Tag: Justin Timberlake

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December 21, 2013 – Jimmy Fallon / Justin Timberlake (S39 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WRAPPINVILLE
singing & dancing mascot & gift bag (JIF) contend with a wrapper (AIB)

— Pretty funny singing from Aidy early on in this cold opening.
— (*groan*) Yet another one of Justin Timberlake’s tepid Dancing Mascot sketches. On the bright side, 1) this thankfully ends up being the final one, and 2) at least there’s a slither of a change of pace by having Jimmy Fallon partnered up with Justin. Having Jimmy in this actually makes sense, given the fact that the style of the typical song parodies in these Dancing Mascot sketches is similar to the song parodies Jimmy often used to do on Weekend Update while playing the guitar. (In fact, one of the songs he and Justin spoof in tonight’s Dancing Mascot sketch, Ludacris’ “Rollout”, was even previously spoofed by Jimmy in one of his Update song parodies.)
— What in the WORLD is with that off-camera female audience member who keeps interrupting this sketch by shouting a very annoying cheer like a lunatic (“AY-YA-YA-YA-YAAAA!”) whenever Aidy tries to speak each time after a Timberlake/Fallon musical number ends? At one point, that audience member’s shouting forces poor Aidy to basically drop character while in the middle of delivering a line, and, in a taken-aback manner, briefly acknowledge the audience member’s yells before going back on-script. Shortly after one of those yells from the audience member, Justin also ad-libs, “Quiet, mom.”
— Meh at Justin and Jimmy’s homoerotic “deck-sacking” disclosure.
— I am at least finding some of the hit songs being spoofed here to be catchy, especially “Somebody That I Used To Know”, “Thrift Shop”, and the aforementioned “Rollout”.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
JIF & Paul McCartney [real] sing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

— I got a laugh from Jimmy bluntly disclosing, “Unfortunately, they can’t be here”, after getting the audience’s hopes up by telling them which legendary singers he’s supposed to do a musical number with.
— A fairly fun format with Jimmy having to run from mic to mic while imitating the legendary singers who he was supposed to do this number with, even if most of these are impressions that we’ve previously seen Dana Carvey do either just as well or better. Jimmy at least does a better David Bowie than I think I’ve ever seen anyone on SNL do.
— It’s getting less and less surprising to see Paul McCartney show up on SNL, given the frequency of his SNL appearances, but I guess it’s still pretty nice seeing him assist Jimmy here.
STARS: ***


CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD
CBS & NBC network stars do battle

— The first of many Steve Harvey-hosted Celebrity Family Feud sketches.
— Pretty solid Jim Parsons impression from Jimmy, even nailing the mouth movements.
— A meta aspect with Justin (who’s starting to feel like a co-host of this episode) playing Jimmy. Even if this feels very inside joke-y between Justin and Jimmy (you can tell this is designed to make the easily-breakable Jimmy break hard), I’m finding Justin’s impression of Jimmy to be pretty good.
— Lots of very funny lines from Kenan’s Steve Harvey throughout this sketch.
— Hilarious Ice-T impression from Jay.
— Speaking of meta, we get a very memorable meta bit with Brooks randomly playing himself as one of the contestants on the NBC team, and making fun of his own lack of screentime at SNL. I remember loving this meta bit when it originally aired. I don’t know if Brooks eventually getting fired after this season now casts a pall over this meta bit in hindsight or not, but it still works for me, and it adds to how likable and relatable Brooks typically is as a performer.
— There’s our obligatory breaking from Jimmy in response to Justin’s impression of him when both of them are up at the main podium together. When Jimmy turns his head away from the camera to hide his giggling, I do kinda like how Justin actually imitates that head-turn, keeping up the impression he’s doing.
— I generally like Noel as an impressionist, but something about her Alyson Hannigan impression here feels like she’s trying too hard to be funny.
— During our second obligatory display of breaking from Jimmy in response to Justin’s impression of him, Jimmy literally DUCKS BEHIND HIS PODIUM to hide his laughing from the camera (the last above screencap for this sketch). I remember hearing about something similar once happening at a party that both Jimmy and Ben Affleck were at. (This was many years ago, I think back when Jimmy was still a cast member on SNL.) At one point during that party, Ben suddenly pulled out an impression of Jimmy to impress the other partygoers, and that made Jimmy get so shy and embarrassed that it resulted in him immediately dashing out of the room (while giggling, of course) and hiding in another room.
STARS: ***½


(DO IT ON MY) TWIN BED
sex during the holidays is awkward in women’s childhood rooms

— Our very first of many instances of the female cast starring together in a music video. And what a very famous first instance this particular one is.
— And with this being the first female cast-starring music video, we get our very first mention of Aidy’s classic moniker, “Lil’ Baby Aidy”.
— A perfect mixture of both an excellent song and subject matter, and the female cast is great in this.
— Very funny bit from Aidy regarding “a whole thing with Jean”.
— Great small appearance from Beck as Noel’s uncle.
— One of my absolute favorite parts of this has always been the sequence in which we see a childhood photo of each of the girls and Jimmy. I always find it so fun seeing what cast members looked like as kids, which reminds me that Reese Witherspoon’s Mother’s Day-themed season 40 monologue is coming up soon, and if you remember that monologue, you’ll know why I’m reminded of it and why I’m looking forward to covering it.
— Overall, a true classic. I recall SNL having a fairly hit-and-miss track record with their subsequent female cast-starring music videos, but this one definitely still holds up for me.
STARS: *****


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Madonna & Barry Gibb [real] take part

— (*groan*) Much like with the cold opening earlier in this episode, I’m sure you readers know how I feel about seeing this sketch return.
— At least it was refreshing to get a much-needed break from this sketch the last time both Jimmy and Justin each hosted (separately). And, much like the Dancing Mascot recurring sketch, this thankfully ends up being the final time this sketch appears (at least as of 2020).
— So are we just supposed to ignore the fact that the real Robin Gibb had been dead for a year-and-a-half by this point? They don’t even try to acknowledge that in this sketch, not even in a humorous way like they memorably did in one brief point of the Joan Allen-involved Space The Infinite Frontier sketch that Will Ferrell did not too long after the real Harry Caray’s death. (Joan Allen: “Please forgive me for asking this, but didn’t you die?” Harry Caray: “Yes I did. What’s your point?”)
— Random Madonna.
— Hmm, a change of pace with Madonna actually standing up to Jimmy’s Barry Gibb, and taming him. As much as I appreciate them trying something different with the formula for once, I’m still left a little underwhelmed by this confrontation between Madonna and Jimmy’s Barry. And whatever Madonna was attempting with that grille she put in her mouth during the confrontation didn’t land with me nor the audience.
— Some of Jimmy-as-Barry’s typical angry rants at the guests are coming off hard to decipher here.
— A sudden cameo at the end from the real Barry Gibb, hopefully there to intentionally give this sketch its official sendoff so we can NEVER SEE IT AGAIN FOR THE REST OF HUMANITY.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Only When I Walk Away”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Billie Jean King (KAM) relishes bringing gayness to the 2014 Olympics

JIF, SEM, Michael Bloomberg [real] will soon be leaving their jobs

— Another then-innocent Donald Trump joke that’s interesting to hear years later in hindsight (for obvious reasons), this particular joke being about Trump’s announcement that he’s considering running for governor of New York (wait, what???): “Explained Trump, ‘If I’m not constantly in the news, I will die.’”
— I like Cecily’s little “I’m from Chicago, I can do that” ad-lib after her Kim Jong-Un/Dennis Rodman joke. These past two Updates, I’ve gradually been warming up to Cecily as an Update anchor.
— Tons of cliched lesbian jokes in Kate’s Billie Jean King commentary, and there have been funnier “Kate McKinnon plays a brash hardass” bits elsewhere on SNL. Probably not a good sign that Kate doing this type of “brash hardass” characterization is ALREADY starting to feel stale and cliched when she had only been on SNL for a little over a season-and-a-half by this point. Because of how somewhat-new she still is by this point, and knowing in hindsight that the upcoming 2014-2017 years would be Kate at the peak of her strength as a performer (or at least, that’s how I felt at the time; we’ll see if that opinion of mine holds up in my re-watch of those years), I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt here and assume that it’s just the tepid writing that’s to blame for her “brash hardass” characterization feeling stale and tired here. That being said, I’m actually still getting a few laughs from her in this commentary.
— Meh, I’m not caring much for this Jimmy Fallon/Michael Bloomberg commentary.
— At one point during the Fallon/Bloomberg commentary, the choked-up voice Jimmy uses when comically holding back tears sounds JUST LIKE Mike Myers whenever his Linda Richman character would get “a little verklempt” in Coffee Talk sketches. Possibly another sign of how much Jimmy idolized that early 90s era of SNL. (In the “SNL In The 90s” documentary, Jimmy talks about how exciting it was for him to watch the Bad Boys years in the early 90s, because, as he says, that was the first SNL era to speak to his generation. Plus, you can see some Adam Sandler and Mike Myers influences in some of Jimmy’s character work during his SNL years.)
— For the third consecutive Update, an Update guest gets sentimental when bringing up Seth’s soon-to-come departure from SNL. I do like how Jimmy mentions here that he got to introduce Seth the very first time Seth ever did an Update commentary. (Just for kicks, below are a few screencaps of how young Jimmy and Seth looked during that very first Update commentary of Seth’s.)

