Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC
Sarah Palin’s (TIF) answers don’t satisfy interviewer Katie Couric (AMP)
— The then-widely-anticipated return of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression after the highly-acclaimed debut it made two episodes prior.
— I remember how the fact that SNL’s first two Tina-as-Palin sketches had Tina being paired with Amy made some online SNL fans back at this time wonder if SNL was intentionally going out of their way to have every Palin sketch star the familiar and popular Fey/Poehler duo, and one of those online fans said, paraphrased, “If this keeps up, then SNL’s spoof of the Palin/Biden vice presidential debate next week is going to have Amy dressing in drag to play Joe Biden.” As we know now, that (thankfully) doesn’t happen.
— What’s with the off-center camera angle on Tina at first, before the camera corrects itself very slowly?
— I’m getting consistent laughs from Amy-as-Katie-Couric’s rapidly-blinking non-verbal facial reactions to inane stuff said by Tina’s Palin.
— Hilarious comment from Tina’s Palin about how she and John McCain will make sure to get U.N. jobs back into American hands.
— A particularly well-remembered part with Tina-as-Palin’s long-winded, nonsensical, incomplete sentences-laden, constant topic-changing opinion on the bailout (that description of mine also kinda sounds like a description of Nicholas Fehn), which is actually almost a verbatim quote from Palin in the real Couric/Palin interview that this is spoofing.
— Yet another memorable part: Tina’s Palin, when not knowing how to answer one of Amy-as-Couric’s questions, saying “Katie, I’d like to use one of my lifelines.”
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
asides to camera reveal extent of dumb-blonde host’s sad mental handicap
— I like the concept of this with Anna Faris disclosing mock-serious things about her dumb blonde persona into a side camera (complete with a music sting at the beginning of each disclosure). However, the actual disclosures themselves aren’t all that funny to me.
— Overall, a bit of a meh monologue for me, despite a fine performance from Anna.
STARS: **½
MAKING NEW FRIENDS
after a double date, faux pas-prone (JAS) & (host) beg their own pardon
— Interesting how this sketch appears immediately after the monologue, with no break in between, meaning Anna had to quickly go from the home base stage to the car set for this sketch, putting on a purple sweater in the process. To give Anna a little extra time, this sketch opens with a lengthy close-up of Jason driving the car while in the middle of a conversation with his passengers, one of whom is supposed to be Anna. Anna accidentally gives away the fact that she arrives on the set in the middle of that lengthy opening close-up of Jason, as you can hear an off-camera sound of her closing one of the car doors.
— When Jason and Anna are going on about how Casey and Bobby must hate them, I love Jason saying “A disgust usually reserved for that of pedophiles.”
— Some good lines from Jason and Anna recounting and questioning the morality of the ridiculous, inappropriate things they did during their dinner with Bobby and Casey earlier in the evening.
— I like the VERY oddball and random twist to the already-random “car driving off a cliff” ending (which initially brings the Toonces sketches to mind, though it’s not the same “car driving off a cliff” stock footage), with the car actually bouncing off the bottom of the cliff, then going back up the cliff and exploding when it lands back onto the road. A great bit of absurdity there.
STARS: ***½
FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Jim Lehrer (CHP) moderates Barack Obama (FRA) & John McCain (DAH) debate
— Chris Parnell! Nice to see him in his first cameo since being fired (for his second time) after season 31. He ends up playing the moderator of ALL three Obama/McCain presidential debate sketches this election season (though the only one of those Obama/McCain debate sketches I’ll be reviewing is tonight’s, as the other two appear in Weekend Update Thursday specials). In the two remaining Obama/McCain debate sketches after tonight’s, the moderators who Chris plays are Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer.
— Given how horrible the last set of presidential debate sketches were back in season 30, not to mention the fact that 1) Fred and Darrell’s Obama and McCain impressions are so dull, and 2) I have almost NO memory of tonight’s debate sketch (besides one bit regarding Scarlett Johansson), I’m very wary to approach this debate sketch.
— Ugh, Fred’s Obama impression hasn’t improved much, if at all, since its last appearance in the preceding season. How could SNL not see how much this man is not working out in this role? How could Lorne just sit there and let such an important political impression be performed so poorly? FOR FOUR DAMN YEARS, I might add.
