Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE TREE RE-LIGHTING
a choir sings holiday songs from which all religion has been excised
— Only one episode after Kristen debuted her big Megan Mullally impression that stole the Spammies sketch, and SNL has already brought it back.
— Kenan’s decision to play Al Roker with a Bullwinkle voice is certainly………..a choice.
— A good way to get the entire cast involved and to get mileage out of the insanely large size of this season’s cast. The full cast being involved gives this cold opening an epic feel that I love.
— All the bowdlerized versions of classic Christmas songs are providing some really good laughs for me. I particularly like how the lyric “sleep in heavenly peace” from the song “Silent Night” has been changed to “sleep in comfortable beds”.
— Ha, the return of Will’s high-pitched singing voice! Nice to SNL utilize it outside of the Patrick & Gunther Kelly commentaries from Weekend Update for once.
— The scene with Darrell’s Trump doesn’t feel necessary and is basically just rehashing jokes from his Promo Shoot sketches from the preceding season, but it’s still giving me some laughs, probably just because this cold opening has put me in such a good mood.
— A fun full-cast “Live from New York…” at the end (back in the days when it was rare to get a big group LFNY, which certainly can’t be said for more modern SNL seasons). Kristen has impressively gotten her very first LFNY in only her third episode as a featured player, though it’s not a solo LFNY. This is also surprisingly Fred’s very first LFNY, four years into his SNL tenure. Even more surprising, he wouldn’t get his first solo LFNY until 2008!
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about a variety of topics
— Boy, loudness right out of the gate from Dane Cook in this monologue. I’m INSTANTLY being reminded of all of Dane Cook’s trademarks that would eventually be shoved down our throats in the year 2006. I’ve seen some people say SNL is to blame for the overexposure of Dane in the year 2006, because when they got him to host tonight’s episode in late 2005, he was still somewhat unknown to general America, then shortly after this episode, he gradually became HUGE over the course of the year 2006, to the degree that he would be big enough to host SNL’s season 32 premiere that year (less than a year after tonight’s episode), but he also became huge to the degree that most of America (including myself) would get EXTREMELY sick of him that year, not just because of how overexposed and over-hyped he was, but also partly because of his one-note and rather annoying loud, physical, overly-big performance style in his stand-up (in other words, loudness and broadness without actually being funny, as many people have described Dane’s stand-up), and also partly because of him getting exposed by other stand-up comedians for allegedly plagiarizing their material.
— This monologue is going to feel weird to watch back now, as I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen a Dane Cook stand-up set, or seen Dane Cook in general. Even just hearing his distinctive voice in my current viewing of this monologue is throwing me right back to the mid-2000s.
— A lot of relatable stand-up comedy here, but I can’t say I’m finding most of it particularly funny, and, again, there’s just something inherently annoying about Dane’s stand-up delivery.
— Dane, to us viewers, regarding his choice to use rock-and-roll air quotes: “You can use it, ’cause I know you’re gonna steal it anyway.” Oh, the delicious irony of Dane Cook accusing someone of stealing material from him…
— I did get a good laugh from Dane’s bit about shooting a Superman shirt-wearing person in the chest.
— Dane seems to have a bad habit of using a lispy voice whenever he acts out the voice of an average joe character. He’s used it for two completely different characters in two completely different comedy bits during this monologue.
— Despite my annoyance over Dane’s typical stand-up style, as well as some jokes that made me kinda groan, there’s some laughs here and there.
— Some more laughs, from Dane now going into heavy detail of a perfect erection he once had.
— Oh, there’s what’s easily the most remembered part of this monologue: Dane’s bit about flicking a cashew off of his “hog” into his mouth. I remember back when this episode originally aired, an online SNL fan who was seemingly appalled by this portion of the monologue made a prediction that it would result in NBC receiving a huge number of complaints comparable to the huge number of complaints Martin Lawrence’s notorious feminine hygiene rant from his season 19 stand-up monologue received, and that this would cause Dane’s monologue to go on to live in Martin Lawrence-esque SNL infamy. Ha, boy, was that person off in that prediction. I mean, really, are you SERIOUSLY going to compare Dane Cook doing a somewhat-raunchy-but-harmless bit in the year 2005 (which was quite lax about what could be allowed on network TV) about flicking cashews off of dongs to Martin Lawrence ranting inappropriately in the year 1994 (which was much more strict about what could be allowed on network TV) about freakin’ yeast infections and how nasty women smell “down there” when they don’t douche properly? I will say, though, that Dane’s choice of the word “hog” as a euphemism for penis kinda reminds me of Martin’s questionable choice of saying “pillypacker” as a penis euphemism in his monologue, though Dane seems far more self-aware of the silliness of his own word choice.
