'Wasn't That Special' Season 35 Bonus Materials
As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.
But for those of you who join at the Executive Producer level, you will have access to Christian and Scot’s behind-the-scenes notes, as well as bonus materials the co-hosts used to prepare for the episode.
Please enjoy a free edition of the Season Thirty-Five bonus notes section, with the clips coming soon.
Help keep the podcast advertisement-free and upgrade to the Executive Producer level, which will keep these emails coming in the future!
Episode One: Megan Fox
Christian: Seth Meyers hugs new cast member Jenny Slate during goodnights after she accidentally dropped the f-bomb on the air. She had to just be destroyed by screwing up so massively. Fox was a better host than I expected, a fine season debut. The show should know by now that if you have a sketch that has a lot of fake swearing, someone is going to screw up - see the Paul Shaffer bit back in Season 5.
Scot: Where the hell was Sudeikis? - No fireworks at all to start the season. Except the "f" word, I guess.
Stewardesses’ (Wiig and Fox) increasingly-dire announcements induce panic
Christian: Strong Wiig performance and Fox isn't bad!
Scot: Yeah, pulled forward due to both performances.
Biker Chick Chat - tough broad Dawn (Slate) expresses strong emotions With guest Wiig
Christian: Jenny Slate's first role and she says "fuckin'" on the air. A suboptimal start.
Scot: Imagine saying "fuckin'" and then having to say "friggin'" 82 more times before the sketch is over - Also, first instance of a totally fake cigarette in use?
Your Mom Talks To Megan Fox While You Get Ready - host’s friend’s mom (Wiig) engages her in small talk while folding laundry
Christian: Gets almost zero response from the audience, but I liked it. Almost like a "life lessons for Lindsay Lohan" feel to it.
Scot: I actually liked this an awful lot. Would've been an excellent Jan Hooks role.
Episode Two: Ryan Reynolds
Christian: Almost no Forte, Hader and Wiig only in bit roles. Not the recipe for success.
Scot: Where the hell was Forte?
Celebrity Family Feud - the Osmonds versus the Phillipses
Christian: A contrast piece - Mormons versus hippies.
Scot: There was enough to get to average. Not much of an ending, though.
Weekend Update - Chicago doesn't get the Olympics, Letterman blackmailed - Hammond as Schwarzenegger - Kenan as Charles Barkley - "Eeyore finally did it" - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Armisen) and wife (Pedrad) visit New York
Christian: Pedrad does a great job in her speaking debut. She's a talent.
Scot: Hammond is back already? For not one of his good impressions? - Eeyore joke is good.
International Masterworks - foreign actors do American accents
Christian: A single joke, although it's amusing listening to them sound like the Festrunk Brothers.
Lady Gaga - Medley of "Bad Romance", "LoveGame" and "Poker Face"
Christian: Incredibly self-indulgent but this woman has stones the size of Jupiter.
Episode Three: Drew Barrymore
Scot: Look at Forte still in character in the Goodbyes - Barrymore was pleasant and engaged but nothing really special.
Obama press conference - wins the Nobel Prize
Christian: Armisen not even attempting an impression.
Gilly - Barrymore is Gilly-like exchange student
Christian: Same. Sketch. Every. Time. Recurring rule #1: Make another character just like the recurring one (usually with the host.) It’s the Duplication Theory.
Scot: I've noticed this before, but Elliott unfortunately has "Melanie Hutsell Face" when she mugs.
Vinny Vedecci - Barrymore is guest
Christian: All the same beats.
Scot: Barrymore doesn't speak Italian! - Vinny’s cigarette is clearly fake, but the ashtray still is smoking.
Sudeikis (Pete Twinkle) and Forte (Greg Stink) commentate women's pool championship, Tampax is sponsor
Christian: Wiig as "Greta Milwaukee."
Scot: An example of something with a lot of winning ingredients but with no idea how to put them together.
Cooking with Fran and Phil - cooking al fresco, attacked by birds
Christian: Not great, but the birds dipping their bread in the sauce made me laugh. I enjoy any and all animal puppetry on SNL.
Scot: Moynihan's Guy Fieri impression is good - Tries for a manic energy that is just past its grasp.
Larry King (Armisen) Live - too many sex scandals
Christian: The whole premise is saying the word "wiener"
Scot: Totally dumb.
