'Wasn't That Special' Season Nineteen 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 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 Nineteen 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: Charles Barkley

Scot: A great show ... for me to poop on (Smigel's gone, you know). Downey is not a miracle worker. Nobody here knows how to write a sketch yet. Nothing from Phil past Larry King.

Bill Clinton (Phil Hartman) tells what the health care plan will & won’t cover

Christian: Phil's Clinton works best when he's on the move - trying a Carvey direct-to-camera here and it doesn't work as well.

Scot: Your comment 100 percent - Breast augmentation, covered. Breast reduction, not covered.

The Gap - Gap girls Kristy & Lucy recall unpleasant experience with Skid Row

Christian: What these sketches was missing was an attempted sexual assault by Sebastian Bach. Nirvana was asked to be in this sketch and they said no, as they wanted no party of a sketch that accused them of attempted rape.

Scot: Appallingly bad.

What's That? - contestants guess the sex of crossdressed men; RuPaul cameo

Christian: Even if you place yourself back in 1993, it's still a dud. Full college courses could be taught on this today. You will be shocked to learn this has been cut from the Peacock version.

Scot: Melanie Hutsell’s on-screen for 5 seconds just to be called a man.

Donkey Basketball Camp - host stresses importance of human-ass cooperation in donkey basketball

Christian: An absolutely appalling sketch made funny only because Meadows' donkey walks off and he waves goodbye to it. Looks like Farley can actually really play ball.

Scot: What is Myers thinking being forced to be in this thing?

Office Space cartoon by Mike Judge- disgruntled worker Milton stews

Christian: Totally spoils the Office Space movie, which would come out six years later. G.E. Smith then plays the Beavis and Butthead theme song.

Scot: Is this passable only because we know it results in Office Space?

Episode Two: Shannen Doherty

Christian: Having Phil Hartman on this cast must have been strange - like working with your dad.

Scot: Spade, Sandler, Schneider gone from writer's list. 

Crystal Gravy commercial

Christian: Obviously Crystal Pepsi came out around this time.

The Denise Show - jilted Brian (Sandler) is obsessed with ex-girlfriend

Christian: Being generous because I remember liking it a lot at the time, when it was far more relatable.

Scot: Amid the dreck, this is passable.

Is It Date Rape - Doherty & Farley use Antioch College guidelines to decide

Christian: OK, so it is effectively an anti-date rape, pro-verbal consent piece, but still probably not happening today. Prescient in how this would eventually be litigated on campuses.

Scot: Incredibly prescient. No one that I know of was talking/thinking like this for 20 years.

The Relapse Guy - Relapse Guy (Farley) says he’s changed, but he’s still unreliable

Christian: It isn't funny, but feels very raw and confessional. And really affecting knowing what eventually happens. He knew his end all along.

Scot: Farley has dropped some pounds - Wooo. Dark, dark stuff here. Some humor (the operating room scene).

Salem Bitch Trials - early-American lynch mob wants to find (host) guilty at Salem Bitch Trial

Christian: All premise. Hutsell looks legitimately shocked people laughed at her line. Another sketch where Doherty has to deny Farley's advances.

Scot: Tom Davis still getting random roles.

Episode Three: Jeff Goldblum

Scot: Look at these last three sketches. Barely-written rubbish. Jay Mohr and Norm Macdonald featured players, Sarah Silverman and Dave Attel appear uncredited.

Schneider is a street musician in the subway that doesn't accept tips - sings specific songs about how people should give him money

Scot: Schneider again shows he has chops.

Aerosmith - "Cryin'"

Christian: Steven Tyler is a few months older than Phil Hartman.

Spade works at video store, spoils movie, announces Goldblum is getting porn, is generally annoying

Scot: “Bob Saget, big porn freak.” - Thought Spade was actually pretty good in this.

Canteen Boy runs garage sale, everyone is mean to him, he summons snakes to attack them

Christian: Ooof.

Scot: Can't watch these now without thinking "off brand Honker (Bill Murray’s “Carl Spackler-like character)"- Why are adults treating him like this?

Aerosmith - "Sweet Emotion"

Christian: This song saw a brief resurgence around this time due to its placement in Dazed and Confused (which came out a few weeks prior to this episode.)

Christopher Walken's Celebrity Psychic Friends Network - Jay Mohr's big break.

Christian: It's a plausible impression, but the sketch goes nowhere.

