Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
George W. Bush (JAS) has literally gotten USA into another Vietnam War
— Jason has replaced the still-on-the-show Will Forte as SNL’s latest George W. Bush impersonator, making him the show’s FIFTH Bush impersonator during Bush’s presidency so far. Absolutely insane that SNL has gone through that many Bush impersonators over the course of just SIX YEARS. (Sure, SNL previously rotated a lot of people in the Ronald Reagan role during his presidency in the 80s, but that’s understandable, as SNL’s cast went through many big overhauls during Reagan’s presidency, unlike SNL’s cast during Bush’s presidency.) Tonight’s sudden re-casting of the Bush role after Forte had been SNL’s regular Bush for a few years completely blindsided SNL fans at this time, especially since there was no prior announcement of this re-casting before tonight’s episode originally aired. I remember in the live discussion thread for this episode on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board, as soon as this cold opening first showed Jason as Bush after the typical “And now, a message from the president of the United States” intro, many members of the board, including myself, simultaneously flocked to the live discussion thread to post literally the exact same message: “WTF?!? Sudeikis?!?” Haha, we were absolutely SHOCKED at this re-casting.
— Funny announcement from Jason’s Bush of America now being at war with Vietnam.
— Jason’s Bush portrayal isn’t bad so far.
— Towards the end, this cold opening has started dying with the audience.
— Overall, I wish I had more to say for Jason’s first outing as Bush, but I found this cold opening okay as a whole. Wish it ended better than it did, though.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo once again proves how incredibly old he’s getting, by bizarrely and inexplicably mispronouncing the name Ludacris as “loo-DAY-cris”, not once, but TWICE. Let’s just say this earned about as many “WTF?!?”s in the aforementioned live discussion thread for this episode on the saturday-night-live.com message board as the sudden re-casting of the Bush role did. Also, something funny about Don’s “loo-DAY-cris” mispronunciation is that it rhymes with the correct pronunciation of the name Sudeikis. And know what’s even funnier about THAT? When Jason Sudeikis was just an SNL writer before being added to the cast, I mistakenly assumed his last name was pronounced “SOO-duh-kis”, much like how the name Ludacris is correctly pronounced.
MONOLOGUE
host’s old friend Rick ‘Diculous’ (KET) wants credit for stage name idea
— A mildly funny bit with Ludacris differentiating the use of his stage name and his real name, but nothing special.
— A laugh from the exaggerated size of the antenna on Kenan’s old-school 90s cellphone.
— Not sure what else to say about this monologue. I hate to use the term “only mildly funny” again for this monologue, but I can’t think of a better description of this monologue as a whole.
STARS: **½
YOUNG DOUGLAS: HYPIN’ THE CLASSICS
classic songs get rap complements on hype man Young Douglas’ (host) album
— It almost feels like Ludacris might as well just be playing himself in this sketch instead of a fictional character (even though Ludacris isn’t a hype man). This sketch is still working decently, though.
— The “You’re Beautiful (That Ass!)” duet is very funny.
— A very Kenan Thompson-y gesture with Kenan not even pretending to make his trumpet-blowing look convincing.
STARS: ***
THE BITCHSLAP METHOD
Dr. Bitchslap’s (host) marriage advice infomercial prescribes face swats
— A laugh from Ludacris’ character’s surname being Bitchslap.
— I like Bill as Amy’s now-whipped (or, should I say, now-bitchslapped) husband.
— As Jason’s character is putting his arm around his wife Kristen’s shoulder a little roughly, Kristen’s soft little “Ow” while keeping a nervous smile on her face is the type of thing she’s always great at getting laughs out of.
— The ending showing the various Bitchslap Method books came off a little awkward.
STARS: **½
THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (DAH) potential boycott of Def Jam is a hollow threat
— After just using his real voice in previous Bill O’Reilly sketches, which was a surprisingly lazy move for a so-called master of impressions, Darrell finally attempts to actually imitate Bill O’Reilly’s voice tonight. It’s an improvement, but I still prefer Jeff Richards’ take on Bill O’Reilly. Also, too little, too late for Darrell to finally improve his impression of O’Reilly, given the fact that this ends up being the last appearance it ever makes.
