Tag: Will Ferrell

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May 12, 2012 – Will Ferrell / Usher (S37 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BIDEN’S ROOM
petulant Joe Biden (JAS) commiserates with his buddy George W. Bush (WIF)

— Not only is this merely the third and final appearance Fred’s Obama has made all season, but it’s the final appearance his Obama ever makes. At the very beginning of the following season, the Obama impression would (rightfully) be handed off to the then-newly-promoted-to-repertory-player Jay Pharoah. Good fucking riddance to Fredbama. Four-and-a-half damn seasons I had to suffer through that lousy impression.
— Good conceit with the “sympathetic father/angsty adolescent son” dynamic between Fred’s Obama and Jason’s Joe Biden. An interesting and fun new angle on Jason’s Biden impression, and he’s pulling this new take on Biden off well.
— Fred’s Obama: “You’re a great vice president.” Jason’s Biden, in an aggravated manner: “Well, you know, some people say I’d make a great president!” In hindsight, it feels quite significant hearing that in 2020, for obvious reasons.
— The very welcome return of Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush. HUGE applause from the audience in response to him appearing in this.
— I like this pairing of Jason and Will, as well as the concept of Bush being Biden’s imaginary friend. Lots of very fun interplay between them here.
— Will’s Bush impression actually seems more accurate than usual tonight, with him imitating Bush’s distinct hand mannerisms, something Will never did in previous Bush appearances.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
for Mother’s Day, WIF goes script-free to express love for his mom [real]

— I’ve been noticing that Will’s voice seems hoarse throughout this episode. I think I recall it later being revealed that he was a bit under the weather the week of this episode, but I can’t remember for sure.
— Will’s mother, Kay, makes her third SNL appearance. The previous two were: 1) in SNL’s Mother’s Day Special from 2001, back when Will was still a current cast member, and 2) during the goodnights of Will’s season 30 hosting stint, where Will’s mother, father, and wife were shown seated together in the audience.
— I remember, when this originally aired, an online SNL fan pointed out that Will looks as old as his mother. Heh, I hate to say it, but it’s true. Will has always looked older than his actual age, even when he was an SNL cast member (rather hard to believe he was only 28 when he first joined), but I’ve noticed he’s especially seemed to age A LOT in recent years, starting somewhere around this time in 2012. Hell, he’s a year younger than then-current cast member Fred Armisen, yet you sure couldn’t tell from looking at them in this episode.
— Funny bit with Will’s supposedly off-the-cuff “Wally, lower the cue cards!” being seen on the cue cards that Wally lowers.
— A very funny topical reference to the Time Magazine breastfeeding cover photo controversy.
— Some pretty good laughs from Will’s clumsy, awkward Mother’s Day speech.
— A genuinely sweet ending between Will and his mom.
STARS: ***½


ONE-A-DAY EXTRA STRENGTH NASAFLU
(KRW) hopes Nasaflu will put an end her husband’s (WIF) sneeze-yells

— At least Will’s naturally-hoarse voice this week is fitting for a commercial where he plays someone with a cold. Is that why they wrote this?
— Will’s odd-sounding sneeze is hilarious.
— Kristen’s playing a good straight man here. Feels interesting, by the way, seeing this particular pairing of her and Will, especially in the homestretch of her SNL tenure.
— Okay, this is starting to get a little old, despite Will’s amusing sneeze-yells. The writing is VERY thin.
— Good ending.
STARS: **½


ALTERNATIVE PROM
Marty & Bobbi perform a medley at an LGBT prom

— A surprise return of The Culps AND Ana Gasteyer! I’m glad we’re seeing these solid Culps characters again, 10 years after their last appearance.
— Given how heavily associated these characters are with the late 90s and early 00s, it’s an interesting novelty hearing them make mention of modern technology like WiFi and mobile devices.
— It’s also an interesting and fun novelty seeing The Culps cover popular 2010s songs during their usual medley.
— Even after a 10-year hiatus from playing these characters, Will and Ana are just as great at playing them as they’ve always been.
— Overall, the usual quality entertainment from these Culps sketches, further heightened by how refreshing it felt seeing these characters after such a long absence.
STARS: ****


STAY FREE MAXI PADS LADIES LONG DRIVE CHAMPIONSHIP 1994
Pete Twinkle & Greg Stink cover female golfers during O.J. Simpson chase

— Another surprise return of a recurring sketch co-starring a former cast member. Feels very random seeing the return of both this sketch and Will Forte tonight of all episodes, but I would certainly never NOT welcome a Forte cameo with open arms. I also love that we’re getting a cameo from him in a Will Ferrell-hosted episode, as it gives us a gathering of the two legendary Wills of SNL history. Too bad we don’t get any direct interaction between them tonight, though.
— Speaking of Forte, it’s great hearing his cameo actually receive the audience applause it deserves, unlike his cameo in the preceding season’s Elton John episode, which was frustratingly met with dead silence from the audience.
— Interesting change of pace with this recurring sketch suddenly turning into a breaking news special report of the O.J. Simpson car chase, complete with SNL showing the famous footage of the White Ford Bronco speeding down the highway. Footage of that being used in a comedic context always automatically cracks me up.
— Interesting seeing then-writer Mike O’Brien in such a visible, front-and-center (albeit brief and silent) appearance.
— Decent way to work Ferrell into this sketch. I’m glad they didn’t resort to just lazily having him dress in drag to play Kristen’s female opponent.
— Jason: “When your uterine lining looks like the elevator from The Shining!…………(*long pause*)………..Stay Free Maxi Pads!” Other than that great one-liner, the feminine hygiene slogan one-liners from Jason aren’t quite as strong or standout as they usually are in this recurring sketch.
STARS: ***½


THE 100TH DIGITAL SHORT
ANS, Jorma Taccone & Justin Bieber [real] celebrate greatest hits of 100 Digital Shorts

