Tag: Ben Stiller

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October 8, 2011 – Ben Stiller / Foster The People (S37 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
GOP fundraisers wish Chris Christie (BOM) would obviate Mitt Romney (JAS)

— Heh, while Paul as a reporter is asking a question, Vanessa as a fellow reporter can be seen with a huge, gleeful, frozen, open-mouthed smile on her face, a definitive Vanessa Bayer facial expression (seen towards the lower left corner of the below screencap).

— Funny line from Jason’s Mitt Romney about how his voice sounds like a black comedian doing a white guy voice.
— When Bobby’s Chris Christie is listing off the reasons why he can never be president, I got a particularly big laugh from him pointing to his body and saying “This…this can’t go national.”
— The dynamic between Bobby’s Christie and the crowd of reporters who love him is decently funny.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
BES visits Jewish Willy Wonka’s (ANS) kosher wonderland during Yom Kippur

— Andy: “I’m Jewish Willy Wonka!” Ben Stiller: “So you’re Gene Wilder?” Andy: “Yeah, basically.”
— A nice-looking Jewish food-filled wonderland set.
— The Jewish stereotypes humor is coming off decent here.
STARS: ***


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(JAS) will have sex with his future self (JAS)

— I like the unsettling reveal of Jason’s future self wanting to have sex with his present-day self. The calm, smug smile on Future Jason’s face during all of this is adding to the humor for me.
— An overall fairly dumb ad, but one that worked for me.
STARS: ***½


FOX & FRIENDS
Hank Williams Jr. (JAS) won’t apologize for Obama remarks

— Good to see this solid sketch become recurring.
— Hmm, I didn’t recall from my previous viewings of this era that Fred’s doddering old fact-checker character from the first installment of this sketch got brought back. He eventually gets dropped from these sketches, but I’m not sure when.
— Vanessa: “[Hank Williams Jr.] compared President Obama to Hitler, and we just don’t say that on this show.” Bobby: “We imply it.”
— I love Jason’s mere look as Hank Williams Jr., as well as his portrayal of him.
— Funny bit with Jason’s HWJ going off-book during his apology song, and launching into another “Obama is Hitler” rant.
STARS: ****


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(BIH) meets his fat & suicidal future self (BIH)

— This seems like an odd choice for a runner to me.
— The deep “fat guy” voice Bill’s using is absolutely fantastic.
— I love the dark bit with Future Bill jovially implying that he’s flying to Hawaii just so he can commit suicide.
STARS: ***½


THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS WITH HUGH JACKMAN
manly Daniel Radcliffe (Hugh Jackman) is musical

— The second and final appearance of this sketch. This is also the second consecutive live sketch tonight that’s being brought back from the preceding season’s Helen Mirren episode.
— Hmm, much like how I didn’t recall Fred’s fact-checker character from the first Fox & Friends installment being brought back in tonight’s Fox & Friends installment, I completely forgot that SNL made Abby’s Nancy Grace impression recurring. I had always remembered it only appearing in that So You Think You Can Dance parody from the season 35 Ryan Reynolds episode.
— The musical knife fight between Andy’s Hugh Jackman and Ben’s Mandy Patinkin is very funny.
— The debut of Bill’s memorable and very funny Clint Eastwood impression.
— They’re speeding through all the guests in this installment, it seems. The first installment of this sketch took its time with each guest.
— A cameo from Hugh Jackman himself, playing Daniel Radcliffe. The audience seems to take a while to recognize it’s Jackman under that get-up.
— A decent meta turn with Jackman, in character as Radcliffe, desperately refuting all the ridiculous claims that Andy’s Jackman makes about himself.
— Though I feel very wrong for this, I laughed at Andy’s Jackman saying, during his claim that he was born a girl, “The doctor turned me kangaroo pouch into a didgeridoo!”
— Why is it always Bobby who’s cast as the stage manager who gets gruesomely killed by the guests in these sketches?
STARS: ***


V-NECKS
(ANS) & (BES) show their chests in a clothing store showdown

— I wonder if Ben appreciates starring in a Digital Short, given the fact that, back when he was a short-lived cast member in season 14, SNL’s refusal to let him do short films that season was reportedly the reason for his very early exit.
— A laugh from the second V-Neck shirt Andy walks out in, where the “V” goes all the way down to his belly button.
— The escalation to the V-Necks is a little meh for me, despite some chuckles I’m occasionally getting.
— Not sure what the point is of Ben suddenly speaking in a goofy high-pitched voice when he’s being arrested by the cops.
— The diminished quality of this season’s Digital Shorts continues, though I found this overall V-Necks short a little better than the Stomp short from the preceding episode.
STARS: **½


