Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
BREAKFAST IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
presidential candidates have breakfast after the New Hampshire primary
— Darrell’s Al Gore impression, still in its early stages, is slowly starting to sound like how it would famously go on to later sound, though it’s still got a way to go.
— Will’s George W. Bush impression, on the other hand, remains not even close. His Bush continues to not have any of the specific Bush mannerisms that his impression would later become famous for. All that being said, his Bush portrayal in this cold opening is still funny, and they are at least introducing hints of the soon-to-be-famous aspect of his Bush being “slow”.
— Funny bit about Parnell’s John McCain only being comfortable eating with a blindfold.
— Good to see Tim’s Marvin The Martian-sounding Alan Keyes impression for the first time since way back in season 21’s Tom Arnold episode.
— I love Tim’s Keyes panickedly bolting out of the room when Parnell’s McCain realizes Keyes stole his copy of USA Today.
— The ending of this cold opening would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version. The most noticeable difference is Parnell’s “Live From New York…” delivery: in the live version, he delivers it in a frenzied way with a smile, whereas in the dress version, he delivers it in a sort-of scared manner with a surprised look on his face.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— After sounding awful in the last episode, Don Pardo is out tonight with, I believe, laryngitis. Darrell Hammond fills in for him once again. Darrell seems to be going for a Don Pardo impression in his announcements tonight, but it’s not as defined as the Pardo impression he did in the preceding season’s James Van Der Beek episode.
MONOLOGUE
host is besieged by Broadway-wannabes CHO, CHK, ANG, CHP, TRM, WIF
— I can tell I’m not going to be too crazy about this Broadway-centric monologue, but hopefully, the performances will make this somewhat fun.
— A good laugh from Alan Cumming’s “Cumming on Cumming” joke.
— Parnell entering in a Phantom Of The Opera mask is fairly funny.
— Tracy dancing around in a Cats costume is hilarious.
STARS: **½
UNCLE JEMIMA’S PURE MASH LIQUOR
Uncle Jemima’s (TRM) Pure Mash Liquor is his bid to escape wife’s shadow
— Tracy’s performance as Uncle Jemima is slaying me. He is fantastic in this.
— Uncle Jemima, on something he once told Aunt Jemima: “Black folk ain’t exactly swellin’ up with pride on account of you flippin’ flapjacks.”
— Uncle Jemima: “Uncle Jemima’s Pure Mash Liquor has a 95% alcohol content, and that’s per volume.” Tim: “What the hell does that mean?” Uncle Jemima: “That means you get (bleep)ed up for less money.”
— Tim’s “What’choo swattin’ at?!?” is perfect.
— Solid ending with Tracy being chased out of the commercial by the animated birds flying around him.
— Overall, a Tracy Morgan classic, with some nice assistance from Tim.
STARS: *****
FRIED CHICKEN FIELDS FOREVER
VH-1 depicts John Lennon (JIF) & Paul McCartney (host) as restauranteurs
— Funny reveal of Lennon and McCartney opening a chain of fried chicken restaurants, as the filmmakers’ way of working around the network not having rights to any of the Beatles’ music.
— Not much of an attempt at a Paul McCartney impression from Alan.
— The “Number 9? Number 9? Number 9?” scene is very funny.
— At the end of the aforementioned “Number 9?” scene, you can hear a female stagehand’s voice (probably the stage manager) whispering “Alan, you can change!”
— What the heck is going on? The timing in this sketch has gotten really wonky all of a sudden. Alan and Jimmy are badly off on their cues. In fact, I’m pretty sure Alan completely screwed up the quick scene he did in which he pushes a mop & bucket while making some kind of complaint about about the “ladies’ crapper”; he seemed to do that scene much earlier than he was supposed to. Yikes!
— Parnell’s occasional off-camera angry yelling at Lennon and McCartney is cracking me up.
— Funny ending regarding the altered title of the movie.
— Overall, not a bad script, but the execution needed some work. Thankfully, the timing issues in this sketch would later be fixed in reruns.
STARS: **½
TANDEM HEARTS
Marty & Bobby perform a medley with couples workshop organizer (host)
— Alan’s American accent here is making me laugh.
— The Culps’ pre-song banter is funny as usual.
— After the last Culps installment with Dylan McDermott, it now seems to be becoming a regular thing for hosts to join the Culps in their song medley.
— Like McDermott, Alan is adding a fun vibe to the medley, though he’s not quite as funny as McDermott was in his Culps sketch.
— The funniest parts of tonight’s Culps/Cumming song medley are their singing of Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie” and the “You’re the One That I Want” song from Grease.
