(Before you read this review, please read this message I recently posted regarding the comments section of this site if you haven’t already. Thank you.)
Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) helps Barack Obama (JAP) promote Obamacare
— Great bit from Aidy.
— New cast member Beck Bennett gets the somewhat rare honor of appearing in his first episode before being announced in the episode’s opening montage.
— Hilarious lines from Bobby regarding his good-for-nothing son, played by Beck.
— A funny topical spoof of Ted Cruz’s then-recent Green Eggs & Ham speech.
— Lots of funny walk-ons from the cast all throughout this. This feels like an even more fun variation of the Obama sequester press conference cold opening from the preceding season’s Kevin Hart episode.
— Now we get a solid appearance from Aaron Paul as his Breaking Bad character, just one day before the highly-anticipated Breaking Bad series finale.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— After I had gotten so used to Fred Armisen being the first-announced cast member in every single opening montage since season 30, it feels unusual seeing anyone else now be the first-announced cast member.
— Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Strong have been promoted from featured players to repertory players. Aidy and Cecily’s promotions are particularly noteworthy, because they were promoted after only one season as featured players, which has been a rarity since the early 2000s.
— The photo of Cecily from the preceding season’s opening montage (first screencap below) has now been changed to a new photo (second screencap below).
— Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O’Brien, Noel Wells, and Brooks Wheelan have all been added to the cast tonight, in the largest simultaneous influx of new cast members that the beginning of an SNL season has experienced since the big overhaul the show went through in 1995.
MONOLOGUE
TIF hazes new cast members BEB, JOM, KYM, MOB, NOW, BRW via dance routine
— I love the tongue-in-cheek bit regarding Tina Fey’s non-existent recurring characters.
— When talking about SNL’s hiring of six new cast members, Tina notably calls this a “rebuilding year”. Hmm. Interesting hearing that in hindsight, now being aware of how this season goes and how SNL’s original intention to transition into a new era that heavily features these six newbies sadly ends up not going the way SNL fans at the time hoped and assumed it would.
— I absolutely love that this monologue is focusing on the new cast members.
— Pretty fun seeing old clips of Tina and her female castmates doing humiliating dances in hosts’ monologues back in the early 2000s, as well as a bonus clip of Will Ferrell tap-dancing in Katie Holmes’ season 26 monologue. Interestingly, the Bernie Mac clip (the seventh above screencap for this monologue) clearly does not come from the aired version of that episode. I went into much more detail about this in my review of Bernie Mac’s monologue, seen here.
— Even though I’m aware it really rubs some SNL fans the wrong way, I’m enjoying the dumb dances Tina’s making the six new cast members do, and I personally feel that both Tina and SNL mean well in their good-natured “humiliating” and “hazing” of the newbies. I do have to admit, though, the fact that almost all of these newbies would end up getting severely underused over the course of this season and then get fired after the season sadly casts a pall over this monologue in hindsight for me, and makes it not hold up quite as well for me. A shame, given the fact that I remember absolutely loving this monologue when it originally aired, as I obviously wasn’t aware back then of how the newbies’ SNL tenures would turn out. I remember this monologue gave me so much hope for them.
— Some great moves from Beck.
— Tina, after the newbies’ dance number: “Congratulations, you’re done for the night.” Oh, Tina, you have no idea idea how true that statement would turn out to be in subsequent episodes this season, regarding the extreme under-utilization the newbies will find themselves facing, and how they’ll indeed be “done for the night” in each episode after doing very little in it.
STARS: ***
GIRLS
Albanian (TIF) rebuffs First World problems of Hannah (NOW) & other Girls
— I’ve never watched Girls, but I’m familiar enough with Lena Dunham’s voice to find Noel Wells’ impression of her to be pretty spot-on and fun, and the other female cast members are also fun in their performances as Girls characters. Given how, when it was initially announced Noel was joining SNL, some SNL fans who were familiar with her pre-SNL online work heavily hyped her skills as a celebrity impressionist, it’s nice to see Noel immediately getting a showcase for her impression skills tonight.
— Making this already-fun Girls spoof even better is the added-in Albanian character played by Tina, who’s absolutely perfect in this role.
— I got a particularly good laugh from Tina asking if she can eat the donut from Vanessa’s character’s head, referring to the odd-looking bun her hair is in.
STARS: ****
AIRPORT
(TAK) & (TIF) give special passengers priority during airplane boarding
— Love the “children traveling with small parents” bit, getting good mileage out of the huge size difference between John Milhiser and Brooks Wheelan.