— Ah, a celebration of this being the 100th Digital Short.
— Speaking of which, SNL Archives claims this is actually the 101st Digital Short (see here). Which short are they including that Lonely Island themselves aren’t? Not everything that SNL Archives and Lonely Island count as a Digital Short was actually billed on the air as a Digital Short (e.g. the Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad, and at least one of the Virgania Horsen pieces), which further adds to the confusion over what does and doesn’t count as a Digital Short.
— WHAT THE FUCK??!?? Are you kidding me, SNL?!? Justin Motherfucking Bie– oh, forget it. Bieber’s not worth me tainting my review of this wonderful celebratory 100th Digital Short by launching into another one of my anti-Bieber bitchfests.
— Great throughline, with the “Tonight, we’re going to suck our own (*bleep*)” gag.
— Reba! Shy Ronnie! Punched Before Eating! Ras Trent! Laser Cats! Threw It On The Ground! And many more! I am absolutely LOVING all of these returns and callbacks, and I also love how it’s reminding me of when I reviewed each of those shorts.
— Speaking of Reba, I kinda mentioned this in my review of the preceding episode, but I think Kenan’s Reba appearance in this short ends up being his final drag role on SNL before he would publicly take a stand in 2013 against dressing in drag on SNL. We’ll see, though.
— Lots of hilarious fast-moving gags and callbacks all throughout this. So fast-moving, that it’s hard for me to catch them all in one straight viewing.
— Fantastic cameos from several celebrities who starred in an iconic Digital Short in the past.
— Hilarious bit with Will crashing this short to “suck his own dong”.
— Will: “Three Best Ofs – count ’em, bitch!”
— Ah, there’s Akiva, showing up with Andy and Jorma during the conclusion of the song. Where the heck was he before that? I guess he wasn’t able to make it to the filming of those portions of this short. At least his replacement, Bieber, managed not to ruin this short.
— Overall, wow. An absolutely phenomenal and epic celebration. Knowing in hindsight that this ends up being the second-to-last Digital Short before Andy’s departure from SNL also adds to the meaningful feel. Speaking of which, Lazy Sunday, the short that the following episode’s Digital Short will be a special sequel to, wasn’t mentioned AT ALL in this 100th Digital Short celebration. This omission baffled SNL fans at the time, given Lazy Sunday’s popularity and huge importance in how it was the first Digital Short to become an online sensation, but knowing in hindsight about the following episode’s short, I guess that’s why they intentionally left out a Lazy Sunday mention in this 100th short.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Scream”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM says “Really!?!” to Time Magazine breastfeeding cover

Nicolas Cage (ANS) pictures himself in Liam Neeson’s [real] movie roles

— Another solo-Seth-helmed edition of “Really?!?”, though unlike the other solo Seth ones, the title screen of this one doesn’t have the words “with Seth” under the word “Really?!?”. It looks naked without it.
— Meh, some of Seth’s quips during tonight’s “Really” segment are pretty corny. His delivery is fairly on-point here, at least.
— Hmm, is it really necessary to continue the Get In The Cage segment AFTER the epic one with the real Nicolas Cage? That one seemed like the logical time to retire this segment. (Then again, SNL is the same show that continued the Joe Pesci Show and Judge Judy recurring sketches from the late 90s AFTER the respective cameos from the real Joe Pesci and Judge Judy.)
— Ugh, there goes Seth’s annoying habit of loudly giggling off-camera during guest commentaries, this time during the Get In The Cage bit.
— Andy-as-Cage’s “Puerto Rican Beetlejuice” line was particularly funny. The rest of this commentary, on the other hand? Meh. Old hat. It’s washing right over me.
— Hmm, another Germany joke from Seth? Are we in for another instance of Seth working in a fun German accent after the punchline?
— Yep, there it is.
STARS: **½


THE 2012 FUNKYTOWN DEBATE
groovy mayoral candidates (KET) & (WIF) face off

— Certainly a fun-seeming and unusual premise.
— I mentioned before that it feels odd in hindsight seeing the SNL tenure of the then-new Kate overlap with that of the on-her-way-out Kristen, but the same goes for seeing Kate paired with the also-on-her-way-out-whether-she-knows-it-or-not Abby.
— Fitting use of Usher.
— I’m not exactly finding myself laughing at this sketch so far.
— Holy hell at that…that…that voice Fred’s doing.
— Yeah, I’m currently three minutes into this sketch, and I’m still patiently waiting for the actual humor or entertainment to finally start.
— I remember, when this originally aired, a number of online SNL fans were bothered by the goofy, bug-eyed camera-mugging Kate kept doing when she and Abby were seen dancing in the background throughout this sketch whenever Taran was shown speaking. There’s been one or two other sketches in this early stage of Kate’s SNL tenure where I’ve also noticed her making unnecessary “funny” faces at the camera when somebody else is speaking. Kinda disheartening to see that her habit of mugging the camera for attention and audience approval, which is something I see modern-day online SNL fans complain about Kate often doing in 2020 as if that’s a new habit she recently developed due to staying at SNL too long, was actually a habit of hers right from the very beginning.
— Yet another Kristen Wiig entrance that receives automatic applause from the audience.
— Jay making his entrance in a diaper and pacifier kinda made me chuckle, at least, but that’s probably just me being desperate for an actual laugh by this point of the sketch. And I can’t help but feel kinda bad that making a non-speaking walk-on in a diaper and pacifier is the ONLY thing Jay does in this entire episode. After his huge upswing in airtime in the Josh Brolin episode, Jay’s airtime has unfortunately gone right back in the crapper. He does almost NOTHING in the final three episodes of this season.
— Overall, what a colossal disappointment. Sure, this sketch’s atmosphere, performances, and costumes were fun on the surface, but that got extremely old once you realized this sketch had absolutely NOTHING ELSE going for it. Not sure why that works for What Up With That, but not this sketch. Then again, What Up With That has actual JOKES.
STARS: *


