"I'd like to once again remind you, please no cursing"
Cold Open: Practice
Cold Open: Practice
2 Stars
Craig and Arianna sneak into the gym before school to practice
Cheer leading tryouts are in 7 hours so with the help of a little trick he picked up on MacGyver, Craig has broken into the gym and him and Arianna practice. This is lazy even by recurring characters. We haven't seen the Spartan cheerleaders since last season so just throw them out there and have them do their thing. They do a cheer that ends in a turn your head and cough routine and then talk about how much coffee they are drinking and then they do a cheer about Juan Valdez. Meh.
Matthew Perry Monologue
Cheer leading tryouts are in 7 hours so with the help of a little trick he picked up on MacGyver, Craig has broken into the gym and him and Arianna practice. This is lazy even by recurring characters. We haven't seen the Spartan cheerleaders since last season so just throw them out there and have them do their thing. They do a cheer that ends in a turn your head and cough routine and then talk about how much coffee they are drinking and then they do a cheer about Juan Valdez. Meh.
Matthew Perry Monologue
4 Stars
Matthew tries to get "real" New Yorkers to dance in a fountain
Matthew's big sitcom, Friends, is shot in LA but takes place in New York. All week he's been getting complaints that his show is not like real life. Real New Yorkers would never dance and laugh in a fountain. To prove them wrong we throw to a remote piece where Perry asks people to get in a fountain and dance with him. A young Matt Walsh tells him no, a young Ian Roberts is a little too over anxious as he rips off his shirt, a scary black man just stares at him and an old lady tells him to "fuck off". Finally he comes upon a fat man eating a hot dog who agrees and the two dance, cavort and spin umbrellas together. Perry seemed a little uncomfortable in the first part of the monologue but really came alive during the pre-filmed bit.
Cookie Dough Sport
Matthew's big sitcom, Friends, is shot in LA but takes place in New York. All week he's been getting complaints that his show is not like real life. Real New Yorkers would never dance and laugh in a fountain. To prove them wrong we throw to a remote piece where Perry asks people to get in a fountain and dance with him. A young Matt Walsh tells him no, a young Ian Roberts is a little too over anxious as he rips off his shirt, a scary black man just stares at him and an old lady tells him to "fuck off". Finally he comes upon a fat man eating a hot dog who agrees and the two dance, cavort and spin umbrellas together. Perry seemed a little uncomfortable in the first part of the monologue but really came alive during the pre-filmed bit.
Cookie Dough Sport
5 Stars
To quench your thirst, reach for cookie dough
Love Hurts by Nazareth plays as Will pours cookie dough in his mouth, Tim has a squeeze bottle on his bike, Cheri pours it on her head during a marathon and cookie dough is dumped on a coach's head. A pitch perfect parody of Gatorade commercials with a good sight gag of cookie dough smeared on people's faces.
Jeopardy!
Love Hurts by Nazareth plays as Will pours cookie dough in his mouth, Tim has a squeeze bottle on his bike, Cheri pours it on her head during a marathon and cookie dough is dumped on a coach's head. A pitch perfect parody of Gatorade commercials with a good sight gag of cookie dough smeared on people's faces.
Jeopardy!
3 Stars
Celebrities compete in a dumbed-down trivia competition
Norm is Burt Reynolds, Darrell is John Travolta and Matthew Perry is Michael Keaton. On Celebrity Jeopardy the questions are a little easier so "The Renaissance" is replaced with "shapes". The first category is Shakespeare and the answer is "This play by Shakespeare is about a merchant who lives in Venice". Burt guesses Footloose, Travolta guesses Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Keaton just looks confused. Biggest laugh I got from the whole sketch was the audio Daily Double in the Continents category where a voice just said "Asia" and the question was to name the continent. Vurt puts "Kick Me" signs on everybody's back, Keaton stammers incoherently and Travolta smokes and talks about horror flicks. This sketch is a classic at this point but this was definitely one of the weaker installments. Norm was funny as an aloof Burt Reynolds and Ferrell makes an excellent straight man as Alex Trebek but I had no idea what Matthew Perry was going for with his Michael Keaton impression and Darrell Hammond's Travolta neither looked nor sounded like the man. He's got the Pulp Fiction suit and slicked back hair but other than that it had little to no resemblance to anyone.
