November 3, 2007 – Brian Williams / Feist (S33 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HALLOWEEN PARTY
Barack Obama [real] at Bill (DAH) & Hillary (AMP) Clinton Halloween party

— An often-played cold opening in many SNL Halloween compilation specials.
— I love the Halloween costume that Darrell’s Bill Clinton is wearing, even if I’ve never had any familiarity with The Pickup Artist, nor the person from it who Darrell’s Clinton is dressed as.
— A Horatio Sanz cameo out of nowhere. At least this is more welcome than his season 32 cameo as Elton John in a tired Versace sketch, given the fact that having him appear here as Bill Richardson at least kinda makes sense. And, wow, he’s lost a lot of weight since his last cameo, where he had already started losing a little weight. He’s still not quite as thin as he would eventually get, but he’s still looking much healthier in tonight’s episode than he ever looked during his SNL tenure.
— The debut of Jason’s Joe Biden impression.
— The running gag with people mistaking Amy-as-Hillary-Clinton’s bride costume for a witch costume is funny, but don’t witches always wear black, not white?
— Fred as a straitjacketed Mike Gravel made me laugh at first, though he REALLY milked his exit in this sketch by slowly walking past the camera in a hammy fashion (something that sadly feels kinda like a precursor to how annoying and obnoxious Fred would go on to often come off in his later seasons).
— Meh, a predictable joke with what the loose Milk Duds in Fred-as-Gravel’s plastic bag turns out to REALLY be.
— A very well-known cameo from the real Barack Obama, a cameo that, of course, would later be looked back on as an even bigger and more significant deal after he would become president.
— I remember once seeing a publicity photo of the dress rehearsal version of this cold opening, where, instead of the real Obama being there, he was actually played by Maya in drag. (Perhaps the photo can be found on GettyImages; I don’t have time to check.) I’m guessing the real Obama wasn’t able to make it to dress rehearsal, so SNL used Maya as backup to fill in his role. I remember how, back in these days when online SNL fans were speculating who on SNL would regularly play Obama, several fans suggested that SNL have Maya dress in drag to regularly play him, given the fact that both Maya and Obama are half-black half-white. SNL probably knew not to make Maya their regular Obama impersonator, considering she already had one foot out the door by this point of her SNL tenure.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— A pretty good laugh from Brian Williams mentioning how everyone, including himself, is currently thinking the same thing regarding him hosting SNL: “Now is this really a good idea?”
— Brian mentions in passing that he moderated the Democratic debate earlier this week. That’s actually impressive and surprising that he was able to do that the same week he hosted SNL.
— While the turn with Brian treating this monologue like he’s delivering a news story (complete with news graphics being displayed next to him) is quite predictable and maybe a little corny, Brian is executing it well and is making it charming. He’s already showing good promise as a host.
STARS: ***½

MAYBELLINE FOR MEN
packaging is only differentiating feature of Maybelline makeup for men

— Meh at this premise. And it’s no surprise Fred plays the first guy seen wearing makeup in this, given how often we see him in drag during these years of his SNL tenure. So tired.
— Wow, that’s it? That’s the whole commercial? This was lame as hell. While the concept of advertised men’s makeup being the exact same as women’s makeup, minus the labeling on the package, had maybe a little promise, the execution of it did nothing for me.
STARS: *

BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY & JODI
fireman (host) gives home safety preparedness suggestions

— This is the final installment of this sketch when both Maya and Amy are still in the SNL cast, as tonight ends up being Maya’s final SNL episode. This sketch would still go on to continue appearing several more times, either when Maya makes a cameo while Amy’s still in the cast, or when either Maya or Amy are making a cameo in an episode that the other is hosting.
— I love Brian’s New Yorker voice as this fireman character. He’s surprisingly very convincing in this role.
— A big laugh from Amy’s “It’s gonna be hard to keep her off the pole” comment regarding the future state of Maya’s young daughter who’s shown a way-too-early interest in dressing sluttily.
— Another very funny line from Amy, this time regarding her husband being an expert at “grabbing himself”.
— Maya has a bad habit of sometimes speaking a little too fast and unintelligibly in these Bronx Beat sketches. I could barely understand a single word from her during her bit right now about her husband watching ESPN, and I think the audience feels the same way as me, as they aren’t laughing at that bit. Maya delivered that line SO unintelligibly that she made one part of it sound dirty (“My husband’s [*word I can’t decipher*] off to ESPN every night.”), even though I doubt that’s how it was actually worded.
— I really like the short, vague bit with Amy whispering advice to Maya to get “one of those things” to spice up her love life. A very realistic and authentic little moment.
— A change of pace with this sketch concluding with Amy and Maya’s characters walking off of the show mid-progress, leaving their guest sitting there by himself.
— A huge laugh from Brian’s brief Borat-esque delivery of “MY WIIIIFE!” during his whole spiel at the end.
STARS: ***½