— Wow, an overall VERY long stand-up monologue. It’s too bad I’ve soured on Dane the year after this episode originally aired, because I remember finding this monologue to be an absolute laugh riot when it originally aired, back when Dane was still in my good graces. Like I said, though, even during my current viewing, despite my annoyance during several portions, I still found this monologue to have some laughs here and there.
STARS: **½
THE MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
high school drama club members perform theatrical morning announcements
— I love the intro that Chris does at the beginning of this.
— Very fun sketch concept and another good way to get most of this very large SNL cast involved.
— There goes Dane using the lispy character voice once again tonight.
— Much like in the then-recent Good Morning Meth sketch, Kenan is wearing a wig that resembles his “Kenan & Kel”-era hairstyle.
— I love the bit with drama club members acting out a teacher slipping and injuring herself. I particularly got a good laugh from the guys saying “Ohhhhhhhh, and…CRACK!” Also, the ending with Kristen (acting as the teacher) alone onstage, humorously speaking over-dramatically into the camera while lying injured on the floor kinda reminds me of a one-off sketch Kate McKinnon would later do in more recent years, in which she plays a teacher who is dramatically lying on the floor in front of her class after having fallen down (which I recall some online SNL fans saying felt like a bad Wiig sketch).
— Fred’s pretentious one-man show bit on school gossip is freakin’ slaying me. Fred is SO good at mocking this kind of stuff.
STARS: ****
TACO TOWN
Rerun from 10/8/05
THE LONG RIDE HOME: THE JAY FEELY STORY
failed kicker Jay Feely (host) tries to land New York Giants’ team plane
— A very heavily topical sketch, but Darrell’s voice-over in the opening intro is thankfully providing us the backstory of the Jay Feely/NY Giants game incident this sketch is spoofing. Otherwise, I would’ve had absolutely no context for this, not just now, but even back when this sketch originally aired in 2005, as I didn’t follow sports back in those days.
— I love Kenan pointing out the irony of Dane’s Jay Feely having to navigate the plane between two radio towers.
— Jason’s drinking gesture was funny and deserved a better audience reaction.
— I like the turn with Dane, when alone in the cockpit, admitting he lied when telling others he has a pilot’s license.
— I liked the ending with the use of tiny model toys representing the plane being driven into a lake, because, as I said in my review of the preceding season’s UPS Guy sketch with David Spade, I’m often a sucker for SNL using cheap-looking tiny model toys to represent something happening.
STARS: ***
TURTLENECK
at a party, overheated (host) won’t doff expensive & itchy wool sweater
— This sketch had gotten cut after several dress rehearsals earlier this season, with hosts Steve Carell and Jon Heder playing the role that Dane’s playing here. (Can’t remember if I ever heard Jason Lee also did this sketch in the dress rehearsal of his then-recent episode.)
— This is a sketch where Dane’s typical overacting and overly broad style actually fits the material perfectly, and complements it instead of detracts from it. He’s taking a very simplistic sketch premise and is making it work.
— There goes poor Andy being stuck in his usual non-speaking bit role.
— Dane, regarding his itchy, unbearable wool sweater: “It’s like I’m being raped by a wookie!”
— A fantastic ad-lib from Dane where, after failing to crash through the breakaway table like he was supposed to when he laid on it, he gets off the table and then literally throws his whole body backwards into the air and onto the table, successfully crashing through it.
— A terrible and baffling ending with Amy reacting to seeing Dane’s sweater by just saying a quiet “Ewwww.” What the hell kind of ending was that?!? The dress rehearsal version of this sketch had a different ending line from Amy when reacting to seeing Dane’s sweater: “That sweater makes you look like a homo.” Uh, yikes. Guess Amy’s “Ewwww” line from the live version is certainly preferable to…THAT.
— I recall someone on an SNL message board once say Dane claimed in an interview that a mishap occurred during a rehearsal of this sketch, in which a piece of lint from Dane’s wool sweater accidentally flew into his mouth and got caught in his throat, and SNL had to temporarily stop the rehearsal of the sketch to feed Dane dry toast to help him swallow the lint. Not that I want to accuse Dane of lying about that story (certainly wouldn’t be the first time Dane would be accused of being dishonest about something, as I mentioned earlier in this review regarding his alleged joke-plagiarizing), but something about that story has always sounded odd and dubious to me. Why was he fed dry toast, of all things? Is that something that’s typically used to remedy sweater lint stuck in someone’s throat? Does simple water not do the trick? Or even just regular non-toasted bread? Am I supposed to believe SNL seriously made this man wait several minutes with lint stuck in his freakin’ throat while someone at the show took the several minutes required to make toast to help him? Or did already-made dry toast just happen to instantly be available, randomly lying around the studio? Perhaps a crew member had been eating toast? Or was the dry toast on the snack table of this sketch’s set (the same table Dane crashed through)? Why would dry toast be on the snack table of this sketch set? Is dry toast something that’s typically served as a snack at Christmas parties (which is where this sketch takes place at)? Haha, I am thinking WAAAAAYYYY too hard about this, but I want answers, dammit! But no, seriously, if Dane’s story is true, then my guess is that the dry toast he was given simply came from a crew member who was eating in the studio, or maybe from the craft service table backstage. Just one more question, though: did this incident happen at dress rehearsal in front of a studio audience who got to witness this ordeal, or was it during one of the audience-less rehearsals from earlier that week? Either way, thank god the incident didn’t happen during the live show.
