'Wasn't That Special' Season 31 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 Thirty-One bonus notes section, with the clips coming soon.
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: Steve Carell
Christian: Solid, but nothing better than "just fine."
Scot: The credits are so sharp in HD! - Totally competent season opener. Was Poehler in every sketch?
George W. Bush (Forte) press conference post-Katrina
Christian: Bush returns! - Not a failure but also not exactly encouraging.
Jet Blue Flight 292 - Carell and Poehler on board troubled Jet Blue flight
Christian: Hader gets a big laugh first time on the air.
Scot: Computer animation is great - Hader's first sketch.
Anderson Cooper 360 - celebrities help with Katrina reconstruction
Christian: Impression workouts are better when the impressions are good!
Scot: Third news show parody of the night already - Hader with a home run Pacino impression.
Kanye West - “Gold Digger” & “Touch The Sky"
Christian: First acknowledgment on the show that you can't say the n-word anymore?
Lundford Twins Feel Good Variety Hour
Christian: Wow, with Fey and Rudolph both being pregnant, early 2005 was a fertile year for SNL.
Scot: Rudolph sings - I like the tone and feel of both of these so far.
TV Funhouse - John Roberts can't give a straight answer
Christian: Adam McKay strikes again, but it's...fine.
Kanye West - “Heard ‘Em Say”
Christian: In this song, Kanye raps that the government created AIDS. Maybe the evidence he's a lunatic was there all along?
Debbie Downer - Debbie Downer finds company in the misery of soulmate Bob Bummer (Carrell)
Christian: Predicts an Asian flu epidemic that could take a billion lives. Prescient?
Episode Two: Jon Heder
Christian: This cast seems like the first cast where SNL has been on TV their entire lives, and Forte seems the best embodiment of that. He knows how to twist the formula.
Scot: Heder was a weak host outside of the werewolf sketch - Seemingly good vibes here despite Fey, Rudolph, Parnell absent ... and one appearance by Meyers. (Or is that "because?")
Heder's college friend (Sudeikis) appears to have inspired Napoleon Dynamite
Scot: Napoleon Dynamite made a total of $46.1 million. And I hated it.
Christian: Well you're wrong because Napoleon Dynamite is awesome. And thus I liked this better.
4th Grade Science Fair - Kaitlin & Heder give a science fair presentation on insects
Christian: Poehler uncharacteristically blows a couple lines. Still very good though.
Scot: A cut below.
Wilson Bros Funeral Home - friends die consecutively under odd circumstances
Christian: Extra credit for trying something new. A spark of creativity.
Scot: Dratch just made it in the casket and now has to turn away - Kenan clearly breathing hard - "After the bear shot Lou, he turned the gun on himself" - Heder blows the key line but it's still fine.
Automated phone menu voicer Julie (Dratch) goes on a blind date with Heder
Christian: A Dratch banger. So fun to see talents like Dratch and Hader pass each other briefly on the cast.
Scot: Dratch is fantastic. Really one joke, but a neat idea and doesn't overstay its welcome.
Episode Three: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Scot: WU is better, I can't lie - You really feel the turnover happening with Sudeikis, Hader in big roles. Poehler still getting featured everywhere.
Butt Cancer Treatment Center commercial
Christian: This seems ten times easier to write than a Versace sketch and it's ten times as funny.
Scot: Did I laugh at the butt euphemisms? Yes, I did.
NewsNight with Aaron Brown - CNN reporter (Zeta-Jones) looks rough in Afghanistan
Christian: Actually thought this was pretty solid escalation.
Scot: We just did the funeral home thing, which has a similar rhythm and was much funnier.
Italian Hotel - Vinny Vedecci (Hader) & others mock American tourists
Christian: Hader already in the "talented enough to propel an otherwise lightly written sketch" category.
Spanking fetishists (Forte) & (CZJ) sing vows at wedding
Christian: Started out not cringe enough then turned sufficiently cringe.
Scot: It's basically a Tenacious D song.
Episode Four: Lance Armstrong
Christian: A whole episode that aged terribly.
Scot: A real dud all the way around.
Message from VP -Dick Cheney (Hammond) disputes smoke & fire linkage
Christian: Starts with Hammond begging for recognition applause and goes down from there.
Scot: Lazy, perfunctory.
Lance's Song - Sheryl Crow listens to terrible love song Armstrong wrote for her
Christian: SNL relationship curse in effect.
Scot: A vague "so terrible it's OK" quality to it, but it's still pretty weak.
Episode Five: Jason Lee
Christian: Lee was middling. Did not see what you saw in this episode, which was just average. Writing now supervised by Seth Meyers.
Scot: Lee was fantastic, helping to rebound from the previous episode very nicely. (I don't miss Rudolph, sorry.) Kristen Wiig has been added to the cast.
J.J. Casuals commercial
Scot: Works better than I would have expected.
Christian: Works exactly as I expected.
Good Morning Meth - Lee, Poehler, Kenan, Hader host
Scot: Tina and James Anderson wrote - Amy was born to play a role like this.
Christian: Huh - didn't see much in this at all.
The Falconer - Falconer and Donald accept indecent proposal from land developer (Lee)
Scot: Lee accidently says dickhead instead of dickweed and mutters "shit" under his breath, then Forte ad libs a reply.
The Soaking Wet Killer - couple (Sudeikis) & (Wiig) help escaped murderer (Lee)
Christian: Wiig's debut. Not spectacular, but decent enough.
Caulk expert’s (Lee) tips are double entendres
Christian: I recall doing a caulking job at my fraternity house in the mid-90's and made every "caulk" joke imaginable at the time. So this isn't really anything special.
Scot: More dirty wordplay - Good laughs, a little short to be anything better.
Stachin' - Meyers, Lee, Dratch, Parnell love facial hair
Christian: Did nothing for me.
Scot: Seth and Erik Kenward wrote - "I was burning down a synagogue" gets it a "3."
American Taser - American Taser’s stun guns facilitate arms race amongst zap-happy populace
Scot: Boy does Hader sound like Aykroyd here - Love the format and the transitions.