— I never realized until now that Michael Bloomberg’s voice sounds kinda John Malkovich-esque at times.
STARS: **½


WAKING UP WITH KIMYE
Kimye’s Christmas message is similar to “Bound 2” video

— Jay’s overdoing the “HEHH!” exclamations as Kanye West in tonight’s installment.
— The spoof of Kanye’s “Bound 2” music video is very funny. Unfortunately, that’s the only real standout part of this sketch. The rest of this hasn’t been anything special.
— A rare post-2010 live sketch to not have the host in it. Jimmy actually was originally going to appear in this as Ed Sheeran, but he got cut from the live version. Not sure if he would’ve given this sketch a much-needed boost, but I am a little curious what his take on Ed Sheeran was like.
STARS: **½


NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL CHRISTMAS
Shakira (KAM) & others do covers on CD

— Interesting how Jimmy is playing Michael Bublé here, given the fact that Jimmy’s previous hosting stint not only had Bublé as the musical guest, but at one point in that episode, Bublé starred as himself in a Christmas album ad that’s similar to this one.
— Noel’s Zooey Deschanel scene was way too brief compared to most of the other scenes in this commercial (perhaps yet ANOTHER sign of how much Noel keeps getting screwed over by SNL). I wanted to see a little more of her take on Deschanel, as that’s an impression she was born to do.
— Boy, that is a TERRIBLE Axl Rose impression from Kyle. I love Kyle, but impressions have never been his niche, which SNL refuses to believe, for some reason. A year after this, in another one of these “Christmas duets” album ads, I recall Kyle doing a Macklemore impression that’s laughably bad.
— Funny scene with Bobby as Andrea Bocelli.
— Solid Billie Joe Armstrong impression from John.
— I don’t get what Kate’s going for AT ALL in her Lorde impression. She couldn’t sound less like Lorde if she tried.
— An overall fairly fun piece, but was nowhere near as strong as the aforementioned “Christmas duets” album ad from Jimmy’s previous hosting stint.
STARS: ***


A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Ebenezer Scrooge (TAK) realizes his homosexuality outweighs miserliness

— Oh, I don’t like where this is going…
— Yep, this is just a lame and hacky “What if young Ebenezer Scrooge was gay?” sketch. Are we really still doing “It’s funny because it features a man acting gay!” humor in 2013? Did James Anderson pull this out of his old “cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketches I wrote in season 30” file? This sketch would’ve felt right at home with James Anderson-written horrific gay-themed duds that dominated season 30 like Gay Frankenstein and Gays In Space. I almost included the equally-horrific Gay Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde sketch in there, before I remembered that was actually from season 35, in the notorious January Jones episode.
— Not a single redeeming moment to be found here, overall.
STARS: *


BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
(JIF) & (CES) reverse roles in second verse of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”

— Hmm, this appears to be an interesting and out-of-the-ordinary piece for this SNL era, and I like how it’s set on SNL’s home base stage.
— I really like the conceit of this, theorizing what Baby It’s Cold Outside possibly went like AFTER the song ends.
— A really nice, sweet turn this sketch takes at the end.
— Overall, a strong, well-done, and refreshing piece. I also like how old-school this felt in a positive way, as this is one of those sketches that I can easily picture appearing on SNL in the 70s and 80s (the aforementioned fact that this sketch was set on the home base stage adds further to the “70s/80s SNL” feel), and is the type of thing I wish recent SNL eras would try more often.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pair of Wings”


GOODNIGHTS
CSR joins JIF & cast members onstage

— Chris Rock out of absolutely nowhere. I like how even he’s doing comical “Hey, I don’t know why I’m here, either!” gestures.
— Mike O’Brien noticeably looking quite sullen and lonely during these goodnights, while everyone around him is in a jolly, Christmas-y mood. You can just hear Mike sadly thinking in his head, “This cast member gig isn’t working out for me, is it?” He made no live appearances in this episode (besides these goodnights, obviously, which don’t count), and, in fact, hasn’t gotten ANYTHING significant to do in a live sketch in…what, two months? I think the Edward Norton episode was the last one in which Mike got a meaty role in a live sketch, and that was all the way back in October! Geez. Plus, I’m sure he’s aware of how painfully awkward he tends to come off whenever he gets a speaking role in a live sketch. Looks like SNL has already given up on him as a live performer and has begun phasing him out of live sketches by this point. By the final quarter of this season, in April and May, Mike’s practically relegated to only appearing in his own short films. That would eventually lead to him continuing to appear in his own short films the next few seasons even after being fired from the cast and returning to the writer’s room.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode that was all over the place, and sadly didn’t come REMOTELY close to measuring up to the fantastic Christmas episode that Jimmy Fallon previously hosted in season 37. Two strong pieces tonight, including one beloved classic (Twin Bed), and there were also a few okay sketches, but we also got quite a number of sketches I really could’ve done without.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
(Do It On My) Twin Bed
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Celebrity Family Feud
Now That’s What I Call Christmas
Monologue
Weekend Update
Waking Up With Kimye
The Barry Gibb Talk Show
Wrappinville
A Christmas Carol


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2014, with host Drake. We also get the new addition of a black female cast member, in response to the public outcry for one.

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March 9, 2013 – Justin Timberlake (S38 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MEMORIAL SERVICE
Elton John (host) performs “Candle In The Wind” variant for Hugo Chavez

— OH, GOD. A translator opening. And one starring Fred, no less.
— Okay, thankfully, the translator bit ended up just being a brief set-up to the main focus of this cold opening: Justin Timberlake as Elton John singing a tribute song to the recently-deceased Hugo Chavez.
— A rarity to see Justin starring in the cold opening of an episode he’s hosting.
— I like the disapproving looks Justin’s Elton occasionally gives into the camera after singing certain ridiculous revelations about Hugo Chavez.
— After a promising start, this is trailing off for me. A lot of parts of the song are starting to wash over me.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— The still-injured Don Pardo is out for the third consecutive episode. Like the last episode, former cast member Darrell Hammond fills in by doing a Pardo imitation.


MONOLOGUE
DAA & MAS wait on Five-Timers Club members host, Paul Simon, Steve Martin, CHC, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Candice Bergen [real]

— After Justin mentions this is his fifth time hosting, this monologue turns into a variation/recreation/homage/sequel/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of the legendary Five-Timers Club monologue with Tom Hanks in 1990.
— Interesting decision to have then-writer Mike O’Brien play the doorman role, which Conan O’Brien played in the original Five-Timers Club monologue back when he was a writer. I wonder if SNL came to this casting decision because Mike O’Brien has the same last name as Conan.
— Steve Martin is his usual hilarious self here.
— Good random inclusion of Dan Aykroyd as a bartender, and I like the line about how bartender was the only occupation the club members could find for him because he only hosted once.
— Much like the joke in the original Five-Timers Club monologue where some of the five-timers order drinks that are named after former cast members, Justin orders the “Kristen Wiig”, which is a drink with a little Gilly wig on the top. I wish the drinks-named-after-former-cast-members gag went on longer tonight with more names.
— I like the paintings of some five-timers who I guess couldn’t cameo in person tonight.
— As always, I have VERY mixed feelings towards a Chevy Chase cameo, for obvious reasons.
— Yikes, Chevy’s voice and delivery sound pretty awful and out-of-it here. A harbinger of his infamous and depressing appearance a few years later in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, where he looked and sounded unhealthy as hell.
— Ha, Martin Short as a waiter. This feels like a callback to his appearance in the Platinum Lounge Club sketch from Alec Baldwin’s 2006 episode, though we don’t get Steve Martin saying (in regards to Martin Short being a waiter) “It’s sad” again.
— It’s particularly nice to see Tom Hanks here, given the fact that he was the inductee in the previous Five-Timers Club monologue. I wish they mentioned that here.
— I like how the Taran/Bobby fighting sequence is an original bit that’s completely unlike anything in the previous Five-Timers Club monologue. It’s also a nice novelty seeing current cast members appearing in a Five-Timers Club monologue, which we didn’t get in the previous one with Hanks.
— A funny delighted delivery of “Thank yooouuu!” from a formerly-crying Bobby after he’s complimented on his Drunk Uncle character.
— When this originally aired, I remember what a big and pleasant surprise it was to see involvement from Candice Bergen, especially because, unlike the other five-timer cameos here, all of whom we’ve previously seen make a number of cameos in regular episodes from the 2000s and/or early 2010s, this is the first time in decades we’ve seen Candice appearing in a regular episode.
— Overall, while this certainly doesn’t compare to the quality of the original Five-Timers Club monologue, this was still solid and very fun in its own right.
STARS: ****


