Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PARALLEL EARTH
on a parallel Earth, everything is great under president Al Gore [real]
— Right from the opening intro sequence of this, it looks like we’re in for an out-of-the-ordinary cold opening.
— Very fun concept of the real Al Gore being president in a parallel universe, and Gore has proven himself in the past to be a good presence on SNL.
— So much great and inspired ironic humor here, and this is both very well-written and well-performed.
— Ha, there goes a lockbox mention.
— A particularly funny line about California no longer existing, and having been replaced by Mexifornia.
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
Jason Alexander [real] thinks JLD has broken the Seinfeld [real] curse
— It feels very nice to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus back on SNL for the first time since her departure from the cast in 1985.
— I like that Julia starts this monologue by bringing up the little-known-among-more-casual-viewers fact that she was once an SNL cast member. I wish she talked a little more about that here, but she would later do that in her season 41 monologue.
— We also get a mention that Julia has the honor of being the first female cast member to host. I remember how, before this, a lot of online SNL fans were surprised that in SNL’s then-31 years on the air, there had yet to be a female cast member who has come back to host. Thankfully, after Julia’s hosting stint in tonight’s episode, there have been much more female cast members who have hosted.
— Very funny mockery of men’s maturity levels with the various working titles Julia says that her show The New Adventures Of Old Christine originally had.
— I absolutely LOVE how we’re getting a Seinfeld-esque pre-taped outdoors scene with Julia and Jason Alexander.
— Great scene with Julia and Jason, especially the sudden car collision ending.
— Now we get a Jerry Seinfeld cameo! Even the odd raspiness in his voice here is making me laugh a lot.
— A noticeable absence of a Michael Richards cameo. Either he wasn’t available, or SNL somehow looked into the future and saw that he was soon going to gain extreme notoriety with his infamous Laugh Factory incident later in this same year.
STARS: ****½
TECH PACK
wired vest organizes electronic devices but looks terroristic
— I recall this getting cut from many dress rehearsals this season before finally making it on the air in tonight’s episode.
— I like how the only performers in this are two of the newbies.
— Amusing how the Tech Pack that Jason is demonstrating to Kristen looks unintentionally like a terrorist’s bomb strap, complete with a detonator.
— Very funny ending with Jason running through the airport with his bomb strap-looking device, scaring the hell out of the other people at the airport.
— Overall, short and sweet.
STARS: ***½
BUM ATTENTION
insecure (JLD) is upset she isn’t being harassed by a lewd bum (BIH)
— Feels interesting seeing Julia paired with this female cast after having gotten so used to seeing Julia’s female cast mates being Mary Gross, Robin Duke, etc. when I reviewed her SNL era earlier in this project of mine.
— Julia’s disappointment at not getting sleazily hit on by Bill’s disgusting hobo character like her friends did is very funny.
— A great crass performance from Bill.
— I love the long, suspenseful buildup to the comment Bill is going to make to Julia.
— A hilarious dirty line that Bill eventually says to Julia, much to her poorly-disguised pleasure.
STARS: ****
THE MORNING SHOW
everything goes wrong during live television broadcast
— It certainly feels odd but interesting seeing this pairing of Kristen and Horatio front and center in this sketch. Watching back this season in retrospect years after it originally aired, it kinda blows my mind now that Kristen and Horatio’s SNL tenures overlapped for a season, as that’s easy to forget when watching this season, partly due to them rarely interacting with each other onscreen, partly due to the very different SNL eras they represent respectively, and partly due to how Horatio’s presence has gradually diminished this season while Kristen’s presence gradually increased.
— I absolutely love how literally EVERY SINGLE THING is going wrong in this morning show. SNL has done this premise with some other news or morning show sketches (e.g. a sketch from Britney Spears’ season 27 episode, and one from Andy Roddick’s season 29 episode), but it’s being particularly executed well here.
— Two hilarious running gags throughout this sketch, one with a deceased staff member and another with the show’s theme song randomly playing at the wrong times.
