Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PERMISSION TO HOST
testimonials of TIM & CHC persuade skeptical LOM to let CHF return to SNL
— Tim: “Fatty falls down, ratings go up!” Hmm, season 20’s ratings seem to disagree with that statement.
— Right from Chris Farley’s entrance, you can see what horrible shape he’s in by this late stage of his life. He’s fatter than we’ve ever seen him and his voice sounds hoarse as all hell. I once read an online comment on the SNL newsgroup (alt.tv.snl) saying that, compared to how he looks in tonight’s episode, Farley looked like Mr. Universe in the classic Chippendales sketch from 1990.
— I like the hint of something infamous that supposedly happened during the Marisa Tomei episode, as Farley vaguely explains to Lorne “I had to go to the bathroom!”
— When the camera cuts to Lorne after Farley brings up an incident where he set Tim up with a transvestite, Farley lets out the most INSANE-SOUNDING wheezing laughter I’ve ever heard in my life. I don’t know whether to laugh or be horrified.
— Pretty funny gag with Chevy Chase, of all people, being Farley’s sponsor. However, it’s hard for me to get excited for a Chevy cameo at this point in the show’s history, for reasons I don’t think I need to explain.
— Despite the health issues and delayed timing in his delivery of some lines, Farley is still giving me some laughs here, and as the ending of this cold opening shows, he can still do a mean pratfall onto a table.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
TIM & CSR take over the monologue while waiting for CHF to show up
— Hmm, a monologue with the host failing to show up after Don Pardo announces their name. I don’t think SNL has done that since way back in season 2 (the Candice Bergen episode).
— A very fun idea to have this monologue be a continuation of the cold opening. It’s a shame, though, that Farley’s subsequent drug-related death casts such a dark shadow over the premise, so much so that both the cold opening AND monologue would later infamously be removed from Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode, causing this episode to abruptly begin with the opening montage before abruptly going right into the Morning Latte sketch.
— Amusing line from Chevy saying he previously sponsored Robert Downey Jr., which reminds me that I recall once hearing that Downey is who SNL originally wanted to cameo as Farley’s sponsor tonight, but they weren’t able to get him, so they had to settle for Chevy.
— Feels weird seeing Farley interacting with a newer cast member who joined after he left the show (Ana).
— I like Ana’s “Eeww” response to finding out her dressing room used to be Farley’s.
— Another dig at how surprisingly long Tim has been on SNL: Chevy excitedly says to Lorne, in regards to Tim, “He’s really got something. Is he new?” and Lorne responds with a deadpan “This is his eighth season.”
— I love Tim desperately wanting to host this episode, despite still being a cast member. (Trying to pull an Eddie Murphy, are we, Timmy?) It sure is nice seeing him standing on that home base stage as if he is indeed tonight’s host.
— Chris Rock! However, there’s some sadness to his appearance tonight when you’re aware that he truly was brought into SNL earlier this week as an emergency backup host, because SNL realized that Farley’s condition was so bad that they weren’t sure he’d be able to go through with hosting the show that weekend.
— Rock, on hosting SNL again: “I’m on more now than when I was on the show!”
— Rock: “I’m not the host tonight… and Timmy DAMN SURE ain’t the host tonight!”
— Feels good seeing season 16 rookies Tim, Farley, and Rock standing together onstage, which Rock points out by saying all three of them started the same year.
— When going on about how he, Farley, and Tim’s careers have advanced since starting out on SNL together, I love how the only thing Rock can say about Tim is “Timmy’s still black.”
— Rock is fantastic in this monologue, and as much as I hate to say this, he’s clearly in a far more suitable condition to host tonight than Farley is.
— When concluding the monologue while standing onstage by himself, Farley does the same arm-running gesture that he famously did in the very first Matt Foley sketch when saying “We gotta get ourselves on the right track!”
