"My boobs are much bigger than Debra Messing's"
Cold Open: Nightline
4 Stars
Democratic candidates weigh in on "Nipplegate"
Ted Koppel is interviewing the democratic front runners, John Kerry, John Edwards and Joseph Lieberman, who stunk it up out there. They all want to talk about issues and their campaigns but Ted only wants to talk about the most important story there is, Janet Jackson's breast being exposed at the Super Bowl halftime show. Edwards tries to steer the conversation towards healthcare but Ted brings it right back.
"Let's talk about healthcare. Was it a healthy breast? I thought it had more sag to it than it should. And what was that Chinese throwing star doing stuck to it?"
Lieberman recorded the halftime show and paused it many times but wishes it would have been Queen Latifah or Catherine Bell from JAG, second reference to Catherine Bell's breasts this season. Always love Darrell's Ted Koppel impression and I'm glad to have it back. They can do Nightline every week for all I care.
Megan Mullally Monologue
Ted Koppel is interviewing the democratic front runners, John Kerry, John Edwards and Joseph Lieberman, who stunk it up out there. They all want to talk about issues and their campaigns but Ted only wants to talk about the most important story there is, Janet Jackson's breast being exposed at the Super Bowl halftime show. Edwards tries to steer the conversation towards healthcare but Ted brings it right back.
"Let's talk about healthcare. Was it a healthy breast? I thought it had more sag to it than it should. And what was that Chinese throwing star doing stuck to it?"
Lieberman recorded the halftime show and paused it many times but wishes it would have been Queen Latifah or Catherine Bell from JAG, second reference to Catherine Bell's breasts this season. Always love Darrell's Ted Koppel impression and I'm glad to have it back. They can do Nightline every week for all I care.
Megan Mullally Monologue
3 Stars
Megan sings with an all male chorus
Megan says she is most known for Will & Grace where she is constantly surrounded by gay men. Tonight we're gonna see a different side of her, cue an all male chorus to sing a song with her. She does some silly dances which she has named The Frosty Sausage, Sugafoot To China and Jiggle Number 53. As she jiggles her breasts, we find that the choir is all gay and not interested. Clay Aiken eventually comes out and joins them. Not so much into the gay stereotypes but Megan definitely brings a flair to the stage and after the crop of hosts we've had this season, that is extremely welcome.
Celebrity Poker Showdown
Megan says she is most known for Will & Grace where she is constantly surrounded by gay men. Tonight we're gonna see a different side of her, cue an all male chorus to sing a song with her. She does some silly dances which she has named The Frosty Sausage, Sugafoot To China and Jiggle Number 53. As she jiggles her breasts, we find that the choir is all gay and not interested. Clay Aiken eventually comes out and joins them. Not so much into the gay stereotypes but Megan definitely brings a flair to the stage and after the crop of hosts we've had this season, that is extremely welcome.
Celebrity Poker Showdown
3 Stars
Tammy Faye Bakker, Carrot Top, Gene Shalit and Geraldo Rivera compete at poker
On Bravo, the channel for gay stuff and poker, Kevin Pollak and a poker pro host an all celebrity poker tournament. Seth plays Carrot Top, who is constantly pulling out props, like 2 pears and 2 (golf) clubs, Darrell plays Geraldo Rivera who bluffs directly into his hand microphone, Horatio is Gene Shalit who makes a lot of puns and Megan plays Tammy Faye, and we're still making Tammy Faye mascara jokes in 2004, apparently. This was all very fun even if it did run out of steam. Only real complaint I have is for Jimmy Fallon playing Kevin Pollak. He does impressions of other celebrities like Shatner, Peter Falk, Christopher Walken and Johnny Carson which annoy his co-host. He makes Kevin Pollak look like a sad hack comedian. Jimmy Fallon, how dare you? I have never seen you do an impression that I haven't seen someone else do. You are the last person who should be able to make fun of someone else's impression skills.
