Seann William Scott / Sum41
October 6, 2001
OVERVIEW
I was excited at first a few weeks ago when I heard that Ben Stiller was going to host this episode. Then he dropped out, and I'm not too excited about his replacement, Seann William Scott. If they were going to get someone from American Pie, it should be Jason Biggs. He's a funny guy, plus I have him in my Guess the Host Contest entry. As for SWS, He's okay, but I wonder how he'll do at sketch comedy. It should be interesting to see what he does tonight. Judging from the previews with him that was shown on NBC last night, I can already predict that Jimmy Fallon will be in a lot of sketches tonight.
DUBYA COLD OPENING (2:27)
- Yes! Great to see Ferrell's Bush impression back.
- I was worried about how they would portray Bush now, and it was still appropriate and they did a fine job.
- This was wonderful. Very funny and patriotic at the same time.
- RATING: ****3/4 A
OPENING MONTAGE (2:01)
- Yaay! Don got the names right this time.
- Wait, what's up with Ana's picture? The one last week was new, and now it's a new one again this week. She's wearing the same clothes, but the only difference is that she isn't smiling or looking at the camera in this one. I wonder why she keeps changing it.
- We were discussing theme songs to SNL opening montages on this forum earlier today, and some people said this current one may be the worst because of the use of the turntables. I used to hate this opening theme song at first, but now I think the song is pretty catchy. But I agree, the use of the turntables/record-scratching is indicating a sign of the show trying to be too trendy. I wonder what old SNL reviewer GE CAFÉ (anybody remember him?) would think of this?
- I notice after the host picture shows up, they don't do that special "wipe" effect to the "on air" sign anymore. I liked it when they did that last season.
SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT'S MONOLOGUE (3:30)
- Damn, he sure is excited!
- I liked the silent movie clip, and when Seann clearly mouthed "Mother fu" then "DARN YOU" just showed up on the subtitles.
- This was a lot better than I thought it would be.
- RATING: ****1/2 A-
LAW AND ORDER PARKING VIOLATIONS UNIT (1:44)
- Pretty good spoof of "Law and Order"
- I liked Tracy as the "handicapped" man at the end.
- RATING: ****3/8 B+
JEFFREY'S (5:41)
- Hmm, this again?
- Was Jimmy calling Kattan "Corky" a reference to his Corky Romano movie (which DOES look like a dud)?
- I swear, Horatio's acting seems to get worse and worse in every one of these Jeffrey's sketches, but it was so bad here, that I had to laugh. Also, that outfit he had on looked hilarious.
- This was the first Jeffrey's sketch where nobody completely broke character.
- Not too bad, but still a pretty weak installment of Jeffrey's.
- Ferrell using a jet-pack wasn't as funny as the last time when he was on that motorcycle-scooter or whatever you call it, and crashed it into the water fountain.
- RATING: ***7/8 C+
EMMY AWARDS PRE-SHOW (6:00)
- This was hilarious. I loved all the impressions.
- I always said that if SNL ever did a "Friends" sketch nowadays, Maya should play Lisa Kudrow, and she finally does it here. She looked exactly like her.
- Yes! ever since I saw Jeff Richards' stand-up bit on Late Friday, I've been waiting for the day SNL would have him do his Gary Shandling impression, and it finally happens.
- Great to see Rachel's Calista Flockhart back.
- It was hilarious at the end when Joan Rivers (Ana) was "crying" from her forehead, then said that's where her tear ducts are now.
- RATING: ****1/2 A-
JARRET'S ROOM (6:44)
- I'll repeat myself: Hmm, this again???
- Was that Seth Meyers playing the DJ? I think it was him, but I'm not too sure.
- That pic of Kattan looked like the same picture of him from that Golden Girls sketch from last season's Lara Flynn Boyle episode.
- Without Chris Parnell, this felt like it was missing something. He was hilarious in the other two JR sketches.
- Jeff Richards was okay in the role that was basically Parnell's. I'm just glad they're giving Richards stuff to do.
- This is my favorite of all the JR sketches so far. Wow, a JR sketch that's actually good? This episode is really going well.
- RATING: ****1/4 B
WEEKEND UPDATE (8:27)
- Fav. Update Jokes: Too many to count. This seriously had a whole bunch of funny news items, but the best one was probably the
- Speaking of the Weakest Link, isn't the SNL cast going to appear on TWL soon? That'll be great to see.
- Tracy Morgan's commentary was funny as usual. At the end, didn't it look like Tracy was about to kiss Jimmy right before the camera went to Tina?
- I really like the Update segments Jimmy and Tina do, and this one had a lot of them.