RILEY’S WAY
TV actor (host) reacts poorly to the news he won’t be in spin-off series

— Brian’s desperation to continue hanging out with his younger co-stars is pretty funny.
— Very funny how Brian’s attitude during the scene being filmed turns very bitter and unprofessional after he finds out he’s not going to be in the Riley’s Way spin-off.
— We now get a funny visual of Brian poorly trying to come off cool and young during the filming, complete with a sideways cap.
— I really like the twist ending with Bill’s clapboard-holder character being written into the Riley’s Way finale as a guy who killed Brian’s character.
STARS: ****

PUBLISHERS CLEARING HOUSE GIVEAWAY
sweepstakes winner’s (host) subdued reaction baffles cheery Cheryl (KRW)

— Oh, wow, I had completely forgotten about this very-occasionally-used recurring sketch until now. (It’s so very occasionally used that the second installment of it doesn’t appear until THREE SEASONS LATER).
— I remember finding Kristen’s performance to be a laugh riot when this sketch originally aired, but I’m wondering how I’ll feel about it now in retrospect, due to 1) the fact that this would eventually become a very unnecessary recurring sketch, suffering diminishing returns, and 2) the fact that this sketch happens to be debuting around the same point of Kristen’s SNL tenure where I’m now noticing we’ve been getting an awful lot of worrisome harbingers of the badly-written, unfunny, annoying Wiig-starring sketches that would regularly appear in seasons 34-37.
— I’m getting pretty good laughs so far from Kristen’s failed attempts to get Brian hyped up.
— Not only is it inherently funny seeing Brian Williams play a role like this, but he’s perfectly selling his character’s indifference towards his prize.
— I love Kristen’s suddenly deep, gaspy voice when she starts running out of breath due to her excitement.
— Even though it’s probably not a great punchline and is somewhat predictable, I’m loving Brian’s execution of the bit where he finally shows excitement……..over receiving free cheesy bread, of all things.
— Overall, I’m glad that, contrary to my worries, I was able to still enjoy both Kristen’s performance and this sketch in general, and not find it to be an unfunny, badly-written harbinger of annoying 2008-2012 Kristen Wiig showcases. However, this will NOT hold up as a recurring sketch, especially since, IIRC, the subsequent installments of this sketch change NOTHING up; they’re basically just a lazy re-write of the first installment. Not to mention the fact that the hosts who appear in those installments (Emma Stone, Russell Brand, can’t remember if there’s anyone else) aren’t as fun to see play an indifferent role like Brian Williams was.
STARS: ***½

BRIAN DIARIES
narcissistic host documents his day; Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Bono cameos

— Kind of a different-feeling Lonely Island Digital Short, not only because of the very mature vibe, but also because it features no SNL performers. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other Lonely Island Digital Shorts that feature neither Andy nor any other SNL performers. Before anyone points out the Peyton Manning United Way ad (and even there, one could argue that an SNL performer is featured, as Bill does the voice-over in it), I’m just counting things that were officially billed on the air as Digital Shorts, by opening with the famous “An SNL Digital Short” black title screen.
— Hilarious scene involving Brian throwing pennies from his office window onto Al Roker and Matt Lauer below while they’re doing a Today Show report.
— Wow, a VERY random but funny cameo from Bono. Despite U2 being somewhat a Friend Of The Show to SNL, I’m still surprised SNL got Bono to do such a brief, random scene like this.
— Keeping up the trend in tonight’s episode of predictable gags being executed surprisingly well, the ending reveal of the sweet, heartfelt voicemail message Brian was shown leaving earlier turning out to be towards himself could be seen coming from a mile away, but somehow ended up still working and making me laugh.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “1234”

WEEKEND UPDATE
innumerate studio head (FRA) gives producers’ side of writer strike