— Very fun structure to this sketch, with lots of very amusing quick walk-ons from various cast members, much like the cold opening.
— Bobby’s mere facial expression as the “farter” is a riot; the kind of gag he’s always perfect at selling.
STARS: ****
NEW CAST MEMBER OR ARCADE FIRE?
KYM, NOW, MOB mistaken for musical guest
— Wow, yet ANOTHER segment tonight focused on the group of new cast members.
— Despite the fact that I’m aware of the fate that this season’s newbies would sadly end up suffering after tonight’s episode, I still absolutely love the meta concept of this game show sketch.
— A rarity at the time for Kenan to play a game show host, which is obviously being done tonight in light of Bill Hader’s departure. Game show host would end up becoming a fairly frequent role for Kenan after this.
— Was Kyle Mooney supposed to initially walk in the wrong direction when making his exit, or was that a real gaffe? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter, remembering how green Kyle comes off as a live performer in this first season of his.
— Nasim makes her second of only two measly appearances tonight, both of them being extremely brief walk-ons that you’d be forgiven for completely missing because you blinked. In her walk-on in this particular sketch, she doesn’t even have any lines, and in the sketch she did have a line in during her walk-on (the Airport sketch), it was just her mumbling foreign gibberish.
— I admit to laughing at Kenan always scolding the newbies whenever any of them they try to say something or do a funny bit of business without having earned that right (as Kenan claims), even though, again, that pall that I mentioned in the monologue is looming.
— I love Tina’s various descriptions of Win Butler’s look, including “hipster Paul Bunyan” and “Civil War re-enactor.”
— When Kenan mentioned that a friend of Tina’s will be brought in as her lifeline, I was worried it would turn out to be YET ANOTHER Amy Poehler cameo, but thankfully, it’s just Lorne.
— A good laugh from Lorne guessing that, out of Win Butler and Mike O’Brien, the new cast member is actually “the black one”, Kenan, which leaves Kenan utterly shocked and upset.
— Kenan: “Well, the show is over.” Tina: “Oh, do I win anything?” Kenan: “Don’t you have enough?!?”
STARS: ****
E-METH
electronic pipe delivers methamphetamine but not social acceptance
— Funny concept.
— I love the visual of Kate laying in a bathtub in the middle of the road.
— Priceless bit with Taran casually yanking out one of his teeth to show us how perfectly white it is.
— Hilarious scene with Kenan chasing a half-naked Brooks Wheelan all around the living room.
— Solid ending appearance from Aaron Paul once again playing his Jesse Pinkman role.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Reflektor”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update veteran TIF gives tips to new newsreader CES
hacky veteran stand-up Bruce Chandling (KYM) plies well-worn material
Drunk Uncle bewails back-to-school season with Meth Nephew (Aaron Paul)
— Cecily has become the new co-anchor to the on-his-way-out Seth, as an attempt to transition into a new Cecily Strong-led era of Update, an attempt that, as we know now, ends up going about as well as this general season’s aforementioned attempt at a “rebuilding” year.
— After the previous Update opening title sequence & theme song was used for so many years (2006-2013), it feels refreshing to finally get a new one.
— Even the color motif of the Update graphics is different this season, now being blue instead of burgundy.
— Boy, as I expected, it feels so odd seeing someone new delivering Update jokes after I had gotten so used to Seth doing that for so many endless seasons.
— I have very mixed feelings towards Cecily’s delivery of Update jokes so far. There’s somewhat of a straitlaced professionalism to her Update delivery that feels natural for this venue, but there’s also something in her delivery that feels wrong for Update.
— A good laugh from Tina sheepishly wheeling back out of the shot when the female Update anchor who she assumed Cecily was about to praise as an inspiration turns out to be Jane Curtin instead of her.
— Pretty solid bit with the very tense, prisoner-esque advice Tina gives to Cecily in regards to anchoring Update.
— Blah, I didn’t like Cecily’s big smile after her somewhat-cringey sushi joke. That smile also reminded me way too much of how annoyingly, over-the-top cutesy Amy Poehler came off in her very first Update.
