Tag: Ludacris

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November 22, 2008 – Tim McGraw / Ludacris and T-Pain (S34 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AUTOMAKER BAILOUT HEARINGS
auto execs (WLF), (DAH), (JAS) request billions at Congressional hearing

 

— Looks like we’re in for another overlong, mostly-full-cast, Jim Downey-written political sketch in this SNL era.
— So far, this has the usual dry Downey humor that used to work so well in his prime, but comes off as a bit of a slog in this era.
— Not only am I liking the voice Bill’s doing as Walter Jones, but I’m hearing a lot of Dan Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter impression in Bill’s voice here, which makes this yet another Bill Hader/Dan Aykroyd comparison I’ve made in my reviews.
— The “No one watches C-SPAN” bit is pretty funny, especially Jason saying “You could run a snuff film on C-SPAN and no one would notice.”
— Kenan’s upbeat delivery of “I’m a union man!” made me laugh a lot, for some reason.
— Bobby’s already getting a good laugh from the audience just from his mere demeanor and facial expression. Impressive for someone so new on SNL.
— Despite an iffy start, I’ve been finding this cold opening to be decent enough.
— Blah at the “Ford needs to build gayer cars” request from Fred’s Barney Frank. Such a cheap, lazy joke about Barney Frank’s homosexuality.
— Surprisingly, this is Fred’s very first solo LFNY, despite this being his seventh season on the show.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host touts country & hip-hop commonalities, sings “Real Good Man” excerpt

— I like the mileage this monologue is getting out of the incongruous host/musical guest line-up of this episode.
— This monologue has turned into Tim McGraw performing a snippet of one of his songs (“Real Good Man”), though it’s not a full-fledged musical performance in which he goes over to the musical guest stage in SNL’s studio (ala Jon Bon Jovi, Hammer, etc.).
— Yet another season 34 monologue that only features the host. Nice to see this trend still going strong.
STARS: ***


CLEAR RITE
deluded aspiring inventor (KRW) is proud of her Clear Rite dental device

— This seems like the type of bit than Kristen can sell well.
— A laugh from the awkward ending of Fred’s scene.
— This sketch is overdoing the bit with Kristen’s character uncomfortably sucking on her upper teeth.
— When this sketch originally aired, I remember how jarring it felt to see Tim McGraw show up with his real hair, given the fact that he’s usually always seen wearing his trademark cowboy hat.
— This sketch has fizzled out for me after a while, though it’s bounced back a little when Tim came on.
STARS: **½


DATELINE
Keith Morrison (BIH) takes prurient interest in tragedies

— The debut of both Bill’s Keith Morrison impression and the Dateline sketches the impression appears in.
— Bill’s Morrison impression is a RIOT. Everything about his impression and performance is so damn funny, mainly his delighted vocalizations when hearing grisly murder details.
— I absolutely love how the format of this sketch kinda feels like a throwback (whether intentional or not) to the Bob Waltman Special sketches that Kevin Nealon used to do.
— A great laugh from Bill’s Morrison bluntly answering, with a smile, “I do” when Tim asks him “Do you get some sort of strange delight in all this?”
STARS: ****½


TURKEYS
in the woods, (FRA) & other turkeys run from hunters’ gun blasts

— This was originally cut after dress rehearsal from the season 32 episode that Ludacris hosted. Funny coincidence that they brought the sketch back tonight when Ludacris is the musical guest, despite him not being kept in tonight’s version of this sketch. They should’ve kept him in it, just because it’s funny to imagine him doing a sketch like this.
— A fairly fun concept to this.
— Wow, what the heck is going on with the greenscreen in the background? It seems to have malfunctioned halfway through this sketch, and also seems to have screwed up the brightness of the screen (as seen in the last above screencap for this sketch).
— This sketch isn’t living up to its potential, despite the fun vibe. This hasn’t been going anywhere interesting for me.
STARS: **


LIVE ANOTHER DEATH
bumpkin (host) crashes James Bond’s (BIH) Casino Royale poker game

— This sketch has a meh feel so far. The redneck stereotype jokes with Tim’s character feel tired, and the audience seemingly agrees with me, judging from their very tepid laughter.
— This meh sketch has suddenly gotten really funny with Tim’s whole reaction to Pussy Galore’s name. I especially like him pulling out his phone and recording her saying her name.
— Pretty funny bidet comment from Tim right before his exit.
— Nice beer-themed 007 graphic at the end.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “One More Drink”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) will enjoy role as Husband Of The Secretary Of State

