Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
BIDEN/MURTHA RALLY
dumb statements of Joe Biden (JAS) & John Murtha (DAH) imperil campaign
— A new impression from Darrell in this late stage of his SNL tenure. I can’t judge the accuracy of his John Murtha impression, as I have no real familiarity with Murtha, but Darrell’s impression is coming off pretty funny.
— Some laughs from Jason’s Joe Biden making a bold, suspiciously specific prediction that Barack Obama will be tested by a huge crisis early in his presidency.
— Some of Darrell-as-Murtha’s ignorant, rude comments are making me laugh.
— Seems pointless to have all those cast members (Kenan, Andy, Bobby, Casey) playing supporters in the background, when they don’t have anything to say or do in this.
— Jason’s Biden: “Gird your loins! By the beard of Jupiter, GIRD! YOUR! LOINS!”
— The fact that, after the Jim Downey-voiced “Next on C-SPAN” bit towards the end, the camera cuts back to Jason and Darrell’s Biden and Murtha just to show Jason setting up and saying a tacked-on-seeming LFNY, makes it obvious that this wasn’t the original choice for the cold opening tonight. Indeed, the cold opening in this episode’s dress rehearsal was the Barack Obama Variety Half Hour sketch we’ll be seeing later in tonight’s episode. In fact, in the syndicated 60-minute version of this episode shown on cable channels, this Biden/Murtha cold opening is replaced with the original dress rehearsal version of the Barack Obama Variety Half Hour sketch, complete with the original LFNY. What’s interesting and odd about that is the NBC rerun of this episode didn’t do that, IIRC. The NBC rerun still left in the live Biden/Murtha cold opening and still kept the live version of the Barack Obama Variety Half Hour as a sketch placed later in the show.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Some pretty funny outlandish lies Jon Hamm is making up about what Mad Men contains, in an attempt to help the show’s ratings. Reminds me a bit of Robert Hays’ monologue from season 6, though I feel this is being executed a lot better.
— I particularly like the mention of John McCain freaking out from supposedly smoking weed on Mad Men.
— Ignoring Oliver Stone’s brief and pointless cameo in Josh Brolin’s monologue in the preceding episode, this is the fourth consecutive episode with a real monologue that only involves the host. I’m really liking this trend.
— Jon is already showing lots of promise as a host. He handled this host-only monologue well for a first-time host.
STARS: ***½
TRICK OR TREAT
trick-or-treater Jeff Montgomery (WLF) may or may not be a sex offender
— Ah, a Will Forte classic.
— This was previously cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s Brian Williams episode.
— I love the very random, playful “You’re the bitch, bitch! WHAAAAAAT?” bit from Will’s Jeff Montgomery character at the beginning.
— An absolutely classic turn right now. Jon: “What exactly IS your Halloween costume?” Jeff Montgomery: “(matter-of-factly) I’m a sex offender.”
— Hilarious part where, as supposedly part of his Halloween costume, Jeff Montgomery both recites a court-ordered “I’m required to inform you that I’m a sex offender and I’m living in…. etc.” statement and tries to get Jon to sign and date a legal form.
— Such a perfect display of the ballsy humor Will is so good at pulling off.
— So many laughs throughout this sketch, especially how Jeff Montgomery keeps trying to downplay the fact that he’s a real sex offender.
— A great absolutely speechless reaction from Jon when Montgomery reveals that the crime he’s guilty of is “only” sexually assaulting five teenagers.
— A very funny terrible segue with Montgomery asking Jon if he’s looking for a babysitter.
— Overall, simply perfect.
STARS: *****
RAS TRENT
dreadlocked collegian poseur (ANS) is a wannabe Jamaican
— A very catchy song. Even Andy’s intentionally-horrible singing is catchy as hell.
— This short is a lot of fun, and we’re getting lots of amusing little visuals and actions from Andy throughout the song.
— A particularly hilarious part with Andy suddenly mumbling his song in a low volume when walking past actual Rastafarians.
STARS: ****
MAD MEN / TWO A-HOLES AT AN AD AGENCY IN THE 1960S
Roger (John Slattery) & Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) vet A-holes pitch
— Funny line from Elisabeth Moss’ Peggy about how she’s not allowed to own a watch because she’s a woman.
