SNL Review- it's finally up!

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Jack Black/Neil Young

 

Sorry this review is late. I went to ROH on Saturday and thus missed the show. Luckily I was able to watch the episode last night.

 

Sports Report-

 

Leafs- Belfour finally passed Sawchuck. Took him long enough. I propose that the Leafs never play the Senators again, those games are getting ridiculous.

 

Canucks- Two OT losses suck, but at least they got the points. I’m still not sold on Auld, but the Big 3 is enough to carry them.

 

Nets- Good to see the Nets waking up after that abysmal loss against Charlotte. Vince has been on fire and the Nets are starting to respond. YES really needs to fire Mark Jackson though, as I don’t think he can speak English.

 

Saints- Even though they lost, Aaron Brooks being benched was enough to make me happy.

 

Mailbag!!!!!!-

 

hayashikm@ optonline.net writes-

 

Hey Bob-

 

This is Ken Hayashi from Voy again. I was wondering whether or not

you’re going to write a tribute column to Eddy Guerrero in your reviews. I

remember that you included written tributes to Bulldog and Hennig in

your episode reviews when they each passed. So I was wondering if you

intend to do the same for Eddy.

 

If not, what will you most remember about Eddy? Which of his matches

(in both WCW and WWE) do you think are the most memorable? Which promo do

you think is the best that Eddy ever cut. Plus, during RAW Is Eddy last

month and on WWE.com, which of the video remembrance testimonials do

you think were the most touching?

 

In Edge’s words, Eddy and Owen are one hell of a tag team up there.

 

Thanks a lot, Bob.

 

Later,

 

Ken

 

I already did pay tribute to Eddy in my Eva Longoria/Korn review. My favourite Eddy match is the one he had with Edge at Unforgiven 2002. Don’t know why but I really love that match. His match v. Ohtani from Starrcade, is another one of my favourites.

 

I don’t really have a favourite Eddy promo, although I thought he was great on the mic.

 

Benoit’s tribute was the saddest one of the RAW Tributes- I felt so bad for him.

 

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

 

And now the review....

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Will Forte, Andy Samberg

Thoughts- Even though Darrell’s Cheney is stale as hell, this was an awesome cold opening. I loved Andy Samberg asking about drilling in the Alaskan wildlife reserve and Amy was the best of the castmembers portraying kids. The bit at the end with Bush wanting an X-Box 360 was the icing on the cake. Great way to start the show. ****

 

Monologue

Cast- Jack Black

Thoughts- Again, nice to see a true monologue, especially with someone as funny as Jack Black. This was good, but I thought it went on for a bit too long. Jack forgetting the name of Naomi Watts’ character and doing his Peter Jackson impression were the best parts. Had this been trimmed a little, I probably would’ve liked it a lot more, but instead it was too long and bloated. ***

 

Stuart Little Mouse Traps

Cast- Chris Parnell, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig

Thoughts- This reminded me of Mouse Trap, which was the hardest game to put together and never seemed to work. I wasn’t feeling this commercial parody, as it lost me once I got the concept. Maybe they kept showing us that Morgan Stanley commercial for a reason. *

 

Windy Sbarros

Cast- Black, Dratch, Poehler, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Parnell

Thoughts- Considering all the really funny material in this episode, the fact that this was the first skit is both sad and disconcerting. I don’t know if the skit was supposed to be an ad for The Weather Channel, but as you guys know, I really hate the skits that turn into adverts. I also hate skits that sucked, and this one sure did. I kept waiting for the joke, and then I realized the fact that people were upset because it was windy WAS the joke, and I lost interest. Rachel yelling “Son of a bitch!” and Parnell and Jack’s brief face-off were the few highlights of an otherwise horrible first skit. *

 

Appalachian Emergency Room

Cast- Johnny Knoxville, Neil Young, Seth Meyers, Poehler, Hammond, Parnell, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader

Thoughts- I probably could’ve lived without ever seeing Appalachian Emergency Room again but at least they made up for it with Johnny Knoxville and Neil Young. I wasn’t feeling Darrell and Amy’s bit this time around, and I think Parnell’s character is played out. I enjoyed the rest though. Knoxville’s cameo was awesome and I loved seeing Neil Young as well. And Sudeikis and Hader did a good job in their first ever Appalachian Emergency Room. ***

 

