Tag: Jack Black

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December 17, 2005 – Jack Black / Neil Young (S31 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SANTA CHENEY
Dick Cheney (DAH) plays Santa to kids’ politically-convenient requests

— A memorable opening image of Darrell’s Dick Cheney pulling down his fake Santa beard and making that trademark Cheney grin at the camera.
— Some laughs from the kids obviously reading off scripted wordy, un-childlike requests as their Christmas wish.
— Good visual of Will’s President Bush sitting on Santa’s lap. Quite Will Ferrell-esque.
— Some funny political satire from Will-as-Bush’s line comparing the recalling of defective Xbox 360s to his refusing to recall his defective policy in Iraq.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host sings his King Kong song, which didn’t make it into the movie

— I see we’re getting a typical fun Jack Black musical number.
— The lyrics of this King Kong song are fantastic and hilarious, and the melody is epic.
STARS: ****½


STUART LITTLE MOUSE REMOVAL KIT
Stuart Little Mouse Removal Kit tempts rodents to drive out of your house

— An amusing and creative concept for a mouse trap commercial.
— Lots of great and fun little details to the extensive Stuart Little mouse trap.
— A very good ending with the mouse car unexpectedly blowing up after it leaves the house.
STARS: ****½


THE WIND
at Sbarro, shoppers suffer gusts of cold wind due to near-to-door table

— I recall a few online SNL fans back at this time in 2005 unfavorably comparing this sketch to the notorious Hot Plates sketch from the preceding season. I’ve personally never considered this sketch to be as bad as Hot Plates, but we’ll see during this current viewing of mine.
— Fred’s hobo character angrily hissing at Jack cracked me up.
— A good aggressive “SON OF A BITCH!” delivery from Rachel, who’s apparently channeling the spirit of Chris Farley.
— I’m not caring too much for the wind gags, though the execution of this is still coming off more enjoyable and much less cringeworthingly corny than the dreaded Hot Plates. The performances from Jack and the cast are also helping made this sketch a little fun.
— Funny lines from a shaken-up Kenan right before his exit.
— They botched the gag where a dummy of Rachel is supposed to drop from above after the wind blows Rachel high up in the air. Not sure what exactly went wrong with the gag, but after it got botched, Rachel can be seen walking over a dummy of herself lying on the floor (on the right corner of the below screencap), a dummy that was never seen before in the sketch, all the while Amy is genuinely laughing her ass off at this blooper.

SNL would later show the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns, in which the Rachel’s-dummy-falling-from-above gag is executed properly, complete with a comical loud “thud” sound effect when Rachel’s falling dummy lands on the floor.
— The “Happy Holidays From The Weather Channel” twist ending felt unnecessary. SNL sometimes has a bad habit of throwing in that type of dumb twist ending in sketches.
STARS: **½


APPALACHIAN EMERGENCY ROOM
(musical guest) & Johnny Knoxville [real] ail

— Amy’s usual “And now, another episode of Appalachian Emergency Room” opening voice-over in these sketches has been updated in tonight’s installment to include her following up her afore-quoted intro line with a cheery utterance of “Christmastime!”, which strangely amused me, for some reason.
— Great walk-on from Neil Young as Amy and Darrell’s druggie son, who they’ve often mentioned in past installments of this sketch.
— Amy’s character in this recurring sketch always delivers her exit line in a very funny manner while walking away, but we get a particularly hilarious delivery from her during her exit in tonight’s installment.
— Ha, did I just hear Seth say “Tiny Nations” as one of the two names he called out for Jason and Bill’s characters?
— Pretty solid bit with the the huge jart stuck in Jason’s head.
— A hilarious dirty gag with the watermelon still staying attached to Chris’ crotch after he lets go of it (I also love Seth’s reaction to that), which feels like both a callback to a gag Chris did in Heather Graham’s monologue from season 25 and a precursor to a certain famous Digital Short from the Justin Timberlake-hosted Christmas episode an exact year from tonight’s episode.
— Jack: “I’m your medical ball of clay. MOLD ME.” That is such a perfectly Jack Black-ish line that you’d think he wrote it himself.
— Johnny Knoxville’s cameo as himself as one of the patients is both very funny and strangely very fitting for this sketch. I also love how he implies during his exit that he’s all too familiar with this hospital’s rooms. A perfect way to end what was EASILY the best installment of Appalachian Emergency Room.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Christmastime For The Jews” by RBS- gentile absence brings opportunities

— Right out of the gate, I’m immediately getting such an epic feel from this cartoon.
— Hilarious subject matter for this well-animated black-and-white stop motion cartoon.
— Not only a very funny song, but it’s strangely beautiful-sounding, no doubt helped by being sung by Darlene Love, who’s being utilized to perfection here.
— A particularly funny bit about Jews going to sleep with Daily Show reruns in their heads.
— Even the closing credits of this are great, with the special Darlene Love-sung Christmas-themed TV Funhouse jingle.
— Overall, a true classic.
— The fact that this cartoon is immediately followed by a live shot of Darlene Love singing with the SNL Band further adds to the epic feel of both this cartoon and this episode in general.
STARS: *****


CHANNEL 5 PHOTO SHOOT
TV news team member (host) points out unfairness at publicity photo shoot

— A very simplistic premise, but it’s being executed decently.
— A laugh from Chris’ pointing towards Jack actually being a thumbs-down.
— Even when playing the simple straight role of a director, Jason is coming off so charismatic and fun here.
STARS: ***


