August 12, 2020 – The 'One SNL a Day' Project

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

POUNDER SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT
at commencement exercises, (host) reads graduates’ naughty-sounding names

— Already an interesting sight right out of the gate in this cold opening, not only with the host being front-and-center, but the entire cast (minus the Update-only Seth) being present as well. The latter feels appropriate and fitting for the season finale cold opening.
— Meh not only at the premise with each student having a dirty-sounding name (the type of gag SNL has done to better effect before), but also at the fact that the dirty-sounding names are just tired, old cliches everyone’s heard before. I guess the fact that these cliched dirty names are given normal, non-dirty middle names here is supposed to make it funnier, but meh. Even more disappointing, this cold opening was surprisingly guest-written by the great Jack Handey. You’d sure never guess so from the content in this, as it’s completely different from and nowhere near as creative as Handey’s trademark humor.
— The subversion with Dick Hertz turning out to be a prank name instead of the name of an actual student is at least kinda funny.
— A long-haired(!) Colin Jost has a very quick non-speaking walk-on as one of the students receiving a diploma (the third-to-last above screencap for this cold opening).
— The whole “Nail ‘er” runner, with the sequence of names actually reading out an entire, dirty conversation, is actually fairly clever.
— Boy, all the tired dirty names in this cold opening being said in such rapid succession is almost starting to give me a headache.
— Nice little touch with how, after the camera zooms in on Steve Carell delivering his LFNY, the camera cuts back to a wide shot so we can see the cast throwing their graduation caps into the air.
STARS: **

OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music has a bit of a different sound tonight. Speaking of which, tonight’s theme music would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version, which has the traditional sound of this season’s theme music.

MONOLOGUE
after host succumbs to a panic attack, his wife NAW calms him down

— Pretty funny reveal from Steve that he drank six Red Bulls and ate a whole bunch of Sour Patch Kids before the show to keep his energy up.
— The conceit of Steve doing hyper, out-of-it actions are the type of thing he’s always good at executing.
— This is the second monologue in these past three episodes to have a gag in which the host is surprised to find himself locked out of either 1) one of the backstage rooms, or 2) the entire backstage.
— Fun audience interaction bit with Steve sitting in the audience.
— Nancy Walls! Given her short-lived and forgotten-by-many-people SNL tenure, it feels surprising that she’s making a cameo, but also feels refreshing to see her on SNL again after I got used to reviewing her when I covered season 21.
STARS: ***½

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE
Barack Obama (FRA) & Hillary Clinton (AMP) split parallels NBA playoffs

— Interesting format to this, which I remember finding out was a spoof of a then-current NBA playoffs ad that I’ve never seen to this day, but can still enjoy the format of this spoof.
— Some decently funny lines from Amy’s Hillary Clinton the occasional times she and Fred’s Barack Obama aren’t reciting the same thing in unison.
— Kinda funny how almost-creepy Amy and Fred’s faces (especially the mouths) look when the opposite halves of them are melded together like this.
STARS: ***

DEAL OR NO DEAL
picky dad (WLF) & coy model (KRW) vex contestant (host)

— Good to see Fred’s Howie Mandel impression in another Deal Or No Deal parody, after how much he (and Antonio Banderas) consistently cracked me up in SNL’s previous Deal Or No Deal parody.
— A promising-seeming role for Will, as Steve’s grumpy, ranting father.
— A stand-out and popular lengthy sequence with Kristen fooling around with the suitcase. This is also one of many things that I remember solidified to me back then that Kristen was getting pushed as SNL’s new star. I also remember thinking to myself after this episode originally aired that Kristen had now officially become the lead female of this cast, and that the longest-tenured female of this cast, Amy, was on her way out (so much so, that I remember speculating Amy wouldn’t return the following season, which I ended up being wrong about).
— The ending was a bit flat for me, and I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed by the whole Fred/Steve/Will portions of this sketch.
STARS: **½

TWO A-HOLES DO KARAOKE
on stage, uncooperative A-holes exasperate karaoke emcee (host)

— I got a good laugh from Kenan dedicating his karaoke singing of “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” to Anna Nicole Smith.
— Wow, we haven’t seen the Two A-holes in what feels like a long time. I think their last appearance was in the Jeremy Piven episode all the way back in January 2007.
— The Two A-holes are killing as usual, even if there are no particular stand-out parts that I feel like pointing out in this review.
— The cutaway to an angry Steve having steam coming out of his ears might have been a bit too much for the tone of these Two A-holes sketches.
STARS: ****

THE JAPANESE OFFICE
Ricky Gervais [real] intros the original, Japanese version of The Office

The Office- even in Japanese, familiar show characteristics are evident

Regis Philbin (DAH) endorses tampons in a Japan-specific commercial

— Nice to see Ricky Gervais on SNL.
— I like Gervais’ snarky comments about the American version of The Office.
— Obviously spot-on casting of Bill as Dwight, given how people used to always point out the resemblance between Bill and Rainn Wilson back in these days (no idea if people still do nowadays). In fact, when this short originally aired, I remember initially thinking for a brief second that that really was Rainn Wilson when the camera first cut to Bill as Dwight.
— Even the Japanese-themed recreation of The Office’s opening credits is spot-on.
— The concept of this Digital Short brings the Rabin To Shuri sketch (the Japanese version of Laverne And Shirley) to mind, though I’ve personally always liked this Digital Short more.
— Great to see the return of Kristen and Jason’s spot-on Pam and Jim impressions from Rainn Wilson’s monologue the preceding season.
— Hilarious random Japanese commercial with Darrell’s Regis Philbin endorsing tampons.
— Good brief cutaway to a silent Kenan as Stanley doing a Sudoku puzzle instead of his usual crossword puzzle (which I remember was pointed out to me by someone in response to my original 2008 review of this episode, after I incorrectly stated Kenan’s Stanley was doing a crossword puzzle in this).
— Ricky Gervais’ ending comment, in regards to this whole short: “(*while laughing*) It’s funny….’cause it’s racist.”
STARS: ****

