Tag: Snoop Dogg

Posted on

May 8, 2004 – Snoop Dogg / Avril Lavigne (S29 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FRIENDS
George W. Bush (WLF) & Donald Rumsfeld (DAH) reunite a la Friends finale

— A great sudden turn with Maya’s Condoleezza Rice delivering an uncharacteristic Phoebe-from-Friends-esque “My taxi’s outside, I’ll drive you to the airport!”, which is followed by scene transition music from Friends, making you realize that this cold opening is turning into a parody of the big Friends series finale that had aired earlier that week.
— I love Will-as-Bush’s panicked, dramatic yell of “Let ‘im off the plane!” when listening to the answer machine message.
— This cold opening does the near-impossible and manages to make a man-on-man kiss from this SNL era actually come off damn funny. Part of what makes this particular man-on-man kiss work is the fact that it’s a Friends finale spoof, and another part of what makes it work is Will’s extreme commitment during the kiss, to the degree that he causes Darrell to eventually break.
— This is only Will’s third time playing Bush, and he continues to do a good job making the impression his own, and strong sketches like this help solidify to viewers that Will’s not going to be yet another another one-season-and-done Bush impersonator like Chris and Darrell before him.
— Will’s Bush plants another lustful kiss on Darrell-as-Donald-Rumsfeld’s cheek during Rumsfeld’s “Live from New York…”, which must be an ad-lib, as Darrell IMMEDIATELY loses it and breaks, as if he wasn’t expecting it. A great way to cap off this very strong and memorable cold opening.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host cautions white America to cool it with the “izzle” talk

— Wow. Right out of the gate in this monologue, SNL breaks format by giving Snoop Dogg a very unconventional, outlandish entrance. Right as Don Pardo is about to announce Snoop, the theme music suddenly stops and is replaced with a musical tribal chant of “Snoop Doggy Dogg”, harem girls are seen dancing around the home base stage, child servants assist Snoop onstage after Pardo announces him, and Snoop is then joined by all of the female cast members. Oh, and everybody that I mentioned is all dressed in ancient native outfits. I love this whole monologue entrance gimmick. SNL rarely does anything out of the ordinary with their own format like this by this point of the show’s run.
— Some funny lines from Snoop addressing the annoying trend of white people speaking in “izzle” talk.
— Snoop’s line about how white people used to love pig-latin is very funny.
— An overall short and sweet monologue, and Snoop handled it really well.
STARS: ***½


MOM JEANS
A second rerun this season of a popular Mother’s Day commercial that originally aired the preceding season


¡SHOW BIZ GRANDE EXPLOSION!
Fericito doesn’t understand host’s humor

— Horatio’s character laughing in an insanely wild, hammy manner in response to a joke from Fericito actually cracked me up, even though I usually can’t stand that type of hamminess from Horatio by this point of his SNL tenure.
— (*sigh*) By this point of Fred’s SNL tenure, I’ve seen enough “Ay dios mio!”s from Fericito to last me a lifetime. That catchphrase and accompanying camera zoom-in has gotten to the official point where it’s slowly starting to get on my last nerve.
— A decent pre-taped “Fericito-Walking” segment with Fericito and SNL writer Emily Spivey. I don’t mind Fericito when he actually does something different for a change, such as this.
— Snoop’s “CDeez nuts” was a cheap joke, but his delivery of it had me freakin’ HOWLING.
— I love Horatio’s character’s amusement over Snoop’s crude jokes to Fericito.
— Snoop is a really fun guest in this sketch, and is giving this a boost.
STARS: ***


RAP BATTLE
wheelchair-bound (host) solicits sympathy to win rap-off competition

host performs “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang”

— Always a treat to see a J.B. Smoove sighting during these years, but it feels weird and kind of a waste seeing him play a silent, non-comedic role here, given how damn funny he usually is.
— A laugh from Snoop’s character unexpectedly entering in a wheelchair.
— Oh. My. God. Seth, of all people, entering the sketch as a “cool” rapper?!? Ha, this I gotta see. Why don’t I remember this portion of this sketch from my past viewings of it?
— Is Seth wearing the exact same outfit previously worn by “Ass Face” in the TRL sketch from season 27’s Jon Stewart episode? (side-by-side comparison below)

Seth must really like wearing that costume, as he’s later seen wearing it again during tonight’s goodnights.

— Snoop’s depressing raps about being in a wheelchair are freakin’ hilarious. I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2004 pointing out how this sketch had kind of a Michael O’Donoghue-esque dark feel, which made me love this sketch even more.
— Kenan’s extreme mugging and goofy grinning towards the audience during his appearance in this sketch reminds me of a HUGE gripe some online SNL fans had with Kenan during these early seasons of his. Those SNL fans complained to no end about Kenan’s penchant for hammy mugging and goofy big grins towards the audience in many sketches he appeared in. This is before the days when Kenan learned to tone down those aspects of himself as he grew as a performer.
— A big laugh from the great little part with Maya having to place a deaf Kenan’s hand onto the speaker so he can feel the beat.
— Hmm, a fourth wall break ending, with Snoop suddenly dropping character, getting out of the wheelchair, and breaking into a performance of his hit “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang”. Nice performance from Snoop, but ehh… I was really enjoying the hell out of where this sketch was going before this point, and this sudden turn is taking away from that. Not the way I personally would’ve ended this sketch.
STARS: ****


