Flags of the World

Pop-ups (28 · 4 fan picks from YouTube comments)

1. Krisel and the 'Keeve's Peeves' complaint

   16:43

   Akiva's complaints in the previous episode are now called 'Keeve's Peeves,' a listener-coined name echoing 'Jorm Thorns' and 'Seth's Corner.' The hosts treat each complaint as a segment callback.

   it says, first Seth's Corner, then we got Yorm's Thorns, and now we have Keeve's Peeves.
   Kiv’s PeevesJorm ThornsSeth's Corner

2. Clap back and take the L

   17:29

   The hosts text Krisel with 'clap back' and 'take the L' before he replies, which gets Krisel to send a voice note. The phrases serve as internal shorthand for responding to criticism.

   did he listen to last week so he knows how to clap back? Hashtag clap back.

3. Krisel defends the line break in Sergio

   18:37

   Director Jonathan Krisel explains that the 180-degree line break in 'Sergio (The Curse)' was deliberate, meant to disorient the audience the way the boardroom is thrown by Jon Hamm's saxophone-playing entrance. He compares it to filmmakers like Bong Joon-ho and Paul Greengrass who break the rules on purpose.

   Sometimes filmmakers know the rules to break them.

4. Pre-recorded Seth's Corner theme song requested

   26:27

   A listener asks for the original pre-recorded Seth's Corner theme back, saying Seth's ad-libbed version is painful. Akiva says the hosts keep requesting the pre-recorded version, but Seth now improvises it every week.

   Please bring back the original pre-recorded Seth's Corner theme song.
   Seth's Corner

5. The three Alvins origin

   27:46

   The hosts joke that they are the three Alvins from Alvin and the Chipmunks, with Seth as Dave. Listeners and Quaids keep using the image, and the joke comes back when they debate who is which Alvin.

   it's so weird because we're three Alvins. Yeah, I mean... And then... The three Alvins.
   three AlvinsDave

6. Hit us in the tittus and commenter reactions

   28:59

   Akiva's Krisel-directed complaint about the jump cut sparks listener responses, some agreeing and some saying they were disoriented before understanding why. The hosts use the 'hit us in the tittus' phrase to invite comments.

   Some were saying, I was a little disoriented, and now I know why.
   hit us in the tittus

7. Wheelchair gag: Keith Jardine

   30:49

   Jorma and Andy riff on Keith Jardine, who stood up and walked away from a wheelchair. The bit builds on the running joke about a sudden miraculous recovery.

   Did he actually fall off a ladder? He just stood up.

8. Fans point here

   30:56

   2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 4 likes.

   Dude, Eric Andre might be onto something. His wheelchair's there. He's gone. He got up fast. He forgot the comms. He got up fast. Totally. He forgot the grift and he just got up like, oh, hold on one second. He was…

9. Lauren's two-parter

   33:59

   Will Forte says the Closet Organizer two-parter felt like a big deal because it was rare for SNL to air two-part sketches back then. The Lonely Island cast members remark that Seth's Daryl's House two-parter is an affection-worthy example.

   Lauren let us do a two-parter, which didn't seem like there were a ton of two-parters back then.

10. Tooter: an unaired Twitter short

    35:02

    Tooter is an SNL digital short with Ashton Kutcher as the spokesman for Twitter, which was just launching. It never aired, and the hosts plan to watch it, with Questlove's cameo mentioned as a reason to apologize for its cut.

    Ashton Kutcher show has Tudor, which is a sketch that does not air a digital short that does not air.

11. Tudor was cut after forced production

    36:12

    Andy Samberg recalls that NBC forced the cast to make a short that week, and the Tudor short was then cut, which frustrated him. The hosts note this happened near the time the show ran out of goodwill with Shirani.

    they really told us we had to. And so this is what I came up with and I wrote it and Kreisel directed it and then they cut it

12. The singularity joke for broken tech

    37:21

    When the video fails to load, Akiva jokes the technology must be working on the singularity, a standing gag for any technology that is not working.

    Maybe it's working on the singularity? That's my joke for any technology that's not working.

13. Fans point here

    37:25

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 47 likes.

    That's my joke for any technology that's not working. Sorry, working on destroying all of this. Hey, this subway door is jammed. Circuit's busy.

14. Tudor parodies Twitter's early days

    37:52

    Tudor satirizes Ashton Kutcher's 2010 Twitter fame by making his flatulence broadcast to followers, poking fun at the era when Twitter was a place to idly share what you were doing.

    I wanted to give my followers total access. They knew what was coming out of my mind, but not what was coming out of my body.

