October 1, 2005 – Steve Carell / Kanye West (S31 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING
George W. Bush (WLF) addresses executive branch woes at press conference

— Right out of the gate, it’s very noticeable how drastically different SNL’s visual quality is this season, as this is the first episode in HD and widescreen.
— Hmm. Not sure a President Bush press conference cold opening is the most exciting way to start a new season. Then again, a fucking 13-minute-long presidential debate spoof with extremely poor writing is also not an exciting way to start a new season, as the preceding season 30 has shown, so maybe I should count my blessings and appreciate how season 31 is starting off with a simple 5-minute long press conference cold opening with decent writing.
— Will-as-Bush’s bragging about going to the Gulf is worth some pretty good laughs.
— Will’s usual whininess and overly-defensiveness as Bush is coming off particularly funny in this cold opening.
— A very solid part with Will’s Bush saying “I’m beginning to wonder…who’s in charge of this situation?” in regards to how he’s been waiting and waiting for someone to take action on handling the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson have been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Bill Hader and Andy Samberg have been added to the cast tonight.

— Bill’s shot doesn’t match the other cast members’ shots in this montage, as his shot follows the old tradition of many previous opening montages, in which cast members are seen casually doing something before looking into the camera and smiling, whereas all the other cast members’ shots in this particular montage (including Bill’s fellow newbie, Andy) never feature them looking into the camera.

MONOLOGUE
flush with box office success, host sings about joining the comedy A-list

— Funny bit with Steve Carell mentioning he auditioned to be in the SNL cast 10 years ago, but lost to a certain other guy, who we are then shown a humorous photo of (the second above screencap for this monologue).
— Steve noticeably follows up saying he’s on “the hit series The Office” by comically correcting himself with “critically-acclaimed series The Office”, implying The Office isn’t actually a hit (the show was still somewhat new by this point). It certainly feels odd in retrospect to see this implication of The Office not being a hit, given the path we know the series’ popularity would eventually take.
— Meh, not excited about the idea of a season premiere’s monologue being a song-and-dance number.
— Ugh at the song lyric calling Owen Wilson gay.
— Funny part with Steve demonstrating that money falls from his ass.
— Overall, not too crazy about this monologue as a whole, but Steve made the best of it, and there were a few laughs.
STARS: **½

MORGAN STANLEY
Morgan Stanley advisor (WLF) is client’s (FRA) surrogate disciplinarian

— Angry Will Forte is always comedy gold.
— Andy Samberg’s very first line on SNL: an uncensored “Your dad’s kind of a dick.” There’s something strangely significant about that being Andy’s very first line.
— Very funny reveal that Will is, in fact, NOT Amy’s dad; he’s just her family’s Morgan Stanley financial adviser, then we see that Amy’s actual dad is some wimpy pushover of a father.
— Unfortunately, SNL would eventually go on to re-air the living shit out of this solid commercial over the course of the first half of this season. (Hell, at one point, it’s re-aired in two consecutive episodes!)
STARS: ****

JET BLUE FLIGHT 292
onboard TV occupies (host) & alarms (AMP) on troubled Jet Blue flight

— I think I recall hearing this is the very first sketch written by Colin Jost, who is making his debut in tonight’s episode as an SNL writer.
— Funny bit involving Terra Blue potato chips.
— A really good laugh from Seth’s character showing a CGI simulation of the plane, firetruck, and survivors all going up in flames.
— Is that Darrell who’s voice I’m hearing repeatedly coughing very loudly during the aforementioned CGI simulation video?
— I love Chris-as-the-pilot’s very un-phased, casually-delivered announcements about the plane’s dire troubles throughout this sketch.
— Hearing Bill Hader’s voice for the very first time in this SNL project of mine is strangely comforting. I think I had a similar feel when I reviewed Phil Hartman’s very first episode as a cast member earlier in this SNL project.
— Right in his very first sketch, Bill gets a good laugh with his “Oh, you don’t wanna know. Knowing makes it, like, 10 times worse” line, followed by him making a brief silly facial expression in a laid-back, carefree manner (the last above screencap for this sketch).
— An overall solid lead-off sketch for a season premiere, and if this was indeed the very first Colin Jost-written SNL sketch, then this was a very impressive and promising start for the very young new writer (I think I recall hearing he was only about 22 years old at this time).
STARS: ****