SCHEINWALD STUDIOS
Abe Scheinwald finds a kindred spirit in Booty Hotel pitcher (host)

— The name of Snoop’s character being MC Night Terrors is pretty funny.
— Rachel’s characterization of Abe Scheinwald is always worth some laughs.
— MC Night Terrors to Abe Scheinwald: “I like you, old dude. You like that old Muppet that be hangin’ up in the balcony criticizin’ folks.”
— During a humorously awkward pause that Rachel makes, Seth seems to try inducing a Debbie Downer-esque character break from Rachel by asking her an ad-libbed “You alright?” Rachel wisely seems to be fully aware of Seth’s attempt to get her to laugh, and she is having NONE of it, as she immediately snaps back to him, in character, “Yeah, I’m fine!”, and then goes on with the sketch. I’m glad Rachel understands how, as much of a blast as it was when she and her fellow performers had such a huge laughing meltdown during the preceding week’s Debbie Downer sketch, that type of huge laughing meltdown absolutely CANNOT become a regular thing on the show. A nice display of professionalism from Rachel here.
— This sketch is pretty much just treading the same territory of the preceding installment of this sketch, but it’s still working decently enough.
STARS: ***


ABC
ABC’s schedule is full of shows related to irresponsible plastic surgery

— Meh, the Angel Surgeons portion of this commercial fell completely flat. Where were the laughs there even supposed to be coming from?
— The Trading Noses portion of this commercial is hilarious.
— Snoop’s very menacing delivery into the camera of the line “I’m gonna cut you up, bitch!” during an extreme close-up of him holding up a knife made me laugh out loud, made even funnier by the fact that he’s dressed as a freakin’ ninja.
— Ha, funny how I mentioned earlier in this review how the clothes worn by “Ass Face” in the Jon Stewart episode was reused tonight by Seth, because in the “I Want A Butt For A Face” portion of this commercial, we get what appears to be a reuse of the Ass Face head prop. (side-by-side comparison below)

— Funny cutaway to a smiling, sleazy-looking Horatio being a fan of face-on-butt sex.
— This was kinda hit-and-miss overall, but there were definitely more hits than misses.
STARS: ***


FRIENDS
party atmosphere can’t overcome host’s despondence about end of Friends

— J.B. Smoove in a SECOND sketch tonight, and again, he’s just playing a silent, non-comedic role. I can’t stress enough what a waste this is of someone as naturally funny as him.
— Funny reveal of Snoop uncharacteristically being depressed over the fact that Friends has gone off the air.
— A very solid mock-dramatic performance from Snoop, and him emotionally going on and on about what a Friends fanatic he is is cracking me up. He is selling the hell out of this.
— When Finesse says his favorite so-called Friends moment was when “the blonde girl” got hit in the nose with a football, I love Snoop angrily responding “You damn fool! That was The Brady Bunch!”
— A hilarious photo of Snoop sporting “The Rachel” hairdo.
— A funny ending pre-taped sequence with Snoop, Kenan, and Finesse recreating the opening credits of Friends by dancing in a water fountain while the Friends theme song plays.
— At the very end of the water fountain scene, I love the ending close-up of Snoop just looking into the camera with a cool, kinda “deep” facial expression. (screencap below)

STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Tell Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
for Iraq prisoner abuse, Lynndie England (RAD) is the Dirtbag Of The Week

Bill Clinton (DAH) expects to be blamed for Iraq prisoner abuse scandal

clips show that JIF has done holiday-related song parodies for decades

— Yikes, Tina’s two opening jokes just made me groan. Lately, she seems to use her worst and most desperate joke(s) to start off each Update, a baffling decision.
— The “Dirtbag Of The Week” segment with Rachel as Lynndie England was kinda meh for me. I only liked it for Rachel’s performance.
— (*groan*) A THIRD Bill Clinton Update commentary in just the past three months of this season? I love Darrell’s Clinton impression, but they are REALLY over-relying on it lately, especially given how long after his presidency this season is.
— Ugh, why do these Clinton Update commentaries always have to begin by wasting so much time with him flirting with Tina and being all buddy-buddy with Jimmy? It’s not working for me anymore.
— Tonight’s overall Clinton commentary had a few mild laughs, but yeah, still not enough to justify bringing him back after such an insanely short amount of time since his last two Update commentaries. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d get burned out on Darrell’s popular Clinton impression, but here we are.
— We’re getting a deviation from Jimmy’s usual Update guitar song medleys.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE this montage of Jimmy’s Update guitar song medleys from over the years, especially when it gets to the point where, the earlier and earlier they go in SNL’s timeline, the clips clearly start becoming fake. Such a great meta SNL piece. There are so many things about this montage that I love, including the detail of recreating the Update sets of the various Update eras we’re shown “clips” of (even if some of the set recreations aren’t accurate). I remember how Jimmy’s “Thanks, Charles Rocket” line in the 1980 Update “clip” was a big favorite among online SNL nerds like me when tonight’s episode originally aired.
— Speaking of online SNL fans when tonight’s episode originally aired, this montage of Jimmy’s Update guitar song medleys was taken as a big sign among online SNL fans that Jimmy may be leaving in the following week’s season finale. Also, tonight’s Update surprisingly ends up being Jimmy’s ONLY appearance all night, which, in a strange way, kinda feels significant for what ends up being his second-to-last episode. (And we’re going to be seeing A LOT of him in his final episode.) A huge rarity for him to make his only appearance on Update (all the while Tina made three appearances tonight, funnily enough; hell, FOUR, if you count the Mom Jeans rerun), but I guess you can say this extensive montage of his Update guitar song medleys is making up for his lack of airtime elsewhere in tonight’s episode.
— I love Jimmy’s parody of Usher’s “Yeah” performance from the preceding episode, right down to the detail of Jimmy even wearing the same outfit Usher wore during that performance. Some fun dancing from Tina here as well.
STARS: ***½