IT’S A DATE
bachelorette (VAB) chooses Dick In A Box guys & Festrunk Brothers

— Bill doing his always-fantastic and hilarious job as a game show host.
— I’m glad SNL’s doing something different with the Dick In A Box characters, especially since the formula of their usual Digital Shorts started showing signs of weariness in their last short (the 3-Way one with Lady Gaga).
— This is a much more fun use of the Festrunk Brothers than their appearance in a Roxbury Guys sketch from 1998.
— Everybody’s doing top-notch work here. Not just the heavy-hitters (Andy/Justin and Dan/Steve), and not just Bill, but also Bobby, who’s a fantastic straight man here, and Vanessa, who’s especially funny in her various unexcited reactions to Bobby.
— As a 90s kid, I love the DuckTales reference.
— A great nod to SNL history, with the Festrunks mentioning they’ve been living in America for 37 years. Though to nitpick, if that line was going by how long it had been since the Festrunks made their debut (which was in September 1977), shouldn’t it be 36 years?
— I got a pretty good laugh from the Festrunks telling the Dick In A Box guys, upon finally seeing them face-to-face, “I can’t believe you guys are not black!”
— Nice seeing Vanessa dancing with both the Festrunks and the Dick In A Box guys.
STARS: ****


VEGANVILLE
singing & dancing mascot counters Sausage Depot rep (BOM) with Veganism

— Bobby’s been having a pretty big night so far.
— Blah, our obligatory appearance of this recurring Dancing Mascot sketch. I was about to say, at least this is the last time I have to review one of these, as this ends up being Justin’s final hosting stint (as of 2020), but then I remembered there’s still one more installment of this sketch, when Justin’s the musical guest in the following season’s Jimmy Fallon-hosted episode.
— Good ol’ Bobby’s usual performance style and reliability is welcome here, and he’s a lot more fun than most of the cast members who previously played off of Justin in these Dancing Mascot sketches.
— Yeah, as usual, Justin’s songs aren’t doing a damn thing for me.
— Yeesh, it feels like Justin’s doing even more songs than usual in tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch. (*groan*) This sketch feels ENDLESS.
— At least the ending with a whole bunch of random people showing up to dance in the street with Justin and Bobby is very different than the usual endings of these Dancing Mascot sketches.
STARS: *½


NUVABLING
NuvaBling allows women to combine contraception with ornamentation

— A big laugh from Vanessa’s uncomfortable facial expression when inserting the NuvaBling into her vagina while the camera is on a close-up of her face.
— This feels like the type of Tina Fey-centric female-oriented commercial that would’ve been performed by the Fey/Dratch/Poehler/Rudolph female group back in the day.
— Some more big laughs throughout this, especially the reveal that you can reuse the NuvaBling as an earring.
— Aidy: “Did you get those earrings from Tiffany’s?” Cecily: “Close. I got them from my vagina.”
— An overall solid commercial, and I think Tina Fey would be proud.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Jay-Z [real] perform “Suit & Tie”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Stefon’s eccentric springtime fun places have everything you don’t want

 

— Showing how much SNL has cut back on the number of appearances from the hugely-popular Stefon lately, this is only the second appearance he’s made all season. By this same point (early-mid March) of the preceding season, Stefon was already in his fourth appearance of that season.
— Tonight’s Stefon commentary even acknowledges his lack of appearances lately, by having Seth tell him we haven’t seen him in a while, and he explains “This job writing for Smash is killing me.”
— Stefon is funnier than ever tonight. Among my favorite bits from him tonight: 1) “And if you liked Russell Crowe in Les Miserab, you might wanna hear Jasper The Gorilla pass a kidney stone!”, 2) the last words of murdered blues legend Sweet Willie Walker (“My wallet?!? Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhh right!”), 3) Stefon imitating Donald Duck having a Vietnam nightmare (one of my personal favorite Stefon moments of all time), 4) part of another club name being “–based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”, and 5) one of the features of one of the clubs being the outdoor concert from a Zoloft commercial.
— A nice meta bit with Stefon slyly telling Seth, “I’ll let you join MY Five-Timers Club.”
— Solid ending to tonight’s Update with Stefon signing off for Seth by saying, “For Weekend Update, I’m the future Mr. Stefon Meyers.” A nice precursor (whether intentional or not on writer John Mulaney’s part) to a big event that happens in the next appearance Stefon will make.
STARS: ***½ (the ½ is for Stefon)


THE TALES OF SOBER CALIGULA
reformed Caligula (host) makes Rome boring

— Hmm, not too sure about this premise.
— I got a laugh from Justin bluntly disclosing, “Last week, I woke up with my penis in the mouth of a dead lion.”
— An amusing little ad-lib with Taran sensually feeling Justin’s stomach while making his exit, which catches Justin off-guard.
— There are some laughs, but this sketch feels a little on the dead side.
— Boy, the pig bit at the end fell completely flat. Not even Tim’s usual lovable goofiness could save that bit for me.
STARS: **½


MAINE JUSTICE
transplanted Louisiana culture nonplusses defendant (ANS)

— Yeah, I’ll just state the obvious right upfront: bad idea to do a second installment of this absolutely classic sketch from earlier this season, which always should’ve stayed a one-off.
— At least Jason’s usual delivery as this character is still giving me laughs.
— When Andy Samberg’s character mentions he went to LSU, you can hear an SNL audience member actually gasp very loudly in shock, then proudly yell “Go, Tigers!”
— Man, it hurts seeing such an inferior retread of one of my all-time favorite sketches. Jason’s performance is the only thing really holding this retread together for me (and even his performance isn’t quite as funny as his performance in the first installment of this sketch).
— Okay, we at least get something different from the first installment, with the bit involving an alligator creeping up on the judge bench. Though the quality of this bit doesn’t compare to anything from the first installment of this sketch, it’s pretty funny, especially Jason and Justin tenderly feeding the alligator.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
the Three Amigos salute & introduce host

— Fairly charming to see a reprisal of the classic Three Amigos salute. However, showing how old these guys now are, Steve did the cough way too early, and, much like in the monologue earlier tonight, Chevy’s voice still sounds like he’s on his deathbed.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Mirrors”


SHE’S GOT A D!%K
host stars in romantic comedy about a woman with a penis (NAP)

 

— Wait, is SNL freakin’ kidding me with this premise?!?
— I will say that Kenan’s confused reactions are cracking me up, at least.
— The acting in this is a spot-on spoof of the acting in typical rom-coms. That and Kenan’s lines are the only things keeping this from being a COMPLETE dud.
STARS: *½


MOËT & CHANDON
(host) & vacuous ex-porn stars endorse Moët & Chandon champagne

— So now we’re bringing back ANOTHER classic original sketch from this season’s Jamie Foxx episode???
— Cecily: “You’ll think you’ve just graduated Magna cum loudly.”
— Vanessa: “I got cut in half for real at a magic show. Now some of my middle parts are plastic bags, and I can’t wait to fill them with Moët Chammbimm!”
— Cecily: “I got banged into a sink hole. Then a mole person banged me back up. I’ll drink that that!”
— It’s too long for me to directly quote, but Vanessa’s whole jerking-off-a-horse bit is yet another great spiel in this sketch.
— Okay, unlike Maine Justice, it turns out that this is something that actually works as a recurring sketch. Like last time, we’re getting tons of killer lines.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A somewhat mixed episode as a whole, and the post-Weekend Update half was rough until the great final sketch. However, this episode had a pretty good number of strong and memorable moments, such as the fun and special-feeling one-two punch of the monologue and It’s A Date sketch back-to-back. I also like how this episode didn’t have quite as much of a “same-y” feel that a lot of Justin Timberlake-hosted episodes suffer from (the refreshing absence of The Barry Gibb Talk Show tonight probably has something to do with that), but there was still quite a lot of rehashing tonight in general.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Moët & Chandon
Monologue
Nuvabling
It’s A Date
Weekend Update
Maine Justice
The Tales of Sober Caligula
Memorial Service
Veganville
She’s Got A D!%k


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kevin Hart)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy

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May 21, 2011 – Justin Timberlake / Lady Gaga (S36 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

STRAUSS-KAHN’S CELL
in jail, (KET) & (JAP) mull Euro zone with Dominique Strauss-Kahn (TAK)

