Tag: Avril Lavigne

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April 14, 2007 – Shia LaBeouf / Avril Lavigne (S32 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WINGS OF HOPE
Jesse Jackson (DAH) & Al Sharpton (KET) offer racist rehab for Don Imus

— Darrell makes his first appearance in THREE EPISODES.
— Pretty funny one-liners from Kenan’s Al Sharpton throughout this.
— Aaaaaaand there goes Darrell’s obligatory extended silent mugging & ticcing sequence as Jesse Jackson.
— I’m enjoying the detailing of the racism rehabilitation Don Imus will receive in Jackson and Sharpton’s rehab center.
— I love Darrell-as-Jackson’s mock inspirational speech about blacks and whites coming together.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
backstage, host can’t get cast members to share his SNL excitement

— Funny to think this is apparently at a time before Shia LaBeouf had much name recognition, as he opens this monologue with a self-deprecating “To those of you who know who I am…..hi, mom, hi, dad.”
— Great scene with Kenan panickedly trying to hide his smoking when a gleeful Shia approaches him. I also love Shia pointing out the Disney/Nickelodeon child star similarities between himself and Kenan. I think this is the very first mention an SNL episode has ever made about Kenan’s Nickelodeon past, but I may be forgetting something from prior episodes.
— Interesting use of Darrell.
— Pretty fun backstage interactions between Shia and individual cast and crew members.
— The gag with Lorne not knowing Kristen’s name certainly comes off ironic in retrospect, considering the huge favoritism Lorne would end up showing towards Kristen later in her SNL tenure.
— A very odd camera gaffe happens at the end when Shia is wrapping up the monologue. Someone apparently turned the camera switch off by accident, causing an odd camera jerk motion, followed by a few seconds of a black screen, before the camera switch is turned back on. Yikes! I’m pretty sure this is a first in SNL history of a camera accidentally being turned off mid-sketch.
STARS: ***½


THE HATHAWAY MOUSTACHE RIDE COMPANY
Hathaway Company visionary (Alec Baldwin) institutes free moustache rides

— Random Alec Baldwin cameo!
— The opening setting of this, with the 1880s business meeting, reminds me of the original Grayson Moorehead commercials from season 21. Plus, not only does Darrell play one of the old-timey businessmen at the table in both Grayson Moorehead and this mustache rides commercial, but he even has a very similar look in both (side-by-side comparison).

   

— Funny dignified execution of a raunchy premise, and Alec’s typical dry delivery is perfect for this.
— A non-Weekend Update appearance from Seth!
— Great visual of Will’s vibrating mustache.
STARS: ***½


PRINCE SHOW
Tobey Maguire (host) & Nancy Grace (AMP) drop by

— (*groan*) This tired, formulaic recurring sketch again. This thankfully ends up being the final installment of this.
— Shia’s not attempting much of an imitation of Tobey Maguire’s voice, but his dialogue is pretty amusing.
— This is actually a fun use of Amy’s Nancy Grace impression (also making its final appearance). I love her whole spiel about how much of a Prince fan she and her girlfriends were back in the day.
— Great wild dancing from Amy at the end.
STARS: **


BUYING BEER
underage (host), (ANS), (BIH), (WLF) stage elaborate ruses to buy beer

— Good detail with Andy’s lopsided fake mustache, adding to his and Shia’s character’s unconvincing attempt to come off as adults of legal drinking age.
— I love the increasingly elaborate, convoluted attempts from Andy, Shia, and Bill to buy beer without showing I.D., especially with Will unconvincingly staging a robbery and allegedly stealing Bill’s I.D.
— I enjoyed the surprise reveal at the end.
STARS: ****


THE DAKOTA FANNING SHOW
Dakota Fanning’s (AMP) sister Elle (musical guest) is a rival

— Two celebrity-hosted talk show sketches not only in the same episode, but both in the pre-Weekend Update half of the show?
— Like the last time this sketch appeared, we get some fantastic slow burn reactions from Kenan’s Reggie in response to Amy-as-Dakota-Fanning’s backhanded remarks to him.
— A pretty good laugh from Amy’s Dakota asking the Sprouse Twins “Why???” when they tell her they’re playing with toys.
— It wasn’t necessary to repeat the bit from the first installment of this sketch with Kristen’s snack-providing character humbly responding “You can call me mom” when Amy’s Dakota tells her “Thank you , Catherine.” That joke doesn’t work as well when you use it a second time.
— A hilarious part with Kenan muttering a very bitter “Yeah, I’ll put a cap somewhere, all right” after Amy’s Dakota tells him “Reggie, you better put on your thinking cap!”
— Overall, this was good, but not as strong as the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


DEAR SISTER
(BIH), (ANS), (host), (KRW) off each other a la The O.C.