— A rare solid performance from Horatio at this late stage of his SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½
MYSPACE SEMINAR
students in (ANS)’s Intro To MySpace class are mostly sexual predators
— In retrospect, an interesting time capsule of the MySpace craze still going strong at this time.
— Great reveal of the class being mostly full of sexual predators in their 40s.
— Is Will playing an early version of Jeff Montgomery, his later and well-remembered sex offender character from season 34 (most famously in a sketch with Jon Hamm where Montgomery is a trick-or-treater)? Will’s even wearing the exact same jacket in this MySpace sketch that he would later wear in the Jeff Montgomery sketches.
— Oh, that’s right, Seth Meyers is still a cast member. Lately, he’s been joining Maya and Horatio in the “They’ve been appearing on the show so little lately that it feels like they’ve already left the cast” department.
— I love Seth’s line about using 1991 in his username because 1,991 is supposedly his favorite number.
— Hilarious bit with Will pretending to type on this laptop when he says he’ll change his “NaughtyGirlHotStuff” username after being told that username will attract a lot of teenage boys.
— Seth’s Dateline question is fantastic.
— Ha, something about Chris’ mere delivery and facial expression during his bit about having his face altered is cracking me up.
— I love all the guys immediately clearing out of the room in a panic when a cop shows up.
— After the cop leaves, we get an absolutely priceless reveal of Horatio hiding very poorly behind a small potted plant. Speaking of Horatio, wow, between the Morning Show sketch and now this, he’s having by far the best night he’s had in a LOOOOOOONG time.
— Overall, such a perfect sketch.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How Can You Live In The Northeast?”
WEEKEND UPDATE
AMP & Al Gore [real] do a Point-Counterpoint about global warming
TIF’s grandfather (FRA) tries to sign up for Medicare benefits via phone
FIM gives fashion tips to young men regarding appropriate prom attire
David Blaine (ANS) fails in his attempt to hold his breath for 9 minutes
— A big laugh from the mostly-blacked-out global warming report that Al Gore displays.
— Ugh, words cannot express how much I absolutely HATED Amy “flipping” the “You ignorant slut” routine when Gore was about to say it during his and Amy’s Point-Counterpoint. Amy’s corny, cutesy delivery of “You ignorant slut” didn’t help. Way to piss all over a great, long-standing SNL tradition, Amy.
— A somewhat interesting change of pace for Update with the segment involving Fred as Tina’s grandfather, Wolfgang.
— I admit to getting a cheap laugh from Fred’s Wolfgang muttering “I got the damn cleaning lady” when the phone operator speaks in Spanish.
— Finesse appears in his final Update commentary.
— I loved Finesse’s “You are a magician” bit, as did the audience. The rest of this commentary, on the other hand? Meh. At least it’s not as painfully unfunny as Finesse’s last Update commentary before this about angry black women.
— I like Rachel’s lines as the phone operator in the second segment with Fred’s Wolfgang.
— This Update feels like it’s going on FOREVER.
— The whiny, gaspy voice Andy is using after he as David Blaine failed to complete his magic trick sounds very Adam Sandler-esque.
— Andy’s David Blaine commentary is pretty dumb on paper, but it’s the kind of dumb that Andy can execute well (which is another similarity Andy has to Adam Sandler), which he is doing here.
— Tired, past-their-prime, and about-to-leave SNL veterans having a better night than usual seems to be a theme tonight, because not only has Horatio been having a surprisingly strong episode, but Tina has had what is probably her best night in a while in tonight’s overall Update, though it’s still a far cry from her glory days on Update back in 2000-2002. Amy, on the other hand, was as horrible tonight as she usually is in the Fey/Poehler era of Update, maybe even moreso, especially that absolutely god-awful dolphin joke of hers tonight.
STARS: **½
CHARADES
contestants’ (AMP) & (JLD) pantomime is sexually suggestive
— Fitting casting of Darrell as impressionist Rich Little.
— I like Chris always responding to Darrell-as-Rich-Little’s hacky and shoehorned celebrity impressions by immediately shutting him down or just quickly moving on in a clearly-unamused manner.
