Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
QVC
John & Cindy McCain [real] sell merchandise on QVC with Sarah Palin (TIF)
— John McCain making a cameo just a few days before the election. This was presumably a last-ditch effort from him to garner up some desperate votes, as the writing was CLEARLY on the wall for him by this late stage of the election.
— Feels a bit odd seeing Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression being paired with the real John McCain, but it’s always nice to see Tina’s Palin during these 2008 elections, and McCain is always a fun sport on SNL.
— A funny reveal from a sad McCain that, while Barack Obama purchased airtime on three major networks, he and Tina-as-Palin could only afford QVC.
— A lot of fun laughs from the ’08 election-related products McCain and Tina’s Palin are selling as part of an agreement with QVC.
— An absolutely classic part with Tina’s Palin “goin’ rogue” and secretly advertising “Palin in 2012” shirts to a side camera, then saying she’s not going anywhere after the election (“I’m certainly not goin’ back to Alaska”).
— At the time this originally aired, I assumed this would be the last time we’d ever see Tina’s iconic Palin impression. The impression would end up making a handful of appearances over the years after this election, mostly in Tina Fey-hosted episodes.
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Given the direction of this monologue, the punchline of Ben Affleck announcing his endorsement of John McCain’s presidential campaign is predictable, but still funny enough.
— An overall very short and simple monologue. I’m at least glad this is the FIFTH consecutive episode that has a host-only monologue (again ignoring Oliver Stone’s brief interruption of Josh Brolin’s monologue). This has got to be the longest streak of host-only monologues since all the way back in the 80s. (I’ve heard that SNL would later return to the trend of host-only monologues at some point in season 44, but I personally can’t say for sure, as I’ve been on a hiatus from watching new SNL episodes since a few months into season 44.)
STARS: ***
JAR GLOVE
Rerun from 9/13/08
THE VIEW
Elisabeth Hasselbeck (KRW) & Alec Baldwin (host) argue politics
— SNL’s very first View sketch since the original, Tina Fey-written run of View sketches in the late 90s. Tonight’s installment launches a new run of these sketches.
— I never cared for Fred’s Joy Behar in these View sketches.
— I have mixed feelings on Casey’s Jennifer Aniston impression. On one hand, I can definitely see what she’s going for in the voice, and her impression is giving me mild laughs. On the other hand, the voice is pretty far off, feels too much like a work in progress (Casey stated in an interview the summer prior to this season that she was working on an Aniston impression that she hoped would get on SNL), and, in hindsight, this impression pales badly in comparison to the absolutely spot-on Aniston impression that future cast member Vanessa Bayer would later memorably do.
— Kristen’s political rants as Elisabeth Hasslebeck are making me laugh in this first sketch. However, I recall this going on to become a rather annoying staple of this era’s View sketches, even if it’s accurate to the real Hasselbeck’s political rants.
— Feels interesting seeing an impression of SNL favorite Alec Baldwin. Ben’s impression is pretty spot-on AND funny.
— Ben’s Baldwin, to Kristen’s Hasselbeck: “I can’t figure out if I wanna kiss you…or throw you off a cliff.”
— This sketch is okay, but really pales in comparison to the well-loved run of View sketches from the late 90s. Tonight’s sketch lacks that spark that the late 90s View sketches had.
STARS: ***
COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
Keith Olbermann’s (host) egoism flavors indignant hyperbole
— Ah, here’s a sketch I’ve always had very fond memories of.
— Right out of the gate, Ben’s Keith Olbermann impression is ALREADY slaying me. His voice and delivery are absolutely hilarious to me. I recall some unimpressed online SNL fans back at this time in 2008 criticizing Ben’s Olbermann impression (“Since when does Keith Olbermann speak in a half-British accent?”, I remember one of those SNL fans asking). While I admit Ben’s impression is certainly not spot-on in terms of nailing Olbermann’s voice, his performance as Olbermann is so damn fun and hilarious that I can EASILY overlook any inaccuracies in the impression, plus he’s at least nailing Olbermann’s general demeanor.
— Funny interview between Ben’s Olbermann and Kenan.
— Ben-as-Olbermann’s intentionally hammy, exaggerated, over-the-top delivery and camera-mugging during the “Worst Person In The World” segment is freakin’ priceless.
— A hilarious and particularly memorable “Special Comment” segment, with Ben’s Olbermann ranting INSANELY in a spitting-mad manner in regards to his building’s no-pets policy. I am practically on the fucking floor laughing at Ben’s execution of this segment.
