Tag: 50 Cent

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February 19, 2005 – Hilary Swank / 50 Cent (S30 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MICHAEL JACKSON IN NEVERLAND RANCH
in bed with the flu, loopy Michael Jackson (AMP) incriminates himself

— OH, NO. We’re already starting off very rough, with yet another “Michael Jackson In A Tree” variation, which I never like, and starring Amy’s baffling Michael Jackson impression, which I also never like.
— Ugh, the return of Maya’s annoying Latoya Jackson impression from that awful Latoya Jackson Show sketch in the preceding season’s Al Sharpton episode. And for some reason, Maya’s Latoya is using a more staccato voice in tonight’s sketch.
— Ugh again, there goes Maya’s Latoya mentioning that she’s “gig-a-ling” (giggling), which is something she kept saying throughout the aforementioned sketch in the Al Sharpton episode, and drove me nuts. Why does Maya’s Latoya always DO that bizarre “I’m gig-a-ling” thing as Latoya? Is it based on something the real Latoya was known for saying?
— I admit to getting a laugh from Will’s entrance as an adult Macaulay Culkin, just because of how he looks.
— Not caring much for all the various celebrity walk-ons.
— Ugh, yet another celebrity impression I never liked: Darrell’s Geraldo Rivera, which is actually an accurate impression, but SNL’s material for him never makes me laugh.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host goes backstage to show how cast members prepare for the show

— Interesting seeing a backstage monologue at this point of the show’s run.
— I did not like Maya and Will’s scene at all.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— I absolutely love Rachel’s scene, with her drunkenly and angrily telling off a photo of Tina.
— I was about to say how odd and random it is that Seth and Amy are said to be rehearsing a Little Sleuths sketch (a sketch that hasn’t made it to air since its first installment way back when Seth and Amy were only in their fourth episode), but then Hilary Swank tells us “They like to study their old scripts and go over them again and again.”
— Wow, Seth and Amy’s scene was pretty wild. Not sure it was all that funny, though. Seemed too desperate for my likes.
— While I like the format of this monologue, the execution of this is very hit-and-miss with me, with a few more misses than hits.
STARS: **½


GRAYSON MOORHEAD INVESTMENTS
the Grayson Moorhead investment philosophy produces uniquely bad results

— Wow. A very random revival of SNL’s excellent Grayson Moorhead Securities ads from 10 years earlier.
— Jim Downey is playing his role just as well as he did in ’95.
— Overall, this sadly turned out a little on the meh side. There were some laughs, and there was Downey’s typically-funny dry delivery, but this commercial as a whole couldn’t hold a freakin’ CANDLE to the fantastic original Grayson Moorhead ads. The humor here came off kinda desperate (there’s that word again in this review) and a lot less funny compared to the original ads.
STARS: **½


SHEILA CHOAD’S LOS ANGELES FACE
botoxed women have frozen features

— Judging from the random use of the last name Choad (if you don’t know what that word means, Google it, as I don’t feel like explaining it here, and you’ll see why) for Maya’s character, I take it this is a James Anderson-written sketch. IIRC, Anderson would later use the last name Choad for a character played by Kenan in a sketch from more recent years (I can’t remember the sketch, but it might’ve been a game show sketch). Plus, Anderson’s known for using random goofy and sometimes sexually-dirty last names for characters in many of his sketches in general.
— An okay-seeming premise spoofing how overboard women around this time were going with Botox injections.
— I’m now starting to get pretty bored with this sketch, despite amusing performances from everyone. The concept is just too thin to sustain a full 4-minute sketch.
STARS: **


GRAYSON MOORHEAD INVESTMENTS
Grayson Moorhead takes pride in its high risk, low reward track record

— Once again, funny dry delivery from Downey, but the dialogue itself isn’t very funny, especially in comparison to Downey’s hilariously absurd dialogue in the original Grayson Moorhead ads.
— This ad is going on too long for something so meandering and not all that funny.
— Overall, this was even more disappointing than the last one. There’s a reason tonight’s Grayson Moorhead ads aren’t remembered like the original ones are.
STARS: **