— Ah, a legendary Digital Short and one of my all-time favorites.
— When this originally aired, not only was I one of quite a number of SNL fans who wasn’t aware of the fact that it was spoofing a scene from the show The O.C. (though that didn’t hurt my enjoyment of this short AT ALL), but I remember being simultaneously weirded-out and intrigued by the Imogen Heap “Hide And Seek” song played in this short, combined with how that song first played right after the baffling and inexplicable part with Andy shooting Bill out of nowhere while Bill was talking about his sister. I didn’t know during the live airing that “Hide And Seek” was a real, non-SNL song, so I assumed it was another original Lonely Island musical creation, and I wondered if that was someone in the cast singing it.
— The escalation to this is fantastic, and it especially starts getting really fun when Shia is the one to suddenly get shot when entering the room while laughing lightheartedly. After all these years, even though I know this entire short beat-for-beat, line-for-line, I still get no end of enjoyment from watching it. And that “Hide And Seek” song still intrigues me; it’s so oddly catchy and haunting.
— I’m loving how watching this short right now is taking me right back to the late 2000s, reminding me not only of how frequently I watched this short back in those days, but also how frequently I watched amusing YouTube videos where people gave the Dear Sister treatment to TV/movie clips in which someone gets shot or similar.
— A particularly hilarious part with Kristen repeatedly getting shot while the same “Mmm, whatcha saaaaayyyyyyy” part of the “Hide And Seek” song plays over and over. Also a great little touch with how Shia is seen pointing his gun in increasingly intimidating, gun expert-like positions each time the camera cuts to him during that sequence.
— Excellent ending with the two cops shooting each other after reading the letter, while different parts of “Hide And Seek” play simultaneously.
STARS: *****


SOFA KING
Mattress King proprietors say their new enterprise is Sofa King great

— A sketch sorta in the vein of polarizing dirty wordplay sketches from the early 2000s like Colonel Angus and Cork Soakers.
— Funny bit with a graphic of couch photos being displayed over Maya’s face, forcing her to eventually have to awkwardly lean to the side to get her face back onscreen.
— The performers are doing a good job walking the fine line between making their foreign-accented sayings of “Sofa King” make you realize what dirty phrase it sounds like, but not saying it in a way that makes it sound like they’re directly saying the ACTUAL dirty phrase.
— The humor of this wordplay is only mildly funny at best. For me, the performances are making the material better than it is.
— Bill’s quivery mannerisms are very funny. Also, this is yet another Bill Hader performance that reminds me so much of Dan Aykroyd, especially the way Bill is smiling.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Girlfriend”


WEEKEND UPDATE
MAR interviews Anna Nicole Smith paternity loser Howard K. Stern (ANS)

same-sex couple from Connecticut (FRA) & (BIH) is swishy-WASPy

after apologizing, Don Imus (DAH) causes more problems for himself

— An interesting sports-esque set-up to the Howard K. Stern commentary, and I like the dry way the commentary itself is being executed.
— Meh, we didn’t need a variation of the Same-Sex New Jersey Couple, with this now being a Connecticut same-sex couple, played by the same two cast members.
— Bill’s extended cartoonish snooty laughing sequence as his rich snob character has me practically on the floor, even if he’s overdoing it. I feel like a hypocrite for laughing at this and complaining about Darrell’s extended mugging & ticcing sequence as Jesse Jackson earlier in this episode (and especially in the Jackson/Sharpton Update commentary from the then-recent Forest Whitaker episode), but maybe Bill is just better at pulling that kind of thing off than Darrell is. Also, Bill seems to be relying heavily on the cartoonish snooty laughing to make up for the lack of actual funny written material.
— Speaking of Darrell, he’s been getting surprisingly decent airtime in his first episode back after being M.I.A. in the last two episodes prior to this.
— Darrell’s Don Imus voice is making me laugh, but the comedic conceit of his commentary itself is very lame.
STARS: ***


KNIFE SALESMEN
salesman (WLF) cuts off thumb in attempt to sell Mrs. Ginsu (KRW) a knife

— Solid salesman delivery from Will during his sales pitch to Kristen.
— The ridiculous “Am not” “Are too” argument between Will and Kristen is pretty funny.
— A huge laugh from Will nonchalantly cutting through his own finger, much to Kristen and Shia’s horror.
— A projectile bleeding sketch in the tradition of stuff like Dan Aykroyd’s Julia Child sketch.
— No idea what to think about that dog attack ending.
— Overall, some good laughs here, but for an oddball Will Forte sketch, this wasn’t one of his best, nor was it one of the more memorable projectile bleeding sketches.
STARS: ***


AN INTIMATE MOMENT WITH JOHN MAYER & JESSICA SIMPSON
for John Mayer (BIH) & Jessica Simpson (KRW), musical spasms are intimacy

— I love the mere look on Kristen’s face as Jessica Simpson.
— Funny imitation from Bill of John Mayer’s trademark guitar-playing faces.
— Kristen’s musical vocalizations as Jessica is priceless.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Can Do Better”


SHIA & MAYA
in her dressing room, MAR attempts to seduce host

— A very funny sudden escalation early on, after Maya and Shia’s friendly opening conversation.
— Feels rare at this point of SNL’s run to see a sketch like this with a cast member playing themselves, not counting monologues.
— Maya’s performance is incredibly silly and over-the-top, but it’s definitely working for me here (it’s somehow helped by the fact that she’s playing herself), and the jokes are coming at us a mile a minute.
— I like the turn with Shia’s mock dramatic monologue to Maya.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly solid episode. Very little to dislike here, and this contained one of my all-time favorite pieces (Dear Sister).


