Tag: Arcade Fire

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September 28, 2013 – Tina Fey / Arcade Fire (S39 E1)

(Before you read this review, please read this message I recently posted regarding the comments section of this site if you haven’t already. Thank you.)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) helps Barack Obama (JAP) promote Obamacare

— Great bit from Aidy.
— New cast member Beck Bennett gets the somewhat rare honor of appearing in his first episode before being announced in the episode’s opening montage.
— Hilarious lines from Bobby regarding his good-for-nothing son, played by Beck.
— A funny topical spoof of Ted Cruz’s then-recent Green Eggs & Ham speech.
— Lots of funny walk-ons from the cast all throughout this. This feels like an even more fun variation of the Obama sequester press conference cold opening from the preceding season’s Kevin Hart episode.
— Now we get a solid appearance from Aaron Paul as his Breaking Bad character, just one day before the highly-anticipated Breaking Bad series finale.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— After I had gotten so used to Fred Armisen being the first-announced cast member in every single opening montage since season 30, it feels unusual seeing anyone else now be the first-announced cast member.
— Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Strong have been promoted from featured players to repertory players. Aidy and Cecily’s promotions are particularly noteworthy, because they were promoted after only one season as featured players, which has been a rarity since the early 2000s.
— The photo of Cecily from the preceding season’s opening montage (first screencap below) has now been changed to a new photo (second screencap below).

— Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O’Brien, Noel Wells, and Brooks Wheelan have all been added to the cast tonight, in the largest simultaneous influx of new cast members that the beginning of an SNL season has experienced since the big overhaul the show went through in 1995.


MONOLOGUE
TIF hazes new cast members BEB, JOM, KYM, MOB, NOW, BRW via dance routine

— I love the tongue-in-cheek bit regarding Tina Fey’s non-existent recurring characters.
— When talking about SNL’s hiring of six new cast members, Tina notably calls this a “rebuilding year”. Hmm. Interesting hearing that in hindsight, now being aware of how this season goes and how SNL’s original intention to transition into a new era that heavily features these six newbies sadly ends up not going the way SNL fans at the time hoped and assumed it would.
— I absolutely love that this monologue is focusing on the new cast members.
— Pretty fun seeing old clips of Tina and her female castmates doing humiliating dances in hosts’ monologues back in the early 2000s, as well as a bonus clip of Will Ferrell tap-dancing in Katie Holmes’ season 26 monologue. Interestingly, the Bernie Mac clip (the seventh above screencap for this monologue) clearly does not come from the aired version of that episode. I went into much more detail about this in my review of Bernie Mac’s monologue, seen here.
— Even though I’m aware it really rubs some SNL fans the wrong way, I’m enjoying the dumb dances Tina’s making the six new cast members do, and I personally feel that both Tina and SNL mean well in their good-natured “humiliating” and “hazing” of the newbies. I do have to admit, though, the fact that almost all of these newbies would end up getting severely underused over the course of this season and then get fired after the season sadly casts a pall over this monologue in hindsight for me, and makes it not hold up quite as well for me. A shame, given the fact that I remember absolutely loving this monologue when it originally aired, as I obviously wasn’t aware back then of how the newbies’ SNL tenures would turn out. I remember this monologue gave me so much hope for them.
— Some great moves from Beck.
— Tina, after the newbies’ dance number: “Congratulations, you’re done for the night.” Oh, Tina, you have no idea idea how true that statement would turn out to be in subsequent episodes this season, regarding the extreme under-utilization the newbies will find themselves facing, and how they’ll indeed be “done for the night” in each episode after doing very little in it.
STARS: ***


GIRLS
Albanian (TIF) rebuffs First World problems of Hannah (NOW) & other Girls

— I’ve never watched Girls, but I’m familiar enough with Lena Dunham’s voice to find Noel Wells’ impression of her to be pretty spot-on and fun, and the other female cast members are also fun in their performances as Girls characters. Given how, when it was initially announced Noel was joining SNL, some SNL fans who were familiar with her pre-SNL online work heavily hyped her skills as a celebrity impressionist, it’s nice to see Noel immediately getting a showcase for her impression skills tonight.
— Making this already-fun Girls spoof even better is the added-in Albanian character played by Tina, who’s absolutely perfect in this role.
— I got a particularly good laugh from Tina asking if she can eat the donut from Vanessa’s character’s head, referring to the odd-looking bun her hair is in.
STARS: ****


AIRPORT
(TAK) & (TIF) give special passengers priority during airplane boarding

— Love the “children traveling with small parents” bit, getting good mileage out of the huge size difference between John Milhiser and Brooks Wheelan.
— Very fun structure to this sketch, with lots of very amusing quick walk-ons from various cast members, much like the cold opening.
— Bobby’s mere facial expression as the “farter” is a riot; the kind of gag he’s always perfect at selling.
STARS: ****


NEW CAST MEMBER OR ARCADE FIRE?
KYM, NOW, MOB mistaken for musical guest

— Wow, yet ANOTHER segment tonight focused on the group of new cast members.
— Despite the fact that I’m aware of the fate that this season’s newbies would sadly end up suffering after tonight’s episode, I still absolutely love the meta concept of this game show sketch.
— A rarity at the time for Kenan to play a game show host, which is obviously being done tonight in light of Bill Hader’s departure. Game show host would end up becoming a fairly frequent role for Kenan after this.
— Was Kyle Mooney supposed to initially walk in the wrong direction when making his exit, or was that a real gaffe? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter, remembering how green Kyle comes off as a live performer in this first season of his.
— Nasim makes her second of only two measly appearances tonight, both of them being extremely brief walk-ons that you’d be forgiven for completely missing because you blinked. In her walk-on in this particular sketch, she doesn’t even have any lines, and in the sketch she did have a line in during her walk-on (the Airport sketch), it was just her mumbling foreign gibberish.
— I admit to laughing at Kenan always scolding the newbies whenever any of them they try to say something or do a funny bit of business without having earned that right (as Kenan claims), even though, again, that pall that I mentioned in the monologue is looming.
— I love Tina’s various descriptions of Win Butler’s look, including “hipster Paul Bunyan” and “Civil War re-enactor.”
— When Kenan mentioned that a friend of Tina’s will be brought in as her lifeline, I was worried it would turn out to be YET ANOTHER Amy Poehler cameo, but thankfully, it’s just Lorne.
— A good laugh from Lorne guessing that, out of Win Butler and Mike O’Brien, the new cast member is actually “the black one”, Kenan, which leaves Kenan utterly shocked and upset.
— Kenan: “Well, the show is over.” Tina: “Oh, do I win anything?” Kenan: “Don’t you have enough?!?”
STARS: ****


E-METH
electronic pipe delivers methamphetamine but not social acceptance

— Funny concept.
— I love the visual of Kate laying in a bathtub in the middle of the road.
— Priceless bit with Taran casually yanking out one of his teeth to show us how perfectly white it is.
— Hilarious scene with Kenan chasing a half-naked Brooks Wheelan all around the living room.
— Solid ending appearance from Aaron Paul once again playing his Jesse Pinkman role.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Reflektor”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Weekend Update veteran TIF gives tips to new newsreader CES

hacky veteran stand-up Bruce Chandling (KYM) plies well-worn material

Drunk Uncle bewails back-to-school season with Meth Nephew (Aaron Paul)