Arianna Huffington (MIW) analogizes the failures of George W. Bush

Zell Miller (WLF) supports Saxby Chambliss because he has a fancy name

— I guess to assure us Amy is still coming back after her maternity leave (I’ve pretty much completely forgotten she’s still in the cast by this point), Seth says during his sign-on, “Amy Poehler is still on assignment”, which the audience actually laughs at.
— Seems kinda soon to have Darrell’s Bill Clinton do another Update commentary, but I can’t complain much, and I guess SNL has to find ways to keep Darrell relevant this season, given how horribly he had been struggling for airtime lately.
— Standard “Clinton is a horndog” stuff during Darrell’s commentary as him, but I did get a pretty good laugh from his ending line, “The last thing I want to do…is screw Hillary.”
— Great to see Michaela Watkins with her own Update commentary in only her second episode, especially given how practically non-existent she and fellow newbie Abby Elliott (the latter of whom has yet to appear in tonight’s episode, by the way) were in the preceding episode. Also great that this Update commentary is utilizing the Arianna Huffington impression that Michaela already had in her repertoire (there’s a pre-SNL online sketch with Michaela’s Huffington that was circulated back when it was first announced that Michaela and Abby were added to the SNL cast). It does feel a little odd, though, seeing this in hindsight after having gotten used to future cast member Nasim Pedrad’s recurring Arianna Huffington commentaries on Update years later.
— Solid comment from Michaela’s Huffington at the end, making an analogy between the Iraq War and sex.
— Seth’s joke about Angelina Jolie’s breasts feels uncomfortable in hindsight, given what would later happen to Jolie.
— Will reprises his memorable Zell Miller impression for the first time in years! Interesting seeing it appear outside of the Hardball sketches.
— I laughed harder than I probably should’ve at the name Mortimer Fap when Will’s Miller is running down what he considers to be normal names.
— Will’s Miller is unfortunately not getting anywhere near as worked up or purple-faced as he usually gets, which is saying something, given how he’s still delivering his lines loudly and angrily in tonight’s commentary.
— I got a laugh from Will-as-Miller’s unintentionally offensive complaints about America being run by Browns and Blacks.
STARS: ***


BLIZZARD MAN
musical guests collaborate with Blizzard Man at a recording session

— The first Blizzard Man sketch in quite a long time.
— (*groan*) Despite the fact that Kenan is seemingly playing the exact same technician character he played in the first installment of this sketch, he acts like he’s never seen Blizzard Man before and didn’t expect his rapping to be so bad. Lazy writing.
— Speaking of lazy writing, this sketch is using the same basic joke as the previous Blizzard Man sketches, but it always works for me, so I can’t complain much.
— Why does this recording studio room have a doorbell?
— Very funny look of Tim’s character.
— I’m enjoying T-Pain’s straight man performance here.
— Ooh, I like this sudden turn with Blizzard Man imitating T-Pain with a tall hat and autotune.
— Something about the ending (before the newspaper headline) came off kinda awkward.
STARS: ***½


THANKSGIVING DINNER
Jeff Montgomery is an uninvited guest at a family Thanksgiving dinner

— Abby Elliott finally makes her first appearance of the night…and unfortunately, it’s a nothing role. Two episodes into her SNL tenure, and I’ve already been starting to forget she’s joined the cast.
— The Jeff Montgomery character makes his second and final on-air appearance (assuming the similar-looking, similarly-dressed, and similar-acting unnamed character Will previously played in the MySpace Seminar sketch from the season 31 Julia Louis-Dreyfus episode wasn’t the true debut of Jeff Montgomery). He has a Valentine’s Day-themed sketch that gets cut after dress rehearsal later this season, in which he’s teamed up with a similar character played by that night’s special guest, Dan Aykroyd.
— I love seeing this character, but they’ll never top his classic first appearance from earlier this season.
— I like how the family’s trying to figure out how the hell Jeff Montgomery is there at their Thanksgiving dinner when none of them invited him. I also like Montgomery trying to downplay the fact that he snuck into this dinner.
— The running bit in this sketch with each character at the table, one-by-one, in order of appearance, answering Montgomery’s questions with a one-word statement, feels awfully reminiscent of a running bit in that Fall Foliage sketch from the Josh Brolin episode earlier this season. It feels a tad unnecessary in this Jeff Montgomery sketch.
— Meh at this reveal from Montgomery: “I’m an escapee from a mental institution……f-f-for Thanksgiving!” Why did they change his original identity as a sex offender? Him being a mental institution escapee feels too tame and dull in comparison to that.
— A hilarious disturbing reveal of Montgomery having eaten the family’s dog. I also love how uncomfortably silent everything gets right after that.
STARS: ***½