Barbara Birmingham rails against kids’ sexy Halloween costumes

— The darkened Update set this season is looking PARTICULARLY dark tonight.
— Roger A. Trivanti? That name of Fred’s character reminds me of a certain Dick Ebersol-era one-time SNL host: Daniel J. Travanti.
— Fred has done a commentary in every single Update so far this season, as a different person each time. Keeping up the Ebersol-era theme in my review of this Weekend Update, is Fred attempting to become the new Tim Kazurinsky when it comes to frequently appearing as guest commentators on Update/Saturday Night News? I can actually picture Tim playing this smug, slimy Roger A. Trivanti character of Fred’s. This makes me try to picture Fred and Tim playing each other’s Update characters in general. Since Fred seems to love doing bits that mess with the audience’s heads and tests their patience, I can kinda picture him playing Dr. Jack Badofsky, though I can’t see him doing it quite as well as Tim did it.
— I’m really enjoying Fred’s Roger A. Trivanti commentary, and he has some very funny brash lines.
— While Roger A. Trivanti would never become a recurring character on SNL (something I wish I could say about the Nicolas Fehn character that Fred debuted in the preceding episode’s Update), Fred would reprise him about a week later in a writers’ strike-related comedy video he would post online, where he, as Trivanti, approaches striking writers on the picket line and basically trolls them. It’s in the tradition of the man-on-the-street videos Fred used to do on HBO in his early, pre-SNL comedy days.
— The second and final appearance from Kenan’s now-forgotten “Update Nanny” character, Barbara Birmingham.
— The beginning of tonight’s Barbara Birmingham commentary, with her giving Amy a normal greeting, then randomly giving Seth a very dismissive, unfriendly greeting, which offends Seth, reminds me too much of the way the Aunt Linda commentaries from Kristen always begin.
— Some occasional brief instances of self-amused breaking from Kenan. Is he being haunted by Horatio Sanz’s essence due to Horatio being in the building tonight?
— I’m not caring much for tonight’s Barbara Birmingham commentary. Her previous commentary was better.
— After the Barbara Birmingham commentary has ended, I absolutely love Seth’s ad-libs about how Barbara messed up his tie when she angrily swiped her hand towards him a little earlier.
STARS: ***½

LARRY KING LIVE
Harry Potter outtakes depict gay Dumbledore (BIH)

— Meh, I’m never crazy about seeing Fred’s Larry King impression.
— Oh, I remember this sketch being filled with lots of groan-worthy gay jokes. I can only imagine how even more groan-worthy these gay jokes will now come off by today’s standards.
— Ugh at that joke about a gay club being named “Man Hole”.
— Dumbledore: “Ohh, Minerva. If only you had a penis and balls.” I remember that line actually having me laughing out loud back in 2007. I have no reaction to it today.
— I got a laugh from Kristen’s intentionally stiff delivery of the line “Oh, no you di-iiiiin’t!”
— Overall, it turns out most of the gay jokes weren’t as cringey as I was expecting, but I still got almost no entertainment from this sketch.
STARS: *½

iPHONE
(FRA)’s testimonial explains how the iPhone helps him cheat on his wife

— I like Fred’s delivery of the line “God, I wish my wife wasn’t pregnaaaant”, after having revealed to us so many sleazy things regarding the affair he’s having with another woman.
— Pretty funny reveal at the end.
— There’s a second installment of this commercial that got cut after dress rehearsal, but would be put online as a special cut-for-time online exclusive shortly after this episode originally aired. This installment starred Jason, and he, while praising the features of the new iPhone, bragged about his penchant for randomly punching cops in the face (or something like that; my memory of it is fuzzy). I remember this commercial being hilarious, especially the ending of it, though I can’t even remember what exactly happened at the end.
STARS: ***

BEFORE THE DEBATE
Bill Richardson (HOS) & other Democrats conspire to stop Hillary Clinton

