Month: October 2020

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November 12, 2011 – Emma Stone / Coldplay (S37 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
during a GOP debate, fellow candidates pity forgetful Rick Perry (BIH)

— Another funny loopy portrayal of Rick Perry from Bill, and it’s an interesting change of pace having this GOP debate sketch mainly focus on him.
— Some funny unsettled reactions from the other candidates to Bill-as-Rick-Perry’s endless screw-ups and embarrassments.
— Another example of Paul sounding very Will Forte-esque as Ron Paul, this time when exclaiming “All his cards are BLANK!”
— A hilarious visual of Bill’s Perry seen wearing a dickey when he removes his suit jacket.
— As I’ve disclosed before, Of Mice And Men is my favorite book of all time, and I’m always a sucker for parodies of it. Thus, I love the Of Mice And Men turn this cold opening takes towards the end.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
ANS wishes he & not Andrew Garfield [real] were host’s Spider-Man co-star

— I see Andy’s apparently doing a variation of the upside-down Spider-Man commentary he did on Weekend Update the preceding season.
— A laugh from Andy’s sloppy attempt at passing off silly string as a web shooter.
— A meta, self-aware part with Emma pointing out that Andy’s just re-doing the same monologue Kirsten Dunst did in 2002.
— Andy, when learning that the surname of Spider-Man’s new actor is Garfield: “How’s he gonna fight crime when he’s busy eating lasagna and tworking Nermal, amirite?!?” Assuming “tworking” means “fucking”, it’s funny how many people, including Andy, are under the incorrect assumption that Nermal is a girl. I used to think so myself when I was a kid.
— I love Andy’s “HE’S BRITISH?!?” line when hearing Andrew Garfield’s accent.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
oblivious Mindy Grayson & Miss America (host) are worthless

— (*groan*) (By the way, I wonder how many recurring sketches in this era always immediately induce a *groan* reaction from me in my reviews. Whatever the number is, it must be close to the double-digits by this point, if not already there, which just goes to show how many bad recurring sketches this era has).
— I guess they’re running out of cast members to play the straight man contestants in this recurring sketch, as this is Paul’s second time getting stuck in this role in a Secret Word sketch.
— Funny bit regarding Emma disclosing the fact that she was disqualified from a pageant because “they could see my puss”.
— Like most SNL hosts in this recurring sketch, Emma continues to be the only real saving grace of this installment (aside from a few funny reliable lines from Bill). The Mindy Elise Grayson (once again, I hate the fact that they randomly and pointlessly added a middle name to this Mindy Grayson character starting last season) portions, on the other hand, are as painful as ever. In fact, I don’t know if it’s just me, but this character seems to be getting more and more annoying with each passing installment of this sketch lately, especially her songs that these sketches seem to be relying on more and more.
STARS: *½


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
journalistic fossil Herb Welch flubs reporting on falling ice story

— Makes sense seeing Emma Stone in a Herb Welch sketch and being the victim of Herb’s typical microphone face-hits, given the fact that, reportedly, Bill inadvertently came up with the Herb Welch character during rehearsals of the news sketch from Emma’s previous episode, where Bill, while playing a normal reporter character, kept ad-libbing by hitting Emma and others in the face with his microphone while interviewing them.
— A good laugh from Herb randomly asking Emma “You think this Belafonte kid oughta…pipe down?”
— A decent twist to the usual microphone face-hitting gag at one point, with Emma using her purse as a shield when Herb’s about to hit her in the face with his microphone once again, causing him to unintentionally hit himself with the microphone.
— Good job from Kristen on perfectly keeping a straight face during Bill’s VERY extended tapping of his microphone onto her crotch, which (unsurprisingly) cracks himself up at one point.
— Maybe I’m slowly starting to get a little tired of the usual formula of this recurring sketch, because, while I still enjoyed tonight’s overall installment, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as previous installments.
STARS: ***½


WISH IT WOULD RAIN
lack of precipitation hampers singer’s (ANS) video

 

— Oh, no. I recall this short being HORRIBLE. When it originally aired, I was absolutely floored by how bad it was. It was the point where I slowly started realizing that the Digital Shorts had officially “lost it” this season.
— The bit with the “rain” turning out to be Jason peeing on Andy got a laugh from me. Otherwise, yeah, this short is dire so far.
— Jesus Christ, the appearance of Emma with an exaggeratedly big butt is SO desperate. Just sad. The fact that they felt the need to randomly throw that gag into this is a huge sign of the general lack of inspiration in this season’s Digital Shorts.
— Yikes, that Andy-getting-struck-by-lightning-and-then-disappearing ending was AWFUL, and, again, reeked of sad desperation and lack of inspiration.
— Overall, oof. Yeah, this mostly lived up to my horrible memory of it, though I did get one actual laugh this time (the aforementioned bit with the rain turning out to be Jason peeing), which was more than I got during my first viewing of this back when it originally aired. Still one of the worst Digital Shorts of all time, though.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Paradise”


