or...

A Whole Lotta Hosts

This episode has to be not one of but the best season finales that I've seen since starting this SNL watching challenge. When I first saw that there were five hosts, I was a little concerned that this viewing would have more of a "Special Episode" feel to it which is a style of show that I'm not a huge fan of because they normally play to a broader audience with more of a celebratory tone to the performances that feels like creative masturbation due to the bigger crowd.

That wasn't the case with this episode because it felt like it was just a great normal episode that was only special because there were so many hosts. This multiple host aspect also led the episode to feel like a best of show only with original content and not just packaging content that has already been tested to succeed.

I also loved how this season ended on a high note instead of how most season up to this point seemed to end on more of a spring cleaning show where they are simply burning through the questionable unused content to start the next season with a clean plate.

The only thing that I still hate to this day about the finale show is the unceremonious farewell they give to the cast who they seem to abandon rather than retire over the summer break but I guess this is better than seeing a bummed cast member who knows it's their final show. This episode, in particular, sucked because there was zero goodbye from Eddie Murphy but in this case, he is the one to blame.

Alright, so there you have my thoughts on this final show, now it's time to move on to what I saw and with that I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show with "Sammy Davis Jr." complaining to "Frank Sinatra" about not being considered as one of the five hosts of tonight's airing of Saturday Night Live. Sinatra then uses his power to get into Studio 8H but first Sammy has a dance off with a street break dancer before he and Sinatra perform a bit that leads to the announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Billy Crystal, Edwin Newman, Ed Koch, Betty Thomas, and Father Guido Sarducci then all took to the stage to officially open the show but there are so many people they pretty much only have time for introductions before getting into the show.
This was followed by a fake ad for the latest celebrity duet album called I Got Willie... I Got Guido where "Willie Nelson" and Guido Sarducci sing a medley of popular duets from the time.
Mayor Koch then moved into Mr. Robinson's apartment leading to this week's installment of Mayor Koch's Neighborhood where he just plugs his new book until Sweetchuck, as his standards and practices character who normally only shows up during the news, comes in to call Koch out for his shameless self-promotion as an unethical use of air time.
This was followed by a fake ad for Mikko's Got Your Nose Safety Guard to protect kids from the annoying got your nose game after Piscopo accidentally pulls his daughter's nose off for real as he plays the game just to shut her up while complaining about his day at work to his wife, Mary Gross.
Guido On The Street is a segment where Sarducci as passing New York pedestrians random questions and gets a bunch of funny answers.
We then went to a video dating service to see Gary Kroeger's nerdy attempt to get dates with a dating video that's more like an MTV music video from the time that actually works following a couple standard/lame video profiles from a couple sleazy/desperate men.
The Cars then took to the stage to perform Magic.
The Three Stooges then hosted a self-defense class and I don't think I have to explain more than that but it was still a pretty fun, slapstick-filled parody.
Once again, Edwin Newman is this week's guest host of the news where "Dr. Ruth" dropped in to talk about Mother's Day, Sweetchuck's doctor character who shares a bunch of medical disorders that were named after celebrities, and Fernando returns, "a little miffed" as to why he wasn't selected as the news host over the actual retired news anchor.
The Cars then returned to the stage to perform Drive.
Hello, Trudy! then returned for another installment where Belushi and Newman answer calls from the show's one and only viewer named Trudy who has her own agenda no matter what the guest, Edwin Newman wants to talk about. This week, she mainly hung up on whether or not Edwin's hair is real which leads him to talk bad about her which leads her to threaten to stop watching the show which leads Belushi to desperately attempt to win her back being that she is the one and only viewer.
Joel Hodgson then returned to the show for another one of his funny prop comedy/magic routines which mainly focuses on a few rounds of Mystery Date with the audience before getting into his other props.
We then stopped by the top sushi restaurant of the day that's located at the top of the World Trade Center. All of the hosts get a role in this scene as they all as they seem unsure about this latest trend, that is until Godzilla arrives and causes a real scene until Ed Koch bores him to death by plugging his book. This is yet another sketch that I couldn't find anywhere online.
Finally, all the host close the show by thanking the audience and saying their goodnights.

Looking over my notes, I can almost justify any one of the sketches from this episode as one of these favorite moments. First, I loved The Three Stooges Self-Defense sketch because I was such a huge fan of The Three Stooges as a child and could totally see this as being a legitimate Stooge Movie. Next, I really liked I Got You Willie... I Got You Guido album ad because I liked hearing Guido sing. Finally, I was a fan of the Got You Nose Safeguard ad because I still can't help but play that game every time I have to deal with a kid.