Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE BANK STRESS TEST
Timothy Geithner (WLF) reviews banks’ cavalier answers to stress test
— Another Timothy Geither cold opening somewhat soon after the last one? Well, I did like the last one, so I guess I can’t complain.
— Amusing how Will’s Geithner is so lenient that he decided to stick with a “pass/pass” grading system.
— Some laughs from the incorrect answers given by the various banks, though I’m not enjoying this quite as much as I did the previous Geithner cold opening.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
having done SNL thrice, singing host knows his way around backstage
— Musical monologue, but at least it makes sense to do one with Justin Timberlake.
— A fun “I think I know my way around” conceit to this song, and I’m always a sucker for host-goes-around-the-studio monologues.
— Justin’s navigating this around-the-studio trip well.
— Oh, as an SNL nerd, I absolutely LOVE the turn the song takes towards the end, with Justin musically namechecking all of this season’s hosts, in random order. Very fun. To make one minor nitpick, though, he mentions Tina Fey among the hosts, even though she didn’t host this season (though made lots of cameos).
STARS: ***½
MOM CELEBRITY TRANSLATOR
Mom Celebrity Translator deciphers stars’ names mangled by mothers
— A relatable commercial, and a fitting choice to do this in an episode airing the day before Mother’s Day.
— I particularly like the part with the translator working backwards, un-translating the name Jake Gyllenhaal into Joe Geronimo.
STARS: ***½
TARGET
Target Lady’s accident-prone friend Peg (host) is excited about a date
— Didn’t like the overly-cartoonish gag with wind blowing as Bobby makes a fast exit off-camera.
— The appearance of Justin’s memorable Classic Peg character. So memorable, that, to me, this character feels like she became recurring, even though this is the only time she ever appeared.
— Very good characterization from Justin here. This Peg character of his is much funnier than the completely forgettable character he previously played in a Target Lady sketch when hosting in season 32.
— I don’t know why, but in these past two Target Lady sketches, I’ve been finding the Target Lady character less and less annoying. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d start coming around on Target Lady. Maybe part of the reason I’ve come around on her is because she now comes off mildly tolerable and likable to me compared to the truly unbearable and very one-dimensional characters Kristen’s debuted in the second half of this season. I may have picked too late to start liking this character, though, given the fact that, not counting the appearance Target Lady makes among other recurring characters in Ryan Phillippe’s season 35 monologue, nor the Target Lady sketch that appears when Kristen hosts in season 38, we have only one more Target Lady sketch remaining in Kristen’s tenure as a cast member, and it doesn’t appear until years later in 2012, believe it or not!
STARS: ***
IMMIGRANT TALE
host’s immigrant great-great-grandpa Cornelius (host) proves prescient
— A memorable sketch, whether you’re a fan of it or not.
— A quintessential example of how very self-referential, meta, and wink-wink Justin tends to get on SNL, which, at times, can certainly be a bit much for me (and I’m sure especially for certain SNL fans who can’t stand Justin as a host), but this particular old-timey Ellis Island setting with Justin playing his own ancestor is making it work for me.
— Good bit right now making fun of Justin’s overabundance of cameos on SNL this season.
— I love Andy entering as an ancestor of his own: Moishe Samberg.
— Justin, to Andy: “You know what…Jew?” Andy: “There it is!”
STARS: ****
MOTHER LOVER
(Susan Sarandon) & (Patricia Clarkson) get Dick In A Box
— The follow up to the legendary Dick In A Box. The ending of the Immigrant Tale sketch that preceded this was a very fitting way to lead into this short, even if it wasn’t a direct segue.
— I love how this short opens with a callback to the ending of Dick In A Box (in which Andy and Justin’s characters get arrested), as we see Andy and Justin’s characters exiting a detention complex and discarding their hole-containing boxes from the Dick In A Box short.
— A very surprising and fantastic use of Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon. I remember being shocked back at this time in 2009 that SNL was able to get them to participate in this.
— A hilarious and epic turn the song takes when it suddenly becomes about Andy and Justin “(*bleep*)ing each other’s moms”.
