Tag: Sheryl Crow

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October 29, 2005 – Lance Armstrong / Sheryl Crow (S31 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT
in besieged White House, Dick Cheney (DAH) disputes smoke & fire linkage

— What’s that watery sound I keep hearing off-camera when Darrell’s Dick Cheney is first shown? Some kind of sound glitch in the video file I’m watching of this episode? And what was with the audience’s delayed (but pointless) opening applause before Darrell starts speaking? This cold opening is already starting off awkwardly.
— Darrell’s Cheney downplaying the literal smoke in the room isn’t providing any laughs for me. A lame gag.
— That’s it?!? This cold opening is over already?!? Geez, this cold opening was two-and-a-half minutes of NOTHING. Very lame political “comedy”.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
host fields questions of audience members including fiancee musical guest

— Lance Armstrong, regarding getting tired: “Come on, I’m Lance Armstrong. I don’t get tired!” Blah. Then we get a joke about Lance getting his urine tested that holds up very poorly nowadays, for obvious reasons.
— Fred’s gleeful French accent is hilarious.
— A memorable bit with Lance’s jealous cycling teammates sternly asking him “Are you hosting alone or with the team?”, which gets a strong audience reaction.
— A good laugh from the odd way Lance’s teammates all walk away in unison.
— J.B. Smoove steals this monologue as always.
— Liz Cackowski is starting to become the Sarah Silverman or Paula Pell of this era’s questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— When asked about his and Sheryl Crow’s engagement, Lance responds “Yes. We’re definitely getting married.” Oof, talk about things in this monologue that have aged horribly. Not only would these two break up just a few months after this episode without ever getting married, but it would be before NBC even first reran this episode. As you can imagine, that rerun made for an awkward watch back in 2006.
STARS: ***


CELEBRITY IRONMAN
host struggles with running & swimming triathlon legs

Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith (FIM)- he enjoys favored status at ESPN

— Chris Parnell has returned, after taking the last two episodes off to film episodes of an upcoming new NBC sitcom that ends up never even airing. Even though I feel Bill and especially Jason will render Chris a little obsolete over the course of this season by slowly and successfully taking over the type of roles he’d usually get, I still always love and appreciate Chris as a performer, and it feels refreshing to see him again after he’s been away for two episodes.
— Poor Andy, with his only two appearances of the night (the monologue and this) being small non-speaking roles.
— Some mild laughs from Lance’s bad attempts at running, but this isn’t a particularly hilarious premise for a lead-off sketch.
— In retrospect, Finesse’s Stephen A. Smith impression holds up kinda poorly after getting used to the spot-on impression of Smith that Jay Pharoah would later do (even if I don’t care for the very one-note Weekend Update commentaries his Smith would appear in). Didn’t care much for the writing of Finesse’s scene either.
— At one point during Seth’s interview of Lance, the greenscreened background of outdoor scenery accidentally gets replaced for a few seconds by a black screen stating the words “Fire Alarm” (screencap below), which is the SNL control room’s cue title screen for a fake ad that’s going to air right after this sketch.

STARS: **½


FIRE ALERT 3000
the Totally Rad Fire Alert 3000 detects smoke & plays hits from the ’80s

— Good to see Chris in yet another big role tonight early in tonight’s episode.
— Odd how this is the second fireman (or fire chief, in this commercial’s case) Fred has played tonight.
— Pretty fun idea for a fake ad, and there are some good laughs from the upbeat 80s music playing during drastic house fires.
— Chris’ carefree dancing while Fred is sternly informing us of the importance of fire safety is very amusing. Chris’ performance is very fun in this sketch, especially when juxtaposed alongside Fred’s serious straight man character. Given the way Chris is usually typecast as dull and humorless straight men on SNL, I’m surprised SNL didn’t have Fred and Chris playing each other’s roles in this commercial, but I’m glad they didn’t.
STARS: ****


