SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

Sorry this is so late guys. But not having a computer and incredibly busy Mondays will do that to you.

 

 

If only Howard Dean hadn’t YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAED Jeff Richards would still have a job.

 

Think about it.

 

 

Sports Report-

 

Leafs- They’ve played great recently except for one misstep against Chicago. The team is really starting to come together and are playing well as a team. I shudder to think about how good they will be when Mogilny comes back. Those two games against Ottawa were great games.

 

Canucks- Even though their 5 game winning streak was snapped against the Rangers (ugh) they have played fine hockey over the past couple weeks. It’s a shame that the Avalanche have played God hockey over the same time period since I can’t have them winning the division. Special props to Clouts for his solid play.

 

The 2003 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils- They have played decent hockey over the past few weeks going 5-3. The Flyers look like they will be tough to beat so they may have to play for 4th place. I personally recommend they play for 6th place due to the fact that the Southeast division sucks.

 

Nets- Well it looks like they made the right decision in firing Byron Scott. The guy was a good coach and his heart seemed to be in the right place- but the players just weren’t into him and weren’t playing the best basketball they could. This little white dude must be doing something right- the Nets have won 8 in a row and K-Mart is playing his ass off.

 

 

Mailbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

 

Ken Hayashi sent me a very detailed prediction list for Wrestlemania XX.

 

His matches were-

 

Chris Benoit v. HHH- World Title

Goldberg v. Lesnar- WWE Title

Taker v. Kane

Eddy Guerrero v. Angle

Cena v. Edge- US Title

Molly v. Trish v. Jazz v. Victoria- Womens Title

RVD v. Y2J v. Book- IC Title

Rock-n-Sock v. Evolution

Dudleyz v. Rodney Mack/Mark Henry

Rey Rey v. Tajiri v. Chavo- Cruiser Title

 

Well we know Mark Henry is off of Wrestlemania and Edge won’t be there either.

 

Aside from the omission of HBK this card isn’t half bad. I would stick Lita in the women’s title match but other then that- I kinda like this card. I think Wrestlemania XX will still be a fun show anyway.

 

Dear Bob,

 

I recently visited your website and saw that you had a messge board

regarding SNL and Justin Timberlake. do you happen to have a copy of that

episode that he hosted. I am very interested in purchasing a copy, i

just havent found one yet.

 

Thanks

 

Shannon Gadoury

 

I don’t tape any of the SNLs so I don’t have it. I’m sure SNL will rerun it soon though. If anyone has a copy and is willing to sell it- drop me a line in the mailbag.

 

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

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Chris Parnell

Thoughts- Darrell must’ve been taking lessons from Robert DeNiro. Could he have made it any more obvious that he was reading the cue cards? I was trying to follow the skit but watching Darrell’s eyes move slowly from left to right was funnier then the skit itself. I assume this is the last time we will see Parnell’s Lieberman as the Jomentum has stalled for good. That’s a shame since I always enjoyed his impression. Will Forte has also toned down his John Edwards impression from crazy psychotic Southerner to just plain Southern fellow. And I like it better that way since John Edwards isn’t really a mad psycho. Seth’s John Kerry is awesome and I’m so happy that John Kerry is the Democratic frontrunner since this means lots of airtime for Seth until the election in November. This was kind of disappointing since I usually love SNL’s political humour (unless it involves Darrell doing Bush of course) and while this was funny it wasn’t a **** cold opening or anything like that. And they had to bring up the Boob of Doom somehow so I’m glad they got it over with in the cold opening. ***1/4

 

Monologue

Cast- Megan Mullally, Clay Aiken, Hammond, Meyers, Horatio Sanz, Forte, Parnell, Jimmy Fallon, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Finesse Mitchell

Thoughts- I’m not a big fan of the song and dance monologues where all they do is song and dance because well- that’s not funny. To me it’s just boring and gets old very quickly. You have to wonder what Jeff Richards’ would’ve added to this skit. I enjoyed a couple of Mullally’s lines here including her claim that she’s more boobular then Debra Messing and that they should call Will and Grace- Jack and Karen. But the rest of this was just boring singing that did nothing but make me long for there to be hockey on. *

 

