Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
fake sign-language interpreter (KET) gets on Barack Obama’s (JAP) nerves
— SNL gets in their obligatory spoof of the clueless sign language interpreter at the then-recent Nelson Mandela memorial service.
— Kenan’s doing a decent job, but this feels like an inferior reprisal of the translator bit in the preceding season’s Hurricane Sandy Press Conference cold opening, which worked much better for me. SNL should’ve gone with a more original angle in this spoof of the Mandela translator.
— A good laugh from Kenan’s sign language for the word “thrilled” being him doing the Thriller dance.
— I like how there’s a growing story arc in Kate’s Angela Merkel appearances, with us finding out more and more about her crush on President Obama.
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
host & KET sing “All I Want For Christmas Is Booty”
— Boy, does it feel nice seeing John Goodman entering the home base stage again for the first time in 13 years. It’s also a novelty seeing him entering this particular home base stage for his first-ever time, which just goes to show you how long it’s been since he last hosted, given how extremely long this particular home base stage had been used by this point (and would continue to be used long afterwards, to this day in 2020). Hell, Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was so long ago that not even Kenan was in the cast yet back then.
— Goodman brings up the fact that he hosted SNL every year from 1989 to 2001. To nitpick, he didn’t host in 1991. And, if by “year”, he meant season, he didn’t host in season 26.
— Only two segments into tonight’s episode, and we’re already getting an early sign of how extremely dominant Kenan will be in tonight’s episode.
— Catchy song, but the lyrics themselves aren’t anything special, and this isn’t exactly the type of monologue I want to see Goodman doing for his big return after a long hiatus. This feels like a monologue they could do with almost any host.
STARS: **½
GUY FIERI’S FULL THROTTLE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
bad taste characterizes Guy Fieri’s (BOM) Christmas special
— For some bizarre reason, when the camera is on a close-up of Brooks (who looks unrecognizable in this) as Kid Rock showing us his Bud Lime Gazpacho drink, his line about the drink is completely muted out, even though the background music still plays as normal. What the hell?
— Hilarious occasional animation sequences of Bobby’s Guy Fieri punching various famous Christmas characters in the face.
— I have no familiarity with Big Ang, but Kate is hilarious as her here.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2013 mistakenly thinking that the Duck Dynasty guys were played by four of the five new male featured players, as SNL’s way of doing a meta joke about how supposedly interchangeable the new male featured players are (I don’t agree with that latter part, for the record). Heh, that’s actually Kings of Leon playing the Duck Dynasty guys.
— Pretty funny seeing Bobby as all of the Pawn Stars guys.
— Throughout this commercial, in various groups shots of celebrities, you can see Noel as one of the celebrities, but she never gets a line, a close-up, nor does this commercial even bother to tell us who she’s playing. According to various people who saw the full version of this commercial one way or another, Noel’s playing Reba McEntire, who she would play again later this season in a Celebrity Family Feud sketch. In the shortened on-air version of this commercial that I’m currently reviewing, all of Noel’s main parts are completely cut. (*sigh*) Yet ANOTHER sign of how this season’s new featured players keep getting screwed over.
STARS: ***
DANCE OF THE SNOWFLAKES
snowflake-costumed (host), (VAB), (KET), (AIB) rue holiday pageant dance
— Goodman’s delivery of his first inner thought, “Oh, no. Is this…….DUMB???”, gave me a good laugh.
— I love Kenan’s first inner thought: “Hooollllyyy f(*bleep*)!”
— A nice out-of-the-ordinary structure to this sketch with almost all of the dialogue being pre-taped inner monologues.
— More good lines from Kenan throughout this, especially “My wife’s never gonna wanna see my penis again.”
— An unexpected and interesting happy ending with the characters suddenly convincing themselves to be proud of what they’re doing.
STARS: ***
THREE WISE GUYS
wise guys (host), (Sylvester Stallone), (Robert De Niro) go to see Jesus
— Ohho, no. NO. I recall this sketch being absolutely DREADFUL, and one of the nadirs of this season.
