Tag: Dave Matthews Band

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November 21, 2009 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Dave Matthews Band (S35 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CHINA PRESS CONFERENCE
Hu Jintao (WLF) expects to be screwed by debtor Barack Obama (FRA)

— Some funny sarcastic comments from Will as Hu Jintao, translated into English by Nasim.
— The out-of-nowhere sardonic “I like to be kissed when SOMEONE IS DOING SEX TO ME!!!” bit cracked me up, especially with how unexpected it was.
— Blah, now they’re overdoing the hell out of the “DOING SEX TO ME!!!” outbursts.
— Boy, this cold opening is going on freakin’ FOREVER, with increasingly less laughs along the way. Any of the goodwill I had towards it earlier on has been long forgotten and tarnished by this point.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host performs “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singin’ In The Rain

— Joseph Gordon-Levitt, regarding plans for his monologue: “I figured, why not open with a big number?” Normally, that would have me groaning out loud, but I’m aware in hindsight what an epic monologue this turns out to be.
— I like the running bit with Joseph’s “If you haven’t seen it, your girlfriend/grandma has” whenever he mentions a movie.
— We’re early on into Joseph’s “Make ‘Em Laugh” performance, and it’s already coming off very solid and committed.
— When Joseph asks Bobby if he can believe SNL is letting him perform “Make ‘Em Laugh”, I love Bobby’s sarcastic “No, I can’t believe it” response. I’d like to think that’s a self-deprecating dig at SNL’s over-reliance on musical monologues.
— Very funny running gag with the slaps/punches Bobby randomly gives Joseph.
— Joseph’s already-great “Make ‘Em Laugh” performance is now getting full-on amazing, as he’s doing a whole bunch of great physical actions during it.
— Now he’s doing VERY impressive backflips off of walls, on live TV! I remember how absolutely shocked and impressed I was by this when this originally aired, and I’m still impressed today.
— Love the way the performance ended.
— An absolutely fantastic overall monologue, and with this one piece alone, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proven he will be miles better of a host than the infamous preceding host – January Jones.
STARS: *****


PALIN 2012
Democrats’ recut 2012 trailer gives vision of disastrous Palin presidency

— A surprising return of the “An SNL Trailer Re-Cut” segment, several years after the Apocalypto one. This ends up being the final one.
— Funny idea to mix a hypothetical future Sarah Palin presidency with apocalyptic footage from the movie 2012. This is being executed well.
— “From the mind of Keith Olbermann…”
— Hilarious reveal of Glenn Beck being vice president.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
actress Mindy Grayson (KRW) is useless on classic game show

— The debut of a sketch I’ve always despised.
— Part of Kristen’s opening line is a delighted “LOOK AT ME!!!”, a line that perfectly sums up so many of the badly-written attention-starved characters Kristen’s been given over the years of her SNL tenure. Only three seconds into the debut of this particular Secret Word character of Kristen’s, and I already hate the character.
— Given how underused Will has been in this final season of his, it feels sad seeing him relegated to playing a boring straight man to a bad Kristen Wiig character.
— A very weak and one-note gag with Kristen’s character always immediately revealing the exact same secret word (drape) she’s supposed to give hints of.
— I like Bill’s goofy-voiced aggravated delivery of “D’ohhhhh boyyyyy”.
— Another funny line from Bill, with him hesitantly and passive aggressively telling Kristen’s character, “I’ll…tell ya…when…to start”, after she tries to start one of the rounds herself. Bill’s providing my only real laughs of this sketch, though I do like Joseph’s characterization of his Latin crooner character.
STARS: *½


TWO WORLDS COLLIDE FT. REBA MCENTIRE
ANS loves man pretending to be Reba McEntire (KET)

— Yet ANOTHER highly-acclaimed and well-remembered music video from Lonely Island, who have been on a hot streak with these music videos lately.
— The idea of Kenan, of all people, randomly playing Reba McEntire is fucking priceless.
— I guess I could say my usual “Kenan In A Dress alert”, but at least this short is putting the Kenan In A Dress trope to good use. This is also putting Kenan’s penchant for bug-eyed mugging to good use, given the fact that he’s imitating Reba here.
— I love Kenan’s goofy redneck-voiced singing, and it’s a funny contrast to Andy’s typical hardcore rapping.
— When this originally aired, back in the days when I couldn’t stand Kenan and viewed him as one of the weakest links of this cast, I was impressed by him in this short and felt it was by far one of the better things he had ever done on SNL. Looking back on this short years later, especially after I’ve softened a lot on Kenan and gained a lot of respect for him, I now view this short as a continuation of Kenan’s growth arc that officially started with the What Up With That debut earlier this season.
— Kenan throughout this short: “Ahhhh’m Reba!”
— Even the juvenile and crude conceit with “Reba” secretly being a man is absolutely working for me in this context.
STARS: ****½


THE MELLOW SHOW WITH JACK JOHNSON
Ozzy Osbourne (Dave Matthews) now likes to take it easy

— The somewhat surprising return of a one-off sketch from two seasons prior.
— Kinda interesting now having Bill’s Dave Matthews be the co-host of tonight’s Mellow Show installment, after he was just a guest in the previous installment.
— I like the random statements of mellow-centric things Andy’s Jack Johnson says into the camera (e.g. “Ultimate frisbee”) as a non-sequitur. I can’t remember if he did the same thing in the first installment of this sketch.
— Andy and Bill giving each other a foot-five, ala a high-five, was hilarious. You can also tell Andy is holding back a laugh afterwards.
— Pretty good Jason Mraz impression from Joseph.
— A fairly memorable Ozzy Osbourne impression from the real Dave Matthews.
— Our obligatory tongue-in-cheek bit with Dave Matthews, while in character as Ozzy, insulting Bill’s Dave Matthews. I don’t mind the sometimes-groanworthy “celebrity confronts a cast member impersonating them” trope as much when the celebrity is playing another celebrity, such as here.
STARS: ***


