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!

Shia LaBeouf/Avril Lavigne (04.14.2007)

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

Wings Of Hope

Rev. Jesse Jackson (Hammond) and Rev. Al Sharpton (Thompson), reveling in their renewed cultural relevance in the face of the Don Imus scandal, announce the opening of their new “Wings Of Hope” Racist Rehab Center where those who have publicly made racist remarks will be educated on the literary works of Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou as well as the films of Oprah Winfrey. Then, they will be made to atone for their misdeeds by parking cars at Jay-Zs’ party during NBA All-Star Weekend and go on Jackson and Sharptons’ apology tour…also known as “Apolopalooza”.

• Hoo boy, this is gonna be awkward.

• This is one of a few segments throughout the night that comment directly on former radio host Don Imus’ scandal stemming from his referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team as “hard-core hoes” and “nappy headed hoes” which led to his firing from his radio shows. Hell, if you're my age…this was probably the first time you ever found out who Don Imus was or even thought about him.

• Well, at least this feels different enough from the typical cold opens of the era to be interesting in a good way.

• Darrells’ Jesse Jackson…yeah, a white man in even a light amount of blackface in a sketch satirizing a white man for real life racist comments that demeaned a specific group of black women is…not the best look for the show, but hey…2007 was a different time.

• Thankfully, Darrell himself wasn't bad enough to detract from this sketch. Unfortunately, he didn't add much to it, either. 

• Fortunately, Kenan added enough to keep this sketch afloat. In fact, this might have been the best use of his Al Sharpton impression. 

• Kenan also had the better lines in this such as “you've lost your damn job”, “nothing sends a wave of fear through the hip hop world like the firing of a 66 year old white man” and “you will apologize to the Harlem Globetrotters and both Kool AND the gang”.

• The photoshopped pictures of Don Imus going through racist rehab could've been cut as they just looked awkward and…visually off.

• After Darrell's joke about Al & Jesse still being relevant, Kenan's next line is “you hear that, Barack? How you like us now?” I genuinely have to wonder if that was an actual reference to something Obama said about the real Al & Jesse that week? C-

Monologue 

20 year old Shia LaBeouf, fresh off his success from the film “Disturbia” and preparing for “Indiana Jones 4” is disappointed to learn that none of the cast (Sudeikis, Hammond, Thompson) or crew (Wally Feresten, Phil Hymes, Tom Broecker) share in his sheer youthful excitement in doing this show after Amy Poehler sets him straight. Suddenly, Kristen Wiig gives him a Glenda the Good Witch style pep talk just before Lorne tells her that the Wizard of Oz sketch had been cut.

• Well, I had seen enough “Even Stevens” and was familiar enough with the movie “Holes” to vaguely know who Shia was at this time. I remember my own father being confused but I think he knew who Shia was by the next time he hosted and he was actually promoting “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull”.

• Speaking of “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull”, hoo boy…the sight of him being excited about that one has aged like milk.

• Anyway, there didn't seem to be much to this monologue concept-wise to grab on to, but there was fun to be had.

• I liked Sudekis’ blasé reaction to Shia and Hymes and Hammonds’ appearances drinking tumblers full of Gas-X and Metamucil.

• I especially liked Kenan's appearance trying to hide the fact that he was smoking a blunt backstage when Shia accosted him for his “Disney/Nickelodeon/we DO make it rant” and Poehler dressing down Shia.

• Normally, Wiig as Glenda the Good Witch is something that would grate on me a bit but I did suddenly like her dropping the character to react to Lorne telling her the sketch was cut. C+

Hathaway Mustache Ride Company 

In 1887, ladies hair tonic magnate Leonidas Hathaway (Alec Baldwin) proposed to his board of directors (Hader, Hammond) that his company not only branch out into mustache rides but offer them to women for free. The company continues to expand, thrive and flourish to this very day.

• Seeing as Alec Baldwin appears in only this and no other segments in this episode, this must've been a dress rehearsal cut from his previous episode this season.

• Yes, it's a very cheap, raunchy, tawdry gag that borrows a bit from the previous season's mustache talk show sketch with Jason “My Name Was Earl” Lee, but I admire its strong commitment to turning what's essentially a white trash t-shirt slogan into a faux-refined big corporate puff piece commercial.

• I got a kick out of Haders’ tearful expression at the end of the meeting as well as Seth's consultation with Wiig as she meets Forte with his vibrating mustache.

• I also liked seeing Sudeikis, Armisen, Samberg and a heavily dreaded rastafarian Kenan modeling their absurdly elaborate mustaches. C+

Prince Show

Prince (Armisen) and Beyoncé (Rudolph) welcome a too allergy conscious Toby Maguire (LaBeouf) and Nancy Grace (Poehler)

• This, I believe, is the last of these Prince talk show sketches that Maya and Fred would do as cast members. It may also be the last time Maya played Beyonce as a cast member, but the same thing CAN'T be said for Fred and his Prince impression.

