S44.E19: Adam Sandler / Shawn Mendes

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Adam Sandler hosts, and Shawn Mendes musics.

 

Airing Saturday, May 4, 2019.

[Pete Martell]

The show's editing people are just terrific - they pretty much go in order from the start to the end (or close) for Sandler in these clips.

 

[cpcathy]

Based on his promo, I'm saying he's not fully into this hosting gig.

[Dr.OO7]

I wonder if this will be new stuff or a rehashing of his best bits from when he was on?

[VCRTracking]

[vb68]

1 hour ago, Camille said:

I wonder if this will be new stuff or a rehashing of his best bits from when he was on?

Probably both? I wouldn't mind seeing The Gap Girls looking for work now with their mall deserted. Or something like that.

[Pete Martell]

6 hours ago, cpcathy said:

Based on his promo, I'm saying he's not fully into this hosting gig.

From what he said here he's going to just let them do the stuff.

He had mixed or unhappy feelings about SNL for a number of years, so I wonder if he's just reached a point in his life where he doesn't care anymore and knows the positive publicity of a return will be a nice change from "don't his movies suck," as well as finally doing something people never thought he'd do. 

I can't say I am expecting much, although I'd take pretty much anything he has to give over more Trump material. 

3 hours ago, vb68 said:

Probably both? I wouldn't mind seeing The Gap Girls looking for work now with their mall deserted. Or something like that.

Someone did say David Spade is in New York this week...

Someone on Twitter said they should have Cajun Man talk about the Mueller report. I doubt they will, but that would be fun.

[VCRTracking]

[helenamonster]

If this episode manages to anything more than Adam sleepwalking through tired bits from 25 years ago (he was before my time so I don't have the nostalgia for Opera Man, Canteen Boy et. al. that others do) I will consider it a success.

[Ohwell]

I'm not ashamed to say that this old woman can't wait to see Shawn Mendes.  That hair!

[Wavy]

Quote

I'd be interested in hearing Opera Man's interpretation of the Barr hearings.

[Fostersmom]

On 5/1/2019 at 11:45 AM, cpcathy said:

Based on his promo, I'm saying he's not fully into this hosting gig.

He doesn't seem fully into any of his projects these days. Every time I see him promoting anything, he seems all but bothered by it and the whole idea. Dude, you've got plenty of money, if working and playing the celebrity game is sooo very hateful to you, feel free to stop. I mean, who's going to cry about the lack of another one of your horrible movies? Other than your friends who rely on you to cast them as stooges in them, I don't see anyone clamoring for a 50 year old guy acting like an idiot. 

[Pete Martell]

Sandler talks a bit about his week and mentions that a few past writers are coming back.

Shawn Mendes apparently said in an article he will be in a sketch, so...we'll see I guess...

[Dr.OO7]

Anyone else laugh like an idiot at the "I Was Fired" song in the monologue?

[GoldenGirl90]

14 minutes ago, Camille said:

Anyone else laugh like an idiot at the "I Was Fired" song in the monologue?

I was hoping he’d mention Chris Farley and although only briefly, he did. Also was happy to see Chris Rock randomly make an appearance. I’m actually liking the skits with Sandler so far, and I’m saying that as someone who isn’t a big fan of Sandler (I don’t dislike him, either). The PSA from Romano Tours was pretty hilarious as well.

That being said, the Holes song was freakin’ awful. Very unfunny. Didn’t crack a single smile. I don’t think Sandler was in that one at all, though.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Alexis2291

[formerlyfreedom]

4 minutes ago, Camille said:

Anyone else laugh like an idiot at the "I Was Fired" song in the monologue?

*raises hand*

[ninjago]

13 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I'm not ashamed to say that this old woman can't wait to see Shawn Mendes.  That hair!

Shawn Mendes is ridiculous (in the best way!)-like he was made in a lab to be the perfect pop star.

