Tag: The Killers

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October 4, 2008 – Anne Hathaway / The Killers (S34 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Gwen Ifill (Queen Latifah) & debaters Sarah Palin (TIF) & Joe Biden (JAS)

— Good to see Queen Latifah reprising the role of Gwen Ifill, which she previously played in a Dick Cheney/John Edwards vice presidential debate sketch when she last hosted SNL in 2004, a sketch that, fittingly enough, ended with Latifah’s Ifill saying “I’m going back over to Public Television with Jim Lehrer where you won’t be seeing me for another four years.” Sadly, the only reason Latifah is reprising her Gwen Ifill role four years later is seemingly because of SNL’s lack of a black female cast member this season. (Sure, Maya Rudolph was a cast member when Latifah last played Ifill in 2004, but I assume the reason SNL gave the Ifill role to Latifah instead of Maya that night is not only because they wanted to work the host into the sketch, but because SNL couldn’t pass up the coincidence that a black woman happened to be hosting their show the same week they needed someone to play Ifill. Plus, Latifah has more of a resemblance to Ifill than Maya does.) IIRC, this decision to bring Latifah in a cameo tonight to play Ifill ended up really opening the media’s eyes to SNL’s lack of a black female cast member at the time (these people in the media also seemed to be completely unaware that Latifah had actually played Ifill before), leading to a few (or maybe just one, I can’t remember) articles criticizing SNL for their lack of diversity in the cast. A month later when Michelle Obama becomes First Lady-elect, the number of these articles on SNL’s lack of diversity would increase, as these article authors felt it was important for SNL to have a black female cast member to play Michelle. How does SNL answer these criticisms? By announcing the hiring of two white female cast members a week later (Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott). Make of that what you will, folks. Nah, I don’t REALLY think SNL’s hirings of Michaela and Abby was an intentional “Fuck you” to the media. (Though if it was, it’s kinda amusing in hindsight what a huge contrast that is to how SNL would take similar media criticisms five years later in 2013, when SNL would cave in and famously hold mid-season auditions for a black female cast member.) Oh, and yes, I’m aware Michaela and Abby’s hirings probably had more to do with Amy’s pending departure. By why hire TWO women to replace Amy when you already had the still-pretty-new Casey Wilson, still struggling for airtime? I’ve always looked at the double-hiring of Michaela and Abby as a sign of Lorne having a huge and unearned lack of confidence in Casey as a performer. Wow, I am getting more and more off-topic in this long-winded tangent of mine.
— Funny bit with an “unbiased” Latifah-as-Ifill plugging her Obama book.
— As usual, Tina’s Sarah Palin is killing here. And, while seemingly not as well-remembered or quoted among viewers as the Palin portions of this sketch, Jason’s Biden is holding his own here and has a good share of strong lines.
— Some really good facial reactions from Latifah’s Ifill after some of Tina-as-Palin’s inane spiels.
— Tina’s Palin: “I believe marriage should be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers…”
— There’s the famous “Oh, are we not doing the talent portion?” part with a flute-holding Tina-as-Palin. This is the moment that, for me, officially propels this already excellent debate sketch to an all-out classic.
— I love the “Joe Biden…is better…than THAT” part of Jason-as-Biden’s closing statements.
— Great ending line from Tina’s Palin: “And for those Joe Six-Packs at home playin’ a drinking game: maverick.”
— Overall, not only yet another SNL Palin cold opening that knocked it out of the park, but this is one of my personal favorite debate sketches SNL has ever done.
STARS: *****


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Back when this originally aired, I remember being surprised that Anne Hathaway was willing to make light of the scandal she had recently been in in regards to a boyfriend of hers. In hindsight, her being willing to do that is ALREADY a good sign of what a great sport she’s going to be as an SNL host.
— The Nigerian prince premise isn’t all that great, but Anne’s delivery and execution of the material is making it charming enough.
STARS: ***


THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese (KRW) is sisterly quartet’s freak

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Back when this originally aired, I recall not caring for this debut, and dismissing it as another example of how the “wacky Kristen Wiig character” trope was going more and more downhill. I would end up disliking this sketch even more when it would become recurring. I’ll try to keep an open mind in my current viewing of this sketch.
— An impressively pretty fast costume change for Anne, given the fact that this sketch is appearing immediately after the monologue, with no break in between.
— The audience actually applauds when Amy’s non-comedic character introduces herself, which I guess shows how popular of a veteran Amy is by this late stage of her SNL tenure. I feel bad for Casey receiving absolute silence from the audience when she follows Amy’s intro with her own intro.
— A funny reveal of what the last sister, Dooneese, looks like.
— Pretty fun performance from Kristen, and this sketch is being executed pretty well.
— I remember an online SNL fan having a theory that the name of Kristen’s Dooneese character was actually supposed to be a certain other, much more normal-sounding name (I forget the name), but Dooneese ended up becoming her regular name because of a line flub Anne Hathaway made in this sketch when saying Kristen’s character’s name while angrily yelling at her. I don’t agree with this theory, because I haven’t noticed any inconsistency or flubbing of Kristen’s character’s name during my current viewing of this sketch. Kristen introduced herself as Dooneese right from when she was first shown in this sketch, and Anne didn’t seem to mess up on the name of Kristen’s character at all during the aforementioned part with her angrily yelling at Dooneese. (And yes, I’m watching the live version of this episode, not the rerun, though I don’t recall any changes being made to the rerun version of this sketch.)
— Overall, not a bad debut at all. I felt that this flowed much better than some of the other wacky Kristen Wiig sketches that have aired around this time (late season 33, early season 34). I’m glad I was able to come around on this inaugural appearance of Dooneese’s. This definitely now works for me as a one-off sketch. As a recurring character, however? Mm. I’ll still try to keep an open mind like I did in tonight’s installment, but if the subsequent Dooneese appearances are as repetitive and redundant as I remember, don’t expect glowing reviews from me.
STARS: ***½


