Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
Rachel Maddow (ABE) interviews Roland Burris (KET) and Rod Blagojevich (JAS)
— After Abby spent her first four episodes doing practically nothing, getting no comedic roles or, hell, barely even any speaking roles, SNL returns from Christmas break with Abby suddenly front-and-center in the lead role of this cold opening. This was a huge shock to viewers like me back when this originally aired.
— Abby’s a strong impressionist in general, but her Rachel Maddow leaves a little to be desired. The voice is too high-pitched. I recall some people saying her Rachel Maddow sounds more like Abby attempting an impression of Drew Barrymore attempting an impression of Rachel Maddow. I will admit, though, that Abby is at least nailing Maddow’s demeanor and smirk.
— Kenan’s bit is very repetitive, but I’m getting some amusement from it.
— I’m getting very cheap laughs from Jason’s Rod Blagojevich referring to Abby’s Maddow by the names of famous lesbians (Billie Jean King, Ellen, K.D. Lang).
— Abby even gets to deliver her first LFNY, in what’s only her fifth episode as a featured player.
— I’m sure this is going to sound like an odd comparison, but Abby’s SNL trajectory in her first five episodes reminds me of that of Melanie Hutsell’s. Much like Abby joining SNL with Michaela in mid-November of this season, Melanie joined SNL with another woman (Beth Cahill) in mid-November of season 17. Melanie would then spend her first four episodes doing practically nothing, getting no comedic roles or, hell, barely even any speaking roles. Then Christmas break happened, and in SNL’s first episode back from that break, which was Melanie’s fifth episode, she suddenly has a BIG night with two big showcases: the very first Delta Delta Delta sketch and a Jan Brady commentary on Weekend Update. Just replace those two showcases with getting to star in the cold opening and saying LFNY, and everything I just said above about Melanie mirrors Abby’s early trajectory EXACTLY. The similarities between Abby and Melanie’s trajectories even continue a little past their respective first five episodes. After their first season, Abby and Melanie were the only ones out of the three newest white female featured players in their respective cast (Abby, Michaela, and Casey this season, Melanie, Beth Cahill, and Siobhan Fallon in season 17) to make it to the following season…and some SNL fans felt that Abby and Melanie were the least deserving out of their respective trio of new white female featured players to make it to the following season.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
Mark Wahlberg (ANS) & his entourage rib host about How I Met Your Mother
— Great line from Neil Patrick Harris about Doogie Howser being one of the first TV shows created on a dare.
— Very funny story from a bitter Neil about SNL choosing Fred Savage as a host over him in 1990. And, as an SNL nerd, I absolute LOVE Neil referencing specific things from Fred Savage’s episode and pointing out “flaws” like Savage playing a mini Church Lady in the cold opening.
— A hilarious self-deprecating little reference to Neil’s sexual orientation, with the “Why won’t you kiss me???” “Later!” exchange between his childhood girlfriend and him in the 1990 story we’re told.
— Bill’s always good at playing wiseguy New Jerseyites who go “Ohhhhh!”
— I absolutely love Neil’s snarky deconstructions of the audience members’ jokes about his mother.
— Great to see the return of Andy’s Mark Wahlberg.
STARS: ****
TODAY
Hoda Kotb (MIW) endures Kathie Lee Gifford’s (KRW) buffoonery
— The debut of a recurring spoof of the Kathie Lee Gifford & Hoda Kotb-hosted Today show.
— Michaela gets the, uh, “honors” of being the first of SEVERAL Hoda Kotb impersonators in these Today sketches.
— I never watched the real Kathie Lee/Hoda-hosted Today show, and thus, I never knew if that famous mugging face Kristen always makes as Kathie Lee when laughing (as seen in the second above screencap for this sketch) was a dig at how the real Kathie Lee laughs, or if it was just a characterization choice Kristen added to her impression. In my past viewings of these Today sketches, I never cared much for Kristen’s performances in them, whether they’re accurate to the real Kathie Lee or not. These sketches have always seemed very thinly-written and one-note to me.
