Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
anything that irks George W. Bush (WIF) earns membership in Axis Of Evil
— Tonight’s episode was actually originally scheduled to be one of the episodes this season that Will misses so he can film the movie Old School, but he ended up having to alter his movie-filming schedule this week due to Darrell’s absence. Darrell is out this week because he’s at rehab (it was falsely rumored online at the time that the reason for Darrell’s absence was because he suffered a heart attack, then it was later “confirmed” in the media that he was just feeling under the weather, the latter being a cover-up to hide the fact that he did a rehab stint), and I guess it was felt by Will and/or SNL that it would be too much for both Will AND Darrell to be absent in the same episode (especially an episode hosted by an athlete with no acting experience, which is already a huge gamble), and thus, we have Will on the show tonight. Will was also probably eager to be there this week for a certain rehired cast member’s first week back (more on that in a little while), especially considering that Will (along with Kattan) played a crucial part in said cast member’s rehiring.
— A good laugh from Will’s Bush putting Enron in his Axis of Evil because the Enron scandal makes his head hurt to think about it.
— More laughs from Bush putting other things he doesn’t like into his Axis Of Evil for petty reasons, I particularly found it funny that he put Evil Kneivel into the Axis Of Evil “for obvious reasons”, but refused to put Dr. Evil in because he makes Bush laugh.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo is out sick tonight, and Seth Meyers gets the honors of doing tonight’s announcements in a Pardo imitation. The usual Don Pardo impersonator of this cast, Darrell Hammond, is absent himself this week, as mentioned earlier. Reruns of this episode would replace the theme music with the dress rehearsal version and insert newly-recorded announcements from the real Don Pardo. However, an odd thing regarding the latter is that Pardo’s newly-recorded announcements announces “A Cartoon By Robert Smigel”, even though 1) there is no “A Cartoon By Robert Smigel” graphic that accompanies Pardo’s announcement, and 2) there is no Smigel cartoon that airs in this episode.
— After getting fired after the preceding season, Chris Parnell has been rehired and is reinstated back into the opening montage.
As shocking as this rehiring move on SNL’s part seems, it’s not unprecedented (despite Parnell himself later claiming it was, in Will Ferrell’s farewell piece from this season’s finale). Jim Belushi was fired at one point around the middle of season 10, then got rehired a few episodes later. And if we count off-seasons, then both Gary Kroeger and Tim Meadows were fired and rehired between seasons (for Gary, it happened between seasons 8 and 9, and for Tim, it happened between seasons 20 and 21).
— At the time, there was so much uncertainty to me and others in the online SNL community in regards to Parnell’s return that it was initially unsure to us if he was back for good or if his return tonight was just a one-night-only thing (the latter of which seems kinda silly, looking back on that theory in retrospect). It was confirmed sometime before the next episode that Parnell was indeed back for good, much to my excitement.
— A lot of odd and interesting things have been going on with the cast lately, between Will Ferrell having to miss certain weeks due to his movie schedule, Darrell Hammond missing this week due to rehab, Ana Gasteyer being pregnant while still an active cast member, and the rehiring of Parnell, plus you could add in Don Pardo’s absence tonight too.
MONOLOGUE
after not medalling at Olympics, host settled for fourth-place ceremonies
— Ah, Jonny Moseley. I remember what a puzzling and questionable hosting choice he was considered at the time (in fact, I and quite a number of other online SNL fans didn’t even know who the hell he was when SNL first announced in the preceding live episode that he was the next host). This hosting choice probably comes off even more puzzling and questionable in retrospect, all these years later.
— Interesting gimmick with Jonny making his entrance onto the front of the stage via ski ramp. Kinda reminds me of Brendan Fraser making his season 23 monologue entrance via swinging on a rope, ala George Of The Jungle.
— Right out of the gate, Jonny’s already showing he has no experience as an actor in front of a studio audience, by how he goes on speaking long before the opening audience applause stops, causing us to not even be able to hear what he’s saying.
— Jonny’s delivery is coming off as a typical surfer-type dude, but he seems affable enough and at least isn’t sounding stiff like some athlete hosts from over the years (e.g. Nancy Kerrigan).
— The various pre-taped scenes of the celebration for 4th place winners is worth a mere chuckle or two. Otherwise, meh.
STARS: **
SKI LIFT
Sully & Denise reconcile while riding a ski lift to the top of a mountain
— Interesting setting for the Boston Teens.
— Pretty good storyline with us seeing Sully and Denise in the middle of an argument with each other for a change.
— Gee, way for Jonny Moseley to INSTANTLY stretch as a performer.[/end sarcasm] He might as well be playing himself in this sketch.