STARS: ****
LETTUCE
heads of lettuce constitute comfort food as (WLF) consoles grieving (ANS)
— We have reached a huge moment in SNL history, as a very important SNL feature is born: the very first Lonely Island-made Digital Short (I see SNL’s possibly borrowing the “digital short” name from Adam McKay’s little-known short films from season 26). SNL would never be the same again.
— Even just seeing the words “An SNL Digital Short” in those now-famous white letters (the same font as the SNL logo at this time) on that now-famous black screen for the very first time in this SNL project of mine feels so significant and has practically given me goosebumps.
— A short film starring himself and made by he and his Lonely Island partners is just the thing Andy needed by this point of his tenure, given his bad struggles for airtime lately. While this wouldn’t be his breakout moment (that would come in the very next Digital Short two episodes from now), it at least put Andy out there and let viewers know that SNL may have possibly found a regular format to tap into Andy’s underutilized potential. However, nobody watching this particular short back in 2005 could’ve possibly predicted just how huge Digital Shorts and Andy’s SNL tenure would both go on to become.
— A huge laugh from the initial visual of Will very randomly and unexpectedly lifting a cabbage head into the shot and chomping very hard and loudly into it while staring at Andy with a serious, concerned look on his face.
— Both Will and Andy ferociously chomping into lettuce heads throughout their emotional, dramatic conversation is priceless. And I have such fond memories of how much I howled with laughter the very first time I watched this short back when it originally aired, so much so, that someone I was at home with came into the room I was watching this short by myself in to make sure I was alright after he heard me making loud, bizarre sounds, and I had to clarify that I was just laughing very hard.
— Will is showing surprisingly solid dramatic acting chops here. Also, the natural stubble on his face during this short is somehow adding to that dramatic acting of his.
— Great little touch at the end with Jorma Taccone casually passing by the camera while chomping on lettuce of his own.
— A very funny “Through good times and bad: lettuce” twist at the end, capping off what was an overall very strong start to the Lonely Island’s Digital Short legacy on SNL.
STARS: ****½
TARGET
Target Lady (KRW) abandons cash register to secure bargains for herself
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Kristen gets her very first big character piece.
— Well…I can’t say I’m finding this Target Lady character all that funny so far in this debut, but there’s something about Kristen’s character voice that I’m actually kinda liking so far. Now being so familiar with Kristen’s real voice, it’s quite impressive how she can get her voice to sound like that when playing Target Lady.
— I don’t know what the hell to think of Dane’s performance in this sketch, but I’m pretty sure I kinda hate it. However, we at least get a funny “weird moment” between him and Rachel while they’re awkwardly waiting for Target Lady to return.
— Blah, I don’t care AT ALL for the running gag with Target Lady always walking away to get an item after asking a customer “Do we have more of these?”
— Bill’s straight man reactions to Dane are making me laugh.
— Overall, not all that great, but if this sketch had remained a one-off and never became recurring, I would look back at it today as a not-particularly-funny-but-harmless early-era Kristen Wiig showcase, and thus, this sketch would’ve been pretty fascinating in retrospect as Kristen’s forgotten first big character piece. Unfortunately, the sketch DIDN’T end up being a forgotten early-era Wiig one-off. It would instead go on to famously be recurred many times and would draw my ire, which diminishes this debut installment for me (not that I would’ve found it great otherwise). The original review I did back in 2005 when this episode originally aired is unfortunately missing (as are all my other original 2005 episode reviews from the first half of this season), which is a shame, because I’d love to see what my original assessment of this debut Target Lady installment was back then, when I wasn’t familiar with it as a recurring sketch yet. From what I can VERY faintly remember of my original review of this sketch, I think I recall liking Kristen and Dane’s oddball characterizations, but strongly disliking the material itself, and feeling it felt too much like a MADtv character piece. (Yet another example of me seeing similarities between Kristen Wiig and Mo Collins.)
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’re Beautiful”
WEEKEND UPDATE
RAD’s behavior changed while wearing a fat suit for undercover experiment
Michael Irvin (KET) unconvincingly pleads innocence regarding crack pipe
— Oh, no. Amy is laying on her typical Update cutesy act PARTICULARLY thick during her “Page Six” joke. I’m pretty sure it gave me diabetes.
