Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Moammar Gadhafi (FRA) blames rambling United Nations speech on jet lag
— Odd how the typical opening C-SPAN announcer isn’t being played by Jim Downey for once. It sounds like new cast member Nasim Pedrad who’s doing the voice of the announcer.
— Oh, god. SNL opens this season with a freakin’ translator cold opening? Really, SNL?
— Ugh. I’m only a minute-and-a-half into this, and I’m already tired of this. So far, this has been featuring the usual tepid, rambly (even if the rambling is the point of this particular opening), overly-wordy material that Jim Downey-written translator opening cold openings in the 2000s feature.
— I admit, some of Fred’s exaggerated facial expressions are making me laugh in spite of myself.
— Overall, a poor way to kick off the new season. In hindsight, knowing how this season goes (hint: not well), I guess this was a fitting way to open it.
STARS: *½
OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.
— Right after the SNL logo is shown, it’s followed by a “35 years” graphic, commemorating the show’s milestone 35th season. This milestone would also be commemorated in some of this season’s going-to-commercial and coming-back-from-commercial bumpers, showing an “SNL 35” logo.
— When this season premiere originally aired, I remember how jarring Will Forte’s new buzzcut hairstyle was. That took some getting used to. I recall hearing that the reason for this buzzcut of Will’s was because, when filming the MacGruber movie in a very hot location in the desert over the summer, Will constantly got so sweaty that he eventually just shaved off all of his hair to reduce his sweating. We’ll be seeing his hair gradually grow back over the course of this season. By the way, seeing Will’s buzzcut always reminds me that this ends up being his final season as a cast member. I recall his airtime sadly being scarce this season compared to his prior seasons.
— A lot of fun and memorable shots of the cast in this opening montage, such as a laughing Andy Samberg celebrating with a group of Asian businessmen, Jason Sudeikis playing basketball with friends and throwing a towel at the camera, Kenan Thompson (with his trademark big smile) high-fiving a passing-by bicyclist, and Bobby Moynihan touching a police officer’s badge in an overly fascinated manner.
— Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate have been added to the cast tonight.
MONOLOGUE
host assumes her naked headswap photos must be legit since they’re online
— Some meh and lazy “dumb bimbo” humor with Megan Fox’s reactions to “real” nude pictures of her.
— Ah, here comes Bobby. He seems like he’s going to salvage this monologue.
— I love the sly look Bobby gives into the camera when mentioning his home scanner.
— A funny centaur poster Bobby has of Megan.
— I kinda wanted Bobby’s scene to last longer, as I was surprised by how soon he exited. However, at least SNL got this overall monologue over with quickly, given the scant premise.
STARS: **½
BLADDIVAN
Bladdivan cures shy bladder with a mix of diuretic & anti-anxiety drugs
— A questionable premise for a season-opening commercial, especially since it feels like SNL has already gone to this particular “urine medication commercial” well several times before (including the Urigro commercial from just three seasons prior to this, which has a premise almost completely identical to this one).
— I love Bill’s delivery in his testimonial.
— Very funny testimonial from Jason.
— Didn’t care for the sharing-a-urinal gag with Fred and Will at the end, but I did like them both cheesily laughing into the camera while sharing the urinal.
STARS: **½
FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT
stewardesses’ (KRW) & (host) increasingly-dire announcements induce panic
— I like how the lead-off sketch of this season is actually an original, non-recurring, and non-TV show sketch.
— Hannibal Burress, hired as a new SNL writer this season, can be seen all throughout this sketch seated next to Bobby (he’s behind Andy and Abby in the third above screencap for this sketch).
— Kristen and Megan’s overly calm announcements of VERY worrisome things about this flight are getting increasingly funny.
— The bit regarding the Monk nickname Kristen gives Megan is cracking me up.
STARS: ***½
RUSSIAN BRIDES
(WLF) weighs pretty (host) & ugly (FRA) Russian mail-order brides’ merits
— Oh, no. Yet another damn Fred-in-drag showcase. This also serves as an unfortunate reminder that, with the start of this season, we’ve entered what are known by a number of online SNL fans as Fred’s official bad years: seasons 35-38. (The number of annoying things Fred did in the preceding season, season 34, almost has me wondering if we should count THAT as the official start of Fred’s bad years.)
— At least Will’s character is acknowledging how unattractive Fred’s character is. I was worried this sketch would go for the obvious, cliched joke by having Will feel that Fred’s character is just as attractive as Megan’s character.