— Some good laughs from the increasingly suggestive-looking charade gestures Amy and Julia have to do, and how the celebrity contestants can easily guess Amy’s gestures, but constantly mistake Julia’s gestures for sex acts.
— Maya’s Charo is getting increasingly unintelligible as this sketch goes on.
— I love the look Kenan’s Nipsey Russell gives Maya’s Charo after she says “You are me – Charo!” (which makes at least one line of hers that I could decipher) in response to one PARTICULARLY dirty-looking charade gesture of Julia’s.
STARS: ***½
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
Unsolved Mysteries re-enactor (JLD) doesn’t believe (KRW)’s alien story
— I remember the absolutely befuddled reaction among online SNL fans back at this time in regards to SNL’s decision to do an Unsolved Mysteries sketch in 2006, years after Unsolved Mysteries had stopped being relevant.
— I also recall how I and other online SNL fans back at this time got a VERY Mo Collins (from MADtv) vibe from Kristen’s twitchy, psychotic character in this sketch, back in the days before us SNL fans got very accustomed to seeing Kristen play twitchy, psychotic characters.
— It’s cracking me up how, among the cartoonish ghoulish off-camera voices, one of the voices is literally just saying “Ghoooosts” in a quivery, spooky voice.
— The increasingly bizarre movie characters showing up during the scene being filmed are pretty funny.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Outrageous”
PEYOTE
peyote leads to street-level suicide jump threat drama with (ANS) & (WLF)
— This is the ONLY time I can remember that a Lonely Island-made Digital Short, billed on the air as such with the “An SNL Digital Short” title screen, has ever aired as the last segment of an episode, but I can’t say for sure.
— A hilarious ending reveal of Andy not standing on the high ledge of a building like we were led to believe, but rather standing on a sidewalk against a building, and Will being crouched down right in front of him.
— Much like at the end of the Lettuce Digital Short from earlier this season, we get a very brief Jorma Taccone appearance as a passerby.
— Speaking of Lettuce, tonight’s short has a similar twist ending, with peyote being the subject matter instead of lettuce, which is very funny after the aforementioned reveal of Andy and Will both bizarrely being on ground level.
— This may be the shortest Lonely Island Digital Short of all time.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
(Not included in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode. For anyone keeping count, this is only the third time in my SNL project that the copy of an episode I reviewed cut off abruptly before its existing goodnights were shown. The previous two episodes were Christopher Walken’s season 21 episode and The Rock’s season 27 episode. Unlike those two, tonight’s episode isn’t followed by an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode, so at least I know there’s not some kind of curse going on.)
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and one of the absolute best of this season. This episode was almost completely flawless, minus Weekend Update, though even THAT was a little better than it’s usually been in the Fey/Poehler era. The first half of this episode was especially phenomenal, with almost EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT receiving a rating ranging from 4-5 stars. Very impressive. Almost everything in the first half of this episode seemed so “on”, especially the inspired writing. And as I mentioned earlier, even some tired veterans in the cast had their best night in a while in this episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 31 comes to an end, with host Kevin Spacey. It’s also the final episode for Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz, as well as the final episode of Seth Meyers’ tenure as a regular sketch performer.
This is a superb episode. I had forgotten how good stuff like the Tech Pak and Unsolved Mysteries sketches were. As opposed to last episode, I don’t have a problem parodying an old show here because the joke is basically just about the increasingly silly monsters and things that are appearing.
It is kinda weird that JLD was the first female cast member to host…but who were the other options? Obviously if not for the strike and her passing, Gilda would have hosted. Unfortunately (considering their talents) many of the female alums didn’t go on to big stardom or had unpleasant experiences on the show. The most likely hosting candidates had just left the show or would be about to leave the show.
This is a great “balanced” cast episode–almost everyone gets a chance to shine, including almost all of the new players and some fading veterans. I am baffled that a show can turn out such dreck for Tom Hanks last week and have an almost perfect episode this week, but I suppose that is the nature of the beast.
I’m not sure if it is meta or not that Darrell Hammond is funny as the old guy whose bad impressions annoy everyone else, but he is very funny as Rich Little.
