Steve Carell/Usher (05.17.2008)

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-

Deal Or No Deal

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

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)
7. Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket (05.10.2008)
8. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
9. Steve Carell/Usher (05.17.2008)
10. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
11. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
12. 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!

Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket (05.10.2008)

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?

Clinton's Qualities

Hillary Clinton (Poehler) explains how being a sore loser with no ethical standards and a base of racist supporters somehow makes her a better choice to be the Democratic nominee for President.

• Wow...for a show that offered up a blatant endorsement of her three months earlier they're sure taking some wild ass flailing swings at Hillary Clinton here. Seriously, this might have been the roughest they've been towards her since she was still in the White House as first lady. If this was another Jim Downey piece, he must've been letting his "slight conservative leanings" run wild here.

• Still, it gave us a nice break from seeing Freds' Obama again and Amy performed this with an expert mix of charm, poise and an absurdist, tounge in cheek deadpan that was almost enough to obfuscate and offset the sheer vitriolic bluntness of this material. 

• I did get a kick out of her lines about expecting to recieve an endorsement from Rev. Jeremiah Right (iykyk) and how she'd be willing to simultaneously play both the race and gender cards despite that not even making sense.

• This cold open does seem pretty damn ironic in hindsight when you consider the fact that Hillary would go on to run against a guy who would turn out to be both a sore winner AND a sore loser who also had a base of blatantly racist supporters. B-

Monologue

Shia Labeouf agrees to answer any non-plot specific questions about the upcoming "Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull". Unfortunately, the only questions are from Sean Connery (Hammond), Short Round (Poehler) and a melted up Major Toht (Forte) wondering why they weren't cast as well as an audience member (Sudeikis) who somehow accurately guesses the ending.

• Shia handled this well and seems like he has matured a bit from his previous hosting gig but boy, what an auspicious film for him to be plugging.

• Jason did a fine job as a seemingly clueless audience member who somehow guesses the ending. I got a chuckle out of his line about not knowing who Speilberg & Lucas are and yet spouting a nonsensical (mostly inaccurate) ending that's just a riff on the most clichéd modern sci-fi/adventure/fantasy movie tropes of the past 25ish years 

• I have a feeling that this entire monologue was written as an excuse to just use Hammonds' Connery in something again. I thought the idea of him being mad about being left off the "Last Crusade" lunch box was kinda funny and a good setup to the one decent joke they wrote for him in this.

• Amy Poehler as a small Asian boy with a heavy accent? Hey, this is 2008. I certainly don't see how that could be seen as questionable or a necessary cut at all!

• The true highlight of this was the bonkers makeup job they did on Forte as Toht, but when the highlight of a monologue is just a particularly gruesome piece of prosthetic rather than anything actually written for it...something may be seriously wrong. 

• The part with Shia accidentally spoiling Indys' death in the movie (spoiler alert: he doesn't die but he might as well have because this one pretty much killed any residual good will toward the franchise) was possibly the best way to end this little bit of cringe comedy that wasn't quite as fun as I remembered it to be. C-

Macgruber (Pt. 1)

MacGruber (Forte) is now working with his estranged son Merril (Labeouf) who, to his father's shock and disgust, inadvertently outs himself by handing his dad a vial of anal lube to help diffuse a bomb.

• Well, this one is mostly here to set up a runner but I would say it's also notable for being the closest MacGruber gets to actually being competent at his job before inevitably becoming distracted by something absurdly trivial.

• I do like how well Kristen and Will play up the "all the air getting sucked out of the room" awkwardness (especially the first of two times we will see Fortes' expression of barely concealed disgust). B-

It's A Match

Detective Rob Perkins (Hader) questions washed up 70s game show personalities Pam Sumpter (Poehler), Steven Neilsen Perry (Armisen), Sarah Annette Boob (Wilson), Nancy Nan George (Wiig), Chipsey Boday (Thompson) and Dirk Densten (Labeouf) on the sudden backstage murder of host Guy Lange.

• Ok, this is clearly just a Mr. Show style "let's just purposely avoid using any real names or references in our little parody" Temu Match Game sketch with Amy as Brett Somers, Fred as Paul Lynde (but named after Charles Nelson Reilly), Casey as a composite of any number of '70s TV sexpots (but mostly Fannie Flagg it seems), Kristen as Marcia Wallace (both Kristen and Kenans' characters might have had a little Debralee Scott in them?) Kenan as Nipsey Russell and Shia as Doug Henning.

• Bill is DRESSED like Colombo but obviously he's not doing his Peter Falk since that wouldn't make a ton of sense here. Instead, he is playing it straight as a generic stern '70s detective questioning everyone.

• Functionally, this is pretty much a Vincent Price sketch for Bill. He isn't the center piece of this like he us in those, but he is, once again, playing the role of "put upon host who grows increasingly frustrated at his guests lack of professionalism and basic competence." Naturally, he does a great job anchoring this.

• This was actually a fresh and creative premise of 70s celebrity game show panelists treating a sudden murder investigation like it's part of the game they're there to play, writing down their answers and presenting them as jokes one by one instead of grieving taking there friend and colleague's sudden death seriously (boy, they are in some serious denial, huh?)

• Surprisingly, Shia seems to be doing the best with his impression with Kristen and Kenan each a close second and third respectively. I say "surprisingly" in Shias' case because, as the youngest person in this sketch, he'd probably be the least likely to know who Doug Henning actually was.

• Why they didn't just do a straight "Match Game" parody and use the real names of people they were parodying I have no idea but I think it might have to do with the sketch itself taking place at a murder investigation and what I see as a general attitude of "well, Shias' still got young fans from his Disney days who probably tuned in and they sure as hell won't recognize what this is a parody of...so screw it".

• I did like everyone writing the same answers in response to the questioning of Bill's detective as a play on the various tropes of  bawdy "tee hee" 70s game shows (i.e. "making whoopee" and "in Steven's bedroom" in response to "where was the last place you saw your host?").

• Again, I'm not crazy about Fred playing once again playing another in a seemingly endless string of hacky gay stereotypes (and it doesn't help that he eventually capitulates to his own playful public outing when he admits to having a "secret life") but at least it was based on a real thing from the time and was at felt naturally written into this sketch at the exact moment it was called for.

• Some other stray moments I liked were Amy's holding up two cards with devil horns drawn on them to either side of her head and Kenan saying writing "getting my hair done" instead of "making whoopee" as to not upset his wife.

• I could've sworn Casey said she was "crying and eating pound cake" in her water bed instead of "making mouth whoopee" but that's not in the Peacock copy I am watching so they must've changed that between dress and air and inserted the dress version into all reruns. 

• Speaking of Casey's character, if she "auditioned for this show in Steven's bedroom"...would that make both Steven and the murdered game show host both bisexual? Ah, no need to nitpick. Strong sketch all around. Definitely my second favorite live piece of this episode. B+

Scared Straight

Officer Matthews (Sudeikis) introduces three teen shoplifters (Hader, Labeouf, Samberg) to prisoner Lorenzo McIntosh (Thompson) who spouts movie references, threats of gay sex acts and just general aggressive nonsense at them in a failed attempt to scare them straight. 

• Yup, this is the debut of one of this eras' big cookie cutter recurring sketches. It sure does hit all familiar beats, just not in such a boisterous, over the top manner because it's the first outing and none of said "familiar beats" have been established yet. 

• I do remember Stooge in his reviews constantly comparing these to Chris Farleys' Motivational Speaker sketches and saying that Kenan was obviously trying to start his own version of Farleys' Matt Foley character. While I see some similarities in how the characters are introduced (especially in the Phil Hartman-like way Jason introduces Kenan and brings him out), I think these sketches do become their own seperate thing soon enough.

• Kenan seems to have already settled on what his character will be as he's playing this role the exact same way he's always done. Still, since Jason isn't quite as incredulous in his part yet (hell, he doesn't even jump up on his desk at the end yet) and Kenan isn't hitting his threats to the teens as hard. He's even focused more on menacing them in general and threatening them with a more natural delivery.