— Odd how not only is this the second sketch tonight with Fred playing a foreign-speaking person having his speech translated, but it’s Bill translating his speech in both sketches.
— (*groan*) Now Fred’s character is singing.
STARS: *
THE DATE
nebbishy SWAT leader (WLF) rejects (host)’s marriage proposal
— I can’t help but feel bad for laughing at Will’s performance, because he’s kinda coming off like he’s portraying a realistically mentally challenged person, though I don’t think that’s intentional. But screw it, Will is damn funny in this.
— A good laugh from Will’s “No (*bleep*)in’ way” response to Megan’s marriage proposal to him, after all of that build-up prior to this.
STARS: ***½
GRADY WILSON’S BURNING UP THE BEDSHEETS
(host) joins Grady Wilson for his Burning Up The Bedsheets sex DVD
— This Grady Wilson bit has officially become recurring.
— The “Speaking in Tongues” sex move made me laugh out loud.
— Most of tonight’s Grady Wilson sex moves aren’t making me laugh nearly as hard as the ones from the first installment of this sketch did, but they’re still fairly funny.
— Decent addition of Megan to help Kenan’s Grady Wilson demonstrate his sex techniques (and to help keep this sketch fresh), though part of me can’t help but wonder if this sketch is just a thinly-veiled excuse for Kenan to get to do a whole bunch of sex moves with Megan Fox. (If so, hey, I can’t blame Kenan.)
— I don’t like how this is the second sketch tonight with a Megan Fox-played character responding to someone’s simple joke by saying a clueless “I don’t get it.” SNL is leaning way too heavily into the lazy “attractive female host plays a dumb bimbo” trope tonight. I know Megan Fox isn’t exactly known for her acting range or comedic skills, but come on.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Breathe”
WEEKEND UPDATE
the G-20 Summit prompts Jean K. Jean to make a few comedic observations
nervous-as-usual Judy Grimes still fails to relay any travel advice
— Some minor changes have been made to the Weekend Update set. The Update desk’s top is now brown instead of blue, the words “Weekend Update” on the front of the desk are now in light-up letters, and the brown wooden panel on the lower half of the background wall has been removed, making the blue map background now cover the entire wall. (side-by-side comparison below between how the Update set looked previously and how it looks tonight)
— As usual for Jean K. Jean’s commentaries, I like the jokes and Kenan’s fun performance, but could really do without those formulaic dance interludes.
— A particularly funny line from Jean K. Jean about how, with those Jheri curls, Moammar Gadhafi’s name should be Moammar DeBarge.
— Now we get a Judy Grimes commentary. While I like both Jean K. Jean and Judy Grimes (much more than I liked them back when this SNL era originally aired), these are extremely formulaic characters who do the same basic bit in each appearance. I understand SNL wants to display some audience favorites in the Weekend Update of tonight’s season premiere, but can I get at least ONE new Update guest tonight?
— Hmm, an interesting change of pace with Judy Grimes actually bringing out a chart.
— Meh, even with the change of pace with Grimes bringing out a chart, it goes in the direction you’d expect it to, with her saying nothing but several “Just kidding”s when explaining the chart.
STARS: ***
LIVE LOUNGE
Live Lounge phone chat line is populated by all sorts of unsexy oddballs
— Funny opening line from Megan about how, despite her hair and clothes, this commercial is meant to air in 2009.
— Nasim Pedrad makes her second of only two appearances tonight, both of which were non-speaking roles, one in which she was barely onscreen (in the Flight Announcement sketch, in which she sat next to an also-silent Jenny Slate), and the other (this sketch) in which she’s shown for a mere two seconds listening to someone on her phone while having a big cheesy smile on her face. Yeesh, an extremely quiet way to make an SNL debut. (Then again, after a certain infamous thing that Nasim’s fellow newbie Jenny Slate does later tonight that would get so much unwanted attention, maybe Nasim breathed a sigh of relief that she went under the radar with just a quiet, invisible debut.) Then again, Nasim technically already made her very first SNL appearance prior to this episode. You see, in a Weekend Update Thursday special that aired two days before this season premiere, Nasim made a small appearance in that special’s cold opening, in a scene in which she, as Kathy Griffin, is interviewing Fred’s President Obama. (My memory of that cold opening is very fuzzy, so I’m not sure if my details are fully accurate.) When the camera first showed Nasim in that cold opening, I remember confusedly asking myself “Who the heck is THAT???” before realizing that must be one of the two new girls who SNL hired for this season. I find it kinda odd how SNL would have Nasim make her (unofficial, I guess) SNL debut in a Weekend Update Thursday special, before audiences got an introduction to her by seeing her and her name in the opening montage of a regular SNL episode. (SNL’s Weekend Update Thursday specials don’t have cast credits in the opening montage.)
