(Just as a side note, today is the two-year anniversary of the launch of The ‘One SNL A Day’ Project! I surprisingly didn’t even realize that until literally just now, as I caught a glimpse of today’s date at the top of this review right before officially sending this review out on the web. As I now think back on when I launched this project on this date two years ago, it blows my mind how far I’ve now made it into this project.)
Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
SPRING BREAK
young women (AMP), (MAR), (RAD), (KRW) anticipate Spring Break debauchery
— Feels very refreshing to see a non-political cold opening of this nature, even though, now that I think of it, we’ve gotten quite a number of non-political cold openings this season (off the top of my head, the Tree Re-Lighting one, the Pat Robertson cartoon, the Steve Martin one, and now this).
— Funny bit with Kristen calling Rachel out on saying one too many names when greeting Amy and Maya.
— Another funny line from Kristen, about how she thought it would be fun to try group sex and hash the same week.
— A fun spoof of trashy things girls are known to do on spring break, complete with Maya and Amy comically tongue-kissing each other at one point.
— Oh, a then-topical Natalee Holloway reference. I remember finding it funny back when this episode originally aired, though I now wonder if anybody at the time considered it “too soon”, considering it seems like a touchy thing to joke about.
— Hilarious twist at the end with the couple who’s sitting in between the girls turning out to be Maya’s parents, meaning they had overheard all of the girls’ wild, inappropriate plans for spring break, and didn’t even object to it or bat an eye.
— During the big group “Live from New York…” at the end, pay attention to Rachel. Instead of saying “it’s Saturday Night!” at the end of the LFNY, she’s actually saying what appears to be a spring break-related “it’s Cancun 2006!”
— An overall very solid and fun cold opening, and makes a perfect case for why SNL would benefit from doing non-political cold openings much more often.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
— When it’s time to announce the musical guest, Don Pardo oddly just completely blanks, not saying Arctic Monkeys’ name AT ALL.
MONOLOGUE
host’s unused Oscar acceptance speech is littered with stereotypes
— No idea what to think of these off-color racial stereotype jokes in Matt Dillon’s acceptance speech.
— Okay, I have to admit, these racial stereotype jokes are actually starting to tickle me, even though they’re incredibly basic jokes.
— At least Matt ends this with a self-deprecating racial joke, making an Irish stereotype joke about his own family.
STARS: ***
PRISONMATE.NET
desperate single women obtain incarcerated boyfriends via prisonmate.net
— Good to see Finesse in another rare spokesperson role.
— I love the brief shot of SNL writer Bryan Tucker in a Hannibal Lecter-esque mask.
— This overall commercial wasn’t too great, despite a few funny parts. It felt like it ended too early or something.
STARS: **½
SPORTSCENTER
bulked-up Barry Bonds (KET) denies steroid allegations
— The initial cutaway to Kenan in those fake muscles cracked me up.
— Very funny look of Matt’s character.
— Seth’s bland straight man “reactions” (and I put “reactions” in quotes because he’s barely even reacting) to crazy things the interviewees in this sketch are saying to him remind me too much of his bland straight man “reactions” in those Anderson Cooper 360 sketches.
— Matt looks really Jim Carrey-esque in that skinny photo of him (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— I like that they’re even showing a pre-steroids photo of Lou The Seal.
— Funny bit with Lou The Seal getting caught having steroids injected into his butt, then running out of the shot in shame when realizing he’s on the air.
STARS: ***½
DOPPELGANGERS
SEM & WLF panic when they’re unable to distinguish ANS from (HOS)
— One of my personal favorite Digital Shorts ever.
— I recall an online SNL fan back at this time in 2006 saying this Digital Short had a nice Kids In The Hall feel.
— Nice little touch with Seth, Andy, and Will using their real first names here, despite the fact it seems like they’re playing businessmen characters in this.
— Funny turn with Andy’s “doppleganger” being a fat hobo who looks nothing like him.