HOT PLATES
restaurant patrons are flustered by their unreasonably hot plates

— Ohhho, boy. I recall this being a notorious sketch among online SNL fans back when this era originally aired, as it was considered a nadir of this troubled season. I’ve seen some people come to this sketch’s defense, but I’ve always been on the side that absolutely HATES this sketch.
— One minute into this so far, and all I’ve being seeing is Horatio doing lots of hammy and unfunny bellowing of “HOT PLATES!” in an increasingly goofy-ass voice.
— I see SNL’s wasting Rob Riggle in a poor role as usual, relegating him to playing second fiddle to Horatio Fucking Sanz.
— This sketch needed to cast someone other than Horatio as the main waiter. He is playing this role the absolute WRONG way.
— Not liking any of the characters’ bad “comical” dramatics over how hot their plates are, nor am I liking any of the various special effects of the hot plates.
— Aaaaaand there goes our obligatory instance of Horatio cracking up at himself as usual. Fucking ugh.
— Blah. This sketch is SO dumb, and not the fun kind of dumb (like, say, the Monkeys Throwing Poop At Celebrities sketch I recently reviewed). More like “something that belongs on a lame kids show” kind of dumb.
— I particularly hate the gag right now with Amy being replaced by a skeleton, and Seth’s over-the-top screaming when seeing that. This already-terrible sketch has officially hit rock-bottom for me with that gag.
— Not even the reliable Will Forte could save this wretched sketch with his walk-on at the end as the devil. That devil bit was just as much of a lame cartoonish gag as the rest of the sketch was.
STARS: *


DEBBIE DOWNER
host’s former babysitter Debbie Downer sits next to her at the Oscars

— (*sigh*) As if the preceding Hot Plates sketch didn’t destroy me enough in its overt lameness, now we get FUCKING DEBBIE DOWNER. You guys know how I feel about this character.
— As always, I am absolutely STONE-FACED during Debbie Downer’s usual routine tonight, and continue to be befuddled over what a lot of SNL fans see in this character.
— What was with the lack of a “wah-wahhhhh” sound effect as the camera did a hesitant, half-assed zoom-in on Debbie Downer after her comment about how most of the deaths in the In Memoriam montage were preventable? That seemed like a blooper, but I’m not sure.
— Overall, wow. Even for a Debbie Downer sketch, this was fucking horrible. Not a single highlight to be found. At least the last two Debbie Downer sketches, which I hated, each had ONE highlight that I pointed out in my reviews.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Olivia [real] perform “Candy Shop”


WEEKEND UPDATE
in Central Park, Tom Jankeloff (FRA) surveys opinions regarding The Gates

tired of being typecast, Morgan Freeman (FIM) is ready to do a love scene

— Lame opening joke from Tina about Michael Jackson.
— Another fun new Update character from Fred, and another one that ends up never becoming recurring.
— I love Fred’s way of shouting the words “The Gates” as “THE GYYYAAAAAATES!” That has stuck in my memory over the years ever since this episode originally aired.
— Another pre-taped man-on-the-street bit with Fred that feels like a nice throwback to the man-on-the-street bits Fred was known for doing in his early comedy days before he joined SNL.
— A funny inexplicable In Memoriam montage for Fred’s not-dead character.
— Fred continues to be a rare consistent highlight in this troubled season.
— Not a bad Michael Bloomberg/George Pataki/Harlem joke, but I hated Amy’s delivery of it. It was all wrong for this type of joke.
— Okay, I did like Amy’s on-point delivery of “Ugh, who cares?” during her Britney Spears joke just now.
— I love how the beginning of Finesse’s Morgan Freeman commentary is deviating from the normal format of Update commentaries, with an off-camera Finesse-as-Freeman narrating his own entrance.
— Solid turn in Finesse’s Morgan Freeman commentary, with him expressing a desire to finally do a love scene. I especially love his delivery of “I don’t wanna be Drivin’ Miss Daisy – I wanna be Ridin’ Miss Daisy.”
STARS: **


SEASONS OF LOVE
soap opera actress (host) receives crying lessons from coach (RAD)

— Chris is always perfect at humorously imitating the typical acting in soap operas. Yet another positive Phil Hartman-type trait that Chris possesses.
— Hilary’s first two crying attempts cracked me up, especially her gasping during the second crying attempt.
— Rachel is fantastic as the crying coach, and is stealing this whole sketch.
— This sketch is getting too reliant on mugging for my likes, but Hilary’s giving it her all, and I got a laugh from her random snorting during her finger-biting crying attempt just now.
— Yeesh, the successful crying take Hilary finally does was really dumb and fell completely flat.
— Very weak ending, though, again, Hilary showed commitment to it.
STARS: **½


