OVERVIEW
It probably should feel like SNL's been on a break since forever, but the 3 or 4 week break actually went by fast, and it felt a little good to get a break from SNL. The host tonight is Jonny Moseley, who I couldn't be any less excited about, considering I don't watch the Olympics, and I hate it when sports stars host. He might turn out to be a surprisingly good host, though, so I'll be open. Let's just see how many times he'll pull a Derek Jeter (play himself in a sketch).

Also, what's going on with Darrell Hammond? At first, I heard he had a heart-attack but recovered, then it was said he's just ill. And supposedly, he won't be in the show this week. I don't know what to believe, but if Darrell really is ill or had a heart-attack, I wish for the best and hope he recovers.

It seems that all of a sudden, a lot of cast members now have things holding them back from the show. Will Ferrell and his movie filming, Ana Gasteyer's pregnancy, and now whatever's happening to Darrell.

And speaking of rumors, there has been talk going around that Chris Parnell is going to show up this weekend. It doesn't say what, though, whether it's a voice in a Smigel cartoon like he did in the Christmas episode, or if he'll show up in person. There are even some rumors that he may join the cast again, since the bastard NBC exec who fired him has retired, and they'll need someone to fill in for Hammond and Ferrell's temporary leave. I miss Parnell a lot, and it would be the bomb if he re-joined the cast again. If Parnell really does come on, will they just have him come on out of the blue and surprise everyone, or will they list him as something like a "Special Guest Cast Member" in the opening credits? I don't want to get my hopes up, but whether it be a voice-over cameo or whatever, I'm looking forward to this.

Wow, I surprisingly had a lot to talk about in my overview. I usually don't have anything to say there, so let's just git stahted awreddy:

 

(11:30) COLD OPENING: A Message from President Dubya
- I'm getting tired of these solo Dubya openings. All of them feel the same. But Ferrell's Dubya impression is still great.
- Nothing to say about this. Standard Dubya opening.
RATING: 3/5

 

(11:34) OPENING MONTAGE:
- YESSS!!!! Chris Parnell's is back, and he's back in the opening montage! AWESOME!!!
- Whoa, where was Don Pardo? That wasn't even his voice, it was obviously an impersonator. Maybe he was sick, and somebody had to fill in for his voice, like Darrell Hammond did for the James Van Der Beek episode, and Chris Parnell did in the Alan Cumming episode.
- No Smigel cartoon? It's been a while since the last one. He usually doesn't go this long without having another TV Funhouse.

 

(11:36) MONOLOGUE: Jonny Moseley
- Jonny's entrance on the ski slope was pretty clever. That reminds me of when Brendan Fraser first hosted, and he entered the stage by swinging on a rope.
- He seems pretty calm and composed for a host.
- The video clips were funny.
RATING: 4/5

 

(11:41) SKETCH: The Boston Teens on a Ski-Lift
- These characters need to appear more often. They're one of SNL's more popular recurring sketches, yet they're only on about twice a year.
- The ski-lift setting was a nice change of pace for this sketch.
- Rachel's beard was really funny.
- The usual good Boston Teens sketch, though Horatio's character needs to appear in these sketches more often. His line at the end and the way he said it was hilarious.
RATING: 3/5

 

(11:46) SKETCH: The O'Reilly Factor
- It's good to see Jeff Richards starring in a sketch. I have heard about this show, but I've never seen it and haven't seen who Jeff was impersonating, but knowing Jeff I'm sure it was a good impression.
- A very funny sketch. This reminded me a lot of the Hardball with Chris Matthews sketches from last season.
- Parnell was pretty good in his first role back.
RATING: 4/5

 

(11:51) NEXT WEEK: JON STEWART / INDIA.ARIE
YES! I've always said Jon Stewart should host SNL. He's hilarious on "The Daily Show", and he should be great on SNL next week. Maybe they'll let him do Weekend Update. If not, he should at least be a correspondent. This is gonna rule!

 

(11:55) SKETCH: DisMissed
- A good slam on that lame MTV show.
- Amy was hilarious as the girl with one-leg, and did a very good job.
- Jonny's a lucky bastard for getting to kiss Maya like that. A lucky, lucky bastard...
RATING: 4/5

 

(12:02) SKETCH: Jonny's Ski Journey
- This sketch was silly as hell, but hilarious.
- I kept cracking up whenever they would show that shot of the miniature doll of Jonny spinning across the fake cities and map.
- Ferrell looked a lot like Dubya.
- So far, the lucky bastard... uh, I mean Jonny has only played himself in one sketch. He's doing good so far.
RATING: 5/5

 

(12:10) WEEKEND UPDATE: Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
- Tina cut her hair really short.
- Despite a lot of great jokes as usual, the audience was pretty dead tonight, I didn't even hear a laugh after Jimmy's cross-country skiing joke.
- Tina's analysis of the Clinton administration was hilarious.
- Ferrell and Amy's Canadian skaters bit was pretty good, I wonder what a lot of the other reviewers thought of that bit since just about 80% of SNL reviewers are mounties... er, Canadian.
- Kattan's bit was just horrible and irritating. At least in his other random Update bits, it's just a 10 second walk-on, but this went on way too long and stupid.
- The pie thing at the end was funny.
RATING: 4/5

 

(12:21) MUSICAL GUEST: Outkast
- It looked like Jonny missed his cue at the beginning.

