Tag: Cameron Diaz

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November 22, 2014 – Cameron Diaz / Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (S40 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK!
Executive Order (BOM) creates policy, not Bill (KET)

— A refreshing change of pace for the setting of a political cold opening.
— Kenan singing the legendary “I’m just a bill” song from Schoolhouse Rock is giving me a nice blast of childhood nostalgia.
— A good laugh from the Bill getting casually shoved down the stairs by Jay’s President Obama.
— A very funny abrupt, unexciting end to the intro song from the Executive Order, with his “and I pretty much just happen…” lyric.
— I love the little bit with the Executive Order reading himself from the inside after being shocked to hear about the immigration law.
— The constant repetition of the Bill being shoved down the stairs is working for me, mainly due to Kenan’s voice-overs during the falling-down-the-stairs animation. I especially like him saying “So many steps! So! Many! Steps!”
— Everybody’s timing oddly seemed a little off at the end right before they all said LFNY in unison.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host fields dumb queries from audience members (KYM), (VAB), (LEJ), (BEB)

— Yeesh, even for a questions-from-the-audience monologue, the atmosphere of this feels strangely DEAD. Something about this is way off and flat.
— Aidy gets one of the very few laughs from me, with her “Let’s just say…box checked” comment regarding Tony Danza being her “celebrity sex exception”. However, it’s starting to feel like SNL’s going to the “Aidy Bryant says something sexual-related in a sly, smug manner” well kinda often around this time.
STARS: *½


BACK HOME BALLERS
home for Thanksgiving, women enjoy parents’ largesse

— A direct sequel to the beloved Twin Bed music video from the preceding season.
— I’m a minute-and-a-half into this so far, and, while Lil’ Baby Aidy and the rest of the girls are performing this well, I’m not finding myself laughing much at the actual humor of this.
— I do like the mid-song interlude right now, with the “What’s going on with you?” conversation between Aidy and our old friend Jean.
— Kate’s ridiculously long, complicated WIFI password is pretty funny.
— Leslie steals yet another segment on SNL, as I am loving her rap about bowls, which is easily what I feel is the best part of this somewhat underwhelming short.
— Overall, some highlights, but as a whole, this short was a little meh for me. I’ve always felt this short was overrated, and doesn’t come remotely close to touching the original Twin Bed.
STARS: **½


ANNIE
new orphan Annie (LEJ) is a large 43-year-old black woman

— Vanessa is well-cast as the traditional Annie.
— I’ve never seen anyone do a Jamie Foxx impression outside of this sketch, but Jay is unsurprisingly doing a very solid job at it. However, was it necessary to have him enter this sketch saying “I’m Jamie Foxx…I mean, Daddy Warbucks”? What was the point of that gag?
— A good laugh from the initial visual of Leslie as Black Annie.
— Leslie’s carrying this sketch pretty well, though there’s a bit of a dead feel to certain parts of this sketch, much like the monologue.
— Solid ending.
STARS: ***


NEST-SPRESSO
the Nest-Spresso machine instantly incubates chicks for urban farmers

— A pretty good laugh from the awkward way Taran and Kate have to climb over the fence to get to Vanessa’s house.
— When asked how her Nest-Spresso machine works, I love Vanessa bluntly responding, with a smile, “I don’t know that part.”
— An oddly specific look to Taran and Kate’s otherwise-generic characters. Are they modeled after people from a real commercial that this might be spoofing?
— I do kinda like the dark, disturbing part with the Nest-Spresso machine dispensing bones from a baby chick due to Taran operating the machine incorrectly, though I can definitely understand why that would bother some viewers.
— An overall very odd commercial that almost kinda felt like something was missing from it. I remember a lot of SNL reviewers pretty much hating this commercial and slamming it in their reviews (much like how they also hated another oddball Vanessa-Bayer-showcases-a-new-kitchen-device sketch from this season: the Vitamix sketch from the Sarah Silverman episode). However, the off-kilter approach to this Nest-Spresso ad worked decently enough for me.
STARS: ***


THEATER SHOWCASE
high school’s artsy Student Theater Showcase grates on audience members

— The debut of this recurring sketch.
— A lot of laughs all throughout this sketch, from the lousy “deep” social commentary in the scenes being performed within this play.
— Some solid little details within the bad play scenes.
— Kenan: “So…which one’s your daughter?” Vanessa: “I’d rather not say.”
— Meh, Kenan’s unnecessary over-explaining of the oddities in this sketch is feeling awfully Mikey Day-esque (as in, the “incredulous straight man who states the obvious by pointing out all the comedic oddities in a sketch, as if SNL thinks us viewers are too dumb to notice the oddities ourselves” role that Mikey Day plays an awful lot in more recent seasons). Are Mikey and Streeter Seidell the writers of this recurring sketch?
STARS: ****


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Mike Nichols marks his passing


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Uptown Funk”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Angela Merkel (KAM) is agitated following stressful G20 summit experience

Charles Manson (TAK) lied about his past to fiancee Star Burton (CES)

— A memorable line from Michael, in regards to all the then-recent sexual assault allegations made against Bill Cosby: “Hey, Bill Cosby – pull YOUR damn pants up!” I also love Michael saying afterwards, in a satisfied voice, “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
— As usual, Kate’s Angela Merkel is likable and pretty fun. Also as usual, I love that her appearances have a running gag about her crush on President Obama.
— The way (especially her gestures) Kate’s Merkel sang a “Baby Got Back” lyric just now reminds of the way Kate previously sang a lyric from a Beyonce song when playing Ann Romney in an important breakout appearance Kate made early in her SNL tenure.
— I like how the “study conducted on…ya momma” punchline has become a running gag for Michael in these early Updates of his.
— Taran looks hilarious as Charles Manson.
— A decent Taran/Cecily commentary, especially the reveal that Charles Manson’s fiancee thinks Manson’s in jail simply for tax evasion.
STARS: ***


BABY BOSS
angling for a promotion, (KET) has dinner at Mr. Patterson’s house

— I was going to say this is the third and final installment of this recurring sketch, but checking this page on SNL Archives right now, I see that this sketch actually has one more installment remaining after this, in the following season’s Drake episode. Wow, I have absolutely no memory of Baby Boss appearing in that Drake episode. Then again, I remember almost NOTHING from that episode.
— Glad to see them finally change settings for this character. Judging from the screencap in the afore-linked SNL Archives page, the following season’s Drake episode puts Baby Boss back in his old office setting. Can’t say I’m crazy about that decision.
— As usual, Beck’s baby-mannerism routine is reliable for laughs, and he’s always so damn likable as this character, though the novelty of this routine is really wearing off by this point.
STARS: ***


DR. DAVE AND BUGGLES’ ANIMAL HOUR
Dr. Dave (KET)’s animal show had genital trauma inflicted by Buggles

