SNL: Jack Black/Neil Young

Well this was a pleasant surprise. After the past few mediocre episodes (save for the handful of great sketches in last week's Baldwin explosion), I wasn't expecting much from this. Sure, Jack Black is great and all, but lately I've just come to expect to be disappointed from SNL. Fortunately, the writers put together a nice set of laughs (and a couple extra guests) which is a good thing since this is the last episode we're getting until Scarlett Johansson hosts on January 14th.

Dick Cheney's Holiday Message - Out of all the impressions that Darell Hammond does, when he does Cheney - he looks just like him. It's freaky. Cheney is dressed up as Santa Claus, and listens to the wishes of some American youth. Except none of them want toys. They want drilling to be opened in Alaska so that gas prices drop and Grandma can afford to visit for the holiday. Or they want their older brother to be able to stay in Iraq until peace and democracy are fully achieved. Joy! Then President Bush shows up on Cheney's lap. He wants an X-Box 360°. This had a lot to say about all the accusations that Bush is living inside a bubble and it was a funny way of getting at that point.

Jack Black's Monologue - After mentioning that he's starring in a little movie called King Kong, Jack informs us that he wrote a song for the movie but Peter Jackson rejected it. He sings it for us and we find out that to get back at PJ, Jack urinated in the guy's coffee pot. As you can imagine, anything that rhymed with Kong (bong, Tommy Chong, Viet Cong) was in the tune at some point. If you've heard Jack sing in his band Tenacious D, then you know this was good.

Stuart Little Mouse Removal Kit - So you know that little red car that Stuart Little drives around in? Well what if it blew up after he started the ignition? Apparently that's how this mouse trap works... because all mice love driving red convertibles? I wasn't impressed by this... didn't seem like a very original idea.

The Windy Sbarro Restaurant - This took a simple idea (one that we've all encountered) and blew it way out of proportion. Sometimes, at a restaurant, the only table you can get is right near the door. And every time it opens, wind or rain or snow blows all over you. Well what if it were actually hurricane force winds? At one point in the sketch, Rachel Dratch (playing the grandmother) blew away and the waiter (Kenan) had the pizza blown all over his face. By far the funniest moment was when a table away from the door opened up and Jack Black tries to beat a homeless person (Fred Armisen) to it. Fred wins and then does nothing but grunt at Jack.

Appalachian Emergency Room - Thank god this is the first time they've done this sketch this season. They overused it way too much last year and I'm still sick of it. This one did have its moments though. Chris Parnell came in holding a watermelon below his stomach. But then he let go of it and you realize it isn't his hands that were supporting it. Even better was the show's first big guest appearance: Johnny Knoxville shows up with a 2x4 nailed to his ABC. What's that you ask? Why it's the "ass-ball connection" obviously.

TV Funhouse - Robert Smigel has sooo much time on his hands. And I love it. Ever wonder what all the Jews do when it's Christmas Eve and there isn't anyone else in sight? They do whatever they want. This was like a weird clay-mation music video sung by what appeared to be The Supremes (?). On Christmas Eve, the Jews make fun of Madonna, go see King Kong without waiting in line, watch Daily Show reruns, and cross in front of moving traffic. This was just really funny and it prepared you for what was next.

SNL Digital Short: Lazy Sunday - Another music video starring Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg. In the past 24 hours, I've heard so many people talking about this... you can't imagine. It was brilliant. A white guy double-team rap about going to see The Chronicles of Narnia. I probably rewound the TiVO and watched this a dozen times. And why wouldn't I when they were saying things like this: "But first my hunger pains are stickin' like duct tape. Then let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes!" "You got that backpack, gonna pack it up nice. Don't want security to get suspicious, Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious!" My plans for the week involve the complete memorization of this... and maybe figuring out how to turn it into a religion. Genius. Watch it here.

The Channel 5 News Team - Every year, your local news team has those cheesy group photos stuck to every city bench and bus. And just by looking at it you can tell that the weather-girl absolutely hates the sports guy. But you ever wonder how they take those photos? Jack Black, Parnell, Amy Poehler, and Kenan are the news team and the photographer instructs them to randomly point at each other when he tells them to. Expect nobody points at Jack and he gets offended. This was a good idea, but I feel like it could have been a lot funnier.

Weekend Update - As usual, Amy Poehler just doesn't take this prestigious position seriously enough. She just loves to emphasize the fact that she's delivering a punchline and it kills it every time. Tina Fey is just so smooth in her delivery... she should do it alone after the New Year. Couple of funny bits though. Some ancient tools were discovered in Europe possibly igniting a discussion of man's first existence on Earth. It was expected that the findings would be challenged by these ancient tools (cue pictures of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell). Even better? The return of Tracy Morgan. Kenan and Tracy are the heads of tourism for Skull Island, trying to promote the island as a great place to go despite what it's portrayal in King Kong might have you believe. At one point, in the Brian Fellowes voice, Tracy yelled out "We have giant bugs that will eat you alive." I miss him as a cast member. I feel like he left just as he was finding his place.

A Very Downer Christmas - They really just need to scrap any recurring characters because they have no good ones right now. Debbie Downer and Horatio's "Carol" are the biggest culprits. This was supposed to be Debbie as a kid and she bumps into Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Her babbling depresses the fat man and he starts pounding down some scotch. Not funny. At all.

Glirk - This was actually a sketch written by Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island cohorts (both of whom write for SNL now). Rather than describe it, you can watch the original here.

Two A-Holes Buying a Christmas Tree - Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis play a snotty couple trying to buy a 50-Foot Christmas Tree. And they are A-Holes. It's hard to describe this because they didn't say much - it was more in their mannerisms, but it was very funny. They thought the world revolved around them - where's the bathroom, can you make me a latte, blah blah blah. If done right, these could be a couple of good recurring characters as long as they don't get used every week.

Spelling Bee Finals - Will Forte plays a little boy trying to spell the word "business" to win the spelling bee. After asking every question possible (Origin? Definition? Can you use it in a sentence? Can you spell it for me?), he spells it something like this: "Business. Bghanfafndnffafjajqqqqqqqqqqqqqqnfajfndafdf. Business." Wrong. At this point, we get our third extra guest. Kyle Gass, the other half of Tenacious D, shows up and plays a song about a spelling bee with Jack. Other than "Lazy Sunday," I think this was my favorite part of the show.

Musical Guest Neil Young - He played two songs: It's a Dream and He Was the King. Both are from his new album Prairie Wind. I can't say that I'm a huge Neil Young fan (his voice always weirded me out) but I thought both these songs were really good.

For the last episode of the year, I really can't complain because this one was pretty decent. I do wish they would get rid of the lousy recurring characters and try and cultivate some new ones. And "Lazy Sunday" was the funniest thing to come out of SNL in a long time.