— Seth and Cecily’s respective delivery styles of their Update jokes aren’t meshing together well. Part of that could be because, obviously, 1) you have a very established anchor who’s delivery style we had become accustomed to for years now being paired with the delivery style of a brand-new Update co-anchor who had displayed no prior on-air chemistry with the established anchor, and 2) this is only Cecily’s first Update, and thus, it’s understandable that things aren’t immediately meshing. I’d be more forgiving of that lack of immediate meshing if I knew Cecily would eventually grow into a solid and long-lasting anchor, but that doesn’t turn out to be the case at all.
— Great to see Kyle Mooney already getting his own Update piece, doing his Bruce Chandling character from his pre-SNL days.
— Fun performance from Kyle, and his intentionally bad, hacky stand-up comedy here is reminiscent of how strong early-era Fred Armisen used to be at pulling off anti-comedy pieces on Update (before he made that stale).
— Solid turn with Kyle’s Bruce Chandling suddenly getting depressed when reflecting on how he occasionally gets turned down after certain auditions. Actual character depth on display here, which feels rare for a recent SNL era like this.
— I actually really like Cecily’s performance during the O.J. Simpson bit she and Seth did together just now, especially her delivery of the line “You stay strong, Juice.”
— I howled at Drunk Uncle’s “Someone’s gotta watch the white sports, Seth” line.
— With Drunk Uncle’s memorable “They’re all just twerkin’ 9 to 5” line, SNL gets in their very first mention of “twerking”, the then-hot word that had recently become widespread thanks to, IIRC, Miley Cyrus’ infamous VMAs performance that summer.
— Drunk Uncle: “(singing) Bluurrred liiiiines. (speaking) The only blurred line *I* know is our border with Meh-hee-co [Mexico].”
— Yet ANOTHER fun appearance from Aaron Paul tonight, this time as Drunk Uncle’s Meth Nephew.
STARS: **½
CINEMA CLASSICS
clips from 1940 movie reveal influence of taxidermist
— The debut of both Cinema Classics and Kenan’s Reese De’What character.
— Kenan has noticeably been given quite a number of important utility roles tonight, obviously because of the departure of utility veterans Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis. With the way Kenan’s been utilized in tonight’s episode, SNL is immediately making it clear who they’ll now be leaning on as the new utility player of the show.
— Dumb conceit with all of the taxidermy animals slowly taking over the movie scenes, but this dumbness is actually kinda working for me.
— The visual of a taxidermy animal driving the car that Tina, Taran, and Aidy are in is making me laugh more than I ever would’ve expected.
— Kenan is very solid here, especially the occasional comments that his Reese De’What character is making about his wife’s weight.
STARS: ***
RICK’S MODEL T’S
(MOB) & mad wife (TIF) sell Model Ts in world’s first used-car commercial
— The second consecutive sketch tonight set in an older time period.
— Mike: “Lots of firsts here today, folks.” Throwing in some reality subtext, are we, SNL?
— Hmm, not too sure Mike’s delivery is working me. And I’m not finding the old-timey salesman delivery he’s attempting to be very convincing.
— I do at least like the running bit with Mike excitedly only listing off one thing when touting his car dealership (e.g. “This car’s got everything: seats………….!”)
— Tina’s demented one-liners are great.
— Yeah, the more and more this sketch is going on, the more and more Mike’s delivery is sounding awkward. There’s this slow, unsure, halting style to his line readings that keeps kinda taking me out of the sketch. Our first sign of how ill-fitting Mike would often come off as a live performer this season. This sketch is still pretty enjoyable, but this solid material isn’t coming off as strong as it would’ve under a performer more comfortable-seeming on live TV. For example, Bill Hader, given how fantastic he always is at playing old-timey roles, would’ve absolutely killed it in this role of Mike’s had this sketch been done when Bill was still a cast member.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Afterlife”
MANOLO BLAHNIK
(TIF) & vacuous ex-porn stars endorse Manolo Blahnik shoes
— Feels a little odd seeing this recurring sketch appearing in two consecutive episodes. Granted, there was a whole summer break in between the preceding episode and this episode, but since I watch these episodes in chronological order on a day-to-day basis, it feels like SNL literally just did this sketch.
— Cecily: “You’ll feel like you’re riding in a glass blumpkin.”
— I love Vanessa’ delivery of “What the heck???” when telling us the reaction she once had to finding out her butt was amputated.
— Cecily: “I thought I got banged into a solar eclipse. But I was really just locked in a trunk lookin’ through the keyhole.”
— Vanessa, regarding getting banged by rapping gerbils in the back of a Kia: “I think some of them were people. Ya live and ya learn.”
