Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
OBAMA REMEMBERS
amidst economic woe, Barack Obama (FRA) brings up happy pre-term memories
— We have officially arrived at a new presidency during SNL’s timeline.
— (*groan*) This is going to be a looooooong four years with Fred as SNL’s resident Obama impersonator during Obama’s first term.
— I kinda like the conceit of Fred’s Obama occasionally turning to a side camera and fondly reminiscing about his big inauguration, and I feel it’s one of the very few times that Fred’s Obama portrayal has ever showed any hint of a personality.
— A pretty good laugh from the “Read Other Side” writing being on both sides of the page given to Obama by the now-former President Bush.
— We get a sudden and random interruption from Jason’s always-funny Joe Biden, which, like I said in my review of the cold opening from this season’s Paul Rudd episode, seems to be an admission from SNL that they’re far more confident in Jason’s portrayal of Biden than they are in Fred’s portrayal of Obama.
— I like how Fred’s Obama follows Jason-as-Biden’s exit by telling us, in regards to his vice presidential pick, a deadpan “I couldn’t pick Hillary. I just couldn’t.”
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Steve Martin’s getting his usual laughs from his trademark Steve Martin-y humor, even if there hasn’t been anything noteworthy here so far.
— The clapter-inducing Bush-bashing bit, albeit brief, feels a little out of place for a Steve Martin comedy monologue.
STARS: ***½
CHEWABLE PAMPERS
Chewable Pampers short-circuit the food cycle in an eco-friendly manner
— I find the concept of this mildly chuckleworthy for a quick cheap laugh, but I can’t ignore the similarities this has to the Earthies commercial from the season 17 Jeff Daniels episode. Maybe the similarities are just a coincidence.
— Aside from Gas Right and North American Savings, has every single pre-taped commercial so far this season featured Kristen in the lead role? It sure feels like it. Not only that, but in all the Wiig-starring commercials this season, Jason seems to always play her glasses-wearing husband.
— After watching this whole thing just now, this feels like a slightly funnier variation of the aforementioned Earthies, but a much-less-funnier sister commercial to Litter Critters.
STARS: **½
SUPERBOWL NIGHT OUT
Neil, Jean, fellow uptight co-worker (host) view the Superbowl on Ecstasy
— Great to see the return of these introverted co-workers characters for the first time in two seasons. This ends up being their final appearance.
— Something about the dopey, hokey delivery Steve’s using here isn’t working for me, especially in comparison to most of the other hosts who’ve appeared in these sketches.
— A big laugh from Kristen’s innocent reaction to Bill’s crude “Why don’t you sit on my face?” suggestion.
— Funny bit regarding Ecstasy in a plastic bag labeled “Mints”.
— The sudden turn with the introverted co-workers having a conversation about what raunchy things they’re going to do later is paling in comparison to the ones from the previous installments of this sketch. However, I did laugh out loud at Will’s mention of a “three-story denim vagina” just now.
STARS: ***½
LASER CATS! 4 EVER
host abets extension of the feline sci-fi franchise
— Our annual Laser Cats edition of the season. Always a treat to see the yearly appearance of this short.
— I like Lorne’s silent “Aww, dammit”-type facial reaction when realizing he’s about to be shown yet another Laser Cats video.
— Steve’s out-of-place executive producer credit photo was pretty funny.
— I love the little bit with Bill moving around individual words on an invisible screen to put together a message that was sent to him and Andy.
— Some amusing background sightings of cameramen and average joes accidentally entering the shot.
— Cool reveal with Bill and Andy’s respective half-necklace.
STARS: ****
ISSUES
Clarence Jernigan’s (KET) guests are insufficiently body-aware
— Oddly enough, SNL already had a fictional talk show sketch titled Issues – a recurring one, in fact, involving Jim Breuer and that night’s SNL host playing potheads interviewing a professional played by Ana Gasteyer.
— A cheap initial laugh from Steve entering the sketch with womanly breasts.
