Classic Flashback Episode of the Day

Today’s pick…

Kevin Kline/Willie Nelson episode (aired on May
22nd, 1993)

This was the season finale to the 1992-93 season, my
favorite season of all time. I first saw this episode
last year on May 20th when it came on the Classic SNL
(ironically, that was the same date the 1999-2000
finale aired), and man was this a great episode.

The show opened with a Clinton sketch with two former
cast member cameos. One by Jan Hooks as Hilary
Clinton (although this wasn’t that big of a deal since
she made frequent cameos on the show around this time)
and another by Dan Ackroyd as Bob Dole. This opening
was great. But I really don’t think much of Ackroyd’s
impression of Bob Dole. He didn’t look anything like
Dole, although he did kinda sound like him.

The monologue had Kevin Nealon impersonating the host
while the real host sits back and relaxes. But
Audience McGee (Adam Sandler) isn’t fooled by Nealon’s
disguise. At first, I was wondering why he heck Kevin
Kline looked a lot like Kevin Nealon. Anyway, this
was a nice monologue, and Sandler’s Audience McGee
character was hilarious. The ending was funny, too.
But why was Chris Rock, of all people, dressed as
Willie Nelson? Well, I guess that was the point.

The “Jean Carlo Gambrelli’s Flatulence” sketch is one
of my favorite sketches. It was kinds immature, yes I
admit, but it was hilarious.

Weekend Update with Kevin Nealon – the usual great
stuff. Farley’s Bennet Brauer character was funny,
but he looked a lot like his Matt Foley character
which debuted a week before this episode. David
Spade’s Hollywood Minute bit was hilarious as usual.

The “You Like-a The Juice” guys return here and
should’ve never been recurring in the first place.
Even the first time they were used in the Jason
Alexander episode, it was repetitive. But this was
repetitive in a kinda funny way, though, and at least
they admitted how stupid the sketch was, which made it
funnier. I also liked the part where they travel to
Greece to get some of the holy “juice”. Nice to see
Robert Smigel, too. Ever notice that whenever Smigel
would appear on screen, he was usually always playing
somebody with a funny accent?

The Criminal Encounter sketch/film was funny, but
strange. I didn’t even know what the heck it was at
first. Plus, you couldn’t even hear the audience
until the end.

The “Schmee” sketch was undoubtedly the weakest sketch
of the night, but it wasn’t that bad, it just pales in
comparison to the earlier sketches. It was kinda
funny in a really silly way. It also is significant
in that it was Chris Rock’s last sketch.

The Audience McGee thing at the end went on a little
too long, but it was still pretty funny. Who was that
playing McGee’s friend, though? I guess it was one of
the writers for the show.

This episode was great. The season that followed
this, 1993-1994, wasn’t quite as good as the earlier
90’s seasons, but it was still a good season.



Now, onward to the Christopher Walken/Weezer Review:



Overview:
Sigh, the season finale. I can’t believe we’ve
arrived here so fast. I felt like this season just
started. Anyway, the host tonight is Christopher
Walken, my favorite host ever. He hosted my favorite
episode from 1992-93, and he’s always a hilarious
host. But don’t you think he’s kinda hosting again
too soon? He usually hosts every 3 or 4 years, and
the last time he hosted was last year. Aw, who cares?
 Walken’s a great guy, and I expect a good season
closer tonight. My only doubt is that I have a fear
that they’re going to do a sequel to that hilarious
Cowbell/Blue Oyster Cult sketch with Christopher
Walken from last season. I really don’t like it when
they do sequels to hilarious sketches, since the
sequel shamefully tries to live up to the original
version, but it just can’t and just rips off the
original anyway (i.e. The Idiot Doctor, Schwetty
Balls, etc.). Anyway, aside from that, my hopes are
high from this show.

