or...

Was It Dumb Or Was It Dumber Or Was It Just Regular Good???

Though it's hard to avoid, ranking these episodes was never my intention with this SNL challenge. Sure, I do have a "Favorites" link but that whole section is nothing more than bonus material that I will have to sort through as soon as I have the time to resort my insights to not favor the newer years.

I mention this because, during this entire viewing, I felt myself comparing it to the episode that I watched last night instead of judging the show for its own merits alone. I do this often and really don't like it, in fact, it the reason I constantly find myself overly justifying the fact that an episode is good even when all that I can come up to write about is a tiny complaint.

For example, this was a perfectly fine episode but the only thing on my mind is how it didn't live up to the first episode which led me to question why rather than simply enjoying the show and looking for inspiration in the things that I like to keep this as positive as I can. After all, this challenge is supposed to be fun and though I'm still having a blast, I'm just not all that sure if I'm properly conveying my enthusiasm with my words.

Luckily, fine-tuning my use of the written language is the whole point of this blog, so for now, I will simply promise to attempt to avoid being nit-picky and negative while also trying to not be as apologetic if I do. I'm just starting to sense the lack of confidence in my writer's voice by constantly reassuring that nothing a big deal when sharing how things seem and emphasize issues are how I personally feel in an effort to avoid sounding like a wannabe expert.

I'm not sure if I would conquer this quirk right away but it's on my list of things to change. Speaking of changing, it's now time to change gears and move on to share what I saw, as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a parody of The Tonight Show where Dana Carvey as Carson and Phil Hartman as Ed McMahon make fun of the late-night duo's final anniversary episode where they stop playing nice since this their next step is retirement. Not only are they rude to their guests but they also bitterly bashed Jay Leno instead of politely playing nice until the official handoff. They even get a little rough with one another, now that they no longer care about ratings. Jeff Daniels also dropped in as Jay to be bashed in person which led to the announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Jeff Daniels then officially opened the show by stepping out stage to start his monolog only to freak out and rush backstage where he shares his concerns with Lorne, who quickly hands him off to Dana Carvey to teach him the tricks to opening the show by showcasing the stereotypical moves used by a bulk of the host. This routine starts with Don Pardo's announcement followed by several goto moves to pull off, like clapping, pointing and dancing while the band continues to play and then the routine finishes by the hosts doing whatever they want. After Dana showed Jeff Daniels a sample of how this works, he then rushed back to his starting mark and attempted to give it another shot and found the advice to be helpful.
We then got a parody ad for Earthies, the Earth-friendly diaper that you plant with the baby's poo acting as a fertilizer to grow either pumpkins or corn based on the sex of the child.
We then met the Richmeister's Rival when Jeff Daniels entered the copy room as the company's new hire who not only uses his coworkers' names as catchphrases but he goes as far as to create a customized parody song. If the two aren't annoying enough on their own they are infinitely more irritating as they try to one-up one another in their efforts to win their coworkers over as fans.
Community College Bowl was a parody of a Quiz Bowl only instead of challenging geniuses from Ivy League School the competing teams are comprised of idiots from Community Colleges that could be considered the thirteenth grade. No matter what the category, all of the students look lost as bored by every single question that was asked.
The classic Chris Farley Show then made its debut where Chris Farley nervously interviewed Jeff Daniels, as himself, by sharing how big of a fan he is of Jeff Daniels' work and goes on to ask him if he remembered certain scenes with no intentions at all of asking a follow-up question.
Color Me Badd then took to the stage to perform I Wanna Sex You Up.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, Al Franken dropped in to discuss the start to the coverage of the 1992 Presidential Election, mainly to discuss his own liberal ways despite being paid tons of money and why he could never see himself switching sides while at the same time predicting a major loss.
Apex Novelty Company was a sketch where Jeff Daniels meets with his boss to get reprimanded for going rogue and adding his own twists to their novelty designs turning the tiny joke props into pranks that are a bit too extreme including a prank cigar that is so powerful that it blows all of the skin off of his bosses head leaving behind a talking skeleton.
Simon then finally returned where Mike Myers as the bathtub bound British businessman's neglected son joyfully shared his view of the world while accompanying his father on business trips, only to never leave the hotel.
This was followed by a parody of Real Life With Jane Pauley where "Jane Pauley" interviewed Jeff Daniels and Siobhan Fallon who play one of the world's smartest woman who is married to one of the world's dumbest men about how these two polar opposites could possibly get along as a couple.
Color Me Badd then returned to the stage to perform I Adore Mi Amor.
Don't Get Me Wrong was a sketch where Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played two rich dudes at a country club who complained about everything while adding the phrase "Don't get me wrong," along with a compliment to help soften the blow behind the complaints. Eventually, Jeff Daniels joined the two and added to the passive-aggressive complaints, only his complaints got rather strange rather quick to the point where he got sent away.
Finally, Jeff Daniels closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Though, as mentioned above, this episode wasn't as exciting as the opening night episode, I still credit this episode as being the second solid episode in a row thanks to these three of my favorite moments from the night. First, I loved the debut of The Chris Farley Show because of how Farley just seems so genuine in his excitement to the point where it feels infectious. Next, I really liked The Richmeister's Rival because I just something funny about a pair of dueling idiots who don't seem to realize that they should actually be best friends. Finally, I was a fan of The Community College Bowl because it reminded me of my college days where our self-esteem was so low that we did even bother to class up the experience and referred to our school as Junior College or the 13th grade.