Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)

The following blog post is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Give us a listen, won't you?

A Message From The All-But-Certain-To-Be- Next-President Of The United States

Hillary Clinton (Poehler) gives a premature, shockingly petty and extremely condescending farewell speech with a brief appearance from Bill (Hammond) to her fellow 2008 Democratic Primary candidates under the assumption that she will win in both 2008 and 2012.

• Well, let's just start at the beginning with this one, shall we?

• First of all, I can't begin to tell you how strange it was for Darrell Hammond to be the first person you see in this cold opening. It's one of those things you may have had to have been around and regularly watching SNL at the time to know.

• See, at some point in November 2006, NBC actually aired a "Best Of Darrell Hammond" compilation...while Darrell was still in the cast. This was the first time this had ever been done for a still active current cast member before, so naturally...most people who saw this at the time assumed season 32 would be Darrell's last season.  Then again, most people who watched the previous live episode before this one (the Zach Braff/Maroon 5 season finale) assumed that would be Mayas' last and she's in this episode, so who knows just what the hell was going on at SNL/NBC around this time?

• Now, you may not remember or even be aware of any Best Of Darrell Hammond compilation because it only aired once on NBC and was never released on DVD. Hell, it's not even streaming on Peacock with the rest of the "Best Ofs" that actually DID get a proper home video release when they came out. As it turned out, this was at the request of Darrell himself as he didn't believe this compilation truly represented his "best" work. As far as I know, this is also the first and only time this has happened with a Best of as well.

• Anyway, on to the rest of this...MAN, this...oof. Well, I don't want to overstate the obvious, but...yeah. Considering how Hillarys' real life political career would go (and considering who the two real life Democratic presidential "hopefuls" mentioned by name in this were that she actually WOULD go on to talk to and interact with regularly are) this one has held up pretty poorly since...hell, since before this season even ended in real time. Just hearing her mentioning the year 2016 (even as much as that one turned out to be Hillarys' own "second, this-time-more- realistic bid for the White House") makes me cringe a little.

• Still, if memory serves, the shows' writers must've seen this coming and tried to overcompensate in the post strike half of the season by playing up Amys' Hillary as being extremely entitled, arrogant and nakedly scheming in the wake of the news media's sudden love affair with Fred Armisens' Barack Obama (ugh) so FOR NOW they kind of balance themselves out here but really who in the hell could've predicted what would've happened in eight years?

• Actually, you can hear me talk more about Amy's Hillary in this podcast guest appearance of mine from the summer of 2023...well before I even met or reached out to Deej, before We Heart Hader was even a gleam in my eye (or possibly even hers).

• Anyway, the only real highlights of this were Amy as Hillarys' comments directed at Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, John Edwards and Mike Gravel. Hair plugs and all, it's amazing to see how strikingly different Joe Biden looked 18 years ago. C+

Montage 

Don Pardo is pretty much inaudible until he gets to Darrell & Seth's names in the credits due to mic troubles. Right before he gets to Mayas' name, you can hear a crew member or audio technician comment that his mic is going out. Wow.

Monologue

Lebron James gives a shout out to his "family", the Lebrons, watching back in Akron.

• Lebrons' dancing to the theme music was a nice touch. His obligatory mention of the Cavaliers sweeping the San Antonio Spurs in that years NBA finals didn't do much for me.

• This is a partially pre-taped monologue that mostly turns out to be a continuation of the smooth, Klumps-style Nike ad campaign Lebron was involved in around this time which I do vaguely remember. The old/pops Lebron was funny and I got a kick our of his "pretty boy" version telling his girl on the phone he was watching SNL and then commenting "I thought they canceled that after Eddie Murphy, too."

• Although the transition to this pre-taped portion of the monologue lasted a couple of beats too long (even if it was meant to elicit a questionable necessary "awwwww" from the audience when he mentions his family wishes they could be here tonight, I got a kick out of the cut back being Lebrons' detailed chalkboard illustration on how to fix Americas' broken Healthcare System.

