SNL Reviews: Bill Burr/Jack White (10/10/20)

 Cold Open: Vice Presidential Debate

“Wacky” shenanigans occur at the Vice Presidential Debate.

• I won’t beat around the bush here...this is one of the WORST cold openings in SNL history. Everything that could have gone wrong here did.

• The first 30 seconds of this were plagued by random video dropouts (at least on my affiliate). At one point a brief shot of Kenan and some other assholes flashed on screen from what I assume was dress rehearsal footage. I’m sure this was fixed for reruns but I haven’t bothered to check because I never want to watch this sketch again.

• Have I told you how much I DESPISE Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris?!? While the random social media jokes she used to do have been thankfully phased out, she still finds the time to be smug and annoying. I really hate the way she emphasizes Biden’s name, and the part where she does a Philadelphian accent (don’t ask) was super painful to listen to.

• Beck Bennett continues to prove how much of a terrible impressionist he is by trotting out his awful Mike Pence impression for the first time in forever. I didn’t miss him. At least they didn’t do any jokes about how much he hates gays for once.

• I forgot to mention her earlier, but Kate McKinnon’s Susan Page impression is just as smug and annoying as Harris. She outright says to Pence at one point that she wasn’t asking if Trump was recovering well out of sympathy, but because she’s full of rage towards his incompetence. Can they make their politics any less transparent on this show?

• Really? They’re doing spit-takes now? This is turning into a bad variety show sketch.

• Jim Carrey shows up as Biden again, watching the debate on television. Any hope that I had of his impression improving from the last episode is quickly extinguished once he starts going into the Fire Marshal Bill routine again with the goofy faces. 

• Then, as if this awful sketch couldn’t get any worse, it randomly turns into a parody of “The Fly”. Biden decides to teleport himself to the debate, for some reason, and we get a shot from the movie where Carrey’s head is crudely pasted onto Jeff Goldblum’s body as he gets inside the teleporter. But, surprise surprise, there’s also a fly in there. So you can probably see where this is going. Of course, they merge together and end up on Pence’s head (JUST LIKE IN THE REAL DEBATE HERP-A-DERP!), followed by the worst Jeff Goldblum impression ever. Considering how much they love their celebrity cameos these days, I’m surprised they didn't get the real deal for this. Luckily, he was in England filming a movie at the time, so he couldn't.

• Kenan brings out his Herman Cain impression, proving that not even death will stop SNL from digging up old, tired routines. They also show a shocking lack of respect for Cain by having him say that Trump was the reason he died for not having him wear a mask. 

• Just thinking about this shit anymore makes me sick, so, let me cut this short; overall, this is the worst cold open ever, end of story.

-2,000/5

Monologue

Bill Burr does stand-up about COVID, cancel culture, and white women.

• Color me shocked, this monologue wasn’t that bad! I had no knowledge of Bill Burr before this episode, so I didn’t know what to expect from him. He totally won me over with this monologue, though!

• We start out kind of slow with bland COVID jokes, then he turns to the main subject: he’s tired of cancel culture. And this is where my interest is piqued.

• He has some great insults towards those people who tried to cancel John Wayne earlier this year. 

• GREAT point about how most of the members of Black Lives Matter are white women! 

• And he ends on a ballsy note by making fun of Pride Month! I wish all of the stand-up comedians they get to host the show were like this!

4/5

Sketch: New Normal

A couple (Burr and McKinnon) gets nervous while meeting with their friends for the first time since quarantine started.

• After the good feeling the monologue left me with, I wait through 45 seconds of this sketch for the jokes to start, then McKinnon says “unpresidented” instead of “unprecedented”. Then the rest of the sketch is McKinnon talking in a drunk voice while she and Burr keep coming up with unfunny mispronounciations. I’ve got nothing else to say about this one.

1/5

Sketch: The Blitz

Unfunny shit happens while Kevin (Kenan Thompson) is trying to editorialize to the audience about police brutality.

• I thought the humor in this one was going to come from Burr’s character wearing a bear hat, but then Kenan started talking about some black man getting killed by police, and it hit me; this show is clearly more interested in politics than it is in actually entertaining us. 

• While he tries to keep talking, Burr keeps pulling unfunny pranks on him, and we get another damn joke about Snapchat filters! Will you guys please stop with the Snapchat jokes?!?

0/5

Short Film: Enough is Enough

An up-and-coming actor named Benji (Beck Bennett) sings an anti-Trump rap on Instagram in hopes that his friends will see it and like it, but they don’t want anything to do with him.

• I was expecting the worst from this one. I thought the entire sketch was just going to be about him singing the rap (which is extremely cringeworthy) and that would be it, but I was in for a surprise. 

