'Wasn't That Special' Season Twelve 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 Twelve 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: Sigourney Weaver

Scot: OK, here we go. I have a visceral reaction to these opening credits - first time host is last in intros - Nealon a featured player from the start - G.E. Smith & SNL Band. Directed by Paul Miller - F&D no longer producing (NBC made Lorne take more active role) - E. Jean Carroll!! - Signorelli doing the taped bits again (quality is better).

Christian: 8th-highest ranked show we have graded. (3.17, surpassing S3E9, Steve Martin.)

Church Chat - Church Lady interviews Durang - Jan Hooks as Sally Kellerman -Nora as Ann Landers - Weaver as Zuul

Christian: What happens if we pick a different catchphrase than "Isn't that special?" Is this the best debut of any cast member in show history? Church Lady is the first sketch of Carvey's first episode?

Scot: This killed in dress and got moved way up in show - multiple "Satan"s and "Isn't that special" in the fist 60 seconds - a little too repetitive but certainly a fine start.

Quiz Masters - Marge Keister (Jan) battles psychic Lane Maxwell (Dana), who always sees meteors

Scot: In past seasons the hook of a psychic on a game show and knowing answers would be the extent of the writings - this has a few layers - Carvey, Hooks, and Hartman all are absolutely perfect - Jan gives the best female character in .... how long?

Mr. Subliminal Phil Maloney (Nealon)

Christian: Dinged it a point because it's a straight copy of Piscopo.

Scot: It's great but totally ripped off from that Piscopo sketch.

Derek Stevens (Dana) sings “The Lady I Know”- she’s choppin’ broccoli

Scot: If I'm being critical, the sketch should have ended with choppin broccoli - it slides after that high point.

Tommy Flanagan tries to talk his way out of his girlfriends meeting each other.

Scot: A pretty good one.

Christian: Hmmm, thought this one was pretty flat.

Episode Two: Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Scot: Continuing to hit some real home runs.

Frank Bartles & Ed Jaymes warn about the dangers of crack

Scot: A. Whitney Brown gets the “Live From New York” - Man, that's a dated character reference at this point.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner wants to dance but is afraid of the show being live

Christian: Dana Carvey dances just like the Church Lady in real life.

Scot: Band plays "Out of Touch" - Of course, GE Smith and T-Bone Wolk were in Hall and Oates’ band.

Donahue - women in exploitive relationships explain their actions

Christian: "He sold you to an Iraqi businessman" was laugh-worthy. The rest was just okay.

Scot: Phil's Phil is so good - "Now he .....sold you to an Iraqi businessman" - I forgot how important Nealon is from the start of this run.

Run DMC  “Walk This Way”

Scot: Pure backing track, I think.

Christian: Oh yeah, 100% lip sync.

Instant Coffee with Bill Smith and Sweeney sisters - Nora and Jan sing medley

Christian: Solid as a debut, but as I recall, we will be seeing more of them.

Scot: So this is Nick the Lounge Singer as a duet?

Episode Three: Rosanna Arquette

Scot: Uneven, tired-seeming ep. End of a three-week run. Also, on tape.

Church Chat - Church Lady scolds Jenny Baker (Victoria), Arquette, Ric Ocasek

Christian: Arquette seems insufferable.

Scot: Better than the first edition, I think.

Make Joan Baez (Nora) Laugh, Lovitz as Howie Mandel

Christian: If you watch the D.A. Pennebaker documentary "Don't Look Back," Joan Baez is actually quite funny.

Scot: Nora's true skill, thus far, is characters who intentionally are not humorous in any way, shape, or form - Boy, that wrapped up quickly.

Miss Connie's Fable Nook

Scot: I guess this is making good on Miller's Koko character mentioned on Update?

Christian: A Weekend Update throwaway bit come to life! This is actually funny to me because Miller's contempt for the audience is written all over his face. Like he is getting away with robbing a bank. He can't believe they would put this on the air.

Episode Four: Sam Kinison

Church Lady - announces she will boycott SNL tonight b/c Kinison is hosting

Scot: Nora Dunn was taking notes.

Kinison plays guitar with SNL Band, recaps old, bad jokes, cops on horseback monitor language

Christian: Nothing funnier than telling the same jokes a second time.

