SNL: S34E01... HOST: MICHAEL PHELPS... DATE: SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

SNL: S34E01... HOST: MICHAEL PHELPS... DATE: SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Non-Partisan Message From Sarah Palin And Hillary Clinton that brought Tina Fey as Sarah Palin together with Amy Poehler and Hillary Clinton to deliver a joint message about sexism on the campaign trail despite the fact that they still clearly had disparaging feelings toward one another. Throughout the sketch, Palin kept making claims that could set women back while Hillary could barely contain her bitterness about losing out to Barack Obama which seemed to be the only reason she agreed to team up in the first place. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Michael Phelps then officially opened the show with a monolog about his eight gold medal record-breaking run at the latest Olympics games. He then went on to explain the endorsement deals that were coming in and how he was trying to avoid making hasty decisions as to which deals he’ll take on to avoid being the next William Shatner who joined our host to defend himself and also promote Priceline upon hearing his name. We also met Amy Poehler who was portraying Phelps’s mom for a marketing pitch that didn’t last long before our host’s real mom joined in to throw to the actual show. Throughout the entire monolog, you could also see Guy Fieri’s head in the audience whenever they’d cut to the crowd, but he didn’t end up having anything to do with this appearance.

  3. Quiz Bowl had a family of home-schooled kids up against a group of public school students for a high school based quiz show. These home-school kids turned out to be home taught for kooky reasons leaving them to have crazy beliefs about history and science including the belief in a war between man and dinosaurs, but they still knew more than the publicly educated idiots who played their competitors.

  4. This was followed by a fake ad for The Jar Glove which was a product that offered a more viable solution to opening tight jars that doesn’t involve accidental homicide, complete with examples of the right and wrong way to use this and similar products.

  5. Locker Room Motivation had Will Forte as a swimming coach who tried to inspire his team of swimmers to come back from their impending loss by playing Dancing Plants which sounded like a thinking song for a game show that the team listened to as they thought. That is until Forte was swept up by the music and put on quite a show.

  6. Craig And Stacia had Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as oblivious business owners who didn’t see how annoyed their employees were with their frumpy daughter, Kristen Wiig/Stacia and her gangly cousin Michael Phelps/Craig. Wiig’s character was first introduced with Seth Rogen as her brother back last season when he was the host and Phelps was a cousin replacement, but the overall idea was still pretty much the same.

  7. Lil Wayne then took to the stage to perform Got Money.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte dropped in as a new character named Alaska Pete who took offense to the media’s bias against fellow Alaskan, Sarah Palin. Fred Armisen also returned as his comic character who once again attempts and fails to create comedy directly from newspaper headlines. Andy Samberg then finished off the new as the character Cathy from the famous comic strip, as he as she fretted about her life.

  9. The Charles Barkley Show had Kenan Thompson as the former basketball player turned parody talk show host who, in order to pay back a gambling debt and to interview Darrell Hammond as Bela Karolyi and Michael Phelps from a Las Vegas Wynn Casino’s daycare room. During the interview, we discover that the kid played all the roles on the TV crew because they were the only staff that Barkley could still afford.

  10. We then got a parody ad for T-Mobile where Jason Sudeikis played a dad who gets in trouble with Kristen Wiig as the mom after agreeing with his son, Michael Phelps that his daughter, Casey Wilson’s friends are all really hot.

  11. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Space Olympic where Andy Samberg sang about the unearthly fictional event while Michael Phelps and other castmates provided the visuals as they prepared for the space competition.

  12. Pizzeria Uno feature newcomer Bobby Moynihan as a Pizzeria Uno waiter who attempted to take the order from Michael Phelps and Amy Poehler who were out on a date that was ruined by Moynihan’s obnoxious approach to customer service.

  13. Lil Wayne then returned to the stage to perform Lollipop.

  14. The Michael Phelps Diet shared the “fail-safe” weight-loss approach that suggested dieters eat as many calories as Michael Phelps during his peak training as if these dieters would then get the same results. The sketch ended with a surprise visit from the real Subway’s Jared who made a joke that knowing the future turned out to be a bit dark.

  15. Finally, Michael Phelps closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E02... HOST: JAMES FRANCO... DATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

SNL: S34E02... HOST: JAMES FRANCO... DATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started behind-the-scenes for a fake political ad called McCain Approves where Darrell Hammond as the Republican Presidential hopeful witnessed the producers insert his digital approval of various semi-truthed attack ad focused on Barack Obama that claimed he was anti-American with his Liberal beliefs. These half-truths included thing like Obama’s want for Universal Healthcare would also cover Osama bin Laden since he does live within the universe. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. James Franco then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was taking a break from acting and was skipping his freshman orientation at Columbia University in order to host the show. This led Jason Sudeikis as Franco’s dorm Resident Assistant to interrupt so that he could demand a better explanation for our host’s no-show at the school.

  3. The Cougar Den then returned for another installment where the real Cameron Diaz revised her roles as a guest on the Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, and Casey Wilson as a trio of cougar hosts. This time James Franco played Cameron’s new youthful emo musician who she took on as her new young stud of a beau.

  4. Agent 420 had James Franco as a pot-smoking secret agent who had to fill in for a more competent member of the MI6 Operative and then attempted to thwart the efforts of Fred Armisen who played the notoriously-named Dr. Huang as he attempted to take over the world. The only problem was that James Franco couldn’t get over the fact that the top baddy’s name sounded like wang when said out loud. At first, this infuriated the evil Dr. Huang but then when activated the secret laser that he build to destroy the world, it caught Agent 420’s stash on fire leading our host and all of the bad guys to give up on all efforts toward anything in order to just enjoy the high.

  5. O.J. Simpson Jury Selection took us back to the courts for a new round of O.J.-based entertainment. This sketch was based on the case where O.J. had stolen some of his old memorabilia that he lost during his murder case and we got to witness the wackiness involved in the lawyers who attempted to find jurors who weren’t already aware of the case. The fact that his murder case was so highly publicized these jurors were made up of coma victims, aliens, and more people who were completely out of touch with what’s going on with this world.

  6. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Murray Hill that took place at a party on the titular street. James Franco played a character who attempted to tell all the ladies about his small “ding-dong” with the hopes to impress them because he thought they appreciated his honesty and the way that he tried to sound deep while explaining the situation. This approach didn’t work at first until Franco met a woman who suffered from the same issue which led the two tiny ding-dong owners to leave to go and hook up.

  7. The Looker was a parody of a new TNT cop drama that had Fred Armisen as Penny Marshall who played an interrogator who gets confessions out of her suspects by merely staring at them intently.

  8. Kings Of Leon then took to the stage to perform Sex On Fire.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Jason Sudeikis dropped in as a financially-strapped CEO who complained about his financial situation while dressed in a barrel thanks to the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy settlement from this time. Fred Armisen also played a CEO but for the clothing store American Apparel and was there to obliviously address the sexual harassment charges that were recently made about him.

  10. New York Times Reporters sent fifty New York Times reporters off to Alaska to dig up whatever dirt on Sarah Palin that they could find, only the uppity group struggle too much with the minor inconveniences like dealing with polar bears and lack of readily deliverable Thai food, to be able to focus on the real reason they were there. In the sketch, there was a fun moment when Kumail Nanjiani checked in as one of the uppity reporters.

  11. This was followed by a parody of Of Mice And Men that gave us an alternate ending where Bobby Moynihan as Lennie gets outraged when he discovers that James Franco as George has been sugarcoating their reality the entire time in order to protect him. Learning this truth then led Lennie to freak out on George for filling his head with lies creating his simpleton-esque outlook on life. The real book ended was that Lennie got George back in the end when he accused his friend of killing the girl after avoiding the fatal shot to the head that ended the actual book.

  12. Yankee Stadium Stories reunited Fred Armisen as Martin Scorsese and Amy Poehler as Rosie Perez to recall silly memories of Yankee Stadium in another campaign to promote New York City as a place to visit and/or live.

  13. Kings Of Leon then returned to the stage to perform Use Somebody.

  14. James and Willam Dafoe then reunited James Franco with Bill Hader who portrayed Willam Defoe as his Spider-Man role so that the two could attempt to kill Andy Samberg after Defoe was miffed by the Not Ready For Prime Time Player’s goofy impersonation of him.

  15. Finally, James Franco closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E03... HOST: ANNA FARIS... DATE: SEPTEMBER 27, 2008

SNL: S34E03... HOST: ANNA FARIS... DATE: SEPTEMBER 27, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of CBS Evening News which made fun of part four a series of interviews between Amy Poehler as Katie Couric and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin where the governor’s folksy responses drove Couric out of her mind since nothing was actually being said. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it ultimately led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Anna Faris then officially opened the show with a monolog about her new movie House Bunny and how like most of her other roles she plays another dumb blond. She doesn’t say this as a complaint but as a fact before she turned to address the audience to let them in on a secret that deep down, she’s actually a dumb blonde in real life.

  3. Making New Friends started with Anna Faris and Jason Sudeikis dropping off their new double-date buddies Bobby Moynihan and Casey Wilson and then went on to contemplate whether or not they managed to offend their new friends while at dinner as the two continued on toward their home. As one would expect, the scenarios they explained sounded so extreme that it would be impossible to enjoy spending any time with this couple in real life.

  4. This was followed by parody coverage of The Presidential Debate where Chris Parnell had a cameo as Jim Lehrer who moderated the event. This sketch made fun of the first round of debates between Fred Armisen as Barack Obama and Darrell Hammond as John McCain. The main topics of concern were where they stood on the banking bailout plan, the war, and the nuclear arms issues in North Korea and Iran. Armisen was pretty spot on with repeating Obama’s promises up hope, up to the nuclear arms issue which was actually treated as a joke. Meanwhile, Hammond’s McCain sold how often he opposed the policies of George W. Bush to distance himself from King Dummy. Of course, Amy Poehler also had to chime in as Hillary to continue to keep her name in the spotlight in case either candidate might have to back out, proving once again that it wasn’t just the conservative who found joy in dragging Hillary’s name through the mud.