• This was a short monologue that got in, got its laughs and got out (which, considering the fact that this episode has an athlete host with mid-tier acting abilities, is probably for the best). C+

Angry Dog

Michael Vicks' new brand of dog food laced with synthetic testosterone and 7 psychoactive drugs makes all breeds of dog, big or small violent and aggressive enough to stand up to both real and perceived bullies.

• Yes, this was when Michael Vicks' dogfighting scandal dominated the late summer news cycle. No, he is not played by Kenan or even verbally mentioned by name in this. The only direct reference to Michael Vick is his face being on the front of the label of the dog food bag.

• Still, that alone gets a long and sustained "oooooooohhhhh" reaction from the audience mixed in with some slick shock laughter that suggests a knowingly subtle "are they really doing this?" reaction with just a hint of "if they are, then...we'll give 'em a chance and see how they handle it."

• Forte was definitely the right pitchman for this as he would be the most trusted member of this cast to put this one over. I especially loved his whole "don't you fuck with me" rant up top. Wiig as the mom was a nice counter to that.

• I also liked Armisens' aggressive seeing eye German shepherd (he may be the only other cast member besides Forte that could've put this over) as well as the aggressive circus poodles.

• Oddly, Hader as the hunter didn't do much for me in this but I did get a twisted kick out of seeing the bitten a d scratched/scarred up kids bringing the dog back at the end. 

• ...and to think, the last time SNL made fun of or even referenced Michael Vick was at the beginning of 2007 in the first ever "REALLY?!?" segment on Seth & Amys' Update when he was arrested for possession of weed at an airport. Oh, how easily time makes fools of us all. B-

Childrens' Hope Auction

Penelope (Wiig) shamelessly tries to one up everyone and draw attention to herself at a children's charity auction including fellow bidders (Poehler, Rudolph), event organizers (Armisen, Hader) and even guest of honor Lebron James (Himself) as he offers himself up for a bachelor auction.

• This is the third overall appearance of Kristens' Penelope character, so naturally she gets a brief smattering of recognition applause upon entering the scene. 

• This was never my favorite Kristen Wiig character, but she would go on to debut characters I liked much less than this one over the course of the next two seasons so I didn't have much of a problem with Kristen yet at this point.

• This sketch really wouldn't start to pick up until Lebron showed up and Kristen got to play off him. The highlights for me were Wiigs' line about having written the song "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" for Aretha Franklin and the whole "Crazypants/long beard" back and forth from when Lebron decided to get in on Wiigs' one-upmanship. B-

High School Musical 3: Return Of The Seniors

East Highs' newest student (James) isn't so sure he wants to try out for Zac Efron/Troy (Samberg) and Corbin Bleu/Chad's (Armisen) all singing, all dancing basketball team...until Vanessa Hudgens/Gabriella (Rudolph) tells him he might miss his chance at seeing her naked breasts and possibly hooking up with her.

• Well, I...don't quite know where to start with this one. IIRC, this may be the first full parody of the "High School Musical" craze SNL did around this time period. The two we would get in the following season ("Night School Musical" and the HSM sketch from when Zac Efron would actually host) would be better, but it's not exactly a good sign that both MADtv and SNL had done separate HSM sketches by this point...and MADtv ended up having the better, more creative one a full year earlier right out of the gate.

• Worse still, this sketch signals the start of a dangerous trend in SNL season premieres (that thankfully wouldn't seem to plague the show as much for at least another fifteen years or so) of sketches that parody something from the summer news/pop culture cycles just to acknowledge that these things occurred rather than comment on them with an actual take (especially with things that appeal to or are geared toward a younger audience)

• For example, this sketch only serves the purpose of acknowledging that High School Musical 2 had just recently premiered on The Disney Channel and that shortly afterwards, one of it's female leads just had her private nude photos leaked on the internet. Beyond that, it doesn't offer up much in the way of commentary or a comedic take than that. It's just...kind of explaining this thing that happened to SNLs' older, less "terminally online" viewers.

• Hey, at least Mayas' not playing her part in a way that slut shames Vanessa for having her nudes leaked (her part is so small she doesn't quite have enough room to do that) and at least Andy & Fred don't play their parts in a way that plays up any "lolgay" vibes (again, the sketch is mostly too short for them to get that in anyway aside from maybe a slight lisp from Samberg during his first song). For 2007, that's sadly pretty progressive.