Parent-Teacher conference - Kinison tells parents their kid is stupid

Christian: Nealon's fake hair is far more believable than Kinison's real hair.

Jungle Room - Chick Hazard (Hartman) chats with  ’40s club owner Eddie Spimozo (Lovitz); Lovitz sings

Christian: Lovitz's co-stars always say he was hunting for catchphrases - sounds like saying the same thing twice but really loud the second time might have been one such attempt.

Scot: This is a character Hartman brought to the show, was very popular in Groundlings.

Pet Chicken Shop - Dana plays stereotypical Chinese shop owner Ching Chang, sings "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face"

Christian: Not going on the Dana Carvey highlight reel.

Scot: Well, they can't all be winners! - Would never be touched today.

Love Connection - Kinison on Love Connection. He yells.

Christian: Who is Zena? I mean, it's horrible, but at least Jan Hooks is good.

Scot: Exhausting.

Dancing Lord - artists try to sketch Dana, who won't stop moving

Christian: Looks like someone saw Amadeus. (Fun fact: Carvey actually auditioned for the role Tom Hulce ended up playing in Amadeus, which got Hulce a Best Actor Oscar nomination.)

Scot: More cute than funny.

Jor-El (Kinison) sends Superman to Earth, but then Krypton doesn’t explode

Christian: This actually made me yearn for a Pat Stevens.

Scot: In that wig, Sam kinda looks like (Illinois Gov.) JB Pritzker - There's some promise here and then it just clunks to a stop.

Sam Kinison stand-up

Christian: Wondering whether I don't like watching Kinison now because there has already been a Sam Kinison, and it seems dated. Would it have been good seeing it for the first time?

Scot: You'll  never guess, but Sam has women troubles.

Episode Five: Robin Williams

Scot: Light night for Dana. In fact, kind of light for most cast b/c Williams and Simon were everywhere

Robin stand-up about the Reagan administration & televangelists

Christian: I can fully believe this was actually being written as Williams performed it.

Scot: Fun fact: This monologue single-handedly plunged the United States into a cocaine shortage that lasted for three years - Why is he not in front of the band, as usual? - Is that the same shirt Martin Short wore for his impression of Williams?

Paul Simon has incredible memory but can’t recall Art Garfunkel [cameo]

Christian: It's a wig-off with Kevin Nealon.

Scot: Paul has even more hair than a year ago.

New York Word Exchange

Christian: Prescient! Investing in swear words back then would yield a fortune now.

Scot: I do like the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

Robin improvs all over Shakespeare's work, much to his chagrin

Christian: Carvey and Williams came up in the same San Francisco clubs together - Carvey has said he was his hero. So he was probably happy to play a bit role in this sketch.

Scot: I liked the meta aspect here of incorporating critics of Williams's style into the sketch.

Master Thespian in the 1930s, can't remember line

Christian: "What are you, senile?" "Of course not, I haven't even seen Africa!"

Scot: Builds and builds into something decent with a good laugh.

Paul Simon - “The Boy in the Bubble”

Christian: Is Simon the only artist to milk two musical guest spots out of one album?

Automobile Club of America - Nealon on directions and road maps

Christian: A map? What is that? Nealon has Mary Gross-style talons.

Scot: Seems adapted from his stand-up act. Pretty good.

Episode Six: The Three Amigos

Christian: There were zero episodes we graded at 3 or above over the previous three seasons. There have been two in the first six episodes this season (and Robin Williams just missed at 2.94.)

Scot: Pretty excellent show overall. Even the 2-grade sketches aren't bombs in any meaningful way.

Stumblebums Anonymous at the Gerald Ford Clinic

Scot: Even after 12 years, Chevy can still give a good LFNY.

A newly-confident Steve proclaims “I’m Me!” as he marches through the studio

Christian: Would you have guessed Martin and Short would be playing sold-out theaters and have a classic TV show 37 years later?

Ronald Reagan: Mastermind  

Christian: Hartman finally nails it. Sketch was written by Franken and Downey.

Scot: The second-best political sketch in the show's history - Hartman tour de force; watch him transition in a split-second over and over again playing Reagan for the very first time.

The Eggshell Family - no one wants to offend anyone else

Scot: A flawed comedic premise executed as well as possible.