APPALACHIAN EMERGENCY ROOM
country folk exhibit more weird afflictions

— I continue to feel like I’m in the minority in liking these sketches.
— As always, Amy kills in these sketches.
— Funny visual of Kenan trapped inside that claw machine.
— Blah, they always stick Will with the least funniest parts of these Appalachian Emergency Room sketches.
— Snoop: “I don’t have no pool! Who do you think I am – Donald Trump?!?”
— Snoop ends his scene by telling Seth “By the way, I ain’t peein’ in no cup.” In the rerun version of this episode, Snoop’s scene (if not the entire sketch) would be replaced with the dress rehearsal version, which ends in a completely different manner, with Snoop’s character bringing a very long line of family members to accompany him to his assigned room. (A rerun of tonight’s episode was never aired on NBC, by the way, much like this season’s Colin Firth episode. I believe the reason for the lack of reruns for either episode is because over the summer of 2004, NBC aired quite a lot of new “Best Of” specials for cast members and hosts, which I guess didn’t leave any room for a rerun of tonight’s or the Firth episode. It’s similar to how the barrage of “Best Of”s aired during the summer of 1998 prevented a large number of season 23 episodes from ever getting an NBC rerun.)
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
“Pothead Theater” by RBS- stoner-requested cartoons turn tables on humans

— An unusual TV Funhouse, and also a rare case of TV Funhouse heavily featuring live-action scenes.
— Hmm. Not sure this is working for me so far.
— I did get a laugh just now from the animation of ketchup shaking people out of a bottle. However, do we need EVERY animation scene to be followed by a moronic laughing shot of the individual pothead who requested the respective animation scene? Those laughing shots are far more annoying than funny to me.
— Meh, after an upswing with the aforementioned ketchup scene, this TV Funhouse has gone back to not making me laugh.
— Okay, I absolutely loved the bit just now with an animation of a TV watching a person, which ends up looking no different from what an animation of a person watching a TV would look like. I also like the subsequent cutaway to the two potheads who requested that animation just staring into the camera in unamused, stone-faced (no pun intended) manner instead of laughing moronically like the other potheads in this TV Funhouse.
— Overall, this TV Funhouse was mostly a miss for me, but the great ending scene gave this a big boost.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Happy Ending”


DUSTER’S DIGEST
Duster’s Digest magazine has its focus on the lifestyle of PCP users

— Odd how this is the second consecutive comedy segment tonight that’s drug-related, though I guess its fitting, given tonight’s host.
— Very funny entrance from Amy.
— I love Will’s delivery during his testimony. Even just the way he says “Duster’s Digest” is strangely amusing.
— A good laugh from Seth cluelessly making his phone call onto a burning iron pressed against his face, and not even being fazed by it.
STARS: ***


MOTHER’S DAY MESSAGE FROM SNOOP DOGG
in his Mother’s Day Message, host thanks his mom for birthing him

— An interesting little change of pace for this SNL era. Almost has the feel of a typical Steve Martin piece from the late 80s SNL era (e.g. A Holiday Wish and To My Love), right down to the little detail of Snoop holding a rose the entire time.
— An overall simple but pretty good bit, and had some heart.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, with nothing I disliked besides the TV Funhouse (and even THAT at least tried something new, plus it had a strong ending). This didn’t feel like a typical season 29 episode to me. (Then again, with this being the third consecutive good episode, I’m seriously wondering if this disappointing season has been experiencing a turnaround as the end of the season approaches.) Snoop Dogg was the fun, laid-back host you’d expect him to be, right from his unique monologue entrance, and I found that he worked particularly well in the odder bits that deviated from his image, like the wheelchair sketch and the Friends sketch.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 29 comes to an end, with hosts Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the second about-to-turn-18-years-old hosts in just the last three episodes, and also the very first set of twins to ever co-host SNL. It’s also the farewell of Jimmy Fallon.

