'Wasn't That Special' Season 26 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.

Below is the Season Twenty-Six bonus notes section, with the clips coming next week.

So please help keep the podcast advertisement-free and upgrade to the Executive Producer level, which will keep these emails coming in the future!

Episode One: Rob Lowe

Christian: Out of the gate with a top-flight episode. But...no Dratch? And what does a sister have to do to be made a full cast member?

Scot: Promising start in many ways. New contracts mandate two years as Featured Player before promotion, I believe.

Presidential Debate - Jim Lehrer (Parnell) moderates Al Gore (Hammond) vs. George W. Bush (Ferrell) debate

Christian: Starting the season throwing 105 MPH.

Scot: You know it's a Jim Downey b/c of the joke about what's on other channels. Every time. - Hammond worked like hell to nail Gore and it's so good. - You can tell someone has helped Ferrell also shift his Bush portrayal. - It's ten minutes and deserves it all.

Corn Chip Nail Tips commercial

Christian: Morgan has appeared as a woman on the show more than Melanie Hutsell.

Scot: Morgan as black female alert - Not a fan.

Pros and Cons - Scooby & Shaggy (Lowe) guest to defend how they solve crimes

Christian: Lowe's greatest on-air performance ever. Great specificity.

Scot: Lowe's got the voice down - Laughed a lot, good rhythm and pace to it. Scooby's stuff also was funny.

Weekend Update - Ladies Man Desk Piece - Fey does "Women's News" - Grandmaster Rap and Kid Shazam (Sanz & Minor)

Christian: Fey comes fully formed. 

Scot: Meadows back on the very first show to promo his film - good intereaction b/t Meadows and Fey - some of the back-and-forth feels too scripted - Fey comes off very well, Fallon less so - slightly generous 3, but at least this was fun - Robert Carlock still working as producer of WU.

Blind Date - (Ferrell) & (Shannon) endure an awkward blind date at an airport bar

Christian: Appreciate them turning the volume down low and trying something different.

Scot: Really liked this and enjoyed the way everyone was so comfortable. No overselling.

Episode Two: Kate Hudson

Christian: Thom Yorke of Radiohead with the "Let Ralph [Nader] Debate" sign at the end. Thanks for the input, British guy.

2nd Presidential Debate - Al Gore & George W. Bush agree on many things

Scot: Bush pronouncing Nigerian names and finding ways to say more.

Monologue: Sons and daughters of Laugh-In stars stop by

Christian: Did anybody get this 30 years after Laugh-In went off the air? Also, Ruth Buzzi is still going strong on Twitter.

Scot: Black Crowes reference; Hudson and Chris Robinson would marry in Dec. 2000.

TV Funhouse - “X-Presidents” - two-party system is bad!

Christian: I haven't liked any of these, and this is the worst.

Scot: Written by ... Adam McKay, of course. Ron Reagan Jr. takes another shot 15 years after the fact!

Inside the Actor's Studio - Drew Barrymore (Hudson) guests

Christian: Drew Barrymore is the go-to impression for female hosts that can't do impressions.

Scot: Three Ferrells early on. Playing to a strength.

Woodrow - Woodrow brings Hudson to the sewer to pitch his movie script idea

Christian: Prescient in that it kind of was the end of Kate Hudson's movie career. (Aside from some romcoms.)

Scot: Works as a Morgan spotlight but not sure how much more juice the idea has.

Meet the Press - Tim Russert (Hammod) grills Hillary Clinton (Gasteyer), goes easy on Lazio (Fallon)

Christian: Giving it an extra point because maybe it was funnier at the time?

Scot: Was this the feeling at the time? That Hillary was being pounded by the press?

Rabun To Shuri - Japanese sitcom mirrors Laverne & Shirley

Scot: Unsure about this one. Landed in the middle.

Christian: I was not unsure. It sucks. All premise.

Radiohead - “Idioteque”

Christian: It's no Sisquo

Episode Three: Dana Carvey

Scot: Kattan is just doing bit parts and odds and ends at this point

Third Debate - undecided voters question Gore & Bush - Carvey as 41 asking questions

Scot: Clearly the worst of the three, though still has laughs.

