’School House Rock!’ teaches ’SNL’ how an executive order works

I wrote SNL recaps for the original version of Popculturology from 2012 to 2015. The opinions voiced in these recaps may be outdated based on the events that have occurred since their writing. This article was originally published on Nov. 23, 2014.

Welcome to Edition No. 49 of Popculturology's Saturday Night Liverecaps. All of your questions about the Cameron Diaz-hosted episode will soon be answered.

How'd Cameron Diaz do?

Diaz's night of hosting began on shaky ground thanks to a monologue that wasn't funny and didn't go anywhere. Yes, taking fake questions from the audience can make for a interesting SNL monologue, but besides Leslie Jones asking Diaz whether Shrek is grumpy in real life, this one was a dud.

As the night went along, the episode did get better. As you'll see, though, the best sketches this weekend weren't driven by Diaz — she was at best a supporting character and at worst not even in the sketch.

Lucky for Diaz (and us), this episode wasn't anywhere near the disaster thatChris Rock's episode was.

What were the best sketches of the night?

What's going on here? SNL has nailed a political cold open two weeks in a row a now, a stunning feat considering the show has stumbled repeatedly the past few seasons when it comes to saying anything politically. Spinning School House Rock! to address President Barack Obama's use of an executive order on immigration was brilliant. What was funnier in this sketch — Kenan Thompson's Bill falling down the Capitol steps or Bobby Moynihan's Executive Order reaction after reading himself?

Interesting note: Based on the pictures from SNL dress rehearsal, Pete Davidson was dressed up as Obamacare. Looks like that part of the sketch didn't make it to air.

This was the third time the women on SNL made a music video. "Back Home Ballers" wasn't as funny as last December's "(Do It On My) Twin Bed," but it was still a great showcase for a very talented female SNL cast. Based on Aidy Bryant's Lil' Baby Aidy chain and appearance of neighbor Jean, "Back Home Ballers" takes place in the same SNL universe as "(Do It On My) Twin Bed."Also, I'm pretty sure Kate McKinnon's parents have the same wifi password as my parents.

I love when SNL rolls out Beck Bennett's baby boss. This was the most disturbing off all the baby boss sketches. We now know that the boss, Richard Patterson, has a wife ... who he's impregnated. Yeah ... not sure how that works ...

"Dr. Dave and Buggles' Animal Hour" is the dark counterpart to Tracy Morgan's "Brian Fellow's Safari Planet." While Brian Fellow always fantasied about animals mocking him, the monkey in this sketch has actually done harm to Thompson's host. In his exact words: "This little guy ripped my dong and balls off and threw them as hard as he could. So not super pumped about doing the show anymore. My interest in animals is 100 percent gone."

Any shorts or commercials?

The "Nest-Spresso" commercial was entertaining, but I couldn't quite place what SNL was trying to mock. People love of their coffee machines but apparent lack of understanding of how they work? Vanessa Bayer's refrain of "I don't know that part" whenever asked by Taran Killam and McKinnon's questions about how the machine works seem to point in that direction.

Like in his video about running for school president, the best part of Kyle Mooney's high school shorts are the random facts inserted in his slides. Did you know that Andy Rydell buys name-brand circus clothes?

How was 'Weekend Update'?

We haven't seen McKinnon's Angela Merkel in a while. The character returned to "Weekend Update" riled up by the recent G-20 Summit. A joke about a German kiss was a weird inclusion for this episode. A promo for the episode featuring Diaz and Moynihan also mentioned a German kiss. Was this on purpose? Is it some kind of inside SNL joke? Or did whoever write that promo also write this sketch and forget that he had already made a German kiss joke?

[SKETCH NOT AVAILABLE]

If Charles Manson's wife-to-be thinks he got a life sentence for income tax evasion, that would explain a lot.

How about the rest of the show?

The most appalling part of this sketch was that the SNL writing staff missed the fact that Jamie Foxx isn't playing Daddy Warbucks in the upcoming Annie remake — he's playing Will Stacks. There's isn't a Daddy Warbucks this time around.

SNL, bring back Cecily Strong and Bayer's two pornstars. You keep getting close, but there's no substitute for that those two. That said, I did find it funny that Latouch, McKinnon's character, realized she had to stop making bets she couldn't back up. "I get real cocky about being a Pepsi person but when it comes down to it, I can't tell the difference," she said.

Why did this sketch air so early in the night? Besides Thompson's frustration over the use of the boxes, there wasn't really anything to this sketch.

When did this become a recurring sketch?