Christian: Prescient! Nobody wants to get canceled! You could actually argue this sketch is what happened to SNL in the past 10 years. But yes, it stinks.

Steve Martin's Holiday Wish (written by Robert Smigel)

Scot: A stone-cold classic monologue that only works with Steve's gifts.

Pat Stevens Show - Corazon Aquino (Jan Hooks) isn’t interested in girl talk

Christian: Third(?) time she has used the "Vogue is a book" joke?

Halsey & Roarke: British customs - agents (Eric Idle and Dana) inspect things with "secret" compartments

Christian: I liked it, although it could have benefited from adhering to the comedy "rule of three" and not the "rule of four."

Scot: Just kinda flat? Same joke over and over.

Ed Grimley meets Mephistopheles, who is repelled by Pat Sajak

Christian: "That's a pain that's going to linger" feels like predecessor to Chris Farley's "that's going to leave a mark."

Scot: The "no oven mitt" thing worked very nicely.

Church Lady & Minister Bob (Chevy) act superior at a potluck luncheon

Scot: First time Church Lady is outside the talk show - The last line makes no sense. Drunk Jan is going to have to answer to .... Satan?

Christian: Doesn't quite work as well away from the desk, but they had to free her to do the dance.

Episode Seven: Steve Guttenberg

Infidelscam- Iranians hold hearings on their part in arms-for-hostages

Scot: Lotta brownface in this room - Far better than the stereotype-driven stuff we would have gotten in prior years - Hartman commands attention in this one.

Christian: Still, the primary joke is that Iranian names are funny to say.

McSooshi commercial

Christian: Would fast food sushi be an outrageous idea in 2023?

Guttenberg poses as a woman to seduce Lovitz and keeps sneaking back

Scot: The PSA tacked on doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme.

Hartman and Hooks play parents of Victoria - introducing boyfriend Guttenberg - they don't know anything about movies

Scot: It's not hilarious, but it's cute and sweet and Hooks/Hartman have such great chemistry here.

Christian: Strong Wisconsin vibe here.

Penn & Teller perform The World’s Most Expensive Card Trick

Scot: Gonna guess you don't love this one either. But Ithink you have to appreciate P&T a little like early SNL. No one else is even thinking about doing stuff like this. They are innovating stuff almost every time out.

Christian: Pretty cool to see early technology being utilized.

’30s newspaper reporters cover the less important stories - "back page stories" - alliterative headlines

Scot: My critique is the dialogue moves too fast to understand everything.

Actress (Victoria) misreads casting agent’s (Nealon's) hand gestures as cues

Christian: Solid physical comedy by VJ.

Scot: Not going to lie, I laughed a lot at this.

Short film - Bob Roberts - a profile of folk singer Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins)

Christian: The conceit of this (and the movie, which features a baby faced Jack Black) is that Roberts is a right-wing folk singer. But as we all know, smoking bans were pushed by liberals, not conservatives.

Chrissie Hynde & Buster Poindexter perform “Rockin’ Good Way”

Christian: "Buster Poindexter" is, of course, David Johansen of the New York Dolls.

Episode Eight: William Shatner

Scot: Banger of an episode. Could argue for as many as three "5" grade sketches.

Christian: A very good episode, but I don't share your level of enthusiasm. No 5's for me.

16th Annual Star Trek Convention

Christian: It's...fine? But gets extra credit for its prescience.

Scot: It holds up. The fight betwen Shatner and Phil in the background is the cherry on the sundae.

Sweeney Sisters sing a Christmas medley about bells

Christian: I had forgotten Jan Hooks was actually in Pee Wee's Big Adventure before she was on SNL. This is what I was thinking about during this sketch because it's boring. High technical score, but nothing new.

Star Trek V: The Restaurant Enterprise

Christian: It's good, but...feels like a couple of high school kids wrote it for a talent show.

Scot: Every layer works.

Look At That - Shatner posing in the mirror

Christian: I need to know who was doing this in the writer's room.

Scot: Shatner getting more and more unhinged is fun.

It's a Wonderful Life alternate ending - Potter was faking his disability

Christian: Eh.

Scot: Hartman just pops in everything - second time for Dana's Jimmy Stewart (Reagan sketch).

