Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
CLINTON’S QUALITIES
Hillary Clinton (AMP) prizes being an unethical racist-backed sore loser
— Typical Amy-as-Hillary stuff so far, but it’s working here.
— A good laugh from Amy’s Hillary stating point-blank, with a smile, “My supporters are racist”, as one of the listed-off reasons for us to vote for her.
— Decent laughs from Amy’s Hillary about playing the gender and race cards.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
Sean Connery (DAH) & other Indiana Jones veterans are jealous of host
— A bit of an odd usage of Jason as an audience member (reminding me of when he frequently played one when he was just a writer), but he’s great here.
— A rare non-Celebrity Jeopardy appearance from Darrell’s Sean Connery. Fun to see him in this.
— Amy continues her trend of playing a lot of male roles this season.
— Great walk-on from Will as the face-melted-off Nazi.
— An interesting new addition to Darrell’s long-established Connery impression, with him punctuating his slams with a yell of “POW!” This would end up being the only appearance where Darrell’s Connery would do that.
STARS: ***½
MACGRUBER
silo crisis reveals son Merrill’s (host) homosexuality
— Something about the copy I’m watching of this episode makes the visual quality of this MacGruber short look blurry and dizzying (as can be seen in some of the above screencaps for this short and some of the screencaps you’ll soon see for the later MacGruber shorts in this episode).
— A big laugh from MacGruber’s puzzled delivery of “Anal lubricant?!?”
— Great bit with Shia LaBeouf answering MacGruber’s “Who’s the lucky girl?” question with a very hesitant “……..Scott……..”, receiving a very funny facial reaction from MacGruber.
STARS: ****
IT’S A MATCH
murder investigation follows 1970s game show format
— Fun portrayals of fictional counterparts to real-life 70s celebrities, even though I do kinda wonder why SNL’s just not having the actual 70s celebrities be portrayed. After all, SNL did so in the Super Buzzers sketch from the season 27 Jonny Mosely episode, and the Charades sketch from the season 31 Julia Louis-Dreyfus episode.
— Shia’s look as the fictional counterpart to Doug Henning is absolutely hilarious, and his performance is great.
— The murder premise is a strong twist to what we were led to initially think was just going to be a straightforward 70s game show parody.
— Bill doing great straight man work as usual. I love his stern, subtle frustration in response to the contestant’s wacky antics.
— Even though I’ve generally gotten so tired of Fred’s gay stereotype shtick by this point of his tenure, it’s working for me in this sketch as the Charles Nelson Reilly fictional counterpart he’s playing.
— Good bit with Shia’s character popping out of the deceased game show host’s bodybag.
— The dress rehearsal version of this sketch would later be used in reruns, and the biggest difference I can remember (and my memory of it may be a bit faulty) is that, in the dress version, Casey’s answer to the first question is a raunchy “I was making mouth whoopee”, whereas her answer in the live version was a tame “I was eating pound cake and crying on my waterbed.”
STARS: ****
SCARED STRAIGHT
inmate Lorenzo McIntosh (KET) can’t scare teens straight with movie plots
— The debut of these Scared Straight sketches with Kenan’s Lorenzo MacIntosh character.
— When this originally aired, I remember feeling this was Kenan’s shameless attempt at creating his own version of Matt Foley. All these years later, I no longer see many Matt Foley similarities in this, but that may because I’ve gotten so used to this MacIntosh character that I now just see him as his own entity.
— One big difference with Lorenzo MacIntosh in this inaugural appearance of his compared to his subsequent appearances is the scar on his face, which eventually gets called out as obviously having been drawn on with a marker.
— I guess I can see why the very crass prison rape jokes in these Lorenzo MacIntosh sketches would bother some people nowadays, but they’re giving me good laughs in tonight’s sketch.
— Good running bit throughout this sketch with MacIntosh describing movie plots as incidents that supposedly happened in his life. Kenan’s delivery is helping to make this running gag work.
— Speaking of Kenan’s delivery, I love his delivery of his threatening parting words, “There ain’t gonna be no grease! THERE AIN’T GONNA BE NO GREASE!”
— Overall, I’m surprised by how big I was on this inaugural Lorenzo MacIntosh sketch. It was stronger than I had remembered. We’ll see how this holds up as a recurring sketch when we get there.