— This is basically Kenan Reacts: The Sketch. The famous “Kenan Reacts” routine is funny in small doses, but not when an entire four-minute sketch is centered around it. None of the other comedic aspects of this sketch are doing all that much for me, either.
STARS: **
MADOFF INVITES
Bernie Madoff (FRA) can’t get anybody to come to his Superbowl party
— Ugh, the return of Fred’s Bernie Madoff impression, after that awful Weekend Update commentary he did in the preceding episode.
— Did Fred change the voice of his Madoff impression? In this sketch, Fred’s basically doing his “smug middle-aged Jewish guy” stock voice that he’s used in certain other roles, but I remember him using a drastically different and more generic voice for Madoff in the preceding episode.
— Where the fuck is the joke in this sketch? I’m currently about halfway through this sketch, and I have yet to get so much as a single CHUCKLE from the endless amount of phone calls Fred’s Madoff is making. Absolutely nothing is happening in this sketch. Why am I supposed to be entertained by a sketch centered around Madoff making non-comedic, uninteresting phone calls to people he’s swindled in the past? And, I highly doubt this, but if this is supposed to be some kind of half-baked attempt at the type of slice-of-life sketches that the original SNL era usually nailed so well, then all I can say about the execution of this attempt is: OOF.
— Geez, this sketch is so hollow-feeling and quiet that, just now, you can even hear off-camera footsteps from somewhere in SNL’s studio.
STARS: *
STEVE AND THE LADIES
the crush CAW, KRW, MIW, ABE have on host inspires them to sing about him
— Ooh, a backstage sketch. At this point of SNL’s run, it feels rare and refreshing to see a backstage sketch anymore, and it’s very fitting that they’re doing one with Steve Martin.
— So nice to see the underused Casey Wilson getting so much focus as herself and interacting with the host as himself.
— Feels kinda odd but interesting seeing all of the then-current female cast members paired together as themselves in this manner. However, something also feels a little sad about that in hindsight, knowing the future that awaits Casey, Abby, and Michaela’s respective SNL tenures, and how they’d never overcome Kristen’s dominance. And it feels disheartening to realize that if this sketch had instead appeared even just half a year later, 50% of the female lineup in the sketch would’ve been completely different from the one in tonight’s version.
— I got a good laugh from Casey’s comically exaggerated ending note when she and the other female cast members were singing in harmony.
— Nice ending.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’m Yours”
WEEKEND UPDATE
unrepentant Rod Blagojevich (JAS) is on the way out but is still feisty
Angelina Jolie (ABE) asks SEM if the Octomom might have any extra babies
David Paterson (FRA) badmouths upstate New York & all of New Jersey
— Good to see a Weekend Update commentary from Jason’s short-lived-but-fun Rod Blagojevich impression.
— I’m really liking Seth’s deadpan interplay with Jason’s Blagojevich.
— A predictable but funny ending to Jason-as-Blagojevich’s poem, with what inappropriate word he’s about to use to rhyme “Blagojeviches” with.
— A reminder of when Octomom was all over the news around this time.
— A very sudden appearance from Abby as Angelina Jolie right in the middle of Seth’s Octomom joke.
— Great make-up and facial prosthetics on Abby. Her resemblance to Jolie is downright uncanny.
— An overall brief but funny Angelina Jolie bit with Abby.
— The return of Fred’s very polarizing David Paterson impression.
— I fully admit that Fred’s Paterson is cracking me up even more tonight than he did in his prior appearance. Fred’s portrayal of and dialogue as Paterson simply work for me, what can I say? And his line, “I haven’t heard so many people screaming at me since I TOOK THAT ARCHERY CLASS!”, has stuck with me over the years.
— Hmm, this Paterson commentary is going on awfully long.
— We get a variation of the “a blind Fred Armisen wanders around in front of the camera after his Update commentary is over, interrupting an Update anchor’s joke” routine, with Fred’s Paterson following his Update commentary by slowly sliding his chair in the wrong direction behind Seth, interrupting Seth’s joke. Unlike the “wandering around in front of the camera” routine, which is obviously scripted, I almost wonder if this chair gag is an ad-lib on Fred’s part, but probably not.