Scot: So, real Walken is Ed Glosser?

History's Greatest Overthinkers - Goldblum as host overthinks everything, keeps cutting off Edison, Wright, Da Vinci, Einstein

Christian: 30 seconds in, the joke is blown and nothing else happens.

Scot: A waste of electricity to broadcast across the country.

Episode Four: John Malkovich

Christian: The writers this season should petition for their names to be blocked out in reruns.

Scot: Now have a perverse desire to continue to see how bad this gets. Worse than Tim Robbins. Worst episode since S11? (Maybe Teri Garr?)This is profoundly bad writing matched with awful performances.

Phillies/Blue Jays - Anne Murray (Hutsell)  sings Canadian anthem, Phillies keep spitting, spit on Murray

Scot: Freaking amateur hour. Would slide in alongside any Season Six cold open.

Macintosh post-it-notes

Christian: This seems like...something that could exist today? Certainly spellchecker, and handwriting-to-text exist.

Menendez Brothers trial - blame it on two unknown Menendez brothers - pretend they have twins

Scot: Showing empty chairs for 30 seconds was funnier than 60% of sketches this season - Unfathomable that this is all they came up with to develop the main joke.

Of Mice and Men: Disney’s version features two Lennies (Malkovich and Farley), Lorne shoots Farley after the latter breaks Hooks' neck during sketch

Christian: Jesus Christ, who thought this was a good idea?

Scot: WTF is Jan Hooks doing in this?

Ruining it for Everyone - guests’ actions spurred preventative measures

Christian: These are the people who steal food from the mobile order shelf at Chipotle, so now you have to ask the workers for your order.

James Carville (Malkovich) urges Hillary Clinton (Hooks) to run in 1996

Christian: The joke is that people love Hillary and that she should be president. Mark that down as non-prescient. Pretty dead stuff.

Scot: I don't know what's happening here. Hillary was unpopular. The health care reform package was unpopular. Democrats themselvers were offering other proposals. Bill and Hillary's marriage was not a love story. So it's an alternate universe? But the things dragging Bill down are real. So, what? What?

Episode Five: Christian Slater

Christian: Catastrophic start to the season. The spark is gone.

Scot: This is no longer an ensemble. In fact, the opposite: a collection of actors who simply cannot work together. And there is no one for Phil to play with. He's operating on another planet.

Linda Richman on Halloween

Christian: It's just catchphrase Sudoku.

Matt Foley Part II - The kids egged a house/Halloween story

Christian: It's the same sketch. The physical performance is still admirable.

Scot: Is this not supposed to be the same family? I mean, Phil's the dad, Spade is the son. Same house, same living room.

Sassy - Hartman has Joey Lawrence (Myers), Andrew McCarthy (Jay Mohr) and Christian Slater on as guests

Christian: It's all based on Phil saying one word over and over.

Scot: This is a little more creative than the first one. There better not be a third.

Smashing Pumpkins, "Cherub Rock"

Christian: The greatest intro to a rock song in the last 50 years.

"You Put Your Weed In There."

Christian: One joke. Over. And Over. And Over.

Scot: Nothing happening here that didn't happen last time.

The Vallencourt Boys

Christian: Utterly pointless. Nealon's accent isn't even in the ballpark.

Scot: So, Coffee Talk but for Boston accents? - Crowd is dead.

Slater owns store that makes custom newspaper headlines, rude to customers

Christian: Why is Canteen Boy here.

Scot: Farley morphing into "yelling only" mode. He was yelling in the Halloween monologue too. - Stupid and repetitive.

Episode Six: Rosie O’Donnell

Christian: Someone put an Amber Alert out for Julia Sweeney - she is still the only plausible female cast member and now has nothing written for her.

Scot: The very qualities that make Sweeney valuable make her unusable with the current cast structure. She's nice and sweet and charming and that is not the ethos.

Stuart Smalley talks to Lorena and John Bobbitt

Christian: Absolutely nothing going on here. You're supposed to laugh because it was something in the news and because a guy got his penis cut off.

Scot: Stuart's got a good expression when he finds out what happened.

Phil and Rosie at dinner, waiter (Nealon) takes order without writing it down.

Christian: I feel like I have seen at least three sketches with this exact premise. There was one in Season 49.

Scot: Very Nealon-y.