WEEKEND UPDATE
the nature of the Penn State scandal is too much for The Devil to take

Garth & Kat add a backup singer (Chris Martin) for Thanksgiving tunes

— Ah, this Penn State commentary from The Devil is the commentary that I’ve remembered the most out of all of his appearances. This also ends up being his final Update commentary. His only remaining appearance is just a non-speaking background appearance with various other Update characters during the epic “Stefon’s Wedding” bit in Bill’s final episode.
— I absolute love The Devil’s various reactions to certain horrifying details about the Penn State scandal. Given this VERY heavy subject matter, this is a fine line for SNL to tread, but Jason’s execution of it is perfect.
— After The Devil says, in an aghast manner in response to one of the Penn State scandal details about the child sexual abuse, “This is college football, not the catholic church!” and the audience gasps at that, I love The Devil then asking the audience “Are you sorry that it happened or that I reminded you of it?”
— After The Devil learns of one PARTICULARLY horrifying fact about the Penn State scandal, Jason gets such a huge laugh out of me from him getting out of his seat and yelling at the Weekend Update map “ARE YOU HEARING THIS?!? ARE YOU HEARING THIS…MAP?!?” Jason is absolutely slaying me in this whole commentary.
— The Devil ending his commentary by officially retiring from his job is perfect closure for this recurring character.
— Aaaaaaand, after my very positive reception to The Devil commentary, Garth and motherfucking Kat are here to give me one of the biggest mood whiplashes I’ve EVER gotten during SNL.
— Much like Gwyneth Paltrow in the preceding season, her then-hubby Chris Martin plays a third member of Garth & Kat. I’m guessing Chris Martin previously watched Gwyneth doing this and liked it so much that, when he showed up at SNL this week, he asked if he could do a Garth & Kat bit. So I see I have him to thank for having to suffer through these characters once again.
STARS: **½ (as usual, Garth & Kat’s painful and overlong commentary docked half a star from the rating)


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
teens dance & get married to “A Cause Des Garcons”

— This episode is going really heavy on recurring characters, though I’m not complaining about seeing this particular sketch.
— Emma reprises the character she played in the very first installment of this sketch.
— I kinda don’t like how the French songs played in these sketches seem to get less and less bizarre with each passing installment of this sketch, but that’s a minor gripe about this always-very-fun recurring sketch.
— Great bit with a little person appearing from under Emma’s wedding dress.
— Some fun walk-ons and passersby at the end.
— While I didn’t feel this overall installment of this recurring sketch was quite as great as previous installments (which I also said about Herb Welch earlier in this episode review), this was still strong and enjoyable.
STARS: ****


BRIDAL SHOWER GIFTS
(host)’s X-rated gifts are inappropriate for (KRW)’s bridal shower

— An actual original, non-recurring sketch tonight.
— The odd, very deep voice Emma’s using here is immediately cracking me up.
— So far, good job from Emma as this off-beat character, and her inappropriate bridal shower gifts are pretty funny.
— I know it’s cliched for me to say this at this point of Fred’s SNL tenure, but ugh, I hate Fred’s performance in this otherwise good sketch. I find him unlikable when he plays characters like this in his later seasons, and not unlikable in the intentional, comedic way.
— Decent bit with Emma’s reactions to the “cops”.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”


SAD SONG
depressed (NAP) & co-workers have a good cry to “Someone Like You”

— A laugh from Nasim, after initially hiding her true emotions from her co-workers, immediately following her co-workers’ exit by playing Adele’s “Someone Like You” on her computer and instantly breaking out into tears.
— Very funny visual of Nasim and Emma simultaneously pigging out on ice cream while crying to the song.
— Amusing how Kristen’s reason for wanting to cry to the song is because her parakeets have been fighting all week.
— Hilarious actions and facial expressions from Emma, Nasim, and Kristen right now during their emotional “Someone Like You” crying together.
— Great escalation to this sketch.
— I love the gag with Bill randomly having mascara running from his eyes during his crying.
— An excellent meta turn with us now even seeing Coldplay, as themselves, falling victim to the chain reaction of emotional “Someone Like You” crying while watching this sketch backstage at SNL.
STARS: ****½


WE’RE GOING TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY HUMP
handheld devices perform porno plots

