Tag: U2

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September 26, 2009 – Megan Fox / U2 (S35 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Moammar Gadhafi (FRA) blames rambling United Nations speech on jet lag

— Odd how the typical opening C-SPAN announcer isn’t being played by Jim Downey for once. It sounds like new cast member Nasim Pedrad who’s doing the voice of the announcer.
— Oh, god. SNL opens this season with a freakin’ translator cold opening? Really, SNL?
— Ugh. I’m only a minute-and-a-half into this, and I’m already tired of this. So far, this has been featuring the usual tepid, rambly (even if the rambling is the point of this particular opening), overly-wordy material that Jim Downey-written translator opening cold openings in the 2000s feature.
— I admit, some of Fred’s exaggerated facial expressions are making me laugh in spite of myself.
— Overall, a poor way to kick off the new season. In hindsight, knowing how this season goes (hint: not well), I guess this was a fitting way to open it.
STARS: *½


OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.

— Right after the SNL logo is shown, it’s followed by a “35 years” graphic, commemorating the show’s milestone 35th season. This milestone would also be commemorated in some of this season’s going-to-commercial and coming-back-from-commercial bumpers, showing an “SNL 35” logo.
— When this season premiere originally aired, I remember how jarring Will Forte’s new buzzcut hairstyle was. That took some getting used to. I recall hearing that the reason for this buzzcut of Will’s was because, when filming the MacGruber movie in a very hot location in the desert over the summer, Will constantly got so sweaty that he eventually just shaved off all of his hair to reduce his sweating. We’ll be seeing his hair gradually grow back over the course of this season. By the way, seeing Will’s buzzcut always reminds me that this ends up being his final season as a cast member. I recall his airtime sadly being scarce this season compared to his prior seasons.
— A lot of fun and memorable shots of the cast in this opening montage, such as a laughing Andy Samberg celebrating with a group of Asian businessmen, Jason Sudeikis playing basketball with friends and throwing a towel at the camera, Kenan Thompson (with his trademark big smile) high-fiving a passing-by bicyclist, and Bobby Moynihan touching a police officer’s badge in an overly fascinated manner.
— Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate have been added to the cast tonight.


MONOLOGUE
host assumes her naked headswap photos must be legit since they’re online

— Some meh and lazy “dumb bimbo” humor with Megan Fox’s reactions to “real” nude pictures of her.
— Ah, here comes Bobby. He seems like he’s going to salvage this monologue.
— I love the sly look Bobby gives into the camera when mentioning his home scanner.
— A funny centaur poster Bobby has of Megan.
— I kinda wanted Bobby’s scene to last longer, as I was surprised by how soon he exited. However, at least SNL got this overall monologue over with quickly, given the scant premise.
STARS: **½


BLADDIVAN
Bladdivan cures shy bladder with a mix of diuretic & anti-anxiety drugs

— A questionable premise for a season-opening commercial, especially since it feels like SNL has already gone to this particular “urine medication commercial” well several times before (including the Urigro commercial from just three seasons prior to this, which has a premise almost completely identical to this one).
— I love Bill’s delivery in his testimonial.
— Very funny testimonial from Jason.
— Didn’t care for the sharing-a-urinal gag with Fred and Will at the end, but I did like them both cheesily laughing into the camera while sharing the urinal.
STARS: **½


FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT
stewardesses’ (KRW) & (host) increasingly-dire announcements induce panic

— I like how the lead-off sketch of this season is actually an original, non-recurring, and non-TV show sketch.
— Hannibal Burress, hired as a new SNL writer this season, can be seen all throughout this sketch seated next to Bobby (he’s behind Andy and Abby in the third above screencap for this sketch).
— Kristen and Megan’s overly calm announcements of VERY worrisome things about this flight are getting increasingly funny.
— The bit regarding the Monk nickname Kristen gives Megan is cracking me up.
STARS: ***½


RUSSIAN BRIDES
(WLF) weighs pretty (host) & ugly (FRA) Russian mail-order brides’ merits

— Oh, no. Yet another damn Fred-in-drag showcase. This also serves as an unfortunate reminder that, with the start of this season, we’ve entered what are known by a number of online SNL fans as Fred’s official bad years: seasons 35-38. (The number of annoying things Fred did in the preceding season, season 34, almost has me wondering if we should count THAT as the official start of Fred’s bad years.)
— At least Will’s character is acknowledging how unattractive Fred’s character is. I was worried this sketch would go for the obvious, cliched joke by having Will feel that Fred’s character is just as attractive as Megan’s character.
— Odd how not only is this the second sketch tonight with Fred playing a foreign-speaking person having his speech translated, but it’s Bill translating his speech in both sketches.
— (*groan*) Now Fred’s character is singing.
STARS: *


THE DATE
nebbishy SWAT leader (WLF) rejects (host)’s marriage proposal

— I can’t help but feel bad for laughing at Will’s performance, because he’s kinda coming off like he’s portraying a realistically mentally challenged person, though I don’t think that’s intentional. But screw it, Will is damn funny in this.
— A good laugh from Will’s “No (*bleep*)in’ way” response to Megan’s marriage proposal to him, after all of that build-up prior to this.
STARS: ***½


GRADY WILSON’S BURNING UP THE BEDSHEETS
(host) joins Grady Wilson for his Burning Up The Bedsheets sex DVD