— Cecily has become the new co-anchor to the on-his-way-out Seth, as an attempt to transition into a new Cecily Strong-led era of Update, an attempt that, as we know now, ends up going about as well as this general season’s aforementioned attempt at a “rebuilding” year.
— After the previous Update opening title sequence & theme song was used for so many years (2006-2013), it feels refreshing to finally get a new one.
— Even the color motif of the Update graphics is different this season, now being blue instead of burgundy.
— Boy, as I expected, it feels so odd seeing someone new delivering Update jokes after I had gotten so used to Seth doing that for so many endless seasons.
— I have very mixed feelings towards Cecily’s delivery of Update jokes so far. There’s somewhat of a straitlaced professionalism to her Update delivery that feels natural for this venue, but there’s also something in her delivery that feels wrong for Update.
— A good laugh from Tina sheepishly wheeling back out of the shot when the female Update anchor who she assumed Cecily was about to praise as an inspiration turns out to be Jane Curtin instead of her.
— Pretty solid bit with the very tense, prisoner-esque advice Tina gives to Cecily in regards to anchoring Update.
— Blah, I didn’t like Cecily’s big smile after her somewhat-cringey sushi joke. That smile also reminded me way too much of how annoyingly, over-the-top cutesy Amy Poehler came off in her very first Update.
— Seth and Cecily’s respective delivery styles of their Update jokes aren’t meshing together well. Part of that could be because, obviously, 1) you have a very established anchor who’s delivery style we had become accustomed to for years now being paired with the delivery style of a brand-new Update co-anchor who had displayed no prior on-air chemistry with the established anchor, and 2) this is only Cecily’s first Update, and thus, it’s understandable that things aren’t immediately meshing. I’d be more forgiving of that lack of immediate meshing if I knew Cecily would eventually grow into a solid and long-lasting anchor, but that doesn’t turn out to be the case at all.
— Great to see Kyle Mooney already getting his own Update piece, doing his Bruce Chandling character from his pre-SNL days.
— Fun performance from Kyle, and his intentionally bad, hacky stand-up comedy here is reminiscent of how strong early-era Fred Armisen used to be at pulling off anti-comedy pieces on Update (before he made that stale).
— Solid turn with Kyle’s Bruce Chandling suddenly getting depressed when reflecting on how he occasionally gets turned down after certain auditions. Actual character depth on display here, which feels rare for a recent SNL era like this.
— I actually really like Cecily’s performance during the O.J. Simpson bit she and Seth did together just now, especially her delivery of the line “You stay strong, Juice.”
— I howled at Drunk Uncle’s “Someone’s gotta watch the white sports, Seth” line.
— With Drunk Uncle’s memorable “They’re all just twerkin’ 9 to 5” line, SNL gets in their very first mention of “twerking”, the then-hot word that had recently become widespread thanks to, IIRC, Miley Cyrus’ infamous VMAs performance that summer.
— Drunk Uncle: “(singing) Bluurrred liiiiines. (speaking) The only blurred line *I* know is our border with Meh-hee-co [Mexico].”
— Yet ANOTHER fun appearance from Aaron Paul tonight, this time as Drunk Uncle’s Meth Nephew.
STARS: **½


CINEMA CLASSICS
clips from 1940 movie reveal influence of taxidermist

— The debut of both Cinema Classics and Kenan’s Reese De’What character.
— Kenan has noticeably been given quite a number of important utility roles tonight, obviously because of the departure of utility veterans Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis. With the way Kenan’s been utilized in tonight’s episode, SNL is immediately making it clear who they’ll now be leaning on as the new utility player of the show.
— Dumb conceit with all of the taxidermy animals slowly taking over the movie scenes, but this dumbness is actually kinda working for me.
— The visual of a taxidermy animal driving the car that Tina, Taran, and Aidy are in is making me laugh more than I ever would’ve expected.
— Kenan is very solid here, especially the occasional comments that his Reese De’What character is making about his wife’s weight.
STARS: ***


RICK’S MODEL T’S
(MOB) & mad wife (TIF) sell Model Ts in world’s first used-car commercial

— The second consecutive sketch tonight set in an older time period.
— Mike: “Lots of firsts here today, folks.” Throwing in some reality subtext, are we, SNL?
— Hmm, not too sure Mike’s delivery is working me. And I’m not finding the old-timey salesman delivery he’s attempting to be very convincing.
— I do at least like the running bit with Mike excitedly only listing off one thing when touting his car dealership (e.g. “This car’s got everything: seats………….!”)
— Tina’s demented one-liners are great.
— Yeah, the more and more this sketch is going on, the more and more Mike’s delivery is sounding awkward. There’s this slow, unsure, halting style to his line readings that keeps kinda taking me out of the sketch. Our first sign of how ill-fitting Mike would often come off as a live performer this season. This sketch is still pretty enjoyable, but this solid material isn’t coming off as strong as it would’ve under a performer more comfortable-seeming on live TV. For example, Bill Hader, given how fantastic he always is at playing old-timey roles, would’ve absolutely killed it in this role of Mike’s had this sketch been done when Bill was still a cast member.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Afterlife”


MANOLO BLAHNIK
(TIF) & vacuous ex-porn stars endorse Manolo Blahnik shoes

— Feels a little odd seeing this recurring sketch appearing in two consecutive episodes. Granted, there was a whole summer break in between the preceding episode and this episode, but since I watch these episodes in chronological order on a day-to-day basis, it feels like SNL literally just did this sketch.
— Cecily: “You’ll feel like you’re riding in a glass blumpkin.”
— I love Vanessa’ delivery of “What the heck???” when telling us the reaction she once had to finding out her butt was amputated.
— Cecily: “I thought I got banged into a solar eclipse. But I was really just locked in a trunk lookin’ through the keyhole.”
— Vanessa, regarding getting banged by rapping gerbils in the back of a Kia: “I think some of them were people. Ya live and ya learn.”
— Tina, at the end of her message to her 8th grade gym teacher: “P.S.: I saw you on House Hunters, you picked the wrong house, bitch.”
— How did they go through this entire sketch WITHOUT having one of the “Manolo Blahnik” mispronunciations be “Mayim Bialik”? It writes itself, people!
— Overall, while this was still solid, this wasn’t quite as strong as these sketches usually are. This had a slow first minute-and-a-half or so.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Tina mentions that the network is letting them go long and Arcade Fire is about to do a show. Indeed, an Arcade Fire special (which, IIRC, was kinda like a concert, plus some interspersed comedy segments starring famous comedians like Zach Galifianakis and Aziz Ansari) immediately followed the original airing of this episode. Reruns of this SNL episode show the dress rehearsal version of these goodnights, because it features no mention from Tina of the Arcade Fire special, which reruns of this SNL episode obviously aren’t followed by.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and promising season premiere. Aside from Weekend Update, I liked every segment in this episode, and gave out a lot of four-star ratings, especially in the pre-Update half of the show. I remember how, when this originally aired, seeing so many new cast members peppered all throughout this season premiere gave the show such an exciting, fresh feel. Very sad how that ends up being a huge misnomer for how the rest of this season goes for the newbies. The strength of this episode in general also ends up being a huge misnomer for this season, as I recall this season going on to be dull and bland, with little-to-no standout strong episodes besides the one I just reviewed. We’ll see if that opinion of mine changes on my re-watch of this season.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Airport
Girls
e-meth
New Cast Member Or Arcade Fire?
Manolo Blahnik
Affordable Care Act
Rick’s Model T’s
Cinema Classics
Monologue
Weekend Update


