Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE SITUATION ROOM
Anna Nicole Smith coverage displaces hard news
— Darrell takes over the Wolf Blitzer impression that the no-longer-on-the-show Chris Parnell regularly played the preceding season.
— So many laughs from the Anna Nicole Smith-centric news crawl on the bottom of the screen.
— Ha, after the Situation Room opening title sequence, the size of the news crawl has suddenly gotten HUGE.
— “Darfur bad”. Boy, does that take me back to 2007.
— Very funny how Darrell-as-Blitzer’s head is now being played with onscreen by The Situation Room’s graphics department, angering him.
— Good to see our host Rainn Wilson in the cold opening.
— Rainn is fantastic in his performance as a reporter. The fact that he’s coming off so natural here, combined with the fact that hosts don’t usually appear in cold openings, could easily cause one to mistake him for a cast member in this.
— I like the turn with Rainn taking over the report from a female reporter who Darrell’s Blitzer has thrown to.
— The length of Rainn’s bit could use some trimming.
— I still have no opinion on Fred’s take on Larry King. He’s certainly no Norm Macdonald when it comes to this role, I’ll say that. He’s not even a Kevin Nealon (who’s Larry King I’ve always felt was kinda underappreciated).
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
cast members & Karen (Rashida Jones) make backstage SNL like The Office
— A very fun Office-esque backstage atmosphere we’re shown SNL having.
— Kristen and Jason are absolutely PERFECT as Pam and Jim. Not only are they very funny and spot-on in their Pam and Jim impressions, but they are pretty much dead-ringers for them here.
— A blink-and-miss-it cameo from Rashida Jones. Nice to see her, though part of me can’t help but be curious what it would’ve been like to see Maya play her in this monologue. Speaking of missed opportunities, how does this monologue not include a rare non-Weekend Update appearance from Seth as his Office doppleganger Ryan?
— Great seeing Lorne get involved in this, who’s typical deadpan is adding to this perfectly.
— When Lorne shows his “World’s Funniest Boss” coffee mug, you can hear an audience member shout “Yeah, Lorne!”, which is amusing to me.
— Overall, such a strong monologue.
STARS: ****½
SONG MEMORIES
“Danny’s Song” evokes icky reminiscing by (host), (BIH), (WLF), (JAS)
— The debut of these Song Memories sketches. Wow, until just now, I had completely forgotten about these sketches, as well as the fact that they debuted in this episode. I recall this being a pretty solid recurring sketch.
— Yet another episode where the criminally-underused-in-his-early-seasons Bill Hader is stuck making only one live appearance (he does appear in the following pre-taped Digital Short), though he at least gets a comedic role here, unlike his sole appearance in the preceding episode.
— Great format to these Song Memories sketches, with the guys’ disturbing stories being interspersed with the guys engaging in a jovial singalong of the chorus from the song playing on the jukebox.
— I could be wrong, but I think I recall that the “I have a dad with Down’s Syndrome” punchline to Bill’s story ended up causing some controversy back when this originally aired, and would result in SNL bleeping out the words “Down’s Syndrome” in reruns of this sketch. Am I remembering correctly, or am I mistaken?
— Rainn’s “The other guy’s pee came out of my nose” punchline paled in comparison to the punchlines of the other guys’ stories, but Rainn still made it work. I’ve seen some online SNL fans back at this time in 2007 have a theory that, instead of pee coming out of his nose, Rainn’s line was probably originally written to have him say a certain male bodily fluid came out of his nose (given the fact that he was…uh, orally servicing a man), but the censors must’ve nixed it and forced SNL to use a tamer version of the line.
— Even the very random Pulp Fiction-esque twist ending is working for me.
STARS: ****
BUSINESS MEETING
(host) asks his motley employees to propose cuts to the corporate budget
— I love the exchange between Rainn and Kenan, when Rainn is asking individual employees for their thoughts: “Water guy?” “I don’t work here.”
— Hilarious fake-out regarding which one of the employees is Chief Big Cloud.
— Gigantic Turkey Sub: “I say we put MUSTARD on it!”
