SNL review

[Guest bob_barron]

SNL Review- Ray Liotta/The Donnas

 

Here is an interesting little SNL tidbit to start the review off- The shirt that Avril Lavigne is actually being sold up in Napanee, Ontario- so if you like live there- buy it or something.

 

Sports Report-

Devils- They’ve been playing excellent hockey recently and have taken over first place in the Atlantic division over the fading Philly Flyers. Hopefully they can keep up this run and starting get some offence.

 

Leafs- Both goalies maybe hurt but that doesn’t stop the Leafs from kicking ass. Hopefully they can have a good run and be able to catch Team Bankruptcy.

 

Canucks- They had a mini-slump recently but have bounced back. I am pleased the NHL is recognising their greatness by putting their players on the all star team.

 

Nets- Terrific basketball from the K2 Connection always puts a smile on my face. As done them being in first place and kicking the Raptor’s ass. Hopefully they can keep it up and actually win in the finals this year.

 

Mailbag!!!!!!!-

 

[email protected] writes-

 

Could you refresh my memory as to the recurring Bee Gees joke you

reference in regard to Wayne's World in the prologue of your SNL review this

week? Thanks. Sorry for making it sound so fancy, I'm a legal

assistant! Sara Goldenberg

 

The joke is-

Wayne Campbell: I mean, Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that every one liked. They left that to the Bee Gees.

 

[email protected] writes-

 

Hey there, Bob, it's your fellow reviewer Sarah here...

 

I've just got to comment on you that I agree with you 150 percent on

the Jimmy and Horatio rant there. I wrote one of those and got a lot of

flak for it from Jimmy's fans. You said it perfectly. I also have to

agree wholeheartedly on the "Terrye Funck Hour". I read other reviews

that gave it almost full credit, saing they'd like to see it again. It

looks like we're some of the few who didn't like it, I suppose.

 

Anyway, thank you for the lovely Jimmy and Horatio speech.

 

Sarah

 

P.S. I don't like Avril because of herself as well as her music. There

you go. But whatever floats your boat or finds your lost remote, I

say.

 

Thanks- I actually didn’t get any feedback from Jimmy fans but I’m glad to see there are people who are starting to get tired of his shtick. Kudos for speaking up. The Terry Funk skit pretty much put me to sleep except for when I went: Hey- his name is Terry Funk! I hope I don’t have to rant and rave again but if they crack up again you will bet I’ll be a bit pissed off.

 

PS: See that’s fine- whenever I talk about Avril with people it seems they always insult her but never bring up her music so I was just doing a little public service announcement.

 

Wanna be in the mailbag??? Email me at [email protected]

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Chris Kattan, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen

Thoughts- Very weak cold opening. Donald Rumsfeld singing Nancy Sinatra is not my idea of high octane comedy. This is one of those skits that probably sounded good at a pitch meeting or a read through but the actual execution was just overall really flat. A straight up Rumsfeld skit probably would’ve been the smartest idea. Oh- did anyone notice Darrell Hammond take a sip of rum?? Does this mean he’s gonna freak out in March again and be all depressed again? On the downside we have a depressed Darrell Hammond but on the bright side I can make fun of him more! *1/2

 

Monologue

Cast- Ray Liotta, Jimmy Fallon

Thoughts- Sometimes I wish Norm was still around so he could grace us with his ‘What the hell was that’ guy cause if any skit deserved it- it was this. Hosts singing is always hit and miss- I mean for every Kevin Spacey or Martin Short there’s about eight millions forgettable one like this. I’ve never heard of any connection between Ray Liotta and the King and I so this just seemed like an excuse to get the crowd hot so they wouldn’t be dead for most of the show. Liotta punching Jimmy was funny but the rest was just flat out awful. *

 