— Very interesting pre-taped bit with Rachel going out in the town undercover as a fat woman.
— I love the visual of Fat Suit Rachel running around the streets while screaming to random people “I’M HUUUUMAAAAAN! I’M HUUUUUUMAAAAAN LIKE YOU!”
— An obvious joke with black guys being the only people giving positive attention to Fat Suit Rachel, but I laughed when J.B. Smoove got involved.
— A good laugh from the Monday Night Countdown clip, which is supposed to prove Kenan-as-Michael-Irvin’s innocence in regards to accusations of him using drugs, but instead turns out to be him in a crazed state fighting off his co-hosts while holding onto a seemingly stolen TV set and yelling things like “Let go of me, Chris Berman!” and “This is my TV, Stuart Scott!”
— Amy’s “The Rockefeller Christmas Tree was lit…as was I” is one of her more famous Update jokes.
STARS: **
ONE-DAY COMA
after his 24-hour coma, (host) finds that girlfriend (AMP) has moved on
— I recall some online SNL fans hating this sketch, but I recall personally really liking it back when it originally aired. I also recall some online SNL fans claiming SNL stole this sketch from another sketch comedy show (I can’t remember which one; Mr. Show maybe?). Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll react to this sketch now, given how hot-and-cold I’ve been running on Dane so far during my current viewing of this episode.
— A lot of hilarious reveals throughout this sketch. I particularly like Amy letting Dane know she took the time to go to Great Adventure at one point during his day-long coma, and Chris as the doctor saying he medically induced Dane’s coma because Dane was rude to the nurses. I also love Chris sternly saying, shortly afterwards when Dane gets angry at him, “Keep up that attitude and you’ll be right back in that coma.”
— Dane’s delivery is starting to somewhat hamper this solidly-written sketch for me during his big rant near the end. His delivery in this sketch didn’t bother me before this rant of his, but he’s now starting to get on my nerves a bit, and I’m now finding myself wondering what it would’ve been like if another male host from around this time played Dane’s role in this sketch. Jason Lee, for example, would’ve been solid in this sketch. I can see Steve Carell and Jack Black (the latter of whom is hosting two episodes from now) working decently in it too. Jon Heder? Meh. I can see him overacting this sketch’s material almost as badly as Dane is. Lance Armstrong? Don’t make me laugh. And if it were a cast member who had played Dane’s role, Sudeikis would’ve fit this sketch like a glove.
STARS: ***½
FIGHT BACK WITH VICTOR RAMOS
inept vigilante Victor Ramos (HOS) scouts subway terrorism
— Oh, no. An original Horatio Sanz sketch at this point of his SNL tenure. This spells doom.
— Ugh. There goes Dane using a lispy character voice ONCE AGAIN tonight. Are you fucking kidding me?!?
— A laugh from Horatio’s character’s initial mispronunciation of the name Saunders as “Squanjack”. That also reminds me of a sketch where Horatio himself played a character on the receiving end of having an easy-to-pronounce last name repeatedly get bizarrely butchered: the Taint sketch from season 26’s Conan O’Brien episode.
— Did I just hear Horatio say “Well, let me show you a little planet Jeremy and I have come up with…” when talking about a plan he and Jeremy (Dane’s character) have come up with? I doubt that flub was part of the script, as it seemed way too subtle, though the flub does kinda fit Horatio’s character here.
— Not caring at all for most of the humor in this sketch, and the unbearable character voice Dane’s using isn’t making it any better. At least Horatio isn’t the worst part of a Horatio Sanz-starring sketch for once, though.
— They’re running the “Squanjack” joke into the ground.
— At least, unlike Target Lady, THIS ends up remaining a one-off sketch and never becomes recurring.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Goodbye My Lover”
MORGAN STANLEY
— Not only is this the fourth time this commercial has been aired in just the first half of this season alone (which has GOT to be a record), but this is the second consecutive episode it’s being re-aired in (which has also got to be a record, as possibly the only time in SNL history that an already-aired pre-taped commercial was re-aired in two consecutive episodes). It’s gotten to the point where I can now quote this entire commercial by heart. (“You’ve really done it this time, Ashley. Smoking pot in school? That’s gonna look great on–” etc.)
GOODNIGHTS
— Chris is noticeably seen wearing rather silly-looking workout clothes (near the left corner of the second above screencap for these goodnights). This outfit he’s wearing was supposed to be for some kind of exercise class sketch (I can’t remember the premise of it, from a description of this episode’s cut sketches I once read years ago) that was scheduled to air at the end of this episode, but got cut at the last minute due to the show running long (which I guess explains the bazillionth rerun of the Morgan Stanley ad put on at the last minute at the end of the show, but why not repeat another commercial instead?).