— I wish I could be more excited about a Sylvester Stallone cameo. The DeNiro cameo, on the other hand? Get him off my screen.
— Ugh, so many bad, hacky, and groanworthy wiseguy lines throughout this. Not even that camel toe one-liner of Stallone’s could elicit so much as a smirk from me.
— Making this already-painfully unfunny sketch even worse is the fact that it is SO damn sluggishly paced.
— Aaaaaaand there goes that obligatory halting, delayed delivery from DeNiro that you can always depend on whenever he appears on SNL. At one point here, he even squints hard when struggling to read the word “Frankincense” off the cue card.
— Overall, yep. This lived up (or down?) to my extremely negative memory of it. Pure oof.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Temple”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Santa Claus (KET) makes an appearance to reveal that he is indeed black
Drunk Uncle & his Drunker Uncle (host) take issue with the holiday season
— Some good comments from Kenan all throughout his Santa commentary.
— Seth and Cecily’s jokes tonight are an okay improvement over their very blah jokes in the preceding episode’s Update.
— A big laugh from Drunk Uncle’s opening “I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas” bit.
— Drunk Uncle: “We got Black Friday now???? Barf! Wasn’t February enough?”
— Tonight’s Drunk Uncle commentary feels faster-paced than usual. He’s still a riot as usual.
— Nice inclusion of Goodman as “Drunker Uncle”.
— (*groan*) Freakin’ Seth and that damn habit he often has of loudly laughing off-camera during a guest commentator’s segment. His loud off-camera guffawing made it a little hard to hear the ending of Goodman’s funny opening line: “All I want for Christmas…is my two neighbors not to be Chinese anymore.”
— A sweet ending with even the harsh Drunk Uncle giving Seth a sincere goodbye hug because, as is acknowledged here, this is the final Update that Drunk Uncle and Seth are appearing in together before Seth’s soon-to-come departure. (Between Vanessa’s Jacob commentary in the preceding episode’s Update and now this Drunk Uncle commentary in tonight’s Update, SNL is kinda making Seth’s departure seem like it’s coming sooner than you’d think. We still have four episodes left of him after this.) Speaking of which, seeing Goodman’s Drunker Uncle also hug Seth during this acknowledgment of Seth’s departure makes me realize something: Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was all the way back in Seth’s fourth episode as a cast member (and an important night for him, as that was his breakout episode, after he quietly spent his first three episodes not standing out at all and being considered by SNL fans to be interchangeable with one of his fellow newbies, Jeff Richards), and now Goodman’s return as host just so happens to be one of Seth’s last episodes as a cast member, which means Goodman basically bookends Seth’s SNL tenure. Interesting coincidence. This also makes you realize just how extremely long Seth has been a cast member.
STARS: ***
TOO HOT
lawyer (CES) argues that (BEB) fired mannish (host) for being too sexy
— I love how Taran’s opening argument to the “Fired for being too hot” claim made about Goodman’s female character is just Taran saying “I meaaannnn…” while gesturing towards Goodman.
— Mixed feelings towards this concept, given how hacky “men in drag” humor can be in more recent decades, but Goodman seems like he can make this work, especially after we’ve gotten such a long break from seeing him host SNL.
— Goodman’s “Tee hee!”s are cracking me up, and it turns out he’s indeed making this material work. The supporting performers are also helping make this work, especially Taran, who’s a solid straight man here.
— Funny dance moves from Beck (who’s stuck in nothing but two non-speaking roles all night) at the end.
STARS: ***½
FIRE SAFETY
fireman’s (host) holiday safety message is flipped completely by Shallon
— Like last time, Nasim is very funny as this character.