Celebrity Poker

Cast- Mullally, Parnell, Fallon, Meyers, Hammond, Sanz

Thoughts- They actually did this skit in the Elijah Wood dress rehearsal. Of course it was hilarious and easily a ****1/2 skit so it was cut. In that skit Tina did an impression of….Megan Mullally. Well at least it comes full circle. This was not half as good as the Wood skit unfortunately. I didn’t enjoy Mullally’s impression of Tammy Faye Messner and a lot of the jokes seemed to fall flat. Seth’s Carrot Top was hilarious and the highlight of the skit. He did the two queens bit in the Wood dress. Darrell’s Geraldo was good as always and Horatio’s Gene Shalit was good since it was kept in moderation. In the Elijah Wood dress they had Darrell Hammond as Kevin Pollack. I liked Jimmy’s better so that was a good move. This was pretty good but I just kept thinking how it couldn’t reach the levels from the Elijah Wood dress. **3/4

 

 

Huggies Thong

Cast- Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch

Thoughts- They could've delved into the problems created by Maya doing a black man but since this is just a time filler commercial- there was sadly not enough time to devote to the potential problems among close minded friends and family. And that's a damn shame. **

 

Peter Pan Complex

Cast- Mullally, Amy Poehler, Meyers

Thoughts- I think Seth Meyers wrote this skit because on his wall he had a Pittsburgh Steelers poster and his room was full of Red Sox paraphernalia. So kudos to Seth for a great writing job and another great performance. Amy Poehler played her role as ‘exasperated lady friend’ very well. Seeing as how she seems to be given that role every week I guess she should be good at it by now. Megan Mullally was hilarious and hammed it up to perfection. Everyone seemed to click very well here and what resulted was a funny skit. ****

 

Golden Globes

Cast- Mullally, Poehler

Thoughts- At first I thought that was an actual shot of Megan Mullally from the Globes but don’t worry- I soon realised it was part of the skit. I enjoyed the Golden Globes this year but mainly cause Renee Zelwegger won for Cold Mountain. I still think it’s crap that Mary Louise Parker won for Angels in America. Have I seen Angels in America? No. But come on- how could her performance be better then Kristin Davis on Sex and the City? Sorry- I’m ranting. I know on Sharon Osbourne that Amy said she doesn’t have many impressions but I have to say that I really enjoyed her Sharon Stone. Megan Mullally making funny faces at the camera was cute but wore thin after a while. I also didn’t like the ending of Mullally attacking Stone. It just didn’t work. The bulk of the work fell on Amy Poehler and she did a very good job. ***3/4

 

Oprah

Cast- Mullally, Poehler, Tina Fey, Dratch, Rudolph

Thoughts- I’ve heard a lot of praise for this skit. (Well I talked to two people and they both liked this) I just wasn’t feeling it. While the concept is funny I did see this done in a similar fashion on Jimmy Kimmel Live. It started out pretty funny but then it kept going and going and going and I got really bored. I did enjoy the girl on girl kissing and the arm getting ripped off. I know I pick on her and insult a lot but Maya Rudolph did a really good impression of Oprah. So while the skit did have its good points it just never really clicked with me and became tedious towards the end. *1/2

 

Fun in a Taxi

Cast- Mullally, Thompson, Mitchell

Thoughts- This skit was AWESOME. I was in tears watching this. Kenan was in rare form and was just fantastic. He’s been a terrific addition to SNL and it’s good to see SNL giving him a chance unlike other black cast members like Dean Edwards and Jerry Minor. I was laughing at everything Megan Mullally was saying and Kenan’s facial expressions and just everything he did was great. My only complaint was Finesse. Him entering the skit kind of killed the momentum the skit was building up and I felt he could’ve played his role a lot better. Still that’s just a very minor quibble for an excellent skit that hit on all cylinders. Probably the best skit of the season so far and it was very close to hitting *****. ****3/4

 

Clay Aiken

Thoughts- I know my track record with music isn’t good. I like Avril and Justin and I remember not liking Bruce Springsteen very much when he played SNL. But not to worry- I think Clay Aiken’s music sucks. I gave him a chance but damn- I don’t know why anyone would idolise him. Well I guess that’s why Reuben won. Plus- after watching Conan O’Brien rip into the guy every week- it’s hard to take him seriously. At least he seemed happy to be on stage. ¼*