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly solid episode with several really good highs, and there were a few noteworthy firsts, particularly the very first Lonely Island-made SNL Digital Short. Dane Cook had a few good moments here and there tonight (particularly in the Turtleneck sketch), but his trademark comedic style hampered a number of things for me, and he seemed to get particularly bad towards the end of the show.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Eva Longoria)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin
On the subject of the cold open Live From New York: not only is it a rare full-cast LFNY, but it also is said by a handful of uncredited extras – an EXTREME rarity. I recognize some of the writers, but a handful of the singers I’ve never been able to identify, making them some of the very, very few unknown individuals to say “Live From New York.”
If anyone can identify any of the extras/writers in the cold open, please let me know. I’ve been tracking LFNY statistics for a while now and this is one of my great blind spots.
Specifically, there are only five LFNY in the whole show that I can’t identify the people saying the phrase. This is the 3rd instance.
I find it hard to believe that something as awesome as Digital Shorts and something as not awesome as Fey/Poehler actually shared time in the same episodes. The cognitive dissonance between those two things almost hurts me.
That being said, I remember a lot of people at the time thinking that the Digital Short (Lettuce) was just another weird Will Forte piece. It took a while for a lot of people to realize those were actually an Andy Samberg thing.
Tomorrow’s episode is the last time Tim Meadows has ever appeared on the show (the 40th Anniversary special doesn’t count). We also get *holds back vomit* another Carol appearance, and a random voice cameo from Dave Foley during TV Funhouse. How come they never had him host?
The sketch show that One Day Coma took its premise from is MTV’s The State.
Ah, Dane Cook…the the “Crunk music” of Comedy–both of which would fall into obscurity just as hard by the end of the decade.
My favorite Dane Cook-related SNL thing was when Charlie Day did an unflattering parody of him in the first Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy sketch. I can’t begrudge SNL putting Cook on as a host, though–they got him right when he was taking off.
I’ve been able to tolerate Target Lady more than most people, mainly because I’ve encountered people like her at some stores. It’s not a great recurring sketch, but it’s not even in my top 5 of disliked Wiig characters (I actually think her performances here are pretty solid).
Kenan continues to use this stupid voice for Al Roker. I can forgive him for not doing a good impression, but then why does he not only keep playing Roker but they actually at one point give him a whole sketch to star in as Roker?
The Morning Announcements sketch really does have a modern show vibe–you mention the McKinnon “teacher fall down” sketch, but it also is similar to the recurring drama group sketch as well. This was Fred’s wheelhouse during his run, parodying pretentious and bad performers.
I remember mostly liking this ep including that particular part of Dane Cook’s monologue. Of that first Digital Short, I can only partially remember the lettuce eating that permeated during the whole thing… Oh, and I remember thinking how weirdly funny that Target Lady was. It was probably repeated too often though that’s usually the case with Kristen Wiig’s characters…
Mad TV did a hilarious Dane Cook parody as well (they leaned on being the “outsiders” during this period, sort of like how Fridays did).
The State was the show that the coma sketch was allegedly lifted from – there’s a good oral history book about them where they definitely take it seriously, apparently some of the lines/character names are the same.
The State’s version can be viewed here:
John Lutz and Paula Pell wrote the cold open.
T. Sean Shannon wrote the Jay Feely sketch.
I could be wrong, but wasn’t Lorne actively scouting Cook as a cast member at one point?
The mere concept of “Dane Cook/James Blunt” is a frustratingly 2005 SNL episode if I’ve ever heard of one.
While I don’t recall this episode too well from my watchthrough, I DO remember finding Cook’s performance to actually be pretty tolerable? But that might just be through the time-fog, because upon revisiting the coma sketch which I really liked, I realized just how weirdly boisterous his performance was to the point of hindering the conceit.
On the flipside, though, I still very much love his S32 hosting stint, which I think is a vastly underrated and very fun episode. He gets a little buried there (which honestly might not be the worst thing), but the TSA sketch is an underrated masterpiece, there’s an excellent and tragically-forgotten Will Forte gem, and I love the weird meta one-two punch of the penultimate sketches. Very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts on those!
“The mere concept of “Dane Cook/James Blunt” is a frustratingly 2005 SNL episode if I’ve ever heard of one.”
My thoughts exactly! When the show was announced I had no idea who James Blunt was and by the end of 2006 “You’re Beautiful” was the equivalent of ear waterboarding. I remember laughing at the monologue, but this was before burnout of him and the plagiarism accusations.
I remember turning to one of my friends after seeing Andy as the waiter and saying “I don’t think he’ll make it.” 6 minutes later I started to change my opinion..
