Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
CHRISTMAS EVE IN WASHINGTON D.C.
on Christmas Eve, Democrats dream of better headlines in the year to come
— An interesting and refreshingly out-of-the-ordinary concept to this political cold opening.
— A definitive Vanessa Bayer face, with the funny gleeful, open-mouthed, glass-fogging smile her Hillary Clinton makes in reaction to the pantsuits headline she imagines.
— A really bad technical gaffe happens at the very beginning of the Joe Biden scene, where the camera accidentally cuts to a black screen with a graphic of Biden’s name displayed on the bottom of it.
— The look on Jason-as-Joe-Biden’s face is freakin’ PRICELESS, as are the insane headlines he imagines.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host & Cookie Monster (David Rudman) sing “Silver Bells”
— Jeff Bridges brings up that his last hosting stint was all the way back in 1983, then does the cliched and tired “I guess I did a pretty good job, considering how fast they had me back” joke.
— I absolutely could’ve sworn I remembered this monologue showing a photo of Jeff and his brother Beau from the episode they co-hosted in 1983. I was looking forward to seeing that photo in my current viewing of this monologue, but it’s nowhere to be seen. Odd. Why’d my memory play tricks on me?
— A Cookie Monster appearance, referencing his then-well-publicized bid to host SNL.
— Jeff and Cookie Monster’s “Silver Bells” duet is certainly charming, but there’s absolutely nothing else to say about this, and, at the risk of coming off heartless, I’m kinda bored watching this. Maybe I’d like this duet more if this season wasn’t oversaturated with musical monologues.
STARS: **½
A MESSAGE FROM MARK ZUCKERBERG / A MESSAGE FROM JULIAN ASSANGE
Julian Assange (BIH) compares WikiLeaks to Mark Zuckerberg’s (ANS) site
— Ha, for the third and final consecutive week, a sketch gets interrupted by a message from Bill’s Julian Assange. Like I mentioned in my last episode review, it’s a huge rarity in recent decades for SNL to have a running gag that stretches over several consecutive episodes.
— It definitely bears mentioning that Bill actually has an on-air panic attack while performing this sketch. He talks about it in this interview (the link takes you directly to the portion of the interview where he talks about the panic attack). I’ll have to pay attention to if there are any visible signs of his panic attack in this sketch.
— Okay, I think I can see where Bill’s panic attack starts, as I’ve noticed that he’s suddenly coming off a little more…I dunno, self-conscious in the middle of his speech right now. It’s hard to describe, but something about his tone and demeanor has slightly changed in the middle of his speech. However, this panic attack is certainly not as noticeable as Bill was probably worried it came off to us viewers. I do notice that he seems to be really overdoing the laugh-evilly-while-sipping-his-wine move all throughout this sketch, which could possibly be a sign of him trying to hide his panic attack. After all, he does say in the afore-linked interview that he held a wine glass in front of his mouth for most of the sketch to hide his panic attack, though that’s not quite accurate to what I’m watching in the sketch.
— Overall, kinda meh for a Julian Assange interruption piece. While not too bad, this didn’t work nearly as well as the last two Assange interruption pieces from the preceding two episodes. Maybe me scrutinizing Bill’s performance so intensely to find signs of his panic attack took me out of the comedy of the sketch, but I think it’s more that SNL has milked these Assange interruption pieces for all they’re worth these past three episodes, to the degree that there wasn’t much left for them to say in this final one.
STARS: **½
THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW
Nick Nolte’s (host) media scandal was meatier than Miley Cyrus’ (VAB)
— Hate to say it, but the lines given to Billy Ray Cyrus in these sketches are getting old, despite Jason’s always-fun portrayal of him.
— They’re completely wasting Jeff in this sketch.
— Overall, as you can see, there wasn’t much at all to say about this installment. Much like the preceding Julian Assange sketch, this was a little on the meh side, in that it wasn’t bad, but felt too by-the-numbers for a Miley Cyrus Show sketch.
STARS: ***
I JUST HAD SEX
ANS, Jorma Taccone & Akon [real] revel in coitus
— Good to see an epic music video Digital Short in the Christmas episode, especially since it used to be a (short-lived) tradition in the Lonely Island’s earlier SNL seasons to do an epic music video Digital Short in every Christmas episode (Lazy Sunday and Dick In A Box).
— As usual for these epic Lonely Island music videos, the concept of this is very funny.
— Great visual quality of some of the scenery, especially the parts with Andy, Jorma Taccone, and Akon on the roof of a building.