— Well, this is certainly an out-of-left-field premise. I’m onboard, though.
— Jay makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in something that’s 1) pre-taped, and 2) can hardly even be called an “appearance”, as we only hear his voice and see his hand during one of the technology sex scenes.
— Why are Andy and Emma’s portions of this sketch pre-taped? One could say it’s because Andy gets bleeped out at one point when jovially saying “I hear that shit!”, but it’s not like this era hasn’t had bleeped-out scripted swearing in live sketches (e.g. the Paula Deen sketch from the season 36 Scarlett Johansson episode).
— Some good and inspired gags during the technology sex scenes, like the camera’s penis being its extended lens, the iPad turning around to receive anal sex, and the curling iron’s plug being used as a whip.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. The first half was kinda bumpy, but things got better and more consistent in the second half (which was also the case with Emma Stone’s previous episode).


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sad Song
Les Jeunes de Paris
We’re Going To Make Technology Hump
The Republican Presidential Debate
WXPD News New York
Monologue
Bridal Shower Gifts
Weekend Update
Secret Word
Wish It Would Rain


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charlie Day)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jason Segel

Posted on

November 5, 2011 – Charlie Day / Maroon 5 (S37 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE GHOST OF KADDAFI
the ghost of Muammer Kaddafi (FRA) says his final farewells from Hell

— Ugh. Much like the first cold opening SNL did after Osama Bin Laden’s death the preceding season, we open the show with a post-death address to the nation from Fred as a recently-killed Muammer Kaddafi (how many damn spellings of the man’s name are there?). So lazy and uncreative, which is sadly on-brand for a lot of SNL’s writing in 2009-2012. Not to mention SNL’s overuse of Fred’s unfunny Kaddafi impression the preceding season (appearing FOUR EPISODES IN A ROW at one point) made me permanently sick of it. At least the fact that Kaddafi is dead by this point means I don’t have to suffer through this impression anymore, but I’m sure Fred will find another Middle Eastern leader to play ad-nauseam.
— I do at least kinda like the line about how hell looks like Libya.
— Boy, that joke from Fred’s Kaddafi about his face being melty got a very forced, tedious “Ehhh…” laugh from the audience.
— Overall, most of this was just as painful to get through as I was worried.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
relaxed host puts out by playing piano & harmonica; Danny DeVito cameo

— Charlie Day already bringing lots of fun energy right out of the gate in this.
— Danny DeVito! In his first SNL appearance in years!
— So much fun interplay between Charlie and Danny in this.
— Charlie Day is one of the very few hosts who can make me forgive SNL for doing yet another musical monologue in this era.
— Charlie, to Danny: “(*in an aggravated manner*) It’s called a monologue ’cause one person does it!” Ha, tell that to SNL’s writers.
— Great piano/harmonica song from Charlie, especially the lyric about it being “Charlie Day day”.
STARS: ****½


KIM’S FAIRYTALE DIVORCE
Kardashians make a spectacle of Kim’s (NAP) separation

— I remember this being really solid and fun.
— A hilarious facial expression from Taran’s Bruce Jenner.
— I love Charlie as the divorce attorney.
— Andy’s caveman-like portrayal of Kris Humphries is very funny.
— I like the running gag with Kristen’s Kris Jenner desperately trying to pass herself off as a young, fourth Kardashian sister.
— Overall, this lived up to my positive memories. Easily my favorite of SNL’s many Kardashian spoofs in this era. I think the fact that this one was pre-taped played a part in it coming off more fun than SNL’s typical Kardashian parodies in this era.
STARS: ****


THE DR. OZ SHOW
(host)’s dead rectum isn’t treated discreetly by Dr. Oz (BIH)

— A spot-on Dr. Oz impression from Bill.
— I’m currently about two minutes into this sketch, and I’m not too crazy about it so far.
— This sketch is over already??? This was a big ol’ pile of “meh”, despite some chuckles I got towards the end.
STARS: **


GREEK GODS
on Mount Olympus, Greek gods dodge blame for Hellenic economic woes

— I always love these fun ensemble sketches that utilize the entire cast and give each of them their own bit.
— Andy’s disgusting suggestion is very funny, especially with his various “hear me out”s throughout it.
— Jason is excellent as the leader here, and he has so many funny reactions to the other gods.
— A laugh from Adam Levine’s failure in his attempts to brush the long windblown hair out of his face.
— Bobby’s delivery of “Hahahaha SHUT UP” was great.
— Some fun interplay between Charlie and Jason here (a precursor to lots of fun interplay we’ll be seeing between Charlie and Jason in a certain sketch airing later in this episode).
— Meh, a newspaper headline ending, usually a lazy resort.
STARS: ****