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Peyton Manning)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson

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May 8, 2004 – Snoop Dogg / Avril Lavigne (S29 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FRIENDS
George W. Bush (WLF) & Donald Rumsfeld (DAH) reunite a la Friends finale

— A great sudden turn with Maya’s Condoleezza Rice delivering an uncharacteristic Phoebe-from-Friends-esque “My taxi’s outside, I’ll drive you to the airport!”, which is followed by scene transition music from Friends, making you realize that this cold opening is turning into a parody of the big Friends series finale that had aired earlier that week.
— I love Will-as-Bush’s panicked, dramatic yell of “Let ‘im off the plane!” when listening to the answer machine message.
— This cold opening does the near-impossible and manages to make a man-on-man kiss from this SNL era actually come off damn funny. Part of what makes this particular man-on-man kiss work is the fact that it’s a Friends finale spoof, and another part of what makes it work is Will’s extreme commitment during the kiss, to the degree that he causes Darrell to eventually break.
— This is only Will’s third time playing Bush, and he continues to do a good job making the impression his own, and strong sketches like this help solidify to viewers that Will’s not going to be yet another another one-season-and-done Bush impersonator like Chris and Darrell before him.
— Will’s Bush plants another lustful kiss on Darrell-as-Donald-Rumsfeld’s cheek during Rumsfeld’s “Live from New York…”, which must be an ad-lib, as Darrell IMMEDIATELY loses it and breaks, as if he wasn’t expecting it. A great way to cap off this very strong and memorable cold opening.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host cautions white America to cool it with the “izzle” talk

— Wow. Right out of the gate in this monologue, SNL breaks format by giving Snoop Dogg a very unconventional, outlandish entrance. Right as Don Pardo is about to announce Snoop, the theme music suddenly stops and is replaced with a musical tribal chant of “Snoop Doggy Dogg”, harem girls are seen dancing around the home base stage, child servants assist Snoop onstage after Pardo announces him, and Snoop is then joined by all of the female cast members. Oh, and everybody that I mentioned is all dressed in ancient native outfits. I love this whole monologue entrance gimmick. SNL rarely does anything out of the ordinary with their own format like this by this point of the show’s run.
— Some funny lines from Snoop addressing the annoying trend of white people speaking in “izzle” talk.
— Snoop’s line about how white people used to love pig-latin is very funny.
— An overall short and sweet monologue, and Snoop handled it really well.
STARS: ***½


MOM JEANS
A second rerun this season of a popular Mother’s Day commercial that originally aired the preceding season


¡SHOW BIZ GRANDE EXPLOSION!
Fericito doesn’t understand host’s humor

— Horatio’s character laughing in an insanely wild, hammy manner in response to a joke from Fericito actually cracked me up, even though I usually can’t stand that type of hamminess from Horatio by this point of his SNL tenure.
— (*sigh*) By this point of Fred’s SNL tenure, I’ve seen enough “Ay dios mio!”s from Fericito to last me a lifetime. That catchphrase and accompanying camera zoom-in has gotten to the official point where it’s slowly starting to get on my last nerve.
— A decent pre-taped “Fericito-Walking” segment with Fericito and SNL writer Emily Spivey. I don’t mind Fericito when he actually does something different for a change, such as this.
— Snoop’s “CDeez nuts” was a cheap joke, but his delivery of it had me freakin’ HOWLING.
— I love Horatio’s character’s amusement over Snoop’s crude jokes to Fericito.
— Snoop is a really fun guest in this sketch, and is giving this a boost.
STARS: ***


RAP BATTLE
wheelchair-bound (host) solicits sympathy to win rap-off competition

host performs “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang”

— Always a treat to see a J.B. Smoove sighting during these years, but it feels weird and kind of a waste seeing him play a silent, non-comedic role here, given how damn funny he usually is.
— A laugh from Snoop’s character unexpectedly entering in a wheelchair.
— Oh. My. God. Seth, of all people, entering the sketch as a “cool” rapper?!? Ha, this I gotta see. Why don’t I remember this portion of this sketch from my past viewings of it?
— Is Seth wearing the exact same outfit previously worn by “Ass Face” in the TRL sketch from season 27’s Jon Stewart episode? (side-by-side comparison below)

Seth must really like wearing that costume, as he’s later seen wearing it again during tonight’s goodnights.