— This Grady Wilson bit has officially become recurring.
— The “Speaking in Tongues” sex move made me laugh out loud.
— Most of tonight’s Grady Wilson sex moves aren’t making me laugh nearly as hard as the ones from the first installment of this sketch did, but they’re still fairly funny.
— Decent addition of Megan to help Kenan’s Grady Wilson demonstrate his sex techniques (and to help keep this sketch fresh), though part of me can’t help but wonder if this sketch is just a thinly-veiled excuse for Kenan to get to do a whole bunch of sex moves with Megan Fox. (If so, hey, I can’t blame Kenan.)
— I don’t like how this is the second sketch tonight with a Megan Fox-played character responding to someone’s simple joke by saying a clueless “I don’t get it.” SNL is leaning way too heavily into the lazy “attractive female host plays a dumb bimbo” trope tonight. I know Megan Fox isn’t exactly known for her acting range or comedic skills, but come on.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Breathe”


WEEKEND UPDATE
the G-20 Summit prompts Jean K. Jean to make a few comedic observations

nervous-as-usual Judy Grimes still fails to relay any travel advice

— Some minor changes have been made to the Weekend Update set. The Update desk’s top is now brown instead of blue, the words “Weekend Update” on the front of the desk are now in light-up letters, and the brown wooden panel on the lower half of the background wall has been removed, making the blue map background now cover the entire wall. (side-by-side comparison below between how the Update set looked previously and how it looks tonight)

— As usual for Jean K. Jean’s commentaries, I like the jokes and Kenan’s fun performance, but could really do without those formulaic dance interludes.
— A particularly funny line from Jean K. Jean about how, with those Jheri curls, Moammar Gadhafi’s name should be Moammar DeBarge.
— Now we get a Judy Grimes commentary. While I like both Jean K. Jean and Judy Grimes (much more than I liked them back when this SNL era originally aired), these are extremely formulaic characters who do the same basic bit in each appearance. I understand SNL wants to display some audience favorites in the Weekend Update of tonight’s season premiere, but can I get at least ONE new Update guest tonight?
— Hmm, an interesting change of pace with Judy Grimes actually bringing out a chart.
— Meh, even with the change of pace with Grimes bringing out a chart, it goes in the direction you’d expect it to, with her saying nothing but several “Just kidding”s when explaining the chart.
STARS: ***


LIVE LOUNGE
Live Lounge phone chat line is populated by all sorts of unsexy oddballs

— Funny opening line from Megan about how, despite her hair and clothes, this commercial is meant to air in 2009.
— Nasim Pedrad makes her second of only two appearances tonight, both of which were non-speaking roles, one in which she was barely onscreen (in the Flight Announcement sketch, in which she sat next to an also-silent Jenny Slate), and the other (this sketch) in which she’s shown for a mere two seconds listening to someone on her phone while having a big cheesy smile on her face. Yeesh, an extremely quiet way to make an SNL debut. (Then again, after a certain infamous thing that Nasim’s fellow newbie Jenny Slate does later tonight that would get so much unwanted attention, maybe Nasim breathed a sigh of relief that she went under the radar with just a quiet, invisible debut.) Then again, Nasim technically already made her very first SNL appearance prior to this episode. You see, in a Weekend Update Thursday special that aired two days before this season premiere, Nasim made a small appearance in that special’s cold opening, in a scene in which she, as Kathy Griffin, is interviewing Fred’s President Obama. (My memory of that cold opening is very fuzzy, so I’m not sure if my details are fully accurate.) When the camera first showed Nasim in that cold opening, I remember confusedly asking myself “Who the heck is THAT???” before realizing that must be one of the two new girls who SNL hired for this season. I find it kinda odd how SNL would have Nasim make her (unofficial, I guess) SNL debut in a Weekend Update Thursday special, before audiences got an introduction to her by seeing her and her name in the opening montage of a regular SNL episode. (SNL’s Weekend Update Thursday specials don’t have cast credits in the opening montage.)
— Jason makes his ONLY live appearance of this entire episode in a non-speaking, two-second role in which he, similar to Nasim, is shown listening to someone on his phone while having a cheesy cross-eyed look on his face. The hell? Having that be your biggest live appearance of the night makes sense for a new featured player like Nasim, but for a reliable, well-liked SNL veteran like Jason?!? And in a season premiere, of all episodes?!?
— Very funny how, after we’re shown “Women who want to be murdered” as an example of a chat line user, the next example of a chat line user is “Murderers”.
— Bill’s frozen facial expression in his shot is pure comedy gold.
— Funny mention of David Duchovny at the end.
— Amusing ending disclaimer.
— A surprisingly short overall sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Moment Of Surrender”