— Jason makes his ONLY live appearance of this entire episode in a non-speaking, two-second role in which he, similar to Nasim, is shown listening to someone on his phone while having a cheesy cross-eyed look on his face. The hell? Having that be your biggest live appearance of the night makes sense for a new featured player like Nasim, but for a reliable, well-liked SNL veteran like Jason?!? And in a season premiere, of all episodes?!?
— Very funny how, after we’re shown “Women who want to be murdered” as an example of a chat line user, the next example of a chat line user is “Murderers”.
— Bill’s frozen facial expression in his shot is pure comedy gold.
— Funny mention of David Duchovny at the end.
— Amusing ending disclaimer.
— A surprisingly short overall sketch.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Moment Of Surrender”
BIKER CHICK CHAT
tough broad Dawn (JES) expresses strong emotions
— Hooooooo, boy. Welp, here we are, folks. The sketch that contains the notorious moment of both this episode and Jenny Slate’s entire short-lived SNL tenure.
— Pretending that I don’t know what notorious thing is soon going to happen, it’s nice to see Jenny getting her own lead role in her very first episode. Too bad it has to be a talk show sketch, such a lazy, tired, and overused SNL format.
— OHHH, NO. There’s the notorious moment, just a minute into this sketch: at one point during her delivery of a spiel that constantly uses the word “frickin’” as a substitute for “fuckin’” (a running theme among all the characters’ dialogue in this sketch), Jenny accidentally lets an actual “fuckin’” slip in. (Very similar to a gaffe Paul Shaffer made when doing a season 5 sketch in which he was constantly supposed to use the word “floggin’” in place of “fuckin’”.) Jenny immediately realizes this error, and, right before the camera cuts to a close-up of Kristen, Jenny follows that botched line of hers by making an “Uh-oh!” face that involves her puffing out her cheeks (the fifth above screencap for this sketch), a visual that would gain unwanted immortal fame, as screencaps and GIFs of Jenny making that face would be frequently used over the following few weeks on online message board threads (including on some non-SNL message boards) that discussed this F-bomb of Jenny’s.
— When I watched this episode when it originally aired, I actually didn’t catch the F-bomb. I did, however, notice Jenny making that aforementioned cheeks-puffed-out face right before the camera cut to a close-up of Kristen, and I was very puzzled over why the hell Jenny randomly made that face, then I figured that must’ve just been her mugging the camera in a desperate attempt to be funny. It wasn’t until right after this sketch ended and I went onto the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board to read what people were saying about this just-aired sketch that I found out Jenny let an F-bomb slip out. (Speaking of that message board’s live discussion of Jenny’s F-bomb, as I mentioned in my review of the notorious Ashlee Simpson incident from the season 30 Jude Law episode, there were so many people who simultaneously flocked to that message board immediately after Jenny’s F-bomb that it eventually caused the board to crash for a short while.) Literally as soon as I read about the F-bomb, I immediately grabbed my remote control, rewound my live DVR to see where the F-bomb happened in this sketch, and when I saw it, you can probably imagine how much I was absolutely floored.
— Man, to have a gaffe like this happen in your first big showcase in your FIRST EPISODE? Yikes! When Jenny, in character, is speaking into the camera several seconds after the infamous moment, you can tell she’s gotten REALLY thrown off by her F-bomb, because she’s suddenly speaking awkwardly and haltingly during this part. I can just hear the poor girl panicking inside her head during this portion of the sketch, thinking stuff to herself such as “I am soooooo getting fired after this sketch!”
— The comedic conceit of this sketch itself, with all the generic badass attitudes, all the “frickin’”s, and all the ashtray-throwings, has gotten REALLY old. The unscripted F-bomb is sadly the only interesting thing about this sketch.
— Finally a funny line, when Kristen mentions her “front bum”.
— A few minutes into this sketch, and I’m noticing that Kristen’s the ONLY thing in this sketch getting any big reactions from the audience. This sketch is a whole lot of nothing.