— Yikes, Milhiser clearly missed a line at one point, as the camera cuts to a close shot of him when he’s supposed to say his second line in this sketch, only for him to just sit there blankly, unaware that it’s his turn to deliver the next line, leading to long awkward silence before an off-camera Goodman tries to keep the sketch moving by jumping ahead of the script a little and saying his own next line. Right as Goodman does this, Milhiser FINALLY starts saying his line, only to immediately cut himself off because Goodman is now speaking. I like Milhiser and generally feel really bad for how screwed-over he got in terms of airtime this season, but man, you’d figure he’d cherish the few lines he got in this sketch, given how little he gets to speak or do anything on SNL. I remember how, back at this time in 2013-2014, gaffes like the one Milhiser made here contributed to me feeling that most of this season’s newbies came off awfully green, and made me wonder if THAT was the reason why they barely got any airtime this season. In my re-watch of this season, I’m not finding the newbies to be all that green, minus Mike O’Brien and the gaffe that Milhiser made here.
— So far, this is just a variation of the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, only with the kids’ van fascination being replaced with a fireplace fascination. This variation, while still providing a few laughs, isn’t working anywhere near as well for me as the first installment did.
— A good laugh from Aidy randomly saying, when the kids are proudly saying which dangerous fireplace-related location they’re going to hide in, “I’m gonna hide in a dry cleaning bag!”
— Goodman is quite stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch. Also, I’m not finding him to be as good a straight man as Edward Norton was in the first installment of this sketch. Goodman’s performance seemed especially off towards the end of the sketch right before Kate came back into the classroom.
STARS: **½
HALLMARK CHANNEL COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
Hallmark Channel is chock-full of tedious holiday movies with minor stars
— A good laugh from the “Phylicia Rashad’s Christmas Nap” movie title.
— An overall quick, simple, and decent-enough piece.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wait For Me”
THE CHRISTMAS WHISTLE
movie’s titular noise drives characters crazy
— Two-and-a-half minutes into this sketch, and the only thing I can think of to say in my review is that the whistle sound is pretty annoying. Yes, that’s the point, but that doesn’t automatically make it funny, which it certainly isn’t. And nothing else funny has been happening in this so far.
— Bobby’s off-camera yell of “What the hell is a Christmas whistle?!?!?” made me laugh, only because of his delivery.
— We at least get a decent bit regarding Kate’s mother, played by Aidy.
— Not even Taran’s walk-on at the end can save this, as much as I like the characterization he’s doing here.
STARS: *½
H&M
(JAP) & Wale [real] rap about H&M’s cheap, colorful, undersized clothes
— What the heck is that (admittedly catchy-sounding) lyric that Jay keeps singing at the beginning of his song? I can’t understand the last few words of it, despite how frequently he keeps singing that same lyric over and over: “You an H&M shoppin’ (something something something)”. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer my question.
— This is another segment tonight that I’m having a very hard time finding anything to say about. Aside from a few amusing cutaways of Kyle and Mike suavely looking into the camera while wearing stylish clothes, and the brief sequence with Goodman straining when putting on skinny jeans, I’m not even sure this music video is supposed to be funny or entertaining as an SNL piece. It’s become white noise to me after a while. For all I know, this could be a legit H&M commercial that just so happens to feature SNL cast members and John Goodman. It might as well be, because it sure ain’t working as a comedy piece.
— Overall, blah. I guess not all of this season’s music videos can be winners.
STARS: *½
LAST CALL
drunk & lonely (host) & Sheila Sovage settle for a sad make-out session
— Kenan’s extremely busy night concludes. He’s been all over this episode, far more than most of his fellow repertory players. I remember this really bothered a number of online SNL fans at the time (including me, though I’ve gained a much bigger appreciation for Kenan in these re-watches of mine), who were not pleased with SNL’s decision to make Kenan the cast’s new utility player this season in general.
— A very funny “66” bit from Kate.
— As usual in this recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery absolutely kills, and also as usual in this recurring sketch, we get some good gross-out humor here. But so far at this point of SNL’s run, there has yet to be a Last Call installment that comes close to measuring up to the great first one. I believe that eventually changes, as I recall some really strong installments with Woody Harrelson, Larry David, and Dave Chappelle, though my memories of what actually occurs in those installments are fuzzy. I’m pretty eager to revisit them.
— Sheila Sovage: “My heart and my genitals say ‘no’. But my hypoglycemia says ‘yes’.”
— Great whipped cream make-out session between Sovage and Goodman, both of whom are going all out.