— Great bit with Casey as Joan.
— Ha, this turns into a Two A-holes sketch out of nowhere! A fun turn in this Mad Men parody. This ends up being the final appearance of the Two A-holes, despite Jason and Kristen both remaining in the cast for several years.
— I love the little “Yes, I HEARD HER!” bit when Jason keeps telling Jon’s Don Draper what Kristen said in regards to her meal request.
— Great bit with the Two A-holes licking all the sandwiches on the platter and saying “These are ours.”
— Funny bit with the hula-hoop suspenders.
— A very strong mock-dramatic speech from Don Draper about hula-hoops and suspenders, and it’s hilarious how it moves Bobby’s Harry to tears.
STARS: ****
THE BARACK OBAMA VARIETY HALF HOUR
confident Barack Obama (FRA) will do his infomercial as a variety show
— Maya Rudolph makes her first SNL appearance since leaving the cast. SNL having to resort to bringing her in a cameo to play the role of Michelle Obama is yet another painfully obvious sign that SNL’s then-current cast doesn’t have a black woman. Since I couldn’t stand Maya back in these days (I’ve come around on her in more recent years), I remember being worried back at this time in 2008 that SNL would have to bring her back in a cameo every single time they needed to do a sketch involving Michelle Obama (gee, it’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about anything like that on SNL in our current times, RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!? [/end sarcasm]), but it would turn out that the only other time Maya ends up playing Michelle Obama again after tonight’s episode is when Maya hosts years later in season 37.
— Fun concept of Fred’s Barack Obama using his half-hour infomercial time to do an old-timey variety show.
— Apparently, SNL’s crew members forgot to give Fred a hand-held microphone before this sketch, as he’s awkwardly forced to lean into Maya’s microphone when they’re both singing.
— The “Our House” musical number with Kristen’s Nancy Pelosi, Andy’s Rahm Emanuel, and Bobby’s Barney Frank is hilarious.
— A fun and fitting “Don’t You Forget About Me” number with Darrell’s Bill Clinton.
— I love the Obama/JFK/Clinton mini-sketch.
STARS: ****
DON DRAPER’S GUIDE TO PICKING UP WOMEN
Don Draper’s (host) guide to picking up women suggests you act like him
— A good laugh from Kristen saying “Marry me, I wanna have your children!” in reaction to Jon’s Don Draper staying silent whenever she asks him a question.
— Here we have Amy, in pre-taped form, making her only appearance of the night, because she went into labor during afternoon rehearsals the same day of tonight’s episode, and subsequently gave birth at the hospital.
— Great ending to Amy’s scene, with her reacting to Don Draper telling her his name by looking into the camera and sultrily saying “Let’s get me out of this skirt.”
— A very well-executed piece so far.
— Excellent delivery from Jon during his whole fast-paced rundown at the end, regarding what to do to be like Don Draper.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Viva La Vida”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Robo-Call (WLF) is ashamed he’s being used to impugn Obama’s character
Ralph Nader (BIH) wrongly expects to supply unneeded campaign excitement
yet again, Nicholas Fehn doesn’t manage to gain any rhetorical ground
KET & MAR sing “We Love You Amy” in support of absent new mother AMP
— Ah, here we go. Seth’s very first solo Weekend Update, a few months before that would become a regular thing. I remember how eager I was to see tonight’s Update back when it originally aired, as I was very curious to see how Seth would handle anchoring Update alone, and was also very curious to see SNL’s very first solo-anchored Update since all the way back to May 2000.
— Just as I was expecting, it feels odd seeing Seth do Update by himself. Doing these daily reviews of mine has gotten me SO used to seeing Amy as Seth’s co-anchor.
— Will is very funny as Robo-Call.
— I love the detail of Robo-Call drinking from a flask of oil.
— Didn’t care for the corny, predictable joke of Robo-Call’s older brother being RoboCop.
— Robo-Call: “Next week, Robo-Call supposed to tell black people, election canceled.”
— It’s starting to feel kinda lonely and empty seeing Seth as the sole anchorperson, but not lonely and empty in a bad way, if that makes sense. And Seth is doing fine by himself, handling his first solo Update well.