• This definitely has a played out feel to it, in that by this point, the audience may have forgotten why the show thought it made sense why pair Prince and Beyoncé together as co hosts of a talk show. Didn't these start right after Prince and Beyoncé performed a duet at the Grammys or something? This would've been, like, three years after that, right? 

• I know they did a couple of these when the real Prince and Beyonce/Destiny's Child were in the building as musical guests (in fact, me and Deej covered one of those on the podcast a little while ago) but…what was going on with the real Prince and Beyoncé in pop culture at this time that warranted another one of these? I think Beyoncé might have had some new music out around this time, but was this the year Prince performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show or something?

• Anyway, the other impressions in this sketch were likely the bigger problem here. Shia didn't really look or sound anything like Tobey Maguire and while I can see why he gets criticism for not exactly being an electrifying choice to play a helm a big summer popcorn comic book Superhero franchise, Shia didn't exactly need to play him as THIS big of a Milhouse-like allergy obsessed dweeb here. Seth Meyers actually did a decent Toby Maguire impression a few years before this that worked better for what they were going for here. I did like how his hands swelled up from sitting on that cupcake.

• Normally, I run pretty hot and cold on Amys’ Nancy Grace impression and it didn't really make a ton of sense here either but I did get a kick out of her mangling the words to Sheena Eastons’ “You've Got The Look”. C-

Buying Beer

A convenience store cashier (Thompson) isn't persuaded by two obvious underage teens (LaBeouf and Samberg) to let them purchase two six packs without seeing their IDs despite their exaggerated talk of their adult ages, work histories, number of children or the other times they previously bought beer and cigarettes at other stores. He is then given a “certificate of responsibility” by an “official” ATF agent (Hader) whose wallet is taken by a “robber” (Forte) who assures everyone that the ATF agent's ID is very much real. 

• This Lonely Island written sketch was definitely my favorite live sketch of the night.

• Every purposely stilted beat of this hit perfectly for me from Sambergs’ slightly too big suit and fake obviously fake mustache to Bill entering with the phrase “good work, guy” with every other word out of his mouth being delivered as if he were narrating a 1950s’ school filmstrip.

• Fortes’ chipper, matter-of-fact entrance prompting an ever so wooden “Oh no! A robbery!” was the icing on the cake here. 

• Yeah, the ending seemed a bit cheap and forced but Kenans’ line “see you guys back at the dorm” really sold it (as long as you don't consider any darker implications that could be behind that one). A-

Dakota Fanning Show

Dakota (Poehler) continues to insult her band leader Reggie Hudson (Thompson), alienates Disney's “Suite Life” stars Dylan and Cole Sprouse (LaBeouf & Samberg) and belittles the career of her own little sister Elle Fanning (Avril Lavigne) until their mom/PA Catherine (Wiig) steps in.

• This is the second one of these they did. They would only do three. Honestly, the first one of these was the only one that worked and hit the right beats for me.

• I'm not even sure where this slightly off putting portrayal of Dakota Fanning as this impossibly cultured and well read child actress came from. I just remember reading that she agreed to stop doing it after learning that the real Dakota and her family were apparently deeply offended by a reference to one of her real life movies from the third one.

• Basically, Amy portrays Dakota as a real life Lisa Simpson with a very low, Sheldon Cooper level of self awareness. That last part really makes this something you can only take so much of so really it IS amazing that they ended up making three of these sketches.

• Amy playfully insulting Kenan's character can be a little much but thankfully Kenan's good natured reactions are funny enough to balance this out (up to and including his line “yeah, I'll put a cap somewhere all right”)

• Andy and Shia tried their damndest to put this over with their energy but what worked more for me was when Amy led them into an existential crisis asking them why they were “just playing” with their orange blimps culminating in Andy's quietly delivered “you're scaring us”.

• Having Avril play Elle Fanning was a good way to sneak her into this sketch. I don't know if having Dakotas’ sister being almost as absurdly intelligent and cultured as her worked but her performance sold it for me as did Wiigs’ underplayed delivery of her line “you can just call me ‘mom'”. C-

Digital Short: Dear Sister

As Keith (Hader) writes a letter to his sister (Wiig) he is shot by Dave (Samberg) and shoots back. They then both shoot Eric (LaBeouf) and Keith's sister as they walk into the room. Then, two cops (Armisen and Sudeikis) walk in, read the letter detailing the order of each of these shootings and then shoot each other.

• Ah, here it is, ladies and gentlemen. Peak millennial meme comedy. The perfect balance of silly 2000s “randomness” with even sillier 2000s “melodrama” that doesn't come across as too dark or tasteless. Doesn't get much better than this, folks.

