Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
CNN UNIVISION DEMOCRATIC DEBATE
media favorite Barack Obama (FRA) cruises during debate; Obama Girl cameo
— (*sigh*) Hoooooooo, boy. The debut of Fred’s Barack Obama impression, a.k.a. Fredbama. This is gonna be a long four-and-a-half years.
— I will say that I remember being very impressed by the makeup job on Fred’s Obama back when this episode originally aired.
— Kristen’s Campbell Brown: “Like nearly everyone in the media, the three of us are totally in the tank for Senator Obama.” Funny how much things had changed since SNL’s last episode before the writers’ strike, given the fact that, as pointed out in my last episode review, that episode contained a sketch dealing with Hillary Clinton being the media favorite to become the Democratic nominee, much to the other Democratic candidates’ chagrin.
— Kristen’s whole opening spiel about her and her colleagues suffering from Obama-related ailments is very funny.
— This cold opening is doing a solid spoof of the media’s fawning over Obama at this time.
— Very funny line from Amy’s Hillary bragging that her only supporters are white women over 80.
— Ha, Obama Girl (a.k.a. Amber Lee Ettinger). Anyone remember her today, 12 years later? Even back at this time in 2008, there were some online SNL fans who had no idea who she was, and some of those fans mistakenly assumed she was the new female cast member SNL had just hired (who’s name I’ll soon mention, after my review of this cold opening). In a live discussion thread for this episode on an SNL message board, one of the aforementioned people who mistook Obama Girl for the new female cast member made a post saying “Is that the new cast member? Wow, she’s HOT!”
— I absolutely love Kristen’s deadpan, stern “If you ever interrupt Obama Girl again—” threat to Amy’s Hillary.
— For being such a heavy focal point of this cold opening, Fred’s Obama is largely silent for most of this. (Probably a good thing, in hindsight.) Is that SNL’s way of hiding the fact that Fred hasn’t mastered his Obama voice by this point? (Ha, as if he ever would master it.) I recall it being obvious that his Obama voice was still a work in progress in these early Obama sketches of his, because, IIRC, he uses an utterly BIZARRE, cartoonish-sounding voice as Obama in the cold opening of the very next episode. I can’t wait to see if his voice in that cold opening is as bad as I remember.
— Hmm, I spoke a bit too soon about Fred’s Obama being largely silent in tonight’s cold opening, as we now get a long speech from him.
— Kristen’s orgasmic reaction to the big, noble speech Fred’s Obama just made was hilarious.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
— Casey Wilson has been added to the cast tonight.
MONOLOGUE
Steve Martin [real] gets unsure performer TIF to say “I can do it!”
— A lot of very good, perfectly Tina Fey-esque lines from Tina early on in this monologue in regards to the writers’ strike she participated in.
— Nice to see a Steve Martin appearance here, and his interplay with Tina is very fun.
— Much like Tina’s perfectly Tina Fey-esque lines here, Steve has so many perfectly Steve Martin-esque lines, especially in regards to the differences between a writer and a star.
— I love the bit with Steve having Tina say “I can do it!” in different specific voices (e.g. as an old-fashioned movie character, as a cartoon mouse, as a cartoon mouse in Spanish).
STARS: ****
ANNUALE
pill concentrates menstruation into a once-per-year paroxysm
— A female-oriented commercial that feels like it’s in the tradition of famous Tina Fey-era female-oriented Fey/Poehler/Dratch/Rudolph-starring commercials like Mom Jeans and Kotex Classic.
— An absolutely hilarious and epic turn with us being shown a montage of the insane actions of the women when they get their annual period. I especially love Tina’s character scaring her co-workers away by running around the office while swinging an axe like a madman.
— Great little detail throughout this commercial with how one object in each scene is pink while the rest of the objects are either a drab color or are shown through a black-and-white screen filter.
— A hilarious ending screen crawl disclaimer regarding the “Do not take if…”s of the medication.
— The ending voice-over from Amy was kinda pushing it and wasn’t necessary, but didn’t hurt this fantastic ad.