Posted on

October 23, 1999 – Norm Macdonald / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Eminem (S25 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WORLD SERIES BET
Rudolph Giuliani (DAH) wanted higher stakes for mayoral World Series bet

— Tim’s brief appearance in the opening portion of this sketch isn’t seen in reruns, as reruns replace this cold opening with the dress rehearsal version. With Tim’s appearance here missing in reruns, the rerun version of tonight’s episode has Tim making his ONLY appearance of the night in a Michael Jackson sketch that doesn’t air until towards the end of the show.
— Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani impression makes its debut.
— As no surprise, Darrell’s Giuliani impression is solid.
— Ha, after Darrell’s Giuliani praises the Mets, you can hear a sole “Boo!” from one person in SNL’s audience.
— Darrell has carried over the “laugh, then suddenly put on a straight face” mannerism from his Bill Clinton impression.
— A lot of funny lines from Darrell’s Giuliani as he’s going on about what he and the mayor of Atlanta have agreed to give each other if the Yankees or Braves win that year’s World Series. I especially love the one about New York getting the severed head of John Rocker on a stick. For anyone who remembers the colossal bigoted douchebag that was John Rocker (Will Ferrell does a great Weekend Update commentary as him later this season), you hopefully appreciate that joke.
— Another great line, this time with Giuliani’s bet about how if the Braves win, he’ll dress up as Scarlett O’Hara and the mayor of Atlanta can romance him with a plunger.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Rachel Dratch has been added to the cast tonight as a featured player.


MONOLOGUE
NOM deduces that SNL has gotten much worse in the time since he was fired

— Ah, it feels so great to see Norm making his entrance on SNL’s home base stage as the host.
— When a few people in the audience yell out “NORM!”, Norm asks “What was that?” and they repeat it, then Norm responds “Well, you’re absolutely right, that is my name.”
— Awesome how Norm is openly addressing his controversial firing from SNL, in the way that only he can.
— Norm’s great description of the disagreement he had with the management: “I wanted to keep my job, right? And THEY felt the EXACT OPPOSITE.”
— I love Norm pointing out how asinine it is that in just a year and a half, he’s gone from being considered not funny enough to even be allowed in the building to now hosting the show.
— Just now, Norm has gone “Heeeeeeeeeeeeey!” in the same way he hilariously did in the Sarcasm 101 sketch from season 23’s Matthew Perry episode.
— Norm: “How did I suddenly get so GODDAMN funny???”
— An absolutely priceless realization from Norm that he hasn’t gotten any funnier; the show has gotten really bad.
— Norm: “So, yeah, I’m funny compared to… well, you’ll see later.”
— Even the trademark sign-off line that every monologue ends with has a funny variation tonight, with Norm saying “We got a bad show for you tonight.”
— Overall, an absolutely epic monologue to end all monologues. One of the all-time best in SNL history.
STARS: *****


MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA
in the wake of her successful IPO, Martha Stewart (ANG) enjoys being rich

— A change of pace for a Martha Stewart sketch.
— Lots of great lines from Ana’s Martha bragging about her IPO.
— Martha Stewart: “The real Martha Stewart is a frigid 58-year-old divorcee with a filthy mouth and a mean streak.”
STARS: ****


GREAT MOMENTS IN YANKEE HISTORY
Lou Gehrig (NOM) was being sarcastic

— A hilarious and very Norm-esque twist on the famous Lou Gehrig speech, revealing that he was being sarcastic and starts going on about how horribly unlucky he is.
— Strangely, no audience applause can be heard at the end of this sketch in the live version.
— Overall, very short but sweet, and a quintessential Norm Macdonald sketch.
STARS: *****


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
French Stewart (JIF), Burt Reynolds (NOM), Sean Connery (DAH)

— Sean Connery, after the contestants are warned by Alex Trebek to refrain from using ethnic slurs: “Ya think you’re pretty smart, don’t ya, Trebek? What with your dago mustache and your greasy hair!” Alex Trebek: “Look, what did I just say about ethnic slurs?!?”
— Nice to see the return of Jimmy’s eerily-spot-on French Stewart impression. In the first cutaway to him here, you can hear an audience member say “Oh my god” in surprise.
— Wonderful to see Norm’s Burt Reynolds make his triumphant Celebrity Jeopardy return.
— Absolutely classic how Norm’s Reynolds is requesting to be addressed as Turd Ferguson.
— We get TWO category mix-ups tonight. One being Burt Reynolds referring to the “condiments” category as “the condom thing”, and the other being Reynolds’ far-more-classic “Ape Tit” misreading.
— Alex Trebek: “This is the sound a doggy makes.” Sean Connery: “Moo.” Alex Trebek: “No.” Sean Connery: “Well, that’s the sound your mother made last night.” This is the very first “your mother” slam that Connery would make towards Trebek in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. Surprised it took this long.
— We now already get a second “your mother” slam from Connery in tonight’s sketch. (Alex Trebek: “We would’ve accepted ‘bow wow’ or ‘ruff’.” Sean Connery: “Ah, ‘ruff’ – just the way your mother likes it, Trebek.”)
— Yet another classic moment, with Norm’s Burt Reynolds/Turd Ferguson now walking up to Trebek with an oversized foam cowboy hat.
— After Reynolds walks away from Trebek after the aforementioned cowboy hat bit, I got a huge laugh the minor bit with Trebek incredulously saying to himself “What’s going ON?!?” I love that the show has gotten so ridiculous that Trebek has to briefly stop just to question the insanity that he’s been witnessing, by saying to himself “What’s going ON?!?”
— At the end of this sketch, I believe it’s an ad-lib when Norm places his foam cowboy hat on Will’s Trebek during the sign-off, which Will goes along with perfectly by growling in character “Would you get that off me?!?” while angrily yanking the hat off of his head.
— Overall, this has always been what I feel is the best and most quintessential Celebrity Jeopardy installment, which is really saying something, considering how strong these sketches always are.
STARS: *****


