'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.