As Lorne has said, everyone thinks the best years of SNL were the ones when they were in high school, and, for me, those were the Farley/Sandler years...which actually were the best years of SNL, so I'm loving seeing Adam back.

Edited May 5, 2019 by ninjago

[Robert Lynch]

Shawn  looks like a giant next to Sandler. I never knew he was that short.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[ninjago]

3 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Sean looks a giant next to Sandler. I never knew he was that short.

To be fair, Sean is 6'2" + hair.

[Robert Lynch]

1 minute ago, ninjago said:

To be fair, Sean is 6'2" + hair.

He's two inches taller than me. 

[ebk57]

That was one of the best Sheila Sovage sketches I've seen.  And I'm ready for the show to be over since it's usually the 12:55 sketch... 

[freddi]

They had weeks to rest up and get charged with ideas from all the wacky national news.  But this feels so tired to me, even Weekend Update.  But Romano Tours was the high point, for sure, mostly because it was all. true.  I've muted several of the sketches because they just seemed so loud and pointless.  

ETA:  the Chris Farley song was from the heart, and great.   Lots of tears in the sign-off.  It made me think the song was the reason he came back to host.  

Edited May 5, 2019 by freddi

[formerlyfreedom]

I had fairly low expectations, so I'm very happily pleased with the show. Shawn Mendes isn't awful to look at (I feel kinda like a dirty old lady, TBH), and the sketches that hit were funnier than I expected. And the ones that missed, well, they were less awful than I expected.

I wondered if they'd close with Adam's song about Chris Farley, and they did - I think Chris and Adam's friendship has a lot to do with why Adam came back and hosted after 24 years. RIP Chris.

[ninjago]

Oh, no, I'm crying about Chris Farley.  Sweet man.  This episode is hitting me in the nostalgia bone.

[GoldenGirl90]

If you want to see the best rendition of Sandler’s dedication song to Farley, watch the clip from his Netflix comedy special on YouTube. Much better version imo. Completely unedited. Talk about chills, even if you don’t care at all for Farley. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by Alexis2291

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: In lieu of a political sketch, we get GOT vs Avengers Family Feud. YES. Beck as Thanos was as amazing as it was pretty horrifying to see, and Leslie Jones as Groot was great. I appreciate this show not spoiling either The Longest Night or Endgame (because Thor is anything BUT jacked in that movie).

Show me "some kind of white nonsense!" (Travel!) was great.

Monologue: If ANYONE was gonna sing for their monologue, it was gonna be Sandler. And he didn't disappoint. Yep, singing how he famously got fired. And then came the cameos and singing about how THEY got fired, like Chris Rock.

Snapchat Filters: Okay, combining silly Sandler voices with snapchat filters is gold. I liked the meerkat filter, but the sketch got way better once Sandler joined in.

Holes (Clothes): This was weird, I'm hoping that this was a pure Good Neighbor project. This was just an excuse to just say "holes" over and over again, wasn't it? Beck and Kyle looked like Ben Franklin and Weird Al, right?

Romano Tours: Oh my god, they're spoofing Perillo Tours. Yes, they're the guys who give tours of Italy to Long Island families. And every single part of this just hit so close to home. If you're sad at home, you'll be sad in a foreign country.

Sandler Family Reunion: Looks like they're pulling what they did with Walken and Jim Carrey and it's a sketch where everyone does a Sandler voice. Leslie Jones as Chubbs was probably my favorite part. I'll be honest, if I was in that room, I'd consider it the first circle of hell.

Rectix: That pill looked like it came right out of Dr. Mario and that's all I could think of. And it just got hilariously more horrifying. Dishwasher safe was where it broke me.

WU: Yeah, this week was pretty stupid. And yeah, out of all the stuff we need to get angry about, we as a nation decided to go full blast on Sonic The Hedgehog. DeBlasio jokes are pretty easy, but also welcome. Peeps being made of soap and crab meat was probably my favorite joke.

