The very late SNL review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Lindsay Lohan/Pearl Jam

 

Sorry this is so ridiculously late, but I’ve been so busy since before and after the show aired, that I didn’t have time to write it until now. So, my apologies.

 

Sports Report-

 

Nets- They play the Knicks tomorrow, so hopefully they can get #50. I’m excited about their playoff chances. They’ve done well against Miami this season, so a run to the conference finals isn’t completely out of the question. They’ve also beat Detroit twice this year, so they could handle them.

 

Braves- Off to a bit of a slow start, as the bullpen continues to be a sore spot. They can win a series against the Mets tomorrow, which would once again show that the Braves always seem to beat the Mets. I think even the 1990 Braves could take the 1986 Mets.

 

Mailbag!!!!!-

 

Hi Bob,

 

 

 

I was wondering if you happened to

know why Jeff Richards was fired from SNL in the

middle of the 2003-2004 season? Was there ever an

official reason given? Just curious.

 

 

 

Chad

 

There was never an official reason given. He was just one day not in the cast. I’ve heard that he quit and that he was fired. I always like to say that he quit after he was fired. Since leaving SNL, Jeff has gone on to do…well nothing.

 

[email protected] writes-

 

Hey Bob-

 

This is Ken Hayashi again. I have a question regarding a remark you

made in your Peter Sarsgaard episode review. I was wondering why you hate

cats so much as pets, and why you'd rather prefer dogs in the house.

What do dogs have that cats don't? And if you wouldn't mind, tell me a

few things about the two dogs you had (which you mentioned in one of your

reviews back in 04-05).

 

Personally, I prefer cats over dogs because cats are more

low-maintainance and easy-going. Dogs require a lot of work to take care of. I've

never had either as a pet, but I'm basing my opinion after hanging out

with friends who are either dog or cat owners, or both.

 

Later,

 

Ken

 

I’ve never liked cats. They just sit there and do nothing and then go to the litter box. They never seem to show any affection and always seem pissed off. It’s like fuck you you douchebag, I take care of you, so show me some respect. A dog is more high maintenance, but I really like that. It requires a lot of responsibility, and you end up bonding with your dog more. With a dog, you have a real sense of companionship, while a cat just looks at you with disdain. You can walk a dog, can’t really walk a cat.

 

I’ve had many dogs in my life, including German shepards, bloodhounds, a carrie blue terrier, an American bulldog, a cane corso, and a wolf who had some huskie. Didn’t like the wolf so much, but the other dogs were all cool.

 

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

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Lindsay Lohan, Chris Parnell, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Rachel Dratch, Kristin Wiig, Jason Sudeikis

Thoughts- This is the problem with being in Canada, you’re out of the loop of the goings on of the Bush administration. It makes it easer to be a Republican. One of the weaker cold openings of recent times. There was some funny stuff, from Sudeikis especially, but a lot of it seemed to fall flat. Some of Lohan’s press conference was funny, especially her laying the smackdown on some reporters. Parnell did a solid Wolf Blitzer. Not a bad cold opening, but given the standards set, this was somewhat of a disappointment. **3/4

 

Monologue

Cast- Lohan, Kenan Thompson

Thoughts- Come on Lindsay, the best you could do was a car accident joke? I was hoping she would go for the gold and do a bulimia joke, but alas. Or a joke about her dad, that would’ve been fine. This was pretty hit and miss. I thought Kenan was funny as the Easter Bunny, but Lohan was not that good at bouncing off of him. It seems like SNL blew its load with the Arab joke as the last two monologues haven’t been that great. **3/4

 

Coin Slot

Cast- Lohan, Wiig

Thoughts- Even though she is very far from her 2004 peak, I still got a kick out of looking at Lindsay’s ass. I also have never heard it called a coin slot before. I always thought it was your asscrack. This was alright and Wiig actually made me laugh for once. **1/2

 

Deephouse Dish

Cast- Lohan, Thompson, Dratch, Poehler, Armisen, Bill Hader

Thoughts- Ugh, why is this recurring? This skit isn’t funny, and is a waste of Kenan. Oooo Rachel’s character tells long and boring anecdotes and Kenan yells at her. The techno bits were ‘eh’. I have to say, the techno remix to the Brokeback Mountain score was awesome and I think the best thing to ever happen in Deephouse Dish. Fred and Bill totally kicked ass, so kudos to them. *3/4