— Overall……..so, THAT’S over, mercifully. Yeesh. I hate to say it, but Jenny’s F-bomb may have been a blessing in disguise, as it’s probably what prevented SNL from ever turning this waste of time into a recurring talk show sketch (if the lack of audience reaction didn’t already do that). And, F-bomb aside, I didn’t find this material to be a promising first showcase for Jenny at all, sad to say.
— After this episode’s original airing, during the MANY online discussions of Jenny’s F-bomb, a lot of people wondered if SNL would immediately fire her after just one episode. There was even one person in those online discussions who displayed a comical self-made t-shirt that had the words “Jennifer Slate: 2009-2009” (insinuating that her SNL tenure would not last beyond her first episode) under a photo of Jenny making the aforementioned cheeks-puffed-out face. As we know now, Jenny would keep her job after this (if only for one season). Even today, 11 years later, I still see people online ignorantly assuming Jenny got fired after one season just because of her F-bomb from her first episode.
STARS: *½
MEGAN’S ROOMMATE
Optimus Prime (BOM) & Bumblebee (Brian Austin Green) hang out
— Two officially-billed Digital Shorts tonight. I always love the rare times that happens in an episode.
— A good laugh from Andy and Megan walking in on Bobby’s Optimus Prime sitting completely bottomless on the couch.
— Despite some laughs I’m getting, something about this short feels kinda underwhelming to me. It has a fairly forgettable feel for Lonely Island standards. I do like Andy’s straight man performance, though.
— I like the use of the original Transformers theme song during the ending credits sequence, as it brings back childhood memories of watching the original Transformers series.
— During the aforementioned ending credits sequence, the mysterious performer playing Bumblebee removes his mask and reveals that he’s the one and only Brian Austin Green, who Megan was either dating or married to (I forget which) at this time. To quote my reaction to finding out the guy behind the Bumblebee mask was Brian Austin Green when I originally reviewed this episode back in 2009: “Ugh. He should’ve kept the mask *on*.” Also, the previous time Brian Austin Green cameod on SNL before this (a laughably bad and pointless cameo that initially received DEAD SILENCE from the audience) in an O.J. Simpson Trial sketch, not only was it ALSO a season premiere just like tonight’s episode happens to be, but it was the premiere of a very notorious season (1994-95). And, wouldn’t you know it, season 35, while certainly not notorious, ends up being a season of pretty poor quality. So, I have to ask, is there some kind of Brian Austin Green SNL curse? Does SNL have a bad season every time he cameos in a season premiere? We’d better hope he doesn’t make any more cameos in any future season premieres. (Not that I see any reason why he would anyway, if his career has gone as south as I think it has.)
STARS: **½
YOUR MOM TALKS TO MEGAN FOX WHILE YOU GET READY
host’s friend’s mom (KRW) engages her in small talk while folding laundry
— Hmm. Interesting concept.
— When this originally aired, I dismissed this as a typical Wiig showcase that proved even further that SNL was pushing Kristen as their designated star, but during my current viewing, I can see more what this this sketch is going for, and I’m enjoying it. In fact, there’s actually a slice-of-life aspect to this that I really appreciate, as it’s VERY rare to see slice-of-life pieces by this point of SNL’s run.
— Solid and reliable delivery from Kristen throughout this.
— Actually a sweet bit of advice Kristen cornily gives Megan at the end.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “Ultraviolet”
— At the beginning of these goodnights, before U2’s show-closing musical performance starts, we get a fairly memorable visual of Seth tightly hugging Jenny in the background (seen in the first above screencap for these goodnights), obviously consoling her after her huge gaffe earlier tonight. I shudder to imagine what poor Jenny’s reaction to her gaffe must’ve been when she was backstage after the Biker Chick Chat sketch.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty mediocre season premiere, and already a sign of the quality that I’m aware in hindsight this season will have (though I know a season premiere is rarely an accurate sign of how the rest of a season will turn out). The first half of this episode in particular was dominated by a lot of laziness, with another bad translator cold opening, a “dumb bimbo” monologue, another urine medication commercial, and another bad Fred-Armisen-in-drag sketch. The second half of the episode wasn’t too hot, either. There were still some good things in this overall episode, but nothing received a rating over a mere three-and-a-half stars from me.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Date
Your Mom Talks To Megan Fox While You Get Ready
Live Lounge
Flight Announcement
Grady Wilson’s Burning Up The Bedsheets
Weekend Update
Megan’s Roommate
Bladdivan
Monologue
United Nations General Assembly
Biker Chick Chat
Russian Brides
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2008-09)
a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Ryan Reynolds
Before anyone claims otherwise, Jenny herself has said repeatedly that while this was a bad gaffe, it had nothing to do with her firing — she just has said she didn’t belong on SNL and it didn’t click for her. She also implied Lorne was sexist for firing her because he didn’t understand her comedy.