LAZY SUNDAY
CHP & ANS rap about a trip to see The Chronicles Of Narnia

— Ohho, yes. HERE WE GO, FOLKS.
— A hilarious reveal of The Chronicles of Narnia being the movie that Andy and Chris are rapping to each other over the phone about going to see together.
— This is SO wall-to-wall with individual hilarious moments and perfect little details that I cannot even begin to single out my favorite moment. Andy and Chris’ furious hardcore and masterful rapping about such silly, non-hardcore things, the onscreen graphics of objects related to the lyrics, the brief cutaways to Andy and Chris individually staring into the camera while doing cupcake-related things in such a dead-serious style (such as chomping hard into a cupcake, or holding up an open box of cupcakes in a gansta manner), the words “SNACK-ATTACK!” showing up in big onscreen letters as it’s being yelled by Andy and Chris, the stop motion effect of Andy and Chris traveling from one end of the street to the other, the gunshot sound effect at the very end as the camera is pulling back on Andy and Chris…man, this Digital Short is top-to-bottom PERFECTION.
— When this short originally aired, not only was I absolutely amazed at what I was witnessing from this very unexpected piece, but both my face and throat actually hurt from how hard and for how long I was laughing all throughout it. There would be a special moment in another sketch later in this episode that would make my face and throat further hurt from extremely heavy laughter, a special moment that I’ll point out when we arrive there.
— Needless to say, this short would end up being a truly groundbreaking moment for SNL, and a huge turning point in the history of the show. What can be said about how much this absolutely blew up online, back in the days before the idea of an SNL piece going “viral” was even a thing? (Lazy Sunday went SO viral that even people who hadn’t watched SNL in years became aware of the short. I remember this finally made me proud to admit to non-SNL viewers that I was a diehard fan of the show, after the preceding season made me embarrassed to admit that.) What can be said about how this famously put the already-existing-but-not-yet-huge YouTube on the map, which would thus also lead to a trend of average joes on YouTube filming their own recreations of Lazy Sunday? What can be said about the huge press SNL received from this, easily the most press they had gotten in years? What can be said about how this would be such a major turning point for the then-struggling newbie Andy and would lead to him having a hugely popular 7-year tenure on the show. And finally, of course, what can be said about how much this would forever change so many things for SNL, finally bringing them into the virtual age and also leading to them embracing more pre-taped shorts and music video content, which continues to this day?
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s A Dream”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Skull Island tourism board members (KET) & (TRM) downplay giant fauna

AMP & TIF list icky properties of 15 year-old boys they find irresistible

— Well, here to piss all over the natural high this episode has put me in so far…
— Ha, Tracy Morgan out of nowhere, randomly paired with Kenan in an Update commentary as African tourism board members. There’s actually a backstory to this random casting. Tracy’s role was written for Finesse, and Finesse played it in dress rehearsal, but because Tracy made a backstage visit to SNL sometime that evening before the live show, they wanted to give him a part in the show, so they yanked Finesse from his role in this Update commentary and placed Tracy in it, leaving Finesse with practically NOTHING tonight (more on that later in my review of a certain sketch towards the end of this episode).
— Tracy’s exclamation of “LIES!” in an African accent has me laughing out loud.
— Not only is Kenan noticeably stifling his laughter throughout this commentary whenever Tracy speaks (particularly during one moment where Tracy pauses for an awkwardly long time before delivering a line), but Kenan can also be seen mouthing some of Tracy’s lines. All of this is obviously because Kenan must not have rehearsed this piece with Tracy beforehand, given how Tracy was thrown into the role at the last minute.
— As bad as I feel for the struggling Finesse getting a rare big role yanked away from him at the last minute, I’m trying to imagine what this Update commentary would’ve been like with him and Kenan, and it would’ve been NOTHING. Tracy’s performance and delivery are adding the only real comedy to be found in this whole piece.
— For once, Tina and Amy do an Update piece together that’s actually making me laugh, with the segment in which they lovingly go on and on about the “irresistible” things about 15-year-old boys.
— Boy, I’d love to see how viewers today would react to Amy’s joke about the symbol for transsexual bathrooms.
— An actual fairly short Fey/Poehler Update, thankfully.
STARS: **


A VERY DOWNER CHRISTMAS
young Debbie Downer saps Santa’s (host) jollity when he visits her house

— After the refreshing Steve Carell installment of this sketch earlier this season, we get another much-needed change of pace for Debbie Downer, this time with us seeing her as a little girl on Christmas Eve.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE the new Grinch-esque Debbie Downer opening title sequence.
— At one point during the aforementioned Grinch-esque opening title sequence, the singing narrator mentions he’d rather have his face shredded by an eel than listen to Debbie Downer. When this episode originally aired, I left on my TV’s closed-captioning, and I noticed that the singing narrator’s aforementioned line in this sketch about “having my face shredded by an eel” was written in the closed-captioning as “having my nards shredded by an eel”. The people who do on-the-fly closed-captioning for live SNL episodes reportedly rely on a script they’re provided of the dress rehearsal versions of sketches, in an attempt to try to keep the live closed-captioning from lagging behind the dialogue too badly. So judging from this odd “nards shredded by an eel” inconsistency in the closed-captioning, I take it SNL changed the line in this sketch from “nards shredded by an eel” to a much more innocent “face shredded by an eel” right before airtime. Why, though? The original line, while naughty, doesn’t seem like something NBC’s censors would come down hard on SNL for in the year 2005. This also reminds me that there was another odd inconsistency in the closed-captioning for this episode: at the beginning of Weekend Update when Tina was delivering the first joke, the captioning for that joke instead captioned a COMPLETELY different joke that was nowhere to be heard from Tina nor Amy at any point in tonight’s Update. Must’ve been a joke that got cut after dress rehearsal. (From what my very faint memory of the captioned joke recalls, the punchline of it involved a mention of someone farting and saying “Smell my democracy”. I kid you not, folks.)
— This sketch is such an improvement over typical Debbie Downer fare. Even Debbie’s typical depressing one-liners are actually making me laugh in tonight’s installment. The fun atmosphere and change of pace are helping this a lot.
— I loved Jack-as-Santa asking a very puzzled “Is that even a thing???” after Debbie says she has juvenile sciatica.
— Funny bit with Jack acting like he’s going to use the cup of scotch to dip his cookie into, only for him to immediately throw the cookie away without eating it and then he downs the cup of scotch.
— They’ve even shaken things up with the usual tired feline AIDS routine, by having Debbie instead mention her cat’s mange.
— Great bit with Santa giving Debbie a calendar of medical oddities as her Christmas gift, which she, of course, is delighted by.
STARS: ****


