Stooge’s One SNL A Day Farewell Extravaganza

(Warning: This post is very lengthy. Also, my apologies for how long it took me to post this, but it took a lot of time to put this together.)

SEASONS I COMPLETED RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST, BASED ON THEIR RATING AVERAGES IN THIS PROJECT
Season 14 (1988-89): 7.2
Season 15 (1989-90): 7.1
Season 18 (1992-93): 7.1
Season 17 (1991-92): 7.0
Season 21 (1995-96): 7.0
Season 22 (1996-97): 7.0
Season 24 (1998-99): 7.0
Season 16 (1990-91): 6.9
Season 23 (1997-98): 6.9
Season 42 (2016-17): 6.9
Season 26 (2000-01): 6.8
Season 41 (2015-16): 6.8
Season 13 (1987-88): 6.7
Season 25 (1999-00): 6.7
Season 34 (2008-09): 6.7
Season 3 (1977-78): 6.6
Season 4 (1978-79): 6.6
Season 27 (2001-02): 6.6
Season 2 (1976-77): 6.5
Season 12 (1986-87): 6.5
Season 33 (2007-08): 6.5
Season 38 (2012-13): 6.5
Season 40 (2014-15): 6.4
Season 1 (1975-76): 6.3
Season 10 (1984-85): 6.3
Season 32 (2006-07): 6.3
Season 37 (2011-12): 6.3
Season 5 (1979-80): 6.2
Season 39 (2013-14): 6.2
Season 9 (1983-84): 6.1
Season 28 (2002-03): 6.1
Season 31 (2005-06): 6.1
Season 35 (2009-10): 6.1
Season 8 (1982-83): 6.0
Season 19 (1993-94): 6.0
Season 36 (2010-11): 6.0
Season 7 (1981-82): 5.8
Season 11 (1985-86): 5.7
Season 29 (2003-04): 5.7
Season 20 (1994-95): 5.6
Season 6 (1980-81): 5.3
Season 30 (2004-05): 5.3

THE 25 HIGHEST-RATED EPISODES
Dave Chappelle / A Tribe Called Quest (S42 E6): 9.0
Jerry Seinfeld / Annie Lennox (S17 E18): 8.9
Alec Baldwin / The B-52’s (S15 E18): 8.8
Christopher Walken / Arrested Development (S18 E4): 8.8
Tom Hanks / Keith Richards (S14 E1): 8.5
Elizabeth Banks / Disclosure (S41 E5): 8.5
Tom Hanks / Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (S16 E8): 8.4
Christopher Walken / Bonnie Raitt (S15 E11): 8.3
Tracy Morgan / Demi Lovato (S41 E3): 8.2
David Alan Grier / Silverchair (S21 E8): 8.1
Jim Carrey / Soundgarden (S21 E20): 8.1
Tom Hanks / Lady Gaga (S42 E4): 8.1
Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers (S3 E18): 8.0
Chris Evert / Eurythmics (S15 E5): 8.0
Robert Wagner / Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville (S15 E8): 8.0
Kyle MacLachlan / Sinead O’Connor (S16 E1): 8.0
Ray Romano / The Corrs (S24 E15): 8.0
Christopher Walken / Christina Aguilera (S25 E16): 8.0
Jon Hamm / Coldplay (S34 E6): 8.0
Martin Short / Paul McCartney (S38 E10): 8.0
Woody Harrelson / Kendrick Lamar (S40 E6): 8.0
Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen (S17 E19): 7.9
Sinbad / Sade (S18 E7): 7.9
Kevin Spacey / Beck (S22 E10): 7.9
Steve Buscemi / Third Eye Blind (S23 E17): 7.9

THE 25 LOWEST-RATED EPISODES
Paul Reiser / Annie Lennox (S20 E15): 2.9
Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M. (S20 E5): 3.4
Hilary Swank / 50 Cent (S30 E13): 3.6
Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi (S20 E13): 3.6
Donald Trump / Toots and the Maytals (S29 E16): 3.7
John C. Reilly / My Chemical Romance (S32 E3): 4.1
George Foreman / Hole (S20 E9): 4.1
Matthew McConaughey / The Dixie Chicks (S28 E11): 4.2
Deborah Harry (S6 E10): 4.2
Milton Berle / Ornette Coleman and Prime Time (S4 E17): 4.2
Kate Winslet / Eminem (S30 E4): 4.3
Robert Hays / Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns, 14 Karat Soul (S6 E8): 4.3
Tom Green / David Gray (S26 E6): 4.4
Halle Berry / Britney Spears (S29 E3): 4.5
Bob Saget / TLC (S20 E19): 4.5
Nancy Kerrigan / Aretha Franklin (S19 E15): 4.5
Donald Trump / Sia (S41 E4): 4.6
Ashton Kutcher / Gwen Stefani (S30 E15): 4.6
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey / G Unit (S29 E10): 4.6
Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince (S6 E11): 4.6
Malcolm McDowell / Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band (S6 E2): 4.6
Scarlett Johansson / Bjork (S32 E18): 4.7
Lindsay Lohan / Coldplay (S30 E20): 4.7
Johnny Knoxville / System of a Down (S30 E18): 4.7
Teri Garr / The Cult, The Dream Academy (S11 E6): 4.7

SEASONS I COMPLETED WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF FIVE-STAR SEGMENT RATINGS
— Season 17 (1991-92): 25
— (tie) Season 18 (1992-93) and Season 42 (2016-17): 22
— (tie) Season 16 (1990-91) and Season 40 (2014-15): 20
— Season 25 (1999-00): 18
— Season 34 (2008-09): 17

SEASONS I COMPLETED WITH THE LOWEST AMOUNT OF FIVE-STAR SEGMENT RATINGS
(Note: An asterisk indicates a writers strike-shortened season)
— Season 30 (2004-05): 1
— (tie) *Season 6 (1980-81), Season 7 (1981-82), and Season 11 (1985-86): 2
— *Season 10 (1984-85): 4 (I admit, this season’s writers strike, which, IIRC, was very short, is still no excuse for such a small number of five-star ratings from me in a noteworthy season like this)
— Season 20 (1994-95): 5
— (tie) *Season 13 (1987-88), Season 28 (2002-03), Season 29 (2003-04), *Season 33 (2007-08), and Season 36 (2010-11): 6

SEASONS I COMPLETED WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF ONE-STAR SEGMENT RATINGS
(Note: One-and-a-half-star ratings aren’t included)
— Season 20 (1994-95): 27
— Season 30 (2004-05): 19
— (tie) Season 29 (2003-04) and Season 35 (2009-10): 14
— (tie) Season 6 (1980-81), Season 28 (2002-03), and Season 32 (2006-07): 13
— Season 36 (2010-11): 11

SEASONS I COMPLETED WITH THE LOWEST AMOUNT OF ONE-STAR SEGMENT RATINGS
(Note: One-and-a-half-star ratings aren’t included)
(Note 2: An asterisk indicates a writers strike-shortened season)
— (tie) Season 9 (1983-84), *Season 13 (1987-88), Season 14 (1988-89), Season 22 (1996-97), Season 23 (1997-98), Season 24 (1998-99), Season 25 (1999-00) and Season 27 (2001-02): 0
— (tie) Season 2 (1976-77) and Season 15 (1989-90): 1
— (tie) Season 3 (1977-78), *Season 10 (1984-85), Season 16 (1990-91), Season 18 (1992-93), and *Season 33 (2007-08): 2
— Season 12 (1986-87): 3
— (tie) Season 5 (1979-80), Season 17 (1991-92), Season 21 (1995-96): 4

THINGS I NOW FEEL I OVERRATED IN MY REVIEWS
(Note: This isn’t a listing of EVERY single thing I now feel like I overrated, just some of the more noteworthy things that I can remember or feel like pointing out)
(Note 2: An asterisk indicates that I still feel highly of this, but wouldn’t give it quite as high a rating anymore)
(Note 3: An equal symbol indicates that I already gave this a very low rating, but would now give it a one-star rating)
— *Chevy’s Girls (from Norman Lear / Boz Scaggs (S2 E2))
— Security Check (from Sharon Stone / Pearl Jam (S17 E17))
— *The season 17 Jerry Seinfeld episode in general. While I still love the episode, I was bugged by how it was the episode with my highest rating average for the longest time (before the season 42 Dave Chappelle episode dethroned it). I don’t feel it deserved the highest rating average (nor even the second-highest, nor the third, and maybe not even fourth or fifth), nor do I feel that it receiving the highest rating average accurately represented what I personally find to be the strongest episode ever. Even after doing this project, though, I’m not 100% sure what I would call the strongest episode ever. I wouldn’t say the Dave Chappelle episode deserves that spot, either, as much as I love that episode, too. Thinking about it right now, I’d say that I feel the strongest episode ever just might be the season 15 Alec Baldwin episode, which has the third-highest rating average of this project.
— =Monologue (from Martin Lawrence / Crash Test Dummies (S19 E14))
— The season 19 Emilio Estevez episode in general, especially the How Much Ya Bench? sketch, which I now find to be way too emblematic of season 19/20s problems to enjoy
— *Baseball Dreams (from Helen Hunt / Hanson (S23 E9))
— *Lez It Up (from Joshua Jackson / ‘N Sync (S25 E14))
— Justin & Jimmy (from 40th Anniversary)
— *Levi’s Wokes (from Ryan Gosling / Jay-Z (S43 E1))

THINGS I NOW FEEL I UNDERRATED IN MY REVIEWS
(Note: Similar to what I said above, this isn’t a listing of EVERY single thing I now feel like I underrated, just some of the more noteworthy things that I can remember or feel like pointing out)
(Note 2: An asterisk indicates that I still don’t care much for this, but I no longer feel it deserves as low a rating as I gave it in my review)
(Note 3: An equal symbol indicates that I gave this a very positive review, but I would now give it a full five-star rating)
— =The Killer Bees (from Elliott Gould / Anne Murray (S1 E9))
— The second half of the season 1 Anthony Perkins episode
— The season 2 Broderick Crawford episode in general, especially the Lucy A-Bomb sketch
— The season 3 Ray Charles episode in general
— Gary Weis’ films
— =Nerds & Milt (from Richard Benjamin / Rickie Lee Jones (S4 E16))
— Season 6 in general. While my reviews of that season as a whole weren’t quite as negative as the general consensus on that season (the only reason that season is tied with season 30 as having my lowest rating average is presumably because it’s a shortened 13-episode season, which skews the rating average a bit compared to full seasons), I’ve recently gained more of an appreciation for that season, thanks to the That Week In SNL podcast’s exploration of it. While I’m still not quite as high on that season as the podcast hosts are, there are now a higher number of things I like about that season than I used to, including the general fascinating, unpredictable vibe that season has. For crying out loud, the podcast even made me come around on the Where’s Cooter sketch (helped by hearing Gail Matthius talk about it in the interview the podcast did with her), which I originally tore apart in my review.
— Marilyn Monroe’s Editorial Reply (from George Kennedy / Miles Davis (S7 E3))
— =Girls To Women (from Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates (S7 E13))
— =Stevie Experience (from Stevie Wonder (S8 E19))
— =Rock & Roll and Then Some (from Robin Williams / Adam Ant (S9 E12))
— =Profiles In Sports (from George Carlin / Frankie Goes To Hollywood (S10 E5))
— Investment Firm (from Dabney Coleman / The Cars (S13 E3))
— =Death Be Not Deadly (from Robert Mitchum / Simply Red (S13 E4))
— =Sweeney Sisters (from Paul Simon / Linda Ronstadt with The Mariachi Vargas (S13 E8))
— =Barbara & Nancy, and Attitudes (both from John Malkovich / Anita Baker (S14 E10))
— =Bathroom Attendant (from Harvey Keitel / Madonna (S18 E11))
— McIntosh Post-It Notes (from John Malkovich / Billy Joel (S19 E4))
— Home Security (from Kevin Spacey / Beck (S22 E10))
— =The second Celebrity Jeopardy installment (from John Goodman / Jewel (S22 E19))
— Chess For Girls (from Nathan Lane / Metallica (S23 E8))
— =The Clinton Marriage: White House In Crisis, and Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup (both from Lucy Lawless / Elliott Smith (S24 E3))
— The first installment of She’s The Girl With No Gaydar (from John Goodman / Ja Rule (S27 E4))
— Charades (from Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Paul Simon (S31 E18))
— =Lincoln (from Louis C.K. / fun. (S38 E6))
— I’m Going To Fight Andy Rydell (from Cameron Diaz / Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (S40 E7))
— *The Handmaid’s Tale (from Chris Pine / LCD Soundsystem (S42 E19))

A COMPILATION OF EACH HEADER EVER USED ON THIS SITE, BOTH THE FULL-SCREEN HEADER ON THE HOMEPAGE AND THE SHORTER HEADER ON OTHER PAGES
(Note: For those who’ve never picked up on this, the image I used for each header was a shot from the opening montage of the season I was currently reviewing at the time.)
(Note 2: I didn’t start using a header image until towards the end of season 2.)
(Note 3: I used two different headers for Seasons 5 and 11, respectively, due to those seasons each having two different opening montages. Season 6 had two different opening montages as well, but since the second montage from that season only lasted one episode, I didn’t bother changing my header image for that episode.)
(Note: 4: Now that I’m finished with the project, the header you’ll be seeing on this site will be my previously-used header images in a random-order rotation, so you’ll see a different header image on each page you click.)

