounge act sketch. Must have been Sublette I guess
I just re-watched this episode for the first time since it first aired in 2005 out of curiosity after watching the new Jason Bateman hosted episode from last night. I had said 6 months ago in a review that I skipped over watching this episode when going through the whole 04-05 season because I remember thinking it was a terrible episode, but now I’m not sure why I hated it so much. The two Horatio centered sketches I still think are weak, and Amy’s boat thing in the monologue is stupid, but everything else I was laughing a lot at. The Monkey Throwing Poop sketch is hilarious, the sketch with Darrell doing the voice over and making comments on the side is a pretty obscure sketch that I think was pretty good, and final sketch of the night with the public speaking presentations was really clever. I had no recollection of seeing that sketch before. Maybe I had dosed off the last few minutes when it first aired.
Jason’s upcoming 2020 show might be the first time in a while they let the cast run things and were cameo free, almost. I was impressed his entire monologue was about the monkey incident; I love when the show references its own history.
Kate must be nearing the end because she’s too front and center so far this season. How many favors did Lorne call in this year, lol.
I haven’t watched the Cecily/Bowen lounge sketch (cut from my Global online stream because of music), but I found the episode refreshing in some ways and in others just the regular amount of tedious. And the shrunken crowd was DEAD, which is a killer for things like the mall Santa sketch where a live audience could have made it a classic (also SNL’s struggles with blocking remain an ever-present issue).
The cold open was the best of the season – it was nearly good. Not quite, but allllllmost. The sketch checked all the necessary boxes, but then just kept creating new boxes and checking those as well. A tight five minute sketch surrounding Melissa Carrone would have been great (better yet, just introduce her as the Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With – don’t even pretend it’s an impression). Instead, they kept adding unnecessary elements like Alex Moffat’s alien abductions guy and Chloe Fineman’s baffling Nicole Kidman thing.
The monologue follows SNL’s new mandate of actual monologues. Bateman was very smooth here, absolutely in his element. Though I thought it was silly that he had to set the audience at ease in assuring that the monkey wasn’t actually killed. Little things like that and the Christmas Zoom Call sketch’s Hallmark Card ending really grate on me, like they’re coddling the audience. Then again, seeing certain responses to modern SNL on Reddit makes it seem like audiences need coddling.
Update was strong as usual. It stuns me that Che-Jost is the most real time hated Update duo since Quinn. Their jokes are good enough to rank in the Norm pantheon, I just wish they were capable of deadpan.
I can’t stand Heidi’s vocal fry Update character, but I thought this one had some really interesting writing (that the audience, of course, didn’t quite go for). The “you can’t do that” conceit was really funny as she tried to talk about Forrest Gump.
I liked Pete’s Update piece, those always work, but the Eminem bit was…cute, but, eh. Not my thing, I guess. The “Pete is a rapper” smacks of desperation to me and they’ve almost never made me laugh.
I get that Kyle’s schtick is winding down, but I still really dug the “I Kill Bits” piece.
Potentially heretical ideas:
Should SNL, during this pandemic age, adopt either no audience or go with like a laugh track? The small audience just can barely generate any noise and kills some sketches that, as pointed out, would probably hit far better with a big group.
I found “no audience” to make the pandemic at home episodes to have a pleasantly offbeat feel, although I dunno if SNL is really the type of show to excel at that long-term. A laugh track could be horrible, but shows like SCTV did it okay. They’ve gotten sophisticated enough at such things that I don’t think it would be awful.
Not playing to an audience has really freed up the comedic rhythm of the late night shows at the At Home SNLs were possibly the biggest beneficiary. Attempting to bring the old format back to the small audience has just felt like death. A good piece should be able to speak for itself, but sometimes a lively crowd can add energy to even the lousiest piece. It’s funny, I used to complain about audiences being TOO lively in recent years to the point where nothing bombs, but now it seems like everything is bombing and it’s kind of tough to watch.
Any thoughts Carson on that sketch involving the musical guest and that controversy he was in?
Update gets so much hate these days because Jost is a bland guy white guy and Che doesn’t agree with liberals 100% on everything, therefore they’re both the worst human beings on Earth (I hate being the ‘anti PC’ guy, because on average those guys suck, but the modern SNL audience is SOOOO Gen Z/Millennial performative woke that it bugs the ever living crap out of me). Also, Pete & Colin have dated beautiful woman many men want to sleep with, and even if they act like it isn’t, that’s about 90% of the reason guys hate them. Men are very petty lol.