— Meh, the conceit of Darrell’s McCain proposing increasingly outlandish debate scenarios throughout this sketch is doing nothing for me, and just feels desperate on the writer’s part.
— Pretty funny bit with Darrell’s McCain claiming that, ever since way back in 1985, he was arguing for the surge in regards to the Iraq War.
— There’s the aforementioned sole part I remembered about this sketch: Fred-as-Obama’s offer of a dinner with Scarlett Johansson. Only mildly funny.
— I like Darrell’s McCain giving up and nonchalantly declaring, “At this point, I don’t really care anymore.”
— I guess the closing gag with Amy’s Hillary Clinton being shown on the side as backup in case McCain didn’t show up was fairly funny.
— At least this overall sketch was somewhat short compared to the overlong presidential debate sketches from season 30.
— Overall, pretty meh. While certainly not as insufferable as the season 30 presidential debate sketches, and while this sketch contained a few laughs, this sketch as a whole sadly was forgettable for SNL presidential debate standards. Of the two remaining Obama/McCain debate sketches, one being a town hall debate, and the other being a sit-down debate, I recall the town hall one actually being strong (and it includes a great tongue-in-cheek Bill Murray cameo as “William Murray”, a hapless, broken Chicago Cubs fan). I have no memory of the sit-down one.
STARS: **
BOAT RIDE
oblivious (host) doesn’t realize she’s not on a date with hit man (KET)
— Oh, no, Anna’s breaking out into song.
— A funny turn with the disturbing lyrics and details in Kenan’s own song, and it’s a good and much-needed contrast to Anna’s song.
— Kenan’s shifty, uneasy behavior and obvious lies throughout this sketch are all making me laugh.
— I like Anna now starting to get suspicious of Kenan through song.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mercy”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) fails to give unambiguous endorsement of Barack Obama
still-nervous Judy Grimes unwinds a string of verbal false starts
— First time in quite a while that Darrell’s Bill Clinton has appeared on Update.
— A memorable part at the beginning of this Clinton commentary, in which, when giving his thanks, Darrell’s Clinton finishes it with “And most especially…..thank you, Duffy.” I remember how, when this Update commentary was shown a little over a month later in SNL’s Presidential Bash special, they actually left in the “And most especially…..thank you, Duffy” line, despite the fact that it obviously makes no sense being aired out of the context of tonight’s episode. I can only imagine how much that line being left intact in the Presidential Bash special must’ve confused the hell out of viewers who didn’t see this Anna Faris/Duffy episode.
— A very Clinton-y line from Darrell’s Clinton right now: “Look – sometimes, women will be uncomfortable doing something at first…..”, which gets a huge and VERY extended audience reaction.
— I didn’t understand Seth’s punchline to the Ben & Jerry’s/breast milk joke (either that, or it was just a lousy joke), but his staring-down of the camera afterwards almost saved it for me.
— Surprisingly, this is Kristen’s first appearance all night.
— Judy Grimes has officially become a recurring character.
— Much like Nicholas Fehn (though not to the same extent), there’s an “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” air to Judy Grimes’ commentaries. And I know some of you readers have a very low tolerance for this character (I certainly did myself, back when this SNL era originally aired). However, the inane dialogue she’s spouting off in between her “just kidding”s in tonight’s commentary is increasingly amusing to me, and is making the general conceit of this character still work in this second appearance of hers. Hopefully, that’ll continue to hold true in her subsequent appearances, but we’ll see when we get there.
STARS: ***
SCORES
stripper (host) proposes a champagne room bailout for investment bankers
— When the girls are reacting to the bad news Bill delivers at the beginning, I got a laugh from Casey saying a high-pitched, exaggerated, almost-whispery “What? No. That can’t be.”
— I like Kristen’s heavy Russian(?) accent as one of the strippers, though I’m getting a bit of a Maya Rudolph vibe from this characterization of Kristen’s.
— A well-delivered mock-dramatic eloquent speech from Anna’s stripper character, and she has some funny lines within it.
STARS: ***
DEEP HOUSE DISH
overseas acts (KRW), (BOM) & (FRA) & (WLF), (host) sing
— Wow, this sketch hasn’t appeared in quite a long while. It completely skipped season 33. I certainly can’t say I missed seeing this sketch, though.