— Though it’s a VERY thankless and generic role, I am kinda liking Michaela’s portrayal of Hoda and the way she’s playing off of Kristen’s Kathie Lee. Michaela’s bringing a certain something to this thankless, generic role that I’ve always felt is missing from the subsequent performers who play this role after Michaela’s firing.
— Not caring at all for the exercise sequence, despite a fun upbeat performance from Neil.
— Something about the execution of the bit with Michaela’s Hoda accidentally punching Kristen’s Kathie Lee in the face didn’t work for me.
STARS: *½
SAVE BROADWAY
Broadway characters meet at Sardi’s to form a musical theatre rescue plan
— I recall this being a very fun and memorable full-cast sketch.
— An excellent lead straight man performance from Jason.
— Michaela’s “Wow, that’s racist” response to Jason making fun of her green skin was very funny.
— I got a huge laugh from Jason making the incorrect assumption that Kenan’s from The Color Purple, IMMEDIATELY AFTER having claimed nobody in Broadway is racist.
— Funny comment from Abby (finally playing her first actual comedic role, given that even her Rachel Maddow earlier tonight was technically just a straight role with no comedic lines) about her puppet giving massages behind a store…with her mouth.
— I love how everybody in the cast, one-by-one, is getting their individual chance to shine in this sketch. Even musical guest Taylor Swift gets a chance, showing an early glimpse of what a good host she’ll make the following season.
— Fred being cast as one of the members of Blue Man Group is even funnier when you’re aware he used to be the drummer for that group in his pre-comedian days.
— I howled at Jason telling Blue Man Group, “You know, sometimes, you guys can be a bunch of blue dicks.”
— This sketch is such a blast.
— A funny ending with The Fiddler On The Roof committing suicide off-camera by jumping off the roof. I also like the little detail with him yelling “OY!” as he jumped off the roof.
STARS: *****
GROUP THERAPY
Penelope’s nimiety scatters a group therapy session; Liza Minnelli cameo
— I like Will’s on-edge, temperamental character.
— Standard Penelope stuff so far, but, as I said in some previous episode reviews, this character somehow always works for me, despite the one-note nature of her sketches.
— I like the twist with Penelope somehow even popping up in the stress video that’s played on the TV.
— A surprising cameo from a tomato-holding Liza Minnelli, as a callback to a line earlier in this sketch with Penelope claiming her best friends are a tomato and Liza Minnelli. Fun performance from Minnelli, and I especially like her delivery of the line “Tomato and I wanna hit the town.”
STARS: ***
THE DOOGIE HOWSER THEME
host & a band of Doogie Howser look-alikes perform his TV theme song
— A great nostalgic feel as soon as Neil starts playing the Doogie Howser theme song. It’s also very infectious hearing the audience applaud that.
— Ooh, I love how this is now involving the cast, one-by-one, each in a Doogie Howser wig & costume while playing an instrument, altogether making a Doogie Howser orchestra. This is yet another very fun full-cast piece tonight’s episode is giving us.
— The mock-melancholy close-up of Neil with a tear rolling down his cheek was the absolutely PERFECT ending.
— Overall, while this wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny, nor was it trying to be, I found this to be beautiful, fun, and VERY entertaining. One of my personal favorite Digital Shorts.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love Story”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Charles Barkley (KET) shrugs off his recent drunk driving arrest
WLF sings about banes he loves as much as the Bowl Championship Series
— The official first Weekend Update of the solo Seth Meyers era.
— The Weekend Update opening title sequence has been altered to remove Amy Poehler’s individual close-ups and to seemingly airbrush her out of the shots she and Seth were both in (the latter of which makes some of those photos now look rather odd, as we now see a big unoccupied space next to Seth in those photos, such as in the first above screencap for this Weekend Update). Seth also now has a smaller Update desk.
