Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
BACKSTAGE
backstage, WIF has awkward reunions with former castmates & LOM
— Much like I said about David Spade earlier this season, it feels refreshing seeing Will Ferrell back on SNL during trying times like season 30.
— A big laugh from Ferrell’s very first inner thought, in which we hear him thinking “Oh, man, what is this guy’s name?!?” about his former four-year castmate Chris Parnell. Ha, poor Chris.
— Another big laugh from a Ferrell inner thought, this time with him thinking “This is Finesse. Do NOT call him Kenan!”
— Hilarious pay-off to the Finesse-not-Kenan scene, with it turning out it was a bet between Finesse and Kenan to see which name Ferrell would call Finesse by. I also love Kenan bragging “Told you he ain’t know the difference!”
— I like the visual of Ferrell immediately turning away in a panic from an approaching Lorne.
— I wonder if Ferrell pulling a “Hey, look over there!” on Lorne was an intentional reference to the end of the Spelling Bee sketch that Ferrell did in the James Van Der Beek episode from season 24. Probably not, but it does go nicely with that.
— I love Ferrell’s “Live from New York…” delivery at the end of this.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
while singing “On A Clear Day,” WIF pees his pants & ambles into audience
— I’ve said this about several former cast members in the monologue from their respective first hosting stint, but it’s so nice to see Ferrell making an entrance on that home base stage as the host.
— While singing, Ferrell accidentally and bizarrely reveals a device hidden inside his jacket (the second above screencap for this monologue), giving away a joke that’s about to happen.
— And there it is: the pee stain on Ferrell’s pants. Funny, and a very fitting premise for Ferrell, but it accidentally being telegraphed earlier in this monologue hurt the joke for me a bit. IIRC, SNL would later replace this monologue with the error-less dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I love Ferrell going up to Steve Higgins as an audience member and getting way too close to him with his pee stain while trying to have a friendly conversation.
— When Higgins reveals that the woman sitting next to him is, in fact, NOT his wife after Ferrell asked, I like Ferrell responding “Well you make a lovely couple.”
— Even Ferrell’s simple, casual, affable delivery of “Whoops, I peed my pants” when finally noticing his pee stain was great and such a Will Ferrell-y moment.
STARS: ***½
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Bill Cosby (KET), Sharon Osbourne (AMP), Sean Connery (DAH)
— Right out of the gate, I see we’re wasting no time in bringing back one of the most beloved recurring sketches that Ferrell was involved in back when he was a cast member. Hope this is an improvement from the underwhelming last few installments of this sketch.
— I can’t understand why tonight’s audience is going absolutely nuts here for the typical staccato, cutesy speak that Amy’s Sharon Osbourne always does when speaking for her puppy (“Mi-nnie, say he-llo to Al-ex! Al-ex, say he-llo to Mi-nnie!”). I take it the only reason tonight’s audience is having such a huge response to this is because they’ve never seen Amy’s Sharon Osbourne impression before and are surprised by how much Amy sounds like her. I think those tepid Sharon Osbourne Show sketches from the preceding season permanently burned me out on Amy’s Sharon Osbourne impression, and I personally hate when Amy’s Sharon uses a staccato, cutesy voice when speaking for her puppy…plus, I heard that real Sharon has NEVER been known to use a cutesy voice for her puppies in real life (not that a celebrity impression on SNL can’t be exaggerated or embellished, of course, but still…).
— Ah, Connery and Trebek reunited.
— Alex Trebek, after yet another one of Sean Connery’s “mother” jokes: “For your information, my mother’s in a nursing home in Canada.” Sean Connery: “Oh, she was nursing it, alright.”
— I love the “Automatic Points” category.
— During the “How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?” segment, when the camera cuts to Ferrell’s Trebek after Darrell’s Connery says “*I* got a finger” while starting to unbutton his pants, I like Ferrell’s Trebek saying to the camera “Please don’t cut to him” and then telling Connery “That’s not a finger, and you know it.”
— And there’s our obligatory category mix-up of tonight’s Celebrity Jeopardy sketch: Connery misreading “Japan US Relations” as “Jap Anus Relations” . I shamefully admit that I chuckled, but 1) it’s FAR from one of the better Celebrity Jeopardy category mix-ups, and 2) SNL could never get away with that “Jap Anus Relations” bit nowadays. At least Ferrell’s Trebek calls Darrell’s Connery out on how awful that was.
— Meh at the reveal of Connery’s full Final Jeopardy answer (which initially reads “0+0-0=0”) being “POOP”.
— Overall, this was pretty fun, but as I was afraid of, it was a far cry from bonafide five-star classic installments of this sketch from back in its prime. It’s sad how this usually-reliable sketch has officially lost its luster sometime after the one from the Lucy Liu episode in season 26 (the last Celebrity Jeopardy sketch to get a five-star rating from me). However, from my memory of the next Celebrity Jeopardy from Ferrell’s following hosting stint in season 34, the luster that this sketch has lost returns in spades.