STARS: ***½
YUM BUBBLE GENITAL HERPES GUM
combat sexually-transmitted disease with Yum Bubble Genital Herpes Gum
— Boy, this premise is just plain dumb, and not the funny kind of dumb.
— I guess SNL thinks that if they say “genital herpes” enough times in this commercial, it’ll eventually start being funny. Nope, still not funny after the 50th utterance of the term.
— I think this is the first pre-taped fake ad in this era that I’ve given a negative review of. I hadn’t realized until now what a good track record this era has been having with fake ads.
STARS: *½
MORNING LATTE
Tom (WIF) & Cass (CHO) trade insipid personal anecdotes
— This sketch makes its debut.
— Will and Cheri are doing a fun and spot-on imitation of typical morning show hosts.
— Farley’s already-hoarse voice seems to be getting worse and worse as this episode goes along.
— Funny part with Cheri being wrong on what an Italian phrase that Will said means.
— More laughs from the denseness of Cheri’s character, with her always missing a point that someone has just made to her.
— A good part where, right in the middle of his and Cheri’s lighthearted laughing, Will suddenly turns the mood somber and grim by bringing up a school shooting that recently happened.
— Classic part with Farley telling Cheri “OVER THE WEEKEND, YOU STUPID BITCH!” Something about Farley’s hoarse, lower-pitched voice strangely made his delivery of that line funnier, as bad as I feel for saying that.
STARS: ***½
ST. MONICA AUTUMN DANCE
at a school dance, (CHF) boogies with wallflower Mary Katherine Gallagher
— Funny little part with Cheri immediately going from laughing at Jim’s rude comment to randomly asking him “Do you wanna feel me up on the dance floor?”
— Feels weird seeing Farley playing off of Mary Katherine Gallagher, but I definitely see why they’re doing this sketch with him, as his knack for pratfalls will fit perfectly in a recurring sketch that regularly features pratfalls from Molly. Though for that same reason, part of me kinda wishes that SNL combined this and the Matt Foley sketch that we’ll be seeing later tonight, by doing a “Matt Foley meets Mary Katherine Gallagher” sketch.
— The timing for this sketch feels off in certain parts, and for once tonight, it’s seemingly not Farley’s fault. This sketch just feels a bit under-rehearsed.
— I am liking the dramatic, sentimental turn this sketch has taken after Jim humiliates poor MKG on the dance floor.
— A sweet slow-dancing scene with MKG and Farley.
— Heh, now we get the obligatory double helping of pratfalls from Molly and Farley that this sketch was building up to. However, Farley’s pratfall here looks surprisingly very tame for his standards, especially when compared to the pratfalls that Molly’s doing.
STARS: ***
MARTHA STEWART LIVING
Martha Stewart (ANG) tells how to carefully plan your Halloween tricks
— Surprisingly, this is only the second time Ana has played Martha Stewart, after almost an entire year has gone by since the classic Martha Stewart Topless Christmas Special sketch. This is also the first time that Ana is playing Martha in a live sketch.
— A lot of laughs from Martha Stewart showcasing various traditional Halloween prank items in her usual professional way.
— Great ending line from Martha about spending 364 days of the year suppressing her inner demons but inviting them to dance on “All Hallows Eve”.
STARS: ****
SPINNING CLASS
Matt Foley tries to inspire a health club exercise cycle workout class
— A laugh from Tim’s inappropriate line “I’m thin, I’m handsome, I can have sex with anyone in this room.”
— As soon as Tim mentions he hired someone to motivate his spin class, I like how you can tell that the audience immediately knows who’s about to show up.
— Holy hell, Farley’s stomach looks bigger than ever in his usual tight Matt Foley button-down shirt.
— Another holy hell at how awful Farley sounds when trying to do his old Matt Foley voice. I recall an old comment from someone on the aforementioned SNL newsgroup saying that, at some points of this sketch, they almost thought Farley was randomly attempting to make fun of the way deaf people typically talk. That comment is sadly spot-on, especially the way Farley sounds when he says “–and I am a motivational speaker” early on in this sketch.