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5-1

   

Season 5-2

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8

Season 9

Season 10

Season 11-1

Season 11-2

Season 12

Season 13

Season 14

Season 15

Season 16

Season 17

Season 18

Season 19

Season 20

Season 21

Season 22

Season 23

Season 24

Season 25

Season 26

Season 27

Season 28

Season 29

Season 30

Season 31

 

Season 32

   

Season 33

   

Season 34

 

Season 35

 

Season 36

   

Season 37

Season 38

Season 39

Season 40

Season 41

Season 42

Season 43

EVERY SINGLE EPISODE’S RATING AVERAGE, SEPARATED BY SEASONS, WITH EACH SEASON’S EPISODES BEING LISTED FROM HIGHEST RATING AVERAGE TO LOWEST
(Note: The rating averages may not represent the reviews’ perception)

Season 1
Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron: 7.4
Lily Tomlin: 7.0
Madeline Kahn / Carly Simon: 6.9
Buck Henry / Gordon Lightfoot: 6.9
Elliott Gould / Anne Murray: 6.8
George Carlin / Janis Ian, Billy Preston: 6.7
Buck Henry / Bill Withers, Toni Basil: 6.6
Peter Boyle / Al Jarreau: 6.6
Candice Bergen / Esther Phillips: 6.5
Robert Klein / Abba, Loudon Wainwright III: 6.4
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore / Neil Sedaka: 6.4
Jill Clayburgh / Leon Redbone: 6.4
Elliott Gould / Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins and Joyce Everson: 6.4
Candice Bergen / Martha Reeves, The Stylistics: 6.3
Raquel Welch / Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian: 6.3
Rob Reiner / (no musical guest): 6.2
Ron Nessen / Patti Smith Group: 5.9
Dyan Cannon / Leon & Mary Russell: 5.9
Kris Kristofferson / Rita Coolidge: 5.9
Dick Cavett / Jimmy Cliff: 5.8
Anthony Perkins / Betty Carter: 5.8
Paul Simon / Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow: 5.6
Desi Arnaz: 5.6
Louise Lasser / The Preservation Hall Jazz Band: 5.1

Season 2
Candice Bergen / Frank Zappa: 7.8
Ralph Nader / George Benson: 7.5
Paul Simon / George Harrison: 7.3
Norman Lear / Boz Scaggs: 7.2
Buck Henry / The Band: 7.2
Steve Martin / Kinky Friedman: 7.0
Elliott Gould / The McGarrigle Sisters, Roslyn Kind: 7.0
Buck Henry / Jennifer Warnes, Kenny Vance: 6.9
Eric Idle / Joe Cocker, Stuff: 6.8
Eric Idle / Alan Price, Neil Innes: 6.8
Lily Tomlin / James Taylor: 6.5
Steve Martin / The Kinks: 6.4
Shelley Duvall / Joan Armatrading: 6.3
Jodie Foster / Brian Wilson: 6.2
Fran Tarkenton / Leo Sayer, Donny Harper and The Voices Of Tomorrow: 6.2
Julian Bond / Tom Waits, Brick: 6.1
Broderick Crawford / The Meters, Dr. John, Levon Helm, Paul Butterfield: 5.9
Sissy Spacek / Richard Baskin: 5.8
Karen Black / John Prine: 5.7
Ruth Gordon / Chuck Berry: 5.6
Jack Burns / Santana: 5.6
Dick Cavett / Ry Cooder: 5.4

Season 3
Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers: 8.0
Steve Martin / Jackson Browne and The Section: 7.3
Richard Dreyfuss / Jimmy Buffett, Gary Tigerman: 7.3
Art Garfunkel / Stephen Bishop: 7.2
Robert Klein / Bonnie Raitt: 7.1
Michael Palin / Eugene Record: 7.1
Charles Grodin / Paul Simon: 6.9
O.J. Simpson / Ashford & Simpson: 6.9
Christopher Lee / Meat Loaf: 6.9
Mary Kay Place / Willie Nelson: 6.8
Miskel Spillman / Elvis Costello: 6.6
Chevy Chase / Billy Joel: 6.6
Michael Sarrazin / Keith Jarrett, Gravity: 6.6
Buck Henry / Leon Redbone: 6.4
Jill Clayburgh / Eddie Money: 6.2
Steve Martin / The Dirt Band, Randy Newman: 6.1
Hugh Hefner / Libby Titus: 5.9
Madeline Kahn / Taj Mahal: 5.6
Ray Charles: 5.6
Buck Henry / Sun Ra: 5.3

Season 4
Gary Busey / Eubie Blake and Gregory Hines: 7.8
Eric Idle / Kate Bush: 7.6
Michael Palin / The Doobie Brothers: 7.6
Margot Kidder / The Chieftans: 7.6
Richard Benjamin / Rickie Lee Jones: 7.6
Rick Nelson / Judy Collins: 7.4
Fred Willard / Devo: 7.3
Steve Martin / Van Morrison: 7.1
The Rolling Stones: 6.8
Kate Jackson / Delbert McClinton: 6.6
Walter Matthau / (no musical guest): 6.5
Maureen Stapleton / Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow: 6.5
Carrie Fisher / The Blues Brothers: 6.4
Michael Palin / James Taylor: 6.4
Buck Henry / Bette Midler: 6.4
Buck Henry / The Grateful Dead: 6.2
Elliott Gould / Peter Tosh: 6.2
Cicely Tyson / Talking Heads: 5.2
Frank Zappa: 4.8
Milton Berle / Ornette Coleman and Prime Time: 4.2

Season 5
Howard Hesseman / Randy Newman: 7.3
Strother Martin / The Specials: 7.0
Buck Henry / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 6.9
Buck Henry / Andrew Gold, Andrae Crouch and The Voices Of Unity: 6.9
Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss / The Grateful Dead: 6.8
Bea Arthur / The Roches: 6.6
Steve Martin / Blondie: 6.5
Eric Idle / Bob Dylan: 6.5
Bob Newhart / The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bruce Cockburn: 6.5
Ted Knight / Desmond Child & Rouge: 6.1
Chevy Chase / Marianne Faithfull, Tom Scott: 5.9
Kirk Douglas / Sam & Dave: 5.9
Martin Sheen / David Bowie: 5.8
Paul Simon and James Taylor / David Sanborn: 5.8
Steve Martin / Paul and Linda McCartney, 3-D: 5.8
Rodney Dangerfield / The J. Geils Band: 5.7
Teri Garr / The B-52’s: 5.6
Bill Russell / Chicago: 5.5
Elliott Gould / Gary Numan: 5.3
Burt Reynolds / Anne Murray: 5.2

Season 6
Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton: 6.7
Karen Black / Cheap Trick, Stanley Clarke Trio: 6.6
Ellen Burstyn / Aretha Franklin, Keith Sykes: 5.9
David Carradine / The cast of “The Pirates of Penzance”: 5.7
(no host) / Jr. Walker & The All Stars: 5.6
Elliott Gould / Kid Creole & The Coconuts: 5.5
Ray Sharkey / Jack Bruce & Friends: 5.5
Jamie Lee Curtis / James Brown, Ellen Shipley: 4.8
Sally Kellerman / Jimmy Cliff: 4.7
Malcolm McDowell / Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: 4.6
Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince: 4.6
Robert Hays / Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns, 14 Karat Soul: 4.3
Deborah Harry: 4.2

Season 7
Tim Curry / Meat Loaf: 7.1
(no host) / Rod Stewart: 6.4
George Kennedy / Miles Davis: 6.3
Danny DeVito / Sparks: 6.3
Bill Murray / The Spinners: 6.2
Johnny Cash / Elton John: 6.2
Blythe Danner / Rickie Lee Jones: 6.1
Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates: 6.0
Olivia Newton-John: 5.9
James Coburn / Lindsey Buckingham & The Cholos: 5.8
Bruce Dern / Luther Vandross: 5.8
Susan Saint James / The Kinks: 5.7
Donald Pleasence / Fear: 5.6
Lauren Hutton / Rick James: 5.6
Daniel J. Travanti / John Cougar: 5.6
Bernadette Peters / The Go-Go’s, Billy Joel: 5.4
Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band: 5.3
John Madden / Jennifer Holliday: 5.3
Robert Urich / Mink De Ville, Buhweet And De Dupreems: 5.0
Robert Culp / The Charlie Daniels Band: 4.8

Season 8
Stevie Wonder: 7.3
Chevy Chase / Queen: 6.8
Howard Hesseman / Men At Work: 6.8
Joan Rivers / Musical Youth: 6.6
Louis Gossett Jr. / George Thorogood & The Destroyers: 6.5
Bruce Dern / Leon Redbone: 6.4
Sid Caesar / Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes: 6.3
Howard Hesseman / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 6.3
Lily Tomlin / Purvis Hawkins: 6.2
Eddie Murphy / Lionel Richie: 6.1
Robert Guillaume / Duran Duran: 6.1
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas / The Bus Boys: 6.0
Robert Blake / Kenny Loggins: 5.7
Michael Keaton / The New Joe Jackson Band: 5.5
Ron Howard / The Clash: 5.4
The Smothers Brothers / Laura Branigan: 5.4
Susan Saint James / Michael McDonald: 5.4
Drew Barrymore / Squeeze: 5.3
Mayor Ed Koch / Kevin Rowland & Dexy’s Midnight Runners: 5.3
Beau and Jeff Bridges / Randy Newman: 5.0

Season 9
Don Rickles / Billy Idol: 7.5
Edwin Newman / Kool & The Gang: 6.8
Billy Crystal, Mayor Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Father Guido Sarducci, and Betty Thomas / The Cars: 6.7
Barry Bostwick / Spinal Tap: 6.5
Betty Thomas / Stray Cats: 6.4
Teri Garr / Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo: 6.4
Jerry Lewis / Loverboy: 6.4
Brandon Tartikoff / John Cougar: 6.1
Flip Wilson / Stevie Nicks: 6.1
Robin Williams / Adam Ant: 6.1
Billy Crystal / Al Jarreau: 6.1
Father Guido Sarducci / Huey Lewis & The News: 6.0
Michael Palin and his mother / The Motels: 5.9
Michael Douglas / Deniece Williams: 5.9
George McGovern / Madness: 5.8
The Smothers Brothers / Big Country: 5.5
Jamie Lee Curtis / The Fixx: 5.5
Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman / Eddy Grant: 5.4
John Candy / Men At Work: 5.4

Season 10
Christopher Reeve / Santana: 7.3
Ed Asner / The Kinks: 7.1
Michael McKean / Chaka Khan: 6.9
George Carlin / Frankie Goes To Hollywood: 6.8
(no host) / The Thompson Twins: 6.7
The Reverend Jesse Jackson / Andrae Crouch and Wintley Phipps: 6.7
Eddie Murphy / The Honeydrippers: 6.7
Harry Anderson / Bryan Adams: 6.6
Howard Cosell / Greg Kihn: 6.5
Ed Begley Jr. / Billy Squier: 6.2
Roy Scheider / Billy Ocean: 6.2
Alex Karras / Tina Turner: 5.8
Bob Uecker / Peter Wolf: 5.7
Ringo Starr / Herbie Hancock: 5.7
Mr. T and Hulk Hogan / The Commodores: 5.7
Kathleen Turner / John Waite: 5.5
Pamela Sue Martin / The Power Station: 5.3

Season 11
George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass: 6.9
John Lithgow / Mr. Mister: 6.7
Tom Hanks / Sade: 6.7
Ron Reagan / The Nelsons: 6.6
Pee-Wee Herman / Queen Ida & The Bon Temps Zydeco Band: 6.2
Dudley Moore / Al Green: 6.0
Tony Danza / Laurie Anderson: 5.9
Madonna / Simple Minds: 5.8
Harry Dean Stanton / The Replacements: 5.8
Chevy Chase / Sheila E.: 5.5
Catherine Oxenberg and Paul Simon / Ladysmith Black Mambazo: 5.5
Oprah Winfrey / Joe Jackson: 5.4
Anjelica Huston and Billy Martin / George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic: 5.3
Griffin Dunne / Rosanne Cash: 5.2
Jimmy Breslin / Level 42, E.G. Daily: 5.2
Jay Leno / The Neville Brothers: 5.1
Jerry Hall / Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: 4.8
Teri Garr / The Cult, The Dream Academy: 4.7

Season 12
Robin Williams / Paul Simon with Ladysmith Black Mambazo: 7.7
William Shatner / Lone Justice: 7.7
Bill Murray / Percy Sledge: 7.6
Malcolm-Jamal Warner / Run DMC: 6.8
Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short / Randy Newman: 6.8
Joe Montana and Walter Payton / Debbie Harry: 6.8
John Lithgow / Anita Baker: 6.8
Garry Shandling / Los Lobos: 6.8
Charlton Heston / Wynton Marsalis: 6.6
Steve Guttenberg / The Pretenders: 6.5
Paul Shaffer / Bruce Hornsby & The Range: 6.5
Sigourney Weaver / (no musical guest): 6.4
Willie Nelson: 6.3
Valerie Bertinelli / The Robert Cray Band: 6.2
John Larroquette / Timbuk 3: 6.2
Mark Harmon / Suzanne Vega: 6.0
Sam Kinison / Lou Reed: 5.9
Dennis Hopper / Roy Orbison: 5.9
Rosanna Arquette / Ric Ocasek: 5.8
Bronson Pinchot / Paul Young: 5.6

Season 13
Paul Simon / Linda Ronstadt with The Mariachi Vargas: 7.8
Tom Hanks / Randy Travis: 7.3
Steve Martin / Sting: 7.0
Carl Weathers / Robbie Robertson: 7.0
Robert Mitchum / Simply Red: 6.9
Sean Penn / LL Cool J, The Pull: 6.8
Robin Williams / James Taylor: 6.6
Candice Bergen / Cher: 6.5
Danny DeVito / Bryan Ferry: 6.4
Angie Dickinson / David Gilmour, Buster Poindexter: 6.4
Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs: 6.4
Dabney Coleman / The Cars: 6.3
Justine Bateman / Terrance Trent D’Arby: 5.7

Season 14
Tom Hanks / Keith Richards: 8.5
John Larroquette / Randy Newman with Mark Knopfler: 7.8
Steve Martin / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 7.7
Matthew Modine / Edie Brickell & New Bohemians: 7.6
John Malkovich / Anita Baker: 7.6
Mary Tyler Moore / Elvis Costello: 7.5
Glenn Close / The Gipsy Kings: 7.4
Kevin Kline / Bobby McFerrin: 7.3
John Lithgow / Tracy Chapman: 7.2
Ted Danson / Luther Vandross: 7.2
Wayne Gretzky / Fine Young Cannibals: 7.2
Leslie Nielsen / Cowboy Junkies: 7.1
Mel Gibson / Living Colour: 7.1
Danny DeVito / The Bangles: 7.0
Dolly Parton: 6.9
Matthew Broderick / The Sugarcubes: 6.8
Demi Moore / Johnny Clegg & Savuka: 6.8
Melanie Griffith / Little Feat: 6.8
Tony Danza / John Hiatt and The Goners: 6.6
Geena Davis / John Mellencamp: 6.5

Season 15
Alec Baldwin / The B-52’s: 8.8
Christopher Walken / Bonnie Raitt: 8.3
Chris Evert / Eurythmics: 8.0
Robert Wagner / Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville: 8.0
Rick Moranis / Rickie Lee Jones: 7.8
James Woods / Don Henley: 7.6
John Goodman / K.D. Lang & The Reclines: 7.6
Rob Lowe / The Pogues: 7.5
Andie MacDowell / Tracy Chapman: 7.4
Ed O’Neill / Harry Connick Jr.: 7.2
Fred Savage / Technotronic: 7.2
Woody Harrelson / David Byrne: 6.9
Tom Hanks / Aerosmith: 6.9
Bruce Willis / Neil Young: 6.5
Kathleen Turner / Billy Joel: 6.5
Candice Bergen / The Notting Hillbillies: 6.4
Debra Winger / Eric Clapton: 6.1
Corbin Bernsen / The Smithereens: 6.0
Quincy Jones / (many musical guests): 5.6
Andrew Dice Clay / The Spanic Boys, Julee Cruise: 5.6

Season 16
Tom Hanks / Edie Brickell & New Bohemians: 8.4
Kyle MacLachlan / Sinead O’Connor: 8.0
Patrick Swayze / Mariah Carey: 7.8
John Goodman / Faith No More: 7.6
Joe Mantegna / Vanilla Ice: 7.5
George Wendt / Elvis Costello: 7.5
Susan Lucci / Hothouse Flowers: 7.2
Sting: 7.2
Roseanne Barr / Deee-Lite: 7.2
George Steinbrenner / The Time: 6.8
Kevin Bacon / INXS: 6.8
Alec Baldwin / Whitney Houston: 6.8
Jeremy Irons / Fishbone: 6.7
Dennis Quaid / The Neville Brothers: 6.6
Catherine O’Hara / R.E.M.: 6.6
Dennis Hopper / Paul Simon: 6.4
Jimmy Smits / World Party: 6.2
Michael J. Fox / The Black Crowes: 6.2
Delta Burke / Chris Isaak and Silvertone: 6.2
Steven Seagal / Michael Bolton: 4.9

