Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

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

Amy Poehlers' House

On this day in 1986, a teenage Amy Poehler vents in her diary about her horrible life when suddenly she falls into a hairspray induced delirium and hallucinates a long haired 80s Jon Bon Jovi coming down from his poster on her wall to inspire her to pursue her dreams of acting like her pursued his dream of being a rock star. He goes on to promise her that twenty (well...twenty one, really) years from now, she will be in the cast of Saturday Night Live when he hosts.

• Hmm...is is just me or does this cold open remind any one else of Seth MacFarlanes' "Ted" series on Peacock? Y'know, because of all the 80s fashion mixed with thick Boston accents?

• Anyway, most of the humor in this came from Amy's thick Boston accent paired with her dramatic 80s high school teen angst. In fact, I think her look here may have been based on an actual high school yearbook photo of hers.

• I can't really pick out one particular line that stood out the most aside from her saying she needed to get her hair higher before passing out, her dreams of shopping at "The Limited"instead of just working there and renting her own apartment to invite friends over for beers to and her mentioning that her monologue that got a lot of laughs at school was from "The Diary Of Anne Frank". 

• Amy really did the most with the material she had to make sure that this just BARELY got over. Fortunately for her, this cold opens shortcomings weren't her fault at all.

• Tonight's host, Jon Bon Jovi, makes his first appearance here and immediately exhibits near Steven Segal levels of mumbling his lines in the most flat barely audible way possible which, unfortunately,would continue throughout every segment he appears in for sure.

• I will say that this cold open does suggest that Mr. Bon Jovi was at least slightly easier to deal with backstage and less difficult than Mr. Segal was but still...he looks like he would rather be anywhere else but here through much of this episode (even in segments like this one that come across like one big exercise in stroking the hosts' ego). 

• As a huge SNL nerd, I gotta agree with a take I saw from Stooge after this episode first aired that it would've been better had Amy been surprised to find that SNL would still be on the air in 20 years rather than just Bon Jovi merely being the host instead of the musical guest and also having cut his hair. 

• After all, this would have been just after the infamous season 11 had concluded and the show was seriously on the brink of cancellation for the first of only two times in its now 50 year history. Realistically though, I can see the show in 2007 thinking it too "Inside Baseball" to include a joke where Amy says something like "I mean, have you SEEN that show lately? It sucks bad and it's wicked boring now." 

• Plus, October 12, 1986 would've been the day after season 12 premiered which did pretty much save the show but no one would've had any idea that would happen yet if they didn't watch the show last night or just read any TV critics reviews of it. This raises an interesting question of why a teenage Amy Poehler would be attending school on a Sunday? She does open this sketch by writing in her diary that she had gotten her period on the balance beam that day but even if she were on her schools'gymnastics team I doubt they would have practice on Sunday.

• Oh well, I'm sure I'm just splitting hairs and putting much more thought into this cold opening than the writers' did. I'll just faintly praise the unique nature of this rare non-political cold open and move on. C+  

Monologue

Jon Bon Jovi confirms that as host he will only be acting and not singing tonight to which audience members (Liz Cackowski, Steve Higgins) express disappointment. Jon's band mate Richie Sambora (himself) reminds him they have a new album out and expresses hurt feelings on behalf of the rest of the band which convinces him to preform.

• Yeah, there wasn't much to this monologue. It's only purpose was to set up Bon Jovi as our "unofficial" musical guest of the night (because how else can Jon Bon Jovi endear himself to the SNL audience at the top of the show and bring us into his own comfort zone with him, right?)

• I liked Liz and Higgins here essentially acting as literal audience surrogates (especially the way Higgins delivered his line "Who wants to see Jon Bon Jovi sing? I want to see him act! This will be the greatest night of my life! Let's go, honey.")

• I will say the one genuinely funny thing Jon did here was bail out his most well known band mate during his little deer in headlights moment by blatantly feeding him his big laugh line when he just straight up lost track of his own cue card. That alone probably made this about ten times funnier than if would've been had this part gone as smoothly as it was supposed to. C-

Bon Jovi Performs "Lost Highway"

• Eh, I've always liked "It's My Life" and "Livin' On A Prayer" just fine and passively tolerated "Dead Or Alive" but besides those...I've just never been a Bon Jovi fan.

• The fiddle in this song in particular really adds to the "completely indistinguishable from every other adult contemporary/country pop hit that came out in 2007" sound here.

• Pretty ironic that this song contains the lyric "farewell to mediocrity", huh?

Ohhhhhhhhh!