— Bill’s Ralph Nader commentary was previously cut after dress rehearsal from a Weekend Update Thursday special that aired just two days before this.
— Bill’s doing a good vocal impression of Nader, though he’s not even bothering to imitate Nader’s facial mannerisms, mainly the twitchy eye. Jimmy Fallon previously nailed the facial mannerisms when impersonating Nader in a season 26 sketch.
— OH, GOD. Nicholas Fehn ONCE AGAIN. However, I’ve always had a theory that, if it’s indeed true that these Nicholas Fehn commentaries are always improvised, then SNL’s decision to have a Nicholas Fehn commentary in tonight’s Update probably wasn’t made until just hours before the show, when SNL realized that they needed to fill in some extra time left over in this Update due to Amy’s sudden absence. So they asked Fred if he could do a Nicholas Fehn commentary, knowing he can easily make up stuff on the fly as this character. If this theory of mine is correct, I guess I can cut SNL some slack for dragging this character out once again tonight. NEVER AGAIN, though, SNL.
— Just like the last appearance Nicholas Fehn made earlier this season, I’m stone-faced during his shtick tonight. The novelty of this character, and what made him work so well the first two times, are long gone by this point.
— A nice, sweet musical number from Kenan and Maya, honoring Amy.
STARS: ***
VINCENT PRICE’S HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
in 1959, Vincent Price’s (BIH) Halloween Special isn’t family-friendly
— Wow, this is the first time this recurring sketch has appeared in THREE SEASONS. I think I recall hearing new writer John Mulaney is the one responsible for bringing this recurring sketch out of the mothballs.
— Funny opening bit with Bill-as-Vincent-Price’s malfunctioning rising chair.
— Kristen’s voice as Gloria Swanson is a riot, as is her whole “I’m a pirate, arrr” spiel.
— I am absolutely loving Jon’s brash one-liners as James Mason, as well as Bill-as-Price’s reactions.
— Here we have the first inclusion of Fred’s Liberace impression in a Vincent Price sketch. This impression of Fred’s would go on to be a staple of this recurring sketch.
— Vincent Price to Liberace: “Save your sassy asides for your windowless bars!” That’s actually a clever, well-written, and interestingly-detailed line. So, naturally, it receives DEAD SILENCE from the audience.
— Jon continues to absolutely kill it in this sketch. His performance here is even more impressive when you’re aware of the backstory. I can’t remember all the exact details of the story, and I may have my facts about it wrong, but, IIRC, the story is that Jon played Dean Martin in the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, but he struggled badly through the impression. After talking it over with Lorne and company after dress rehearsal, it was decided that he would play James Mason instead of Dean Martin, and he ended up knocking it out of the park.
— This sketch has gotten me in such an upbeat mood that even the token gay jokes from Fred’s Liberace are making me laugh. We’ll see if my lenience towards the gay Liberace jokes will hold up in subsequent installments of this sketch, because, from what I’ve heard from some other fans fairly recently, the abundance of gay Liberace jokes supposedly really drags down the later installments of this sketch.
— Though it’s just a little thing, I love Bill-as-Price’s pronunciation of “tissue”.
STARS: ****½
JON HAMM’S JOHN HAM
host endorses bathroom-based meat dispensing system
— A questionable concept on paper, but you can already tell from the start that Jon’s performance expertise, natural funniness, and charm is going to sell this in spades.
— Hilarious visual of the toilet paper-esque ham dispenser.
— As expected, Jon’s execution of this is simply fantastic.
— Jon’s ending line, when quoting the slogan of his product: “If it feels like a slice of ham, don’t wipe your ass with it.”
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lost!”
