WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 welcome back to the deep dive so today we're 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:06.120 gonna try something a little um a little different 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.099 yeah i want to start by setting a scene a really 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:11.939 specific scene i want you to just mentally transport 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:14.960 yourself okay where are we going back to late 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:19.780 2003 early 2004. think about the context you've 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.320 probably got a motorola razor you're listening 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.789 to hey yah on like A first gen iPod. And on Saturday 00:00:26.789 --> 00:00:28.949 nights, you're actually sitting on a couch waiting 00:00:28.949 --> 00:00:30.929 for a show to start at a specific time. It really 00:00:30.929 --> 00:00:32.770 is a different world. We're talking about a pre 00:00:32.770 --> 00:00:35.070 -YouTube, pre -social media landscape where, 00:00:35.149 --> 00:00:37.950 you know, appointment viewing was still a real 00:00:37.950 --> 00:00:39.789 thing. Exactly. And that's the appointment we're 00:00:39.789 --> 00:00:42.289 looking at today. Saturday Night Live. Specifically, 00:00:42.549 --> 00:00:45.369 it's 29th season. I've been going through this 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:48.840 stack of notes you sent over and it's. It's honestly 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:51.219 blowing my mind. It's a fascinating comedic time 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:53.159 capsule, isn't it? It is. We're not just looking 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:55.859 at random skits. This is the birth of huge cultural 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:59.119 icons. This season gave us Debbie Downer. It 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.380 basically launched Justin Timberlake's entire 00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:04.620 comedy career. And it's full of these bizarre 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:07.459 niche experiments they had, like completely blocked 00:01:07.459 --> 00:01:09.659 out of my memory. Well, when you analyze the 00:01:09.659 --> 00:01:12.939 sources from that period, October 2003 to May 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:16.540 2004, you see a show in the middle of a huge 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:19.969 transition. They're balancing these high -energy 00:01:19.969 --> 00:01:23.150 musical parodies with these quieter, almost strange 00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.290 character studies. It feels like a blueprint 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:28.189 for how comedy was evolving in the early 2000s. 00:01:28.189 --> 00:01:30.049 I think that's a perfect way to put it. So our 00:01:30.049 --> 00:01:32.510 mission today is to unpack that blueprint. We're 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:34.790 going to look at the blockbusters, the disasters, 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:37.950 and the sheer weirdness of it all. And I think 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:39.670 we have to start with the biggest surprise of 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:41.849 the season. Let me guess. The moment the world 00:01:41.849 --> 00:01:44.090 realized a boy band member could actually be 00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:46.579 the funniest person in the room. You're talking 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:48.640 about the Justin Timberlake episode, October 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:53.620 11, 2003. Yes. And this is historically significant 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:56.799 in the SNL canon. It completely shattered that 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.019 musical guest stigma. Usually they come on, they 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:01.180 do a stiff line or two, and then they sing. Right. 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:03.459 But Timberlake came in and basically took over 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:05.579 the entire show. And he did it while wearing 00:02:05.579 --> 00:02:08.099 a giant foam costume. We have to talk about the 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:11.449 mascot sketches, or as I call them, the... bring 00:02:11.449 --> 00:02:14.229 it on down to daveville saga this is a perfect 00:02:14.229 --> 00:02:18.189 example of a repeatable comedic formula the premise 00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:21.430 is so simple timberlake plays a street advertiser 00:02:21.430 --> 00:02:24.210 in a ridiculous costume and he's upstaging a 00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:26.650 rival vendor but the commitment level is just 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:30.560 it's insane that first one omeletteville He's 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:33.159 dressed as this massive yellow plastic looking 00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:36.139 omelet. And he's not just standing there. He's 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.539 dancing with full pop star choreography while 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:42.080 poor Chris Parnell is next to him dressed as 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.719 like a sad plate of bacon and eggs. And that's 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:46.560 the structure, right? It's a musical parody. 