• His first threat seems to be more focused on his Sharpied on face tattoo than pulling an obvious 80s/90s family movie reference out of nowhere. Even though Kenan's "deposit here" line seems to get the shocked gasp of a reaction that the writers may have secretly been hoping for deep down, he doesn't go quite as over the top or play as fast and loose with putting over the immature gay sex jokes as he would in future installments. 

• Sure, he's just as physical with Bill and Andy but more in a physically imposing way and not in such a fun, loose, brotherly way. All the little pieces and elements are here, but it would take a few seasons worth of time, repetition and finding the right chemistry before these become the exercise in deliberately making cast members break that these would soon become.

• As far as the movie references go, "Gone In 60 Seconds" was a logical and reasonable place to start building up from before absolutely reaching for nonsense like "Goonies" and "Weekend At Bernies'".

• I also liked Kenan's listing of "hats" and "newspapers" repeatedly among the odd items he stole, thinking the boys actually stole cars when all they did was shoplift a copy of Grand Theft Auto and suddenly telling Bill he knows plenty of necrophilliacs.

• Bill usually plays one of the teens (the one who usually calls Kenan out for his most blatant movie ripoffs which usually turn out to be at least his third ones). He didn't break as much here as you'd expect, but he did have a funny moment when he was the only one starting a slow clap until Andy & Shia give him a sideways look.

• Anyway, nice debut sketch for a series I've always appreciated...just not as much in live real time repetition. C+

MacGruber (Pt. 2)

Back from his stay at camp, a now "normal" Merril (Labeouf) is quizzed by MacGruber (Forte) on Bible verses and female genitalia while only Vicki (Wiig) is asked for bomb diffusing items. His dad tries to stop him from leaving which inadvertently causes a vibrating dildo to fall out of his backpack.

• Huh, placing this directly after "Scared Straight" was definitely...a choice.

• There wasn't much to this either. I liked the brief visual gag of Will nodding approvingly upon seeing Shia check out a passing woman from behind.

• I did get a brief kick out of Shias' half-hearted, insincere response of "the vagina, MacGruber" to Will asking his favorite part of a woman (to which Will of course tacks on "don't forget about the breasts").

• How did Merril think he was going to escape a room that's always either sealed in, welded shut or locked from the outside?

• The reveal of the dildo was one of the more bluntly risque things I've seen on this show. As much as I liked seeing Fortes' face if disgust again, this felt like it played for a beat too long. C+

Suze Orman Show

Suze Orman (Wiig) answers questions about female hair care and advised viewers to spend their recent economic stimulus checks however the hell they want and interviews failing buffet/nightclub owner Josiah From Miami (Labeouf) about how he should spend his stimulus money.

• Huh, I don't remember them ever having done more than two of these, but OK. I guess this week it was topical, too bad after this specific week it wasn't memorable.

• While overall this felt like a much shorter and weaker carbon copy of the version of this sketch that appeared in Jonah Hills' episode, this still had its moments.

• I got a kick out of Kristen showing off her snap on collar and detailing the absurd length she goes to travel by borrowed speed boat and rented car to a female specific barber shop in Arizona.

• Shia playing his character with an NYC/Jersey Guido type accent really added something to this. I liked the detail of his club being named "Regrets" and Kristen advising him to go and spend his stimulus money on a five o'clock shadow face tattoo because a) his own facial hair grows in patchy and b) she has a tattoo of buttons going down her chest so she always feels like she is wearing a jacket. 

• The idea of bathing in beef bullion cubes instead of saving money on self tanners got a chuckle out of me. C+

Digital Short: Best Look In The World

Andy Samberg and Shia Labouef sing a ZZ Top esque song about how a button down dress shirt and black socks with absolutely no pants (or underpants) is the best look in the world for grown men.

• Well, if you thought the precious episodes' "Daquiri Girl" was bad...

• The really sad thing is that this one actually had some writing and effort put into it whereas "Daiquiri Girl" was just improvised and cobbled together at the last possible secondg...which makes this one UNintentonally bad...the worst kind of bad.

• There was a time where I would've been much more generous in my assessment of this short. That time has since passed since I can no longer simply appreciate "Best Look In The World" for its sheer random goofiness.

• The lyrics aren't even that coherent but even with the captions/subtitles on there's just too much free flowing garbled nonsense here for me.

• I guess I still like the brief shot of Bill as an illiterate genie and the "cool down" part just find but...they don't get many laughs out of me.

• I liked the part where an oblivious Andy just grins mindlessly and says "right on" when Shia slowly walks away from him after telling him the song they both participated in was "pretty disturbing" but again...this Digital Short gives us absolutely nothing to work with. D+

My Morning Jacket Performs "I'm Amazed" And "Evil Urges"

• Really dug the dynamic sound of this band (especially the very honky tonk infused early 70s rock sound to their first song

• Quite possibly the strongest musical guest of this season

Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy

Liberty City residents Vlad (Hader) & Niko (Armisen) would like to counter the violent image of their hometown that is portrayed in the new Grand Theft Auto video game

French Def Jam comedian Jean K. Jean (Thompson) returns with some new material on rising "petrol" prices, foie gras and old "Asterisk & Tintin" cartoons

• Seth's best jokes: Gas Prices Increases, Amy Winehouse arrested, SAAB Used Cadavers

• Amy's Best jokes: Houston Teens Arrested

• Bill and Fred's GTA Vice city commentary may have been the sole highlight of this Update. This may not be saying much since there was very little written material given to them and this did seem like it was edited down quite a bit after dress rehearsal but they really sold it and they nailed the stiff herky-jerky NPC video game movements.

• The Weather Channel pick up lines bit felt straight out of season 30 (like most of this Update) and would've been extremely iffy if Seth & Amy didn't have the perfect chemistry to make it come across as fun and charming (ditto for Amy's delivery of that R. Kelly joke). Man, this was another Update that wasn't worth it for the jokes at all.

• Zut alors! It's the return of Jean K. Jean (speaking of bits that only get by on the performers charisma). This was all right, but I can only take so much humor that is specifically designed to go over my head. The foie gras bit was fun though. Incroyable! C+

La Revista Della Televisione

Vinny Vedecci (Hader) interviews Shia Labouef about Indiana Jones, his recent smoking related arrest Transformers (despite not knowing anything about the subject)

• Ok, now you might know that not only have I already given my thoughts on this particular sketch (and all the other Vinny Vedecci sketches) on this blog but Deej and I have already done the same on the podcast before. I don't have a ton of new things to say on it or anything, but looking back at that blog post where I ranked all of these, I can see why I ranked this one third. 

• A few positive moments stand out such as the "arrested for smoking" gag (with brief terrified reaction shots of Italian versions of several crew members and even an exasperated, white suited Lorne himself lighting up) which somehow plays well even if that particular arrest of Shias' has been looooong since forgotten among his many other transgressions since then and the fact that this is the sole edition that breaks format and does away briefly with the translator joke by having Vinny clearly state that his English is good enough to conduct this interview without one.

• The one big negative that really drags this down is this is the "transformers/penis or vagina" gag that gets called back to twice (the second time being with brief shots of Wiig and Sudeikis each in drag as the "transformers" that got bumped for time) which...even in 2008 felt like the cheapest of laughs and in 2026 is just...simply not done (even if the entire joke is played off of a fictional characters non-malicious ignorance as it is here).

• The highlight of this sketch may have been the moment where Vinny goads Shia into discussing Indiana Jones' likes and dislikes (his dislike of snakes in particular) just so he can shout "HE HATES SNAKES!!!" to cue up a drop of plastic snakes that occurs so late and way off the mark that Vinny has already begun setting up a question about the film "Disturbia" by the time it happens followed by a shot of Vinny chewing out a slack jawed Samberg in a tank top standing by a lever. There was a gag that involved Vinny dubbing the voice of one of the goons who tears out a human heart in "Temple of Doom" that didn't work for me.