• Instead, the real joke was that his rap was so pathetic that all of his friends want him to take it down. They accurately sum up all those nobodies who take shots at Trump when someone tells Benji that he’s not famous enough and is jeopardizing his career. It’s a surprising move for SNL to mock this type of behavior, when they’d normally be encouraging it.

• Best of all is the ending, when Jason Momoa calls him up and asks to be untagged from the video, all while insulting him and asking why he hasn’t died yet.

4/5

Musical Performance: Jack White Medley

I normally don’t comment on the performances, but this one was so great that it may rank among the greatest in SNL history.

Weekend Update (featuring Wayne Wenowdis and Pete Davidson)

• Once again, our first joke is one where they say that Trump is mentally ill. They then call him a “bioweapon” and make a random Terminator II reference.

• One bit I don’t understand is when Jost says that it looks like Trump greenscreened himself in front of the White House. The video he is referring to is obviously not greenscreened.

• Michael Che then expresses his disappointment that Trump survived by comparing it to a drunk driving accident where only the drunk driver survived. It’s pretty pathetic.

• What follows is one of the most disturbing and unfunny things I have ever seen; we get a guest commentary from “Dr. Wayne Wenowdis”, played by Kate McKinnon in her 1,000,000th drag role. All this character does is talk in a goofy voice and say “we know this” every three seconds. It was so bad that I actually had to skip through the rest of this commentary. Apparently, I missed a part where McKinnon suddenly breaks out laughing for no reason and Jost asks if she’s okay. Uh-oh, that probably means that they’re going to bring this character back at some point in the future. (EDIT: Whaddya know, they did!)

•  Absolutely ghastly “joke” about baseball legend Whitey Ford being “from a simpler time where you could just name your kid Whitey”. Even when somebody dies, Michael Che can’t keep his anti-white jokes to himself.

• We end with a commentary where Pete Davidson talks about J.K. Rowling’s transphobia. I couldn’t skip to the next sketch fast enough once I heard that.

0/5

Sketch: Don Pauly

Some shit about the Mafia, or something.

• You know, in a sketch about how we shouldn’t racially profile people, it’s kind of ironic how they’re going with one of the oldest stereotypes in the book: “Italians are in the Mafia”. As an Italian, I’m normally not offended by these types of jokes, but when you’re doing them in a sketch about how we shouldn’t racially profile people, there’s kind of an odd double standard there.

• Oh, and they’re doing a Mafia sketch in 2020? Didn’t we exhaust all those jokes already while The Sopranos was still airing?

1/5

Fake Commercial: Samuel Adams Jack-O-Pumpkin Ale

• I totally didn’t understand the joke in this one. All I could see was lame Boston accents that were already overused on those Boston Teens sketches.

• And there’s a spit-take for the second time in this episode. Why?!? This is the type of shit that Lorne would have called “too Carol Burnett” back in the 70’s.

• Why did this have to be an ad for a real product instead of a creative original one? Years from now, people are still going to remember fake ads like “Mel’s Char Palace”, “Happy Fun Ball”, “Colon Blow”, and “The Clucky Chicken”, while shit like this will be forgotten in a few years. Maybe they were hoping to get free stuff from Samuel Adams.

0/5

Musical Performance: “Lazaretto”

Side Note: After Jack White’s second number, they showed a brief clip of Eddie Van Halen’s performance on the show, as this was the first episode after his death. It was nice to see the clip, as it gave me a brief glimpse of a much more pleasant experience. Also, the guitar Jack is using during “Lazaretto” is one that Eddie made especially for him.

Final thoughts: A slight step up from the last episode. Still not very funny, but I did get a few laughs from Burr’s monologue, and the Jason Momoa cameo appearance. But you know things are getting bad when one of my highlights is a gratuitous cameo.

Best sketches: Monologue, Enough is Enough, Jack White’s performances, Eddie Van Halen tribute

Worst sketches: Cold Open, The Blitz, Weekend Update (especially the Whitey Ford “joke”), Samuel Adams

Next review: Issa Rae/Justin Bieber

SNL Reviews: Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10/03/20)

 I’m back, everyone! Another season of SNL is upon us, and I thought that I would post my reviews of the season as it airs this year.

Cold Open: Presidential Debate

In which the first Presidential Debate is poorly re-enacted.

• Hoo, boy, this was a painful sketch to sit through. Not only was it completely unfunny, but it was also THIRTEEN MINUTES LONG.

• I was hoping they would scrap the debate sketch because of Donald Trump contracting the coronavirus only a day before this aired. But, of course, I should have known better, because they took the easy way out by making this a “flashback” to the debate.