STARS: *****
ROCK OF LOVE 2
Bret Michaels (JAS) doesn’t choose one-legged Amber
— In hindsight, this sketch now serves as a time capsule of these “……Of Love” reality shows that dominated VH1 in the late 2000s.
— Tina is very funny here.
— I see SNL’s already letting Casey Wilson know her status as a newbie (which, as we now know, SNL would sadly NEVER stop doing for the remainder of Casey’s short-lived run as a cast member), as she’s the only contestant in this sketch who doesn’t get her own pre-taped confessional sequence like the other contestants are.
— After almost two minutes of being a straightforward (but funny) Rock Of Love parody, this turns into an Amber sketch OUT OF NOWHERE. This ends up being the final Amber sketch while Amy’s still in the cast.
— Ha, at least Casey gets a sloppy tongue-kissing make-out session with Jason, which is certainly……….something. I remember Casey talking about that in an interview she did on a podcast just a few months after tonight’s episode originally aired.
— I’m glad this sketch isn’t focusing as heavily on Amber as her previous sketches did, as the humor involving her character can tend to get a little tedious at times. Plus, in her limited airtime in this sketch, she’s actually working well.
STARS: ***½
GRANDKIDS IN THE MOVIES
edited-in grandsons (BIH) & (ANS) quell anxiety in DVDs for old people
— “The following is a message for old people.” That opening disclaimer made me laugh harder than it probably should’ve.
— A decent premise, even if it seems a little unexciting for a Digital Short in SNL’s first episode back after a long hiatus.
— The part with Bill and Andy telling the grandfather, in regards to the ringing phone in the Michael Clayton movie clip, “That phone’s in the movie, grandpa. That’s not your phone”, is particularly funny to me, because when I watched this Digital Short back when this episode originally aired, I mistakenly thought that was my phone ringing, too, and I’m not even remotely elderly (I was 23 when this originally aired).
— I love the bit with Andy struggling to translate Rainn Wilson’s ridiculous slang in the Juno clip.
— In hindsight, this short is unintentionally a good time capsule of big Oscar-nominated movies from around this time (No Country For Old Men, Juno, There Will Be Blood, etc.).
— Pretty odd how this Digital Short’s lead role of the grandfather is being played by a completely unknown actor. However, I’m enjoying his performance here, and he’s charming and likable.
STARS: ***½
WHAT’S THAT BITCH TALKING ABOUT?
(TIF) intuits females on game show
— Already a cheap laugh from the title right at the beginning of this sketch.
— This is the very first of what would be many instances of Kenan playing a game show host, though his second instance wouldn’t be until as much as five years later (in the “New Cast Member Or Arcade Fire” sketch, which, coincidentally, happens to be in another Tina Fey-hosted episode). After that, he’d go on to play game show hosts pretty often.
— A pretty good laugh from how the game show prize is an old canary-yellow 1992 Mazda Protege.
— I love Casey’s angry rant during her small appearance, especially her exaggerated southern-accented pronunciation of the word “ass”.
— A likable game show host performance from Kenan.
— Another sketch tonight that Tina is fun in, especially her extremely detailed, long-winded answer to the third question, involving a character played by Kristen.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All-American Girl”
WEEKEND UPDATE
in politics & SNL, Mike Huckabee [real] misses his cue to exit the stage
TIF thinks the value of Hillary Clinton’s bitchiness is underappreciated
— I forgot to point out in the preceding episode that Barack Obama’s cameo is just the beginning of what will be MANY cameos from presidential candidates during this 2008 presidential race. Tonight’s Mike Huckabee cameo continues that.
— For a non-actor, Mike Huckabee is actually performing well here, not being stiff at all like some politicians tend to come off on SNL. He’s coming off likable and laid-back here.
— Having Tina bring back her recurring “Women’s News” segment from her Weekend Update tenure is a good way to work the obligatory commentary from her into tonight’s Update.
— A lot of solid lines from Tina in tonight’s Women’s News segment. And the turn at the end with her bragging about the perks of being a bitch is memorable, especially her “Bitch is the new black” declaration (which would soon be one-upped by Tracy Morgan in a cameo appearance three episodes later). Even the interaction between Tina and Amy here, which seems to be attempting somewhat of a throwback to the Fey/Poehler era of Update (and you KNOW how I felt about that Update era), is coming off better than I typically found their interactions during their era of Update together.