Delicious Dish - Teacher (Carvey) besieged by gang activity guests

Christian: Not great, but I appreciate Carvey doing something different.

Scot: James Madison High School is now Cesar Chavez High School. Prescient.

Church Chat - Hillary Clinton (Gasteyer), Anne Heche (Kattan), Eminem (Parnell)

Christian: Comparing bisexuals to people who have sex with dogs probably not happening today. These are jokes Democrats used to make.

Scot: "Welcome to the show, Anee He-she."

Hunting - 41 (Carvey) tries to teach George W. (Ferrell) about weight of presidency

Christian: I promise that I am putting my politics aside when I say this reeks of tastelessness.

VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards - stars celebrate style superlatives -Minor as Gooding, Rudolph as Macy Gray, Kattan as McDermott, Morgan as Samuel Jackson, Carvey as Rudy/Survivor

Christian: Macy Gray has to be one of the most esoteric impressions on the show.

Scot: Impression workout.

Ching Change receives financing for his Broadway play about chickens

Christian: This was too offensive to be on the air a decade earlier. It is crazy to bring it back. Instead of a 10-to 1 it would be better as a 10 after 1. (Although, side note - Sanz makes Carvey break, and NOBODY does that.)

Scot: Are you kidding me?

Episode Four: Charlize Theron

Scot: I do like that WU is given more time to breathe and specific set-ups can develop. Much better than rapid-fire set-up/punchline of Quinn era. It's uncanny. All of Kattan's characters are just the same steps the same moves the same jokes every time out.

Glimpse of possible future -  George W. Bush is overwhelmed and a disaster

Christian: Just overt anti-Bushism. No real joke.

Scot: Years prior to Cheney's actual hunting accident - this is OK, nothing special.

TRL - Gemini’s Twin (Gasteyer) & (Rudolph) added (Theron) for looks

Christian: If I recall correctly, get ready for plenty of Gemini's Twin. This is brutal - barely escapes a 1.

Scot: Oh, good. A female 7 Degrees Celsius - Actually a Destiny's Child thing.

TV Funhouse - “The All New Adventures of Mr. T”  actors’ strike leads to ad gig

Christian: I love that he punctuates all of his declarations with life advice. "Get eight hours of sleep. Eat your vegetables. Get eight hours of drugs."

Bedtime Stories - Therapy patient (Theron) is sexually excited by Mr. Peepers

Christian: This was dead three appearances ago.

Scot: Kattan this week: "C'mon! Give me something to do! Bring back my characters!" - Why is she humping him?

Buena Vista Social Club members get friendly with audience member (Theron)

Christian: The highlight of Jerry Minor's career - hugging Charlize Theron.

Scot: Might have been more here; show was long and this got cut off seemingly before its end.Episode Five: Calista Flockhart

Christian: Flockhart wasn't a great host, but she was enthusiastic and played along, making for a pretty good episode.

Scot: Sanz and Morgan might as well be at home in bed. Approaching exit velocity from the last 5-season flatline. Some seriously good shows so far.

Culps at Gore rally

Christian: Culps number 13. That's 12 too many.

Scot: Huge ovation for the Culps. But why? - Get to the songs already - With the Gore/Bush themes, this actually improved.

Ladies & Cocktails - Shannon and Flockhart play women in 50s hitting on Minor and Fallon

Christian: "They say some of the best prime rib is aged." Some good lines in here and Shannon breaks at Ferrell pouring Gold Bond down his pants.

Scot: Ain't nothing wrong with ordering from Parade magazine - Couple laughs here, unexpectedly. Ferrell basically steals it by the end.

CBS Sports - Dan Rather (Hammond) uses Ratherisms in delivering sports scores

Scot: Hammond is everywhere tonight! Nailed this one, too.

Episode Six: Tom Green

Christian: Where's Dratch?

