'Wasn't That Special' Season 37 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 this edition of the Season Thirty Seven bonus notes section, with the clips coming soon.
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Episode One: Alec Baldwin
Christian: What's left to say about Baldwin? I still hate that he's so good.
Scot: Looks like a pretty darn good premiere to me.
GOP debate with Mitt Romney (Sudeikis), Rick Perry (Baldwin) Jon Huntsman (Killam), Michele Bachmann (Wiig), Newt Gingrich (Moynihan), Ron Paul (Brittain), Herman Cain (Kenan), Rick Santorum (Samberg)
Christian: 11 minutes! You know you're a political dork when you can spell "Michele Bachmann" correctly without looking it up.
Scot: There are some really good moments and Hader is excellent.
WDHX Channel 19 - satellite delay harms conversation with TV reporter (Wiig)
Christian: Maybe a little familiar, but I laughed a lot!
Scot: Feels like we've done this before (JLD and others) and no real laughs here.
Who's On Top - game show contestants mull hypothetical gay male couplings
Christian: I was set to hate this, then... it got stupider and better.
Scot: Timon and Pumbaa section was enough to lift it up.
Child psychologist’s (Baldwin) daughter (Pedrad) acts up during date with Bayer
Christian: "After we have sex you're going to have to leave" bumped it.
Scot: A rare "worth is because of the ending" sketch - Some Rudolph moves for Pedrad in here.
Angels in the Trenches - (Killem) takes soldiers’ final message delivery requests for family
Christian: There is no comedy higher than "yo mama so fat" jokes. But we landed on the same grade on this one. Also, there are charges this sketch was plagiarized.
Scot: Was trending toward something better until the "your mom so fat" stuff, which was just OK.
Episode Two: Melissa McCarthy
Scot: McCarthy was mostly overbearing and unexpectedly bad.
Christian: In 37 seasons, you have never been more wrong. McCarthy steps in and immediately would be one of the best women ever on the show.
Lawrence Welk Show - Dooneese has a muscle-bound sister (McCarthy)
Christian: Number six of these. Duplication theory in effect. Even before we started the podcast, I considered Killam the average line. And I stand by it so far. He and Nealon.
Scot: You don't like Killam? He seems pretty capable so far.
McCarthy & Wiig get close to dancing but not quite
Christian: Wiig and McCarthy were Groundlings together for two years.
Scot: Song-and-almost-dance.
McCarthy engages in sexual harassment of co-worker (Sudeikis)
Christian: Credit to McCarthy for going for it. Haven't seen anything like this on the show before.
Scot: At no time was I amused by this.
The Comments Section - online loudmouths are confronted by victims
Christian: McCarthy effectively playing her character in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, for which she earned an Oscar nomination.
Rock's Way - Chris Rock (Pharoah) inserts his commentary into Broadway shows
Christian: If you are going to do Chris Rock, you have to do jokes that are good enough for him to do.
Scot: Not a fan. Impression is good, though.
Taste Test - enthusiastic (McCarthy) at Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing focus group
Scot: Annoying.
Christian: Clearly I have a higher Melissa McCarthy tolerance than you do because she is great in this.
The Essentials with Robert Osborne - stairs-related injuries crippled Mae West knockoff (McCarthy)
Scot: This stinks and I'm out of goodwill for this episode.
Christian: WHAT? This is at least solid.
Episode Three: Ben Stiller
Scot: Show has settled into a fairly consistent groove to start the year.
Stiller visits Jewish Willy Wonka’s (Samberg) kosher wonderland during Yom Kippur
Christian: This feels like a precursor to John Mulaney's future musical bits.
Best of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman - manly Daniel Radcliffe (Hugh Jackman) is musical
Christian: Solid. The meta stuff with Jackman is a bit too easy but Hader's Clint Eastwood impression is good.
Columbus Day Assblast - Under-Underground Columbus Day festival features Eckhart Tolle (Stiller)
Scot: A step behind the others.
Tinyballs - Moneyball follow-up dramatizes role of steroids in baseball
Scot: Could've been great, settled for good.
Christian: Could've been good, settled for okay.
Episode Four: Anna Faris
Christian: Big Bayer episode, even with her stumbles in the debate sketch.
Message From the mayor - Michael Bloomberg (Armisen) battles Occupy Wall Street protesters
Christian: Armisen says NYC is a trendsetter on Occupy Wall Street, but it was clearly an outgrowth of the Wisconsin protests in which occupiers took over the State Capitol for weeks.
Scot: Just not much happening here.
Questions from the crowd - Faris finds Hanna Garis (Elliott) in the audience, doing her Faris impression
Christian: Hader takes over what would have been a Forte role.
Scot: Back to cast members asking the questions.
Yet Another GOP Debate - Herman Cain (Kenan) takes center stage, Romney (Sudeikis) is bland
Christian: Choppy and off-kilter, but fine enough.
Scot: Bayer is very stumbly, uncharacteristic - Hader's Perry is much better than Baldwin's.
J-Pop America Fun Time Now - Midwestern kids (Killam) & (Bayer) love Japan
Christian: This is a total cop-out. They want to get laughs by doing Japanese impressions but throw in Sudeikis to add disapproval.
Scot: Sudeikis is this thing's saving grace - This is definitely going to recur, right?
(Wiig) & (Faris) ogle odd Ferrari calendar models
Christian: Wait, they're women, but they're like men!
Episode Five: Charlie Day
Scot: I always think of Day as being kind of one-note as an actor, but things went pretty well tonight. Really fun show.
Christian: You had it higher than I did, but it was fine.
The Ghost of Kaddafi - (Armisen)
Christian: I feel like we have seen Armisen do some version of this two dozen times now.
Scot: "Well, we've got to do something about the news this week."
Kim's Fairytale Divorce - Kardashians make a spectacle of Kim’s (Pedrad) separation
Christian: Wiig making fun of plastic surgery is...prescient?
Scot: There's enough happening here to make it a solid double.
It's Getting Freaky with Cee Loo Green - Cee Lo Green (Kenan) helps (Samberg) & (Elliott) enliven marriage
Scot: Has a very "What Up With That" vibe, less successful.
Christian: "Less Successful" is a kind way to put it. Hader resurrecting his character from Dr. Blackenstein.
Maroon 5 - “Moves Like Jagger”
Christian: I knew the whole dance to this on Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii.
Because of One Dolphin - Actor (Day) has trouble during a scene with a dolphin
Scot: Second dolphin reference tonight - a good Kenan!