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fey, Fallon, Dratch, Armisen

Thoughts- I thought this Update was kind of mean. A lot of Tina’s jokes caused me to have the reaction ‘Whoa- that was mean’ instead of ‘Whoa- that was funny’. I don’t know what it was but she just seemed to be in a bad mood and was taking it out on her jokes. Jimmy’s Howard Dean bit also bothered me since it happened almost a month ago. It’s old news. No one cares about the crazy speech anymore. I remember being upset when Jimmy Kimmel devoted a whole segment to mocking the speech and that was two weeks ago. I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t like this Update- cause I did. Most of the jokes were very funny and I loved the Tina Fey college years joke. I also enjoyed Jimmy’s American Idol bit. Fred Armisen’s Indian guy was back and that made me happy. It’s just so bad and stupid that I can’t help but love it. I hope they do it again. And what happened to Ferecito? I miss him. Rachel Dratch’s Barbra Walters didn’t do much for me. This was a good Weekend Update but not up to the levels that they can usually hit.

 

Oh and bonus points go out to Tina for using the word “redonkulous”. I had to write that down. ***1/4

 

Wizard of Oz

Cast- Mullally, Poehler, Rudolph, Meyers, Sanz, Parnell, Dratch, Forte, Hammond, Armisen

Thoughts- Kudos to Amy Poehler for another good impression as she was very good as Dorothy. And Darrell’s kooky cameo at the end was awesome. This was pleasantly funny as I was laughing at a good bit of it and it was fun seeing all of the cast in Wizard of Oz garb. Megan Mullally showing up to sue Dorothy was funny stuff. Not much to say about this skit. It was funny- nothing more, nothing less. ***

 

Zing meets Slam

Cast- Mullally, Meyers, Parnell, Dratch

Thoughts- I marked out like a bitch when I knew we were getting another taste of what zings Dave Clinger had to offer. The scary thing is- is that the minute I saw Parnell I knew we were getting more great zings. I love this character so much as Seth is in rare form when he does it and his zings are great. Megan Mullally tried to keep up but come on- you can’t beat zing even though her slams were quite good. I think she was so in awe of the zingmaster that she screwed up her lines at the end. Seth’s final zing celebration was so drawn out, so intricate and just so amazingly funny that it reminded why Seth is God and why it’s a travesty that he has been chronically underused this year. Seth was all over this show and he happened to be in two **** skits and stole the show in a lacklustre Celebrity Poker. Go Seth Go! ****

 

Clay Aiken

Thoughts- They really need to change that train sign. SNL has had two bad musical guests in a row (and a third with Kelis coming up) and I’m getting tired of staring at the same towns listed on that train sign again and again. So throw me a freaking bone here! At least Clay had energy to make up for his dreadful song. ¼*

 

Leon Warwick

Cast- Mullally, Aiken, Parnell, Poehler, Thompson

Thoughts- Who would take Parnell seriously as a security guard? Not me. This was a nice little skit to end the show on. Kenan was pretty funny as Leon Warwick and Megan was okay as the Bonnie Raitt relative. It was cool that Clay Aiken did two skits for SNL. You rarely see that these days. This skit could’ve been funnier (Megan especially) but I’m not going to complain too much at 12:50. **3/4

 

Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.6 making this is a thumbs up show. There was a lot of terrific stuff on this show and Seth Meyers was great throughout. There were some low points (the monologue) and a better musical guest would’ve easily improved the avg. skit rating. I’m not going to complain on a show with three **** skits and Seth all over the show. Megan Mullally was a great host- almost as good as Jack but better then Will. Hopefully Drew Barrymore will be good next week and SNL can start to build some much needed momentum heading towards the second half of the season.

 

If this episode is any indication- SNL will be able to survive without Jeff Richards.

 

Thumbs Up

[Zetterberg is God 0]

Any news on why Richards was released/fired?

[bob_barron 0]

Nothing yet.

 

All I know is that he is gone for good.

 

It's kind of odd since I couldn't find any articles on the situation and is bio is still up the NBC site. Hopefully we'll find something out soon.

[Guest Krazy Karter]

All I know is that he is gone for good.