BAND SHOT
going to commercial, Hank Williams Jr. (JAS) asks “Are you ready?” through song

— Oh, hell yeah! This is a great change of pace for this era, letting a cast member do a brief going-to-commercial musical number with the SNL Band, and it’s also a great way for Jason to reprise his Hank Williams Jr. impression from earlier tonight. This whole thing feels like a throwback to earlier SNL eras, which weren’t afraid to try different things like this.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pumped Up Kicks”


WEEKEND UPDATE
event planner Nan Washingtom’s (KRW) lone party theme idea is “pancakes”

look no further than the party held by Derek Zoolander (BES) & Stefon

— Odd how Seth starts his intro of the first guest commentary in tonight’s Update by saying “My first guest is a– etc.”, which is something Seth’s never done before in his Update guest intros. (Neither has any other Update anchorperson, as far as I know.)
— Another quirky one-off Wiig Update character. Ever since somewhere around March of the preceding season, it feels like Update is the only place Kristen does new characters anymore.
— This so-called new character of Kristen’s feels too much like an amalgamation of various quirky characters Kristen previously played, right down to the detail of her holding the microphone too close to her mouth the whole time.
— I’m not caring at all for where Kristen’s pancakes commentary has been going, nor do I like how EXTREMELY slow and drawn-out it is. This feels like a lame, failed attempt at both absurdist humor and patience-testing humor, mixed with tired “Wacky Wiig” character tropes. I remember how, when this originally aired, some online SNL fans defended this commentary of Kristen’s from people like me who bashed it, but yeah, 9 years later, I’m still not seeing the appeal of Kristen’s commentary at all.
— I love the audience reaction to Seth’s first Pet Costumes joke.
— I like how Stefon’s commentary begins with a callback to the summer vacation we previously saw him and Seth heading on their way to in the preceding season’s finale.
— A particularly memorable and hilarious Stefon moment right now, with his description of what a Human Fire Extinguisher is.
— An interesting change of pace in this Stefon commentary, with his new friend showing up, who turns out to be Ben’s Zoolander character. Good to see this, and seeing Stefon and Zoolander teamed up is a pretty fun pairing.
— I got a big laugh from Zoolander’s explanation of what the complicated SoWoHoNoBoHeWo abbreviation stands for.
STARS: ***


HALLOWEEN PARTY
at a Halloween party, sexy & foul Shana mixes her co-workers’ emotions

— This ends up being the final Shana sketch.
— How is Shana always “the new girl” in every single one of her sketches, when her co-workers are always the same people (aside from the character played by the host)?
— Yeesh, that “man from the 90s”/“Oh, I’m not wearing a costume” gag between Abby and Ben fell horribly flat.
— Speaking of Abby, she has officially broken the curse of cast members getting fired after playing the “ignored girl” role in just one Shana sketch.
— For most of this Shana character’s run, I’ve been a lot more tolerant of her sketches than some SNL fans appear to be, but I seemed to finally get tired of her sketches halfway through the last one prior to this (the basketball court one with Bryan Cranston). My newfound tiredness towards these sketches has been continuing in tonight’s installment, as I’m not all that entertained by what I’m currently watching.
— Ugh. Aaaaaaaaaaaand there goes the unnecessary, loud, long fart sound effect, something that this sketch had thankfully refrained from using in previous installments. The fact that this occurs at the climax of this sketch is sadly a fitting final nail in the coffin for this past-its-prime recurring sketch. Good riddance.
STARS: *½


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(BES) is drawn to his female future self (BES)

— Short but not sweet. Just a cheap man-in-drag punchline, even with the initial fake-out involving Abby being mistaken for Ben’s future self.
— Oh, and this makes another sex change joke tonight.
STARS: *½


COLUMBUS DAY ASSBLAST
Under-Underground Columbus Day festival features Eckhart Tolle (BES)