STARS: ***½
ORACLE CONCLAVE
(WIF) emcees amateurish show for Oracle employees at annual conclave
— Aaaaaand there goes season 30’s obligatory weekly instance of Maya singing. At least this particular instance isn’t an annoying one.
— I love Ferrell’s increasingly tense off-camera conversation with someone about an employee who’s currently in poor health.
— A big laugh from the slideshow awkwardly only consisting of shots of the same three employees at one table, and them all having red-eye in the photos.
— This is a very Will Ferrell-y sketch, and I love that. This feels like a sketch I can picture Ferrell doing in his first season as a cast member. Both he and Cheri Oteri excelled in this type of sketch back then, where they’re alone onstage and react to people who are off-camera. Sketches like Cheerleaders and Rita Delvecchio (Cheri’s lady-on-the-porch character). I guess The Culps also count as that type of sketch, so I’m wondering if this sketch style is a specific Groundlings thing, as Ferrell, Cheri, and Ana Gasteyer are all Groundlings alums.
— Ferrell’s awful rap number is funny, especially when he falls off the stage mid-song, which I’ve always wondered is supposed to be a spoof of a then-recent viral video of Kelsey Grammer accidentally falling off the stage during a speech at Disneyland (“OH, DEAR GOD!!!”). Ferrell’s hilarious angry reactions after falling are so perfectly Will Ferrell.
STARS: ****
PARA TRI-CYCLEN
Para Tri-Cyclen is birth control option for promiscuous women like (AMP)
— Amy bringing in any average joe to sleep with her is pretty funny in the context of this birth control commercial.
— Meh, I’m no prude, but I could do without an adolescent boy being one of the people Amy brings in to sleep with her.
— This overall commercial fizzled out a little towards the end, but was okay as a whole.
STARS: ***
ART DEALERS
(SEM) & (RAD) meet Noonie (WIF), the childish adult son of Nuni & Nuni
— Okay, after giving a positive review to the first two installments of this recurring sketch, I think this is the point where I officially get tired of this sketch, especially since it feels almost wrong for them waste Ferrell as a side character in this formulaic sketch that can be performed literally almost any other week.
— Ferrell at least is playing a goofy-acting and oddly-dressed character that he was born to play. I also love how his entrance gets a hysterical laughing gasp from a woman in the audience.
— Ugh, there goes the obligatory part of every Nuni sketch where Fred and Maya’s characters clarify to their visitors how to differentiate the pronunciation of their respective name, then butcher the simple pronunciation of their neighbors’ names.
— A clumsy gaffe in which Seth accidentally knocks the head cushion off of the massage chair. I got an unintended chuckle from that.
— Ferrell is singlehandedly making this otherwise tiredly derivative sketch more tolerable.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Sister” with Gene Frenkle (WIF) on cowbell
— Halfway through this performance, we get Ferrell showing up out of nowhere in the background as his legendary one-off Gene Frenkle character, banging on that cowbell once again. Fuck yeah!
WEEKEND UPDATE
apologistic John Bolton assistant (SEM) displays traits of battered wife
— (*sigh*) You know the routine: Tina and Amy open with a string of terribly hacky jokes that would make even Charles Rocket, Gail Matthius, and Brian Doyle-Murray cringe, while I groan and roll my eyes.
— Pretty good performance from Seth downplaying John Bolton’s horrible, violent treatment of him, even though the commentary itself is nothing special.
— OH FUCKING NO. Not another insufferable and pointless Tina and Amy Update musical number…well, just Amy this time. Still, though: cringeworthy.
— Well, at least this Amy musical number ended up being short, and I did like how it ended with Tina telling Amy “This is the last time that I suck beer out of the dirt with you.”
STARS: **
PEPPER GRINDER
diner (WLF) employs pepper grinder to build character in waiter (WIF)
— Oh, this is a dream come true for a comedy nerd like me: the two great Wills of SNL history, Ferrell and Forte, paired together in an absurdist sketch! This is going to be fucking epic.
— Forte’s refusal to say “when” as Ferrell is tirelessly grinding pepper onto Forte’s meal is great.
— When asked to tell Ferrell to stop grinding pepper, I absolutely love Forte’s delivery of “I will…when…I’ve had…enough.”
— Now this sketch is really hitting a peak, as we get Forte increasingly getting very intense in his “Grind!” bellowing while Ferrell is screaming in anguish. Such a perfect combo of just some of what makes both Ferrell and Forte absolutely fantastic performers. Man, just imagine if their respective tenure as a cast member overlapped with each other, even if just for one season.
STARS: *****
TV FUNHOUSE
“Shazzang!” by RBS- sadistic, psychotic, hegemonic genie is superpowerful
— A spot-on spoof of the style of the Shazzan series from the 60s.
