Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
END OF AN ERA
Fox News election coverage prematurely declares the end of the Obama era
— Funny Greta Van Susteren impression from Kristen.
— The debut of Bill’s underrated Shepard Smith impression, probably one of my favorite things Bill has ever done on SNL. That voice and the “I’m a naughty boy” demeanor he always uses as Smith always slays me.
— Funny line from Bobby’s Karl Rove, in regards to President Obama: “And don’t forget, it was under his watch that we lost the King of Pop.”
— Fantastic Glenn Beck performance from Jason, and his segment steals this sketch.
— Great trick Kristen does at the end where she seamlessly switches from speaking out of one corner of her mouth to the other.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host plays guitar & sings about topics unsuitable for her monologue
— As a funny variation of a joke SNL previously used with a few young adult hosts in the past (e.g. Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake), in which they say they watched the show when growing up “way back” in the days when (insert cast members from not too long ago here) were on the show, Taylor Swift goes one step further and says she used to stay up past her bedtime to watch SNL “way back” when [current cast members] Bill Hader and Andy Samberg were on the show.
— Despite being yet another damn musical monologue, Taylor is making it very fun. Her song has a lot of very solid lyrics about what she’s “not” going to sing about, and she’s doing a great job getting me and the audience on her side, especially during the bit about her celebrity ex-boyfriend, Joe Jonas.
— Great bit with Bill and Jason as security guards holding up a police sketch of Kanye West.
— Speaking of the Kayne bit, I remember being relieved back at this time in 2009 that the obligatory reference to the then-overexposed Kanye/Taylor/VMAs incident ended up only being a small bit in this monologue. Unfortunately, a month later, SNL would have Taylor Lautner do an entire monologue focusing on the Kanye/VMAs incident.
— Very strong monologue overall, and it’s given me a lot of confidence in Taylor as a host.
STARS: ****½
CARTER N’ SONS BBQ
Carter (BOM) N’ Sons BBQ restaurant regrets its “swine fever” ad campaign
— Very funny conceit with this innocent “Swine Fever”-themed commercial coming off very unfortunate when airing during the Swine Flu epidemic at this time in 2009. This hits even more nowadays when watching this during a certain pandemic going on in our current times.
— Andy’s brief, lighthearted one-liner about Swine Fever being the death of him is hilarious.
STARS: ****
THE VIEW
attention-hungry Kate Gosselin (host) & Nicolas Cage (ANS)
— Nasim’s not doing the best Barbara Walters impression, but I still like it, and I feel it’s better than the one Michaela Watkins did the preceding season.
— I can’t judge the accuracy of Taylor’s Kate Gosselin impression, given that I’m not familiar with Gosselin’s voice, but Taylor definitely seems to be going for a distinct portrayal here, and her performance is coming off really good.
— Boy, Kristen-as-Elisabeth-Hasselbeck’s constant rants are so grating, and not grating in the funny, satirical way it’s intended to be.
— The debut of Andy’s great Nicolas Cage impression.
— The interview with Andy’s Cage ended up being way too short. I would’ve taken more of that and less of certain other aspects of this sketch.
STARS: **½
FIRELIGHT
Twilight-knockoff movie substitutes Frankensteins for vampires
— Solid idea of a Frankenstein-themed Twilight spoof.
— Much like the High School Musical 4 sketch from the preceding season’s Zac Efron episode, I’ve never seen the source material this Firelight short is spoofing and I can still tell this spoof is very well-done, and I’m enjoying it a lot.
— Good lip-biting mannerism Taylor keeps doing throughout this.
— This is so well-filmed.
— Funny appearance from Andy as a teenage mummy. Speaking of which, when this originally aired, I remember some online SNL fans speculating if that might have been Taylor Lautner making a cameo as the mummy. I guess those SNL fans felt that what little we could see of the performer’s face behind the mummy bandages resembled Lautner. The voice makes it VERY obvious it’s Andy playing the mummy.