Regis and Ripa

Cast- Liotta, Hammond, Poehler, Kattan

Thoughts- The owner of fallonfey.com (also known as cutarquettejoke.com) made an observation that reeked of astutioticity. They made sure that Amy had a tattoo in the same place that Ripa does. Hammond does a really good Regis impression having it down to a tee while Kattan’s Gelman was also really funny. I gotta take some points off for David Caruso jokes- I mean hello- like 8 years ago called. Also- Regis Philbin did have his own show- Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Other then that skit had funny moments and I enjoyed it. ***1/2

 

Ummmm yea

Cast- Liotta, Fallon, Rachel Dratch

Thoughts- Famous American general Douglas MacArthur once said: Any skit revolving around Rachel Dratch’s breasts is just too disturbing to even think about. Gen. MacArthur was right. They couldn’t use Amy or Tina for this??? After my brain got over the fact that Lorne did indeed base a whole skit on the size of Rachel Dratch’s breasts I actually found the skit to be really funny. Liotta played the straight man really well and aside from the horrible ending the skit worked really well. ***3/4

 

Falconer

Cast- Liotta, Poehler, Dratch, Rudolph, Will Forte

Thoughts- Give it up Forte and just stick to Tim Calhoun so I can like you and preach on the greatness of new people and why Darrell, Tracy and CK all need to exit stage left. Even though he was really gay and said heaven to mergatory a lot- Snagglepuss did have some good advice in terms of the exiting stage left stuff. Anywho- these skits always seem to a die nice painful death. Hopefully Forte will just give it up and move on. DUD

 

Straight Talk

Cast- Parnell, Fallon, Kattan, Dratch, Rudolph, Meyers, Jim Downey

Thoughs- JAMES DOWNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went crazy for that. I was shocked this was Parnell’s only appearance of the night. Maybe it was James Downey but I found myself loving this skit as Parnell just played off everyone really well. He always plays a great sleazebag and I mean that in the nicest way.****

 

Hannibal

Cast- Liotta, Poehler, Hammond, Fallon, Tina Fey, Rudolph, DeanEdwards

Thoughts- This skit was dying a nice slow and painful death as I stared blankly at the screen wondering why the Canucks couldn’t be playing right now so I could flip over and watch that instead of this garbage. But then ground was broken- something amazing occurred that people will talk about for years to come. Tina Fey. Dean Edwards. A skit. Together. Damn- they could do a movie starring Tina and DEAN!~ and I would see it eighteen times- even if assclown made a cameo. So basically- yea the skit sucked but the fact that Tina and Dean were actually in the same exact skit earns this skit- **

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fallon, Fey, Tracy Morgan, Forte

Thoughts- Wow. This was one amazing Weekend Update. It was nice and long and every single joke seemed to click- even Jimmy didn’t screw up. Tina basically taught Jimmy a lesson in what to do when you screw up by making a fantastic save. The joke off was really good despite Jimmy’s earlier screwup and I loved a lot of Tina’s jokes especially the Bush joke. Then to completely cap off the rocking that had been going on at the slamoriffic party we get to see the greatness that is TIM CALHOUN!~. Message to Will Forte: Tim Calhoun-good. Falconer-bad. I’ve commented on it before but I’ll bring it up. Will Forte has an absolutely annoying voice that is just so god awful that I would hate to have a conversation with him and that’s why I don’t seem to like him in skits. But luckily his insanely annoying voice totally works for the character of Tim Calhoun and adds to its charm. Tracy was the only thing I didn’t like here as his commentary seemed to run out of gas towards the end. An excellent Update that pretty much hit almost all the right notes. ****1/2

 

Donnas

Thoughts- I like groups that seem to just go on SNL and just rock because they keep me awake. The girls were kinda hot but I’d take Avril over them anyday. ***

 

The Hangman

Cast- Liotta, Dratch, Poehler, Forte

Thoughts- Did Rachel Dratch give Lorne a good deal on cocaine or something?? Because there was a skit centred around her breasts, a skit where she flashed her breasts AND a skit where Ray Liotta wanted to have sex with her despite her looking like Rachel Dratch AND being old. The pussy-posse joke was the only real highlight here. *1/2

 

Top of the Morning

Cast- Liotta, Fallon, Meyers

Thoughts- I don’t know what happened but seeing Seth Meyers try his hardest not to laugh AND succeed made me once again appreciate the god like nature of Seth. Seth- I salute you for keeping the crusade to NOT laugh on the air alive. This was pretty decent and quite good for the end of the show. I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys become end of show recurring characters. **1/4

 

The Donnas-

Thoughts- No complains here. Nice solid music. **1/2

 

Assclown??

