Tag: Charlize Theron

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May 10, 2014 – Charlize Theron / The Black Keys (S39 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MOTHER’S DAY MESSAGE FROM MICHELLE OBAMA AND HILLARY CLINTON
Michelle Obama (SAZ) & Hillary Clinton (VAB) spar before Mother’s Day

— (*sigh*) One of the last times we’ll ever hear Don Pardo’s voice introducing a sketch.
— Speaking of lasts, this ends up being the last time Vanessa plays Hillary Clinton.
— Some funny tension between Sasheer’s Michelle Obama and Vanessa’s Hillary.
— This is the most front-and-center we’ve ever seen Vanessa’s Hillary (all of her previous appearances were rather brief), giving me a better chance to assess her impression. I see what she’s going for in the voice she’s using, but something just feels wrong with how the voice is coming out, especially when her voice starts getting gradually loud and shouty halfway though this cold opening. I can understand why SNL would re-cast this role the following season.
— Great slam from Vanessa’s Hillary to Sasheer’s Michelle regarding childhood obesity being the “toughest” issue Michelle has tackled as First Lady.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
TAK, CES, KAM, SAZ, BEB, KET sing, which is the one thing host can’t do

— Ugh, there’s the use of that tired “Carlin line” (a.k.a. when a host sarcastically says a variation of “I did such a great job hosting [insert large number here] years ago that they couldn’t wait to have me back”, which originated with George Carlin in his season 10 hosting stint).
— I love that they show a clip of the Gemini’s Twin sketch from Charlize Theron’s first episode, because 1) I always like whenever a new SNL episode shows a clip from an older episode, and 2) Charlize’s first episode is a very significant one for me, as it’s the very first SNL episode I ever reviewed, during my original 2000-2014 stint as a reviewer of newly-aired episodes. Currently reviewing this season 39 Charlize Theron-hosted episode is very significant for me, too, because it’s the second-to-last episode I ever reviewed during my aforementioned original stint as a reviewer. (Yes, Charlize Theron indeed hosted both the first AND penultimate episode of my original reviewing stint. A crazy coincidence. Imagine if a similar coincidence ends up happening when I complete my current SNL project. The only realistic scenario I can see for that is if Paul Simon, who hosted and musical guested SNL’s second-ever episode, which, obviously, is the second-ever episode I reviewed in my current SNL project, hosts and/or musical guests one of the last episodes I review in this project. In fact, that would actually be two full-circle endings for me, because, believe it or not, Paul Simon also happened to be the musical guest in Charlize’s first episode, which is, again, the first episode I ever covered in my original stint as a reviewer. So many eerie coincidences.) Reviewing this season 39 Charlize Theron episode right now is honestly giving me an emotional and nostalgic feel, remembering the special, huge feeling I had back at this time in 2014 when I was about to retire from reviewing after 14 long years. This also makes me realize just how far I’ve come along in this current SNL project of mine.
— An okay premise for a musical monologue, but I don’t care for the style of the monologue song itself, and there’s not much funny stuff happening during it.
— Okay, the quick bit with Beck right now is pretty solid.
STARS: **


COME DO A GAME SHOW WITH YOUR MOM, IT’LL BE FUN, YES IT WILL!
(KAM) hosts a Mother’s Day game show with her kids (BRW), (KYM), (host)

— When Kate’s kids are all saying their opening greetings in unison, I laughed at how Kyle’s line during that is a quickly-delivered, whiny, monotone “I don’t wanna be heeerrre.”
— Just a mildly funny sketch so far, but it’s relatable and Kate is doing a very solid job in the lead role.
— A funny side role for Aidy.
— A good comically-brief appearance from Bobby as the father.
STARS: ***


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
passionate drama teacher (host) coaches Morgan

— Blah, there goes the obligatory, very tired “Aidy and the guest each say a different thing in unison when revealing a topic on the show “ trope.
— I’m really enjoying Charlize’s drama teacher performance here. I’m finding it amusing AND very believable.
— A very weak “My boyfriend’s crazy” story from Cecily tonight.
— Aidy doesn’t have as many funny moments as she usually does in this recurring sketch, though I do like her character’s wild, desperate delivery when trying to say “Well, that’s our sexy show” in a sexy manner during the conclusion of this sketch.
STARS: **


DRAGON BABIES
retired police officer (MOB) voices animated protagonist of Dragon Babies