  5. Rowboat Date was as the title suggests a date between a dimwitted Anna Faris and her beloved boyfriend, Kenan Thompson. During their midnight/romantic boat ride our host realized that this wasn’t a date at all and that Kenan was a hit man who was out to kill her, but then realized that these thoughts could all just be in her head. In the reality of the sketch, it was clear that Kenan was there to kill her based on their conversation where Faris shared how she was to blame for a recent major drug bust that ended with the drug lord swearing that he’d seek revenge.

  6. Duffy then took to the stage to perform Mercy.

  7. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by as Bill Clinton to admit that he can’t quite bring himself to endorse Barack Obama. Kristen Wiig also returned as her travel writing character to once again, make nervous jokes throughout her entire appearance because she didn’t have the confidence to be herself. (Clip 2)

  8. We then went to the strip club Scores where Anna Faris, Kristen Wiig, and Casey Wilson played a trio of strippers who were opposed to closing off the infamous champagne room simply because the Wall Street bailout meant that their regular Wall Street clientele would no longer be able to afford their services.

  9. Deep House Dish then returned after a much-needed break so that Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg could revise their MTV-4 V.J. characters in order to introduce their fans to the latest house and hip-hop groups. This was the same sketch it always is complete with our host as the lead singer of one of the music groups.

  10. Googie Rene's Slightly Stained Wedding Dress Basement had Kenan Thompson as the titular pitchman in order to promote a collection of bridal gowns available at a discount because his entire inventory comes complete with horrible stains.

  11. Duffy then returned to the stage to perform Standing Stone.

  12. My Ex-Boyfriend had Bill Hader as a guy who was overly excited to show off his new girlfriend, Anna Faris, to his friends, only she won’t shut up about her ex-boyfriend.

  13. Finally, Anna Faris closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S34E04... HOST: ANNE HATHAWAY... DATE: OCTOBER 4, 2008

SNL: S34E04... HOST: ANNE HATHAWAY... DATE: OCTOBER 4, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of The Vice Presidential Debate that had special quest Queen Latifa moderate as Gwen Ifill, who plugged her own book, that was all about race and politics, throughout the entire debate whenever trying to hide that she was biased toward Obama. The rest of the sketch made fun of the first debate between Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden where this man focus was Biden’s straightforward way of speaking and the fact that Palin was so dumb. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, the all led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Anne Hathaway then officially opened the show with a monolog about her recent tabloid scandal where her boyfriend was arrested for fraud turning him into an ex, but then went on to reassure us that she was okay because she recently met a new exciting man online. The more she talked the clearer it became that she was talking about the Nigerian prince from the classic email scam.

  3. The Lawrence Welk Show had Fred Armisen as our titular host who was oblivious to the musical styling of the sister music group as he attempted to introduce us to their new sound. We then met Anne Hathaway, Amy Poehler, Casey Wilson, and Kristen Wiig’s tiny-handed character who sang us one of their songs.

  4. This was followed by parody coverage of a Bailout Press Conference that had Kristen Wiig as, Speaker Of The House, Nancy Pelosi to share that she held Jason Sudeikis, as George W. Bush, accountable for the seven-hundred-billion-dollar which has affected the “hard-working slackers” all across America.

  5. Guest House had the male members of the cast struggle to get noticed by our host along with the female cast member while at the Guest House club. Even though they struggled, there was no lack of effort as the sketch was made up of each guy showing their approach to making a move. Fred Was the first to go, and he floundered miserably. Bobby Moynihan was next, and he turned out to be such a good dancer compared to his appearance that he awkwardly managed to win over Anne Hathaway after the two showed off all their moves.

  6. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Andy Samberg Vs. Kristen Wiig where the two found themselves in an Extreme Activities Competition. Andy won at arm-wrestling. Wiig the tied thing up with her walking with style. They tied as hat wearing. Andy won at wearing shoes on hands but then was beat by Wiig who turned out to be better and keeping chairs pinned to the ground. Andy was better at acting nature, but Wiig looked better in stripes. Will Forte the snuck in and won one for being the best at hating the ref meaning that he was the best at hating himself. Andy became a better Jane when he transformed into Anne Hathaway and was also a better human ATM putting him two ahead of Wiig who earned back one point by being better at “doing this.” Will Forte then got another point for becoming a referee in a desperate bid for human interaction which somehow made him the ultimate winner in the end.

  7. The Killers then took to the stage to perform Human.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte sang us a song that outlined which politicians voted yay or nay for the Wall Street bailout plan.

  9. We then got a parody of Mary Poppins where Bobby Moynihan as Michael and Casey Wilson as Jane questioned the definition of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious which led Anne Hathaway as Mary to explain that it’s a sexually transmitted disease which affects the liver in her cheerful Ms. Poppins’ tone. She then went on to share that she suffered from the disease before going into horrific detail about how the disease actually works.

  10. Sioux City News 3 took us to a small market new channel for a segment where they showed a bunch of YouTube blooper videos featuring crazy news flubs from their news team. Most of these bloopers were the anchors saying something terrible while unaware that their mics were on or accidents out of their hand.

  11. Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals was a sketch where, as the title suggests, the segment with Andy Samberg as Mark Wahlberg talking to animals, mainly about dumb things like what it’s like to be whatever animal he was talking to and if they liked his movies.

  12. I'm Not Gay showed us Jason Sudeikis and Anne Hathaway as two roommates that were parting ways which led Sudeikis to feel the need to open up and admit to his five-year former housemate that he wasn’t actually gay and that it was all just his ploy to trick her into hooking up. Not only did we learn that Sudeikis wasn’t gay, but neither was his long-term boyfriend.

  13. The Killers then returned to the stage to perform Spaceman.

  14. This was followed by a fake ad for a new compilation album called The Less Provocative Songs Of Katy Perry where Casey Wilson portrayed Katy to sing unsexualized covers of some of her biggest hits.

  15. Finally, Anne Hathaway closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S34E05... HOST: JOSH BROLIN... DATE: OCTOBER 18, 2008

SNL: S34E05... HOST: JOSH BROLIN... DATE: OCTOBER 18, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-SPAN coverage of a Palin Press Conference where once again Tina Fey returned to play Sarah Palin to make fun of one of the Alaskan senator’s speeches while the real Sarah Palin watched with Lorne Michaels from backstage. Toward the end of the sketch, a hotheaded Mark Wahlberg came looking for Andy Samberg before Alec Baldwin approached and started to complain about the potential VP thinking that he was talking to Tina Fey. Of course with this being the opening sketch, this mix up led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Josh Brolin then officially opened the show with a monolog about all of the movies that he proud while tiptoeing around the fact that he recently portrayed George W. Bush. He then shared what went into his George W. impersonation and then did a little routine where he actually showcased Bush’s mannerisms. Before he could go too deep the real Oliver Stone interrupted from the audience to remind our host to mention their new film by its name being that he failed to up until this point.

  3. MacGruber then returned for another series of sketches where this time our parody TV hero was distracted from defusing the bomb while checking his stocks online.

  4. Surprise Proposal had Josh Brolin as a guy who was excited to share with his friends the plan he had for a surprise proposal for his girlfriend, Casey Wilson. This is when it was revealed that this sketch was actually the return of Kristen Wiig’s character who gets more excited over hearing of surprises than the person who is actually being surprised could ever get.

  5. MacGruber then returned for round two where this time he and his crew blew up after our parody TV hero tried to steal from Kristen Wiig and Josh Brolin because he was desperate for money after the last installment where he learned that all of his stocks had failed.

  6. This was followed by another parody of The Suze Orman Show where once again Kristen Wiig played the titular host and again mainly made fun of her jackets while being ignorant to her viewer's financial hardships while dealing out advice about finance.

  7. Wahlberg's Confrontation had the real Mark Wahlberg drop by to confront Andy Samberg over last week sketch where he impersonated Mark talking to animals. Mark then went on to talk to everyone, including a behind-the-scenes donkey, the exact same way that Andy portrayed him in the sketch that incited this incident.

  8. This was followed by a fake ad for I'm No Angel where a very pregnant Amy Poehler played flirted with a bunch of rough riders at a honky-tonk bar in order to promote Fill Forte as Greg Allman’s new fragrance.

  9. MacGruber then returned for round three where this time our parody TV hero attempted to solicit money out of Kristen Wiig and Josh Brolin by trying to get them to pay for him shooting ping-pong balls out of his ass for entertainment.

  10. Adele then took to the stage to perform Chasing Pavements.

  11. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte returned as the monotone Tim Calhoun to nervously announce that he was representing America’s Write-In Party. Kenan Thompson also returned as his French Def Jam comedian character so that he could tell some jokes about the economy. The real Sarah Palin also stopped by, and Amy Poehler had to take over in order to perform a rap that was written for and about Palin that the Alaskan Senator felt would be in bad political form to perform the rap herself. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

  12. Fartface was a sketch where an old Bill Hader bestowed the Fartface nickname to his grumpy old co-worker who was played by Will Forte who quickly took out his anger on Josh Brolin when he was told of the nickname and refused to call Forte anything else. Both Hader and Forte eventual found that Brolin was taking it to far to the two old codgers started calling Brolin Fartface instead which really hurt our host’s feelings.

  13. Narc School was a sketch where Casey Wilson played a teacher who was unable to do her job because the entire student body was replaced by undercover cops that were attempting to entrap one another into scoring some drugs.

  14. We then got a fake ad for ReadiTrade.com that had Jason Sudeikis as a pitchman for a website with the primary goal of selling (aka unloading) your stocks as quickly as you can as you attempt to avoid being affected by the next market crash.

