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?
Commencement Address
Graduating seniors receive their diplomas from The Pounder School during their spring cap and gown ceremony.
- Man, it's never gonna NOT feel weird having to write and/or talk about a commencement or prom sketch in October.
- Anyway, it's nice that they could make this technically an all cast piece (even if only our host had any spoken lines whatsoever and everyone else was either a silent alumni in the background or an extra walking up to get a diploma.
- So, this is basically the exact same joke as the two cold opens Robert Deniro did when he hosted several years before this but with the framework of "let's just punch down on middle easterners just for the fuck of it" taken out and replaced with the framework of this being a unique specialized school for kids who couldn't fit in anywhere else? Well, at least this is being delivered by someone like Steve Carell who can be committed to reading purposely ridiculous lines in a straight face poised manner rather than someone like Robert Deniro who at that point in his career was content to just stumble through it.
- Also, I've heard this was written by the legendary Jack Handey? He is credited with writing an "additional sketch" in this episode and I have kind of a hard time believing this is what he contributed. Sure, the premise and setup to all the dirty names seems just as simplistic and evergreen as anything else he's ever written for this show but beyond that he's never gone that risqué (although Carrells' line about how each student present must feel like "square pegs being squeezed into round holes" should've been a dead giveaway as to where this was headed). I'm sure a lot of the dirty names and puns were pitched and contributed by other writers on a Thursday night.
- Really, the only similarity between this and anything else from Handeys' era at the show is how this has the same energy as Dennis Miller on Update when he would just race through a string of jokes at breakneck speed because he just knew they would bomb otherwise.
- I do like how they took the time to add middle names to most of these as to not totally make the joke blatantly obvious (in the case of "Mike Anthony Hunt" it may have been absolutely necessary to get this past standards and practices).
- A young, long haired Colin Jost can be seen accepting his diploma under the name "Harry Charles Wombus".
- I actually do like the brief meta-ish "Who's Dick Hertz?" moment with Steve sternly and disappointedly addressing the childishness of that prank. Kristens' facial acting was nice during this bit too. I always like when an "lol dirty names" type sketch can take some time out to do some quick self reflection and acknowledge it's own stupidity in some way.
- If I absolutely had to pick any favorite names out of this bunch, they'd probably just be "Lotta Christine Semen", "Chlamydia Marie Carrier" and the entire run at the end beginning with "Yuwanna Nailer" and ending with "George Michael Steinbrenner".
- I'm still a bit surprised that one could get away with using the phrase "Major Dildo Pounder" on NBC in 2008 (even in late night).
- I do also like the brief moment after Steve says LFNY when we see everyone do the traditional "toss your cap/motorboard into the air move you see at every graduation before we cut away to the intro. C+
Monologue
Steve Carell is physically and mentally unable to concentrate on his monologue. His wife, Nancy Carell (Herself), gets him to admit that this is due to nerves and not the six Red Bulls and various Sour Patch Kids and circus peanuts he falsely told the audience he consumed earlier in the day.
- This was a fairly fun and unique monologue premise that only Steve had the inherent goofiness to sell us on. I'd be hard pressed to think of any other host who could pull this off. Among some of my favorite lines from Steve in this were "feels like my hair is growing", "feels like all of my organs are fighting each other right now", "I can only see the color yellow" and "I'm seeing into the future and the past at the same time...very strange, very unsettling".
- It's nice to see a monologue where the host walks off the stage (or into the audience) that doesn't either involve a sprawling musical number, a backstage tour or a visit to the five timers club lounge (of course Steve couldn't go backstage because the door he so hilariously ran into seemed to be locked from the outside).
- I got a kick out of Steve walking through the sparse floor seats to get back on stage then suddenly stopping to sit in a strange mans' lap only to ask him to rub his head.
- Hey, it's nice to see Nancy make an odd cameo on the show (or any one season only cast member for that matter). I liked that she suddenly told Amy that she goes through this every morning and I got a kick out of Steve's closing line about hiw this should only happen again if he has to be in one of the sketches.