— An even more hilarious turn right now, with Seth and Will not being able to tell Andy and the hobo apart, and Will inexplicably pulling out a gun and saying “I don’t know which one to shoot”, which gets a great reaction from Andy.
— Seth: “What do you think about sandwiches?” Andy: “I-I-I love them.” Seth: “Andy does love sandwiches.” Will: “EVERYONE loves sandwiches!”
— I love the whole “I shot the wrong guy” ending scene, especially how Will just humbly says that line after a very long stretch of silence between him and the two others.
STARS: *****
2 A-HOLES AT A TRAVEL AGENCY
A-holes’ directionlessness tries the patience of travel agent (host)
— Good to see these characters become recurring.
— I always like the long, drawn-out silences between Jason and Kristen in these 2 A-Holes sketches when she refuses to answer a question he keeps asking non-stop.
— A huge laugh from Kristen requesting to visit Hogwarts.
— There’s never much for me to say about these sketches, but they always work for me.
STARS: ****
HOW TO ORDER SUSHI LIKE A CEO
smug (host)’s book offers raw seafood tips
— I got a laugh from Matt’s corny line “You’ll know sushi…like Kristi Yamaguchi.”
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary format to this sketch.
— Matt: “There’s nothing I love more, except mid-morning fellatio–”
— Matt seems really lost just now, right before grabbing the soy sauce dispenser.
— Matt is selling his character’s arrogantly dumb actions pretty well, even though there’s some genuine unscripted clumsiness and awkwardness in Matt’s performance (including him reaching for his book so clumsily at one point that he accidentally causes a chopstick to go flying in the air). In an odd way, though, Matt’s genuine clumsiness and awkwardness kinda fits in this sketch, as it kinda adds to the arrogantly dumb character he’s playing.
— I like Maya’s waitress character greeting Matt as “Mr. Douche”.
STARS: ***½
J.J. CASUALS
Rerun from 11/12/05
JOPLIN: ALIVE! PODCAST
Missourians (JAS) & (BIH) podcast from a Bennigan’s
— Another sketch that shows SNL is moving further and further into the virtual age.
— I love Bill and Kristen’s southern accents, particularly Bill. The voice and delivery Bill is using is just so damn good.
— This feels a bit like a much more low-key, mature, relatable variation of Jarret’s Room. Definitely an improvement.
— So many funny little comments from Bill all throughout this.
— A good goofy character from Andy, adding a nice balance of silliness to the mature realism that Jason and Bill are bringing. I also love Bill eventually calling Andy out on his fake French accent by telling him “You grew up three houses from me.”
— I absolutely LOVE how the only performers in this sketch are just the entire featured player cast: Bill, Jason, Kristen, and Andy. This really signifies what a freakin’ fantastic group of newbies this is, and it’s so nice that SNL has given them their own isolated showcase as a group in this sketch.
— Overall, I feel like I’m in the minority, but I really liked this sketch. I’m kinda surprised it would end up never becoming recurring, as you can totally tell this was set up to become recurring. We get the loud, immature, in-your-face Jarret’s Room shoved down our throats, yet SNL can’t give this refreshing, low-key, relatable sketch even one measly return appearance?
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Farhad Nasr (HOS) heeds reaction to idea of Dubai management of USA ports
WLF uses a song to explain how to identify Shias, Sunnis, Kurds
— Ugh, I absolutely HATED Tina inexplicably following the punchline of her Iraq war/exit strategy joke by holding her fist under her chin in a mock-adorable “Ain’t I cute?” pose (the first above screencap for this Update). I thought Amy was supposed to be the annoyingly cutesy, “Please like me!” Update anchor out of this duo. I also take this cutesy move of Tina’s as yet another example of Tina smugly patting herself on the back for an “edgy”, “clever” joke she had just told.