Though it’s true that female cast members by and large have struggled to find success after SNL (though not as much in the past 15 years), it is INCREDIBLY ridiculous that it took until 2006 for one of them to host!
I mean there had been quite a few options…
-There is sadly Gilda who died before getting her shot, but honestly she is such an all-timer that I don’t know why they couldn’t have had her host before 1989.
– Jane Curtin was in TWO successful sitcoms, but considering her relationship with Lorne, I suppose it’s not surprising.
– Laurie Metcalf. Okay, she appeared in one episode but hey it still counts and she was on Roseanne for YEARS. What the hell?
– Julia should have hosted during the Seinfeld era too! Maybe she didn’t want to..
-Jan Hooks. Her career sadly went nowhere but she was on Designing Women after she left and made appearances until 1994. Why not have her host the show during that time. Getting to see her and Phil Hartman own an entire episode again would have been a real treat.
Joan Cusack comes to mind as a missed opportunity too.
Julia has mentioned that she was offered when Seinfeld was on, but she was pregnant each time they asked. She was not able to back then.
Has Joan ever spoke of her time on SNL?
It would have been cool to see her host, but who knows. Maybe she was never asked, she didn’t want to, or was penciled in but pulled out.
I wonder if the show had tried to get her brother John to host while she was in the cast? That would have been interesting to see the two in the same episode.
As for Julia hosting, it was nice to see her back after 21 years away. I was hoping they would bring back the “Inside Out” sketch from her last episode as cast member.
Jane Curtin might have burned her bridges with Lorne Michaels, but it is still surprising she wasn’t invited to host in 1984-1985 during “Kate and Allie”s first season.
She and Dick Ebersol must have run into each other frequently that year.
Joan Cusack never returning is also a mystery, since both Damon Wayans and Downey Jr. from her season were invited.
Gilda was meant to host in ’88 but the strike interfered (just one of many reasons the 87-88 strike is such a cruel blow, as the show was really building up a head of steam around that point). Jan, much as I would have loved seeing her host, was never famous enough and may not have wanted to host anyway. I don’t know if Laurie was ever asked but she said in an interview last year that she would have no real interest in doing so. Jane would have been a great host in the Ebersol run, but she seems to have mostly moved on from SNL even if she managed to escape some of the crueler boxes that would have made her being asked less likely (ageism, famous but not FAMOUS, etc.). I think the absolutely killer (stonefaced audience be damned) 40th anniversary material she got was always the most we were going to get – and frankly, much more than I’d expected.
Julia being the first to host, in spite of so many incredible women being in the cast over the years, makes a sad kind of sense – I suppose it’s that she didn’t host during Seinfeld that is more surprising (but considering she was, as someone else mentioned, pregnant, I can see why now).
Gilda was supposed to host the Year 13 finale, but it was cancelled by the writers’ strike that year. Its rumored that SNL booked U2 (circa “Rattle and Hum”) to be the musical guest, just to emphasize what a big homecoming this would have been.
The Gore cold open was written by his daughter Kristin.
This show at the end pays respect to Al Camoin who passed away two days before the episode aired.
Not only is Michael Richards not in the monologue, he also never hosted unlike Jason, Julia, and Jerry.
Richards (even pre N word incident) was always kinda known to be a bit of a reclusive weirdo in real life so it’s not too surprising he never hostd and was the one guy not to participate in the mini Seinfeld reunion here.
The only time that we knew of when Michael Richards was even considered to be a potential host was season 19. He was actually slated to host in March 1994 but, of course, he was pushed out in favor of Nancy Kerrigan because that’s who NBC wanted just for the potential ratings. I’m sure Stooge goes into much more detail about that in the review for that episode (or the commenters do) but maybe Richards has been silently bitter about that treatment and maybe that’s why he’s never taken a chance to ever appear on the show again?
Didn’t Michael back out of hosting during S24?