Episode Nine: Joe Montana and Walter Payton

Scot: Victoria is getting a fair amount of work and I think she's pretty good with the stuff she's given. Bears and 49ers lost Jan. 4, so this show (which aired Jan. 24) had to come together very quickly.

NFL Video Countdown - “We Are Kickers”

Christian: "Walter Payton in a sketch? 35 stars." - Scot Bertram

Scot: I remember this being a little better than it was. Still gotta give them credit for the Lovitz character who is green-screened in like Payton was in the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video.

Church Chat - Jan as Shirley MacLaine, Super Bowl talk, sexually suggestive football descriptions

Christian: Pretty ballsy to have Carvey catch a pass in the audience.

Scot: This is the breakthrough Church Lady, IMO.

Inner Thoughts of Jan, Phil, and Joe Montana

Christian: Big of Montana to play along.

Scot: "You won't bother me, I'll be in my room masturbating" - I don't know why I remembered this being longer - show is on such a winning streak, they have figured out how to write fantastic sketches for stiff athletes.

The NFL Today - Nealon as Musburger, Neil Young (Dana) takes over as halftime entertainment; Jimmy The Greek’s (PHH) pick

Christian: Absolutely no reason to have Carvey on this other than that his Neil Young is really good. Nealon pulling his eyes down to impersonate Musburger is dumb and unnecessary.

Hartman holding Nealon hostage - Nealon keeps grabbing gun and losing the fight

Christian: Same joke over and over but still chuckle-worthy.

Scot: Good physical stuff here.

Chick Hazard busts Eddie Spimozo - looking for underage singer singerNancy Maloney

Christian: Think some cast members like 1940s movies?

The Michael Jackson Workout tape

Scot: Pretty rough delivery from Walter.

Christian: Pretty bold to go after MJ like this, but yes - Payton is rough.

Episode Ten: Paul Shaffer

Christian: Underwhelming stuff. Guess that's what happens when you bring one of the worst cast members back to host.

Scot: I dunno, too much hacky Shaffer stench over this episode.

Dana, Jon, Nora concerned that the show isn’t hip enough for Paul

Christian: Shaffer's acting makes Walter Payton look like Daniel Day Lewis.

Scot: Paul Shaffer as returning cast hero?

Pat Stevens Show - Paul and Charlton Heston as guests

Christian: Oh look at that, she's reading a "good book" and it is Vogue! Actually, "Pat Stevens: Insult Comic" might have been a lane they could have taken.

Scot: It's a decent Pat Stevens, for a change.

Ching Chang and Sweeney Sisters crossover extravaganza

Christian: Doing yellowface in front of a room full of Asians is like eating a hamburger in front of a cow.

Scot: It's a big fat bomb for me, dog.

Asociacion Mexicana Del Rinon provides money for your kidneys

Scot: Completely in Spanish, and it's even better if you know a bit of the language.

Shaffer sings SNL’s history to the tune of “It Was A Very Good Year”

Christian: Pitchy. That's gonna be a no from me, dawg.

Scot: OK, that's Marc Shaiman on piano, who also was in the other sketch and is a writer this year. He's one of the two "news theme" guys in Broadcast News.

Episode Eleven: Bronson Pinchot

Christian: First half of the season, the show could do no wrong. Now it is doing wrong.

Scot: Bronson Pinchot gives off the vibes of an intensely unfunny person - A flat-out bad show, very uncommon with this cast.

Pinchot tells a tale about a lost Valentine he hasn’t tried too hard to find

Christian: Cool story, Bronson Pinchot. I am now 87 years old after listening to this.

Scot: I think the correction of Pardo is planned, a poor joke, but can't be sure - long, long story set-up for a so-so joke at best.

Amerida - Canada takes over U.S. due to unpaid debt - family grapples with Canadian influences

Christian: Eh, they're just listing Canadian stuff. Although it's sort of a precursor of the Nate Bartgaze George Washington sketch in 2023.

Scot: It’s a parody of ABC miniseries Amerika (U.S. taken over by Soviets).

Nightline - Carvey's first Koppel hosts Henry Kissinger & others discussing “Amerida” plausibility

Christian: The Nealon Musburger thing (pictured) is dumb and he should stop.

Scot: Not sure why Musburger was squeezed in here, the impression is barely OK, especially not on the NFL Today set.

