'Wasn't That Special' Season 42 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 Forty-Two bonus notes section, with the clips coming soon.
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Episode One: Margot Robbie
Christian: REALLY strong season premiere. Show has a bounce it was missing at the end of last season.
Scot: Alex Moffat already shows some qualities the show has been lacking. Really solid premiere, which hasn't always been the case recently - No Bayer?
Presidential Debate - Che as Lester Holt - Hillary Clinton (McKinnon) lets Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) fumble debate
Christian: Jim Downey-esque.
Scot: "She is a strong, beautiful, political prop that I almost forgot to mention." - If Hillary won, "I think I'm going to be president" would be as remembered as "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."
Action 9 News at Five - TV news team (Strong, Bennett, Jones) can’t get why hottie (Robbie) married dork Matt Shatt (Day)
Christian: Debut for Mikey Day and Alex Moffatt and it might be their best sketch.
Scot: Great escalation and a classic Kenan performance.
Family Feud: Bernie Sanders (Larry David) and Team Clinton meet Team Trump—McKinnon as KellyAnne Conway, Bennett as Putin, Villaseñor as Sarah Silverman, and Moffett and Day as Trump Bros.
Christian: Melissa Villaseñor debuts with a strong Sarah Silverman.
Women's Round Table - older actress Debette Goldry (McKinnon) relays tales of Hollywood's past
Christian: It's Colleen Rafferty but with an old actress and it works.
Scot: This has some potential.
Mr. Robot - hacking victim Jones enlists the help of Elliot (Davidson)
Christian: Again, the sketch is dependent on you knowing all about Leslie Jones.
Scot: I don't know the show, it didn't do much for me.
Episode Two: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Scot: The light usage of Bayer and Moynihan does not portend well for the season.
VP Debate Kaine (Day), Pence (Bennett) / Breaking News - Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) handles Access Hollywood bus remark fallout
Christian: McKinnon is SO good here.
"America's Dad, Sen. Tim Kaine" Boy, that sounds familiar.
Monologue: Miranda performs “My Shot” variant to express his excitement at being on SNL
Christian: Raps "never going to be president" next to the picture of Trump. I got news for you, Lin.
Pine Ridge Campground - Overly-amorous siblings (McKinnon) and (Bayer) sing obnoxiously
Scot: Doesn't work on either level, the singing or the siblings/lovers angle
Christian: Eh, it's not historically bad. Might have been better as a 10-to1.
Crucible Cast Party - High school theater celebration is tame
Christian: The fourth installment of "a Song about badass ladies doing relatable things."
The Music Man - The Wells Fargo Wagon brings bad financial instruments
Scot: Is Villaseñor doing an impression of a Pedrad character? Is that how she talks?
Episode Three: Emily Blunt
Christian: Cards on the table: I love Julio Torres and will always be partial to anything he writes. Day, Moffatt and Villaseñor are a shot in the arm so far. Show feels fresher.
Presidential Debate - Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) and "President" Hillary Clinton (McKinnon) debate a la town hall, Moynihan as Ken Bone
Christian: Prescient: Ken Bone was a weirdo.
Scot: This is one of the great McKinnon performances as Hillary - the fake reaction to Bill's women is excellent - a good debate sketch, probably better than Episode 1.
Escorts (Blunt and Jones) lay out unsexy ground rules for Moffat and Day
Christian: I was kind of waiting for the two women to be cops, which I think would have been a funnier closer.
Scot: Blunt is showing off, she's already exceedingly competent at this.
Short Film Festival - Festival attendee (Bayer) is the only person not in the cast or crew, who asks questions
Scot: Already can tell by Moffat's use how much they missed someone like him in the cast.
A long limo containing eccentric artists visits a Burger King drive-thru
Christian: Randy Candy: "I peddle in whimsy."
Scot: Man, this is the third(?) sketch creeping toward the inevitable David S. Pumpkins endpoint - All fun performance, no writing.