— You can see a young Colin Jost throughout this short as one of the employees (the left side of the seventh-to-last, third-to-last, and second-to-last above screencaps for this Digital Short, though why does his suit jacket keep disappearing and re-appearing between shots?). He looks so baby-faced in this, and it’s funny seeing him without what’s now known as his trademark hairstyle.
— This short is an absolute riot. So many rapid-fire hilarious cutaways, characters, and subversions, so much so, that I’m missing a few of the quick gags due to laughing so hard at some of the other quick gags.
— I love how this is not only using what appears to be the entire SNL cast, but is having some of the cast members play multiple roles.
— Even the random gag of Rainn speaking into his hand as if it’s a cellphone is fitting the tone of this short perfectly.
STARS: *****
ART DEALERS
(host) & (KRW) interview Nuni & Nuni for Architectural Digest profile
— Ugh, this sketch once again. Thankfully, this ends up being the final appearance of these characters.
— (*sigh*) Cue the beyond-tired obligatory portion of these sketches where the Nunis clarify how to differentiate the pronunciation of their names, then proceed to butcher the simple pronunciation of their visitors’ names.
— I do like the toast chair that Rainn is forced to sit on.
— Having Rainn play a dull straight man in a Nuni sketch is such a waste of his comedic talents (why not have him play a comedic role like Will Ferrell got to play in the Nuni sketch he appeared in?), though at least he’s further proving his impressive versatility by playing a convincing straight man character here.
— Another reminder tonight that Chris Parnell is no longer on the show, as his butler character from these Nuni sketches has been replaced by a new character played by Andy.
— I did get a cheap laugh from Andy’s cotton candy pubic hair sticking out from the top of his pants.
STARS: *½
PEEPING JERRY
peeper (host) imposes his voyeuristic mindset upon a police lineup
— Rainn is wearing the same jacket that Will has been seen wearing as two child predator characters (who I personally have a theory are actually the same character), one being a character in the MySpace Seminar sketch from the preceding season’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus episode, and the other being the future recurring character Jeff Montgomery (a.k.a. the trick-or-treating sex offender character). SNL’s wardrobe department must have that jacket on standby for every time someone plays a creepy sexual deviant in a sketch in this era.
— For some reason, I kinda love the intentionally cheesy part with Maya cornily telling Rainn “The next time you peep at me, THIS is what you’re gonna see!” while angrily waving her fist in front of his face.
— Excellent characterization from Rainn, who is hilarious here.
— I love how Rainn is only able to identify the murderer in the police line-up by having a curtain substitute be displayed in front of him so he can peep from behind it.
— A great escalation to this, by now having Rainn request Jason mimes taking a shower and then sing during it. (Though why did Rainn word his request as “Make him sing again?”, when Jason’s character didn’t sing prior to this portion of the sketch?)
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Intervention”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Anna Nicole Smith judge Larry Seidlin (FRA) weepily reads his reviews
Aunt Linda has nothing nice to say about the crop of Oscar nominees
the dangers of deployment to Iraq finally dawn on Prince Harry (ANS)
— Hmm, Fred playing the judge from the Anna Nicole Smith trial. Well, this sure comes off dated today. I remember the fact that this Judge Larry guy was pretty big back at this time, but 13 years later, I now remember little-to-nothing specific about the man. I think he broke down in tears during the Anna Nicole trial while delivering a long spiel, or something like that? Even my memory of seeing viral clips of him doing THAT is very vague and iffy. I worry that my lack of memory about this guy is going to hurt my enjoyment of this spoof of him that Fred’s doing.
— I do like the detail of Fred’s Judge Larry doing his commentary in a judge’s chair instead of the usual Update chair.
— We get an extended hysterical laughter break from the audience in response to Fred’s Judge Larry saying “When I was a kid…I used to go to the circus every day.” Am I missing something? What’s so hilarious about that line?
— Yeah, this Judge Larry commentary isn’t doing it for me. Just as I was afraid of, my lack of memory of the specifics that Fred is spoofing about this judge makes this hard for me to understand and laugh at. Then again, I get the feeling this commentary wasn’t all that funny even when it originally aired. This commentary is just coming off badly drawn-out and sluggish. (And guess what’s even worse? We’ll be seeing Fred do ANOTHER Judge Larry commentary on Update in the very next episode! Geez.)