Oddly enough, my mom knew who James Blunt was in late 2005 (she must’ve been listening to radio stations that played “You’re Beautiful” early on) and could thankfully also appreciate “You’re Pitiful” when I started becoming a hardcore Weird Al fan just shortly after “White And Nerdy” came out.
Still, she had no idea who Dane Cook was and so I had to struggle to find a way to explain him to her. I think I just ended up telling her “he’s usually just on Comedy Central and all the guys at my school think he’s hilarious”. Yeah, I was 14 going on 15 at this time in my life and the jock types at my school started getting into him to the point that they would watch clips of his stand up on the schools’ computers before classes started. I think they had to find them on Cooks’ own website or possibly his MySpace since this was obviously about two weeks before YouTube caught on in a big way.
Being somewhat in the age range that would make me his target audience at that time, I for some reason didn’t find him the easiest guy in the world to hate. I mean, I barely laughed at any material I saw from him on Comedy Central from 2000-2004. I guess it was just somehow very easy for me to brainwash myself into finding his new material funny let alone not hating him/just thinking he was OK as a person but I haven’t looked back that fondly on him in the years since. He was another one of those very “of the moment” mainstream comedians who fell pretty hard off the radar once the general public decided they were done with them. I guess this episode and his 06 one would be my two favorite things Dane Cook has ever bene involved in by default (the 06 one may be more of my favorite but I may have to rewatch it or read Stooges’ review of it in two weeks.
…and thank you Jack for bringing up the sketch from the Harry Anderson S10 episode that the coma sketch is VERY reminiscent of because the Mary Gross line “life is for the prompt” has yet to gracefully leave my head since I read that portion of Stooges’ review.
As Jesse and Chris mentioned, the One Day Coma sketch is—accidentally or not—derivative of the coma sketch from The State. There is a Mr. Show sketch that sliiiiightly reminds me of it too though, where Bob Odenkirk and Jill Talley play a couple that broke up for only a few days and then got back together, but Bob describes an extremely long and complex list of events that happened to him during the brief breakup period.
I wasn’t familiar with Dane Cook’s standup before I had seen this episode, but I knew that everyone hated him. So I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked this one quite a bit. The stuff that doesn’t work like Fight Back and the first Target Lady didn’t bother me, and I even found his monologue tolerable. Though I did try to rewatch the episode with a friend and they had to tap out mid-monologue because they couldn’t handle Dane’s douchiness…
Nowadays, Dane’s old standup *SOMETIMES* makes me laugh, but I feel like I’m laughing at it ironically. He’s just so emblematic of that mid-2000s trend of the loud, broad, random, somewhat childlike approach to comedy that was popular with a lot of people. He’s like a living Nickelodeon character.
The two standouts for me were Morning Announcements and Turtleneck. Like you mentioned, Fred making fun of one man shows is so goddamn funny. I’m glad that he based his entire monologue around that when he hosted in 2016. And with Turtleneck, Dane sells it better than Heder or Carell probably would. He makes the sketch seem like it was written FOR him, which is pretty impressive for a host to do.
Was this the first instance of a stand-up coming on stage with their own mic for the monologue? Which they’ve pretty much started doing ever since when a stand-up hosts. For whatever reason I always found that a bit on the corny side but I guess for certain comics maybe it throws their rhythm off or they feel awkward not knowing what to do with their hands. Could see that being an issue depending on which comic I suppose.
They definitely do it more in recent years, but Don Rickles had his own mic in the episode he hosted, IIRC. Of all the standup hosts, I think it helps John Mulaney the most, because I can’t imagine how he’d even look doing standup with both of his hands free, lol.
Speaking of John Mulaney, when does he join the writing staff? I’m eagerly awaiting Stefon’s first appearance.
Mulaney joins in season 34 (08-09)
Lol as a Giants fan that Jay Feely sketch brings back some terrrible memories. 15 years later I still remember that game v the Seahawks. It was brutal
The cut sketch you’re thinking of is about a trainer (Dane Cook) who makes his class stretch to Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles.
Also Similar to the coma sketch is the While You Were Gone sketch from Harry Anderson / Bryan Adams
https://www.onesnladay.com/2019/03/05/february-9-1985-harry-anderson-bryan-adams-s10-e13/
Weirdly enough, Horatio did that Victor Ramos character again on the Comedy Bang Bang IFC tv show years later. I think he’s done it on his own podcast and the CBB podcast as well, thinking it was much funnier in those appearances than it was on SNL.
Everything Horatio has done since SNL has been funnier than anything he did on SNL.
A peculiar time capsule of an episode – not just for the VERY 05 mops of Hader, Sudeikis and Samberg, nor James Blunt disgustingly fucking the camera with his eyes, nor for the sheer Dane Cookiness of Dane Cook. This is a time capsule simply because of Dane Cook’s jeans. Good Lord.