I'm all for Give No Shits Elizabeth Warren. It's pretty sad that while she's the one actually laying out policy, media is focusing on Biden, Mayor Pete, and Beto. SIGH.

And we get Operaman! He didn't disappoint. Only nitpick, they showed the winning Kentucky Derby horse as Maximum Security, and not the one that actually ended up winning.

Last Call: Sheila is back, and it's fitting that Sandler would encounter her. And an orange Kristen Wiig. It got much better (and horrifying) the second they all went in on each other. Kenan's reactions was just the icing on the cake. "I didn't finish but I am done" is such a goddamn mood.

Farley Song: Aww this was sweet. And it had clips of all his great bits. Man, this one got to me. Didn't expect to cry at 1am on a Saturday, but here we are.

11 hours ago, ninjago said:

As Lorne has said, everyone thinks the best years of SNL were the ones when they were in high school, and, for me, those were the Farley/Sandler years...which actually were the best years of SNL, so I'm loving seeing Adam back.

I was watching that era of reruns when I was in high school, so this also applied to me.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Galileo908

[Mystery]

2 minutes ago, saoirse said:

I wondered if they'd close with Adam's song about Chris Farley, and they did - I think Chris and Adam's friendship has a lot to do with why Adam came back and hosted after 24 years. RIP Chris.

I was wondering if that was the reason, too. Some of the cast members were still in tears at the end, including Pete, who hardly stays for the end anymore. 

[ebk57]

13 minutes ago, saoirse said:

I had fairly low expectations, so I'm very happily pleased with the show. Shawn Mendes isn't awful to look at (I feel kinda like a dirty old lady, TBH), and the sketches that hit were funnier than I expected. And the ones that missed, well, they were less awful than I expected.

I wondered if they'd close with Adam's song about Chris Farley, and they did - I think Chris and Adam's friendship has a lot to do with why Adam came back and hosted after 24 years. RIP Chris.

This is pretty much exactly what I was saying to Mr. ebk while you were typing this.  

A couple of the sketches weren't very good (Holes...), but the ones that hit had me laughing out loud.  And laughing hard.  And I rarely do that with this show anymore.  I enjoyed this one.  And I'm very pleasantly surprised that I dd. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by ebk57
Proofreading is your friend

[Peace 47]

Romano Tours is definitely in the top 5 sketches of the season for me.  I was giggling throughout.  “We can take you to the Amalfi Coast.  We can’t make you comfortable in a bathing suit.”

Last night, I binge watched “Dead to Me” on Netflix (which is a dramedy that deals with grief), and I bawled multiple times.  I was thinking that tonight, I was up for some pure laughs, but damned if I didn’t bawl my eyes out again at the Chris Farley song.  He must have been a very special friend to Sandler.  It was a very lovely tribute to Farley.

[vb68]

I knew he would do the Farley Song! I knew it. And he cleaned it up for broadcast. True, the original version is better, but doing the song on THAT STAGE makes it even more moving imho.

That was the obvious highlight and Update was on fire this week. Elizabeth Warren and Opera Man taking no prisoners is what I needed.

Also agree this was the best Sheila Savage even if I groaned when I first saw Wiig was being shoehorned into it, but she was great in the sketch, too. I did think it was kinda odd she was cameoing this week. I don't think there's an obvious connection with her and Sandler.

I thought the cold open was kinda lame and a cop out of sorts with so much news, but they have gotten skittish the past few weeks about leading with  politics. Disappointing but whatever. I didn't even  think most of the impressions were that good. That's the best Alex could do for Thor's voice? Really?   

But the rest of the show kept getting better and better. There was something in my eye at the end when Adam was singing.

Edited May 5, 2019 by vb68

[Pete Martell]

4 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Also agree this was the best Sheila Savage even if I groaned when I first saw Wiig was being shoehorned into it, but she was great in the sketch, too. I did think it was kinda odd she was cameoing this week. i don't think there's an obvious connection with her and Sandler.