Yeah, I definitely believe Nasim’s first role was as Kathy Griffin on an Update special.
While many SNL cast members have forgettable and invisible first seasons (to this day, I can’t quite remember who was Jon Rudnitsky and who was Luke Null), Jenny Slate’s is a weird one. It’s obviously all in the specter of the f-bomb incident, but compared to many first year cast members, she gets a fair amount of material–she leads a sketch in her first episode, a sign of confidence, and she gets a recurring character in the Doorbells And More lady. And she’s given a prominent role in the Today Show sketch (over Nasim who arguably looked more like Hoda Kotb). So the show had some degree of confidence in her! But it didn’t work out.
I wonder how things would have gone if the sketch had just flopped rather than been imploded. Bobby, after all, had a very divisive first episode lead sketch (I remember a SNL fan I watched the episode with insisting he should be fired immediately), and quickly went on to prove himself a reliable performer. But would the show have been as patient with Jenny Slate?
Like last season, the show starts things off with a horrible first episode. As you point out, there’s a lot of the usual suspects–vanity pieces, lazy writing, tired jokes, tired characters, pushing the wrong people (Jason’s absent, but Bill is also barely to be seen)…
Welp, like i did with Seasons 29 & 30, here’s a sneak peek of the few things about this season that didn’t suck…
https://usefullyuselessinfo.wordpress.com/2019/11/16/snl-season-35/
As for this show, there was a LOT to live up to after Will Ferrell’s S34 finale; but I’ve come to learn over time (and I also agree that) a season premiere (of Any show, really) should NEVER act as a benchmark or a harbinger of things to come; if it’s a good show, people expect that same goodness week after week. Bad? there’s only up to go from there……THAT being said, yeah, this wasn’t the best way to start the year–F-Bomb or otherwise–The fact that this is the true beginning of Fred & Wiig’s insufferably doesn’t help matters either.
Speaking of the F; as much as that moment may have cast one hell of a shadow on Jenny Slate, but her brief tenure should not be judged on that one moment. I’m glad she’s managed to find decent enough success nowadays, but a lot can be done in 11 years. Hell, even Norm MacDonald said it best, “A year and a half isn’t enough time for a dude to be funny”. As we’ll see in episodes to come, Slate simply wasn’t ready.
“Jenny Slate got fired for saying ‘fuck'” is like the whole “so-and-so got banned from SNL” thing. Sounds like a fun bit of trivia, but not really true at all.
I liked seeing Grady Wilson again, and Your Mom Talks to Megan Fox While You Get Ready is fun. Other than that, a lot of this episode was real ehhhhhhh. I think a lot of premieres actually *do* set the tone for the whole season, and this one definitely does in a bad way. I don’t think I’ll get sick of Kristen following along with your reviews, but I bet I will with Fred. That Russian Bride thing was terrible.
In addition to Hannibal, Mike O’Brien also joins the writing staff beginning with this episode. Also joining the writing staff this season (and like Hannibal, lasting ONLY this season) is Jillian Bell, who wrote the final “Your Mom/Megan” sketch.
It’s funny to read your original review and do a compare-and-contrast with regards to your opinion on the “Russian Brides” sketch then and now. ***½ to * is one of the steeper drops I’ve noticed in this project.
“I’m just glad to know that even going into his 8th season on SNL, Fred hasn’t lost it at all.” (Cue ominous *dun-dun-duuuunnnn* music sting.)
I kind of always knew that Slate was never really fired for saying “fuck”. Other people have said it on the show without anything bad happening to them, like the Paul Shaffer incident that Stooge mentioned, and there was an occasion a couple of years ago when Colin Jost said “shit” uncensored, but that was part of a news story he was quoting.
The start of my time seriously watching the show. Actually, to be fair, I think for this episode, I was still (in my mind, anyway) easing my mom into letting me watch, so I may have ostensibly been “on the computer” while this episode was on, but watching from the side of my eye. Not sure why, though, as I had definitely already rented a disc or two of season one from the library, if I hadn’t already bought the whole thing.
Either as a consequence of my sneaky watching, or living on the west coast, I don’t have any real-time recollection of the F-bomb.