PAT FINGER
Pat Finger (host) seeks votes to be on city council of Butts, New York
— Wow, two consecutive sketches featuring only Jon Hamm? When this episode was originally airing, I took the fact that the last 25 minutes of this episode oddly consisted only of solo Jon Hamm sketches and Coldplay musical performances as a possible sign that the SNL cast wasn’t even in the building anymore by that point. I wondered if, after the Vincent Price sketch, the cast went to the hospital to visit Amy and her new baby. I even kinda assumed the goodnights were, in a somewhat similar fashion to SNL’s occasional ice-skating goodnights, going to show the cast in the hospital room with Amy and her new baby, with all of them waving to the camera, while Jon and Coldplay wrap up the show in the SNL studio. I’m sure that all sounds silly (and probably corny) to some people. Anyway, those assumptions of mine about the cast turned out to be completely wrong. I guess the fact that the only sketches in the last 25 minutes of the show all featured Jon Hamm by himself is a huge sign of how much trust he quickly earned from SNL as a performer, which is incredible, given the fact that this is his first time hosting, and it wasn’t universally known before this episode how funny this man is capable of being. You can tell he must’ve really impressed Lorne and company over the course of the week.
— Also, the aforementioned fact that the last 25 minutes of this episode consist only of solo Jon Hamm sketches and Coldplay musical performances kinda serves as an interesting glimpse of what an SNL episode would look like without any cast members. Though I guess SNL already sorta did do that with the second-ever episode back in season 1, which consisted almost entirely of musical performances.
— An extremely juvenile sketch, but the amazing Jon Hamm is, once again tonight, selling it, and is making it come off “fun dumb” instead of “bad dumb”.
— I like the little throwaway mention of Jon’s character’s great-grandfather being named E.T. Finger.
— Funny panicked reaction from Jon’s character when realizing how dirty his new last name, Deldeaux, will sound in his campaign slogan, right before the camera cuts away from him.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Yellow”
GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “Lovers In Japan”
— A special edition of the goodnights, as Jon throws to ANOTHER Coldplay performance. (I don’t know if this has ever been confirmed, but I’m assuming all of these extra Coldplay performances that we’ve been getting tonight are to fill up the extra time left over from Amy’s sudden absence.) However, as soon as Coldplay begins to play their song for these goodnights (“Lovers In Japan”), the goodnights suddenly get cut off in the original live airing I’m currently watching.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, continuing the solid streak that I feel this season has been on ever since the Anne Hathaway episode. Not only did I enjoy every single segment tonight, but, aside from Weekend Update, every rated segment from Trick-Or-Treat all the way to Jon Hamm’s John Ham received a rating from me ranging from 4-5 stars. Very impressive. And Jon Hamm….wow. From the expert way he handled this hosting stint like a total pro and veteran, you’d never guess this was his first time hosting. One of the most incredible hosting performances I’ve ever seen from a first-time host. In fact, back when this originally aired, I remember noticing lots of similarities between the way Jon handled his first hosting stint and the way Alec Baldwin handled his first hosting stint in 1990. And, even though I don’t feel this first Jon Hamm-hosted episode is quite on the same level as that first Alec Baldwin-hosted episode (one of the absolute best SNL episodes of all time), this Hamm episode is still fantastic, and my review of it has probably one of the highest rating averages in this SNL project of mine. Also, even though, in terms of episode quality, I’d give the edge to Alec’s first hosting stint, in terms of hosting performances, I’d give the edge to Jon’s first hosting stint, because of the way he was able to perfectly carry several solo segments.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Brolin)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Ben Affleck
The sudden turn of Kenan as Rev. Jeremiah Wright turning a Gnarls Barkley cover into “White Devils be Crazy” had me howling when I first saw this. As did Bobby’s initial, stone-faced expression as Barney Frank quickly dropping once he starts singing backup for Kristen.
To be extremely honest, as an uncultured teenager in 2008, I had no idea who Jon Hamm was, and was completely blown away from how naturally he handled himself here. I genuinely wish he’d come back to host one of these days, as he’s still pretty relevant, and has yet to do a bad show.
Yeah, I remember thinking at the time that it was weird how the cast just disappeared near the end. Jon does a very good job selling the material though. Pat Finger is still one of my all-time favorite sketches.
I can’t believe this is the last A-Holes sketch. With all the cookie cutter characters that got sketch after sketch, I felt they still had more room to play around with these characters in different settings and contexts. This was a very clever one, managing to set up a Mad Men parody as well as a regular A-Holes sketch (and finally giving closure to the rabbit joke). I was not a Mad Men viewer at the time, so I did not recognize Elisabeth Moss playing her character to start and kept wondering who that was.