WHAT UP WITH THAT?
panelists spectate; Al Gore & Mindy Kaling cameos

— I see SNL ain’t wasting any time, as they’ve brought back What Up With That a mere THREE EPISODES after its debut.
— This is following the exact same same formula as the first installment of this sketch, but it’s certainly still loads of fun.
— Awww, yeah! Here comes Jason and his red tracksuited dancing!
— I love Andy suddenly jumping into the scene as a dancing hip-hop clown. His dancing is very funny.
— Absolutely hilarious inclusion of Bobby as a tap-dancing Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
— The camera hasn’t been showing Jason’s epic dancing quite as much as usual tonight.
— Kenan’s final lyric about having “the egg burp” is cracking me up.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You & Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
to effect environmental change, Al Gore [real] will start acting crazy

— Another appearance tonight from Al Gore, who’s always fun on SNL.
— A good laugh from Gore bluntly revealing his backup plan: “I’m gonna start acting crazy.”
— I like Gore’s various insane-but-oddly-clever ideas.
— Great sarcastic comment from Gore about his “excitement” over having a bully pulpit on a fourth-place network.
— I really like Seth’s delivery of his George W. Bush joke.
— Wow, an actual fairly short Update with only one guest commentary! Feels incredibly rare to see a one-guest Update in the solo Seth Meyers era of Update. Wish it happened far more often.
STARS: ***½


DYSFUNCTIONAL THANKSGIVING DINNER
family tensions have everyone on-edge at contentious Thanksgiving dinner

— Oh, no, what are you doing, SNL?!? The Dysfunctional Christmas Dinner sketch from the preceding season’s Hugh Laurie episode was a near-classic the first time, but it has no business being made into a recurring sketch. It’s not at all something that’ll work nearly as well in a rehash. On top of that, you’re going to re-cast Abby into the general role that the recently-fired Casey Wilson played in the first installment, an installment of which Casey HERSELF co-wrote (with Kristen), by the way? Really, SNL?
— When I first reviewed this sketch in my original 2009 review of this episode (link here), I went into a HUGE rant, where my point was basically “What was the point of SNL firing Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins if the show’s going to continue doing sketches Casey and Michaela were prominent in, and re-casting roles of theirs?” I was also upset over SNL’s decision to continue doing the Casey Wilson-co-written Dysfunctional Christmas Dinner sketch AFTER Casey’s firing, as it seemed like a slap in the face to her.
— In my current review, I’ll try to judge this sketch with a less-bitter mindset, but I still can’t help but feel it will pale badly in comparison to the almost-untouchable Dysfunctional Christmas Dinner sketch.
— Kristen has the ability to get laughs just from simply sipping a drink and eating from her fork in a subtly-tense manner.
— So far, despite some laughs I’m getting, this has been such a carbon copy of the original Dysfunctional Christmas Dinner sketch. The “Sit down, Judith!” running bit in particular is not working as well as last time, and it feels like they’re relying a little too heavily on it this time.
— Now they’re even copying the bit where the tense family suddenly unites by singing together. Doesn’t even make much sense to me in this Thanksgiving-related context, whereas the family singing together on Christmas was far more fitting.
— Overall, while I admit this rehashed sketch was not quite as worthless as I previously made it out to be in my afore-linked 2009 review, I still didn’t enjoy the sketch much. Too much unnecessary and inferior copying of the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: **


WOMAN TO WOMAN
insensitive sub Rodger Brush (FRA) is ill-suited adviser

— The debut of these Rodger Brush sketches starring Fred.
— Back in the original era, SNL had a Gilda Radner-starring recurring talk show sketch with this same title (Woman To Woman).
— A fairly funny reveal of Fred as a bald, overweight, brash-looking man sitting in for the female host of this tender female-oriented advice show.
— Ugh, only two minutes into this sketch, and I’ve already gotten extremely sick of the redundant running bit with Fred asking the female guests to speak louder.
— The joke of Fred’s bad, generic advice to the guests is another thing in this sketch that’s getting old fast.
— Though he has no comedic lines, Joseph’s performance is very solid.
— Overall, ugh. Not a good sketch at all, and I dread having to cover subsequent installments of this sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shake Me Like A Monkey”


SAY ANYTHING
Lloyd Dobler’s (host) “In Your Eyes” boombox strategy bemuses (JAS)