STARS: ****
MACGRUBER
vibrator proves Merrill hasn’t been cured of his gayness
— Even though it’s just a very small moment, I love Shia bitterly calling MacGruber a “friggin’ dick” under his breath, in response to MacGruber making a passing reference to “undoing” Shia’s homosexuality. That muttered remark of Shia’s was such a believable, realistic moment, and was a remark that MacGruber deserved to have hurled at him for his attempt to “cure” Shia of his homosexuality.
— Hilarious how, when MacGruber is doing his usual bit where he asks his two assistants to hand him a nearby object, his only requests towards Shia are asking him to recite pro-heterosexual things that MacGruber seemingly taught him.
— The bit with the blurred-out vibrator is an absolute RIOT, made even funnier by the facial expression Will looks ahead with right before the obligatory end-of-sketch bomb explosion.
STARS: *****
THE SUZE ORMAN SHOW
(host) gets economic stimulus check advice from Suze Orman (KRW)
— A big laugh from Kristen-as-Suze-Orman’s “I love the smell of a man” line.
— Funny bit involving Kristen-as-Orman’s snap-on collar.
— Like the last time this sketch appeared, Kristen’s delivery as Orman makes every single one of her lines fun.
— Very funny ending tip from Kristen’s Orman on how to make your own homemade maxi-pad.
— This overall sketch felt unusually short, but still worked.
STARS: ***½
THE BEST LOOK IN THE WORLD
the best look in the world equals dress shirt, black socks, no pants
— Ooh, I recall this short being a HUGE dud for Lonely Island, a rarity for them in these early seasons of theirs. I remember 2008 Me being STUNNED at how unbelievably awful this short was (especially coming just one episode after Lonely Island did an intentionally bad short, with Daiquiri Girl). Let’s see how I’ll feel about it now, 12 years later.
— Wow, it appears that the audience is ALREADY not onboard with this short. The comical reveal of Andy being pants-less early on in this short got almost NO reaction from the audience. That’s usually the type of thing from Andy that KILLS with the audience.
— Much like the Roy Rules short from the preceding season, we have the Lonely Island trying their hand at a different music genre than the ones they usually spoof. That change of pace worked with the 70s/80s heavy metal genre they took on in Roy Rules, but it’s not turning out so well with the honky-tonk (or whatever music genre tonight’s short is spoofing) genre they’re taking on in tonight’s short.
— Oof. Something about this short just reeks of desperation. Oh, and I’m not finding myself laughing.
— I guess the “Cool Down” part is kinda funny, but I’m just desperate for a laugh by this point.
— Not even Andy’s smug “Riiiight on” at the end got a big response from the audience, and, again, that’s usually the type of thing from Andy that SNL audiences eat up.
— Overall, yeah, this Digital Short just didn’t work. Even though I admit it wasn’t as unbelievably awful as I had remembered, I still cannot call this short even remotely good. This already-poor short comes off even more disappointing when you remember the last Digital Short that Shia appeared in prior to this.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’m Amazed”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Vlad (BIH) & Niko (FRA) dispute the accuracy of Grand Theft Auto IV
Jean K. Jean’s cultural references all come from across the Atlantic
— Ha, I love this idea of Bill and Fred playing Grand Theft Auto characters, complete with spot-on physical movements.
— What the heck was with that abrupt, empty ending to the Grand Theft Auto commentary? This overall commentary in general, while it provided a few laughs from me due to Bill and Fred’s funny performances, felt SEVERELY underwritten. I get the feeling it went through a heavy re-write right before airtime (that would certainly explain the abrupt “ending”).
— I like Seth and Amy’s side bit with Seth spouting off sleazy weather-related sexual harassment pick-up lines. Why don’t we get these interaction bits between Seth and Amy more often?
— Kenan’s Jean K. Jean character has officially become recurring. A pretty big night for Kenan, between the debut of Lorenzo MacIntosh and the return of Jean K. Jean. The original airdate of this episode is Kenan’s birthday, so perhaps that’s the reason for his fairly big night.
— I’m not enjoying tonight’s Jean K. Jean commentary quite as much as I enjoyed his first one, but Kenan is still making this pretty fun.
— Ah, shortly after I mentioned Kenan’s birthday, we actually get a thinly-veiled on-air mention of it, with Amy saying “Happy 30th birthday, Jean K. Jean” during the audience applause at the end of Jean K. Jean’s commentary.