Scot: Well. Let's chalk this up to a bad host bringing his own writers in and pretend the whole thing just didn't happen.

Monologue: Green & Drew Barrymore say they’ll wed at the end of the show

Christian: I will cop to the fact that I was all-in on the Tom Green phenomenon. I thought he was great.

Scot: Clearly set up in advance, but they do cop to it at the end - I mean, there's a bit of "live" is-this-real, what-might-happen feel that is interesting!

Bald Eagles - Bald eagle (Ferrell) searches for her baby (Green) around the crowd - lots of cawing and loud noises

Christian: Extra point just for doing something a little different and injecting some unpredictability.

Scot: Bad on a level not seen for quite some time.

Rap Street - Grand Master Rap & Kid Shazaam approve of (host)’s rhymes

Christian: I liked them on Weekend Update - should have stayed there. Green's bit is a precursor for Andy Samberg's "Blizzard Man" in a few years.

Scot: Oh, these are the guys from WU. Still don't like them!

Lorne and Tom in a Tub - Green says duck 178 times

Christian: Sigh. I didn't hate it? I actually laughed at Lorne paying rapt attention while drinking a juice box. And it was mercifully short.

Scot: They have agreed to turn SNL into The Tom Green Show for a week and it's not going well.

Hardball - Chris Matthews (Hammond) has Katherine Harris (Gasteyer) on

Christian: Pretty good performance by Gasteyer.

Scot: Debut of Matthews - This is an idea without a goal. Working toward nothing in particular.

TV Funhouse - “Fun With Real Audio”- bestiality reigns on Sex & The Country

Christian: They likely had months to reconsider this. And still thought it was a good idea.

Scot: Holy balls, Smigel. What are you doing?

Dog Show - wizard’s (host) pig squeals & casts a spell of invisibility

Christian: If the pig's goal is to spare America from seeing this sketch, it deserves an Emmy. In 25 years of the show, one of the first sketches we've seen just completely go off the rails in a bad way.

Scot: Final one! - Gotta be honest. I don't have a clue what's happening here because I only can hear the freaking pig squealing.

David Gray - "Babylon"

Christian: One of the great forgotten albums of the time.

Scot: Thought at the time he had a very, very Ryan Adams-esque delivery.

Oprah - Oprah (Rudolph) and Dr. Phil McGraw (Ferrell) dispense nonsensical marriage counsel

Christian: Gasteyer as "disapproving woman." There is nothing going on here.

Scot: Will is pretty good and Green is not murdering the sketch. But the pieces still don't fit together the right way.

Rock Around the Clock - Green and Ferrell sing, repeat themselves, break a clock

Scot: I think this is supposed to be Kaufman-like. It just flat-out sucks.

Episode Seven: Val Kilmer

Christian: Pretty weak season at the top end. After the 5-graded first sketch of the season, none since.

Wade Blasingame (Ferrell) commercial - sues dogs for behavior, winning $$ and death warrants

Christian: Great bit for Parnell.

Scot: Ferrell outstanding again.

Behind the Music -Jim Morrison (Kilmer) forms a supergroup in heaven

Christian: Mostly flat until the little girl sings as Morrison reincarnate at the end.

Scot: They got the VH1 guy for the voiceover, which is neat.

Palm Beach - psephologic drama swamps George W. Bush &  Al Gore

Christian: Leaning in hard to the "George W. is an idiot" theme. Justice Antonin Scalia gets a mention.

Scot: “Al, I thought you were dead.” “I’m Al Gore. I just appear that way.”

Veronica and Co. - supermodel Veronica (Shannon) leads panel discussion

Christian: Pretty cringe.

Scot: Molly has created a new character from her Giselle impression?

Doing Voices - Margaret Healey (Shannon) and Kilmer do accents

Christian: This is what Robin Williams' stand-up sounds like to me.

Scot: Wait, is this the same character from a few seasons ago? It must be. But Ferrell was her boyfriend then, which I guess we're supposed to forget? - Parnell accidentally drops a tray of drinks - Pretty bad. None of the charm or flow of the original.

