Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
LARRY KING LIVE
Bjork (KRW) appraises Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption
— Blah, the typical lame “Larry King is old” and “Larry King is out of touch” jokes.
— Kristen’s Bjork is giving me some laughs here.
— Nothing much to say about the scene with Bill’s Richard Branson, except Bill’s portrayal of him is always pretty fun. The scene itself isn’t up to much, though.
— Meh, I’m not caring for the volcano song Kristen’s Bjork is singing right now.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
in MacGruber’s wake, Deandre Cole (KET) & other SNL characters want films
— Upon hearing Ryan Phillippe’s odd, unnatural-sounding deep voice in this monologue, I’m reminded of something a fellow SNL reviewer (who’s username I believe was “Mike (Male)”) from the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board casually said at the end of his 2010 review of this monologue: “Also, uh, I don’t think that’s his real voice.” Heh, is Ryan using a fake deep voice here, or is that just how he naturally sounds?
— Feels very odd seeing Target Lady appearing in something outside of her sketches.
— As I disclosed in my most recent review of a Target Lady sketch (the one from the season 34 Justin Timberlake episode), I’ve been slowly starting to come around on Target Lady. However, I’m not caring for her in this monologue. She works better in her own sketches.
— An extremely meta monologue for SNL.
— I guess it’s fun that this monologue ends with a What Up With That number, but I dunno, something feels a tad wrong about this monologue as a whole. I want to like it, as the idea of various recurring characters asking questions from the audience seems kinda fun.
STARS: **½
BROADVIEW SECURITY
Rerun from 3/13/10
TODAY SPONGE WOMEN’S WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP 1986
Pete Twinkle & Greg Stink cover 1986 women’s weightlifting championship
— Yep, it’s official: SNL is intentionally breaking out this sketch every few episodes. (In addition to all the appearances this sketch has been making in regular episodes, the Pete Twinkle and Greg Stink characters also appeared in new footage in that year’s SNL Sports Extra special from February.) I always love these sketches, but man, the over-reliance on them in such a small time frame is kinda insane. (The same can be said for What Up With That this season, even if I kinda understand why SNL would want to rely so heavily on such a fun and catchy sketch.) That being said, this does end up being the final installment of this sketch this season, and also the final installment during Will’s tenure as a cast member. The remaining installments of this sketch are in episodes that Will makes a cameo in, and this sketch also gets a brief reprisal in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
— Geez, SNL was so desperate to bring this sketch back tonight that they’re resorting to putting the male host in DRAG (since the athlete characters in these sketches are always female)?!?!?
— For the first time in this recurring sketch, Kristen plays a character who’s surname isn’t a city. This time, she has the punny celebrity-based name Sue Ferrigno.
— When talking about his parents’ troubled marriage, I love Will’s line that they’re going to stick together because “the sex is just too good”.
— Jason: “Trying to avoid the stork? Well, use this vagina cork!……..Today Sponge!”
— Jason: “Can’t keep your legs shut? Well, put one of these babies in your front butt!……………………………………Today Sponge!”
STARS: ****
HIP HOP KIDS
in a bear cave, Zig-Zag (ANS) is the sole voice of reason
— Continuing the tradition of this season, we get another instance of an old sketch from several years prior randomly being brought back for no good reason (some other examples include Andy’s “That’ll move the chains” sports announcer kid and Besos Y Lagrimas). What in the world inspired them to pull this formerly one-off Hip Hop Kids sketch heavily associated with Justin Timberlake out of the mothballs after FOUR YEARS? Typical season 35 laziness?
— Showing just how long ago the previous installment of this sketch was, the lineup of characters in this sketch is almost completely different, due to some of the cast members from the 2006 installment of this sketch no longer being on SNL. Kenan and Jason are the only ones playing the same character in both the 2006 installment and tonight’s installment. Kristen appears in both installments, but her character in both has a different name, for some inexplicable reason.
— It feels very lazy to me that tonight’s installment of this sketch is reusing the cave setting from the first installment. It makes no sense to me why they’re reusing that, when these characters can be trapped in just about ANY setting.
— Jason’s delivery in these Hip Hop Kids sketches always cracks me up.
— At least Andy’s new voice-of-reason character feels very different from anything we saw in the first installment of this sketch. I’m enjoying his character, and he has the best lines in this sketch so far.
— I know tonight’s Hip Hop Kids installment has its defenders, but to me, most of this sketch feels a little too old hat after the first installment, and this is lacking the infectiously fun performances that people not in tonight’s installment like Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Justin Timberlake (YMMV on that last one, given how polarizing I know Timberlake is among online SNL fans) gave in the first installment.
STARS: **
THE OTHER MAN
Eurodouche (ANS) is shagging everyone in (host)’s life
— An okay concept, though this feels too standard for Lonely Island, who’ve used the “somebody keeps popping up wherever a certain somebody else goes” premise before AND after this, to better effect in some of those cases.