Rerun of Huggies Thong
On Bravo, the channel for gay stuff and poker, Kevin Pollak and a poker pro host an all celebrity poker tournament. Seth plays Carrot Top, who is constantly pulling out props, like 2 pears and 2 (golf) clubs, Darrell plays Geraldo Rivera who bluffs directly into his hand microphone, Horatio is Gene Shalit who makes a lot of puns and Megan plays Tammy Faye, and we're still making Tammy Faye mascara jokes in 2004, apparently. This was all very fun even if it did run out of steam. Only real complaint I have is for Jimmy Fallon playing Kevin Pollak. He does impressions of other celebrities like Shatner, Peter Falk, Christopher Walken and Johnny Carson which annoy his co-host. He makes Kevin Pollak look like a sad hack comedian. Jimmy Fallon, how dare you? I have never seen you do an impression that I haven't seen someone else do. You are the last person who should be able to make fun of someone else's impression skills.
Rerun of Huggies Thong
Mama's Boy
3 Stars
A man's close relationship with his mother upsets his fiancee
Seth and Amy are sleeping in his childhood room when his mom comes in and still treats him like a 5 year old, which he seems to enjoy. Amy is weirded out.
"You're 34."
"I'm 34 and a half."
Mom makes him waffles, plays hide and seek and counts down to tickle time. When Seth calls for help with his zipper, Amy leaves and drops off her engagement ring. The sketch just kind of ends all of a sudden but I would rather have that than a long and drawn out conclusion.
Golden Globe Awards
Seth and Amy are sleeping in his childhood room when his mom comes in and still treats him like a 5 year old, which he seems to enjoy. Amy is weirded out.
"You're 34."
"I'm 34 and a half."
Mom makes him waffles, plays hide and seek and counts down to tickle time. When Seth calls for help with his zipper, Amy leaves and drops off her engagement ring. The sketch just kind of ends all of a sudden but I would rather have that than a long and drawn out conclusion.
Golden Globe Awards
4 Stars
Cameras keep cutting to Megan Mullally at awkward times
Amy as Sharon Stone is introducing Michael Douglas at the Golden Globes and keeps rambling. During her speech the camera keeps cutting to Megan bored, picking her nose, chugging a wine bottle, banging her head against the table and peeing into a wine glass and handing it to a waiter. A simple gag that was really well executed. The timing was terrific here and as an added treat, that's Nick Offerman, Megan's real life husband sitting at her table.
Oprah
Amy as Sharon Stone is introducing Michael Douglas at the Golden Globes and keeps rambling. During her speech the camera keeps cutting to Megan bored, picking her nose, chugging a wine bottle, banging her head against the table and peeing into a wine glass and handing it to a waiter. A simple gag that was really well executed. The timing was terrific here and as an added treat, that's Nick Offerman, Megan's real life husband sitting at her table.
Oprah
4 Stars
Women in Oprah's audience go nuts for her favorite things
Kind of a companion piece for the last sketch of people in an audience doing bizarre things. It's Oprah's birthday and she's giving presents out to her audience. As the presents get more and more elaborate the audience gets stirred into a frenzy. Screaming turns to jumping which turns to crying which turns to chairs being thrown, arms being ripped off, heads exploding, women giving birth and the running of the bulls. All good stuff.
Black History Cab
Kind of a companion piece for the last sketch of people in an audience doing bizarre things. It's Oprah's birthday and she's giving presents out to her audience. As the presents get more and more elaborate the audience gets stirred into a frenzy. Screaming turns to jumping which turns to crying which turns to chairs being thrown, arms being ripped off, heads exploding, women giving birth and the running of the bulls. All good stuff.
Black History Cab
3 Stars
An over zealous cabbie admires Black History Month
Not sure how I feel about this but it seems to be all in good fun so I'll allow it. Megan picks up Kenan and she is so happy because it's Black History Month and he is her first black passenger. Unfortunately, even though she seems to genuinely enjoy black people the way she shows it is not the greatest.
"I like black people. I like all the blackies, the afros, the coloreds."
She sees Kenan in a suit so she wishes him well on his trial (he's an investment banker) and offers to drive him to Harlem (he's headed to Wall Street). When she sees another black man she pulls over immediately and Finesse gets in the car. He is also in a suit but it's because he has a court date and he gets a kick out of Megan singing Gin And Juice and stopping to pick up some "chocolate bunnies" and dropping everyone off at a liquor store and a strip club. This was a very delicate tight rope and I like how Megan fully committed. If she had pulled back a little bit it wouldn't have worked but she went all in on this enthusiastic character with a good heart but out of date social views. So you couldn't really get mad at her for saying offensive things because it was oddly coming from a good place.