• Anyone with a working knowledge of Lonely Island history knows that this short stemmed from the boys’ love of 2000s FOX teen soap opera “The O.C.” which led them to creating their own parody series called “The ‘Bu” which they made for Dan Harmons’ Channel 101. In fact, this sketch itself is a parody of the infamous shooting scene at the end of The O.Cs’ second season finale. 

• This is a sketch that Andy brought to the show pre-written from that time and used when the show was asking them for more short films.

• Like Lazy Sunday before it, this one was being put on and taken off of YouTube constantly. This was partially due to music rights and other copyright related reasons and particularly due to the fact that this episode aired right around the same time as the Virginia Tech shooting, which…yikes. Yeah, this short was just a victim of unfortunate timing which now we can look back and say THAT’S the worst thing about this one.

• This was at least The Lonely Island's third “viral” Digital Short from their time on the show and inspired a whole YouTube trend. In fact, on the Seth Meyers & Lonely Island Podcast Seth said he could see this blowing up on TikTok today. I'm not sure I can see that. See, this got me thinking…

• I think you can trace a devolution of viral video meme trends from the early YouTube era when The Lonely Islands’ stuff went viral to the current TikTok era when the newest SNL sketch to blow up and inspire new viral trends THERE is, well…Domingo.

• See, if you look at the Lazy Sunday and Dick In A Box YouTube “parodies” from when that went viral you'll see people actually taking the time to get an actual camera and film themselves “recreating” those videos (in some cases, even changing the words to the song itself and in a few cases with Lazy Sunday some people even wrote and produced an entirely new “diss track” of their own as a west coast/Midwest “response” to Lazy Sunday.

• When Dear Sister went viral, people still recreated the sketch word for word adding very little “twists” or variance of their own but you also got people just editing famous scenes of violence from popular movies and TV shows in slow motion to Imogen Heaps’ “Hide and Seek” (the song from the original short, you see) and calling it a “parody” (which is still valid, but…requires less effort).

• Nowadays, “Domingo” gets an absurd amount of views on TikTok and pretty much all the “memes” in response to it are either people filming themselves on their phones dancing and lip syncing to it or just placing a green screen template of Marcellos’ singing from the first sketch over an background image with a caption about different situations where something delicate has to be explained.

• See where I'm going with this? 

• Look, all I'm saying is that as we condensed more and more of our online media consumption to our smartphones and smart TVs rather than actual computers and started looking to these phones of ours for more and more “instant gratification” and quick dopamine hits our attention spans have shortened and our work ethics has been somewhat diminished along the way. 

• We're consuming shorter and more “bite size” content on our phones and now the most effort it takes to follow a meme trend seems to be just placing two images on top of each other and pairing a song or a soundbite over that before posting.

• I don't even want to think about the effect this is having on the next generations coming up after mine.

• I'm not saying this as an old boomer or anything who's completely against smartphones or the internet or anything, I'm just saying we would do well to recognize this as the most immediate everyday danger of TikTok and smartphones in relation to the other wide reaching societal problems with them and adjust our viewing and consumption habits accordingly for our own mental health and wellbeing. That's all.

• …and of course, I say this as a guy who wrote and researched most of this blog post ON a smartphone ON TikTok (and no, the irony is not lost on me there, either).

• Anyway, Dear Sister is a fun Digital Short that I will fondly remember as something that has always hit for me the same way since high school. B+

Sofa King 

Local furniture sales couple Katir (Armisen) and Hasar Mutar (Rudolph) along with their sons Nasir (LaBeouf), Onan (Samberg) and Nasir II (Hader) sell us on their own unique deals that are “Sofa King” great!

• This may be the shortest “naughty word play” sketch SNL has done in history. Compared to the likes of “Schweddy Balls” and “Cork Soakers” this feels like a real blackout.

• The main thing that drags this down just a bit for me is the “been there, done that” feeling I get because I believe the “sofa king/so fucking” joke may have already been passed around as an early online meme mere months before this sketch even aired.

• I wasn't crazy about their need to have everyone in this play uniformly unibrowed middle easterners in order to make this work, but they ended up having the exact right energy to put this over.

• Maya peering out from behind the graphic placed directly over her face Mike Wazowski style felt a little cheap, but I did get a kick out of Shias’ wide eyed thousand yard stare, Hader’s goofy grin and shoulder shaking as well as Andy playing his character as just a slick slightly sleazy looking smoker. C+

Avril Lavigne Performs “Girlfriend” And “I Can Do Better”

• Eh, typical cute, fluffy 2000s girl power pop punk. Not much else to say here.

• My sister was a fan but I think I was kind of “over” Avril by this point.

• Also, isn't it more believable that the “real” Avril just got some cosmetic surgery at some point after her first album did well than her being replaced “Paul Is Dead” style by a sound-alike hanger on? Maybe that's a story for another time.

