The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with An Address From “The All-But-Certain-To-Be Next President” that had Amy Poehler as a smug Hillary Clinton who anticipated being the Democrat’s nominee and two-term President that she preemptively shared her acceptance speech. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. LeBron James then officially opened the show with a monolog about how his team swept their competition during the year’s NBA Championship. This led to a parody of LeBron’s latest Nike ad where we saw our host’s family members, all played by himself, who criticized LeBron’s performance while watching the show from their home, ala Eddie Murphy in The Klumps.

3. This was followed by a fake ad for Angry Dog which was marketed as a high energy dog food that promised to transform any family pet into a canine killing machine, making fun of the recent Michael Vick dogfighting controversy.

4. Penelope brought back Kristen Wiig’s one-uping character who this time kept trying to one-up LeBron while participating in a charitable dating auction.

5. We then got a parody of High School Musical 3 where LeBron played the new kid on the basketball team who refused to join in on all of the singing and dancing. That is until he realized that song and dance would lead to more time with a naked Gabriella Montez who was played by Maya Rudolph.

6. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called Iran So Far where Andy Samberg performed an ode to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as played by Fred Armisen, with background vocals provided by the real Jake Gyllenhaal and Adam Levine.

7. Read To Achieve had LeBron James attempt to film a literacy PSA directed by Bill Hader only to end up getting continually interrupted by Jason Sudeikis who played a stagehand who kept throwing the basketball off cue, throwing off LeBron’s delivery in the process.

8. The Lyle Kane Show had Will Forte as the slow-witted white guy host who awkwardly debuted his own show on BET with LeBron as his first special guest.

9. Kanye West then took to the stage to perform Stronger/Good Life

10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kenan Thompson dropped in as O.J. Simpson to daftly explain his logic in stealing his own memorabilia that eventually landed him in jail. Fred Armisen also returned as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the not to explain in great detail through his translator, Maya Rudolph, why homosexuality doesn’t exist in Iran.

11. Best Of Solid Gold had Kenan Thompson as a guy named C. Micah Kring who gushed over the new Time-Life’s Best Of Solid Gold DVDs as he focused on watching Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Will Forte, and LeBron James as the classic Solid Gold Dancers.

12. TV Funhouse then gave us another Ambiguously Gay Duo who haven’t been seen in a while. Tonight, the segment was brought back with Big Head and Dr. Braino hosting a fake backyard barbeque with hopes to catch the questionable gays in a similar scandal to the one involving Senator Craig, by attempting to trick them into some gay hijinks while inside the Port-O-Potty.

13. 106 And Park had Kenan Thompson and Maya Rudolph as two characters named Terrence and Roxie who cornered tonight’s musical guest Kanye West about all of the recent award show controversies that he was involved with from his claiming the George Bush doesn’t like black people, to stealing the spotlight from Taylor Swift.

14. Kanye West then returned to the stage to perform Champion/Everything I Am.

15. Great Moments In Guidance Counseling had LeBron James as a high school student whose guidance counselor, Jason Sudeikis advised him to choose the NBA over school because “college is for losers.”

16. Finally, LeBron James closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with A Message From Kevin Federline where Andy Samberg played Mr. Federline in order to share a few parenting tips after being granted full custody of his and Britney Spears’s kids. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Seth Rogen then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was a huge comedy nerd, like myself, when he was a little kid. He then told us how he wrote the movie Superbad with his best from back when he was thirteen and thought for sure it would eventually lead to him hosting SNL. This led him to read the monolog that he supposedly wrote way back when the first draft of the script was done. He then brought out Bill Hader as Steven Seagal who he predicted would be his best friend by this time in the letter.

3. This was followed by a fake ad for Veritas Ultrasound HD which was a high-tech line of ultrasound that featured a featured like picture-in-picture display that allowed the fathers to really get into the viewing of their future kids since men love nothing more than fancy technology.

4. 2007 National Douchebag Championships featured Amy Poehler as Sharon Osbourne, Fred Armisen, as Gene Simmons, and Andy Samberg as the winner from last year. These three acted as judges for this annual competition that’s designed to bring out the worst character traits from the participants who actively attempted to be the biggest douchebag in order to get the win.

5. MacGruber then returned for another set of sketches, this one started with our TV hero getting sidetracked while diffusing a bomb after his hidden receding hairline was revealed when the bandanna fell off his head and became more of an issue than the disarming of the bomb.

6. Jeremy And Stacia had Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as parents who were oblivious to how annoying their friends found their obnoxious and oversized titular kids as played by Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig.

7. MacGruber then returned and once again, our toupee wearing TV hero, once again, got sidetracked while diffusing a bomb after a “twenty-year-old” Kristen Wiig who he was dating arrived which lead him to try to convince that he was her age. He did this by pretending his sidekicks Seth Rogen, and Maya Rudolph were his father and mother when clearly they were his peers. Either way, he was so distracted that he didn’t defuse the bomb.

8. A Message from Fred Thompson had Darrell Hammond as the actor/politician to announce his bid for office even though he doesn’t seem to care about being elected one way or the other.

9. MacGruber then returned for round number three where our TV hero got sidetracked for a third time while diffusing a bomb after his hidden botched plastic surgery was revealed this time blowing up when he accepted his look by saying, “Not too bad.”