Host Johnny Vincente (Hader) hosts an Italian themed New Jersey based game show where the object is to see which of the three contestants (Armisen, Bon Jovi, Hammond) can produce the best outraged response to a minor shock or distressing situation for an every day Jersey resident. The game concludes with a speed round with prompts from a woman (Wiig) who is revealed to be the hosts goomar

• Ok, for the podcast this may seem like a cheat since this is one of the two sketches from this episode that Deej and I have previously discussed on the fifth episode of our podcast together...but I haven't talked about it on this blog yet, so in case you didn't listen to that episode, I'll get into that one again real quick here.

• Right off the bat, Bill is a solid anchor of this sketch in only his second game show host roll of his SNL tenure. Not only is he wearing the nicest suit he's ever worn on the show here but he's also giving the most entertaining performance in this.

• He's the second most convincing as a Jersey Italian (right behind the actual born and raised Jersey Italian who's hosting the show and keeps delivering all his lines in a too subdued fashion). Armisen's just trying a bit too hard. 

• Hammonds' just doing his James Gandolfini impression to justify his presence here because it's the only thing he actually can do with the material he is given. I did like his lines about his wife being fat and lazy and being a Tony Soprano impersonator that seems to perform exclusively at car washes and Bills' brief comment of "ay, all right" when he exited the scene in bills' shot when he apparently wasn't supposed to do that) more than I liked his constant shouting over the mere mentions of the word "homosexuality". 

• Wiig made a good pissed off mistress, though. Speaking of this sketches' treatment of women in general, I liked how none of the guys had any offended response to the idea of getting serviced by a prostitute and suddenly remembering today is their wifes' birthday.

• One small detail I liked were the low quality prizes here (gift certificate to Sal De Antonis' undershirt emporium, seats to Devils home game, slightly worse seats to a Devils' home game).

• Anyway, I'm sure I had more to say about this sketch in the podcast episode I linked to above, so...go listen to that one, why don't you? B+

A Visit With Former Vice President Al Gore

Al Gore (Hammond) takes you on a tour of his personal trophy room where he shows off various awards he won for all the different versions of "An Inconvenient Truth' that have ever existed.

• At first I thought that going right from "Ohhhhhhhh!" into this sketch must've been quite the rush of a quick change for Darrell until I remembered that there was a whole commercial break in between these first two sketches.

• Speaking of, one thing this sketch has going for it is that by this point, Darrell Hammond actually looks more like Al Gore than he did when he started doing this impression regularly on the show eight years earlier (mostly due to the way that the real Al Gore has aged in that time). That plus SNLs regular audience just being used to seeing this impression on the show by this point...helped make this sketch work, I guess?

• Apparently, the real Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize this week which is what spawned this sketch. Somehow, I doubt that this had anything to do with "An Inconvenient Truth" like the rest of these awards do as they don't give those out for movies (especially not ones that are more than a year old at this point).

• Odd that the joke about Al Gore winning "The Poppy" (for winning the popular vote in an election without actually getting to be president) would get the applause it did in 2007.

• While this did start off a little repetitive, there were a few odd awards here that I did get a kick out of like his Harvard mention getting no applause, the AVN award a porno version of "An Inconvenient Truth", a participation certificate for the National Punt, Pass and Kick competition, the small, framed measles vaccination certificate, the "free DVD player or touring a time share"framed flyer and, of course, O.J. Simpsons former Heisman Trophy.

• This reminded me a lot of a sketch from the January 1993 Harvey Keitel episode called "An Insane Idiot And His Descending Size Collection Of Deer Heads". C-

Digital Short: People Getting Punched Just Before Eating

Andy Samberg lands a series of wild near-flailing punches on various people (Forte, Sudeikis, Jorma Taccone, Bon Jovi, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins) just before they take a bite out of whatever food they have in their own hands. Suddenly, he runs from a group of zombies (Armisen, Danielle Flora) and then dances with them.

• Like most early digital shorts of this era, this was just pure silly goofy fun designed to bring a much needed boost of energy to this episode right when it needed one.

• The beepity-boopity techno soundtrack of this short somehow complimented this well (especially when Andy would follow every other punch by doing a goofy tongue wiggling, finger pointing jig).

• It was good of Jon Bon Jovi to get in on this but him suddenly jumping back up with a guitar and the caption "full recovery" was a little off-putting to me. Given Bon Jovis' reputation, I do genuinely wonder if he insisted on that?

• I do like the gag immediately following this when Andy has to bring his whole body to a screeching halt to stop himself from punching Jason until his sudden cell phone call he answers is over.