BAILOUT PRESS CONFERENCE
Nancy Pelosi’s (KRW) financial sympathy cases don’t deserve a bailout

— Jason makes his first George W. Bush appearance in over a year. This also ends up being the final appearance his Bush makes during Bush’s presidency. (He has just one remaining appearance after that, long after Bush’s presidency, in a Weekend Update commentary he does with then-cast member Jay Pharoah as Kanye West.)
— Funny Barney Frank voice from Fred.
— I almost thought Kristen’s Nancy Pelosi introduced Bobby’s character under the name Michael McKean, interestingly enough. Turns out his character is named Michael McCune.
— I’m enjoying the faces Jason’s Bush is seen making in the background during other people’s speeches.
— Much like the New York Times sketch from the James Franco episode earlier this season, this appears to be a rather long, mostly-full-cast (I think Andy is the only non-Seth cast member missing from this), Jim Downey-written political sketch. And much like the New York Times sketch, this is a rare example of me liking that type of rather long, mostly-full-cast, Jim Downey-written political sketch from this era.
— Amy gets another big audience reaction with her mere walk-on, though she did do something funny this time to earn the big reaction.
— Darrell and Casey is SUCH an odd pairing.
— Speaking of Darrell and Casey, their segment in this sketch would end up causing controversy. The couple they’re playing, Herbert and Marion Sandler, is actually a real-life couple, and during this portrayal of them by Darrell and Casey, a graphic of the names Herbert and Marion Sandler is displayed on the bottom of the screen with a subtitle saying “people who should be shot”. The real Herbert and Marion Sandler ended up taking huge offense to the “people who should be shot” bit, and, IIRC, threatened legal action against SNL and/or NBC. SNL was forced to remove Darrell and Casey’s entire segment from all reruns of this sketch, in a VERY glaring edit. This results in Darrell and Casey being seen standing with the other characters in the background throughout this entire sketch, but never getting their own segment to speak in, unlike the other characters they were standing in the background with, rendering Darrell and Casey’s presence in this sketch completely pointless.
— I love Will’s voice as George Soros, and he has some really funny lines here.
STARS: ***½


BOYS NIGHT OUT
music helps (BOM) & (host) make a connection on the dance floor of a club

— I’m liking this dance sequence with Bobby and Anna, even if there are no jokes within it. This dance sequence is also a pretty fun showcase for newbie Bobby.
— Now we get an actual joke, with Bill, Fred, and Kenan’s slow-motion cheering-on of Bobby being walked past by Andy in normal motion, and him briefly looking back at them with a puzzled look. Funny bit.
— Overall, kind of an odd sketch, mainly in how few and far in-between the jokes were, and how, at first glance, this sketch almost comes off a tad pointless, but I enjoyed it. Not sure if this can be considered a slice-of-life sketch, but I liked the realism in certain portions of it, especially Bobby and Anne’s conversation with each other after their dance sequence.
STARS: ***


EXTREME ACTIVITIES COMPETITION
WLF referees Extreme Activities Competition pitting ANS against KRW

— Ooh, you can already tell right from the beginning that this is going to be a lot of fun.
— The format of this feels kinda like it’s intended to be in the tradition of the Andy Popping Into Frame and People Getting Punched Just Before Eating shorts (both of which I love). The only thing missing from tonight’s short is a continuation of the story arc in which there’s some kind of rivalry/friction between Andy and Will, one of the best aspects of the Popping Into Frame and People Getting Punched shorts.
— This is such a blast so far.
— I particularly love the “Become Jane” bit involving Anne, a nod to her role in the movie Becoming Jane.
— I just now realized how rare it feels seeing Kristen star in a Lonely Island Digital Short. And seeing how fun she is here, it makes me wish she did stuff like this with the Lonely Island a lot more often during her SNL tenure.
— Strong ending regarding Will’s referee character.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Human”


WEEKEND UPDATE
WLF intends to document every bailout package yea & nay vote via song