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2012-13)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Miley Cyrus

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May 19, 2012 – Mick Jagger with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck (S37 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese pursues Italian singer (Jon Hamm)

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour begins with the return of this recurring sketch.
— Ugh, I am so tired of the dumb sexual-related finger jokes this recurring sketch always has Fred’s Lawrence Welk do.
— When this episode originally aired, it wasn’t publicly confirmed beforehand that this was Kristen and Andy’s final episode. We only had rumors to go by. But as soon as I saw Jon Hamm show up as Kristen’s love interest in this cold opening (making this the second consecutive episode he’s cameod in), I knew for certain that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode.
— A funny brief appearance from Kate.
— The woman of the hour, Kristen Wiig, makes her first appearance of the night, to a huge round of applause from the audience.
— Same-old, same-old Dooneese stuff. Jon is at least fun in his performance, though.
— Hmm, Dooneese’s sisters leave early, before the conclusion of the musical number? That’s actually different.
— And now we get another change of pace, with Dooneese actually getting her man for once. For all of my criticisms of this recurring sketch in general, Dooneese getting her man was actually a nice, fitting way to officially end it (before SNL, of course, fails to resist reviving this sketch in Kristen’s season 38 hosting stint and, for some asinine reason, Paul Rudd’s season 39 hosting stint).
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host answers questions that he is frequently asked about his career

— A lot of charm from Mick Jagger in this nicely simplistic, old-school-feeling monologue.
— A nice bit of a variation of the usual “Stick around, we’ll be right back” tagline.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & fey tough-guy actor (host) blab the answers

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour continues with another recurring sketch that I will absolutely not miss seeing on a regular basis anymore.
— Bill seems to be giving his Secret Word game show host character a bit of a sillier tone in these past few Secret Word installments, mainly that goofy laugh that he’s added.
— Meh at writers James Anderson & Kent Sublette’s (or is it just Anderson who writes these sketches?) on-brand decision to have Mick’s character be a “closeted” gay actor.
— Ugh, cue all of Kristen-as-Mindy-Grayson’s constant musical numbers.
— Wait, the sketch is already over? Wow, I’m glad they actually kept this installment fairly short, and we only got one musical number from Kristen’s Grayson. Too bad they didn’t attempt to do anything different and special with Grayson to end this final Secret Word installment (before SNL, of course, brings it back in Kristen’s season 42 hosting stint), like they did with Dooneese at the end of the cold opening.
STARS: *½


KARAOKE
Mick Jagger karaoke mimicry wows all insurance conventioneers but (host)

— Well, it’s certainly nice to see an actual original sketch for once tonight.
— A pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation from Fred.
— An obvious conceit with Mick playing against type in this particular sketch about people imitating Mick Jagger’s singing style. There’s at least a pretty fun charm to the execution of this.
— Funny turn with Bobby’s horrible Mick Jagger impression still wowing the crowd.
— Good ending with Mick, while alone in the room, sadly singing a very somber version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. Also a nice touch with the screen doing an iris out on him.
STARS: ***½


LAZY SUNDAY 2
CHP & ANS rap about a trip to see the Sister Act musical

— Ah, our final Digital Short during Andy’s SNL tenure.
— The audience goes absolutely WILD when the “Lazy Sunday 2” title shows up onscreen.
— Much like how the Jon Hamm cameo in the cold opening made it official to me back at this time in 2012 that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode, I realized back in 2012 that this was indeed Andy’s final episode right from the decision to have tonight’s Digital Short be a Lazy Sunday sequel.
— Parns!
— This sequel will obviously never top or even match the original Lazy Sunday, but it’s still a fucking blast so far. Much like the original, I am absolutely loving the combo of Andy and Chris’ furious hardcore rapping, the catchy beat, the ridiculous things Andy and Chris are rapping about, and the onscreen graphics & text.
— Ooh, an awesome sudden turn halfway through this short, in which Andy and Chris stop the song and update its beat to sound more 2012-ish.
— Andy, in one lyric: “Still waitin’ on a f(*bleep*)kin’ YouTube check!”
— The final lyric of this short, delivered mostly by Andy: “On these New York streets, I honed my fake rap penmanship, that’s how it began, and that’s how I’mma finish it! (*thrusts arms at the camera before the screen cuts to black while a gunshot sound effect plays*)” I cannot think of a more perfect, epic, and poignant way to close out Andy’s final Digital Short as a cast member. This overall Lazy Sunday sequel was absolutely great, and doubles as a fantastic send-off for Andy.
STARS: ****½


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Al Sharpton (KET) muddles coverage of economic issues

— Boy, I don’t envy Kenan having such a tough act to follow. Seems like an odd choice to place this Politics Nation sketch IMMEDIATELY after that epic Lazy Sunday 2 short with nothing in between, not even a commercial break.
— More of the same from the previous installment of this sketch earlier this season, with Kenan-as-Al-Sharpton’s constant misreadings and mispronunciations, but it’s still working.
— Some decent back-and-forths between Kenan and Jason.
— A very funny random emphysema line from Kenan’s Sharpton at the end of this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Arcade Fire perform “The Last Time”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Stefon’s summer entertainment advice is characteristically off-the-mark

— Stefon’s popularity has now gotten to the point where, while Seth is in the middle of introducing Stefon’s commentary, the audience (who have been very lively all throughout this episode) starts cheering enthusiastically well before Seth even utters Stefon’s name, as they can tell Stefon’s about to appear just by what Seth’s saying early on in the intro.
— This ends up being Stefon’s final appearance before his writer, John Mulaney, leaves SNL. Stefon does continue making appearances the following season (Bill’s final season), but it’s a noticeably much smaller number of appearances, all of which require Mulaney to come back to SNL to guest write.
— Stefon: “The whole thing is hosted by crossdressing founding father Ginjamin Franklin.” Didn’t I once hear that Ginjamin Franklin was a cut-after-dress-rehearsal Will Forte-starring piece from Will’s SNL tenure?
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are his explanation of what Roaming Draggers are, his “I went to prom with her” addendum to his mention of a deep-voiced female bodybuilder, and his demonstration of Jewish Fireworks.
— Wow, not only has tonight’s Update already ended, but Seth didn’t even say his usual sign-off (“For Weekend Update, I’m Seth Meyers”), and instead simply said to us, right after Stefon’s commentary ended, “That’s Stefon! Have a great summer!” I like that change of pace.
— Another reason I’m shocked at how soon tonight’s Update ended is because I misremembered it having a Garth & Kat commentary as part of tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour. (Maybe I was getting this Update confused with the one from the episode Kristen hosts the following season.) Thank god this didn’t have a Garth & Kat commentary, plus it would’ve really dragged down what was Seth’s first decent Update in a while, after his Updates had been in a slump lately.
STARS: ***


SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AT AN OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL
grungies groove at a competition

