October 13, 2007 – Jon Bon Jovi / Foo Fighters (S33 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AMY POEHLER’S HOUSE
21 years ago in teenage AMP’s bedroom, host counsels her about the future

— Hmm, “Amy Poehler’s House, 1986”? Well, THIS is certainly going to be a different and interesting cold opening. I absolutely LOVE this huge change of pace.
— Great touch with Teenage Amy Poehler speaking in a Boston accent.
— Charming interplay between Amy and Jon Bon Jovi.
— When being told she’ll be an SNL cast member 20 years from now, Teenage Amy should’ve been more surprised to hear that SNL would even still be on the air 20 years later, especially since 1) SNL had only been on the air for 11 calendar years by this point in 1986, and I’m not sure if many people in ’86 could’ve predicted the show would go on to reach 31 years on the air (let alone 45 years), and 2) the date that this sketch is set in (October 13, 1986) is just two days after season 12 of SNL premiered (I’d love to think Teenage Amy Poehler watched it that night), and it wasn’t known at the time yet if the then-revamped SNL was going to save the show from cancellation after the troubled season 11.
— Amy’s confusion over why Jon Bon Jovi would ever host SNL is really funny.
— Another SNL piece where Amy gets in a self-deprecating dig at her own small chest size, this time by asking Jon Bon Jovi “Will I ever get boobs?”
— Good set-up to the rest of this episode, with Jon telling Amy the next time she’ll see him will be on October 13, 2007 (the airdate of this episode).
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
Richie Sambora [real] & other audience members want host to sing

Bon Jovi [real] performs “Lost Highway”

— Liz Cackowski makes her way into yet another questions-from-the-audience monologue, despite not even being an SNL writer anymore by this point. She left the writing staff two seasons prior. So what in the world is she doing here? Was she just hanging around backstage this week with Akiva Schaffer, her future husband (or were they already married by this point?)?
— Another dig tonight at how odd it is that Jon Bon Jovi is hosting.
— Steve Higgins gets in his usual laughs that he always gets in these questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Wow, what the fuck happened just now? Why did Richie Sambora completely and awkwardly blank on one of his lines with that big ol’ goofy smile on his face, forcing Jon to eventually feed him his line?
— This monologue transitions to the host walking over to the musical guest stage and doing a full-fledged musical performance, much like a few other monologues from double-duty hosts (e.g. M.C. Hammer, Sting in his first hosting stint).
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)

OHHHHH!
game show elicits New Jerseyites’ (FRA), (host), (DAH) outbursts

— A fairly okay way to utilize this particular SNL cast’s penchant for saying “Ohhh!” when playing wiseguy New Jerseyites, even if this is far from a memorable game show sketch. I’ll still take this over another Same-Sex Couple From New Jersey appearance on Weekend Update.
— Fred’s delivery of his first answer was hilarious.
— Darrell manages to work his Tony Soprano impression into another sketch.
— Jon’s timing seems kinda off during his spiel just now.
— A pretty good laugh from the contestants not seeing what the problem is with being serviced by a hooker on their wife’s birthday.
— Interesting use of Kristen.
STARS: ***

A VISIT WITH FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE
Nobel recipient Al Gore (DAH) shows off the contents of his trophy room

— Darrell’s microphone isn’t turned on when he starts speaking at the beginning of this, rendering his first line inaudible. Am I watching a repeat of the Jeremy Piven episode?
— What was with the awkwardness of how Darrell put away the Nobel Peace Prize?
— Ugh, I hate the running gag in this sketch, with Darrell’s Al Gore constantly namedropping (or titledropping) An Inconvenient Truth. This is pure COMEDY DEATH. Even the audience has stopped laughing at it by this point, halfway through the sketch. It’s just plain uncomfortable hearing their laughter towards the repetitive An Inconvenient Truth gag gradually die off to the point where you can hear a pin drop in the studio.
— An actual laugh from the Tony award that Darrell’s Gore displays turning out to be his wife Tipper’s Tony award for the Vagina Monologues.
— There’s some scattered funny parts here and there, but, man, so many parts of this sketch are dragging HORRIBLY. It’s too bad, because I’m liking Darrell’s loose, laid-back demeanor here. Between his likable performances as Fred Thompson and Lou Dobbs in the preceding episode, and his fun performance tonight as Al Gore, Darrell seems to have had some new life injected into him lately. Too bad I know it doesn’t last, and he eventually goes back to being his usual sluggish-performing, aloof, unhappy-looking, out-of-place, barely-appearing, “Why is he still on the show after so many years?” self that he is in these later seasons of his SNL tenure.
STARS: *½