Sarcasm 101
Norm is Burt Reynolds, Darrell is John Travolta and Matthew Perry is Michael Keaton. On Celebrity Jeopardy the questions are a little easier so "The Renaissance" is replaced with "shapes". The first category is Shakespeare and the answer is "This play by Shakespeare is about a merchant who lives in Venice". Burt guesses Footloose, Travolta guesses Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Keaton just looks confused. Biggest laugh I got from the whole sketch was the audio Daily Double in the Continents category where a voice just said "Asia" and the question was to name the continent. Vurt puts "Kick Me" signs on everybody's back, Keaton stammers incoherently and Travolta smokes and talks about horror flicks. This sketch is a classic at this point but this was definitely one of the weaker installments. Norm was funny as an aloof Burt Reynolds and Ferrell makes an excellent straight man as Alex Trebek but I had no idea what Matthew Perry was going for with his Michael Keaton impression and Darrell Hammond's Travolta neither looked nor sounded like the man. He's got the Pulp Fiction suit and slicked back hair but other than that it had little to no resemblance to anyone.
Sarcasm 101
3 Stars
Students fail to learn about sarcasm at an adult education class
Before the class begins, teacher Matthew Perry thanks whoever parked in his space. Norm fails to understand sarcasm and says you're welcome. Ana comes in and asks if she is in the right room for Sarcasm 101 and Perry tells her that it's Lamaze class. Again, the students fail to pick up on his sarcasm. Today's lesson is to describe the food in England. The students all weigh in.
"The food is soooo good there"
"Boiling everything is the best way to prepare everything"
Norm's entry lacks the same wit
"When my dad eats he sounds like a pig"
So everyone goes around saying sarcastic things and Norm is the obvious dunce of the class. If it wasn't for Norm this sketch would have been a complete dud. When Ana is revealed to be the teaching assistant, Norm looks dumbfounded and says, "Heeeeeey, I don't think she's a student". He also adds that he would like to take a bath with her. When asked to phrase that statement in a sarcastic way he is again flummoxed.
"Could I want more...Could I take a bath with her?"
This sketch was fine. It was missing something though and I have no idea what it was. Norm was great but I felt a lack of commitment from Perry and there was really no punchline or ending.
The Ladies' Man
Before the class begins, teacher Matthew Perry thanks whoever parked in his space. Norm fails to understand sarcasm and says you're welcome. Ana comes in and asks if she is in the right room for Sarcasm 101 and Perry tells her that it's Lamaze class. Again, the students fail to pick up on his sarcasm. Today's lesson is to describe the food in England. The students all weigh in.
"The food is soooo good there"
"Boiling everything is the best way to prepare everything"
Norm's entry lacks the same wit
"When my dad eats he sounds like a pig"
So everyone goes around saying sarcastic things and Norm is the obvious dunce of the class. If it wasn't for Norm this sketch would have been a complete dud. When Ana is revealed to be the teaching assistant, Norm looks dumbfounded and says, "Heeeeeey, I don't think she's a student". He also adds that he would like to take a bath with her. When asked to phrase that statement in a sarcastic way he is again flummoxed.
"Could I want more...Could I take a bath with her?"
This sketch was fine. It was missing something though and I have no idea what it was. Norm was great but I felt a lack of commitment from Perry and there was really no punchline or ending.
The Ladies' Man
3 Stars
Leon Phelps takes callers with questions about love making
This is the first appearance of Leon Phelps. I cheated a little bit and looked ahead to see how many times I was going to see him this season. Not because I don't like the character but I know it's going to grow tiresome quickly. This is the first of 6 appearances this season. Then 4 more next season, 3 the season after that, then a feature film then never to be heard from again. I think they got enough mileage out of this one. So people call Leon with their romantic queries and he gives them bad advice. A woman says she got really drunk and had unprotected sex with a stranger, Leon says that's all right as he's been with many a skank himself. A married caller asks how to spice things up in the bedroom, Leon asks if he has considered the butt. A woman calls and says she has self-esteem issues because of her weight, when Leon asks how fat she is and she says 210 he finds that disgusting and advises her to stop eating. Finally a man calls in and says he sometimes gets aroused when taking showers at the gym and Leon tells him to take that secret to the grave and never tell anyone. Left a bit of a bad taste ending with homophobia but I forgive it because it felt to fit with the character. I didn't dislike this but my feelings are peppered with the knowledge that this is gonna get really old, really fast.