• As wrong as it seems on paper for Fred to be playing the Corbin Bleu part (like they would ever let that stop them anyway) I did get a pretty big kick out of him chirping "you tell 'em, Troy" out of nowhere. I also got a kick out of the two basketball players throwing that one guy up in the air like they were male cheerleaders in the background.

• I also liked how off key Andy and Lebrons' singing were at the start of their songs and Bill did a fine job as the announcer here. C-

Digital Short: Iran So Far

Andy Samberg confesses his deep, undying love for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Armisen) through a soft romantic rap ballad with some help from Adam Levine and Jake Gyllenhaal (themselves)

• This would be one of two segments tonight in response to Ahmedinejads' then recent "there are no gays in Iran" comment in a speech he had given at Columbia University earlier that month. Somewhat surprisingly, this one would age better and come off a lot classier.

• Yes, it does play up a bit on the tired comedy trope of "all outspoken homophobes in politics must be either secretly gay or too afraid to confront their own latent homosexuality" trope in modern comedy but they take the same tasteful and tactful approach to it that the entire Lonely Island would with their "Spring Breakers" Anthem on "The Wack Album" so I have to give them credit for that.

• Yeah, this may be a little heavy on subtle (again, for 2007) gay jokes and innuendo but ending it with Andy saying "I know you say there's no gays in Iran...but you're in New York now, baby" gives this that feeling of "overly long and complex set up to a quick and simple punchline that hits you just right". 

• Plus, even that's proceeded by an even more biting line "You can deny the holocaust all you want, but you can't deny there's something between us" so there's some good old fashioned antisemite bashing in there, too that gives this a double message.

• Ok, even though Fred Armisen playing middle easterners (or any ethnicity outside of his own, really) on SNL has become a tiresome trope that would show a serious lack of awareness on both his and the shows' parts...I gotta say Fred does look just enough like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in particular with the right hair and makeup (emphasis more on hair than makeup here) that him being in this role makes whatever commentary they had on him that week worth putting in the air in this case because the material he is given puts it over (which...I don't know if I can say the same about for the second time Fred will pop up in this role tonight).

• Fred's goofy smile as Mahmoud works for me as does the brief sight gags of him slowly licking an ice cream cone, wearing an S&M harness over his business casual suit and later wearing a long, formal red gown sitting on top of Andy's piano. I especially like how that's absolutely as far as this goes with the homoeroticism.

• On top of all that, this is beautifully shot for a Digital Short and the song is...still pretty catchy and well composed (in spite if the Adam Levine and Jake Gyllenhaal of it all...at this point, I don't even mind that Adams' been in two back to back full length SNL episodes from this time period I've reviewed for this blog and podcast or that Mr. Gyllenhaal has come very close to doing the same).

• For some strange reason, I've always had some sort of nostalgic fondness for this SNL episode and this particular Digital Short in general that I haven't been able to let go of. I'm glad to see that these both just barely hold up enough for me to not have to (given what a real "late summer/early fall of 2007" time capsule/period piece this us turning out to be. Maybe I just have some sort of nostalgic fondness for this time in my life in general and haven't been able to figure out why I shouldn't have yet? Oh well...) B+

Read To Achieve PSA Shoot

Director Mike Underballs (Hader) must navigate a conflict between Lebron and stagehand Jeff (Sudeikis) which gets settled at the hoop.

• Ah, yes. The return of these guys!

• They've changed up plenty from the JLD edition of this sketch to make it feel fresh and not like a carbon copy of the previous one. 

• For example, Sudeikis' "JYYEEEFFFF!!!" is no longer a boom mic operator but rather, he is tasked with hitting his cue to toss a ball to Lebron for him to dunk. He goes from aiming too high to throwing too early to hitting his head to simply tossing a book at him since this is a literacy PSA which all played out great.

• In fact, I would say they improved on this formula since the last one. 

