SNL review

[Guest bob_barron]

SNL Review: Matthew McConaughey/Dixie Chicks

 

Sports Report-

 

Devils- Man- they’ve been playing terrific lately and are catching up with Team Bankruptcy for tops in the Eastern Conference. The loss to Atlanta was just a minor setback and hopefully Devils Nation will continue to prosper.

 

Maple Leafs- GO LEAFS GO! I was at the game tonight and it was much better then the shitfest I saw on the 25th where they didn’t try and looked like shit against Colorado. They got some much needed rest I believe and it really has paid off. GO LEAFS GO.

 

Canucks- It’s a wonderful time to be alive- especially if you like my hockey teams. Except for blowing a game and settling for a tie with Columbus they also have been playing great and are running away with the division. Hopefully they won’t get the Avs in the first round or else they are fucked.

 

Nets- Another team playing great basketball as they fight neck in neck with Indiana for first place in the East. Kenyon Marti has just been playing amazing basketball and pretty much been winning games for the Nets by himself. The fact that he isn’t in the All Star Game is criminal. CRIMINAL!

 

Mailbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Melissa Turquist writes-

 

First time writer, long time reader. Just wanted to write saying I like your reviews. I agree with you on a lotta stuff. Like, Jimmy should really stop cracking up on screen. The man has sold out, and become horrible. Sometimes I feel like walking out of the living room like Patricia Heaton walked out of the AMA's on the Osbournes. It's just annoying. I just wish he'd leave SNL soon....him and Kattan(AKA Assclown) have overstayed their welcomes. I, as well, take a big liking to Seth Meyers. He is GOD! I'm trying so hard not to be like a "Jimmy Fan Girl" about Seth but sometimes, I can't help it! *contains self* I don't mind Rachel however. Have you ever seen her on Conan? She's hilarious! One final note, I'm so glad Parnell is back and doing well on SNL. Well, thanks for being something interesting to read online!

 

-Mel

 

Jimmy hasn’t sold out per se but his laughter is starting to reach Molly Shannon levels and if he keeps it up- I’m gonna start getting extremely pissed off. Oh- Kattan was NOT assclown in the last show. Assclown was Tina Fey’s husband who was in the skit last week that ended the show. Seth Meyers is indeed GOD and watching him try to salvage skits is a thing of beauty. I haven’t seen Rachel on Conan- I’m a Jimmy Kimmel man. Thank you for taking the time to write!

 

Jenny Lavine writes-

 

come on, the falconer is great. forte has that wicked persona that

just

reminds me of the good ole days with myers and sandler.

 

--jenny

 

ps- if tina and assclown had a baby, would it be half ass, or half

clown?

 

A lot of people think I would like the Falconer but to quote the Undertaker “I’m not feeling it”. The skits just seem to drag on and on with no humour at all. Hopefully Forte will stick to Tim Calhoun and not Falconer.

 

PS: I think it would be half clown but I don’t have any scientific evidence to back that up.

 

Chad Ruffner writes-

 

Hi Bob,

 

 

Since you started watching SNL

regularly, what would you say was the single best

episode? Also, what would you say was the single

worst ep?

 

 

 

Later,

Chad

 

Favourite: Kevin Spacey/Beck with special guests John Cleese and Michael Palin. An absolutely insanely awesome show with ***** skits left and right. Norm’s first appearance as David Letterman, the cold opening, the monologue, the Star Wars audition tapes- everything in this episode is great with only the last skit not being fucking awesome. If they ever rerun this show on wherever they rerun SNL these days- do yourself a favour and watch it. It is that damn good.

 

Least Favourite: Alan Cumming/Jlo. An absolutely pitiful episode that I didn’t even watch the whole thing- it was that damn bad. Every skit was just insanely bad and dragged like there was a new law in that things must drag. The mini movie with Ben Stiller is the worst skit I have ever seen. The whole show is one pathetic piece of garbage that almost caused me to give up on SNL completely. Yes- it was THAT bad.

 

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

 

Best Debuting Late Night Show of the Week-

Watch Jimmy Kimmell live. Sure Snoop Dogg maybe gone and Kimmell sucks as an interview but the show is great and much better then anything else on late night TV.

 

I’ve run out words to praise things which is good since my review of the actual SNL is about to begin.