IT’S GETTING FREAKY WITH CEE LO GREEN!
Cee Lo Green (KET) helps (ANS) & (ABE) enliven marriage

— Speaking of lazy resorts SNL loves relying on, we get the debut of another celebrity-hosted talk show sketch.
— A good vocal imitation of Cee Lo Green from Kenan.
— For a celebrity-hosted talk show sketch, this actually has a very fun atmosphere and approach. In fact, the fun atmosphere and approach is quite What Up With That-esque, such as the look of the band, and Charlie’s Freakasaurus character. Given the fact, at this time, What Up With That was retired (it would be un-retired later this season), perhaps SNL intended this sketch to become WUWT’s replacement.
— Some funny lines from Kenan’s Cee Lo throughout this, especially “Well, much like my arms and legs, this is a stumper.”
— Now we get another WUWT-esque fun aspect of this sketch, with Bill entering as “Colonel Nasty”, featuring Bill doing his ol’ reliable “70s pimp” voice.
STARS: ***½


THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF CATCHPHRASE COMEDY VOLUME 2
more hack stand-ups are along for the second Kings Of Catchphrase tour

— The second and final installment of this piece, though there’s a third one that gets cut after dress rehearsal from this season’s finale and would be posted online.
— An absolutely spot-on and funny Dane Cook spoof from Charlie.
— Nasim’s “my vagina” routine is a particularly accurate and funny spoof of some female stand-ups.
— I love the randomness of Adam Levine’s whole stand-up gimmick being him suddenly getting attacked by a hawk in the middle of his act.
— Bill’s bit particularly stands out as absolutely priceless.
— Unlike the first installment of this piece, tonight’s installment is using the entire cast, making this the second full-cast segment tonight that gives each cast member their own moment to shine. I absolutely love that, and for me, that puts this one over the top as my favorite of the two Kings Of Catchphrase Comedy pieces.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Moves Like Jagger”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Rick Perry (BIH) is as loopy as he seemed during his New Hampshire speech

A Closer Look At Europe- SEM summarizes the continental financial crisis

eternally-nervous Judy Grimes free-associates quickly & peripatetically

— Bill is very fun here as Rick Perry, so much so that even he and Seth are visibly having a lot of unscripted, infectious fun here, particularly with Bill’s hilarious “Hola!” ad-lib during the Hawaiian doll bit.
— Holy hell, Seth is doing a segment called “A Closer Look at Europe”. Can this be considered a direct precursor to his famous “A Closer Look” regular segment from his current Late Night show? I’ve never actually watched his Late Night show, so I don’t know how similar the actual content of this “Closer Look at Europe” segment has to the content of his “Closer Look” segments on Late Night.
— An overall decent “Closer Look at Europe” segment.
— I completely forgot about Kristen’s Judy Grimes character until this point. She hadn’t appeared in quite a long while. I didn’t even realize until now that she completely skipped season 36.
— Checking SNL Archives right now, this actually ends up being Judy Grimes’ final appearance. I keep forgetting this is Kristen’s final season on SNL.
— Wow, tonight’s Judy Grimes commentary contains what has got to be her longest run-on “Just kidding” spiel of all time. That’s not a complaint, though, as I’m still getting my usual laughs from this character. And given the fact that this ends up being her final appearance, it’s very fitting that this contains her longest-ever run-on “Just kidding” spiel, whether that’s intentional on SNL’s part or not. I’m glad that, contrary to my initial worries when I covered Judy Grimes’ debut, I somehow ended up never getting sick of this character, despite her shtick always being the same.
STARS: ***½


BECAUSE OF ONE DOLPHIN
on a movie set, actor (host) has trouble during a scene with a dolphin

— For some reason, it feels a little odd seeing Kristen playing a director in a movie filming sketch. As frequently utilized as she is, I can’t think of any other time she played this specific type of role.
— Some laughs from Taran’s dolphin command sounds and gestures.
— I’m being somewhat amused by Kenan’s stern “I do my job” catchphrase throughout this sketch.
— Pretty funny turn with Kenan immediately ripping off his clothes to reveal he’s wearing the same costume that Charlie’s wearing for the movie, and then proceeding to seamlessly step into Charlie’s movie role.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Travie McCoy [real] perform “Stereo Hearts”


CRIME SCENE
(host) belies ignorance while investigating murder in Seinfeld apartment lookalike