— The opening title sequence and general animal show concept kinda brings the Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet sketch to mind, though the actual main conceit of this particular sketch goes in a completely different direction from the Brian Fellow sketches.
— Mixed feelings on this sketch so far. The conceit of this sketch is awfully juvenile and one-note, but Kenan’s making it work somewhat.
— Very noisy off-camera sounds by the monkey when an SNL stagehand is discreetly removing the monkey from his cage while the camera is on a close-up of Cameron.
STARS: **½


I’M GOING TO FIGHT ANDY RYDELL
tough-talking Chris Fitzpatrick picks a fight with Andy Rydell (BEB)

— Much like the Baby Boss sketch earlier tonight, it’s good to see tonight’s Chris Fitzpatrick short being taken in a completely different direction from the previous short he appeared in on SNL.
— I love the random detail of Kyle’s Fitzpatrick, while speaking into the camera, picking up a traffic cone at one point and acting like it’s a microphone.
— Beck looking very young and much thinner than usual in that photo shown of him here (the fourth and fifth above screencaps for this short).
— I’m enjoying the awkward hallway fight between Kyle and Beck.
— As usual, some pretty good laughs from the random cutaways to stock footage of car crashes and such. I also like how the Beck/Kyle hallway fight scene keeps getting abruptly cut off by extremely random, unrelated slideshows of facts that Kyle’s Fitzpatrick shares about himself.
STARS: ***½


POETRY CLASS
Miss Meadows’ friend (host) recites a sultry poem about the UPS Man

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch (feels like I’m saying that quite a bit in this episode review).
— For obvious reasons, we don’t get the usual opening to this recurring sketch this time, where the teacher character played by Mike O’Brien introduces Vanessa’s Miss Meadows.
— So far, tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch is going in the exact same ol’ direction as the previous two installments of this sketch, a direction that only worked for me in the first installment.
— (*groan*) And why is it always Aidy and Kenan who play the first two students who read a poem in front of the class in EVERY SINGLE INSTALLMENT of this recurring sketch? A prime example of how lazy and formulaic a lot of SNL’s recurring sketches in recent eras tend to be.
— I did at least like the part of Aidy’s poem where she proudly says, in regards to her stepfather’s habit of wearing a shirt that looks like a tuxedo, “Uh-oh! He fancy!”
— Okay, at least they’re finally doing something different with the formula, as Cameron’s character is taking this recurring sketch into a new direction.
— A funny racy UPS Man poem from Cameron, and I like the cutaway to Pete’s dainty, delighted reaction to it.
— Another laugh from Pete, with him saying, “No, no, this is awesome. Do one about the FedEx guy!”
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Mystikal [real] perform “Feel Right”


NIGHT MURMURS
Night Murmurs phone chatters (CES), (host), (KAM) have some favors to ask

— A sloppy, baffling moment early on where, while Cameron is still speaking into the camera in her first scene, the screen crossfades to Kate, who then begins speaking into the camera while a now-off-camera Cameron is heard still speaking before abruptly cutting herself off when realizing Kate’s now speaking. What the heck happened there?
— This sketch feels like a failed attempt at random, oddball humor. Aside from one or two chuckles I’ve gotten, the absurd details the ladies are disclosing about a mysterious package are NOT working.
— This sketch is so “off” and sloppy that even a pro like Kate flubbed a laugh line just now, which feels rare for her at this point of her tenure.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A forgettable episode, with a bit of an “off” feel in a few segments (especially that extremely flat monologue). There was a decent amount of okay segments, but the problem is the episode rarely rose above that level, resulting in an unexciting, unmemorable episode that was just…there. A letdown after the incredible Woody Harrelson episode that preceded this. While SNL’s quality has pretty much always been up and down, something about the slightly “off” feel of tonight’s episode has always made me disagree with some people’s claim that the Harrelson episode is the turning point of this season after a bumpy start. To me, this Cameron Diaz episode showed that the slight shakiness in this first quarter of this season hasn’t exactly left the building quite yet.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Schoolhouse Rock!
Theater Showcase
I’m Going To Fight Andy Rydell
Annie
Weekend Update
Nest-Spresso
Baby Boss
Back Home Ballers
Poetry Class
Dr. Dave and Buggles’ Animal Hour
Night Murmurs
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Woody Harrelson)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
James Franco

Posted on

April 9, 2005 – Cameron Diaz / Green Day (S30 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PAPAL DEBATE
Cardinals & Al Sharpton (KET) campaign to become Pontiff in papal debate

— Hmm. Considering this season’s terrible track record with political debate sketches, I can’t say I have high expectations for THIS, even if it’s just a papal debate and not an actual presidential one.
— Why in the world is Kenan doing a facepalm in the opening group shot of his Al Sharpton and all the cardinals together (the second above screencap for this cold opening)? Kenan’s facepalm doesn’t appear to be in character (his Al Sharpton has no shame in randomly being included in this papal debate), and I don’t think Kenan’s even aware that he’s onscreen during this part of the sketch. Is something bothering Kenan in real life that we don’t know about?
— Yeesh, a big gaffe almost right out of the damn gate in this cold opening when Darrell’s Tim Russert introduces Kenan’s Sharpton: instead of cutting to Kenan’s Sharpton, the camera oddly cuts to one of the grizzled old cardinals and displays his name on the bottom of the screen, then awkwardly and slowly pans over to Kenan’s Al Sharpton sitting next to him. Oops. What happened there? Did Darrell accidentally introduce Kenan’s Sharpton too early, forgetting to introduce the old cardinal who the camera cut to before awkwardly panning over to Kenan?
— A decent opening spiel from Kenan’s Sharpton.
— Blah. All the cutaways to grizzled old cardinals just sitting silently whenever they’re asked a debate question are way too overdone in this cold opening and are not funny.
— After Fred’s old cardinal character gives Darrell’s Russert the finger when asking him “Have you ever seen one of THESE?”, I strangely loved Seth’s (as Fred’s translator) very monotone, cornily-delivered “I’ll bet you have. Yeah, I’ll just bet you have.”
— (*groan*) And now they’re overdoing the hell out of both Fred giving people the finger and teen girls in the fake audience cheering wildly for Will’s young cardinal character. Ugh, this cold opening is DEATH.
— Okay, I admit to getting a laugh just now from Fred holding up his index, middle, and ring fingers together and asking Darrell’s Russert to “read between the lines”.
— Given the fact that he has no lines and has nothing to do here, why is Parnell even in this? It makes no sense, given the fact that the other old cardinals who, like his character, are just silently sitting there the entire time in a grizzled, unresponsive manner, are all played by extras or, in one case, a crew member (SNL’s lighting designer Phil Hymes).
— Jesus Christ, end this cold opening already! This is going on too long for something with such a small cycle of tedious gags.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host claims that, like female cast members, she was a dork in high school