— Uh…WTF at that ending???
— Who is that playing Andy’s overweight “doppleganger” in the ending shot (first screencap below)? He looks like the same guy who appeared in the Law & Order scene from the then-recent Zach Drops By The Set short (second screencap below).
STARS: ***
MORT MORT FEINGOLD: ACCOUNTANT FOR THE STARS
accountant Mort Mort Feingold (ANS) does celebrities’ taxes
— Interesting format to this sketch, and I typically enjoy SNL’s impression parade sketches a little more than some other people seem to.
— Abby as Shaun White? Random casting, but she’s giving me some chuckles in her performance.
— I got a good laugh from Andy’s Mort Mort Feingold yelling “SAVE YOUR MONEY!” to Abby’s Shaun White through a megaphone.
— At least Jason’s attempting more of a Mel Gibson impression than whatever the fuck Ashton Kutcher was doing when playing Gibson earlier this season.
STARS: ***
THE SHAKE WEIGHT COMMERCIAL DVD
DVD of the Shake Weight commercial acknowledges its pornographic utility
— A very memorable spoof of the then-prevalent Shake Weight commercials.
— Hilarious idea of marketing a DVD of the Shake Weight commercial towards horny guys.
— Oh, you know I loved the Three Stooges mention, as one of the fake DVD covers.
— I also love how one of the other fake DVD covers, the Sam Kinison one, is a photo of Kinison from one of his SNL appearances in season 11, as you can tell by the background of the photo (the eighth above screencap for this sketch).
— A very funny observation from Kenan that the girl in the “forward lunge, reach back” position (Jenny Slate) looks like she’s about to run a marathon but first has to “help a guy out”.
— A classic visual of Kristen with her mouth open in a pornographic manner towards the Shake Weights, and how the guys in the testimonial can tell she’s in on it.
— Priceless ending visual of Bill’s muscly right arm, from the “exercise” that he got from watching the Shake Weight Commercial DVD.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “TiK ToK”
WEEKEND UPDATE
James Carville (BIH) believes the Tea Party deserves to be ridiculed
pedophilic Father Swimcoach Scoutmaster (WLF) is parents’ worst nightmare
Anthony Crispino’s (BOM) poorly-sourced second-hand news items are untrue
— I’m starting to notice that Bill’s laughing mannerism as James Carville is the same as that of his Richard Branson impression, which we saw earlier tonight.
— Very funny self-deprecating comment from Bill’s Carville about him looking like a Cajun Gollum.
— I love Bill’s Carville hissing at the screen to make baby viewers cry.
— Ha, Father Swimcoach Scoutmaster. Such a perfectly Will Forte-esque ballsy Will Forte character.
— The disgusting suggestive hand gesture Father Swimcoach Scoutmaster does after saying “Scouts honor” is particularly funny.
— I love the callback to the preceding episode, with Father Swimcoach Scoutmaster asking “Where’s Justin Bieber?” and Seth responding “He was here LAST week.”
— The debut of the second-hand news guy, Anthony Crispino, the first of several memorable and well-loved original Weekend Update characters played by Bobby.
— Right from this character’s debut, Bobby is a hoot in this role.
— Did Bobby screw up the beginning of the volcano bit? He says “You hear about this? A volcano erupted in Iceland”, then says they’re shutting down the Long Island railroad, and Seth then responds “Not true, it was a volcano in Iceland”, putting emphasis on that last word as if he’s correcting Bobby, even though Bobby SAID “a volcano erupted in Iceland”. WTF? I’m guessing Bobby was supposed to say “A volcano erupted in Long Island.”
— Of all the names of Anthony Crispino’s sources, I particularly like “my cousin, Fat Vanessa”.
STARS: ***
SONG MEMORIES
“Breakfast At Tiffany’s” evokes sins of (host) & other icky reminiscers
— Surprisingly, this is the first appearance this recurring sketch has made in over a year. This also ends up being the final installment with Will. All remaining installments of this sketch have Will being replaced by a different cast member each time.
— What the hell? Didn’t they already use that punchline with Jason’s girlfriend being in a coma? I’m pretty sure it was in the installment of this sketch from the Ashton Kutcher episode in season 33. Very lame of the writers to flat-out reuse the same punchline.
— A very funny topical Tiger Woods punchline to Bill’s story.
— Much like the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight’s episode, this sketch doesn’t feature any of the guys making a comical addendum to their story after the guys all sing the song’s chorus in unison. Those addendums used to be a tradition of these sketches, and usually provided some of the biggest laughs. I take the absence of that tradition as a sign that the writers are a little burned out on this sketch.
— An okay punchline to Will and Ryan’s respective stories, though something about Ryan’s delivery of his punchline felt a little off.