STARS: ***½
THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
Donald Trump’s (DAH) axe swings for minor stars
— Great to see the return of Kenan’s Charles Barkley after how much he killed it in the Iconoclasts sketch earlier this season.
— I love Kenan’s Barkley firing himself for his poor idea, and walking out of the scene.
— Another return of a fun impression from a cast member: Bill’s John Mark Karr.
— A big blast from the past now to see impressions of Matthew Lesko (the Question Mark Suit Guy from those commercials in the 90s) and Mr. Six (the dancing old guy from the Six Flags commercials in the 2000s).
— Between playing Dennis Kucinich then-recently and now playing Mr. Six in this sketch, I’m getting a big Kate McKinnon vibe from Amy lately.
— I love Will-as-Judge-Ito’s sing-songy delivery of “I brought my own gaveeeeeellllll!”
STARS: ***
WEDDING TOAST
Ed Mahoney’s careless loquacity upsets newlyweds’ (WLF) & (TIF) reception
— Yes! The return of Jason’s Ed Mahoney character, a forgotten-by-most-people favorite of mine from a sketch in season 31. I remember hearing SNL attempted at least once to make him recurring back in season 31, but the sketch didn’t make it past dress rehearsal. The description of that cut Ed Mahoney sketch made it sound like a blatant carbon-copy of the first Ed Mahoney sketch, right down to ending the exact same way with him attempting to run out of a store with a stolen object and then getting brought down by a guard with a taser, so maybe it’s a good thing that sketch got cut. Tonight’s Ed Mahoney sketch is thankfully doing new, fresh things with the character instead of being a lazy carbon-copy of his first sketch.
— So many funny inappropriate lines from Ed Mahoney, and, as always, I absolutely love that trademark laugh of his.
— A very funny blunt, rude “I hope you two die!” parting message from Mahoney to the newlyweds.
STARS: ****
VIRGANIA HORSEN’S HOT AIR BALLOON RIDES
Virgania Horsen (KRW) wants you to take a ride in her hot air balloon
— So much bizarre, low-budget randomness here, but I am loving it, and it’s being executed so well. This definitely feels like the type of thing that would’ve aired at the time on Tim & Eric.
— Kristen is absolutely perfect here.
STARS: ****
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE
Daniel Plainview (BIH) intensifies egg creams
— I absolutely love this unusual, creative way of spoofing the famous “I drink your milkshake” scene from There Will Be Blood.
— Amy plays her second male role in tonight’s episode alone.
— A great opening title sequence and Will Forte-sung theme song. (Side note: between the MacGruber sketches and now this, I’m starting to think every sketch that contained a theme song in this era should’ve been sung by Will Forte.) One minor little question about the title sequence, though: why does Amy’s character have light blonde hair in it, while having dark brown hair in the live portions of this sketch?
— Bill is absolutely brilliant in his performance as Daniel Day Lewis’ There Will Be Blood character. At this time back in 2008, it still felt somewhat rare to see Bill in a lead role in a sketch, which made this sketch come off particularly refreshing.
— Fred is a dead-ringer for Anton Chigurh. I can’t say for sure if he’s nailing the voice, though.
— Much like the Digital Short earlier tonight, this sketch, in hindsight, is a good time capsule of the big Oscar-nominated movies from around this time.
— Bill-as-Daniel-Plainview’s “I’VE ABANDONED MY CHIIIIIIILD! I’VE ABANDONED MY BOOOOYYYYY!” panicked outburst is not only hilarious, but has stuck in my memory over the years. It’s hard to forget that specific shouting from Bill.
— Second episode in a row where Fred makes his exit in a sketch by slowly walking past the camera in an obnoxious, hammy, screen-hogging manner. Ugh, I hope that’s not becoming a habit of his, even if I did kinda chuckle at it in this context of him doing it as Anton Chigurh (it would’ve been funnier had he not already done it in the preceding episode).