— Between the spoof of the movie 2012 earlier tonight and now a Say Anything spoof, John Cusack’s filmography is getting a real workout in tonight’s episode.
— When Jason initially walks on and sees Joseph standing in a bold, still position while holding up a boombox, I got a big laugh from Jason just responding to that with a hesitant-but-accepting “Alright…” and then immediately exiting the shot.
— Interesting concept for a Say Anything spoof, and I like this idea of Jason as a random character interrupting an iconic movie scene. (Now that I write that, it almost sounds like something that could’ve been made into a solid recurring sketch, with Jason interrupting an iconic scene from a different movie each time.) This is a great showcase for Jason’s general performance style.
— A funny “This kid loves cassettes” comment from Jason when Joseph takes a break from holding up a boombox to speak into a tape recorder.
— The “Genesis is back together!” ending was hilarious.
— Overall, a strong Jason Sudeikis showcase.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mixed episode. To me, this episode feels better than it actually is, due to how solid, fun, energetic, and likable of a host Joseph Gordon-Levitt was, and how he had a monologue for the ages. He was EXACTLY the type of host SNL needed after January Jones’ horribly-received hosting stint. However, when I think back on the quality of tonight’s episode itself, I’m recalling quite a number of things I didn’t like. We also got the debuts of two awful recurring sketches: Secret Word and Rodger Brush (no surprise that one of them stars Kristen Wiig and the other one stars Fred Armisen, because, as I’ve mentioned in a somewhat recent review, a number of online SNL fans seem to consider those two performers to be the usual culprits of the worst sketches from these 2009-2012 years), two sketches that we’ll be seeing too often within these next few seasons. However, tonight had some pretty good things and a few VERY strong pieces, balancing this out to an overall fairly-watchable-though-shaky episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Two Worlds Collide ft. Reba McEntire
What Up With That?
Say Anything
Palin 2012
Weekend Update
The Mellow Show with Jack Johnson
Dysfunctional Thanksgiving Dinner
China Press Conference
Woman To Woman
Secret Word


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (January Jones)
a definite step up (needless to say)


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Blake Lively

Posted on

February 24, 2001 – Katie Holmes / Dave Matthews Band (S26 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE CLINTON GANG
Bill Clinton (DAH) & relatives are a giddy & unrepentant gang of outlaws

— I like Darrell’s Bill Clinton explaining “I do what I likes, and I likes what I do.”
— A funny sudden laughing outburst from Ana’s Hillary Clinton after saying something stern and uptight to Bill.
— A great “The Clinton Gang” turn, as well as Bill proudly going on about how redneck-y his family is.
— Feels a little weird seeing Ana portraying Hillary as so laid-back and jokey for once, but it’s refreshing.
— I love Parnell-as-Roger-Clinton’s line “Hell, I already been on Cops!”
— Speaking of Parnell, I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2001 (Mark Polishuk, I believe) saying Parnell’s portrayal of Roger Clinton strangely came off George W. Bush-esque and that “maybe Will Ferrell might not need to be around for all four years after all”. Quite prescient of that reviewer.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
WIF tries to match host’s tap-dancing with a series of goofy steps

— Right out of the gate at the beginning of this monologue, when the camera is showing a shot of both Katie Holmes and the applauding audience, Katie’s dress strap accidentally breaks due to her putting her hands on her hips, and she quickly catches the falling strap and is forced to awkwardly hold it up onto her shoulder for the next few minutes (as seen in the first above screencap for this monologue). Whoops! The reason her dress strap broke so easily is because she’s wearing a breakaway dress that she’ll soon be removing during a sultry dance number of hers towards the end of this monologue.
— Yikes, Katie’s comedic “Dawson’s Creek has been crazy this week!” bit bombed HARD. Katie acknowledges that by sorta-comically shifting her eyes to the side in an awkward manner. Between the breaking dress strap and now this, Katie’s monologue has been kinda clumsy so far.
— Thank god Will has shown up to help this monologue.
— Will, regarding his dancing shoes: “Check out these Brogans!” I know Brogan is a type of shoe, but with Will delivering that line, I can’t help but be reminded of the Ted Brogan 37-year-old baby sketch that Will had recently done at the time.
— When a stagehand gives Katie her tapdancing shoes, that stagehand also pins Katie’s broken dress strap back together. A nice last-minute emergency save on SNL’s part.
— A good laugh from Will’s line about Savion Glover being his stepson.
— Will is very funny throughout this monologue, though this monologue itself is coming off fairly redundant after a while. It also doesn’t feel right how Katie herself is almost a complete non-factor in this monologue so far. She’s also coming off very bland during her interactions with Will.
— At the very end of this monologue, Katie seemed lost, as she was about to walk offstage a little too early before the camera faded to black, then she paused awkwardly after seemingly receiving a signal from an off-camera stagehand that it’s not time to exit the stage yet, then Katie looked around helplessly and confusedly, then did a sultry little dance as the camera faded to black. I gotta say, all of Katie’s awkwardness throughout this monologue is not giving me much confidence in her hosting skills.
STARS: *** (mostly due to Will’s performance)


DAWSON’S CREEK
Joey (host) & exchange student Mr. Peepers have sex

 

— Blah, Mr. Peepers. Hell, not even the audience applauds the reveal of him in this sketch.
— I’m now a minute later into this sketch, and to my complete surprise, I’m actually kinda liking Mr. Peepers in this Dawson’s Creek setting. Given my usual dislike of Mr. Peepers and my unfamiliarity with Dawson’s Creek, I don’t know why this sketch is working for me, but it is.
— I’m liking Jimmy’s James Van Der Beek impression.
— Ha, during the scene with Katie’s character having a heart-to-heart talk with Dawson, you can still see apple bits on Katie’s face from an earlier scene that took place on what we’re supposed to believe was a different day. This results in a funny ad-lib from Jimmy where he casually swipes off some of the apple bits on Katie’s face while delivering a line.
— Credit goes to Katie for keeping a straight face while acting unconscious as Kattan-as-Mr.-Peepers is doing a whole bunch of ridiculous things to her face in an attempt to revive her.
— When Mr. Peepers jumps off of a clothing chest that he was standing on, the chest unintentionally tips over and falls on Katie’s hand, which results in the audience actually gasping in shock. Katie doesn’t even seem hurt by the chest falling on her hand (the chest was probably light), but Kattan, out of genuine concern while still perfectly staying in character, lifts the chest off of Katie’s hand before continuing on with his scripted Mr. Peepers antics.
— Overall, for a Mr. Peepers sketch, this surprisingly wasn’t bad in my eyes. Easily one of his better sketches.
STARS: ***