STARS: ***
MAKE-UP COUNTER
make-up salesman’s (host) dumb wife Trina (KRW) bothers him while he works
— I laughed at the reveal early on that Casey’s trying on all this fancy make-up just for a Dunkin Donuts interview she’s about to go to.
— OH MOTHERFUCKING NO. We get the debut of Kristen’s character Trina, a.k.a. the “Thomaaaasss!” lady, a character I and a number of others consider to be the absolute bane of Kristen’s repertoire of recurring characters (which is certainly saying something), and THE #1 quintessential example of how poorly-written, one-note, and irritating a lot of Kristen’s recurring characters tend to be.
— Ugghhhhhhh. Two minutes into this sketch, and it is soooooo unbelievably bad so far. If you told me Kristen was thrown out there with literally NO written material at all, I’d believe you 100%, as that would explain so much about her performance in this sketch. (I’d believe you if you told me that was also the case with Kristen’s character in the Quiz Bowl sketch from this season’s Michael Phelps episode.) This Trina character is just a whole bunch of NOTHINGNESS. Very bad and annoying nothingness at that. Feels like a very amateurish, poorly-written imitation of a typical one-note Mo Collins recurring character from MADtv. (Funnily enough, Mo Collins did have a MADtv recurring character named Trina, though she was nothing like Kristen’s Trina.)
— It’s shocking to me that something THIS underwritten made it on the air. Besides Kristen’s (polarizing) big farewell piece from the end of her final episode as a cast member, you probably can’t find a bigger example of the extreme favoritism Lorne showed towards Kristen than the fact that this Trina sketch made it on the air, because there’s no fucking way I can see a character THIS slight, THIS material-less, and THIS painfully unfunny making it on the air if it starred a less popular performer.
— As I said in a previous review, Kristen would later disclose in an interview that she herself couldn’t stand this Trina character, and would eventually ask the writer of these sketches, Kent Sublette, to stop writing them (as well as another Wiig recurring sketch Sublette wrote, but I can’t remember which). To me, that speaks volumes, and is one of the reasons I eventually stopped putting the main blame on Kristen herself for the bad sketches she’s given too often in the second half of her SNL tenure. In more recent years, I’ve grown to truly appreciate Kristen’s many talents and strengths as an actress and SNL cast member, but when she, in her SNL tenure, performs D.O.A. crap too often, combined with how frustrating it can get in this second half of her tenure seeing SNL over-utilize and, at times, mis-utilize her at the expense of some of her talented castmates, it can be easy to forget how damn good Kristen generally is.
— When Steve asks Casey to please not tell anybody about the absurdity she just witnessed from Trina, I like Casey’s delivery of her response: “I feel like I will. Just being honest.” With that and the amusing Dunkin Donuts throwaway line that I mentioned earlier, Casey has provided my only two laughs in this entire sketch, but not even those two laughs are enough to make up for how mind-numbingly bad the rest of this sketch is.
— Steve’s ending line, after Trina has left: “Wow. That’s the best I’ve ever seen her.” Such a lame punchline. However, the second (and, thankfully, final) installment of this sketch with Gerard Butler next season has a somehow even dumber punchline.
— Overall, I personally feel this was, no exaggeration, one of the worst SNL sketches I have EVER seen. This was so bad that, back when it originally aired, even the staunchest Kristen Wiig defenders hated it. Speaking of the reception this sketch got back when it originally aired, I remember how, between the debut of Gilly in the preceding episode and the debut of Trina in tonight’s episode, not to mention certain other bad (to me back then, at least) characters Kristen had done shortly before this point, I finally reached my official boiling point towards Kristen back then and became harshly anti-Wiig for the remainder of her SNL tenure, which, in turn, would cause me to be unfairly dismissive towards a lot of the actual good things Kristen would do during that stretch of her tenure. In more recent years, I’ve softened on my stance on Kristen, and, as I said above, I’ve gained a lot of respect and appreciation for her talents and strengths as an SNL cast member, and thus, in regards to the downsides of her SNL tenure, I now put the blame more on the writing she was given and the way SNL tended to mis-utilize her talents at times. But no matter how much my newfound respect for Kristen may continue to rise, nothing in a million years will ever make me tolerate the absolute worst recurring characters of her repertoire, least of all Trina.