• Like I said, this was one of the better early installments of this even if it didn't exactly have all it's elements working in its favor. B-

MacGruber (Pt. 3)

Merril (Labeouf) is back to help his dad (Forte) and Vicki (Wiig) diffuse a bomb. This time, he's bought his "platonic" male friend Scott (Samberg) with him much to MacGrubers' chagrin. When MacGruber asks to see his sin kiss Vicki to "prove" his sexuality...Merril vomits on her.

• This was a decent if not jarring and slightly cynical end to this runner. 

• One might ask why this didn't end with MacGrubers' son getting to truly be who he is in defiance of his dad's controlling close mindedness, but this wouldn't truly be MacGruber if that were allowed to happen because as we've seen with his dad's alcoholism and plastics surgery addiction, living out a self destructive lie runs in the family.

• As intentionally squicky as the ending vomit was, executing it with "blink and you'll miss it" timing right as the explosion happened was what made it work for me. B-

Admirers

Emily (Wiig) and Stacy (Poehler) find themselves mutually attracted to all the unsettlingly stiff and statuesque men in the same restaurant as them with bizarrely frozen facial expressions are either pained and fearful (Armisen, Samberg, Forte) or just creepily deranged (Hader, Labeouf, Thompson)

• Ok, this sketch has been a deep cut favorite of mine for eighteen years now. It's definitely my favorite piece of this whole episode.

• Everyone really shined in this. The woman played their parts well (even Casey Wilson as the waittress who brings them drinks bought for them by Will, Bill, Kenan and Fred).

• Andy set the tone for this absurdity really well, initially. Fred, Bill and Kenan matched his energy and stylistic choice really well, especially Bill whose near rigor mortis rictus grin is the face most viewers of this sketch would probably say is the funniest. 

• Freds' would be a close second as he looks like he is just straight up ugly crying. Andy is a close third as he looks like he is just right on the verge of doing the same thing. Andy & Bill are the only guys that noticablly move during this sketch (Samberg darts his eyes back and forth while Hader does raise his glass in toast to the ladies) Andy & Bill also look the least like they are just creepily peering at women while Kenan looks the most like he is doing that but hey, it still works. 

• I'm not quite sure what Will was going for other than looking like a crash test dummy who wished to become human but it still works and it would be a crime to not include him somewhere in a sketch that is this wonderfully odd. Shia just did a simple, crooked goofy smirk and that was it. A little unambitious but it worked for this sketch.

• Of course, the moment that made this entire sketch (and episode for me) was the sudden "doy doy doy doy doy" ditty that started playing in each guy's head when the girls wonder what they are thinking. That never fails to crack me up no matter how many times I see it.

• Although Shias' "doy doy doy" seems almost an octave out range with the others, he was a nice backup vocalist for Andy and helped him carry his own tune. Still, I get the feeling that Shia may have understood the assignment the least here.

• The only other criticism I have of this near perfect sketch would be that the line about how Andy's character looks both happy and scared could've been cut since it kind if needlessly explains the joke but other than that this was just stellar. I even liked Anys' line at the very end saying they should all just have an eight-way because "when it rains, it pours". A-

New York Funky Style

A mom (Poehler) from Decatur, GA takes her daughters Monica (Wiig) and Melana (Labeouf) shopping at an Anthropologie on a trip to New York City. With the help of a random store clerk (Wilson) she hopes to find the right looks for each daughter to bring back home after experimenting with New York Style funky fashion and accessories.

• Well, first things first...one semi meta clock punch I did like was how one of Amys' many shopping bags said "NBC Experience" on it with the modern peacock logo and everything. While I didn't much care for the rest of this, it has started to grow on me on rewatch.

• I could be wrong, but...I'm guessing this is a James Anderson/Kent Sublette co- written sketch? I feel like this entire thing had to be based on a real interaction one of those guys saw in a store recently at that time. Either way, if it is them it's definitely the side of their writing that never really clicked with me.

• Oh look, there's Casey in another thankless role in a row as a customer service employee whose main purpose seems to be complimenting two women and saying how beautiful they are. Whoopee.

• The big tent poles of this sketch seem to be the sight of Shia in drag...as a mouse, insecure, mannish young woman and Amy simply repeating the words "New York", "funky" "no" and "yes" as many times as she can in one sketch when not expressing concerns over her second daughters' mannish physical appearance to Casey's character.

• I liked Amy's line to Kristen about how her second outfit makes her look like such a convincing New Yorker that people will come up to her on the street and ask "which subway train to take to get to the Empire State Building?"

• I didn't exactly hate this sketch. I just have no idea who it was for, honestly. What would've improved the run down of this episode just a bit would've been if this had switched places with "Admirers". C-

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)
7. Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket (05.10.2008)
8. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
9. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
10. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
11. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• This episode was solid, but not quite as fun or as much of a collection of back to back bangers as I remembered. It's one of those episodes where you just remember what hits the most because the highs are quite high but the lows are merely forgettably bland and not enough to drag down the episode.

• Shia still showed himself to be a game host who was up for just about anything but at the same...he gave off this vibe that he was taking himself much more seriously as an actor. I say that not because he was plugging an ill fated Indiana Jones film but now that he was getting some dramatic roles under his belt and just got his first big popcorn blockbuster he seemed like he wanted to move away from comedy and exclusively toward drama from this point (which he definitely got to do for sure anyway you look at it). 

• I say all of that as speculation as to why this episode as a whole felt noticeably less "fun" than his first one from the previous season since he wasn't quite as energetic here as he was then, but again, I guess he had grown and matured a bit since then in the previous year.

• For cast usage, Bill, Will, Amy, Kenan and Fred seemed to have the strongest nights. Andy, Kristen and Casey each come in a close second as they mostly were relegated to solid support roles. Jason and Darrell were definitely seen the least, sadly and didn't have the best weeks in terms of appearances.

Closing Thoughts

• The next SNL Season 33 episode I will take after this will be this season's finale with host Steve Carrell and musical guest Usher. I don't exactly remember this being a stand out episode of this season either, but it will finally be nice to finally close the book on season 33 of SNL.

• Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this review (and hopefully listening to the podcast episode that it was written for) just as much as I hope you've enjoyed reading my reviews of SNL UK series two I've been posting. I've got two more of those coming soon with my review of the upcoming Jalen Brunson episode of SNL US and Amelia Dimoldenberg episode of SNL UK. Knowing the way I write about SNL US vs how I write abiut SNL UK, I'm sure I'll have my review of the former posted here quicker. See you again here real soon!

Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)

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?

Petraeus Report On Iraq

At a hearing of The Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. David Petraeus (Forte) is grilled by Senators Mark Levin (Samberg), John McCain (Hammond), Hillary Clinton (Poehler), Robert Byrd (Hader) and Barack Obama (Armisen). 

• On the surface, this may appear to be your standard, boiler plate, dry as a bone, late period Jim Downey penned political cold open that almost seems to be designed to be forgotten as soon as it finishes airing, but if you deconstruct this sketch and pick it apart you'll find there are some easily accessible laughs here.

• I did get a kick out of Downeys' voice over describing upcoming C-Span programming as "think tank nerds excitedly discuss some topic no one else cares about" followed by "questions from even herder audience members".

• Andy Samberg did surprisingly well as a senator chairing a hearing. It probably helps that he was only given as few lines as possible.

• The opening part with Forte telling Hammond the only thing the sunnis and shiites can work together on is sharing bribes and embezzlements and they've dissolved their softball league due to frequent sectarian killings was pretty much typical forgettably yet very cutting Downey humor but it was the exact length it needed to be.

• Amy gets some laughs as Hillary claiming to have been opposed to the Iraq war since years before it began (when in reality, as Forte spells out, she voted FOR the war in 2003 and backpedaled on supporting it when she first ran for president). This seems to be the main thing this sketch was built around so thankfully it was the second most accessible part of this sketch.