KXLA SPECIAL REPORT
(MAR) reports as house of Drew Barrymore (host) & Tom Green (JIF) burns

— Some laughs from Maya’s cheesy fire puns in her news report.
— Jimmy is slaying me with his absolutely spot-on take on Tom Green. After I recently suffered through reviewing the Tom Green-hosted episode from earlier this season (one of the most frustrating reviews I’ve EVER had to do), Jimmy’s dead-on skewering of Green is what I needed. He is humorously nailing all of the things that I couldn’t stand about Green when reviewing his SNL episode.
— Katie’s Drew Barrymore impression, on the other hand? Ehhh. I can kinda see what she’s going for, but let’s just say she ain’t no Kate Hudson. She also keeps making some awkward pauses before delivering some of her lines. (Boy, I’ve been using the word “awkward” quite a lot to describe Katie’s performances in tonight’s episode.)
— Tracy’s fireman character, when asked if he can save Tom and Drew’s burning house: “(casually) Hell nah! That’s gonna burn down to the ground!”
— Tracy’s reactions to having his face licked by Jimmy’s Tom Green are very funny, especially him telling Jimmy’s Green “I sure wanna get high wit’choo!”
— An inner thought from the dog, in regards to Tom Green: “He makes David Arquette look like a genius!”
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Backstreet Boys” by RBS- sucking is salient feature of boy band

 

— Hilarious opening theme song.
— A great concept of Backstreet Boys being superheroes who use their suckiness to defeat villains.
— The choreographed bit that the Backstreet Boys are doing with folding chairs during their number reminds me of the LAUGHABLY lame bit that the real Backstreet Boys did with folding chairs in their musical performance on SNL in season 23’s Julianne Moore episode.
— The random involvement of John Tesh is great. I especially love the “You guys rock!” “Thanks, Mr. Tesh!” exchange as soon as he enters.
STARS: ****


LOVERS
professor Roger (WIF) & his lover Virginia (RAD) creep out (JIF) & (host)

— The Luvahs characters, Roger and Virginia Klarvin, make their debut.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Roger saying “fill our bellies with ham” at one point when he and Virginia are detailing their lovemaking routine.
— I used to HATE these sketches back when they originally aired, but during this current viewing, I’ve been getting some amusement from Will and Rachel’s characterizations and the way their characters word some of their sentences. And I admire how really into it Will and Rachel are in their performances.
— Jimmy and Katie’s uncomfortable reactions to the Luvahs are pretty funny.
— I love Jimmy nervously gulping down a drink in a quick manner during Katie’s Luvah-esque detailing of the lovemaking she’d like her and Jimmy to do.
— The “My back” ending between Roger and Virginia was pretty funny. Too bad SNL will go on to run that into the damn ground in the subsequent Luvahs installments.
— Overall, not a bad debut for The Luvahs, especially considering how strongly I used to dislike these sketches in the past. I have no idea how I’m going to react when covering the subsequent Luvahs installments, though.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Did It”


WEEKEND UPDATE
despite reservations, TIF is sticking with her shady male gynecologist

Elton John (HOS) & Eminem (CHP) make out after Grammys “Stan” performance

— What the hell?!? During Jimmy and Tina’s sign-on at the beginning of this Update, a drop-down screen starts lowering behind them into the shot (the first above screencap for this Update), only to IMMEDIATELY be raised back up out of the shot, without having been used or acknowledged. WTF??? I guess a segment utilizing the drop-down screen was cut at the last minute, and the crew member operating the screen didn’t get the memo.
— Tina’s Women’s News segment about gynecologists was surprisingly nothing memorable. I was expecting better. Also, I could’ve done without Tina re-doing the “As a (insert something here), which I am not…” line, which was much funnier the first time she did it in the Women’s News segment from her very first Update.
— I love Horatio and Parnell’s recreation of the “Stan” musical performance that Elton John and Eminem had recently done at the Grammys, even though there aren’t any jokes in this recreation.
— The big twist after the Elton John/Eminem performance, with them wildly making out with each other is yet another example of this type of homoerotic humor that I used to find hilarious at the time during this late 90s/early 00s SNL era, but now find that it doesn’t hold up well and just comes off as a cheap, lazy, unnecessary, and overused resort for laughs. Parnell and Horatio sure as hell are putting their all into this wild make-out session, though. I’ll give them that.
— For, I believe, the first time ever, Jimmy throws a pen towards the camera after signing off at the end of Update, which would go on to be an on-again/off again tradition of his on Update.
— Very short Update overall, for the second episode in a row.
STARS: ***


JARRET’S ROOM
Billy Joel lyrics help Daniel (CHP) woo coed (host)