STARS: *
STEVE MARTIN: “LATE FOR SCHOOL”
accompanied by his band, host plays banjo & sings “Late For School”
— Hmm, a very interesting change of pace for this SNL era. I like how this segment feels like a throwback to early SNL eras. In fact, this definitely feels like a segment Steve would’ve done on the show back in the 70s.
— I like the way the home base stage is decorated during this, especially the gate in the background. That gate would later re-appear on SNL’s home base stage during the famous Goodnight Saigon sketch with Will Ferrell at the end of this season.
— A catchy simplistic melody to this song.
— Interesting how, at the end, after the performance has concluded and the audience is applauding, Steve and his band then proceed to play the show to commercial. Even more interestingly, Jason Mraz did the same thing at the end of his first musical performance earlier tonight. Must be a theme in tonight’s episode.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
FOREFATHERS OF THE GAME
old-time quarterback Billy The Gun (host) carried a firearm on the field
— I’m loving the format of this, and it’s being executed very well. I also love how accurate it is in recreating the typical atmosphere and look of this type of documentary/profile on an old-time football player.
— Most of the performers look very amusing in their grizzled-old-man makeup and facial expressions. I especially love Bobby’s facial expressions here.
— The name of Will’s character, Jack Snad (a funny name in itself, especially when seeing a graphic of it displayed below Will’s amusing grizzled-old-man facial expressions), makes me wonder if this sketch was written by whoever writes Kristen and Will’s Jackie Snad/Clancy T. Bachleratt sketches (country singers who sing about stuff like spaceships/toddlers/Model-T cars/jars of beer).
— Great use of Steve, which is more than I can say for some of the other sketches tonight.
— Bill’s delivery is particularly excellent in this sketch.
— An overall fun and very strong piece.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Colbie Caillat [real] perform “Lucky”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not as weak an episode as I had remembered. Aside from two horrible sketches (one starring Fred Armisen and one starring Kristen Wiig, which sadly seems fitting, as some online SNL fans seem to consider those two performers to be the usual culprits of the worst sketches from the 2009-2012 years), there wasn’t much for me to hate in this episode, and there were a few strong highlights. However, this still felt a little underwhelming for a Steve Martin-hosted episode. And given the fact that this ends up being his final hosting stint (as of 2020), this wasn’t the most deserving way for an SNL hosting legend like him to go out. If he had to retire from hosting, I feel that his pretty solid and special-feeling season 31 episode would’ve been a better note to end on. Either way, I at least now have the honor of saying I’ve reviewed every single Steve Martin episode of SNL ever. For whatever that’s worth, that feels like a special accomplishment for me in the context of this SNL project of mine.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Forefathers Of The Game
Steve and the Ladies
Laser Cats! 4 Ever
Superbowl Night Out
Monologue
Weekend Update
Obama Remembers
Chewable Pampers
Issues
Madoff Invites
Make-Up Counter
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rosario Dawson)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Bradley Cooper
The last time I recall seeing Steve Martin on the show was a couple of seasons ago, where he wore ghastly prosthetics to look like some moron in Trump’s administration. For such a reliable host, it’s sad that the only use they can find for him these days are lame, clapter-inducing cameos.
As for my thoughts on this episode, dear god. What else is there to say about Trina, aside from words that I can’t say here? Kristen made the right choice in getting Sublette to stop writing sketches with the character. If I recall, Kristen said that her mom hated some of her more, ahem, “polarizing” characters, which is kind of funny when you think about it.
That moron he was playing was Roger Stone.
Jared, he played Roger Stone, and he looked like the villain from “Looney Tunes: Back in Action.”
