'Wasn't That Special' Season 39 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 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 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-Nine bonus notes section, with the clips coming soon.
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Episode One: Tina Fey
Christian: None of the new cast members really impress, but the returning ones are good and Fey is great. Barely any Kate McKinnon. My tweet the day after this aired: "I feel like I am the only white man left in America who isn't a member of the SNL cast."
Scot: McKinnon was barely on! - A fine opener, though I'm not quite as high on it as you. Gonna be hard for Kenan and Taran to carry the male roles.
Barack Obama has regular people explain Obamacare
Christian: Beck Bennett debut, Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) cameo.
Scot: McKinnon steals this.
Monologue: Fey lists all her recurring characters from SNL, including Johnny Jean Jacket, Queef Latina, Salvador Dali Parton, Reba McItired, The Lady With No Theme Song - brings out six new cast members to dance behind her
Christian: Four of the six would be gone in short order, and incredibly, one of the ones still there would be Kyle Mooney.
Scot: Snap judgment: Mike O'Brien is not going to work out.
Express Air - Long list of groups that board plane before people in group 2
Christian: So far so good.
Scot: Simple, clean, effective.
New cast member or Arcade Fire?
Christian: Tina "He seems like he's going to be great" about Mooney, then mouths "no." Prescient! I laughed all the way through this.
Scot: Kenan's funny here.
Manolo Blahnik - Bayer and Strong's former porn stars sell shoes
Christian: "One time I got banged in the Statue of Liberty's head. I thought I was hearing all of America's thoughts." Real jokes in here that kill.
Episode Two: Miley Cyrus
Christian: Big drop from the first episode, but also a big drop in host quality.
Scot: Shaky and uneven but never bottoming out, really.
Piers Morgan Live - Pedrad as Huffington discussing Hillary Clinton miniseries - Beck Bennett as Clinton, Bayer as Hillary, then McKinnon as Hillary
Christian: Prescient in that Hillary says she is running for president in 2016, but nothing much here.
Scot: Auditioning different Hillarys, essentially.
O'Brien hands over class to hippie poetry expert (Bayer)
Christian: Worth a swing at 10-to-1, but pretty middling as characters go.
Scot: I liked Bayer. That was pretty much enough.
Episode Three: Bruce Willis
Christian: Of course there are going to be growing pains when replacing legendary cast members, and that is the case now. Pedrad and McKinnon are both underused.
Scot: Willing to actually assign this to a host problem.
Monologue: Willis plays the harmonica with Moynihan
Christian: Just the thing absolutely nobody wants to see.
Scot: Bringing back the monologues from the 1980s!
Willis has thoughts on how to attack a terrorist compound in Afghanistan, but he's supposed to stay in the truck
Scot: Seems like they want Bennett to take some Sudeikis roles.
Ed's Barber Shop - Willis is a white barber in a black barber shop
Christian: This is primarily a ripoff of the barbershop scene in Coming to America.
Boy Dance Party - men dance when the ladies leave
Christian: All premise.
Scot: It was fine. Most obvious in its debt to Lonely Island stuff.
The Lady Gaga talk show (Bayer) - Michael Kors (Willis) is guest - Penelope Cruz (McKinnon)
Christian: Like seeing McKinnon back as Cruz, but this is a dog.
Scot: Hard to parody someone who is intentionally ridiculous.
Centauri Vodka - Willis is a centaur, Milhiser is his rear end
Scot: Willis apparently blew his exit, leaving with *minutes* of material yet to go. Likley why the E-Meth short film gets a return spin later.
Killam returns as Eddie, the angry brother who criticizes Bayer's date (Willis)
Christian: Do not care for this. Killam isn't good enough to carry a character that is all performance.
Episode Four: Edward Norton
Christian: Hardly any Bayer, which is not the way to put on a good show.
Scot: Struggling with some basic sketch blocking/tackling so far, which shouldn't be a surprise given turnover.
McKinnon as Kathleen Sebelius pitching alternative options to the Obamacare website
Christian: There's just something about some cast members where you can just tell they know exactly what they're doing. And McKinnon has it.
Scot: Some credit for taking on a major SNAFU of the left.
The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders - Wes Anderson horror movie
Christian: Pretty dead-on, style-wise. This is the thing I love most about Wes Anderson - he gets mocked for his style, but gets his revenge by making even more Wes Anderson-ey movies. (Alec Baldwin is also the narrator in The Royal Tenenbaums.)
Scot: Enjoyed the heck out of this.
Brooks Wheelan is a rodent exterminator in an office building, Norton is his redneck buddy
Christian: Feels like a warmed-over Forte effort?
Scot: Kinda underwhelming in the end, but some credit for the idea/concept.
12 Days Not a Slave - Pharoah is free for two weeks, wants to get a drink
Christian: Started off as a really bad idea and ended as only a marginally bad idea. Aidy was funny.
Norton plays a John Waters-style character discussing Halloween candy
Christian: Norton is surprisingly awkward for being such a great actor.
Scot: Less successful repeat of the Buscemi ornament bit from S37.
Episode Five: Kerry Washington
Christian: Turns out 2013 me was WAY too effusive about Washington (see below), but she was very good. All six new cast members are effectively nonparticipants in the show at this point.
Scot: What would you say the show does well right now? Can't think of anything in particular. Unanchored.
Barack and Michelle (Washington) Obama - Washington runs out and returns as Oprah, v/o explains Washington has to play lots of black women because there are no black women on the cast. All the white men come on to play Matthew McConaughey - Al Sharpton gives the LFNY.
Christian: The show had been harshly criticized for not having any black women, and Kenan got himself in trouble for suggesting it was hard to find a funny one.
Monologue: Cast members come out and ask Washington to fix things for them, given her role as Olivia Pope on Scandal
Christian: My tweet from the next day: "Just watched last night's SNL on the DVR. If Kerry Washington were an actual cast member, she'd be the best one they have. She is that good."
"What Does My Girl Say?” music video
Christian: Takes too long to get going.
Scot: Oh, I hated this. Hated it.
Miss Universe Moscow 2013 - contestants misbehave
Christian: See what happens when you cut Bayer and McKinnon loose to be silly? And Washington is great, too.
Eminem, "Berzerk"
Christian: If you asked me to guess, I would have said this song came out five years ago. He has two drummers but it's clear this is all just backing track.
Cartoon Catchphrase Game Show - Bryant's husband is out and about
Christian: Bryant is great and this was unexpected, so worth a bump.
Scot: This is good, but ... I feel there's something off with the set-ups? Moving too fast? Not establishing the talk show? It's not the slam-dunk funny it should be.
Episode Six: Lady Gaga
Christian: Somewhere between average and good. At least they're staying away from the real duds.
Crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford (Moynihan) gives interview on CBC, then 60 Minutes
Christian: At the time, Kevin Farley had thoughts.
Scot: Underwhelmed, actually.
Waking Up with Kimye (Pharoah and Pedrad) - Gaga is nerdy Apple store employee - "People who care too much about their outfits are maybe hiding something"
Christian: The gap between Pedrad playing Kim Kardashian and Pedrad playing a 13-year-old boy is jarring.
Scot: Better than I feared. Gaga's character work is pretty good!
Bennett and Bayer interview before NY co-op board, Gaga says Marisa Tomei's My Cousin Vinny character was based on her
Scot: Interesting concept, poor execution
Gaga plays herself in 2063, gets Kenan to come fix a lamp
Christian: Kind of wistful and sweet, and Gaga is really good.
Scot: MORE THINGS LIKE THIS - “Born This Way” as a jingle for laser toilet cleaners.
Episode Seven: Josh Hutcherson
Christian: The Beck Bennett breakout show. Bayer, McKinnon and Strong are all in the mix for the top female slot.
Girlfriends Talk Show - Morgan’s crush (Hutcherson) is now Strong's BFF
Scot: These are just too similar, formulaic.
Christian: Bryant is good, but yes - same jokes.
Baby Boss - new employee (Hutcherson) finds boss Mr. Patterson (Bennett) has body control of a baby
Christian: Good premise, but nothing much beyond that. It's fine.
Scot: Bennett does great work here; wonder if he brought this with him?
HAIM - “The Wire”
Christian: In 2013, if you guessed which one of these sisters would be a big movie star, you would have guessed wrong.
Hutcherson lip-syncs “Your Love” to woo Bayer
Christian: Won me over eventually.
Scot: Don't love the idea, but everyone is having a lot of fun. That's contagious.
Dancing - (Mooney) rapidly gains & loses fame without leaving his apartment
Christian: As good as it gets for Mooney.
Scot: A very 1980s show for whatever reason - Reminds me of the Armisen "getting famous" piece from a few years ago.
Animal hospital workers (Hutcherson), (McKinnon), (Strong) break pet deaths to owners
Christian: The Wiig influence is strong in this. Also, it's clear Aidy Bryant is always funny when she is told bad news.
Winston Sam Bass (O'Brien) Investigative Report on bugs
Christian: Short films have gone from the show's strength to its biggest weakness. Lonely Islands don't come around often.
Scot: So, so, so many short films. Batting average is falling steadily.
Episode Eight: Paul Rudd
Christian: A real flop for an "all hands on deck" episode.
The Sound Of Music: Live and Condensed with Wiig and Armisen
Christian: It's bad, but not horrible. Feeling wistful.
Scot: Oh, good heavens, we're doing this again?
Monologue: Rudd and One Direction feud. Ferrell, Koechner, Carell sing Afternoon Delight
Christian: Huge star power, but it's basically just lorem ipsum for monologues.
Scot: Fine, but why are we just recycling a gag from the first film?
Divorcing (Rudd) & (Bayer) dance to Fleetwood Mac's “I Don’t Want To Know”
Christian: They shouldn't have played the whole intro to the song every time.
Scot: Yeah, I actually don't think this works.
One Direction - “Story Of My Life”
Christian: The guy with the chest tattoo is embarrassingly bad. It's like Harry Styles sucked the talent from everyone else.
Michaelangelo (Killam) based David sculpture on (Rudd), including small penis
Christian: Wait, Pharoah is still on the show?
Scot: It's just one big small dick joke, but it's likeable.
(Strong)’s memories of lost loves include pizza guy (Rudd)
Christian: It's fine. Kind of a Fellini-eque "meeting all your former lovers at once" thing.
Scot: Strong is, well, Strong. She's trying to grab the wheel this season.
Bill Brasky - Ferrell, Rudd, Koechner, Killam at Chuck E. Cheese’s
Christian: You can actually see the cue cards in the reflection of one of the pictures on the wall.
Scot: Adam McKay came back to write this - "Brasky gave AIDS back to the monkeys!"
Episode Nine: John Goodman
Christian: Not saying more Bayer could have saved this, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.
Scot: Goodman again solidifies himself as the most overrated host in show history. Kenan can't carry this show right now, no matter how hard the writers try to make it happen
Monologue: Goodman & Kenan sing “All I Want For Christmas Is Booty”
Christian: This is terrible.
Scot: I don't need a Goodman song, I really don't.
Dance of the Snowflakes - snowflake-costumed (Goodman), (Bayer), (Kenan), (Bryant) in holiday pageant dance
Christian: Think of all the sketches this probably applies to - they seem like genius for weeks and weeks and then bomb. (Also, this is typically how I feel about the podcast.)
Scot: Small sign of life here.
Three Wise Guys - wise guys (Goodman), (Stallone), (De Niro) go to see Jesus
Christian: There's a reason Stallone only hosted once. And DeNiro is terrible once again. I literally cannot believe anyone laughed at the camel toe joke, which was obvious the second Stallone started it.
Scot: Absolutely as wretched as you would imagine.
Lawyer (Strong) argues that (Bennett) fired Goodman for being too sexy
Christian: Actually liked Killam in this and Kenan's judge is pretty funny.
Scot: Goodman essentially as Linda Tripp.
The Christmas Whistle - characters can't stand holiday whistle
Scot: A different kind of escalation here, but it worked for me.
Christian: "Different" as in "not very good?"
Episode Ten: Jimmy Fallon
Christian: The moment between Barry Gibb and Paul McCartney at goodnights was kind of sweet. Moynihan's usage has been pretty thin lately, and I think it shows. But yeah, we know the show is not short on talent, the writers just aren't giving them much.
Scot: The show is firing every bullet possible the last three weeks and ... nothing. Points to a writing issue, at least in part.
Wrappinville - singing & dancing mascot (Timberlake) & gift bag (Fallon) compete with Bryant
Christian: Should have just shut it down with the Lady Gaga one.
Scot: I think it's the last one of these.
Fallon & Paul McCartney [cameo] sing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Christian: Fallon is a supporting cast member that somehow convinced himself he was a star.
Scot: If there's a way to underuse Paul freaking McCartney, I guess this would be it.
Celebrity Family Feud - CBS & NBC network stars do battle
Christian: Wheelan gets the Bill Murray "things aren't going great for me" treatment.
Scot: Fallon breaks because that's what Fallon does.
"Do It On My Twin Bed" - video
Christian: Fallon’s rap basically steals this line: “'Cause I'm a freaky streaker like Winnie the Pooh, T-shirt and no pants, and I dance the bugaloo" - Beastie Boys, "That's It, That's All (2004). This is a good first effort, but I think they are going to return to this theme multiple times in the future.
Scot: This is very, very good, breaking the streak of poor pre-tapes.
Barry Gibb Talk Show - Madonna (cameo) & Barry Gibb [cameo] take part
Christian: A complete disaster. Referencing washed up musicians can be initially funny because it's random, but it's sort of creepy when they show up because people don't know what they look like anymore. (See Lindsey Buckingham.)
Scot: Gibb's appearance is totally worthless.
A Christmas Carol - What if Ebenezer Scrooge (Killam/Fallon) were gay?
Christian: Fallon is like a human Austin Powers - asleep for a decade, he comes back to SNL and thinks you can still do jokes from the late 90s.
Scot: A waste of time.
Baby It's Cold Outside - Fallon & Strong reverse roles in “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
Christian: OK, this was very nice.
Episode Eleven: Drake
Christian: Sasheer Zamata added to the cast. Zamata beat out Amber Ruffin for the spot. In November, Kenan has said he would no longer be dressing in drag, so they needed a black woman.
Scot: Yeeeeah. There's a pretty clear writing problem at this point. Drake was a fantastic guest host. Unexpected! Too bad the rest of the show couldn't meet him.
Nancy Grace (Noel Wells) - legalized Colorado marijuana is a problem
Christian: Drake's Katt Williams is actually outstanding.
Scot: Wells doesn't have it.
Resolution Revolution - (Killam), (Drake), (Pharoah) video
Christian: Zamata gets the most screen time of any female cast member on her first show.
Language barrier is a problem for would-be Indiana Jones (Pedrad) at Disney
Scot: Drake is really, really good and can't even elevate this material.
Christian: I actually think Drake is good enough to pull this up to just okay. Pedrad throws herself at the boulder at the end - when's the last time we saw hardcore physical comedy from a cast member? (Or from anyone aside from Melissa McCarthy?)
Miss Meadows (Bayer) brings her love of poetry to students serving detention
Christian: Like this one better than the first.
Scot: I actually like the character. Don't think others will share that take.
Episode Twelve: Jonah Hill
Christian: At least six cast members are just dead weight at this point.
Monologue: Leonardo DiCaprio [cameo] visits to puncture Hill's ego
Christian: Prescient: Killam as Pitt asking what Leo is like - they'd co-star in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood five years later.
Scot: Seemingly half the monologues this year feature big celeb cameos.
The Hit - Gunmen (Kenan), (Killam), (Pharoah) during the nighttime snowfall
Christian: Standard contrast piece. (Gangsters and feelings about snow.)
Boss Dinner - Employee (Hill) yells at himself at his boss’ (Bennett) house
Christian: "Infant penis syndrome" made me laugh.
Scot: Simple premise, not written through in any way whatsoever.
Inside Social - Teens (Bennett) & (Mooney) do a TV show at house party
Christian: Mooney was hired as a specialist, and this is his specialty - dreck. The show's second shot at recreating Wayne's World, behind Jared's Room.
Scot: Did I fall into a time warp and land in Season 10? Third taped piece tonight. - What the hell is this? What am I missing?
Ex-porn stars endorse Lamborghini
Christian: At least 10 really good jokes in this.
Scot: The Seal Team 6/Funeral stories back-to-back are good.
Episode Thirteen: Melissa McCarthy
Christian: We are in for a challenging decade.
Scot: We'll have to say something about Meyers. In short, grudging respect. I mean, there's probably a connection between Meyers transitioning out this year, the writers' room cratering, and WU quality sliding all at the same time. Never showy, flashy or taking home run swings. But never really bottoming out or running into long quality skids during his time running things.
All the new featured players might as well stay home if they're not in a pre-taped segment.
Super Bowl Halftime Spectacular - Broadway performers are halftime show replacements (Killam, McCarthy, Kenan)
Christian: Standard contrast.
Scot: A bad musical is just a bad musical.
Women's Group - McCarthy’s shares goals of revenge with women's group
Christian: More contrast - becoming a big writer theme this year. Window theory!
Scot: Another good McCarthy (what's gotten into me?) - more tethered despite the wild reveals.
Guess That Phrase - weird contestant (McCarthy) completely fails at game show
Scot: Awfully close to her previous Hidden Valley Ranch character.
Christian: Yeah, the stealing the phrase joke is identical to Hidden Valley. But it's just different enough.
Art Exhibit - museum technician (McCarthy) disrupts Frida Kahlo portrayer (Pedrad) in live art exhibit
Christian: Fine. Finally a bad McCarthy.
Scot: Terrible on every possible level. Concept, writing, execution, acting. Anti-comedy.
Super Champions with Kyle -Mooney talks with Super Bowl fans in Times Square.
Christian: Makes me yearn for Jim Breuer. Obviously Mooney is going for some kind of cringe comedy, but he is just "cringe" without the "comedy."
Scot: What is this ridiculously stupid mumbly act supposed to be? Why would I laugh?
Episode Fourteen: Jim Parsons
Christian: The show is so safe right now - as I said of an early season, the sacred cows are fully safe. (This is why the 12 Years a Slave audition bit stood out.)
Scot: Pedrad was busy taping the pilot of John Mulaney’s sitcom. Overall a very game host and one of the better episodes of the season.
Ellen (McKinnon) - Barkhad Abdi (Pharoah) is pranked & Johnny Weir (Parsons) is dapper
Christian: I dress exactly like Ellen.
Scot: Prescient: Putin gets permission to invade Ukraine.
Peter Pan - Tinkerbell’s half-sister Tonkerbell (Bryant) joins Peter Pan (Parsons)
Christian: Bryant's performance drags it up to "it's fine."
Scot: This is a total dead-end of a sketch.
The Killer Files - Bennett hosts; serial killer (Parsons) appears on TV dance shows
Christian: When you hear the premise, you know the whole sketch.
Scot: Parsons is good here. Feels like it could have been even better with some writing.
Oscar Profiles: 12 Years a Slave - white actors uncomfortable auditioning
Christian: Finally, a sign of a pulse from Wheelan and O'Brien.
Spotlightz! - Laura Parsons & Spotlightz! peers act in Best Picture nominee adaptations
Christian: Bayer invented the character and everyone else is doing impressions of her character.
Scot: More Bayer, less everyone else in this.
Beck - “Wave”
Christian: I remember watching this live and thinking it was amazing.
Boss who crapped his pants (Parsons) shares elevator ride with his employees
Christian: Parsons is great in this.
A little bit more than it appears to be on the surface. (Skip to near the end.)
Cowboys - Parsons wants to jump out and surprise a fellow cowboy (Bennett) for birthday
Christian: More contrast - gruff cowboys with tender birthday wishes.
Scot: This is well done, especially considering rest of season. Wheelan is good, well-written, nice flow.
Episode Fifteen: Lena Dunham
Christian: Killam is the backbone of the show, but not close to the best cast member, which makes for some weak episodes.
Scot: Cast usage is bizarre. Pharoah getting TONS of chances, Zamata is everywhere, McKinnon shuffled off to mostly impressions/hard characters, Moynihan randomly killing. Virtually zero politics on this show this year. Would you have any idea at all what is happening in the country?
Presidential Address -- Liam Neeson [cameo] targets Vladimir Putin with Barack Obama (Pharoah) video
Christian: Terrible.
Scot: Laaaaaaaaaaaame.
Oooh Child - GPS navigation voice interrupts car singalong
Christian: I actually remembered this one, and I think it's pretty good.
Scot: The twist at the end is incongruous with the rest of the sketch. It doesn't make sense.
What's Poppin - Pharoah and Kenan host; very white "rap" group performs on hip-hop show
Christian: A lesson all the way back from the first five years: Things that are bad aren't funny, they are just bad. Also, more contrast.
Scot: Perhaps funny as an idea? But why would you carry it through to a full sketch?
Venezuelan (Strong) doesn't understand her boyfriend’s (O'Brien) "men's rights" activities
Christian: 100% clapter.
Scot: This sketch is not designed to make you laugh but is designed to make you cheer its attempts to shame O'Brien. I hate it intensely because there are 18,000 funnier ways to do this.
Episode Sixteen: Louis C.K.
Christian: McKinnon is this cast's Will Forte - drops in once or twice an episode throwing 100 MPH then disappears.
Scot: Strong episode, perhaps the best of the season by this point. C.K., like Zach G., seems to give the show permission to do weird stuff they're afraid to try most weeks.
Black Jeopardy! - white contestant (C.K.) questions tenor of game show
Christian: Having C.K. be a white professor of African American history is taken straight from a black game show bit from Chappelle's Show.
Scot: I 100% said "Michael Vick" just before C.K. answered the same way - C.K. is perfect and it's a great concept. I know this gets even better.
Baby Boss - Mr. Patterson’s (Bennett) employee (C.K.) resigns
Christian: One of SNL's unanswered questions: Why are the actors in wigs when they aren't necessary to the sketch? Also, this has a common joke structure from The Last Man on Earth - a character seems crazy, so another character patronizes them, then the crazy character points out what they're saying is nuts.
Scot: Still like it, but nothing really new here.
Jos. A. Bank clothing is suitable to replace paper towels
Christian: Pulling a thread out of popular culture and seeing it through. Totally worked.
Scot: Was unaware Jos A. Bank suits had a poor reputation for quality!
Doctor's Office - doctor (O'Brien) checks butts for Darth Vader figures
Scot: C.K. blows a line and they leave it in a pre-taped piece?? - Other than that, really ejoyed it. O'Brien solid for a change. Good escalation.
Romantic Speech - crazy talk pervades (C.K.)’s reconciliation with ex-girlfriend (Bryant)
Christian: I enjoy the "let's throw out a thin premise and have people just talk nonsense" sketches. This was Ferrell's specialty.
Scot: C.K. and Bryant selling this hard (other than the cue card reading) - couple good laughs.
Episode Seventeen: Anna Kendrick
Christian: Pretty clear which of the new people are dead cast members walking at this point. (Although Wheelan's Weekend Update bit was fine.)
Dongs All Over the World - SNL women flying for dongs
Christian:
Scot: Welp, that didn't work at all.
Flirty - Shy (Mooney) struggles to ask neighbor (Bayer) out on a date
Scot: Boy, Bayer is a talent. A real talent. There's some actual sweetness here and a real tricky balance in places. A success.
Audition - Kendricks & off-key sister (Bayer) want to be backup singers for Pharell
Christian: Writers' week off?
Scot: That stupid Kattan/Parnell thing but with singing instead of dancing - Bayer, apparently, is supposed to be a terrible singer but she's not bad.
Episode Eighteen: Seth Rogen
Christian: When Bayer and McKinnon are in the backseat, the show can go sideways quickly.
Scot: Contra C.K., Rogen allows the writers to indulge some of the show's worst instincts.