— This is Abby’s last of many celebrity impressions over her four-year tenure, as this ends up being the last episode before her firing. At least she’s going out doing one of the more amusing impressions she’s gotten to do in a while (Jewel). Certainly better than the weak Ke$ha impression she did in a then-recent reality show sketch (America’s Next Top Empire State Of Mind Parody Artist) in which she, much like in this sketch, played one of three celebrity judges.
— Fitting casting of Mick as Steven Tyler, and he’s giving a funny performance.
— I got a good laugh from the “Hey, YOU tell me another one of my songs” bit regarding Fred’s Santana always relying on the same song.
— Bill’s Dave Matthews impression is coming off even more fun than it usually does.
— Despite all the praise I’ve been giving to Bill and the performers playing the celebrity judges, the actual main comedic body of this sketch (the dance sequences from the contestants) isn’t making me laugh at all. These dances aren’t remotely funny. Hell, not even Taran can get a laugh from me, and I’m usually always a sucker for getting to see him comically dance.
— Good gag with Fred-as-Santana’s mustache turning out to be a removable one that’s attached to his hat when he tips it. Between Fred’s pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation in the Karaoke sketch and some solid moments he’s having in this So You Think You Can Dance sketch, why oh why couldn’t this be Fred’s final episode??? He would’ve went out on an actual good note with the funny moments he’s been having in this episode, after being so badly past his prime these past few seasons. Can’t believe I still have another season to put up with him. (Then again, he does end up going out on a good note with some highlights in his actual final episode.)
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Foo Fighters perform “19th Nervous Breakdown”

host & Foo Fighters perform “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”

— I just realized an interesting coincidence: Foo Fighters have been the musical guest of Kristen’s first AND last episode as a cast member. As far as I know, the only two other cast members in SNL history who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest are, coincidentally, members of this season’s (37) cast: Bill and Vanessa. (The musical guest of Bill’s first and last episode is Kanye West, and Vanessa’s is Katy Perry.) And I’m not counting one-episode-only cast members, so don’t any of you point out that Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf technically count as cast members who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest, you smart alecks. 😉


THE CALIFORNIANS
long-lost father (host) & amnesiac (Steve Martin) slur

— This sketch has officially become recurring, joining what I call “The (*groan*) Club” (which is a large group of this era’s dreadful recurring sketches that make me type out “*groan*” at the beginning of my review of each installment.) Hopefully, the number of sketches in “The (*groan*) Club” will decrease significantly now that Kristen’s leaving, as I recall SNL cutting back big-time on recurring sketches the following season (which is just one of the things that makes that season so refreshing).
— Feels odd seeing a Californians sketch buried towards the end of an episode.
— Far less breaking in tonight’s Californians installment than the first one.
— Ugh, the usual painfully unfunny parade of “comical” California accents, mock-dramatic close-ups of performers mugging into the camera, characters crowding around a mirror to stare at themselves, and bad soap opera cliches.
— I didn’t want to laugh at Bill’s exaggerated Californian delivery of “I’m your broooooooooo, bro”, but I giggled in spite of myself.
— It’s at least nice to see Abby get her own bit in this sketch, as this ends up being her final actual sketch role.
— I got a laugh from Vanessa’s “Ay, no!” during the mock-dramatic close-up of each character saying “No way!” into the camera.
— Steve Martin out of absolutely nowhere.
— Hmm, hate to say it, but it’s kinda cringey seeing Steve do the obligatory goofy Californian accent, which is coming off way too tryhard when he does it, at least at his then-current age. (I could see 1970s Steve Martin making it somewhat funny, or at least natural.) He’s doing absolutely nothing to save this sketch, unfortunately.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Tea Party” with Jeff Beck & SNL Band


SHE’S A RAINBOW / GOODNIGHTS
cast members & LOM dance with departing KRW to “She’s a Rainbow”

CHK, AMP, RAD, CHP, WLF sing “Ruby Tuesday” with cast members & others

— Well, folks…….this is it. The very special send-off of Kristen Wiig.
— You can tell from the look on Kristen’s face as soon as she joins Mick onstage how emotional it’s going to be for her to get through this piece. Man, just looking at her genuinely emotional facial expression is putting a lump in my throat right now. As I said in some earlier episode reviews, a byproduct of doing this SNL project on a daily basis is that it causes me to develop a certain attachment and a (albeit one-sided) connection to the respective casts I review, even casts and individual cast members who I have some issues with. And Lord knows I’ve had my share of issues with Kristen during the later years of her SNL tenure, though my issues are far more with how SNL mis-utilized and over-utilized her.
— Interesting visual of Kristen dancing with each of her castmates. It’s a novelty seeing what Kristen’s real-life dynamic with her castmates is like, since it feels like we’ve rarely seen Kristen act as herself on camera during her SNL tenure. It’s always been hard for me to get a bead on what her real-life personality is during her SNL tenure.
— Aww, Bobby. Talk about putting a lump in my throat. Poor Bobby is clearly fighting back a lot of tears during and after his dance with Kristen.
— The decision to have Kristen’s generally-overshadowed and often-reduced-to-playing-second-fiddle-to-her female castmates grouped together (instead of each having their own moment with Kristen one-by-one, like each of Kristen’s male castmates are getting) and circling around Kristen all feels sadly fitting in a (bad) way. Seeing Kate among those women just feels odd, though, for various obvious reasons. Seeing Abby among those women just feels depressing, given what we now know of her SNL future (or lack thereof).
— A fun silly dance that Kristen and Seth do together, again showing the different dynamic Kristen has with each of her individual castmates.
— Much like Bobby, Jason is visibly choked up during and after his dance with Kristen. I remember some SNL fans at the time wondered if Jason’s emotions here were partly due to the fact that he himself may possibly be leaving the show, which was rumored at the time. (He ends up returning one more season, though it apparently took him a long time to come to that decision.) There was also a lot of disappointment among those SNL fans over the possibility of this being Jason’s last episode, because he got next-to-nothing to do tonight, and his only actual sketch appearance had him in a dull, completely forgettable straight man role. Even when introducing Mick Jagger’s second musical performance, Jason did it in such an overly serious, almost somber manner, as if he wasn’t in a very good mood, or was dreading how tough and emotional he knew it would be for him to get through the Wiig farewell piece coming up later in the show. I’m sure I’m looking too much into that, though.
— As more apparent signs that Andy’s leaving with Kristen, 1) he gets the special honor of playing the piano (no idea if he’s actually playing or not, though) next to Mick and Arcade Fire during this Wiig farewell piece instead of playing one of Kristen’s fellow “graduates” like the rest of the cast is, and 2) he gets the honor of being the final cast member who Kristen dances with here.
— Wow, when the “She’s a Rainbow” song transitions into the more upbeat “Ruby Tuesday”, former cast members Chris Kattan (who, with that hairstyle, I initially thought was future cast member Beck Bennett, until I realized that would be impossible), Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Chris Parnell can suddenly be seen joining the celebration. I could swear I had remembered Will Forte (who would’ve been making a cameo for the second consecutive episode, much like Jon Hamm) being among those former cast members who show up here, but during my current viewing, I can’t spot Will anywhere. Was I misremembering his appearance, or is he there and I’m just having a hard time finding him onstage?
— Interesting segue into Mick giving the goodnights speech that hosts typically give, while this special Kristen Wiig celebration is still going on.
— I love that the Wiig celebration and singing of “Ruby Tuesday” continues as the ending credits roll. I’m always a sucker for special goodnights where SNL does something out of the ordinary for it.
— Overall, well, what a farewell. I feel like I should take some issues with it, like I’ve seen some online SNL fans take over how overly sentimental it was and how it (especially the decision to have Lorne himself come out and dance with Kristen) supposedly overinflated the importance that Kristen had to SNL. Maybe I’m starting to become a softy at my ripe old current age of 36, or maybe it’s because of that aforementioned attachment that doing this SNL project makes me develop towards cast members I have to watch and review on a daily basis, even cast members I have issues with, or maybe I’m just always biased towards whenever SNL does something special and meta for the final segment of a season finale, but, aside from the part with Kristen’s female castmates, I actually liked this Wiig farewell. That’s all I can really say, as simplistic as it sounds. I can’t find any detailed, persuasive ways to defend this Wiig farewell piece more than all the stuff I said above, but, yep, I…I liked it.
STARS: N/A (not sure this warrants a rating, and even if it does, I wouldn’t quite know what to give it)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Definitely a special-feeling episode, particularly the two big sendoff pieces (Lazy Sunday 2 and She’s a Rainbow) for our departing veterans. Having the usual show-stealing Stefon commentary on Weekend Update also added to the episode’s big atmosphere. And I love how the special musical performances Mick Jagger did with various famous groups/artists added even further to the big, unique, exciting feel of this episode. A lot of the normal live sketches, however, including the cold opening, were weak, with the only exceptions being Karaoke and Politics Nation. Mick Jagger was a fun and likable host in this episode. Makes it kinda hard for me to believe John Mulaney’s claim that Mick was a grouch behind the scenes all week, but I guess maybe that was something Mick was able to switch off whenever he was on camera.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lazy Sunday 2
Monologue
Karaoke
Weekend Update
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
So You Think You Can Dance At An Outdoor Music Festival
The Lawrence Welk Show
Secret Word
The Californians