Horn-playing brothers (Parnell) & (Ferrell) do Burt Bacharach (Kilmer) session-work

Christian: A spiritual cousin to More Cowbell - "you know that instrument in that song? I wonder what it was like to record that part?"

Scot: Wait for it ... wait for it.

Episode Eight: Lucy Liu

Christian: Need more Parnell.

Scot: Sure. Of course after I say something we get Tom Green and a couple of middling episodes and a quality decline in WU.

Bush & Gore attempt to find common ground at Chi-Chis

Christian: Listening to Ferrell say the word "chimichangas" is like music.

Scot: "Maybe I'll start a war. Wars are like executions, only super-sized." 

Liu leans into Asian stereotypes during a recap of her week at SNL

Christian: This is...not how the show would handle a "first" like this today. (See: Awkwafina a couple of years ago.) Liu knows it would be controversial, says hold all the phone calls.

TRL - Gemini’s Twin adds Liu because she has a minivan

Christian: Maya Rudolph's theft of Molly Shannon's spot is nearly complete. I will only say that Rudolph is very convincing playing super hot characters.

Scot: Why are these MTV-related things so bad? Probably because the real things are so lightly-tethered to reality as it is.

Pretty Living - joyologist Helen’s new fling is a female lumberjack (Liu)

Christian: We have worked our way through all of these and I still wouldn't have been able to identify her name as "Helen Madden."

Scot: Final one! - Liu's characterization makes the whole thing worse.

Jarrett's Room - dorm-based webcast is a window into youth culture

Christian: An attempt to create a cyber-Wayne's World, all the way down to some of the mannerisms.

Scot: Way too close to an actual webcast to be funny.

Season's Greetings - Sanz, Fallon, Kattan, Morgan sing another Xmas song

Scot: I don't get it. Why not just run last week's segment again. Same song, different sweaters.

Christian: I actually think there's something a little contrarian about just doing the same thing over again.

Episode Nine: Charlie Sheen

Christian: A whiplash-inducing second half, swinging between great and abysmal bits. Sheen is a bad host.

Scot: Can't they just make the whole show out of Ferrell, Dratch and Parnell? - Sheen has charisma, but awfully wooden.

Vice presidential address - "President Elect" Dick Cheney (Hammond) addresses nation with heart monitor attached

Christian: This sketch is effectively the plot of Adam McKay's movie "Vice."

Scot: First Cheney, but it's all about Ferrell once again. "Underwear. Fart."

Iron Chef - American bachelor (Sheen) & Morimoto (Sanz) cook shark heads

Scot: Sheen is weird and awkward and the dubbing isn't doing anything for me.

Eric Dickerson's NFL Pre-Game Special - Dan Fouts, Ricky Vaughn, Dennis Miller (Fallon)

Christian: Ferrell's a good team member for agreeing to be in dogshit like this. As you said before, Fallon barely trying in his Miller impression.

Soap Opera Shoot - Patsy Marsh (Shannon) threatens to ruin a scene

Christian: Really emptying Molly's Rolodex of characters before she leaves the show.

Scot: Another variation on the standard Molly character.

Big Baby - Dratch gives birth to 37 year-old Ted Brogan (Ferrell)

Christian: "Take it sleazy." I actually considered a grade of 5 for this.

Sheen & Heidi Fleiss (Dratch) do a prostitution-themed Who’s On First

Scot: Crude but funny and well-executed. I laughed.

Christian: Yep, a great mousetrap.

Episode Ten: Mena Suvari

Christian: With Molly on her way out and Rudolph relegated to playing mostly Asian characters, I do think the show misses Oteri. Also, Dratch is invisible.

Scot: Tom Green is the brick wall this season ran into, apparently.

Airport Security - attitudinal airport security guard Jackie (Maya Rudolph) mans bum metal detector

Christian: I'd love this to be better because I'm rooting for Rudolph, but it's just okay.

Janet Reno's Dance Party - the real Janet Reno crashes the final episode

Christian: Extra point just for Reno being a good sport.