SI Swimsuit Edition - Paulina Porizkova says “boys love Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue”

Christian: This is what the podcast needs to sell more subscriptions - guest appearances by Paulina Porizkova.

Scot: Ah, a simpler time when the swimsuit issue was on the cutting-edge of readily-available near-pornographic images.

Derek Stevens doesn't want to sell-out to do commercials - Ringo (Lovitz) is there to do an ad

Christian: No jokes detected.

Scot: ACKtually, the name of the song was "The Lady I Know," not “Choppin’ Broccoli.”

Babette - Serge (Pinchot) tries to relay Phil's Valentine’s Day gift and message

Christian: Pinchot playing his Beverly Hills Cop character. I guess they were expecting people to laugh at this alone?

Scot: Man, there are all sorts of bad decisions being made on this episode.

Police artist (Nealon) helps Pinchot identify a mugger by impersonating, not drawing

Scot: Great idea, terrible execution.

Marge Keister at a hardware store, doesn't know what she needs - gigolo (Pinchot)

Christian: This woman scream/laughing in the audience is out of control. In more skilled hands, "Hardware Store Gigolo" could have been a banger.

Scot: Even Jan can't draw Pinchot into doing something remotely amusing in character.

Miss Connie's Fable Nook - Koko, Mishu, Lebee try to get princess (Paulina Poriskova) to smile

Christian: I love how bad these are. Just a clear middle finger to the people watching at home. I can only imagine how happy Miller is that he's getting away with this.

And nice try intentionally misspelling “Porizkova” in the note above to trick people into thinking you don’t know who she is.

Scot: Dennis' "eye-winking" at the audience is the only worthwhile thing here, sorry.

Episode Twelve: Willie Nelson (and Danny DeVito)

Christian: Nearly a full point increase from the previous episode. Good bounce back.

Scot: DeVito is the better host here, of course. He's in 5x club (exactly 5); thought it might be more.

DeVito wearing wire to get "Fat Tony," ends up in conversation about his own crimes including killing a cop with 8 kids

Christian: Legit belly laughs all the way through.

Scot: I enjoyed the escalating ways in which Danny broke the law, good performances all around.

Church Chat - Chruch Lady joined by DeVito, Ann Lander, then she and Willie sing “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore”

Scot: OK, good groove now with these - including Ann Landers seems like a pity play for Nora - "Oh, well ain't that special?"

Randy Galloway's Redneck Tanning Parlor

Christian: A single joke the whole way through.

Scot: Kind of speaks poorly of the writers that all they can think of for Willie is White Trash and Redneck jokes.

Tommy Flanagan at a bar, meets Wille - tells him he has a new movie and album, too - neat Church Chat reference

Christian: These are just pro forma now.

Scot: Trying to expand the catchphrase pool to include "And yet it happened" - perfectly fine, I suppose.

Willie and Victoria play "The Boyfriend Song" - Victoria on ukelele

Scot: I like this. Sue me. More broadly, Victoria's attitude actually fits really well with this season/cast. She's better right now than Nora and Jan hasn't popped quite yet.

Christian: I more than like this, I LOVE it. So adorable. And it takes all the talents - musicianship, ad-libbing, the self-confidence to sing when you may not be a great singer, and the ability to trust your scene partner. And it's a great song! So much good happening here.

Willie Nelson - “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"

Christian: Willie played this same song in Season 3. First time a song has been played a second time?

Episode Thirteen: Valerie Bertinelli

Scot: This one is all over the place. A couple 1s, a great 4, weak monologue, interesting 10-to-1.

Hartman and Valerie eat at Hard News Cafe; Edwin Newman(!) as the bouncer

Christian: "Who do you like for the Democrats in '88? Do you like Joe Biden?"

Scot: Prescient, foreshadowing the opening of the Newseum - Geraldo not allowed inside - there's not really a laugh in here.

Dinner at the Van Halens - Roadies help out with everything

Christian: Eddie Van Halen seems to be enjoying this a great deal.

Ching Chang and sister Loose Chang talk - Ching thinks he’s found a girlfriend match in Valerie

Christian: Alex Borstein has recently gotten in trouble for doing "Ms. Swan" on MadTV, which is bad, but less offensive than this. And remember, Shane Gillis got tossed off the show for making fun of Asians on his podcast.