— Ah, an all-time favorite of mine, and I know that a number of other SNL fans love it as well.
— A genuine and relatable big laugh from the simple moment of Jason finally pointing out what we all noticed right from the start of this sketch: this apartment looks like the famous Seinfeld apartment.
— Charlie’s increasingly ridiculous and inexplicable lack of knowledge about certain TV shows and historical events is great.
— Charlie, when Jason brings up the name Adolf Hitler: “What’s he, another one of your Fieldstein characters?”
— Now this is getting even funnier with Charlie’s character unwittingly making references to the exact TV shows and historical events that he claimed to have no knowledge of.
— Jason and Charlie are making an AMAZING comedy team in this. They are an absolute blast together here, and the way they’re selling this sketch is nothing short of phenomenal.
— Even Jason’s mere delivery of “What the hell?!?” when Charlie’s character intentionally makes a CSI reference killed me and has been one of the parts of this sketch that has stuck in my memory over the years.
STARS: *****


LIL POUNDCAKE
Rerun from 10/1/11


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I called the preceding Anna Faris-hosted episode pretty fun, but THIS episode takes the cake. This episode was the textbook definition of fun, with stuff like the monologue, Greek Gods, It’s Getting Freaky, Kings Of Catchphrase Comedy, Bill Hader’s Rick Perry commentary on Weekend Update, and (especially) Crime Scene. Charlie Day’s performances also added a lot to the fun vibe of this episode. There was so much of this episode that I loved. The number of segments that didn’t work for me were thankfully kept to a very small minimum, and are easy to ignore with how strong a lot of this episode was. And even as awful and derivative as the cold opening was, at least Fred Armisen brought a lot of energy in it, which, thinking about it in hindsight, fits the fun, energetic feel of this episode in general.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Crime Scene
The Original Kings Of Catchphrase Comedy Volume 2
Monologue
Greek Gods
Kim’s Fairytale Divorce
It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!
Weekend Update
Because Of One Dolphin
The Dr. Oz Show
The Ghost of Kaddafi


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anna Faris)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Emma Stone

Posted on

October 15, 2011 – Anna Faris / Drake (S37 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
one-percenter Michael Bloomberg (FRA) ducks Occupy Wall Street protesters

— I liked the previous Fred-as-Michael-Bloomberg-addressing-the-nation cold opening from the preceding season, but I can’t say I’m crazy about seeing another one. Then again, I’m rarely eager to see ANY cold opening involving a politician sitting behind a desk (or standing behind a podium, in this case) and delivering an address to the nation.
— Funny line regarding New York supposedly being a trendsetter.
— Aside from a few okay lines, this cold opening is droning on and on for me. Fred might as well be playing Obama here, because this cold opening is almost as boring as a typical Obama-addresses-the-nation cold opening.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
in Hanna Garis (ABE), host finds a familiar face in the audience

— An okay-ish conceit with the overly-intelligent, complicated questions audience members ask the ditzy Anna Faris.
— Hmm, playing a Jeff Montgomery-esque character, right down to the clothing choices, are we, Bill? Then again, maybe we can consider this to possibly be the same character Bill previously played in the MySpace Seminar sketch from season 31, just like my personal theory that Will Forte’s character in that MySpace Seminar sketch could possibly be a then-unnamed Jeff Montgomery.
— A fairly fun way to work Abby’s Anna Faris impression into this, and I like how Anna is exaggerating her own voice and mannerisms to match Abby’s over-the-top impression. This is probably more cute than funny, but I’m still enjoying it.
STARS: ***


THE MANUEL ORTIZ SHOW
Latin beats saturate philandering sting operation

— (*groooooaaaaaaaaaaan*)
— What was with that mic’ed gravelly throat-clearing sound I heard from someone at the very beginning of this?
— Is it me, or have they shortened the usual music they always dance to in this recurring sketch? If so, thank god.
— Ha, I actually laughed at the hidden camera scene, even how it ended with this sketch’s usual dance routine.
STARS: **


WHAT’S WRONG WITH TANYA?!
game show tests Lifetime Original Movie moms

— A solid premise for a Lifetime game show sketch.
— There’s Bill’s omnipresent Vince Blight character hosting yet another new game show sketch.
— A funny detail of the first prize being “a Volvo full of groceries!”
— A good running bit with all the contestants talking over each other when initially asking each Tanya what’s wrong.
— I love how the losing contestants have to pretend to rake leaves slowly while the rest of the game goes on.
— A hilarious tense, dramatic “Ow, you’re hurting my arm!” “WHO’S GONNA BELIEVE YOU?!?” exchange between Anna and Bill.
STARS: ****


DRAKE INTERVIEW
ANS gets brief, close, sarcastic, racist, seductive, sweater-matching, horribly dubbed, and dark with musical guest