I thought that was a funny Vincent Price sketch, but yes, there’s just too many lazy gay jokes in future installments. Nothing will ever top the first one for me.
Just a heads-up- tomorrow’s episode features the debut of a well-known recurring character (though not known for his sketches.) Let’s just say, he’s quite a fan of the city’s obscure, but somehow popular, clubs.
A lot of people were saying that this episode was perfect or as close as you could get to perfect. IIRC, this was reaired in primetime shortly after the original airing.
Casey and Kristen are really singing in the digital short but the actual background vocals are done by Maya Rudolph and Joanna Newsom, Andy Samberg’s then-girlfriend, and future wife.
Very rare instance of a musical guest performing a song in two different episodes. Coldplay first performed Yellow in their season 26 appearance hosted by Alec Baldwin.
That’s interesting about the Vincent Price sketch. For some reason I thought I’d read Jon was meant to play JFK in the Vincent Price sketch (which he plays in his second stint). I must have misread something along the way or just made that up in my head; it makes more sense if he felt he could not play Dean Martin, as that’s not an easy impression to do. I assume Bill helped him out with the Mason impression as he auditioned with that and performed it on his first Update, I think…
The “save your sassy asides for your windowless bars” line is the moment that Bill and Seth both realized just how good John Mulaney was. That story has been peppered through various interviews over the years, but if anyone has time to kill, this interview with Bill and John last year is worth the watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-83o9gQik
I’m probably one of the people who has complained the most about the later Vincent Price sketches. They aren’t bad, per se, but when you compare the goofy, earnest feel of the 05-06 sketches to what we eventually get – basically a lot of Kristen Wiig playing the same ‘crazy’ beat into the ground and lots and lots and lots of jokes about Liberace being a sexual predator, complete with Fred overdoing the grin so much that he leaves Liberace far behind and instead becomes one of the news anchors Jack Nicholson poisons in Batman – it’s disappointing, soulless, and also incredibly lazy. It’s a microcosm of this era as a whole – how a dream team of cast and writers somehow manage to take a good thing and fritter it away.
Jeff Montgomery was written by Colin Jost. He’s a little bland as an anchor (at least for my tastes), so it still amazes me that he wrote such a ballsy sketch!
One episode until Stefon’s debut!
Indeed, this is where Year 34 (or the first half of it, anyway) really starts cooking. Between this and Hathaway/Killers, two of my favorite episodes that I reviewed when I was at TV.com. I gave this episode a 5.5 initially, but I really enjoyed the repeat. Not one bad sketch, though “Pat Finger” was well executed enough to be excused.
Seeing Seth go solo was a little awkward, but WU was bogged down more by Nic Fehn and a wobbly Ralph Nader impression by Bill. I could feel a little fatigue on Seth’s part (nine Weekend Updates in seven weeks) but he grined and bared it.
I think one of the main reasons Elisabeth Moss is in this episode is because they knew they had no women available to play her role. This invitation led to Elisabeth’s marriage to Fred Armisen, which…um…yeah.
I have no real familiarity with Mad Men, beyond clips, so for that reason I’m glad they avoided the option of a dense parody and instead just relied on Hamm’s intense charisma and charm. I haven’t rewatched this one yet (I saw it in a stream last year), but I remember mostly enjoying the episode. This episode also has some really gorgeous bumper photos, as does his next (I haven’t said it enough but I’m glad we’ve moved into the more modern era of bumper photos as I enjoy them much more than quite a few in the ’90s and ’00s – Josh Brolin also had some great shots).
Considering the near-universal acclaim for his appearances, Hamm is sort of the host who got away – by his own choice, presumably, since he’s more than happy to do cameos. I don’t remember his entire 2010 episode but I look forward to comparing them. I’d love to see him host again, as this season will probably have format changes that may mean they can more easily have a host who may not want to play the usual host role, but I know it’s not likely.
It’s interesting you bring up Maya then and now, as the show does have a black woman in the cast, but seems to be much more wary of the colorism and race debates and controversies than they were in 2008 (which is likely why Meghan Markle has remained perpetually offcamera, aside from a cut sketch with Halsey in the role). I actually do wonder, now that I think of it, if Maya or someone realized the optics even at this time of her playing Michelle, especially with Fredbama. If so, I’m glad.
