Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
OBAMA’S BUSINESS RULINGS
Barack Obama (FRA) passes judgment on product category winners & losers
— The idea of breaking down which brand of certain products will get a government subsidy and which won’t has some promise, but Fred’s weak and dull Obama impression isn’t the best way to execute it. I guess it’s still better than just having Fred’s Obama deliver a direct-to-camera speech, like he does in most of these presidential address cold openings.
— I’m getting some small chuckles from some of the products given or not given a subsidy, but no big laughs from me.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
audience members prefer Paul Blart, Mall Cop & pre-weightloss host
— I got a laugh from Seth Rogen’s meta bit about how the second time you host, SNL gets lazy and has you take questions from the audience.
— Some funny lines making fun of how there were two mall cop movies around this time (Paul Blart and Observe & Report).
— Pretty solid bits with Bill as a pizza deliveryman and Bobby as a heavyset Seth Rogen lookalike.
STARS: ***
THE FAST & THE BI-CURIOUS
rival drivers (host) & (ANS) exude gayness
— Meh, a very dumb premise for a Fast And The Furious parody.
— Overall, nothing about this commercial worked for me. Not the lame homoerotic humor, not Abby’s grossed-out facial reactions, nothing.
STARS: *
SAVE THE FUNNIES
Dick Tracy (JAS) & other funny pages denizens want to save newspapers
— A variation of the fantastic Save Broadway sketch from earlier this season, right down to having Jason play the character holding the meeting.
— As someone who was OBSESSED with Archie comics when he was a kid, I love the inclusion of Bill and Abby as Archie and Veronica.
— Judging from Kenan’s look in the background, he looks like he’s playing the same character he played in the Save Broadway sketch. He’s wearing the exact same wig and clothes.
— Bobby has played a cat in both the Save Broadway sketch and this.
— Just like last time in the Broadway sketch, we get a bit with Jason being told “That’s racist”.
— Also similar to last time, immediately after Jason claims he’s not racist, he automatically mistakes Kenan for being from a black comic strip (which I guess is why Kenan is dressed the same way he was in the Save Broadway sketch). I feel like I should be annoyed by this particular gag reprisal, but the fact that this has become a running gag actually tickles me.
— Feels a little odd but interesting seeing Andy’s Cathy in this sketch and not on Weekend Update.
— I’m not familiar with the Far Side comic strip, but the cutaway to Paula Pell made me laugh.
— (*groan*) Here we have yet another display of Fred’s classic Asian stereotype routine.
— What a lousy ending with Fred.
— Overall, very mixed feelings from me. This pales badly in comparison to the classic Save Broadway sketch from earlier this season, but I still got a decent amount of laughs throughout this. If I hadn’t seen the Save Broadway sketch, I probably would’ve had a little more appreciation for this Save The Funnies sketch as its own entity. Still a horrible ending in this sketch, though.
STARS: ***
LA RIVISTA DELLA TELEVISIONE CON VINNY VEDECCI
Vinny Vedecci thinks host is a Bear Man
— Cue the obligatory “Vinny Vedecci starts the interview by speaking to the interviewee in Italian, the confused interviewee explains they don’t speak Italian, leading to Vedecci getting into an argument with Fred’s character”. It’s a shame this otherwise fun recurring sketch always has to open with such a formulaic beginning. However, they did add something a little new to that formulaic beginning tonight, with Fred’s character immediately taking off his glasses when Rogen says a man with glasses was the one who told him the interview would be done in English.
— Funny conceit with Rogen being known as the Bear Man in Italy. And when Vedecci is running down the Italian titles of Rogen’s movies, I like the meta bit with Vedecci saying Superbad’s Italian title is “Bearman And A Very, Very Handsome Gentleman” as we’re shown a photo of Rogen and Bill Hader’s Superbad characters.
— Another funny instance of Bill, as Vedecci, doing an impression of the interviewee.
— Good bit with the bottle of Pellegrino in a bear trap.
STARS: ***½
LIKE A BOSS
insecure bigshot ANS describes his supervisory doings
— When this Digital Short originally aired, I felt it was both below par and too been-there-done-that for Lonely Island standards, and I was then kinda surprised to see the huge popularity it ended up taking on, leading me to deem this short vastly overrated. However, I will go into this short with an open mind in my current viewing, in hopes that I’ll gain a higher opinion of it.