— Seth’s joke about O.J. Simpson being found guilty for “armed robbery, assault, and kidnapping, but really murder” has stuck with me over the years. It’s definitely the type of O.J. joke Norm Macdonald would’ve done back in the day. Even the structuring and wording of the joke feels Norm-esque.
— Will being introduced under the name Orville Willis Forte IV when appearing as himself here seems to confuse some SNL fans, who assume Will was randomly using a fake name here. Orville Willis Forte is actually Will’s real, full name. I’m not sure if the “IV” at the end of the name is also real, or if he just added it for comedic effect in this Update commentary to make his naturally old-timey, fancy-sounding name sound even more old-timey and fancy. Can anyone confirm if his name really does end with an “IV”? Thanks in advance.
— Yes, a traditional Will Forte Update song! I just now realized we didn’t get any at all in season 33.
— A fun and ridiculously-repetitive yea/nay song from Will.
— I love Will’s passive-aggressiveness in regards to Amy interrupting his song.
— A good laugh from Will actually restarting his ridiculously long song from the beginning.
— I think that’s then-writer Colin Jost (sporting long hair AND some stubble) making YET ANOTHER appearance in a comical Update photo, this time in the ostriches photo (the fifth-to-last above screencap for this Weekend Update).
— I love the bit right now with Amy constantly re-telling the “world’s heaviest man gets married” joke, with a different punchline each time. This bit with telling the same joke multiple times with a different punchline would end up being an occasional recurring gag that Amy and Seth, or just Seth alone, would do in some future Updates. I think even Cecily Strong does it at one point when she’s Seth’s co-anchor during Seth’s final season.
— Great fake-out with Seth initially having a disapproving reaction to Amy doing various punchlines to the “world’s heaviest man gets married” joke, only to end up doing one himself.
— Overall, I feel this was Seth and Amy’s strongest Update in a long time.
STARS: ****


SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS
Mary Poppins (host) is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious disease vector

— Fitting casting of Anne in this role, given the connection Anne has to Julie Andrews.
— A solid dark turn with Anne-as-Mary-Poppins’ explanation of what supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means.
— I love Bill innocently saying “Must be your cooking, Mary Poppins” in regards to his stomachache. I also love Anne-as-Poppins’ guilty facial reaction to that line.
— Another great turn, with Will’s Constable Jones also having contracted the disease from Mary Poppins.
— I always find Bobby and Casey to be a fun pair whenever they’re teamed together in a sketch.
STARS: ****


SIOUX CITY NEWS 3
gaffe-prone Sioux City TV news team is number one in YouTube viral videos

— Coincidentally, this sketch about news bloopers opens with a REAL blooper, with the screen accidentally freezing on Jason’s pre-taped intro shot for an absurdly long time while he’s speaking live.
— A fun concept of this sketch, and the execution is good. It’s even more fun to guess which real-life famous news blooper each scene is seemingly spoofing. The one that’s easiest to guess is the one with Bobby panicking and falling on the floor when the lizard (or iguana) jumps onto his suit. The real-life version of that scene is a very famous and frequently-seen YouTube clip.
— Amy’s scene didn’t work for me, but it was brief enough to not negatively affect this otherwise solid sketch.
— I remember someone in an online live discussion thread for this episode back in 2008 speculating that Will vomiting during the group shot at the end may not have been a spoof of a real news blooper, but rather a spoof of a real photo of a children’s hockey team posing together in a group shot. One of the little boys in that photo started vomiting right as the photo was snapped.
STARS: ****


MARK WAHLBERG TALKS TO ANIMALS
Mark Wahlberg (ANS) talks to a dog, a donkey, a chicken, a goat

— Oh, here’s an absolute classic. I had completely forgotten until now that this sketch comes from this episode.
— Such a priceless random concept, made even funnier by Andy executing it with a hilarious performance as Mark Wahlberg.
— Andy’s Wahlberg to a donkey: “You eat apples, right? I produce Entourage.”
— I literally cannot stop laughing during this sketch.
— Andy’s Wahlberg throughout this sketch: “Say hi to your mutha for me, alright?”
— Overall, an absolutely perfect sketch.
— This sketch would famously end up pissing off the real Mark Wahlberg, who would publicly complain about it (and, in the process, say the usual cliched “SNL hasn’t been funny in years” criticisms, and, at one point, even imply the then-current SNL cast is a group of no-names, by saying “I don’t even know who’s on the show anymore”), which somehow leads to SNL bringing him on in a cameo in the next live episode, with him attempting to prove he’s a good sport after all. Some people online back at this time in 2008 speculated that this whole thing with Wahlberg publicly complaining about SNL’s Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals sketch was a publicity stunt devised by SNL themselves, and that Wahlberg’s “complaints” was his and SNL’s stealth way of setting up the cameo spot that SNL had secretly pre-arranged for him to make. Honestly, I don’t have a hard time believing that theory. Walhberg doesn’t seem thin-skinned enough to be offended by such a silly, harmless sketch, but then again, I admittedly don’t know much about Wahlberg’s real-life personality.
STARS: *****


I’M NOT GAY
(JAS) pretended to be gay for five years in order to be (host)’s roommate

— Interesting reveal that Anne’s gay roommate of several years was actually just pretending to be gay.
— Anne, on how convinced she was that Jason was gay: “But you cut my hair!” Jason: “Yeeaaahhh, I got REALLY lucky with that one!”
— Hilarious bit about Jason having made up a fake Wikipedia page about the non-existent disorder “boner-plasia”, in an attempt to fool Anne in regards to why he would always get erections whenever he and Anne would dance together.
— When Anne tells Jason she previously walked in on him having sex with men multiple times, I love Jason bluntly responding “Yeah, you gotta sell it! You gotta sell it!”
— After also being “outed” as straight, a depressed Bill gets a great laugh from the audience (and me) with his slow heterosexual strut as he’s making his exit.
— We get a display of Jason’s natural singing talent. He has a fantastic singing voice, a fact that I often forget.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Spaceman”


THE LESS PROVOCATIVE SONGS OF KATY PERRY
Katy Perry’s (CAW) less provocative songs lack girl-kissing scandal

