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Two For Two From Gun-Toting Moses

I may not agree with Charlton Heston when it comes to his politics but I have to admit, it turns out that I’m actually a fan of his comedic side. This is interesting because looking back, I always remember liking Heston when I was a kid only to learn that it wasn’t cool after Bowling For Columbine. I never really took issue with his connection to the NRA but it did seem that from that moment on he not only stopped getting cast in comedic roles but started to seem like a bit of a jerk but that may also be due to the backlash.

Either way, I’m not going to let my modern mixed views cloud my opinion that this was a really fun show. Not only did I love how the show started with a Planet Of The Apes parody they carried on past the cold open, through the opening montage, and all the way through the monolog, but I also loved how the sketches where quick to get to the joke and didn’t feel like they were cluttered with filler like most of the episodes this year.

Tonight had seventeen segments which I feel is the ideal segment count as opposed the thirteen segment average that has plagued the rest of this year. Again, to me personally, sketch comedy is supposed to be focused on the jokes while being quick instead of getting bogged down by story details that have made the thirteen segment episodes really feel like they are dragging on.

Finally, I really liked this episode because it just felt like a funny sketch show that wasn’t taking itself too serious which seems to be a reoccurring issue once a collection of Not Ready For Prime Time Players work together for too long to where they seem to start wanting to share their smarts in long-winded sketches that are far more clever than they are funny.

With all of that said, it’s now time to shift gears and share what I saw, as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a sketch called Studio Of The Apes where the SNL cast and crew got replaced by apes to parody The Planet Of The Apes movies in honor of this week’s host, Charlton Heston. We also got to see a Richmeister sketch acted out by these ape-men before Heston got captured, leading to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
After seeing an ape parody of the opening montage, Charlton Heston was then brought to the man stage by his ape captors where he officially opened the show with a monolog to an audience filled with apes. After a few cliché opening jokes Heston eventually took questions from the ape crowd who were mainly confused by this human.
This was followed by a fake ad for the Infiniti Q45 Toilet which parodied an Infiniti car ad campaign that was going on at the time where the main joke seemed to be that it was a high end branded toilet with a new streamlined design.
Coffee Talk then returned for another installment where once again, host Linda Richman did her usual thing before introducing Charlton Heston who played an Irish ex-cop who became her new boyfriend, who kept attempting to use all of Linda’s Yiddish terms only she kept getting annoyed when he couldn’t get the accent correct and sounded like a real goyim.
We then got a second installment of the fake ad for the Infiniti Q45 Toilet that continued to parody the Infinity car ad campaign from that time, this time highlighting the non-stick finish that allows poop and pee to just slide right off.
This was followed by a fake ad for a compilation album called Gangsta Rap Dance Smashes! Which is a collection of Gangsta Rap that was being marked to the whitest of white people even though most of the songs where very threatening against whites and if not where about life in the hood which it was clear that no one in this ad could relate to.
The President Is Illiterate was a parody of a prime-time special following a line of similar style specials with much more serious themes but were still too glamorized to be real.
Paul Westerberg then took to the stage to perform Knockin' On Mine where the song seemed to randomly stop before the band was done playing but it turned out to be a weird edit to cut out a long guitar solo to save time for the Comedy Central replays.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, David Spade dropped in for another Hollywood Minute where once again he made fun of the celebrities who were making the tabloid headlines.
King Solomon Junior High Career Day was a sketch that took place back in biblical days where the school kids got to learn several of their future employment options as several of the villagers dropped in to talk about their work. These jobs included a shepherd, the town leper, a centurion, a concubine girl, and finish with a false prophet who is very open about the fact that he’s fake.
This was followed by a third installment of the fake ad for the Infiniti Q45 Toilet that continued the parody Infiniti car ad campaign this time highlighting the cup holder.
NRA Five-Day Loaner Program was a joke of a program that offered almost a payday loan of a gun that allowed people in need a loaner handgun to use during the newly introduced five-day screening process before anyone could buy a handgun of their own.
Charlton Heston then played an old grocery store Bag Man who was growing to become a bit senile as he suggested that customers steal products that they not sure if they’ll actually like. When the manager dropped by to check on the old man after a different mistake he scared said manager of with a thinly veiled threat to his life which turned out to be the reoccurring joke of the sketch.
Paul Westerberg then returned to the stage to perform Can't Hardly Wait.
Behind Moses' Back was a sketch that showed what the people were saying behind Moses’s back while he was atop the mountain getting The Ten Commandments and how the main troublemaker defended himself when Moses got back.
Herlihy Boy House-Sitting Service was a sketch that featured the Adam Sandler character who seems a little simple as he desperately begs people to give him work as a house-sitter while over promising that he won’t mess things up. Not only does he beg but Chris Farley plays his father who vouches for his son in the same desperate tones.
Finally, Charlton Heston closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

I have to admit that I’m a bit caught off guard but if I’m being honest, of the episodes from this season, this one has been the best by far, thanks to moments like these three, which were my favorite of the night. First, I loved the opening Studio Of The Apes sketch because not only was it funny on its own, I loved how it carried on through the title montage and all the way through the monolog. Next, I really liked, the King Solomon Junior High Career Day sketch because I loved how Heston portrayed not just a prophet but a false prophet who was very open about being fake. Finally, I was actually a fan of this week’s Coffee Talk because Heston finally added a new aspect by playing a goy attempting to use the Yiddish terms and used them right even though he pronounced them in funny ways.