— (*groan*) Kristen’s Aunt Linda routine continues to suffer diminishing returns, and I’m finding her ratings system increasingly cringeworthy in its corniness. That corniness feels like something straight out of SNL writer James Anderson’s playbook, even though I have no idea if he even writes these Aunt Linda commentaries (I think I remember hearing it’s another writer who’s behind these Aunt Linda commentaries, though I don’t remember who).
— SNL breaks out the ol’ vomit hose for the first time in, I believe, years. While I admit to chuckling at this particular instance of it in this Prince Harry commentary from Andy, it feels like a poor man’s version of Will Ferrell’s Update commentary about Ellen DeGeneres back in season 22 (a commentary that I love, problematic or not). I do love Seth’s deadpan during Andy’s over-the-top vomiting, though.
— Boy, this is one long Update. A huge contrast to how short and compact the last few Updates prior to this were.
STARS: ***
FIRST DAY AT WORK
Neil & Jean orient their new fellow uptight co-worker Oliver (host)
— An interesting change of pace to see this recurring Forte/Wiig/(insert host here) introverted co-workers sketch now taking place at the characters’ workplace instead of at another bar.
— Yet another very fun quirky characterization from Rainn tonight.
— Very funny and charming reveal of Will and Kristen’s extremely tame “hazing” of Rainn.
— As usual, a countless number of very funny little quirks from these characters. Even Will and Kristen’s mere delivery makes even non-comedic lines very humorous.
— The usual twist in these sketches with us suddenly seeing Will detailing the night of raunchy lovemaking he has planned for him and his two co-workers has been changed up tonight, which is another refreshing change of pace.
STARS: ****½
WHITE POSSUM SCREAM
(KET) chains (host) in Black Snake Moan knockoff
— A laugh from how this Blake Snake Moan-based movie is titled White Possum Scream.
— Funny visual of Rainn as a briefs-clad male version of Christina Ricci’s character from Black Snake Moan.
— I like the other Chase Danker-made preview-based films we’re shown movie posters of, especially the dark Dunston Checks Out.
— Even Kenan’s mugging and loud hamminess, which, in these early seasons of his, can be a bit much and too uncontrolled, is kinda working for me here.
— This sketch is showing itself to be thin, but the execution is making it passable enough.
STARS: ***
BAND SHOT
— There appears to be a sketch cut at the last minute at this point of the show, as SNL does the old “come back from a long commercial break only to show the SNL Band playing for a few seconds before going back to another long commercial break” move they occasionally resort to when needing to fill time after a sketch gets scrapped at the last minute for time reasons. However, that usually happens at the very end of episodes. Odd how THIS particular instance is occurring at around 12:45, when we still have a sketch and an Arcade Fire musical performance remaining.
RIVER BLISS
New Age musicians (FRA), (MAR), (host), (KET), (KRW) bicker in the studio
— Kenan’s character being named Nasim certainly brings a future SNL cast member to mind, mostly because she’s the only real-life person I’ve ever heard with that name.
— Fred’s gestures when playing the keyboard are funny, and Rainn does yet another characterization that I like (even his constant hair flips are getting laughs), but the sketch itself is not doing it for me. Also, I’m getting that ol’ pesky feeling again that this is another James Anderson-written sketch. The style of this sketch and the character types sure make me think so, especially Kenan’s character. I’ve noticed that almost ANY sketch that Kenan plays this type of effeminate, sassy male character in is a James Anderson-written sketch.
— Kenan yelling very loudly “I…HATE…YO…FACE!” has kinda stuck with me over the years, even though I could never remember which sketch it came from until now.
— Aaaaaaaand there’s the fart humor to further add to my hunch that this sketch is a James Anderson piece.
— Overall, blah. A poor and aimless sketch to end a great episode on (the following musical performance notwithstanding).
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep The Car Running”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and definitely one of the best of this season. The first half of this episode in particular was very impressive, with a majority of the segments receiving a rating from me ranging from 4-5 stars. Adding to the strength of this episode is Rainn Wilson, who was an excellent host, came off perfect for SNL, and was utilized very well with the various oddball roles the writers gave him.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Forest Whitaker)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Julia Louis-Dreyfus