Tag: Foo Fighters

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May 19, 2012 – Mick Jagger with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck (S37 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese pursues Italian singer (Jon Hamm)

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour begins with the return of this recurring sketch.
— Ugh, I am so tired of the dumb sexual-related finger jokes this recurring sketch always has Fred’s Lawrence Welk do.
— When this episode originally aired, it wasn’t publicly confirmed beforehand that this was Kristen and Andy’s final episode. We only had rumors to go by. But as soon as I saw Jon Hamm show up as Kristen’s love interest in this cold opening (making this the second consecutive episode he’s cameod in), I knew for certain that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode.
— A funny brief appearance from Kate.
— The woman of the hour, Kristen Wiig, makes her first appearance of the night, to a huge round of applause from the audience.
— Same-old, same-old Dooneese stuff. Jon is at least fun in his performance, though.
— Hmm, Dooneese’s sisters leave early, before the conclusion of the musical number? That’s actually different.
— And now we get another change of pace, with Dooneese actually getting her man for once. For all of my criticisms of this recurring sketch in general, Dooneese getting her man was actually a nice, fitting way to officially end it (before SNL, of course, fails to resist reviving this sketch in Kristen’s season 38 hosting stint and, for some asinine reason, Paul Rudd’s season 39 hosting stint).
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host answers questions that he is frequently asked about his career

— A lot of charm from Mick Jagger in this nicely simplistic, old-school-feeling monologue.
— A nice bit of a variation of the usual “Stick around, we’ll be right back” tagline.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & fey tough-guy actor (host) blab the answers

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour continues with another recurring sketch that I will absolutely not miss seeing on a regular basis anymore.
— Bill seems to be giving his Secret Word game show host character a bit of a sillier tone in these past few Secret Word installments, mainly that goofy laugh that he’s added.
— Meh at writers James Anderson & Kent Sublette’s (or is it just Anderson who writes these sketches?) on-brand decision to have Mick’s character be a “closeted” gay actor.
— Ugh, cue all of Kristen-as-Mindy-Grayson’s constant musical numbers.
— Wait, the sketch is already over? Wow, I’m glad they actually kept this installment fairly short, and we only got one musical number from Kristen’s Grayson. Too bad they didn’t attempt to do anything different and special with Grayson to end this final Secret Word installment (before SNL, of course, brings it back in Kristen’s season 42 hosting stint), like they did with Dooneese at the end of the cold opening.
STARS: *½


KARAOKE
Mick Jagger karaoke mimicry wows all insurance conventioneers but (host)

— Well, it’s certainly nice to see an actual original sketch for once tonight.
— A pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation from Fred.
— An obvious conceit with Mick playing against type in this particular sketch about people imitating Mick Jagger’s singing style. There’s at least a pretty fun charm to the execution of this.
— Funny turn with Bobby’s horrible Mick Jagger impression still wowing the crowd.
— Good ending with Mick, while alone in the room, sadly singing a very somber version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. Also a nice touch with the screen doing an iris out on him.
STARS: ***½


LAZY SUNDAY 2
CHP & ANS rap about a trip to see the Sister Act musical

— Ah, our final Digital Short during Andy’s SNL tenure.
— The audience goes absolutely WILD when the “Lazy Sunday 2” title shows up onscreen.
— Much like how the Jon Hamm cameo in the cold opening made it official to me back at this time in 2012 that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode, I realized back in 2012 that this was indeed Andy’s final episode right from the decision to have tonight’s Digital Short be a Lazy Sunday sequel.
— Parns!
— This sequel will obviously never top or even match the original Lazy Sunday, but it’s still a fucking blast so far. Much like the original, I am absolutely loving the combo of Andy and Chris’ furious hardcore rapping, the catchy beat, the ridiculous things Andy and Chris are rapping about, and the onscreen graphics & text.
— Ooh, an awesome sudden turn halfway through this short, in which Andy and Chris stop the song and update its beat to sound more 2012-ish.
— Andy, in one lyric: “Still waitin’ on a f(*bleep*)kin’ YouTube check!”
— The final lyric of this short, delivered mostly by Andy: “On these New York streets, I honed my fake rap penmanship, that’s how it began, and that’s how I’mma finish it! (*thrusts arms at the camera before the screen cuts to black while a gunshot sound effect plays*)” I cannot think of a more perfect, epic, and poignant way to close out Andy’s final Digital Short as a cast member. This overall Lazy Sunday sequel was absolutely great, and doubles as a fantastic send-off for Andy.
STARS: ****½


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Al Sharpton (KET) muddles coverage of economic issues

— Boy, I don’t envy Kenan having such a tough act to follow. Seems like an odd choice to place this Politics Nation sketch IMMEDIATELY after that epic Lazy Sunday 2 short with nothing in between, not even a commercial break.
— More of the same from the previous installment of this sketch earlier this season, with Kenan-as-Al-Sharpton’s constant misreadings and mispronunciations, but it’s still working.
— Some decent back-and-forths between Kenan and Jason.
— A very funny random emphysema line from Kenan’s Sharpton at the end of this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Arcade Fire perform “The Last Time”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Stefon’s summer entertainment advice is characteristically off-the-mark

— Stefon’s popularity has now gotten to the point where, while Seth is in the middle of introducing Stefon’s commentary, the audience (who have been very lively all throughout this episode) starts cheering enthusiastically well before Seth even utters Stefon’s name, as they can tell Stefon’s about to appear just by what Seth’s saying early on in the intro.
— This ends up being Stefon’s final appearance before his writer, John Mulaney, leaves SNL. Stefon does continue making appearances the following season (Bill’s final season), but it’s a noticeably much smaller number of appearances, all of which require Mulaney to come back to SNL to guest write.
— Stefon: “The whole thing is hosted by crossdressing founding father Ginjamin Franklin.” Didn’t I once hear that Ginjamin Franklin was a cut-after-dress-rehearsal Will Forte-starring piece from Will’s SNL tenure?
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are his explanation of what Roaming Draggers are, his “I went to prom with her” addendum to his mention of a deep-voiced female bodybuilder, and his demonstration of Jewish Fireworks.
— Wow, not only has tonight’s Update already ended, but Seth didn’t even say his usual sign-off (“For Weekend Update, I’m Seth Meyers”), and instead simply said to us, right after Stefon’s commentary ended, “That’s Stefon! Have a great summer!” I like that change of pace.
— Another reason I’m shocked at how soon tonight’s Update ended is because I misremembered it having a Garth & Kat commentary as part of tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour. (Maybe I was getting this Update confused with the one from the episode Kristen hosts the following season.) Thank god this didn’t have a Garth & Kat commentary, plus it would’ve really dragged down what was Seth’s first decent Update in a while, after his Updates had been in a slump lately.
STARS: ***


SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AT AN OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL
grungies groove at a competition

— This is Abby’s last of many celebrity impressions over her four-year tenure, as this ends up being the last episode before her firing. At least she’s going out doing one of the more amusing impressions she’s gotten to do in a while (Jewel). Certainly better than the weak Ke$ha impression she did in a then-recent reality show sketch (America’s Next Top Empire State Of Mind Parody Artist) in which she, much like in this sketch, played one of three celebrity judges.
— Fitting casting of Mick as Steven Tyler, and he’s giving a funny performance.
— I got a good laugh from the “Hey, YOU tell me another one of my songs” bit regarding Fred’s Santana always relying on the same song.
— Bill’s Dave Matthews impression is coming off even more fun than it usually does.
— Despite all the praise I’ve been giving to Bill and the performers playing the celebrity judges, the actual main comedic body of this sketch (the dance sequences from the contestants) isn’t making me laugh at all. These dances aren’t remotely funny. Hell, not even Taran can get a laugh from me, and I’m usually always a sucker for getting to see him comically dance.
— Good gag with Fred-as-Santana’s mustache turning out to be a removable one that’s attached to his hat when he tips it. Between Fred’s pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation in the Karaoke sketch and some solid moments he’s having in this So You Think You Can Dance sketch, why oh why couldn’t this be Fred’s final episode??? He would’ve went out on an actual good note with the funny moments he’s been having in this episode, after being so badly past his prime these past few seasons. Can’t believe I still have another season to put up with him. (Then again, he does end up going out on a good note with some highlights in his actual final episode.)
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Foo Fighters perform “19th Nervous Breakdown”

host & Foo Fighters perform “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”

— I just realized an interesting coincidence: Foo Fighters have been the musical guest of Kristen’s first AND last episode as a cast member. As far as I know, the only two other cast members in SNL history who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest are, coincidentally, members of this season’s (37) cast: Bill and Vanessa. (The musical guest of Bill’s first and last episode is Kanye West, and Vanessa’s is Katy Perry.) And I’m not counting one-episode-only cast members, so don’t any of you point out that Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf technically count as cast members who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest, you smart alecks. 😉


THE CALIFORNIANS
long-lost father (host) & amnesiac (Steve Martin) slur

— This sketch has officially become recurring, joining what I call “The (*groan*) Club” (which is a large group of this era’s dreadful recurring sketches that make me type out “*groan*” at the beginning of my review of each installment.) Hopefully, the number of sketches in “The (*groan*) Club” will decrease significantly now that Kristen’s leaving, as I recall SNL cutting back big-time on recurring sketches the following season (which is just one of the things that makes that season so refreshing).
— Feels odd seeing a Californians sketch buried towards the end of an episode.
— Far less breaking in tonight’s Californians installment than the first one.
— Ugh, the usual painfully unfunny parade of “comical” California accents, mock-dramatic close-ups of performers mugging into the camera, characters crowding around a mirror to stare at themselves, and bad soap opera cliches.
— I didn’t want to laugh at Bill’s exaggerated Californian delivery of “I’m your broooooooooo, bro”, but I giggled in spite of myself.
— It’s at least nice to see Abby get her own bit in this sketch, as this ends up being her final actual sketch role.
— I got a laugh from Vanessa’s “Ay, no!” during the mock-dramatic close-up of each character saying “No way!” into the camera.
— Steve Martin out of absolutely nowhere.
— Hmm, hate to say it, but it’s kinda cringey seeing Steve do the obligatory goofy Californian accent, which is coming off way too tryhard when he does it, at least at his then-current age. (I could see 1970s Steve Martin making it somewhat funny, or at least natural.) He’s doing absolutely nothing to save this sketch, unfortunately.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Tea Party” with Jeff Beck & SNL Band


SHE’S A RAINBOW / GOODNIGHTS
cast members & LOM dance with departing KRW to “She’s a Rainbow”

