Tag: Bruce Springsteen

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December 19, 2015 – Tina Fey and Amy Poehler / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (S41 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Jeb Bush (BEB) acts tough with Donald Trump (DAH) during GOP debate

— So SNL’s making it a regular thing to have Jon play the moderators of this season’s debate sketches, even after the backlash he received for his Anderson Cooper impression earlier this season?
— Jon’s Wolf Blitzer impression doesn’t sound much different from his Anderson Cooper, only without the effeminate qualities.
— Darrell Hammond has taken over the Donald Trump role from Taran, and will end up remaining in that role for the rest of the season.
— A freakin’ fantastic angry rant from Bobby’s Chris Christie.
— I got a big laugh from Jon’s Blitzer responding to a statement from Kyle’s Rand Paul by telling him “Uh, sir, we’re not taking comments from the audience yet.” I also love Kyle’s defeated way of responding “No, I’m Rand Paul, I’m up here…”
— Jay’s Ben Carson impression is getting sillier and funnier over the course of this season. The increasingly cartoonish, fun, and caricature-ish nature of this impression is rather Dana Carvey-esque, which I like.
— Pretty funny speech from Pete’s Marco Rubio.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Christmas song by TIF & AMP is alternately jaunty fun & Biblical downer

— A decent beginning with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler being very simultaneous in everything they’re saying.
— Tina and Amy’s usual style of humor and rapport is coming off well here.
— The jarringly different tones to Tina and Amy’s respective Christmas songs are okay, despite the repetitive nature and the fact that it’s not anything I’m finding to be laugh out loud funny.
STARS: ***


A HILLARY CHRISTMAS
Hillary Clinton’s (KAM) 2008 self (AMP) & Sarah Palin (TIF) visit her

— I love this idea of having Kate’s Hillary meeting Amy’s Hillary. A great way to bring two different styles of the same celebrity impression together.
— The interplay between the two Hillarys is so damn fun.
— As much as I’m enjoying a lot of things in this sketch, all of the statements being made about what a cakewalk Hillary’s path to winning the election next November is (particularly both Kate and Amy’s Hillarys gleefully declaring in unison “We’re gonna be president!” upon Amy’s Hillary learning that one of her future opponents is Donald Trump, a moment that I remember finding to be pretty classic when this sketch originally aired) is casting a bit of a pall over this sketch.
— The inclusion of Tina’s Sarah Palin is adding to the very fun atmosphere and energy of this sketch.
— The bit with Kate’s Hillary furiously stopping Amy’s Hillary from sending those emails is great.
STARS: ****


MEET YOUR SECOND WIFE!
contestants’ future mates are much much younger

— An extremely awkward but hilarious big technical error right at the very beginning, where, when SNL tries to play audio of Steve Higgins’ opening announcement about Bobby’s character while the camera is on a close-up of Bobby smiling affably into the camera, they keep accidentally cueing up the wrong audio, going back-and-forth between the Bronx Beat theme music (giving away the fact that we’re getting the return of that sketch later tonight, and that Maya Rudolph is in the building), audio of Darrell Hammond announcing Tina and Amy for their monologue from earlier tonight, and the correct Higgins announcement for this sketch. Making all of this even funnier is the fact that, while all of these back-and-forth audio miscues are going on, Bobby, ever the pro, just continues affably smiling into the camera like he’s supposed to, and you can tell that he’s stifling his amusement over the gaffe.
— Great reveal of this game show’s title, as well as the subsequent surprised reactions the contestants have to that title.
— An absolutely priceless and shocking reveal of Bobby’s future second wife currently being an 8th grader.
— Bobby, to his currently-young future second wife: “I guess I’ll…see you again in 20 years.” Tina: “Actually, it’s 7.”
— Aidy: “I thought this was a home makeover show!” Tina: “In a way, it is.”
— Amy and Tina are perfect for the game show host roles in this particular sketch.
— An excellent progression to the shocking reveals in this sketch, with Taran’s future second wife currently being EVEN YOUNGER than that of Bobby’s.
— A very funny casual reveal that Aidy is going to die in a tragic kayaking accident. I also love Aidy’s reaction to hearing that.
— Love the initial cutaway to a very deadpan Leslie.
— Kenan repeatedly whispering to himself “Don’t be white” when his second wife is about to be revealed is a riot.
— A freakin’ perfect fake-out with the appearance of Cecily’s adult character, who you initially assume is Kenan’s future second wife, only for it to be revealed that she’s currently pregnant with Kenan’s future second wife.
— Aidy, after it’s announced that the contestants are all going home with a new kayak: “I know I shouldn’t, but they’re so fun!”
— Overall, a bonafide all-time classic. Everything in this was perfection, it kept topping itself with all of the surprising reveals, and there was an endless number of hilarious parts.
STARS: *****