STARS: ***½
LA RIVISTA DELLA TELEVISIONE CON VINNY VEDECCI
Vinny Vedecci’s talk with host goes astray
— I appreciate how the interview begins with Shia immediately letting Bill’s Vinny Vedecci know he doesn’t speak Italian. The gag at the beginning of all the prior installments of this sketch, in which the interviewee has a very blindsided, taken-aback reaction to Vinny Vedecci starting the interview by speaking in Italian was getting old, so I’m glad they changed it up tonight.
— The Transformers mix-up, with Vinny Vedecci thinking “transformers” means transsexuals, probably won’t hold up well with a lot of people nowadays, and probably guarantees this sketch will get removed if NBC ever airs this episode on SNL Vintage.
— Hilarious bit with Vinny and his cigarette-smoking crew (including an epic Lorne cutaway!) reacting in nervous, guilty silence after learning from Shia that cigarette-smoking can be an arrestable offence.
— Even though the running gag in these Vinny Vedecci sketches with a TV/movie clip getting re-dubbed by Vinny is getting predictable, tonight’s re-dubbed Indiana Jones clip still made me laugh.
— An absolutely great bit regarding the delay with falling snake props from above. One of my favorite bits ever in a Vinny Vedecci sketch.
STARS: ****
MACGRUBER
Merrill would rather kiss Scott (ANS) than Vicky (KRW)
— Particularly funny theme song lyrics in this one.
— A good laugh from Shia unconvincingly mentioning the parts of Kristen’s body he supposedly can’t stop lustfully thinking about (including her womb).
— The ending with the camera abruptly cutting to a bomb explosion as soon as vomit starts to flow from Shia’s mouth during his forced heterosexual kiss with Kristen is not only absolutely hilarious to me (and is pulled off much better than another “gay man vomits when a woman kisses him” gag SNL previously did in a Liberace sketch with Fred), but, during the original airing back in 2008, that gag caught me so off-guard that it gave me one of the hardest laughs I have EVER gotten from SNL in all my now-21 years of being an SNL viewer. In fact, I laughed so hard at it that I literally fell off of my couch and, while laying on the floor, continued to uncontrollably laugh non-stop for almost the ENTIRE commercial break that followed this MacGruber short. That is not an exaggeration, folks. There are very, VERY few sketches in SNL history that I can say got THAT extreme level of a laughing reaction from me (in fact, not just SNL, but any comedy I’ve ever watched in general), and for that, I will always love this particular MacGruber short, and consider it to be one of my personal all-time favorite SNL pieces.
STARS: *****
ADMIRERS
in a restaurant, (KRW) & (AMP) are thrilled by guys’ uncomfortable stares
— I have really nice nostalgic memories of this sketch, though part of that is because of the great mood I was put in after the aforementioned 2-minute-long extreme laughing fit that the ending of the preceding MacGruber short put me in during the original airing.
— A priceless cutaway to Andy’s goofy, unappealing facial expression as the “irresistible” admirer.
— More hilarious goofy, unappealing facial expressions from Shia and other performers playing “irresistible” admirers.
— This already-funny sketch has now been propelled to an even greater and more memorable level with the “doy doy doy” musical number from the admirers via their inner thoughts.
— Solid ending.
— This sketch was apparently so well-liked at the time that I remember even once seeing it play on a little TV monitor in one of the waiting lines of a supermarket I was at sometime that summer (which is also part of what adds to the aforementioned really nice nostalgic memories I have of this sketch).
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Evil Urges”
NEW YORK FUNKY
Georgian (AMP) seeks funky New York styles for daughters (KRW) & (host)
— Amy is basically doing her Nancy Grace voice. Her voice and general demeanor in this sketch also eerily remind me of a history teacher I had in high school.
— Blah. A random and unnecessary reliance on the ol’ man-in-drag comedy trope.
— Second consecutive sketch tonight with Casey stuck in a useless small role where she basically only shows up to call other women beautiful. Something about this utilization of Casey seems a tad demeaning to me, but such is the life of a new featured player, I guess. It hurts more in this particular case with Casey, though, because we now know that her SNL trajectory unfortunately ends up not officially going past this stage.
