SNL: S32E01... HOST: DANE COOK... DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

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SNL: S32E01... HOST: DANE COOK... DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of a speech for Richard Eckstrom’s Run For Comptroller where Will Forte played an extremely bored George W. Bush to make small talk in the background during an event where Jason Sudeikis as Richard Eckstrom announce that he was running for comptroller of South Carolina. The central joke was that Bush was trying to sell his second term as a success to the people around him, but they all seemed more impressed by this potential comptroller than they were with The President Of The United States Of America. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Dane Cook then officially opened the show with a bit from our host’s stand-up that mainly focused on negative people who seem to go out of their way to bring a conversation down. He also did a large chunk about the twisted thoughts that come to you when you learn of someone’s suicide. First, how your initial thoughts are of all of the good time with the person when they seemed like the happiest person on the planet. The second thought is the dark need to learn how they pulled it off.

  3. We then got a sketch called Homeland Security Refresher where Dane Cook and Jason Sudeikis played two Homeland Security Agents who taught a class of new recruits how to identify liquids and gels while working at the airport checkpoint. This was the time when liquids and gels were villainized by security, so this lesson wasn’t as simple as you would think because all of the new cadets kept getting too hung up on the technicalities of scenarios being proposed.

  4. Hugo Chavez Political Roundup had Fred Armisen as the titular host of a Banana Republic version of The McLaughlin Group where he griped about world events from the perspective of a collection of anti-American world leaders who he had on as his guests.

  5. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short where Dane Cook arrived at work to find a new cubicle mate. He was so put off from having to share this tiny space with new hire, Bill Hader that he initiated a Cubical Fight which was literally a fight to the death.

  6. Al Pacino Checks His Bank Balance was as the title suggests, Bill Hader calling Wells Fargo only to deal with Kristin Wiig who was actually a very helpful customer service operator who pointed out his debit card issue was that he had negative fourteen dollars in his checking account and over twelve million in saving. It turns out that Pacino transferred money his life saving to checking as needed and tonight he needed about six hundred bucks to buy one of those new fancy astronaut beds that he saw on a TV commercial.

  7. The Killers then took to the stage to perform When You Were Young.

  8. This week, Seth Meyers took over for Tina Fey to join Amy Poehler and gave us the news. This week, started with the real Brain Williams joining Amy Poehler at the Weekend Update desk, mistakenly thinking that he had taken over the Tina Fey gig. After the confusion was corrected, Darrell Hammond and Maya Rudolph also dropped by as Bill Clinton and Condoleezza Rice to make amends for their differences that stemmed from a disagreeing over Bush’s anti-terrorism policies. Throughout the makeup segment, Clinton kept trying to hit on the former Secretary Of State. Jason Sudeikis also stopped by as politician George Allen in order to ramble through an excuse as to why he made a racist statement about “macaca” back around this time. Andy Samberg then wrapped things up as Dustin Diamond to discuss the release of the Screech Sex Tape that was recently “leaked” earlier in the week.

  9. Water Coolers had Dane Cook and Will Forte as to water delivery guys who managed to drink all of their product by chugging it straight from the five-gallon bottle while they should have been out on delivery. This left the two stuck trying to hide the evidence of their major mistake from their regional vice-president who was played by Kristin Wiig when she dropped by their apartment for after receiving several complaints. After a few questions, Will Forte opened a closet door which led to literally, at least one full minute of their spent water bottles crashing to the ground while the two guys tried to force a look of innocence while Wiig was thoroughly unamused.

  10. The Killers then returned to the stage to perform Bones.

  11. Farrah Fawcett For Ocean Save had Amy Poehler as Farrah Fawcett who rambled on incoherently about her ocean saving cause before chasing the camera across the studio to force herself into another sketch that was already in progress.

  12. Closing Time took place at approximately two o’clock in the AM with Dane Cook and Jason Sudeikis as two bar owners who were desperate to get their customers to leave after making several announcements that it was last call. They turned on the lights to kick everyone out just in time for Amy Poehler as Farrah Fawcett to force herself into the scene. Other than the meta aspect of Farrah Fawcett crashing the scene, this sketch wasn’t all that far off from aggressive bar owners who rushed their patrons out of their establishment, the exact second the clock hit two o’clock in the AM.

  13. This was followed by a fake ad for Geico where their new pitch-person was Maya Rudolph as Whitney Houston who would turn the company’s customer comments about their service into her very own rambling words.

  14. Finally, Dane Cook closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E02... HOST: JAIME PRESSLY... DATE: OCTOBER 7, 2006

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SNL: S32E02... HOST: JAIME PRESSLY... DATE: OCTOBER 7, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody coverage of An Address From Dennis Hastert where Darrell Hammond as the House Speaker addressed the public about the Mark Foley scandal where he was caught sending sexually suggestive emails to the teenaged male congressional pages. Throughout the address Hastert made things sound even worse as he tried to explain away the issue as if it were no big deal and almost suggested that Foley did more harm than good by giving these young men his special attention. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Jaime Pressly then officially opened the show with a monolog about her Southern heritage in her effort to deter all of the white trash clichéd jokes as she went on to perform the song Fever from Peggy Lee. This threw the rest of the cast of because they were good and ready to join our host on stage dressed as the most stereotypical Southerners that you’ll ever see. About two seconds into the song, the hillbilly clad cast ignored the warning and interrupted Jamie’s singing despite her “blatant” disapproval.

  3. This was followed by a parody of Headline Prime With Nancy Grace where Amy Poehler played the titular host to interrogate Andy Samberg, who played a former male congressional page, over his involvement in the Mark Foley scandal that was referenced in the opening sketch. The only problem was that Samberg worked for a different congressman and wasn’t involved in the scandal at all, even though Nancy kept forcing the conversation into a direction as if she were a victim, even though he openly loved his summer job. She also berated Jaime Pressly as a Microsoft operator because she thought Microsoft created Windows to let pervs look in on little boys and girls. She then finished her tirade on Kenan Thompson who played the night janitor that she kept accusing of moving her chair after work.

  4. New York City Stories was a sketch that profiled New York City with Fred Armisen as Martin Scorsese reminisced about famous NYC street locations that he used for many of his films, while Amy Poehler as Rosie Perez rambled on about growing up in New York while mocking Perez’s over-the-top accent.

  5. Jon Bovi took place in Jaime Pressly’s record executive office where she took a meeting with Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte who wanted her to sign their band Jon Bovi. It didn’t take long for Jaime to notice, not only was the band’s name the reversal of Bon Jovi but the music they were pitching was reversed Bon Jovi hits as well like their song Wanted: Alive Or Dead.

  6. WVIR News had Kristin Wiig as a newly-divorced news anchor who struggled through her interview with Jamie Pressly who played the recent winner of a Hands On A Hardbody contest because her post-divorce confusion had her somewhat attracted to her guest while having no idea that she could possibly be attracted to another girl. This led to a bunch of really awkward flirting since Jamie was totally straight and felt uncomfortable being hit on in general because she was expecting to share her excitement over just winning a brand new car.

  7. This was followed by another installment of New York City Stories where Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler played Lou Reed and Patti Smith in order to reflect on rock music at CBGBs while also sharing the strange places that they used to rent to live as starving artists before they became big hits. It turns out Patti once paid rent to live in a garbage can, and Lou once lived in a water tower.

  8. St. Ambrose Academy had Bill Hader as a High School Principal who chided Jaime Pressly for keeping her cell phone on during class. While in the principal’s office, Hader also seemed a bit put off by the fact that Jamie was acting black, but then Kenan Thompson arrived as Pressly’s stepmom to offer her support and understanding while also share how our host developed her attitude. It wasn’t until mama Kenan was reminded how much they were paying for this fancy school that she decided to take this meeting more serious.

  9. Corinne Bailey Rae then took to the stage to perform Put Your Records On.

  10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Bill Hader dropped by as Peter O’Toole in order to defend drunks after it was revealed that Mark Foley blamed alcohol for his questionable behavior with the congressional pages. Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen also dropped by as Charo and a young Hispanic actress to share their plot to rip off the ABC hit Ugly Betty with their new show Fugly Betsy which would then debut on NBC.

  11. NASCARettes took us to the race track where Jaime Pressly played the head cheerleader for a NASCAR event. The only problem was that some of her newer recruits were not quick enough at getting on and off the track to perform their routine leading most of them to end up getting hit by the still racing cars.

  12. We then got a third installment of New York City Stories where, this time, Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler played Fran Liebowitz and Yoko Ono to both waxed poetic about New York City in their signature wacky ways.

  13. Big Wigs took place at a business meeting where a group of business executives sat fearfully during a meeting a pair of corporate big wigs, played by Jaime Pressly and Amy Poehler. Their reason for fear was that these two characters were literally wearing humungous wigs and kept walking closer and closer to the ceiling fan as they paced around the room.

  14. Kuato took place at a party where Jaime Pressly and Bill Hader were hitting it off until Andy Samberg as the character Kuato from Total Recall burst out of Bill Hader’s chest. Despite the horrific appearance of this mini-mid-level man, it turned out that Kuato was a nice little guy, but Jamie still wanted nothing to do with him after the reveal. At the end of this sketch, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared as the Governator to share this was actually an ad to promote a bill that was pro-immigrant from this time.