• So, let’s talk about Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden impression. To put it simply, it fucking sucks. When I first saw the promotional video they released of him, I thought he was playing Fire Marshall Bill. He goes way overboard with the mugging and silly faces, which, don’t get me wrong, Carrey is great at doing, but it doesn’t fit who he’s playing. Why couldn’t they just get Harrelson or Sudeikis back again? Or, better yet, have someone who’s actually in the cast play him?!??

• Alec Baldwin is back as Trump, too, and his impression is just as bad as ever. Just give the role to someone else, already.

• Dear God, these jokes are awful. At one point, they literally have Trump say that his statements about the virus “won’t come back to haunt (him) later this week”. There’s nothing hackier than a “predicting the future” joke.

• Random Harry Styles cameo because WHY THE FUCK NOT?!??

• Maya is back as Kamala Harris yet again. At least they stopped doing those horrid social media jokes with her.

• Overall, a terrible start to the season.

0/5

Joining the cast this season, we have Andrew Dismukes, Lauren Holt, and Punkie Johnson. Dismukes is also a writer for the show (he wrote some of my least favorite sketches from last year), but I have no idea who these other two are. Ego Nwodim has also been promoted to a regular cast member (about damn time!)

Side note: Cecily Strong is missing from the first few episodes of this season as she is away filming a TV show.

Monologue

Chris Rock does stand-up about Trump contracting the virus, the pandemic, and the economy.

• It felt good to see Rock on SNL again at first. But then, my respect for him suddenly evaporated when he implied that he wants the virus to kill Trump. Absolutely disgusting.

• The rest of his monologue wasn’t much better, not helped by the fact that it was over eight minutes long.

0/5

Sketch: Eye on Pittsburgh

A news report about an evacuation at a “change-of-name office” due to COVID-19.

• Just when the episode couldn’t get any worse, they decided to bring back that horrid name change office routine from Season 44. When is SNL going to realize that only middle-schoolers find this shit funny?

• The names include such knee-slappers as “Edith Puthie”, “Irma Gerd”, and “Mike Rodick”. Isn’t that so hilarious???

-5/10

Music Video: Bottom Of Your Face

Some rappers sing about wanting to see their girlfriends’ faces.

• I hated all those dumb rap videos from last season, and, surprise surprise, I hated this one too.

1/5

Sketch: Future Ghost

A ghost (Rock) visits a teenager (Kyle Mooney) to warn him about his future.

• I thought this was going to be another one of those “living posters” sketches, for some reason. Instead, it randomly turned into a promotion for the latest Tony Hawk game. That’s right! For the fourth season premiere in a row, we have a sketch that only exists to promote someone else’s product. And the less said about that dumbass Cheeto sketch from last year, the better.

• It seems like the only reason they set this sketch in the 2000s was so they could do a bunch of 2000s references. Kyle has posters of AOL and blink-182 on his wall, and he mentions having a crush on the mom from “Spy Kids”. Get it? Because all those things were popular in the 2000s!!! Herp-a-derp!

1/5

Fake Commercial: The Drew Barrymore Show

In which they make fun of Drew Barrymore’s (Chloe Fineman) talk show.

• Good Lord, yet another lame impression showcase from Chloe Fineman. She has to be one of SNL’s worst impressionists ever. Even Charles Rocket would have told her to tone it down.

• Brief appearance by Alex Moffat as Tom Green. Get it? Because they used to be married!!!

1/5

Musical Performance: “Savage”

Weekend Update (featuring Chen Biao and Carrie Krum)

• The first Update joke of the new season is comparing Trump’s helicopter leaving for the hospital to the last helicopter out of Vietnam. I see that four months off the air didn’t make Che and Jost any funnier.

• Chen Biao comes back to grate on my nerves yet again. No further comment necessary.

• Then Carrie Krum shows up to make things even worse! I’ve never liked this character, time to retire her.

• This Update ends on a horrifying note: the camera cuts to Kate McKinnon in the audience dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg. UGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Couldn’t they have just shown a dedication card to her instead of shoving that awful impression down our throats for the millionth time?!? The only good thing is that this is hopefully the last time we’ll ever see it!

0/5

Sketch: NBA Bubble

Women compete to get drafted into the NBA Bubble.

• When they showed the crew setting this sketch up, I hoped it was going to be another one of those Inside the NBA sketches with Kenan as Charles Barkley, because those are usually pretty funny. I was wrong. Instead, it’s just some other bullshit where they wear giant plastic bubbles. Get it?!?

• The only notable thing about this sketch was when Heidi Gardner brought out the same Pluto mask that appeared in the original Debbie Downer sketch, only because it made me wish I was watching that instead.

1/5

Sketch: Stunt Performers Association of America

Stunt performers plead with audiences to stay safe during the pandemic so they can get back to work.

• This had a good concept, but wasn’t executed very well.

• I will say that I got my only laughs of this entire episode when Kate McKinnon’s character got hit in the face, and again at the end when a stuffed animal bit her in the crotch.

