Overview: Not much to say here. I don't know who Mena
Suvari is and I haven't seen any of her movies so I
don't know what to expect from her. Let's just hope
that tonight's episode is a big pick-up from last
week's mediocre-fest with Charlie Sheen. I just know
they're going to do a sketch about Clinton's
inauguration and maybe even a sketch about Jesse
Jackson's affair (most likely on Weekend Update).
Let's start with the review, shall we?:

COLD OPENING ­ Clinton Says Goodbye
- I was watching MadTV tonight, and they did a sketch
very similar to this. Of course, the main difference
was that sucked and this didn't.
- The camera started shaking for some reason right
before Clinton said "Live From New York".
- Ferrell's Bush impression is now getting the
applause that it deserves.
- There was nothing really special about this, except
that this is most likely the last time Darrell will do
Clinton. His impression will be missed.
- And the non-presidential cold opening crisis
continues.
Rating: ***1/2

OPENING MONTAGE: So Rob Smigel's back? What the? I
thought he was gone for good. Also, anybody notice
that Pardo announced Jerry Minor as "Jimmy Minor"?
That's his second mistake in all his career (his first
was when he announced the SNL band as R.E.M. last
season when Danny DeVito hosted).

MONOLOGUE: Mena Suvari
- Ferrell's hair is back to normal. But it looks
shorter.
- When was the last time they did a backstage
monologue? I remember they used to do this way back
in the early 90's all the time. I like these kind of
monologues.
- Mary Katherine Gallagher? She hasn't appeared in a
long time, and I thought they could do anything with
her anymore since they lost rights to the character
when the movie "Superstar" came out. Oh, well, the
small part with her was pretty funny.
- This was pretty funny. I'm assuming Mena picturing
the cast members naked was a spoof of a movie she's
been in. Whatever it was, it was good. The part
where Lorne pictured Tracy Morgan naked was the
funniest part.

COMMERCIAL ­ Gatorate Love Bucket
- This was pretty stupid. Just people dumping buckets
of Gatorate over other people. The only funny part
was with Horatio and Jimmy with the looks they had on
their faces and the goofy way they acted.
Rating: **

SKETCH ­ Airport Security
- Anybody notice that security guard who played
"Dante" was the same guy who played Tracy Morgan's son
in those "Not my Baby" sketches from last season, and
not only that, but his name was "Dante" in those
sketches, too.
- This is the first time Jerry Minor has made me
laugh. He's getting better.
- Lenny Kravitz looks like a male version of Macy
Gray.
- This was okay. A little on the weak side. Maya
Rudolph is good at playing ethnic characters.
Rating: **1/2

NEXT TIME: Jennifer Lopez will be the host and musical
guest on the next live episode on Feb. 20.

SKETCH: Janet Reno's Dance Party
- Janet Reno's cameo was expected since I read the
sketch spoilers, but it was still a treat.
- This was okay, but not as funny as the other J R
Dance Party sketches.
Rating: ***

SKETCH ­ Rap Street
- Horatio's fake moustache started peeling off halfway
through the sketch and when he and Jerry noticed, they
both started breaking character. It took Horatio a
long time to get back in character. It's funny when
stuff like this happens, like Kattan's beard in last
season's Christopher Lowell sketch.
- This was pretty good. Nothing bad, but nothing that
great about it either.
Rating: ***

CARTOON: The X-Presidents
- In one part, it sounded like Gerald Ford said "All
this pausing shit" and it wasn't even censored. Is
that what he said?
- This was hilarious. This is arguably the best
sketch of the night. And that's a shame that the
cartoon has to be better than the sketches.
Rating: ****

SKETCH ­ Wake Up Little Susie
- This was weak and just an excuse to get Tracy Morgan
in a sketch. I'll admit, some of the silliness made
me laugh, but for the most, it was just bland.
- This is the second time all night when we see
Tracy's belly.
Rating: **

What the heck's all this stuff about SNL coming on
Thursdays? They said the episodes would be live, but
what could they do for only 20 minutes? And why on
Thursdays?

WEEKEND UPDATE ­ Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
- Somebody has to kill Fallon's Update bits. They're
getting less and less funnier. Tina's Spanish bit was
pretty funny.
- Jacob Silj? Why'd they bring him back? I thought
he was done with. I'm not even sure why he was made
recurring. The second time they used him (in last
season's Christopher Walken episode) it was the same
thing he did in his first appearance, and that goes
for this time, too. The character isn't even all that
funny.
- I knew they were going to add a Jesse Jackson bit
into tonight's Weekend Update. The Jackson/Sharpton
bit was okay. The make-up people still need to make
Darrell's skin darker. Is it just me or was Darrell
slipping into his Al Gore for some part of his Jesse
Jackson impression? Speaking of which, I noticed that
most of Darrell's impressions have him speaking in a
southern accent.
- Jerry Minor's on fire tonight. I think this is the
most appearances he's made in an episode so far this
season.
- I got a big laugh out of Tina Fey almost mistakenly
saying "I'm Jimmy Fallon" at the end. But they need
to get rid of that ending tagline.
- A weak update. A lot of jokes bombed and the
correspondents could've been better.
Rating: **1/2

SKETCH: Veronica and Co.
- I will only sum up this sketch in four words: "I
hate Molly Shannon!!!"
Rating: *

SKETCH: "The Di-Marco Brothers":
- The second sketch that Lenny Kravitz appeared in.
Is he trying to be the next Sting?
- These two characters are alright. I'm not
complaining or jumping with joy about them coming
back. The "American Woman" part was hilarious.
Rating: ***

Lenny Kravitz' second musical performance got cut off
for time before he was even done.

GOODBYES: Damn, we just saw Mena say thanks for the
special guests then it just got cut off. We weren't
even able to see any of the credits or any of the cast
members.

Overall Rating: D

BEST SKETCH OF THE NIGHT: The X-Presidents
WORST SKETCH OF THE NIGHT: Veronica and Co.

Not much of a pick-up from last week's show. The
sketches tonight were either average or lower, and
there was no real stand-out sketch. Mena was a pretty
good host and played a good variety of roles. This
season is really getting bad. What Lorne needs to do
by the end of this season is get rid of the old cast
members (Molly Shannon first!), keep about 3 of the
more recent cast members (Fallon, Parnell, Dratch and
maybe Maya Rudolph), and hire fresh new cast members
to fill up the space. Let's hope it turns out like
95-96 and not 80-81 or 85-86.

Cast Member sketch count:
Jimmy Fallon: 2 sketches
Will Ferrell: 8 sketches
Ana Gasteyer: 4 sketches
Darrell Hammond: 3 sketches
Chris Kattan: 2 sketches
Tracy Morgan: 3 sketches
Chris Parnell: 4 sketches
Horatio Sanz: 3 sketches
Molly Shannon: 3 sketches
Rachel Dratch: 0 sketches
Tina Fey: 1 sketch
Jerry Minor: 4 sketches
Maya Rudolph: 1 sketch

Will Ferrell was the star of the night and appeared in
almost every single sketch.  Jerry Minor finally got
more airtime than usual and had some funny moments
tonight, so that's nice.  Where was Rachel Dratch?  Has
anyone else realized this is the third episode this
season where Rachel didn't appear in any sketches? 
And we're only halfway into the season!

Jennifer Lopez is hosting the next show, which is two
weeks later, and she has a lot of talent so I'm hoping
for a good show.

That's my review. Good night, everyone.

Back to Season 26 (2000-01)