Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DREAM
in Bill Clinton’s (DAH) dream, Monica Lewinsky [real] is his future wife
— Funny blooper right at the start of this cold opening, where the dog playing Buddy, seated next to Darrell’s President Clinton, runs out of the scene almost immediately. SNL would later replace this portion of the cold opening with the dress rehearsal version in reruns, in which the dog stays seated like it’s supposed to.
— Fun idea of Clinton having a futuristic fantasy of his own life, though it reminds me a little of that Oprah 2002 cold opening from this season’s premiere.
— Funny visual of Tim as a laid-back Vernon Jordan with two hookers by his side.
— And here comes Part 1 of tonight’s big Monica Lewinsky cameo, which I’m aware was heavily hyped in the media before tonight’s episode aired. Her appearance is the type of cameo that I’m sure I’d be very annoyed at if it happened when I was a current SNL viewer, but watching this decades later, it’s harmless enough.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host induces tension by bypassing chances to say “Show me the money!”
— Fun energy from Cuba Gooding Jr. early on in this monologue.
— After Cuba’s first subversion to saying the famous “Show me the money” phrase, you can hear an off-camera audience member shout the phrase himself, which Cuba humorously responds to by ad-libbing “Watch out, it’s my show.”
— I love Cuba’s Boyz N’ The Hood reference.
— I like Tina Fey’s thoughts saying “I’m gonna get up there and say it…. no I’m not.”
— Horatio’s angry inner thoughts are hilarious.
— Great bit with Horatio and Jimmy somehow communicating with each other through their thoughts, much to Jimmy’s bewilderment.
— I love Cuba’s wild dancing all over the stage when finally saying “Show me the money!”
STARS: ***½
LOTTO
Lotto casts itself as a sensible alternative to a life insurance policy
— Funny reveal of how Lotto, of all things, should be the insurance policy of choice for your newborn baby, after this commercial had such a serious set-up.
STARS: ***½
BIBLE MINISERIES
(CHP) directs rush-job Biblical miniseries by encouraging improvisation
— A promising sketch concept of actors being forced to perform an improvised version of a biblical miniseries.
— A lot of laughs from the awkwardness of Will and Cuba when they’re having a hard time coming up with dialogue.
— I love Will’s Jesus hesitantly making up the fact that he has heat vision.
— Very funny addition of Horatio’s boom mic guy being forced to play “Barry”. I like Horatio awkwardly playing him in a very casual, bro-type manner.
— Good part with Will trying to weasel his way out of this mess by saying, during the filming, “Oh, you didn’t hear? Barry died.”
— Parnell is great as the director.
— Horatio: “What’s up, Jesus? You talkin’ smack about me?”
— I like the ending freeze-frame shot of Horatio after he says “Barry power!”
STARS: ****
BACKSTAGE
Barbara Walters (CHO) asks TIM & MOS where she can find Monica Lewinsky
— A fairly fun Lewinsky-related backstage bit. Nothing else to say.
STARS: ***
PRETTY LIVING
joyologist Helen & boyfriend (host) are into genderology
— Oh, dear god, here we go…
— We at least get a funny opening line from Ana regarding her antidepressants.
— Molly keeps speaking over Ana’s scripted dialogue to make unnecessary ad-libs.
— Cuba in that outfit is a fairly funny initial visual.
— When Cuba had a put-off facial reaction to Helen Madden detailing how she’d like to shrink Cuba and wear him as earrings, I was hoping this sketch would take a turn with Cuba openly reconsidering his relationship with Helen, but unfortunately, he ends up just going along with Helen’s quirkiness.
STARS: *½
LOTTO
Lotto avers that playing represents the courageous act of an underdog
— A good laugh from the onscreen caption of how Horatio’s meager Lotto winnings was shared with four co-workers.
— I like Kattan as the deadpan redneck.
— Funny ending with the “Non-winner” caption for a smiling Tracy.
STARS: ***½
THE LADIES’ MAN
Monica Lewinsky’s [real] experiences yield sex advice
— Leon Phelps’ “phone sex” story was really funny.
— Some laughs from how Leon is hiding Bill Clinton’s identity by referring to him as William Howard Taft during Monica’s phone sex story about Clinton.
— Ha, we get YET ANOTHER season 24 John Goodman cameo, just one episode after he hosted the show. Interesting how he’s making this particular cameo via phone.
— Funny bit about the loud sounds from Linda Tripp’s end of the phone call being people throwing things at her from outside the phone booth.
— I like the “How big” fake-out question that Leon asks Monica.
— Overall, an improvement over the forgettable last Ladies’ Man sketch from the Bill Murray episode.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“AmbiguoBoys” by RBS- as teenagers, The Ambiguously Gay Duo fights evil
— Another interesting and fresh change of pace for The Ambiguously Gay Duo.