"The Tomboy and the Sissy." Boys in class make fun of Spade for being bad at sports, girls make fun of Rosie for being good at sports.

Christian: O'Donnell wouldn't officially come out until 2002.

Scot: So thin. Barely written.

Spade receptionist for L.A. Fire Department during fires - turns away Charlton Heston (Phil), Sean Penn (Mohr), Penny Marshall (O'Donnell) Marla Gibbs (Ellen)

Christian: Just using a recycled bit to have people do some half-assed impressions.

Scot: Rosie's Penny Marshall is terrible - two sketches tonight that just exist to platform impressions.

Three gangster girls at a restaurant invited to a party by two prep girls (Sweeney and Silverman)

Christian: What in the love of Christ was that.

Scot: What is supposed to be funny?

Episode Seven: Nicole Kidman

Scot: Was Schneider even on this show? Much closer to a dud than any sense of comeback or momentum.

Carvey returns for the Wayne's World cold open! Review movies like Remains of the Day and Jurassic Park.

Christian: Wayne's World number 18. There would only be one more.

Myers plays Philip, a special needs kid in a helmet and a harness.

Christian: 1993, man. This means well, but nobody's laughing at this today.

Scot: Nobody should have laughed at it then (because it's not funny). Maybe this works as a 10-to-1 or something but there's nothing but randomness happening here. (Myers really is starting to grate. His fetish for foreign accents, his inability to play anything resembling straight, his mugging for laughs.)

Stone Temple Pilots - "Creep"

Christian: Just a few weeks after Spade shredded them on Hollywood Minute.

Kidman and her old coworker (Hutsell) go to a bar. Hutsell thinks the men are after her.

Christian: An attempt at the Chippendale's sketch, but for women. Originally cut before the Christina Applegate episode last season.

Scot: Holy cow, Hutsell is playing a Cheri Oteri character a few years early.

Dinner party - Phil and Kidman keep going into kitchen to argue.

Christian: It's Christina Ricci!

Scot: Is that the same dog that ate Massive Headwound Harry's brain? - This nearly had an unexpected great ending if the dog would have jumped up to eat with no one in the room - Nealon syndrome.

Episode Eight: Charlton Heston

Scot: Heston was game for just about anything. Credit to him.

Heston Falls asleep, wakes up in 2000 years. Everyone at 30 Rock is an ape. Richmeister as an ape shows up. Opening credits are done as apes.

Christian: The Farley bit is good. Did half the budget for this episode go in to ape masks? Extra point just for doing something different.

Scot: The most creative thing from the season thus far. Extra point for doing a shot-for-shot replica of the Opening Montage.

Coffee Talk - Heston is Linda’s new boyfriend

Christian: At least someone enjoys these - Heston seems to be loving it.

Scot: Heston's having fun, which is more than you can say about most cast members. Can't help this sketch all that much.

Heston is a 42-year bag boy - Hartman suggests he should quit, Heston tells him a story about a man gunning down his co-workers

Christian: Alright, it grew on me, but goes on one joke too long.

Scot: Peaks early and then just kinda peters out with the same joke.

The Herlihy Boy House-Sitting Service

Christian: I love these. Tim Herlihy was a Sandler collaborator whose son is now on the show as part of "Please Don't Destroy."

Scot: Sandler explains. Not for me!

Episode Nine: Sally Field

Sandler Christmas song - lists all his misdeeds during the year

Scot: Safe to say Sandler-mania is upon us? - Shares a melody with the Turkey Song?

I Want My Baby Back: The Harriet Cralboni Story

Christian: Very, very bad. And almost nine minutes.

Scot: Hungry for Chili's. That's mostly what I'm thinking about through this sketch.

Head Games Game Show - contestants are related to Hartman, the host - plays head games with son, ex-wife, etc.

Christian: It's a guy being mean to people.

Scot: Perfectly decent premise and an excellent Phil performance. It's Dysfunctional Family Jeopardy!

Matt Foley plays mall Santa

Christian: Quite literally a sweat act.

Scot: Is his voice off? Sounds even more nasally than previous Foleys. - Exact same moves as the other two sketches.

Norm as Jack Kevorkian, selling a machine to help people fake their own suicides

Christian: It had potential.

Scot: There's a very late 1970s SNL feel to the show tonight this one, Baby Back, Liz Taylor, Matt Foley (a little). Sketches out of time.