— An absolutely hilarious and outrageous sequence with Goodman motor-boating Sovage as she makes cat orgasm noises. Tonight’s Last Call installment is getting funnier and funnier as it goes along. While it, for me personally, still doesn’t quite measure up to the first installment, it’s very close.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mediocre episode. A lot of pretty forgettable stuff, some flat-out weak stuff, and one of the worst sketches in recent memory (Three Wise Guys). The only segment all night that I gave an above average rating to happens to be a sketch that didn’t air until the very end of the episode (Last Call). Hell, there was almost nothing in this episode that even got so much as a mere three-and-a-half-star rating from me. An overall letdown for John Goodman’s big hosting return. Not only that, but it doesn’t even lead to Goodman going back to hosting regularly or at least semi-regularly. After his return in this episode, he’s seemingly gone back to no longer hosting the show.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Last Call
Too Hot
Dance of the Snowflakes
Guy Fieri’s Full Throttle Christmas Special
Weekend Update
Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas
Monologue
Fire Safety
Presidential Address
H&M
The Christmas Whistle
Three Wise Guys
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Rudd)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jimmy Fallon hosts the Christmas episode
I’m not sure it’s this one, but there is one season where it seems like everyone is stumbling over their lines. Someone wondered if it was because of all the pretapes.
I still remember the Three Wise Guys sketch, but forgot everything else. It was a huge letdown given who was involved. You would think that Stallone, DeNiro and especially Goodman would enhance the writing. The sketch just didn’t work beyond its one-joke premise.
I thought Goodman could come back to SNL after he started working on The Conners. Guess not.
To promote the bad Grudge Match aswell
I believe he’s saying “You a H&M shopping-ass NINJA.”
Yeah, I feel like even watching this episode when I was 13 and less of a surveyor of passable taste, I found this episode to be weirdly lethargic and baffling. I don’t mind the snowflake sketch, “Too Hot” is dumb enough to work against all odds, and “Last Call” is almost always appreciated, but there’s nothing really unique on display across this episode, and it feels like it’s just coasting along in a crowdpleasy way (cameos! music videos! parody sketch!) as if they had little real confidence in Goodman as a veteran host. It only ever really becomes torturous with “Three Wise Guys,” but the laziness of how this episode trudges along makes it feel worse altogether to me. While there’s probably worse episodes this season, this episode isn’t even interesting to look back on in a fun way; it’s just so mundane, and maybe the only time I’ll agree that an S39 episode is fully shaky.
Throughout the season’s first-half, it was assumed that Seth would leave after the Christmas show which may explain the emotional farewells leading up. It wasn’t confirmed until the day of that he was staying a bit longer and his departure wouldn’t officially be announced until the week of the Jonah Hill episode.
Goodman admitted in an interview that he “felt every one of my 61 years” between dress and air, and ran out of energy. That plus Forte’s two cuts contribute to the “shaky feel” of this show. A shame since it likely means Goodman doesn’t want to host again
DRESS CUTS
Update – Will Forte – Nebraska song
~ Forte’s new film “Nebraska” is a drama, which he is not used to; and people seem to like it, which he is also not used to. So he sings a song encouraging everybody to see “Nebraska”, despite him being in it. Will constantly reminds everybody that this new movie is not like “MacGruber”, where he stuck celery up his butt. If everybody sees this movie, he will return the favor by “seeing a movie you are in, if you make a movie and somehow get back to me”
Good Neighbor – Good For You
~ Holiday party: Beck and Kyle recognize each other from days passed. Kyle’s start-up company (that Beck missed an opportunity to join) is successful with his business partner Trevor, whom Beck hates. Kyle’s life is pretty great, including a hot fiancé (Kate). Beck’s jealousy causes him to punch a bread bowl full of dip, then use the bread to wipe his hand. Kyle’s doctor/friend (Forte) interrupts the conversation. Beck’s envious that Kyle has a friend who is also a doctor. Forte tells Kyle, “Your results are back: You are very strong”, infuriating Beck further. Kyle finally asks Beck what he’s been up to. Beck starts crying and stammers out: “Building robots… but it’s SO HARD! I can’t make them work. I’ve only gotten this far”: he holds up a small, crumpled piece of paper. Kyle & Forte feel sorry for Beck. Beck says he doesn’t want to go back outside because he doesn’t even have a jacket. Kyle offers his coat, but Beck points to Forte and says he wants the doctor’s jacket. Kyle & Forte also give Beck tickets to something I forgot. Once he has the jacket and tickets, Beck cheerily tells both “Merry Christmas. PEACE!”