DALE BRITCHES’ DOWN HOME PHONY PHONE CALLS
Dale Britches’ (host) phony phone calls are ultra-gentle pranks

— I’m not too crazy about this premise, but the performances are making it work decently enough.
— The premise of this sketch, with very tame “pranks” that lead to a friendly conversation between the prankster and prankee, would later be repeated in a Punk’d parody starring Jeff Bridges, when Bridges hosts in season 36.
— I absolutely love Bill’s psychotic “AH’M GONNA KEEEEELL YEEEWWW!” rant over the phone. Something about the goofiness of Bill’s performance also has a bit of an old-school SNL feel that I love. I can easily picture Dana Carvey giving this same goofy performance had this sketch appeared in the late 80s/early 90s. Interesting how Bill’s been reminding me of various earlier SNL eras tonight: his Dan-Aykroyd-as-Jimmy-Carter-esque voice in the cold opening, his Bob Waltman Special-esque Dateline sketch, and now this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “Chopped N Skrewed”


UNO’S
sticky bar surface is the result of Mark Payne’s incompetent mixology

— Much like Jeff Montgomery, the Mark Payne character makes his second and final on-air appearance tonight. He has at least two appearances that get cut after dress rehearsal later this season: one in which host Rosario Dawson plays his girlfriend (which I remember surprising me when I first read the details of this cut sketch, because I assumed before then that Mark Payne was supposed to be openly gay), and another in which host Tracy Morgan plays, I think, Payne’s similar-acting former boss in a flashback (I would imagine Tracy’s performance as a Mark Payne-esque character basically comes off the same as his characterization of Brian Fellow.)
— I forgot to mention this in my review of the heavily-criticized-by-online-SNL-fans-back-in-2008 first installment of this sketch, but, among those many criticisms from online SNL fans towards the first installment, one criticism claimed that Bobby’s Mark Payne seemed like a ripoff of Nick Kroll’s Fabrice Fabrice character.
— Mark Payne’s first few comical lines in tonight’s installment are being met with DEAD SILENCE from the audience. Ouch.
— I like Payne’s line, “It’s newer than a baby’s thoughts!”
— The audience is getting a little more into this sketch as it progresses.
— I see Payne’s odd obsession over the stickiness of the bar surface has replaced his odd obsession with the pepper smell in the first installment of this sketch.
— Funny bit with Payne failing to catch the drinking glass he throws in the air, due to his lack of depth perception.
— Abby stuck in yet another nothing role tonight, not even saying a single word this time.
— Mark Payne somehow seems even more intentionally annoying in this second sketch of his (which is certainly saying something), but, much like his first appearance, I’m still enjoying him, annoyingness and all. Maybe it’s a good thing, though, that this ends up being his final on-air appearance. Bobby has much better stuff than this, though it’s a testament to his strength as a performer that he can make me like such an annoying character as this.
— I’m enjoying the interplay between Mark Payne and Kenan’s character.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average and pretty forgettable episode. Not bad, but it sadly puts an end to the long consecutive streak of solid episodes that preceded this, starting with Anne Hathaway. Still, I can’t complain too much about tonight’s episode.


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

I now introduce what will be a regular feature in my post-show wrap-ups:
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dateline
Thanksgiving Dinner
Blizzard Man
Weekend Update
Uno’s
Automaker Bailout Hearings
Dale Britches’ Down Home Phony Phone Calls
Monologue
Live Another Death
Clear Rite
Turkeys


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Rudd)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Malkovich

Posted on

November 18, 2006 – Ludacris (S32 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
George W. Bush (JAS) has literally gotten USA into another Vietnam War