  15. New York Underground had Bill Hader as host Trevor Dix who profiled a New York underground musician named Joshua Rainhorn as played by Fred Armisen who perform a hybrid of a concert and one-man show while playing various forms of pianos.

  16. Adele then returned to the stage to perform Cold Shoulder.

  17. Fall Foliage had Josh Brolin as a maniacal business executive who tried to push his employees to be as psyched about the Fall foliage as he is.

  18. Finally, Josh Brolin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E06... HOST: JON HAMM... DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2008

SNL: S34E06... HOST: JON HAMM... DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-SPAN coverage of The Road To The White House where Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden and Darrell Hammond as John Murtha made increasingly crazier statements while speaking at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The C-SPAN announcer at the top of the sketch added that this address was an effort from the two to ruin Barack Obama’s lead since both men were too straightforward with their approach that you just don’t usually see in the world of politics. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, these crazy statements led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Jon Hamm then officially opened the show with a monolog where he tapped into his Don Draper character to speak a marketing scheme to trick new viewers into switching over to AMC to watch Mad Men instead of tonight’s episode. By marketing scheme, I mean he straight up lied and pretty much said that his show was Dancing With The Stars and also featured John McCain and Barack Obama smoking real weed with the case of CSI

  3. Trick-Or-Treat had Will Forte as a registered sex offender who made an awkward introduction while trick-or-treating at neighbor, Jon Hamm’s, house. At first, he claims that he’s just disguised as a sex offender as a costumer but after some questioning, Jon Hamm broke Forte down and got him to admit that the costume was actually real. Even then, Will Forte uses so much double talk that it’s hard to tell even in the sketch if the accusations were supposed to be real.

  4. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Rasta Man where Andy Samberg performed a Rastafarian rap about himself as a cliché white Rasta man, living off his parents’ money while attending college.

  5. Mad Men/Two A-Holes At An Ad Agency In The 1960s took us back in time so that Jason Sudeikis’s and Kristen Wiig’s a-hole characters could do their thing while in a meeting with Don Draper from Mad Men.

  6. The Barack Obama Variety Half-Hour started with Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as Barack and Michelle Obama letting us know that in lieu of a serious message their Wednesday night show that they will host will a star-studded event filled with celebrities singing their praises. What followed was a cheesy TV special reminiscent of something that you’d see on TV in the ‘70s complete with cheesy comedy bits and horrendous songs that could break out at any moment.

  7. Don Draper's Guide To Picking Up Women had our host as his TV character once again, this time to demonstrate how to pick up women without using any effort at all.

  8. Coldplay then took to the stage to perform Viva La Vida.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, there actually was no Amy Poehler since, as Seth announced, she gave birth to her baby earlier that afternoon. Will Forte then dropped in as the voice Robo-Caller who attempted to clear his name considering how everyone hates him during the political season. Bill Hader stopped in as Ralph Nader to let us know that he’s running again even though the media wouldn’t let you know it. Fred Armisen returned as the comedian who struggles to make comedy on the spot based on newspaper headlines. Kenan Thompson and Maya Rudolph then wrapped things up but singing a Duet about Amy Poehler being a new mom. (Clip 2)

  10. Variety Vault took us back to 1959 for another Vincent Price Halloween Special with Bill Hader as our titular host for the event. As always, Price has a panel of celebrity guess from his time and then struggles to keep them all in line.

  11. Jon Hamm's John Ham was a fake ad for a new line of ham being marketed by our host that was explicitly designed to be eaten in the bathroom and featured ham that rolled out from a toilet paper dispenser.

  12. Coldplay then returned to the stage to perform Lost.

  13. Pat Finger was a fake political ad where Jon Hamm played, Politician, Pat Finger who was running for office in Butts.

  14. Coldplay returned to the stage once again, this time to perform Yellow.

  15. Finally, Jon Hamm closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights and then Coldplay returned to play through the credits.

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SNL: S34E07... HOST: BEN AFFLECK... DATE: NOVEMBER 1, 2008

SNL: S34E07... HOST: BEN AFFLECK... DATE: NOVEMBER 1, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with Special Message From Sen. John McCain And Gov. Sarah Palin that had the real McCain and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin attempt to raise some last-minute campaign awareness by purchasing airtime on QVC to hawk goods related to their campaign promises. McCain’s real wife Cindy even joined in at one point to help with the hawking. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Ben Affleck then officially opened the show with a monolog about how his support for the Democratic Presidential candidates from the past has always seemed to backfire. Because of this, he went on to endorse John McCain in the hopes that this brand of reverse psychology would actually benefit Barack Obama instead.

  3. We then got a repeat of the Jar Glove ad from earlier in the season which was a jar opening device that helped to avoid accidental murder when attempting to open tight jars.

  4. This was followed by a parody of The View that had several members of the cast impersonate the daytime talk crew to yammer on about their views on this year presidential election with guests Casey Wilson and Ban Affleck as Jennifer Aniston and Alec Baldwin who did some yammering of their own.

  5. We then got a parody of Countdown With Keith Olbermann where Ben Affleck played Keith in order to cut off his guest after misquoting them, as he’s known to do, while talking about how horrible Bush was as a President. He then went on to vent about how the co-op that he lived in didn’t respect the fact that he was a celebrity enough to allow him to break the building’s no pet policy.

  6. Target Greatland then returned for another installment with Kristen Wiig as her overly enthusiastic Target employee who’s not afraid to just wander off in the middle of a transaction the second she sees a good deal. This time she got hit by Ben Affleck who dropped by as a UPS guy with a delivery that she had to sign for.

  7. We then went to The Staten Island Zoo where Jason Sudeikis played a zoo official that shared an extremely inaccurate video that improperly portrayed the rocking lifestyle of giraffes.

  8. David Cook then took to the stage to perform Light On.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, the real John McCain shared his desperate last-minute campaign strategies that included things like The Sad Grampa Plan where he will try to guild people into voting his way because he’s sad and old. Will Forte and Fred Armisen returned as their singing intellectual characters, after a super long hiatus to share a song about this year’s Presidential campaigns since they were in charge of regulating the voting machines. Kristen Wiig also returned as Amy Poehler’s crazy aunt to give more one-word movie reviews, only this time her focus was the Fall TV lineup of shows.

  10. Night School Musical was a parody of high school the musical with middle age losers playing all of the parts.

  11. Grady Wilson's Put The Fire Back In Your Marriage Techniques had Kenan Thompson as the titular pitchman to demonstrate how to put the fire back in your marriage by **** in his effort to promote his new book.

  12. The Zolesky Brothers had Ben Affleck and Bill Hader as two brothers who pitched a coming-of-age story about their life which was complete with a segment of unnecessary gay porn. This was also the introduction of Bill Hader’s character Stefon who usually shares the hottest clubs on the news.

  13. David Cook then returned to the stage to perform Declaration.

  14. This time Ben Affleck and Fred Armisen played pitchmen/brothers to pitch their Time Square inspired coats that were available at Bierhoff Brothers House Of Coats

  15. Finally, Ben Affleck closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E08... HOST: PAUL RUDD... DATE: NOVEMBER 15, 2008

SNL: S34E08... HOST: PAUL RUDD... DATE: NOVEMBER 15, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The Vice President-Elect Of The United States that featured Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden who made a promise to America that he will be just as entertaining as Sarah Palin would have been as VP because he’s got a wacky side to himself as well. Of course, with this being the opening sketch this promise built up to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Paul Rudd then officially opened the show with a monolog where he played off the promising theme of the opening sketch and promised that the show will still be just as good now that the elections are over as if the election-based content was actually a real treat.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Sproingo which was a new supplement for erectile dysfunction that makes a comedic springy sound to let users know that it’s working.

  4. We then got introduced to the extremely affectionate Vogelcheck Family as we watched Paul Rudd, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader all greet one another with open arms and big sloppy wet kisses upon Rudd’s arrival home for the holidays. To make things more awkward, Rudd brought along his college roommate, Andy Samberg, who struggled to grasp the situation that he found himself in, but then found himself making out with the family as well by the time the sketch was done.

  5. Scared Straight then returned for another installment of this series of parodies with Kenan Thompson as a hardcore inmate who’s hired to scare kids out of getting in trouble because, theoretically, they’d end up too scared of ending up in jail. This time Kenan attempted to scare Paul Rudd, Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader who played this week’s batch of young punks. As usual, Kenan used movie description while trying to talk up his bad-ass self.

  6. The was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Everyone Is A Critic that had Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg as themselves talking in Paul Rudd’s dressing room when they came up with a random plan to paint one another in the nude. They then attempted to auction off their “masterpieces” thinking who wouldn’t want celebrity art featuring celebrity models, only to witness the bidder freak out so extremely over their disgust from the paintings that they started to kill themselves.

  7. Songwriters Showcase had Paul Rudd and Kristen Wiig as a husband and wife singer-songwriting team who gave a terrible performance of Choctaw Ridge for an open mic night event at a local redneck bar.

  8. Road Trip took us out to the bar for another round of our host along with Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, and Bill Hader sharing increasingly crazy stories in between group singing the chorus to the song Garden Party by Ricky Nelson while out on the open road. The song ended on a Pulp Fiction note when Sudeikis accidentally shoots Hader in the head after finding a gun in the glove box.

  9. Beyonce then took to the stage to perform If I Were a Boy.

  10. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news with Amy Poehler still out on pregnancy leave. This week, Bobby Moynihan dropped by as an extra effeminate Snagglepuss to express his outrage over the votes being cast against Proposition 8. At one point during the Snagglepuss segment, Will Forte took a moment to check in as the feminine feline’s gay lover, The Great Gazoo. Justin Timberlake also made a surprise visit to share that he wouldn’t be hosting next week like initially planned. He then gave a rundown of the “formulaic/unoriginal” content that would have made up the episode. Sadly, this breakdown was funny but spot on about how formulaic the show has grown to become, or at least the formula for this era. (Clip 2)

  11. This was followed by the classic Beyonce Video parody where Justin Timberlake, Bobby Moynihan, and Andy Samberg played the female background dancers for a shot by shot remake of Beyonce’s Single Ladies music video.

