October 21, 2000 – Dana Carvey / The Wallflowers (S26 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THIRD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
undecided voters question debaters Al Gore (DAH) & George W. Bush (WIF)

— Parnell’s facial prosthetics as Jim Lehrer seem to get doughier and goofier-looking with each passing debate sketch.
— I can’t help but think that the woman seated behind Kattan (seen in the fourth screencap above) looks like a female Rob Schneider.
— I like Parnell-as-Jim-Lehrer’s sighing, head-shaking reactions to dumb things being said throughout this debate.
— Great to see Dana’s obligatory Bush Sr. appearance in this debate sketch.
— As always, Dana’s Bush is getting lots of laughs here. I even love how towards the end of his first spiel, he says “So to sum up…”, which was a regular thing Dana’s Bush always said towards the end of his address-to-the-nation sketches from the late 80s/early 90s.
— Ha, there goes Darrell’s Gore bringing up his famous lockbox again.
— I love Bush Sr. and his aides now flimsily disguising themselves as undecided Latino voters.
— Now Bush disguises as his wife Barbara, which is also funny.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Much like in the season premiere’s opening montage two episodes earlier, we get a credit for A Cartoon By Robert Smigel that ends up not even airing tonight, presumably due to the show running long.


MONOLOGUE
DAC does stand-up about presidential candidates’ mannerisms

— As always, Dana is making fantastic ad-libs towards the audience’s reactions at the beginning of this monologue.
— I absolutely love Dana doing Bush and Gore impressions, making me wonder what it would’ve been like if the Bush/Gore elections had occurred during Dana’s tenure as a cast member.
— Some interesting out-of-the-ordinary camera angles throughout this monologue, such as all the close-ups of Dana’s face when demonstrating various impressions, and shots of the audience whenever they applaud Dana’s impressions.
— I love how Dana’s now doing a Joe Lieberman impression.
— Dana’s Johnnie Cochran/Monopoly bit is great.
STARS: ****


MAGIC MOUTH
Magic Mouth ass-appliance converts flatulence into erudite conversation

— For a low-brow fart joke, this actually isn’t bad at all. A pretty funny ridiculous device to hide your farts. I especially like the device’s obvious mechanical voice that people are somehow supposed to believe is your own voice.
— Will: “Magic Mouth – it’s like having a professor up your butt.”
STARS: ***


THE DELICIOUS DISH
Margaret Jo & Terry welcome a teacher (DAC) besieged by gang activity

— This always-solid recurring sketch has been appearing so scarcely by this point.
— I like Molly’s stern, humorless delivery of “There’s nothing cartoonish about my religious beliefs.”
— I like seeing Dana appear in a Delicious Dish, as it feels interesting seeing a former cast member appearing in a newer recurring sketch from a current era, when it’s usually the other way around in episodes hosted by former cast members (as we’ll see in a certain popular returning Dana Carvey recurring sketch right after this).
— The high-pitched, soft-spoken voice that Dana’s using here sounds kinda familiar, as if I heard him previously use it in a sketch that I reviewed back when I covered Dana’s years as a cast member. I can’t put my finger on which sketch I’m thinking of. Perhaps it’s the Jason Priestley ice skating cold opening, where Dana played Scott Hamilton?
— Dana going on about the urban juvenile gang who terrorizes his neighborhood is very funny, especially when he starts getting worked up when talking about how he’s going to get even with the gang.
STARS: ****


CHURCH CHAT
Hillary Clinton (ANG), Anne Heche (CHK), Eminem (CHP)

— Always great to see this sketch return.
— A hilarious Indian analogy that Church Lady makes in regards to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s relationship, especially the line about Bill getting his “peace pipe” smoked.
— Kattan reprises his Anne Heche impression for the first time since way back in season 22 when he played her opposite Mark McKinney as Ellen DeGeneres, just to show you how long ago it was.
— I love Church Lady’s dig at Heche’s infamous wandering incident.
— The “Taco or wiener?” part of the Church Lady/Anne Heche interview has always stuck in my memory since this originally aired.
— Church Lady’s facial reaction to a profanity-filled clip being played of an Eminem song is priceless.
— Great ending with Church Lady doing a “The Real Slim Shady”-esque number, complete with Church Lady lookalikes surrounding her.
STARS: ****