I’ll start with Cook. God how I loathed him at the time. I think it was one of those microgenerational things. The 19-year-olds loved him when I was 22. He was like the Killers to me – I was just ahead of it by a bit, which only exacerbated my ire. These days, eh, what’re you gonna do? He was the biggest standup in the world for a spell, some of his material was OK even if his delivery method was decidedly not my style. SNL has a decent history of “hot for a minute” standups getting a spotlight. Cook was massive (especially among a teen crowd), he deserved his SNL shot as much as Dice or Sam before him or Aziz or Mulaney after him. The joke stealing thing gave people a whole lot of righteous indignation (funny how it was never brought up in the comments of the Robin Williams episodes), but, eh, what’s the point in being “Team Louis” in 2020? Cook had a rapid rise and pretty gradual descent. Louis had the gradual rise and the instant flame-out. Pick your poison. I do remember Cook coming off quite well in his episode of Louie though.
I’d heard that Cook had auditioned for SNL. Thank God he didn’t get it. It just would have been too much. Like I said, his delivery system is not my favorite – too much wild gesticulation. And the lisping – my God. I can’t tell you how many improv classes I had to suffer through where some dude who always looked like Dane Cook (definitely the same jeans) would immediately start lisping to make a “charcterization.” As the years went on, it became more and more unbearable to witness – people would just stare in horror.
Anyways, onto the show. The opening piece is/was a cute idea that seemed strong enough in 05 (that they already did in 2002), but in 2020 bitching about the “War on Christmas” is some alt-right evangelical bullshit. I don’t hate the piece by any means, but it’s an iffier vein of humor these days.
The sweater sketch is a good showcase of Cook’s physicality, which is his strength. I wish some writing effort had gone into it too.
It actually stuns me how much of a ripoff that coma sketch is. I can totally see how someone could conceive of the idea, but it’s weird that no one on staff would have remembered the State piece (let alone all the beats from the Mr. Show sketch). Also, the SNL version is just demonstrably less interesting.
Rachel’s Update bit is interesting, if a bit of a missed opportunity. The rest of Update is just cloying and dire. Charm is just a suffocating tone to take in a format where the strength needs to be in the writing. Fey and particularly Poehler tend to vamp a beat or two too long because the jokes as they are written require too much performance in their punchlines. You need to have at least a few one-liners that hit right off the page.
Oh, and Lettuce! The quiet beginning to SNL’s complete re-invention. We’ll talk about Lazy Sunday later, but Lettuce was a really great beginning – quiet and absurd. In 05, it felt like a dispatch from another, funnier show. Luckily, that other funnier show becomes a dominant voice on SNL for the next few seasons (despite an imperfect batting average due to SNL’s insatiable thirst for flogging a good idea to death).
Target Lady is just some low level Groundlings shit. I get why it hit, but Wiig had better material up her sleeve this season.
Can’t get anymore 2000’s than Dane Cook and James Blunt.
When Entertainment Weekly published its list of the best and worst TV of 2005, they cherry-picked this episode (not SNL in general, this episode) as the third-worst TV of the year. There are plenty of shows in that calendar year that were worse. The host and musical guest definitely makes this a 2005 time capsule. Blunt had two, maybe three hit songs then pretty much disappeared. Cook was undone by plagiarism accusations and (if I recall correctly) and anger management problem, to say the least of his braying style of comedy. It would be hard to imagine either of them on the show in Year 30, let alone two years later. True flashes in the pan.
Regardless, I thought this was an okay episode. I gave this a 7.5/10 on TV.com (having to drop the Stu-dometer was a blessing in disguise) but now I’d give it either a 6.5 or a 7. Dane’s monologue made me laugh exactly twice, PG dick joke and all, but the lower grade is for the Trump promo rehash and Blunt’s syrupy ballads. The new cast members are really starting to gel with the old guard; its nice to see full-fledged chemistry in the cast again. I didn’t know what to make of “Lettuce” when it first aired, but now I respect it as the first (albeit half-forgotten) Digital Short. I didn’t hate the “Target Greatland” sketches, but I agree that the show ran them into the ground.
The Jack Black episode is when this era really takes off but I think Lettuce deserves some credit as it gets overshadowed by Lazy Sunday. Seeing the silly absurdist sensibilities of Forte (who wrote the sketch) gel with the Lonely Island guys is the sign that the best of the old guard and these new hires were going to bring SNL back into relevance. It was an exciting time to be an SNL fan.
re RICKROLLED:
“Was this the first instance of a stand-up coming on stage with their own mic for the monologue?”