Season 17
Jerry Seinfeld / Annie Lennox: 8.9
Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen: 7.9
Michael Jordan / Public Enemy: 7.7
Kirstie Alley / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 7.7
Kiefer Sutherland / Skid Row: 7.7
Linda Hamilton / Mariah Carey: 7.6
Susan Dey / C+C Music Factory: 7.5
Jason Priestley / Teenage Fanclub: 7.3
Christian Slater / Bonnie Raitt: 7.0
Rob Morrow / Nirvana: 6.9
John Goodman / Garth Brooks: 6.9
Mary Stuart Masterson / En Vogue: 6.8
Jeff Daniels / Color Me Badd: 6.6
Hammer: 6.6
Woody Harrelson / Vanessa Williams: 6.6
Macaulay Culkin / Tin Machine: 6.4
Roseanne and Tom Arnold / The Red Hot Chili Peppers: 6.4
Chevy Chase / Robbie Robertson: 6.1
Sharon Stone / Pearl Jam: 5.9
Steve Martin / James Taylor: 5.8

Season 18
Christopher Walken / Arrested Development: 8.8
Sinbad / Sade: 7.9
Miranda Richardson / Soul Asylum: 7.8
Joe Pesci / Spin Doctors: 7.7
Harvey Keitel / Madonna: 7.7
Alec Baldwin / Paul McCartney: 7.7
Christina Applegate / Midnight Oil: 7.4
Kirstie Alley / Lenny Kravitz: 7.2
Nicolas Cage / Bobby Brown: 7.0
Michael Keaton / Morrissey: 6.9
Tom Arnold / Neil Young: 6.9
Bill Murray / Sting: 6.9
Danny DeVito / Bon Jovi: 6.8
Luke Perry / Mick Jagger: 6.8
Jason Alexander / Peter Gabriel: 6.8
Catherine O’Hara / 10,000 Maniacs: 6.5
Glenn Close / The Black Crowes: 6.5
Kevin Kline / Willie Nelson and Paul Simon: 6.5
John Goodman / Mary J. Blige: 6.3
Tim Robbins / Sinead O’Connor: 6.2

Season 19
John Malkovich / Billy Joel: 7.5
Patrick Stewart / Salt-N-Pepa: 7.5
Heather Locklear / Janet Jackson: 6.9
Charlton Heston / Paul Westerberg: 6.8
Shannen Doherty / Cypress Hill: 6.7
Rosie O’Donnell / James Taylor: 6.5
Sally Field / Tony! Toni! Toné!: 6.5
Helen Hunt / Snoop Doggy Dogg: 6.5
Jeff Goldblum / Aerosmith: 6.4
Nicole Kidman / Stone Temple Pilots: 6.3
Charles Barkley / Nirvana: 6.0
John Goodman / The Pretenders: 6.0
Martin Lawrence / Crash Test Dummies: 5.7
Kelsey Grammer / Dwight Yoakham: 5.5
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger / UB40: 5.3
Emilio Estevez / Pearl Jam: 5.2
Sara Gilbert / Counting Crows: 5.1
Jason Patric / Blind Melon: 5.0
Christian Slater / Smashing Pumpkins: 4.8
Nancy Kerrigan / Aretha Franklin: 4.5

Season 20
Alec Baldwin / Beastie Boys: 7.1
Bob Newhart / Des’ree: 7.1
Dana Carvey / Edie Brickell: 6.9
John Travolta / Seal: 6.7
David Hyde Pierce / Live: 6.7
John Goodman / The Tragically Hip: 6.7
George Clooney / The Cranberries: 6.4
Damon Wayans / Dionne Farris: 6.2
Courteney Cox / Dave Matthews Band: 6.1
David Duchovny / Rod Stewart: 6.1
Marisa Tomei / Bonnie Raitt: 5.8
Jeff Daniels / Luscious Jackson: 5.8
Roseanne / Green Day: 5.6
John Turturro / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 5.4
Steve Martin / Eric Clapton: 4.9
Bob Saget / TLC: 4.5
George Foreman / Hole: 4.1
Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi: 3.6
Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M.: 3.4
Paul Reiser / Annie Lennox: 2.9

Season 21
David Alan Grier / Silverchair: 8.1
Jim Carrey / Soundgarden: 8.1
John Goodman / Everclear: 7.8
Christopher Walken / Joan Osborne: 7.7
David Schwimmer / Natalie Merchant: 7.5
Phil Hartman / Gin Blossoms: 7.4
Steve Forbes / Rage Against The Machine: 7.4
Anthony Edwards / Foo Fighters: 7.3
Teri Hatcher / Dave Matthews Band: 7.2
Mariel Hemingway / Blues Traveler: 7.0
Alec Baldwin / Tori Amos: 7.0
Danny Aiello / Coolio: 6.9
Gabriel Byrne / Alanis Morissette: 6.7
Elle MacPherson / Sting: 6.7
Madeline Kahn / Bush: 6.6
Chevy Chase / Lisa Loeb: 6.5
Laura Leighton / Rancid: 6.5
Quentin Tarantino / The Smashing Pumpkins: 6.4
Christine Baranski / The Cure: 6.3
Tom Arnold / Tupac Shakur: 5.1

Season 22
Kevin Spacey / Beck: 7.9
Martin Short / No Doubt: 7.8
Rob Lowe / Spice Girls: 7.7
Dana Carvey / Dr. Dre: 7.4
Robert Downey Jr. / Fiona Apple: 7.4
John Goodman / Jewel: 7.4
Chris Rock / The Wallflowers: 7.3
Phil Hartman / Bush: 7.3
David Alan Grier / Snoop Doggy Dogg: 7.2
Sting / Veruca Salt: 7.0
Alec Baldwin / Tina Turner: 6.9
Mike Myers / Aerosmith: 6.9
Jeff Goldblum / En Vogue: 6.8
Tom Hanks / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 6.6
Lisa Kudrow / Sheryl Crow: 6.6
Neve Campbell / David Bowie: 6.6
Rosie O’Donnell / Whitney Houston: 6.4
Bill Pullman / New Edition: 6.2
Chevy Chase / Live: 5.9
Pamela Lee / Rollins Band: 5.9

Season 23
Steve Buscemi / Third Eye Blind: 7.9
John Goodman / Paula Cole: 7.7
Garth Brooks: 7.7
Mayor Rudy Giuliani / Sarah McLachlan: 7.3
Helen Hunt / Hanson: 7.3
Sylvester Stallone / Jamiroquai: 7.1
Nathan Lane / Metallica: 7.1
Julianne Moore / Backstreet Boys: 7.1
Sarah Michelle Gellar / Portishead: 7.0
Greg Kinnear / All Saints: 6.8
Jon Lovitz / Jane’s Addiction: 6.7
Claire Danes / Mariah Carey: 6.7
Brendan Fraser / Bjork: 6.6
Chris Farley / The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: 6.6
David Duchovny / Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page: 6.6
Matthew Perry / Oasis: 6.5
Matthew Broderick / Natalie Merchant: 6.5
Scott Wolf / Natalie Imbruglia: 6.2
Samuel L. Jackson / Ben Folds Five: 6.1
Roma Downey / Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott: 6.1

Season 24
Ray Romano / The Corrs: 8.0
Alec Baldwin / Luciano Pavarotti with Vanessa Williams: 7.8
Joan Allen / Jewel: 7.4
Cameron Diaz / The Smashing Pumpkins: 7.3
John Goodman / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 7.3
Lucy Lawless / Elliott Smith: 7.2
Bill Paxton / Beck: 7.2
David Spade / Eagle-Eye Cherry: 7.1
Brendan Fraser / Busta Rhymes featuring The Roots: 7.1
Gwyneth Paltrow / Barenaked Ladies: 7.0
James Van Der Beek / Everlast: 6.9
Sarah Michelle Gellar / Backstreet Boys: 6.9
Kelsey Grammer / Sheryl Crow: 6.8
Drew Barrymore / Garbage: 6.8
Ben Stiller / Alanis Morissette: 6.7
Vince Vaughn / Lauryn Hill: 6.7
Jennifer Love Hewitt / Beastie Boys: 6.5
Cuba Gooding Jr. / Ricky Martin: 6.5
Bill Murray / Lucinda Williams: 6.4

Season 25
Christopher Walken / Christina Aguilera: 8.0
Norm Macdonald / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Eminem: 7.6
Joshua Jackson / ‘N Sync: 7.5
Jerry Seinfeld / David Bowie: 7.3
Jennifer Aniston / Sting: 7.3
Tobey Maguire / Sisqo: 7.3
Garth Brooks / Chris Gaines: 7.1
Britney Spears: 7.1
Ben Affleck / Fiona Apple: 6.9
The Rock / AC/DC: 6.9
Julianna Margulies / DMX: 6.7
Christina Ricci / Beck: 6.6
Heather Graham / Marc Anthony: 6.5
Jamie Foxx / Blink-182: 6.4
Alan Cumming / Jennifer Lopez: 6.2
Danny DeVito / R.E.M.: 6.1
Freddie Prinze Jr. / Macy Gray: 6.0
John Goodman / Neil Young: 6.0
Dylan McDermott / Foo Fighters: 5.9
Jackie Chan / Kid Rock: 5.5

Season 26
Calista Flockhart / Ricky Martin: 7.8
Conan O’Brien / Don Henley: 7.7
Christopher Walken / Weezer: 7.7
Rob Lowe / Eminem: 7.6
Val Kilmer / U2: 7.6
Sean Hayes / Shaggy: 7.4
Pierce Brosnan / Destiny’s Child: 7.2
Kate Hudson / Radiohead: 7.2
Alec Baldwin / Coldplay: 7.1
Dana Carvey / The Wallflowers: 6.8
Charlize Theron / Paul Simon: 6.8
Charlie Sheen / Nelly Furtado: 6.8
Renee Zellweger / Eve: 6.7
Katie Holmes / Dave Matthews Band: 6.6
Julia Stiles / Aerosmith: 6.3
Jennifer Lopez: 6.2
Lara Flynn Boyle / Bon Jovi: 6.2
Lucy Liu / Jay-Z: 6.1
Mena Suvari / Lenny Kravitz: 5.5
Tom Green / David Gray: 4.4

Season 27
Jon Stewart / India.Arie: 7.7
Sir Ian McKellen / Kylie Minogue: 7.5
John Goodman / Ja Rule: 7.3
Ellen DeGeneres / No Doubt: 7.2
Billy Bob Thornton / Creed: 7.1
Derek Jeter / Bubba Sparxxx, Shakira: 7.1
Seann William Scott / Sum41: 7.0
Jack Black / The Strokes: 7.0
Hugh Jackman / Mick Jagger: 6.8
Alec Baldwin / P.O.D.: 6.7
Britney Spears: 6.6
Winona Ryder / Moby: 6.6
The Rock / Andrew W.K.: 6.5
Cameron Diaz / Jimmy Eat World: 6.3
Kirsten Dunst / Eminem: 6.3
Gwyneth Paltrow / Ryan Adams: 6.0
Reese Witherspoon / Alicia Keys: 5.8
Drew Barrymore / Macy Gray: 5.8
Jonny Moseley / Outkast: 5.8
Josh Hartnett / Pink: 5.6

Season 28
Christopher Walken / Foo Fighters: 7.9
Senator John McCain / The White Stripes: 7.4
Al Gore / Phish: 7.3
Ray Liotta / The Donnas: 7.1
Dan Aykroyd / Beyonce: 6.9
Brittany Murphy / Nelly: 6.8
Matt Damon / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: 6.6
Salma Hayek / Christina Aguilera: 6.6
Ray Romano / Zwan: 6.5
Queen Latifah / Ms. Dynamite: 6.1
Nia Vardalos / Eve: 6.0
Jennifer Garner / Beck: 6.0
Adrien Brody / Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder: 5.7
Robert DeNiro / Norah Jones: 5.5
Ashton Kutcher / 50 Cent: 5.5
Sarah Michelle Gellar / Faith Hill: 5.1
Eric McCormack / Jay-Z: 5.1
Jeff Gordon / Avril Lavigne: 5.1
Bernie Mac / Good Charlotte: 5.0
Matthew McConaughey / The Dixie Chicks: 4.2

Season 29
Ben Affleck / N.E.R.D.: 7.4
Justin Timberlake: 7.1
Snoop Dogg / Avril Lavigne: 6.8
Megan Mullally / Clay Aiken: 6.5
Lindsay Lohan / Usher: 6.5
Colin Firth / Norah Jones: 6.1
Janet Jackson: 6.1
Kelly Ripa / Outkast: 6.0
Jack Black / John Mayer: 5.8
Andy Roddick / Dave Matthews: 5.8
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen / J-Kwon: 5.8
Alec Baldwin / Missy Elliott: 5.5
Elijah Wood / Jet: 5.5
Christina Aguilera / Maroon 5: 5.4
Rev. Al Sharpton / Pink: 5.2
Drew Barrymore / Kelis: 5.0
Jennifer Aniston / Black Eyed Peas: 4.8
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey / G Unit: 4.6
Halle Berry / Britney Spears: 4.5
Donald Trump / Toots and the Maytals: 3.7

Season 30
Paul Giamatti / Ludacris featuring Sum41: 7.0
Will Ferrell / Queens of the Stone Age: 6.6
David Spade / Jack Johnson: 6.5
Topher Grace / The Killers: 6.1
Queen Latifah: 5.7
Luke Wilson / U2: 5.6
Jude Law / Ashlee Simpson: 5.5
Robert DeNiro / Destiny’s Child: 5.5
Paris Hilton / Keane: 5.4
Ben Affleck / Nelly: 5.3
Tom Brady / Beck: 5.3
Jason Bateman / Kelly Clarkson: 5.2
Liam Neeson / Modest Mouse: 5.1
Colin Farrell / Scissor Sisters: 4.9
Cameron Diaz / Green Day: 4.9
Johnny Knoxville / System of a Down: 4.7
Lindsay Lohan / Coldplay: 4.7
Ashton Kutcher / Gwen Stefani: 4.6
Kate Winslet / Eminem: 4.3
Hilary Swank / 50 Cent: 3.6

Season 31
Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Paul Simon: 7.8
Jack Black / Neil Young: 7.6
Jon Heder / Ashlee Simpson: 6.7
Jason Lee / Foo Fighters: 6.7
Matt Dillon / Arctic Monkeys: 6.7
Scarlett Johansson / Death Cab For Cutie: 6.4
Steve Carell / Kanye West: 6.3
Dane Cook / James Blunt: 6.3
Steve Martin / Prince: 6.1
Natalie Portman / Fall Out Boy: 6.1
Kevin Spacey / Nelly Furtado: 6.1
Alec Baldwin / Shakira: 5.9
Tom Hanks / Red Hot Chili Peppers: 5.8
Catherine Zeta-Jones / Franz Ferdinand: 5.7
Peter Sarsgaard / The Strokes: 5.5
Antonio Banderas / Mary J. Blige: 5.2
Lindsay Lohan / Pearl Jam: 5.1
Eva Longoria / Korn: 4.9
Lance Armstrong / Sheryl Crow: 4.8

