'Wasn't That Special' Season Twenty-Three 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 Twenty-Three 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: Sylvester Stallone

Christian: This episode felt endless. Fell off a cliff in the second half, although Stallone was a game host.

Scot: Norm doesn't do a lot of sketches, but he makes them count. The show will be losing a real weapon later in the year, despite the perception that he only did WU.

Mickey (Breuer) advises Stallone to go back to the basics

Christian: Tina Fey is still angry they allowed Kattan to play Adrian - Oteri wanted the part.

Scot: Cop Land is a fantastic film and totally rewatchable. Love it so much.

Rita Delvecchio is excited when husband (Stallone) brings home a new Cadillac

Christian: The writers sent Fey into Stallone's dressing room to tell him he needed to enunciate more in this sketch. She partially wrote it.

Scot: I found this completely acceptable. Am I softening in my old age?

Janet Reno (Ferrell) investigates Clinton fund-raising charges; Richard Jewell cameo

Christian: Totally disjointed.

Scot: Nobody really realizes it's the real Richard Jewell - This one doesn't really know what it wants to be.

Planet Hollywood - Breuer and Morgan yell things and generally be annoying

Christian: Breuer breuering.

Scot: Why is everyone in this sketch facing the camera instead of each other? - There was a way to pull this off. This is not it.

Lou's Lovely Daughters - Stallone tries to find husbands for daughters

Scot: Stallone is working hard but the material isn't helping him.

Episode Two: Matthew Perry

Christian: Recurring, recurring, sarcasm, soon-to-be recurring, recurring, recurring...Ferrell also now dominating.

Scot: Show has been all over the map so far.

Cookie Dough Sport commercial

Christian: A prelude to Ron Burgundy's "Milk was a bad choice" bit in Anchorman? Drinking dairy when it's hot?

Scot: Pretty much the Crystal Gravy script flipped on its head. Didn't do much for me.

Celebrity Jeopardy - Michael Keaton (Perry), Burt Reynolds, and John Travolta

Christian: Hammond's Travolta is too nuanced. Post-Tarantino Travolta isn't nearly as fun as 70s Travolta.

Scot: The audio Daily Double clue has lived with me for years and years.

The Ladies' Man - old-fashioned player Leon Phelps (Meadows) takes some calls

Christian: The Ladies Man movie is actually decent.

Scot: Meadows again with a solid feel for his character. Promising start to this one.

Space, the Infinite Frontier - Harry Caray (Ferrell) talks to astronaut

Christian: A step down from the Goldblum one.

MTV News - Goat Boy sings with Willie Nelson (Ferrell) & Julio Iglesias (Perry)

Christian: The Goat Boy/Kincaid collaboration asked for by Satan himself. When Breuer gives a random bleat, Oteri derisively says "okay."

Scot: Who cracked open this portal to the seventh circle of hell?

Friends - Quinn does foppish Chandler impression for show

Christian: Oteri's Rachel isn't close to being as good as Vanessa Bayer's years later.

Scot: Credit where due: Kattan's Ross is outstanding.

The Golords - puppets rescue kidnapped Bill Clinton

Scot: This was ... surprisingly good? I have no recollection of these at all.

Christian: I, too, have no recollection of this and it is really good. A Team America: World Police predecessor.

Good Morning with Liza - Liza Minnelli (Shannon) & Woody Allen (Perry)

Christian: Another example of female cast members playing old ladies. How many people have done Woody Allen so far? Wearing a fake nose to play a Jewish person probably doesn't happen today.

Episode Three: Brendan Fraser

Christian: Only three recurring bits - did the show suffer as a result?

Scot: Dud. Morgan absent. Quinn has less time than when he was a featured player.

Janet's Bedroom - Janet Reno (Ferrell) has a Bill Clinton fantasy

Christian: Enough Janet Reno. We get it.

Scot: Clinton is so rarely the main character in sketches he appears in. I guess Lewinsky changes that.

Lemon Glow commercial

Christian: The tattoo on the arm is supposed to represent rebellion, but it would be pretty common for housewives today.

Scot: Molly is very good a straddling that good girl/bad girl line.

Issues - stoners (Breuer) & Jeff (Fraser) host show while high

Christian: Over the summer, Breuer likely filmed Half-Baked, a terrible movie, that he thought would translate into a good sketch. It does not.

Scot: Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate this.

Monday Night Football - Frank Gifford (Hammond) talks about Kathy Lee through football metaphors - Eric Dickerson cameo

Christian: They brought in the real Eric Dickerson for THIS?

Scot: Norm not even trying to nail the Michaels impression. It's mostly a monologue for Hammond anyway.

Colette Reardon explains her medication needs to pharmacist (Fraser)

Christian: Close to the first one, yes, but it's still funny. Oteri's best character.

Scot: Not much daylight between this and the first one.

Mango debut - Fraser becomes obsessed with male stripper Mango (Kattan)

Christian: Seems like they know this is going to be around for a while - barely half-written.

Scot: This would be an unimpressive one-off, but at least something unusual. Instead it recurs on and on and on.

The Shark Channel - Shark Channel programming only partially reflects network’s implied focus

Christian: The shot at Rob Schneider gets this an extra point.

Scot: I laughed. The celebs-as-shark pictures did it.

Buddy Songs - cast is creeped-out cast by Fraser songs about Ferrell

Scot: Why bother with the guitar at all? He's not pretending to play. Not goofy enough to work.

Episode Four: Chris Farley

Meadows and Chase vouch for Farley as host - Farley tries to pratfall on real table

Christian: I don't even know how to rate these, given what happened shortly thereafter.

Scot: "Fatty falls down, ratings go up."

Meadows and Rock take over the monologue while waiting for Farley to show up

Christian: Actually choked up when Chris Rock showed up. Everyone is pitching in to help Farley out.

Scot: Rock was brought to 30 Rock in case Farley actually couldn't go - Farley's voice is atrocious - This ends up a little disjointed.

Morning Latte - Tom (Ferrell) & Cass (Oteri) share anecdotes

Christian: Oteri and Ferrell obviously had chemistry - weird that she was nowhere to be seen in his movie projects after SNL.

Scot: Liked the parody of morning news shows, not sure why "stupid bitch" had to be part of the script.

Spinning Class - Matt Foley tries to inspire a health club exercise cycle workout class

Christian: Horror show. Almost had to watch while shielding my eyes.

Scot: Farley tries the voice for 15 seconds, fails, then drops it - He's out of breath after walking 10 feet.

Goth Talk -Azrael’s brother Glen (Breuer) and Farley taunt hosts

Christian: Kattan said these were written by Dennis McNicholas, who would later join Tina Fey as co-head writer. He still writes Weekend Update to this day.

Superfans Revisited - Mike Ditka’s [real] departure causes Super Fan schism; Bill Kurtis cameo

Christian: Tough watching Farley act out having a heart attack. It would be real within weeks.

Scot: Liked a lot of the parts to this. Smigel wrote, I'm guessing.

Weather Scope - pro wrestler El Nino (Farley) challenges hurricanes to rumble

Christian: Actually liked this. Clever premise. A proper send-off.

Scot: I used to think he was affecting a voice for this bit. However, it's clear that's just his normal sound at this point.