Other Predictions: They’ll bring back the
classic Census skit that Walken did with Tim Meadows
last year. Even though, like I said before, I’m
against bringing some classic sketches back, his Mr.
Leonard character from that sketch was hilarious, and
it wouldn’t be too bad if they brought that character
back. I can see him being recurring and putting him
in different situations in each sketch whenever Walken
hosts. Another prediction is that they’ll do a
Continental sketch – well, duh! C’mon, this is a
tie-in. And finally, for his monologue, it’s obvious
he’ll sing and dance, but more specifically, I predict
he will do a parody of that hilarious “Fatboy Slim”
video he was in, by dancing around the SNL studio in
the same way he did in the video. That would be funny.

Additional Note: Please, please, PLEASE do a
Celebrity Jeopardy sketch tonight!

Let’s go!:



[COLD OPENING] Mayor Rudolph Guiliani

“Go Yankees!” -- Mayor Guiliani (Darrell
Hammond)

The show opens with an address from Mayor Guiliani
(Darrell Hammond). Ah, the typical Darrell Hammond
impression showcase sketch (maybe his last one, too,
since he might not return next season). This was
pretty good, and it was nice to see his Guiliani
impression again. Kinda weird that they did this in
tonight’s Christopher Walken episode, since when
Christopher Walken hosted in 1995-96, the cold opening
featured a cameo from the REAL Rudolph Guiliani.
Rachel Dratch reminded me a little of Cheri Oteri in
this sketch for some reason. But like last week,
Darrell Hammond hardly look enthused when saying the
opening line. In fact, he even walked off camera
before it cut to the opening montage.



[MONOLOGUE] Christopher Walken

“Hey, Jimmy, WAZUUP?” -- Christopher Walken to
Jimmy Fallon

This was a hilarious monologue. Christopher Walken
keeps messing up the song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing
Off”, even when Jimmy Fallon keeps trying to tell him
the right way to sing it. Christopher Walken was his
usual hilarious self here. He just amazes me. Even
Jimmy Fallon was cracking up all throughout this, but
then again, he laughs in every sketch he’s in. I was
really hoping for a Fatboy Slim video spoof for
Walken’s monologue, but this was just great enough.



Yaay! No repeated commercial!



[SKETCH] Mango

“I am going to see Shrek with TV’s Jimmy
Fallon” -- Mango (Chris Kattan) to Leon the
Janitor (Christopher Walken)

Another Mango sketch (and quite possibly the last one,
if Kattan doesn’t return next season). In this one,
Leon the Janitor (Christopher Walken) is in love with
Mango, but Mango would rather be with Jimmy Fallon. I
usually don’t like Mango sketches all that much since
they’ve really run this character to the ground last
season, but as long as they’re keeping the Mango
sketches to a minimum this season, that’s fine.
Kattan’s Mango character seemed a little more animated
and silly in this outing. This was pretty good, and
of course, a great job by Walken, too (I thought it
would’ve been funny to see him attempt to do an
impersonation of Mango, but oh well…). Jimmy Fallon
playing himself in this sketch was funny (note that
this is the second sketch in a row where he’s played
himself tonight), and Walken’s dream sequence was
hilarious. The surprise party thing at the end was
kinda weird. Maybe this was a sign that this is the
last Mango sketch.

Why was Will Ferrell amongst the crowd of Mango
admirers, yet didn’t have anything to say? Also, when
they were rolling the fake credits at the end of the
sketch, did anybody notice Bruce Villanch’s name under
“Additional Material by”?



[SKETCH] Hardball with Chris Matthews

“Go home and tell Santa you want to be a dentist,
you freakin’ elf!” -- Chris Matthews (Darrell
Hammond) to Paul Begala (Chris Kattan).

Another edition of “Hardball with Chris Matthews,”
this time on the energy crisis, with guests Bob Barr
(Chris Parnell), Paul Begala (Chris Kattan), and
Christie Whitman (Ana Gasteyer). This was okay, but
they seem to be doing this sketch too often now. They
just did another Hardball sketch 3 episodes ago, and
now it’s getting kinda old. Of course, the funniest
parts were Matthew’s insults at Paul Begala, but that
seems to be dominating the Hardball sketches now and
becoming the main output, which actually kinda ruins
the point. Chris Parnell was okay again as Bob Barr
(I wonder how he gets his lips to look like that
whenever he plays Barr), and Ana was pretty funny as
Christie Whitman, but she should’ve had more screen
time.



