Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
STATE OF THE UNION 2010
Barack Obama (FRA) scapegoats Martha Coakley & lays out his policy agenda
— SNL’s State Of The Union cold openings have a reputation for being very long, which makes me very nervous about this particular one, given how bad “Fredbama gives a speech or an address” cold openings typically are.
— There’s the SNL State Of The Union tradition of constantly doing cutaways to real footage of certain politicians in the crowd.
— Some really tepid humor here, such as Fred’s Obama complaining about the horrible condition the Bush family left the White House in when the Obamas took over.
— I got a pretty good laugh from the cutaway to a famous clip of Brendan Fraser laughing in an odd, seemingly-drunken manner at an awards show.
— An actual strong gag, with the cutaway to footage of stone-faced military generals being the only ones in the crowd who aren’t standing up and applauding when Fred’s Obama announces he will end the ban on gays in the military.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host channeled Don Draper in his TV appearances predating Mad Men
— Pretty much right out of the gate here, Jon Hamm is coming off as his usual charming and funny self.
— I love the clip of Jon as a Don Draper-esque new “kid” in a Saved By The Bell-esque 90s teen sitcom.
— The other clips of Jon doing his Don Draper shtick in out-of-place settings are also very funny, especially the Def Jam scene with Jon apparently channeling Martin Lawrence’s infamous feminine hygiene SNL monologue.
— I like how obvious it is that Jon is performing the various “taped” clips live, as he can be seen straightening his suit and/or walking back onstage whenever the camera cuts back to him on the home base stage after the respective clips have ended.
STARS: ****
1920’S PARTY
at a 1928 party, Lilia (KRW) contrives to sing but then fails to do so
— Yet another display of Fred’s gay stereotype routine.
— I never cared AT ALL for these Don’t Make Me Sing sketches (as little as they appeared) back when they originally aired, and I recall dismissing them as typical annoying, one-note Kristen Wiig sketches that were dominating the show at the time. With this being the debut installment, I’ll try to go into my current viewing with an open mind.
— The countdown bit Kristen does during the Bill Bailey song made me laugh.
— I love Jon’s delivery of “That was it, you missed it.”
— Despite the aforementioned highlights, I’m not caring for the actual main conceit of this sketch.
— Overall, meh. Still not a big fan of these sketches, though I found a few more merits than I did in previous viewings.
STARS: **
SERGIO
sexy shirtless saxman Sergio (host) haunts hexed (ANS)
— Hilarious sudden initial appearance of Jon as Sergio (who’s apparently based on a character from the movie The Lost Boys) during Andy’s business presentation.
— I love the “Sergio” title screen showing up at the end of Sergio’s first appearance, and how the camera quickly cuts away from that title screen right after it first shows up. I also love the audience reaction to that.
— Funny wild dancing from Jenny during Sergio’s second appearance.
— Great fake-out with the wind that starts blowing during the therapy session turning out to just be from an open window instead of another Sergio appearance, and then Jason, after closing the window, suddenly explodes (literally) and turns into Sergio.
— Even though the ending gag with the “baby” who Kristen births turning out to be Sergio was rather predictable, it was made absolutely hilarious by the excellent detail of Sergio being covered in…uh…birth goo (whatever the technical name for that is).
STARS: *****
NEW SENATOR
visions of alluring Scott Brown (host) scotch Democrats’ strategy session
— Oh, gee, what a surprise – Fred not only playing yet another gay role, but his second gay role in tonight’s episode alone.
— Some good laughs from almost all of the thought bubble fantasy sequences each democrat is shown having of Jon’s charismatic Scott Brown. Bill’s Robert Byrd having a fantasy of Jon’s Scott Brown as a black-and-white 1920s flapper girl is particularly funny, as is the look on Bill’s face during that (the last above screencap for this sketch).
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Haven’t Met You Yet”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Sonia Sotomayor (NAP) laments the Supreme Court’s lack of diversity
Snooki (BOM) has leveraged Jersey Shore’s popularity into a new contract
— I’m enjoying Nasim’s laid-back, streetwise portrayal of Sonia Sotomayor.
— The return of Bobby’s Snooki. Very big and energetic applause from the audience upon Bobby-as-Snooki’s entrance tonight.
— As usual, Bobby’s fun performance as Snooki is better than the actual written material he’s given.
— Jenny makes what I believe is her only Weekend Update appearance during her entire short-lived SNL tenure, still beating out one of her predecessors, Casey Wilson, who sadly got zero Update appearances during her year-and-a-half on the show.
— I admit to getting a cheap laugh from Bobby’s Snooki explaining why her nickname is Spalding (“Because I’m orange, leathery, and I get passed around by sweaty dudes!”).
STARS: ***
GAME TIME WITH RANDY AND GREG
alien Greg assimilates Frank Reich (host) & starts multiplying
— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch.
— That voice Bill uses as Greg never fails to amaze and amuse me.
— Hilarious abrupt ending of Greg’s interview of Jon’s Frank Reich, with Greg suddenly attacking him.
— Excellent turn with Jon’s Reich now having become a Greg-like alien.