— Tina, at the end of her message to her 8th grade gym teacher: “P.S.: I saw you on House Hunters, you picked the wrong house, bitch.”
— How did they go through this entire sketch WITHOUT having one of the “Manolo Blahnik” mispronunciations be “Mayim Bialik”? It writes itself, people!
— Overall, while this was still solid, this wasn’t quite as strong as these sketches usually are. This had a slow first minute-and-a-half or so.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
— Tina mentions that the network is letting them go long and Arcade Fire is about to do a show. Indeed, an Arcade Fire special (which, IIRC, was kinda like a concert, plus some interspersed comedy segments starring famous comedians like Zach Galifianakis and Aziz Ansari) immediately followed the original airing of this episode. Reruns of this SNL episode show the dress rehearsal version of these goodnights, because it features no mention from Tina of the Arcade Fire special, which reruns of this SNL episode obviously aren’t followed by.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and promising season premiere. Aside from Weekend Update, I liked every segment in this episode, and gave out a lot of four-star ratings, especially in the pre-Update half of the show. I remember how, when this originally aired, seeing so many new cast members peppered all throughout this season premiere gave the show such an exciting, fresh feel. Very sad how that ends up being a huge misnomer for how the rest of this season goes for the newbies. The strength of this episode in general also ends up being a huge misnomer for this season, as I recall this season going on to be dull and bland, with little-to-no standout strong episodes besides the one I just reviewed. We’ll see if that opinion of mine changes on my re-watch of this season.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Airport
Girls
e-meth
New Cast Member Or Arcade Fire?
Manolo Blahnik
Affordable Care Act
Rick’s Model T’s
Cinema Classics
Monologue
Weekend Update
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2012-13)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Miley Cyrus
It really is shocking how even 7 years later, it’s just Beck and Kyle left. Is Mike still in the writers’ room?
@Scott Sandler, Mike left SNL in 2015, aside from a few returns over the next season after that. He had some health problems and wrote for other shows before starting up A.P. Bio a few years ago, which has other SNL alum like Paula Pell.
It’s okay, I still wish they’d mangled “Moet and Chandon” as “Molly Shannon”. It seems like an obvious joke!
Kenan’s ‘oh, IT’LL FIT’ in the airport sketch has always stuck in my mind. As has Win Butler’s de Niro impression.
I remember the critics at the time eviscerating this show as sort of a hollow reminder that Bill, Fred and Jason were gone, but I’m glad this show kinda holds up.
Also, I think I like the Model Ts sketch a bit more than you did. Yes, Mike O’Brien’s delivery works against it, but it’s also a very authentic, ‘i wrote this sketch’ sort of prideful role for O’Brien
And the modern era begins. Agreed this is a bland ass season, caught between two eras and desperately lacking a voice. S40-42 don’t hit the heights of even the previous era but are pretty solid in my opinion. 43 the show starts to show signs of struggle, and the last 3 seasons have been…well we’ll get to that when we get to that.
I know the monologue and Arcade Fire game show sketch are rather polarizing, with a few people believing it basically mocked the new cast members and presented them in a demeaning, humiliating fashion. I get where these criticisms are coming from–I don’t think I would have done TWO whole segments surrounding the fact that these people are new, and calling attention to one’s newness usually only works later in someone’s run (the most successful “new” cast members in recent years have just sort of been plopped down and dropped in).
I don’t know enough about the behind-the-scenes history–I got the vibe at the time that these segments were meant to express confidence in this new cast in a way that SNL has rarely done before. But as Stooge points out, the fact that almost all of these cast members would be unceremoniously booted casts a huge pall over these segments, much like the first episode of 1980-1981 also has this ominous-in-retrospect feeling. It’s almost a bit of too much lampshading that they’re new, like a basketball coach who keeps pointing out that all his starters are freshmen.
(That said, I still like the Arcade Fire sketch a lot)
You have to wonder why they brought in so many people–was Lorne that insecure about losing so many veteran cast members in so short a time? In retrospect, such fears would be groundless, considering Kate, Cecily, and Aidy would quickly become stars, and the show still had reliable veterans like Kenan, Bobby, Nasim, Vanessa, etc. And Taran certainly had the feel of someone emerging as a show MVP. Adding so many new cast members had the vibe of “compete amongst you so we see who stands out.”