• I also got some slight chuckles from the fake movie posters.

2/5

Musical Performance: “Don’t Stop” (feat. Young Thug)

Final thoughts: Man, I can’t believe how awful this episode was. All the terrible shit I suffered through last season is here to stay in this one. Why are these season premieres always so fucking bad???

Best sketches: NONE

Worst sketches: They all sucked, but the Cold Open, Eye on Pittsburgh, and Weekend Update were particularly horrid.

Next review: Bill Burr/Jack White

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 4

Cold Open

Amanda and the Lobsters practice some dance moves. When she leaves, Penelope shows up in a Lobster disguise before security takes her away.

• One of my favorite cold opens. I don’t know why, but Penelope’s disguise makes me laugh.

• In the shot where the Lobster points out Penelope’s disguise, you can see the Blockblister set in the background.

TV Clips: Dancing people, and a guy pointing to his car saying, “Look at that shine!”

Intro

Amanda solves problems of various audience members.

• Boring.


Fake Commercial: Homework Hut

A place that delivers all kinds of homework.

• One of the most creative premises on the show. Who wouldn’t want a place that does your homework for you? I know I sure did.


Hillbilly Moment: Fish


Sketch: Blockblister

Foreigners sell cheaply-made knock-off movies at their video store, such as “The Vantom Menace”, “The Wizard of Voz”, and “Austin Powders”.

• Another one of my favorite recurring sketches makes its debut! While it’s somewhat outdated nowadays because the store it’s spoofing is gone, that doesn’t make it any less funny.

• The first customer returns two videos in this sketch. Later Blockblister sketches would have each irate customer return one video.

• Other than that major difference, the Blockblister formula is already fully in place.

• What makes the Star Wars parody even more brilliant is the fact that The Phantom Menace wasn’t even out on home video yet. It wasn’t released on VHS until April of 2000, while this episode aired in November 1999.

• Favorite line: “But the Force, she is with me.”

• The visual of Amanda dressed in a cheap Austin Powers costume (oops, I mean “Powders”) is hilarious. I especially like when she briefly stops to look at the script.

• An odd ending where, after the last customer leaves, the family turns the TV back on to watch more of Austin Powders. They never did this again.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda takes a bath, but she keeps finding her brother’s stuff in the tub.

• Amanda’s offscreen mother is only the second character in these shorts to not be voiced by Amanda or Schneider.

• I like the ending where it’s revealed that her brother left a shark in the tub, somehow.


Sketch: Judge Trudy

A special Halloween edition. Shelly Barnes takes Mrs. Shane to task for handing out an apple instead of candy to trick-or-treaters. Mrs. Shane is punished by having her dress removed. Then, a young boy is in trouble for egging a man’s house. The judge excuses this by saying he was only trying to make an omelet, so the man is spun around by the bailiff.

• Good to see this back again. The Halloween premise is a nice way to shake things up.

• The Bailiff is now played by his regular actor, Gary Anthony Williams (aka Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks). His over the top personality still hasn’t materialized, though.

• Drake uses his Kyle voice for his character. Is it supposed to be Kyle in costume or something?


Hillbilly Moment: Cucumber

• A blooper from this sketch was available on the show’s website, in which Amanda briefly forgets her line.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope uses her website as a distraction to escape.

• Nice Nickelodeon reference in how one of the choices in an Amanda Trivia Quiz question about Amanda’s dogs is “Ren and Stimpy”.


Sketch: Totally Kyle

Kyle tells of the time when he found a rock in his driveway and brought it into his room.

• A pretty relatable and funny story. I like how it just randomly ended with him arguing with his father about the rock.


Sketch: Meet the Literals

A family who takes everything literally causes chaos at their new neighbors’ house.

• Probably my favorite of all the freaky family sketches this show did. The whole premise is perfect, and their literal reactions to everything were all so funny.

• The ending where they prepare to kill their new neighbor was the perfect way to finish it.


Closing

Amanda and the Lobsters show off the dance they were rehearsing earlier.

• A nice call back to the cold opening, complete with a reappearance from Penelope in disguise.


Final thoughts: I consider this to be the point where the show finally hits its stride. Things will only get better from here.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 3

Cold Open

Drake makes a Dancing Lobster upset by eating lobster for dinner.

• The first time we see one of the Dancing Lobsters outside of a Judge Trudy sketch.

• You must have known that they’d do a sketch like this at some point. It was funny enough, but I would have preferred a full sketch instead of a cold open.


TV Clips: A traffic light, and a guy popping out of the garbage shouting “Garbage!”

Intro

Amanda recieves a box. While she goes to look for a tool to open it, Penelope breaks out of it and runs off to look for her.