- This was a fun monologue that inspired a lot more confidence in the rest of the show than that cold open did. B-
Clinton/Obama: There Can Be Only One
Shown in a very tight split screen close up, Barack Obama (Armisen) and Hillary Clinton (Poehler) deliver an almost perfectly in sync message of democratic party unity.
- Huh, apparently this wasn't a parody of any real political ad from the time but rather this series of ads nobody remembers any more for the 2007 NBA finals (which unsurprisingly the host of this season's premiere is in because time truly is a flat circle)
- Also, it looks like they may have tried to actually apply some bronzer to Freds face or otherwise tried some post production or camera trick to make him look...tanner? I guess that since they knew ahead of time that this would be a pretape they tried every trick they could in the book to at least make us think his Obama was at least working on purely a visual level.
- Once you get past how initially jarring the visuals are you can appreciate some of the funnier lines in this sketch mostly from Amys" Hillary such as "ruthless ambition" over Freds' "charisma", "I deserve this" and about having her eye on the Democratic nomination...in 2012.
- Although Fred (who seems to just be using his own voice in this case although really here it doesn't matter) had a couple of decent lines about how any democrat would carry the state of California in the general election anyway and his saying "only one mathematically viable" over Amys' "and its' anyones' race" after they both say "now, two candidates' remain". The rest of this just seems lost to the time fog. C-
Contestant Stu Barnsford (Carell) puts up with snide belittling comments from his bitter angry father (Forte) whom he still lives with on his search for the million dollar briefcase. Stu has turned down an offer of $211,000 from the banker and only the one cent, one dollar, five dollar and million dollar. Host Howie Mandell (Armisen) and model Rebecca (Wiig) do him no favors as they endlessly draw this process out to fill time.
- This might have been the high point of the show for me. Forte pretty much made this for me and Carell played off him well with expertly pathetic vibes. Among the many sad, pitiful details about the life of Steves' character that Will revealed were that he quit air conditioner repair school after one day because "it was too cold" and that after he gave up on breeding alpacas their whole backyard is now full of "dead alpacas".
- Freds' Howie Mandell impression never seemed up to much. It was always a little too goofy for me. Kristens' subtle mugging and miming was fine. I liked her goofily and then solemnly admitting to drinking before the show.
- Come to think of it, Kristen may be basically doing a reigned in version of what she would later do when impersonating Kathie Lee Gifford on the show but it was actually funny here and served this sketch well. I liked Amy and Caseys' brief lines as the other two goofy voiced models.
- I did like the endearing ending to this where Steves' character reveals the only real reason he still lives with his father is because he's all he has after mom moved out and questions what he would do if he used any prize money to move into his own place...as they both struggle to accept the reality that Steve just lost out on one million dollars as Kristen reveals that was the case she just opened...meaning that is not the case Steve had selected. B+
Two A-Holes Do Karaoke
The A-Hole couple (Sudeikis & Wiig) enrage karaoke night host Peter Pops (Carell) with their lack of karaoke knowledge or etiquette.
- Ok, I got a kick out of Kenan tearfully dedicating his rendition of Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" to Anna Nicole Smith.
- Once Steve pulled out a name card with just gum stuck to it, you could see where this one was going.
- As usual, Bills' voice narrates the title card of these. This is the second to last of these Jason and Kristen would ever do. It may be one of the lesser, more forgettable ones but it still has a lot of great moments.
- I got a kick out of Jason's attempts at guessing what happened to the nonexistent band.
- I loved how increasingly petty Steve's character became with his bitter contempt for them once Kristen decided she wanted to tell lame jokes and do extremely minimalist impressions (like a cow and Yoda eating grass).
- I especially liked Jason and Kristen making Steve guess what song they wanted to do (which, of course, turned out to he Sir Mix-A-Lots' "Baby Got Back", the first song Steve guessed) and reacting in disgust when Steve guessed "Brown Eyed Girl" because according to Kristen "that songs' about buttsex".