Yes, I had thought Richards was just scheduled for season 19 until Lucy Lawless’ interview last month.
https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/5/26/21269642/the-story-of-how-saturday-night-lives-stevie-nicks-fajita-roundup-sketch-got-made
“The way I got on SNL was because Michael Richards, Kramer [from Seinfeld], pulled out at the last moment—as they feared he probably would, you know, that he was going to flake out on them,” Lawless says. “And reliably, he flaked out, and I ended up there.”
Michael’s absence is noticeable in Julia’s monologue (I feel like he would have really been fun in the bit Jerry did), but everyone else (especially Jason) is such fun it makes up for the loss.
It’s too bad because Michael Richards has a sketch background and was a stellar performer at the time. I think he would have made a great host during those years.
Richards was one of two names commonly cited as holding up a Fridays home video release until 2013 – streaming at least has more of the run available through Shout! Factory’s and Tubi’s AVOD offerings.
Also, while playing Stanley Spadowski in UHF and The Bow Tie Killer in Problem Child wouldn’t have earned Richards an SNL guest star spot, I think the late-1980s cast meshed best with his talents. I get he wanted to get away from playing weirdos once Kramer hit big, but he’s the one who wanted a thousand pounds of dirt on set written into his Fridays contract so he could play Battle Boy (https://nypost.com/2016/07/10/the-backstage-bickering-that-almost-brought-down-seinfeld/). He’s an unconventional talent.
“Fridays” is also on Amazon Prime Video.
Bum attention was cut from some other episode. Does anybody remember which one?
I heard it was cut from the Billy Bob Thornton show with him as the bum and Rachel in Julia’s role.
This is the second ep of “SNL” from this season that I wrote a review for on IMDb (under my username “tavm”). During Julia’s monologue, I would have loved to hear talk about some of her highlights during her tenure on the show (like her doing “The Julia Show” talking only about herself despite Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis as guests or her “Inside Out” sketch when she kept spitting on Mary Gross and Pamela Stephenson). Yeah, it was weird Michael Richards wasn’t also there during that. While I liked “Bum Attention”, part of me thought maybe Julia and Rachel should’ve changed roles. OMG at Horatio “accidentally” touching Julia’s breasts! I’m half wondering if this was the first time Julia and Paul Simon met as he never appeared on an Ebersol ep. I watched “Charades” on YouTube recently and it’s as hilarious as ever! It was indeed a great homecoming from Ms. Louis-Dreyfus! Not mentioned: During one of the audience-being-on-camera shots, her hubby and fellow former cast member Brad Hall was shown with their two kids. Before the goodnights, a pic of former cameraman Al Camoin was shown. He had passed a couple of days before. And Julia saying during those goodnights, “I’m not gonna to wait another 21 years to come back, I’ll tell you that!”
She stayed true to her word, and came back the following season.
Thanks for sharing that with us. I wish we could have seen those goodnights – a pretty seminal moment to miss.
4 out of 5 female cast members from this season have come back to host and the fifth one, Rachel, has done some great cameos especially as Sen. Klobuchar this past season.
The Turners have told about how Lorne wanted Jan to host but her stage fright probably would have overwhelmed her if she to commit to a full week, which is why she was credited as a special guest.
I forget, didn’t Seth make like one or two sketch appearances during his Weekend Update tenure and that was it?
I’m glad Lorne at least tried to get Jan to host. I wish she had but at least they did want her to…
Seth pops up in a few pre-tapes and sketches, not much more. I think he has a few in the next Drew Barrymore episode.
At times Rachel felt like more of a cast member this past season than Pete Davidson. If the season had continued I was hoping they might have had her host.
Janeane was probably popular enough to host in the years following her ill-fated SNL stint, but the chances of her ever returning to that building ever again was pretty much zero.
You mean, outside of her occasional appearances on Conan?
Kind of surprising Amy has only hosted once. Bunch of cameos but only one hosting stint
Twice, actually. Once with Tina.
Ahhh can’t believe I forgot that. I had solo hosting appearances on the mind!.
While JLD wasn’t the first Ebersol-era cast member to host, she was the first Ebersol-era cast member to host solo in the post-Ebersol years. (Martin Short co-hosted with two other frequent hosts.)