BROADWAY SIZZLE
(WIF) accidentally sings women’s parts on cable access

— Hmm, SNL debuting a potentially-recurring Kristen Wiig-co-starring TV show sketch in Kristen’s second-to-last episode as a cast member? A questionable decision, to say the least.
— Speaking of which, SNL later does try to bring this sketch back in the following season’s Martin Short-hosted episode, but the sketch doesn’t make it past dress rehearsal that night. In that version, Kristen’s co-host character is replaced by a new co-host character played by Kate.
— Once again, as I’ve said in some past episode reviews, I know it ain’t right to judge a non-recurring sketch by its first 30 seconds, but my god, I’m already getting the horrible feeling that I’m going to be bored to death by this Broadway-themed sketch. The mixture of James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette’s typical style of writing (I can’t remember if this was written by both of them or just Anderson when I once saw the writing credits for this sketch long ago) and the Broadway-centric humor is a deadly combo for my comedic tastes.
— I just realized that this sketch is surprisingly Bill’s first appearance all night. Geez. Really, SNL? And unfortunately, his first appearance of the night has to be in this laughless, dull tripe. Hell, knowing Anderson and/or Sublette, I’m surprised they didn’t have Fred in Bill’s role in this sketch, as that casting choice would’ve been completely on-brand for them, for various reasons.
— Oof. Not even Will’s comical delivery can save this dull-as-hell material.
— Overall, not a single fucking laugh from me at any point during this sketch. Man, what the hell has happened to tonight’s episode ever since Update ended?
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Climax”


ANNIVERSARY TOAST
Hamilton & other unwanted toasters mar a 25th wedding anniversary party

— A random return of the “wedding/funeral speeches” sketches from all the way back in season 34, last done in that season’s finale that Will hosted, though he’s playing a different character in tonight’s installment of the sketch than the one he played in the installment from the season 34 finale.
— Will: “You loaned me money for chef’s school. Fast-forward 3 months, now I’m a professional psychic.”
— Bobby’s “WHAAAAAAAAT?!? (*mic drop*)” routine in this recurring sketch manages to get me every time.
— Great to see the return of Will Forte’s Hamilton character. As usual, his lines are killer.
— Didn’t care for Kristen’s ending line, “There’s a finger in my salad!”, as it felt like a very inferior variation of her funnier “There’s a body in the bathroom!” ending line from the first installment of this sketch.
— Overall, this sketch as a whole was okay, but paled in comparison to the two previous installments of this sketch.
STARS: ***


ALMOST PIZZA
Rerun from 4/7/12


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A certainly fine pre-Weekend Update half, including some really strong stuff, but the episode was never the same once Update ended. Hell, even Update itself was kinda meh, but Update’s been in a slump these last few episodes in general. Reminiscent of this season’s Lindsay Lohan and Jonah Hill episodes, this episode suddenly crashed-and-burned HARD with two horrible segments that immediately followed Update. And even the rebound the show experienced afterwards with the 10-to-1 sketch was only mild and that sketch wasn’t quite as funny as previous installments of it were. Despite reportedly being a bit under the weather, Will Ferrell provided plenty of laughs in this episode and was as strong as ever when stepping into his old characters/impressions (Marty Culp, George W. Bush), but not even he could do anything for the aforementioned doomed first two post-Update sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The 100th Digital Short
Biden’s Room
Alternative Prom
Stay Free Maxi Pads Ladies Long Drive Championship 1994
Monologue
Anniversary Toast
One-A-Day Extra Strength Nasaflu
Weekend Update
The 2012 Funkytown Debate
Broadway Sizzle


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Eli Manning)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 37 comes to an end, with host Mick Jagger. It’s the final episode for veterans Andy Samberg & Kristen Wiig, as well as four-season cast member Abby Elliott.

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May 16, 2009 – Will Ferrell / Green Day (S34 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CHENEY IN MAKEUP
George W. Bush (WIF) asks Dick Cheney (DAH) to relinquish the spotlight

— Nice to see Darrell front-and-center in the cold opening of his final episode, especially given how much he’s disappeared in the second half of this season (hell, he didn’t even make any appearances in his penultimate episode).
— Darrell’s departure is quite a big deal in my SNL project, because, as I said in a recent review, it feels like I’ve been covering Darrell’s tenure forever by this point. To me, it feels almost like ages ago when I covered the season 21 premiere (Darrell’s first episode), even though it was only last October. (I guess reviewing episodes on a daily basis for such a long time does that to you.) Prior to this stage of my SNL project, I had never covered a cast member who’s consecutive years as a cast member lasted as long as this. As I said in my review of Darrell’s very first episode (link here), “Feels kinda odd seeing Darrell in his debut, knowing how very long we’re going to be seeing him in the cast. Even just saying the words ‘newbie Darrell Hammond’ feels weird.”
— Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush impression is always a welcome return.
— It’s very fitting that Darrell’s final episode turns out to be hosted by Will Ferrell, as they both joined the cast together during SNL’s big overhaul in 1995, and spent many years as castmates. For that reason, it’s charming seeing them interact with each other all throughout this particular cold opening.
— SNL’s been making quite a lot of references to the ShamWow guy around this point of the season, serving in hindsight as a time capsule of when those ShamWow commercials were prevalent.
— As usual, lots of funny lines from Ferrell’s Bush.
— I love Ferrell-as-Bush’s mention to Darrell’s Cheney of “the time you were dead for three days”, which we’re told was hidden from the public when it occurred.
— Good to see Darrell get one last LFNY as a cast member.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Tony-nominee WIF gets unwanted laughs while performing a dramatic scene

— This is the second consecutive monologue in which the host ad-libs a humorous “I love you, too” to an audience member who shouts “I love you!” Unlike Justin Timberlake in the preceding monologue, Ferrell adds on to his “I love you, too…” with a “…more than you know.”
— The black-and-white photos of Ferrell doing theater are very funny.
— Fun concept of Ferrell doing a mock-dramatic one-man play.
— I like Ferrell’s occasional “Please no laughter” requests to the laughing audience.
— A very funny exaggerated Irish accent Ferrell’s using when speaking as the mother in the play.
STARS: ****