That was Roger Stone. Not only were the prosthetics awful (this was probably the peak of that particular obsession as they cut back a fair amount last season), but he actually looked LESS like Stone than he would have if he’d just had his natural face. His 2016 cameo when Kristen Wiig hosted is much more fun, so they can still manage when they try. I hope we will get at least a few more quality cameos, even if I think his time for hosting, barring an at home type situation, has probably passed; not because of age, just because I don’t think they have gotten the balance right for him in a long time – probably since the late ’80s.
Chewable Pampers is a little too gross for me to laugh at. For some reason this era in particular loved doing gross-out fake ads, mostly with Jason and Kristen as you mentioned.
Issues is very obviously written by James Anderson. Kenan Reacts, the buckteeth, the entire premise of the sketch just being Kenan being sassy and dismissive to people, the zoomed in reaction shots, and calling pimples “permples.”
Steve and the Ladies and “Late for School” were both very fun, but this felt like another show where Steve wasn’t utilized well. Issues and the Madoff thing put a huge dent in the episode’s flow. The latter in particular was terrible. I’m usually a Fred apologist but that was such a flat and self-indulgent nothing of a sketch. It’s a shame they built such an intricate set for it considering the entire sketch is just one camera angle. I don’t like his David Paterson at all either, so…not a good night for Fred.
Anderson also co-wrote Trina with Kent Sublette.
Ah, that would explain why the character sucks so much.
I mainly remember Steve’s performance of “Late for School” and the second set of Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat. I definitely don’t remember Kristen’s character that says “Thomas!” That does sound like one of her absolutely most annoying characters ever, though! I can’t imagine Mr. Martin making any more hosting stints though if he did, maybe he and Dan Aykroyd could bring back The Festrunk Brothers…
I guess this is an extremely hot take, but I don’t dislike Trina. I don’t really know what to make of that character. Obviously it’s kinda annoying and the fact that they did it multiple times is bonkers, but I dunno, this first installment is just ‘meh’ to me. That voice and cadence that Kristen does could probably be channeled into a funnier character, if someone other than Kent Sublette was writing it.
A lot of SNL diehards diss on James Anderson, but I wonder if Kent Sublette is more to blame for the poor writing SNL has. He’s currently a head writer, after all. Deep House Dish and whatnot at least make ‘sense’ and have a progression to them, but everything that the Anderlette duo writes lately is just an incomprehensible mess of nonsense.
I do blame Sublette just as much as Anderson. They both should have left the show ages ago, but Lorne and the crew seem to think they are the best thing since sliced bread. If they weren’t on the show, you can’t help but matter if Kristen and Fred would have gotten better material during their last few seasons on the show.
I feel like most of Fred’s material was very much of his own mind, as he had been doing some of this (like the lol-blind-people! stuff) before Sublette ever joined the show (I’m not sure how much Anderson and Sublette wrote with Fred, to be honest). Kristen worked as much with Paula Pell as she did with Anderson or Sublette, probably, and Pell was involved with the first Kristen recurring character who must suppresses anyone and everyone she shares a scene with (Penelope) as well as what may be the most vocally disliked Kristen recurring character (Gilly). Ultimately I’d say this is just the direction Fred and Kristen wanted to go in, and the fault lies with Seth and Lorne for letting them dominate so much of the show and (with Fred in particular in my opinion) create such a soulless feeling in the process.
I do wonder why Anderson and Sublette (especially the latter) have stayed so long, but I guess that’s down to backstage interworkings we won’t know until the next tell-all article.
No mention of “Pepsuber?!”
Agreed, what an underwhelming way for Steve to go out, though there’s some good stuff here. I hated the Trina/Thomas sketch, but I thought the Bernie Madoff/Super Bowl sketch was quietly tragicomic. (The incident with Elie Wiesel really happened.) I also enjoyed the backstage sketch.
I was excited for Steve to come back but it was as disappointing as his stint in Year 20. Awful episode. Never understood Year 34’s reputation as an “all time best” season.
