'Wasn't That Special' Season Nine 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 Nine 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: Brandon Tartikoff

Christian: Not off to a good start. Light on Eddie, and even when he's there, it's middling.

Scot: Some crazy host/artist combos this year. Andrew Smith new head writer - much thinner band - I don't like the new closing song.

James Watt (Piscopo) is depressed, everybody hates him. Staff tries to cheer him up.

Christian: This would be like SNL going after Gina Raimondo week after week. Would anyone care?

Scot: Watt just died in May.

Gumby & Pokey rehearse a scene for reunion show, Pokey in bad shape - Brad plays gay choreographer.

Christian: The worst Gumby is still pretty good.

Scot: Some shows you can just feel the mediocrity oozing out of these sketches.

Rent-A-Gun - Kaz wants to rent a gun to rob a bank.

Scot: Told ya, Tim can play just about anything - Joe's very obviously reading cue cards here - It's a good little sketch.

Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert review the night’s sketches.

Scot: Hey, hey. Don't steal our bit here, Siskel and Ebert.

Episode Two: Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman

Christian: Beginning the seasons with two clunkers.

Scot: We are not off to a real great start here - Eddie announces engagement, Danny tells us Jim Belushi is joining the cast.

Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood - kid dropped off, bastard is word of the day, Robinson tries to sell it.

Christian: Wow, Mr. Robinson is getting dark - Fred Rogers was probably right to object.

Scot: They weren’t allowed to say the word “bastard” on air, so they had Eddie just point to the word on the board.

Discount psychiatrist Crazy Edelman (Piscopo) - his prices are insane and he would know

Christian: Some clever lines in here.

Scot: Joe's usual commercial personality.

It’s A Small World riders panic when their boat breaks down in the tunnel

Scot: How dare you waste Eddie Murphy's time appearing in a sketch like this.

Spanish Class - teacher (Rhea) insists class conversation be in Spanish.

Scot: This is the original, Spanish version of this later sketch. 

Book Beat -Danny writes multiple books about a woman he is stalking

Scot: I kinda liked this one - Mary's picture on the book is a nice touch.

Episode Three: John Candy

Christian: Candy graduates to host just two seasons after turning down an offer to be a cast member. He hadn't been in much, just Stripes and SCTV. (And a bit role in Vacation.) But what a wretched effort. There is too much talent on this show for this to happen three shows in a row.

Scot: How do you blow a John Candy episode this badly?

Village of the Damned Little Rascals - in classroom, controlling adults - Tim as cop gives kids bad advice

Christian: They exhumed Buckwheat for this? Has the stench of the latter Matt Foley sketches.

Scot: Can Belushi stop touching the bottom of the plunger with his hands? It is grossing me out.

Backstage with Ronald McDonald (Piscopo) - turns out he's a jerk, likes to drink, likes young girls.

Christian: Presumably Piscopo thought this would be his Gumby?

Candace's Fantasy Shack - Tim and Belushi go to strip club (brothel?), JLD as Princess Leia character Tim tries to get Belushi to use services, Belushi end up as the 1,000,000th customer.

Christian: :(

Scot: Belushi is in everything tonight - AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON would have a very similar scene a few years later.

Candy and Belushi are happy to be back in prison, wish they had their old cell.

Scot: There was a way to do this sketch, but this was not it.

Episode Four: Betty Thomas

Piscopo in blackface as a spacesuit-wearing Jesse Jackson

Christian: Show this to someone under 30 years old and they might have a stroke.

Belushi as Flashdance-style dancer in Swan Lake

Christian: A bit literally anyone could conceive of and perform.

Perfectly Frank - Betty complains about subliminal ads - Piscopo plays ad exec trying subliminal seduction

Christian: So Kevin Nealon just stole his one recognizable bit?

James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party

Scot: David Sheffield said he wrote this, so it is likely a Season Eight leftover - on tape, part of a long night of recording in September.

Christian: Just saying, I think best celebrity impression is wrapped up.