STARS: **½
TEEN TALK
Rodger Brush turns a deaf ear to adolescents’ embarrassments
— Ugh, this Rodger Brush sketch has officially become recurring.
— Ugh again, there goes that god-awful running joke with Fred’s Rodger Brush repeatedly asking people to speak louder. Fucking insufferable.
— I’m also beyond sick of Rodger Brush’s other catchphrase, “Well, I dunno what to tell ya!”
— Kristen seems a little miscast in this role. This is probably the result of SNL typically trying to find an excuse to throw Kristen into practically every sketch (she appears in a total of NINE sketches in this episode).
— Andy’s dopey deep voice is giving me my first laughs of this whole sketch.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Your Love Is My Drug”
I GOT THIS!
(WLF) & sons (host) & (JAS) grab for checks on game show
— An actual non-recurring sketch in this episode. I almost forgot what that’s like, given the low number of original sketches tonight.
— A great yelling outburst from Jason during the first round. Jason’s always had a great knack for doing aggressive yelling.
— The premise itself is a little on the “meh” side.
— I like Bill’s dismissive remark regarding Ryan saying he wanted to share.
— Hell yes! Now we get a display of Will’s well-documented knack for doing aggressive yelling, easily outdoing Jason’s solid yelling outburst from earlier in this sketch.
— The ending didn’t work for me, though that brief cutaway to a silent Will shifting his eyes back and forth between the bill and the game show host (Hader) in a taken-aback manner gave me a laugh.
— What was with Bill’s smile quickly fading at the end of his sign-off? He looked downright unhappy all of a sudden, and I don’t think that was in character. Maybe I should cut him some slack for that, given how it’s known that he suffered anxiety issues during his SNL tenure.
STARS: **½
UNDERGROUND ROCK MINUTE
DJ Supersoak (JAS) & Lil’ Blaster (NAP) intro Thrilla Killa Klownz video
— For the only time during the run of these Kickspit Underground pieces, it’s done as a live sketch (though with a pre-taped music video as its main feature).
— Why do I think Ryan looks like Jimmy Fallon under that clown makeup and wig?
— Very fun music video, and a lot of impressive visuals. I recall hearing that this was a spot-on spoof of a then-new Insane Clown Posse music video. This spoof still works even without me having seen the source material.
— The stupid questions Bobby and Ryan are asking about life’s “mysteries” are providing pretty good laughs.
— I love how it’s become a running gag in these Kickspit pieces to suddenly reveal that Ass Dan has recently died.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Back in 2010 when I originally reviewed this episode (link here), I gave what must be one of the harshest SNL episode reviews I’ve EVER written. I absolutely HATED this episode back then, and was not afraid to express it in that review of mine. After I posted that review on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board, I ended up taking a lot of shit from several board members there (including a few smug, snarky wiseasses who apparently felt it was their life duty to tell SNL reviewers like me how to do our job, and also call us out on supposedly being “nerds” and “losers who have no life” just for giving a very harsh review…..I’m certainly always open to constructive criticism of my reviews, but 1) don’t be a douchebag about it, and 2) don’t act like you’re my fucking boss), who felt my take on this episode was “way too negative”. (The same thing would later happen in response to my review of the following season’s Bryan Cranston episode, another review in which I was unabashedly VERY harsh). In response, I stood up for myself and, in the process, dismissed those aforementioned board members as being both sensitive crybabies and SNL apologists (the type of SNL apologists who typically respond to negative comments from a diehard SNL fan by asking them the age-old question, “Why do you watch SNL if you hate it?” or “Why do you watch SNL if you’re just going to complain about it all the time?”) who can’t handle it when an SNL fan like me isn’t afraid to call the show out on its crap. Fast-forward to 10 years later, and, while I would never kowtow to sensitive SNL apologists just because they don’t like my harsh opinion, I now feel that perhaps I really was too negative in my original review of this episode, because after my current viewing of this episode, I’m feeling nowhere near as angry or riled-up as I was back when this episode originally aired. Perhaps it all boils down to me recently having come to the realization that this season in general isn’t quite as dreary as I and others felt back when it originally aired, and isn’t fully deserving of the ire I expressed towards it back then. My current viewing of this episode just left me with a pretty ho-hum feel, which is nothing new for this season, sadly. If I still have any huge gripes left towards this episode after 10 years, it’s just that this episode was a little too heavy on recurring sketches, including digging up an old Justin Timberlake sketch for no apparent reason.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Shake Weight Commercial DVD
Today Sponge Women’s Weightlifting Championship 1986
Underground Rock Minute
Weekend Update
Mort Mort Feingold: Accountant For The Stars
The Other Man
Song Memories
I Got This!
Monologue
Hip Hop Kids
Larry King Live
Teen Talk
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tina Fey)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Gabourey Sidibe