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— After making little-to-no appearances outside of Weekend Update the last few episodes, Jimmy is absolutely DOMINATING tonight’s episode. So far, he’s appeared in every single post-monologue live sketch in either a starring role or very large supporting role.
— Like in the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, Horatio’s Gobi character is providing some laughs, but he sure is a one-note character.
— This sketch has died after Katie’s entrance. Nothing interesting is happening, plus Katie is adding nothing to this sketch and seems out of place. Compare her character and performance here to the character that Lucy Liu played in the first installment, who actually fit the sketch well.
— Parnell has breathed some much-needed life into this sketch as a roommate wearing a mesh tanktop and quoting Billy Joel songs to impress Katie.
— An overall blah Jarret’s Room installment, even worse than the first installment, in my opinion. This recurring sketch has not been showing much promise so far. One of my problems is that the main character, Jarret, isn’t remotely interesting. There’s no personality there. Nothing distinct about the character. He’s basically just Jimmy Fallon playing himself with a wig. And if Horatio’s Gobi character is supposed to be the personality of these sketches, then that’s another faulty decision, as Gobi is too one-note, like I said earlier, and he can only be funny in small doses.
STARS: **


TOUGH AS NAILS
(CHP) directs actress (host) to grab actor’s (WIF) crotch vigorously

— A great Will Ferrell performance that I had completely forgotten about until now. I’m glad to be reminded of this.
— Will’s increasingly pained reactions to having his testicles painfully grabbed during filming are giving me lots of laughs.
— I love Tracy’s character’s ad-libbed response to Katie’s overly-rough testicle-grabbing of Will during the filming: “Let go, man! That ain’t cool!”, then after the filming for that scene has stopped, Tracy gets another great line: “That was hurtin’ ME!”
— I like Parnell’s director character sadistically advising Katie to go at Will even harder, after kindly assuring Will that he no longer has to worry about doing any more painful testicle-grabbing takes.
— Very funny exclamation of “Cheese and biscuits!” from Will after getting kicked in the crotch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Space Between”


PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE PAM
Passive-Aggressive Pam’s (ANG) backhanded compliments sting co-workers

— Did Katie forget a line before Ana made her entrance? Right before Ana came in and started speaking, we got a long close-up of Katie awkwardly not saying anything (there’s that use of the word “awkward” once again to describe a Katie Holmes performance) and looking off-camera.
— An interesting character for Ana, and also an interesting live theme song for this character.
— I love the bizarre musical interludes throughout this sketch, with a barbershop quartet summing up the concept of Ana’s character. Will is particularly hamming it up like crazy as one of the quartet members, and I cannot stop cracking up at him. The combo of his extremely hammy performance, his barbershop quartet costume, and his handlebar mustache make it seem like he’s reprising his hilarious role as Thaddeus Garfield Ignatius Friday from the T.G.I. Friday’s sketch in the Charlie Sheen episode earlier this season.
— Ana’s various backhanded comments are making me laugh, and Ana is perfect for this role. I’m enjoying this sketch more than the audience seems to be.
— This overall sketch kinda feels like it was set up to eventually become recurring, but we end up never seeing it again.
STARS: ***½


SINGLES CRUISE
at the end of their singles’ cruise, (CHP) & Leilani Burke (MAR) settle

— Much like Jimmy, Parnell has been prominent throughout tonight’s episode, which is very refreshing in Parnell’s case. He rarely seems to get the airtime he deserves.
— It took Katie all night, but she’s finally doing a very solid characterization in a role that she’s losing herself in.
— I like the big awkward smile that Maya’s character occasionally does in reaction to certain things that Parnell’s character says to her.
— So far, this sketch is refreshingly slower, quieter, and more subtle than most sketches from this era. This sketch seems to be going for a bit of a slice-of-life feel that was far more common in early SNL eras.
— I love the reveal that Maya’s character works in an animal rescue crew and Parnell’s character is a furrier.
— Speaking of Maya’s character saying she works in an animal rescue crew, we’ll later be seeing this character of Maya’s (who’s name is Leilani) return THREE SEASONS LATER, in a one-off sketch in which she’s a pet psychic who hosts her own show.
— Overall, I liked this interesting piece, and the characterizations from Parnell and Maya were solid, as was Katie’s in a supporting role.
— After this sketch ends, I like how surprisingly quickly we see the crew disassemble the set, revealing the SNL Band (with special guest Junior Brown sitting in with them) onstage behind the set, playing the show to commercial.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Man, Katie’s even coming off awkward (there’s that word once again tonight) during her goodnights speech, with odd pauses and her strangely continuing her speech long after the applause and music has begun drowning her out. Her awkwardness here reminds me of the funny impression that Anne Hathaway would later do of her during some of Hathaway’s hosting stints.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode that had a mostly consistent quality to it. Jarret’s Room was the only sketch that I disliked. As for Katie Holmes, I did not enjoy her very much as the host. I’ll admit that she did have her occasional moments, particularly in the final sketch, in which she played her role very well and disappeared into character, but, as I said probably way too many times throughout the review, she had quite a lot of awkward moments during the show, even including the goodnights. I don’t know if she’s naturally this awkward (as I implied earlier in this review, this awkwardness does seem to be what Anne Hathaway is going for when she does an impression of Katie), or if it was just live TV jitters.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sean Hayes)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Conan O’Brien

Posted on

April 20, 1996 – Teri Hatcher / Dave Matthews Band (S21 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DEFENSE TEAM
Johnnie Cochran (TIM) & other lawyers form Unabomber (WIF) defense plan

— Koechner makes his only appearance of the night in this cold opening, and he’s just playing a straight man role. Lately, it’s sadly been becoming more and more obvious that SNL is phasing him out in the homestretch of this season.
— This is the second consecutive episode with a Ted Kaczynski cold opening.
— Will’s jovial portrayal of Kaczynski is always funny.
— A fun roundup famous lawyers, like Johnnie Cochran and Leslie Abramson.
— A hilarious defense from Tim’s Cochran about how postal workers are to blame for Kaczynski mailing bombs to people.
— I love Cochran’s rhyming statement “Take off that orange pajama, cuz you ain’t the Unabomber!”
— A good line with Cheri’s Abramson just responding “Then I’ve got nothing” after learning the Kaczynski brothers weren’t molested by their parents.
— Feels weird seeing writer Steve Higgins playing such a noteworthy role (F. Lee Bailey). He’s pretty funny here.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host has Lois Lane-ish inability to recognize glasses-wearing castmembers