BIKER CHICK CHAT
tough broad Dawn (JES) expresses strong emotions

— Hooooooo, boy. Welp, here we are, folks. The sketch that contains the notorious moment of both this episode and Jenny Slate’s entire short-lived SNL tenure.
— Pretending that I don’t know what notorious thing is soon going to happen, it’s nice to see Jenny getting her own lead role in her very first episode. Too bad it has to be a talk show sketch, such a lazy, tired, and overused SNL format.
— OHHH, NO. There’s the notorious moment, just a minute into this sketch: at one point during her delivery of a spiel that constantly uses the word “frickin’” as a substitute for “fuckin’” (a running theme among all the characters’ dialogue in this sketch), Jenny accidentally lets an actual “fuckin’” slip in. (Very similar to a gaffe Paul Shaffer made when doing a season 5 sketch in which he was constantly supposed to use the word “floggin’” in place of “fuckin’”.) Jenny immediately realizes this error, and, right before the camera cuts to a close-up of Kristen, Jenny follows that botched line of hers by making an “Uh-oh!” face that involves her puffing out her cheeks (the fifth above screencap for this sketch), a visual that would gain unwanted immortal fame, as screencaps and GIFs of Jenny making that face would be frequently used over the following few weeks on online message board threads (including on some non-SNL message boards) that discussed this F-bomb of Jenny’s.
— When I watched this episode when it originally aired, I actually didn’t catch the F-bomb. I did, however, notice Jenny making that aforementioned cheeks-puffed-out face right before the camera cut to a close-up of Kristen, and I was very puzzled over why the hell Jenny randomly made that face, then I figured that must’ve just been her mugging the camera in a desperate attempt to be funny. It wasn’t until right after this sketch ended and I went onto the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board to read what people were saying about this just-aired sketch that I found out Jenny let an F-bomb slip out. (Speaking of that message board’s live discussion of Jenny’s F-bomb, as I mentioned in my review of the notorious Ashlee Simpson incident from the season 30 Jude Law episode, there were so many people who simultaneously flocked to that message board immediately after Jenny’s F-bomb that it eventually caused the board to crash for a short while.) Literally as soon as I read about the F-bomb, I immediately grabbed my remote control, rewound my live DVR to see where the F-bomb happened in this sketch, and when I saw it, you can probably imagine how much I was absolutely floored.
— Man, to have a gaffe like this happen in your first big showcase in your FIRST EPISODE? Yikes! When Jenny, in character, is speaking into the camera several seconds after the infamous moment, you can tell she’s gotten REALLY thrown off by her F-bomb, because she’s suddenly speaking awkwardly and haltingly during this part. I can just hear the poor girl panicking inside her head during this portion of the sketch, thinking stuff to herself such as “I am soooooo getting fired after this sketch!”
— The comedic conceit of this sketch itself, with all the generic badass attitudes, all the “frickin’”s, and all the ashtray-throwings, has gotten REALLY old. The unscripted F-bomb is sadly the only interesting thing about this sketch.
— Finally a funny line, when Kristen mentions her “front bum”.
— A few minutes into this sketch, and I’m noticing that Kristen’s the ONLY thing in this sketch getting any big reactions from the audience. This sketch is a whole lot of nothing.
— Overall……..so, THAT’S over, mercifully. Yeesh. I hate to say it, but Jenny’s F-bomb may have been a blessing in disguise, as it’s probably what prevented SNL from ever turning this waste of time into a recurring talk show sketch (if the lack of audience reaction didn’t already do that). And, F-bomb aside, I didn’t find this material to be a promising first showcase for Jenny at all, sad to say.
— After this episode’s original airing, during the MANY online discussions of Jenny’s F-bomb, a lot of people wondered if SNL would immediately fire her after just one episode. There was even one person in those online discussions who displayed a comical self-made t-shirt that had the words “Jennifer Slate: 2009-2009” (insinuating that her SNL tenure would not last beyond her first episode) under a photo of Jenny making the aforementioned cheeks-puffed-out face. As we know now, Jenny would keep her job after this (if only for one season). Even today, 11 years later, I still see people online ignorantly assuming Jenny got fired after one season just because of her F-bomb from her first episode.
STARS: *½


MEGAN’S ROOMMATE
Optimus Prime (BOM) & Bumblebee (Brian Austin Green) hang out

— Two officially-billed Digital Shorts tonight. I always love the rare times that happens in an episode.
— A good laugh from Andy and Megan walking in on Bobby’s Optimus Prime sitting completely bottomless on the couch.
— Despite some laughs I’m getting, something about this short feels kinda underwhelming to me. It has a fairly forgettable feel for Lonely Island standards. I do like Andy’s straight man performance, though.
— I like the use of the original Transformers theme song during the ending credits sequence, as it brings back childhood memories of watching the original Transformers series.
— During the aforementioned ending credits sequence, the mysterious performer playing Bumblebee removes his mask and reveals that he’s the one and only Brian Austin Green, who Megan was either dating or married to (I forget which) at this time. To quote my reaction to finding out the guy behind the Bumblebee mask was Brian Austin Green when I originally reviewed this episode back in 2009: “Ugh. He should’ve kept the mask *on*.” Also, the previous time Brian Austin Green cameod on SNL before this (a laughably bad and pointless cameo that initially received DEAD SILENCE from the audience) in an O.J. Simpson Trial sketch, not only was it ALSO a season premiere just like tonight’s episode happens to be, but it was the premiere of a very notorious season (1994-95). And, wouldn’t you know it, season 35, while certainly not notorious, ends up being a season of pretty poor quality. So, I have to ask, is there some kind of Brian Austin Green SNL curse? Does SNL have a bad season every time he cameos in a season premiere? We’d better hope he doesn’t make any more cameos in any future season premieres. (Not that I see any reason why he would anyway, if his career has gone as south as I think it has.)
STARS: **½


YOUR MOM TALKS TO MEGAN FOX WHILE YOU GET READY
host’s friend’s mom (KRW) engages her in small talk while folding laundry

— Hmm. Interesting concept.
— When this originally aired, I dismissed this as a typical Wiig showcase that proved even further that SNL was pushing Kristen as their designated star, but during my current viewing, I can see more what this this sketch is going for, and I’m enjoying it. In fact, there’s actually a slice-of-life aspect to this that I really appreciate, as it’s VERY rare to see slice-of-life pieces by this point of SNL’s run.
— Solid and reliable delivery from Kristen throughout this.
— Actually a sweet bit of advice Kristen cornily gives Megan at the end.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “Ultraviolet”

— At the beginning of these goodnights, before U2’s show-closing musical performance starts, we get a fairly memorable visual of Seth tightly hugging Jenny in the background (seen in the first above screencap for these goodnights), obviously consoling her after her huge gaffe earlier tonight. I shudder to imagine what poor Jenny’s reaction to her gaffe must’ve been when she was backstage after the Biker Chick Chat sketch.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty mediocre season premiere, and already a sign of the quality that I’m aware in hindsight this season will have (though I know a season premiere is rarely an accurate sign of how the rest of a season will turn out). The first half of this episode in particular was dominated by a lot of laziness, with another bad translator cold opening, a “dumb bimbo” monologue, another urine medication commercial, and another bad Fred-Armisen-in-drag sketch. The second half of the episode wasn’t too hot, either. There were still some good things in this overall episode, but nothing received a rating over a mere three-and-a-half stars from me.