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Will Ferrell)
about the same


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

 


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2010-11)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 38 begins, with host Seth MacFarlane and three new additions to the cast

Posted on

November 13, 2010 – Scarlett Johansson / Arcade Fire (S36 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CHINA PRESS CONFERENCE
creditor Hu Jintao (BIH) preps to be shafted by USA & Barack Obama (FRA)

— OH NO. Why are they doing a reprise of this fairly unbearable cold opening from the preceding season’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt episode?
— Bill takes over the Hu Jintao role that Will Forte played in the aforementioned previous installment of this cold opening.
— I see Bill’s ability to make his fake Italian gibberish in those Vinny Vedecci sketches sound real has not carried over into his fake Chinese gibberish in this cold opening. His idea of sounding like he’s speaking in Chinese is to LITERALLY just say “kaow kaow kaow kaow” the entire time. Ridiculous. I rarely, if ever, criticize Bill Hader, but oof, this is definitely not one of his shining moments.
— Wait, are you fucking kidding me?!? They’re LITERALLY doing all of the exact same unfunny things from the previous installment of this cold opening, right down to Nasim’s “WHEN SOMEONE IS DOING SEX TO ME!!!” yells right before Bill suggestively bends over towards Fred’s Obama. How the hell do you make that into a recurring sketch? Such laziness. Even calling this cold opening a cheap rewrite would be too generous, because if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear this cold opening is LITERALLY (sorry for overusing that word in this review) using the exact same script from the previous installment of this, with absolutely no changes. Sure feels like it.
— (*sigh*) It feels like I’ve been watching this cold opening for 10 fucking minutes! This is endless and INSUFFERABLE.
— Oh, come the fuck on. Now Bill’s going one step further than Will Forte did in the previous installment of this, by pulling his pants down when bending over during one of the way-too-many “WHEN SOMEONE IS DOING SEX TO ME!!!” parts. This sketch’s desperation to get laughs is so pathetic.
— Overall, my god, did I hate this. One of the worst cold openings I have ever reviewed in this project of mine.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
host & tabloidites Dina Lohan (KRW) & Ke$ha (ABE) sing variant of “Class”

— Is it just me, or is Scarlett Johansson’s voice higher-pitched and smoother here than usual? Or maybe I’m just used to her deeper, huskier voice from more recent years. Are cigarettes to blame for her voice getting deeper and huskier over the course of just a few years?
— I like the fake-out with Scarlett saying “The movie Due Date opened last week”, which receives the usual audience applause whenever a host namedrops a movie or TV show of theirs, only for Scarlett to then say “I’m not in it, but I’m excited about it.” They’ve done a similar joke with some other hosts in their monologues, but it always gets me, and Scarlett’s delivery of the joke was good.
— (*sigh*) Another musical monologue this season? We’re only six episodes into this season, and this is already the THIRD musical monologue. After how extremely salty this episode’s cold opening made me, this isn’t the type of monologue I need to lighten my mood.
— Come to think of it, all three of Scarlett’s monologues up to this point of SNL’s run have been musical, and I believe her next monologue after this (from her 2015 hosting stint) is yet another musical one.
— Abby’s Ke$ha impression isn’t working for me at all. Doesn’t sound anything like Ke$ha. Surprising, given what a good impressionist Abby usually is.
— Overall, a typical meh musical monologue.
STARS: **


MTV: MATERNITY TELEVISION
slate of natal programs indicates MTV now stands for maternity television

— An okay concept with a preview of pregnancy-related MTV shows.
— Kinda interesting seeing Scarlett in the My Super Sweet 16 scene, given the fact that she previously starred in a spoof of that show in her season 31 episode.
— Jay’s Nick Cannon impression is funny.
— The comically brief and simplistic Cribs scene with Vanessa was hilarious.
— The usual fun appearance from Bobby’s Snooki.
STARS: ***


THE MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER
Patti Stanger (host) pairs a mousy nerd (VAB)

— I don’t think I’ve ever heard Vanessa use that high-pitched froggy voice in any other sketch during her entire 7-year SNL tenure. She almost sounds like a Kristen Wiig character here.
— Solid performance from Scarlett, even if she can do this kind of brash New Yorker role in her sleep (she seems to play a brash New Yorker at least once in EVERY hosting stint of hers, though I’ve yet to see her most recent hosting stint from season 45, and thus, I don’t know if she does any brash New Yorker roles in that one).
— Nothing else to say about this overall sketch, but it was okay.
STARS: ***


THE MANUEL ORTIZ SHOW
Latin flair punctuates a paternity controversy

— Ohhhhh, god.
— I’m currently almost two minutes into this, and as you can imagine, I am completely stone-faced.
— Bill finally gave me my first laugh of this sketch, with his delivery of “So this is whyyyyyyyy!”, along with his frozen open-mouthed facial expression right after that line.
— Ooh, I like Nasim’s delivery here. Her energetic, fiery delivery feels almost out of place in this tepid, by-the-numbers sketch.
STARS: *½


UNSTOPPABLE
Denzel Washington (JAP) & Chris Pine (TAK) have training day

— Great to see another showcase for Jay’s spot-on and fun Denzel Washington impression. I also love this pairing of him and fellow newbie Taran.
— A great smug smirk on Taran-as-Chris-Pine’s face after his put-down to Jay’s Denzel just now: “Where’d you learn trains, old man – from inventing them???”
— The “BOOM!” that Jay’s Denzel suddenly yells right before the train crash was hilarious.
— Not sure the ending with the train crashing into the Chrysler Building worked for me, but it didn’t taint the quality of this short for me.
STARS: ****