Scot: Final one! - As far as sketchers where real people confront their characters on SNL, this was certainly one of them.

Rap Street - Aaron Carter (Suvari) is commended for his G-rated rhymes

Christian: Sanz flubs lines, breaks, mustache falls off. Kind of a mess all around. Things did not end well for Aaron Carter.

Scot: I think this is the last one already, which we can file under "Mercy Killing."

TV Funhouse - “X-Presidents”- wannabe member Bill Clinton saves the inauguration

Christian: Just throwing every lazy joke into a bucket.

Scot: "Written by Adam McKay." No kidding.

Audition - Kyle & Sean DeMarco (Kattan and Parnell) win over Lenny Kravitz with their take on his songs

Christian: Only impressive thing about this is that they got all the silver paint off Parnell's face after the last sketch. Otherwise, it's steaming trash.

Scot: Incredibly predictable that a Kattan sketch shows no growth or progression. All of this is just plain annoying.

Episode Eleven: Jennifer Lopez

Christian: It almost feels comforting to know they are still capable of an episode this bad. Like a one-week radiation treatment or an acid bath.

Scot: Not rhetorical: WTF is happening here? The pieces are fine. The writing was good early on. Why is everything flatlining? This episode was delayed on the East Coast by 45 minutes due to a double overtime XFL football game.

While Tracy Morgan fills in as George W. Bush, Ferrell can’t get over JLo's booty

Christian: When historians recap the MeToo era, this should be exhibit number one.

Scot: J-Lo just looks like she knows this is the price of success.

Puzzled by diva reputation, JLo reveals Versace dress worn at Grammys

Christian: Prescient; her reputation has taken a beating lately because of her diva behavior, 24 years later.

Mango & JLo develop a rivalry after he becomes a recording star

Christian: It's even worse than you imagined. Morgan as a woman alert.

Scot: At least we got an interminable parody of a Madonna music video - Mango stealing Mary Katherine Gallagher's bit.

MTV Cribs - Gemini’s Twin & new member (JLo) present their low-rent apartment

Christian: Was there a fire at 30 Rock that killed all the writers this week?

Scot: It's not a complete tire fire?

Fly Girls (Minor, Morgan, Dratch) want to work with host again

Christian: Making me yearn for the comic genius of Tom Green.

Scot: Tonight is Jerry Minor's coming out party ... as a square peg in a round hole. Nothing works.

Good Morning Bronx - borough residents (Minor, JLo) broadcast the local news

Christian: Even worse than Good Morning Brooklyn from a few seasons ago. Dratch can't save it. Dominican Lou returns.

Scot: When Good Morning Brooklyn just won't do it for you - Crumbles like a stale cookie.

The Baby and the German Intellectual - Adam McKay film

Christian: I should start appreciating the weirdness of these things, I guess.

Nursing Home - oblivious Jeannie Darcy does inappropriate material at a nursing home gig

Scot: Bringing her own brick walls was funny, as were the cutaways. Shannon with the rare break.

Christian: I really liked this. The generic heckler response line was the topper. There's a reverse Debby Downer happening. Dratch taking notes.

Episode Twelve: Sean Hayes

Christian: After this episode, Oteri and Shannon are both gone, going to be up to Dratch to drag the show through the end of the season, when Amy Poehler shows up in S27.

Scot: Tim Herlihy wrote something for this one (or is that acknowledgment for use of old characters?)

Bush (Ferrell) addresses the nation

Christian: Felt a little phoned in.

Scot: A semi-decent WU joke stretched out to Cold Open length. Weak.

Commercial: Homocil for parents who might have a gay child

Christian: Both offensive and funny. Not happening today. Also interesting they would air it during the Sean Hayes episode.

Adrian Dante (Hayes) Fashion Show, Sally O'Malley appears.

Christian: Molly in everything so far. Giving her the whole show to say goodbye. "I like to scratch, belch, and scratch." I have a new headstone engraving.

Hello Dolly: Gasteyer and Hayes

Christian: "Me love her long time." We are getting back to early-80s treatment of Asians.