— I kinda like something about the general aura of this sketch, but the sketch itself and Amy’s character’s constant catchphrases (“funky”, “no…YES!”, etc.) are not doing it for me. A blah way to end such a strong episode.
STARS: *½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not only was this yet another good episode this season, but I found this episode to be particularly strong. In fact, I’d say it’s one of my all-time favorites from this late 2000s era of SNL. Aside from two big misses with the Digital Short and the New York Funky sketch, every single segment worked for me, and a lot of segments stood out as particularly great and memorable, two of which are absolute favorites of mine (Parts 2 and 3 of the MacGruber runner, Part 3 of which, as detailed earlier, gave me one of the pure hardest and longest laughs I’ve ever gotten from SNL). Another thing I love about this episode is that, for so many years, I’ve felt (and still do, to this day) that it epitomizes a lot of what I like about this late 2000s era of SNL. If I had to pick an episode that best represents the general feel and style of this SNL era (much like what I said at the end of my Steve Martin/Blues Brothers episode review here), tonight’s episode would definitely be at least one of my top picks, if not THE top pick.
— Shia LaBeouf hosting for two consecutive seasons, and both of those episodes being good, fun, and containing at least one really memorable thing, made it seem at the time like he was on his way to becoming a frequent host, but nope, this second hosting stint of his ends up being his last. Perhaps the…rather odd trajectory his career took sometime after 2008 put the kibosh on him becoming a frequent SNL host. Kind of a shame, as I actually enjoyed his presence as a host in both of his hosting stints (especially tonight’s episode), and I felt he worked really well with the male cast in tonight’s episode. It seemed like he was getting better and better as a host with each passing episode. I would’ve liked to have seen if the trend of both him getting better and his episodes containing at least one very memorable piece would’ve continued after this.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ashton Kutcher)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 33 comes to an end, with host Steve Carell
I was at the dress rehearsal for this show and the next one. I remember Jason being in a different costume during the monologue (I think he was made to look like a hick with a beer in hand), My Morning Jacket almost wiping out on-stage and to be quite honest – I don’t remember a lot of stuff that was cut. I know there was a terrible sketch where Armisen played an actor that kept missing his cue or something. I think it was a western – it DIED and I looked at my friend and said “oh, we’re part of the few people that will ever see that sketch.”
I do remember a bit more about the next dress rehearsal so I’ll mention it when you get there.
Ooh good episode, although the short is a painful miss, seeing as how you would think they had the right host to do a great one and they already had a mulligan from last episode’s intentionally bad one.
If I recall, the Match Game impressions are basically:
Kenan–Nipsey Russell (100%)
Amy–Brett Somers (pretty 100%, but the voice is off)
Fred–Charles Nelson Reilly (although the impression and look are way more Paul Lynde, who was not a Match Game regular)
Kristen–Marcia Wallace
Casey–Debralee Scott, maybe?
And of course Shia as Doug Henning (100%)
This is one of my favorite MacGruber sketches–I think this one and the Charles Barkley racism one are my favorites. I can’t remember if Pepsuber is actually a sketch or just an ad or not.
If I recall most of the Scared Straight sketches ended with Jason intentionally jumping on his desk in a goofy way to try to make the other cast members break (break further, I guess, since especially Bill couldn’t stop laughing). Does Jason do that in this first sketch?
@Michael Cheyne I was looking that up (about Pepsuber) and according to this it was meant as an ad, but NBC wasn’t sure Pepsi would actually air it during the Super Bowl, so aired the ads during ad breaks for an SNL episode…then it ended up airing during the Super Bowl as well…but they only aired one of the ads instead of all three, which confused viewers and probably helped lead to some like Nikki Finke (anyone remember her?) panning it.
https://thecomicscomic.com/2009/02/02/snls-super-bowl-macgruber-pepsi-ads/
This episode marked my entry into watching SNL on a weekly basis, so it means a lot to me as well. I have a lot of fondness towards It’s a Match, all 3 Macgrubers, the Vinny Vedecci sketch, Vlad & Niko, EVEN THE HILLARY COLD OPEN. This one also got reran a lot that summer, so I watched it a ton. Glad to see you have some fondness for it as well.