• I especially liked the return of a black eyed Forte threatening to punch Samberg back causing him to back off, then suddenly sneak up behind him and strangled him followed by Sambergs' goofy dance to a caption of "murder"

• The "zombies" ending may seem a bit "lol random" to the untrained eye but if you look closely you'll see that the reason Andy is suddenly holding a severed human arm is because that's what the last person he punched was eating. I commend The Lonely Island for sneaking this little "blink and you'll miss it" detail in there. B-

TBS Postseason 07 Promo

Dane Cook (Sudeikis) hypes up the upcoming MLB Playoff match between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians

• This is the debut of Jasons' Dane Cook impression which he would only do one more after this episode. I'd say it's a pretty accurate one as he's got a decent handle on the voice and he's got Cooks' physicality and joke delivery style down pat.

• I remember these Dane Cook TBS World Series promos from around this time and this really does a great job of mocking how odd and inexplicable they felt back then. This truly felt like TBS equivalent of ABCs' hiring of Dennis Miller as a Monday Night Football color man back in 2000/01 or (more accurately) ESPN hiring Hollywoods' Robert Evans to do any kind of promos for them whatsoever (which is something I'm only familiar with from Patton Oswalt describing it).

• I liked his line about then Cleveland Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia: "This C.Cs' not a music factory, he's a pitching factory." as well as "there's only one logical spokesperson for baseball, Dane Cook". C+

La Revista Della Televisione con Vinny Vedecci

Italian talk show host Vinny Veddecci (Hader) struggles to conduct his interview in English as he and his spaghetti eating crew (Armisen, Forte) are in utter disbelief that a man with the last name "Bon Jovi" isn't perfectly fluent in Italian (which is why they never even bothered to arrange for a translator for this interview). Talk of The Sopranos, childrens' cigarettes and robot horses ensues ending with a unique and rousing cover of "Livin' On A Prayer".

• This is the third appearance of this character as a talk show host after debuting in the previous seasons' Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Snow Patrol episode as well as the Zach Braff/Maroon 5 finale. He's one of my favorite early Bill Hader characters as evidenced by how Deej and I based the entire third episode of our podcast on his appearances (and I wrote a whole 'nother accompanying blog post just to go with that one where I apparently ranked this sketch as my favorite of all of this characters appearances).

• Again, I realize this may seem like a bit of a cheat given how this is the second segment from this episode alone that we've talked about on a previous episode of our own podcast...but I'm trying to shake off this nagging feeling that I have unwittingly cheated myself and my audience out of a better blog entry and podcast episode by going along with a plan that involves reviewing this episode in full, so...bear with me here, please.

• Anyway, feel free to read what I already wrote in that above linked podcast post for a more in-depth analysis of this sketch. For now, I'm just going to gloss over a few highlights.

• I liked that Vinny starts off the English portion of this interview by over pronouncing hiswords as much as possible and just generally struggling more to speak in English than he was in his previous sketches (despite what a major backslide in basic language competency and literacy this represents for the character).

• Bills' Silvio/Van Zandt impression along with Freds' Paulie Walnuts worked well for me here. I especially liked the kids' cigarette commercial set to "Blaze of Glory" (especially Paula Pells' appearance as a smoking nun and Vinnys' defense of the commercial being that the smokers were not "little kids" but rather "seven...eight year olds...MEN!").

• The robot horse gag and "Livin' On A Prayer" cover were just silly enough to work for me. Hell, I even liked Jon Bon Jovi calling out Vinny and his crew for not speaking using any of the same Italian words that his grandmother used (despite it now being so obvious that both of them are so much more fluent in English than they are in actual Italian that it makes one question why either of them would need a translator for this interview and thus decimates the logic of this entire sketch). B+

Weekend Update w/Poehler and Meyers

NBC employee Rosa Santiago (Rudolph) pitches in with a few jokes in the face of an upcoming WGA strike

Publicly nude cellphone user Josh Drimmer (Samberg) walks by the Update desk from a nearby Tads' Steaks

Political comedian Nicholas Fehn (Armisen) tries to riff on todays' headlines but cannot get a word out edgewise

• Seth's Best Jokes: Blackberry vibrations, cadaver scalps, Dirty Lou

• Amy's Best Jokes: Che Guevara tribute, Rubiks' record, boy found in Amazon, robot facials

• Hmm, I don't quite know what to make of this odd anti-comedy bi Mayas' doing. I don't mind her telling purposely bad jokes but having her do so as a, um...latina custodian, seemed a bit iffy to me. 

• I did like the brief bit of improv with the loose desk, Seth's reaction to the naked driving joke and they way she delivered the Pam Anderson/Rick Solomon joke (Jesus, why did she agree to marry HIM?)