— Rachel randomly sneaking into the background and laughing awkwardly at Cameron Diaz’s lines is fairly funny.
— Ugh, Maya’s 227 joke was hacky as fuck.
— Only some of the obviously-fake high school photos are making me laugh. I got the biggest laugh from Amy’s particularly horrifying photo.
— Aside from the unibrow and light mustache, Tina’s fake high school photo (the third-to-last above screencap for this monologue) actually resembles a real-life driver’s license photo of hers that I remember her once showing on a talk show (my memory of that photo may be faulty, though, as I haven’t seen it in years).
— Something bugged me about Amy’s overly-cutesy delivery of “Oh my god, do not let Justin see that!” (referring to Cameron’s then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, which may have been intentional foreshadowing of a certain cameo we’re getting later tonight). Same reason her cutesy delivery on Weekend Update this season always bugs me. I still can’t believe this is the same Amy Poehler from the brilliant Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy show on Comedy Central. That daring show would look down on the cutesiness and audience-pandering that Amy’s been doubling down on during this season of SNL.
STARS: **½


EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION
wife’s (host) illness is a boon for (CHP)

— An interesting time capsule of how annoyingly prevalent the constantly-shirtless and constantly-yelling-through-a-bullhorn Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was back in this era. Seth’s portrayal of him here is pretty funny.
— Some good laughs from Chris always downplaying how terminally ill Cameron is, and refusing to tell her what exactly her ailment is.
— Chris’ performance is fun in this sketch. A dad role that Chris actually gets to cut loose in, for once. For some reason, I can imagine Beck Bennett playing this role if this sketch had been performed in more modern times instead of in 2005.
— Some good dark humor from all the vague hints of Cameron’s illness, and Cameron’s increasingly rattled reactions to that.
— Very weak ending with all the listing-offs of Extreme Makeover spin-offs and YET ANOTHER tired display of crying from the guy who Fred is playing.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- glasses make Michael Jackson see Webster while dating Tara Reid

— Believe it or not, this is the first TV Funhouse since way back in December of this season. That’s a FOUR MONTH GAP. This has got to be the longest gap between TV Funhouse cartoons on SNL up to this point in SNL’s timeline.
— Our final installment of TV Funhouse’s Hanna-Barbera-esque Michael Jackson series of cartoons. Interesting how these MJ cartoons have only had three installments total, yet they spanned over NINE years, from 1996-2005.
— Funny gag with a little boy being placed on a windowsill like a hot pie, and Michael Jackson then floating in the air towards the boy when he gets a whiff.
— For some reason, the voice for Michael Jackson’s long-white-haired lawyer reminds me of Lorne.
— Not caring for the gag with MJ vomiting for an extended amount of time after hearing he has to date an adult female.
— Great bit about special glasses that make celebrities’ significant other look like what they find most attractive.
— MJ’s idea of Webster at his peak being 1983 B.P. (Before Pubes) was so wrong, but so funny. A lot of people nowadays are going to groan and cringe at all of these now-dated Michael Jackson pedophile jokes, but I’m not bothered when those jokes are actually done/delivered well in my view, such as in this TV Funhouse and in Norm Macdonald’s old Weekend Updates, and NOT in Tina’s Update jokes from this season.
— I love MJ repeatedly babbling “mama-say-mama-sa-mama-coosa” when he’s going through a nervous breakdown.
— I got a good laugh from the ending where, after Webster puts on what he thinks are the special glasses (the aforementioned ones that make people appear more attractive to you) and happily says the glasses make MJ now look like a hot chick, MJ’s lawyer tells the other characters “I don’t have the heart to tell him those are regular eyeglasses.”
STARS: ****


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Robin Gibb (Justin Timberlake) & Ann Coulter (Drew Barrymore) on liberals

— Wow, what’s going on? Not only does this one-off Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch from the preceding season return out of freakin’ NOWHERE, but with it, we get cameos from Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake, AND Drew Barrymore. All of these cameos seem very random at first (especially Drew), until you remember that, as I mentioned earlier, Justin and Cameron were an item at this time. Jimmy and Drew, on the other hand, are apparently just there because their movie, Fever Pitch is opening around this time. (Ha, remember the short-lived time when Jimmy was convinced that he could have a successful post-SNL career as a movie star? I highly doubt that he, in 2005, saw “late night talk show host” as his true post-SNL calling. Hell, I doubt ANYONE in 2005 saw that as Jimmy’s true post-SNL calling, though I do recall him previously getting some critical acclaim for his guest-hosting of Letterman back in 2003.)
— Feels odd in retrospect to see Horatio playing Governor Bill Richardson this early. Horatio would later make a cameo appearance on SNL as Richardson during the 2007 presidential primaries, when Richardson was in the race. At that time, I had assumed that was the first time Horatio ever played Richardson, and I figured the only reason he cameoed that night to play Richardson was because of the strong resemblance he and Richardson have to each other. I guess I had forgotten about this Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch, though in my defense, I hadn’t yet known who Richardson was back in 2005.
— As much as I loved the first installment of this sketch, this does not work for me as a recurring sketch. This sketch is DEFINITELY near the top of my “Should’ve stayed a one-off” list.
— Not sure Drew Barrymore’s take on Ann Coulter is working for me. Even though Coulter is certainly always ripe for mockery, Drew’s impression of her is too goofy and cartoonish for my likes, as if Drew is acting on a kids show on Nickelodeon or something.
— There goes Justin Timberlake’s obligatory breaking during one of Jimmy-as-Barry-Gibb’s high-pitched rants.
— Jimmy is at least still giving this performance his all, like in the first installment of this sketch.
— All throughout this sketch, you can hear tons of wild teen girl screams for Jimmy and Justin (which is ironically the exact kind of thing SNL was mocking in the Papal Debate cold opening earlier tonight whenever Will’s young cardinal character was shown). All of the teen girl screams throughout this Barry Gibb sketch are giving me bad flashbacks to the infamous Josh Hartnett episode from season 27.
STARS: **


HOTEL
new manager (CHP) wants to improve the rating of a seedy one-star hotel

— Cameron is overacting here, and it’s kinda grating.
— Ugh at Fred’s predictable line about him also being a prostitute.
— Cameron has been flubbing quite a lot of lines throughout tonight’s episode.
— Didn’t care for the turn at the end with Darrell’s wealthy character.
— The meta Don Pardo-announced “Accommodations for guests of Saturday Night Live are provided by…” ending seems to be an intentional throwback to the days when SNL would regularly show a Don Pardo-announced “Accommodations for most guests of Saturday Night Live are provided by…” promo towards the end of every episode. (They stopped doing those promos somewhere around the mid-90s, I think.)
— Overall, did not care at all for this sketch as a whole. Almost no laughs from me.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”


WEEKEND UPDATE
newlyweds Prince Charles (SEM) & Camilla Parker Bowles (FRA) try to kiss

