'Wasn't That Special' Season Sixteen 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 Sixteen 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: Kyle MacLachlan
Scot: Franken, Handey, Smigel now "co-producers" - the kind of episode largely missing from S15. Solid throughout with no missteps.
Bad Idea Jeans
Christian: Spade isn't in the cast anymore, but gets a line.
Scot: Odenkirk gets a line - this is a personal favorite.
Sprockets - Dieter & MacLachlan watch Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos
Christian: Chuckle-worthy throughout, but runs out of steam.
Scot: Confession: I laughed in places here
Twin Peaks - Dale Cooper ignores clues pointing to Leo
Christian: I only started watching Twin Peaks last week, so I am only vaguely familiar with why this is funny. Chris Farley's debut, accompanied by Conan O'Brien.
Scot: Very funny - You won't hear from the log lady "there’s only two women left on Saturday Night Live and we already used them both up.”
Sinead O'Connor - “Three Babies”
Christian: The vocals in this are incredible - she sings in about four different styles in this one song. Things got a little dusty in here.
All Things Scottish - Stuart Rankin’s son doesn’t want pop’s All Things Scottish store
Christian: Heed! Pants! Now!
Frank Sinatra (Phil) gives George Michael (Dana) advice about fame
Scot: The rare Dana/Phil sketch - Same corner from Fernando's Hideaway - Phil's first Frank - "You've got talent. Not like that guy who plays Mork. That's a sweat act."
2 Live Crew Party - White party goers have ideas for Luther Campbell
Christian: Leo Yoshimura in the background wearing a flag bandana made me laugh out loud.
Scot: Chris Rock debut.
Episode Two: Susan Lucci
Scot: Lucci on hosting SNL
Victor Kiam (Phil) introduces Classic Bitch & Lezbo electric shavers
Scot: High-energy Phil performance - I recall the controversy.
Christian: Glad we are entering the Scot Bertram era of sentience.
Monologue - Lucci says her life is like a soap opera, show us flashback with Emmys everywhere
Scot: I like the concept, poking fun at Lucci's lack of awards - "Are these the two Emmys you won for the very special Benson?"
Christian: Yep, way better than the average monologue.
Live with Regis and Kathy Lee
Christian: Dana's Regis is like his Bush - eventually, it just becomes a caricature.
Scot: Dana's Regis impression is dead-on. Close your eyes and listen.
All My Luggage - at the airport, Lucci gets bad news about her baggage
Christian: Wow, the crowd loses their shit over this one. Why?
Scot: I mean, its a fine idea, good execution, but the crowd is just off-the-rails in its response for some reason.
The Sound of Music - M.C. Hammer’s (Rock) version of The Sound of Music is Broadway-bound
Christian: Rock has played two rappers and a football player so far?
Scot: I'm sure Rock does dumber bits while on SNL, but this has to be near the dumbest.
Episode Three: George Steinbrenner
Christian: The show is now burning a lot of extra time with G.E. Smith interludes.
Scot: They were able to get around Steinbrenner's limitations as an actor for a while, but it caught up with them.
In a dream, Steinbrenner manages the Yankees & plays every position on the field
Scot: ERA of 0.06. How did he lose 3 games? - In 2024, there would be multiple thinkpieces titled "How Dare SNL Platform An Out-of-Control Monster like George Steinbrenner.")
Attack of the Colossal Killer Lincoln - legend has it that big Lincoln will destroy D.C. if budget impasse occurs
Christian: Despite all the special effects and scene changes, it's just okay.
Scot: Phil playing this a bit like Frankenstein - This is insane and goofy and well-executed and must have taken a ton of coordination.
Ultra Slim Fast - Amin, Huseinn, Pol Pot, Steinbrenner lose weight. Steinbrenner breaks sketch, wants to know why he's with dictators
Scot: “Most people don’t know Jerry Reinsdorf. They know Pol Pol.” - A lot of good throw-away type lines in here. Franken wrote it, safe to say.
What Was I Thinking? -Shelley Long (Jan), Walter Mondale (Dana), Steinbrenner. Host is Phil.
Christian: Remember when elections were about things like taxes and the role of government?
Scot: So low key, so laid back, so understated. Steinbrenner apparently demanded the breasts be made smaller and smaller. The writing is so, so, so much better this year with basically the same crew.
Steinbrenner insists on paying for fancy meals- it makes the others look bad
Christian: Bad, but not offensively so.
Scot: Damn. There goes the episode's grade average. But this was such a bad idea. Steinbrenner is wooden and just mean and there are no laughs at all.
Steinbrenner, in his boxers, hits on female reporter (Jan) complaining about a sexist ballplayer
Christian: Oh man, you'll never see something like this again.
Scot: "You're getting nowhere. I might as well put my pants back on." - Mere inches better than the last sketch.
Episode Four: Patrick Swayze
Scot: Many memorable moments here, but would fall just short of a true stone cold "classic" in my book.
Christian: A very good episode resting on a classic sketch.
Dirty Square Dancing- at a hoe-down, Phil calls dirty suggestions
Scot: Short and sweet but there's just something about Phil calling those lyrics out that makes me laugh hard.
Ghost - Ghost Sam sees all the disgusting stuff Molly does
Scot: Good job by Victoria to sell all this stuff - I remember this one well - Again, evidence of better writing this year. It's just a fantastic concept.
Latino crooners Swayze and Dana one-up each other on album
Christian: So dumb but so funny.
Scot: Slow build to get to the fake penis falling out of his pants joke. "It fell out in Leeee-ma." Which was very funny.
Chippendales - Come on, you know how this one goes.
Christian: On the Mt. Rushmore of SNL sketches. As good as it is, it's hard to watch without a bit of sadness knowing how it all ends.
Scot: Hello, America. It's Chris Farley - The judges treating the competition so seriously is key to making it all work, until they, regretfully, admit the obvious - The audience expects the twist in which Farley wins. It's funny when the realistic thing happens and then they dryly explain why. Rock and Odenkirk hate this b/c of how it set Farley up. Smigel defends it here. Team Smigel.
The Tonight Show - guests are Susan Dey (Jan) & Arsenio Hall (Rock)
Christian: According to the books, this is the sketch that made Johnny really start to contemplate retirement, saying something like "when they're making fun of you, it's time to go."
Scot: Is it wrong to say Rob Lowe's Arsenio is better? - Phil steals all the laughs here.