— Something about Seth’s voice sounds slightly hoarse to me tonight.
— Kenan’s Charles Barkley impression seems to get less and less accurate each time it appears. The first time he played him (in that fantastic Iconoclasts sketch with Kristen’s Bjork), he did a spot-on imitation of Barkley’s distinctive marble-mouthed voice. By tonight’s episode, after having played Barkley a few times previously, Kenan’s impression has become just a VERY slight variation of Kenan’s own voice, with zero attempt at imitating Barkley’s marble-mouthed-ness. It still works for me, though, because I always find Kenan amusing in the Barkley role.
— Funny bit in Kenan-as-Barkley’s story, with him using the word “hamburger” as a substitution for the word “B.J.s”.
— Kenan’s Barkley: “My analogies are like a blimp trying to make out with a bicycle.”
— Another Will Forte Update song!
— I love Will’s sarcastic ode to hateable things he “loves”. I particularly like the self-censored “S my D!” threat from Will.
— Funny interlude in Will’s song, with him holding his utterance of “fffffff” when asking Seth is he’s allowed to say the f-word.
STARS: ***½
TWO FIRST NAMES
host & other celebrities treasure double appellations
Billy Bob Thornton (ANS) & Joe Pantoliano (WLF) like to wear Kangol
— Fun concept, and I love that “Say My Name”-based theme song.
— When learning Bill’s Daniel Day Lewis ISN’T named Daniel Dave Lewis, and thus, doesn’t have two first names, I love Neil telling him a tense, deadpan “Take your one…first…name AND GET THE HELL OFF THE SHOW.”
— Good Billy Bob Thornton impression from Andy.
— Interesting seeing an impression of Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Michaela is actually nailing it. It probably helps that Michaela previously worked with Julia in The New Adventures Of Old Christine.
— Darrell’s Tommy Lee Jones complaining about Harrison Ford having two last names makes me think it would’ve been fun to see SNL eventually try a “Two Last Names” variation of this sketch.
— Neil, during his sign-off at the end, after finding out the “Louis” in Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ name is part of her last name: “Julia No-Second-First-Name Dreyfus will be nowhere near here, because she’s a monster.”
STARS: ****½
FRAN & FREBA
long-fingernailed air traffic controllers (KRW) & (host) guide planes
— Right out of the gate, I’m getting the bad feeling that I’m in for a rough sketch.
— I like Neil’s delivery of his line about his character’s JanSport backpack.
— Even though this is the type of hacky and poorly-written man-in-drag role that I praised the then-recent John Malkovich-starring Judy Blume sketch for NOT being, Neil is at least pretty fun in his portrayal, a testament to what a great host he is.
— Two minutes into this sketch, and the bad feeling I got from the start of this sketch has not gone away. Aside from Neil’s performance, I’m not enjoying the material itself, nor anything else in this sketch.
STARS: *½
FROST/OTHER PEOPLE
David Frost (host) grills Richard Nixon (DAH) & other ’70s figures
— Pretty fun concept of David Frost interviewing wacky 70s celebrities.
— Bill’s David Bowie impression is cracking me up.
— Some of the still photos of Neil as David Frost are really funny.
— I like the running gag with Jason interrupting each interview while resembling the celebrity being interviewed.
— A particularly funny part with Neil’s Frost grilling Fred “Rerun” Berry about the Doobie Brothers episode of What’s Happening.
— Very fun and amusing seeing Jason do the trademark Rerun dance with Kenan.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Forever & Always”
BURGER KING
Whopper virgins (FRA), (MIW), (BOM) have extreme reactions to hamburgers
— Good concept for a spoof of Burger King’s Whopper Virgins campaign, even though I myself have never seen any of those actual Whopper Virgins commercials (I didn’t have cable for a while around this time in 2008/early 2009, and I basically only used my TV during that time to watch new SNL episodes on Saturdays).
— I got an oh-so-wrong laugh from the “She’s not a virgin” and “It was her uncle” disclosures about the state of Michaela’s sexual virginity.