 

TV Funhouse

Thoughts- The Best of TV Funhouse special should kick ass. This was very funny, with the highlight easily being the more racist version of Song of the South. Also loved the kids comment about Mickey not being funny. Some of the stuff fell flat and I think the ending with Scar felt a bit tacked on, but this was a very good effort by Smigel. Unless they overload it with Fun With Real Audios, Best of TV Funhouse is something you really can’t screw up. ***3/4

 

O’Reilly Factor

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Armisen, Will Forte

Thoughts- The week I get a mailbag question about Jeff Richards, we continue the pissing on his career. These O’Reilly Factor skits are all the same to me, and I always like them in spite of the lukewarm audience response. I liked the interview with Gingrich especially the mashing up of President Kennedy and the Treaty of Versailles. Although Gingrich is kind of wrong, since Kennedy didn’t become inaugurated until 1961. This skit was redeemed by the awesome mailbag, especially with the letter about Washington v. Mets game. ***1/2

 

Chocolate Cake

Cast- Lohan, Dratch, Poehler, Armisen, Sudeikis

Thoughts- As much as I enjoy cake, this skit was pretty awful. They really seem to like this piece of chocolate cake, okay…so what? ½*

 

SNL Digital Short

Cast- Lorne Michaels, Lohan, Armisen, Dratch, Hader, Andy Samberg

Thoughts- Wow, without these SNL Digital Shorts, Andy Samberg would be totally screwed. This was probably my favourite Digital Short, besides Lazy Sunday. Lorne’s appearance was pretty unnecessary, but the actual video itself was gold. I loved the cheesy action lines and the random cameo with Lohan and her being replaced by Rachel Dratch. The SNL Digital Shorts have been the first funny filmed segment on SNL in forever so kudos to Samberg and the Lonely Island people for that. This was very funny, and I really wish Hader would get more airtime. ****

 

Pearl Jam “Worldwide Suicide”

Thoughts- Yay, let’s get political. I like Pearl Jam, I have a really good version of Rocking in the Free World that they did with Bono when they performed in Toronto. I was watching this half asleep so the political message was lost on me, but this was a good rocking song. ***1/4

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Tina Fey, Poehler, Meyers, Sudeikis

Thoughts- A bit of a letdown after last week. The jokes weren’t working this week so they had to rely on the commentaries. Seth as the smarmy weatherman was funny but they went a bit too over the top with it, so it wasn’t good as some of his other WU appearances. Even though I don’t watch American Idol, I liked the Taylor Hicks impression. Dude’s got the Adam Arkin thing going on. Really bad week for jokes, but the commentaries lifted it slightly. **1/4

 

Debbie Downer

Cast- Lohan, Dratch, Poehler, Forte, Meyers, Finesse Mitchell, Samberg, Wiig

Thoughts- I was all set to point out that if Debbie Downer is such a well, downer, to be around, why invite her, but they covered that in the skit. So I give them credit for that. It would’ve been cool had they mentioned that Lindsay was playing the same character she played at Disney World. I also could’ve done without seeing scantily male cast members or Lindsay blooping it up trying to recreate Debbie Downer 1. If they wanted to bring back old glory from the first Lohan show, well they couldn’t have done the Hermione skit anymore, (weirdness as Microsoft Word recognizes Hermione) but I’m always up for some Vivian Cinnamon. Oh yea, Debbie Downer sucked. *

 

Bar

Cast- Lohan, Forte, Dratch, Wiig, Hader, Samberg

Thoughts- I heard they did this in the Portman dress. God bless Will Forte, he always makes these late in the show skits work. The ménage a trois twist was interesting, I still don’t know if it worked or not. I really did like the opening bits involving the awkwardness of them being in a bar. As usual, the late in the show Forte skit delivers. ***1/4

 

Pearl Jam

Thoughts- I enjoyed this performance as well, it’s good to see Pearl Jam back in the mainstream. I know Norm’s a fan. ***

 