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

 


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Date
Your Mom Talks To Megan Fox While You Get Ready
Live Lounge
Flight Announcement
Grady Wilson’s Burning Up The Bedsheets
Weekend Update
Megan’s Roommate
Bladdivan
Monologue
United Nations General Assembly
Biker Chick Chat
Russian Brides


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2008-09)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ryan Reynolds

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November 20, 2004 – Luke Wilson / U2 (S30 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WHITE HOUSE APPRENTICE
George W. Bush (WLF) fires Colin Powell (FIM) a la The Apprentice

— An okay and timely premise with Will’s President Bush making his firing decision in the style of The Apprentice.
— The camera cuts are pretty off during the portion of the sketch right now, as the camera keeps cutting to close-ups of performers AFTER they’ve said a line.
— A laugh from Darrell’s Donald Rumsfeld disparagingly referring to Finesse’s Colin Powell as James Earl Jones.
— President Bush to Colin Powell: “You seem to be the only one in this administration who knows anything about fighting a war. Obviously, you don’t fit in.”
— Ending was a little on the weak side.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
HOS uses cellphone photos to refresh host’s memory of their wild night

— A very Horatio Sanz-y entrance from Horatio, on a motor cart.
— Funny to see in retrospect how photos taken on cellphones back in 2004 look so cheap by today’s standards.
— Blah, I am not caring for these photos at all.
— Aaaaaaand there goes season 30’s obligatory and unfunny reliance on a man-on-man kiss for a cheap laugh.
— Overall, oof.
STARS: *½


DEBBIE DOWNER
Debbie Downer spoils Thanksgiving dinner with her depressing digressions

— Oh, no.
— I’m a minute-and-a-half into this sketch, I am freakin’ STONE-FACED during this entire Debbie Downer routine so far. The audience’s hysterical laughter throughout this sketch, and the defending of this character that I’ve seen in the comments section of some of my reviews make me feel so alone in not understanding the appeal of this Debbie Downer character AT ALL.
— This character is almost reaching the same level of annoyance to me as The Whiners from the early 80s. Then again, at least the Whiners sketches usually always had funny straight man performances from the main foil in the sketch. There’s nothing funny about the straight man performances in the Debbie Downer sketches. The straight men in these sketches just blandly look disappointed in reaction to Debbie Downer’s one-liners.
— Okay, I kinda smirked just now when, after a depressing one-liner from Debbie Downer about cooked turkeys, the usual “Wah-wahhhhh” camera zoom-in is subverted a bit by the camera doing a zoom-in on the cooked turkey on the table for the first “Wah” sound effect, then does a zoom-in on Debbie Downer on the second “wahhhhhhh” sound effect.
— Aaaaaaaaand cue the obligatory “It’s the number one killer of domestic cats” line. Ugh. Again, STONE-FACED.
— What was with Rachel’s odd long pause before saying “Guess who’s got eczema”? It hurt the timing of what was supposed to be a big laugh line (not that it would’ve made me laugh anyway).
— What in the world?!? After Debbie Downer’s line to the cooked turkey at the end of this sketch, the cooked turkey gets up and walks out of the shot (presumably via the use of wires from above or some other kind of trickery). Rachel looks GENUINELY surprised and taken-aback by this (first screencap below), as if this wasn’t a planned part of the sketch, and stifles her laughter, then attempts to do her trademark deadpan Debbie Downer look into the camera as the camera zooms in on her, but she keeps helplessly smirking from what had just happened (second screencap below).

What in the world was all that about? Was the walking-away turkey gag a surprise addition to this sketch on SNL’s part to catch Rachel off-guard and get her to crack up ala the first Debbie Downer sketch? If so, I wonder how the sketch was originally supposed to end.
— The sketch-ending audience applause slightly drowned out whatever Debbie Downer’s one-liner was in the bubble shot of her during the closing title sequence, but knowing these sketches, I doubt the ending line would’ve made me laugh anyway.
STARS: *½


THE AMERICAN TRAINWRECK AWARDS
pitiful celebrities fete their peers

— I recall this being a pretty popular sketch among online SNL fans back when this season originally aired, and it being considered one of the better sketches from this weak season.
— I’m already getting a laugh right from the start, with Amy and Maya’s drunken, stumbly, unintelligible entrance as Anna Nicole Smith and Diana Ross. I usually don’t care for sketches or Update commentaries focused around Maya’s Diana Ross impression, but it’s working in this particular sketch.
— SNL makes yet another meta reference to the Ashlee Simpson SNL incident, a reference that actually receives applause from SNL’s audience during this sketch.
— Seth is cracking me up in his performance as Mickey Rourke.
— In the announcements of the nominees for Male Trainwreck, I got a laugh from President Bush being nominated “for Iraq”.
— Fred’s Tony Danza voice is very funny.
— I like Fred’s Danza mentioning in passing the title to Toby Keith’s song: “It Ain’t Rape If You Know Her”.
— Rob Riggle is always perfect at playing rednecks. He’s both very believable and funny in those roles.
— The ending of this sketch, which spoofs the notorious Ron Artest-involved wild fight from the previous night’s Pacers/Pistons NBA game, was obviously a last-minute addition to this sketch, and was the perfect way to end this.
— Overall, this sketch still works for me and it was definitely fun. It also, in retrospect, provides an interesting time capsule of the year 2004. However, I’m not quite sure I would call this one of the best sketches of this season anymore, but we’ll see when we reach the end of the season.
STARS: ****