Short hosted alone in 96-97.
I stand corrected.
Also, while JLD was the first former female cast member to host, she was the third (and presumably last ever) Ebersol-era cast member to host.
Well, Eddie Murphy was the most recent Ebersol-era guest host. Also, the only Jean Doumanian one so far…though I don’t think Joe Piscopo will ever do one…
….or Gilbert Gottfried, for that matter…
This was a very strong episode, so much so I’m surprised I have never heard more about it. I guess Tina Fey really wanted to do Julia proud (the part of the monologue where Julia gives alternative names for her sitcom sounds so much like Tina I could practically hear her saying the words), and she certainly did. The use of Julia is commendable – in every sketch they strike a perfect balance between showcasing her and showcasing various cast members. It feels like a true ensemble.
The news sketch is my favorite, as they build up the tension perfectly (Kristen’s steady numbed horror with the chaos around her brilliant). SNL has managed a number of great news sketches over the last few decades, but this one seems to be almost entirely unknown.
The Charades sketch is another classic, partly due to the expert hair, makeup and wardrobe teams making such period-authentic styling. Chris is also absolutely perfect – the best thing about this is how Nipsey Russel repeatedly comes out with nonsense, which Convy loves, then he shuts down Rich Little every time. I’m going to miss Chris but I’m glad he got some good roles in this back half of the season to show people what they will be losing once he’s gone.
I don’t mind the “ignorant slut” being subverted as that had been done to death by this point, but I’m not sure it needed to be done in such a cutesy-poo way. Defeats the whole purpose of the original joke…
I hadn’t realized Finesse was on as much as he has been in this season, although it’s mostly been Update commentaries. This one was alright, but the way Amy wraps it up for him (I guess even then they knew they were running long) must have told him he didn’t have long left.
Remembering all the backlash and mockery Al Gore got for his documentary at the time (which some have since regretted), I suppose it was something of a risk for SNL to give him as much focus as they did in a high-profile episode. Fortunately, unlike many political and quasi-political cameos on SNL, it all mostly works.
Me personally, I’ve never liked the “You Ignorant Slut” line. Maybe because they’ve used it so much it’s humor has worn off.
I’ve always been baffled that Michael Richards never hosted and wondered if it was some old Friday’s v. SNL ambivalence on his part. And for female cast members, the absence of Jane Curtin during the Ebersol years I’d also baffling. Even bringing back Laraine to host sometime in the 80s into the early 90s likely would have gotten a nice reception, just for nostalgia. Right after leaving, she got a very warm reception in Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever (not SNL but pretty close… aired during a dark week in season 7). Other posts above have made good points about some of the other cast members not hosting. I think Victoria might even have been viable in the year or two after she left.
Kubelsky isn’t familiar with SNL’s weird “all but one” rule. Everyone on Seinfeld has hosted except Kramer. Everyone on “Friends” hosted except Matt LeBlanc. Everyone on “Party of Five” hosted except Lacey Chabert. Everyone on “Will & Grace” except Debra Messing. Everyone in The Beatles except John Lennon. Everyone in Led Zeppelin except John Bonham. I think there’s at least one more example.
Matthew Fox, when he finally hosted, brought up a lot of these in his monologue–the other notable one is John Ratzenberger from Cheers (although Shelley Long also didn’t host, and neither did Bebe Neuwirth).
This one may be a stretch. How about LA Law?
Bernsen, Dey and Smits all hosted but not Harry Hamlin. Of course the cast was pretty big so then you have to mention Blaire Underwood, etc.
I’ve totally heard of “all but one,” I just wish it didn’t apply here. Oh well… I have two others that are marginal. For the Mary Tyler Moore Show’s later cast (seasons 5-7), Moore/Asner/Knight/White hosted but not Gavin Macleod… however, do we count Georgia Engel as a castmember? And in music, from Fleetwood Mac’s classic lineup, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood have all been on SNL… but have either of the McVies appeared on the show (as part of someone else’s band, obviously, the way John Paul Jones did; I know they haven’t been on solo)?
