February 5, 2000 – Alan Cumming / Jennifer Lopez (S25 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BREAKFAST IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
presidential candidates have breakfast after the New Hampshire primary

— Darrell’s Al Gore impression, still in its early stages, is slowly starting to sound like how it would famously go on to later sound, though it’s still got a way to go.
— Will’s George W. Bush impression, on the other hand, remains not even close. His Bush continues to not have any of the specific Bush mannerisms that his impression would later become famous for. All that being said, his Bush portrayal in this cold opening is still funny, and they are at least introducing hints of the soon-to-be-famous aspect of his Bush being “slow”.
— Funny bit about Parnell’s John McCain only being comfortable eating with a blindfold.
— Good to see Tim’s Marvin The Martian-sounding Alan Keyes impression for the first time since way back in season 21’s Tom Arnold episode.
— I love Tim’s Keyes panickedly bolting out of the room when Parnell’s McCain realizes Keyes stole his copy of USA Today.
— The ending of this cold opening would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version. The most noticeable difference is Parnell’s “Live From New York…” delivery: in the live version, he delivers it in a frenzied way with a smile, whereas in the dress version, he delivers it in a sort-of scared manner with a surprised look on his face.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— After sounding awful in the last episode, Don Pardo is out tonight with, I believe, laryngitis. Darrell Hammond fills in for him once again. Darrell seems to be going for a Don Pardo impression in his announcements tonight, but it’s not as defined as the Pardo impression he did in the preceding season’s James Van Der Beek episode.


MONOLOGUE
host is besieged by Broadway-wannabes CHO, CHK, ANG, CHP, TRM, WIF

— I can tell I’m not going to be too crazy about this Broadway-centric monologue, but hopefully, the performances will make this somewhat fun.
— A good laugh from Alan Cumming’s “Cumming on Cumming” joke.
— Parnell entering in a Phantom Of The Opera mask is fairly funny.
— Tracy dancing around in a Cats costume is hilarious.
STARS: **½


UNCLE JEMIMA’S PURE MASH LIQUOR
Uncle Jemima’s (TRM) Pure Mash Liquor is his bid to escape wife’s shadow

— Tracy’s performance as Uncle Jemima is slaying me. He is fantastic in this.
— Uncle Jemima, on something he once told Aunt Jemima: “Black folk ain’t exactly swellin’ up with pride on account of you flippin’ flapjacks.”
— Uncle Jemima: “Uncle Jemima’s Pure Mash Liquor has a 95% alcohol content, and that’s per volume.” Tim: “What the hell does that mean?” Uncle Jemima: “That means you get (bleep)ed up for less money.”
— Tim’s “What’choo swattin’ at?!?” is perfect.
— Solid ending with Tracy being chased out of the commercial by the animated birds flying around him.
— Overall, a Tracy Morgan classic, with some nice assistance from Tim.
STARS: *****


FRIED CHICKEN FIELDS FOREVER
VH-1 depicts John Lennon (JIF) & Paul McCartney (host) as restauranteurs

— Funny reveal of Lennon and McCartney opening a chain of fried chicken restaurants, as the filmmakers’ way of working around the network not having rights to any of the Beatles’ music.
— Not much of an attempt at a Paul McCartney impression from Alan.
— The “Number 9? Number 9? Number 9?” scene is very funny.
— At the end of the aforementioned “Number 9?” scene, you can hear a female stagehand’s voice (probably the stage manager) whispering “Alan, you can change!”
— What the heck is going on? The timing in this sketch has gotten really wonky all of a sudden. Alan and Jimmy are badly off on their cues. In fact, I’m pretty sure Alan completely screwed up the quick scene he did in which he pushes a mop & bucket while making some kind of complaint about about the “ladies’ crapper”; he seemed to do that scene much earlier than he was supposed to. Yikes!
— Parnell’s occasional off-camera angry yelling at Lennon and McCartney is cracking me up.
— Funny ending regarding the altered title of the movie.
— Overall, not a bad script, but the execution needed some work. Thankfully, the timing issues in this sketch would later be fixed in reruns.
STARS: **½


TANDEM HEARTS
Marty & Bobby perform a medley with couples workshop organizer (host)