— The usually-Weekend-Update-only Seth Meyers continues his tradition of playing the voice of a caller in every single installment of this recurring sketch.
— Funny bit with the two Gregs muttering to each other while analyzing a globe.
— Oh, hell yes! Now Greg is multiplying more and more over the course of the sketch, with the multiple Gregs played by various SNL cast members and writers. Classic.
STARS: *****
HAMM & BUBLÉ
musical guest is host’s unwilling partner in Hamm & Bublé eatery venture
— A brilliant way to do a sequel to/variation of the Jon Hamm’s John Ham sketch from Jon’s first episode.
— I love Jon sternly explaining to Michael Bublé that, for the sake of this restaurant, Bublé’s last name is now pronounced “bubbly” because the true pronunciation of Bublé doesn’t work in this context.
— The menu items are hilarious, especially the drink with chunks of ham in it.
— Fantastic turn with Bublé musically disclosing to us viewers the dark backstory of how this restaurant came to be, whenever Jon steps away.
— Jon’s sternness towards Bublé continues to be great, especially him telling Bublé, “You are on the thinnest of ice.”
— Jon to us viewers: “If you can find a better place for pork and champagne…..keep it to yourself.”
STARS: *****
CLOSET ORGANIZER
Closet Organizer (WLF) doesn’t really handle everything thrown at him
— A very well-loved piece among SNL fans.
— Priceless concept to this commercial.
— Such a fantastic sequence with one crazy thing after another being thrown at Will as the Closet Organizer, in rapid succession.
— Very funny little gag thrown in with the Closet Organizer secretly stuffing the pair of panties into his pocket.
— Jon’s testimonial is absolutely HILARIOUS, especially how it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this commercial. Hell, even just Jon’s mere look in that wig and goatee is hilarious in itself.
— An overall absolutely perfect commercial.
STARS: *****
COURT STENOGRAPHER
incompetent court stenographer Elinda Nade (FRA) interrupts proceedings
— OHHHHHH GOD. Leave it to motherfucking Fred Armisen to ruin the streak of perfect segments tonight’s episode had going with the three segments that preceded this sketch.
— With the debut of this horrible, annoying-as-hell character, Fred lately seems to be getting to the point of his infamous “bad years” (2009-2013) where he’s literally getting worse and worse with each passing episode. How much further can this man sink on a week-to-week basis?
— Fred: “I can’t find my crackers”, repeated 100 painfully unfunny times. Fucking kill me.
— Kenan’s spiel about people not being good at their jobs provided my first (and what will probably remain my ONLY) chuckle of this entire sketch.
— (*deep sigh*) Now we get a callback to the earlier aforementioned irritating “I can’t find my crackers” catchphrase, with Fred now repeating it even more times. This is…just…(*sigh*) I no longer have any words for the awfulness of this sketch.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Sharon Jones [real] perform “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)”
BAR
in a bar, Closet Organizer bristles when patron (host) pigeonholes him
— So many hilarious non-sequiturs and bizarre one-liners in Will and Jon’s conversation so far.
— Ha, an excellent sudden callback to an earlier piece in this episode, with Jon recognizing Will as “the freakin’ Closet Organizer guy”! Fantastic. It’s a rarity to see SNL segments overlap like this, especially in more recent decades.
— Even the names of Will and Jon’s characters are hilariously bizarre (Tarkey Fensington, Resden Bonure).
— I love Will lightheartedly re-enacting the Closet Organizer commercial to Jon’s amusement.
— A solid angry rant from Will when he gets fed up after Jon hesitantly requests Will organize his closet.
STARS: *****
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE
Barnes & Noble started with just homeless bathrooms
— A funny dignified conversation about bathrooms for homeless people, made even funnier by Bill and Jon’s solid professional delivery.
— Hilarious reveal that Barnes & Noble’s decision to fill their store with books was a complete afterthought after accomplishing their goal of building a store for homeless people to go to the bathroom.
— Even the random ending reveal of the female voice-over of this whole sketch (Kristen) turning out to have been Madonna the whole time is funny.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— SNL knocks it out of the park with another VERY strong Jon Hamm episode. Ignoring a few things I didn’t care for, particularly an absolutely dreadful Fred Armisen showcase, this episode has plenty to love, including a few universally-praised classics. The post-Weekend Update half of the show was ESPECIALLY fantastic, with so many segments receiving a perfect 5-star rating from me, including three consecutive segments at one point (Game Time With Randy And Greg, Hamm & Bublé, and Closet Organizer), which must be a rarity in this SNL project of mine, as I can’t remember many other reviews in which I gave a 5-star rating to three or more consecutive segments (the only thing that immediately comes to mind is my review of the Candice Bergen episode from season 2). By this point, two hosting stints in, Jon Hamm has cemented himself as one of the most reliable recurring hosts in SNL history.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Closet Organizer / Bar
Hamm & Bublé
Sergio
Game Time With Randy And Greg
Monologue
American Enterprise
New Senator
Weekend Update
1920’s Party
State Of The Union 2010
Court Stenographer
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sigourney Weaver)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Ashton Kutcher