CHK, AMP, RAD, CHP, WLF sing “Ruby Tuesday” with cast members & others

— Well, folks…….this is it. The very special send-off of Kristen Wiig.
— You can tell from the look on Kristen’s face as soon as she joins Mick onstage how emotional it’s going to be for her to get through this piece. Man, just looking at her genuinely emotional facial expression is putting a lump in my throat right now. As I said in some earlier episode reviews, a byproduct of doing this SNL project on a daily basis is that it causes me to develop a certain attachment and a (albeit one-sided) connection to the respective casts I review, even casts and individual cast members who I have some issues with. And Lord knows I’ve had my share of issues with Kristen during the later years of her SNL tenure, though my issues are far more with how SNL mis-utilized and over-utilized her.
— Interesting visual of Kristen dancing with each of her castmates. It’s a novelty seeing what Kristen’s real-life dynamic with her castmates is like, since it feels like we’ve rarely seen Kristen act as herself on camera during her SNL tenure. It’s always been hard for me to get a bead on what her real-life personality is during her SNL tenure.
— Aww, Bobby. Talk about putting a lump in my throat. Poor Bobby is clearly fighting back a lot of tears during and after his dance with Kristen.
— The decision to have Kristen’s generally-overshadowed and often-reduced-to-playing-second-fiddle-to-her female castmates grouped together (instead of each having their own moment with Kristen one-by-one, like each of Kristen’s male castmates are getting) and circling around Kristen all feels sadly fitting in a (bad) way. Seeing Kate among those women just feels odd, though, for various obvious reasons. Seeing Abby among those women just feels depressing, given what we now know of her SNL future (or lack thereof).
— A fun silly dance that Kristen and Seth do together, again showing the different dynamic Kristen has with each of her individual castmates.
— Much like Bobby, Jason is visibly choked up during and after his dance with Kristen. I remember some SNL fans at the time wondered if Jason’s emotions here were partly due to the fact that he himself may possibly be leaving the show, which was rumored at the time. (He ends up returning one more season, though it apparently took him a long time to come to that decision.) There was also a lot of disappointment among those SNL fans over the possibility of this being Jason’s last episode, because he got next-to-nothing to do tonight, and his only actual sketch appearance had him in a dull, completely forgettable straight man role. Even when introducing Mick Jagger’s second musical performance, Jason did it in such an overly serious, almost somber manner, as if he wasn’t in a very good mood, or was dreading how tough and emotional he knew it would be for him to get through the Wiig farewell piece coming up later in the show. I’m sure I’m looking too much into that, though.
— As more apparent signs that Andy’s leaving with Kristen, 1) he gets the special honor of playing the piano (no idea if he’s actually playing or not, though) next to Mick and Arcade Fire during this Wiig farewell piece instead of playing one of Kristen’s fellow “graduates” like the rest of the cast is, and 2) he gets the honor of being the final cast member who Kristen dances with here.
— Wow, when the “She’s a Rainbow” song transitions into the more upbeat “Ruby Tuesday”, former cast members Chris Kattan (who, with that hairstyle, I initially thought was future cast member Beck Bennett, until I realized that would be impossible), Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Chris Parnell can suddenly be seen joining the celebration. I could swear I had remembered Will Forte (who would’ve been making a cameo for the second consecutive episode, much like Jon Hamm) being among those former cast members who show up here, but during my current viewing, I can’t spot Will anywhere. Was I misremembering his appearance, or is he there and I’m just having a hard time finding him onstage?
— Interesting segue into Mick giving the goodnights speech that hosts typically give, while this special Kristen Wiig celebration is still going on.
— I love that the Wiig celebration and singing of “Ruby Tuesday” continues as the ending credits roll. I’m always a sucker for special goodnights where SNL does something out of the ordinary for it.
— Overall, well, what a farewell. I feel like I should take some issues with it, like I’ve seen some online SNL fans take over how overly sentimental it was and how it (especially the decision to have Lorne himself come out and dance with Kristen) supposedly overinflated the importance that Kristen had to SNL. Maybe I’m starting to become a softy at my ripe old current age of 36, or maybe it’s because of that aforementioned attachment that doing this SNL project makes me develop towards cast members I have to watch and review on a daily basis, even cast members I have issues with, or maybe I’m just always biased towards whenever SNL does something special and meta for the final segment of a season finale, but, aside from the part with Kristen’s female castmates, I actually liked this Wiig farewell. That’s all I can really say, as simplistic as it sounds. I can’t find any detailed, persuasive ways to defend this Wiig farewell piece more than all the stuff I said above, but, yep, I…I liked it.
STARS: N/A (not sure this warrants a rating, and even if it does, I wouldn’t quite know what to give it)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Definitely a special-feeling episode, particularly the two big sendoff pieces (Lazy Sunday 2 and She’s a Rainbow) for our departing veterans. Having the usual show-stealing Stefon commentary on Weekend Update also added to the episode’s big atmosphere. And I love how the special musical performances Mick Jagger did with various famous groups/artists added even further to the big, unique, exciting feel of this episode. A lot of the normal live sketches, however, including the cold opening, were weak, with the only exceptions being Karaoke and Politics Nation. Mick Jagger was a fun and likable host in this episode. Makes it kinda hard for me to believe John Mulaney’s claim that Mick was a grouch behind the scenes all week, but I guess maybe that was something Mick was able to switch off whenever he was on camera.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lazy Sunday 2
Monologue
Karaoke
Weekend Update
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
So You Think You Can Dance At An Outdoor Music Festival
The Lawrence Welk Show
Secret Word
The Californians


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Will Ferrell)
about the same


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

 


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2010-11)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 38 begins, with host Seth MacFarlane and three new additions to the cast

Posted on

April 9, 2011 – Helen Mirren / Foo Fighters (S36 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Barack Obama (FRA) lists compromises made to avoid government shutdown

— (*groan*) A Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening.
— Fred’s Obama: “Fans of Saturday Night Live are unhappy. They tuned in expecting to see the show, and instead got this presidential address.” Uh, no. Fans of Saturday Night Live are unhappy because we tuned in expecting to see something funny, and instead got yet another lame-ass Fredbama-gives-a-speech snoozefest.
— Overall, as no surprise, there wasn’t a single laugh from me during this.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
host is “Nothing Like A Dame,” sing sailors BOM, KET, ANS, PAB, TAK, BIH

— Helen Mirren, on her worries about hosting SNL: “I was afraid they’d make me play a queen in every sketch…but they did that last week with Elton John.”
— Oh, no. This turns into YET ANOTHER season 36 musical monologue, further proving a point I recently made that this season is unable to go more than three episodes without a musical monologue. Much like the preceding season’s Gabourey Sidibe episode, tonight’s episode is starting off with two of my least favorite tropes of this era: a Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening and a song-and-dance monologue. Having those two air back-to-back is always such a poor way for an episode to kick off (and for me, the Sidibe episode never fully recovered from that bad start).
— Andy’s “Can ya blame me?” line was the closest I’ve come to laughing during this boring and corny musical number.
STARS: *½


MORT MORT FEINGOLD: ACCOUNTANT FOR THE STARS
Mort Mort Feingold prepares income tax returns for various celebrities

— The second and final appearance of this sketch, and, much like its first appearance, its appearance tonight is around Tax Day, for obvious reasons. It seems they were trying to make this sketch an annual Tax Day tradition, but the following season, which is Andy’s final season as a cast member, has no Mort Mort Feingold sketch airing around Tax Day or any other point of that season.
— I love Andy-as-Mort-Mort’s “I walked into THAT one!” line when the Kardashians respond to him telling them they’re in the black by saying “Usually, it’s the other way around.”
— This is Jay’s first live appearance in THREE episodes, as well as his first actual speaking role in three episodes. And even this small Will Smith scene in this sketch ends up being Jay’s only live appearance all night. His airtime has taken a hit lately. (IIRC, you can see him looking genuinely unhappy in the goodnights of the preceding Elton John episode, because he got no airtime whatsoever that night.)
— Interesting to see the underused Paul Brittain getting the opportunity to play dual roles in this sketch, with him playing James Franco early on, then humorously popping up as Johnny Depp later on.
— Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, god. Are you kidding me, SNL?!? The fourth consecutive episode with Fred’s wretched Moammar Khadafy (however it’s spelled) appearing?!? Get this the FUCK off my screen.
— The Khadafy scene was a poor way to end this sketch. Not to mention the fact that it was basically a rehash of the Mel Gibson scene from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***


HELEN MIRREN’S MAGICAL BOSOM
host’s breasts transport NAP to nirvana

— Feels nice and rare to see Nasim starring in a Digital Short, especially when playing herself.
— I love the turn during Nasim and Helen’s friendly conversation, with Nasim suddenly asking Helen, in a hesitant, dramatic manner, “Can I touch ’em?”
— So many hilarious “dreamy” stock footage visuals playing on the screen while Nasim is holding onto Helen’s breasts.
— Funny ending with Kristen.
STARS: ****


FOX & FRIENDS
misinformed scaremongering fuels anti-Obama sentiment

— Ah, the debut of these well-liked Killam/Bayer/Moynihan-starring Fox & Friends sketches.
— Very funny running bit regarding Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade and the word “eclectic”.
— I love the interplay between Taran, Vanessa, and Bobby throughout this sketch.
— Just about every line out of Bobby’s mouth is hilarious.
— What’s with Helen’s delivery? I know she’s playing a crazy character, but even for that, her delivery genuinely seems too off.
— With this being the first Fox & Friends sketch, we get our first instance of the sketch-ending screen crawl of fact corrections, which would become a staple of these sketches. I can’t read any of the fact corrections during my current viewing, due to how quickly they’re being scrolled, but I’ll be sure to show you readers a few screencaps of them (seen in the last three above screencaps for this sketch).
STARS: ****


MARY SHELLEY
Mary Shelley’s (host) landlord Frank Stein (FRA) inspired novel’s monster

— I don’t care for that dopey nasal voice Fred’s using for his Frankenstein characterization, as he previously used a similar dopey nasal voice in too many characterizations, including that awful Wizard Of Oz sketch he starred in earlier this season.
— I’m finding a “So bad, it’s good” quality to Fred’s occasional “AAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!” yells as he waves his arms in the air.
— Something seems a little off about Paul’s performance during his brief appearance as Igor.
— A very funny and simple “And she didn’t” ending.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rope”


WEEKEND UPDATE
James Carville (BIH) recalls the federal government shutdown of 1995

airborne plane disintegration is still affecting flight attendant (KRW)

Jean K. Jean does stand-up about artisanal cheeses, mimes, Belgian girls

— The usual good laughs from Bill’s James Carville, especially his detailing of the prank he’ll pull on John Boehner.
— Blah, it feels like Kristen’s been doing an Update commentary as a one-off character every two episodes lately. Every single Update these past few months of this season seem to have either a Kristen-as-a-one-off-character commentary or a Fred-as-a-Middle-Eastern-leader commentary, the latter of which is especially tired and irksome.
— Not sure what to say about Kristen’s commentary. There’s some chuckles from me, but I didn’t care for that one part with her screaming downward for almost 10 seconds straight when demonstrating how fast the plane descended.
— This is Jean K. Jean’s first appearance in over a year. Probably a good thing they’re starting to spread his appearances farther apart, so he doesn’t get too old.
— Jean K. Jean continues to be amusing, but I’m not finding myself laughing quite as much as I usually do at his commentaries. Even after the year-long hiatus, this character is slowly starting to run out of steam.
STARS: ***


THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS WITH HUGH JACKMAN
Hugh Jackman (ANS) greets celebs with two sides