HOVERBOARDS
exploding Hoverboards are the hot toy this Christmas season

 

— A good spoof of the Hoverboard craze from around this time.
— Great visual of Beck as an old man happily riding on a Hoverboard while he’s on fire.
— Hilarious visual of a fearfully-screaming Pete speeding through the streets on his suddenly-accelerated Hoverboard at sound barrier-breaking speed, complete with a funny close-up of the now-pee-stained crotch of Pete’s pants. Speaking of which, I remember some online SNL fans back at this time, including two hosts of a now-defunct podcast that covered old SNL episodes (not That Week In SNL, which is still running), didn’t notice the pee stain and were baffled over why SNL threw in a close-up of Pete’s crotch. The two hosts of the aforementioned now-defunct SNL podcast spent a good amount of time unsuccessfully trying to figure out why the hell SNL would throw in a close-up of Pete’s crotch during a scene of him speeding through the streets on a Hoverboard. How in the world did so many people miss the noticeable pee strain on his crotch???
STARS: ****


MOVIE SET
acting coach from The Jeffersons seeks inapt emoting during serious scene

— Yeah, I definitely didn’t need a second installment of this.
— Wait, now Kenan’s character says he did five seasons on The Jeffersons? In the previous installment of this sketch, he said he only worked on The Jeffersons for one day. And that made much more sense, because the cartoonish acting techniques he teaches are NOTHING like the acting on The Jeffersons.
— The more and more this sketch goes on, I’m actually kinda finding Tina and Amy’s imitation of Kenan’s cartoonish acting techniques to be kinda chuckleworthy (especially Amy doing the George Jefferson dance). While that still may be faint praise, it’s certainly more than I laughed at Chris Hemsworth and Kate doing that in the first installment of this sketch. (Odd coincidence how they brought this sketch back the week after Hemsworth hosted for a second time.)
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Meet Me in the City”


WEEKEND UPDATE
somebody’s mom Deenie (KAM) doesn’t know names of soap opera characters

TIF & AMP tell the last two Weekend Update jokes of 2015

— The audience’s energy in this episode is so high that even Colin plays off of it during his sign-on while the audience is applauding after the Update opening title sequence.
— The first appearance of Kate’s Deenie character, who I recall hearing was based on writer Paula Pell’s mother.
— Hmm, Kate keeps occasionally breaking for no apparent reason throughout this commentary. Am I watching a Kate McKinnon performance from 2015 or 2021?
— While I certainly have no familiarity with Paula Pell’s mother, I’m still finding Kate’s character relatable (which I’m sure is SNL’s intention), as she reminds me of my grandmother in a lot of ways. Too bad Kate’s constant breaking is distracting from the material and is serving as an unfortunate reminder of what’s to come in her later years on SNL.
— A somewhat interesting breakdown from Colin on Martin Shkreli.
— A special bit, with Tina and Amy doing Colin and Michael’s last two jokes of 2015. Since these jokes were written by this season’s Update writers instead of whoever wrote Tina and Amy’s dreadful Update jokes from their Update era together, I won’t complain like I usually do about the Fey/Poehler teaming on Update.
— A decent joke from Tina and Amy each, and my goodwill towards that is helped by the aforementioned fun, feel-good energy that tonight’s audience and general Christmas episode is bringing.
STARS: ***½


THE CHAD & MRS. DOUGLAS SHOW COLLECTION
clips on 1970s variety show DVD are colored by alcohol, cocaine, roofies

— Naturally, a Fey/Poehler hosting stint brings us a Maya Rudolph cameo.
— Maya dusting off her hammy singing routine, I see. Since we’ve gotten a long break from it, I don’t mind seeing it here, and the ending of her scene with her randomly hiding in the gift bag is funny.
— The decent execution of this sketch’s material is helping me overlook all of the aggressive James Anderson/Kent Sublette-ness of the material.
— A huge laugh from the reveal of Kenan’s Bill Cosby in the “Baby’s It’s Cold Outside” clip.
STARS: ***


TINA & AMY’S DOPE SQUAD
Amy Schumer & Gayle King [real] provide Dope Squad support for TIF & AMP

— Funny delivery from a laid-back Aidy at the beginning of the interview.
— After Tina and Amy’s initial song, which was certainly funny, Aidy steals this short with the hardcore rap she suddenly breaks out into. She’s doing a solid job here, and her rapping is actually very catchy.
— I love Amy Schumer’s “Wait, who are we mad at???” line.
— Good ending with the ladies’ reaction to the cliched explosion they’re walking away from.
— Another good line from Schumer, with her responding to being asked if she’s okay after the aforementioned explosion by saying “No, I’m suing everyone here.” She’s making me laugh more in this one short than she did in her actual hosting stint earlier this season.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Ties That Bind”


BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY & JODI
Betty & Philadelphian cousin (TIF) learn of Jodi’s pregnancy

— This ends up being the final appearance of this sketch (as of 2021).
— The usual solid performances from Amy and Maya as these characters.
— Fitting casting of Tina in this Philadelphia-accented role.
— The bit with Amy and Maya’s characters enviously saying they wish they had accents was already used in an earlier Bronx Beat sketch, the one from the season 34 Hugh Laurie episode.
— As expected, good interplay between Amy, Maya, and Tina here.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS
musical guest, TIF, AMP, MAR, cast members, Paul McCartney [real] perform “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”

— Ooh, a change of pace, with Tina and Amy delivering their goodnights speech from the musical guest stage as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are getting set to do their special next musical performance.
— Paul McCartney making his required annual SNL appearance.
— So damn fun and rare seeing the whole cast get involved in this great musical performance. A very special moment.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good and fun episode, and, as mentioned throughout the review, featured a nice infectious energy, which is perfect for a Christmas episode. The feel-good atmosphere of this episode was also given a boost by the exciting novelty of having two hosts.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Meet Your Second Wife!
A Hillary Christmas
Tina & Amy’s Dope Squad
Hoverboards
Republican Presidential Debate
Bronx Beat with Betty & Jodi
Weekend Update
Monologue
The Chad & Mrs. Douglas Show Collection
Movie Set


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Hemsworth)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2016, with Adam Driver making his hosting debut

Posted on

October 5, 2002 – Matt Damon / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (S28 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NBC SPECIAL REPORT
Dick Cheney (DAH) rides a Tomahawk missile flying toward Baghdad

— Funny visual of Darrell’s Dick Cheney casually sitting on an airborne missile while snacking on a Lunchable mini-pizza.
— Cheney: “It’s nice to have a missile this size between my legs.”
— I could do without Darrell’s Cheney speaking on the phone to an unseen President Bush. It just brings attention to this new season’s lack of Will Ferrell, as well as the fact that SNL seemingly hasn’t found a new Bush impersonator yet. Actually, the original cold opening of this episode in dress rehearsal had Darrell debuting a Bush impression, but his impression reportedly bombed so badly that it got cut after dress and SNL had to scramble for a replacement cold opening. This Dick-Cheney-on-a-missile piece was originally a Weekend Update commentary at dress rehearsal, with Tina delivering basically the same dialogue to Darrell’s Cheney that Parnell’s Tom Brokaw is doing here in the live version. And getting back to the Darrell’s-Bush-bombing-at-dress-rehearsal thing, the very next episode has SNL giving the Bush impression to a certain other cast member (you’ll see who when I review the episode, if you don’t already know who it is), but SNL would end up going back to the Darrell-as-Bush route the following season. Geez, as you can see, SNL’s attempt to replace Will Ferrell’s Bush impression is ALREADY getting extremely troubled and convoluted. And if the notoriously horrible Bush impression that Darrell would do on the air the following season is the improved version of his original Bush impression from tonight’s episode’s dress rehearsal, you really have to wonder just how fucking bad that original version of his impression was.
— Cheney telling Bush over the phone that he refuses to ask Saddam to say “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell” kinda made me laugh, just because it’s always funny in retrospect to be reminded of those Dell computer commercials from this time period. The following week’s episode will have a whole Weekend Update commentary about it.
— That’s it? This cold opening’s over already? This was unusually short and, despite a few highlights, fairly unremarkable for a season premiere cold opening. This definitely would’ve been more fitting as an Update commentary. Parnell’s Brokaw felt increasingly tacked on as this cold opening went on, and they eventually flat-out stopped cutting to him during the last minute or so of this, making it even more obvious that he wasn’t part of the original script.
STARS: **½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding two seasons. However, quite a number of changes have been made to the motif, including the removal of the scrolling SNL logos on the letterboxed top and bottom of the screen, and a new addition of a neon screen filter effect being used in all of the shots (some screencaps of the latter below).

— The initial shot of each repertory player (before their full name is displayed on the bottom of the screen) is now accompanied by their first name scrolling across the screen.

 

— When the cast members’ full names are displayed on the bottom of the screen, the font used for their names in the preceding two seasons’ opening montage has now been replaced with a new font. This new font strongly resembles the one used for the cast’s names in the season 23 montage (some side-by-side comparisons between season 23 and season 28’s name fonts below).