Clay Aiken
"Invisible"
Not sure how I feel about this but it seems to be all in good fun so I'll allow it. Megan picks up Kenan and she is so happy because it's Black History Month and he is her first black passenger. Unfortunately, even though she seems to genuinely enjoy black people the way she shows it is not the greatest.
"I like black people. I like all the blackies, the afros, the coloreds."
She sees Kenan in a suit so she wishes him well on his trial (he's an investment banker) and offers to drive him to Harlem (he's headed to Wall Street). When she sees another black man she pulls over immediately and Finesse gets in the car. He is also in a suit but it's because he has a court date and he gets a kick out of Megan singing Gin And Juice and stopping to pick up some "chocolate bunnies" and dropping everyone off at a liquor store and a strip club. This was a very delicate tight rope and I like how Megan fully committed. If she had pulled back a little bit it wouldn't have worked but she went all in on this enthusiastic character with a good heart but out of date social views. So you couldn't really get mad at her for saying offensive things because it was oddly coming from a good place.
Clay Aiken
"Invisible"
I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio. I thought I had just stumbled on an undiscovered love song from the 1980s. What is this? I love it. Then the DJ comes on and tells me I was listening to the new song from American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken. What? You gotta warn me before I start bopping my head. Shit, now I like Clay Aiken. Much like the previous sketch, I had leaped to judgments before having all the facts. Clay Aiken made me woke.
Weekend Update
Weekend Update
"I'm gonna call you Ms. Jackson, cuz you're nasty"
Wasn't getting a lot from the jokes or the desk pieces this week. Best joke for me came from Jimmy when he said that Justin Timberlake was upset about the Super Bowl halftime show but is it really shocking that a member of the Jackson family would take advantage of a naive young boy? Worst joke came from Jimmy when he showed James Brown's mugshot and sang "I Feel... Not So Good".
Native American stand-up comedian Billy Smith makes his second appearance. He says it's so cold outside that he's frozen off his whacacka, which is a ceremonial rattle, and that his wife's cooking is so terrible he's rather eat istakayamakosama, which is a small red ant that stinks when squashed. The audience is pretty silent for this but that's the point, he's a bad stand up comedian. Again, the joke here is never on Native Americans so I kinda like this character and think it's one of Fred's better "funny because they're not funny" characters.
Don't really know if it counts as a desk piece but at one point Tina says she found Jimmy Fallon's American Idol audition tape. They play it and it's Jimmy re-enacting William Hung's version of She Bangs. No real commentary at all just Jimmy doing something that's already been done. I never like this style of humor where the joke is, I'm going to recreate something funny someone else already did. It's almost like stealing at that point. I mean, the joke would be exactly the same if they just played the actual William Hung audition.
Finally, Barbara Walters comes out to announce that she's leaving 20/20 to commit full time to The View, listening to Joy Behar talk about menopause while sitting in a Star Jones fart cloud. She wants to be the subject of an interview but can't think of any woman smart enough to be the interviewer. Tina thinks she's talking about her but she really means herself. Barbara interviews herself, asking what kind of tree she would be and crying when she brings up the subject of her parents. Not bad.
The Wizard Of Oz
2 Stars
Dorothy's house also crushed some munchkins
Right as this sketch started I got flashbacks to season 20 and the Sarah Jessica Parker episode. This sketch was a little better but not by a whole lot. When Dorothy's house landed in Munchkinland it not only killed The Wicked Witch Of The East but also 4 munchkins. I got 2 laughs from this, when Amy tries to pull a munchkin out and instead rips off its legs and when Maya as Glinda vomits into a munchkin's hat as a result. Then the sketch ends weird with Darrell coming out as TCM host Robert Osbourne, I think, they never name him, and tells us to rewind this sketch, turn the sound down, light up a fatty and watch it while listening to Dark Side Of The Moon.
Zinger Vs. Slam
Right as this sketch started I got flashbacks to season 20 and the Sarah Jessica Parker episode. This sketch was a little better but not by a whole lot. When Dorothy's house landed in Munchkinland it not only killed The Wicked Witch Of The East but also 4 munchkins. I got 2 laughs from this, when Amy tries to pull a munchkin out and instead rips off its legs and when Maya as Glinda vomits into a munchkin's hat as a result. Then the sketch ends weird with Darrell coming out as TCM host Robert Osbourne, I think, they never name him, and tells us to rewind this sketch, turn the sound down, light up a fatty and watch it while listening to Dark Side Of The Moon.