— Kenan stretched out his intentionally-awkward, silent reaction to the first ridiculous question from Darrell’s O’Reilly way too long.
— The whole interview portion with Kenan in general is too slow-paced, even if there are some chuckles.
— Pretty funny to see Ludacris playing a professional political talking head, and quite well, might I add.
— I don’t know how to react to the fact that Ludacris, a non-comedian, is giving a FAR better performance in his portion of this sketch than Kenan, a freakin’ sketch comedy veteran, gave in HIS portion of this sketch.
— As usual, some laughs from the mailbag segment.
— Overall, some decent parts, but as a whole, this sketch did NOT do it for me. The laughs were too few and far in between, the sketch’s pacing was weak (especially during Kenan’s performance), and the overall sketch was WAAAAAY too long (it was seriously about EIGHT MINUTES, I shit you not). I am so glad this ends up being the final O’Reilly Factor installment with Darrell.
STARS: **
BOOTY BIDNESS WORKWEAR
host extends naughty slogans to women’s workplace attire
— This is a revamped version of a commercial that had gotten cut from at least one dress rehearsal (if not multiple dress rehearsals) earlier this season.
— Some laughs from the inappropriate sexual-related messages on businesswomen’s suits.
— Ludacris is absolutely perfect as the spokesperson here. I’m guessing the previous version of this commercial that got cut after dress rehearsal didn’t work anywhere near as well without the footage added in of Ludacris.
STARS: ***
BLIZZARD MAN
at a recording session, host ballyhoos Blizzard Man’s (ANS) dorky raps
— Andy’s Blizzard Man character makes its debut.
— I love Andy’s very early 90s look. SNL’s been getting some mileage lately out of early 90s-looking costumes, between Andy’s 1992 exercise gear in the preceding episode’s Out-Of-Breath Jogger From 1992 sketch, Kenan’s early 90s hip-hop outfit in tonight’s monologue, and now Andy’s Blizzard Man costume.
— I love Jason’s intentionally corny delivery of “Now you’re talkin’ my language, Luda!”
— Some really good laughs from Andy’s incredibly cheesy, whitebred raps, especially how it always immediately follows him prefacing the songs by doing actual solid and hardcore hype-man ad-libs into the mic. Very fun performance from Andy here.
— Meh, I could do without this sketch’s choice to do the “the camera cuts to a close-up of each straight man character having a frozen unpleasant facial expression while witnessing something odd the lead comedic character is doing” trope. That makes this feel too much like a damn James Anderson-written sketch, even though he obviously didn’t write this. I will say that I do like the comical intense look on Ludacris’ face (the last above screencap for this sketch) when the camera shows him jamming to Blizzard Man’s corny rapping during the aforementioned sequence showing a close-up of each straight man’s facial reaction.
— Funny twist at the end, with the Billboard chart that Blizzard Man’s song is listed #1 under turning out to be a chart of Least Bought Albums (screencap a little below). Not only that, but there’s an interesting subtle self-reference from Lonely Island: the #2 song on that Billboard chart is from Bing Bong Brothers, which was the name of a fictional R&B group played by Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone in a pre-SNL Lonely Island music video.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Money Maker”
WEEKEND UPDATE
John Mark Karr (BIH) claims responsibility for high-profile crimes
AMP & SEM study guest seating chart for Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes wedding
following a weak joke, Bobby Knight (JAS) gets in SEM’s face
to editor (MAR) of a teen magazine, donating food is path to weight loss
— A very weak opening Bush joke from Amy.
— Bill killing it in yet another solo Update commentary this season. His John Mark Karr portrayal and dialogue are a lot of fun and are cracking me up so much.
— A fairly whatever bit with Amy and Seth breaking down who the guests were at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding. Too easy of a joke for my likes.
— Oh, I like this random bit with Jason as Bobby Knight chewing out Seth for his lame Tobey Maguire/Spider Man joke. And I’m always up for a showcase of Jason’s Will Ferrell-esque ability to play intimidating, screaming madmen.