  15. Corinne Bailey Rae then returned to the stage to perform Like A Star.

  16. Cider Chat took place on a back porch where neighbors Jaime Pressly and Kristin Wiig shared very distasteful gossip while getting drunk on hard cider. This went on and on until the two started to turn on one another and Jamie eventually won by sharing that she peed in the apple cider which quickly sent us out of the scene.

  17. A Moment With The Out-of-Breath Jogger From 1982 took us back in time to when Andy Samberg played an exhausted jogger who spouted out the era’s cliched jargon while desperately trying to catch his breath.

  18. Finally, Jaime Pressly closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E03... HOST: JOHN C. REILLY... DATE: OCTOBER 21, 2006

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SNL: S32E03... HOST: JOHN C. REILLY... DATE: OCTOBER 21, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of Special Report With Brit Hume where Darrell Hammond played the titular host to present part one of his special interview with Will Forte as George W. Bush. Throughout the interview, Bush agreed with each of Hume’s statements even though they didn’t put our present President in a good light. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live From New York…”

  2. John C. Reilly then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he couldn’t believe that he was hosting the show since he felt he didn’t have name/face recognition, thinking people only knew his roles. Before he could go on and explain his reasoning, Will Ferrell as James Lipton joined our host on stage in order to praise our host for his performance in films that he didn’t even work on and then ended the segment with a song.

  3. Colonial Williamsburg took us to the historical site where actors and actors reenacted the colonial life for tourist to learn and enjoy. Jason Sudeikis played the site’s manager who had to fire John C. Reilly for being racist toward his coworkers while claiming it was in the name of historical accuracy. At one point, Sudeikis called Reilly out when he asked if it was all about historical accuracy, why was he also so racist when sending out his emails.

  4. We then went to a Swimming Lesson between John C. Reilly tried and Will Forte where our host strapped Will to his chest tandem parachute-style in order to attempt to teach him the moves before setting one foot in the pool. Keep in mind that Will Forte played a full grown adult who was trying to learn to swim so late in life in an effort to live out his Olympic dreams.

  5. Korean Central Television had Amy Poehler as Kim Jong Il to address the nation of North Korea about how America just setup sanctions as punishment for their nuclear development projects. He then went on to share how the people of his country would have to literally tighten their belts.

  6. Jason Sudeikis and Kristin Wiig then brought back two of my favorite characters for, Two A-Holes Work Out With A Trainer. As with most of their sketches, the title explains it all since their all very similar but take place in different locations. This week the two a-holes played their vapid selves while meeting up with John C. Reilly who played a trainer at their local gym.

  7. My Chemical Romance then took to the stage to perform Welcome To The Black Parade.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson dropped by as Flavor Flav in order to make up nicknames for the female members of Congress, claiming it would inspire young people to get involved in politics, playing off the success of Flavor Of Love which was a reality show hit around this time.

  9. We then went to a Mexican Restaurant where John C. Reilly played a heartbroken girl named Jennifer who became emotionally unstable while sharing how she was dumped, while out having burritos with her friends. At one point, all of Jennifer’s new friends bailed out on her while she was in the bathroom because all that she’s done set they met her was wine over this ex which led them to question if he even existed at all. The moment the girls left, Fred Armisen, as the ex, arrived and he and Jennifer made out over the piles and piles of abandoned Mexican food.

  10. House of Carters shared an E! TV-themed tale of sibling rivalry between Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg who played Nick and Aaron Carter in a parody of their reality show.

  11. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Harpoon Man where John C. Reilly played the man with a harpoon who tracked down the fictional show’s narrator, Andy Samberg, for making negative comments about him during his theme song.

  12. McMillan Family Moment was set up to be a touching segment where John C. Reilly attempt to teach his son, Andy Samberg, the family tradition of how to eat an Oreo, only the ungrateful Andy was too jaded to play along. Though Samberg played a jaded young adult, he barely even resisted before our host completely freaked out on his kid.

  13. Operation Bearshark had a group of scientist burst into a song of woe about their monstrous bearshark creation after finding that their funding had just been cut off because the experiment was far too dangerous.

  14. We then got another installment of McMillan Family Moment where this time John C. Reilly tried to pass on the family’s Oreo eating style to Kenan Thompson, who played a random black boy who he took on through the Big Brother program and was too confused by the situation to play along. Again, it only to a touch of resistance from Kenan to get our host to completely freak out over the situation.

  15. My Chemical Romance then returned to the stage to perform Cancer.

  16. We then got the third and final installment of McMillan Family Moment where John C. Reilly lashed out on Jason Sudeikis who played his dad after learning that his father failed to teach him the proper family technique.

  17. Finally, John C. Reilly closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E04... HOST: HUGH LAURIE... DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2006

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SNL: S32E04... HOST: HUGH LAURIE... DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with an announcement from Lorne Michaels who claimed that in the wake of the latest NBC budget cuts, he had to sell the first five minutes of the show to the nation of Kazakhstan before throwing to a message from Sacha Baron Cohen as  the Kazakhstan Ministry Of Information, better known as Borat. He had with him, his sidekick from the Borat movie, Azamat, who silently stood in the background as Cohen in character shared crazy facts about Kazakhstan. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Hugh Laurie then officially opened the show with a monolog where he introduced himself to the audience by outlining his acting career since most Americans only knew him from House, M.D. without knowing his theatrical and comedic British acting history. This was after listing a string of quirky ways to explain his true self that, for the most part, sounded delightful unless you really listen to the words to hear that he was actually being rather dark.

  3. Most Haunted was a parody of a ghost hunting show where Hugh Laurie played a paranormal investigator who accidentally cut a fart in the middle of an investigation with his team who all took the heat signature, sulfuric smell, and sound as a message from the ghost that they were there to seek out.

  4. TV Funhouse then gave us a series of animated political attack ads against the Democrats that George W. Bush planned to use during the upcoming midterm elections, where each ad was more over the top than the last.

  5. 2006 World Series took us to the big game where Maya Rudolph played a contest winner who delivered a crazy rendition of The Star Spangled Banner where she milked almost every single word. To top thing off, less then halfway through she just started making sounds that were so incoherent that it was unclear if the joke was that she forgot the words or if the lyrics were correct but barely recognizable as actual words.

  6. Advance Man had Hugh Laurie as the titular prep-person for Queen Elizabeth’s trip to New York who had to go over the Queen’s crazy demands while meeting with Kristin Wiig who played the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel’s concierge.

  7. This was followed by another parody of Hardball where once again Darrell Hammond played Chris Matthews in order to berate his guest, this time while having a roundtable discussion about the upcoming midterm election.

  8. Hugh's Protest Song was, as the title suggests, a segment where Hugh shared a protest song, where he sang clear until it got to the point where he claimed to have a solution to end the war where the song then got so Bob Dylanesque that you could barely understand his mumbling.

  9. Beck then took to the stage to perform Nausea.

  10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte dropped by as his Tim Calhoun character to a signature monotoned announcement that he was running for “Senator Of America.” Fred Armisen and Bill Hader also stopped by as a same-sex couple from New Jersey in order to comment on their state’s recent ruling on gay marriage and how they were excited about the fact that they could now get married while really playing up the New Jersey stereotypes and clichés.

  11. American Medical Association had Kenan Thompson as a pimp sounding patient who was in the E.R. with Hugh Laurie, as his wife, who totally looked like a transsexual prostitute, because of a broken leg and kept talking trash to his doctor, Will Forte, through the entire appointment. At the end of the sketch, we discovered this was actually a parody PSA that attempted to get patients to trust and be kind to their doctors.

  12. We then got a parody of The Curse Of Frankenstein where Bill Hader played the Frankenstein monster who was hiding from the angry mob and calmly decided to attempt to trick the village by getting them to focus their hate on Jason Sudeikis who was playing Dracula and lived just down the street. Both Frankenstein and Dracula both kept their calm so well that they could figure out which one to believe until Frankenstein’s arm randomly fell off.

  13. Beck then returned to the stage to perform Clap Hands.

  14. Linder And Bowles had Fred Armisen as Linder and Hugh Laurie as Bowles who both kept oohing and awing exaggeratingly, over each of the credentials on Amy Poehler’s resume as they interviewed her for a new job. This made it extremely difficult for Poehler to tell if this was a good sign or a bad sign. It turned out that show was good enough to get hired which led her to make an “ooh” of her own which made them confused enough to fire her.

  15. Finally, Hugh Laurie closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E05... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: NOVEMBER 11, 2006

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SNL: S32E05... HOST: ALEC BALDWIN... DATE: NOVEMBER 11, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The Speaker-Elect Of The U.S. House Of Representatives where Kristin Wiig played Nancy Pelosi in order to deliver a speech on the virtues of the Democratic Party. Halfway into her message, she was interrupted by Will Forte her S&M-clad aide and his friend, Fred Armisen who played “the human ashtray” both entered her office to pick up some paperwork. Other than the awkwardness of being interrupted while broadcasting, Pelosi seemed like this was a normal thing, as she gave them what they needed in order to get them off the screen. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Alec Baldwin then officially opened the show with a monolog about his value at NBC where he brought out his 30 Rock co-stars, Tina Fey, and Tracy Morgan to have them double down on expressing his importance to the network while hyping their influence as well.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for E-Z Date.com where Jason Sudeikis played an entrepreneur/pitchman who acted like a virtual pimp for a new dating service that promised to discretely deliver a “date” to their users’ doors within minutes of them signing up.