— A pretty funny random John MacEnroe cameo.
— A particularly funny part with Jorma’s “I think she might’ve been a racist” lyric as we’re shown him staring at a KKK hood in his girl’s bedroom.
— A strong ending visual of Andy, Jorma, and Akon’s crotch fireworks.
STARS: ****
LARRY KING LIVE
Jermaine Jackson (KET) & other D-listers on the show’s finale
— With the mention of the final episode of Larry King Live, that thankfully means this is the final installment of this sketch I have to suffer through, as I never cared for the Larry King sketches that star Fred.
— A laugh from the mere look of Kenan’s Jermaine Jackson. His voice is amusing me as well.
— Another laugh from Fred’s Larry King describing Jeff-as-Dog-The-Bounty-Hunter’s crying as being “like a Sasquatch who found a dead bird and just doesn’t understand”.
— Not much exciting discussions going on in this sketch.
— Ugh at that lame, unnecessary farting line.
— Such a poor ending.
— This overall sketch had a few mild laughs early on, but slowly died a really bad death as it went along.
STARS: *½
CRUNKMAS KARNIVAL!
Under-Underground Crunkmas Karnival features music, risks, nigh-unknowns
— A pre-taped sequel to the first pre-taped Under-Underground commercial.
— The usual hilarious Ass Dan “In Memoriam” bit.
— What the hell is with that annoying and unfunny high-pitched sound Jay keeps making between each sentence of his? Reminds me of him making that annoying and unfunny sharp inhale sound between each of his sentences in the preceding episode’s Principal Frye sketch. I like Jay, but lately, he’s been displaying some bad tendencies he has as a performer.
— Like last time, there’s so many laughs from all the mentions of random, insane festival events and band names. I particularly like the part about the Growing Pains cast “reunion” with just the mom.
— Very funny ending with the mention of this festival taking place at the Metrodome, as tonight’s episode is airing several days after the infamous Metrodome roof collapse incident.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guests perform “No Love”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Michael Steele’s (KET) bid for RNC reelection shows he can’t take a hint
weatherman Brad Pitt (TAK) punctuates his forecast with phonemes
Stefon, Snooki (BOM), David Paterson (FRA) sing “O Christmas Tree”
— From my past viewings, I have absolutely no memory of this Michael Steele commentary of Kenan’s.
— Okay, after watching this Steele commentary again just now, I can see why I don’t remember it. It was completely forgettable, despite a pretty funny performance from Kenan.
— The debut of Taran’s Brad Pitt impression.
— I have no idea what to make of those “Bdaaaah!” exclamations Taran’s Pitt keeps making, nor do I know what it’s supposed to be a dig at, as Pitt isn’t known for saying that (is he?). I remember one person on an SNL message board asking at this time, “Is he supposed to be saying ‘bad’???” Also, I can’t help but notice how Tony Danza-esque Taran’s “Bdaaaah!”s sound (not that Danza’s known for saying that either).
— As this Brad Pitt commentary goes on, despite my continued bafflement over the “Bdaaaah!” exclamations, there is something about Taran’s general portrayal of Pitt that I find pretty fun.
— The Harvard bit is another instance of Seth taking delight in doing a character voice during an Update joke, feeling like a nice throwback to the days when he regularly appeared in sketches.
— Seth calls Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds’ separation unfortunate “since they’re probably the only ones who had a chance with either of them.” Ohhhho, the irony on SNL’s part. Little did SNL know which of their own writers at the time would later get married to Scarlett. The fact that this joke of Seth’s came IMMEDIATELY after the aforementioned Harvard bit is even more of an odd and funny coincidence, given the fact that Scarlett’s future husband in question, Colin Jost, graduated from Harvard, and I’d like to think he’s the one who wrote Seth’s Harvard bit.
— Ah, a change of pace for Update, with us getting a Christmas song from Weekend Update favorites Snooki, Stefon, and Gov. David Paterson. I always like when SNL does something that groups together Weekend Update “all-stars”, such as in the Neil Diamond musical number that Will Ferrell and the real Neil Diamond did with then-Update staples Gay Hitler, Drunk Girl, and Geraldo Rivera at the end of the Weekend Update from Will’s final episode as a cast member.
STARS: ***
THIS YOU CALL A WONDERFUL LIFE?!
Jewish version of It’s A Wonderful Life was full of arguing & complaining
— Pretty funny premise of a Jewish version of It’s A Wonderful Life.