You Win a Dollar - game show, Brad hosts, Belushi is contestant - find the marble in razorblades, bobbing for chicken wings in fryer, The Love Tent (bees and honey), but can't guess the color Brad is thinking of.

Scot: Nothing wrong but also nothing special.

Christian: Better: Jim Belushi or Tony Rosato?

Jane Fonda Special

Christian: This makes Hannah Gadsby seem like Steve Martin.

Transexuals at support group meeting, air complaints - bushy eyebrows, they talk about how they miss being a man, Vegas, peeing in the snow, locker rooms.

Christian: This episode begins and ends with sketches that would give people a brain hemorrhage today.

Scot: Hey, it's Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Not with much to do tonight.

Episode Five: Teri Garr

Scot: Everything seems off. JLD and Kaz are used way less often, you feel Eddie checking out more each show (except for pre-taped stuff).

Christian: Who knew more Eddie and less Belushi could make for a better episode? (Even if Eddie is pre-taped.)

History: The Real Story - Abraham Lincoln (Piscopo) is incredibly obnoxious at theater, asking to be shot.

Christian: "What are you going to do, shoot me?" I really liked this!

Scot: Joe is really good here, not doing an impression at all. I mean he's obnoxious, but that's the bit.

Dion's - Blaire gets upset when he sees Dion Dion kissing Robin after she aggressively pursues him.

Christian: "Kiss me, you ebony smokehouse."

Joel Hodgson - sad sack, low-key routine - pocket mohawk - Batman climbing wall.

Scot: Yes, the future MST3K host - he's a regular Carrot Top!

Mary plays a sarcastic nun who gets into trouble with her answers

Christian: The premise was enough to push it to "fine."

Scot: Mary seems to play an awful lot of nuns.

Episode Six: Jerry Lewis

Lewis dreams Dean Martin is his doctor performing heart surgery, Sammy Davis assists

Christian: This is 100% foolishness, with everyone breaking the whole time. But still good.

Entertainment Tonight - whole bunch of short segments

Christian: Yikes, no part of this worked. Piscopo's Robin Leach is even bad.

Scot: RIP Suzanne Somers - this didn't come together at all.

Fascinating People and Their Friends - Lewis as a Jewish Football League player, Tim realizes Jews don't play football

Christian: I'm glad Jerry Lewis enjoyed this. He was the only one. 

Scot: Lewis breaks immediately. He's the original Jimmy Fallon.

JLD is back at home from college for Thanksgiving

Christian: A critique of wokeness!

Scot: "80% of my friends are black. And I don't even notice." - Well-written - finally JLD gets to do something and stumbles a bit.

Joe doing Jerry, Jerry walks out to chat, Eddie joins them.

Christian: Um.

Scot: Seems like this was supposed to be about half as long as it was, but the three guys just got after it.

Gusty (Belushi) sings a song for the whales, does whale noises

Christian: Um.

Scot: LOVERBOY GOT CUT FOR THIS???? WE MISSED "HOT GIRLS IN LOVE!"

Episode Seven: The Smothers Brothers

Christian: Not counting SNN (Weekend Update), I counted two sketches that had women, and the second one had only Mary.

Scot: Cast usage is just so weird. Belushi is in everything, JLD and Tim seem to be on the outs.

Studio rain delay- Tom Seaver & Ron Luciano hope show will go on

Christian: Not all that funny but I appreciate the effort.

Scot: Creative, good Q&A between Seaver and the cast - asking benign things to fill time - "rain delay theater."

Episode Eight: Flip Wilson

Scot: Is Ebersol demanding shorter and shorter sketches each week? He's running into a Jean Doumanian problem try to churn out so much content. Also, any pre-taped commerical/film pieces yet this year?

Flirty Robin and Joe exchange sexy, suggestive jokes and Christmas presents but neither wants to do anything about it

Christian: Not a great sign when the crowd groans at a joke.