— Good to see the season finale’s cold opening be something that’s THIS different.
— It’s also refreshing to see such a different use of Jay, especially with how underutilized and poorly utilized he had been the past few months. He’s doing a good job in this non-impression role here.
— Funny juxtaposition of all the complicated dialogue about the world economy from Jay and Kenan’s prisoner characters.
— Kenan: “Portugal ain’t nothin’ but the dingleberry hangin’ off of Spain’s nutsack.”
— Even in a silent role, Taran is doing a spot-on facial imitation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
— The sudden “We gonna rape you now” twist at the end was crass, but damn funny.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s actions don’t match the lyrics of “I’m Not Gonna Sing Tonight”

— I guess it’s fitting that a season extremely oversaturated with musical monologues ends with one. (*groan*) At least it makes sense to do one with Justin Timberlake, though.
— Typical Timberlake humor here, which is very polarizing among online SNL fans. The melody to Justin’s song here is at least very catchy.
— I do really like the in-studio rain effect they’re doing right now.
STARS: **½


LIQUORVILLE
singing & dancing mascot & co-worker (musical guest) battle tea bag (KRW)

— Ugh, I never cared for this staple of Timberlake episodes.
— They seem to be going for something slightly different with the mouth-popping sound effect bit Justin now does at the end of each song. It’s not enough to salvage this tired sketch for me.
— Now we get the addition of Lady Gaga as Justin’s fellow dancing mascot. Again, not enough to salvage this tired sketch for me.
STARS: **


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
over-the-hill Herb Welch fails to report on junior high gas leak story

— This recurring sketch gives Jason a new co-anchor, with Nasim reprising the news anchor character she previously played in the WXPD News sketch that didn’t have Herb Welch in it (the news sketch from this season’s Emma Stone episode).
— There goes Bill’s obligatory character break that occurs at least once in most Herb Welch sketches. At least Justin is keeping it straight while Bill’s turning away from the camera to hide his giggling.
— I got a good laugh from Herb Welch’s awful misogynistic comment to Nasim’s character.
— Herb Welch telling Jason “Suck an egg, you mannequin!” cracked me up so much.
— A particularly hilarious part where, when Fred’s character says his name is Ken Yi, Herb Welch responds by telling him “Bonzai, huh?!? Hey, remember me?!?”, then proceeding to beat the hell out of him with his microphone.
— Herb Welch, to Jason: “Jack, if Shep Kramer knew about the way you anchor, he’d turn over in his grave.” Jason: “Uh, no he wouldn’t, Herb, because Shep Kramer was cremated.” Herb Welch: “(*in a depressed manner*) They burned my friend.”
— A very funny photo of Herb Welch at the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald.
STARS: ****


3-WAY (THE GOLDEN RULE)
(musical guest)’s presence negates Dick In A Box hook-up gayness

— Much like how these Dick In A Box guys’ last short prior to this (Mother Lover) picked up where their short prior to that (the original Dick In A Box) left off, their short tonight starts with them leaving each other’s mother’s house, complete with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson reprising their roles from Mother Lover.
— Fun start to Andy and Justin’s song so far, as expected.
— Cue the screaming female SNL audience members being heard all throughout this short (though screaming female audience members is a staple of Justin Timberlake episodes in general).
— A pretty good Three’s Company bit.
— The “Helicopter Dick” bit is particularly funny.
— Overall, not bad at all, but pales so much in comparison to Dick In A Box and Mother Lover. This came nowhere close to approaching “classic” status. There’s a reason this short isn’t anywhere near as reminisced about or as referenced as Dick In A Box or Mother Lover.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Edge Of Glory” & “Judas”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM says “Really!?!” to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s affair

Nicolas Cage (ANS) eyes Bradley Cooper’s [real] The Hangover Part II role

as SNL’s season draws to a close, SEM & Stefon head for the beach

— This is the second or third time that either Seth or his former co-anchor Amy Poehler did an Update joke where the punchline is someone being chosen for an important position because they were the last person in the room to shout “Not it!”
— A rare solo Seth Meyers “Really?!” segment, for only the second-ever time.
— Seth is doing a solid job in tonight’s “Really?!?”, especially his bit about how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie titles all make perfect newspaper headlines for his baby scandal.
— I got a good laugh from Bradley Cooper telling Andy’s Nicolas Cage, in regards to Cage being in so many movies per year, “You’re like a dangerous Eugene Levy.”
— The usual good “Get In The Cage” segment overall.
— A great way to end this season of Update, with Seth bringing his duffel bag, meeting up with Stefon at the front of the Update desk, and them detailing how their summer vacation together will go while slowly walking off into the proverbial sunset. This also, once again, continues the story arc of the growing dynamic between Seth and Stefon.
— Good to see an actual short Update, which is rare for the solo Seth Meyers era.
STARS: ***½


WHAT’S THAT NAME?: CELEBRITY EDITION
unlike host, musical guest remembers the little people

— This is when you start to notice that every actual sketch that has aired so far tonight (the cold opening doesn’t count) has been recurring.
— Steve Higgins’ opening voice-over sounded strangely kinda muffled.
— I like how tonight’s SNL host and musical guest are the two contestants in this What’s That Name installment.
— A good laugh from Justin’s puzzled facial reaction while Abby, as Justin’s one-night stand from two weeks ago, is going on about their whole encounter.
— Good twist to the usual joke of these sketches, with Lady Gaga instantly remembering the name of an extremely obscure fan she previously encountered only once. That’s also reminiscent of a sketch Paul Simon did in the season 12 Robin Williams episode, but I can forgive the coincidental similarity in this case.
— As usual, Bill’s Vince Blight character has some hilarious lines throughout this sketch.
— The whole part with Justin’s former N’Sync bandmate Chris Kirkpatrick is excellent.
— Overall, this was even better than the very strong first installment of this sketch. I look forward to seeing the third installment that airs years later in a 2019 John Mulaney-hosted episode (I haven’t seen the installment yet, as it aired after I started my still-ongoing hiatus from watching new episodes), as I’ve heard it’s particularly strong.
STARS: *****


MERRYVILLE LOVE TUNNEL
(host) & fellow Merryville animatrons steal (NAP) from boyfriend (JAS)

— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues.
— They’ll never come remotely close to topping the original installment of this sketch, which should’ve stayed a one-off, but I can’t complain TOO much about this being made recurring, especially knowing in retrospect that this sketch recurs only about two times after the original installment.
— Much like Jim Carrey in the first installment, Justin is really good at doing the accurate-looking robotic movements with Taran and Bill.
— Wow, is this Bobby’s first appearance ALL NIGHT??? And it’s just a small, non-comedic, thankless role.
— I absolutely love Jason’s various reactions to all the craziness going on. He’s a fantastic straight man in this.
— Despite not measuring up to the first installment, this installment is definitely still working for me.
— Jason’s such a fun and likable performer that he even managed to make that homoerotic ending come off less hacky than it would’ve under another performer.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & magician (host) don’t help contestants

— (*grooooaaaaaaaan*) Secret Word.
— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues.
— Showing that Bill has become this era’s go-to performer for game show host roles (and rightfully so, given how fantastic he always in that role), he plays his second game show host in just these past 10 minutes.
— I see they’re continuing to use Mindy Grayson’s middle name, Elise, an aspect of this sketch that was pointlessly introduced in the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight’s.
— (*sigh*) Cue the usual “You just read the secret word” bits.
— Didn’t they already use “grape” as a secret word in the very first installment of this sketch? They probably only brought it back tonight as a cheap excuse for Kristen’s Mindy Grayson (oh, excuse me, Mindy Elise Grayson) to tell a dumb, immature story about how she once farted non-stop during a play after eating a whole bunch of grapes.
— At least Justin is fairly funny as a hack magician.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Born This Way”


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
debt discussion leads to a defibrillation of Barry Gibb (JIF)

— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues. And with this being the final sketch of the night, that officially makes this an episode that consists ENTIRELY of already-existing sketches/characters, only the second episode in SNL history to achieve that feat. (The season 22 Rosie O’Donnell episode being the first. I’m not counting episodes where a recurring sketch made its debut in, which is why I used the term “already-existing sketches/characters”. The season 25 Danny DeVito episode is technically all-recurring in retrospect, but the Sally O’Malley character didn’t exist before that episode.)
— (*sigh*) Just copy and paste what I said earlier about me not caring for the Dancing Mascot bit as a Timberlake episode staple. The difference, though, is that unlike the Dancing Mascot bit, I actually loved the first installment of Barry Gibb Talk Show. It just never should’ve become recurring.
— Second consecutive episode with a Jimmy Fallon cameo.
— I do at least kinda like the change of pace with Justin’s Robin Gibb using two medallions as a defibrillator on the chest of a suddenly-frozen-in-place Jimmy-as-Barry Gibb.
— Hmm, the usual closing theme song of this recurring sketch ends differently, by suddenly and randomly turning into “Rapper’s Delight”.
— An overall poor and disappointing choice for the final sketch of this season.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad a season finale, minus the poor way it ended with the final two sketches, but I take a little issue with with how “safe” and overly familiar the whole episode felt. SNL clearly wanted to end this season by going the safe route, by not only doing the usual Justin Timberlake episode staples, but by also doing recurring sketches for the entire rest of the night. Something about that really shines an unfortunate light on how unadventurous this season as a whole (and these 2009-2012 years in general) truly is. Speaking of an aspect I don’t like about this season, we’ve officially gotten through this entire season without a single episode that I would call flat-out strong and standout. That has to be a first in all 36 seasons I’ve covered so far in this SNL project of mine. Even the dreadful season 30 (the season with the lowest rating average in my SNL project so far, and rightfully so) had one or two episodes that I would call legitimately strong. While I would definitely say a majority of this season’s (season 36) episodes were passable, the fact that this season couldn’t produce a single standout strong episode is staggering and is another sign of this season’s bland averageness as a whole.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
What’s That Name?: Celebrity Edition
WXPD News New York
Merryville Love Tunnel
Strauss-Kahn’s Cell
Weekend Update
3-Way (The Golden Rule)
Monologue
The Barry Gibb Talk Show
Liquorville
Secret Word


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ed Helms)
a mild step down


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


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2009-10)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 37 begins, with host Alec Baldwin

Posted on

May 9, 2009 – Justin Timberlake / Ciara (S34 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE BANK STRESS TEST
Timothy Geithner (WLF) reviews banks’ cavalier answers to stress test

— Another Timothy Geither cold opening somewhat soon after the last one? Well, I did like the last one, so I guess I can’t complain.
— Amusing how Will’s Geithner is so lenient that he decided to stick with a “pass/pass” grading system.
— Some laughs from the incorrect answers given by the various banks, though I’m not enjoying this quite as much as I did the previous Geithner cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
having done SNL thrice, singing host knows his way around backstage

— Musical monologue, but at least it makes sense to do one with Justin Timberlake.
— A fun “I think I know my way around” conceit to this song, and I’m always a sucker for host-goes-around-the-studio monologues.
— Justin’s navigating this around-the-studio trip well.
— Oh, as an SNL nerd, I absolutely LOVE the turn the song takes towards the end, with Justin musically namechecking all of this season’s hosts, in random order. Very fun. To make one minor nitpick, though, he mentions Tina Fey among the hosts, even though she didn’t host this season (though made lots of cameos).
STARS: ***½


MOM CELEBRITY TRANSLATOR
Mom Celebrity Translator deciphers stars’ names mangled by mothers

— A relatable commercial, and a fitting choice to do this in an episode airing the day before Mother’s Day.
— I particularly like the part with the translator working backwards, un-translating the name Jake Gyllenhaal into Joe Geronimo.
STARS: ***½


TARGET
Target Lady’s accident-prone friend Peg (host) is excited about a date

— Didn’t like the overly-cartoonish gag with wind blowing as Bobby makes a fast exit off-camera.
— The appearance of Justin’s memorable Classic Peg character. So memorable, that, to me, this character feels like she became recurring, even though this is the only time she ever appeared.
— Very good characterization from Justin here. This Peg character of his is much funnier than the completely forgettable character he previously played in a Target Lady sketch when hosting in season 32.
— I don’t know why, but in these past two Target Lady sketches, I’ve been finding the Target Lady character less and less annoying. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d start coming around on Target Lady. Maybe part of the reason I’ve come around on her is because she now comes off mildly tolerable and likable to me compared to the truly unbearable and very one-dimensional characters Kristen’s debuted in the second half of this season. I may have picked too late to start liking this character, though, given the fact that, not counting the appearance Target Lady makes among other recurring characters in Ryan Phillippe’s season 35 monologue, nor the Target Lady sketch that appears when Kristen hosts in season 38, we have only one more Target Lady sketch remaining in Kristen’s tenure as a cast member, and it doesn’t appear until years later in 2012, believe it or not!
STARS: ***


IMMIGRANT TALE
host’s immigrant great-great-grandpa Cornelius (host) proves prescient

— A memorable sketch, whether you’re a fan of it or not.
— A quintessential example of how very self-referential, meta, and wink-wink Justin tends to get on SNL, which, at times, can certainly be a bit much for me (and I’m sure especially for certain SNL fans who can’t stand Justin as a host), but this particular old-timey Ellis Island setting with Justin playing his own ancestor is making it work for me.
— Good bit right now making fun of Justin’s overabundance of cameos on SNL this season.
— I love Andy entering as an ancestor of his own: Moishe Samberg.
— Justin, to Andy: “You know what…Jew?” Andy: “There it is!”
STARS: ****


MOTHER LOVER
(Susan Sarandon) & (Patricia Clarkson) get Dick In A Box

 

— The follow up to the legendary Dick In A Box. The ending of the Immigrant Tale sketch that preceded this was a very fitting way to lead into this short, even if it wasn’t a direct segue.
— I love how this short opens with a callback to the ending of Dick In A Box (in which Andy and Justin’s characters get arrested), as we see Andy and Justin’s characters exiting a detention complex and discarding their hole-containing boxes from the Dick In A Box short.
— A very surprising and fantastic use of Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon. I remember being shocked back at this time in 2009 that SNL was able to get them to participate in this.
— A hilarious and epic turn the song takes when it suddenly becomes about Andy and Justin “(*bleep*)ing each other’s moms”.
— Plenty of funny gags and visuals in Andy and Justin’s scenes with each other’s mothers.
— I love the key change portion of the song when Andy and Justin are singing right into each other’s faces with their noses pressed against each other (a.k.a. the portion of the song that famously ends with the lyric “I’ll never use a rubber”).
— Great lyric: “This is the second best idea we’ve ever had”.
— Very funny bit regarding the framed photo of Justin when Andy and Patricia Clarkson are about to make love in bed.
— Overall, another classic Digital Short starring these two characters. I’m glad Lonely Island was able to do a Dick In The Box follow-up that was still fantastic and holds its own, instead of being a lazy carbon copy of Dick In A Box.
STARS: *****


SURGERY CENTER
singing & dancing mascot supplants the promoter of a health club (WLF)

— Meh. This again.
— Justin’s song parodies here somehow feel even less exciting to me than the ones from previous installments of this sketch. Usually, despite my dislike of these sketches, Justin’s energy is at least admirable, but it’s doing NOTHING for me in tonight’s installment.
— Okay, I do like Justin’s “Poker Face” spoof just now. This also, in hindsight, serves as an interesting time capsule of this period where I only just started to become aware of Lady Gaga, as that “Poker Face” song was inescapable at the time.
— After the aforementioned upswing in this sketch, my enthusiasm has unfortunately died back down.
STARS: **


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Jessica Biel [real] introduces musical guest & host


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & host perform “Love Sex Magic”


WEEKEND UPDATE
David Paterson (FRA) & Eliot Spitzer (BIH) consider their prospects

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy [real] defend the new Star Trek

— Another instance of an occasional routine I love, in which Seth re-tells the same joke (the Sargaard & Gyllenhaal Married joke, in tonight’s case) several times in a row, with a different punchline each time. I also love his “Oh, there’s more” ad-lib after the audience’s tepid reaction to one of those jokes.
— I find it fun to see Bill and Fred’s Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson impression paired together. I remember this commentary of theirs being fun.
— I love Bill’s goofy deep-voiced laugh as Spitzer throughout this commentary.
— It amuses me how Fred’s Paterson has now gotten to the point where he looks into the camera with both eyes open each time he slams New Jersey.
— As I remembered, fun performances from both Bill and Fred here, and I’m getting good laughs from some of their lines.
— Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Seth’s Bird Smuggler Arrested joke is SNL’s very first mention of Twitter. Just to show you how (relatively) long ago this was, Seth’s Twitter reference here mentions accessing Twitter on a Blackberry.
— Funny reaction shots of Kenan and Bobby as upset Star Trek nerds in the audience during Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto’s defense of the new Star Trek movie.
— Good to see a Leonard Nimoy cameo on SNL.
— Very funny “dickheads” line from Nimoy.
— For once, we got a solo Seth Meyers-anchored Weekend Update that only contains two guest commentaries instead of three or four. Still a long-feeling Update, though. I guess I should just accept that as the norm now.
STARS: ***½


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Nancy Pelosi (KRW) and others discuss the economy

— (*sigh*) Much like the Dancing Mascot sketches, here we have another tired staple of Timberlake episodes. While, unlike the Dancing Mascot sketches, I actually loved Barry Gibb Talk Show in its debut, I’ve never cared for it as a recurring sketch and I feel it should’ve stayed a great one-off.
— As I always say, though, Jimmy Fallon puts his fucking ALL into these Barry Gibb sketches.
— There goes Justin’s obligatory character break that occurs in seemingly every Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch.
STARS: **