— I think I said this earlier this season, but I’ve been starting to kinda forget Horatio is even still in the cast, given how (mercifully) little he’s been used lately and how increasingly out of place he and his tired-ass shtick have been coming off in the new direction SNL has been going in this season.
— Ugh, Horatio’s commentary is fucking HORRIBLE. While he’s thankfully not derailing it with his typical unprofessionalism and self-indulgent hamminess, the problem with this commentary is 1) Horatio’s characterization of this middle-eastern role is something we’ve seen him do in a bazillion other middle-eastern roles earlier in his SNL tenure and it’s become so fucking tired by this late stage of his tenure, and 2) this terribly-written commentary is just a whole bunch of aimless, unfunny rambling and lots of “foreign dictator tries to come off cool by making a whole bunch of old, dated pop culture references” humor, the latter of which rarely ever works (the Osama & Saddam sketches Horatio did with Jimmy Fallon are the only times I can think of where that humor actually worked).
— (*sigh*) Our usual string of hacky, lame jokes from Tina and Amy, though I did like Tina’s Wal-Mart joke just now.
— A Will Forte Update song! These are always a treat, and I desperately NEED him to inject some life into this dire Update.
— I love Will’s fast-paced Shia/Sunni/Kurd song, as well as the accompanying pictures being shown.
— I like the subtle blink-and-miss-it joke of SNL’s own Kenan being one of the celebrities in the Sunni photos.
— A very fun and silly turn in Will’s already-fun-and-silly song with him now establishing Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds out of household objects instead of celebrities.
STARS: *½
VINCENT PRICE’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY SPECIAL
Vincent Price’s (BIH) St. Patrick’s Day Special falls short of macabre
— Yes! A Vincent Price sketch! Believe it or not, this ends up being the last time we’ll see this sketch for THREE SEASONS. (Though the finale of this season would have a Memorial Day-themed Vincent Price special cut after dress rehearsal.) The sketch gets revived in 2008, presumably due to then-new SNL writer John Mulaney.
— As usual, a spot-on vocal impression from Darrell of Don Knotts, who, IIRC, had passed away not too long before this episode, and is possibly being impersonated in this sketch as a tribute.
— Kristen knocks it out of the park with yet another very funny impression of a classical actress in a Vincent Price sketch, this time Katharine Hepburn. I’m surprised Kristen only makes one brief appearance in tonight’s Vincent Price sketch, but maybe it’s good SNL shows some occasional restraint when showcasing Kristen, given what ends up happening to SNL when their restraint towards Kristen goes completely out the window starting around 2008.
— I like Vincent’s bitter and snarky comments towards Matt’s Rod Serling regarding Vincent never having gotten a call to do a guest spot on The Twilight Zone.
— This overall sketch, while solid, felt odd for a Vincent Price sketch, I guess because none of the guests stuck around after making their initial appearance. They each just walked on individually, did their respective bit, and then left. These Vincent Price sketches usually have the guests stay for the remainder of the sketch after walking on. I would chalk this up as a case of “Early Installment Weirdness”, but the first installment of this sketch earlier this season followed the format I mentioned, in which guests stick around for the remainder of the sketch.
STARS: ****
RELAXATION TAPE
harsh voice & caustic attitude gets relaxation tape rookie (host) fired
— Wow, Bill and Kristen have been all over tonight’s episode. This is early in Kristen’s tenure, when it was actually rare and refreshing to see her dominate an episode. Again, come 2008, that rarity and refreshing feel goes straight out the window.
— On a completely opposite note from what I just said about Bill and Kristen’s airtime tonight, wow, where has Fred been tonight? This is surprisingly his first and ONLY appearance all night. Very unusual for him.
— Not too crazy about this premise.
— Kristen and Fred’s relaxing speak into the mic is very funny, and they’re both individually adding lots of funny little touches during that relaxing speak of theirs.
— After not laughing at Matt during most of this sketch, I am liking his constant sob stories before his exit.