— Normally, I’d groan at the appearance of yet another new celebrity-hosted talk show sketch, but the concept of this particular one has a promising and unusual concept.
— Fun performance from Taran as Gerard Butler.
— I’m enjoying the various mish-mashes of manly guy tropes and soft guy tropes.
— I love Kenan’s Ice Cube starting his interview by saying, after looking around uncomfortably, a deadpan “I already hate this.”
— A pretty solid visual effect during the murdering of Bobby’s character.
— For some reason, Andy occasionally cracks up out of character at certain points of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


CRUNK-ASS EASTER FESTIVAL
Under-Underground’s Easter festival resurrects music & danger

— Good to see another installment of this.
— My biggest laughs from the festival events mentioned here are from the female Gremlin appearance, stand-up comedy from the Menendez Brothers, and the bit with the Chilean Miners being put back into the mine.
STARS: ****


THE ROOSEVELTS
another historically-bogus miniseries hits Reelz Channel

— A funny Hitler voice from Taran.
— For obvious reasons, the whole scene with Abby’s Marilyn Monroe is probably the most (or only?) remembered part of this sketch among certain viewers.
— I love Paul sternly pointing out that, in real life, Marilyn Monroe was only five years old at the time that the scene with her and Eleanor Roosevelt passionately making out with each other took place.
— I’m finding Fred fairly funny as the immature, sleazy director.
— Pretty funny scene with Kenan randomly playing Teddy Roosevelt.
— An odd gaffe where, right before the brief scene with Helen’s Eleanor Roosevelt making a phone call while topless, the camera stays on Paul for an uncomfortably long time after he finishes one of his lines. I remember I happened to have my TV’s closed-captioning on when I watched this episode the night it originally aired, and their captioning of Paul’s line right before the gaffe with the camera staying on him too long included the word “naked” at the end of his sentence, which he didn’t actually say. I’m guessing he was supposed to say it, but forgot, which would explain why the camera stayed on him so uncomfortably long. I generally like Paul, but yeah, with this and his awkward performance in the Mary Shelley sketch earlier tonight, I’m still seeing occasional signs of greenness from him.
— The aforementioned “Eleanor Roosevelt making a phone call while topless” scene fell flat, and was a poor way to end this sketch.
STARS: ***


PERSPECTIVES PHOTO STUDIOS
Perspectives augments your penis for purposes of sexting

— A pretty funny and timely concept.
— Some pretty good laughs from the demonstrations of various camera angle tricks Perspectives Photo Studios can do to make your penis look bigger.
— I love Bobby’s brief scene as the confident overweight body double.
— A rare and random Seth Meyers post-2006 non-Weekend Update appearance, for the second time in these past three episodes.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Walk”


BONGO’S CLOWN ROOM
retiring strip club deejay Tommy (JAS) intros hardly-sexy female dancers

— I absolutely love Jason’s raspy character voice in this.
— Jason: “Phoenix is in her third year of an online podiatry degree……..It’s a one-year program!”
— A very slow-paced sketch, but that’s not a complaint, as Jason’s great delivery, character voice, and funny lines are definitely making this work. I’m enjoying this a lot.
— A funny bit with the odd, allegedly-sexy way Nasim cleans the stripper pole.
— I like Jason’s mention of this strip club recently having had a drug bust that turned into a swordfight.
— Yet another Jason Sudeikis-starring sketch that mentions Jason’s real-life hometown of Kansas City.
— Jason, on the oldest stripper at this club: “She’s been here since the place opened in 1970…and she’s got the bush to prove it!”
— Great involvement of Dave Grohl at the end, who’s always fun to see pop up in a sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A better episode than I remembered. (By the way, “Better than I remembered” should be the motto of most episodes from seasons 35 and 36, even if these two seasons still have too much of a certain blandness to them.) Despite a horrible start with the cold opening and monologue, most of the remainder of this episode was enjoyable, and there were several strong pieces.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Fox & Friends
Bongo’s Clown Room
Helen Mirren’s Magical Bosom
Crunk-Ass Easter Festival
Perspectives Photo Studios
The Best Of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman
Mort Mort Feingold: Accountant For The Stars
The Roosevelts
Weekend Update
Mary Shelley
Monologue
Presidential Address


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elton John)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tina Fey

Posted on

October 13, 2007 – Jon Bon Jovi / Foo Fighters (S33 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AMY POEHLER’S HOUSE
21 years ago in teenage AMP’s bedroom, host counsels her about the future

— Hmm, “Amy Poehler’s House, 1986”? Well, THIS is certainly going to be a different and interesting cold opening. I absolutely LOVE this huge change of pace.
— Great touch with Teenage Amy Poehler speaking in a Boston accent.
— Charming interplay between Amy and Jon Bon Jovi.
— When being told she’ll be an SNL cast member 20 years from now, Teenage Amy should’ve been more surprised to hear that SNL would even still be on the air 20 years later, especially since 1) SNL had only been on the air for 11 calendar years by this point in 1986, and I’m not sure if many people in ’86 could’ve predicted the show would go on to reach 31 years on the air (let alone 45 years), and 2) the date that this sketch is set in (October 13, 1986) is just two days after season 12 of SNL premiered (I’d love to think Teenage Amy Poehler watched it that night), and it wasn’t known at the time yet if the then-revamped SNL was going to save the show from cancellation after the troubled season 11.
— Amy’s confusion over why Jon Bon Jovi would ever host SNL is really funny.
— Another SNL piece where Amy gets in a self-deprecating dig at her own small chest size, this time by asking Jon Bon Jovi “Will I ever get boobs?”
— Good set-up to the rest of this episode, with Jon telling Amy the next time she’ll see him will be on October 13, 2007 (the airdate of this episode).
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
Richie Sambora [real] & other audience members want host to sing

Bon Jovi [real] performs “Lost Highway”

— Liz Cackowski makes her way into yet another questions-from-the-audience monologue, despite not even being an SNL writer anymore by this point. She left the writing staff two seasons prior. So what in the world is she doing here? Was she just hanging around backstage this week with Akiva Schaffer, her future husband (or were they already married by this point?)?
— Another dig tonight at how odd it is that Jon Bon Jovi is hosting.
— Steve Higgins gets in his usual laughs that he always gets in these questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Wow, what the fuck happened just now? Why did Richie Sambora completely and awkwardly blank on one of his lines with that big ol’ goofy smile on his face, forcing Jon to eventually feed him his line?
— This monologue transitions to the host walking over to the musical guest stage and doing a full-fledged musical performance, much like a few other monologues from double-duty hosts (e.g. M.C. Hammer, Sting in his first hosting stint).
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


OHHHHH!
game show elicits New Jerseyites’ (FRA), (host), (DAH) outbursts

— A fairly okay way to utilize this particular SNL cast’s penchant for saying “Ohhh!” when playing wiseguy New Jerseyites, even if this is far from a memorable game show sketch. I’ll still take this over another Same-Sex Couple From New Jersey appearance on Weekend Update.
— Fred’s delivery of his first answer was hilarious.
— Darrell manages to work his Tony Soprano impression into another sketch.
— Jon’s timing seems kinda off during his spiel just now.
— A pretty good laugh from the contestants not seeing what the problem is with being serviced by a hooker on their wife’s birthday.
— Interesting use of Kristen.
STARS: ***


A VISIT WITH FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE
Nobel recipient Al Gore (DAH) shows off the contents of his trophy room

— Darrell’s microphone isn’t turned on when he starts speaking at the beginning of this, rendering his first line inaudible. Am I watching a repeat of the Jeremy Piven episode?
— What was with the awkwardness of how Darrell put away the Nobel Peace Prize?
— Ugh, I hate the running gag in this sketch, with Darrell’s Al Gore constantly namedropping (or titledropping) An Inconvenient Truth. This is pure COMEDY DEATH. Even the audience has stopped laughing at it by this point, halfway through the sketch. It’s just plain uncomfortable hearing their laughter towards the repetitive An Inconvenient Truth gag gradually die off to the point where you can hear a pin drop in the studio.
— An actual laugh from the Tony award that Darrell’s Gore displays turning out to be his wife Tipper’s Tony award for the Vagina Monologues.
— There’s some scattered funny parts here and there, but, man, so many parts of this sketch are dragging HORRIBLY. It’s too bad, because I’m liking Darrell’s loose, laid-back demeanor here. Between his likable performances as Fred Thompson and Lou Dobbs in the preceding episode, and his fun performance tonight as Al Gore, Darrell seems to have had some new life injected into him lately. Too bad I know it doesn’t last, and he eventually goes back to being his usual sluggish-performing, aloof, unhappy-looking, out-of-place, barely-appearing, “Why is he still on the show after so many years?” self that he is in these later seasons of his SNL tenure.
STARS: *½


PEOPLE GETTING PUNCHED JUST BEFORE EATING
ANS slugs hungry folks

— Already a hilarious and fun concept. This kind of dumb random humor is right up my alley, and very few are better than Lonely Island at executing this type of humor. Feels like a more elaborate variation of the “Andy Popping Into Frame” Digital Short that Lonely Island did the preceding season.
— Very catchy simplistic background music.
— A particularly funny “Double Punched!” bit with Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl. And it’s always nice to see Grohl get involved in a comedy bit on SNL.
— Jon Bon Jovi getting a “Jovi Punch!” was funny, but I don’t like how he made a “Full Recovery!” afterwards. I get the really bad feeling Jon himself demanded that “Full Recovery!” part be put in, because, with his huge ego, he probably refused to do a scene where he gets punched out WITHOUT him coming out on top in the end. Ugh.
— An absolutely hilarious fake-out with an about-to-eat Jason suddenly pulling out a cellphone right when he was about to get punched by Andy, causing Andy to halt mid-punch, then panickedly do a 180 and run back out of the scene.
— I love the running bit with Will throughout this, especially how it ends with the dark “Murder!” bit.
— Hmm, a very random (even for this already-random short’s standards) but interesting turn with the zombie chase sequence. Only the Lonely Island could make me like a turn that questionable.
STARS: ****½


POSTSEASON 07
for some reason, Dane Cook (JAS) promotes American League pennant series

— An absolutely perfect Dane Cook impression from Jason. Freakin’ spot-on. It helps that Jason already has a natural facial resemblance to Cook, but he’s nailing all of Cook’s mannerisms, delivery, and comedic style here, and is accurately parodying so many of the things I find so annoying about Cook.
— An overall very brief sketch, but I know in hindsight we’ll be getting a continuation of it later tonight.
STARS: ***½


LA RIVISTA DELLA TELEVISIONE CON VINNY VEDECCI
cultural misunderstandings baffle host

