Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES
Bill Clinton (DAH) points out GOP presidential hopefuls’ weaknesses
— Very early in this cold opening, when Darrell’s President Clinton begins to talk about the bad week the Clinton presidency suffered, a loud crash is heard from off-camera somewhere in SNL’s studio. Darrell briefly shifts his eyes in the direction of the crash in a humorous way while continuing to say his scripted dialogue. The sound of the loud crash would later be muted out in reruns, though you can still see Darrell shifting his eyes in the direction of the crash.
— I love this premise of Darrell’s Clinton doing a breakdown of each republican presidential hopeful.
— Bill Clinton, on Al Gore: “He’s as dull as sober missionary sex with someone you know.”
— I like Clinton’s comment about how Steve Forbes looks like someone at a 7-11 after a midnight showing of Fritz The Cat.
— Good bit with Clinton realizing his own similarities to George W. Bush.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
— For some reason, they’ve temporarily done away with the 25th anniversary SNL logo in the opening montage, and are back to using the regular SNL logo from season 24’s opening montage.
As if that wasn’t weird enough, the respective photo of Jimmy Fallon and Chris Kattan have also reverted back to the old respective photo of them from season 24’s montage.
What’s the reason for these changes in tonight’s montage? IIRC, these changes only last for tonight’s episode.
MONOLOGUE
host’s twin sister Bettina (RAD) wishes they were still an acting team
— I love Christina Ricci’s line about how she’s watched the “original” SNL cast, with David Spade, Adam Sandler, and Tim Meadows. SNL would go on to occasionally use a similar joke in monologues from other young hosts in their late teens/early 20s, like Justin Timberlake (in his first hosting stint) and Taylor Swift, the latter going even further with the joke by having all of the “old” cast members that Swift mentions be people who were actually still in the cast at the time (Bill Hader and Andy Samberg).
— Just now, Christina has said that she’s never worked on live TV before. Uh, what about the two live SNL cameos she made in the early 90s as a child actress to promote the two Addams Family movies she was in?
— I can see how they came up with the idea of Rachel playing Christina’s twin, as there’s some similarities between their eyes.
— Funny part with Rachel and Christina communicating to each other in their secret twin language.
STARS: ***½
HOLIDAY PARADE
at holiday parade, (host) disses Craig & steals Arianna’s boyfriend (JIF)
— Very cool how the preceding monologue transitioned into this Cheerleaders sketch, by having the camera pan from the home base stage where the monologue was taking place to the set where the Cheerleaders sketch is taking place. I can think of only two later episodes where SNL would do this same transition from a monologue to the first sketch: Gwyneth Paltrow’s episode from season 27 and Drew Barrymore’s episode from season 32.
— Believe it or not, this is the first Cheerleaders sketch in over a year. This also ends up being the final Cheerleaders sketch.
— It looks a little weird seeing 1999 Will Ferrell still doing a Cheerleaders sketch. He looks a bit different and is noticeably a little doughier at this point than he was around 1995-1997 when Cheerleaders sketches were very common.
— Craig yelling “SCREEEEEECH!!!” in a loud, high-pitched voice is cracking me up.
— I like the little part with Arianna briefly stopping in the middle of her wild make-out session with Jimmy’s character to have water squirted into her mouth by Craig.
— Arianna, upon hearing that her boyfriend isn’t wearing any underwear: “Oh my god, Craig, my boyfriend is freeballing!”
— Overall, not bad for what ends up being the Cheerleaders’ final sketch. Much like what I said about Mary Katherine Gallagher in my review of her final sketch, I’m pleasantly surprised by how tolerant I’ve been of the Cheerleaders in my reviews. Before I reached this SNL era in my project, I was absolutely dreading having to eventually cover all of the Cheerleaders sketches, but I ended up finding them to not be too bad, for the most part, and I’ve found that the characters of Craig and Arianna have a charm to them.
STARS: ***
AND SO THIS IS CHANUKAH
star-packed special is vaguely Judaism-related
— A very funny Tori Amos impression from Molly, especially when she gets overly sensual and starts basically giving fellatio to the microphone in front of her before the camera quickly cuts away.
— I like Tim’s D’Angelo scene with him singing about wanting his girl’s “Chanukah bush”.
— Christina-as-Britney-Spears’ line about “forgiving our Jewish friends for killing our lord” would end up causing some controversy in real life, though apparently not enough to remove that line from reruns, as I remember it was still left intact in NBC’s summer 2000 rerun of this episode, which was my very first viewing of it.
— Terrence Trent D’Arby was still relevant in 1999? This sketch named him among the rapid-fire listing-off of then-popular singers who will be performing in this Chanukah special.
— Why is Kattan lipsyncing to someone else’s voice during his Ricky Martin bit? Regardless, he’s doing a pretty fun parody of “Livin’ La Vida Loca”.
STARS: ***½
WHO WANTS TO EAT
Bosnian refugee (host) seeks sustenance on game show
— A very funny and clever concept for a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parody. However, I recall an SNL reviewer from 1999 claiming that SNL stole this premise from The Onion. No idea if that’s true or not.
— I love how Darrell’s Regis Philbin in this sketch is named Rajneesh Philbin and has a more ethnic look while still speaking in his regular voice.
— Funny bit with Christina instantly guessing Sally Struthers as the answer to the question before Rajneesh Philbin can even list off the options. Took me a few seconds to get why Christina’s character would be so familiar with Sally Struthers.
— Christina: “Can’t I have the rice?” Rajneesh Philbin: “No, I’m sorry, we’re feeding it to the goat.”