— Girls in the audience are excitedly screaming at the top of their lungs at 1) the mere appearance of Drake’s name in the opening title of this short, and 2) the initial appearance of Drake himself. Rather reminiscent of how the audience usually is whenever Justin Timberlake is on the show.
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary structure to this Digital Short, with it being comprised of various different-themed mini interviews of Drake.
— Drake immediately shutting down the racist-themed interview before Andy actually said anything bad was particularly funny.
— A good silly atmosphere to this whole short.
— Meh, I didn’t care for the extremely random and off-topic “Happy Halloween” ending, which gave off the desperation and fatigue that a lot of Digital Shorts this season in general reek of. Aside from that, though, this was a good short, and was the first Digital Short all season that I actually liked.
STARS: ***½


YET ANOTHER GOP DEBATE
debating GOP presidential hopefuls are realistically cynical about future

— Bill takes over the Rick Perry impression that Alec Baldwin previously did in the season premiere. Hmm, an actual cast member taking over a politician role that was previously played by a non-cast member. Hear that, 2020 SNL?
— I like the very loose, silly, experimental approach to this debate sketch, especially with the increasingly odd location each GOP candidate is placed in. I’m finding this fun. Hmm, an actual fun and loose debate sketch. Again I ask, hear that, 2020 SNL?
— “Jon Huntsman couldn’t be here tonight”? You’d think Taran (who previously played Huntsman earlier this season) was out sick tonight, especially since we’ve yet to see him appear in any sketches so far tonight. However, we’ll finally be seeing him towards the end of this episode.
— Jason-as-Mitt-Romney’s Forrest Gump analogy is pretty funny.
— Love the whole bit with Paul’s Ron Paul being kidnapped in a van, then immediately defending himself from his kidnappers in a badass manner.
— From my past viewing of this sketch when it originally aired, I had remembered Vanessa being really stumbly in her delivery throughout this sketch as the moderator, and I recall that ended up setting off a lot of somewhat harsh criticisms of Vanessa in general from some online SNL fans for the remainder of this season (until she won a lot of those people back over the following season). In my current viewing, however, I’m seeing that she hasn’t flubbed anything in this sketch, aside from her opening line. (And, yes, I’m watching the live version of this episode, not a rerun version that might’ve fixed any flubs.) However, she is coming off rather stiff here, but not to the detriment of the sketch or anything.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Headlines”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Anthony Crispino spreads falsehoods about Walgreens, Courteney Cox, more

teens (JAP) & (musical guest) do a rap about jacking kids’ Halloween candy bags

— Bobby’s Anthony Crispino mentions that he got one of his false news scoops from a Nazi friend named Pee-Wee German. That sounds like that could easily be a name of a club owner mentioned by Stefon, given how the club owner names that Stefon usually mentions are malaprops of celebrity names (e.g. Jew Diamond Phillips, Tranny Oakley, Snoozin Lucci).
— Tonight’s Crispino commentary is slaying me as usual, even if there’s nothing specific I can single out in tonight’s commentary.
— Hmm, interesting use of tonight’s musical guest, Drake. Also good to see Jay finally getting his first big live role of this season, after how badly he had been struggling for airtime this season.
— During the pre-song portion of the Jay/Drake commentary, Drake is coming off as a natural in his delivery. An early sign of what a good host he’ll make a few years later.
— Cue the screaming girls in the audience again during certain things Drake does in this commentary, including thrusting his hips in a suggestive manner at one point.
— A decent Halloween song from Jay and Drake, made better by Drake’s fun performance.
STARS: ***


TELL HIM
(VAB)’s friends advocate lying for dating success with “Tell Him” variant

 

— While I’m often not too crazy about musical sketches, I really like how “old school SNL” this particular sketch feels. This sketch would’ve came off right at home in the 70s or the Dick Ebersol era, and it comes off as a very refreshing novelty in this early 2010s era.
— This is also a great ensemble sketch for the female cast, which feels rare in these later years of Kristen’s SNL tenure. The usually-underused Abby even gets a big solo at one point of this song!
— There’s Andy doing his usual funny brief walk-on work.
— A fun and great ending to the song.
STARS: ****


J-POP AMERICA FUN TIME NOW!
Midwestern weeaboos (TAK) & (VAB) love Japan

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— There’s Taran, finally making his first (and only) appearance tonight.
— I like how the two lead characters in this are played by second-season featured players Taran and Vanessa, the future of SNL.
— Jason doing great straight man work as the teacher.
— Why is Vanessa facing the wrong camera right now while intending to speak into the camera?
— Ugh, cue the cutaway to Fred in drag as Taran’s Japanese girlfriend. And even more unfortunate, that ends up becoming a regular part of this soon-to-be-recurring sketch.
— I’m enjoying this sketch, even if I’ve never been quite as crazy about these sketches as some people are. Maybe it’s because I’m not too familiar with Japanese culture tropes and people who are obsessed with them like Taran and Vanessa’s characters.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Nicki Minaj [real] perform “Make Me Proud”