Pretty positive the final sketch was by Robert Smigel? Wanna say he got an “additional sketch by” credit at the end. If so, is that the last time he ever came back to write anything? I wanna say he might’ve came back to help write for the recent Sandler episode though.
Remember hearing Casey wrote the backstage sketch, which I believe I recall her saying was based on her lifelong crush on Steve ever since seeing Father of the Bride as a kid. I agree about seeing a sketch starring that group of ladies being kind of sad, it’s like a short preview of SNL’s new group of ladies that never was. They were never even on the show long enough to ever really work together, this might’ve been the closest we saw of that.
I definitely see a lot of similarities between Kristen’s characters and Mo Collin’s wackier characters. I will say Mo never annoyed me nearly as much though when she went over the top, if anything she was better at doing those types of characters without being super annoying like a lot of Kristen’s characters were at this point.
As @HelloStuart mentioned above, NBC filmed three MacGruber Pepsi spots, with Richard Dean Anderson, for the Super Bowl. As NBC was unsure if Pepsi was going to air them, they decided to air them in the commercial breaks for this episode, which reportedly annoyed some at the show. Pepsi would go on to air one of the commercials during the Super Bowl.
https://thecomicscomic.com/2009/02/02/snls-super-bowl-macgruber-pepsi-ads/
You can find them at the Archive . org copy of this episode, or you can find a few lower quality individual commercials on various sites like Youtube.
I recorded all 3 MacGruber Pepsi commercials from this episode. In addition, the Chewable Pampers sketch is from the re-airing of this episode. In the live version, Readi-Trade was the commercial immediately following the monologue.
You sure you’re not getting the live and re-airing of this episode mixed up? Chewable Pampers was in fact from this episode’s original live airing, and Readi-Trade was nowhere to be seen in that version. For proof, look at the rundown in the old 2009 review I wrote for this episode the day after it originally aired: https://www.stooge-snl-reviews.com/439980110/440060292.
recently when promoting their new movie ‘Palm Springs’, Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti did an instagram live together, and they kept referencing Kristin’s Trina character. They kept looking at eachother and saying ‘Thomas’ in the Trina voice, and saying other stuff to eachother in her voice (they also said they quoted that sketch to eachother all the time while filming their movie). It was pretty funny watching them quote it, mostly bc they both just seemed delighted, so I guess that character has some fans!
I’d never seen Trina so I had to go and watch that sketch now. I… don’t hate it. I like the voice and the character’s general oblivious attitude. However, it really does feel underwritten. Almost felt like the character didn’t even need to be there, much less be the focus of the sketch. They could have done a funny scene about the makeup salesman and his customer, I didn’t get what Trina added to it.
These past few musical guests have been major blasts from the past for me, and none so much as Jason Mraz (and Colbie Caillat). Suddenly I’m in 8th grade listening to the radio on the school bus again.
Steve is one of the few hosts that has worked with all 4 SNL directors. Tom Hanks is another I can think of off the top of my head.
For those who don’t know the names: Dave Wilson, Paul Miller, Beth McCarthy Miller, Don Roy King.
This episode was very disappointing to me when it first aired–looking back, as Stooge said, aside from the Fred and Kristen sketches, nothing is atrocious, but almost nothing really uses the host, you know, comedy legend Steve Martin, in an effective way (and sad to say, Steve contributes a pretty lousy performance in the introverts sketch).
Things do perk up a little bit at the end–the “Late to School” song isn’t super funny but isn’t intended to be, and is a nice throwback type piece of material (if this episode were better, I think the song would be more fondly remembered). And I forgot the NFL Films sketch, which is one of my favorite things of the season–Steve is terrific here, and the cast members all get funny lines and deliveries–Bobby’s delivery of “He was a great quarterback…and HE HAD A GUN” is amazing.
The “Thomas!” sketch does seem very Mad TV ish (in a bad way, as opposed to some of the good things the show did). There’s not a whole lot to say there. The Madoff sketch…I think I see what they’re going for in a kind of anti-comedy riff, but it’s too long and not executed very well (I almost think it’s something that would work better with an even more inappropriate context, but that probably wouldn’t fit SNL’s aesthetic). I could see a monologist managing to wring some life out of the material.
