Tag: Linkin Park

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February 5, 2011 – Dana Carvey / Linkin Park (S36 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WAYNE’S WORLD
Winter’s Bone dominates the Oscar picks of Wayne & Garth

— Ah, Phil Hartman’s old voice-over intro.
— Fuck yeah! The return of Wayne’s World after many years! I remember what a huge shock it was to see this return when this episode originally aired, as no announcement of it was made beforehand.
— I like the callback to one of the last Wayne’s World sketches, with Garth saying “Last time you saw me, I got pubes.” To nitpick, though, that didn’t happen the last time we saw him (which was the season after Dana left the cast, and thus, he had to make a cameo for that night’s Wayne’s World sketch). That happened the second-to-last time we saw Garth (which was the final Wayne’s World sketch to be done during Dana’s tenure as an SNL cast member), and even then, Garth’s pubes announcement that night had already been made in an earlier Wayne’s World sketch.
— Such a novelty seeing a Wayne’s World sketch in such clear visual quality in a newer episode.
— I love that this cold opening is making me feel like I’m back to reviewing SNL’s late 80s/early 90s era again.
— A very funny meta “How old are you?” “Uh, it was never determined” exchange between Wayne and Garth.
— Despite Mike and Dana being much older than they were when these Wayne’s World sketches regularly appeared, these characters have not lost a step. We’re getting their usual hilarious humor.
— Even the overuse of the Winter’s Bone gag is made funny by Wayne’s self-deprecating “This joke has been done three times” line.
— Is it just me, or is Mike’s natural Canadian accent a lot more noticeable here than in previous Wayne’s World sketches?
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
JOL backs up DAC’s contention that their era’s cast was SNL’s best ever

— I can certainly let my fatigue towards this season’s oversaturation of musical monologues slide in this case, given the song Dana’s singing about 1986-1993 being SNL’s best years. It also helps that those years just happen to be my personal favorite SNL years.
— I love hearing Dana mention the underappreciated Jan Hooks among the three examples he gives of important cast members that made his era beloved.
— A notable lyric of Dana’s song: “I did Ching Change, but that’s racist now, oops!”
— Of all the then-current cast members who make a walk-on in this, Andy noticeably gets much more cheers from the audience than Bill or Kristen.
— This monologue now gets even better, as JON LOVITZ gets involved!
STARS: ****


i-SLEEP PRO
Rerun from 10/2/10


CHURCH CHAT
Snooki (BOM) is exorcised & Justin Bieber [real] is tempting

— Ah, another old Phil Hartman voice-over intro.
— The fun nostalgia trip of tonight’s episode continues with our obligatory Church Chat return.
— Some funny opening lines from Church Lady about current trashy shows on TV.
— As I said in a previous review(s), whenever Dana brings Church Chat back in his hosting stints and cameos, it’s always a fun novelty seeing Church Lady interact with modern-day celebrities.
— A solid and out-of-the-ordinary-for-this-recurring-sketch sequence with Bill’s priest character attempting to exorcise Bobby’s Snooki.
— Aaaaaaaand the fun of this sketch comes to a screeching halt with a Justin Fucking Bieber cameo out of fucking NOWHERE. Are you kidding me, SNL?!? Bieber being brought on in a nostalgia-filled Dana Carvey-hosted episode, of all episodes?
— And to make the Bieber portion of this sketch even worse, it basically turns into that insufferable Lonely Teacher sketch from the preceding season’s Tina Fey-hosted episode, with an adult female character having inner thoughts about their inappropriate lustful feelings for Bieber. Ugh. That was squicky and unfunny enough the first damn time.
STARS: ***½ (the Bieber portion brought the rating of this sketch down half a star, and even then, I’m being generous, as I hated the Bieber portion of this sketch enough that I have the urge to demote a FULL star from the rating)