DESERTED MOON
stranded in space, (host) rebuffs advances of hermaphrodite alien (ANS)

 

— This is a re-done version of a sketch that Lonely Island originally did in an un-aired FOX pilot around 2004/early 2005, a pilot for a Lonely Island-starring sketch comedy show called (I think) Awesometown, which FOX ended up passing on. The pilot would later be put online. In the Awesometown version of this Deserted Moon sketch, Jorma Taccone played the role that Jack Black is playing in tonight’s version.
— Andy’s stock continues to quickly rise tonight, as he FINALLY gets his very first lead role in a live sketch (unless I’m forgetting something…oh, and Update commentaries and pre-taped commercials don’t count in this case; I’m only talking about live sketches).
— Andy’s voice and delivery throughout this sketch is kinda reminding me of Ashton Kutcher.
— I like the structure of this sketch, with this sketch being divided up into little scenes, each separated by an exterior shot of the planet while a fun outer space-type music sting plays.
— Despite the homoerotic and hermaphrodite aspect of this premise, this sketch thankfully isn’t coming off as the typical hacky and unflattering gay material that dominated the preceding season. I could do without Andy’s decision to play his character with a stereotypical gay lisp, though.
— Funny interplay between Andy and Jack throughout this.
— I particularly like the part with Andy opening the front of his space suit with his back to the camera and Jack reacting in horror to the unseen-to-us monstrosity he’s witnessing.
— Andy’s character, while drunk on Space Wine, ending one scene by drunkenly saying “Space Wine!” to himself is strangely both a very Andy Samberg-esque moment AND a very Ashton Kutcher-esque moment.
— A genuine gaffe from Andy in which, as he tells Jack “I’m all you’ve got!” while pounding his hand on the glass top of the spaceship to emphasize his point, which is supposed to unwittingly fix the broken spaceship, he accidentally dislodges the glass top. Jack makes a fantastic ad-lib in response to this blooper: “You broke it…but you also fixed it!”
— The ending text crawl epilogue is slightly different from the one in the aforementioned original version of this sketch in the Awesometown pilot.
STARS: ***


TWO A-HOLES BUYING A CHRISTMAS TREE
Christmas tree seller (host) fields A-holes’ (JAS) & (KRW) dumb requests

— Our very first Two A-Holes sketch.
— I am loving this characterization from both Jason and Kristen, and we’re getting a great display of both performers’ chemistry with each other.
— So many laughs from so many of the asinine statements from the Two A-Holes. Jack is also portraying his character’s growing frustration towards them very well.
— There’s Finesse’s awkward performance as a hot dog vendor that I mentioned in my review of Weekend Update from this season’s premiere. It turns out he’s not coming off QUITE as awkward and halting in this sketch as I had remembered, but you can still sadly sense a little bit of genuine frustration, disappointment, and dispirited-ness in the poor guy’s performance (and no, it’s not just him acting in character in response to the Two A-Holes’ oddness), presumably not only because his ONLY appearance of the night happens to be in such a small, non-comedic role at the very end of a sketch airing near the very end of an episode that has so many big and soon-to-be-legendary moments that he didn’t get to be a part of, but also because he must’ve been especially bummed that this is all he was left with tonight after his ONE big piece with Kenan on Weekend Update ended up getting re-cast at the last minute, with his role being given to an impromptu special guest.
STARS: ****


SPELLING BEE
spelling bee loser (WLF) inspires song by Tenacious D

— Here comes a well-loved Will Forte masterpiece.
— The VERY soft-spoken voice Will is speaking into the microphone with is freakin’ slaying me.
— After asking Chris’ moderator character for various things like the origin of the word he has to spell, I love Will flat-out asking “Could you spell the word please.” Chris also responds to that with a perfectly deadpan and subtly irritated “No.”
— And there it goes: Will’s absolutely classic and priceless one-minute-long (I’m guesstimating) misspelling of the word “business”, including a portion in which he repeats the letter “q” non-stop for a good while (complete with a perfectly-timed brief break in which he looks upwards in a pensive manner before continuing with the non-stop “q”s). This whole “business” misspelling is not only fucking hilarious, but it’s very impressive and daring on Will’s part, which are just some of the reasons why he’s such an epic performer in general.
— Will’s misspelling of “business” is the moment I was talking about in my Lazy Sunday review when I said this episode had another moment that made both my face and throat hurt so much from laughing so hard for so long when this episode originally aired. In fact, both Lazy Sunday and Will’s misspelling in this Spelling Bee sketch are easily two of the hardest I’ve EVER laughed while watching SNL, and for that reason, I will cherish those two moments forever.
— A perfect follow-up to Will’s epic misspelling, with Chris leaning into the microphone and saying a very dry and deadpan “Wrong.” Though that was just a simple little moment, it was such a good display of Chris’ always-excellent straight man skills.
— I know some people don’t like the turn this sketch takes with this randomly becoming a Tenacious D musical number, but I consider it to be an extra treat from this already-fantastic sketch, even though this sketch would’ve still stood as a classic had it abruptly ended after Chris’ aforementioned deadpan delivery of the line “Wrong.”
— Excellent touch at the end with the camera zooming in on Will’s face as he stares into the camera with a stone-faced, melancholy look (the last above screencap for this sketch).
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “He Was The King”


GOODNIGHTS
host, TRM, cast members end the show from Rockefeller Center skating rink