[SKETCH] The Continental

“Check out my collection of erotic hobbled figures
- I got them on E-Bay” -- The Continental
(Christopher Walken) to his date.

Ah, the Continental! Sure, every Continental sketch
is the pretty much same, but it’s always funny, mostly
due to Walken’s delivery. Only he could really make
this funny. I was cracking up at the exaggerated
“dazed-out” face Walken made after getting punched
out. I wonder why they continue to play Phil
Hartman’s voice-over in the intro of the Continental.
When they brought back the Deep Thoughts in the 97-98
season, they replaced Phil Hartman’s voice with a new
voice over intro. Why can’t they do that here?



[WEEKEND UPDATE] with Tina Fey and…that other
guy!

“At a South Dakota school this week, a police
officer roamed the school with an unloaded gun to test
the response. The school past with flying colors when
concerned students spotted the gun and shot him” –
Tina Fey.

Pretty good jokes as usual tonight. Chris Kattan’s
“Terrible Re-enactment” bits are almost on the verge
of getting tiring, but they’re still funny as long as
they’re not done TOO frequently. Kevin Nealon’s
surprise cameo was great! It was great seeing Kevin
Nealon again since he was my favorite Update anchor,
and I loved seeing him do “Mr. Subliminal” again. But
Molly Shannon doing porno movies? NO! The
“cliffhanger” bit with Winona Ryder (another cameo)
was silly but funny, and it was a good spoof of all
those damn “cliffhangers” that the season finale of
all these sitcoms this year have to end with (was
Winona Ryder supposed to crack up at the end?). The
only bad part was Jimmy’s Old-Timey Joke Corner bit –
it was pretty much a train-wreck. Not even the
audience really laughed much. But other than that,
this was a great Update. I guess Jimmy throwing the
pencil off-camera at the end of every Update is now
his trademark (coughcoughdavidlettermancoughcough)



Additional Note: There were some glitches during the
commercials, and the camera cut in late to Christopher
Walken introducing the musical guests.



[SKETCH] The Luv-ahs

“Finally, she was willing to accept her lover’s
body in places no one has ever trespassed –
specifically, the Eerie Canal” -- Walter
(Christopher Walken) on his sex encounter with his
wife (Ana Gasteyer).

The Hippie Lovers (Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch)
return. Ehh, I didn’t like this sketch at all the
first time they did it, but it was slightly better
this time around (not much), mostly due (yet again) to
Christopher Walken. They didn’t have to reuse the
same ending as last time, with Will complaining about
his back problems. Overall, a pretty weak sketch. I
was afraid they’d bring these characters back.



[TV FUNHOUSE] The Anatominals

“This is what the show’s come to? It’s not ****ing
worth it!” -- Lorne Michaels’ thoughts on what SNL
has turned into now.

NBC Productions presents “The Anatominals,” a cartoon
series featuring animals with real life genitals. A
self-admittedly disastrous cartoon, but after watching
this the second time, that’s what made it funny. The
twist with Lorne Michaels making a deal with the devil
was pretty funny (and probably had some truth to it,
too) and picked this up, but who was that guy doing
the voice for Lorne Michaels? He didn’t sound
anything like him. Why didn’t Lorne just voice for
his own part?



[SKETCH] Interview with a Centaur

“So, is there a company that manufactures Centaur
ass-wipe?” -- Boss (Christopher Walken) to Centaur
applicant (Chris Parnell).

Hospital Boss (Christopher Walken), interviews his
Centaur applicant (Chris Parnell), and asks him
several questions on what it’s like to live as a
centaur. This was a pretty slow sketch, and there was
really no point to it. Walken and Parnell’s
performances kinda salvaged this a little, though. But
what was with the ending? It seemed kinda abrupt and
had no punchline.



[SKETCH] What’s Up His Butt?