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- George W. Bush fudges heterosexuality by swapping gays’ minds

— What’s with the odd animation style? Doesn’t look like the usual animation of Smigel’s TV Funhouses AT ALL. Is Smigel using a different animation company tonight?
— This cartoon is doing nothing for me so far, not even the wild, raunchy make-out session between a now-heterosexual Rosie O’Donnell and Richard Simmons.
— Okay, I got a laugh just now from a now-heterosexual Ellen DeGeneres’ deep-voiced delivery to a now-heterosexual Ryan Seacrest of the line “I want you inside me”, even if it was a cheap line.
— This cartoon is getting out of hand, and not in the good way.
— What the holy fuck was with that lame-ass “Bush switches brains with a dog” ending?
— Overall, a rare miss from Smigel around this time period. Between the bad humor and the different-looking animation that I wasn’t digging, this felt so off for Smigel’s standards.
STARS: *½


BEST BUDS
intimacy between old pals (host) & (ROR) creeps out wives (MAR) & (AMP)

— Rob Riggle finally gets his first real lead role in a sketch… and unfortunately, it has to be THIS. A typical bad season 30 homoerotic sketch, where we’re basically told “Haw haw, look at the two guys acting gay-ish with each other!” It also feels redundant seeing this immediately after a bad gay-themed TV Funhouse. Man, what is with season 30’s obsession with hacky gay humor?
— Making this sketch even worse for me is the constant cutaways to a silent Maya and Amy’s put-off facial reactions to Rob and Luke’s homoerotic ways of feeding each other.
— I recall an online SNL fan back at this time saying this sketch felt like a rip-off of a (far superior) season 17 sketch with Dana Carvey and Linda Hamilton romantically feeding each other in a baby-ish manner at a restaurant, only with a homoerotic theme this time. I can see some similarities between the sketches, but I think calling tonight’s sketch a rip-off is a stretch. However, we will be getting a sketch in the very next episode that has always kinda reminded me of a certain OTHER season 17 sketch (one involving Sharon Stone), only with the genders reversed, though I’m not calling that a rip-off either. We’ll see when we get there, though.
— Overall, this was absolutely awful. Not a single laugh from me. What a waste of Rob.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Vertigo”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) supports amendments to the Constitution

TIF & AMP ignore janitor (MAR) as she empties their wastepaper baskets

kids’ toy Bump-It seems to want AMP to give it a hand job

— Meh, I continue to not care much for Darrell’s weak Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.
— Darrell’s overall Schwarzenegger commentary tonight just came and went with no real laughs from me. Felt like typical snoozeworthy political writing from 2000s-era Jim Downey. At least it wasn’t a cold opening this time.
— Another reference to the previous night’s Pacers/Pistons fight, this time with the use of actual footage of it (with a bizarre, unfunny, and unnecessary voice-over by Amy). This reminds me that, IIRC, there was an Update commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, which had Finesse as Ron Artest and Kenan as Artest’s publicist both addressing the previous night’s Pacers/Pistons fight. Jason Sudeikis, still just an SNL writer at this point and not yet a cast member, had a brief walk-on during this commentary as a passerby, who then gets pummeled by Finesse’s Artest.
— Ugh, why did Amy feel the need to explain the joke of the doctored photo of David Lee Roth as an EMT, as if we couldn’t see for ourselves what was going on in the picture? A comedian explaining their own joke is always a comedy sin.
— The whole raunchy bit with the Forte-voiced “Bump It” toy is absolutely priceless.
— This is the third episode in a row with a solid Fred Armisen commentary on Update (even if this one tonight is barely a Fred commentary, given the fact that it focuses far more on Amy and the “Bump It” toy). Fred has been on fire lately. Of this season’s cast, Fred and Will were who I considered at the time this season originally aired to be the only two consistently-reliable saving graces in this weak season, especially when it came to Update commentaries.
STARS: **½


COOLEST TEACHER AT BENTON TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL
(host) threatens (SEM)’s claim as Coolest Teacher At Benton Township H.S.

— An amusing separate opening title sequence and theme song for Seth and Luke’s cool teacher characters respectively.
— Horatio rebelliously throwing his desk out the window made me laugh out loud.
— Aaaaaaaand there goes Horatio’s obligatory cracking up at himself, even causing Seth in turn to crack up.
— Funny reveal of Horatio’s high school student character being old enough to drink.
— What’s with Seth’s terrible acting when he starts getting emotional and teary-eyed after the students have turned on him?
— Another pre-cast member Sudeikis walk-on! And J.B. Smoove! Together! (the last two above screencaps for this sketch)
— Great twist with Luke’s character turning out to be an old, mean teacher in disguise.
— I like the ending exchange between Amy and Seth’s characters, with Amy asking Seth “Are you still gonna take me to get my abortion?” and Seth responding, while smiling into the camera, “With a smile on my face.”
— An overall very solid sketch for this season’s standards, despite a few minor flaws.
STARS: ****


THE FALCONER
Donald & dog attend state fair while The Falconer & (host) are trapped