— Snoop’s depressing raps about being in a wheelchair are freakin’ hilarious. I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2004 pointing out how this sketch had kind of a Michael O’Donoghue-esque dark feel, which made me love this sketch even more.
— Kenan’s extreme mugging and goofy grinning towards the audience during his appearance in this sketch reminds me of a HUGE gripe some online SNL fans had with Kenan during these early seasons of his. Those SNL fans complained to no end about Kenan’s penchant for hammy mugging and goofy big grins towards the audience in many sketches he appeared in. This is before the days when Kenan learned to tone down those aspects of himself as he grew as a performer.
— A big laugh from the great little part with Maya having to place a deaf Kenan’s hand onto the speaker so he can feel the beat.
— Hmm, a fourth wall break ending, with Snoop suddenly dropping character, getting out of the wheelchair, and breaking into a performance of his hit “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang”. Nice performance from Snoop, but ehh… I was really enjoying the hell out of where this sketch was going before this point, and this sudden turn is taking away from that. Not the way I personally would’ve ended this sketch.
STARS: ****


SCHEINWALD STUDIOS
Abe Scheinwald finds a kindred spirit in Booty Hotel pitcher (host)

— The name of Snoop’s character being MC Night Terrors is pretty funny.
— Rachel’s characterization of Abe Scheinwald is always worth some laughs.
— MC Night Terrors to Abe Scheinwald: “I like you, old dude. You like that old Muppet that be hangin’ up in the balcony criticizin’ folks.”
— During a humorously awkward pause that Rachel makes, Seth seems to try inducing a Debbie Downer-esque character break from Rachel by asking her an ad-libbed “You alright?” Rachel wisely seems to be fully aware of Seth’s attempt to get her to laugh, and she is having NONE of it, as she immediately snaps back to him, in character, “Yeah, I’m fine!”, and then goes on with the sketch. I’m glad Rachel understands how, as much of a blast as it was when she and her fellow performers had such a huge laughing meltdown during the preceding week’s Debbie Downer sketch, that type of huge laughing meltdown absolutely CANNOT become a regular thing on the show. A nice display of professionalism from Rachel here.
— This sketch is pretty much just treading the same territory of the preceding installment of this sketch, but it’s still working decently enough.
STARS: ***


ABC
ABC’s schedule is full of shows related to irresponsible plastic surgery

— Meh, the Angel Surgeons portion of this commercial fell completely flat. Where were the laughs there even supposed to be coming from?
— The Trading Noses portion of this commercial is hilarious.
— Snoop’s very menacing delivery into the camera of the line “I’m gonna cut you up, bitch!” during an extreme close-up of him holding up a knife made me laugh out loud, made even funnier by the fact that he’s dressed as a freakin’ ninja.
— Ha, funny how I mentioned earlier in this review how the clothes worn by “Ass Face” in the Jon Stewart episode was reused tonight by Seth, because in the “I Want A Butt For A Face” portion of this commercial, we get what appears to be a reuse of the Ass Face head prop. (side-by-side comparison below)

— Funny cutaway to a smiling, sleazy-looking Horatio being a fan of face-on-butt sex.
— This was kinda hit-and-miss overall, but there were definitely more hits than misses.
STARS: ***


FRIENDS
party atmosphere can’t overcome host’s despondence about end of Friends

— J.B. Smoove in a SECOND sketch tonight, and again, he’s just playing a silent, non-comedic role. I can’t stress enough what a waste this is of someone as naturally funny as him.
— Funny reveal of Snoop uncharacteristically being depressed over the fact that Friends has gone off the air.
— A very solid mock-dramatic performance from Snoop, and him emotionally going on and on about what a Friends fanatic he is is cracking me up. He is selling the hell out of this.
— When Finesse says his favorite so-called Friends moment was when “the blonde girl” got hit in the nose with a football, I love Snoop angrily responding “You damn fool! That was The Brady Bunch!”
— A hilarious photo of Snoop sporting “The Rachel” hairdo.
— A funny ending pre-taped sequence with Snoop, Kenan, and Finesse recreating the opening credits of Friends by dancing in a water fountain while the Friends theme song plays.
— At the very end of the water fountain scene, I love the ending close-up of Snoop just looking into the camera with a cool, kinda “deep” facial expression. (screencap below)

STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Tell Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
for Iraq prisoner abuse, Lynndie England (RAD) is the Dirtbag Of The Week