— Horatio Sanz’s shot from the preceding two seasons’ opening montage (first screencap below) has now been replaced with a new shot (second screencap below).

— Fred Armisen and Will Forte have been added to the cast tonight.


MONOLOGUE
feuding Justin Timberlake (host) & Britney Spears (AMP) stage a dance-off

— Good part with Matt Damon giving us examples of some of the big news stories over the summer that he wished he could’ve spoofed on SNL. I especially love his vocal impression of Mike Tyson.
— Pretty funny brief appearance from Maya as Justin Guarini from that summer’s hit new show, American Idol.
— Very interesting turn with Matt walking to the set of a sketch while talking about his favorite story of the summer that he’s about to perform a sketch about: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s “angry dance-off”. A rare case of a full-fledged sketch being performed within a monologue.
— I find it questionable that THIS is the summer story that SNL (or Matt) has chosen to do an entire sketch about in this monologue. Matt and Amy are executing this well enough, but I just don’t have much interest in this type of material. In retrospect, this is the early stages of this SNL period gradually starting to rely way too heavily on the type of pop culture that I just don’t care for, not even in spoof form, similar to my recent complaints in the preceding season’s Kirsten Dunst episode about SNL spoofing the Hilton Sisters long before America at large even knew who the Hilton Sisters were.
— A laugh from Amy’s Britney saying “Oh, ya’ll, that makes my boobs hurt!”
— Pretty funny visual of Matt’s Justin doing The Robot to the song “Gloria”, of all things.
STARS: **½


NRA
the NRA says “happy hunting season” as the AFLAC duck is shot

— Two priceless and unexpected turns: the first being the Aflac duck showing up out of nowhere, and the second being Jimmy and Horatio’s hunter characters violently shooting the Aflac duck to bits. The latter had me howling.
STARS: ****½


BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
porcupine & pot-bellied pig cause anxiety

— Not a bad choice for a lead-off sketch of the season, even if I know they’ll never top the last Brian Fellow sketch from the preceding season’s The Rock episode. It’s great that the once-notoriously-underused Tracy Morgan has now gotten to the point where SNL can confidently star him in the lead-off sketch of a season. A good early sign of how reliable Tracy will be this season.
— And now, here’s a bad sign of things to come this season: Horatio’s ALREADY a giggly mess for no apparent reason, only one live sketch into the season.
— Some good laughs from Brian Fellow confusing Matt’s normal description of the porcupine for dirty talk. I particularly like Brian saying “Hopefully, we’ll bleep that on the West Coast.”
— Funny turn with Brian randomly asking Matt, for no apparent reason, “Why does that pig hate Jewish people?”
— I love Brian Fellow casually mentioning an uncle of his named Kool-Aid.
STARS: ***½


NRA
the NRA says “take the safety off” as AT&T shill Carrot Top (SEM) is shot

— Another funny turn in these NRA ads, with Seth suddenly showing up as Carrot Top, spoofing Carrot Top’s AT&T commercials.
STARS: ***½


SPRINGSTEEN CONCERT
Denise misses her chance to go “Dancing In the Dark” with musical guest

— A given for this recurring sketch to appear in a Matt Damon episode.
— I like the passing mention of Matt’s character having gone out with Denise’s mom in the past.
— As expected, Matt is giving a very solid performance in this sketch.
— Why is Bruce Springsteen being represented by the arm of a body double? After all, Bruce himself is there at SNL tonight. He couldn’t be bothered to make a little walk-on during a sketch?
— I love how Springsteen (or his body double, rather) is unsuccessful in his attempt to lift Denise onto the stage, because, as Sully puts it, “He can’t lift the juggs!”
— In the middle of the preceding commercial break, when this sketch was shown being set up, one of the cast members heard being called by the stage manager to take their place for this sketch was Seth. However, Seth ended up not being seen anywhere in the overall sketch. So why was he called during the commercial break? Or was that him playing Springsteen’s arm in this sketch? If so, that may be the oddest utilization of a cast member in SNL history.
STARS: ***½


NUTRI-QUICK
Nutri-Quick Meal On-The-Go suppositories anally nourish busy workers

 

— A good laugh from the initial visual of the ridiculously huge anal suppository.
— Funny visual of Parnell stiffly walking away with his butt tightly clenched, after he’s taken the suppository.
— Meh at Jeff’s big tagline being an intentionally groan-worthy “Let’s just say I put my lunch… up my butt!”
— Strangely, the audience doesn’t applaud at the end of this.
STARS: ***