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:49.639 He uses a boombox to play popular songs from 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:51.460 that year, but changes the lyrics to be about 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:53.719 eggs or soup. And he always lands on that same 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:55.939 catchphrase. Bring it on down to Omeletteville. 00:02:56.099 --> 00:02:58.800 Every time. And the notes list so many reasons 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.840 of this, it proves how much the audience loved 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.060 it. Later, we got Homelessville, where he is 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:05.599 a cup of soup battling Will Forte's Santa. Which, 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:07.860 when you say it out loud, sounds a little dark. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.759 It does, but on screen it was hilarious. It became 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:15.580 a staple. Years later, in 2011, they did Liquorville, 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:18.219 where he was a beer bottle, and they brought 00:03:18.219 --> 00:03:21.580 in Lady Gaga to play a bottle of wine. Wow. But 00:03:21.580 --> 00:03:24.180 the secret sauce is that Timberlake was willing 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:26.960 to look completely foolish. If he tried to look 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.900 cool doing it, the whole thing would have failed. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.020 My favorite detail from the research has to be 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:34.680 Veganville. He's dressed as a giant block of 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:38.060 tofu fighting Bobby Moynihan as an Italian butcher. 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:41.000 Just picturing it is funny. Yeah, a global superstar 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.840 dressed as a block of soy product dancing on 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:47.110 a sidewalk. It's just pure joy. And he knew it 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:49.889 was his brand. I mean, even in season 34 when 00:03:49.889 --> 00:03:52.409 he wasn't hosting, he popped up on Weekend Update 00:03:52.409 --> 00:03:54.449 just to say he would have done Turkeyville for 00:03:54.449 --> 00:03:56.150 Thanksgiving. He was signaling to the audience, 00:03:56.349 --> 00:03:58.610 I know what you want from me. But that same episode, 00:03:58.650 --> 00:04:01.550 that same night in October 2003, also gave us 00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:04.030 another duo that defined the era. We can't skip 00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:06.169 the Barry Give talk show. Oh, that's the heavy 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:08.199 hitter. That sketch established the chemistry 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.479 between Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake that 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.599 we still see today. Yeah. The dynamic is just 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.740 electric. You have Fallon as Barry Gibb, and 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:19.519 he is dialed up to 11. He's screaming, hitting 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.180 that high falsetto. The open chest hair, everything. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:24.500 And then you have Timberlake as his brother Robin, 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:26.680 just sitting there, totally stone -faced. And 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:28.759 that contrast is the whole comedic engine. If 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:30.639 they were both manic, it'd be too much. If they 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.680 were both low energy, it'd be boring. Right. 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:36.129 But having Timberlake sit... in silence until 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:39.170 it's time to harmonize, it creates this tension 00:04:39.170 --> 00:04:42.230 that just releases every time they sing the theme 00:04:42.230 --> 00:04:44.829 song. It's iconic. But okay, let's shift gears. 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:47.829 We've talked about the polished musical hits. 00:04:48.250 --> 00:04:50.089 I want to look at something that felt a little 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:53.790 more chaotic. I think I know where you're going. 00:04:53.889 --> 00:04:55.790 A dynamic that was less about the script and 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:57.689 more about just messing with each other. I'm 00:04:57.689 --> 00:05:00.569 talking about Caitlin and Rick. Yes. May 2004. 00:05:00.569 --> 00:05:02.990 This is a masterclass in physical comedy and 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:06.149 in character breaking. You have Amy Poehler as 00:05:06.149 --> 00:05:09.610 Caitlin, this hyperactive, nose -breathing preteen. 00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:13.430 Oh my God, the voice. Rick, Rick, Rick. I can 00:05:13.430 --> 00:05:15.660 hear it right now. Exactly. Yeah. And then you 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:19.019 have Ratio Sans as Rick, her incredibly patient, 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:22.040 indifferent stepfather. The game of the sketch 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:24.939 is that Caitlin is an unstoppable force of annoying 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:28.720 energy and Rick is an immovable object. She's 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:31.420 literally hurtling over the couch. And he just 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:34.360 sits there. But reading about the production, 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.720 it seems like the real game was for Amy Poehler 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.560 to torture Horatio Sanz until he broke character. 