Bill Clinton (DAH) expects to be blamed for Iraq prisoner abuse scandal

clips show that JIF has done holiday-related song parodies for decades

— Yikes, Tina’s two opening jokes just made me groan. Lately, she seems to use her worst and most desperate joke(s) to start off each Update, a baffling decision.
— The “Dirtbag Of The Week” segment with Rachel as Lynndie England was kinda meh for me. I only liked it for Rachel’s performance.
— (*groan*) A THIRD Bill Clinton Update commentary in just the past three months of this season? I love Darrell’s Clinton impression, but they are REALLY over-relying on it lately, especially given how long after his presidency this season is.
— Ugh, why do these Clinton Update commentaries always have to begin by wasting so much time with him flirting with Tina and being all buddy-buddy with Jimmy? It’s not working for me anymore.
— Tonight’s overall Clinton commentary had a few mild laughs, but yeah, still not enough to justify bringing him back after such an insanely short amount of time since his last two Update commentaries. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d get burned out on Darrell’s popular Clinton impression, but here we are.
— We’re getting a deviation from Jimmy’s usual Update guitar song medleys.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE this montage of Jimmy’s Update guitar song medleys from over the years, especially when it gets to the point where, the earlier and earlier they go in SNL’s timeline, the clips clearly start becoming fake. Such a great meta SNL piece. There are so many things about this montage that I love, including the detail of recreating the Update sets of the various Update eras we’re shown “clips” of (even if some of the set recreations aren’t accurate). I remember how Jimmy’s “Thanks, Charles Rocket” line in the 1980 Update “clip” was a big favorite among online SNL nerds like me when tonight’s episode originally aired.
— Speaking of online SNL fans when tonight’s episode originally aired, this montage of Jimmy’s Update guitar song medleys was taken as a big sign among online SNL fans that Jimmy may be leaving in the following week’s season finale. Also, tonight’s Update surprisingly ends up being Jimmy’s ONLY appearance all night, which, in a strange way, kinda feels significant for what ends up being his second-to-last episode. (And we’re going to be seeing A LOT of him in his final episode.) A huge rarity for him to make his only appearance on Update (all the while Tina made three appearances tonight, funnily enough; hell, FOUR, if you count the Mom Jeans rerun), but I guess you can say this extensive montage of his Update guitar song medleys is making up for his lack of airtime elsewhere in tonight’s episode.
— I love Jimmy’s parody of Usher’s “Yeah” performance from the preceding episode, right down to the detail of Jimmy even wearing the same outfit Usher wore during that performance. Some fun dancing from Tina here as well.
STARS: ***½


APPALACHIAN EMERGENCY ROOM
country folk exhibit more weird afflictions

— I continue to feel like I’m in the minority in liking these sketches.
— As always, Amy kills in these sketches.
— Funny visual of Kenan trapped inside that claw machine.
— Blah, they always stick Will with the least funniest parts of these Appalachian Emergency Room sketches.
— Snoop: “I don’t have no pool! Who do you think I am – Donald Trump?!?”
— Snoop ends his scene by telling Seth “By the way, I ain’t peein’ in no cup.” In the rerun version of this episode, Snoop’s scene (if not the entire sketch) would be replaced with the dress rehearsal version, which ends in a completely different manner, with Snoop’s character bringing a very long line of family members to accompany him to his assigned room. (A rerun of tonight’s episode was never aired on NBC, by the way, much like this season’s Colin Firth episode. I believe the reason for the lack of reruns for either episode is because over the summer of 2004, NBC aired quite a lot of new “Best Of” specials for cast members and hosts, which I guess didn’t leave any room for a rerun of tonight’s or the Firth episode. It’s similar to how the barrage of “Best Of”s aired during the summer of 1998 prevented a large number of season 23 episodes from ever getting an NBC rerun.)
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Pothead Theater” by RBS- stoner-requested cartoons turn tables on humans

— An unusual TV Funhouse, and also a rare case of TV Funhouse heavily featuring live-action scenes.
— Hmm. Not sure this is working for me so far.
— I did get a laugh just now from the animation of ketchup shaking people out of a bottle. However, do we need EVERY animation scene to be followed by a moronic laughing shot of the individual pothead who requested the respective animation scene? Those laughing shots are far more annoying than funny to me.
— Meh, after an upswing with the aforementioned ketchup scene, this TV Funhouse has gone back to not making me laugh.
— Okay, I absolutely loved the bit just now with an animation of a TV watching a person, which ends up looking no different from what an animation of a person watching a TV would look like. I also like the subsequent cutaway to the two potheads who requested that animation just staring into the camera in unamused, stone-faced (no pun intended) manner instead of laughing moronically like the other potheads in this TV Funhouse.
— Overall, this TV Funhouse was mostly a miss for me, but the great ending scene gave this a big boost.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Happy Ending”


DUSTER’S DIGEST
Duster’s Digest magazine has its focus on the lifestyle of PCP users

— Odd how this is the second consecutive comedy segment tonight that’s drug-related, though I guess its fitting, given tonight’s host.
— Very funny entrance from Amy.
— I love Will’s delivery during his testimony. Even just the way he says “Duster’s Digest” is strangely amusing.
— A good laugh from Seth cluelessly making his phone call onto a burning iron pressed against his face, and not even being fazed by it.
STARS: ***