10. Spoon then took to the stage to perform The Underdog.

11. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Seth and Amy gave us another round of Really? Darrell Hammond as Lou Dobbs ranted against Canadian comedians like Seth Rogen who are stealing American jobs. Kenan Thompson and Fred Armisen played the Manager and Assistant Manager of the Mets who both struggles to address the teams faltering performance throughout the years. Then, to wrap things up, Chevy Chase made a surprise visit as Senior Political Correspondent to share a few quips about the candidates running in the 2008 Presidential Election. (Clip 2)

12. America's First Colonists showed us a lesser-known moment in American history where the first colonist stumbled onto their discovery of cannabis which led the entire group to put any thought about protecting themselves over the upcoming winter on to the back burner.

13. Rowlf And The Swedish Chef had Seth Rogen as the piano playing dog Muppet Rowlf and Andy Samberg as The Swedish Chef, Maya Rudolph as Janice, Fred Armisen as Zoot, and Bill Hader as Animal so that they all could perform their version of the song Beyond The Sea.

14. Spoon then returned to the stage to perform You Got Your Cherry Bomb.

15. Mad Joe Dixon had Seth Rogen as Mad Joe so that he and Maya Rudolph as a character named Delilah could share their joy for tasteless personal pleasure, at first using double entendre but eventually, they got extremely blatant with no hidden messages for either to find.

16. Finally, Seth Rogen closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with a sketch that took place at Amy Poehler's House circa 1986 to the night where Jon Bin Jovi jumped out from one of her posters to offer words of condolence to the future SNL star who was moping around about life the way one might expect from a grounded teen. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Jon Bon Jovi then officially opened the show with a monolog about his history with the show as the musical guest which led him to get interrupted by a couple audience members who were like me and shared their less-than-enthusiastic reaction to finding out that Bon Jovi was this week’s host. Unlike me, they weren’t disappointed because of his hosting role but because they were hoping to hear him play a few hits as the night’s musical guest. I would prefer neither, but this was when Richie Sambora joined our host on the stage to coax him into performing Lost Highway with him and the rest of his band.

3. Ohhhhh! Was a game show sketch that was promoted as a show hosted by guys from New Jersey for guys from New Jersey where contestants were quizzed on New Jersey’s most current trends that mainly consisted of stereotypical Jersey/Italian interests like Italian food and verbally abusing their wives and children (the show’s choice in humor not mine.)

4. A Visit With Former Vice-President Al Gore had Darrell Hammond as our former VP who recently won a Nobel Prize and was there to show off his medal along with other awards and trophies he recently earned.

5. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called People Getting Punched Just Before Eating which played out exactly as the title suggests.

6. Postseason '07 had Jason Sudeikis as Dane Cook to announce that he was the unlikely new spokesperson for the MLB.

7. La Revista Della Televisione then returned with Bill Hader as the fast-talking Italian who interviews the hosts as themselves even though they don’t speak Italian leading them to never know what’s being said. Tonight was more of the same only with Jon Bon Jovi as himself trying to navigate the Italian’s questions.

8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Maya Rudolph dropped by as an NBC employee to practice a few news jokes after sharing the fact that there may be a writers strike that might lead her to need to step in as a scab during the upcoming year. Andy Samberg also wandered in a naked guy who wasn’t the Naked Cowboy from a recent incident in Time Square. Fred Armisen then wrapped thing up as a political comedian who scoured the newspaper headlines in an effort to come up with a few jokes on the spot. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)

9. Foo Fighters then took to the stage to perform The Pretender.

10. Where's My Purse? had Kristen Wiig as a space captain who was ready to sacrifice the entire space mission after discovering that her purse somehow up and disappeared.

11. Postseason '07 returned for round two where this time Jason Sudeikis as Dane Cook continued to announce that he was still the unlikely new spokesman for the Major League Baseball.

12. What To Call The Band took us back to Sayreville, New Jersey in 1984 where we got to see how Jon and the band settled into naming the group Bon Jovi instead of something more unique like Natural Disaster which was the top of the rest of the band’s list.

13. Iconoclasts brought Kristen Wiig and Kenan Thompson together as Bjork and Charles Barkley so that they could spend the afternoon together at the local Cheesecake Factory.

14. Bon Jovi then took to the stage to perform Who Says You Can't Go Home?

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

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with a Halloween Party hosted by Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton that she was throwing for her fellow contenders to become the Democratic Presidential nominee. Her guests included Will Forte as John Edwards who came disguised as a bindle carrying hobo and the real Barack Obama who came disguised as himself. Throughout the evening all Hillary did was talk as if she had already won the job of President. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, Obama was mainly there for the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Brian Williams then officially opened the show with a monolog about how our host wondered briefly if hosting the show would mar his reputation as a serious news anchor, only to end up deciding that all preconceptions will change after tonight and that he is okay with it. Makes me wonder if this is when his focused switched to becoming a frivolous entertainer over being a legitimate reporter.

3. This was followed by a fake ad for Maybelline For Men Only which was pretty much just female make-up products only with more manly verbiage on the packaging.