Scot: Oh, boy. Hard to listen to the high-pitched chittering between the two of them.

Let's Go to the Movies with Valerie and Jan - college cable access - 80s teen girl portrayal

Christian: What ever happened to that Tom Cruise they’re talking about?

Scot: Is there a Wayne's World seed in here? Eh, probably not. (Wait! Bonnie and Terry Turner wrote for this episode and then later wrote Wayne's World, so ... maybe?)

Frustrated guy (Ross Treadway) who replaced Yul Brynner in The King & I joins Jan on talk show

Christian: Nothing for me here. I am not as taken with Hartman's hamming it up.

Scot: Satisfactory, workmanlike, average reviews for his role - "You all seem to want Yul Brenner? Dig him up" is one of Nora's good moments.

Lovitz as an incompetent doctor who wanted to be an opera singer, opera teacher enters as a patient

Christian: Admire the effort.

Scot: Weird, angular sketch, perfect for this late in the show.

Episode Fourteen: Bill Murray

Murray says he wants to help the USA regain its comedic supremacy after Crocodile Dundee soars

Christian: Says it is the 500th broadcast of SNL, but that is inflated by reruns. It's actually original episode 227.

Scot: I think this is the first major thing Murray does after emerging from his post Razor's Edge hiatus - "French used to be funny. What do they got now? Jerry Lewis and the Smurfs. That's it."

Nick the Lounge Singer in jail - Nicky Slammer - "This is my bitch" is bleeped

Christian: Mostly just filler.

Scot: Didn't put him with the Sweeney Sisters? I read there's an interview somewhere in which Nora claims Bill pitched an idea where the Sisters are murdered.

Hartman is an OB-GYN who delivers only girls (4300 of them) - Actually removes penis/testicles of all boys

Christian: A lot to unpack here. Can a sketch be both prescient and one that could never run today? Also, interesting shot at Martina Navratilova at the end, given she has been hammered by trans activists for defending biological women in sports.

Scot: Got very dark very fast.

Dana bullied by over demanding parents about 2nd place golf finish

Scot: Also got a little dark, but I thought a little better done than the earlier one (grade of 3.)

Christian: A 3? This is appalling from front to back.

Goodnights

Scot: Didn't Bill give this same speech when he hosted earlier? - To me, a lot of things this week that misfire just enough to prevent higher grades.

Christian: Last time he was on the show (in Season 6, the Doumanian year), he mentioned his former cast members but said he apologized for what he had done.

Episode Fifteen: Charlton Heston

God (Heston) shows up in Oral Roberts’ office looking for his money

Christian: "Our father, who art in my office" was pretty funny.

Scot: Nice of Heston to do this after they made fun of his hairpiece.

Sweeney Sisters - Brookfield Zoo banquet

Christian: That's enough of the Sweeney Sisters.

The Hustler of Money (Ben Stiller Short Film)

Christian: The star power wasn't enough to make this good.

Scot: Stiller, Anne Meara, John Mahoney, Julie Hagerty, Jerry Stiller - Respect the effort more than found it seriously funny.

The Slave Drivers - end-of-pyramid celebration

Christian: Sigh.

Scot: A couple lines, but long stretches where nothing at all is happening.

Episode Sixteen: John Lithgow

Christian: Perfectly average episode, but Lithgow is a good host.

Scot: Feels like ideas are running short as we get later in the season - this one has Pat Stevens, Thespian, Discover again, Miami Vice parody again.

Dana and Kevin as Marines who allow Soviet spies into U.S. embassy

Christian: Carvey taking his future Garth accent for a spin.

Scot: Referencing "sex-for-secrets" scandal.

Lithgow is Rev. Dwight Henderson, World’s Meanest Methodist Minister

Christian: "Reverend Henderson:" Is this a Harry and the Hendersons prequel?

Scot: Nora gets to say "butthole," which is something.

Laramie Vice - Crockett (Lithgow) & Tubbs (Nealon) smell drugs in the Wild West

Scot: Cleveland Vice didn't end this effort, I guess - Bomb. Just really unsuccessful.

Master Thespian - Baudelaire teaches his protege how to replace Olivier

Christian: Best Master Thespian yet. Lithgow is so good at this.