— The most in-character we’ve ever seen Mike. He’s doing such a great job here, and his cop voice is fantastic.
— Very fun chemistry between Mike and Cecily.
— Great understated, controlled frustration in Taran’s director character during his interview portions of this short.
— I love the comically-uncomfortable moment with Mike somberly disclosing a story about once shooting an unarmed guy. Yet another Mike O’Brien short that adds in a comedic sense of melancholy.
— Overall, Mike does it once again with yet another very strong short. His shorts are so damn good that there’s no wonder why SNL let him continue doing them and starring in them the next few seasons when he’s not even in the cast anymore.
STARS: ****½


DATING SEMINAR
pelvic thrusts & sound effects accompany dating advice of Heshy & (host)

— The second and final appearance of this character of Nasim’s.
— For some reason, they changed Heshy’s surname. In this character’s previous sketch, her surname was Al-Fahi, and now it’s Farahat.
— Like last time, Nasim’s timing is excellent when making gestures to the various sound effects right on cue.
— Pretty fun addition of Charlize, playing against type as a frumpy character. I remember that, when this originally aired, I interestingly got a Mo-Collins-from-MADtv vibe from Charlize’s characterization here. I still kinda see it a little during my current viewing of this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fever”


WEEKEND UPDATE
retiring SNL lampoonee Barbara Walters [real] gives tips for success

this year’s crop of graduates leads Drunk Uncle to fear for the future

— On a related note to me saying earlier in this review that I always like whenever a new SNL episode shows a clip from an older episode, I love the montage of SNL’s Barbara Walters impersonators over the years. Sadly, Michaela Watkins gets snubbed from this montage, for obvious reasons.
— A laugh from Barbara Walters demonstrating her “real voice”.
— I can’t find anything at all to say about the rest of Barbara Walters’ commentary. She’s at least coming off likable here. At certain parts, her timing is slow, awkward, and frail, but I can cut her some slack for that, given her age.
— A rare interaction piece between Cecily and Colin.
— The extremely random “Breaking Nudes” segment was a very funny little piece of absurdity.
— Drunk Uncle, in a random non-sequitur grumbling: “Jew Kids On The Block!”
— Ugh, is it necessary to have Colin carry on Seth Meyers’ tradition of always responding “That’s not anyone” whenever Drunk Uncle says “That’s not me”? It was tired enough when Seth did it.
— I love Drunk Uncle’s “What do you call a fish with no eyes?” joke. No idea if that’s an original joke from SNL or not (that joke is probably an oldie that I had just never heard before), but Drunk Uncle’s delivery of it was very fun.
— Drunk Uncle’s singing of “I Believe I Can Fly” is probably my favorite out of all the “Drunk Uncle butchers a hit song” moments that have occurred over the years.
— Some SNL fans seem very confused as to why Cecily says “No, no noooo!” to Drunk Uncle in a weird, growly voice towards the end of his “I Believe I Can Fly” singing, but I’m pretty sure that Cecily was imitating one part of the real “I Believe I Can Fly” song. I honestly don’t remember that song having a growly “No, no noooo!” part in it, but I’m guessing it’s in there.
STARS: **½


BIKINI BEACH PARTY
dead whale explosion interrupts teen fun of Bikini Beach Party movie

— I have mixed feelings towards the conversation between the girls. There’s some funny lines in that conversation, but some of the other lines in it that are intended to be funny are typical James Anderson/Kent Sublette-style bad randomness.
— A very memorable and priceless visual of the dead whale exploding an insane amount of blood and guts all over Charlize and Taran. I remember how much this visual absolutely FLOORED me when it originally aired.
— Kenan’s at the point of his SNL tenure where he can do almost no wrong for me, but his appearance in this sketch is unfortunately one of the instances where him hammily chewing the scenery actually doesn’t work for me. I really dislike that voice and delivery he’s using here, and it feels completely wrong for this sketch.
— Blah, it’s very unnecessary and harmful to this sketch to repeat the “blood-and-guts explosion” gag right after the first one. The second instance of that gag got nowhere near as many laughs from me nor the audience.
STARS: Very difficult for me to figure out what rating to give this. The first “blood-and-guts explosion” gag ALONE deserves a high rating, but 1) the scenes prior to that were iffy for me, 2) I hate how they repeated the “blood-and-guts explosion” gag to far less comedic effect, and 3) Kenan annoyed the living hell out of me. For now, I’ll rate this ***, but I might change my mind later on.