4. Bronx Beat With Betty And Jodi then returned with more chattering between Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph who played the hosts of a public access show where this time they talked over Brian Williams who played their slow-witted fireman/guest.

5. Riley's Way was a parody of the final episode of the CW show with the same name. I’ve never even heard of this show, so I didn’t get a single reference, but Brian Williams played the school’s principal who broke the fourth wall to express his anger over not being invited to be part of the college-based spinoff show.

6. Publishers Clearing House had Brian Williams as the winner of the fifteen-million-dollar award and seemed unimpressed about his sudden windfall because his character was such a bore. Even after being shown clips of the last several winners who were unable to contain themselves, Williams remained his boring self, only to end up getting over the moon excited when a pizza man arrived with a free delivery of cheesy bread.

7. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called A Day In The Life Of Brian Williams that revealed the new anchor standing on the street ready to be recognized. They also had him pulling pranks like throwing pennies at Al Roker and Matt Lauer before delivering the Nightly News.

8. Feist then took to the stage to perform 1234.

9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Fred Armisen dropped by as an NBC executive to discuss the impending Writer’s Guild strike. Kenan Thompson also dropped by as the Weekend Update nanny, Barbara Birmingham to comment on the past week’s Halloween events.

10. Larry King Live had Fred Armisen as Larry King to interview Amy Poehler as J.K. Rowling as the two viewed deleted scenes from Harry Potter while focusing on the fact that Dumbledore was actually gay. This sketch also contained clips “from the new movie in the series,” that had Bill Hader as Dumbledore who acted progressively more gay with each new shared clip.

11. This was followed by a fake ad to iPhone where Fred Armisen played a man who highlighted the ways that his new iPhone allowed him to get away with having a secret mistress.

12. Democratic Nominees Backstage took us behind-the-scenes prior to a Democratic Debate held at Drexel University. Brian Williams played himself to tell the nominees that the media is set on Hillary Clinton securing her party’s ticket. This got the non-Clinton nominees to start to work together to find a way to discredit Hillary’s chances.

13. Feist then returned to the stage to perform I Feel It All.

14. Nightly News New Theme had Brian Williams and a few NBC executives meet up with a group of studio musician to come up with a new theme song for the news that might help to bring in a younger audience.

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

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with parody coverage of the CNN Univision Democratic Debate where the news anchors fawned over Fred Armisen as Barack Obama while barely paying any attention to Amy Poehler as a delusional Hillary Clinton. It’s crazy how quickly the tide has turned because just last week all of the jokes were about how it was pointless to even attempt to run against Mrs. Clinton. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Tina Fey then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she was excited to host the first show following the writer’s strike’s resolve. She was then suddenly interrupted by scribe-turned-performer Steve Martin who offered a few tips on making the transition as if Tina hasn’t already been acting for years.

3. This was followed by a fake ad for annual which was a new women’s hygiene product that made it possible for women to endure their period just once a year even though it involved some severe side effects that would be experienced throughout the rest of the non-period year.

4. Rock Of Love 2 was a parody follow up to Rock Of Love where Amy Poehler’s one-legged girl character vied for the heart of Jason Sudeikis as Bret Michaels for round two of his dating show.

5. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short called A Message To Old People that had an elderly man share how he is able to place his grandsons, Bill Hader, and Andy Samberg in popular movies via a service that provides special effects editing to point out information that will help him not be afraid while watching his favorite films.

6. What's That Bitch Talking About? was a game show sketch where contestants had to decipher cryptic one-sided phone messages as acted out by various game show models.

7. Carrie Underwood then took to the stage to perform All-American Girl.

8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Mike Huckabee dropped by as himself to share that even though it was mathematically impossible for him to win, he still felt there was the slightest chance that he’d actually beat John McCain as the Republican’s Presidential nominee. Tina Fey also returned to the Weekend Update desk to share why she felt that Hillary Clinton was the best woman for the job. (Clip 2)

9. This was followed by a series of NBC Spots that promoted their exhaustive line up of Celebrity Apprentice-style knock-off they had lined up for the upcoming broadcasting season.

10. Ed's Toast had Jason Sudeikis as the titular Ed who made an ass out of himself while toasting Will Forte who was the groom at a wedding reception. This toast mainly consisted of terrible jokes and horror stories from their past that didn’t go over well with the rest of the wedding’s attendants.

11. This was followed by a fake ad for Virginia Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides where Kristen Wiig played Mrs. Horsen who attempted not to rub her success in anyone’s face as she promoted her line of hot air balloon rides.

12. I Drink Your Milkshake was a sketch where the Oscar-nominated hit, There Will Be Blood was to become a Food Network spin-off where Bill Hader and Amy Poehler played to characters from the film who wandered through a malt shop and drank random patrons’ milkshakes without asking as a way to taste the product for their show.

13. Carrie Underwood then returned to the stage to perform Flat On The Floor.

14. We then got a fake ad for another fake NBC show called Lady Business which was a rip off of Sex And The City only in a more dramatic form.