HOLLYWOOD DISH
host’s answers are manipulated during her interview with Hollywood Dish

— Another recurring sketch tonight that I never cared for. These Hollywood Dish sketches are just an annoying Wiig/Hader mugfest. (Yeesh, that’s two times in this episode review that I’ve had something negative to say about Bill Hader, one of my absolute favorite cast members of all time.) Thankfully, this ends up being the final installment of this sketch.
— As usual in this recurring sketch, the only laugh I’ve gotten in tonight’s installment so far is from when Kristen and Bill make their interviewee say or do something intense and exaggerated that makes them look insane.
— In this installment, during the usual part of these sketches where Bill spits/throws food all over Kristen during one of his shocked reaction shots, both Kristen and (especially) Bill break. Bill usually always breaks during that part in the dress rehearsal version of these sketches, some of which SNL has replaced the live version of with in reruns.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Used To Wait”


WEEKEND UPDATE
reconciled George W. Bush (JAS) & Kanye West (JAP) now like hanging out

even before the fire, Carnival Cruise passenger (VAB) was very aggrieved

— Jason’s George W. Bush impression makes its first appearance in over two years, and this ends up being its final appearance. Feels odd seeing him on Weekend Update for a change.
— A pretty funny and solid Kanye West impression from Jay (though I kinda prefer current cast member Chris Redd’s Kanye impression). Jay’s been having a good night, with quite a lot of his impressions being showcased.
— The basic concept of Vanessa and Fred’s commentary as well as their characters is strangely reminiscent of a (very forgettable) Update commentary that Rachel Dratch and Chris Kattan did together in the season 28 Robert DeNiro episode, though I guess there’s enough differences between both versions.
— Vanessa is very good here as a ranting old Jewish(?) lady.
— One BIG difference between the aforementioned Dratch/Kattan commentary and this Bayer/Armisen commentary is that this has a much better punchline, with Fred responding to Seth’s “You let her [Vanessa] sleep for three days?” question by saying a deadpan “Wouldn’t you?” The punchline of the Dratch/Kattan commentary, on the other hand, was a lame, lazy, and cheap vomiting gag.
STARS: ***


ST. KAT’S MIDDLE
(KET)’s broken knee outmatches fellow teens’ positive vibes

— UH-OH. Here’s a very notorious sketch that this episode is probably most remembered for, and is a sketch that I and certain other people have always absolutely despised.
— Holy hell. Yep, it turns out this sketch is just as unbelievably horrible and one-joke as I had remembered, and is bringing out Kenan’s worst Nickelodeon-level hammy tendencies, this time complete with EXTREME FACIAL CLOSE-UPS.
— Thanks to how germophobic our current COVID pandemic has made me, I now can’t help but kinda wince seeing Kenan constantly pressing his face (including the side of his mouth) against that dirty-ass floor throughout this sketch.
— When party music was supposed to play when Taran turned on the radio one of the times Kenan’s character was being forced out of his wheelchair, they accidentally played the doom-and-gloom dramatic music that’s supposed to play during Kenan’s various face-on-the-floor rants, before quickly switching it to the party music. That audio gaffe is sadly more amusing to me than the intended comedy of this sketch.
— This…this…just…how does a sketch like this make it on the air?!? Was the writer(s) of this sketch just dicking around and intentionally wrote a bad piece, just as a goof to see if it would somehow make it past dress rehearsal? That’s the only explanation I can think of for how this sketch came to be. I’d sure hate to think the writer(s) penned this thinking it was legitimately good.
— I can actually understand why some people would find an enjoyable, guilty pleasure, “So bad, it’s good” quality to this sketch. If you’re one of those people, more power to you. I wish I could have the same “So bad, it’s good” viewpoint, but nope. No dice. This sketch just ain’t for me AT ALL.
— When this originally aired, I remember thinking it felt very much like a typical disastrous sketch from season 20, and I pictured Chris Farley in Kenan’s role, and imagined that the extreme close-ups of Farley with his face pressed against the floor would’ve had him doing his badly-overused-in-season-20 screaming shtick, with him yelling his season 20 catchphrases like “SON OF A BITCH!”, “SHUT YER PIEHOLE!”, and calling an unhappy-looking Janeane Garofalo-played character a stupid whore (the latter complete with misguided wild laughter and applause from the audience), instead of the dialogue that Kenan’s yelling here (“GO AWAY!”, “LEAVE ME BE!”, “YOU DON’T LISTEN!”, etc.). As strange as what I’m about to say may sound, I find it more fun to imagine this sketch as a horrible season 20 sketch than I find it to watch the actual season 36 version of the sketch. Very reminiscent of how, when I reviewed the awful Big Wigs sketch from the season 32 Jaime Pressly episode, I had far more fun imagining it as a bad season 6 sketch and theorizing which season 6 cast member would’ve played which role.
— Even the minor fact that, when the audience starts applauding as the sketch ends, Kenan can be seen IMMEDIATELY dropping character, getting up from the floor, and walking off the set (while having a look on his face that almost suggests he’s thinking “Well…THAT happened”), instead of waiting for the camera to fade to black, just adds to the “disastrous sketch” atmosphere of this, as well as the unprofessional “season 20” vibe. Kinda reminds me of how Kenan would later react at the very end of another sketch that I’ve seen some people consider disastrous: a sketch from the season 40 Dakota Johnson episode in which Kenan plays a surgeon dressed as Worf from Star Trek. (I personally don’t have any real opinion of that sketch, mostly because I remember very little of it, but we’ll see how I’ll react to it when I eventually review it.) When that sketch fades to black at the end as the audience is applauding, Kenan, apparently thinking his mic was turned off, can be heard dropping character and saying “Cue that applause” in a relieved, jokingly-kinda-bossy manner, as if he was not happy with the sketch he had just performed.
— Overall, this sketch was just as fucking horrible as I deemed it to be back when it originally aired.
STARS: *


WHAT WAS THAT?
student (ANS) & musical guest excoriate United Nations

— Something about the way Andy’s voice cracked when he whine-yelled “The Khmer Rooouuuuge?!?” made me laugh out loud.
— So far, I don’t know why this short is supposed to be funny, but Andy’s musical whining is strangely amusing me.
— Not sure what the point is of Arcade Fire taking over this short. Their appearance in this is doing nothing for me, even if it has a fun atmosphere.
— I love how one word in Arcade Fire’s song got bleeped out when I can barely even understand a word they’re singing in this short anyway. They could’ve left that bleeped-out expletive uncensored and I wouldn’t have even caught it.
— That’s it??? The whole Arcade Fire bit is the end of this short??? Another Digital Short this season that ended on a poor note, much like the I Broke My Arm short. At least everything else in that I Broke My Arm short was pretty solid. The pre-ending portions of this What Was That short, on the other hand, were just odd, despite how much Andy’s whiny delivery consistently tickled me.
STARS: **½


A TREAT FROM PAULA DEEN’S KITCHEN
Paula Deen’s (KRW) Big Ol’ Soakems sop oil from her butter-heavy recipes

— An okay portrayal of Paula Deen from Kristen.
— That sudden bleeped-out expletive from Kristen’s Deen came out of nowhere.
— This overall sketch kinda just came and went, but was okay enough, I guess. There wasn’t anything I found particularly bad about it.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”