Season 32
Dane Cook / The Killers: 7.3
Hugh Laurie / Beck: 7.1
Alec Baldwin / Christina Aguilera: 7.1
Jeremy Piven / AFI: 7.0
Rainn Wilson / Arcade Fire: 6.9
Peyton Manning / Carrie Underwood: 6.8
Shia LaBeouf / Avril Lavigne: 6.8
Molly Shannon / Linkin Park: 6.8
Matthew Fox / Tenacious D: 6.6
Drew Barrymore / Lily Allen: 6.6
Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Snow Patrol: 6.6
Forest Whitaker / Keith Urban: 6.5
Justin Timberlake: 6.0
Ludacris: 5.8
Jake Gyllenhaal / The Shins: 5.8
Annette Bening / Gwen Stefani, Akon: 5.7
Jaime Pressly / Corinne Bailey Rae: 5.6
Zach Braff / Maroon 5: 5.5
Scarlett Johansson / Bjork: 4.7
John C. Reilly / My Chemical Romance: 4.1

Season 33
Tina Fey / Carrie Underwood: 7.6
Shia LaBeouf / My Morning Jacket: 7.2
LeBron James / Kanye West: 7.0
Ashton Kutcher / Gnarls Barkley: 7.0
Christopher Walken / Panic At The Disco: 6.8
Jonah Hill / Mariah Carey: 6.3
Brian Williams / Feist: 6.2
Steve Carell / Usher: 6.1
Jon Bon Jovi / Foo Fighters: 6.0
Amy Adams / Vampire Weekend: 5.9
Seth Rogen / Spoon: 5.7
Elliot Page / Wilco: 5.6

Season 34
Jon Hamm / Coldplay: 8.0
Anne Hathaway / The Killers: 7.8
John Malkovich / T.I.: 7.8
Dwayne Johnson / Ray LaMontagne: 7.4
Ben Affleck / David Cook: 7.3
Will Ferrell / Green Day: 7.3
Josh Brolin / Adele: 6.9
Neil Patrick Harris / Taylor Swift: 6.9
Tracy Morgan / Kelly Clarkson: 6.9
Paul Rudd / Beyonce: 6.8
Justin Timberlake / Ciara: 6.7
Michael Phelps / Lil Wayne: 6.5
Zac Efron / Yeah Yeah Yeahs: 6.5
Hugh Laurie / Kanye West: 6.3
James Franco / Kings of Leon: 6.2
Bradley Cooper / TV on the Radio: 6.2
Tim McGraw / Ludacris and T-Pain: 6.1
Seth Rogen / Phoenix: 6.1
Anna Faris / Duffy: 6.0
Steve Martin / Jason Mraz: 5.8
Alec Baldwin / Jonas Brothers: 5.6
Rosario Dawson / Fleet Foxes: 5.4

Season 35
Charles Barkley / Alicia Keys: 7.3
Jon Hamm / Michael Bublé: 7.3
Ryan Reynolds / Lady Gaga: 7.2
Betty White / Jay-Z: 7.0
Taylor Swift: 6.8
Blake Lively / Rihanna: 6.6
Zach Galifianakis / Vampire Weekend: 6.4
Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Dave Matthews Band: 6.3
Gerard Butler / Shakira: 6.1
Drew Barrymore / Regina Spektor: 6.0
Ashton Kutcher / Them Crooked Vultures: 6.0
Jennifer Lopez: 5.9
Alec Baldwin / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 5.9
Jude Law / Pearl Jam: 5.8
Tina Fey / Justin Bieber: 5.8
Ryan Phillippe / Ke$ha: 5.8
James Franco / Muse: 5.6
Sigourney Weaver / The Ting Tings: 5.6
Megan Fox / U2: 5.3
January Jones / Black Eyed Peas: 5.2
Taylor Lautner / Bon Jovi: 4.9
Gabourey Sidibe / MGMT: 4.8

Season 36
Ed Helms / Paul Simon: 7.2
Jon Hamm / Rihanna: 6.6
Anne Hathaway / Florence + The Machine: 6.6
Jim Carrey / The Black Keys: 6.6
Zach Galifianakis / Jessie J: 6.5
Paul Rudd / Paul McCartney: 6.2
Helen Mirren / Foo Fighters: 6.2
Amy Poehler / Katy Perry: 6.1
Jane Lynch / Bruno Mars: 6.1
Russell Brand / Chris Brown: 6.1
Justin Timberlake / Lady Gaga: 6.1
Elton John: 5.9
Emma Stone / Kings of Leon: 5.8
Gwyneth Paltrow / Cee Lo Green: 5.8
Jesse Eisenberg / Nicki Minaj: 5.8
Tina Fey / Ellie Goulding: 5.8
Bryan Cranston / Kanye West: 5.6
Robert DeNiro / Diddy-Dirty Money: 5.6
Dana Carvey / Linkin Park: 5.6
Miley Cyrus / The Strokes: 5.5
Jeff Bridges / Eminem and Lil Wayne: 5.4
Scarlett Johansson / Arcade Fire: 4.8

Season 37
Alec Baldwin / Radiohead: 7.4
Jimmy Fallon / Michael Bublé: 7.4
Maya Rudolph / Sleigh Bells: 7.3
Charlie Day / Maroon 5: 7.2
Steve Buscemi / The Black Keys: 6.7
Jason Segel / Florence + The Machine: 6.5
Charles Barkley / Kelly Clarkson: 6.5
Zooey Deschanel / Karmin: 6.5
Anna Faris / Drake: 6.3
Eli Manning / Rihanna: 6.3
Emma Stone / Coldplay: 6.2
Ben Stiller / Foster The People: 6.0
Channing Tatum / Bon Iver: 6.0
Jonah Hill / The Shins: 6.0
Will Ferrell / Usher: 6.0
Katy Perry / Robyn: 5.9
Sofia Vergara / One Direction: 5.9
Daniel Radcliffe / Lana Del Rey: 5.8
Josh Brolin / Gotye: 5.7
Mick Jagger with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck: 5.7
Melissa McCarthy / Lady Antebellum: 5.5
Lindsay Lohan / Jack White: 5.5

Season 38
Martin Short / Paul McCartney: 8.0
Jamie Foxx / Ne-Yo: 7.9
Louis C.K. / fun.: 7.7
Zach Galifianakis / Of Monsters And Men: 7.5
Seth MacFarlane / Frank Ocean: 7.3
Anne Hathaway / Rihanna: 7.3
Ben Affleck / Kanye West: 7.1
Christoph Waltz / Alabama Shakes: 6.9
Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Mumford & Sons: 6.6
Kevin Hart / Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: 6.5
Jennifer Lawrence / The Lumineers: 6.3
Jeremy Renner / Maroon 5: 6.2
Vince Vaughn / Miguel: 6.2
Bruno Mars: 6.1
Justin Timberlake: 6.0
Daniel Craig / Muse: 5.9
Adam Levine / Kendrick Lamar: 5.8
Melissa McCarthy / Phoenix: 5.7
Christina Applegate / Passion Pit: 5.5
Kristen Wiig / Vampire Weekend: 5.1
Justin Bieber: 4.9

Season 39
Louis C.K. / Sam Smith: 7.6
Kerry Washington / Eminem: 7.3
Tina Fey / Arcade Fire: 7.0
Edward Norton / Janelle Monáe: 6.8
Lady Gaga: 6.8
Josh Hutcherson / HAIM: 6.8
Anna Kendrick / Pharrell Williams: 6.7
Miley Cyrus: 6.4
Jonah Hill / Bastille: 6.4
Andrew Garfield / Coldplay: 6.4
Jim Parsons / Beck: 6.3
Drake: 6.1
Charlize Theron / The Black Keys: 6.1
Melissa McCarthy / Imagine Dragons: 6.0
Lena Dunham / The National: 5.9
Paul Rudd / One Direction: 5.8
Jimmy Fallon / Justin Timberlake: 5.7
Seth Rogen / Ed Sheeran: 5.6
Bruce Willis / Katy Perry: 5.4
John Goodman / Kings of Leon: 5.2
Andy Samberg / St. Vincent: 4.9

Season 40
Woody Harrelson / Kendrick Lamar: 8.0
Michael Keaton / Carly Rae Jepsen: 7.8
J.K. Simmons / D’Angelo: 7.5
Dwayne Johnson / George Ezra: 7.5
Martin Freeman / Charli XCX: 7.4
Jim Carrey / Iggy Azalea: 7.1
Louis C.K. / Rihanna: 7.1
Sarah Silverman / Maroon 5: 6.4
Bill Hader / Hozier: 6.4
Chris Rock / Prince: 6.4
Chris Hemsworth / Zac Brown Band: 6.3
Blake Shelton: 6.1
Amy Adams / One Direction: 6.0
Taraji P. Henson / Mumford & Sons: 5.9
Kevin Hart / Sia: 5.8
Cameron Diaz / Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars: 5.7
Scarlett Johansson / Wiz Khalifa: 5.6
Chris Pratt / Ariana Grande: 5.3
Reese Witherspoon / Florence + The Machine: 5.2
James Franco / Nicki Minaj: 5.1
Dakota Johnson / Alabama Shakes: 5.1

Season 41
Elizabeth Banks / Disclosure: 8.5
Tracy Morgan / Demi Lovato: 8.2
Peter Dinklage / Gwen Stefani: 7.9
Adam Driver / Chris Stapleton: 7.8
Larry David / The 1975: 7.8
Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Nick Jonas: 7.7
Fred Armisen / Courtney Barnett: 7.4
Ryan Gosling / Leon Bridges: 7.3
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: 7.2
Melissa McCarthy / Kanye West: 7.0
Brie Larson / Alicia Keys: 6.8
Ariana Grande: 6.6
Miley Cyrus: 6.3
Ronda Rousey / Selena Gomez: 6.3
Amy Schumer / The Weeknd: 6.2
Drake: 6.0
Matthew McConaughey / Adele: 5.9
Russell Crowe / Margo Price: 5.8
Chris Hemsworth / Chance the Rapper: 5.7
Jonah Hill / Future: 5.1
Donald Trump / Sia: 4.6

Season 42
Dave Chappelle / A Tribe Called Quest: 9.0
Tom Hanks / Lady Gaga: 8.1
Aziz Ansari / Big Sean: 7.9
Margot Robbie / The Weeknd: 7.7
Emma Stone / Shawn Mendes: 7.3
Kristen Stewart / Alessia Cara: 7.3
Emily Blunt / Bruno Mars: 7.2
Louis C.K. / The Chainsmokers: 7.2
Melissa McCarthy / HAIM: 7.0
Benedict Cumberbatch / Solange: 6.8
Dwayne Johnson / Katy Perry: 6.8
John Cena / Maren Morris: 6.7
Jimmy Fallon / Harry Styles: 6.7
Lin-Manuel Miranda / Twenty One Pilots: 6.5
Kristen Wiig / The xx: 6.5
Alec Baldwin / Ed Sheeran: 6.5
Chris Pine / LCD Soundsystem: 6.4
Scarlett Johansson / Lorde: 6.3
Felicity Jones / Sturgill Simpson: 6.2
Octavia Spencer / Father John Misty: 5.9
Casey Affleck / Chance the Rapper: 5.3

Season 43
Larry David / Miley Cyrus: 7.3
Ryan Gosling / Jay-Z: 7.1
Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk: 6.8
Gal Gadot / Sam Smith: 6.4

ONE FAVORITE SEGMENT OF MINE FROM EACH SEASON I COVERED, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
(Note: This isn’t a compilation of my #1 favorite segment from each season, just *a* favorite segment of mine from each season. It would be too difficult for me to choose my absolute #1 favorite segment from each season in the short amount of time I have right now. Also, for some of these picks, I won’t go for the obvious fan favorite of the season, and I’ll instead choose a lesser-appreciated piece. I’ll also try to have this compilation as a whole accurately represent my general sense of humor.)

If you’re having trouble identifying some of the above favorite segments of mine from their screencaps or are curious what episodes they come from, here’s a guide:

Season 1: The Last Voyage Of The Starship Enterprise (from Elliott Gould / Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins and Joyce Everson)
Season 2: Gary Gilmore (from Candice Bergen / Frank Zappa)
Season 3: Andy Kaufman reads The Great Gatsby (from Art Garfunkel / Stephen Bishop)
Season 4: The Pepsi Syndrome (from Richard Benjamin / Rickie Lee Jones)
Season 5: Bad Clams (from Buck Henry / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Season 6: Script In Development (from Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton)
Season 7: Girls To Women (from Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates)
Season 8: Special Report: Buckwheat Shot (from Bruce Dern / Leon Redbone)
Season 9: Witness Relocation (from Don Rickles / Billy Idol)
Season 10: Walking After Midnight (from Ed Asner / The Kinks)
Season 11: Grand Finale (from George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass)
Season 12: Mastermind (from Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short / Randy Newman)
Season 13: Wilson Trap Doors (from Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs)
Season 14: Robot Repair (from Mary Tyler Moore / Elvis Costello)
Season 15: Diner (from Alec Baldwin / The B-52’s)
Season 16: Happy Fun Ball (from Roseanne Barr / Deee-Lite)
Season 17: Mr. Belvedere Fan Club (from Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen)
Season 18: An Insane Idiot and His Collection of Descending-Size Deer Heads (from Harvey Keitel / Madonna)
Season 19: Across the Bar (from Heather Locklear / Janet Jackson)
Season 20: Denver Airport (from John Goodman / The Tragically Hip)
Season 21: Wake Up and Smile (from David Alan Grier / Silverchair)
Season 22: The Late Show with David Letterman (from Kevin Spacey / Beck)
Season 23: TV Funhouse: Fun With Real Audio (from Helen Hunt / Hanson)
Season 24: Jingleheimer Junction (from Cameron Diaz / The Smashing Pumpkins)
Season 25: Celebrity Jeopardy (from Norm Macdonald / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Eminem)
Season 26: Centaur (from Christopher Walken / Weezer)
Season 27: Music International (from Jack Black / The Strokes)
Season 28: Box (from Salma Hayek / Christina Aguilera)
Season 29: Tennis Talk with Time Traveling Scott Joplin (from Andy Roddick / Dave Matthews)
Season 30: Pepper Grinder (from Will Ferrell / Queens of the Stone Age)
Season 31: Dopplegangers (from Matt Dillon / Arctic Monkeys)
Season 32: Carpool (from Alec Baldwin / Christina Aguilera)
Season 33: Read To Achieve (from LeBron James / Kanye West)
Season 34: Rocket Dog (from Tracy Morgan / Kelly Clarkson)
Season 35: Potato Chip Thief (from Blake Lively / Rihanna)
Season 36: Merryville Trolley Ride (from Jim Carrey / The Black Keys)
Season 37: Coach Bert (from Steve Buscemi / The Black Keys)
Season 38: Roundball Rock (from Vince Vaughn / Miguel)
Season 39: Monster Pals (from Seth Rogen / Ed Sheeran)
Season 40: Helpfund (from Bill Hader / Hozier)
Season 41: Meet Your Second Wife! (from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band)
Season 42: Totino (from Kristen Stewart / Alessia Cara)
Season 43: Papyrus (from Ryan Gosling / Jay-Z)