CELEBRITY TEEN CRISIS CENTER
actors poorly answer youths’ calls for help

— Always great to see Bill’s eerily-uncanny Alan Alda impression.
— Mm, probably not a good sign that the opening scene of this sketch, with Bill’s Alda giving advice to a teen, already has a meh feel.
— Even though Dana’s Mickey Rooney was never one of my favorite impressions of his, it still feels welcome to see it return here.
— Despite the fact that I’ve seen better Ice-T impressions, and despite the fact that we’re at the point of Fred’s SNL tenure where I’m sick of him getting away with playing black celebrities (Barack Obama, Prince, probably others I can’t remember), Fred’s Ice-T impression is cracking me up.
— After a slow start, this sketch has gotten a little better, though it’s still nothing special at all.
— Much like Bill’s Alan Alda, Jay’s Eddie Murphy impression is always fun.
— Another example of Jay’s penchant for line-flubbing, with him botching his Yo Gabba Gabba line at the end of this sketch, which he then tries to ad-lib his way out of. When this originally aired, I didn’t even realize that was a blooper, as it came off as part of the sketch to me. Watching it now, it’s obvious that it was a blooper, judging from the awkward pause Jay makes after initially butchering the title Yo Gabba Gabba, then the hesitant way he tries ad-libbing about it afterwards.
STARS: ***


THE ROOMMATE
Justin Bieber [real] & Sir Ben Kingsley (ANS) in trailer for male version of The Roommate

— (*sigh*) Really, SNL? You’re really gonna let Justin Bieber slowly take over a freakin’ Dana Carvey-hosted episode? One sketch appearance wasn’t enough?
— No idea what to say about the comedy of this piece so far.
— And this commercial is now over, with my only real laugh in the whole thing coming from the reveal of Sir Ben Kingsley playing Andy’s character.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Waiting For The End”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM groups participants in Egypt’s political unrest into Winners & Losers

multitasker James Franco (PAB) loves keeping busy doing a variety of jobs

Angela Dixon’s (KRW) meteorology is colored by her disco queen background

— The debut of a Seth Meyers Update segment called Winners/Losers. With this and that “Come On, Dictionary” segment he did earlier this season, Seth seems to be trying to branch out from doing “Really?!?” segments.
— Seth’s Winners/Losers rant tonight ended up being pretty meh for me, sadly.
— Good to see the underused Paul Brittain with an Update commentary.
— A pretty solid performance from Paul as a workaholic James Franco. I particularly like his delivery of “I’m goin’ to Disney World!…to work at Space Mountain.”
— I love the turn immediately after the Franco commentary ends, with Paul’s Franco delivering Seth’s next Update joke for him before Seth quickly puts an end to that.
— I like how the Franco workaholic gag continues even two minutes after the Franco commentary has ended, with Seth stopping mid-joke when realizing Paul’s Franco is now holding Seth’s cue cards.
— (*groan*) Kristen’s disco meteorologist commentary is turning out to be a typical badly-written, annoying Kristen Wiig/James Anderson (IIRC) collab from Kristen’s later seasons.
— (*another groan*) The further this disco meteorologist commentary goes on, the more awful it gets. This is UNBEARABLE and feels endless.
— I like how, even at the end of Update after Seth says his sign-off, we get another continuation of the James Franco workaholic running gag, with Paul’s Franco now cleaning off the Update desk.
STARS: ***


LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY
Kathie Lee Gifford (KRW) drops by

— Feels odd seeing a Regis & Kelly sketch without Darrell Hammond and Amy Poehler in the roles, but it’s certainly nice to see the return of Dana’s Regis impression.
— I see what Nasim’s going for in her impression of Kelly Ripa’s voice, but it’s not fully coming through, as Nasim’s natural voice is too distinctive, and the mish-mash of her natural voice attempting to imitate Ripa’s voice just sounds odd and a little grating.
— A relief to see a Regis & Kelly sketch that doesn’t portray Gelman as a flamboyant gay stereotype for once.
— Feels odd how they’re just letting Kristen as Regis’ former co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford, completely hijack this sketch with her usual shtick. I’ve gained a lot of tolerance for Kristen’s Kathie Lee over the past few seasons, but I can’t say this is the best way to end this sketch, and it feels too out of place for the tone this sketch set prior to Kristen-as-Kathie-Lee’s appearance.
STARS: **½


