'Wasn't That Special' Season 43 Clips Package
As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the listening process.
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Here are some of the materials we discuss throughout the Season Forty-Three episode:
Papyrus
Written by Julio Torres, it hilariously documents a man losing his mind over a font obsession.
Pervert Hunters
A clever take on the “To Catch a Predator” series in Tina Fey style.
Black Jeopardy! With Chadwick Boseman
It’s the mirror image of the classic Tom Hanks version. Instead of demonstrating how similar Donald Trump-loving white people are to black people, it shows how different black people can be from each other.
Diner Lobster
John Mulaney’s first musical.
Sitcom Reboot
One of podcast host Scot’s favorites of the season. It is dark.
Dawn Lazarus Returns
Look who’s back!
Michael Cohen Wiretap Cold Open
This was around the time stuntcasting took over the show, and it was never more evident than when porn star Stormy Daniels showed up.
The Game of Life: DACA Edition
Another Julio Torres-written bit, this time a biting critique about the labyrinth of hoops immigrants must jump through to become U.S. citizens.
Harassment Awards
Season 43 took place as the #MeToo movement took off, and the issue dominated the sketches for weeks. Here’s a typical example:
Welcome to Hell
And here’s another.
Google Talk
In Season 49, the Beavis and Butthead sketch would go viral - but the same concept was tried in Season 43 with far less giggling.
What Even Matters Anymore
While the show soared in Season 42 as it made sense of Donald Trump’s election, the sketches suffered in Season 43 as it hardened against Trump. This bit is simply a primal scream with no jokes.
Genetics Lab
It’s a dog with human hands, which is always funny.
Science Show
Host Sam Rockwell gets a little too into character here, blurting out perhaps the most audible f-word in show history. (Although it is bleeped in this version.)
Office Phone Call
A good Kevin Hart sketch!
Tiffany Haddish Monologue
If you thought Tiffany Haddish would be nervous given her meteoric rise over the previous few months, you would be wrong. She is confident.
Themyscira
A great performance by Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon.
First Date
A funny reveal one-third of the way through, then just gets better from there.
Other notes:
The show won a lot of Emmy awards for the previous season:
Luke Null’s hometown paper was very excited about a local boy made good. Sadly, it would not last past one season.
As Al Franken was being pushed out of the U.S. Senate for misbehaving with a female radio host, 36 women who had worked with him on SNL signed a letter supporting him:
Vulture Magazine documented the rapid rise of Mikey Day on SNL.
When Sean Spicer left the White House, fans mourned the loss of Melissa McCarthy’s Spicer impression.
Bobby Moynihan talked to Vulture about his exit from SNL and how the show became much harder to make under Donald Trump.
Vox profiled Eugene Lee, who had been designing sets for SNL since the show’s inception.
In Vanity Fair, former writer Tim Herlihy recounted the sketch Donald Trump killed when he hosted in 2015.
Deadline ran an oral history of the show’s glorious Season 42, with cast members explaining what made it work so well.