— Not a very entertaining reaction from Jon Bon Jovi when finding out Bill’s Vinny Vedecci is going to interview him in Italian dialect, compared to the on-point reactions that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and even the overly-hammy Zach Braff had to that in previous installments of this sketch.
— Another instance of Vinny Vedecci doing a fun, out-of-character celebrity impression, this time doing Steven Van Zandt. We also get the addition of Fred’s producer character doing an out-of-character Paulie Walnuts impression that we saw Fred do before in a Sopranos sketch. Quite a number of Sopranos references in tonight’s episode, by the way, between the “Ohhhhh!” sketch and this.
— A hilarious part with the cigarettes-for-kids commercial, complete with the Bon Jovi song “Blaze Of Glory” being played over it.
— I like the bit with the steel horse.
— I’m not caring for Jon’s straight man performance AT ALL here. Something is off-putting to me about his performance in this sketch. I wonder if part of it is that arrogance and ego of his that I complained about earlier. (Can you tell I haven’t been liking him as a host tonight?)
— Good turn at the end with Jon calling Vinny out on his fake Italian, resulting in a very “Uh-oh”-type silent pause from Vinny, Fred’s producer character, and even Will’s non-speaking spaghetti-eating character. I remember some online SNL fans back at this time in 2007 took that as a sign that this was going to be the final Vinny Vedecci sketch, given the fact that Jon calling Vinny and the others out on their fake Italian would’ve been a fitting way to conclude this series of sketches. As we know now, this ended up being FAR from the last installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE
ahead of the writers’ strike, scab-to-be Rosa Santiago (MAR) tells jokes

naked guy using a cellphone (ANS) walks onto the Weekend Update set

political comedian Nicholas Fehn (FRA) can’t formulate a thought

— Wow, I cannot remember the last time prior to this where Weekend Update aired BEFORE the musical guest’s first performance. It may have been way back in season 28. I think tonight’s episode also may be the last time this has happened to this day in 2020, but then again, I can’t say for sure, as I have yet to see any episodes from December 2018-May 2020.
— Another so-called “funny”-voiced foreign-accented Maya Rudolph character.
— Maya’s Spanish janitor character here feels like a variation of someone Maya once played in an Update commentary very early in her SNL tenure: a Spanish maid of Linda Chavez’s. The fact that that was early in Maya’s SNL tenure, and her similar character in tonight’s Update is in her second-to-last episode, gives her SNL tenure a bit of a full-circle feel.
— Good ad-lib from Maya in reaction to the loose desktop her hands are resting on.
— Maya’s foreign-accented delivery is actually so goofy and over-the-top that it’s gone from kinda annoying me to actually making me laugh in spite of myself. I’m actually starting to enjoy this commentary of Maya’s, and find her character kinda charming.
— An okay brief bit with Andy as the naked guy who made headlines that week for walking nude into a Tad’s Steaks.
— The audience’s reactions to a lot of Amy’s jokes tonight are noticeably fairly mild.
— The debut of Fred’s Nicolas Fehn character.
— This inaugural Nicolas Fehn commentary has me laughing so much, and Fred is doing such a great skewering of “deep” political humorists. Unfortunately, SNL would later go on to run this character INTO THE FUCKING GROUND. He appears, like, 10 times within this and the following season. This probably would’ve been much better off being left as a one-and-done character. His subsequent appearances after tonight’s episode would have him just repeat the exact same bit every single time, which doesn’t work anywhere near as well on repetition.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Pretender”


WHERE’S MY PURSE?
during an alien attack, lost purse preoccupies spaceship captain (KRW)

— A dumb, questionable premise for a sketch.
— I’m about halfway through this sketch, and I have yet to get a single laugh.
— Another sketch this season that feels like an early precursor to badly-written Kristen Wiig-starring sketches that we’ll be seeing on a regular basis from seasons 34-37, even if Kristen’s character in this particular sketch is nowhere near as annoying, muggy, or twitchy as a lot of her badly-written characters from seasons 34-37 would be. Speaking of which, something about Kristen’s characterization in this sketch strangely feels kinda Carol Burnett-esque to me.
— Why in the world did some audience members randomly applaud when Bill, in a bit role, got shot by one of the aliens?
— Kenan makes his first appearance all night in a bit role where he gives a loud, kinda annoying, very hammy performance that feels too out of place in this lethargic, lifeless, dreary sketch, almost as if he’s intentionally overacting due to being upset over his lack of airtime tonight. (I doubt that’s the case, though. I only said it because the thought of it amuses me.)
— (*sigh*) Absolutely NOTHING about this sketch is working for me. Even something about the general aura of it feels “off” (like I said earlier, it feels dreary and lifeless, aside from Kenan’s out-of-place hammy, broad performance). Please end this sketch already, SNL.
STARS: *


POSTSEASON 07
Dane Cook (JAS) puts his stamp on National League pennant series promo

— Jason’s Dane Cook impression continues to crack me up.
— Some more funny lines from Jason’s Cook in this continuation of the first Postseason piece from earlier tonight. I especially like his self-aware “Spider-Man reference” remark.
STARS: ***½


NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL ON NBC
NBC is the proud home for broadcasts of Notre Dame’s awful football team

This fake ad is missing from the copy I’m reviewing of this episode. I think the reason is because this fake ad was aired in the middle of a VERY LONG commercial break, and, because of how short this fake ad was and how the only visuals in it was stock footage of college football games, whoever recorded the copy I’m reviewing of this episode must’ve mistaken this fake ad for a real one. If you’re curious to see my thoughts on this fake ad, read it here in my original 2007 review that I wrote way back when this episode originally aired.


WHAT TO CALL THE BAND
in 1984, host’s new band is skeptical of his eponymous naming idea

— A fairly likable, realistic premise.
— I’m enjoying Jason’s frustrated straight man performance.
— Meh, this sketch is now getting a little too repetitive and thin for my likes.
— A laugh from Jon not even knowing the name of his two bandmates played by Andy and Will.
STARS: **


ICONOCLASTS
Bjork (KRW) & Charles Barkley (KET) visit Cheesecake Factory

— The debut of Kenan’s Charles Barkley impression.
— A rare instance in Kenan’s early seasons of him actually putting effort into sounding like a celebrity he’s playing.
— Hilarious idea of Bjork and Charles Barkley being paired together in an Iconoclasts episode.
— Kristen’s Bjork impression is consistently cracking me up here, but what’s REALLY making this sketch for me is Kenan’s priceless Barkley. Every single thing coming out of his mouth is a riot, especially him telling Bjork “Damn, you are like Dennis Rodman if he was a tiny white lady” and him constantly calling Bjork “Bork”.
— Very strong sketch overall. I remember back when this episode originally aired, I assumed Iconoclasts was going to become a recurring sketch, with a different pair of quirky, mismatched celebrities in each installment, but we end up never seeing this sketch return.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS
Jack Nicholson [real] introduces Bon Jovi [real]

Bon Jovi [real] performs “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”

— Holy hell, Jack Motherfucking Nicholson??? Randomly appearing at the goodnights??? Introducing a Bon Jovi musical performance??? Uh, wow. Oh, and how the hell is this only Jack’s second and final appearance in a regular SNL episode (the 40th Anniversary Special doesn’t count), neither of which were hosting stints?
— An uncommon instance of the goodnights being a musical performance. Because, apparently, SNL needs to stroke Jon Bon Jovi’s ego EVER FURTHER tonight by giving him and his band a second musical performance. Meanwhile, tonight’s ACTUAL CREDITED MUSICAL GUEST and SNL favorites, Foo Fighters, only got one measly performance in this entire episode. I remember how much this pissed off a number of online SNL fans back in 2007.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Even though it feels like I gave out a decent number of good ratings in this review, I don’t feel too crazy about the episode as a whole. Maybe because what was bad in this episode was REEEAAALLLLY bad, like most of that Al Gore piece and all of that wretched Where’s My Purse dreck. Another big problem I have with this episode is Jon Bon Jovi himself. Aside from the cold opening, I got an unlikable, arrogant, egotistical vibe from him all night, and he was about as “funny” a sketch performer as one would expect him to be.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Seth Rogen)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The final episode before a writers’ strike puts SNL on a four-month hiatus. Brian Williams hosts, and Maya Rudolph gets her last hurrah before officially leaving the show prior to SNL’s return from the writers’ strike.

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November 12, 2005 – Jason Lee / Foo Fighters (S31 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS
sweaty Scott McClellan (JAS) & chary Nancy Pelosi (AMP) are mum

— This ends up being the final traditional installment of Hardball. The only two remaining Hardball sketches, both of which appear the following season, use a very different format.
— Ugh, I am so tired of Darrell-as-Chris-Matthews’ habit of making similes to a random celebrity.
— Darrell is stumbly as hell in this sketch so far. Second episode in a row I’ve noticed that in, as he also stumbled his way through the O’Reilly Factor sketch in the preceding episode.
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from Darrell-as-Matthews’ simile about Caroline Rhea, which I hate to admit to laughing at, given how crass and immature the line was.
— Sudeikis continues to be come off so solid and experienced for someone who’s so new in the cast.
— A laugh from Amy-as-Nancy-Pelosi’s line about democrats handling their ideas by recording them on a tape, putting that tape in a box, then putting that box in the garbage.
— The dialogue for Will’s Zell Miller has thankfully gotten better than the dialogue written for him in his last two appearances before this, where the writers relied too much on the strength of Will’s great yelling without giving him any actual good dialogue.
— Several parts of this cold opening feel too dead for a Hardball sketch. Honestly, I’m not sorry to see this sketch go away for a while after this installment. Lately, this sketch has been in need of a shakeup, so I’m happy that the next two installments are so different from what these Hardball sketches usually are.
— I like that they let Will’s Zell Miller say “Live from New York…” this time, as his typical shouting is perfect for a LFNY instead of Darrell’s typical boring-ass low-energy LFNYs as Chris Matthews in these Hardball cold openings.
STARS: **½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Kristen Wiig has been added to the cast.

— Around this point of the season, SNL has begun a very short-lived experiment in which they have Don Pardo tape his announcements from home, typically only recording the announcements of each week’s musical guest and host while SNL uses stock audio of Don announcing the cast (this short-lived experiment would go on to become a regular thing starting in season 36 and would last for the rest of Don’s life). That’s VERY noticeable tonight, because when announcing Kristen Wiig, who happens to be the last cast member seen in this opening montage and is a cast member who’s name SNL obviously didn’t already have stock audio of Don announcing since this is her first episode, Don’s voice abruptly changes to a COMPLETELY different pitch and COMPLETELY different energy (very low enthusiasm), and it remains that way for the rest of tonight’s montage when he’s announcing the musical guest and host. The difference in Don’s pitch and energy is jarring. SNL would fix this in the following episode by having Don tape a new announcement of Kristen Wiig’s name that matches the pitch and energy of his stock audio announcements of the rest of the cast.


MONOLOGUE
host goes skateboarding with FRA, ANS, KET, FIM, HOS, LOM in NYC

— Some decent laughs from the cast’s various skateboarding mishaps, even if the gags seem very basic and simplistic.
— A predictable but funny gag with “Lorne” (obviously a stunt double) skateboarding expertly.
STARS: ***


J.J. CASUALS
laid-back Jack Johnson’s (ANS) J.J. Casuals are shoes that look like feet

— A dumb premise, but it’s actually working very well. There’s a silly charm to this that I love, and Andy Samberg (the king of silly charm) is perfect for this.
— Catchy commercial jingle.
STARS: ****


GOOD MORNING METH
hyper methamphetamine addicts’ TV show runs all day

— Is that Amy and Will singing the theme music?
— Right out of the gate, Jason Lee’s performance as an overeager, shaky, strung-out meth addict is cracking me up.
— Fantastic look for Amy’s meth addict character.
— Kenan’s wearing a wig that strongly resembles his hair on the Nickelodeon series Kenan & Kel.
— Lots of very fun performances and silly lines all throughout this sketch.
— Bill is wearing the same sweater that Chris Farley wore in the How Much Ya Bench sketch from the Emilio Estevez episode in season 19 (side-by-side comparison below).