I thought the cold open was kinda lame and a cop out of sorts with so much news, but they have gotten skittish the past few weeks about leading with  politics. Disappointing but whatever. I didn't even  think most of the impressions were that good. That's the best Alex could do for Thor's voice? Really?   

Other than Melissa I wouldn't say this is an impressions cast, which makes the choice to have as many impression sketches as they have this season all the more odd to me. I did laugh at Kyle Mooney as Bran. Beck as Thanos was clearly supposed to be a 'moment,' but I mostly just felt bad for him over all the makeup and prosthetic he had to be put into. The jokes just weren't funny. 

I'm actually thrilled SNL is avoiding politics. I'm sure they will be back soon enough, but I don't enjoy seeing them. They are mostly what amounts to stating the obvious, with wigs, makeup, and stunt casting, then being written up for stating the obvious, and people saying how bad they are. It may be cowardly, I don't know, but I'm overjoyed for the break. The problem is that the material which replaces the political stuff is flat and lazy and self-indulgent. Essentially - we can get away with this because we're SNL. 

I was also confused about why Kristen was on the show, particularly when they already have a strong female cast, but she had her moments. Maybe Sandler was a big fan? Or vice/versa?

When Jimmy Fallon (who annoys me but worked here - and he's also aging much better than I thought he would have) popped up, I saw Kristen, Jimmy, Sandler, Pete Davidson, and Leslie Jones in one room, and wondered if Lorne was trying to set a world record for most all time polarizing cast members to have in one sketch.

[Arkay]

I remember the Sandler era on SNL, and I really wasn't sure if he would be funny tonight or just dull. However,  I throughly enjoyed him tonight and laughed more at this show than any SNL this season. I thought the monologue was funny and that Opera Man was hysterical. 

Farley wasn't my favorite, but this song had me in tears. Looked like Heidi was crying during the good nights, as was Pete. I especially thought Pete might be impacted because he knows he could be going down that same path, and maybe because of all the father references. It would be great if maybe this could serve as A wake-up call for Pete.

Good to have Fallon and Chris Rock show up, but I could do without Wiig forever. 

[SHD]

I like older Sandler much more than young Sandler. Thought he did well in most skits and I like the settledness that a lot of people read as him not caring about stuff anymore. I even enjoyed Opera Man, which I kind of hated back in the day.

Unpopular opinion...I pretty much fast forward through anything Kate McKinnon-centric and I’ve never liked the gross bar couple skits, except for Keenan’s reactions. The show has, to me, “Wiig-ed” her by overusing her.

That filmed song bit was terrible. 

[Spartan Girl]

I was just happy to have Operaman back! Best part of the night, aside from the Chris Farley song.

[Pete Martell]

Finally watched the whole show...

I'd say it was up there with the John Mulaney episode for my favorites of the season. It wasn't as good, because that cold opening was just lazy and unfunny, but otherwise the show had a nice flow and feel to it that reminded me of much earlier seasons, where I could enjoy the night even if I didn't think a sketch was all that funny. 

The highlights for me were:

- the travel sketch, which could have been damaged by the overly long run time, but was kept afloat by very funny work from Sandler and variations on "We can't help you if your life is screwed up"

- Opera Man, easily my favorite bit from Sandler in his run as a cast member. I had forgotten until watching them again recently how much of his routines would not fly with today's viewers, but Sandler did a good job of adapting to modern times, and also changing the performance to fit his current energy level. Compared to some of the dead audiences of other episodes, hearing them get into this as it went along was a nice jolt. 

- Sandler Family Reunion. Considering I have only seen one Adam Sandler film and have no desire to change that, I should have hated seeing minutes and minutes of 80% of the cast doing annoying impressions of annoying characters, but the whole thing was fun and goofy, buoyed by the obvious admiration they all had for Sandler. One of the surprising strengths of the night was that even with various cameos, it didn't feel like Sandler, or his era, were grafted onto the existing cast or existing show. Sandler pretty much stuck right in with the group. I think it helped that this is such a disparate cast, one that doesn't feel like it has a distinct tone. I guess that is fitting, because none of the casts in Sandler's SNL era did either. 