PEOPLE GETTING PUNCHED JUST BEFORE EATING
ANS slugs hungry folks

— Already a hilarious and fun concept. This kind of dumb random humor is right up my alley, and very few are better than Lonely Island at executing this type of humor. Feels like a more elaborate variation of the “Andy Popping Into Frame” Digital Short that Lonely Island did the preceding season.
— Very catchy simplistic background music.
— A particularly funny “Double Punched!” bit with Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl. And it’s always nice to see Grohl get involved in a comedy bit on SNL.
— Jon Bon Jovi getting a “Jovi Punch!” was funny, but I don’t like how he made a “Full Recovery!” afterwards. I get the really bad feeling Jon himself demanded that “Full Recovery!” part be put in, because, with his huge ego, he probably refused to do a scene where he gets punched out WITHOUT him coming out on top in the end. Ugh.
— An absolutely hilarious fake-out with an about-to-eat Jason suddenly pulling out a cellphone right when he was about to get punched by Andy, causing Andy to halt mid-punch, then panickedly do a 180 and run back out of the scene.
— I love the running bit with Will throughout this, especially how it ends with the dark “Murder!” bit.
— Hmm, a very random (even for this already-random short’s standards) but interesting turn with the zombie chase sequence. Only the Lonely Island could make me like a turn that questionable.
STARS: ****½

POSTSEASON 07
for some reason, Dane Cook (JAS) promotes American League pennant series

— An absolutely perfect Dane Cook impression from Jason. Freakin’ spot-on. It helps that Jason already has a natural facial resemblance to Cook, but he’s nailing all of Cook’s mannerisms, delivery, and comedic style here, and is accurately parodying so many of the things I find so annoying about Cook.
— An overall very brief sketch, but I know in hindsight we’ll be getting a continuation of it later tonight.
STARS: ***½

LA RIVISTA DELLA TELEVISIONE CON VINNY VEDECCI
cultural misunderstandings baffle host

— Not a very entertaining reaction from Jon Bon Jovi when finding out Bill’s Vinny Vedecci is going to interview him in Italian dialect, compared to the on-point reactions that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and even the overly-hammy Zach Braff had to that in previous installments of this sketch.
— Another instance of Vinny Vedecci doing a fun, out-of-character celebrity impression, this time doing Steven Van Zandt. We also get the addition of Fred’s producer character doing an out-of-character Paulie Walnuts impression that we saw Fred do before in a Sopranos sketch. Quite a number of Sopranos references in tonight’s episode, by the way, between the “Ohhhhh!” sketch and this.
— A hilarious part with the cigarettes-for-kids commercial, complete with the Bon Jovi song “Blaze Of Glory” being played over it.
— I like the bit with the steel horse.
— I’m not caring for Jon’s straight man performance AT ALL here. Something is off-putting to me about his performance in this sketch. I wonder if part of it is that arrogance and ego of his that I complained about earlier. (Can you tell I haven’t been liking him as a host tonight?)
— Good turn at the end with Jon calling Vinny out on his fake Italian, resulting in a very “Uh-oh”-type silent pause from Vinny, Fred’s producer character, and even Will’s non-speaking spaghetti-eating character. I remember some online SNL fans back at this time in 2007 took that as a sign that this was going to be the final Vinny Vedecci sketch, given the fact that Jon calling Vinny and the others out on their fake Italian would’ve been a fitting way to conclude this series of sketches. As we know now, this ended up being FAR from the last installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE
ahead of the writers’ strike, scab-to-be Rosa Santiago (MAR) tells jokes

naked guy using a cellphone (ANS) walks onto the Weekend Update set

political comedian Nicholas Fehn (FRA) can’t formulate a thought

— Wow, I cannot remember the last time prior to this where Weekend Update aired BEFORE the musical guest’s first performance. It may have been way back in season 28. I think tonight’s episode also may be the last time this has happened to this day in 2020, but then again, I can’t say for sure, as I have yet to see any episodes from December 2018-May 2020.
— Another so-called “funny”-voiced foreign-accented Maya Rudolph character.
— Maya’s Spanish janitor character here feels like a variation of someone Maya once played in an Update commentary very early in her SNL tenure: a Spanish maid of Linda Chavez’s. The fact that that was early in Maya’s SNL tenure, and her similar character in tonight’s Update is in her second-to-last episode, gives her SNL tenure a bit of a full-circle feel.
— Good ad-lib from Maya in reaction to the loose desktop her hands are resting on.
— Maya’s foreign-accented delivery is actually so goofy and over-the-top that it’s gone from kinda annoying me to actually making me laugh in spite of myself. I’m actually starting to enjoy this commentary of Maya’s, and find her character kinda charming.
— An okay brief bit with Andy as the naked guy who made headlines that week for walking nude into a Tad’s Steaks.
— The audience’s reactions to a lot of Amy’s jokes tonight are noticeably fairly mild.
— The debut of Fred’s Nicolas Fehn character.
— This inaugural Nicolas Fehn commentary has me laughing so much, and Fred is doing such a great skewering of “deep” political humorists. Unfortunately, SNL would later go on to run this character INTO THE FUCKING GROUND. He appears, like, 10 times within this and the following season. This probably would’ve been much better off being left as a one-and-done character. His subsequent appearances after tonight’s episode would have him just repeat the exact same bit every single time, which doesn’t work anywhere near as well on repetition.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Pretender”