PIRATES
shipping mixup arms Disney actors for a Pirates Of The Caribbean show

— Only our second and final original, non-recurring sketch all night.
— Funny reveal of the Disney actors having the Somali pirates’ shipment of real weapons.
— This sadly feels like Jason’s first appearance all night, until I remembered he was in some stuff much earlier in the episode.
— Not only am I really enjoying this sketch, but I absolutely LOVE the structure of it, with all the various sets, locations, and scene changes. This has the feel of the type of long, epic, movie-like sketches that were far more common in the 70s and early 80s. It’s too bad SNL doesn’t do sketches like this more often in more recent decades like this.
— Great sarcasm from Jason’s boss character.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Never Ever”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Other than a few tired and unnecessary Timberlake episode staples (Dancing Mascot, Barry Gibb Talk Show), I enjoyed this episode, and there were a few strong pieces. Strangely, the overall amount of segments this episode contained felt a little smaller than usual. Apparently, there was a sketch planned to air between Ciara’s second musical performance and the goodnights, but the show seemingly ran long and had to cut the scheduled sketch at the last minute, judging by how they did the “come back from a commercial break only to show the SNL Band play the show back to ANOTHER commercial break” move they usually do whenever a scheduled sketch gets scrapped at the last minute.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mother Lover
Pirates
Immigrant Tale
Mom Celebrity Translator
Monologue
Weekend Update
Target
The Bank Stress Test
Surgery Center
The Barry Gibb Talk Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Zac Efron)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 34 comes to an end, with host Will Ferrell. It’s the final episode for 14-year SNL veteran Darrell Hammond, as well as featured players Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins.

Posted on

December 16, 2006 – Justin Timberlake (S32 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SANTA’S MY BOYFRIEND
St. Nicholas-smitten AMP, KRW, MAR sing “Santa’s My Boyfriend”

— A nice change of pace for a cold opening.
— A funny and charming reveal that the new boyfriend the ladies are singing about is Santa.
— Fun chemistry between Maya, Amy, and Kristen. Whenever I think of SNL’s short-lived Rudolph/Poehler/Wiig trio of female cast members, this cold opening is always the first thing to pop in my mind. They may not be as acclaimed a female group as the Fey/Dratch/Rudolph/Poehler group, but I like this group, and they would end up being the last female cast for years (at least until Kristen leaves the show) that has any kind of cohesion.
— Very solid song from the ladies, and this is something I can kinda picture appearing in a very early SNL era, such as with Gilda, Jane, and Laraine.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host, Alvin (BIH), Simon (FRA), Theodore (ANS) sing “The Chipmunk Song”

— Being so used to Justin Timberlake’s hosting stints, it’s hard to believe this is only his second time hosting. He’s already coming off as a comfortable veteran host here.
— A fun and silly concept of Justin singing with Alvin and The Chipmunks, played by the cast.
— Bill constantly alternating between portraying Alvin in a bro-ish way and a conventional way is solid.
— I love Justin’s occasional Dave-esque angry yells of “AAALLLVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!”
STARS: ****


COMPETING CHARITIES
singing & dancing mascot & Salvation Army Santa (WLF) compete for change

— Like the first time Justin played this character the last time he hosted, I admire Justin’s fun energy, but I don’t care for the sketch itself. I had remembered tonight’s installment being the best installment of this sketch, but it’s not holding up well for me in my current viewing so far.
— I admit, I am finding Justin’s soup-themed take on Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop” catchy.
— Pretty funny line from Justin about how Christmas isn’t about kicking a cup of soup in the “croutons”, after Will has kneed him in the groin.
— I remember a fellow SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2006 (who’s username was “Mike (male)”, I believe) pointing out that Justin was so damn good in this sketch that he was even able to withstand ALL of the props accidentally falling down in the background during his and Will’s duet at the end.
— What was with the awkward look on Justin’s face at the end after he and Will say in unison “Bring it on in to Salvation Army/Homelessville!” He looked like something genuinely might’ve been bothering him, but maybe I’m looking too much into it (as I often tend to do).
— Overall, slightly better than these Dancing Mascot sketches usually are, but that’s still faint praise from me.
STARS: **½


TARGET
Target Lady & stock boy (host) exasperate holiday shoppers (MAR) & (WLF)

— You’d be forgiven for mistakenly thinking as soon as this sketch shows up that this is the Target Lady sketch where Justin plays his memorable “Classic Peg” character, but this is actually a different Target Lady sketch, in which Justin plays a completely different and far-less-remembered character. Justin plays Peg in his next hosting stint in season 34.
— SNL couldn’t even be bothered to put fake blood on Justin’s lip? It seemed silly when the camera cut to a close-up of him with a non-bloody lip after Maya pointed out that his lip is bleeding.
— Not sure how to feel about Justin’s character in this sketch so far. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to “Classic Peg”, that’s for sure.
— I like Justin’s knowing, foreshadowing delivery of “I hope a third thing doesn’t happen to theeeeeeemmmm” regarding the frequent misfortunes happening to his chapped lips. Otherwise, I’m not caring for the comedic conceit of his character.
— The Target Lady material is getting the usual blah reactions from me. At least we got a long break from this character after her last appearance prior to this (almost an exact year earlier, in the preceding season’s Peter Sarsgaard episode), a long break that I remember lulled me into a false sense of security back at this time, with me assuming SNL had given up on doing these sketches.
STARS: **


DICK IN A BOX
(host) & (ANS) sing about giving a phallic present

— Here comes another all-time very famous and legendary Lonely Island Digital Short.
— Great early 90s R&B look to Andy and Justin’s characters.
— Kristen doing absolutely solid work as usual, even in her silent, simple role of a sensual, sultry girlfriend.
— Hilarious reveal of what’s in the box that Justin gives to Kristen.
— An extremely catchy song. I particularly love the melody of the “See, I’m wiiiise enough to knoooow…” part, which I think is actually a sample from a real song from the early 90s (not sure which song, though).
— Maya’s emotional, heartfelt reaction to her dick-in-a-box gift is very funny.
— Even the little part where a shot of Andy sliding down a banister is played back-and-forth in forwards and reverse is so perfect.
— A particularly hilarious, stand-out part with the steps on how to make a dick in a box (“1: cut a hole in the box… etc.”).
— Another perfect little touch is the false ending, where Andy and Justin are shown on a stage singing the lyric “It’s my (*bleep*) in a box!” in unison, and then they stand in a frozen pose with their arms cheesily up in the air while the music stops, making you assume that’s the end of the short (I know *I* thought so when this short originally aired), only for the music, singing, and dancing to suddenly continue out of nowhere. I love that fake-out.
— Excellent ending with Andy and Justin getting arrested.
— Overall, absolutely perfect and epic, and by far breaks the slump of good-but-not-great Digital Shorts that this season has had. I remember how it was especially exciting to witness this short as it aired live and ALREADY have that feeling that you’re watching something truly special, something that you can tell will be the talk of the town online for the next week or so, especially after having seen how Lazy Sunday got that treatment an exact year prior.
— Until now, I had recently been of the (possibly unpopular) opinion that, as great as this short is, its later sequel, Mother Lovers, is actually superior to it. I’m now re-thinking that opinion, as I ended up enjoying Dick In A Box during this current re-watch more than I expected to. We’ll see how I feel about how the great Mother Lovers stacks up against this when we reach that episode.
STARS: *****


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Jimmy Carter (DAH) & others discuss Iraq

— I’m sure to a good number of people, Dick In A Box immediately being followed by Barry Gibb Talk Show is a tremendous one-two punch (hell, just listen to the audience: their exuberant applause as the screen fades to black at the end of Dick In A Box turns into absolutely WILD screaming when the screen then fades in to this Barry Gibb sketch), but for me, the return of Barry Gibb Talk Show hurts the momentum that the show gained with Dick In A Box, as I never cared for Barry Gibb Talk Show as a recurring sketch. I’ve always felt it should’ve just stayed a one-off, as the sketch only worked for me in its debut. However, at least this sketch will keep up the huge energy that’s been in the air tonight.
— Here we have Jimmy Fallon during the odd, awkward, dark stage of his post-SNL career, after his failed attempt to become a movie star, but before his successful attempt to become a late night talk show host.
— I will say that I always love that Barry Gibb Talk Show theme song, at least.
— I got a chuckle from Justin’s Robin Gibb unhappily doing a facepalm in reaction to Kristen-as-Sandra-Day-O’Connor’s corny “Stayin’ Alive” pun.
— There goes Justin’s obligatory character break that happens once in every installment of this sketch, though this particular break was just a very mild and quick smirk.
— Speaking of breaking, I once again give credit to Jimmy for getting so into character as Barry Gibb that he refrains from his usual habit of breaking easily.
— Darrell’s Jimmy Carter routine feels kinda out of place in this sketch.
STARS: **