Cast- Liotta, Kattan, Fallon, Dratch. Rudolph, Poehler, Fey Armisen, ASSCLOWN???

Thoughts- ASSCLOWN???/ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASCLOWN???/ I mean- holy Brian Kinney- what in the blue heck was assclown doing in a skit??? Was Dean Edwards getting beaten by the cops?? Was Seth Meyers busy watching hockey?? Was Jeff Richards busy trying to find a chick to score with? Was Tracy Morgan busy trying to explain to someone why he still has a job? Was Darrell Hammond busy looking for his id card???? A skit like this should never have been spoken of again and belongs in a vault where no one will ever be exposed to the horror again. DUD

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.3 making this show a thumbs in the middle. There was some good stuff like Straight Talk and Weekend Update but there was just WAY too much crap on this show, They’re trying really hard to put on good shows and get the crowd into it but they just need to weed out the crap and they’ll do just fine. Oh- and no more assclown.

 

Thumbs in the Middle

[Guest MDH257]

Has your opinion of a cast member changed? Seriously, did you ever not like someone and then change your opinion?

How soon after someone joins the cast do you decide if they are God or the Suck Hall of Fame?

 

Average show. Nothing was great, nothing was that bad until the end.

[Guest areacode212]

Say, what songs did The Donnas play on SNL?

[Guest bob_barron]

AC 212-

Not sure.

 

MDH-

I start out pretty much liking every newbie because and with Forte I pretty much only like Tim Calhoun. With Seth Meyers- I didn't think he was anything special until the Goodman/Ja Rule when him and Amy basically blew me away

[Guest Slapnuts00]

I swear this episode sucked horribly, just really bad, not one sketch was really good.

 

Cold Opening: This was alright only because of Darrel's excellent Rumsfeld impression but I just didn't get the joke I guess. C

 

Monologue: Again, I just didn't get this. Was this a parody of his movie or something? D

 

Regis and Ripa: I enjoyed the Regis impression and the Kelly digs although it still wasn't particularyly strong. Still it's one of the best of the night. B-

 

Rachel's breasts: This wins sketch of the night for getting me to genuinly laugh. Good stuff here, reminicent of Jinglehime Junction. B+

 

Falconer: Fuck I can't believe someone actually saw the first one and decided it was good enough to continue. Just complete garbage. Not funny at all. F

 

Straight Talk: This was pretty good, although it never seemed to have taken off like it should have. A good parody though. B

 

Hannibal: Sorry the joke wasn't that great, and Hannibal was like 2 years ago anyway. The only funny part was the acces hollywood guy and the crack about breathing through his nose, good stuff. D

 

Weekend Update: Bad WU this week. They stumbled over their jokes and not much got a great reaction, and the jokeoff was just dumb and in poor taste. Tracey was really irritating and thats all I'll say. Oh and if it's the same guy who does Tim Calhoun that does the Falconer his ass should be FIRED. Good lord this guy is terrible! If those are 2 of his best characters this guy has no use being on the show. Then again this is the same show that actually thought Norm Mcdonald wasn't funny...D

 

Donnas: Don't rate music since its subjective although I was pretty into this, I liked their guitar work although the singing is annoying.

 

The Hangman: Was this hangman guy the SAME guy who does the Falconer and Calhoun?!??! Good lord I feel like going up there and firing him myself. This was so bad, at this point the show was just dragging beyond return. F

 

Top of the Morning: I don't know, it was decent I guess if you like Irish stereotypes but it was just flat overall, I'll be nice though since there was so much crap tonight. C-

 

Assclown: I must have missed this, I turned the show off thinking it was over after the second music performence, I was just so eager for it to end. Sounds like I didn't miss much. Care to recap the sketch?

