Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE GAS PLAN
Bill Frist (host) sells his new gas rebate plan to George W. Bush (WLF)
— Not caring for Will-as-President-Bush’s whole spiel about wishing for May to turn into June. The audience is amused by this tepid comedy far more than I am.
— Ha, I got a huge laugh from Will-as-Bush’s off-color line to Darrell’s Dick Cheney, “That Frist plan went down so fast, it was like YOU shot it in the face.” Darrell’s Cheney also has a very funny facial reaction to that line.
— Great to see Tom Hanks in the cold opening in his long-awaited return as host after a 10-year hiatus.
— Finesse stuck in his typical useless, brief non-speaking role that might as well have been played by an extra. Only two episodes left for Finesse to suffer through the hell of SNL’s awful utilization of him.
— Bill Frist: “Let’s say that a gallon of gas hits $4 a gallon.” President Bush: “Heh, oh, it’s GONNA.”
— This turning into a Magic Mop infomercial is fairly funny, but nothing great and certainly not something I’d call sharp political satire.
— How do you have Tom Hanks still onscreen at the end of a cold opening and NOT have him say “Live from New York…”? Did we really need Will Forte saying LFNY as Bush for the 150th time when Hanks was RIGHT THERE?
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host takes DaVinci Code questions from religious figures in the audience
— I recall someone who used to work at SNL (I forget who) once famously revealed that SNL relies on questions-from-the-audience monologues whenever the writers don’t know what to do with a host for their monologue (if that’s true, then season 19 had A LOT of hosts that the writers didn’t know what to do with). I shudder to think that’s true for this particular episode, because if so, shame on this writing staff. How do you not know what to do with Tom Freakin’ Hanks?
— SNL writer Liz Cackowski continues to be the Sarah Silverman and Paula Pell of this era’s questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Pretty funny subversion with Fred-as-the-priest’s alleged hard-hitting, stern religion-related question just turning out to be “What’s the deal with your hair?”
— Chris’ passive-aggressive line is very funny.
— Hilarious bit with Bill as an albino monk.
— The Flying Nun bit with Rachel was just dumb and didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— Didn’t care for the drawn-out bit with Darrell as the pope, and it needed a funnier punchline than a mention of Vince Vaughn.
— Very funny initial cutaway to Jason as Jesus, and Jason is always great at milking laughs from the audience without saying a word whenever the camera first cuts to him as a character in a questions-from-the-audience monologue, like in Natalie Portman’s monologue a little earlier this season.
— Jason’s natural resemblance to Kiefer Sutherland is coming off particularly noticeable to me here.
— The whole back-and-forth between Tom and Jason is absolutely fantastic, especially it ending with Tom, after calling Jason out on the gall he has as an SNL newbie to insult both the son of man and Steven Spielberg, sarcastically telling Jason “I’m sure we’ll see you in September.”
STARS: ***
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
dumb contestants (AMP), (FRA), (KRW) can’t solve puzzle
— A thin premise, but the execution isn’t too bad so far, and I like Tom’s performance as the straight man.
— Meh, this is now getting old, and the audience is agreeing with me, judging from their silence during some comedic parts. What is this sketch doing in the lead-off spot?
— Tom-as-Pat-Sajak’s long, frustrated spiel towards the end after he’s given up is great, and deserved to be in a much better sketch.
STARS: **
KAITLIN’S IGUANA
Kaitlin’s enthusiasm about taking care of (host)’s iguana levels off
— It feels odd seeing Horatio, because, once again, I keep forgetting he’s even still in the cast, given how much his airtime has (mercifully) diminished lately.
— This ends up being the final Kaitlin sketch with Horatio’s Rick character. The only remaining Kaitlin sketch appears towards the end of the following season, when Horatio is long gone from SNL.
— I like the suspenseful background music and unique camera angles during the sequence with a fearful Kaitlin having second thoughts about taking care of the iguana.
— Tom’s exit line was pretty funny.