ANDERSON COOPER 360
celebrities help with Katrina reconstruction

— Right out of the gate, after the “Anderson Cooper 360” opening title sequence, Seth seems stumbly and is throwing in lots of “uh”s, but I recall a poster on an SNL message board saying this is just part of Seth’s impression, as the real Anderson Cooper was known to talk like that back then. I wasn’t very familiar with how Anderson Cooper was back then, so I can’t confirm if this is indeed correct.
— I like the cutaway to an unhappy, deadpan Kenan in a Spongebob Squarepants costume, asking “Why I gotta be Spongebob?”
— Right in his very first episode, Bill Hader gets his breakout SNL moment. Even in just a small scene here, his hilarious and dead-on Al Pacino impression steals the ENTIRE sketch. I particularly love his epic line before exiting: “There’s a Shih Tzu stuck in a Spanish oak tree. I go…to save…that dog.” I remember when this sketch originally aired, my first thought when the camera first showed Bill as Pacino was a very negative “What?!? This new guy looks NOTHING like Al Pacino! He’s not convincing in this role at all!” Then he spoke in that Pacino voice and I immediately shut the hell up with my criticisms and stared at the screen in both amazement and amusement over the greatness I was witnessing from this newbie.
— Bill’s appearance in this sketch ended up getting SO much buzz, and it (with perhaps a little help from a Weekend Update commentary Bill and fellow newbie Andy Samberg do together as themselves later tonight) made Bill the talk of the town on SNL message boards for a solid week after tonight’s episode originally aired. Everybody was SO excited for this new guy. (I even remember how, when Bill was first interviewed on Late Night With Conan O’Brien a few months after tonight’s SNL episode originally aired, Conan mentioned how Bill’s Pacino debut was the big topic of discussion among Conan and his staffers the Monday after tonight’s SNL episode originally aired, as they were all very impressed by his Pacino.) This is easily one of the most, if not THE most, exciting debuts of a new SNL cast member I can proudly say I saw live as it originally aired. It’s always a thrilling feel to see an unknown new cast member kill like this out of nowhere in their very first episode.
— Steve’s Ray Romano is pretty funny, even if he doesn’t sound THAT much like him. (I recall impressionist Frank Caliendo doing a more spot-on imitation of Romano’s voice, on MADtv sometime around these years).
— Horatio’s Aaron Neville works better for me as a small part of a sketch like this, rather than starring in his own sketch like he did in that City Court sketch the preceding season.
— I’ve mentioned multiple times how I’m never excited about Darrell’s appearances as Geraldo Rivera, but him suddenly crashing Anderson Cooper’s Hurricane Katrina coverage is funny.
STARS: ***½

THE NEEDLERS
at a restaurant, unhappily married Sally & Dan cut each other down

— After debuting with the last name Harrison in a sketch from the preceding season, the now-recurring Couple That Should Be Divorced characters have a new last name: Needler.
— The title sequence for these characters has been altered a bit, and their theme song is COMPLETELY different from their last one.
— I love Seth requesting “a splash of water and, like, 60 sleeping pills” with his drink.
— Good passive-aggressive line from Amy about how Seth’s way of proposing to her was getting down on one knee in an Applebees parking lot and saying “We might as well do this.”
— They repeat the turn from the first installment of this sketch, with an off-camera Seth and Amy having sex in the kitchen, which feels unnecessary, but Jason has a very funny line here when telling Steve and Rachel about the Needlers’ sex in the kitchen: “The busboys are totally into it, but it’s, like, a huuuuge health code violation.”
STARS: ***

GIRLS GONE WILD KATRINA
hurricane victims flash for bottled water on Girls Gone Wild Katrina tape

— I recall this being a controversial piece among some SNL viewers back then, who felt this was in very poor taste.
— This is at least a spot-on spoof of how exploitative those sleazy Girls Gone Wild commercials that were rampant on late night TV back in these days were (at one point, this spoof even uses the same “Show me where babies feed!” line from the real GGW commercials).
— Halfway through this, the comedic conceit is already starting to get pretty old for me, as it’s basically just repeating the same joke over and over.
STARS: **

BACKSTAGE
LOM & shell shocked MIM fear what might come out of musical guest’s mouth