— Plenty of funny gags and visuals in Andy and Justin’s scenes with each other’s mothers.
— I love the key change portion of the song when Andy and Justin are singing right into each other’s faces with their noses pressed against each other (a.k.a. the portion of the song that famously ends with the lyric “I’ll never use a rubber”).
— Great lyric: “This is the second best idea we’ve ever had”.
— Very funny bit regarding the framed photo of Justin when Andy and Patricia Clarkson are about to make love in bed.
— Overall, another classic Digital Short starring these two characters. I’m glad Lonely Island was able to do a Dick In The Box follow-up that was still fantastic and holds its own, instead of being a lazy carbon copy of Dick In A Box.
STARS: *****
SURGERY CENTER
singing & dancing mascot supplants the promoter of a health club (WLF)
— Meh. This again.
— Justin’s song parodies here somehow feel even less exciting to me than the ones from previous installments of this sketch. Usually, despite my dislike of these sketches, Justin’s energy is at least admirable, but it’s doing NOTHING for me in tonight’s installment.
— Okay, I do like Justin’s “Poker Face” spoof just now. This also, in hindsight, serves as an interesting time capsule of this period where I only just started to become aware of Lady Gaga, as that “Poker Face” song was inescapable at the time.
— After the aforementioned upswing in this sketch, my enthusiasm has unfortunately died back down.
STARS: **
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Jessica Biel [real] introduces musical guest & host
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & host perform “Love Sex Magic”
WEEKEND UPDATE
David Paterson (FRA) & Eliot Spitzer (BIH) consider their prospects
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy [real] defend the new Star Trek
— Another instance of an occasional routine I love, in which Seth re-tells the same joke (the Sargaard & Gyllenhaal Married joke, in tonight’s case) several times in a row, with a different punchline each time. I also love his “Oh, there’s more” ad-lib after the audience’s tepid reaction to one of those jokes.
— I find it fun to see Bill and Fred’s Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson impression paired together. I remember this commentary of theirs being fun.
— I love Bill’s goofy deep-voiced laugh as Spitzer throughout this commentary.
— It amuses me how Fred’s Paterson has now gotten to the point where he looks into the camera with both eyes open each time he slams New Jersey.
— As I remembered, fun performances from both Bill and Fred here, and I’m getting good laughs from some of their lines.
— Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Seth’s Bird Smuggler Arrested joke is SNL’s very first mention of Twitter. Just to show you how (relatively) long ago this was, Seth’s Twitter reference here mentions accessing Twitter on a Blackberry.
— Funny reaction shots of Kenan and Bobby as upset Star Trek nerds in the audience during Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto’s defense of the new Star Trek movie.
— Good to see a Leonard Nimoy cameo on SNL.
— Very funny “dickheads” line from Nimoy.
— For once, we got a solo Seth Meyers-anchored Weekend Update that only contains two guest commentaries instead of three or four. Still a long-feeling Update, though. I guess I should just accept that as the norm now.
STARS: ***½
THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Nancy Pelosi (KRW) and others discuss the economy
— (*sigh*) Much like the Dancing Mascot sketches, here we have another tired staple of Timberlake episodes. While, unlike the Dancing Mascot sketches, I actually loved Barry Gibb Talk Show in its debut, I’ve never cared for it as a recurring sketch and I feel it should’ve stayed a great one-off.
— As I always say, though, Jimmy Fallon puts his fucking ALL into these Barry Gibb sketches.
— There goes Justin’s obligatory character break that occurs in seemingly every Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch.
STARS: **
PIRATES
shipping mixup arms Disney actors for a Pirates Of The Caribbean show
— Only our second and final original, non-recurring sketch all night.
— Funny reveal of the Disney actors having the Somali pirates’ shipment of real weapons.
— This sadly feels like Jason’s first appearance all night, until I remembered he was in some stuff much earlier in the episode.