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Dean Edwards Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Seth Meyers

Thoughts- Damn SNL- why must you make me type all those names? Anywho- the joke of this skit was just not funny at all. Mocking diplomats has been done before and done better in the NewsRadio episode of ‘French Diplomacy’. I mean the skit just went on forever and the joke was beaten into the ground like it was Rodney King meeting the LAPD. Plus- I’m getting sick of hearing Maya Rudolph’s voice in the cold openings.*

 

Monologue

Cast- McConaughey, Parnell, Kattan, Poehler, Tracy Morgan

Thoughts- Well they had to make fun of Matthew’s love for marijuana so they might as well get out of the way as soon as possible. The beginning was really bad as his tale’s of childhood was pretty stupid and went on for approximately forever. Once he got backstage the skit started to pick up a bit with Tracy leading the way. **1/4

 

Guess the Age

Cast- McCounaughey, Rachel Dratch

Thoughts- The Constitution of Sri Lanka states: Any skit that involves mocking Rachel Dratch in any way, shape and/or form is automatically a funny skit. We may not be in Sri Lanka but sometimes you just have to follow Sri Lankan law. This skit started out slowly but really picked up at the end as the mockery of Rachel continued. The ending was a bit dumb but the majority of the skit was solid. ***

 

Jarrett’s Room

Cast- McConaugey, The Dixie Chicks, Fallon, Sanz, Richards, Meyers

Thoughts- Oh sweet shit. You know I’m STILL waiting for Jeff Jarrett to show up and El Kabong Jarrett. Then I will like these skits. Unlike the last Jarrett’s Room which had Seth Meyers doing his damndest to make the skit watchable- in this one he just stood in the background probably weeping that he had to take part in this crapfest. Having the Dixie Chicks ob was a very pointless cameo as Jarrett’s Room is just a really awful recurring character. It’s been funny maybe once or twice but that’s it. Either have a Jarrett’s Room revolve around Seth or just stop doing them. THEY ARE NOT FUNNY. Jimmy- stick to uhhhhh well there is nothing you do well so I’m sorry I got nothing for you. A really awful skit that makes me long for a world in which there will be no Jarrett’s Room. ¾*

 

AntiWar Protest

Cast- McConaghey, Fallon, Parnell, Rudolph, Kattan, Dratch, Sanz, Morgan,Edwards, Armisen

Thoughts- This skit was great and actually gave me some hope that this show wouldn’t suck. As someone who lives in a city with frequent anti-war protests- it was refreshing to see SNL spoof the antiwar people rather then spoof the actual war like they did in the Sarah Michelle Gellar episode. Chris Parnell’s line about ‘not his kind of porn’ was the highlight of this great skit. SNL maybe having a season that is receiving lots of criticism but their political humour is top notch. ****

 

Dixie Chicks

Thoughts- Even though I’m a country music fan, I didn’t really pay attention to them. They were pretty good though and didn’t seem to suck or anything. I’m really looking forward to Beck though. **1/2

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Tina Fey, Fallon, Morgan, Forte, Armisen

Thoughts- Good to see the new fellows getting some exposure as Forte, like Seth, seems to be at his best on WU. The celebration at the beginning was really funny but I was really really PISSED at them not having Dean do his Michael Jackson impression. It’s a great impression and Dean badly needs some exposure since he’s really funny yet does absolutely nothing. I will concede that Tracy’s Joe Jackson was pretty funny. The jokes were pretty good this week even though there were a bit too many misses for my liking. The bit with Forte and Armisen was hilarious though an ended Update on a very good note. ***1/2

 

Eurovizion

Cast- McConahgey, Rudolph, Poehler, Armisen, Meyers

Thoughts- Okay. I get it- War on Iraq is bad. Seriously- if you’re gonna do skits like that- make them clever and funny- which this skit was not. It served absolutely no purpose, there was no real joke and it just writer’s extremely pathetic attempt to voice his opinion on war. DUD

 

Tales at Work

Cast- MccConaughey, Sanz, Rudolph, Kattan, Morgan

Thoughts- Whatever. The ending was too predictable, the execution was not funny and the only redeeming factor was seeing Kattan get the shit kicked out of him. But it was sort of counteracted by Kattan taking his pants off. I guess it’s win some, lose some. ¾*

 

Lesbians

Cast- McConaghey, Rudolph, Dratch

Thoughts- One of my ideas was at the end of every SNL to show a classic old school skit from back in the day. I figured this way it would eliminate the crappy 10 minute to 1 skit at the end and would also appease old school fans and would probably open up a new door for new school fans. I never really got to propose this idea to Lorne though so it never saw the light of day. The only reason I’m bringing this up is because if they did implement my classic skit idea then maybe horrible rubbish like this would not make it on my TV. DUD

 

Dixie Chicks

Thoughts- That was some weird hybrid of different musical instruments and while it was a bit of a mis-mash at times- in the end it worked out well and I got into this song. **3/4