15. Finally, Tina Fey closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with more parody coverage of another Democratic Debate where again, the news anchors continued to fawn over Obama while completely ignoring Hillary, who just three episodes ago was determined to be unbeatable, even going as far as to predict a two-term presidency. After the parodied debates were over, the real Hillary Clinton got a moment to give an editorial response to the sketch in a desperate attempt to win the show back with her visit. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Ellen Page then officially opened the show with a monolog about how great it was to host and then went on to start and share her incredible year which included being nominated for an Oscar. Before she could get too far, Andy Samberg joined her on stage as, former stripper/Juno screenplay writer, Diablo Cody who chided our host for not using the wacky-worded monolog that she wrote for the occasion.

3. The Dakota Fanning Show then returned with Amy Poehler as the brainy child star who once again talked down to her peer guest/children stars with this week’s featured guest being Ellen Page as Miley Cyrus, who was still Hannah Montana at the time.

4. TV Funhouse then gave us an animation called The Obama Files where Barack Obama continually stayed literally one step ahead of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who he wanted to have nowhere near him while on the campaign trail because he felt they were bad luck for him as a black candidate.

5. This was followed by a fake ad for The College For Excellence where Fred Armisen played the pitchman for a supposedly serious business school that claimed to teach all of the right phrases and terms that anyone would need to guarantee success upon their student's graduating the course.

6. The Other Boleyn Girls played off the King Henry story and introduced us to the full roster of the Boleyn Girls who ranged from the adorable Ellen Page to Kenan Thompson who was obviously a man in drag.

7. We then got another SNL Digital Short called The Mirror where during a series of nightmares, Ellen Page continuously saw Andy Samberg as a crazed psychopath whenever she passed by a mirror.

8. Wilco then took to the stage to perform Hate It Here.

9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, the real Rudolph Giuliani dropped by to declare that it was his appearance in drag while he hosted ten years ago that indeed cost him the Republican Nomination. Fred Armisen also stopped by as Nicolas Fehn, the comedian to once again try to generate new stand-up comedy material on the spot with the help of a pile of newspapers where he pretty much just read the headlines as they were to then ramble on with a bunch of nonsense, desperate to find a joke.

10. Shopping With Virginiaca had Kenan Thompson in the titular role to go shopping only to flirt with any random employ who might help while enjoying her food court meal. A couple moments into the sketch, Virginiaca’s brand new ghetto talking stepdaughter, Ellen Page joined the scene which led the rest of the sketch to play out the way it usually does with this segment.

11. The Continuing Adventures Of Peter Pan had Bill Hader as Captain Hook who continued his plans for revenge against Ellen Page as Peter Pan. The only problem was that thing when awry when Hook’s pirates quickly jumped sides to joined in with the Lost Boy for the chorus of their Peter Pan-themed songs.

12. Wilco then returned to the stage to perform Walken.

13. The Melissa Etheridge Experience had Ellen Page as a young girl who was super-psyched after returning home from a Melissa Etheridge show. This really bummed her boyfriend Andy Samberg out since it made him think that it meant that Ellen was gay. The sketch ended with Samberg claiming her lesbian way were fine and that it just meant that he would have to turn gay himself so that they could continue to live together as lovers. Though misguided, with was an acceptable solution to Ellen’s struggle with her sexual identity. This may have turned out to be rather accurate considering that page came out as gay just a couple of years ago.

14. Finally, Ellen Page closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with a segment called Clinton Attack Ad that was a parody of Hillary’s attacked ad against Obama that questioned how he would handle a call that came in at three o'clock in the AM. In this parody ad, they showed that Obama would have to call Hillary if he actually was to answer this hypothetical early morning call. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Amy Adams then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she has really been enjoying the week before inviting Kristen Wiig out to join her on stage because she felt that too looked so similar that they could be sisters if not twins. The two then sang an adorable song about how they loathe one another based on these similar looks since it’s only led to more competition when auditioning for gigs.

3. Playing off the theme that Amy Adams and Kristen Wiig look so similar, Mirror Image had Kristen Wiig as Amy Adam’s fat twin sister so that the two could try to pull off a scam and attempted to pass themselves off as one student when trying to enroll at a new school.

4. Couples Therapy had Will Forte as a newlywed to a refugee played by Amy Poehler. The mail-order couple was having marital struggles over the fact that Will wouldn’t fully sign the immigration papers that would help Amy Poehler’s character feel safe in not just the relationship but would ease her mind from getting deported back to where she was trying to escape. Meanwhile, Amy Adam’s as the therapist sided with Will and treated like the issues being experienced due to this scam of a marriage was all Amy Poehler’s fault.

5. We then got another SNL Digital Short where Andy Samberg played a rich Batman-like superhero who sang about cleaning up the city before getting pummeled by Jason Sudeikis who played a purse-snatching-thief when Andy tried to confront him over his latest crime.

6. Fierce: The Hot Mess Make-Over Show had Amy Poehler as a Project Runway contestant who now had her own show fashion show where she would makeover hot messes while speaking in an endless stream of catchphrases.

7. Vampire Weekend then took to the stage to perform A-Punk.

8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Will Forte returned as Tim Calhoun to announce that he’s still seeking the Democratic nomination for the Presidential race. Kenan Thompson also stopped by as Jean K. Jean who was a Def-Jam comedian from France their to tell a couple of jokes as a comedy ambassador.