Easily my favourite episode of the season. My favourite Vinnie Vedecci sketch, the underrated “doy, doy, doy” sketch and the moment that Macgruber became my favourite recurring sketch of this era. Like Stooge, the vomit shot had a similar effect on me but honestly the blurred dildo and Macgruber’s face afterwards probably made me laugh even harder. Shia should have been a five timer but alas his troubled personal life got in the way…
I feel like a total nerd for pointing this out, but as someone who’s played countless hours of GTA IV, I should clarify that it’s actually Bill who’s playing Niko, while Fred is playing Vlad. The graphic has their names in the wrong order.
Great episode that yeah encapsulates this era
I think next episode had Jack Handey (!) returning to write the cold open with Downey. Who the hell saw that coming in 2008?!?
This was the first episode to air after Amy’s Nickelodeon cartoon, The Mighty B!, made its debut. Kenan had a recurring role on the show, and Maya Rudolph appeared in the first season finale.
I know none of the above has anything to do with this episode, but I had to think of something to post, because this era of the show kind of bores me, to be honest. I’m still anxious for the next season where John Mulaney shows up to give Bill more screen time.
Casey’s Sarah Annette Boob seems to be an amalgam of people but mostly Fannie Flagg, Fannie’s boobs are a recurring reference/punch line from Gene, Brett and Richard and Casey is dressed in a colorful sweater which was also a trademark of Flagg’s.
I’ve always wanted to know the story about that cut Fred sketch because I’ve heard it’s one of those Fred subtlely trolls the audience sketches. The description I have in my notes is “Mexican actor (Armisen) has trouble understanding stage direction” and that it’s kinda similar to Soap Opera Actress from Charlie Sheen / Nelly Furtado. Any other information on this would be appreciated.
From TV.com: “Sketches cut after dress rehearsal: a Democratic National Committee cold open, where DNC members (Kristin Wiig, Jason Sudiekis, Fred Armisen) say vote for the Democratic candidate or upset Al Gore (Darrell Hammond) [note: this was reworked using Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton impression for the live show cold open]; a Mexican man (Fred Armisen) has trouble understanding direction; and a man (Shia LaBeouf) auditioning for a kids’ show gets a part in the show he didn’t expect.”
Yes! I vaguely remember the DNC thing dying at dress too. The bit with the kids show actually did quite well in dress so I was a little surprised to see that win out over New York Funky, which also kinda died.
Oh, and also re: dress rehearsal – everyone was SHOCKED when Shia popped out of the bag. I don’t know how they snuck him away so carefully but they hid it really well from the dress crowd.
Oh, and Bill cracked during the Scared Straight sketch in dress but held it together during the live show. I guess Kenan discovered his weakness in all the other subsequent installments.
@Brendan Wahl thank you for this rundown. As someone who will probably never be at an SNL taping I always appreciate these. I was wondering what you think of the kids’ show sketch?
Sometimes I’m surprised at how little Bill breaks up at this point. I guess that came as his workload became heavier.
Similarly to S13, it sucks that THIS season had to be the one cut short by a writers strike. Even though I said previously that this season isn’t as standout as S32, the show was really cooking at this time.
To jump on Michael Cheyne’s comment on who was who in the Match Game parody. I remember a lot of discussion at the time trying to figure out which Match Game regulars Kristen and Casey were supposed to be, as they weren’t as obvious as the others. I think people leaned on a Marcia Wallace/Fannie Flagg hybrid for Kristen. I can see Casey was maybe supposed to be Debralee Scott, though I figured she’d be kinda obscure compared to those others. I actually think it was missed opportunity not to have Casey as a faux JoAnne Worley, she’s a dead ringer for her in the Laugh-In/MatchGame days, same over the top mannerisms and everything.
Also weird… I thought I was crazy all these years remembering that while in the grocery store back then they were playing that sketch with Andy and Shia making the weird faces on little screens near the checkout aisle, I think it was a Shaw’s Grocery I wanna say? I have vague memories of them playing SNL clips and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon clips from around that time. Even at the time I remember finding it so odd for a supermarket to have tv screens playing random late night NBC clips.
The aforementioned winning streak continues. This goes alongside Walken/Panic as probably the best show of Year 33. Two small demerits: “The Best Look in the World” was the worst Digital Short up to that point (they really lose something in Year 37, after Jorma and Akiva left) and “New York Funky Style” …exists. MMJ was another great musical guest in a truncated season with a surplus of memorable MGs.