Breakaway Chair Room
~ At Belasco Prank And Novelty Goods, boss (Goodman)’s secretary (Vanessa) brings in employee Tony (Bobby). Tony takes a seat, but chair folds underneath him. Boss says he has some bad news, and perhaps The Breakaway Chair Room isn’t the right place to reveal this, but Tony’s mother has taken a turn for the worse. Tony is overcome with emotion and sits on another Breakaway Chair. Boss says he has to pay for that chair and points to the sign saying so (“Employees Must Pay For Second Broken Chair”). Tony says he should call his wife to let her know. Boss looks up her number in his own phone, and Tony wonders why he has her digits. Boss reveals he’s having an affair with Tony’s wife. Tony then sits on the Fart Chair (whoopie cushion), The Shocker (electric chair), and a third Breakaway Chair. More flatulence is heard; Boss says “That one was ME farting.” Boss then brings out a chair with a sign that reads “REAL CHAIR”. Tony hesitates, then sits, as the chair yet again breaks under him. Boss calls in the janitor, Sanchez (Killam), and asks him why he put a “REAL CHAIR” sign on a Breakaway Chair. Sanchez replies, “Is funny?” Tony says he’s on edge because his mother Emily is sick. Sanchez responds: “My Emily?!” Boss laughs and tells Tony “Oooh boy, the hits keep coming!” Tony freaks out and tries to rough up Boss with a foam bat. Failing that, he grabs a gun. Boss tells him to keep cool because he is holding a real gun, not a bubble gun. Tony fires, but bubbles emit. Boss admits “I wouldn’t get to where I am today if I told the truth all the time!” Tony storms out. Boss tells secretary to send Tony a pink slip and a dozen roses. “Squirt roses or real ones?” “Six of each.”
~ Seth wrote this; he and Goodman talk about it a lil bit here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNBiskwzkO8
Novelty Players
~ Locker room at halftime: football players (Kenan, Taran, Bobby, O’Brien, several extras) are fired up because they’re winning. Coach (Goodman) is so excited, he’s going to put underdog Toby (Mooney) in the game. Nobody thought Toby would ever get to play, but now’s his chance. Coach’s phone rings, and he privately has a conversation about losing the game to “beat the spread” and win big bucks. Coach then tells the team’s equipment manager (Vanessa) to suit up: she’s the new quarterback. Less enthusiasm from the players about this choice. Coach then recruits Stereo (Pharoah parodying Radio), a mentally challenged boy wearing headphones. Taran talks to Coach about his sudden interest in “a lot of novelty players”. Coach still wants more: sick Pips (Brooks) is bed-ridden but says he’ll play despite his “jelly bones”. Coach tops off the roster with Bark Sanchez, the football-playing dog. Taran snaps and declares that, as captain for the last 4 years, he won’t stand for this. Coach chokes Taran, who gasps “Dad!” as he breathes his last. Exterior shot of the stadium with the announcer (Steve Higgins v/o) calling the game: “Bark Sanchez throws a touchdown pass to Jellybones for the win!”