Behind Black/Young, the second-best episode of the truncated 31st season. The MySpace sketch was already dated by 2010, but the premise alone stands the test of time. “Morning Show” and “Charades” are also season highlights. It took 20-odd years, an Emmy or two, and a different producer to finally put JLD to good use. Each of the five cast members with a foot out the door (whether they knew it or not) each had at least one good moment tonight.
I’m looking forward to the Spacey/Furtado review, with the epic finale of “The Falconer.”
The Morning Show is the first time Jost is on camera. The left side of the screen, right next to the yellow balloon during the Happy Birthday Stan clip.
Fun Fact: John Lutz appears in more episodes this season than Maya does, 8 to 7.
A really fun episode that I think is held together by two distinct factors: 1) stunt guests that actually work (save for a meh Seinfeld appearance) and 2) good old fashioned, well-structured sketch comedy.
On the first, the Gore Cold Open is a masterstroke – smart, savvy, self-deprecating. A clever idea deftly executed. The Update piece has some laughs, but Poehler gets her side of the performance all wrong.
As for the rest, Bum Attention, Morning Show, MySpace Seminar and Charades are just classic, sturdy bits of right-down-the-middle sketch goodness. In the era of Digital Shorts permanently changing the trajectory of the comedy of SNL, it’s still a thrill to see well-premised, writerly pieces that hinge on good performances. The MySpace seminar particularly hits every mark perfectly, even with the dated references. And yes, this is an especially strong episode for Sanz, who needed some redemption after five seasons of indulgence.
Is Julia the only SNL alumni to host and not bring back any of her old characters/impressions from her time on the show? Granted, she didn’t have very many, but she has got to be the only one. Anyone want to do some homework on this? ?
Paul Schaffer comes to mind haha.
Could have been her choice, and not too many are memorable except for her spittake talk show host. That could have come back.
I was at the dress for this episode. Jason and Bill were very impressed, and probably a little creeped out, that I was at the Billy Bob Thornton episode and knew that’s where the homeless man skit came from.
What Got Cut written in 2006
A Letter from the Iranian Prime Minister
Cast- Dreyfus, Armisen
Fred is the Iranian Prime Minister and dictates letters to Bush, Israel, the New Yorker and a shampoo company. A few funny Jewish jokes, but this skit just fell flat.
Noonies
Cast- Dreyfus, Armisen, Sudeikis, Rudolph
Thoughts- Yea, this was bad. The highlight was poor Jason having to get into a tank of water and get all wet.
Shaggy Dog
Cast- Dreyfus, Samberg, Poehler, Sudeikis
Thoughts- A group of people try to come up with a tagline of the Shaggy Dog. You could tell this was getting cut about 3 seconds in.
Immigrants
Cast- Al Gore, Poehler, Sudeikis, Rudolph
Thoughts- This was the same thing they aired last week with Hanks, except with Gore introducing it.
SNL Digital Short
Cast- Antonio Banderas, Meyers, Samberg
Thoughts- This was the same digital short they aired last week. I really like it, I don’t know why it gets cut.
Bush Commemorative Plates
Thoughts- An advert for plates commemorating the great moments in Bush history, like the time he received a Dale Earnhardt Commemorative Plate. The joke was that on every bad day in American history, Bush was happy b/c of something superficial. And well, they put it on a plate. They had an easy 9/11 joke and didn’t go for it. For shame.
I would have liked to have seen (and still would like to see) Julia Sweeney host. She did have some mild post-SNL success with her monologues (God Said Ha, Letting Go of God, etc). I think she would have done well in the SNL monologue obviously, and was always a reliable, professional sketch performer. But she probably wasn’t ever “famous” enough, unfortunately. Not many non-SNL fans know of her.
I always wondered if Hammond’s portrayal of Rich Little and Parnell’s annoyance towards his impressions routine was some sort of meta-commentary on how stale Darrell had become at this point. Probably not, as they likely would’ve fired Darrell along with Parnell, Sanz and Mitchell, but something to think about.