[PRE-SHOW THOUGHTS]
Mena Suvari, like half the hosts from this season so far, is someone I'm not
really familiar with. I did see American Pie, which from what I remember had
some really funny scenes. I also saw her in an awful movie called The Rage:
Carrie 2, sequels are never good, I'm guessing Stephen King had no part of the
latter. Anyway, she died early on in the movie, hope I'm not spoiling
anything, ah.. who am I kidding, anyone who hasn't seen it yet, probably has
no interest in seeing it anyway. Also, last year, I remember seeing trailers
for a movie she did called Loser, with Jason "The Pie" Biggs and judging from
the trailers it doesn't look too good. Shes also in a new movie called Sugar
and Spice, which looks worse than Bring it On, but Bring it On was Ian Roberts
in it, so it can't be all bad. Anyway, I'm not really too excited about her as
the host, but with Bush stepping in the white house, there could be some good
political sketches. We'll see.

[OPENING] Citizen Clinton
This was a pretty funny way to end Darrell's long run as doing President
Clinton on the show. Darrell sure brought us some great sketches with this
impression. I'm really gonna miss him when he leaves the show. The bits with
George Dubya were also funny as usual, and it wasn't overdone either, which is
good. I liked the bit with the Big Mouth Bass. On the subject of those singing
bass plaques, how many different names are there for that one product? I've
heard about 12, each name more idiotic than the next. Anyway, back to the
sketch. It was pretty funny, but I was expecting tonight's opener to be one of
those really hilarious sketches that become really memorable for years to
come. I guess its not good to do that, then you get disappointed when its a
pretty average sketch.
Funny lines: "On October 29, 1973 George W. Bush did three lines of cocaine
and joined in an orgy in a public swimming pool in Houston. How do I know
this? I WAS THERE." .. "Ya know George, your not half bad. If you keep your
mouth shut and your eyes closed, your gonna be alright." -- Darrell Hammond as
Bill Clinton .. "I was boogie-ing down to the Marshall Tucker Band, when
someone saw you on the TV and said, 'hey look, theres the President.' And I
said, 'hey guys hows it going.' And they were like 'no you turd-head, the real
President on TV.' And I said 'but I am the real President.' And everybody
laughed, which really steamed me. So, here I am." .. "Hello everybody. I'm
your new President, and keep in mind. Thats for a whole year." .. "Some guy
sold it to me for $1000." -- Will Ferrell as George W. Bush
Grade: B

[MONTAGE]
Jimmy Minor? Ah, everyone makes mistakes. This will most likely be replaced
with the version from dress rehearsal when this episode is rerun in afew
months. Hey, Smigel's back, cool.

[MONOLOGUE] Mena Suvari
Ehh... I wasn't really crazy about this monologue. The fact that I haven't
seen the movie American Beauty probably doesn't help either, I've been hearing
some good things about that movie though. I should give it a rent sometime.
What was with Will wearing the Spartan Cheerleader uniform? Is he really even
known for that character anymore? Not Mary Katherine Gallagher, I could never
stand that character. I guess thats one positive thing about Superstar being
made, since then I haven't had to endure anymore of those awful skits. What
was Bruce McCulloch thinking when he agreed to direct that one? The only
really funny part was with Lorne Michaels and Tracy Morgan. Probably the
weakest monologue all season.
Grade: C+

[COMMERCIAL] Gatorade Love Bucket
This wasn't too bad, it wasn't really anything great like I thought it would
be when it first started, I guess I expected something really outrageous.
Cookie Dough was much funnier. But it was rather funny seeing people do this
in the most inappropriate places. I found the part with the grandmother and
the school play the funniest. Horatio and Jimmy's high five was also quite
funny. Not too bad.
Funny lines: "Nothing says I love you, like a bucket of Gatorade."
Grade: B-

[SKETCH] La Guardia Airport Security
This really wasn't that good. It had some good potential for a recurring
sketch, but most of the jokes here were not all that funny. It seemed to me
like they were going for a new 'catch phrase for all the kids to say
character' here. This was hardly an original bit either, Total Bastard Airline
somehow worked better. Maya's constant use of the phrase "If ya put up a
fight, ya ain't gettin' on the flight" became old really fast. This did have
some good lines though, like when Maya referred to Ana Gasteyer's Rolex as
'Tacky Burger King give-a-way jewelry." Also, Chris Parnell's loud "DAMNIT"
was pretty funny, and definitely unexpected, especially coming from him. We
don't see Parnell play to many angry characters. The audience was pretty dead
throughout most of this sketch, and I was pretty much with them on this one.
This was about as bad as something I'd see on MADtv. Mena Suvari was severely
unfunny in this as well. One more thing, what was the purpose of having Lenny
Kravitz and his band in this? They really didn't do anything.
Grade: C