Scot: Joe ad libs “Remind you of anything?” when eggnog spills on his lap.

Crazy Weinstein (Belushi) isn’t selling anything - he’s just crazy.

Christian: This is like a modern political ad - this guy would be in Congress in 2023.

Pudge and Solomon - Solomon has a hole in his shoe, plugs it with paper - Pudge gives him new shoes for Xmas.

Christian: So consistently excellent.

Scot: Crowd pops for these guys. Kind of weird they've been forgotten - I'm not crying, it's just very dusty in here - this is the last one with the huge Eddie/Joe/Ebersol fight afterward.

Hello Trudy - Joe writes real estate book, Jim hosts call-in show - Trudy calls, asks silly question - She's the only caller

Christian: These would be the calls we get from podcast listeners.

Scot: JLD's voice marks her first appearance tonight?

Joel Hodgson stand-up with props

Scot: My guess is I'm in the minority, but I don't like this. The Carrot Top reference above was not meant as encouragement.

Walter (Kroeger) is a professional shoe-tier - Flip Wilson keeps him in business - NBC's news chief comes from PBS, has experience in non-profit programming

Scot: Wish I liked it better but there was really nothing at the end. Also, in limited work, JLD is stumbling over lines quite a bit.

Everyone singing classic rock songs, turns into a cacophony - Tim makes them tune into classical station and all sing Handel's Messiah

Scot: Not meant to be laugh-out-loud funny, but as a final Xmas sketch it does the job.

Episode Nine: Father Guido Sarducci

Christian: Eddie was right to stay away from this dog. 

Phone-in contest for the 1984 Dem primary

Scot: Why would anyone think this to be appropriate for SNL? Mostly ad-libbed, it appears.

Christian: Again, Ebersol's "no politics" edict seems to be ignored?

Alfafa visits book publisher to write tell-all on Buckwheat - Ghost of Buckwheat appears, Kroeger as translator

Christian: Pretty sure Eddie has played Buckwheat more after his death than before.

Scot: Taped piece, Eddie absent for the show.

Eddie as Michael Jackson  “Nice Boys Don’t Get Girls Pregnant”

Christian: Pretty bold to take on MJ at that time.

Scot: Just a fragment.

Fr. Guido's flight is delayed so Belushi hangs out with him

Christian: This is the downside of having someone host in character - them being in character limits what you can write for them. And this sucks.

Dick Ebersol gives the tally- ZZ Top wins with 131,384 votes

Christian: The call-in contest was a waste of time. Adding ZZ Top made it a MONUMENTAL waste of time. Enough with the gimmicks.

Scot: ZZ Top wins. Congrats. Nothing that happened tonight mattered in the least. Fake host, fake contest, barely any sketches. No live Eddie. At least the music (Huey Lewis and the News) was good!

Episode Ten: Michael Palin

Scot: How do you blow a Palin episode this badly?? Blaustein and Sheffield are sorely missed - quality control from head writers is out the window and Eddie can't save them.

Christian: Gross and Duke back in the writing credits. Not sure that's a good sign.

Boy George Burns: NBC special - Belushi plays him

Christian: It's funny because they both have the name George.

Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood - he's a dognapper because there are no jobs, calls owner for ransom (today's word)

Christian: Seemingly pretty hard to go wrong with one of these.

Mick Pitwhistle (Michael) sings hits of the 60s badly

Christian: It's Leonard Plinth-Garnell (Dan Aykroyd’s old “Bad Theater” character) but worse.

Scot: The joke is just that's he's a terrible singer. Not even Palin can save this.

That's OK - Joe hosts people with amazing talents but doesn't want to see them perform - until last guy (Brad) who can pound nails into his head

Scot: Good escalation, even if the twist was somewhat expected. Quick-hitter with a few high points.

Shoplifter - Film, Belushi steals the contents of a convenience store while Gary is in charge - jacket keeps getting bigger

Scot: Perfectly average kind of thing.  Not terrible, no big laughs. More like smiles.