HARMONIES
musical guest joins Indigo Girls (AMP) & (RAD) atop a mountain

— Maybe it’s because there’s not much laughs elsewhere here, but it’s kinda funny watching the dogs wandering around the set and sniffing the guitars all throughout this sketch. SNL’s crew must’ve sprayed those guitars (and perhaps the whole set in general) with some kind of food scent beforehand to keep the dogs from leaving the set.
— Not caring for much of this sketch.
— This already-dull sketch has gotten pretty awkward and slow-paced once Lance has entered.
— Did I just hear Lance pronounce “naked” two different ways in two back-to-back sentences?
STARS: **


THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (DAH) irrelevant misconceptions bewilder guests

— Darrell Hammond does a great impression of Darrell Hammond in a wig and prosthetic nose. While he actually has Bill O’Reilly’s speech pattern down fairly well here, the voice itself just sounds like Darrell. This impression doesn’t even compare to the spot-on one that Jeff Richards did. Yet another reminder of how, when it comes to celebrity impressions (especially political ones), what should’ve been a successful passing-of-the-torch between Darrell and Jeff sadly got screwed up horribly. By this point in late 2005, Jeff should’ve been in his fifth season on the show, flourishing as SNL’s resident impressionist, while Darrell would’ve been long gone from the show, gracefully bowing out sometime around 2002 or 2003.
— Another sketch this season where Darrell annoyingly keeps coughing loudly off-camera while someone else is speaking.
— O’Reilly’s idiotic “facts” throughout this sketch are pretty funny.
— Lance looks convincing as someone from the army.
— Darrell’s a tad stumbly throughout this sketch.
— Did we need Darrell pausing for SO LONG just now, in what appeared to be an unnecessary attempt to milk extra laughs from the audience?
— The letters during the Mail Bag segment are pretty funny.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Good Is Good”


WEEKEND UPDATE
drunk Harriet Miers (RAD) assesses why she won’t be on the Supreme Court

Bitch Fight News Quiz- AMP sorts Lindsay Lohan & Maureen Dowd quotes

FIM honors Rosa Parks by staging a sit-in at the Weekend Update desk

White Sox star Scott Podsednik [real] pegs TIF & AMP as Chicago Cubs fans

terrorist Mrs. Butterworth (KET) may be source of maple syrup odor in NYC

— When Rachel’s Harriet Miers starts to break out into Vanessa Williams’ song “Save The Best For Last”, I like Tina’s delivery when telling her “Don’t sing any more of that, or we’ll have to pay for it.”
— Very solid performance from Rachel here.
— Even when merely being heard off-camera in an answering machine greeting message, Will’s President Bush impression cracks me up.
— Didn’t care for the Bitch Fight Quiz bit with Tina and Amy.
— Not a bad premise of Finesse’s commentary, staging a Rosa Parks-inspired sit-in at the white-dominated Update desk.
— Finesse’s comment about Condoleezza Rice cracked me up.
— A weak and lazy ending to Finesse’s commentary.
— Ugh at Tina’s gay-themed “smoking pole” joke.
— Wow, not to be outdone, Amy immediately follows Tina’s awful “smoking pole” joke with a fucking terrible Girl Kills Bear joke of her own. Man, who writes this crap?!?
— Two athletes from two different sports appearing in the same episode (Lance Armstrong and Scott Podsednik)?
— As someone who lived in Chicago for 10 years (funnily enough, I moved away from Chicago just a week before this episode originally aired, to move back to my hometown of New York), I’m personally liking all the insider Chicago references that Tina and Amy are making during the Scott Podsednik commentary; insider references that anyone who’s never lived in Chicago would scratch their heads at. These references are really speaking to me. Tina and Amy referencing the jingle of those hilariously low-budget Moo & Oink commercials especially made me laugh, but it, of course, was met with puzzled silence by the studio audience.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Didn’t crack a smile during Kenan’s entire Mrs. Butterworth bit. It was just plain dumb, and not the kind of dumb I like.
— This overall Update felt super-long and never-ending. And unfortunately, this Update was also the inevitable return of the typical bad Fey/Poehler Update humor, after I found their last Update more tolerable than usual.
STARS: **


LANCE’S SONG
musical guest can barely stomach the awful love song host wrote for her

— Lance badly singing and laughing his way through his first song isn’t exactly funny to me.
— Boy, Sheryl Crow is an even worse actor than Lance is.
— Bill’s mere look is the only humor I’ve been getting here.
— Ugh, I am really not caring for this sketch.
STARS: *½