WADE BLASINGAME

— A surprising rerun of a fantastic older commercial from Ferrell’s years as a cast member. I like the idea of doing that, and kinda wish SNL would do it more often whenever a former cast member hosts. They did do it at least once prior to this, when they re-aired the classic original-era Swill commercial when Bill Murray hosted in season 24.
— Seeing this old footage of early 2000s-era cast members casually airing in a 2009 episode feels odd, but fascinating and fun (which is part of the reason why I feel it would be fun if SNL regularly re-aired an old commercial whenever a former cast member hosts, especially if it’s a commercial that features a lot of that cast member’s castmates from back in the day, like this Wade Blasingame commercial does). Also, seeing the still-on-the-show-in-2009 Darrell Hammond among these long-departed early 2000s-era cast members makes you realize just how freakin’ long he’s been on the show (and he was already a 6-year SNL veteran when this Wade Blasingame commercial originally aired!).
— Tonight’s airing of this old commercial cuts out a testimonial from Ana Gasteyer. No idea why. Would’ve been nice to see her among the other early 2000s-era cast members seen in this.


THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
(WIF) avoids unwanted attention of Dooneese

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— This is the first Lawrence Welk Show/Dooneese sketch to have a male singer who the sisters perform with, which would go on to be a regular aspect of these sketches.
— Ferrell demonstrates his ability to get good laughs out of something as little as singing in a cheesy, cocky manner.
— This worked for me as a one-off sketch earlier this season, but the whole Dooneese routine feels very been-there-done-that in this second installment. Doesn’t work as a recurring sketch.
— This even ends the EXACT SAME WAY as the first installment, with Dooneese cheerily grabbing at the bubbles with her tiny hands.
STARS: **


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Kathie Lee Gifford (KRW), Burt Reynolds (NOM), Tom Hanks [real]

— The return of a legendary recurring sketch, and also the final appearance it would make in a regular SNL episode, as of 2020. (The only remaining appearance, as of 2020, is in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.)
— Fitting to have this sketch appear in Darrell’s final episode.
— I remember the inclusion of Kristen’s Kathie Lee Gifford impression in this sketch drove me (and a number of other online SNL fans) nuts back when this originally aired, as I couldn’t fucking STAND Kristen’s Kathie Lee impression back then and I felt the inclusion of it in this sketch was further proof of SNL’s growing favoritism towards and extreme over-utilization of Kristen. However, after having recently reviewed the Today sketch from two episodes prior to this, I’ve begun to warm up to Kristen’s Kathie Lee, so hopefully, I’ll have a more positive reception to her in this sketch.
— TOM HANKS!!! Randomly playing himself as a ridiculously dumb contestant! Absolutely brilliant idea.
— After his opening slam to Ferrell’s Alex Trebek, Darrell’s Sean Connery exclaims “Pow!”, which was a random new catchphrase of his in Shia LaBeouf’s season 33 monologue, though Darrell doesn’t deliver it quite as strong tonight, because he was distracted by a gaffe in which the wire on his pen got tangled on his arm.
— Uh-oh. I can already tell as soon as the “Catch These Men” category has been shown what dirty phrase it will be misread as by Darrell’s Connery later in this sketch (“Catch The Semen”). On one hand, I did already watch this sketch once before, back when it originally aired, so maybe that’s why I was able to pick out the dirty phrase so quickly in my current viewing, but on the other hand, I dunno, “Catch These Men”/“Catch The Semen” seems like a really obvious joke, and feels kinda lazy compared to funnier dirty category misreadings in other Celebrity Jeopardy sketches.
— Whaaaa? A contestant actually choosing the perpetual category Potent Potables??? That’s a first.
— I love Ferrell’s Trebek saying to Tom Hanks, after witnessing some of his idiocy, “I had such high hopes for you.”
— My newfound goodwill towards Kristen’s Kathie Lee has thankfully carried over into this sketch, as she’s not bothering me in this. However, her Kathie Lee shtick still doesn’t compare to the usual greatness from most of the contestants within these Celebrity Jeopardy sketches over the years. It feels a tad out of place here.
— And there’s the predictable and very meh “Catch The Semen” misreading. I did, however, get a laugh from Darrell’s Connery asking, during that gag, “Is that what the mustache is for, Trebek?”
— Whenever the camera cuts to Tom Hanks, I love Ferrell’s Trebek saying stuff like “Aaaaaaand he has his hand caught in a pickle jar” and “Aaaaaand he’s caught in a dry cleaning bag.” The latter bit with the dry cleaning bag is particularly fucking HILARIOUS. Tom’s facial expressions inside the plastic bag are comedy gold.
— Oh, fuck yeah! NORM MACDONALD returning out of nowhere as Burt Reynolds!!!! As if this sketch weren’t already so much fun. It’s too bad there have been some mild shortcomings in this sketch, because so many epic things about this sketch belong in a prime, A+ Celebrity Jeopardy.
— Every single moment of the Hanks stuff is so fucking classic. He’s selling the HELL out of this so perfectly.
— When Ferrell’s Trebek is walking away from Tom after Tom’s Final Jeopardy bit, I, as an SNL nerd, absolutely love the detail of Tom saying (in an apparent ad-lib) “Sibilance” into his pen, as a callback to an oddly memorable detail in the classic Wayne’s World Meets Aerosmith sketch that Tom appeared in in his season 15 hosting stint.
— Hilarious how Norm’s randomly-appearing Burt Reynolds has randomly disappeared during the Final Jeopardy segment, and Darrell’s Connery claims to a confused Ferrell-as-Trebek that Reynolds was never here to begin with.
STARS: ****½


