Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE CLINTON GANG
Bill Clinton (DAH) & relatives are a giddy & unrepentant gang of outlaws
— I like Darrell’s Bill Clinton explaining “I do what I likes, and I likes what I do.”
— A funny sudden laughing outburst from Ana’s Hillary Clinton after saying something stern and uptight to Bill.
— A great “The Clinton Gang” turn, as well as Bill proudly going on about how redneck-y his family is.
— Feels a little weird seeing Ana portraying Hillary as so laid-back and jokey for once, but it’s refreshing.
— I love Parnell-as-Roger-Clinton’s line “Hell, I already been on Cops!”
— Speaking of Parnell, I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2001 (Mark Polishuk, I believe) saying Parnell’s portrayal of Roger Clinton strangely came off George W. Bush-esque and that “maybe Will Ferrell might not need to be around for all four years after all”. Quite prescient of that reviewer.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
WIF tries to match host’s tap-dancing with a series of goofy steps
— Right out of the gate at the beginning of this monologue, when the camera is showing a shot of both Katie Holmes and the applauding audience, Katie’s dress strap accidentally breaks due to her putting her hands on her hips, and she quickly catches the falling strap and is forced to awkwardly hold it up onto her shoulder for the next few minutes (as seen in the first above screencap for this monologue). Whoops! The reason her dress strap broke so easily is because she’s wearing a breakaway dress that she’ll soon be removing during a sultry dance number of hers towards the end of this monologue.
— Yikes, Katie’s comedic “Dawson’s Creek has been crazy this week!” bit bombed HARD. Katie acknowledges that by sorta-comically shifting her eyes to the side in an awkward manner. Between the breaking dress strap and now this, Katie’s monologue has been kinda clumsy so far.
— Thank god Will has shown up to help this monologue.
— Will, regarding his dancing shoes: “Check out these Brogans!” I know Brogan is a type of shoe, but with Will delivering that line, I can’t help but be reminded of the Ted Brogan 37-year-old baby sketch that Will had recently done at the time.
— When a stagehand gives Katie her tapdancing shoes, that stagehand also pins Katie’s broken dress strap back together. A nice last-minute emergency save on SNL’s part.
— A good laugh from Will’s line about Savion Glover being his stepson.
— Will is very funny throughout this monologue, though this monologue itself is coming off fairly redundant after a while. It also doesn’t feel right how Katie herself is almost a complete non-factor in this monologue so far. She’s also coming off very bland during her interactions with Will.
— At the very end of this monologue, Katie seemed lost, as she was about to walk offstage a little too early before the camera faded to black, then she paused awkwardly after seemingly receiving a signal from an off-camera stagehand that it’s not time to exit the stage yet, then Katie looked around helplessly and confusedly, then did a sultry little dance as the camera faded to black. I gotta say, all of Katie’s awkwardness throughout this monologue is not giving me much confidence in her hosting skills.
STARS: *** (mostly due to Will’s performance)
DAWSON’S CREEK
Joey (host) & exchange student Mr. Peepers have sex
— Blah, Mr. Peepers. Hell, not even the audience applauds the reveal of him in this sketch.
— I’m now a minute later into this sketch, and to my complete surprise, I’m actually kinda liking Mr. Peepers in this Dawson’s Creek setting. Given my usual dislike of Mr. Peepers and my unfamiliarity with Dawson’s Creek, I don’t know why this sketch is working for me, but it is.
— I’m liking Jimmy’s James Van Der Beek impression.
— Ha, during the scene with Katie’s character having a heart-to-heart talk with Dawson, you can still see apple bits on Katie’s face from an earlier scene that took place on what we’re supposed to believe was a different day. This results in a funny ad-lib from Jimmy where he casually swipes off some of the apple bits on Katie’s face while delivering a line.
— Credit goes to Katie for keeping a straight face while acting unconscious as Kattan-as-Mr.-Peepers is doing a whole bunch of ridiculous things to her face in an attempt to revive her.
— When Mr. Peepers jumps off of a clothing chest that he was standing on, the chest unintentionally tips over and falls on Katie’s hand, which results in the audience actually gasping in shock. Katie doesn’t even seem hurt by the chest falling on her hand (the chest was probably light), but Kattan, out of genuine concern while still perfectly staying in character, lifts the chest off of Katie’s hand before continuing on with his scripted Mr. Peepers antics.
— Overall, for a Mr. Peepers sketch, this surprisingly wasn’t bad in my eyes. Easily one of his better sketches.
STARS: ***
KXLA SPECIAL REPORT
(MAR) reports as house of Drew Barrymore (host) & Tom Green (JIF) burns
— Some laughs from Maya’s cheesy fire puns in her news report.