— Not only am I really enjoying this sketch, but I absolutely LOVE the structure of it, with all the various sets, locations, and scene changes. This has the feel of the type of long, epic, movie-like sketches that were far more common in the 70s and early 80s. It’s too bad SNL doesn’t do sketches like this more often in more recent decades like this.
— Great sarcasm from Jason’s boss character.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Never Ever”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Other than a few tired and unnecessary Timberlake episode staples (Dancing Mascot, Barry Gibb Talk Show), I enjoyed this episode, and there were a few strong pieces. Strangely, the overall amount of segments this episode contained felt a little smaller than usual. Apparently, there was a sketch planned to air between Ciara’s second musical performance and the goodnights, but the show seemingly ran long and had to cut the scheduled sketch at the last minute, judging by how they did the “come back from a commercial break only to show the SNL Band play the show back to ANOTHER commercial break” move they usually do whenever a scheduled sketch gets scrapped at the last minute.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mother Lover
Pirates
Immigrant Tale
Mom Celebrity Translator
Monologue
Weekend Update
Target
The Bank Stress Test
Surgery Center
The Barry Gibb Talk Show
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Zac Efron)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 34 comes to an end, with host Will Ferrell. It’s the final episode for 14-year SNL veteran Darrell Hammond, as well as featured players Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins.
This one was a favorite of mine growing up, and they re-aired it a lot during the summer of 2009, rightfully so. For that reason, I have soft spots for the ‘Geithner sucks’ opening , the Pirates sketch, and the ‘Paterson & Spitzer’ update bit [Hader’s Spitzer just going along with Paterson’s ‘accidentally wander in front of the camera’ bit cracks me up more than usual here].
I do think the one-two punch of Timberlake’s 2006 show and this one did sort of put the show on autopilot for his next two hosting appearances, though i remember liking his 2011 one at the time.
Mother Lover > Dick in a Box
Yes, it is as I’ll explain in my own solo comment.
Leonard Nimoy’s joke about “dickheads” not liking the Star Trek remake still cracks me up to this day.
There’s not a ton to say about this episode–I’ve never really enjoyed “Motherlover,” but it’s well-made and has a lot of energy (and I agree, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson were very welcome guests here). This episode really tests my indulgence of Timberlake–the immigrants sketch is much too self-indulgent for my taste, and much of the episode is just a rehash of previous material.
My theory on Target Lady is that not only was she becoming more tolerable compared to other Wiig characters, but she also seemed refreshing in that, compared to other Wiig characters, she wasn’t actively malicious or a completely not-able-to-function-in-society lunatic. Target Lady was a little weird, the type of person you run into, well, at places like Target. Way too many of Wiig’s recent characters were flat out psychos, sociopaths, or lunatics–there’s obviously comedy you can do with such characters, but they become tiresome after a while (I frequently feel this way during episodes hosted by Melissa McCarthy as well).
You hit the nail on the head, Michael. It’s not that the characters had to be especially likable, but there’s only so much you can do with an endless parade of nuts.
Hey Michael Cheyne. I Don’t Like Mother Lover Either ! There Is Nothing Wrong With Susan Sarandon And Patricia Clarkson, But, I Am Not that Interested With Sex ! I LOVE Dick In A Box I Guess More About The Romance AT The Beginning ! I LOVE The Look OF Video Like Film, But I Like The Dancing In The Middle And Them Even Being Arrested AT The End ! All I Remember With Them And Lady Gaga Is Them On Those Balconies And That They Had A Three Way ! I Am Not Sure, But I Think I Like Dick In A Box First And Lazy Sunday Second ! I Like When Andy Sings About I Called Parnell And He Was In The Phone Booth And Then The Narnia Part AT The End ! !
This season felt like it had way too much Timberlake in general. At least they’ve really cooled down on his constant appearances since Andy left the cast. I don’t know if he has the connection to the next cast that he seemed to have with this crew.
Not only did S34 have too much Timberlake (and his wife in a way), but also way too much Armisen, Wiig, lame political humor, hacky gay humor, kiddie-targeted segments, and awful new characters that prevented this season from being as good as the last two. Next season would be even worse.