INSIDE THE NBA
Charles Barkley (KET) loves (WIF)’s on-screen super promo

— In hindsight, it’s feels odd and empty to see that Inside The NBA apparently only had Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley as its hosts back in these days, before the line-up became a very popular quartet with the addition of Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.
— An interesting and rather unique use of an SNL host. This is the type of thing that Ferrell can effortlessly make very funny.
— Fun conceit with Kenan-as-Charles-Barkley’s fascination with the corny Mark promos that are slowly taking over this Inside The NBA broadcast.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Know Your Enemy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM & AMP say “Really!?!” to Arizona State’s self-importance

the ghost of Harry Caray (WIF) fails to discuss steroids in baseball

— As a special occasion for this season finale, Seth welcomes back Amy Poehler (making her first SNL appearance since leaving the cast in December of this season) as tonight’s special guest co-anchor.
— Feels odd seeing Amy deliver Update jokes again after I’ve gotten so used to the solo Seth Meyers era of Update.
— Another reminder that we’re in the early stages of the Twitter era, with Seth’s First Twitter From Space joke.
— Good to see a Seth & Amy edition of “Really?!?”, especially after how odd it felt seeing Seth do one by himself earlier this season.
— This “Really?!?” segment isn’t working quite as well for me as usual, but I’m still getting a decent amount of laughs.
— Yesssss! The return of Ferrell’s Harry Caray, this time as a ghost, after his last appearance (way back in 1998) humorously had him still appearing alive despite acknowledging that he died.
— Very funny bit from Ferrell’s Caray about how the Predator would make a great ballplayer.
— Another great bit from Ferrell’s Caray about his meeting with “Pete Rose” in heaven.
— I like Seth’s reaction to his own Harrison Ford/Chewbacca joke.
STARS: ***


REMEMBRANCES
at a funeral, eulogies by Glenda Goodwin & others fail to pay respect

— A funeral-themed variation of the wedding toasts sketch from the Hugh Laurie episode earlier this season.
— I love the odd detail of Bill requesting that whoever has his missing watch place it inside an Ugg boot on top of the casket.
— Ha, Graham Yost, a strangely perfect name for a Will Ferrell character.
— Funny speech from Kristen’s oxygen tank lady character.
— Always welcome to see Forte’s Hamilton character, who always kills it in these sketches.
— Hamilton, after mentioning the full name of our president, Barack Hussein Obama: “I say his middle name because it matters.”
— I love how Hamilton’s speech randomly ends with “I took the watch”, as a callback to Bill’s missing watch.
— Despite just being an exact carbon copy of what he did in the aforementioned wedding toasts sketch, Bobby’s “WHAAAAAAT??? (*mic drop*)” bit made me laugh just as much as it did last time.
— Tonight’s cameofest continues with a VERY out-of-nowhere walk-on from Maya Rudolph as her Glenda Goodwin character, of all people.
— The very random “Amazing Sasquatch” song that Glenda Goodwin is singing is so dumb and bizarre that it’s having me laughing out loud.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “21 Guns”


GOODNIGHT SAIGON
traumatized by a Vietnam vacation, Fritz (WIF) sings “Goodnight Saigon”

Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Artie Lange, Elisabeth Moss [real], others join Fritz

— Oh, here we go. A very well-remembered piece.
— Ooh, as an IMMEDIATE sign that we’re in for a special sketch, the setting of this sketch is at Grand Central Station, utilizing the fact that SNL’s home base stage is modeled after Grand Central Station. When this originally aired, I optimistically took this as a sign that this was going to be the final episode with this home base stage, and that SNL was going to build a new one for the following season. Sadly, that didn’t turn out to happen – in fact, today, 11 years later, SNL still hasn’t changed the home base stage, which was first used as far back as 2003(!!). Yet, for some inexplicable reason, SNL has no problem randomly remodeling the musical guest stage every now and then, at the most random times (December 2014 and April 2018). Honestly, I’ve completely given up hope that SNL will ever change the home base stage again. And, damn, you gotta admit, wouldn’t this Goodnight Saigon sketch have been an appropriate farewell to this particular home base stage?
— A great and intriguing turn with a war-traumatized Ferrell suddenly getting up and singing a segment of the song “Goodnight Saigon” while shaking maracas.
— Hilarious reveal that Ferrell “being in Vietnam” meant that he was just there on vacation four years prior.
— I love how more and more cast members, all playing instruments, are joining Ferrell’s occasional “Goodnight Saigon” singing, to the degree that he’s eventually joined by the entire cast, even the Weekend Update-only Seth Meyers!
— Lots of fun back-and-forths between Ferrell sitting at the table with his friends and him performing “Goodnight Saigon” with the rest of the cast.
— This already epic-feeling sketch is now getting even more epic, with Ferrell’s musical number being joined not only by tonight’s musical guest and tonight’s earlier special guests, but new special guests (Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Elisabeth Moss), continuing tonight’s cameofest.
— As if the aforementioned special guests appearing in this sketch weren’t already surprising and fun enough, now we get the shocker to end all shockers: ARTIE LANGE!!! Holy hell. The even greater and funnier thing about this cameo from him is that he made an appearance earlier that same night on MADtv’s big series finale. On a similar note, with MADtv having debuted in fall 1995, just a few weeks after Darrell’s SNL debut, and with MADtv officially ending on May 16, 2009, the same night of both tonight’s SNL episode and Darrell’s final episode as a cast member, this means that both Darrell’s SNL tenure and MADtv’s run spanned pretty much the exact same period of time.
— When everybody is exiting the stage one-by-one, we get a great little sighting of Artie Lange and Bobby both appearing in the same shot, with Bobby right behind Artie (screencap below), which is noteworthy because lots of people back in these early days of Bobby’s SNL tenure used to point out his strong resemblance to Artie.