— This is the third recurring piece tonight that last appeared in the preceding season’s Helen Mirren episode.
— Love the fake band name Crucifying Kudrow.
— I didn’t even realize that Jay hadn’t appeared in tonight’s episode until this point. And, of course, keeping in the theme of Jay having a rough go this season, not only is his first appearance of tonight’s episode so late in the show, but it’s a pre-taped appearance.
— Speaking of Jay, I fucking hate that high-pitched sound his character in these Under-Underground pieces always makes.
— A particularly funny event, with a party featuring the cast of the 90s show Dinosaurs, without their costumes.
— A funny change of the usual tone to these Under-Underground pieces, with Ben’s tender, soft-spoken speech as a spiritual advisor.
STARS: ****


BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: JUST THE STORIES
DVDs have Bruce Springsteen’s (BES) between-song tales

— Pretty funny premise, and a decent execution of it.
— I like the unintelligible “Hunh hunh hainh hunh!” countdowns Ben’s Bruce Springsteen keeps doing before each song, and how each DVD clip abruptly ends with him about to start the song.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Kenny G [real] perform “Houdini”

— Ha, Kenny Motherfuckin’ G out of nowhere!


TINYBALLS
Moneyball follow-up dramatizes role of steroids in baseball

— Seems to be a lot of pre-taped segments in the post-Weekend Update half of this episode.
— Hmm, we’re seeing a different version of Taran’s Brad Pitt impression, with no yells of “Bdaaaah!” this time.
— Jay continues to make his only appearances tonight in pre-taped form, making this the second of the three episodes that have aired so far this season that Jay hasn’t made any live appearances in.
— Funny moment with Taran’s character’s daughter proudly smiling at him when he tells her, in a poignant manner, “We’re cheating, honey.”
— The steroid-fueled wild, insane celebration in the locker room is hilarious.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. A tad unmemorable as a whole (at least to me), but still decent. So much so, that there’s nothing else I can find to say about it.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Columbus Day Assblast
Fox & Friends
Tinyballs
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 2)
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 1)
The Best Of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman
Press Conference / Monologue (tie)
Bruce Springsteen: Just The Stories
Weekend Update
V-Necks
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 3)
Halloween Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Melissa McCarthy)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anna Faris

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October 24, 1998 – Ben Stiller / Alanis Morissette (S24 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROOFTOP BATTLE
stunt doubles of BES & his old boss LOM fight kung fu battle atop 30 Rock

 

— A nice change of pace for a cold opening in this era, and a unique setting, taking place on the roof of 30 Rock.
— I like Ben Stiller mentioning to Lorne his very short-lived featured player stint from 10 seasons ago and how Lorne used to cut all his sketches. It feels like just yesterday, I was reviewing those episodes that Ben was a featured player in.
— The physical fight between Ben and Lorne is pretty funny, with the blatant use of Asian stunt doubles.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— This season’s ever-changing theme music has been changed back to the one used in the Cameron Diaz-hosted season premiere. I guess SNL only uses this particular theme music when one of the stars of There’s Something About Mary is hosting.


MONOLOGUE
BES relishes applause intended for David Cone & other Yankees [real]

— I love that this is a continuation of the cold opening, with the camera cutting away from the home base stage after Don Pardo announces Ben to Ben landing on a car outside of 30 Rock, after having been thrown off the roof at the end of the cold opening.
— Speaking of which, Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version of this episode cut the cold opening (presumably because they couldn’t clear the rights to the music used during the Ben/Lorne fight; however, I think the online version of this cold opening on NBC.com simply removes the music), causing the first half of this monologue to make absolutely no sense, especially Ben saying “I think Lorne’s a little pissed at me.” The edited version tried to makes things slightly less confusing by removing the shot of Ben landing on a car outside of 30 Rock.
— Tim: “You think Stiller’s smoking crack again?” Will: “No, Stiller doesn’t smoke crack; that’s me.”
— Before Ben shows up backstage and runs like hell towards the home base stage, there’s a miscue where the SNL Band can be heard off-camera briefly starting to play the theme music again, before abruptly stopping when realizing they’re too early. I believe this gaffe would later be muted out in some reruns.
— Ben mistaking the audience’s wild applause for the Yankee players behind him as applause for himself is an okay gag, though I feel like SNL (or probably other TV shows) did this same gag some other time.
STARS: ***½


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Adam Sandler (JIF), Tom Cruise (BES)

   