HUNTING
George (DAC) seeks gravitas in George W. (WIF) Bush during a hunting trip

— I love that we get two appearances tonight from Dana and Will’s Bushes, this one being more in a similar vein to the cold opening that Dana and Will did as the Bushes in the preceding season’s Christopher Walken episode. Will’s Bush impression has really improved since then.
— I like that we get a return of the Bush-Sr.-slapping-Bush-Jr. gag from the last Bushes sketch with Will and Dana.
— A good dark bit with Bush Sr. contemplating shooting his son.
— SNL would later replace this sketch in reruns with the dress rehearsal version, which has a memorable blooper in which Dana fake-slaps Will at a much earlier point in the sketch than he was supposed to, causing Will to react by moving his head upward in a comically confused manner, before ad-libbing a line to Dana, in character: “You tried to hit me?”, which Dana responds to, in character, with “Thought I saw a fly there.” Then later in the sketch when Dana fake-slaps Will when he’s supposed to, Dana ad-libs in character, in a stern manner, “Now that time, it wasn’t a fly!”
STARS: ****


BAHA MEN
going to commercial, Baha Men [real] perform “Who Let The Dogs Out”

— Um… ooooookay.
— At least this shows that SNL is still trying different things with their format this many decades into their run.


WEEKEND UPDATE
Anna Nicole Smith (MOS) outlines her university’s gold-digging curriculum
opinion-gauger Adam McKay [real] comes off as a dangerous stranger
Robert DeNiro [real] responds to JIF’s review of Meet The Parents

— Parnell’s now doing the voice-over intro for Update, after the voice-over intro in the previous two Updates this season were done by a male with an unidentifiable voice.
— Tina’s doing tonight’s Update without her glasses, which I remember being an odd sight even at the time, considering the only two Updates that we had seen Tina do prior to this had her with glasses, but it ESPECIALLY comes off as an odd sight when re-watching this nowadays, after being so familiar with Tina doing Update with glasses for SIX SEASONS.
— I like Jimmy’s various jokes about a bulge that Al Gore is sporting in a picture.
— Molly doing a very typically Molly Shannon-esque “impression” of Anna Nicole Smith. Blah. I found this “impression” of hers a lot more tolerable in pre-taped form in that great Fanatic piece from the preceding season’s Ben Affleck episode. In tonight’s live Update commentary, all that Molly’s Anna Nicole impression is making me do is wonder two things to myself: 1) why couldn’t Molly have left with Cheri, and 2) exactly how many more episodes do I have left until Molly mercifully leaves mid-season? It’s been pretty rough watching her go downhill these last few seasons.
— Tina’s whole rant about French whores is great, and I remember made me wonder back when this originally aired if Tina was the writer behind the great Old French Whore sketch from season 23’s Garth Brooks episode. As we know now, she indeed was.
— Interesting sudden use of a drop-down news screen behind Jimmy and Tina.
— SNL writer Adam McKay gets his own remote segment.
— Good remote segment from McKay so far, especially him trying to lure kids into his van.
— UCB’s Matt Walsh makes a funny appearance as an angry parent kicking McKay’s ass.
— Adam McKay, to Matt Walsh, regarding the kids: “I just want them to go in my van so I can film them talking about Bush!”
— A Robert DeNiro cameo, back when Robert DeNiro appearances on SNL still had a level of excitement.
— More interesting camera angles tonight, with the odd tight close-ups of Jimmy and DeNiro, respectively, at the beginning of DeNiro’s cameo (the last two above screencaps for this Weekend Update). SNL’s been doing a lot of experimenting with camera angles in tonight’s episode.
— I like Tina saying “You are on your own” when Jimmy asks her for help during DeNiro’s tense grilling of him.
— This DeNiro commentary is a prototypical example of how corny and tired a lot of SNL’s “a celebrity walks on and confronts a cast member who impersonates them” trope tends to be. There have been some examples where that trope actually worked well and provided good entertainment, but I can’t say this is one of them, in my opinion. Jimmy is coming off pretty charming in his reactions, though, especially after DeNiro signs off for him by saying “And I’m Jimmy Fallon” in a hokey, high-pitched voice. Am I remembering correctly that on Jimmy’s very first episode as host of Late Night, he and that night’s first guest, DeNiro, did a comedy bit that seemed to be based on this Update cameo of his, in which Jimmy and DeNiro read scripted lines as each other, with Jimmy doing his typical DeNiro impression and DeNiro using the same hokey, high-pitched voice that he imitated Jimmy with in tonight’s Update?
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sleepwalker”