— I like the ending with the guys at Ferrell’s table realizing that this very elaborate musical number was just a ruse for Ferrell to leave without paying for his meal…….once again.
— Overall, an absolutely legendary sketch. Such a blast, and, unlike a lot of SNL’s future cameo-filled sketches that this sketch is said to have unfortunately paved the way for, the cameos here actually added to the fun, random, and epic feel of this already-unique sketch, and it was also very fun to see all of those special guests working together in this specific context.
— With this being the final aired sketch of this season, this is easily one of the best season-ending pieces in SNL history, and is (along with some prior season-ending sketches like the So Long Farewell number from Phil Hartman’s final episode as a cast member, and the Grease number from Jimmy Fallon’s final episode) a great argument for why SNL should end every season with a big, epic piece utilizing the show’s entire current cast.
— Speaking of this being the final sketch of this season, that apparently wasn’t planned. After the commercial break that follows this sketch, SNL just shows the SNL Band immediately playing the show back to ANOTHER commercial break, which, as I always say whenever SNL does that (including just ONE EPISODE AGO when Justin Timberlake hosted), is a sign that a planned sketch got cut at the last minute. It’s hard for me to fathom why SNL intended to do another sketch tonight AFTER the show-stopping Goodnight Saigon piece. I wonder what the cut sketch was.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

— At the end of his goodnights speech, Ferrell gives a special mention to Darrell, who the camera then shows a close-up of while everybody applauds him. Apparently, this is SNL hinting to us that this may be the final episode for the 14-year SNL veteran. However, his departure would end up never being confirmed over the summer that followed this season. In fact, there would even be some news articles that summer saying Darrell is in negotiations to return for a 15th season in the cast. PLUS, he would also appear in the two Weekend Update Thursday specials that would air on the two Thursdays before SNL’s official season 35 premiere. We had to wait until the opening montage in that season premiere to find out that, despite what the aforementioned news articles said, and despite his aforementioned appearance in the two Weekend Update Thursday specials, Darrell was, in fact, NOT in the cast anymore, which caused a lot of shock and confusion among SNL fans back then (including myself). Then, shortly after that season premiere, I recall there being a news article announcing that, despite no longer being in the cast, Darrell would be making lots of special guest appearances that season, ala Jan Hooks in seasons 18 and 19 (only without the “Special guest appearance by…” credit in the opening montage that Jan received). Indeed, we will be seeing quite a lot of Darrell cameos in the first half of season 35.
— Ha, in true Norm Macdonald fashion, both he and Artie Lange can be seen eventually ditching the goodnights by playfully running off the stage together towards the end of these goodnights. A funny sight.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid season finale, and there were two all-time very memorable pieces in which SNL went all out (Celebrity Jeopardy and Goodnight Saigon). Those two pieces had even more impact in this episode than they would’ve in most episodes, because there was a much-smaller-than-usual number of segments in this episode, with only three sketches pre-Update and two post-Update. (Again, we apparently were going to get three sketches post-Update, but the last one seemingly got cut at the last minute.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Goodnight Saigon
Celebrity Jeopardy
Monologue
Cheney in Makeup
Remembrances
Inside The NBA
Weekend Update
The Lawrence Welk Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Justin Timberlake)
a step up


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


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2007-08)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 35 begins, with host Megan Fox. We get two new female additions to the cast, one of whom has a notorious unplanned moment in her first big showcase that night.

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May 14, 2005 – Will Ferrell / Queens of the Stone Age (S30 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BACKSTAGE
backstage, WIF has awkward reunions with former castmates & LOM

— Much like I said about David Spade earlier this season, it feels refreshing seeing Will Ferrell back on SNL during trying times like season 30.
— A big laugh from Ferrell’s very first inner thought, in which we hear him thinking “Oh, man, what is this guy’s name?!?” about his former four-year castmate Chris Parnell. Ha, poor Chris.
— Another big laugh from a Ferrell inner thought, this time with him thinking “This is Finesse. Do NOT call him Kenan!”
— Hilarious pay-off to the Finesse-not-Kenan scene, with it turning out it was a bet between Finesse and Kenan to see which name Ferrell would call Finesse by. I also love Kenan bragging “Told you he ain’t know the difference!”
— I like the visual of Ferrell immediately turning away in a panic from an approaching Lorne.
— I wonder if Ferrell pulling a “Hey, look over there!” on Lorne was an intentional reference to the end of the Spelling Bee sketch that Ferrell did in the James Van Der Beek episode from season 24. Probably not, but it does go nicely with that.
— I love Ferrell’s “Live from New York…” delivery at the end of this.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
while singing “On A Clear Day,” WIF pees his pants & ambles into audience

— I’ve said this about several former cast members in the monologue from their respective first hosting stint, but it’s so nice to see Ferrell making an entrance on that home base stage as the host.
— While singing, Ferrell accidentally and bizarrely reveals a device hidden inside his jacket (the second above screencap for this monologue), giving away a joke that’s about to happen.
— And there it is: the pee stain on Ferrell’s pants. Funny, and a very fitting premise for Ferrell, but it accidentally being telegraphed earlier in this monologue hurt the joke for me a bit. IIRC, SNL would later replace this monologue with the error-less dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— I love Ferrell going up to Steve Higgins as an audience member and getting way too close to him with his pee stain while trying to have a friendly conversation.
— When Higgins reveals that the woman sitting next to him is, in fact, NOT his wife after Ferrell asked, I like Ferrell responding “Well you make a lovely couple.”
— Even Ferrell’s simple, casual, affable delivery of “Whoops, I peed my pants” when finally noticing his pee stain was great and such a Will Ferrell-y moment.
STARS: ***½


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Bill Cosby (KET), Sharon Osbourne (AMP), Sean Connery (DAH)

