SNL: S27E17... HOST: THE ROCK... DATE: APRIL 13, 2002

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It Doesn’t Matter What I Think About The Quality Of This Episode

 

By the time this episode originally aired, the party house that I lived in that rebooted my interest in professional wrestling was disbanded and most people went their separate ways. Though I stayed in touch with a couple of the wrestling fans who were responsible for how much the house watched the fake sport, minus their enthusiasm, I lost interest in watching wrestling alone but I was still a fan of the fake fighters from that era since my memories were so fond.

The era in question pretty much covered the entire time that The Rock went from being a rookie to being a superstar which is probably why I still like The Rock to this day. I’m willing to bet that even if I never went through this second wrestling fan phase, following my losing interest the first time somewhere around high school, I would have still been a fan of The Rock’s connection to Saturday Night Live because he seems like such a fun loving guy and has the right energy to where he could even make a mediocre night be filled with laughs.

Luckily, that has yet to be the case with any of his visits that I’ve seen so far, either through this challenge or while watching the shows as they air. Tonight’s episode might be the first of the season where they show wasn’t just entertaining to watch but there were multiple sketches that are classics which is what I keep complaining about the show lacking throughout the rest of the year.

Not only do I still specifically reference this week’s Brian Fellows when talking about one of my favorite SNL character, and will still talk until the cows come home about The Rock as Bigfoot singing with Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond, but I’ve also always loved the subway singing sketch between Tracy Morgan and Maya Rudolph even though I didn’t realize that it was from this episode.

Needless to say, this was my favorite show of the season that I was excited to rewatch the second that I saw it in the lineup. With all of that said, it’s now time to wrap things up and share what I actually saw, as I give you…     

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The President Of The United States where Will Ferrell as George W. Bush offered horny men and women up to counteract suicide bombers who were in it for the 72 virgins that the West was told was a reward for this type of death. As always, since this was the opening sketch, it all wrapped up with the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. The Rock then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he does all of his stunts in his movies while claiming wrestling was real. He then joked how stunt work is harder than it looks before he called Chris Kattan to the stage and dared the little man to punch him in the face only to end up instantly regretting the decision when Chris nailed him in the jaw.

  3. This was followed by another installment of Brian Fellow's Safari Planet where this time Tracy Morgan as Fellows was too distracted by his inner thoughts of his first guest’s parrot who he imaged was attempting to steal his identity which made him unable to focus on the rest of his guest or the animals.

  4. The Scorpion King had The Rock revise his role from The Mummy franchise where Seth Meyers played The Scorpion King’s son who longed to be accepted by his badass dad who didn’t understand his scrawny, complaining, teenaged kid. One of the funniest parts from the scene was one The Rock flubbed saying the word “tomb” which led to some silliness as our host attempted to get his head back into the scene.

  5. We then got a fake ad to Arthur Anderson which was an accounting firm that claimed they could help people with their taxes by having them avoid paying altogether.

  6. This was followed by another parody of Hardball with Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews who once again did nothing but make fun of his guest whenever then attempted to make a point.

  7. Drunk Girl then got her first non-news segment where her and The Rock in drag, as her drunken best friend, wandered throughout Studio 8-H after Drunk Girl was found passed out on the floor after hanging out with Tracy Morgan.

  8. The Subway was a sketch where Tracy Morgan and Maya Rudolf played two NYC subway commuters who insulted one another through song.

  9. The Girl With No Gaydar then returned for another installment where this time she didn’t realize she was in a gay bar and attempted to hook up with a homosexual The Rock.

  10. Once again, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey gave us the news. This week, Horatio Sanz as Gene Shalit dropped by to make his cheesy puns while he described an attack on his house by bears.

  11. Andrew W.K. took to the stage to perform Party Hard.

  12. All Aboard the Freedom Train: The Duets Of Bigfoot & Neil Diamond was a fake ad for a new album where Will Ferrell and The Rock as Neil Diamond as Bigfoot sang duet covers of popular songs. Toward the end of the sketch, we learn the Neil Diamond isn’t fully sure if he’s living in reality or if he’s actually hallucinating in his basement singing songs with his water heater.

  13. We then got another parody of America Undercover where once again the cops were called on Chris Kattan and Amy Poehler as a fighting white trash/meth head couple who got into a fight with doctors while being treated at the local hospital.

  14. Andrew W.K. then returned to the stage to perform I Get Wet.

  15. A Message From "Saturday Night Live" brought back the I Wish It Was Christmas Today band in order to perform a new song called Every Body Cool Out, Every Body Chill.

  16. Finally, The Rock closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

I might have spoiled my three favorite moments up above in the review but you still don’t know the order, so, here you go. First, I loved All Aboard the Freedom Train: The Duets Of Bigfoot & Neil Diamond not only because The Rock as Bigfoot really cracked me up but I also always loved how in the sketch even Neil Diamond is unsure if it’s supposed to be reality or if he was just seeing things while on drugs. Next, I really liked this week’s installment of Brian Fellows and if it wasn’t a reoccurring sketch it could have been this week’s number one. Finally, I was a fan of Subway Singing with Maya Rudolph and Tracy Morgan because it was an adorable song that I always liked even though I couldn’t remember which episode it was from.

 
 

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