And finally…

THINGS ABOUT SNL THAT I WAS MOST SURPRISED TO DISCOVER FROM DOING THIS PROJECT AND GOING THROUGH SNL’S TIMELINE CHRONOLOGICALLY
— Me enjoying Chevy Chase as a cast member more than I expected.
— Bill Murray having such a strong showing throughout his first episode as a cast member, given how well-documented it is that he struggled a lot during his early days on SNL.
— The conceptual Charles Grodin episode from season 3 being much better than I remember finding it to be when I previously watched it many years earlier.
— How damn fun the O.J. Simpson episode from season 3 is, given the fact that I went into that episode expecting it to feel very awkward to watch in hindsight, due to O.J.’s notorious future.
— John Belushi having far more range than I expected, given the fact that, before doing this project, I had mostly remembered him for playing wild, loud, outrageous roles.
— Dan Aykroyd being an even more reliable cast member than I expected, to the degree that he became my favorite member of the original cast.
— The first half of season 5 mostly being pretty good, and how that season’s well-documented burnout and decline wasn’t fully visible until the second half of the season.
— On a somewhat similar note to above, me finding the first half of the notorious season 6 more hit-and-miss rather than outright bad.
— How good one-season wonder Tony Rosato was.
— Brad Hall starting to grow on me towards the end of his tenure (after he got booted from Saturday Night News), after I spent most of his tenure finding his performance style too try-hard and corny.
— The two Eddie Murphy-hosted episodes from the 80s, while both certainly good, not being classics like I had remembered.
— Season 10 not being as heavily reliant on pre-tapes as legend has it.
— Christopher Guest being an even better cast member than I previously thought.
— The Dick Ebersol era being better than I expected (minus season 7, which I found a little boring, mainly the middle of the season), given how I went into that era expecting it to be as overly bland and safe as I had remembered it being.
— Randy Quaid being much more of a valuable member to the troubled season 11 cast than I had remembered. Before reviewing season 11, I had always dismissed Randy’s SNL stint as just being a poor man’s predecessor to Phil Hartman.
— The strength of the late 80s renaissance era not really kicking into absolute full swing until season 14, three seasons into that era. Seasons 12 and 13 are both certainly pretty solid, but not quite as strong as I had remembered (which is understandable for season 12, as that was that cast’s first season). Before doing these reviews, I used to lump seasons 12 and 13 with seasons 14 and 15 as being pretty much equally fantastic.
— Dennis Miller’s decline as a Weekend Update anchor starting earlier than I had remembered. My memory had his decline (where he came off burned-out and kinda went through the motions) just being in the second half of his final season, but I discovered through this project that his decline really started sometime in the second half of his penultimate season. This decline of his wasn’t too bad, though, as he’s still one of my personal all-time favorite Update anchors.
— The extremely hot start season 17 had in its first six episodes (minus the Jeff Daniels episode).
— The Nancy Kerrigan episode from season 19, while definitely bad, not being “Worst episode ever” levels of bad like I had always previously felt.
— Me liking Melanie Hutsell as a cast member a lot more than I used to (I couldn’t STAND her when I was younger), despite still having some issues with her.
— The notorious season 20, while definitely undeniably bad as a whole, not being nearly as bad to me when breaking that season down episode-by-episode. There were a good number of things that season that I came around on after previously hating them, and I came out of that season feeling it had more good episodes than bad.
— Michael McKean being a little better as a cast member than I had previously given him credit for. Similar to what I said about Randy Quaid, until I reviewed seasons 19 and 20, I had always dismissed Michael’s SNL stint as just being a poor man’s successor to Phil Hartman. Turns out Michael had some good moments if you look beyond the Hartman-esque roles the show pigeonholed him in.
— The four season 24 episodes that I used to regularly refer to as that season’s “Quadfecta of Suck” (Kelsey Grammer, Vince Vaughn, Bill Murray, and John Goodman) turning out to be much better than I had remembered, particularly the Goodman episode.
— Me not getting as sick of the Spartan Cheerleaders or Mary Katherine Gallagher as I was initially worried I would when I entered the late 90s era in this project.
— The season 28 Matthew McConaughey episode being much worse than I had remembered.
— The generally-mediocre season 29 having a pretty nice upswing in quality towards the end, which I hadn’t remembered.
— The Paris Hilton episode from season 30 not being “Worst episode ever” levels of bad like I had always previously felt. Hell, it wasn’t even one of the worst episodes of its season (and that season certainly has a lot of contenders).
— Me coming to the realization after all these years that, out of all six of Tina Fey’s years as Weekend Update anchor, I only like two of them (her first two).
— Seth Meyers being a better sketch performer than I (and he himself) had previously given him credit for.
— The so-called mid-season slump of season 34 not being as bad as I had remembered, aside from the Rosario Dawson episode.
— Me eventually coming around on a few of Kristen Wiig’s characters/impressions that I used to absolutely despise: Target Lady, Gilly, and Kathie Lee Gifford.
— The January Jones episode from season 35, while definitely bad, not being “Worst episode ever” levels of bad like I had always previously felt.
— Me not being nearly as salty towards the 2009-2012 years as I was when they originally aired.
— Fred Armisen’s badness as a cast member not suddenly starting in season 35 like I had felt when his tenure originally aired. Turns out that, instead of suddenly getting bad in season 35 after being solid in all of his previous seasons, Fred had a very gradual three-year decline in seasons 32-34 that led to his outright badness from season 35 onward.
— Kyle Mooney not being an awkward live performer in his first season as I felt when that season originally aired.
— Me having more appreciation for Nasim Pedrad than I did when her tenure originally aired.
— The Elizabeth Banks and Peter Dinklage episodes from season 41 being even stronger than I had remembered.
— On a related note to above, season 41 in general being even stronger than I had remembered.
— Me liking Sasheer Zamata as a cast member more than I used to, despite SNL’s severe under-utilization of her.
— Season 43 not having nearly as rough of a start as I felt when it originally aired.
— Me not finding Kate McKinnon’s peak years (2014-2017) to be as consistently strong as I used to.
— Me having much more of a liking for Pete Davidson than I did when seasons 40-43 originally aired. As I said in my review of his first episode, my dislike for Pete used to be so strong that he was one of many things that ended up driving me away from watching new SNL episodes in late 2018. I also said in my review of his first episode that I would now try to go into his tenure with an open mind, and it turns out that doing so has greatly helped me develop goodwill towards him.
— Me having more of a liking for Leslie Jones than I did when seasons 40-43 originally aired. While I certainly never had a disliking for her anywhere near on the level of my former disliking of Pete, I used to have mixed feelings on her skills as a sketch performer, despite always liking her as a person. When reviewing her tenure in this project, however, I ended up finding her to be a delight in most of her sketch appearances.

And, well, we’ve come to the end of my farewell post. While it’s a disappointment that I have to prematurely end my part in this project for reasons explained here, I’m very proud of doing this project, how I’ve accomplished so much with it, and how insanely far I’ve come. When I first launched this site on the night of June 27, 2018, I was somewhat confident, but at the same time, a part of me had a “You’re insane for thinking you can pull this off” feel. That part of me thought I wouldn’t last long AT ALL attempting the daunting task of daily SNL reviews, and thought this project would end up being a failed, short-lived experiment that wouldn’t have made it past my coverage of season 3 or 4. Despite that nagging doubt I initially had, I went on with this project anyway, and, as we know now, I ended up keeping this project going for almost three full years and made it all the way to freakin’ season 43 (which was the most recent season when I started this project), neither of which the “You’re insane for thinking you can pull this off” part of me back on June 27, 2018 ever would’ve predicted. I’m so happy that I’ve made it this far.

For anyone worried that this site will be closed down now that I’m finished with the project, nope, I’ll absolutely be keeping it open for as long as I can.

Thank you to The Wicker Breaker for inspiring me to do this project. Thank you to fellow SNL blogger & reviewer Bronwyn Douwsma for providing me with the complete version of some episodes that I wouldn’t have had complete versions of otherwise. Thank you to all of my readers and commenters, for supporting me and for making the comments section of this site bigger and more vibrant than I ever could’ve imagined. Thank you to those in the comments section who provided the info for most of the above lists in this post. And thank you to all of the people on this site, on Twitter, and in emails who showered me with love and support in response to my retirement announcement.

On a major note, while this is the end of my part in the One SNL A Day project, it’s not the end of the One SNL A Day project in general. It’s been decided that volunteers from the comments section community of my site will graciously continue my project by reviewing the remaining episodes that I was going to review before deciding to end my project early. RoseArt, a frequent commenter on my site, is currently in the process of building a separate site for this continuation of my project. Yet another sign of what a wonderful comments section community my site has. When the new site launches, I’ll make a post on my site stating the name and URL of the new site, and I’ll also leave a link on my site’s menu bar and homepage.

Farewell, everyone. Words cannot express how much it warmed my heart to recently find out (after my retirement announcement) how much this project has meant to people, and what a great resource they find this site to be for SNL info. Things like that show me that this site went on to become much bigger and more important than I ever would’ve imagined it would when I first launched it and assumed it would just be an obscure site with a very modest following.

November 4, 2017 – Larry David / Miley Cyrus (S43 E4)

NOTE: For anyone who didn’t read my post from yesterday, this is going to be my final review. And, as you’ll notice throughout the review, there isn’t a finality to the tone of this review, because it was written over a week ago, before I came to the decision to end this project.

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PAUL MANAFORT’S APARTMENT
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) visits house-arrested Paul Manafort (ALM)

— A pretty funny cutaway to Cecily’s Melania communicating with a Donald Trump inflatable lookalike.
— Yikes, after the aforementioned Melania scene, what the hell happened? The camera cuts back to Alec, who’s seen awkwardly rushing out of the shot while looking off-camera as if he realized he wasn’t supposed to be in the current scene, but then, after a long pause as the camera just holds on a shot of nobody onscreen, Alec (or someone else) is heard off-camera saying “Wait, wait”, then Alec re-enters the shot with Alex. What in the world went wrong?
— Not caring much for anything happening during the shower scene. It’s resulting in me having the usual reaction I have to Trump-era political cold openings.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about dating as Quasimodo & in a concentration camp

— Already a good laugh right from the start, with Larry David opening this monologue by telling the cheering audience a Sally Field-esque “You tolerate me! You really, really tolerate me!”
— Larry’s whole bit about Quasimodo is hilarious, especially the voice and gestures he uses as Quasimodo.
— I’m cracking up so much at Larry’s very drawn-out hesitance when bringing up the fact that a lot of the men who have been Me Too’ed are Jewish.
— IIRC, Larry’s bit about picking up women at a concentration camp, which is definitely making me laugh, would end up receiving complaints, which is possibly what prevented this episode from receiving an NBC rerun.
STARS: ****½


THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Bernie Sanders (host) wins; Liam Hemsworth cameo

— Chris is hilarious as Lil Wayne.
— A fun Chris Hemsworth impression from Alex.
— A decent way to work in Larry’s Bernie Sanders impression.
— Mixed feelings on Alec’s appearance here, as I always love his Tony Bennett impression, but all of the Trumpwin stuff from both this and the preceding season has made me burned out on Alec’s sketch appearances.
— Boy, Beck’s Drew Carey impression is really off. I have no idea what he’s going for.
— A funny description Larry’s Bernie gives on how he washes his suit.
STARS: ***½


CONFIDENT
“Confident” & dismissive Sarah Huckabee Sanders (AIB) sidelines reporters

— I was about to say that I’m not caring for the recurrent musical cutaways in this short, but the humor in those cutaways and the press conference scenes have gotten better after a while.
— This feels a bit like a precursor to Aidy’s “Aidy B” short from later this season.
— I love the “Bruce?” “There’s no Bruce here” exchange between Aidy and Cecily, as well as how Cecily nonchalantly goes on with her next question immediately after that line.
— Aidy is performing really well in this, which is helping to make this work.
STARS: ***½


AD COUNCIL AWARDS DINNER
in retrospect, directing honoree’s (host) old PSAs are rather offensive

— I’m enjoying the 80s aesthetic in the PSAs. Speaking of which, Mikey looks like he’s wearing the same shirt that Josh Hutcherson wore in the 80’s Song sketch (e.g. the Outfield “Your Love” sketch) from his season 39 hosting stint.

— The increasingly un-PC-by-today’s-standards taglines of the PSAs are hilarious, as is how uncomfortable everybody at this awards dinner is becoming over that.
— The very casual, unacknowledged reveal of Larry’s character having a big ponytail was a bit surprising to me.
STARS: ****


THE BABY STEP
host refuses to participate in infant-themed rap video

— I love Larry getting angry at the camera for repeatedly cutting back to him for his rap solo, after he made it clear that he wants no part of this.
— I absolutely LOVE the bit with Kenan being animated as a Rugrat, especially given his Nickelodeon history.
— After the aforementioned bit with Larry getting angry at the camera for repeatedly cutting back to him, his continued objections to participating in this music video aren’t quite as hilarious as I remembered, but they’re still funny.
— Larry, to Kenan, when calling each of the performers out on doing this ridiculous music video: “You??? How long do ya have to be here not to do this kind of stuff?” Kenan: “……..I wish I knew.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bad Mood”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Jr. (MID) & Eric (ALM) defend pa Trump from suggestions of guilt

archetypal movie boxer’s girlfriend Angel (HEG) has had enough

Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer [real] give Astros swag to LEJ

— Great to see another Trump Brothers Update commentary, which are usually very funny.
— A hilarious facial expression from Alex’s Eric Trump after tasting the sugar in the Fun Dip candy (the seventh above screencap for this Weekend Update).
— The debut of Heidi’s Angel character, a.k.a. every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing ever.
— Heidi is absolutely spot-on as this movie archetype.
— The comedy in Heidi’s Angel piece wasn’t doing all that much for me at first, despite her solid performance, but the comedy has become increasingly funny the more ridiculous her rants have become with each passing topic, especially the phone bit.
— A lot of laughs from Leslie’s talk about baseball.
— Ohho, NO. The Houston Astros. Even though I don’t know much about baseball (I’m much more of a football and basketball viewer), I’m certainly well aware of the Astros’ notorious cheating scandal. This is the season that they later got busted for cheating during, right? If so, oof, this SNL appearance of theirs has aged like milk.
— It’s a shame that this Astros appearance is souring my enjoyment of Leslie’s commentary, though she still does have a few funny comments during the Astros appearance, and is still coming off as her usual likable self.
STARS: ***½


FRESH TAKES WITH DUSTIN PURCELL
teacher (host) shares improper gossip on high school show

— If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that was the no-longer-on-the-show Vanessa Bayer doing the opening announcement for this sketch. After several seconds, though, the announcer’s voice has started to sound a bit like Cecily.
— Nice to see yet another display of the fun and charming chemistry that Mikey and Alex usually have together.
— Mikey’s professional delivery of and emphasis of the word “beefed” when saying “Someone BEEFED in first period gym” tickled me so much.
— A funny low-budget ad with Pete and Chris.
— The way Larry’s character is delivering gossip about high schoolers is funny just because it’s Larry David, of all people, dishing that gossip.
— Sad that this is the closest that Luke has gotten to a comedic role so far in his SNL tenure, and it’s just a small role with a predictable (to me, at least) punchline.
— Good bit with Leslie making announcements of which students have scoliosis. I can also relate to that, having had scoliosis when I was younger.
STARS: ***½