— Yes!
— Jimmy has his breakout SNL moment, debuting an absolutely killer Adam Sandler impression. The voice and mannerisms are uncanny, in a way that you can tell Jimmy idolized Adam during SNL’s early 90s era (which Jimmy has later gone on to say is the first SNL era that spoke to his generation).
— Celebrity Jeopardy delivers yet another classic category mix-up, this time with Darrell’s Sean Connery misreading “Famous Titles” as “Famous Titties”. I also like how after Will-as-Alex-Trebek’s clarification on what the category really says, Darrell’s Connery can be heard off-camera exclaiming a disappointed “DAMN!”
— Good to see Ben’s always-funny Tom Cruise impression.
— Connery, during the “This is how many fingers you have” question: “I’ll show you a finger, Trebek!”
— I love how Jimmy’s Sandler is now breaking out into the Hannukah Song, complete with a guitar from out of nowhere.
— Much like the obligatory classic category mix-up, we get a classic Final Jeopardy answer reveal, with Connery’s initial answer, “Indoors”, turning into “I (*heart symbol*) Boobs.”
— Alex Trebek, during his sign-off: “That’s it for Celebrity Jeopardy. I’m going home and putting a gun in my mouth. Good day.”
STARS: *****


PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen expresses love for her yogi (BES)

— Jesus Christ, SNL. How do you follow up an installment of my absolute favorite recurring sketch from this era (Celebrity Jeopardy) with an installment of my absolute least favorite recurring sketch from this era (Pretty Living)?
— After sitting stone-faced through the first two-and-a-half minutes of this sketch, I finally got a chuckle, from Ben entering with a fake lazy eye.
— Some okay lines from Ana occasionally disclosing unhappy things about her personal life while keeping a smiling facade, but I feel like this SNL era is starting to overuse that type of humor, especially with Ana (e.g. the Hello Dolly sketch from the Kelsey Grammer episode).
— Just now, Molly doing one of her many leg-stretch moves caused her chair to almost tip over backwards, though she didn’t seem too phased by it, despite both Ana and Ben briefly dropping character to concernedly keep Molly’s chair from falling backwards.
STARS: *½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Heteroy” by RBS- Roy Fletcher’s superpowers can cure homosexuality

— Yet another daring concept from Robert Smigel.
— A hilarious opening theme song.
— One of the Coalition Crusaders, when seeing a gay biker: “Where there’s spokes, there’s sodomy!”
— A big laugh from one of the Coalition Crusaders trying to give the gay biker an interest in heterosexual sports by showing him pictures of clothed football players with their butt and crotch areas covered by censor bars.
— The “Thank you, thank you, Lord, for keeping my anus clean” song that the Coalition Crusaders are singing is priceless.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thank U”


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ likens Israeli-Palestinian relations to meeting with an ex-girlfriend
JIF plays guitar & sings Halloween carols inspired by current pop songs
roommates Yasser Arafat (CHK) & Benjamin Netanyahu (WIF) share Gaza Strip

— I like Colin randomly saying “I’m Fred Savage” during his sign-on after the Update opening title sequence.
— Jimmy’s big breakout night continues, as he now gets to do an Update commentary as himself. I recall some SNL fans who saw this episode live later saying that they knew Jimmy would go on to be SNL’s next big star as they watched this episode.
— Odd how, after playing Adam Sandler earlier tonight, Jimmy’s now doing guitar songs on Update, which is something closely associated with Adam from his time as a cast member. (I recall an old SNL review from 1998 saying in regards to this Update commentary, “Apparently, Jimmy Fallon still thinks he’s Adam Sandler.”) At least the comedic concept of Jimmy’s songs tonight is different from Adam’s, as Jimmy’s songs involve him doing parodies of current hit songs while imitating the singers’ voices. This is a good use of Jimmy’s knack for doing celebrity impressions.
— I love how 1998 Jimmy’s shirt is.
— Jimmy’s coming off charming here, especially whenever the audience is applauding him after each song.
— I like how Jimmy is now doing a parody of Alanis Morisette’s “Thank U” song just minutes after Alanis performed that very song on the SNL stage. I wonder if this is the only reason why SNL placed that Alanis musical performance before Update, considering the fact that musical guests’ first performance in this era is usually always placed after Update.
— Man, listen to that big audience applause when Jimmy’s commentary is over. Yep, a star is indeed born tonight.
— After the tepid audience reaction to Colin’s first news joke that followed Jimmy’s commentary, I love Colin saying “Jimmy Fallon” in a soft-spoken voice while gesturing towards where Jimmy had been sitting earlier. Reminds me of similar ad-libs (e.g. “Prince, ladies and gentlemen”) that Michael Che would later make in his early Update days whenever a joke of his would bomb.
— I often complain about the awkward ad-libs that Colin has a bad habit of muttering towards the audience after certain jokes, but quite a number of his ad-libs tonight have actually been amusing me.
— Colin is throwing around his favorite word, “folks”, more than ever tonight, even during the set-ups to jokes.
— Some fun from how Will and Kattan are playing off of each other in this Arafat/Netanyahu commentary, though the material itself isn’t doing all that much for me.
STARS: ***