- Of course, Jason and Kristen standing silently as a backing track of "Baby Got Back" with only brief backing vocals from Kenan played was a funny juxtaposition.
- I was a little impressed that they managed to pull off the live sketch visual of Steve's ears steaming like a tea kettle in anger.
- Anyway, that was a fun little sketch with a snappy pace to keep the show moving. B-
Digital Short: Japanese Office
Ricky Gervais (Himself) smugly derides the US version of the Office for shamelessly ripping off his original UK version and shows clips from the Japanese sitcom that inspired him in creating the original.
- Even though this would probably land better for SNL fans who also happened to be huge Office US fans at the time it first became a hit, this is probably the most well remembered piece from this episode among SNL fans in general...and ironically with the way culture has evolved and the with the way it has aged since, it's probably the least easiest to talk about.
- Still, I have to say...it's hard to actually be mad at or offended by. I do seem to remember this, Belushis' Samurai and the infamous Chris Farley/Mike Meyers/Alec Baldwin Japanese Game Show sketch from season 20 come up in conversation during (*sigh*) upcoming three time SNL host Shane Gillis' controversy from several years ago when he was initially hired to join the cast and then immediately fired once his infamous Chinatown comments from his old podcast resurfaced...and honestly, I see each of those SNL sketches as a real apples and oranges comparison when held up that happened with Shane Gillis (ok, maybe not so much the season 20 one but still...)
- I don't see this as "punching down" as much as this cast just wanting to have the same fun they did during Rainn Wilsons' monologue when he hosted the previous season. It's not like they're going crazy with the makeup or anything. It's mostly just Jason and Kristen doing the same Jim and Pam impressions they've already done on the show...just while wearing black wigs...and with Steve just playing Michael Scott and Bill Hader being worked in to this as a Japanese Dwight Schrute simply because they wanted to play up his real life resemblance to Rainn Wilson a bit for the sake of this sketch.
- Plus, they all appear to be speaking actual Japanese and using real Japanese phrases rather than just mumbling out some offensive made up gibberish made to approximate that dialect. Kristens' accent and constant giggling come the closest to being "iffy", but nothing to egregious here.
- Hey, they've even got a few actual Asian extras too fill out the background. Also, Kenan is there as Stanley, because...why not, it's fun?
- I got a kick out of the brief shot of Darrel Hammond as Regis Philbin suddenly doing a very loud, flashy borderline seizure inducing commercial for tampons with very Hello Kitty-ish branding and the brief shot of the early 2000s-ish walking robot dog toy at the end.
- It's also a bit ironic that in a sketch that features white cast members playing Asian roles that Ricky Gervais as himself may be the most problematic thing about it. Granted, the Ricky Gervais of 2008 is an entirely different beast of the Ricky Gervais of the past 15 years or so...but it doesn't help that his closing line here is a giggling "it's funny...'cause it's racist" (delivered in an tongue in cheek yet smug manner as if he were deliberately trying to deflate any possible defense of this).
- Anyway, fun sketch for the time...still a little fun but not too much fun eighteen years later. B-
McCain 2008
Sen John McCain (Himself) declares his strong opposition to wasteful, pork barrel spending in government and makes the case that this quality along with his advanced age makes him the strongest and most qualified candidate for the presidency.
- Well, Sen. McCain does have a history and good relationship with the show (having previously hosted six years prior to this episode) so naturally he'd be a good enough sport to make a cameo poking fun at his old age. This is not the last time he would show up on SNL in some capacity this year (or even this episode), but this would be the weakest and least memorable SNL appeal during his 2008 campaign.
