Tag: season 31

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May 20, 2006 – Kevin Spacey / Nelly Furtado (S31 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ANDERSON COOPER 360
Arnold Schwarzenegger (DAH) on immigration

— Kenan is pretty funny here in his laid-back performance.
— Ugh, the return of Darrell’s weak Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.
— Rachel putting her Boston accent routine to good use here, even long after Jimmy Fallon’s departure.
— It’s almost as if SNL heard my criticisms of how bland and unfunny of a straight man Seth’s Anderson Cooper was in the previous Anderson Cooper 360 cold openings this season, because I’ve noticed that he’s making a lot more funny comments tonight.
— A subversion from how these Anderson Cooper 360 sketches usually end with Seth’s Cooper saying “Live from New York…”, as Rachel gets to be the one to deliver the LFNY this time, obviously because SNL was aware that tonight’s season finale was most likely Rachel’s final episode. She would indeed leave with Tina over the summer to do the show 30 Rock (Rachel was originally cast as the character Jenna), but, IIRC (though I’m not sure, so take this with a grain of salt), it wasn’t 100% confirmed yet as of this episode’s original airing if NBC was picking 30 Rock up (which is why I said SNL was aware that this was most likely Rachel’s final episode). Rachel leaving SNL for the show 30 Rock is sad in hindsight, knowing what would go on to happen to her in regards to that show (NBC would demand a re-casting of the role of Jenna, because they felt Rachel wasn’t “hot” enough to play the character).
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host sings an American Idol-friendly version of “For Once In My Life”

— Could’ve done without Kevin Spacey’s little political jab at George W. Bush when making an analogy between the number of voters of American Idol and the last presidential election. Hey, I don’t like Bush either, but this little jab from Kevin felt way too out-of-place and shoehorned into this monologue, and took me out of the point he was trying to make about American Idol.
— Meh, not too crazy about this premise of Kevin enacting his ideal version of an American Idol performance. Feels like a waste of his comedic talents. Hopefully, he can still make this fun, though.
— Kevin’s executing this well, but I’m not laughing.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh just now, from how Kevin refers to Paula Abdul.
— The singing-on-the-floor bit is okay.
— I’m aware that Kevin deciding to finish his song “as a black person” is off-putting to some SNL fans nowadays. I’m not off-put or offended; my problem is that it’s not particularly funny.
STARS: **


TWO A-HOLES AT A CRIME SCENE
detective (host) interviews A-holes about a car theft they witnessed

— I like how this appears to be using the same set from the very first Two A-holes sketch, the one where they try to buy a Christmas tree.
— A huge laugh not only from the Two A-holes randomly requesting to have some of the cop’s donuts (which he doesn’t even have), but from the subsequent cutaway to Kevin’s deadpan, silent facial reaction to that request.
— Now Kevin is making absolutely hilarious deadpan, silent facial reactions straight into the camera.
— Kevin continues to be a fantastic straight man towards the Two A-holes’ hilarious lines; by far the best straight man these Two A-holes sketches have ever had.
— Ha, even Kevin’s execution of the very brief phone call was priceless.
STARS: ****½


OPRAH WINFREY’S LEGENDS BALL SPECIAL
black women plus John Travolta (DAH)

— As usual in sketches with Chris as a voice-over announcer, he has some funny lines here. I just now came to the sad realization this is the final episode we’ll be hearing Chris’ fantastic voice-over work on SNL. In my opinion, to this day in 2020, SNL has yet to find a cast member as strong of a sketch voice-over performer as Chris ever since his departure. Bill would pretty much take over Chris’ role as the go-to cast member for sketch voice-overs, but, as much as I love Bill, I’ve honestly never cared at all for his voice-over work on SNL. I like Cecily Strong’s voice-over work in more recent seasons, but not even she compares to Chris in that department.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Finesse In A Dress alert. Good god.
— Jesus Freakin’ Christ, now we get another Kenan In A Dress alert…IN THE SAME SKETCH.
— Oh fucking no. Now we get the return of Darrell’s absolutely god-awful John Travolta impression. Okay, you know what, JUST END THIS SKETCH ALREADY.
— Oh, and between Ahnuld and now John Travolta, what’s with Darrell bringing back two of his worst celebrity impressions (besides Bush) in not only the same episode, but a season finale of all episodes? Given the fact that he was one of the cast members who online SNL fans at the time speculated over that summer would leave the show (then again, that was pretty much a tradition among online SNL fans during EVERY summer of Darrell’s later seasons, given how incredibly long he was on the show), Darrell doing two of his worst celebrity impressions would’ve been a poor way to end his long SNL tenure if this had indeed ended up being his final episode.
— I finally got a laugh just now, from Katie Holmes being billed as Katie Cruise-Hubbard.
— Funny Tom Cruise impression from Seth, without even saying a single word.
STARS: *½


CAROL!
at a restaurant, on-the-rebound (host) is captivated by crude Carol

— The fact that this is Horatio’s swan song and the fact that we had gotten a bit of a break from this character after her last appearance makes tonight’s installment a little more tolerable to me.
— I like Jason’s response to Kevin referring to Carol as an enchanting creature.
— It took Amy’s character that long to figure out what DILF stands for?
— Seth’s delivery as the waiter is pretty funny when he’s giving Carol her various bags of food in intervals.
— We get a PARTICULARLY energetic and exaggerated delivery of “iiiiiiiIIIIII’M CAROL!” from Horatio just now. I would say that’s a sign that Horatio is fully aware that this is the final Carol sketch and his final episode as a cast member, but I doubt it, as he actually gets fired over the summer due to budget cuts; it wasn’t his choice to leave. I remember an online SNL fan later saying sometime around 2010, in a negative manner, “If Horatio had his way, he’d still be on the show today.” Sadly, that’s very true. It would’ve taken us AGES to get rid of Horatio if it was up to him when he got to leave. A lot of us SNL fans should be very grateful for those 2006 budget cuts Lorne was forced to make, even if that meant we also lost the solid Chris Parnell in the process (though, honestly, I feel it was the right time for Chris to go, especially with Jason and Bill now in the cast).
— I got a laugh from Carol’s line about being a model for plus-sized coffins.
— Overall, for the final Carol sketch, I got some chuckles, though this sketch as a whole was still nothing great to me, and I’m a little disappointed that I never fully came around on the “So bad, it’s good”-ness that some people enjoy from these Carol sketches.
STARS: **½


TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- administration claims produce spit-takes

— A laugh from a congressman spitting out an entire bowl of soup onto Donald Rumsfeld.
— Larry King spitting out an entire lung when doing a spit-take while sipping an ice cream sundae had me freakin’ HOWLING. Hell, even just the randomness of Larry King drinking an ice cream sundae while conducting an interview on his show is hilarious in itself.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time suggesting that if this cartoon had appeared in the preceding episode, hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, they could’ve somehow worked Julia’s memorable spit-take talk show host character from 1985 into this cartoon, given the spit-take theme of this cartoon.
STARS: ***


ANDY’S EXCUSE
ANS snows host with a Keyser Soze-worthy yarn to explain why he was late

— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary backstage sketch.
— I love Kevin’s slow burn while sipping from a drink when he comes to the realization of what Andy had just pulled on him.
— An absolutely hilarious The Usual Suspects-esque turn with Kevin seeing all the visuals in the room that Andy made up his on-the-spot lie from.
— The “I Lied!” fax that Kevin receives at the end is very funny.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Timbaland [real] perform “Promiscuous”


WEEKEND UPDATE
excitable American Idol finalist Taylor Hicks (JAS) breaks into song

on TIF’s advice, AMP escapes from an alligator by pretending to be asleep

TIF extends her heretofore correct predictions regarding Britney Spears

Whitney Houston (MAR) leads a salute to TIF on her 180th show

— The final Tina Fey-anchored Weekend Update.
— When pointing out someone’s at the Update door, it sounds like Amy calls Tina “Betty”. At first, I thought to myself “Huh?”, until I remembered Elizabeth is Tina’s real first name (she gets the name Tina from her middle name, Stamantina), and Betty is commonly used as a nickname for the name Elizabeth.
— Great to see the return of Jason’s hilarious impression of Taylor Hicks.
— Like last time, lots of funny lines and singing outbursts from Jason’s Hicks.
— A rare Tina/Amy interaction piece on Update that actually works, as I really like the very random alligator bit. A good way for Tina/Amy Update interaction pieces to go out, considering this is our final one.
— Amy introduces tonight’s Women’s News segment from Tina by saying it’s the second-ever edition of it. Not even close. Tina actually did several editions of these Women’s News segments back in her earlier seasons, but I guess everyone at SNL, including Tina herself, only remembers the famous one about Britney Spears from Tina’s very first Update.
— Another big hint that this is Tina’s final Update, as we get a clip of the aforementioned Britney Spears-centered Women’s News segment from Tina’s very first Update.
— Funny to see how different Tina looked back in 2000 in the aforementioned clip, which 2006 Tina then gets in a self-deprecating jab at, by saying “I was really rockin’ that David Spade haircut.”
— I’m really enjoying Tina’s whole speech towards Britney Spears during tonight’s Women’s News segment. This is easily some of the better material Tina has performed on Update in a long time.
— Tina, towards Britney Spears: “In 10 years, you’ll be president.” Considering who actually does end up becoming president 10 years later, Tina’s joking comment about Britney Spears becoming president no longer seems as far-fetched as it would’ve back in 2006.
— Seems to be a bit of a fat baby theme in tonight’s Update.
— You can tell from looking at Tina right after she did her final Update joke that it was a significant moment to her.
— Amy mentions this is Tina’s 180th show at SNL (I’m assuming that’s including her pre-cast member years as a writer?), and brings out a celebration for Tina. This is actually a thinly-veiled way to give Tina a sendoff, but I’m assuming they’re not coming right out and saying this is her final episode, because, as I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t a 100% sure thing yet if the show 30 Rock was going to get picked up, and Tina probably wanted to keep SNL as an open option to stay on in case NBC decided to pass on 30 Rock. She probably saw what happened to Paula Pell, who left at the end of the preceding season (and got a big deal made about that during the goodnights) to work on an upcoming NBC sitcom, only for that sitcom to end up not even making it to air, leading Paula to come crawling back to SNL after about half a season.
— I love how in the middle of Maya-as-Whitney-Houston’s tribute song to Tina, Maya’s Whitney brings out who she incorrectly assumes are Tina’s favorite characters: Frondi, Vasquez Gomez-Vazquez, and Qrplt*xk.
— And thus concludes Tina’s…uh, rather varying tenure on Weekend Update. Honestly, I didn’t like being so negative about her in my reviews of these past few seasons, given how strong, consistently funny, witty, and refreshing she was in her first two seasons at the Update desk, and what a breath of fresh air her and Jimmy Fallon’s version of Update was from the Colin Quinn era it succeeded (though I ended up hating the Fey/Poehler era so much that my dissatisfaction with the Quinn era now feels absolutely trivial in hindsight). But, hey, I have to be open and honest about my opinions in these reviews, and I personally felt that Tina gradually went badly downhill as an Update anchor starting in season 28, culminating in the absolutely unwatchable final two seasons of her Update stint, the most dire that I feel Update had been since the rock-bottom 1980-1982 years of Update/SNL Newsbreak. I’m glad Tina at least went out on a bit of a high note, as she had some actual good moments in 3 of her final 4 Updates (the exception of those 4 Updates being the one from the Tom Hanks episode). And now, I say: BRING ON THE NEXT UPDATE ERA!
STARS: **½


THE FALCONER
quest to save Donald via time machine produces 14 copies of The Falconer

— This ends up being the final Falconer sketch.
— I love Donald squawking a dirty joke to The Falconer, which gets an offended reaction from The Falconer.
— Jason and Bill as Falconer clones in the first back-in-time scene is great.
— Oh, I am absolutely LOVING the absurd and ambitious escalation of this. This is becoming absolutely INSANE in the most perfect way.
— Hilarious how this sketch has gotten to the point where it has to resort to using female and black cast members to play Falconer clones, due to having used up so much of the cast.
— Various Falconers in unison throughout this sketch: “TO THE TIIIIIIME MACHIIIIINNNNNE-AH!”
— A very funny subversion with one scene being a completely unrelated bit involving Abraham Lincoln chopping wood, because the various Falconers went too far back in time.
— The visual of almost the entire cast dressed as the Falconer and speaking in unison is unforgettable.
— Overall, wow. An absolute masterpiece. And this was such a perfect way for The Falconer sketches to go out. SNL would actually attempt another Falconer sketch sometime after this, but it wouldn’t make it past dress rehearsal. The premise of that cut Falconer sketch was very meta, having something to do with Will’s Falconer character finding out that his life is a sketch on a comedy show. As much as tonight’s Falconer installment was such a perfect way to end this recurring sketch’s run, that cut sketch sounds like it would’ve also been a very fitting way to end The Falconer’s run.
— I only wish that 1) tonight’s Falconer sketch included Tina, so this would’ve been an ENTIRELY full-cast sketch (though it’s not a big deal that she’s not in it, as I guess you can still argue it’s a full-cast sketch in regards to regular sketch performers), and 2) it was placed as the final sketch of this season finale. Closing the season with a full-cast sketch of this nature would’ve been absolutely epic, and this already-classic sketch would’ve gone down as one of the best season-ending sketches in SNL history.
STARS: *****


ANDY WALKING
ANS belittles correct man-on-the-street quiz responses

— Another display of Andy’s Adam Sandler-esque ability to milk laughs out of incredibly stupid humor. I especially got a laugh from the “Are you McSure?” bit.
— I love the bit with SNL writer John Lutz as a passerby.
— Overall, this was fine in itself, but way too average for a season finale Digital Short. Considering the huge first year they had on SNL, you’d figure Lonely Island would go all out on their season-ending Digital Short.
STARS: ***


LEGENDS OF HISTORY
inventor of sarcasm (host) confuses English in 1100s

— Perfect casting of Kevin as this inventor of sarcasm.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE the voice Bill is using.
— Believe it or not, this is the very first and only time in Chris’ entire SNL tenure where he has dressed in drag. An odd and fitting coincidence how this is occurring in what ends up being Chris’ final episode. You’d think this coincidence was intentional, as a way to scratch off the last thing on the list of things Chris never did during his SNL tenure (besides break character), but, much like Horatio, it wasn’t planned at the time for this to be Chris’ final episode. He was another casualty of the budget cuts Lorne was forced to make over the summer.
— Some good laughs from Kevin’s sarcastic remarks throughout this sketch.
— Hilarious reveal of Stonehenge having gotten built just because of a sarcastic thing Kevin told his men to do.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Maneater”


I DO NOT AGREE WITH MANY OF THIS ADMINISTRATION’S POLICIES
Neil Young’s (host) new album contains unsubtle political commentary

— Sadly, this is the ONLY celebrity impression Kevin has done all night. A letdown compared to the wide array of spot-on and very funny celebrity impressions he memorably did in his first hosting stint. Not only that, but his Neil Young impression in this sketch isn’t even particularly good. I see what he’s going for, but I’ve seen much better Neil Young impressions.
— The laughs in this sketch are only mild AT BEST. This is no way to close a season finale.
— Overall, an extremely meh sketch. I once again argue that SNL should’ve closed out this season with that epic Falconer sketch.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall average season finale. There were a few REALLY strong points, but a number of average or weak pieces brought the episode down to just an okay level. Kind of a forgettable episode compared to Kevin Spacey’s phenomenal season 22 episode. Spacey himself, despite a disappointing monologue and a mediocre Neil Young impression, brought a lot of solid performances tonight, even if, again, this hosting stint of his does not hold a candle to his season 22 hosting stint.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
a step down


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


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2004-05)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 32 begins, with Dane Cook as host, a more streamlined cast size, and Amy Poehler being joined by a new co-anchor on Weekend Update

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May 13, 2006 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Paul Simon (S31 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PARALLEL EARTH
on a parallel Earth, everything is great under president Al Gore [real]

— Right from the opening intro sequence of this, it looks like we’re in for an out-of-the-ordinary cold opening.
— Very fun concept of the real Al Gore being president in a parallel universe, and Gore has proven himself in the past to be a good presence on SNL.
— So much great and inspired ironic humor here, and this is both very well-written and well-performed.
— Ha, there goes a lockbox mention.
— A particularly funny line about California no longer existing, and having been replaced by Mexifornia.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
Jason Alexander [real] thinks JLD has broken the Seinfeld [real] curse

— It feels very nice to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus back on SNL for the first time since her departure from the cast in 1985.
— I like that Julia starts this monologue by bringing up the little-known-among-more-casual-viewers fact that she was once an SNL cast member. I wish she talked a little more about that here, but she would later do that in her season 41 monologue.
— We also get a mention that Julia has the honor of being the first female cast member to host. I remember how, before this, a lot of online SNL fans were surprised that in SNL’s then-31 years on the air, there had yet to be a female cast member who has come back to host. Thankfully, after Julia’s hosting stint in tonight’s episode, there have been much more female cast members who have hosted.
— Very funny mockery of men’s maturity levels with the various working titles Julia says that her show The New Adventures Of Old Christine originally had.
— I absolutely LOVE how we’re getting a Seinfeld-esque pre-taped outdoors scene with Julia and Jason Alexander.
— Great scene with Julia and Jason, especially the sudden car collision ending.
— Now we get a Jerry Seinfeld cameo! Even the odd raspiness in his voice here is making me laugh a lot.
— A noticeable absence of a Michael Richards cameo. Either he wasn’t available, or SNL somehow looked into the future and saw that he was soon going to gain extreme notoriety with his infamous Laugh Factory incident later in this same year.
STARS: ****½