MOTHER’S DAY MESSAGE FROM SNOOP DOGG
in his Mother’s Day Message, host thanks his mom for birthing him

— An interesting little change of pace for this SNL era. Almost has the feel of a typical Steve Martin piece from the late 80s SNL era (e.g. A Holiday Wish and To My Love), right down to the little detail of Snoop holding a rose the entire time.
— An overall simple but pretty good bit, and had some heart.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, with nothing I disliked besides the TV Funhouse (and even THAT at least tried something new, plus it had a strong ending). This didn’t feel like a typical season 29 episode to me. (Then again, with this being the third consecutive good episode, I’m seriously wondering if this disappointing season has been experiencing a turnaround as the end of the season approaches.) Snoop Dogg was the fun, laid-back host you’d expect him to be, right from his unique monologue entrance, and I found that he worked particularly well in the odder bits that deviated from his image, like the wheelchair sketch and the Friends sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 29 comes to an end, with hosts Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the second about-to-turn-18-years-old hosts in just the last three episodes, and also the very first set of twins to ever co-host SNL. It’s also the farewell of Jimmy Fallon.

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January 11, 2003 – Jeff Gordon / Avril Lavigne (S28 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ADDRESS
Kim Jong Il (HOS) delineates the roots of his irrational behavior

— Our first of quite a number of tedious translator cold opening from this season.
— Kim Jong Il’s listing off of his endless psychological disorders is awfully reminiscent of the Dell Computer Guy commentary on Weekend Update earlier this season. Both that commentary and tonight’s cold opening even use Gender Dysphoria as one of the psychological disorders.
— (*sigh*) I’m two minutes into this, and I’ve barely laughed.
— Blah, most of this cold opening is just an endless, unfunny listing off of psychological disorders and the medications that Jong Il takes.
— Overall, worst cold opening of the season so far.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
in honor of host, Manhattanites (CHP) & (RAD) pretend to be NASCAR fans

— Nice to see Parnell playing a role different from what SNL usually typecasts him as.
— After a somewhat-funny/somewhat-iffy first half, we get a decent reveal that Parnell and Rachel are only acting like rowdy NASCAR fans because they’re New Yorkers who waited a long time to get SNL tickets, and it turned out to be tickets for a Jeff Gordon-hosted episode. Parnell’s dignified voice during this whole reveal is a nice touch.
STARS: **½


JOE HETERO
Joe Hetero (SEM) is the likewise-misnamed follow-up to Joe Millionaire

— A quick and decent Joe Millionaire parody with an amusing reveal, kicking off tonight’s runner.
STARS: ***


BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
supposedly-armless snake can’t be trusted

— Right out of the gate, Gordon already messes up the first name of his character, but he’s not an actor, so he has an excuse. (What’s DeNiro’s excuse?)
— Very funny threat from Brian Fellow about putting his foot in the snake’s ass and making a boot.
— Horatio as a Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet guest AGAIN, after he was a guest in the last installment of this sketch and performed so lousily in it, being all giggly for no reason?
— Tracy’s even more stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch than Jeff Gordon is.
— A good laugh from Brian Fellow comparing the sheep to Tiger Woods when Brian is confused over the sheep being black or Chinese.
— There goes Horatio’s giggliness again, this time in response to his sheep unexpectedly eating from plants on the set.
— Funny thought bubble of a snake punching Brian Fellow’s mother.
STARS: ***½


ACCESS HOLLYWOOD
Diana Ross (MAR) performs while failing a sobriety test

— Jimmy finally displays his FIRST celebrity impression all season. It’s odd he went this long without doing one, considering how common his impressions used to be and the fact that they’re where his real knack lies.
— Jimmy’s Pat O’Brien impression is okay, but it’s an impression I would eventually go on to get sick of the following season when it gets overused in quite a number of sketches with questionable writing.
— A laugh from Maya’s Diana Ross signing her written sobriety test as “To Dabney Coleman, we’ll always have Aspen, with love, Diana Rose.”
— I like the exchange between the two cops when one of them unintentionally pulls off Diana Ross’ wig: “What should I do with this?” “Cuff it and read it its rights?” That made me laugh more than a lot Maya’s antics in this sketch, which are falling fairly flat with me and (kinda) the studio audience.
STARS: **


JOE CAUCASIAN
Joe Caucasian (TRM) is the latest FOX reality show with a twist

— A huge laugh from Tracy’s bad white make-up and classic one-liner into the camera: “I’mma get all these white chicks pregnant.”
— At the end, the audience seemed confused over whether to applaud or not. I’m getting bad flashbacks to the very unresponsive audience from the Sarah Michelle Gellar episode.
STARS: ****


CAREER DAY
on career day, carpet salesman (SEM) is upstaged by fighter pilot (host)