Episode Four: Gerard Butler
Christian: Some really acrid stuff in here, floated by a classic. You can see the difference between a low-level cast member and an all-timer in the What Up WIth That conversation between Elliott and Kenan - she is glued to the cue cards while he freestyles.
The Rock Obama, Pt. 2: Republicans won't pass health care
Christian: Absolutely nothing here that we haven't seen. Part of the real challenge of political sketches is the clumsy exposition needed for people to know who the politicians are.
Scot: Almost 8 minutes to say nothing at all.
Game Time With Randy and Greg - Butler is guest
Christian: Another great Hader performance, but not much past that.
Beauty and the Beast - Beast (Butler) wants Beauty (Wiig) to transition, thinks he's actually the Beauty
Christian: Hader as Lumiere: "Once in college, I dated a menorah."
Scot: Highlight of the season so far. Begins with such a simple conceit and builds.
300 - Army has "don't ask, don't tell" policy
Christian: The most obvious take on this possible.
What Up With That? Butler is "The Sexocutioner," White Pete
Christian: It's all just so silly and random. The natural conclusion of all the previous "a guy won't stop singing" sketches. Saiorse Ronan is in the audience.
Scot: Fun and great build but didn't have the huge laughs to get me to "5" grade.
Daveheart - William Wallace's younger brother, Scotland's biggest coward
Christian: You see, it's the opposite of Braveheart.
Episode Five: Taylor Swift
Christian: Swift isn't exactly a skilled comic performer, but she has her moments and this is a really good episode.
Scot: Light Forte once again. I thought it struggled down the stretch.
Election night on Fox News with Greta Van Susteren (Wiig) - Brit Hume, Shepard Smith, Karl Rove, Juan Williams, Joe Trippi, Glenn Beck are there
Christian: A bunch of this stuff dies - I doubt the SNL audience has done a lot of Fox News watching.
Scot: Pretty good stuff, though. Hader's Shep Smith is solid. Like Greta's mouth moving left-to-right at the end.
You'll never guess - Swift sings a Monologue Song (La La La)
Christian: She seems legitimately nervous - maybe the last time in her life?
Swift is a guest on Hollywood Dish - Hosts (Hader and Wiig) make faces while she talks
Christian: Hader's spit-take is great.
Scared Straight - Kenan and Swift. Hader loses it.
Christian: More duplication theory: You always have to make a copy of the recurring character.
Scot: Swift has been solid all night but I really don't like her in this one.
Episode Six: January Jones
Christian: Feels like when there's a bad host, the writers just take out the trash and unload a bunch of the weaker sketches they've been hanging on to. Why waste a great sketch on January Jones?
Scot: Just the kind of episode the show basically has avoided for the past few seasons - bad host, bad writing, too many recurring characters.
Biden (Sudeikis) in one: Trying to get health care passed while Obama is on a foreign trip
Christian: Nothing really rises above the level of an average Weekend Update joke.
Today Show - Jenny Slate takes over as Hoda Kotb.
Christian: This one is a real dog.
Scot: Jones: "What camera?" What are you doing, dear?
Michelle Dison (Wiig) interviews hot DQ employee (Jones), falls in love
Christian: Wiig is good, but with the surprise twist gone, these aren't much.
Scot: First time since S32 - It now just seems halting and without any flow.
Film - tips for housewives in the 1950s
Christian: Offensive and pretty good.
Jekyll and Hyde - Hader explains that when he turns into Hyde, he has sex with men
Scot: Nope nope nope nope nope.
Digital Short - Armisen keeps walking in on Samberg on the toilet
Christian: So stupid. I LOVED it.
Sudeikis and Jones laying down after a picnic, she doesn't know anything about modern culture
Christian: Jones does what should be a Wiig character.
Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow"
Christian: My God this is horrid.
Scot: But why?
Episode Seven: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Christian: Perfectly good episode weighed down by a couple dogs. Levitt was least believable when he was playing the role of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Scot: Eh. Didn't really like JGL as a host. Some unrealized ideas scattered throughout.
Obama and Chinese president Jintao (Forte) who speaks through interpreter (Pedrad), berates Obama for the U.S. owing China money
Christian: At least there's an acknowledgment Obamacare wouldn't save money. Evil guy as cool guy. There's a conservative point in here - why do all of Obama's plans to save money involve spending more money? Again, an Obama sketch is about the other person, not him.