9. Penelope At Traffic School had Kristen Wiig return as he one-uping character to this time one-up all student at the driving school that the court ordered her to attend.

10. Dr. Uncle Jimmy's Smokehouse And Outpatient Surgical Facility was a fake as for this half barbecue joint/half medical facility run by Will Forte as Dr. Uncle Jimmy.

11. Roger Clemens Presents had Jason Sudeikis as the titular baseball player who shared the play that he’d written that demonstrated the results of abolishing steroids from professional baseball, highlighting Clemens’s claims that the whole league benefited by having the players all hopped up on the juice.

12. The Tookie Styles Show had Kenan Thompson as Tookie who announced that his early ‘80s cable access show was now on DVD and featured some of the clips of political dignitaries dancing to several of Tookie’s hip-hop hits, while also nearly getting assassinated while grooving out on the dance floor.

13. Vampire Weekend then returned to the stage to perform M79.

14. Celebrations had Amy Adams, Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, and Casey Wilson as a quartet of desperate women who performed a single dance move at varying speeds to different tempo songs, in an effort to impress some of the men who were watching them from the bar.

15. Finally, Amy Adams closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with a fake ad for Spitzer And Associates where Bill Hader played Eliot Spitzer who recently resigned after getting caught with call girls. This fake ad was a pitch for Spitzer new law firm that promised to tackle similar situations highlighting how he was more ashamed over getting caught than he was over the immoral activities that he was up to. All of this while Kristen Wiig who played Spitzer’s wife silently stood by his side making faces as she couldn’t conceal her disappointment in her man. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, this all built to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Jonah Hill then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he always is cast as the crass/funny fat guy, but really he was a fancy lad. To prove his point he then broke into song about how fancy of a guy he actually was.

3. MacGruber then returned with another batch of sketches. This time the series started with MacGruber refusing to reactivate a bomb until Jonah Hill admitted to the rumors that he was saying our sketch’s hero was terrible at his job. As always with MacGruber, the bomb went off right as Jonah was about to give in to MacGruber’s demands.

4. What's Your Situation? was a game show sketch that had Jonah Hill as a sleazy guide to the game that he used solely as an excuse to pick-up on the female contestants by using the questions to spark up some lecherous talk.

5. Six Year Old had Jonah Hill as a six-year-old who was out having dinner at a Benihana's with his father who was played by Bill Hader. Throughout the sketch, Jonah kept embarrassing his dad by obnoxiously performing Borscht Belt-brand comedy at the chef’s and fellow patron’s expense.

6. MacGruber then returned for round two where this time MacGruber and Jonah’s character switch roles after MacGruber refused to put in the effort but still the sketch still ended with the same explosion as the result.

7. The Suze Orman Show had Kristen Wiig as the titular host in order to advise her viewers how to live on the cheap in order to keep themselves financially stable during this time of stock market fears. Most of her tips revolved around cheap places to buy crazy looking jackets, which was apparently a joke at the real Suze’s expense. This is another case where I’m aware of Suze Orman, but I’ve never seen her show leading me to miss the references that got the audience to laugh quite a bit from this sketch that left me rather bored.

8. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short where Andy Samberg is shocked when he discovered that Jonah Hill has just entered a same-sex relationship with Andy’s dad who was played by, writer, Jim Downy. Through flashback, we saw how the two instantly hit it off after the first day of rehearsing for the show. This was another case where the central humor came from the shock value of these two unattractive men making out.

9. Mariah Carey then took to the stage to perform Touch My Body.

10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Amy and Seth played another round of Really?!? about the Spitzer scandal before Tracy Morgan made a surprise visit to respond to the issues of race during Obama’s run to become the President Of The United States. (Clip 2)

11. Target Greatland got another installment with Kristen Wiig as the Target cashier who’s not afraid to leave her workstation whenever customers attempt to take advantage of a good deal. This time, Jonah Hill played a co-worker who seeks relationship advice as he nervously plotted to ask another coworker out.

12. We then got a parody of NBC Special Report where Fill Forte as Brian Williams revealed startling evidence that John McCain was old since this was one of the top concerns during this Presidential Election Cycle.

13. Clancy T. Bachleratt and Jackie Snad Sing Songs about Spaceships, Toddlers, Model T. Cars & Jars of Beer had Jonah Hill and several members of the cast to share their latest country western collaboration that they hoped would be the patriotic hit of the year.

14. Mariah Carey then took to the stage with T-Pain to perform Migrate.

15. Internet Blind Date had Jonah Hill as a schlub who manages to wrangle a hot date with the lovely Casey Wilson who quickly discovered just how much Jonah lied on his dating site profile.

16. Finally, Jonah Hill closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with Hillary For President was the parody of an address from Hillary Clinton that had Amy Poehler, and Darrell Hammond portrayed to political power couple, who both sounded a bit shady while outlining their income tax returns. Of course, with this being the Clinton’s the joke was about how they made tons of money from very little work as if it were just another benefit of being an ex-President who’s in high demand. Also, with this being the opening sketch, it inevitably ended with the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Christopher Walken then officially opened the show with a monolog that started with the usual host pleasantries before he asked for questions from the audience after clearly pointing out that he had handed out index cards to several “audience members,” to ensure their questions were any good. Even with this being the case, he was very confrontational with his answers almost as if he instantly forgot that the questions were actually coming from himself. At one point he made fun of one of the “audience members” ability to read and sound natural while giving his signature Walken’s reading of the cue cards.