LORD WYNDEMERE
cavalier dandy Cecil (PAB) meets his girlfriend’s (host) family

— After he had been so under the radar in all his prior appearances this season, Paul finally gets an actual showcase!
— Right out of the gate, this character of Paul’s and the comedic dissonance of him in a modern-day setting is fantastic.
— Equally (or maybe even moreso) fantastic is Jason’s performance, between his overjoyed reactions to everything Paul’s character is doing, and his sudden loud, angry outbursts at Andy. Jason’s ability to seamlessly switch from “jolly” mode to “viciously angry” mode at the drop of a hat rivals that of Will Ferrell’s.
— Even Bill in a mostly silent role is adding to the greatness of this sketch with his creepy frozen smile in the brief cutaway to a close-up of him. I’m loving pretty much everything about this sketch.
STARS: ****½


FERRARI CALENDAR
(KRW) & (host) ogle untraditionally-handsome Ferrari calendar models

— A somewhat amusing conceit with Kristen and Anna inexplicably lusting after grotesque Ferrari calendar models, especially Anna with her initial “Ohh!” facial reactions to each model.
— Ehh, the descriptions of each grotesque model are getting less and less funny, even if I’m still liking Kristen and Anna’s delivery.
— What’s with the random running gag with Bill’s character wording some of his sentences awkwardly, then expressing frustration with himself because of that? Speaking of random running gags, I’m also not caring for the one with Kristen and Anna occasionally saying “…or our asses are gonna explode”.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty fun episode. While certainly not without its faults, this overall episode was entertaining due to a few great highlights and the fun atmosphere of many of the segments.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lord Wyndemere
Tell Him
What’s Wrong With Tanya?!
Yet Another GOP Debate
Drake Interview
J-Pop America Fun Time Now!
Weekend Update
Monologue
A Message From The Mayor
The Manuel Ortiz Show
Ferrari Calendar


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ben Stiller)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Charlie Day

Posted on

October 8, 2011 – Ben Stiller / Foster The People (S37 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
GOP fundraisers wish Chris Christie (BOM) would obviate Mitt Romney (JAS)

— Heh, while Paul as a reporter is asking a question, Vanessa as a fellow reporter can be seen with a huge, gleeful, frozen, open-mouthed smile on her face, a definitive Vanessa Bayer facial expression (seen towards the lower left corner of the below screencap).

— Funny line from Jason’s Mitt Romney about how his voice sounds like a black comedian doing a white guy voice.
— When Bobby’s Chris Christie is listing off the reasons why he can never be president, I got a particularly big laugh from him pointing to his body and saying “This…this can’t go national.”
— The dynamic between Bobby’s Christie and the crowd of reporters who love him is decently funny.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
BES visits Jewish Willy Wonka’s (ANS) kosher wonderland during Yom Kippur

— Andy: “I’m Jewish Willy Wonka!” Ben Stiller: “So you’re Gene Wilder?” Andy: “Yeah, basically.”
— A nice-looking Jewish food-filled wonderland set.
— The Jewish stereotypes humor is coming off decent here.
STARS: ***


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(JAS) will have sex with his future self (JAS)

— I like the unsettling reveal of Jason’s future self wanting to have sex with his present-day self. The calm, smug smile on Future Jason’s face during all of this is adding to the humor for me.
— An overall fairly dumb ad, but one that worked for me.
STARS: ***½


FOX & FRIENDS
Hank Williams Jr. (JAS) won’t apologize for Obama remarks

— Good to see this solid sketch become recurring.
— Hmm, I didn’t recall from my previous viewings of this era that Fred’s doddering old fact-checker character from the first installment of this sketch got brought back. He eventually gets dropped from these sketches, but I’m not sure when.
— Vanessa: “[Hank Williams Jr.] compared President Obama to Hitler, and we just don’t say that on this show.” Bobby: “We imply it.”
— I love Jason’s mere look as Hank Williams Jr., as well as his portrayal of him.
— Funny bit with Jason’s HWJ going off-book during his apology song, and launching into another “Obama is Hitler” rant.
STARS: ****


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(BIH) meets his fat & suicidal future self (BIH)

— This seems like an odd choice for a runner to me.
— The deep “fat guy” voice Bill’s using is absolutely fantastic.
— I love the dark bit with Future Bill jovially implying that he’s flying to Hawaii just so he can commit suicide.
STARS: ***½


THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS WITH HUGH JACKMAN
manly Daniel Radcliffe (Hugh Jackman) is musical