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Not only is it fun how a blood-soaked Charlize from the preceding sketch carries over into this musical guest intro, but this is actually the second consecutive year in which something like this occurred in the penultimate episode of a season. Season 38’s penultimate episode had Kristen Wiig (that night’s host) and Aidy both introducing the musical guest while still covered in blood from the Acupuncture sketch that preceded it. At this time in 2014, I wondered if SNL was intentionally trying to make this a new annual tradition for every penultimate episode of a season. That could’ve been fun. But alas, the “tradition” stops here. I can’t remember if the following season’s penultimate episode (Reese Witherspoon / Florence + The Machine) has any sketches that involve blood in any way, but either way, that episode doesn’t contain any instances of a sketch carrying over into the host’s introduction of the musical guest.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bullet in the Brain”


WHISKERS R’ WE
Barbara (KAM) & (host) show cats available for adoption

— This soon-to-be recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Charlize again playing against type tonight as an unattractive character.
— A good offbeat performance from Charlize.
— Some funny lines from Kate when disclosing each cat’s strange quirks.
STARS: ***½


TOURISTS
in NYC, foreign visitors ask passers-by for assistance

— I love the exaggerated American accent that Kyle’s foreigner character tries to say American expressions in.
— I’m loving the low-key approach to this, and I like the format with the cutting from one foreigner’s scene to another’s, and how each foreigner’s scene differs from each other’s.
— Funny subversion in Bobby’s scene, regarding directions to Arbalato Street.
— Charlize once again playing against type as a frumpy character, this time going the whole nine yards by donning a fat suit.
— A very funny initial facial reaction from Beck when finding out he’s in New York instead of Chicago.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Much longer goodnights than usual tonight. Probably one of the longest the goodnights have gone on in an episode from recent years.
— Poor John Milihiser is getting far more facetime during these goodnights than he regularly gets in actual episodes. (He was nowhere to be seen in tonight’s episode prior to these goodnights, and, showing how good-natured and likable he apparently is, he doesn’t even look upset by that, and is instead looking like he’s genuinely having a lot of fun interacting with others onstage during these goodnights, as seen in the third above screencap for these goodnights.)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An okay episode, though it’s yet another season 39 example of pre-taped shorts standing out far more than the actual live segments. Also, reviewing this episode just now felt significant, emotional, and nostalgic for me, for reasons mentioned in my review of the monologue. And this hosting stint of Charlize Theron’s was an improvement over her previous one, which typecast her in an awful lot of “Hot girl gets lusted after by horny men” roles.


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

plus the first instance of this:


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dragon Babies
Tourists
Whiskers R’ We
Come Do A Game Show With Your Mom, It’ll Be Fun, Yes It Will!
Bikini Beach Party
Dating Seminar
A Mother’s Day Message From Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton
Weekend Update
Monologue
Girlfriends Talk Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Andrew Garfield)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 39 comes to an end, with host Andy Samberg. It’s the final episode for five-year cast member Nasim Pedrad, the final episode for first-year featured players John Milhiser, Mike O’Brien, Noel Wells, and Brooks Wheelan, the final episode that Cecily Strong co-anchors Weekend Update, the final episode for announcer Don Pardo, and the final episode I reviewed during my original 14-year reviewing stint.

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November 4, 2000 – Charlize Theron / Paul Simon (S26 E4)

NOTE: As I mentioned at the end of my last review, this Charlize Theron episode is a very special episode for me as an SNL reviewer, as it’s the very first episode I ever did a review of, back when I regularly reviewed new SNL episodes right after they aired, for 14 long consecutive seasons. My original review of this episode is here, though only a few portions of it still exist, as I unfortunately lost most of it. Anyway, if you’d like, feel free to compare and contrast the linked review to the review I’m about to do below.

