Queen Latifah / Ms. Dynamite
March 8, 2003
Before I begin, I'd like to thanks to all of those who sent me e-mail answering my question about the end of the last Weekend Update.
I never thought I'd see Queen Latifah hosting SNL, mostly because they've had so few black female hosts. She's very funny and I think she'll be a good host, so I'm looking forward to this. I know Tracy will most likely be in a lot of sketches and that better make up for him only appearing in the last episode in still photos. Hopefully, Dean will actually be used a lot, too. This might even be his breakout episode, but I won't get my hopes up about this after doing so many times in the past
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(COLD OPENING) "60 Minutes Point/Counterpoint"
Highlights:
- Dan Aykroyd! I had to do a double-take when they first showed him to make sure I was seeing correctly.
- Good to see Darrell's Clinton back.
- The return of the classic "You ignorant slut" line.
Lowlights:
- Started off boring, and took a while for the laughs to start.
- I never really cared for Aykroyd's Dole impression. The voice is off and he looks nothing like him, and Norm MacDonald's was much better.
Additional Notes:
- None.
(OPENING MONTAGE)
Finally, a new Smigel cartoon!
(MONOLOGUE) Queen Latifah
Highlights:
- A very funny and clever monologue. One of the best of the season so far.
Lowlights:
- None.
Additional Notes:
- None.
(SKETCH) Baby K on BET
Highlights:
- None.
Lowlights:
- Ugh! If you read my past reviews before, you'll probably remember how much I hated this character the first time he appeared in the Eric McCormack Weekend Update. Why they brought him back again is beyond me. I agree with others that this character is too MadTV-ish (particularly that lame music video), and Jeff can be much better than this.
Additional Notes:
- None.
(NEXT EPISODE) March 15, 2003: Selma Hayek
She's a good actress and I'm interested in seeing how she'll handle sketch comedy. And thank the Lord that Christina Aguilera is only the musical guest and not doing the "double duty" job.
(SKETCH) "Live with Regis and Kelly"
Highlights:
- Good, like the Ray Liotta one, and Darrell and Amy are great as Regis and Kelly.
- As tired as I am of Kattan playing the gay role yet again, his lines and delivery were funny.
Lowlights:
- None.
Additional Notes:
- Amy's antics actually cracked Darrell up during one part. Pretty rare to see him breaking character.
(COMMERCIAL) "Who Farted?"
Highlights:
- Sophomoric but funny.
- Always nice to see the host in the pre-recorded commercials.
Lowlights:
- None.
Additional Notes:
- Weird to see Darrell playing a normal character, which he hasn't done since the Radioactive Bear sketch in the Robert DeNiro episode, I think.
(SKETCH) Where Are They Now?: The Cherylettes
Highlights:
- The interview segments were pretty funny.
Lowlights:
- Kinda weak.
Additional Notes:
- They were originally supposed to do this with Jennifer Garner, because I remember one of the clips shown in the pre-show promo for that episode was a sketch that looked like this, only with Jennifer playing Queen Latifah's part. They must've changed the script around some this time, because I can't imagine Jennifer acting like Queen Latifah's character did.
(COMMERCIAL) "I'm a Celebrity... Who Farted?!"
Highlights:
- The impressions were good.
Lowlights:
- Enough! Fart jokes are good in small doses, but don't overdo it. They should've cut the first ad out and just shown this one.
Additional Notes:
- None.
(WEEKEND UPDATE) Fallon & Fey, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Dustin Hoffman, Trevor the Broadway Guy
Highlights:
- Jimmy's stolen painting joke.
- Tina's Hooters joke.
- Horatio surprisingly kept himself contained next to Jimmy for once.
- Jeff's Dustin Hoffman was hilarious and made up for the Baby K debacle (though if I heard that someone in the current cast would do a Hoffman impression, I would expect it to be Parnell since he looks the most like him).
- Tina's Lord of the Dance joke.
- Tina's ice penis joke.
Lowlights:
- Tina's first 2 Bush jokes. Is it just me, or are her Pres. Bush jokes just NOT funny anymore?
- The Ron Jeremy/Dunkin Donuts guy comparison to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was already used on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
- Tina's Trading Cards joke.
- What was with the Broadway Guy segment? I didn't get it.
- Jimmy's Vagina Auction joke.
Additional Notes:
- The punchline of the stolen painting joke and the way Jimmy paused after it reminded me of a Norm MacDonald joke.
- Horatio as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed looked EXACTLY like his Jasper Hahn character. And when he had that card in his hand, I thought he'd be playing some Mohammed/Hahn cross-over and would do another dirty drawing.
- Tonight, the end-of-Update cameo guy, dressed up as Thomas Jefferson (?), uses Jimmy's pencil to sign a letter.
(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)
No comment.
(SKETCH) Give Up the Ham
Highlights:
- Maya and Tracy as Queen Latifah's friends. Tracy in drag is always funny.
- Forte's singing.
- Parnell's speech at the end.
Lowlights:
- None.
Additional Notes:
- If think they were trying to top that Michael Jackson in a Tree disaster as the most bizarre sketch of the season, but I enjoyed this one a lot more. Parnell's comment about the writer of the sketch being drunk HAD to have been true.
- Notice a theme in Kattan's appearances tonight? One sketch as a gay Gelman, and a woman in his two other sketches
(TV FUNHOUSE) "The X-Presidents"
Highlights:
- George and Barbera Bush in the swing.
Lowlights:
- The result wasn't as good as the usual X-Presidents cartoons. Smigel's return was a disappointment. If this was the same X-Presidents cartoon cut from the previous episode, then I can see why it was cut in the first place.