— Funny touch throughout Ben-as-Olbermann’s no-pets policy rant with him constantly turning from one camera to another, eventually including a ridiculously-placed ceiling camera.
— Quite a long sketch (a sign of this being a Jim Downey-written piece, I take it?), especially for one that mainly consists of just the host speaking to the camera, but I have absolutely NO complaints.
— Overall, great to see this sketch still holds up. This sketch remains a personal favorite of mine. Ben absolutely KILLED IT in this mostly-solo sketch, and he was given lots of very funny material to back him up.
STARS: *****
TARGET
UPS driver (host) wants to get romantically involved with Target Lady
— (*groan*) Another Target Lady sketch.
— At least we get a very funny character from Ben. And the premise of him falling in love with Target Lady is a good and much-needed change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— I admit that, the more these Target Lady sketches appear, the funnier I’m gradually finding the running bit with Target Lady revealing the convoluted usage she intends to get out of the items that she leaves the cash register to get.
— Ben’s message over the P.A. is cracking me up.
— Bobby managed to make the most of his small appearance here (his ONLY appearance all night, by the way).
— Love the bit with Ben scanning Target Lady with the handheld scanner device and then saying “Just what I thought…PRICELESS!”
— Overall, by far the best (and first good) Target Lady sketch I’ve covered so far, thanks to Ben’s great character and performance.
STARS: ***
STATEN ISLAND ZOO
giraffe-themed follow-up to “Sloths!!” is equally zoologically inaccurate
— A somewhat questionable decision to do a follow-up to/variation of the epic Sloths installment of this sketch, which will be hard to top or even equal.
— I’m now a minute into this, and I gotta admit, despite my initial reservations, I’m actually loving the hell out of this Sloths follow-up/variation.
— Ha, we actually get a brief cameo from one of the sloths in the original Sloths sketch, yelling “GIRAFFES, MOTHERF(*bleep*)ER!” into the camera.
— Meh, Jason’s puzzled ending message after the Giraffes video, in which he just says a very taken-aback “I…I…”, pales badly in comparison to Kristen’s ending message from the Sloths version of this sketch.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Light On”
WEEKEND UPDATE
John McCain [real] presents his last-ditch campaign strategy options
Patrick & Gunther Kelly explicate voting machine issues with a song
Aunt Linda has negative reactions to new television season’s offerings
— I’m slowly getting used to seeing Seth anchor Update without Amy, but there’s still a bit of an odd feel.
— Among the cheers from the audience when McCain’s commentary is introduced, he receives some loud boos. Showing what a good sport he is, McCain doesn’t let it visibly bother him, and, in response to it, even laughs and mugs hammily in a good-natured manner (screencap below).
— Another fun Update commentary from McCain. I particularly like the part about him pulling “The Sad Grandpa” move.
— Odd coincidence that McCain’s booed-by-the-audience-early-on Update appearance is immediately followed by Seth doing a “Booed At Rally” joke about Sarah Palin.
— Wow, this is the first time we’ve seen Fred and Will’s Patrick & Gunther Kelly characters in years. This also ends up being their final appearance.
— Will’s insanely high-pitched singing in these Kelly Brothers commentaries never fails to get me.
— Although these Kelly Brothers commentaries have always used the same joke, it always works for me, especially when we’ve gotten a long break after their last appearance before this.
— I see SNL is still trying to figure out how to do Update without Seth having a co-anchor, as I’ve been noticing tonight has VERY few jokes in between the guest commentaries. Almost reminiscent of how the Dick Ebersol era’s later years (seasons 9 and 10) would sometimes have Updates (or Saturday Night Newses, rather) that have the anchorperson doing literally only ONE news joke in between each of the guest commentators.
— Speaking of recurring characters we haven’t seen in a while, we now get the return of Aunt Linda. Unfortunately, this is a character I’m NOT happy to see back, nor does this end up being her final appearance. This character only worked for me the first time she appeared.
STARS: ***
NIGHT SCHOOL MUSICAL: SENIOR YEAR EQUIVALENT
middle-aged students sing about adult concerns
— An okay concept for a High School Musical parody.
— During her lyrics in the song right now, I like Casey’s whole bit about what she’s going to smoke.
— Another episode this season in which Darrell makes his ONLY appearance in an awkward, small, non-impression, walk-on role that feels like SNL just threw him into out of desperation, just to give him something to do. As I said in a recent episode review, I’m starting to forget Darrell’s even still in the cast this season.