— A rare solo lead role for Casey. This sketch was actually cut after dress rehearsal from almost EVERY prior episode this season, IIRC. Reminds me of the story of how Jay Mohr had to endure his Rock & Roll Real Estate Agent sketch getting cut from multiple consecutive episodes before finally making it on the air. I wonder if, much like Jay when that sketch finally aired, Casey is just plain tired and frustrated by this point from performing this Katy Perry sketch so many consecutive weeks.
— In hindsight, this sketch serves as an interesting snapshot of a time where Katy Perry was known only for the song “I Kissed A Girl”, and how a lot of people back then (including myself, I admit) incorrectly assumed she had “one-hit wonder” written all over her.
— I like Casey’s Katy Perry just helplessly shrugging at the camera after her very brief “I Saw A Boat” song.
— I love the review from Rolling Stone that simply states “No.”
— An overall decent sketch, but not the standout great sketch that Casey desperately needs by this point. (I still don’t understand how that fantastic paraplegic stripper sketch from near the end of the preceding season didn’t end up leading to a big break for Casey.)
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first strong episode of this season. (By the way, given this season’s reputation among many SNL fans for being very solid, I’ve been surprised to see what a slow start it’s had before tonight’s episode.) Not only did every single segment tonight work for me, but I found a lot of them to be particularly strong, especially the impressive streak of sketches rated 4-5 stars in the post-Weekend Update half. Even Update itself got a 4-star rating, too. In fact, every rated segment from the Digital Short to the I’m Not Gay sketch received a 4-5-star rating. That’s GOTTA be one of the longest uninterrupted streaks of segments receiving a 4-5-star rating in a review of mine.
— Anne Hathaway was a great first-time host, being funny, likable, charming, and fitting into the show really well. Even during her goodnights speech, her expressed genuine appreciation and joy for the experience SNL gave her was heartwarming. I look forward to her subsequent hosting stints.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anna Faris)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Josh Brolin

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September 30, 2006 – Dane Cook / The Killers (S32 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COMPTROLLER RALLY
unpopular George W. Bush (WLF) is sidelined at minor GOP campaign event

— Hmm, an unexpected way to open a new season.
— Fred and Maya even manage to get laughs just from the simple way they nod their heads lightly and smile politely when they’re introduced by Jason’s character.
— Oh, so we get a random inclusion of Will’s President Bush, which I guess is why this is the cold opening.
— A good way to work almost the entire cast into the season premiere’s cold opening (I think only Darrell and Kenan are missing from this, not counting the now-Weekend-Update-only Seth), immediately showing how much smaller this new season’s cast is compared to the preceding season.
— This odd use of Will’s Bush could, in retrospect, be seen as a sign of the beginning of the end for Will’s run as Bush. He makes only one more appearance as Bush two episodes later (in another odd usage of him) before the Bush role is given to a certain other cast member.
— I love Will-as-Bush’s delivery of “Taliban is back, that’s a burn.”
— A funny reaction from Will’s Bush to Andy’s “Politics” line.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.

   

— We get a new SNL logo for the first time in 11 years. As you might have noticed among the above screencaps, the words in this new logo are displayed differently from how it would soon go on to be, as the words are displayed horizontally tonight instead of vertically. This 2006-2014 SNL logo will be going through some noteworthy changes the next few episodes before SNL settles on the now-familiar style of it.
— Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig have all been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— No new cast members this season.
— The final shot of this opening montage, with the camera showing a tilted shot of the NBC Studios sign (the last above screencap for this opening montage), seems like it might’ve been inspired by a shot shown in the cold opening from the preceding season’s Steve Martin episode (side-by-side comparison below).


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about negative people, liars, suicides, car wrecks

— The monitors on the left and right side of the home base stage still display the preceding season’s SNL logo and a still from that season’s opening montage. This would eventually be changed to reflect this season’s new logo and montage.
— Welp, here comes another round of Dane Cook stand-up I have to endure in this SNL project.
— Like I said in my review of Dane’s last monologue, I really dislike his trademark stand-up delivery.
— The suicide bits about “Karaoke Kevin” and “Limbo Linda” are decent.
— The bit about how everything is on YouTube now (and to think, this was before our more current days, where truly almost everything CAN be found on YouTube) is memorable and funny, mainly the “A:F6” part.
— A laugh from Dane’s “Ma’am, you can drive through ghosts” comment.
— Overall, I’m surprised by how much I laughed at this Dane Cook stand-up monologue, and this thankfully lacked some of the more annoying aspects of Dane’s previous monologue.
STARS: ***


SIDE NOTE: No post-monologue fake commercial in tonight’s season premiere? Can’t remember the last time prior to this where a season premiere went without one.