— I could do without Amy’s bad, corny ad-libs after Jason’s Bobby Knight made his exit.
— Maya’s commentary is decent, and I’m enjoying her performance.
STARS: ***
POOL WATCH
urban lifeguard (host) isn’t ready to get in the water
— Lame stereotypical black jokes at the beginning, with the titles of black CW shows.
— Ugh, the screechy voice Maya’s using here is hard on the ears throughout this sketch.
— More weak stereotypical black jokes.
— A laugh from Ludacris wearing swimming trunks under his speedo.
— Believe it or not, Fred’s brief appearance at the end of this sketch as an unconscious body, a role that might as well have been played by an extra, is Fred’s ONLY appearance all night. Jesus Christ. Even odder, in dress rehearsal, Fred’s role was played by Will (who, by the way, has yet to be seen ANYWHERE in tonight’s live episode so far). I assume the reason for this role being re-cast from Will to Fred after dress rehearsal is because SNL felt bad that Fred was left with no appearances after the dress rehearsal cuts were made before the live show. I dunno, part of me feels that an SNL repertory player making their only appearance of an episode in a 5-second non-speaking role as an unconscious body is, in some ways, even more demeaning than making no appearances at all.
STARS: **
HAIR TRANSPLANT
shady plastic surgeon (host) schemes to steal (WLF)’s Elton John hair
— Will finally makes his first (and ONLY) appearance of the whole night. This, coupled with the fact that, earlier in this episode, SNL had unexpectedly re-cast the Bush role (and keep in mind that it wasn’t known yet among SNL fans that Will himself asked to be taken out of the Bush role, and thus, fans incorrectly assumed that Will got the Bush role yanked away from him against his wishes), made a lot of online SNL fans worry about Will’s job security at SNL, fearing he may be in for an upcoming firing at the end of this season. In fact, Will’s airtime has really taken a hit in the first half of this season in general. In a lot of episodes in this half of the season, he typically averages a measly 1-2 appearances per show, though his amount of airtime (thankfully) ends up returning to normal somewhere in the second half of the season, and, as we know now, he doesn’t end up getting fired after this season. I wonder what the reason is for his big decrease in airtime in the first half of this season. Was he busy filming a movie? “The Brothers Solomon”, perhaps?
— Speaking of the worry that a lot of SNL fans had for Will with the combination of his Bush impression suddenly being given to another cast member and Will not appearing in this episode until towards the end, I remember how Will making his entrance in this Hair Transplant sketch with a head bandage made one online SNL fan initially worry for a second that Will’s head bandage was REAL, with that SNL fan mistakenly assuming Will had suffered a head injury earlier that week and that that was the reason for both SNL re-casting the Bush role tonight and Will barely appearing in this episode. An odd misconception. I’m pretty sure if a cast member ever suffered a horrific head injury earlier in the week of an episode, an injury horrific enough to require a head bandage, there’d be an announcement of this injury sometime before the episode would air. I doubt SNL would just have a head-injured cast member waltz onto a sketch wearing their big-ol’ head bandage with no prior warning to us viewers.
— I love Ludacris preparing to jet the hell out of his office right before he reveals Will’s hair transplant.
— Very funny reveal of Will having the hairtop of a black man after the transplant.
— A lot of mentions of Atlanta in tonight’s episode.
— Will is playing his naive straight man character really well. Even just his way of cornily saying in shock “What in sam hill…?!?” when finally seeing his hair transplant made me laugh out loud.
— Hilarious reveal of Ludacris having switched hairtops with Will, just because Ludacris desperately wanted Will’s Elton John-like hair.
— I love the absurdity of this sketch, and Ludacris is proving to be actually really adept at this absurdist material. I would call this another oddball Will Forte sketch, and in some ways, it IS, but this sketch seems to be focusing more on Ludacris than on Will. And even though this sketch has kind of an oddly hollow, quiet, slow atmosphere, making it almost feel like a fugitive from this season’s wretched John C. Reilly episode, it is definitely working for me here.
STARS: ****
LESBIAN CRUISE
captain (host) futilely hopes lesbian cruise will become a porno fantasy
— I like Kristen’s little “Is…is he supposed to be drinking?” when she sees the captain holding up a glass of champagne.