— Funny visual of a Sharpie-drawn beard on Denise’s face.
— The audience is pretty quiet throughout this sketch.
— A laugh from Jonny’s character’s “wise” advice being him reciting the famous “up-up-down-down etc.” code that’s used to get unlimited men in the Nintendo game Contra. That really takes me back to the Nintendo-playing days of my childhood.
— I love Horatio’s delivery of “At least my poop will smell like the BEACH!”
— An overall average outing for the Boston Teens. Despite the nice change of pace in both the setting and storyline, the resulting sketch was just decent, nothing special.
STARS: ***
THE O’REILLY FACTOR
guests’ facts are judged as matters of opinion
— Great to see Jeff starring in his own sketch for a change.
— Jeff knocks it out of the park once again with another fantastic and spot-on celebrity impression.
— Ah, Parnell in his first sketch back. God, it feels so refreshing to see him again after half a season.
— I like Parnell’s puzzled delivery of his ending line “Is there someone else I can talk to…?” while looking around.
— Once again tonight, the audience is pretty quiet, despite Jeff’s solid performance and various funny lines.
— Okay, the audience is getting a little more into this, especially in response to Jeff-as-O’Reilly’s idiotic statement about Space Mountain.
— A very funny viewer mail segment.
— This overall sketch seems like it was being set up to become a Hardball-esque recurring sketch, but we end up never seeing this sketch return… at least not under Jeff’s tenure. SNL would later make these O’Reilly Factor sketches recurring long after Jeff’s (mysterious) departure, with the Bill O’Reilly role being taken over by Darrell, who’s O’Reilly “impression” could best be described as “Darrell Hammond in a wig” (this was long after Darrell seemed to stop giving a shit on SNL). Darrell’s O’Reilly impression would eventually get better after a few appearances, though.
STARS: ***½
DISMISSED
(host) chooses hootchie (MAR) over one-legged Amber (AMP)
— Amy’s Amber character makes her debut. I remember absolutely HATING this character in the past, but, as usual in this SNL project of mine whenever I cover recurring characters I used to strongly dislike, I’ll now try to go into her debut with an open mind.
— Some laughs from Amber bragging in her intro about having one leg.
— I like how, during her and Maya’s meeting of Jonny’s character, Amber is now bragging about being hypoglycemic.
— So far, this sketch is an accurate parody of both this DisMissed show and general MTV shows from this era.
— Funny bit with Maya sluttily talking with her mouth full of chewed hot dog.
— Maya, to Amber: “You have to leave us alone for 20 minutes. Why don’t you go look for your leg?”
— Amy managed to even make the fart gag at the end work. I doubt I’ll feel the same way about that fart gag in this character’s subsequent sketches, though.
STARS: ***½
JONNY’S JOURNEY
orbiting host solves problems while performing signature Dinner Roll move
— A creative and fun concept and theme song sequence. I’m already onboard for this sketch.
— Very funny visual of Jeff being impaled with a ski pole.
— The cheap special effects are adding to the oddly infectious charm of this sketch.
— I like the silliness of Jonny using pizza to get Horatio and Seth’s fighting Saudi Arabian characters to unite.
— I think I’m in the very small minority in loving this dumb, silly sketch, as I remember a lot of my fellow SNL reviewers back in 2002 dismissing this sketch as a real dud.
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE
skaters David Pelletier (WIF) & Jamie Sale (AMP) wanted SNL to pick them
name-dropping gossip columnist Hollywood (CHK) isn’t much of an insider
while delivering a news item, JIF gets a few pies in the face
— A new hairstyle from Tina tonight.
— Boy, the graphics department badly screwed up Jimmy’s cross-country skiing joke, causing it to get very few laughs from the audience.
— Funny segment with Will and Amy as famous Canadian pair skaters trying to host SNL.
— A good laugh from Amy’s skater doing a brief vocal impression of a black homeless woman. That’s the type of crazy, UCB-esque Amy Poehler that I wish we saw more of throughout her SNL tenure.
— Wow, a lot of Jimmy and Tina’s jokes are getting a very tepid audience reaction. As I pointed out in some earlier sketches in this review, the audience has strangely been dead for quite a number of portions of this episode.
— What the BLOODY HELL am I watching Chris Kattan do here?!? This new Hollywood character of his is fucking TERRIBLE.
— Hmm, figures that tonight’s usually-dead audience would actually chuckle at this Kattan crap.
— Mercifully, Kattan’s commentary is finally over. Jesus Christ, that was a trainwreck. Is SNL kidding me putting that on the air? In the past, before doing this SNL project of mine, whenever I would think of how much Kattan overstayed his welcome and went badly downhill in his later seasons, this Hollywood bit was usually always one of the first things that came to mind, and that has not changed after my viewing just now. Definitely one of the worst things Kattan has ever done on the show, and that’s certainly saying something.