America Slangs And Jokes As Well
~ full title is much longer, which fits the overall theme of convoluted English. These are the last six words of the actual title
~ Foreigners (O’Brien & Cecily) advertise a tape of English phrases to use in everyday conversation, phrases they hear all the time, like “Are you male or female? Both. I want both of you to answer” & “That’s not food and it never was and you know it” Their friend Yolanda (Nasim) talks about more expressions, something about being a pervert on nude beaches in Florida. Security guard (Goodman) also shares some phrases, like “This building is condemned”
~ this was the fourth pre-tape (fifth if you count Hallmark Xmas), but the only one that wasn’t necessarily made this week. Goodman’s solo scene makes me think this was cut from a few prior episodes and the host segment always redone. Sadly, Jamie Klein’s famously-puzzling weekly dress reports stopped after Jeremy Renner’s show in Nov 2012, so we don’t know much about what was cut from season 39, which is a shame because the new cast must’ve gotten some chances in dress over the year (I really wanna see Little Buff Boys with Brooks, Kenan, & Lena Dunham)
Ellen
~ Ellen DeGeneres (Kate) starts her show off by dancing. Deranged audience member (Cecily) demands more dancing. Ellen says she never should’ve danced on the first show, but rather eaten chocolate or something else she likes. DJ (Kenan) plays the hardest song he knows: “Hey Ya!” by OutKast. Ellen thanks her writing staff (Aidy + 3 dogs) for a joke. Aidy points to the middle canine: “He wrote that one!” 2 British kids – Sophia (Vanessa) & Rosie (Nasim) – ask “Do we still have parents?” Ellen shrugs with a “Whaddya want me to say?” face. Ellen tells the audience that her head of security (Goodman) is going to play a practical joke on today’s guest, Christoph Waltz (Killam). Christoph tells Ellen he is frightened of bears. Goodman sneaks up on him in a bear costume, which Christoph sees coming. Goodman then talks about his irrational fear of spiders. Guy in a spider costume (Mooney) sneaks up and scares Goodman. Goodman yells “DIE!” as he tazes the spider
~ some intro elements worked into the Ellen sketch on 3/1/14: Ellen hates dancing, DJ plays OutKast, dog writers
TIDS & BITS
open: after Merkel exits, Kim Jong-un (Bobby) convinces Obama to give him a little high five. Many cameras flash, then Kim laughs and says “I’m gonna go kill some more relatives!” while moonwalking off the stage
monologue: Goodman talked more about his filmography from the last 10 years ** 2 sexy dancers in green dresses accompanied the singing ** Goodman & Kenan joined on stage by famous women, with comments on their respective booties: Angelina Jolie (Cecily) plus a baby, Queen Elizabeth (Vanessa), Taylor Swift (Kate), Björk (Noël), Peppermint Patty from “Peanuts” (Nasim), & the Wendy’s girl (Aidy)
Aidy also played Gal Fieri, Guy’s sister. The two shared a mouth kiss (HUGE groan from the audience). Noël as Reba had a line or two
Too Hot: Geneviève showed off some of her work clothes, including a “conservative work skirt” (giant hole in crotch) and edible underwear (“This one’s diet!”). She also claimed her co-workers call her “Dreambutt Supreme”
Update: after a joke set-up about a couple calling 911 because McDonald’s forgot their hash browns, Seth & Cecily turn to the audience: “First of all, we’re not a couple!” and rant about hash browns. Too bad more of their “chemistry” pieces didn’t make it to air ** Cecily told a joke about Aron Ralston being jailed for domestic violence, which the audience didn’t like (wish I remembered the punchline). She then turned to the crowd and starting ribbing everybody: “Somebody was abused, and that’s what you groan about?!” ** cut joke: “Rebecca Black released a new song, ‘Saturday’, a follow-up to her hit ‘Friday’. Apparently her 15 minutes of fame are rollover minutes.” I only remember this one because Cecily chided the crowd for their tepid response ** Black Santa read “The Night Before Christmas” from a rolled-up scroll instead of a thick book. This actually got a pretty good laugh, so yet another strange decision to change it
Snowflakes: schmaltzy ending tacked on for the live show. Originally, the canned audience booed, leaving the performers standing there ashamed. Kenan still yelled “My boner’s back!”