TIF’s ex JIF exercises visitation rights in Dramatic Weekend Update Play

— Amy’s corny-ass Al Gore joke was groanworthy.
— OH FUCKING NO. The return of Seth and Fred’s Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, which you might recall I absolute despised the last time they appeared on Update. Oh, and as an added “bonus”, we get Rob Riggle being wasted in yet another poor non-speaking role.
— Hmm, Rob turns out to have some lines after all.
— For once, this SNL era actually shows restraint from doing YET ANOTHER man-on-man kiss for a cheap, unnecessary laugh, by comically faking us out when it seemed like Seth and Fred were indeed going to kiss each other here. I somewhat give credit to SNL for this restraint, but I still didn’t care AT ALL for tonight’s overall Charles/Camilla commentary.
— Hey, a Fey/Poehler-era Update joke that actually really works for me, with their meta sphincter-bleaching/Happy Birthday bit to Rachel Dratch. I loved that.
— Oof. Of course, right after Tina and Amy’s actually-funny meta joke about Rachel, Amy IMMEDIATELY follows it up with a particularly awful joke. Ugh.
— Man, tonight’s terrible Update jokes are destroying me.
— Hmm, we’re getting an “A Dramatic Weekend Update Play” segment.
— This is only the second-ever instance of the Update tradition of a tree frog joke always getting interrupted by something.
— A very fun mock-dramatic play with Jimmy tensely returning to the Update set as if he’s Tina’s ex-husband making a visit.
— I love the reveal that Jimmy and Tina have a son together. Also, great detail with the son having Jimmy’s trademark messy hair and Tina’s trademark glasses.
— A huge laugh from the son angrily telling Jimmy “I hate Taxi!”
— Now we get a very funny reveal of the son’s name being Lorne. Am I correct in remembering that the series of shorts SNL would later do with Kyle Mooney and Leslie Jones in a relationship with each other would ALSO have their son named Lorne, or am I remembering wrong?
— This overall “A Dramatic Weekend Update Play” segment was EASILY one of the better things to come out of this dreary season of Update, and bumps my rating for tonight’s otherwise-awful Update up a full star.
STARS: **½


WOO! THE MUSICAL
Woo! The Musical features scenes of collegians’ spring break experiences

— Blah, I do not care for this premise.
— Bad timing with the blurring on Cameron when she flashes her chest, as the blurring first shows up too late, mistakenly letting us see that Cameron’s wearing a flesh-colored bra, then the blurring oddly stays onscreen after Cameron runs out of the scene (which I get the feeling she wasn’t supposed to do, thus explaining why the blurring stayed onscreen). This is actually the second time tonight where SNL was late on their cue to blur something out, as the first of many instances of Fred giving someone the finger in the Papal Debate cold opening was blurred out too late, accidentally revealing that Fred is actually just holding up his index finger. These blur gaffes are yet another example of how so many things about this season of SNL feel so sloppy and are such a mess.
— Will and Fred’s scene is YET ANOTHER display of season 30 homoerotic humor for cheap, unnecessary laughs. Way to waste my two favorite cast members of this season, SNL. At least this ended up being tonight’s SECOND instance of SNL faking us out of a man-on-man kiss, with Will and Fred leaning in for a kiss, then refraining. Weird how both man-on-man kiss fake-outs tonight involved Fred.
— And there goes season 30’s obligatory weekly instance of Maya singing.
— The running bit throughout this sketch with the newspaper critic “reviews” never actually critiquing the play was pretty funny at first, but got old after a while.
STARS: *½


SOFA WAREHOUSE
deliverymen (KET) & (FIM) try to dissuade (host) from buying a sofa bed

— Not sure if this is intentional, but this sketch kinda feels to me like a follow-up of sorts to the Martin Luther King Day sketch from this season’s Topher Grace episode, as both sketches have Kenan and Finesse paired together as co-workers who refuse to do their job. I wonder if SNL indeed intended these to be the same characters.
— Like the aforementioned MLK Day sketch, Kenan and Finesse make a fun duo here, and there are some laughs from all the ways they try to convince Cameron why she shouldn’t buy the sofa bed.
— Cameron flubs YET ANOTHER line tonight.
— Ugh, Cameron’s delivery of her angry rant is terrible, as she is, once again tonight, overacting badly. Between this and her fairly constant line flubs, she’s almost single-handedly hurting this otherwise funny sketch for me.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Holiday”


SPY GLASS
Desperate Housewives correspondent (host) joins in the pun

— Never realized before how catchy this recurring sketch’s opening theme music is. I picked too late to start getting into that theme music, though, as this ends up being the final Spy Glass sketch.
— Even for this sketch’s standards, Amy seems to be making her already-established character a little TOO cutesy in tonight’s installment, with the way she followed her Nick Lachey/Jessica Simpson news item by making cartoonish “OOOOooooOOOH!” sounds into the camera, which she never did in previous installments of this sketch, while mugging the camera more than usual. That just further proves a point I made earlier in this episode review when I complained about how Amy’s been doubling down on the annoying cutesiness and audience-pandering this season.
— As always, some really solid bad puns delivered expertly by Seth.
— Yeah, Amy is continuing to make those overly-cutesy, cartoonish “OOOOooooOOOH!”-type sounds all throughout tonight’s Spy Glass installment. I’m not caring for that new addition to this recurring sketch, even if it does fit the tone of Amy’s character.
— Wow, the audience is absolutely DEAD during Cameron’s entire scene.
— Horatio’s British Gene Shalit usually works for me in these Spy Glass sketches, but even for Shalit standards, Horatio’s going a little TOO over-the-top in tonight’s installment for my likes.
— Glad to see that my recollection of special guest Jimmy Fallon reprising his British Pat O’Brien role in tonight’s Spy Glass sketch was incorrect. Given the fact that the Pat O’Brien phone sex scandal was happening around this time (which is actually mentioned very briefly in passing during this sketch), I’m kinda surprised (though pleasantly so) they refrained from doing anything with Jimmy’s British Pat O’Brien in this sketch.
— Overall, despite a few things I liked, this Spy Glass installment as a whole felt kinda off, and was a disappointing way for this usually-good recurring sketch to go out.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— (*sigh*) Yet another weak season 30 episode. There were a few good things, but, like the preceding episode, barely any of the good things stood out as particularly strong, and there were way too many lowlights scattered all throughout the show. Cameron Diaz was also disappointing in this hosting stint of hers. She had always been known to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm in her previous hosting stints, which is usually at least charming, but her energy and enthusiasm tonight crossed over into bad overacting territory, which annoyed me, as did her constant line-flubbing. You’d hardly guess she was a three-time hosting veteran by this point.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ashton Kutcher)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tom Brady

Posted on

April 6, 2002 – Cameron Diaz / Jimmy Eat World (S27 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