As for other thoughts on this episode, I really like the airport sketch. It’s just good silly fun that is pretty relatable. It’s the kind of thing I wish SNL would do more of. There’s no message or deep satirical point and it’s not particularly catchy (you could easily remix this sketch into one of those YOUR HOUSE/YOUR CHURCH/GRADUATION shorts, which would be funnier on YouTube, but not as fun for a live audience, I think).
I never, never liked Cecily on Update. While I understand the need to give Seth a co-anchor, I thought she was a poor fit and it also prevented her from doing one of her strengths–Update characters. I can’t honestly say that any of the other female cast members would be any better, though, and I get the feeling they didn’t want an all-male Update team. I suppose this is another reason why Seth should have left last year.
To me, this was the first porn stars sketch that didn’t click all the way. Tina was decent in her role, but I didn’t think she was the right sort of host for this sketch.
I feel like the monologue and the game show sketch are kind of a draw. The game show does get right to the point, moves quicker and has a funnier conceit. Really would have been better to just go with the game show. Beyond that, Wheeler, Milhauser and Beck all get solid appearances in the cold open and airport sketches. To be honest, I would have preferred Wheelan to still be on the show than to ever had laid eyes on Pete Davidson. It’s not that Wheelan was necessarily THAT funny, just that Pete is so unfunny he comes across like the Jon Rudnitsky of SNL to me. (Har har!)
I’ll probably be in the minority on this around here, but Pete rarely if ever missteps on Update for me. Also I really respect how open he is about his struggles, particularly when it comes to mental health.
Yeah if I had to choose, I always liked Brooks a lot better. His podcast is comfy as hell, he’s got a likeable “chill stoner bro” vibe to him that SNL never really tapped into and that doesn’t irritate me like it usually does with Pete’s similar but yet different stoner bro shtick.
16-17 was the last good-to-great season…so far.
I thought it was a fun way to let people know who the new people are.
Cecily was awful on Update.
Kate during the cold opening was the funniest part of the opening. “Stop putting things up ya damn butts!”
Part of what I dislike about the monologue is Tina’s role. Tina tends to give off “we had to walk 50 miles in the snow” vibes at times with newer SNL people (like recent complaints about newer SNL writers not working hard enough, rather than questioning whether past writers had simply been forced to work TOO hard [and based on the quality of writing in most of Tina’s years at SNL, the effort did not show onscreen]). This crops up again in her 2018 monologue where the idea of cast members getting airtime is treated as some kind of blasphemy.
The other problem I have with the monologue is this is the first glimpse we are seeing of these people – and it is essentially a beloved towering figure of modern SNL humiliating them for our enjoyment. This show has a lot of fans who struggle to accept new cast members, and yet they are being taught to see them as disposable. It makes no real sense to me. It would be one thing if you had new cast members who were very charismatic and could turn the tables, but when you have a slew of very awkward people (the one exception might be Beck), then you’re just going to see a complete stranger being awkward on national television for several minutes as Tina laughs at them.
It’s unfortunate as the part pre-newbies, where she talks about her recurring characters and shows old monologue clips of her era, is probably the best material she ever did in a monologue.
@Michael Cheyne, that’s a valid point about how Lorne may have seen the existing cast. There’s an AV Club review of this season which is probably better to post at the end of the season which basically says the people you would have thought would become stars this season never quite do. I’d imagine part of that is from a lack of confidence and just general blinders and stubbornness. I know there is always pushback in the comedy world about diversity and being “PC” or “woke” or what have you, but when you not only hire 6 white cast members, but 5 are men and several are extremely limited in their abilities, you are all but begging for backlash. It’s one of those moments where it feels like some at SNL almost daring a reaction out of their critics.
During the Shane Gillis fiasco, there was some speculation about a cast member who was actually put into the cast without knowing it because Lorne was supposedly unhappy that the New York Times had put out the cast list for the season before talking with him. The speculation was that Brooks was the cast member, if I remember correctly. If so, it kind of shows the consequences of Lorne’s mercurial nature.
The changes also have a knockdown effect on the cast as a whole – Taran gets somewhat lost in the crowd (along with having increasing tensions over the backstage situation), while Cecily got a lot of backlash over Update and over her prominence this season, which means she ends up being overtaken by Aidy and Kate and it is probably about 5-6 seasons before she gets better appraisals for what she brings to the show.
I do wonder who at the time was thought to have longevity of the new cast. Considering some of the criticisms of Beck and Kyle compared to Lonely Island, they may not have been top of the list. Yet here they are, seven years later, with both (especially Beck) in a very different world than what they started out as in season 39.