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:43.500 That was absolutely the meta layer. The audience 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:45.339 quickly realized the script didn't matter as 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:48.259 much as watching Horatio try not to laugh. The 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:50.319 sources mention one moment where Poehler presses 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.920 her face directly against his cheek. Oh, I remember 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:55.579 this. Like nose to cheek and just croaks Rick, 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:57.860 Rick, Rick. Yeah. And this frog voice. You can't 00:05:57.860 --> 00:05:59.560 train for that. That's just one friend trying 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:01.519 to destroy another on live television. And that's 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:03.399 why it works. You feel like you're in the studio 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:05.339 with them. And they even tried to double the 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:07.920 chaos in the final one by bringing in Molly Shannon 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:11.019 as Caitlyn's mom. Oh, right. And she played the 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:13.860 mom exactly like Caitlyn. So suddenly poor Rick 00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:15.800 is trapped between two of them screaming at him. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.279 It was just sensory overload. Speaking of sensory 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:21.000 overload, I want to talk about a sketch that's 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:25.220 maybe a little less high art, but was a huge 00:06:25.220 --> 00:06:27.740 part of this season. It started in January 2004, 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:31.000 and it leaned hard into some very specific stereotypes. 00:06:32.139 --> 00:06:34.699 Appalachian Emergency Room. Oh, this was a recurring 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:36.899 sketch they went back to again and again. The 00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:40.180 premise is right there in the title. An ER in 00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:43.120 a rural redneck setting. And it really relied 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:47.060 on this parade of... grotesque characters. It's 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:49.240 a real rogues gallery. You've got Seth Meyers 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:51.399 as the receptionist in a mullet, and he's basically 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:54.079 the only sane person there. He's a straight man. 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.079 And then you have Daryl Hammond and Amy Poehler 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:58.860 as Percy and Nettie Bodance. Percy is always 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:01.160 injured, usually blaming it on their druggie 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:04.680 son, and Nettie has that very specific slow shuffle 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:07.779 walk that Amy Poehler perfected. But the standout, 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:09.800 the one that defines the sketch, has to be Tyler. 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:12.259 Yes, Tyler, played by Chris Parnell. He's in 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:14.839 almost every one. The receptionist asks, What 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.040 is it this time, Tyler? And the answer is always 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.920 that he has something incredibly specific stuck 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:22.100 in his rectum. The writers really... They really 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:24.839 challenged themselves with the specificity. It 00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:27.459 wasn't just a bottle. No. The one that killed 00:07:27.459 --> 00:07:30.040 me from the notes was the canister of Axe body 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:33.279 spray. And Tyler has this line where he explains 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.079 that if he moves his hips a certain way. He can 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.379 still make it spray. He can still make it spray. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.980 It's horrifyingly creative. Or the jar of 20 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:44.560 cotton balls. But they were in a jar, so he thought 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.370 it was safe. The logic is so warped. And you 00:07:47.370 --> 00:07:50.269 had Fred Armisen as Willie Tater, who is always 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:52.329 burning himself doing something ridiculous like 00:07:52.329 --> 00:07:54.750 using curling irons as lightsabers. It just feels 00:07:54.750 --> 00:07:57.329 like a vehicle for the cast to come in, do a 00:07:57.329 --> 00:08:00.050 weird voice, explain a gross injury and leave. 00:08:00.310 --> 00:08:04.209 I mean, Jack Black showed up once to do a farting 00:08:04.209 --> 00:08:06.750 contest in a live nativity scene. It was lowbrow. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.139 But they committed. And it shows the sheer variety 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:12.180 of humor this season. You go from the slick production 00:08:12.180 --> 00:08:14.939 of Timberlake to a fart joke in an ER. Yeah. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.500 But then you pivot to something completely cerebral, 00:08:17.699 --> 00:08:19.839 like the character Billy Smith. This one I had 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:21.480 totally forgotten, but reading the description 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:23.639 sounds fascinating. Another Fred Armisen character. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:28.519 Right. Yes. From October 2003. Armisen plays 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:31.579 a Native American stand -up comedian. But the 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:34.720 humor isn't the jokes themselves. It's anti -comedy. 00:08:34.779 --> 00:08:36.659 Right, because he'll start with a classic setup, 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:38.840 like, why did the chicken cross the road? And 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:41.679 then, instead of a punchline, he veers into this 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:45.179 incredibly obscure, serious reference to Native 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:48.500 American culture or local politics. So the silence 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:51.379 from the crowd is the joke. Precisely. The humor 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:54.120 comes from the failure of expectation. And then 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.139 he has to awkwardly explain the reference to 00:08:56.139 --> 00:08:58.500 the confused audience. It's a very different 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:01.360 comedic muscle than Omeletteville. And speaking 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:03.259 of Fred Armisen and different cultural flavors, 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:05.500 he was really driving the international sketches 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:07.899 this season. We had showbiz grande explosion. 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:10.460 A parody of those big variety shows like Sabado 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:14.759 Gigante. Horatio Sanz was the host, Manuel Pantolones, 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:17.899 and Armisen was Ferrecito, the Venezuelan nightclub 00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:19.899 comedian. Ferrecito had that catchphrase, everyone 00:09:19.899 --> 00:09:22.100 starts saying, adios mio, and you do that sad 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:23.840 face, then immediately snap back and say, I'm 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.139 just kidding. It was basically Spanglish. But 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:28.460 then they took it even further with Besos While 00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:31.779 Agreemas, a full -on telenovela parody. And the 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.000 boldest part of that sketch, no subtitles. None. 00:09:35.529 --> 00:09:37.429 They performed the entire thing in Spanish. That 00:09:37.429 --> 00:09:40.490 is a huge risk for network TV in 2004. You're 00:09:40.490 --> 00:09:42.210 just banking on the audience getting the joke 00:09:42.210 --> 00:09:44.269 without understanding the words. But they did 00:09:44.269 --> 00:09:46.549 get it. Because the writers leaned into the universal 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:49.649 language of melodrama. The slapping, the crying, 00:09:49.850 --> 00:09:52.929 the dramatic stares. You didn't need Spanish 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:55.460 to know the tropes. Visuals are a big thing, 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:58.179 too. We have to talk about The Prince Show. If 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:01.279 you watched SNL in 2004, this image is burned 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.620 into your brain. Everything on screen was purple. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.820 The set, the costumes, the smoke. It debuted 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:10.399 on Valentine's Day 2004. Armisen as Prince and 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.490 Maya Rudolph as Beyonce. And the dynamic is so 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:15.970 weird, Prince barely speaks. He just whispers 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:18.269 into Beyoncé's ear and she acts as his translator. 00:10:18.509 --> 00:10:20.830 And she translates these bizarre, mystical demands. 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:24.269 But the best running gag was Prince's elusiveness. 00:10:24.490 --> 00:10:27.029 He would just vanish mid -sketch. Like physically 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:29.929 leave the set? No, he'd just slip away. The guest 00:10:29.929 --> 00:10:31.990 would ask where he went and Beyoncé would point 00:10:31.990 --> 00:10:33.889 to a tiny monitor and you'd see Prince doing 00:10:33.889 --> 00:10:36.929 something totally mundane, like sculpting a bust 00:10:36.929 --> 00:10:39.090 or painting a fence. There's a great story about 00:10:39.090 --> 00:10:41.590 this in the research. Apparently, later on, the 00:10:41.590 --> 00:10:44.049 real Prince was the musical guest when Steve 00:10:44.049 --> 00:10:46.389 Martin hosted. A classic what -could -have -been 00:10:46.389 --> 00:10:49.389 moment. The writers wanted the real Prince to 00:10:49.389 --> 00:10:52.789 appear in the sketch. The gag was going to be 00:10:52.789 --> 00:10:55.570 Fred Armisen looking into a mirror and seeing 00:10:55.570 --> 00:10:57.710 the real Prince as his reflection. That would 00:10:57.710 --> 00:10:59.809 have been amazing. And Prince refused. Of course 00:10:59.809 --> 00:11:02.830 he did. That is the most Prince thing to do. 00:11:03.230 --> 00:11:05.350 He didn't want to make fun of himself, so they 00:11:05.350 --> 00:11:08.080 just used a regular mirror. But Steve Martin 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.639 did end up playing Prince's personal chef, so 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:12.879 we got something out of it. Okay, what about 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:16.000 the industry satire? This season had a lot of 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:19.080 meta commentary on fame. You had Spyglass, which 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:21.700 felt like a British -access Hollywood. Right. 