Angelina Jolie was pretty easily Abby’s best impression. She nailed the look, mannerisms, and the voice, where she usually tended to struggle in one of the three. I found Abby a good performer in the sense of she usually worked hard and could wring some laughs even in straight roles, but, and maybe I’m being harsh, I don’t really think the show misused her that much. She got some lead roles near the end of her tenure and I wasn’t super impressed, and nothing she’s done since leaving the show (unlike, say, Casey, Michaela, Jenny, or even Nasim) has really indicated untapped potential. She was extremely young when on the show, though, and didn’t show up at the right time for female cast members to thrive (she was a good singer–I wonder if an alternate universe she carves out a Christine Ebersole-like niche!).
@Michael Cheyne, the role I’ve seen Abby in that I think suited her most was a short series she did (maybe in her last months at SNL – I’m not sure). It also has a brief role for Kate McKinnon, oddly enough. I would agree that she was never quite the best fit for SNL, although she had her moments – it does make me wonder why they didn’t let her go sooner, but I guess she was a very different performer to Kristen, they couldn’t fire all the women not named Kristen, and she did fit the younger, quasi-kids’ show vibe that a lot of the casting of the late ’00s and early ’10s started to veer toward.
Steve also had a banjo number in his 1/21/78 episode. I have to wonder if he had already told Lorne he had no real interest in hosting again and wanted his last moment as a host (I’m not counting the pre-tape) was to be on his banjo. A great way to close out 32 years of hosting.
I’m not sure how I would have felt about this episode if I’d watched at the time. Watching it now, I don’t think it’s a very strong episode, but I would say it’s better than his ’94 episode (one of my least favorites of that season) and probably about the same as his ’06 episode (which has some real trash [that surfing sketch] along with some strange choices about what was and wasn’t pre-taped).
Once you take away some of the usual clunkers of this period (the Fred and Kristen vanity pieces and the cold open), you have some decent stuff to sift through (this office threesome sketch is much easier for me to watch than the Wilson and Bening versions [even if Steve seems to play it like he’s in a Nerds sketch]), and the gun pre-tape is also worthwhile. The “issues” sketch is poor, and offputting, unfortunately. Laser Cats is the usual good quality as always, continuing to gently lampoon one sci-fi cliche after another (I also like that as these continue they have more and more of a facade of a bigger budget while still letting us see how ramshackle the whole thing is).
I think one of the main problems with Steve’s later episodes is they kept sticking with the caricature of him being above it all. This worked in the late ’80s, but started to disconnect him and seem too contrived by the ’90s. By this point it just gets in the way and leads to the incoherent monologue we have here and also hurts the sketch with the four ladies – if they had had a joke of Steve being modest and nice, only for us to learn at the end that he’s going to have an orgy with them, I think it would have been much funnier than what we got (him basically just being a pig and the women singing – rinse and repeat).
In of itself I could write off Trina as a half-baked Mad TV sketch, as there’s nothing that horrific for me in the viewing. It’s when I see Casey stuck in yet another worthless role, literally sitting and watching Kristen have an entire sketch to herself (and this has happened over and over and over and over with Casey in these Kristen sketches this season) that I truly see the waste.
Fred’s vanity piece here mostly reminds me of that last season of Soap where the show had given up entirely on Jody as a character and just let Billy Crystal do shtick about an old Jewish man. One gets the impression Fred was seen as such a valuable property at this time he could just do whatever he wanted, and no one was supposed to care.
Abby’s Angelina Jolie was very good, but even better was just using her was a quick walkthrough. I miss when Update had that more often.
…and the fact they had Jody getting with another woman named Maggie who he had successfully proposed marriage to beforehand pretty much seemed to end his original gay persona…
“The clapter-inducing Bush-bashing bit, albeit brief, feels a little out of place for a Steve Martin comedy monologue.”
As does the clapter-inducing moment where he randomly announces that Obama is now the president, which I found cringier than Pink Panther 2. Just saying, work on the comedy instead of illiciting cheap applause.
