Tag: 1997-98

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May 9, 1998 – David Duchovny / Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page (S23 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE X FILES
Mulder (host) rebuff puts Janet Reno (WIF) in Krycek’s (Nicholas Lea) arm

— A good reveal of “Deep Throat” turning out to be Will’s Janet Reno.
— I like Mulder’s facial reaction to Reno’s invitation for him to come over, watch the movie Aliens, and have brie.
— Hilarious line from Reno about treating Mulder to an unbelievably ferocious orgasm, which is her definition of a UFO.
— Reno drop-kicking Molly’s Scully to the ground was pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host gets frustrated upon dropping a pick into his boyhood guitar

— David is coming off more charismatic here than he did when he last hosted SNL in season 20.
— I’m enjoying David’s increasingly frustrated demeanor when trying to get the pick out of the guitar, eventually getting to the point where he smashes the guitar to pieces while saying he hates his father.
STARS: ***½


CHEERLEADING CAMP
(host) instructs Craig & Arianna at Paula Abdul [real] Cheerleading Camp

— After getting their sketch buried in a late spot in the show when they last appeared, the Cheerleaders are back in their usual spot as the lead-off sketch of the night. Just when I thought SNL was phasing out these dying characters…
— Actually, despite what I said above, there’s only two more Cheerleaders sketches remaining after tonight’s episode, one in each of the following two seasons. So, yep, these characters are being phased out after all.
— David’s offbeat characterization in this is cracking me up. This is completely unlike the deadpan, dry performances he gave all throughout his season 20 episode. I’ve been impressed by all of his performances so far tonight.
— David: “My nipples are the size of dinner plates.”
— I like the Jerry Springer Show cheer that Craig and Arianna do.
— A laugh from Craig and Arianna initially confusing Paula Abdul for both Rosie Perez and Debbie Allen.
— Overall, an improvement over the subpar sketch the Cheerleaders last appeared in with Scott Wolf. This didn’t have the sad, desperate, dying feel that was evident in the Scott Wolf Cheerleaders sketch.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“A Hard One To Swallow” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo seeks origins

— Surprisingly, this entire season has only had TWO Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons total. That’s very little compared to the preceding season.
— Interesting how this is a continuation of the ending from the last Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon.
— A lot of laughs from the suggestive uses of the phallic crystals.
— The ending felt abrupt.
— During the TV Funhouse ending credits, there’s a change made to Lorne’s final “Leggo… my… show!”, where we now get an echo-ish effect used on the word “show”, which is a funny touch. Did they only do that because it’s the final TV Funhouse of the season?
STARS: ****


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Minnie Driver (MOS), Jeff Goldblum (host)

   

— This is the first Celebrity Jeopardy sketch without Norm Macdonald’s Burt Reynolds, who was a staple of these sketches until now. Darrell’s Sean Connery impression, making only his second appearance in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, ends up becoming the new staple of these sketches.
— David continues to step it up tonight, as his Jeff Goldblum impression is hilarious and spot-on.
— A classic category mix-up, with Darrell’s Connery reading off “therapists” as “the rapists”.
— I absolutely love Will-as-Alex-Trebek’s angry delivery of “It’s a friggin’ hammer!” when the contestants can’t figure out what the object he’s holding is.
— A great and memorable part with the very long-winded clues given for the “Who is the current U.S. president?” question, which the camera has to keep scrolling down in order to show the entire thing.
— Will’s Trebek has been having so many great lines tonight. We now get yet another one: “And the show has reached a new low.”
— Sean Connery: “(triumphantly) Then I’m the cock of the walk!”
— What’s up with Will’s voice? It’s strangely sounding more and more hoarse as this sketch goes on.
— Alex Trebek: “Mr. Goldblum evidently doing Tai Chi over there.”
— Overall, an all-around classic. This was what I feel is the first of many five-star-worthy Celebrity Jeopardy sketches.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Come With Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Dominican Lou disregards Bill Clinton & complains about a rival super
unshaven & pantyhoseless Cinder Calhoun says “Unshackle My Legs”

— For the first time in months, a Colin Quinn Update begins with him going right into the traditional news jokes instead of doing a straight-to-camera rant.
— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’re seeing Dominican Lou in an entire year.
— I love Tracy-as-Dominican-Lou’s heavy-accented pronunciation of “I could beat him”, which comes out sounding like “I coo be heem”.
— I got a good laugh from Dominican Lou’s response to the Puerto Rican flag-burning controversy from the most recent episode of Seinfeld: “I don’t care. They Puerto Rican. I Dominican.”
— Cinder Calhoun’s pantyhose protest song isn’t as funny as her usual songs. I hate to say it, but I think I’m starting to get a little tired of this character. Thankfully, I believe she has only one appearance remaining (and it’s one where she’s shown live via satellite reporting from Lilith Fair, so at least we get a bit of a change of pace for her there).
STARS: ***


MANGO
host is enraptured by Mango; cameos by John Goodman, Matt Lauer, Al Roker

— After every single preceding Mango sketch used the exact same template as each other, SNL finally does something different with a Mango sketch. I’m sure I still won’t be crazy about this sketch, though, especially since we don’t have Garth Brooks around to save it again.
— The usual montage of the host being distracted by a thought-bubble fantasy of Mango while trying to do daily activities is coming off a little better than usual tonight, with the amusing Today Show scene. I’ll just ignore how awkward it now feels to see a Matt Lauer cameo, knowing what we now know about him.
— A memorable part with Matt Lauer’s thought-bubble fantasy being about Al Roker doing Mango’s dance.
— Random John Goodman cameo. A precursor to the countless number of Goodman cameos we’re soon going to be seeing in the upcoming season 24.
— Uh, is Goodman drunk? Something sure seems… off about him here.
STARS: **½


OPRAH
Goat Boy is reunited with his brother (host)

 

— Feels kinda weird seeing an Oprah/Goat Boy crossover.
— This ends up being Goat Boy’s final appearance, as tonight turns out to be Jim’s last episode before getting fired over the summer. I like Jim, but I can’t say I’m going to miss this particular character.
— I definitely didn’t need the addition of David Duchovny as Goat Boy #2.
— This sketch has been doing nothing for me. The sketch is just a whole bunch of Jim and David doing goat-braying sounds over each other. Ugh, why not also bring back Chevy Chase as “Cow Man” while we’re at it? That’s the only way this sketch can get any worse for me.
— Okay, this sketch sure has taken a unexpected turn all of a sudden, with David’s Goat Boy #2 gradually trying to hump Jim’s Goat Boy out of nowhere, eventually leading to both of them getting into a fight with each other. I admit, that’s actually making me laugh.
— Overall, blah, though this did get a little better with the aforementioned turn near the end. For a sketch that ends up inadvertently being Jim’s swan song, Jim deserved to go out on a better note.
STARS: **


INTERBANK
Interbank will do much more than replace your stolen travellers’ checks

— It feels kinda rare for a season finale to have a new pre-taped fake ad.
— Very funny bit with Interbank chasing down and attacking Chris for stealing Will and Molly’ travellers checks.
— Now this gets even funnier with Interbank also hunting down Chris’ friends and relatives, and setting fire to their homes.
— I’m loving the increasing darkness of this.
STARS: ****


FROM THE EARTH TO THE AREA AROUND THE EARTH: THE STORY OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE
a ho-hum Shuttle mission

— This sketch is awfully slow-moving, even if that’s the point. Maybe I would find this funnier if I were familiar with what this is parodying.
— The sketch suddenly picks up with Will and Tim’s prank Bill Clinton message, in which they take turns doing comically bad Bill Clinton impressions. This is hilarious, especially how Tim’s Clinton says “I like sex.”
— Overall, despite the hilarious Clinton bit, I did not care much for the rest of the sketch, and felt it came off underdeveloped and forgettable, especially for what ends up being the final live sketch of the season. Or, again, I might have appreciated it more if I were familiar with the source material it parodied.
STARS: **½


THE GOLORDS
Golords battle James Cameron & his army of Leonardo DiCaprio clones

 

— This ends up being the final Golords short, as this recurring segment doesn’t last beyond this season.
— I’m getting a kick out of the male Golord’s endless screaming as he takes a very long fall down a pipe.
— As usual, we get some very funny gruesome, gory visuals during the climactic fight scene. I especially like the female Golord dipping one of the Leonardo DiCaprio clones into an acid bath, resulting in the clone’s skeleton being exposed.
— Overall, this Golords short was fine, but didn’t feel quite as strong as these usually are. However, it’s been fun reviewing these Golords shorts this season. These turned out to be much better than I used to find them in the past.
STARS: ***½


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

— Here comes yet another “last” tonight, as this ends up being the final Deep Thoughts that Jack Handey ever does on SNL.
— Unfortunately, tonight’s Deep Thought wasn’t the best note for these to go out on.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not the best season finale. I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by this episode, though it was mainly because of the post-Weekend Update half of the show, which was largely kind of a bore. There were certainly good things tonight, mainly in the first half, but I found this overall finale to be a little on the forgettable side.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew Broderick)
about the same


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)

   


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1996-97)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 24 begins, with Cameron Diaz as host, and three new cast members joining the show. This is also a very special episode for me, as it has the distinction of being the very first SNL episode I ever saw (though my viewing was during a summer 1999 rerun on NBC).

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May 2, 1998 – Matthew Broderick / Natalie Merchant (S23 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon Phelps takes calls & puts Viagra to the test

— This sketch’s growing popularity has gotten to the point where the sketch is now appearing as the cold opening for a change.
— This is the first of what will be quite a number of Viagra mentions in tonight’s episode, which serves as a reminder of just how big a story Viagra was when it first came out around this time.
— I like Leon Phelps singing a brief “Old man’s penis” jingle.
— Fun premise with Leon downing an entire bottle of Viagra to see if it has any effect on him.
— Hilarious how Leon is using a “butt-ugly” picture of Sally Jessy Raphael to de-arouse himself, which ends up not working for him.
— I was about to say that it’s not necessary for them to repeat the joke from an earlier Ladies’ Man sketch where Leon gets disgusted when hearing about an old couple having sex, but we end up getting a nice twist this time with Leon actually being aroused by that due to the Viagra he took.
— I love Tim’s very intense delivery of “Live from New York…” at the end of this cold opening. One of my personal all-time favorite LFNYs.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
TRM & JMB favor host with their rendition of Godzilla sound effects

— I feel kinda bad for how Tracy’s entrance was met with dead silence, with the audience not giving him any of the usual applause that cast members in this era typically seem to get when they walk onstage as themselves in a host’s monologue.
— There’s a backstory about how this monologue is at least partly responsible for Jim getting fired after this season. Jim went into great detail about it in an interview I saw years ago on YouTube. My memory of it is pretty fuzzy, and the story is too lengthy for me to go into detail about here. Someone in the comments section of this review can probably dig up a link to the interview. If so, thanks in advance. I’ll just say that the backstory Jim tells about this monologue heavily involves Adam McKay and the negative tension that’s always existed between Adam and Jim. Adam is painted in a very negative light in the story.
— Ehh, this monologue is pretty much just a knockoff of the monologue that Jim did with Jeff Goldblum the preceding season, which itself was only mildly funny. Not sure this rehash was worth Jim getting into such a heated confrontation with Adam McKay over, jeopardizing his own job security.
— I do like the addition of Tracy to Jim’s routine. Tracy’s imitation of the Godzilla theme is fairly funny.
STARS: **½


FLEX
hormones & steroids included in Flex Speed Stick give you an animal edge

 

— I love the visuals of various cast members turning into scary beasts and going wild on innocent bystanders and animals.
— A huge laugh from Will letting out a spray of urine onto his victim.
STARS: ****


THE VIEW
the ladies fawn over George Stephanopoulos (host)

— For once, a View sketch has Debbie Matenopoulos being played by Ana instead of the blonde female who’s hosting SNL that night.
— I like Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ angry one-liner outbursts towards Ana’s Debbie Matenopoulos throughout the sketch, especially when Cheri’s Barbara follows one outburst of hers by putting her hand over her own mouth in a shocked “Oops!” manner.
— A good laugh from Molly’s Meredith Viera casually giving us way too many details of her sexual desire for George Stephanopoulos.
— Very funny part with Barbara forcing Debbie to go inside a cage.
— Tracy seemed to kinda botch his line “I would beat you on a cracker” (or whatever that was he was trying to say).
STARS: ****


SPARKS
Zimmermans take offense when neighbor (host) tries unambiguous foreplay

— The Zimmermans officially become recurring characters. Unlike their first appearance, where they were by themselves, they now have another couple to play off of, which would go on to be a regular thing for these sketches.
— I like Molly’s sour hint that she and Matthew aren’t very sexually active with each other.
— Some pretty good laughs from Chris repeatedly banging his hand on the table while sexually-aggressively telling Cheri where to place the painting.
— Tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch is definitely working better than the first installment, now that the Zimmermans have a normal couple to play off of.
— Good turn with Cheri using her sexual flirtatious method on Matthew, with Matthew eventually getting really into it until he makes a raunchy statement that offends everybody.
STARS: ***½


PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen & her seashell craftsman boyfriend (host)

— (*sigh*) Oh, god. Now this sketch officially becomes recurring. I don’t have a shred of the goodwill towards this sketch that I have towards the Zimmermans sketches.
— This sketch is really missing something without Julianne Moore as Ana’s co-host, who provided my only laughs in the first installment of this sketch.
— What happened just now? Why did Ana and Matthew both go off-script to pick something up off the floor and hand it to Molly’s Helen Madden? I guess Molly accidentally dropped something when doing one of her many leg-stretches, but I can’t tell what it was.
— As usual, the audience is eating up Molly’s endless “I love it!” leg-stretching routine while I sit completely stone-faced through the entire sketch.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh, from Ana bitterly letting us know what crappy gift she got when her fiancee went to Hawaii. However, that kinda felt like a line that would’ve been more fitting for Julianne Moore’s co-host character from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: *½


VIAGRA
Regis Philbin [real] & men on the street angrily say “no Viagra for me”

— I love how the men being interviewed on the street about Viagra are played by the entire male cast, Matthew Broderick, and some male SNL writers and staff members.
— Hilarious seeing Leon Phelps as one of the men being interviewed about Viagra, especially given the cold opening he did earlier tonight. Weird seeing Leon with a goatee, though. I guess this was filmed earlier this week before Tim shaved for tonight’s episode.
— Akira Yoshimura! (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch)
— A rare non-Update appearance from Colin.
— Regis Philbin’s message is hilarious, especially him telling us with a calm smile “You can go straight to hell.”
— A very fun and fast-paced segment.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ wants to see Bill Clinton exercise executive privilege to the max

— During Colin’s obligatory opening straight-to-camera rant, I like his whole side bit about people at SNL running up the show’s bill and stealing things from the show.
— Ooh, a Joe Piscopo joke. And as expected, the punchline is about him being a washed-up has-been.
— Some strong jokes from Colin so far in this Update.
— Colin’s Jerry Springer joke reminds me that I recall once hearing there was a Jerry Springer Show sketch that got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal. In the sketch, Matthew Broderick played Jerry Springer, and his guests were Darrell and Ana as the Clintons. I believe I also heard that Darrell suffered a real-life injury at one point in the sketch (which may be the reason for the sketch getting cut), when he got hit by a chair thrown in the air as the performers were acting out a typical Jerry Springer Show fight.
— Holy hell, Update is over already? This Update was seriously only about 3-4 minutes long. I kid you not, people. This may have topped the Update from the Roma Downey episode as the shortest Update in recent memory.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Kind & Generous”


THE CELINE DION SHOW
Shania Twain (MOS) & Gloria Estefan (host)

— Yet another talk show sketch tonight? And has EVERY SINGLE SKETCH so far tonight been recurring?
— At least the segment with Darrell as Celine’s husband is something that wasn’t done in the first installment of this sketch.
— Another difference from the first installment is that all the guests are brought on together instead of one-by-one.
— A cheap laugh from how unfeminine Matthew looks in drag.
— I’m getting bored with the repetitive joke of Ana’s Celine always singing over her guests whenever each of them try to sing a solo song. I like Ana’s Celine impression, but I’m glad this ends up being the last time we ever see her in her talk show sketch (I recall her appearing in some good non-talk show sketches later on).
STARS: **½


PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTIONS
Tony Blair (host) hears British MPs’ questions on Teletubbies & more

— Kinda surprised they’re bringing back this sketch from over a year ago when Mike Myers hosted. Oh, and by the way, that makes this yet ANOTHER recurring sketch tonight, keeping alive tonight’s streak of all recurring sketches.
— A second rare non-Update appearance from Colin tonight.
— I love Will’s voice in this.
— Hmm, I see Will’s Oasis obsession from the first installment of this sketch has been replaced tonight with a Teletubbies obsession. I admit, there’s more comedic potential in this Teletubbies obsession of his.
— A funny out-of-place appearance from Tracy as an American tourist.
— It was unnecessary for this sketch to end the exact same way the first one did, with the host repeatedly punching Will.
STARS: ***


PROM LIMO
(CHO), (host), (MOS), (WIF) think their prom limo ride is the coolest

— Finally, an actual ORIGINAL sketch tonight. Unfortunately, I never cared for this particular musical sketch during my previous viewings of tonight’s episode. I’ll try to keep an open mind this time.
— I do always enjoy Will’s portrayal of young, fratboy-ish, overconfident guys.
— The musical that the prom teens are singing kinda has its charm, but otherwise, I’m a little bored during this.
— A funny random ending gag, in which Will gets beheaded by an overpass. I’m surprised by how fast they were able to switch Will with a headless body double.
STARS: **½


TENACIOUS D
Tenacious D [real] performs “The History of Tenacious D” & “Double Team”

— For the first time since way back in 1986, SNL has credited special guest comedians perform their own comedy act on SNL’s home base stage, something that used to be common for SNL. Too bad tonight’s return to this old tradition ends up just being a one-time thing. (However, I think I recall once hearing that Johnny Knoxville’s whole Jackass routine was originally in consideration to be a recurring SNL segment for season 25, a year before Jackass became a big breakout show on MTV. Knoxville and his buddies were going to perform their Jackass comedy act live onstage at SNL, but SNL ended up passing on the idea. I’m not sure of the validity of that whole story, though.)
— Funny opening intro that Matthew is forced to read off of an index card that Tenacious D gave him.
— Interesting seeing a young, pre-famous Jack Black.
— I’m probably not the best person to judge a Tenacious D song, as I’m not all that familiar with their work outside of their later SNL appearances, but I’m aware of the basic gist of their act in general, and I’m enjoying their performance tonight. And I love how out-of-the-ordinary this whole segment feels for this SNL era. It truly does kinda feel like I’m back to reviewing an SNL episode from the 70s and early-mid 80s, back when special guest performers doing their comedy act was common.
— A crazy high note that Jack sang just now.
— I like the turn with Jack acting out a soft conversation with off-camera audience members.
— The “sucking on toes” part of the song right now is very funny.
STARS: ***½


COMIC MINDS
the drug humor of Orbit (WIF) & Larry (TRM) was based on PCP

— The name of Matthew’s character, Matt Peedman, seems to have been based on then-current SNL writer Matt Piedmont.
— Tracy has been getting more airtime than usual tonight.
— Very funny concept of Will and Tracy’s comedy team trying to one-up Cheech and Chong’s marijuana-themed comedy team by making their drug theme PCP, of all things.
— The first sound clip played of Will and Tracy’s PCP comedy act is hilarious, especially Tracy’s panicked repetition of the line “I got the ice in me!” Tracy’s delivery of that line is priceless.
— The second sound clip is also cracking me the hell up. I love Will’s insane panicked screaming.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I don’t feel too crazy about this episode, though it really wasn’t too bad. However, a large chunk of the episode had a bit of a lazy, too-familiar feel, especially with the heavy over-reliance on recurring sketches (which is something that this season had thankfully been moving away from), talk show sketches, and even a rehashed monologue. It didn’t help that some of the recurring sketches were things I didn’t need to see be brought back. There was still a pretty good number of sketches I enjoyed tonight, though, even some of the recurring stuff.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Greg Kinnear)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 23 comes to an end, with host David Duchovny. It’s also the end of the road for Jim Breuer’s SNL tenure.

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April 11, 1998 – Greg Kinnear / All Saints (S23 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MARTHA STEWART LIVING
Easter fun & a half-hearted nod to Passover

— Interesting seeing a Martha Stewart Living sketch as a cold opening for a change.
— Some good laughs from Ana-as-Martha-Stewart’s dismissive attitude towards Passover, especially her line about “giant Jew crackers”.
— Random use of a host at the end of a cold opening.
— Greg Kinnear being quick to respond “Dear God, no!” when asked if he’s Jewish was very funny.
— While Ana is saying “Live from New York…”, the camera man seems confused, as the camera starts to zoom into a silent Greg Kinnear at first, before suddenly panning over a bit and zooming into Ana. I wonder if Greg said LFNY in dress rehearsal, and the camera man perhaps wasn’t informed of the change between dress and live.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host analyzes his As Good As It Gets co-stars’ Oscar-winning performances

— Solid premise with Greg obsessing over why he lost the Oscar. I love how it gets to the point where he pulls out a TV and over-analyzes an As Good As It Gets scene he was in, playing it in slow-motion, and even using a telestrator to draw on the screen in the same manner as football analysts.
— Greg is handling himself really well in this monologue.
STARS: ****


COOKIE DOUGH SPORT
Rerun from 10/4/97


NAME THAT DOG
game show contestants try to guess pooches’ appellations

— A funny idiotic premise for a game show.
— I love Tim’s over-enthusiasm throughout the sketch.
— A good laugh from how Chris’ score total in the “Wall of Dogs” round (where you have to quickly guess the name of 10 dogs who are brought out together) ends up being a whopping 0.
— Ehh, it wasn’t necessary to repeat the above-mentioned “Wall of Dogs total score being 0” joke with Tim.
STARS: either ***½ or ****, I can’t decide yet


NEW HORIZONS
Marty & Bobbi perform a drug medley for patients at a rehab center

— Funny line during Greg’s opening speech: “Freon won’t get you high. It will kill you.”
— The Culps again this season? I actually always enjoy this recurring sketch, but I can’t help but feel we’ve already seen it enough times this season.
— I like the running bit in tonight’s installment with the Culps occasionally admonishing the crowd for laughing during their speech.
— Funny bit with Marty Culp thinking someone in the back is using sign language to refer to his wife Bobbi as a “j-hole”, which he is then told by Bobbi is actually sign language for “a-hole”.
— I like how the songs in tonight’s Culps song medley have a drug theme.
— I love the Culps singing an opera-ized version of “Insane in the Membrane”.
STARS: ***½


FIVES
(CHO) endures obnoxious blind date’s (host) compulsive need to high-five

 

— A perfect sketch for Greg Kinnear, who is solid at pulling off this character’s ridiculous habit of giving high-fives for every little situation. I especially like when he starts getting elaborate with the style of his high-fives.
— I love the quick bit with Darrell fake-laughing and then just walking off when Greg requests a high-five from him (the third and fourth above screencaps for this sketch).
— Very amusing reveal that Greg has named his penis Anthony.
— Weird how this is the second consecutive sketch tonight to use the insult “a-hole”.
— Funny turn with Greg somberly asking Cheri for a low high-five after she mentions bad news about her ailing grandfather.
— Good ending with Darrell’s “Grow up” comment to Cheri.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
For, I believe, the only time in SNL history, a new SNL episode re-airs a TV Funhouse from an earlier episode. Tonight’s re-airing is a season 22 “Fun With Real Audio” cartoon with Tom Snyder stalking Dolly Parton. I wonder what the reason for this re-airing is.