TRUMP’S CAMEO
Donald Trump (DAH) goes off-script while shooting Days Of Our Lives cameo

— A variation of the strong Trump Promo Shoot sketches from the preceding season. This time, we’re actually seeing the off-camera director that Seth always plays in these.
— Darrell’s Trump inexplicably doing a bad cartoonish Italian accent for one take is pretty funny.
— A mild laugh from the poorly-edited final take of Trump’s scene.
— Overall, despite some laughs, this was a very pale variation of season 30’s Trump Promo Shoot sketches. This lacked the strength of those sketches. (And I never thought I’d say season 30 was better at doing something than season 31 is.)
STARS: **


CAROL!
on a blind date, (host) is inexplicably smitten with indelicate Carol

— Hoooooooo, boy. Here’s the debut of an infamous series of sketches starring a spun-off character from the preceding season’s Key Party sketch. When these Carol sketches originally aired, I absolutely HATED them, as I’m sure a lot of people do. But in more recent years, I’ve seen some people say they appreciate these sketches in a “So bad, it’s good” way. It’ll be interesting to see what my reaction to these sketches will be now. I want to appreciate the “So bad, it’s good”-ness of this sketch like some others do, so I’ll now go into this sketch with an open mind, but don’t be surprised if I end up being salty as fuck towards it.
— Yet another recurring character in this era that has their own opening title sequence and theme song. At this point, I wonder if these 2004-2006 years have equaled the number of title sequence and theme song-having recurring characters that the late 80s/early 90s years had.
— Jason’s a funny straight man here.
— So far, yeah, this is a parade of just about every terrible habit Horatio has as a performer.
— I’m sensing somewhat of a “So bad, it’s good” quality to this, but I’m being more bored than amused by this. At least I’m not outright annoyed like I used to be by these sketches.
— Something about the “HA!” that Lance unintentionally lets out when Horatio causes him to break made me crack up myself.
— Didn’t care for Carol suddenly delivering a manly-voiced “I’m gonna go push one out and smoke a joint in the bathroom.”
— Overall, mixed feelings on this. I could somewhat appreciate the “So bad, it’s good” factor at certain points, but a lot of this did nothing for me. Like I said earlier, though, at least I didn’t hate this and wasn’t annoyed, like I was when these Carol sketches originally aired. Maybe these sketches will continue to slowly grow on me more and more as I review the subsequent installments.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Strong Enough”


NOISY SIDEKICK
(WLF) cackles at mobster’s (HOS) jokes during interrogation of (host)

— I recall once hearing that Will based his high-pitched laugh throughout this sketch on his mother, who we actually met on the show the preceding season, in a Mother’s Day song Will sang to her on Weekend Update. Based on how Will’s mom looked in that Update appearance, I cannot picture Will’s bizarre-sounding laugh coming out of that woman. Also, it’s funny how this is the second episode in a row with a sketch based on a cast member’s mother, as the preceding episode’s Creighton Boys School sketch was based on Seth’s mother, according to commenter HelloStuart. Speaking of this trend of sketches based on cast members’ mothers, and speaking specifically of Will’s mother, we interestingly get a certain odd (and rare to see, as it would be removed from reruns) Butt Pregnancy sketch in the very next episode that ends with a twist about Will Forte himself being who the woman in the sketch was butt-pregnant with.
— Will’s bizarre laughing is cracking me up. He’s one of the few performers who could make a thin sketch like this funny. It’s not one of the better of Will’s oddball sketches, but it works.
— In addition to his laugh, I also like the wiseguy voice Will’s speaking with here, a voice I don’t think I’ve ever heard Will use elsewhere.
— Ha, Will’s shrieking each time he gets shot is hilarious.
— Horatio is surprisingly a decent straight man here, and he’s not breaking at Will’s antics at all.
— The show must be running long, judging by the audience being cued to applaud a few seconds too early at the end of this sketch, and the fact that the following goodnights get cut off very early.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Our first weak episode of the season. A lot of poor or blah things in this episode, and almost nothing stood out as great. This episode as a whole had a flat feel, even despite some of the things that worked. Having an athlete host giving forgettable performances all night probably contributed even further to that flat feel.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Catherine Zeta-Jones)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jason Lee hosts. We also get a new female addition to the cast.