• Second appearance of the Swiss Guy. I forgot he was in this one.

• Another near miss for Penelope, as Amanda returns to the stage as soon as she leaves.


Fake Commercial: Call ZAP!!!

The latest technology that allows you to zap unwanted prank callers.

• Another classic commercial, and another thing that I wish was real.

• Drake and the other boy’s scenes are filmed on the same set as the Meet the Literals sketch we‘ll be seeing in the next episode.


Sketch: The Wrestlebergs

A family that is so obsessed with wrestling, they have their own referee.

• Kind of a lame concept for a “freaky family” sketch. Maybe I’d like it better if I was more of a wrestling fan, like my brother is.

• The father and son’s costumes are based on those of real professional wrestlers, Goldust and The Blue Blazer (RIP), respectively.

• This sketch was also filmed on the Literals set.

• Another appearance from Andrew Hill Newman, this time as the family’s referee.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda plays with her dog, Dumples.

• They’ve finally stopped doing the live-action bookends to these.

• Not one of the best Stop-Motion bits.


Sketch: The Girl’s Room

Amber (Amanda), Sheila (Raquel), Tammy (Jamie Snow), and Debbie (Jenna Morrison) host their own show from the girl’s bathroom. They discuss a pop quiz and then give popular boy Josh Elliot (Drake) a swirly because he doesn’t love them.

• This recurring sketch makes its debut.

• There’s a couple of big differences here. One, the announcer is a different woman instead of Amanda, and two, the set is noticeably different.

• Some of the characterization is a little different too. Debbie, while she does say her famous “I like eggs” line at one point, seems to be more obsessed with trains in this one. The other girls are mostly the same, though.

• I’m going to be honest here and say that I’ve never really been a big fan of these sketches. Aside from Debbie, who never fails to crack me up, most of these sketches are fairly bland.

• Nancy’s teacher character seems to be the same one she played in the Stop-Motion sketch in the first episode.


Hillbilly Moment: Ragdoll

• Another recurring sketch makes its debut. Now this is one that, while extremely repetitive, manages to always be funny in spite of that.


Sketch: Smelling Bee

Contestants have to identify a certain smell while blindfolded.

• I love whenever Kassir uses a British accent on this show. It’s like he’s doing a less creepy version of The Cryptkeeper.

• Foot Joke #2: The first thing Amanda has to smell is a skunk in a sneaker. She refers to it as “footwear”.

• Foot Joke #3: Drake smells army boots with sour milk in one of them, and rotten eggs in the other.

• Another one of Schneider’s favorite topics, hoboes, are referred to here when Amanda has to smell one.

• Funny ending where the entire room faints because of Nancy’s character’s smelly armpits. (Armpits are another fetish of Dan’s)

• I’m honestly shocked that they didn’t have to smell a bare foot at any point.


Sketch: Totally Kyle

Kyle Rostensan (Drake) tells a story about the time he went to his grandmother’s house and had oatmeal for breakfast.

• Yet another recurring sketch makes its debut in this episode! And this just happens to be my favorite recurring sketch of them all.

• Drake already has this character perfected, even though it’s just the first time he’s ever played him.

• One big difference is that the announcer is Dan Schneider instead of Amanda like it would be later on.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope’s attempt to break into Amanda’s dressing room is foiled by the wardrobe lady, Jennifer. After she shows Jennifer her website, Amanda opens the door and knocks her unconscious.

• I bet Dan loved featuring those baby pictures of Amanda on the show.


Closing

Amanda invites the audience to dinner. After they all leave, Penelope runs out and is greeted by an empty studio.

• Funny ending where the entire studio audience leaves to go have dinner with Amanda.


Final thoughts: The show slowly starts to get better. A whole bunch of classic recurring sketches made their debut here, compared to the forgettable ones from the previous episode.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 2

Cold Open

Amanda isn’t on the guest list, so she has to fight her way in.

• Another entertaining cold open. It’s hard to tell in the copy I’m watching, but it looks like she actually did her own stunts here.


TV Clips: A monkey, and stock footage of a burger being prepared

Intro

Amanda answers questions from the audience via their cell phones.

• Not much to say here, except the fact that I got unintended laughs from the huge 90s cell phones.

• The person who calls Amanda from her house appears to be on the same set as Amanda’s prank caller character from the Mr. Oldman sketches, which we’ll be seeing later in this episode.


Fake Commercial: Meatloaf Crunch

A meatloaf-flavored cereal.

• One of the most memorable fake ads from the show. It’s easy to see why, because the concept of a cereal that tastes like meatloaf is unique and hilarious, and the jingle is extremely catchy.

• I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Kassir’s performance as “Loaf”, the cereal’s mascot. He seems to be having the time of his life.