Christian: At this point in the show, Kazurinsky is either 25 years old or 55, hard to tell. Baroness Von Sketch did a version of this a few years ago.

Would You Believe It - first question is 17-2=?, “fedora” is accepted

Christian: This sketch doesn't know what its joke is.

Scot: Absolutely awful - Sounds like the same SFX used when Mike Teevee is beamed across Willy Wonka's Factory.

Palin is riverboat captain and mentor for Gary as Mark Twain

Christian: "We're making you ship satirist" saved it from being a 1 grade.

Scot: The sheer silliness here saves it from the bottom-of-the-barrel.

Episode Eleven: Don Rickles

Christian: Yes, it was messy, but every couple of years the show needs a shock to the system to remind everyone it's live. Also, in the past four seasons, can you name a single recurring character played by a woman (other than Wendy Whiner?)

Scot: I'm just not sure why the host sabotaging the show is supposed to be a great idea. It was predictable in its unpredictableness, if that makes sense.

Ronald Reagan (Piscopo) as a Ronco salesman (Joe's usual commercial character)

Scot: This doesn't make any sense. Someone just said, "What if Joe just did Reagan as his commercial persona?" and nobody rejected it on its face.

Monologue: Rickles plays with the audience, John Madden & Brandon Tartikoff in the crowd

Christian: Don Rickles, equal-opportunity offender.

Rickles enters the witness protection program - doesn't appear it will work

Scot: This is just Piscopo and Rickles vamping on a rumor of an idea.

Christian: Cheap laughs are nonetheless laughs and this season is short on them.

Romeo & Juliet with JLD and Rickles on balcony, Gary as Romeo - Rickles breaks sketch to tell Joe he's tired of him

Christian: Holy shit, what is happening?

Scot: "I hope Eddie Murphy robs your house" - Look, there's some value here, but we're just living in an extended Rickles monologue tonight as he bounces through sketches.

El Dorko (Gary) on date with JLD - Brad comes and he and JLD make out while Dorko tells stories - Mary waitress makes out with Gary and JLD is jealous

Christian: Kroeger in the writer's room: "Maybe there should be a sketch where I make out with Mary and Julia and then they fight over me."

Scot: Starts as not much but by the end I was glad to see something written through to an actual finish.

Rickles wants to jump off ledge - Brad as cop trying to talk him down, Gary appears to host This Is Your Afterlife - Rickles meets people from past

Christian: A complete disaster, but in a charming way.

Scot: Again, we're just watching one long extended Rickles monologue riff.

Episode Twelve: Robin Williams

Christian: A live Eddie helps and some surprisingly strong writing power this episode.

Monologue: Wiliams stand-up.

Christian: The first episode of SNL hosted by a mound of cocaine.

Scot: Lots of voices, not a ton of actual laughs.

Wild Kingdom of Heaven - Williams is preacher who heals pets on TV show

Christian: Doing televangelists was already tired by 1984, but Williams does it about as well as you can do it.

Scot: Williams sweating his butt off - This is probably nothing without Williams' performance, but he pulls it out.

Belushi and Williams play Siamese twins - Belushi masculine, Williams not so much

Christian: Some decent "stuck together" jokes.

Scot: They never found the right tone. By the end, the resignation and understanding between the two reminded me of Pudge & Solomon. But they didn't focus on that angle.

Paula Poundstone stand-up - lots of car/driving jokes

Scot: First female stand-up special on SNL? - Decent stuff, good finish.

Christian: Poundstone was a groundbreaker in getting canceled.

Patty's Place - Mary hosts show,  JLD is 30 sec in the future, Tim is 30 sec in the past - confusion reigns

Christian: This had "5" grade potential if they let it go on.

Scot: Andy Breckman written - this is really good, great concept and planning.

Episode Thirteen: Jamie Lee Curtis

Christian: Back to the days when Piscopo was the backbone of the show. He is in EVERYTHING. 