— Hilarious visual of Ace and Gary both pulling down their pants & underwear and bending over when they think the gym teacher is going to spank them as their punishment.
— Pretty funny seeing a young Big Head with hair.
— Very funny part with an off-camera Ace and Gary taking a very long time during the sequence where they’re supposedly changing into their superhero outfits together in the same bathroom stall.
— Hmm, during the ending credits of this TV Funhouse, Drew Barrymore gets a special credit as one of the voice actors. That makes her the second recent host to make a voice-only cameo in tonight’s episode. Are we getting a Ray Romano voice cameo next?
STARS: ****
BACKSTAGE
Barbara Walters (CHO) queries a maid as to Monica Lewinsky’s whereabouts
— Ah, this is a runner. A little strange how we have two different runners in the same episode (these backstage Barbara Walters bits and the Lotto ads).
— Funny bit with Cheri’s Barbara Walters speaking fluent Spanish during her and the Hispanic janitor’s foreign conversation.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Livin’ La Vida Loca”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Jesse Jackson (DAH) relates wisdom he’s gleaned from popular culture
JIF plays guitar & sings songs with lyrics inspired by The Phantom Menace
— Colin: “If every guy went around killing guys who had crushes on them, I would’ve murdered Chris Kattan years ago.”
— Wow, Colin is having a rare “on” night in this episode. He has another strong joke just now: “What do you get when you cross Joey Buttafuoco with a college education?” and the answer is a photo of Bill Clinton, giving a thumbs-up with a goofy open-mouthed smile. I also love how immediately afterwards, Colin adds, in regards to Clinton, “And you know he’s watching tonight.” It took me two seconds to get why Clinton would be watching SNL tonight, but once I realized why, I was howling.
— Surprisingly, I think this is the first time Darrell has played Jesse Jackson since Darrell’s second season on SNL.
— Darrell’s overall Jesse Jackson commentary was decent, especially the bit about quoting B.J. Thomas to impress a foreign woman.
— I love the audience’s put-off reaction to Colin’s joke about a washed-up Andrew McCarthy eating out of garbage cans.
— Jimmy’s Star Wars guitar song parodies are fun so far tonight, and an improvement over his forgettable last Update guitar songs for Valentine’s Day. I especially like Jimmy’s Eminem “My Name Is” parody about the character Mace Windu.
— I love Jimmy now doing a “Livin’ La Vida Loca” parody. I’m always a sucker for Jimmy parodying a musical guest’s song just minutes after said musical guest performed that very song on the SNL stage, like Jimmy did earlier this season with Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U”.
— Overall, one of the better Updates from the Colin Quinn era.
STARS: ***½
MANGO
obsessed host finds that Mango has a traditional suburban home & family
— And, of course, right after the Kattan gay joke on Update, we get a Mango sketch. How fitting.
— Believe it or not, this is only the second and final Mango sketch of this entire season. I never realized until now how refreshingly little Mango appeared this season. A huge contrast to how over-saturated the upcoming season 25 is going to be with Mango sketches. Brace yourselves for that, folks. Hell, at one point that season, they do THREE Mango sketches within just two consecutive episodes. I kid you not, people.
— Cuba playing some Teddy Pendergrass on the stereo to seduce Mango is fairly funny.
— When stripping on top of a table, Cuba actually pulls down the back of his speedo and flashes his entire bare butt at Kattan (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which I hear wasn’t in the script, needless to say. After putting his speedo halfway on after that, Cuba also shows some buttcrack towards the camera (the second-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which the audience goes absolutely WILD at.
— Kinda interesting seeing Mango as a family man at home.
STARS: **½
LOTTO
Lotto appeals to the can-do American spirit of human achievement
— I almost mistook this for a real commercial at first, because it aired right in the middle of a commercial break that was left intact in the copy I’m watching of this episode. If you watch the same copy of the episode I’m watching and fast-forward through this commercial break, you’d probably miss this fake ad.
— Ehh, not much of a punchline here. The joke of these Lotto ads has gotten old.
STARS: **
MARTHA STEWART LIVING
Martha Stewart’s (ANG) Mother’s Day gifts hint at bitter familial ties
— A Mother’s Day-related Martha Stewart Living sketch? Are we getting a Joan Allen cameo, reprising her fantastic role as Martha Stewart’s mother?
— Nope, looks like there’s going to be no Joan Allen cameo. Too bad. I’m sure this sketch will still work, though, as these Martha Stewart Living parodies are always reliable.
— A big laugh from the drawing Martha Stewart’s daughter made portraying Martha as the devil.