I will say that when SNL in the early ’80s and the entire run of SCTV is better than this season of SNL, that says something right there of the quality.
I literally have no idea what you’re saying in that last paragraph. Of course the entire run of SCTV is better than this season of SNL. SCTV has always been better than SNL.
@Carson: I literally don’t care that you don’t understand what I said. I have an opinion, and I’m sticking to it.
Whew, jeez, spicy. Some classic online discourse here. Might as well be talking politics.
Anyways, for the record:
80s SCTV>>>>>70s SNL>70s SCTV>>early 80s SNL.
I highly agree with that last sentence!
Clarify, my last comment was meant to reply to SNLlover’s sentence comparing early ’80s SNL/entire run of SCTV to this then-current SNL run.
You Don’t Have To Be Rude Or Shitty About IT ! ! First OF All, He Did NOT Say That You Can NOT Have An Opinion ! You Could Say I Did NOT Like SCTV ! I Did Not Care For Count Floyd And I Wasn’t That Crazy Even About John Candy ! That Was Just Some Examples OF What You Could Have Said !
Target Lady works for me because I know a cashier at the drug store who acts and talks JUST like her. Kristen is really good at doing cadences that feel relatable or like a type of person you’ve seen before, so I think the reason why (in most people’s opinions) stuff like Trina and Gilly falls flat is because they’re just random nothing characters with no basis in reality.
Was the Pirates sketch the last ‘mini-epic’ SNL ever did? I can’t recall a sketch afterwards with five different sets and a premise like that. It doesn’t totally click with me, but I appreciate the effort a lot.
Hard to believe that Timberlake hasn’t appeared on the show in seven years now since his season 38 episode. There’s a quick photo of him in Andy Samberg’s monologue in season 39 and he appeared at the 40th anniversary but those aren’t regular appearances.
Some of you might remember this because it was brought up again when she appeared in the Daniel Craig / The Weekend episode but there was a Debbie Downer Update commentary on H1N1 virus that got cut from this episode.
Hey Jack, JT was the musical guest in the Year 39 Xmas holiday show, and appeared in two sketches. You are correct insofar that Justin hasn’t been seen since the 40th anniversary.
Hello Jack. NO, Rachel Dratch WAS In That Episode As Debbie Downer ! She Wore A Mask, But The Cast Did NOT Enjoy IT Like When Every Body Breaks Out Laughing In The Other Debbie Downer Sketches ! She STILL Mentioned Feline AIDS ! She DID Talk About The Corona Virus !
Hello Jack. One Correction Was That Debbie Downer Was In A Sketch And NOT During Week End Update ! IT Might Have Even Been The Cold Opening, But I Am Not Sure About That ! By The Way, The Musical Guest Was THE WEEKND Is The Way He Spells IT !
Some writing credits for this episode:
http://livefromnewyorkitssaturdaynightlive.blogspot.com/2009/05/who-wrote-what-sketch.html
Per the link, a Casey-starring Britain’s Got Talent sketch got cut. I assume that was the last-minute cut.
I remember hearing talk about that one on the old SNL forum being good and another rare showcase for Casey that was cut. I recall Mulaney talking about being disappointed about that not getting to air, supposedly it was his commentary on the reaction to the Susan Boyle craze (Casey was supposed to be someone hideously deformed but with a great singing voice or something like that) that week when that video went viral. Yeah I think it was meant as the 10-to-1 sketch.
Also surprised to see only James Anderson writes Target Lady, always assumed Kristen wrote those, or at least wrote them with someone. Didn’t realize they were Anderson solo.
Kristen brought Target Lady with her from Groundlings, so I’d think she had some involvement in the sketch construct.
Thanks to both of you for the info about the Casey sketch. To be honest it doesn’t sound like something I’d really want to see, but if it had been a hit, then it makes you wonder what might have been for her fate with SNL.
I could swear there was another sketch cut at the last minute from this episode with Timberlake as Ronald McDonald or something like that, am I crazy?