Field is a super-religious woman who prays for everything. Phil shows up in her kitchen as Jesus, tells her not to pray as much.

Christian: Good Phil performance, but the writing is flat.

Scot: Tom Davis wrote - Didn't Victoria tell us about this one? She didn't want to "fake pray" in a sketch? - It had potential. I did laugh, but it teeters on that 10-to-1 line of serious/funny, at least in the way Field is reacting.

Christian: Farley rocks the "Wisconsin Football" sweatshirts at goodnights - after being terrible for decades, they were about to play in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1963.

Episode Ten: Jason Patric

Christian: This episode was probably a warning to a lot of actors who realized hosting SNL was a good way to out yourself as a dead-behind-the eyes pretty boy. Why guys like Brad Pitt, DipCaprio, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, and Keanu Reeves have never hosted.

Scot: Another contender arises for worst episode of the season. Awful host. Bad decisions everywhere.

Rudolph Giuliani’s (Nealon) son Andrew (Farley) upsets NYC mayoral inauguration

Christian: Andrew Giuliani ran for New York governor a few years ago.

Scot: Is it funny? No. Was it a big deal to New Yorkers? Likely yes. A physical comedy exercise for Farley.

The NFL on Fox - John Madden (Farley) & Luke Perry (Patric) anchor at halftime. Tori Spelling (Hutsell)  as oddsmaker. Mohn as Rickles, Sandler as Richard Lewis.

Christian: Did Jason Patric write this?

Scot: Farley's Madden is just awful - Total garbage start to finish. - Mohr as Rickles is horrible and the jokes are rotten. Rickles' jokes work *because he's Rickles.* You can't impersonate that. Kinda predicts Dennis Miller in the booth?

The Road to Self-Improvement - Don Lapre’s (Spade) word truncation scheme

Christian: A couple legit belly laughs. Spade exits with his future trademark, "buh-bye."

Scot: Lapre killed himself in 2011 while awaiting trial on numerous charges - huge drop from the first installment.

Mr. Intense - Mr. Intense (Patric) goes to a party, is intense. Breaks 4th wall to address audience.

Christian: This feels like that shitty Charles Grodin episode where the running joke was that he ruined every sketch.

Scot: Is this a continuation of the Monologue bit? That wouldn't really make sense, I suppose.

Coffee Talk - Richard Simmons (cameo) gives diet tips by singing Streisand

Christian: Better actor: Richard Simmons or Jason Patric?

The Herlihy Boy Dog-Sitting Service

Scot: You really like this?

Christian: Once was probably enough, and Patric is comedy poison.

Ski Lift - Patric and Nealon have non sequitur conversation

Christian: Another attempt at a Mr. Short-Term Memory character played by Nealon (see: Mr. No Depth Perception)

Scot: Sandler & Norm wrote - Is Patric terrible at everything or is the writing that bad tonight?

Episode Eleven: Sara Gilbert

Christian: Hitting Season Six-level quality now.

Scot: Another contender arises for worst episode of the season. Awful host. Bad decisions everywhere. Phil unused. Approaching a death spiral.

The Bobbitt Trial - Tonya Harding (Hutsell) whacks John Bobbitt (Myers) in the groin on Court TV

Christian: I actually laughed.

Scot: Pop culture Mad Libs.

Roommates - Schneider claims to be a girl; female roommates won’t shower with him

Christian: I actually liked this - Schneider's wooden delivery worked, I think. When did the Babylon Bee start writing for SNL? Both prescient and you could never do it today.

Scot: Could not do this one today - Schneider's choice for his delivery is unfortunate - Bad concept, bad writing, bad execution.

Gap girls Kristy & Lucy hang out with Cindy at Tater Junction

Christian: It's mildly amusing watching them try to crack each other up. The "isn't it crazy we are all wearing the same clothes as four days ago" line isn’t ad-libbed, although it seems like it is.

Scot: Two lines people remember surrounded by piles of manure - Did Sandler invent "Jim Gaffigan voice" here? - 1-800-COLLECT ads were 1994, so Spade took that "beep-boo-bop" thing with him there.

Counting Crows - “‘Round Here”

Christian: Adam Duritz might have the most incredible body count of any male celebrity of the 1990s (Jennifer Aniston, Winona Ryder, Christina Applegate, Courteney Cox)

Blossom - dad’s (Nealon) finds things in Blossom’s (Hutsell) purse

Christian: Hutsell has a whole story about how she apologized to Mayim Bialik, who released her from her guilt.