  12. Suicide Jumper had Will Forte and Bill Hader as two cops who do a terrible job at trying to talk Paul Rudd off the ledge that he was threatening to jump off of. All Forte did was say “don’t” over and over again to the point where Rudd started yelling that the monotoned “don’ts” were driving him to want to jump even more. This is when Hader stepped in and also fail with his pitiful attempt to make personalized small talk that led Rudd to jump by the end. This led to one more quick joke where the cops claimed that they did do their job considering there’s no longer a jumper on the ledge.

  13. Beyonce then returned to the stage to perform Single Ladies.

  14. Proposition 8 had Paul Rudd, and Bill Hader played a pair of mechanics who thought that the gay rights parade going on outside their establishment was lame. To prove that this opinion didn’t stem from them being homophobic the two jokingly decided to get married and move in together to highlight how silly it looked to them. The proposal came after a few examples that highlighted other gay activities that they often take part in even though they claim not to be gay.

  15. Clearing The Air had Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, and Fred Armisen as three buddies who all have a date with the same girl and make an attempt to clear the air of their predicament only to end up agreeing to secretly keep things the same exact way while making it sound like the issue has been solved.

  16. Finally, Paul Rudd closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E09... HOST: TIM MCGRAW... DATE: NOVEMBER 22, 2008

SNL: S34E09... HOST: TIM MCGRAW... DATE: NOVEMBER 22, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-SPAN coverage of The Big Three Automakers where Fred Armisen played Barney Frank to hear out the proposed bailout request from Will Forte as Rick Wagoner along with two other representatives from the big three automakers. This sketch mainly made fun of the fact that each of these execs who were begging for bailout money all flew in on private planes and other ways that these a-holes were horrible at spending money. Of course with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Tim McGraw then officially opened the show with a monolog about how country music is not really all that far removed from rap, after pointing out Ludacris and T-Pain were the musical guests booked back when Justin Timberlake was initially supposed to host this episode. He then went on to perform Good Man in order to prove this point.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Clear Rite where Kristen Wiig played the pitchwoman for an invisible adult retainer that she invented with her own hands. Though she claimed that her retainers were completely unnoticeable, they were as big and bulky as a boxer’s mouthpiece which made Wiig have to keep adjusting the device with her tongue. By the end of the sketch, we learned that this wasn’t actually a commercial but just Wiig’s attempt to practice pitching a product that she thought would be a massive hit in her head.

  4. We then got a parody of Dateline that had Bill Hader as Keith Miller who reveled in the misery of his guest while discussing the topic unsolved murders.

  5. Turkey Chase had Tim McGraw, Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen, and Jason Sudeikis as a group of turkeys that attempted to outrun bullets on Thanksgiving day.

  6. Live Another Death was a parody of James Bond that had Bill Hader as the secret agent who was in the middle of a Texas Hold ‘Em with Fred Armisen as a Bond Villain. Meanwhile, Tim McGraw watched on as a redneck who had also managed to make it to the end of this tournament and kept talking loud while the other two tried to play it cool, and had his mind blown when he met Wiig who was playing Pussy Galore.

  7. Ludacris then took to the stage with T-Pain to perform Thr33 Rings.

  8. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news with Amy Poehler still out on pregnancy leave. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by as Bill Clinton to share that how he was looking forward to being married to the Secretary Of State. Michaela Watkins made her show debut as Arianna Huffington in order to discuss George W. Bush’s promise to help Obama where ever he could, during his White House transition. She also likened the war in Iraq to pornography, in that our troop refused to pull-out. Will Forte was the last to stop by as Zell Miller who shared that he supported a member of the opposite political party simply for not having a “normal” name. (Clip 2)

  9. Blizzard Man brought back Andy Samberg’s terrible white rapper character who this time collaborated with Ludacris right after dumping T-Pain.

  10. A Holiday Message From Jeff Montgomery had Will Forte as the crazed titular character who invites himself to a Thanksgiving dinner amongst a collection of friends who had no idea who he was. This character was the same one who shared that he was a sex offender while trick-or-treating during the Halloween episode. This time he claimed to have escaped from a mental health institution but it was unclear if these two instances were actually connected and he’s just a compulsive liar or if the character is actually supposed to be that big of a mess.

  11. This was followed by a fake ad for a comedy CD called, Dale Britches' Down-Home Phony Phone Calls where Tim McGraw played the CD’s star/morning radio host who pitched a “hilarious collection” of his polite-natured on-air prank phone calls.

  12. Ludacris then returned to the stage with T-Pain to perform Chopped And Skrewed.

  13. Bobby Moynihan then returned as his bartender character named Mark Payne who is too obsessed with how sticky the bar’s countertop is to fully focus on the patrons in the bar.

  14. Finally, Tim McGraw closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E10... HOST: JOHN MALKOVICH... DATE: DECEMBER 6, 2008

SNL: S34E10... HOST: JOHN MALKOVICH... DATE: DECEMBER 6, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The Secretary Of State Designate where Amy Poehler portrayed the newly appointed Hillary Clinton to swear to America that she didn’t hold a grudge against Barack Obama, even though she was clearly speaking through gritted teeth. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. John Malkovich then officially opened the show with a monolog where he read The Night Before Christmas to a group of the crew members’ kids but kept interrupting the tale to educate the kids about the real-life truths behind this traditional holiday tale. These truths included things like how “hopes are what we cling to when reality leave us nothing else” and how suicide rates increase during the holidays.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for the Gas-Right Strip where Fred Armisen played the inventor of the Breathe-Right Strip, and this was his follow-up product that helps control the flow of farts coming out of the user's butts that spread the cheeks to make any gas release silent.

  4. Shana had John Malkovich, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, and Kenan Thompson as a group of co-workers who were all enamored by new officemate Kristen Wiig who played the titular Shana character. Though this character had fantastic sex appeal, all interest was lost the moment the men witnessed her attempt to blow out the candles during a lunchroom birthday celebration since she spit and made terrible noises as she attempted to blow. She then dropped her fork, which won the men back but her bizarre efforts to pick it up turned them off again. This also happened when she ate a banana like a freak while trying to be sexy and entirely turned everyone off when she attempted to sing, well, everyone but Malkovich who seemed interested even after she admitted to pooping her skirt.

  5. Cool Obama had Fred Armisen as President Barack to share with the audience just how cool he actually was.

  6. La Rivista Della Televisione brought back Bill Hader’s crazy Italian talk show host character who doesn’t speak a lick of English as he attempted to interview John Malkovich as himself. It doesn’t help that, in the world of the sketch, John Malkovich doesn’t speak Italian either which makes thing awkward when Hader showed a clip from his own sex scene from his film Being Vinny Vedecci, which is Hader’s character’s name.

  7. Virgania Horsen's Pony Express had Kristen Wiig in the titular role to offer an alternative to the traditional mail service by promoting her old school delivery ways since the news way are inefficient and could under a terrorist attack.

  8. Twins Had John Malkovich and Fred Armisen as twin brothers who shared that all that they wanted for Christmas was a simple calculator because they were both super nerds.

  9. T.I. then took to the stage to perform Whatever You Like.

  10. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news, with this being the week that Amy Poehler returned. This week, Kenan Thompson dropped by as Plaxico Burress to provide gun-carriers safety tips, only to end up accidentally shooting himself once again. Andy Samberg stopped by as a little kid to give a few immature tips on how to meet girls, that sounded like they were from the book The Game. Fred Armisen was the final news guest as Boy George to share that he saw nothing wrong with falsely imprisoning a male escort, which he was recently arrested for. (Clip 2)

  11. The Lost Works Of Judy Blume had John Malkovich as an awkward teen named Gertie who harbored a secret that she hoped would not be revealed while hanging out with friends at a slumber party. The party then started with a game of truth or dare that made it seem like this would be how said secret would be revealed but the answer never really came through this activity. Gertie did manage to freak the girls out with her weirdness, which left her alone to talk to God where we learned she may have a tail, or that it might just be in her head since she also shared her desires to burn the house down.

  12. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Jizz In My Pants where Andy Samberg sang about the experiences that make him perform the chorus.

  13. T.I. then took to the stage with Swizz Beatz to perform Swing Ya Rag.

  14. J'accuzi was a parody of Dangerous Liaisons, only this version took place in a hot tub.

  15. Finally, John Malkovich closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E11... HOST: HUGH LAURIE... DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2008

SNL: S34E11... HOST: HUGH LAURIE... DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-Span coverage of the Blagojevich Hearing that had Jason Sudeikis as Rod Blagojevich who testified before cursing at the Senate Banking Committee while aggressively demanding his own personal bailout. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Hugh Laurie then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to be back hosting and happy to be in New York for the holidays before sharing a Dickens-esque tale of him getting his pocket picked by a little child. He then informed the audience of a copyright loophole that allows you to perform three seconds of any song without getting sued for infringement. After sharing this fact, he went on to sing a medley of three-second excerpts of his favorite Christmas songs.

  3. Bronx Beat then returned with Amy Poehler and, special guest Maya Rudolph, revising they Bronx-based talk show characters from back when Maya was a regular. This time it was more of the same, making fun of the Bronx accent with Hugh Laurie as their guest who was a butcher that blew the two girls away with his British accent and fancy get up that did show a single hint that he was supposed to be a fictional butcher. The fact that he was a butcher barely mattered at all because the Bronx accented host did nothing but clamor about his British accent whenever he would say more than two words.