Space, The Infinite Frontier
This is the first appearance of Leon Phelps. I cheated a little bit and looked ahead to see how many times I was going to see him this season. Not because I don't like the character but I know it's going to grow tiresome quickly. This is the first of 6 appearances this season. Then 4 more next season, 3 the season after that, then a feature film then never to be heard from again. I think they got enough mileage out of this one. So people call Leon with their romantic queries and he gives them bad advice. A woman says she got really drunk and had unprotected sex with a stranger, Leon says that's all right as he's been with many a skank himself. A married caller asks how to spice things up in the bedroom, Leon asks if he has considered the butt. A woman calls and says she has self-esteem issues because of her weight, when Leon asks how fat she is and she says 210 he finds that disgusting and advises her to stop eating. Finally a man calls in and says he sometimes gets aroused when taking showers at the gym and Leon tells him to take that secret to the grave and never tell anyone. Left a bit of a bad taste ending with homophobia but I forgive it because it felt to fit with the character. I didn't dislike this but my feelings are peppered with the knowledge that this is gonna get really old, really fast.
Space, The Infinite Frontier
4 Stars
Chicago Cubs broadcaster, Harry Caray hosts a show about space
Harry Caray welcomes astronaut Ronald Culbertson to the show. The show is about space but Harry seems to know nothing about the subject. He asks Ronald if he was ever sucked into a black hole and then says that he has been. He also asks if he would eat a dinosaur if scientists cloned one. He would, smothered in gravy with a side of curly fries, then wishes the scientists would hurry up because he's hungry. He welcomes us to tune in next week when he will be broadcasting from the center of the sun. This is just Will Ferrell being silly and I enjoyed it.
Weekend Update
"The shortest man in the world...to have Eddie Murphy's head"
Harry Caray welcomes astronaut Ronald Culbertson to the show. The show is about space but Harry seems to know nothing about the subject. He asks Ronald if he was ever sucked into a black hole and then says that he has been. He also asks if he would eat a dinosaur if scientists cloned one. He would, smothered in gravy with a side of curly fries, then wishes the scientists would hurry up because he's hungry. He welcomes us to tune in next week when he will be broadcasting from the center of the sun. This is just Will Ferrell being silly and I enjoyed it.
Weekend Update
"The shortest man in the world...to have Eddie Murphy's head"
No correspondents this week, just quality Norm jokes.
Jane Fonda talked to her kids about sex because she didn't want them to learn the way she did, reading North Vietnamese propaganda pamphlets.
Hooters has been sued for sexual discrimination by men who were refused a job because the restaurant only hires big breasted women. This was a landmark case for guys who try to ruin everything.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to star in a remake of The King And I. When asked what would make his performance of The King Of Siam different he responded that his will be really really horrible.
'Hiroshima' by Yoko Ono premiered on Broadway. A survivor of the bombing was in attendance and was quoted as saying it was "The most horrifying experience of my life".
Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche want to have a baby. Their plan has hit a snag, they are both women. It is not possible.
Bart The Bear is a highly paid actor. Part of the money he earns goes to bear habitats. Bart spends the rest on Bear whores and cocaine.
Oasis
"Don't Go Away"
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to star in a remake of The King And I. When asked what would make his performance of The King Of Siam different he responded that his will be really really horrible.
'Hiroshima' by Yoko Ono premiered on Broadway. A survivor of the bombing was in attendance and was quoted as saying it was "The most horrifying experience of my life".
Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche want to have a baby. Their plan has hit a snag, they are both women. It is not possible.
Bart The Bear is a highly paid actor. Part of the money he earns goes to bear habitats. Bart spends the rest on Bear whores and cocaine.
Oasis
"Don't Go Away"
Poor Liam Gallagher. With all the money the show spends on sets they couldn't afford a mic stand that was his height. The poor man needs to contort his back and neck to reach his mouth to the microphone. Great song, standard performance. They just play the song but it's still easy and nice to listen to.
MTV News
MTV News
1 Star
Goat Boy announces a world tour
Ana introduces this as MTV VJ, Kincaid. She quickly throws to a press conference where Goat Boy is announcing his new band which includes friends Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. They all sing "To All The Girls I've Loved Before", Iglesias keeps saying how sexy he is, Goat Boy brays and tries to eat Willie's guitar. I did not enjoy this. It seemed like it was designed to be stupid for the sake of being stupid but it was missing jokes. It was just stupid.
The Kevin Franklin Show
Ana introduces this as MTV VJ, Kincaid. She quickly throws to a press conference where Goat Boy is announcing his new band which includes friends Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. They all sing "To All The Girls I've Loved Before", Iglesias keeps saying how sexy he is, Goat Boy brays and tries to eat Willie's guitar. I did not enjoy this. It seemed like it was designed to be stupid for the sake of being stupid but it was missing jokes. It was just stupid.