— While it’s just a little thing that’s probably not intended to be funny, I’m cracking up at the close-up of Will doing a back-and-forth glasses removal when demonstrating to Teri that he’s always Will.
— A fairly tepid and corny premise, but it’s being executed decently enough.
— A laugh from Teri still not recognizing Tim even after he’s removed his glasses.
— Tim: “I’m Tim Meadows, I’ve been in the cast for, like, 8 years.” Teri: “Oh. What are your hit characters?” Tim: “……..I don’t have any.” Haha, but also, awww.
STARS: ***


OLD GLORY INSURANCE
Rerun from 11/18/95


WEST SIDE STORY
prop girl Mary Katherine Gallagher wants Maria role in West Side Story

— I love the juxtaposition of Will energetically swinging his fists into the air while singing a soft song from West Side Story.
— Mary Katherine Gallagher to the white female performers in the play: “I just want to say that you ladies make excellent Puerto Ricans.”
— I cracked up at MKG shoving Teri out of the shot while romancing Will.
— One of MKG’s more memorable movie monologue quotes.
— Overall, one of the better MKG sketches. I’ve always considered this (along with the Elle MacPherson installment) to be the most representative installment of this sketch . Part of that may be due to the fact that this is the MKG installment that’s in Molly’s “Best Of” special.
STARS: ***½


NIGHTTIME MUSIC
inept romantic (CHK) seeks mood music & dance steps to use on date (host)

— An early quintessential Chris Kattan sketch, and a nice representation of his skills as a physical comedian. He’s getting good laughs from a lot of little things he’s doing in his “seductive” dancing.
— Within his “seductive” dancing, Chris is slipping in some future trademark Mango moves. I find them a lot more tolerable in this sketch than in the actual Mango sketches.
— I love the part with Chris making the couch move by repeatedly bumping it with his crotch.
— Haha, is that a freakin’ Ladysmith Black Mambazo song Chris is now seductively dancing to?
— I like Chris ridiculing Teri’s legitimately seductive dance.
STARS: ***½


THE PRINCESS AND THE HOMEBOY
(host) & G-Dog clash in a new NBC sitcom

 

— I’ve always loved this. One of my favorite Tim Meadows sketches.
— I like the critic review that’s shown (the third above screencap for this sketch), made even funnier by Will’s delivery of it as the announcer.
— A hilarious part with G-Dog sticking an ice cream cone onto his crotch and telling Teri “Come and get it, (*bleep*)!”
— G-Dog to Teri: “You touch that mother(*bleep*)in’ dog, I’ll rip your (*bleep*)in’ head off.”
— A huge audience reaction to Teri joining G-Dog in directing bleep-filled obscenities toward Mark as the father. I also love Mark responding “Oh, double-dear!” in a classic “cheesy white TV dad” voice.
STARS: ****½


MATH COMPETITION
Arianna is left behind when Craig has an opportunity to be a real Spartan

— A calculus test is a pretty funny out-of-place setting for the Cheerleaders to do their cheers at.
— For the first time ever, a Cheerleaders sketch is telling an actual story instead of just being another tired sketch consisting of nothing but “Craig and Arianna do various cheers for a few minutes, briefly get interrupted by a character complaining to them, and then conclude the sketch by doing ‘the perfect cheer’”. I appreciate how ambitious tonight’s installment feels compared to the one-note, overly-simplistic preceding installments.
— When Craig is reminiscing about great times he had in the past with Arianna, we get a mock-dramatic slow-motion montage of clips from earlier Cheerleaders sketches. The fact that SNL had enough footage at this point to make an entire freakin’ clip show montage of Cheerleaders sketches when these characters debuted less than a season ago REALLY shows how oversaturated this season has been with Cheerleaders sketches.
— I love the bit with Teri getting a chipped tooth.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
due to his Masters choke, Greg Norman (MAM) has chosen a new nickname

— Feels rare to see Mark in a solo Weekend Update commentary.
— Despite Mark’s solid performance, his overall Greg Norman commentary was pretty forgettable.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Too Much”


SPADE IN AMERICA
host & DAS do unflattering imitations of one other

— Very interesting change of pace with Teri hosting this segment while impersonating Spade.
— Teri as Spade, regarding Weekend Update running long again: “Okay, Norm, Marion Barry smokes crack. We get it.”
— Now this gets even more fun with Spade coming on as Teri, and both of them roasting each other while acting in character as each other.
— Some really funny zingers between Teri and Spade. I’m loving this.
— Another reference to Tom Arnold’s infamous comment to Teri at that year’s Golden Globes.
STARS: ****½


THE LOCAL NEWS
(host) & NOM are guests on Joe Blow’s basement talk show

— Interesting to see Weekend Update staple Joe Blow get spun off into his own sketch, showing us his home life.
— A funny and kinda surprising moment with Darrell’s Uncle Frank character almost getting away with dropping a full n-bomb when complaining about Jim’s wannabe-gangsta character.
— After his scuffle with his son, I like Joe Blow threateningly telling him “I’ll hand you your head!” It’s Colin’s delivery of that line that cracked me up.
— I like how Norm is playing himself here, keeping the running theme of his and Joe Blow’s “rapport” from Weekend Update.
— Darrell’s Uncle Frank has a lot of funny lines throughout this sketch.
— An overall okay sketch, but I definitely prefer Joe Blow’s Update appearances. Also, they should’ve given Norm a little more to do here.
STARS: ***