• Hader feels like he's doing a bit more than just playing straight man (especially when he backs up Jasons' "check ball" request) but this is another Jason showcase where he really gets to shine.

• Knowing Jasons' actual real life passion for basketball going back to his youth, you can tell this was probably written especially for him to showcase his skills on the court. I especially liked him bragging to Lebron that he "played high school ball", all his moves being immediately blocked by Lebron and him getting up with a bloody nose after "Bron-Bron" knocked the wind out of him and he fell to the ground. 

• This was definitely the best live sketch of the night. A+

The Lyle Kane Show

Dweeby former valedictorian Lyle Kane (Forte) stumbles through the first ever episode of his own inexplicable BET talk show as he interviews random bank teller Tim (James) and his own flute player/sole "band" member Daniel (Hader)

• Ah yes, the return of Wills' Lyle Kane character from the previous season's finale! This time, he is leading his own sketch!

• I loved seeing this obscure Forte character return from the Prom Committee sketch from the previous episode (last season's finale).

• I loved every absurd detail of this sketch from every person in the scene talking exactly like Lyle to the botched attempt to tell a joke to the awkward stage direction Lyle gives. 

• I also loved Lebrons character playing circles around Bills on the flute, giving a jazzy Ron Burgundy like solo and the sole explanation for Lyle even having a show being his straightforward, factual answer to Lebrons' "who did he have to give a BJ to" question (yeah, another gay joke that I can let slide for how absurd and out of left field it was).

• Even though I'm currently cohosting a podcast that's all about Bill Hader, I have to say I love how much the show gives us these patented oddball Will Forte sketches throughout season's 33 & 34. It almost makes up for him his lack of use and sudden departure (even if it may have been for personal reasons) by the end of 35. This is definitely my second favorite live sketch of the night. B+

Kanye West Performs A Medley Of "Stronger" And "Good Life" And Then Later On Performs Another Seperate Medley Of "Champion" And "Everything I Am"

• Let me just take this opportunity to say that it was certainly NOT mine or Deejs' intention to collect and review all the SNL episodes with this man as musical guest for our podcast (or mine for this blog).

• At this point, I suspect that there will only be one other episode his is as a musical guest that Deej and I would have any reason to talk about.

• As for these songs...eh, they're all right I guess. This was still at a point where I still disliked Kanye as a person more than I disliked his music.

• His performance of "Everything I Am" sounded like it might have been a freestyle but that's something I'm having a hard time seeing Lorne let fly (although if he did for just this week I could see this being the reason the final sketch of the show gets edited down so suddenly).

• Hey, at least now whenever I hear of think of the song "Stronger" I can always be reminded of this tweet.

• Thankfully, this is the last SNL episode he ever makes and legitimate sketch appearances in.

• Fun fact: it turns out that Kanye West was a last minute replacement for this episode's originally schedule musical guest, Amy Winehouse, who couldn't get a passport in time, so the show pushed her back to November 10, 2007 for an episode that was supposed to be hosted by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Unfortunately, this was the first of several planned episodes this season that had to be canceled due to the WGA strike of 07/08 and Amy Winehouse never got to appear in the show. This would be the first of two times that Kanye was apparently available to replace a female musical guest who had to back out of a season premiere that aired on September 29th (the second being Ariana Grande in 2018 which would be the final time Kanye was ever welcome on the show as a guest...which I won't go into any further because if you're reading this you're probably already as familiar with SNLs' 44th season as I am or as anyone else would ever need to be).

Weekend Update w/Poehler and Meyers

O.J. Simpson (Thompson) struggles to sufficiently explain his rationale for committing an armed robbery to get back sports memorabilia that he had previously sold.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Armisen) clarifies his "no gays in Iran" comment and his views on women through a translator (Rudolph)

• Seth's best jokes: Marcel Marceau obituary, Rudy Guilliani, Human Chimpanzee, Nickelodeon Day Of Play, Benadryl 

• Amy's best jokes: Crossword proposal,  Zara Handbag Recalled

• Kenan's O.J. commentary didn't do much for me. Sure, this may be the debut of his O.J. impression but he clearly hadn't found the right "hook" yet and was playing him like a typical Kenan character from this time. There wasn't much writing-wise here either, but I suppose this served its purpose of highlighting the sheer absurdity of O.J.s situation at the time.