- Snapchat. Silly, goofy fun that surprisingly never felt like it ran too long or was trying too hard. (and Beck looked good...)

- Monologue. This could have come across as smug or mean-spirited, but had just the right tone. Also great to see Chris Rock pop up briefly (and with an In Living Color reference!) 

The Holes movie I would have put on Youtube, even though I was glad to see Kyle and Beck get another chance (I wish it had been one of their better products - this one seemed to almost deliberately take a thin idea and stall it out with little to no comedy). The cold open - not a fan. Kate's Elizabeth Warren was interesting to watch, but feels like it can't be repeated. 

Last Call seems to be one of those sketches like We R Whiskers that returns because Kate clearly loves doing them. The latter is much more entertaining to me than the former, although I imagine Kristen and Kate fans were loving this moment. At first I was worried they were going for some 2008-era brownface with Wiig, but then I realized it was meant to be tanning, thankfully.

Here's the cut sketch:

Some other sketches cut:

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, Arkay said:

Good to have Fallon and Chris Rock show up, but I could do without Wiig forever. 

I was hoping for a David Spade cameo, but no such luck.

[Ottis]

I’m not even to WU yet on my DVR, but I feel compelled to post how useless and pointless the “Holes” video was. Virtually no audience laughter. No clever lyrics. No payoff at the end. That was just several minutes of yawn. 

EDIT: The Farley tribute was nice and a welcome addition. Still sad he died so young. Also, the travel skit was hilarious. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by Ottis

[theredhead77]

I love Adam Sandler and loved this episode. Super glad I read here first so I could be prepared for the Farley tribute. I don't know how Sandler preforms it without crying. It wrecks me every time. 

[Ohwell]

9 hours ago, SHD said:

Unpopular opinion...I pretty much fast forward through anything Kate McKinnon-centric and I’ve never liked the gross bar couple skits, except for Keenan’s reactions. The show has, to me, “Wiig-ed” her by overusing her.

I FF through the Kate McKinnon stuff too.  And, I thought the gross bar couple and Wiig were........gross.  I had never seen that skit before and I never want to see it again.  Just not funny. 

[helenamonster]

I thought it was odd they felt they had to frame the cold open with that CSPAN "we're actually not gonna talk about politics" thing. I guess because people have become so accustomed to the cold opens always being political? It just felt unnecessary.

Holes/Clothes was probably the biggest misfire of a sketch they've had in a long time. It wasn't necessarily the worst sketch I've seen in a while, but the gap between how much went into it/how hard they clearly thought they were killing it and how badly they stuck the landing made me cringe.

Romano Tours was my favorite sketch of the night. Each joke about how a vacation to Italy will not fix your problems at home was better than the last.

Rectix was great. I loved Beck's continued insistence that it was just a butt plug.

I have a complicated relationship with Chris Farley--I think he was hilarious but there's something about the whole "sad clown" story/persona that makes me deeply uncomfortable. However, I found Adam's song very moving. They were obviously very close and I can imagine him still not being over losing him.

This was actually a pretty strong episode for the most part. I'll never watch another Adam Sandler movie but I can't deny his presence brought a lot to the show. It's clear the whole cast admires him and I think that energy carried the whole thing.

11 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

That being said, the Holes song was freakin’ awful. Very unfunny. Didn’t crack a single smile. I don’t think Sandler was in that one at all, though.

He played the hair metal guitar dude that showed up during the bridge.

[VCRTracking]

43 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

Romano Tours was my favorite sketch of the night. Each joke about how a vacation to Italy will not fix your problems at home was better than the last.

