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A Night Filled With Funny Kid Versions

Even though I'm young enough to really liked Home Alone when it originally came out in the theaters at the same time I was also just barely too old to see Macaulay Culkin as a peer so I never got too obsessed with either him or his career. I was also at the right age to where I didn't find him to be annoying and actually loved him in the movie My Girl.

Since I was at such a specific age when Macaulay Culkin became a success, I was neither too old to where I was already jaded but not young enough to care about his future career and couldn't care less about his comeback in the movie Party Monster. I don't know how it happened but even though there are only four years between us, it feels like many more due to the generational gap between X and Y.

I mention this because I find it interesting of how many people who are super close to my age are either obsessed or annoyed by the whole Home Alone phenomena. I find this interesting because it seems if I were just a couple years younger I'd know the movie line for line and if I was a couple years older I'd find Macaulay to be an annoying twerp. Meanwhile, as it is, I simply liked the movie but can see how the references were overused but not to the point where I was annoyed.

I feel that the above mention findings mirror my views about the episode as a whole. Where I really liked it and was super impressed by this ten-year-old host it just barely missing the mark of hitting the sweet spot of my sense of nostalgia that would have turned this episode from just good to freakin' great.

That said, if you were a huge fan of Home Alone as a kid, I would highly recommend this episode because this was pretty much a night of Kevin McCallister hosting the show playing the younger version of every reoccurring character and member of the cast.

As always, now that I've gotten my views off my chest, it's now time to move on and share what I actually viewed, as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a parody of Home Alone only in this version Macaulay is abandoned by the cast and the crew for a sketched Studio Alone. In this parody, Macaulay is sent to his dressing room after beating up Chris Farley after learning they forgot to order a plain cheese pizza. While in the dressing room he wished everyone would just disappear before making the announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Macaulay Culkin then officially opened the show with a continuation of the opening sketch with Macaulay taking to the monolog stage to find that no one else is around. We then saw that everyone else was on a plane to Paris as if there was a last minute decision to make this an international special. Meanwhile, back in the studio, Macaulay was living it up, playing with the props and costumes from classical sketches throughout the years. Unlike the real movie, there are no bad guys involved but just like the real movie, the cast finally does realize that they left the little guy behind and became super apologetic and kind upon being reunited. This led to a second start of the show where Macaulay came out to a crowd to introduce the night.
This was followed by a fake ad for The Love Toilet which is a side by side toilet that allows you and your partner to share even the most private of times.
Bob Swerski's Super Fans then returned to the show where this time the beer drinking Bears fans celebrated Thanksgiving while talking about the traditional Thanksgiving game between the Detroit Lions and the Bears. As part of this Thanksgiving special, Macaulay and his little brother reenacted the first Thanksgiving Day, only in their story, it looked more like a tailgate party with an endless supply of meat. At one point, we also flashed back to meet Farley's character's wife after he felt guilty for flirting with, special guest, George Wendt's oldest daughter who was recently crowned The Polish Sausage Queen of the town.
We then got an installment of Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack questioned what it would be like to be on a first date as a mobster and how embarrassing it would be if someone was trying to kill you.
The Richmeister also returned for another installment where this time, the copy machine stalking name repeater flashes back to when he first started his name game. This took us back to an elementary school where Macaulay played the young Richmeister whose desk was located right next to the pencil sharpener where he commented on every single child who dropped by which is what started this annoying trend.
Tin Machine then took to the stage to perform Baby Universal.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, Victoria Jackson dropped in for a segment where she discussed the post-Cold War economy where once again she makes a brilliant point only to end up being treated like an idiot when it pointed out that she only reads what's written for her without comprehending the words. Adam Sandler also stopped in for another segment where he acts like he's at a family event for his family to watch in his absence only to end up in a fictional fight that's pretty standard considering the family event in question is Thanksgiving Dinner.
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer the made his show debut with Phil Hartman playing the primitive man who for some reason was unfrozen in order to practice law even though he struggles to grasp the workings of the modern world but this doesn't stop him from being a winning attorney. In fact, his simple ways seem to win over the members of the jury.
Simon also returned for another segment where the neglected son of a businessman share his view of the world from the many hotel bathtubs that he's relegated to. This week he had a tub mate in Macaulay Culkin who played a fellow neglected tub ridden British child of a businessman.
This was followed by another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack ponders whether or not it would still be funny if you witnessed an old lady fall if you were an ant and she was falling in your general direction.
Young Superboy was a sketch where the Home Alone star played the young version of Superman where the bad guys are too caught up in how adorable this tiny superhero is while ignoring the genuine threat of his adult-sized superpowers.
We then got yet another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shares his concerns about little dogs not having their voices heard if canines were to take over the world.
Tin Machine then returned to the stage to perform If There Is Something.
Daily Affirmation was another reoccurring sketch to return with Stuart Smalley and his nephew "Kyle" (Macaulay) as his special guest to talk about his alcoholic parents and how their many problems are not his fault at all. Being a kid, "Kyle" doesn't take any of this all that serious which threw Stuart Smalley off guard.
U.S. Fon was a sketch where Phil Hartman tried to scam Julia Sweeney over the phone only to get called out thanks to a very early version of caller id. Though this did work to save Julia from the scam it also put her in danger as Phil Hartman flipped into assassin mode after realizing this meant that she had all the information required to turn him into the authorities.
Scalder And Son took place in the medieval days with Chris Farley teaching his son, Macaulay, his line of work as the two dump boiling oil on their enemies who are storming the castle. He goes on to discuss things like how hot the oil should be and the perfect time to dump it as if this were a standard job and as if the victims below didn't lead to a terrible sight to see, especially for a kid who's that young.
This was followed by yet another Deep Thoughts By Jack Handey where Jack shared how funny he thinks it would be if you found yourself in a situation where your parachute didn't open and you simply pretended to swim to freak out your friends and family.
Finally, Macauley Culkin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Even though the host was pretty small there were still several big laughs thanks to sketches like these three of my favorite moments of the night. First, I love the entire Studio Alone opening to the show, not only because of how much it stuck to the Home Alone storyline but also because it was fun to see Macaulay play with the classic props from memorable moments from the past. Next, I really liked the debut of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer because the idea is so random and surreal that I can't help but be a fan. Finally, I was a fan of this week's Richmeister sketch because I really liked seeing Macaulay as the child version of the copy guy.