Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY FROM THE CHENEY FAMILY
Dick (DAH) & Lynne (KRW) Cheney read unlovely Valentine’s Day cards
— The Scooter Libby Valentine card is really funny.
— I was expecting the Valentine card from the guy who Dick Cheney shot in the face to have a funnier punchline.
— I love Darrell’s Cheney cutting off his reading of the obscene final verse in the Valentine card from an Iraq soldier.
— This is the first time in quite a while that a political cold opening has really worked for me.
— Why didn’t the camera do the traditional zoom-in on Darrell during his “Live from New York…” at the end?
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host & MAR sing “Get Ready”
— I like Maya giving a shoutout to Forest’s early role in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, a movie I often forget he was even in.
— The first of what I recall being several instances of singing from Forest tonight.
— Blah at this turning into a joke-less musical monologue, though at least the number is uptempo.
STARS: **
BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY & JODI
Betty & Jodi think doctors (host) & (KRW) are in love
— More on-point and fun characterizations and interplay between Maya and Amy in these Bronx Beat sketches.
— Amy: “The way things are going these days, the whole world’s gonna blow up.” Feels more fitting hearing that today than in 2007.
— I love Kristen’s tenseness when Maya and Amy point out that Forest is clearly in love with her.
— Some pretty good laughs from Maya and Amy putting pressure on Forest and Kristen to date each other.
— Even the voice Fred is using over the phone as Maya’s son is making me laugh.
— After Forest clarifies to Maya and Amy that “We’re not in love” as he and Kristen are making their exit, I love Kristen’s little “What? We’re not?”
— These Bronx Beat sketches continue to be pretty solid. I’m enjoying these much more than I did when they originally aired.
STARS: ***½
ANDY POPPING INTO FRAME
ANS adds himself to various camera shots
— I love this minimalist short, and how late 2000s it now feels. A quintessential example of the kind of simplistic concept that Andy and Lonely Island in general can make into such a fun and charming blast.
— Some great suspenseful build-ups in the occasional shots that Andy is missing from for the first few seconds.
— A very funny turn with Will getting involved and gradually taking the focus away from Andy, resulting in a now-non-smiling Andy forcing Will away by pointing a gun at his head.
— I love how some portions of this are exploring SNL’s studio.
— This pre-taped short ends up being Andy’s ONLY appearance of this entire episode.
STARS: ****½
ASSAGIO’S
waiter (host) interminably sings “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”
— Speaking of a cast member making only one appearance tonight, tonight is yet another episode where Bill is stuck making his only appearance of the night in a forgettable straight man role. (*sigh*)
— This HAS to be a James Anderson sketch.
— Forest’s performance is pretty fun, but I’m not caring for the premise of this sketch itself. The execution of this isn’t anything great, though at least it isn’t as bad as it could be.
— Fred accidentally gives away the broken glasses gag by switching his glasses when the camera is still on him.
— I do like Bill’s line explaining Forest is now singing in a pitch that only dogs can hear.
STARS: **
URIGRO
Rerun from 1/20/07
MAN VERSUS BEAST TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR
mountain lion advances to final four by mauling (JAS)
— Amy, in a smiley, jovial manner: “I love animals, and I absolutely despise human beings.”
— An interesting and creative premise, and I like Forest’s delivery during the set-up to the match we’re about to see.
— “Aerosmith engineer”? A little odd how Forest misread the term “aerospace engineer” as that.
— A good laugh from the blurring-out of Jason’s brutal mauling by the mountain lion.
— A great bloodied, torn-up look of Jason during his post-match interview. This is pretty much a more extensive version of Jason’s eternally-bleeding chewed-off arm in that Bear Shark Project sketch from earlier this season.
— I love Jason’s long, pensive pause while he’s contemplating an answer to a question of Maya’s while his neck continues to eternally bleed.
— So many great lines from Jason during his interview. I especially like the one about him literally getting his ass handed to him by the mountain lion.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stupid Boy”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Jesse Jackson (DAH) & Al Sharpton (KET) rank Barack Obama’s blackness
like all ladies, Lisa Nowak fell for fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein (JAS)
— Jesus Christ, Darrell is going EXTREMELY heavy on the physical tics as Jesse Jackson tonight. He’s trying WAY too hard to milk laughs from the audience, even for his standards. (At one point during this extended mugging and ticcing of Darrell’s, Kenan even ad-libs by looking at his non-existent wristwatch in a comically impatient manner.) I remember some online SNL fans back at this time in 2007 saying Darrell seemed like he was on coke during this commentary.
— A pretty solid concept of the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton commentary, with them displaying and explaining a Blackness Scale, and where Barack Obama ranks on it.
— I particularly like the part about Obama being moved way up on the Blackness Scale because he dated white women.
— Seth continues to hone his smarmy Update persona, with his joke tonight about lazy gay people, a joke that his delivery made work.
— This is exactly the type of smug role that Jason can sell in spades.
— I love Jason’s line about “giving intricate high-fives”.
— Meh, I don’t care much for Amy’s cutesy act when being charmed by Jason.