AIRPORT SECURITY SEMINAR
(host) & (JAS) instruct airport security workers regarding liquids & gels

— A fun ensemble piece for the lead-off sketch of the season.
— Dane and Jason make a good duo here, and I’m really liking Jason’s delivery.
— A good laugh from the whole bit with Fred trying to claim that a turkey sandwich can count as a liquid.
— I love Will and Kenan simultaneously saying the same answer to the question of why someone would put a turkey sandwich in a blender: “Well, if your jaw was wired shut–”
— All of the asinine questions the employees are asking are very funny.
— Maya seems like she’s playing a variation of her Jackie character from season 26, who, in one of her appearances, actually did work at an airport (she worked at a post office in her other appearance).
— The “You mean producing a liquid?” “Or a gel” exchange is a particularly hilarious and memorable part of this sketch, made even funnier by Kenan making a classic “Kenan reacts” face in the background.
— A great stern and blunt delivery of “No” from Dane in response to Maya asking if a meatball can count as a liquid.
— Here’s the first sign that I noticed tonight’s episode has a new director (Don Roy King): this sketch ends with a cutaway to an exterior shot of an airport, which I remember feeling was an odd choice when this episode originally aired, especially given the fact that this sketch didn’t open with an exterior shot of anything.
— Overall, a very strong sketch, and a promising way to lead off the new season.
STARS: ****½


HUGO CHAVEZ POLITICAL ROUNDUP
heads of state bash USA & its leader

— Right out of the gate, Fred’s exaggerated gestures and facial expressions as Hugo Chavez are freakin’ slaying me. I can definitely see some people being annoyed by this, but it has me practically on the floor.
— The debut of Amy’s Kim Jong Il, my first reminder that Horatio Sanz is no longer in the cast, as he used to play this role.
— I recall an online SNL fan back at this time (possibly fellow SNL reviewer and fellow SNL blogger The Doc, but I can’t remember for sure) pointing out Amy’s voice and accent as Kim Jong Il in this sketch sounded like the character Dexter from Cartoon Network’s 90s animated series Dexter’s Laboratory.
— The performances in this sketch are very fun, and that, coupled with the silly atmosphere of this sketch, is making the dialogue much funnier than it actually is.
— Holy hell at Dane’s Saddam Hussein voice. Is he attempting to imitate the gruff voice Alec Baldwin used as Saddam the preceding season? I recall an online SNL fan back at this time (not sure if it was the same fan I mentioned above) saying Dane’s Saddam voice sounded like Cookie Monster with a foreign accent.
STARS: ***½


CUBICLE FIGHT
(host) fiercely guards territory from new employee (BIH)

— Funny “Cubicle Fight” reveal.
— Jason is great as the boss with his occasional interruptions during Bill and Dane’s wild fight.
— Solid bit with Bill using Dane’s tongue to lick an envelope.
— Good bit with the pencil sharpener.
— I love the little strut Dane does when he’s turning around as he’s about to stab Bill with a knife.
— Uh…okay. A very odd, speechless, abrupt ending to this short after Dane’s violent and very bloody off-camera stabbing of Bill. Half of me actually kinda loves that, as a Michael O’Donoghue-esque weird, dark, and disturbing way of ending this short, while the other half of me is just left baffled.
STARS: ***½


AL PACINO CHECKS HIS BANK BALANCE
operator (KRW) helps excitable Al Pacino (BIH) check his bank balance

— Fun concept for a sketch showcasing Bill’s killer Al Pacino impression, which we last saw a year prior in Bill’s breakout performance in his very first episode.
— A lot of funny lines from Bill’s Pacino throughout his phone conversation, helped by his very funny delivery.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When You Were Young”


NEW CO-ANCHOR
crestfallen Brian Williams [real] learns that SEM is AMP’s new co-anchor

— Wow, a change of pace, with a pre-Weekend Update intro segment, or a Weekend Update cold opening.
— I see we have a new Update set.
— Very strong premise of the real Brian Williams mistakenly thinking he’s Amy’s new Update co-anchor.
— I love Brian’s reactions to finding out SNL decided to go with Seth as the co-anchor instead of him. We’re seeing early signs of the surprisingly solid SNL host Brian would be the following season.
— Great exit line from Brian, and I love the detail of how he gives Seth a rude, dismissive shoulder bump as he walks past him.
— Odd how the show has gone back to a commercial break right after this short piece, instead of immediately cutting to the Update opening title sequence. However, the copy I’m watching of this episode cuts out all the commercial breaks, which makes it look like SNL does go immediately from this Brian Williams piece to the Update opening title sequence.
STARS: not sure this segment even warrants a rating, but if it does, I’ll give it a very high ****½


WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) refires passion of old flame Condoleezza Rice (MAR)