— Alan’s American accent here is making me laugh.
— The Culps’ pre-song banter is funny as usual.
— After the last Culps installment with Dylan McDermott, it now seems to be becoming a regular thing for hosts to join the Culps in their song medley.
— Like McDermott, Alan is adding a fun vibe to the medley, though he’s not quite as funny as McDermott was in his Culps sketch.
— The funniest parts of tonight’s Culps/Cumming song medley are their singing of Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie” and the “You’re the One That I Want” song from Grease.
STARS: ***½


DOG SHOW
an intervention addresses Mr. Bojangles’ drinking problem

— I got a laugh from how we’re told that Mr. Bojangles isn’t dressed in his proper costume because he got wasted at a friend’s birthday party.
— For some reason, Alan’s delivery here is kinda reminding me of Eric Idle. I like that.
— Will, speaking for Mr. Bojangles: “Can I just say one thing, or is this Russia?”
— Overall, slightly better than the last two Dog Show installments, but I still feel these Dog Show sketches have lost their luster after the first two installments.
STARS: **½


THE HEAT IS ON
by Adam McKay- (BES) regrets bedding Glenn Frey (WIF)

 

— Hmm, “SNL Studios presents: A short film by Adam McKay”. Well… this is certainly different for this SNL era.
— As if the sudden appearance of an Adam McKay short film wasn’t out-of-left-field enough, we now see that this film randomly stars Ben Stiller.
— An interesting thing about Ben Stiller in this film is that the reason he quit SNL during his stint as a featured player in season 14 is reportedly because he was upset that SNL wouldn’t let him do short films on the show. 11 years later, and this Adam McKay film kinda makes up for that in a way, even if that’s unintentional on McKay’s part.
— Ben Stiller: “Come tomorrow morning, I’m gonna have Glenn Frey’s stank all over me.”
— Will’s cocky portrayal of Glenn Frey is very funny.
— I can let the tired “men kissing men for cheap laughs” trope slide in this film, because Will is freakin’ hilarious during this bizarre kissing sequence.
— The love-making montage is priceless, especially the close-up of Will’s Frey furiously grunting in a disturbing manner (the third-to-last above screencap for this film).
— Unlike most SNL short films, we actually get ending credits in this one, listing the actors and production staff.
— Overall, a hilarious film, and a solid introduction to the film work that Adam McKay will be doing on SNL this next season-and-a-half.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Feelin’ So Good”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Great Moments in Black History- TRM offers an autobiography
Bill Clinton (DAH) says “my successor will be boring; you’ll miss me”

 

— Colin’s voice is cracking at times during this Update, which he eventually points out.
— An interesting-seeming Black History segment with Tracy, taking place on a different set.
— I love seeing a childhood picture of Tracy (the fifth above screencap for this Update).
— Tracy is quite stumbly throughout this commentary.
— An overall decent Tracy commentary with a few really good laughs, but the commentary felt like it should’ve gone further.
— A big laugh from Darrell’s President Clinton asking “You’re gonna miss me, aren’t you?” after going on about how overly straitlaced and well-behaved the next president is going to be. (Turns out that prediction would end up being off by only one presidency. “Overly straitlaced” and “well-behaved” would describe Obama more than Bush Jr.)
— The premise of this Clinton commentary is starting to feel a little like a rehash of the cold opening Darrell’s Clinton did earlier this season in the Christina Ricci episode, but he’s making this a lot of fun.
— Clinton’s promises of the wild things he’ll do for the remainder of his presidency are very funny.
STARS: **½


SIEGFRIED AND ROY’S NIGHT OF 1000 TIGERS
Siegfried (host) & Roy’s (CHK) Night of 1000 Tigers is a wildlife benefit

— Very funny make-up on Cheri as the famous cat-looking woman.
— A few minutes later into this sketch, and this sketch hasn’t been doing much for me.
— I love Alan’s ad-lib when the smoke blocks his view of the cue cards.
STARS: **


HELLO DOLLY
(host)’s collectible creations are a vehicle for psychoses

— I like Ana’s passing mention of her marriage being ruined by “Hurricane Carol”.
— Funny line from Alan, regarding him being a “knock-kneed scab-picker” in his childhood.
— Another funny line from Alan, telling critics of his Husky Doodle doll, “I’d just like to spray you down with a little can of hush.”
— An overall okay Hello Dolly sketch, though I’m starting to get a little tired of Ana’s character’s constant mentions of troubled things in her life.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Waiting For Tonight”


BAND SHOT

— The show comes back from commercial just to show the SNL Band immediately playing the show back to commercial. As I said in my review of season 21’s Christopher Walken episode, that’s always a sign that the show has run long and had to cut a scheduled sketch at the last minute.