3. We then got a repeat of the annuale commercial from earlier in the season which was a woman product that made it so that they would have only one gigantic period each year as opposed to the natural monthly cycle.

4. Grease Rehearsals was as the title suggests, a sketch that took place during rehearsals for a high school production of Grease. In this world, Christopher Walken played the school’s music director who attempted to clean up the lyrics to Grease Lightning in an effort to make the play appropriate for a high school crowd. Instead of the song being about the mythical hot rod and its effect on the “chicks,” Walken wrote rambling lyrics about seeing dragons with Match Game host Gene Rayburn, which was a reference that none of the “kids” understood.

5. Eric's Farewell took place at a company’s celebration of Jason Sudeikis’s character’s last day. All was going well until Christopher Walken joined in as the titular Eric who had a stalkerish fondness for Sudeikis which led to a very awkward farewell.

6. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short where Andy Samberg and Bill Hader interrupted Lorne Michaels’ and some politician’s dinner in order to pitch their latest rendition of Laser Cats!!!

7. Surprise Party was a sketch where Christopher Walken attempted to recruit a few friends to help him plan a surprise party for his daughter who was played by Casey Wilson. This went smoothly at first, until Walken attempted to recruit Kristen Wiig, who played a character who couldn’t handle the excitement of this party, even though was not for her. In fact, she was so excited that she ruined the surprise the second that Casey walked through the door.

8. Panic At The Disco then took to the stage to perform Nine In The Afternoon.

9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Andy Samberg dropped by as the first pregnant man in order to invite Seth and Amy to his baby shower.

10. Walken Family Reunion had our host and several members of the cast perform their best over-exaggerated impersonations of our host for this Walken family event.

11. Indoor Gardening Tips from a Man Who's Very Scared Of Plants was as the title suggests, as sketch where Christopher Walken played a garden expert/TV host who was terrified of his own plant. In order to calm his nerves, he had to glue googly eyes on the plants that he was providing tips for in order to distract himself from seeing them how they really are.

12. This was followed by a parody of Top Chef had Christopher Walken as an inexperienced chef who struggled to keep up with the rest of the cooking show contestants when it was revealed that the challenge involved cooking with couscous, stale Peeps, and other crazy ingredients.

13. Panic At The Disco then returned to the stage to perform I Write Sins, Not Tragedies'.

14. We then got a parody of Larry King Live where Fred Armisen as Larry King who interviewed Darrell Hammond as Jimmy Carter who was there to promote his plethora of books with Larry pointing out that Carter puts out too much content for anyone to read and at times, even Carter agreed.

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

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with parody C-SPAN coverage of General Petraeus Report On Iraq that had Will Forte as the general to report on the proceedings in Iraq. First, he made the war sound like it was running smoothly, only each example highlighted the cluster-fuck of a situation we were in. He then went on to criticize Darrell Hammond as John McCain, and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton who both denied their own warmongering ways and recently published books filled with lies, before praising Fred Armisen as Barack Obama who had a recently published book as well. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Ashton Kutcher then officially opened the show with a monolog about how thanks to shows like Punk’d and Beauty And The Geek, he’s now a TV producer. Then, in an effort to show how serious he was taking this new producer role he took us backstage to wander about, making “helpful” suggestions to the SNL staff as if he could fix the show.

3. The Cougar Den was a talk show sketch that had Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig and Casey Wilson as a collection of cougars hosts who kept commenting about their college-aged boyfriends before introducing their special guest, the real Cameron Diaz, who played cougar number four with her young stud Ashton Kutcher in tow to join in on the cougar fun. Ashton played a character that was so vapid that he openly admitted that young men were into cougars to take advantage of these older women’s desperate ways to get whatever they want.

4. Outside The Nightclub had Ashton Kutcher as himself outside of the hippest new nightclub in town. Thinking that his prominence as a celebrity would allow him the instant access, he attempted to walk right in only to be stopped by Kenan Thompson who played the clubs bouncer and told Ashton that he had to wait alongside Fred Armisen who played a gawky geek. The two then had to watch way less deserving patrons gained instant access to the club.

5. This was followed by another SNL Digital Short which was actually a music video for a song called Daiquiri Girl By Clementine. In the world of the short, tonight’s musical guest Gnarls Barkley was originally supposed to be involved but backed out at the last minute leaving the video makers with a substandard song and a video that was even worse. This was a weird one because it was legitimately terrible, and all of the information about Gnarls Barkley was delivered through text, so it was unclear if it was a joke or if they were really sending a message to the group that their no-show wasn’t cool, while taking it out on the audience at the same time.

6. We then went behind-the-scenes for an Activia Commercial Shoot where during the shoot for this yogurt spot, Kristen Wiig as Jamie Lee Curtis not only admits that she can’t get enough of the product, even though it continually causes her to crap her pants.