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An all-time classic and important episode in SNL history. So many memorable and legendary pieces in this episode, including one particularly groundbreaking piece (Lazy Sunday). And even a lot of the stuff that’s not considered a classic were strong, including much-better-than-usual installments of Appalachian Emergency Room and Debbie Downer. The whole night also had a magic feel in the air, even during some of the lesser segments of this episode. This fantastic episode, especially the aforementioned way both Lazy Sunday and Will Forte’s one-minute-long misspelling of “business” in the Spelling Bee sketch gave me some of the hardest laughs I’ve EVER gotten from SNL, coupled with the fact that this was the third consecutive episode that I liked this season, made it 100% official to me on the night this episode originally aired that SNL was BACK after the dire three-year slump they were in before this season.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2006, with future five-timer Scarlett Johansson making her hosting debut

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October 4, 2003 – Jack Black / John Mayer (S29 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CALIFORNIANS FOR SCHWARZENEGGER
Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) gives non-specifics of his five-point program

— Darrell’s Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, which was never all that great to begin with in its prior appearances, has really slipped by this point. The voice is quite a ways off. Unfortunately, this would end up becoming the default version that we would semi-regularly see of Darrell’s Arnold impression.
— His “solution” for jobs is pretty funny.
— Some more decent laughs from his vague, overly simplistic statements about other things he would fix, like education and crime.
— After Darrell says “Live from New York…”, the screen does a hard cut to the (new) opening montage instead of crossfading into the montage. I’m pointing this out because tonight’s episode is the official point where it would become a long-lasting tradition for SNL to transition into the opening montage with a hard cut instead of a crossfade, a tradition that continues to this day in 2020, I believe.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.

— A very impressive and fun style and visual quality to this opening montage, feeling like a modernized hybrid of the big-budget continuous-shot style of season 10’s opening montage and the first-person perspective of the second opening montage from season 11. The very impressive visual quality of this montage makes sense, given the fact that it was directed by Dave Meyers, director of MTV music videos such as Missy Elliott’s “Work It”, though something unfortunate about this is that it kinda foreshadows how this SNL season in general will be pandering awfully hard to the MTV audience.
— Will Forte, Seth Meyers, and Jeff Richards have all been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson have been added to the cast tonight.
— After being credited on a regular basis in every opening montage since season 12, the SNL Band receives no credit in this new montage. This lack of an opening montage credit for the SNL Band would unfortunately go on to be a regular thing that continues to this day in 2020, at least in regular SNL episodes. I hear that the special SNL At Home episodes that SNL has been doing lately has credited the SNL Band in the opening montage (no, I haven’t seen those episodes myself yet, as I’ve been on hiatus from watching new SNL episodes ever since December 2018, and I won’t break from that hiatus until I eventually review all of the episodes that I’ve missed during that hiatus), but as far as I’m aware, those SNL At Home episodes don’t count as regular SNL episodes. The SNL Archives page for the first SNL At Home episode (link here) seems to agree with me, as there’s no official episode number listed for it like regular SNL episodes are typically given on that site, plus the fact that on that site’s Season 45 page (link here), SNL At Home is listed under the “Specials” tab instead of the “Episodes” tab. [ADDENDUM: SNL Archives now counts the SNL At Home episodes as regular SNL episodes.] (Not to get even further off-topic in this review, but those SNL At Home episodes kinda throw a wrench into my plans for this SNL project of mine. Right from the start, I had always made it a rule for this SNL project that I will only review regular episodes and no specials, as stated on my home page, and it’s a rule that I sternly refuse to break. If I allow myself to bend the rules and review one or two specials, then to me, my SNL project will always have an incomplete feel, because I would have reviewed one or some of the specials, but not others. However, I’ve seen some online SNL fans make the point that they personally consider the SNL At Home episodes to be part of SNL’s roster of regular episodes, which really confuses me over whether I should review them or not when I arrive at that point of SNL’s timeline. As of now, I’m siding with SNL Archives and not counting SNL At Home as regular episodes. So, at the risk of potentially disappointing some of you readers, the plan right now is for me to not review the SNL At Home episodes, unless someone can make a strong and convincing argument that those officially count as being part of SNL’s roster of regular episodes.) [ADDENDUM: After a strong and convincing argument from various commenters, I’ve decided to review the SNL At Home episodes.]


MONOLOGUE
host says “not this Jack” to ego trip prospect; WIF & Kyle Gass cameos

— New home base stage. I remember how exciting this was at the time, but little did I know just how insanely long this home base stage would last, still being used to this day, 17 years later, which sadly makes me lose all hope that we’re EVER going to see a new home base stage. Given that SNL has kept this home base stage for the exact same period of time that Kenan Thompson has been in the cast, it almost makes one wonder if SNL is waiting for Kenan to leave until they finally change the home base stage.
— Jack Black is doing a great job right out of the gate getting the audience hyped up. His typical energy is perfect for a season premiere monologue.
— An around-the-studio musical number from the host, in the tradition of things like Steve Martin’s Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight cold opening and Mike Myers’ monologue.
— Funny bit with Jack asking the two new cast members “What’s your names?”, then IMMEDIATELY cutting them off with “Like I care!” Amusing to see in retrospect that this is how record-breaking long-tenured cast member Kenan Thompson was introduced on SNL.
— Speaking of Kenan, it feels just as odd as I expected for me to have officially reached the tenure of a cast member who’s currently still on the show today, which makes me realize I’m slowly getting closer and closer to reaching the modern-day era of SNL and completing this SNL project of mine. Then again, it will be 8 seasons until I reach the debut of the second longest-tenured current cast member, Kate McKinnon, and by the time I reach that season, Kate may have already left the current cast.
— Holy hell, a random casual and quick Will Ferrell cameo, getting shoved face-first out of the way by Jack.
— Now the (almost) entire cast is joining Jack’s musical number, interestingly in the exact same spot in SNL’s studio that the entire cast joined Steve Martin in the portion of the aforementioned Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight cold opening where the cast sings the lyrics “We’re gonna learn our lines, do our parts well, then we’ll go back to coasting… etc.”.

