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Another In Living Color Crossover… Well… Technically

I think I once heard Artie Lange say that Norm MacDonald wanted him involved in a sketch during one of his visits as the host only SNL would have nothing to do with him because of his connection to MADTv. With this information, I’ve since found it extra cool that the show didn’t stray away from having In Living Color actors on to host and letting them perform their old/popular characters.

Sure, J Lo was just a Fly Girl but that’s still a connection to the show. That said, since she’s not known for her comedic acting, I didn’t expect this show to be a favorite but at the same time I felt, especially at this time, I felt that she did a pretty good job at trying to be fun to make light of the fact that she was such a diva. I can see how behind-the-scenes it might be a different story but as far as what actually aired, this episode was pretty good.

Once again, I feel like the number of sketches throughout the night had as much to do with the positive review as our host's enthusiasm and abilities. For the most part, this season has used the fewer but longer sketch format that I hate with around thirteen of fourteen segments to make of the night and tonight there were seventeen. Not only that but the J Lo Vs. Mango sketch was super long making the rest of the sketches pretty quick so we were in and out the entire episode before I had the chance to get bored.

That said, even this extra-long Mango sketch was written almost like it was three sketches in one so the show didn’t even drag during this segment. I still think the overall content was still a bit sage and weak but, as far as this season goes, I’m pretty happy with this episode but not happy enough to write more.

With that, it’s now time for me to shift gears in order to share what I saw, as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with Jennifer's Booty which was a sketch where Will Ferrell was so distracted by gushing over J Lo’s butt that Tracy Morgan tried to swoop in to take over Will’s President George W. Bush impersonation since that would lead to more airtime. After a while of harassing the host about her booty, J Lo called for Lorne who did defend our host only to stare at her ass whenever she wasn’t looking. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
Jennifer Lopez then officially opened the show with a monolog where she tried to play down her reputation of being a diva while she had a pit crew of hair and makeup people touching her up the entire time she was on stage.
This was followed by a repeat of the fake Cracklin' Oat Flakes commercial from earlier in the season which as a breakfast cereal laced with ecstasy.
J Lo Vs. Mango had J Lo battle Mango for the Diva title after they rose to the top over Ana Gasteyer as Celine Dion, Maya Rudolph as Diana Ross, Tracy Morgan as Aretha Franklin and Molly Shannon as Shania Twain after the filming of the latest J Lo music video where Mango stole the show. This sketch actually went all over the place and ran really long but there were enough twists two where it felt like multiple sketches in one and not like it was dragging on.
This was followed by a parody of MTV Cribs where we got to see the tiny apartment that Gemini’s Twins call home, with J Lo playing the latest group member.
TV Funhouse then gave us a Disney-style animation called Ray Of Light that told the tale of the Ray Lewis scandal where the football player, at the time, was accused of murdering someone at a Super Bowl Party.
Jennifer Lopez then switched to musical guest mode to perform Play.
Once again, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey gave us the news. This week, Will Ferrell dropped in as Wilson The Volleyball from the movie Cast Away and went on to bash his former co-star until the real Tom Hanks the scene to take Wilson offstage without saying a single word. Jerry Minor also stopped by as a little kid who nervously discussed Black History Month only to end up freaking out and crying before he could get through all of his prewritten index cards.
Fly Girls Reunion had Rachel Dratch, Jerry Minor, and Tracy Morgan play lesser known Fly Girls in order to have a reunion with Jennifer Lopez in her gigantic mansion. It turned out that this surprise reunion was an excuse for the unsuccessful girls to beg for things from the very successful J Lo.
We then got a fake ad for Music From The Motion Picture Valentine where all of the bands on the film’s soundtrack all had very bizarre names.
Jennifer Lopez then switched by to musical guest mode once again in order to perform Love Don't Cost A Thing.
Good Morning Bronx was a morning talk show sketch with Jerry Minor and J Lo as the host who read through to Bronx related news before they had on Rachel Dratch who share a few complaints which was then followed by the return of Tracy Morgan’s Dominican Lou character who did the weather.
The Baby & The German Intellectual was a short film that had Will Ferrell as the titular German Intellectual who tried to share some very impressive facts about a massive battleship only the baby was more impressed by an empty potato chip bag.
Jeannie Darcy had Molly Shannon as the titular hack comedian who did a stand-up routine that wasn’t well-received by the members of a nursing home. One lady was so bored that she actually died mid-routine but our comedian kept trudging along because she’s been through worse shows in the past.
We then got a repeat of the fake ad for Wade Blasingame from earlier in the season where Will Ferrell played an attorney who pitched the idea of suing dogs by highlighting we wouldn’t accept the same type of antics from a human.
News From The Front had J Lo as an old-timey singer who sung very unpatriotic music to the soldiers at a USO Tour show during World War II.
Finally, J Lo closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

As I said up above, this was a pretty fun show featuring J Lo’s thanks to sketches like these that contained my three favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the Fly Girls Reunion sketch because it always cracks me up to see Tracy Morgan in drag plus I loved the In Living Color reference. Next, I really liked The Baby & The German Intellectual because it’s always funny to see Will Ferrell try to hold an adult conversation with little kids. Finally, I was a fan of Good Morning Bronx because it was fun to see Dominican Lou return to do the weather.