— Interesting having this week’s SNL host play a character (Juno) that the following week’s SNL host played in a movie.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Flat On The Floor”
LADY BUSINESS
yet another TV show features determined career women
— The semi-theme tonight of female-oriented sketches/commercials pairing Tina and the entire female cast together continues.
— Very funny little moment from Kristen with her clarifying to Andy that her last name, St. George, is pronounced “stuh-gorg”.
— Poor Casey, being one of the four female leads in this sketch, but getting no lines, nor her own scene like the other three female leads are getting. I’ll give SNL the benefit of the doubt and assume it was planned for her to have her own scene in this sketch, but portions of this sketch had to go through some hasty, last-minute trimming due to the show running a little long. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it confirmed that Casey did indeed get her own scene in the dress rehearsal version of this sketch.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
90 year-old DOP blows out the candles on his birthday cake
— A special occasion during these goodnights, as SNL holds a wonderful little celebration for Don Pardo’s 90th (!!!) birthday.
— An interesting coincidence how both times Carrie Underwood was a musical guest on SNL (the preceding season’s Peyton Manning episode being the first time), a big birthday celebration was held during the goodnights.
— A memorable visual of Don blowing out the 90 candles on his birthday cake. Too bad the goodnights get cut off before he finishes.
— I believe this ends up being Don’s final onscreen SNL appearance, despite remaining SNL’s announcer for the next 6 years. It’s significant that this birthday celebration is what ends up being his final appearance.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, and a great return for SNL after the writers’ strike. Every single segment in this episode worked for me, and there was a high number of segments that received a rating from me ranging from 4-5 stars. Much like Molly Shannon in her hosting stint the preceding season, Tina Fey being given a lot of the same type of non-Weekend Update roles she typically played during her cast member years, including some very minor roles, made this episode refreshingly feel almost like there was no host, and that Tina was just a cast member again.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Brian Williams)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Ellen Page
This has become one of my favorite sites on the webs.
I am 44 and started watching the show “live” around the Hartman/Carvey/Lovitz period and since that time I have come to believe Bill Hader is on the the very short list for funniest guy ever on this show the past 35 years. The amount of hilarious characters he has done may be greater than Will and is right there with Eddie IMo. Even this skit is hilarious but doesn’t not make his top 20 probably. And cripes, I will still hum “I drink your milkshake” jingle from this time to to time.
Looking forward to the next few weeks of you reliving his greatest hits.
@CJPhilly, it’s nice to ‘meet’ you. I started SNL around the same time you did, but quit around 2003 or so, which means I missed a lot of what we’re getting now and I’ve only seen it through going back to rewatch in the last year or so. I’ve been reading this blog since around last summer and it’s been such a great resource as well as a wonderful place to talk with fans. I agree Bill Hader is one of the best and I’m glad we’re starting to get into his prime years in the cast.
Fred’s Obama was weird because it felt like he would flip between trying really hard to get the voice down and not trying at all from sketch to sketch.
A lot of this episode was pretty middling imo. I wasn’t crazy about The Apprentice thing, the Amber sketch, and almost all of Update (even ignoring politics, I don’t understand why anyone would be excited to see Mike Huckabee on a comedy show.) I really liked the back half after the Apprentice sketch. Ed Mahoney, Virgania Horsen, and I Drink Your Milkshake all being solid and fun. It might just be me, but I Drink Your Milkshake seems like the first time post-Beth Miller where the direction kinda brings down a sketch, though. The blocking and camera angles feel “off” in it.
Casey Wilson’s hiring is strange. It seems like she was hired just to fill the gap Maya left, since apparently Lorne wasn’t feeling anyone who auditioned during the summer. It makes all the times she rarely appeared in an episode feel deliberate, though I may be looking into it too much. I find her pretty funny so it’s too bad her time on the show went so poorly.