The Kevin Franklin Show
2 Stars
Promo for a hip and happening late night talk show
There's a new voice in urban late night talk shows. Move over Arsenio Hall, Magic Johnson and Keenan Ivory Wayans (remember when those latter two had shows?) here comes Kevin Franklin. Tim dances around in front of a green screen and talks about how his show will be different. His is gonna be a "par-tay" and not "that old school wackety wack". Every night he's gonna come out and talk to the audience and tell jokes, he calls it a monologue. This was amusing but missing a punchline. At least it was short.
Friends
There's a new voice in urban late night talk shows. Move over Arsenio Hall, Magic Johnson and Keenan Ivory Wayans (remember when those latter two had shows?) here comes Kevin Franklin. Tim dances around in front of a green screen and talks about how his show will be different. His is gonna be a "par-tay" and not "that old school wackety wack". Every night he's gonna come out and talk to the audience and tell jokes, he calls it a monologue. This was amusing but missing a punchline. At least it was short.
Friends
2 Stars
Colin Quinn's Chandler impression angers Matthew Perry during a sketch
Ana is Phoebe, Cheri is Rachel, Molly is Monica and Kattan is Ross. They're all doing pretty accurate impressions. Ross proposes to Rachel and in comes Matthew Perry as Joey, he's dumb. Then Colin Quinn comes in as Chandler and he sounds like Snagglepuss and is carrying himself like a gay fop. He says phrases like "Heavens to Betsy" and "I shall perish without a glass of buttermilk" before Perry stops the sketch to talk to him.
"Hold on a sec, Chandler. You seem a little out of character. Is something wrong?"
"Heavens no, dear boy. I'm Chandler Bing, raconteur and sassy man about town. Now be a love and fetch my shawl."
Perry says that the impression doesn't sound anything like him. Kattan tries to stand up for Colin's acting choice.
"As for you Kattan, do yourself a favor and stick to characters that talk!"
I think that was a misread of the cue cards. The joke should be stick to characters that don't talk as several of Kattan's characters are either purely physical or mumbling men. Colin says that his impression is out of love and he sees Perry's performance as Chandler comparative to the great character actors like Ed Wynn and Edward Everret Horton and he tried to bring that to his impression. Perry thinks about this and we cut to a few weeks later in Hollywood where Perry bursts into the Friends apartment emulating Quinn's impression. At least it had an ending, just not a very funny one.
The Golords
Ana is Phoebe, Cheri is Rachel, Molly is Monica and Kattan is Ross. They're all doing pretty accurate impressions. Ross proposes to Rachel and in comes Matthew Perry as Joey, he's dumb. Then Colin Quinn comes in as Chandler and he sounds like Snagglepuss and is carrying himself like a gay fop. He says phrases like "Heavens to Betsy" and "I shall perish without a glass of buttermilk" before Perry stops the sketch to talk to him.
"Hold on a sec, Chandler. You seem a little out of character. Is something wrong?"
"Heavens no, dear boy. I'm Chandler Bing, raconteur and sassy man about town. Now be a love and fetch my shawl."
Perry says that the impression doesn't sound anything like him. Kattan tries to stand up for Colin's acting choice.
"As for you Kattan, do yourself a favor and stick to characters that talk!"
I think that was a misread of the cue cards. The joke should be stick to characters that don't talk as several of Kattan's characters are either purely physical or mumbling men. Colin says that his impression is out of love and he sees Perry's performance as Chandler comparative to the great character actors like Ed Wynn and Edward Everret Horton and he tried to bring that to his impression. Perry thinks about this and we cut to a few weeks later in Hollywood where Perry bursts into the Friends apartment emulating Quinn's impression. At least it had an ending, just not a very funny one.
The Golords
4 Stars
The Golords rescue President Clinton from Chinese terrorists
I watched SNL religiously during this time but I have no memory of The Golords. Apparently the appeared 5 times during this season. Reminiscent of Team America: World Police, this is a spoof of marionette action shows like The Thunderbirds. Will and Ana voice a brother and sister crime fighting duo who need to rescue the president from Chinese assassins. Their plan is to kidnap president Clinton and replace him with a lookalike (a Chinese man in a bad wig). The Golords burst in to save him but are confused as to who the real president is. To determine the true identity they show them a picture of Paula Jones, the Chinese guy barfs and Clinton's head spins around. This was very funny.
Oasis returns with "Acquiesce". I guess my wish of only having one musical guest performance was short lived. Doesn't matter though as this is better than half the sketches in this episode. I was unfamiliar with this song. It has a hard rocking guitar riff and doesn't sound much like any of the Oasis singles I know. I really only know Oasis from Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger, but this song was pretty rad.