7. Gnarls Barkley then took to the stage to perform Run.

8. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Kristen Wiig dropped by as a travel writer who constantly tried to cover her nervousness by continually kidding around and never actually getting to her point. This was a character that Wiig used before, but this was the first time she was fully actualized as a news segment personality. Fred Armisen also returned as he political comedian character to struggle to get through his jokes that he attempted to make up on the spot while reading newspaper headlines.

9. Amie took place in a bar where the titular song Amie started playing on the jukebox which got Ashton Kutcher, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, and Bill Hader all reflecting on increasingly unusual life-changing events from their life in between all joining in to sing the chorus of the song.

10. Death By Chocolate had Ashton Kutcher as a chocolate bar that stabbed a homeless guy in the back.

11. The Mellow Show was as the title suggests a show hosted by Andy Samberg as Jack Johnson who is extremely laid back as he talks with fellow laid-back guests Bill Hader as Dave Matthews, and Ashton Kutcher as John Mayer.

12. Ashton Kutcher then returned as the chocolate bar for round two of Death By Chocolate where this time he shot and killed a doctor to then plant the gun on a coma patient right before pulling their plug.

13. Gnarls Barkley then returned to the stage to perform Who's Gonna Save My Soul?

14. Casey Wilson then played a paraplegic stripper named Dusty Velvet who has to rely on the help of Ashton Kutcher, who played the emcee, to position her into her erotic dance moves.

15. Ashton then returned as the chocolate bar once again for another Death By Chocolate where he killed Andy Samberg as himself, with a chainsaw while he was waiting in his quick-change booth.

16. Finally, Ashton Kutcher closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with A Message From The Next President Of The United States had Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton who promised America that she will be an incredibly sore loser if she isn’t handed the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for President. She openly admitted that if she were to win, Obama would do what’s right and fight for her but she refused to do the same, adding that she would hope for his loss, making it easier for her to run in 2012. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, the eventually built up to the announcement on, “Live from New York…”

2. Shia LaBeouf then officially opened the show with a monolog about his involvement in Indian Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. After sharing the fact that he was in the movie, he said he was under a strict contract where he couldn’t share any other details. Right away, he was interrupted by a “member of the audience” who asked how the movie ends. LeBeouf then started to backpedal reminding everyone that he couldn’t say a thing which led Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery and a couple other cast members as secondary characters from the series to confront our host over why they were no longer involved with the franchise.

3. MacGruber then returned to start another series of sketches where this time our sketch hero get sidetracked from defusing the bomb when he realized that his son, Shia LeBeouf is gay. As always, the distraction led MacGruber to not beat by the clock, leading to a massive explosion.

4. It's A Match was a bit of a parody of the Match Game that had the wacky atmosphere created by the crazy panel of celebrity guest, only this didn’t turn out to be a game. Instead, this was an impromptu interrogation after the show’s emcee turned up dead. Bill Hader played a detective who questioned the celebrity panel while they were still on the set and they each answered using their blue answer cards for the game while “thinking music” played while they wrote.

5. The was followed by a parody of Scared Straight where Kenan Thompson played a prison bad-ass who attempted to scare, young punks, Shia LeBeouf, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader out of a life of crime with his ridiculous examples of what led up to him ending up in prison. Each example was actually stolen from an ‘80s movie, and everyone in the room was aware that this was the case.

6. MacGruber then returned for round two where this time he was distracted when he learned that his son, Shia LaBeouf’s gay conversion therapy didn’t take, of course leading to another explosion.

7. The Suze Orman Show then returned for another parody with Kristen Wiig as the titular host who, this time, advised viewer like her guest from Miami, Shia LeBeouf, what they can do with their tax refunds. In his case, she suggested he use the money to get a five-o’clock-shadow face-tattoo since looks are so important in the Miami area. After the LeBeouf segment, she then gave a few money-saving tips for the ladies, like using beef cubes to self-tan, lie on hot gravel instead of wasting money on a hot rock massage, and making their own tampons.

8. We then got another SNL Digital Short called The Best Look In The World which was a music video of sorts that had Andy Samberg singing an explanation as to why he isn’t wearing pants to Shia LaBeouf since the two were about to head out in public. The best look being, the shirt, and no pants, not just being pant-less in general.

9. My Morning Jacket then took to the stage to perform I'm Amazed.

10. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen dropped by as Liberty City Residents, Vlad, and Niko, who take offense to the way their community is portrayed in the latest Grand Theft Auto. Kenan Thompson also returned as his Jean K. Jean character to tell a few more jokes. (Clip 2)

11. La Rivista Della Televisione also returned with Bill Hader as the fast-talking Italian talk show host who had Shia LeBeouf as himself as his guest. Again, the interview is awkward because LeBeouf doesn’t speak or understand Italian but also because Hader’s character thinks that LaBeouf used to be a girl and that this is the real meaning for the title Transformers which was the movie Shia was there to promote. The sketch then ended with Hader trying to scare LeBeouf with a fake snake in an effort to connect with the Indiana Jones direction that they interview turned.

12. MacGruber then returned to complete the comedic rule of three and this time our sketch hero was distracted from defusing the bomb when he met Andy Samberg who played his son, LaBeouf’s boyfriend, and again the bomb exploded in the end.