STARS OF TOMORROW
peppy tweens (host) & Laura Parsons (VAB) declaw drama

— Great to see newbie Vanessa has been getting so many big roles in this episode. This is also the debut of her soon-to-be-recurring child actress character, Laura Parsons.
— Funny scenes with Vanessa and Scarlett’s characters each acting out heavy, dramatic iconic movie scenes in that cheesy child star delivery of theirs, though Vanessa is by far outshining Scarlett in that department. I’m sure this is a character Vanessa had been doing before SNL, judging from how polished and established Vanessa is instantly coming off in this role.
— A particularly funny scene with Vanessa and Scarlett both acting out the famous “I wish I knew how to quit you” scene from Brokeback Mountain together.
STARS: ****


MIKE’S BUSTERIA
Mike & daughter Lexi ballyhoo ceramic busts’ inherent class

— The fourth and final installment of this recurring sketch. Very odd how this installment is buried all the way at the end of the show, given how much earlier in the show the previous installments aired in their respective episodes.
— Meh, “ceramic busts” doesn’t sound anywhere near as funny in exaggerated New York accents as previously-advertised products in this recurring sketch like “maww-ble cahhh-lumns” or “pawww-celain fountains” did.
— Wow, the audience is DEAD during this sketch. Can’t say I blame them, though, as the usual routines in this recurring sketch have a tired feel tonight. Not even Scarlett’s usual “Look at this one, or that one” routine is getting much of a reaction from the audience, and they usually react BIG to that in these sketches.
— Overall, nope. This sketch did NOT work. A sad, hollow end to an otherwise fairly fun and harmless recurring sketch.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Despite two solid pieces and some average things, I find this to be a weak episode as a whole. There were a few too many annoying recurring sketches and some exceptionally bad pieces, mainly that fucking wretched cold opening and the notorious St. Kat’s Middle, two of the most anger-inducing things I’ve reviewed in a long time.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Stars Of Tomorrow
Unstoppable
The Millionaire Matchmaker
Weekend Update
MTV: Maternity Television
A Treat From Paula Deen’s Kitchen
What Was That?
Monologue
Hollywood Dish
The Manuel Ortiz Show
Mike’s Busteria
St. Kat’s Middle
China Press Conference


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jon Hamm)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anne Hathaway

Posted on

February 24, 2007 – Rainn Wilson / Arcade Fire (S32 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SITUATION ROOM
Anna Nicole Smith coverage displaces hard news

— Darrell takes over the Wolf Blitzer impression that the no-longer-on-the-show Chris Parnell regularly played the preceding season.
— So many laughs from the Anna Nicole Smith-centric news crawl on the bottom of the screen.
— Ha, after the Situation Room opening title sequence, the size of the news crawl has suddenly gotten HUGE.
— “Darfur bad”. Boy, does that take me back to 2007.
— Very funny how Darrell-as-Blitzer’s head is now being played with onscreen by The Situation Room’s graphics department, angering him.
— Good to see our host Rainn Wilson in the cold opening.
— Rainn is fantastic in his performance as a reporter. The fact that he’s coming off so natural here, combined with the fact that hosts don’t usually appear in cold openings, could easily cause one to mistake him for a cast member in this.
— I like the turn with Rainn taking over the report from a female reporter who Darrell’s Blitzer has thrown to.
— The length of Rainn’s bit could use some trimming.
— I still have no opinion on Fred’s take on Larry King. He’s certainly no Norm Macdonald when it comes to this role, I’ll say that. He’s not even a Kevin Nealon (who’s Larry King I’ve always felt was kinda underappreciated).
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
cast members & Karen (Rashida Jones) make backstage SNL like The Office

— A very fun Office-esque backstage atmosphere we’re shown SNL having.
— Kristen and Jason are absolutely PERFECT as Pam and Jim. Not only are they very funny and spot-on in their Pam and Jim impressions, but they are pretty much dead-ringers for them here.
— A blink-and-miss-it cameo from Rashida Jones. Nice to see her, though part of me can’t help but be curious what it would’ve been like to see Maya play her in this monologue. Speaking of missed opportunities, how does this monologue not include a rare non-Weekend Update appearance from Seth as his Office doppleganger Ryan?
— Great seeing Lorne get involved in this, who’s typical deadpan is adding to this perfectly.
— When Lorne shows his “World’s Funniest Boss” coffee mug, you can hear an audience member shout “Yeah, Lorne!”, which is amusing to me.
— Overall, such a strong monologue.
STARS: ****½


SONG MEMORIES
“Danny’s Song” evokes icky reminiscing by (host), (BIH), (WLF), (JAS)

— The debut of these Song Memories sketches. Wow, until just now, I had completely forgotten about these sketches, as well as the fact that they debuted in this episode. I recall this being a pretty solid recurring sketch.
— Yet another episode where the criminally-underused-in-his-early-seasons Bill Hader is stuck making only one live appearance (he does appear in the following pre-taped Digital Short), though he at least gets a comedic role here, unlike his sole appearance in the preceding episode.
— Great format to these Song Memories sketches, with the guys’ disturbing stories being interspersed with the guys engaging in a jovial singalong of the chorus from the song playing on the jukebox.
— I could be wrong, but I think I recall that the “I have a dad with Down’s Syndrome” punchline to Bill’s story ended up causing some controversy back when this originally aired, and would result in SNL bleeping out the words “Down’s Syndrome” in reruns of this sketch. Am I remembering correctly, or am I mistaken?
— Rainn’s “The other guy’s pee came out of my nose” punchline paled in comparison to the punchlines of the other guys’ stories, but Rainn still made it work. I’ve seen some online SNL fans back at this time in 2007 have a theory that, instead of pee coming out of his nose, Rainn’s line was probably originally written to have him say a certain male bodily fluid came out of his nose (given the fact that he was…uh, orally servicing a man), but the censors must’ve nixed it and forced SNL to use a tamer version of the line.
— Even the very random Pulp Fiction-esque twist ending is working for me.
STARS: ****


BUSINESS MEETING
(host) asks his motley employees to propose cuts to the corporate budget

— I love the exchange between Rainn and Kenan, when Rainn is asking individual employees for their thoughts: “Water guy?” “I don’t work here.”
— Hilarious fake-out regarding which one of the employees is Chief Big Cloud.
— Gigantic Turkey Sub: “I say we put MUSTARD on it!”
— You can see a young Colin Jost throughout this short as one of the employees (the left side of the seventh-to-last, third-to-last, and second-to-last above screencaps for this Digital Short, though why does his suit jacket keep disappearing and re-appearing between shots?). He looks so baby-faced in this, and it’s funny seeing him without what’s now known as his trademark hairstyle.
— This short is an absolute riot. So many rapid-fire hilarious cutaways, characters, and subversions, so much so, that I’m missing a few of the quick gags due to laughing so hard at some of the other quick gags.
— I love how this is not only using what appears to be the entire SNL cast, but is having some of the cast members play multiple roles.
— Even the random gag of Rainn speaking into his hand as if it’s a cellphone is fitting the tone of this short perfectly.
STARS: *****


ART DEALERS
(host) & (KRW) interview Nuni & Nuni for Architectural Digest profile

