Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
BAR
in a bar, Mitt Romney (JAS) says “Good Riddance” to vanquished GOP foes
— Bill’s Rick Perry, regarding once being the frontrunner in the republican primaries: “I might’ve won the darn thing if I didn’t take a deuce every time I opened my mouth.”
— Kristen’s entrance as Michele Bachmann actually gets pretty big applause from the audience. Another thing that reminds me we’re in the homestretch of Kristen’s SNL tenure, and that her popularity among the audience is getting a little too big for the show, which tends to happen to some beloved SNL veterans towards the end of their tenure.
— Okay, I’m seeing that some of the other cast members’ walk-ons as republican presidential candidates are also getting some audience applause, though not as much as Kristen’s entrance, so I still maintain that the big applause she received has partly to do with her popularity as a cast member.
— A fun and out-of-the-ordinary setting for a cold opening centered around the republican presidential candidates, and I like how this is summing up all the things each losing candidate infamously did wrong during their campaign. In hindsight, something about the mock-melancholy, reminiscent, end-of-an-era atmosphere of this cold opening involving key members of this SNL cast also feels fitting for what ends up being near the end of the Kristen Wiig/Andy Samberg era.
— A nice group LFNY at the end, back in the days when group LFNYs were actually rare, and thus, were more meaningful when they occurred. From what I hear, group LFNYs have become a weekly thing in SNL’s most recent seasons, which is something I’m not looking forward to when I reach those seasons in this SNL project of mine. It annoyed me enough when group LFNYs became a regular thing for one year in season 39.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host presents live clip from Men In Black III with JAP as Will Smith
— Believe it or not, this is Jay’s first live speaking role in FOUR EPISODES. Unfortunately, it’s just him doing his overplayed Will Smith impression. Still, at least they threw Jay a bone after how horrible his airtime had gotten lately.
— Nothing much to say about this overall monologue at all. It wasn’t awful, but it pretty much just came and went for me.
STARS: **
HBO FIRST LOOK
13 year-old boy (ANS) makes sure there’s enough sex in Game Of Thrones
— I’m not 100% sure, but I think I heard that this was written by Kumail Nanjiani, during a guest writing stint he had at SNL this week.
— Pretty funny concept with Game Of Thrones’ creative consultant being a typical immature 13-year-old boy. Andy can play roles like this to perfection in his sleep by this late stage of his SNL tenure.
— Another example of how odd it feels hearing the audience be hesitant to laugh at the then-new Kate McKinnon, when you’re aware in hindsight of what a huge audience favorite she’d later go on to be. In this Game Of Thrones piece, the brief bit with Kate saying “Adam says this is my good side” while having her arms above and below her breasts barely got a single laugh from the audience, when it would’ve gotten an easy laugh from them had Kate done that in her subsequent seasons.
STARS: ***
THE CALIFORNIANS
Angeleno soap opera drama centers on driving directions
— Hoooooooooooooooooo, boy. The debut of not only one of my absolute least favorite recurring sketches of this SNL era, but one of my absolute least favorite recurring sketches of SNL history. As if this SNL era needed yet another bad recurring sketch that’s going to regularly make me state “(*groan*)” at the beginning of my review of each installment. (I’ve long ago lost count of how many of this era’s recurring sketches make me do that, though I get the feeling a huge majority of them are recurring sketches that happen to star Fred and/or Kristen, or are recurring sketches written by James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette. And yes, I realize there’s plenty of overlap between the list of this era’s bad Armisen/Wiig-starring recurring sketches and the list of this era’s bad Anderson/Sublette-written recurring sketches.)
— Given how Kristen is one of the performers heavily associated with the Californians sketches (at least to me), it’s easy to forget that it actually debuted in the homestretch of her SNL tenure. After the two Californians sketches this season, Kristen’s only appearances in any subsequent Californians installments are when she hosts in season 38 and when a Californians sketch is performed in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
— After Fred’s first comically-unintelligible delivery of “What are you doing here?”, the performers lose their composure and start breaking for the remainder of the first scene within this sketch. I have mixed reactions to that. The breaking is kinda making me chuckle, but at the same time, I feel too left-out, as something about this particular instance of breaking feels way too inside joke-y and self-indulgent for my likes, which is certainly nothing new for Fred’s later seasons.