TECH PACK
wired vest organizes electronic devices but looks terroristic

— I recall this getting cut from many dress rehearsals this season before finally making it on the air in tonight’s episode.
— I like how the only performers in this are two of the newbies.
— Amusing how the Tech Pack that Jason is demonstrating to Kristen looks unintentionally like a terrorist’s bomb strap, complete with a detonator.
— Very funny ending with Jason running through the airport with his bomb strap-looking device, scaring the hell out of the other people at the airport.
— Overall, short and sweet.
STARS: ***½


BUM ATTENTION
insecure (JLD) is upset she isn’t being harassed by a lewd bum (BIH)

— Feels interesting seeing Julia paired with this female cast after having gotten so used to seeing Julia’s female cast mates being Mary Gross, Robin Duke, etc. when I reviewed her SNL era earlier in this project of mine.
— Julia’s disappointment at not getting sleazily hit on by Bill’s disgusting hobo character like her friends did is very funny.
— A great crass performance from Bill.
— I love the long, suspenseful buildup to the comment Bill is going to make to Julia.
— A hilarious dirty line that Bill eventually says to Julia, much to her poorly-disguised pleasure.
STARS: ****


THE MORNING SHOW
everything goes wrong during live television broadcast

— It certainly feels odd but interesting seeing this pairing of Kristen and Horatio front and center in this sketch. Watching back this season in retrospect years after it originally aired, it kinda blows my mind now that Kristen and Horatio’s SNL tenures overlapped for a season, as that’s easy to forget when watching this season, partly due to them rarely interacting with each other onscreen, partly due to the very different SNL eras they represent respectively, and partly due to how Horatio’s presence has gradually diminished this season while Kristen’s presence gradually increased.
— I absolutely love how literally EVERY SINGLE THING is going wrong in this morning show. SNL has done this premise with some other news or morning show sketches (e.g. a sketch from Britney Spears’ season 27 episode, and one from Andy Roddick’s season 29 episode), but it’s being particularly executed well here.
— Two hilarious running gags throughout this sketch, one with a deceased staff member and another with the show’s theme song randomly playing at the wrong times.
— A rare solid performance from Horatio at this late stage of his SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


MYSPACE SEMINAR
students in (ANS)’s Intro To MySpace class are mostly sexual predators

— In retrospect, an interesting time capsule of the MySpace craze still going strong at this time.
— Great reveal of the class being mostly full of sexual predators in their 40s.
— Is Will playing an early version of Jeff Montgomery, his later and well-remembered sex offender character from season 34 (most famously in a sketch with Jon Hamm where Montgomery is a trick-or-treater)? Will’s even wearing the exact same jacket in this MySpace sketch that he would later wear in the Jeff Montgomery sketches.
— Oh, that’s right, Seth Meyers is still a cast member. Lately, he’s been joining Maya and Horatio in the “They’ve been appearing on the show so little lately that it feels like they’ve already left the cast” department.
— I love Seth’s line about using 1991 in his username because 1,991 is supposedly his favorite number.
— Hilarious bit with Will pretending to type on this laptop when he says he’ll change his “NaughtyGirlHotStuff” username after being told that username will attract a lot of teenage boys.
— Seth’s Dateline question is fantastic.
— Ha, something about Chris’ mere delivery and facial expression during his bit about having his face altered is cracking me up.
— I love all the guys immediately clearing out of the room in a panic when a cop shows up.
— After the cop leaves, we get an absolutely priceless reveal of Horatio hiding very poorly behind a small potted plant. Speaking of Horatio, wow, between the Morning Show sketch and now this, he’s having by far the best night he’s had in a LOOOOOOONG time.
— Overall, such a perfect sketch.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How Can You Live In The Northeast?”


WEEKEND UPDATE
AMP & Al Gore [real] do a Point-Counterpoint about global warming

TIF’s grandfather (FRA) tries to sign up for Medicare benefits via phone

FIM gives fashion tips to young men regarding appropriate prom attire

David Blaine (ANS) fails in his attempt to hold his breath for 9 minutes

— A big laugh from the mostly-blacked-out global warming report that Al Gore displays.
— Ugh, words cannot express how much I absolutely HATED Amy “flipping” the “You ignorant slut” routine when Gore was about to say it during his and Amy’s Point-Counterpoint. Amy’s corny, cutesy delivery of “You ignorant slut” didn’t help. Way to piss all over a great, long-standing SNL tradition, Amy.
— A somewhat interesting change of pace for Update with the segment involving Fred as Tina’s grandfather, Wolfgang.
— I admit to getting a cheap laugh from Fred’s Wolfgang muttering “I got the damn cleaning lady” when the phone operator speaks in Spanish.
— Finesse appears in his final Update commentary.
— I loved Finesse’s “You are a magician” bit, as did the audience. The rest of this commentary, on the other hand? Meh. At least it’s not as painfully unfunny as Finesse’s last Update commentary before this about angry black women.
— I like Rachel’s lines as the phone operator in the second segment with Fred’s Wolfgang.
— This Update feels like it’s going on FOREVER.
— The whiny, gaspy voice Andy is using after he as David Blaine failed to complete his magic trick sounds very Adam Sandler-esque.
— Andy’s David Blaine commentary is pretty dumb on paper, but it’s the kind of dumb that Andy can execute well (which is another similarity Andy has to Adam Sandler), which he is doing here.
— Tired, past-their-prime, and about-to-leave SNL veterans having a better night than usual seems to be a theme tonight, because not only has Horatio been having a surprisingly strong episode, but Tina has had what is probably her best night in a while in tonight’s overall Update, though it’s still a far cry from her glory days on Update back in 2000-2002. Amy, on the other hand, was as horrible tonight as she usually is in the Fey/Poehler era of Update, maybe even moreso, especially that absolutely god-awful dolphin joke of hers tonight.
STARS: **½


CHARADES
contestants’ (AMP) & (JLD) pantomime is sexually suggestive

— Fitting casting of Darrell as impressionist Rich Little.
— I like Chris always responding to Darrell-as-Rich-Little’s hacky and shoehorned celebrity impressions by immediately shutting him down or just quickly moving on in a clearly-unamused manner.
— Some good laughs from the increasingly suggestive-looking charade gestures Amy and Julia have to do, and how the celebrity contestants can easily guess Amy’s gestures, but constantly mistake Julia’s gestures for sex acts.
— Maya’s Charo is getting increasingly unintelligible as this sketch goes on.
— I love the look Kenan’s Nipsey Russell gives Maya’s Charo after she says “You are me – Charo!” (which makes at least one line of hers that I could decipher) in response to one PARTICULARLY dirty-looking charade gesture of Julia’s.
STARS: ***½


UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
Unsolved Mysteries re-enactor (JLD) doesn’t believe (KRW)’s alien story

— I remember the absolutely befuddled reaction among online SNL fans back at this time in regards to SNL’s decision to do an Unsolved Mysteries sketch in 2006, years after Unsolved Mysteries had stopped being relevant.
— I also recall how I and other online SNL fans back at this time got a VERY Mo Collins (from MADtv) vibe from Kristen’s twitchy, psychotic character in this sketch, back in the days before us SNL fans got very accustomed to seeing Kristen play twitchy, psychotic characters.
— It’s cracking me up how, among the cartoonish ghoulish off-camera voices, one of the voices is literally just saying “Ghoooosts” in a quivery, spooky voice.
— The increasingly bizarre movie characters showing up during the scene being filmed are pretty funny.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Outrageous”


PEYOTE
peyote leads to street-level suicide jump threat drama with (ANS) & (WLF)

— This is the ONLY time I can remember that a Lonely Island-made Digital Short, billed on the air as such with the “An SNL Digital Short” title screen, has ever aired as the last segment of an episode, but I can’t say for sure.
— A hilarious ending reveal of Andy not standing on the high ledge of a building like we were led to believe, but rather standing on a sidewalk against a building, and Will being crouched down right in front of him.
— Much like at the end of the Lettuce Digital Short from earlier this season, we get a very brief Jorma Taccone appearance as a passerby.
— Speaking of Lettuce, tonight’s short has a similar twist ending, with peyote being the subject matter instead of lettuce, which is very funny after the aforementioned reveal of Andy and Will both bizarrely being on ground level.
— This may be the shortest Lonely Island Digital Short of all time.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS
(Not included in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode. For anyone keeping count, this is only the third time in my SNL project that the copy of an episode I reviewed cut off abruptly before its existing goodnights were shown. The previous two episodes were Christopher Walken’s season 21 episode and The Rock’s season 27 episode. Unlike those two, tonight’s episode isn’t followed by an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode, so at least I know there’s not some kind of curse going on.)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and one of the absolute best of this season. This episode was almost completely flawless, minus Weekend Update, though even THAT was a little better than it’s usually been in the Fey/Poehler era. The first half of this episode was especially phenomenal, with almost EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT receiving a rating ranging from 4-5 stars. Very impressive. Almost everything in the first half of this episode seemed so “on”, especially the inspired writing. And as I mentioned earlier, even some tired veterans in the cast had their best night in a while in this episode.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 31 comes to an end, with host Kevin Spacey. It’s also the final episode for Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz, as well as the final episode of Seth Meyers’ tenure as a regular sketch performer.

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May 6, 2006 – Tom Hanks / Red Hot Chili Peppers (S31 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE GAS PLAN
Bill Frist (host) sells his new gas rebate plan to George W. Bush (WLF)

— Not caring for Will-as-President-Bush’s whole spiel about wishing for May to turn into June. The audience is amused by this tepid comedy far more than I am.
— Ha, I got a huge laugh from Will-as-Bush’s off-color line to Darrell’s Dick Cheney, “That Frist plan went down so fast, it was like YOU shot it in the face.” Darrell’s Cheney also has a very funny facial reaction to that line.
— Great to see Tom Hanks in the cold opening in his long-awaited return as host after a 10-year hiatus.
— Finesse stuck in his typical useless, brief non-speaking role that might as well have been played by an extra. Only two episodes left for Finesse to suffer through the hell of SNL’s awful utilization of him.
— Bill Frist: “Let’s say that a gallon of gas hits $4 a gallon.” President Bush: “Heh, oh, it’s GONNA.”
— This turning into a Magic Mop infomercial is fairly funny, but nothing great and certainly not something I’d call sharp political satire.
— How do you have Tom Hanks still onscreen at the end of a cold opening and NOT have him say “Live from New York…”? Did we really need Will Forte saying LFNY as Bush for the 150th time when Hanks was RIGHT THERE?
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host takes DaVinci Code questions from religious figures in the audience

— I recall someone who used to work at SNL (I forget who) once famously revealed that SNL relies on questions-from-the-audience monologues whenever the writers don’t know what to do with a host for their monologue (if that’s true, then season 19 had A LOT of hosts that the writers didn’t know what to do with). I shudder to think that’s true for this particular episode, because if so, shame on this writing staff. How do you not know what to do with Tom Freakin’ Hanks?
— SNL writer Liz Cackowski continues to be the Sarah Silverman and Paula Pell of this era’s questions-from-the-audience monologues.
— Pretty funny subversion with Fred-as-the-priest’s alleged hard-hitting, stern religion-related question just turning out to be “What’s the deal with your hair?”
— Chris’ passive-aggressive line is very funny.
— Hilarious bit with Bill as an albino monk.
— The Flying Nun bit with Rachel was just dumb and didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— Didn’t care for the drawn-out bit with Darrell as the pope, and it needed a funnier punchline than a mention of Vince Vaughn.
— Very funny initial cutaway to Jason as Jesus, and Jason is always great at milking laughs from the audience without saying a word whenever the camera first cuts to him as a character in a questions-from-the-audience monologue, like in Natalie Portman’s monologue a little earlier this season.
— Jason’s natural resemblance to Kiefer Sutherland is coming off particularly noticeable to me here.
— The whole back-and-forth between Tom and Jason is absolutely fantastic, especially it ending with Tom, after calling Jason out on the gall he has as an SNL newbie to insult both the son of man and Steven Spielberg, sarcastically telling Jason “I’m sure we’ll see you in September.”
STARS: ***


WHEEL OF FORTUNE
dumb contestants (AMP), (FRA), (KRW) can’t solve puzzle

— A thin premise, but the execution isn’t too bad so far, and I like Tom’s performance as the straight man.
— Meh, this is now getting old, and the audience is agreeing with me, judging from their silence during some comedic parts. What is this sketch doing in the lead-off spot?
— Tom-as-Pat-Sajak’s long, frustrated spiel towards the end after he’s given up is great, and deserved to be in a much better sketch.
STARS: **


KAITLIN’S IGUANA
Kaitlin’s enthusiasm about taking care of (host)’s iguana levels off

— It feels odd seeing Horatio, because, once again, I keep forgetting he’s even still in the cast, given how much his airtime has (mercifully) diminished lately.
— This ends up being the final Kaitlin sketch with Horatio’s Rick character. The only remaining Kaitlin sketch appears towards the end of the following season, when Horatio is long gone from SNL.
— I like the suspenseful background music and unique camera angles during the sequence with a fearful Kaitlin having second thoughts about taking care of the iguana.
— Tom’s exit line was pretty funny.
STARS: ***


ARIEL & EFRIM
in their early ’90s music video, (host) & (ANS) fear for their testicles

— When this episode originally aired, I remember it strangely took me halfway through this short to recognize Andy Samberg and Tom Hanks as the two lead singers. Until then, I seriously thought the two lead singers were played by special guests who I wasn’t familiar with. I guess it was something about the way Andy and Tom looked in those bald caps that made me not recognize them.
— So I take it from Liz Cackowski’s appearance in this Digital Short (assuming she hasn’t appeared in a Digital Short prior to this) that she and her future husband Akiva Shaffer have hit it off by this point?
— Maya makes her first appearance in three episodes. Much like Horatio, it’s become easy to forget Maya is even still in the cast by this point.
— The wraparound segments with Chris, Will, and Kenan are very similar to the wraparound segments of a pre-SNL Lonely Island music video called Bing Bong Brothers. Even the ending wraparound segment of both that short and this one feature a character saying “I did NOT like that” in response to the music video that was just shown.
— Overall, this was a fun Right Said Fred take-off, but not quite as strong as I remembered it, and pales a little in comparison to the other Lonely Island music videos that have appeared on SNL prior to this. Still good, though.
STARS: ***½


UNIVERSAL THEME PARK
while in a theme park line, (host) & (FRA) yell at their lost ma (RAD)

— Hoo, boy. I recall this being a WRETCHED sketch.
— Fred appears to be wearing his Tony Danza wig.
— A laugh from Tom, when complaining about E.T. not having called Tom by his name during one ride, dismissively saying “E.T., he’s dead to me.”
— Who the holy fuck at SNL thought a sketch with Fred and Tom yelling “MA!” over and over at the top of their lungs for the entirety of a FIVE-MINUTE SKETCH would be worthy of not only making it to air, and not only making it to air in a TOM HANKS-hosted episode, but airing in the freakin’ pre-Weekend Update half of a Tom Hanks-hosted episode?
— I will admit that Tom’s yelling is actually making me smirk at parts, as awful as this material is. A testament to how terrific Tom Hanks is. Imagine how even worse this sketch would’ve been with a different host.
— The roller coaster bit is kinda funny, I guess.
— Ugh, this sketch is going on and on and on and on and on…
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dani California”


WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF asks Rosie O’Donnell (HOS) about joining Star Jones on The View

Patrick & Gunther Kelly debate the immigration controversy with a song

— What is that bizarre off-camera noise while Tina is delivering her opening joke? The off-camera noise sounds like a pig squealing. The fuck? I don’t recall any pigs being involved in any of the subsequent sketches in this episode. Am I watching a rerun of Dennis Miller’s Weekend Update from the season 14 Ted Danson episode, where Dennis got interrupted at one point by the off-camera sounds of squealing pigs who were about to appear in the sketch that followed?
— Ugh, the return of Horatio’s Rosie O’Donnell. At least this is the last time we’ll ever see it.
— This Rosie O’Donnell commentary is as insufferable as I expected.
— Didn’t Rosie O’Donnell’s tenure on The View, which tonight’s Update mentions was soon going to start, end up being very short-lived? Not saying this is the sole reason her tenure was short-lived, but I recall her being in the news for some controversy she got into at one point for an Asian stereotype bit she did on The View. (Sounds like the type of thing celebrities would get “canceled” for nowadays.)
— When listing off similarities she has to Star Jones, Horatio’s Rosie ends with “and we both have gay partners”. Not only a lame joke, but Tina goes “Ohhhhh!” in response, as if it was some sick burn, which bugs me, because I’m sure Tina wrote that “sick burn” herself, as she seems obsessed with making fun of Star Jones and did write those View sketches back in the day. If she indeed wrote that “sick burn” that Horatio’s Rosie delivered here about Star having a gay partner, then Tina going “Ohhhhh!” in response is yet ANOTHER example of her patting herself on the back for an “edgy” joke of hers.
— Yikes, the string of Update jokes from Tina and Amy after the Rosie O’Donnell commentary is…just…Jesus Christ, how does stuff like this make it on the air?!? (*sigh*) Only two episodes left until Update gets a bit of a much-needed revamp.
— We haven’t seen the Patrick & Gunther Kelly characters in a fairly long time.
— Even though these Patrick & Gunther Kelly commentaries use the exact same joke every single time, it still works for me, especially after we’ve gotten a fairly long hiatus from these characters. I especially love how, in tonight’s commentary, Will’s musical high-pitched “Yuh”s are being done in time to the complicated background music.
STARS: *½


CLAREMONT YOGA CENTER
in a yoga class, (RAD) is unhappily partnered with sweaty & gross (host)

— A funny character for Tom.
— Liz Cackowski has appeared in THREE sketches tonight. How did SNL not eventually make this woman a cast member? Also, she’s gotten far more airtime tonight than actual cast member Seth Meyers, who is nowhere to be seen in this entire episode. Seth’s decision to decrease his own airtime this season to concentrate more on his new behind-the-scenes job as a head writer has reached a crescendo this week.
— Tom’s “Anus to anus” line was hilarious, as was him then saying, in response to him and Rachel doing the “anus to anus” move, “Boy, this would cost ya 20 bucks in Thailand.”
— Tom’s disturbing stories towards an uncomfortable Rachel are providing lots of laughs.
— Good line from Rachel about trying not to breathe in OR out while a sweaty Tom is hanging above her in a yoga position.
— I love the angry look on Rachel’s face at the end as the camera zooms in on her between Tom’s legs.
STARS: ****