• ...and here's Armisens second appearance as Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of the night

• ...and the entire joke here IS only that "he's a politician who's very publicly homophobic so he must be a closeted gay man lol"

• ...and that's it. There's no extra layer added to it like the fucking Lonely Island managed to add to their thing. Just naked gay humor (pun unintended, yet avoidable...but still used for some reason).

• This paired with the fact that it is basically just a foreign political leader speaking through a soft spoken translator makes me feel like I'm watching a lost season 30 cold open. 

• Speaking of which, why didn't Maya as the translator attempt to interpret Amy's questions to Fred's Mahmoud just to sell us on the illusion?

• At least it felt like a rare format break for this era to put it on Update instead of making this the cold open (especially with Amys' "Inches Magazine" joke at the end (even if the pause/sudden inexplicable applause break is probably what really made this episode run long)

• ...and at least this Update was worth it for most of Seth's jokes. 

• It's pretty eerie that I find myself reviewing an Update that ends with Amy Poehler telling another vagina joke about a woman who gave birth to a 17lb baby just two months after Amy came back and hosted and ended THAT episodes' Update with a "joke-off" between her, Tina and Seth vs Jost & Che based on...pretty much the exact same thing happening elsewhere in the world. C+

Best Of Solid Gold

Solid Gold Superfan C. Micah Kring (Thompson) enthusiastically pitches the Time-Life DVD Collection of all the best moments from the Solid Gold Dancers (Forte, James, Poehler, Rudolph, Wiig)

• Kenan really made a meal out of his part. Even though his character is named "C. Micah Kring" (and yes, he does pronounce it in a way that spells out the joke but still let's it get by the censors) he was actually pretty enjoyable to watch. I do like the various little moments in between his diatribes on his deep love of Solid Gold that briefly yet subtly allude to how pathetic his life has been.

• Most of the parts with the dancers were a bit dull and stiff despite the cast giving it their all. I did get a kick out the dance routines set to the Miami Vice theme and Jefferson Starship, though. The interview part worked better than it had any right to because the cast put that over.

• Usually, with male athlete hosts SNL finds itself faced with its own compulsion to do at least one "huge masculine guy plays against type" sketch and oftentimes has a hard time resisting the temptation to just straight up put them in drag. Between this and the Lyle Kane sketch, SNL at least found two rather creative "non-drag" roles where he could play against type (even if he seems a little stiff here).

• While this, much like the HSM sketch earlier in the show worked better than expected without playing up the "lolgay" angles too blatantly (although this sketch does do that in a couple of spots), the parts that didn't work were the parts that relied on a specific type of physical comedy that not everyone in this cast showed they could pull off successfully. C+

TV Funhouse: Ambiguously Gay Duo in "First Served, First Come"

Bigheads' (Robert Smigel V/O) latest poorly conceived plan to "out" Ace (Stephen Colbert V/O) and Gary (Steve Carrell V/O) involves inviting them to a Mexican/Indian barbecue with only two connecting porta potties, one if which is being used for a sting operation by Minnesota PD Sgt. Karsnia (Robert Smigel V/O)

• Here we go, folks. One of the last three Smigeltoons to have ever aired on SNL. Truly, we're reaching the end of an era...and this being in the same episode as such a notable early Digital Short makes this feel even more like a true "passing of the torch" moment.

• In case you can't tell or don't remember, this was based on Minnesota Senator Larry Craig's recent scandal where he was arrested for soliciting gay sex in an airport mens' room. I guess even Smigel himself thought he was done with these two (since at this point it had been five years since the last one) until he saw the Larry Craig story all over the new and was just STRUCK with the inspiration to write something super topical

• Surprisingly, Bill Hader does have small but noticeable voices roles as three of the obscure one off villains at the barbecue. He plays, Flame-eye, Flatside and, of course, Lizardo.