During a business meeting at a bathmats company, (Will
Ferrell) suddenly snaps at all the other employees.
They all wonder what’s crawled up his butt, so they
take him to the doctor (Christopher Walken) to find
out. Turns out that there’s a badger crawled up in
his butt. At first I thought this was going to be
some sort of “The Sarcastic Family” take-off, when
Will was clapping slowly like that. Anyway, this
reminded me of that Taint sketch from the Conan
O’Brien episode. This was another strange sketch with
a silly premise. But they just ended it out of
nowhere! They made it seem as if they were going to
show a scene after they all said “Okay, let’s go” when
the doctor told them how to get the badger out of the
Ferrell’s butt, but it just ended right there. Like
the previous sketch, the ending was really abrupt. I
think they just did this sketch to take advantage of
Will Ferrell again, but this is hardly one of his best
moments.



Hmm, why was Will Ferrell playing maracas with the
musical guests? And strangely, he was wearing the
same outfit he wore in the Mango sketch, with the
glasses and all.



[MISCELLANEOUS] Memorial Day is Here

Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan, and Tracy
Morgan perform the “Christmas Time is Here” song once
again, this time in the form of “Memorial Day is
Here”. I’m surprised we’re seeing this yet again.
They already re-did the Christmas song before, for no
real reason. The rhymes really seemed tacked on here
this time, and the lyrics didn’t fit. Oh, well, they
all looked like they were having fun anyway
(especially Kattan), for the last sketch of the season
(ironically, the last sketch of last season also had
the cast members singing together – remember the
“Diggin’ a Hole” sketch?). Even Tracy, for his
only sketch tonight.



GOODBYES:
Yep. This is now officially the first season with all
its goodbyes cut off on the live versions. Wow. I
really wish NBC would’ve let them roll the full
credits, just for tonight’s sake since it’s the finale
and all.

Conclusion:
An okay episode, but kinda a little disappointing for
a season closer. Christopher Walken did his usual
great job, though. He was his usual hilarious,
cue-card reading self. A decent episode, but this
really felt kinda empty for a season finale.

Additional Note: In the dress rehearsal
pre-show commercial, they showed a clip from a sketch
that didn’t make it on air; the clip was in black and
white and had Christopher Walken and Rachel Dratch
(dressed in a ‘Shirley Temple’-type outfit) dancing
around in circles.

And just about all my predictions were blown to the
wind tonight. No Cowbell sequel. No Mr. Leonard
sequel. No Fatboy Slim spoof. Not even a Celebrity
Jeopardy, which was really disappointing.

BEST SKETCH OF THE NIGHT: The Continental
WORST SKETCH OF THE NIGHT: Interview with a
Centaur, What’s Up His Butt?
BLOOPERS OF THE NIGHT: Eh, none really

Cast Member Count Down:
JIMMY FALLON: 4 sketches (Monologue, Mango, Weekend
Update, Memorial Day song)
WILL FERRELL: 3 sketches (Mango, Luvahs, What’s Up His
Butt?)
ANA GASTEYER: 5 sketches (Mayor Guiliani Address,
Monologue, Hardball, Luvahs, What’s Up His Butt?)
DARRELL HAMMOND: 2 sketches (Mayor Guiliani Address,
Hardball)
CHRIS KATTAN: 5 sketches (Mango, Hardball, Weekend
Update, Centaur Interview, Memorial Day song)
TRACY MORGAN: 1 sketch (Memorial Day song)
CHRIS PARNELL: 3 sketches (Hardball, Centaur
Interview, What’s Up His Butt?)
HORATIO SANZ: 2 sketches (Mango, Memorial Day song)
RACHEL DRATCH: 4 sketches (Mayor Guiliani Address,
Monologue, Luvahs, What’s Up His Butt?)
TINA FEY: 2 sketches (Monologue, Weekend Update)
JERRY MINOR: 1 sketch (What’s Up His Butt?)
MAYA RUDOLPH: 1 sketch (Monologue)

The star of the night was pretty much Chris Kattan,
which is surprising since he’s hardly used this
season. I guess this pretty much means this might be
his last show. But sadly, a lot of the cast members
(who also might be leaving after this season) didn’t
get used tonight, like Darrell Hammond, Horatio Sanz,
Tracy Morgan, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Jerry
Minor, and even Will Ferrell. With all these cast
members underused, this reminded me of the season
premiere with Rob Lowe where most of the cast members
hardly got any screen time (even Rob Lowe wasn’t used
much).