STARS: ***
ARIEL & EFRIM
in their early ’90s music video, (host) & (ANS) fear for their testicles
— When this episode originally aired, I remember it strangely took me halfway through this short to recognize Andy Samberg and Tom Hanks as the two lead singers. Until then, I seriously thought the two lead singers were played by special guests who I wasn’t familiar with. I guess it was something about the way Andy and Tom looked in those bald caps that made me not recognize them.
— So I take it from Liz Cackowski’s appearance in this Digital Short (assuming she hasn’t appeared in a Digital Short prior to this) that she and her future husband Akiva Shaffer have hit it off by this point?
— Maya makes her first appearance in three episodes. Much like Horatio, it’s become easy to forget Maya is even still in the cast by this point.
— The wraparound segments with Chris, Will, and Kenan are very similar to the wraparound segments of a pre-SNL Lonely Island music video called Bing Bong Brothers. Even the ending wraparound segment of both that short and this one feature a character saying “I did NOT like that” in response to the music video that was just shown.
— Overall, this was a fun Right Said Fred take-off, but not quite as strong as I remembered it, and pales a little in comparison to the other Lonely Island music videos that have appeared on SNL prior to this. Still good, though.
STARS: ***½
UNIVERSAL THEME PARK
while in a theme park line, (host) & (FRA) yell at their lost ma (RAD)
— Hoo, boy. I recall this being a WRETCHED sketch.
— Fred appears to be wearing his Tony Danza wig.
— A laugh from Tom, when complaining about E.T. not having called Tom by his name during one ride, dismissively saying “E.T., he’s dead to me.”
— Who the holy fuck at SNL thought a sketch with Fred and Tom yelling “MA!” over and over at the top of their lungs for the entirety of a FIVE-MINUTE SKETCH would be worthy of not only making it to air, and not only making it to air in a TOM HANKS-hosted episode, but airing in the freakin’ pre-Weekend Update half of a Tom Hanks-hosted episode?
— I will admit that Tom’s yelling is actually making me smirk at parts, as awful as this material is. A testament to how terrific Tom Hanks is. Imagine how even worse this sketch would’ve been with a different host.
— The roller coaster bit is kinda funny, I guess.
— Ugh, this sketch is going on and on and on and on and on…
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dani California”
WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF asks Rosie O’Donnell (HOS) about joining Star Jones on The View
Patrick & Gunther Kelly debate the immigration controversy with a song
— What is that bizarre off-camera noise while Tina is delivering her opening joke? The off-camera noise sounds like a pig squealing. The fuck? I don’t recall any pigs being involved in any of the subsequent sketches in this episode. Am I watching a rerun of Dennis Miller’s Weekend Update from the season 14 Ted Danson episode, where Dennis got interrupted at one point by the off-camera sounds of squealing pigs who were about to appear in the sketch that followed?
— Ugh, the return of Horatio’s Rosie O’Donnell. At least this is the last time we’ll ever see it.
— This Rosie O’Donnell commentary is as insufferable as I expected.
— Didn’t Rosie O’Donnell’s tenure on The View, which tonight’s Update mentions was soon going to start, end up being very short-lived? Not saying this is the sole reason her tenure was short-lived, but I recall her being in the news for some controversy she got into at one point for an Asian stereotype bit she did on The View. (Sounds like the type of thing celebrities would get “canceled” for nowadays.)
— When listing off similarities she has to Star Jones, Horatio’s Rosie ends with “and we both have gay partners”. Not only a lame joke, but Tina goes “Ohhhhh!” in response, as if it was some sick burn, which bugs me, because I’m sure Tina wrote that “sick burn” herself, as she seems obsessed with making fun of Star Jones and did write those View sketches back in the day. If she indeed wrote that “sick burn” that Horatio’s Rosie delivered here about Star having a gay partner, then Tina going “Ohhhhh!” in response is yet ANOTHER example of her patting herself on the back for an “edgy” joke of hers.
— Yikes, the string of Update jokes from Tina and Amy after the Rosie O’Donnell commentary is…just…Jesus Christ, how does stuff like this make it on the air?!? (*sigh*) Only two episodes left until Update gets a bit of a much-needed revamp.