STARS: ****
HOLLYWOOD DISH
Hollywood Dish anchors (BIH) & (KRW) elicit desired responses from host
— The first appearance of this occasionally-appearing recurring sketch.
— So far, I’m having very mixed feelings on the humor here, and those mixed feelings are leaning closer to the “Don’t like it” side. This seems like just an excuse to have Bill and Kristen make various over-the-top facial reactions.
— Yeah, more and more, I’m seeing that this humor just isn’t for me.
— I do like the part with Taylor being forced to do a very stiff, unnatural laugh, and how the Hollywood Dish show eventually airs it out of context in a cruel manner during a preview of Taylor’s interview.
STARS: **
T.R.A.A.A.P.D.
teen (host) lists parental car sins worse than driving-while-texting
— Lots of solid relatable humor here. I particularly like the “Birds and The Bees Talk” scene, and how it ends with Taylor desperately trying to put an end to it by grabbing the steering wheel and swerving the car.
— This sketch is getting funnier and funnier. The “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!” part is especially hilarious.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “You Belong With Me”
WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM suspects that Nicholas Fehn doesn’t actually have anything to say
Sarah McLachlan (ABE) upsets SEM with plaintive animal-rights crooning
incredulous SEM & AMP say “Really!?!” to Goldman Sachs’ H1N1 vaccine use
— OH, NO. Nicholas Fehn once again.
— Sure, we’ve gotten a long break from Nicholas Fehn since his last appearance, but not even that makes this character come off fresher to me. His initially-funny shtick became officially played-out after his second appearance.
— Much like how the Judy Grimes (a.k.a. Kristen’s “Just kidding” character) commentary earlier this season had a brief, half-assed attempt at a change of pace with her bringing out a chart, SNL does a brief, half-assed attempt at a change of pace in tonight’s Nicholas Fehn commentary by having him try to write down a point he’s failing to say, but it ends up going the exact same route you’d expect it to.
— This Sarah McLachlan commentary is a solid showcase for Abby, and ends up being one of the more memorable things she would do in her forgettable SNL tenure.
— One complaint I have about the Sarah McLachlan commentary is that Seth’s interjections are way too much, and are unnecessary. He’s overdoing it.
— Loved Seth’s “Women with two vaginas” jokes, especially the second one.
— An Amy Poehler appearance out of nowhere, joining Seth in a “Really?!?” segment.
— With the cameo Amy made at the end of the preceding season, her randomly co-anchoring ALL of the Weekend Update Thursdays from earlier this season (a decision from SNL that I still don’t understand to this day), and now her cameo in tonight’s episode, I remember it felt to me back at this time in 2009 like Amy never left the show in the first place. We’re clearly in the era of recently-departed cast members being afraid to cut the proverbial umbilical cord after leaving the show. I take a lot of issue with that. Fred would be one of the absolute WORST at this, making a countless number of unnecessary cameos the season (season 39) after he leaves. I’m pretty sure his total amount of airtime that season is higher than that of some of that season’s featured players (e.g. John Milhiser).
— Hate to say it, but a lot of Amy and Seth’s quips during tonight’s “Really?!?” edition are coming off kinda meh and are washing over me. This is the second consecutive subpar “Really?!?” edition they’ve done together (the first one being in the preceding season’s finale).
STARS: ***
WEDDING RECEPTION
Penelope’s hyperbolic attention-seeking upstages newlyweds at reception
— A fairly funny bit with Penelope wearing horse blinders.
— I’ve been tolerant of Penelope’s shtick for a long time, despite its one-note nature, but it’s actually coming off fairly tiring tonight. Even the audience seems to somewhat agree with me, as they’re usually more responsive during these sketches. I’m still getting some laughs, though.
STARS: **½
SCARED STRAIGHT
joyriding teens aren’t fazed by Lorenzo McIntosh & fellow con (host)
— Feels odd seeing this recurring sketch appearing so late in the show.