CITY COURT WITH AARON NEVILLE
Aaron Neville (HOS) warbles more than he adjudicates

— A good imitation of Aaron Neville’s singing by Horatio.
— I like Chris’ voice in this.
— I recall thinking the bit with the gavel slipping twice out of Horatio-as-Aaron-Neville’s buttery hands was a genuine blooper when I first saw this sketch during its original airing, but I now see that it appears to be an intentional gag. The awkward way Horatio executed it and the fact that it resulted in YET ANOTHER obligatory instance of breaking from him (fucking ugh) is probably what made me think it was a real gaffe.
— The Seth/Finesse bit shown during the commercial break fell completely flat.
— Overall, despite a good Aaron Neville impression from Horatio, a funny juxtaposition of Neville as a judge, and some chuckles here and there, this sketch as a whole didn’t do all that much for me. Not awful, just kinda flat. I’m glad this never became a recurring sketch. (I remember thinking at the time this sketch originally aired that this was a poor man’s attempt at a Barry Gibb Talk Show-type of hit in the post-Jimmy Fallon era. Not sure I agree with that assessment of mine anymore, though.)
STARS: **


AFTER THE GRAMMYS
Marc Anthony (FRA) & Jennifer Lopez (MAR) redo their Grammys duet at home

— Oh, I am not liking Maya’s J.Lo impression AT ALL. It’s annoying as hell, and not in a funny or satirical way. Oh, and will someone please tell me why the HOLY FUCK Maya’s speaking in a very heavy Puerto Rican accent? Since when does J.Lo speak like that? If Maya’s only adding the Puerto Rican accent to make her J.Lo impression “funny” and “satirical”, it is absolutely not working. I also remember this being around the point where Maya’s constant singing on the show this season started increasingly getting on my and some others’ last nerve. (Maya sings at least once in literally EVERY SINGLE EPISODE in the second half of this season starting with the Paul Giamatti episode, I kid you not. I remember how much that irked the living hell out of me and a number of other online posters on an SNL message board back when this season originally aired.)
— This Marc Anthony role is a complete waste of Fred’s talents.
— Has Hilary been showing cleavage in every single sketch tonight?
— Hilary’s performance as Loretta Lynn is pretty fun, but I’m not caring for the material she’s been given at all.
— Yikes. What in the world happened when Hilary came running back into the room just now? She started saying a line, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence VERY awkwardly and then paused for an uncomfortably long time while looking at something off-camera (the last above screencap for this sketch; is she looking at the cue cards, perhaps?), then finally finished her line. WTF?!? Did she lose her place on the cue card or something? Whatever the hell happened, that was a PAINFUL moment. I’ve seen some people say they find this blooper funny and kinda charming, but this blooper just makes me cringe hard.
— That’s the end of the sketch?!?
— And the sketch is over, without me laughing a single time during it, nor understanding what the hell the premise or comedic conceit of it was even supposed to be. This overall sketch was fucking AWFUL, especially Maya’s very annoying and cringeworthy take on J.Lo, and Hilary’s also-cringeworthy blooper.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Disco Inferno”