— Ugh at the running gag with each character giving elaborate California-specific driving directions. Not remotely funny to me.
— Also not funny to me is the other running gag of this sketch, where we get various mock-dramatic sequences of the camera showing a close-up of each character mugging into the camera while a music sting plays. That’s also starting to give me vibes of another recurring sketch that spoofed soap operas, Besos Y Lagrimas, which makes sense, as one of the co-writers of these Californians sketches, James Anderson, also wrote Besos Y Lagrimas. At least Besos Y Lagrimas worked for me in its debut (and only in its debut). I can’t say the same for this Californians debut so far.
— And YET ANOTHER thing not funny to me is yet another running gag of this sketch, with how each scene within this sketch ends with the characters crowding around a mirror to admire their own looks. Yep, it’s safe to say this Californians debut is a big ol’ bust for me. And, from what I remember of subsequent installments of this sketch, it only gets even worse from here.
— A few minutes after the aforementioned bit with the performers starting to break, and Kristen’s still fighting her case of the giggles.
— At least I’m finding Kenan’s characterization somewhat funny and likable.
STARS: *½
AMERICA’S NEXT TOP EMPIRE STATE OF MIND PARODY ARTIST
Jay-Z (JAP) selects the show’s winner
— ls SNL aware that Weird Al Yankovic dropped the mustache and glasses many years before this point? Who knows, maybe SNL just felt that Andy portraying Weird Al with the mustache and glasses would be more comical-looking and more recognizable to viewers.
— Yikes, Kenan’s impression of the Chocolate Rain guy, Tay Zonday, is fucking wretched. He’s not putting any effort into imitating Zonday’s trademark deep voice.
— Speaking of bad impressions, I never liked Abby’s Ke$ha impression either. It’s surprisingly off for a performer who’s skilled at impressions.
— Okay, we at least get Jay’s always-dead-on Jay-Z impression, but, much like Jay’s Will Smith, SNL has done this impression of Jay’s to death by this point.
— I like Bobby’s dancing in the background during Vanessa’s singing of the chorus.
— I got a mild laugh from the bit with Fred’s redundant song getting impatiently cut off by Andy’s Weird Al.
— Meh, the concept of this sketch is starting to get a little old, despite the somewhat fun atmosphere. And there’s nothing I’m finding all that funny about how Jay’s Jay-Z gives each performance a perfect score.
STARS: **
LASER CATS 7
feline sci-fi mines Steven Spielberg’s [real] filmography
— Our seventh and final Laser Cats short, given the fact that this is Andy’s seventh and final season, and it’s been a tradition to do one Laser Cats short per year ever since Andy and Bill’s first season.
— A great evil villain accent from Josh.
— I love how this Laser Cats short is a comedic homage to Steven Spielberg’s filmography. And they way they’re executing it is fun.
— Bill, to an about-to-depart-from-Earth Andy: “What about your wife and kids?!?” Andy, after a long, pensive, dramatic pause: “F(*bleep*)k ’em.”
— The way this Laser Cats film ends with Andy’s character parting ways with Bill’s character by taking off in a spaceship is a fitting conclusion to this whole Laser Cats series. I wonder if this shows that Andy must’ve known at the time that he was leaving SNL.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Kimbra [real] perform “Somebody That I Used To Know”
WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM asks North Korea “What Are You Doing?” regarding failed rocket launch
Garth & Kat throw together some echoic songs celebrating spring
— We get another variation of “Really?!?”, with Seth introducing a new segment titled “What Are You Doing?”
— Meh, Seth’s overall “What Are You Doing?” segment completely washed right over me. I didn’t get a single laugh. Very bland humor there.
— I always like Seth breaking out a comical German accent during a joke about Germany. You can tell he always has fun doing that accent.