• I guess this got on the air because it was mutually understood that Maya already had a foot out the door for the last two seasons at this point and since there was a strong possibility that either this or the next show could be her last she just wanted one second to last chance to goof around with Amy. 

• Speaking of goofy, Sambergs' naked guy bit was just brief and silly enough to get by for me.

• Here it is, folks; the debut of Armisens' Nicholas Fehn character. 

• You know, this character has fully earned its bad rap but I think I can cut his first appearance some slack since I do remember liking the first one and this was before Armisen jumped the shark and hadn't burned off any Goodwill he had earned from exhibiting a brand of off-kilter anti-comedy that actually did work. Plus, this would end up being FAR from his absolute worst character in the long run.

• I had heard Fred tell Marc Maron that this character was essentially based on David Crossand was supposed to mimic his speech patterns when trying to make a point but not having his words handy to explain his point and yeah...I've seen enough footage of David Cross to be able to see exactly what he was talking about there. C-

Foo Fighters perform "The Pretender"

• Hey, it's our ACTUAL musical guest! All right!

• Unfortunately, this is the only song the Foo Fighters get tonight.

• The musical guest only gets to do one song post Update tonight? I thought I was reviewing season 33 not season 23!

• Yeah, this is a pretty solid performance much like the most of the rest of their performances. Normally, I like the Foo Fighters and this song in particular, but...something seemed a little off vocally with Dave, like he was having a little trouble staying on key or losing his voice or something.

Where's My Purse?

A doddering dowdy old spaceship captain (Wiig) is too distracted by thoughts of her missing purse (which turned out to be right next to her captains' chair where she left it) to properly fend off a boarding and attack from hostile aliens (Bon Jovi, Thompson, Samberg) who have set out to kill her first officer (Forte) or her crew (Armisen, Hader Rudolph)

• Yeah, my memory of this being the worst live sketch of the night (well, worst sketch of the show in general, really) still definitely holds up. 

• This does feel like one of those sketches that is a harbinger for things to come as far as Kristen playing annoying, self-centered characters between seasons 34-37 goes, but at least this one fells somewhat grounded.

• I mean, after all...haven't we all encountered an older woman exactly like this just talking your ear off about personal grievances in life?

• It speaks pretty poorly to Jon Bon Jovis' presence as a host here that his simply wearing the most basic, run of the mill alien/martian head prosthetic was the moment when he seemed the most "game for anything" as a host (even while STILL mumbling his lines just as flatly disinterested as ever)

• Bill does have a funny moment in this as the crew member running in to warn everybody about the boarding aliens in a panic before being zapped with a ray gun by Kenans' character and simply whining "aw, man".

• I did get a small kick out of Kristen's character finding her purse right where she was just sitting and casually taking a ray gun out of it to nonchalantly shoot Kenans' character in the face and the ending cutaway to Fred and Mayas' characters fighting off Sambergs' alien and the next cutaway to them being a shot of them slumped over their control panels dead. C- 

TBS Postseason 07 Promo II

Dane Cook (Sudeikis) hypes up the other upcoming MLB playoff match between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks

• Ah, the second part of tonight's two part runner. This one I did like much better than the first since Jason did make mention of my home team, the Colorado Rockies (who miraculously made it to the actual 2007 World Series but lost to the Boston Red Sox of all people who managed to win it three years prior...but yeah, it was fun as a Coloradan to watch that series)

• I appreciated the "Brandon Webb/Spiderman reference" (a nod to another odd reference to an actual thing Dane Cook said in these promos) the line "I'm pretty sure one of them's a hockey team" and the line about how Rockies player Todd Helton "shouldn't have a batting average, he should have a batting outstanding". B+

Notre Dame Football on NBC

This was a fake promo that's somehow neither on the Peacock edit not the non-Peacock live air copy that I am using for this review, but it's basically just stock footage of actual Notre Dame football games set to a voice over by Steve Higgins mocking how badly they play and saying that NBC is the only place you can see this highly disappointing action.

• Man, it is hard as hell even finding a rigging TRANSCRIPT of this sketch, but what I have read about sketch its basically very "Inside Baseball"but for...well, football about what a crappy team Notre Dame is.

• One of Higgins' lines that seems to stand out among those who saw this when it aired was "Touchdown...other guy!" so, at least there's that.