13. He Likes You had Kristen Wiig and Amy Poehler as two friends enjoying a meal at a restaurant where they catch the attention of Shia LaBeouf and five other men from the cast who seemed instantly love-struck by the women’s appearance. While talking, the two Poehler and Wiig start to wonder what each guy as they create people-watching-style stories. Meanwhile, all of the guys did nothing but sit dead still each with a very creepy smile. After a while, we got to hear these men’s inner thoughts which were nothing but a bunch of geeky sounds that made up a musical tune.

14. My Morning Jacket then returned to the stage to perform Evil Urges.

15. Girls Trying On Clothes had Amy Poehler as a mom to Kristen Wiig who played a conservative daughter who was afraid that her mother’s New York funky-taste was too much. Meanwhile, Shia LaBeouf played her other daughter who didn’t think her mother’s taste was New York funky enough.

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

The Wicker Breakdown:

1. This week's show started with The Pounder School Commencement Ceremony where Steve Carell played a high school principal who reads off the list of filthy prank-call-style-named students from this year’s graduating class. This was after giving a pretty genuine speech about diversity, that felt like it was building to more than this funny but juvenile name joke. Of course, since this was the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”

2. Steve Carell then officially opened the show with a monolog about the hectic schedule that goes into the week building up to the live show. He claimed that the workload was exhausting but worth it, plus he didn’t mind because he just drank six Red Bulls to keep him going throughout tonight’s episode. He then became a rambling mess as the caffeine started to kick in which led our host to seek a way to escape. While running around looking for an exit, he ran into his real-life wife, Nancy Walls who talked him down and got him to admit that he wasn’t on Red Bull at all, but instead was just having a panic attack. She worked her magic to calm Carell so that he could then throw to the start of the show.

3. The Democratic Primaries gave us a split-screen that featured Fred Armisen as Barack Obama on one side and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton on the other as the two delivered their messages, highlighting how Obama was pushing his policy and hope while Hillary was pushing how she was entitled to be handed the role of the party’s nominee.

4. The was followed by a parody of Deal Or No Deal where Steve Carell played an angst-ridden contestant who had to endure a battle of wits with Will Forte as his dad who kept taunting him from the audience while he attempted to win a million bucks. To add to the pressure, Carell has the case count down to four where there are only the three lowest payouts and the grand prize million-dollar payout, giving him pretty intense odds. Not only did the dad taunt our host but the briefcase models also added to the pressure with their tension-building briefcase-opening shenanigans. After all of this build up, Carell found himself the winner of one cent.

5. A Couple Of A-Holes Do Karaoke brought back my two favorite Wiig and Sudeikis characters who’ve been gone for quite some time. For this visit, as the title suggests, the two A-Holes pester Shia LaBeouf as the karaoke host while he attempts to get them to just pick a song.

6. We then got another SNL Digital Short called The Japanese Office where the real Ricky Gervais dropped by as a special guest to introduce the Japanese version of his popular show which he claimed was actually the original The Office that he stole to create the UK version of the show. This version had Steven Carell and the SNL cast, pretty much doing the American version of the show with Japanese themes and speaking the Japanese language. Once again, I’m impressed with how perfect the SNL cast pairs up with The Office team with barely any effort at all.

7. McCain In One featured the real John McCain discussing what pork barrel means before going on to defend his age.

8. Usher then took to the stage to perform Moving Mountains.

9. Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, John McCain returned to request that the in-fighting between Barack and Hillary continue on past the primary and even beyond the election because it would really help out his cause. Darrell Hammond and Kenan Thompson also returned as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to offer some advice to Barack Obama that mainly consisted of warnings about not getting too comfortable because his race could come into play at any moment especially if he were to do anything that might be considered “too black.” (Clip 2)

10. The Charlie Flitt Show had Steve Carell as a host who just recently lost two-hundred pounds, and now all he mainly does on this show is continually crash through life-size posters of his former-fat-self. He also had on Amy Poehler as a former-fat-guest who also burst through a poster of herself before answering questions about her life and her diet. This built up to the introduction Poehler's former skinny fiancé who was played by Bill Hader who was embarrassed to break through the skinny picture of himself. We also met Kristen Wiig as Hader’s mom who had to burst through a picture of her drunken self to join in on the conversation. Wiig was the final guest whose interaction with her son, and future stepdaughter inspired Carell to sing a sign off song to say farewell.

11. CPR Training was a sketch where Steve Carell played a CPR coach who was teaching a course using, former student, Andy Samberg for his example only to accidentally crush his chest and kill him while trying to teach the chess compression technique.

12. Usher then took to the stage with Young Jeezy to perform Love In This Club, Part 1.

13. Bless This Child had Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig as two wannabe parents who sing a lullaby while twirling a baby doll around their nursery in this end of the night, more sentimental than silly sketch, that I tend to love. That said there was a lot more humor to this one in the way they used the doll as they danced which would have been extremely inappropriate if the baby was actually real. It was also hilarious at the end when Wiig revealed she was pregnant and a quick cut followed where she was replaced with a dummy that our host haphazardly spun around.

14. Finally, Steve Carell closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

SNL: SEASON THIRTY-THREE SUMMARY