FUZZY MEMORIES BY JACK HANDEY
making good on a worm-eating bet


RUMMAGE SALE
a rumble ensues when (host) stands up to Gail Lafferty’s bullying ways

— I like Teri standing up to Nancy’s Gail Lafferty.
— Funny little bit with Cheri immediately getting shoved out of the shot when trying to intervene during Teri and Nancy’s confrontation of each other.
— A great huge, wild fight between Nancy and Teri. Nice to see something like this during a live sketch, which must not be easy to pull off.
— I love Teri’s epic “Remember the Alamo, bitch!” one-liner before sending Nancy crashing through a window.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “So Much To Say”


PETCHOW
Rerun from 2/17/96


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’ve always considered this to be a very fun episode that has a lot of aspects that’s very representative of this season as a whole. And after having watched and reviewed this episode just now, I feel that opinion of mine still holds up. I like every single sketch, some of the sketches hold a nostalgia for me after my frequent viewings of this episode over the years, and there’s an atmosphere to this episode that, as I said, I find very fun. Even two of the biggest overexposed recurring sketches of the season (Mary Katherine Gallagher, Cheerleaders) had better installments than usual tonight.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Forbes)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christine Baranski

Posted on

April 15, 1995 – Courteney Cox / Dave Matthews Band (S20 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

EL ORATOR DE MOTIVACION
Matt Foley offers bilingual motivation for two latin kids (MWB) & (JAM)

— I’ve been completely burned out on Matt Foley during his last few appearances, but at least having him do a sketch where he speaks entirely in Spanish is a change of pace, even if they are basically just doing a Spanish recreation of the very first Matt Foley sketch. According to Jay in his SNL book, David Spade was even going to play the son in this sketch, as a reprise of him playing the son in the first Foley sketch, but ended up letting Jay play the role instead, because sometime right before rehearsals of this sketch, David had a perfect opportunity to score with a hot model. Goes to show you where David’s priorities are this season (even if I can’t blame him for not passing up an opportunity with a hot model).
— Farley is noticeably cracking himself up with his clumsy attempts at some of the Spanish words.
— I do like hearing the Spanish version of “van down by the river”.
— Morwenna looks like she’s trying not to crack up at Farley right now. Jay’s been stifling his laughter throughout this sketch as well, but that’s not surprising.
— One of the positives to this sketch is that Farley has thankfully toned down the AWFUL whine he kept speaking in during the last Matt Foley sketch from the George Foreman episode.
— I absolutely love that Matt Foley delivers “Live from New York…” in Spanish. I’m always a sucker for when SNL changes up the LFNYs, and I believe this is the first time LFNY has been delivered in Spanish since Gilda Radner did it in season 5’s Strother Martin episode…. and interestingly, that episode was one of the final ones of the original era, much like how tonight’s episode is one of the final ones of the early 90s era. Both episodes were also the final April episode of their respective season.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
Bruce Springsteen (ADS) joins host on-stage for “Dancing In The Dark”

— Feels kinda odd in retrospect to hear Friends being referred to as a new show.
— Fun premise with Courteney turning the tables on Bruce Springsteen by bringing him out of the audience to join her on stage.
— Kind of a thin monologue so far, but Adam is making this really fun (for season 20 standards) with his performance.
— They’re starting to go all Lou Diamond Phillips on that repeatedly-shown clip of Clarence Clemons clapping and dancing.
STARS: ***½


GOOD MORNING BROOKLYN
unlucky (CHF) receives “beating of the week”

— Unnecessary to make this tepid sketch recurring, and I certainly don’t need any reminders of the notorious Sarah Jessica Parker episode.
— A guy in the audience noticeably says an exuberant “YEAH!” after Jay tells Courteney to shut up. Make of that what you will.
— The “Please Stand By” bit fell completely flat.
— Much like in the first installment of this sketch, Adam’s entrance gets a HUGE audience reaction.
— Molly playing a character with her own first name.
— Speaking of Molly, she seems to be playing a variation of the character that Janeane Garofalo played in the first installment of this sketch, right down to wearing a similar wig.
— While this overall sketch was still weak, there was a big energy throughout it that I kinda liked, which made this installment slightly more tolerable than the first installment.
STARS: **


GAPARDY
Gap girls Kristy, Lucy, Cindy compete on a game show

— Farley and Sandler have been dominating tonight’s episode so far.
— Wow, this is the first time we’ve seen the Gap Girls in over a year. Interesting new format for these characters tonight, putting them in a Gap-themed gameshow. This idea has potential.
— The back-and-forth debate over Courteney’s eye color is going on way too long.
— Boy, what’s with Farley’s sloppily-applied blush makeup?
— Speaking of sloppy, the execution of this sketch feels sloppy (Farley even completely blanks on one of his lines at one point), though the sketch is still providing some laughs here and there.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Would You Say”


WEEKEND UPDATE
eccentric English teacher Louise Ingstrom (MOS) punctuates her commentary

— A lot of Norm’s jokes are getting a really strong audience reaction.
— Molly with her very first big character piece during her SNL tenure.
— Interesting format to Molly’s commentary with her verbalizing the punctuation of her sentences.
— Solid performance from Molly, which feels like an early glimpse of the type of performances we would regularly see from her in the upcoming new SNL era.
— An overall short but fantastic Weekend Update, helped even more by the very lively audience.
STARS: ****½