— (*Garth & Kat appear, Stooge grabs the laptop he’s watching this episode on and chucks it straight through his closed bedroom window while the Garth & Kat commentary is still playing on the laptop screen*)
— Also, didn’t we already get enough self-indulgent Armisen/Wiig breaking during that Californians mess earlier tonight? Oh, geez, and now I just realized this episode contains TWO of my least favorite recurring pieces of both this era and SNL history: The Californians and Garth & Kat. (*Stooge regathers his now-smashed laptop from outside, brings it back into his bedroom, and re-chucks it out of the already-smashed bedroom window*) All we need next is a Vogelchecks sketch to make the Trifecta Of Suck complete. (My reaction to that would be me throwing myself out of my already-smashed bedroom window.)
— 40 minutes later, this Garth & Kat commentary is STILL going on. Fucking hell.
— This is the second consecutive episode with a short Update that only contained one guest commentary. Well, a relatively short Update in this particular case. I can never call a Weekend Update with Garth & Kat all that short, because of the insane amount of airtime Garth & Kat’s commentaries freely eat up.
STARS: **
PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Ice-T (FRA), Ozzie Guillen (host) & others speak out
— Jason has been fairly invisible in tonight’s episode. I remember, when this episode originally aired, I felt Jason came off like he was so ready to leave SNL. There were rumors heavily circulating at the time that he, Andy, and Kristen were going to be leaving at the end of this season. As we know now, out of those three, only Kristen and Andy leave at the end of this season. Jason returns for one more season, and we had to wait until literally just three or four days before that season’s premiere to find that out (I kid you not). He must’ve reeeeaaaaaalllly been on the fence regarding whether he wanted to stay at SNL or not.
— I love Jason’s reaction to finding out that Casey Anthony has not gotten thrown in jail for the rest of her life like he incorrectly assumed.
— The return of Fred’s Ice-T impression. I liked it the first time, but his impression has really slipped tonight. I keep hearing too much of Fred’s natural voice in there.
— Jay’s thankfully getting a lot of airtime tonight, and for once in this episode, we’re getting an impression of his that SNL hasn’t run into the ground yet.
— I got a really good laugh from Nasim-as-Kim-Kardashian’s upbeat delivery of “I’m a zero threat!”
— Why are we seeing the return of Andy as the Super Bowl Wire Dancer guy? It made sense to have him in the previous Piers Morgan Tonight sketch, as that was just a week after that year’s Super Bowl, but by tonight’s episode, two months after that Super Bowl, wasn’t the Wire Dancer’s 15 minutes of fame already over?
— Did Andy unintentionally cut off Taran’s line just now? Sure seemed like it, as Taran was in the middle of doing his usual “Wha…wha…wha…” stammering routine that he often does as Piers Morgan, before Andy suddenly started speaking over him.
— Kind of a meh sketch overall, especially compared to the first Piers Morgan Tonight installment from earlier this season.
STARS: **
WOODRIDGE HIGH
in one hallway of a high school, everything happens in slow motion
— Some good and convincing slow motion acting and effects during Taran and Nasim’s entrance, and I like the concept of this sketch.
— When this originally aired, I remember that song that kept playing throughout this sketch got stuck in my head for the longest time.
— Fantastic execution from Bill when demonstrating where the hallway’s slow motion zone begins and ends.
STARS: ***½
GOTYE BACKSTAGE
ANS & TAK reenact “Somebody That I Used To Know” music video for musical guest
— Not only do we get a second billed Digital Short in the same episode, which is a rarity, but the usual opening “An SNL Digital Short” title screen is modified this time to state “Another SNL Digital Short”, with the word “Another” being displayed via special effect and in a special font.
— I’m really enjoying Andy and Taran’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” spoof/homage. Andy and Taran are a blast here. I also like how this feels kinda like a passing of the torch between the about-to-leave-the-show Andy and up-and-comer Taran. I remember that, back in these days when this originally aired, stuff like this made me so excited for Taran’s future on SNL. There were even some points during these days where I was 100% convinced Taran was going to be SNL’s next Will Ferrell.
— Gotye’s a good sport here.
— I laughed so much at Taran, in that wig and painted face, suddenly interrupting Gotye’s reading of a newspaper by popping into the shot and lip-syncing the “Used to knoooooowww!” lyric into Gotye’s face.