— Oh my god at the initial visual of Taylor dressed like…THAT.
— This has to be the shortest that Andy’s hair has looked up to this point in his SNL tenure. This is noteworthy given the trademark shaggy hair Andy was known for having in his preceding seasons.
— Feels a little odd seeing Taylor Swift participating in prison rape jokes, but perhaps that shows what a game host she is.
— I like Jason’s “Gave you guys WAY too much leeway on that one!” line after Kenan and Taylor’s rape-related Sound Of Music song bit.
— There goes Bill’s now-obligatory character break when Kenan and the host gang up on him in these Scared Straight sketches. After recently seeing how badly he lost his composure during the dress rehearsal version of the Shia LaBeouf installment of this sketch, shown as a Bud Light Golden Wheat-sponsored clip in one of the commercial breaks of the preceding Gerard Butler-hosted episode, Bill’s laughing in this sketch seems very tame.
— A big laugh from the “1.21 jizz-a-watts” line during the Back To The Future bit.
— Now we get the also-now-obligatory character break from Bill, Andy, and Bobby when Jason hops up onto his desk in a sitting position in these Scared Straight sketches. This time, even Jason himself cracks up.
STARS: ***
ROOMIES
boyfriend (ANS) feels excluded by (NAP)’s close bond with roommate (host)
— Andy (and his new short hairstyle) is all over tonight’s episode. Talk about making up for his absence in the preceding episode.
— Nice to see such a big showcase for Nasim. I believe this is the first actual sketch she’s had a lead role in, after previously having a lead role in a Weekend Update commentary earlier this season. She’s been fitting in on SNL really well so far. (Fellow newbie, Jenny Slate, on the other hand, made her ONLY appearance of tonight’s entire episode in a pre-taped bit role in the Digital Short.)
— A good conceit with Taylor and Nasim’s overly-clinginess with each other, and how it shuts Andy out.
— I saw it coming a mile away that Taylor (who’s in the other room) was going to be revealed as the person on the other end of the phone call that Nasim receives.
— Much like the T.R.A.A.A.P.D. sketch earlier tonight, there’s a lot of solid relatable humor here. I’m even getting a fair amount of slice-of-life vibes from this, which, as I’ve said other times, is so rare at this point of SNL’s run, even if this particular sketch doesn’t have the semi-dramatic tone that SNL’s slice-of-life sketches from the 70s and 80s had.
— I love the bit with an emotional Nasim being dragged on the floor while grabbing onto the blanket that a walking-away Taylor is holding, made even funnier by how Nasim is also dragging the couch behind her via her feet.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
— Something seemed to go awry during this part. This musical guest intro opens on a typical far-away shot of the musical guest stage while some stagehands are strangely seen in the shot, but there’s nobody in front of the camera to introduce Taylor’s performance (usually in the 90s and onwards, a cast member or special guest introduces the musical performances if the musical guest also happens to be that night’s host), and there’s an awkward stretch of silence with nothing happening. Then the mic’ed, off-camera voice of who appears to be Amy Poehler giggles loudly, then, while still off-camera, shouts out a half-audible “Once again, Taylor Swift!”, then Taylor begins her musical performance. What the hell happened there? Why wasn’t Amy (or whoever that was) onscreen during this intro, and why was there a long delay before it?
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Untouchable”
BUNNY BUSINESS
star-laden soundtrack relegates movie to an afterthought
— The first of a series of occasionally-appearing sketches.
— Funny Randy Newman impression from Fred.
— Absolutely spot-on Natalie Merchant from Kristen.
— I love seeing Taylor doing an impression of Shakira, given the fact that Shakira was the musical guest in the preceding episode, and I’m always a sucker for SNL spoofing hosts or musical guests right after they were on the show. Taylor’s even wearing what appears to be the same outfit Shakira wore in the preceding episode, and is spoofing the “She Wolf” song that Shakira performed in that episode. On top of that, Taylor’s Shakira impression is a lot of fun.