— Jason has replaced the still-on-the-show Will Forte as SNL’s latest George W. Bush impersonator, making him the show’s FIFTH Bush impersonator during Bush’s presidency so far. Absolutely insane that SNL has gone through that many Bush impersonators over the course of just SIX YEARS. (Sure, SNL previously rotated a lot of people in the Ronald Reagan role during his presidency in the 80s, but that’s understandable, as SNL’s cast went through many big overhauls during Reagan’s presidency, unlike SNL’s cast during Bush’s presidency.) Tonight’s sudden re-casting of the Bush role after Forte had been SNL’s regular Bush for a few years completely blindsided SNL fans at this time, especially since there was no prior announcement of this re-casting before tonight’s episode originally aired. I remember in the live discussion thread for this episode on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board, as soon as this cold opening first showed Jason as Bush after the typical “And now, a message from the president of the United States” intro, many members of the board, including myself, simultaneously flocked to the live discussion thread to post literally the exact same message: “WTF?!? Sudeikis?!?” Haha, we were absolutely SHOCKED at this re-casting.
— Funny announcement from Jason’s Bush of America now being at war with Vietnam.
— Jason’s Bush portrayal isn’t bad so far.
— Towards the end, this cold opening has started dying with the audience.
— Overall, I wish I had more to say for Jason’s first outing as Bush, but I found this cold opening okay as a whole. Wish it ended better than it did, though.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo once again proves how incredibly old he’s getting, by bizarrely and inexplicably mispronouncing the name Ludacris as “loo-DAY-cris”, not once, but TWICE. Let’s just say this earned about as many “WTF?!?”s in the aforementioned live discussion thread for this episode on the saturday-night-live.com message board as the sudden re-casting of the Bush role did. Also, something funny about Don’s “loo-DAY-cris” mispronunciation is that it rhymes with the correct pronunciation of the name Sudeikis. And know what’s even funnier about THAT? When Jason Sudeikis was just an SNL writer before being added to the cast, I mistakenly assumed his last name was pronounced “SOO-duh-kis”, much like how the name Ludacris is correctly pronounced.


MONOLOGUE
host’s old friend Rick ‘Diculous’ (KET) wants credit for stage name idea

— A mildly funny bit with Ludacris differentiating the use of his stage name and his real name, but nothing special.
— A laugh from the exaggerated size of the antenna on Kenan’s old-school 90s cellphone.
— Not sure what else to say about this monologue. I hate to use the term “only mildly funny” again for this monologue, but I can’t think of a better description of this monologue as a whole.
STARS: **½


YOUNG DOUGLAS: HYPIN’ THE CLASSICS
classic songs get rap complements on hype man Young Douglas’ (host) album

— It almost feels like Ludacris might as well just be playing himself in this sketch instead of a fictional character (even though Ludacris isn’t a hype man). This sketch is still working decently, though.
— The “You’re Beautiful (That Ass!)” duet is very funny.
— A very Kenan Thompson-y gesture with Kenan not even pretending to make his trumpet-blowing look convincing.
STARS: ***


THE BITCHSLAP METHOD
Dr. Bitchslap’s (host) marriage advice infomercial prescribes face swats

— A laugh from Ludacris’ character’s surname being Bitchslap.
— I like Bill as Amy’s now-whipped (or, should I say, now-bitchslapped) husband.
— As Jason’s character is putting his arm around his wife Kristen’s shoulder a little roughly, Kristen’s soft little “Ow” while keeping a nervous smile on her face is the type of thing she’s always great at getting laughs out of.
— The ending showing the various Bitchslap Method books came off a little awkward.
STARS: **½


THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (DAH) potential boycott of Def Jam is a hollow threat

— After just using his real voice in previous Bill O’Reilly sketches, which was a surprisingly lazy move for a so-called master of impressions, Darrell finally attempts to actually imitate Bill O’Reilly’s voice tonight. It’s an improvement, but I still prefer Jeff Richards’ take on Bill O’Reilly. Also, too little, too late for Darrell to finally improve his impression of O’Reilly, given the fact that this ends up being the last appearance it ever makes.
— Kenan stretched out his intentionally-awkward, silent reaction to the first ridiculous question from Darrell’s O’Reilly way too long.
— The whole interview portion with Kenan in general is too slow-paced, even if there are some chuckles.
— Pretty funny to see Ludacris playing a professional political talking head, and quite well, might I add.
— I don’t know how to react to the fact that Ludacris, a non-comedian, is giving a FAR better performance in his portion of this sketch than Kenan, a freakin’ sketch comedy veteran, gave in HIS portion of this sketch.
— As usual, some laughs from the mailbag segment.
— Overall, some decent parts, but as a whole, this sketch did NOT do it for me. The laughs were too few and far in between, the sketch’s pacing was weak (especially during Kenan’s performance), and the overall sketch was WAAAAAY too long (it was seriously about EIGHT MINUTES, I shit you not). I am so glad this ends up being the final O’Reilly Factor installment with Darrell.
STARS: **