One of the most amusing parts of his interaction with SNL is the photo the writers and some of the cast took wearing their best Mad Men gear. Talk about a time capsule. (and I wish Colin could sport his beard for his last season…).
https://uproxx.com/tv/john-mulaney-snl-jon-hamm-mad-men/
https://uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mulaney_snl_hamm.jpg
John Hamm was a great host. This episode was perfect all the way up to Two A-holes, then it starts to lose me a bit after that sketch ends. I guess there not being any more Two A-holes after this could be seen as the end of the lowkey/underplaying Kristen that we saw in S31 and S32.
The first Jeff Montgomery is a classic and the cold open is a lot of fun. Jason was really good at elevating (presumably) Downey’s dry writing through strong performances, similarly to what Dana Carvey used to do. And as someone who had a big reggae and ska phase (and kinda still does) Ras Trent speaks to me. I’m a little surprised that they were able to say “bomboclaat” on air but I don’t know how drastic of an expletive that word is perceived as.
The Fred/Obama stuff washed over me a bit and those ending solo Hamm pieces were always a little too dumb for me, but he commits well.
For those who aren’t familiar with Mad Men, Don’s speech and Bobby as Harry Crane leaving the room crying is a parody of the first season finale episode “The Wheel”.
Casey absolutely kills it playing Joan, even with only two lines. Forte’s arrogant Pete Campbell is also really, really good. Bill does his best with the mannerisms as Salvatore Romano but how can you really parody a character whose storyline for season 2 of Mad Men is whether or not he’ll be outed. Bobby doesn’t have a lot to do as Harry Crane but is serviceable and the crying bit is well executed.
Stooge is correct with their ranking of the first Alec Baldwin show, it’s currently tied for the second best episode in the show’s history. Here’s the top three shows:
8.9 – Jerry Seinfeld (17.18)
8.8 – Alec Baldwin (15.18)
8.8 – Christopher Walken (18.04)
There’s an interesting story about this week’s show in Amy’s autobiography. IIRC, Amy learned that her doctor died during the filming of the Don Draper video and Jon helped calm her anxiety.
Here’s the link
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/06/jon-hamm-pregnant-amy-poehler-crying
I’m guessing Jon was speaking softly when telling Amy that…
I remember it feeling like SNL had found it’s new Alec Baldwin when Jon Hamm arrived. I wouldn’t put this episode on the level of the inaugural Baldwin episode because, well, I don’t think ANY episode is on that level. That episode thrives on the pure variety of styles and tones that define that episode. It’s maybe the show’s least formulaic episode ever (outside of some of the early experiments of the 70s). I also think, despite some relative straight roles for Baldwin, less is required of Hamm here. Yes, he’s got the solo spots that Hamm nails the tone on, but he twice plays Don Draper and in the episode’s best sketch, he’s just a straight man.
But that’s just nitpicking. It’s actually pretty close between the two performances. Although the next season will largely be a dud, Hamm’s episode has some of the show’s best material and perhaps one of the best-written one-two punches in the show’s history.
This is what the Biden and Murtha cold open is talking about.
https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/snl-biden.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlMGmA7yWw4
Darrell is basically just doing his Chris Matthews instead of Murtha, but I doubt anyone cared.
Last year there was a lot of hand-wringing about the portrayals of “fun” Biden in the media, at the Onion, etc. and how irresponsible this was in the long run. I am not going to say that is wrong, just that I think this episode encapsulates why that happened – this was a pretty rotten time, and it was easier to switch off mentally and laugh at the goofiness. While the Biden here is a world away from anything now (which makes me wonder just how Sudeikis will play the role if he has to do so on a long-term basis again), his performance still entertains me. It helps a great deal that there is none of the smugness and self-indulgence which tends to wash into the political writing in more recent years (although that isn’t just a ‘thing’ on SNL, it’s pretty insufferable all over television and social media).
I feel like both Will and Bill had little to work with on Update and both knew it but gave it the old college try. They’re both fine, but Bill probably comes out the best – as a Nader impression, it’s nothing special, but as a performance, I liked it (and I’m not just saying that as a Bill fan because I have limited tolerance for the Carville that will be popping up on Update over the next several years).