  4. Britney's Divorce had Amy Poehler as a whacked out Britney Spears in order to discuss her divorce proceeding with Jason Sudeikis who played her level-headed lawyer.

  5. Saddam's Defense Team had Alec Baldwin as “The Butcher of Baghdad” who publicly berated his lawyers, Bill Hader, and Fred Armisen after learning that he’s been sentenced to death by hanging.

  6. This was followed by another fake ad, this one was for a medication called Valtrex where Alec Baldwin convinced his wife, Amy Poehler, that genital herpes can lie dormant for years before exposing itself in his effort to cover up the fact that he was having an affair claiming that Amy got the STD from before they even met.

  7. Morning Drive had Alec Baldwin and Kristin Wiig as two carpooling coworkers who were trying to save money on their commute only to end up continually offending one another through their idle chit-chat that was just meant to fill the silence.

  8. TV Funhouse then gave us a segment featuring hot dog eating champion, Kobayashi as a new superhero who ate all the bad guys in this live-action/anime meant for kids.

  9. Platinum Lounge took place between sketches and had Alec Baldwin enter the special, special, Platinum Club where he continued his rivalry with Steve Martin who was still trying to kill Baldwin over the SNL hosting record which started with Martin’s fourteenth visit. They kept going back and forth about how this was going to be the night that sends the two into a tie. At one point Martin Short also made a quick appearance as the cocktail server, this was right before they realized their confusion which I already had figured out, but led Steve Martin to chill out with the comfort of still being ahead.

  10. Christina Aguilera then took to the stage to perform Ain't No Other Man.

  11. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Seth Meyers conducted an exclusive interview with Darrell Hammond as Donald Rumsfeld on location. Throughout this interview, Kenan Thompson played a disgruntled mover who was all alone and kept asking for help from either Meyers or Rumsfeld to move a big ass couch. Kristin Wiig also dropped by as Amy Poehler’s dizzy Aunt Linda who reviewed a couple recent holiday movies where instead of thumbs up or down, she gave each film a one-word breakdown like, “WHAT?”. Andy Samberg was the last to drop by as a waiter who incorrectly totaled up the ten-thousand dollar bill from a recent dinner date between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

  12. The Tony Bennett Show then returned for another installment where once again, Alec Baldwin played the titular host who had to interview Andy Samberg as Kevin Federline after Bob Dylan back out from the show. This interview didn’t last long, so Baldwin-Bennett brought out the real Tony Bennett in order to perform a doppelganger duet.

  13. We then went to a Brazilian Bar where Alec Baldwin attempted to hit on women while Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen played Bossa Nova singers who were casually performing providing an interesting soundtrack to Baldwin’s failed attempts to score.

  14. Christina Aguilera then returned to the stage to perform Hurt.

  15. We then got another Moment With The Out-Of-Breath Jogger From 1992 where once about Andy Samberg fulfilled the sketch title with his style while spouting ‘90s’ jargon while trying to catch his breath.

  16. Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera then teamed up to perform Steppin' Out With My Baby.

  17. Finally, Alec Baldwin closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E06... HOST: LUDACRIS... DATE: November 18, 2006

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SNL: S32E06... HOST: LUDACRIS... DATE: November 18, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with fake news break-in for An NBC Special Report where Jason Sudeikis took over the role of George W. Bush from Will Forte in order to announce to America that he had accidentally started another war during his recent visit to Vietnam that was supposed to promote peace within the region. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Ludacris then officially opened the show with a monolog about the times when our host differentiates himself as rapper, Ludacris, versus when he uses he birthname, like when he acted in the movie Crash. He also shared how the hip-hop persona came about before being interrupted by Kenan Thompson as a childhood friend named Rick “Rickdiculous” Barnes.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for an album called Young Douglas: Hypin' the Classics where Ludacris played a rapper named Young Douglas who provided the backing tracks on classic hits by cast members as contemporary artists like Jason Sudeikis as Harry Connick Jr.

  4. Dr. Archibald Bitchslap had Ludacris in the titular role so that he and his wife, played by Maya Rudolph, showed troubled couples how to save their marriages with the help of Bitchslap’s bitchslap technique.

  5. This was followed by a parody of The O'Reilly Factor where Darrell Hammond as O’Reilly shared his plans to boycott Def Jam Records for signing Ludacris to their label in the middle of the infamous, O’Reilly vs. Ludacris feud. Of course, this was ridiculous, as if O’Reilly ever supported Def Jam in the first place.

  6. This was followed by a fake ad for Booty Bidness where Ludacris promoted a new line of club clothing that businesswomen could wear to the office as well as while out for the night.

  7. The Blizzard Man featured Andy Samberg as the titular white rapper who Ludacris brought on for a track on his latest album in order to add to the magic of the song only there was nothing about this Blizzard Man’s style that would’ve fit in with the world of hip-hop.

  8. Ludacris then switched to musical guest mode to perform Shake Your Moneymaker.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Bill Hader dropped by as John Mark Karr because he took offense to O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It book (now titled, I Did It, after the Goldman’s won the rights) because he wanted to take credit for being the real killer. Jason Sudeikis also stopped by as, angry basketball coach, Bobby Knight, in order to yell at Seth Meyers for making too obvious of a Spiderman joke. Maya Rudolph then wrapped up the guest section of the news as a teen magazine editor who applauded anorexia before she ate her lip gloss because she was feeling starved.

  10. Poolwatch had Ludacris as a pimped out lifeguard who had to carefully remove all of his bling and expensive designer clothing before he could respond to drowning lady in the pool he was paid to watch.

  11. Hair Transplant had Ludacris as a shady hair transplant practitioner who tried to make a quick exit from his makeshift office/trailer after releasing Will Forte who was going for an Elton John-style look but ended up with an afro that filled the area of his male-pattern-baldness.

  12. Lesbian Cruise Ship had Ludacris as a boat captain who was excited to steer a cruise ship filled with lesbians because he thought it would play out the same way that it does in porn, only to be disappointed by the fact that the trip ended up being more of a floating Lilith Fair.

  13. Ludacris then took to the stage with Mary J. Blige to perform Runaway.

  14. Old Friends had Ludacris and Darrell Hammond as two old friends who sat at a lunch counter and complained about just how hectic all of our modern “conveniences” are making their once simple lives.

  15. Finally, Ludacris closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E07... HOST: MATTHEW FOX... DATE: DECEMBER 2, 2006

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SNL: S32E07... HOST: MATTHEW FOX... DATE: DECEMBER 2, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of An NBC Special Report where, once again, Jason Sudeikis continued as the new George W. Bush to hold a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, played by Fred Armisen, along with Will Forte as his translator who calmly translated the chaotic way the al_Maliki was forced into this new partnership with Bush. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Matthew Fox then officially opened the show with a monolog about how his life fell apart years several years ago when he was the only cast member from Party Of Five who was never asked to host SNL. He then went on to note Cliff from Cheers, Matt LeBlanc from Friends and Michael Richards from Seinfeld also suffered from this curse. Before he could get much further Bill Hader interrupted as Michael Richards who was desperate for airtime since this was the weekend following “Kramer’s” “n-word” outburst while doing a failed routine. Fox then sent Richards away before throwing to the first fake commercial of the night.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Sale-Mart that proudly promoted a store that was able to keep their prices low by cutting corners on their employee’s benefits.

  4. We then got another parody of Nancy Grace where once again, Amy Poehler played the titular host to discuss the recent Michael Richards’s “n-word” incident with Kenan Thompson. Thompson played a black college professor who didn’t seem all that bothered by the failed attempt at a joke because it didn’t affect him at all, even though he did think Richards was in the wrong. She also gave a hypothetical review of an O.J. Simpson special that was canceled before it was even produced and then went on to grill Matthew Fox who played a cop that gave her a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot.

  5. Deep House Dish then returned with Kenan Thompson revising he DJ Dynasty Handbag character, only instead of Rachel Dratch, Andy Samberg played his new co-host. Other than that the sketch was more of the same with the two fully grown club kid introducing new house, and hip-hop music to their MTV-4 watching fans.

  6. We then went on an Elevator Ride where Matthew Fox was bombarded by questions about Lost while trapped said elevator with a group of fans.  

  7. Tenacious D then took to the stage to perform Kickapoo.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond and Kenan Thompson dropped by as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in order to attempt to deter racism by making the word “Kramer” the new derogatory term for black people. Meanwhile, there wasn’t even a hint of addressing the fact that Darrell Hammond was pretty much performing in blackface. Kristin Wiig then returned as Amy Poehler’s crazy aunt for more of her one-word movie reviews of movies being released for the Thanksgiving weekend. Maya Rudolph also stopped by as Whitney Houston to comment on her financial issues only to end up getting a bunch of prank calls on her cell phone.

  9. Crazy Mountain Man had Matthew Fox as the titular mountain man who only wanted a piece of pie but instead had to settle for a kiss from Amy Poehler and Kristin Wiig who play a pair of pretty mountain woman. At first, Matt was going along with the sketch until he realized that this was just a ploy for the girls to write a segment where they got to make out with our host. This is a hot host trope that I can’t stand whether the host is a woman or a man, but at least, in this case, it was at least jokingly acknowledged as the sketch’s purpose.