— Yet another sketch appearance tonight from the omnipresent Andy Samberg.
— Bill’s facial expression as Eddie Vedder is very funny.
— Oh, no. Just when I was enjoying everything in this sketch, we get a Kenan In A Dress alert, doing a groan-worthy take on Jennifer Hudson.
— An overall mostly fun sketch, but it went on a little too long, and the Kenan-in-drag bit was a poor way to end this.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. While not without its clunkers, this episode was mostly good and had several strong high points, especially in the pre-Weekend Update half. Considering her young age and lack of much acting experience, Taylor Swift did an impressive job as a host, being surprisingly very good in every single sketch, and committing to every single role. She also added well to the atmosphere of this episode, giving the show a fun, likable feel.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
T.R.A.A.A.P.D.
Firelight
Roomies
Carter N’ Sons BBQ
End Of An Era
Bunny Business
Scared Straight
Weekend Update
The View
Wedding Reception
Hollywood Dish
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Gerard Butler)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
The notorious January Jones episode
Like I said last time, this episode was the first one I ever saw, but the only things I can remember from it are the monologue, Swine Fever, and The View. As a kid who grew up watching a lot of Nickelodeon, my mind was blown when I discovered that Kenan was a cast member on this show. I’m sure that if I went back and watched that View sketch today, I wouldn’t find it funny at all, but at the time, I was just happy to see that Kenan had hit the big time.
Now how many more seasons of Kenan in a Dress do we have to deal with?
Season 39 was when he announced he would no longer do so.
Taylor Swift and Kate Gosselin are both from Wyomissing, PA, which is a suburb of Reading.
This was probably the only time in the history of sketch comedies that someone from Wyomissing was spoofed in a sketch by someone from Wyomissing.
“This was probably the only time in the history of sketch comedies that someone from Wyomissing was spoofed in a sketch by someone from Wyomissing.”
Well, that goes with out saying.
Taylor actually wrote her own monologue for this episode, which is super rare for hosts to do, unless they’re doing stand up or something. I think it’s a podcast of Seth and John Mulaney where they talk about it, basically Taylor came into the offices with a guitar and said ‘I wrote a monologue’, and they were a little skeptical, but after she played it were really excited and releaved it was good, because they hated writing the monologue.
I also remember reading somewhere that the Hollywood Dish was an idea Taylor had that happened to her on some show.
Does anybody know how the second musical performance intro was fixed for the rerun?
Really good episode–I had lowish expectations going in, but Taylor was a fine host and the show avoided doing too many puff pieces or simplistic “playing herself” type parts.
Jason was always funny as Glenn Beck. Didn’t he originate the role in a Weekend Update special?
I too enjoyed they got the Kanye stuff out of the way in the monologue. I wonder if they had someone who could have played Kanye at that point in time if they would have done a bit in which he “interrupted” a sketch Taylor was in.
I really enjoyed the TRAPPD sketch–both Jason and Kristen were very funny in it. I do think that Taylor’s wraparounds are kind of redundant–there’s times in which they cut back to her to just have her basically say “Here’s some more things I’m talking about.”
It is interesting to think about cast members who keep repeatedly coming back too many times in cameo appearances. This is pretty harmful for newer cast members who could use the camera time or good parts that go to these cameo roles.
I liked Abby’s performance as Sarah McLachlan. I agree that Seth’s comments in this bit are largely unnecessary–it reminds me of the point, Stooge, you made about some of Mikey Day’s current roles in which he basically just says the joke repeatedly as the straight man. “IT IS VERY ODD THAT YOU ARE ACTING THIS WAY AND I AM BOTHERED!”
There’s some really funny performances in the Bunny Business sketch. I agree it ends terribly with the stupid Kenan bit as Jennifer Hudson.
I think the “roomies” sketch is a good use of Nasim (both she and Taylor–and Andy–are good in it), although it’s one of the rare sketches I can think of when she plays a lead role that is a young woman her age. As odd as it is, I agree that is relatable–I’ve certainly encountered roommates like this.