THE HOUSE OF DOGS
Thurmond Sykes (TRM) pitches House of Dogs as a source of dangerous mutts

— Two dog sketches tonight? Am I watching a modern-day episode from season 45?
— I love Tracy’s line about how his dogs only care about “chewing faces and nuts”.
— Tracy’s a good spokesman for this sketch.
— Haha, Greg is playing his game show host character from the Name That Dog sketch! I always love the very rare times on SNL where one sketch crosses over into another sketch in the same episode.
— Funny detail with Greg’s obviously-fake hand.
— The ending text crawl is going on too long.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ considers what Holy Week would be like had there been no Resurrection
Gunner Olsen delivers heavy metal-enhanced news stories to the crowd

— Man, is Colin capable of going through a single joke without muttering an unnecessary, barely-coherent ad-lib afterwards?
— Hmm, it’s like Colin somehow heard my above complaint, because immediately after I wrote it, Colin has thankfully gone through a long string of jokes without making any ad-libs after them.
— A particularly harsh and funny O.J./murderer joke from Colin tonight. Norm would be proud. By the way, anyone who believes Norm was fired for doing O.J./murderer jokes clearly has no memory of Colin’s Updates (which is understandable), because Colin’s been getting away with doing plenty of O.J./murderer jokes in his Update tenure so far, and as far as I know, he didn’t have Ohlmeyer on his ass for it.
— Colin’s straight-to-camera rant about Easter is pretty funny, but his delivery is off during certain parts.
— The return of Gunner Olsen, who’s making what ends up being his final appearance.
— Once again, Jim is doing a solid rock star imitation and is displaying fantastic energy. I just wish the lyrics he sings about news stories were actually funny, like Operaman’s lyrics were. Where are the jokes in Gunner Olsen’s lyrics? I guess these Gunner Olsen commentaries are more about the performance than the lyrics, but we’ve already seen Jim do it all in the first Gunner Olsen commentary. There’s nowhere left for this bit to go. Thankfully, however, Jim is still making this fun with his performance.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Never Ever”


KOPPEL BROTHERS
Ted Koppel (DAH) & his junkie younger brother (host) reunite & reconcile

— Pretty fun having Greg play Ted Koppel’s similarly-voiced brother. Greg’s doing a good Ted Koppel voice, which shows that he probably came in to SNL at the beginning this week with this impression in his back pocket, and asked the writers if he could do his impression in a sketch with Darrell’s already-existing Koppel impression. I bet that’s also how we ended up with John Turturro playing Christopher Walken’s similarly-voiced brother in one of Jay Mohr’s Christopher Walken Celebrity Psychic Friends Network sketches.
— Hilarious line from Greg as Koppel’s brother: “Smoking cigarettes through a filter is like sucking tit through a sweater.”
— Some laughs from hearing Greg’s character talking so much about drugs in that professional Koppel voice he’s using.
— Good ending, showing Greg’s character in bed with two Asian businessmen while emotionally reacting to a report he’s watching his brother Ted do on TV.
STARS: ***½


THE PLANK
Captain Kidd (Bob Hoskins) makes (WIF) walk a really, really long plank

— I’m curious to finally see this sketch for my very first time. I recall someone on an SNL message board once naming this sketch in a list of all-time worst SNL sketches, but I’ve also seen some people defend this sketch over the years.
— Bob Hoskins becomes the latest in season 23’s recent habit of randomly bringing in a legendary actor (e.g. Robert Duvall, John Hurt) as a credited special guest and putting them in a sketch or two.
— The ridiculousness of how long it’s taking Will to walk to the end of the insanely-long plank is decent. Things get funnier when the pirates try coming up with alternative ways to kill Will. The idea of one of the pirates running in front of Will and sawing off the remainder of the plank is hilarious.
— Very funny fake-out when we hear an off-camera splash, as if Will finally fell off the plank, only for it to turn out that something just fell out of Will’s pocket.
— I love Darrell’s defeated delivery of “This is just unacceptable” before walking off. Between the Fives sketch earlier tonight and this sketch, I’m surprised by how many laughs I’ve been getting from Darrell in non-impression roles tonight.
— Weak ending.
— Overall, pretty good. Definitely not “Worst sketch ever” material. However, I can’t help but feel that this could’ve been even better. I bet SNL’s late 80s era would’ve done more with this sketch’s premise.
STARS: ***½


THE ROBIN BYRD SHOW
fresh-faced (host) is victim of faulty booking

— Even though the preceding installment of this sketch was an improvement over the first one, I can’t help but be kinda happy that tonight’s episode is the last time we’ll ever be seeing this sketch.
— Greg’s out-of-place family-friendly cowboy character is pretty funny.
— I liked Greg ad-lib about being out of breath.
— Hmm, while I’m enjoying the whole mix-up with Greg’s character, Cheri and Tim’s timing and delivery is starting to feel off and is kinda taking me out of the sketch.
STARS: **½


FORMER HOSTS OF LATER REUNION
Later reunion brings together host, Bob Costas (DAH), thousands more

 

— Uh-oh. The endless announcing of many former Later hosts one-by-one is bringing back unwanted memories of that awful Super Sports Tours sketch from the season 20 premiere, in which an endless number of baseball players are announced one-by-one for a cruise they’ll be on.
— This Later sketch is such a knock-off of the Super Sports Tours sketch that it even has the same fake-out where the announcer finally stops listing off names and just says “and many more…”, only for him to immediately follow it up by actually announcing each of the names in that “and many more” list.
— Okay, this is getting funnier when the announcer’s listing-off of names starts getting increasingly sped-up to a comical degree.
— Notably, one of the many Later guest hosts mentioned in this sketch is then-current SNL cast member Jim Breuer. Are they just throwing him into this as a random meta joke, or did he actually guest host Later at one point?
— Hmm, now they’re even rapidly scrolling a long list of extra names, divided into three columns, which is exactly what the Super Sports Tours sketch did at one point. It’s official: this sketch has to be written by the same person who wrote Super Sports Tours.
— I got a laugh from the stock footage of a huge award show crowd when we’re shown all the Later hosts in attendance at this reunion special.
— I love the part with all of the off-camera Later hosts interviewing Bob Hoskins in unison. Funny uncomfortable facial reactions from Hoskins during that.
— Overall, better than it initially seemed like it was going to be. This is what that Super Sports Tours sketch should’ve been.
STARS: ***


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode. Most of the episode consistently stayed in just the “pretty good” range, but there were a few fairly strong pieces, and none of the sketches fell really flat for me; even the sketch I gave the lowest rating to (The Robin Byrd Show) wasn’t too bad. Greg Kinnear was a pretty solid and charming one-time host, and I like the way he carried himself throughout the episode, coming off as comfortable and experienced as someone who’s already hosted the show before.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Buscemi)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Matthew Broderick

Posted on

April 4, 1998 – Steve Buscemi / Third Eye Blind (S23 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MULTIPLE BROADCASTS
viewers choice is Lewis Lapham [real] or farcical Bill Clinton (DAH) skit

— A good laugh from the bit with Tim smugly calling himself “the star of Saturday Night Live”, though it got no reaction from the audience.
— Fun premise of viewers being able to “choose” between two broadcasts.
— I cracked up at Tim’s introduction to the Clinton sketch, bluntly describing it as a comedy scene about Clinton’s dong.
— Funny progression to the Clinton sketch with it turning into a wild, silly sex party. This is another cold opening this season that shows how much fun this SNL era has with the Lewinsky scandal.
— I like how even more absurd the sex party gets with Goat Boy now randomly being thrown in. It’s fun seeing unrelated SNL recurring characters/impressions collide.
— I love the turn with Tim taking off his Oprah wig and revealing he’s actually O.J.
— Turns out I was wrong in an earlier review this season where I said Jim Breuer went through his entire SNL tenure without ever getting to open the show with a “Live from New York…”. He’s one of various people who say it during the big group LFNY at the end of this cold opening.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
TIM, ANG, WIF unsuccessfully try to help host return to his improv roots

— I’m enjoying Steve Buscemi’s dissatisfaction with the audience’s suggestions, eventually getting to the point where Steve has to be held back from angrily walking over one particular audience member. I also like Steve telling another audience member “We’re trying to do improv, not stupid-ass-suggestion-prov.”
— Some pretty good laughs from Steve’s “improv” just being quotes from his movies.
STARS: ***½


XEROX ASSJET 790
Rerun from 9/27/97


THE MAD TEA PARTY
truly mad Hatter (host) ruins tea party of Alice (MOS) & Hare (John Hurt)

— Among SNL fans, this is probably the most well-remembered sketch from tonight’s well-liked episode.
— I recall once hearing that Norm Macdonald, who hadn’t “officially” departed as a cast member yet, was originally supposed to play the Hare character that tonight’s credited special guest John Hurt is playing, but something happened during rehearsals of this sketch that caused Norm to walk out for good, causing the preceding Julianne Moore-hosted episode to end up as his final episode as a cast member. Does anyone know more details about what caused Norm to walk out during rehearsals of this sketch? I’m very curious to hear about it.
— Seems pretty random to cast John Hurt in this role. I do love his slowburn, though, after hearing that Steve’s Mad Hatter washes his hands 100 times a day because they smell like his mother.
— Mad Hatter: “I’m so mad, I constantly burn my penis with red-hot cigar butts!”
— Mad Hatter: “I build little race cars out of my poop!”
— Great reveal that the Mad Hatter is just some stranger who wasn’t even invited to the tea party.
— The Mad Hatter putting his fist in his mouth and having a fit is slaying me.
STARS: *****


MORNING LATTE
to (host)’s dismay, Didi Conn’s [real] Grease role snubbed

— As usual, several funny dense lines from the hosts played by Will and Cheri.
— I like Steve’s growing frustration throughout the interview.
— There goes our obligatory yell of “YOU STUPID BITCH!” It gets less and less funny in each passing installment of this sketch.
— After the “YOU STUPID BITCH!” part, I do like Steve storming off while saying “I think I’ll blow my brains out.”
STARS: ***½


GOTH TALK
the Prom of Doom is held in the high school boiler room

— Another refreshing change of scenery for this recurring sketch.
— A big laugh from Will’s song being interrupted by the door next to him swinging open and smacking him in the face.
— Unfortunately, this ends up being Jim’s final appearance in a Goth Talk sketch (we’re nearing the end of his SNL tenure).
— I absolutely love Steve as the affable-but-creepy janitor. He is adding so much to this sketch.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Titey” by RBS- Disney’s cheerful spin on Titanic uses celebrity voices

— A hilarious idea of a Disney-fied version of Titanic.
— Fun hearing actual celebrities doing voices in this, including Gilbert Gottfried making his triumphant SNL return!
— Smigel is always great at mimicking the styles of certain animation genres when spoofing them, and tonight’s cartoon is a dead-on and very funny parody of typical animated Disney movies from this era.
— That’s Molly Ringwald singing as Anne Frank? Never knew she had such a good singing voice.
— For some reason, during the ending credits of this TV Funhouse, a no-audio freeze-frame shot of Lorne fighting with the dog replaces the usual moving shot of Lorne fighting with the dog while repeatedly saying “Leggo my show!”
STARS: *****


STUFF WE MADE
(JMB) & (host) show their crappy & creepy constructions

— Jim’s doing an accurate imitation of how hosts of do-it-yourself shows typically speak.
— I love Steve’s display of his “ScareJeff”, which he made to scare his wife’s new husband. I also like Steve’s detail of how he uses his “ScareJeff” while wearing a leather mask and playing German techno music.
— Good ad-lib from Jim when he accidentally says “sandpiper” instead of “sandpaper”.
— A great disturbing bit with Steve showcasing his ghost squirrel bike.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Reggie White (TRM) extends his offensive remarks to cover more groups

— Colin’s opening straight-to-camera rant about Paula Jones was fairly forgettable.
— Some really good traditional news jokes from Colin tonight, even if I still don’t like his habit of muttering an unnecessary ad-lib after every damn joke.
— Speaking of Colin’s habit of muttering ad-libs after the jokes, when the audience is laughing at his Etch-A-Sketch joke, Colin quickly mutters a barely audible “Tina Fey”. I’m guessing Tina was responsible for that Etch-A-Sketch joke, and Colin was giving her on-air credit after seeing how well the audience reacted to it.
— Colin’s Daylight Savings Time joke was so bad, it was good. I also liked the actual funny ad-lib Colin made afterwards about the lameness of that joke.
— Tracy-as-Reggie-White’s commentary about minorities that he hates is cracking me up, in a silly way.
— Reggie White: “You ever see a midget in a suit? That is nasty!” Such a perfectly Tracy Morgan-esque line.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How’s It Going To Be”


JUDGE JUDY
(ANG) & hip-hop dance instructor (host) litigate

— Why does Ana always play the plaintiff in Judge Judy sketches?
— I love the look of Steve’s dance instructor, with the mullet and 80s leather jacket.
— As always, Tracy’s various sassy one-liners as the bailiff are cracking me up.
— Funny bit with Steve demonstrating his “White Tornado” dance.
— In addition to Ana always playing the plaintiff, these Judgy Judy sketches also always end with Judge Judy “surprisingly” siding with the defendant. That twist isn’t even a surprise anymore. Shake things up, SNL writers.
STARS: ***½


JOB INTERVIEW
volatile (host) interviews jobseekers (CHK) & (Natasha Henstridge)

— Oh, here comes a favorite of mine.
— I love the tense and off-beat conversation between Chris and an irritable Steve.
— A particularly memorable bit with Steve thinking UCLA is pronounced “yuckla”.
— Steve, after mentioning he’s not familiar with the college UCLA: “I heard of Pepperdine. Why didn’t you go to Pepperdine?”
— The whole part with Steve talking about the last time he had sex is priceless.
— I love Steve telling Chris he can continue the interview even after letting him know he didn’t get the job.
— Steve: “(angrily) I TELL YOU I HAVEN’T HAD SEX IN 9 YEARS AND YOU TELL ME YOU’RE ALLERGIC TO CATS?!?”
— Hilarious sudden turn with Steve randomly giving Chris the job after all, when Chris has an angry outburst regarding wanting to leave.
— Natasha Henstridge cameo? Ooookay. Not only is it random as hell and not only is she not even given any dialogue, but the audience is dead silent, giving her no recognition applause whatsoever. I do love how Steve calls her “John”, though (as a callback to the name he kept incorrectly calling Chris earlier in the sketch).
STARS: *****


I TOOK A GAY GUY TO PROM
(ANG), (CHO), (MOS) remember their queer beaus

— Random premise, but I like how this is pre-taped and how they’re using special screen filter effects for each interview, giving this a realistic documentary look.
— Gay stereotypes abound here, and I’m not sure how it would come off by today’s standards, but I’m getting enough laughs here.
— I like Molly’s interview descending into insane nonsense, with her calling her prom date various different celebrity names.
STARS: ***