CROSSTALK
the sexiness of unhealthily-thin women is championed

— Some good laughs from Parnell’s rude comments about Cheri’s plus size.
— A great trick Ana is doing to make herself look freakishly skinny.
— Parnell’s skeevy lusting after extremely skinny women is very funny.
— Hilarious bit with footage of the rail-thin Lara Flynn Boyle being represented by a dancing skeleton from a black-and-white cartoon from what appears to be the 1930s.
— Rachel Dratch makes her debut doing a very funny Calista Flockhart impression, complete with a puppet body. Rachel’s making a great first impression here.
— When asked what her secret is to staying thin, I love Ana’s Helen Gurley Brown responding “Actually, I died six months ago.”
— Funny visual of Rachel’s Flockhart spitting out some vomit before answering a question.
STARS: ****


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) relates yet more News & Views

— Great to see this back. I’m always a sucker for these.
— Interesting how this edition of News & Views is being performed live, considering the previous ones were pre-taped.
— Larry King: “Of all the figures of the 20th century, one of the greatest has to be Robert Urich.”
— A typical classic Norm moment right now with him staring down the camera for a VERY long time after saying “Does anyone remember baseball cards?” (the last above screencap for this sketch)
— Larry King: “Margarine has its place, but nothing beats the real deal………………………………..(freakishly long pause)………………………………..BUTTER!”
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- Charlton Heston rails against gun control

 

— Kinda surprising that the first TV Funhouse of the season isn’t airing until now, though there was an epic one at SNL’s 25th Anniversary Special right before this season began.
— The audience is dead during this so far.
— Funny visual of Heston’s gun acting like a pet and eating bullets as if they’re pet food.
— Tom Selleck’s constant stammering and unfinished sentences are strange, but are cracking me up.
— Overall, despite some laughs, I dunno, something about this cartoon as a whole did not work for me, especially when it got towards the end. I wanna give Smigel the benefit of the doubt and assume this cartoon was just too “smart” for me, but I’ve seen some other reviewers express disappointment towards this cartoon too.
STARS: **


LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) delineates additional News & Views

— Good to see a second one of these.
— We get another long camera staredown from Norm, this time complete with him briefly taking a sip from his coffee mug in the middle of the staredown (the second, third, and fourth above screencaps for this sketch).
STARS: ****


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Millennium- moments from the past 1000 years that never occurred
gold digger Marla Maples (CHO) tries to assail Donald Trump’s character

— Well… this Update feels a little awkward to watch, knowing who’s in the building tonight.
— Tonight’s “The Millennium” segment has a priceless succession of random events that never occurred, such as Lucille Ball being executed by Capt. Crunch.
— I love Colin’s joke about how TV networks will soon stop indicating whether an episode is a rerun or not, resulting in Colin asking us to watch next week’s “live” SNL episode: Fran Tarkenton/Leon Redbone.
— Pretty funny unscripted moment with Colin stopping mid-joke to humorously say “God bless you” to an off-camera audience member who sneezed.
— The only real laugh I’ve gotten from Cheri’s Marla Maples commentary so far was her remark about her “Park Avenue cooch”.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg perform “Still D.R.E.”


MCMULLINS HOUSE
between visits from trick-or-treaters, dentist (NOM) & wife (CHO) fight

— I like Cheri’s dancing to the Ghostbusters theme music.
— Cheri greets one trick-or-treating child by saying “Is that little Lori Nasso?”, an inside reference to an SNL writer with that name.
— Cheri to Norm: “I rue the day I ever uncrossed my legs for you.”
— Norm has some great barbs during his and Cheri’s various tense arguments.
— I like how one of the trick-or-treating kids is dressed like Austin Powers. Some of the other trick-or-treating costumes seen throughout this sketch provide a nice time capsule for 1999, especially the Pikachu and Jar Jar Binks costumes.
— Tracy makes his only appearance of the night being stuck in his usual useless bit role where he only gets one measly line. We’re THREE episodes into season 25, and Tracy has made only two appearances all season so far, and only one of those appearances was a noteworthy role where he got more than one line. Man, thank god this season’s Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines episode is coming up very soon, because Tracy desperately needs it at this point. (You’ll know why I’m saying that if you remember a certain famous and important piece Tracy does in that episode.)
STARS: ***