 

— Bill’s delivery of “I rule this town!” slayed me.
— Kenan’s delivery of “Bokay” instead of “Okay” (a line previously used in a James Anderson-written Gays In Space sketch, and would also later be somewhat of a staple of James Anderson-written Deep House Dish sketches), and the fact that his character was introduced by Jason Lee as doing meth for “gay reasons”, both make me wonder if James Anderson wrote (or co-wrote) this sketch.
— I don’t understand the ending with the house randomly blowing up, but it made me laugh anyway because it fits the odd nature of this general sketch.
— An overall fun and solid sketch. If this was indeed written (or co-written) by James Anderson, then I find this to be much better than his usual work.
STARS: ****


THE FALCONER
Donald accepts indecent proposal from land developer (host)

— I love Donald’s question to The Falconer (delivered in squawks, of course) about if the massage The Falconer is going to give him will include a “happy ending”.
— In a gaffe, Lee mistakenly calls The Falconer “dickhead” instead of “dickweed”, then mutters a cut-off “Shit” under his breath when realizing his mistake, then corrects himself by awkwardly saying “di– dickweed”. Will then makes a fantastic ad-lib: “First of all, ask any of my friends and they will tell you I am neither dickweed nor dickhead.”
— A very funny Indecent Proposal turn this sketch takes.
— The nasty lovemaking montage between Lee and Donald is absolutely priceless, making this Falconer sketch even better than typical installments, which is certainly saying something.
STARS: *****


THOMAS & DOBBINS
Thomas & Dobbins offers flimsy money management for low income brackets

— Nice to see the underused Finesse playing a commercial spokesman for once.
— I love the random detail of Amy’s character having the name Kim Barefoot. Between the J.J. Casuals commercial (which included Amy as one of the shoe wearers), Amy being barefoot in the Good Morning Meth sketch, and now Amy’s character in this commercial having the last name Barefoot, there’s definitely some kind of theme going on in tonight’s episode.
— A funny passing mention from Amy of “the Beanie Baby crash of 1996”.
— An overall okay commercial.
STARS: ***


THE SOAKING WET KILLER
too-helpful couple (JAS) & (KRW) naively abets escaped murderer (host)

— Right out of the gate in her very first appearance, Kristen Wiig is coming off strangely comforting in her very convincing performance as a typical corny suburban housewife, and she seems very comfortable. Already a very promising sign from her. You’d never guess this is her very first SNL appearance. I remember one online SNL fan, back when this episode originally aired, made a prediction based on Kristen’s performances in tonight’s episode that Kristen will be a Julia Sweeney-type cast member. That certainly feels odd to look back on, given how we now know Kristen’s SNL tenure would turn out.
— I like how Kristen’s very first appearance has her paired with the also-somewhat-new Sudeikis, and how they’re the only two SNL cast members in this. I recall an online SNL fan back at this time (not the same online SNL fan mentioned above) asking in a very puzzled manner “Who the hell were those two cast members in the Soaking Wet Killer sketch???”
— A lot of laughs from Kristen and Sudeikis naively giving who they don’t know is the Soaking Wet Killer access to so many things they shouldn’t.
— Great twist at the end with the dangerous things Kristen and Sudeikis realized they forgot to tell the Soaking Wet Killer he will have to face at their home.
— An overall very solid little sketch that’s probably forgotten by most SNL fans.
STARS: ****½


REFURBISHMENTS
caulk expert’s (host) tips are penis double entendres

— Speaking of sketches that are forgotten, here’s what seems to be the most forgotten of SNL’s trilogy of dirty wordplay sketches from the early-mid 2000s (Colonel Angus, Cork Soakers, and this). Regardless of where you stand on how good or not the Colonel Angus and Cork Soakers sketches are, you KNOW those sketches. Chances are, you’ve forgotten this Refurbishments sketch, or were never aware of the sketch to begin with.
— Chris’ delivery is great, and is elevating the tepid material.
— At least this overall sketch was somewhat short. Otherwise, it’s easy to understand why this is the forgotten one of SNL’s trilogy of early-mid 2000s dirty wordplay sketches.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “DOA”


WEEKEND UPDATE
riots lead French government officials (FRA) & (BIH) to surrender

Donovan McNabb’s (FIM) mother (KET) wants Terrell Owens to rejoin Eagles

TIF & AMP use dolls for cheerleader toilet tryst Girl On Girl Reenactment

newly-elected 18 year-old mayor (ANS) envisions puerile self-serving laws

— For some reason, it still bugs me how Tina and Amy’s Update suits this season don’t match colors.
— Bill’s aghast, French-accented delivery of the line “They are scum” is freakin’ HILARIOUS.
— For the second episode in a row, Bill and Fred make a great pair of foreign-accented people.
— OHHHHH, GOD. The return of Tina doing a self-indulgent Arnold Schwarzenegger impression during a joke about him. Ugh, I’ve gotten so tired of that routine of hers in the past.
— Okay, it turns out I actually chuckled at Tina’s Schwarzenegger voice bit tonight. Maybe it’s because we’ve gotten a slightly long break from the last time Tina did it.
— I remember how excited online SNL fans were earlier the week of this episode to see how SNL was going to parody the big Terrell Owens scandal going on at the time, and the press conference Owens and his infamous lawyer (the latter of whom I doubt anyone but me remembers anymore after all these years) gave that was ripe for parody. Those online SNL fans speculated who would play who, with Finesse likely playing Owens and Bill likely playing Owens’ infamous lawyer. Boy, did those SNL fans (and me) end up being disappointed when it turned out that SNL’s only way of “spoofing” the Owens incident would be by simply doing yet another “Donovan McNabb and his mother” Update commentary instead of doing a direct Terrell Owens parody. Blah.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Last time Kenan played Donovan McNabb’s mother on Update, it was stated that her first name is Charlyne. Now in tonight’s appearance, her first name is Wilma. What’s up with that?
— Hmm, a Marion Barry Update joke from Tina? Ha, I wonder if the punchline is going to involve crack.
— Nope, the Marion Barry joke turned out to have a completely different punchline. Probably a good thing, as Tina ain’t no Norm and couldn’t pull off a “Marion Barry smokes crack” joke as well as Norm…at least not by this point of Tina’s tenure. Maybe 2000-2002 Tina could’ve pulled it off. You know, back in the days when Tina was actually good at Update.
— OH FUCKING NO. Not the return of Tina and Amy’s routine of using freakin’ Barbie dolls to re-enact a news story. Ugh.
— Oh, are you fucking kidding me?!? Even during this stupid-ass Barbies segment, Tina takes the time to shoehorn in one of her patented unfunny anti-Bush-esque rants that feel more like an excuse for her to push her political views on us without any actual funny material to back it up.
— A very fitting use of Andy in this teenage mayor role.
— A laugh from Andy’s line about practicing “non-voluntary abstinence”.
— Man, so many of Tina and Amy’s jokes tonight aren’t eliciting so much as a mere smirk from me. Tonight’s Update jokes are such sorry excuses for comedy. And unfortunately, much like the last Update, this Update is super-long and never-ending.
STARS: *½


BUTT PREGNANCY
at her baby shower, butt-pregnant (AMP) downplays ass-womb implications

— Boy, it feels weird seeing and hearing Kristen with the rest of the already-established female cast for the first time, especially after her only prior SNL appearance had her performing with just a fellow newbie and the host. It probably feels weird for me because Kristen is the first new female cast member in FOUR YEARS and this had been such a tight-knit female cast.
— Blah, not crazy about this premise of a butt pregnancy, and apparently, neither is the audience, judging from their mild reactions.
— After Lee says, in regards to Amy being butt-pregnant, “We weren’t even trying to get pregnant”, I love Chris responding with a deadpan “Obviously.”
— A thin sketch and not all that funny.
— Chris’ various deadpan one-liners continue to be the only big amusement I’m getting out of this.
— An okay twist at the end with the baby who Amy’s butt-pregnant with turning out to be SNL’s own Will Forte, who the camera then cuts to gleefully waving at us on the home base stage. This continues the trend these past few episodes of sketches being based on cast members’ mothers, though this particular case is obviously not based in reality. Also, this sketch’s twist ending with Will reminds me of the ending of the famous Bad Expectant Mother sketch with Victoria Jackson, where we find out Victoria’s character was Jon Lovitz’s mother back when she was pregnant with him.
— This mostly tepid sketch would later be removed from reruns and be replaced with a cut-after-dress-rehearsal musical sketch in which office employees sing about their love of desserts while they’re in an office cafeteria.
STARS: **


‘STACHIN’
mustached (SEM), (host), (RAD), (CHP) endorse facial hair

providing mustache rides is Buford McNulty’s (HOS) family business

— Nice opening title sequence.
— Seth makes his first appearance ALL NIGHT. Much like the Jon Heder episode, I see this is another week this season where Seth’s behind-the-scenes second job as a writing supervisor left him with VERY little airtime on the show.
— Good idea for a sketch in tonight’s episode, given Lee’s epic real-life mustache.
— I love the ridiculous photos of Fred, Bill, and Will as mustached 70s porn stars.
— Funny bit with Rachel repeatedly being so innocently oblivious to her own mustache when the others call it out.
— Oh, god. In typical Horatio Sanz fashion, he starts cracking up early on in his mid-sketch commercial, due to accidentally saying his last name as “McNutly” instead of “McNulty”. Because, as we all know, simply saying “McNutly” instead of “McNulty” is a perfectly reasonable excuse for a PAID SKETCH COMEDY PROFESSIONAL and GROWN-ASS MAN to helplessly giggle like an idiot for the rest of the sketch.[/end sarcasm]
— Sudeikis’ mere sleazy look while he and Andy are standing alongside Horatio is very funny.
— Ha, I hate to admit it after I just bitched about Horatio’s laughing, but Horatio’s laughing during his fake freeze-frame at the end of his song actually made me laugh out loud. It was something about the way he exclaimed the last few words of his song (“…so wouldn’t you feel better RIDIN’ ON A MUSTACHE!!!”) while he was cracking up that got me.
— Great bit with Chris explaining his Hitler mustache. I especially love his nonchalant reveal of “I was burning down a synagogue.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Best Of You”


AMERICAN TASER
American Taser’s stun guns facilitate arms race amongst zap-happy populace