— This sketch makes its first appearance in an entire year.
— I like the opening bit with The Falconer unintentionally making rock star puns when talking about the rocks he’s buried in.
— I love The Falconer’s stretched-out yell of “NOOOOOO!!! MOOOOOOORE ROOOOCCCKS!!!” during stock footage of a rock avalanche, which seems to be Will comically vamping for time while SNL crew members cover Luke in rocks off-camera.
— A good twist on the usual “Donald the Falcon flies off and has fun somewhere when he’s supposed to be getting The Falconer some help” aspect of these sketches, with Donald being accompanied by a dog this time.
— Solid bit with Donald and the dog communicating with each other in animal sounds, translated by text on the bottom of the screen.
— Very entertaining montage of Donald and the dog’s wild adventures together at the state fair.
— A good laugh from the part with the dog licking up Donald’s vomit.
— This sketch has now hilariously gone off the rails, when the dog doesn’t follow his cue to hand Luke the dynamite stick he’s holding in his mouth, and instead aimlessly wanders around the sketch’s set (at one point even stopping briefly to sniff the falcon puppet that Will is holding) while Luke desperately keeps trying to get the dog to hand him the dynamite stick, all the while Will unsuccessfully tries to keep the sketch going by delivering the mock-dramatic speech his Falconer character is supposed to deliver, which can’t even be heard due to the audience’s laughter at the dog’s antics. A hilarious mess. Probably one of my all-time favorite animal bloopers on SNL.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”


BUSINESS TRIP
as (host), (SEM), (KET) get sozzled, their patter recurs & escalates

— I absolutely love the progression to this, with a drunk Luke, Seth, and Kenan repeating the exact same conversation over and over as they get increasingly drunker, only the wording in their repeated conversation each time gets increasingly brash and inappropriate. A creative and very fun structure to this sketch, and it comes off especially refreshing in a weak season like this.
— A great loud outburst from Seth of the random line “WE PLAYED SPORTS!!!!”
— I’m six episodes into this season, and I gotta say, I’m not finding Seth to be quite the irksomely bland performer we got shoved down our throats that I recall him being this season. Even though I still don’t feel he was ever meant to carry SNL on his back as the show’s star like the show seemingly tries to get him to do this season in light of Jimmy Fallon’s departure, I’ve been finding myself enjoying quite a number of Seth’s performances so far this season, including this sketch.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “I Will Follow”

— Right out of the gate, we see an interesting deviation from the usual goodnights, with the out-of-the-ordinary set up of the cast standing behind Luke and Bono both seated on the floor at the front of the home base stage.
— Now Bono has gone over to the musical guest stage, leading to a third U2 performance tonight. Awesome.
— Ah, halfway through the performance, there goes Bono up to his old tricks from U2’s last SNL appearance in season 26, in which he freely wanders off the stage and around the studio while still singing. This is always a blast to see.
— Wow. Now we get a still-singing Bono practically giving a random female audience member in the front row a lapdance. Judging from the woman’s very emotional joy during this, you can tell this is truly a moment she’ll cherish for the rest of her life. This is touching to watch.
— Now a still-singing Bono has gone over to the SNL cast on the home base stage, and you can tell the cast is absolutely loving this performance. It’s great to see their genuine reactions here. Bono then hugs an absolutely hysterical Amy Poehler, bringing her to tears. These goodnights cannot get any more epic.
— Just now, at the end of the song U2’s performing, Bono adds in a poignant utterance of “Saturday Night Live, live, live, live.” I’ve seen some online SNL fans back at this time theorize that Bono’s very heavy emphasis of the word “live” is his way of referencing the then-recent Ashlee Simpson SNL incident and telling us that, unlike her, HE’S actually performing live.
— While the audience is applauding after U2’s performance has finished, Bono exclaims “One more! One more!”, and the audience goes WILD. You can then hear music for the next song start up right as the show-ending Broadway Video and SNL Studios production logos appear, meaning we home viewers don’t get to see this impromptu fourth U2 performance.
— Overall, absolutely freakin’ amazing goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— It’s easy to let the epic U2 goodnights cloud my judgment and give this episode more credit than it deserves. In fact, it’s easy to let the entire post-Weekend Update half of the show cloud my judgment and give this episode more credit than it deserves. As strong as all of the sketches in the post-Update half were, and as amazing as those goodnights were, I can’t ignore the fact that the pre-Update half of the show had A LOT of duds. Aside from the fun American Trainwreck Awards sketch and the okay-but-a-little-forgettable cold opening, I didn’t like ANYTHING in the pre-Update half of the show. And I wasn’t crazy about Update itself either (minus the great “Bump It” segment), as usual in the Fey/Poehler era. A very bipolar episode, in which almost everything was either really great or really terrible; no middle ground. (Kinda reminiscent of the Brittany Murphy episode from season 28.) Still, the combo of the American Trainwreck Awards, the great “Bump It” Update segment, the post-Update streak of strong sketches, and those epic goodnights all add up to an overall enjoyable-though-extremely-uneven episode, making this the first episode all season that I actually liked. Sad that it took THIS long for season 30 to have their first good episode, and even sadder that their first good episode is still as spotty as this.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Liam Neeson)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Colin Farrell

Posted on

December 9, 2000 – Val Kilmer / U2 (S26 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
Al Gore (DAH) seeks election redress via personal injury lawyer (CHK)

— Ha, there goes Darrell’s Gore doing his usual gloating over winning the popular vote.
— Kattan is funny in his performance as Gore’s attorney.
— When listing off Gore’s “injuries”, I particularly like Kattan mentioning that the election drama has caused Gore to appear stiff and awkward on TV.
— Another funny line from Kattan, about him being approached by Gore after Gore saw his ad on the Montel Williams Show.
— Pretty funny Joe Lieberman impression from Parnell, though I prefer the Lieberman impressions that Dana Carvey and Hugh Fink demonstrated earlier this season.
— Overall, a pretty good opening, even if it felt pretty forgettable compared to the epic election-related cold openings that SNL has been knocking it out of the park with around this time.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host gets the It’s A Wonderful Life treatment from angel Clarence (DAH)