— Good to see Jason’s Jimmy Stewart impression appearing in something more promising than that notorious Rear Window sketch with January Jones.
— Much like in the cold opening earlier in this episode, we get another bad technical gaffe: when the guests are showing that they’ve brought food, the camera cuts to a close-up of THE FREAKIN’ FLOOR by mistake (screencap below). Ha, how in the world did that happen?
— Fourth episode in a row with then-writer Mike O’Brien making an onscreen appearance. I remember thinking at the time that they must’ve been grooming him to become a featured player soon. He would end up not becoming a featured player until three years later.
— Geez, until he showed up just now, I forgot Jeff Bridges was even tonight’s host. He’s appeared so little tonight, including in this sketch, with him being relegated to only making an appearance at the end of this.
— Ha, during the “Cast of Characters” shown in the ending credits, “Moishe Samberg” is credited as playing himself. That’s a callback to the memorable (and polarizing, like pretty much everything involving Justin Timberlake on SNL) Immigrant Tale sketch from Justin Timberlake’s season 34 episode, where Justin played his own ancestor at Ellis Island and Andy made an appearance at the end as an ancestor of his own named Moishe Samberg.
STARS: ***
JEFF’D
host nips his good-natured pranks on fellow actors in the bud
— Finally, a sketch with Jeff Bridges front-and-center as the star.
— Blah, the premise of a prankster pulling very tame pranks and then having a friendly conversation with the prank victim is way too derivative of a radio show sketch SNL did two seasons prior with Tim McGraw.
— At least Andy’s Billy Bob Thornton impression always amuses me.
— I kinda like the turn with Andy’s BBT pulling a gun on Jeff when finding out he’s been pranked. But, damn, the audience is dead during this scene. In fact, they’ve been pretty quiet during this sketch in general. Can’t blame them there, though, as I haven’t been enjoying the non-BBT portions of this sketch myself.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Eminem performs “Won’t Back Down”
Lil Wayne performs “6’7”
GENERAL STORE
in the Old West, gift-wrapping pioneers (host) & (KRW) faze shopgoers
— I know it’s not right to judge a non-recurring sketch just from its first 30 seconds, but damn, it’s very clear from the introduction of Kristen and Jeff’s characters that I’m in for a bad campy sketch.
— While it’s kind of a novelty seeing Jeff Bridges play a silly effeminate character, that doesn’t automatically make this sketch good, especially not in an era like this that relies too heavily on campy gay stereotypes as a comedic crutch.
— Ugh, I hate the “Just make your face like this” routine that Kristen and Jeff keep doing. A typical badly-written and unfunny Wiig mugfest.
— At least we get a fun performance from Jason as an Old West bandit.
STARS: *½
A HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM THE KARDASHIANS
Kim (NAP), Kourtney (VAB), Khloe (ABE) Kardashian deliver holiday message
— It feels like Abby’s been getting more airtime than usual tonight.
— I like how this is taking place on SNL’s home base stage, as it makes this feel like the type of miscellaneous piece that would usually take place on the home base stage in the 70s and 80s.
— Nasim-as-Kim-Kardashian’s “I got a Roleeeeeex” line has been the only real laugh I got out of this so far.
— Overall, nothing special at all, despite my appreciation for the setting.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A blah Christmas episode. The post-Weekend Update half of this episode was especially weak, with the only good piece in that half (This You Call A Wonderful Life) being completely average and unmemorable. I also wasn’t crazy about how they underused Jeff Bridges in this episode, and didn’t exactly give him the best material in the stuff he was in.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Crunkmas Karnival!
I Just Had Sex
Christmas Eve In Washington D.C.
The Miley Cyrus Show
This You Call A Wonderful Life?!
Weekend Update
A Message From Mark Zuckerberg / A Message From Julian Assange
Monologue
A Holiday Message From The Kardashians
Larry King Live
Jeff’d
General Store
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Rudd)
a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 2011, with host Jim Carrey
I remember joking on the message board that they would bring back Saundra’s House of Massage for this show, given their track record of reviving one-off sketches that season.
This episode, as I mentioned before, will always hold a special place to me, as a mid-March rerun was the first episode I saw of it, and of all things, that cold opening hooked me for life- I still remember cracking up at the end, hearing Kenan!Frosty wish that Congress would pass some legislation helping to fight climate change “before my ass MELTS!”.
Also, rather heartwarming moment during the goodnights- Bridges ends by saying “rest in peace, Captain Beefheart!”, as he had died earlier in the week. Nice to pay tribute to a former musical guest, even one who only performed once, and during a not-very-good season 6.