• The scheduled/planned interruption from Casey & Kristen as the "Code Pink" protestors was cute, but might've been something to trim if this needed cuts.

• Bill appears here and portrays Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a man who was known for being the longest serving member of both congress AND the senate and having started his political career in the Ku Klux Klan. Thankfully, this sketch plays up the other thing he was known for; trying to pass legislation full of wasteful pork barrel spending simply to boost his states' economy.

• Of course, Bill handled the impression well, playing him as a drawling, decrepit old self serving carpetbagger. The bits where he says he's been serving in this committee for nearly 120 years and he's never seen such a foreign policy calamity as his proposal for the Iraqi museum of antiquities being moved to West Virginia were funny (with the proper historical context at least).

• I wasn't too crazy about him doing the same "walk in front of the camera" that Fred and Kristen made their trademark in the next few years, but hey...there's gotta be a first time for everything.

• Freds' Obama is getting goofier and goonier at this point (he's still figuring it out) but he had very few lines. He's just there because the generals (including Jason in a role that could've gone to another extra) are voting for him "he's gonna be the next president...no offense (to Hillary & McCain).

• He's also there to ask Gen. Petraeus to explain why he didn't like Hillary or McCains' books as much as he liked Obamas. This part was funny enough with claims if Hillarys' book simply being too long, dull, poorly written and full of easy to disprove claims and McCains' containing too many grammatical issues.

• I got a kick out of Fortes' Petraeus saying Hillays' book contained her claims of being the first astronaut and being the inspiration for the song "My Sharona as well as McCains' book containing entire passages that simply made no sense.

• Anyway, this was a bit funnier and more entertaining than expected for the type of cold open it was. C+

Monologue

Since he has now produced both "Punk'd" AND "Beauty & The Geek", Ashton goes back stage in an effort to show the audience what he thinks a producer does...much to the chagrin of the rest of the cast (Armisen, Forte, Poehler, Samberg, Thompson) and his then wife (Demi Moore)

• Jesus, who does Ashton think he is with that scarf? A Jonas brother? I know that look on guys seemed to be in fashion around this time but that seems like pushing it

• Well, at least this was the most creative monologue they wrote for Ashton Kutcher at this point. Sure, that may not be saying much but when you consider that his first monologue centered around him being pantsless with Maya Rudolph and Chris Parnell stepping on stage solely to gawk at his bulge in tighty whities...and his second one just involved bringing Demi Moore on stage in excessive old age prosthetics...it's nice to see them try something more "off the beaten path" with him.

• Even though I've seen "The Simpsons", "Futurama" and even "Ren & Stimpy" make this exact same joke, I appreciate the basic underlying premise of this monologue being "the title of 'executive producer' is merely a do-nothing meaningless vanity title meant to stroke the egos of rich dickheads and make them feel important and this is ESPECIALLY true for 'executive producers' whom you see as onscreen performers on this or any other show."

• I got a kick out of Amy and Fred tearing up their script in disgust after he gives them pointless notes

• One thing I thought should've been cut from this monologue was Demi Moores' cameo where she just asks Ashton to reassure her that he won't actually wear this pair of tiny red booty shorts that she found on the show. Still, I did chuckle at his brief comment of "produced the hell out of that".

• I liked the "locked control room" gag and the bit where Ashton smashes the non-breakaway vase that Forte has and Forte asks him to tell Lorne he likes The Falconer but what was with Ashtons' response of "you got it, rodder?" Was he supposed to say "Rodger" and he botched it or something?

• The ending where Kenan tells Ashton that Lorne may be hiding from him to avoid having to hear his dumb and inane "producing" ideas was fine but Andy walking up to him and asking him for weed (which he says he won't have until the "light" goes off) was an even better capper to that.

• Apparently, that bit was a reference to a real life incident from this time when Kenan was pulled over by a cop and was almost arrested for possession of weed in his car and got out of it by saying it wasn't his or he was holding it for a friend or something. Not too exploitative for a meta gag. Surprisingly strong note to end this monologue on. B-

Cougar Den

Middle aged socialites Diedre Nicks (Poehler), Jacqueline Seka (Wiig) and Toni Ward (Wilson) host a talk show about dating younger men, putting up with snide remarks from their exasperated producer Kenneth (Thompson). They welcome guest Kiki Deamore (Cameron Diaz) to plug her new book on this subject. She brings on her current boyfriend Jaden (Kutcher).

• Well, this sketch certainly wastes no time establishing itself...because it already assumes that you, the viewer, are currently culture savvy enough to understand that in this context the term "cougar" refers to affluent middle aged women who exclusively date men in their early 20s.

• If you don't understand this already, it's not going to have these characters just straight up explain this to you but rather leave you to infer this from their strings of expository dialogue (like Kristen's line about giving her beau a "blow joy" because "it certainly isn't a job"). I guess they just wanted to see how subtly they could sneak the word "blow job" on the air?

• I did appreciate the husky Kathleen Turner-esque voices Amy, Casey & Kristen put on for their characters as well as Kenan's turn as the exasperated yet snide producer. I liked the ladies' stiff, herky-jerky, back-and-forth hip swinging dances to open and close the show as well as their brief "Boniva" and "kegel" breaks.

• As strange as it is to see a sudden out-of-nowhere Cameron Diaz cameo on SNL in 2008, she really helped elevate some of the material in this sketch in spite of the strong choice she made with that accent. 

• I'm guessing the main reason she's here is because she may have been in a movie with Ashton around this time that he might have been hosting to plug? Weirdly, they would do two more of these next season...and Cameron would also show up for both of those in spite of her having nothing to plug then. I wonder if she was tentatively scheduled to host this season in either January or early February of 2008 at some point before the strike?

• Ashton didn't add a whole lot for me here, but I guess he fit the part well. I got a kick out of his total incompetence at making the same "purring" sounds as Cameron and the "ex-husbands" line was a nice self depreciating jab, I guess. C+

Waiting With Oliver

Ashton is told by the bouncer (Thompson) of an exclusive night club that he can't get in until the crowd thins out so he is forced to wait out front with goofy try hard Oliver (Armisen) while several others (Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis, Poehler) and even Lyle Kane (Forte) get in ahead of him.

• This was an underrated sketch I remembered really liking from this episode for its sheer silliness. Glad to see it mostly holds up.

• Already we see Fred as a character given to Ashton to play off of...and he appears to pretty much be a Temu version of Fez from "That '70s Show". His self high fives were a fun visual gag, I guess?

• Fred didn't do too much to bring this down or anything. He's just playing a very basic "gregarious, overconfident, un-self aware loser" type, but if his character were indeed cut...this sketch would lose nothing.

• Bill enters this sketch as what I can only describe as an even geekier, dweebier version of his character from his Above Average Productions web series "The Line" (which, if you haven't seen, check them out here and listen to Deej and I talk about them here). His asking about the clubs' video game selection, being disappointed by Kenans' and then being let in anyway was a fine start...but not the funniest part of this sketch.

• I was impressed by how well Andy actually visually pulled off the classic "two obvious children in a trenchcoat passing themselves off as one adult" gag in a live action setting. All that was missing was a fake mustache on Andy.

• Jason as the guy from the old folks home bringing in six old guys (and one crazy one) was a funny moment. Hey, the third old guy we saw was the guy from that "Grandkids In The Movies" digital short from Tina's episode! Somehow, we still can't find that actors' name, though.

• The bit where Ashton calls Kenan "dude" and he reveals his real name is "Dode" didn't bother me as much as it probably should have because it does feel like something modern SNL would do (and probably has done numerous times).

• Amy's bit as the drunk lady who gets kicked out for fighting and then let back in to "apologize" felt pretty basic, too but she owned it in the way that only she could've. I especially liked her shouting "eat shoe, bitch!" before throwing her shoe right at the door before even opening it to reenter the building.