- I liked his joke about how even his youngest great-great-great-great-grandchildren being near retirement age and the bit about wasteful government spending on a device that jams gaydar just fine, but he rest of this felt like a little too much nice political humor with limited appeal delivered in a quiet muted fashion to only mild audience reactions. C-
Usher Performs "This Ain't Sex" And "Love In This Club (ft. Young Jeezy)"
- If you're familiar at all with Usher, this is just your typical heavily choreographed post-Confessions era run of the mill R&B dance club slop.
- The first song felt like a throwback as even musically (maybe moreso than choreographically) it was clearly an homage/pastiche to P.Y.T era Michael Jackson.
- Pretty funny how I'm reviewing this episode in 2026 right after SNL had just done a real half assed sketch based on Ushers' recent tour with Chris Brown. Time truly is an annoyingly flat circle.
Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy
Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Himself) urges the Democratic party to take their sweet time on picking their candidate in this election.
Rev. Jesse Jackson (Hammond) and Rev. Al Sharpton (Thompson) stop by to give Sen. Barack Obama advice on representing his race during his campaign
- Seth's Best Jokes: Britney Spears Car Accident, Heavy Marijuana Use Study, Worlds' Austrailianest Man, Speedo Arrest
- Amy's Best Jokes: George W. Bush Gives Up Golf, 10 Year Old College Student
- Sen. McCains' appearance was charming and a lot funnier and better delivered than his earlier appearance in the show. I did like his brief "fight amongst yourselves" to Seth and Amy as well as his comments about the conventions and suggestions that the Demoratic party that they "kick the tires" on John Edwards a bit more.
- As I may have said before, I don't really have a huge problem with Darrells' Jesse (which I would also just throw in the "Japanese Office" category) or Kenans' Sharpton...but their commentary here was pretty much white noise (outside of the various "take it ways" which weren't even up to much) and had a real "should we be doing this right now"? feel to it. C+
The Charlie Flitt Show
Weight loss guru Charlie Flitt (Carell) interviews guest Beth Cassiola (Poehler), her fiance Larry (Hader) and recovering alcoholic/maid of honor mother Rhonda (Wiig) on their journeys through weight loss, weight gain and addictions.
- Wow, this was almost way too dry for its own good. Most of the actual jokes in this sketch were purely visual and those were just the various shots of Steve,Amy, Bill and Kristen bursting through tearaway portraits of their formerly fat/thin/drunken selves whenever they were introduced (or in Steves' case any time he simply entered the frame...which is a beat they hit so many times it felt like they were trying to solely make it funny through repetition but didn't know how to properly pull that off).
- The only bit of dialogue I liked at all was Steve comparing his addiction to Google Images to Amys' addiction to caffeine and exercise just for the sheer oddity of it. The less said about the reference to Jared Fogel and the Subway diet the better (hell, it will be bad enough when Jared himself makes an actual cameo in SNLs' very next live episode) but I did like Steves' comment to Amy "that is a lot of dried bread, but you look great".
- Other than that, the rest of the dialogue in this sketch makes this feel too much like an actual example of the type of obscure daytime talk show or local fitness infomercial it is supposed to be spoofing. Seeing the actual "Fit Tv" bug in the corner does make me wonder if that was an actual deep cable channel from the time period that is no longer around today?
- Speaking of daytime talk shows, I wonder if Steves' dance with Fred as the DJ was supposed to be a reference to Ellens' talk show? That would be another thing that makes this sketch age weirdly.
- The audience Q&A bit with Kenan, Jason and Fred didn't do much for me, but hey...at least it was an easy way to get Darrell on the show in a non-impression role...and set up the introduction to Bills' character.
- The visual of Bill in a fat suit and facial prosthetics isn't that funny on its' own but the way he played off his characters' shame and disappointment over losing 300 pounds through gastric bypass surgery and then recently having gained it all back "due to personal stress" was what put it over (given that he only really had one line himself).
- I did like the added detail of Kristens' character being a recovering alcoholic lead to her bursting through a photo of herself as a staggering, bleary eyed drunk with a half asleep expression holding a liquor bottle.