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October 3, 1998 – Kelsey Grammer / Sheryl Crow (S24 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BEDTIME AT THE WHITE HOUSE
in bed, Bill (DAH) gets icy reception from bitter Hillary (ANG) Clinton

— I like how cold and tense the mood suddenly gets when Ana’s Hillary Clinton enters the bedroom.
— Some good silent acting from Ana and Darrell.
— A great part with Darrell’s Bill Clinton flipping through channels and finding talk about the Lewinsky scandal on EVERY channel, eventually getting to the point where even the weather channel has the meteorologist comparing blowing winds to “Monica blowing the pres–” before Darrell’s Clinton quickly shuts off the TV in a panic.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— The new theme music from the preceding week’s season premiere has already been replaced with different theme music. The theme music tonight is actually the same one that was used in the first two episodes of the preceding season.
— After inexplicably not being credited in the opening montage in their first episode the preceding week, the three new featured players Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz are credited tonight.

— Shaquille O’Neal is credited as a special guest, which is noteworthy because, if I’m not mistaken, this is the last time SNL would ever credit a special guest in the opening montage. I believe that to this day in 2019, SNL has yet to credit any special guests in the opening montage since this episode from 1998.


MONOLOGUE
host sings rejected alternative Frasier theme songs

— The rejected Frasier theme songs that Kelsey Grammer is singing are fairly funny, though nothing special. Kelsey’s adding some charm to this.
STARS: ***


KCF SHREDDERS
(JIF) pitches bagged lettuce & mayonnaise to Generation X

— A random but very funny concept of presenting a mundane lettuce & mayo meal in the style of late 90s “x-treme” ads marketed towards Gen-Xers. This is a spot-on parody of those types of ads.
— A fun use of newbie Jimmy Fallon and his youthfulness. I also like the occasional bits with fellow newbie Horatio Sanz popping in.
— I love Tracy’s delivery of “I’m a BIG MAN, and I need a BIG SHREDDUH!”
— Hilarious how the kids meal comes with How Stella Got Her Groove Back action figures.
STARS: ****


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry talk wilderness food with naturalist-cannibal (host)

— Like the last installment of this sketch (from the preceding season’s Julianne Moore episode), this one takes place in a rare outdoors setting.
— I love that we immediately start off with some dark humor, where, after Ana says that autumn can only mean one thing, Molly says “Thoughts of a Christmas suicide” when she and Ana are simply supposed to say “leaves” in unison.
— Funny bit with Ana randomly complimenting Kelsey on a beard that he doesn’t have, just to fool listeners who can’t view the show.
— Hilarious dark turn with Kelsey getting increasingly worked up when disclosing a disturbing story about the desperate measures he once had to resort to when having nothing to eat but his friend Carl. This is the type of humor that I find Kelsey great at delivering.
STARS: ****


TERRY FERGUSON FOR SENATE
avoid sex scandals by electing eunuch Terry Ferguson (WIF) to the Senate

— Funny little detail with Will’s lack of eyebrows.
— Very funny premise with Will’s politician using his political ad to disclose the fact that he lost his genitals in a fire, and why that’s a good reason for you to vote for him. Will is always perfect for material like this.
STARS: ****


BIG BERNARD
(TRM) treats grown-up son (Shaquille O’Neal) as if he were still little

— Funny opening bit with Tracy questioning Shaq on how late he is.
— A priceless visual of Tracy struggling to get the oversized Shaq into a spanking position.
— Some good laughs from Shaq’s hamminess when smiling and laughing carelessly while getting spanked.
— A solid turn with Tracy following the spanking by having a heart-to-heart talk with Shaq.
— More great visuals, this time with Shaq laying on the side of the couch to place his head on Tracy’s lap, and then sitting in Tracy’s lap when being sung a lullaby.
— Tracy’s performance in this sketch is fantastic. Definitely one of his all-time best. I hope this made viewers at the time go “Why doesn’t SNL use this guy more often?”
— A great sentimental ending.
STARS: *****


