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Acting: The Ultimate

Child Labor Law Loophole

I was always under the impression that Drew Barrymore and I were close to being the same age and that I was about one year older than here but after looking her up on the IMDB, I found the reverse is actually true, and she is literally nine days shy of being one year older than me. I mention this because our closeness in age really hit home to how young I was while watching this episode when it originally aired.

At first, I was a little nervous about this episode because the last time the show had a minor as a host, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The big problem back then was Mr. Mike was involved which led to for too many molestation and pedophile jokes that were aimed at the young Jody Foster who seemed to reluctantly play along.

Granted, Drew Barrymore was even younger than Jody at the time she hosted the show, which might explain why they went with the tamer material, but it also seemed that, in general, the show has a way less creepy vibe with the absence of Mr. Mike. Keep in mind, this is coming from a person who still is a fan of offensive comedy who never thought the creepy kid stuff to be all that funny.

Though this episode turned out to be a little more family friendly than most, I feel that the fact that they had to keep a child in mind made this show feel tailored explicitly to the host which I personally feel is the whole point of Saturday Night Live.

I'm also a fan of the voting stunts from this time, so the running routine of whether or not Andy Kaufman would return to the show added to my interest in this episode, making it my favorite of this season, so far.

And with that, it's time to move on and share what I saw as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show starts in Drew Barrymore's dressing room that is set up to look exactly like a little kids room. The cast is jealous of the special treatment and a bit upset that they'll have to work with such a young kid but then Drew enters. She’s turned out to be just as frustrated by a bulk of Dick Ebersol's decisions and asks for a hard drink which is sad in retrospect but instantly wins everyone over as she announces, "Live from New York..."
Drew Barrymore then officially opens the show with a little help from Sweetchuck as he helps her answer questions from the audience in place of a monolog. This question and answer session seems legit instead of something scripted like they've done in the past. The monolog ends with Sweetchuck introducing Drew to his monkey son from the I Married A Monkey sketch
For the third time, I've been promised the short film/fake ad The Web and this time I finally get to see it, and it turns out that The Web is a home security device that traps potential burglars in their own homes before they can even attempt to commit the crime.
This was followed by a parody of E.T. where in this version Gertie kills E.T. just because felt like it and has zero remorse as her two older brothers try to explain why she was wrong. Eventual, Eddie Murphy as Mr. T bursts through the door to track down his son "E" with the last name "T" who was in the freezer in the families attempt to bring him back to life just like the alien Spewey from Get A Life.
Gary Kroeger then takes the stage to announce the Andy Kaufman Phone-In Contest referencing Dick Ebersol's banishment announcement from last week that I couldn't find anywhere on the internet. The contest in question is another call-in stunt (which I love) where the audience gets to vote on Andy's future with the show and whether or not he'll be banned.
We then get another installment of The Whiners where this week the pouty couple attempts to adopt a child. Drew Barrymore plays a troubled child that doesn't want to go home with anyone because she hates everything. The other option is a perfect child that seems to be the obvious choice but considering it's the Whiners, it turns out that Drew is actually a perfect fit.
Squeeze then hits the stage to perform Annie Get Your Gun.
We then get an update on the Andy Kaufman Phone-In Contest where Eddie Murphy takes to the street to get the public's opinion, and there seems to be a 50/50 split. The first votes are Keep Andy: 38,945 Dump Andy: 48,838 proving that America has always been horrible at voting.
Once again, Brad Hall gives us the news. This week, Sweetchuck gets a segment where he criticizes Rupert Murdoch for his horrible approach toward "journalism," and Joe Piscopo gives us the sports where he discusses football alternative to turn to because of the strike that apparently was going down that year.
Sweetchuck and Julia are out on a blind date. Julia keeps complaining that she was expecting more excitement until Sweetchuck randomly throws her in to assist him with an emergency brain surgery where she so flummoxed that she can barely keep up with the demands which eventually leads the patient's death.
We then got another update on the Andy Kaufman Phone-In Contest where we see the votes are Keep Andy: 105,316 and Dump Andy: 134,691 which is followed by a recap of his show history.
This was followed by the final rehearsal at the community theater where Mr. Blunt returns to direct a rag-tag group of actors for their upcoming performance of Oklahoma.
We then got another real quick update on the Andy Kaufman Phone-In Contest where Piscopo just gives out the numbers needed to vote.
Sweetchuck then babysits Drew, and she dressed him like E.T. when he was disguised as a woman which leads to a reenactment of Mommy Dearest in a sketch that felt like it was shortened for time.
This is followed by a classroom scene where Gary Kroeger gets busted for passing notes which makes him feel like a complete loser until he hears the voice of Zeus who takes him on as a friend and sends a lightning bolt through the teacher for embarrassing him in front of the class. Zeus also helps with a bully and acts as a Cyrano De Bergerac type as he helps Gary to get the girl, only she's totally turned off by all the God talk which gets her the lightning bolt as well.
Squeeze then returns to the stage to perform Pulling Muscles From A Shell.
Robin Duke then has a talk with Drew Barrymore about her biological clock and how she regrets choosing her career over having a child. Until Drew speaks with that youthful honesty gets Robin to change her mind.
Andy Kaufman Phone-In Contest Results, Keep Andy: 169,186, Dump Andy: 195,544 meaning that he was then officially banned from the show.
Finally, Drew Barrymore closes the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

Due to the fact that the host was a child, this was a pretty simple episode, but it was still really enjoyable with these as my favorite moments. First, I loved the Gertie Kills E.T. sketch. For one, I like the "Mr. T" drop in as E.T. father because they share a last name but also because I love that the plot was somewhat similar to my favorite episode of Get A Life which feature an alien named Spewey. Next, I really liked the opening sketch because it does a perfect job of setting up Drew as a mischievous child while setting the tone for the night. Finally, I was a fan of The Whiners adopting Drew because of the way they set it up to where she was the unobvious perfect fit before the reveal that the Whiners were the potential parents especially since her competition was a perfect child.