— Is that an earring I’m seeing Bill wearing? If so, interesting little detail of his character.
— Very lame ending.
STARS: **½
APPALACHIAN EMERGENCY ROOM
more rubes need unconventional medical help
— The final appearance of this sketch, which I’m sure some of you in the comments section are happy to hear.
— The fact that this established recurring sketch is buried so late in the show is a bad sign that this is going to be a rough installment. It’ll be a shame if so, given how surprisingly strong the previous installment of this sketch from this season’s Jack Black episode was.
— Darrell’s delivery of the word “Sudoku” cracked me up.
— As always, Amy freakin’ slayed me with her usual hilarious delivery of her exit line when she’s walking away. That’s the one thing in these Appalachian Emergency Room sketches that I’m going to miss.
— Another sketch tonight where Matt Dillon facially reminds me of Jim Carrey (just look at him in the fourth above screencap for this sketch).
— Matt accidentally jumped ahead of the script just now and said his response to one of Seth’s lines before Seth even said the line.
— I like the change of pace right now, with Seth’s character looking around wondering, in regards to Chris’ recurring character in these sketches, “Where the hell is Tyler? It’s gettin’ late.”
— Meh, didn’t care for the rain stick trick Chris’ character does by standing on his head.
— Overall, yeah, definitely a lesser installment of this sketch. A poor way for this recurring sketch to go out. Definitely should’ve left the superior one with Jack Black as the final installment of this sketch, so it could’ve gone out on a high note.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Certain Romance”
— An odd moment just now that stands out: at the end of one verse, Arctic Monkeys’ lead singer very briefly calls out an audience member for yawning during this musical performance. By the way, I wonder if Arctic Monkeys were also pissed at the aforementioned fact that Don Pardo bizarrely didn’t announce them during the opening montage earlier tonight. I also recall hearing that two members of this band spent the entire goodnights of this episode humorously hugging only each other and nobody else onstage.
DECICCO BROTHERS UNICORNERY
DeCicco Brothers (BIH) & (host) Unicornery has magical animals for sale
— Wow, Bill’s huge night continues. Tonight is definitely his and Kristen’s show. So refreshing to see Bill so dominant in this episode, given how criminally underused he had been after his amazing first few months on the show. Unfortunately, his upswing in airtime tonight doesn’t last. In fact, he doesn’t appear in the next episode AT ALL. (*sigh*) It was nice while it lasted.
— Oh, I’m already onboard for this delightfully oddball sketch concept of two guys advertising their own unicornery in the style of a used car dealership commercial.
— Matt’s delivery, while amusing, is a tad off. He’s delivering his lines too slow-paced compared to Bill’s very on-point delivery. It feels like Matt and Bill are on two completely different pages in terms of their performance as a duo.
— Speaking of Bill’s delivery, this is another sketch where early-era Bill Hader is giving me strong Dan Aykroyd vibes. His voice and delivery in this sketch are reminiscent of Dan’s Irwin Mainway and E. Buzz Miller characters. I can easily picture Dan doing this Unicornery sketch had it appeared in the original SNL era. It would’ve fit perfectly in the collection of oddball Dan Aykroyd sketches that I’m typically a sucker for.
— Solid touch with the little insults Bill and Matt are making towards each unicorn when beginning to showcase them (e.g. “Look at this bag o’ donuts”).
— Ha, is that Jason I’m hearing maniacally singing the ending jingle of this commercial? Much like Will Forte, Jason singing is pretty much always a comedic treat. (So imagine how I feel about the Jon Bovi bits that Will and Jason would soon start collaborating on the following season.)
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode, and contained a pretty impressive number of strong highlights. Matt Dillon had some okay moments, but was ultimately a forgettable host, and had a number of awkward, clumsy, and flubby moments without the charm that Peter Sarsgaard, another then-recent host who had awkward, clumsy, and flubby moments, had to make up for it.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Natalie Portman)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Antonio Banderas