DRY EYES
game show contestants (host) & (FRA) try to keep from crying

— Unless I’m forgetting something, this is the very first game show host Bill has ever played. As we know now, he would go on to be one of SNL’s best-ever at regularly playing game show hosts.
— I love Bill’s reaction to Fred losing the first round by instantly crying.
— Very funny little part with Justin jovially laughing off Bill disclosing the sad fact that Justin’s father left him at a young age.
— Whenever Justin is fighting to keep from crying, I love the intense, wide-eyed look he stares into the camera with while turning his head slightly to the side (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch).
— Fred is so good at making comical crying faces.
— What was the point of casting Kristen in the EXTREMELY brief, silent walk-on role as a game show model who walks Fred off of the show? SNL might as well have gotten an extra to play that role.
— The Sad Songs round Justin performs in is pretty solid.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “My Love”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Lou Dobbs (DAH) wants two walls & a trap door built along Mexican border

New Jerseyite same-sex couple’s Christmas wishes have been fulfilled

— Darrell-as-Lou-Dobbs’ line about eating a taco was pretty funny.
— A laugh from Darrell-as-Dobbs’ unconventional concepts regarding a Mexican border wall.
— Darrell’s overall Lou Dobbs commentary was short and sweet.
— Some really solid Update jokes tonight.
— Blah, the return of the Same-Sex New Jersey Couple. Sure, these characters are progressive compared to SNL’s demeaning portrayal of gays prior to this season, but these characters do nothing for me otherwise.
— I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2006 (I think the same reviewer I mentioned earlier: “Mike (male)”) made a good point when complaining that the fact that the second question Seth asks the Same-Sex New Jersey Couple in their so-called “topical” commentary tonight is a completely off-topic “What are you guys gonna get each other for Christmas?” is proof that SNL was really pushing it bringing these characters back tonight when the writers clearly didn’t have much of a way to tie them to current events this week. Did SNL just desperately want to use that groan-worthy mistletoe gag?
— What was with both Seth and Amy waving goodbye to us in unison in a cheesy, exaggerated manner during their sign-off? Inside joke, I take it?
STARS: ***½


HIP HOP KIDS
beats & dance moves harm chances of escape from mineshaft

— I recall disliking this sketch in my original 2006 review of this episode (link here), to the degree that, on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board where I originally posted that review, a board member who usually really liked my reviews actually called me out on being “way off” on my negative opinion of this Hip Hop Kids sketch (gee, thanks for telling me that MY OPINION is wrong). In fact, I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people seem to have a high regard for this sketch. I’ll go through this sketch with an open mind this time, in an attempt to see what all the hoopla is about.
— Surprisingly, this is Jason and Kenan’s respective first appearance of the night, and for Jason, it ends up being his ONLY appearance of the night.
— There goes Maya doing that slowly-lean-back-in-a-staccato-manner dance move in yet another sketch.
— Amy: “That’s a stalactite, Jo-Jessica! You gotta recognize your sedimentary rock formations!”
— Oh, I love the voice Jason’s using.
— Jason’s using some of the same dance moves he would later famously use on a regular basis in the future What Up With That sketches.
— I’m already starting to come around on this sketch. I’m finding it fun and amusing, even if I still wouldn’t call it particularly great.
— Second episode in a row with Bill being unrecognizable under make-up he wears as a monster, this time with him being accompanied by an also-unrecognizable Will as a fellow monster.
— What the heck is Amy cracking up at?
— Funny reveal of Amy and Justin having eaten some of their friends.
— Now it’s Justin’s turn to crack up again.
— SNL would strangely and randomly bring this sketch back THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS LATER, with a completely different and less-fun host (Ryan Phillippe) and with almost all of the characters being replaced with new ones (even Kristen oddly plays a different-named character than the one she plays in the first installment of the sketch). I doubt many people remember that second installment as well as this Timberlake one. The only things I remember about the second installment are Andy playing a voice-of-reason character among the hip hop kids, and then-cast-member Abby Elliott doing a really bad and unconvincing attempt at speaking in an urban voice.
STARS: ***½


ELF AUDITION
(host)’s stepmom Virginiaca tries helping her audition to be a Macy’s elf

— I remember someone (possibly SNL Archives, back when that site used to include tidbit notes for some sketches) pointing out the misspelling of the word “freight” in the sign in the background of this sketch that states “frieght elevator” (the second and third above screencaps for this sketch).
— Speaking of the background, Kenan can unintentionally be seen standing outside of the door entrance, waiting for his cue to enter (the second above screencap for this sketch).
— UGH, the obligatory return of the painfully-unfunny and hacky Starkish– uh, I mean Virginiaca. Ha, that gaffe of me nearly referring to Virginiaca as Starkisha was actually genuine, which just goes to show you how similar those two characters are.
— So I guess we’re supposed to ignore the fact that Virginiaca had a completely different white stepdaughter in the previous installment of this sketch?
— Speaking of Starkisha, the gag with Virginiaca pointlessly using her cellphone to call up the person standing right next to her was actually used before in a Starkisha sketch (the one from the season 30 Paris Hilton episode), further proving my point that there are almost no differences between the Starkisha and Virginiaca sketches, except the fact that the Virginiaca sketches are even worse.
STARS: *


A HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM NANCY GRACE
Nancy Grace (AMP) is sympathetic to those making false rape accusations

— At least we get a change of pace for Amy’s Nancy Grace, with her being taken out of her TV show.
— Sounds kinda odd hearing the audience very lightly giggling throughout Amy’s serious, non-comedic intro speech about sexual assault. I’m assuming the audience (who has been very energetic tonight in general) is eagerly awaiting the comedic conceit of this sketch.
— Some chuckle-worthy lines from Amy, but something is a little off-putting about this sketch to me. The dour, slow pacing of it, along with the dark (and not the good kind of dark humor that I love) rape-themed subject matter, all feel very odd and out of place in this high-energy, fun-loving Christmas episode.
— I got a laugh from Amy’s threat to pull out the Duke boys’ hearts and eat it.
— Overall, not awful, but I probably would’ve appreciated this sketch more elsewhere. It just felt too wrong, jarring, and momentum-killing for the tone of this episode, especially as the final sketch of the night. How do you close a fun-loving Christmas episode with THIS (the following Timberlake musical performance notwithstanding)?
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “What Goes Around”


BAND SHOT

— The show has apparently had to cut a scheduled sketch at the last minute, as the show comes back from a commercial break just to show the SNL Band playing for a few seconds before the show immediately goes back to another commercial break. At least the rarely-shown-by-this-point SNL Band gets some much-needed airtime, and at least I now know SNL didn’t originally plan on that dour, out-of-place Nancy Grace piece being the final sketch of this otherwise-upbeat Christmas episode. I wonder what cut-at-the-last-minute sketch was scheduled for this spot.


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad. I don’t find this episode to be anywhere NEAR the classic that a lot of people seem to, but there were a few strong things in the first half of the show (particularly the centerpiece of the show: the priceless and legendary Dick In A Box), and, as I mentioned earlier, almost all of this episode had a fun-loving, upbeat energy (partly helped by Justin Timberlake’s presence), which is nice to see in a Christmas episode, and somewhat helped my mood towards this episode. However, this episode was bogged down by how weak a lot of the recurring stuff was, as well as the odd note the Nancy Grace sketch ended the show on.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Annette Bening)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2007, with host Jake Gyllenhaal

Posted on

October 11, 2003 – Justin Timberlake (S29 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS
GOP apologists Karl Rove (JER) & Ann Coulter (AMP) on CIA leak

— A new opening title sequence for these Hardball sketches. I like the brief shot of Darrell’s Chris Matthews incredulously shaking his head with a smile.
— Pretty funny pudgy facial make-up on Jeff’s Karl Rove.
— A hilarious slam from Darrell’s Chris Matthews to Amy’s Ann Coulter, telling her she looks like a kneecap with hair.
— Kenan is pretty funny as Gary Coleman. I especially like his passing reference to the infamous Bicycle Man child molestation episode of Diff’rent Strokes.
— Some good lines from Amy’s desperate Ann Coulter.
— Chris Matthews to Ann Coulter: “I would call you a media whore, but I feel that would be offensive to whores.”
— The writers seem to have forgotten to write any funny lines for Jeff’s Karl Rove (though the detective thing at the beginning of his interview was funny), and the bit with him shutting down Hardball fell completely flat with the audience.
— Overall, while this was mostly fine, it paled in comparison to all the exceptionally strong Hardball sketches from the preceding season.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After only one episode, some modifications have been made to this season’s new opening montage: Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers’ respective shot from the season premiere (first and third screencap below) have been changed to slightly different ones (second and fourth screencap below).