Belushi raps & breakdances to celebrate the fact that it’s Saturday Night

Christian: There is no part of this that resembles entertainment.

Scot: I like to think this is Jim's Blues Brothers and he was hoping to spin this off into a side career.

Tim breaks in to bedroom, tags Belushi as "it" - everyone avoids him, he tries to tag someone else, finds someone in bear trap

Christian: Some strong ones by Breckman. Knows what he's doing.

Scot: Andy Breckman again. A lone bright spot with his stuff this year.

El Dorko returns - JLC forced to kiss him, Mary returns as waitress - Dorko won a JLC date contest in Tiger Beat

Christian: Hey look, it's the same sketch with a famous person in it.

Scot: All the juice has been squeezed from this one after two appearances.

Reagan (Piscopo) working out, can't hear things, looks for TV shows

Christian: An attempt to be current without having any sort of point of view.

Scot: Still don't know what to do with Reagan.

Persons Express - passengers treated as cargo - last straw was showing Yentl

Christian: Bad but not terrible.

Scot: An idea that should have stayed an idea. No depth.

Episode Fourteen: Edwin Newman

Christian: Prefer Newman's understated comedy to Robin Williams' frantic, in-your-face style.

Scot: Eddie's last live SNL. Feels like a bit of a dead cat bounce the past few shows. But no more live Eddie has more worried for the rest of the year

Dion & Blaire now work for SNL - mistake Edwin for Paul Newman, give him a wig

Christian: I hate that I like these.

Speaking Freely - Newman interviews James Brown (Eddie) - Brown answers all questions with lyrics

Christian: Still reasonably funny.

Scot: Much, much less funny than you think it might be.

Face the Press - (Belushi) rubs out panelists who mention his links to the mob

Christian: Decent stunt work by Kroeger.

Scot: Fairly solid, but Newman's stall tactics tire after a while.

Harry Anderson [real] tells of his attempts to win at four card monty

Scot: I love, love, love this storytelling. He had my full attention the entire length of time.

Jacoby Escort Service - Robin and Mary promise "Absolutely no sex"

Christian: A dead ringer for the Vanessa Bayer "former porn star" commercials of the 2010s.

Episode Fifteen: Billy Crystal

Scot: Uhhhh. This has me worried about S10. Billy didn't do anything for me at all.

Christian: You should be more worried about "Rappin' Jimmy B."

St. Patrick’s day, Siobhan Cahill (Mary) talks with Gary, celebrating Purim - others too - Ed Koch

Christian: Do we count "Juicy Cahill" as Mary's one recurring character?

Scot: I guess Purim landed on St. Patrick's Day this year - Totally decent thing.

Hung Like Me - TV movie has Pee Wee pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man? I think?

Scot: I think this was taped earlier in the season or was placed here in re-runs. There's a goodnight here Mary is dressed like this. - Paul Reubens auditioned for SNL for the 1980–81 season.

Christian: 1. This is a dreadful Pee Wee imitation. 2. I hate it when you watch these before I do because I noticed her wearing that during goodnights and I was going to dazzle you with  the same tidbit.

A couple realizes they forgot to tell people hiding in attic that WWII’s over - end up keeping them up there

Scot: This ended up being a big disappointment given the premise.

Christian: I thought this was good! Solid premise, Eddie's good, fine ending.

The Womb - a play with Mary and JLD - Mom and daughter stories

Christian: At least they're making fun of terrible feminist theater.

Scot: You think Mary's fingers are long? Look how big she can open her mouth!

Episode Sixteen: Michael Douglas

Scot: No Eddie, very little Piscopo. Lacking any ability to elevate material. Reliance on taped material beginning to show.

Douglas takes  dad’s advice & spends monologue plugging Romancing the Stone w/ joke crawl

Christian: Making a joke about plugging your movie is still plugging your movie.

Scot: One of the first times the host seems picked to coincide with a big movie launch (I'm probably wrong about this.)