Levitt recreates Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh"
Christian: Yeah, it's a song, but Levitt’s dancing is actually super-impressive.
Trailer: Disaster movie predicts Sarah Palin is elected president in 2012
Christian: This is how we got Trump.
Scot: This has the feel of that Biden ad they did a few years ago. The horror film trailer? But that one was better.
Secret Word (1965): Hader hosts show - Levitt plays Latino singer, Wiig is Mindy Grayson, actress
Christian: Boy, these game show contestants are dumb!
Scot: It's a dog, dawg.
What Up With That - Al Gore, Mindy Kaling, Lindsey Buckingham - Levitt as Klaus Future
Christian: It is fun watching other people have fun.
Scot: Not sure if it's because I know now the "format," but I like this one even better than the first.
Angry Thanksgiving dinner
Christian: We've done this.
Scot: I can't hear silverware banging onto plates without hearing "I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS" in my head.
Woman to Woman - show producer (Armisen) is a dirtbag answering lady questions
Christian: Kind of the Hulk Hogan Talk Show redux.
Scot: Wasn't that Gilda/Jane thing from long ago called "Woman to Woman?"
Sudeikis interrupts Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything as he holds the boom box over his head
Scot: Gotta talk about what a "Sudeikis piece" is because this is a great example. Kinda puncturing an obvious ridiculous thing/moment.
Episode Eight: Blake Lively
Christian: This one is all over the board - careening between classics and clangers. Lively is sporadically very good, but the women have disappeared.
Scot: Wiig just hasn't had many moments at all this season.
Obama (Armisen) gives speech in Pennsylvania, White House crashers (Moynihan and Wiig) show up
Christian: Do I need to say it again? Sketch is about everything but Obama.
Scot: Now we can't escape this guy, I guess. - Man, the Salahis. That's a blast from the past.
Lively hit on by the Swedish Chef (Samberg)
Christian: I still have no idea who Blake Lively is or why she is famous, other than she is married to Ryan Reynolds.
CNN: Tiger Woods (Kenan) addresses scandal, wife Elin (Lively) keeps threatening him
Christian: Strong, especially given its timeliness.
Scot: Fine execution of the escalation principle.
Kickspit Underground Festival - Sudeikis and Pedrad list band names
Christian: This is certainly the predecessor to Stefon - this concert has everything! I 100% guarantee this is a Mulaney.
Scot: Enjoyed this more than I should have. Just the band names/logos got me going.
Late Night with Chris Hansen - Philip Seymour Hoffman (Sudeikis), Keanu Reeves (Samberg) and Cher (Lively) are guests
Christian: Yikes.
Scot: Oh, no. You're wrong about this one. Did you watch those Hansen shows? It's a great impression.
Episode Nine: Taylor Lautner
Christian: Forte and Samberg are mostly absent, Hader only gets bit parts and the host is a dud. Pretty weak all around.
Scot: Is this worse than January Jones? Probably.
John Edwards (Forte), John Ensign (Hader) and Mark Sanford (Sudeikis) complain Tiger Woods coverage is taking away coverage of their affairs.
Christian: The premise is way off. Why would these guys want more coverage of their affairs?
Scot: Nonsensical, as you mention. It's an anti-Downey. Thinking it's smart but actually having no real point.
Hader films football players doing their motion intros
Christian: Taylor Lautner makes Taylor Swift look like Taylor Tomlinson.
Bon Jovi, "Superman Tonight"
Christian: Bon Jovi? Dave Matthews? U2? Lorne seems to hang on to acts far past their sell-by date.
Lautner and Slate can't be lab partners because they are competing Twilight fans
Christian: Some decent meta stuff in here, but not much in the way of jokes.
Scot: Was every writer busy doing Xmas shopping this week?
Slate as Tina Tina Chanuse, spokeswoman for new doorbells
Christian: Slate's first pop.
Episode Ten: James Franco
Christian: Are we sure Franco is a good host? He's so wooden and one-note.
Scot: Stabilized by the end but some dreck near the start - Hard for anyone to seemingly get traction. It really feels like a grind week-in and week-out. Not as loose and free and the past couple years.