  10. Math Vs. History had Will Forte and Kristin Wiig as two history buffs who took it really hard when their son, Andy Samberg switched his major to math while off to school in college.

  11. We then got a parody of a History Channel Documentary called The Mayan Empire that showed Fred Armisen as the Mayan tribe’s fearless leader who turned to complete mush after discovering the joys of hot cocoa.

  12. Tenacious D then returned to the stage to perform The Metal.

  13. Finally, Matthew Fox closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E08... HOST: ANNETTE BENING... DATE: DECEMBER 9, 2006

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SNL: S32E08... HOST: ANNETTE BENING... DATE: DECEMBER 9, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Special Message From The President Of The United States where once again, Jason Sudeikis played George W. Bush in order to address the nation about the Iraqi War Report that showed this was a war with no end. After some of our former President’s dumb ramblings, he then read a few suggestions that were sent in by concerned Americans. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Annette Bening then officially opened the show with a monolog where our host took some heat from several female real estate agents who were sitting in the audience and took offense with Bening’s portrayal of their profession in the film, American Beauty, which was released seven years prior to this visit. Annette was then joined by her co-star from Running With Scissors, Alec Baldwin, who defended our host while also touting his own film career.

  3. An SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut gave us a parody recut of the Mel Gibson movie, Apocalypto, only in this version, the jungle natives were fleeing their home when they discovered that the Jews were coming. This was in reference to the recent rants from a drunken Mel Gibson after he was pulled over for a DUI.

  4. Good Morning I Hate This Town was a small town morning talk show hosted by Annette Bening and Jason Sudeikis who maintained a typical upbeat morning talk show enthusiasm even though they both absolutely hated their miserable town and all of the dumbasses who lived within it. Amy Poehler played a chef who tried to put on a cooking demonstration only to be cut off by the two morning-show hosts who though their audience was too dimwitted to be able to grasp the entire recipe.  

  5. TV Funhouse then gave us a cartoon called Diddy Kiddies, where hijinks were abound as a group of kids tried to help P. Diddy figure out what he actually does for a living to maintain his mega-star status while watching several of his performance clips. Neither the kids, nor Diddy felt like he had talent as a rapper, none of them thought he could dance, and the couldn’t even figure out Diddy’s involvement in his own clothing line. Eventually, they all figured out that Diddy was just famous for being famous.

  6. Student-Teacher Affair had Annette Bening as a chipper schoolteacher who was ecstatically in love with Andy Samberg who played one of her disinterested students who was more interested in just hanging out with his same-aged friends.

  7. Two A-Holes In A Live Nativity Scene had Jason Sudeikis and Kristin Wiig as their infamous a-hole characters who attempted to participate in a Nativity scene, despite having absolutely no awareness or interest in the actual meaning of the festive event.

  8. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Pep Talk where Fred Armisen played a boss of a fast food crew whose anger management issues came to light while trying to amp up his staff.

  9. Buyer Beware had Kenan Thompson, and Maya Rudolph as two neighbors who hosted as public access consumer reports show from their connected garage. In tonight’s episode, the two warned of hyped “gift of the year” products to avoid spending your hard earned money on while out shopping for Christmas gifts.

  10. Gwen Stefani then took to the stage to perform Wind It Up.

  11. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by as Al Gore to comment on an off-balanced phone call he received from Lindsay Lohan. Kristen Wiig also played an airline passenger who was there to talk about an overblown event that took place after she lit a match on a flight in an effort to cover the smell of her farts. Will Forte then wrapped things up as a conservative who had an anti-gay marriage-themed song called Silly Silly Gays with Fred Armisen on guitar.

  12. Monster Under The Bed had Amy Poehler as a little girl who thinks that there might be monsters under her bed. Rather than reassure their child that her fears were just in her head, parents, Will Forte and Annette Bening completely freaked out and armed themselves to the teeth in an effort to protect the entire family from this threat that didn’t even exist.

  13. We then got a repeat of the Valtrex ad from earlier in the season where Alec Baldwin played a scumbag who gaslit Amy Poehler into thinking that she was to blame for her herpes by reminding her the STD can stay dormant for years when it was obvious that he was actually trying to cover up an affair.

  14. This was followed by another installment of Introverts' Night Out where once again Will Forte and Kristen Wiig played two introverted co-workers who finally worked up the nerve to hit up a bar for some after work drinks. This time the two talked fellow introvert Annette Bening into joining them. Just like last time, it didn’t take long for them to go from being super shy, to talking about sex, only this time, instead of discussing a threesome, the three landed on the topic of “butt-messin’” as something that they’d be open to attempt.

  15. Akon then took to the stage to perform I Wanna Love You.

  16. Stanfield And Partlow had Annette Bening and Bill Hader as a lawyer team who only represented cats.

  17. Finally, Annette Benning closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E09... HOST: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE... DATE: DECEMBER 16, 2006

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SNL: S32E09... HOST: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE... DATE: DECEMBER 16, 2006

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a little ditty called Santa's My Boyfriend where Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig harmonized about the illicit relationship the three were having with the Christmas fat man while they decorated their Christmas tree. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Justin Timberlake then officially opened the show with a monolog where he sang the Chipmunk’s classic Christmas Song with Bill Hader as Alvin, Fred Armisen as Simon and Andy Samberg as Theodore.

  3. Homelessville had Will Forte as a Salvation Army Bellringing Santa who faced competition from Justin Timberlake as Homelessville’s mascot, Cup-Of-Soup, which led to a battle of songs with Justin parodying hip-hop hits and Will sticking to the classics.

  4. Target Greatland then returned for another installment of Kristen Wiig as the over-enthusiastic Target cashier who would randomly wander off to take advantage of any customer discovered good deals. Justin Timberlake played a stock boy who kept mulling his chapped, allergy-ridden lips while trying to provide half-assed support.

  5. This was followed by the classic SNL Digital Short Dick In A Box, which I don’t think I have to describe because it is such a classic part of the show’s history and the future of SNL Digital Shorts.

  6. Jimmy Fallon then dropped by for another installment of The Barry Gibb Talk Show where he and Timberlake played to Gibbs boys to put on their parody talk show. In this segment, Justin, as the Robin Gibb, bit his lip while Jimmy as Barry issued insane threats to his highly political guests.

  7. Dry Eyes was a game show sketch that had competitors compete by seeing who could hold out the longest before caving into their emotions to cry while being reminded of the most heartbreaking, and heartwarming moments from their past.

  8. Justin Timberlake then took to the stage to perform My Love.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by as Lou Dobbs to provide his solution to turn the plan for the seven-hundred-mile wall along the Mexican border into a reality. Fred Armisen and Bill Hader also returned as their newly married New Jersey stereotypes, who weren’t stereotypically gay, in order to comment on their civil union and the Christmas holiday.

  10. Hip Hop Kids had a group of teenaged hip-hop artists who hosted a kids’ show where these kids ignorantly tried to dance their way out of a mine that they got trapped while trying to use a shortcut to school. Only every time they danced the movement and vibration from the music got the mine to start to collapse knocking dancers out one by one in the process.

  11. St. Ambrose Academy had Kenan Thompson revise his stepmother character from when Jaime Pressly was on the show, this time to come to the rescue of her ghetto-acting stepdaughter, this time played by Justin Timberlake who coveted the role of an elf in the school’s winter play.

  12. A Holiday Message From Nancy Grace had Amy Poehler as Mrs. Grace to bestow her judgment upon the story of a “the Duke lacrosse stripper who falsely accused three college boys of raping her.” She was mainly upset because she really bought into the account and fought for the team to be punished and wanted to find a way to get back at them even if they were actually innocent of the crime.

  13. Justin Timberlake then returned to the stage to perform What Goes Around.

  14. Finally, Justin Timberlake closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E10... HOST: JAKE GYLLENHAAL... DATE: JANUARY 13, 2007

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SNL: S32E10... HOST: JAKE GYLLENHAAL... DATE: JANUARY 13, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a Special Message From The President Of The United States where Jason Sudeikis as George W. Bush made the case to deploy even more troops into the Middle East, form esteemed military personnel, to park ranger, all the way down to the people working the mailroom, as a solution to the scam of a war. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Jake Gyllenhaal then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he only agreed to host if the show promised that there’d be no Brokeback Mountain jokes before noticing Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte in the audience as two cowboys in love. At first, he doubted their intentions but after a couple of questions to determine they were real fans and not a setup, our host stripped down to reveal he was secretly dressed in drag to sing And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going from the movie Dreamgirls to appease his newly found gay fan base.

  3. Deep House Dish then returned for another segment of Kenan Thompson and his sidekick Andy Samberg introducing more house and hip-hop hits to their MTV-4 watching fans.

  4. Bronx Beat With Betty & Jodi had Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph in the titular roles in order to chatter about what’s happening in New York this week during their public access show. They also had on Jake Gyllenhaal as young Author Frank O’Connor who couldn’t get out much information due to the constant flirting and giving of goo-goo eyes from the two cougars.

  5.  We then got a parody of a Donald Trump Press Conference where Darrell Hammond as a pre-Presidential Trump held a press conference to announce that his Apprentice show was moving to LA. This was right around the time things first started to get heated between him and Rosie O’Donnell who he kept claiming to not want to talk about, only he kept bringing her up every chance that he got.

