or...

Another Uneventful Five-Timers Club Induction

Tonight makes visit number five from John Goodman and I have to say, I’m pretty surprised that they have yet to follow through on the tradition set by Tom Hanks by giving out a physical five-timers jacket to celebrate the host’s accomplishment. I thought for sure that the show started to officially recognize five-timer host right after Hanks was inducted but apparently, I was wrong.

Even though John Goodman didn’t get his coat, he definitely deserves recognition for putting on yet another sold show. I wouldn’t say that this was his best appearance of the bunch but I personally chalk the inconsistency up to this being a weaker season over him not putting in the work since his part in the performance was spot on.

Once again, tonight’s episode suffered from having sketches with pretty entertaining concepts that started pretty strong only to fall flat after going past the point of being funny anymore. Even after taking a few days off by sharing backup reviews, I found myself zoning out when I was expecting to be more excited to be back, especially when considering the caliber of the host.

Again, it wasn’t a horrible episode since I was entertained in those non-zoned out moments but just like with most of this season, it wasn’t as satisfying as I would have liked in order to give me more inspiration to write.

With that, it’s now time to move on and share what I saw, as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with parody coverage of the New York Governor's Debate where Phil Hartman as Mario Cuomo debated Mike McKean as Howard Stern who was really running for governor that year. The main joke was that Howard treated his campaign like his radio show by saying shocking things while speaking out of turn with Robin Quivers right by his side. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
John Goodman then officially opened the show with a monolog about how this is his fifth time hosting the show and rather than receive his Five-Timers coat, he did a special routine in honor of Mother’s Day where he admitted to several of his biggest secrets that he’s been keeping to himself ever since he was a little child.
This was followed by a repeat of the fake ad for Majestic Caribbean Cruise Line from last season where the cruise line’s biggest selling point was that you would be kept company by Manute Bol.
Captain Jim And Pedro then made their return to show where the captain and the moron met up with John Goodman prior to a double date with his two daughters. Surprisingly, Goodman didn’t get disturbed at all by their tales of being stuck on an island alone together for over fifteen years.
NRA's American Sportsman Today was a parody of a hunting show with John Goodman as the host who took gun nuts out to go hunting with assault rifles that are way too powerful for the task at hand to where the animals were unrecognizable when all the firing was done.
The Pretenders then took to the stage to perform Night In My Veins.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, David Spade dropped by as himself to discuss the current state of the music industry and the annoying things that bands try to pull off when you go to see them live.
Real Stories Of The Arkansas Highway Patrol was a parody of a local COPS-style show that followed an Arkansas Highway Patrol Agent back when they were acting as scouts for tracking down women for Bill Clinton back when he was the governor of the state.
Theatre Stories also returned after a long hiatus where once again, Mike Myers played the host/British stage actor who interviewed fellow old-timey stage actors about the good old days of theater.
Ninja Pep Talk was a parody of an American Ninja style flick where we met up with a bunch of ninjas who had their asses handed to them during a fight with our hero as they made plans for their attack for the next go around.
We then got a repeat of the fake ad for Philadelphia Action Figures from earlier this year which pitched action figures for the courtroom drama starring Tom Hanks.
Michael Bolton: In His Own Words was a fake ad for a new album filled with Michael Bolton covering songs and only changing one or two words in order to take credit for writing the song.
The Pretenders then returned to the stage to perform I'll Stand By You.
Flintstones Names was a PSA where John Goodman revisited his role as Fred Flintstone to break down the show’s strategy to come up with its characters’ names.
Psychotic Cab Ride was almost a parody of Cash Cab if that show was only around at the time. In the sketch Rob Schneider a psychotic cab driver who nonchalantly admits to the many violent crimes that he’s committed by sprinkling in unasked for information while giving his passengers a quiz.
Finally, John Goodman closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

This episode was so just okay that it was actually kind of hard to come up with these three of my favorite moments of the night. First, I loved New York Governor's Debate because I am a huge Howard Stern fan and felt that Mike McKean did a pretty good impression as did Adam Sandler as Bababooey. Next, I really liked the Ninja Pep Talk sketch because the idea of hearing from a group of ninjas who got beat up despite having the hero outnumbered is a hilarious joke to me. Finally, I was a fan of Psychotic Cab Ride because I liked how it reminded me of a twisted version of Cash Cab before its time.