 

A Public Service Announcement

Cast- McConaugheyy

Thoughts- Is there some law from the Canadian government that the Canucks can only play on National Hockey Night in Canada when there is a good SNL on? Cause seriously- the last half hour pretty made me long to change the channel and catch some of my Canucks but alas- Edmonton v. Chicago was on. I have NO idea what this was supposed to be but this was one of those times where someone farting just wasn’t funny at all. ½*

 

 

The Bottom Line- Hey Chad- I think I may have a new answer for least favourite episode. Okay- it wasn’t as bad as the Alan Cumming episode but with an average skit of 1.75 stars this episode will go down in history as the worst episode I have ever reviewed. Only one really good skit and the rest of the show was a bunch of pointless drek that I didn’t care for at all and just seemed to go on forever. Nothing on this show seemed to work Hopefully by next week they can get their shit together cause I really don’t want to see episodes like this anytime soon.

 

Thumbs Down

[Guest Choken One]

Why not just review the reruns and spare yourself the pain of this season?

 

Look at me...I used to rotinuely watch SNL but once the Electons were killed dead...the show has sucked and I hardly even remember it's on...

[Guest treble charged]

Yeah, tonight's show was horrible, aside from the anti-war skit that Bob mentioned. That's the only one that had my laughing consistently, with Parnell's line being the line of the week.

 

The rest was pretty much garbage.

[Guest hardyz1]

The cold opening looked like it was going to be good, but it fizzled out quickly.

[Guest bob_barron]

The season hasn't been THAT bad- every episode has a few clunkers- this was one of them.

 

I agree with hardyz that I thought the cold opening had promise but it went down the shitter very quickly

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I only tuned in and out of it.

 

Weekend update was nothing special. More unfunny from Fallon and Fey. Tracy Morgan was almost funny on it.

 

I ran to change Jarrett's room. Got it as soon as it was starting.

 

The Lesbians skit had me tying my noose, thankfully it ended before I could finish. Maya Rudolph...I don't know why she's kept on. She's painfully unfunny, worse then Fallon. And any voice she tries to do is just a pain to listen to.

 

This cast just bothers me...Bob, you go on about Seth Myers, but it seems like every time he's on he's doing a crybaby character, that's all I see him in. Maya Rudolph has got to go. And Fallion needs to die.

 

Is it just me...or do they seem to be writing to what would only be considered funny to a small group of people. I know I can't word this right. But they seem to play off jokes that not many people would get, not based on intelligence or anything. But just something being joked on that not a lot of people know about.

[Guest bob_barron]

I hate Maya Rudolph as well. This season she's gotten a lot more exposure and pretty much sucks.

 

I really like Seth because he always brings the goods on WU and he's one of those guys who make skits better with his presence. The Jarrett's Room in the Al Gore is the prime example.

 

There was also a skit a couple weeks ago where he almost laughed but I could tell he was trying sooo hard not to laugh that I was like: Damn.

 

I see your point YNA. The skits with Maya Rudolph at the end of the show don't seem to appeal to ANYONE yet they keep putting them on there. It also looks like a lot of the humour is being geared towards a younger audience- like the fart skit last night.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The Protest skit was golden and I dug the Euro skit cause I really hate Europe... Yep. That skit wasn't anti-Iraq, it was about people (Europe) hating America but enjoying American things... Basically being hypocrites. Damn Europe.

[Guest Justwitty]

Good review Bob although I didn't think the episode was THAT bad.

 

It was nice to see Armisen finally being given stuff to do and that H and R Block bit on Update had me cracking up to no end.

 

I liked Matthew's character on Jarret's Room, Jeff return to the skit made me mark out and Seth was great in his small role...but the skit STILL found a way to suck. Way to go Fallon, you can drag even the best of circumstances down.

 

I agree with everyone who says Parnell's porn line was the line of the night. That had everyone watching in my room laughing very, very hard.

 

I still think the Gellar and DeNiro and Gordon episodes were worse than this one. But to each his own.

[Guest bob_barron]

I don't think that was the whole premise considering the skit also took a shot at England. It just seemed to be a mismash of stuff.

 

I don't hate Europe though since I'm Slovak.

[Guest razazteca]

what was the deal with that European Music Show skit and why was Matts character's voice so annoying? I am Chrome argfhajlkad Chrome Chrome Chrome. Was the skit suppose have some point other than bad singers on techno videos?