Rectix was great. I loved Beck's continued insistence that it was just a butt plug.

Yeah I liked Romano Tours is my favorite too. "If you're sad now, you might still be sad there!" So much truth about vacations! It's apparently a parody of a local New York commercial for "Perillo Tours"

Also loved Rectix. Beck's being more horrified and Adam and Aidy's nonchalant attitude were hilarious.

I had seen Sandler perform his tribute song to Chris Farley before and it still moves me to tears. It's really sad that he died so young.

Loved seeing Opera Man again.

I didn't know until recently that Sandler and Farley had been fired I always thought they quit to do movies. Looking back it was a risky decision by Lorne Michaels but the right call. The '94-'95 season was terrible and that "Saturday Night Dead" article(while harsh) wasn't wrong The show had become a frathouse. Lorne also always liked Python of "silly but smart" comedy but after Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman left and Sandler and Farley became the dominant voice the show veered way into the silly and wasn't smart. Billy Madison was a hit in early 1995, as was Tommy Boy so I think Lorne figured if he cut Sandler and Farley loose they would be okay. In fact it was better because they'd end up devoting more time to movies instead of the show like Belushi and Aykroyd did in '79 so it was a better choice. Sandler might have been hurt but he went on to do a string of movies that all became successful. Looking at it now it's an incredible run. It was hit after hit after hit for 15 years!

ETA: Just read information from the AV Club that the decision to fire them came from Don Ohlmeyer. While I didn't agree with him firing Norm MacDonald from Weekend Update, I kind of see his point in this case. It had gotten too goofy and away from the political commentary. Unfortunately he didn't realize it would them roasting his pal OJ!

Edited May 5, 2019 by VCRTracking

[vb68]

41 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I didn't know until recently that Sandler and Farley had been fired I always thought they quit to do movies. Looking back it was a risky decision by Lorne Michaels but the right call.

 I think the show really was on the verge of cancellation at that point, and the order from above was something like "clean house or it's over."  It's hard to remember now, but those guys were getting lots of horrible press at the time (i.e. the whole Janeane Garofalo debacle).  So it was risky to start over with a whole new cast, but I'm not sure it was really much of a decision. Lorne's hands were tied. I think it was a business call, and not personal on Lorne's part. I also think it's taken Adam a good while to see that, but he has apparently now.

I don't think I ever realized Chris Rock was fired, though. I remember at the time, the press was that he decided to leave because they weren't giving him a lot of show time, and he felt In Living Color was a better fit for him.  It makes sense in retrospect, but Rock and his agents really spun that at the time. (And of course a lot of what he said about the show being lily white was clearly true.)

It's really nice to see both Adam and Chris  come back and embrace the show.  

Edited May 5, 2019 by vb68

[meowmommy]

13 hours ago, ninjago said:

As Lorne has said, everyone thinks the best years of SNL were the ones when they were in high school

I guess I'm supposed to be dead, then, because SNL premiered when I was in college.  It was an instant hit in the dorm.

And I was lost in the cold open, because I've never seen Avengers or GoT.  I don't really remember Adam Sandler from his SNL days, only from his (mostly) execrable movies.

So yeah, that probably proves I really am dead.

[Robert Lynch]

I grew up in the late 80s-90s and parts of the 2000s of SNL. I remember all of the Sandler sketches, even the ones from the horrid 1994-95 season. Phil Hartman, Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Cheri Oteri, Chris Farley, etc. were the performers I admired the most from that memory of SNL.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[rmontro]

I thought this was a great show.  It had me from the Avengers/Game of Thrones opening.

I've been watching SNL from the beginning, and nothing can beat the original cast, but when Sandler was on the show that was a great era, that was a strong #2 IMO.

I'm amazed that Sandler could get through that Farley song without crying a bit.  I've always said Chris Farley was the funniest cast member who was ever on this show.

[Thumper]

The Chad sketch is funny!

[possibilities]

I was very surprised to find myself laughing a lot and I thought this week was really good.