  6. Cool Restaurant had Jake Gyllenhaal and Kristen Wiig on an exciting night out at the new coolest restaurant in town, where even the meatballs, literal meat played by Andy Samberg and Fred Armisen, were so cool that the smoked and played jazz with tiny cigarettes and instruments.  

  7. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Laser Cats 2 where Andy Samberg and Bill Hader continued to pester Lorne Michaels in their effort to get him to produce their Sci-Fi movie where they used real cats as laser cannons.

  8. Stock Footage Awards had Darrell Hammond and Kristen Wiig as Dan Rather and Jane Pauley to host an award show for best stock footage to be used in that year’s news as supplementary content.

  9. The Shins then took to the stage to perform Phantom Limb.

  10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen dropped by as Steve Jobs to introduce the ridiculous capabilities of the newly invented iPhone and then went on to sneak in a plug for the show The Office. Maya Rudolph returned as a strapped for cash Whitney Houston in order to announce that she was going to auction off all of her belongings and then went on to list a couple of the crazier things open for bids.

  11. "Law & Order" Master Class had Amy Poehler hosting a workshop to teach aspiring actors and actresses how to land a three-line role on the show Law And Order.

  12. Wheelchair Dates took place at a party where Jake Gyllenhaal and Maya Rudolph tried to set up Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig who played two single friends that where both wheelchair bound. Both Jason and Kristen found this offensive because they saw their wheelchairs as the only connection between the two. Jake and Maya then had to spend the rest of the night defending their matchmaking attempt as if the wheelchairs had nothing to do with it. By the end of the sketch, Jason and Kristen did hit it off precisely because of their wheelchair connection.

  13. The Shins then returned to the stage to perform New Slang.

  14. Kaplan, Leibowitz, And Dolemite had Fred Armisen, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Kenan Thompson as the owners of a law firm where they claimed to be small-scale lawyers who are just like you. They each introduced themselves and their average, but quirky up brings, especially Kenan who played some sort of blend between Elmer J. Fudd, (millionaire) and some sort of southern pimp.

  15. Finally, Jake Gyllenhaal closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E11... HOST: JEREMY PIVEN... DATE: JANUARY 20, 2007

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SNL: S32E11... HOST: JEREMY PIVEN... DATE: JANUARY 20, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with another parody of Hardball where once again Darrell Hammond played Chris Matthews in order to badger his guest, which this time was Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton who was promoting her plan to run for President in 2008. Since this was before she was the lesser of the two evils next to Trump, “Her” treatment by the show wasn’t as favorable, as the road her for flip-flopping on the issues and saying anything to win even one vote, while Matthews blew smoke up her ass. There were also plenty of jokes about how she felt that she deserved to be president without even needing to run. Of course with this being the opening sketch this all built up to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Jeremy Piven then officially opened the show with a monolog where he attempted to make a genuine connection with an old lady from the audience claiming that making such a connection would mean more to him than anyone would ever know. His efforts included talking dirty about dolphins which the audience woman awkwardly smile as she tried to play along.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for Urigro which had Jason Sudeikis bragging about the renewed vigor of his pee stream thanks to the parody of Flomax-style drug.

  4. The NFL On CBS had Jeremy Piven and Jason Sudeikis as Jim Nantz and Phil Simms who were joined in the play-by-play booth by Andy Samberg as a Make-A-Wish kid who suffered from A.D.D. (Automatic Dying Disorder) and whose dying wish was to comment on a big game. At first, the two sports host thought that A.D.D. had the traditional meaning which led them to question why he was allowed to make this wish, only to feel like complete jerks when they found out the real definition, and the little guy dropped dead.

  5. TV Funhouse then gave us the first Fun With Real Audio in a long time where Robert Smigel Animated George W. Bush as he attempted to improve his image by dressing up like a chipmunk for his public appearance. When they stopped working, he tried other, less desirable options to the soundtrack of a real interview from a 2007 episode of Frontline.

  6. The First Person In The History Of The World To Dance was, as the title suggest, a sketch where Jason Sudeikis played a caveman who was the first person to notices how certain combinations of sound made him want to dance.

  7. We then got the debut of another one of my favorite sketches from this time which was Will Forte as MacGruber. If you’re unaware, this was the first installment of a series of MacGyver parodies where Will Forte would always find himself trapped in a sticky situation only to end up blowing himself and everyone else up when trying to make a MacGyver-esque escape using the random thing around him. This time his bomb-making materials were a paper clip, some twine, and a piece of dog turd.

  8. Two A-Holes At An Adoption Agency had Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig as my two favorite a-hole characters who did their a-hole thing, this time while trying to adopt a child from Jeremy Piven as an adoption agent.

  9. MacGruber then returned for more fun and games where everything else was the same only this time the bomb materials were pine needles and pubic hair.

  10. AFI then took to the stage to perform Love Like Winter.

  11. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by to impersonate impressionist, Rich Little in order to comment on his upcoming White House dinner with George W. Bush, following a criticize White House dinner visit from Steven Cobert.

  12. Common And Blizzard Man brought back Andy Samberg’s terrible white rapper character Blizzard Man, this time to be featured on a song by the rapper Common, who actually played himself.

  13. MacGruber then returned to complete the comedic rule of three and this time his bomb material was nothing but some hobo’s sperm.

  14. Save A Unicorn Foundation took place in a community meeting where the locals planned to tear down their magical forest that was home to a magical unicorn in order to build a shopping mall. This went on until an old-timer, and Amy Poehler as an elf reminded the ungrateful town folks that it was this unicorn’s fulfillment wishes that allowed the town to be the success that it turned out to be, after starting out as a town that was known for its production of mud. That said, this reminder didn’t stick as the townies decided to build their dumb mall anyway.

  15. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Nurse Nancy where Andy Samberg assumed all the roles ala Eddie Murphy in most of his later movies. At first, this actually seemed like it could be legit but then went a little overboard by claiming he also played a monkey and Mayor McCheese.

  16. AFI then returned to the stage to perform Miss Murder.

  17. Lansford Brothers And Associates had Will Forte, and Bill Hader as to hangmen-at-law who promised to do a hanging job the right a proper Texas way in this parody commercial.

  18. Finally, Jeremy Piven closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E12... HOST: DREW BARRYMORE... DATE: FEBRUARY 3, 2007

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SNL: S32E12... HOST: DREW BARRYMORE... DATE: FEBRUARY 3, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of American Idol where Jason Sudeikis, Amy Poehler, and Kenan Thompson played Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson to travel the country to offer criticism to animal contestants for the new season of the show. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Drew Barrymore then officially opened the show with a monolog about how this visit qualified her for the Five-Timers Club and how she loved hosting the show because it allowed her to perform standard comedy as opposed to the typical rom-com content she’s usually cast to perform. She then headed backstage to track down the special Five-Timers Club room and on the way, bumped into Andy Samberg which unraveled a series of romantic-comedy film clichés as she continued to hunt for the club.

  3. The Dakota Fanning Show had Drew Barrymore as the brainy kid actress who hosted a show where she failed to connect with her acting peers that she had on as her guests, including Bill Hader as Daniel Radcliffe and Drew Barrymore as Abigail Breslin.

  4. Poison Therapy had Kristen Wiig as a couples counselor who was trying to mend a rocky relationship between Will Forte and Drew Barrymore who sought therapy over Drew’s continuous attempts to poison will with dioxin which led to a crazy lesion outbreak on his face. Throughout the session, both Drew and Will seemed utterly rational and treated this poisoning situation as just a standard quirk that they’re working on.

  5. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Body Fuzion which was a parody of a workout tape from 1986 which featured Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph all working up a pretty tough sweat while performing an almost casual looking workout routine. To add to the fun, this sketch appeared to be shot with a home video camera giving it the image quality of old school porn.

  6. Target Greatland returned for more fun and games with Kristen Wiig as the over-enthusiastic Target employee who is known for wandering off in the middle of ringing up customers when she finds any impressive deals. For this installment, Wiig was training Drew Barrymore as a new hire who had similar interest to her trainer only her short attention span issues were even worse.

  7. Nervous Job Interviewee had Drew Barrymore in the titular role to fanatically sip on an iced caffeinated beverage while openly insulting a company’s hiring team because she couldn’t control her spun out ramblings.

  8. Lily Allen then took to the stage to perform Smile.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson dropped by as a nanny character to demonstrate how to properly discipline a surly child with some help from an adorable fake baby who Kenan Nanny stared down and threatened over an acted out.

  10. Versace Super Bowl Party brought back Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace to host her brand of Super Bowl Party with several cast member and Drew playing her celebrity guests.

  11. Jojo The Valet had Amy Poehler as the gawky/spunky country club valet who let out his feelings for a recently-divorced club member Drew Barrymore as Ashley Sanderson who wasn’t sure about this wiry little man.

  12. This was followed by a fake ad for Firestarter Smoked Sausages where Drew Barrymore revised her childhood role as the Firestarter to hawk her new line of smoked sausages.

  13. Lily Allen then returned to the stage to perform LDN.

  14. The Formosa had Bill Hader as a drunken Peter O’Toole in order to reminisce with Drew Barrymore about the good-old days of decadent behavior that found it perfectly fine to let Barrymore drink at such a young age.

  15. This was followed by yet another repeat of the Nelson Baby Toupees commercial from last season which was an ad for a wig line for children.