Now, that the season is over, time for the traditional
final year-in review for this season (and my first
one, overall):

YEAR-IN REVIEW FOR 2000-2001:

TOP 5 FAVORITE EPISODES:
1. Dana Carvey episode (10.21.00)
2. Kate Hudson episode (10.14.00)
3. Sean Hayes episode (2.17.01)
4. Val Kilmer episode (12.09.00)
5. Pierce Brosnan episode (5.5.01)

TOP 5 LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES:
1. Tom Green episode (11.18.00)
2. Julia Stiles episode (3.17.01)
3. Renee Zelwegger episode (4.14.01)
4. Charlie Sheen episode (1.13.01)
5. Lucy Liu episode (12.16.00)

TOP 3 FAVORITE HOSTS:
1. Dana Carvey (10.21.00)
2. Sean Hayes (2.17.01)
3. (tie) Alec Baldwin (4.7.01), Conan O’Brien
(3.10.01), and Christopher Walken (5.19.01)

TOP 3 LEAST FAVORITE HOSTS:
1. Tom Green (11.18.00)
2. Renee Zelwegger (4.14.01)
3. Jennifer Lopez (2.10.01)

TOP 10 FAVORITE SKETCHES:
1. Celebrity Jeopardy (from 12.16.00)
2. Angry Boss Yells at Employees (from 05.05.01)
3. Talkin’ ‘Bout ‘Ginas (from 2.17.01)
4. Behind the Music with Rock & Roll Heaven (from
12.09.00)
5. (tie) Chris Kattan – Olympic Profile (from
10.07.00) and The Weakest Link (from 5.5.01)
6. Inside the Actors Studio (from 10.14.00)
7. Church Chat (from 10.21.00)
8. Golden Girls Obsession (from 5.12.01)
9. Palm Beach (from 12.09.00)
10. Napster Testimony (from 3.10.01)

TOP 10 LEAST FAVORITE SKETCHES:
1. Lorne and Tom in a Tub (from 11.18.00)
2. Charlie and Fleisy (from 1.13.01)
3. Airport Blind Date (from 10.7.00)
4. Oprah (from 11.18.00)
5. Rock Around the Clock (from 11.18.00)
6. Pretty Living (from 12.16.00)
7. Dog Show (from 11.18.00)
8. The Wedding Story (from 4.14.01)
9. Woodrow – The Sewer Bum (from 10.14.00)
10. Apollo Amateur Night (from 3.17.01)

TOP 3 FAVORITE COMMERCIALS:
1. Cracklin’ Oat Flakes (from 11.11.00)
2. Wade Blasingame (from 12.09.00)
3. Parental Anxiety Disorder (from 2.17.01)

TOP 3 LEAST FAVORITE COMMERCIALS
1. Priceline.com (from 12.16.00)
2. Magic Mouth (from 10.21.00)
3. Gatorate Love Bucket (from 1.20.01)

TOP 3 FAVORITE WEEKEND UPDATE SEGMENTS
1. Eminem/Elton John Re-Enactment (from 2.24.01)
2. The Kid From Billy Elliot’s Commentary (from
2.17.01)
3. Mr. Subliminal Commentary (from 5.19.01)

TOP 3 LEAST FAVORITE WEEKEND UPDATE SEGMENTS
1. Adam McKay Pre-Recorded Commentary (from 10.21.00)
2. James Madison Commentary (from 12.16.00)
3. Tracy Morgan Darryl Strawberry commentary (from
4.7.01)

TOP 3 FAVORITE TV FUNHOUSE CARTOONS
1. Ray of Light (from 2.10.01)
2. The X-Presidents (from 1.20.01)
3. Backstreet Boys (from 2.14.01)