• Hey, derr! Lyle Kane makes his third (and sadly final) appearance. Great capper to this sketch!

• Of course, the ending where Kenan snarkily reveals he's really not letting Ashton in because there were no black characters on "That '70s Show" was brilliant (especially with Kenan's line "hmm...I guess the black man wasn't invented until '82). 

• Hell, that ending could probably still work today if Kenan's character simply brought up the fact that Ashton went to all those Diddy parties or hinted at anything unscrupulous that went on backstage or behind the scenes at "That '70s Show" but Ashton probably wouldn't agree to that now. B+

Digital Short: Daiquiri Girl

An onscreen text crawl runs over a cheap, blurry effect riddled video of singer Clementine (Samberg) at a Casio singing about a girl (Lindsay Shookus) made of daiquiris (or something like that, I dunno) explaining that this was the best they could do after this weeks' musical guest Gnarls Barkley pulled out of this weeks previously planned video at the last second.

• Yeah, there's not much else to say about this one except that the text crawl actually does all the work to salvage this and make it watchable 

• ...and yes, Gnarls Barkley apparently said on Friday at midnight that they wouldn't be able to do whatever short was originally planned. The Lonely Island has already confirmed this on their podcast with Seth and in this 15 year old interview.

• Kudos to them for making...well, maybe not "the best" but certainly...the bare minimum out of a shitty situation. C-

Activia Commercial Shoot

Because she is now an older woman, Jamie Lee Curtis (Wiig) owns up to a concerned director (Kutcher) and Activia brand rep (Poehler) about having pooped her pants on set just now...from all the yogurt.

• Oh yeah, Bill is briefly seen twice in this as the clapper.

• Well, this sketch may be one big poop joke...but at least it was executed with some subtlety and taste.

• Kristens' performance as Jamie Lee Curtis really helped save this. She did have a knack for impressions in her first couple of years on this show. This feels a little more "Kristen" than "Jamie Lee" in terms of characterization, but it's a strong characterization nonetheless.

• Hmm...two live sketches in this episode making fun of overconfident older women...in an episode hosted by Ashton Kutcher...when he was still married to Demi Moore. A bit of an odd coincidence, huh? C+

Gnarls Barkley Performs "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)" and "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"

• I liked the first songs' mix of 70s blaxploitation speed funk with some light metal. The '50s greaser fashion visuals mixed surprisingly well with it.

• The second song was alright, just not one of their better ones.

• It's kinda hard to talk about Gnarls Barkley now (especially Cee-Lo who we haven't seen or heard from in years...probably due to a pretty dire tweet of his from a while back...the less said about that the better).

Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy

Prominent travel writer Judy Grimes (Wiig) nervously stammers and "just kiddings" her way through a report that offers very few actual travel tips

Nicolas Fehn (Armisen) stammers his way through his report offering even less content 

• Seth's Best Jokes: American Airlines, Border cameras, Charlton Heston, Beer stolen, Carla Bruni, Pope merchandise

• Amy's Best Jokes: List of Horribles, Obama 24 point lead, Man Targeted By Aliens, Historic Surgery

• We get the debut of one of Wiigs' lesser known characters from the early part of her tenure. This was all right. She'd do better versions of this down the road.

• I've never had a problem with Judy Grimes (aka the nervous "just kidding" lady). Even though she may seem like a distant cousin to Penelope, you gotta respect her running through all that rapid fire dialogue at top speed.

• Oh, boy. Nicolas Fehn. Well, I did get a kick out of his two actual headline reactions of "YOU CAN'T...write that" and "NO" but other than that...same ol' song and dance.

• Decent Update aside from that. Jokes were fairly strong. The less said about Amys' "polish firefighters" joke the better. I only bought it up because I liked Seth's reaction to it (which appropriately matched the whole "my god, why the hell are we doing this in 2008?" vibe). B-

Song Memories III

At a bar, four buddies (Forte, Hader, Kutcher, Sudeikis) reminisce about sex with coma patients, stalking Connie Chung and Estrogen treatments for prostate scares to the song "Amie" by Pure Prairie League (before dancing to The Village Peoples' "YMCA" for some reason).

• As you may recall, Deej and I previously did an entire episode of the podcast about these "song memories" sketches (which I pitched as I've always had a certain fondness for them).

• I believe I said on the podcast that this was one of the weaker ones (it was certainly the weakest of the three they did up to this point) but at least this one broke off from the pattern established by the previous two.

• Jason talked about being a doctor in a sexual relationship with a coma patient instead of injuring his penis in an inappropriate public setting. Not the weakest part of this, but still.

• Bill talked about "meeting" Connie Chung in her shower instead of revealing a horrifying story about his dad. I especially liked his ending lines of "you can keep the panties, just get out of my shower before I call the cops" and how the panties "fit (his) face perfectly".

• Sadly, Ashtons' character revealing herself to be a girl named Amy may be the weak link here (I don't think that would play well today) but Fortes' was probably the high point here. Like I said on the SNN Patron Feedback show last month, only he has the tact, talent and skill as a comedian to pull off playing implied pedophiles in sketches without making the audience turn on him completely.

• Weak ending with the guys just dancing to "Y.M.C.A." in Village People hats without even stripping or pulling out guns or threatening anybody. C-

Death By Chocolate (Parts 1-3)

A giant cartoonish chocolate bar (Kutcher) stabs a hobo looking through a dumpster. 

Later, he sneaks into the ICU of a hospital. He shoots a doctor (Sudeikis) and then pulls the plug on a bedridden elderly patient.

Even later, Andy Samberg, in a lumberjack costume, asks Casey Wilson, in a Snow White costume, where his chainsaw is. Casey directs Andy to his quick change room where the Chocolate Bar (Kutcher) brandishes said chainsaw.

• Well, this was a cute mini-runner and an interesting departure from the Digital Shorts and anything else SNL was doing with their pretapes in this era. 

• Seriously, this is so different from anything SNL was doing at this time (or in any era really) that I at first wondered if this was an idea that Kutcher repeatedly pitched himself that got semi-begrudgingly added to the show? If that were the case, that would certainly explain where this episodes' monologue came from.

• After doing some research on Stooges' blog, I have discovered that these shorts were actually directed by filmmaker Jason Reitman, who incidentally would go on to write, produce and direct 2024s' "Saturday Night". His connection to SNL at this time was having befriended writer Simon Rich (who I'm guessing may have also written these?)

• Sudeikis getting shot and the Chocolate bar placing the gun in the comatose patients' hand were neat gags and I liked the brief meta twist with the Samberg/Wilson one.

• Since these were each so short, that's pretty much all I can say about them. C+

The Mellow Show

Super laid back contemporary pop folk songsmith Jack Johnson (Samberg) hosts a talk show and welcomes his fellow contemporaries Dave Matthews (Hader) and John Mayer (Kutcher) to discuss their "mellow" lifestyles.

• Well, I'll hand it to Andy. He does a pretty solid Jack Johnson impression. Still, that alone isn't enough to keep this sketch afloat.

• I wanted to like this more for Sambergs' goofy characterization, but there just wasn't enough here to pad out this sketch. One thing I could've really done without was his constant mentioning of various dead pets he forgot to feed. I did get a kick out of him mentioning his iguana always wore a tiny Gore-tex vest.

• Bills' Dave Matthews impression was a pleasant addition to this. I do like how lived in his characterization was, imagining what a typical day in Dave's life would be like if he were actually like his stage persona in real life rather than solely imitating his singing voice whilst quoting his lyrics. I also got a kick out of Kenan appearing as weird fiddle player Boyd Tinsley.

• Of course, the ending would've paid off better if the John Mayer impression were placed in more capable hands than Ashton Kutchers'. He handled the weird guitar faces OK but other than that he barely looked, let alone sounded like John at all.

