or...

Welcome To The Seven-Timers Club Mr. Goodman!!!

Just a couple of days ago I was congratulating Alec Baldwin for his induction into the Six-Timers Club. During that review, I pointed out how Baldwin could be a full-blown member of the cast which is what makes his appearances so good. Though I feel that John Goodman is pretty close to blurring the same lines between cast member and host, you can sense that he really wants to have a show connection to the point where it can come across as desperate.

That’s not to say that his appearances are bad by any means, I’m just sharing an insight that came to mind during tonight’s viewing as to why I prefer one high volume host over another. In fact, I really like that John Goodman if almost desperate to fit in because his enthusiasm seems genuine and always carries over to the rest of the cast. That said, at times, he seems too eager to please which is why I still stick with Baldwin as my favorite of the X-Timers Club hosts.

As for this specific visit, this was a pretty good one where once again, I remembered almost every single sketch from decades earlier views, based on the titles alone. Not only that, but I loved the shorter but more sketch format which kept the experience seem like quick with no downtime between the fun. I like this aspect the most because I currently feel sick as a dog and don’t think I could handle a night with long sketches that constantly seemed to drag on.

With that said, I’m going to make this one short so I can crawl back into bed in hopes to recover in time for tomorrow’s review. Until then, it’s now time for me to shift gears in order to share what I saw in tonight’s actual viewing as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a parody of 20/20 where Cheri Oteri as Barbara Walters interviewed Tim Meadows as Chris Darden about his rumored affair with Marcia Clark. This led to a flashback where we actually saw Nancy Walls as Marcia Clark to see how they went from co-workers to lovers. The sketch then went back and forth between flashback and the interview before learning that Barbara and cohost, Hugh Downs had the same type of affair which happened on air, building to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
John Goodman then officially opened the show with a monolog about now that he’s a member of the Seven-Timers Club, he now has the power to make the cast do anything that he wants so he has a seat in a throne while letting the cast do the dirty throughout the monolog which ended with Goodman forcing Jim Breuer to impersonate Alanis Morissette to perform a Bob Dole-themed parody of the song One Hand In My Pocket.
This was followed by the first part of the Grayson Moorhead Securities sketch from earlier in the season which was the ad for the investment firm where the CEO shared that their secret to success was keeping a list of their clients as well as the money that they’ve invested.
We then got an MTV News parody where the real Kurt Loder gave us a quick but funny update of the world of music from that time before throwing the sketch over to the start of The Real World parody.
This was followed by said parody of The Real World where Norm MacDonald as Bob Dole was the latest MTV show housemate who just wanted everyone to not touch his peanut butter or his favorite chair.
The Joe Pesci Show then returned for another installment where this time John Goodman portrayed a heavy set DeNiro with the joke being that he’s now back to the size he was after putting on weight for Raging Bull. As usual, the host and cohost violently attack their famous guest where this week the theme was recent Oscar winners.
The Real World sketch returned for another installment where Bob Dole continued to struggle to fit in with the rest of his juvenile housemates.
Chris Kattan then made his show debut as Substitute Teacher Suel Forrester who’s English is so mangled that the students struggle to follow the lesson which only gets Suel more fired up and even harder to understand.
The Real World then returned for a third installment where the housemates finally kicked out Bob Dole and left him roaming the streets with his favorite chair and peanut butter.
Everclear then took to the stage to perform Santa Monica
Once again, Norm MacDonald gave us the news. This week, Colin Quinn dropped in for a segment to discuss his thoughts on St. Patrick’s Day in a way that sounded like a stand-up routine.
Fecal Matters was a talk show sketch hosted by “John Fecal” who was overly-obsessed with discussing the topic of fecal matter to the point where he’d scare off his guest. Not only was there an interview segment but there were several other spots for fecal related products.
We then got the second part of the Grayson Moorhead Securities from earlier in the season where the CEO of the investment firm continued to emphasize the importance of their company’s list.
David Koechner then returned as Norm’s nervous brother for a sketch called Gary MacDonald At Work where Gary freaks out over his work’s downsizing procedure since he knows that he’s going to get cut.
Mark McKinney then played Steve Forbes for a sketch called Forbes America where he shared his plan to make his own America after giving up on his run to become president. The plan was to by some cheap land in Russia and then use lasers to cut the land into the shape of America where he can have full control.
Bill Brasky's Buddies At Holiday Inn was a follow up to the last Bill Brasky sketch and was pretty much the same routine where a bunch of businessmen drunks continued to build the legend of the mythological giant, Bill Brasky.
Finally, John Goodman closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

This episode was a great way for John Goodman to enter the Seven-Timers Club with the help of these three of my favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the Bob Dole On The Real World series because I used to love the early seasons of the real The Real World show and always love Norm as Bob Dole. Next, I really liked Substitute Teacher Suel Forrester because I loved the late season introduction of Chris Kattan, plus I love this specific character. Finally, I was a fan of the Fecal Matters talk show sketch because it introduced me to the term fecal freak which I’ve used in more than one or two jokes from my youth.