 

The Jarrets room is usually good because Sanz and Fallon seem to work good together but Matt going to the well doing his Daze and Confused character nearly killed it.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The one common theme was the 'participants' saying "I think the war against Iraq is wrong, and that America sucks... I'd like to hear the new Justin Timberlake song, whooo hoo!".

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I liked the dudes voice - it was so Euro-trashy.

[Guest bob_barron]

Just Witty-

 

It was nice to see Armisen finally being given stuff to do and that H and R Block bit on Update had me cracking up to no end.

 

Agreed- I think the new guys need as much exposure as possible. The H-n-R block thing was great.

 

I liked Matthew's character on Jarret's Room, Jeff return to the skit made me mark out and Seth was great in his small role...but the skit STILL found a way to suck. Way to go Fallon, you can drag even the best of circumstances down.

 

It just seemed like they were playing off Dazed and Confused. They also have done the other people are stoners too character before. Jeff and Seth's roles in the skit were way too short and yes- Fallon of course made it suck.

 

I still think the Gellar and DeNiro and Gordon episodes were worse than this one. But to each his own.

 

I actually liked Gellar and DeNiro. Skit-wise Gordon SUCKED but it had Avril Lavigne which made it okay.

 

 

The Jarrets room is usually good because Sanz and Fallon seem to work good together but Matt going to the well doing his Daze and Confused character nearly killed it.

 

I've never liked Jarretts Room. I enjoyed the Hugh Jackman one but that was about it. Horatio and Jimmy seem to bring out the worst in each other as they basically just crack each other up and ruin skits. Agreed on your point about Matthew though.

 

The one common theme was the 'participants' saying "I think the war against Iraq is wrong, and that America sucks... I'd like to hear the new Justin Timberlake song, whooo hoo!".

 

I see your point Rudo but the skit just didn't make me laugh at all. It just seemed to go on and on with little in the way of humour.

[Guest razazteca]

I saw it as a 3rd rate Sprokets skit, as for the voice I could not get past it as it took over the skit all I heard was Euro Trash English in a Charlie Brown Teacher voice. "Wah Wah Wah Justin Wah Wah"

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Bad Show, I liked the war protests and the date sketch, everything else was trash. That final 30 minutes is just torture with all the commericals. Cut out one musical act and 2 or 3 lame sketches and make the show an hour!!!

[Guest bob_barron]

They can't make it an hour because the show makes a profit off advertising.

 

I don't mind the final 30 minutes as occasionally you get some really great gems in there.

[Guest razazteca]

all of the reruns on Comedy Central and E! are 1 hour shows, I believe.

 

This show should never see the light of cable rerun ever.

[Guest bob_barron]

I don't get either up here so I don't really get to see the magic of the 1 hr episode

[Guest razazteca]

They show the same 20 or so episodes on a rotation on Comedy Central, I have seen several if not all of them more than once! Its no different than the TNT new classics concept of showing Shaw Shank Redemption 12 times a month or USA showing Happy Gillmore 9 times a week.

 

As for Maya Rudolph the only characters of her's that I think is funny is the Gemmi Twin singer and the one time she did Laverne & Shirely in Japanese. The recent characters that she has done seem to be too much Lifetime or Oxygen cable channel intensive.......too many Lesbian characters. Now if she did that sex talk call in show lady that could be funny.

[Guest starvenger]

Worst show this year. I gave up and watched the Trading Spaces rerun instead...

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Hey Bob, Have you read Live from New York?

[Guest bob_barron]

Yes I have.

 

I found it to be a very good book with a couple flaws.

 

1)The last chapter on Lorne Michaels was pointless and seemed to go on forever.

 

2)The point of this book seemed to be exposing everything which is why it really bugged me when someone would say:

 

Someone, I can't say who, etc.

 

It just seemed pointless and felt like a bit of a rip-off in that sense.

 

Aside from those two complaints I really enjoyed the book and learned a lot about SNL I didn't know about before

[Guest hardyz1]

Laverne and Shirley in Japanese rocked.

 

Bob, do you remember the fake commercial on SNL last year advertising France? It was about how they are anti-semitic and such. What episode was that on?

[Guest bob_barron]

From the Alec Baldwin/POD episode-

 

Announcer: France. Home to the world's greatest painters, chefs.. and anti-Semites.

 

The French. Cowardly, yet opinionated. Arrogant, yet foul-smelling. Anti-Israel, Anti-American, and, of course, as always, Jew-hating.

 

Paris. The city of whores. Dog feces on every corner. And effite men yelling anti-Semantic remarks at children. The real creme de la creme of world culture.

 

With all that's going on in the world, isn't it about time we got back to hating the French?