— We haven’t seen the Patrick & Gunther Kelly characters in a fairly long time.
— Even though these Patrick & Gunther Kelly commentaries use the exact same joke every single time, it still works for me, especially after we’ve gotten a fairly long hiatus from these characters. I especially love how, in tonight’s commentary, Will’s musical high-pitched “Yuh”s are being done in time to the complicated background music.
STARS: *½
CLAREMONT YOGA CENTER
in a yoga class, (RAD) is unhappily partnered with sweaty & gross (host)
— A funny character for Tom.
— Liz Cackowski has appeared in THREE sketches tonight. How did SNL not eventually make this woman a cast member? Also, she’s gotten far more airtime tonight than actual cast member Seth Meyers, who is nowhere to be seen in this entire episode. Seth’s decision to decrease his own airtime this season to concentrate more on his new behind-the-scenes job as a head writer has reached a crescendo this week.
— Tom’s “Anus to anus” line was hilarious, as was him then saying, in response to him and Rachel doing the “anus to anus” move, “Boy, this would cost ya 20 bucks in Thailand.”
— Tom’s disturbing stories towards an uncomfortable Rachel are providing lots of laughs.
— Good line from Rachel about trying not to breathe in OR out while a sweaty Tom is hanging above her in a yoga position.
— I love the angry look on Rachel’s face at the end as the camera zooms in on her between Tom’s legs.
STARS: ****
COLIN’S PLACE
Colin Powell (KET) fields State Department overtures a la Fred Sanford
— As someone who used to be an avid watcher of Sanford & Son reruns, I appreciate this idea of doing a Colin Powell/Fred Sanford hybrid. It also kinda feels like a precursor to a fairly well-remembered sketch SNL would later do where Fred’s Barack Obama and his family star in a take-off of The Cosby Show, though I recall that sketch having better writing than this one.
— Kenan’s attempt at a Redd Foxx-type voice could be better, but Kenan was never known as a good impressionist in these earlier seasons of his.
— If I played a drinking game during this sketch, taking a drink every time Finesse’s Lamont Sanford-esque Michael Powell says “Come on, Pop!”, I’d be passed out before the sketch ended. I don’t recall “Come on, Pop!” being something the actual Lamont said THIS frequently on Sanford & Son.
— I like Maya playing a Condoleezza Rice/Aunt Esther hybrid.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Give It Away”
TENNIS PLAYERS
tennis players have one (host), two (WLF), three (CHP), seven (BIH) arms
— A great snob voice from Will.
— Will unconvincingly trying to act like Tom’s missing arm isn’t the reason he’s dropping him as his tennis partner is pretty funny.
— After Tom’s line “You’re going to throw away 25 years of tennis and lovemaking?”, Will starts to say his reply, but pauses in an odd way after a second, then continues his reply. I’ve seen some people theorize that Tom’s mention of lovemaking was an ad-lib, and that Will paused so oddly during his response because he was genuinely taken aback by the ad-lib.
— I love Chris entering as Will’s new three-armed tennis partner.
— A very fun increasing absurdity to this sketch.
— I am absolutely LOVING how the only performers in this sketch are Tom Hanks, Will Forte, Chris Parnell, and Bill Hader. Some of my all-time favorite sketch comedy performers, all in one sketch together! And to make it even better, the sketch they’re appearing together in is a very well-written absurdist one.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— For the first Tom Hanks-hosted episode in 10 years, this unfortunately had a bit of a flat feel. The episode actually wasn’t all that bad, and there were a few strong pieces in the post-Weekend Update half, but 1) this episode as a whole didn’t have the special feel it should’ve had for Tom Hanks’ big hosting return, 2) there were a few really lousy sketches placed so bizarrely early in the show, and 3) the episode as a whole was largely forgettable, even with some of the highlights. Tom Hanks himself did not disappoint, though, giving the A+ performances and commitment he can always be relied on to give on SNL. After tonight’s episode, he sadly wouldn’t host again for another 10 years, but unlike tonight’s episode, THAT one actually ends up being worth the 10-year wait.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Julia Louis-Dreyfus becomes the very first female cast member to host the show
I can’t wait for the Charades and MySpace sketches in the next episode!
