'Wasn't That Special' Season Fourteen Bonus Material

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.

Below is the Season Fourteen bonus notes section, with the clips coming next week.

So please help keep the podcast advertisement-free and upgrade to the Executive Producer level, which will keep these emails coming in the future.

Episode One: Tom Hanks

Christian: Lorne's line is always that you think the best cast was the one when you were in high school. But what if the best cast WAS the one when I was in high school? (I was 15-16 this season.)

Scot: This will work. This is OK. Shouldn't Miller get a writing credit for Update? How does that work? Sargent is 64/65 and still writing. Franken a "creative consultant" Famed audio guy Bob Clearmountain gets credits.

Mr. Short-Term Memory - Hanks and Victoria

Christian: I had forgotten how mean this is to Victoria. I feel so bad for her!

Scot: Phil starting to make things up to accomodate Hanks is a fantastic adjustment - Damn, this is good.

First Citiwide Change Bank

Christian: Nealon was originally supposed to play the Downey role, but he couldn't get it just right and got frustrated. Finally, he threw his hands up and said, "Jim, you know what you want, you just do it."

Scot: "The answer is simple: volume." Low-key one of the most-quoted SNL lines.

Dukakis/Bush Debate '88 - Hanks as Peter Jennings - Diane Sawyer (Jan) moderates Michael Dukakis (Lovitz) vs. George Bush (Dana) - Donaldson (Nealon) interrupts every question - Dukakis is "enraged" - Bush intros time machine defense - "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy" - Bush in bullet-proof bubble - Bush through Iran-Conta $$ was going to fund bombing of abortion clinics - "a thousand points of light" - Hartman as Brikley in post-debate (sounding a bit like Howard Cosell) - debut of kid as Dan Quayle

Scot: They would repeat this "what else is on TV" joke in a future debate - Dukakis getting elevated at lectern - Dana's Bush is still not *there* yet - Downey never loved that Dukakis line that people quoted - It's a classic. You could split this up into 5 parts and each of those also would be classics. What a massive swing; the length, the writing, the pre/post debate coverage. And it connected.

Christian: Everything a debate sketch should be. Begins a long trend of SNL thinking the only thing funny about Democrats is that they are too brainy.

Jew/Not a Jew Game Show - "You Make the Call" commercial

Christian: Funny and ballsy. Feels like either a Smigel or Franken (who does the V/O)

Scot: You can hear the crowd nervously laugh at the title - Hanks reading rules is both informative and entertaining - Nealon on Koch: "He's a Jew, Bob."

Girl Watchers at high school reunion

Scot: "It's been a while ... and it'll be a while." - Yeah, this is even better than the first one.

Pat Stevens Show - Barbara Bush (Hartman) & Kitty Dukakis (Jan) fight

Scot: OK, the path to a barely acceptable Pat Stevens is to let Phil and Jan cook.

Christian: I can't give it the extra point just because it's on a scorcher of an episode.

Outtakes from Big show Josh/Hanks staying in junior high and bullying other kids

Christian: It's the Billy Madison prequel!

Scot: Good little idea.

Episode Two: Matthew Broderick

Christian: Middling episode saved only by a lot of penises. Broderick was a good host, though.

Dan Quayle (Broderick) plays Graduate to Nancy Reagan’s (Jan) Mrs. Robinson - Nora brings back Jeanne Kirkpatrick

Christian: They had no way to get out of this.

Scot: Pretty much a straight GRADUATE thing, not much creativity.

Flashback from 5th Beatle Albert Goldman (Hartman) - plays trombone solo

Christian: Meh - a rehash. Sounds like Conan with the V/O.

Scot: Eddie Murphy did this idea better - Dana's first time as McCartney? - Nealon's Elvis isn't very good.

Cooking With Monkey - Dana hosts, visits with Lovitz as Frech chef -  Dana offers a "monkey deboner"

Christian: Interesting rumination on why we eat some animals but not others, but otherwise not a whole lot here.

Scot: The monkey orders are hilarious - "I'll take the little one clinging to the bigger one"

The Sugarcubes - “Birthday”

Christian: Bjork wearing a clock, Flavor Flav-style. In 1988!

Nude Beach Penis Sketch

Christian: The word "penis" is said 48 times. I counted. Written by Conan and Smigel.

Scot: Nealon's line is true! NBC dissolved Standards, which is how this made it on air - Is it funny to say "penis" on NBC? Yes. Yes, it is. - Years later, a NewsRadio episode ("Injury") was held by NBC for saying "penis" too often in primetime.

The Thumper Family - Bible thumpers who yell at each other with religious slogans. Broderick - son, Jackson, daughter, Hartman - dad, Hooks - mom

Christian: Interesting that Jackson plays in this, given this is sort of her upbringing, and it mocks evangelicals.

Scot: Feels like an attempt to piggy-back on the increased visibility of the televangelist movements, but never actually works.

Learning To Feel - "It's clear you're frightened."

Christian: Whoever decides to keep putting this on - take a look at yourself.

Laurie Metcalf film - Metcalf tells a boring story at a dinner party and nobody listens. A guy chokes and another guest has a choking story.

Christian: Catherine O'Hara finally makes it to SNL. Too bad it is in this.

The Sugarcubes - “Motorcrash”

Christian: Hardly seems possible this is from 1988 and not 1991, when these types of alternative bands broke.

Episode Three: John Laroquette

Scot: I keep coming back to this, but Victoria has to be one of the most underrated cast members to ever be on the show. The performances are subverting most of my expectations.

Michael Dukakis (Lovitz) is a space alien; tells superiors his plan isn’t working

Scot: Prescient: Dukakis complains he could win popular vote but lose Electoral College to Bush - Hartman steals another sketch

Carbon Paper commercial - "Come back .... to carbon paper"

Christian: Little disappointed the hipsters haven't started using it ironically.

Scot: I enjoyed carbon paper as a kid, I tell you.

Dan Quayle: President (Dana this time) - Bush dies, advisors inform Quayle

Christian: Dreadful.

Scot: Looooong exposition through opening crawl - looks like another instance of Nealon's real hair (he could play Larry Kudlow with that look)

Portrait of the Artist - everything Picasso (Lovitz) touches is valuable art

Christian: The Modern Lovers wrote a whole song about Pablo Picasso being an asshole...I know we have spent time praising Lovitz, but he is so consistently good. Definitely underrated in SNL history. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Modern Lovers song is about Picasso never being called an asshole - Christian misremembered it. Apologies to Picasso, the Modern Lovers, and assholes everywhere.]

Scot: Lovitz has a gear here that not everyone possesses.

Pete's Fountain - diner patrons trade double entendres with a big-butt waitress (Nora)

Christian: Is the joke that her pants are corduroy?

Scot: The Widettes: The Next Generation - This must have been a dry run replayed, right? The audience is nowhere it should be. No laughs at jokes, no reactions at all for most of it.

Larroquette & Victoria keep talking about sex life while in a restaurant

Scot: I did not expect to based on the set-up, but I laughed a lot at this - Victoria's line about breaking the bed was a great topper.

Christian: Oh wow, disagree. Thought it was sort of lame.