Ah, the arrival of Casey Wilson, an absolutely hilarious actress whose arrival marks the beginning of one of the worst eras of treatment of women on SNL. It’s too bad, Wilson gets two absolutely fabulous features this season but then gets completely nuked in 08-09. Once Poehler leaves, the balance of power gets completely thrown off its axis and a handful of deeply talented performers get completely neutered in service of the Kristen Wiig Experience. It would probably be another four seasons before the show started to recover (and then the dinguses opt to sideline Tim Robinson, setting the show back once again).
“I Drink Your Milkshake” is my number one favorite Bill Hader sketch, but I totally forget that it was in this episode! How stupid of me! I had no idea that was Will singing the theme song, either.
Ah, yes, the unfortunate saga of Casey Wilson begins. Along with Michaela Watkins, Abby Elliott, and Jenny “I Fuckin’ Love You For That” Slate, she was a victim of what I call “The Era of Underused Females”.
I’d say even Nasim Pesrad was a victim in this. It wasn’t until Vanessa Bauer that someone started to thrive under Wiig.
Another thing that comes to mind could be the lack of Tina Fey as head writer anymore who always wrote a lot of female centric ensemble sketches during her era. It really wasn’t until the Kate/Cecily/Aidy era when the women gelled as a group again. Whereas from 08-12 it felt like Kristen and the other ladies mostly serving to play straight man to her wacky characters.
Agreed Carson. Similar to Rob Riggle a few seasons prior, she’s one of those people I’ve always found super funny yet for whatever reason never got to make much of an impression while on SNL. You can catch glimpses of the great comedic timing and delivery she’d display later on in stuff like Happy Endings or Black Monday (Horatio is also currently great in that too) but her roles were typically so small it was hard to notice her, and she perhaps didn’t seem quite as confident a performer at that point than she would in future projects, you can kinda sense her desperation to try make an impression at certain points, especially in the next season when it became more obvious the show wasn’t working out for her.
And yes, Casey’s hiring also starts the unfortunate turn when they went through woman after woman getting the shaft while the show was slowly morphing into The Kristen Wiig Show for the next several seasons.
I remember the Tina commentary about Hilary being a big deal at the time. People saw it as an endorsement and I think she later said in interviews that wasn’t her intention. My friends and I still quote it.
“Yeah, she is a bitch. And so is this one. And you know what? Bitches get stuff done. Those nuns in Catholic school were MEAN, but you knew the capital of Vermont!”
I felt bad (badly?) for Casey when I read some of her interviews where she talked about how her mother had died not long before she joined the show, and also about how difficult it was for her joining all on her own. There’s a fair amount of talk about this being a golden era for backstage harmony because Seth was so kind to people – I guess no matter how kind he was, this was a huge hurdle to overcome. I would say that I wish they’d waited but it’s not as if they could make Maya stay, and having only Kristen and Amy (who was pregnant by the last months of the season) there wouldn’t have worked either…I’d say maybe they could have asked Rachel Dratch about being a temp, crass as that sounds. But really, there’s no reason it couldn’t have worked out if they had tried.
I do blame the hyperfocus on Kristen in this era for the decline of the rest of the female cast, but I feel like sometimes that gives the impression Kristen herself was responsible. Casey singled out Kristen and Michaela Watkins for praise in an interview a few years ago, so clearly she didn’t feel Kristen was trying to push her airtime down. The onus is on those up the writers and producers. I just hope that never happens again to this degree.
Casey had Kristen as a guest on her podcast a while back and jokingly introduced her as “one do the few people who was nice to me at SNL” which Kristen audibly laughed at in a way like she knew it had a bit of truth to it even though it was meant as a joke.
Also recall Casey mentioning before that she regretted never doing something on Weekend Update her first year as she felt that was the best way to introduce yourself to the audience as a new cast member, because she always got the feeling her whole time at the show the audience was always going “who the hell is she?!?” whenever she was in a sketch.
The writing gets kinda lazy, some have even admitted that Kristen’s skill as a performer elevated some otherwise underwritten pieces.
Casey was the first new cast member in 2 1/2 years, which is unfathomable for post-2000 SNL. Indeed, she never found her footing, even when she was front and center like in three of this episode’s sketches. Her Rachael Ray impression was aces, though.
The back end of Year 33 is pretty solid, and the winning streak carries into the first part of Year 34. Some middling sketches here, but overshadowed by three or four gems.