“As W.C. Fields would say, ‘Ah, yes, a housewife’”.
This was an agonizing episode for me to watch live–even worse was me giving up before the tennis sketch. How do you have Tom Hanks coming back after 10 years and you give him this episode, particularly when this isn’t even that bad a season?
There’s like two sketches here that are like dreg season SNL quality and have the creativity of a three year old–Wheel of Fortune and the MA MA sketches. Who in their right mind thought parodying Wheel of Fortune was interesting in 2006?
I actually really liked the monologue–I agree Q& A monologues frequently suck, but Hanks is always skilled at these type of things–his Q&A portion at the 25th anniversary was hilarious.
The Colin’s Place sketch was a good idea that doesn’t really take off. I think it didn’t explore as much potential as it could have (and yes, the Obama-Cosby sketch is great and possibly the best thing Fred’s Obama ever did).
It’s weird how Tom Hanks only hosts once every 10 years nowadays (SNL at Home notwithstanding.) Not a bad episode, but like you said, too ho-hum for Tom. It would’ve been better with a different rundown order. I dunno if this makes sense, but the theme part sketch is simultaneously horrendous yet the biggest laugh I got out of this episode. Tom Hanks screaming “MA!” for what felt like 1,000 hours is not something that should’ve ever happened, but I can’t help but find it funny.
I watched this live. I was so disappointed and let down that Tom Hanks was wasted in crap like the Wheel of Fortune parody and the Amusement Park sketch.
For whatever reason, I’ve always thought the Colin‘s Place sketch (I recall the audience being dead silent) was originally featured in the Topher Grace/The Killers show from last season.
Having not remembered this particular ep (Maybe I didn’t watch it?), I have nothing more to say. I will have plenty to say about Ms. Louis-Dreyfus’ first hosting stint 21 years after her last cast member ep…Oh, and Dan Aykroyd turns 68 today…
Hanks was superb as always, but this was probably his weakest hosting stint. I liked the monologue (I don’t mind the audience questions) but this show really didn’t come alive until the last half-hour. To some degree, the worst parts of Year 30 are still expelling itself. At least the Chili Peppers were solid.
I always despise the questions from the audience monologues because their just the same stupid questions over and over but Tom managed to make it work here. Also, did Star Jones kill someone from Tina’s family? Because Tina seems really obsessed with her.
No, it’s just that Star seemed to be a bit of a popular topic to make fun of around this time (as evidenced by at LEAST 3 jokes made around this time on Family Guy). Don’t exactly remember why, though, although her co-hosting The View may have been part of it.
A lot of it had to do with Star’s wedding, which was perfect tabloid fodder between speculation about her husband and “diva” type gossip about her feuding with Barbara Walters and whether or not she plugged wedding products on the air, and so on.
I know Update has often focused on celebrity gossip, but something about the use in this era feels very small and beneath the show to me – the weeks and weeks of extremely harsh jabs at Britney Spears in particular, considering she had repeatedly been on the show and was already such an easy media target. It just feels lazy and sour.
I knew that, I was mostly just making a joke.
Especially when Lohan was the one target they didn’t pick on, because Fey knew her and presumably knew how much she was struggling – but then did she just assume the same isn’t true for Spears?
Rosie was on The View for a little under a year, mostly leaving because of various feuds (mainly with someone backstage, I think). I haven’t seen all of 06-07 so I wonder if any of that will be referenced or if they just wait to bring The View back when it isn’t culturally relevant…
Here is her comment.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/odonnell-apologizes-ching-chong
This Rosie segment was just abysmal – I think the most bizarre part was her saying Amy looked like her partner. Were we meant to go “eww…?” or was there any real purpose?