[SKETCH] Janet Reno's Dance Party
Wow, heres a sketch that hasn't been done in a lone time. In my memory serves
me correct, the last time this was done was when Rudolph Giuliani hosted in
97-98. I still remember the first time Will did his famous Reno impression.
Rosie O'Donnell was the host, and Will had a quick part in an opening sketch
where President Clinton offers Bob Dole a position in the White House. Bill
mentioned Janet Reno's name and Will showed up in the blue dress with a
baseball mit in his hand and the audience was laughed hysterically before he
even said anything. When the audience finally settled done he started punching
Bill and saying something to the effect of "C'mon Billy, lets play catch." I
haven't seen it in a long time so that description might be alittle off. One
thing I'll remember was how funny the audience thought it was. Anyway, I guess
one of the writers went with the audiences reaction and gave Will his own
Janet Reno sketch in the next episode with Kevin Spacey, that was definitely
the funniest of all the Dance Party sketches. This one however was not too
good. First off, I thought one of the trademarks of this sketch was that Reno
only dances to My Sharona, has it been that long that SNL forgot what song
they used to use in this sketch? Second Will wasn't as crazy in this one when
it came to dancing and his voice is usually much more husky. I think the first
weak Reno sketch was the one they did during the Sylvester Stallone episode,
after that there haven't been too many good Janet Reno sketches. Then again
Will hasn't done it much since that season. The cameo by Janet Reno was very
unexpected, of all the people I ever expected to make a cameo, I never thought
Reno would. Maybe that would explain why Will toned down the impression.
Unfortunately, they really didn't do much with her coming on the show. Other
than the workout session clips, I didn't really like this too much, what
happened? This used to be such a funny sketch.
Grade: C

[SKETCH] Rap Street
These characters are slowly starting to grow on me. When they first appeared
on Weekend Update, I didn't really care for them, but their sketch from the
Tom Green show wasn't too bad(except that Tom Green was in it) and this was
pretty good too. I noticed one of their sponsors was called Flaco and Teddy's
Break Dancing Mats. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a sketch done last
season with Tracy Morgan and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as two guys trying to sell
old pineless Christmas trees and calling them Martin Luther King Day Trees.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure their names were Flaco and Teddy, but I could be
wrong. It was really funny when Horatio's moustache kept peeling off,
especially all the funny ways he handled it. I think he hit it with the mic
when he was rapping. It sort of reminded me of the time Norm MacDonald's fake
moustache feel off and he kept adlibbing weird lines as he went along like,
"This is not a real moustache. I bought it off a guy I saw on the street. He
seemed like a nice enough fellow. I asked him will it fall off, and he said
no." That was really funny, I think that was his first live show since being
removed from Weekend Update. Anyway, back to this sketch. I still don't
understand why they pluralize almost everything they say, but it is funny. I
had no idea that the kid Mena Suvari was playing was a real person, until my
brother burst into the room where I was watching this and said "its still not
as bad as the real kid." or something like that. Anyway, this was pretty good,
Horatio's peeling off moustache saved this from being average.
Grade: B+

[CARTOON] The X-Presidents
I'm really glad that Robert Smigel is still doing work on SNL since he
recently got a new show on Comedy Central, which is really funny by the way,
and this was really great. Its good that 'Sex and the Country' won't be the
final SNL cartoon, that would have been a bad way to go. This was hilarious
from the second it started with George W. Bush giving an awkward victory
speech, Clinton's costume, the 5-holed robot from Dreamworks that you can have
sex with, the uncounted votes monster, the chads, I could go on and on. I
noticed Smigel used the same voice here for Al Gore that he uses on Late Night
w/ Conan O'Brien when he does his lips(people who watch that show will know
what I mean by lips), he uses a weird lisp for Gore's voice for some reason.
Ha, Boyz to Men was perfect for Clinton. Smigel could probably write political
cartoons for magazines if his humor wasn't so crude.
Funny lines: "Together we can unitify, so that we can compassionate, not a
divider, reformer, hablo, fuzzy math, he invented the internet, Texas, god
bless." -- President Dubya's victory speech .. "So let us, fuzzy math, uniter,
hes trying to scare senors." -- President Dubya .. "I did not have sexual
relations with that women, but I will f*ck you up." -- Bill Clinton
Grade: A

[SKETCH] Wake Up Little Susie
I didn't think this was too bad, not very long though. The massive repeating
of the line 'shes in a coma' brought this down though. It was pretty funny at
times, but wasn't anything great. I did enjoy it more than some of the other
sketches seen so far. Not much else to say really, this wasn't a very long
sketch, but thats probably a good thing.
Funny lines: "If you love me, and I let your hand go, just let it fall to the
bed." .. "No. I'm an orderly, Doctor Carl's my D.J. name." -- Tracy Morgan
Grade: B-