Is Hollywood Dish the first real co-starring piece Kristen and Bill have together? I do enjoy moments of these, and some installments as a whole (I remember Scarjo’s as being entertaining), although I think they are hurt by Kristen already doing so many of these mannerisms as Kathie Lee. It’s one of the perils of being so used.
I couldn’t help laughing when Taylor thanked Amy in the goodnights, remembering that a few years later we got the “a special place in hell” fiasco after Amy and Tina took a few mild jibes at her at the Golden Globes. They have since made up in that very cordial and empty showbiz way.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephenlaconte/taylor-swift-amy-poehler-end-feud-golden-globes-tina-fey
Taylor is indeed a likeable and energetic host, and helps to add a fresh feel to the material. Other than the Scared Straight sketch, they write to her range and do a good job of presenting young-ish material without feeling too pandering or cloying.
Taylor’s especially good in the car sketch, with all the indignation and squealing. Kristen and Jason are a hoot as her hapless parents, and the casual inclusion of some pretty crazy moments (like a gun-toting driver and the mother hitting a guy with the car) make this even better.
The Twilight parody is beautifully filmed and edited. Taylor is great and Bill is excellent in a role he could have easily walked through (this is also the second time he played Frankenstein).
The roommate sketch is also very good, although I don’t care for the ending – it feels a bit flat. More than anything this is a wonderful showcase for Nasim, with a real physicality and verve which shows she wasn’t just Female Cast Member Not Named Kristen Wiig #3.
This hairstyle doesn’t flatter Andy at all but I guess he will be shifting to his more professional style (which he has mostly kept since) soon enough…
I really enjoyed Abby’s Update segment (and I agree with you about Seth’s interruptions). This Update outside of Abby has a heavy claptor-ish feel which never wears that well – I do enjoy parts of the “Really?” but as it goes on and on the humor really saps into stridency. I think the most annoying part of this Update is Seth’s joke about the GOP clearly only objects to good actors having a role in politics – it’s such a cheap joke, was cheap even in 2009, and doesn’t even really make much sense in this case (Jon Voight was an acclaimed actor for a number of years). I don’t mind Amy’s cameos as much here because I feel like she was probably helping people remember her as she was getting Parks and Rec ready, but I do agree about the perils of too many cameos (we’ll be dealing with that plenty from now on…).
Taylor’s monologue must have been very charming and fun at the time – it still has a charm, but less so because these topics (her love life, Kanye) would still end up being rehashed for a full decade. The most interesting part for me (and the best joke in it) is when she says she grew up watching Andy and Bill – it’s one of our first real signs of the way these years would be written in the SNL lore (basically, Andy, Bill, Kristen, Seth, and a few of their special friends).
One of the reviews at the time trashed this episode for the recurring characters. While heavy recurring material is nothing new (especially for this era), I would say they are more grating tonight than usual. The original material adds a certain life and makes you wonder what might have been if they’d tried to wean off more of the not-so-greatest-hits.
Last year, some keyboard warriors were trying to “cancel” Taylor Swift and used this Scared Straight installment as one of the reasons why. There was something unintentionally amusing about the whole enterprise for me since some Swift fans had been involved in trying to “cancel” Bill Hader around that time for some of his SNL work (not because of Swift, just for general social media posturing reasons), and here they were together. I remember some people being surprised that the sketch was still on Youtube (and still is today), but then there’s a fair amount of SNL stuff I’m half-surprised is still up. Beyond questioning whether this is the best subject matter (I know it wasn’t exactly unusual – hell, Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell had a hit movie only 5 years ago all about how hilarious prison rape is), I mostly question whether they realized just how very awkward Taylor was going to be in this. I get the idea of casting against type – I’m sure there were a lot of articles at the time about how she showed her comedy skills by playing a prison inmate, etc. (and I feel like they ramped up the rape jokes even more this time, maybe for that reason) – but she’s so ill at ease that it becomes the main focus of the sketch.