TERRY FERGUSON FOR SENATE
Terry Ferguson has neither Washington-insider status nor genitals

— Hilarious how Will’s politician is using his opponent having genitals as a reason for you to not vote for him.
— Great line from Will about how the thought of sex gives him phantom pains where his genitals used to be.
STARS: ****


THINKING ABOUT BURRITOS
a dame (MOS) turns film noir private eye’s (host) thoughts to burritos

— Kelsey’s a natural fit for a film noir parody.
— I’m getting some good laughs from the increasing absurdity of how Kelsey keeps equating everything with his hunger for burritos. The silliness of this sketch, which I used to dismiss as just dumb and unfunny, is actually working well.
— Kelsey’s voice-overs throughout this sketch have a lot of funny lines.
STARS: ***½


WET ‘EM DOWN!
(host) wets Baywatch, Hal Linden, Christine Baranksi, Patti LuPone [real]

— I’m not caring for where this has been going so far.
— It’s now a minute later, and yeah, this is just a one-joke sketch that’s doing absolutely nothing for me.
— Feels odd seeing “Barney Miller” (‎Hal Linden) and one-time SNL host Christine Baranski making a cameo in this context.
— The ending kinda gave me my ONLY laugh of the entire sketch, just because of how comically out-of-place it looked seeing Tracy and Horatio hosing down Broadway performers on a theatrical stage.
STARS: *½


THE BEST OF HORATIO SANZ
volume 1 of The Best of Horatio Sanz doesn’t quite fill the videotape

— In the same vein of the preceding episode’s “The Best of the First 20 Minutes of Saturday Night Live” fake ad, we get another fake ad spoofing the overabundance of “Best Of” specials that came out in this time period. Of the two spoofs, tonight’s “Best of Horatio Sanz” would go on to be the more well-remembered of the two.
— An absolutely brilliant and hilarious idea to do a tongue-in-cheek “Best Of” ad for a new cast member who’s only appeared on the show for an episode-and-a-half so far and has done nothing noteworthy.
— I love the portion of this ad announcing things like “The walk-ons! The thumbs-ups!”
— Announcer: “Horatio Sanz is still alive, but someday, he won’t be.”
— A particularly hilarious sudden part with “Some material from The Best Of Dan Aykroyd included”, as we see a clip from a Coneheads sketch.
STARS: *****


WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ likens the problem of debtor nations to that of tapped-out friends
French playboy Tropical Storm Georges (host) luxuriates in his power

— Like the last episode’s Weekend Update, the Update opening title sequence is preceded with Colin doing a straight-to-camera rant in front of a green-screen, though we get different images displayed in tonight’s green-screen.
— The audience is pretty quiet during Colin’s opening rant.
— The Update theme music has been replaced with a new one. Too bad, because I absolutely loved the previous theme music, and this new one isn’t as good.
— The live via satellite interview with Kelsey playing an embodiment of Tropical Storm Georges feels like a knock-off of the famous El Nino bit that SNL did with Chris Farley a year earlier.
— Kelsey’s characterization here is good, but the commentary itself is completely forgettable to me.
— Not too great of an Update tonight, overall. Colin’s delivery of a lot of jokes had that uncomfortable stiffness that plagued some of his earliest Updates from the preceding season.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Favorite Mistake”


LONDON PEEPERS
(host)’s socialization try proves Mr. Peepers is animal, not human being

 

— After seemingly being officially retired a year earlier in a Claire Danes-hosted episode (in which Mr. Peepers was sent back to live in his natural home in the wild, and reunited with his family), Mr. Peepers gets resurrected tonight for no apparent reason.
— I love the painting of Horatio as a clown lit on fire (screencap below).