— Casey’s been standing out in this sketch. It’s nice to see her getting a lot of focus here.
— Funny look of Ben’s character.
— Ben seems to not know most of the lyrics to the song that he and the other performers are singing in unison, as he can be seen only moving his mouth to a few of the words.
STARS: ***
GRADY WILSON’S PUT THE FIRE BACK IN YOUR MARRIAGE TECHNIQUES
Grady Wilson’s (KET) sex DVD
— The debut of Kenan’s Grady Wilson sketches.
— I wonder why they gave Kenan’s character the same name of a character from the 70s sitcom Sanford & Son.
— The mere bluntness of Kenan’s sex demonstration scenes is hilarious, as are the sex moves he demonstrates.
— Very fun sketch, and Kenan is selling the hell out of it.
STARS: ****
MOVIE PITCH
(host)’s queer brother Stefon (BIH) puts homoerotic spin on a movie pitch
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut! And, boy, does this particular character eventually gain larger-than-life popularity. One of the biggest recurring characters in the history of SNL.
— It’s frustrating that Bill’s ONLY appearance all night is in a sketch airing so damn late in the show, but, knowing in hindsight that this sketch is basically a huge turning point for Bill, especially in terms of airtime, this will hopefully be the last time I will ever have to complain about how much SNL consistently underutilizes this brilliant performer.
— Being so used to seeing Stefon as a Weekend Update-only character in his subsequent appearances, it certainly feels interesting in hindsight seeing him make his debut not only in a sketch, but an unassuming, late-in-the-show sketch at that.
— Right out of the gate, Stefon is a hilarious character. And I’m loving the contrast his bizarre, raunchy, homoerotic movie pitch has to Ben’s family-friendly, cliched movie pitch. I’m sure people say Stefon works better as a Weekend Update character, and that’s most likely true, but we’ll see how I’ll feel about that when I reach this character’s stint as an Update correspondent.
— Feels a bit odd in retrospect not seeing the Stefon trademark of Bill breaking in reaction to some of the lines he’s reading cold off the cue cards. Obviously, this was before writer John Mulaney started the tradition of making last-minute changes to some of Stefon’s lines to surprise Bill on the air.
— I love Jason describing Stefon’s movie pitch as “some kind of half-remembered gay nightmare”.
— A funny ending fake freeze-frame on Stefon.
— A surprisingly fairly short sketch, further adding to my point of how unassuming this Stefon debut comes off. Nobody, not even Bill or Mulaney themselves, would’ve ever guessed back at this time in 2008 the heights this character’s popularity would eventually reach. In fact, we don’t even see Stefon make his second appearance until a year-and-a-half later, at a time when his original sketch from tonight’s episode was almost completely forgotten by most SNL fans.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Declaration”
BIERHOFF BROS. HOUSE OF GERMAN COATS
Bierhoff Brothers’ (FRA) & (host) coat for German tourists is overdone
— Ben gives yet another fun performance tonight, as I love the German accent he’s using here.
— I’m getting a bit of a Hans & Franz vibe from Fred and Ben’s characters. In fact, this sketch is almost basically what a Hans & Franz sketch would be like if they advertised coats instead of hosted a bodybuilding show, and didn’t spout off catchphrases every 20 seconds.
— Ben seemed lost on what he was supposed to do while displaying the Sausage Pouch. I think SNL’s crew forgot to give him a sausage for this portion of this sketch. The crew has strangely been making mistakes like this these past few episodes. In the preceding episode, they forgot to give Fred a handheld microphone for the Barack Obama Variety Half Hour sketch.
— The red flag, removable sleeves, and tent features of the German coat are pretty funny.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The streak of solid episodes continues. Much like in most of the last few episodes before this, there wasn’t a single sketch I didn’t like tonight, and there were a few standout strong segments, one of which is a personal favorite of mine (Countdown With Keith Olbermann). We also got some noteworthy recurring character debuts tonight, with Grady Wilson and (especially) Stefon. Ben Affleck, despite some sloppiness here and there, continues to be a fantastic recurring host, and had some really strong moments tonight. He even managed to make a Target Lady sketch work for once.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jon Hamm)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Paul Rudd makes his hosting debut, in an episode that would be dubbed SNL’s “gayest episode ever” at the time, due to an unusually big focus on gay/homoerotic humor. (I’ll explain why that episode focuses so much on that type of humor when I review the episode.) We also get two new female additions to the cast.