What Up With That Holiday Show - Mike Tyson, Jack McBrayer, Lindsey Buckingham
Christian: Much like "Brian Fellow," Kenan appears to be confused about the name of the show. It's not "what's."
Scot: Not sure if adding the new singing characters was a plus.
Digital Short - Tizzle Wizzle Show
Christian: Oh man, no.
WU - Snooki (Moynihan) talks Jersey Shore - Hader as The Situation - Google challenges iPhone - Garth and Kat debut (Armisen and Wiig)
Christian: Jokes are flat and Garth and Kat is going to drive me crazy eventually. But I'll give them a good score once. Just goes to show the malleability of time in your brain - Jersey Shore feels like it happened 30 years ago and the Balloon Boy story feels like it happened five years ago.
Scot: I covered that Thomson prison story very closely - Garth and Kat is a one-time good idea.
Carl and Jerry are back, Carol continues to hold his calls.
Scot: Fart Face guys!
Mark Wahlberg Talks to Christmas Animals
Scot: OK, it's a good impression. Can't take that away from Samberg.
Episode Eleven: Charles Barkley
David Petraeus (Forte) press conference with Yemeni leader Saleh(Armisen)
Scot: There's no concept of pushing it past the original idea.
Reel Quotes Game Show (Hader hosts) - Barkley and Wiig can't name famous movie quotes
Scot: Boy, these contestants are dumb.
MacGruber is woke now
Christian: Three great installments.
Scot: I loved this. Loved all three. Great, great, great.
Barkley's Bank - you'll either double it or lose it all.
Christian: Cut off in the middle for time.
Scot: I guess? We miss a lot.
Episode Twelve: Sigourney Weaver
Scot: Gotta say, I'm not seeing what you're seeing in Pedrad. She's ... fine? Is she better than Casey Wilson?
Larry King Live (Armisen) interviews Jay Leno (Hammond) and Conan O'Brien (Hader), Sudeikis joins as Letterman
Christian: Hammond's Leno is good, but everything else is mailed in here. No laughs. But a Twitter reference!
Scot: Armisen Trend: Impressions and characters get worse and worse. He begins to overplay everything, neutering strengths.
Twinkle and Stink announce women's darts
Christian: Some Norm-style staring down the camera in these.
Scot: These were my favorite sponsor reads, I think.
Avatar - Hader goes to the planet for science, has sex.
Christian: I've never seen a second of any Avatar movie, but Hader's tiny legs are funny.
Scot: That was a fast one.
Riley (Armisen) - sassy new kid at school says "bitch" at dinner a lot.
Christian: Good God, this is terrible.
Scot: Take this out back and shoot it.
Fire and Rice - Weaver and Moynihan are singing lounge act.
Christian: Weaver was 60 years old here.
Scot: Boy, Moynihan's been quiet recently, no?
Episode Thirteen: Jon Hamm
Christian: Armisen should maybe sit a few plays out when it comes to new characters. They are weighing down otherwise pretty good episodes.
President Obama (Armisen) gives State of the Union - Ridicules Martha Coakley, says White House was a mess when he moved in, lists jobs that are available.
Christian: Seven minutes.
Scot: Hinsdale, IL mention! A very wealthy community.
Hamm talks about some of his earlier roles (as if he were Don Draper)
Christian: Nice callback to the Martin Lawrence episode - "they need to wash they ass."
Scot: Kinda limp, but the "wash they ass" throwback makes it worthwhile.
Dinner party - Lillian (Wiig) wants to sing, keeps saying "don't make me sing," keeps missing her mark to sing.
Scot: What's up with Wiig? When was her last good character? Why is she struggling? Can she just play someone kind of normal for a change?
Democrats meet in Harry Reid's office, meet new Sen. Scott Brown - Boxer (Pedrad) and Pelosi (Wiig) fall in love with him.
Christian: The Barney Frank turn was predictable, but the Robert Byrd one was funny.
Scot: Mango, but what if it were political?
Gametime with Randy and Greg - Greg attacks Colts QB coach Frank Reich (Hamm)
Christian: Duplication theory.
Scot: It's OK. Falconer is the superior multiple character copy sketch.
Armisen is a loud court stenographer using a typewriter
Christian: It's just someone being annoying without any theme or point.