WHERE’S MY PURSE?
during an alien attack, lost purse preoccupies spaceship captain (KRW)

— A dumb, questionable premise for a sketch.
— I’m about halfway through this sketch, and I have yet to get a single laugh.
— Another sketch this season that feels like an early precursor to badly-written Kristen Wiig-starring sketches that we’ll be seeing on a regular basis from seasons 34-37, even if Kristen’s character in this particular sketch is nowhere near as annoying, muggy, or twitchy as a lot of her badly-written characters from seasons 34-37 would be. Speaking of which, something about Kristen’s characterization in this sketch strangely feels kinda Carol Burnett-esque to me.
— Why in the world did some audience members randomly applaud when Bill, in a bit role, got shot by one of the aliens?
— Kenan makes his first appearance all night in a bit role where he gives a loud, kinda annoying, very hammy performance that feels too out of place in this lethargic, lifeless, dreary sketch, almost as if he’s intentionally overacting due to being upset over his lack of airtime tonight. (I doubt that’s the case, though. I only said it because the thought of it amuses me.)
— (*sigh*) Absolutely NOTHING about this sketch is working for me. Even something about the general aura of it feels “off” (like I said earlier, it feels dreary and lifeless, aside from Kenan’s out-of-place hammy, broad performance). Please end this sketch already, SNL.
STARS: *

POSTSEASON 07
Dane Cook (JAS) puts his stamp on National League pennant series promo

— Jason’s Dane Cook impression continues to crack me up.
— Some more funny lines from Jason’s Cook in this continuation of the first Postseason piece from earlier tonight. I especially like his self-aware “Spider-Man reference” remark.
STARS: ***½

NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL ON NBC
NBC is the proud home for broadcasts of Notre Dame’s awful football team

This fake ad is missing from the copy I’m reviewing of this episode. I think the reason is because this fake ad was aired in the middle of a VERY LONG commercial break, and, because of how short this fake ad was and how the only visuals in it was stock footage of college football games, whoever recorded the copy I’m reviewing of this episode must’ve mistaken this fake ad for a real one. If you’re curious to see my thoughts on this fake ad, read it here in my original 2007 review that I wrote way back when this episode originally aired.

WHAT TO CALL THE BAND
in 1984, host’s new band is skeptical of his eponymous naming idea

— A fairly likable, realistic premise.
— I’m enjoying Jason’s frustrated straight man performance.
— Meh, this sketch is now getting a little too repetitive and thin for my likes.
— A laugh from Jon not even knowing the name of his two bandmates played by Andy and Will.
STARS: **

ICONOCLASTS
Bjork (KRW) & Charles Barkley (KET) visit Cheesecake Factory

— The debut of Kenan’s Charles Barkley impression.
— A rare instance in Kenan’s early seasons of him actually putting effort into sounding like a celebrity he’s playing.
— Hilarious idea of Bjork and Charles Barkley being paired together in an Iconoclasts episode.
— Kristen’s Bjork impression is consistently cracking me up here, but what’s REALLY making this sketch for me is Kenan’s priceless Barkley. Every single thing coming out of his mouth is a riot, especially him telling Bjork “Damn, you are like Dennis Rodman if he was a tiny white lady” and him constantly calling Bjork “Bork”.
— Very strong sketch overall. I remember back when this episode originally aired, I assumed Iconoclasts was going to become a recurring sketch, with a different pair of quirky, mismatched celebrities in each installment, but we end up never seeing this sketch return.
STARS: ****½

GOODNIGHTS
Jack Nicholson [real] introduces Bon Jovi [real]

Bon Jovi [real] performs “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”

— Holy hell, Jack Motherfucking Nicholson??? Randomly appearing at the goodnights??? Introducing a Bon Jovi musical performance??? Uh, wow. Oh, and how the hell is this only Jack’s second and final appearance in a regular SNL episode (the 40th Anniversary Special doesn’t count), neither of which were hosting stints?
— An uncommon instance of the goodnights being a musical performance. Because, apparently, SNL needs to stroke Jon Bon Jovi’s ego EVER FURTHER tonight by giving him and his band a second musical performance. Meanwhile, tonight’s ACTUAL CREDITED MUSICAL GUEST and SNL favorites, Foo Fighters, only got one measly performance in this entire episode. I remember how much this pissed off a number of online SNL fans back in 2007.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Even though it feels like I gave out a decent number of good ratings in this review, I don’t feel too crazy about the episode as a whole. Maybe because what was bad in this episode was REEEAAALLLLY bad, like most of that Al Gore piece and all of that wretched Where’s My Purse dreck. Another big problem I have with this episode is Jon Bon Jovi himself. Aside from the cold opening, I got an unlikable, arrogant, egotistical vibe from him all night, and he was about as “funny” a sketch performer as one would expect him to be.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Seth Rogen)
a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
The final episode before a writers’ strike puts SNL on a four-month hiatus. Brian Williams hosts, and Maya Rudolph gets her last hurrah before officially leaving the show prior to SNL’s return from the writers’ strike.