• Nice call back to the JJ Casuals fake ad at the end though. Otherwise, this was a pretty uneven sketch. C-

The Rusty Pony

Dusty Velvet (Wilson) returns to stripping with a little help from club emcee Donnie Lamorris (Kutcher) after a freak tilt-a-whirl accident leaves her paralyzed from the neck down. This leaves patrons (Forte, Samberg, Sudeikis, Thompson) very disturbed.

• I got a kick out of this opening with Jason lying to his wife over a cell phone call that he and his business trip buddies were at T.G.I. Fridays.

• It was nice of them to give Casey her potential break out moment here. This was a piece she brought to the show from her pre-SNL/UCB days. You can see that version of this sketch here.

• This apparently secured her spot in the cast when she auditioned with it and I can see why. Sadly, it makes it that much more of a shame she didn't last longer on the show itself since she's an impressive physical commedian and thus she pretty much owned this right out of the gate.

• I especially liked how Casey was just left to flail and flop her arms about as Ashton jiggled her around by the waist then rubbed her hands across her breasts as she simply said "this is sensual and erotic" in a robot like tone and then leaned her over to spank her ass with her own hand several times.

• Stooge said in his One SNL A Day review of this sketch that he thought the cutaways to the guys reacting in horror should've been cut or trimmed but they didn't detract from the sketch for me.

• Speaking of the guys, I got a kick out of Andys' screams of horror as Ashton dragged Casey over to lick his face and Kenan's shouts of protests as Ashton bounced her on his lap to give him a "lap dance" followed by her asking him to raise her hand up in a fist. B+

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)
7. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
8. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
9. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
10. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• This episode had a tough predecessor to follow but it did a fine job nonetheless. Ashton didn't add too much to this episode (although it does seem to be the best of his hosting stints so far but the show was able to work around that.

• For better or worse, this episode certainly wasn't afraid to take some minor risks and try some new things whether they paid off or not.

• As far as how the cast was used, the women on the show all had stand out nights. Out of the men, Kenan, Will and Andy stood out. Bill had a decent night.

Closing Thoughts

• The next SNL Season 33 episode I will be reviewing for my blog will be Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket. Yeah, this is another episode in a row hosted by a hot shot young actor who has shown himself to be a highly problematic figure...but I remember thinking this one was really funny at the time it aired and I'm curious to see how well it still holds up. 

• That will be on the blog and podcast next month. Before you even see that, you'll likely see a review of the upcoming SNL UK Series Two premiere (because their release schedule dovetails nicely with my blogging schedule except for the two double headers). See you then!

Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)

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?

Hillary For President

Bill (Hammond) and Hillary (Poehler) Clinton discuss the fall out of the recent release of their joint tax returns showing that they made $109,000,000 in the past five years and tease the nonexistent possibility of Hillary dropping out of the presidential race.

• Huh, I guess at this point in the season we're done experimenting with new and different types of cold opens and are going straight back to dry, direct to camera, Downey-style political speeches, then?

• This had a weird condescending tone to it, mostly making fun of the press and Obamas' campaign for having to feign shock that the Clintons would somehow become rich from their respective book sales and speaking engagements (I'm sure there were some insider trading and shady stock tips on Hillarys' part). 

• The only thing close to a joke were the repeated refrains of Bills' speaking engagements being his "favorite thing to do" but that got old quick. 

• This was mostly aimless word salad that washed over me and left me wanting to go back to a simpler, happier time when U.S. presidents at least waited until they were long OUT of office to shamelessly profit from said title...but that's a story for another time. C-

Monologue

Rather than performing one of his patented song and dance numbers, Christopher Walken decides he would much rather take questions from audience members (Jim Downey, Paula Pell, Bryan Tucker, John Lutz) reading Walkens' own pre-written questions off index cards.

• Right off the bat, I liked Walkens' joke about this being his 100th time hosting because he personally counts any and all reruns.

• Additionally, I really liked the idea of Christopher Walken putting his own strange, unique, idiosyncratic twist on what has to be the single most tired, played out SNL actor host monologue trope of the past 35 years.

• I liked Jim Downeys' brief moment of mild confusion/asking for brief clarification during his part. Did anyone else notice the strange detail of Christopher blatantly pulling a pair of glasses out of his pants pocket that we don't see him put on at all during the monologue?

• Is it just me or did Paula Pell look and sound almost unrecognizable during her part? Anyway, I got a kick out of Walken telling her how stupid he thought her asking him about his favorite color was before answering with "burnt umber".

• I also liked Walken refusing to answer Bryan Tuckers' question about what he does off camera before dressing him down with (among other statements) the phrase "I got a question. You should be a shamed of yourself."

• Of course, the entire "gigantic invisible bird" rant in response to Lutzs' question (before he asks him to turn his card over to thank him) was the real centerpiece of this monologue and was a true highlight of this for me.

• Well, we may not have gotten another Fred Astaire style song and dance number from Christopher this time around (which is a shame because he is one of the rare hosts with the talent and training to pull those off and make them feel genuine) but at least we got some brief flashes of patent Walken style surreal absurdity in its place to kick off the show. A+

Annuale

Repeat from the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood episode. If you would like to read or listen to my thoughts on this one, you can do so here or here.

• I will say though that it's a bit strange of them to rerun a fake ad/pretape from a previous episode...that happens to prominently feature said previous episodes' host.

• I have seen them do something similar with certain previous hosts of this era (Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Matthew Fox) but with pretapes that got cut and DIDN'T air in their respective episodes.

• Oh well, I guess there is a first time for everything.

Grease Rehearsal

North Side High Schools' drama teacher (Walken) runs through a rehearsal of "Grease Lightning" with his male students (Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis, Thompson) to address the principals' concern over inappropriate lyrics. He shoots down the boys suggestions for replacement lyrics that actually make sense in favor of his own nonsensical ones.

• I immediately liked one of Walkens' first lines being "I am a drama teacher, I am not David Blaine". 

• I also got a kick out of Amys' brief bits of facial acting during the various cutaways to her as "Ms. Hash", gradually incorporating a bit more disgust and frustration into her "dazed, doddering old biddy" facade.

• What made this sketch for me was the way Walken hit the exact same beats in the exact same way four times during this sketch (responding to each questionable lyric with "That is DIRTY! Do you know what that means?" then asking a different student to whisper said meaning to him with each one requiring more whispers and then making said student whisper the correct confirmed meaning to the others) and made that the funniest part of this sketch.

• Bills' first live appearance is in this sketch. He suggests "chicks will scream" in place of "chicks will cream" which Walken rejects in favor of his own "chicks will fleem." Later on, Bill is asked to confirm his understanding of the phrase "she's a real pussy wagon" to Walken taking about four tries to do so. Walken comments "even Ms Hash knows what this means" to which Amy is shown smiling and nodding politely in response before Walken suggests "have you ever seen a dragon?" as this line's replacement.

• I liked all the other nonsensical replacement lines from Walken ("flocks, flocks, flocks" to "get off my rocks" and glossing over anything else questionable with "hubba hubba hubba").

• I did get a kick out of Walkens line about how if he let these high schoolers sing these lyrics then the school board would put him in a box and push him down a hill.

• I did like the guys exaggerated reactions to Walkens explanation of the true "filthy" meaning of the phrase "Grease Lightning" before telling them to replace it with "Gene Rayburn" (and based on the crude hip thrusting gestures Walken made during this part I'm guessing this was the definition of "Grease Lightning" he was going with").

• Overall, what I liked most about this sketch is how it felt like it was written specifically to tap into the surreal, absurdist presence Christopher Walken was always known for bringing to the show (but not in a way that taps into his penchant for playing violent or creepy villainous roles because there's plenty of time to get into that later on) and how the sheer languid pacing of it made it feel like a sketch that Walken could've done in one of his early 90s hosting stints. The show was smart to make this the lead off live sketch of the night. A-

Eric's Goodbye

At Nathan's (Sudeikis) going away party on his last day at the office, Eric (Walken) gives what appears to their coworkers (Hader, Wiig, Wilson) to be a long and sincerely heartfelt goodbye speech to him complete with handmade gifts despite the fact that they've barely met or interacted. What quickly turns out to be Erics' creepy and intense declaration of unrequited love/possible confession to stalking scares Nathan away. 