@RR Timberlake has said in an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that he did a sketch where he played Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald advertising his own fast food chain called “Michael McDonalds'” or something like that. It’s unclear if that was cut from his 06 episode or this one but I’m starting to believe it may have been cut from both now.
Speaking of THIS episode, I remember writing a now long gone review for one of the aforementioned old SNL boards where I said Motherlover was a pale imitation of its predecessor. I may have come around on it (and the 3-way one with Lady Gaga even though that one was substantially worse and Gagas’ presence may still be the only thing it had going for it IMO).
Specifically, I remember my biggest complaint about it was that Motherlover was modeled too closely after then current top 40/generic pop music that Timberlake himself or someone like T-Pain or T.I would’ve unironically produced and intended to be an actual hit song (in fact, doesn’t it actually sound like Timberlakes’ “My Love” to anyone else?) whereas “Dick In A Box” worked much better because it was modeled after early 90s Color Me Badd type R&B (which they would later go back to with “3-Way” to slightly less success) and therefore showed more craft and attention to detail rather than just settling for more cookie cutter late 00s era pop trash. That really seemed to land with people who read those message boards back then.
@RR & Casey: The Michael McDonalds sketch is from his season 32 episode. There is a similar sketch that I have in my notes that says “A man whose last name is McDonald (Timberlake) sings about the famous restaurant’s lawsuit against him. Also, Timberlake mentions his Michael McDonald impression during his hypothetical SNL update commentary from Paul Rudd / Beyonce
Here’s the Daily Show clip Casey was talking about.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/5va3u3/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-justin-timberlake
Jon Stewart asks when he’s going to do SNL again presumably in reference to the cameo Timberlake made in the S36 premiere Amy Poehler / Katy Perry. This interview happened less than a week after that episode aired.
Timberlake used SNL for promotional purposes, which is not a criticism in any way – they used him as much as he used them. And when his focus in these years on moving into acting ultimately didn’t pan out, he moved away from SNL. I just wish during his time there they hadn’t needed to do quite so much fluffing. The hyperfocus on how epic his episodes are, cameos in episodes that aren’t his to remind us of his epicness – I get that, from a marketing perspective. What bugs me is that we also have to hear about how sexy and gorgeous and desireable he is. It just makes me cringe. Going through the monologue with that whiny singing voice is enough without also having an entire segment in the monologue about Kristen and Bobby both being so attracted to him. It’s one thing to have that as a sketch idea in his first episode, when they weren’t sure how he’d be, but all these years later? The Ellis Island sketch doesn’t bother me as much (other than the gross bit about his relationship with Britney), because it’s more self-effacing, but on top of the monologue it’s just much more wankery than feels warranted.
I just can’t watch those Wrappinville sketches (sorry, Will…) or the Barry Gibb sketches. Jimmy Fallon drives me up and over the wall in those.
The celebrity translator ad is cute and is a nice change of pace for the fake ads of this era. Also a good use of the female cast (I did laugh at Casey playing Bill’s mother…).
This is one of the best Target Lady sketches, and probably Timberlake’s best moment on SNL for me. There are some great lines – the moment where he asks her what she thinks the reverend said to him and she replies, “That Heaven has a Target??” followed by him being bewildered and stammering “No…h-he didn’t say that…” in response is my favorite moment in any of the Target Lady sketches.
Motherlover is another smooth and enjoyable Lonely Island production, and it’s certainly impressive they managed to not pale in comparison to DiaB. The retro vibes they do with their Timberlake collabs bring out a certain charm in everyone involved. Here is Susan Sarandon talking about why she agreed to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPPYueWD9v4
Andy’s thoughts (he says he and Patricia Clarkson have the same agent):
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/andy-samberg-on-birth-of-timberlake-duet-motherlover-98591/
The pirate sketch doesn’t come together for me. The idea is fun, but very underwritten – it just sort of stops. It also feels very low-energy in supporting performances (Jason seems distracted in his later scenes). I hate to criticize Bill, as he’s generally pretty reliable, but the fey voices he and Timberlake use seriously get in the way for me. Fred and Kenan are a good double act, but my main highlight here is Kristen (she’s also the only one who has a story progression, becoming more and more bloodthirsty).