  4. Sarcastic Christmas Dinner had Hugh Laurie along with several members of the cast play a family filled with snide remarks about one another during a very tense holiday meal. Aside from the addition of sarcasm, this was pretty much a rip off the sketch from almost a decade before this episode where the family would have random fights during dinner that would each end with Will Ferrell yelling, “I own a Dodge Stratus,” but at least that sketch didn’t drag on, and on, and on. There was even a point where the sketch shift gears for no reason at all and the family randomly started to sing Silent Night before getting back to the sarcasm fuels fighting

  5. Wedding Toasts took place at a wedding reception and had our host and several members of the cast as offbeat members of the bride’s groom’s family who continuously interrupt Jason Sudeikis, who played the reception’s emcee. While Sudeikis was desperate to start the dance portion of the night, these weirdos wouldn’t let that happen because they kept wanting to give their rambling toasts Andy Samberg and Abby Elliot on their wedding day.

  6. Kanye West then took to the stage to perform Love Lockdown.

  7. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen played the governor of New York to comment about the recently ousted Rob Blagojevich while mocking New Jersey. This lead Amy and Seth to play a round of Really!?! based on the Blagojevich scandal. Amy Poehler ended the segment by making the announcement that this would be her last episode only to be interrupted by Fred Armisen who wandered back in as the governor to ruin the moment. For those that need a reminder, this random interruption of a joke was based on the fact that the Governor didn’t know where he was going because he was legally blind. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

  8. Magical Lamps had Hugh Laurie, Andy Samberg, and Kristen Wiig as a trio of magical singing lamps that took Fred Armisen and Michaela Watkins, who played the shopkeeper and his wife, hostage before shooting Will Forte as a grandfather clock and going on to star in a Broadway musical about their adventures at the store.

  9. The Cat's Christmas Letter had Hugh Laurie as an exhausted husband trying to type up a Christmas letter from the families recently deceased cat while Kristen Wiig played his nutty wife who dictated the crazy note while she spoke in their dead cat’s voice.

  10. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Cookies that had Hugh Laurie as a boss who announced the impending company layoffs while Fred Armisen kept attempting to eat the cookies in the center of the boardroom table that was sent over by one of their clients. Armisen’s actions were extremely distracting amongst the room filled with people who could barely handle the fact that they were going to be fired which made everyone happy when they learned that these weren’t cookies at all, but a prototype for a new stool softener that was sent over to be tested and not enjoyed as a treat.

  11. Kanye West then returned to the stage to perform Heartless.

  12. Finally, Hugh Laurie closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E12... HOST: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS... DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2008

SNL: S34E12... HOST: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS... DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2008

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of The Rachel Maddow Show where Abby Elliott interviewed disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, as portrayed by Jason Sudeikis and his Senate appointee, Roland Burris, as portrayed by Kenan Thompson about their fun little pay for the position scandal. In the world of the sketch, non-Senator Burris was in so much denial that he barreled ahead as if he held the position and the two were never caught and fired. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Neil Patrick Harris then officially opened the show with a monolog where he made a point-for-point criticism of former child star rival, Fred Savage’s host appearance back in 1990 when the two were still little kids because he was still bitter that he wasn’t the kid to be picked to host. He then claimed to be over it and how no one could ruin this moment. This was when several members of the audience interrupted with poorly-constructed, “You wanna know how I met your mother,” jokes. Eventually, Andy Samberg as Mark Wahlberg came along as it turned out these joking audience members were supposed to be the inspiration of Entourage and helped our host by getting his boys to calm down.

  3. This was followed by a parody of Today that made fun of the fourth and final hour of the show which meant Kristen Wiig and Machaela Watkin as Kathie Lee, and Hoda were both wasted on wine and insufferable to listen to. Things then got worse when they welcomed Neil Patrick Harris as a fitness instructor who struggled to wrangle the morning duo to get them through a workout routine. Then again, this might have been before the two would openly get morning drunk while hosting the show. I just assumed their obnoxious attitudes were based on the boozy clips from the real show which is the only thing from the reference material that I’ve ever seen.

  4. Save Broadway featured a group of Broadway performers who struggled to find a way to keep the unstable economy from leading to the cancellation of their long-running stage shows, like Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, and Rent. Taylor Swift even joined the scene as she tried to chime in with a suggestion as Annie.

  5. Penelope then returned for another installment of Kristen Wiig as the titular character who continually tries to one-up anything that anyone says. This time her one up game took place during a group therapy session where she kept bragging about her close relationship with Liza Minnelli. Though everyone thinks she’s full of it, at the end of the sketch the real Liza dropped by for a special visit to prove that Penelope was for real, only Liza arrived the second that everyone left the room after getting fed up with what they thought were her lies.

  6. We then got another SNL Digital Short that gave us a parody/cover of the Doogie Howser, M.D. theme song that Neil Patrick Harris played keyboard on while the rest of the cast chimed in with various orchestra instruments.

  7. Taylor Swift then took to the stage to perform Love Story.

  8. This was the season that Amy Poehler left the show, leaving Seth Meyers alone to give us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson stopped by as Charles Barkley to make excuses for his latest traffic violation where he claimed that he was drinking and driving because he was in a rush to receive oral sex from one of his female friends. Will Forte also dropped in to sing a song about the BCS AKA Bowl Championship Series that he favored over a better-structured playoff system that would provide a clear-cut winner as opposed to having to use some sort of convoluted equation.

  9. Two First Names had Neil Patrick Harris hosting a show where he interviewed other famous celebrities with two first names like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Tommy Lee Jones while shunning “wanna-bes” like Daniel-Day Lewis, who was played by Bill Hader. They also took issue with the concept of Harrison Ford because he actually had two last names.

  10. Fran & Freba had Neil Patrick Harris as a long-nailed air traffic controller named Fran and Kristen Wiig as a similar-styled coworker named Freba. The two acted like a couple of average secretaries while calmly talking planes through emergencies and talking trash, in their Southern belle accents, about Will Forte as a more traditional looking air traffic controller named Gil who was just trying to do his job.

  11. Frost/Other People was a parody trailer of the hastefully assembled follow up to Frost/Nixon where Neil Patrick Harris played David Frost who ineptly interviewed a slew of other ‘70s celebrities who all had very little to hide.

  12. Taylor Swift then returned to the stage to perform Forever And Always.

  13. Whopper Virgins introduced us to Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Wiig as two Burger King execs who come across Bobby Moynihan, Machaela Watkin and Fred Armisen as two Eastern European Farmers who’ve never seen a Whopper in their lives and are unable to comprehend its purpose due to its American giant size.

  14. Finally, Neil Patrick Harris closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E13... HOST: ROSARIO DAWSON... DATE: JANUARY 17, 2009

SNL: S34E13... HOST: ROSARIO DAWSON... DATE: JANUARY 17, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of an ABC News Special: Vice President Dick Cheney: The Final Interview where Kristen Wiig as Diane Sawyer interviewed Darrell Hammond as outgoing Vice-President Dick Cheney who insisted that he had no regrets about the things that went down while he held the position. Not only did he have no regrets about his time in the White House, as the interview went on we learned that he also had no regrets for any old tropes like how he had no regrets over the shooting of Old Yeller. Of course with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Rosario Dawson then officially opened the show with a monolog about has she was raised in an abandoned building in New York with made her a huge fan of the show since it provided a form of entertainment. She then went on to discuss her efforts to get Latinos out there to veto and started to speak against Spanish stereotypes only to be interrupted by Fred Armisen’s Fericito character to contradict her every word with his “Ay, dios mio” Latin-themed jokes.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for North American Savings that promoted a bank that claimed to let you save your money without the bother of collecting interest in these hard economic times to make them look like the good guys even though they created this mess. It turns out that they are able to make this promise by turning every single application down to avoid any financial risks.

  4. Da Learnin' Train was an “urban” kids’ show with Rosario Dawson as a hip-hop inspired host with her crew who tried to encourage kids to read books. After a few song and dance routines about reading they introduced Jason Sudeikis as Harry Connick Jr. who kept pointing out there the show was based on style over substance. Though he was correct, considering how these songs just mentioned things that had to do with education but there was absolutely no teaching being done at all with the host and the crew were promoting thing like how “skool” is spelled with a “k” to be cool in a hip-hop way.

  5. This was followed by a Crazy Eddie’s style fake ad for the Guantanamo Bay Going Out Of Business Sale where Jason Sudeikis made an announced that all torture devices and accessories must go, now that Obama was elected and going to close the controversial detainment center down.

  6. Aladdin Anniversary was a sketch where to celebrate their ten year anniversary, Rosario Dawson and Jason Sudeikis as Jasmine and Aladdin sing their frustration of married life on their first night out above town aboard a flying carpet for their first romantic night since saying their wedding vows. These songs were parodies of songs from the film like The Spark Is Gone song to the tune of A Whole New World.

  7. We then got another SNL Digital Short called A Couple Of Homies where Fred Armisen and Andy Samberg shared how they manage to remain such good friends even though the never kiss while Will Forte provided an explanatory soundtrack through several quick songs. There was a Shyamalian Twist at the end where this was actually a PSA to reach out to friends who you know need help with drugs as Will Forte turned in the recording studio to reveal that he was pantless, messed up, and alone.

  8. Gilly then returned for another installment will Kristen Wiig as the frizzy-haired Gilly who performs pranks/violent crimes while dancing around a classroom to her own fictional show’s theme song while merely saying, “Sorry,” when called out on her action.

  9. Fleet Foxes then took to the stage to perform Mykonos.

  10. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen dropped in as Bernie Madoff to present a scam where he asked for donations for a fund that would promote putting himself in jail for his horrific pyramid scheme in his effort to keep swindling the people of America. Kristen Wiig also stopped in as her travel correspondent character to share how to take advantage of bargains offered through the travel industry since no money was being spent during this time of economic struggle. For those that need a reminder, this travel correspondent character is the one who can’t share a single fact because she can’t stop kidding around. Andy Samberg then wrapped up the guest portion of the news as Larry The Goose who told his side of the Sully and how he was the one that was hit by the freakin’ plain so he shouldn’t be the one that the news constantly blamed for the incident. (Clip 2)

  11. La Policia Mexicana had Rosario Dawson, Fred Armisen, and Bill Hader as a trio of Mexican cops who interrogated their suspect, Bobby Moynihan, using the most basic Spanish that they can to dumb down their language to make this sketch seem like it was written by a high school freshman for their introductory Spanish class. Even when Bobby Moynihan broke character to ask to go to the bathroom, Fred Armisen demanded that he ask in Spanish before denying Bobby from leaving the room.