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A GLIMPSE OF OUR POSSIBLE FUTURE
swamped president George W. Bush (WIF)

— I love the beginning, with Will-as-Bush’s off-camera whining about how he doesn’t want to go on camera, as an angry aide (voiced by Parnell) is urging him to do it.
— Speaking of Will-as-Bush’s whining, his particular whine of the line “I don’t wanna go out, it’s too haaaaaarrrrrddd!” feels like a precursor to the whiny Bush impression that future cast member Will Forte would later do on a regular basis.
— In hindsight, this cold opening feels a little eerily reminiscent of a certain infamous event that would later happen under Bush’s presidency the following September 11th, so much so, that Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode would remove this cold opening, and that’s noteworthy, as Comedy Central’s 60-minute SNL episodes usually NEVER removed cold openings from seasons 25 and 26. By the way, here’s something even eerier about this cold opening’s similarities to 9/11, on a more personal note: on the night of September 10, 2001, I randomly chose to rewatch this cold opening on a VHS tape that I had recorded this episode on back when it originally aired. After rewatching this cold opening, I remember Will-as-Bush’s line “That big tit building’s on fire again!” was stuck in my head the whole rest of that night. Well, fast-forward to the fateful next day, September 11, 2001, and hoo, boy, when I saw all the tragic breaking news on TV, there was one point where I couldn’t help but be reminded of the SNL cold opening that I had just watched the preceding night, and I was particularly reminded of the immortal (to me) line “That big tit building’s on fire again!”, and then I felt strangely both kinda guilty and prescient.
— Hilarious reveal that all of these disasters happened a mere two weeks into Bush’s presidency.
— The line about Bush having killed vice president Dick Cheney in a hunting accident? Hoooooly hell, talk about prescient, even if it was actually Cheney who would end up being the cause of the real-life hunting accident years later.
— Funny ending with an ostrich.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
TRM commiserates with host upon learning she’s an African-American

— When Charlize addresses an “audience member” played by Tracy as “sir”, I love Tracy responding “I’m not a sir, I’m Tracy Morgan, I’m on the show.”
— Tracy pointing out how Charlize is technically African-American is great.
— Tracy is a riot in this monologue, just being his natural self. He and Charlize have a nice chemistry too. This monologue feels like it’s in a similar vein to the backstage sketches that Tracy did with Garth Brooks and Jamie Foxx in the preceding season, but I can see why they instead put this one in the monologue spot tonight.
STARS: ****


TRL
Gemini’s Twin (ANG) & (MAR) added (host) for looks

 

— The debut of the Gemini’s Twin sketches.
— Funny music video shown of Gemini’s Twin early in the sketch.
— In Charlize’s second hosting stint 14 years later (which was coincidentally the second-to-last episode I reviewed during my aforementioned 14-year original run as a reviewer of new SNL episodes), she talks about this Gemini’s Twin sketch in her monologue and points out that the writers had to work around her inability to sing by having her resort to just throwing in brief one-liners after Maya and Ana’s harmonizing.
— Charlize’s performance here is cracking me up.
— This Gemini’s Twins group is a good parody of Destiny’s Child.
— Overall, while I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy this as a recurring sketch, this debut was pretty good.
STARS: ***


A GLIMPSE OF OUR POSSIBLE FUTURE
professorial president Al Gore (DAH)

— I like how this is a runner tonight, going through each of the presidential candidates.
— Darrell-as-Al-Gore’s teacher-esque treatment towards the nation is very funny, especially him chastising the nation for their performance in last week’s pop quiz (“Idaho, I’m lookin’ in your directiiiioooonnn…”).
— An interesting use of pre-tape and a body double to make it look like Darrell is playing both Gore and Bill Clinton in this sketch, but there’s an awful lot of awkward timing issues here. There’s some delays before they cut to Darrell as pre-taped Clinton, and the body double playing live Clinton is way off on his cues, as he keeps doing certain actions too early or too late.
STARS: ***½


MARLA AND CODY’S BLAIR WITCH TOUR!
Azrael & Circe take Marla (host) & Cody’s (HOS) Blair Witch Tour

— Funny sudden reveal of Kattan and Molly’s Goth Talk characters. This is a refreshing use of them, and ends up being their final appearance.
— I’m really liking Charlize’s characterization here.
— A big laugh from Azrael Abyss fearfully answering “Yes” when Charlize asks him and Circe Nightshade the rhetorical question of if either of them were ever caught in a parking lot while the shop teacher went down on them.
— Great bit with Azrael’s “I’m so scared” close-up turning out to be him struggling to pee in the woods.
— Horatio is funny as the alleged Blair Witch.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“The All New Adventures of Mr. T” by RBS- actors’ strike leads to ad gig

— Good to see this back.
— The picket sign holder’s odd way of walking when approaching Mr. T’s van is strangely amusing to me.
— I like the random involvement of actor Michael Gross.
— Some good laughs from the mere fact that Mr. T is fighting just to be a Maxi-Pad commercial.
STARS: ****


THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
jealous Joe DiMaggio (JIF) guards wife Marilyn Monroe (host) on the set

— Darrell’s foreign-accented line about Marilyn Monroe’s wonderful “crotchenboxen” was very funny.
— Oh, god. There’s the obligatory breaking from Jimmy, for no apparent reason.
— A very funny reveal that Horatio’s character, who’s squeezing Marilyn Monroe’s breasts as if to get them ready for the scene that’s about to be filmed, doesn’t even work here.
— Funny ending line from Parnell’s voice-over braggingly saying, in regards to Joe DiMaggio, “He had sex with Marilyn Monroe, and you didn’t”, which is humorously followed by a long, rapidly-scrolled list of people who did have sex with Marilyn. I caught some interesting names in there, including some SNL-related ones. (For anyone curious, below are screencaps of the list)

STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hurricane Eye”


WEEKEND UPDATE
RAD’s attempt to spring a surprise wedding on JIF meets with failure
TIF explains the electoral college & the potential order of succession
lone Jewish SNL writer Hugh Fink [real] talks about Joe Lieberman

— Interesting commentary with Rachel as herself in a wedding dress, proposing to Jimmy.
— A pretty good laugh from Jimmy telling Rachel that he can’t marry her because he just got PlayStation 2, which, as he says, is “very time-consuming”.
— Solid side segment from Tina explaining the convoluted process of how the president is elected.
— Yikes, Jimmy botched the Renovations joke HORRIBLY, which is something that usually comes to mind whenever I think about how green Jimmy sometimes tended to come off in his first season as Update anchorperson. However, he immediately saves himself in his botched Renovations joke tonight with a great ad-lib, where he says a mock-surprised “Oh, we’re gonna do it live this week?!?” Right before that ad-lib, I also like Tina’s hand reaching into the shot of Jimmy to comically rub his face (the sixth above screencap for this Weekend Update) after he botched the joke.
— Jimmy’s critique of GQ’s picks for Men of the Year is pretty funny.
— Man, Jimmy is STILL botching jokes. Pretty rough night for him.
— SNL seems to be letting a lot of their writers do Update commentaries as themselves lately, between Kevin Brennan in the back half of the preceding season, Adam McKay in the last episode, and now Hugh Fink tonight.
— I love Fink making fun of the last names of his fellow SNL writers (e.g. McNicholas, Herlihy, Shannon).
— Fink’s impression of Joe Lieberman is cracking me up.
— An overall solid commentary from Fink. I wish this led to him doing more Update commentaries, but alas, this ends up being his only one.
STARS: ***


BEDTIME STORIES
sex therapy patient (host) is turned on by Mr. Peepers

— It’s gradually feeling more and more odd lately to see Molly still on the show this season. It doesn’t feel out of the ordinary when I see her playing her recurring characters like Circe Nightshade or her Delicious Dish character, but when I see her playing non-recurring characters like in this sketch, it gives me a weird feel of “Oh, Molly’s still in the cast this season? I forgot.”
— Meh, a Mr. Peepers sketch.
— Charlize is a real good sport to participate in all of these crazy things that Mr. Peepers is having her do while she’s blindfolded, but it sure is disgusting to watch.
— When starting to hump Mr. Peepers in a doggy style position, Charlize accidentally pulls Kattan’s wig off (the last above screencap for this sketch). Surprisingly, this blooper isn’t all that noticeable and doesn’t affect the sketch (unlike a similar wig blooper with Brendan Fraser in a Xena sketch), probably due to all the craziness and raunchiness happening in the scene right now. Eventually, after failing in his attempt to put the wig back on his head, Kattan just casually throws the wig aside during the wild three-way humping session between Mr. Peepers, Molly, and Charlize.
— Overall, while still not all that great, I found this a little more tolerable than a lot of Mr. Peepers sketches, partly due to Charlize’s great commitment, and partly due to the crazy ending.
STARS: **½


A GLIMPSE OF OUR POSSIBLE FUTURE
fantastic president Ralph Nader (JIF)