As for this intro: if they hadn’t kept it for three seasons, I would probably have a better opinion of it. I guess it’s cool looking, but I hate that it ushered in another era of “the cast is seen in random places around the city” openings, which just feel lazy, to me. I didn’t realize they altered Kristen’s shot, at some point. I thought the one of her in hallway was the only she had.
I also think this is the worst arrangement of the theme. It’s basically just Lenny showing off, while the band tries to be relevant in some way. I dare anyone to accurately hum or whistle this arrangement off the top of their head. There’s no melody.
Ooooh boy…season 35…never reaches Season 6,11,20 or 30 levels but is full of LAZY writing and some abysmal sketches from Fred and Kristen. That said there are still some great things from Bill, Will, Jason, Andy and Kenan to look forward to. It bums me out that Will does see a reduction in time and doesn’t get the farewell he deserves but he does get on some or his most epic and beloved sketches and as such is the seasons MVP in the same way he was in season 29.
An underwhelming opener, which would have been completely forgettable had Jenny Slate not screwed up that one line. Even the U2 songs felt underwhelming despite the spectacle that went into their performance.
This was one of those seasons that wasn’t aggressively bad, but the highs were much more tepid than years past and the bad habits (Wiig and Fred’s vanity pieces, milking the recurring sketches) were a little too front and center.
I’m really looking forward to this season’s reviews, though.
This episode has the one-off of Megan using a handheld mic during the musical performance intros for some reason.
@CR86 It was also weird that U2 already started playing both times she introduced them. Can’t tell if it’s just U2 being a spectacle or if they were experimenting with how the intros would go.
@Ruby Considering U2 gets free rein anytime they appear I’ll chalk it up spectacle on their part.
Jenny certainly had a notorious beginning at SNL, but I thought her final sketch in the season finale was a particular high note to leave on.
Does anyone find those translator cold opens funny? Not at all. Never understood why they did so many.
@Void Once in a while they will get a chuckle, but they are so paint by numbers you can see the jokes a mile away. It also doesn’t help that most of them are incredibly long.
Hey Void. Stooge Does Not Like Those Translator Sketches Either ! That Is Why Stooge Said Not On The Cold Opening ! Stooge Said Really ? Stooge Probably Also Hated That Fred Was Doing That Even IF Bill Was Doing The Translating !
I vaguely remember this episode because I was just getting into U2 around this time and was excited that they were going to be on SNL, although I didn’t actually see the episode until much later. I thought their performances were pretty good, although reading which songs were performed just made me go “what, no hits?” before remembering there really weren’t any hits from the album they were promoting.
Megan Fox was all right as a host. Her and Kirsten as the flight attendants in the first sketch was probably my favorite thing she did in this episode. My favorite thing overall is the first Digital Short. Will Forte’s performance cracks me up, especially that voice.
I like Jenny Slate, it’s a shame her time at SNL didn’t work out… and it’s a shame that she screwed up her first big performance on the show, although it really wasn’t that noticeable. The F-bomb really is the only notable thing about that sketch, though I kind of liked Kristen’s character.
I love when I recognize something in an SNL sketch because I saw it on the internet before, as a screencap or a gif. Specifically, that picture of Bill Hader from the Live Lounge sketch. I didn’t even know who that was for the longest time, I just saw it online and thought it was funny.
I really love this opening montage and the Weekend Update set, probably because they’re the ones I’m most familiar with but it also just appeals to me.
“OHHH, NO.”. I read that in Will Forte’s Andy voice. ?
I saw Jenny’s f-bomb live when it happened and it’s one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen on live TV. Even though it’s happened a couple times in the show’s history, you just never expect to hear an f-bomb on live network television. It always feels out-of-place. Especially surrounded by all of the “fricken”s in the sketch, I think my immediate thought was “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?!?”, and then head-swimming shock when I realized that I did, indeed, hear what I thought I heard. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, if the FCC (or NBC) was going to yank the show off the air before it finished broadcasting, or if Jenny would be fired before the end of the night, or what. It was very weird.
Is Jenny’s f-bomb the last infamous moment in SNL history? I can’t think of anything notorious that’s happened on the show in the last decade off the top of my head.
What about Sam Rockwell & Kristen Stewart?
Possibly, since I don’t remember anyone online making a big deal about Eddie Murphy returning to the show last December and saying “Sh–!” in one of sketches…
@Wilkins, I guess there is Trump hosting, unfortunately…and then I suppose Kristen Stewart and Sam Rockwell saying “fuck.” The former seemed to get more notice than the latter.