MTV News - Nina Blackwood talks to The Garage Band from a previous episode

Christian: In the past few years, SNL has leaned HEAVILY on the "fake music video" bits - this is the first one.

Scot: Video is a pretty darn good send-up of the early style of MTV.

Footless - Brad moves to a Utah town in which there are no feet and no dances and no music - "Footless" sung by "Kenny Loggins"

Christian: A bad premise that they end up willing into a decent sketch.

Scot: Honestly forgot Brad Hall was still on this show - writer Nate Herman as Kenny Loggins - song ends up being pretty decent.

Kaz and Belushi play Price and Waterhouse, choosing Oscar winners themselves - handed election results at the end

Christian: In the sketch, Meryl Streep loses because she has no boobs. She actually did win that year and won again in 2012. She has been nominated 21 times.

Scot: Well, at least now we really know what happened in 2020.

Episode Seventeen: George McGovern

Christian: America needs more politicians like McGovern who aren’t media-ready. But it doesn't make for a good episode.

Monologue: McGovern asks for donations, he's $150,000 in the hole from the campaign

Christian: I imagine this going over like an Elizabeth Warren monologue today.

Scot: Semi-decent political jokes - as good as could be reasonably expected.

Taped piece - McGovern follows Joe & Belushi on a round of golf through the streets of NYC

Scot: This ended up better than I thought it might.

Circus people in the apartment below ruin Mary Gross’ date with Kazurinsky

Christian: Some good laughs in this one.

Frankie Pace stand-up

Christian: Did they do another "anyone can host SNL" bit without telling anyone?

Scot: How did this guy get on the show? - His facial expressions during the tiny piano are pure Chevy Chase.

Book Beat - McGovern plays archeologist who has found a box, other guest is Brad who wrote a book about searching for that box

Christian: It's short, but a perfect lesson in sketch writing. Let the audience start to piece things together, so they think they thought of the punchline first.

Scot: It's a Breckman.

Episode Eighteen: Barry Bostwick

Scot: Another no-Eddie show, special guest Billy Crystal. You can see S10 taking shape before your eyes.

Christian: Crystal is effectively Eddie's replacement.

Belushi taking lie detector for gov't job as interpreter - reveals lots of crimes and lies - He was a Nazi. Just briefly!

Christian: Good laughs in this one.

Pre-taped - Two on the Town, hosted by Gary and JLD - The Whiners win a tour of NYC for being 1,000,000th visitor - whining about tourist things - hosts turn them over to muggers who also reject them

Christian: Amazing "diverticulitis" never took off as a catchphrase - the ninth and final Whiners.

Scot: I knew the diverticulitis joke was coming.

Episode Nineteen: Billy Crystal, Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Betty Thomas, Father Guido Sarducci

Scot: SNL ran out of budget for the season, thus just 19 episodes.

Sammy Davis (Billy in heavier blackface than before) and Frank Sinatra in limo, Sammy want to host SNL - Sammy learns to breakdance

Scot: Fundamentally different comedy from the original years. I can't fathom anything like this being rolled out back then.

Mayor Koch's Neighborhood - Koch selling book, today's word is $17.95 -  Worthington Clotman says no more book selling

Christian: This is the third time Koch has been on the show to plug his book? Is the message that with Ed Koch as mayor you can live in squalor like Mr. Robinson?

Scot: What is funny about this? Answer: Nothing.

Father Guido Sarducci asks various questions to Manhattan commuters

Christian: Everyone who does this on TikTok is funnier than this.

Scot: The four ways to skin a cat dude saves the bit.

Needleman - JLD looking at video dates - Kroeger is oral surgeon with music video promoting himself

Christian: "Needleman" is a name Woody Allen used in his short stories to represent "Jewish guy."

Scot: Kroeger says this alone saved him for S10.

Hello Trudy! - Trusy thinks Edwin is wearing a toupee - Edwin criticizes Trudy so she quits watching

Scot: A paper-thin conceit but somehow this is better-written than most second sketches the past few years.