Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
Rudolph Giuliani (DAH) & Hillary Clinton (ANG) on adulterous politicians
— I always like Darrell’s Rudy Giuliani impression.
— Some laughs from the goals Darrell’s Giuliani lists off, such as “Get my cops to stop shooting old black people.”
— Ana has some decent lines as Hillary.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— After debuting in just the last episode, Maya Rudolph has ALREADY been removed from the opening montage. Don’t be mistaken, she hasn’t been Emily Prager-ed or Laurie Metcalf-ed (the terms used for when a cast member lasts only one episode), she’s just not appearing in tonight’s episode. I guess SNL’s experimenting a bit by going back to their old practice of only crediting some of the featured players on certain weeks instead of crediting them on a regular basis. As we’ll soon see, upcoming season 26 hire Jerry Minor will go through this at an early point in that season.
MONOLOGUE
host unsuccessfully refutes rumors that she lip-syncs & has fake boobs
— A fairly funny, though simple, lip-sync bit.
— A good laugh from the bit with Britney’s breasts moving by themselves while she refutes rumors of having breast implants. I’d like to think that SNL is using the same special effect they used in a similar memorable bit that Pamela Stephenson once did on the show 16 years earlier.
— Wow, it’s over already? A surprisingly VERY short monologue, but it was pretty good for what it was, and was also pretty impressive that Britney could carry a solo monologue.
STARS: ***
GAP FAT
HOS & other khaki-clad plus-size people dance to “Cool”
— A spot-on and hilarious shot-by-shot parody of an actual Gap ad from this time. This is probably still funny to viewers who aren’t familiar with the source material this is spoofing.
— Horatio’s dancing is very funny, as is the close-up of him mouthing the words “real cool” to the camera.
STARS: ****
MORNING LATTE
disgruntled former Mouseketeer (host) slams Britney Spears
— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch.
— Boy, Cheri’s voice is absolutely SHOT. She must have come down with laryngitis. For this reason, this ends up being the only sketch she appears in all night, not including a musical guest intro that she does with her mother later tonight.
— Cheri, on how hot the weather is: “Hey, Janet Reno, did you put a gun in spring’s face and send it back to Cuba too?”
— Cheri’s character now mentions in passing that she has laryngitis, as SNL’s way of working Cheri’s voice problems into the sketch.
— Cheri: “I am sweating like a prostitute in church.”
— Cheri: “I believe that people should be judged based solely on their appearance.”
— I’m laughing at how Will and Cheri are scared of Britney’s hood character.
— Good characterization from Britney.
— Cheri attempting to imitate Britney’s crotch-grabbing dance move is quite a funny visual.
— An overall pretty solid final installment of this sketch, and Cheri in particular had a lot of good moments. A good way for this sketch to go out.
STARS: ***½
COLONIAL MUSEUM
Sully & Denise meet butter churner (host) at a colonial history museum
— Sully, to Britney, in regards to her low-cut colonial dress: “Hey, where’d you get that dress, Ye Olde House of Juggery?”
— I got a pretty good laugh from Denise’s line about how Sully’s mother’s breast milk is like Bailey’s Irish Cream.
— Hilarious line from Denise about getting fired from her last job for using a foot measurer inappropriately.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Trouble Coming Twice” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo at the NBA Finals
— Wow, this is the first Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon in a fairly long while. As funny as these AGD cartoons are, I can understand why Robert Smigel is phasing them out.
— A big laugh from the visual of Ace and Gary in Village People costumes.
— The villains’ floating robotic device has a lot of funny dialogue.
— I like the change of pace with this AGD cartoon having a climactic scene taking place at the NBA Finals.
— Great visual of Gary suggestively blowing on the bird villain’s beak after squeezing it into a phallic shape.
— A hilarious ending shot of Ace patting Shaquille O’Neal’s bare butt in the L.A. Lakers’ locker room.
STARS: ****
WOODROW
smitten host is serenaded by Woodrow (TRM) at his place in the sewer
— I love the idea of this odd character for Tracy, who’s playing this role perfectly.
— Very funny line from Woodrow about stealing a mailbox because it has secrets about him.
— Woodrow’s absolute nonsense song with insane, non-sequitur lyrics is priceless and memorable.
— I’m loving how this sketch has both great humor and genuine sweetness, the latter feeling rare for this era.
— Overall, a Tracy Morgan classic.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Sarah Michelle Gellar [real] introduces host
— Random cameo, needless to say. It’s always welcome to see Sarah Michelle Gellar on SNL, though. It would’ve been nice to see her in an actual sketch tonight… oh, wait, that comes next week.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Oops!…I Did It Again”
WEEKEND UPDATE
CHP performs a hardcore rap about going on a dream date with host
Angelina Jolie’s (MOS) brother James (CHK) is upset that she got married
— Very nice to see Parnell doing an Update commentary as himself for a change.
— Parnell’s song unexpectedly turning out to be a hardcore rap song is freakin’ hilarious.
— Parnell’s rapping is INCREDIBLE. Who would’ve guessed at the time that he, of all people, could rap like that?
— So many great little things throughout Parnell’s rap, such as him doing the rhythmic tilted head turns (I can’t come up with a better description of that move) and the way he censors himself from saying “shit”.
— I love Parnell’s final lyric, mentioning that he has a “mother effin’” date with the special guest we just saw earlier tonight, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
— An overall absolutely amazing Chris Parnell commentary, and a great breakout moment for him. I also love hearing the huge audience reception he gets after he finishes his song.
— Humorously, a male audience member can be heard groaning after Colin’s mention of Paula Jones being in negotiations to pose nude for Penthouse. Colin has a somewhat funny reaction to that groan.