— Horatio’s attempt at scatting is very funny.
— Ah, I knew SNL wouldn’t let Will Ferrell’s only appearance in this monologue just be a very quick, barely-noticeable, non-speaking appearance in which he just gets shoved face-first by Jack, though at the same time, it would’ve been absurdly hilarious if SNL did leave that as his only appearance in this monologue.
STARS: ****


HUGGIES THONG
Huggies Thong diapers may not stop leaks, but they sure are fashionable

— Rachel looks like she lost quite a bit of weight over the summer.
— In the past, I’ve always been pretty meh on this commercial (maybe because of the huge overexposure it would get this season, with it being repeated in WAY too many of this season’s episodes), but it’s coming off harmless enough during this current viewing, and I admit it’s a funny premise for a fake ad.
STARS: ***


QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GAL
(TIF) gets lifestyle advice from lesbians

— I see SNL’s wasting no time in immediately spoofing that summer’s hit new reality show, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.
— Interesting seeing Paula Pell in a co-starring role, even though she has no actual dialogue here.
— A huge laugh from Jack’s lesbian character asking Tina “Where are your dildos?!?”
— The newspaper/magazine reviews shown throughout this aren’t that funny.
— Jack: “We should tear this carpet up.” Tina: “You guys would know about tearing up carpet.” A very funny line on paper, but something about Tina’s delivery of it didn’t quite work for me. The fact that she probably wrote that line herself (which I’m only assuming, as the writing of this sketch in general seems like her style) also gives her delivery of it a self-indulgent feel that I don’t like.
STARS: **½


THE WADE ROBSON PROJECT
awful dancers (MAR), (AMP), (host) flail

— (*sigh*) More early proof that this season of SNL will be pandering hard to the MTV audience. I also don’t like how the first two lead-off sketches of tonight’s season premiere are BOTH reality show parodies.
— Maya reuses the leaning-all-the-way-back-in-a-staccato-manner dance move from the MTV Spring Break sketch she did with Cameron Diaz in season 27.
— Some of the dialogue is falling kinda flat with the audience.
— A good laugh from one part of Amy’s dance sequence, where she mimes giving birth and then throwing the baby away.
— Jack’s performance and dance sequence is hilarious, and is giving this tepid sketch a much-needed boost. I especially love him doing the Russian Cossack dance move.
— The ending bit with Seth’s Wade Robson telling each dancer how bad they are is another portion of this sketch that’s falling flat.
STARS: **


COOKING CLASS
long-haired chef (host) teaches Vasquez, Gabe, Ruth, Pete (CHP) to cook

— Our third and final sketch with this group of student characters (though Horatio’s Vasquez will continue to make other appearances), but the A.J. character played by the no-longer-on-the-show Tracy Morgan has been replaced with a new character named Pete, played by Parnell.
— Another Jack Black character tonight that is so perfect for him that you would think he wrote it himself.
— A pretty good laugh from Jack’s character being unaware that his long curly hair is dipping into the pot of sauce while he’s speaking.
— Fred continues to kill me as his Gabe character.
— Rachel’s constant mentions of her allergies are getting tired.
— The band-aid ending was very funny.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Yankee Super-Heroes” by RBS- deep pockets empower baseball mercenaries

— Why is Stuart Scott being voiced by Parnell, of all people?
— A good laugh from the photo seen in each Yankee player’s locker.
— I don’t know why, but the voice for Derek Jeter is cracking me up. There’s also a funny gag with him singing a Mariah Carey-esque sonic shriek as a weapon against enemies.
— Some laughs throughout this overall cartoon, though this felt a little on the unmemorable side.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Jack mistakenly pronounces John Mayer’s last name as “Myer”, then makes a very funny and genuine “Oops!” face as the camera pans away from him (screencap below).


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bigger Than My Body”


WEEKEND UPDATE
doped-up Rush Limbaugh (JER) is unapologetic about racial insensitivity

FIM recalls birthday party at Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screening

Bill Cosby (KET) scuffles with Wanda Sykes (MAR) at Emmy Awards

— This is the second of only two appearances for Jimmy tonight, and the first was a quick non-speaking appearance in the monologue. His airtime is going to be unusually light in the first half of this season, as he’s filming the movie Taxi.
— Jimmy’s brief vocal impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger was very spot-on, putting Darrell’s impression to shame and making one wonder why SNL didn’t cast Jimmy in that role, other than the fact that SNL feels the need to justify Darrell’s unnecessary ninth season in the cast.
— An interesting out-of-the-ordinary set-up to Jeff’s Rush Limbaugh commentary.
— For some reason, it feels a little out of place and dissonant seeing Jeff in this season. Maybe because I now know what’s to come for him mid-season…
— As expected, Jeff’s Rush Limbaugh is yet another spot-on celebrity impression from him.
— A very funny line from Jeff’s Limbaugh about how he regrets the timing of his various controversies, as the possibility of him going to jail just so happens to be right after he pissed off a lot of black guys.
— Wow, a lame photo-based joke (the one about Laura Bush) that feels like a bad throwback to the old days of Update where lame photo-based jokes were a lot more common. (Dennis Miller is especially remembered by some SNL fans today for relying almost entirely on lame photo-based jokes. I disagree with that assessment of Dennis, but that’s another topic.) I think it was the Norm Macdonald era of Update where SNL finally got away from their bad habit of photo-based jokes.
— Giving Finesse Mitchell his own stand-up commentary on Update is a good way to introduce him in his first episode, though it certainly doesn’t make one forget about Tracy Morgan, who’s spot in the cast Finesse was seemingly hired to fill in.
— Kinda lame how Finesse’s commentary is focusing on a movie that came out THREE YEARS prior (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), especially since Tina set his commentary up as being about the new Denzel Washington movie Out Of Time. Finesse must’ve taken this commentary from an old stand-up routine of his, but couldn’t he have updated it?
— I’m having a hard time enjoying this Starkisha routine that Finesse is doing in his commentary, knowing in retrospect that this whole Starkisha bit would soon be spun-off into an unbearable recurring sketch.
— I really like how Jimmy is doubling down on the Norm Macdonald-esque deadpan, blunt punchlines and delivery that he began honing the preceding season. I know Jimmy is certainly no Norm, but still. And it’s certainly preferable to the mediocrity that Tina’s been dishing out lately at the Update desk.
— The random evil twin bit with Jimmy and Tina made me laugh, just because of how funny Jimmy looked in that fake big mustache.
— Here comes Kenan Thompson in his very first big SNL role, doing the Bill Cosby impression that he used to do back in his All That days on Nickelodeon.
— I am absolutely howling at the way Kenan’s Cosby keeps saying “Get out of m’face.” The fact that Kenan can get this big a laugh out of me in his first episode is impressive.
STARS: ***