— Not caring for where this sketch is going AT ALL, though Ludacris is, once again tonight, performing this well. Even something about the way he said “Yes, Arizona?” when Amy called his name made me laugh.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Mary J. Blige [real] perform “Runaway Love”
TWO OLD MEN
in a diner, old guys (DAH) & (host) question the worth of modernity
— Wow, Darrell starring in a non-impression role? AND IN THE 10-TO-1 SKETCH?!? Two huge rarities in one for Darrell.
— I’m liking the premise of this, and Darrell and Ludacris are surprisingly making a good duo, playing off of each other really well.
— The audience is getting lots of amusement from Darrell’s increasingly-hanging-off fake mustache. It’s adding to the fun nature of this sketch.
— A good laugh from Ludacris’ question about why companies can’t combine the “no pee” medicine with the “stiffy” medicine.
— Now Darrell is starting to crack up a little due to his hanging-off mustache, making the audience laugh even more.
— When Darrell is struggling to ask Ludacris “Do you….do you…” while stifling his laughter, Ludacris cuts him off with a fantastic ad-lib: “I know that your damn mustache is hangin’ off, I know that!” Priceless.
— Interestingly, after the aforementioned ad-lib from Ludacris, both he and Darrell, in character, signal for the sketch to end, without Darrell having even gotten to ask Ludacris the question he was supposed to, as if they know they can’t top the unscripted hilarious moment that had just happened. After this signaling from Ludacris and Darrell, the sketch indeed ends. That was odd, but actually kinda cool. I can’t think of many other times in SNL history that a sketch ended in this manner, with performers signaling to the show to cut the sketch off after it peaked with a great ad-lib. The only other instance that comes to mind right now is in a Norm Macdonald Weekend Update from season 22, where, after getting a HUGE audience reaction from an absolutely hilarious and classic ad-lib in which he ate fake vomit on the Update desk left over by Will Ferrell (who had just done an Update commentary reacting to Ellen DeGeneres coming out of the closet), Norm decides not to do the rest of the Update jokes (a photo for the next joke even shows up on the news screen next to him), and instead just says to the camera “Let’s just end it”, and then turns to the other camera and delivers his usual end-of-Update sign-off.
— Very fun closing sketch overall.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Meh, a lukewarm episode. Almost completely forgettable. There was still a pretty good number of strong highlights, though. And Ludacris was a fun, likable, and solid host, and made even the weaker material of the night less worse than it otherwise would’ve been, even that bad Lesbian Cruise sketch.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Matthew Fox / Tenacious D
I was also impressed by Ludacris’ acting, even though he gets some very, very lazy material, that frequently just plays on stereotypes. He has a natural charisma and charm to him and did a good job playing roles you wouldn’t necessarily think he would be strong at.
I have a guilty pleasure love for the Blizzard Man–this is a pretty good sketch, although my favorite is the one later on with Ludacris, T-Pain, and Tim McGraw.
I thought Sudeikis was fine as Bush, but around this time, the Bush jokes seemed kind of played out, especially as an anchor for a sketch. We’re really moving into the period that is cementing “political sketch/speech/debate” as the opening sketch no matter what–this reaps dividends during 2008 and is horrific at other times (like 2012).
Is there a point at which Kenan “grows up” (so to speak) as a cast member? There obviously is, looking at his performances now, but I don’t recall when that took place. My guess is when he stopped doing the drag roles (I think probably having other, talented black men and/or women in the cast also helped). It’s just crazy seeing Kenan play restrained, mature roles in stuff like his shorts with Chris Redd or as a game show host now and looking back in his early performances.
I haven’t watched every episode from here to 2020 but I’d say, beyond retiring the drag roles, his staying while Bill/Jason/Fred left meant he was moved into a more mature role while newer, younger cast members could take up more of the bulk of the Nickelodeon style of performances (which were certainly rife enough until the housecleaning post-2014). Kenan also seemed to gradually become more confident in himself as a performer and stopped being as in need of audience approval with overacting or milking lines.