 

— Fun premise of this monologue being an It’s A Wonderful Life take-off.
— I like how we’re seeing glimpses of sketches that we’ll be getting later tonight.
— When Val expresses surprise at hearing that Parnell would’ve become a big movie star, I love Parnell’s response: “Is that so hard to believe, Val? Jackass. (*shoves Val while walking away*)”
— After the aforementioned part with Parnell, we get this funny exchange between Val and Clarence the angel: “You said they couldn’t hear me or see me.” “(laughing) I never said that.” True, he never said it.
— Yet another funny on-air dig about Tracy not being in any sketches in an episode, this time with the added joke that he usually sells weed to the audience during the show.
— Funny visual of a crying Kattan in his Mango costume as Val is informed that a Mango sketch got cut after dress rehearsal. This is actually a very meta and last-minute addition to this monologue, as there really was a Mango sketch that got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal. After dominating the preceding season, Mango’s been having a very rough go this season, as ALL of his sketches have been getting cut after dress rehearsal so far. Ha, can’t say I have any complaints about that. I’d like to think that all of Mango’s sketches getting cut so far this season is payback for how inundated us poor viewers were with Mango sketches in the preceding season (YMMV).
— I like the fourth-wall-breaking ending with Darrell removing his Clarence wig and telling Val that he’s getting ready for the next sketch.
STARS: ****


WADE BLASINGAME
attorney Wade Blasingame (WIF) sues dogs that do what comes naturally

— The visuals of a briefs-clad Parnell performing uncouth dog actions are absolutely priceless.
— Rachel’s terrified facial expression when being humped on the ground by Parnell is very funny.
— Such a hilarious premise for this commercial, and Will is, of course, perfect as the attorney.
— I love hearing the audience’s groaning at the claim “23 Dogs Exterminated”.
— Fantastic testimonial from Tracy, particularly him discreetly disclosing to us “Wade told me that for $50, he’d KILL a dog.”
— When the camera shows Will and Parnell sitting next to each other, I love the close-up of a silent Parnell with a smug and almost disgusted look on his face.
— SNL would re-air this commercial years later in a Will Ferrell-hosted episode from 2009. I remember it being fun and fascinating to see this early 2000s era’s cast again in a repeated commercial shown in a new episode from a completely different era. (Darrell was the only person who was part of both this 2000 cast and the 2009 cast.)
STARS: *****


BEHIND THE MUSIC
in Heaven, Jim Morrison (host) forms a supergroup

— Great concept of a rock-and-roll supergroup in heaven, and a nice way to have Val reprise his movie portrayal of Jim Morrison.
— Tracy is particularly funny as Louis Armstrong.
— Hilarious bit with Will-as-Jesus doing a testimonial, especially the classic moment of him expressing the line “Oh my dad!” in place of “Oh my god!”
— Voice-Over: “’But offstage, things were falling apart’ is a registered trademark of VH1 and Behind The Music.”
— I love that this sketch is getting even more odd now with the addition of Amelia Earhart as Jim Morrison’s girlfriend.
— Very funny ending with the reincarnated band performing.
STARS: ****½


PALM BEACH
psephologic drama swamps George W. Bush (WIF) & Al Gore (DAH)

— This season offers up yet another epic Bush/Gore sketch parodying the Florida recounts fiasco. Turning the election drama into a soap opera TV show is a brilliant concept. Simply fantastic.
— Ana’s mere facial expressions as Katherine Harris continue to be hilarious, as does her impression of Harris in general.
— Good casting of Val as Jeb Bush. I can see a pretty strong resemblance between them.
— I love Will-as-Bush’s reaction to finding out that the presidency lasts four years instead of one day.
— Katherine Harris: “Al, I thought you were dead.” Al Gore: “I’m Al Gore. I just appear that way.”
— Jeb Bush, on his brother, George: “The more people that learned about his disability, the more popular he became. Kinda like Tom Arnold.”
— Nice inclusion of Parnell’s Tom Brokaw.
— Ha, during the dramatic close-ups of each person, we get the sudden return of Will’s spot-on imitation of a cat, last seen in the Vince Vaughn episode from season 24.
— During the aforementioned sequence with dramatic close-ups of each person, Darrell, during his close-up, gets distracted by Will’s cat routine behind him and starts cracking up.
STARS: *****


VERONICA & CO.
supermodel Veronica (MOS) leads unfocused panel discussion

— At the very beginning of this sketch, Molly misses her cue to start speaking and actually looks off-camera at someone and, while giggling like crazy, silently asks if it’s time for her to start the sketch. My god. Molly sure has been kind of a mess these last two seasons of hers. Her gaffe at the beginning of this sketch would later be removed from reruns with a rather noticeable edit.
— Molly apparently liked playing Gisele Bundchen in the VH1 Fashion Awards sketch earlier this season so much that she decided to create a character out of it. Her “new” character in this sketch is just a recycled version of her Bundchen impression, right down to wearing the same wig and doing the same voice. Can’t say this is something I really needed.
— Several minutes into the sketch, Parnell gives me my first real laughs of the whole thing, with his funny and very impressive robot dance.
— When Parnell’s character is suffering a horrific allergic reaction to what he just ate, I do admit to liking Molly’s line about how they have a doctor in the house, Val, after it’s been established that Val isn’t a real doctor.
— Overall, this sketch wasn’t quite as terrible as I had remembered (IIRC, I absolutely trashed these Veronica & Co. sketches in my original 2000-2001 reviews from when this season originally aired), but I still didn’t care for this, and I still look at it as a sign of how downhill Molly has gone in her later years on SNL. I’m not looking forward to seeing a second installment of this sketch later this season.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beautiful Day”