MCCAIN 2008
John McCain [real] touts his oldness & aversion to pork barrel spending

— Here we have our latest of MANY cameos from presidential candidates during this 2008 presidential race. At least this particular cameo is from John McCain, who’s always fun and a great sport on SNL.
— Some decent laughs here and there, and McCain is likable as expected, but this sketch feels kinda on the forgettable side.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “This Ain’t Sex”

WEEKEND UPDATE
John McCain [real] encourages Democrats to prolong nomination indecision

Jesse Jackson (DAH) & Al Sharpton (KET) warn Barack Obama to be careful

— Seth’s joke about someone being chosen for a position by being the last person in the room to shout “Not it” was a joke already used by either Seth or Amy before, and will continue to be used by them (or just Seth) for years.
— A second appearance tonight from John McCain.
— I love McCain’s sly “That’s right, fight among yourselves” comment when Seth and Amy are disagreeing with each other.
— A good laugh from McCain making a point about how exciting it would be to have the presidential conventions end with us still not knowing who the nominee is.
— The “They take it away” examples from Darrell and Kenan’s Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are decent.
— Funny how, in my preceding episode review, I asked, in reaction to a fun interaction piece between Seth and Amy in that episode’s Update, “Why don’t we get these interaction bits between Seth and Amy more often?” Cut to one episode later, and we get TWO interaction bits between Seth and Amy in tonight’s Update. Odd coincidence, but I appreciate it.
— Seems to be a lot more Update jokes than usual tonight, perhaps a conscious decision from SNL due to this being the final Update of the season.
STARS: ***

THE CHARLIE FLITT SHOW
weight losers cut fat & lifesize photos

— Amy’s real-life pregnancy is really starting to show by this point.
— Ohhh, god. All of a sudden, the characters in this sketch take the time to give some praise to Jared Fucking Fogel, even throwing in a flattering comment about how hot he is in person. Boy, has this portion of this sketch aged like milk. In hindsight, this is also unintentionally a warm-up for something very unfortunate that’s in store for me in the very next episode: a cameo appearance from…guess who?
— I laughed at Steve’s passing mention of overcoming an addiction to Google Image Search.
— An okay running gag with Steve jumping through old overweight photos of himself at the oddest times.
— What was with Darrell’s very delayed, awkward delivery of his sole line of this entire sketch?
— I like overweight Bill’s very halfhearted “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know” when he, Amy, and Kristen are all embracing each other.
— Despite some occasional laughs, this sketch as a whole is gradually kinda losing me, especially during Steve’s musical number at the end.
STARS: **

CPR TRAINING
(host) busts through (ANS)’s chest while conducting a CPR training course

— An initial cheap laugh from the blood starting to flow after Andy’s chest has been pushed through. I see we’re in for another traditional blood-spurting sketch.
— After Steve casually says, in regards to Andy’s bleeding, “Not too bad, from where I’m standing”, I love Kenan responding “Man, where are you standing? That is BAD.”
— A pretty good laugh from the visual of Andy’s lung inflating like a balloon when Steve is giving him mouth-to-mouth. I also LOVE Kristen’s shocked facial reaction to that when the camera cuts to her about to say something in response to that (the last above screencap for this sketch).
— Not sure what to think about the turn at the end with Usher giving a brief PSA. Felt kinda like a weak ending.
— An overall okay sketch, but, much like with the rather forgettable Knife Salesmen sketch from the preceding season’s Shia LaBeouf episode, this SNL era continues to struggle in their attempt to create a memorable blood-spurting sketch for the ages. Also, this CPR Training sketch, in hindsight, feels like a precursor to the (much better, IMO) Acupuncture sketch from the episode that Kristen hosts in season 38.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Young Jeezy [real] perform “Love In This Club”

BLESS THIS CHILD
rough-housing parents-to-be (host) & (KRW) serenade a stand-in stunt baby

— At first glance, it almost appears we’re getting a genuinely tender, semi-serious sketch to close out the season, before we see the comedic conceit. Lots of fun and very amusing little random and unsafe things Kristen and Steve are doing with their baby while singing. They’re both pulling this off so well.
— Pretty funny reveal that Kristen and Steve’s baby is just a doll (in the universe of the sketch, not just in real life), and that they’ve decided they’re ready to move on to having a real baby of their own.
— Steve took the potentially-iffy ending involving him spinning a dummy of Kristen around and made it a lot of fun instead of corny.
— Overall, I found this to be a solid and well-performed season-ending sketch.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average and slightly forgettable season finale. Not bad, but not the most exciting way to end this season, especially considering the lengthy solid streak that I feel SNL was on prior to this, from somewhere around the Amy Adams episode to the Shia LaBeouf episode.

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