In her book, Tina mentions that she wrote “Annuale.” She doesn’t have a writer’s credit on this episode. I guess she doesn’t take writing credits when she is the host, even when she writes some of the material? Interesting (at least to me).
Robert Carlock and Lauren Pomerantz were credited with an “additional sketch.” Does anyone happen to know what it was?
We all still miss Don Pardo
I remember liking this episode more at the time than when I look back and see what was in it, but there’s some classics and an overall solid episode. A lot of the premises are just good, silly fun and it was helpful to have a former cast member-yet-not one who had tons of recurring characters. As Stooge points out, Tina blended in well with the cast and even took what would have been insultingly small parts for a host otherwise (two lines in a quick cameo in the classic Milkshake sketch!).
Someone pointed out that the audience does not seem to understand much of the I Drink Your Milkshake sketch.
It’s interesting with regards to those parts as the shoehorning in of Juno feels to me like the “the host needs to be everywhere” mentality which wasn’t as common at the time but was heading in that direction. I wonder if the writing team knew quite how to use Tina, as many of the sketches she has a bigger role in feel somewhat closer to material she might have written herself (other than the game show sketch), while the rest of the episode where she has smaller roles doesn’t and she doesn’t register (although she still gives good performances in bits like the wedding toast sketch). I guess it comes and goes – I don’t care a lot for her 2011 episode (or whenever it was that she did the Little Mermaid sketch) but I felt like they were more smoother at including her into most of the night.
I’m probably overthinking this since Mary Jo Buttafuoco was still popping up here and there in the news in the late ’00s, but given that Tina thought so highly of Jan Hooks, and Jan played Mary Jo during one of her guest appearances, I wonder if Tina wanted to take the role on for her first hosting stint as a tip of the hat to Jan. Otherwise it just seems so random to me (this is only the second and last time Mary Jo would ever be impersonated on SNL).
Jim Downey was interviewed on a number of occasions about this period and the debate sketches he wrote (this debate sketch was a BIG DEAL at the time), but I’m just going to link this one from October 2008 because he goes into this sketch, and the idea that the show was in the tank for Hillary, but he also has wider thoughts on Tina-as-Palin and the press takes on SNL’s political commentary.
https://observer.com/2008/10/boss-jim-downey/
Other than praising Amy’s performance I don’t have anything to say about this sketch with the exception of finding it amusing in hindsight to see Jorge Ramos depicted as an Obama sycophant. Let’s just say if that was ever the case, it wouldn’t last.
I will just say about Mike Huckabee’s appearance that I think it is one of the primary examples of how toxic the “everyone is the same” school of political cameo hell on SNL is and is one of the primary examples of why I wish they would not have politicians on their show. Huckabee would later decry SNL as “sexist” and “misogynist” for their very, very mild first sketch involving his daughter. At least she had the common sense to avoid the whole subject that he clearly did not.
Two of Tina’s Update jokes (Lindsay Lohan finding new ways to look old and wondering if Kirstie Alley thinks people can’t actually see her) reminded me again of how much she veered toward Norm in scathing putdown territory, just hidden by clapter and righteousness. I think that is where her biggest strengths in writing and delivery were, although the Lohan joke feels kind on wrong when I remember how she and Lorne were happy to bring Lohan on and repeatedly exploit her personal problems for ratings.
Someone in the stream for this episode (I think it was Casey Killingsworth) pointed out how much Casey Wilson’s character in the game show sketch acts like Cathy Anne. That makes me wonder if Kent Sublette wrote this sketch, or helped write it. Cecily was, I believe, also more of a dramatic actress who made her way into comedy – she was able to marry the two on SNL in a way Wilson never quite did. As for the sketch itself, I enjoyed the performances from the ladies (Bill had a nothing role and Kenan overacted), but I didn’t really laugh as it just felt like too clumsy of a ‘turn’ sketch. The Rock of Love parody works a little better as everyone is up to par and gets something amusing to do (I guess Jason and Casey were the precursor to the “kissing family” – I’m not sure if Jason was ever in any of those…). The parodies which returned so forcefully with Tina don’t really click for me – they’re not bad, but just too scattered and repetitive (the best part of the Lipstick Jungle/whatever that other show was parody was the “womandatory” line and the great costume work, especially on Kristen and Casey; the Apprentice parody was interesting mostly just to see how many one-off impressions were revived to fill time, then Andy made me laugh with the annoying infomercial guy).
