Dana Carvey / Linkin Park
February 5, 2011
RATINGS SYSTEM
***** = Excellent, a possible future classic
**** = Great
*** = Average
** = Meh
* = How'd this get past dress?
Cold Opening - Wayne’s World
• WAYNE’S WORLD!!!!!!!!! HELL YEAH!!!!!! This was an excellent surprise! Some people were wondering if they’d bring this back tonight, but I was doubtful because I didn’t expect Mike Myers to return for this, but I’m so happy that he did!
• This sketch was so much fun, and it felt like watching a late 80’s/early 90’s episode live. All the usual Wayne’s World traits were here and you could hardly tell that it’s been two decades since a Wayne’s World sketch was written on the show.
• Dana in his Garth costume still looked basically the same as back in the day, but Myers’ age was definitely physically noticeable here. Funny thing is, a few days ago I was saying to myself that Mike Myers has barely aged since his SNL years, but seeing him in his old Wayne costume tonight made me realize otherwise.
• My favorite parts of tonight’s sketch were Garth saying his age was never determined, the Mila Kunis pun, and the Who’s on First parody.
• Even the overdone Winter’s Bone joke was redeemed by Myers’ line “This joke has been done three times”. Classic Wayne’s World self-deprecating humor.
Stars: ****½
Monologue - Dana Carvey
• Dana was awesome as expected and, of course, I loved the song, especially since 86-93 is and will always be my favorite SNL era ever. Come on, you know Dana’s right; those years really WERE the best.
• Loved the Bill Hader/Rainn Wilson mix-up. I remember Bill said in an interview that Rainn is just one of the many celebrities that people on the street always confuse Bill for.
• LOVITZ!!!!! HELL YEAH!!!! Loved seeing him and Dana onstage together, and their wonderful chemistry has not changed at all.
Stars: *****
Sketch - Church Chat
• CHURCH CHAT!!!! While this was completely a given and not really a surprise like the return of Wayne’s World, I still beamed with joy when the “Church Chat” title screen showed up and Phil Hartman’s voice-over was heard. This is probably Dana’s most popular SNL character and it was interesting seeing her interview today’s celebrities.
• I couldn’t help but notice, however, that Dana’s Church Lady voice was a little off. It’s obviously been a long time since he did this character.
• Loved Church Lady’s lines about Charlie Sheen, Skins being “Sportscenter for pedophiles”, some of her lines to Snooki, and of course the usual Church Lady catchphrases.
• Unfortunately, the laughs skid to a complete halt with the unnecessary Justin Bieber cameo & all the fawning over him. Why did this sketch suddenly have to turn into that Lonely Teacher sketch with Tina Fey from last season? And when will Justin Bieber finally start puberty so he can hopefully lose his “great” singing voice and eventually outgrow his fanbase and become yesterday’s news? Does he have Gary Coleman/Emmanuel Lewis Disease or something? Is he still gonna look and sound like this when he’s in his 30’s?
Stars: ***½
Sketch - Celebrity Teen Crisis Center
• The celebrity impression showcase sketches this season have been pretty hit-and-miss, but this was one of the better ones this year has offered.
• Loved the return of Bill’s Alan Alda, Jay’s Eddie Murphy, Abby’s Anna Faris, and of course, Dana’s Mickey Rooney.
• Fred Armisen adds yet another black celebrity to his repertoire of impressions. His Ice-T actually made me laugh out loud for some reason, even if his impression wasn't the most accurate.
• Was it intentional to make Taran Killam’s character look like Paul Brittain? I’m serious, watch Taran again in this - he had the exact same hipster hair and clothes that Paul always has! The only way Taran could’ve made his Paul Brittain impression more obvious would be for him to talk in a Chicago accent and look like he weighs 70 pounds.
Stars: ***½
Commercial - The Roommate
• Okay, Bieber’s earlier appearance in Church Chat was somewhat tolerable, but enough is enough! It was bad enough when he hijacked half the sketches in Tina Fey’s episode; now we have to endure this puberty-delayed elf stealing the spotlight on Dana Carvey’s night when Bieber’s not even the musical guest?!? WTF?
• Oh, and this commercial itself was nothing special. A half-assed parody of The Roommate, and Andy was basically just playing a variation of Shy Ronnie. This could’ve been much better.
Stars: **
Weekend Update - Seth Meyers, featuring James Franco, Angela Dixon
• Best jokes: Mini Cooper tattoo
• The Winners/Losers: Egypt segment was nothing special at all. A ho-hum commentary from Seth overall, although I did like the Soundgarden/Nirvana comparison.
• When Paul showed up as James Franco, I had to laugh simply because there’s actually been a few times earlier this season where I noticed that Paul kinda resembled James Franco in certain wigs and mustaches, and I wondered before if Paul would eventually end up doing a Franco impression on the show. Looks like I’m not the only one who noticed this resemblance. Anyway, it was nice to see Paul getting some rare airtime, but this commentary was nothing really memorable or special. Nothing horrible, though, and I did laugh at the line “I’m going to Disney World!... to work at Space Mountain” - good delivery from Paul on that one. And interesting continuity by continuing the premise of him working multiple jobs throughout the rest of Update.