Scot: I feel like this generally works for Lithgow because it's so close to his actual acting style.

Episode Seventeen: John Laroquette

Christian: Fun fact: Last time I was in NYC, I saw John Laroquette as I walked by 30 Rock. History is an echo.

Pagan Easter Special- Nora and Larroquette host, Casey Kasem (Dana) testifies to his pagan roots and offers wife (Jan) to Moloch

Christian: I just couldn't help but imagine what Dunn is thinking as she watches Carvey do Casey Kasem - like "so that's what actual talent looks like?"

Monologue - Larroquete says Lorne begged him to host due to 2 Emmys, we are lucky to have him

Christian: Laroquette has five total Emmys: four consecutive for Night Court, then one for The Practice.

Scot: It's all in the delivery. Larroquette sells it well.

Hartman in drag playing mean mother-in-law feuding with Larroquette

Christian: Even when he plays a woman, it's basically just Phil Hartman doing Phil Hartman.

Riddles of the Universe - Recently-deceased Larroquette ask angels all the questions from life.

Scot: I love this. A perfect little dialogue, whimsical, light. Would have also been a great 10-to-1 thing. Looking at goldfish causes cancer, professional wrestling is real, God's favorite religion is Lutheran (YES!!)

Episode Eighteen: Mark Harmon

Scot: Yeah, I just think they're running out of great ideas this late in the season.

The New Charlie’s Angels- using sex to eliminate presidential front-runners, Ted Kennedy is Charlie

Christian: Did Tom Cruise steal Mark Harmon's career?

Scot: "Republican women are harder to open than a liquor store in Nebraska."

Peter Graves & Pat Stevens crown host People’s Sexiest Man Alive - Dana as Travolta, Lovitz as F. Murray Abraham

Christian: Carvey's Travolta worth a point all by itself. Feels like the Swayze/Farley Chippendale's sketch.

Scot: No laugh at all for "This is a prize only one man a year can win, like .... Liz Taylor."

Very Smart Theater - young Attila The Hun (host) wants to make mobiles

Christian: Awful. Pointless. Awfully pointless.

Scot: Swing and a miss.

Sketch Artist - Nealon's first time drawing results in problems for Victoria's portrait

Christian: Fun fact: Just like Charles Barkley, Jackson left Auburn University early to go pro. Extra point on this just because Nealon actually looks like he's a good sketch artist.

Episode Nineteen: Garry Shandling 

Senators try not to upset a fragile Robert McFarlane (Hartman) at Iran-Contra hearings

Christian: This is like the modern "we have to lampoon this thing because it was in the news" political sketches.

Scot: Holy cow, Lovitz was born to play George Santos.

Dana as jewel thief "The Puppy," Hartman as inspector

Scot: Total actor's piece. It works because Dana sells the dog stuff.

Christian: He's right - dogs DO do that stuff!

Redneck Airline - Shandling & Victoria fly in the crewing tobacco section

Scot: One-note sketch. How much do you find the spitting funny?

Christian: One of those sketches that seems far more fun for the actors than the audience. There is no escalation.

Episode Twenty: Dennis Hopper

Christian: Wretched end to a promising season.

Scot: Unfortunate to end like this and, really, just run out of gas down the stretch. I have one "4" among the final five episodes. Not a disaster, but not completely following through on the early promise of the season.

Church Chat - Jenny Baker is defensive; host talks about his wilder days

Christian: The world could have done without this.

Scot: Subpar edition on every level, weirdly paced. Unfortunate way to close this recurring character this season.

This Week with David Brinkley - Sam Donaldson (Nealon) keeps leaning back in chair

Christian: Nope.

Scot: Dana mispronounces "Rorschach" as George Will - Nealon's silliness can't carry this one-joke sketch (sometimes he can; see the hostage sketch from earlier).

Problem Drinkers From Outer Space - Lovitz anchors coverage of visiting aliens, who are drunks with two livers

Scot: You just know this one has been kicking around all year, unable to be cleared for the show.

Hopper enters job interviews, questions center around cannibalism - hinting at something sinister

Scot: "Do you like kids? Fat ones or lean ones?" - Yikes at the African native being chosen as the leading candidate.