September 24, 2011 – Alec Baldwin / Radiohead (S37 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

EITHER THE 7TH OR 8TH GOP DEBATE
Mitt Romney (JAS) & Rick Perry (host) get top billing at GOP debate

— Bill, in that always-funny Shepard Smith voice: “Good evening, I’m Shepard Smith, and I come from a town full of secrets.”
— For tonight’s episode only, Rick Perry is played by tonight’s SNL host, Alec Baldwin. In the subsequent episodes this season that the Rick Perry impression appears in, Bill plays the role, preventing this from becoming a case of “non-cast member has to cameo every time a certain politician they once played is being spoofed”, a case that modern-day SNL viewers in 2020 are all too familiar with seeing, especially with Alec.
— A particularly hilarious part with Jason’s Mitt Romney saying, when comparing himself to each of his fellow candidates, “Next to Herman Cain–” and then silently mouthing “I’m white.”
— They repeat the exact same joke from one part of the GOP Undeclared Candidates Debate sketch from the preceding season, where Bobby’s Newt Gingrich leaves the debate early and, on his way out, high-fives the candidate played by Kenan.
— Good lines from Kristen’s Michele Bachmann.
— A laugh from Kenan-as-Herman-Cain’s ridiculous “Pizza will be there” speech.
— Paul’s voice as Ron Paul sounds VERY Will Forte-esque.
— I’m enjoying the doddering manner that Paul’s portraying Ron Paul.
— The silly atmosphere and approach of this debate sketch is enjoyable, and I’m finding it to be a fairly fun way to open the season. Fun and silly enough that the long length of it (a whopping 11 minutes, I believe) doesn’t bother me. However, the long length may hit a little too close to home for viewers of modern-day SNL episodes, from all the worrisome things I’ve heard about the stunt cameo-filled debate sketches from seasons 45 and 46. (Boy, does that make me proud to be on hiatus from watching new episodes, even if I’m going to eventually have to review those episodes when I reach that part of SNL’s timeline.)
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding two seasons.
— Nasim Pedrad has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— No new cast members…at least for now. Towards the end of this season, we will get an addition of a certain still-currently-on-the-show-in-2020 female cast member.

MONOLOGUE
drug test certifies host’s 16th SNL gig; Steve Martin & Seth Rogen cameos

— Alec has noticeably lost weight. As we know now, though, it doesn’t last.
— Alec mentions that he’s now broken Steve Martin’s record for most times hosting SNL.
— Ha, I forgot until now that Schwetty Balls became a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor around this time.
— Our obligatory Steve Martin cameo after the mention of him earlier.
— Funny premise with Steve making Alec take a drug test to prove he’s not taking steroids for tonight’s hosting gig.
— Now we get a rather unexpected Seth Rogen cameo.
— Steve is his usual funny self here.
— Apparently, the writers couldn’t be bothered to give Seth Rogen any funny or interesting lines, almost rendering his presence pointless.
STARS: ***½

RED FLAG
a whiff of warning pervades (KRW)’s perfume & background

— An actual solid, unique, and effective use of the ol’ overused “Wacky Wiig Showcase” trope.
— Very funny visual of Jason spitting his drink back into his cup upon learning that Kristen lived in Vegas for 11 years.
— I recall once finding out that the announcer of this commercial (who has many great lines) is Jon Hamm, surprisingly.
— Love the bit with Kristen gagging Taran’s throat with her finger while playfully touching his face.
— A very strong ad overall, and among Kristen’s best showcases in her SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½

“ALL MY CHILDREN” WRAP PARTY
melodramatic crew members reveal secrets at All My Children wrap party

— Vanessa’s coming off pretty funny as Susan Lucci.
— Alec almost looks like he’s wearing his old Greenhilly outfit, complete with a tennis racket in his hand (side-by-side comparison below).

   

— Nasim playing a character named Michelle Von Trachtenberg??? Did a 90s kid write this sketch?
— Boy, I bet the VERY odd name of Paul’s character is impossible to spell.
— I like Paul’s mock-dramatic delivery of “…or was I pushed?!?”
— Very funny bit with Andy’s character having entered the wrong room.
— A fun feel to this sketch.
— I think we’re officially at the point where the long-past-his-prime Fred starts to feel out of place on SNL, as seeing him among the cast in this ensemble sketch feels odd to me, as if I actually forgot he’s still in the cast by this point. IIRC, he comes off even MORE out-of-place the following season (which is his final season, thankfully).
— Jason is particularly hilarious in his brief appearance, including his offbeat delivery of “I operate the fans! Or was I pushed?!?”
STARS: ***½

WDHX CHANNEL 19
satellite delay impedes warning TV reporter (KRW) of rain forest animals

— A laugh from the initial satellite delay in Kristen hearing what Alec and Abby are asking her from the studio, even if this is far from an original premise.
— Meh, this is getting old fairly fast, and feels too much like the type of tired, badly-written “Wacky Wiig Showcase” that Kristen’s Red Flag commercial earlier tonight was a refreshing improvement over.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lotus Flower”