Scot: Hutsell says she greatly regrets wearing the nose for this part - There are no jokes other than being as annoying as possible.

Lunchlady Land - Sandler and Farley

Christian: Not sure anyone has been more miserable on screen than Silverman as the Chinese food box.

Scot: At least here's a little fun.

Rob Schneider's Girlfriend Theater - Three short plays

Christian: A man will literally write a three-part SNL play about his girlfriend instead of going to therapy.

20 Questions with Bryant Gumbel (Tim) and Sara Gilbert

Christian: Sara Gilbert is two years younger than I am. I looked this up while being bored by this.

Scot: Meadows talks about this in the Miller/Shales book - How does this get past read-through, let alone dress?

Episode Twelve: Patrick Stewart

Scot: Some actual highlights here and Stewart was outstanding. Might be the best of the season so far? Writing remains super weak.

Operation Pedophile Not - Michael Jackson (Tim) combats his pedophile image by hitting on women

Christian: Strong use of Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour" in the background.

Scot: Meadows in ... whiteface? - His impression is just a high voice - It's just not funny in any meaningful way.

Sexy Cakes - bakery owner’s sexy cakes all feature women going to the bathroom

Christian: Wait, a great actor committing to a ridiculous character and making it funny by playing it straight? Hutsell would be devastated.

Scot: Patrick Stewart FTW. A fantastic performance elevates this from a fairly simple joke.

The Cosby Mysteries - Bill Cosby (Sandler) spouts gibberish, investigates a murder

Christian: Sandler probably did 10 seconds' worth of Cosby in the office and someone yelled "YES - THAT IS A SKETCH" (Updated editor’s note: Sandler was actually on the Cosby Show.)

Scot: Did you like the first one? Because here it is again.

Salt-N-Pepa - “Whatta Man”

Christian: Always a little disappointed the third member of Salt-N-Pepa didn't call herself "Oregano."

Show and Tell with Joycelyn Elders

Christian: Sexual indoctrination of children is evidently not a modern concern.

Scot: Gross.

It's Not Their Fault - defense attorney Leslie Abramson (Julia) with excuses

Christian: More pop culture potpourri. Audience doesn't seem to be in the mood to laugh about a dog mauling a child.

Scot: This is just way, way, way too wordy.

Episode Thirteen: Alec Baldwin

Goodfellas - Alec remembers goofily-nicknamed goodfellas he used to hang around with

Christian: An Ian Maxtone-Graham (show writer) sighting!

Scot: Some decent nicknames in there - almost every cast member and writer makes an appearance.

Canteen Boy Goes Camping - while camping, Canteen Boy fends off scoutmaster’s (Alec) advances

Scot: Let's start by acknowledging this is around the time of a couple Boy Scout sex scandals, so that's clearly the basis for the sketch. I still just do not understand where the humor is supposed to come from.

Playground - back at the jungle gym, Phil the Hyper Hypo asks Robin (Kim) to be his Valentine

Christian: Are we going to do this with every pretty female guest now?

Scot: Same footage to close the sketch which already is recycling ideas from the first one.

Family Feud - Baldwins are out-of-touch

Christian: Silverman complained that Basinger only had one-word answers in the original draft, and Mohr said it's because she was dumb. Word got back to Baldwin that he had called his wife stupid.

Scot: Why does one team only have four contestants? - Completely half-assed in the writing; other team has no reason to exist, they pass over rounds, skip half of Big Money - Pardo says it's the show's 300th game show parody. That can't be true, right?

Pyramid of Pain - Mickey Ross (Alec) will beat you up if you eat too much

Christian: Ironic, since Baldwin ended up putting on quite a bit of weight. 25 years later Amy Schumer had a bit where someone would come slap you in the face when you ate.

Scot: Also essentially the plot of Stephen King's 1978 short story "Quitters, Inc."

Dressing Room - Farley brings Kim flowers & finds out she used to go out with fat guys

Scot: It's a Chris Farley Show. Why not just call it that?

Christian: How did this not warm your cold, black heart?

Episode Fourteen: Martin Lawrence

Christian: The last sub-2 graded episode before this season was Season 12, Bronson Pinchot. Now three of the last five have been below 2, and the Baldwin/Basinger one just missed.