MONOLOGUE
host doesn’t feel right serenading a teeny-bopper’s dad (Steve Higgins)

host performs “Rock Your Body”

— I like the line from Justin Timberlake about being allowed as a kid to stay up late to watch SNL “way, way, way back in the day when, like, Molly Shannon and Chris Kattan were on the show”, even though it’s just a variation of something that Christina Ricci said in her season 25 monologue.
— Steve Higgins is very funny as the audience member brought up onstage.
— Justin’s displaying some good comic timing in his straight man reactions to Steve.
— Justin: “I don’t sign dude’s breasts.”
— The way this transitioned into a full-fledged musical performance on the musical guest stage reminds me of Sting and M.C. Hammer’s monologues from the early 90s.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


PUNK’D BARELY LEGAL
extreme Ashton Kutcher (host) pranks compiled on DVD

— Justin is a freakin’ riot in his skewering of the over-the-top, loud, spastic Ashton Kutcher.
— Hilarious reveal of Kutcher’s prank on Maya’s Christina Aguilera being him switching out her birth control pills, and how Maya’s Aguilera has a laid-back reaction when finding out about such an inappropriate prank.
— Finesse looks kinda uncanny as 50 Cent here.
— A funny random utterance of “I love Justin Timberlake!” from Justin’s Kutcher before exiting this sketch. I’m assuming that line was an ad-lib, judging from how random it was and from how Justin seemed to kinda break when delivering it.
— An overall perfect length for this great sketch, though at the same time, I wouldn’t have objected to one more prank scene.
STARS: ****½


PRESS CONFERENCE
in-over-his-head governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) resigns

— Darrell’s Arnold Schwarzenegger impression is kinda growing on me A LITTLE, even though it’s still way off on sounding like the real Schwarzenegger.
— Odd how the camera’s not showing the reporters who are asking Darrell’s Schwarzenegger questions. The first reporter asking a question appears to be Jim Downey, judging from the voice.
— Some laughs from Schwarzenegger admitting how bad of a governor he would make.
— Darrell’s getting pretty stumbly with his lines here.
— I’m starting to kinda lose interest in this, though the material isn’t exactly terrible. Just nothing special.
STARS: **½


A MESSAGE FROM NICK LACHEY & JESSICA SIMPSON
Nick Lachey (JIF) & Jessica Simpson (host) fail to dispel her ditzy image

— A lot of laughs from Justin’s portrayal of Jessica Simpson, and he has lots of funny ditzy lines.
— If only Jimmy could look like he’s NOT about to bust out laughing any second.
— A very funny ending with Justin’s Jessica explaining what she means by “drop the kids off at the pool”.
STARS: ****


BENNY’S VS. OMELETVILLE
singing & dancing mascot (host) overshadows rival breakfast hawker (CHP)

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Meh. I never cared for these very audience-pandering Dancing Mascot sketches.
— I will say that Justin’s energy in tonight’s installment of this sketch is very fun. He would have that same energy in all the subsequent installments of this sketch, but I’m finding that his energy is more endearing here in the first installment.
— Justin’s songs here are thankfully much shorter than the ones he would typically do in later installments of this sketch.
STARS: **½


DIRECTV
Gary Busey (JER) preempts DIRECTV fan letter to praise booby channels

— Jeff’s Gary Busey is always a huge treat.
— Busey’s various stories here are freakin’ hilarious.
— A particularly funny clarification from Busey on his revelation of his farts smelling like butterscotch: “That’s not a joke, they smell like either butt or scotch.”
STARS: ****½


BIRTHDAY DINNER
Sully, Denise, her brother (host) misbehave in a swanky restaurant

— A good laugh from Sully yelling at an old lady for not participating in the Red Sox chant that he starts in the restaurant.
— Funny bit with Sully, Denise, and Justin’s character immediately changing their orders of alcoholic drinks after their waiter asks for some I.D.
— For the second episode in a row, we get a display of horrible overacting from Seth, this time when he’s angrily telling off the Boston Teens and Justin at the end of this sketch. After recently being surprised to discover what a good first season Seth had, I’ve been finding him increasingly forgettable and try-too-hard-ish with each passing season I’ve reviewed since then.
— Overall, this sketch was pretty much a return to form for the Boston Teens after their subpar last installment with Bernie Mac, but it’s probably a good thing there’s only one Boston Teens sketch remaining during Jimmy’s tenure as a cast member.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Senorita”


WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF reciprocates privacy invasion of Kobe Bryant’s lawyer Pamela Mackey

— Tina’s Pamela Mackey rant was very hit-and-miss with me.
— Pretty fun bit with Jimmy and Tina sharing dirty Dutch terms with each other.
— Wow, this Update is over already, and with no guest commentaries. A rarity at this point of SNL’s run to have a commentary-less Update.
STARS: ***


THE SHARON OSBOURNE SHOW
shorn Michael Bolton (host) sings

— I usually always like Amy’s Sharon Osbourne impression, but I’m not crazy at all about the idea of her starring in her own talk show sketch, even though I know this sketch is a spoof of an actual talk show that the real Sharon Osbourne hosted at the time.
— Fred’s Quentin Tarantino impression is very funny and spot-on, even if he looks absolutely nothing like him. At this time, it was a huge rarity to see Fred do celebrity impressions. I think the only one he did prior to this was of Uday Hussein, and that was the type of impression that doesn’t require the performer to actually imitate the voice and mannerisms of the person they’re playing.
— Despite a decent performance from Amy, my only laughs here are from the other performers.
— Justin’s doing a very accurate imitation of Michael Bolton’s singing voice.
STARS: **½


THE RAINBOW CONNECTION
host & Kermit’s Muppeteer (WLF) brawl during “Rainbow Connection” duet

— Very good imitation of Kermit’s voice from a not-revealed-yet Will Forte. I remember when this sketch originally aired, I almost did think that was the real voice of Kermit, though the shoddy-looking Kermit puppet made it obvious that it wasn’t.
— The way this Justin/Kermit duet is being played so straight for so long is going to make the eventual comedic reveal that I’m aware of come off that much funnier.
— Aaaaaand there it is. Great comedic turn with Justin getting into a wild fight with Will as Kermit’s puppeteer.
— Speaking of Will, his lack of airtime this season so far is very puzzling. SNL went through the trouble of promoting him after one season, only for him to get literally almost NOTHING to do in the season premiere, and then to have his only appearance in tonight’s episode be this sketch. At least he’s still making the best of his very limited airtime so far this season, as he stole the Telemarketers sketch in the season premiere with only one line, and this Rainbow Connection sketch I’m currently reviewing is famous as an SNL masterpiece.
— Very funny detail of Will wearing suspenders and a tie-dye shirt, which seems believable for a puppeteer.
— Will, as Kermit: “Can you say you’re sorry to Bill for being a douchebag?”
— Perfect ending.
STARS: *****


CARL WEATHERS FOR GOVERNOR
Carl Weathers [real] aims to become third governor from cast of Predator

— Fun guest spot from Carl Weathers, reminding me how much I liked him as a host back in season 13.
— I’m getting some good laughs from Weathers’ various bad movie-related puns, such as his line about how he has the “Apollo Creed-entials” to be governor.
STARS: ***½


BACKSTAGE
AMP comes on to decade-younger host during rehearsal in dressing room

— A funny sudden change in Amy’s tone the second time she asks Justin “Can you imagine that?” after bringing up the possibility of them having sex.
— A great little “Just let me do this” comment from Amy when she’s tightly clinging onto Justin at the end of this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Cry Me A River”


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
California politics & fulsome falsetto

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring sketch debut! (I believe this is the first time I’ve ever used that line twice in the same episode review.)
— An extremely fun and memorable opening theme song.
— Jimmy’s speaking voice as Barry Gibb is a riot, as is his no-nonsense, temperamental attitude towards the guests.
— Such a random premise, but it’s coming off very well in its execution, especially with Jimmy’s extremely committed performance. For once, Jimmy’s not even falling victim to his usual case of the giggles (minus some smirking whenever Justin breaks).
— I always like whenever someone on SNL does an impression of a former cast member, and Jeff’s Al Franken is an absolutely perfect imitation.
— I particularly love the “I’ll put you in the ground” part with the Gibb Brothers.
— It’s a damn shame SNL would eventually ruin this overall great one-off sketch by turning it into an unnecessary recurring sketch.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A great episode, with a lot of very strong and memorable sketches, and an unexpectedly (at the time) very impressive hosting debut from Justin Timberlake. I would go on to have some issues with Justin’s subsequent episodes (issues that I’ll get to when covering those episodes), but I have almost nothing but praise for tonight’s episode and this debut hosting stint of Justin’s.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jack Black)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Halle Berry