VH1 VOGUE FASHION AWARDS
stars celebrate style superlatives

— Yikes, poor Jerry Minor, flubbing his first line in this sketch when trying to say the name Cuba Gooding Jr. SNL would later replace this portion of the sketch in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
— Maya’s Macy Gray impression is spot-on and funny.
— I like Kattan’s take on Dylan McDermott, especially him asking us to stare at his “package”.
— Tracy as a loud Samuel L. Jackson is cracking me up.
— A lot of then-recent SNL hosts and musical guests are being impersonated in this sketch: Cuba Gooding Jr., Macy Gray, Dylan McDermott, Sting…
— Rachel is hilarious in her impression of Cheb Mami during the Sting performance.
— A spot-on Sting impression from Jimmy.
— I can’t really judge the accuracy of Dana’s impression of Survivor’s Rudy Boesch, as I’ve never been a Survivor watcher, though I remember seeing a clip or two of Rudy back then on other shows. Dana’s performance is making me laugh here, though, plus I like the Super Fans-esque Chicago accent he’s using, which makes me wonder what it would’ve been like if Dana had played one of the Super Fans back when he was a cast member.
STARS: ***


PET CHICKEN SHOP
Ching Change receives financing for his Broadway play about chickens

 

— OH. NO.
— Why, why, why did Dana have to bring back this wretched character tonight? I don’t need to be reminded of how miserable it was for me to review these sketches back when I covered Dana’s first few seasons as a cast member.
— A cue card has made an accidental onscreen cameo just now (screencap below), which is somehow more interesting than the sketch itself is.

— This feels like Horatio’s first appearance all night. Man, his airtime has been pretty terrible so far this season.
— Horatio’s incredibly hammy, over-the-top performance is cracking me up in spite of myself. Dana can be seen cracking up at him at one point too.
— Oh, no, and now to make this already-awful Ching Change sketch even worse, we get that “Tomorrow” song from Annie that I despise with a fiery passion.
— The change of pace towards the end, showing a Broadway play starring chickens, is kinda funny, I admit.
— Aaaaaand my goodwill from the above Broadway chicken play bit immediately gets soured by Dana breaking out into that “Tomorrow” song AGAIN, as if hearing that song once in this sketch wasn’t bad enough.
— This has the dishonor of being the first sketch all season that I’m giving a rating under three stars to, though it’s certainly impressive that this season made it this long without having a sketch rated 1-2 stars by me.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hand Me Down”


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As expected, a solid episode with Dana Carvey as a host, though the episode’s quality gradually trailed off a little in the post-Update half. The first half of the show, minus the Magic Mouth commercial (which was still good), had an impressive long string of sketches that got a 4-star rating from me. Season 26 continues to do very well so far.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kate Hudson)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Charlize Theron. This is a very special episode for me, as it’s the very first episode I ever did a review of, back when I regularly did reviews of new SNL episodes right after they aired, for 14 long years. (Those reviews are archived at this site.)