SPARKS
at a Halloween party, Zimmermans’ sex play makes (BES) & (ANG) nervous

— I like Ana quickly saying a passive-aggressive “He really does fall asleep, though” after Ben jokingly makes a comparison to himself falling asleep after sex. However, this is yet another example of Ana playing a character who discloses something bitter about her personal life while keeping a smiling facade.
— A particularly raunchy and funny part with Kattan trying to open a champagne bottle in a suggestive manner near his crotch while Cheri dirty-talks him for encouragement, followed by Cheri eagerly drenching herself in the champagne when it finally spurts out of the bottle.
— A fairly funny gag with trick-or-treating kids walking in while Ben shouts a very risque sexual comment, though the timing of that seemed a little off.
STARS: ***


REAL STORIES OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL
(WIF) & (BES) harass motorists

— Will, when finding out Horatio’s name is Jesus: “Am I supposed to believe the Son of Man drives a ’93 Mazda with a broken taillight?”
— Will and Ben are cracking me up with their motor-mouthed grilling of Horatio and Tim, especially the racist statements they keep throwing in.
— Feels a little weird hearing SNL make a mention of Steve Jobs as early as 1998, when Will and Ben are telling Tim the name of the man who founded Apple Computers. His last name is mispronounced in this sketch as “Jobes”, oddly enough, which I guess shows how little people knew about him back in ’98.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Baba”


LIVING WITH HIS PARENTS
30 year-old (BES) living with parents is hypersensitive to their remarks

— Ben is adding good realism to his performance. However, he’s bordering awfully close on annoying me, but that’s probably the point.
— I love Parnell’s mundane little asides to Ana throughout this sketch.
— Hilarious ending where, after Ben exits the house after freaking out at his parents all throughout the sketch, Parnell casually says in a frank-but-affable manner “I can’t wait for my own death.” Perfect delivery from Parnell on that line.
STARS: ***


STEVE WYNN’S BELLAGIO HOTEL AND CASINO
art lends Steve Wynn’s (BES) Bellagio Hotel & Casino buttloads of class

— It’s certainly fitting having impressionist Darrell Hammond playing classic impressionist Rich Little.
— I love the bizarre visual of Kattan’s Howard Hughes.
— Ben’s performance is nice, but his portions of this sketch aren’t doing anything for me. Maybe if I were familiar with Steve Wynn, I’d appreciate this sketch more. This feels like something that Ben lobbied hard to get on the show.
STARS: **


COINTREAU FOR CONGRESS / MASON IN ’98
solutions to bat problem dominate campaign ads of (BES) & incumbent (TIM)

 

— A hilarious random premise of two political opponents using their respective campaign ads to address a bat infestation in their town.
— I love the even-more-random detail of Tim’s politician being named Boo Mason.
— Kinda odd how all of these campaign ads are airing back-to-back instead of being spread throughout the episode like SNL usually does with a series of mock campaign ads. However, it strangely works in this specific case.
— I’m loving all of the absurdist humor in this sketch.
— A lot of laughs from Tim’s outlandish solutions to the bat problem (e.g. erupting a volcano to burn the bats, using larger and more aggressive bats to kill the bats).
— Tim suddenly getting attacked by bats right in the middle of his calm speech to the camera absolutely SLAYED me, especially his yell of “Son of a bitch!” right before the camera cut away from him. I cannot stop laughing right now.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. Aside from the Steve Wynn sketch and the insufferable Pretty Living, everything in this episode worked for me, plus I found one classic in the always-reliable Celebrity Jeopardy, a near-classic in the TV Funhouse cartoon Heteroy, and an underrated gem in the series of absurd campaign ads at the end of the show. After having such a brief and unsuccessful stint as a featured player, it was good to see Ben Stiller being given lots of chances to shine in this episode, and he did well with those opportunities, which is also likely helped by his experience from his own sketch comedy show.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lucy Lawless)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Another former cast member as host: David Spade