BOOTY BIDNESS WORKWEAR
host extends naughty slogans to women’s workplace attire

— This is a revamped version of a commercial that had gotten cut from at least one dress rehearsal (if not multiple dress rehearsals) earlier this season.
— Some laughs from the inappropriate sexual-related messages on businesswomen’s suits.
— Ludacris is absolutely perfect as the spokesperson here. I’m guessing the previous version of this commercial that got cut after dress rehearsal didn’t work anywhere near as well without the footage added in of Ludacris.
STARS: ***


BLIZZARD MAN
at a recording session, host ballyhoos Blizzard Man’s (ANS) dorky raps

— Andy’s Blizzard Man character makes its debut.
— I love Andy’s very early 90s look. SNL’s been getting some mileage lately out of early 90s-looking costumes, between Andy’s 1992 exercise gear in the preceding episode’s Out-Of-Breath Jogger From 1992 sketch, Kenan’s early 90s hip-hop outfit in tonight’s monologue, and now Andy’s Blizzard Man costume.
— I love Jason’s intentionally corny delivery of “Now you’re talkin’ my language, Luda!”
— Some really good laughs from Andy’s incredibly cheesy, whitebred raps, especially how it always immediately follows him prefacing the songs by doing actual solid and hardcore hype-man ad-libs into the mic. Very fun performance from Andy here.
— Meh, I could do without this sketch’s choice to do the “the camera cuts to a close-up of each straight man character having a frozen unpleasant facial expression while witnessing something odd the lead comedic character is doing” trope. That makes this feel too much like a damn James Anderson-written sketch, even though he obviously didn’t write this. I will say that I do like the comical intense look on Ludacris’ face (the last above screencap for this sketch) when the camera shows him jamming to Blizzard Man’s corny rapping during the aforementioned sequence showing a close-up of each straight man’s facial reaction.
— Funny twist at the end, with the Billboard chart that Blizzard Man’s song is listed #1 under turning out to be a chart of Least Bought Albums (screencap a little below). Not only that, but there’s an interesting subtle self-reference from Lonely Island: the #2 song on that Billboard chart is from Bing Bong Brothers, which was the name of a fictional R&B group played by Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone in a pre-SNL Lonely Island music video.

STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Money Maker”


WEEKEND UPDATE
John Mark Karr (BIH) claims responsibility for high-profile crimes

AMP & SEM study guest seating chart for Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes wedding

following a weak joke, Bobby Knight (JAS) gets in SEM’s face

to editor (MAR) of a teen magazine, donating food is path to weight loss

— A very weak opening Bush joke from Amy.
— Bill killing it in yet another solo Update commentary this season. His John Mark Karr portrayal and dialogue are a lot of fun and are cracking me up so much.
— A fairly whatever bit with Amy and Seth breaking down who the guests were at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding. Too easy of a joke for my likes.
— Oh, I like this random bit with Jason as Bobby Knight chewing out Seth for his lame Tobey Maguire/Spider Man joke. And I’m always up for a showcase of Jason’s Will Ferrell-esque ability to play intimidating, screaming madmen.
— I could do without Amy’s bad, corny ad-libs after Jason’s Bobby Knight made his exit.
— Maya’s commentary is decent, and I’m enjoying her performance.
STARS: ***


POOL WATCH
urban lifeguard (host) isn’t ready to get in the water

— Lame stereotypical black jokes at the beginning, with the titles of black CW shows.
— Ugh, the screechy voice Maya’s using here is hard on the ears throughout this sketch.
— More weak stereotypical black jokes.
— A laugh from Ludacris wearing swimming trunks under his speedo.
— Believe it or not, Fred’s brief appearance at the end of this sketch as an unconscious body, a role that might as well have been played by an extra, is Fred’s ONLY appearance all night. Jesus Christ. Even odder, in dress rehearsal, Fred’s role was played by Will (who, by the way, has yet to be seen ANYWHERE in tonight’s live episode so far). I assume the reason for this role being re-cast from Will to Fred after dress rehearsal is because SNL felt bad that Fred was left with no appearances after the dress rehearsal cuts were made before the live show. I dunno, part of me feels that an SNL repertory player making their only appearance of an episode in a 5-second non-speaking role as an unconscious body is, in some ways, even more demeaning than making no appearances at all.
STARS: **


HAIR TRANSPLANT
shady plastic surgeon (host) schemes to steal (WLF)’s Elton John hair