November 2, 1996 – Chris Rock / The Wallflowers (S22 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FISHING DOCK
George Bush (DAC) prepares Bob Dole (NOM) to lose to Bill Clinton (DAH)

— After hosting the preceding episode, Dana Carvey immediately returns as a credited special guest tonight, as he will be appearing in a few sketches. I’m certainly not complaining about more Dana, but why is he appearing as a special guest just one week after he hosted? Does it have anything to do with the then-recent cancellation of his ABC show?
— Many funny lines from Dana’s George Bush to Norm’s Dole about how badly he’s going to lose the election on the upcoming Tuesday. I especially like the line “Bill’s gonna spank ya just like he was your daddy.”
— Norm is showing some genuine amusement towards Dana’s performance, as you can see Norm stifling his laughter at times throughout this cold opening.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
CSR does stand-up about Bill Clinton & sexual harassment

— Rock: “Every town’s got two malls: they got the white mall and the mall white people used to go to.”
— I love Rock detailing how he IS Bill Clinton because of how he can relate to Bill’s realistic problems.
— You can really see how much Rock has honed his act and onscreen persona after leaving the SNL cast. Throughout this monologue, he’s using what’s now known as his trademark loud, raspy stand-up voice, something that we almost never heard from him when he was an SNL cast member.
— Hoo, boy. Rock’s bit right now about how most sexual harassment claims are actually NOT sexual harassment will not sit well with a lot of people nowadays, especially in our current #MeToo climate. As I often do when reviewing old SNL things that would now be considered touchy by today’s standards, I’m trying to be fair by looking at this in the context of when it originally aired, so I won’t have my judgment clouded by changing PC standards. As I do that, I’m finding myself actually laughing at Rock’s sexual harassment material. It helps, though, that Rock had already been on such a roll in this monologue that nothing can ruin it for me.
— Hilarious bit from Rock about blind people being given seeing-eye dogs.
— Rock is a freakin’ riot in this monologue.
STARS: ****½


EXCEDRIL
to some, lack of medical evidence that Excedril relieves pain is a plus

— Very funny premise of there being no medical evidence to prove what Excedril can or can’t do.
— Stephen Colbert!
— Molly’s whole bit about using Excedril as a birth control is great, especially her line “I’m just glad I found a pain reliever that can kill the tiny babies living in my husband’s sperm.”
STARS: ****


I’M CHILLIN’
Onski plugs I Ain’t Tryin’ To Hear That home pregnancy test

— Oh, what are you doing, SNL? You know you can’t do this sketch without Farley.
— Jim seems like an odd choice to replace Chris Farley in this sketch.
— At least we get Rock’s usual funny long-winded rhyming intro to his co-host.
— A good laugh from the sponsor, “I Ain’t Tryin’ To Hear That” home pregnancy test for men.
— It’s mentioned that B-Fats, Chris Farley’s character from this recurring sketch, was killed in a rap war. I understand that they had to come up with a reason for B-Fats’ absence in tonight’s sketch, but was killing him off really necessary? After all, both Rock AND Farley would later end up appearing together on SNL again when Farley hosts in the following season.
— Boy, Jim’s performance in this is not good. Regardless of whether or not he’s convincing in his attempt to sound urban, his characterization isn’t remotely funny.
STARS: **½


WOMAN, BLACK GUY, GAY MAN
in Dole ad, woman (MOS), black guy (TIM), gay man (MAM) say “don’t vote”

— I like the characters casually referring to each other as the generic type of person they were each introduced as (e.g. black guy).
— Great twist at the end that this ad was paid for by the Dole/Kemp campaign.
STARS: ***½


THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Jesse Jackson (DAH), Tori Spelling (CHO), Mike Tyson (TRM)

— Now we get the return of the only other big recurring sketch Rock had during his SNL tenure.
— Feels weird hearing somebody other than Phil Hartman do the voice-over during the Nat X opening title sequence. Mark takes over as the voice-over tonight, but he doesn’t have Phil’s great knack for voice-overs.
— In between all the familiar, obligatory Nat X beats (the White Man Cam, Top 5 list), we get an interesting topical segment with Nat X talking about O.J.
— As always, Darrell’s Jesse Jackson impression is cracking me up. I also love Nat X’s response to Jesse’s long-winded “x” spiel.
— When Cheri’s Tori Spelling tells Nat X that he looks like Dwayne from What’s Happenin’, I like Nat angrily responding “Don’t you talk about Heywood Nelson!”
— Tracy’s Mike Tyson impression is very funny.
STARS: ***½