Scot: Armisen in drag, with a bad voice, and an annoying character trait. Three strikes. - "I can't find my crackers" is this year's catchphrase?
Forte and Hamm in a bar - meta callback to an earlier sketch.
Scot: Funny and big credit for the concept.
Episode Fourteen: Ashton Kutcher
Christian: Perfectly average, nothing rising above mediocre. Is Jenny Slate still alive?
Will reading - dead woman's pool boy (Kutcher) is there - he gets nothing but STDs
Christian: Racist-sounding STDs made me laugh.
Scot: What a solid, well-written sketch. Good Hader role.
The View - Mel Gibson (Kutcher) visits
Christian: Just wasting time at this point.
Scot: This is pretty bad but I think Kenan keeps it from the bottom.
Game show: What is "Burn Notice?"
Christian: Entering the age of culture fracturing, where a top-rated show can be watched by almost nobody.
Scot: I completely relate. Probably saw 6000 commercials for this show back then and couldn't tell you a single thing about it. This was completely unexpectedly great.
Episode Fifteen: Jennifer Lopez
Christian: A really good episode! Strong writing throughout, even with five recurring characters. They basically rewrote E9 with Kenan’s sexy narrator and Tina Tina Chanuse returning.
Scot: Writing particularly sharp here. Rounding into shape after an uneven stretch from the Writers Room.
We Are the World 3: Tribute for the We Are the World 2 Disaster
Christian: Most of the impressions are half-assed (Forte's Willie Nelson isn't even close), but it's a great premise and they are having fun.
Scot: RIP, Quincy Jones. - Sudeikis as Adam Lambert is crazy casting.
Twinkle and Stink - Ladies curling
Christian: So wrong and yet so right.
Scot: The vaGINEal/VAGinal joke is hilarious and possibly ad-libbed? "Must be a regional thing."
Digital Short - flags of the world
Christian: Had no memory of this at all. Made for alliteration fans.
Scot: Quite good and rewards repeated viewings.
Besos y Lagrimas - Armisen and a nun (J-Lo) are in love.
Christian: Laughed the whole way through, but it didn't need the second act.
Scot: The whole way through? The whole way through??
Pedrad is a little girl scared that Smash Mouth is in her closet
Christian: Strong commitment to randomness.
Scot: This is fun. Fun is good. - Had to be way ahead of the curve on the whole Smash Mouth thing?
Tina Tina Chaneuse sells custom car horns
Scot: I don't *love* this but understand why it works.
Episode Sixteen: Zach Galifianakis
Christian: Two strong episodes in a row. We are on a roll. Barely any Samberg, though.
Scot: Good energy here throughout. Outside of the Vogelchecks, pretty much everything worked.
Obama (Armisen) press conference on health care reform
Christian: Forte flubs line, Wiig tries to bail him out. Obama's prediction was dead wrong - Democrats were slaughtered in the 2010 elections. Harry Reid would have lost if Republicans hadn't run the lunatic Sharron Angle against him.
Scot: Prescient: "I am really, really popular. You'll see what I mean in 2012." - There's a thread here of truth; Obama could help Obama but really no one else on the D side of the ticket.
Galifianakis does a little standup, then a bit from his act at the piano
Christian: Best monologue since Tina Fey last year.
Scot: Had never seen his act, so didn't know what to expect. - “Just give me Wolf Blitzer at Burning Man."
Vogelchecks at a funeral
Christian: It's. Kissing. Men.
Scot: Hard pass.
ZG and Wiig look at hotel room, ask questions about bidet
Christian: Fine escalation.
Today Show - Hoda gets a boyfriend
Christian: I actually laughed numerous times.
Scot: You *can* teach an old dog new tricks. Galifianakis seems to have perked everything up.
What Up With That - Paul Rudd, Frank Rich, Lindsey Buckingham - Galifianakis is an ambidextrous flute player
Christian: Sudeikis and Rudd onstage together, went to the same high school. These are literally music - you can enjoy them over and over with only tiny modifications (mainly because it's based on a great song.)
Scot: Sudeikis is the secret MVP of these.
Pageant Talk - ZG does his effeminate man schtick after shaving his beard
Christian: Lot of breaking happening here.