  16. Finally, Drew Barrymore closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E13... HOST: FOREST WHITAKER... DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2007

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SNL: S32E13... HOST: FOREST WHITAKER... DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with Happy Valentine's Day From The Cheney Family where Darrell Hammond and Kristen Wiig plays Dick and Lynne Cheney to read the various Valentine’s Day cards that they received that mainly told the couple off through the use of poems. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Forest Whitaker then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was excited to host before working in a plug for The Last King Of Scotland. Maya Rudolph eventually joined the Fast Times star to blow smoke up his ass even though she openly admitted to not seeing any of his new work. This led to a bit of a fun back and forth that ended with the two performing a duet of the song Get Ready.

  3. Bronx Beat With Betty And Jodi then returned with Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph as hosts of a public access show. This time, the two Bronx broads chattered about how cold it was in New York while attempting to interview Forest Whitaker and Kristen Wiig who kept trying to promote a blood drive to help a recent event.

  4. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Andy Popping Into Frame where, as the title suggests, we would watch an ordinary short film-style scene play out until Andy Samberg would make it extraordinary by popping in. Towards the end of the short, Will Forte attempted to steal some of Andy’s thunder but doing some photobombing of his own, only to quickly be inspired to stop when Andy pulled out a gun and aimed it at his head before returned to the fun and games.

  5. Singing Waiter had Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, and Maya Rudolph all out to dinner where they had to endure endless singing from Forest Whitaker who kept insisting that he sing each entire song, even though the group preferred that he just move on.

  6. We then got a repeat of the Urigro ad from earlier in the season which was pretty much a parody of the Flomax ads for a pill that promised to promote a stronger pee stream.

  7. Man Vs. Beast had Forest Whitaker as Greg Gumbel to call a man vs. animal fight to the death which was being pitched as the latest new hit show from FOX.

  8. Keith Urban then took to the stage to perform Stupid Boy.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond and Kenan Thompson returned and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to measure presidential candidate, Barack Obama as to where he landed on the “Blackness Scale.” Jason Sudeikis also dropped in as the scandal-ridden astronaut Bill Oefelein to tell his side of the crazy story about him that was making the news, all the while flirting with Amy Poehler.

  10. Whitney Houston's Valentine’s Day Special had Maya Rudolph as a love-starved Whitney Houston to host this holiday special only to end up too obsessed with thoughts of Bobby Brown to fully focus on the task at hand.

  11. Am I a Crazy Street Person? was a game show hosted by Jason Sudeikis where contestants were supposed to guess whether or not a panelist was a professional business person or a crazy person from the street.

  12. Keith Urban then returned to the stage to perform Once In A Lifetime.

  13. A Message From The State Island Zoo had Kristen Wiig as a Zoo official who showed off an inaccurate video on the rocking lifestyle of the sloth.

  14. Finally, Forest Whitaker closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E14... HOST: RAINN WILSON... DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2007

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or...

My Birthday Episode: Year 31

 

The American The Office came out while I was living up in Canada attending the Vancouver Film School. As I’ve pointed out in the past, by this time, I was already pretty much over with scripted television due to too much disappointment cause by serialized shows getting canceled before they were allowed to get to the point where they could find their groove. Because of this, I had never heard of the British The Office but base on the feedback from the international students, it really looked like the American version wouldn’t last.

Since I was in Film School for writing, was intrigued to watch both shows to first had the difference between a hit show and a flop while both putting out practically the same exact content. I think that was the biggest problem with the first season of the American The Office, which I continued to watch for a couple of years. Between this connection with the show that made our host famous and my love of his movies like The Rocker and Super, I had no concerns about this episode.

That is, of course, until I started the pre-viewing legwork for the night. Not only did I instantly see something that I despise when seeing only thirteen segments to make up the night but this was another night where I wasn’t a huge fan of the reference material and can’t stand a couple of the reoccurring characters who made up half of the show. With that said, I probably wouldn’t have had one issue back when this episode originally aired.

First off, the show got me feeling sad when the first fifteen minutes were devoted to making fun of Anna Nicole Smith who had recently died from an overdose. Though the joke’s true target was the news for focusing on this tabloid inspiring story instead of cover what really matters to the world as someone who’s suffered from substance abused, the shrapnel that hit Smith killed any humor in the jokes that I probably would have made myself at the time.

As for the characters who killed my interest, both the Nunis and the Introverts can be fun during nights with fifteen or more segments to keep their airtime really short, but I can’t stand when they're on nights like tonight, eating up time with their one-note jokes. Other than these three segments, the rest of the night left me with very little to complain about, especially since, as I said, my disinterest in the content mentioned above is a pretty new development and could see even these three segments being for me back in the good old days when everything was fair game.

Other than that, I don’t have all that much to say about tonight’s episode, so, I’ll now wrap this one up by sharing what I saw, as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with another parody of The Situation Room where once again, Darrell Hammond played Wolf Blitzer, this time to try and maintain CNN’s integrity as a news leader in spite of the endless bottom of the screen crawl that is heavily focused on the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Even Wolf’s correspondent, as played by Rainn Wilson traded in his integrity to follow and report on false leads on the Smith story as if the crawl wasn’t enough. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from NewYork…”

  2. Rainn Wilson then officially opened the show with a monolog about his role on the show The Office before going on to insist that there were no similarities between the two shows. To him, the big difference was that the last thing he expected was to make it as an actor only to land an office-themed gig. This led him to take us backstage to show what I real television show was supposed to look like only to land in a parallel existence with each SNL cast member syncing up perfectly with the characters from our host’s show.

  3. Danny's Song took place in a bar where the sounds of the titular song playing on the jukebox, spurned memories of unusual life-changing events for four buddies played by Rainn Wilson, Bill Hader, Will Forte, and Jason Sudeikis, who all got darker and more twisted as the enthusiasm for singing continually grew. By the end of the song, after a bit of a touching moment, it was revealed that the men were really there to rob the establishment.

  4. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short. This one had Rainn Wilson as a corporate head who leaned on his collection of bizarre staff members for suggestions on how to cut cost within the organization. The staffers started out normal with Will Forte’s red hair being the strangest look of the bunch but as the sketch went on we learned that Rainn also employed a mountain man, a crazy man, and a giant talking turkey sub which may have led to the financial hemorrhaging that inspired the meeting in the first place.

  5. The Nunis then returned after a long hiatus to show Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as the two Nunis have an interview with Rainn Wilson that was supposed to land them a profile piece in Architectural Digest, only to once again have the central joke of the sketch be the weird things that the Nunis used for chairs.

  6. Peeping Tom had Rainn Wilson as the titular peeping creep who turned out to be the only witness to a homicide. The problem then became, how he could identify the killer from a police line-up without recreating the peeping point-of-view which led Rainn to have to hide behind one of the detective’s jacket to feel a little more at home.

  7. Arcade Fire then took to the stage to perform Intervention.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen dropped by as Judge Larry Seidlin in order to comment on his loony sense of logic in the Anna Nicole Smith custody trial. Kristen Wiig returned as Amy Poehler crazy aunt to give more of her one-word movie reviews, this time with the theme being, movies nominated for this years Oscars. Andy Samberg also stopped in as Prince Henry to share his sudden disgust at the thought of witnessing the Iraqi death toll firsthand now that he’s a recruit and could technically be sent off to war.

  9. Will Forte and Kristen Wiig returned as the Introverts. This time, instead of going to the bar for the first time once again, only to get hypersexual after a drink or two, they stayed in the office to get a bit violent and twisted with their plans while training Rainn Wilson as the new guy who was also introverted and one-hundred-percent on board.

  10. White Possum Scream was a trailer that parodied Black Snake Moan, only this version had Kenan Thompson in the Samuel L. Jackson role while Rainn Wilson played the part that was initially performed by Brittany Murphy.

  11. Arcade Fire then returned to the stage to perform Keep The Car Running.

  12. Riverbliss showed a group of New Age band members get into a massive fight over their failure to win a Grammy award.

  13. Finally, Rainn Wilson closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

I know I complained about the long sketch format but thanks to sketches like these that contained my three favorite moments of the night, I actually didn’t mind this format that I usually dread. First, I loved the Danny's Song because as it played out, I also got so into it that I too started to sing along. Next, I really liked the White Possum Scream parody trailer because, to this day, I will still randomly make fun of the title Black Snake Moan. Finally, I was a fan of the opening monolog because it was impressive to see how little effort the show had to make to turn the SNL cast into a collection of The Office doppelgangers.

 
 

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SNL: S32E15... HOST: JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS... DATE: MARCH 17, 2007

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SNL: S32E15... HOST: JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS... DATE: MARCH 17, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with an SNL Special Report: Road To The White House where Chris Rock made a special appearance to perform a stand-up routine of sorts while giving his political insights on the candidates who were running for president in 2008. Though he started out talking about both parties, he eventually shifted his focus to compare Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I was intrigued by these insights because, where I thought there would be some Hillary bashing but instead, Chris Rock was blatantly honest that his personal bias was to credit for his backing of Barack. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Julia Louis-Dreyfus then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she had a blast hosting last year and was happy to be back before working in a plug for her Emmy win for her show The New Adventures Of Old Christine. She then shared how being back in the spotlight wasn’t always all that great which then led her to show several clips that proved her claims that her life is constantly under the scrutiny of the media even though each clip shared examples where the scrutiny was justified.