— I like Kenan’s non-sequitur statement into the camera, “It’s a political year……”, before immediately and nonchalantly changing the subject.
— (*groan*) Cue all the “Ooh-wee, T’Shane!”s from Kenan.
— Seems to be an unusual number of cast members who are barely appearing in any sketches tonight. Both Andy and Will are surprisingly making their FIRST appearance all night in this late-in-the-show sketch (and for Andy, this ends up being his ONLY appearance all night).
— I kinda like how the Bear Force singing group feels a lot different from the usual singers seen in these Deep House Dish sketches.
— When Andy apologizes to Bear Force for insulting them in their presence, something about the fact that Bear Force deliver their “Weeee forgiiiiive yoooouuuu” response not only in unison, but in a depressed, monotone, stretched-out manner, and also while not even being on camera (is that a technical gaffe?), is all amusing to me.
— Is it just me, or was Anna’s singing very out-of-sync with the beat during the first half of her song?
— Strangely, Anna’s delivery during her post-song interview is ANOTHER example tonight of a performer doing a foreign accent that reminds me of a typical Maya Rudolph characterization. Anna’s low-pitched heavy foreign accent here sounds downright Maya-as-Versace at times.
STARS: **
GOOGIE RENE’S SLIGHTLY STAINED WEDDING DRESS BASEMENT
Googie Rene’s (KET) store has bad gowns
— The debut of an occasionally-appearing character of Kenan’s.
— Speaking of Kenan, he’s been getting lots of airtime tonight.
— I like Kenan’s frantic, panicky delivery of “HEY, HOW YOU DOIN’?!?” into the camera at the beginning of this sketch.
— An okay recovery from Kenan when he has trouble delivering one of his lines.
— Funny example of how you can use a section of a PVC pipe to cover a stain on your wedding dress.
— I like this little throwaway exchange between Kenan and Anna: “Hey, what’s a macaw?!?” “It’s like a parrot.” “Oh, a smart bird.”
— No idea what to think of that VERY Kenan Thompson-y moment with Kenan pointlessly mugging all cross-eyed into the camera at the end when the camera zooms in on him saying his ending line.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stepping Stone”
EX-BOYFRIEND
while on a date, everything reminds (host) of her sex-god ex-boyfriend
— Casey feels more prominent than usual tonight.
— Funny visual of Will in that lederhosen.
— I’m not all that crazy about this premise so far, but there are some chuckles throughout this, especially from some of Jason and Casey’s reactions.
— Predictable ending, but it was actually executed pretty well.
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
— Amy is noticeably wearing a shirt that has a photo of Will as Clay Aiken. I was about to ask “What the hell???”, until I remembered that this shirt is from a sketch that didn’t make it on the air tonight. I barely remember the description I read years ago of this cut sketch, but I think it involved Will as Clay Aiken meeting with fans of his. IIRC, this is right after the real Clay Aiken officially came out of the closet, so I’m guessing that played into the sketch.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad, but a forgettable episode. Not much memorable here at all, besides the Palin cold opening, but I at least liked a good number of the sketches.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (James Franco)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Anne Hathaway makes her hosting debut
I sometimes jumble this episode with the far superior later Anna Faris episode (the one with What’s Wrong with Tanya, Lord Windemere, and Tell Him). To be honest, I think this episode might have the better consistent batting average, as the other one hits higher highs but also has some bad lows, but to me this never gets out of second gear.
The Palin sketch got tons of media attention, mostly because some of it is basically verbatim what actually happened in the interview (shades of contemporary sketches literally reenacting Trump goofiness). My favorite part is Couric pointing out that when Palin gets cornered, she becomes adorable, followed by Palin making an adorable face and noises.
I think the other debate sketches, which I haven’t seen since 2008, were funnier as well, but I don’t remember a lot about them. I liked the one that ended with them walking in front of Tom Brokaw’s teleprompter (again, referencing real life). I also liked the one where McCain kept calling Obama by childish names (“Pee Pants”). But I think those were all in the town hall one? I forget.