— Ugh, this sketch once again. Thankfully, this ends up being the final appearance of these characters.
— (*sigh*) Cue the beyond-tired obligatory portion of these sketches where the Nunis clarify how to differentiate the pronunciation of their names, then proceed to butcher the simple pronunciation of their visitors’ names.
— I do like the toast chair that Rainn is forced to sit on.
— Having Rainn play a dull straight man in a Nuni sketch is such a waste of his comedic talents (why not have him play a comedic role like Will Ferrell got to play in the Nuni sketch he appeared in?), though at least he’s further proving his impressive versatility by playing a convincing straight man character here.
— Another reminder tonight that Chris Parnell is no longer on the show, as his butler character from these Nuni sketches has been replaced by a new character played by Andy.
— I did get a cheap laugh from Andy’s cotton candy pubic hair sticking out from the top of his pants.
STARS: *½


PEEPING JERRY
peeper (host) imposes his voyeuristic mindset upon a police lineup

— Rainn is wearing the same jacket that Will has been seen wearing as two child predator characters (who I personally have a theory are actually the same character), one being a character in the MySpace Seminar sketch from the preceding season’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus episode, and the other being the future recurring character Jeff Montgomery (a.k.a. the trick-or-treating sex offender character). SNL’s wardrobe department must have that jacket on standby for every time someone plays a creepy sexual deviant in a sketch in this era.
— For some reason, I kinda love the intentionally cheesy part with Maya cornily telling Rainn “The next time you peep at me, THIS is what you’re gonna see!” while angrily waving her fist in front of his face.
— Excellent characterization from Rainn, who is hilarious here.
— I love how Rainn is only able to identify the murderer in the police line-up by having a curtain substitute be displayed in front of him so he can peep from behind it.
— A great escalation to this, by now having Rainn request Jason mimes taking a shower and then sing during it. (Though why did Rainn word his request as “Make him sing again?”, when Jason’s character didn’t sing prior to this portion of the sketch?)
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Intervention”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Anna Nicole Smith judge Larry Seidlin (FRA) weepily reads his reviews

Aunt Linda has nothing nice to say about the crop of Oscar nominees

the dangers of deployment to Iraq finally dawn on Prince Harry (ANS)

— Hmm, Fred playing the judge from the Anna Nicole Smith trial. Well, this sure comes off dated today. I remember the fact that this Judge Larry guy was pretty big back at this time, but 13 years later, I now remember little-to-nothing specific about the man. I think he broke down in tears during the Anna Nicole trial while delivering a long spiel, or something like that? Even my memory of seeing viral clips of him doing THAT is very vague and iffy. I worry that my lack of memory about this guy is going to hurt my enjoyment of this spoof of him that Fred’s doing.
— I do like the detail of Fred’s Judge Larry doing his commentary in a judge’s chair instead of the usual Update chair.
— We get an extended hysterical laughter break from the audience in response to Fred’s Judge Larry saying “When I was a kid…I used to go to the circus every day.” Am I missing something? What’s so hilarious about that line?
— Yeah, this Judge Larry commentary isn’t doing it for me. Just as I was afraid of, my lack of memory of the specifics that Fred is spoofing about this judge makes this hard for me to understand and laugh at. Then again, I get the feeling this commentary wasn’t all that funny even when it originally aired. This commentary is just coming off badly drawn-out and sluggish. (And guess what’s even worse? We’ll be seeing Fred do ANOTHER Judge Larry commentary on Update in the very next episode! Geez.)
— (*groan*) Kristen’s Aunt Linda routine continues to suffer diminishing returns, and I’m finding her ratings system increasingly cringeworthy in its corniness. That corniness feels like something straight out of SNL writer James Anderson’s playbook, even though I have no idea if he even writes these Aunt Linda commentaries (I think I remember hearing it’s another writer who’s behind these Aunt Linda commentaries, though I don’t remember who).
— SNL breaks out the ol’ vomit hose for the first time in, I believe, years. While I admit to chuckling at this particular instance of it in this Prince Harry commentary from Andy, it feels like a poor man’s version of Will Ferrell’s Update commentary about Ellen DeGeneres back in season 22 (a commentary that I love, problematic or not). I do love Seth’s deadpan during Andy’s over-the-top vomiting, though.
— Boy, this is one long Update. A huge contrast to how short and compact the last few Updates prior to this were.
STARS: ***


FIRST DAY AT WORK
Neil & Jean orient their new fellow uptight co-worker Oliver (host)

— An interesting change of pace to see this recurring Forte/Wiig/(insert host here) introverted co-workers sketch now taking place at the characters’ workplace instead of at another bar.
— Yet another very fun quirky characterization from Rainn tonight.
— Very funny and charming reveal of Will and Kristen’s extremely tame “hazing” of Rainn.
— As usual, a countless number of very funny little quirks from these characters. Even Will and Kristen’s mere delivery makes even non-comedic lines very humorous.
— The usual twist in these sketches with us suddenly seeing Will detailing the night of raunchy lovemaking he has planned for him and his two co-workers has been changed up tonight, which is another refreshing change of pace.
STARS: ****½


WHITE POSSUM SCREAM
(KET) chains (host) in Black Snake Moan knockoff

— A laugh from how this Blake Snake Moan-based movie is titled White Possum Scream.
— Funny visual of Rainn as a briefs-clad male version of Christina Ricci’s character from Black Snake Moan.
— I like the other Chase Danker-made preview-based films we’re shown movie posters of, especially the dark Dunston Checks Out.
— Even Kenan’s mugging and loud hamminess, which, in these early seasons of his, can be a bit much and too uncontrolled, is kinda working for me here.
— This sketch is showing itself to be thin, but the execution is making it passable enough.
STARS: ***


BAND SHOT

— There appears to be a sketch cut at the last minute at this point of the show, as SNL does the old “come back from a long commercial break only to show the SNL Band playing for a few seconds before going back to another long commercial break” move they occasionally resort to when needing to fill time after a sketch gets scrapped at the last minute for time reasons. However, that usually happens at the very end of episodes. Odd how THIS particular instance is occurring at around 12:45, when we still have a sketch and an Arcade Fire musical performance remaining.


RIVER BLISS
New Age musicians (FRA), (MAR), (host), (KET), (KRW) bicker in the studio

— Kenan’s character being named Nasim certainly brings a future SNL cast member to mind, mostly because she’s the only real-life person I’ve ever heard with that name.
— Fred’s gestures when playing the keyboard are funny, and Rainn does yet another characterization that I like (even his constant hair flips are getting laughs), but the sketch itself is not doing it for me. Also, I’m getting that ol’ pesky feeling again that this is another James Anderson-written sketch. The style of this sketch and the character types sure make me think so, especially Kenan’s character. I’ve noticed that almost ANY sketch that Kenan plays this type of effeminate, sassy male character in is a James Anderson-written sketch.
— Kenan yelling very loudly “I…HATE…YO…FACE!” has kinda stuck with me over the years, even though I could never remember which sketch it came from until now.
— Aaaaaaaand there’s the fart humor to further add to my hunch that this sketch is a James Anderson piece.
— Overall, blah. A poor and aimless sketch to end a great episode on (the following musical performance notwithstanding).
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep The Car Running”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and definitely one of the best of this season. The first half of this episode in particular was very impressive, with a majority of the segments receiving a rating from me ranging from 4-5 stars. Adding to the strength of this episode is Rainn Wilson, who was an excellent host, came off perfect for SNL, and was utilized very well with the various oddball roles the writers gave him.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Forest Whitaker)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Julia Louis-Dreyfus