SNL had been doing that as early as their fifth episode ever, in Robert Klein’s monologue (link to a screencap below).
https://i0.wp.com/www.onesnladay.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/11.15.1975_0.06.37.00.jpg?ssl=1
re Carson:
“The joke stealing thing gave people a whole lot of righteous indignation (funny how it was never brought up in the comments of the Robin Williams episodes)”
Robin Williams being accused of joke-plagiarizing is news to me.
re Carson:
“The opening piece is/was a cute idea that seemed strong enough in 05 (that they already did in 2002)”
Refresh my memory: when in 2002 did SNL do this?
Yeah, Williams’ constant tiffing led to a ton of accusations of joke theft. His “improvisations” led to him pulling a lot of content from the “ether.” He, like Cook, addressed it pretty thoughtfully.
I was referring to the Culps sketch from the Ellen Degeneres episode.
Riffing, I meant riffing.
I think my first impression of the Target Greatland sketch was “are these characters supposed to be mentally disabled?”. It was refreshing to see Kristen Wiig establish herself so quickly though, especially since she provided a contrast to the overly familiar performance styles of Dratch, Fey and Poehler.
I think my big issue with a lot of Wiig’s characters (especially those created or co-created by James Anderson) is that there really isn’t anything about them beyond the tics, twitches and annoying behavior. Even Starkeesha seemed more well-rounded.
Dane Cook’s Instagram post on how he got to host SNL:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwc6pqYB4PW/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=exnhgxl6ejyz
Thanks for finding his post. Some of that seems iffy to me (he says he was asked to audition in 1995 and Jimmy was cast instead [Jimmy was not cast until 1998]), but I guess he may have just had dates mixed up.
I’ve heard that he actually auditioned for 02/03 so they must’ve either wanted him in place to (eventually) gradually replace Kattan and/or Fallon. I know Ferrell was also already gone then but the thought if SNL hiring Dane Cook as HIS “replacement” just makes me gag.
02-03 makes a lot more sense, considering Ferrell’s exit and the clear signs of how weak their male lineup was. I can see Lorne thinking Dane and his high energy and easy laugh getters would fill the void. He is passable in this episode but based on that sketch with Horatio, which is what we would have gotten about 10 versions of, I can’t say I’m sorry he didn’t join.
So as to not clog the blog up with yet another post I also wanted to say Kerri Kenney is so good in that coma sketch from The State. Such a brilliant, sharp talent. She never would have had much of a chance on SNL to show that talent if they’d picked her but it’s one of those moments where you wonder what might’ve been.
I have mixed feelings about Target Lady. Most Kristen recurrers put her front and center, with the rest of the cast lucky to have one laugh line, but some, like Penelope, go even further and don’t even give the host a chance. Target Lady at least gives the host some material, and the quirks, grating as they can be, sometimes amuse me (Timberlake’s Target Lady sketch is probably my favorite thing he did on SNL).
I have to admit I skipped the monologue for this one, but otherwise it’s a good show until near the end. Dane’s performance does hurt the coma sketch, but the weak ending hurts it more (similar to the turtleneck sketch). The Horatio sketch is mostly just white noise. The night is mostly “fine” sketches that are helped by the cast more than the writing, but I do really really love the theater kid sketch. I don’t mind the audience cutaways in the High School Theatre Show sketches, but it’s so refreshing to see a version without them. Everything about this is perfect for me, but my favorite part is Kristen’s falling down sequence (then again I also enjoyed Teacher Fell Down) and the Amy melodrama over the cheerleading squad announcements.
For a first short (for SNL – I know the Lonely Island had been doing these for a while pre-SNL), Lettuce is extremely committed and confident. Having Will be the main force, someone the viewers knew and trusted for ‘weird’ humor, was a masterstroke.
Update is about what you would expect from this period. So many of Rachel’s Update pieces seem to rely on her charm and delivery to make up for iffy writing. This had a few amusing moments but not worth the time spent…
Dane reminds me a lot of Will Ferrell in the turtleneck sketch. Parnell also gives that vibe as he steals the coma sketch with his line about “sassing.” It’s sort of the last vestige of how much Ferrell dominated the male comedic side of SNL for a decade, until Jason/Andy/Bill/Fred/Will manage to make their own mark from this point on.
I did laugh at the part in Dane’s Instagram post where he said Lorne told him when he first inquired about hosting that stand-up comics “don’t host (the show) anymore.”
That’s one thing the show has thankfully gotten away from in recent years – I remember Norm (I think) asking Lorne why comics didn’t host anymore when he was in the cast, and he said something along the lines of “we could get funny comics every week if we wanted to”, implying, I guess, that it would be “too easy.” During some of SNL’s iffier eras (S20, s30), you kind of wish he would have done just that …
Mentioned earlier in the thread that Cook auditioned for the 95 season. Earlier this week I watched an interview with Nick Swardson where he said he auditioned for the 95 season when he was only 19. Never knew that.
Interesting reveal in the Lonely Island/Seth Meyers podcast: Lettuce was actually written by Will Forte.