Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
REENACTMENT
Monica Lewinsky (MOS) & Linda Tripp (John Goodman) gab on phone & pig out
— A John Goodman cameo for the second consecutive episode, and for the third overall episode this season so far. Does he live in Studio 8H this season?
— I love Parnell on the other phone line as a desperate Kenneth Starr.
— I like the bit with Tripp and Lewinsky lying to each other about what they’re eating.
— A disgusting but funny part with Tripp being heard on the toilet during her and Lewinksy’s phone conversation.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host & Ben Willis (Muse Watson) sing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
— Nice touch with the SNL Band in the background wearing pilgrim outfits, due to this episode being near Thanksgiving.
— Funny reveal of the co-star who Jennifer Love Hewitt says she’s feuding with turning out to be the killer from the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies.
— Pretty funny visual of Jennifer holding the killer’s hook hand while he apologizes sincerely to her.
— I typically don’t care for musical numbers in monologues, but this one is fairly charming enough.
STARS: ***
THE LADIES’ MAN
Leon gives inappropriate advice & plugs Skanksgiving Day
— Funny bit with Leon Phelps mentioning his “Skanksgiving Dinner” event.
— Interesting turn with Leon actually showing emotions and getting teary-eyed when telling a caller about how important family is during Thanksgiving.
— Funny story from Leon about how he once shot his brother with a gun during one Thanksgiving dinner.
— Great ending with a rapidly-scrolling list of all the ladies Leon made love to this year. Some interesting names I caught in the rapidly-scrolling list were Jane Doe, Dolly Parton, Tawny Kittain [sic], and Balinda Carlise [sic].
STARS: ***½
MORE DUETS THAT PROVE THAT I AM THE BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD
Celine Dion’s (ANG) duets album proves she’s the best singer in the world
— I got nervous at first, thinking this was going to be another installment of the one-note Celine Dion Show talk show sketches, before remembering that this is a duets album sketch.
— Here’s our weekly spot-on Jimmy Fallon impression. His imitation of Michael Stipe’s dancing is particularly funny.
— Interesting that Jennifer is playing Jewel, just one episode after Jewel herself was a musical guest on SNL.
— Horatio’s Meat Loaf is cracking me up.
— While this sketch is basically repeating the same joke from the Celine Dion Show sketches, it’s coming off more fun in this different setting.
STARS: ***½
THE HOW DO YOU SAY? AH YES, SHOW
Antonio Banderas (CHK) paws coed (host)
— Unfortunately, unlike the preceding Celine Dion sketch, this does turn out to be the return of a one-note talk show sketch. I liked the first installment of this Antonio Banderas sketch enough, but can tell it will not hold up as a recurring sketch.
— After playing the main band member in the first installment of this sketch, Horatio is mysteriously absent in tonight’s installment. Jimmy’s mostly-silent band member from the first installment has now taken over Horatio’s place as the main band member and is given the same type of dialogue that Horatio had, and Darrell has been added as a new mostly-silent band member who’s basically doing what Jimmy did in the first installment. I’ve always wondered if the reason Horatio dropped out of this sketch is because he (or SNL) perhaps felt bad about playing such a broad Mexican stereotype so early into his tenure as SNL’s first Hispanic cast member.
— Some laughs from Kattan’s Banderas treating Jennifer’s breasts like two people.
— After one of the many times he teases taking off his shirt, I like Banderas briefly putting his hands on the top of his pants and asking if he should bring out his “friend”, referring to his penis.
— Overall, not quite as bad as I was expecting, but I still didn’t enjoy this as much as the first installment.
STARS: **½
MATERNITY WARD
candy stripers Craig & Arianna stumble upon pregnant classmate (host)
— The Cheerleaders make their first appearance in a quite a long while (for their standards). This ends up being their ONLY appearance this entire season, then they only appear once in the following season and that’s the last we ever see of them.
— I wonder if the only reason they’re doing a Cheerleaders sketch tonight is to keep up the tradition of doing these sketches whenever a Party Of Five cast member hosts in this era (Neve Campbell, Scott Wolf, and now Jennifer Love Hewitt).
— Interesting how Jennifer is playing Alexis, a previously-unseen character who Arianna usually always shouted at to off-camera in previous Cheerleaders sketches.