Additional Notes:
- Coincidentally, the classic SNL tonight also had an X-Presidents cartoon.
(SKETCH) Profiles in Jazz: Alberta Jones
Highlights:
- The opening comment about A&E viewers being old.
- The return of Darrell's Jack Perkins impression. He hasn't done this in a long time.
- The sexual songs were funny.
Lowlights:
- None.
Additional Notes:
- The format of this was similar to the Cherylettes sketch, with showing the biography of a singer/singing group.
(SKETCH) Walgreens -- maybe you should have gone there after all
Highlights:
- None.
Lowlights:
- Blah! This was very strange like Give Up The Ham, but at least that had Forte singing and Tracy dressed up like a woman. This had nothin'.
Additional Notes:
- None.
(MISCELLANEOUS) Horatio Sanz remembers Fred Rogers
I could tell this was going to be a serious bit as soon as Horatio walked out onto the home stage. A very nice tribute. That is all.
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Overall Highlights of Tonight's Episode:
- Queen Latifah was just as good a host as I expected.
- Dan Aykroyd's cameo appearance.
- The return of Darrell's Bill Clinton and Jack Perkins impressions.
- Monologue.
- Live with Regis and Kelly.
- Jeff's Dustin Hoffman impression.
- Profiles in Jazz.
Overall Lowlights:
- Baby K on BET.
- Overdoing the "Who Farted?" joke.
- Trevor the Broadway Guy on Weekend Update.
- TV Funhouse.
- Walgreens.
Funniest Single Moment:
- George and Barbera Bush naked in the swing.
Best Lines:
- Dan Aykroyd as Bob Dole: "Bill, you ignorant slut."
- Queen Latifah: "Have you contacted the Fresh Prince?"
Horatio Sanz as Sebastian: "Yes, but sadly, we've only heard back from DJ Jazzy Jeff. He calls a lot. I mean - a lot."
- Darrell Hammond as Regis: "Am I cute as a bug's ear, Gelman?"
Chris Kattan as Gelman: "Don't go there, Reege!"
- Tina Fey: "Thursday marks the first flight of Hooters Air -- a low-cost airline that will feature young women in hotpants and tank tops, serving snacks. And, in the event of an emergency, the women can be used as a floatation device."
- Tina Fey: "A woman has filed a $35 million lawsuit against 'Lord of the Dance' star Michael Flatley, alleging that he assaulted and raped her -- apparently without ever using his arms."
- Tina Fey: "A group of students at Harvard University caused controversy by sculpting a nine-foot penis out of ice on campus. The sculpture had to be taken down after ten Wellesley girls got their tongues stuck to it."
- Chris Parnell as Spokesperson: "Although the writer pounded this sketch out in 10 minutes while drunk off his ass, I don't think that takes away from the enduring message he brought forth tonight."
- Jim Downey as announcer: "You're watching A&E, which means you're old, or you're asleep and accidentally rolled over onto the remote control."
- Darrell Hammond as Jack Perkins: "That was Alberta Jones. Songbird... poetess... legend... old-fashioned ho bag."
CASTMEMBER COUNT DOWN
DRATCH: 4 sketches (Who Farted?; I'm a Celebrity; Give Up The Ham; Walgreens)
FALLON: 2 sketches (I'm a Celebrity; Weekend Update)
FEY: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)
HAMMOND: 5 sketches (60 Minutes Point/Counterpoint; Live with Regis and Kelly; Who Farted?; I'm a Celebrity; Profiles in Jazz)
KATTAN: 3 sketches (Live with Regis and Kelly; I'm a Celebrity; Give Up The Ham)
MORGAN: 5 sketches (Monologue; Who Farted?; Give Up The Ham; Profiles in Jazz; Walgreens)
PARNELL: 6 sketches (60 Minutes Point/Counterpoint; Live with Regis and Kelly; Who Farted?; Weekend Update; Give Up The Ham; Walgreens)
POEHLER: 4 sketches (Live with Regis and Kelly; The Cherylettes; Give Up The Ham; TV Funhouse)
RUDOLPH: 7 sketches (Monologue; Baby K on BET; Who Farted?; The Cherylettes; I'm a Celebrity; Give Up The Ham; Profiles in Jazz)
SANZ: 5 sketches (Monologue; Who Farted?; Weekend Update; Walgreens; Horatio Sanz remembers Fred Rogers)
ARMISEN: 3 sketches (Monologue; Profiles in Jazz; Walgreens)
EDWARDS: 2 sketches (Baby K on BET; Profiles in Jazz)
FORTE: 4 sketches (Monologue; Who Farted?; Give Up The Ham; Walgreens)
MEYERS: 2 sketches (Monologue; Who Farted?)
RICHARDS: 3 sketches (Baby K on BET; I'm a Celebrity; Weekend Update)
Horatio Sanz, Darrell Hammond, Maya Rudolph, and Tracy Morgan were the stars of the night. Darrell finally ends his streak with only appearing in one sketch per episode, and it's about time. My prediction about Tracy being used a lot turned out to be correct, but not my prediction about Dean; no surprise there. He got a pretty big role in Baby K, but should have been given more. When he can't even get in a lot of sketches when there's a black host, there's a problem. Parnell once again had almost more voice-over roles than actual appearances. And I already mentioned earlier the interesting "theme" with all of Kattan's appearances tonight.
Also, in the dress rehearsal promo shown before the live episode began, there was a clip of a cut sketch with Jeff as Dr. Phil and Queen Latifah as Oprah at a restaurant, and that looked interesting.
And that's all for now. Thanks for reading. AUF WIEDERSEHEN.