Episode Four: Tom Hanks
Christian: Seems like Moynihan and Bayer are underused and yet the show is still surging. Getting a big bump during an election season just as they did in 2008 with Palin. According to our grades, the best first four episodes to start a season since Season 16 (Kyle McLachlan, Susan Lucci, George Steinbrenner, Patrick Swayze)
Scot: Break out the record books to see the last time we had a show this strong.
Presidential Debate - Hanks as Chris Wallace - Trump (Baldwin) and Clinton (McKinnon) debate for 3rd time
Christian: Still think these are bringing the goods.
Scot: Baldwin's facial things actually detract from the impression IMO - "Mr. Trump, it's become very clear you're probably going to lose" - The election denial stuff obviously is prescient for 2020.
Black Jeopardy! - Trump voter Doug (Hanks) finds common ground with contestants
Christian: Basically predicted the whole shift of minority voters to Trump. Saw what nobody else saw at the time. Written by Bryan Tucker (who wrote for Chappelle) and Michael Che. Evidently, Hanks ad-libbed the hesitance to shake Kenan's hand.
Scot: The way they slow play the similarities is very nice. It's just a wonderful build and a great twist on the expected formula. Plus, it identifies something that was bubbling under in society (class, not race, as a dividing line). Essentially, it's a flawless sketch. It's an all-timer.
Haunted Elevator - It's David S. Pumpkins (Hanks)! Kenan runs the elevator, McKinnon and Bennett
Scot: Just silly, stupid fun, played perfectly by Hanks.
A Girl's Halloween - Bryant, Strong, and Bayer have a drunken disaster
Christian: A simple concept done really well.
Scot: Very similar in tone to the Golden Globes one from S41, which I also liked a lot - Everybody is really strong.
Episode Five: Benedict Cumberbatch
Christian: Bennett is from Wilmette, IL, and thus a Cubs fan. Moynihan has completely vanished.
Scot: Solid episode but also not much to write home about. Wonder if everyone was kinda distracted.
Erin Burnett Outfront - Trump/Clinton quarrel - Alec Baldwin [cameo] and McKinnon stop sketch for Times Square recess
Scot: Really the first time there's a serious acknowledgment that Clinton could actually lose - "We can't tell you who to vote for, but on Tuesday we all get a chance to choose what kind of country we want to live in."
Gemma and Ricky - Gemma (Strong) and magician boyfriend (Cumberbatch) meet Kenan and Bayer
Christian: Strong's British accent is better than Cumberbatch's American one.
Episode Six: Dave Chappelle
Christian: A great episode with a horrifying cold open. Seems like half the cast could have just taken the night off, but Chappelle was humming.
Hillary Clinton (McKinnon) plays piano and sings “Hallelujah”
Scot: I hate that losing an election is treated with the same gravity as 9/11. I hate that everyone thought this was fine response. I hate that Lorne forgot his credo, "“We’ve got the whole country watching – all fifty states.” I hate that it's essentialy wishcasting a Hillary response to the loss.
Chapelle does stand up about angry whites, shootings, the presidency
Scot: Surprised, but I thought this was just ... OK?
Christian: Oh man, I thought this was great. Absolutely perfect tone. One of the best monologues in show history.
Election Night - Unlike their white friends, Chapelle and Rock take the election result in stride
Christian: Of all the political sketches in the show's history, this one might be the most honest about the liberal bubble they all live in. It's perfection.
Scot: Feels like the material mined here could have had a home in the monologue. Maybe that's why it didn't? To avoid repeating?
Jheri's Place/Inside SNL - press conference follows bad sketch
Christian: "A wig can't carry an entire sketch." I believe I have said exactly this in our notes.
Scot: Interesting premise/set-up for this one. You initially think Jones has blown another line.
A Tribe Called Quest - “The Space Program”
Christian: I think this episode officially breaks the n-word record for SNL.
Love and Leslie - Backstage romance between Jones and Mooney
Christian: Yep, more contrast with Leslie and a tiny white.
Scot: To steal your line, this only works because of the personas outside of sketches (Jones is loud and aggressive, Mooney is a timid loser).