— Funny line from Craig about how this is only the second time he’s ever seen a vagina, the first being when his grandmother fell in the tub.
— A good use of Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock.
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo misses the subtext of fans’ letters
— Tonight’s recurring-heavy episode continues, as we get an Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon, for the first time this season.
— Ah, a change of pace, with Ace and Gary reading fan mail.
— Big laughs from the increasingly perverted letters Ace and Gary are reading off.
— Very funny bit with the X-Ray Specs.
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ relates credentials of those involved in Clinton impeachment hearings
— A particularly good amount of funny lines during Colin’s opening straight-to-camera rant.
— Ah, finally, Colin ends an opening straight-to-camera rant with an actual segue into the Update opening title sequence, instead of SNL just abruptly cutting to the title sequence after Colin finishes a sentence in his rant.
— Colin is more marble-mouthed than ever in tonight’s Update, and that’s saying something.
— No guest commentaries in tonight’s overall Update.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “3 MC’s and One DJ”
CLEAN TEEN DEODORANT SPOKESPERSON SEARCH
Clean Teen Deodorant Spokesperson Search finds Mary Katherine Gallagher
— Tonight’s recurring-heavy episode continues. Seeing the Cheerleaders and Mary Katherine Gallagher in the same episode makes this feel like an episode from 1996, back when both recurring sketches were at their peak of popularity and frequently appeared on the show. Am I in for a Roxbury Guys or Goat Boy sketch next, to complete the 1996 feel of tonight? (Obviously not, as Jim Breuer is no longer on the show at this point, and SNL retired the Roxbury Guys after their movie bombed earlier this season.)
— This Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch reminds me an awful lot of the one with Elle MacPherson, where MKG competed in a teen modeling contest. We even get Will playing the contest emcee in both MKG sketches, and doing a solid job both times.
— A good laugh from Cheri quickly doing an “f you” arm gesture towards the camera when she doesn’t get chosen as one of the finalists.
— Overall, some laughs, but MKG’s antics in this sketch had a bit of a tired feel, and this MKG installment paled in comparison to the similar one with Elle MacPherson. Even the Cheerleaders came off fresher tonight than MKG did, though it’s obvious that we’re nearing the end of the road for both recurring sketches. I can’t remember how many remaining MKG sketches there are during Molly’s tenure as a cast member. Off the top of my head, I can only remember the Black Angels one with Gwyneth Paltrow later this season (one of the better MKG sketches) and the Jewish basketball team one with Jerry Seinfeld at the beginning of the following season, plus a special quick musical number MKG performs with the SNL Band in Molly’s final episode as a cast member.
STARS: **½
LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Hollywood players (WIF) & (host) pitch to LOM
— Hey, an actual original sketch tonight.
— The use of slots reminds me of another gameshow sketch in this era: Food, Sex, or Cars.
— Speaking of the slots in this sketch, former one-season SNL cast member David Koechner can be seen among the rapidly-scrolling pictures of celebrities in one of the slots (screencap below).
— Speaking of former cast members, when a picture of Harry Anderson popped up in one of the slots, I actually thought that was Dana Carvey at first.
— I love the premise of this sketch, and it’s being executed well.
— I like the randomness of “the sound of a producer being serviced by a prostitute” being used to signal the show to go to the “Ultimate Pitch” round.
— This sketch now gets very meta, with Lorne being who Jennifer and Will have to pitch a movie to.
— A fun and solid sketch overall.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sabotage”
HUSSEIN’S HIDEAWAY
Saddam Hussein’s (WIF) private bunker is marked by adolescent trappings
— Always good to see Will’s Saddam Hussein impression.
— Some good amusement from the inspectors teasing Saddam over the personal items they find in his bunker.
— A funny and charming mock-sentimental turn this sketch takes towards the end.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not as good as the long string of solid episodes that preceded this. This is the first episode all season that I don’t have a bunch of positive things to say about. That’s certainly not to say that this was a subpar episode, as I still enjoyed a good amount of the show, but the overall episode was a little too recurring-heavy for my likes, and there were barely any standout strong segments.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joan Allen)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Vince Vaughn