BAR
newly-single Michael Jackson (TIM) & Howard Stern (JIF) commiserate

— Given his many ruthless-but-hilarious homosexual pedophile jokes about Michael Jackson on Weekend Update back in the day, I love the idea of Norm playing a bartender having a chat with a depressed, recently-divorced Michael Jackson.
— Hmm, turns out Norm’s just playing a generic friendly bartender. This sketch would be FAR better if it had Norm just going full-on Norm, by riffing hard on Tim’s MJ all throughout the sketch.
— Very funny gag with MJ unintentionally showing Norm his “Macaulay” tattoo when attempting to show him a tattoo of his ex-wife’s name.
— For some odd reason, right in the middle of his story, Tim’s MJ randomly goes “So I says to the nurse, I says, I says…”, which appears to be an ad-libbed reference to a semi-famous Chris Farley bit. Norm cracks up uncontrollably after this apparent ad-lib of Tim’s.
— An interesting tidbit about the appearance from Jimmy as an about-to-be-divorced Howard Stern is that it was a last-minute addition to this sketch. News of Howard Stern’s divorce came out earlier the same day of tonight’s episode, and thus, SNL must’ve figured it would be fitting to throw in Jimmy’s Stern at the end of a sketch that’s already about a celebrity divorce. In fact, some SNL reviewers back at this time in 1999 have said that they didn’t even know about Stern’s divorce until watching this sketch. Some people, to this day, have a hard time telling who Jimmy is even supposed to be playing here, especially since his Stern is never mentioned by name within this sketch. It doesn’t help that Jimmy sounds like he’s inexplicably using a hint of an English accent for his Stern. I’m hearing some of Jimmy’s John Lennon in there. Sorry, Jimmy, but Michael McKean still remains the unquestioned SNL master of the Howard Stern impression.
— It looks like Tim made another ad-lib right now in an attempt to get Jimmy to crack up the same way he made Norm crack up earlier in this sketch, but Jimmy surprisingly keeps a completely straight face and stays in character. It’s not very often you’ll be hearing me say that about Jimmy as his SNL tenure progresses.
— The ending felt weak.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dr. Dre & Eminem perform “Forgot About Dre”


INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO
James Lipton (WIF) rankles Clint Eastwood (NOM)

— The debut of the Inside the Actor’s Studio sketches.
— A hilarious blank open-mouthed look on Will-as-James-Lipton’s face when this sketch begins (the first above screencap for this sketch).
— Nice detail of a huge stack of index cards that Lipton is using for this interview.
— I’m liking Norm’s Clint Eastwood impression, which we previously heard a brief voice-only sample of in the great In The Line Of Fire sketch from John Malkovich’s season 19 episode.
— Will’s absurd characterization of his James Lipton impression is freakin’ priceless.
— A very funny dark story from Eastwood about Lipton having his teeth kicked in while sleeping.
— Clint Eastwood, after being asked what he would like God to say to him: “James Lipton is in hell right now being raped by the devil.”
— Ha, just now, Norm has dropped three more unscripted “goddamn”s, after he did so once earlier tonight in the monologue. Unsurprisingly, all of his “goddamn”s in tonight’s episode would later be muted out in reruns.
— Overall, a fantastic debut for the Inside the Actor’s Studio sketches, though in my opinion, there are even more memorable installments of this sketch to  come.
STARS: ****½


CHESS FOR GIRLS

— A rerun… from TWO SEASONS AGO.
— Due to taking time off from SNL this week to film the live-action Grinch movie, Molly has not been seen at all in tonight’s episode (I believe that’s part of the reason Rachel Dratch made her on-air debut tonight), until this re-aired old commercial. I guess SNL’s re-airing this just to say Molly was in SOMETHING tonight, even though her appearance in this commercial is just a VERY brief walk-on. Odd how SNL had to go all the way back to season 23 just to find a pre-taped commercial that Molly appeared in. Was she seriously not in ANY pre-taped season 24 commercials? The only one that comes to mind right now is that Teeny Weenies commercial, but I think it was based on a then-current news story, and thus, was too topical to be re-aired in a season 25 episode. If they HAD to re-air a season 23 commercial that Molly was in, why not one that she appeared in for more than two measly seconds? Lemon Glow? The “I’m #1” hat commercial?


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As expected for a Norm Macdonald episode, this was very solid as a whole, mainly because of the first 1/3rd of the show, which was INCREDIBLE in my eyes. That portion of the show consisted of a very long string of sketches that I gave a high four-or-five-star rating to. After that, the quality cooled down for the remainder of the show, until we got a very strong Inside The Actor’s Studio sketch towards the end of the night. Norm Macdonald did not disappoint as a host, and it was wonderful to see him getting his chance in the host spotlight tonight.
— Felt like we barely saw most of the cast members tonight. Even the usually-dominant Will Ferrell was only in 3 sketches. Chris Kattan, Horatio Sanz, AND, as mentioned earlier, Molly Shannon were all absent tonight. Very rare to have an episode where THREE cast members aren’t in any sketches. There’s a common misconception that the reason for Kattan’s absence in this episode is that he refused to even show up this week due to the well-documented animosity between him and Norm. That’s incorrect, as according to an online dress rehearsal report I remember reading years ago from an SNL fan who was in the audience at this episode’s dress rehearsal, Kattan was in at least one dress rehearsal sketch that got cut from the live show, though I can’t remember any details given about the sketch. (I do remember the details given about another cut sketch from this episode, in which Norm reprised his Bob Dole impression, portraying him this time as hopped up on Viagra and eagerly awaiting sex with his wife Elizabeth, played by Ana Gasteyer. At one point in the sketch, Norm reportedly ad-libbed towards Ana’s Elizabeth, “Hurry up! Bob Dole’s about to fuck the couch!”)