— Hmm, a second sketch tonight with the Democratic candidates. At least, much like the cold opening earlier tonight, SNL isn’t going the predictable route by having the candidates appear in a typical Democratic debate sketch.
— What the hell? Now Darrell is playing Chris Dodd? After Bill played him in the cold opening earlier tonight??? I guess Darrell wanted to play him to begin with, but couldn’t do it in the cold opening because he was playing Bill Clinton. Still weird and confusing to have two different cast members play the same politician in two different sketches in the same episode, especially when that politician is a presidential candidate. Even odder is the fact that Bill and Darrell’s impressions of Dodd are completely different from each other. Bill seemed to be going for a more generic impression, barely even changing his voice (which is unusual, since Bill is generally a great impressionist), while Darrell appears to be going for a much more accurate, distinct voice. (I don’t have much familiarity with what the real Chris Dodd sounds like, so I have no idea if Darrell’s nailing the voice.)
— SNL never fails to get a cheap laugh from me whenever a sketch does an initial cutaway to Amy as Dennis Kucinich.
— Speaking of Amy’s Kucinich, that’s another role that’s been played by two different performers tonight, but, much like Darrell, Amy couldn’t play Kucinich in the cold opening because she was playing Hillary Clinton.
— Brian Williams bluntly telling the Democratic candidates that he and everybody else in the media are pulling for Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee is interesting in hindsight, because, when SNL returns from writers’ strike a few months later, they do a whole bunch of cold openings about how miffed Hillary is that Obama is the media darling who everyone is pulling for to be the Democratic nominee.
— The fact that nobody’s playing Obama in this sketch, because he, as Will’s John Edwards explains, is on his way, makes it painfully obvious that SNL still doesn’t have a plan at this point on who in the cast will play Obama. Given the fact that The Rock was scheduled to host the following week’s episode, before the writers’ strike ended up putting the kibosh on that, I remember making a prediction back at this time that The Rock would play Obama in a sketch in that episode, given how so many people back then pointed out the strong similarities between The Rock and Obama’s voices. (As we know now, despite the writers’ strike canceling The Rock’s scheduled hosting stint this season, he would later play a form of Obama very sporadically on SNL, in those “The Rock Obama” sketches.) Also, sometime during the writers’ strike after tonight’s episode, SNL would hold auditions to hire an Obama impersonator. (The auditioners include several well-known or soon-to-be-well-known names, such as Donald Glover, Wyatt Cenac, and Jordan Peele. Of those auditioners, I remember having my fingers crossed for Peele to get hired, as I would’ve LOVED seeing him as an SNL cast member after having been a fan of his work on MADtv at the time.) SNL would end up passing on ALL of those auditioners, and would questionably end up choosing……a certain someone within their then-current cast to play Obama (as we’ll see in the very next episode).
— Horatio Sanz is surprisingly pretty solid and understated in his performance here.
— Despite some funny lines, this sketch isn’t working much for me. It’s coming off as another one of this era’s sluggish, tepid, overlong, Jim Downey-written political pieces that are a slog to get through.
— I do kinda like the reveal that Fred’s Mike Gravel isn’t even in the debate, but nobody has the heart to tell him.
— The bit with Jason-as-Biden’s “Where’s the beef?” suggestion is INCREDIBLY unfunny on paper, but Jason’s solid delivery of it is actually making me laugh.
— Now the candidates are talking about kidnapping Hillary and tying her up with a rope? Ugh, this sketch is getting increasingly lame in its failed attempts to escalate the humor.
— Hmm. An out-of-nowhere turn with Fred-as-Gravel’s violent off-camera outburst. That’s still not funny enough to save this sketch, unfortunately.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Feel It All”

THE NEW OPEN
host rejects new news theme ideas in favor of his own 007-style concept

— I think Amy has appeared in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight. Feels like a throwback to how frequently she was utilized in seasons 30 and 31.
— And now here’s Fred, who’s also had an incredibly busy night, appearing in a majority of the sketches.
— Feels kinda bittersweet seeing Maya in what ends up being her final sketch as a cast member, which wasn’t known at the time (though she may have suspected it, given the fact that it was known how strong the possibility was of the writers’ strike occurring the following week). At least she’s ending her SNL tenure doing one of her all-time favorite things: singing in an exaggerated, hammy voice.
— Kinda fun seeing the vastly different singing style of each individual member of this band.
— An absolutely fantastic 007-esque NBC Nightly News intro sequence with Brian, made even more epic by it being immediately followed by him behind the Nightly News desk, signing on by saying, in his professional trademark delivery, a badass “Good evening, I’m Brian Williams, and…that’s…how…I…roll.” Not only a perfect way to end this sketch, but a perfect way to end this episode.
STARS: **** (the rest of this sketch would’ve only gotten three or three-and-a-half stars from me, but the whole ending portion bumped the overall rating up to four stars)

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. Brian Williams was also a surprisingly strong host, doing a solid job in every sketch, being fun, coming off likable, and getting laughs. It did feel, though, like he disappeared for a large portion of the post-Weekend Update half of the episode, but then again, since he had to moderate the Democratic debate earlier this week, maybe that cost him a day of rehearsals at SNL, and thus, they had to write some sketches that didn’t utilize him much or at all.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jon Bon Jovi)
a big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Instead of us getting the following scheduled episode…

…the writers’ strike puts SNL on a lengthy hiatus. They eventually return in February with host Tina Fey, and a new female addition to the cast.