— Will finally makes his first (and ONLY) appearance of the whole night. This, coupled with the fact that, earlier in this episode, SNL had unexpectedly re-cast the Bush role (and keep in mind that it wasn’t known yet among SNL fans that Will himself asked to be taken out of the Bush role, and thus, fans incorrectly assumed that Will got the Bush role yanked away from him against his wishes), made a lot of online SNL fans worry about Will’s job security at SNL, fearing he may be in for an upcoming firing at the end of this season. In fact, Will’s airtime has really taken a hit in the first half of this season in general. In a lot of episodes in this half of the season, he typically averages a measly 1-2 appearances per show, though his amount of airtime (thankfully) ends up returning to normal somewhere in the second half of the season, and, as we know now, he doesn’t end up getting fired after this season. I wonder what the reason is for his big decrease in airtime in the first half of this season. Was he busy filming a movie? “The Brothers Solomon”, perhaps?
— Speaking of the worry that a lot of SNL fans had for Will with the combination of his Bush impression suddenly being given to another cast member and Will not appearing in this episode until towards the end, I remember how Will making his entrance in this Hair Transplant sketch with a head bandage made one online SNL fan initially worry for a second that Will’s head bandage was REAL, with that SNL fan mistakenly assuming Will had suffered a head injury earlier that week and that that was the reason for both SNL re-casting the Bush role tonight and Will barely appearing in this episode. An odd misconception. I’m pretty sure if a cast member ever suffered a horrific head injury earlier in the week of an episode, an injury horrific enough to require a head bandage, there’d be an announcement of this injury sometime before the episode would air. I doubt SNL would just have a head-injured cast member waltz onto a sketch wearing their big-ol’ head bandage with no prior warning to us viewers.
— I love Ludacris preparing to jet the hell out of his office right before he reveals Will’s hair transplant.
— Very funny reveal of Will having the hairtop of a black man after the transplant.
— A lot of mentions of Atlanta in tonight’s episode.
— Will is playing his naive straight man character really well. Even just his way of cornily saying in shock “What in sam hill…?!?” when finally seeing his hair transplant made me laugh out loud.
— Hilarious reveal of Ludacris having switched hairtops with Will, just because Ludacris desperately wanted Will’s Elton John-like hair.
— I love the absurdity of this sketch, and Ludacris is proving to be actually really adept at this absurdist material. I would call this another oddball Will Forte sketch, and in some ways, it IS, but this sketch seems to be focusing more on Ludacris than on Will. And even though this sketch has kind of an oddly hollow, quiet, slow atmosphere, making it almost feel like a fugitive from this season’s wretched John C. Reilly episode, it is definitely working for me here.
STARS: ****


LESBIAN CRUISE
captain (host) futilely hopes lesbian cruise will become a porno fantasy

— I like Kristen’s little “Is…is he supposed to be drinking?” when she sees the captain holding up a glass of champagne.
— Not caring for where this sketch is going AT ALL, though Ludacris is, once again tonight, performing this well. Even something about the way he said “Yes, Arizona?” when Amy called his name made me laugh.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Mary J. Blige [real] perform “Runaway Love”


TWO OLD MEN
in a diner, old guys (DAH) & (host) question the worth of modernity

— Wow, Darrell starring in a non-impression role? AND IN THE 10-TO-1 SKETCH?!? Two huge rarities in one for Darrell.
— I’m liking the premise of this, and Darrell and Ludacris are surprisingly making a good duo, playing off of each other really well.
— The audience is getting lots of amusement from Darrell’s increasingly-hanging-off fake mustache. It’s adding to the fun nature of this sketch.
— A good laugh from Ludacris’ question about why companies can’t combine the “no pee” medicine with the “stiffy” medicine.
— Now Darrell is starting to crack up a little due to his hanging-off mustache, making the audience laugh even more.
— When Darrell is struggling to ask Ludacris “Do you….do you…” while stifling his laughter, Ludacris cuts him off with a fantastic ad-lib: “I know that your damn mustache is hangin’ off, I know that!” Priceless.
— Interestingly, after the aforementioned ad-lib from Ludacris, both he and Darrell, in character, signal for the sketch to end, without Darrell having even gotten to ask Ludacris the question he was supposed to, as if they know they can’t top the unscripted hilarious moment that had just happened. After this signaling from Ludacris and Darrell, the sketch indeed ends. That was odd, but actually kinda cool. I can’t think of many other times in SNL history that a sketch ended in this manner, with performers signaling to the show to cut the sketch off after it peaked with a great ad-lib. The only other instance that comes to mind right now is in a Norm Macdonald Weekend Update from season 22, where, after getting a HUGE audience reaction from an absolutely hilarious and classic ad-lib in which he ate fake vomit on the Update desk left over by Will Ferrell (who had just done an Update commentary reacting to Ellen DeGeneres coming out of the closet), Norm decides not to do the rest of the Update jokes (a photo for the next joke even shows up on the news screen next to him), and instead just says to the camera “Let’s just end it”, and then turns to the other camera and delivers his usual end-of-Update sign-off.
— Very fun closing sketch overall.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Meh, a lukewarm episode. Almost completely forgettable. There was still a pretty good number of strong highlights, though. And Ludacris was a fun, likable, and solid host, and made even the weaker material of the night less worse than it otherwise would’ve been, even that bad Lesbian Cruise sketch.