HANNIBAL LECTER GOES TO MICHIGAN STATE
Hannibal Lecter (host) in pre-prequel

— A pretty strong Hannibal Lecter impression from Matt, and a decent premise, showing Hannibal’s freshman year of college.
— I got a good laugh from Horatio cutting off Hannibal’s unsettling rant with “Just answer your message, asswipe.”
— The reveal of Hannibal sitting on the toilet during his current rant could be seen coming from a mile away.
— Some of these scenes are falling very flat with the audience, including the aforementioned toilet scene.
— I like the ending scene with Hannibal singing the WKRP In Cincinnati theme song.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lonesome Day”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Red Sox fans SEM & host give Yankee fans tips on how to cope with losing

Venezuelan comedian Fericito (FRA) says JIF should employ a catchphrase

 

— During Jimmy’s smallpox joke, his delivery of the “big pox” punchline groaner and the way he stared down the camera afterwards with a deadpan facial expression were VERY Norm Macdonald-esque.
— Decent commentary with Red Sox fans Seth Meyers and Matt Damon giving tips to Yankees fans on how to cope with the Yankees being eliminated from the playoffs.
— The audience’s (initially delayed) uproarious negative reaction to Matt’s “You still have the Jets” comment is pretty funny.
— I like the whole “married to a black bear” bit between Jimmy and Tina. I’m seeing improvement in Jimmy’s Update performance this season. IIRC, over the course of both this and the following season, we’ll be seeing Jimmy gradually surpass Tina as the better anchor, though that also partly has to do with Tina gradually going downhill.
— Tina’s Ziggy joke bombed hard with the audience, though judging from her ad-lib afterwards, she had been expecting that reaction.
— Nice to see Fred Armisen getting an Update commentary in his very first episode.
— While I’m not laughing all that hard at this Fericito commentary, Fred’s performance is fun, and it’s very impressive how much he’s commanding the stage and working the audience in his very first SNL appearance. I remember being so taken by this when this originally aired.
— A good callback to Fericito’s earlier advice to Jimmy, with Jimmy following up his next joke with an “I’m just keeediiiing!”
STARS: ***½


DAMONS
Dr. Matt Damon (CHP) complains to namesake host about being overshadowed

— I love Parnell’s understated bitterness when recalling how he had his identity as someone named Matt Damon ripped away from him when the actor Matt Damon became popular.
— Very funny reveal of Tracy’s name being Ben Affleck.
— All the quick name rundowns when Parnell is introducing everyone are well-done and funny.
— A good random bit with Dean’s name being Dr. Julius Irving.
— Parnell’s over-excited attitude when finding out he’s cured cancer is a nice and rare display of Parnell going over the top.
— Solid sketch overall.
STARS: ****


VERSACE POCKETS
the extravagant way to enjoy a microwaveable meal

— A good out-of-the-ordinary setting for Maya’s Versace impression.
— It’s pretty funny listening to the audience gradually realize Horatio is playing Rosie O’Donnell, who wasn’t introduced by name (unless I missed it).
— Matt’s doing a very funny spoof of Axl Rose’s then-recent MTV VMAs performance, right down to imitating Rose being so out of breath after his performance.
— Maya’s Versace performance in this overall sketch seemed a little more low-key and half-hearted than usual. Even her usual trademark angry yell of “Get out” at the end was simply spoken in a monotone manner tonight. I prefer her more absurdist, cartoonish, fun take on Versace in the preceding season’s Hugh Jackman episode.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“The Smurfette Show” by RBS- blue sprite behaves like Anna Nicole Smith

— A random but promising idea to do a hybrid of The Smurfs and the Anna Nicole Show.
— A pretty well-done and accurate spoof of the trashy Anna Nicole Show, while also doing a spot-on imitation of The Smurfs’ animation and cliches.
— Nice touch having Jim Cummings do the voice of Gargamel.
— This overall cartoon kinda lost its luster for me towards the end, and should’ve concluded a little sooner.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’re Missing”


SEX ROBOT
(host)’s government-funded sex robot project has come to naught

— I love that Parnell’s been experiencing increased airtime tonight, now that Will Ferrell is gone. I remember that this and (especially) the following week’s episode both had me convinced at the time that Parnell was taking over as SNL’s new utility star, and was going to get Ferrell levels of airtime on a regular basis. (*sigh*) If I only knew better…
— A very funny random throwaway joke with Darrell’s name being General Mills.
— Good reveal of the “important” project that the government is expecting from Matt turning out to be a sex robot. I’m surprised that reveal didn’t get a better audience reaction.
— Solid fake-out with Amy turning out to be a real woman and not the sex robot.
— The actual sex robot just being a trash can with a gloryhole is hilarious.
— Kattan has only made two appearances in this entire episode, both appearances of which were just small supporting roles that anyone could’ve played, which already shows how pointless it was for Kattan to return for another season.
— I love Parnell’s line about “the question mark suit guy from those commercials” (Matthew Lesko) being the bane of the government’s existence. This sketch is featuring a lot of the kind of absurdity that I love.
STARS: ****