Lawrence stand-up about penile dismemberment & feminine hygiene

Scot: “Some of you are not washin’ ya ass properly!” - a line that will live in infamy.

Christian: How many monologues do you see with an important hygient lesson though?

Crash Test Dummies - “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”

Christian: This song was very popular and also happens to suck.

Scared Straight - Matt Foley & Lawrence scare juvenile delinquents straight

Scot: This stinks. Tell me there isn't more to come?

Bike Messenger - bike messenger (Myers) waxes poetic about his job & talks with pedestrians

Christian: There appears to be no quality control this season. How did this get through?

Scot: Everyone is the worst version of themselves in this sketch (except Norm.)

Bench Warmer - Nets benchwarmer (Lawrence) shows new guy the ropes

Scot: Poor use of Phil. He's just not getting anything to do.

Christian: Jay Mohr is playing the role of Larry Johnson? And PHIL is the thing you found objectionable about this?

Ricki Lake - Joe Jackson (Lawrence) & Ike Turner (Meadows) defend themselves

Christian: At no point did I even consider the possibility that I might find any of this funny.

Scot: Hutsell and Lawrence have a scenery-chewing contest.

Episode Fifteen: Nancy Kerrigan

Christian: Norm working his way into the cast in a bigger way than I remember. Does he taper off when he gets Update?

Scot: A whole cast and you have to import McKean to play certain roles - Kerrigan was a terrible actor, even by standards of athletes. Has to be said: Farley is just a guy. Occasionally good moments (like skating tonight), but he's not leading the cast or driving the show or the funniest person on the screen. Tim Herlihy's first ep. - Michael McKean added to cast - Marci Klein on Fly on the Wall says Kerrigan hosting was her idea and that Mike Myers was not happy about it.

Bill Clinton announces that Hillary’s to blame for Whitewater mess

Scot: Prescient! Hillary charged with first degree murder here and later revealed she was involved in the killing of Vince Foster! (this is a joke) - I really like the way Phil/writers have nailed Bill's ability to spin out of a story.

Sports Beat - Kerrigan, luger (Norm), biathlete (Schneider) discuss post-Olympic life

Christian: Awwww, Kerrigan is sweet. Rooting for her this episode.

Scot: Multiple laughs. One of the few times this year I can praise the flow and writing style.

Kerrigan is grand marshal of a St. Patrick’s Day parade

Christian: I did laugh at Farley's two bits.

Scot: Phil's good and the premise of a small-town mayor who hates his town has potential, but ... no.

Lillehammer '94 - skater (Kerrigan) tries to cope with partner’s (Farley) recent weight gain

Christian: Extra point for difficulty because it's a good sketch written for a host without any acting talent. Plus, Farley is an amazing athlete.

Scot: I remembered this as a cold open - love Spade's Scott Hamilton.

Black Rhythm and Blues Singers Today - excitable (Ellen) interviews Aretha Franklin (real)

Christian: Was Aretha aware she was in a sketch?

Scot: Total miss.

Disney - Abraham Lincoln animatron joins Kerrigan

Christian: Yikes.

Scot: Truly pathetic.

Episode Sixteen: Helen Hunt

Christian: It's a low bar, but Hunt was the best host in a while, leading to a perfectly average show. Why do they even have female cast members at this point?

Scot: No Sandler past the open? We're nearing the end of the Nealon Weekend Update run, which at no time approached greatness. There aren't any fantastic jokes. You can't really identify high points from an episode. It all just runs together. Never embarrassing, but never leaving a mark.

Cindy Crawford introduces Rockers To Help Explain Whitewater video

Christian: Does Schneider think K.D. Lang and Elvis are the same person? Let's be honest, this sketch belongs to the costume department. Extra point just for Cindy Crawford.

Scot: Ellen's Tina Turner to lead-off is a strange choice. It's nowhere close. Excellent Costello by McKean. Cobain would be dead in less than two weeks. - I really like the idea and effort. And you learn something!

Monologue: Hunt shows clips of her roles in Swiss Family Robinson & The Bionic Woman

Christian: Strong Tina Fey vibes with Helen Hunt. Confident, self-deprecating. Really well done.

Scot: Always been a fan of this monologue, actually. It's not legendary, but very solid and the leg work to get the clips is impressive.