What To Call The Band

As he and his band mates hold a vote, Jon Bon Jovi has a hard time convincing band mates Richie Sambora (Sudeikis), Tico Torres (Armisen), Alan Jon Such (Forte) and David Bryan (Samberg) to name the band after him instead of calling themselves "Natural Disaster"

• Well, at least we KINDA get to see Jon Bon Jovi poke fun at the idea that he has a huge ego?

• It's a little strange that this is the second sketch of the whole night where our host plays his previous, long haired 80s self but the first was the cold open which probably wasn't written until Friday at the earliest and it was decided that this was a slow enough news week/month politically that they could get away with it (unless the Al Gore thing was supposed to be the cold open at one point?)

• Anyway, this did go on a bit too long and meander, but I gotta say Jason sold his frustration just right, I liked the sequence where Jon Bon Jovi said he didn't remember the names of Will and Andy's bandmates and Will line about only wanting to stay for the first 25 years.

• I gotta say though, the ending didn't quite work for me as its' not that odd now for new up and coming artists to self title their albums. C-

Iconoclasts on IFC

IFC continues its proud tradition of having a show where two random famous people say words at each others' faces in public locations by filming singer Bjork (Wiig) and former athlete Charles Barkley (Thompson) talking about God knows what a Cheesecake Factory.

• This was a fun little goofy note to end this episode on. The timing of this is interesting because it comes right after the actual "Iconoclasts" show had Lorne Michaels and Paul Simon featured together (as well as Maya Angelou and Dave Chappelle in a completely separate episode) but you could tell this was done in good spirits (not mean ones) after NBC and Lorne gave them behind the scenes access to SNLs' production schedule.

• We also get the debut appearances of two notable SNL impressions here: Kristen Wiigs' Bjork (another in a long litany of sketch impressions of this woman focusing solely on how weird and quirky she is as an artist rather than anything else about her as a singer) and Kenans Charles Barkley (an impression of his I've always liked and found very funny).

• This being the debut of Kenans' Barkley means we are seeing an early, primitive version of it before Kenan decided he needed to tighten it up which means he has slower speech patterns that are closer to the way the actual Barkley speaks. This also somehow gives his Barkley a more distinctly effeminate and flamboyant vibe that brings it closer to his "DJ Dynasty Handbag" character from "Deep House Dish" or Little Richard.

• Among the standout lines and moments for Wiig here were her making it "snow" by throwing salt up in the air and bringing along a single bicycle wheel claiming she used it to get here today. Among the stand out lines and moments for Kenan were his calling Bjork "Bork" and comparing her to Dennis Rodman "if he were a tiny white lady". B-

Goodnights

Jack Nicholson (Himself) introduces hosts' second performance

• Wow, this guy must really hate doing television because not has he only never hosted SNL in 50 years (despite making the odd cameo now and then) but I can't say I've ever seen him as a guest on that many American talk shows either.

• In fact, what did he even have in common with Jon Bon Jovi around this time? I vaguely remember hearing that they were both part owners/investors in arena football teams or something?

Bon Jovi Performs "Who Says You Can't Go Home"

• Well, it's at least nice that Jon Bon Jovi could thank "Lorne, Marci and Steve"or having him on...before closing out the show with a song that sounds exactly identical to the first one he did instead of a monologue. I guess he just named those he had to negotiate with to get to be billed as host and still do both these songs with his band?

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
3. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• Revisiting this episode, I have discovered that that is wasn't quite as "bad" as i remembered...just a rather uneven show that is sightly weighed down by a lackluster host. I'm slightly tempted to put him in the same category host as Steven Segal or Robert Blake but he's not as big a monster as them (although not much here suggests that he wasn't difficult to work with at all.

• Jon Bon Jovi may not have actively bought down the show or anything but he didn't exactly go out of his way to elevate any of the material...or really play many roles besides some variation on himself for that matter. Thankfully, this current cast doesn't have that problem as they could easily elevate a lot of this material without even trying. This episode really shows a lot of the cast having to pitch in to pick up some of the slack from the host.

• The best way I can assess Jon Bon Jovi as SNL host is to compare him to an Early 80s Dick Ebersol era host because that is truly what he reminds me of. That was the era of hosts being more "hands off" and not in every single sketch the whole night. Hell, even the aforementioned Robert Blake was only in two sketches outside of his own monologue back in '82 (which might be due to him turning down every pitch that was presented to him).

• Yes, I know that Jon Bon Jovi appeared way more than four times in his own episode but his basic onscreen presence during non-musical sketches was such that he pretty much disappeared into the background so much that even him not appearing in a mere two sketches was enough to make you even forget he WAS the host.