- Anyway, yeah...this was a very awkward sketch that payed to such a muted, dead silent response from the real studio audience that I actually wonder how this did well enough at the table read and dress rehearsal to make it on air? D+
CPR Training
Thomas (Carell) accidentally breaks open the chest of his assistant Greg (Samberg) while demonstrating chest compressions. He tries to keep his cool and wing it in front of his students (Sudeikis, Thompson, Wiig) as they all watch him hemorrhage to death.
- This was a neat, fun little Sambergian gross out sketch. Kenan had some great lines here. Steve was OK. I just...would've expected him to bring a bit more to a sketch like this for some reason (seems like he tried on air in a way that didn't work).
- The gags with Steve trying to retrieve his wrist watch from Andy's chest cavity and then visibly inflating his lung while performing mouth to mouth on him were pretty funny.
- Hmm...I wonder if the fake blood hose was being operated by Jorma or Akiva? It seems like someone sure was purposely trying to get blood into Andy's mouth to get him to break. Whoever it was, you can actually see them in the shot sneaking under Andys' fake gurney at the beginning (which is probably the main reason why they replaced this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns).
- Other dress changes include Andy's final line (you know, the one about him having just recently found a nickel in a pile of dog turds) wasn't in the original airing. It replaces a line where Andy says he "just got a free watch from the coolest guy (he) knows".
- Having Usher appear at the end just to turn this into an NBC More You Know PSA for no apparent reason (in the live airing it was just an American Red Cross PSA) wasn't exactly the worst possible ending to this sketch at the time...but considering how many modern sketches have sudden PSA/advertising buttons at the end, you could feel that the seeds for something dangerous had been planted by this point. B-
Bless This Child
A married couple (Carell & Wiig) perform an entire musical prayer (complete with choreography) for their new baby
- This was another fun little physical/musical sketch that got in and out without overstaying its welcome at all.
- I did like visuals Steve and Kristen wiggling and swinging their baby around wildly as part of their dance routine.
- I also appreciated Steve acknowledging that their baby was just a doll and he was ready to move on to a real one followed by Kristen's reveal of her pregnancy followed by Steve swinging around a dummy of her.
- See, THIS is evergreen enough that I'd sooner believe Jack Handey wrote it over the cold open. Neat little humble ditty to quietly end a quiet season on. B+
Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst
- Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
- Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
- Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
- Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
- Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
- Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)
- Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket (05.10.2008)
- Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
- Steve Carell/Usher (05.17.2008)
- Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
- Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
- Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)
Overall Thoughts
- Well, this was an awkward, low key way to end an unusual season...but at least it didn't feel like a burnt out one.
- Steve did fine with what he was given and clearly tried to save or elevate everything he possibly could, but this episode may have really began his reputation for being one of those great comedy people who are great in their own movies & TV shows but can't host a strong SNL episode to save their lives.
- That's all just to say this was a very average episode with no real highs or lows rather than a dire one.
- As far as cast usage goes, no one really dominated (although Amy, Kristen and Fred may have had strong nights) and everyone got used in something or another.
- Sadly, this wasn't a great night for Bill & his appearances on the show...but we all know his luck would change by the beginning of next season thanks to a certain new writer joining the staff.
Closing Thoughts
- Well, the next episode of the We Heart Hader after this one is going to be our review of "Mr. Runner Up: My Life as an Oscar Bridesmaid" which is the two part second season finale of Documentary Now!
- We still haven't decided whether or not to divide that into two episodes of our own podcast yet, but we do know that after this we'll have wrapped up our Documentary Now coverage on the podcast for good.
- As of this posting, we haven't decided how to cover season 34 of SNL for the podcast yet, but I've got a couple of non episode specific podcast topics from that season we could do (I think you can probably guess which ones I'm talking about...but you'll have to wait until you can listen to them to find out what they are for sure).
- ...and of course, I will also be covering the latest episodes of both SNL UK Series two and SNL US season 52 on this blog. One of those two will likely be the next thing you see a blog post about on here. See you again real soon!