• This may be a sketch that they theoretically could do with any male host of a certain age but only Christopher Walken could innately sell this enough to pull it off.

• Similarly, Jason was the best choice to play straight man as he's the best in this cast at selling the subtle panic that builds into exasperation and bewilderment as he quietly wonders how he's the only "normal" person in this scenario.

• I do like how they buried the lede a bit at first with the bathroom towels story before they giving free reign to Walken to let his freak flag fly.

• Bill and Casey have brief appearances as coworkers who pull Jason aside to say a quick thanks and goodbye before letting Jason get back to his "heart to heart" with Christopher despite his protests. They both played these parts well.

• This really picked up steam with the mixtape/radio bit and I got a kick out of Walkens' use of the phrase "Gosh dammit, we're like the same guy, you and I."

• Other highlights from Walken were his presenting Jason with a perfect portrait in his likeness "from memory...because a nude would be tacky for a going away party" and would lead to another sexual harassment charge, the comments about Jasons' suits hiding his "firm athletic body" as he bro hugs him and of course...the sobbing and singing followed by the brief tongue in the ear. 

• I also got a kick out of how Walkens' coworkers (Wiig especially) taking HIS side led to this having one of the strangest and most gleefully dark ending possible play out like the third act of a late 90s "Best Friends Wedding" type romcom with Wiig urging Walken to "go to him" because "he's in love" even after he stated his wish to hunt Jason down in the parking lot, choke him to death and "make love to his corpse for the rest of his life". B+

Digital Short: Laser Cats 3D

Bill Hader and Andy Samberg interrupt Lorne Michaels dinner outing with Sen. Chris Dodd (Himself) to show him a third installment of "Laser Cats" where Nitro & Admiral Spaceship must face off against Mayor Top Hat (Thompson) after he has criminalized Laser Cats as part of his plan to rule the universe.

• Usually, these Laser Cats segments kinda washed over me, but something about this one stood out.

• I liked the gimmick of Bill and Andy meeting Lorne in a fancy restaurant where he is dining with a sitting senator rather than in his office. 

• I also got a kick out of Bill & Andy having somehow managed to sneak a TV and VCR/VHS on a rolling cart into said restaurant unabated.

• Part of me questioned why this needed to be part of a Christopher Walken episode but I'll admit Walken playing their previously unseen boss/captain along with this featuring more dramatic orchestral string music and less of the typical synth fair were nice touches.

• I did like how they played the scene where Bill and Andy's characters were seemingly forced to "destroy" their Laser Cats with a gun and a hammer before suddenly noticing Kenan's message to earth playing as a QuickTime .MOV file on an iMac.

• I did get a kick out of Kenan saying he had "all the Laser Cats in the world" while standing next to a barb wire cage with only four cats in it.

• The biggest visual laugh for me was how the hatch opening scene played with the cheap green screen if the milky way behind a hallway door followed by the even cheaper stop motion paper Oxygen meter depleting followed by a cheap Ken doll dressed as Bills' character floating by on a string.

• The brief 3D gimmick scene was etymologically inevitable enough for them to feel they had to do it, I guess. Really,  it was only good for the cut back to Lorne, Andy, Bill and Sen. Dodd each wearing 3D glasses in the restaurant.

• I liked the callback to Andys' robotic Laser eye surgery and the "showdown" between Andy's cat and Kenan's "Laser dog" (a tiny pug) was a cute way to segue into the ending (well, it was better than the predictable ending with Sen. Dodd anyway). B-

Surprise Sue

Sue (Wiig) is the only member of the family (Forte, Hader, Poehler) who has extreme trouble keeping her cool as Roger (Walken) asks for help planning a surprise party for his granddaughter.

• Here it is, folks. The debut of one of Kristen's most well known over the top characters...and the point in her run that I personally consider to be her "jumping the shark" moment.

• I've softened on Wiig quite a bit since she returned to host in recent years and like her as a cast member just fine in her first few seasons...but this was just the first character of hers I actually formed a thoroughly negative opinion of at the time.

• Looking back, I suppose I can appreciate the way she threw herself into this physically (especially the bits that involve her breaking through glass near the end).

• I did like her suddenly shrieking "YES" when Walken asked if they should get balloons.

• Bill does have some decent moments in this where he reveals Sues' "notes" she was writing were just squiggles and him opening a bag if chips for her because her hands suddenly became paralyzed.

• Amy played well off Kristen too but other than all of that, this is still kind of a slog and this character probably should have made her debut in a different episode. C-

Panic At The Disco Performs "Nine In The Afternoon" & "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies"

• Hey, here's a band I remember passively tolerating in high school. I think my sister was a bigger fan of these guys than I was.

• Well, this would be their first and ONLY time on SNL so it was smart of the show to just let them perform their two biggest hits ever.

• I find it funny how they were backed by a marching band and string section just for that faux-Sgt. Peppers type sound they were going for at this time and they weren't really done any favors by SNLs' notoriously bad live sound mixing.

• Still, at least their first song sounded much better than their second because the mixing was even worse and the down tuning REALLY didn't help at all.

Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy

Pregnant man Thomas Beattie (Samberg) invites Seth & Amy to his baby shower

• Seth's Best Jokes: Hillary Compares Herself To Rocky Balboa, Clinton/Richardson

• Amy's Best Jokes: Olympic Torch, Madonna Criticizes NYC, Early Jewelry Discovered

• Boy, this Thomas Beattie commentary from Andy is...awkward. He had a couple of decent lines, but I'm really not sure how well it ages in 2026 (not just for people not remembering who Thomas Beattie was). I really don't have anything to say about this, so I'll just move on.

• This Update was all over the place with both "great" and "meh" jokes and a commentary that nearly bombed. Not a "good" or "bad" Update necessarily. Just a very uneven one. C+

Walken Family Reunion

At a bar gathering, Christopher catches up with similar sounding (and uniformly hairstyled) relatives Stanley Walken (Hader), John Walken (Sudeikis) and his two kids Maxine (Poehler) and Scott Walken (Samberg), recently out of the closet Nathan Walken (Armisen), his Uncle Richard (Hammond) and Aunt Martha (Wiig) and their adopted African son Uleke (Thompson)

• This would be the first of a trilogy of host centric sketches that would be pretty evenly spread out over the next decade.

• It's a shame Casey Wilson couldn't have been in this just to make it a full cast sketch. It's a shame Forte was only allowed to play a waiter, too but hey...he'd be the first to tell you he is no impressionist by trade.

• Here it is, folks. Bill Haders' biggest moment in this episode where he finally delivers on the Walken impression he promised us he had in his back pocket from his first episode as we get some scattered laughs and recognition applause as the audience settles in and gradually realizes what they're about to see.

• Good on the show for leading off with the most accurate Walken impression they're about to see all night. Unsurprisingly, Bill does nail a younger Walkens' cadence, accent AND voice, hitting many of the same beats as many of the other just as accurate Walken impersonations I've seen.

• Jason comes in a close second with his Walken impression. I do get a kick out if everyone Walken relative in this sketch mostly wearing Hawaiian shirts and having Christophers' blown out, longish hairstyle from this time but just in various colors and various shades of grey.

• From this point forward, the rest of the cast isn't so much doing direct or accurate Walken impression as they are just copying Walkens' unique accent and very idiosyncratic cadence and delivery...but doing so in their own voices and a bit less gruffly.

• Amy's whole pro-doll/anti spooky ghost tangent was the second real highlight of this. It was at this point that audience seemed fully on board with this sketch and could see it was going somewhere good. 