PAGEANT PREVIEW
boy (ANS) competes in preteen girl pageant coordinated by (DAC) & (KET)

— The first Dana Carvey sketch role all night that’s not a character or impression from his SNL tenure.
— I haven’t been caring at all for the campiness of this sketch. This is completely boring me.
— It figures that, out of all the female cast members, Wiig would be the one who plays the one little girl in this pageant who’s a screenhog. Even for 2009-2012 standards, there is so much wrong with the way tonight’s episode in general has been utilizing Kristen.
— Dana’s having a little fun with his role, but that’s the only enjoyment I’m getting out of this sketch.
— A poor reveal at the end with all the contestants onstage being disqualified.
STARS: *½


DEIDRA WURTZ: DOWNSIZING EXPERT
Deidra Wurtz (ABE) delivers bad news with empty apologies & platitudes

— A rare Abby Elliott-starring piece. Even more rare to see her starring as a character and not a celebrity impression.
— This was cut from preceding week’s episode, made obvious by the fact that Jesse Eisenberg can be seen as one of the employees during the office meeting scene (seen to Abby’s left in the third above screencap for this commercial).
— Good performance from Abby as this character. However, the humor itself is too generic and one-note for my likes. There’s not much to see here.
STARS: **


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
JOL, MIM, DAC introduce musical guest


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “When They Come For Me”


SPORTS BAR
New Wave band spoils Packer-fan Super Bowl party at nepotist’s (TAK) bar

— Another sad example of Jason’s diminished airtime in some episodes this season, as he’s just NOW making his first appearance of this entire episode…in the final sketch of the night. Geez.
— Another “Fred band” sketch this season, I see. Given the track record of these sketches, I’m very wary of what this particular one has in store for me.
— I do like seeing Fred and Dana paired together as these British-accented 80s singers. Makes me wonder what fun collaborations we could’ve seen Fred and Dana do if they were castmates back when Fred was still in his prime on SNL.
— A fairly meh conceit with the juxtaposition of this extremely soft 80s song being performed at a sports bar filled with manly guys who have no tolerance for this type of music. I’m also getting tired of all the cutaways to the manly guys’ frozen-faced reactions to the music.
— There is something a little catchy about that “Embrace Me” song being performed.
— I love Taran’s silly dancing at the end. One of our very first displays of Taran’s ability to elevate a sketch just by dancing in a wild, silly manner.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS
DAC’s sons Dex & Tom [real] join him onstage

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first 20 or so minutes of this episode were strong, fun, and nostalgia-filled. However, as no coincidence, Justin Bieber’s cameo halfway through the Church Chat sketch seemed to start a turning point where the quality of this episode gradually died off. The show sadly never recovered; in fact, the post-Weekend Update half didn’t contain ANY segments I fully liked. An overall pretty disappointing Dana Carvey episode. Certainly no fault of Dana himself, though. A shame this ends up being his final hosting stint (as of 2020).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Wayne’s World
Monologue
Church Chat
Celebrity Teen Crisis Center
Weekend Update
Sports Bar
Live with Regis & Kelly
Deidra Wurtz: Downsizing Expert
The Roommate
Pageant Preview


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jesse Eisenberg)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Russell Brand

Posted on

May 12, 2007 – Molly Shannon / Linkin Park (S32 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AMERICAN IDOL
Mary Katherine Gallagher crashes American Idol & sings “Brass In Pocket”