PROJECT RUNWAY
Heidi Klum (host) gives designers their latest assignment

— (*groan*) Now we get a parody of a reality show I have no familiarity with, which means I probably won’t get this spoof of it. We’ll see, though.
— Another pretty fun performance from Hilary.
— Maya’s bit as one of the Project Runway contestants got absolute SILENCE from the audience, while all the other cast members playing Project Runway contestants have gotten a big recognition laugh from the audience.
— As no surprise, I have no idea who any of these contestants being impersonated are, and they’re being impersonated in a way that seems to be mocking very specific things they’re known for doing/saying on Project Runway. Just as I was afraid of, this sketch is going completely over my head as an outsider to Project Runway.
— Hilary’s portrayal of Heidi Klum continues to give me my ONLY amusement in this sketch.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— In a word: yikes. Not a good episode. AT. ALL. In fact, I don’t think I gave a passing rating to ANY segments tonight, which is a rarity in my reviews. In fact, it may be a first. (Hell, even in my notoriously low-rated reviews of infamous episodes like Paul Reiser and Deion Sanders from season 20, I at least gave a passing rating to Norm Macdonald’s Weekend Update.) And the absolute worst sketches of the night weren’t just bad; they were particularly and painfully awful (Hot Plates, an even-less-funnier-than-usual Debbie Downer, and After The Grammys). This may possibly be not only my least favorite episode of this season, but may also possibly be one of the worst episodes I’ve ever reviewed, even though it’s CERTAINLY not anywhere near as disastrous as the aforementioned Paul Reiser and Deion Sanders episodes. If I have to say anything positive about this episode as a whole, it’s that Hilary Swank, despite some faults, was a pretty fun and energetic host (much better than I remember finding her when this episode originally aired), who was unfortunately saddled with lots of poor material.
— As I hinted at the end of my last episode review, this episode pretty much BROKE me the night it originally aired, and caused me to reach my absolute boiling point with season 30’s poor quality. I had absolutely HAD IT with this season by that point. After suffering through this episode the night it originally aired, I basically threw my hands up in the air and gave up on this season. Oh, I continued to watch the rest of the season, but I had absolutely NO enthusiasm for the show anymore and would watch the remainder of season 30 with a very sour and miserable attitude (for example, going into every episode basically saying to myself “[*sigh*] Let’s get this over with”, which is never a good way to watch SNL), expecting everything in the show to suck. (I wonder if all of this is the same approach loyal SNL viewers took after reaching their respective boiling point with the notorious season 20 back when it was originally airing.) That negative way of viewing those episodes carried over into the episode reviews I did back then (link here), as most of my reviews for the post-Hilary Swank episodes of this season got more and more half-assed to the degree that, starting with the Cameron Diaz episode in April, I officially gave up on doing full sketch-by-sketch reviews that season, opting instead to just do extremely short “reviews” that only consisted of me quickly summing up each episode as a whole by listing the episode’s highlights and lowlights, and listing the sketches that each cast member appeared in that night (the latter of which was something I regularly did in my old reviews). That just goes to show you how much I hated this season when it originally aired – I, a dedicated SNL fan who had loyally been doing episode reviews for five seasons by that point, couldn’t even be bothered to do full reviews anymore during season 30’s final two months. Going back to me officially reaching my boiling point with this season after this Hilary Swank episode originally aired, what made my boiling point towards this season even worse is that, the day after this Swank episode originally aired, NBC premiered an “SNL: The First Five Years” documentary (the first of a chronological series of famous Kenneth Bowser-made SNL documentaries that each cover a decade of the show). Until this documentary aired, I hadn’t had much exposure to the original SNL era. Watching the documentary and discovering just how funny, fresh, innovative, and intriguing SNL was in the 70s made the then-current season 30 look EVEN WORSE to me than it already did, and made me FULLY realize the low effort SNL was putting into season 30, which furthered my frustration towards it.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jason Bateman)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
David Spade

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May 3, 2003 – Ashton Kutcher / 50 Cent (S28 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN
George W. Bush (CHP) polls returning sailors on future military action

— Oh, god, yet another cold opening from the second half of this season that’s a dull, straight-to-camera Bush speech.
— Is this spoofing the Bush “Mission accomplished” speech that would soon go on to be very infamous?
— They sure are waiting a long time to reveal whatever the comedic conceit of this cold opening is supposed to be. I’m almost two minutes into this, and there has not been a single joke yet.
— Okay, now we see what the conceit is: the sailors’ applause throughout Bush’s speech changing back and forth from exuberant to mild, depending on what Bush says. Meh, a nothing-special premise that SNL has already done at least once before (in a very weak and rarely-seen Soviet Central Committee sketch from the Quincy Jones episode in season 15).
— Okay, I did get a laugh from “Those who applauded for North Korea, please give yourselves a round of applause.”
— Bah, just end this cold opening already. It’s going on forever for something with a dull one-joke premise.
— When Parnell delivers “Live from New York…” at the end, the camera doesn’t zoom in on him, for some odd reason. Also odd is the fact that immediately afterwards, when the opening montage begins, the SNL Band is completely silent for the first few seconds before finally starting to play the theme music. What’s going on?
— This ends up being the final appearance of Parnell’s Bush impression. SNL would take the impression away from him the following season and re-cast the role. While Parnell’s impression was no great shakes (it was merely serviceable at best, as I said in an earlier episode review), the material he was given didn’t help, as it failed him more often than not, including tonight.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
having forgotten to wear his pants, host attracts attention of MAR & CHP