Total Bastard Airlines employees say their “buh-byes” to passengers

Christian: OK, I know we are supposed to grade these in a vacuum, but it's hard not to take into account how big this sketch was. And I think it earned it.

Scot: One-note sketch, executed fairly well. Remembered fondly.

Coffee Talk - Linda & Hunt discuss which Oscar nominees they like

Christian: The most fondly-remembered terrible recurring sketch of the first 20 years?

Scot: The new Sweeney Sisters. Uninteresting, repetitive, on far too often, sometimes involving the host. Usually avoiding catastrophe.

Snoop Doggy Dogg - “Gin & Juice”

Christian: Really like this re-imagining of this song with the live band.

Sexist Director - director (McKeon) pulls an emotional performance from Hunt via sexism

Scot: This literal scenario is in two episodes of Barry - For a bit, it feels like a behind-the-scenes look at S19 SNL (reportedly.)

Snoop Doggy Dogg - “Lodi Dodi”

Christian: A long way from Snoop's gangsta era to the goofball he is now. Would have bet you all of my future earnings that he wouldn't be famous 30 years later.

Astounding Information - Nealon shows Hunt how to use Miracle Egg Fryer

Christian: You see, kids, in the '90s we were sometimes this thing called "bored." And with no TikTok, we would watch these awful things called "infomercials." And they were exactly like this.

Scot: I was an avid infomercial watcher and this hits all the right notes.

Rob Schneider's Girlfriend Theater - Nealon & Hunt prove girlfriend is still evil

Christian: Between this and Sandler's Denise show, sounds like SNL was a totally cool place for a woman to work.

Episode Seventeen: Kelsey Grammer

Christian: If Myers was in this episode, I missed him - he is there at goodnights. Kurt Cobain died four days before the show, so understandable if everyone was bummed.

Scot: Doubling your Norm point. He's more a team member than Myers at this point. Grammer was outstanding. I am a big fan.

Majestic Caribbean Cruise Line commercial - it's a normal cruise commercial, but for some reason...Manute Bol is there?

Scot: How did this even come together? Was a writer tight with Bol?

Inhibited Dance Party USA - the least introverted couple is Hutsell and Grammer

Christian: It takes a special sketch to make boring into funny, and...this ain't it.

Scot: It's a really funny idea. "How you doing? Not Much." actually made me laugh. Perhaps as a party-phobic introvert I related to this a little too much.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Captain Nemo (Grammer) tries to explain units

Scot: Again, point of personal privilege. I'm a pedant and found joy in Keley's attempts to teach a minor point of language.

Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt (Norm), who announces his retirement and pays tribute to all the women he had sex with

Scot: This is wonderful - Super super prescient! To the point you wonder if there were whispers.

Foot Locker Captain Jim & Pedro

Christian: Okay, we need to talk about what Sandler is doing here. It deserves its detractors, but he is doing something completely his own on a show that at this time had seen about everything. Extra points for having the guts to stick to his vision, even if it's an acquired taste. I find myself laughing just at how stupid it is.

Iron John, the Musical

Christian: Kill it with fire and salt the ground.

Scot: Marilyn Suzanne Miller. 'Nuff said.

Episode Eighteen: Emilio Estevez

Christian: Sarah Silverman couldn't get a single sketch on this season? Was she writing in Cantonese? And why is Michael McKean on this show? Did Phil need someone to swap 'Nam stories with? Also, here’s some behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the promo for this episode.

"Geek, Dweeb, or Spazz?" Game show contestants guess - Estevez shows up as a cool guy, but secretly a Royal Geek

Christian: Cleghorne plays a teenage girl named "Serena Williams." The tennis player would turn pro the next year at age 14.

Scot: At least there's some development to this thing. Melanie lives!

"The Whitewater Folder" - Like "The Firm" but in Arkansas

Christian: There is no reason for this to exist.

Scot: It wasn't catastrophic?

"How Much Ya Bench?" Steroid users show - want to beat up new star Brad Pitt - everyone has skinny fake legs, but Spade is using his own, which is the only funny thing about this.

Christian: This is awful. Farley's screaming makes it worse. Are we allowed to give zeros?

Scot: Fred Wolf wrote - About to make the same Spade point - Is Mohr playing an older, from-the-future Anthony Michael Hall? - We watched the whole thing to the end so you don't have to.