Good Morning With Liza!
1 Star
Liza Minnelli welcomes Andie MacDowell and Woody Allen to her morning show
Molly Shannon sounds a lot more like Molly Shannon than she does Liza Minelli. She comes out singing and dancing, taking a break to take alternating puffs from a cigarette and an oxygen mask. She talks about her mother, Judy Garland, and waves to her bandleader/fiancee who is Tracy Morgan as a gay stereotype. Her first guest is Andie MacDowell, played by Ana, not much fun is had here as Liza just asks her random questions about her hair and hints that the coffee cups are filled with scotch. The next guest is Woody Allen, played by Perry, who is upset about the things Mia Farrow said about him on last week's show. Liza has no memory of having Mia on. Woody asks Liza if she's high or insane. Liza closes the show by singing "New York, New York". I didn't much care for this at all.
Discovering Faith
Molly Shannon sounds a lot more like Molly Shannon than she does Liza Minelli. She comes out singing and dancing, taking a break to take alternating puffs from a cigarette and an oxygen mask. She talks about her mother, Judy Garland, and waves to her bandleader/fiancee who is Tracy Morgan as a gay stereotype. Her first guest is Andie MacDowell, played by Ana, not much fun is had here as Liza just asks her random questions about her hair and hints that the coffee cups are filled with scotch. The next guest is Woody Allen, played by Perry, who is upset about the things Mia Farrow said about him on last week's show. Liza has no memory of having Mia on. Woody asks Liza if she's high or insane. Liza closes the show by singing "New York, New York". I didn't much care for this at all.
Discovering Faith
2 Stars
Kevin Franklin reconciles with his demons
Oh, hey. It's the punchline to that sketch from earlier. After 3 sketches and a musical guest I pretty much forgot all about the set up. We once again see Tim doing goofy dances and talking about how his show is going to be different. He says he's gonna have famous actors on and talk to them about their movies. Then a well dressed Tim interrupts and says that was him 6 weeks ago when he was not a happy person and drowning his sorrows with substance abuse. He's now out of rehab and hosting a new show called Discovering Faith, Sunday mornings at 7. It will not be a "par-tay" as legally he can not be around a party. Not bad but should have been a little closer to the first sketch.
FINAL ANALYSIS
Oh, hey. It's the punchline to that sketch from earlier. After 3 sketches and a musical guest I pretty much forgot all about the set up. We once again see Tim doing goofy dances and talking about how his show is going to be different. He says he's gonna have famous actors on and talk to them about their movies. Then a well dressed Tim interrupts and says that was him 6 weeks ago when he was not a happy person and drowning his sorrows with substance abuse. He's now out of rehab and hosting a new show called Discovering Faith, Sunday mornings at 7. It will not be a "par-tay" as legally he can not be around a party. Not bad but should have been a little closer to the first sketch.
FINAL ANALYSIS
"Chinese whore doesn't rhyme with dog"
Average
2.8 Stars
MVP
Norm MacDonald
Jeopardy!, Sarcasm 101, Weekend Update
Jeopardy!, Sarcasm 101, Weekend Update
Best Sketch
Space, The Infinite Frontier
Worst Sketch
MTV News
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
The only thing I would really do here is swap The Golords and Discovering Faith so The Kevin Franklin Show would still be fresh in my mind by the time they got to the punchline.
Host Analysis
I always enjoyed Perry on Friends but I would not be excited to see him host SNL again. In his defense, he was not given the strongest material but he also didn't do much with it. His impression skills were also not very good as his Woody Allen, Michael Keaton and Julio Iglesias were all pretty weak. I really hope he didn't tell the writers that he could do those before hand because that would be kinda sad. "Hey, I do a great Woody Allen. Can you write a sketch that showcases it?". Then they did and he came out with that.
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
A definite decline from the premiere both in execution of sketches and premises. I still have high hopes for the season as a whole.
Up Next
Before I get my hopes too high, Brendan Fraser hosts next week with musical guest Bjork.
That Harry Caray is hilarious,I just watched the Friends clip on Youtube and it is corrected maybe they used the dress rehearsal line for Youtube.
ReplyDeleteYour comment inspired me to watch both versions side by side. They're identical until Matthew Perry walks in and then they merge the live version with dress rehearsal. For a show that has "Live" in the title they do a lot of editing for their rebroadcasts. I've never understood that. Part of the fun of watching something live is seeing the imperfections.
ReplyDelete