STARS: ****
TAXICAB CONFESSIONS
stripper (host) distracts cabbie (TIM) with sex talk
— Kinda funny how this is Tim’s second time playing a taxi driver in a Taxicab Confessions parody, after season 20’s George Clooney episode.
— I like the various lighting effects SNL is using to make it look like the taxi is driving in a street. Other times, SNL would’ve simply used a greenscreen background.
— Some good laughs from Tim suddenly making sharp turns with the cab after each time he’s gotten distracted by Christina.
— Tim, to Christina: “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you having sex.”
— Hilarious part with a body crashing into the windshield of the taxi while Tim has his head turned towards Christina.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Millennium Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- the Friends are oblivious to the apocalypse
— Kinda interesting seeing a Friends parody on SNL just one episode after Jennifer Aniston hosted.
— The Y2K-fueled apocalyptic chaos in the background is pretty funny, as is how the Friends characters are completely unaware of it.
— Funny visual of the Antichrist first being represented by a giant superimposed Adolf Hitler head and then transforming into a giant superimposed head of certain other famous people one-by-one: Sally Jessy Raphael, Donald Trump (a transformation even more relevant today than it was when this originally aired in 1999), and… some other people I don’t recognize. Anyone know who they are? (screencaps below)
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
WTO spokesman Jacob Silj (WIF) can’t modulate the volume of his voice
— Colin: “The delay of the WTO conference until yesterday was seen as nothing short of evidence that America is gripped by madness and anarchy. Now what would ever give people that idea?” (a picture of a “Trump for President” poster shows up on the Weekend Update news screen)
— Man, Colin’s Hillary Clinton joke bombed HARD.
— Some pretty cringey and lame jokes from Colin so far tonight.
— Colin finally had a joke that I liked, but then he ruined it by actually explaining the punchline afterwards. Jesus Christ, Colin, give the audience credit – we GOT the joke on our own.
— It’s become a running joke lately for an Update punchline to be a Chris Gaines photo placed onto something unrelated to him.
— The debut of Will’s voice immodulation character, Jacob Silj.
— Will is hilarious as this character, especially his offended loud remarks to Colin, and his failed attempt to make a quiet aside to himself.
— Nice touch at the end of this Update with Jacob Silj following Colin’s usual “that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it” sign-off by saying “That’s a stupid tagline, if you ask me.”
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mixed Bizness”
GOTH TALK
Circe, Baron Nocturna, (host) conduct Azrael’s funeral
— Much like the Cheerleaders, Goth Talk makes its first appearance in over a year. I recall hearing that the reason for the long absence of Goth Talk sketches is because of the notorious Columbine school shooting from April of this year (1999). In the wake of that tragedy, SNL reportedly didn’t feel comfortable continuing to do a recurring sketch making fun of goth teens, due to misconceptions about the two Columbine shooters being goths.
— Also like the Cheerleaders, this ends up being the final Goth Talk sketch. However, Molly and Kattan’s characters from this recurring sketch do appear in one more sketch: a Blair Witch parody in the following season’s Charlize Theron episode.
— Some laughs from Azrael Abyss’ horrifying 9th grade yearbook picture.
— Pretty funny visual of Will showing up in both his goth makeup and his job uniform.
— Like I said in my review of the preceding Goth Talk installment, this sketch is missing something without Jim Breuer’s character.
— I love how the “spooky” clip of Azrael turns out to be an embarrassing childish Christmas video of him from just a few years ago when he still would’ve been in his teens. Kattan is so convincingly childlike in his actions and delivery in this clip.
STARS: ***
SALLY
Sally Jessy Raphael (ANG) unsuccessfully tries to tame wild teen (host)
— Funny seeing a Sally Jessy Raphael sketch after she was one of the celebrities portrayed as the Antichrist in the TV Funhouse from earlier tonight.
— Christina’s character is such a spot-on parody of wild teens on trashy daytime talk shows from this era.
— Christina: “Sally, you know you want me!” Sally Jessy Raphael: “That is a whole other show.”
— In what’s supposed to be a fake punch to Ana’s nose, Christina actually connects the punch by accident (the third above screencap for this sketch). Christina then immediately drops character, says “Oh!”, and has a look of genuine concern on her face while covering her mouth in shock (the fourth above screencap for this sketch), before getting back into character.
— A very funny part about guests of the show staying in Lorimer Dog Cages.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Christina being replaced as Molly’s daughter by an unknown Asian girl.
— The chaotic ending scene is a bit much for me, though I am laughing at a now-blind Tracy beating on the Asian girl with a bat.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sexx Laws”
IN MEMORIAM
clip of Madeline Kahn’s “I Feel Pretty” SNL performance marks her passing
— A brief clip is shown of a fantastic season 1 sketch with Madeline Kahn, who passed away just a day before tonight’s episode. A very sad loss.
— An eerie SNL-related thing I recall seeing someone once point out about Madeline Kahn’s death: the musical guest of her last SNL episode, Bush, was also the musical guest of the last Phil Hartman-hosted episode. Both Madeline and Phil would meet an untimely death just a few years after their aforementioned last SNL episode. Yikes, let’s just be grateful that Bush never appeared as a musical guest a third time.
— I wish this tribute clip to Madeline was longer (my review of this is much longer than the clip itself was), but even this brief clip is more than what SNL sometimes does in more recent years when a former host passes away, where SNL just shows a bumper picture of said host from an episode they hosted.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently decent episode. While there weren’t many things that stood out as great to me, the show flowed fairly well and had no sketches that I disliked.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jennifer Aniston)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
The 1990s come to an end, as does the 20th century (I won’t say millennium, because I know some people will nitpick that this particular millennium technically didn’t end until December 31, 2000). Danny DeVito hosts the final episode of both the decade and century.