- The doorbell/shark thing at the end was a surprise and a great throwback to the doorbell/shark segments from the 70's. And topped off by a great cameo by Chevy Chase.
- Spectacular Update. Just may be Jimmy and Tina's best one overall (the Update from last season's finale is probably my second favorite one).
- RATING: ***** A+
DALE McGREW'S PATRIOTIC THONG or CLASSIC WILL FERRELL SKETCH (6:53)
- Good lord! Will Ferrell just may be the funniest man alive. Not that that's anything new, but who else but him could make this funny? This was simply hilarious!
- It looked like Ferrell was going to laugh at the beginning.
- Mario, if you're ever thinking about updating your "Will Ferrell's Greatest Moments" list, this one would be a good one to add.
- RATING: ***** A+
THE 'HOW DO YOU SAY? AH YES!' SHOW (6:57)
- What the heck is this doing back? The last and only time they did these was in the 1998-99 season, and I only saw 1 of them (the one from the Lucy Lawless episode).
- I was shocked to see this back, but this sketch isn't so bad. But Kattan needs to leave if this is all he's going to do this season. What's he still doing on the show, anyway?
- Why did Horatio stop playing one of the Mexican guitarists? He's the only current Hispanic cast member, so it seemed more accurate to have him as one of the guitarists.
- RATING: **** B-
JACK HANDEY'S BIG THICK NOVEL (:41)
- This wasuminteresting. So is Jack Handey back now? Did he ever leave? Is this going to be recurring like Deep Thoughts (I loved those!)? I know, I know, so many questions
- RATING: n/a (can't really grade this, but I'd like to see more of these throughout the season)
THE APPROVAL CENTER (2:03)
- What the hell was all this about?
- RATING: ***3/8 D+
DATE WITH A PORN STAR (4:13)
- Amy Poehler in another sketch? Wow, she's being used a lot tonight. I bet "Tom Foolery" is happy about this.
- This reminded me of some sketch from the early 90's with Julia Sweeney, but this was pretty good. Amy Poehler looks like she has a lot of potential and will fit right in.
- Seth Meyers looks a lot younger in his opening montage picture than he does when he appears in sketches.
- RATING: ****3/8 B+
GOODBYES (2 seconds Wow)
- Message to NBC: Don't cut off the goodbyes right when the host is in the middle of speaking, dummies!
OVERALL - Outstanding episode! I wasn't expecting much tonight, but I was pleasantly surprised. Seann William Scott himself did a great job, too, and showed that he was having a great time. The best episode of the season so far. Excellent job! A-
FAVORITE SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: Dale McGrew
LEAST FAVORITE SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: The Approval Center
MOST BIZARRE SKETCH: Nothing really, but the Dale McGrew/Will Ferrell skit was pretty out there (but hilarious!)
CAST MEMBER COUNT DOWN
RACHEL DRATCH: 4 sketches (Law and Order, Emmy, Jarret's Room, Dale McGrew)
JIMMY FALLON: 4 sketches (Jeffrey's, Jarret's Room, Update, Antonio Banderas)
WILL FERRELL: 5 sketches (Bush, Law and Order, Jeffrey's, Emmy, Dale McGrew)
TINA FEY: 1 sketch (Aw, c'mon, you know)
ANA GASTEYER: 3 sketches (Monologue, Emmy, Approval)
DARRELL HAMMOND: 3 sketches (Law and Order, Emmy, Antonio Banderas)
CHRIS KATTAN: 4 sketches (Jeffrey's, Emmy, Antonio Banderas, Approval)
TRACY MORGAN: 4 sketches (Law and Order, Update, Approval, Date)
MAYA RUDOLPH: 3 sketches (Law and Order, Jeffrey's, Emmy)
HORATIO SANZ: 7 sketches (Monologue, Law and Order, Jeffrey's, Emmy, Jarret's Room, Dale McGrew, Approval)
DEAN EDWARDS: 0 sketches
SETH MEYERS: 3 sketches (Jarret's Room [?], Dale McGrew, Date)
AMY POEHLER: 5 sketches (Law and Order, Emmy, Dale McGrew, Antonio Banderas, Date)
JEFF RICHARDS: 2 sketches (Emmy, Jarret's Room)
The airtime between the cast members was balanced out very well tonight, although my prediction about Fallon being used a lot tonight didn't come true. Also, the usually-underused Horatio Sanz was in the lead with SEVEN sketches tonight! Featured player Amy Poehler was used a lot tonight, too, and I'm glad because she looks very funny. Now next week, let's see some more of Seth and Jeff.
Thanks for reading. I'm outta heah...