LAMAZE CLASS
in Lamaze class, Marty & pregnant Bobbi perform a gestation medley

— After three straight “political figure sits behind a desk and addresses the nation” cold openings, it’s refreshing to get a non-political opening.
— Speaking of refreshing, it feels so good to see Will back after his absence from the last two episodes.
— This ends up being the final appearance of The Culps during their original run, not counting when they would be resurrected years later in both a Will Ferrell-hosted episode from 2012 and SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
— SNL finds another good way to work Ana’s real-life pregnancy into the show.
— Marty Culp, during the usual “hot mic” spiel: “Would it be too much trouble to ask to get the sound right just one time? No? Not gonna happen?” Interesting how that line takes place in what ends up being the final regular Culps installment.
— I love the metaphors The Culps use when expressing surprise at Bobbi getting pregnant at her age, with Bobbi saying her “abandoned garden still had one big yam left” and Marty saying his “pencil still had some lead in it”.
— The Culps’ pre-song banter seems even funnier than usual tonight.
— The Culps’ song medley tonight is okay, though the only part I’m really crazy about is their take on Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” (then again, I’m always a sucker for that song).
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & her butt choreographer (WIF) have a booty-shaking contest

— Wow, tons of energy from Cameron Diaz right from the start of this monologue.
— Great that SNL is wasting no time IMMEDIATELY getting so much mileage out of Will in his first week back. Then again, the heavy usage of him so far in tonight’s episode ends up being misleading, as we end up barely seeing him for the rest of this episode.
— Is Will wearing the same hilarious wig that he memorably wore in the Music International sketch from this season’s Jack Black episode? (side-by-side comparison below)

— Will is solid as the butt choreographer. Also, this role of his feels like a precursor to a bit that he and Vince Vaughn would later do at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, in which they both play butt make-up artists (or something like that) on the set of Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle, getting Cameron, Lucy Liu, and Drew Barrymore’s butts prepared for a sexy burlesque scene they’re filming.
— Pretty fun Butt-Off between Cameron and Will.
STARS: ***½


THE 17TH ANNUAL AUTO SHOW SPOKESWOMAN AWARDS
gushy (CHP) savors historic win

— Wow, what’s this? Dean Edwards with a… LEAD ROLE??? Am I seeing things?
— The fake-out with the Aretha who Maya is playing turning out to be Billy Ocean’s wife instead of Aretha Franklin kinda fell flat.
— The goofy photo of Amy demonstrating an airbag is pretty funny.
— Parnell is absolutely hilarious doing a spoof of Halle Berry’s then-recent emotional Oscars acceptance speech. This has always been one of my absolute favorite things Parnell has ever done on SNL.
— Very funny cutaway to stock footage of Halle Berry’s then-husband Eric Benet in the audience when Parnell thanks “my partner Jason”.
— Another funny cutaway, this time to Jeff in a backstage room stopping the award show music by simply turning off a cheap tape recorder while doing a crossword puzzle.
STARS: ***½ (the pre-Parnell portion of the sketch would’ve only gotten a mere **½, but Parnell’s whole bit bumped this sketch up a full star)


MTV SPRING BREAK
(host) & (MAR) dance to “That Don’t Impress Me Much”

— A lot of laughs from Cameron and Maya doing the exact same silly dance moves every time to Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much”. Maya in particular is great here, and I remember this being a very popular performance of hers among online SNL fans back at this time. Unfortunately, Maya would later go on to use those exact same dance moves (particularly the one where she slowly leans back in a staccato manner) in various other sketches over the next few seasons, with very diminishing returns in each passing sketch, which kinda makes it feel a little less special when you look back at the original instance of those dance moves in this MTV Spring Break sketch, but those moves still hold up as very funny and charming here.
— Tracy: “Go Brown!” Amy: “Oh, you go to Brown?” Tracy: “No, I don’t go to school. I work at UPS.”
— Very fun sketch overall, and a rare instance in which repeating the same joke over and over actually works.
STARS: ****


SNL 530
dozy Donald Sutherland (WIF) & Glenn Close (ANG) do an Oscars-like segue

— Seth makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in a silent, brief role as a prancing, barely-clothed, violin-playing guy from the then-recent Oscars. At least Seth got a laugh just from that goofy visual.
— I love this very out-of-the-ordinary post-sketch bit, spoofing the Oscars. A great way for SNL to go outside the box and do something creative with their format, which is something we don’t see enough of in post-80s SNL.
— Will’s slow, monotone voice as Donald Sutherland is very funny.
— Why are they saying this is the 530th SNL episode? Considering SNL announced in the Julia Stiles episode in March a year prior that it was their 500th episode that night (which it indeed was), I doubt they’d already be at 530 episodes just a year and a month later. [ADDENDUM: Looking at SNL Archives, this is episode #521. So where’d the extra 9 episodes come from to make SNL think this is their 530th episode?]
— A good laugh from Ana’s Glenn Close drinking NyQuil out of a wine glass.
STARS: not sure this short interlude segment warrants a rating, but I’ll give it a ****


ASTRONAUT JONES
voyage to Jupiter yields spacebabes (host), (MAR), (AMP)

— This sketch has officially become recurring, a choice that utterly baffled me at the time (as seen in my original 2002 review for this episode here).
— That theme song and opening credits sequence gets me every single time. No matter how many times I’ll have to see this sketch during this SNL project of mine, that theme song and opening credits sequence will always be a treat to watch.
— Maya and Amy have been in tons of sketches so far tonight.
— Even though they re-use the first Astronaut Jones installment’s punchline of Tracy following up the aliens’ big speech by saying a horny one-liner about their fat asses, it killed me once again tonight, which really says something about how great Tracy’s delivery is.
STARS: ****


CELINE DION ON CBS
after a brief retirement, Celine Dion (ANG) sings & talks of motherhood

— Feels like we haven’t seen Ana’s Celine impression in quite a while. This also ends up being the final appearance of her Celine.
— The various stories from Ana’s Celine have some laughs, but some of this is coming off underwhelming.
— The goofy, quivery voice-over at the end calling CBS “The old people network!” made me laugh.
— This overall sketch was sadly kinda forgettable. Not the best way for Ana’s Celine to go out. Disappointing how Ana’s Celine AND Martha Stewart impressions both went out on a forgettable note this season.
STARS: **½


GORGEOUS LIVING WITH PRUNELLA WATSON
sloppiness equals style

— “Gorgeous Living”? Couldn’t SNL have come up with a different title? I don’t need any reminders of that wretched Pretty Living recurring sketch from the then-recent past.
— I smell an attempt at a new recurring sketch. And like a lot of the attempts the second half of this season has been making at new recurring sketches, we end up NEVER seeing this sketch return.
— A laugh from Amy casually revealing “I just got punched in the face last night.”
— Amy’s English accent and delivery is very solid.
— Pretty funny how every guest who arrives immediately apologizes to Amy’s character for punching her in the face last night.
— After the first two minutes, I’ve pretty much lost interest in this sketch. A lot of this is washing right over me. This seems like the type of sketch that would appeal more to people who were familiar with Style Network’s programs during this era.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF gives her take on terrorism & the Middle East situation