  12. This was followed by a parody of The View which made fun of typical The View topics with Rosario Dawson and Jason Sudeikis as their guest, Selma Hayek, and Ricky Gervais.

  13. Fleet Foxes then returned to the stage to perform Blue Ridge Mountains.

  14. Good Excuse! was a talk show sketch hosted by Will Forte as a character who looked like a new age cowboy and Kristen Wiig played a character who looked like Ellen DeGeneres and Paula Poundstone’s love child. These two quirky hosts offered several guests a stream of extremely convoluted excuses for solutions to any of their problems.

  15. Finally, Rosario Dawson closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S34E14... HOST: STEVE MARTIN... DATE: JANUARY 31, 2009

SNL: S34E14... HOST: STEVE MARTIN... DATE: JANUARY 31, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The President Of The United States that introduced Fred Armisen as President Barack Obama in this first episode following the inauguration, which was the subject of the President’s address… well… the inauguration, not the fact that this was the first episode… Anyways, in the sketch, Barack recalled the sweeter moments of Inauguration Day before struggling to comment on the floundering economy. At one point, Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden attempted to hijack the podium to share a few words, but his plan was quickly thwarted by Obama before he announced, “Live from New York…”

  2. Steve Martin then officially opened the show with a bit of a stand-up routine where he joked about his abilities to stay connected with the average man even though every example that he gave provided evidence that his view of himself was way off. He also kept making hint toward his new movie throughout the entire bit making it sort of feel like he was only hosting to promote the release of The Pink Panther.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Chewable Pampers which as the products name suggests was a line of organic-enriched diapers that are both eco-friendly and delicious, at least that’s what Kristen Wiig’s pitchwoman claimed.

  4. MacGruber then returned to kick off another series of sketches with Will Forte as our fictional TV hero, with Kristen Wiig as his trusty sidekick. This time, the real McGyver, Richard Dean Anderson was also involved as the new guy that led to the distraction that stopped MacGruber from defusing the bomb. It turned out this wasn’t an official sketch but was actually a paid ad from Pepsi that they premiered during tonight’s episode.

  5. The Introverts then returned, and for the first time, they dropped the reoccurring setup that they were hanging out for drinks for the first time since they started to work together. Instead the two regular Introverts, Kristen Wiig and Will Forte ventured into a sports bar with their new friend, Steve Martin, to awkwardly join a large crowd who were watching the Super Bowl. Or at least they should have been awkward. Instead, they just hung out acting like old nerds who weren’t introverted at all.

  6. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Laser Cats 4Ever where Andy Samberg and Bill Hader used Steve Martin as a pawn to get Lorne Michaels to watch their latest installment of Laser Cats. This edition of Laser Cats was a bit of a blend of a parody of RoboCop, Total Recall, Star Wars, and a couple other sci-fi/action movies.

  7. Issues was a talk show with Kenan Thompson as the host who tried to help his guests overcome the outward matters that he thinks are bothering them even though they never say a word. For example, Casey Wilson played a young girl with acne issues which Kenan made his primary focus while all Wilson wanted was advice on how to handle an issue she was having with her sister. The real laughs kicked in after this set up when Steve Martin entered the room as an old man with man boob, who was there for his fear of water but I’ll let you guess what Kenan got hung up on.

  8. MacGruber then returned for round two where the Pepsi marketing was more direct as our hero was distracted from defusing the bomb because he was too busy waxing poetic about his love for Pepsi and Pepsi products so much that he was contemplating changing his name to PepSuber.

  9. Madoff Invites brought back Fred Armisen as Bernie Madoff who was confined to house arrest and made a series of calls to his old pals on the outside to invite them to his Super Bowl party even though they all wanted him dead for swindling them out of their life savings. This did stop this psychopath from acting like everything was just fine.

  10. Steve And The Ladies was a sketch that showed how, as with the female cast members throughout the years, this current collection of Not Ready For Prime Time Players also struggle to hide their fleeting attraction to tonight’s host. Meanwhile, Steve Martin acted like a lecherous jerk, feeling up Kristen Wiig, calling them all bimbos and ending the scene to taking them all off to have an orgy after demanding that they don’t tell his wife.

  11. MacGruber then returned for round three of his sellout effort where he only said the word Pepsi throughout the entire segment.

  12. Jason Mraz then took to the stage to perform I'm Yours.

  13. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Jason Sudeikis returned as the recently impeached Rod Blagojevich to lash out upon his critics. Abby Elliott also dropped in out of nowhere as Angelina Jolie who had greedy intentions after Seth Meyers read a story about the Octomom before she was given the nickname, but Jolie was jealous of this woman with so many kids the same age without having to resort to adoption. Fred Armisen wrapped up the guest portion of the news by revising his Governor David Peterson to make crass comments about upstate New York while explaining his selection for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat replacement. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

  14. Make-Up Counter had Steve Martin as Thomas, a customer representative, who was tending to a customer, Casey Wilson, while his obsessive wife, Kristen Wiig, repeatedly called out Thomas’s name to remind him that they are married, while also sending the message to Ms. Wilson even though there was no sign of any interest.

  15. Steve Martin then took to the stage to perform Late For School.

  16. Forefathers Of The Game was a parody of an ESPN Classics profile of heat-packing ‘30s football player Billy “The Gun” Van Goff, as played by Steve Martin who shot any defensive player that got in his way.

  17. Jason Mraz took to the stage with Colbie Caillat to perform Lucky.

  18. Finally, Steve Martin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E15... HOST: BRADLEY COOPER... DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 2009

SNL: S34E15... HOST: BRADLEY COOPER... DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-SPAN coverage of a sketch called Bipartisanship where Kristen Wiig as Nancy Pelosi kept rubbing the recent Democratic successes in Fred Armisen as Harry Reid’s face during what’s supposed to be a joint bipartisan statement. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Bradley Cooper then officially opened the show with a monolog where our host started by showing us a real clip of him, as a student, in the audience of a taping of Inside The Actor’s Studio to prove that he knows how to act. He then went on to demonstrate how to play a bully in a cheesy teen-targeted romantic comedy in an effort to provide more evidence, mainly since this was from a time just prior The Hangover where he is primarily cast as the comedic bully and not one of the actual funny guys. The real James Lipton finish the segment by standing from the audience to share that he was proud of his former student.

  3. This was followed by another parody of Today where Kristen Wiig and Michaela Watkin revised their impersonations of Kathy Lee and Hoda to get into their antics while attempting to interview Bradley Cooper as an effeminate runway fashion expert who was there to teach the girls how to walk the runway.

  4. I'm Gonna Have Sex With Your Wife was a game show hosted by a smug Bradley Cooper who as the title suggests has sex with the contestant's wives, and that’s all.

  5. This was followed by the classic SNL Digital Short: I’m On A Boat which I don’t think I have to explain.

  6. Song Memories returned for another installment of the host as a few male members of the cast as best friends at a bar who all share increasingly crazy stories about their friendship in between singing the chorus to the song, To Be With You by Mr. Big. As with last time, this time they managed to escape the bar but was pulling the same routine while attending a mutual friends funeral.

  7. TV On The Radio then took to the stage to perform Golden Age.

  8. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Andy Samberg started things off when he dropped by as Mark Spitz to comment on Michael Phelps’s recent marijuana controversy. Kenan Thompson then showed up as Super Bowl star, James Harrison who was still out of breath from the big game. Seth Meyers then played a game of Really!?! by himself about Kellogg’s termination of Michael Phelps for the same controversy that was brought up by Spitz. Kristen Wiig finally finished things off as Bjork to ramble a bit about the economy of Iceland. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

  9. Admirals Locker Room had Bobby Moynihan as an eager little boy who was excited to meet the hockey team The Admirals in the locker following a big game. Though he could barely contain himself which new team member he met, he couldn’t seem to care less about meeting Bradley Cooper who played the lowest man on the team’s totem pole.

  10. Bad Guys, Good Conversation featured a bunch of “actors/actresses” best known for portraying bad guys/girls in motion pictures who try to prove that they can make interesting conversations while trying to hold up the appearance of a nice guy/girl.

  11. We then went to Intervention for Andy Samberg who played a young alcoholic and nephew to Kristen Wiig and Bradley Cooper who helped put this little gathering together. Things started out pretty standard until Wiig and Cooper kept causing distractions with a noisy hand sanitizer pump and various other noisy items that he kept fidgeting with throughout even the most serious of moments being had with Will Forte and Casey Wilson who played Andy’s dad and mom.

  12. TV On The Radio then returned to the stage to perform Dancing Choose.

  13. No Bruce! Let Me Finish! The Best Of Celebrity Tirades had Bradley Cooper as Christian Bale who was pitching a new DVD compilation filled with celebrity rants like his, “Oh, good for you…” rant while on the set of his installment of The Terminator.

  14. Finally, Bradley Cooper closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E16... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: FEBRUARY 14, 2009

SNL: S34E16... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: FEBRUARY 14, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage a Republican Congressional Leadership Meeting where Dan Aykroyd and several members of the cast played a collection of Republican leaders who were in denial while looking for even the smallest fault in President Obama’s latest speech. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Alec Baldwin then officially opened the show with a monolog by thanking Christian Bale for out doing any rant that he had ever had caught on film. He then went on to talk about his 30 Rock Emmy win before announcing that his co-star Jack McBrayer was there before attempting to take questions from the audience in his effort to stop the McBrayer induced round of applause. Baldwin was then outraged when he was continually overlooked as everyone fawned over his co-star.