George Allen (JAS) says he’s an inventor of silly words, not a racist

Dustin Diamond (ANS) hopes to raise money with his unappealing sex tape

— A new Update era officially begins.
— I’m not crazy at all about Amy’s opening joke. Feels like nothing has changed with her from the dire Fey/Poehler era that preceding this.
— A better second joke from Amy tonight.
— Right out of the gate, I’m finding myself liking Seth’s delivery as an Update anchor. His opening joke deserved a much better audience reaction.
— We’re already getting our first Update commentary, after only about three Update jokes?
— Interesting how Darrell and Maya are paired together in this Update commentary in the season premiere, because I remember how, after the somewhat large exodus of season 31 cast members over the summer of 2006, I was disappointed to learn that Darrell and Maya survived the purge, as I was of the opinion that, of all the returning cast members for season 32, Darrell and Maya were the ONLY two that should’ve went out the door with Horatio Sanz, Finesse Mitchell, etc. In hindsight, I’m now aware that season 32 ends up being Maya’s best season in a long while. Darrell, on the other hand? Meh.
— Interesting how Darrell’s Bill Clinton is going right to the point as soon as he shows up in this commentary, bypassing his usual habit of drawing out the beginning of his Update commentaries by making flirtatious comments towards the female anchorperson and milking laughs over little things.
— Maya’s “smirk” as Condoleezza Rice is pretty funny.
— Darrell’s Clinton continues to come off more streamlined tonight, as he surprisingly waited until the end of this Update commentary before he broke out his trademark thumbs-up and lip-bite moves. I appreciate how he saved that for the end, because, while I generally like Darrell’s Clinton, he does usually have a habit of relying on certain things too much as a crutch to get easy audience laughter and applause.
— Seth has been impressing me more and more with his delivery as an Update anchor in his debut tonight. A breath of fresh air from Tina Fey’s later years at the desk. Right out of the gate in his first Update, Seth is coming off so comfortable and sharp.
— Jason is always fun in Update commentaries.
— I’m not too crazy about a lot of the dialogue itself that Jason has here, but his delivery is making it work for me.
— The casting of Andy as Dustin Diamond/Screech seems fitting.
— I like the Saved By The Bell-themed names Andy’s Dustin Diamond/Screech gives for his sex acts.
— Amy’s Miss Cleo/lesbian joke really rubbed me the wrong way. Am I the only one?
— A fun closing joke from Seth.
— Overall, things are looking up for Update in this new era. Seth had a surprisingly very solid debut, and the writing of the jokes was a little better from the last few seasons. Amy still had some iffy moments that reminded me a little too much of her typical Update performance the preceding two seasons, but I’m seeing small signs of improvement in her. I found tonight’s Update alone to be better than literally any Fey/Poehler Update.
STARS: ***


POLAND SPRING DELIVERY MEN
empty bottles belie claims of thirsty water deliverymen (host) & (WLF)

— Right out the gate, we open on a hilarious and odd visual of Will and Dane chugging gallon jugs of water.
— I love Dane poorly and bizarrely making up an excuse that he’s busy “boning” some lady right now, and Will then telling Dane that was a good cover.
— I got a huge laugh from Will’s meek delivery of “I like to watch”, in regards to Dane “boning” his lady.
— Kristen is a great stern straight man here.
— This is such a strong oddball Will Forte sketch as usual. It’s so good, that even Dane Freakin’ Cook is coming off really well here, and his typical delivery style is actually working well in this material instead of hurting it. And who knew he would make a great duo with Will?
— A very memorable and classic sequence right now with an ENDLESS number of water jugs falling out of the closet. Very much in the “Sideshow Bob rake sequence” category of comedy.
— I’m really liking the very meta turn this sketch has taken, with Will detailing his plan to get this whole situation adapted into an SNL sketch. We also get a mention of NBC having two new SNL-based shows at this time: 30 Rock and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. This was an interesting time to be an SNL fan.
— A solid self-deprecating ending line from Will about how the funny part of this sketch “ended a looooong time ago”.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bones”


FARRAH FAWCETT FOR OCEAN SAVE
flighty Farrah Fawcett’s (AMP) pro-ocean message lacks focus

— Random idea for a sketch, but I like that we’ve been getting quite a lot of randomness in tonight’s season premiere.
— I’m not 100% sure if the bit with one of Amy’s fake breasts falling down her dress was intentional, as I recall some online SNL fans back at this time questioning if it was a genuine accident. It seemed planned to me, but if it was an accident, then Amy did a good job playing it off like it was part of the sketch.
— Yet another very meta turn tonight (which is another theme in this episode), with Amy-as-Farrah-Fawcett’s rambling getting interrupted by the camera pulling away from this sketch and panning over to the set for the next sketch, all the while Amy’s Farrah Fawcett worriedly follows the camera and asks where it’s going. The audience seems sooooo confused over this, judging from their awkward silence, but I am LOVING this. Such a unique transition into the following sketch. I also love how Amy’s Farrah ends this transition by randomly saying “I’m gonna do this scene now” as the screen fades to black.
STARS: ***½


CLOSING TIME
jerks (host) & (JAS) forcibly eject patrons from a bar at closing time

— Another Jason Sudeikis-starring sketch that takes place in his (I think) real-life hometown of Kansas City, much like the Once In A Lifetime Jewelers sketch he did the preceding season.
— Jason and Dane make yet another solid duo tonight.
— Solid execution of this sketch.
— Another good way tonight to work this entire cast into a sketch.
— Amy’s Farrah Fawcett, in her only line of this sketch: “She’s getting married, and I’m Farrah Fawcett.”
— I love the bit with Fred, which is a great way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****


GEICO
Geico customer’s (ANS) tale is augmented by wreck Whitney Houston (MAR)

