Review of 11-4-2000 episode (MD-605; some spoilers) Oh, I almost forgot, if you live in the 69th District in New York, vote for Nicole Sullivan's father. I usually don't do political endorsements and I don't even know what his position on the issues are, but there you go... ========================================================================= Opening Segment: A rap video parody featuring George W. Bush (Christian Duguay) parading around on the rooftop of a building before people strapped into electric chairs, someone wearing a shirt making reference to Bush's apparent opposition to gun control, and someone with a "Ditto-Head" shirt, an obvious reference to Rush Limbaugh. I've seen better George W. Bush parodies and I've seen worse; in fact, today I was looking at the December 1999 issue of Mad Magazine with a George W. Bush/Got Milk crossover which depicts George W. Bush with a cocaine "moustache" and the caption "Got Coke?" - possibly the funniest political parody of this election cycle. [This is possibly the first parody to show Bush with a cocaine moustache; I've seen it at the gwbush.com parody site.] The idea of a rap/political crossover isn't incredibly original but this was OK. Steven Segal's America: Steven Segal takes a look at voting, which is to say he bullies people into voting for his favorite candidate, which is Lieberman, because you see, Lieberman is Jewish, and voting for him is payback for the holocaust, which he found out about the other day. Predictably the sketch ends with everyone getting beat up and the voting booths being trashed. What is funny about this personification of Segal is that it combines complete ignorance with a propensity to lash out physically against those he thinks are in the wrong. The lesson: voting is OK as long as you vote for the right person. Funny is when Segal beats up someone for voting for Gore, even though Gore and Lieberman are on the same ticket. Overall it was one of the more humorous of the Steven Segal segments, although it was still mostly formulatic (save for the part where Segal asks the woman what kind of sandwich America is, and when she replies "Monte Crisco," the menacing-sounding incidental music starts as if we're about to witness another violent outburst - but then he just says "OK"). Al Gore Door to Door: Al Gore (Michael McDonald) goes into Mo Collins to inform her that her car must be destroyed because it's bad for the environment and to tell her that he has re-invented society for everyone's good. A reference is made to Gore's apparent tendency to embellish stories; he tells us that Debra Wilson is a crack addict and when he's told this is not true he says that she's a burn victim. McDonald's Gore is more zombie-like, making his technocratic persona even more credible. This was pretty good; it was a short segment and yet they hit all the elements of Gore's persona that are most likely targets for parody. The idea of Gore campaigning door to door to win over undecided voters is not that much of a stretch - in this election cycle, political candidates have turned into such publicity whores that they will do virtually anything that might have a favorable impact on their candidacy. [How much so? I will point out that in 1992 when Clinton went on Arsenio Hall it was considered quite noteworthy; now political candidates appear on talk shows all the time.] How about a tax cut for swing voters? Bill's New Job: Bill Clinton (Will Sasso) appears on General Hospital as Nurse #2 (essentially an extra with some dialogue). He talks about his role ("I came this close to nabbing the role of Nurse #1"), meets Jackie Zeeman, and generally annoys everyone. There were some funny moments, but for the most part this seemed to be a rather pointless parody and it certainly didn't live up to the hype it generated beforehand (TV Guide mentioned this bit briefly in this week's issue). Is the point supposed to be that if you are a politician and now you've already been the president for two terms, everything afterwards is an anticlimax, so that an ex-president might as well be an extra on a soap opera? Or is it supposed to be that doing something like this is just the sort of thing one would expect from Clinton? [The reference to the "who farted look" at the end seemed to suggest that he is just the sort of white trash that would be amused by endless fart jokes.] Reading Caboose: Miss Lucy (Nicole Sullivan) is back, along with Miss Janice (Mo Collins) and Conductor Clark (Michael McDonald) - apparently, they're in some kind of three way marriage. Of course anyone who challenges Conductor Clark - for example, by suggesting that the two party system works - is subjected to an ad hominem attack. The group trashes the two-party system, and nominate Hobo Dan as their presidential candidate - only to witness his assassination. The assassination made for one of the funniest moments in the show. They also inexplicably tout Taft as the only good president - we are left wondering if there is some rationale behind this, or whether it's merely indicative of the fact that they are a bunch of goofs. In any case, this segment was fairly amusing, although it doesn't really deviate from the basic Reading Caboose formula. The Rock and Chyna: The Rock (Will Sasso) and Chyna (herself) promote an upcoming tag team match. This sketch is supposed to be funny because we're supposed to see that beneath the tough personas which these wrestlers project, they are really nice people who have anxieties over personal crises and who bake cookies and go to the opera. SNL used basically the same idea for the "Morning Latte" sketch when The Rock (the real deal) guest starred on the show last season; it wasn't very funny then, either (although the SNL sketch was somewhat more amusing). Sketch comedy shows generally don't enhance their credibility when they have WWF wrestlers on the show (if they wanted something a little more interesting, they could at least have Bret Hart comeback, only perhaps this time in a sketch that badmouths Vince McMahon), and this is no exception. Office Fighting: Remember the Michael McDonald character from last season that provoked fights with bar patrons, only to prove himself woefully ineffective in combat? Remember how many people thought it was basically a rip-off of the small fight guy played by Bruce McCulloch on "Kids in the Hall?" [He was the guy who provokes a fight with someone who's about a foot and a half taller than him, only to get pummeled in a fight which includes him getting thrown into a dumpster and over a building.] Well, the unthinkable has happened: they've recurred the character! Ultimately this sketch, which involves the fighting guy showing up at the workplace of his girlfriend (Mo Collins), is no worse than the original sketch; we even get an appearance from Chyna as Collins' boss. But to say that this sketch is derivative is an understatement. Reality Check: This time, the two corpulent African-American women (Aries Spears, Debra Wilson) trash guest George W. Bush (Christian Duguay). The women's inane comments provoke an uncharastically harsh response from Bush, who tells them they should get off of welfare and stop taking drugs. This prompts a flood of insults from the two women. This was pretty much Reality Check-by-numbers, with the only significant difference being the new George W. Bush parody. This was OK. Jib Jab: Another political/rap crossover, this time with animated versions of both Al Gore and George W. Bush (not to mention Bill Clinton, parading around with no pants - the "these allegations are false" sound byte was amusing) and George Bush the Elder (he says he doesn't like broccoli). This easily rivals Robert Smigel's best cartoons for SNL (particularly the "Fun with Real Audio" segments he does), and as an animated segment, it is a rare treat nowadays on Mad TV. Closing Segment: The cast, minus Nicole Sullivan, close the show. Debra Wilson is holding up a painting of herself. This was pretty good. ========================================================================= This week the producers opted for a show in which almost every segment had a political theme. The result was a show which, while hardly a masterpiece, was better than the Halloween-themed show of last week. Almost half the material here involved recurring segments, as if they were playing it safe; the result was reasonably amusing material but few surprises and few outrageously funny moments. The best segment in my opinion was the animated segment towards the end of the show. [6/10] ========================================================================== Number Six | dzien@nic.com | http://www.nic0lesullivan.org OR | (The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan Tribute Page) info@nic0lesullivan.org | ==========================================================================