Ann Margaret and Liberace

Cast- Lohan, Hammond, Armisen, Forte, Sudeikis, Hader, Wiig

Thoughts- I’m not surprised they did a skit where Lohan played Ann Margaret, since the two have been compared. Not really seeing the comparison since I don’t remember Ann Margaret exploiting her family’s troubles to sell records. Then again, Ann Margaret was in Taxi, which is a checkmark against her. This was alright, Fred as Liberace was funny but the rest was pretty dull. For the last skit, this was fine. **

 

Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.55 making this a thumbs up show. The episode got off to a slow start, but had a run of about 4/5 skits that all worked. It also benefited from having a good musical guest, and it didn’t fall into a post-Update lull like other episodes. Even though I didn’t want Lohan to host again, she didn’t do a bad job, but didn’t really add anything to the episode. I’m glad they were able to make April a successful month, since May sounds killer and they can really end the season on a very high note.

 

Thumbs Up

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

The 2nd song is "Severed Hand". The audio mixing wasn't that great on this song, as you could hardly make out what Eddie was singing (well, more than usual).

 

Overall, a pretty flat show. O'Reilly and TV Funhouse were the only sketches that I found enjoyable. Bar went on a little too long, which I guess was part of the set up. The payoff was decent, but it took a bit too long to get there. And considering the show got cut off at the end before Lohan could even get through the wrap-up, maybe the should have trimmed some time from Bar.

 

I was only tuning in to see Pearl Jam, though, and they rocked, so I was happy.

[bob_barron 0]

I'm not a huge Pearl Jam follower, have they become more rock oriented in recent years?

[Mole 0]

This is the 4th time Lohan has been on SNL? Or...?

[bob_barron 0]

3rd time hosting, 4th appearance.

[Mole 0]

Is she going to become a 'regular' type of person?

 

Or does she do it just because she is friends with Fey?

[bob_barron 0]

I could see her becoming an annual host a la Baldwin, b/c they seem to like her (Fey especially)

 

I'm sure her the whole intervention was another reason she came back, but that's just speculation.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I'm not a huge Pearl Jam follower, have they become more rock oriented in recent years?

Their last few albums haven't been as rock-y as their 1st couple, but the new album is supposed to be. They've always rocked in their live shows, though.

[Alro 0]

The 2nd song is "Severed Hand". The audio mixing wasn't that great on this song, as you could hardly make out what Eddie was singing (well, more than usual).

 

You couldn't hear Mike soloing at the end, either. It looked like he was going to town, but I didn't hear a note of it. I was surprised they played Severed Hand. I was expecting Life Wasted.

[Mole 0]

I could see her becoming an annual host a la Baldwin, b/c they seem to like her (Fey especially)

 

I'm sure her the whole intervention was another reason she came back, but that's just speculation.

I would think that doing SNL helps her acting because it keeps it on her feet. I know that Baldwin loved doing it because he always thinks that "stage" acting is his favorite work.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

The Baldwin eps were some of my favorites.

 

Schweddy Balls.

[bob_barron 0]

Yea, I've never seen a bad Alec Baldwin show.

[SuperJerk 0]

You could probably do a 20 episode season just of frequent recurring hosts.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

The comedienne behind Lindsay Lohan's most famous movie role staged an intervention when the two met on the set of satirical show Saturday Night Live last week in a bid to convince the actress to give up her wildchild life. Tina Fey, who wrote Mean Girls and starred alongside Lohan in the dark comedy, joined forces with other SNL regulars to chat to the teenager about her party lifestyle and what it's doing to her health. A show insider tells American publication Life & Style, "They brought up everything - nothing was off-limits. Tina told her she was wasting her gift of acting." Meanwhile, cast member Kenan Thompson reveals, "You just gotta say, 'Sometimes you shouldn't be doing that; you gotta drop that.'" Lohan's aides insist there was no intervention, but something was amiss at the aftershow party on Saturday night when the actress appeared to refuse to mingle with the SNL cast. SNL creator Lorne Michaels reportedly staged a similar intervention the last time she guest hosted the weekly show in May, 2005

[bob_barron 0]

Kenan speaking up at an intervention is really really funny

[DARRYLXWF 0]

The SNL cast are only doing this to get in Lohan's pants. Fey included.