— A decent way to address Maya’s pregnancy.
— A little part that got no audience reaction, but I absolutely loved: upon seeing Finesse show up, Maya points to him while asking Lorne “He still works here???” This mirrors how lots of SNL fans back then, including myself, felt at the time, as we were very surprised Finesse made it onto a third season.
— I’m starting to get kinda tired of the running gag in SNL’s backstage sketches where people get Kenan and Finesse’s names mixed up.
— Funnily enough, Lorne pulls the same “Hey, look over there!” move on Kanye West that Will Ferrell pulled on Lorne himself when Ferrell hosted in the preceding season. Lorne and Kanye are even in the exact same hallway where Lorne and Ferrell were when Ferrell pulled that move.
— Ha, holy hell! Mike Myers and Kanye reunited after their infamous encounter in the Hurricane Katrina telethon that summer. I remember how surprising and exciting it was to see this reunion on SNL back when this originally aired, and how good it was to see Mike getting some humor out of that uncomfortable telethon situation.
— An overall very fun backstage piece, and a nice and out-of-the-ordinary way to set up Kanye’s ensuing musical performance. I always appreciate when SNL breaks format like this.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gold Digger” & “Touch The Sky”

WEEKEND UPDATE
to HOS, George W. Bush’s disaster supersession strategy merits emulation

FIM tells how to determine gender of nightclub pick-up on car ride home

in impression-off contest, ANS counters BIH’s mimicry with “Whassup?!”

— Horatio fills in for an absent Tina Fey, who we’re told is “out on assignment” and that she and her husband Jeff had a baby girl. Unless I’m forgetting something, I think this and early season 2 are the ONLY times in SNL history where somebody needed to temporarily fill in for a regular Update anchor while they were unable to appear on the show.
— Amy has a new Update suit this season. I remember in my original review for this episode that I wrote back in 2005 when this episode originally aired, I expressed huge frustration over having to sit through a second season of Amy at the Update desk, and wrote “Well, at least Amy has a new Update suit she can be unfunny in this season” (I’m only going by my memory of what I said there, given the fact that my original review of this episode isn’t available at the website in which I archived my old 2000-2014 reviews, as I lost all of my reviews from the first half of this season).
— I’m glad Amy’s opening Hurricane Katrina joke didn’t result in clapter from the audience, given the fact that it seemed kinda designed to.
— Boy, does it feel odd seeing Horatio deliver Update jokes.
— Interesting seeing Horatio now doing an editorial.
— Finesse has surprisingly been getting some good airtime as himself throughout tonight’s episode. I remember how, shortly before this season started, there was an article in which Finesse was interviewed, and he had SO much confidence about his then-upcoming third season on SNL. In the article, he addressed his struggles from his first two seasons, and confidently said that, now that he’s been promoted to a repertory player, he’s going to go into this new season MUCH harder and MUCH more determined than ever, and even had several sketch ideas already laid out that summer, one of which involved him playing a black version of Spongebob Squarepants (which I recall some online SNL fans, after reading this article, cynically pointing out sounded like a rip-off of Eddie Murphy’s Gumby, never mind the fact that Eddie’s Gumby ISN’T EVEN BLACK). In retrospect, it’s so sad to think back on that article and that VERY confident and determined attitude Finesse went into this season with (an attitude that’s definitely been on display in his appearances throughout tonight’s season premiere) when you’re aware of how this season would turn out for him. He would end up being more underused than EVER this season (which is certainly saying something, given the fact that he didn’t get much airtime his first two seasons either), would struggle to get ANY of his material on the air (including the aforementioned Black Spongebob, which never sees the light of day, though oddly enough, Kenan was dressed in a Spongebob costume earlier in this episode I’m currently reviewing), and would end up getting fired after this non-productive season of his. His frustration over his extreme under-utilization this season ends up getting to the degree where it manifests itself on the air at one point: in the very first Two A-Holes sketch later this season in the Jack Black-hosted Christmas episode, Finesse gives a very awkward and halting performance in which you can tell the poor guy was genuinely very upset and possibly even demeaned over the fact that his ONLY appearance in that entire episode, an episode that included some epic, show-stopping, legendary pieces, was at the very end of the final sketch of the night in a very small straight role in which he, as a fucking hot dog vendor, feeds set-up lines to the Two A-Holes. Ouch.
— Really good energy from Finesse during his commentary here, but I wonder if this whole comedy routine about him trying to find out if his date is a cross-dresser won’t go over well with a lot of people in today’s age.
— Horatio’s surprisingly not bad as an Update anchor so far tonight. And given how extremely sick I’ve gotten of Tina at the Update desk the last three seasons, Horatio’s presence is actually kind of a breath of fresh air (which is something I never thought I’d say about Horatio at this point of his SNL tenure). Even Amy’s coming off a little less annoying and a little less cutesy as an anchorperson when she’s paired with Horatio instead of Tina. (We’re seeing an early glimpse of how decent and tolerable Amy would regularly be as an anchor in the post-Tina Fey era of Update, where Amy’s co-anchor is Seth.) Even the writing of the Update jokes seems a little better tonight.
— Great how tonight’s two newbies are getting their own Update feature to introduce themselves to the audience.
— When this episode originally aired, I remember how Amy mentioning in passing here that Bill Hader’s an impressionist sparked some discussion among me and others on SNL message boards about how Bill being an impressionist may possibly be a sign that he was hired to take over the still-on-the-show Darrell Hammond’s spot as SNL’s resident impressionist, and we speculated that this season may end up being Darrell’s last. Funny to think back on that, because, as we know now, 1) Bill would turn out to be SO much more on SNL than a mere impressionist, and 2) Darrell would end up not leaving until FOUR YEARS LATER.
— A very fun idea of an Impression-Off between the two new guys.
— A great way for both Bill to show off his impression skills and Andy to show off the silly goofiness that would soon become his trademark. Despite a fun debut here, Andy actually would go on to have a rough first few months on SNL, to the degree that a lot of online SNL fans back then not only didn’t like him (words like “amateur” and “too green” were often thrown around when they were discussing him), but they were already predicting he would get “Rob Riggled” by ending up a one-season wonder. As we know now, a certain pre-taped short in the aforementioned Jack Black episode from later this season would turn EVERYTHING around for Andy.
— I love how, while the audience is applauding at the end of Bill and Andy’s commentary, Andy cheers “New guuuuyyyyys!”
— Some decent interplay between Horatio and Amy throughout this Update. Much better than the typical interplay between Tina and Amy on Update.
STARS: *** (this is the first Update I’ve given a passing rating to since the days when Jimmy Fallon was still an Update anchor)