• Wiig’s Meteorologist/Disco Queen segment - no, just... no.
Stars: **
Sketch - Live with Regis and Kelly
• I should’ve expected this with the recent news about Regis’ retirement, but I forgot that Dana used to do an impression of him. It was nice to see it return tonight, although it felt strange to see a Regis and Kelly sketch without Darrell Hammond and Amy Poehler.
• Nasim was badly miscast as Kelly Ripa; Nasim’s voice is way too distinct to sound anything like Kelly. Nasim is a fine performer in general, but between this and her weak Christina Aguilera recently, she’s not exactly proving to be a skilled impressionist. This sounds similar to what’s happened to Bobby Moynihan this season.
• My biggest laugh came from Regis calling Howie Mandel “a seal with a soul patch”.
Stars: ***
Sketch - Beauty Pageant
• Meh. A very boring and forgettable sketch that went nowhere. Weak ending as well.
• I did find it interesting how Dana sounded like an effeminate Al Gore, but not even he could do anything for this dull sketch.
Stars: *½
Commercial - Deidra Wurtz: Downsizing Expert
• Well, after 2½ years, Abby Elliott FINALLY gets a non-impression lead role... and it completely BOMBS with the audience! Yikes. Poor Abby. Her performance was decent, but the writing of this was pretty boring and I’m not even sure what the main joke was supposed to be. It felt like they could’ve done much more with this. This had potential for some nice Tim & Eric-esque bizarre humor like the Virgania Horsen and Sex Ed Vincent pieces, but the writers didn’t give enough effort with this.
• There must’ve been time needed to fill during this point of the show, so they just quickly aired this commercial that was obviously cut from last week (come on, SNL, did you expect us NOT to notice Jesse Eisenberg clearly sitting at the table in one shot?).
• Maybe it’s because of the late 80’s nostalgia feel tonight’s episode in general has, but Abby’s voice in this commercial reminded me a lot of Victoria Jackson for some reason. Obviously not as high-pitched as Victoria’s distinctive voice, but Abby’s character had a very similar cadence to her voice and I couldn’t help but imagine Victoria playing this same character.
Stars: **
Sketch - Sports Bar
• Wow, where the hell has Jason Sudeikis BEEN tonight? I cannot believe this was his first and only appearance all night. This was common for him earlier in the season, but his airtime had thankfully increased in the last few episodes, so it’s disappointing that they’ve returned to phasing him out.
• I kinda groaned a bit when I realized this would be yet another “Fred Armisen in a singing group” sketch, a concept that I thought had already jumped the shark, but this sketch turned out to be funnier than I expected. Certainly better than the Bottle of Sparkling Apple Juice or Homeless New York singers at least. Dana Carvey’s presence definitely helped; he and Fred actually worked well together here as a duo. It made me wonder what it would’ve been like if Dana and Fred were in the cast at the same time.
• Some of Bobby’s facial reactions cracked me up, and I liked Taran’s silly dancing at the end. Jason got his usual laughs as well, with some of the things he yelled at the singers. Also, when Jason asked “Lipstick???”, why did the camera cut to a close-up of Kenan instead?
Stars: ***
_________________________________________________________
Episode Highlights:
• Monologue
• Wayne’s World
• the first half of Church Chat
• Celebrity Teen Crisis Center
Episode Lowlights:
• Justin Bieber
• The Angela Dixon commentary on Weekend Update
• Beauty Pageant
Best Performer of the Night:
• Dana Carvey
CASTMEMBER / HOST COUNT DOWN
ARMISEN: 2 sketches (Teen Crisis Center, Sports Bar)
ELLIOTT: 4 sketches (Church Chat, Teen Crisis Center, Beauty Pageant, Deidra Wurtz)
HADER: 4 sketches (Monologue, Church Chat, Teen Crisis Center, Sports Bar)
MEYERS: 1 sketch (Update)
MOYNIHAN: 3 sketches (Church Chat, Deidra Wurtz, Sports Bar)
SAMBERG: 3 sketches (Monologue, The Roommate, Beauty Pageant)
SUDEIKIS: 1 sketch (Sports Bar)
THOMPSON: 3 sketches (Teen Crisis Center, Beauty Pageant, Sports Bar)
WIIG: 6 sketches (Monologue, Teen Crisis Center, Update, Regis and Kelly, Beauty Pageant, Deidra Wurtz)
BAYER: 3 sketches (Church Chat, Beauty Pageant, Deidra Wurtz)
BRITTAIN: 4 sketches (Teen Crisis Center, Update, Deidra Wurtz, Sports Bar)
KILLAM: 4 sketches (Teen Crisis Center, Regis and Kelly, Deidra Wurtz, Sports Bar)
PEDRAD: 5 sketches (Church Chat, Teen Crisis Center, Regis and Kelly, Beauty Pageant, Deidra Wurtz)
PHAROAH: 2 sketches (Teen Crisis Center, Deidra Wurtz)
DANA CARVEY: 7 sketches (Wayne’s World, Monologue, Church Chat, Teen Crisis Center, Regis and Kelly, Beauty Pageant, Sports Bar)