@Blue, I’ve seen that still/gif of Bill quite a bit too, along with the one of him in the douchebag awards from Seth Rogen’s first episode (that tends to be used if fans want to show an attractive moment for him), and the one of him doing crazy dancing in jean shorts and a tank top (I don’t think that has aired yet). It’s funny when you see them out of context you assume they are big moments.
@Michael Cheyne, I was also surprised at how much more airtime Jenny got than I would have assumed, as the narrative tends to suggest, that she was sidelined after her big moment of shame, but that doesn’t seem to be the case (and nor should it have been the case). I’m not sure how I will feel until I fully watch the season, but what I have seen leaves me unsurprised that she didn’t last longer – she feels very green and awkward oncamera, and younger than her years (not helped by having to play roles she was unsuited for, like Hoda Kotb). I’m also interested in seeing how much Nasim has to do, as the CW with her seems to be that she was barely used in her last few seasons.
@Jesse, I didn’t know that about Mike’O’Brien joining this season (until the phone sketch I had also forgotten Emily Spivey was still with the show…). The new writing talent hired this season, along with the existing talent in the writing room, reminds me of how much talk about replacing writers to improve quality can sometimes feel like rearranging the deck chairs. Some with the show like Taran Killam have praised Seth for standing up to Lorne more than future headwriters did, but, while I’m sure that may have been more satisfying to some backstage, I can’t say I see the difference in quality onscreen. The highs are a bit higher, but the lows are also lower, and I mostly just wonder what was going on backstage to make so many creative people sputter so much in the end product.
This is actually Spivey’s final season, as well as John Lutz’s.
Christine Nangle also joins this season. She’ll stick around for a few years.
Jessi Klein (whos written for a zillion shows) also joins for this one season.
@RR — yup, though I think I neglected to mention her because she doesn’t join right away; she comes in a few episodes in.
I don’t know this for sure, but I almost get the vibe that Seth was a very compartmentalized headwriter–it seems like he really fought to get some oddball or untested pieces on the air, but he also rubberstamped a fair share of paint-by-numbers repeats (I think more than any other era, this is a period of the show where the recurring characters aren’t just recurring, but the sketches beat by beat repeat all the jokes and stuff–like, for example, in the Shana sketches, it’s always like nobody has ever met Shana before). I can see why that might please a good deal of people, but it results in a pretty erratic product (I do think Seth represents a big step up in headwriting than Tina, especially latter-day Tina, though).
Nasim was always a very oddly used cast member. She did get pretty underused in her final seasons, but some of her more prominent roles also first appeared then (like Shallon and that one foreign woman who taught a class–Heshy? Was that her name?). I always had an irrational enjoyment of her and Abby, although in both cases, I can’t say there’s much in their tenures that is really fantastic. I did appreciate that Nasim always seemed to be playing a mix of boys, children, and old ladies.
@Michael Cheyne, I agree – better than Tina’s later years (for me 01-05 or 02-05). He also seems to try to have the inverse of her Update style, where she put her personality front and center, whereas Seth is more of the Dick Ebersol dream anchor and other than a few rants, is happy to smile, grin, and take a backseat to the commentaries. I find his Update to be a slog at times but in the long run it’s probably better for the show than most of the Fey Update years. Sometimes I feel like I am too critical of both of them and wonder how many network mandates they had that I’m not taking into consideration – so much of the heavier pop culture focus in her run, or how dumbed down a lot of his tenure feels. It feels like someone said at a meeting, “Start writing the show as if every viewer is watching for the first time.” Even some recurring characters I generally enjoy, like Girlfriends Talk Show, I know I would have enjoyed more if they did not have the same commentary from Cecily about her creepy boyfriend 10 times.
Nasim was very good at playing kids. I think she had a sitcom in the works where she would play a little boy – guess it never happened.
I wouldn’t say it was directly the f-bomb that got Jenny fired, but I think it indefinitely screwed up her path on SNL and seemed to throw her for much of the season. In the first half she espeically still seems pretty shellshocked and nervous and doesn’t seem to finally recover until the later half of the season and by then it was probably too late. I was still a bit surprised when she got the boot because of her and Nasim and Abby, Jenny seemed to be the only one with a recurring character that was getting on the show quite a bit that year.