— Jimmy is slaying me with his absolutely spot-on take on Tom Green. After I recently suffered through reviewing the Tom Green-hosted episode from earlier this season (one of the most frustrating reviews I’ve EVER had to do), Jimmy’s dead-on skewering of Green is what I needed. He is humorously nailing all of the things that I couldn’t stand about Green when reviewing his SNL episode.
— Katie’s Drew Barrymore impression, on the other hand? Ehhh. I can kinda see what she’s going for, but let’s just say she ain’t no Kate Hudson. She also keeps making some awkward pauses before delivering some of her lines. (Boy, I’ve been using the word “awkward” quite a lot to describe Katie’s performances in tonight’s episode.)
— Tracy’s fireman character, when asked if he can save Tom and Drew’s burning house: “(casually) Hell nah! That’s gonna burn down to the ground!”
— Tracy’s reactions to having his face licked by Jimmy’s Tom Green are very funny, especially him telling Jimmy’s Green “I sure wanna get high wit’choo!”
— An inner thought from the dog, in regards to Tom Green: “He makes David Arquette look like a genius!”
STARS: ****
TV FUNHOUSE
“Backstreet Boys” by RBS- sucking is salient feature of boy band
— Hilarious opening theme song.
— A great concept of Backstreet Boys being superheroes who use their suckiness to defeat villains.
— The choreographed bit that the Backstreet Boys are doing with folding chairs during their number reminds me of the LAUGHABLY lame bit that the real Backstreet Boys did with folding chairs in their musical performance on SNL in season 23’s Julianne Moore episode.
— The random involvement of John Tesh is great. I especially love the “You guys rock!” “Thanks, Mr. Tesh!” exchange as soon as he enters.
STARS: ****
LOVERS
professor Roger (WIF) & his lover Virginia (RAD) creep out (JIF) & (host)
— The Luvahs characters, Roger and Virginia Klarvin, make their debut.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Roger saying “fill our bellies with ham” at one point when he and Virginia are detailing their lovemaking routine.
— I used to HATE these sketches back when they originally aired, but during this current viewing, I’ve been getting some amusement from Will and Rachel’s characterizations and the way their characters word some of their sentences. And I admire how really into it Will and Rachel are in their performances.
— Jimmy and Katie’s uncomfortable reactions to the Luvahs are pretty funny.
— I love Jimmy nervously gulping down a drink in a quick manner during Katie’s Luvah-esque detailing of the lovemaking she’d like her and Jimmy to do.
— The “My back” ending between Roger and Virginia was pretty funny. Too bad SNL will go on to run that into the damn ground in the subsequent Luvahs installments.
— Overall, not a bad debut for The Luvahs, especially considering how strongly I used to dislike these sketches in the past. I have no idea how I’m going to react when covering the subsequent Luvahs installments, though.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Did It”
WEEKEND UPDATE
despite reservations, TIF is sticking with her shady male gynecologist
Elton John (HOS) & Eminem (CHP) make out after Grammys “Stan” performance
— What the hell?!? During Jimmy and Tina’s sign-on at the beginning of this Update, a drop-down screen starts lowering behind them into the shot (the first above screencap for this Update), only to IMMEDIATELY be raised back up out of the shot, without having been used or acknowledged. WTF??? I guess a segment utilizing the drop-down screen was cut at the last minute, and the crew member operating the screen didn’t get the memo.
— Tina’s Women’s News segment about gynecologists was surprisingly nothing memorable. I was expecting better. Also, I could’ve done without Tina re-doing the “As a (insert something here), which I am not…” line, which was much funnier the first time she did it in the Women’s News segment from her very first Update.
— I love Horatio and Parnell’s recreation of the “Stan” musical performance that Elton John and Eminem had recently done at the Grammys, even though there aren’t any jokes in this recreation.
— The big twist after the Elton John/Eminem performance, with them wildly making out with each other is yet another example of this type of homoerotic humor that I used to find hilarious at the time during this late 90s/early 00s SNL era, but now find that it doesn’t hold up well and just comes off as a cheap, lazy, unnecessary, and overused resort for laughs. Parnell and Horatio sure as hell are putting their all into this wild make-out session, though. I’ll give them that.
— For, I believe, the first time ever, Jimmy throws a pen towards the camera after signing off at the end of Update, which would go on to be an on-again/off again tradition of his on Update.
— Very short Update overall, for the second episode in a row.
STARS: ***
JARRET’S ROOM
Billy Joel lyrics help Daniel (CHP) woo coed (host)
— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— After making little-to-no appearances outside of Weekend Update the last few episodes, Jimmy is absolutely DOMINATING tonight’s episode. So far, he’s appeared in every single post-monologue live sketch in either a starring role or very large supporting role.
— Like in the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, Horatio’s Gobi character is providing some laughs, but he sure is a one-note character.
— This sketch has died after Katie’s entrance. Nothing interesting is happening, plus Katie is adding nothing to this sketch and seems out of place. Compare her character and performance here to the character that Lucy Liu played in the first installment, who actually fit the sketch well.