 

Aweful SNL this week. I've set it before and I'll say it again CUT THE FUCKING SHOW TO ONE HOUR. They simply don't have enough material for 90 minutes of show. Cut it to an hour and drop about 3 lame sketches and the show would be tighter. And fire Will Forte.

[Guest bob_barron]

Slapnuts-

 

On your WU comments-

SNL was not the one who thought Norm Macdonald wasn't funny. It was NBC West Coast President Don Ohelemeyer who made the move- not Lorne or anyone associated with SNL. Lorne was a big Norm fan and was REALLY pissed when he got fired.

 

The assclown skit was basically someone doing a Vegas lounge act. Only a couple people know why I called it 'assclown' so I'll let the inside joke stay inside.

 

I thought Weekend Update was really strong this week and one of the best of the season. It was a bit sloppy but Tina made a terrific save on the Madonna joke. I'm not a big Will Forte fan either but all his ticks and his annoying voice basically make Tim Calhoun work. I'm a big mark for the jokeoffs so I thought they were funny- I didn't notice anything offensive there.

 

The Hangman guy was Ray Liotta BTW- Tim Calhoun was the guy who was going to be hanged I guess. Sorry you didnt like the show- I found it to be too hit and miss for my tastes

[Guest The Electrifyer]

Slapnutz, I can't believe you hate Tim Calhoun. As for the show, it was ok, the skit with Rachel's boobs and Tim Calhoun are the only things that really stand out for me.

[Guest GeneMean]

Tim Calhoun > all. He has my write-in vote next election. I really didn't like the rest of WU that much aside from Tina's cover of her flub "She's not watching anyway." and "Welcome. You've got fired."

 

I thought of you Bob when the network was mid-commercial and you see them setting stage for the Falconer. "Uh-oh Bob's not gonna like this."

 

AC/DC (with tits) kicked ass! I was really diggin' that guitarist.

 

Regis was good and the commercial with Parnell was grand, particularly the banter between Dratch and him.

 

Anyone have a screencap of Tim Calhoun btw?

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Straight Talk was fabulous.

 

And Jimmy should have won the joke off with his 'cockpit' line...

[Guest bob_barron]

In Canada we don't get the mid commercial thing so I did not know what impending doom awaited me.

 

And here you go GeneMean-

 

http://www.saturdaynightlive.tv/screencaps...1803/011803.htm

 

Go there and scroll down a bit.

 

You can also rewatch the greatness that is Calhoun right here-

 

http://www.fallonfey.com/1-18-03.html

[Guest bob_barron]

While the cockpit joke was probably the best of them all- Jimmy was just returning the job from the last joke off

[Guest MDH257]

The mid-commercial thing isn't the same since they stopped letting you hear the stage manager giving the cues and actually telling you what skit was coming next. Now you just hear the band and people getting ready, but it's been months since I've been able to tell which skit was comming up.

 

Seeing the Falconer skit reminded me of the second time they did "simmer down now". I couldn't believe they had brought it back and I had a nightmare vision of "Simmer Down Now" The Movie.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Your boner for Fey just won't allow you to judge the weekend update fairly.

[Guest bob_barron]

YNA-

 

All the jokes had me laughing my ass off last night- even Jimmy didn't suck last night. I grade everyone fairly and have expressed dissapointment with some of the WUs this year. This year it seems like the jokes haven't gotten better this year as last year they seemed too intent on having fun. The best WUs are hte ones where they can have some fun yet still deliver on the jokes which is the most important part. I find Tina to be a very funny comedian and if she bombs (ie Paula Zahn)- I will take her to task,

 

MD-

 

I did not know that but it's good to hear I'm not missing much

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Sorry if I don't get biting humor like "We should bring back dinosaurs..."