And yeah, with this screw-up it at least meant something as generic as Biker Chat never became a regular thing, though they later did a child pageant sketch with her, Kristen and Zach Galifianakis which seemed like a better re-write of the biker sketch, right down to Kristen playing a variation of the same ashtray throwing character.
Will Forte is one of the few men who can rock a buzzcut so well. He generally always looked good on the show, but I am not sorry to see an end to the unfortunate hairstyle he had in those 32-34 credits. I’m going to miss Will’s regular presence, but I’m going to just enjoy this last season of him as much as I can – he’s great in the first Digital Short (apparently Bill Hader raved about this on Conan’s podcast).
Overall I am fond of these credits, and happy the show moved away from club and party settings for the first time in a while. This leads to a few iffy choices (I like Abby’s hair tousle, but otherwise this is one of my least favorite credits shots of all 45 seasons – it just looks like the videographer told her they only had a few minutes so to just pop a squat and they’d go), but also some real winners (Jason’s basketball shot is one of my favorites, especially when he throws the towel into the camera, and Jenny’s is also very pretty).
@Stooge, Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green recently broke up. (I know this because I saw headlines saying he was dating Tina Louise and I had to check to see it was not THAT Tina Louise). Megan is now dating Pete Davidson’s bestest bestie (John Mulaney is his bestie, probably), Machine Gun Kelly, so maybe we will get a Megan cameo this coming season…
Speaking of bad memories of season 20, a few days ago I was watching some of the finale of Roseanne’s ill-fated sketch show, Saturday Night Special. Poor Laura Kightlinger has a line about how she wants to imagine a world where women can be in a scene without playing prostitutes or girlfriends. (doesn’t take many guesses to know what she was referencing) I couldn’t help thinking of that while watching this episode, as Megan played a number of prostitute and girlfriend roles. Or she is just playing herself. I’m not saying she would have been a terrific performer, but she’s fun enough in the flight attendant sketch (probably the best live sketch of the night) to show what might have been.
The monologue has a very “off” feel for me. I appreciate the idea of Megan Fox criticizing the glut of fake nude photos she had to deal with, and that the show doesn’t try to shame her or overly sexualize her, as they may have done in past years, but if that was the idea they would have been better off keeping it short. Bobby’s involvement feels like someone decided at the last minute they needed to have some laughs. The problem there is that it just wasn’t very funny, and Bobby is so sweet and likeable it’s difficult for him to sell the perv role – the audience reaction is tepid and the end becomes awkward as a result.
I don’t think there’s anything horrible in the premiere, but the two Fred sketches are flat as a pancake (and the prostitute sketch having no ending annoys me), and it’s difficult to have much interest in the rest. Beyond the first digital short and the flight sketch (I like the performances more than the presentation but it’s still fine), the highlight is the sketch with Kristen playing the mother – really solid, quiet, and respecting the intelligence of the audience. Kristen does so well in these two sketches I can even get past finding the Judy Grimes return completely exhausting. I wish she and Jillian Bell had been able to work together longer on the show.
Here is Bell telling a funny story about when she met Timberlake at SNL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WVYe0dpvu4
Promo for the episode (I enjoy this more than anything they did in their Digital Short…).
Since I’ve been on a British TV binge, recently, the whole F-bomb controversy seems really ridiculous. This happened at, what, 12:40 AM? It shouldn’t be an issue. And how did Cheri Oteri laugh off saying “shit” in her second or third episode, but Jenny can’t live this down?
@OldSoul97 because internet message boards were still in their infancy.
I… didn’t hate this episode? This was my last proper review for TV.com, and maybe I was somewhat sentimental, but very little about this show was outstanding or terrible. Outside of Jenny’s slip-up, it was somewhere between passable and forgettable all-around.
IIRC, the difference between Years 34 and 35’s overall quality is the hosting choices. SNL had a bunch of great first-time hosts upfront in 2008-09, then they took a similar risk at the start of 2009-10 and it didn’t pan out as well. Megan Fox was like cardboard.
Like you, Stooge, I don’t think I remember hearing Jenny say the f-word so I wasn’t shocked at the sketch at the time. I mainly remember Megan Fox hosting and almost nothing else…
I forget Jenny Slate was ever on SNL. In my mind, she’s Mona Lisa Saperstein on Parks & Rec and her work on Kroll Show.
Seth wrote an Update feature for Jenny that got cut at dress where she played Orly Taitz (one of the first hardliners of the Obama birther movement) talking about Ghaddafi’s UN speech.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2008-09, as of September 23, 2021)
a moderate step up