I think that rumor started here.

[bob_barron 0]

Well Sean Bradley started that thread at 11:35 on Saturday right during the montage so I don't think it's really a rumour.

 

I just know that right now he's gone for good. I would really like to find out why though

[Guest Annoyed Grunt]

The final Rube Goldberg zing celebration was amazing. It may be the best thing I've seen on SNL all year.

[bob_barron 0]

I have to agree to that. I was having trouble keeping up with the zing celebration. I should've taped it so I could study it.

[treble 0]

Flip the ratings for the Oprah and Taxi skits and we're cooking.

[bob_barron 0]

Hmmmm- I hope I'm not the only one who loved the cab skit. I haven't read any other reviews of the show yet (mainly cause I was working on this all day).

 

The thing with Oprah was once I got the joke- that was it for me. While I thought cab got funnier and funnier.

[starvenger 0]

The reason Clay is so popular? He was the Ricky Morton of American Idol - the guy that all the girls would scream for. Singing-wise, I think he's good, but more Broadway than radio. Nothing I've heard from him has made me think otherwise.

[treble 0]

Hmmmm- I hope I'm not the only one who loved the cab skit. I haven't read any other reviews of the show yet (mainly cause I was working on this all day).

 

The thing with Oprah was once I got the joke- that was it for me. While I thought cab got funnier and funnier.

The cab skit was ok, but it's been almost 2 days since the show and I'm still chuckling looking back at the Oprah skit while I don't really remember much about the cab one.

 

Oh, and I didn't even notice Richards wasn't in the credits or on the show. The only thing out of the ordinary I remember was the dude saying, 'Chris Kattan... Chris Parnell'.

[Richard 0]

I'm sure one of the geniuses who run NBC decided he wasn't funny. Hopefully when that guy leaves, he will return to the cast like Parnell, or host like Norm. Brandon Tartikoff may have tried to appear on every NBC show, but at least he could run a network. Lorne needs to go back to the seventies and find his balls.

[Guest stardust]

I thought the Oprah skit was funny, too, I guess primarily because I've seen some of her "Favorite Things" episodes and the pandemonium in the skit was only slightly worse than the pandemonium in the real audience. The cab skit was funny, too, though.

[bob_barron 0]

Oh, and I didn't even notice Richards wasn't in the credits or on the show. The only thing out of the ordinary I remember was the dude saying, 'Chris Kattan... Chris Parnell'.

 

Yea- That's the burn zing of the century right there. Poor Parnell can't catch a break.

 

I'm sure one of the geniuses who run NBC decided he wasn't funny. Hopefully when that guy leaves, he will return to the cast like Parnell, or host like Norm. Brandon Tartikoff may have tried to appear on every NBC show, but at least he could run a network. Lorne needs to go back to the seventies and find his balls.

 

Lorne's powerless though. He was 100% against the Norm firing yet couldn't do anything about it. He has superiors at NBC and they can tell him what to do and go over his head. That's corporate life I guess.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Oh, and I didn't even notice Richards wasn't in the credits or on the show.  The only thing out of the ordinary I remember was the dude saying, 'Chris Kattan... Chris Parnell'.

Yeah, I caught that too. They screwed up with Horatio's too.

 

 

 

 

 

And Seth and Kennan prove to be the most underrated people in SNL. They carried the show, with Amy right behind them. And Amy hit a whole new level of hotness in that Peter Pan skit.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I didn't catch all of it, just a few skits.

 

Cold Opening...good stuff for the most part,

 

Monologue...STOP SINGING! STOP SINGING! STOP SINGING! I'm tired of these openings.

 

Celebrity Poker...Seth was great as an annoying Carrot Top, and Parnell played the straight man pretty well...but Fallon came off just too annoying, and he was there to "carry" the skit. I know he was suppose to be annoying, but it was more irratating.

 

Huggies Thong...seen this 3 or 4 times now...come up with something new.

 

Oprah...awful awful skit. They make their point early on and just run it into the ground.

[Lando Griffin 0]

I didn't see this show, and I wish I had

 

So who's on next week? I saw Bob mention Kelis as the musical guest (you should be shot if you think that's a good thing), but who's hosting?

[Guest TheCrowCall]

The host for next week is Drew Barrymore.