Episode Seventeen: Jude Law
Christian: Strong episode going until it petered out at the end. Barely any Sudeikis or Forte.
Scot: I've got it more like barely average. Hard to believe they can't find more for Forte to do.
Law discusses his typical night playing Hamlet
Christian: Is it funny? No. Is it well performed? Yes - the guy has been doing theater for months.
Scot: The monologue version of Timberlake's speedy-SNL recap from WU.
Secret Word - Wiig comes back and Mindy Grayson, Law is Russian ballet dancer
Christian: They add just enough in here with Law's character, plus Wiig describing some of her past roles is pretty funny.
Scot: These have been dogs.
Digital Short - Boom Box with Julian Casablancas
Christian: Not the strongest effort, but it's a decent song.
The Twilight Zone - Man (Law) sees a creature on the wing of his plane (Moynihan)
Christian: Really liked this, especially the cameo near the end.
Hamlet try-outs - Pacino (Hader), Nathan Lane (Moynihan), Nic Cage (Samberg), Sam Elliott (Sudeikis)
Christian: Just emptying the tank on impressions here. The SNL Chekov's Window rule - if there is a window in a sketch, someone is going through it.
Armisen's loud court reporter returns.
Christian: We had a strong episode going, then...this.
Scot: You take "I can't find my chapstick." I'll take crackers.
Talk Show with Ravish (Pedrad) - teen boy gets his own talk show
Christian: Was rooting hard for this, but it just fell short.
Episode Eighteen: Tina Fey
Christian: Another great Fey show - maybe she does know what she's doing? Samberg is missing in so many episodes.
Scot: More consistently good than anything else - Has Fey actually generated more post-cast member laughs than laughs as a cast member?
Obama (Armisen) in one: Urges people to fill out Census
Scot: That's as good of an Obama sketch as we've gotten.
Duncan Hines Brownie Husband
Christian: Fey’s look of surprise when he touches her boob is perfect.
Sarah Palin Network - Rolls out shows
Christian: It seems like it's impossible for these things not to be great.
Fey falls in love with her student, Justin Bieber (the real one), who sings to her
Christian: Maybe a little long, but worth it.
Scot: Paula Pell wrote it.
Ruff, Rugged, and Roker - Al Roker (Kenan) hosts a show in the club with ladies like Deena Lohan (Fey)
Christian: Basically a copy of the Bryant Gumbel sketch they did with David Alan Grier? "Does the IRS work 24 hours? Because I would tax that ass all night!"
Pedrad is a nerd who hangs out with her mom at a school dance
Christian: Pedrad is really good, but there are strong Cheri Oteri vibes with this character. I mean that in a good way.
Fey is a 9-inch tall prostitute in a bar talking to Sudeikis and Kenan
Christian: It's a little slice-of-life thing that isn't really funny, but worthwhile.
Scot: Odd to end on essentially two slice-of-life sketches.
Episode Nineteen: Ryan Phillippe
Christian: Of the 12 bits we graded on this episode, 9 were recurring. That puts a cap on how good an episode can be.
Scot: WU is in a competency loop. Rarely fantastic, rarely awful. Jokes come quick so you don't have time to linger on the bad ones.
Mort Mort Feingold (Samberg) - Celebrity Accountant - Kate Gosselin (Wiig), Tyler Perry (Kenan), John Edwards (Forte), Sean White (Elliott), Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Mel Gibson (Sudeikis), Susan Boyle (Moynihan)
Christian: Nothing but impressions here.
Scot: I liked the quick hit format which means no one outstayed their welcome.
Singing buddies are back
Christian: Haven't they used the "if she ever wakes up" joke before? Pretty weak effort.
Scot: Bill's story the rare one that didn't time out quite right - Rough edges all around.
Teen Talk - Armisen in the guest chair
Scot: Armisen with the rare non-cratering character.
Episode Twenty: Gabourey Sidibe
Scot: Sidibe was likable but not a good fit and rough in many of her sketches.
Obama in one - tries to convince banks to reform, they say no, restaurant where they met was incredible
Scot: You see the obvious absolute difference here with HW Bush and Obama here. Carvey made the bland HW a character. Obama is a blank slate, by writer admission! They could have done anything with him! Instead we get this limp, kinda attached to the news, no personality, crap sandwich.