CAT’S IN THE CRADLE
while onstage, guitarist (host) broaches childhood issues with dad (HOS)

— This is the very first sketch written by newly-hired SNL writer and future cast member Jason Sudeikis.
— Kenan looks so baby-faced here compared to how he looks today.
— Pretty funny reveal of Jack’s stepmom being Shelley Long, portrayed amusingly by Amy.
— Some funny lines from Horatio, such as him saying Jack’s cat had Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and him justifying his own drunkenness one Halloween by saying he was dressed as Abraham Drinkin’.
— Knowing that Jason Sudeikis wrote this, the constant mentions of the sitcom Cheers make a lot of sense, as Jason is George Wendt’s nephew. (Am I the only one who can see a bit of a facial resemblance between them?)
— Also knowing that Jason Sudeikis wrote this, I can’t help but picture him playing Horatio’s role, and he would’ve been absolutely perfect in it, though Horatio is absolutely fine here in his own right.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— This time when saying John Mayer’s last name, Jack correctly pronounces it in a comically emphasized manner, as if to say “See, everyone, I got it right this time!”


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Clarity”


WINE TASTING
vintner’s son (SEM) endures spit-take facials from wine expert (host)

— Meh, a sketch centered around spit-takes.
— After not laughing for most of these spit-takes, I finally got one laugh just now, from Jack turning all the way around while spitting out wine just to get it on Seth, after Seth has moved to a different spot.
— As I expected, I’m not caring for this very one-joke sketch, though Jack and Seth are performing this really well.
— Okay, I spoke too soon about Seth giving a strong performance, as he annoyed me just now with his horrible overacting during his delivery of “What about the special bottle?!? You have to try the special bottle!” It’s bad moments like that that make me wonder what SNL was thinking a year later in season 30 when they erroneously think Seth has what it takes to carry the show on his back as the male star of the cast.
STARS: **


TELEMARKETERS
via song, telemarketers romanticize sales method killed by no-call list

— Ugh, Kenan’s bizarrely goofy delivery of the line “The majestic buffalo” was too out-of-place for this sketch, and reminds me of how long it would take for him as an SNL cast member to shake a lot of his weaker habits from his child actor days on Nickelodeon. I also recall how, when tonight’s episode originally aired, some online SNL fans who were unhappy with SNL’s decision to hire a former All That cast member (and some of those SNL fans seemingly STILL haven’t gotten over that today, 17 years later) complained about how awful, distracting, and unnecessary Kenan’s mugging during some of Jack’s lines in this sketch was. Over the course of these next (insert large number here) seasons that I’ll be reviewing, it’s going to be interesting seeing Kenan gradually grow into the mature, solid, and reliable veteran he is today.
— Yet another sketch that Jack is absolutely perfect for.
— Horatio has been all over tonight’s episode.
— On an opposite note from what I just said about Horatio, where the heck has Forte been tonight? SNL went through the trouble of promoting him to a repertory player after only one season, only to give him practically nothing to do in his first episode as a repertory player. That being said, he completely steals this sketch with his one and only line of tonight’s entire episode: a hilarious solo lyric about his cocaine addiction.
— Fun guitar bit Jack is doing while standing on the desk.
— Both the audience and me got a pretty good laugh from Jack’s little “Take it” ad-lib in the middle of his long spiel while he handed his guitar to someone off-camera.
— The ending of this sketch abruptly gets cut off due to the show running long.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Further proof that this episode is running particularly long, as these goodnights get cut off before Jack even finishes his goodnights speech.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Despite an exciting new feel to the season with a brand-new opening montage, new home base and musical guest stages, and even a new visual quality onscreen, this ended up being a somewhat meh season premiere, and not a promising sign for the season. This episode was far from awful, but a lot of it hovered around the fairly unimpressive two-and-a-half/three-star rating range. Barely any sketches stood out. Jack Black was certainly a strong host, though, and gave this episode a boost with his fun and reliable energy.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2002-03)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Justin Timberlake makes his hosting debut

Posted on

January 19, 2002 – Jack Black / The Strokes (S27 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRETZEL INCIDENT
pretzel took blame for Dick Cheney’s (DAH) abuse of George W. Bush (WIF)