Hayes and Fallon are stuck-up employees at Jeffrey's clothing store, insult Shannon and Sanz

Christian: Famous for Fallon and Hayes totally losing it when Ferrell shows up with his tiny phone.

Scot: Keep Fallon out of sketches.

Morning news: Hayes is reporter covering clown car crash

Christian: Goes from a prison rape sketch to a heterosexual rape sketch.

Scot: First joke (clown car) was promising but no rhyme nor reason to the escalation.

"Talkin' Bout 'Ginas" - Anna Nicole Smith (Shannon), Joan Rivers (Gasteyer) Gayle King (Rudolph), Chyna (Ferrell) Farrah Fawcett (Kattan)

Christian: Just a chance to get everyone on stage one last time.

Episode Thirteen: Katie Holmes

The Clinton family discusses his last-minute pardons

Christian: How much of the public's deep dislike of Hillary was born on SNL?

Scot: This redneck, drunk angle to the extended Clinton family completely disappeared along the way.

Will challenges Katie Holmes to tap dance

Christian: This sucked, so I will take this space to note that Katie Holmes is the daughter of a Marquette basketball player.

Drew Barrymore's house is on fire - Barrymore (Holmes) and Tom Green (Fallon) react

Christian: Didn't I say Barrymore is the impression reserved for female hosts that can't do impressions? Exactly as funny as the sketch would have been if Tom Green had been in it.

Scot: This is paced like garbage.

TV Funhouse: The Backstreet Boys fight crime by sucking, record a benefit with Sting, Paul McCartney and Paul Simon

Christian: Had promise, but kind of threw it away.

Scot: Guess I'll just note here that TV Funhouse was on this show way, way, way longer than I thought it was.

Jarrett's Chat Room - Fallon and Sanz, Holmes visits

Christian: Again, they're doing Oscar movies, which is a Wayne's World bit.

Scot: Horatio’s Gobi can't hold a candle to Garth. He's bad and annoying.

"Tough As Nails" - Holmes is a cop who keeps smacking Ferrell in the testicles.

Scot: Holmes as a blonde is interesting? - She must weigh like 80 pounds. Sorry, sketch is just fine. Kind of an off-the-rack piece.

Episode Fourteen: Conan O’Brien

Christian: If they can't write a good episode with Conan O'Brien on the show, things are getting concerning. What a missed opportunity.

Scot: Almost completely devoid of the type of humor that makes Conan Conan. How does that happen?

Bush addresses American people, discusses his health after Cheney goes to the hospital.

Christian: The direct-to-camera GWBs aren't working.

Scot: Downey's not writing any of these at this point. - “That’s 24 hours a week… 7 months a year.”

Boston Teens - Conan is a 26 year old who hangs out at their high school - Ben Affleck cameos

Christian: Nothing really going on here, but I like the performances. I'm sure Bostonians love it.

Scot: Long list of nicknames was solid.

Moleculo - the Molecular Man - O'Brien is a superhero that says the same thing over and over and his newspaper co-workers suspect he is a superhero. Goes to Mexico.

Christian: Didn't they just do this with The Rock?

Scot: They did.

Sanz gets in a car accident, has to get his taint removed. His wife remarries Ferrell, who has a large taint.

Christian: Just an excuse to say "taint" over and over and...I love it. Just enough weirdness sprinkled in.

Scot: McKay wrote - Has 10-to-1 energy - Neat throwaways and misdirections - The Jesse White Tumblers is a key Chicago reference - Pretty decent Sanz role for a change.

Diva-Thon: Gasteyer as Deandra Wells, harasses her band

Christian: I vaguely remember this being recurring. But why? Another Patch Adams joke - this had to be an inside joke in the writer's room. Rudolph would have been better playing this.

Scot: No new ideas since the first one.

The Gentleman Masher - Talks a lot of trash, gets his ass kicked by new black boxers

Christian: The trash talk and O'Brien getting pummeled is pretty funny.