NEW WIFE
at a party, (host)’s gay-famous new wife (CES) performs her club routine

— This sketch is SO stupid, and has some of James Anderson’s worst tendencies as a writer, but Larry David is probably the only person in existence who could sell this material. Similar to what I said about him in the preceding Fresh Takes sketch, these lines of his are only funny because it’s Larry David, of all people, delivering them.
— Now this has gotten even funnier with Larry starting to break towards the end of the sketch, causing him to laugh his way through the rest of his lines. His speaking-while-laughing-hysterically voice is absolutely priceless, as also seen in the rehearsal footage of the Kevin Roberts sketch from Larry’s previous episode.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Would Die For You”


BEERS
in a sitcom, (KYM) & (BEB) realize that (host) has a drinking problem

— Ah, I always love this recurring nameless 80s/90s sitcom pastiche of Beck and Kyle’s. The humor in these shorts really speaks to me, and these shorts are what I consider to be among Beck and Kyle’s best pre-taped work.
— I’m surprised to realize that this pre-taped short is Kyle’s first and ONLY appearance all night. Coincidentally, he didn’t make any live appearances in the previous Larry David-hosted episode, either.
— Kyle’s intentionally horrible non-verbal overacting whenever Larry smashes a chair is hilarious.
— Like the previous installments of this short, I love the increasingly random and out-of-place establishing shots shown between scenes.
— A good laugh from the extreme brevity of the scene that only consists of Beck saying “Alright, let’s go on our bike ride.”
— Ha, holy hell at the out-of-nowhere turn with Larry stabbing Kyle in the gut.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While not as strong or memorable as the previous episode Larry David hosted, this was still a fairly solid episode. Aside from the cold opening, I enjoyed every segment, there were a few great overall highlights, and Larry did yet another strong job hosting.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Beers
Monologue
Ad Council Awards Dinner
New Wife
Weekend Update
Fresh Takes with Dustin Purcell
The Baby Step
Confident
The Price is Right
Paul Manafort’s Apartment


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kumail Nanjiani)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
That’s it. No more reviews from me. On the bright side, it appears that this One SNL A Day project will continue on another blog, with reviews being written by commenters from my blog who are graciously willing to cover the remaining episodes that I will no longer be reviewing. (Read more about that plan here.) After this Larry David review I just posted, the only thing left for me to do now is a big, special farewell extravaganza post to officially wrap up my part of this project (but not officially wrap up this project altogether, because, as I said, it appears that others will continue this project on another blog). Because of how long and extensive my farewell post will be, it will most likely take me a few days to complete, so don’t expect it to be posted by tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready the day after that, but don’t be surprised if it takes me even longer. As for what kind of content the post will contain, you can expect review stats, a collection of some of the lists (of things like rating averages) that people have kindly provided in the comments sections of my reviews, new lists made by me, and various other things.

Major announcement

My ongoing handling of the site issues that I mentioned in my last two posts is going well so far, and I’m about halfway finished. However, during this past week as I’ve been handling those issues, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about just how much I want to or DON’T want to continue doing my One SNL A Day project, especially with some big changes in my life coming up very soon. You see, truth be told, ever since some point in my coverage of season 41, I officially reached the point where the fun of doing this project had completely left me and never came back. It has nothing to do with the quality of the episodes I covered at the time (which were generally good) – I just naturally reached the official state of burnout after the grind of doing this project for so long. Not even the occasional days off that I allowed myself to take from this project for relaxation these past few seasons have done anything to help the complete burnout that hit me. Even with that burnout, I didn’t give up on this project, because 1) I didn’t want to disappoint my readers, knowing how much they enjoy my reviews, and 2) I was pretty close to the official finish line of completing this project, with (as of now) slightly less than four seasons remaining.

Despite the burden of having to manage the aforementioned site issues this past week, the break that it’s given me from doing reviews has been absolutely refreshing. And not refreshing in a “This hiatus is starting to bring back my enthusiasm for doing reviews again” way, but in a “I don’t ever want to go back to the grind of doing reviews” way.  And after doing A LOT of thinking about it these last few days, I’ve come to the very difficult decision that I’m going to end this project right now. I just have absolutely no enthusiasm left for doing any more reviews, not even for the slightly-less-than-four remaining seasons of this project. Hell, I don’t even have any enthusiasm left for completing the remainder of the season I recently started (season 43). I just can’t. Even the mere thought of going back to doing reviews makes me groan. And, as I alluded to earlier in this post, there are some big changes coming very soon in my life (not bad ones) that are going to make it even more of a strain on me to do these reviews, plus, schedule-wise, those changes are going to make it pretty much impossible for me to continue these reviews anyway. I know some people might suggest something like, “You can just do a review once every few weeks or so, if it’ll get you through the rest of this project” or “Take a break for a few months, then come back to this project”, which aren’t bad suggestions at all, but, for various reasons (including the upcoming changes in my life), just isn’t something I’m going to do. Trust me, I’ve thought long and hard about every possible scenario, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m ready to wrap this project up now.

I deeply apologize to all of my readers for this announcement. Please know that you were always on my mind during the long process of me making this decision, which is why this decision was so painful for me to make. While I find it very important for me to look out for you readers, it’s also very important for me to look out for myself, and the decision I’ve made is what I feel is for the best. One SNL A Day began as a passion project of mine, and when all of the passion of it has completely left me, why force myself to continue?

My review for what was supposed to be the next episode in my project, the Larry David episode from season 43, was already written before I had to put this project on a hiatus a week ago to handle my site issues. I wasn’t able to post that review back then because I couldn’t upload the screencaps for it, due to my site running out of disk space. Since I’ve now freed up a decent amount of disk space so far, I can now post that review. It will be my final review for this project, and I’ll post it tomorrow. After all, I owe it to you readers to give you one last review, not only for your wonderful devotion to this site, but for the great patience you’ve shown while I was handling my site issues this past week. In addition to that, the final segment in that Larry David episode is a great Beck Bennett/Kyle Mooney pre-tape that I absolutely love, and I would be proud to have that as the final segment I review in this project. After I post that episode review, I’ll be doing a big, special farewell post that will officially wrap up this project.

Despite how disappointing it is that I’m ending my project before completion, I’m still very proud of how far I’ve made it. In under three years, I’ve covered slightly over 42 seasons of the show, I’ve made it well into SNL’s modern era, and the season that I’m currently in was the most recent season back when I first launched this project in 2018. I have a lot to be happy about in regards to what I’ve accomplished in this project.

Update to my ongoing site issues

I found out that my site issues are caused by me having way too many screencaps uploaded to my media library, which has caused my file count to go WAY over the maximum count. My server, Bluehost, has even sent me two emails telling me that my excessive number of files are blocking several maintenance activities on the server from processing other accounts correctly, and that, if I don’t fix this issue within a reasonable amount of time, Bluehost may disable my entire account. This continues what a nightmare this week has been for me in regards to my site.

I’ve been told by a helper at a Bluehost Support chat that a solution to this problem can be for me to delete all of the automatically generated thumbnails for each screencap in my uploads folder. I’ll try that and see if that reduces my file count enough. If it turns out that that’s still not enough, then I’m going to have to migrate all of my screencap pages to Photobucket, which is going to take FOREVER, because, on top of that, I’ll also have to edit each of the individual screencaps within my reviews to now link to Photobucket instead of my site. (I should’ve used Photobucket for my screencaps in the first place when I first launched my site, as I should’ve figured back then that I’d eventually end up having too many screencap uploads for Bluehost to hold.) Either way, folks, definitely don’t expect any new reviews from me for a good, good while. I’ve got a long, tough road ahead of me. My apologies, readers, for not being able to do any new reviews until this problem is taken care of. I know this is sad news, but please understand and please be patient.

Site issues

These last few days, I’ve been having issues with the site, causing difficulties in me uploading new material. After spending a long time trying to find what the problem is, I realized that my site’s file limit is full. I then upgraded my account to receive a higher file limit, but I’ve been having a mess of ongoing complications in getting that upgrade to work, resulting at one point in me flat-out not being able to access my site for a few hours this morning.  I’ve been receiving help in all of these issues, and am currently awaiting an update, but I have no idea when these issues will be resolved.

Two days ago, in the midst of some of the above issues, I was still able to post my review of the Kumail Nanjiani episode, but due to the issues, I won’t be able to post any more reviews until the issues are resolved. As I said above, I have no idea when that’ll be. It could take a day, multiple days, maybe even longer. I apologize for not being able to post any new reviews until then, but please understand and be patient.

When my site issues are fixed, I’ll make a post letting you know.

October 14, 2017 – Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk (S43 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUCKER RALLY
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) goes off-message at a Pennsylvania rally

— I actually got some chuckles from some early Trumpwin lines in this cold opening, but after a minute, his lines devolved into the usual unfunny white noise that his lines typically are to me.
— The Mike Pence scenes at various locations are at least shaking the formula of this cold opening up a little, though I didn’t care for the predictable outcome of the wedding scene.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about being from Pakistan & dealing with Islamophobia

— Great bit from Kumail Nanjiani about making a movie about marrying a white woman just to rub it in his family’s face.
— Kumail’s mention of an “undercover KKK dragon” made me laugh a lot.
— A particularly good part with Kumail wondering if a seemingly-racist online commenter only sat through all of The Big Sick because they expected Kumail to rip off his mask and reveal himself to be Chris Pine.
— Lots of great, very solid humor all throughout this stand-up monologue.
STARS: ****½


BANK BREAKERS
(host) rues beating sympathetic game show contestant (CES)

— Lately, Mikey seems to have become SNL’s go-to cast member for game show host roles.
— Great turn with Cecily revealing that she’ll be using the prize money for an important medical procedure for her daughter, hilariously resulting in a now-guilty-feeling Kumail awkwardly reversing his playfully mean-spirited thumbs-down into a hesitant thumbs-up.
— Plenty of other hilarious reveals as this sketch progresses. This sketch is a lot stronger than I had remembered.
— A huge laugh from Kumail unintentionally getting the Darius Rucker question correct when he was trying to lose for Cecily’s sake.
STARS: ****½


KELLYWISE
Kellyanne Conway (KAM) snares Anderson Cooper (ALM) a la Pennywise

— Good to see another Kellyanne Conway pre-tape that spoofs a movie.
— Kate is absolutely hilarious in the voice she’s speaking in for most of this short. She’s having me in stitches.
— Pretty funny reveal of Cecily’s Rachel Maddow being in the sewer with Kate’s Kellyanne.
— Love the part with Kate’s Kellyanne showing Alex’s Anderson Cooper various newspaper headlines that contain his worst nightmares.
— A very interesting and solid part with Kate’s Kellyanne posing as Hillary Clinton.
STARS: ****½


OFFICE HALLOWEEN PARTY
potential hepatitis transmission kills fun at an office Halloween party

— Two minutes into this sketch so far, and I am not enjoying it. Not only is it not funny, but it’s featuring the type of wandering muddiness that’s typical of James Anderson and Kent Sublette’s sketches.
— It’s now a minute-and-a-half later, and, aside from a few chuckles, particularly from Aidy in her back-and-forth with Beck, I continue to not care for this sketch.
— This already-poor sketch really died towards the end.
STARS: *½


WOMEN’S ROUND TABLE
Debette Goldry has first-hand knowledge of sexual harassment in Hollywood

— Oh, this is around the time that the Me Too movement began, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that recently broke out at this time.
— A hilarious part with Kate’s Debette Goldry saying she couldn’t tell the difference between Weinstein’s genitals and face when he once tried to pass his genitals off as his face to her.
— The usual great lines from Kate’s Debette.
— This is the second consecutive sketch tonight that felt like it died off towards the end. I wasn’t crazy about the last minute-and-a-half of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What About Us”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ivana Trump (CES) claims First Lady title based on marriage precedence

COJ & MIC encourage viewers to donate to Puerto Rico hurricane relief

— Given the aforementioned Harvey Weinstein scandal, I’m surprised that tonight’s Weekend Update is opening with a completely unrelated joke about new emojis. That seems like the type of joke that would open an Update in a slow news week, which this week certainly wasn’t.
— Ah, never mind. It turns out that the punchline of the new emojis joke is about Weinstein, launching some great Weinstein rants from Colin and Michael.
— Solid and fun delivery from Cecily as Ivana Trump. However, I’m not crazy about the material itself that she’s performing. This commentary is VERY wandering.
— The camera botched the close-up of the page that Cecily’s Ivana showed from the book.
— I am chuckling at Cecily’s Ivana Trump starting to speak unintelligibly in her heavy accent with her mouth full of chocolates, though this commentary also feels like it’s gone off the rails by this point. The wandering feel I got from this commentary earlier has now become a “This commentary is completely pointless” feel.
— Tonight’s Update ends on a serious note with Colin and Michael telling us where to make a donation if we’d like to help the people of Puerto Rico in regards to the hurricane they recently suffered.
STARS: ****


HOTEL CHECK-IN
Marriott clerk (host) pitches hotel amenities to uninterested guest (MID)

— The Leslie/Chris bit didn’t do much for me, though it did result in a funny reveal of Mikey’s room being right next to theirs.
— This feels a bit like a sister sketch to the hotel sketch from the season 38 Louis C.K. episode, only without the good absurdist humor that sketch had. This sketch is still okay, though.
— A good laugh from Kumail’s overly calm, nonchalant reaction to getting punched in the face by Mikey.
— A solid ending reveal of Kumail being the lead singer of The Danny Band.
STARS: ***


NURSING HOME
nonagenarian’s (KAM) busy sex life leaves grandkids (MID) & (HEG) aghast

— TWO sketches tonight focused on Kate as an old lady? Yeah, not something I needed.
— Not caring for the constant close-ups of a silent Kate’s facial expressions.
— Kumail is very solid here.
— Kumail’s “They’re running a train, but she’s the conductor” line was good on paper, but he unfortunately flubbed his delivery of it.
— I can see why people would like this sketch, but the sketch’s premise and humor isn’t doing much for me, aside from a few reveals that I’m finding mildly amusing.
— Continuing a theme from earlier in this episode, this sketch felt like it died off during the final minute.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beautiful Trauma”


CUSTOMER SERVICE
Melania Trump (CES) befriends a Pakistani call center worker (host)

 

— An interesting, more fleshed-out variation that Julio Torres is doing of his great Melania Moments pieces from the preceding season.
— I love the very charming rapport between Cecily’s Melania and Kumail.
— Overall, yet another beautiful short from Julio Torres, displaying a perfect combination of sentimentality and comedy.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Minus the cold opening, this episode had a very strong start with three consecutive segments receiving a four-and-a-half-star rating from me, but afterwards, this episode took a little bit of a hit-and-miss route for the remainder of the show, but there were enough good pieces in that portion of the show to keep this overall episode fine.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Kellywise
Bank Breakers
Customer Service
Monologue
Weekend Update
Women’s Round Table
Hotel Check-In
Nursing Home
Trucker Rally
Office Halloween Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Gal Gadot)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Larry David

October 7, 2017 – Gal Gadot / Sam Smith (S43 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

“I WON’T BACK DOWN”
Jason Aldean [real] marks Las Vegas shootings with “I Won’t Back Down”