— Great to see Will back after how sorely missed he was during his absence in the last episode.
— I remember how eager a lot of SNL fans at the time were to see SNL parody President Bush’s then-recent pretzel-choking incident.
— Funny reveal of Darrell’s Dick Cheney having been hidden behind the couch in a wifebeater.
— I like how gradually clear it’s becoming that the pretzel-choking is a made-up excuse to hide the real reason for Bush’s injury.
— Not only do we FINALLY, for the first time all damn season, have someone in the cast who’s NOT Darrell or Will say “Live from New York…” (I just mean among the cast members, in case anyone wants to point out that Rudy Giuliani said LFNY in the season premiere), but it’s Jimmy, of all people, who delivers it. Believe it or not, Jimmy had never gotten to deliver a LFNY until now, four seasons into his SNL tenure.
— I was surprised how early this cold opening ended. Not sure what else they could’ve done with it, but the finished product of this cold opening felt only half-cooked.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
narcissistic host sings of his place in comedy history; Kyle Gass cameo

— A funny sudden turn in Jack Black’s initially humble song, about how we’re the lucky ones for getting to watch him on SNL.
— I love the interlude during the song, about how amazed Jack is to be standing on the same stage that such SNL legends as Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner stood on, before singing about how he’s blowing those SNL legends away with his “intensity”.
— A solid inclusion of Kyle Gass towards the end.
STARS: ****


FLENDERSON’S
without one of Flenderson’s huge bows, a gift car is sure to disappoint

— Seth, to Amy, regarding the new car she got him as a gift: “It doesn’t have one of those huge oversized bows on it… so I hate it.”
— An overall simple but funny parody of the tradition of car commercials showing people receiving a huge-bow-wrapped car as a gift.
STARS: ***


RUSSELL PUTNAM, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
stoner journalist (host) hazily investigates federal marijuana conspiracy

— Odd usage of Darrell throughout tonight’s episode so far. They seem to be casting him in lots of Chris Parnell/Will Ferrell-esque important utility roles, which shows that, even though Will is temporarily back from his filming of the movie Old School, Will’s availability this week must’ve been limited and some roles that normally would go to him had to be given to other performers.
— Good premise of Jack as an investigative reporter for High Times magazine, complete with his own opening title sequence.
— Speaking of the opening title sequence, I remember some online SNL fans at the time wondered if Jack getting hit on the head with a boom mic during one part of the title sequence (the fifth above screencap for this sketch) was a Christopher Guest-esque genuine gaffe (remember when Guest accidentally bumped his head on a boom mic in the Ed Grimley sketch from the first episode of season 10?). Thinking that was a real gaffe is silly, considering this opening title sequence is clearly pre-taped (dead giveaway: Jack is wearing a completely different shirt in it than the one he’s wearing in the live portions of this sketch).
— Funny bit with Jack playing back an audio tape that he secretly recorded of the mayor, only for it to turn out to be a tape of the conversation that Jack literally just had with his stoner friends when setting up his playing of the tape.
— This overall sketch was just average, and nowhere near a strong as it initially seemed like it was going to be.
STARS: ***


TALES OF VALOUR
monster (host) would prefer a slut to virgin (AMP)

— Darrell’s rare big night continues, as he’s cast in YET ANOTHER Chris Parnell-esque role (though Darrell did previously play a role just like this in the Scarlett Letter sketch from the preceding season’s Lara Flynn Boyle episode, back when Parnell was actually still in the cast).
— Great demonic voice from Jack, as well as great demonic make-up on him. By the way, he appears to be wearing the same make-up prosthetics that Will wore in the Lucifer Songs sketch from season 25’s Garth Brooks episode (side-by-side comparison below).

— A good laugh from Jack’s character unexpectedly requesting Jimmy to bring him a slutty girl instead of a virgin.
— I’m really enjoying the realistic turn this has taken with the conversation Jack and Jimmy are having about virgins vs. experienced women.
— Hilarious ending with Tracy randomly appearing as himself to join Darrell’s character in ogling dirty pictures in a storybook that Darrell’s reading from. I love that Tracy’s defined and reliable onscreen persona has gotten to the point where SNL can just randomly throw him as himself into out-of-place settings like this, and they know it’ll work. (Years later, SNL would occasionally do the same thing with Leslie Jones.)
STARS: ****


MOUNTAINTOP LOVERS
at (host)’s ski lodge, Roger & Virginia unsettle (CHK) & (AMP)

— I recently read an old SNL review that stated The Luvahs are basically just a much-older version of The Zimmermans (the sex-crazed married couple characters that Kattan used to play with Cheri Oteri). I guess I can kinda see that, though I think The Luvahs are inherently funnier characters than The Zimmermans (though I’m more tolerant of the Zimmermans sketches than quite a number of people are), and are thankfully much more low-key.
— Rachel’s Luvahs wig looks kinda different tonight.
— I’m getting my usual amusement from the Luvahs here, though there’s nothing new so far.
— Ha, a walk-on from Jack as a Luvahs-esque character.
— I love Rachel’s line about anxiously awaiting the delicious taste mixture of chest hair, chin sweat, and goose juice.
— Will’s line about how he climaxes very loudly at exactly 7 AM each morning is hilarious.
— Jack’s distinct delivery of the words “elvin cloak” in that Luvahs-esque voice was great.
— During his spiel right now, Will seems to be intentionally milking his character’s usually odd inflections of syllables in some words, with the way he’s now saying “Su-BAH-ru” and “tow-TRUCK”.
— When Jack’s character is speaking while he and The Luvahs are in a casual three-way fondling session, Will starts feeling up Jack’s upper leg/butt, which you can tell Jack didn’t expect, as his voice suddenly raises an octave in surprise and he then is seen stifling some laughter, though he gets back into character fast.
— (*groan*) There goes the tepid traditional “Ow, my back” ending, though this one is a variation, with Will’s back catching on fire from the fireplace. Still not necessary.
STARS: ***½


FRIENDS
in its seventh season, Friends is running out of character pairings

— A laugh from this Friends promo teasing an incestuous relationship between Monica and Ross.
— An amusing ending confession from the announcer that “we’re kinda running out of combinations”.
STARS: ***