Episode Fifteen: Julia Stiles

Christian: Is Hammond on the show anymore? I enjoy every time Tracy Morgan is in a sketch as a man, but it happens too infrequently.

Scot: When's the last time Ferrell was allowed to really Ferrell?

Martha Stewart celebrates St. Patrick's Day

Christian: "You must be Irish, because my penis is Dublin."

Scot: This is ... not bad at all! Been a while since we've seen Martha.

Monologue: Tracy Morgan tries to hook up with Stiles because she kissed a black guy in a movie.

Christian: Morgan is now the master of the monologue walk-on. He actually wasn't 35, he was 32.

Scot: Who's going to crack the Tracy Morgan puzzle? He's clearly natually funny and talented. But never used.

Wake Up, Wakefield - Rudolph and Dratch as high schoolers - Stiles is guest

Christian: Serviceable. I liked Rudolph and Dratch's performances, even if it isn't very funny.

Scot: Dratch gives this some resonance.

Rudolph as Post Office worker, rude to customers

Christian: This episode seems to be Rudolph's big coming out party. This sketch is actually a great argument for privatization - a good critique of how little government services need to respond to consumer complaints.

Scot: She's recurring from the airport metal detector, right? Maybe? - MVPs: random extras in line reacting to Stiles.

Dratch and Stiles are European cleaning ladies in office

Christian: I liked it!

Scot: Inspired! Makes points about "first world problems" in a slightly subversive and very funny way.

Willie Sluggs eye-poppers

Christian: They're trying. But the same joke three times in the sketch?

Scot: They've done this before and done it much better.

Episode Sixteen: Alec Baldwin

GWB addresses the nation re: China taking a plane, Bush signs deal where America gets fleeced

Christian: Goes on too long, but a step up from the previous ones.

Scot: Oh, hey. A Bush direct-to-camera.

Delicious Dish - Schweddy Balls II - Dratch replaces Shannon. Baldwin has baseball-related dishes, mostly weiners. Gasteyer slips and almost says "penis."

Christian: It's a Schweddy act.

Scot: The decision to do another Schweddy sketch is like continuing with Matt Foley after the first one. Everything about it is less effective.

Crew of the plane taken by China - Baldwin is soldier who wants to attack a billion Chinese people to escape

Christian: More Asian jokes: "I know their women have sideways vaginas."

Coldplay, "Yellow"

Christian: Oh hey, look at this fresh young band that would one day make me want to cut my ears off with a straight razor

Robert Goulet, "Red Ships of Spain"

Christian: Rule of thumb: If it's a sketch in which Gasteyer sings, it is going to suck. I did like the critical reviews though. Tony Dungy is a theater reviewer?

Scot: Way, way, way too long.

Democrats respond to Bush's tax cut plan (Kattan as Daschle, Hammond as Gephardt), suggest non-rich Americans will be eating dead squirrels under the tax cut.

Christian: Clever that the reporters are all asking about the squirrel - good way of poking fun at staged political gimmicks.

Scot: Downey on the V/O - Crowd is dead for a lot of this; do they perhaps not know who these people are?

Episode Seventeen: Renee Zellweger

Christian: One "4" rated sketch in the past three weeks. Rudolph vanished after her big episode three shows ago. Minor and Morgan barely exist, Dratch is underused.

The Culps sing at an H&R Block while people do their taxes

Christian: I'm just getting angry now.

Scot: More of these than Cheerleaders?

Zellweger reads from her diary, reveals her real name is "Renee Turdburger," etc.

Christian: Jokes are fine. Seems like it's been a while since we've had a monologue with just the guest host. I actually guessed a Kattan joke was coming, and...there it was!

Scot: Nurse Betty is good!

Jerry Maguire 2: Show Me the Sequel - Fallon as Cruise, Sanz as the little kid

Christian: I have lower standards for movie satires, and this one clears the bar.

Scot: "What is up?" "That is up" is worth the price of admission

A Wedding Story: Cheryl and Terry - Ferrell is in Kiss cover band - they're getting married in Kiss makeup, the mom (Dratch) cries

Scot: Prescient - the Kiss Kasket was introduced in June 2001 (Kiss as lifestyle brand).