WEEKEND UPDATE
Tony Bennett’s (host) cinema commentary drifts to long-ago stars & movies

 

— Nice to see SNL trying something different by placing Alec’s Tony Bennett on Update instead of his own talk show sketches.
— Alec-as-Bennett’s “Heb-bro” line about John Garfield was hilarious.
— Even in this new setting, Alec’s Bennett is just as funny as ever, especially his Poise Pads promo.
— The second consecutive episode with a short Update, which is rare and refreshing for the solo Seth Meyers era. Tonight’s Update was particularly short.
STARS: ***½

WHO’S ON TOP?
game show contestants mull hypothetical gay male couplings

— Ah, a favorite one-off sketch of mine.
— The second consecutive episode with Bill’s Vince Blight character, mostly known as the game show host of the What’s That Name sketches.
— An absolutely hilarious blunt reveal of the concept of this game show. Also hilarious is Jason’s reaction to that blunt reveal, with him saying “No, no thank you, I’m not playin’ this”, and then immediately walking off the show.
— The hypothetical celebrity couplings are increasingly hilarious with each passing question.
— I love Alec’s “I was just thinking about this…” when he’s given the “who’s on top?” choice between Timon and Pumbaa.
— Even the little throwaway gags are great, such as Bill tensely warning Alec that he only has 10 more minutes to answer the first question, and the “Still no sponsors?” bit.
— A particularly hilarious part of the speed round, where, as soon as Paul Giamatti is mentioned as the first of two celebrities hypothetically coupled together, Alec IMMEDIATELY answers “The other guy!” without even hearing who the other guy is.
— Even the ending is priceless, with Alec responding to the choice of “You can walk away now, or lose it all” by carelessly saying “I wanna lose it all!”, which results in him, of course, losing all his money, which he apparently didn’t expect to actually happen, as it leaves him absolutely SPEECHLESS.
STARS: *****

TOP GUN 25TH ANNIVERSARY DVD
Top Gun DVD extras include unsuccessful screen tests

— These screen tests pieces are usually always really fun, even if they’ll never measure up to the original Star Wars ones from season 22.
— Hmm, Alec playing Al Pacino, even though that’s usually Bill’s impression?
— Much like in the Back To The Future screen test pieces from the preceding season, then-writer Colin Jost can be seen a few times throughout this as the marker (seen in the fourth above screencap for this piece).
— As expected, I’m having a blast and am laughing so much throughout this entire thing.
— Taran is strangely making Tom Hanks sound like a campy 1960s gay guy. I’ve seen Taran do a better Tom Hanks impression in a clip from the show Scrubs.
— I absolutely love how all of the audition scenes with Bill’s Harvey Fierstein are just him questioning all the homoerotic lines in the Top Gun script.
— This was cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s finale, but some of the celebrity impressions that were reported to have appeared in that version aren’t seen in tonight’s aired version. One of the cut celebrity impressions is Dennis Miller, played by Seth in a rare non-Weekend Update appearance. I’m very curious to see what Seth’s Dennis Miller impression was like.
STARS: ****½

CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
child psychologist’s (host) daughter (NAP) tests theories & (VAB)’s will

— Nice to see Vanessa getting quite a lot of airtime tonight for a second-season featured player, especially given the fact that she was, sadly, given no airtime AT ALL in the preceding episode, the season 36 finale. Unfortunately, though, tonight seems to be Jay Pharoah’s turn to get the shaft, as he’s the one who gets no airtime in tonight’s season premiere (and, IIRC, he can be seen looking a tad sullen during the goodnights).
— A laugh from Nasim’s entrance, just making whining noises while slowly passing through the background without actually saying anything.
— Lots of funny increasingly troublesome actions from Nasim, who’s doing yet another good job playing a child.
— I have no idea how Nasim’s keeping herself in the air without falling down while her character is leaning on top of the dish cabinet in a hazardous manner (the seventh and eighth above screencaps for this sketch). Are there wires secretly holding her up or something?
— Hmm, interesting twist at the end.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Staircase”

ANGELS IN THE TRENCHES
(TAK) fields mortally-wounded soldiers’ final message delivery requests

— Some laughs from the increasingly awful things Alec makes Taran promise to tell Alec’s family, as his dying wish.
— Very funny how the various dying soldiers’ increasingly outlandish requests have now turned into a whole bunch of immature “Your mother’s so fat” jokes.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and fun season premiere, and felt better than ANY of the episodes from the blandly-average preceding season. Aside from the WDHX Channel 19 sketch, I enjoyed every single segment tonight, and there were a few great standout segments. Another refreshing thing about this season premiere is that there were no recurring sketches at all, surprisingly, which is especially welcome after how the preceding season’s finale was comprised entirely of recurring sketches.

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

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Who’s On Top?
Red Flag
Top Gun 25th Anniversary DVD
“All My Children” Wrap Party
Child Psychologist
Angels In The Trenches
Either The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate
Monologue
Weekend Update
WDHX Channel 19

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2010-11)
a big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy makes her hosting debut