DR. PHIL
Dr. Phil McGraw (JER) offers wacky counsel to guests on his show

— A then-rare occurrence of Jeff starring in a sketch.
— Jeff is a great impressionist in general, but I’m not too impressed by his Dr. Phil here. The voice isn’t anywhere near deep enough. His performance itself is pretty good, though.
— A pretty good laugh from the very brief “Take your top off” scene between Dr. Phil and Maya.
— Will Forte (who words cannot express how excited I am to reach the tenure of) gets his very first laughs from me in this SNL project of mine, with the sullen, deep voice he’s using as Santa Claus, and his general deadpan demeanor here, the latter of which is adding a nice subtle touch of absurdity to this Santa role. And the whole back-and-forth between him and Jeff’s Dr. Phil is consistently cracking me up.
— Jeff’s goofy, chipper smile into the camera at the end kinda bombed with the audience. I remember it being pointed out on an online SNL board back then that Jeff had a look on his face during the goodnights that seemed like he was aware his sketch didn’t go over too well with the audience.
STARS: ***


THE WAR ON IRAQ
new reality series is coming soon to NBC

— A lot of pre-taped fake ads in tonight’s episode.
— An okay premise with presenting The War On Iraq as a cheery sitcom promo. And as always, Parnell’s professional voice-over adds a lot to the humor.
— Parnell’s voice-over, on one of the things to expect from this show: “Mustaches. Lots and lots of Tom Selleck mustaches.”
— Surprised this is over already. Felt like this had potential to be taken a little further.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not a bad season premiere, which is kinda surprising, given how this season will end up turning out. I can still see some early signs of trouble for this season, though. Tonight’s cold opening and monologue didn’t get this season premiere off on the best foot, and, as I kept pointing out throughout the review, the audience was strangely unresponsive to several parts of the show, something that would go on to be a recurring theme this season (especially in the very next episode). Most of tonight’s sketches were still good, though, including a few stand-outs in the post-Weekend Update half. Matt Damon was a solid host and fit well in SNL’s format.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2001-02)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sarah Michelle Gellar

Posted on

May 9, 1992 – Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen (S17 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) offers to base his presidential salary on America’s GNP

— The debut of Dana’s memorable Ross Perot impression.
— Right off the bat, this begins with Dana’s Perot addressing the L.A. Riots, which had occurred the previous week when SNL was in reruns. I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like if SNL had a live episode during the weekend the L.A. Riots were still occurring.
— Solid part with Perot displaying a check to pay for damages made during the L.A. Riots.
— Dana’s Perot impression is coming off pretty low-key here compared to his more goofy portrayal in later appearances. This is also the only time he ever plays Perot without glasses.
— Perot, regarding his aforementioned check: “This a one-time deal. If you burn down a buildin’ tomorrow, that’s your problem.”
— Very funny line about training the Crips and the Bloods to operate computers, as part of Perot’s plan to rebuild L.A..
— A lot of laughs during his proposal on how much we pay him proportionate to the percentage of growth in the economy during his hypothetical presidency.
— Great part with him reading off an ad for Munsingwear underwear, as part of a deal for the airtime he was given.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
last-minute replacement for Joe Pesci host asks PHH “How am I funny?”

— Tom mentions Joe Pesci was the originally-scheduled host for this episode but had to drop out due to the filming of his latest movie running late. Pesci would later end up making up for this by hosting early next season.
— Good bit with Tom’s over-the-top bragging about Pesci’s great year.
— Much like Tom’s season 14 monologue, this has a false ending where the screen fades to black but then suddenly continues with Tom being shown entering backstage when the show is supposedly in a commercial break.
— Tom’s great at doing Pesci’s famous “What do you mean I’m funny?” GoodFellas rant, especially when he gets really worked up by the end of it.
— Priceless visual of Tom smashing a bottle over Lorne’s head and then roughhousing him while heading towards the home base stage. I also love Tom’s hilarious angry gibberish during that (at one point noticeably saying “Bada bing, bada boom!”).
STARS: ****


JOHN CABRIZIO CHEVROLET MAZDA HYUNDAI
Los Angeles car dealer rep (ROS) announces sale on riot-damaged autos

— More good comedy tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Solid spokesman performance from Rob, and some good laughs from him proudly advertising destroyed cars from the L.A. Riots. I like how the condition of each advertised car is getting increasingly worse as the sketch goes on, such as a still-burning Chevy Pickup.
STARS: ***½