— I’m getting so many laughs from Shazzang’s increasingly sadistic treatment of the villain, the villain’s mother, and a cow. I’m also getting laughs from the disturbed reactions from the other characters. Shazzang’s sadistic actions have bothered A LOT of SNL fans (“That poor cow!” is something I’ll never forget one online SNL fan complaining), but this type of dark humor is right up my alley.
— Holy shit, this cartoon is getting even more and more fucking insane. Smigel ain’t holding NOTHING back. I am absolutely loving how extensive this sadism is getting, and there’s something I find great and fitting about the fact that something this disturbing is airing in a Will Ferrell-hosted episode, but yeah, I can see why so many SNL fans are very off-put by this cartoon.
STARS: ****
GOULET RINGTONES
Robert Goulet (WIF) plugs ringtones & cellphones shaped like his head
— Yes! Freakin’ Goulet!
— Fun premise with Ferrell’s Robert Goulet advertising various ringtones sung by himself.
— I absolutely love the very brief and simple “Dinkle-dongle, dinkle-dongle, someone’s calling you, Goulet!” ringtone.
— The big-horned sheep returns! I always love Ferrell-as-Goulet’s interactions with him. Even just the way a whole bunch of fake fur is unintentionally seen floating away from the fake sheep each time Ferrell violently taps it with his hand is slaying me.
STARS: ***½
GOING 2 C MOVIES WITH TERRYE FUNCK & VASQUEZ
Terrye Funck, Vasquez, (WIF) review Revenge Of The Sith
— We get a very random pairing of a semi-regular Horatio Sanz character and an obscure, previously one-off Chris Parnell character.
— Man, Horatio is stumbling all over his lines in this sketch so far.
— Ugh, this sketch is reminding me why I hated this Vasquez character in the last few appearances he’s made before this.
— What the fuck is with this sketch?!? This premise involving Ferrell’s breath is horrible, and the jokes within the dialogue feel like a 10-year-old wrote this.
— My only laughs in this entire sketch so far have come from Ferrell’s gasping sound whenever he catches a whiff of his own breath. Otherwise, not even he can save this awful sketch.
— Jokes about smoking “dookie” cigars? Yeah, this sketch was definitely written by a 10-year-old. I guess this wouldn’t be a season 30 episode without at least ONE “How the fuck did this make it on the air” sketch?
— Aaaaaaand to make this sketch even more insufferable to me, we now get our obligatory display of Horatio giggling at himself. Fucking ugh.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
— Ha, Ferrell manages to even make a musical guest intro funny, with the way he’s lovingly and slowly stroking the back of a random audience member’s head while re-introducing the musical guest.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In My Head”
LUXURY
in a bar, luxury-loving spy (WIF) thinks that (MAR) is his contact
— Ferrell enters as yet ANOTHER character tonight that’s very fitting and perfect for him.
— I’m enjoying the interesting set-up of this.
— Funny bizarre interplay between Ferrell and Maya all throughout this sketch. And at least Maya’s managing to get through a lead role this season without using an annoying character voice or singing for once.
— Didn’t care for the ending with Horatio. At least he didn’t ruin the deadpan stare-off between himself and Ferrell by breaking, though.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— After Ferrell finishes his goodnights speech and the credits start rolling, the camera briefly cuts to a specific group of people in the audience who are unidentified (the last above screencap for these goodnights), no doubt confusing lots of viewers. Those people in the audience appear to be Will’s family, as I recognize Will’s mom, from two SNL appearances she’s made other times (one in an SNL Mother’s Day special from 2001, and the other in Will’s season 37 monologue). So I’m guessing the older man two seats from Will’s mom is Will’s dad. However, who’s the woman in between them? Will’s sister, perhaps? Does he have a sister?
— Seeing Rob Riggle during these goodnights makes me realize that he was completely M.I.A. during the actual show. Jesus Christ. First Rob struggles to get any good airtime for most of this first season of his. Then he has to witness a writer on the show (Jason Sudeikis) being added to the cast in the third-to-last episode of this season and IMMEDIATELY waltzing in with a very visible presence, making it look effortless. Then Rob gets completely shut out of the very next episode after that, which is especially a shame, considering he seems like he would’ve worked PERFECTLY with Ferrell, given their similar comedic styles (and, IIRC, Rob actually would later be cast in some of Ferrell’s movies, or at least one of them). At this point, Rob must fully realize that that there’s NO FUCKING WAY he’s being asked back next season. You really gotta feel for the guy.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While certainly not the classic that one in 2005 would’ve hoped a Will Ferrell-hosted episode would be, this was BY FAR one of the better episodes of this troubled season. The quality of the sketches was mostly good, and a few pieces were particularly strong, one of which is an all-time favorite of mine and I’m pretty sure is shockingly the FIRST sketch I’ve given a five-star rating to in this damned season (Pepper Grinder). Will Ferrell, of course, was a fantastic presence as a host, was reliably funny as usual, and fit back into the show well.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Johnny Knoxville)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 30 (mercifully) comes to an end, with host Lindsay Lohan. It’s also the final episode for newbie Rob Riggle.