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.779 Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler again. The gimmick 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:27.519 was the clash of styles. Seth Meyers played a 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:30.779 presenter who only spoke in terrible puns. We're 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:34.620 keeping an eye on London. Exactly. And Amy Poehler's 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:36.240 characters seem to be reporting on celebrities. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.460 But as she talked, you realize she was actually 00:11:38.460 --> 00:11:40.679 just stalking them, you know, digging through 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:42.860 their trash, hiding in their bushes. It's so 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:44.620 interesting to see them building that rapport. 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:46.620 You can see the seeds of their weekend update 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:49.220 partnership right there. Definitely. But for 00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:52.580 my money, the best industry satire was Abe Scheinwald. 00:11:52.990 --> 00:11:56.690 Oh, Rachel Drash. She is so good at playing these 00:11:56.690 --> 00:11:59.330 gross little characters. She played Abe, this 00:11:59.330 --> 00:12:02.990 senile old school film producer. And Seth Meyers 00:12:02.990 --> 00:12:05.269 played his grandson, Brad, who's trying to take 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:07.769 over the family business and make art. And the 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:10.710 tragedy is that the grandson realizes his inheritance 00:12:10.710 --> 00:12:14.070 is gone because Abe passed on every major hit 00:12:14.070 --> 00:12:16.639 of the last decade. The list is just painful. 00:12:16.820 --> 00:12:19.279 Abe passed on Titanic, The Matrix, Lord of the 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.340 Rings. Why? Because he didn't think they had 00:12:21.340 --> 00:12:23.059 enough sex appeal. He wanted to make exploitation 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:25.659 films. That was his motto, right? His motto was, 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:30.700 and I quote, It's so crude, but watching Seth 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:33.279 Meyers die inside while Rachel Dratch delivers 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:36.240 that line with total conviction, it's just comedy 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.500 gold. And speaking of Rachel Dratch, we've arrived 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:41.500 at the moment we cannot ignore. Season 29 gave 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:43.539 us one of the biggest recurring characters of 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:47.149 the decade. debuting May 1st, 2004, Debbie Downer. 00:12:47.210 --> 00:12:49.529 It's shocking she appeared so late in the season. 00:12:49.690 --> 00:12:52.169 I feel like Debbie Downer is part of the show's 00:12:52.169 --> 00:12:54.789 DNA. It was an instant classic. The premise is 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.820 universal, right? Yeah. Someone who... ruins 00:12:57.820 --> 00:13:00.200 a perfectly good vibe by bringing up horrific 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.279 news. But it's the execution that sells it. The 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.820 camera snaps into that tight close -up on her 00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:08.440 face. She looks directly into the lens, and you 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:11.399 hear that sound effect. The wah -wah muted trumpet. 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.379 It's Pavlovian. We have to be honest. Part of 00:13:14.379 --> 00:13:16.639 why this sketch became legendary wasn't just 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:19.220 the writing. It was the breaking. Oh, absolutely. 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:23.429 The very first sketch. At Disney World is famous 00:13:23.429 --> 00:13:26.409 because nobody could get through it. Dratch brings 00:13:26.409 --> 00:13:29.529 up feline AIDS and the entire cast just dissolves. 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:31.789 It's contagious. When they laugh, the audience 00:13:31.789 --> 00:13:34.009 laughs harder. It's that live wire energy you 00:13:34.009 --> 00:13:36.409 only get on SNL. Before we wrap up, I want to 00:13:36.409 --> 00:13:38.529 pivot to one last sketch that I think is just 00:13:38.529 --> 00:13:41.509 delightfully weird. Pat and Patty Silviak. This 00:13:41.509 --> 00:13:43.669 one is a tongue twister. It's a linguistic challenge 00:13:43.669 --> 00:13:46.009 disguised as a sketch. It wasn't about a plot. 00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.090 It was about seeing how many times they could 00:13:48.090 --> 00:13:50.980 use the ax sound. So you have Horatio Sanz and 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:53.440 Maya Rudolph playing Pat and Patty, and everything 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.320 rhymes. They run Pat and Patty's Backpack Shack. 