• Andy as the sullen, angst riddled teenage boy was something to be expected, but he and Christopher played off each other quite strongly. I got a kick out of Christophers' line about how adolescence makes a Walken feel like "the only normal person in a school full of nut jobs." Even Christophers' delivery of that borderline nonsensical "bar room/elephant fart" joke was the only thing really saving that one 

• Fred's part is really the only demerit against this sketch. Sure, it had a heartwarming message of acceptance to it on the surface...but in a way that made it seem like it was supposed to be funny for the wrong reason. Plus, Fred seemed like he was already playing a few too many stereotypically gay characters around this time anyway and couldn't even pull off the Walken impression as well as the others, sounding more like a significantly more nasally congested version of himself.

• Kristen and Darrells' parts were a fun note to end this on. I did get a kick out of them both saying they just watched "The Deer Hunter" and found it to be "hilarious" Kristen's Walken was pretty much what you'd expect but Darrells was fun. It's not the most deadly accurate Walken I've seen but I liked how he just mixed his generic "crazy old man from Brooklyn" voice mixed with Walkens' delivery.

• I hate to sound like a broken record, but Kenan's Walken was also about what you would expect from him. Still, he only had one line and it was decent enough that i would've still kept this over Fred's walk-on.

• I think what makes this stand out from the other two "family reunion" sketches is that here SNL is dealing with a much smaller cast this time and they're focused more on impersonating the man as himself rather than any characters from the hosts' actual film career...so, no need to shove most of the entire cast plus a few surprise cameos out there in a costume no ones' wore yet.

• Yes, this entire sketch subscribes to the Bill Hader philosophy of "why just quote one of your subjects movies when you can place them in an everyday situation?" which is probably the main reason it works so well. B+

Indoor Gardening Tips From A Man Who Is Afraid Of Plants

An extremely paranoid and skittish gardener (Walken) repeatedly advises viewers to put large googly eyes on all their plants so they can look their plants in the "eye" and know where they stand with them.

• This was just pure, unabashed, undiluted absurdity from Walken and I loved every second of it. Somehow, it turned out to be a completely different thing than what it was setting you up to expect. 

• This wasn't one of your typical quick in-and-out Family Guy-esque brief blackout gags (like you would expect something introduced with Don Pardo reading a very wordy title card to be) but rather something so uniquely insane it felt like another sketch stuck out of time. 

• This felt like another sketch that could have just as easily been done in any of Walkens' 90s pre-Cowbell episodes (specifically his 92/93 one since that season also gave us "An Insane Idiot And His Descending Size Collection Of Deer Heads" with Harvey Keitel).

• Sure, it may have been a one joke sketch but it was a one note sketch that worked because it was placed in the trusted hands of the only performer on the face of the earth who could possibly make sense of it let alone make it work in execution.

• Two stand out moments in this to me were him sprinkling tiny googly eyes in some patches of grass he grew (he couldn't figure out how else to do it) and his misquoting Winston Churchill ("eyes are the windows...to your FACE"). B+

Top Chef

Contestant Dave (Walken) wanders around complaining to fellow competitors (Poehler, Samberg, Thompson) and host Padma Lakshmi (Wiig) about how he can't cook under these conditions and doesn't know what he's doing thus squandering his allotted time and eliminating himself from the competition.

• Well, this was a bit of a letdown from the last couple of sketches Walken was in.

• While not the most egregious example in this episode of "sketches that should've been done in a totally different episode", it does feel more like a sketch that could've been done with any host.

• Actually, the more I think about it the more I realize how this sketch exists in a bleak purgatory like space where Walken plays his role with exact right flavor (if you'll excuse that turn of phrase here) of "old and in the way" desperation that this calls for but gets washed off the screen in the sheer chaos of Kenan, Andy and Amys' frantic prop work (partly by design but partly by minor but noticeable volume deficiencies).

• It's like Walkens' character exists in this dispiriting liminal space where the part was specifically designed for him but not in such a way that he could enhance it let alone make it memorable.

• However, I did like his response to Kristen's direction of "pack your knives and go" being to shout "KNIVES?!? WHAT?!? WHO KNEW FROM KNIVES?!?"

• Speaking of Kristen, casting her as Padma Lakshmi...didn't work. Still, she wasn't distrsctingly bad in the role. I did get a kick out of her "fauxhawks" joke and her listing strange ingredients such as "beets, cous-cous, frozen yogurt, medicine, a paper bag and stale peeps" as what they were supposed to use to make a deep dish pizza. 

• Oh, look. It's Fred in another pointless sketch role that should've been cut entirely.

• All in all, a pretty weak sketch with even attempted jokes let alone laughs being few & far inbetween. D+

Larry King Live

Larry King (Armisen) grills former US President Jimmy Carter (Hammond) on why he continues to write book after book after book after book that no one will ever read.

• Speaking of existing only in empty liminal spaces...

• Ugh, I think I spoke too soon about Fred roles that should've been cut from this episode.

• You might know how I feel about Fred's Larry King impression by this point if you've been reading my blog closely (it's...not one of his or the show's best) but at least his presence here is balanced out by Darrells quietly goofy and gooberish Jimmy Carter which is...pleasant if not terribly funny.

• Boy, this sketch really belabors the one banal yet snide observation it has to make, doesn't it? At least it doesn't drag on too long in doing so.

• Another sketch with noticably sparse yet well placed laughs.

• Really, how this ever made it to air let alone past dress at any point is beyond me. D+

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
7. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
8. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
9. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• Without question, this is one of the stronger episodes of season 33. However, it is quite the uneven one.

• The highs in this one were at an all time high seeing as we got a much beloved regular host from a completely different era coming back. The lows weren't quite as low, but anything that seems like standard middle of the road fare for this season/era pales a bit more in comparison. In fact, this episode does remind me quite a bit of Melissa McCarthys' recent episode from this past season in that way.

• A lot of the stronger Walken centric stuff stood out because it showed that even when he works with a completely different cast and writing staff, the show in all of it's forms always seems to intuitively know how to play to Walkens' unique acting presence, always finding new, different and creative ways to key into his talents.

• The low points of this episode were pretty much just topical "of the moment" sketches that they do every week. If Walken was in any of them, they obviously didn't utilize him well enough and they just ended up being the type of sketch that could've been dragged and dropped into any other episode this season without anyone noticing.

• The fact that I personally ranked this episode as second best of the season over all despite how "all over the place" it truly is just speaks to what an unusually truncated short season this one ended up being due to the writers' strike.

• As far as cast usage, it felt like everyone got an equal amount of airtime. Obviously, Walken was the MVP of this episode and the rest of the cast did a fine job supporting him.

• Out of strictly cast members only, Amy seems to be the stand out performer of the night (with Kristen a distant second fir better or worse). Bill had a strong night by the standards how how he was being used at this time. Everyone else pretty much seemed to be evenly on par with each other.

Closing Thoughts

• The next entry you'll see on this blog will be a review of the next episode of SNL Season 33 which is...*checks notes* oh boy, umm...Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley. Well, if memory serves that one will somehow hold up better than his other three hosting stints for the most past.

• Before that though, you'll be getting another episode of the We Heart Hader podcast. This one will be another Documentary Now season 2 review. Specifically, the "Parker Gails' Location Is Everything" episode which is a parody of "Spalding Grays' Swimming To Cambodia". Now, Spalding Gray is famously a monologist known for his one man shows so this episode of Doc Now is gonna be all Bill, baby (and probably structured differently in a way neither Deej nor myself have quite figured out yet...but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

• Plus, this should be the episode where our listeners will find out who this super secret surprise guest I've been hyping up these past few weeks will be. Again, I don't want to reveal anything for sure until we've at least recorded the full episode with this person in case scheduling falls through or anything, but I can tell you this...it's someone who you wouldn't expect.

• Anyway, after that it will likely be September when SNL UK returns for its second series which we don't know anything about yet...but I know that you should expect some reviews of those episodes here on the ol' blog when they start airing.

• In the meantime, have a great rest of your summer, everyone!