  3. Maya Rudolph the revised her Oprah impersonation for another parody of the Oprah show where she loudly praised Amy Poehler who played the author of the new book The Secret which almost seems biblical to the Oprah crowd.

  4. This was followed by a fake ad for Monex where Kristen Wiig played a gold enthusiast who praised the power and allure of gold and gold covered objects as she pitched buying as much gold as you can, just to touch the precious metal.

  5. Restless Penis Syndrome had Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a woman who was convinced that her husband, Jason Sudeikis was having an affair behind her back which led her to confront him on the issue. Sudeikis then attempted to justify his behavior by claiming to have Restless Penis Syndrome before quickly pulling out a camcorder in order to film an impromptu PSA as a way to double down on his alibi.  

  6. La Rivista Della Televisione Con Vinny Vedecci brought back Bill Hader as a fast-talking Italian talk show host who attempted to interview Julia Louis-Dreyfus as herself only she didn’t speak or understand the Italian language so she had no idea what was going on throughout the entire show.

  7. Snow Patrol then took to the stage to perform You're All I Have.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen returned as the Anna Nicole Smith judge from last week to, once again, using his loony logic to discuss the possible resignation of Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales.

  9. Deep House Dish then returned for another one of my least favorite segments where Kenan Thompson plays DJ Dynasty Handbag with his sidekick, Andy Samberg in order to introduce a few new house and hip-hop bands to their MTV-4 viewing fans.

  10. CBS Cares had Julia Louis-Dreyfus attempting to film a CBS sponsored PSA for Breast Cancer Awareness only to end up continually fighting with Jason Sudeikis as an obnoxious boom operator who kept hitting her with his microphone while the director treated his actions like it was no big deal.

  11. Home-Bots had Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Sudeikis as a couple who recently won the lottery and bought a group of robots that were played by Will Forte, Fred Armisen, and Kenan Thompson who were not only slow and inefficient but also repaired one another in exchange for group sex benefits.

  12. Snow Patrol then returned to the stage to perform Chasing Cars.

  13. The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll was a parody of a new reality show from the CW network that had several cast members as Pussycat Doll hopefuls who tried to win their spot in the band.

  14. Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E16... HOST: PEYTON MANNING... DATE: MARCH 24, 2007

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SNL: S32E16... HOST: PEYTON MANNING... DATE: MARCH 24, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The President Of The United States where once again, Jason Sudeikis played George W. Bush. This week, the President addressed the nation about the controversial dismissal of eight US attorneys who our President thought were playing unfair because they seemingly sided with the Democrats when it came to ruling on the horrible policies being promoted by the Bush administration. After a while, he brought out Fred Meyer as Alberto Gonzales, who kept nervously reacting to Bush’s threats to fire him next if he weren’t to play along. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live From New York…”

  2. Peyton Manning then officially opened the show with a monolog about achieve his life goals which included starring in half of the commercials being aired on the television, and more importantly, winning the Super Bowl. He then shared a joke that a geriatric man told him while visiting an old folk hope before going on to introduce his NFL football playing family, except for his mom who wasn’t good enough to make any teams.

  3. This was followed by a parody ad for United Way where Peyton Manny treated young children pretty rough while serving as their mentor and going full force out on the field.

  4. Bronx Beat With Betty And Jodi then returned for another installment of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph’s Bronx-based public access show, where this time they chattered it up with trying to interview Peyton Manning as a very attractive zookeeper.

  5. ESPN's NCAA Tournament Pool Party had Amy Poehler as a ditzy secretary who was killing it in an ESPN sponsored March Madness pool, even though she had absolutely no knowledge of basketball or sports in general, at that.

  6. Penelope, The Party Pooper, was a bit of a rip off of Debbie Downer only instead up ruining the fun by sharing random dark facts like Debbie would, Kristen Wiig as the titular party pooper attempted to one-up anything said by one of her guest partygoers.

  7. TV Funhouse then gave us a parody of Dora The Explorer, only in this version of the show our little explore was named Maraka who along with her trusty pet cat, sought audience participation to rescue a baby penguin. Unlike the actual Dora show where the advice sought is innocent and adorable, Maraka’s questions focused on much darker themes like whether or not Robert Blake murdered his wife.

  8. Locker Room Motivation took us to a basketball locker room during halftime, where Will Forte played a coach who attempted to inspire his losing team by playing the 1967 theme from the original Casino Royale, instead of offering any real advice on how to better their game.

  9. Carrie Underwood then took to the stage to perform Before He Cheats.

  10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte returned as the monotoned politician named Tim Calhoun in order to announce his bid to join the race to become President in 2008. Seth Meyers discussed the fate of a polar bear club during a new segment called zoo news, and Andy Samberg wrapped things up by impersonating Sanjaya from American Idol to sing his new song. His performance brought tears to most of the audience which included Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, and special guest Dan Aykroyd.

  11. This was followed by a parody of 300 where we got a behind-the-scenes look at the climactic battle where Peyton Manning played an actor who was frustrated with the film’s director, who was played by Jason Sudeikis. The problem was that he refused to throw a gigantic rock at Fred Armisen because he was easily confused and thought that all of the action would be added in post-production.

  12. Carrie Underwood then returned to the stage to perform Wasted.

  13. Coffee Chat had Kristen Wiig and Peyton Manning as a married couple who dispensed distasteful gossip while enjoying their hot caffeinated beverages on their back porch.

  14. Meatloaf Lovers was a fake ad for a car where Peyton Manning share his pride in the new Mercedes-500 line that offered a featured which allowed drivers to cook meat while also traveling pantless, with the pants part being the final reveal. 

  15. This was followed by a fake ad for the new Air Force One line of shoes that were marketed toward white guys who don’t have any basketball skills.

  16. Finally, Peyton Manning closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E17... HOST: SHIA LABEOUF... DATE: APRIL 14, 2007

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SNL: S32E17... HOST: SHIA LABEOUF... DATE: APRIL 14, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a sketch called Wings Of Hope where Darrell Hammond and Kenan Thompson played Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to speak out against the “nappy-heads hoes” controversy that was ignited by Don Imus. Inspired by Imus’s hate, the two reverends also announced the new Wings Of Hope organization to help white folks who think similar to the radio host cope with their bigotry. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Shia LeBeouf then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was nearly-unknown making it even more thrilling for him to be on the show as the host. Meanwhile, the glum Not Ready For Prime Time Players didn’t share the enthusiasm of the untested “kid,” as he strolled around the backstage area to give us a taste of what the night had in store.

  3. This was followed by a fake ad for The Hathaway Moustache Ride Company where Alec Baldwin played the founder of the company as we learned the elegant history of the Free Moustache Ride.

  4. We then got another installment of Prince Show where once again Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph played Prince and Beyoncé in order to act bizarrely while interviewing their quirky guests.

  5. Under 21 had Shia LaBeouf, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, and Will Forte as a group of teens who clumsily tried to buy beer from Kenan Thompson who played a cashier at a corner store. Rather than attempt to show a fake ID, the group talked loudly as they continually dropped hints about their age while dressed as if they had “grown-up jobs.”

  6. The Dakota Fanning Show returned for another installment of Amy Poehler acting as the child star who is unable to relate to her peers who she has on as her guests and mocks them for being unintelligent.

  7. We then got another SNL Digital Short called The Shooting which was a parody of a cliffhanger from the show The O.C. that featured multiple shootouts while Bill Hader played a character who was trying to pen a heartfelt note to his little sister. I’ve never seen the O.C. I’ve never seen the actual show so other then the play on the genre in general, I may have missed the subtleties of the sketch that got the audience to laugh. That said, the repetitiveness to the shootout did get me to laugh by the end.

  8. This was followed by a fake ad for Sofa King which was a furniture store run by Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph who had no idea how crass their company names sounds when heard and not read.

  9. Avril Lavigne then took to the stage to perform Girlfriend.

  10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Maya Rudolph got a segment where she interviewed Howard K. Stern about Anna Nicole Smith after it was discovered that he wasn’t her kid’s dad. Fred Armisen and Bill Hader dropped in as two gay guys from Connecticut, playing of their two gay guys from Jersey characters, to talk about the New England’s state’s latest ruling on gay marriage. Darrell Hammond then wrapped this up as Don Imus who dropped by to apologize for his “nappy-headed hoes” comment only to make things worse with his choice of fords.

  11. Knife Salesmen had Shia LaBeouf and Will Forte as door-to-door knife salesmen who take things to the extreme while trying to pitch their product to Kristen Wiig who played the wife of Mr. Ginsu and already owned every knife she could ever want. They did manage to pique her interest by going as far as to cut off Will Forte’s thumb. Though she was impressed by the cutting, she would not accept the thirteen-ninety-nine price point.

  12. An Intimate Moment With John Mayer And Jessica Simpson was, as the title suggests a sketch about the two pop singers who barely say a word to one another while expressing their love.