— Good style to this Digital Short’s conceit, and some really funny visuals throughout, such as Andy taking a dump on the desk of the co-worker who rejected him.
— Overall, while I couldn’t find much to say during this, I found this short to be MUCH better than I originally deemed it. I’m glad to have come around on it. However, it’s definitely still not a classic to me. Lonely Island has funnier and more epic music video Digital Shorts than this.
STARS: ****
PHONE VOICES
(ANS), (BIH), (host) employ funny voices when talking on their cellphones
— I love the premise to this. This feels like a simplistic but effective premise that would’ve appeared in an earlier SNL era. Kind of a timeless feel to this type of sketch (ignoring the technology involving the cellphone usage).
— This sketch is a blast with the various phone voices Bill, Andy, and Rogen are using. Bill’s voices are particularly great. Such a fun display of Bill’s knack for doing fantastic cartoonish voices.
— Fred makes yet another bad walk-on at the end of a sketch. For me, he’s hurt the great momentum of this sketch.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lisztomania”
WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM critiques the gift exchange between Barack Obama & Queen Elizabeth
bargaining Rod Blagojevich (JAS) wants to be an undercover governor
Barack Obama’s visit to Europe has inspired some Jean K. Jean riffs
Angelina Jolie (ABE) outmaneuvers fellow baby-seeker Madonna (KRW)
— Wow, a very strong run-on delivery from Meyers during his Obama Gift Exchange rant. This biting rant feels more like something from the current-era Weekend Updates with Colin Jost and Michael Che, as it doesn’t follow the usual “simple set-up, simple punchline” formula of Meyers’ Update jokes.
— I didn’t remember Jason’s Rod Blagojevich impression lasting THIS long. I thought his final appearance was in January of this season.
— Are Meyers and Jason just trying to amuse themselves with the seemingly ad-libbed bit with Meyers making various guesses on what Jason-as-Blagojevich’s undercover name might be? This feels too “inside joke-y” for my likes, plus the names that Meyers is guessing just aren’t that funny.
— Despite a decent start, this overall Blagojevich commentary did not do it for me.
— I think this is Jean K. Jean’s first Update appearance where he’s sitting next to Meyers instead of Amy Poehler, for obvious reasons.
— The usual with Jean K. Jean, overall. Some laughs, and Kenan’s typical charm carries the bit and makes it fun. I will say, though, that I could really do without those dance breaks in his commentaries.
— This Madonna commentary from Kristen is a good way to work in the usual walk-on from Abby as Angelina Jolie, and to keep those walk-ons of hers from getting too old. I like how Kristen’s Madonna and Abby’s Angelina are in a competition with each other on where they adopt their babies from.
— Great line from Abby’s Angelina about her Russian baby being a baby inside a baby inside a baby.
STARS: ***
CORPORATE MEETING
(host)’s dub of Grease soundtrack onto corporate CD has co-workers fuming
— During the first playing of the “You’re The One That I Want” song, I like the camera constantly cutting back and forth between Rogen’s ashamed face and Fred’s very tense staredown of him.
— Odd structure to this sketch, but the various tense close-ups of everyone are a funny contrast to the upbeat “You’re The One That I Want” song playing. Bill’s tense close-up is particularly funny.
— I like how, after one of the times he’s played a portion of “You’re The One That I Want”, Fred angrily says to Rogen “I mean…Lee!”, then stares him down again for a few seconds before just playing another portion of “You’re The One That I Want”.
— (*sigh*) Yet another episode this season in which Darrell is relegated to making an awkward walk-on in a non-impression role, just to give him something to do. Have I made it clear enough in my recent reviews how sad I find it to watch Darrell in this final season of his?
— The ending with Darrell was so bad. Poor endings to otherwise good sketches seems to be a theme in tonight’s episode.
— In dress rehearsal, Darrell played John Travolta in this sketch (presumably because of the Grease connection with the use of “You’re The One That I Want”) instead of the random character he plays in the live version. Not sure if him as Travolta would’ve made this ending any better. I despise his Travolta impression.
STARS: ***
MILESTONE HIGH
(ANS)’s tutoring fails because dumb (host) is not a jock
— Funny reveal of Rogen not even being on the basketball team, and just being some random idiot who doesn’t even know anything about basketball.
— That’s it? The sketch is already over? Felt like this sketch should’ve more to it after the aforementioned reveal.