Denzel Washington (DEE) & Halle Berry (MAR) are still on an Oscar high

following a breakdown, robot TIF is replaced with another unit

self-aggrandizing Geraldo Rivera (DAH) says he’ll end war in Middle East

Jasper Hahn & (host) sing double entendre songs about Fuzzy Buddy puppets

— During Tina’s opening rant, I love her comment about how Palestinians would do VERY well on Fear Factor.
— An overall very lengthy opening rant from Tina, and a pretty good one, though not up to the quality of her best rants. Come to think of it, it’s been a good while since she last had a rant that was up to the same standard of her best rants.
— Wow, TWO lead roles for Dean tonight? It’s official: I must be watching an episode from an alternate universe.
— Great Denzel Washington voice from Dean. Thanks to SNL’s constant underutilization of him, it’s easy to forget that Dean has a knack for doing solid impressions.
— Another funny parody of Halle Berry’s Oscars speech, this time from Maya as Halle tearfully thanking an endless number of random famous black women, some of whom are fictional.
— Pretty funny addition to the Denzel/Halle commentary, with Amy spoofing Julia Roberts’ ego and physically big mouth.
— A funny twist on Jimmy and Tina’s “Oh, snap! / Oh, no you di-in’t!” bit from earlier this season, with Tina having a robotic breakdown in the middle of it, and then being replaced with a new Robot Tina. I like the detail of the new Robot Tina entering with a plastic bag over her head.
— A lot of very strong jokes from Tina throughout tonight’s Update.
— Darrell’s Geraldo Rivera commentary is going in the same direction as his last one from earlier this season, but this still has some laughs. However, if they do a third Geraldo commentary in the same vein, I’ll have officially gotten sick of these.
— This ends up being the final Jasper Hahn appearance.
— Ah, a nice change of pace in tonight’s Jasper Hahn commentary, with him doing away with his usual dirty drawings routine and replacing it with songs and animal puppets.
— An overall pretty funny Jasper Hahn commentary, ignoring Horatio’s usual obnoxious attempts to crack Jimmy and himself up.
— Very, very long Update overall. Possibly one of the longest ever.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Middle”


MISS PEEPS
(WIF) notes gender differences between Mr. Peepers & Miss Peeps (host)

— Mr. Peepers makes his first appearance in over a year, and this ends up being his final appearance. This character feels really out of place by this point of SNL’s run.
— This is Kattan’s first and ONLY appearance all night, and it’s as a character who peaked in popularity years prior. (*sigh*) As if we needed even more evidence that it’s BEYOND time for Kattan to finally get the heck off of this show. It’s getting just sad seeing him still on the show trotting out the same old played-out shtick that feels out of place this season. And even Kattan’s ONE attempt at something new lately (that Hollywood character on Weekend Update) ended up being honestly one of the worst things I’ve EVER seen SNL air.
— This may be the shortest I’ve ever seen Will’s real hair. It also almost looks like it’s graying on the sides, even at Will’s then-young age, though I think that “graying” in his hair is actually just his skin. The sides of his hair are cut in a weird way.
— I do like the change of pace by having a female host play a Mr. Peepers-like character, which is something that I remember always wanting to see SNL try back in Mr. Peepers’ heyday. Cameron’s doing a spot-on Peepers imitation here, which I never would’ve expected from her.
— Oof. Despite the initially fun turn with Cameron entering as a female Mr. Peepers, this sketch is not going well at all. There are almost NO actual laughs to be had here, and the Mr. Peepers shtick feels SO tired in this sketch. Cameron’s not breathing much life into this, either. This is a poor last gasp of a dying recurring sketch.
STARS: *½


MTV 4
shy Japanese girl group Crash Papaya performs boisterously on MTV4

— Our second MTV sketch of the night. I remember this annoyed quite a number of online SNL fans at the time, who then accused the show of trying too hard to pander to teen viewers. I was 17 years old myself at the time this episode originally aired, and even *I* thought two MTV sketches in one night was a bit much. Then again, I was also the type of 17-year-old who knew that MTV was mind-numbing garbage even at that young age of mine.
— Tonight’s episode has been very female-dominated among the cast, particularly Maya and Amy, who are both having a huge night.
— The absolutely bizarre, nonsensical lyrics being scarily shout-sung by the shy and innocent Japanese girl band was funny at first, but has kinda lost its novelty after the first song.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweetness”


MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
glistening breasts in chapter 750


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very uneven episode. The first 35 minutes of this episode was absolutely fine and had a good number of strong sketches, but after the Astronaut Jones sketch ended, it was nothing but underwhelming sketches for the rest of the night, minus an enjoyable (if extremely long) Weekend Update. This all averages out to a thumbs-in-the-middle episode.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ian McKellen)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The Rock

Posted on

September 26, 1998 – Cameron Diaz / The Smashing Pumpkins (S24 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OPRAH 2002
Linda Tripp (John Goodman) et al recall Lewinsky affair

— This is the second consecutive season premiere to begin with an Oprah cold opening.
— Decent fake-out with the “Oprah 2002” title screen immediately being followed by us seeing Tracy as a very heavyset, porkchop-eating woman, who we’re supposed to assume is what Oprah will look like in 2002, only for us to find out Tracy is just playing a woman who’s introducing Oprah.
— Interesting how this takes place four years in the future, looking back on the Lewinsky scandal.
— Tim’s delivery is a bit sloppy.
— I like the tanned, mustached look of Darrell as 2002 Bill Clinton.
— Chris Parnell gets the honors of being the one in tonight’s trio of new cast members who gets to appear right at the top of show in the cold opening. I wonder if viewers at the time were watching this cold opening asking themselves “Who in the world is that playing Kenneth Starr?”
— John Goodman makes his first of many cameos this season.
— A particularly energetic “Live from New York…” from Tim to kick off this season.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Season 23’s drab opening montage has thankfully been done away with after only one season, and we get a new montage tonight.

 

— After season 23’s experiment with doing an opening montage with no traditional New York City scenery, we get a welcome return of NYC scenery tonight.
— I know this isn’t a popular opening montage among SNL fans, but I have a very soft spot for it. There’s a reason for that. You see, this is the very first SNL episode I ever saw, when NBC reran it during the summer of 1999. I was either 14 or 15 years old at the time, depending on when in that summer this rerun aired (my birthday is in July), which I realize is quite older than the age that most people are when they first discover SNL. After my first SNL viewing, I would go on to be a very casual SNL viewer for the next year, where I would only tune into bits and pieces of the show on occasional Saturday nights on NBC while flipping the channel back and forth between that, MADtv on FOX, and other channels. (And to be honest, 14/15-year-old me had a bit more of a preference for MADtv than SNL back in those days, until I started really getting into older SNL reruns on Comedy Central.) Anyway, because my earliest memories of being an SNL viewer are from seasons 24 and 25, which both use the opening montage that’s introduced in tonight’s episode, this opening montage now has huge nostalgic, sentimental value to me. It brings back nice memories of the early days of my SNL fandom.
— I will admit that the cast photos in this opening montage are pretty bland.
— I’m not caring for the new theme music, but not to worry, because it doesn’t last. The early episodes of this season are going to have A LOT of experimentation with different theme music for the opening montage, until they finally settle on one.
— Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz have been added to the cast tonight, all joining as featured players, which begins a new tradition of it being a requirement for every new cast member to join as a featured player. Something odd, though: neither Fallon, Parnell, nor Sanz are credited in tonight’s opening montage! Very unusual. Some SNL fans have had a theory that perhaps the graphics department wasn’t yet finished with the featured players portion of this opening montage. Another theory I’ve seen is that perhaps SNL was taking a page out of MADtv’s playbook by not crediting extras who are occasionally given noteworthy co-starring roles in sketches (something that was kinda common on MADtv in their first 5 or so seasons).
— I like the unique way the end of this opening montage transitions to the “ON AIR” sign on SNL’s home base stage (screencap below).