— I absolute LOVE the format of this, with each cast member coming on one-by-one to advertise a special taser, only to get tased out of the scene by the next cast member. I also love how each cast member’s individual taser advertisement counters what the cast member before them was advertising with their own taser.
— A particularly funny line from Seth about knocking a problem on its ass, with him sleazily clarifying “By problem, I mean lady, and by ass….I mean ass.”
— This already-great sketch is getting increasingly fun as it goes along. I also love how, a while into this sketch, each cast member who gets tased responds by saying their own individual funny-sounding pained yelp.
— Back when this episode originally aired and I wasn’t very familiar with Bill, given the fact that this was only his fifth episode, I was absolutely STRUCK by how much he sounded like Dan Aykroyd in this. I even wondered if he was intentionally doing a subtle Aykroyd homage with his characterization here. 15 years later, now that I’m VERY familiar with Bill as a performer, I don’t see the Aykroyd similarities in his character voice in this sketch quite as much anymore, but it’s still there a little.
— Jason Lee’s bit at the end where he tased himself deserved a better audience reaction.
— Overall, this sketch is a personal favorite of mine.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. While certainly not without its flaws, this episode had A LOT of stuff that worked, and quite a number of those things that worked were particularly strong, two of which are all-time favorites of mine (The Falconer, American Taser). Much like the Jon Heder episode earlier this season, the solid and fun sketch concepts seen throughout this episode symbolize how much SNL’s writing has done such a much-needed turnaround from the dire season 30.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lance Armstrong)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Eva Longoria

Posted on

February 22, 2003 – Christopher Walken / Foo Fighters (S28 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HARDBALL
French foreign minister (host) enjoys nettling USA over Iraq

— Nice to see that the reliability and popularity of these Hardball sketches has gotten to the point where SNL is now using them as a cold opening. This is especially needed at this point, considering how terrible a lot of cold openings have been in the second half of this season so far.
— Good to see Christopher Walken not only appearing right at top of the show, but in a Hardball sketch to boot.
— Darrell’s Chris Matthews almost slipped into Dennis Miller territory with his “I haven’t seen a group of people this crazy for blood since the Cobra Kai chased Daniel-San out of the Halloween dance in Karate Kid.” All he needed was a more obscure reference and either a “Cha-cha” or a “Ha-HAAAA!” at the end.
— Chris Matthews, to the French foreign minister: “That’s big talk from a country who’s only contributions to world culture in the last 50 years are Gerard Depardieu and that horny skunk!”
— Very funny reveal from Christopher’s French foreign minister that France is only being pro-war “just to be, how you say, douchebag.”
— A lot of Parnell’s lines in this have been forgettable (which is unusual, as he used to always get the funniest lines in Hardball sketches, before he got fired in 2001), but I did like his bit right now about attacking countries in alphabetical order.
— Christopher delivers his very first and, I think, only “Live from New York…”, which he, of course, does in his trademark slow and awkward style. We also get this epic creepy Walken stare into the camera immediately afterwards:

SNL would later replace this “Live from New York…” with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. I can’t remember if he does the creepy-looking camera staredown afterwards in that version or not.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Exactly Like You” & brings on some dancing girls

— Well-deserved extended applause for Christopher at the beginning.
— Wow, he dives right into his obligatory song-and-dance number this time, with no set up.
— Funny how he IMMEDIATELY goes into casually speaking to us as soon as his song-and-dance number abruptly stops.
— Just now, Christopher said “crazy mix-em-ups”, a variation of his legendary “crazy make-em-ups” line.
— Christopher’s backup dancers are being played by extras instead of the female cast this time?
— An overall short and intentionally simple monologue with a very careless, “Ehh, let’s get this over with” attitude, which is something that Christopher Walken is one of the few SNL hosts who can get away with making come off acceptable. At the same time, however, I wish this monologue weren’t so half-assed by the writers. Christopher deserved better than this, especially given the epic monologue from his last episode in season 26.
STARS: ***


PRANKSTERS
to (host), murder by tire iron is a hilarious practical joke

— Seth and Kattan are solid at selling the cheesy goofiness of this show.
— Just the mere idea of Christopher being a fan of such a juvenile show like this is hilarious in itself.
— An absolutely priceless turn with Christopher’s “prank” being him violently beating Parnell to death with a tire iron.
— Very funny how the show’s crew is inappropriately continuing to play goofy, cartoonish sound effects when Christopher is proudly bragging about his dark, deathly “prank”.
— I remember a lot of debate on SNL forums back in the day about Seth’s performance in this sketch being overrated. I never got why that was such a hot topic. Seth is fine in this sketch, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t care much for him.
— Christopher, on his hatred of stiffly stifflersons: “I wanna prank them for hours in my basement.”
— Overall, a classic. Remember a few seasons later when SNL inexplicably tries to re-create this classic sketch with fucking Robert DeNiro, of all people? Oh, I’ll definitely have things to say about THAT when we come to it.
STARS: *****


THE CONTINENTAL
The Continental pursues a spokesmodel for his line of beauty products

— This ends up being the final Continental sketch. As of 2020, Christopher has hosted only one additional time after tonight’s episode (which is unfathomable), and that episode breaks tradition by refraining from doing a Continental sketch. Even if Christopher ever makes a hosting comeback anytime in the future, they can probably never do a Continental sketch ever again, as the now-deceased Tom Davis wrote those sketches. (Davis was still alive and well in the final episode that Christopher hosted, which makes me wonder why they refrained from doing a Continental sketch that week.)
— A good laugh from The Continental presenting his female guest with a platter of “fancy” food that includes Ants on a Log and Combos.
— I love Continental calling the female guest his “Arctic hush puppy”.
— Great line with Continental apologizing for letting his “little head think for the big one”.
— Hilarious bit with the floor mirror.
STARS: ****½


RAFT CAPTAIN
after losing his ship, incompetent captain (host) leads liferaft to ruin

— So many laughs from all the things that Christopher is apologizing for. I even love his line about using the lifeboat flares to light his farts.
— Funny how Christopher considers it irrational for Seth to be angry at him for once trying to eat Seth.
— Christopher, during his apology for one wild thing he once did: “I’m out of cocaine now. That stuff’s not gonna happen again.”
— I absolutely love Christopher’s perfectly Walken-esque delivery of “There’s no stopping the BIRD ATTACKS NOW!”
— An awkwardly-written and awkwardly-staged ending that only worked because Christopher is the master at selling awkward.
STARS: ****½


AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARCHIVES
the first African-American to yell at a movie screen (TRM) is honored

— Dean gets a VERY rare lead role, doing a solid Don Cheadle impression. Dean actually previously starred as Cheadle in a fake ad in SNL’s “Weekend Update Halftime Special” from earlier this season (a special that served as NBC’s alternative to ABC’s Super Bowl halftime show while it was airing). In his limited airtime lately, Dean is proving himself to have a Jeff Richards-type knack for doing dead-on impressions of celebrities. I recall Dean having a website at this time that had audio clips of him doing great impressions, even including Homer Simpson.
— A pretty amusing spoof of the old cliche about black people yelling at the movie screen. While I find most comedy material on that subject to be one of the hackiest things ever (including an awful sketch that SNL itself will soon do just a few episodes later when Bernie Mac hosts), it’s working in this sketch because of 1) the incongruously straitlaced, professional way it’s being presented in this format, and 2) Dean’s solid dead-serious delivery when detailing the actions of the first black man to yell at a movie screen.
— Tracy makes his only “appearance” of the entire night here, and I use quotation marks because this technically doesn’t count as an actual appearance, since Tracy’s only shown in still photos. Him basically being absent in tonight’s episode is a bit surprising, given how much SNL has been relying on him this season, but we’re still seeing more of him tonight than we’ll see of Horatio. Not only is Horatio COMPLETELY absent in tonight’s episode, but it’s the second time that’s happened to him in just these past few episodes. Both times Horatio was absent, his lack of presence has barely even been noticeable nor has had any negative effect on the show, which proves how expendable he is.
STARS: ***


COLONEL ANGUS
after the Civil War, arrival of Colonel Angus (host) has oral sex subtext

— One of several dirty wordplay sketches from around these years, and in my opinion, one of the best. I believe this is a bit of a polarizing sketch among SNL fans (or at least it used to be, back in the day), but I’m definitely in the “love it” camp.
— All the innocent-but-suggestive-sounding lines about Colonel Angus are a riot.
— Oh, god, even in a very brief walk-on role, Maya has to do one of her dumb nasal, throaty voices, a standby of hers that’s really starting to annoy me by this point of her SNL tenure. It’s certainly not enough to ruin this sketch for me, especially considering how brief her appearance is and the fact that she only has one line, but that voice is a very unnecessary aspect of this sketch that briefly takes attention away from the dialogue itself, which is a shame, as the dialogue is what’s driving this sketch.
— I love Rachel greeting Colonel Angus by calling him “You old carpet-bagger”.
— A particularly funny line with Colonel Angus requesting to be tapped on the head if he overstays his welcome.
— This sketch is starting to have me in tears.
— Funny how Jeff is the only character in this entire sketch who catches all the dirty innuendo. His “Eww!” when walking off cracked me up.
— Random how this sketch ends with the performers bowing down towards the camera, as if this is a play.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF shows Department Of Homeland Security’s alarming warning signs

Christina Aguilera (MAR) vocalizes her emotions regarding the Grammys

Steve Martin cameo

having quit showbiz, WIF now lives on a farm with Britney Spears [real]

— A very unnecessary, unfunny, and dumb ad-lib Tina made after her opening joke. Immediately after that, the camera cuts to Jimmy staring at the camera with a very deadpan look on his face and he wisely just goes on with the jokes, instead of indulging in Tina’s horrible ad-libbing and giggling. You know, it’s very odd what’s been gradually happening to Tina and Jimmy over the course of this season. It’s like they’ve been switching personalities, with Tina now being the goofball, unprofessional, giggly, weaker anchor who often does the lamer jokes, and Jimmy now being the professional, straitlaced, deadpan, superior anchor who often does the better jokes. What the hell is happening?
— The side segment with Tina showing placards of Homeland Security’s warning signs is a completely laughless waste of time. Tina continues to just get worse and worse as an Update anchor as this season progresses. Considering how strong her first two seasons at the Update desk were, it’s been sad to watch her go downhill.
— A spot-on and pretty funny Christina Aguilera impression from Maya.
— Jimmy translating Maya-as-Aguilera’s wordless musical vocalizations is reminiscent of the famous Bob Dylan bit that Dana Carvey once did on Update.
— Hell yeah! A Steve Martin walk-on out of freakin’ nowhere! I remember how incredible it felt to see this when watching this episode live, mainly because 1) this was Steve’s first SNL appearance in years, and 2) this was the very first time I got to see a Steve Martin appearance while watching an episode live.
— A great Steve Martin bit, with him detailing the step-by-step process of his intentionally simplistic, pointless cameo.
— Jimmy’s been getting some solid mean-spirited deadpan jokes lately, such as his Lara Flynn Boyle joke from a few episodes ago and his Eating Disorder Awareness Week joke tonight.
— The killer cameos in tonight’s Update keep on comin’, as we now get Will Ferrell! Awesome!
— It feels so odd but so nice to see Will appearing in an episode this season, after I’ve gotten so used to SNL without him over the course of this season. His appearance tonight is making me realize just how much I miss him in the cast.
— Yet ANOTHER killer cameo in tonight’s Update, with us now getting Britn– oh. Okay, so, yeah, to an SNL nerd like myself, this Britney Spears cameo is definitely nowhere near the level of a Steve Martin or Will Ferrell cameo. It’s decent enough, though.
— Funny part with Will and Britney admitting they’re horrible farmers and that “all our animals are sick”.
— Tonight’s weekly end-of-Update walk-on from SNL writer Eric Slovin has him dressed in a karate gi and proceeding to karate chop Jimmy’s pencil in half.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All My Life”


