Josh Hartnett / Pink

I was really looking forward to this show because of the extremely long gap between live shows. Although, I must admit that I didn't even know who Josh Hartnett was before the show, and I'm definitely not what you'd call a big Pink fan. But there's been good shows with lineups I wasn't happy to see, so I had my hopes up for sure.

[ COLD OPENING ] Buddy's Memorial Service

Good ol' Canadian television...thanks to Global TV, or Satan as I like to call it, I missed the first 2 minutes of this. Hopefully I didn't miss much. However, what I did see, I liked. I liked it a LOT. Darrell's Clinton was the greatest, tuned to perfection. I really loved his comparison between Buddy and Socks, and the cut shots of Hillary looking mad were just great. This was probably the best opening all season.

RATING : 9.5/10

[ MONOLOGUE ] Josh Hartnett

Well, I assume when he's referring to the usual Josh Hartnett, he's making fun of how nobody knows him. Or maybe that's just my imagination covering up my own stupidity. Either way, I was NOT a big fan of this monologue. Far too much screaming by teenage girls. Although, I must admit, that picture of the "new Jimmy Fallon" was pretty damn funny...

RATING : 4.5/10

[ SKETCH ] Wake Up Wakefield

I still don't understand why this is a recurring sketch. It's not funny. Period. It's even worse that every single Wakefield sketch is the same joke, over and over and over.... And they're opening the show with this? I can only fear what lies ahead...

RATING : 4/10

[ SKETCH ] Lifetime : Hello Stepson...

The only thing I found funny about this was how long the title was. "Hello Stepson, let's go to BED; I went to BED with my Stepson" Other than that, I didn't really get it. Nothing really at all funny going on.

RATING : 4.5/10

[ CARTOON ] X-Presidents

Well when times get rough, you can always count on Smigel for a laugh, no matter how sick. I really found it funny how you could see Barbara and George in the hot tub in the background... and the addition of Clinton is just hilarious on it's own. I really wasn't expecting the Ace and Gary cameo, but it was well placed, hilarious, and disgusting as usual. Probably the best Smigel of the year.

RATING : 8/10

[ SKETCH ] Shout Out Show

This has "recurring" written all over it. Please, no...I don't think I'll be able to take it again. The sketch did have it's funny points, but if it was to happen constantly, it would just be the same jokes over and over. I especially liked Tracy's "Big Caucasian Shout-Out" and his "Shout-out to eatin' garbage!" But other than that, nothing much happening here either.

RATING : 5.5/10

[ MUSIC ] Pink

This sure was...well...not-rockish...

[ WEEKEND UPDATE ] With Jimmy Fallon & Tina Fey

I must admit, this WU had some excellent jokes, especially the Cuba and "Packie" ones. Maya Angelou was an interesting guest, and it wasn't too bad, I actually kind of enjoyed it. The comedian duo was a really good idea, and the joke of the video phone delay was funny, but it went on way too long. And overall, I don't think this update had enough jokes. Average.

RATING : 9/10

[ SKETCH ] Star Wars II - Attack of the Clones

I've never seen George Lucas interviewed, but I can imagine Darrell's impression was exaggerated a bit. It was still great though, don't get me wrong. I laughed out loud when he talked about the "40 year old nerd with the Star Wars backpack". And the cameo scene was funny too, with Alf and Mayor McCheese. Overall a pretty decent sketch, probably well worthy of being closer to the beginning of the show.

RATING : 7.5/10

[ SKETCH ] The Delayed Flight

Well this was an interesting idea, but there just wasn't anything funny about this. It just didn't make any sense, and the impressions weren't funny at all. This is really going downhill...

RATING : 3/10 

[ HANDEY ] My Best List for 2001

This was, by far, the funniest Handey segment all season, and I found it much funnier than most his Deep Thoughts as well. The categories were just so stupid it was funny. "Best Whole Ball - Whole Ball of wax" and "best suey - TIE... chop suey, and chop suey with wax". I laughed my ass off the entire segment, and this was definitely the highlight of the night, hands down.

RATING : 9.5/10

[ MUSIC ] Pink

Maybe I was hallucinating, but I think I saw a guitar! And it may have very well been plugged in, with the possibility of distortion! GASP! They'll have to get 6 more rappers on to cancel this out. Oh boy.

[ SKETCH ] Playboy Channel : Burqa Baddies

This was a very clever idea, and I was very impressed that they pulled it off. Horatio Sanz was just hilarious in this sketch, and he was the one who made it work. Amy and Ana both played their roles well, but it was Horatio's expressions and comments that made the sketch funny. Impressive, and not worthy to be at the end of the show.

RATING : 7/10

   [ OVERALL RATING ] 65 / 100

   [ BEST SKETCH ] Jack Handey's Best List for 2001 ( 9.5 )

   [ BEST QUOTE ] "Buddy was attracted to other dogs, but Socks liked both cats and dogs." - Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton, referring to his dog Buddy and Hillary's cat Socks.

   [ POINTS OF INTEREST ] Amy Poehler is now a full fledged cast member, but she barely appeared on the show tonight. Will wasn't here (out of town), and it really wasn't the same without him. Handey makes an impression with his "best list for 2001".

This show definitely had it's high points, but overall, it was really lackluster. I was very disappointed once the show ended. However, I'm really looking forward to next episode, hoping that it will be the show that makes the first impression of 2002.