STARS: ***½
DOG SHOW
an intervention addresses Mr. Bojangles’ drinking problem
— I got a laugh from how we’re told that Mr. Bojangles isn’t dressed in his proper costume because he got wasted at a friend’s birthday party.
— For some reason, Alan’s delivery here is kinda reminding me of Eric Idle. I like that.
— Will, speaking for Mr. Bojangles: “Can I just say one thing, or is this Russia?”
— Overall, slightly better than the last two Dog Show installments, but I still feel these Dog Show sketches have lost their luster after the first two installments.
STARS: **½
THE HEAT IS ON
by Adam McKay- (BES) regrets bedding Glenn Frey (WIF)
— Hmm, “SNL Studios presents: A short film by Adam McKay”. Well… this is certainly different for this SNL era.
— As if the sudden appearance of an Adam McKay short film wasn’t out-of-left-field enough, we now see that this film randomly stars Ben Stiller.
— An interesting thing about Ben Stiller in this film is that the reason he quit SNL during his stint as a featured player in season 14 is reportedly because he was upset that SNL wouldn’t let him do short films on the show. 11 years later, and this Adam McKay film kinda makes up for that in a way, even if that’s unintentional on McKay’s part.
— Ben Stiller: “Come tomorrow morning, I’m gonna have Glenn Frey’s stank all over me.”
— Will’s cocky portrayal of Glenn Frey is very funny.
— I can let the tired “men kissing men for cheap laughs” trope slide in this film, because Will is freakin’ hilarious during this bizarre kissing sequence.
— The love-making montage is priceless, especially the close-up of Will’s Frey furiously grunting in a disturbing manner (the third-to-last above screencap for this film).
— Unlike most SNL short films, we actually get ending credits in this one, listing the actors and production staff.
— Overall, a hilarious film, and a solid introduction to the film work that Adam McKay will be doing on SNL this next season-and-a-half.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Feelin’ So Good”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Great Moments in Black History- TRM offers an autobiography
Bill Clinton (DAH) says “my successor will be boring; you’ll miss me”
— Colin’s voice is cracking at times during this Update, which he eventually points out.
— An interesting-seeming Black History segment with Tracy, taking place on a different set.
— I love seeing a childhood picture of Tracy (the fifth above screencap for this Update).
— Tracy is quite stumbly throughout this commentary.
— An overall decent Tracy commentary with a few really good laughs, but the commentary felt like it should’ve gone further.
— A big laugh from Darrell’s President Clinton asking “You’re gonna miss me, aren’t you?” after going on about how overly straitlaced and well-behaved the next president is going to be. (Turns out that prediction would end up being off by only one presidency. “Overly straitlaced” and “well-behaved” would describe Obama more than Bush Jr.)
— The premise of this Clinton commentary is starting to feel a little like a rehash of the cold opening Darrell’s Clinton did earlier this season in the Christina Ricci episode, but he’s making this a lot of fun.
— Clinton’s promises of the wild things he’ll do for the remainder of his presidency are very funny.
STARS: **½
SIEGFRIED AND ROY’S NIGHT OF 1000 TIGERS
Siegfried (host) & Roy’s (CHK) Night of 1000 Tigers is a wildlife benefit
— Very funny make-up on Cheri as the famous cat-looking woman.
— A few minutes later into this sketch, and this sketch hasn’t been doing much for me.
— I love Alan’s ad-lib when the smoke blocks his view of the cue cards.
STARS: **
HELLO DOLLY
(host)’s collectible creations are a vehicle for psychoses
— I like Ana’s passing mention of her marriage being ruined by “Hurricane Carol”.
— Funny line from Alan, regarding him being a “knock-kneed scab-picker” in his childhood.
— Another funny line from Alan, telling critics of his Husky Doodle doll, “I’d just like to spray you down with a little can of hush.”
— An overall okay Hello Dolly sketch, though I’m starting to get a little tired of Ana’s character’s constant mentions of troubled things in her life.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Waiting For Tonight”
BAND SHOT
— The show comes back from commercial just to show the SNL Band immediately playing the show back to commercial. As I said in my review of season 21’s Christopher Walken episode, that’s always a sign that the show has run long and had to cut a scheduled sketch at the last minute.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty unmemorable episode. A few highlights, but I wasn’t too crazy about the show as a whole, and I’m having a hard time remembering a lot of sketches even right after having just watched this episode. Alan Cumming was a pretty fun and solid host, and had an English-type wit about him. I just wish he was given better material.
— This season’s been having a bit of a forgettable run of episodes lately. The Jennifer Aniston episode from all the way back in November was the last episode I was crazy about.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Freddie Prinze Jr.)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Julianna Margulies