JIM HALSEY’S TRUCK DRIVIN’ MUSEUM
the Kenworth RX-40TD is profiled

— Some good laughs from the uselessness and awkwardness of Steve’s character, just silently and uncomfortably gesturing during Will’s profile of the truck.
— Overall, a simple, short sketch, but Steve absolutely made this whole thing.
STARS: ***½


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A great episode, and has always been one of my favorites of this season. Not only were there a lot of strong sketches tonight, but Steve Buscemi was a fantastic host, giving a great performance in every single sketch and consistently making me laugh all throughout the show. I also love the way the show utilized him, giving him plenty of roles that showcased his knack for playing oddball characters. There’s no excuse for SNL waiting 13 years after this episode to have him host again.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julianne Moore)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Greg Kinnear

Posted on

March 14, 1998 – Julianne Moore / Backstreet Boys (S23 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE STARR REPORT
prosecutor Kenneth Starr (WIF) stops Bill Clinton skit to subpoena DAH

— A lot of laughs from Darrell-as-Clinton’s excitement over the Starr Report.
— Very funny book cover that Clinton displays.
— An interesting and funny fourth-wall turn with Will’s Kenneth Starr subpoenaing Darrell for playing the president.
— I love Will’s Starr telling Darrell “Shut your hole, Hammond!”
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
Gloria Stuart (CHO) performs Titanic scene to upstage Oscar rival host

— Funny performance from Cheri as Gloria Stuart.
— A good passive-aggressive line from Gloria Stuart about how the Oscar academy would rather give awards to people like Julianne Moore who takes her clothes off whenever the camera starts rolling.
— Amusing line from Gloria Stuart about losing the part of the rapping grandma role in The Wedding Singer.
— I like the fake ship set quickly assembled onstage.
STARS: ***½


THE DELICIOUS DISH
cultist (host) invites Margaret Jo & Terry to join sorghum farm compound

— Ah, a change of scenery in this Delicious Dish installment, with this taking place outdoors in a field.
— Julianne seems like she’ll be perfect for this recurring sketch.
— Molly: “Broom fiber? You just blew my mind.”
— Great turn this sketch suddenly takes, with Julianne’s casual reveal of the farm compound being a creepy, dark cult.
— Julianne’s insane, disturbing dialogue is made even funnier by her overly serious, soft-spoken delivery.
— I love how Ana is getting increasingly uneasy from Julianne’s various revelations about the cult.
STARS: ****


THE LADIES’ MAN
(host) helps Leon show how to handle relationship stages

— For the first time ever, a Ladies’ Man sketch gets recognition applause during Tim’s opening dialogue.
— We get a very welcome change of pace in tonight’s Ladies’ Man installment, with this one diverting from the usual “Leon Phelps answers question from callers” format by doing an Alfred Hitchcock-esque “The Ladies’ Man Presents” presentation, with Leon and Julianne demonstrating various love-making tips.
— Funny bit with Leon speeding up the clock.
STARS: ***½


BAND SHOT
Kenneth Starr (WIF) interrupts SNL Band to haul off Lenny Pickett [real]

— A fantastic continuation of the end of the cold opening, with Will’s Kenneth Starr now interrupting an SNL Band shot to subpoena Lenny Pickett.


PROMO

— Wow, the Kenneth Starr running gag even carries over into the “Next show” promo, which has a fake host/musical guest line-up (Robert DeNiro / The Rolling Stones). I absolutely love how SNL is going all out on this running gag.
— It’s weird in retrospect to see that this was back at a time when Robert DeNiro hosting SNL was considered an exciting and promising idea. If people back then only knew…


BARBARA WALTERS OSCAR SPECIAL
Matt Damon (JMB) & Ben Affleck (CHK)

 

— I like Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ cheesy intro speech, using the titles of that years Oscar-nominated movies as puns.
— Very funny scene with Barbara in bed with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
— Funny to see in retrospect that this was at a time where Ben Affleck was known as simply “Matt Damon’s friend”.
— Well, this is it – Norm Macdonald’s final appearance as a cast member. At least he gets to go out doing what is probably my favorite celebrity impression of his: Burt Reynolds.
STARS: ***½


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
Kenneth Starr (WIF) interrupts Jack Handey

— Didn’t this Lost Deep Thought about a boy who wanted to be an acrobat air already?
— Oh, wait, this turns out to get interrupted by Kenneth Starr. Yes! I love how this running gag is getting even more absurd as the show goes along.
— The fact that the conversation between Handey and Starr is captioned in the usual Deep Thoughts screen crawl is hilarious.
— I love Will’s Starr saying “You shut up, you shut up.” It’s just such a Will Ferrell-esque way of wording “shut up”.
— Starr, regarding Handey: “Let’s cuff him, he’s got dope in his pocket.” Ha, that probably explains a lot about Handey’s humor.


WEEKEND UPDATE

— I’m enjoying Colin’s opening rundown of the various women who Clinton fondled.
— Colin’s Asteroid joke feels like a throwback to the old Weekend Update eras of the 70s and 80s.
— Colin’s delivery of traditional news jokes has been getting a little better lately, but he can’t shake his habit of making unnecessary ad-libs to the audience after every damn joke. It’s getting increasingly annoying to me.
— No guest commentaries tonight.
— Overall, not a bad Update.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “As Long As You Love Me”


PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen espouses her philosophy

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Right out of the gate, this sketch has a case of what’s known as “early installment weirdness”, as this debut of Pretty Living has two hosts, played by Ana and Julianne, whereas all subsequent installments of this sketch would only have Ana as the sole host.
— Molly’s already-existing Helen Madden character now appears, and as we now know, she would go on to regularly appear in these Pretty Living sketches.
— Oh, god, and there goes Helen Madden’s constant over-the-top “I love it!”s and physical gyrations. I prefer Helen Madden’s pre-Pretty Living appearances, where Molly’s characterization of her was much more low-key. I never could stand the over-the-top characterization Molly does in these Pretty Living sketches.
— I like the running gag with Julianne dropping subtle hints of disturbing personal issues of hers. In fact, that’s been providing my only laughs in this entire sketch.
— Overall, blah. I can’t believe this would go on to become such an often-used recurring sketch. And unfortunately, the subsequent installments of this sketch don’t have Julianne Moore to be the sole saving grace.
STARS: *½


HEINEKEN
Kenneth Starr (WIF) interrupts a Heineken commercial to serve a subpoena

— This segment is a bit rare to see, as it’s removed from some copies of this episode.
— Amazing how the Kenneth Starr running gag is even carrying over into what you initially assume is a real commercial break. This Kenneth Starr running gag just keeps getting better and better.
— That strangely sounds like Michael McKean doing the voice-over for this commercial. There’s no way that’s him, though.


ART CLASS
nude model Terence Maddox (WIF) grosses out those trying to sketch him

— This soon-to-be-recurring character makes his debut. Unlike Pretty Living, THIS is something I’m actually happy to review the debut of.
— I love the students’ disgusted reactions to Terrence Maddox getting an erection. Also hilarious is his various euphemisms for his erection.
— Will is selling this character in the way that only he could.
— A particularly funny disgusting bit with the cheese grater.
— I love Maddox’s bizarre crying.
— Funny ending line from Maddox, letting the students know that he’s about to crap on top of their cars.
— Nice ending with a montage of professional sketchings of Maddox.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Conspiracy Theory Rock!” by RBS- the news Media-Opoly is exposed

 

— Oh, this is a well-known and controversial TV Funhouse, one that would be banned from reruns.
— This parody of School House Rock is freakin’ spot-on and very fun. Very daring as well, with all of the shady things being revealed about corporations and the media.
— A funny interruption, with the NBC “Please Stand By” screen.
— A fantastic meta part, with the song now discussing “why they took Norm Macdonald away”. This is strangely fitting being aired in what ended up being Norm’s final episode.
— Overall, a brilliant masterpiece. Bravo to Smigel for having the balls to do this.
STARS: *****


GOOD MORNING WITH LIZA!
Gillian Anderson (host) & Joel Grey (CHK)

 

— Meh, I really could do without the return of this sketch. Didn’t care for this the first time, and it’s not like SNL has a shortage of celebrity-hosted talk show sketches in this era.
— Pretty spot-on casting of Julianne as Gillian Anderson, though maybe I just feel that way because of the red hair.
— Even though the scotch/“It’s coffee to me!” bit was reused from the first installment of this sketch, Molly delivered it in a more amusing way tonight.
— Overall, most of this sketch was as weak as the first installment. Thankfully, this is the last time they ever do this sketch.
STARS: **


THE GOLORDS
Golords foil Canadian plot to make Alan Greenspan raise interest rates

— I like the random bit of business with the male Golord inflating his blow-up doll while casually having a normal conversation with the female Golord.
— The climactic fight scene has hilariously gruesome gore, such as the female Golord cutting a bear in half with a chainsaw, and a villain getting a huge hole shot right through his head.
STARS: ****


SHIRTLESS BIBLE SALESMEN
shirtless Bible salesmen (WIF) & (TIM) lob non sequiturs at (host)

— Ha, two sketches tonight starring a shirtless Will Ferrell?
— Among the abundant randomness when Will and Tim make their entrance, I love the subtle joke of Tim’s name being Kent State.
— This sketch is wonderfully absurd. There’s a hilariously bizarre non-sequitur being delivered every few seconds. Too many to highlight in this review.
— A great pairing of Will and Tim. This sketch is perfectly utilizing the traits that I love most about both Will and Tim as performers.
— Great ending line: “Come on, let’s go untie that kid.”
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty strong episode, minus the two bad talk show sketches (Pretty Living and Good Morning With Liza). We got a brilliant TV Funhouse, two strong bizarre Will Ferrell pieces (Art Class and Shirtless Bible Salesmen), one of the best Delicious Dish installments, and a great & ambitious running gag throughout the show involving Will Ferrell’s Kenneth Starr impression.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scott Wolf)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Steve Buscemi

Posted on

March 7, 1998 – Scott Wolf / Natalie Imbruglia (S23 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

LARRY KING LIVE
Bill Clinton’s (DAH) accusers appear via satellite

— I love Molly’s Monica Lewinsky greeting Darrell’s Bill Clinton as “Lefty”.
— Colin makes his very first sketch appearance since becoming Weekend Update anchor two months earlier.
— I’m liking the increasingly large number of accusers that Norm’s Larry King is introducing.
— Though she’s made a few onscreen appearances prior to this, this is the first time in this SNL project that I’ve noticed a Tina Fey sighting on my own without having it pointed out to me after I’ve posted my review of an episode. She looks so baby-faced in this (the second-to-last above screencap for this cold opening).
— A very funny split-screen shot of all the accusers speaking in unison. I also like the shocked look on Darrell-as-Clinton’s face immediately after that.
— Good part with Larry King sternly cutting off Clinton’s attempt to use “Live from New York…” as a way of getting out of yet another jam.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & audience members (DAH), (JMB), (CHO) share New Jersey roots

— Feels a little odd seeing Darrell in this type of role. Jim, on the other hand, is tailor-made for this role.
— An overall short and simple, but decent, monologue.
STARS: ***


T.G.I. FRIDAY’S
T.G.I.Fridays star server (host) coaches trainee Mary Katherine Gallagher

— I like Will’s stern T.G.I. Friday’s boss saying “Maybe that B.S. flies over at T.J. McWhiskers, but not here.”
— I remember the first time I ever saw this sketch, it was in a Comedy Central rerun shortly after I first started getting into SNL. The Mary Katherine Gallagher movie Superstar had recently opened, which I saw commercials for pretty frequently. Having no idea that the movie was spun off from SNL and having no idea that tonight’s Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch originally aired a year-and-a-half before the movie came out, I sat through this sketch thinking that SNL was doing a spoof of Superstar. I had no idea the same actress who I saw playing MKG in commercials for Superstar was the same one playing MKG in the sketch I was watching.
— A fairly refreshing setting for Mary Katherine Gallagher, who we also refreshingly haven’t seen in quite a while.
— Quite a lot of fairly big non-impression roles for Darrell tonight.
— A new addition to MKG’s usual sniff-hands-after-putting-them-under-armpits routine, with her doing a random boob-squeeze on herself afterwards.
— I love the very random food combo items the customers order off the menu, such as Lucky Charms-coated shrimp.
— A laugh from MKG presenting Ana and Darrell with a plate of spaghetti after falling butt-first onto it on the floor.
— When a male extra is helping MKG off the floor after her pratfall through a restaurant table, I love how the extra slowly tips over out of his chair, which he humorously doesn’t even seem phased by.
STARS: ***


THE CELINE DION SHOW
“the best voice in the world” Celine Dion (ANG) upstages divas