Promo:
Brooks was originally hired as a writer. Then, not long after that announcement, they put him in the cast. I remember reading about his sudden promotion for the first time on a forum post at the old S-N-L.com that also mentioned Tim’s demotion and Cecily as the new Update co-anchor.
I’ve always loved that Model T sketch. I’ve never had any complaints with it at all, it’s one of my favorite sketches of the season. Mike O’Brien had such a unique comedy voice.
That’s a good analysis of the cast. I have no idea who among the bunch was projected to be a star. My guess is that Beck would be one of them–he had been in some commercial gigs before this that got him a mildly high profile, and he seemed to superficially tick some of the Sudeikis type boxes (as you point out, he would eventually kinda end up in a Sudeikis type role in the cast, but years later). Kyle and Mike seemed like the oddball types, potentially new Fred Armisens or Will Fortes. Noel Wells seemed to get an Abby Elliott-type push–a younger cast member who was skilled at impressions. I have no idea how Milhiser or Whelan were viewed, as both disappeared fast (ironically, I feel like if Milhiser had just stayed past this first year somehow he might have thrived in an increasingly theatrical style of the show).
Has there ever been an episode (not involving a completely new cast, like in 1980) in which the show has made such a big deal about the new cast members? Like I can’t imagine Seth McFarlane in his opening last premiere dragging out Tim and Aidy and making a big deal about how new they are. I guess this is the double-edged sword of what Stooge occasionally talks about, the rich history of SNL. In having a beloved cast member as the host, you almost have to acknowledge the show’s history and behind the scenes things more than if, say, Chris Pratt, was the host this week.
(I’ll also note that I think next season is when a group of my friends started Fantasy Saturday Night Live in which you scored points for drafting cast members who were in the most stuff. I’m glad we didn’t start this season!)
Brooks seemed like he was meant to be the “stand-up comic” of the new group, occasionally doing his stand-up bits as Weekend Update commentaries, would guess they dropped him in favor of Pete Davidson the following season. Honestly kinda liked Brooks, one of those cast members who knew he was no actor and just kinda played himself all the time, sometimes those type of guys kinda grow into their roles on the show.
I think Jorma Taccone recommended Beck to Lorne as he directed Beck in those phone commercials that were airing at the time.
Ha, its funny looking back I remember Beck and Kyle being the guys in that monologue I was least excited for. I remember thinking “why did they hire the dude from those AT&T commercials? Who’s next, Flo? And that one dude (Kyle) does NOT look ready for TV.”
Being a fan of Norm Macdonald’s Sports Show, I was VERY excited about the addition of Kyle.
The only thing I remember about the one-season wonders is that Brooks Wheelan had abs.
I don’t know if it’s the ultimate Tina Fey joke, but hearing the words “Queef LaTina” I can’t think another one to contend…
I kinda wish Aaron Paul was the host for this episode…
It’ll be interesting to see how you feel about S39! I feel like I’m more generous to it than a lot of other people, which acknowledging that it has SERIOUS PROBLEMS. The cast is bloated and the fight for screentime can feel so terribly cruel, but I also feel like there was a decent amount to appreciate: frequent Good Neighbor shorts, delightfully-weird Mike O’Brien pieces (I find him endearing in the Model T. sketch, I realize another performer could’ve sold it more but it was his great writing), the rise of Cecily, Aidy, and Kate, and always-reliable work from the longer-tenured players. (The musical guests, even though you never comment on them, were also probably the most stellar this season that modern SNL has ever been.) I’m probably riddled by nostalgia with this being my second season… I came in at a weird time to the show admittedly… but I have a soft spot for it when it’s doing things right, however scattershot that may be.
I never cared too much for this episode, but it’s probably one of the better hosting gigs to be wrung out of Tina Fey, someone who I always find to be shockingly disappointing as a host in terms of the material she’s given. Indeed, short of the Girls parody and the Model T. sketch, she doesn’t really buoy anything, but I’d feel like she would be more perceptive as a former head writer to get the best out of the show, even if her legacy as said head writer is tattered.
The airport sketch, notably, aired very close to a Key & Peele sketch with an identical premise, and although it’s very clearly parallel thinking as the latter was shot far in advance, they had the far superior take (and also Jason Schwartzman): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhxlZC8BZJ4
It’s weird you’re now covering six cast members who are still on the show as of 2020. I don’t know if that’s a sign you’re getting close to the end or that people stay on the show way too long nowadays.