— Hilarious idea of doing an “A Glimpse of Our Possible Future” scenario with the no-chance-of-realistically-winning Ralph Nader. I absolutely love the screaming laugh from a guy in SNL’s audience upon hearing the Ralph Nader reveal at the beginning of this.
— I remember when this episode originally aired, I missed the beginning of this sketch, but even when I came into this sketch mid-progress and saw Jimmy, I could immediately tell he was playing Ralph Nader. Jimmy’s doing a good impression of him, right down to imitating his twitchy eye.
— I like the hints that Nader’s presidency would only happen when pigs fly and when hell freezes over. When I first saw this sketch when it originally aired, then-teenage me didn’t “get” the joke of two shivering devils in scarves (played by Parnell and SNL writer Scott Wainio) throwing snowballs at each other, until I soon saw it explained on an online SNL forum that the joke is implying that hell has frozen over. I also remember having a difficult time figuring out who was playing the non-Parnell devil, as I wasn’t all that familiar with Scott Wainio at the time, plus the red face paint made it even harder to identify him in this sketch.
STARS: ****


AUDITION
musical guest watches Kyle & Sean DeMarco interpret his songs via dance

— Geez, TWO Chris Kattan recurring sketches in a row tonight? (Not counting the Nader mini-sketch in between.) Ehhh….
— Always nice to see Paul Simon appear in a sketch. I just wish it was something better than THIS sketch.
— I will say that I am kinda liking the DeMarco Brothers’ interpretation of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”.
— Okay, these song interpretations are quickly getting old.
— I’ve had nothing but good things to say about Charlize’s performances so far tonight, but geez, she’s kinda awful in this sketch. She’s overacting badly.
— Okay, the DeMarco Brothers are kinda winning me back over with their pretty funny interpretation of “Slip Sliding Away”.
— Overall, blah. SNL should’ve given this recurring sketch an early retirement after the tolerable Britney Spears installment.
STARS: **


THE COCONUT BANGERS BALL: IT’S A RAP!
Robert Goulet (WIF) covers rap songs on album

— Yes! The debut of Will’s Robert Goulet impression!
— A hilarious concept of Robert Goulet singing famous rap songs in a crooner style.
— Haha, holy hell at Will’s Goulet casually dropping the n-word when singing lyrics from “The Thong Song”. It took serious balls for Will to do that on the air.
— I howled at Will’s intense delivery of the lyric “Throw your hands in the air if you think YOU’RE A PLAYA!!!”
— Ha, Will gets away with another n-word drop during another song.
— Will-as-Goulet’s whole interaction with the big-horned sheep is pure comedy gold, especially the staring contest.
— Overall, my god, this sketch was so damn funny, even moreso than I had remembered all these years. Absolutely perfect. A Will Ferrell classic.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Old”


BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
Buena Vista Social Club members get friendly with audience member (host)

— You can tell that this sketch is being rushed, as it fades in on Parnell already mid-sentence, as if SNL told him right before the show came back on air to hurry up and start speaking so they can try to squeeze in this sketch, due to the show starting to run long. Paul Simon’s preceding musical performance also felt unusually short (it was seriously only about two minutes long), and I wonder if he was also told to rush, or if that’s just the normal length of the song.
— Man, this is Jerry Minor’s FIRST (and only) appearance all night. So far in his SNL tenure, he sadly hasn’t been getting many opportunities to show his strengths as a performer.
— Some laughs from the Latin singers’ dirty lyrics that Will is casually translating.
— Tracy’s delivery here is cracking me up.
— I love Will translating the Latin singers’ lyric about getting rid of the dumbass with a red tie, only for Will to then angrily realize “Hey, I’m the only dumbass here with a red tie!”
— Uh-oh, looks like SNL is unsuccessful in their attempt to squeeze in this entire sketch before the show runs out of time, as the ending of this sketch abruptly gets cuts off by a commercial break. I can’t remember if SNL would later show the full ending of this sketch in reruns or not, but I don’t think they do.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, and had some strong sketches here and there, as well as one classic (The Coconut Bangers Ball), though there were unfortunately two subpar Chris Kattan recurring character pieces mixed into the second half of the show. Aside from her performance in the DeMarco Brothers sketch, Charlize Theron was a pretty solid host, better than I would’ve expected her to be.
— On a personal note, reviewing this episode just now has brought back so many nice memories of when I wrote my very first SNL review ever. It’s going to feel odd but exciting re-reviewing these next few seasons, especially now that I’m much older and more mature than the teenage version of me who originally reviewed these seasons back in the early 2000s.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Calista Flockhart