— Odd but entertaining bit with Jimmy repeatedly getting prematurely hit with a pie before he can get to the punchline of a clown joke he’s doing. SNL would later replace this bit with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Whole World”
SUPER BUZZERS
1970s game show comprises panel intros; Rip Taylor cameo
— This sketch is introduced by a voice-over from the real Don Pardo, which must’ve been taped earlier that week before he got too sick to do the show. His voice does sound slightly more frail than usual here.
— The random joke with the two contestants being named, respectively, Jill Kenson and Ken Jillson, makes me think that James Anderson might’ve written this sketch, as he’s known for throwing in random odd, gimmicky character names like that in his sketches, especially in his game show sketches.
— Jimmy’s doing a great impression of George Gaynes. Odd, though, how Punky Brewster is mentioned in this portion of the sketch as a soon-to-debut new sitcom, considering this sketch clearly takes place in the 70s, and, as far as I know, Punky Brewster didn’t debut until well into the 80s (1984, I believe). Ah, well. This was clearly just an excuse for Jimmy to imitate Gaynes’ distinct way of saying the name Punky.
— I love Parnell’s little responses to each of the celebrity panelists, especially his more taken-aback responses.
— Ana’s Jo-Anne Worley impression (last seen in Kate Hudson’s monologue from season 26) always cracks me up.
— Will’s Paul Lynde impression is spot-on and a riot.
— Rip Taylor cameo.
— Boy, they’re letting Rip Taylor go on and on.
— Not counting Darrell, the ONLY cast member missing from this overall sketch was Jeff, which is ironic, considering this sketch was an impression showcase and Jeff has a knack for doing impressions.
STARS: ***
TYPHOID MARY REHEARSAL
over-the-hill Broadway legend (ANG) pushes for minimal choreography
— Hmm, a sketch with Jonny and several male cast members playing flamboyant gay roles. Is this our second consecutive James Anderson-written sketch of the night?
— Oh, and of course, Kattan is cast as one of the flamboyant gay guys, making this not only the second consecutive sketch tonight that Kattan’s playing a gay role in, but the second consecutive episode in which he plays MULTIPLE gay roles in, respectively. At this point, I don’t know whether to roll my eyes at that or just feel sorry for Kattan for getting so typecast and making the already-long-existing gay rumors about himself grow. Then again, if that mind-numbingly terrible Hollywood bit he did earlier tonight is an example of the non-gay performances he can contribute to these later years of his SNL tenure, then oof.
— I love the occasional bit with Ana using her fingers to count the words she occasionally speak-sings (e.g. “I’ve got a pin in my hip”).
— Ana’s performance and delivery here are very solid and is carrying this sketch well, though the material itself is a little iffy.
— Yeah, this has GOTTA be a James Anderson-written sketch. More and more, I’m seeing way too many of his trademarks for it to NOT be one.
STARS: **½
MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
a shrunken head in chapter 1148
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ms. Jackson”
EXTREME WEDDING
groom (host) & bride (AMP) have pre-ceremony doubts about extreme wedding
— Meh, another sketch tonight about surfer/skiing bro stereotypes. Sure, that’s in Jonny’s wheelhouse, but I have no interest in seeing any more sketches like this tonight.
— Jeff has refreshingly been getting some good airtime tonight (ignoring his odd exclusion from the Super Buzzers sketch). I remember some online SNL fans at the time were worried that Parnell’s return would mean even LESS airtime for the already-very-underused Jeff Richards and Dean Edwards. Ha, so much for that, at least regarding Jeff. No comment on Dean.
— I’m currently halfway through this sketch so far, and I have no idea what to say about the sketch, except I’m hearing a whole bunch of kinda-funny-but-also-kinda-tepid “brah” puns. Otherwise, this sketch is washing right over me.
— Okay, I did get a laugh just now from the goofy visual of Seth testing out some kind of bungee pack in the background.
— I love that Parnell is appearing in so many sketches in his first episode back.
STARS: *½
MY BIG THICK NOVEL BY JACK HANDEY
an idiot spacewoman in chapter 1234
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty forgettable episode, though not particularly weak. In fact, I actually liked a good majority of the sketches, until the last 15-20 minutes of the show. It’s just that, even with all of the decent sketches, something about the show as a whole felt a little on the “meh” side. Part of the reason for that “meh” feel could be the host. For an athlete, Jonny Moseley wasn’t a terrible host, but he added little to the show.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Britney Spears)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jon Stewart