RIDE HOME
(CSE) takes advantage of teenage babysitter Melanie (MAM) in a car

— Hoo, boy. Here comes a fairly notorious sketch from this season that I’m sure will be uncomfortable to review.
— Another Kids In The Hall character that Mark is bringing to SNL. Interesting how every KITH character he’s brought to SNL so far (Darrill and Melanie) has been paired with Chris Elliott.
— My god, the skeeviness of this sketch is indeed uncomfortable. And most importantly, it’s not funny. As off-putting and disgusting as the subject matter of this sketch is, there can be a way to possibly pull it off. The controversial Canteen Boy/Scoutmaster sketch, for example, where they wrote actual funny lines throughout the sketch, alleviating the skeeviness of the sketch to some degree (your mileage definitely may vary on that, as I’m well aware that there’s quite a number of people who still find that sketch too disturbing to laugh at). The Uncle Roy sketches with Buck Henry might be a better example of a morally wrong concept being pulled off well. This Elliott/McKinney sketch, on the other hand, is hard to tell if it’s even being played for laughs. It’s coming off too realistic (yes, even with Mark in drag), and not in the admirable Marilyn Suzanne Miller slice-of-life type of way. What is this sketch going for?!?
— No idea what to say about that “I’d do it again!” ending.
— Overall, a rare misfire for Elliott. Actually, this is the second episode in a row where an oddball sketch starring him surprisingly didn’t work (Cirque du Soleil being the sketch from the preceding episode). I hope he’s not in a slump, especially since we’re in the homestretch of his short-lived SNL tenure.
— I recall SNL later doing a sketch with a very similar premise in season 30 (another really bad year for SNL), with Chris Parnell in the Chris Elliott role and Lindsay Lohan in the Mark McKinney role. That sketch, from what I remember, was also uncomfortably unfunny and played too realistically, though at least in that one, the guy’s plans to have his way with the underage girl got cut short, due to his wife (played by Maya Rudolph) showing up.
STARS: *


HIRING MANSON
offhand remark leads to hiring of Charles Manson (ADS) as office manager

 

— Hmm, an interesting premise for this season’s standards, though we’re almost a minute into this sketch and I haven’t gotten any laughs so far.
— Adam’s Charles Manson impression is cracking me up.
— Wow, this overall sketch was fairly short.
STARS: **½


COMPANY MIXER
(TIM) keeps (KEN) on the defensive by alternating truth with “jokes”

— This sketch was originally cut from both the Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger and Martin Lawrence episodes from the preceding season. In the Martin Lawrence version, Martin played Tim’s role. I definitely can’t picture that, as it’s a low-key, laid-back role that requires no spastic gestures or mugging, whereas Martin… well, you know.
— Kevin’s sudden deadpan “Yeah, I’m gonna have you fired” made me laugh.
— Pretty funny ending regarding the urinated-in punch.
STARS: ***


REPLACEMENT BASEBALL
a documentary on the scabs’ brief careers

— Right from the start, I really like this premise. This has potential to be a much better Ken Burns documentary parody than that Civil War Memories sketch from the Roseanne episode earlier this season.
— Elliott’s testimonial is really funny.
— For some reason, I love the character name Glenn Blumm.
— A lot of funny lines from the narrator, and the black-and-white photos being shown throughout this are adding to the humor.
— Wilma Jobads is another character name that’s oddly funny to me.
— I almost didn’t even recognize Morwenna (doing a convincing American accent) at first. She looks so different in every sketch she’s in. Maybe I feel that way because in all the years I’ve watched this season, I’ve never gotten used to Morwenna, due to her very brief time as a cast member.
— An overall well-done and underrated sketch.
STARS: ****


HIS MUSE FRIDAY
(host) & poetry editor (MMK) trade verse in film noir

— A huge and refreshing change of pace for the juvenile season 20. This is the type of sketch that would’ve felt right at home in SNL’s late 80s era.
— Wow, strong writing and performances here, and all the performers are nailing the 1940s style of speaking. Michael, in particular, is really in his element here, which makes you wish he was allowed to do pieces like this more often during his SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ants Marching”


MR. COOL
aloof (DAS) becomes obnoxiously cloying after a night with (host)

— Geez, Laura is just NOW making her first appearance of the night, in the final sketch. Molly, on the other hand, has gotten tons of airtime tonight. It’s like Lorne has already decided by this point of the season which of the two female featured players he would bring back next season.
— Very interesting use of David. I like the sudden turn his character takes halfway through the sketch, especially since it forces David to actually put effort and energy into a performance for once this season. He’s doing a good job here.
— Funny gaffe with David forgetting whether to call Courteney “Gumball” or “Sunshine”.
— Pretty good sketch overall.
— I believe this sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. I don’t remember the rerun version having the “Gumball/Sunshine” gaffe, and I remember David delivering his ending line in a much more serious, dramatic way instead of the comedic, exaggerated way he delivers it in the live version.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall okay episode, though the first half was kinda weak and very recurring character-heavy. However, that half of the episode also had a consistent fun energy that I liked, which caused even the Good Morning Brooklyn sketch to not make me want to rip my hair out for once. The second half of this episode, while certainly not perfect, was a lot better, and I really appreciate how it tried a lot of out-of-the-ordinary (for season 20 standards) sketch premises.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Damon Wayans)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Bob Saget