This is an episode in which the host leans into a certain persona (the dumb blonde) but not really a *star* specific persona. I’m assuming she’s plugging The House Bunny, but there’s nothing about that movie or her other work (granted, I really only knew her at this point for the Scary Movie series). Barring truly great or cipher hosts, these are probably some of the better episodes, to be honest–episodes where the host keeps playing themselves or is continually given anonymous straight person roles are clear signs of no confidence in a host.
Yes, Faris was promoting “The House Bunny” which came out a month prior and featured a pre mega star Emma Stone.
It’s pretty incredible the press the Palin stuff got at the time. Everyone was eating it up.
I too prefer Faris’s second hosting gig to this one
The House Bunny (directed by Fred Wolf) helped raise Emma Stone’s profile immensely because she was seen as the best part of an unexpected box office hit.
Faris, while not the host that Stone will become, does alright and seems to fit in well. She doesn’t have to do any of heavy lifting except for the 10 to 1 and the Scores sketch and even then she’s counterbalanced nicely by Kristin but it’s apparent to see why they asked her back to host again.
Oh, no, the first Lawrence Welk sketch is in the next episode. I’ve always hated those with a burning passion, and it’s a further step towards Kristen’s downfall.
Probably the last episode where everything is live
This was a good episode, even though little beyond the Palin cold open and “Rowboat Date” really, truly stood out. Kenan and Casey did the heavy lifting tonight. As Cheyne pointed out, most of the Palin sketch was quoting verbatim because whoever wrote the first Fey/Palin sketch was accused of “liberal bias.”
Did you really say Year 34 was a strong season, Stoogie? These three September episodes were nothing special beyond the political content, and I do recall that the season lost a bit of momentum after the election cycle ended.
From what I heard, the Clay Aiken sketch leans in on the gay stereotypes. Shades of Year 30. We probably dodged a bullet.
Seth Meyers wrote the first Palin sketch and I believe all subsequent ones as well (with some input from Tina and Amy). She mentions it in her book Bossy Pants.
I admit, I found season 34 to be a strong season when it originally aired. We’ll see how that holds up. I do remember the Anne Hathaway, Josh Brolin, Jon Hamm, Dwayne Johnson, Justin Timberlake and Will Ferrell episdoes being funny and full of classic sketches.
There’s a lot of Kenan in this episode. He was really good in the boat sketch and I did like that flub recovery in Googie Rene, but yeah, WTF was that crossed-eye ending.
I said in the comments of your Phelps review that Palin/Couric one of my favorite SNL political sketches, and I guess that holds true. It’s still pretty funny, but not as much as I remember. To be extremely picky, I don’t really like the constant blinking gag from Amy’s Katie and the lifeline line. It’s still probably the best thing they ever did with Tina’s Palin impression.
I wish this episode had a digital short or something. Like Vax said, this might be the last episode to not have any pretapes. A goofy Lonely Island piece would’ve helped the vibe because having a Palin open, a long debate, and a bailout sketch all in one is a lot of heavy 2008 topicality to swallow.
One of the Thursday Updates is on Internet archives, under debate special or something like that. After getting to watch it, I agree with you about the quality of the “voter questions” debate – I’d go as far as say it’s one of the best debate sketches I’ve seen on SNL since the 2000 elections (I’m aware that may be seen as faint praise, although the upcoming Palin/Biden debate sketch is also pretty good). Fred is still not good, but he’s minimized, The audience questions format is solid gold, making great use of the cast and a great cameo from Bill Murray. Darrell’s rambling about McCain’s various crimes against Republican senators is genuinely amusing, and Chris Parnell is used to perfection, with his timing and drive dominating the sketch. Even the Update portions are very good (a peak Seth/Amy “Really??” a funny Kenan character and Fred and Will as Hall and Oates). Compared to the quality of most of the Updates this season I wonder if they were saving their best material for the Thursday editions.
Anyway, back to Faris’ episode – this debate sketch is iffy, but I was thrilled to see Chris again, and finally in Jim Lehrer prosthetics that do not make him look like a Doctor Who monster from 1966. I already posted the link to the AV Club interview in one of his last episodes, but he said these return appearances gave him closure and made him happy he was no longer a cast member. I’m glad for that. And the goodnights moment where he and Tina hug is incredibly sweet.