• Overall, a classic, and it appears the writers thought so too, because it re-airs in two more episodes later this season.


Sketch: Jack and Jake

The two least-threatening bullies in school (Amanda and Raquel) try numerous pranks, none of which work.

• Another sketch that seems like it was going to be recurring, but never did. 

• That said, I’m glad it never ended up being recurring, because it was kind of bland and repetitive.

• Rather disgusting scene where a baby pisses on the two of them.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda is on a date with a boy (Drake) who has an extremely large pimple on his head. She ends up falling in love with it.

• Like the last one, there’s a live-action bookend here where we see Amanda on her date. I can see why they stopped doing them after this, because they get weirder later on.

• I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure this is one of only three Stop-Motion bits to feature a voice actor other than Amanda and Dan Schneider. The second one is in episode 4, and the third is in episode 8, where a certain someone makes a cameo. Not gonna spoil it, though.

• Funny ending where Amanda falls in love with the pimple instead of the boy.

• Also, is it me, or does Schneider love pimples and warts? There was Principal Pimpell from All That, Lewbert from iCarly, and there’s a fake ad coming up in Season 2 which features a girl with a huge wart on her face.


Sketch: Nurse Zelda

Nurse Zelda (Amanda) treats various injuries in class.

• Whaddya know, here’s another sketch that never becomes recurring, even though it looks like it was meant to be. 

• Some impressive physical work from Amanda in this sketch.

• I honestly got more laughs from Kassir as Zelda’s assistant. The way he looked was enough to get a chuckle out of me.


Side Note: The commercial bumpers in this episode are replaced by shots of Penelope applauding in the audience, as part of a storyline where she gets tickets to see the show.


Sketch: The Simians

A family where the father is an ape, the mother is human, and their children are half-human/half-ape hybrids.

• Another freaky family sketch, which this show got a lot of mileage out of.

• Who is the young actor playing “Robert”, the boy visiting the Simian’s house? The credits tend to list the featured actors all together without listing who they played, and, sometimes, they don’t credit them at all!

• Excellent makeup job on Amanda in this sketch, making her almost unrecognizable.

• This was okay, but I’m kinda getting vibes of Mr. Peepers from SNL. Maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t do any more of these.


Sketch: Mr. Oldman

Mr. Oldman (Dan Schneider) gets a prank call about a cheese delivery.

• The first appearance of Mr. Oldman. No matter how much of a sexual deviant Dan Schneider is, he is a riot as this character.

• Amanda’s wig in this sketch is slightly different from the one she would usually wear in these.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope shows someone in the audience her website. 

• Not one of the better Penelope bits, IMO. The “Things That Rhyme With Amanda” feature was kinda lame.


Closing

Amanda does tricks with a ladder, with help from her stunt double.

• Amanda’s clearly male stunt double is funny.

• Excellent conclusion to the Penelope storyline where a fat guy sits on her and blocks her view of Amanda.

• First onscreen appearance of writer Andrew Hill Newman, who will go on to play several minor characters over the course of the series. He’s the audience member in the red tie who talks to Amanda.


Final thoughts: Another mixed bag of an episode. They’re still finding their footing, and it’s telling that the only new sketch in this episode that becomes recurring is Mr. Oldman.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 1

Sorry for the delay of my SNL Season 45 overview, but I wanted to share something special I’ve been working on. You see, back when I was a child, one of my favorite shows was The Amanda Show on Nickelodeon. It helped me develop a love of sketch comedy (along with All That) and I’m surprised to see how well most of it has held up. So I thought I’d do a review of all the episodes of the show in order. I won’t be rating the sketches.



Cold Open

Fans try to get into the audience for Amanda’s first episode, while Amanda herself is running late. Johnny Kassir tries to open up the show in her stead, and the audience beats him up. Meanwhile, Amanda’s #1 fan, Penelope Taynt, tries to sneak in.

• A nice way for the show to begin. It gives you a sense of how highly-anticipated the show was when it first aired.

• First appearance of “The Swiss Guy”, a black guy dressed like a stereotypical Swiss man. I don’t know what made the writers come up with him, but he’s hilarious.

• We also get the first appearance of Penelope Taynt, Amanda’s #1 fan, please. She’s pretty much already fully formed in this appearance, though the tattoo of Amanda on her abdomen is never seen or brought up again.

• Amanda’s helicopter scene is a pretty funny way to introduce her.

• The pilot in this scene (played by the late Henry Gibson) asks if she is one of the Rugrats. Ironically, she later did join the cast of Rugrats in that show’s dying years.

• Johnny Kassir’s introduction, where he gets beat up by the audience, is a real blast.