Kattan and Zellweger get home from date, he plays nothing but TV theme song music, he pukes on her.

Christian: Kind of the same bit he did in S21 with Teri Hatcher, just ending with barf?

Scot: This actually is two different sketches, neither of which is any good.

Ferrell is back as the rude obstetrician, Molly Shannon cameo as "Molly Shannon," everyone breaks.

Christian: I know we say nobody but Will can do these bits, but I feel this character has a Steve Martin thread in it.

Scot: "I have very upsetting and shocking news" = "I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story." - The longer this goes, the better groove it finds.

Episode Eighteen: Pierce Brosnan

Christian: Feels like we are in the middle of a late-season flame out. When Shannon took her recurring characters with her, the show lost its center.

Scot: Brosnan was all-in, but just couldn't execute in many places - What do Kattan and Hammond do around here?

Just Funnin' with Gemini's Twin

Christian: Fun of Destiny's Child to play along, but this is terrible.

Scot: You know, these would be better as digital shorts, just focusing on the video/song. The rest of the sketch is an anchor.

The Frankie DeRosa Fun Hour - Sanz hosts Vegas style show for kids

Christian: Fey as an erotic balloon dancer! This is awful. Brosnan tells an Asian kid to "give us our plane back."

Scot: So, Sanz. It seems he consistently brings the wring energy to a specific character/sketch. Going to start keeping track of this. - These kids are up really really late!! - An utter failure of concept and execution.

Episode Nineteen: Lara Flynn Boyle

Scot: I predict the next show starts with a politician speaking direct-to-camera.

Dick Cheney talks to America - personal energy discussion

Scot: Oh, hey. A Cheney direct-to-camera - That last Cheney smile is very Clinton-esque.

Doctor (Ferrell) perforns fake hernia test on Parnell

Scot: Wrong energy from Sanz - Another Kattan gay joke.

Boyle makes appeal for Save The Starving Actresses Foundation

Christian: Little edgy.

Scot: Too on the nose? All these female hosts this year have been waif-ish.

Premiere Playhouse - Scarlet Letters B & J, 69, etc.

Christian: At the beginning, I actually thought "it would be funny if her letters were BJ." And it happened! I SHOULD BE AN SNL WRITER! [Editor’s note: Scot does not believe Christian.]

MSNBC Investigates - Boys become Golden Girls copycats (a la Jackass)

Scot: Fey wrote - Kattan suffered serious neck injury in this sketch - "Nora" O'Donnell misspelled.

Wake Up Wakefield! - phys ed teacher (Boyle) prepares Sheldon for the prom

Christian: Not sure why, but I sort of have a soft spot for these.

Scot: Recurring! - And less successful.

Bloater brothers flirting with Boyle at bar

Christian: Thought it was as good as the original.

Scot: Not the best one, but decent enough - Show's running long.

Episode Twenty: Christopher Walken

Scot: One of the most consistent episodes of the season. Harkens back to pre-Tom Green times.

Rudolph Giuliani (Hammond) discusses marital woes

Christian: A few months later, Giuliani would return to SNL as a hero.

Scot: Oh, hey. A Giuliani direct-to-camera

Mango - janitor (Walken) imagines himself & Mango in famous screen roles

Christian: Only Walken keeps this from being a disaster.

Scot: Kattan’s neck seems OK here! - Some of the movies scenes are decent - Back-half drags and then what is with the end?

The Luvahs - Gasteyer learns that Dr. Walter (Walken) was once a lover of The Luvahs

Christian: Had no idea there were two of these before the big one. Huh.

Centaur (Parnell) interviews with Walken for job as doctor

Christian: Shades of “Census Taker” from last season.

Scot: Both Walken and Parnell are just perfect for those roles.

Badger Up the Butt - Ferrell is cranky because of an actual badger inside him

Christian: Perfectly average.

Scot: Some good ingredients but never feels like it comes together the right way.