15. Tudor reveals the old innocent Twitter

    45:34

    Seth observes that Tudor harkens back to a simpler Twitter, when the criticism was about people idly telling you what they were doing, not the cesspool it later became.

    the criticism of Twitter was people just idly telling you what they were doing at any given moment.

16. Flags of the World has a Chrysalis stamp

    46:18

    Seth calls Flags of the World a Chrysalis-style short and says it was Krisel's idea; the team hunkered down to write as many flag jokes as they could.

    uh flags of the world is uh i think has a real chrysalis stamp to it

17. Flags of the World chant begins

    48:19

    The short opens on the central chant of flags, a rhythmic litany of flags that became its signature moment.

    Check flag, check flag, check flag. Scotch flag, Scotty flag. Hottie and the naughty flag.

18. Fans point here

    49:49

    2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 3 likes.

    Yeah, can I also say when we talk about how we love Betty White Flag was really for the moment, Moz Flag, Boz Flag, Skag Flag. — Seth

19. Betty White flag and Boz connection

    50:46

    The hosts debate the flag shout-outs; Krisel reveals he has worked with Brian Bosworth, who is both an actor and a sports figure, on Dr. Pepper commercials.

    He's an actor as well as a sports legend. And I do these commercials for Dr. Pepper and he plays like a sheriff role.

20. Barry Bostwick and Spin City connection

    51:52

    Andy Samberg worked as a writer's PA on Spin City, where Barry Bostwick starred, and Bostwick later became Krisel's boss on a Megaforce-linked project.

    Barry Boswick from Spin City, where I was a fucking writer's PA?

21. Fans point here

    52:21

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 7 likes.

    That's what they call it in England. Neo-Nazi Potsy Flag is good. Can't do that.

22. Flags of the World on YouTube

    55:13

    The short had over 700,000 views on YouTube, a number Seth says is better than expected for a sketch posted three years after it aired.

    727,000. I would actually say that's not bad. That's more than I was expecting.

23. Burn Notice Game Show

    59:20

    Sudeikis hosts a game show teased as being about the USA cable show Burn Notice, and the joke is that no one can say what it is; the sketch ends with the judges also knowing nothing.

    Nobody knows what Bird Notice is.

24. Punk Band Reunion at the Wedding

    1:00:31

    Fred Armisen, Bill, and Dave Grohl reunite as punk band Crisis of Conformity at Fred's daughter's wedding; the song Fistfight in the Parking Lot is a real hardcore punk track.

    Which is Fred, Bill, Dave Grohl. Are playing at Fred's daughter's wedding.

25. The writers party t-shirt tour dates

    1:01:48

    Seth recalls making a yearly writers party t-shirt; one design was Crisis of Conformity's tour dates, with the back listing each writer's hometown.

    the back of it was the tour dates for Crisis of Conformity were all of our hometowns.

26. The shrinking shirt mystery

    1:02:01

    Akiva says the writers' party shirt shrank over time, and Andy says the same thing happened to him, which Akiva takes as proof the manufacturer is to blame.

    I wore that shirt for years until something weird happened.

27. Liam or Bedhead Jones

    1:04:04

    Andy Samberg's Teen Who Just Woke Up character was almost named Bedhead Jones, a name Mulaney still brings up.

    Do you remember your other name that you wanted to have for him?

28. Parasite as a cinematic reference

    1:05:47

    Krisel and Akiva discuss the film Parasite and its controlled camera dolly, a shot that rewards close viewing, comparing it to the cinephile sensibility behind Tudor's disorienting shots.

    I'm telling you, I was watching Parasite, which is a masterpiece.

29. Closet Organizer as a videotape filler

    1:06:30

    Closet Organizer was used as a videotape commercial parody at the end of the J-Lo show to fill the last two minutes, a use rarely seen on SNL rundowns.

    Lauren sort of ran it again as a commercial parody to like fill the last two minutes

30. Clip beeped for the audience

    1:08:00

    The hosts often beep out lines the audience can't hear; here they note a curling line they did not get to hear, and joke about adding a listener call-to-action.

    And this time, we didn't get to hear it.

31. Quibi discussion

    1:08:36

    The hosts discuss their Spelling Bee streaks and quibi status, including Andy's clean days and Seth's hint-assisted quibi, returning to a running fan topic.

    Andy Quibi's clean most days. That's the whole thing.
    quibiclean

32. The B-clip hint gag

    1:09:41

    The hosts propose a new B-clip, a Spelling Bee-related joke about quibbing without hints.

    Kev just shared something which should maybe be our new B clip.