I generally agree this is a competent episode overall that should have been much better. I’d still put it above his ’96 episode, where he was lumbered with a ton of tedious recurring characters, but for someone who had been away for a decade, there was no real “welcome home” feel at all. I also think the choices of sketches for the first third were a poor choice – this is a cut-and-paste cold open, the game show sketch just feels TOO obviously dumb to the point where the audience is taken for fools (it reminds me of something they would have given Melissa McCarthy) and other than Tina’s performance and a bit with Tom at the end I just didn’t enjoy any of it, and I couldn’t even make it through the ain’t-I-cute Amy showcase of the week. Even the monologue just feels padded, and this is an early example of how phoned-in some of the Lonely Island music videos would end up feeling. The best part there is the painstaking attempts at recreating the early ’90s look for Will and Parnell.
The “MA!” sketch has a good teamup for Fred and Tom, reminding me of something he would have done with Lovitz, and is one of those good-bad sketches that sort of sit with you.
The Sanford and Son piece is one of the early attempts at moving Kenan into a place he wasn’t quite at yet as a performer, but overall it works – it’s just not overly funny, focusing more on hitting the parody beats than the humor. I also think Maya was, like Kenan, not quite able to have the gravitas for her role by this point, although she’s the highlight, to her credit.
I do enjoy the last sketch, as Will and Tom bounce off each other so well. I kept waiting for that one Ana Gasteyer character to wander in though.
The gross yoga sketch is probably the strongest of the night, overall, again helped greatly by Tom, but did anyone else keep wondering if it was originally written for Will Ferrell? It feels SO much like his gross life model character.
Promo:
This might have been what you were referencing, but indeed Melissa McCarthy DID do a Wheel of Fortune parody sketch on SNL that involved not knowing how the game was played.
Thanks. I wasn’t 100% as there are a few differences and I know she did another as well. Can’t remember which of these two I preferred.
Rosie has signed a one-year contract, which is rather rare in television. Her problems atThe View happened because she made fun of Donald Trump on the air and he bitched to Barbara Walters, then went on TV and publicly said everything Barbara had said while also calling Rosie a pig and all this other stuff. Rosie and Barbara made their peace but from then on, she wasn’t gonna renew. She didn’t finish the season because of an episode in May when she got in an argument with Elisabeth Hasselback and the producers used a split-screen and didn’t go to commercial, and she was convinced it was personal (as the argument was).
Rosie also got into a weird feud with Kelly Ripa that year. And her ‘ching chong’ joke didn’t go over very well either.
The biggest problem with Rosie O’Donnell on The View is that she was hired to replace Meredith Viera, which meant she was taking over the ‘referee’ position in the group discussions, which just didn’t suit her personality.
Re: tina and amy on weekend update
I think all you people were a little tough on Colin Quinn!
I always had a soft spot for Colin, even if he was heavily criticized at the time. There were rough spots and I get the need the need for a fresh start, but I think time has been kind to his Update, overall, unlike his replacements…
I agree with you Stooge that Liz should have been in the cast. They could have made her a featured player while remaining as a writer. Same with JB Smoove. I wonder if she was being considered for a spot before the cuts came between S31 and S32.
Five-Timers Individual Rankings:
8.5 – Tom Hanks/Keith Richards (14.01)
8.4 – Tom Hanks/Edie Brickell (16.08)
7.9 – Tom Hanks/Bruce Springsteen (17.19)
7.3 – Tom Hanks/Randy Travis (13.12)
6.9 – Tom Hanks/Aerosmith (15.13)
6.7 – Tom Hanks/Sade (11.05)
6.6 – Tom Hanks/Tom Petty (22.01)
5.8 – Tom Hanks/RHCP (31.17)
From my trip report in 2006-
What got Cut-
A Day Without an Immigrant-
Cast- Tom Hanks, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph
Tom Hanks and Amy Poehler played a couple who had their day turned upside down when their housekeeper didn’t show up for work because of the boycott. This wasn’t that funny and poorly received.