The Herlihy Boy Grandmother Driving Service

Christian: I stand by my love of the first one. It was unique, odd, and unexpected. But it's not a joke you can use over and over and over. This sucks.

Scot: Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. - I have a feeling this is going to be Season 20 in a nutshell.

Episode Nineteen: John Goodman

Christian: Here it is. Rock bottom.

Scot: I'm not sure it's rock bottom just because there are so many choices this year.

The 1994 New York Gubernatorial Debate - Mario Cuomo (Phil) vs. Libertarian Howard Stern (McKean)

Christian: Stern lists three planks of his platform, none of which are libertarian.

Scot: McKean's Stern is strong - Strawberry Kiwi Snapple is fantastic - Sketch pretty much sucks, though.

Captain Jim and Pedro try to date Goodman's daughter

Christian: This is straight off Sandler's albums. (The voice at least.) The Phil coda can't save this.

Scot: It's a slog.

Real Stories of the Arkansas State Patrol - officers pull over women for Bill Clinton, cover when Hillary calls, respond to call of Hillary beating Bill

Christian: Good premise, lackluster execution. One of the women in the sketch claims Farley groped her in the car while filming the sketch - the producers denied it and it was dropped. But the cast played a joke on him, telling him she filed criminal charges and he could go to jail. He turned “ashen” and started crying when they hired an actor to serve him with a fake summons.

Scot: They have essentially no idea how to use Phil's Clinton this season - The COPS portion is laugh-free.

Defeated group of ninjas review fighting strategy

Christian: Basically just a recitation of trite fighting scenarios.

Scot: When's the last time Schneider impressed? Limping to the finish. - Data point: this vs. Midday with Jennifer Hicks (Bond villans) from S11(!)

Goodman as Fred Flintstone - how to turn your name into a Flintstone name - add a rock to it.

Christian: Just a crappy ad for the dumbass movie.

Scot: Tim Kazurinsky wants his bit back.

Schneider as cab driver - does movie trivia, listing actors killed by cab drivers.

Scot: Total comedy failure. And what is with the ending?

Episode Twenty: Heather Locklear

Christian: Goodbye Phil, Rob, Sarah, Melanie, and Julia. At least a decent way to go out.

Scot: Norm is all over the place! - Additional sketch by Smigel. Everyone knows ratings are down and the show's getting kicked in the balls by critics and this is a bit of a middle finger to all of that.

Wayne's World - Wayne solo, dreams of being on Melrose Place - wakes up next to Locklear - meets other show characters

Christian: I was a dedicated Melrose viewer, so I get all the impressions. People watching today might not find this all that much fun.

Scot: I, in fact, am a person watching today. - There's no particular reason this needs to be Wayne - Cue card fun: "I am a very important business ... woman."

Nealon and Locklear make faces at each other across the bar

Christian: It's all here - escalation, callback, strong commitment by Locklear. A banger.

Scot: Extreme Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker/Airplane feel to this, so of course I love it.

60 minutes - Norm as Andy Rooney talking about "people" - slowly names the states from which he gets letters.

Christian: Norm takes delight in punishing the viewers - this will get old, but I like it here.

Scot: This is very good and if we didn't know the future we;d say Norm is carving himself a big role. His Rooney is very good, cadence/writing-wise. He's studied him. He's not doing the Piscopo "DIDYA EVER NOTICE" thing.

Amazing Time Savers Product call-in show - Locklear denies the holocaust happened, phones light up, Myers is shocked - she insults Japanese people, Puerto Ricans, and Indians

Christian: An all-timer. An actually brave sketch, and Locklear's performance is top-notch. I thought it had been scrubbed from re-runs forever, but it is on Peacock.

Scot: Fred Wolf wrote. This is *nearly* perfect. The only flaw is the Spade call, which just doesn't come off as well as it should. The coda even redeems that a bit. Myers is surprisingly great. Locklear is just right. How do you escalate from the Holocaust? Here's how.

French orgasm guy

Scot: And down we go. Terrible way for Schneider to depart.

The Saturday Night Live Family Singers - everyone dressed as their recurring characters - Richmeister and Pat: "We skipped this year, and that's why it was bad." Phil and Farley hug at the end.

Christian: The famous tearjerker. 60 percent of the time, works every time.

Scot: So many of those characters haven't been on for so long. Which Pat and Rich wink at. - Oh, Phil. One year too long, in the end.