• Like I said, this episode was more truly "uneven" than bad, but for the reasons I just stated it it still the weakest of this season so far by default.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed reading this review and listening to the podcast that went along with it. I also certainly hope you enjoy reading my review of the upcoming Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons episode of SNL which I will have published by this Sunday evening.

• You know, I was thinking that if I could somehow find a way to watch/stream the upcoming premiere of SNL UK that I MIGHT just review that on this blog. If you'd be at all interested in reading that, please sound off in the comments below.

• Right now, there's three things I definitely know for sure that I will be reviewing. I've just mentioned one of them. The other two things will be the Kunuk Uncovered episode of Documentary Now for our next We Heart Hader episode and the Brian Williams/Feist episode of SNL Season 33 for the episode after that (which I will also publish a review of on this blog as well).

• See you then!

Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)

The First Annual Trumps

• Huh, OK. This is framed a bit differently. This seems like the type of thing that could've been a season 48/49 cold open in an alternate universe (and if it were, it would be the last SNL cold open everyone on Earth would live to see). Let's see where this one goes.

• JAJ had some good lines in his opening rant. I did like the one about his "dead purple hands...exploding with blood" if he claps and his "brain tumor" joke while accepting his award. At least this strayed from the typical "Trump talks directly to camera" cold opens by bringing in various others throughout.

• They're still sticking with Jeremy as Vance. It still works.

• I liked the way they framed the four way split screen of JAJs Trump waiting to win this award.

• Marcello in the role of Argentinas' President works for me.

• I liked Andrew and Sarah as Lady Gaga as Aunt Gladys from Weapons and Stephen Miller presenting the "Best Kiss (Of Trumps' Ass) award.

• Ugh, I knew JAJs' Trump was gonna drop some sort of Kanye/Taylor 2009 VMAs reference when Ashleys' Kristi Noem won an award.

• Personally, I could've done without the cutaway to Ben as Loki (which was his only appearance in the whole show which, given the fact that he apparently wrote "Heated Wizardy" last week is...understandable.

• Hey, Mike Meyers is back as Elon Musk! Legalize comedy indeed.

• Boy, Tommy Brennan really disappeared into the role of The Village People's construction worker, didn't he?

• Even though Carrie Underwood herself is now seen as kind of a joke, it's the perfect role for Veronika to show off her singing abilities.

• I had heard via The Saturday Night Network that this was originally 10 minutes long in dress rehearsal and what was cut from this was Chloe as Sydney Sweeney and Mikey as Greg Bovino.

• So, yeah...cuts had to be made and they definitely made the right choices there but that Mikey/Bovino impression sounds like something that they should only bring back if they have some really scathing, biting material about this guy, but let's face it, that's probably never going to happen.

• Some people were upset over SNL doing this comparatively evergreen cold open (or any cold open really) instead of a somber, single person direct to camera opening addressing that mornings' lethal ICE shooting. Personally, I would say I understand how difficult it would probably be to address something like this that happened the day of at the last possible minute.

• I've only seen SNL do those types of somber, serious cold opens for deadly tragedies that occurred at least the Friday before the show or earlier than that. I'm not saying whether I think SNL doing this opening was in questionable taste or not. I'm just saying I wasn't going in to this episode with any expectations on how (if at all) the show would address this at the very top because from what I've seen, they know their limitations. Hell, they didn't even directly address the previous ICE shooting in Minnesota from two and a half weeks ago, so why WOULD they address this outside of Update? C+

Monologue

• Anyone else get Keke Palmer/Megan Thee Stallion vibes here?

• I liked her comments about finding our she was nominated for an Oscar while "getting fitted for a bald cap next to Mikey Day" and getting "eight hours of sleep a week" as a mom. 

• Other than that, it was a typical modern "host gives a quick rundown of their entire career while plugging/making self effacing jokes about their latest project" SNL monologue where not a lot stood out. C+

Airport Delay

• I some how knew that this premise would involve Kenan and Teyana singing, but somehow they left a little more to be desired. 

• I will admit that they "accept deez nuts" gag got me as did Teyana ambushing Dismukes phone call.

• ...and suddenly out if nowhere JAJ comes in to save this just in time. Boy, him singing "Blame It" really continues the "2009 nostalgia" theme of the night, huh? C+

OBAA Action Figures 

• I was pleased that they'd bring back this mid-90s ass pretape template and it was executed well for sure...but at the same time I feel like the premise of "toys marketed TO kids based on a movie that is NOT made for kids" is something that feels like it's been done before.