I couldn’t make it through this Penelope. I got to one part that made me laugh (when she joins the bride and groom in their wedding greeting), but I rarely do make it to the moment that tends to make me cringe most – when the host tries to out-Penelope Penelope, and inevitably fails. Exhausting.
I feel like by this point in the View sketches they’d given up entirely on focusing on the actual contents of the show – they actually stop the sketch just so that Fred could roll off a list of hacky jokes. Fred’s Joy seemed to be the most popular part of these, from comments I’ve seen, so I guess they went with the clearest choice. Fortunately I think these are just about done…
My general view of impression parades is not changed here, although Kristen is great as Natalie Merchant, and Eddie Vedder impressions are always fun. Fred is alright as Randy Newman, but that impression is always going to be tied to Will Sasso and Mad TV, so seeing Fred try to do it just reinforces my feeling that he didn’t have much left to offer by this point.
Bill’s Shepard Smith simultaneously works as comedy and does not actually remind me of Shepard Smith (who was more low-key/icy). But then comedy matters more than the impression anyway. Jason’s Glenn Beck isn’t 100%, but that 80% or so is still great to watch. I think Kristen manages the best of the trio (she really is an underrated impressionist). I recently watched an interview with Bobby where he said he didn’t do political stuff so his way of playing Karl Rove was just to keep putting his chin down. To his credit, it still works. This didn’t make me laugh (most Fox News/cable news stuff doesn’t because the real thing is so incredibly depressing it’s difficult to parody when SNL tries to parody the content rather than just things like the old sketch with all the logos taking up the screen), but the actors do their best.
It’s interesting that Taylor never has hosted or even done any real cameos since this time (she has a brief cameo in Seth Rogen’s last episode), even though she’s been an MG multiple times. In her most recent stint SNL’s Youtube even put up a video compiling her sketches, which led some to think she would do more. I guess maybe she had her experience and that was enough for her. More power to her if that is the case.
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3qdoFUz4oM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swhGvD3auTY
Backstage:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/snl-backstage-taylor-swift/n12596
” I don’t mind Amy’s cameos as much here because I feel like she was probably helping people remember her as she was getting Parks and Rec ready,”
Parks and Rec had already debuted earlier this same year, in April. By the point of this Taylor Swift SNL episode in November, Parks and Rec was already well into its second season.
Ah. For some reason I always think it started in early 2010.
Taylor appeared in a Californians sketch at the 40th anniversary special, I think.
Oh that’s right. Thanks. I remember now. I think she got a lot of jabs online afterward so I guess that wouldn’t encourage more frequent sketch comedy on her part…
Sorry to spam, but I forgot to say how much I enjoy the Swine Fever ad, mostly thanks to Bobby, whose guilelessness is put to perfect use. “This swine fever is contagious!” alone is one of the best things he ever gets on the show, and is a great example of how much he added to SNL.
I think I mainly remember the recurring sketches and Amy’s welcome return during “Really?!”
What i love and noticed about this era of SNL is that the cast are genuine actors. They give 100 percent and truly act but this newer cast give bare minimum. Its fun… but they glide on charm mostly. Thats all i wanted to say. The new hires of 2021 show promise.
Ok i have to address the Kenan in the Dress. Fun sketches and night overall. But this is actually a great example of when it is actually funny that someone of Kenans build and singing personality parodies Jennifer Hudson. This is nothing like Sharkeisha, who was just a typical stereotype Finese capitalized on . This was definitely a choice where the Kenan and the writers agreed this is the funniest choice. They could’ve picked another artist, but she was very popular for the time, the song fits the parody, and Kenan performed the hell out of it.
The funniest part of this episode is watching how fast can Amy get away from Swift in the Goodbyes🤣🤣🤣. She really didn’t like that girl.
Interesting tidbit:
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/taylor-swift-snl-monologue-seth-meyers-1234866409/