— Jason’s commentary ended on a weak note.
STARS: ***
LOVE WHITNEY: WHITNEY HOUSTON’S VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL
Tommy Brown (host) joins Whitney Houston’s (MAR) Valentine’s Day Special
— Oh, no. Maya’s Whitney Houston Weekend Update commentaries this season were bad enough; now SNL spins her off into her own sketch? I am in for a looooooong sketch, aren’t I?
— Kenan In A Dress alert. Oh, I *am* in for a looooooong sketch. (*sigh*)
— This sketch is basically nothing but an unfunny 4-minute collection of annoying tics that Maya regularly does as Whitney on Weekend Update.
— Forest’s delivery is a bit rough here, and he’s unfortunately not saving this sketch like I desperately want him to.
— Overall, boy, this sketch was fucking awful.
STARS: *
AM I A CRAZY STREET PERSON?
(host) is contestant on & topic of game show
— Fun concept for this game show sketch.
— A solid game show host performance from Jason.
— I love Jason’s little “What the hell…” when Fred randomly walks right past the camera during his exit.
— Forest’s amazement at each guest is very funny and charming. I also love Kristen’s growing cynicism towards each guest.
— Great turn with Kristen recognizing Forest as an escapee from an institution.
— Ha, Kenan’s hair…
— Such a fun performance from Forest.
— Great ending line from Kristen: a deadpan “I’m definitely suing” after being terrified by Forest doing a crazy, wild dance around her.
— A technical glitch occurs at the end, where the screen mistakenly fades to black way too early as soon as the “Am I A Crazy Street Person?” logo starts showing up onscreen while Jason is wrapping up the show.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Once In A Lifetime”
STATEN ISLAND ZOO
high schoolers’ sloths “documentary” fudges zoological accuracy
— A hilarious, very memorable, over-the-top, and extremely catchy Sloths music video. And the intensity of it is a hilarious sudden tone shift after Kristen’s calm, smiley intro.
— A few great vulgar, bleeped-filled lyrics.
— I love the inclusion of the character Sloth from The Goonies performing a guitar solo…in a church, of all places, which is such a funny little random detail.
— Second sketch in a row tonight with a perfect ending line from Kristen, this time her saying a very taken-aback “That…was not…entirely accurate” after the Sloths video has ended. Yet another solid example of how damn good and reliable Kristen always is at playing straight roles and selling a funny low-key-perplexed one-liner.
STARS: *****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The streak of pretty solid episodes continues. Other than two flops (Whitney Houston Valentine’s Day Special and Assagio’s, though the latter wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been) and a monologue I didn’t care for, there was a lot to like in tonight’s episode, and a few VERY strong pieces.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Drew Barrymore)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Rainn Wilson
Kinda weird that up until this point, Wiig, aside from Target Lady, was basically known as an impressionist and straight, deadpan performer. I could forgive her Target Lady as her attempt at finding a character and it’s not the worst character in the world. It’s just kind of bonkers mentally to me at this point that Wiig is on like a Jane Curtin or Nora Dunn type trajectory considering what lies ahead. As others have pointed out, after Amy and Maya leave, Kristen for better or for worse becomes like the queen of the female cast and just is given a ton of leads and annoying recurring characters. To some extent, that has again happened with Kate and Cecily (although this has kind of balanced out more in recent years thankfully).
I didn’t think much of this episode at the time, but it’s pretty solid–Forest Whitaker isn’t an A1 host, but he tries hard and is funny in a decent amount of sketches. It’s a little heavy for me on thin premises (a ton of sketches tonight are one-jokey), but you’re getting a sense of how good the cast was this year at selling these premises and the different tics and styles they could bring to the table. As you point out, even the lows aren’t *too* bad.
Wiig didnt really become insufferable until Amy left. Looking back now its weird for me to remember her as not being annoying her first few seasons. I forgot about a lot her early work that was actually good. Once they started pushing all her most annoying recurring characters every week (Target Lady was like a 2 on the annoying scale compared to later “gems” from her) she went from one of the people I’d call the shows best to probably the first person whos sketches I’d fast forward through.
Is it me, or does Darrell’s makeup as Jesse Jackson look lighter than usual? It almost looks like his actual skin color, so I wonder if they realized people might start complaining about the blackface aspect of the impression and had to tone the makeup down?
Initially I thought they may have realized the optics of a white man talking about a black Presidential candidate talking about another black Presidential candidate weren’t the greatest and eased up, but after seeing your comment, I went and looked at one from May 2008 and he has bronzer on again. Maybe they just decided not to bother this time since he had to go through all the work for his Cheney appearance. It’s odd though.
I think Downey wrote the Man Versus Beast sketch.
Jost wrote or co-wrote the Sloths video.
There’s always something compelling about the prospect of a dramatic actor hosting SNL, especially when they are not straitjacketed by safe roles. I’m not sure who the “best” would be (Joan Allen comes to mind, and in more recent years, Adam Driver has been terrific), but Forest certainly does a fine enough job. He’s a charismatic performer who channels his nerves into a series of messy roles but doesn’t let the straight parts down (he’s probably at his lowest ebb in that Whitney dirge, but who really cares?).