— Another nice tribute from SNL after a mass shooting. Boy, were the 2010s a horrible decade in terms of shooting tragedies.
— A rare instance (especially in recent eras) of a cold opening being a full-fledged performance from a musical artist.
STARS: N/A (not a ratable segment)


MONOLOGUE
Times Square Wonder Woman (LEJ) compares herself to host’s version

— I didn’t even notice Gal Gadot’s accent here until she pointed it out.
— Leslie’s her usual funny and charming self as the Times Square Wonder Woman, and she has some pretty funny comparisons between herself and Gal’s Wonder Woman.
STARS: ***


E! NEW FALL LINEUP
E! offers brainless entertainment with Kendall Jenner (host) & others

— Pretty amusing how Gal’s playing two different roles in the same scene.
— A pretty good laugh from Gal’s Kendall Jenner using Alexa to find out her own identity.
— After sadly being shut out of his first episode the preceding week, Luke Null finally makes his very first appearance, and it’s not even live. His natural likability is still shining through in this role, though.
— A decent spoof of E! programming. The “Where’s Kanye” portion is standing out the most.
STARS: ***


FIRST DATE
no-longer-imprisoned O.J. Simpson (KET) has a dinner date with (host)

— A priceless reveal of Kenan playing a fresh-out-of-prison O.J. Simpson.
— Much like in his first episode, Chris Redd has the ability to get a big laugh out of me in just a small role.
— A lot of laughs from Kenan’s O.J. taking advantage of the fact that Gal doesn’t know who he is.
— Lots of other hilarious bits throughout this sketch, such as the reveal of Kenan’s O.J. having been given a plastic knife “for some reason”, Kenan’s O.J. expressing his anger over not being able to get back his trophies, and the reveal of a whole bunch of other restaurant patrons filming Kenan’s O.J. on their phones.
— Love the ending with Kenan’s O.J. saying “Still got it” into the camera.
STARS: ****½


THE CHOSEN ONE
fantasy world barely holds attention of pool boy Chad

— SNL continues to place Chad in good new settings in each short he appears in. I also like how this particular setting offers a change of pace from the previous Chad shorts’ premise of someone being in love with Chad.
— A particularly funny part where, after Cecily tells Chad she’ll gift him with her virginity, Chad responds “Dope!” and IMMEDIATELY drops his pants.
STARS: ***½


MIRAGE
mirage of (host) & Jamba Juice appears to (KET) & (BEB) in the desert

 

— Kenan in his old “Kenan & Kel”-era hairstyle, I see. He also used to wear a similar wig quite a bit way back in his earlier seasons on SNL, such as in the Good Morning Meth sketch from season 31.

— Another funny scene-stealing appearance from Leslie.
— All of the contrasts between the Gal mirages and the Kyle/Mikey mirages are pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


SAFELITE AUTOGLASS
Safelite AutoGlass worker (BEB) breaks windshields to be near teen (MEV)

— Oh, here’s a notorious piece. This would end up receiving complaints from Safelite due to the controversial content, resulting in SNL removing this commercial from both online (I think) and televised reruns. In the televised reruns, this Safelite commercial would be replaced with a cut-after-dress Beck/Kyle pre-tape.
— I think I recall that, during the aforementioned controversy over this commercial, it was even revealed that SNL modeled Beck’s character after a real-life Safelite worker seen in commercials, which would explain why Beck was given such a specific look for this.
— Beck is good in his performance as this creep, but I’m not finding this commercial all that great. I’m not HATING it, but there have been other times where SNL has done a better job of pulling off this kind of risky humor.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Too Good At Goodbyes”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) burns her fellow Supreme Court justices

PED’s mental health would improve if more of his material made it on SNL

— Much like in the Weekend Update from the season 41 Amy Schumer episode, Colin and Michael are getting funny points out of the touchy subject of gun control.
— As much as I don’t like the always-tiresome “Ginsburned” dance breaks in Kate’s RBG commentaries, there’s a pretty funny gaffe & ensuing ad-libbing in regards to Kate’s glasses accidentally flying off during one of her dance breaks.
— Tonight’s overall RBG commentary mostly got only mild laughs from me, but there were some good lines towards the end.
— Oh, this is shortly after Pete was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
— A lot of laughs from the concept of Pete trying to guilt SNL into helping his depression by doing more of his sketches.
— Pete, on why he doesn’t write sketches more often: “My sketches SUCK, because they’re all written by a depressed person. (pause) Lorne said that!”
— One of the requests in the note from Pete’s “doctor:” “Use more of [Pete’s] rap videos.” Looks like SNL would eventually fulfill that request, starting the following season, I believe.
— Pete, at the very end of his commentary while the audience is applauding: “How have I not been fired?!?”
STARS: ****


THE MAIDEN AND THE MICE
ballgown made from detritus by fairy tale mice doesn’t wow maiden (host)

— The mere sketch concept of a storybook character speaking to three magically-appearing tiny characters initially has me a little worried, thanks to those awful Kinky Elves sketches that I had to suffer through the last few seasons prior to this, but this sketch seems to be going its own route, thankfully.
— A pretty funny line from Aidy responding to Gal pointing out the shoddiness of the dress with “Well…yeah. We’re workin’ on a budget of zero dollars.”
— Another good line, from Kate saying “We only live for a year. We basically gave you our 20s.”
— Didn’t care much for the ending, and Beck’s role reminded me a little too much of his role in that The Princess And The Curse pre-tape from the preceding season’s Felicity Jones episode.
STARS: ***


ESPIONAGE
sexy webcam show of (CES) & (AIB) interferes with online ransom drop

— Live Luke! It’s about time. Unfortunately, Luke’s live role here is just a minor, non-comedic one.
— The various “sexy” actions that Cecily and Aidy are performing on their webcam are pretty funny.
— Good bit at the end with the 40 million dollars that Alex sends ending up unintentionally going to Cecily & Aidy instead of Gal.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pray”


THEMYSCIRA
lesbians (AIB) & (KAM) are disappointed Diana (host) & Amazons aren’t gay

— Kate and Aidy are pretty funny in their constant frustration over the unintentionally homoerotic actions being performed by the non-lesbian Amazons. I especially like Aidy’s line, “It’s like we’re in a porn, but the plumber is just genuinely there to fix the pipes.”
— Gal: “Lay your head…on my tits.” Heh, that line came out of nowhere. I also think I recall hearing that the word “tits” in that line would later be bleeped-out (or muted-out) in a rebroadcast later that same night. If that’s true, that makes me wonder if Gal ad-libbed the usage of that word. Aidy did noticeably break out into what appeared to be a genuine giggle after Gal said it (while Kate, on the other hand, remained completely straight-faced and unfazed).
STARS: ***


THE NAOMI SHOW
(KET) becomes terrible teen’s (HEG) father figure

— Heidi gets her very first big role.
— A funny entrance from Heidi, bragging about her straws.
— Kenan’s getting laughs from me in his angry spiel as the sargent.
— The turn with Kenan becoming Heidi’s dad is a bit odd, and isn’t doing all that much for me. It’s certainly not awful, but I’m a little meh on it.
— I do like Kenan’s character admitting that he’s just an actor who previously appeared on Moesha.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. Certainly not bad, and, much like what I said in my review of the preceding episode, makes me puzzled over why the first three episodes of this season gave me such a bad omen of a big decline for this SNL era back when those three episodes originally aired, but I feel like this episode rarely rose above “pretty funny” (I found myself saying “pretty funny” waaaay too much in this review).


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
First Date
Weekend Update
Mirage
The Chosen One
Themyscira
Espionage
E! New Fall Lineup
Monologue
The Maiden and The Mice
The Naomi Show
Safelite AutoGlass


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ryan Gosling)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kumail Nanjiani

September 30, 2017 – Ryan Gosling / Jay-Z (S43 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE CHAOS PRESIDENT
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) renews relationship with Jeff Sessions (KAM)

— Ugh. Trumpwin is NOT a sight I want to see right out of the gate at the beginning of a season premiere’s cold opening, but I knew to expect it.
— I did get a laugh from Aidy-as-Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders’ delivery of her line about people listening to her because she’s “no nonsense, but ALL nonsense.”
— Yeah, I’m at the point where my decreasing tolerance towards Kate’s Jeff Sessions impression has officially reached 0%.
— Though it’s just a small appearance at the end of this cold opening, I’m liking Alex’s take on Chuck Schumer, and it’s nice that, instead of giving a political role like this to a non-cast member celebrity, it’s been given to a newer, underused cast member, a choice that’s going to feel increasingly rare as the Trump era progresses.
STARS: *½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same opening montage from the preceding three seasons, making this the first time since season 19 where an opening montage was used for a fourth consecutive season.
— Heidi Gardner, Luke Null, and Chris Redd have been added to the cast.


MONOLOGUE
host takes credit for having saved jazz in La La Land; Emma Stone cameo

— The “I saved jazz” concept isn’t anything great in itself, but Ryan Gosling is executing it well, especially his “smooth” talk into the camera while playing the piano.
— There’s our first display tonight of Giggling Gosling, a common sight in Ryan’s preceding episode.
— Nice to see the SNL Band get some focus here.
— The “We saved jazz” turn from Emma Stone is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


ANOTHER CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Ms. Rafferty’s second close encounter wasn’t much of an improvement

— (*groan*) And they obviously only brought this sketch back in this particular episode because of how much Ryan memorably giggled in the first installment of it.
— Mikey has taken over the basic role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Bobby Moynihan used to play in these sketches.
— You know how my comments about this recurring sketch goes: it should’ve stayed a one-and-done classic, it doesn’t work as a recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery as this character remains on-point but still doesn’t stop the template of her lines from feeling increasingly and tiredly by-the-numbers (particularly her anal/vaginal rhyming euphemisms).
— The part with Kate demonstrating on Ryan’s butt while making goofy vocalizations is such a blatant attempt to get more giggling out of Ryan. It’s nowhere near as endearing to me this time because this attempt at getting Kate to make Ryan laugh feels way too forced and try-hard on SNL’s part.
— Okay, Kate finally got one big laugh out of me just now, with the “He’s never gonna forget his 12th birthday” bit towards the end.
STARS: **


LEVI’S WOKES
unoffensively indeterminate Levi’s Wokes jeans are universally wearable

 

— A spot-on, timely, and well-filmed spoof of both woke culture and the typical style of jeans commercial.
— The statements that the Woke Jeans wearers are saying are priceless.
— Parts I particularly love are “Pockets sold separately”, the 180-degree “uni-fly” zipper, and the proudly-made announcement that, instead of being made by Indonesian kids, these jeans were made by white kids.
— Chris Redd is coming off really well and very amusing in his first role.
STARS: *****


THE FLIPLETS
dark (host) dispirits his brothers’ home renovation show

— A fairly simple format for a sketch placed so early in the show, but Ryan is solid as the brother who throws off the rhythm of this light-hearted commercial by saying dark, deep, disturbing, spiritual things. He has plenty of great lines here.
— I like the charmingly cheesy brotherly rapport between Mikey and Alex.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Damian Marley [real] perform “Bam”


WEEKEND UPDATE
newly-reelected Angela Merkel (KAM) still pines for an Obama alliance

Guy Who Just Bought A Boat & cousin (host) offer oily dating advice

— An awful lot of clapter in this Update so far, even if some of Colin and Michael’s points that induced that clapter are good points.
— Some aspects of Kate’s Angela Merkel commentaries kinda blend together with her Olya Povlatsky commentaries, and I prefer Olya Povlatsky, but Kate’s Merkel commentaries still have some spark left in them by this point.
— As usual, this Merkel commentary is getting good mileage out of the running storyline of her pining for Barack Obama.
— After Michael says, in regards to healthcare horror movies, that he’s worried because we all know who dies first in healthcare horror movies, Colin hilariously ad-libs a quick “Not me!” in response.
— Colin’s joke about White Fudge Ding Dongs also being the name of what Jost/Che Weekend Updates are called in China is absolutely classic. Also great is Michael saying about it afterwards, “I don’t know who that’s more racist to.”
— Colin’s kinda overdoing it tonight with the “That’s a great transition” ad-libs whenever the audience laughs as he begins introducing a commentary right after an outrageous joke of Michael’s.
— Alex’s Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character has officially become recurring.
— Like the previous time this Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character appeared, I’m really liking Alex’s impressively-delivered rapid-fire run of abbreviated slang words, but I run hot-and-cold on the running gag with him subliminally making comments about his small penis.
— Ryan is 2-for-2 in making an Update appearance as a similar counterpart to a preexisting Update character whenever he hosts. (Bobby Moynihan’s Anthony Crispino character being the previous character who Ryan played a counterpart to.)
— Ryan’s a decent addition here, though I found him more fun as Anthony Crispino’s counterpart.
STARS: ***½


HENRIETTA & THE FUGITIVE
in a barn, fugitive (host) opts to remain loyal to fowl Henrietta (AIB)

 

— When this sketch originally aired, I spent most of it unamused, not knowing what to make of it, and repeatedly asking myself “What the hell am I watching???”, before eventually being won over by it towards the end, making me love this sketch as a whole when thinking back on it. Because of that, it’ll be interesting to watch this again for the first time since that original airing.
— I’m loving the unconventional tone of this sketch, as well as the way this silliness is being played so straight.
— Aidy is giving what I feel is one of her best performances ever.
— A funny gaffe with Aidy having trouble grabbing the gun out of Ryan’s pocket, resulting in yet another display of Giggling Gosling.
— I got a good laugh from Kenan’s delivery of “AAH! HENRIETTA, WHY?!?” after getting shot.
— I know some people feel that the “20 years later” scene at the end was unneeded, but I strongly disagree, as that was the part that won me over on this overall sketch during its original airing. Back then, the initial cutaway to Aidy’s scarf-and-sunglasses-clad Henrietta waiting outside of the prison with a suitcase was both very funny and (especially) very charming to me.
— Another funny gaffe with Aidy’s scarf and sunglasses falling off right as she delivers her final line, which was a great way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****½


ITALIAN RESTAURANT
(host) & (CES) feel betrayed by Pizza Hut commercial’s pasta switcheroo

— Even though the concept of Ryan having a very angry overreaction to the mere reveal of his food being switched with another brand is bringing Chris Farley’s classic Hidden Camera Commercials short to mind (right down to a slowly-delivered “You son of a bitch” being the first words out of Ryan’s mouth when standing up after the reveal), this is still standing up on its own legs as a funny sketch.
— Even in just a small role, Chris Redd is cracking me up with 1) his delivery of his worried response to a threatening line Ryan said to him, and 2) him muttering in regret, “I wish I hadn’t told you my name.”
— Ryan’s performance is starting to remind me of his very intense performance in the fantastic Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
— Cecily: “Is this wine even real?!?” Mikey: “You ordered a Diet Coke.” Cecily: “(worried) Then why am I buzzed???”
— Ryan: “I oughta beat the death out of you!”
— Ryan breaking out into his usual giggling fit right now is why I’m so happy the aforementioned Santa Baby short was pre-taped (as I said in my review of that short), though his giggliness in this Italian Restaurant sketch is both brief and late-into-the-sketch enough that it’s not hurting it for me.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “4:44”


PAPYRUS
lazy font choice for Avatar logo obsesses & infuriates (host)

— Ah, yet another Julio Torres classic.
— A priceless reveal of what’s bothering Ryan so much: the movie Avatar using the papyrus font for its logo.
— I love Ryan getting up and flipping over the table in response to Kate revealing that the font used for the Avatar sequel’s logo looks similar to the papyrus font.
— Chris, on the possibility of Avatar using the papyrus font: “Maybe that was the starting point, but they clearly modified this.” Ryan: “Well, whatever they did…IT WASN’T…ENOUGH!!! (*smashes a glass in anger*)”
— Chris, on the papyrus font: “Where else do you even see this font?!?” Ryan: “Hookah bars…Shakira merch…off-brand teas.”
— Ryan, while looking at Kyle through a window in Kyle’s house: “I know what you did. I KNOW WHAT YOU DIIIIIIID!!!
— An absolutely perfect ending with a simple screen of the word “papyrus” being displayed in the comic sans font.
— Overall, such a masterpiece. And Ryan is now 2-for-2 in giving an absolutely fantastic intense performance in a pre-taped short in an episode he hosts, after the aforementioned Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
STARS: *****


DIVE BAR
flautist’s (host) mysterious personal drama leaks into Treece Henderson’s gig

— The Treece Henderson sketch (a.k.a. the “Tweedle-do-twee! Tweedle-do-twow!” Kenan singing sketch) has officially become recurring after THREE YEARS, believe it or not. Its previous appearance was in the Martin Freeman episode from season 40.
— Ryan’s usual giggliness (which he isn’t even trying to hide in this sketch) is apparently contagious here, as Kenan is quite giggly himself throughout this sketch.
— The formula of this recurring sketch is so copy-and-paste that SNL has even plugged new cast member Heidi Gardner into the same role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Vanessa Bayer played in the first installment of this sketch, and they even keep Beck as the husband.