I don’t dislike this season at all, but I have a big gripe with the casting. I think this is the worst hiring decision the show has made since season 11, and at least with that season the rationale behind some of the odder choices made sense. The idea to fill the show with such a large and indiscriminate pool of people seemed super unnecessary. When I first saw the New Cast Member or Arcade Fire sketch, I legitimately could not tell them apart. They really didn’t need to bill this season as a “rebuilding year” when they already had a strong base of cast members, and this becomes very obvious by the end of the season where (if memory serves) the featured players are nearly nonexistent. As harsh as this sounds, John Milhiser and Brooks Wheelan are some of the few SNL players where I just don’t see why they were hired. Like, I don’t know what Milhiser would’ve brought to the show that couldn’t already be fulfilled by anyone else in the cast.
I love the idea of heavily focusing on the new cast for a season premiere, but I really believe this wasn’t the season where that was necessary, nor was this the cast they should’ve done it with. The actual sketch content of the episode is fine, though. It’ll be fun to see you explore Good Neighbor as this season goes on.
Seeing Bruce Chandling again reminds me that I’ve always made a comparison in my mind between Kyle Mooney and Norm Macdonald, just in terms of how people react to them.
They aren’t anything alike comedically (though Kyle did some man-on-the-street segments for Norm’s Comedy Central show pre-SNL, as Norm’s son was a Good Neighbor fan) but they have a similar thing where people who love Kyle REALLY love him and insist he’s the funniest person to ever be on SNL, but people who don’t like Kyle’s comedy get super frustrated at how much they don’t get him and how much hype and praise he gets. Norm has a similar reputation. I’m in the middle, as both Kyle and Norm have done some of what I think is among SNL’s best material, but I’ve cooled on both of them significantly in recent times.
I like Kyle, even though his material has become samey after 8 seasons, and I enjoy how much his mere existence seems to rile some fans up, but I do wish that some of his fans would stop being so shocked any time he gets a piece on the air and talking about how he’s too good for SNL and so on. There were definitely periods when he didn’t get much on, but he’s had a very active presence these last few seasons, and also gotten a number of opportunities through his SNL work (like his film). It comes to a point where it just starts to seem silly to act like a show that has brought Kyle a lot of good things (not to mention steady employment at a time when it’s more important than ever) is some kind of burden.
@Anthony Peter Coleman, yeah, that moment with Beck and Kyle is sweet. They don’t really get many pieces together these days but I’m glad they still seem to be good friends via the occasional behind the scenes videos. I sometimes wonder if having a strong friend to get through rocky times with is one of the reasons they managed to survive.
Brooks is from Iowa like myself. When the news broke that he was going to be on the show the local NBC affiliate did an interview with his family and what not. I mean that’s big stuff for small town Iowa (he’s from Manchester). I got curious and Facebook searched him and found we had a mutual friend that I worked with. I talked to the friend the next day and asked if he knew Brooks Wheelan. He said that he used to go to his house all the time for sleepovers as kids. I told him he was going to be on SNL and he was shocked. We were hoping for big things from him…but we all know how that went.
I was kind of dreading this season, but it might actually be interesting in a trainwreck kind of way. It’s the last time the show took this big of swing and missed. And that sadly includes my girl Cecily at Update.
Similar to how Stooge felt with Kristen Wiig in a mom role, it felt oddly soothing getting to Beck doing his typical “boring guy” voice in the airline sketch (I felt the same way hearing Cecily & Vanessa in their first voice over roles). It’ll be interesting watching him and Kyle over the course of the season. Neither are all time for me, but both are consistently solid and occasionally fantastic.
Funny Tina says “I’m sure he’ll be great” sarcastically about Kyle, considering his fate. Lorne’s line is also funny in retrospect, considering Kenan’s ‘the glue’ from here on out.
This season felt like such a change of pace I was kind of taken aback to not see Jost & Che. Seth being on the same show as Beck & Kyle is just odd. And, man, y’all know my feelings about Cecily, but she was just NOT the right fit as an Update anchor. The Low Winter Sun joke made me laugh though. I forgot about that show.
One of the only great lines I’ll crib from the AV is that Reese De What is the ultimate testament to Kenan’s ability to make something out of nothing. Also I believe Anderson co-writes those sketches? One of his better recurring pieces if true.