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:58.620 Which is located in Hackensack. Right next to 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:02.100 the dog track. And the employees. Who could forget 00:14:02.100 --> 00:14:05.700 Maddie and Jackie Halderback? Or Jack Hackensack? 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.720 It's so silly, it's barely a sketch. But it shows 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.960 the writer saying, can we sustain a three -minute 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.679 segment just using one vowel sound? And the answer 00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:17.679 was yes. The notes even mention the website they 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:21.620 promoted was BackpackShack .ac. That is dedication. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.759 It is. And look, not every experiment worked. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.480 There was Jorge Rodriguez, another Rachel Sands 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:30.080 character, this aloof guy looking for his friend 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.200 Pepe. I'm looking for Pepe. That was the whole 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:33.879 thing. It didn't quite have the staying power 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.399 of Debbie Downer or Barry Gibb, but it shows 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:38.539 that throw -it -at -the -wall energy of the season. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.759 So let's bring this all together. When we look 00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:43.159 at this whole season, from Timberlake in a tofu 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:46.340 costume to the ac sketch, what's the big takeaway? 00:14:46.830 --> 00:14:49.450 Well, this season really solidified an era of 00:14:49.450 --> 00:14:52.470 SNL that relied heavily on recurring characters 00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:55.950 and catchphrases. Think about it. Barry Gibb, 00:14:55.950 --> 00:14:58.470 Appalachian Emergency Room, The Prince Show, 00:14:58.789 --> 00:15:01.590 Caitlin and Rick. These weren't one -offs. They 00:15:01.590 --> 00:15:03.850 were franchises. And they were consistent formulas. 00:15:03.950 --> 00:15:06.029 You tuned in knowing exactly what you were going 00:15:06.029 --> 00:15:08.570 to get. Exactly. You tuned in waiting for Tyler 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:11.830 to say what was in his butt. You waited for Tibberlake 00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:14.240 to say... Bring it on down to it was Comfort 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.720 Food TV. It really reflects the pop culture of 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.419 2004, too. We were obsessed with these big personalities, 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.440 J -Lo, Prince, Timberlake. And the show was reflecting 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.340 that back at us, but through this like distorted 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:27.919 funhouse mirror. And it was a crucial transition 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.159 point for the cast. You see the baton passing. 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.059 Fallon is established. But Poehler, Myers and 00:15:34.059 --> 00:15:36.299 Armisen are really carving out the spaces that 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:38.600 would define the show for the next decade. It's 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:40.879 a snapshot of a comedy generation finding its 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.940 footing. And honestly, this deep dive just makes 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:44.759 me want to go back and watch Justin Timberlake 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:46.860 dress up as a cup of soup again. It remains a 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:49.620 surprisingly enduring image. Before we sign off, 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.659 here's something to think about. We talked a 00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:53.799 lot about how these sketches were strict formulas. 00:15:54.179 --> 00:15:57.179 Tyler's injuries, Caitlin's running, Prince's 00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:00.220 whispering. They did the exact same thing every 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:02.580 single time. It raises an important question 00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:05.330 about modern comedy. We live in the TikTok era 00:16:05.330 --> 00:16:07.730 now, where if a video doesn't surprise you in 00:16:07.730 --> 00:16:09.190 the first three seconds, you just scroll past 00:16:09.190 --> 00:16:12.149 it. Do we still have the patience for that kind 00:16:12.149 --> 00:16:16.029 of repetitive formula? Or was that patient recurring 00:16:16.029 --> 00:16:18.950 character model a unique feature of the early 00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:21.529 2000s that we might never see again? That is 00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:23.929 a great question to chew on. Can a bring it on 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:26.850 down to Omeletteville survive in 2026? I'm not 00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:28.950 sure, but I'm glad we have the tapes from 2003. 00:16:29.529 --> 00:16:31.490 Thanks for listening to this deep dive. We'll 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:32.549 catch you on the next one. Goodbye.