Zinger Vs. Slam
3 Stars
David Clinger runs into his ex-fiancee Debbie Slamowksi
Second appearance from David Clinger, who prefers to be called David Zinger on account of his awesome zings. His bit is that he insults people and then acts out some kind of charade to punctuate it like drawing pistols or hitting the jackpot at a casino. This time he's working with a group of scientists trying to get the Mars rover back to Earth successfully. Another member of the team is Debbie Slamowski, his ex-fiancee and a woman who prefers to be called Debbie Slams. They go back and forth trading zings and slams but the real MVP of these sketches is Chris Parnell who makes an incredible straight man.
"We need to find a solution in the next five minutes. You need to spend no more than 4 of those minutes working out your differences in a series of zings and slams."
Nobody can say crazy dialogue with a straight face quite like Chris Parnell.
Clay Aiken returns with "The Way" which is a ballad about the way you hold me and the way that you love me and it's beautiful and I loved it. I feel like such a sucker but I just might be a claymate.
Grammys
Second appearance from David Clinger, who prefers to be called David Zinger on account of his awesome zings. His bit is that he insults people and then acts out some kind of charade to punctuate it like drawing pistols or hitting the jackpot at a casino. This time he's working with a group of scientists trying to get the Mars rover back to Earth successfully. Another member of the team is Debbie Slamowski, his ex-fiancee and a woman who prefers to be called Debbie Slams. They go back and forth trading zings and slams but the real MVP of these sketches is Chris Parnell who makes an incredible straight man.
"We need to find a solution in the next five minutes. You need to spend no more than 4 of those minutes working out your differences in a series of zings and slams."
Nobody can say crazy dialogue with a straight face quite like Chris Parnell.
Clay Aiken returns with "The Way" which is a ballad about the way you hold me and the way that you love me and it's beautiful and I loved it. I feel like such a sucker but I just might be a claymate.
Grammys
1 Star
Celebrity family members are turned away from the Grammys
Kenan is trying to get into the Grammys but is turned away. He says that he is on the list as he is Leon Warwick, nephew to Dionne. He sings to prove it but Amy as the ticket taker is not buying it. Then Megan comes out as Connie Raitt, Bonnie's niece and tries to get in too. They are removed by security and then Clay Aiken comes out as Trey Aiken, gives Amy a wink and she lets him in.
"That Aiken wink gets me every time."
A sad end to an all around good episode. This wasn't well written nor were the performances by Kenan or Megan that funny.
FINAL ANALYSIS
Kenan is trying to get into the Grammys but is turned away. He says that he is on the list as he is Leon Warwick, nephew to Dionne. He sings to prove it but Amy as the ticket taker is not buying it. Then Megan comes out as Connie Raitt, Bonnie's niece and tries to get in too. They are removed by security and then Clay Aiken comes out as Trey Aiken, gives Amy a wink and she lets him in.
"That Aiken wink gets me every time."
A sad end to an all around good episode. This wasn't well written nor were the performances by Kenan or Megan that funny.
FINAL ANALYSIS
"There's just no pleasing you homos"
Average
3 Stars
MVP
Seth Meyers
Nightline, Monologue, Celebrity Poker Showdown, Mama's Boy, The Wizard Of Oz, Zinger Vs. Slam
Nightline, Monologue, Celebrity Poker Showdown, Mama's Boy, The Wizard Of Oz, Zinger Vs. Slam
Best Sketch
Nightline
Worst Sketch
Grammys
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I think this is the first episode all season where I wouldn't change a thing. Solid cold open, good monologue, good sketches with the weaker stuff buried at the end of the night and a good musical guest. Maybe just give me a new commercial parody rather than Huggies Thong for the third time.
Host Analysis
Just an absolute delight. Committed to all of her characters, seemed to be having fun and looked confidant the whole show. Would have liked to see her come back.
Final Thoughts
I've been really down on this season but this one brought my hopes back up. A funny host in funny sketches makes a funny show. I don't know why they think putting an unfunny host in unfunny sketches would do the same thing.
Up Next
Drew Barrymore hosts for the 4th time with musical guest Kelis.
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