— Bah. Only 50 seconds into this sketch, and I’m almost instantly reminded of why I was happy they retired Mr. Peepers in the first place. No laughs from me here.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh, from the part with Mr. Peepers peeing on the dinner table.
— Only two episodes into his SNL tenure, and we already get our very first minor glimpse of a Jimmy Fallon character break (something that would later become all too common), as Jimmy can be seen helplessly smirking out of character at Kattan when Kelsey and Mr. Peepers exit the scene.
— This sketch feels really dead. Very little of this is working and the audience is largely silent, the latter of which is unusual, as the crowd usually always goes wild whenever Kattan does his Peepers shtick.
— Overall, easily my least favorite Mr. Peepers sketch, and that’s saying something. Definitely should’ve kept this character retired after the Claire Danes episode.
STARS: *½


MAAKIES
by Tony Millionaire- chopped-in-half rat becomes a mermaid

— The second and final Maakies cartoon to air on SNL.
— Wow, and tonight’s cartoon is now over, with me having said nothing about it while watching it. Overall, the random humor in tonight’s Maakies cartoon was even more random than the first one. I don’t hate these Maakies cartoons (though I’m aware A LOT of SNL reviewers did back when these originally aired), but I think I like these cartoons more for the animation style and voice work than for the actual comedy. I do appreciate the weird and disturbing tone that these cartoons are going for, but they never quite hit the mark for me, and they feel a little too out-of-place in this SNL era. It’s no surprise that Maakies didn’t last long as a recurring segment. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Tony Millionaire” tried to get more of these on the air as this season went on, but they kept getting cut after dress rehearsal.
STARS: **½


MORNING LATTE
Tom & Cass bug new producer (CHK); Shaquille O’Neal cameo

 

— An unusually late spot in the show for this recurring sketch to air, as it’s typically aired much earlier as one of the first post-monologue sketches.
— As always, I enjoy the way Will and Cheri play off of each other in these sketches.
— Funny part with Will and Cheri disclosing the fact that Cheri recently underwent surgery to have a baboon’s ovaries and a raccoon’s uterus transplanted inside of her, to increase her chances of having a baby.
— Very funny mix-up from Cheri referring to rappers as “rappists”.
— I like Will and Cheri’s tasteless comments about the producer’s (Kattan) sexual harassment past.
— Kattan is giving a solid performance as the producer. Odd, though, how that role isn’t being played by Kelsey (who’s nowhere to be seen in this sketch), as the host usually always plays the producer in these Morning Latte sketches.
— Shaq’s presence in a second sketch tonight reminds me that Tim Meadows is strangely completely absent in this episode. Very odd for Tim at this point of his SNL tenure, especially after the strong showing he had in the preceding week’s season premiere. I remember an old SNL review from this time in 1998 asking at one point, in regards to Tim, “Did Shaq scare him away?”
— I like the visual of Cheri trying to make gang signs with her hands.
— Shaq is awfully stiff in this sketch, and not in the funny deadpan way that he’s known for being in more recent years.
— SNL finally went through a Morning Latte sketch without anyone yelling an obligatory “You stupid bitch!” (or any variation thereof) towards Cheri.
STARS: ***½


HELLO DOLLY
personal problems pervade saccharine pitch of (host) & (ANG)

— The debut of a lesser-known recurring sketch from this era.
— I’m really liking Ana’s performance, as she’s coming off exactly like the type of person who would host a doll show like this.
— I like the running bit with Kelsey casually mentioning in passing some disturbing things about himself.
— Funny line from Ana about once putting the Lavender Angel doll under her shirt and trying to nurse it.
— Some good laughs from how it’s becoming more and more apparent over the course of the sketch that Ana and Kelsey have some serious unsettling personal issues.
STARS: ***½


THE LUMBERJACK CLASSIC
lumberjacks blame timbersports champion (WIF) for hogging Jesus’ backing

— Right out of the gate, Kelsey badly flubs his opening line by accidentally introducing Will by the name of his own character, which gets some laughs from the audience and causes Kelsey to crack up (the first above screencap for this sketch). I like Will’s reaction during this: not only does he stay in character, but he jokingly starts walking out of the shot while Kelsey’s laughing, only for Kelsey to pull him back into the shot.
— A solid parody of athletes always giving credit to Jesus for helping them win.
— Good line from Horatio about Will hogging all the Jesus.
— Very funny bit with Kattan as a Jewish lumberjack, complete with a yarmulke.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Surprisingly nowhere near as bad as I had remembered it being. Until doing this review, I had always considered this episode to be a real dud, and among the absolute worst episodes of this entire era. I know a lot of other SNL fans over the years have disliked this episode as well (at least in the past; I’m not sure what the general consensus for this episode is nowadays). I was pleasantly surprised to see during tonight’s viewing that this episode was much better than I used to give it credit for. The first half of this episode was actually strong for the most part, and the overall show had a lot of stuff that was pretty good. I even came around on that Thinking About Burritos sketch, which I used to cite as a prime example of how terrible this episode is. However, most of the lowlights of the night were particularly lousy for this era’s standards (Wet ’em Down, London Peepers), but the amount of those was thankfully kept to a minimum.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Cameron Diaz)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Lucy Lawless