— Right out of the gate, I see we’re wasting no time in bringing back one of the most beloved recurring sketches that Ferrell was involved in back when he was a cast member. Hope this is an improvement from the underwhelming last few installments of this sketch.
— I can’t understand why tonight’s audience is going absolutely nuts here for the typical staccato, cutesy speak that Amy’s Sharon Osbourne always does when speaking for her puppy (“Mi-nnie, say he-llo to Al-ex! Al-ex, say he-llo to Mi-nnie!”). I take it the only reason tonight’s audience is having such a huge response to this is because they’ve never seen Amy’s Sharon Osbourne impression before and are surprised by how much Amy sounds like her. I think those tepid Sharon Osbourne Show sketches from the preceding season permanently burned me out on Amy’s Sharon Osbourne impression, and I personally hate when Amy’s Sharon uses a staccato, cutesy voice when speaking for her puppy…plus, I heard that real Sharon has NEVER been known to use a cutesy voice for her puppies in real life (not that a celebrity impression on SNL can’t be exaggerated or embellished, of course, but still…).
— Ah, Connery and Trebek reunited.
— Alex Trebek, after yet another one of Sean Connery’s “mother” jokes: “For your information, my mother’s in a nursing home in Canada.” Sean Connery: “Oh, she was nursing it, alright.”
— I love the “Automatic Points” category.
— During the “How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?” segment, when the camera cuts to Ferrell’s Trebek after Darrell’s Connery says “*I* got a finger” while starting to unbutton his pants, I like Ferrell’s Trebek saying to the camera “Please don’t cut to him” and then telling Connery “That’s not a finger, and you know it.”
— And there’s our obligatory category mix-up of tonight’s Celebrity Jeopardy sketch: Connery misreading “Japan US Relations” as “Jap Anus Relations” . I shamefully admit that I chuckled, but 1) it’s FAR from one of the better Celebrity Jeopardy category mix-ups, and 2) SNL could never get away with that “Jap Anus Relations” bit nowadays. At least Ferrell’s Trebek calls Darrell’s Connery out on how awful that was.
— Meh at the reveal of Connery’s full Final Jeopardy answer (which initially reads “0+0-0=0”) being “POOP”.
— Overall, this was pretty fun, but as I was afraid of, it was a far cry from bonafide five-star classic installments of this sketch from back in its prime. It’s sad how this usually-reliable sketch has officially lost its luster sometime after the one from the Lucy Liu episode in season 26 (the last Celebrity Jeopardy sketch to get a five-star rating from me). However, from my memory of the next Celebrity Jeopardy from Ferrell’s following hosting stint in season 34, the luster that this sketch has lost returns in spades.
STARS: ***½


ORACLE CONCLAVE
(WIF) emcees amateurish show for Oracle employees at annual conclave

— Aaaaaand there goes season 30’s obligatory weekly instance of Maya singing. At least this particular instance isn’t an annoying one.
— I love Ferrell’s increasingly tense off-camera conversation with someone about an employee who’s currently in poor health.
— A big laugh from the slideshow awkwardly only consisting of shots of the same three employees at one table, and them all having red-eye in the photos.
— This is a very Will Ferrell-y sketch, and I love that. This feels like a sketch I can picture Ferrell doing in his first season as a cast member. Both he and Cheri Oteri excelled in this type of sketch back then, where they’re alone onstage and react to people who are off-camera. Sketches like Cheerleaders and Rita Delvecchio (Cheri’s lady-on-the-porch character). I guess The Culps also count as that type of sketch, so I’m wondering if this sketch style is a specific Groundlings thing, as Ferrell, Cheri, and Ana Gasteyer are all Groundlings alums.
— Ferrell’s awful rap number is funny, especially when he falls off the stage mid-song, which I’ve always wondered is supposed to be a spoof of a then-recent viral video of Kelsey Grammer accidentally falling off the stage during a speech at Disneyland (“OH, DEAR GOD!!!”). Ferrell’s hilarious angry reactions after falling are so perfectly Will Ferrell.
STARS: ****


PARA TRI-CYCLEN
Para Tri-Cyclen is birth control option for promiscuous women like (AMP)

— Amy bringing in any average joe to sleep with her is pretty funny in the context of this birth control commercial.
— Meh, I’m no prude, but I could do without an adolescent boy being one of the people Amy brings in to sleep with her.
— This overall commercial fizzled out a little towards the end, but was okay as a whole.
STARS: ***


ART DEALERS
(SEM) & (RAD) meet Noonie (WIF), the childish adult son of Nuni & Nuni

— Okay, after giving a positive review to the first two installments of this recurring sketch, I think this is the point where I officially get tired of this sketch, especially since it feels almost wrong for them waste Ferrell as a side character in this formulaic sketch that can be performed literally almost any other week.
— Ferrell at least is playing a goofy-acting and oddly-dressed character that he was born to play. I also love how his entrance gets a hysterical laughing gasp from a woman in the audience.
— Ugh, there goes the obligatory part of every Nuni sketch where Fred and Maya’s characters clarify to their visitors how to differentiate the pronunciation of their respective name, then butcher the simple pronunciation of their neighbors’ names.
— A clumsy gaffe in which Seth accidentally knocks the head cushion off of the massage chair. I got an unintended chuckle from that.
— Ferrell is singlehandedly making this otherwise tiredly derivative sketch more tolerable.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Sister” with Gene Frenkle (WIF) on cowbell

— Halfway through this performance, we get Ferrell showing up out of nowhere in the background as his legendary one-off Gene Frenkle character, banging on that cowbell once again. Fuck yeah!


WEEKEND UPDATE
apologistic John Bolton assistant (SEM) displays traits of battered wife

— (*sigh*) You know the routine: Tina and Amy open with a string of terribly hacky jokes that would make even Charles Rocket, Gail Matthius, and Brian Doyle-Murray cringe, while I groan and roll my eyes.
— Pretty good performance from Seth downplaying John Bolton’s horrible, violent treatment of him, even though the commentary itself is nothing special.
— OH FUCKING NO. Not another insufferable and pointless Tina and Amy Update musical number…well, just Amy this time. Still, though: cringeworthy.
— Well, at least this Amy musical number ended up being short, and I did like how it ended with Tina telling Amy “This is the last time that I suck beer out of the dirt with you.”
STARS: **


PEPPER GRINDER
diner (WLF) employs pepper grinder to build character in waiter (WIF)