Opening sequence

The first season’s intro is an animated sequence where Amanda, bored by what’s on TV (the program she’s watching is different in each episode), turns it off and jumps inside, where she sets up her own show. This was apparently animated in-house by Nickelodeon Animation Studios, and it’s a great way to start the show. The animated Amanda also appears in scene transitions throughout the first season and the first few episodes of season 2. It’s also worth noting that the theme was composed by the legendary Stewart Copeland, drummer of The Police. The theme is based on a composition he did for the first Spyro the Dragon game a year earlier.

TV Clips: Two rabbits, and a man saying the word “Fork” in a foreign language


Intro

Amanda gets pizza and flowers delivered to her by Josh Server and Kenan Thompson, who congratulate her on the start of her new show.

• A really charming appearance from Server and Thompson from All That, which Amanda was also on at the time. They’re even kind enough to give the Swiss Guy a muffin.



Fake Commercial: Pedestrian Airbag

A new airbag that gets you out of sticky situations, like bullies or unattractive boys.

• The first of many fake ads on the show, and it happens to be one of my favorites as well.

• Unlike a lot of the products shown in SNL’s fake ads, the ones on this show feel like they could exist in real life. I know I’ve definitely been in need of something like this in my life before.

• An oddity with this fake ad is that it was shot on film. Most of the show’s commercials were shot in videotape like the rest of the sketches, but processed with FilmLook.

• How in the world did they get away with “The Inflatable Friend”?

Sketch: Judge Trudy

Judge Trudy (Amanda) presides over two cases involving a boy (Drake Bell) who pushed his principal’s (Johnny Kassir) car into the school pool, and a girl (Raquel Lee) who got punished for playing baseball indoors.

• The first appearance of perhaps the show’s most famous recurring sketch. And there’s certainly a lot different about it in this first installment. For one thing, the bailiff is a different, skinnier actor, and he doesn’t have his usual over the top personality.

• The other big difference is when the “Dancing Lobsters” do their usual dance at the end. The generic music that normally plays is instead “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory. This may be a reason why this episode is not available on DVD, although it still airs on TV.

• Other than those differences, all the usual Judge Trudy routines are in place. Although I must say that I found this one kind of empty.



Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda battles her mean teacher in a fantasy sequence.

• A hallmark of Season 1 are these bizarre, stop-motion sketches (animated by Tom Megalis, who has also done work for KaBlam!) where Amanda gets into crazy situations. Some people find them creepy, but I find them hilarious.

• This one is a little different from the rest in that it has live-action bookends to establish that this is just a fantasy Amanda is having in class.

• Nancy Sullivan plays her first of many teacher roles. This is also the first appearance of the classroom set that will appear in numerous sketches (most notably the Mr. Gullible sketches).


Sketch: The Klutzes

A crazy family that is extremely clumsy tries to have a nice night at home.

• Another recurring sketch debut. I’ve never been a big fan of these characters, mostly because their catchphrase (“Not a problem!”) gets old extremely fast. It also might be because most of the humor revolves around pratfalls, in my opinion, one of the lamest joke premises ever.



Sketch: Cynthia Worthington

An attractive young lady (Amanda) has some disgusting habits, much to the disgust of her date (Drake).

• Speaking of characters I’ve never been a fan of...

• I LOATHE this character. I feel like she is just an excuse for Dan Schneider to insert his fetishes. Don’t believe me? Two of the things she does in this sketch are shave her armpits (ew) and sand a callous off of her foot (gross!). In fact, I think I’m going to keep a count of all the foot jokes in this show, because there’s a bunch. So that’s Foot Joke #1, out of God knows how much more.



Sketch: Mother Caboose

An extremely old lady (Amanda) reads a story about Katie Beth Sue, before she falls out of her chair.

• This sketch seems like it was set up to become recurring, but it never does. Good thing, too, because it was kind of bland.



Penelope Taynt

Penelope steals part of Amanda’s room, and shows Drake and Raquel her website.

• The first appearance of AmandaPlease.com, which was indeed a real website. In fact, it outlasted the show itself for a long time, until it was shut down in 2012.



Closing

Amanda names all 50 states backwards while punching an astronaut.

• This was amusing enough. And you’ve gotta love Penelope running across the stage at the end, as soon as Amanda leaves, mind you.


Final thoughts: A mixed episode. You can tell they were still experimenting with some things.

Season 45 overview

Let's take a look back at Season 45 of SNL. There were a couple of good episodes, a few horrendous ones,  but most of this season was painfully boring.

First, I’ll be looking at the cast members.

Repertory Players

Beck Bennett: I hate his impressions, and most of the sketches he wrote were awful. Overall, not a very good season for him. Would I be okay if he got fired over the offseason? Yeah, pretty much.