— It’s so interesting in retrospect seeing Farley and Will interacting with each other.
— Funny bit with Matt Foley’s pants being heard loudly splitting when he gets on the exercise bike.
— I’m noticing throughout tonight’s episode that Farley keeps making a rockstar finger sign with his hands for some reason (here’s an example of what I mean by “rockstar finger sign”). It seems out of place when he’s doing it as Matt Foley.
— Man, Farley keeps sounding dangerously out-of-breath throughout this sketch, when he’s barely even moved around yet.
— Yeah, throughout this sketch, I’m constantly alternating back-and-forth between laughing at the material and being scared for my life in regards to Farley’s health.
— Speaking of being scared for my life for Farley’s health, what was with the brief moment where Farley abruptly stops in the middle of his coffee-drinking to hold his hand near his chest and go “Whoa, whoa, whoa”? Frightening moment there.
— Jim would later mention during a radio interview that when Farley spits out his coffee all over some of the cast members in this sketch before yelling “SHUT YER PIPEHOLE, MISSY!”, Jim uncontrollably burst out laughing so hard that he couldn’t get his next line out, and thus, they had to cut to someone else. Jim has actually told a lot of interesting Chris Farley backstories from this episode during that radio interview (Jim’s a great SNL storyteller in general), but as you can imagine, almost all of his Farley stories are very sad.
— Oops, we get an instance of a camera mistakenly entering the shot (screencap below).
— After Matt Foley’s crash through the wall, Tim’s over-the-top delivery of “OH MY GOD!!!” slays me every single time I watch this sketch. Only Tim Meadows could make that type of overacting come off so damn funny.
STARS: **½
WEEKEND UPDATE
TRM reminds viewers of his SNL claim to fame- being “the other black guy”
— Haha, damn, Norm is laying on his usual bluntness particularly thick tonight, by flat-out calling various women in the news unattractive. I feel like not even Michael Che could get away with doing that on Update nowadays, but who knows?
— It’s noteworthy that after one joke gets a tepid audience reaction, Norm ad-libs “Try to laugh anyway, cuz it helps Farley get a little rest.”
— Tracy doing an Update commentary as himself for the very first time. And this particular commentary would go on to be a very important part of Tracy’s SNL timeline, as he playfully addresses his lack of airtime and lack of identity on the show. This is basically his version of Bill Murray’s famous “I don’t think I’m making it on the show” sketch from back when Bill was a struggling new cast member.
— I love Tracy’s demeanor during this “The Other Black Guy” commentary, and there are some really funny and memorable bits here, such as Tracy teaching us how to spell his first and last name, and talking about his recurring character: The Guy Who Smiles Real Big At The Goodnights, complete with a montage of Tracy at various goodnights. As I pointed out during the last episode I reviewed, smiling real big at the goodnights was literally the ONLY thing Tracy got to do in that entire episode. I’d like to think that’s what inspired him and/or the writers the following week to come up with this meta Update commentary that Tracy’s now doing.
— The audience reaction during Tracy’s commentary is merely okay; they’re not laughing as much as I would’ve expected them to. I think this commentary of Tracy’s holds more significance to us SNL fans in retrospect, considering the fact that, unlike SNL audiences in 1997, we have the benefit of knowing the trajectory and upswing that Tracy’s SNL tenure would eventually take.
— Great ending to Tracy’s commentary, with his “I’ll see you in 45 minutes” line.
— Norm does a good variation of his usual “Don’t I know it!” gag (where he usually holds up several dollar bills), this time by holding up a realistic-looking human kidney.
— Holy hell, Norm’s “Which once again proves my theory: women can’t drive” joke receives one of the most uproarious audience reactions I’ve EVER seen a Norm Macdonald Weekend Update joke get. Lots of “Ohhhh!”s and exuberant screaming, cheers, and whistles from men in the audience.