Weekend Update w/Poehler & Meyers

Maya Rudolph (Herself) interviews Attorney Howard K. Stern (Samberg) on his second place finish in the Anna Nicole Smith Paternity Case

A Gay Couple From Connecticut (Armisen & Hader) discuss same sex marriage being allowed in their state

Don Imus (Hammond) issues a sincere apology for his racist remarks, but brutally puts down any guests on his former radio show who didn't rush to his defense

• Yeah, not a lot stood out to me joke-wise from either Seth or Amy tonight. I did get a slight kick out of Amys’ “Spongebob Squarebeer” and “Herbie Goes To Paris” jokes and Seth's “house I grew up in” (but what the hell was with that Duke LaCrosse players joke, Seth?)

• I will give credit for this PGA style post game interview between Maya and Andy for being…surprisingly pleasant and a decent format break for Update, but…really, what the hell was this? A joke about a dead celebrities' paternity trial being treated like a Golf tournament? (I only say Golf because Andy and Maya were speaking in very low, whispery tones here). I'd say it must be a grim commentary on the state of America's 24 hour news cycle and overall celebrity obsession but much like the rest of this Update, it feels too lost to the time fog to make much sense out of now.

• I really wasn't crazy about Armisen and Haders “Two Gay Guys From Connecticut’. It's basically the same shtick as the “Two Gay Guys From New Jersey” bit, except changing them from Tony Soprano type mobbed thugs to rich, stuffy Thurston Howell type WASP preppies made them LESS appealing. I will say Hader’s still a better actor than Armisen when it comes to these and I got a little bit of a kick out of their lines about intentionally crashing their 40 million dollar yachts into each other.

• Hammond as Don Imus may have genuinely been the funniest part of this. I liked the slow, sincere sounding buildup and how Darrell's delivery of his blunt insults was funny enough that you didn't even have to know or remember who Don Imus was to at least get a chuckle out of it. C-

Knife Salesman

Door to Door Knife Salesman Blade P. Cutsworth (Forte) and his protégé Bernard Throttlehunt (LaBeouf) come very close to selling a knife to Melanie Ginsu (Wiig) after she sees them cut through frozen carrots, reams of paper and Blade P. Cutsworths’ own thumb. 

• Ha! Typical Forte goofiness leading into the most low key blood spurting ever employed in an SNL sketch.

• I got a kick out of Wiig specifying she wanted to see the guys cut through a thicker finger bone than a pinky and that 13.00 for two knives was too expensive for her.

• I also liked how this ended with a cutaway to a dog attacking the most obvious mannequin dummy you've ever seen. B-

An Intimate Moment Between Jessica Simpson and John Mayer

Jessica Simpson (Wiig) and John Mayer (Hader) struggle to make small talk before deciding to have sex.

• Gee, was Tina Fey a guest writer this week?

• …but seriously, I do admire this era giving us the occasional blackout sketch near the end of the show.

• While this one wasn't my favorite (I never would've picked Wiig to play Jessica Simpson but she did a fine job), it was well done enough for what it was and I was okay with it. You could tell what she was going for facially and vocally.

• I liked the brief bursts of absurd disconnected one liners such as “I love the blues” being followed by “my highlights are too shiny”.

• I liked Bill imitating John's intense guitar mugging…and the more I think about it, the more I suspect that all of John Mayers’ relationships with famous women were actually like this to some degree. C+

Shia & Maya

Maya Rudolph aggressively seduces Shia LaBeouf in her dressing room…because their first names rhyme. Shia is…somehow used to this sort of treatment from older women and…welcomes her advances.

• Maya was actually great in this. It seemed like a sketch written solely for one performer to get another performer to break (Shia came close once), but it was a fun little low-key absurd thing that didn't take itself too seriously.

• Yeah, Maya was a little over the top but this was a pretty self contained sketch and she was self aware here.

• This was really one of the most “we made an absolute meal out of a threadbare premise" sketches ever produced. C+

Overall Thoughts 

• Hmm…not AS consistently solid of a season 32 episode as the last one I reviewed (mostly since it seems to have built its reputation on one or two singular sketches, tops)

• Still, not a bad episode outside of the specific standout moments I chose it for.

• Not everything in this episode stands up to scrutiny (but hey, it's 2007, that comes with the territory, I was just impressed by what held up THAT well from this time) but still there's fun to be had.

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, I'm honestly not really sure what I'll be doing next for this blog right now or my own podcast for that matter.

• I have a feeling I may end up making myself write up a few more SNL reviews real soon for a different era of the show. 

• Of course, those won't be for my own podcast, but rather another SNL related podcast that I might (hopefully) be making a guest appearance on soon.

• Naturally, I have no idea what those episodes will be or if let alone when I may get to do them, but I hope to be able to find out and let you guys in on it real soon.

• See you then!