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
Yes, that was a dead-on parody of ICP’s “Miracles” video.
In the original ICP asks how magnets work. Violent J also had a line about how Shaggy’s kids looked like Shaggy, and his looked like their daddy. That explains the line about the children looking like Ass Dan.
I guess the other guy killed Ass Dan for having an affair with his wife.
That’s James Anderson at the left in the Update graphic in the second Update screenshot.
Heh, I remember quipping to my folks that the Shake Weight commercial was “suggestive,” then later being pleasantly surprised to see SNL doing a commercial parody about that.
Also, “Scrambled Brains” is a classic Shemp-era short. A good reminder to revisit that gem.
Philippe, Wiig and Forte actually appeared on Monday Night Raw around this time to promote the MacGruber movie. I can remember Wiig discussing the appearance on Fallon’s old late night show.
Yeah, they were on WWE RAW two nights later in character when WWE was trying to be like SNL with having “guest hosts” on every week. Several WWE “Superstars” appear in the film, hence the crossover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3dVDeHoczo
MacGruber ended up tanking at the box office so badly, it got pulled from theaters after three weeks.
In kayfabe terms, R-Truth has technically been dead for ten years due to that crossover.
Those MacGruber segments were the moment I realized WWE/SNL crossover segments generally don’t work. While the segments aren’t bad compared to Michael Che and Colin Jost’s 2019 “feud” with Braun Strowman, WWE-brand comedy is such that this is just “look at The Great Khali in a funny wig”. Forte and Wiig can only do so much to overcome that.
Regarding people criticizing SNL reviews, I get a kick out of some of the commenters on here acting like you “didn’t get the joke” when you don’t like a certain sketch.
This was one of the first S35 episodes I saw. I remember not understanding why it was so hated because I didn’t know that Hip Hop Kids was a repeat and I didn’t know they had done Song Memories and ESPN so many times. The monologue didn’t bother me either. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it but I recall the monologue kinda having the vibe of them being aware of the character oversaturation.
The first appearance of Bobby’s second-best Update character, Anthony Crispino. The first appearance of Mort Mort Feingold, it’s basically an impression parade but I love Andy’s performance and the interstitial jingles that tie it together. The first appearance of underrated Bill Hader character Vince Blight so I assume Mulaney/Rich/Sawyer wrote I Got This and tomorrow we’re getting the re-introduction of what becomes Hader’s signature character.
The timing of the monologue is off because they cut MacGruber coming out and plugging his movie before the WUWT ending, would have been interesting to see him in a live sketch. Sally Field for Preniva got cut from this episode but airs in the season finale.
Hannibal Buress had an Update commentary about money cut. Seth was a big supporter of Hannibal’s and pushed him to write an Update piece for himself even though Buress says that Lorne and Higgins didn’t like or even understand most of the stuff he pitched. Buress also says the only sketch he got on was The Haney Project from Charles Barkley / Alicia Keys. Here he is talking to Talib Kweli about how he got on SNL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGapFKyXNkk
Ke$ha! Man, what a wild ride those performances were. Former SNL band member Lukasz Gottwald aka Dr. Luke helped get her booked on the show as well as Katy Perry who we’ll be seeing in a few episodes. Her performance of TiK ToK was going well until she decided to yell “Did anyone ever think that WE were the aliens?”. The glow in the dark bodysuit she wears is held over from the music video for Your Love Is My Drug.
Anyone have the video of MTV news doing a behind the scenes story of this week, it’s mostly an interview of Ke$ha, but you can see them rehearsing Teen Talk, you can see Jenny asking a question to Fred’s Rodger Brush. She either got cut or worse, she was swapped out for Kristen.
Don’t let the haters get you down, Stooge. You’re building what will arguably turn out to be the near definitive SNL episode guide. Keep up the good work.
Almost forgot, ICP offered their services for the next Kickspit Underground Tour sketch after Mysteries aired they liked it. They had already appeared on MadTV eight years ago
“Don’t let the haters get you down, Stooge. You’re building what will arguably turn out to be the near definitive SNL episode guide. Keep up the good work.”
Thanks, Jack.
I agree with Jack. You should not anyone, past and present, discourage you from having an opinion on anything, including SNL. Sometimes initial viewing can be different before a subsequent look over time can change things. Keep doing what you are doing.
Does “I Got This” mark the debut of Bill’s sadistic game show host character, Vince Blake? (The character goes on to be used in most of the Bill-led, Mulaney-penned sketches over the next few seasons: “What’s That Name?,” “What’s Wrong with Tanya?,” “Who’s On Top?”.)
Of course, right after I type that I discover someone answered that for me, lol
I wonder if the overuse of the ESPN Classic and What Up With That was because there was not a lot going on writing-wise or with some of the performances for S35? That or some of the cast and crew were playing favorites with the material and writers.