— Speaking of Taran in that wig and painted face, it’s making him look VERY Mark McKinney (screencap below).
— Overall, given the greatly diminished general quality of this season’s Digital Shorts, it’s nice to see that this episode was able to produce TWO strong shorts. This Gotye short can also be considered the final “normal” Digital Short during Andy’s tenure as a cast member. The only two remaining Digital Shorts before Andy leaves are special shorts, as one is a retrospective and the other is a special sequel to the first breakout Digital Short.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Eyes Wide Open”
PROM
Principal Frye & student-loving teacher (host) address prom attendees
— Jay’s surprisingly big night continues, with this being his FOURTH major live role tonight. A huge leap from him going three consecutive episodes without uttering a single word in any of his live appearances.
— This sketch has become recurring an entire year-and-a-half after its debut in the season 36 Paul Rudd episode.
— A laugh from Vanessa’s cheesy disclosure of how her high school prom consisted of her parents taking her to Arby’s.
— I’m glad Jay ditched this character’s trait of making a sharp inhale sound between each sentence, which got on my last nerves in the first installment of this sketch. This character comes off funnier without that trait.
— Much like his first time hosting, Josh, despite giving performances that are just fine, hasn’t been standing out much in tonight’s sketches, but that’s an exception in this sketch. He’s really solid and funny here.
— Jay starts helplessly cracking up during his report about the iguana.
— The audience is really into this sketch. Actually, they’ve been lively all night, come to think of it, but especially so in this sketch.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very up-and-down first half, which also contained a few wretched recurring or soon-to-be-recurring things, but the show mostly improved in the second half.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Laser Cats 7
Gotye Backstage
Bar
Woodridge High
HBO First Look
Prom
Weekend Update
Piers Morgan Tonight
Monologue
America’s Next Top Empire State Of Mind Parody Artist
The Californians
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sofia Vergara)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Eli Manning
“I feel too left-out, as something about this particular instance of breaking feels way too inside joke-y and self-indulgent for my likes, which is certainly nothing new for Fred’s later seasons.”
This comment you made about the Californians is exactly on the money, Stooge. According to Bill Hader, the Californians was just a bit that Bill, Kristen, Fred, Kenan, and Andy (and probably other cast members) would do while waiting for Lorne to come to the Wednesday table read. All this sketch is is Fred and James Anderson writing it down and throwing in the soap parody element because that’s just what Anderson does. It’s 100% an in-joke that only the cast gets. I didn’t even understand what the main joke was until Hader explained it because the sketch just becomes white noise to me (the joke is how everything they describe involves long-winded directions, I guess.)
Ruby yea Bill said it was an inside joke that started with the cast talking about driving in LA when they’d travel over there to film stuff during their weeks off. I basically said this in my other comments (Stooge as well) but this episode epitomizes how much self indulgent bullshit Lorne let Kristin and especially Fred get away with in their last few years.
The Californians sketches worked for me in part because I am from Minnesota and someone explained to me that people in SoCal discuss traffic the same way we discuss the weather.
Oh God, The Californians. I’m trying to watch all of these along with you, but I’m going to have to skip those sketches from now on.
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the excessive breaking in them is because Fred pulled a Farley in Pepper Boy and spoke in a much more exaggerated manor on air than he did in rehearsals.
An episode with Californians AND Garth & Kat? Imagine showing just this episode to someone in 2004, they’d be so confused watching Fred flop so hard all night (ok, to be fair, the audience usually eats both those bits up for some reason).
I’m pretty sure Anderson is finally gone, which a good sign, though unfortunately Sublette is a head writer, and you can definitely feel his influence.
@Anthony Peter Coleman And also, Fred does the exact same exaggerated performance in the dress rehearsal version. I’m surprised how hard Bill breaks in this one considering he already knew it was coming.
Ruby, really? I could have sworn I’ve heard Bill at least the “what are you doing” line was exaggerated.
@Anthony Peter Coleman Yup. Both versions are on YouTube and he says it the exact same way.