[WEEKEND UPDATE] with Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
Lately it seems like the week after a really good WU, the next one is pretty
week. Which this one was. I sort of liked Jimmy's God doing a spit take joke,
but the audience didn't seem to. Tina Fey's address to the housekeepers of the
Republicans was pretty funny. Brush your ass with their toothbrushes? Now,
thats comedy. Jimmy Fallon's joke about Jesse Jackson not being able to think
of a word that rhymed with "broken condom" seemed like a rip-off of a joke
Norm made about Jackson on WU a bunch of seasons back, it went something to
the effect of "Jackson just couldn't think of a word to rhyme with
Mitsubishi." Either that or its just a happy coincidence. The Texas prison
escapees/boy band comparison was sort of funny. The Temptations Island, ha. I
also got a kick out of the return of Jacob Silj, not as good as last season,
but still funny. The thoughts on tape were kind of stupid though. The
Jackson/Sharpton segment was alittle weak this time though. Alittle too much
talking over each other this time. Jerry was really funny though, when he
first joined the cast I didn't care for him too much, I'm beginning to like
him though, hes been really funny this week. Not a great Weekend Update, but
still had some pretty funny moments. Surprisingly this was Jimmy Fallon's only
live sketch all night, and WU isn't exactly a sketch.
Funny lines: "In an interview this month, Matthew McConaughey said that he
wants to die the same way his father did, right after having sex.
McConaughey's mother has said, Absolutely not." -- Tina Fey .. "SCIENTISTS
PREDICT BY THE YEAR 2025, OVER 100 PEOPLE IN THE U.S., EUROPE, AND ASIA ALONE
WILL BE STRICKEN WITH THIS TERRIBLE AFFLICTION. PERHAPS FEWER." .. "WE'RE
LOUD, WE'RE PROUD, GET USED TO IT." .. "YOU SPEECH NAZI." .. "NO, YOU KNOW
WHATS UNFAIR? BEING 12 YEARS OLD AND TRYING TO WHISPER TO MY BEST FRIEND, 'YOU
HAVE TO GO UP TO THE BLACKBOARD FOR ME. I HAVE AN ERECTION.'" -- Will Ferrell
as Jacob Silj (I know, CAPS LOCK gives me a headache too, but I thought it
would add the Silj effect to the quotes.)
Grade: B

[MUSICAL GUEST] Lenny Kravitz
When did he get rid of the dreads? I guess its been a long time since I've
seen him. I remember he used to have some pretty cool music videos, I stopped
watching MTV back in 1996, so I haven't seen any of his recent ones, are they
any good? He has some cool songs too, I was alittle disappointed with this one
though, I wasn't really into it.
Grade: C-

[SKETCH] Veronica and Company
Oh, geez. Not this again. At least Molly knew the camera was on this time. Did
they really have to make this a recurring sketch? I found Molly Shannon to be
extremely annoying in this sketch, even worse than last time. What was the
point of Chris Kattan being in this sketch? He had 2 lines that set up a
unfunny line from Molly. Oh no, another 'Who let the Dogs out' reference. This
character was kind of funny on the VH1 show (back when she was playing Gisele
Bundchen, who is a real person) but when this was done on the Val Kilmer
episode it was horrible and was even worse this time in my opinion. The
multi-talented Chris Parnell's awesome performance and afew funny lines from
Will and Ana saved this from D territory. Speaking of Ana Gasteyer, this
seemed to be the biggest part she had all night, she really hasn't been used
much this season.
Funny lines: "Veronica, this face is the hottest 12 year old to come out of
Serbia in a long time. Shes really a natural, she was already starving." --
Ana Gasteyer .. "So, if your 12 in Serbia, what does that make you here?" --
Will Ferrell
Grade: C

[SKETCH] The DeMarco Brothers
I normally don't care much for these 2 characters, but it didn't seem all that
bad tonight. Maybe its just in comparison to alot of the other stuff I've seen
tonight. Lenny Kravitz was kind of an odd choice for a musical guest to use in
this sketch. How did he get 2 sketches anyway? That doesn't happen to often.
The only thing that I really don't like about these sketches is that Chris
Kattan seems to act way too hyper in them, it gets pretty irritating after
awhile. Anyway, this was pretty good, especially the over the top ending.
Grade: B

[MUSICAL GUEST] Lenny Kravitz
This song was much better than the first one, its really too bad it was cut
off, but this playing around 12:56 so I guess they were extremely pressed for
time, they were only able to show about 3 seconds of the goodnights.
Grade: B

[OVERALL]
Wow, I was expecting this to be a pretty good show with alot of political
sketches. They really didn't do too many besides the opening and the cartoon.
I was pretty disappointed with most of this show. Robert Smigel's X-Presidents
cartoon was really the only thing I fully enjoyed tonight. Lets hope for a
better show in 2 weeks, Jennifer Lopez is the host, so I don't know about
that. I'm really not a fan of her. Thats all.

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