CABIN LOVERS
(MAR) wants no part of Dr. Walter’s lusty exploits with Roger & Virginia

— The return of The Luvahs. I’ve developed a better appreciation of these characters when recently reviewing the seasons they regularly appeared in, but of all of the Will Ferrell characters and impressions that SNL could’ve brought back tonight, this isn’t near the top of my list.
— Christopher is reprising the character he played in the Luvahs sketch from the last episode he hosted, though the role of his lover is now played by Maya instead of the no-longer-on-the-show Ana Gasteyer.
— Christopher, on he and his lover’s lovemaking: “She made more expressions than Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura.” That line is even funnier in retrospect, knowing a certain additional and unplanned cameo we’re getting later tonight.
— Hilarious line from Christopher about a “circle yank”. Much like the last time he appeared in a Luvahs sketch, Christopher is getting a lot of the best lines.
— Christopher’s parting words, “I must chase after her… for she is my ride”, was hilarious when he said it the last time he appeared in a Luvahs sketch, but it felt unnecessary to repeat this time.
— Oh, god, speaking of unnecessary, there’s our obligatory and unfunny “Ow my back” ending that these Luvahs sketches always end with.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Times Like These (One-Way Motorway)”; Jim Carrey cameo

— As if we didn’t have enough amazing cameos tonight, we now get JIM FUCKING CARREY making an impromptu walk-on out of nowhere in the middle of Foo Fighters’ performance, playing his leg like a guitar! Absolutely incredible. This cameo, which reportedly was a VERY last-minute decision made on the fly by SNL (IIRC, Jim was in the audience for this episode) and was completely unexpected by Foo Fighters, has definitely got to be one of the most random, exciting, funniest, and best cameos in SNL history, and it’s one of those moments that makes you really appreciate the spontaneity of live TV.
— At the end of the performance, long after Jim Carrey has exited, Dave Grohl acknowledges Jim’s unexpected cameo by saying into the microphone “Thanks, Jim.”


THE RIALTO GRANDE
act of Buddy Mills & fellow lounge comic (host) has an air of pathos

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— A hilarious corny walk-on from Christopher with his pants down.
— That “Haaaaaaaaa!” laugh that Kattan always does as this character never fails to slay me.
— Christopher: “Here’s a little tune I wrote when I heard it on the radio.”
— Even though they used this joke in the first installment of this sketch, I still got a great laugh from Fred’s delayed rimshot happening during a dark, emotional revelation of Christopher’s.
— Christopher: “The only thing Audrey left me with was her hysterectomy bill… and one of my nuts.”
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

— Christopher Walken, Will Ferrell, Steve Martin, and Jim Carrey… ALL ON ONE STAGE TOGETHER. A truly incredible sight.
— Ha, now we get the Continental camera man appearing on stage in both a long blonde wig AND a dress. These goodnights are simply amazing.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Another magnificent Christopher Walken episode, and the best episode of this shaky season so far. Not a single bad sketch to be found in this episode, and we got plenty of strong sketches, including two that I consider a classic (Pranksters, Colonel Angus), as well as one classic unplanned moment during Foo Fighters’ second musical performance.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jennifer Garner)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Queen Latifah

Posted on

November 6, 1999 – Dylan McDermott / Foo Fighters (S25 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRACTICE
Bobby (host) kisses his law partners & Ally McBeal (RAD)

— Some laughs from the constant make-out sessions between Dylan McDermott’s Practice character and his female co-workers during tense confrontations.
— I like the visual of Dylan exuberantly sliding across the table to eagerly make out with Horatio as Camryn Manheim’s character.
— I’m not familiar with the actor from The Practice that Darrell is playing, but I remember incorrectly thinking Darrell was playing Gilbert Gottfried when I first saw this sketch in an NBC rerun in 2000. As crazy as that mistake of mine probably sounds to you readers, it was the raspy voice and squinty eyes Darrell was doing that caused my mistake. I remember being very confused as to why Darrell was even playing Gilbert Gottfried in this sketch, because I was aware that Gottfried wasn’t in The Practice’s cast, and Jimmy Fallon was SNL’s resident Gilbert Gottfried impersonator at this time.
— The constant joke of Dylan making out with his co-workers is getting a little old.
— Great turn with Rachel randomly appearing as Ally McBeal from David E. Kelley’s other show. Kinda odd, though, how Rachel has done her Calista Flockhart impression in her first two episodes. I remember some SNL reviewers from back at this time in 1999 saying stuff like “I sure hope Calista Flockhart isn’t all that Rachel Dratch can do.”
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host humors former co-star HOS’s desire to play Santa Claus

— I wonder if Dylan’s story about being a bartender for the original SNL cast is true. Bruce Willis had a similar story in his season 15 monologue about being a caterer for the original cast, though I can’t remember if that story was true or obviously fake.
— A good laugh from how, after Dylan prompts the audience to applaud for Horatio’s walk-on, Horatio just says “They know who I am.”
— A big night for Horatio so far, between his role in the cold opening, getting to say “Live From New York”, and now this monologue focusing on him.
— Nice seeing an old clip of Dylan and Horatio together in Miracle On 34th Street.
STARS: ***


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
Elizabeth Dole (ANG) is ambushed in an interview

— A topical parody of a then-infamous Pete Rose interview that Jim Gray had recently done.
— I’m getting some laughs from Parnell-as-Jim-Gray’s graphic detailing of the type of sex that Elizabeth Dole has with her husband Bob.
STARS: ***


GUMBEL’S OFFICE
feud of Bryant Gumbel (TIM) & Katie Couric (CHO) pains Matt Lauer (host)

— Solid line from Cheri’s Katie Couric about how Bryant Gumbel sucks his co-hosts’ soul out and leaves a perky little carcass.
— I’m enjoying the catty barbs between Cheri’s Couric and Tim’s Bryant Gumbel.
— I love Cheri’s Couric telling Tim’s Gumbel “Bring it on, Oreo!”
— Bryant Gumbel to Katie Couric: “If I wasn’t married and you were better-looking, I’d definitely go out with you.”
— At the end, while threatening each other with broken glass, there’s a cute little unintentional moment with Tim and Cheri cracking each other up, then hugging each other out of character right before the camera fades to black.
STARS: ***½


FAREWELL ASSEMBLY
Marty & Bobbi do a medley at assembly honoring departing principal (host)

— Why did Rachel run to the left exit of the stage after she made her exit on the right side of the stage? New cast member greenness? I think this possible gaffe of hers is removed in reruns by showing the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, though I’m not sure.
— A bit of a change of pace for the Culps, with the addition of Dylan’s character.
— I like the froggy voice Dylan is using here.
— Dylan’s adding a lot of fun energy during the Culps’ song medley.
— During the Culps’ and Dylan’s performance of Eminem’s “My Name is” song, I like Bobbi Mohan-Culp singing the words “wicki-wicki” whenever she imitates the record-scratching sounds from the real song.
STARS: ***½


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
interviewee Danny Glover (TIM) won’t apologize

— Ah, a runner tonight.
— Overall, meh. A weak follow-up to the first installment of this earlier tonight.
STARS: **


WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
game show contestant (ANG) has a breakdown

— The first of many Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parodies this season, back when it was a very hot show.
— Darrell debuts a solid Regis Philbin impression.
— Not sure I care for this turn with Ana’s emotional breakdown, but Ana is pulling it off fairly well.
— A pretty good laugh from the cutaway to Horatio as Ana’s husband hanging his head in shame.
— Paula Pell’s deadpan, unsympathetic voice during Ana’s emotional phone call to her is pretty funny.
— A weak and predictable ending with Ana finally answering the quiz question, only to get it wrong.
STARS: **½


MANGO
after Mango gets shot in the butt, cop (host) goes undercover as him

— (*sigh*) Get ready, folks. This is our first of MANY Mango sketches this season.
— Interesting turn during Mango’s striptease, with him getting shot in the butt.
— A good laugh from the newspaper headline “Mango Takes It In The Butt!”
— Tim’s comically emotional praying for Mango is pretty funny, though it got no reaction from the audience.
— When Mango is reading “get well soon” cards from celebrities, one of them turns out to be a love letter from Norm Macdonald, who’s letter Mango responds to by asking himself “Norm Macdonald?!? Who is that?!?” before dismissively tossing the letter away. While it’s kinda interesting how SNL is referencing not only a former cast member but the host of the last episode, this bit actually bothers me. I definitely understand that Kattan and Norm didn’t get along, and Norm has certainly been known to ruthlessly make way-too-harsh barbs about Kattan’s alleged “gayness” in a Rolling Stone interview and behind the scenes at SNL, but at least he never did it ON THE AIR. That’s more than I can say for Kattan’s jab at Norm here.
— Dylan’s Mango impression is pretty funny.
— Clever twist with Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani being revealed as the shooter, as a topical reference to the real Giuliani’s attempt to shut down New York’s strip clubs.
STARS: **½


THE JIM GRAY SHOW
as a matter of principle, host refuses interview

— Cool how the end of the Mango sketch transitioned into this Jim Gray sketch, as Dylan and Kattan made their exit from the Mango sketch’s set.
— Nice that they’re doing something a little different for this third Jim Gray installment, even if it’s still not particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE

— Colin: “In a television appearance this week, Donald Trump said that if elected president, he would appoint himself U.S. trade representative, and then, quote, ‘our partners would have to negotiate across the table from Donald Trump.’” That’s not the punchline to Colin’s joke; it’s just the set up. I just felt it would be interesting to quote it in today’s age, for obvious reasons.
— Colin’s former habit of frequently muttering ad-libs to the audience after his news jokes, which mysteriously disappeared halfway through the preceding season, has returned with a vengeance, as tonight’s Update has been riddled with them. Good for him, but too bad his ad-libs still aren’t funny, for the most part.
— No guest commentaries in tonight’s overall Update. Too bad, because this Update was in desperate need of one. We got the usual blah-ness from Colin, with only some occasional strong jokes.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Learn To Fly”


COLLETTE AT HOME
Colette Reardon pops pills during a visit from telephone repairman (host)

— Interesting seeing Collette Reardon at home for a change.
— I always like the odd names of Collette’s various doctors who she always mentions in passing in her appearances.
— Overall, like I said in my review of the last Collette Reardon appearance, I’ve run out of things to say about her, but this sketch as a whole was still decent.
STARS: ***