Ruby,
I just watched both. The “What are you doing here?” sounds sillier to me on the live version. Bill says as much here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aXooblIutXM
Some Body Else Said At A Different Time, But Back In The Mid 2000’s That James Anderson Had Left, But I Don’t Think He Ever Left ! He Is STILL There Even In 2020 ! Also, I Don’t Know Whether Sublette IS A Head Writer ! I Think Brian Tucker May Be A Head Writer !
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I didn’t mind “The Californians.” Then again, maybe it’s my inherent bias towards geography buffs named Stuart. This sketch is very much an Army/Hader vehicle, with Kenan in the backseat. (Incidentally, they are the only three actors to appear in every “Californians” sketch.)
The writing is very much on the wall that Andy is leaving; three of his last four Digital Shorts are sequels and callbacks. After the near-failure of writing and producing the shorts by committee, the decision to revisit the classics was a fitting farewell note.
Also, a reminder that after a solid debut episode, Kate is pretty much invisible until the beginning of Year 38.
Countering the Californians saltiness by saying that the back half here is pretty strong. Woodridge High and the Digital Short are a lot of fun, and Principal Frye is by far my favorite thing Jay did on SNL. “Eyes Wide Open” is a great song too. Gotye didn’t deserve to be a one-hit wonder.
I live in CA and the Californians is a pretty broad but perceptive view of the urban culture. People are vain, materialistic and obsessed with traffic here (at least they were before the virus), more so, I suspect than in the rest of the country. I’ve always liked this sketch but I can understand some of the antipathy, much like how some very NY-centric jokes on the show sometimes get no reaction from me. The character breaking is unfortunate and unnecessary, but also unsurprising in the modern era.
Interestingly, Andy does claim that he didn’t know for sure if he was leaving or not, and didn’t actually confirm it (though it was obvious) until after the season ended – hence he is not included in Kristen’s huge goodbye. I believe he has said that he knew his contract was up and leaving was something he was aware of (and so planned for the final stretch of shorts) but it was actually producing and making the final few ‘goodbye’ digital shorts that made it clear to him he wanted to leave and leaving felt right. I feel like if he had chosen to stay another season, they would have retired the digital shorts and lazy sunday 2 would have been the send off of them.
I feel like the Californians is something that people really like if they are a fan of the people in them – I know that die hard Bill Hader fans love them because they enjoy seeing Bill break – or if they care enough about SNL backstage antics to know the story behind. The fact that I know all the backstory to the sketch, care about the actors in it, and am invested in their real life friendships (not sure how to say that without sounding like a bit of a creep!! I just enjoy seeing friends having fun together) means I can enjoy it from that perspective, but from an objective comedy perspective, or a casual fan of SNL/this cast – it’s a drawnout mess!
It’s not really creepy to like that cast members are friends or get along well – the show is sold to viewers (admittedly not as much in modern years, but still) on the idea of the cast being something of a family, to each other and to us. And the people who joined around the early to mid ’00s seemed particularly close, to this day. I do wish the show had done more with these bonds and chemistry while the performers were still with SNL, but the interviews and cameos are still able to make you care, or feel like you’re there.
(the problem is more the fans who try to get involved with the personal lives of performers – it never, ever ends well)
I realized my comment about the Californians the other day was pretty stupid because I asked how did they fit so many sketches into the end of one season. I was thinking about Kristen being in them, because I too think of her as a major player in those sketches, so reading this review helped set me straight. I honestly forgot she wasn’t in all of them since they all run together for me. I did enjoy the sketches where they break because I always think that’s funny, but then I realized the sketches themselves aren’t funny to me. It absolutely does feel like white noise after a while. I can’t follow the dialogue and it just fades into the background.
Lol @ the reaction to Garth & Kat… I still like that bit and I have no idea why. Better in small doses, though.
Great end to Laser Cats, and the other Digital Short is pretty funny too. I’m excited about the last two Digital Shorts. They really are special.
Gotye definitely did deserve to be more than a one hit wonder! Yet another musical guest that feels like such a throwback for me.
To think in another universe, Adele was a one-hit wonder and Gotye just successfully hosted his first episode.