— Two minutes into this sketch, and I finally get my first real laugh, with one kid yelling during Seth’s presentation “This is so boring!”, and Amy responding to the kid “That is no way to talk to your father!”
— Good ad-lib from Amy after she mistakenly says the awkwardly-worded sentence “I do might like a pair.”
— Overall, blah. This sketch was just as bland as Seth’s carpet salesman character was.
STARS: **


STAR DATES
Gary Busey (JER) embarrasses himself while out with (RAD)

— Dean (in a role where he actually gets more than one measly line) is playing Jordan Black, who, funnily enough, would go on to become an SNL writer the following season, IIRC.
— Yes! The debut of Jeff Richards’ Gary Busey impression! This impression of his is absolutely killer.
— Lots of laughs all throughout this sketch from Richards-as-Busey’s insane, oddball spiels and stories. Or, at least I’m getting a lot of laughs. The studio audience, on the other hand, isn’t giving this sketch the love it deserves.
— Funny sequence with Gordon beating Busey’s ass.
— The “Coming up next on Star Dates” ending scene came off kinda unnecessary and awkwardly executed.
STARS: ****


JOE NOT-A-RAPIST
Joe Not-A-Rapist (CHP) brings deception of potential brides to a new low

— A funny dark premise for this installment of tonight’s Joe Millionaire runner, and Parnell as the rapist gives a great skeevy look into the camera at the end.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’m With You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Brigitte Boisselier (AMP) & Rael (CHK) bask in the success of Clonaid

in his head, JIF prematurely gloats about consequences of winning Grammy

prospect of biopic has caused Gay Hitler to go Hollywood

 

— Amy’s mere facial expression at beginning of her and Kattan’s commentary is funny.
— Amy and Kattan’s cloned baby turns out to be the same deformed baby character that Rachel used to play in those Angelina Jolie Update commentaries. Always funny to see that character walk on. However, I wasn’t too crazy about anything else in the overall Amy/Kattan commentary.
— I like the use of a fake brick wall behind Jimmy (held by Tina) during Jimmy’s intentionally corny stand-up-comedian-type joke about discarded Christmas trees.
— A solid out-of-the-ordinary sequence with Jimmy’s inner thoughts regarding being nominated for a Grammy.
— Now this segment with Jimmy’s inner thoughts has gotten even better with the whole bit with Will as Jimmy’s old high school buddy. What’s with the audience member sitting behind him, though? He’s mugging up a storm.
— The Ghostbusters part of Jimmy’s inner thought sequence is particularly funny.
— “The Pink Fuhrer”? Oh, no, does that mean we’re in for another Gay Hitler walk-on?
— Oh, god, it’s even worse than I thought. Kattan’s playing a hybrid of Gay Hitler and that unbelievably god-awful Hollywood character that Kattan once did on Update last season. Jesus Christ. Oh, and by the way, why the hell are we seeing Kattan TWICE on tonight’s Update, doing two completely different commentaries as two completely different characters? Kattan, you ain’t no Tim Kazurinsky.
— A very random but fun little bit at the very end, where, after Jimmy and Tina sign off, instead of Jimmy doing his trademark pencil throw towards the camera (which he blatantly refrained from doing the last few Updates), SNL writer Eric Slovin appears as a Shakespearean actor and takes Jimmy’s pencil away in a case. This would go on to be a running gag for the remainder of this season, with Eric Slovin walking on as a different character each time and taking Jimmy’s pencil away in different ways.
— The long streak of me not caring for any of the guest commentaries on Weekend Update continues, with tonight being the SIXTH consecutive Update that’s happened in. This is getting ridiculous. However, at least the non-commentary portions of tonight’s Update really stepped it up and was easily the best that Update has been all season, feeling like a return to form for Jimmy and Tina. (It doesn’t last, though. In fact, I recall Tina having a particularly weak night in the Update from the very next episode.)
STARS: ***½


AQUARIUM REPAIRMEN
aquarium repairmen (JIF) & (HOS) make stream-of-consciousness wisecracks