STARS: **½
CLANCY T. BACHLERATT AND JACKIE SNAD SING EASTER SONGS ABOUT SPACESHIPS, TODDLERS, MODEL T. CARS & JARS OF BEER
Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad do what the title above says
— A follow-up to the fantastic Clancy T. Bachleratt/Jackie Snad sketch from the preceding season.
— I’m surprised to see this is using the same song topics (spaceships, toddlers, Model-T cars, and jars of beer) as the first Bachleratt/Snad sketch. I thought I recall all the follow-ups to the first Bachleratt/Snad sketch (includng a cut-after-dress-rehearsal one from the following season’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt episode, which was put up online as an “Online Exclusive” after the episode’s original airing) having song topics with different oddball combinations.
— I’m still getting a lot of laughs from this, even if this isn’t hitting quite as hard for me as the first installment of this sketch did.
— At least Rogen isn’t laughing his way through this sketch like an idiot, the way Jonah Hill inexplicably did in the first installment of this sketch.
— Like last time, we get fantastic insane facial expressions from Will during his and Kristen’s New National Anthem song at the end.
— I love how, at the end of the final song, Will and Kristen’s over-the-top musical vocalizations continue for a while AFTER the background music has stopped. Their vocalizations during this part sound kinda like old-fashioned native chanting you’d see in a movie or something.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “1901”
MUPPET BUS
Nipsey Russell (KET) stops Muppets in Electric Mayhem bus for hit & run
— Another Seth Rogen-involved Muppets sketch, after the more-charming-than-intentionally-funny one from Rogen’s first episode. I like how tonight’s Muppets sketch has much more of a comedic conceit and an actual point, and I also appreciate how it’s involving much more of the cast than the first one did.
— Funny to see Will dressed in a Kermit costume after the legendary Kermit hand puppet sketch Will did with Justin Timberlake years prior.
— I love the “boom boom, sniff sniff” bit, with Bill-as-Animal having dynamite and a bag of cocaine on him.
— After Andy’s Swedish Chef slaps a freaking-out Kristen-as-Beaker, I got a pretty good laugh from Swedish Chef telling Beaker a stern “Smorgy…….bork!”
— Amusing inclusion of Kenan as Nipsey Russell, and it’s very funny how he suddenly gets shot in the middle of one of his typical poems.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “Too Young”
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. In the past, I had always felt this episode was very forgettable. After reviewing the episode just now, I’ve found that I actually like a lot of the content in it, though I still have that lingering “good but forgettable” feel. Not sure why.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Phone Voices
Clancy T. Bachleratt and Jackie Snad Sing Easter Songs about Spaceships, Toddlers, Model T. Cars & Jars of Beer
Like A Boss
Muppet Bus
La Rivista Della Televisione con Vinny Vedecci
Monologue
Corporate Meeting
Weekend Update
Save The Funnies
Milestone High
Obama’s Business Rulings
The Fast & The Bi-Curious
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tracy Morgan)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Zac Efron
Yeah, it’s an okay episode but it has a half-baked feel, which is weird because a lot of the sketches have a kinda tryhard vibe (Like a Boss, Muppet Bus, Fast and the Bi-Curious.) The Lonely Island is usually good at putting that kind of randomness over but Like a Boss just doesn’t click, imo. Also glad to see more Abby Elliott in the mix, even though her only noteworthy role was on Update. The baby tangent as Angelina was my favorite part of the episode.
I liked that Phoenix got three songs. Fun to see something else during the credits other than the cast patting eachother on the back every once in awhile.
I feel dumb for being lost, but I didn’t really get the joke behind the Grease sketch, especially the closeups. I did get a laugh out of Fred coming to a loss for words and then just angrily unpausing the song instead of finishing his sentence, though.
does anyone else have their own personal SNL episode that they, for whatever reason, consider a masterpiece even when it’s objectively not an A+ episode? because this one’s mine.
the two highlights i have probably rewatched probably 50 times: forte’s insane singing after the music cuts out in the bachlerat/snad sketch, which is my favorite thing he did on the show, and abby’s aloof, controlling angelina jolie impression, which just slays for me. but pretty much everything else in this episode works for me, except the grease sketch, with the added bonus of phoenix playing a couple absolute bangers from a terrific album.