[Styles 0]

My dad and I were laughing hysterically at the Oprah sketch. Perfect satire from what I've seen when my mom has it on. It's rare that I truly laugh (like uncontrollably) anymore when watching SNL and that did it. The rest of the episode was very strong too. The cab sketch was ok but it wasn't even in the best half of the night. The Zing sketch is a good parody of people like that, but it bordered on, just like in real life, being really annoying. Koppel, Poker game and the update were all very strong too.

[treble 0]

The 'zing' stuff is pretty good, but it's limited in how often they can do it. I mean, Baldwin had his burns and Mullally had her slams, but what else can the person that Seth's battling with do? They'd probably be best leaving this one until the next time Baldwin hosts so they can resume their battle from last time.

[Youth N Asia 0]

God...I forgot about the "Zing" skit...hated it. It was almost deicient the first time cause the other guy was good...but those get too irritating too fast

[bob_barron 0]

There will be no disrespecting burns, zings or slams in this thread. Thank you.

[Chazz 0]

That Oprah Sketch reminded me of the old "In Living Color" skit In which they made fun of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam", and how the audience would go wild when The Comedians would tell jokes.

[Guest Mikey2Dope]

God...I forgot about the "Zing" skit...hated it. It was almost deicient the first time cause the other guy was good...but those get too irritating too fast

I agree COMPLETELY. My rating for it is a DUD and that's only because I shut it off half way through. If I had let it go through the whole way it would have easily been in the negatives. The zings weren't funny at all and neither is Megan Mullaly who is just plain annoying. After the Zing sketch and the equally as bad Peter Pan skit I wouldn't be crying if she never hosted again.

[bob_barron 0]

I agree COMPLETELY. My rating for it is a DUD and that's only because I shut it off half way through. If I had let it go through the whole way it would have easily been in the negatives. The zings weren't funny at all and neither is Megan Mullaly who is just plain annoying. After the Zing sketch and the equally as bad Peter Pan skit I wouldn't be crying if she never hosted again.

 

Burn zing slam right there.

 

 

I think Megan Mullally was funny but her voice is really annoying. It could be worse though. SNL could get Christina Agulera to host.

 

Oh wait....they did.

 

I enjoyed the zings even though I did feel the slams were not up to the level of the zings

[MDH257 0]

I thought the show was great and may have been the best of the season.

None of the skits were bad. I thought Celebrity Poker could have been better.

Wizard of Oz was my favorite skit this week (reminded me of the Willy Wonka skit from the Al Gore episode and the Scrooge skit that got cut from the Elijah Wood episode).

 

 

This thread was the first I had heard about Jeff Richards. Too bad, he was funny.

I'm supprised that they fired him in mid-season and didn't wait until the summer.

Has that happened to anyone else since Norm?

[bob_barron 0]

I thought the show was great and may have been the best of the season.

None of the skits were bad. I thought Celebrity Poker could have been better.

Wizard of Oz was my favorite skit this week (reminded me of the Willy Wonka skit from the Al Gore episode and the Scrooge skit that got cut from the Elijah Wood episode).

 

 

This thread was the first I had heard about Jeff Richards. Too bad, he was funny.

I'm supprised that they fired him in mid-season and didn't wait until the summer.

Has that happened to anyone else since Norm?

In terms of getting fired- can't think of any.

 

Dana Carvey left in the middle of the season though.

[Guest Banders Kennany]

Since we're on the subject of firings, what did Damon Wayans do to get fired? And how do guys see dress rehearsal or skits that get cut from the final aired version?

[Richard 0]

Damon Wayans forgot his lines in a sketch so he ad-libbed and made his character act gay. Lorne considered this unprofessional and fired him. He was allowed back on the season finale to do a standup routine.

[bob_barron 0]

Since we're on the subject of firings, what did Damon Wayans do to get fired? And how do guys see dress rehearsal or skits that get cut from the final aired version?

I think the Wayans thing could be that he intentionally screwed up his lines so that it made no sense because he was frustrated about SNL.

 

I haven't read Live from New York... in a long time so I could be wrong on that one.

 

 

I've been to 10 SNL dress rehearsals which is how I've seen a lot of skits that have never made it to air.