I never thought I’d say this, but I miss Ludacris. He was a fun presence here. I’m surprised at how adept he was for a non-actor. That’s why I didn’t mind this episode, even though no sketch was particularly strong aside from maybe Blizzard Man.
Your anecdote about the fan thinking Forte’s bandage was real was pretty funny. SNL fans definitely love to speculate and look too deeply into things. I’ve been guilty of it before.
The next episode is my favorite show of the season, and has one of my all-time favorite back halves.
I actually have a bit of an anecdote about this episode.
Don Roy King visited my college a few months ago to talk about his career and answer some questions, and there were two things that stood out to me (aside from the fact that he is… very short). One, he discussed the monologue from the S42 Jimmy Fallon episode as being one of the most complex things he ever directed, but I can try to save that for when you get to that episode. But most importantly, he talked about this Ludacris episode, and Ludacris as a host. I realize all of this sounds like fanfiction but trust me, it’s unfiltered word of mouth.
During dress rehearsal, Ludacris was very nervous and flubby and out of his depth, but between dress and air, Don found him in the hallways and told him that he’d grown a lot over the past week’s rehearsals. Ludacris then went up to Don and hugged him really tightly, and said “I really needed to hear that, man”… and he went on to be a truly capable host in the live show. After that, Don went back to his dressing room, which was filled with his entourage by now, and he wove through it to congratulate Ludacris. Ludacris was so thrilled by this, again, that he had Don call his mom and tell her what he said.
I’d love to know if anyone went to dress to verify at least some of this, because I find this sort of behind-the-scenes stuff very interesting. As a whole, I found the episode okay but certainly lifted by Ludacris’ confident performances across the board that got some of the iffier sketches over. Tomorrow’s episode, in spite of Matthew Fox playing himself in half of the sketches, is excellent.
That’s a great anecdote. Ludacris does get a bit stumbly as the night goes on (mainly in the hair transplant and cruise sketches) so I can see where he might have been nervous, but I’m glad King managed to help him give a confident performance.
Can you get more mid-2000s than Matthew Fox or Tenacious D?
I think Dane Cook/James Blunt has it beat.
Seeing as Forte was my favourite castmember (and still is) I remember being worried about his lack of airtime these past few episodes. I also, being an SNL fan, looked way too much into his being replaced and thought that there might be bad blood between him and Sudeikis. I turned out to be so wrong as they eventually became one of my favourite duo’s the show has ever produced and real life good friends. Ahh to be an SNL nerd lol. At least I didn’t think he had a real life head injury, jeez.
Also I remember becoming a fan of Kenan’s around season 35 but he has a sketch next season where he plays Charles Barkley with Kristen’s Bjork that I find to be a forgotten classic. His progression as a performer on this show is truly something. Fan boards we’re merciless towards him. Now he’s often heralded as one of the great utility players.
Promos for this episode (the second one is better but both are good – Andy’s heavy presence in various promos of this period shows his popularity with viewers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUnMBgvNXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7zTZ5Lmj08
If anyone’s curious for reviews of the day, it looks like IGN reviewed this season (not a whole lot after this season).
https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/11/22/saturday-night-live-ludacris-review
It’s difficult to be negative about this episode, because Ludacris is such a likeable, active host, a departure from the easier choices. It’s good to see risks taken with hosts, especially compared to the previous week, with an uber-host and a bevy of cameos to the point where many in the cast all but disappeared.
Unfortunately so much of the material is drowning in stereotypes (and even those aren’t especially well-executed) that you spend part of your time wondering what might have been. The night has a sluggish feel most of the way through – I think the most disappointing element is that you can feel that the audience was primed to have big reactions, but for a good portion of the time, the material wasn’t letting them.
I think my favorite sketch was the 10-to-1 with Darrell and Ludacris. It’s out of step for most of SNL by this point, and the screwup with the mustache adds rather than detracts. Darrell has been so stumbly this season to the point where it’s a little sad to watch him, so seeing him let go the way he did here put a smile on my face. (and Ludacris looks like Grady from Sanford and Son with the makeup on) The hair transplant sketch is also above average, with Will’s steady performance, but something isn’t quite there.