— All throughout this Update, Colin keeps fanning his face with the papers in his hand. I guess it really IS unbearably hot in New York at this time, as was mentioned earlier tonight in the Morning Latte sketch. Doesn’t SNL have air conditioning in their studio?
— Pretty spot-on casting of Jimmy as Billy Bob Thornton, as I can see somewhat of a facial resemblance. SNL later gets mileage out of this facial resemblance when Billy Bob Thornton hosts in season 27, by casting him as Jimmy’s father in a Nick Burns sketch.
— Pretty funny turn with the Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob Thornton commentary being crashed by Kattan as Angelina’s brother.
— Rachel returns as her deformed lovechild character, Qrplt*xk. This character of Rachel’s is always good for a big laugh, but are we supposed to forget the fact that in the previous Angelina Jolie commentary on Update a few episodes ago, it was revealed that Qrplt*xk was just an act put on by a professional child actor?
— Jimmy’s having a hard time staying fully in character throughout this commentary. There’s too much of a jokey demeanor in his performance here.
— Haha, boy, this Jolie/Thornton commentary is getting INSANE.
STARS: **½
AUDITION
dance moves of Kyle DeMarco & brother Sean (CHP) reflect host’s lyrics
— The return of a one-off Chris Kattan sketch from way back in season 22, now with the addition of Parnell as Kattan’s brother, a duo that would go on to become recurring characters.
— Feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of Tim Meadows as we get closer and closer to the end of this final season of his. Is this sketch his ONLY appearance all night? And he looks really bored during this sketch, though I’m aware that’s just him acting in character.
— A good laugh from the anal sex position Parnell and Kattan hold a frozen pose with when the lyric “I’m not that innocent” is played at the end of the snippet of the song “Oops!…I Did It Again”.
— Tim: “We gotta keep this thing moving, because if we don’t, I may have to shoot myself in the face.” That is such a perfect Tim Meadows-y line, much like his “I’m gonna take this nightstick and hit ya in the head” line from the preceding episode’s Bloater Brothers sketch. Good to see that SNL’s still getting some good mileage out of Tim’s delivery in this late stage of his SNL tenure.
— I just know I’m gonna get sick of this recurring sketch very soon, just as much as the next guy, but honestly, I haven’t been hating tonight’s installment so far. Maybe because it’s the first installment with both DeMarco brothers, so I’m going a little easy on it, or maybe because I’m on such a Chris Parnell high tonight after his amazing rap on Weekend Update. There’s a goofiness to this sketch that I’m finding a little charming (especially from Parnell), though not particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***
AMERICA’S WORST MOMENTS
America’s Worst Moments commemorative plates immortalize cultural shames
— After such a serious beginning regarding the Elian Gonzalez saga, we get a very funny reveal of the infamous “a terrified Elian Gonzalez being captured by soldiers” picture being proudly displayed in a commemorative plate.
— Great premise of embarrassing events in American history being celebrated in commemorative plates. I especially like the mention of the “Clarence Thomas coke can” incident.
— Parnell is so perfect for this. He’s having such a strong night in tonight’s episode in general.
— Ah, I see SNL recognizes that tonight’s episode is the 10th anniversary of the controversial SNL episode that Andrew Dice Clay hosted (May 12, 1990), as they mention him in this sketch as one of the examples of America’s worst moments. Nah, I know the mention of him in tonight’s episode is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with the 10th anniversary of his SNL hosting stint; I’m just a nerd when it comes to coincidental similarities between SNL episodes that happen to have a corresponding airdate.
STARS: ****
COMEBACK TOUR
on-stage, band of abusive diva Deandra Wells (ANG) reaches breaking point
— There’s Parnell ONCE AGAIN tonight. This is really his night. I’m very happy to see this happening to such an underappreciated performer.
— An interesting new character for Ana, who’s doing her usual solid job here.
— Strangely, you can see loose pieces of scotch tape holding up Ana’s long fake fingernails (the second above screencap for this sketch).
— I got a pretty good laugh from Ana’s message to a “huge” audience member in the crowd.
— Funny cutaway to Will’s angry speechless facial expression in reaction to a passive-aggressively rude thing that Ana’s telling him.
— A great sudden turn with Parnell’s FURIOUS outburst at Ana. Fantastic delivery from Parnell here.
— Pretty funny ending with Ana awkwardly going back to her song after getting chewed out by her disgruntled band.
STARS: ***½
UNCLE JEMIMA’S PURE MASH LIQUOR
Rerun from 2/5/00
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
CHO wishes her mom [real] Happy Mother’s Day & introduces host
— A nice Mother’s Day moment between Cheri and her mom. It also comes off somewhat as a bittersweet Cheri Oteri moment in retrospect, considering this ends up being Cheri’s second-to-last episode as a cast member.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, containing nothing that I disliked (aside from some Colin Quinn portions of Weekend Update). Even the weakest sketch of the night, The DeMarco Brothers, was still tolerable for me. For a young pop singer, Britney Spears was not bad as a host. Her childhood experience in The Mickey Mouse Club probably helped her work well in SNL sketches, as it would her fellow Mouseketeer-turned-pop-singers who would later do an impressive job hosting SNL: Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. And it can’t be said enough what a strong night Chris Parnell had in this episode. I recall an SNL fan or two saying that this was the episode that made them finally start to really take notice of Parnell.
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 fairly big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 25 comes to an end, with host Jackie Chan. It’s also the end of the road for Cheri Oteri, Colin Quinn, and long-time veteran Tim Meadows.