• Frankly, I don't have all that much more to say about this except that it cemented in my mind how much I fobd the later editions of these funnier when Smigel & Company decided to put "seeing how many outlandish visual suggestions of gay/anal sex they could get past standards" on the back burner in favor of highlighting how Bigheads' plans became more focused on "outing" Ace & Gary and less about world domination and general destruction (you know, like a NOT totally shitty supervillain?)

• Speaking of supervillains, I always liked Dr. Brainio as the sane voice of reason in these. That's gotta be Colbert voicing him too, right? Also, what purpose does "Orbitrox" serve other than just being a...floating green robotic jack-o-lantern who beeps and makes vulgar wisecracks?

• The one gag that actually got me was Ace & Gary playing charades by just gyrating around like male strippers and somehow being able to guess "All About Eve" & "Letters From Iwo Jima" just based on that alone.

• Other than that, I at least appreciated how the gags in this were more verbal than visual...even at the expense of more scatological humor being sprinkled in. I wasn't too crazy about the ending reveal of Lizardo and the police officer (who apparently just blew his cover for no reason) seemingly about to...um, have an encounter. Seemed a little rushed and too easy of an out for me. B-

BETs 106 & Park Top Ten Live

Kanye West (Himself) offers up a weak, piss poor defense of his recent string of meltdowns and tantrums to hosts Rocsi (Rudolph) and Terrence (Thompson) after being denied wins at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, The Nobel Prize Ceremony and a pumpkin contest at a local county fair (not to mention being denied the hosting spot for tonight that ultimately went to Lebron).

• Ok, yeah...in order to review this I am going to have to put 2020s Kanye out of my mind for just a few minutes and remind myself that this is 2007 Kanye we're talking about...and this was still well before he went completely off the deep end.

• Seeing as he apparently asked to be in a sketch his week and accepted Seth's pitch (according to his own 2018 monologue), this was a time when Kanye was known to be an ass, but at least managed to convince the general public (myself included) he had enough of a sense of humor to be able to poke fun at himself for these antics.

• As I mentioned earlier, I was not a huge Kanye fan even back then...but I will admit that he earned a begrudging amount of respect from me AT THIS TIME for doing this sketch (even though it wouldn't last for very long, but still...)

• Plus, it does help that Kanye is basically making fun of his own penchant for interrupting other people's acceptance speeches at awards shows two full years BEFORE his most infamous and damaging example of doing just that would occur at the MTV VMAs.

• Speaking of, that kind of ruins that last part of Seth's 2018 hosting monologue for me, too. It's not that I watched his era of SNL closely enough in real time to know exactly what sketch he was talking about and when it aired, but I was also very young and attuned to pop culture of the time as well. 

• I do remember Taylor getting quite a bit of sympathy from that at the time and Kanye getting a lot of bad press for coming down on a white female artist who much younger than him (which this sketch oddly foreshadows, like, twice) so even the show realized that 2009 would've probably been the wrong time to humanize Kanye and make him seem relatable funny over this (especially since they would have both Taylor and her then boyfriend host separately from each other not too long after this had happened).

• Still, I gotta say the power of Seth's writing (if he did in fact write this) helps this sketch hold up better than you'd think it would...given how badly and irreversibly Kanye has damaged his image and legacy by 2025.

• The KCAs scene was decent. Even without lines, Forte and Sudeikis just visually make a decent Drake & Josh. Nice restrained use of Amy's Dakota Fanning here, too (one of three instances of IRL foreshadowing).

• Bill makes an appearance in the Nobel scene presenting the prize for physics to John C. Mather (Bryan Tucker) and George F. Smoot (John Lutz). The line "no disrespect, I ain't heard none of y'all theories" but what was with him suddenly yelling (what sounded like) "credit...fuck the Nobel" at the end? Did he really botch a line THAT badly?

• The county fair scene was fun. I got a kick out of Kanye pulling a champagne bottle out of his million dollar pumpkin (instance two of three of IRL Kanye foreshadowing).

