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Welcome To The Five-Timers Club Mr. DeVito!!!

I’m glad that this episode started with the reminder that tonight was Danny DeVito’s official entry into the Five-Timers Club because unlike most other X-Timer hosts it took him multiple decades to fulfill this goal. Most of the other X-Timers so far had a strong first visit and then knocked out their next four qualifying visits within the next six or seven years. After that, unless we’re talking Buck Henry, Alec Baldwin or John Goodman, the Five-Timer hosts tend to space out their appearances.

I like this more spread out approach like with Steven Martin of founding but not first Five-Timer member Tom Hanks because their visits seem more special than feeling like an annual obligation. Even better than that, I like these Five-Timer hosts like Danny DeVito, Candice Bergen, and Eliot Gould who spread out their five or six visits over many years and then moved on with their careers.

Though I would have loved to see Danny DeVito return during his It’s Always Sunny era, I also love having a few obscure Five-Timers in my pocket to bring up during my SNL conversations, keeping in mind that by obscure I mean the fact that their club members and am by no means talking about their careers since no obscure actor or actress has ever hosted more than once.

Aside from my views on the Five-Timers Club, this was a pretty fun night where once again, other than the fact that the episode resorted to the fewer but longer sketch format, I don’t have any complaints. Then again, how could you complain about Danny DeVito? As always, he came in with the perfect attitude and energy that felt infectious to the rest of the cast making it so that even when the longer sketches started to drag on, I never felt like I was bored.

I feel that it also helped that this episode was closer to the Anomalous Aniston episode where the acting was done at a quicker sit-com pace as opposed to the slightly slower and fully acceptable pace that seems more fitting for the stage. It’s not that I hate these slightly slower episodes but the modern me is excited about the upcoming shift to where the content that’s created is aimed at more A.D.D. riddled minds. Show like tonight’s add to that excitement as they add more evidence that that time is very near.

With all of that said, it’s now time to move on from sharing my views and share what I’ve actually viewed as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a parody of NBC Special Report with Chris Parnell as Tom Brokaw who interviewed Darrell Hammond as Arnold Schwarzenegger about his new movie End Of Days and how it related to the upcoming Y2K fear. Though Arnold claimed that there was nothing to fear Brokaw preferred to stick the media’s fear mongering ways as he tried to find holes in Arnold’s crazy attempt to be logical. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
Danny DeVito then officially opened the show with a monolog about how not only was he excited to join the Five-Timers Club but he was also excited to be the final SNL host of the Millennium giving the final monolog of 1999. He then went on to try a tell a few jokes before he was interrupted by Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell who brought out Mr. Peepers as his Five-Timers’ gift. DeVito was a bit confused at first but then decided to make the best of the situation by trying to sing a Christmas song with his new pet, only to have Mr. Peepers rush off and attempt to dry hump the cameraman.
This was followed by a fake ad for the Press Conference Play Set that allowed kids to put on playful press conferences with their friends with a play set made up of a podium to talk behind and curtains to have for a backdrop.
Delicious Dish then returned for another installment where once again Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon played their monotoned NPR host characters who continued to broadcast even after the Y2K apocalypse and had on Danny DeVito as their guest to talk about food you can make out of the random things that are left and laying around like a clam chowder dish made up of white out and dice that DeVito found in the recording studio.
Mango's Christmas started in Chris Kattan’s dressing room as the mini male stripper was getting pestered by all of his fans before we saw him jump in a Greyhound to visit his family to celebrate the holidays. While at home we found a family of Mangos that all had his look and sense of style but were a bit homophobic and all held traditional jobs even though they all wore the same tiny sequin shorts. After a family fight, Mango rushed off to bed where he was greeted by musical guest, Michael Stipe as The Christmas Fairy who showed Mango his Christmas past to learn how his dad, Danny DeVito was once a male stripper named Guava and had the same curse which was why he wanted more for his son. This new bit of information changed how the family got along just like in A Christmas Carol.
The Boston Teens then returned. This time Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch played their always recorded characters while goofing around in metal shop making their holiday gift. Mainly, the goofy Boston Couple snuck in their jokes while talking to their shop teacher who was played by a very pleasant Danny DeVito who was encouraging almost to a flaw.
Happy Holidays From The Ladies' Man allowed Leon Phelps a segment to sing us a song called Merry Christmas To The Ladies.
TV Funhouse then returned with another installment of Fun With Real Audio where this time we got an animated recap of the top stories that were making the news in honor of this being the last episode of not only the year but of the millennium as well.
Once again, Colin Quinn gave us the news. This week, Joe Franken dropped by with his father Al Franken who claimed the ‘80s as the Al Franken Decade then passed off the ‘90s decade to his son. Young Joe Franken was a bit pissed off by the fact that his father included him in this joke and had even less interest in Al’s announcement that we were entering the Al Franken Millennium.
R.E.M. then took to the stage to perform The Great Beyond.
Rockettes’ Open Auditions introduced Molly Shannon’s character Sally O’Malley who was over the moon about the fact that she’s now fifty and can still do the high kicks or whatever else it would take to compete with the younger girls trying out for the role of newest member of the Rockettes while proudly showing off her camel toe. Even funny than Shannon’s audition was the fact that Danny DeVito played the Rockettes’ choreographer who was running the audition and showed the girls all the moves.
Oh No, Not My Baby! then returned for another installment where once again Tracy Morgan played the mother of a hardened criminal who once again was in court for a crime that he was obviously guilty of and no matter how much evidence Tracy saw that proved otherwise, she swore up and down that her son was not guilty and for some reason at one point she broke into the song, I Just Called To Say I Love You.
R.E.M. then returned to the stage to perform Man On The Moon.
Finally, Danny DeVito closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

For some reason, I still feel a little gun-shy about this season but this is another episode that’s helping to ease my nerves thanks to moments like these that made up my three favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the Rockettes’ Open Auditions not only because I’m a fan of Molly Shannon’s “I’m 50!!!” lady but it was also really fun to watch Danny DeVito dance as the Rockettes’ choreographer. Next, I really liked Mango's Christmas because it always makes me laugh how Mango and his family all wear the same tiny sequin hot pants even though Mango is the only stripper, plus I really like the A Christmas Carol parody that broke out halfway through the sketch. Finally, I was a fan of this week’s installment with the Boston Teens In Metal Shop because I’m happy to see more from this crazy couple who are in the relationship of my dreams.