Last Call: the two correctly guessed each other’s drink of choice: a warm white wine with pearl onions for Sheila, a shaken can of Killian’s for Vernon
Stallone & De Niro didn’t bother to show up for goodnights in dress either. Forte was there, though, waiting to be shut out of the live show
DRESS RUNDOWN
Obama
monologue
FULL THROTTLE
Shallon
Breakaway Chair Room (CUT)
H&M
novelty players (CUT)
too hot
HALLMARK
Kings Of Leon #1
Update
Santa Claus
Will Forte (CUT)
Drunk Uncles
Christmas Whistle
Ellen (CUT)
SLANGS & JOKES (CUT)
Three Wise Guys
Kings Of Leon #2
Snowflake Dance
GOOD FOR YOU (CUT)
Last Call
goodnights
Wow, so strange to me that two Will Forte cameos would get cut. They definitely would’ve improved the episode.
Holy shit, I can’t believe SNL would completely scrap WILL FORTE cameos. What’s the point of even inviting alum on if you’re not gonna use them in the end? I know it’s happened a few times and that always baffles me, but both a Forte song on Update and appearing in a Good Neighbor sketch?? That’s outright criminal and makes me like this episode even less…
I don’t know if it’s the interview that you’re referring to, but Goodman told Howard Stern that he realized in doing the show again that he was too old and didn’t have the energy to host anymore.
Big Ang was part of the “Mob Wives” reality series. She sounded like u would imagine.
Man I never knew about those two Forte cameos. It would have been epic to see Forte, Beck and Mooney together! I often felt he should have hosted this season because of Nebraska.
@FeaturingEmilyPrager, thanks for the detailed list. I wonder if this is one of the reasons Will has little to do with the show, beyond the 2016 cameo – allowing him to go and possibly have a piece plugging his film only to cut it in dress is especially odd to me.
Do any of you remember that badly truncated sketch Beck has in Idris Elba’s episode that we heard he had been trying to get on for years? Is it me or does some of that sketch remind you of this short?
(I hit “post” too soon)
As Kyle is the one “quirky/weird” type of guy who has managed to find a placement on SNL post-Forte, it disappoints me that we didn’t see the moment between them that passes the torch.
I have to respect John Goodman for realizing that coming back to host was probably a mistake. To be honest I think he should have stopped somewhere in the mid-90s, and just done the Linda Tripp cameos after that (those seemed to be the main time he had fun anyway).
@John Here’s a recent appearance by Beck Bennett on Brooks Wheelen’s podcast
https://allthingscomedy.com/podcast/entry-level/episode-235—beck-bennett
at 1:16:50 Beck brings up his audition including a character which forms what would be in the cut Beck/Kyle/Forte film and later re-tooled for the Idris Elba sketch. Beck and Brooks then blasts confounded that “hero” Forte’s 2 pieces get cut from air and Beck does a nice lil’ impression of Will.
I also saw on Instagram that (if I read correctly) Will’s dress performances were for a Make-a-Wish kid who ‘wanted to see his favorite SNL player’ (I thought I took a screenshot of that Instagram post (Will and kid posing backstage) but I currently can’t find it…)
@rssk, thank you so much for finding that podcast!
This was the point in the season where I really started feeling done with SNL; of course, I couldn’t stay away for long, but there were shows where I didn’t bother watching live or tuned out if the first bit wasn’t promising enough.
The pandering in the next show was the last straw (and I didn’t even say anything about that godawful Gay Scrooge sketch): https://bronwynjoan.com/blog/2013/12/22/giving-up-on-snl
I remember reading your end of the season article on S39, especially when four of the six newbies (seven after Sasheer arrives) were shown the door. I agreed with everything you wrote on the show.
https://bronwynjoan.com/blog/2014/5/18/snl-season-39-autopilot-with-distractions
https://bronwynjoan.com/blog/2014/7/23/fired-rookies-designated-stars-and-the-troubling-snl-status-quo
It was sad when a lot of the new hires were not given much of a chance to show off their talents, but come January, they almost didn’t even exist. It was more evident during the S39 finale when a lot of the celebs and alum were front and center blocking the current cast members during the goodnights. Plus, there was that digital short were it ended with their heads being exploded. It kind of reminded me of the party being set ablaze in the S11 finale.
Speaking of, I loved the S6-S11 reviews @Bronwyn.