— Speaking of new cast members, let me just take the time right now to mention this: poooooor Luke Null. It’s the man’s first episode, and he has made NO APPEARANCES in it at all. AT. ALL. My goodness. You really gotta feel sorry for him. The writing is already on the wall for the poor guy’s SNL future.
— Kyle’s delivery of his one-liners is great. Much like with the first installment of this sketch, I’m torn. Kyle and Kenan’s delivery of their lines (especially Kenan’s occasional mentions of his “good jeans”, and his yell of “Durtricia! It was yooouuuuu!”) are making me laugh, but I’m not caring much for the actual material in this sketch.
— Another amusing gaffe, this time Leslie’s difficulty in tearing Kenan’s “good jeans”.
STARS: **½


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Hugh Hefner marks his passing


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good season premiere. When this season originally aired, I noticed worrying signs of a big decline for this SNL era right from the first three episodes of this season, but in my rewatch just now, I found this episode to be fine. Two five-star segments (Levi’s Wokes and Papyrus) and a lot of other good segments. Certainly not much to complain about.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Papyrus
Levi’s Wokes
Henrietta & The Fugitive
Italian Restaurant / The Fliplets (tie)
Weekend Update
Monologue
Dive Bar
Another Close Encounter
The Chaos President


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2016-17)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Gal Gadot

May 20, 2017 – Dwayne Johnson / Katy Perry (S42 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HALLELUJAH
Ivanka (Scarlett Johansson) & the rest of team Trump sing “Hallelujah”

— SNL spoofs their own serious Hallelujah cold opening from earlier this season.
— So far, this spoof is doing absolutely nothing for me, and neither are the walk-ons from Trump cabinet members throughout the song.
— Blah, cue the applause break for Scarlett Johansson’s walk-on as Ivanka.
— Okay, I did kinda laugh just now at the brief gag with Trumpwin doing the “Look, no hands” gesture while still “playing” the piano.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
Five-Timers host & Tom Hanks [real] are running for president; Alec Baldwin cameo

— Quite a lot of hosts becoming Five-Timers in these last few months of this season (Scarlett Johansson, Melissa McCarthy, and Dwayne Johnson).
— Random casting of Alex, briefly showing up just to get the “honor” of placing the Five-Timers jacket on Dwayne.
— A funny fake-out with the Five-Timer who Dwayne says will be his presidential running mate turning out to be Tom Hanks instead of Alec.
— A nice charm to this monologue, and a good way to get mileage out of Dwayne and Tom’s beloved public images.
— A decent laugh from Dwayne and Tom each demonstrating how they would handle a national crisis as president/vice president.
STARS: ***


CARTIER FIDGET SPINNER
Cartier’s diamond-encrusted fidget spinner occupies annoying babe (VAB)

— Wonderful to see a new Vanessa Bayer-starring commercial in her final episode.
— This commercial is initially bringing the Kristen Wiig “Red Flag Perfume” commercial to mind, as well as (to a lesser extent) the Ivanka Trump “Complicit” commercial, but this Vanessa ad ends up taking its own turn.
— A very funny and inspired way to spoof the fidget spinner craze from this time.
— As expected, Vanessa is excellent in her performance here, and it’s great to see her play against type once again in these last two seasons of her tenure.
— Beck-as-the-voice-over’s various descriptions of Vanessa are hilarious.
— A great “Because, GOD, the sex is good” punchline.
— Overall, a Vanessa Bayer gem that I had surprisingly forgotten all about until now.
STARS: *****


WRESTLEMANIA PROMO
Koko WatchOut psychologically wrecks Trashyard Mutt again in Wrestlemania promo

— It’s gonna be hard to top the first installment of this, but I can’t complain about this second installment being part of Bobby’s swan song tonight.
— Beck replaces Taran Killam as the announcer from the first installment of this sketch, and they repeat the same running gag of the announcer always being preoccupied with his phone before he suddenly goes into “professional announcer mode”. Just like last time, I don’t care for that running gag, and don’t see why it’s necessary (though it’s certainly not hurting the sketch or anything).
— I love Bobby’s “Ohhhh, nooooooo” when Dwayne brings up Bobby being a Katy Perry fan (even if this whole “Katy Perry fan” portion of this sketch feels to me like SNL pandering to this episode’s musical guest).
— While this installment isn’t quite measuring up to the first installment for me, this is still very funny, and Dwayne’s overly-personal trash talk about Bobby is providing big laughs. I especially love Dwayne’s “You’re the DeVito!” line during the reveal of Dwayne and Bobby being twins.
STARS: ****


ONE VOICE
eighteen additional artists are featured on Big Chris’ (KET) rap song

— Very funny how out-of-hand the increasing number of additional rappers is getting, much to Kenan’s frustration.
— Ha, not only are Colin and Michael involved in this, but they’re playing a rap duo hilariously given the incongruous name “2 Black Guyz”. Colin making a non-Weekend Update appearance rarely fails to be inherently funny.
— This is fun as hell, and I love the very different personality and style each performer gives to their rapper character. This short is also a great way to get the entire cast involved. As I always say, I love seeing a full-cast piece in a season finale (even if, as I also always say, I prefer those full-cast season finale pieces to air at the end of the episode).
— Tom Hanks’ famous David S. Pumpkins character from earlier this season returns in the form of David S. Pimpkins.
STARS: ****½


SCORPIO
(host)’s self-made costume gets more attention than his superhero status

— Meh, the big comedic turn this sketch has taken isn’t doing much for me, despite the likability of Cecily’s performance when she first starts fawning over Dwayne’s sewing skills. This sketch’s type of humor usually isn’t my bag, kinda like I said about that The Boy Is Mine sketch from the Chris Pine episode.
— I do kinda like Dwayne explaining why he prefers not to have a scorpion label on the chest of his costume.
STARS: **


JURASSIC RIVER RAPIDS
Gemma is part of unplanned double date on splashy Universal Studios ride

— Blah. However, at least it makes sense to do this in this episode, given how solid Dwayne was as the boyfriend in the first installment of this sketch. I guess they also realized this is their last opportunity to do this sketch when Vanessa’s in the cast.
— I did get a chuckle from the new addition of Gemma having a pet pig.
— Like last time, Dwayne is fun and natural in this role.
— All of the water that Vanessa keeps getting splashed with throughout this sketch must be a good-natured case of “reverse hazing” for Vanessa’s last show.
STARS: **


XENTREX
(host) uses sketchy male enhancement drug despite side effects

— Dwayne’s various “And he said…” “And I said…”s when relaying the conversation he and his doctor had about the dangerous Xentrex drug are increasingly hilarious.
— A great background visual of Dwayne roughing up Kyle while a long list of the medication’s side effects are shown onscreen.
— I love Dwayne’s very straitlaced, deadpan “Hail Satan” at the end when showing various bad effects of the medication.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Swish Swish”


WEEKEND UPDATE
“Bad Day” accompanies photos of departed Trump administration members

high-strung Dawn Lazarus delivers more meteorological gobbledygook

Drunk Uncle lists things in America that need to be made great again

— Great to see Dawn Lazarus already return after only two episodes, as part of Vanessa’s swan song tonight.
— Like last time, Vanessa is absolutely fantastic at this character’s nonsense-speaking routine. I particularly got a laugh from her smiley, affable delivery of “Hopefully, no goddamn rain.” And, of course, her legendary utterances of “Hap” never fail to kill.
— A good callback to Michael’s Dwayne “The Scissors” Johnson joke from a previous Update.
— As part of Bobby’s swan song, we get our final Drunk Uncle commentary, which is this character’s first appearance since the notorious Donald Trump-hosted episode from a year and a half prior. I’m glad that episode didn’t end up being Drunk Uncle’s final appearance.
— (*groan*) There goes Colin ONCE AGAIN responding to Drunk Uncle’s usual “That’s not me” line with “That’s not anyone.” I’m sure most of you readers know how much that gets on my nerves. Well, this is the last chance for Colin to say that, so…
— Ah, we get an acknowledgment of this being Drunk Uncle’s final appearance, with him asking Colin to do one shot with him “for the road”. However, I wish they did something far more noteworthy than that to make his final appearance special.
— The Russian Roulette bit at the end of Drunk Uncle’s commentary is hilarious.
— Drunk Uncle’s overall commentary was the usual great stuff.
— Surprised this season finale Weekend Update didn’t contain either Colin and Michael’s joke-swapping routine or their “favorite cut-after-dress-rehearsal jokes” routine.
STARS: ****


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Brad Grey marks his passing
Not included in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode


RKO MOVIE SET
in 1948, star actress (VAB) can’t stop farting while shooting film noir

 

— The “Solomon and Klein – Detectives” window sign in the background (seen in the second above screencap for this sketch) is presumably a reference to SNL writers John Solomon and Rob Klein.
— Hooooooooo, boy. While I’m so happy to see SNL give Vanessa so many showcases in her final episode, and while it’s certainly a novelty seeing Vanessa do a fart sketch, that sure as hell doesn’t mean her doing a fart sketch is a GOOD novelty. I had no desire to ever see Vanessa do a fart sketch, especially not one that feels like a complete rehash of that notoriously horrible Rear Window sketch with January Jones back in season 35. Not to mention this is our second fart sketch of the second half of this season alone (the sit-ups sketch from the Alec Baldwin episode being the first), and the first one was bad enough.
— Speaking of the sit-ups sketch, I’m assuming Steve Higgins is the one providing the fart vocalizations in this RKO sketch, like he did in that sit-ups sketch.
— Well, Higgins is at least managing to get some rare breaks out of Vanessa, which is actually charming in her case, and also a special note to mark her final episode with. My goodwill towards that is the only thing keeping me from completely hating this sketch.
— Lame ending.
STARS: **


INTERNATIONAL MAD SCIENTIST SOCIETY
(host)’s child-molesting robot wins mad scientist evil invention contest

— Ah, yes, here we go…
— An absolutely PRICELESS very dark reveal of Dwayne’s evil invention: a child-molesting robot. Holy hell.
— I love that combination scream/gasp/laughter reaction from SNL’s audience in response to the initial reveal of the child-molesting robot.
— I love Dwayne’s “Robo-ChoMo” name for his child-molesting robot.
— Sasheer’s facial reactions are making me laugh a lot. Our final display of Sasheer’s good straight man skills (which are much better than I had remembered before reviewing these past few seasons).
— Dwayne, on how to build a child-molesting robot: “What you do is, you start by building a regular robot, uh, then you molest it and hope that it continues the cycle.”
— This sketch is easily one of the ballsiest things SNL has ever put on the air, and it absolutely pays off.
— Dwayne, on evilness: “Benito Mussolini used to force-feed people castor oil until they literally died of diarrhea. (pause) I mean, that’s gotta be where the goal posts are, right?”
— At many points in this sketch, Dwayne’s voice and inflections sound VERY Barack Obama-esque (even moreso than his voice usually does).
— Yikes, the random White Castle turn this sketch takes towards the end is freakin’ TERRIBLE. Thankfully, the rest of this sketch is classic enough to not be hurt by that. But still – damn, that was the best way they could end this sketch???
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Migos [real] perform “Bon Appétit”


WINGMAN
while being (host)’s wingman, bartender (BEB) adds himself to hookups

— A big laugh from the first threesome reveal.
— Beck is solid in this lead role and has a pretty good amount of funny lines.
— A very funny sudden appearance from Bobby as “Carlos”, our final display of Bobby’s great ability to steal a sketch with a simple walk-on.
STARS: ***½


SENIOR SKIT
high school seniors (BEB), (KYM), (BOM), (VAB) perform valedictory sketch

— (*sigh*) Welp, this is it, folks. Bobby and Vanessa’s final sketch as cast members.
— Man, when Bobby says, in a sad, emotional manner, “Now it’s coming to an end” in regards to the crazy ride that his and his classmates’ four years of high school have been, you can tell that 1) there’s a lot of reality subtext in that line, given his and Vanessa’s SNL departures, and 2) his sad, emotional delivery of that line was NOT acting. His delivery of that line is heart-breaking.
— A very good running gag with a deadpan Leslie as the lunchlady whenever her cooking gets slammed.
— This sketch probably isn’t anything special on paper, but there’s a nice charm to it when seeing it played out, obviously helped by the fact that this is Bobby and Vanessa’s sendoff. Too bad SNL didn’t put Sasheer in this as one of the students performing this play. She and SNL apparently knew at this time that she was leaving, as an SNL fan once mentioned back at this time that there were photos online (can’t remember where) of Bobby, Vanessa, and Sasheer each being lifted in the air by their castmates at the end of this episode’s goodnights (not seen in the televised version of this episode’s goodnights, unfortunately).
— The ending of this sketch seemed like it got cut a little short due to the show running long. That also probably explains why this sketch in general had a rushed vibe.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Interesting seeing the audience actually give a standing ovation in these season finale goodnights.


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fitting end to such a good, memorable season. Much like this season itself, while this episode certainly had some lowlights, they were far outnumbered by some great highlights, including two five-star pieces (Cartier Fidget Spinner and International Mad Scientist Society). Dwayne Johnson did his usual fantastic hosting job, and his hosting skills & comforting presence were particularly welcome in a season finale.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
International Mad Scientist Society
Cartier Fidget Spinner
One Voice / Xentrex (tie)
Wrestlemania Promo
Weekend Update
Wingman
Senior Skit
Monologue
Jurassic River Rapids
Scorpio
RKO Movie Set
Hallelujah


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Melissa McCarthy)
a slight step up


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

 


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2015-16)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 43 begins, with host Ryan Gosling, and three new additions to the cast