TOP 3 LEAST FAVORITE TV FUNHOUSE CARTOONS
1. Sex and the Country (from 11.18.00)
2. Find the Black People at the Knick Game (from
3.10.01)
3. Survivor Real-Audio (from 4.14.01)

TOP 10 FAVORITE BLOOPERS
1. Horatio’s moustache peeling off in the “Rap Street”
sketch (from 1.20.01)
2. The Pig going bezerk in the Dog Show sketch (from
11.18.00)
3. Jay-Z “accidentally” dropping the s-bomb in the
Goulet sketch (from 12.16.00)
4. Chris Parnell accidentally spilling the drinks in
the Margaret Healy sketch (from 12.9.00)
5. Weekend Update graphics screw-up (from 3.17.01)
6. Ana Gasteyer’s character break in the Delicious
Dish sketch (from 4.7.01)
7. Kattan’s wig falling off in the Mr. Peepers sketch
(from 11.4.00)
8. Sean Hayes and Jimmy Fallon cracking up at Will
Ferrell’s walk on in the Jeffrey’s sketch (from
2.17.01)
9. Jimmy Fallon cracking up in most of the sketches.
I guess he’s inherited the “Character Break Syndrome”
from Molly Shannon.
10. I can’t really think of anything else, so I’ll
just take up space.

THE SEASON OVERALL:
This season overall was kinda poor. With the
exception of a few pretty good shows (Dana Carvey,
Sean Hayes, Kate Hudson, Pierce Brosnan), a majority
of the shows were weak, and there were some that was
just rock-bottom awful (Tom Green, Julia Stiles, Renee
Zellweger…). There was no real excellent show.

This season has also used their hosting choices
poorly. About 70% of the hosts seemed targeted to the
younger audience viewers. We’ve had a lot of female
hosts this season which is a nice change of pace, but
hardly any of them gave memorable performances, with
Calista Flockhart being the real stand-out. The only
real good hosting performances came mostly from
traditional hosts like Walken, Carvey, Baldwin, etc.,
but not even they did their best here. Plus, where
was John Goodman?

The fake commercials have been pretty good, but we’ve
had a real shortage of commercials this season – there
only must’ve had about a grand total of 6 or 7
overall. They started repeating their commercials 6
episodes into the season!

Weekend Update has been pretty good all season, but
the chemistry between the two anchors seems
inconsistent. While Tina Fey is a great Update
anchor, Jimmy Fallon is all wrong for Update. He
can’t really tell a joke, he messes up his lines too
much, and doesn’t have that anchorman look or feel. I
suggest removing Fallon from Update next season and
giving the job solely to Tina Fey if she can handle
it. She has potential to be a great Update anchor by
himself.

And finally, the writing and sketches has been a
little inconsistent, too. It could be good at times,
but it could REALLY bad at times, too. For example,
the election stuff was great and never got old, but
this season suffered a lot from relying too much on
old recurring characters, and most of the newer
recurring characters are just not that good. They’ve
been able to get in quite some classic sketches this
season, but a good majority of the other sketches were
either bad or just unmemorable.

The casting has been sort of weak. With 13 cast
members, there’s hardly any room for all of them to
get adequate screen time, and it seems like while some
cast members have gotten lots of attention, others
have hardly had any. It seems as though most of the
cast members are leaving after this season anyway.

Even though SNL fans have been contemplating this for
the past few years, I think now is the time for SNL to
have its cast change. New cast, new writers, new
everything. The show is starting to weaken a little
again, and it’ll probably only get worse next season
if they don’t fix this. The writers are getting lazy
and we need a fresh new cast with a lot of new people.


Here’s who I would suggest keeping for next season:

Rachel Dratch
Jimmy Fallon ??? (still thinking about it)
Tina Fey
Chris Parnell
Maya Rudolph

Now that this season is over, I’ll do the old corny
schtick and wish you all a good summer, and see you
next season. I’m outta heah…

Back to Season 26 (2000-01)