— The debut of Ana’s Celine Dion impresion. I’m not too crazy about the lazy idea of giving her her own talk show sketch, a tired go-to SNL trope for celebrity impressions.
— Very funny Celine impression from Ana, and she’s leading this sketch well.
— A laugh from Cheri’s Mariah Carey saying “I’ve got a very nice ass” when answering Celine’s question “What’s new with you?”
— Though it’s a typical man-in-drag gag, Tim’s look as Erykah Badu is funny.
— A good line that Tim’s Badu sternly delivers to Ana’s Celine: “That don’t go down smooth in Baduland, honey.”
— Nice touch with the SNL Band being shown playing the Celine Dion Show theme music after the sketch ends.
STARS: ***½


PARTY OF FIVE
a black guy (TRM) gets involved with Bailey (host) & clan

— I only have very vague memories of watching Party Of Five a few times as a kid in the 90s. I’m assuming Will is playing Matthew Fox’s character, Molly is Neve Campbell’s character, and I can definitely tell Cheri is Lacey Chabert’s character.
— Funny visual of a hospital gown-wearing Will laying in a hospital bed right in the middle of the kitchen, of all places.
— I love how Tracy’s first exit is immediately followed by the family standing in confused silence, then asking “Who was that?!?”
— Tracy is solid in this. Between the Loews sketch in the preceding episode and now this sketch, SNL finally seems to be getting the hang of how to properly utilize Tracy.
— A very funny detail of Tracy eating a slice of pizza in one of the pre-taped interstitial shots of him driving a car in a hurry.
— The ending was dumb, but cracked me up anyway, especially with the panicked look on Tracy’s face when running in front of the green-screen.
STARS: either ***½ or ****, I can’t decide yet


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ gives his thoughts on how interns should be treated
COQ makes an analogy between Iraq diplomacy & peer group politics
heavy metal singer Gunner Olsen (JMB) fashions the news for young viewers

— We open with Colin doing another straight-to-camera stand-up-style breakdown of a news story.
— Colin’s straight-to-camera breakdown ended up being solid.
— I love Colin’s offensive two-part Puerto Rican flag joke, though he almost ruined it with an awkward long pause before the first punchline. He clearly needs to work on his delivery.
— The debut of a short-lived Jim Breuer character: Gunner Olsen.
— A dead-on and funny rock star imitation from Jim.
— The concept of Gunner Olsen singing various news stories in a heavy metal style while his lyrics are captioned on the bottom of the screen feels like a poor man’s version of Adam Sandler’s Operaman, only with the music genre being heavy metal instead of opera, and SNL doing away with the graphics of photos that were typically displayed next to Operaman. Actually, I can picture Adam Sandler himself playing this Gunner Olsen character as well. Jim even sounds kinda Sandler-esque when singing in a higher register.
— Some unintended cracking up from Jim in reaction to the audience’s enthusiasm.
— Despite the similarities that this Gunner Olsen commentary has to Operaman, I am loving Jim’s performance and energy here.
— Wow, Jim even does a stage dive off of the Update desk at the end of his commentary. Damn, he went all out as this character.
— An overall decent night for Colin. The traditional news jokes he did were a little better than usual, and he had his usual solid straight-to-camera stand-up-style news breakdowns here and there. Jim also added great energy with his commentary.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Torn”


THE 3RD ANNUAL REENACTMENT AWARDS
dramatic re-creationists get their due

— A fairly funny concept, but I’m wary of this sketch, as SNL has a poor track record with their award show sketches.
— I like Tim’s acceptance speech.
— Cheri and Ana are great at selling the awfulness of typical award show banter.
— Who in the world is that playing John Crane (the second-to-last above screencap for this sketch)? I guess it’s just an extra, but I almost thought it was a cameo from some celebrity that I’m not familiar with.
— During Scott’s Tommy Lee musical number, I like the cutaway to stock footage of a celebrity in the audience (not sure who it is) watching with a deadpan facial expression while his finger is resting on his lips.
— Overall, this sketch wasn’t as bad as I was worried it would be, but I still wasn’t too crazy about this.
STARS: **½


EAST LAKE CINEMA
host & Party of Five are old news to Titanic-obsessed Craig & Arianna

— Much like Mary Katherine Gallagher earlier tonight, we get the Spartan Cheerleaders in a fairly refreshing setting. However, something about their appearance in this sketch feels sad. Like perhaps these characters are officially past their prime by this point. (And I know that quite a lot of people would say I’m being way too generous by saying it took this long for the Cheerleaders to finally reach their official expiration date, but hey, while doing these reviews, I surprisingly haven’t been hating the Cheerleaders quite as much as I expected to. These sketches are often more tolerable and charming than I feel people give them credit for.)
— I think part of the reason for the aforementioned sad, pathetic feel of this particular Cheerleaders sketch is because it’s airing so late in the show. I can’t think of any time prior to this that a Cheerleaders sketch was buried so late in an episode. SNL is clearly aware that these characters are dying.
— Arianna: “You know what we need to do?” Craig: “Finally experiment with each other sexually?”
— Overall, not horrible, but yeah, a definite step down from the usual Cheerleaders fare.
STARS: **


ISSUES
on break from BYU, Jeff’s cousin (host) tokes for the first time

— Wow, tonight’s episode has, by far, the largest number of lead roles that the invisible Jim Breuer has gotten all season. It’s like SNL finally remembered he’s in the cast.
— The return of this sketch reminds me of a funny negative comment I once read in an old SNL review that was written back when this episode originally aired: “If I promise to rent Half-Baked when it’s on video, will they stop letting Jim Breuer play potheads?”
— Why is the guest in these Issues sketches always played by Ana?
— At least the concept of Scott being unfamiliar with how it feels to be high is taking this sketch into a somewhat different direction from the first installment.
— Overall, not bad. No big loss, though, that this ends up being the final appearance of this short-lived recurring sketch.
STARS: ***


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY


GUITARISTS
coeds (CHO), (MOS), (ANG) fall for duelling troubadours (host) & (CHK)

— A laugh from Chris mumbling his way through the portion he doesn’t know of the song “Danny’s Song”.
— Another laugh from Chris, this time when he acts like he’s going to sing a song based on the name of Cheri’s character, Diana, only to inexplicably break out into the song “Gloria”.
— I like the girls turning against Chris when he sings an original song they don’t know.
STARS: ***


BREATH SPRAY PLUS
Breath Spray Plus trades purse clutter for potential safety hazards

— They must be airing this as last-minute time filler, as it’s rare to debut a new fake ad at the end of an episode.
— I love the shot of Will laying down while screaming in an alley after getting his eyes sprayed with mace from Ana’s Breath Spray Plus.
— A lot of laughs from the increasingly complicated directions for the spray’s dual-action switch settings.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A blandly average episode. Not bad, but very forgettable, especially the post-Weekend Update half. Nothing was particularly terrible in tonight’s episode, but nothing stood out to me as great either, besides the Breath Spray Plus commercial thrown in at the end of the show and maybe the Party of Five sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Garth Brooks)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Julianne Moore. It’s also Norm Macdonald’s final episode.

Posted on

February 28, 1998 – Garth Brooks (S23 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PHONE CHAT
Bill Clinton (DAH) phones Saddam Hussein (WIF) & Monica Lewinsky (MOS)

— I like the initial visual of Will’s Saddam, eating from a bowl of cereal.
— Great turn with Molly’s Monica Lewinsky being on the other line.
— I love how increasingly casual this three-way phone conversation is getting, especially when it gets to the point where they’re talking about tonight’s episode of Dawson’s Creek.
— Saddam Hussein, when greeting Monica Lewinsky: “Monica! You never call me anymore!”
— Brilliant joke with Saddam thanking Monica for the beret.
— I like how even more random and casual this phone conversation is getting, with Tim Meadows as himself joining in.
— This sketch is such a blast. Whenever I think of how much fun SNL had with the Lewinsky scandal, this is usually always one of the first sketches that comes to mind.
— Great variation of “Live from New York…” with Will’s Saddam opening the show by saying “Livetime from the New York, it’s Saturday Fun Hour!”
STARS: ****½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After being removed from the opening montage in the last two episodes, Norm Macdonald has been reinstated back into the montage.


MONOLOGUE
host relives stint in psychedelic revival band with a trippy guitar solo

— Right off the bat, Garth is already coming off very likable, loose, and comfortable.
— Great turn with Garth performing a psychedelic song, complete with hippie attire worn by Garth, a green-screen background of psychedelic images, and a zooming-in-and-out camera effect. This alone lets you know what a surprisingly fun host Garth is going to be tonight.
— Good self-deprecation from Garth during his “We got a great show for you tonight” spiel, calling tonight’s musical guest “very lame”.
STARS: ****


COWBOYS
on the range, host claims kinship with real cowboys (WIF), (JMB), (TIM)

— Already a laugh early on from Garth’s contemporary cowboy being seen in this old-timey western setting.
— I love the utter confusion from the other cowboys when Garth’s cellphone rings.
— Great delivery from Will when finally asking Garth “What in the hell are you talkin’ about?!?”
— The premise is fairly thin, but the execution is pretty solid, especially with Garth giving such a strong performance.
STARS: ***½


MANGO
host’s career goes downhill after he falls under the spell of Mango

— Funny how the group of men sitting at the table in the opening shot of this sketch is the exact same group of performers we saw in the preceding Cowboy sketch, minus Tim. They’re seated in the same order too.
— This is a very famous Mango installment; in fact, the most famous of them all, I’d say.
— Watching this after recently watching and reviewing the preceding Mango sketches makes me realize how much tonight’s famous Mango installment is just following the EXACT SAME pattern as the previous installments.
— Despite my above complaint about how this Mango installment is lazily following the exact same pattern as previous installments, tonight’s installment is working much better, due to the fact that 1) it’s funny to see that all the craziness in this sketch is happening to Garth Brooks as himself, instead of Garth simply playing a character like Brendan Fraser and Samuel L. Jackson did in the previous Mango installments, and 2) Garth is giving a freakin’ fantastic performance.
— Garth’s whiny delivery of “Sons of bitches!” when pushing back the crowd of Mango admirers absolutely slayed me.
— Funny how Mango mentions Ben Affleck as one of his celebrity admirers, considering SNL would later do a Mango sketch with Ben Affleck playing himself falling under Mango’s spell, when Affleck makes his hosting debut in season 25. I can’t remember, but I bet that particular Mango installment acts like Affleck never met Mango before then, which kinda screws up the continuity of this recurring sketch (certainly not a big deal, though).
— Great ending yell from Garth of the line “MANGOOOOOOO!”
STARS: ***½


OPRAH
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) waffles about Bill Clinton oral sex

— Good ad-libbing from Tim when he has a difficult time speaking with his mouth full of food.
— What the hell? Why am I hearing game show buzzer sounds in the background all of a sudden? (*remembers that there are two game show sketches that will be appearing later tonight*) Ah, right. I guess we’re hearing an SNL crew member testing out the buzzers for whichever game show sketch is coming up next. Why do that during a sketch in progress, though? Did they think we wouldn’t hear it in the background?
— Fairly funny how Monica Lewinsky’s book contradicts her claim that she didn’t give oral sex to Bill Clinton.
— Overall, the writing for this sketch was a little “ehhh”, but the sketch was passable, mostly due to Tim’s fun performance.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- David Brenner makes the talk show circuit

— Hilarious premise of an endlessly-rambling David Brenner being dropped down from one talk show to another.
— Conan!
— I love the bit with Conan and Andy Richter struggling to get the trap door to open. Makes me wonder if Smigel was the writer behind that Wilson’s Trap Door fake ad that SNL did 10 years earlier (one of my favorite SNL fake ads of all time).
— I howled at the bit where David Brenner immediately falls straight through Tom Snyder’s talk show because Snyder’s guest chair is already facing down towards an open trap door.
— This cartoon in general is priceless.
— Brilliant gag with Sally Jessy Raphael’s show being below hell.
STARS: ****½


OLD FRENCH WHORE!
prostitutes & high school students team on game show

 

— A well-loved Tina Fey-written game show sketch.
— The concept of this game show sketch is hilarious.
— Great casting of Garth as one of the French whores. And he actually looks more convincing in drag than I would’ve thought.
— Tim, regarding the French whore he’s paired with: “She smells like whiskey and feet!”
— Chris: “I think my whore is dead.”
— Garth is playing his role very well, and I love the premise of his character being the one French whore who’s actually wise.
— A great mock dramatic monologue from Garth, complete with a spotlight shined on him.
STARS: ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
host is Cinder Calhoun’s “Adonis in Blue Jeans,” but he’s not interested