Sidibe says she's not precious, sings a song about it
Christian: She says she didn't need a college degree because she's famous now. I have some bad news for her from the future.
Sidibe yells at Kenan and Armisen for talking too loud on her stoop - she offers good advice
Christian: "My daddy used to sell Wikipedias - that's why we were always so poor."
Scot: Sidibe is stumbly all night.
Armisen as Danish Frank Sinatra, "I Did it in My Style"
Christian: Big Armisen night tonight, and that's not necessarily a bonus.
Scot: Another in a series of Fred doing Nordic accents.
WU - Arizona passes "show me your papers" law - Judy Grimes on Iceland - Stefon on WU debuts - John Mulaney desk piece on Girl Scout cookies
Christian: Mulaney's bit could have been straight from a Seinfeld set. Hader already breaking doing Stefon and it only gets worse from here.
Scot: Clapter joke on "show me your papers" - crowd has trained itself not to laugh in the middle of Grimes or they miss a joke.
2010 Public Employee of the Year Awards
Christian: Going after public employee unions? Another big night for conservatism.
Hamilton Whiteman (Forte) begs Sidibe to come back to him
Christian: Can you imagine the best character on the show being an inveterate racist these days? I laughed the entire sketch.
Episode Twenty One: Betty White
Christian: All hands on deck for a classic. This is the 35th Anniversary show that never happened and highlights the lack of female talent on the current show.
Scot: So is this the true beginning of inviting ringers back for key episodes?
Delicious Dish - Gasteyer and Shannon return - White guests, selling her dusty muffin
Christian: Is it an old woman being dirty? Yes. But it's funny.
Scot: It is tougher than you might think to eat, talk, and not break.
Manuel Ortiz Show
Christian: The best recurring character of the past couple years just might be any time Forte has a mustache. At least there are some jokes in this version, I like the vibe.
Scot: Not a fan.
Little Women - Poehler is a lesbian
Christian: Would there have been a football team in the Civil War era? Also, lesbians have often argued Jo March from Little Women was an honorary member of the tribe. They didn't have to create a new one!
Scot: Abby, Jenny, Nasim ... feel free to take the week off. Explore New York. We'll be fine.
Scared Straight - White joins Kenan
Christian: Moynihan just hands Kenan his shoe, a nod to the fact that the same thing happens every time.
Scot: This was pretty good, better than many of these.
CSI: Sarasota - White teams up with Abe Scheinwald (Dratch) to solve crimes
Scot: Laughed at every sunglass moment.
Census taker - Fey asks White questions
Christian: Fey finally gets to star in the sketch she wrote for Meadows and Walken.
Scot: "How would you describe your race?"
Episode Twenty Two: Alec Baldwin
Christian: Forte gets nothing but a couple hugs at goodnights. And Fallon got a whole sketch announcing he was leaving? Ridiculous. Big battle this season between the writers and the performers. Careened between writer's sketches and letting Wiig and Armisen run wild.
Scot: Baldwin is the modern Buck Henry. His shows are different than Martin shows in that Baldwin just feels like a natural cast member. He's just filling a role, like Henry was, taking roles that no one else can quite handle.
Digital Short - Samberg sings musical on cocaine
Scot: Liked this one
Wiig is Starfish, the script supervisor on a western (Baldwin and Samberg)
Christian: The writers know how good Wiig is, so they basically stopped writing jokes for her sketches.
Scot: This is total garbage. How do you waste Wiig and Baldwin in something like this?
Swim Team awards ceremony - Baldwin is gruff coach
Christian: Forte's last time on screen. It was at least nice of them to give the writers some screen time.
Gram Lampton "Timecrowave"
Christian: As you know, I love sketches that play with time and space.
Scot: Fantastic! I'd say flawless but Baldwin looks at the wrong camera. Lots of moving pieces and they all work.
TCM - Baldwin and Slate in old-time movie, she's a prostitute - makes her call her mom, demands a hand job
Scot: Wonderful set-up (and acting!) that's punctured in just the right way and then Baldwin's explanation really pays off.
Sniper school - Baldwin, Sudeikis, Kenan - They can't understand him saying "take the shot"
Christian: They throw in a gay subplot for no reason?
Scot: A let down after what preceded it.
This is the point where Wiig and Armisen really started to annoy me.