(pitchfork did a great oral history last year of phoenix’s performance here: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/phoenix-wolfgang-saturday-night-live/)
It’s a Sad state of affairs when Friggin’ American Dad would do a “Fast & Furious” Gay angle BETTER than SNL…
This episode had a very retread feel when I first watched it, which is unfair, as a decent size portion of it is original-esque. Anyway, I really remember disliking the Save the Funnies sketch; it just seemed like a pale copy of the Save Broadway sketch, but I admit I haven’t seen it in a while.
On the other hand, even though the Will/Kristen singing sketch is an exact copy of the Jonah Hill episode, I like this one a touch better because Rogen is a better straight man and the ending, as you point out, is slightly more epic.
I had forgotten the Muppets sketch. My friends and I would say “NIP-SEY RUSSELL!” a lot during walk-on cameos.
This is around the time where I became a “get off my lawn” grump when it came to digital shorts–I never liked this one or “Threw It on the Ground” or even (heresy, I know) “I’m On a Boat” as much as some of the earlier ones. In retrospect, they are much better than some of the crud that was to come, but I still find there are better highs (I like Just Had Sex and Jack Sparrow a ton). I do appreciate that Lonely Island really tried a variety of styles and genres.
The Grease sketch has some amusing anti-comedy aspects to it. I agree the ending is horrible. This episode is probably Exhibit A whenever people point out SNL sketches don’t know how to end–the comic strips sketch clearly could have come up with a better punchline, but the Grease sketch seems like if SNL were the kind of show to just abruptly end sketches like Monty Python or KITH, it would have vastly improved it.
This episode if anything is a great example of what a talent Bill Hader is. His Seth Rogen and Gizmo impression couldn’t be more tonally different and yet he nails both of them. What a talent.
Also Will singing his ass off after the music stops is absolute GOLD. I like the first one better but man that moment is pure Forte.
I was a big fan of Armisen’s Obama impression, which was a funny and subversive contrast between Obama the media-created myth, and Obama the human being. I recall Armisen saying that he approached the character as someone the public had gotten to know and was comfortable with.
I’m biased since I’m a genuine Armisen fan (though I recognize he can be self indulgent), but I think he deserves greater credit for his approach here. I think underplaying the character and not doing an accurate impression were bold comedic decisions. (See also Chevy as Ford and Carvey as Bush).
Until reading your review I had completely forgotten Casey was even in this episode. I love seeing Paula Pell onscreen, but Paula getting two fun showcases while Casey gets a crappy throwaway gag and then vanishes…it just feels odd.
A night to remember for John Mulaney – not only is he in Like a Boss, but he does the intro for Milestone High (I didn’t know he ever did those).
Clancy and Jackie is the standout (and overall this is one of Kristen’s best nights in a while). Will and Kristen really should have worked together more than they did. This is delightful insanity, and even better, it’s fully processed, as we get a concept album of gonzo genius – everything from “space camp” to the beer mug being Catholic so they had to keep the baby to the toddler army against the Easter Bunny and his laser army. Sheer bliss.
I can’t argue with your rating for the Fast & the Bi-Curious, and it’s not especially amusing (other than the “OH YEAH!!!” narrator bit) Yet, I can’t bring myself to dislike it, because, even though we have poor Abby Elliott making “ew” faces in closeup to drive the point home, Andy and Seth have such intense chemistry it completely overwhelms the more jeering text. I do NOT think that level of chemistry was intended, honestly, but they still play the chemistry up, instead of having Kissing Family nonsense. Choices like Andy and Seth playing the “you’re leaving?” and “Why am I shaking?” bits earnestly, rather than with lispy voices and limp wrists, go a long way in making this much less offputting for me, even with the audience hooting in the background – and it actually adds to the comedy too. It’s another way that, for all the gross and/or lazy humor of this period, Seth Meyers, along with cast members like Andy Samberg or Bill Hader slowly helped to change the way the show addressed these types of pieces.
(I’m aware I’m giving the credit to straight guys, in the slim chance anyone who might be bothered by that is reading my comment, but straight guys generally run SNL, with a few exceptions)
Anyway, I am also aware that intense sexual chemistry with Andy Samberg is NOT a reason Seth Rogen was booked for a second stint as host, but it’s pretty much the only time here that he stands out for me. The rest of the night, he’s there, and he’s…perfectly OK, which is…perfectly OK. Even his monologue just feels like a way to head off criticism of his movie and humblebrag about the weight he’s lost. Clearly it wasn’t much of a priority for the week as both Bill and Bobby stumble through their lines.