— Bobby is an absolute riot in this sketch. I love his goofy, jovial, laughing character.
— Michaela’s odd attempts to eat the Whopper are cracking me up.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very fun and solid episode. There were some particularly strong highlights, including two full-cast pieces that happen to be among my all-time favorite SNL pieces (Save Broadway and The Doogie Howser Theme). Neil Patrick Harris was an excellent host, and it boggles the mind how this is, to this day in 2020, his ONLY hosting stint.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Save Broadway
The Doogie Howser Theme
Two First Names
Monologue
Frost/Other People
Burger King
Weekend Update
The Rachel Maddow Show
Group Therapy
Today
Fran & Freba
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Hugh Laurie)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Rosario Dawson
Equally as boggled as you that NPH never hosted again. He fit into the show perfectly. I’d argue his HIMYM costar Jason Segel did too, but Segel was given weaker material.
I was glad to see Michaela and Abby get some good roles here. I always get the lyrics to the Two First Names theme that Abby sings stuck in my head more than the actual Destiny’s Child song.
I like Fran and Freba, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Penelope in isolation, but having all three in this episode is definitely overkill. I mentioned in a previous review of yours that Penelope feels wasted on certain hosts, since they always just play a bland straightman in it. That applies here a lot.
Awww I love Whopper Virgins! That’s at least a four star sketch because of Bobby’s infectiously goofy character. His cackling laugh gets me everytime.
Frost/Other People sticks in my mind to this day, specifically Bobby Moynihan’s timing.
NPH: “Mr. Crosby…are you REALLY….a coked-up walrus?”
Bobby: “…………..yyyYES!!!”
I was on a break from SNL for 99% of this time, and didn’t start back until a year or two ago. This is one of the first episodes of this era I saw in a stream, and was one that showed me how important Jason (someone I had limited knowledge of while I was just watching clips on Youtube and who mostly seems to be remembered as Biden or as Andy/Kristen/Bill’s pal) was to the canvas. On paper, his role in the Frost sketch probably seems like a throwaway (until we get to the fun Rerun dance, anyway), but his very sharp timing means that the pace remains snappy the whole way through.
I agree it’s odd NPH never hosted or did cameos after this point, especially since he even briefly had a variety show on NBC in 2015. I do wonder if they didn’t really know what to do with him – he has a ton of straight roles, generic host roles, generic talk show guest roles. The main exceptions being the sketch with Kristen and the wonderful digital short. That short is a beauty – I especially appreciate that they didn’t try to add gore or shock value, and just let it stay a sweet, nostalgic moment.
I had forgotten that this was before NPH briefly got praise for his big song-and-dance numbers on various awards show – I was expecting him to have one for his monologue and instead he had the one where he was dressing down idiots in the audience (which was a fun idea on paper but seems oddly sour to me in execution).
Of our three tickets to Kristenpalooza, I enjoyed the last sketch the most. It’s a lot of broad ham, to be sure, but Kristen and NPH click, and it’s NPH’s only character part of the night. I do wonder if this was intended for Timberlake at one point as it feels like something he’d play. Anyway, Kristen is so much more accessible to me as a performer when she can bounce off a co-star and not just say her lines in a void. That’s why Liza’s brief Penelope cameo adds a real boost the rest doesn’t have.
Regarding Kathie Lee, I didn’t watch a ton of her Today hosting, but as someone who sat through years of her with Regis (RIP), I’d say it’s accurate, if overly exaggerated. I don’t mind as much in these sketches, even if they do too many of them, but I feel like she sort of ruined the Celebrity Jeopardy she appears in. (Kathie Lee herself was also NOT a fan of these sketches, which we can get to when the sketch with the Black Eyed Peas airs). I agree with you about Michaela – she does bring more of a strength to Hoda and feels more like a partner to Kristen. I remember poor Jenny Slate seeming very lost at sea, as she so often was in her season. I hate to keep bringing up the age issue because it probably inadvertently seems ageist, but I do think Michaela being older gives her a gravitas in sketches like this, or even the Save Broadway sketch, which SNL didn’t appreciate enough.