— A unique monologue entrance for a host, with Ashton entering in his underwear.
— A good use of inner thoughts to reveal that Ashton has no idea he’s not wearing pants, but suspects he forgot something.
— SNL makes yet another gay reference towards Kattan.
— The homoerotic stuff with Parnell is whatever, but I did laugh at the “Knock yourself out, man” “I just might” exchange between Ashton and Parnell, after Parnell requests to watch this monologue from a dark corner.
STARS: ***½


COUNT CHOCULA SILVER
elderly Count Chocula (JIF) promotes cereal for seniors

— Great make-up job on Jimmy as Count Chocula. I remember when this originally aired, a lot of online SNL fans had a hard time telling it was Jimmy who was playing Count Chocula. Some people even wondered if it was Fred. Revisiting this commercial now, the voice alone is a dead giveaway that it’s Jimmy.
— An odd and random premise.
— Where are the laughs in this? If this is supposed to be funny merely because it’s Count Chocula, of all people, doing a dead-serious commercial about cereal for senior citizens, then I get the comedic potential of that, but it’s not coming through in the execution. This is just dull.
— I finally got one laugh, with Will’s cheesy facial expression when mouthing the words “You’re fine.” As I said a few episode reviews ago, Will has the ability to steal a segment even in a small, bland role.
STARS: *½


JARRET’S ROOM
fan from Iceland (host) tries weed from Amsterdam

— At least they waited a few months to do this sketch again, after the last three installments of this sketch all appeared within a stretch of SIX DAMN EPISODES.
— Ashton playing an Icelandic character named Yaorg, Jarret’s Room’s only viewer, is actually a callback to the very first Jarret’s Room installment, where it was mentioned that a guy in Iceland named Yaorg is the only person who ever watches Jarret’s Room. Nice continuity.
— Man, between Jimmy, Horatio, and Ashton, this sketch is out of control, with a lot of way-too-over-the-top performances. Can’t say it’s making me laugh much.
— Overall, blah. This sketch was just a whole bunch of over-the-top screaming, mugging, and typical Fallon/Sanz giggling, with no actual substance. Even the bits with Seth and Jeff’s side characters fell pretty flat with me.
STARS: **


MADONNA: AN AMERICAN LIFE
Matt Lauer (SEM) looks back on aging Madonna’s (AMP) career

— Funny passive-aggressive opening lines from Seth’s Matt Lauer, regarding being able to handle a show without Katie Couric as his co-host.
— Not many laughs during the Madonna interview so far.
— Okay, I got a laugh just now from Amy’s Madonna defending Swept Away by saying it was “the type of movie that was not supposed to be good.”
— Seth’s Lauer had a good closing line about Madonna: “80 years old, with a vagina closing in on 100.”
STARS: **


PLAGIARISM CLASS
teacher (CHP) busts students who got their term papers from the Internet

— Parnell is absolutely perfect here as a teacher calling out individual students on their moronic plagiarism.
— A good laugh from Ashton’s email that he foolishly turned in as his report.
— The whole phone call bit is hilarious.
— An overall great sketch and it also did a wonderful job of showing off Parnell’s underrated and underutilized leadership skills. Sketches like this solidify the fact that Parnell definitely has some Phil Hartman in him.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & G Unit [real] perform “In Da Club”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Liza Minnelli (MAR) is excited about David Gest’s (CHK) birthday party

TRM eats birthday cake meant for Saddam Hussein, states booty preference

Patrick & Gunther Kelly promote knowledge of SARS prevention with a song

— Boy, Jimmy and Tina sped through their opening sign-on.
— Oh, god, another freakin’ Liza Minnelli/David Gest commentary. I didn’t like the last one they did on Update earlier this season.
— Yeah, so far, no laughs from me at all during this Minnelli/Gest commentary. This is just plain bad writing, and Maya and Kattan’s performances are doing nothing for me. And this commentary is over-relying on the kissing gag.
— I was about to say Tracy’s brief walk-on was just whatever, but his little addendum about his love of thick booties made me laugh, even if it was a lazy joke.
— Finally, an actual GOOD commentary tonight, with us getting the return of Will and Fred’s Kelly Brothers characters.
— Even though the payoff of this Kelly Brothers commentary is the exact same as their first appearance (except for the fact that their nonsensical song has actual lyrics this time), it’s still worthy of good laughs, and Will’s falsetto in these is always killer.
— Tonight’s weekly end-of-Update walk-on from SNL writer Eric Slovin has him dressed as a giant pencil and taking Jimmy’s pencil away as if it’s his own baby.
— A lot of fairly bland, forgettable jokes from Jimmy and Tina in tonight’s overall Update. At least Tina managed to go through her first Update in a while without outright annoying me at any point, though she came a little close with her ad-lib after her awful Tommy Lee/“She had it up to here” joke.
STARS: **


THE FALCONER
animal companions of The Falconer & The Muskrateer (host) do battle

— Awesome to see two big Forte showcases in a row tonight.
— Ashton’s character having his own Falconer-type opening title sequence is pretty funny.
— Ha, I love how they showed The Falconer’s title sequence for a second time in tonight’s installment, with the second instance being a very sped-up version with announcer Steve Higgins speaking comically fast.
— A great insane shouting from Will of the line “LET THE GAAAAMES BEGIIIIIN!”
— I like how tonight’s Falconer installment is focusing more on the Falconer himself than usual. Usually, he only appears at the beginning and end of these sketches.
— Great montage of Donald the Falcon and Ashton’s muskrat competing against each other in various games. The part with them playing Quarters is particularly funny.
STARS: ****½


NO PUNKING
host tries to convince TRM, DEE, LOM that they won’t be Punk’d

— Ah, another post-sketch Tracy-chatting-with-the-host bit, though the last one with Sarah Michelle Gellar earlier this season was fairly underwhelming.
— Ashton apologizes to Tracy for a sketch of his titled Dude Where’s My Weed getting cut after dress rehearsal (which is just a joke for this sketch), and a carefree Tracy tells him he’ll do it in next week’s episode, as it’s perfect for… um, the next host, who Tracy mentions by name, but I’ll wait until the end of this episode review to reveal who it is, because this certain host, uh… deserves a special mention, let’s just say. (You’ll see why.) Anyway, at dress rehearsal, Ashton’s line about Tracy’s cut sketch had the title being Big Dick Black Guy instead of Dude Where’s My Weed. It’s needless to say why SNL had to change that title for the live show.
— Something funny in retrospect about the premise of this sketch, with Ashton trying to assure Tracy that he would never prank him as part of his Punk’d show, is the fact that Ashton really does end up doing a Punk’d episode where he pranks Tracy, just a few months after tonight’s episode originally aired, IIRC.
— For obvious reasons, I keep forgetting Dean is even still in the cast. That being said, it’s good to see him getting airtime as himself here, which is very rare. I believe this ends up being the final semi-big role he would end up ever getting on SNL, as we’re in the homestretch of his short-lived SNL tenure.
— This, I believe, ends up being our final onscreen display of the excellent running chemistry between Tracy and Lorne (not counting any instances in any of Tracy’s future hosting stints), as Tracy is another cast member who’s tenure we’re in the homestretch of.
— A nice variation of the obligatory “Get me a soda, bitch!” routine, with Lorne not even needing to be told it this time, as Tracy’s mere facial expression causes Lorne to respond “That’s an orange soda, right? Okay, be right back.”
— I like the stern staredown Tracy and Dean both give Lorne when Lorne comes back to ask them to clear up confusion he has over the drinks they requested.
STARS: ***½


POLITICS TODAY
high school dropouts ignorantly address issues of the day

— We get the return of Darrell’s Skeeter character from the Extreme Hunting With Ted Nugent sketch from all the way back in season 24. Darrell has played some unnamed redneck characters between that Extreme Hunting sketch and tonight’s episode who might’ve also been Skeeter.
— I love Tracy’s smug facial expression when silently pausing for a while after telling Fred “I didn’t understand most of the words in your question, so I’m just gonna start talking.”
— As a 90s kid, the cutaway to Ashton being seen playing with an old-school Game Boy serves as a nice blast of nostalgia for me.
— After a pretty good amount of laughs in the first half, this sketch has been starting to feel kinda bland and a lot of the dialogue is kinda washing over me. Darrell’s Skeeter is at least reliable for occasional laughs here, as there’s a “so bad, it’s good” quality to this character’s stupid one-liners. However, it feels kinda sad seeing Darrell relegated to doing THIS as his only appearance of the night. Why couldn’t he take the various hints he’s been getting lately that it’s clearly time for him to leave SNL?
— Further proving my points that 1) it’s time for Darrell to leave, and 2) his heart just hasn’t been into SNL lately, he can be seen dropping character and IMMEDIATELY walking off the set before the camera has even cut to this sketch’s closing title sequence. Not a big deal, but he’s been doing this quite a bit lately at the end of sketches. Who does he think he is – Norm Macdonald?
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Nate Dogg [real] perform “21 Questions”


