Luke Wilson / U2
November 20, 2004
[COLD OPENING] Bush fires Powell
Highlights:
· A pretty good Apprentice parody.
· A lot of good lines.
· Bush describing his method of firing of Colin as "Trump-style".
Lowlights:
· None.
Grade: B+
[MONOLOGUE] Luke Wilson's day out with Horatio Sanz
Highlights:
· The skating rink/peeing picture.
· The old ladies & men pictures.
Lowlights:
· A pretty weak premise and the pictures could've been funnier.
Grade: C-
[SKETCH] Debbie Downer
Highlights:
· The camera zooming in on the turkey instead of Rachel after her turkey comment.
Lowlights:
· Lame and tired as expected. You'd figure that the poor reaction this got last time would've been enough to show SNL that they shouldn't have ever made this recurring, but I guess they'll never learn.
· What was with the ending? It was really awkward. There was this long pause after Amy and Luke left the table as if Rachel missed her cue on when to say her next line or something, and then when the fake turkey started walking away after Rachel’s last comment, Rachel looked genuinely surprised and amused as if she didn’t expect that, and then the sketch just abruptly ended. Weird.
Grade: D-
[NEXT LIVE SHOW] December 11, 2004: Colin Farrell
· Should be a fun show. I always thought Colin Farrell would make a very funny host, and it'll be interesting to see the kind of sketches they'll do with him. Also, have you noticed that SNL strangely has been getting a lot of British/Irish hosts and musical guests this season? Take out Luke Wilson, and Colin Farrell will be the fourth straight host from the U.K.
[SKETCH] The American Trainwreck Awards
Highlights:
· A funny premise.
· Most of the impressions, especially Fred debuting a dead-on and hilarious Tony Danza.
· The parody of last night's Ron Artest Pacers/Pistons brawl was a good last-minute addition. I was wondering if/how they would work a spoof of that into the show tonight.
Lowlights:
· None.
Grade: B+
[TV FUNHOUSE] Bush's Uniter machine
Highlights:
· Ellen Degeneres saying "I want you inside me" to Ryan Seacrest.
Lowlights:
· Could've been a lot funnier.
· The ending with Bush turning into a dog was lame.
Grade: C-
[SKETCH] Effeminate Best Friends Dinner
Highlights:
· Rob Riggle finally getting a big, comedic role in a sketch. He was pretty funny here, as was Luke.
· Luke freaking out over the hot sauce.
Lowlights:
· This started to get old towards the end.
Grade: C+
[MUSICAL PERFORMANCE]
[WEEKEND UPDATE] Fey & Poehler, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dan Schwarz
Highlights:
· Tina's first Clinton joke.
· Amy's Colin Powell joke.
· The Arnold bit had some good lines.
· Tina's pennies joke.
· Fred's "pull it" toy bit was hilarious with the perverted commands the toy made when Amy was using it.
Lowlights:
· Tina's Monica Lewinsky joke.
· Amy's Big Boi joke.
· Tina's New York Times joke.
· Amy's Amtrak joke.
Grade: C+
[SKETCH] Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School
Highlights:
· Horatio's character was pretty funny.
· The twist at the end with Luke's character turning out to be an older teacher.
· Amy's line at the end about Seth taking her to get an abortion.
Lowlights:
· None.
Grade: B+
[SKETCH] The Falconer
Highlights:
· The usual good Falconer sketch. I always like these sketches and they never get old.
· The Falconer's unintentional rock band references.
· The dart, roller coaster, and puking parts in the state fair montage.
· Forte and Luke were good at ad-libbing when the dog kept wandering off the set at the end. It seems every time SNL uses a live animal for a sketch, something always goes wrong.
Lowlights:
· None.
Grade: A
[MUSICAL PERFORMANCE]
[SKETCH] Drunken Business Conversation
Highlights:
· The guys doing bizarre variations of their earlier comments as they became increasingly drunker as the sketch progressed.
Lowlights:
· Reminded me a little too much of the Bill Brasky sketches (the premise of drunken businessmen at a hotel bar spouting out bizarre, random stuff) and this was nowhere near as funny as those.
Grade: B-
[MUSICAL PERFORMANCE & BEST SNL GOODNIGHTS EVER]
· Just simply incredible. Very unique goodnights. Excellent way of both ending the show and having U2 perform a third song. U2's interaction with the SNL cast and the studio audience members during the performance was great. Classic moments like this is just one of the many things that always makes SNL so fun to watch.
________________________________________
Overall Episode Grade: B (brought up a bit by U2)
Overall Highlights:
· Bush fires Powell.
· The American Trainwreck Awards.
· The Dan Schwarz toy segment on Weekend Update.
· Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School.
· The Falconer.
· U2, for their performances and for giving SNL their best goodnights ever.
Overall Lowlights:
· Monologue.
· Debbie Downer.
· TV Funhouse.
Best Lines:
· Darrell Hammond as Donald Rumsfeld: “If you think that you're firing me, you are out of your pea-picking mind. I say we fire the chick (referring to Condoleeza Rice) AND James Earl Jones (referring to Colin Powell) and get the hell out of here!”
· Will Forte as President Bush: (to Donald Rumsfeld) “You started a war without enough troops, you got no exit strategy, you let things get out of control at that Abu Ghraib prison. But you refused to take the blame, and I like that. And clearly I’m afraid of you, or I would’ve fired you months ago.”
· Will Forte as President Bush: (to Colin Powell) “You're the only one in this administration that seems to know anything about fighting a war. Obviously, you don't fit in.”
· Amy Poehler: “When asked why he chose Condoleeza Rice to replace Colin Powell, the president responded 'Well, once you go black...'”
· Tina Fey: “This week, penny collector Gene Suki went to the bank and cashed in 10,000 pounds of pennies he had collected over 34 years, which were worth over $14,000. And, of course, I was in line behind him.”
CASTMEMBER COUNT DOWN:
ARMISEN: 4 sketches (Debbie Downer / The American Trainwreck Awards / Weekend Update / Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School)
DRATCH: 2 sketches (Debbie Downer / The American Trainwreck Awards)
FEY: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)
FORTE: 3 sketches (Bush fires Powell / Effeminate Best Friends Dinner / The Falconer)
HAMMOND: 2 sketches (Bush fires Powell / Weekend Update)
MEYERS: 4 sketches (Debbie Downer / The American Trainwreck Awards / Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School / Drunken Business Conversation)
PARNELL: 2 sketches (The American Trainwreck Awards / Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School)
POEHLER: 6 sketches (Debbie Downer / The American Trainwreck Awards / Effeminate Best Friends Dinner / Weekend Update / Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School / Drunken Business Conversation)
RUDOLPH: 4 sketches (Bush fires Powell / The American Trainwreck Awards / Effeminate Best Friends Dinner / Weekend Update)
SANZ: 4 sketches (Monologue / Debbie Downer / Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School / The Falconer)
MITCHELL: 2 sketches (Bush fires Powell / The American Trainwreck Awards)
RIGGLE: 2 sketches (The American Trainwreck Awards / Effeminate Best Friends Dinner)
THOMPSON: 3 sketches (Coolest Teachers at Benton Township High School / The Falconer / Drunken Business Conversation)
Amy, Seth, and Forte stood out the most tonight. The overall best performer of the night was Seth.
THE END