MARK RUSSELL’S ELECTION YEAR COMEDY SPECIAL
Mark Russell’s (MAM) special features impish lyrics

— Mark McKinney FINALLY gets his first comedic lead role of the entire season. Jesus Christ, it’s about time.
— I don’t have much familiarity with Mark Russell, but I get the gist of him from this SNL parody.
— Mark’s performance in this is great, and he’s giving me some good laughs with his intentionally cheesy performance.
— I like the newspaper reviews, especially the one from Christian Science Monitor: “We’ve reconsidered our concept of God, and it just might be Mark Russell!”
STARS: ***½


CHARLES GRODIN
Abe Vigoda [real] & other celebrity guests opine

— Dana debuts a new SNL impression.
— I’ve been told that, much like the Tom Brokaw sketch from the preceding episode, this sketch was originally written for Dana’s ABC show.
— I’m not sure about the accuracy of Dana’s Charles Grodin impression, but it sure is funny, especially when he just freezes and stares blankly off-camera for a few seconds.
— I love Darrell-as-Richard-Dreyfuss’ angry ranting ending with “…until it swims up behind you and bites you IN THE ASS!!!”
— Rock’s Nipsey Russell impression is much funnier here than it was the one time he played him on Weekend Update during his SNL tenure.
— I love the camera briefly cutting to Abe Vigoda only to show him say “Clinton’s a schmuck!”
STARS: ***½


WEEKEND UPDATE

— I love the audience’s taken-aback, unsure reaction to Norm’s punchline “He’s the guy who killed Vince Foster.”
— Tonight’s overall Update had no guest commentaries at all, but I’ve noticed that those usually turn out to be among my favorite Norm Updates.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Headlight”


TV FUNHOUSE
“Queen of Terror” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo thwarts Serena’s scheme

— The Ambiguously Gay Duo officially become recurring.
— Mayor: “Ace and Gary are on it.” Cop: “When they’re not on each other.”
— I like Big Head being called out on how obsessed he is with Ace and Gary’s ambiguous gayness.
— Like last time, we get some hilarious suggestive homoerotic visuals from Ace and Gary, especially their penis-shaped car squeezing between two big boulders that collectively resemble a butt.
STARS: ****


SPEECH PREP
Bob Dole (NOM) rehearses his mean-spirited victory & concession speeches
LOM tells NOM it’s time to retire the Bob Dole impression

— I like Ana’s Elizabeth Dole telling Norm’s Dole, with a smile, “On Tuesday, you’re gonna get your ass handed to you on a silver platter.”
— Another funny line from Ana’s Elizabeth Dole: “This isn’t the man I halfway fell in love with.”
— The fourth wall has been broken with Lorne suddenly entering the scene and saying “It’s over, Norm”, letting Norm know that his services as a Dole impersonator will no longer be needed. I like Lorne saying “I got the call yesterday”, regarding the election results, when voting hasn’t even taken place yet.
— I love the clip show montage of Norm’s Dole impression, especially the random fake clips added in of Norm’s Dole doing insane things, such as running away from an elephant, getting whipped by a Nazi dominatrix, and biting off a chicken’s head.
— This sketch ends with Norm saying “At least I still got Update” and Lorne responding “Actually, Norm, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.” Yikes. I’m sure that was just intended as a throwaway joke, but it’s eerily prescient, considering what ends up happening to Norm in the middle of the following season.
STARS: ***½


COLLEGE GRADUATE
to his dad (CSR), college-educated (TIM)’s simple acts are affronts

— Feels weird that this is Rock’s first sketch appearance since the first half of the show.
— The premise started out a bit slow and repetitive, but it’s getting increasingly funnier when it gets to the point where Rock is surprised at Tim knowing how to use the phone, saying “We didn’t know what the hell that thing was, we let it ring for years and years.”
— Funny bit with Rock responding to Tim’s use of the word “thesaurus” by saying “Boy, you curse at me again, I’ll whoop your ass!”
STARS: ***