I’m always glad to see Tina in sketches, which are her real forte for me. Hearing the audience laugh when they first saw her doing a crazy character in the Rock of Love thing made me smile as I wondered how many may not have ever quite known she was a natural in sketches (even though she’d appeared in a number of them as a cast member, of course). But the monologue was her best of the night for me – what a great use of Steve Martin (maybe his best use in the last few decades?), and she’s genuinely very funny with none of the ego trips of her 2013 and 2018 monologues. Annuale was also very good and the incredibly cheap production values only add to the soul-sucking atmosphere – it reminds me of the early scenes in Joe Versus the Volcano.
The best parts of the episode for me were the non-host focused bits. I Drink Your Milkshake may be flatly executed but Bill gives an absolute powerhouse, starmaking performance I enjoy no matter how many times I watch. The digital short is cute and simple, never needlessly elevating, instead relying on Bill and Andy and their ability to stretch “adorable grandsons” into several minutes of footage (and yeah the guy playing the grandfather is fantastic). I’m not sure if Kristen’s solo balloon piece was with Lonely Island but I loved that as well – great use of her absurd deadpan mix. The highlight is the wedding toast sketch, which is Jason at full powers, bouyed by one wonderful line after another. The best of many is “laid more pipe than Super Mario…and ate as many mushrooms.”
A lovely close with Don Pardo. I’m only sorry we didn’t get to see the full goodnights.
Overall I felt like this episode had two very distinct halves and I think if we’d gotten a better integration I would have been happier, but the good stuff is very very good and Tina’s first host outing is fine.
Promos (the first one has a very rare Seth promo sighting – looking years younger than his Update persona):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vOTbmZRkU
Random thought that just occurred to me was when Casey first joined the cast I couldn’t help but notice she resembled early 90s Julia Sweeney quite a bit, the screencap above of her in the pre-tape of the last sketch for example I think was what made me remember that.
Among the things I mainly remember: Fred’s first Barak Obama-I guess that was the best the show could do for this presidential candidate. It was okay for what it was. Tina’s “Bitch is the new Black” commentary which I enjoyed immensely as well as the “I Drink Your Milkshake” sketch though I’ve yet to watch the movie it came from. Too bad about Casey Wilson’s limited roles in her debut. I think I also remember enjoying Steve Martin’s monologue appearance. And perhaps also One-Legged Amber’s last sketch. And nice birthday appearance from Don Pardo…
Marika Sawyer is one the writers featured in the monologue. IIRC, her contribution was a last minute addition and she disliked the on-camera experience so much she declined to appear on camera again.
Another promo in this (second promo).
Perhaps it’s just me, but I’ve never been a fan of “I Drink Your Milkshake.” Yeah, it’s a funny premise and Bill delivers (as usual), but I’ve never understood the hype.
Also, it’s extremely weird looking back to see MIKE HUCKABEE on Update, considering how divided the show is with politics now. (I know it’s not primarily SNL’s fault, but we’re probably not gonna see Giuliani or Palin on the show again)
The last episode to air on my birthday, and it had to be the year before I started watching.
Happy birthday!
Im eexamining this era and I noticed a trivial side note: they’ve never missed a show in November and February. Whether it was budget cuts, a pandemic, or a writer strike that shortened a season at least one show aired in those two months. Do what you will with this information.
SNL Music history was made on this night: Carrie Underwood’s performance of Flat On The Floor was nothing less than ASTOUNDING. The fact that she is a wonderful, loving person who gave one million dollars to OK. after a hurricane is beside the point! 🧡 Thank you for your SNL page here!
This episode IMO is the beginning of the peak of the Sudeikis / Hader / Wiig Samberg era, which really only extends in the next season.