  13. Avril Lavigne then returned to the stage to perform I Can Do Better.

  14. Maya And Shia had Maya Rudolph attempt to hit on our host after realizing how well their first names rhymed.

  15. Finally, Shia LaBeouf closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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SNL: S32E18... HOST: SCARLETT JOHANSSON... DATE: APRIL 21, 2007

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SNL: S32E18... HOST: SCARLETT JOHANSSON... DATE: APRIL 21, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with parody C-Span coverage of a President Bush Press Conference where once again Jason Sudeikis played George W. Bush where he took questions from the press about the events surrounding the recent resignation of Alberto Gonzales. This early resignation was linked to the events that brought to light the fact that our government practices warrantless surveillance on its citizen and used torture techniques in Iraq. Being that this was the opening sketch, it built to where W. was about to proclaim the traditional show starting line only to George was interrupted by a clip of the real Chuck Schumer who snuck in just to announce, “Live from New York…”

  2. Scarlett Johansson then officially opened the show with a monolog about how exciting it was to host the show for a second time, especially as an actual New Yorker which led her to share what she does whenever she returns home. Somehow, she transitioned into talking about how she was known for having a brilliant taste for music before she joined by Andy Samberg as, American Idol Vote For The Worst reject, Sanjaya and two to sang Something To Talk About because our host felt Sanjaya needed some cheering up.

  3. This was followed by a parody of Live! With Regis & Kelly where Derrell Hammond and Amy Poehler played the titular hosts to joke about the comeback episode following Regis’s triple bypass surgery. Rather than go easy on the old man, Kelly kept trying to get Regis to over-exert himself during an interview with Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump.

  4. Mrs. Hastings brought back Kenan Thompson to continue to play the stepmom of a revolving cast of stepdaughters so that this time he as she could help Scarlett Johansson as this week’s ghetto-acting stepchild find the perfect dress for her prom.

  5. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Roy Rules where Andy Samberg rapped about his brother-in-law Roy, as played by bit player Bryan Tucker because he rules.

  6. This was followed by a fake ad for Mike's Marbleopolis where Fred Armisen returned as his pitchman character Mike who once tried to sell us chandeliers and was now selling marble columns to gussy up our surroundings even more.

  7. WIIX News was a parody of a location morning news TV show with Kristine Wiig making her return as the recently divorced reporter was seems to be continually discovering that she’s actually a lesbian while providing interviews on location. Her crush for this installment was Scarlett Johansson who was being interviewed about how she saved an entire apartment complex from a fire by making sure everyone heard the alarm before leaving the building.

  8. Bjork then took to the stage to perform Earth Intruders.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Seth and Amy played another round or “Really?” and Will Forte dropped in to perform a song to celebrate Earth Day only the actual lyrics focused more on the movie Battlefield Earth. (Clip 2)

  10. Kuatos also made a returned to the show with this time the mini-mid-body of a man met his match in Scarlett Johansson who played a mini-mid-body woman who host was Maya Rudolph, who also happened to be Kuatos’ host, Bill Hader’s, newly announced, fiancé.

  11. News Makers was a sketch that had Kristen Wiig as Jane Pauley who hosted this special segment that profiled several cast members and our hosts who all portrayed stars of some of the earliest viral videos from around the time that the internet started to truly evolve to the internet we use today.

  12. TV Funhouse then gave us a cartoon called Torboto that featured a robot that singlehandedly fought the war on terror by using all the terror techniques that America was caught doing around this time.

  13. Bjork then returned to the stage to perform Wanderlust.

  14. Finally, Scarlett Johansson closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E19... HOST: MOLLY SHANNON... DATE: MAY 12, 2007

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SNL: S32E19... HOST: MOLLY SHANNON... DATE: MAY 12, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with a parody of American Idol where Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher character tried out for the singing reality show. Of course with this being the opening sketch, Gallagher’s performance built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Molly Shannon then officially opened the show with a monolog about how great it was to be back on the show and particularly how unbelievable it was to be back as the host. The nostalgic filled greeting then took us to a flashback to the ‘90s after revealing her schoolgirl crush on Lorne Michaels so that we could see one of their awkward encounters play out.

  3. We then got a repeat of the Urigro commercial from earlier in the season which was the new pill that promoted its ability to facilitate an impressive urine stream in men who just want a stronger flow.

  4. Penelope then returned for another installment of Kristen Wiig playing Penelope, who ruined every attempt at conversation with her brand up-upsmanship during a meeting for residents of an apartment complex that had monthly meetings in an effort to build a sense of community. In fact, it got so bad that everyone left to hold a separate meeting minus our one-upper which led her to fade away with nobody there to hear her constant drone.

  5. Decision '08: The Fringe Candidates Debate had Darrell Hammond as Dan Rather to moderate the debates of the unlikely Democratic hopefuls from that year.

  6. We then got a parody of The Sopranos where Molly Shannon’s fifty-year-old and proud Sally O’Malley character auditioned to be a new stripper at the Bada Bing! club.

  7. Linkin Park then took to the stage to perform What I've Done.

  8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Molly Shannon dropped in as here female comedian character Jeannie Darcy to tell a few painfully generic jokes for the Weekend Update’s new Comedy Cul-De-Sac segment of the news. Fred Armisen also stopped by as a blind chef who attempted to give a barbecue demonstration only to almost burn down the set. Amy and Seth then wrapped things up by debating the usage of the word “panties” for another new news segment called What’s In A Word? (Clip 2)

  9. Amy Poehler then revised her hyperactive Kaitlin character where this time we finally met her mom during a visit to a nursing home where it was revealed that the adorable twerp’s mother was actually Molly Shannon.

  10. MacGruber then returned for more fun and gamed were this time our TV hero gave up on making crazy bombs opting instead to make Bloody Marries with bizarre ingredients. Even though he swapped bombs for drinks, the results were still the same as the scene ended with an explosion anyways.

  11. TV Funhouse then gave us a cartoon called Tales From The Greatest Generation that showcased the rough life of Big-Boobed Einstein.

  12. The Oak Room had Maya Rudolph and Molly Shannon as two lounge singers who performed a set of songs at the Oak Room where the two put on a pretty boozy show as they drank whiskey whenever they had the chance.

  13. MacGruber then returned for round two of this new series where this time instead of building a bomb, our TV hero attempted to play an acoustic version of his theme song, only to once again end with him randomly blowing up.

  14. Linkin Park then returned to the stage to perform Bleed It Out.

  15. Trump Steaks had Darrell Hammond as Trump once again to hawk his new line of “The World’s Greatest Steaks.”

  16. MacGruber had our TV hero give up on everything only to end up exploding while rambling to himself.

  17. Finally, Molly Shannon closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

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SNL: S32E20... HOST: ZACH BRAFF... DATE: MAY 19, 2007

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SNL: S32E20... HOST: ZACH BRAFF... DATE: MAY 19, 2007

The Wicker Breakdown:

  1. This week's show started with A Message From The President Of The United States where once again, Jason Sudeikis played George W. Bush to address the nation this time to announce his plans to go on vacation and leave Maya Rudolph, as Condoleezza Rice in charge while he is gone. Not only did he announce his upcoming vacation, he also gave a progress report to show why he deserved the time off.  To do so, he used many of his flawed outcomes as evidence that he was doing something right, like how people claimed that we were only in Iraq to bring down the price of gas to American consumers, pointing out that this was a lie with oil prices reaching an all-time high around this time. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

  2. Zach Braff then officially opened the show with a monolog about how honored he was to host the season finale. This then got him talking about how he was raised nearby which led him to sing a New Jersey State Of Mind which he dedicated to his home state of New Jersey. He also sprinkled in a few fun facts about his home state as he took mini-breaks throughout the song.

  3. We then got another SNL Digital Short called Dog Love where Andy Samberg played a man looking into a room for rent only to find himself being seduced into some “Dog Love” by his potential new roommate, Zach Braff and his furry pal whose voice was played by Bill Hader.

  4. Prom Committee Meeting had Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph as two snobby committee leaders who shut down every outsider’s idea for the prom’s potential theme that were being thrown out by their less-than-demure classmates.

  5. Deep House Dish then returned for more of Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg as two MTV-4 V.J.s who introduced more hip-hop and house acts to their deep cable watching fans.

  6. TV Funhouse then gave us a cartoon called Decision ’08: Spring ’07 Cleaning in which various Democratic and Republican presidential contenders came clean with the dirtiest secrets while on a visit to Oprah.

  7. The Weight had Zach Braff, Bill Hader, Will Forte, and Jason Sudeikis as four buddies in a bar who each get spurned by memories of increasingly unusual life-changing events, as they sang along to the song The Weight when it came up as the song on the jukebox.

  8. Maroon 5 then took to the stage to perform Makes Me Wonder.

  9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kristen Wiig returned as Amy Poehler’s crazy aunt to give more of her one-word movies reviews. Fred Armisen then played Sam Waterson to share how he took offense to a joke about NBC’s renewal of Law & Order. Finally, Maya Rudolph wrapped things up as Whitney Houston who made a surprise visit where all that she did was ramble incoherently about Bobby Brown.

  10. La Revista Della Televisione brought back Bill Hader as the fast-talking Italian TV host who this time interviewed Zach Braff as himself, who struggled throughout the entire interview because he couldn’t speak or understand a word of the foreign language.

  11. Bronx Beat With Betty And Jodi then returned with Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph as the Bronx-based public access hosts who chatter their way through their interviews, this time with their guest being Zach Braff as one of the public access broadcaster’s interns.

  12. Maroon 5 then returned to the stage to perform Won't Go Home Without You.

  13. Melissa, The Receptionist, had Fred Armisen as the titular receptionist who had Bill Hader as her boss in order to hit on Zach Braff who was waiting for an important meeting.

  14. Finally, Zach Braff closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

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