As for this episode, I had forgotten that Ryan had hosted SNL up until this review. The monologue seemed to be as if no one knew what to do with him. I also did not know that the Hip-Hop Kids were previously done with Timberlake a few years before. The only memorable part of this show was Kesha (back when she was Ke$ha) and her “aliens” comment.
By the way, I HATED that Bryan Cranston episode, and I can’t wait to see how you (Scrooge) approach that this time around when you reach S36.
The thing with reviews, or opinions on the show, is that you have expectations for an episode. Even if you try not to, you do. And if you are disappointed (and one often is, especially when you build yourself up for more), then you will have a more negative reaction. It’s especially true with SNL as there is generally kind of a negative echo chamber about the show. Then in a week or a month or a year, you go back and don’t mind the episode as much. Sometimes it’s the opposite, with n episode you enjoyed aging poorly when you rewatch, but usually it’s being harder on an episode then looking back and saying, “It wasn’t so bad…that’s just typical mediocre output for you.”
I will say when I read your old reviews they rarely feel gratuitously negative to me.
Another very long goodnights (the second or third this season). I’m always happy to see those. In this particular case, we got more of Jenny than we have in sketches for a while, and also more interaction with Kristen and Jason than we have in sketches for a long while…
If not for the behind the scenes info from @Jack and other kind fans about this episode, I would have assumed that there was some sort of law preventing them for having more about Macgruber by way of promotion. Otherwise the total absence makes zero sense to me. On top of that, they then have a monologue which makes fun of the idea of a recurring character having their own film. Did they WANT people to go see the movie? I’m surprised they chose Target Lady out of Kristen’s characters, as I’m not sure that was one of her most popular (based on the audience reaction, presumably it wasn’t), but I guess she’s fond of the character, and I’d take Target Lady over most of the others. I agree something doesn’t work with WUWT on the stage – it feels flat, somehow. Rare as it is for me to wish Timberlake was there, having him pop up with Andy for the DiaB might have been a better conclusion, although that would have completely shown up the film they were barely promoting…
Someone who commented on this review said that Bobby’s Update character had a third name in dress and that Nasim debuted another original character who was cut from dress.
https://thecomicscomic.com/2010/04/18/snl-3519-with-ryan-phillipe-keha/
I have never really had much interest in Ryan Phillippe, but I’m surprised they didn’t bother with any of his past career, especially since he was, as Bowen Yang mentioned in a recent interview, a big deal for some gay guys in his Cruel Intentions days (James Anderson must have had some idea cut in dress…). I Know What You Did Last Summer also could have made for a fun enough spoof, with Abby in the Jennifer Love Hewitt role.
I’m going to be one of the lone defenders of the Hip Hop Kids reprisal. I just didn’t care much for the first one – I couldn’t stand Timberlake in it, and Amy and Maya had played those character types for so many years it all seemed warmed over to me. This one is certainly no masterwork, but the decision to beef up Jason’s role and introduce Andy as a voice-of-reason character both help a great deal. Andy shows how solid he could be as a sketch performer in this one. Ryan’s low-key-but-aggressive vibe is also put to its best use of the night as the complete brain dead contrast to Andy’s common sense.
Mort Feingold initially came across to me as a knockoff of Rachel Dratch’s Abe Scheinwald, but sadly that character continued my lack of enjoyment with Rachel’s recurring characters – it always felt like way way too much. Andy is always great at less-is-more, allowing for some shlocky but light humor. It’s another impression parade, and like many impression parades of this period, struggles to find more than one or two actually good impressions; I’m not sure this managed even one, although Abby took a risk and gave the best laughs of the whole thing, along with Mort’s reaction to Mel Gibson. Yet, as those go, it digests easily enough, and the jingles have a charm (“randos and Brandos”). The only part that confused me was the Tyler Perry bit – I wonder if that was initially going to be a more “shocking” line from him at the end and was cut down.
Will’s pervo Update ambush is a great performance from him, but something about that whole thing comes across to me like the show chasing controversy post-Palinpalooza. Will is just too inherently likeable, if that was the case. I think the part I enjoyed most was Seth’s reaction afterward – “Why are you applauding him??!!!???”
I do think that was a big blunder from Bobby – to his credit he brushed it right off and continued on.
I have said this so many times now, but most of the Song Memories sketches never really live up to the promise of some of the first few installments. Bradley Cooper’s hid the flaws through high energy levels, but that was not in evidence here. Beyond Jason’s recycled joke and Ryan’s too-obvious joke, Bill’s joke also fell flat for me – it took too long to get to the point and by that time, Tiger Woods jokes were pretty played out (as the audience reaction suggests).
I like the Roger Busch sketches a little more than you do, but they’re just too long and repetitive. I will say that they gave Ryan a good part in this one. Hearing that Jenny was apparently shut out (since we needed to see Kristen unconvincingly playing a teenager, I guess) casts more of a pall though.