WEDDING TOAST
music teacher couple Marty (WIF) & Bobbi (ANG) sing a pseudo-soul medley

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— You can tell this is the first Culps sketch, because the way they were introduced by Jim at the beginning of tonight’s sketch is different from how the Culps are usually introduced at the beginning of their sketches.
— Until now, Will has surprisingly been almost non-existent tonight. In fact, this has been a light night for quite a number of cast members. Hell, Chris Kattan doesn’t even appear AT ALL. He was almost non-existent in the last episode too. His airtime has surprisingly been in a slump lately. I guess I can’t complain about that, after how he annoyed me with his two big sketches (AT&T Operators and Hollywood Party) in the last episode he received a normal amount of airtime in (Bill Pullman). I generally like Chris in these early seasons of his, though. It’s his later seasons where I can’t stand him.
— A very funny detailed look for Will’s character.
— Right out of the gate, Will and Ana have such a good handle on their characters, and their delivery and low-key performances are tickling me. I wonder if Will and Ana already developed these characters at The Groundlings.
— This is the very first time on SNL where Ana gets to display her fantastic singing voice.
— I like hearing the Culps sing operatic-sounding versions of contemporary hit songs. Their medley tonight is increasingly fun, especially their “You’re Gonna Miss My Lovin’” number.
— Another amusing number from the Culps, with their operatic version of Sexual Healing.
— The Culps would go on to basically be to 90s SNL what the Sweeney Sisters were to 80s SNL and what Nick the Lounge Singer was to 70s SNL. I wonder why the 2000s and 2010s don’t have any recurring characters in that vein.
STARS: ***½


RUSSELL SIMMONS’ DEF EMERGENCY ROOM JAM
foul-mouthed physicians

— A sister sketch to the Def Magic Show Jam sketch from Rock’s years as a cast member.
— Rock’s bleep-filled lines are freakin’ priceless.
— Overall, brief but hilarious. I liked this even more than the Def Magic Show Jam sketch. The fast pacing of this worked, and something about the erratic camera work added to the humor.
STARS: ****½


PERSPECTIVES
Lionel Osbourne talks with Million Man Marcher (CSR)

— This is the first and only sketch all night where Rock uses his natural soft-spoken voice. Feels weird hearing it after a night full of him using his loud, raspy stand-up voice in every sketch.
— In Tim’s rarely-seen “Best Of” special, they show a snippet of the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, in which Tim and Rock keep uncontrollably cracking up, and their performances are much more loose. At one point during that, Rock even responds to Lionel Osborne’s question of how many men were at the Million Man March by saying “A million, ya dumb fuck!”, then looking into the camera and humorously saying in a mock-insincere voice “I’m sorry!”
— So far, this isn’t quite as funny as the usual Perspectives installments.
— A laugh from Rock saying “No Asians” when he and Lionel Osborne are talking about who can join Rock’s organization.
— When talking about his sons, Rock says in a straightforward manner “My other son, Trey, is dead.” In the aforementioned dress rehearsal version of this sketch shown in Tim’s “Best Of”, Rock delivers that line very differently, in a much more comedic manner: “And my other son, Trey…. well… TREY DEAD!”, the latter two words being delivered in Rock’s trademark raspy stand-up voice.
— I like Lionel Osborne’s constant confusion over the Million Man March.
— Funny ending with Lionel proudly announcing that his show will be airing in prime-time for the first time ever, only to immediately be handed a paper informing him that his show will instead be on at its regular time at 4:42 in the AM.
— Overall, a sketch with a slow first half, but a better second half. Still not quite as strong as the usual Perspectives installments.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS


IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode. I liked just about every sketch tonight (I gave a somewhat low rating to I’m Chillin’, but that was only because Jim Breuer’s lousy performance dragged it down for me). Much like Damon Wayans when he hosted in season 20, it was great to see SNL heavily utilizing Chris Rock to his full potential for once, after how underused he was as a cast member. It was also interesting seeing him come back to SNL with a more defined comedic persona.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
The third of five consecutive episodes hosted by a former cast member. This time, it’s Robert Downey Jr.