MONOLOGUE
without provocation, host gets tough with audience member (Hugh Fink)

 

— We get a new home base stage.
— Very random premise, with Cameron Diaz putting on a badass persona and picking on an innocent audience member (played by SNL writer Hugh Fink).
— I’m not too sure what to think of this random monologue, but I’m getting enough laughs, and Hugh Fink is making a good foil in this.
STARS: ***


MASTERCARD
MasterCard made possible the priceless aspect of the Lewinsky affair

— Very funny twist at the end.
— Short and sweet.
STARS: ****


SIDE NOTE: Starting in tonight’s episode, SNL shows a brief glimpse of the next sketch being set up during each commercial break, which would go on to be a weekly part of the show that still remains to this day in 2019.


THE VIEW
Mark McGwire (WIF); Debbie Matenopoulos (host) battles raccoon

— A new opening title sequence for these View sketches. I like how in the intro shot for Star Jones, we see Tracy as himself getting his Star Jones wig applied.
— I’m not too happy about the fact they they did away with Cheri’s Barbara Walters singing The View theme song.
— I like Molly-as-Meredith-Viera’s random “I am not wearing underpants” revelation.
— Ana’s Joy Behar impression makes her View debut.
— Will’s look as Mark McGwire is making me laugh.
— I got a good laugh from the picture of Will’s McGwire being hugged by his son, played by Darrell (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch).
— I love Cheri’s Barbara blurting out at Cameron’s Debbie Matenopoulos “I will destroy you!”, before covering her own mouth in a shocked “Oh!”-type manner.
— A very funny “Dare Debbie” segment, with the View ladies trying to do away with Debbie by trapping her in a bag with a raccoon.
STARS: ****


OOPS! I CRAPPED MY PANTS
Oops! I Crapped My Pants can withstand full blasts from seniors’ bowels

— One of the more famous fake ads in SNL history.
— The reveal of the product is absolutely priceless.
— This hilarious commercial is made even better by the fact that the elderly couple is played by real elderly people and how they’re playing this so straight.
— A great line from the elderly man on how he knows so much about Oops I Crapped My Pants: “I’m wearing them… and I just did.”
— In Comedy Central’s 60-minute versions of this season’s episodes, this fake ad was strangely added to nearly EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. I kid you not, people. Just one of many examples of baffling, shoddy edits in Comedy Central’s versions of this season’s episodes.
STARS: *****


THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon & (host) act out scenes from the Starr Report

— A great change of pace, with Leon Phelps theatrically performing The Starr Report.
— The various vignettes that Leon and Cameron are performing are a lot of fun.
— Tim’s stumbliness from the cold opening is carrying over into this sketch a little, though he managed to make his flubbed line in this sketch funny.
— I love Leon’s line about having his wang “mouthified”.
STARS: ****


THE BEST OF THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
The Best Of The First 20 Minutes Of SNL redefines straight-to-videotape

— A clever self-deprecating take-off of the endless barrage of SNL “Best Of” specials that were aired on NBC that summer. Even if you didn’t have knowledge of that, this commercial still works, as the idea of an SNL “Best Of” special consisting of just the first 20 minutes of an episode is simply funny. There was once a similar gag on Weekend Update in the first episode after SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special, where Update anchorperson Dennis Miller presented a highlight reel of the next 15 years of SNL, which was just a sloppy montage of sketches from earlier that same night.
— Much like the Oops I Crapped My Pants ad, part of the reason why this fake ad is working so well is because it’s being played so straight.
— SNL would soon get even more mileage out of spoofing their own over-reliance on “Best Of” specials in the very next episode, where they do a “Best Of” fake ad for a certain new cast member.
STARS: ****


THE NEW HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
the game goes on despite collapse of the board

— Interesting concept of the Hollywood Squares board collapsing and severely injuring the celebrity players.
— Right in his very first appearance, Jimmy Fallon displays his knack for celebrity impressions. His Gilbert Gottfried impression is absolutely spot-on and is cracking me up. Bonus points to Jimmy for doing an impression of a former SNL cast member.
— Overall, this sketch was okay and the various celebrity impressions were fun, but this didn’t come off quite as strong as I think SNL wanted this creative concept to come off.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Richard Nixon haunts Bill Clinton address

— This is the second consecutive season premiere to have a TV Funhouse that consists of “outtakes” from something. Hopefully, this will be much better than the fart-filled Casablanca Outtakes cartoon from the last season premiere.
— A lot of laughs from Kenneth Starr holding up various semen-stained women’s clothing behind Bill Clinton. I’m kinda surprised SNL can get away with this, even in animated form.
— An absolutely priceless bit with dripping semen from the ceiling making Clinton’s hair stick up, as a nod to a famous scene from Cameron Diaz’s then-recent hit There’s Something About Mary.
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ thinks it’s time to stop obsessing over the Lewinsky affair
Dominican Lou wants $1,000,000 for a baseball vaguely tied to Sammy Sosa

 

— As I mentioned earlier, this is the first SNL episode I ever saw. And more specifically, this Weekend Update is the very first thing I saw in the episode. Since Colin Quinn was my official introduction to SNL, I’ve always wondered if that’s the reason why I’ve never been quite as harsh on him as an Update anchorperson as a lot of other people are.
— Right out of the gate in tonight’s Update, before the opening title sequence is even shown, we get a big change of pace by abruptly opening with Colin doing a straight-to-camera rant while standing in front of a green-screen. Very interesting. Nothing like this had ever been done by an Update anchorperson before this point.
— Now that Update has begun proper, we see that SNL has a new Update set.
— Colin is really going all Colin Quinn on tonight’s Update, as he’s now doing another straight-to-camera rant (this time behind the desk), this time doing a breakdown of Bill Clinton’s testimony about the Lewinsky scandal, complete with actual clips of the testimony. I prefer Colin doing stuff like this to him trying to sound like a traditional Update anchor.
— Dominican Lou’s excitement while gushing about Sammy Sosa is charming.
— Tonight’s overall Dominican Lou commentary was okay, but nothing memorable or special.
— An unusually short Update.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Perfect”