Also, this is the first show after Amy announced her first pregnancy. She’s showing by next week.
Too bad about Shia’s sorta fall from grace in the following years, he could’ve been sorta like the Tom Hanks for this era of SNL. He’s went kinda nutty for a while, but he seems like he’s on the verge of a comeback after giving really solid performances in a lot of smaller indies in the last couple of years. Maybe one day, I mean if SNL can handle Pete Davidson, Shia can’t be that unstable of a host, can he?
I wonder why SNL started doing genericized/”off brand” parodies of specific shows and actors.
I wonder if this is the Suze Orman sketch that the real Suze Orman was invited to see and that explains the shorter running time. Whatever the reason, the trimming made for a brisk and entertaining sketch, with Kristen’s performance even better the second go-round.
Shia has moved into realms far removed from SNL over the past twelve years, so I don’t even know how he’d feel about the show these days, but he was indeed a very good host – the biggest test was how confidently he handled the forgettable monologue, which feels like the type they throw together when they can’t get any cameos related to the film. He is also a reason why this is probably my favorite of the Vinny Vedecci sketches as he is so brutally deadpan that all the nonsense is put into even brighter display. I agree that this probably wouldn’t be repeated today (and I’m not sure why the show doubled down on transphobic humor around this point – I think this is the third in the last 4-5 episodes to have this stuff), although oddly it is the only Vinny sketch which isn’t geoblocked on Youtube for US viewers. It’s the very first one I saw as a result.
The MacGruber runner is interesting – most of the easy gay jokes are avoided, Shia doesn’t play up a stereotype, and they end up writing most of it from the son’s point of view. Other than a few quick jokes (like the dildo falling out of the bag), there isn’t a big comedy element for me. Even the vomit take at the end registered more as a shock bit for me than comedy. None of this is a criticism – after they clearly had run out of ideas with the last two editions, I liked seeing them try another approach (and the vomit take was very effectively done – I wonder if the work on all of this is why the digital short of the week was so phoned-in).
The Match Game murder had a fantastic premise, and mostly strong performances, sadly damaged by focusing too much on Fred and his cookie cutter gay mugging (this is basically just his Liberace in Paul Lynde cosplay). He diverted focus from the main idea and it never gets back on track. At least this one will always live on for Shia’s Doug Hening, which still pops up in gifs today.
The restaurant sketch is great, a simple and funny idea carried through effectively, with the men all matching their performances just right. Reminds me a little of the upcoming Bill Hader “Greg” sketches that I adore.
The Scared Straight sketches tend to pound one idea into the ground, but Kenan’s performance is so energetic you give a lot of leeway and enjoy the experience. Not sure how I’ll feel once I watch more of these…
Amy’s role in the clothing store sketch feels like something Jan Hooks would have done, and it probably would have been somewhat irritating even then, but they would have fleshed out the idea beyond those one or two very rigid laugh lines.
I’d never heard of the piece Bill and Fred did on Update. I can see why I hadn’t, but points for trying something different, I guess. I agree that I wish we had more moments for the chemistry between Seth and Amy, especially since we’re not far off the end of their Update. I suppose they at least didn’t overegg it, the way Tina and Jimmy did.
The Hillary cold opens of the last 25 years can all blur together (shrewish, power-mad, etc.) but this one does have some believable bite as I remember hearing some of this kind of talk at the time about why she should get the nomination. Amy does a great job here.
I’m not sure I’d see this one as the template episode of this era (not sure what I would pick – maybe Peyton Manning, or JLD’s season 31 episode…), but it’s certainly a contender.
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48V8Lc22Xo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVuimWhqv8c
Isn’t Bill’s character in Match Game supposed to be a “Streets of San Francisco”-era Michael Douglas? The crazy tie, the hair, the enlarged forehead… it’s what I’ve assumed all these years, and I figured it was a common theory?
If I remember this ep at all, it’s probably for the first “Scared Straight” sketch…
I think it’s kind of interesting that the girls in the New York Funky sketch say they’re from Decatur Georgia which is where Jan Hooks was from. Jan was so much better at playing those types of roles and I wonder if SNL had Jan in mind in some way while producing this
Hopefully the current writer’s strike bodes well for next season. SNL has historically come back strong following them.