Of all the hacky material, my favorite was the Booty Bidness pre-tape. Unlike some other stereotypical James Anderson pieces, like Corn Chip Nail Tips, they get the balance right with Ludacris’ swagger contrasting to the ladies wearing those crazy logos in a mundane office setting.
The rest in this vein mostly gets a ??? from me, especially the bitchslapping sketch. The sequence where Maya and Ludacris keep slapping the dummies feels especially bizarre. Maya’s performance is what keeps this one above the water for me – she’s pretty good throughout the night, especially with her surprisingly multi-layered Update appearance (it could have so easily just been boy-crazy screeching).
I don’t really know who Bill was impersonating on Update, but it’s a very strong, committed performance.
Various cast members showing up in turkey suits to celebrate Thanksgiving/introduce Ludacris is very cute. I’d love to hear the story there.
Blizzard is what most will remember from this episode. It’s fine, especially when we actually get to hear more of this bad rapping near the end instead of brief fragments before cutting back to the closeups, but it reminds me way too much of so many shaky sketches over the last 15-20 years. They often go like this:
– normal people say something normal
– crazy/weird character does something crazy/weird
– normal people react to crazy/weird character because it’s hilarious to see normal people (they’re just like us!) react to crazy/weird characters
– rinse and repeat
For many years, SNL would take us into the world of the crazy characters and allow us to identify with them. It didn’t mean I always enjoyed these characters (I loved the Culps and the Sweeney Sisters…not so much the cheerleaders or Canteen Boy), but it allowed for more freedom and for more trust in the viewer. In a sketch like this, once you get past – “wow, that guy’s crazy!” what do you have left? You mostly just have to hope the host and the main performer are able to carry the load. They did here, but many times, they don’t manage. It’s not a great idea to make this such a template, but that’s where we seem to so often end up.
I think the reason Ludacris was introduced by cast members in turkey costumes was because this sketch had just gotten cut from dress at the last possible second due to the show running long. It eventually aired two seasons later with Tim McGraw as host presumably in Luda’s role (in an episode where he was also co-musical guest with T-Pain incidentally and he, McGraw and T-Pain revived Blizzard man for the third of five total times in the shows’ run).
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/turkey-hunt/2750888
Thanks. At first I wondered if it was a cut sketch but when Kenan was wearing it too I thought maybe it was just for Thanksgiving.
A video of Matt’s Don Roy King story:
My favorite of this episode: Ludacris shouts out to the whole room “Okay, everybody calm down now!”, after a beat Forte looks around confused…
Just a big “meh” from me. I thought this episode was mediocre in 2006, but almost 14 years later I’ve found different things to nitpick. Luda was a good, energetic host, but the writing (outside of “Hypin’ the Classics,” “Hair Transplant,” and maybe the old men/slice of life sketch) underwhelmed. Suds as Dubya was jarring, but he did fine.
I don’t remember this ep at all…
Wow, was Kenan off in that O’Reilly sketch. His progression has been amazing to watch. He mostly annoyed me for his first 5 or so seasons, but just kept at it and eventually became one of the show’s most reliable utility players of all time. While I’m ready for Kate and Aidy to split, I honestly wouldn’t mind Kenan sticking around as long as he wants (which seems to be his plan). It’s gotten to the point where I usually smile when I even see him enter a sketch, a trait I don’t really have with anyone in this cast, except maybe Beck or Cecily (Chloe’s getting there, too).
So, fun fact, this may actually have been my earliest memory of SNL. My memory is a bit hazy, but here is what I think happned: I was 6, my dad just got done watching NASCAR and the Local news, and when the “And now a message from the president of the United States” bit popped up, my dad changed the channel, but 6-year-old me was wondering why dad would change the channel on a Message from the President…It’s the President, he must be important! So, I ran off to my room and turned on the TV to see what the president had to say, and was wondering why there was laughing…and then Jason said LFNY, and all of a sudden I felt tricked. I was so mad.
So, yea, Jason Sudekis, was able to trick a 6-year-old into thinking he was president.