— For whatever reason, Bill has replaced Seth as SNL’s Ryan Seacrest impersonator, despite the fact that Seth had last played Seacrest just earlier this same season in a rare non-Weekend Update appearance.
— Funny constant fake-outs and mind games from Bill’s Seacrest to Maya’s Melinda Doolittle, regarding whether she’s safe or eliminated.
— Feels interesting reviewing a Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch for the first time in many seasons.
— This is a good setting for MKG.
— I love the cutaway shot of Amy’s Paula Abdul after MKG mentions that Paula’s never drunk, just naturally drowsy.
— Molly’s hitting all the familiar MKG beats here, but she’s doing it well, and it’s coming off particularly fun and infectious tonight, possibly because of Molly’s return to the show and the fact that we hadn’t seen MKG in so long.
— Particularly strong delivery from Molly during her Jackson Five movie monologue.
— Kinda odd how all of the pratfalls in this MKG sketch are being done by other performers instead of Molly. I doubt she’s not up to the physical task of doing pratfalls anymore by this point.
— Solid “Live from New York…” delivery from Molly.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo accidentally bills Linkin Park as “special guest” instead of “musical guest”.


MONOLOGUE
’90s flashback shows MOS’s crush on LOM ending with a broken heart

— Molly’s expressed excitement for getting to host is very endearing.
— Some fun talk from Molly about her days as a cast member.
— I’m loving the pre-taped flashback scene between Molly and Lorne, complete with lots of fun 90s references.
— Great background details in Lorne’s office to make it convincingly look like 90s SNL, such as having individual photos of late 90s cast members on the wall behind Molly, a collage of bumper photos of 90s hosts seen next to Lorne (one minor nitpick though: the Charlie Sheen and Mena Suvari bumpers are from after the 90s), and the index cards on the corkboard of host/musical guest line-ups being episodes from season 24.
— I only wish the overall pre-taped flashback scene worked in a brief appearance from Darrell, since he’s the only 90s cast member who’s still on the show at this point in 2007. Having him in a 90s wig briefly interrupt Lorne and Molly’s conversation to tell Molly they need her for the rehearsal of a sketch would’ve been fun and a nice nod to Darrell’s longevity in the cast.
STARS: ****


URIGRO
Rerun from 1/20/07


TENANT MEETING
Penelope’s competitive behavior alienates her neighbors at tenant meeting

— I’m starting to notice how interesting it feels seeing Molly interacting with cast members she never worked with during her years as a cast member.
— Penelope’s entrance already gets some faint recognition applause, despite this being only her second sketch.
— Good gag with Penelope suddenly appearing opposite of the side of Jason she was standing in a few seconds prior.
— The Penelope routine continues to work for me so far in these early Peneople sketches, despite it’s one-note nature.
— A particularly funny line from Penelope about her recently-deceased cat being her baby who she gave birth to.
— They managed to top the Peyton-Manning-imitates-Penelope’s-habit-to-show-her-how-annoying-she-is bit from the first installment of this sketch by having Molly actually imitating Penelope’s voice and mannerisms while imitating her habit.
— An interesting otherworldly bit at the end with Penelope actually turning invisible like she claimed she could earlier in the sketch. IIRC, SNL would go on to do variations of that at the end of subsequent Penelope sketches.
STARS: ***½


THE FRINGE CANDIDATES DEBATE
Dan Rather (DAH) moderates debate of fringe presidential candidates

— A promising and fun-seeming idea.
— Will perfectly playing yet another creepy, boundaries-pushing child predator character, this time a NAMBLA member. I absolutely love the seedy casual look on his face.
— Yet another sketch featuring hilarious dancing from Jason.
— Poor timing from Andy, accidentally delivering his opening line too early when Darrell’s Dan Rather hadn’t finished introducing him yet, leading to awkward dead air after Darrell does finish introducing him.
— I like Darrell-as-Dan-Rather’s facial reaction to Molly’s Jews line.
— Boy, have I gotten sick of Fred frequently playing stock middle-eastern stereotype roles, which, by this point of his SNL tenure, he can do in his sleep.
— Maya’s loud laugh-speaking right now is really annoying, though it does cause Darrell to break.
— The mechanical devices in Maya’s wig are resulting in occasional distracting whirring noises being heard in the background while some of the other cast members are speaking. It’s particularly noticeable during Bill’s speech as Tony Blair.
STARS: ***½


THE SOPRANOS
Sally O’Malley auditions for dancer job at Bada Bing! Club

— Jason’s mannerisms at the beginning of this sketch are cracking me up.
— Another interesting instance tonight of a Molly Shannon recurring character being placed in a TV show spoof. I’m liking this use of her characters tonight.
— Watching and reviewing this Sally O’Malley sketch makes me feel like it’s 2000 or 2001 again. I love that nostalgic feeling, and it’s making me feel strangely kinda giddy, despite me never having been a fan of this character back when she regularly appeared. It’s funny how nostalgia works sometimes.
— A particularly boundary-pushing visual of Sally O’Malley’s camel toe right now, completely topping the cameo toe visuals from previous Sally O’Malley sketches. A funny moment, and I love the reaction to it from the audience and the Sopranos characters.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What I’ve Done”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Comedy Cul-De-Sac- Jeannie Darcy does stand-up on her relationship woes

disorientation thwarts demonstration by blind barbecue expert Pep Walters

What’s in a Word?- SEM & AMP debate the propriety of “panties” & “nipple”

— Great to see the return of Jeannie Darcy, one of Molly’s best recurring characters, despite her 1) not being as universally well-known as some of her other recurring characters (I’m assuming), and 2) debuting towards the very end of her SNL tenure, which was at a time when she was seemingly past her prime on SNL and giving a lot of weak performances.
— I like Seth’s exaggerated amusement over Jeannie Darcy’s bad, stiff jokes.
— Funny how we’re getting TWO intentionally bad stand-up comics in tonight’s Update, with us now getting Fred’s blind comedian character, Pep Walters.
— A laugh from Pep Walters accidentally flinging his steak off-camera.
— There’s the obligatory instance of the “a blind Fred Armisen blocks the camera after his Update commentary” gag. It’s still working for me by this point of Fred’s SNL tenure.
— Seth never did finish that Iran soccer joke of his that Pep Walters interrupted by blocking the camera. I’m surprised they didn’t just have Seth do the traditional tree frog joke that always gets interrupted.
— An interesting “What’s In A Word” segment, and I like Seth’s lines during it.
STARS: ***½


KAITLIN ENTERTAINS
Kaitlin’s equally-hyper mom (MOS) misses performance at an old-folks home

— Feels a little odd to see the return tonight of a non-Molly Shannon recurring character who’s been on a hiatus.
— It also feels odd seeing a Rick-less Kaitlin sketch; the only one in SNL history, as this ends up being the final Kaitlin sketch. SNL writes Rick out of this sketch by explaining he’s waiting outside in the car.
— I love Kaitlin quickly going through each decade from the 1920s to then-present day during her “This is your life” presentation to the senior citizens.
— I’m a little surprised this sketch is still working for me without the Rick character.
— I had been wondering where Molly was. Interesting use of her as Kaitlin’s similar-traited mother. It’s odd, though, that Molly didn’t appear until the end of this sketch, but at the same time, I kinda like that, as it makes it feel like she’s just a cast member again instead of a host.
— Speaking of it feeling like Molly’s a cast member again, the shirt she’s wearing in this sketch is the same one she once wore over a decade earlier in the Russell & Tate sketch from the season 22 episode hosted by another former cast member, interestingly enough: Dana Carvey (side-by-side comparison below).

   

STARS: ***


MACGRUBER
dirty bomb threat is eclipsed by MacGruber’s urge to make a Bloody Mary

— MacGruber has officially become recurring.
— Feels rare to see a MacGruber sketch with the non-Maya Rudolph/Kristen Wiig assistant role being played by a female host instead of a male one. The only other instance of that I can think of is with Betty White, but maybe I’m forgetting something.
— Funny reveal of MacGruber making a drink right before the explosion happens.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Tales From The Greatest Generation” by RBS- big-boobed Einstein is ogled

— A questionable premise to base a TV Funhouse on.
— The Franklin D. Roosevelt scene is actually very funny.
— Feels a little odd hearing Bill Hader’s voice in a TV Funhouse, I guess because it’s easy to forget that Bill’s SNL tenure overlapped with TV Funhouse’s tenure for a while. Speaking of which, is Bill doing the voice of practically ALL the characters in tonight’s cartoon? Sure sounds like it. What happened? Could Robert Smigel not afford to pay a lot of voice actors for this particular cartoon, so he had to resort to using a single SNL cast member to do almost all of the voices? If so, this is yet ANOTHER sign that TV Funhouse is dying.
— Overall, meh. Some individual laughs from the silliness of this, but as a whole, no. This continues the limping that Smigel has been making towards the finish line of his TV Funhouse tenure. A shame to see this happen to such a formerly-reliable SNL segment.
STARS: **


THE OAK ROOM
Charli Coffee shares the stage with fellow boozehound Toni Carlisle (MOS)

— The very random return of a forgotten one-time sketch Maya did two years prior in the season 30 Tom Brady episode. I hated this sketch the first time, but maybe I’ll be more lenient on it this time, because, unlike the first installment of this sketch, tonight’s installment is thankfully airing outside of a season where Maya did annoying, hammy singing sketches like this on a weekly basis.
— Maya’s delivery during her stories reminds me a lot of Alec Baldwin’s Tony Bennett. I’m kinda liking that.
— Molly’s delivery is fitting for this type of role and sketch, and I like the way she and Maya are playing off of each other.
— Not too many laughs here, but it doesn’t seem to be attempting them, aside from the occasional comedic lines from/about Kenan’s character. I like how this sketch is going for a more low-key, realistic, slice-of-life feel, as opposed to the first installment, which made a lot of bad attempts at wacky humor (especially the running bit with Maya’s pratfalls over tables and pianos). Tonight’s installment is a big improvement.
STARS: ***


MACGRUBER
MacGruber’s drunken guitar playing takes precedence over hydrogen crisis

— I like how tonight’s episode is introducing the concept of each MacGruber short having new theme song lyrics that pertain to the plot of that night’s MacGruber’s shorts, instead of just using the same generic theme song for each short.
— A solid progression to tonight’s MacGruber shorts, with MacGruber’s increasingly drunk state.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bleed It Out”


TRUMP STEAKS
Donald (DAH) & Melania (MOS) Trump pitch co-branded Sharper Image steaks

— Darrell seems much more prominent than usual in tonight’s episode. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that his former cast mate Molly Shannon is hosting.
— A lot of steaks in tonight’s episode, between the Pep Walters bit on Weekend Update and now this.
— A laugh from Darrell-as-Trump’s “black anus beef” malaprop.
— Overall, not bad. Short and harmless enough, especially compared to some other Trump sketches from around this time that haven’t aged well.
STARS: ***


MACGRUBER
MacGruber’s shirtless hamburger-eating stupor mirrors David Hasselhoff

— Particularly hilarious theme song lyrics in this.
— A very funny, spot-on, and timely spoof of the then-new viral video of a drunken David Hasselhoff.
— I strangely love Molly’s off-camera delivery of the line “The bomb you made when you were DRUNK!”
— Very funny how the obligatory explosion of this MacGruber short happens out of nowhere when MacGruber is quietly in the middle of eating his burger.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid and fun episode, with almost nothing I disliked. Molly Shannon played a big part in the fun vibe this episode had, and it was nice to see her back on SNL, doing good work. Despite being surrounded by a mostly-different cast than the one from her SNL tenure, Molly blended back into the show really well tonight. The energy and nostalgia in the air during this episode made some of Molly’s recurring characters come off even better than usual, particularly Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scarlett Johansson)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 32 comes to an end, with host Zach Braff