• Maybe one of the scenes of Ashley and Mikeys parents reacting to their kids inappropriately quoting the movie to them could've been cut. Otherwise, this was just fine. B-

NFL on ESPN/Quefs

• Well, as a Coloradan, I'm pleased that tomorrow night's Broncos game was the setting for this sketch. I'm not even bothered by Teyana and Tommys' negging of the team because...c'mon. I live here. I'm well aware the Broncos have their flaws.

• The rest of this seemed to be a condensed version of a sketch JAJ did in his first episode almost five years ago...which I think they improved on a bit (namely with flashier, more professional looking graphics for "Quefs" and Dismukes sounding like he stepped up his impression game with his Troy Aikman). C+

Confidence Class

• Even though this was an Ashley led sketch, I wasn't so sure about it at first until the sketch collectively moved on from Ashley's character simply being ASKED about her disastrous interview to when we actually got to see her prepared powerpoint and her ridiculous resume/Michelle Obama speech writing sample.

• It's obvious that they uploaded the dress rehearsal take of this as it contains Ashley's character doing a purposely bad Yoda impression that wasn't in the aired live sketch to replace Ashley's line about not being able to do Dolly because she "doesn't have her boobs with her...and those are a big part of it." This seems to be a trend with the official SNL YouTube account uploading Ashleys' sketches from disappointing episodes.

• The part where Ashley was describing her boyfriend could've been cut because it didn't go anywhere and they could've just got right to the part where she races through the rest of her slides without it. Plus, it could only really save the sketch if we actually SEE her boyfriend (I'm sure they had enough prosthetics to pull off the NYC goblin look).

• The ending with the Dolly impression barely put this over but really, that just speaks to the power of Ashley Padilla. C+

Geese performs "Au Pays du Cocaine" and "Trinidad"

• OK, since I have a feeling that some of you reading this may be wondering where I stand on this band...I think they're just fine.

• I've listened to quite a few of their songs and I haven't been able to form my own opinion on whether they're "good" or "bad". I like then OK but I just can't get hugely into then right now. 

• I'm guessing "Cocaine" may be the song that JAJ was parodying with his portrayal of Cameron Winter last month? (Sorry Andy, I did see you tweet that their first song wouldn't be a great introduction to them but I really liked that Bee Gees cover they did that someone posted in your Discord server. Do they have anymore original sings like that or with that energy?)

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Che's best jokes: ICE/are we dicks? (as sad as it is that this could be the strongest anti-ICE statement we would get tonight...especially on such short urgent notice), merit badges/most molested boy (just for Colins' reaction), Dorito shaped aircraft

• Josts' best jokes: female crash test dummies, suicide pods

• I don't know what to make of Marcellos' commentary. It's fairly subdued by Marcello standards but it's just another Jost roast...but Marcellos' ONLY roasting him for being old?

• Aside from that, I'm glad he explained what "chopped" meant...and then proceeded to use a string of buzzwords to describe WWII that I weirdly didn't need explained to me somehow?

• I guess I DON’T need to go back and rewatch both "Snack Homiez" sketched in a brand new context after seeing this after all, do I? This would not have helped me "get" what little there was to "get" there.

• Colins' "clap back" at Marcello was probably his highlight of this whole Update but the excessive use of tombstones followed by a "nooo!" reaction made this feel like just a slight variation in Aidy and Bowens' "trend forecasters"

• Hey, they're finally letting Jeremy debut an Update character that turned out to be one of the funniest things of the night!

• This was the exact type of gleeful, flashy go nowhere stupidity that I could get into and it was just what this episode needed at this point. I love how Jeremy just leaned into his "Mr. On Blast" shtick giving off full Beck & Kyle vibes and even let Colin get in on it. C+

Grandpa Jackson

• Well, I guess I should've expected some kind of sketch drawing on Teyanas' background as a dancer/coreographer (hell, that's primarily what I knew her as before I found out she was in OBAA anyway) but...that's literally ALL this was.

• I mean, the way Ashley introduced Teyanas' character made me think this might be going in a more bizarre direction, but...apparently she just wanted to show off her moves in old man drag with the most hastily applied bald cap ever?

• I did get a chuckle out of Kenan telling Mikeys' DJ to "stop playing Earth, Wind and Fire, dude."

• There was no escalation or other gag or even any explanation as to what the hell was going on here (aside from JAJs line about Grandpa Jacksons' bones breaking and turning into powder all at once) but hey, this sketch served its purpose of showcasing the specific talent of the host that they told everyone they wanted to build an entire sketch around this week and I was a fool to expect anything more from it. C-

Backstab Island 

• OK, this went on WAY too long for what it was. I mean, a reality show where only one contestant IS there to make friends feels like it should've been done by any non-SNL cable sketch show about 10-15 years ago (and it barely has the potential to be stretched out into full sketch length).