I liked the monologue. I didn't watch SNL in the 1990s, so I didn't know the history, but I still found it amusing. Also, somehow I didn't know Sandler could sing. I just knew he makes movies that don't interest me. I am really averse to the whole "crude, schlubby dude genre" which is what I associate him with.

LOVED the Romano Tours sketch. "You're still gonna be you on vacation." It can't be said too many times, thus I never thought that sketch dragged. Excellent.

I thought Kate's Warren impression was terrible, but the writing for her WU appearance made up for it. I also liked the commentary of Opera Man, even though that's the kind of character I generally despise. As usual, for me the writing is what makes or breaks the show.

I liked the Sandler Reunion because of the idea that his characters were based on his family, and how that would actually be if it were true. Also, the awkwardness of becoming a celebrity and then going home to the family of non-celebrities who you made your money mocking. Whew.

I don't know what it is about Wiig, but she annoys me so much, it's really hard to not feel her presence poisons everything she appears in.

I liked the Tripoli skit, because of how it managed to highlight just how dangerous and basically insane wartime reporting is, and found an angle to say that respectfully while still being watchable. That's a skill. Something like that can go very wrong and wind up seeming to be making light of the seriousness of it, but somehow I thought it skirted that pitfall well.

Rectix... haha? I feel I should recuse myself from any conversations about ED, since penises are not my wheelhouse. But that doesn't look like any butt plug I've ever seen, either.

I never like Sheila Sauvage/Last Call (the slobbering kisses gross me out and the rank desperation makes me uncomfortable).

Clothes = Holes was astonishingly bad. Usually the music videos are great. I have no idea what they thought they were doing there.

I didn't like this Family Feud-- for some reason I was having trouble hearing what they were saying (and the captions were way behind). I don't know what happened; the rest of the show was fine, but the audio was garbled for that one. I caught the opening where they said politics was too depressing to cover this week, and I kind of agreed, so that was fine with me.

I cried over the song, and I wasn't even familiar with Chris Farley's work. I kind of missed his era entirely. But anyone can recognize love, and grief, and appreciate what that is.

Edited May 5, 2019 by possibilities

[Psychobunny]

Do they usually have that many cur sketches? I thought that they usually only had a couple extra. Add me to those who loved the tour sketch. I also think that the Chad sketch was better than some they aired. Not a fan of Sandler’s movies so the family reunion skit fell flat. Best for me were the monologue and Chris Farley songs. I also thought Kristen Wiig was in brownface. They should have made her more orange. Also add me to the dirty old lady brigade. I kept wishing I was 40 years younger because damn Shawn Mendez is pretty to look at. Oh-was he singing too? Didn’t really notice. 

[Princess Sparkle]

Never did I think I was going to start my morning by bursting into tears at the end of Adam Sandler’s SNL, but here we are. Welcome back buddy. 

[BookThief]

I missed the name of the Romano Tours sketch at the beginning, but as it was airing I thought "This is like that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond" and then they said Romano Tours and I wondered if it was it meant to be Ray Romano? In an episode of ELR, Marie pays for the entire family to go to Italy and Ray is his usual, mopey self and Debra gets fed up and is even enjoying time with her mother-in-law because (paraphrased) "she paid for us to go to Italy!" In the end Ray gets over himself. But I was wondering if that was the origin of this sketch.

I was a teenager when Sandler was on SNL and I enjoyed him...sometimes. Like the Hanukkah songs--you got "street cred" if you knew the lyrics at school the next week. I never cared for Opera Man, probably because I wasn't paying as much attention to news now as I was then. Anyway, I really liked this Opera Man. I liked the "I was fired" song and Chris Farley tribute. Some brutal honesty in that but it was quite poignant. Not everything in the episode worked, but I thought it was a stronger episode than most--and that's coming from someone who even back then thought Sandler's movies were lame (until The Wedding Singer).