I’m not sure what Rachel Maddow was at this time but it’s very difficult to get her voice and delivery right – I don’t remember Cecily ever quite getting it either. Nice of them to give Abby a big role though, even if the cold open was white noise. I also see the Melanie Hutsell comparisons, which will continue all the way to the end (although Abby probably had a marginally better last season than Melanie did). The perils of being cast in such lousy years for women (one woman excepted).
Will almost always knows how to add new touches to keep his songs from being too samey. The “fffff – can I say that?” bit makes this one stand out.
The two names sketch is another I love the idea of, not quite so much the execution (the end feels VERY “off”), but this one has a better quality of impressions than most from this era (I did laugh at how they made sure to get Will in and out of there as fast as possible).
The Burger King pre-tape is a lot of fun and probably should have been put much earlier in the running order.
The Broadway sketch (who wrote that?) is great fun…Bill’s little Music Man interlude is my favorite part, but everyone is well-used. Also amusing to see Taylor Swift bring back the old “edgy Little Orphan Annie” motif that had popped up here and there in the ’80s and ’90s (not sure if it has ever come back since this). The start of Taylor Swift’s unlikely sketch comedy appearances.
(I do wince when Darrell, in such a worthless role, gets the “still relevant” jab from Jason – I’m sure it was not really meant to comment on how much of a spare part Darrell had become, but oof…)
Did you see Kate McKinnon’s Auntie Orphan Annie In John Mulaney’s Show in March 2020 ?
Is this the only Digital Short that Darrell appears in?
Darrell also briefly appears in the full-cast “Business Meeting” short with Rainn Wilson and as Regis Philbin in The Japanese Office.
Can’t believe this is the only time Liza Minnelli has ever shown up on SNL. She seems like she would have made a great host (back in the 70s, when she was still relevant, that is).
The cold opening (at least the segment with Jason) is one of my great guilty pleasure enjoyments–his super sleazy Blago continually referring to Maddow as the names of lesbians never fails to make me laugh. I agree that Abby nails the mannerisms, but not the voice–this would generally be Abby’s achilles heel when it came to impressions, in my opinion, although as John pointed out, Maddow’s voice is hard to do–Cecily didn’t really nail it either, and Melissa’s recent impression was perhaps better vocally but not as strong on the mannerisms.
Neil makes a very good host, as is to be expected, and he played a nice variety of roles. This episode is really dragged down for me by too much Wiig–even with a good Penelope sketch, Fran and Freba and the Today Show just aren’t enjoyable enough for me. The Today Show sketches kind of nail the stupidness of the actual show, but it’s low-hanging fruit (and the real Kathie Lee never showed this mockery of Hoda, which I also think is too obvious a gag–is this a James Anderson thing? I feel like, at the risk of again blaming stuff I don’t like on Anderson, that his sketches frequently contain the trope of people irrationally mocking and disliking a woman).
The episode is really enlivened by some very solid group sketches (the short, Two First Names, Save Broadway, and Frost vs.). I like how the latter three all give the cast members a chance to do impressions or play characters. Save Broadway features a letter-perfect performance by Sudeikis (in particular his reactions to the Stomp guy and to when the cast start singing the Rent song at the end). It’s a shame they tried reviving this a few months later with Save Comic Strips and it didn’t work.
Sudeikis also excels in the Frost sketch. The way his costume subtly changes depending on what celebrity he is representing…and his mannerisms as well (doing the Paul Lynde laugh, the Rerun dance). He was steadily emerging as the glue of the show.
I loved Save Broadway, however technically Blue Man Group and Stomp are from Off-Broadway.