SABRA PRICE IS RIGHT
merchants of shoddy wares haggle with contestants

— Oh, here comes a classic sketch that has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan. I want to go into details about that, but since it’s a long story, I’ll save it for the end of this sketch.
— This sketch is improving upon the lesser-known original Sabra Shopping Network sketch from Tom’s last episode.
— A good laugh from Tom’s iffy, speechless reaction to a black contestant (Rock) entering the game.
— I love the cheap products being falsely advertised, such as a TV antenna being passed off as a satellite dish, and a “cordless telephone” that’s simply a home phone with its cord unhooked.
— The whole back-and-forth between Tom and Mike kills me, especially Tom’s endless “Nonono nonononononono” and Mike’s “It’s not even a CD player; it’s a child’s bank!”
— “Deesco, deesco, good, good!”
— I’m not sure, but I think portions of this sketch are replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. Some parts of the live version I’m currently watching don’t quite match the version of this sketch that’s been deeply ingrained into my memory since my teenage years (you’ll find out why it’s been so deeply ingrained into my teenage memory in a moment).
— An overall priceless, perfect, and very memorable sketch.
— Okay, now for the story of why this sketch has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan: Back when I was just starting to get into SNL, which was during my teenage years, I was first exposed to this episode in a rerun during a Friday night SNL marathon on Comedy Central. As I watched this particular sketch, I was absolutely enthralled by it, as I found it SO funny and quotable. Thankfully, I happened to be recording this Comedy Central airing on my VCR, and so, some days later, I replayed this sketch on my VHS tape while recording the entirety of its audio onto a cassette tape, which also contained three other select sketches that teenage me loved, so I could listen to all four of those sketches on my walkman while either drifting off to sleep or if I was at a place that didn’t have a TV (for those curious, the other three sketches I had recorded on that audio cassette tape was 1) one from next season’s Kevin Kline episode where Kline plays an Italian celebrity with an uncontrollable farting problem, 2) Jennifer Aniston’s Fight Club monologue from her then-recent season 25 episode, and 3) another sketch from that same Aniston episode, where she and Rachel Dratch play old-timey street urchins trying to get a modern-day family to take them in for Christmas). Boy, did I end up playing the hell out of that audio tape. I loved listening to all four of those sketches over and over, but especially Sabra Price is Right. I listened to that particular sketch on that tape SO much to the degree that, ever since then, I have the ability to recite almost all of the dialogue of the sketch by heart, word-for-word. All-in-all, teenage me’s constant listening to this sketch on that cassette tape has been partly responsible for me becoming an obsessive, hardcore SNL fan.
STARS: *****


MR. BELVEDERE FAN CLUB
weirdos speak at a meeting of The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club

 

— Boy, the hits keep on comin’ tonight. Here’s another personal favorite sketch of mine, even if it doesn’t have quite the historical significance to me personally that Sabra Price Is Right has.
— I love the detail of how, despite these people being huge Mr. Belvedere fans, they apparently don’t even know the name of the actor who played him, judging by how they named their club “The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club”.
— I like the club members proposing nicknames for Mr. Belvedere, culminating in them settling on the now-legendary-among-SNL-fans moniker Brocktoon.
— Great disturbed facial reaction from Tim during Farley’s long-winded declaration of his admiration for Mr. Belvedere.
— Farley at the end of his above-mentioned declaration about Mr. Belvedere: “I’m wondering… should we kill him?”
— The increasingly disturbing turns this meeting keeps taking are fantastic.
— Adam: “I should like watching Mr. Belvedere a lot, but I shouldn’t have to masturbate at the end of every episode.”
— There’s my absolute favorite part of this wonderful sketch: the entire “to tear the flesh” spiel delivered by a particularly creepy Phil. Tom’s taken-aback speechless reaction to that is also great.
— Excellent ending with Tim’s whole “You people are crazy!” rant being immediately followed by a cutaway to him locked in the giant jar that was mentioned earlier in the sketch.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lucky Town”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jay Leno [real] gives KEN the latest news on the L.A. riots
DAS uses a personal anecdote to explain why he prefers Mother’s Day
Queen Shenequa talks about the L.A. riots; Akeyla Cleghorne cameo

 