COLIN’S PLACE
Colin Powell (KET) fields State Department overtures a la Fred Sanford

— As someone who used to be an avid watcher of Sanford & Son reruns, I appreciate this idea of doing a Colin Powell/Fred Sanford hybrid. It also kinda feels like a precursor to a fairly well-remembered sketch SNL would later do where Fred’s Barack Obama and his family star in a take-off of The Cosby Show, though I recall that sketch having better writing than this one.
— Kenan’s attempt at a Redd Foxx-type voice could be better, but Kenan was never known as a good impressionist in these earlier seasons of his.
— If I played a drinking game during this sketch, taking a drink every time Finesse’s Lamont Sanford-esque Michael Powell says “Come on, Pop!”, I’d be passed out before the sketch ended. I don’t recall “Come on, Pop!” being something the actual Lamont said THIS frequently on Sanford & Son.
— I like Maya playing a Condoleezza Rice/Aunt Esther hybrid.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Give It Away”


TENNIS PLAYERS
tennis players have one (host), two (WLF), three (CHP), seven (BIH) arms

— A great snob voice from Will.
— Will unconvincingly trying to act like Tom’s missing arm isn’t the reason he’s dropping him as his tennis partner is pretty funny.
— After Tom’s line “You’re going to throw away 25 years of tennis and lovemaking?”, Will starts to say his reply, but pauses in an odd way after a second, then continues his reply. I’ve seen some people theorize that Tom’s mention of lovemaking was an ad-lib, and that Will paused so oddly during his response because he was genuinely taken aback by the ad-lib.
— I love Chris entering as Will’s new three-armed tennis partner.
— A very fun increasing absurdity to this sketch.
— I am absolutely LOVING how the only performers in this sketch are Tom Hanks, Will Forte, Chris Parnell, and Bill Hader. Some of my all-time favorite sketch comedy performers, all in one sketch together! And to make it even better, the sketch they’re appearing together in is a very well-written absurdist one.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— For the first Tom Hanks-hosted episode in 10 years, this unfortunately had a bit of a flat feel. The episode actually wasn’t all that bad, and there were a few strong pieces in the post-Weekend Update half, but 1) this episode as a whole didn’t have the special feel it should’ve had for Tom Hanks’ big hosting return, 2) there were a few really lousy sketches placed so bizarrely early in the show, and 3) the episode as a whole was largely forgettable, even with some of the highlights. Tom Hanks himself did not disappoint, though, giving the A+ performances and commitment he can always be relied on to give on SNL. After tonight’s episode, he sadly wouldn’t host again for another 10 years, but unlike tonight’s episode, THAT one actually ends up being worth the 10-year wait.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Julia Louis-Dreyfus becomes the very first female cast member to host the show

Posted on

April 15, 2006 – Lindsay Lohan / Pearl Jam (S31 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SITUATION ROOM
staff turnover yields presidential spokesteen (host)

— I’m surprised to find myself loving that opening theme music of The Situation Room. Catchy and epic.
— This season, SNL seems to be attempting lots of replacements for the phased-out Hardball sketches. In just one season, we’ve gotten non-Hardball political talking head show sketches like Anderson Cooper 360, The O’Reilly Factor, and now The Situation Room, none of which end up enjoying anywhere near the long-term success that the Hardball sketches enjoyed in their prime.
— Nice to see big roles for newbies Jason and Kristen right at top of tonight’s episode.
— Kristen’s delivery of many of her lines is making me laugh. She’s always reliable at getting laughs out of low-key roles like this.
— Meh, not caring for the comedic conceit of Lindsay Lohan’s character during her press conference. After the first minute of this scene, after you’ve gotten the joke, Lindsay’s lines have stopped getting much laughs.
— Yikes, Lindsay’s voice is so unsettlingly scratchy and raspy tonight that it almost completely gave out when she said “Night” at the end of her “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” I remember on an online SNL message board, during a discussion of this episode right after it originally aired, a board member comically addressed Lindsay’s scratchy, raspy voice by saying “Hmm, I didn’t know Harvey Fierstein was appearing on SNL tonight.”
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host lectures drunk Easter Bunny (KET) about his excessive partying

— Didn’t care for Lindsay’s self-deprecating opening joke, “I think I hosted SNL more times than I’ve wrecked my car.”
— A bit of an odd use of Kenan at this point of his SNL tenure.
— Not caring for the writing of this, and Kenan’s performance is actually fairly irritating and unfunny.
— Blah, Lindsay’s second attempt at self-deprecating humor in this monologue, with her sternly giving the Easter Bunny an intervention (which Lindsay herself was reportedly given backstage at SNL immediately after hosting the preceding season’s finale), is falling flat.
STARS: *½


NEUTROGENA COIN SLOT CREAM
low-cut pants call for Neutrogena Coin Slot Cream buttcrack moisturizer

— Is there any real joke to this, besides the idea of a moisturizer cream for buttcracks, which isn’t exactly something funny enough to base an entire commercial spoof on? Feels kinda like a leftover premise from the awful season 30.
— I will at least give this credit for accurately imitating the visual style of typical Neutrogena commercials, which is the closest to a positive thing I can say about this.
— Overall, blah.
STARS: *


DEEP HOUSE DISH
boring Tiara Zee (RAD) grooves to divas (AMP) & (host)

— (*sigh*) Tonight’s episode had ALREADY not been doing it for me, and now SNL throws THIS recurring sketch at me? You readers probably already know what my reaction to seeing this sketch pop up tonight is. Actually, in my reviews in this SNL project, I haven’t been hating these Deep House Dish sketches as much as I did when they originally aired; I’ve just been extremely meh on these sketches in my reviews, which, while still negative, is at least somewhat of a step up from my seething hatred for these sketches when they originally aired.
— (*sighs again*) Cue the one part of this sketch that I still do hate: the constant, repetitive, and unfunny “Ooh-wee, Tiara, that was so boring”s.
— Hmm, kinda interesting how Fred and Bill are reprising their Jake Gyllenhaal-obsessed singing duo from an earlier Deep House Dish sketch.
— Why weren’t Fred and Bill interviewed after their song, like singers in these sketches usually are?
— I think I spoke too soon about not hating these Deep House Dish sketches anymore, because I have not gotten a single shred of enjoyment from ANYTHING in tonight’s Deep House Dish installment. Either my fatigue towards these sketches has finally set in, or perhaps tonight’s DHD installment just seems worse to me because this episode in general has been putting me in a very bored mood so far.
STARS: *


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- kids’ Journey To The Disney Vault reveals unsettling Walt secrets

— During the listing-off of fictional direct-to-DVD Disney sequels, I love how one of them is Bambi 2002, a previous TV Funhouse from season 27.
— A laugh from the quick “101 Fellations” gag, which seems like a variation of the “Pokahotass” gag from the aforementioned TV Funhouse, Bambi 2002. Also, a few days before tonight’s episode originally aired, this 101 Fellations bit was heavily hyped in an online article as something big that would be airing on SNL that weekend and would be including a famous porn star (who’s name I can’t remember at the moment) as one of the “dalmatian” women. One portion of that article interviewed the porn star about the 101 Fellations bit, and the way she described it made it seem like it was going to be an entire full-fledged segment. She went into a whole bunch of detail about the plot and all the various characterizations, as if it was going to be some huge, fleshed-out, standalone segment. Cut to a few nights later when this episode is airing live, and I’m sitting in my living room watching the show like normal, and I find myself utterly baffled to see that 101 Fellations was nothing more than a brief two-second cutaway gag, with no so-called plot or characterizations to speak of. WTF??? Did Robert Smigel originally film 101 Fellations as an entire fleshed-out segment, but ended up editing it down to just a two-second gag, or was the aforementioned porn star just full of shit in that interview?
— I love the voice for the little girl.
— The extremely un-PC “very original version” of Song Of The South is so wrong, but absolutely HILARIOUS.
— A huge laugh from the kids incredulously asking Mickey Mouse “You’re supposed to be FUNNY?!?”
— Great bit with one of the kids finding a still-alive Jim Henson and a Kermit puppet bound and gagged to a chair, which results in Mickey Mouse breaking down in tears while yelling “He wouldn’t sell! He wouldn’t seeeeeeelllllllll!”
— Overall, not only a very strong TV Funhouse, but leave it to Smigel to deliver the first actual good segment in this episode so far.
STARS: ****½


THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Seymour Hersh (FRA) & Newt Gingrich (WLF)

— Shortly after I mentioned SNL’s various failed attempts to replace Hardball as their regular political talking heads show sketch, here’s another one of them tonight. Do we really need this AND The Situation Room in the same episode?
— Feels kinda odd seeing Will play Newt Gingrich.
— I’m starting to get tired of these O’Reilly Factor sketches, as well as Darrell’s non-attempt at sounding like Bill O’Reilly. I know his impression eventually gets better, but it has yet to happen by this point.
— I did get a chuckle from the bit right now with Darrell’s O’Reilly, during a back-and-forth disagreement with Will’s Gingrich, childishly saying an increasingly loud “Yes they are, yes they are, yes they are, YES THEY AAARRRRE!”, and then, after a beat, finishing it off with a soft-spoken and modestly-delivered “Yes they are” while lightly emphasizing his point with his hand.
— I like Will-as-Gingrich’s “last word” being him telling O’Reilly “You gotta read some books, man.”
— The “A-1 dickface” bit in one letter in the mailbag is pretty funny.
STARS: **½


CHOCOLATE CAKE
rich chocolate dessert stirs diners’ (host), (JAS), (RAD), (FRA) emotions

— Much like the Wind sketch from this season’s Jack Black episode, this is another sketch that I recall a few online SNL fans back at this time making comparisons to the dreaded Hot Plates sketch from the preceding season. I recall strongly disagreeing with those comparisons, but we’ll see.
— Jason’s insane reactions to the great taste of the cake are hilarious.
— A lot of increasingly fun maniacal reactions from each person at the table. Jason is definitely running away with this sketch with his reactions, though. He’s phenomenal here.
— I love how one of Fred’s reactions has him tightly tying a belt around his neck.
— A particularly strong and perfectly-timed moment from Jason, where, after Lindsay spins a dummy of him around and then throws it onto the ground behind the table, he IMMEDIATELY hops up high in the air from behind the table and casually dusts himself off, which was SO damn impressive that even the audience applauded.
— Overall, a fun, silly, and well-performed sketch that I pretty much loved. And, unlike the aforementioned Wind sketch with Jack Black, I can actually now kinda see why people compared this to Hot Plates, but this was miles better. This sketch was pretty much what Hot Plates should’ve been.
— I’m not 100% sure, but I think this sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns, though off the top of my head, I can’t remember if there were any major differences between it and the live version.
— Speaking of reruns, I recall once catching this sketch a few years ago in a syndicated 60-minute rerun on a cable channel (can’t remember which channel), and this sketch was sped-up so badly in that version that it was pretty much impossible to follow what was going on. Does anyone else remember seeing this sped-up version?
STARS: ****


LASER CATS!
ANS & BIH pitch low-budget feline sci-fi movie to LOM

— Good to see Andy and Bill front and center here, after the extremely-little-to-no-airtime they received in the preceding episode.
— Our very first Laser Cats short, which would go on to be a once-a-year tradition during Andy’s entire SNL tenure.
— Very fun how the extremely cheesy, low-budget action that started in an outdoors park is now taking place in SNL’s backstage, and how there’s no attempt to hide the NBC and SNL-related visuals in the background.
— Funny cutaway to a very deadpan Lorne watching this inane Laser Cats short on the TV.
— When Lindsay refuses to say she’ll have sex with either Andy or Bill, I love the sudden and sloppy splicing-in of a shot of Rachel sitting in Lindsay’s place while wearing a Lindsay Lohan wig and saying “I’ll have sex with both of you guys.”
— The “Get out” ending with Lorne was funny, though it’s something that would be repeated at the end of EVERY SINGLE subsequent Laser Cats short, and doesn’t work for me as a repeated ending gag.
— Overall, lots of good dumb fun all throughout this short. Solid debut for these Laser Cats shorts.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “World Wide Suicide”


WEEKEND UPDATE
meteorologist Stormy Windbreaker (SEM) forecasts apocalyptic weather

American Idol contestant Taylor Hicks (JAS) is full of enthusiasm

— After how increasingly hoarse her voice sounded over the course of the preceding episode, Amy’s voice still sounds slightly on the hoarse side tonight, but definitely nowhere near as bad. I’m also glad SNL hasn’t been overworking her tonight like they did in the preceding episode.
— Seth’s meteorologist segment is a good change of pace for Update. By the way, I think this ends up being Seth’s final appearance on Update before he takes over as Amy’s new Update co-anchor the following season.
— Seth is very solid in this commentary, and he has a lot of funny weather forecast details. And the smart and inspired feel of this commentary is very unusual and refreshing for this dire Fey/Poehler Update era.
— A great ending yell from Seth of the line “REPENT, BITCHES, REPENT!”
— I absolutely love Jason’s portrayal of American Idol’s Taylor Hicks. Yet another example tonight of how solid, hilarious, and fun Jason is as a performer, and how refreshing and desperately needed his presence is on SNL after the awful season 30.
— Very funny comments from Jason’s Hicks regarding his pubic hair.
— A lot of Amy’s jokes tonight are getting a (deservedly) fairly tepid audience reaction.
— Tina closes this Update with by far one of her best jokes in a long time (the teen pregnancy/“Your Mouth Can’t Get Pregnant” joke). That was a joke and delivery worthy of Tina’s first two years at the Update desk, back when she was actually consistently solid as an anchor.
STARS: **½


DEBBIE DOWNER
Debbie Downer deflates (host)’s Las Vegas strip club bachelorette party

— Normally, I’d groan at this sketch popping up tonight, but the last two Debbie Downer installments before this were much better than usual and shook up the formula. Plus, this thankfully ends up being the last Debbie Downer appearance before Rachel leaves the cast. (Years later, Debbie Downer would make a brief walk-on in the cold opening of SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, and, though I haven’t seen it yet, I’m aware that Debbie Downer has a surprise full-fledged sketch in SNL’s most recent normal, live episode in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic forced SNL to do taped “At Home” episodes.)
— I recall in an interview Lindsay did earlier in the week of this episode, the interviewer brought up at one point the famous first Debbie Downer sketch from Lindsay’s season 29 episode, and the interviewer asked Lindsay if we can expect to see a new Debbie Downer sketch this weekend. In response, Lindsay claimed that, after initially considering doing the sketch this weekend, she and the people at SNL decided against it. So why is this sketch on my screen right now? People being full of shit during interviews regarding what was or wasn’t going to appear in this episode seems to be a theme, given the whole “101 Fellations” oddity I talked about earlier in this review.
— Lindsay’s excited yell of “ILOVEITILOVEITILOVEIT!” was eerily Helen Madden-esque (Molly Shannon’s character from the Pretty Living sketches), so much so, that I almost wonder if it was an intentional reference, but I highly doubt it.
— Lindsay’s scratchy, raspy voice tonight is sounding particularly rough during certain parts of this sketch.
— Blah, this sketch is pretty awful so far. After we’ve gotten such a nice change of pace in the last two Debbie Downer sketches before this, it’s unfortunate to see them going back to the usual unfunny and tired formula that these sketches normally follow.
— The perpetually-underused Finesse Mitchell makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in the non-speaking role of a scantily-clad stripper. Just sad. If he’s not fully aware by this point that his days at SNL are beyond numbered, then there’s no hope for this man.
— A noticeable gaffe right now, where the beginning of the “wah-wahhhhhh” sound effect accidentally plays at the wrong time before getting cut off. I’ve seen some people theorize that SNL planned this gaffe, in an attempt to recapture the magic of the first Lindsay Lohan-involved Debbie Downer sketch by starting a major chain reaction of laughing among the performers in this sketch. Rachel responds to this sound effect gaffe by giving an impromptu comical look into the camera while shifting her eyes around, and Lindsay then goes into her scripted angry rant at Debbie Downer while stifling some genuine laughter, but otherwise, this sound effect gaffe doesn’t set off the huge laughing meltdown among the performers that SNL seemingly intended.
— Odd how this didn’t end with the usual pre-taped headshot of Debbie Downer saying a typical depressing one-liner during the ending theme song. The lack of that possibly shows how little effort was put into tonight’s Debbie Downer installment. Rachel was forced to just mug awkwardly into the camera for a long time while the ending theme music played during a live close-up of her.
— Overall, a poor way for the Debbie Downer character to go out. I can’t say I’ll miss her.
STARS: *½


FIRST NIGHT OUT
uptight co-workers Neil (WLF), Jean (KRW), (host) awkwardly get social

— The debut of a sporadically-appearing Forte/Wiig/(whoever’s hosting that week) recurring sketch that I recall loving back when it originally aired.
— Fantastic character voice from Will. Lots of funny subtle mannerisms in Kristen’s voice as well. And even though it initially feels weird seeing 19-year-old Lindsay Lohan playing such an older, mature role like this, her real-life unsettling scratchy, raspy voice tonight actually makes her convincing as the forty-something woman she’s playing here.
— Something about these low-key, subtle, mature characters of Will, Kristen, and Lindsay’s feels refreshing for this SNL era.
— Another pairing tonight of Andy and Bill. Again, I really like that, even though this is just an extremely minor, non-speaking role for them.
— I love Lindsay’s delivery of “Sometimes you gotta say ‘What the mess!’” This sketch contains what I feel is easily the best performance Lindsay has given all night (and maybe her best performance out of all of her hosting stints).
— Poor Chris gets stuck in a very small non-speaking walk-on as a bartender, and he’s only shown from the back. Really, SNL? While it makes sense for you to put Andy and Bill in a useless non-speaking role, given how new they are, how do you give a role like that to a freakin’ 8-year veteran, especially one as proven and reliable as Chris? Then again, speaking of 8-year veterans being very poorly utilized tonight, Horatio has been COMPLETELY shut out of this episode. Ha, certainly no complaints from me there. (And this is actually the SECOND time this season that Horatio has made no appearances in an episode, which further proves how out-of-date he is this season.) Maya’s nowhere to be seen tonight either, because, as I said in my last episode review, she asked Lorne to have these past two episodes off so she can spend more time at home with her new baby.
— Hilarious turn with Will’s introvert character now suddenly detailing the very raunchy night of lovemaking he has planned with his fellow two introverts, details that Will’s character is delivering in his usual soft-spoken, affable voice.
— Overall, this sketch was just as strong as I had remembered it.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Severed Hand”


MOVIE ARCHIVES
Ann-Margret (host) & Liberace (FRA) had no chemistry

— The debut of Fred’s Liberace impression. I smell a whole bunch of hacky gay jokes coming up.
— I do admit to at least getting a laugh from Fred’s facial expression in the initial cutaway to him as Liberace.
— Kristen’s cheesy 1960s dance is pretty funny.
— So far, the gay jokes in this sketch aren’t as awful or cringeworthy as I expected (maybe I was mistakenly thinking of those later Vincent Price sketches that Fred’s Liberace appears in), but they’re still doing nothing for me.
— While the bit at the end with Liberace vomiting just because a woman kissed him is extremely blah, I got an unintended(?) chuckle from Liberace’s male assistant (or whoever he’s supposed to be) in the background just staring at the vomiting Liberace while looking unfazed and emotionless, having no reaction at all to the vomiting he’s witnessing.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A difficult episode to figure. We got a very rough and worrisome start with the first few segments, pretty much all of which I hated, but then starting with the very strong TV Funhouse cartoon, the remainder of the episode was EXTREMELY hit-and-miss. I’m not even sure whether I like the overall episode or not. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure this episode contained a little more bad than good. We did get a good number of strong highlights, though. Lindsay Lohan did not make much of a case for herself regarding SNL’s questionable decision to bring her back for her THIRD hosting stint in as many years, but I did find her work in the (underrated) First Night Out sketch to be surprisingly solid.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Antonio Banderas)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Legendary five-timer Tom Hanks makes his long-awaited return as a host after a 10-year absence

Posted on

April 8, 2006 – Antonio Banderas / Mary J. Blige (S31 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ANDERSON COOPER 360
Vicente Fox (host) & Cynthia McKinney (KET)

— A sketch in 2006 joking about building a wall on the Mexican border? Hoo, boy.
— A laugh from Jason’s vague line about finding a “labor force” willing to build the Mexican border wall.
— Some good lines from Antonio Banderas here, and it’s nice to see the host in a cold opening like this.
— Kenan In A Dress alert. By the way, this is sign #1 that Maya is not in the building tonight, as this particular role of Cynthia McKinney definitely would’ve gone to her, but since she’s out this week (she’ll be missing both this AND the next episode, as she asked Lorne for some more time off to spend at home with her new baby), SNL had to resort to throwing Kenan into drag to portray a black woman who’s in the headlines. Ugh.
— Another ugh from me towards Kenan, because, as usual, Kenan is playing this black female role in the EXACT SAME generic and tired “sassy” manner that he plays almost every other black woman.
— Also as usual, Seth’s Anderson Cooper is a bland straight man, having no actual reactions to the crazy things his guests say. Also, his comedic lines at the beginning and end of these Anderson Cooper 360 sketches always fall flat with the audience.
— I will say that I really like Seth’s VERY energetic “Live from New York…” at the end of this.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host removes his male clothes & reveals that he is actually a woman

— A funny opening line from Antonio about how tonight is probably the beginning of the end of his career.
— Uh, okay. No idea what to say about this big and very random reveal of Antonio being a woman, complete with him ripping off his suit to reveal a full-on dress underneath.
— Antonio is winning me over on this iffy premise, with his very fun and charming commitment. He is selling the hell out of this.
— Surprised this is over already, but I’m glad they kept this short and sweet, given the questionable premise.
STARS: ***


BASIC INSTINCT 2: THE RETURN OF THE BEAVER
Basic Instinct 2 keeps the focus on Sharon Stone’s (AMP) crotch

— I love Will’s delivery of “Close that up for me” in regards to Amy’s Sharon Stone having her legs wide open.
— Overall, funny performances from Will and Amy, and the usual strong voice-over work from Chris, but there wasn’t much to this trailer, even though that was the whole point. I didn’t laugh all that much after a while.
STARS: **


DEAL OR NO DEAL
contestant (host) doesn’t understand how to play

— Very funny portrayal of Howie Mandel by Fred, even if I’ve never seen the real Howie Mandel act remotely like that.
— Hilarious little bit with Fred’s Mandel panicking when Antonio opens the briefcase as soon as he receives it.
— I love Antonio as the very confused contestant who keeps failing to understand how this game is played.
— Both Fred and Antonio are slaying me in this sketch.
— Not sure I understood the ending with Fred’s Mandel angrily storming off after he accidentally called the show “No Deal or Deal” instead of “Deal or No Deal”.
STARS: ****


VOICE RECORDING BLIND DATE
at a party, automated phone menu voicer Julie collects info from (host)

— They’re bringing back this automated phone voice recording character of Rachel’s? I found this sketch really charming and fun the first time they did it earlier this season, but this doesn’t feel like something that needed to be done a second time.
— So far, this sketch is just hitting the exact same beats from the first installment, and it’s not working for me quite as well this time.
— I do like the new addition of Fred as the Spanish voice recording option.
— Overall, aside from the addition of Fred, this sketch was just an inferior re-write of the first installment of this.
STARS: **½


BESOS Y LAGRIMAS
gardener’s (host) bare chest spurs passionate reactions

— Talk about the random return of a sketch, we now get the return of a one-off sketch from two seasons prior with Christina Aguilera. Given tonight’s host, I can understand why they’re bringing this back, but I’m wary on whether this will hold up well as a recurring sketch. Seems like it would be better left as a fun one-off, much like Rachel’s automated voice recording bit.
— This obviously must be a recording of a sketch performed at dress rehearsal, because there’s no possible way Antonio could’ve gotten changed so fast from the end of the preceding sketch to the beginning of this one, with no commercial break in between. Live episodes airing recordings of sketches that were performed at dress rehearsal sometimes occurs, at least back in the early-mid 2000s (one example is the famous Oprah’s Favorite Things sketch with Megan Mullally).
— Fred’s been having a big night so far. He’s all over this episode.
— A somewhat funny running gag with Antonio’s shirt blowing open.
— A good laugh from a superimposed transparent shot of Rachel’s head randomly floating past the camera during one interstitial shot of the Besos Y Lagrimas title card.
— Pretty funny variation of the running gag with Antonio’s shirt, with the baby’s shirt blowing open.
— Overall, while I still laughed at this sketch, it didn’t feel as strong as the first installment of it.
STARS: ***


THE 13TH ANNUAL WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACHES’ FASHION AWARDS
butch looks get their due

— The slogan of the Seasonale ad during the opening “sponsored by…” bit (“Combine all your periods into four mind-blowing whoppers a year!”) kinda feels like a precursor to the very famous Annuale commercial that would later air in the first Tina Fey-hosted episode.
— I like Rachel’s execution of the bit about squatting in an above-the-knee skirt while giving a pep talk.
— Kristen’s delivery of the name “Dee” tickled me so much. Kristen is good at mining humor out of such simple things like that.
— Sign #2 that Maya’s not in the building tonight: she’s nowhere to be seen in this female-centric sketch, which definitely would’ve cast her, given the fact that all the other female cast members are in it. On the night this episode originally aired, I remember thinking to myself after this sketch ended, “Where the heck is Maya tonight? Did she suddenly get very pregnant AGAIN over the break between these past two episodes?”
— Amy’s performance seems a bit off. Perhaps an early sign of how extremely overworked she’s going to be tonight, as we’ll see as this episode continues.
— I’m getting tired of all the cheap butch stereotypes throughout this sketch, and there’s very little of the written material that’s actually amusing.
— Speaking of me getting tired of something, I’ve had more than my fill of all the musical interludes with Antonio throughout this sketch. While I like his energy in them, enough with these musical bits in this sketch, SNL.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Be Without You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Tom DeLay gets an American Idol send-off with a montage set to “Bad Day”

Dan Rather (DAH) gives backhanded compliments to successor Katie Couric

FIM urges awareness of the warning signs given by angry black women

Chad Michael Murray (WLF) is quick to marry his One Tree Hill co-workers

CHK is mad he wasn’t called upon to do his impression of host

— The American Idol-esque exit video montage of Tom DeLay was just whatever to me. The most interesting thing about it to me is that it, in retrospect, serves as a time capsule of the days when that Bad Day song (“So you had a bad day…”) was INESCAPABLE. Boy, was that song the bane of my existence back then.
— I like Darrell-as-Dan-Rather’s line about laughing for five minutes when hearing Katie Couric is replacing him.
— A good overall commentary from Darrell’s Rather, and I liked his various backhanded compliments.
— Another joke on Update about someone sitting in Star Jones’ fart cloud? SNL already used that joke in a Barbara Walters commentary that Rachel did on Update two seasons prior, a commentary that I assume was written by Tina.
— I’m now just starting to notice that Amy’s voice is hoarse tonight. Perhaps that’s why she’s a little off in some of her performances tonight.
— Meh, I don’t care for the subject matter of tonight’s Finesse commentary.
— Boy, Finesse’s timing seems really off early on in his commentary. What was with that uncomfortably long, awkward pause he made just now?
— I did kinda like Finesse’s line about how his mother used to have a motto in regards to the color of the girls Finesse dates: “If she can’t use my comb, don’t bring her home.”
— When NBC would re-air this episode a few months later over the summer, Finesse’s Update commentary would be completely removed. While I certainly didn’t care for Finesse’s commentary, I remember being pretty shocked at its removal in reruns, especially given how it was such a rare big showcase for the struggling Finesse, then I took that commentary’s removal as a hint that SNL wasn’t bringing Finesse back the following season (even though nothing had been confirmed in the media or on SNL message boards yet), and I figured SNL must’ve thought to themselves “Well, we just fired the guy, so why even bother leaving in the bad Update commentary he does in this weekend’s rerun?” Sure enough, about a week later (maybe even earlier than that), it would be officially announced in the media that Finesse (along with Chris and Horatio) has been fired from the show, as one of the casualties of the budget cuts Lorne was forced to make to the show for the then-upcoming season 32.
— Ha, you can hear a guy in the audience groan “Ugh!” after a joke Amy makes about Barbara Walters having done porn when she was younger.
— Hmm, questionable casting of Will as Chad Michael Murray. Playing a generic, bland teen heartthrob isn’t the type of role I want to see Will being given on Update, as it’s a waste of the great oddball, absurdist energy he usually brings to the Update desk.
— I will say that Will’s portrayal of Chad Michael Murray is giving me some chuckles.
— You can hear another disgusted groan from a guy in the audience, as he can be heard going “Ewww” in response to a garbage disposal joke of Tina’s. This sure is one easily disgusted audience.
— A tree frog joke. Ah, so I see we’re getting an interruption.
— Aaaaaaaand there’s the interruption: a Chris Kattan cameo, which I suppose is fitting for tonight, given who’s hosting this episode. I guess I can’t complain about this particular Kattan cameo, as we’ve thankfully gotten a pretty long break from the frequent cameos he made around 2003 and 2004.
— Ugh, Amy is going really heavy on her typical annoying Weekend Update cutesiness during her fawning over Kattan’s old recurring characters.
— Though I’m sure this segment means well, something feels really sad and pathetic about how Kattan, Tina, and Amy are lovingly reminiscing about all of Kattan’s old recurring characters (even throwing in a reference to his obscure “Hollywood” character at one point, and if you’ve been following my SNL project for a while, I’m sure you KNOW how I feel about that particularly wretched character). This feels pointless and desperate to me. At the time this episode originally aired, I remember thinking to myself that this was basically both Kattan and SNL admitting how poorly Kattan’s post-SNL career had been going, and that the best days of his career were unfortunately ALREADY behind him.
STARS: **


ANTONIO’S STAND-IN
host’s Legend Of Zorro stand-in (HOS) repulses Catherine Zeta-Jones (AMP)

— I love Seth’s sarcastic delivery of “I knooooowww, riiiiiight?!?”
— Hoo, boy. Looks like we’re in for an obnoxious Horatio Sanz hamfest. Oh, Lord spare me.
— Andy makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in a very brief, blink-and-miss-it walk-on as a clapboard holder. This is also a rare occurrence of him appearing in a sketch with his real-life behind-the-scenes glasses, which I chalk up to the fact that he must’ve realized he was barely appearing onscreen tonight, so he probably thought “Why even bother to take off my backstage glasses?” As much as SNL really wasted Andy tonight, he’s still gotten more airtime than one of his fellow newbies, poor Bill Hader, who is NOWHERE to be seen in this entire episode (excluding the goodnights, where, at one point, Seth can be seen patting Bill on the back, presumably because Seth felt bad for Bill being shut out of this episode). Considering the highly-regarded SNL legend Bill would go on to be, it’s absolutely surreal in hindsight to see how underused he is in these early seasons of his.
— Amy, in regards to Horatio’s character: “Where’d you get this guy? He’s horrible.” Antonio: “I found him passed out in my Jacuzzi.” Amy: “I thought you said he was your cousin.” Wait, if Amy thought Horatio was Antonio’s cousin, then why did she literally JUST ask “Where’d you get this guy?” The writing of this sketch is so half-assed that they can’t even keep THAT little detail straight.
— Aaaaaaaand there goes Horatio’s obligatory cracking up at himself. Ugh.
— Yeah, this sketch is pretty insufferable so far. (*sigh*) Only four episodes left until Horatio is finally the hell out of here.
STARS: *½


RASCALS KARAOKE
karaoke emcee (AMP) gets personal with singer’s (RAD) boyfriend (host)

— Amy in yet ANOTHER big role tonight. Is this really wise on SNL’s part, in a night where Amy obviously isn’t all that well, given her hoarse voice? In fact, her voice sounds like it’s getting hoarser and hoarser as this episode progresses. She starting to sound like a kid who’s voice is in the early stages of changing during puberty.
— Meh at the gag with Amy singing over Rachel during Rachel’s karaoke number, gradually taking over her number, which seems like a lazy and cliched premise.
— Okay, I am getting some laughs from Amy now sluttily climbing all over Antonio during her singing, but it still feels too lazy and cliched.
— Rachel desperately resorting to directing her romantic singing towards random old guy in the crowd is pretty funny.
— I like the turn with Rachel now desperately resorting to singing increasingly raunchy songs, especially “Me So Horny”.
— Wow, even in this sketch, SNL shoehorns in a topical reference to the big immigration controversy going on in America at the time, which has been referenced many times tonight, probably partly due to having a Hispanic host.
— Even in just a brief two-second cutaway, Chris steals this ENTIRE sketch with his hilarious deadpan delivery of his bitter one-liner to Amy: “Screw you, Mary-Anne.” Great to see how, even in his sadly diminishing airtime as we’re nearing the end of his SNL tenure, Chris can still kill with his fantastic deadpan delivery.
— Something about Rachel’s delivery of the line “GO SUCK AN EGG, BOZO!!!” has strangely stuck in my memory over the years ever since this episode originally aired.
— This sketch has died off for me towards the end.
STARS: **½


IMMIGRATION ISSUES
scheming Latinos host, FRA, HOS confirm xenophobic fears of CHP, AMP, JAS

— Geez, SNL, let Amy have a breather! Do you have to put the woman front-and-center in practically EVERY SINGLE SKETCH tonight (even if it’s just in the beginning of this particular sketch)? If this keeps up, her increasingly-hoarse voice is going to completely give out by the 10-to-1 sketch.
— Lots of sloppiness right as Fred makes his entrance. First off, his mic isn’t turned on when he begins speaking, then a distracting shadow of a boom mic can be seen on Horatio’s body in the background, and then Antonio completely misses his cue when he’s supposed to enter at this point, leading to a few seconds of awkward dead air.
— Yet another sketch tonight referencing the big immigration controversy.
— Not sure how to feel about these cliched and unflattering Hispanic stereotypes that Fred, Horatio, and Antonio are reinforcing, though I am kinda liking the way all three performers are working as a team in this. And given how harsh I typically am on Horatio in these later seasons of his, I’ll give him credit for a decent performance here.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Enough Cryin”


WINE TASTING
wine tasters (host), (CHP), (AMP) assign odd properties to their drinks

— Oh, look, everyone – Amy front-and-center in YET ANOTHER co-starring role tonight. Nothing against Amy, but what is up with this? I doubt Maya’s absence alone is the reason for SNL’s heavy over-reliance on Amy tonight, because Amy wasn’t consistently utilized to THIS degree in the many episodes that Maya was absent in earlier this season, not even during the pre-Kristen Wiig episodes where Amy and Rachel were literally the only female sketch regulars. Even in this season’s premiere (which Maya appeared in, but just in a limited role, due to her extremely pregnant state at the time), in which Amy appeared in a whopping NINE sketches, most of those appearances were just supporting roles. Tonight, it feels like almost all of her appearances are huge starring or co-starring roles.
— On a completely opposite note from what I just said above, it’s great to see Chris in a big co-starring role here, given his aforementioned diminished airtime this season. Lately, it’s been starting to feel sadly rare to see him get a lead role in a sketch.
— Lots of funny casually-delivered absurd wine descriptions from Antonio, Chris, and Amy. I especially like Chris’ line “The last time we had this vintage, I had a gun in my mouth”, and Amy responding, with a pleasant smile, “Yes, and I was holding that gun.”
— I love Amy’s delivery of “Is anyone getting werewolves?” in reaction to the taste of the wine she and the others are currently sampling.
— An overall short and sweet sketch, though I actually wanted this to go on longer, as I was enjoying the escalating absurdity to it, which felt like it hadn’t hit a peak yet by the time this sketch ended.
— Speaking of wishing this sketch was longer, reruns of this episode would replace this sketch with the dress rehearsal version, which actually is longer. Perhaps the live show ran a little long, forcing SNL to trim the script for this sketch at the last minute. I wonder if the reason for them airing the longer dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns, besides making up for how SNL was presumably forced to trim the length of the live version of the sketch, was to fill in the extra time left over from removing Finesse’s commentary on Weekend Update. Or maybe it was the other way around: perhaps SNL desperately wanted to air the longer dress rehearsal version of this sketch, so they cut Finesse’s Update commentary to make room for it.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Pretty much a blah episode. Completely forgettable, and below par for this season’s standards. However, Antonio Banderas, while not always hilarious, was a charming, fun, and enthusiastic host. He gave this blah episode a better feel than it otherwise would have had with a lesser host.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matt Dillon)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Lindsay Lohan

Posted on

March 11, 2006 – Matt Dillon / Arctic Monkeys (S31 E14)

(Just as a side note, today is the two-year anniversary of the launch of The ‘One SNL A Day’ Project! I surprisingly didn’t even realize that until literally just now, as I caught a glimpse of today’s date at the top of this review right before officially sending this review out on the web. As I now think back on when I launched this project on this date two years ago, it blows my mind how far I’ve now made it into this project.)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SPRING BREAK
young women (AMP), (MAR), (RAD), (KRW) anticipate Spring Break debauchery

— Feels very refreshing to see a non-political cold opening of this nature, even though, now that I think of it, we’ve gotten quite a number of non-political cold openings this season (off the top of my head, the Tree Re-Lighting one, the Pat Robertson cartoon, the Steve Martin one, and now this).
— Funny bit with Kristen calling Rachel out on saying one too many names when greeting Amy and Maya.
— Another funny line from Kristen, about how she thought it would be fun to try group sex and hash the same week.
— A fun spoof of trashy things girls are known to do on spring break, complete with Maya and Amy comically tongue-kissing each other at one point.
— Oh, a then-topical Natalee Holloway reference. I remember finding it funny back when this episode originally aired, though I now wonder if anybody at the time considered it “too soon”, considering it seems like a touchy thing to joke about.
— Hilarious twist at the end with the couple who’s sitting in between the girls turning out to be Maya’s parents, meaning they had overheard all of the girls’ wild, inappropriate plans for spring break, and didn’t even object to it or bat an eye.
— During the big group “Live from New York…” at the end, pay attention to Rachel. Instead of saying “it’s Saturday Night!” at the end of the LFNY, she’s actually saying what appears to be a spring break-related “it’s Cancun 2006!”
— An overall very solid and fun cold opening, and makes a perfect case for why SNL would benefit from doing non-political cold openings much more often.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— When it’s time to announce the musical guest, Don Pardo oddly just completely blanks, not saying Arctic Monkeys’ name AT ALL.


MONOLOGUE
host’s unused Oscar acceptance speech is littered with stereotypes

— No idea what to think of these off-color racial stereotype jokes in Matt Dillon’s acceptance speech.
— Okay, I have to admit, these racial stereotype jokes are actually starting to tickle me, even though they’re incredibly basic jokes.
— At least Matt ends this with a self-deprecating racial joke, making an Irish stereotype joke about his own family.
STARS: ***


PRISONMATE.NET
desperate single women obtain incarcerated boyfriends via prisonmate.net

— Good to see Finesse in another rare spokesperson role.
— I love the brief shot of SNL writer Bryan Tucker in a Hannibal Lecter-esque mask.
— This overall commercial wasn’t too great, despite a few funny parts. It felt like it ended too early or something.
STARS: **½


SPORTSCENTER
bulked-up Barry Bonds (KET) denies steroid allegations

— The initial cutaway to Kenan in those fake muscles cracked me up.
— Very funny look of Matt’s character.
— Seth’s bland straight man “reactions” (and I put “reactions” in quotes because he’s barely even reacting) to crazy things the interviewees in this sketch are saying to him remind me too much of his bland straight man “reactions” in those Anderson Cooper 360 sketches.
— Matt looks really Jim Carrey-esque in that skinny photo of him (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— I like that they’re even showing a pre-steroids photo of Lou The Seal.
— Funny bit with Lou The Seal getting caught having steroids injected into his butt, then running out of the shot in shame when realizing he’s on the air.
STARS: ***½


DOPPELGANGERS
SEM & WLF panic when they’re unable to distinguish ANS from (HOS)

— One of my personal favorite Digital Shorts ever.
— I recall an online SNL fan back at this time in 2006 saying this Digital Short had a nice Kids In The Hall feel.
— Nice little touch with Seth, Andy, and Will using their real first names here, despite the fact it seems like they’re playing businessmen characters in this.
— Funny turn with Andy’s “doppleganger” being a fat hobo who looks nothing like him.
— An even more hilarious turn right now, with Seth and Will not being able to tell Andy and the hobo apart, and Will inexplicably pulling out a gun and saying “I don’t know which one to shoot”, which gets a great reaction from Andy.
— Seth: “What do you think about sandwiches?” Andy: “I-I-I love them.” Seth: “Andy does love sandwiches.” Will: “EVERYONE loves sandwiches!”
— I love the whole “I shot the wrong guy” ending scene, especially how Will just humbly says that line after a very long stretch of silence between him and the two others.
STARS: *****


2 A-HOLES AT A TRAVEL AGENCY
A-holes’ directionlessness tries the patience of travel agent (host)

— Good to see these characters become recurring.
— I always like the long, drawn-out silences between Jason and Kristen in these 2 A-Holes sketches when she refuses to answer a question he keeps asking non-stop.
— A huge laugh from Kristen requesting to visit Hogwarts.
— There’s never much for me to say about these sketches, but they always work for me.
STARS: ****


HOW TO ORDER SUSHI LIKE A CEO
smug (host)’s book offers raw seafood tips

— I got a laugh from Matt’s corny line “You’ll know sushi…like Kristi Yamaguchi.”
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary format to this sketch.
— Matt: “There’s nothing I love more, except mid-morning fellatio–”
— Matt seems really lost just now, right before grabbing the soy sauce dispenser.
— Matt is selling his character’s arrogantly dumb actions pretty well, even though there’s some genuine unscripted clumsiness and awkwardness in Matt’s performance (including him reaching for his book so clumsily at one point that he accidentally causes a chopstick to go flying in the air). In an odd way, though, Matt’s genuine clumsiness and awkwardness kinda fits in this sketch, as it kinda adds to the arrogantly dumb character he’s playing.
— I like Maya’s waitress character greeting Matt as “Mr. Douche”.
STARS: ***½


J.J. CASUALS
Rerun from 11/12/05


JOPLIN: ALIVE! PODCAST
Missourians (JAS) & (BIH) podcast from a Bennigan’s

— Another sketch that shows SNL is moving further and further into the virtual age.
— I love Bill and Kristen’s southern accents, particularly Bill. The voice and delivery Bill is using is just so damn good.
— This feels a bit like a much more low-key, mature, relatable variation of Jarret’s Room. Definitely an improvement.
— So many funny little comments from Bill all throughout this.
— A good goofy character from Andy, adding a nice balance of silliness to the mature realism that Jason and Bill are bringing. I also love Bill eventually calling Andy out on his fake French accent by telling him “You grew up three houses from me.”
— I absolutely LOVE how the only performers in this sketch are just the entire featured player cast: Bill, Jason, Kristen, and Andy. This really signifies what a freakin’ fantastic group of newbies this is, and it’s so nice that SNL has given them their own isolated showcase as a group in this sketch.
— Overall, I feel like I’m in the minority, but I really liked this sketch. I’m kinda surprised it would end up never becoming recurring, as you can totally tell this was set up to become recurring. We get the loud, immature, in-your-face Jarret’s Room shoved down our throats, yet SNL can’t give this refreshing, low-key, relatable sketch even one measly return appearance?
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Farhad Nasr (HOS) heeds reaction to idea of Dubai management of USA ports

WLF uses a song to explain how to identify Shias, Sunnis, Kurds

— Ugh, I absolutely HATED Tina inexplicably following the punchline of her Iraq war/exit strategy joke by holding her fist under her chin in a mock-adorable “Ain’t I cute?” pose (the first above screencap for this Update). I thought Amy was supposed to be the annoyingly cutesy, “Please like me!” Update anchor out of this duo. I also take this cutesy move of Tina’s as yet another example of Tina smugly patting herself on the back for an “edgy”, “clever” joke she had just told.
— I think I said this earlier this season, but I’ve been starting to kinda forget Horatio is even still in the cast, given how (mercifully) little he’s been used lately and how increasingly out of place he and his tired-ass shtick have been coming off in the new direction SNL has been going in this season.
— Ugh, Horatio’s commentary is fucking HORRIBLE. While he’s thankfully not derailing it with his typical unprofessionalism and self-indulgent hamminess, the problem with this commentary is 1) Horatio’s characterization of this middle-eastern role is something we’ve seen him do in a bazillion other middle-eastern roles earlier in his SNL tenure and it’s become so fucking tired by this late stage of his tenure, and 2) this terribly-written commentary is just a whole bunch of aimless, unfunny rambling and lots of “foreign dictator tries to come off cool by making a whole bunch of old, dated pop culture references” humor, the latter of which rarely ever works (the Osama & Saddam sketches Horatio did with Jimmy Fallon are the only times I can think of where that humor actually worked).
— (*sigh*) Our usual string of hacky, lame jokes from Tina and Amy, though I did like Tina’s Wal-Mart joke just now.
— A Will Forte Update song! These are always a treat, and I desperately NEED him to inject some life into this dire Update.
— I love Will’s fast-paced Shia/Sunni/Kurd song, as well as the accompanying pictures being shown.
— I like the subtle blink-and-miss-it joke of SNL’s own Kenan being one of the celebrities in the Sunni photos.
— A very fun and silly turn in Will’s already-fun-and-silly song with him now establishing Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds out of household objects instead of celebrities.
STARS: *½


VINCENT PRICE’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY SPECIAL
Vincent Price’s (BIH) St. Patrick’s Day Special falls short of macabre

— Yes! A Vincent Price sketch! Believe it or not, this ends up being the last time we’ll see this sketch for THREE SEASONS. (Though the finale of this season would have a Memorial Day-themed Vincent Price special cut after dress rehearsal.) The sketch gets revived in 2008, presumably due to then-new SNL writer John Mulaney.
— As usual, a spot-on vocal impression from Darrell of Don Knotts, who, IIRC, had passed away not too long before this episode, and is possibly being impersonated in this sketch as a tribute.
— Kristen knocks it out of the park with yet another very funny impression of a classical actress in a Vincent Price sketch, this time Katharine Hepburn. I’m surprised Kristen only makes one brief appearance in tonight’s Vincent Price sketch, but maybe it’s good SNL shows some occasional restraint when showcasing Kristen, given what ends up happening to SNL when their restraint towards Kristen goes completely out the window starting around 2008.
— I like Vincent’s bitter and snarky comments towards Matt’s Rod Serling regarding Vincent never having gotten a call to do a guest spot on The Twilight Zone.
— This overall sketch, while solid, felt odd for a Vincent Price sketch, I guess because none of the guests stuck around after making their initial appearance. They each just walked on individually, did their respective bit, and then left. These Vincent Price sketches usually have the guests stay for the remainder of the sketch after walking on. I would chalk this up as a case of “Early Installment Weirdness”, but the first installment of this sketch earlier this season followed the format I mentioned, in which guests stick around for the remainder of the sketch.
STARS: ****


RELAXATION TAPE
harsh voice & caustic attitude gets relaxation tape rookie (host) fired

— Wow, Bill and Kristen have been all over tonight’s episode. This is early in Kristen’s tenure, when it was actually rare and refreshing to see her dominate an episode. Again, come 2008, that rarity and refreshing feel goes straight out the window.
— On a completely opposite note from what I just said about Bill and Kristen’s airtime tonight, wow, where has Fred been tonight? This is surprisingly his first and ONLY appearance all night. Very unusual for him.
— Not too crazy about this premise.
— Kristen and Fred’s relaxing speak into the mic is very funny, and they’re both individually adding lots of funny little touches during that relaxing speak of theirs.
— After not laughing at Matt during most of this sketch, I am liking his constant sob stories before his exit.
— Is that an earring I’m seeing Bill wearing? If so, interesting little detail of his character.
— Very lame ending.
STARS: **½


APPALACHIAN EMERGENCY ROOM
more rubes need unconventional medical help

— The final appearance of this sketch, which I’m sure some of you in the comments section are happy to hear.
— The fact that this established recurring sketch is buried so late in the show is a bad sign that this is going to be a rough installment. It’ll be a shame if so, given how surprisingly strong the previous installment of this sketch from this season’s Jack Black episode was.
— Darrell’s delivery of the word “Sudoku” cracked me up.
— As always, Amy freakin’ slayed me with her usual hilarious delivery of her exit line when she’s walking away. That’s the one thing in these Appalachian Emergency Room sketches that I’m going to miss.
— Another sketch tonight where Matt Dillon facially reminds me of Jim Carrey (just look at him in the fourth above screencap for this sketch).
— Matt accidentally jumped ahead of the script just now and said his response to one of Seth’s lines before Seth even said the line.
— I like the change of pace right now, with Seth’s character looking around wondering, in regards to Chris’ recurring character in these sketches, “Where the hell is Tyler? It’s gettin’ late.”
— Meh, didn’t care for the rain stick trick Chris’ character does by standing on his head.
— Overall, yeah, definitely a lesser installment of this sketch. A poor way for this recurring sketch to go out. Definitely should’ve left the superior one with Jack Black as the final installment of this sketch, so it could’ve gone out on a high note.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Certain Romance”

— An odd moment just now that stands out: at the end of one verse, Arctic Monkeys’ lead singer very briefly calls out an audience member for yawning during this musical performance. By the way, I wonder if Arctic Monkeys were also pissed at the aforementioned fact that Don Pardo bizarrely didn’t announce them during the opening montage earlier tonight. I also recall hearing that two members of this band spent the entire goodnights of this episode humorously hugging only each other and nobody else onstage.


DECICCO BROTHERS UNICORNERY
DeCicco Brothers (BIH) & (host) Unicornery has magical animals for sale

— Wow, Bill’s huge night continues. Tonight is definitely his and Kristen’s show. So refreshing to see Bill so dominant in this episode, given how criminally underused he had been after his amazing first few months on the show. Unfortunately, his upswing in airtime tonight doesn’t last. In fact, he doesn’t appear in the next episode AT ALL. (*sigh*) It was nice while it lasted.
— Oh, I’m already onboard for this delightfully oddball sketch concept of two guys advertising their own unicornery in the style of a used car dealership commercial.
— Matt’s delivery, while amusing, is a tad off. He’s delivering his lines too slow-paced compared to Bill’s very on-point delivery. It feels like Matt and Bill are on two completely different pages in terms of their performance as a duo.
— Speaking of Bill’s delivery, this is another sketch where early-era Bill Hader is giving me strong Dan Aykroyd vibes. His voice and delivery in this sketch are reminiscent of Dan’s Irwin Mainway and E. Buzz Miller characters. I can easily picture Dan doing this Unicornery sketch had it appeared in the original SNL era. It would’ve fit perfectly in the collection of oddball Dan Aykroyd sketches that I’m typically a sucker for.
— Solid touch with the little insults Bill and Matt are making towards each unicorn when beginning to showcase them (e.g. “Look at this bag o’ donuts”).
— Ha, is that Jason I’m hearing maniacally singing the ending jingle of this commercial? Much like Will Forte, Jason singing is pretty much always a comedic treat. (So imagine how I feel about the Jon Bovi bits that Will and Jason would soon start collaborating on the following season.)
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode, and contained a pretty impressive number of strong highlights. Matt Dillon had some okay moments, but was ultimately a forgettable host, and had a number of awkward, clumsy, and flubby moments without the charm that Peter Sarsgaard, another then-recent host who had awkward, clumsy, and flubby moments, had to make up for it.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Natalie Portman)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Antonio Banderas

Posted on

March 4, 2006 – Natalie Portman / Fall Out Boy (S31 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BUSH’S ADDRESS
shell-shocked George W. Bush (WLF) & Dick Cheney (DAH) make apologies

— This is a very minor thing to complain about, but just let me vent for a sec: I’ve been noticing that it’s become a regular habit somewhere around this season (maybe a bit prior to it) for every cold opening to have the audience pointlessly applaud after a cast member at the very beginning of it begins speaking. I’m surprised, because I thought that didn’t become a regular trend on SNL until much later, like around 2013. Either way, it’s such an annoying and stupid trend, and it especially bugs me when that pointless applause causes the cast member speaking at the beginning of the cold opening to abruptly stop mid-sentence. Almost makes me wish every cold opening was pre-taped like the then-recent Scarlett Johansson and Steve Martin episodes’ respective opening, just so we can avoid this pointless applauding stuff.
— Believe it or not, this ends up being the ONLY time during Will’s three-year stint as George W. Bush that he does a direct-to-camera “And now, a message from the president of the United States” address-to-the-nation piece from behind the Oval Office desk.
— Some decent laughs so far, but nothing noteworthy.
— SNL gets in their obligatory spoof of the then-recent incident of Dick Cheney shooting his friend in the face.
— Overall, the epitome of an average cold opening.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host handles audience members’ questions on Star Wars & The Professional

— Some microphone issues as soon as Natalie Portman has started speaking.
— Jason’s mere facial expression as a geek is hilarious and is getting a great audience reaction.
— A lazy and weak joke with Finesse as a black audience member not knowing what Star Wars is.
— Natalie is very solid here, immediately giving me confidence in her as a host.
— There goes Chris playing his obligatory perv role.
STARS: ***


NELSON’S BABY TOUPEES
Rerun from 1/21/06


JAMBA JUICE
hyper Jamba Juice employees (host), (HOS), (SEM) boost smoothies

 

— Natalie keeps the solid performances going, as she’s really good as the lead here.
— Funny rapidly-delivered stories from Seth.
— Ugh, a hacky gag with Chris making a walk-on as a very stereotypical gay guy ordering a fem boost. Why’d this turn into a season 30 sketch all of a sudden?
— A rare example of me actually being amused by breaking from Horatio. The way he struggled to mutter “Boooooooooost” during that breaking made it particularly funny to me. And showing how solid Natalie is, she’s the only one out of herself, Seth, and Horatio who’s still staying in character during Horatio’s breaking right now.
— I like the running bit with the three Jamba Juice clerks singing a jingle in unison that starts with rapidly-sung foreign gibberish and ends with “Heeeyyyy, Jamba-Jamba!” I’ve heard that jingle is spoofing an old Lionel Richie song.
STARS: ***½


LARRY KING LIVE
transsexuals (AMP), (WLF), (host) engender mix-ups from Larry King (FRA)

— Fred’s Larry King impression makes its debut.
— What the hell is with Kristen’s Felicity Huffman impression? Why is she mugging so oddly like that, doing that bizarre twitchy thing with her left eye? Is she spoofing a mannerism of Huffman’s that I’m not aware of? Kristen didn’t do this last time she played Huffman in the Eva Longoria episode.
— Speaking of Kristen doing that bizarre twitchy thing with her left eye, during one point when she’s doing that, you can hear what sounds like a pipe loudly dropping onto the floor off-camera. Did NBC just drop another show? (A reference to a joke from Milton Berle’s notorious season 4 monologue, a joke that’s detailed in my review here, though my background info on the pipe-dropping being an off-camera Bill Murray trolling Berle has turned out to just be a common misconception, as cleared up by a generous commenter in the comments section of that review.)
— Hoo, boy. Larry King interviewing transsexuals? Well, let’s see how poorly THIS holds up.
— Oof. A really weakly-written sketch so far, and yeah, this material about transsexuals probably won’t go over well with viewers nowadays, even if the point of all these unflattering lines about transsexuals is just to show how out-of-touch Larry King is. It’s not being pulled off particularly well, even by 2006 standards, plus knowing these SNL years, the writers were about as out-of-touch towards transsexualism as Larry King would be.
STARS: *½


THE NEEDLERS
fertility doctor (host) interviews prospective parents Sally & Dan

— The final appearance of these characters, due to Seth officially stepping down as a sketch performer the following season to concentrate on just being a head writer and a Weekend Update co-anchor. I remember during the summer of 2006 when it was first announced in an online article that Seth would be Amy’s new Update co-anchor for the then-upcoming season 32, the article included a short interview with Seth and Amy regarding their new Update pairing, and, when asked at one point what’s going to happen to their Needlers characters now that Seth will no longer appear in sketches, Seth and Amy waved it off by responding point-blank, “The Needlers finally got a divorce.”
— Once again, SNL has changed the theme song in the Needlers’ opening title sequence. I really don’t understand why they’ve made it a regular thing to change the theme song every time.
— A particularly funny exchange between the Needlers: Amy: “You ruin every Fourth of July!” Seth: “You ruin the Fourth of Everything!”
— Some good barbs between the Needlers here.
— Funny hint of a certain bad genital incident that once happened between the Needlers during sex.
— I love Seth’s delivery of the line “That dog wanted OUT!”
— Good part with Seth “standing up” for Amy by saying “This woman may not be the most loving person you’ll ever meet……..”, then when Amy tells him to finish his sentence, Seth smugly responds “Oh, no, I’m done.”
— Ugh, there goes the beyond-tired “The Needlers are having sex in the other room” gag that’s unnecessarily ALWAYS in these sketches. And why is it ALWAYS Jason who gets stuck delivering the “The Needlers are having sex in the other room” line (excluding the first sketch with these characters, where it was Johnny Knoxville who delivered the line)?
— I did kinda like the bit about a sperm sample after the aforementioned “The Needlers are having sex in the other room” gag.
STARS: ***½


TV FUNHOUSE
Belated Black History Moment- Dennis Haysbert [real] presents cartoons

— A huge rarity, as we not only get live-action scenes in a TV Funhouse, but the live-action scenes in tonight’s TV Funhouse are actually being performed live, for, I believe, the ONLY time in TV Funhouse history. Making this even more special, the live scenes feature Dennis Haysbert.
— Great idea of Token Power, starring Valerie from Josie And The Pussycats, Winston from Ghostbusters, and Franklin from Peanuts.
— Ha, a hilarious random voice cameo from Tracy Morgan, spouting off a whole bunch of Tracy Morgan-isms.
— Once again, Smigel does such a spot-on and solid spoof of Saturday morning cartoons.
— Dennis Haysbert’s delivery seems a little off, and he flat-out botched a line early on and had to take a second to pause before repeating the whole line, but I’m getting laughs from his one-liners about how bad each animated series was, one-liners that are made even funnier when delivered in Haysbert’s trademark baritone, professional voice.
— The whole Ladysmith Black Mambazo In Outer Space segment is freakin’ HILARIOUS.
STARS: ****


ART DEALERS
Nunni (host) & boyfriend (JAS) visit home of her parents Nuni & Nuni

— Our first Nuni sketch of the season. Given how tired I’ve gotten of these sketches by the end of the preceding season, I’m at least glad we’ve gotten a long hiatus from them. We thankfully get only one more appearance from them after this, a year later.
— Ughhhhh, I am so goddamn sick of the copy-and-past portion of these sketches with the Nunis clarifying to their guest how to differentiate the pronunciation of their names. Give it a fucking REST.
— Ughhhhh again, now we get the beyond-tired copy-and-paste portion of these sketches with the Nunis having difficulty in pronouncing the simple name of their guest.
— The nasty sequence with Chris blowing ice cream from his mouth into the others’ mouths through a tube feels like a variation of the famous Bird Family sketch with Julianna Margulies, only nowhere near as funny.
— Jason is a great straight man here, and is the only strong thing in this entire sketch so far.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dance, Dance”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Trump (DAH) disparages Martha Stewart by pretending to be her

Sasha Cohen (host) nails her short joke program with a peanut witticism

LadyFat is KET’s line of women’s clothing for big male comedians of color

Oscar winner AMP fails to thank TIF during her acceptance speech

Sasha Cohen (host) flubs The Aristocrats during her long joke program

— Two minutes into this Update, and I have yet to crack so much as a half-smirk at any of these lame-ass jokes from Tina and Amy.
— An okay-ish gag with Darrell’s Trump initially entering as Martha Stewart, but the commentary died a sad death after he took off his Martha wig and did the rest of the commentary as himself.
— An interesting change of pace with Natalie as Sasha Cohen, with her in front of the Update desk performing in an Olympics-esque “joke-telling competition”. Very clever and inspired, especially for something from the dire Fey/Poehler Update era. And Natalie gives yet another strong performance in tonight’s episode.
— They are absolutely loading this Update with frequent guest commentaries while having a shorter-than-usual number of Update jokes from Tina and Amy, which is possibly SNL acknowledging how bad tonight’s Update jokes are. (It also may be SNL trying to “make up” for the lack of any guests in the preceding episode’s Update.)
— While the format of Kenan’s commentary is fun, his pride in selling his own line of women’s clothing for black men, and the way he’s embracing the tired “black men dressing in drag” comedy trope, certainly feels odd to see in hindsight, given the complete 180 he would (rightfully) do years later by publicly taking a stand against the “black men dressing in drag” comedy trope, and refusing to play any more women on SNL.
— Finesse In A Dress alert.
— We get a very meta line from Finesse acknowledging how horrible his airtime has been this season, with him saying a very earnest “I can honestly say, I would rather wear a dress made by Kenan than not be on the show at all.”
— Blah, I could’ve done without Finesse shoehorning in a Starkisha bit at the very end of his appearance, though it at least made me realize that we thankfully haven’t seen any actual Starkisha sketches this season.
— Random bit with Amy winning an award for an Update joke of hers, but I’m actually enjoying this. I really like Amy’s constant fake-outs on the non-Tina-Fey famous Tinas that she thanks during her acceptance speech, and how Fey is getting gradually frustrated by this. Easily one of the better Tina/Amy interaction pieces during this Update era.
— Great to see a continuation of the very inspired segment with Natalie’s Sasha Cohen.
STARS: **½


BAR MITZVAH
Sheldon fails to reunite with ex-girlfriend (host) at his bar mitzvah

— Wow, we haven’t seen Wake Up Wakefield in ages. This also ends up being this sketch’s final appearance.
— This bar mitzvah setting is a very nice change of pace for this sketch.
— The surname of Natalie’s character, Hershlag, is an inside reference, as Hershlag is actually Natalie’s real-life birth surname.
— Charming interactions between Natalie’s character and Sheldon.
— The audience sounds really subdued during some parts of this sketch.
STARS: ***


A DAY IN THE LIFE OF NATALIE PORTMAN
interviewer (CHP) elicits vulgar rap from (host) about her hardcore life

— A very famous Digital Short.
— A hilarious sudden cutaway from the calm interview to black-and-white footage of Natalie angrily rapping.
— Fantastic intense, vulgar, and committed rapping from Natalie, and the lyrics are priceless and memorable. Some great visuals in the well-shot black-and-white rap footage as well.
— Funny interlude from a viking outfit-wearing Andy.
— Solid ending to the interview portion, with Natalie smashing a chair on Chris.
— I love the memorable ending shot, consisting of a brief, extreme close-up of Natalie yelling “Whaaaat?” into the camera.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sugar We’re Going Down”


FIRE ALERT 3000
Another rerun tonight, this time from 10/29/05


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, and most of the biggest highlights were particularly strong. Natalie Portman was a very solid host, which really impressed and surprised me at the time this episode originally aired. It’s also surprising that SNL wouldn’t have her back as a host until 12 years later.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Martin)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Matt Dillon

Posted on

February 4, 2006 – Steve Martin / Prince (S31 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SABOTAGE OF BALDWIN
host prevents Alec Baldwin [real] from tying SNL record; Kelly Ripa cameo

— Quite a random and rare way to start the show, with an entirely pre-taped cold opening. Yet another sign that SNL is moving into the virtual age. Given the fact that this is Steve Martin’s big return to hosting after a 12-year hiatus, along with the fact that this starts with him and Kelly Ripa, of all people, on a date with each other, the pre-taped format of this gives it an epic, special feel that I like.
— Funny touch with the Viagra clock.
— I love Steve’s reaction when hearing that Alec Baldwin is hosting SNL tonight and will tie Steve’s hosting record.
— A funny and very Steve Martin-y bit with the limo and taxi.
— Alec, while looking at himself in a mirror: “It’s your night, big guy. The night we crush that little clown monkey.” Also, immediately after that great one-liner, we get a fantastic tilted shot of the NBC Studios sign (the sixth above screencap for this sketch) that may have possibly been the inspiration for the final shot in the new SNL opening montage that’s introduced the following season (I’ll do a side-by-side comparison shot in my review of the following season’s premiere).
— Always fun to see two (or more) SNL hosting legends appear together in the same sketch.
— Great shot of Steve walking down the SNL halls with Alec tied up in a rug.
— I love the bit with Lorne panickedly saying “We can’t find Alec Baldwin. Somebody call Tom Ha–”, then getting cut off by a punch to the face from a passing-by Steve.
— Solid ending with Steve throwing Alec out of the window onto the Rockefeller Center skating rink.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host’s Viagra kicks in while welcoming MAR back from maternity leave

— Some good laughs from Steve constantly correcting himself on the date that the story he’s telling of the first time he hosted took place.
— I love the various photos of Steve with the original cast, comically cropped to only show a very small portion of the cast member in each photo with him.
— Great callback to the Viagra clock from the cold opening.
— Nice way to acknowledge Maya’s return from her maternity leave. It doesn’t feel as odd as I expected it would to see her back, given the fact that she was away for so long that I had forgotten all about her and it felt like she officially left the show, but maybe it doesn’t feel so odd because she’s not playing a character here.
STARS: ***½


A TEDDY BEAR HOLDING A HEART
a teddy bear holding a heart is the minimally-thoughtful Valentine’s gift

— I really like the visual quality of this commercial.
— Hilarious reveal of the “thoughtful” Valentine’s gift being a simple little teddy bear holding a heart, after such a big set-up from the female voice-over. Speaking of the female voice-over, I’m really enjoying her work here. Is that Paula Pell who’s voice I’m hearing?
— Lots of laughs from the many exaggerations this commercial is making.
— Great ending spiel from the voice-over about how this gift is “available literally almost everywhere”, including “I’m guessing wherever you buy milk.”
STARS: ****½


OPRAH
(host)’s memoir is as full of lies as James Frey’s

— Okay, now it feels a little odd to see Maya back, since she’s playing a role here instead of herself.
— I like the quivery-voiced “Oh, my god!” from an unseen Oprah audience member in response to something drastic Maya’s Oprah reveals.
— Funny look for Steve’s character.
— Steve’s constant contradictions about the honesty of his book is pretty funny, and a good use of Steve’s typical delivery.
STARS: ***


DON’T BUY STUFF YOU CANNOT AFFORD
Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford, says (CHP) to debtors (host) & (AMP)

— Very solid concept, and a great execution and exaggeration of the “complicated” concept of not buying things you can’t afford.
— Great reveal from Chris of the Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford book being only one page long.
— For some reason, it feels a bit odd hearing Bill do a voice-over at this early stage of his SNL tenure. Maybe it only feels weird because Chris is still on the show.
— I remember MADtv doing a sketch like this a little later. I can’t remember which sketch it is, though, but I remember it being pretty good in its own right. If anyone in the comments section can remind me which sketch it is, thanks in advance.
STARS: ****½


HAMAS PARTY
lucrative gig at Hamas victory celebration creates moral dilemma for host

— Heh, Bill keeps pressing his fake mustache with his hand. Not sure if that’s just an intentional mannerism of his character, or if he’s trying to prevent his fake mustache from peeling off.
— I love Fred’s quivery-voiced emphasis of the word “Israel” when telling Steve about “your well-known hatred of the state of Israel”.
— Fun performances from Fred, Bill, and Seth, but I’m not crazy about this sketch itself.
— Another well-delivered word in this sketch, with the way Bill said “broke-ish”.
— I also love Bill’s delivery just now when quoting Steve’s “Excuuuuuuuuse me” catchphrase before he, Fred, and Seth exit.
STARS: **½


TWO INCHES
(host) & (WLF) converse while standing two inches apart in kissing position

— A good laugh from how the loving way Steve and Will walk up to each other in slow-motion makes you think they’re going to randomly kiss, only for them to just get really close to each other’s faces and hold a normal, friendly conversation.
— A funny unpleasant turn Steve and Will’s conversation takes.
— Our very first Andy Samberg-less Digital Short.
— I’ve seen several online SNL fans over the years say this Digital Short could’ve and should’ve been performed as a live sketch, given that fact that there wasn’t anything about it that required it to be pre-taped. While I certainly don’t mind this as a Digital Short, I can see where those SNL fans are coming from. This indeed would’ve been fun and refreshing as a live sketch. That being said, one thing that this short benefits from by being pre-taped instead of live is the well-done way Will and Steve’s positions are filmed, including the nice camera angles from various distances.
STARS: ***½


QUICK ZOOM THEATER
camcorder-sponsored drama employs unnecessary zooms

 

— A sketch that seems questionable for the first minute or so, but then halfway through, it suddenly takes a fun turn with all of the (intentionally) botched camera zoom-ins.
— Very funny ending with Steve being forced to run up to and away from the camera when it fails to zoom in on him.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fury”


WEEKEND UPDATE

— I remember the bit with Amy quickly leaving the Update desk to have an abortion offended one online SNL fan, because they misinterpreted the off-camera sound of Amy’s car taking off for being the sound of Amy actually getting her abortion. Wow.
— This Update is over already??? This is by far one of the shortest Updates in recent memory, and also featured no guests. Certainly no complaints from me regarding SNL’s decision to keep a Fey/Poehler Update very brief and get it the hell out of the way so we can get more sketches. Also, it could be said that this is the last Weekend Update to this day, 14 years later in 2020, to not have ANY guest commentaries, though one could certainly make that argument about the Update from the episode that Maya hosts in 2012, and I’ll explain why when I review it.
STARS: **


SUPER BOWL NATIONAL ANTHEM
Aaron Neville (HOS), Aretha Franklin (KET), Dr. John (JAS) at Super Bowl

— Blah, Horatio’s Aaron Neville has gotten old by this point.
— Kenan In A Dress alert. Oh, and in typical Kenan Thompson fashion, he’s playing this role in the exact same generic sassy manner he plays almost every black woman.
— We at least get Jason as Dr. John, which is a funny impression. I love the voice he’s using here.
— Did Kenan just crack up at his own line just now? Don’t tell me Horatio’s unprofessionalism is rubbing off onto other performers.
— Kenan’s Aretha Franklin requesting a stool to “rest my titties on” is….certainly something.
— I like Jason’s Dr. John returning with a gift that he had just “won and/or stole”.
— Speaking of Horatio’s unprofessionalism, he predictably cracks himself up during his own singing of the national anthem. (*sigh*) Only a handful of episodes left until Horatio is finally the hell out of here.
— Overall, despite a funny performance from Jason, this sketch was fucking terrible.
STARS: *


BACKSTAGE
with Alec Baldwin [real] & JIF on stand-by, LOM trumps (host)’s demands

— A fun idea for a backstage sketch in a Steve Martin-hosted episode.
— Great little detail with Steve wearing his Five-Timers Club robe.
— Funny cutaway to an injured and brain-damaged Alec.
— Random Jimmy Fallon cameo.
STARS: ***½


PRINCE SHOW
Prince’s personal chef (host) & Drew Barrymore (KRW)

— I’ve grown to strongly dislike these sketches, but at least we’ve gotten a long gap between these past two installments. We get an even longer gap between tonight’s installment and the very next one, which is, mercifully, the final one.
— You’d think the only reason they’re doing this sketch tonight is because the real Prince is going to appear in it, but as we know now, he’s nowhere to be seen in the sketch.
— There’s our inevitable instance of Maya and Kristen appearing onscreen together for the very first time. Doesn’t feel as weird to me now as I expected. It sure felt weird to me back in 2006, though.
— Kristen’s doing an absolutely spot-on Drew Barrymore impression, which is even funnier coming just one episode after the real Drew Barrymore made a cameo on Weekend Update.
— There’s the sequence with Fred’s Prince singing into his own mirror reflection, which absolutely seemed like a set-up for a Prince walk-on, but nope. It’s official: they’re just taunting us at this point.
STARS: **


STATE OF THE GALAXY 2145
George Q. Bush’s (WLF) State Of The Galaxy address rings familiar in 2145

— Very fun concept of a futuristic State of the Union, complete with an intro from Brian Williams 3000 and a Chris Matthews hologram.
— Funny line about how, even in the year 2145, they’re still “very close to capturing Osama Bin Laden”, which is even funnier in retrospect, given that tonight’s episode, in 2006, is only five years before Osama actually would be captured.
— Will’s Bush threw in a “We’re workin’ hard” just now. You know those words from Will’s Bush are poison to my ears after that dreadful first Bush/Kerry debate sketch from the preceding season.
— Rachel makes her first appearance ALL NIGHT in a very brief gag at the end of this sketch. The reason for her lack of airtime tonight is because she was sick for most of this week.
STARS: ***½


THE TANGENT
(FRA)’s endless anecdote spans a whirlwind movie career

— Fun to see two Digital Short shorts in the same night, and it gives this Steve Martin episode even more of a special feel.
— Solid format to this short, and there’s some fun cameos.
— Speaking of cameos, Scarlett Johansson’s “cameo” makes it obvious that this short was filmed the then-recent week she hosted SNL (and I believe this short had gotten cut after dress rehearsal from her and Peter Sarsgaard’s respective episode), though even with this short being aired outside of her episode, her appearance blends in well with all the other cameos in this short.
— Conan! And seeing his old Late Night set always makes me feel wistfully nostalgic.
— Chris’ performance and delivery as the movie exec is great. I especially like him, when upset, bluntly telling Fred “This is the problem: your movie ate (*bleep*) at the box office.”
STARS: ****


SURFERS
uncool (host) is incredulous upon learning of his ouster from surfer club

— Oh, no. I recall this sketch being DREADFUL.
— A mild chuckle from Steve asking “Even you, Dragon?” to Jason a second time, just a few seconds after he already asked him that during his whole “Even you, (insert surfer name here)?” sequence. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I’ve found even remotely amusing in this sketch so far.
— Seth exasperatedly saying “Oh my god” in reaction to Steve’s nonstop questioning matches my attitude during this horribly tedious sketch. This is awful.
— Overall, wow. Even with the aforementioned mild chuckle I got from one part, this was indeed a really bad sketch. Not even Steve could save it. In fact, it made him look really lame as a performer; the kind of lame that reminds me of the claim some people make that Steve has “lost it” as a comedian in his older age, which I only agree with in certain cases, like in those Pink Panther movies. He’s been mostly solid in tonight’s episode.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Tamar [real] perform “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed”

— A noteworthy little moment: Prince humorously ends this performance by saying “Superstah!” while doing the Mary Katherine Gallagher hand gesture.


NATURALLY CRAFTING
(RAD) wants wreathmaker (host) to spend the night

— I remember this being another really bad sketch, but we’ll see.
— At least Rachel still gets a lead role tonight, even in her limited availability this week. You can tell here that she’s indeed still recovering from an illness, as her voice sounds kinda hoarse.
— Good performances from Rachel and Steve, but I’m not caring much for the material itself.
— I did get a laugh just now from Steve hornily asking Rachel “Midge, are those boiled wool mittens?” and Rachel seductively responding “Hand-loomed.”
— Meh, didn’t care for the ending of this.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not as strong as I had remembered, but this was still a pretty enjoyable episode overall. The first half of this episode had quite a number of really great things, but the quality dropped off quite a bit in the second half, especially during the last two sketches. I like how this episode had kind of a special and out-of-the-ordinary feel, which was fitting for Steve Martin’s long-awaited return as a host after 12 years. And Steve was as fun of a host as expected, for the most part.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Peter Sarsgaard)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Natalie Portman

Posted on

January 21, 2006 – Peter Sarsgaard / The Strokes (S31 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ANDERSON COOPER 360
Ray Nagin (FIM) spins wish for Chocolate City

— Finesse gets his first big role in months AND his first speaking role in two episodes…and he spends this role flubbing several of his lines. Yeesh, if I hadn’t already known that Finesse IS capable of being funny, I’d react to his performance in this sketch by saying “Well, no wonder SNL never gives this guy any airtime.”
— Darrell-as-Jesse-Jackson’s preachy “dessert cart” speech is cracking me up.
— I’ve said this in an earlier review, but I really dislike that dumb prosthetic nose Amy always wears as Hillary Clinton. It’s pointless, makes no sense, and bears no resemblance to the real Hillary. Sadly, it wouldn’t take SNL until the real Hillary appears on the show in 2008 for them to finally get rid of Amy’s prosthetic nose, presumably because they were worried Hillary would be a little offended by it.
— Seth’s Anderson Cooper is a fairly dull straight man here. His only “reactions” to crazy statements his guests make are just shrugging his eyebrows and saying a monotone “Wow.” Gets old fast.
— Good ending line from Darrell’s Jackson regarding crayon colors.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— During Kenan Thompson’s part of the opening montage tonight, Don Pardo mistakenly thinks it’s time to announce the featured players, and says “Featuring…Bill….(*realizes his mistake*)….Kenan Thompson”. (That gaffe is misheard by a lot of people as just “Featuring….Kenan Thompson”. Listen closely and you’ll hear Don actually precede his utterance of “Kenan Thompson” with “Bill…” before cutting himself off when realizing his error.) This gaffe throws Don off afterwards, as he’s then off on his timing when announcing the first two featured players, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg.


MONOLOGUE
host’s behavior creeped out JAS, RAD, FRA, AMP, TIF, KET during the week

— I absolutely love the John Malkovich similarities I’m hearing in Peter Sarsgaard’s voice, given the fact that Malkovich is one of my favorite actors and one of my all-time favorite SNL hosts.
— Lots of funny backstage clips, getting good mileage out of Peter’s reputation for playing dark and creepy characters (which is another similarity Peter has to John Malkovich).
STARS: ****


NELSON’S BABY TOUPEES
Nelson’s Baby Toupees are wigs for male infantile baldness sufferers

— Bill gets his first noteworthy role in about two months. It’s about time.
— A good display of Bill’s commercial pitchman skills.
— Meh. I can see why people would like this, but this type of humor often does little for me, including here. Far more cutesy than funny to me, and not even a particularly well-done kind cutesy, as SNL has done some more-cutesy-than-funny pieces that I’ve actually enjoyed.
STARS: **


TARGET
Target Lady’s manager (host) lets customers wait while he’s on break

— This sketch has officially become recurring, and I see SNL is already confident enough in it to place it as the lead-off sketch of the night.
— Peter calmly sipping his cup of coffee while constantly mentioning he’s on his break and how much he’s enjoying it is giving me my only real amusement in this otherwise-tepid Target Lady fare, just because of Peter’s perfectly dry and subtly creepy performance. It’s adding to that great Malkovich-esque vibe I’ve been enjoying from Peter tonight. Without even trying hard, he is MILES better here than Dane Cook’s annoying try-too-hard performance in the first installment of this sketch.
— Ugh, I cannot stand the running gag in these sketches with Target Lady always running off to get something she sees a customer of hers has bought. And the customers in these sketches always say the exact same damn thing whenever Target Lady does that: “Where is that woman going???” The writer(s) of these Target Lady sketches don’t even bother changing that line up, despite the fact that it’s completely different customers who deliver that same line, showing how thinly and poorly-written the straight men in these sketches are, which would go on to be sadly typical for “Kristen Wiig plays a wacky, over-the-top character while everybody else reacts to her” sketches.
STARS: **


PIRATE CONVENTION
host is keynote speaker at pirate convention due to “arr” sounds in name

— I love the randomness of a pirate convention being held at a modern-day Holiday Inn.
— Will is perfect as the head pirate for this convention.
— Lots of laughs from the pirates taking so much delight in emphasizing the “arrrr” sounds in words.
— Andy’s performance in this is pretty lousy. Compared to the expert performances from the rest of the cast, Andy’s delivery doesn’t sound convincing at all as a pirate. A reminder of how green he is as a live performer in these earlier seasons of his SNL tenure. IIRC, he doesn’t start improving as a live performer until around 2008.
— Funny random gag with Fred’s non-pirate voice.
— A good and fun use of Peter in this particular sketch, given his last name, which is obviously how the writer of this sketch came up with this sketch premise.
— I love how the pirates are trying to get Peter to say words with an “ar” sound in them, and how he gradually catches on. He’s playing his role well here.
— Poor Chris is stuck with no individual lines in this sketch, unlike the other cast members playing pirates here. Chris’ only dialogue is yelling in unison with the rest of the pirates. What was the point of putting him in this sketch, then? A sad reminder that, despite the popularity Chris had recently achieved with Lazy Sunday, SNL continues to spend this final season of his no longer knowing what to do with him, especially with Jason and Bill gradually taking over the roles that Chris would usually get.
— Part of what makes this sketch so fun is the fact that it’s fully aware of how dumb it is, and is leaning into that in all the right ways.
— This sketch immediately being followed by a promo with Don Pardo announcing the host and musical guest of the next episode reminds me that some online SNL fans back at this time in 2006 expressed disappointment that Don didn’t say the “ar” in our next host’s name (who I’ll reveal at the very end of this episode review) with a pirate-type “arrrrrrrr”, given the sketch that preceded it. That could’ve been fun, and would’ve fit in this season, as the show has been getting some decent mileage out of having Don say silly things this season (e.g. the “Insane in the membrane” bit in the preceding episode’s Weekend Update). One of those aforementioned online SNL fans in 2006 even suggested that SNL bring this Pirate Convention sketch back in the next episode, given the aforementioned fact that our next host has an “ar” sound in his last name. While I love tonight’s Pirate Convention sketch, doing the exact same sketch in the very next episode would’ve REALLY been pushing it.
STARS: ****½


CAROL!
at the opening of his art gallery, (host) falls for coarse Carol

— Feels like I literally just reviewed a Carol sketch. They gotta space these sketches out more.
— When this episode originally aired, I remember some online SNL fans having a theory that Peter’s “Your rapier wit delights me” line to Carol was originally written to have Carol hornily respond by twisting that line around to have something to do with how she’d be delighted to be raped by him (given her trademark of always repeating things men say to her, only twisting the words around to be something sexual she wants the man to do to her…which, now that I write that, sounds like Merv The Perv’s routine, only with the gender pronouns reversed), but was nixed because even SNL realized that a rape joke of that nature would be too tasteless, even for a Carol sketch.
— I love the cutaway to Jason’s stone-faced silent facial reaction (the third above screencap for this sketch) after Carol requests an overly elaborate drink.
— Peter is playing a fantastic romantic interest here, and is amusing me throughout this.
— Carol FINALLY got an intended laugh from me in these sketches: her responding to a lengthy, intelligently-worded, poetic-sounding spiel of Peter’s by saying “Ooooh, you talk like channel 13”.
— Overall, most of the stuff from Horatio’s Carol character resulted in the usual blankly neutral reactions from me, but Peter’s solid performance made this sketch a little fun for me, and, as mentioned above, even Carol had one funny line.
STARS: **½


YOUNG CHUCK NORRIS
music video has Doug Brogar (JAS) performing “Young Chuck Norris (ANS)”

— Our very first post-Lazy Sunday Digital Short.
— Very fast-moving short so far, but I’m getting a lot of laughs and the song is very fun.
— The fact that Andy wasn’t made to look a thing like Chuck Norris is making this even funnier and more random.
— The bits with Jason’s singing narrator character are strong, and he’s making a few priceless over-the-top singing facial expressions.
— A good laugh from Young Chuck Norris punching Amy out of nowhere.
— Like with a lot of Lonely Island music videos, there are tons of funny little details throughout this.
— Great ending.
STARS: ****


CAT FANCY MAGAZINE
Cat Fancy Magazine editor (host) fires reporter (SEM) for made-up stories

— Right out of the gate, loud and frequent meowing can be heard off-camera, giving away the eventual reveal of this.
— Heh, did the cat in Seth’s lap just change between shots?
— Boom mic in the shot, front-and-center and for quite a long time.
— Jesus Christ, Peter is stumbling over his lines left and right throughout this sketch.
— This sketch is such a mess. And am I even supposed to be laughing at the growing number of cats crawling around the table during Seth and Peter’s dramatic conversation? Maybe I’d enjoy this sketch more if I were familiar with Peter’s movie Shattered Glass, which this is said to be a direct spoof of.
— A glimpse of a stagehand placing cats on the set can occasionally be briefly seen in the shot, but maybe that’s an intentional joke.
— Even the ending of this sketch is coming off awkward and messy, with the camera being VERY wobbly while zooming out on the sketch while the fake city backdrop outside the window is all shaky for some reason. Peter can also be seen muttering something to himself in a very upset manner right before the screen fades to black. That could just be part of the script, as perhaps Peter’s character did that because he was upset over the tense conversation he had just had with Seth’s character, but I’ve seen some people theorize that Peter’s upset muttering at the end of this wasn’t part of the script; it was supposedly him genuinely damning himself over how much he kept flubbing his lines throughout the sketch. Who knows for sure, though?
— SNL would later replace this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. The only big difference I can remember is that, during one part when a stagehand is seen in the shot trying to place a cat on the desk, the cat is initially too scared to cooperate and wriggles around wildly and uncomfortably in the stagehand’s hands before finally getting onto the desk, which results in Peter and Seth looking at each other and simultaneously breaking out in giggles briefly.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Juicebox”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Osama bin Laden truce would require AMP & TIF to read the news in burqas

losing to George W. Bush has left Al Gore (DAH) & John Kerry (SEM) bitter

droopy-breasted Drew Barrymore [real] shames AMP & TIF for catty comments

— Wow, Tina’s opening string of jokes is so bad, even the audience’s laughter is extremely lukewarm.
— Very lame clip with Tina and Amy in burqas getting stones thrown at them, a gag that, again, not even SNL’s audience laughed at.
— Feels odd seeing Seth’s John Kerry back for the first time in a year. It’s giving me really unwanted flashbacks to season 30.
— Despite some chuckleworthy lines from Darrell’s Al Gore, this Gore/Kerry commentary isn’t doing it for me at all.
— Ugh, I hate how Amy always has to point out the comical Updates photos that are displayed as punchlines, which she has done again just now during her hacky joke about Hillary Clinton in cornrows.
— Not sure what the hell to think about the bit with Drew Barrymore and her comically floppy breasts, but I don’t think I like it. Way too desperately cartoonish for my likes, in that typical cringey Fey/Poehler Update era manner.
— Overall, oof. Probably the worst Update I’ve reviewed in a while, which is certainly saying something, given which Update era this is. And it’s not just me – as I pointed out a few times, even the studio audience was a bit subdued during tonight’s Update, which is noteworthy because the audience usually eats up these Fey/Poehler Updates.
STARS: *½


GAYS IN SPACE
captain (host) runs into ex-boyfriend (FIM) in a bar

— OH FUCKING NO. Why couldn’t SNL have left this dreck in season 30 where it belonged?
— Is it wrong that I can’t help but wonder if Peter Sarsgaard’s Malkovich-esque sorta-effeminate voice is what inspired SNL writer James Anderson to dig this sketch out of the mothballs this week?
— I see SNL isn’t letting Maya Rudolph’s hiatus stop them from doing this sketch, as Will takes over her duties of performing this sketch’s theme song. Oh, and speaking of Maya, wow, I had completely forgotten about her until now. Her maternity leave has been going on for so long and I’ve gotten so used to SNL without her that it feels like she’s already officially left the cast. I’m sure it’s going to feel a little weird initially seeing her back, especially when we see her and newbie Kristen in the same sketch for the very first time.
— So far, this sketch is as insufferable as usual. I am so glazed over during this.
— Seth’s delivery of the word “naked-er” provided a mild chuckle from me.
— Man, Will seems so out of place to me singing this sketch’s opening and closing theme song. I’m usually always a sucker for some comical Will Forte singing, but it’s just plain sad to see him do this.
STARS: *


FAIRMOUNT SUITES INN
lost remote forces hotel guest (host) to endure loop of (RAD)’s TV spiel

— Oh, here comes an infamous sketch. This is going to be very interesting to review and break down.
— Early on, we already get a gaffe, though a minor one: while Peter is taking off his suit when he’s about to lay down, the camera seems lost on where to zoom in, initially starting to zoom in on the clock, then starting to zoom in on Peter, then finally zooming back in on the clock.
— I’m liking Peter’s snarky responses to Rachel’s announcements in the endless loop that’s played of her on the TV.
— Aaaaaaand there it goes. When slamming his hands on top of the TV in frustration after not being able to turn the TV off, Peter genuinely accidentally causes the screen on the TV to go black, completely ruining the whole conceit of this sketch about how Peter’s character can’t shut the TV off. Not knowing what else to do, all the while Rachel’s voice is heard still doing her character’s usual announcements, an unsure Peter reaches behind the TV in a failed attempt to fix it, while we get a very awkward camera angle of him that obviously wasn’t planned (the fifth above screencap for this sketch). This now-botched sketch has really started to get messy now, as Peter and a laughing, off-camera Rachel sloppily talk over each other, which includes a comedic line from Peter that gets lost in the unplanned cacophony, where he says, as a sarcastic response to Rachel’s announcement of the hotel having dial-up internet access, “Oh, dial-up internet? Is it 1994 already?”
— Due to the mishap with the TV, SNL has now been forced to awkwardly cut to a full-screen shot of Rachel (still trying to stifle her laughter), who was only supposed to be shown on the TV.
— The head of a stagehand (wonder if it’s the same one who was seen during several brief points of the Cat Fancy Magazine sketch) can be seen rushing into the shot, obviously to fix the broken TV off-camera.
— Peter has now given up staying in character, and is aimlessly just walking around the set, loudly and openly giggling his way through his lines and half-assing the material, which is strangely endearing in this particular situation.
— Now the TV is finally working again, though a “Video 1” graphic is initially seen on the screen, making it obvious that the TV has been turned on just a few seconds ago.
— Very fun bit with Peter’s character, after having gotten so used to Rachel’s announcements that are played on an endless loop, setting up Rachel’s announcements with questions that’ll make the announcements sound dirty or ridiculous (e.g. “What did you say to your husband on your wedding night, Barb?” “WOW, LOOK AT THOSE SHRIMP!”).
— Now a stagehand can be seen handing Peter the remote that Peter “finds” under the bed.
— Great turn at the end with Rachel affectionately responding to Peter’s longingly-delivered “I need you”, and them both proceeding to make out with each other through the screen.
— Overall, wow. Just wow. This sketch got botched like no other sketch in SNL history, besides maybe the legendary first Debbie Downer sketch and, in a more recent example, the non-ending of that Cornel of Kern sketch with Steve Carell in 2018 (which, incidentally, has the distinction of being the last new live SNL sketch I’ve ever seen, as that Steve Carell episode is the last new episode before I started my still-ongoing hiatus from watching new episodes). However, all of the screw-ups in this sketch actually really amused me and strangely added a lot to the sketch’s enjoyment. Quite a lot of online SNL fans back at this time in 2006 felt the same way, which is why I’m a bit surprised that when this episode would later be re-aired, the dress rehearsal version of this sketch would be used, in which no gaffes occur and Peter is more committed to the material. Despite my appreciation for the botched live version of the sketch, I actually found the gaffe-free dress version in the rerun to be enjoyable in its own right. After all, this sketch does have solid writing and a fun format with Peter’s character gradually descending into desperation over the course of the sketch.
STARS: ****½


ELDERLY WIRETAP
grandmothers’ (AMP) & (RAD) phone conversation attracts an NSA wiretap

— Not caring much for this so far, but I got a laugh from the 9/11 gag just now, with Peter misinterpreting Amy saying “9, 11” when revealing the ages of her two grandchildren.
— I like Peter angrily whipping off his headphones and walking away after the disappointing IBM reveal.
— Meh, an easy and predictable punchline at the end, with Amy and Rachel’s old lady characters turning out to have a terrorist scheme after all.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Only Live Once”


PETER SARSGAARD’S SARS GUARDS
host is trying to sell 250 million of his leftover SARS Guard facemasks

— Uh, wow. SNL sure is getting a lot of mileage tonight out of Peter’s last name. Fun, though, so I can’t complain.
— Needless to say, it feels quite odd watching this Sars-related sketch during our current times.
— Even the cutaway to a photo of the Sars Guard’s warehouse is strangely very amusing to me.
— I like Peter’s seriousness when expressing regret and frustration over not being able to sell his product.
— Peter seemed to botch his “You might not be making a terrible decision by not getting involved with them today” line (unless that botched line was an intentional joke), but he managed to make even THAT charming and amusing with the way he looked upwards in a puzzled, pensive manner right after that line.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly messy episode (which is probably what everyone remembers about it…well, that, and the sketches making fun of Peter Sarsgaard’s last name), and an episode that I assume is widely disliked among general SNL fans, including myself when this episode originally aired. During my viewing just now, however, I actually found this to be just a very mixed episode, with about an equal amount of stuff I liked and disliked. There was almost a bipolar quality to the episode, as it felt like I either absolutely loved or absolutely hated the sketches, with very little middle ground. As a whole, though, I didn’t mind this episode. And Peter Sarsgaard was a host I found surprisingly likable, and the vibe he gave the episode as a whole is probably a big part of the reason why I don’t mind how up-and-down this episode was. While odd, he was an enjoyable host, partly due to his subtle creepy charm, and partly due to him being a good sport, especially in regards to all the humor SNL got out of his last name. Hell, he even managed to make me smile at several points during a freakin’ Carol sketch, and he single-handedly almost made a Target Lady sketch good.


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 slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Steve Marrrrrrrtin (there’s that Pirate Convention callback) makes his then-long-awaited return as a host for the first time in 12 years. To fit this special occasion, we also get an epic musical guest pick: Prince, making his long-awaited return as a musical guest for the first time in 25(!) years (not counting SNL’s 15th Anniversary Special). We also get the return of Maya Rudolph from her long maternity leave. I wonder if the epic host/musical guest line-up for this upcoming episode is what made Maya decide to make her return that particular week.

Posted on

January 14, 2006 – Scarlett Johansson / Death Cab For Cutie (S31 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE 700 GANG
by RBS- to Pat Robertson, divine retribution explains all

— Uh…oooooooookay. So we’re starting with a Smigel cartoon? Well, THIS is certainly new.
— A very rare case of a cold opening not being live. We end up getting another non-live cold opening just two episodes from now.
— I’m always down for SNL breaking from their formula and trying something different, but this particular instance has too sloppy a feel. You can totally tell this cartoon was not intended for the cold opening slot and was taken out of a larger cartoon (which airs later in tonight’s episode), especially given how this cold opening abruptly begins with a voice-over saying “Then it’s Pat Robertson and the 700 Gang”, as if this was preceded by something.
— Very funny ridiculous claims from Pat Robertson to a group of baffled children about why God punished then-recently-deceased or ailing celebrities.
— The “Live from New York…” from Pat Robertson’s voice (Robert Smigel) at the end came off VERY hastily and sloppily re-dubbed. You can so tell that “Live from New York…” was not originally voiced during the making of this cartoon, because 1) the quality of the audio of Robertson’s LFNY sounds jarringly different from the rest of this cartoon, 2) Robertson’s mouth during that LFNY is clearly saying something else, and 3) Robertson’s mouth is seen still speaking after we finish hearing him yell LFNY. We also don’t get the typical camera zoom-in during Robertson’s LFNY.
— And the cold opening is ALREADY over, after only about a minute. This has got to be one of the shortest cold openings in recent memory.
— This overall cartoon itself was actually pretty solid, but it was just too jarring, sloppy, and poorly-edited in the cold opening slot. Should’ve either kept it within the TV Funhouse later tonight, or just aired the whole TV Funhouse as a cold opening.
— When this episode would later be rerun, this 700 Gang cold opening would have some alterations, including a re-animated ending that not only would have Robertson’s mouth movements actually match his LFNY, but would also include the camera doing the appropriate zoom-in on him during his LFNY.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host & less-famous AMP sing “Isn’t It Wonderful Being A Star?”

— I see Amy’s gotten a tan over the Christmas break. Or does her skin only look a little darker than usual standing next to Scarlett Johansson?
— Meh, another song-and-dance monologue.
— Some funny self-deprecating digs from Amy at her own lack of big fame.
— Overall, this didn’t turn out too bad for a song-and-dance monologue. Amy’s lyrics during the song, and the way those lyrics humorously contrasted with Scarlett’s lyrics, made this entertaining enough.
STARS: ***


TACO TOWN
Rerun from 10/8/05


DEEP HOUSE DISH
DJ Dynasty Handbag (KET) welcomes (AMP), (host), (CHP)

— Meh, this has become recurring.
— Amy’s song at least convincingly sounds like it could be a real song.
— Once again, ugh at all the “Ooh-wee, Tiara”s throughout this sketch. A terrible running gag.
— Ha, Chris is actually pretty funny during his musical performance.
STARS: **


SMORGASBORD
Scandinavian cooks (SEM) & (host) & their recipes are gloomy

Swedish Chef (ANS) has joined the craze for ringtones

— A laugh from the random opening credits sequence, especially the dubbed voice for Seth.
— Funny reveal of Scarlett’s comatose husband currently being in the same room this cooking show is filmed in, but this is the second time this season that Bill was stuck playing either a dead or comatose person in a sketch, when SNL could’ve easily just have gotten an extra for either roles. In fact, Bill doesn’t have any lines in any sketches tonight. I know he’s still new at this point, but for a newbie who has shown eons of potential and was very well-liked among SNL fans at the time, his airtime has sadly taken a big hit these past few episodes. I can’t remember the last really big or noteworthy role he had in a sketch. The Vincent Price sketch from way back in November of this season???
— The Swedish Chef Ringtones commercial is freakin’ hilarious, and a great spoof of this era’s craze of ringtone commercials.
— A pretty funny lengthy run-on explanation from Seth on why Scarlett doesn’t like a cup of glog.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch spoofing gloomy Swedish culture.
STARS: ***


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- religious kids programming covers evolution, stem cells, celibacy

— Smigel does another spot-on spoof of typical Hanna-Barbera 1960s animation.
— A great dopey voice for Darwin, which I think is supposed to sound like Magilla Gorilla.
— I like the format of this, with a collection of various religious-themed cartoons, with the Darwin cartoon being the main feature. The 700 Gang cold opening from earlier, which was obviously originally intended to be one of the various religious-themed cartoons in this TV Funhouse, would’ve flowed much better had it aired here.
— I love all the angry yells of “DAR-WIIIIIIIN!” from the straight men in the Darwin cartoon.
STARS: ***½


MIKE & TONI’S CHANDELIER GALAXY
Mike (FRA) & Toni’s (RAD) Chandelier Galaxy has classy lighting fixtures

— The first of a series of sketches with Fred’s character advertising different elegant house decorations. This is the only one where Fred’s character is joined by his wife, played by Rachel, given the fact that the subsequent installments of this sketch are all after Rachel has left the cast.
— Fred’s accent is very funny, and Fred just has a knack for making this type of material funny, much like the computer school commercial from the preceding season’s Paris Hilton episode.
— Some laughs from a silent Rachel stiffly making hand movements that match Fred’s gestures during his speaking to the camera.
— Overall, a charming and fun execution of such a comically dumb and thin premise.
STARS: ***½


DULUTH LIVE
Jim Morrison-esque (WLF) & band perform epic theme song

— Here comes yet another Will Forte masterpiece, which is great to see one episode after Will just had an all-time masterpiece (Spelling Bee).
— Some technical gaffes early on, especially Jason’s microphone not working when he’s introducing the show’s band.
— In some ways, the sketch feels to me like a bit of a precursor to the famous recurring What Up With That sketches, only even crazier, which is a huge plus for me, especially when that craziness involves Will Forte front-and-center.
— Oh, hell yeah! As if this hilarious sketch couldn’t get any better, now Will is starting to go full-on Batshit Insane Will Forte mode, with his whole angry, intense, red-faced, spoken “Thunderbird spirit” rant and his sung “Please, mama, don’t you point that gun at meeeeeee!” bit.
— Impressive bit with Will chugging a whole bottle of Jack Daniels.
— Fantastic maniacal drumming from Fred, a great use of his real-life drumming skills.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Soul Meets Body”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Samuel Alito’s wife Martha-Ann (RAD) reacts during confirmation hearing

Nutbird News Quiz- AMP tries to identify loony Pat Robertson quotes

Shaggy Hair Corner- ANS speaks on behalf of those sharing his hairstyle

 

— Oh, no. We get a variation of the awful bit from an earlier Update this season where Rachel played congresswoman Jean Schmidt, with her now playing Samuel Alito’s wife.
— I did at least get a chuckle from the cutaway to Rachel-as-Alito’s-wife wearing a fake long white beard while looking impatiently at her watch, and the only reason I liked that was because it reminded me of the Long White Beard commercial SNL did in the late 80s, one of my personal favorites of the commercials from that era.
— Ugh at the punchline to one joke being Amy doing extended singing of lyrics from Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie”. Unnecessary and annoying.
— Is that behind-the-scenes SNL legend Hal Willner in the photo of the crazy homeless guy (the twelfth above screencap for this Update)?
— This Nutbird News Quiz between Tina and Amy reminds me too much of the Bitch Fight News Quiz they did earlier this season, though this one isn’t quite as bad.
— Ha, the Nutbird News Quiz segment ended up being worth it just to hear Don Pardo at the end say in a quivery voice “Insane in the membrane, insane in the brrrrraaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiin!”
— Andy in his own Update commentary. SNL is obviously pushing him tonight after the humongous success Lazy Sunday experienced over SNL’s Christmas break prior to this episode.
— Tina sets up Andy’s “Shaggy Hair Corner” by saying it’s the first of what will be a regular segment. We would end up never seeing this segment return.
— I always love seeing childhood photos of SNL cast members, which we see of Andy here (the fifth-and-sixth-to-last above screencaps for this Update). I love how oddly 1970s Andy’s high-school photo looks (the fifth-to-last above screencap for this Update), which is even funnier when you realize that photo must’ve been from around the mid-90s.
— In the fake album cover of Andy (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this Update), he appears to be wearing the exact same viking attire he would later famously wear in a certain popular Natalie Portman-starring Digital Short from later this season.
— Andy’s overall commentary wasn’t much, and he seemed to know it was dumb. His likable charm was the only thing carrying it. I can see why this segment ends up never becoming recurring.
STARS: **


MY SUPER SWEET 16
spoiled rich kid (host) demands an extravagant party

— Amy’s skin looks particularly darker than usual in this sketch.
— What was with the long, awkward pause just now, right before Amy said something? Did Scarlett forget a line and Amy was forced to jump ahead of the script to keep the sketch moving?
— I love Chris’ controlled frustration throughout this sketch as the father. He’s always perfect at portraying calm-but-subtly-irritated characters.
— While there are some laughs from this sketch’s portrayal of typical spoiled girls on My Super Sweet 16, this sketch is still falling a little short for me, though I’m not sure why.
STARS: **½


ONCE IN A LIFETIME JEWELERS
cheerful prater Ed Mahoney (JAS) aims to get a ring from a jewelry store

— A very strong and fun characterization from Jason.
— I love Jason’s line “Would the 16-year-old me be excited about the woman the 30-year-old him was about to marry? Probably not”, then saying “Then again, the 16-year-old me was kind of a dick.”
— Very funny line from Jason requesting a ring for his girlfriend that’s not so small that she’ll kick him in the nuts. Then when Scarlett says she hopes that’s not true, Jason hilariously responds “You hope that’s not true?!? Get in line behind my nuts!”, then admitting his girlfriend is actually very nice to his nuts, which is part of the reason why he’s buying a ring for her in the first place.
— Man, Jason has non-stop funny lines in this entire sketch. He is killing it here. Even just his character’s mere laugh throughout this sketch is a great little character detail.
— Finesse gets stuck in his usual non-speaking bit role, for the second time tonight. His chances of coming back the following season are looking slimmer and slimmer by the episode.
— Ah, this sketch takes place in Kansas City, which makes sense, as I think that’s where Jason grew up in real life.
— Hilarious ending with Jason’s failed attempt to dash out of the store with stolen jewelry.
STARS: ****½


SUBMARINE AFFAIR
oceanographer (SEM) is cuckolded by (host) & (HOS) aboard a minisubmarine

— Lately, I’ve been starting to forget Horatio is even still in the cast. He’s yet another cast member who’s airtime has really taken a hit lately (hell, he was nowhere to be seen in the preceding Jack Black episode, and there’s another episode later this season that he’s absent in, I think the Lindsay Lohan one), but unlike Bill and Finesse’s lack of airtime lately, I certainly have no complaints about Horatio’s decreased presence.
— Seth has noticeably flubbed a line in both sketches he’s starred in tonight.
— I love Horatio’s forced-friendly “Heyyyy” to Seth after Scarlett reveals to Seth that she’s been having an affair with Horatio.
— Some really funny things happening in such a tiny submarine, such as Horatio’s only way of giving Seth and Scarlett some privacy is by simply turning over onto his side to face the other direction.
— Hmm, much like Seth, Scarlett herself has been a bit flubby with some her lines throughout tonight’s episode.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Crooked Teeth”


MR. WILLOUGHBY
(TIF), (RAD), (host) pine for yucky Mr. Willoughby in Jane Austen movie

— A huge Bill Brasky vibe to this sketch. This sketch is basically what the Bill Brasky sketches would be if the characters in it were dignified 19th-century women instead of drunk, loud, modern-day businessmen.
— As always, Rachel is so much fun playing Victorian-era women.
— While these ridiculous one-liners being spouted off about Mr. Willoughby don’t hold a candle to the ridiculous one-liners typically spouted off about Bill Brasky, they’re still pretty solid.
— I particularly like Tina’s line “Some say at night, he roams the fields performing lewdnesses on the livestock…but I believe it!”
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The streak of good episodes continues. I liked most of the sketches in this episode, one is a classic (Duluth Live), and one is seemingly forgotten among most SNL fans but a near-classic in my personal opinion (Once in a Lifetime Jewelers). This episode is also an example of one of the things I love about this season, and why this season is such a breath of fresh air from the dire season that preceded it: the refreshing and solid sketch concepts on display, such as the Submarine Affair sketch.


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

 


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jack Black)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Peter Sarsgaard