The hooting and hollering at the start of the show would normally annoy me, but this time I just decided to pretend it was a rapturous response to Will Forte (the most memorable part of that cold open, although the bit where he thought the bank was offering his mother a job amused me). The boisterous audience also provided just about the best part of the Paterson return (I probably would have skipped this too but I wanted to see Bill) – when Bill semi-broke character to keep them on track when they were shocked by one of Paterson’s insults to Spitzer.
The Star Trek plug is a great use of Leonard Nimoy (and makes me wish he could have hosted at some point), and you can see the potential which Chris Pine would fulfill as host (Quinto seems a bit checked out). Beyond those two pluses this is mostly just interesting for reasons beyond anything onscreen.
– there’s the slight shift in tone from the merciless thrashing Star Trek fans took in the late ’80s and early ’90s (“get a life!” and the Democratic primary sketch); they are still mocked here, but Nimoy’s involvement also leads to praise alongside the sneers
– there’s the poor fate of the Star Trek reboot (beyond the success of the first film)
– there’s the joking here about fan responses to reboots, something which would become much more extreme on all sides as the ’10s would progress (which ended up hitting home for SNL via all the problems Leslie Jones had with Ghostbusters)
– there’s Bobby being cast in the stereotypical weird nerd role, when, as Bobby became more established at the show, he would turn the tables and co-write some wonderful and very proudly nerdy pieces for hosts like Michael Keaton and Adam Driver.
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3YChlsri_0 (bless Sudeikis for making this fun)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIRenGgzpHY
(that one is actually very enjoyable)
I liked the Mother Lover digital short more than Dick in a Box because DIAB seemed too pervy for my tastes with ML less so. And good to see both Ms. Sarandon and Ms. Clarkson so into it! Also nice to see Leonard Nimoy appear during the Star Trak commentary. This and his voiceover on “The Big Bang Theory” are the highlights during the final years of his life. Nice to know he lived long and prospered! I’ve always enjoyed the “dressing-in-costume-while-singing-in-street-corner-competition” sketches and Barry Gibb Talk skits though I don’t remember these particular ones. Ditto for Target Lady…
This was a fun show, enough so that I didn’t mind it was another “cameo orgy” and that some sketches were a bit overlong. The pirates sketch is a lost gem, not unlike Family Flix earlier in the season. JT was superb as usual, and the show is step up from his Year 32 stint.
I think part of the reason why Update drags on for 12-13 minutes was because the production and writing of WU was becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the show. The WU writers are coming up with jokes practically right up to the third commercial break. Sometimes quantity, sometimes quality, often a balance of the two.
Fiver-Timers Individual Rankings
7.1 – Justin Timberlake (29.02)
6.7 – Justin Timberlake/Ciara (34.21)
6.0 – Justin Timberlake (32.09)
Someone on Reddit posted the rundown from this episode with writer’s credits! Here’s the post (with a really sweet story attached): https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/kpw75j/my_own_very_small_piece_of_saturday_night_live/
The credits are as follows:
-“Geithner Cold Open”: Downey
-“Monologue”: Baze/Higgins/Mulaney
-“Target”: Anderson, obvs
-“Immigrant Tale”: Rich/Sawyer/Mulaney
-“Surgery Center”: Pell, obvs
-“Barry Gibb”: Higgins/Kenward/Solomon
-“Pirates”: Meyers/Tucker
And cut sketches:
-“Family Talk”: Solomon
-“McDonalds”: Jost/Kenward; almost certainly the sketch involving Timberlake’s Michael McDonald impression
-“Britain’s Got Talent”: Jost/Mulaney; this is the sketch that @RR was talking about, and interestingly there would’ve also been a shot of Casey performing with the house band later in the show.
-“Bus Boy”: Jost/Klein
There was also a cut, pre-tape runner in three parts called “Great Mothers Throughout History.” Unsurprisingly, everything cut was non-recurring material; I wonder what that sort of Timberlake episode could look like.