THE ROXBURY GUYS
at the Moomba Club, foxy (host) picks up Roxbury Guys, Festrunks

— Surprisingly, this is the first Roxbury Guys sketch since the Helen Hunt Christmas episode from half a year earlier. And the only reason we’re even seeing a Roxbury Guys sketch tonight is because the ill-fated A Night At The Roxbury movie is about to open. By the way, tonight’s sketch also ends up being the final sketch that the Roxbury Guys ever appear in. I’ve heard a theory from some people that perhaps SNL lost the rights to continue doing Roxbury Guys sketches after the movie came out. The same thing happens a year later to Mary Katherine Gallagher after the movie Superstar comes out. Then again, earlier in this decade when the first Wayne’s World movie came out, SNL still continued doing Wayne’s World sketches on a regular basis.
— Not many laughs from me so far during this sketch.
— The audience apparently shares my opinion, as they’re fairly silent during a lot of this sketch, minus occasional random screaming cheers from some girls.
— The Festrunk Brothers! Fun twist.
— Even though it feels weird seeing the Festrunks being played by an older, slower, and less thin Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin, I’m still enjoying this, and this is bringing back nice memories of reviewing the original Festrunk Brothers sketches back when I covered the original SNL era.
STARS: **½


WITCHES BREW
words fail odor of witches’ brew; Jonathan Richman & Tommy Larkins cameos

— Odd premise, but I’m getting some good laughs from the creative disgusting descriptions of what the witches’ brew smells like.
— The off-camera yells from townspeople complaining about the smell have some solid lines. Tracy steals the sketch by not even being onscreen while yelling “That smells like Sasquatch’s nuts!”
— We randomly end the sketch with a cameo from the musician guys from There’s Something About Mary (Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins) singing a song about the bad smell of the witches’ brew. Kinda funny, if out of place.
STARS: ***½


GAP
“This is so easy” says sax-playing Bill Clinton (DAH)

— I love the idea of a Gap commercial starring a smug, sax-playing Bill Clinton.
— Again, short and sweet.
STARS: ****


JINGLEHEIMER JUNCTION
new cast member (WIF) spells disaster for kids show

— While the Weekend Update from tonight’s episode is the first thing I ever saw on SNL, Jingleheimer Junction has the distinction of being the first actual sketch I ever saw on SNL. This and Weekend Update are the only two things I remember seeing on SNL that night.
— And, boy, what a sketch for me to be introduced to SNL with. I am very honored to have this well-known classic be the first SNL sketch I ever saw.
— True story: in my original viewing of this sketch, I mistook Will for Colin Quinn. As I said above, Weekend Update was the only other thing I remember seeing in this episode during my original viewing, and when Will entered this Jingleheimer Junction sketch, I remember thinking to myself “Hey, it’s the news guy again!”, thinking Will was the same guy who I had seen anchoring Weekend Update. I was so damn proud of myself as a new SNL viewer for being able to recognize the same SNL cast member in two different segments. Little did I know that Will and Colin were two different cast members. As embarrassing as that mix-up sounds, that ain’t all. I spent my first year as a casual SNL viewer thinking Chris Kattan and Jimmy Fallon were the same person. I kid you not, people. And then eventually, I saw both Kattan and Jimmy standing next to each other in a sketch (from Jennifer Aniston’s season 25 episode) and my mind was blown.
— A priceless visual of the Jingleheimer Junction members innocently standing in an order that causes their shirts to spell out a letter-scrambled “fuck”.
— Tim’s reactions throughout this sketch are great. Between the Oprah cold opening, the Ladies’ Man sketch, and now this, Tim has been having a strong night.
— I love how after Horatio Sanz says “We’re supposed to learn about friendship, Joe”, Tim angrily snaps back at him “Shut up, Umberto!”
— Hilarious how every instance of “fuck” nearly being spelled out gets cut off by a “Please stand by” screen. When I first saw this sketch as a new SNL viewer, I remember being shocked at how close they kept coming to spelling out “fuck”, a shocked feeling that made me realize I was watching something special and daring.
— This overall fantastic sketch was the perfect length, not being dragged out too long.
STARS: *****


GAP
“This is not easy” says electric guitarist Hillary Clinton (ANG)

— Another creative political-themed Gap ad.
— I like how uncharacteristically badass Ana’s Hillary is coming off in some portions of this.
— These Gap parodies tonight are very well-done and have a lot of good little details in them.
STARS: ****


A MESSAGE FROM THE SPICE GIRLS
Spice Girls (MOS), (CHO), (CHK), (host) give advice for pregnant mothers

— Another Spice Girls PSA sketch, after the two that appeared in the preceding season’s Sarah Michelle Gellar episode.
— No Ginger Spice this time? I guess this was after she left the group.
— Like last time, I’m laughing more than I feel I should at Kattan’s mannerisms as Scary Spice.
— Some funny lines here, such as Molly’s Baby Spice proudly saying that if she has twins, she’ll give them each a different name.
STARS: ***


MAAKIES
by Tony Millionaire- proletarian Drinky Crow deadens himself

— “Tony Millionaire”?
— The debut of a very short-lived recurring segment. Strange how SNL feels the need to have two unrelated animated segments in the same episode, with both TV Funhouse and this.
— I believe these Maakies cartoons would later be turned into an Adult Swim series, titled something like “The Drinky Crow Show”.
— A strangely likable bizarre theme song.
— Interesting minor detail with the squirrel having a human right hand.
— Random ending with the crow blowing his brains out with his new gun.
— Overall, a very, very unusual cartoon. It felt completely out of place on SNL, but I’m all for SNL trying new things. I didn’t laugh all that much at this cartoon, but its weirdness did keep me interested in a way. However, I can’t even imagine how many SNL viewers were completely put off by this weirdo cartoon.
STARS: **½


GAP
“This is easy” says Kenneth Starr (CHP) as he jigs amid evidence

— Chris Parnell gets his very first lead role!
— I love how in his first big showcase, Parnell gets to show off his dancing skills. His dancing in this is hilarious.
— The fact that each of tonight’s Gap ads have the person in it randomly saying a variation of “This is easy” makes me think that these are a parody of a specific series of Gap commercials from this time. Oh, well, even without being familiar with them, these parodies still work for me.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid season premiere. I may be biased a little due to this being the first SNL episode I ever saw, but I feel that almost the entire episode was enjoyable, we got two all-time classics (Oops I Crapped My Pants and Jingleheimer Junction), and we got plenty of fun Lewinsky scandal-based material. I also like the new feel and look SNL had in this season premiere, compared to the last few seasons that preceded this. I was also surprised by how shorter-than-usual a lot of segments felt, leaving room for a higher number of overall segments (especially pre-taped fake ads and cartoons) than a typical episode from this era has.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1997-98)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kelsey Grammer