 

(12:28) SKETCH: Game Show Network presents: Super Buzzers
- Again, that was not Don Pardo's voice.
- My first laugh in this sketch came from that weird looking microphone Parnell was holding. It looked like an antenna.
- About time SNL does another game show parody other than Jeopardy. I think the last one done was "Let's Make it Happen" from the Jennifer Love Hewitt episode way back in 1998. SNL's has had a lot of classic game show parodies from the past (Old French Whore, Stand Up and Win, Comedy Killers, Food Sex or Cars).
- A lot of the impressions were really funny, especially Maya as Charro and Ferrell.
- I kept expecting Alec Baldwin as Charles Nelson Reilly to show up any minute, but instead, we got Rip Taylor.
- Cool to see Tina in another sketch. In fact, almost the entire cast was in this sketch except for Jeff and Darrell, which is strange, since they're the two best impressionists of the whole cast.
RATING: 4.5/5

 

(12:39) SKETCH: Typhoid Mary
- I'm not surprised that Ana's making few appearances now because of her pregnancy, but she was really good in this sketch even in her limited time. 
RATING: 3.5/5

 

(12:44) MISCELLANEOUS: My Big Thick Novel by Jack Handey
- Ugh!

 

(12:46) MUSICAL GUEST: Outkast

 

(12:52) SKETCH: Bro's prepare the bro for his wedding
- Seth looked like his Jonathan Feinstein character with those glasses.
- Eh, not much to say about this. Typical last sketch of the night. The only funny part in this sketch was Parnell's part at the end on the skis.
- Amy sure has been in a lot of sketches tonight.
RATING: 1/5

 

(12:58) MISCELLANEOUS: My Big Thick Novel by Jack Handey
- What the fuck??? Enough already!!!

 

(12:59) GOODBYES
I didn't see Chris Parnell on stage anywhere, but the goodbyes got cut off pretty early so maybe he was somewhere in the back. And Rip Taylor always throws confetti in the air during the goodbyes whenever he's on. He also did it during the 1994-95 Roseanne episode.

 

CONCLUSION: I can't believe how great this show was, with Jonny Moseley hosting. Almost every sketch was great except for the last one, and this show featured lots of Parnell, which is great in my books. Jonny Moseley did a surprisingly very good job for a sports star, and was a hell of a lot better than Derek Jeter. One of the better shows of the season.  Overall Rating: 4.5/5

 

BEST SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: Jonny's Ski Journey; Super Buzzers
WORST SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: Bro's prepare the bro for his wedding
MOST BIZARRE SKETCH: Jonny's Ski Journey
BLOOPERS: Jonny broke character at one part of the Ski Journey sketch; Jonny missed his cue on when to introduce Outkast's first musical performance
NUMBER OF TIMES JONNY MOSELEY PULLED A JETER: 1 (wow, that's it???)
SKETCHES THAT'LL PROBABLY BE CUT ON COMEDY CENTRAL: Bro's; The O'Reilly Factor; Typhoid Mary

 

CAST MEMBER COUNT DOWN

RACHEL DRATCH: 2 sketches (Boston Teens, Super Buzzers)
JIMMY FALLON: 5 sketches (Boston Teens, Jonny's Ski Journey, Weekend Update, Super Buzzers, Bro's Wedding)
WILL FERRELL: 4 sketches (Dubya opening, Jonny's Ski Journey, Weekend Update, Super Buzzers)
TINA FEY: 2 sketches (Weekend Update, Super Buzzers)
ANA GASTEYER: 2 sketches (Super Buzzers, Typhoid Mary)
DARRELL HAMMOND: 0 sketches
CHRIS KATTAN: 4 sketches (Jonny's Ski Journey, Weekend Update, Super Buzzers, Typhoid Mary)
TRACY MORGAN: 2 sketches (Jonny's Ski Journey, Super Buzzers)
CHRIS PARNELL: 5 sketches (The O'Reilly Factor, Jonny's Ski Journey, Super Buzzers, Typhoid Mary, Bro's Wedding)
AMY POEHLER: 5 sketches (The O'Reilly Factor, DisMissed, Weekend Update, Super Buzzers, Bro's Wedding)
MAYA RUDOLPH: 3 sketches (DisMissed, Jonny's Ski Journey, Super Buzzers)
HORATIO SANZ: 3 sketches (Boston Teens, Jonny's Ski Journey, Super Buzzers)
DEAN EDWARDS: 1 sketch (Super Buzzers)
SETH MEYERS: 4 sketches (Jonny's Ski Journey, Super Buzzers, Typhoid Mary, Bro's Wedding)
JEFF RICHARDS: 3 sketches (The O'Reilly Factor, Jonny's Ski Journey, Bro's Wedding)

Stars of the night were Chris Parnell and Amy Poehler. Parnell was used very well tonight and it was more than excellent to see him back. I really hope they let him stay on as a permanent cast member. Seeing as how he was put back in the opening credits, I think that's a sign they will let him stay, plus they'll really need him now that Ferrell will be gone for the next two shows.

It looks like Darrell really is ill, since he wasn't in the show at all tonight. And Rachel Dratch gets underused yet again. I loved Rachel in her first season, and had lots of hope for her, but she hasn't been used much ever since then.

In the dress rehearsal clips promo shown on NBC before this episode came on, one of the clips had Jeff Richards as Drunk Girl talking to Jonny Moseley, and that ended up being cut. Damn, I wish that was shown tonight, Drunk Girl was hilarious last time on Update.

And that's all for my review. Until next time, I'm outta heah...

Back to Season 27 (2001-02)