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

 


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dylan McDermott

Posted on

March 19, 1994 – Helen Hunt / Snoop Doggy Dogg (S19 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROCKERS TO HELP EXPLAIN WHITEWATER
Cindy Crawford [real] introduces Rockers To Help Explain Whitewater video

— We get yet another very fun “We Are the World”-esque sketch in this era.
— Interesting how, unlike this era’s other “We Are the World”-esque sketches, this one has the lyrics captioned on the bottom of the screen, I guess because of the educational factor of the song.
— As always, it’s fun to guess which singer each cast member is playing.
— Boy, Mike’s Garth Brooks impression is almost laughably bad.
— I remember when I first saw this cold opening early in my SNL fandom, during a Comedy Central rerun, I couldn’t tell that was Michael McKean playing Elvis Costello (dead-on impression, by the way), probably because I was under the common misconception that McKean was only a cast member in season 20. I assumed that was either Al Franken or Phil Hartman playing Costello, until noticing that Phil was in this as Elton John.
— David is playing Kurt Cobain in what ends up being the last live episode before Cobain’s suicide a few weeks later.
— Interesting how all of this season’s non-Al Franken featured players (Norm, Jay, and Sarah) are paired together here. And Norm looks hilarious as Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, because he’s so insanely miscast in the role that it becomes funny in itself.
— I like the various singers’ rapid singing of lengthy lyrics, reaching a pinnacle during Adam-as-Axl-Rose’s unintelligibly rapid solo.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host shows clips of her roles in Swiss Family Robinson & The Bionic Woman

— I know some people find this monologue dull, but I’ve always found this pretty cute and charming, seeing childhood clips of Helen Hunt from her early TV career.
— Some good laughs from the Bionic Woman clip of Helen explaining she’s from outer space.
— A huge laugh from the outrageous After-School Special clip of her jumping through a window after taking angel dust.
STARS: ***


TOTAL BASTARD AIRLINES
Total Bastard Airlines employees say their “buh-byes” to passengers

— A very famous sketch, and a quintessential use of David Spade’s persona.
— A great opening start with Jim Downey’s dry, blunt voice-over.
— While a one-note sketch in theory, it’s being executed perfectly.
— I love the exchange between Adam and David.
— Another part I particularly love is David’s whole run-on rant to Tim.
— Solid ending with David requesting an escort through the terminal.
STARS: *****


COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
Linda & host discuss which Oscar nominees they like

— This overused recurring sketch makes yet ANOTHER appearance this season. At this point, I honestly lost count.
— An audio glitch when the first caller is speaking, causing her to barely be audible.
— No idea what to say about this overall installment, except I wasn’t laughing, as usual. I could’ve used Richard Simmons again to add some much-needed energy, or Charlton Heston again to add an awkward charm.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gin & Juice”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Dick Vitale (JAM) gives his March Madness-flavored Oscar predictions
Bennett Brauer lists reasons why he doesn’t belong on TV, then flies

— My god, Kevin has been having an AWFUL start in tonight’s Update. He’s been stumbling over his words left and right, even moreso than usual, and some of his jokes are being met with painful silence from the audience. (*sigh*) Only four episodes left until Norm takes over……..
— I love the clip they just showed of President Clinton saying “No!” over and over while simultaneously banging his fist on a podium repeatedly.
— Ha, the use of the aforementioned Clinton fist-banging clip has become a running gag throughout this Update.
— Jay debuts yet another strong celebrity impression. His Dick Vitale is spot-on, and this is a fun segment, with him giving his Oscar picks in a March Madness style.
— Man, Kevin’s stumbliness tonight is so bad, he ironically flubbed a joke about the Flubby Awards. You can tell he was particularly embarrassed about messing up that joke. That portion of this Update would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
— This is the first time we’ve seen Chris’ Bennett Brauer character all season. And what an appearance this turns out to be, as we’ll soon see…
— And there goes the absolutely classic turn in this Bennett Brauer commentary, with a blooper involving cables that are supposed to lift Chris in the air getting caught on the Update set’s lights, leaving Chris hanging only a few inches off the ground. As a giggling Kevin and a crew member enter the shot to fix the problem, Chris starts making fantastic ad-libs, such as “I have a weight problem; can’t they lift me?” in a mock-depressed manner. This is all truly hilarious, and is deservedly known as one of the most legendary SNL bloopers of all time. Stuff like this makes you really appreciate the live aspect of SNL.
— Also, thank god that blooper happened, because the gag itself of Bennett Brauer’s frequent airquote gestures causing him to fly is lame as hell.
— As if the blooper wasn’t great enough, it’s immediately followed by the very memorable image of an excited Chris successfully flying over the cheering studio audience.
— After the Bennett Brauer commentary is over, Kevin has a great line of his own about the blooper: “Maybe the cables ‘didn’t clear the lights’, ladies and gentlemen!”, using Brauer’s famous airquote gesture. That brilliant ad-lib alone redeems Kevin from his rough first half of tonight’s Update.
— Great touch at the very end of this Update, with a dummy of Bennett Brauer falling from above and crashing through the breakaway Update desk. On the right corner of the screen immediately after the dummy falls, you can see a glimpse of Chris himself sneaking under the desk before “popping up” behind the desk as if it was him who had just fallen from above. That accidental glimpse of him sneaking under the desk isn’t seen in reruns, though I’m not sure if they replace that shot with the dress rehearsal version or just enlarge the shot so we can’t see Chris sneaking under the desk.
STARS: ***