• Marcello, Chloe, Mikey and Kam each had a few decent lines and I liked the gag of Jane repeatedly having guava juice thrown on her but beyond that there was absolutely nothing here. C-

Beyond The Headlines

• I went into this half expecting another "Mid Day News" but got something more akin to "Inside The Beltway" mixed with Dave Chappelles' "Election Night 2016" with little dashes of "Linderholm & Bates", "Stop That" and "The Christopher Lowell Show" thrown in for good measure (kudos to anyone out there who recognizes all of those deep SNL pulls).

• Other than that, this went on WAY too long for my liking as it pretty much belabored its main point immediately.

• I did get a kick out of the Allen Iverson joke at the end. Hey, he used to be a Denver Nugget. The Denver Sports Theme continues! D+

Blowing It

• OK, this Martin Herlihy short gave me my biggest laughs of the night.

• I laughed my ass off right from Martin brutally mocking Jeremys' southern accent.

• I loved the reveal of the central conceit of this being that he was plugging a book with a hilariously long title aimed at cowardly men who are looking to trick their girlfriends into breaking up with them (even after she does or says some very small thing that gives you "the ick" at one point).

• Each and every "highly charged moment" killed me (gifting her a box of 100 tampons, showing up to a family funeral dressed as a member of The Lumineers, another Denver based group, and ordering Doordarsh while there, responding to a tender emotional moment with an impression of Harry Potters' sorting hat, talking about how your fireskin is killing you).

• The "man who believes women" T-shirt was just OK until he turned around to reveal the back said "and Kevin Spacey" followed by an inset of a very real clip of Kevin Spacey introducing Nelly Furtado in the season 31 finale which killed me.

• I also got a kick out of Martin proposing to Sarah in front of her parents...that they open up their relationship followed by the botched Leno chin implant at the wedding.

• Anyway, it felt like such a nice breath of fresh air to end such an odd and dispiriting episode on such a fun pretape. A-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
4. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
5. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
6. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
7. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
8. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
9. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
10. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
11. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, this was a hard one to review. I initially thought of having this tie with Finn Wolfhards' episode from last week. I thought they were very similarly uneven shows except this week's brief highs were higher and lows were lower.

• Even though this week, the show has the advantage of not having to deal with a host with a weird fan base, I ranked this episode lower because more consistently bad episodes had brief moments that have grown on me by now.

• Plus, this episode had the disadvantage of having a host they seemingly didn't know how to use outside of two sketches at the end of the show.

• I didn't have much of a problem with Teyana herself but performance-wise she bought this weird, tightly wound low energy to most sketches that felt like they could've been done by almost any host. She didn't have that strong a presence and was used to the point that after Update age just disappeared from the show for a long stretch.

• Yes, I think putting aside that mornings breaking news this episode would've bombed no matter what on a fundamental level.

• Sarah and Ben were the only near shut outs tonight, but on the bright side this was another episode where Ashley and JAJ (in a variety of different roles) dominated the show. Everyone else was just...there. Kenan had such a surprisingly lightly night that I'm wondering if he is phasing himself out of the show because he knows it's his last season at this point.

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, for SNLs' 1000th episode, Alexander Skarsgard makes his hosting debut with Cardi B as musical guest. He's another wild card host I'm not terribly familiar with and barely know what to expect from. 

• Still, it looks like we got our weakest of this run of three in a row out of the way so I can't imagine how that episode would be any worse than this one.

• Before my review of that episode hits this blog, you'll probably be getting my review of the Seth Rogen/Spoon episode from season 33 dropping here as Deej and I continue reviewing that entire season for the We Heart Hader Podcast. We just recorded that episode on Saturday just before this episode I just reviewed aired and we hope to have it out this coming Friday.

• After that, we'll continue our alternating episode by episode schedule of reviewing the first two seasons of Documentary Now by reviewing the "Dronez" episode (that'll be a fun one I am looking forward to!)

• See you then!

Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Montage 

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

Monologue

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

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

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

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

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

Angry Dog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Childrens' Hope Auction

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

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

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

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

High School Musical 3: Return Of The Seniors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Short: Iran So Far

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read To Achieve PSA Shoot

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

• Ah, yes. The return of these guys!

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lyle Kane Show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Update w/Poehler and Meyers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Of Solid Gold

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BETs 106 & Park Top Ten Live

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great Moments In Guidance Counseling 

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

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

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

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

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

Overall Thoughts

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

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

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

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

Closing Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

• Happy New Year!