Commercial
Cast- Jason Sudeikis
This was an advert for a head lice product. Basically, you put beetles in your head and they take out the lice. This was pretty funny.
SNL Digital Short
Cast- Antonio Banderas, Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg
In this one Seth and Andy played two cops, but Andy had lobster claws. His lobster claws prevented him from drinking coffee. I liked this as well.
Gump: The Musical
Cast- Tom Hanks, Kenan Thompson, Jason Sudekis, Rachel Dratch
In the year 2031 Tom Hanks is in Gump: The Musical and is kind of a dick. Kenan played Bubba and him reciting the shrimp was funny stuff.
Vasquez
Cast- Tom Hanks, Seth Meyers, Horatio Sanz, Bill Hader, Rachel Dratch
Thoughts- This was probably my favourite skit of the night. Tom Hanks and Horatio played two janitors accused of theft from the office. Hanks was hilarious and Horatio was also really funny. And this was just a really well-written funny skit.
Commercial
Cast- Sudeikis, Wiig
Thoughts- This was an advert for a product that put all your gadgets in one thing that you strap to your belt so it looks like a bomb. And this was set in an airport making it funnier. The ending was great too, but I won’t spoil it, in case they air it.
Fred as an ugly girl
Cast- Armisen, Hanks, Sudeikis
Thoughts- Fred played an annoying receptionist. He was a girl too. There was one funny line at the end, but the rest was horrible.
Can anyone connect me to this full episode free somewhere? Thanks!
The next Hanks episode is indeed worth the wait, and about as close to a classic as we’ve gotten in the last 10 years. I mean, how many episodes in this era have 2 all time great sketches that are honest to god LIVE sketches?
“All time” can be hard to gauge (to be honest I don’t even think Hanks’ episode had two, although it was a strong episode), but I’d throw in John Mulaney’s second episode.
I (and I’ve noticed Stooge as well) use all time to mean anything I really love, so my “all time” sketches stretches to about 200.
Mulaney’s second episode is a good one, with a great What’s That Name and the Bodega musical (though to be clear it goes Airport > Diner > Bodega > Times Square), and I think Switcharoo, though that may have been his first episode (his episodes, like Louie and Zach’s, all aired close together and are of similar high quality so they kind of run together for me. His new one I can remember more distinctly just because of how recent it was, but I doubt that will last long considering it was pretty mediocre for a Mulaney episode).
From my memory the really stand out episodes Stooge has yet to cover are Hader’s two, Amy Adams (I could be wrong but I remember loving her season 40 episode), The Rock’s next episode (his S42 episode isn’t fantastic, but does include an “all time” sketch), Louis’s next 2, Tracy Morgan, Larry David’s first episode (I recall his second being a bit of a mess), Hanks, Chappelle’s first, Kristen Stewart’s first (copy what I said about David), Mulaney’s first 2 or 3, Sandler & Eddie Murphy.
I haven’t seen all of Amy’s second episode but I do enjoy what I’ve seen. Bill’s first episode is very strong; his second isn’t really for me but I do enjoy the old man sketch where the cast breaks (a good type of breaking), and the Office Potty pre-tape (which shouldn’t count because it isn’t live, but I just love that one to pieces). You were right – Switcheroo is in John’s first (many seem to prefer John’s first episode to his second…I think if the Luke Null wedding sketch had made it to air I would agree, but it didn’t, so the second with What’s That Name/Cha Cha Slide (and Bodega Bathroom is fun too – my rankings would probably be Bodega > Diner > Times Square – Airport).
I’m looking forward to going through these next few seasons to see which have strong sketches I hadn’t seen (or just saw on Youtube several years later). I think it’s difficult for any episode to have more than one all time great sketch, but it’s definitely harder in modern years. There are definitely still episodes that have 2-3 good/great sketches a night, at least (and a few in season 42 come close to having gems all night).
The only redeeming factor of the Universal sketch is how it takes place at the now-extinct Back to the Future ride, a favorite of mine when it was around. It just sucks that it wasn’t immortalized in a sketch with better writing.