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 big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Matthew Fox / Tenacious D

Posted on

January 22, 2005 – Paul Giamatti / Ludacris featuring Sum41 (S30 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE BUSH DAUGHTERS
George W. Bush’s (WLF) daughters Jenna (AMP) & Barbara (TIF) assess him

— Tina and Amy are very fun here. Even though I don’t like them as a duo on Weekend Update, they’re still usually a good team elsewhere.
— A lot of laughs from the Bush Twins’ “secret twin language”.
— Will’s President Bush not understanding the twins’ secret language is probably an obvious joke, but it works here.
— Great bit with Darrell-as-Dick-Cheney’s little message to the twins.
— Surprisingly, this is Amy’s first-ever “Live from New York…”.
— An overall very solid cold opening. Probably my favorite cold opening of this season so far, not that it’s had much competition, off the top of my head.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Right out of the gate, Paul Giamatti’s energy is so great in this, and he’s doing a very good job getting the audience hyped up.
— An overall short but sweet monologue, and it’s nice to see that this was a real monologue, with no other performers except the host.
STARS: ***½


RICE CONFIRMATION HEARING
Barbara Boxer (AMP) impugns confirmation shoe-in Condoleezza Rice (MAR)

— I recall this being a very well-liked sketch among online SNL fans (including myself) back when this season originally aired.
— Poor Rob Riggle gets stuck in a pointless non-speaking role in this sketch, which ends up being his ONLY appearance all night.
— Seth’s John Kerry detailing how his inauguration would’ve gone this day had he won the election is pretty funny.
— Amy’s whole segment as Barbara Boxer is absolutely fantastic, and is what I had always remembered from this sketch. One of Amy’s best performances of this entire season.
— A solid sketch overall, though mostly just on the strength of the excellent Barbara Boxer segment. Everything else in the sketch was fine, but not particularly strong or stand-out.
STARS: ****


GAYSTROGEN
A rerun… FROM FREAKIN’ 2003. Geez, as if this commercial hadn’t already been re-aired too many times in season 29…


LIMO
limo driver (FIM) is a Jamie Foxx fan but doesn’t recognize host

— Good to see the underused Finesse with the sole lead role in a sketch, and not co-starring with Kenan for once.
— Finesse confusing Paul for Rob Schneider reminds me of how that was a common mix-up a lot of people had back in these days. I never really understood why people couldn’t tell Paul and Rob Schneider apart.
— Good line with a frustrated Paul calling Finesse “Human Tivo” during Finesse’s recreation of Jamie Foxx’s Golden Globes speech.
— Solid performance from Finesse, and I’m enjoying Paul’s frustration and desperation to impress Finesse with his movie resume, the latter of which Rachel humorously questions Paul on at one point.
STARS: ***½


MUSIC STORE
at a music store in search of an instrument, Kaitlin settles on the drums

— This recurring sketch has gotten to the point where Kaitlin’s entrance receives audience applause, though it’s only mild this time.
— Amusing look of Paul’s character, and he’s both funny and very believable as a rocker uncle, adding to the solid slice-of-life realism that this recurring sketch always has.
— Kaitlin’s yodeling when acting out how she would perform on The Price Is Right made me laugh out loud.
— Funny line from Paul about calling his mixture of rock, folk, country, and fusion metal genres of music “Rofolkcoumet”.
— I love Kaitlin’s singing of “Hard To Handle” into the microphone stand.
— I don’t know if it’s because this episode has put me on such a high so far, but I found this overall sketch to be the best of the Kaitlin sketches I’ve covered so far.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Get Back”


WEEKEND UPDATE
sadistic TIF & AMP make RAD report on the NYC blizzard from outside

Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) turns the topic to his bid for the presidency