— OH. NO. Here comes a very notorious Fallon/Sanz sketch that Jimmy and Horatio would themselves later call “The worst sketch we’ve ever done”.
— Hearing Jimmy speaking in that voice reminds me that a fellow SNL reviewer back in 2003 pointed out in his review of this sketch that Jimmy appeared to be doing an imitation of the voice Christopher Guest used in those “I hate when that happens” sketches that Guest regularly did with Billy Crystal back in season 10.
— Good God, this “Ova heah” routine of Jimmy and Horatio’s is FUCKING TORTURE. Not even the audience is laughing at this crap. I remember saying in my original review of this sketch that this felt like SNL was using a leftover script for a typical bad Chris Farley/Adam Sandler sketch from the 94-95 season. I also remember one or two online SNL fans back in 2003 defending this sketch by saying it seemed to be SNL intentionally doing a self-deprecating spoof of their own bad, one-note, catchphrase-delivering characters. Yeah, I don’t see it. If this was intended as a spoof of bad SNL characters, I feel like SNL would’ve been a lot more wink-wink and obvious in their approach. And even if this sketch was SNL doing a self-deprecating spoof, it’s completely undermined by casting Jimmy and Horatio in the lead roles, who are making this less into an SNL self-deprecating piece and are turning it more into a showcase of the typical self-indulgent jackassery we get whenever those two guys are paired together.
— What the hell was with Amy’s random panicked yell of “My family pictures!” when Jimmy and Horatio frantically bolt out of the house? That line makes no sense to me.
— Aaaaaaand there goes our obligatory Fallon/Sanz giggling meltdown, derailing this already far-gone, disastrous sketch. This is probably the #1 most infamous, notorious example of Fallon/Sanz breaking. And why in the world is Jimmy pulling off his fake mustache during his laughing here? Are he and Horatio just flat-out giving up on this sketch, knowing how far-gone and derailed it’s become?
— Not even Fred’s pants-around-his-ankles mental breakdown is helping this.
— An awful “Gary’s Fish Tanks” reveal at the end.
— My thoughts of this overall sketch as a whole? Two words: fucking oof.
STARS: * (and even that’s being generous)


CHARLIE ROSE
unfocused interview annoys Donald Rumsfeld (DAH)

— Good to see another Jeff Richards celebrity impression showcase tonight, this time getting a full sketch for his solid Charlie Rose impression that we formerly only saw a brief glimpse of in a Mango sketch from the preceding season.
— This is Darrell’s first and ONLY appearance of this episode. I remember it felt to me at the time this sketch originally aired that 1) Darrell making his only appearance of the night in such a late spot in the show was a possible sign that he was on his way out, and 2) this sketch was a possible passing-of-the-torch between impressionist extraordinaires Darrell and Jeff. As we know now, I ended up being dead wrong about BOTH theories. Who would’ve guessed at this time that Jeff would abruptly be gone from the show just a little over a year later, and Darrell would stay until freakin’ 2009?
— Ehh, this sketch is going nowhere. The premise of Darrell’s Donald Rumsfeld constantly getting cut off by Richards’ Charlie Rose throughout the interview has been done to death elsewhere on SNL, and was done better. Oh, and once again tonight, the audience is dead during this sketch.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh, from Rose confusing Rumsfeld for increasingly un-Rumsfeld-like people, like Marv Albert and the Hamburglar, and even that’s just a cheap laugh.
— A weak and cliched ending with Rose declaring “We’re out of time” before he’s even gotten to the question he wanted to ask Rumsfeld, then beginning to talk too much during his sign-off, leading to Rumsfeld angrily walking out.
STARS: *½


JOE DUDE
Joe Dude (TIF) seeks a same-sex marriage on the sly

— This Joe Millionaire runner is kinda getting old, though the reveal of Tina as a woman disguising herself as a male bachelor is worth a laugh, as is her delivery of “I wish I could marry all of you. Damn!”
— There was originally going to be a FIFTH edition of tonight’s Joe Millionaire runner, with Jeff Richards playing “Joe Huge Penis”. It would end up getting cut after dress rehearsal.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Complicated”


THE TERRYE FUNCK HOUR
amateurish show is taped in Terrye Funck (CHP)’s basement

— Once again tonight, it’s nice to see Parnell being cast in a role that’s different from the roles he usually gets typecast in. Also nice to see him so front-and-center here, where he gets to carry most of the sketch in a comedic role.
— Oh, is Jeff Gordon tonight’s SNL host? I’ve been starting to forget that, considering it feels like he’s been absent from half of tonight’s sketches.
— Gordon finally plays a comedic character tonight. His performance here is corny as all hell, but he’s making me laugh.
— There’s not much to this sketch, though I am liking Parnell and Gordon’s performances.
STARS: **½


STRIPPER POLE
liven up your party with the staple of exotic dancing

— Oh my god. The usually extremely underused Dean Edwards in a… CO-STARRING role???
— Boy, this sketch is absolutely flat and a dud. And, ONCE AGAIN tonight, the audience is dead. This has the hollow feel of a bad sketch from one of SNL’s three most notorious seasons (6, 11, and 20).
— Even in a co-starring role, Dean’s not adding anything to this. Hell, not even usual sketch-saver Tracy, or Amy’s skewering of big-boobed bimbos, can save this.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Man, what a rough episode. While there were some solid highlights, they were extremely outnumbered by a lot of lousy sketches, including one of the worst sketches I’ve ever reviewed in this SNL project of mine (Aquarium Repairmen). The increasingly unresponsive studio audience also didn’t help the feel of tonight’s episode. Overall, definitely one of the weakest episodes I’ve reviewed in a long time.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Al Gore)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ray Liotta