(now that I know about Will’s sketch being cut I get why Andy was hugging him so tight – so far these last few seasons haven’t been the best for Will…this season in particular so far he’s felt like an afterthought [I know he has a big sketch coming up in Jon Hamm’s episode])
Anna is a decent host, making the most out of a very samey type of role most of the night. Some meandering sketches are saved by charm (like the rowboat musical with Kenan), and then she and Jason are both fine in the car sketch but Jason really carries that one. Her best for me would be the Scores sketch (even if she is noticeably glued to the cards at times). Not only is it a different way of approaching the financial crash, I also appreciate the lack of the usual cynical ending (“Scores declares bankruptcy,” for instance). Interestingly enough, when Faris was interviewed after her second episode for an NYT article about stronger material for female hosts, she said all her sketches in her first episode were with men. While that is technically true for the Scores sketch, there are good roles for Casey and Kristen as well. I guess it is easy to forget when most of the others are with men.
The cold open I’ve seen enough times to almost know by heart, but I love some of the cheap Palin jokes (going to see “the Bush Doctrine” only to learn it wasn’t about politics; calling Bono the “king of Ireland”).
As someone who is very critical of Darrell’s Clinton impression, this is one of its best outings. The concept of Clinton undermining Obama is brilliantly written and acted, and shows what might’ve been if the caricature had not been so overused in past years. Meanwhile, I did enjoy this Judy Grimes more than the first, but it still went on too long.
I do think the Deep House Dish sketch had a big technical gaffe – not seeing the three bears’ punch line takes away everything the setup was meant for and they just seem pointless. This is on the lower ebb of Deep House Dish installments, but one part does interest me – when they have the joke about Kenan briefly mentioning, then ignoring politics, I’m reminded of the fantastic Sitcom Reboot sketch Mulaney/Sawyer/Rich wrote, which has a similar line. I wonder if they were involved in this one.
(speaking of that, Mulaney said he wrote a lot of monologues because they were something that would get on the show and many people didn’t want to write them – I wonder how soon we will see his work on that front, or if we already are)
I notice the Googie Rene sketch immediately has an attempt at a big catchphrase, just like Deep House Dish. It’s one of those irritating things that makes it more difficult to enjoy a piece unless it is stronger than what we got here.
I do see what you mean about Will taking a back seat these past three seasons, especially this one, since it’s such a political season, but I also think he does a better job at being a utility player. He plays a lot more supporting roles in other people sketches but still can be counted on to provide an episode’s bizarre highlight. Next season we’ll see more of his greatest/most insane sketches which will be palette cleansers from all the Fred and Kristen crap.
I’m also enjoying rediscovering Kenan’s earlier seasons on the show. By this point, he’s really starting to come into his own and his timing is fantastic. Deep House Dish is still a flaming turd, but the Boat Ride sketch is rock solid!
@Shawn, that’s true – some cast members who often had big showpieces of their own would go on to either half-ass it in support roles, or all but wander around in a daze as if they just realized other cast members were working there. It’s a credit to Will that he was able to be a solid presence in the smaller roles. I agree about Kenan – when I watch some episodes from these years, up to the early ’10s, I still saw him as being the less layered, more caricatured Kenan, but he’s had a good run lately and has more of the quiet confidence of his later run.
I was looking at the ratings for this episode.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-saturday-night-live-938654
“The episode, hosted by Emily Blunt with musical guest Bruno Mars, was the NBC series’ highest household rating for a third telecast of the season since 2008, drawing a 5.0 rating in live-plus-same-day metered market households and a 2.3 rating in adults 18-49 in the markets with local people meters. The previous week-three record was held by the Sept. 27, 2008, installment hosted by Anna Faris with musical guest Duffy, which nabbed a 6.0 rating.”
Another reminder of the burst in popularity brought on by Fey/Palin.
@john Kenan definitely still has some of his All That delivery in him at this point but by next season he starts becoming the Kenan we know today. It still amazes me how at this time Kenan was so detested on SNL message boards and now he’s practically a legend. He’s worked hard to change that perception and though I wouldn’t consider him top tier, he’s still a hall of famer and one of the best utility players the show has had.
The most memorable sketch would be the Palin/Couric interview though I now have to admit that I just barely remember it right now…
How can one simultaneously:
– despise Garth & Kat, yet
– think Judy Grimes is tolerable?