— Interestingly, right out the gate after signing on at the beginning of this Update, Tina throws to a new Update segment called “Dratch on the 1s”, involving Rachel doing a remote segment outside of 30 Rock in the blizzard. An okay change of pace.
— I like how it’s become a running gag these past two Updates for Amy to angrily threaten Angelina Jolie.
— Oh, no. Not ANOTHER commentary from Darrell’s Arnold Schwarzenegger.
— I got one laugh from tonight’s overall Schwarzenegger commentary. That’s it.
— Are Rachel’s outdoors scenes pre-taped or live? I would normally assume pre-taped, but these sure feel live. The timing of Rachel’s answers to Tina and Amy’s live questions are strangely always perfect; there are no sloppy instances of Rachel responding to Tina and Amy too early or too late like you’d expect if a live Tina and Amy were interacting with a pre-taped Rachel.
— When Tina and Amy mention that Ludacris requested Rachel buy him a diet Snapple root beer that doesn’t even exist, I like Amy’s delivery of “Well, she better find it, cuz it’s for Ludacris.”
— Could’ve done without Tina and Amy pointing out “There’s no cocoa in here” regarding their coffee mugs.
STARS: **½


THE LUNDFORD TWINS FEEL GOOD VARIETY HOUR
The Lundford Twins (host) & (FRA) Feel Good Variety Hour was never aired

— I got a pretty good laugh from the first camera zoom-in of Amy crossing her eyes while saying a goofy “Aaaaaawww, nuts!” as a “boing” sound effect is played.
— Pretty funny lyrics in Maya’s song, especially the way it ended. Her segment in this sketch kinda feels like an unused bit from the Country Roses sketch in the preceding season’s Jennifer Aniston episode.
— When the Lundford Twins tell him they heard his record is selling really well, I liked Kenan’s delivery of “Yeah, not too good.”
— Overall, I don’t usually enjoy sketches like this, but this was a fairly well-done and entertaining spoof of variety shows and had some laughs.
STARS: ***


REINHOLD INVESTMENTS
Andy’s (WLF) telephone shrieks of “Oh no!” vex financial planner (host)

— Something seemed to happen right before this sketch started, as this sketch opens with the audience in the middle of laughing and Paul looking at the camera with an out-of-character awkward smile before quickly getting into character. Wonder what happened that we home viewers didn’t get to see.
— The debut of what’s probably one of Will’s most acquired-taste characters (which is certainly saying something, as that describes probably a lot of Will’s characters). Like a lot of what Will does, this character has definitely always worked for me.
— Will’s many “OHHHH, NOOOOO!”s are hilarious.
— I absolutely love Paul’s straight man performance. His various angry outbursts at Will are slaying me.
— Paul: “I am NOT gonna be a wedding DJ again… I can’t! I sold all my equipment!”
— Overall, such a dumb sketch, but a hilarious dumb one. Everything about this worked for me.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Number One Spot”


SPY GLASS
parliament reporter (host) fills in on the teen beat

— As usual in these Spy Glass sketches, a lot of well-done and impressively-delivered corny puns by Seth.
— I absolutely LOVE Paul’s excited British-accented gibbering when talking about how much he loves being a reporter.
— I guess Horatio’s Gene Shalit is fitting for a Spy Glass sketch, given his love for corny puns.
— Funny bit at the end with Amy’s character revealing she has Spanish Chlamydia.
STARS: ***½


CAT
(host)’s date with Phoebe is disrupted by her large house cat (FRA)

— I like the random exchange between Rachel and Paul, with her casually asking him “So you work on death row, huh?”
— Paul has been such a great host tonight that he even manages to get laughs out of simply asking Rachel to “neck” with him.
— A variation of the parrot sketch Fred did earlier this season. I recall this coming off as an inferior knock-off, but I admit, I laughed a lot just now from Fred’s entrance in the sketch, meowing towards the camera with a bug-eyed, curious expression.
— As a cat lover (as I’ve mentioned recently), I’m enjoying Fred’s spot-on imitation of typical cat actions.
— Fred’s deep-voiced meowing when he’s getting his medication applied anally has me laughing out loud.
— Overall, definitely not as bad of a follow-up to the parrot sketch as I had remembered.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A little over half a season, Season 30 has FINALLY done it: an actual strong episode. Every single sketch in this episode worked for me, and I felt very highly about a pretty good number of them. Paul Giamatti added a lot to this episode’s strength, as he was a fantastic host and gave a lot of fun performances. Overall, aside from Weekend Update (and even that was slightly better than it’s usually been in the Fey/Poehler era), this was a flawless episode, in my eyes.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Topher Grace)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Paris Fucking Hilton