Agree that almost all of Heidi’s Update characters suck, but I always like the movie reviewer, and, like you, thought this was one of her better appearances. That character taps into the more deluded aspects of teenagers that make me laugh.
I had the same thought about Cecily. I wish they just called her “Republican You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With” and had her come out in the dress and a MAGA hat.
Oh yeah, forgot about that one. It was fun. I see some on the AVClub are very riled up about it, but it if you’re going to make sketch about that, this was as fun of a way to do it. I wasn’t mad they kicked him off, I wasn’t mad they brought him back and I think it’s kind of fun they did a sketch about it. Having Jason and Bowen be his dopplegangers was a very fun, silly choice.
Oh, and while most people see a connection between that woman Cecily played and the Girl at Party, she actually reminded me more of that quasi-recurring character Cecily played who refuses to believe things like Terrazano’s Pizza is just Domino’s.
Colin Jost mentioned being uncomfortable with the at-home format, and Lorne also feels the show must be live (as Colin is basically a mouthpiece to Lorne this is one in the same, I guess). I liked the at-home format, mainly because there was time for many more sketches and a wider variety of material, but I tend to wonder if Lorne cares for that level of variety (the at-home episodes progressively became more like a regular episode). Personally I would rather see them work without a laugh track, as the “sweetening” in the season 11 repeats is a bit unnerving (and whatever they tried doing in the first at-home Update was even worse), but I do feel bad for the cast members who have spoken out about crowd response. I think the headwriters and Lorne should take this as an opportunity to move away from sure thing applause soaks and try to take more chances in the writing – more slice-of-life pieces, more dramatic pieces. If they aren’t going to laugh that much anyway, it won’t matter. One of the reasons I enjoyed the Issa Rae episode the most of any this season so far is because it was the episode that was trying the least for the quick laughs.
@Carson, just focusing on Cecily’s impression might have been the better approach (although I was thrilled that Alex Moffat got some good comic material – or any, frankly). I’ve started to believe that SNL is now under a mandate to have cold opens that are at least 10 minutes long, in order to get more Youtube revenue (10 minutes of video + ads that generate at least 1-2 million views). I hope I’m wrong and we can go back to shorter cold opens soon.
I feel like all of Heidi’s old Update characters reached a natural end, but Bailey’s return was…fine. “….fine” is probably how I’d describe a lot of the familiar bits from very familiar cast members (Pete, Kyle, Cecily, Kate, etc.). I’m just hoping we might get something fresher in the next two episodes, but as these are likely to be goodbye tours for Kate, I shouldn’t.
As for the Morgan Wallen sketch, well…it was nice to see Jason Bateman getting to cut loose. And hey, they gave Andrew Dismukes a line.
The thing about the at home episodes is I liked them, but I liked them as individual segments–meaning I liked them when I picked them off to watch on YouTube the next day (they were made for that format). It was tough for me to watch them as a full episode. They really needed more of a connecting thread I think (even just like the host popping in to introduce the segments).
Now that I know the monkey tried to kill Jason Bateman during goodnights, I looked at his sketch in a new light. 😉
The artist who performed on Jason’s recent show is now under hot water for something different:
https://variety.com/2021/music/news/morgan-wallen-country-radio-removed-racial-slur-1234899010/
Could his episode not be repeated or could SNL just cut out Morgan’s appearances?
Shame on SNL for inviting him back on the show. Shame on them! Ugh.
To be honest I have always wondered how much of the decision was really down to Lorne and how much was down to NBC (as Wallen had started out on The Voice). They not only had Wallen return, they also had a sketch that essentially whitewashed his actions. It felt very “corporate overlords” to me.
Needless to say I’m not sure this one will be rerun for a while…
There was no singing involved, but Kenan and Maya did a bit on the Golden Globes last night that ended up taking me back to this (with a mix of Jean K Jean).
https://twitter.com/nbc/status/1366250533342695424
So HERE’S Something Interesting; Bateman wasn’t supposed to host this show…as per this Reddit post of a photo of Lorne, none other than Dave Chappelle was supposed to host this one…do with that information what you will…
https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/ytlp2o/fun_fact_tonights_host_dave_chappelle_was/
The Gays in Space theme was written by James Anderson, Fred, and Jeff Richmond, according to ASCAP.