I really wanted to give Mike the benefit of the doubt and find out he was a better live performer than I remembered, but MAN does he come off stiff in that Model T sketch.
To be gross for a second, since my Tina crush predates even my Cecily crush, I was definitely a fan of them together in that last sketch. Not to mention Tina’s Farah Fawcett bumper from before it started.
Also, it was nice seeing Kyle & Beck so happy together in the goodnights. Definitely a “we made it, buddy” moment, and one that remains sweet considering how well things go for them.
I became a fan of Kyle and Beck over the course of this particular season. I later went back and watched old videos on their Good Neighbor Stuff and Kyle YouTube channels.
Also, I love ‘Nathan For You’ and Kyle wrote for the first season of that show, along with (show namesake) Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman, and Dan Mintz (voices Tina on Bob’s Burgers).
I get being on SNL is more lucrative than ever with the eyeballs you get from youtube, but I hate no one seems to ever leave the show anymore. There’s what six people still on the cast from this show?
Yes, Kenan, Cecily, Kate, Beck, Kyle, and Aidy.
Aidy has her own TV show. Kenan has his own sitcom. Cecily has her own TV show. Let the new blood shine.
John Milhiser makes Luke Null and Jon Rudnitsky look like pros. He just seems like more of a theater actor than a comedic actor. Mike is not a performer. An excellent writer, just terrible in front of the camera. Brooks should’ve just been a writer with occasional WU appearances. I could see Noël take over Nasim’s role as that part of the cast. If I had to keep one of them, I’d choose her.
I have no clue in the world how Lorne thought Cecily would be a good choice as anchor. Just because someone excels at one thing in an environment doesn’t mean they’ll excel at another. If they HAD to choose someone in the cast to be a brief WU anchor, I would’ve gone with Nasim. Rarely did we see her as herself, I think it would have been good to see her in this role.
Season Opening Sketches Ranked
*****
– First Bush/Gore Debate (S26)
– A Nonpartisan Message (S34)
****½
– The Wolverines (S1)
****
– Lily Tomlin’s Arrival (S2)
– Relatives Of The Rich And Famous (S10)
– Bush Address (S15)
– Wayne’s World (S17)
– Woody Allen At The Theater (S18)
– Clinton Auditions (S20)
– O.J. Today (S21)
– Oprah (S23)
***½
– I Love You (S4)
– Bush Address (S16)
– Clinton Address (S19)
– Oprah 2002 (S24)
– Bush Briefing (S31)
– GOP Debate (S37)
– Democratic Rally (S38)
– Obamacare Rally (S39)
***
– In The Oval Office (S3)
– The Pope (S5)
– Our Age Is Showing (S7)
– Live From Burbank (S8)
– Tartikoff’s Office (S9)
– White House Dinner (S13)
– Hanz & Franz (S14)
– Election Coverage (S22)
– Reform Party Headquarters (S25)
– Schwarzenegger Address (S29)
– Bush Rally (S32)
– A Message From Hillary Clinton (S33)
– RNC Headquarters (S36)
**½
– Drug Testing (S11)
– Cheney And The Bomb (S28)
**
– In Bed With Elliott Gould (S6)
*½
– First Bush/Kerry Debate (S30)
– Gadhafi Speech (S35)
N/A Rating
– It Was All A Dream (S12)
– 9/11 Tribute (S27)
The performances from Arcade Fire were good. Nice use of the stage and the visuals were impressive. I still remember the “Reflector” performance to this day.
Some of the sketches here we’re fun ways to introduce the new performers from the game show to the airport.
I thought Noel stood out in the Girls parody and Brooks did a nice job in the eMeth add. Beck was great in the cold open as was Kyle on Update.
I thought Cecily was a good anchor on Update and wish she got another season to get used to the desk.
Concerning that last sentence, I felt the same.
Had Kenan & Jay publicly committed to no longer doing drag on the show by this time?
Is this the season where Kenan’s public statements led to Sasheer getting hired? (In Leslie Jones’ New Yorker profile, she made it seem as though that was strategic–Kenan created even more pressure on the show to acknowledge Black women in comedy.)
This was one of the many seasons that I missed (I’m catching up, between these reviews & YouTube), but it’s still disappointing to see the show hire six people, none of them of color. That being said, it’s kind of sad to know that most of their tenures will be very short.
It was this season, yes.
https://www.tvguide.com/news/snl-diversity-issue-kenan-thompson-1072056/