So if the Obama Variety Hour dress rehearsal was aired in syndication as the cold open, then how did they do the LFNY? Just curious.
Jon was an excellent host, and he elevated SNL to the next level.
I will say that the Mad Men obsession the show had got on my nerves. It seemed as if the crew were more into it than a majority of viewers in America. I didn’t care for the cameos in the A-holes sketch either.
I mainly remember Seth’s first solo “Update” and Maya and Keenan’s love song to Amy after she just gave birth…
Seems appropriate for this show, but here’s every musical guest or individual that did over 2 performances in a single episode:
(NOTE: single performances that include several songs do not count and episodes with multiple MGs are not included if the act had the standard 2)
Paul Simon (7) and Art Garfunkel (3): S1Ep2-10/18/75
Jimmy Cliff (3): S1Ep12-1/31/76
James Taylor (3): S2Ep1-9/18/76
Paul Simon (4): S2Ep8-11/20/76
Brian Wilson (3): S2Ep9-11/27/76
Frank Zappa (3): S2Ep10-12/11/76
Ray Charles (4): S3Ep5-11/12/77
The Dirt Band (3): S3Ep9-1/21/78
Art Garfunkel (3): S3Ep13-3/11/78
Frank Zappa (3): S4Ep3-10/21/78
James Taylor (3): S4Ep18-5/12/79
Bob Dylan (3): S5Ep2-10/20/79
David Bowie (3): S5Ep7-12/15/79
The Allman Brother Band (3): S7Ep9-1/23/82
Hall & Oates (3): S7Ep13-2/27/82
Olivia Newton-John (3): S7Ep20-5/22/82
Stevie Wonder (3): S8Ep19-5/7/83
Tina Turner (3): S10Ep12-2/2/85
Paul Simon (3): S11Ep16-5/10/86
Paul Simon (3): S12Ep5-11/22/86
Chrissie Hynde (3): S12Ep7-12/13/86
Willie Nelson (3): S12Ep12-2/21/87
James Taylor (3): S13Ep9-1/23/88
Eric Clapton (3): S15Ep16-3/24/90
Paul Simon (3): S16Ep6-11/17/90
Sting (3): S16Ep11-1/19/91
MC Hammer (3): S17Ep8-12/7/91
James Taylor (3): S17Ep9-12/14/91
Paul McCartney (3): S18Ep13-2/13/93
Sting (3): S18Ep14-2/20/93
Aretha Franklin (3): S19Ep15-3/12/94
Pearl Jam (3): S19Ep18-4/16/94
R.E.M (3): S20Ep5-11/12/94
Justin Timberlake (3): S29Ep2-10/11/03
U2 (3): S30Ep6-11/20/04
Christina Aguilera (3): S32Ep5-11/11/06
Coldplay (4): S34Ep6-10/25/08
Phoenix (3): S34Ep19-4/4/09
U2 (3): S35Ep1-9/26/09
Black Eyed Peas (3): S35Ep6-11/14/09
Paul McCartney (4): S36Ep9-12/11/10
Mick Jagger (3): S37Ep22-5/19/12
Paul McCartney (3): S38Ep10-12/15/12
Bruce Springssteen (3): S41Ep9-12/19/15
Kanye West (3): S44Ep1-9/29/18
If anyone’s interested, I’ll make a list for the 1-performance MGs and post it somewhere.
Arcade Fire (3): S47Ep18-5/7/22
I don’t think Coldplay needed to do “Yellow” again, it was last performed on SNL 8 years ago and I wouldn’t call it a classic, at least not at the time.
This will be the vintage SNL repeat on October 29th.
The best hosting debut since Baldwin’s first episode. A home run of epic proportions and one of the funniest, most relentlessly entertaining SNL episodes of all time. Hamm fit this era’s dynamic perfectly. Everything works here (Nicholas Fehn can be forgiven). Jeff Montgomery is the definitive Forte sketch, the Variety Hour is a throwback to political sketches of old like Dukakis After Dark, and Hamm totally elevates those last two sketches, which are quite dumb on paper. Also, this is the best Vincent Price sketch.