NOW THAT’S WHAT ACTORS CALL SINGING!
album features stars’ vanity bands

— Funny premise mocking the trend of celebrities attempting side careers as singers.
— I’m particularly enjoying Will and Jack’s performances in the Bacon Brothers scene.
— A huge laugh from the singer name used for Al Roker (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Jeff steals this whole sketch with an absolutely hilarious and spot-on Kevin Spacey.
STARS: ***½


BASS-OFF
hype ensues when (WIF) challenges electric bass master (host) to a duel

 

— Will’s “bass face” when jamming out on his bass is hilarious.
— Yet another sketch tonight in which Will and Jack play off of each other really well.
— I love the phone gossip montage with quick cutaways to various random characters spreading word of Will and Jack’s bass-off, and it’s a good way to include most of the cast in this sketch (including a then-rare non-Update appearance from Tina). Also, in the shot of Jack’s character during this phone gossip montage, why in the world is he randomly wearing lip gloss, when he didn’t wear it earlier in the sketch?
— Wow, there’s Darrell in yet ANOTHER non-impression role. For some reason, his grumpy, cigar-smoking character in this sketch is making me laugh, even though it’s just a very small role.
— During the bass-off, I like Jack’s shocked reaction when Will starts playing Jack’s bass during his own bass solo.
— What’s with the whole gas leak thing?
— A fairly weak and unnecessary text crawl ending.
— Amy is the ONLY cast member who was missing from this overall sketch.
— After a solid first half, this sketch kinda fell apart in the second half. Promising sketches fizzling out towards the end seems to be a theme tonight, between the Bush cold opening, the Russell Putnam sketch, and now this sketch.
STARS: ***


WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF gives her thoughts on the absurdly awful Enron scandal

shy & adorable Amelie (CHK) visits Weekend Update

I Have An Opinion- JIF thinks Camp X-Ray living conditions are just fine

Tenacious D performs “Hornet’s Nest” to comment on world politics

 

— Tina’s long-winded Enron rant, while having a few dead spots, was okay as a whole, but wasn’t as strong as her usual rants.
— Ha, a mention of the teen, Steve, from the Dell computer commercials at the time (pictured in the second above screencap for this Weekend Update). Just hearing a mention of him really takes me back.
— I like Jimmy and Tina’s random-but-funny “Oh, snap! / Oh, no you di-in’t!” bit after Jimmy’s sly double entendre about Jennifer Aniston getting “rear-ended”.
— No idea what to say about Chris’ overall VERY random Amelie segment. He did an accurate impression, at least, but, like a lot of things Chris does at this later stage of his SNL tenure, it came off too much to me like something that Chris had already done on the show.
— Some pretty funny ad-libs from Jimmy when the audience fails to applaud at the beginning of his “I Have An Opinion” side segment.
— Good to see a Tenacious D commentary. Weird to think that the last time Tenacious D appeared on SNL, they were an unknown band doing a “guest comedian” spot that seemed to be SNL’s attempt at a throwback to early seasons, where guest comedian spots were common.
— The usual entertaining Tenacious D song.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Last Nite”


AMERICA UNDERCOVER
gruff (host) & trashy white couple in love triangle

— Something odd I just noticed about these America Undercover sketches: the blurry, hard-to-distinguish background video used for the America Undercover opening title sequence is, for some reason, an SNL clip of Will and Vince Vaughn in the Exxon-Mobil Merger sketch from Vince Vaughn’s season 24 episode.
— The voice that Jack’s using is slaying me.
— I like the running gag with Jack’s failed attempts to climb the fence.
— Poor Dean, always stuck in these America Undercover sketches playing the role of a cop who holds a briefs-wearing Chris upside-down and has his face awfully close to Chris’ nether regions.
— This America Undercover installment is even more incoherent and crazy than the first installment earlier this season, but it’s making me laugh a lot.
— Funny reveal that Jack is Chris’ stepfather.
STARS: ***½


MUSIC INTERNATIONAL
(host)’s gothic rock opera serves as a Happy Birthday Song alternative

— A priceless entrance from Will asking “Does this look familiar?” while wearing a cheesy bowl cut wig. This receives what may be one of the most extended laughter breaks that I’ve EVER heard on SNL. Such a classic little Ferrell moment.
— A very funny exaggeration on how “complicated” and “difficult to sing” the traditional Happy Birthday song is.
— I love the sudden wild, perfectly Jack Black-esque turn that Jack’s new Happy Birthday song takes after a tender beginning.
— This sketch is now featuring more and more increasingly dark, bizarre, insane, and elaborate turns. Very unpredictable, fascinating, and fun.
— Amy is great as the witch.
— When Amy gets lifted into the air, one of her legs stick out, unintentionally revealing that she’s still wearing the blue pants from the preceding America Undercover sketch (screencap below), which is an amusing juxtaposition to the witch character she’s playing here.

— This is such a perfect sketch for Jack Black. I cannot imagine anybody else playing his role.
— I wonder if that falcon puppet (seen in the last of the above group of screencaps for this sketch, above the stray screencap of Amy being lifted in the air) is the same one that SNL would end up regularly using in the Falconer sketches that star the soon-to-join-the-cast Will Forte. Even the bird squawk sound effect is the same.
— Overall, what an epic masterpiece.
— IIRC, SNL would later move this sketch up to a much earlier spot in this episode in reruns. I can understand why, but this sketch is a far more perfect fit in its original late spot.
STARS: *****


MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
sprung by a monkey in chapter 828


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hard To Explain”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, though not quite as strong I had remembered it (which I seem to be saying quite a bit this season). Even so, there was a nice consistency to the quality of the sketches all night, and we got one classic in the Music International sketch. Jack Black was a fantastic host, gave a strong and fun performance in every sketch, and fit SNL like a glove.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Hartnett)
a fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Britney Spears