— Oh, this is a dream come true for a comedy nerd like me: the two great Wills of SNL history, Ferrell and Forte, paired together in an absurdist sketch! This is going to be fucking epic.
— Forte’s refusal to say “when” as Ferrell is tirelessly grinding pepper onto Forte’s meal is great.
— When asked to tell Ferrell to stop grinding pepper, I absolutely love Forte’s delivery of “I will…when…I’ve had…enough.”
— Now this sketch is really hitting a peak, as we get Forte increasingly getting very intense in his “Grind!” bellowing while Ferrell is screaming in anguish. Such a perfect combo of just some of what makes both Ferrell and Forte absolutely fantastic performers. Man, just imagine if their respective tenure as a cast member overlapped with each other, even if just for one season.
STARS: *****


TV FUNHOUSE
“Shazzang!” by RBS- sadistic, psychotic, hegemonic genie is superpowerful

— A spot-on spoof of the style of the Shazzan series from the 60s.
— I’m getting so many laughs from Shazzang’s increasingly sadistic treatment of the villain, the villain’s mother, and a cow. I’m also getting laughs from the disturbed reactions from the other characters. Shazzang’s sadistic actions have bothered A LOT of SNL fans (“That poor cow!” is something I’ll never forget one online SNL fan complaining), but this type of dark humor is right up my alley.
— Holy shit, this cartoon is getting even more and more fucking insane. Smigel ain’t holding NOTHING back. I am absolutely loving how extensive this sadism is getting, and there’s something I find great and fitting about the fact that something this disturbing is airing in a Will Ferrell-hosted episode, but yeah, I can see why so many SNL fans are very off-put by this cartoon.
STARS: ****


GOULET RINGTONES
Robert Goulet (WIF) plugs ringtones & cellphones shaped like his head

— Yes! Freakin’ Goulet!
— Fun premise with Ferrell’s Robert Goulet advertising various ringtones sung by himself.
— I absolutely love the very brief and simple “Dinkle-dongle, dinkle-dongle, someone’s calling you, Goulet!” ringtone.
— The big-horned sheep returns! I always love Ferrell-as-Goulet’s interactions with him. Even just the way a whole bunch of fake fur is unintentionally seen floating away from the fake sheep each time Ferrell violently taps it with his hand is slaying me.
STARS: ***½


GOING 2 C MOVIES WITH TERRYE FUNCK & VASQUEZ
Terrye Funck, Vasquez, (WIF) review Revenge Of The Sith

— We get a very random pairing of a semi-regular Horatio Sanz character and an obscure, previously one-off Chris Parnell character.
— Man, Horatio is stumbling all over his lines in this sketch so far.
— Ugh, this sketch is reminding me why I hated this Vasquez character in the last few appearances he’s made before this.
— What the fuck is with this sketch?!? This premise involving Ferrell’s breath is horrible, and the jokes within the dialogue feel like a 10-year-old wrote this.
— My only laughs in this entire sketch so far have come from Ferrell’s gasping sound whenever he catches a whiff of his own breath. Otherwise, not even he can save this awful sketch.
— Jokes about smoking “dookie” cigars? Yeah, this sketch was definitely written by a 10-year-old. I guess this wouldn’t be a season 30 episode without at least ONE “How the fuck did this make it on the air” sketch?
— Aaaaaaand to make this sketch even more insufferable to me, we now get our obligatory display of Horatio giggling at himself. Fucking ugh.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Ha, Ferrell manages to even make a musical guest intro funny, with the way he’s lovingly and slowly stroking the back of a random audience member’s head while re-introducing the musical guest.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In My Head”


LUXURY
in a bar, luxury-loving spy (WIF) thinks that (MAR) is his contact

— Ferrell enters as yet ANOTHER character tonight that’s very fitting and perfect for him.
— I’m enjoying the interesting set-up of this.
— Funny bizarre interplay between Ferrell and Maya all throughout this sketch. And at least Maya’s managing to get through a lead role this season without using an annoying character voice or singing for once.
— Didn’t care for the ending with Horatio. At least he didn’t ruin the deadpan stare-off between himself and Ferrell by breaking, though.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— After Ferrell finishes his goodnights speech and the credits start rolling, the camera briefly cuts to a specific group of people in the audience who are unidentified (the last above screencap for these goodnights), no doubt confusing lots of viewers. Those people in the audience appear to be Will’s family, as I recognize Will’s mom, from two SNL appearances she’s made other times (one in an SNL Mother’s Day special from 2001, and the other in Will’s season 37 monologue). So I’m guessing the older man two seats from Will’s mom is Will’s dad. However, who’s the woman in between them? Will’s sister, perhaps? Does he have a sister?
— Seeing Rob Riggle during these goodnights makes me realize that he was completely M.I.A. during the actual show. Jesus Christ. First Rob struggles to get any good airtime for most of this first season of his. Then he has to witness a writer on the show (Jason Sudeikis) being added to the cast in the third-to-last episode of this season and IMMEDIATELY waltzing in with a very visible presence, making it look effortless. Then Rob gets completely shut out of the very next episode after that, which is especially a shame, considering he seems like he would’ve worked PERFECTLY with Ferrell, given their similar comedic styles (and, IIRC, Rob actually would later be cast in some of Ferrell’s movies, or at least one of them). At this point, Rob must fully realize that that there’s NO FUCKING WAY he’s being asked back next season. You really gotta feel for the guy.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While certainly not the classic that one in 2005 would’ve hoped a Will Ferrell-hosted episode would be, this was BY FAR one of the better episodes of this troubled season. The quality of the sketches was mostly good, and a few pieces were particularly strong, one of which is an all-time favorite of mine and I’m pretty sure is shockingly the FIRST sketch I’ve given a five-star rating to in this damned season (Pepper Grinder). Will Ferrell, of course, was a fantastic presence as a host, was reliably funny as usual, and fit back into the show well.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Johnny Knoxville)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 30 (mercifully) comes to an end, with host Lindsay Lohan. It’s also the final episode for newbie Rob Riggle.