Quite a few sketches seem to have no real planning, which works when they have enough charm (like the Muppets reprisal – Bill is just pure joy), or when you have good will stored up in enough reserve to make you ignore the end (like the bar sketch, where the roundtable of various goofy voices are all you need), but the rest of the time things just end up being put onto the screen and you have to use a fine tooth comb for what you enjoy.
Of those sketches, I enjoyed Milestone High the most – the “reel” and “real” shift is an interesting choice, and even though it’s a bit mean-spirited, at least they commit. This is one of Seth’s better performances as well. Andy also plays both sides (loveable, inspiring dork and snide asshole) well – a good night for Andy as a sketch performer.
Other than the terrific shot of Paula (also the only one that gets the spirit of the comic right), Save the Funnies doesn’t do a thing for me. Not only does it just repeat old gags that no longer make any sense (why is Kenan’s character from Save Broadway there…in a different job and with no apparent connection to the last sketch), but a lot of the attempts at incorporating comics just feel hacky. The Cathy reprisal has worn out its welcome and no longer bears a resemble to what Cathy would actually even say in her comic, and Peppermint Patty/Marcy is just so incredibly lazy. Bobby is fun as Garfield, but that’s just Bobby being fun, rather than the writing helping him. Fred bringing in such a hacky yellowface tribute act that I kept waiting for Mike Myers to show up was the “perfect” way to end this, I suppose. Between this and his Obama return, how many times in his run do we get this Fred Armisen: Man of Many Races vanity project thrown into one episode anyway? All the ethnicities, none of the laughs…
The office piece just feels to me like another attempt to use closeups as an excuse to not have to write a sketch. The only reaction I had most of the time was thinking that Bill Hader was getting a better jawline showcase than most models could ever dream of. We all criticize cameos, but this is one time where the boss played by a cameo really would have at least made me understand the point more.
Seth’s piece about Obama and HRH (and boy was that huge news at the time, which is pretty pathetic to look back on) reminds me of something he’d do on his talk show. Also another step toward really making Update his own. The baby-off with Kristen and Abby works so much better than you might expect – I wonder if this whole thing is what got Abby a second season. Her announcing her own exit tickled me for some reason. Kenan’s JKJ is as reliable as ever (the dance breaks work for me for some reason).
Like a Boss is fine, overall, but really suffers from Lonely Island being the only video content in these years. We’ve seen a lot of this before – even the framework is so much like Natalie’s Rap (minus the chair bashing at the end).
Oh man. Totino’s pizza rolls in next episode.
“I”m your mother!”
Good, but forgettable indeed. “Like a Boss” and “Muppets Hit and Run” were my favorites of the bunch. I didn’t like any of the Update commentaries. “Milestone High” was a bunch of nothing that stopped just before it was going somewhere, so I’d say that was weaker than “The Fast and the Bi-Curious.” Phoenix was fine, though.
At the time, after this show everyone asked ‘who was that band?’. It was all anyone cared or remembered from this episode. It was thrilling to watch an unknown band from Europe win over the audience and perform a third time. That only happens with big acts like U2!
I’m unable to recall but do we see more unknown artists from oversees try to make it in America through the SNL stage? Between Phoenix and Adele, earlier that season, I would be surprised not to see labels push their up and comings that way.
Another ep of “SNL” I either don’t remember or didn’t watch…
I felt so happy, seeing Jackie & Clancy appear on Will Forte’s episode. When Kristen Wiig walked onstage during Forte’s monologue, last night, I felt a small tinge of hope that Jackie & Clancy might make an appearance. Later on, when a shot of the crew setting up the next sketch appeared to have a country-western theme, the feeling returned. Kenan did a good job as the narrator, keeping it together in between their jubilant wailing. If the show felt obligated to bring back MacGruber (to pitch the Peacock show, again), I’m glad that they took some time for these two, as well.
I was a little surprised to see AV Club’s Dennis Perkins grade the episode so harshly (C+). Between the review & some of the comments, I wondered if Forte’s episode may just be feeling the result of super-high expectations, even more so than Jason Sudekis’ episode.
Hey anyone got a beat or even a guess on who played the political cartoon robber in “Save the Funnies”?
It’s weirdly reminding me of Luke Null. I can’t place it as any of the writers or such… at best I would guess guest writer Dan Mintz (Bob’s Burgers) but that would be stretching it (and I literally mean stretching an image of Mintz’s face to get it close to his jaw structure…)