— A funny way to spoof the Geico commercials from this time that each had a comical testimonial with an average citizen paired with a celebrity.
— I’m usually not all that crazy about Maya’s Whitney Houston appearances, but it’s working more for me in this format, with her always following up a straitlaced brief anecdote from Andy by saying a crazy brief anecdote.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid season premiere. I enjoyed literally EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT in this episode, the whole show had a fun vibe, two of the sketches were particularly strong (Poland Spring Delivery Men and Airport Security Seminar), and I liked all the different, out-of-the-ordinary, meta things the show tried. A promising start to a different-feeling SNL season so far. Speaking of a different-feeling SNL season so far, when this episode originally aired, I considered this the start of a new era. There were various things that gave this episode such a “new era” vibe for me back then, which include a new opening montage, a new Update co-anchor and Update set, a new director, the unusual lack of a pre-taped commercial for a season premiere, Weekend Update having a “cold opening”, the aforementioned focus on breaking-the-fourth-wall, meta humor, how unusual it felt seeing the show have a much smaller cast than the extremely large cast of the preceding season, and even a change of the formatting of the post-Weekend Update commercial breaks (though that’s probably more an NBC thing than an involuntary SNL thing). Speaking of the much smaller cast, I remember when I first watched this episode the night it originally aired, I was so used to the preceding season’s large cast that I kept getting an empty feel regarding the smaller cast in this episode. Not necessarily empty in a bad way, but in a way that I kept wondering why the heck it feels like one-third of the cast hadn’t appeared in any sketches yet, until I had to keep reminding myself that one-third of the cast is now gone. It took me an episode or two to get used to this season’s smaller cast, though I definitely appreciated the cast having a more streamlined feel this season (something modern-day SNL in 2020 could learn from). I really like how there were several segments in this episode where SNL used the entire cast (or most of them), showing how much smaller, cohesive, and comfortable-seeming this cast is than season 31’s bloated, mish-mashed cast.
— I was surprised by Dane Cook’s performance as a host in this episode. Unlike his first hosting stint, where I ran hot and cold on him all night (much more cold than hot towards the end of that episode), Dane didn’t bother me at all in any of the sketches he was in tonight (the closest was his odd Saddam Hussein voice in the Hugo Chavez sketch, but that was harmless and only a small part of that sketch), and he also worked well when paired with certain cast members, such as Will Forte and (especially) Jason Sudeikis. Even Dane’s monologue was decent tonight, after an iffy first two minutes.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2005-06)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jaime Pressly

Posted on

January 15, 2005 – Topher Grace / The Killers (S30 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TSUNAMI PRESS CONFERENCE
eloquent Bill Clinton (DAH) usurps George W. Bush (WLF) press conference

— For one episode only, Fred plays George Bush Sr. Needless to say, it certainly feels odd and almost wrong to see anyone other than Dana Carvey in this role after Dana did such a definitive, iconic take on him. That being said, Fred actually isn’t doing a bad job doing a straight imitation of Bush Sr. instead of aping Dana’s version.
— Kind of a one-note sketch, but there are some laughs from Will-as-President-Bush’s fumbling around when trying to make a point.
— Oh, god. There goes a reprisal of Will-as-Bush’s “It’s hard wooorrrrrrk”. NEVER AGAIN. That first presidential debate sketch from earlier this season permanently burned me out on that damn “We’re workin’ haaaaaarrrrrrd” phrase, thanks to their endless repetition of it in that sketch.
— I like the look on Rachel’s face when the camera does a brief cutaway to her while Darrell’s Bill Clinton is charming her.
— A good laugh from Will-as-Bush simply saying a surprised “Oh.” when Darrell’s Clinton points out that Monday is Martin Luther King Day.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host answers questions of Terrell & other audience members

— Okay, as pointed out by commenter Jack in the comments section of my season 28 Jennifer Garner episode review, the soon-to-join-SNL-in-season-31 Bill Hader, who auditioned for SNL the week of tonight’s episode and was invited to stick around to watch the live show, can be spotted standing in the background during a portion of tonight’s questions-from-the-audience monologue. I hadn’t been aware of any of these things about Bill until reading about it in the comments section. I’ll have to keep a sharp lookout for him here.
— Very funny part with John Lutz’s talk about internet rumors, including why Jennifer Garner had to drop out as this week’s host.
— Then-SNL writer, pre-cast member Jason Sudeikis prefaces his question to Topher Grace by greeting him with “Hey, buddy, how ya livin’?” I love that. Such a perfectly Sudeikis way to greet someone.
— Ah, I spotted Bill Hader! He’s in the background during the shots of Jason Sudeikis (screencap below, although the screencap quality renders Bill absolutely unrecognizable).

[ADDENDUM: I didn’t realize how dark the above screencap is until after I posted my review. Below is a brightened version of the screencap.]

It’s hard to see Bill’s face clearly (at least in my copy of this episode, even though my copy is HQ), but the hair looks exactly like how I recall Bill’s hair looking the following season when he joins SNL. As I expected, it feels odd seeing him in a season 30 episode. Seeing him here also makes me very eager to reach his first season on the show, not just for him, but for the great Class of 2005 in general. (The Class of 2005 being Hader, Sudeikis, Andy Samberg, and Kristen Wiig, the very strong featured player group of season 31.)
— Jason’s whole bit about shortened names is hilarious.
— Great to see the return of J.B. Smoove and Paula Pell’s audience couple characters, who are always a riot.
STARS: ****


TRUCKER TALK
rig drivers bemoan breakup of Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston

— The various trucker CB names are pretty funny, particularly Chris’ trucker CB name being Whiskey Dick.
— Meh. The fact that this Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston break-up gossip sketch is placed as the lead-off sketch of the night is YET ANOTHER example of this SNL era focusing way too heavily on pop culture and celebrity gossip. I guess it IS fairly funny seeing manly truckers emotionally discussing Brad and Jennifer’s break-up, but I’m not all that crazy about this.
— Nice to see yet another random appearance from Darrell’s Skeeter character.
— Pretty funny ending with all the trucks deliberately crashing into Fred’s house together.
— Meh, is it really necessary to do a “preview of next week’s episode” scene at the end of this sketch?
STARS: **½