— Lots of good L.A. Riots-related jokes right off the bat… that is, when they’re not being bungled by Kevin’s stumbly delivery.
— Random appearance from Jay Leno, playing himself as an L.A. Riots correspondent.
— I liked Leno’s line about how he considers the sight of a black man and white man stealing a TV together as a sign of unity.
— A short overall commentary from Leno that was basically an excuse for him to do some stand-up jokes about the L.A. Riots.
— After Leno has left, Kevin says “We wish Jay good luck with The Tonight Show”, as this is shortly before Johnny Carson’s retirement and Leno taking over for him.
— David Spade FINALLY gets an Update commentary on the air, after getting a string of them cut from the last few episodes’ dress rehearsals.
— David tells a childhood story about his father giving him a Nerf football, which David responds to with a funny sarcastic “Ooh, it’s two colors. You spoil me, ya bastard.” I’m not 100% sure, but I think he later reprises that exact same bit during an edition of Spade in America from season 21, where he re-enacts a conversation he recently had with his dad when reuniting with him for Thanksgiving (one of my favorite editions of Spade in America).
— Some pretty solid humor from David here, especially him telling us how, after breaking the news to his mom that he can’t be there at Arizona for Mother’s Day because he’s busy working at SNL, his mom responded to him “Can’t you get someone else to stand there and wave goodnight?” A great self-deprecating dig at David’s extreme lack of airtime on SNL.
— Another Queen Shenequa commentary already, after we just saw her two episodes ago?
— Some fairly tepid jokes from Queen Shenequa overall tonight, but I enjoyed the Mother’s Day-related ending with her daughter, especially Shenequa explaining to us that her daughter’s Swahili name translates to “Little bitch, don’t even think about gettin’ pregnant”. By the way, this is the very first of many SNL appearances from Ellen’s real-life daughter Akeyla (not counting the goodnights of the Rob Morrow episode from earlier this season, where she can be seen being held high by Ellen).
— Kevin’s Mother’s Day poll on the most often-used phrases by his mother when he was growing up had a funny ending (second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: ***


SHE TURNED INTO HER MOTHER!!
(JUS) takes on the traits of her mom

— Very funny performance from Julia, who’s doing a great job pulling off her character’s uncontrollable back-and-forth transitioning from her normal voice into her mother’s voice. Tom is also a perfect straight man for this.
— I like the horror movie presentation of this whole thing.
— Solid ending.
— Overall, one of the best showcases that the underappreciated Julia Sweeney receives during her entire SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “57 Channels” & “Living Proof”


THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Nat X argues with disguised Rodney King trial jurors

— Nat’s line “I wanna say hello to all my fans watchin’ on brand-new TVs!” was yet another funny joke tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Nice topical variation of the usual White Man Cam segment, with it now being the L.A.P.D. Cam.
— I like how Nat’s guests tonight are the Rodney King jury. Some good laughs from them all entering with goofy disguises, such as David in a Cousin Itt wig and Julia with a Batman mask.
— Nat’s angry questions to the jury has some pretty solid laughs.
— I love the casual cutaway to Phil with a brown paper bag over his head that has the words “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME” on it.
STARS: ***½


DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on hoping that God likes enchiladas
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.


SHOWCASE PLAYHOUSE THEATER
(MIM) & (JUS) grow up wanting to fly

— You can immediately tell this sketch is a Jack Handey piece by the use of the character name Cameron Hormel, which is to Jack Handey-written sketches what the name Dale Butterworth is to Andy Breckman-written sketches, though to a much lesser extent in Handey’s case, as I can only think of one other sketch of his that uses the name Cameron Hormel (Tales Of Fraud And Malfeasance In Railroad Hiring Practices, from season 20’s George Clooney episode).
— A big laugh from Phil’s promo for the sponsor Nice Ass Baby pantyhose (Jack Handey knocks it out of the park once again with yet another great fake sponsor).
— Julia is getting a lot of good airtime tonight, which feels rare for her this season.
— Some really funny back-and-forth reveals from Phil of the legitimacy of the Nice Ass Baby pantyhose sponsor.
— I’ve always kinda had difficulty figuring out what to make of this sketch, but I can appreciate its weirdness. It’s far from one of my favorite oddball Jack Handey pieces, but all the flying fake-outs during the Mike/Julia scenes are amusing and Phil’s intro segments are solid.
— Pretty funny bit at the end with Phil randomly removing his mustache during his sign-off.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As usual when Tom Hanks hosts in the late 80s/early 90s years, this was a strong episode, even if it’s not my favorite episode he hosted. The first half of tonight’s episode was particularly great, where we got two all-time classic sketches back-to-back: Sabra Price Is Right and Mr. Belvedere Fan Club, one of the greatest one-two punches in SNL history (and coming right after an episode that itself had a fantastic one-two punch in its first half, with Stand Up And Win and History Class). There were also no sketches that I disliked tonight, for the second episode in a row.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jerry Seinfeld)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 17 comes to an end, with host Woody Harrelson. We get the last hurrahs of veteran Victoria Jackson and newbies Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill.