'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.