The funniest part of this (at least to me) was Don Pardo asking Ace and Gary to take him with them and one of the cast members shouting out to the Duo “Come back with Lorne’s shew!” with the same Ed Sullivanesque enunciation as the animated Lorne from the “TV Funhouse” opening.
I honestly didn’t realize Don Pardo is still alive, but he still looks good and sounds the same at 88 as he did in the b/w shows on Gameshow Channel. Pretty cool. (Chris Parnell, who does a dead-on imitation of him, sometimes does “Pardo’s” announcing on the show.)
I don’t know how much Samberg had to do with the writing of “CHRONIC(WHAT?)LES OF NARNIA” but it really put him on the map. Of course that whole sketch stood out like a diamond in the rubbish of the past few seasons.
Most of the cartoons I hadn’t seen before (probably because I’ve hardly watched the show these past few years). The “Shazang!” cartoon (about the genie) was more disturbing than Silence of the Lambs.
Shazzang! was disgusting.
I wish they had included “Titey,” a spoof they did several years ago; it was supposed to be the Disneyfied version of Titanic, with the usual mangled history (Anne Frank on board, Bonaparte battling the iceberg and so on). Very funny.
Shazang weas the only one I hadn’t seen before, and I practically pissed my pants laughing. I also loved the McCain one, where he turns into Capt. Willard from Apcalypse Now at the end.
One I hoped they would show was the Stedman! cartoon.
Unfortunately, I believe that was never on SNL, only on TV Funhouse’s eponymous Comedy Central show.
Although I didn’t find the cartoon funny, I got the idea- a number of old cartoons featured characters who would get rid of their foes while making a pun based on the way they defeated them. However, I just discovered this cartoon was a parody of an obscure Hanna-Barbera cartoon called Shazzan! which involved a genie who helped two children, and apparently did get a laugh out of getting rid of them. I guess the joke here is that Shazzan/Shazang’s behavior has gotten far out of hand.
I took the joke to be that Shazzang’s behaviour would inevitably get out of hand. He has near-omnipotent power and delights in humiliating his easily-defeated foe. Eventually, he’s going to go all Lord of the Flies on them, expressing whatever ugly darkness exists in his psyche.
Whassmatta, didn’t you see that Star Trek episode?