You think the treatment of Season 39’s newbies is bad, wait until you see how they treat the newbies of Season 46. Seriously, we’re 14 episodes in, and these newbies still haven’t gotten any noteworthy roles.
So far in S46, the newbies season’s have gone:
Andrew:
-2 pre tapes
-Occasional supporting role
-Subset of fans online who think he’s cute because he’s young and looks a bit like Mulaney (hey, it’s not nothing)
Lauren:
-One Update piece
-Played a girlfriend character once
-Other than that, gets maybe 1 line an episode
Punkie:
-Supporting role in most race/LGBT themed sketches.
-Was pretty funny as a mobster in the Burr episode (this is the only thing one of the newbies has done so far I can actually remember laughing at, though Dismukes gets a chuckle every once with his delivery.)
I think this is one of those shows that in a vacuum, on paper, it seems good or okay, but the execution didn’t work. Goodman didn’t have the energy, the performances and timing were off in a lot of sketches, and there’s a fair share of one-joke, lame idea sketches that might have worked if the viewer was in a better mood.
The Last Call sketches just have never clicked for me aside from the first one. They’re not bad and Kate and the hosts are usually really good in them, but they’re flimsy, repetitive premises for me, certainly not enough to justify their frequent appearances.
Both Kenan and Cecily got super pushes this season, in my opinion–Kenan wasn’t really bad, but I prefer him in later seasons when he serves as a nice rock of a supporting anchor in a variety of sketches. I got burned out on Cecily this season because I found her Update performance subpar and a lot of her tics gradually annoyed me. This was also the era when I thought Kate could do no wrong. Over time, I grew to like Cecily more and Kate less. I do not know if others share this view. Of course, now I am at the point when I am sick of both of them.
I had kind of a similar thing with Kate and Cecily. I think I was always cautious with Kate. She knew how to pop the crowd but she always danced with diminishing returns. I think now that we’re fully ensconced in her “how can we love you if you won’t go away” period, all the things that made Kate “work” in the early seasons are kind of her enemy. She is one of the most indulgent performers the show had ever had.
Cecily got pushed too hard, too early and it kind of cratered her rep among many online fans, but I think over time she has proven herself to be the most capable actress in the cast. She was miscast as an Update anchor and I think some of her character choices in years 2-5 were tough for some, but she, like Kenan, flourishes in support roles. These last few years have really highlighted Cecily’s abilities. That said, it’s year 9, so GTFO.
I wonder if Kate’s indulgence is so much directly related to her long time on the show. Like Gilda was a beloved performer and an unquestioned great, but was also pretty indulgent, especially if you watch the seasons in a row and see how many times she dragged out certain characters. Like Kate, Gilda also seemed to not like to play characters that the audience would not like or find off-putting, almost like she was addicted to their laughter and love. But she was only on for five years and was kinda burnt out by the fifth, so we never really found her tiresome. I would imagine if she was on for seven plus years, there would have been a backlash against her too.
(In Gilda’s defense, she never did any of the more recent, bizarre, audience pandering segments Kate has recently done.)
That Breakaway Chair sketch sounds hilarious. Did they attempt that one in any future episodes? Just on Prager’s description, I’ll take 90 minutes of that on a loop vs. anything the show has done so far this season.
Five-Timers Individual Rankings:
7.8 – John Goodman/Everclear (21.15)
7.7 – John Goodman/Paula Cole (23.12)
7.6 – John Goodman /K.D. Lang (15.07)
7.6 – John Goodman/Faith No More (16.07)
7.4 – John Goodman/Jewel (22.19)
7.3 – John Goodman/Tom Petty (24.17)
7.3 – John Goodman/Ja Rule (27.04)
6.9 – John Goodman/Garth Brooks (17.15)
6.7 – John Goodman/Tragically Hip (20.16)
6.3 – John Goodman/Mary J. Blige (18.15)
6.0 – John Goodman/Pretenders (19.19)
6.0 – John Goodman/Neil Young (25.18)
5.2 – John Goodman/Kings of Leon (39.09)
Stallone and De Niro were there to promote the awful Grudge Match like last time with the Anchorman cast could they make it more obvious they are plugging a film.