— I’m almost surprised we went through this entire Update without getting the return of a Farley character (Bennett Brauer, perhaps? Then again, no, because they’d never be able to top his last appearance with the classic “wire caught on the light fixture” blooper), but as Norm said earlier, Farley needs some rest by this point of the show.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Impression That I Get”
— The lead singer’s raspy voice strangely matches how Farley sounds tonight. If I was watching this musical performance with my eyes closed, I’d think Farley was doubling as tonight’s musical guest.
GOTH TALK
Azrael’s brother Glen (JMB) intercepts Baron Nocturna (WIF)
— A change of pace for Goth Talk, with tonight’s installment being set in a garage instead of a living room.
— Boy, Kattan sure screwed up his laugh line “And I don’t get beat up in the mall parking lot.”
— In these Goth Talk sketches, I always get a huge laugh from the sudden mood change when Jim crashes the show as Kattan’s dickish older brother.
— I got a laugh from Farley bragging about his “suh-weet Grand Cherokee”.
— A pretty funny mention of “The Gloom Room” being right next to a Pizza Hut.
— Very funny brief walk-on from a distressed, soaking-wet, depantsed Will.
— Jim and Farley actually make a good team.
— Kattan seems to be playing his Azrael Abyss character in an even more childlike manner than usual tonight.
— Overall, I like how this installment of Goth Talk changed things up and didn’t follow the same formula of the previous two installments of this sketch (though part of me is a bit curious about what it would’ve been like to see Farley in goth make-up playing the interviewed guest).
STARS: ***
THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS
SALLY
teen mom (CHO) can’t control giant baby (CHF)
— This has the distinction of being the very first sketch that then-new SNL writer Tina Fey ever got on the air.
— A laugh from the photo with Farley’s head being shown on a baby’s body.
— This is getting good mileage out of the huge size difference between Farley and Cheri.
— Farley’s doing a funny and accurate portrayal of a toddler, and we’re getting a lot of solid physical work from him here.
— I love the part where, when talking about how fast Farley’s body is developing, Cheri says in regards to Farley’s brain “That ain’t developin’” as Farley is seen staring into blank space with his tongue hanging out.
— Great blooper with Farley making Tim crack up when whispering baby nonsense into Tim’s ear.
— A huge laugh from the outrageous gag of Farley tearing off Tim’s arms, which Ana’s Sally and Cheri both treat as if Farley had just done something minor.
STARS: ****
BOSEEPHUS
sound engineers (TIM) & (WIF) find respect for Hank Williams, Jr. (CHF)
— A rare sketch appearance in this era for SNL band member Lenny Pickett.
— Farley is cracking me up as Hank Williams Jr., a.k.a Boseephus, despite how his portrayal of Boseephus’ out-of-control alcoholism has unfortunate similarities to Farley’s own out-of-control substance-abuse issues at this late stage of his life.
— Okay, this sketch is starting to fizzle out really fast.
— Colin “Oh, he’s in the cast?” Quinn makes his obligatory useless one appearance of the night, this time playing Boseephus’ redneck buddy who just silently stands behind him the whole time. Colin’s role practically might as well be played by an extra. (In fact, the first time I ever saw this sketch years ago, I actually did think that was an extra playing Boseephus’ buddy, until I recognized Colin at the very end of the sketch. Then I went “Holy shit, that was Colin Quinn all this time?!?”) Once again, I have to ask, they promoted Colin to repertory player for THIS? At this point, I’m starting to wonder that, if he hadn’t eventually replaced Norm as a Weekend Update anchor later this season, would Colin have been fired after this season? It’s starting to seem that way. They are really struggling to find things for him to do this season.
— Hmm, interesting serious turn with Boseephus standing up to the technicians while defending himself and his buddy.
— A nice-sounding soft, slow-tempo version of the Monday Night Football theme song sung by Boseephus and the technicians (while Colin, of course, continues to just stand silently in the background).