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty unmemorable episode. A few highlights, but I wasn’t too crazy about the show as a whole, and I’m having a hard time remembering a lot of sketches even right after having just watched this episode. Alan Cumming was a pretty fun and solid host, and had an English-type wit about him. I just wish he was given better material.
— This season’s been having a bit of a forgettable run of episodes lately. The Jennifer Aniston episode from all the way back in November was the last episode I was crazy about.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Freddie Prinze Jr.)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Julianna Margulies

9 Replies to “February 5, 2000 – Alan Cumming / Jennifer Lopez (S25 E11)”

  1. This was a very strange episode; I remember Cumming was a last-minute booking (I can’t remember how far in advance he was announced).

    I have to admit I liked this Dog Show better than the others, mainly for the drunken answering machine message from “Mr. Bojangles” (“I think I’m in Mexico!”)

    Big Pun was supposed to appear with Jennifer Lopez that night, but withdrew at the last minute, and he died two days later. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/09/arts/christopher-rios-28-rapper-recorded-under-name-big-pun.html

  2. It’s funny re-watching this episode with J.Lo having just performed at the Super Bowl. I think she may look even better now. Also love how Colin calls out the one person cheering for Ray Lewis. One of his better ad-libs.

  3. Wasn’t Jon Stewart originally booked for this one?

    I don’t care if I am in the minority, but I do enjoy it when the show runs short and we get band shots.

  4. Yes I remember there being some sort of news with Cumming hosting. As Ben mentioned he was a last minute choice and I seem to recall a bunch of the cast were pushing for hm to host and some backstage were fighting it thinking he wasn’t a big enough star

  5. I remember the day that Big Pun died, too. Very sad. He rapped with Fat Joe on J. Lo’s “Feelin’ So Good”. Fat Joe made it to SNL, but Pun didn’t.

  6. Anyone catch Fallon’s Farley-esque “I’m an idiot!” moment in the cold open? I forgot exactly what the line was but remember always thinking that was either intentional or maybe was just a case of Fallon clearly being so influenced by the Farley/Sandler cast that he slipped into some of their mannerisms sometimes.

    I did like the return of getting short films again, this time from McKay. The shot of Brian Stack from Conan randomly joining in as another guy for one brief shot and then vanishing always made me laugh and confused me at the same time. I think the Pawn Stars one with Horatio and Buscemi was always my favorite of them. Horatio in particular always managed to stand out in those McKay shorts, even when in bits parts like the Neil Armstrong one.

  7. This is another of those episodes that I only had a vague memory of (the “Cumming on Cumming” line) and more came back to me when I started watching – particularly the short film and the Siegfried & Roy sketch. The short film continues the theme of these years that I find repulsive in of itself (a twofer of lolgay and lolmenbeingraped), but Adam McKay’s work is very well-crafted for what it is, and Ben Stiller is absolutely fantastic. Will is also pretty good even though he’s done this type of role many times (even by this point). Siegfried & Roy is a sketch I enjoyed more than I probably should have – Kattan and Cumming click, and Cheri is incredibly fun as the “Cat Lady” who was such a tabloid headline in these years.

    Considering the high number of technical goofs in this episode, and this being his first time hosting, Cumming handles the hosting gig well. He’s charming and funny and a bit cheeky in the right way. I’m sorry he never hosted again, although at least he seems to have fond memories of the show, as he’s written about it on his site and went to their 40th.

    I wish the Culps in this one had been a tad bit better, although it did give me an earworm (for many years I’ve wondered why I have that flat version of “She’s So High” in my head – now I know).

    The cold open is pretty good, helped by not going the expected route (as shown in the very same episode) and having white men in yellowface. I’m trying to remember if they ever had such tough jokes about McCain after he became a friend of the show.

    Mash Liquor is just perfect. It’s a shame Tracy’s other piece in the episode is so marred by stumbles.

    I wonder if Lorne threw in the parody of that VH1 movie because the movie was based on the claim that John and Paul watched the SNL episode when he offered the Beatles money to reunite. It seemed pretty flimsy, in spite of a good premise.

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