THE LUNDFORD TWINS FEEL GOOD VARIETY HOUR
a second Lundford Twins Feel Good Variety Hour emerges from the vault

— I liked the first installment of this sketch from the preceding season, but yeah, I didn’t need a second installment of this. Such an odd choice for a sketch to make recurring.
— Maya’s song is nowhere near as funny as the one she performed in the first installment of this sketch.
— I like Steve’s stiff, ventriloquist dummy-esque mouth movement when laughing at something Maya’s character said.
— Regarding the 1920s musical scene, a lot of online SNL fans back at this time in 2005 mistakenly assumed that the non-cast member performing with Rachel, Chris, and Will (the fifth and sixth above screencaps for this sketch) was SNL writer Liz Cackowski, who online SNL fans had speculated over the summer would be added to the season 31 cast, due to SNL needing more women in the cast with Tina AND Maya’s maternity leaves (Maya’s maternity leave begins in the very next episode, and we won’t be seeing her return to the show for MONTHS). The woman in this sketch isn’t Cackowski; she’s actually SNL’s choreographer Danielle Flora, who’s made a lot of onscreen appearances over the years in many sketches involving dancing (her most prominent and noteworthy appearance is probably in the Ladies Man Christmas musical piece from season 25’s Danny DeVito episode).
— Kenan’s cracking me up during his musical performance.
— Overall, some highlights, but this sketch didn’t work as well for me a second time.
STARS: **

TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- John Roberts never stops being circumspect

— Some laughs from the increasingly humorous situations and locations in which Supreme Court Justice John Roberts talks in circles with very indecisive answers, such as at a fast-food drive-thru, and in response to Mick Jagger asking the crowd “Are you ready to rock?” during a Rolling Stones concert.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Adam Levine [real] perform “Heard ‘Em Say”

DEBBIE DOWNER
Debbie Downer finds company in the misery of soulmate Bob Bummer (host)