TV Funhouse

Thoughts- Finally, a good cartoon from Smigel. Darlene Love also does the Xmas show for Letterman, so I guess she wanted to expand her horizons. My big complaint is that I had trouble understanding some of the lyrics. Darlene Love needs to sing more clearly. Some good lines (the one about Jon Stewart and seeing an actual Jewish Fiddler on the Roof) and hopefully this might be a return to form for Smigel. Hey, it beats a horrible Celebrity Poker spoof! ***

 

I’m Pointing My Finger At You

Cast- Black, Thompson, Parnell, Poehler, Sudeikis

Thoughts- Jack Black and Amy once again brought the awesome here. Amy was hilarious when she was dancing to the music and pointing and Jack was his usual self. The highlight was easily Jack getting his eyes poked when he jumped into Parnell’s pointing. This was another good solid skit in a series of them. ***1/4

 

Lazy Sunday

Cast- Parnell, Samberg

Thoughts- Finally, a much hyped SNL skit that lives up to the hype. I’ve watched this a few times now, and it definitely holds up. Parnell’s always been a great rapper, and I’m glad they let him rap about something besides having outlandish adventures with the guest host. There were so many great lines here and Samberg was just awesome. I still think Hader is the better featured player, but maybe this is the breakout skit Samberg needed to establish himself and gain some momentum. How can you not like a skit that references The Notebook, Ghost, Google Maps, Alexander Hamilton, The Chronicles of Narnia and of course the famous Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel? The Chronic-What-cles of Narnia stuff was hilarious. This was funny, played to everyone’s strengths, didn’t go for too long and made reference to a famous duel in American history….what more can you ask for? ****3/4

 

Neil Young ‘It’s a Dream’

Thoughts- Even though I really like Neil Young, this was disappointing. His voice sounded really off, and the song was quite slow and boring. Win some, lose some, I guess. **1/4

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Tracy Morgan, Poehler, Tina Fey, Thompson

Thoughts- So, is Dean Edwards going to cameo in January? Because if so, that would be the greatest moment in SNL history. Come on, you know if during some random skit, Dean walked in as Cop #2 that you’d all go crazy too. Tracy was really unfunny and his cameo was ultimately pointless. I mean, why not just use Finesse? Or at least do an Astronaut Jones or something. In fact, I think an Astronaut Jones with Tracy and JB would own all. Update kinda blew this week, and I think Lorne realized they had a lot of good material skit-wise and just cut it short. Tina and Amy had a few good jokes but this was a pretty crappy way to end 2005. **

 

Debbie Downer

Cast- Black, Dratch

Thoughts- Here’s what I don’t get. Doesn’t SNL and Rachel Dratch know that Debbie Downer is stale as hell and there’s no use in doing it again? Or wouldn’t Jack Black know that Debbie Downer is pretty lame. Jack tried, but it’s Debbie Downer. Jack drinking the scotch and being un-Santa like was funny, and I liked the Grinch music but the rest was pretty terrible. **

 

Glirk

Cast- Black, Samberg

Thoughts- I’m getting sick of the aliens who are kinda gay skits. I mean who on the writing staff has gay fantasies about gay aliens? I’m looking at you Andrew Steele! Black and Samberg tried and I thought the ending was so stupid, it almost worked (you broke it! and fixed it) but I can’t justify giving this more then **1/2. **1/2

 

Two A-Holes…

Cast- Black, Mitchell, Sudeikis, Wiig

Thoughts- I was all ready to not pay attention and just **ish this and move on, but Sudeikis was awesome. He played off Wiig so well, and played your typical asshole quite well. Trying to find out about the 50 foot tree, repeating everything Wiig said, to the awkward pause about the tree= awesome. Seth not having airtime sucks, but I understand why, and Sudeikis has done a very good job of filling his roles. He’s hilarious at assscat and I’m glad to see he’s working out at SNL too. ***1/2

 

Spelling Bee

Cast- Kyle, Black, Forte, Dratch, Parnell

Thoughts- For the record Forte spelled out-

 

Brdtfklnghrkwtfnylkpqwqrtdfplmkqkwqqqqqqqqqqqqstfjrqmtsdtqmprftdpdplhrktetf

 

Now I could be a douche and point out that in a lot of spelling bees, the minute you spell a letter wrong, you’re disqualified. Now I could also be all pop culture and reference the spelling bee between Davey Chew and Stephanie Tanner in the Full House where Stephanie learns about pneumonic devices to learn how to spell, but then in the cruelest of ironies, doesn’t learn how to spell pneumonic and Davey wins. The way Davey emphasized the letter Stephanie misspelled made him such a douche. Michelle learned to read the word ‘cat’ in that episode, too. Or I could go all Jamie Klein on you and instead of talking about the skit, talk about how when I was 7, I spelled shoelaces, instead of shoelace, because I misheard the word.