50’S ENT.
death row inmates boo doo-wop group ’50s Ent. (JIF), (FRA), (host), (CHK)

— Great to see yet another big role for Will tonight.
— Wow, is this Kattan’s first appearance all night?!? It sure feels like it. An obvious sign that we’re witnessing the end of Kattan’s tenure (though he’s been having a surprisingly good second half of this final season of his). With Kattan being almost non-existent tonight and Fred being much more prominent than usual, it feels like there’s a passing of the torch. (You could probably also make that same statement with Will in place of Fred.)
— Oh, wait, I just remembered that Kattan was in that Liza Minnelli/David Gest commentary on Weekend Update earlier tonight. I was probably trying to erase that from my memory, given how much I hated it.
— Pretty funny how after Will introduces 50 Cent, out comes a corny, white, 1950s throwback doo-wop group.
— I absolutely LOVE Will’s constant southern-accented yelling of “Shut the eff up!” when the prisoners are booing the doo-wop group’s musical number.
— I cracked up at Tracy’s (who’s been all over the second half of tonight’s episode) mere delivery of “Man, you ain’t no 50 Cent!”
— Funny reveal of the doo-wop group being named 50’s Ent. (short for 50’s Entertainment), which explains the 50 Cent mix-up.
— A huge gaffe has happened just now, where the off-camera SNL Band has accidentally begun playing the wrong background music for a song that 50’s Ent. is about to sing. As this incorrect background music is playing, the cast members playing members of 50’s Ent. look at each other confusedly, then some of them (Jimmy and Fred) start hesitantly singing in a very awkward, hushed manner while stifling laughter, before the SNL Band begins playing the correct background music.
— Ha, during 50’s Ent.’s singing right now, Will makes a great ad-lib in response to the aforementioned background music gaffe, by yelling at the booing prisoners “So they made a little mistake! You give them some respect!” Very quick thinking on his feet there.
— Why does Kattan keep hitting Fred throughout this sketch every time Fred says something? I don’t understand that. I guess in a way, though, that’s another odd, subtle passing of the torch between Kattan and Fred.
— Speaking of Kattan, he has not said a single word during this entire sketch. Yep, the man’s time on SNL is so clearly coming to a close.
— After being slapped on the face by Kattan just now, Fred pauses awkwardly, then helplessly starts laughing out of character and tries to hide it from the camera by turning away and standing close to Jimmy (who begins cracking up himself, naturally). A very rare instance of Fred breaking during his early years on SNL. (Remember how he’s the ONLY performer not to laugh out of all the performers sitting at the table in the legendary first Debbie Downer sketch from the following year?) I wonder if Fred laughed here because he was letting out a bit of anxiety over how the aforementioned background music gaffe from the SNL Band threw off the sketch.
— We get yet another good ad-lib about the aforementioned background music gaffe, this time with Jimmy telling the prisoners “The band don’t even know what song they’re playin’… thanks to you guys”.
— Even just the way Tracy says “We wanna hear more doo-wop!” has me cracking up. God, I’m gonna miss his inherently funny delivery when he soon leaves SNL. He is truly a one-of-a-kind cast member, and I recall the following season’s cast feeling like it was missing a little something without him and his ability to effortlessly save sketches.
— Ha, we now get the funny visual of Tracy’s hardcore prisoner character singing whitebred doo-wop with 50’s Ent.
— The bloopers, ad-libs, and performances have been enhancing this sketch, as the material itself is just whatever.
STARS: ***


STRAIGHT TALK
Rerun from 1/18/03


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad, but this episode was nothing special as a whole. Things started out rough in the first 15-20 minutes (minus the monologue). Starting with the Plagiarism Class sketch, the show got better, but even so, there were still occasional weak or iffy things here and there.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ray Romano)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
(*groan*) Adrien Brody