— A good touching ending direct-to-camera message from Boseephus. Between the more sentimental parts of the Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch earlier tonight and now the ending of this Boseephus sketch, I like that they’ve been letting Farley perform some tender, heartwarming, semi-dramatic moments tonight.
STARS: ***
THE SUPER FANS REVISITED
Mike Ditka’s [real] departure causes Super Fan schism; Bill Kurtis cameo
— A Super Fans follow-up! A pre-taped mockumentary is a very creative way of bringing these characters back tonight.
— Great to see George Wendt and Robert Smigel again.
— Solid visual of Wendt’s character wearing a half-Bears/half-Saints jersey, glued together with nacho cheese.
— Very funny scene with Smigel’s character being stripped down to his bear-head underwear while he’s having a nervous breakdown.
— I like Farley’s character being in denial by pretending he’s living in 1986.
— What the…? Is that Mike Freakin’ Myers playing the Chicago-accented rabbi who says “Forget it, my friend, Todd’s a fruitcake.” (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this sketch) If you look past the fake beard and sunglasses, it sure looks like Mike’s face, and the voice sure sounds like his. Did Mike Myers seriously just make a disguised cameo in a Chris Farley-hosted episode, and no viewers knew about it all these years? I’ve never seen Mike’s cameo mentioned ANYWHERE. Not on SNL Archives, not in any episode guides, not in any SNL reviews, nowhere. (SNL Archives claims that’s Darrell playing the rabbi, but it’s definitely not.) Also, the fact that the rabbi is named Naftali “Pat” Ehrenfeld is further evidence that this is indeed Mike Myers, at Pat was the first name of Mike’s Super Fans character Pat Arnold, and I think this sketch is cleverly implying that Pat Arnold changed his identity and became a rabbi. Still, it blows my mind that seemingly no SNL fans, including myself, have realized until now that Mike Myers makes a disguised cameo in this episode. That’s hilarious.
— Showing how much faith SNL has in Will Ferrell, he gets to be the only current cast member to appear in this nostalgic throwback short film.
— For obvious reasons, Farley’s heart attack sequence in this sketch comes off more unsettling tonight than it did in previous Super Fans sketches.
— Mike Ditka cameo!
— I love Ditka informing Farley that “I’m coachin’ the Saints now” and “We actually suck”. I also love the harsh reality check he eventually yells at Farley.
— The ending felt a little abrupt. I used to think Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode shortened the ending of this film (which they had a habit of doing with some sketches from 1994-1999), but I’m currently watching the original live version, and it turns out that’s just how the film originally ended.
STARS: ****½
WEATHER SCOPE
pro wrestler El Nino (CHF) challenges hurricanes to rumble
— Classic scene with Farley’s introductory speech as El Nino, especially his line “El Nino is Spanish for……… The Nino!”
— Fun premise, doing a Weather Channel/WWF hybrid.
— Once again tonight, Farley’s out-of breath, delayed delivery after getting beaten-up by Jim’s Ric Flair just makes you scared for Farley’s real-life health.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very difficult episode to assess; in fact, it’s one of the most difficult episodes I’ve ever had to assess in this entire SNL project of mine. It’s needless to say that Chris Farley’s horrible condition and subsequent death a mere two months later casts a pall over this entire episode. However, the writing of the episode itself was fine (certainly better than the writing Farley was typically given during his last two seasons as a cast member), and despite his terrible health, his on-air struggles, and how much of this episode I spent being worried for his dear life, Farley was still able to get laughs out of me throughout the episode. I could still see glimpses of his usual talent and commitment. So, yeah, this episode… I dunno what to say. Very mixed feelings from me right now.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Brendan Fraser)
a mild step down, due to Chris Farley’s health, though writing-wise, both episodes are about on the same level… in fact, tonight’s might be a little better
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Thankfully, an SNL alum in actual good health: Jon Lovitz