Aidy Bryant: This season saw a dramatic increase in her airtime. On one hand, we got all those awful sketches with Kate McKinnon, but she also was responsible for two of my favorite sketches of the season; Eleanor’s House and Aidy’s Childhood Journal. Even though she’s heading into her ninth season as a cast member, I’d like to see her come back. That is, if they keep her as far away from McKinnon as possible.

Pete Davidson: Until the At Home episodes, Pete barely did anything this season. While this was to be expected given that he was away filming a movie, he barely appeared even in episodes where he was actually in the building. Does this mean he’s on his way out? If so....THANK GOD!

Mikey Day: My favorite member of the current cast. Most of the best sketches of the season were written by him. If Colin Jost ever steps down as head writer, I’d love for Day to take over.

Heidi Gardner: In her first season as a repertory player, Heidi Gardner continues to get on my nerves. Any time she appeared in a sketch usually resulted in her annoying me.

Kate McKinnon: My least favorite member of the current cast. Her constant drag roles, mugging, and annoying voice continue to grate on me. Oddly, it seems as though this year went lighter on her. There were some nights where she only appeared in the cold open and one other sketch.

Alex Moffat: It’s a shame that Moffat’s awful Eric Trump impression has soured me on him, because he actually seems like he has some talent.

Kyle Mooney: Why is this guy still on the show? They’re clearly not interested in using him properly, and most of the times they do give him a lead role completely suck. He and Beck should leave together and go back to their YouTube channel where they belong.

Chris Redd: Redd continues to be underused in his first season as a repertory player. That commentary he did in the Mulaney episode made me realize that he isn’t so bad, so why do they never use him?

Cecily Strong: Still not the biggest fan of her, but she didn’t annoy me as much this season. So I guess I’d call that a step in the right direction.

Kenan Thompson: In his 17th season, Kenan is still a reliable presence. His airtime took a slight decrease this year, though, and now that he’s also co-producing the All That revival for Nick, I’m worried that he might be on his way out soon.

Melissa Villaseñor: The only notable thing she did all year was WHITE MALE RAGE. Other than that, I don’t see why she’s still here.



Featured Players

Ego Nwodim: She continues to impress me in her second year as a featured player. Hopefully, come Season 46, she’ll be a repertory player.

Chloe Fineman: She started out somewhat bland, but, around the time of the At Home episodes, she started to get on my last nerves. I hope she keeps herself restrained if she comes back.

Bowen Yang: SNL shows a lot of respect for their first Asian cast member by giving him nothing but stereotypical roles. However, if they had to get rid of one of the featured players, I’d definitely prefer it if he returned over Fineman.



Now, how do the episodes themselves stack up? Let's see...

Episode Rankings:

Best: Chance the Rapper, Eddie Murphy/Lizzo, and John Mulaney/David Byrne

Worst: Kristen Stewart/Coldplay, Will Ferrell/King Princess, Adam Driver/Halsey

And, lastly, we rank the sketches....

Sketches

Best: Grouch (from David Harbour), First Impressions Court (from Chance the Rapper), Tasty Toaster Tarts (from Chance the Rapper), Spooky Songs (from Chance the Rapper), Space Mistakes (from Chance the Rapper), Doug (from Harry Styles), Funeral DJs (from Harry Styles), Monologue (from Scarlett Johansson), I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (from Scarlett Johansson), Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood (from Eddie Murphy), Holiday Baking Championship (from Eddie Murphy), The Masked Singer (from Eddie Murphy), Food Dudes (from JJ Watt), The Library (from RuPaul), Uncle Meme (from John Mulaney), Debbie Downer (from Daniel Craig), Overnight Salad (from Daniel Craig), Hal Willner tribute (from At Home 1), PornHub (from At Home 2), Aidy's Childhood Journal (from At Home 2), Eleanor's House (from At Home 3)

Worst: Inside the Beltway (from Woody Harrelson), WANU Mid-Day (from Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Sauce (from David Harbour), Hungry Jury (from Kristen Stewart), Stargazing (from Kristen Stewart), Lunch Run (from Harry Styles), Heinz Relax (from Will Ferrell), The First Thanksgiving (from Will Ferrell), Ventriloquist (from Will Ferrell), NATO Cafeteria (from Jennifer Lopez), Wisconsin Women (from Jennifer Lopez), Sexual Harassment Charlie (from Scarlett Johansson), A Conway Marriage Story (from Scarlett Johansson), DelTaco Commercial Shoot (from Adam Driver), WHITE MALE RAGE commentary (from Adam Driver), Big Willie's Pizza (from JJ Watt), The Old New York Show (from RuPaul), Airport Sushi (from John Mulaney), Bottle Boi commentary (from Daniel Craig), Whatcha Cookin' On? (from At Home 1), The Reveal (from At Home 2), Let Kids Drink (from At Home 3), Danny Trejo rap (from At Home 3)