LOTTO PICK 4 HOSPITAL
lottery numbers are revealed during medical drama

— Doing a hybrid of a Lotto drawing and a hospital drama is a pretty solid idea for a sketch. Feels like a sister sketch to that The Life We Lead sketch from season 21’s Tom Arnold episode, in which they did a hybrid of a newscast and a soap opera. I wonder if the person who wrote that sketch also wrote this Lotto sketch.
— Here comes Tracy finally making his first appearance of the night, being stuck in his usual useless bit role with only one line.
— A funny disgusting close-up of the blood-covered Lotto ball that was extracted from Horatio’s insides.
— Speaking of a cast member’s first appearance of the night, Molly finally makes her first and ONLY appearance not only of this episode, but of these last two episodes, as she was completely absent in the last episode. Wow, that live-action Grinch movie she’s filming is really taking away a lot of her time at SNL. By this point, I’m almost starting to forget she’s even still in the cast.
— With Molly and Dylan’s make-out session in this sketch, Dylan has now officially made out with every single female member of this cast during a sketch. Did the female cast make that a clause in Dylan’s hosting contract or something?
— I’m enjoying the creative ways they’re revealing each Lotto number in each scene. Dylan’s sly performance when holding up each Lotto ball to the camera is fun.
— Very funny gag with the Lotto ball popping out of the pregnant woman’s off-camera vagina.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stacked Actors”


NOT MY BABY!
“Not my baby!” says Mrs. Parker (TRM) to charges that her son deals drugs

— What’s this? Tracy Morgan with a LEAD ROLE??? Wow, I almost forgot what that’s like, considering how bad his airtime has been this season.
— While this initially seems like a cheap drag role, I’m loving Tracy’s performance here.
— I’m cracking up at the intimidating, silent demeanor of Tracy’s “baby”, Dante.
— The close-ups of Dante with that frozen mean look on his face during Tracy’s tender singing of “The Greatest Love of All” are very amusing.
— I like the ending with Tracy telling Dante “I’m-a whoop yo ass when we get home!” while dragging him out of the courtroom like a bad child.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. There were a few weak spots, a lot of pretty good sketches, and absolutely NO sketches that I found great (nothing got a rating higher than three-and-a-half stars from me). An overall episode so average that I’ll probably have forgotten it by the time I reach the end of this season. Dylan McDermott surprised me with how uncharacteristically silly and amusing he was in some sketches; I particularly liked his performances in the Culps, Mango, and Lotto sketches.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Norm Macdonald)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Garth Brooks / Chris Gaines

Posted on

December 2, 1995 – Anthony Edwards / Foo Fighters (S21 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

INSIDE POLITICS
USA Bosnia policy prompts a conservative anti-war rally

— A great cross-eyed look from Nancy as Bobbie Batista.
— Darrell’s Jesse Helms impression is hilarious.
— Funny premise of republicans holding a 1960s-esque protest against the war in Bosnia.
— Good bit with Koechner’s Phil Gramm singing Imagine but questioning every lyric.
— A laugh from Buchanan burning his Blockbuster Video card because he has no draft card.
— Solid ending with the slow-motion war fight, and how it comes to an end when Helms sticks a flower into barrel of one of the soldiers’ guns.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
audience likes gimmicky ER-reject character Swabby (DAK) more than host

— Nice energetic entrance from Anthony Edwards, literally leaping out from the door.
— Koechner is hilarious as Swabby.
— A pretty good laugh from Anthony losing his patience and rudely telling Swabby to get the hell out of here.
— Will and Cheri are reprising their characters from the Dole/Gingrich airplane cold opening from just one episode ago.
— Bad lighting during Will and Cheri’s part, causing a boom mike shadow to cover most of Will’s face (the third above screencap for this monologue). For this reason, this portion of the monologue would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I like the running gag with the increasingly un-ER-like medical shows that audience members mistake Anthony for being on.
STARS: ****


GRIMALDI CLASSIC CREATIONS
Grimaldi’s Nativity scene baby Jesus annoyingly cries throughout holidays

— The absolutely bizarre and indescribable sound the Baby Jesus device is making is priceless. I love the smile Koechner slowly looks up at Nancy with when the Baby Jesus sound begins.
— Some really amusing shots of the now-restless family being irritated and unhinged by the Baby Jesus sounds.
STARS: ****½


THE JOE PESCI SHOW
Joe Pesci (JMB) abuses Sharon Stone (NAW) & other guests

— After struggling badly so far this season, the underused Jim Breuer finally gets his breakout sketch. And what’s more, it’s placed as the lead-off sketch of the night, showing that SNL has a lot of confidence in this.
— Great Joe Pesci voice from Jim.
— Something I’ve never understood about Jim’s Pesci impression is his wig. Why give his Pesci a full head of hair when the real Pesci had a receding hairline at this time?
— Pesci’s whole angry rant to Nancy’s Sharon Stone is fantastic.
— The visual of Anthony as Macaulay Culkin is hilarious. I’m also loving his performance.
— Pesci to Culkin: “Hey, you know what was funny? When you died in that movie My Girl. I laughed my ass off!”
— Spot-on Jim Carrey voice from Mark.
— Pesci, when Carrey calls his show “smokin’”: “Smokin’, how? Smokin’ like my ass after some Mexican food?”
— Man, Jim is performing the hell out of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


NIGHTLINE
Dr. Greene (host) & other doctors argue about health care

— Good concept with all of the ridiculous fictional doctor guests.
— Pretty fun sketch so far.
— When Dr. J and Doc from Snow White are introduced, the chyron of their names that’s displayed on the bottom of the screen mistakenly includes the name “Doc Martens”.

I’m guessing that at dress rehearsal, a pair of Doc Martens boots was “interviewed” alongside Dr. J and Doc from Snow White, and then at the last minute during the live show, SNL decided to cut the Doc Martens portion of the sketch, but forgot to remove its name from the chryon. (In the above screencap, you can see the arm of an unoccupied chair to the left of Doc from Snow White.)
— I like Tim’s angry “Damn, Ted!” at the end of his speech.
STARS: ***½


WEDDING RECEPTION
Mary Katherine Gallagher acts inappropriately at a wedding reception

— Mary Katherine Gallagher officially becomes a recurring character. Of all of this character’s installments from over the years, this is one of the very few that I’m not all that familiar with. I know I’ve seen this installment before, but I have no memory of it.
— With this being only the second Mary Katherine Gallagher installment, the trademark putting-hands-under-armpits-and-then-sniffing-them routine, which was introduced in the first MKG installment, has been temporarily changed to her putting her fingers in her ears, looking at the earwax, then flicking and licking it.
— Molly’s really hammering home this character’s awkwardness, even moreso than in the first installment of this sketch. However, I’m not finding this installment as funny so far.
— Overall, I wasn’t crazy about this installment. There were a few laughs, but with this being only the second MKG appearance, you can tell they’re still experimenting with this character, and this installment felt unmemorable compared to most MKG installments. That’s probably the reason why I had no memory of this sketch before tonight’s viewing.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
NOM’s very nervous brother Gary (DAK) tries to tell some newsy jokes

— This is the second consecutive Weekend Update using the opening theme music that would go on to be Norm’s regular Update theme, so I think it’s safe to say they’ve finally settled on it after experimenting with many different opening themes earlier this season.
— Yes! We get the debut of Norm’s brother, Gary Macdonald, played by Koechner. This has always been one of my favorite Koechner SNL bits from his short-lived tenure.
— Koechner is very good at getting laughs out of his character’s very awkward uncomfortableness.
— I love how Norm reveals Gary Macdonald’s paper just says “God, don’t let the fear swallow me whole.”
— Koechner has been knocking it out of the park these last few episodes with some great original characters.
— Particularly huge cheers this time for Norm’s weekly “O.J. is a murderer” joke.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I’ll Stick Around”


THE NASTY
singer G-Dog’s (TIM) psychosomatism causes him to rethink his raunchy hit

— The opening exchanges between Will and Anthony are really funny.
— I love the voice Anthony is using in this. He’s hilarious here.
— The debut of Tim’s short-lived and underrated recurring character G-Dog.
— Funny opening line from G-Dog: “Yo, Phil, somebody ate my Skittles, man.”
— The family-friendly variation of the “Let’s Do The Nasty” song is pretty funny, especially the “Do The Handshake” dance.
— Hmm, a meta turn with Tim as himself waking up in bed and revealing the sketch was a bad dream. I don’t think this sketch was anywhere near bad enough for SNL to get all self-deprecating about. In fact, I had actually been enjoying the sketch.
— Good ending with Lorne’s shifty-eyed look.
STARS: ***½


SPADE IN AMERICA
DAS relives a barroom father-son Thanksgiving reunion

— Spade’s childhood anecdote about receiving a Nerf football from his dad and sarcastically responding “Wow, it’s two colors. You spoil me, ya prick” was told by him on the show before, in a Mother’s Day Weekend Update commentary he did back in season 17, as I mentioned in my review of it.
— Spade In America has had a lot of interesting changes of pace these last few installments, and tonight we get another one, with him re-enacting an entire conversation he recently had with his father. Great touch with the dimmed lighting during this re-enactment.
— I’m enjoying Spade’s storytelling skills here, as well as the way he’s constantly going back-and-forth between the voices of himself and his father. Speaking of which, I like the voice Spade’s using for his father.
STARS: ***½


TURNING POINT
(MAM) interviews a slightly loony Princess Di (host)

— The debut of Cheri’s Barbara Walters impression.
— Wow, Cheri’s Barbara Walters sounds nowhere near as good as it would eventually go on to sound later in Cheri’s tenure. I guess it took her some time before she was able to nail the voice.
— Oh. My. God. Anthony’s look as Princess Diana is EERILY dead-on. Uncanny.
— I’ve been saying this all throughout this episode review, but Anthony is really funny in this sketch.
— A lot of funny actions from Anthony’s Diana, especially her using her foot to flirt with Mark’s Martin Bashir, and her revealing she’s had a chip planted in her head.
— Now Anthony’s Diana is humorously singing a bizarre little ukulele song .
— Great sketch overall.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “For All The Cows”


THE HULK HOGAN TALK SHOW!!!
Hulk Hogan’s sub (WIF) attempts a serious show

— The ridiculously endless Hulk Hogan Talk Show theme song cracked me up, made even funnier by how its immediately followed by Will as an average joe just straightforwardly saying “Hulk Hogan is on vacation. I’m your guest host, Phil Tobin.”
— The awkward back-and-forth transitions from Anthony’s traumatic story to the Hulk Hogan show’s usual segments are okay, but I’m disappointed to see that they’re nowhere near as funny as I had remembered. In fact, they’re starting to get a little tired after a while. I think in past viewings, I only loved this sketch for the ridiculously long opening theme and the subsequent reveal of Will as the guest host.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Even though this episode is not a classic, I’ve personally always considered it to be a really fun episode and a prime example of what a refreshing turnaround this season is from the infamous preceding season. After reviewing the episode just now, that opinion still holds up. This was a solid episode that was indeed fun, and had a lot of good sketches that I’ve always remembered well, even if some of them aren’t particularly great. Adding to the fun feel of this episode was Anthony Edwards, who was a very game host and gave some really funny performances, especially in the Turning Point sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Laura Leighton)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
David Alan Grier