@Michael Cheyne, I’d totally forgotten Melissa played Rachel Maddow. They didn’t give her much to work with, but it’s not much of an impression. I think Cecily’s may be the best-written of the three, but Maddow is someone whose most interesting period (the Russia saga of the last few years) they don’t really seem to want to delve into for comedy (and I guess I can understand why, but I’d rather they try than ever have to watch Mika and Joe again…).
@Jared DiCarlo, Lorne probably would not have wanted Liza as a host in the ’70s, and she may have still been too busy. I think her best time would have been in the Ebersol years, especially season 7, where she could have had some fun musical numbers with Christine Ebersole. I wonder if the years of mockery of her love life and traumas surrounding her mother made her less likely to participate – this cameo mentions none of that, it’s just a moment of fun between Wiig and Liza. That moment also leads to one of the few Liza bits I think sort of captures her spirit and is entertaining (although I know many HATE the sketch and I 100% understand why) – the Liza turns on a lamp sketch with Jonah Hill.
Ashamed to admit this now but on the old s-n-l.com forums the night of this show I didn’t know who Taylor Swift was during the Broadway sketch and had to ask who she was!!
Me too!
Since she’s in this episode, let me just apologize to you well in advance, Stooge. It is my fault that your review of Taylor Swifts’ hosting stint the following season is missing. During season 35, I signed up to be a moderator at the old s-n-l.com message board that Sean Bradley used to maintain so I could help delete some of the spambot posts that were running rampant at that time. Anyway, I saw there was some spam in the Taylor Swift review thread, clicked on it, paused for a moment to reread my own review and clicked the “delete post(s)” button NOT realizing I had every single post in that thread “checked” instead of just the spam posts thus accidentally deleting both mine AND your review of that episode in one fell swoop. I have tried going to the wayback machine to see if they have any snapshots of that page from that site with the reviews available to maybe send you a link to yours but I have had no such luck. Just wanted to apologize in advance for that. She and her lawyers had nothing to do with that. It was all me.
No hard feelings, Casey. I know what it’s like to accidentally delete a review page, as evidenced by what happened earlier this year with my season 24 Vince Vaughn episode review in this SNL project. Thanks for attempting to find my old Taylor Swift review via the Wayback Machine.
Casey, can I ask you, since you part of the moderator group for the old site, how many posts did you see of people complaining of the cast and writing/writers? I do remember quite a bit of “this will be like season 20” comments quite a bit.
You liked Andy’s Billy Bob impression?
For some reason, I thought the air traffic control/fingernails sketch featured Jaime Pressley, even though I know you reviewed that episode six weeks ago. I concur that it’s the one bad sketch of the night.
I forgot that it took this long for Abby to do anything noteworthy on the show. Unfortunately, outside of a couple sketches in Year 37 this was probably her SNL apex. Mike was already building some momentum at this point, before she was cut at the knees.
I mainly remember Neil’s monologue concerning his “girlfriend”, the first Kathie Lee/Hoda “Today sketch (liked Hoda knocking out Kathie Lee!), the funny “Penelope” sketch with Liza and the tomato, and that “Dougie Houser M.D.” digital short. This was quite a hilarious show and was glad Seth got to continue on “Weekend Update” as a solo anchor for the next few years…
Bill Hader keeps insisting that he can’t sing, and then he does this! BTW, Cutco knives are actually really good knives.
I just started watching this episode and immediately jumped on here to check because I thought it might have been Drew Barrymore doing Rachel Maddow. So to see you say it was like Abby doing an impression of Drew doing an impression of Rachel was pretty spot on.
This was a fairly active episode for Darrell at this point in his tenure. Was Tommy Lee Jones the last original impression he debuted?
Close, but Darrell impersonated Richard Nixon for the first time in the Frost sketch.
He also debut impressions of Jim Cramer, Mitch McConnell, and Walt Disney over the rest of the season.
Yea, as soon as I submitted I remembered he did Nixon in this episode lol.
I also forgot he did McConnell before they really developed an angle to go after him on.