Monologue: Zooey Deschanel, James Franco, Taylor Swift [real] interrupt Rogen
Christian: I think there were enough jokes before cameopalooza started.
Scot: If you can't think of any jokes, book a cameo or four for the monologue.
Monster Pals - (OBrien) & (James Franco) undergo surgery to look human
Scot: When they inject some humanity into sketches this season, they do have a little more success
Christian: Dissent. This is mostly a waste of time.
Strong brings up cousin’s (Rogen) one gay experience at his engagement party
Scot: Like there's some kind of reward for writing the worst sketch of the season.
A Very Smoky 420 - Mooney mumbles and makes up pot-related stuff and no one in the crowd laughs and everyone wishes for the sweet release of death
Christian: Is Kyle Mooney a Make-A-Wish kid or something?
Scot: Mooney is kryptonite to the show's stated mission of laughter and entertainment.
Episode Nineteen: Andrew Garfield
Christian: I rated this episode almost a half-point higher than you did. One of the strongest of the season. Starting with the Lena Dunham episode, ratings started to crater and didn't recover the rest of the season.
Scot: About halfway through, I realized I knew him from The Social Network.
Monologue: Emma Stone [cameo] & Bryant advise Garfield about hosting
Christian: Yes, it leans on a cameo, but it's just fine.
Scot: Hey! What a surprise! A cameo in the monologue!!
Stanx commercial - odor lock technology of underwear takes care of Bennett’s farts
Christian: Didn't we do this a few seasons ago with Armisen's breathe-right strips for your butt?
Scot: There is *a lot* of S19/S20 crude bodily function humor this season.
Strong makes the case she should get more instead of Oliver Twist (Garfield)
Christian: Just a Strong performance piece with barely any writing.
Scot: Crowd is utterly dead, rightfully so.
The Beygency - Garfield is on the run after dissing Beyonce - Kiefer Sutherland & Mary Lynn Rajskub cameos
Christian: The rare inspired pre-recorded bit. Still stands up today.
Scot: Chris Kelly/Sarah Schneider wrote.
Episode Twenty: Charlize Theron
Christian: Look, O'Brien is still awkward, but keeping Mooney over him would turn out to be an enormous mistake.
Scot: Let's just get this thing over with.
Dragon Babies - retired police officer (OBrien) voices animated star of Dragon Babies
Christian: What? This is dreadful. An accent is not a sketch.
Dating Seminar - Heshy returns with SFX, thrusts, and Theron
Scot: Duplication Theory - Worth it to see Pedrad work the character again.
Bikini Beach Party - Theron and Killam get covered in whale blood and guts
Scot: OK, this is the second time I've noticed so ... didn't Killam have a chest tattoo? What happened to it? - Everyone knows what's coming from the start. Then it happens. Then you do it again??
Tourists - in NYC, foreign visitors ask passers-by for assistance
Christian: Trying to draft off Borat.
Episode Twenty-One: Andy Samberg
Christian: Pedrad deserved a better career, but the writing was on the wall when Lorne flooded the cast with new female cast members.
Scot: Can't use all featured players all season long, but let's bring 19 people in for cameos tonight. Final episode for Nasim Pedrad, John Milhiser, Mike O’Brien, Noel Wells, and Brooks Wheelan.
When Will the Bass Drop - DJ Davvincii (Samberg) & Lil Jon [cameo] end up killing concertgoers
Christian: Now I am starting to remember these as if they were last year.
St. Vincent - “Digital Witness”
Christian: My #5 album of 2014.
Vogelchecks - Wiig cameo, Armisen cameo, Hader, Rudolph, Rudd
Christian: I mean, they look like they are having fun. Armisen almost never broke.
Scot: Perhaps the worst thing any of the people on screen has been involved with.
Hugs - Samberg, Jorma Taccone & Pharrell [cameo] sing about hugging girls
Christian: There's a reason this one is forgotten.
Scot: Doing nothing for me.
Blizzard Man does his thing, 2 Chainz [cameo]
Christian: The Xerox machines were busy at SNL this week.
Scot: You know exactly how this one will play out before it starts.