— Martha Stewart: “My daughter sent me this ceramic Snoopy sleeping on a soccer ball. What the hell?”
— Martha Stewart: “About 10 years ago, my husband gave me this house and the finger. I haven’t heard from him since.”
STARS: ****
BACKSTAGE
bristling at the Monica Lewinsky hype, host wants more attention
— Pretty funny random opening bit about a Lincoln sketch that Tracy wants him and Cuba to do together.
— Good turn with Cuba being angry over getting overshadowed by Monica Lewinsky. I’ve always wondered if in reality, he truly did feel at least a little frustrated that Monica got booked as a special guest on what was supposed to be his week, but he seems like someone who’s a good sport.
— Cheri’s Barbara Walters, regarding Monica Lewinsky on SNL: “Monica could be their biggest ratings since Sinead went postal on the pope!”
— When Cuba’s complaining about what it’s like for an SNL host to be overshadowed by a scandalous guest, I like the bit about how nobody remembers who hosted the episode that Sinead O’Connor tore a picture of the pope in. Aww, poor Tim Robbins.
— Tracy: “(while shaking Lorne’s hand) H-hi, I’m Tracy Morgan!” Lorne: “(deadpan)……Right. (*immediately walks away*)”
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. Minus two bad recurring sketches (Pretty Living and Mango, though the latter had a few fun moments from Cuba Gooding Jr.), this episode flowed pretty well and had good stuff throughout. Even Weekend Update was better than it usually is this season. The somewhat heavy focus on special guest Monica Lewinsky throughout this episode also didn’t hurt the show as much as some people at the time might have been worried it would.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a very slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 24 comes to an end, with host Sarah Michelle Gellar
Too bad that Jim Downey’s sketch where Monica was presented the official Presidential Kneepads was shot down by Lewinsky’s people. And too bad, too, that Lewinsky had “people” that could shoot such things down. But that’s showbiz.
Did censors care THAT much, though? I mean, we got nude Rob Schneider (on screen even) as “The Sensitive Naked Guy.”
Do you know if there were any other plans for Monica that didn’t go anywhere? The end of the episode feels extremely empty – after the end of the Baba Wawa runner, we get a long band shot and then a long goodnights. I kept wondering why we didn’t get something like Baba actually meeting Monica, or even Monica and Molly Shannon interacting. Having that runner not end with her encountering Monica just seemed odd.
Did they really use the same bumper of Cuba four times!?
Also, I just saw somewhere that Monica was originally going to play Mango’s wife
I’ve always found that SNL sketches that go meta are almost always based on real behind the scenes events. So I have no doubt that the annoyance over Lewinsky dominating the show was real.
An article from around the time of the episode, with ratings and Lorne comments (among others he’s asked why the audience wasn’t more supportive of Lewinsky).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/shales051099.htm
I wonder if anyone 20 years ago would’ve guessed Monica would be in a much better place than Cuba Gooding Jr. Cuba was a very likeable host and I sort of wish we’d seen him one more time in these years. I wonder if this is where he and Horatio planned for Boat Trip.
On paper, I would say this type of stunt casting should have felt grimy, as it did years later with Stormy Daniels, but Monica is likeable enough to make some rehash material feel fresher – this was one of the best Ladies Man sketches I can remember. Considering the runner suggesting she was a huge presence in the episode, her actual role is fairly limited. That may also explain why the audience had little reaction to the runner.
The Bible miniseries sketch had a promising idea but the execution felt half-hearted to me (and the end gave me that familiar Horatio cringe). Mango was the usual, which isn’t much of a compliment – I’m sure Chris Kattan screaming “homogay” as we learn that Mango has a wife and child was supposed to be clever, but all it told me was they could play gay for cheap laughs but not write it for real.
The lotto runner I thought had good second and third entries (I too missed that third one initially); the first didn’t quite work for me as I thought they were heading to something darker than a lotto ad, like a cult joke or something. Ambiguously Gay Duo was fine, but aside from the sly inclusion of Betty, Veronica and Archie, it felt very been there, done that.
Pretty good Update. Colin’s joke about Kattan made me do a double take, yet the audience had no real response. I guess the gay jokes about Kattan were everywhere by this point.
My favorite part of the episode was Parnell, Jimmy and Tim jumping up and down in the goodnights. One of the reasons I’m always happy when we get longer goodnights and get to see more reactions.
I forgot about the Pretty Living sketch – I enjoy your hatred of these things but normally I can tolerate them a tad more. Not this time. When they start singing I just want to snap. It’s so hideously self-indulgent in some of the worst ways of recent decades and you can feel how much this character influenced future SNL writers.
I remember Cuba’s strip routine getting some notice at this time – strangely it’s the only memory I have of the episode as I wasn’t watching a ton of this season.