There’s a sketch called Bedelia’s Favorite Teacher that was cut from dress.
Here is a video of Jeff Bridges shaving off his beard, which IIRC was also used as a Tuesday promo.
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/snl-backstage–jeff-bridges-shaves-his-beard/n13000
I find this season to be bizarrely awful at writing good material for its hosts–maybe this is one of the drawbacks of the more “assembly line” style of production associated with Seth Meyers. It’s one thing if the hosts were weak, like January Jones or Donald Trump, but so far we’ve got a wide range of very talented performers hosting, a number of whom who have successfully hosted before. The worst so far has been De Niro, who arguably got the best material he ever got when hosting.
The sad thing is that…Cookie Monster could probably have hosted and not much of the episode would have changed. Most of Jeff’s roles are so minor or unimportant and even his few prominent sketches have such a dopey concept that I’m sure Mr. Monster could have played the part well enough.
I thought Cookie Monster’s SNL “episode” on Sesame Street was better this episode. He would have been a better host than Bridges. I think it was the show simply throwing him a bone.
I will say that “Jeff’d” was awful. Why that made it pass dress and on the main show baffles me. The writing did him no favors.
It feels like the show loves the writers, despite how lousy it is, and relies on the cast to carry the awful material and make it funny.
I have a feeling Lorne and others were getting impatient with Paul and others who have come and gone before and after him. When they felt he wasn’t breaking out right away on the show, they saw an opportunity to “clear some space” to make room for those they preferred to have in the cast.
If there was ever a host who cried out for slice-of-life sketches, Jeff Bridges would be high on the list. You can almost feel the lack of any idea of how to use Bridges in this episode – it hangs over the air as the night plods along. I think the low point is his role in the Miley Cyrus Talk Show…he’s so wasted that the whole thing winds down with him sitting in the background, trying to make a face every once in a while. (the sketch itself suffers from appearing too many times – which we’ll see a lot of with new recurring sketches around this point – although the anti-drug video was amusing)
I Just Had Sex must be the peak of “we made it” Lonely Island – a big rapper of the day, Hollywood stars in girlfriend roles, big production values, Andy with Jorma with no real expectation that viewers need a more familiar face to keep them tuning in. It’s certainly very well-made, very catchy (and the cake scene has lived on in gif eternity), but I can’t help thinking I would have enjoyed it more in the old, stripped back days.
The It’s a Wonderful Life homage has the same inside joke vibe that a lot of this era has, but as they at least give various cast members a chance, it doesn’t bother me, even if I’m not laughing much.
Taran’s Brad Pitt has no resemblance to the real person for me, but it can be funny sometimes. The Michael Steele piece is badly written – I’m surprised it got past dress.
Jeff’d would go on to be repurposed in Maya Rudolph’s episode, to much better effect (and also an early example of how much better the show was becoming at pre-tape content compared to live sketches).
The glaring technical gaffe along with the lethargic atmosphere made me remember we are getting Dana Carvey’s last episode soon.
@Jack, thank you for the backstage video.
Probably the highlight of this isn’t really what was oncamera – it’s the advice Jeff gave Bill Hader, advice Bill has praised as helping him with his anxiety ever since.
Oh, and they really missed a trick by not doing more material with Abby and Kristen as the Judds.
Outside of the “It’s a Wonderful Life” parody, almost everything after Update is instantly forgettable (and forgotten). Jeff wasn’t that impressive in Year 8, and he’s not that impressive here. Again, the first part of the show is just fine. I barely noticed Bill having a panic attack, but I do recall that the beats were off with his Assange impression. It didn’t occur to me that “I Just Had Sex” aired in the Christmas show, but this also a season where there’s a dramatic disparity in quality between the live and pre-taped pieces.
I mainly remember Jeff’s number with the Cookie Monster (pretty good) and that Jeff’d sketch (not so good). Maybe it would have helped if once again brother Beau was with him…
Colin and Scarlett officially tied the know last weekend around Oct. 24…
That should be “knot” now “know”…
I Just Had Sex is one of my favorite Digital Shorts. Its one of the best example of Lonely Island’s brand of a stupid concept taken so seriously, and Akon especially is up there with T-Pain, Timberlake & Michael Bolton as guests for these shorts as they all completely buy into the bit.
When Andy says, “the best 30 seconds of my life” you can hear a guy go “WOOOO” in the audience.