This cold open feels very out of place to me for 2007, even if Cheney continued to appear for another two years (I’d forgotten that until seeing this). Doesn’t do a ton for me, but I did laugh at his getting big money from Halliburton.
They aren’t quite my favorite part of this episode, but the Lonely Island contributions are terrific. I love the smug look on Andy’s face throughout his short, only to turn to cold rage when he’s usurped by Will (Will and Andy have a great “opposites energy” vibe that we get glimpses of but never enough – another is in the short where Andy goes around punching everybody). Sloths is terrific, both in the balls-to-the-wall nature of the video (which at times reminds me of the Natalie Raps video but that certainly isn’t a bad thing) and in Kristen’s very dry delivery. She takes what could have been a fun piece and makes it an absolute banger. This made AV Club’s list of best 10-to-1 sketches, and I can’t say I disagree.
https://tv.avclub.com/10-to-1-odds-19-bizarre-sketches-from-saturday-night-l-1798235688
As already said, this episode really does show what Kristen could have been – the sad part is while reading Michael’s comment I said to myself, “maybe I should be glad Nora only stayed five years, even if I hated her exit, since she avoided this fate,” and then I remembered Kristen takes that bad turn after only about 2-3 seasons! Such a blink of an eye. Such a waste. Maybe it will be a little better in a full rewatch. Let’s hope…
Bronx Beat is incredibly charming, and the LI pieces are great, but my favorite sketch is the crazy game show. Not exactly the most cautious subject matter, but compared to some of the stuff in this era that recurred, I wish they had done a few more of these. A good concept, decently executed. It was a bit odd seeing Bill nowhere in a game show sketch, but everyone involved was certainly fine, especially Jason and Kristen.
Someone in the stream I watched this in said Jason’s Update commentary would have worked better if Amy had resisted him. His performance is strong enough in of itself, but I’d have to agree. The Jackson and Sharpton thing is better written than several of Darrell’s Jackson turns, and one of Kenan’s better performances in the role.
The singing waiter sketch I mostly give a better response because it’s a showcase for the host. A few years earlier Horatio would have had this and I would have skipped without regret.
I have nothing good to say about the Whitney sketch (OK – one of the “Bobby Browns” was amusing), but I was especially put off by Kenan not only doing such a terrible Chaka Khan impression, but also by them not even singing one of her songs! (it’s a Roberta Flack song) Talk about giving big “they’re all just alike” energy, whether that was intended or not.
The Man Vs Beast sketch is normally the type I would find offputting, but it’s so well-detailed and the performances are strong, Jason in particular. He’s one of about three cast members (Dan and Ferrell being the other two) who could have carried this role with such effortlessness. A riveting display.
Promos (this must be the quickest any recurring characters got in a promo):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmbTNZIvCM
This was an okay one. Forest isn’t utilized very well, though. That restaurant sketch starts getting borderline Hot Plates vibes near the end. And Kenan as Chaka Khan is just ungodly.
Man Vs. Beast and Staten Island Zoo remind me: it’s interesting to look back at these episodes and see how Jason and Kristen were the MVPs of the season, imo. By 2009 or so, Bill starts to eclipse Jason in a lot of viewers’ minds as the MVP. And while I’ve never been bothered by Kristen even at her most hammy and self-indulgent, I love how restrained and deadpan she is in her early episodes. She’s the funniest when she underplays, which is why her role in the Two A-Holes is probably her best character.
I liked Whitaker/Urban as a whole, even though nothing beyond the two Lonely Island pieces really floored me. The cast is really carrying some “meh” material. Wiigy is an understated gem throughout.
I mainly remember “Staten Island Zoo” and that wonderfully weird “Sloths” music video…
I can’t see how this is a step up from the very strong Drew Barrymore episode. Outside of the game show sketch, Forest Whitaker was used very strangely. His pacing is super weird in the Man vs. Beast sketch and the sloppy singing waiter thing can’t seem to get off the ground.
Bronx Beat is a strong performance piece, but in terms of writing, it’s only a hair ahead of the shameless Good Morning, Brooklyn. But full marks to Rudolph and Poehler, who really inhabit the characters. This is really Poehler’s forte – outperforming the writing, which is largely a necessity of this era.
The Digital Short is lots of fun, but also incredibly slight. That’ll be the case with a few Shorts through this era: the sense that Samberg et al are merely feeding the beast instead allowing inspiration to strike. This one is a modes success, but I prefer the more interesting pieces.
I remember Sloths being a big surprise of a sketch. A modest little opening and then *boom* all this mayhem. Perfect execution.
The next episode is one of my favorites of the season.
Agreed, the next episode has lots of absurdist/silly stuff which is the side of SNL that I love and appreciate most 🙂
Kenan’s supposed to be Chaka Khan in that sketch? Wow, I would have never guessed, because it looks like every single one of his other female characters.
“…outperforming the writing, which is largely a necessity of this era.“
Thankfully this cast is up to the task.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Drew Barrymore, as of September 5, 2021)
about the same