I just have to get out of the way first that I HATE Seth’s North Korea rant. Not only has it dated very badly in a relatively short space of time, it’s just not funny. It’s a lot of posturing and a jingoistic self-parody. This reminded me of why, the few times I would pop into SNL/Update during Seth’s time behind the desk, I found him to be smug. He’d probably cringe at this today. Between this and that very poor Garth and Kat, this was not an Update to write home about.
On the one hand, the singalong for the cold open is a sweet way to acknowledge the end of this group – the most successful long-term group they had had in a long time, with no unpleasant departures or controversies. Unfortunately, the cringey, overextended singing gives me bad flashbacks to many other musical pieces like this over the next decade. The best part of the cold open is probably the very tough joke about Romney and Santorum having no respect for women.
Logically, Josh’s first episode is better, as there are some great segments (especially Fart Face, and, until the bad ending, the fall leaves sketch) and is well-regarded by many fans. Yet, as much as the bad parts of this episode are BAD, there are no unpleasant cameos (Wahlberg, Palin), nor is there the sour atmosphere of Brolin’s last monologue. That means once we get into the fun moments of the night (the pre-tapes, the hallway sketch, the very funny Principal Frye), there’s a certain sense of joy which is difficult to find with SNL. The goodnights in particular are just completely joyous. Seeing how much Brolin loved the experience is oddly touching (too bad he didn’t host in more recent seasons, where his style probably would have fit in better)
Steven Spielberg, who was a longtime fan of the show as well as friend of Lorne, is so clearly thrilled to be there – it’s very sweet. I also love how they tie up Laser Cats by having Steven tell Lorne to just lie and claim he likes it. The perfect ending. Gotye is also very sweet in the cold open.
The hallway sketch is on Youtube, but under the wrong name (I think it may be a Principal Frye sketch accidentally).
In an example of overlapping times soon leading to future hiring, here is Kyle Mooney doing his own parody of the song/video on College Humor later in 2012.
Gotye in the digital short, not cold open – sorry.
On her show the other week, Drew Barrymore said Spielberg was her “guardian” for the week when she hosted in Season 8. Apparently he also pitched some sketch ideas
The Californians are some of the last major recurring characters on the show I can think of. The only ones I can think of from after this that got any serious attention are Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With and Chad. David S. Pumpkins is probably the biggest to come, but outside of the animated special he only actually appears once (outside a brief cameo as David S. Pimpkins in a rap song parody). I guess the close encounters sketches too, though I couldn’t tell you that actual characters name off the top of my head. Actually, for as wildly successful as she’s been on the show, pretty much all of Kate’s biggest characters are impressions (Bieber, Ellen, Clinton and her various other political impressions) which is impressive given that she isn’t exactly a master impressionist.
Kate was The Alien That Was A Real Alien Compared To Cecily Who Was A Regular Person Who Happened To Go Inside A Flying Saucer ! Kate Was Also Sheila Savage Pronounced SA VAGE the A Pronounced A Like AH And She Was In A Bar Run By Kenan , But She Would Kiss Usually The Host Open Mouthed !
Okay seriously guys, what am I missing with this Jody account?
There are a couple accounts on here (maybe three? there’s one ironically named poster on here who I still can’t totally tell if they’re real) that at best are parody accounts and at worst are…best left alone.
Okay got it. I haven’t said it by the way, but this is an awesome community! I only found this site a little over a month ago and it’s already my new favorite place to talk SNL.
@Anthony you and @wnyxmcneal are the two latest posters I’ve seen who have a lot of interesting info. I’m not in charge here by any means, but welcome.
@Carson those accounts are too bizarre to leave alone. I’m hopeless
The “Another” type face in “Another SNL Digital Short” is directly lifted from the film Another 48 Hrs., which stars a certain SNL alum.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/78/cc/3c78cc9a2d8312d9019c61fc28a57e27.jpg
I kid you not and maybe this was just a coincidence, But I tweeted John Mulaney the very same week of this episode that it would be cool to have a deleted scene from Men In Black 3.
I also suggested another Being Quirky show when Sofia Vergara hosted to him that same week as well.
Either big coincidences or John really respects his twitter followers.