  3. The Fourth Jonas Brother was as the title suggest, a sketch that introduced us to the fourth Jonas Brother Alec Baldwin with the help from tonight’s musical guest during a parody of their recording session before they decided to introduce Gary Jonas to the world.

  4. The Cougar Den then returned for another segment feature Kristen Wiig, Casey Wilson, and Michaela Watkins. Tonight Alec Baldwin played their guest who was a gay cougar that wrote a book called Stop That Boy I Want To Get On with his coauthor Cameron Diaz, who I can’t believe keeps coming back to revise this role.

  5. We then got another SNL Digital Short where Andy Samberg discovered ancient videotape footage of The Jonas Brothers from when they performed as Property Of The Queen during the 1980’s. This video was filled with a hilarious collection of clips of The Jonas Brothers as an ‘80s butt rock band.

  6. Sir Mix-a-Lot's Photoshop had Kenan Thompson as the big booty loving rap star to offered a service where his company would Photoshop big butts on any image for a reasonable fee.

  7. Jonas Brothers then took to the stage to perform Tonight.

  8. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson stopped by as a financial expert who still though the solution to the economic crisis was to simply “FIX IT!” Abby Elliott as Angelina Jolie also magically appeared once again and attempted to adopt a baby only to find out the Seth made the crying sound to end a story. Upon hearing there were no actual kids, Jolie then quickly disappeared. Michaela Watkins then played nerdy movie blogger to share her Oscar picks. Jason Sudeikis was the last guest to stop by as Joaquin Phoenix to be weird during this period where the real Joaquin was threatening to quit acting to start his hip-hop career.

  9. Vincent Price's Valentine's Day Special brought back Bill Hader as Vincent Price to host another holiday special filled with impersonations of famous celebrities from his time who all have their own agenda.

  10. High-Profile Project showed how difficult collaborations can be through Alec Baldwin, Will Forte, and Bill Hader as a group of old business executives who struggle to synchronize their schedules in order to complete their high-profile project that really deserved more attention over the trivial tasks that are filling his time. After all of this planning to plan, by the end of the sketch, they figured out that they were already right now.

  11. Warrior Shake had Alec Baldwin as a dad who finds very inappropriate pleasure while playing a Wii game with his kids Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader, because of the masturbatory motions that the game forces him into.

  12. Jonas Brothers then returned to the stage to perform Video Girl.

  13. We then got a repeat of the Chewable Pampers which was an organic diaper that you eat instead of throwing it away.

  14. For the first time ever, we then got a back to back repeat when once again we Virgania Horsen's Hot-Air Balloon Rides commercial from just earlier this year.

  15. Then after two repeated fake ad, we got another sketch from the fake ad genre. This commercial was called Alec Baldwin's Acting Techniques For Actors where our host demonstrated the acting prowess of a cinematic, “first cough,” playing off the old trope from movies where if a person coughed in an early scene that meant that later on that character was going to die.

  16. Finally, Alec Baldwin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E17... HOST: DWAYNE JOHNSON... DATE: MARCH 7, 2009

SNL: S34E17... HOST: DWAYNE JOHNSON... DATE: MARCH 7, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The Secretary Of The Treasury where Will Forte played Timothy Geithner who started out passing the blame of the economic crisis on the Bush administration. He then shared that the banks were to blame with a brief explanation why. He then went on to share his solution to set aside four-hundred-twenty-billion-dollars to give to the first person to contact him with a solution. After that, he broke down what would happen in case of a tie which even included a chart. Several citizens then called in, each seeming to have ideas that Geithner has never thought of and some even swindled him out of a few bucks. Even the Nigerian prince got involved which then led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Dwayne Johnson then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to host for the third time, which wasn’t impressive as joining The Five-Timers club but he was still happy with the honor. He then went on to share how he started out hosting as a wrestler and is now hosting as an actor before he attempted to prove he was still tough with a well-choreographed song and dance about just how tough he was. This song had a bit of a Broadway/Disney sound that made The Rock seem extra effeminate compared to the words being sung.

  3. MacGruber then returned for another three-segment series, that wasn’t a Pepsi commercial this time, but this first one installment was almost an exact repeat of the first of the Pepsi MacGruber ads where we learned that Richard Dean Anderson as the actual MacGyver was the new sidekick alongside Kristen Wiig. Only this time there was a flashback scene where we learned that MacGyver was MacGruber’s dad, right before the signature explosion ended the sketch.

  4. The Rock Obama was as the title suggest a sketch where The Rock played a hybrid of himself and newly elected President Barack Obama in kind of a parody of The Incredible Hulk. This happened as Seth Meyers as Rahm Emanuel imagined Obama having this power during a White House meeting between our President and several Republicans form the Senate. The Rock Obama was the President we wanted to see, almost the Democratic version of Trump, strong-arming his policies into effect even if nobody agreed.

  5. MacGruber then returned for round two where this time our fake TV hero and MacGyver were working together like happily reunited father and son team until we learned that MacGyver was “a dick” who abandoned son when he was really young. MacGyver tried to explain himself, only to be cut off by the exploding bomb.

  6. This was followed by another parody of another Activia Commercial Shoot where once again Kristen Wiig played Jamie Lee Curtis who was embarrassed by her original commercial at first but then didn’t seem to mind the fact that Activia made her poop her pants yet again. In fact, it turned out that she actually enjoyed it, just like last time. This version also featured Abbey Elliott who wasn’t as thrill about the mess she was leaving in her own pants. That, and Jason Sudeikis, as the yogurt eating director also kept pooping himself.

  7. We then went to a Hawaiian Bar where The Rock and Fred Armisen played two Hawaiian musicians who mocked tourist in search of an authentic island experience. If they didn’t offend their guest, they bummed them out with depressing truths about living on an “island paradise.

  8. MacGruber then returned for round number three where this time our fake TV hero refused to talk to his dad and vice versa in an argument that built to MacGruber swearing that he’d take a dump on his MacGyver’s ashes once he’s dead, but once again they all die due to an explosion. After the explosion, we got to see the future where MacGruber made his threat come true, only to blow up once again.

  9. Ray LaMontagne then took to the stage to perform You Are The Best Thing.

  10. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson played the Republican Party President, Michael Steele so that he could make excuses for his apology to Rush Limbaugh for referring to the radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.” Throughout his segment, Steele kept getting shocked if he acted too black or said anything out of line as if the Republicans now had him entirely under control. Andy Samberg also returned as the comic strip character Cathy to discuss losing the sexiest cartoon character of all time to Jessica Rabbit. While making dumb comic books jokes, her husband Irving, played by Justin Timberlake, joined the scene only to run off with Jessica Rabbit, as portrayed by Jessica Biel. Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte then revised their characters from the fake Jon Bovi band to share that they feel no shame for being a Bon Jovi Opposite Band before sharing a couple of their opposite songs. (Clip 2)

  11. Game Time With Dave And Greg was the parody of a sports talk show where The Rock played Dave and rather than talk about sports had to spend most of the show trying to convince the callers that his sidekick Greg, played by Bill Hader wasn’t an alien. Greg didn’t help at all because he kept staring at the camera like a crazy person, and had an alien sound to his voice whenever he’d say a wacky collection of words which didn’t help his case. Along with other blatant evidence, it was clear that Greg was from space when he started to melt when a glass of water was spilled into his lap, which for some reason, also trigger Greg’s growing of unhuman wings.

  12. We then got a parody of an Apprentice Commercial Shoot where Darrell Hammond played Donald Trump to promote his latest celebrity version of the show, allowing the cast to impersonate the various celebrity contestants.

  13. Ray LaMontagne then returned to the stage to perform Trouble.

  14. Lighthouse Date had The Rock as a guy who lives in a lighthouse who had Kristen Wiig over for a date. At one point, in an effort to set the mood The Rock dimmed down the lights leading to a disaster out at sea.

  15. Finally, Dwayne Johnson closed the show by thanking the audience and saying their goodnights.

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SNL: S34E18... HOST: TRACY MORGAN... DATE: MARCH 14, 2009

SNL: S34E18... HOST: TRACY MORGAN... DATE: MARCH 14, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a sketch called Tracy Returns where one of my favorite alumni cast members couldn’t get past the guard who would not let him in without his ID which sent our host on a punching spree as he coldcock any individual who got in his way between the studio entrance and the main stage. The people he punched included security, two random fans, a show page, John Cena and Tina Fey. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it all eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Tracy Morgan then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to host because he was going to star in more sketches tonight than his entire seven-year run as a member of the cast combined. He accused the media of making his crazy exploits out to sound more ghettos than they actually were and then shared several examples of how they reported a fish aquarium incident that ended with his apartment on fire. He then finished his routine with another one of his classic interaction with Lorne Michaels where he called him a bitch and then told him to go get his soda.

  3. This was followed by another repeat of the Chewable Pampers that’s already aired multiple times this season and featured organic diapers to be eaten in an effort to throwing away.

  4. Brian Fellow's Safari Planet then returned for a much-needed update with Tracy Morgan in the titular role as the animal show host who has no clue about anything to do with animals. This week, Fellows was hung up on the idea that a baby cow was trying to pass itself off as a snobby human with a British accent while interviewing Andy Samberg about a red-tailed hawk.

  5. This was followed by another parody of The View where they were all on-remote from Disneyland with the cast members impersonating The View women doing typical The View things with the main focus being that Tracy Morgan as Sherri Shephard struggled to follow any conversation since she had never heard of a single subject that was brought up.

  6. Scared Straight then returned for another parody of this kid scaring show where this time Tracy Morgan teamed up Kenan Thompson hardcore prisoner character to attempt to scare Bobby Moynihan, Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader out of ever wanting to go to jail. As always, Kenan stole all of his badass stories from movies, only this time he had Tracy Morgan to back him up and add his own movie based stories to tell.