WEEKEND UPDATE
I Have An Opinion- JIF is proud to say “I like election turmoil”
lyrical rhetoric carries Jesse Jackson (DAH) & Al Sharpton (JEM) away

   

— Right out of the gate in tonight’s Update, we get a rare use of a news screen behind Jimmy and Tina, as they break down all of the batshit insane election recount news from the last 24 hours. Solid segment.
— Jimmy’s “I Have An Opinion” segment was okay, I guess. I liked it more for his performance than for what he was actually saying, as none of his dialogue was particularly noteworthy.
— Darrell’s Jesse Jackson returns, this time being paired with Jerry as Al Sharpton. Good to see Jerry actually getting something comedic to do.
— Sharpton’s interjections during Jackson’s speech are hilarious, especially him breaking out into a New Edition song. Jerry’s portrayal of Sharpton is adding a fresh new feel to the typical Darrell-as-Jesse-Jackson Update commentaries.
— I like how towards the end of the Jackson/Sharpton commentary, it gets to the ridiculous point where they’re both preaching/singing different things simultaneously.
STARS: ***½


ICEMAN: THE LATER YEARS
easily-excited commercial jet pilot Iceman (host) is living in the past

— A great way of having Val reprise his Iceman character from Top Gun, and this is a fun setting for him.
— I like the detail of Iceman balding on the top of his hair.
— After one of Iceman’s many utterances of “You guys are dangerous!”, I absolutely love Parnell’s great delivery of “Tom, I’m gonna ask you to stop saying that.”
— I’m enjoying the structure to this sketch, presenting it as various little scenes with interstitial musical shots of airplanes and airports played in between.
STARS: ****


SEASON’S GREETINGS
HOS, CHK, TRM, JIF perform a happy Christmas ditty

— Ah, yes! Here we get the debut of a soon-to-be-recurring famous Sanz/Fallon/Kattan/Morgan Christmas song routine that has long been a favorite of mine.
— So much fun watching the initial edition of this song.
— I love how Tracy’s only contribution to the song is just running in place the entire time with a dead-serious look on his face.
— Even Jimmy being his usual giggly mess of a self works in the fun, charming, and endearing nature of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Elevation”

— An incredible turn mid-song with Bono leaping off of the stage and, while still singing, traveling all around the studio and doing lots of interesting little things along the way, including singing a Doors lyric to Val. I remember in my viewing of this episode when it originally aired, this mid-song turn from Bono surprised and excited the hell out of me, especially because at the time, I had never seen a musical performance where the musical guest traveled around the studio to this extent before.


DOING VOICES
Margaret Healey finds a kindred spirit in accent-loving blind date (host)

— I kinda liked the first installment of this sketch, but this is definitely not something I needed to see become recurring. Pretty random too, to bring this forgotten sketch back after two seasons.
— Will has some great unhappy, deadpan one-liners in reaction to the voices routine that everyone around him is doing.
— Holy hell. A genuine big blooper where Parnell, playing a waiter, accidentally SPILLS an entire tray of drinks he’s carrying, some of which spills on poor Ana’s back. Yikes! Ana, ever the consummate pro, doesn’t even let it phase her.
— Overall, meh. Aside from Will’s unhappy lines, I didn’t care for this. Another weak Molly Shannon sketch tonight. Parnell’s gaffe with the tray of drinks provided my biggest laugh, and that wasn’t even in the script.
STARS: **


RECORDING SESSION
horn-playing brothers (CHP) & (WIF) do Burt Bacharach (host) session-work

— Has anyone else noticed that Ana and especially Parnell have been appearing in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight? This level of airtime is rare for Parnell, and as someone who has always felt that Parnell is criminally underrated and underused, I’m very happy for him receiving this huge boost in airtime tonight. Probably the most airtime he’s ever received in a single episode during his entire SNL tenure.
— I’ve noticed throughout Parnell’s tenure that whenever he has a lead role in a sketch, he often partners up with another cast member to play a pair of brothers. Unlike the Bloater and DeMarco Brothers, the Tyson Brothers in this sketch never end up becoming recurring, though I’m not sure if they were even intended to.
— Val is cracking me up in his funny performance as Burt Bacharach.
— Quite an odd and slow-paced sketch, but it’s definitely working for me, especially the funny silent actions and gestures from Will and Parnell throughout this very long instrumental. There’s some hints of an Andy Kaufman-style approach to this sketch, especially in how it tests the audience’s patience. Take notes, Tom Green. This is how to successfully pull off Andy Kaufman humor.
— I love the angry sudden back-and-forth argument between the Tyson Brothers, especially Will’s character repeatedly screaming “SHUT UP!” in an increasingly high-pitched voice.
— Burt Bacharach, to Ana’s character: “Debbie, they are brilliant.” Ana: “It’s Brenda.” Burt Bacharach: “No, it’s Debbie.”
STARS: ****


CORN CHIP NAIL TIPS
Rerun from 10/7/00


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and the return to form that this season needed after that Tom Green fiasco. Many great sketches all throughout tonight’s episode, two segments that received a perfect five-star rating from me, and musical guest U2 delivered an all-time memorable and epic number in their second performance.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Green)
a colossal step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Lucy Liu hosts the Christmas episode