PARAMEDICS
black paramedics (KET) & (FIM) won’t respond to emergencies on MLK Day

— Kenan and Finesse’s characters are pretty funny, especially when white guilt-ing their co-workers.
— Was Finesse’s delivery of that “commemorate” line supposed to be so horribly sloppy, or was it a genuine flub?
— Some laughs from Horatio’s failed attempt to convince Topher he has the same privilege Kenan and Finesse have to get Martin Luther King Day off, despite not even being black himself.
— Is Horatio capable of getting through a SINGLE episode this season without breaking? It’s especially annoying whenever he does it for no apparent reason, such as when he mentions Cesar Chavez Day at the end of his scene in this sketch.
— I don’t think I like that stereotypical ending where Kenan and Finesse finally respond to an emergency only because they found out they get to tend to plus-sized female models.
STARS: ***


CBS EVENING FRAUDULENT DOCUMENT UPDATE
Dan Rather (DAH) apologizes

— These solo Dan Rather pieces with Darrell have had a great track record in the past, and hopefully that continues tonight.
— I’m now almost two minutes into this, and I’ve barely gotten any laughs so far.
— Okay, the World’s Greatest Dad bit right now is pretty funny.
— Funny Andy Rooney mention.
— Overall, some highlights, and this got a little better as it went along, but this was a little meh as a whole and certainly doesn’t measure up to the last two great solo Dan Rather sketches.
STARS: **½


BEAVER RANCH
(host) is uneasy about losing virginity to elderly brothel worker (RAD)

— Will’s character being named Thew is a nice random little callback to the monologue.
— Good reveal of Rachel’s old hooker character.
— Rachel’s performance as this character is pretty solid.
— Some of the senior citizen cliches here are being executed well.
— A funny ad-lib with Rachel saying “Changed by itself!” when the music on the record player changes before she could make it look like she’s changing the music herself.
— A decent ending.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Somebody Told Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Alison Jackson-filmed party footage shows Prince Harry in Nazi garb

Cliff (KET) & Claire (MAR) Huxtable offer themselves as good role models

— Odd usage of a short film by Alison Jackson (who, as I mentioned in my review of this season’s premiere, was hired to be SNL’s regular filmmaker of this season, but ended up only getting TWO films on the air, including this short Update piece), with it being passed off on this Update as being from a young woman who obtained footage of Prince Harry at a Nazi party.
— Tina and Amy’s half-assed color commentary during the Alison Jackson film feels unnecessary and pointless to me.
— Fun idea of a commentary with Kenan and Maya and Cliff and Claire Huxtable. They’re both spot-on in their impressions, especially when Maya is imitating Claire’s trademark angry rants.
— Interesting seeing Tina being referred to by her real full name, Elizabeth Stamantina Fey, when Maya’s Claire Huxtable is telling her off.
STARS: **½


ART DEALERS
arty Nuni (FRA) & Nuni (MAR) welcome (host) & (RAD) to their home

— The debut of these Nuni sketches.
— I recall getting REALLY sick of this recurring sketch the more and more it appeared back when these seasons originally aired, but I’ll judge this first installment on its own merits, given that I recall thinking it was a pretty funny surreal, absurd sketch when it originally debuted.
— I got a really good laugh from Fred’s delivery of the line “You sit on that and it will ruin your ass!” in that accent.
— I’m enjoying the eccentric visuals all throughout this sketch, such as the unconventional furniture and unconventional food & drinks. A fairly fun sketch.
STARS: ***½


HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS
Howard Dean (ROR), Armstrong Williams (KET), Zell Miller (WLF)

— Not only is this the first in a long time where Hardball appeared outside of the cold opening slot, but wow, it’s buried all the way towards the end the show. Very odd to see a Hardball sketch so late in an episode.
— Rob is absolutely hilarious as Howard Dean.
— Kenan’s portions of this sketch aren’t working much for me.
— Yes! The return of Will’s Zell Miller!
— As always, Will’s Zell Miller steals the entire sketch.
— Wow, this sketch is already wrapping up? This felt kinda short for a Hardball sketch.
— I’ve gotten so used to seeing Hardball as a cold opening that it feels weird seeing Darrell’s Chris Matthews conclude the sketch WITHOUT saying “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ***½


THE NOT INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF THE DOWN AND OUT DOLLAR
poor exchange rates subject dollar (AMP) to taunting by other currencies

— Interesting setting for a topical sketch.
— Topher’s performance as the French Euro is really solid.
— As always, I like whenever SNL does a flashback scene that’s obviously performed in real-time.
— Overall, not a laugh-out-loud hilarious sketch, but it wasn’t trying to be one. For what was supposed to be a more cutesy sketch (something I don’t usually like seeing Amy perform), this was fine.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mr. Brightside”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, especially for this season’s standards. Even though almost nothing stood out as particularly great, the episode flowed pretty smoothly and the few things I disliked weren’t anything particularly awful. Overall, this is only the SECOND episode all season that I actually liked, and even those two episodes (this and Luke Wilson) were no great shakes as a whole. Still waiting for that first actual strong season 30 episode, and at this point, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever get it.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert DeNiro)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Paul Giamatti