Beyond anxiety, I had wondered if Bill’s reaction at the end of the game show sketch was down to an error. The cut back to Will seemed abrupt and I thought his reaction was too, like something went wrong. The concept of Vince Blight is novel (according to Bill or Mulaney, he is a very very rich man who spends his time and money tormenting people for pleasure), but other than the just about flawless 2019 installment of WTN, the execution rarely comes off for me. This one comes close, mostly thanks to Will’s freakout, followed by the brilliant and ghoulish end note where the family is forced to remember the debts they incurred shuttling their mother/grandmother into a nursing home (and possibly a grave).
This digital short has a real “fucking hell, we’ve got so many weeks to fill” vibe. Gaby Sidebe’s is another where you wonder if they were scraping ideas, but it’s got enough “????” vibes to make it work (and is also one of the few sketches of the night that doesn’t just rely on cheap racial tropes for her, if I remember correctly).
The Bobby and Ryan video in the kickspit reprisal is a great use of them, especially Bobby, who is so at ease. His work reminds me a little of what Beck Bennett would go on to do in those very dense Eurosong things he has every once in a while. Beyond Bobby and Ryan, I also love the quiet and believable way Nasim plays her grief for Ass Dan – that it seems real just makes it funnier.
Fred’s Larry King reminds me so very little of the real Larry King. It’s just an excuse for more of his hacky, tired jokes delivered in the usual hacky manner. The “Lady Googoo” joke was AWFUL.
This is a very good Onion spoof on the Ke$ha/Katy Perry personas of this era. The “I got nothin’ to say to the hateas.” “I hate you.” exchange is an all-timer for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmCjJ0VBjjU
The shake weight ad is absolutely fantastic. I also kept thinking of a comedy piece Bill did with Kevin Hart nearly a decade later – they do their own version of the shake weight joke near the end.
I think Mort Mort Feingold was a Mulaney/Rich/Sawyer piece.
I’m guessing I watched this ep if Twinkle and Stink are in it…
You know, about a week and a half after this episode aired, I actually got to go see a free screening of the MacGruber film on my college campus with a live Q&A session afterwards featuring Phillipe, Forte, Jorma Taccone, John Solomon and Bryan Tucker. Good thing I saw it there if it was in theaters for only three weeks!
Anyway, I don’t quite remember what question I asked but I think it was something along the lines of either “what was your favorite sketch cut at dress rehearsal” or “does you guys’ more bizzarre/surreal writing style cause clashes with the other SNL writers” (which kinda sounds dickish looking back) but whatever I said prompted a joking defense of Laser Cats form Jorma as being a deep allegory of the horrors of (potential) nuclear war and Forte to bring up “Jenjamin Franklin” (which he would go on to do on Seth’s first ever edition of “Second Chance Theater” two years later ) as one of his favorite never aired sketches.
Anyway, sorry to leave this comment almost a month after eveyrone else read this review but I’m just so far behind on these it’s not even funny.
“Who is that playing Andy’s overweight doppleganger in the ending shot? He looks like the same guy who appeared in the Law & Order scene from the then-recent Zach Drops By The Set short.”
That’s Matt Yonks. I believe he works on the film unit at SNL.
I appreciate the final words of how perspective changes through the years. This was my high school cast so I was more into it. I’ll probably feel the same about the 43 to 46 season in the future
I was in the audience for this one (sitting next to Ke$ha’s parents) and right before the check game show all the men who stayed seated in the sketch pulled their pants down around their ankles. They were trying to break each other and give the audience a second layer. I also got to meet Don Pardo who introduced me as host backstage.
Now I’m a couple of years late to these reviews but what a good find, I’ll be reading along as I continue my own rewatch!
It’s interesting to hear how your opinion has changed since it originally aired, I gotta wonder whether I’ll feel that way myself about some of the more recent seasons down the line.
It doesn’t seem like anyone picked up on this in the comments but Bill looked disappointed at the end of the gameshow sketch because instead of saying goodbye or so long, he signs off with “Good Long!” You can see Jason laughing at him after it plus, if my lip reading is correct, he and Jason are laughing about it during goodbyes!
I like hip hop kids
FYI about Bobby’s performance on Update, I believe he said Islip (town on Long Island), not Iceland. So not a blunder, but also not clear to anyone not familiar with Islip).
Also, I think the idea of starting off with Target Lady was to show a character who would make no sense in her own movie. Having Target Lady there makes it clear that most characters should not be moved to the big screen.
Re: Bill’s smile dropping at the end of “I Got This”, he flubbed his line. Instead of saying “So long” or “Goodnight”, he said “Good long”, and given everything I know about his anxiety I think he’s very hard on himself to not flub his lines.
The Insane Clown Posse themselves liked the Thrilla Killa Klownz parody.
It appears that Kristen originally played Gilly in the monologue instead of Target Lady:
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/138264918/photo/saturday-night-live.jpg?s=2048×2048&w=gi&k=20&c=mG1TuRlByy6KGw5zvMCBy8w2DElKwQ_1M0sRunh3jHs=