— Our very first Colin Quinn Weekend Update mention of Old Dirty Bastard, who I recall Colin would go on to mention quite a bit throughout his Weekend Update tenure.
— Some mildly funny jokes from Colin so far tonight, but he’s still coming off very stiff during his delivery of them.
— Good Irish/condoms joke from Colin, which allowed him to use a looser delivery that he’s clearly more comfortable with.
— The running gag in Cinder Calhoun’s commentaries with her using an accent whenever she pronounces Spanish words reminds me of an NBC News sketch that SNL did with Jimmy Smits in season 16, as well as a lesser-known Weekend Update commentary that Victoria Jackson did a year before that.
— Cinder’s love song to Garth is funny, as is Garth’s uncomfortable facial expressions and his singing of his rejection of Cinder’s love.
— For the first time, Colin ends Update by saying “I’m Colin Quinn, that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it”, which would go on to become his regular tagline for Update.
STARS: **½


WHO’S MORE GRIZZLED?!
inured (host) & (Robert Duvall) vie on game show

— Two sketches in a row tonight that’s a game show.
— Norm!
— Clearly, the audience shares my excitement over seeing Norm’s first appearance in weeks, as we get a great audience reaction to Norm’s entrance.
— Nice use of tonight’s credited special guest Robert Duvall.
— I remember when I first saw this sketch, I didn’t recognize Garth in that wig and beard. I seriously spent the entire sketch thinking that was an uncredited random old man playing Garth’s role, and I wondered why the hell SNL would give such a big role to an unknown extra and pair him with a legendary actor like Robert Duvall.
— Garth, to Norm: “I don’t much care for you.” Norm: “(smiling) A lot of people don’t.” An intentional clever meta reference to Norm’s recent predicament on SNL.
— Garth continues to impress me tonight, as he is really disappearing into character in this (which is probably part of what contributed to me not recognizing him when I first saw this sketch).
— Norm is making a solid straight man and game show host in this.
— So many funny grizzled demonstrations from Garth and Duvall.
— Always nice to see SNL’s lighting designer Phil Hymes appear in a sketch (last screencap above), though he messes up his one line in this sketch. I think SNL would later replace his portion of this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I love how after Duvall’s God rant, Garth gives him a long, speechless, disturbed look, and then says “Damn. You are grizzled.”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Two Pina Coladas”


HEY, REMEMBER THE 80’S
Brian Setzer (CHK) & Kevin Rowland (host)

— Meh, this sketch once again. However, this thankfully ends up being the final installment.
— I love Garth’s spot-on imitation of Kevin Rowland’s dancing.
— Ha, I like the inclusion of Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou Albano.
— In the “Live From New York” book, Cheri mentions that her family came to the show the night of this episode to see Garth Brooks in person (I think Cheri says that the reason for that is her dad was a country singer himself, or something like that), and it ended up being a sad experience for Cheri, because, as she claims, she was completely cut out of the live show. Cheri’s memory must be faulty, because she’s actually appeared in two sketches so far tonight. And, no, she wasn’t referring to the second Garth Brooks-hosted episode, either, because I recall Cheri and Garth doing a “Simmah dah nah!” sketch together in that one.
— During the Cheri-as-Cyndi-Lauper performance of “True Colors”, we get a hilarious random appearance of Will playing the “Soy Bomb” guy who interrupted Bob Dylan’s then-recent performance at that year’s Grammys.
— Overall, a little better than most Hey, Remember the 80s sketches. Even Jim’s Goat Boy shtick didn’t bug me as much as usual this time.
STARS: ***


LOEWS
trapped moviegoers try to survive endless stream of Shelley Long trailers

— Interestingly, the name of Shelley Long’s character in the “My Mom, The Mime” trailer is Diane Carbonal, which is the same name of an Ana Gasteyer recurring character who’s a news reporter.
— Ha, Tracy playing what would go on to be known as a classic Tracy Morgan type of role.
— I love the moviegoers’ suffering through horrible movie previews, most of which inexplicably seem to star Shelley Long and feature the song “I Feel Good”. This is freakin’ priceless.
— Great bit with the cheerful Loews Theater jingle revealing that the doors are locked from the outside.
— I am absolutely loving the moviegoers’ gradual descent into madness over the course of this sketch.
— Haha, holy hell at the convincing visual of Will having his limbs torn apart.
— Molly: “SHELLEY LONG HAS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!” That has got to be one of my favorite Molly Shannon line deliveries ever.
— Yet another fantastic bit is Jim’s reveal about a perpetually-smiling Tracy: “Oh, god! He’s got no lower half! He’s eaten his own legs!”
— Could’ve used a bit of a better ending, but overall, this sketch was an absolute masterpiece. One of my favorite sketches of all time.
STARS: *****


LAY LADY LAY
(WIF) visits (Robert Duvall)’s hospital bed to sing “Lay Lady Lay”

— I like Will quietly entering as a hospital worker and randomly starting to sing “Lay Lady Lay” to a sleeping Robert Duvall.
— A good laugh from Will repeatedly yelling “You shut up!” during his and Duvall’s back-and-forth arguing.
— Sweet turn with Duvall having a change of heart, letting Will sing to him, and even joining in on a duet.
— Immediately after the nice duet ends, I love Will’s sudden delivery of “I’m gonna bathe you now.”
— I found this to be an overall nice way to end the show. This sketch probably wouldn’t have worked outside of the 10-to-1 spot.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, one that I feel is one of the best of this season. Every single sketch worked for me, one of the sketches was an all-time favorite of mine (Loews), and many other sketches were both great and very memorable. Even Mango and Remember The 80s were good, for crying out loud. Also adding to this episode was Garth Brooks, who turned in one of the most surprising hosting performances from a non-actor in SNL history. He did a very good job in every single sketch and came off natural, very fun, and funny. I’m looking forward to seeing him return two seasons later.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Roma Downey)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scott Wolf

Posted on

February 14, 1998 – Roma Downey / Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott (S23 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ABC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) addresses Congress regarding Bill Clinton

— A bit odd how extras are playing Al Gore and Newt Gingrich, both standing behind Molly’s Monica Lewinsky.
— A traditional SNL gag where we get constant cutaways to real footage of certain politicians in the crowd while someone is giving a State of the Union-type address. Some of the cutaways in tonight’s cold opening are particularly funny being shown during Molly-as-Lewinsky’s schoolgirl-type rambling about her romantic and sexual encounters.
— Hmm, Ana playing a real-life law professor named Catherine McKinnon. Is it safe to assume that Catherine McKinnon’s nickname is Kate?
— This feels longer than typical cold openings. The portions with Molly’s Monica Lewinsky are mostly fine, but even the gag with the cutaways to politicians in the crowd during her speech is going on too long (hell, they used the same shot of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan twice). And the portions with Darrell’s Ted Koppel interviewing panelists aren’t providing many laughs and feel unnecessary to this cold opening. Not even Tim’s deadpan “I hate this country” made me laugh as much as it should’ve.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo noticeably sounds a little under the weather tonight. SNL would later fix this in reruns by replacing his announcements with ones where he sounds like his usual self.


MONOLOGUE
backstage, host & Della Reese (TRM) bring salvation to fallen castmembers

— Tracy is hilarious as Della Reese.
— I like Darrell’s silly portrayal of himself as a violent man.
— Molly’s portrayal of herself as a belligerent drunken druggie isn’t too far removed from her Courtney Love impression.
— Good bit with Will portraying himself as a sleazy porno director.
— I got a laugh from Roma Downey’s passing mention of having bitchslapped Chris Kattan earlier in the week.
— Lorne’s convoluted description of the seedy business he deals in is funny, as is him not being changed by Roma and Della’s attempt to make him see the light.
STARS: ***½


CHESS FOR GIRLS
Rerun from 12/6/97


WEDDING VOWS
Marty & Bobbi renew their wedding vows & do a medley about their sex life

— A laugh from Marty’s description of his and Bobbi’s naked bodies when they typically wake up in the morning.
— Tonight’s song medley isn’t amusing me as much as the Culps’ medleys usually do (maybe because I’m not familiar with some of these songs). Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is the only song so far that I got a laugh from.
— A big laugh from Marty and Bobbi’s awkward, nasty-looking, tongue-y kiss during their medley.
STARS: ***


CATHERINE THE GREAT
Catherine the Great’s (host) equine affair denial has Clinton parallels

— A somewhat interesting idea to do a Catherine The Great horse sex scandal parody that parallels the Lewinsky scandal.
— I like the absurdity of Ana doing her contemporary Helen Thomas impression in a sketch set in the year 1766.
— A weak and lazy ending, with us just seeing a newspaper headline with the word “Ponygate”.
— Overall, ehh. Despite the somewhat clever premise, this sketch pretty much just came and went with very few laughs from me.
STARS: **


MARTHA STEWART LIVING VALENTINE SPECIAL
ideas for how to spend Valentine’s Day alone

— Odd how we’re getting a Martha Stewart Living sketch two episodes in a row. I can’t complain, though.
— A huge laugh from the butt-shaped erotic cake, as well as the comment Ana’s Martha Stewart makes after tasting a sample of it: “Now that’s a sweet piece of ass.”
— Another hilarious bit, this time with Martha’s tip on defecating in a box and leaving it on your ex-husband’s front porch, complete with a scene of her doing that to her own ex-husband.
STARS: ****


EYE ON THE OLYMPICS
Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati (JMB) shows signs of Nagano weed use

— A no-brainer to cast Jim in this role of a pot-smoking Olympian. By the way, as this season progresses, it’s becoming more and more of a rarity to see Jim carry a sketch. He’s been invisible this season. I wonder what the reason is behind his reduced airtime lately. He’s basically become to this season what Mark McKinney was to the preceding season.
— Jim’s performance is fairly fun, but the stoner jokes here are standard, cliched, and bland. They did this humor a little better in the Issues sketch from earlier this season.
— Tracy almost saves this sketch with his funny walk-on as the leader of the Jamaican bobsledding team.
STARS: **


RIDING MY DONKEY POLITICAL TALK SHOW
pundits defend media atop asses

— Yes! I’m eager to finally see this. I’ve always been aware of this well-loved sketch, and have seen some clips from it, but this is my first time actually seeing the sketch in its entirety.
— An insanely catchy theme song, and I also love the graphics in the accompanying opening credits.
— A great bizarre concept of a political talk show with the host and panelists being atop donkeys for no good reason. This is like a much-improved version of the Donkey Basketball Camp sketch from Charles Barkley’s season 19 episode.
— Haha, holy hell! Early on in the sketch, things already go off the rails, with Tim nearly falling backwards off his donkey when his donkey begins to wander out of the shot. Tim returns into the shot with his donkey while making a great ad-lib: “I just wanted to get some water.”
— Fun seeing Tim, Will, Ana, and Darrell each trying not to crack up during all of the unscripted messiness throughout this already-inherently-crazy sketch.
— Another unintentional laugh from another gaffe, this time with the very delayed effect of an arrow sticking out of Darrell’s chest.
— Haha, it looked like Tim almost fell backwards off his donkey again at the very end of the sketch.
— Overall, this sketch was a beautiful absurd mess, and absolutely lived up to the hype.
STARS: *****


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine records Bill Clinton’s first call

— An interesting and experimental idea.
— Good detail with a beret being on the table next to Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine.
— An overall pretty straightforward piece, but it worked for what it was.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ uses Cops analogy to explain America’s status as “world’s policeman”
COQ says he’ll marry Madonna, as long as certain ground rules are honored

— God, I love that opening theme music.
— Much like the last Update, tonight’s Update starts with Colin doing another straight-to-camera breakdown of something big in the news. Unfortunately, this particular breakdown isn’t very funny.
— And now, after the aforementioned breakdown has ended with a somewhat quiet audience, Colin VERY awkwardly turns to the other camera to start doing traditional news jokes. Geez, he didn’t even bother to segue into the jokes.
— Boy, quite a lot of Colin’s jokes tonight are getting a fairly tepid audience reaction.
— Ha, I like how after one particular joke got a poor reaction from the audience, Colin ad-libs “I should’ve bought my donkey.”
— Ah, now we get an actual funny straight-to-camera breakdown from Colin, with him setting the ground rules for Madonna in case she and Colin ever get married to each other. I like the randomness of this segment, as well as Colin’s very assertive, straightforward approach.
— Wow, Update is over already? It felt like it was only about 4 minutes long, and there were no guest commentaries.
— Overall, after having a surprisingly strong Update in the last episode, Colin has unfortunately taken a huge step back tonight, despite a few decent moments.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sock It 2 Me” & “Beep Me 911”


COUSIN FRAN
before her cousin’s (host) wedding, bitter Fran (CHO) piles on self-pity

— Cheri attempts a new character, one that we end up never seeing again.
— A minute and a half into this sketch, I finally got my first real laugh, from Cheri’s rude off-camera comment about Ana’s deaf husband.
— Boy, I don’t know about this sketch. I appreciate the realism they’re going for in Cheri’s character, but I’m not caring much for the execution of this sketch.
— What the hell happened at the end? After flicking her cigarette out of the shot, Cheri looks off-camera and briefly drops character with a worried facial expression (screencap below) as if she accidentally hit someone off-camera with her cigarette, then looks straight at the camera, then just embarrassedly walks out of the scene as the sketch fades to black. What in the world?!?