• Of course, the scene with Kanye imploding backstage at SNL was the best possible capper with the "give a short black man a chance" line (as eerily as this seemed to foreshadow/predict Kanyes' actual backstage meltdown during his 2016 musical guest appearance over the crew tearing his own stage lighting without his permission...where he threatened to walk off the show entirely until Lorne had to step in and talk him out of it. This wouldn't even go on to be the most notorious thing Kanye said or did in the SNL studio that didn't make it to air. B-

Great Moments In Guidance Counseling 

In January 2003, St. Vincent St. Mary's High School Guidance Counselor Larry Baines (Sudeikis) tells a young Lebron James (Himself) to declare with the NBA and become their #1 draft pick and avoid college at all costs. Basically, Mr. Baines tells Lebron to abandon his dream of getting a diploma and pursue a life of immense wealth as an NBA player because graduating college doesn't guarantee you much other than a life and career of short sleeve shirts with your ties, sack lunches and sharing a dingy office with Glenn (Forte) and dealing with garage mechanics who didn't go to college making more money off you than you can ever dream of.

• The basic premise of this sketch might be a little top "Inside Basketball" for some but the performance from Sudeikis and the detail heavy writing of this sketch make it accessible to everyone (take it from me, I DID go to college...and look where I am today).

• I liked Sudeikis quietly berating Forte for now reason, telling Lebron to "dunk" on future teammates who DID go to college and his attempt to "sell" Lebron his own diploma for a million dollars (even though in the live version of this sketch there's this weird technical gaffe where the camera cuts too...the control room? Or another poorly lit part of the studio? Anyway, that does end up being fixed in reruns and in the Peacock edit along with several other camera miscues).

• Truly, the highlight of this sketch was Jasons speech about how the glove compartment pops open on his '93 Corolla every time he goes above 50 MPH and having to pay $400 to get THAT fixed.

• Another part of this sketch that was cut for time from the live airing was a "next week's show" preview where Kenan plays Kanyes' Guidance Counselor telling him to "go to college for a year, drop out and write songs about it". This is added into the Peacock edit and the repeats but somehow doesn't feel completely necessary. B+

Overall Thoughts

• This is an episode I've always had a certain nostalgic fondness for and I'm glad to say, WITHOUT looking at this episode entirely through rose tinted glasses, that it's still a quietly solid season premiere that still mostly holds up in the right places.

• Yes, there are a lot of very topical pieces in this based on politics and pop culture that may or may not be lost to the time fog nearly two decades later, but that's' pretty common for most SNL episodes from many different eras (especially season premieres).

• There's only a few things here that just flat out don't work and what doesn't hold up isn't too egregious or problematic to still be able to enjoy now.

• It does seem like Andy and Jason are emerging as the new "stars" of the breakout cast with Forte and Poehler holding down the fort as the established vets (I'd say Maya here too, but we already know she has one foot out the door as this point) but Bill Hader looks like he's going to emerge as the next breakout utility man he'll show himself to be in roughly a years' time.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that's it for now, I guess. As of this publishing, we now know that SNLs' current season will resume on January 17th, 2026 with host Finn Wolfhard and musical guest A$AP Rocky, so right now I can confirm that my next blog post will be a review of that episode.

• Beyond that, Deej and I have not yet fully planned out what we are doing next on the podcast at this point but once the holidays are over and I've gotten everything figured out with my new job I'm sure we'll at least have plotted out what the next SNL related thing is we'll cover on the podcast.

• Speaking of the holidays, I hope you all enjoyed listening to the previous We Heart Hader episode we did covering the Disney+ film Noelle that Deej and I both agreed we needed had no excuses NOT to suddenly rush out in time for Christmas (because in the end, isn't THAT what the entire holiday season is all about?)

• ...and as I'm sure you heard us mention on the newest episode on We Heart Hader (if you listened to it before you read this blog post) it is very gratifying for me to be able to release this episode on what's not just my 35th birthday but also the exact to-the-day one year anniversary of this podcasts' debut. 

• I'm sure Deej will agree with me when I say if you ever had listened to our podcast (or read this blog or listened to Deejs' other podcast for that matter) we're extremely grateful for al if your support. It means the world to us that we can find an audience somewhere for something we both made.

• Happy New Year!