Posted on

October 5, 1996 – Lisa Kudrow / Sheryl Crow (S22 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DEBATE PREP
Bob Dole (NOM) prepares to debate Bill Clinton; David L. Lander cameo

— I love Norm’s Dole inexplicably responding “No!” to the question about what programs he will institute to reach out to minorities.
— A good laugh from Norm’s Dole forcing Will to do a Ross Perot impression for his amusement.
— I like how Norm’s Dole is now forcing Will and Mark to do other celebrity impressions.
— A funny casual reveal of “Squiggy” being one of the panelists at the Clinton/Dole debate.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Mark McKinney’s new photo from the opening montage of the preceding week’s season premiere (first screencap below) has ALREADY been changed to a different photo (second screencap below).


MONOLOGUE
host describes her fantasy one-night stand with SNL

— An okay premise with Lisa’s teenage fantasy about having a one-night stand with a personified SNL. A few laughs here.
STARS: ***


CARIBBEAN ESSENCE BATH OIL
Caribbean Essence Bath Oil literally lifts you up & takes you away

— A big laugh from a dreadlocked, soap suds-covered Tracy Morgan rising from Molly’s bathtub out of nowhere.
— I love Tracy’s delivery of “Come, bathe with me.”
— Overall, a pretty funny commercial for what was Tracy’s very first big role.
STARS: ***½


SINGLED OUT
Mary Katherine Gallagher looks for love amongst Generation X

— Of all the Mary Katherine Gallagher sketches, I think this is the only one I’ve never seen before.
— An interesting topical setting for Mary Katherine Gallagher.
— The various statements that Tim cheers into the camera are hilarious, and are giving me more laughs than anything else in this sketch. I think I’d enjoy this sketch more if I was familiar with the show “Singled Out”.
— For once, the monologue that MKG performs is actually a song.
— The obligatory MKG pratfall felt odd and really forced this time.
— I like Will telling MKG “I just saw your underwear, I think I’m in love.”
STARS: **½


AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
air traffic controller Suel Forrester “helps” stewardess (host) land

— As I said in an earlier review, I’m always a sucker for Suel Forrester. I also like how he has a different occupation in each installment.
— Funny little touch with Forrester erasing one small specific part of his unreadable chalkboard scribbling and correcting it.
— Amusing ending, and one of the rare times a newspaper headline ending worked for me.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Ross Perot & Larry King ramble

— Our very first “Fun With Real Audio” edition of TV Funhouse.
— The caricature drawings of Ross Perot and especially Larry King are amusing.
— I love the increasingly odd situations that Perot and King are shown in while serious real-life audio of them having a normal conversation is being played. The whole bit with the giant bug in particular is what would go on to be trademark Smigel humor in these TV Funhouse cartoons.
— During the TV Funhouse closing credits tonight, Lorne says to the dog he’s fighting with “Give… me… back… my… show!” instead of what we would later become familiar with hearing him say in the TV Funhouse closing credits: “Leggo my show! Leggo… my… show!”
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) likes Independence Day’s “dead First Lady” plot

— You can ALREADY tell that Darrell-as-Clinton’s “Independence Day” review is going to go in the exact same direction as his “The American President” review from the preceding season, as soon as he’s mentioned the president’s wife in “Independence Day” getting killed.
— Yep, I was right about the direction of the Clinton commentary. (*yawn*) Predictable. Not caring for this lazy reprise.
— Darrell’s Clinton continues to gradually develop into the version that everyone today is familiar with, with Darrell now debuting the “laughs out loud then suddenly puts on a straight face” mannerism.
STARS: **** (mostly just for Norm)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “If It Makes You Happy”