  7. We then got another parody of Dateline with Bill Hader as Keith Morrison who further reveled in the misery of his interview subjects who all suffered from terrible crimes.

  8. Astronaut Jones was another Tracy Morgan character to be brought back in order for him to sing his theme song before flirting with Andy Samberg as a transvestite alien but that didn’t stop Jones from being interested since he’s been in space alone for so long and there was no one around to witness.

  9. Kelly Clarkson then took to the stage to perform My Life Would Suck Without You.

  10. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Bill Hader tried to contain his anger as John Malkovich after getting swindled by Bernie Madoff. Tracy Morgan then joined Seth after he shared a story about a strip club tax for a really quick game of Really?!? Kristen Wiig also stopped by as Barbie to celebrate her fiftieth birthday while trying to down her birthday drink with her unbendable elbows. (Clip 2)

  11. This was followed by a parody of Big Love where Jason Sudeikis introduced his three Mormon wives to wife number four, Fantasia Divine who was played by Tracy Morgan.

  12. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Party Guys that showed Bill Hader and Andy Samberg pointing out all the clichés that they spot while handing out at a lame party. Meanwhile, every insult was treated extremely literal like when they called a trio of idiot friends a bunch of Jokers, they were all dressed as The Joker from The Batman.

  13. Suppressex had Tracy Morgan as a doctor who advertised a pill that suppresses untimely erections for people who are already always ready to calm down.

  14. High IQ was a game show sketch that had Jason Sudeikis,, Darrell Hammond, and Michaela Watkins as three Brainiac contestants who all get distracted from working through their final answers by the crazy sideshow theatrics of host, Tracy Morgan’s freaky friends.

  15. Kelly Clarkson then returned to the stage to perform I Do Not Hook Up.

  16. Family Flix had Tracy Morgan as director Percy T. Douglas who revealed both the ending and a carnage count of all the actors and dogs that were killed while making his film, Rocket Dog. Kristen Wiig played the host who pulled all of this information out of Tracy, and she was completely confused by every word that he had to say.

  17. We then got a repeat of the Gas Right commercial from earlier in the season which was pretty much just a fake ad for the Breathe Right Strip only this strip goes on your butt in an effort to keep your sleeping farts silent.

  18. Finally, Tracy Morgan closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S34E19... HOST: SETH ROGEN... DATE: APRIL 4, 2009

SNL: S34E19... HOST: SETH ROGEN... DATE: APRIL 4, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Special Address From The President Of The United States that had Fred Armisen as Barack Obama out on a political trip to Europe where he outlined which companies he will and will not agree to bailout in the future, in reference to the bank and auto bailout from the time. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Seth Rogen then officially opened the show with a monolog that started with a very quick plug for his new movie Observe And Report before switching to the topic of this being his second-time host and how different things are for round two. The first thing he pointed out was how he lost a ton of weight since that first visit with the rest of the changes focusing more on thing related to the actual show, like how he learn Lorne’s name was Lorne and not Lorain. He shared a few more examples, but the biggest difference for him was how the writers spent days with him the first time in their effort to come up with the perfect monolog while this time they simply told him to take questions from the “audience.” Of course, the cast then acted as the audience members who kept confusing Seth with Kevin James due to his weight loss while also confusing Observe And Report with the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

  3. This was followed by a fake trailer for The Fast And The Bi-Curious that was filled with fast cars and male-on-male exploration between Andy Samberg and Seth Rogen.

  4. Save The Funnies took place at the Marriott Hotel and has Jason Sudeikis as Dick Tracy to lead a group of comic page characters in their efforts to find a way to keep the newspaper business afloat in these trying times.

  5. La Rivista Della Televisione the returned for another installment of Bill Hader’s Italian talk show host who doesn’t speak a lick of English to interview Seth Rogen, aka that infamous “Bear Man” of American cinema, as the Italian market referred to his English-only speaking self.

  6. We then got another classic SNL Digital Short called Like A Boss, which was pretty much a music video for the titular song and sung by Andy Samberg.

  7. Girlfriend Voices had Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, and Andy Samberg as a trio of friends who all creep one another out while speaking in their cuties-relationship-voices while talking on their phones to their girlfriends between planning a very explicit bachelor party while hanging out at a bar. Though it started with the guys making baby talk with their girls, as the sketch went on, we learned that each of them had a specific voice for every single person who called in.

  8. Phoenix then took to the stage to perform Lisztomania.

  9. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Jason Sudeikis returned as Rod Blagojevich who was desperate to launch a get rich scheme of his own to match with Bernie Madoff. Kenan Thompson also returned as his French Def Jams Comedy Comedian character to comment on Obama’s European tour that was referenced in the opening sketch. Kristen Wiig then dropped by as Madonna to share how she was upset about not being able to adopt an African baby which triggered Abby Elliott as Angelina Jolie to once again, magically appear to one-up Madonna with her adoption talk. (Clip 2)

  10. The Presentation had Seth Rogen as an office worker who screwed up when the audio for his presentation that went out to all of the company’s investors was swapped with the song You’re The One That I love from Grease.

  11. Milestone High had Andy Samberg as a geek named Eli who attempted to tutor dumb Lance who claimed he was the schools’ basketball superstar. Eli attempted to teach his lessons using basketball metaphors which Lance took literal leading him to fail every test. To top things off, by the end of the sketch we learned that he wasn’t even good at sports but was just some dumb guy who was utterly hopeless.

  12. This was followed by a fake ad where Seth Rogen played a pitchman trying to sell an Easter collaborative featuring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig in the titular roles of an album called Clancy T. Bachleratt and Jackie Snad Sing Easter Songs about Spaceships, Toddlers, Model T. Cars & Jars of Beer.

  13. Phoenix then returned to the stage to perform 1901.

  14. Muppets Hit And Run featured the cast as The Muppet’s who are shocked when Seth Rogen as Rolf rolls the Muppet bus over a pedestrian and then tries to convince everyone if they’d just stay silent he can probably get away with this hit and run.

  15. Finally, Seth Rogen closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights Phoenix then ended the night with on more song called Too Young.

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SNL: S34E20... HOST: ZAC EFRON... DATE: APRIL 11, 2009

SNL: S34E20... HOST: ZAC EFRON... DATE: APRIL 11, 2009

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a sketch called Obama Homecoming that took place in the oval office and had Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden goofing off while sitting in Obama’s seat upon his arrival home from his first European tour of Europe. Biden was caught off guard by Fred Armisen as Obama who disappointed Biden when informing that there was no time to shop for souvenirs. The rest of the sketch was Biden talking up how well he handled running America while the President was gone. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Zac Efron then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to be performing for a more mature audience for the first time before thanking Kristen Wiig, and Casey Wilson as two awkward ‘tween fans for their support. Things then got more awkward when he also thanked Fred Armisen as what he referred to as ‘twifty male fan because he was between forty and fifty, which is less promoted segment of Zac Efron’s target audience.

  3. This was followed by another parody of Today for more of Kristen Wiig and Michaela Watkin making fun of Kathy Lee and Hoda, only this time Zac Efron stopped in as their guest/Kathy Lee’s son Cody Gifford.

  4. Gilly also returned for another segment of Kristen Wiig as her frizzy-haired goofball of a character who loves to pull pranks that are more like violent attacks this time while at the annual science fair.

  5. A Message From The Alliance Of Direct Mail Marketers had Jason Sudeikis as the head of this group to speak in favor of unsolicited direct mail advertisements claiming that they have unbelievable benefits like while downplaying any issues dealing with identity theft while openly admitting, they just sell the information to the highest bidder either way.

  6. Underage Drinking had Zac Efron and Andy Samberg as two minors at a Jolly Trolley. They’re so excited to be in a bar that doesn’t card until they realize the bar is filled with literal children who were all taking advantage of this easy-going ID situation that didn’t make the situation seem as fun. At the end of the sketch, we learned that this was actually a political ad for Elliot Spitzer who was attempting a political comeback from yet another political sex scandal from this time.

  7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs then took to the stage to perform Zero.

  8. Once again, Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen returned as the gay couple from Jersey who haven’t been on in quite some time. For this visit, they share how thrilled they were to finally be allowed to get married and upgrade from being life partners. Michael Watkins then dropped by a blogger who’s very loose with her signature “Bitchplease” catchphrase as she disses several celebrities before fawning over Zac Efron when talking about his movie 17 Again. Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte also returned as the founding member of Jon Bovi to plead why they should be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

  9. This was followed by a parody of High School Musical 4 where Zac Efron informed the class of ’08 that ordinary people don’t spontaneously sing out loud in the real world when giving a graduation speech. By the end of the sketch, a thawed out Walt Disney arrived to inform the class that their little corner of the world actually was filled with non-stop singing magic.

  10. Since You Went Away was a parody of a classic war drama that had Zac Efron departing for WWII, but he struggles to shake his strong-willed girlfriend, Casey Wilson, who seemed determined to chase his train all the way to Germany.

  11. Gino's Pizza Rolls had Fred Armisen as a slighted Italian mom who misinterpreted her lines while playing a role in a commercial for Gino’s pizza roll product. Instead of saying her lines she kept breaking the scene by delivering her scripted rebuttals to Zac Efron’s scripted playful insults about her cooking while talking up the pizza rolls.

  12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs then returned to the stage to perform Maps.

  13. Foot Rub took us to a family garage where Jason Sudeikis played an adult child who refused to leave home because it would mean he couldn’t play Guitar Hero and masturbate whenever he wants. Meanwhile, this is the man that a teen Zac Efron turned to for advice on dating and Sudeikis’s only advice was to give his girlfriend a foot rub leading to an awkward demonstration of how to do it right.

  14. Finally, Zac Efron closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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