— Parnell has breathed some much-needed life into this sketch as a roommate wearing a mesh tanktop and quoting Billy Joel songs to impress Katie.
— An overall blah Jarret’s Room installment, even worse than the first installment, in my opinion. This recurring sketch has not been showing much promise so far. One of my problems is that the main character, Jarret, isn’t remotely interesting. There’s no personality there. Nothing distinct about the character. He’s basically just Jimmy Fallon playing himself with a wig. And if Horatio’s Gobi character is supposed to be the personality of these sketches, then that’s another faulty decision, as Gobi is too one-note, like I said earlier, and he can only be funny in small doses.
STARS: **
TOUGH AS NAILS
(CHP) directs actress (host) to grab actor’s (WIF) crotch vigorously
— A great Will Ferrell performance that I had completely forgotten about until now. I’m glad to be reminded of this.
— Will’s increasingly pained reactions to having his testicles painfully grabbed during filming are giving me lots of laughs.
— I love Tracy’s character’s ad-libbed response to Katie’s overly-rough testicle-grabbing of Will during the filming: “Let go, man! That ain’t cool!”, then after the filming for that scene has stopped, Tracy gets another great line: “That was hurtin’ ME!”
— I like Parnell’s director character sadistically advising Katie to go at Will even harder, after kindly assuring Will that he no longer has to worry about doing any more painful testicle-grabbing takes.
— Very funny exclamation of “Cheese and biscuits!” from Will after getting kicked in the crotch.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Space Between”
PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE PAM
Passive-Aggressive Pam’s (ANG) backhanded compliments sting co-workers
— Did Katie forget a line before Ana made her entrance? Right before Ana came in and started speaking, we got a long close-up of Katie awkwardly not saying anything (there’s that use of the word “awkward” once again to describe a Katie Holmes performance) and looking off-camera.
— An interesting character for Ana, and also an interesting live theme song for this character.
— I love the bizarre musical interludes throughout this sketch, with a barbershop quartet summing up the concept of Ana’s character. Will is particularly hamming it up like crazy as one of the quartet members, and I cannot stop cracking up at him. The combo of his extremely hammy performance, his barbershop quartet costume, and his handlebar mustache make it seem like he’s reprising his hilarious role as Thaddeus Garfield Ignatius Friday from the T.G.I. Friday’s sketch in the Charlie Sheen episode earlier this season.
— Ana’s various backhanded comments are making me laugh, and Ana is perfect for this role. I’m enjoying this sketch more than the audience seems to be.
— This overall sketch kinda feels like it was set up to eventually become recurring, but we end up never seeing it again.
STARS: ***½
SINGLES CRUISE
at the end of their singles’ cruise, (CHP) & Leilani Burke (MAR) settle
— Much like Jimmy, Parnell has been prominent throughout tonight’s episode, which is very refreshing in Parnell’s case. He rarely seems to get the airtime he deserves.
— It took Katie all night, but she’s finally doing a very solid characterization in a role that she’s losing herself in.
— I like the big awkward smile that Maya’s character occasionally does in reaction to certain things that Parnell’s character says to her.
— So far, this sketch is refreshingly slower, quieter, and more subtle than most sketches from this era. This sketch seems to be going for a bit of a slice-of-life feel that was far more common in early SNL eras.
— I love the reveal that Maya’s character works in an animal rescue crew and Parnell’s character is a furrier.
— Speaking of Maya’s character saying she works in an animal rescue crew, we’ll later be seeing this character of Maya’s (who’s name is Leilani) return THREE SEASONS LATER, in a one-off sketch in which she’s a pet psychic who hosts her own show.
— Overall, I liked this interesting piece, and the characterizations from Parnell and Maya were solid, as was Katie’s in a supporting role.
— After this sketch ends, I like how surprisingly quickly we see the crew disassemble the set, revealing the SNL Band (with special guest Junior Brown sitting in with them) onstage behind the set, playing the show to commercial.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— Man, Katie’s even coming off awkward (there’s that word once again tonight) during her goodnights speech, with odd pauses and her strangely continuing her speech long after the applause and music has begun drowning her out. Her awkwardness here reminds me of the funny impression that Anne Hathaway would later do of her during some of Hathaway’s hosting stints.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode that had a mostly consistent quality to it. Jarret’s Room was the only sketch that I disliked. As for Katie Holmes, I did not enjoy her very much as the host. I’ll admit that she did have her occasional moments, particularly in the final sketch, in which she played her role very well and disappeared into character, but, as I said probably way too many times throughout the review, she had quite a lot of awkward moments during the show, even including the goodnights. I don’t know if she’s naturally this awkward (as I implied earlier in this review, this awkwardness does seem to be what Anne Hathaway is going for when she does an impression of Katie), or if it was just live TV jitters.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sean Hayes)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Conan O’Brien