PROFILES IN COWARDICE
fraidy-cats describe their unheroic acts

— Pretty promising format. Kinds brings back memories of the Ruining It For Everyone sketch from the John Malkovich episode earlier this season.
— I’m enjoying Rob’s story of cowardice, especially him proudly recalling how Barbara Bush “spat at me” and President Bush referred to him as “garbage wrapped in skin”.
— Chris’ face is noticeably sweaty. I wonder if the famous Update blooper that had occurred minutes ago has something to do with that. Also, I’ve been noticing throughout tonight’s episode that his sideburns are longer than usual.
— I cracked up at Chris’ line “I was so G.D. terrified of that thing.”
— I loved Helen’s “I can have other daughters” line when defending her refusal to save her kidnapped daughter in Iran.
— Good part with a blurred-face witness-protected Norm, especially his very Norm-esque delivery of “Aw, geez!” after accidentally giving away where he lives.
— Speaking of Norm’s blurred face, it’s not blurred during the camera angles that show the whole group. Haha, I guess we’re supposed to ignore that? At the end, Michael McKean humorously points out this gaffe by waving his hand in front of Norm’s face. I love that.
STARS: ***½


SEXIST DIRECTOR
a director (MMK) elicits an emotional performance from (host) via sexism

— Michael McKean gets his very first showcase sketch since joining the cast a week earlier.
— A fart gag in a Michael McKean-written (I’m assuming) sketch? Really?
— Michael’s performance is committed, and he’s good at making his character an unlikeable bastard, but I’m iffy on whether this sketch is working for me or not. I’m also not sure how to feel about the intentional sexism in the premise, considering the well-documented real-life misogyny behind the scenes at SNL during both this and the following season.
— Interesting twist with it being revealed that Michael’s character making his actresses genuinely angry is how he gets great performances out of them.
— Didn’t care for the ending revealing Michael’s character being asleep. It also didn’t help that the camera accidentally gave away that reveal much earlier than it was supposed to. I can’t remember if that gaffe would later be fixed in reruns or not.
STARS: **½


THE WASHING MACHINE
a movie from the director of The Piano stars (ELC)

— I love this premise for a The Piano parody. This is also a much-needed solid showcase for Ellen.
— Tim is cracking me up as the daughter, and I’m loving the slow-motion pre-taped shots of him dancing around the beach and doing cartwheels.
— Some good laughs from the critic reviews.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lodi Dodi”


ASTOUNDING INFORMATION
(KEN) shows (host) how to use Miracle Egg Fryer

— This feels like a very Kevin Nealon-y premise.
— I’m getting some good laughs from how they’re overcomplicating the simple process of frying an egg on a frying pan. This sketch is a spot-on imitation of this type of infomercial, especially all of Kevin and Helen’s unnecessary frantic running around the set throughout the sketch.
STARS: ***½


OFFICE SPACE
by Mike Judge- storage of old boxes cramps Milton

— Nice to see this continue.
— As always, Milton’s monotone ranting to the camera is cracking me the hell up.
— Milton’s boss says “Buh-bye” before exiting, a funny coincidence in tonight’s episode.
— Overall, this was pretty solid, though I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the first Milton cartoon from earlier this season.
STARS: ***½


ROB SCHNEIDER’S GIRLFRIEND THEATER
(KEN) & (host) prove she’s still evil

— Here’s our latest victim of season 19’s bad habit of making recurring sketches out of stuff that have no legs as a recurring sketch and clearly should’ve remained a one-off.
— Bringing this particular sketch back is especially a stretch, considering the last time this sketch appeared, Rob followed it up later that same night with a comical address towards his girlfriend, in which he apologized to her and took the sketch back. I guess we’re supposed to forget that?
— In the brief close-up of Helen saying to a side camera “He’s fallen for my trap”, she looks into the wrong camera by mistake.
— So far, tonight’s installment is working even less for me than the first one did, which is saying something.
— Hmm, a musical all of a sudden?
— The musical’s actually not too bad. I love the involvement of Jeffrey Dahmer (played very humorously by Michael McKean), as well as the dancing Nazis/Darth Vaders/devils in the background.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A refreshingly pretty solid episode, making this the first enjoyable episode in what feels like forever. The sketches tonight were mostly good, two were strong and very memorable (Total Bastard Airlines, Rockers To Help Explain Whitewater), and we got a legendary Chris Farley blooper on Weekend Update. A lot of things to like tonight overall. An episode like this is a breath of fresh air in the declining quality of this season.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Nancy Kerrigan)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kelsey Grammer