 

I was so happy that THE BIZARRO WILL FORTE SKIT RETURNED!~ Will was awesome here, and I love when he does this stuff. Even though I really like them, I could’ve done without the Tenacious D appearance even though it was bizarelly funny as well. And usual Parnell was a capable straight man. But yea, Will Forte is just so awesome. ****

 

Neil Young ‘He Was The King’

Thoughts- Now this is more like it. A nice fun song about the King to end the Christmas show is just the way I like my SNLs to end. I wish we could’ve heard some songs off the Harvest Moon album since that’s my favourite Neil Young album, but this will do. Had he played Me and King- *****. Anyway, this will do. ***

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.82 making this a thumbs up show. Except for the post-rap song rut and the sluggish skit start, this show was awesome and easily the best of the season. Jack Black has proven himself to be a great host, and now he’s 3 for 3. I was very happy that the cast got two great hosts and unlike last season, was able to craft fun enjoyable episodes with them instead of pissing the good opportunity away. I hope these shows will give them some momentum leading into the January shows. Congrats SNL, first consecutive thumbs up shows in a looong time.

 

Thumbs Up

[snuffbox 0]

Sweet...this was the first time Ive actually looked forward to a Bob Barron snl review. Not coincidentally this was the first time Ive watched a full live ep in at least 3 years.

 

I like how even a disspointing-to-you Neil songs gets at least 2 stars. And, if I can remember shit, Neil played two songs off Harvest Moon on snl back in the day...'Harvest Moon' and 'Hank to Hendrix' I think.

 

Bob, do you happen to know where to find a schedule of upcoming musical guests?

[bob_barron 0]

Hmmm, wish I could've seen that Neil episode.

 

All I know is that Death Cab for Cutie is the 14th of Jan.

[art_vandelay 0]

In the cruelest of ironies, the word is actually spelled mnemonic.

[MDH257 0]

In the Spelling Bee on ESPN, they wait until the kid finishes the word before ringing the bell.

[bob_barron 0]

Who are you- Davey Chew?

 

I always thought they got buzzed immediately. Maybe that was some other spelling bee I saw.

[CanadianChris 0]

They're not buzzed immediately because they can go back and respell the word if they realize they're spelling it wrong. The word isn't spelled until the contestant says the word for the second time (e.g. with mnemonic, it's not spelled until the contestant says, "mnemonic, m-n-e-m-o-n-i-c, mnemonic").

[MDH257 0]

I can't believe were getting into this... but,

 

I've seen plenty of Bee's of ESPN and it was my understanding that the kids can start over but they can't change any letters they've already said. For instance if a kid has to spell mnemonic and says :

"mnemonic, m-n-u-m-o" and then stops to ask questions again (definition, origin, etc.), when they start over they have to use the letters they previously said (m-n-u-m-o). I don't know how that makes sense since the kid is already wrong and will get the bell anyway, but that's how it works. It the kids were allowed to start over and correct themselves, it'd be happening all the time and I don't think I've ever seen it happen once.

[King Kamala 0]

I was in the schoolwide spelling bee in 8th grade back in the day and I came in 8th out of 30 (Yes yes, I tend to brag about pass glories) and they hit the bell when you got one letter wrong.

[King Kamala 0]

OOOPS Double post

Edited December 22, 2005 by King Kamala Classic

[King Kamala 0]

Triple post- how did that happen?

Edited December 22, 2005 by King Kamala Classic

[CanadianChris 0]

8th out of 30 is a past glory?

 

I was undefeated in school in spelling bee. Won it three straight years before we moved away.

[snuffbox 0]

8th place is pretty remarkable for a Ugandan retard...

[CanadianChris 0]

That's a very good point.

 

Maybe every word was "UHHHEEEHHEHUHHAH".

[King Kamala 0]

No! There were actual words! Besides I would have won that spelling bee but I was robbed! They didn't want to see the foreigner win the prize!

Edited December 23, 2005 by King Kamala Classic

[Guest guerillagenius]

8th out of 30 is a past glory?

 

I was undefeated in school in spelling bee. Won it three straight years before we moved away.

 

NERD ALERT!

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

8th out of 30 is a past glory?

 

I was undefeated in school in spelling bee. Won it three straight years before we moved away.

 

NERD ALERT!

 

 

NERDS!!!!!