STARS: **


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine captures date-night Bill Clinton call

— Ah, a runner.
— I like the mileage SNL has been getting out of the Lewinsky scandal so far in these last two episodes. It shows how much the Lewinsky scandal consumed America at this time.
— I’m finding the humorous realism of Bill’s phone message a little funnier in this one than I found it in the first Phone Call segment earlier tonight.
STARS: ***½


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon helps callers create Valentine’s Day romance

— I’m not 100% sure, but I think this is the last Ladies’ Man sketch to feature Tracy’s stage manger character Montel. I know this character of Tracy’s is just a very minor role, but I’ve always liked the camaraderie and banter that he and Leon Phelps have with each other.
— The call from Molly felt like it should’ve been longer.
— Leon’s “bumpin’ and squirtin’” poem was very funny.
— An overall okay Ladies’ Man installment, but felt like a step back from the last installment, which finally took this recurring sketch out of the basic “Leon Phelps takes calls for a few minutes by himself” format by adding in a guest.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Ah Lin The Skater Man” by RBS- growth hormone fuels the propaganda tool

— A fairly late spot in an episode for a TV Funhouse to air.
— I’m not very familiar with the type of anime that this cartoon is parodying, so I probably don’t appreciate this cartoon as much as I’m sure others would. I’m still getting a good amount of amusement, though, and I like the animation style, which I can tell is a spot-on imitation of the animation style of real anime.
— Good gag with Ah Lin going through a Popeye-esque transformation when eating steroids in a similar manner to eating from a can of spinach, complete with the Popeye theme music playing in the background.
STARS: ***½


VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE
cousin Tina (host) gives man-getting tips to Lou’s Lovely Daughters

— The return of Ana, Cheri, and Molly’s characters from the Lou’s Lovely Daughters sketch in the season premiere.
— This feels like the only time all night that Roma Downey (oh, that’s right, tonight’s episode has a host!) has gotten really into character.
— I recall once hearing that Roma accidentally flashes a nipple one of the many times she adjusts her low-cut top throughout this sketch, but I have yet to notice any nip slips from her.
— Cheri’s unattractive Maria character is getting some good laughs as usual.
STARS: ***


PHONE CALL
Monica Lewinsky’s answering machine saves the last pre-scandal call

— I like how it’s gotten to the point where Bill is now part of Monica’s answering machine greeting.
— A laugh from Bill worriedly asking at the end “You are erasing these messages, aren’t you?”
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS
NOM walks on-stage & kisses host

— Norm Macdonald, who has not been in any sketches these last two episodes and was removed from the opening montage, randomly shows up onstage next to Roma, gives her a kiss on the lips after she’s finished with her goodnights speech, then quickly exits the stage. What the…?!?!? I get that it’s Valentine’s Day, but there are so many unanswered questions about this.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— This episode had a pretty dull, forgettable feel. Two great bits (Riding My Donkey Political Talk Show and Martha Stewart Living) were almost lost in a sea of bits that were either just okay, very unmemorable, or flat-out mediocre. Adding to the forgettable feel of this episode was the host, as Roma Downey didn’t stand out at all and played a lot of bland roles that weren’t too far removed from her “Touched By an Angel” persona, aside from one sketch where she was allowed to get loose in (Valentine’s Day Dance).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Garth Brooks, with special guest Robert Duvall

Posted on

February 7, 1998 – John Goodman / Paula Cole (S23 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MONICA MEETS LINDA
Linda Tripp (host) wears a wire during meeting with Monica Lewinsky (MOS)

— This cold opening oddly begins with the audience already applauding for some reason.
— We have officially entered the Lewinsky scandal era, which SNL will be getting a lot of memorable mileage out of these next two seasons.
— Something odd I’ve always found about Molly’s Monica Lewinsky impression is that SNL never put any padding on her, which made it kinda hard to buy her as overweight.
— What luck for SNL that John Goodman happens to be hosting the week they needed to debut a Linda Tripp impression. This, of course, would lead to John having to cameo in the future every time SNL wants to do a Linda Tripp sketch, which feels like a precursor to SNL’s stunt casting in political sketches nowadays.
— Some good laughs from John’s Tripp trying to get Molly’s Lewinsky to repeat her confession into a hidden wire.
— A funny sudden appearance from Tim as Vernon Jordan from under the restaurant table. I also like him muttering to Molly’s Monica “Ix-nay on the ellatio-fay.”
— A great line with Monica’s “I love BJs” when receiving her Bartles & Jaymes drink.
— Feels kinda odd seeing (tonight’s special guest) Dan Aykroyd reprising his Bob Dole impression, considering Norm is still in the cast, though we won’t be seeing him tonight (more on that in a moment).
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Norm Macdonald has been removed from the opening montage. He will not be making any appearances in tonight’s episode, nor will he be making any appearances in the following episode (minus a random brief walk-on in the latter episode’s goodnights; more on that when I review that episode). I wonder if this made SNL fans at the time incorrectly assume that Norm was officially no longer in the cast.


MONOLOGUE
Mighty Mack & Elwood Blues perform “Lookin’ For A Fox”

— An interesting and fun change of pace for hosts’ typical monologue entrance, with the SNL theme music abruptly stopping and Don Pardo announcing the Blues Brothers and the original Blues Brothers band, which is then followed by blues music playing as John and Dan enter as the Blues Brothers.
— I’m no fan of the post-John Belushi Blues Brothers, but this performance is fun, and I like how SNL is going all out on this compared to the last Blues Brothers monologue from Goodman’s season 20 episode, by having this song being performed on the musical guest stage, having a full blues band, and having the female cast members as sunglasses-wearing backup singers.
STARS: N/A (I don’t usually rate segments like this)


MORNING LATTE
chatter of Tom & Cass eventually causes (host) to snap

— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— Like the first time they did this sketch, there’s a lot of enjoyment from Will and Cheri’s spoof of typical morning show banter, and from the denseness of Cheri’s character.
— Some good milking of the fact that Cheri’s character can’t have children.
— A lot of hilarious harsh, cruel comments Will and Cheri are making about Monica Lewinsky’s weight.
— Was it really necessary to repeat the gag from the first installment of this sketch, with the stage manger yelling “YOU STUPID BITCH!” at Cheri? Besides, you’re never going to top Chris Farley’s delivery of that line. Unfortunately, they would make the “YOU STUPID BITCH!” outburst towards Cheri a regular part of this recurring sketch for a while, though in the one with Alec Baldwin in the upcoming season 24, I think Alec’s outburst has him yelling another obscenity to Cheri besides “stupid bitch” (something that ends with him saying “ass”, I believe, though I can’t remember the whole outburst).
STARS: ****


THE 7TH COMMANDMENT
at Mount Sinai, Bill Clinton (DAH) seeks adultery admonition loophole

— A brilliant and very memorable concept of Darrell’s Bill Clinton being at Moses’ reading-off of the ten commandments. This has always been one of my favorite sketches that Darrell has ever done as Clinton.
— So many priceless lines and questioning from Darrell’s Clinton towards John’s Moses on what defines adultery.
— A particularly funny bit with the “neighbor’s ass” part of the commandments.
STARS: *****


EYE ON THE OLYMPICS
Brian Boitano (WIF) & Rudy Galindo (CHK) camp it up at Nagano Olympics

— Not much to this besides lots of gay stereotype jokes, but I am enjoying the fun chemistry between Will and Chris.
— The wrong assumptions that Will and Chris keep making about the nationality of Molly’s Michelle Kwan is getting some laughs from me.
STARS: **½


TV FUNHOUSE
“X-Presidents” by RBS- X-First Ladies help defeat communist aliens

 

— A hilarious brief cutaway to George and Barbara Bush having sex, which would go on to become a running gag in these X-President cartoons.
— George Bush, to a villain: “Welcome to Operation Desert Whoop-Ass.”
— An interesting unexpected turn with The X-First Ladies, which is providing a nice change.
STARS: ***½


EMERIL LIVE
Monica Lewinsky’s lawyer William Ginsburg (host) begs

— Jim’s Emeril Lagasse impression is way off. Sounds nothing like him. In Jim’s defense, though, maybe people weren’t too familiar with Emeril yet in 1998. Jim isn’t even throwing in any “BAM!”s, which would later go on to be a required part of an Emeril impression.
— A pretty funny out-of-place setting for John’s William Ginsburg to seriously address the Lewinsky scandal.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ explains why he’s not happy about Matt Damon’s success
frat guy Randy Graves (WIF) sides with Bill Clinton & blames women

— Colin’s Weekend Update theme music is really growing on me. It’s damn good. Too bad they change it in, I believe, the upcoming season 24.
— For the first time since taking over as new Update anchorperson, Colin wears a traditional suit-and-tie attire.
— An interesting change of pace with tonight’s Update not beginning with the typical news jokes, instead beginning with Colin doing a straight-to-camera breakdown of the Lewinsky scandal.
— In between the few traditional news jokes, we get Colin doing a lot more straight-to-camera breakdowns on various topics, using his natural stand-up delivery. Colin is really finding his niche with these bits. You can tell he’s much more comfortable in these bits than he is when delivering traditional Update news jokes in a straitlaced delivery. Man, can’t he officially do away with the traditional news jokes and just do these stand-up-style breakdowns? I think he would’ve gone on to be more accepted as an Update anchorperson if he went this route. Sure, it may seem out-of-place and nontraditional for an anchorperson to do Update in this style, but when you think about it, SNL previously took a chance on Dennis Miller, who never attempted to sound like a straitlaced news anchor, instead choosing to do Update in his natural, hip, laid-back stand-up style, which ended up going over very well and people would go on to credit Dennis for re-inventing Update. Even though the style that I’m saying Colin should regularly do Update in would be a more drastic format change for Update than what Dennis did, I think Colin could make it work.
— Wow, Colin continues to be really on in tonight’s Update. He’s having a surprisingly strong night. Hell, even his delivery of the traditional Update news jokes is on-point. If I wasn’t aware of how the remainder of his Update tenure ends up going, tonight’s Update would have me fooled into thinking that he would go on to be a very solid anchorperson.
— The good vibes of tonight’s Update continue, as Will is freakin’ priceless in his commentary as a typical obnoxious fratboy.
— I love Will’s various ridiculous nicknames for Colin.
— So many funny lines from Will during his commentary about the Lewinsky scandal, culminating in him singing “In Your Eyes” for his buddy.
— Will occasionally asking the audience to give Colin a hand seems like a desperate way for SNL to get the audience on Colin’s side. Any other week, I’d understand the need for this, but Colin has been having such a good showing in tonight’s Update that Will practically forcing the audience to give Colin an ovation feels kinda unnecessary.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Want To Wait”


JUDGE JUDY
(ANG) claims that Irwin Mainway’s toys are dangerous

— Irwin Mainway! I love the idea of Dan playing him in a Judge Judy setting.
— Judge Judy: “Don’t give me rabbit poop and tell me that it’s chocolate.”
— A particularly great dangerous Mainway toy, with Irwin trying to pass off an old refrigerator as a time machine and a “problem solver”.
— Like last time, we get some great banter between Cheri’s Judge Judy and Tracy’s bailiff.
— Judge Judy’s “Johnny Nutcracker” bit is really funny.
— Judge Judy, to Ana: “Put the hanger away, Mommie Dearest!”
STARS: ****


MARTHA STEWART LIVING
items to aid exodus from Cuba are presented

— Great concept with Ana’s Martha Stewart giving classy tips on how to escape from Cuba.
— I especially love the tip about filling a latex glove with jewelry, money, or food, and hiding it in your “nether quarters”, which Martha then tells us “I got my lunch hidden in there right now.”
STARS: ****


SABADO CHISTOSO
William Ginsburg (WIF) makes his plea on a Hispanic show

— Nice to see Dan in yet another sketch tonight.
— Much like the La Politica Non Correcto sketch from the preceding season, this sketch is perfectly capturing the essence of typical shows on Spanish networks.
— Dan’s seamless transition from speaking in convincing Spanish to speaking in a normal American accent reminds me of how impressed I always was by his impeccable delivery when I reviewed seasons 1-4.
— I like how it’s become a running gag throughout tonight’s episode with John’s William Ginsburg appearing in random shows to plead towards Kenneth Starr. Rare for an SNL episode after the mid-80s to do this type of running gag throughout the sketches. We soon get another running gag a little later this season in the Julianne Moore episode.
STARS: ***


COBRAS
a cobra terrorizes airline passengers (host), (ANG), (TIM)