I’m shocked that Kenan sketch didn’t end up recurring, seemed like the kind of thing this era would set up as something that would recur 20 times despite being the thinnest of premises. Also LOL-ed at calling it “Kenan Reacts: The Sketch”, perfect description. It’s really shocked how much better Kenan has gotten in more recent years after looking at his stuff from his first 5-6 seasons.
Five-Timers Individual Rankings:
8.0 – Steve Martin/Blues Brothers (3.18)
7.7 – Steve Martin/Tom Petty (14.20)
7.3 – Steve Martin/Jackson Browne (3.01)
7.1 – Steve Martin/Van Morrison (4.04)
7.0 – Steve Martin/Kinky Friedman (2.05)
7.0 – Steve Martin/Sting (13.01)
6.8 – Three Amigos/Randy Newman (12.06)
6.5 – Steve Martin/Blondie (5.01)
6.4 – Steve Martin/The Kinks (2.14)
6.1 – Steve Martin/Randy Newman (3.09)
6.1 – Steve Martin/Prince (31.12)
5.8 – Steve Martin/Paul McCartney (5.19)
5.8 – Steve Martin/James Taylor (17.09)
5.8 – Steve Martin/Jason Mraz (34.14)
4.9 – Steve Martin/Eric Clapton (20.01)
Thanks, @RoseArt… looking at this list — whether coincidence or not — Steve was paired with legendary musical guests pretty much every time he hosted (except the first time — sorry, Kinky Friedman).
For context, most members of The Blues Brothers (aside from Dan/John) are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as are Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Sting, Randy Newman, Blondie, The Kinks, Prince, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, and Eric Clapton.
That leaves only Jason Mraz… who isn’t eligible until 2027.
This episode holds a special place in my heart as its the first full episode of the show I ever watched. I had seen plenty of sketches before (I was a die hard Will Ferrell fan as a kid, and had both of his best ofs. I had Sandler and Farley’s best ofs at one point, but I can’t remember if I got those after this.)
I had seen some of this era. I was vaguely aware of the Palin sketches, but the main reason I cared about the show was Sandberg. My friends and I were absolutely obsessed with The Lonely Island. You can imagine how much Jizz In My Pants and Dick In a Box blew our 11 and 12 year old minds. Andy in particular was a God to me since I was also a huge Hot Rod fan (another Lonely Island I still like as an adult that I admit has a huge appeal to 12 year olds) and when I found out he had a weekly spot on the show I was sold on watching for that alone.
The show itself was pretty mediocre but thank God for Laser Cats. This was the first Laser Cats I had seen and it was so perfectly suited for my dumb sense of humor that I was hooked on the show. That sketch also started my life long love for (and, as my naively bisexual wasn’t consciously aware of at the time, huge crush on) Bill Hader.
Seeing as I was 11, I also thought the “Thomas” sketch was hysterical, though I’ll admit that thing sucks hard now.
Ironically, “Late For School”, one of my favorite segments of this episode now, was my least favorite when I first watched. I just remember thinking “Why is the guy from Pink Pather playing the banjo? I thought this was a comedy show.”
Kenan was also a favorite cast member of mine from early on, since him and Andy were the only ones I was fans of before I started regularly watching the show. I was a huge Kenan & Kel kid, and I’m pretty sure I remember being stoked when watching this and he randomly popped up in the Super Bowl sketch.
So, is nobody going to mention the llama (or alpaca I’m not a zoologist) in the backstage sketch? Just there in the background? Okay
Actually not a bad episode in my opinion. And to be fair, Steve’s Season 31 episode also had little content not to like with the outliers being 2 mind-numbingly horrendous sketches just like this one, so I wouldn’t say this episode was bad.
“So, is nobody going to mention the llama (or alpaca I’m not a zoologist) in the backstage sketch? Just there in the background? Okay”
Nobody here mentioned it because llamas in backstage sketches on SNL has long been a traditional gag, dating all the way back to 1979.