SINGLE AND LOVING IT
joyologist Helen (MOS) claims to enjoy manlessness

— Uh-oh. The debut of Molly’s joyologist character, Helen “I love it, I love it, I love it!” Madden, a character I’ve always found INSUFFERABLE. Interestingly, though, she has a different last name in this installment.
— Feels odd seeing Helen Madden in a non-Pretty Living sketch (Pretty Living is the recurring sketch that she would go on to regularly appear in). I believe she also makes one other non-Pretty Living appearance, in the following season’s Samuel L. Jackson episode, before the Pretty Living sketches make their debut.
— A few minutes into this sketch, and I haven’t found much to laugh at here.
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from Lisa being called out on how sad it is that she gets joy out of drawing herself into her favorite Cathy cartoon.
— Surprisingly, Molly’s characterization of Helen Madden is much lower-key here than it would later go on to be. There’s no endless repetition of “I love it!”, nor is there an excessive amount of exaggerated leg-kicking or leg gyrations. Why couldn’t her characterization always stay this low-key?
STARS: **


RANDOLPH HOTEL
five-star hotel bellmen (JMB), (CHK), (WIF) destroy guests’ luggage

 

— A simplistic premise, but I’m finding it pretty funny so far.
— Heh, when Chris throws a suitcase behind him without looking, he unknowingly smashes a light fixture in the background (the third above screencap for this sketch).
— When Ana walked on in that wig and started speaking, I actually mistook her for the recently-fired Nancy Walls until I saw her face. I guess I haven’t gotten used to not seeing Nancy on the show anymore.
— Okay, this sketch is starting to get kinda old and one-note.
— Okay, now they’re winning me back over with the sequence with all three bellhops simultaneously throwing and swinging around the luggage while standing in a circle. It’s just a very funny visual.
— Has Mark McKinney played a single comedic role this season so far? I’m pretty sure he’s only been used in dull straight man roles in the two episodes of this season so far, which is sadly an accurate sign of the direction his SNL tenure ends up going during this season in general.
STARS: ***


WYMINS POETRY NIGHT
Mickey The Dyke (CHO) emcees Wymins Poetry Night at a lesbian bar

— Another female-oriented sketch tonight featuring only the female cast? I sure hope this is better than that Single And Loving It sketch.
— Ana’s poem with various “men” puns is making me laugh.
— Cheri’s Mickey The Dyke is great as the emcee in this.
— Interesting husky, whispery voice on Molly.
— Strange how this is the second sketch tonight with a character doing a voice impression of Jack Nicholson, hand over forehead and all.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love Is A Good Thing”
(Not included in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode)


EX-CONVICT WAITER
ex-con waiter Gene (COQ) harasses a dining couple (host) & (MAM)

— Colin attempts a new character, which does end up becoming recurring, though he only comes back one time, in the following season’s Nathan Lane episode.
— Colin is funny in this sketch, especially him trying to make amends to Mark by offering him to go outside and smoke a joint with him.
— I like Jim’s exasperated reactions at the end of the sketch.
STARS: ***½


BRIEF HISTORIES
explosives ensured the success of George Ferris’ Wheel

— Brief Histories from the the preceding week’s season premiere officially becomes a recurring segment, though it ends up being VERY short-lived. In fact, I think tonight’s edition is the final one.
— This is a bit different from the first one, as we now get to hear interview voice-overs from other people besides the narrator.
— This edition of Brief Histories is even funnier than the first one. I’m getting a lot of laughs from all the absurdist humor here.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average and unexciting episode. Not terrible or anything, but there was barely anything in it that I’ll remember in the future. Hell, even now, right after I just watched and reviewed the episode, I’m having a hard time remembering half the sketches. I do appreciate that they heavily scaled back the number of recurring sketches after the excessive amount of them in the preceding week’s season premiere, but there still isn’t much to brag about tonight. Between the not-too-great season premiere and tonight’s overly average episode, this season hasn’t exactly been off to a thrilling start.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Hoo, boy. Things aren’t looking up for the unexciting start to this season, as Bill Pullman is the next episode. I recall that being a somewhat rough episode for this era’s standards.