— I love Will-as-the-pilot’s very casual and calm announcement of a live cobra being loose on the plane.
— Tim’s over-the-top sweaty trembling when trying to stay still next to the cobra is great.
— A lot more very funny overly calm announcements from Will as the pilot, especially when detailing the horrible effects the cobra bite is having on his mind.
— Very random ending with a talking cobra (voiced by Cheri) delivering a message to us. I want to like this portion of the sketch, but it’s going on WAY too long and feels unnecessary.
STARS: ****


STORYTELLERS
Neil Diamond (WIF) performs songs & reveals his sicko muses

— Oh, this is a legendary Will Ferrell sketch.
— We get the debut of Will’s Neil Diamond impression. And, man, what a sketch for it to debut in.
— Very funny turn with Neil Diamond’s random disclosure of his love for hardcore, barely legal pornography.
— A lot of huge laughs from Diamond’s disturbing backstories to his hit songs, such as how he came up with “Sweet Caroline” after driving drunk and running over a kid.
— John: “Leave me out of this, man.” Neil Diamond: “(angrily) No, I will leave you IN!” That particular line has stuck with me for so many years.
— Neil Diamond: “I’ll smack you in the mouth, I’m Neil Diamond!” Such a perfectly Will Ferrell-esque line.
— Will-as-Neil-Diamond’s singing is providing good amusement.
— Neil Diamond: “This one, I wrote after I killed a drifter to get an erection.”
— Man, this sketch is practically an endless string of amazing one-liners.
— Overall, not only a classic sketch in general, but also one of the best 10-to-1 sketches in SNL history.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, and one of my favorites of this season. There was a good number of very solid sketches tonight, including two all-time favorites of mine (The 7th Commandment and Storytellers). Even Colin Quinn’s Weekend Update was surprisingly great. I also liked the heavy focus on the Lewinsky scandal, showing what a huge story it was when it first broke out around this time, though I can understand why the heavy focus on that might bother some viewers.
— John Goodman was his usual dependable self, and Dan Aykroyd, while not dominating as much as he did when guesting in John’s season 20 episode, was a welcome and adept presence as always.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Roma Downey

Posted on

January 17, 1998 – Sarah Michelle Gellar / Portishead (S23 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SELF DEFENSE TEST
Unabomber’s (WIF) pitch to represent himself in court is unconvincing

— Always good to see Will’s Unabomber.
— Funny reference to a real-life then-recent incident where the Unabomber tried to hang himself with a pair of underwear.
— I love the reveal of the Unabomber’s law degree just being a Denny’s placemat with “I’m a lawyer” written on it.
— Unabomber: “I miss the old days when I had it all: a shack. A bucket. That was pretty much it.”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host tries to improvise reciprocation when castmembers give her gifts

— A big deal right now: Norm makes his first live appearance since the Weekend Update firing fiasco, to thunderous applause from the audience. Very nice to see this.
— After the thunderous applause ends, Norm humorously says to the audience “I gotta do this skit now.” That, combined with the lit cigarette in his hand, show that ever since his Update firing, he’s in FULL-ON don’t-give-a-fuck mode, and I love it.
— Norm, to Sarah: “I’ve watched All My Children, you know, never since you left.”
— I feel sorry for Darrell having to follow Norm’s epic appearance.
— I’m liking the increasingly over-the-top nice gifts Sarah is being presented with by the cast, as well as Sarah’s desperation to find something to give back to them.
— I love Sarah giving Darrell a bag of pot from a purse that she snatched from an audience member (Paula Pell).
STARS: ****


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT SMALLPOX
Spice Girls (MOS), (host), (ANG), (CHO), (CHK) speak out about smallpox

— Oh my god, Chris as Scary Spice? Not that I want to see Tim or Tracy thrown in drag once again, but is throwing Chris in brownface drag any better? Granted, the brown make-up he’s wearing is light (so much so, that I’m not even sure if he’s wearing it), but still…
— I gotta say, as questionable as the decision to cast Chris as Scary Spice is, I’m finding myself laughing at his mannerisms and facial expressions in this. It’s so silly that it’s funny.
— An overall short and fairly thin bit, but pretty funny for what it was.
STARS: ***


THE VIEW
Glenn Close (ANG) visits; Debbie Matenopoulos (host) is chided

— Speaking of Tracy in drag…
— I absolutely love how Cheri’s Barbara Walters is upping the ante on her singing of The View theme song in the last View sketch, by now singing the theme in German.
— A good laugh from Sarah’s Debbie Matenopoulos saying “If I had a clone, I’d make out with myself.”
— Spot-on casting of Ana as Glenn Close, as I can see a pretty strong resemblance. It’s something about the eyes.
— When all of the women are talking over each other while greeting Ana’s Glenn Close, I like Tracy’s Star Jones being heard telling Glenn “You are one of the whitest women I ever seen.”
— As good as Claire Danes was as Debbie Matenopoulos in the first View sketch, I’m liking Sarah’s take on Debbie even more.
— Very funny ending with Barbara Walters forcing Debbie to stand in the corner after one particularly idiotic statement she made.
STARS: ****


MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS
counselor Dr. John Gray (NOM) doesn’t fit his own gender stereotypes

— I have no familiarity with what John Gray acts or sounds like, but I’m loving Norm’s performance as him. He is giving this his all and is consistently cracking me up. And knowing his knack for good impressions, I’m sure his take on John Gray is spot-on.
— A big laugh from Norm’s Gray unconvincingly talking about how men love women’s “big wonderful fannies”.
— I like Will’s constant confusion during his and Sarah’s various testimonials.
STARS: ***½


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Spice Girls (MOS), (host), (ANG), (CHO), (CHK) nix rheumatoid arthritis

— Ah, this is a runner.
— A technical glitch, in which the ending voice-over says “To learn more about smallpox, visit…. etc.”, despite the fact that the topic the Spice Girls covered in this particular sketch was rheumatoid arthritis, not smallpox. They must’ve mistakenly played the ending voice-over from the first Spice Girls sketch by mistake, which I can’t understand, considering both Spice Girls sketches are pre-taped.
— Overall, it wasn’t necessary to make this a runner, but I still got some amusement from this. There better not be a third edition of this tonight, though. (I am aware, however, that they later do another one of these in the Cameron Diaz episode from the following season.)
STARS: **½


DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY DINNER
irritable patriarch (WIF) fumes during a hypersensitive family dinner

— Oh, I had completely forgotten about this sketch until now. This is a well-liked sketch among SNL fans, and has been a favorite of mine.
— I love the portions of the sketch with the long, tense stretches of non-dialogue among the family while we hear their utensils loudly clanking on the dinner plates.
— Great delivery from Will with his stern “Can I finish the story?” when Ana asks an innocent question in the middle of his story.
— Some really funny vicious lines that Sarah delivers to her parents throughout this sketch, especially “Shut up, you drunken witch!”
— Funny how this is the second sketch tonight to have a running gag where various people talk in unison, and then, as their simultaneous talking dies down, one of them is heard saying an absurd statement. (The other sketch that happened in tonight is The View.) During one of the times in this sketch that the family’s yelling in unison dies down, Will delivers the classic line “I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!”
STARS: *****


ROAD TO NAGANO
at a pre-Olympics competition, bad girl Tara Lipinski (host) skates angry

— Haha, Chris as Kerri Strug, basically just doing his Kippi Strug bit from an earlier Weekend Update commentary (which has grown on me since I originally reviewed it about a month ago).
— Good brash portrayal of Tara Lipinski from Sarah.
— Some funny rude actions from Sarah’s Lipinski while skating, such as drinking beer and giving someone the finger.
STARS: ***½


THE GOLORDS
Golords save Super Bowl XXXII from anthrax-wielding Saddam Hussein

— Surprisingly, this is the first Golord short to air since the third episode of this season. I had forgotten about these until now.
— Saddam Hussein’s horniness from seeing an Arabic porn magazine is very funny.
— Some of the dolls seated behind the Golords are noticeably celebrity dolls that appeared in earlier Golord shorts, such as Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. There’s also a Jay Leno-looking doll sitting in the row in front of the Golords, even though we never got a Jay Leno appearance in a Golords short before this (nor am I sure we ever get one after this).
— I love Saddam saying, in reaction to seeing the female Golord naked, “I’d like to launch a scud into her airspace!” It’s also hilarious when that line immediately gets followed by a screen saying “Script repair underway”, which then gets followed by a shot of Saddam saying a much tamer sleazy line about the naked female Golord: “I’d like to spend midnight at the oasis with her!”
— Very funny visual effect of Saddam’s face melting off.
STARS: ****


GOTH TALK
Circe embarrasses her Orlando rival, Countess Cobwella (host)

— Good subplot with Jim’s character being drunk behind the couch. A change of pace from the usual bits with him in these Goth Talk sketches.
— The “lost retainer” bit is funny on paper, but is coming off kinda awkward in the execution.
— I’m liking the negative tension between Molly and Sarah’s characters.
— After it being established right from the very first Goth Talk sketch that the real first name of Chris’ Azrael Abyss character is Todd, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to find out the real first name of Molly’s Circe Nightshade character: Stephanie.
— Funny video of Sarah cheesily dancing and lip-syncing to Ace of Base. I also like the detail of the 80s vest jacket she’s wearing.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
to O.J. Simpson (TIM), all mass killings are crimes of passion

— The title sequence has been slightly modified, as it now ends with a title plate with the words “Weekend Update with Colin Quinn”.

— Colin came off kinda awkward during his sign-on, which was drowned out by the audience’s opening applause.
— Yeah, much like in his Update debut last week, Colin’s attempt at a straitlaced news anchor delivery during his jokes is not working for me.
— I’m noticing that Colin keeps making unnatural pauses in his sentences.
— I love Colin’s “huge balls” joke about two World Trade Center robbers who showed their faces on security cameras.
— Ah, Colin is now using his natural stand-up delivery when doing an addendum to the aforementioned World Trade Center robbers story. Clearly, this is where his niche as an anchorperson is: doing stand-up-style breakdowns of news stories.
— Good rant from Colin about a 13-year-old girl touring with the Allman Brothers, though it had an empty ending, which is a problem with some of the stand-up-style breakdowns and rants he’s been doing tonight.
— I like Tim-as-O.J.’s line about trying to solve the mystery of who bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
— A few other funny comments from Tim’s O.J.., most of which allude to him being a murderer, which proves even further that Norm was, in fact, not fired from Update for doing too many harsh O.J. jokes.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Only You”


THE ROBIN BYRD SHOW
anti-porn crusader (ANG) infiltrates panel

 

— I love Tim’s goofy dancing to “I Like to Move It”.
— Cheri’s overdoing it with the temporary blacking-out moments while she’s in the middle of dialogue.
— Funny reveal that Sarah’s stripper-esque dance was a tribute to Princess Diana.
— Good turn with Ana’s porn protester.
— Overall, this was an improvement over the first Robin Byrd Show sketch.
STARS: ***


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
plot shift will fill the Seinfeld void

— I’m enjoying this concept, doing a hybrid of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the about-to-end Seinfeld.
— Will’s Jerry impression is good (though feels a little weird in retrospect, knowing that Jimmy Fallon is only half a year away from joining the show), but Darrell’s George is iffy.
— Very funny Kramer impression from Jim, though he’s nailing the mannerisms better than the voice.
— Much like Ana playing Glenn Close earlier tonight, Sarah playing Elaine is good casting, as she’s a dead-ringer for her in that wig. Come to think of it, even without the wig, there are already some facial similarities between Sarah and Julia Louis Dreyfus.
— In addition to the facial resemblance, Sarah’s Elaine is also a solid impression.
STARS: ***


TIGER BEAT’S ULTRA SUPER DUPER DREAMY LOVE SHOW
teens (host) (MOS), (CHO), (ANG) gab with Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ director (NOM)

— A funny and very accurate parody of teen girl culture from this era.
— A big laugh from Ana’s disturbing comment about Christina Ricci, and how it contrasted against what the other girls were saying in that conversation.
— I particularly like the “future star” segment about a baby actor.
— Good turn with Norm’s out-of-place old man character in such a setting like this.
— An epic Norm blooper now happens, with Norm removing his fake mustache, which had begun slowly peeling off, and telling the girls in a great ad-libbed bit “This is not a real mustache”, proceeding to go on about a guy he bought the mustache from, culminating in Norm saying “I asked ‘Will it fall off?’, he said ‘NO!’”
STARS: ****


THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY

— This is the first Lost Deep Thought all season that I feel could roll with the original Deep Thoughts of the early 90s.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. The quality was consistently good, I liked just about every sketch, and the show contained a personal favorite of mine (Dysfunctional Family Dinner). Sarah Michelle Gellar stood out tonight among other young hosts from this era. She did well in every sketch, was likable, and had a few strong moments, proving herself worthy of soon becoming a recurring host.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Samuel L. Jackson)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Our annual John Goodman episode, this time with him again being joined by special guest Dan Aykroyd