— At the beginning of this sketch, Kenan as a wedding DJ tells everyone to “put your hands together for Mr. and Mrs. Paul Anderson”, regarding the couple getting married at this wedding. This appears to be an inside reference to Maya and her real-life husband, well-known director Paul Thomas Anderson.
— OH, GOD. There comes Debbie Freakin’ Downer.
— Amy has been in literally EVERY SINGLE LIVE SKETCH tonight, excluding the backstage Kanye piece, if that even counts as a sketch. Add in the pre-taped Morgan Stanley commercial, Weekend Update, and even a voice in the TV Funhouse, and wow, Amy has had possibly the busiest night a cast member has EVER had in SNL history, aside from Will Ferrell in his final episode as a cast member. This heavy utilization of Amy tonight is presumably a byproduct of both Tina’s absence and Maya’s limited airtime with how far along in her pregnancy she is. However, isn’t Rachel RIGHT THERE? Why not throw more roles her way, instead of expecting Amy to tirelessly carry almost every female role on her back? Now Amy knows how Bill Murray felt having to carry the load of the lead male roles in season 5. Rachel’s only appeared in about three measly sketches tonight, so I don’t understand why she couldn’t have gotten more of the female roles. Further proof of how underappreciated Rachel is. Anyway, in addition to how Amy having to carry the load on the female side of the cast reminds me of Bill Murray in season 5, this whole situation with Amy and Rachel being the only fully-available female cast members at this early stage of this season is rather reminiscent of how the first few episodes of season 16 had to manage with only two female cast members (Jan Hooks and Victoria Jackson), because the show strangely neglected to replace the departed Nora Dunn in time for the start of the season, before eventually bringing in a new female cast member (Julia Sweeney) in the first November episode of that season to take the load off of Jan and Victoria’s shoulders (and interestingly enough, the first November episode happens to also be the exact same point of season 31 where SNL finally brings in a new female cast member to take the load off Amy and Rachel’s shoulders).
— Ha, I love the low-pitched “boing” sound effect that plays when Steve’s character looks into the zooming-in camera after his first depressing one-liner. Funny facial expression from Steve as well.
— Steve’s character, Bob Bummer, gets his own Debbie Downer-esque title sequence and theme song. As I mentioned in a recent review, there’s been a lot of instances around this time where a character with his or her own theme song and title sequence meets a new character who has a similar theme song and title sequence of their own (e.g. the Merv The Perv sketch with Johnny Knoxville as Merv’s brother, the Coolest Teacher At Benton Township High School sketch).
— I actually like Bob Bummer’s theme music (sung by Kenan) much better than Debbie Downer’s theme music.
— Not a bad change of pace for a Debbie Downer sketch, and it thankfully prevents this from going down the same unbearably unfunny path most Debbie Downer sketches go.
— Wow, the timing of the “wah-wahhhhh” zoom-ins are REALLY off during the early portion of Debbie Downer and Bob Bummer’s interaction with each other.
— The closing title sequence with Debbie and Bob is very glitchy, almost ruining the comedic one-liner they say in unison. This glitchiness has actually been happening throughout tonight’s episode in general, mainly during the going-to-commercial SNL bumpers. The glitchiness isn’t a local NBC affiliate issue; the problem is coming from SNL’s end. I chalk it up to this being their first episode in HD, and them not having all the HD kinks worked out yet.
— Overall, not bad for a Debbie Downer sketch.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— This season is already showing nice signs of improvement from the dire preceding season and the last three weak seasons in general (seasons 28-30). This season premiere was not only good and not only better than at least 60% of the episodes from season 30, but had a much fresher feel and look (the latter is obviously because of the new HD format). Even Weekend Update was decent for the first time in over a year, which I chalk up to Tina Fey’s absence. Not even the slightly heavy reliance on recurring sketches hurt this episode, as most of the recurring sketches had decent outings tonight, even Debbie Downer! Also throw in an out-of-the-ordinary, refreshing, fun, and format-breaking backstage sketch right before Kanye West’s first musical performance, and things are looking promising for SNL’s future. From my memory of how this season plays out, things only get even better as this season progresses. Steve Carell seemed a little underutilized as a host tonight, which is a damn shame given his comedic skills and improv experience, but he was fine whenever the show allowed him to be funny.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2004-05)
a big step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Jon Heder