— The second and final appearance of this sketch. This is also the second consecutive live sketch tonight that’s being brought back from the preceding season’s Helen Mirren episode.
— Hmm, much like how I didn’t recall Fred’s fact-checker character from the first Fox & Friends installment being brought back in tonight’s Fox & Friends installment, I completely forgot that SNL made Abby’s Nancy Grace impression recurring. I had always remembered it only appearing in that So You Think You Can Dance parody from the season 35 Ryan Reynolds episode.
— The musical knife fight between Andy’s Hugh Jackman and Ben’s Mandy Patinkin is very funny.
— The debut of Bill’s memorable and very funny Clint Eastwood impression.
— They’re speeding through all the guests in this installment, it seems. The first installment of this sketch took its time with each guest.
— A cameo from Hugh Jackman himself, playing Daniel Radcliffe. The audience seems to take a while to recognize it’s Jackman under that get-up.
— A decent meta turn with Jackman, in character as Radcliffe, desperately refuting all the ridiculous claims that Andy’s Jackman makes about himself.
— Though I feel very wrong for this, I laughed at Andy’s Jackman saying, during his claim that he was born a girl, “The doctor turned me kangaroo pouch into a didgeridoo!”
— Why is it always Bobby who’s cast as the stage manager who gets gruesomely killed by the guests in these sketches?
STARS: ***


V-NECKS
(ANS) & (BES) show their chests in a clothing store showdown

— I wonder if Ben appreciates starring in a Digital Short, given the fact that, back when he was a short-lived cast member in season 14, SNL’s refusal to let him do short films that season was reportedly the reason for his very early exit.
— A laugh from the second V-Neck shirt Andy walks out in, where the “V” goes all the way down to his belly button.
— The escalation to the V-Necks is a little meh for me, despite some chuckles I’m occasionally getting.
— Not sure what the point is of Ben suddenly speaking in a goofy high-pitched voice when he’s being arrested by the cops.
— The diminished quality of this season’s Digital Shorts continues, though I found this overall V-Necks short a little better than the Stomp short from the preceding episode.
STARS: **½


BAND SHOT
going to commercial, Hank Williams Jr. (JAS) asks “Are you ready?” through song

— Oh, hell yeah! This is a great change of pace for this era, letting a cast member do a brief going-to-commercial musical number with the SNL Band, and it’s also a great way for Jason to reprise his Hank Williams Jr. impression from earlier tonight. This whole thing feels like a throwback to earlier SNL eras, which weren’t afraid to try different things like this.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pumped Up Kicks”


WEEKEND UPDATE
event planner Nan Washingtom’s (KRW) lone party theme idea is “pancakes”

look no further than the party held by Derek Zoolander (BES) & Stefon

— Odd how Seth starts his intro of the first guest commentary in tonight’s Update by saying “My first guest is a– etc.”, which is something Seth’s never done before in his Update guest intros. (Neither has any other Update anchorperson, as far as I know.)
— Another quirky one-off Wiig Update character. Ever since somewhere around March of the preceding season, it feels like Update is the only place Kristen does new characters anymore.
— This so-called new character of Kristen’s feels too much like an amalgamation of various quirky characters Kristen previously played, right down to the detail of her holding the microphone too close to her mouth the whole time.
— I’m not caring at all for where Kristen’s pancakes commentary has been going, nor do I like how EXTREMELY slow and drawn-out it is. This feels like a lame, failed attempt at both absurdist humor and patience-testing humor, mixed with tired “Wacky Wiig” character tropes. I remember how, when this originally aired, some online SNL fans defended this commentary of Kristen’s from people like me who bashed it, but yeah, 9 years later, I’m still not seeing the appeal of Kristen’s commentary at all.
— I love the audience reaction to Seth’s first Pet Costumes joke.
— I like how Stefon’s commentary begins with a callback to the summer vacation we previously saw him and Seth heading on their way to in the preceding season’s finale.
— A particularly memorable and hilarious Stefon moment right now, with his description of what a Human Fire Extinguisher is.
— An interesting change of pace in this Stefon commentary, with his new friend showing up, who turns out to be Ben’s Zoolander character. Good to see this, and seeing Stefon and Zoolander teamed up is a pretty fun pairing.
— I got a big laugh from Zoolander’s explanation of what the complicated SoWoHoNoBoHeWo abbreviation stands for.
STARS: ***


HALLOWEEN PARTY
at a Halloween party, sexy & foul Shana mixes her co-workers’ emotions

— This ends up being the final Shana sketch.
— How is Shana always “the new girl” in every single one of her sketches, when her co-workers are always the same people (aside from the character played by the host)?
— Yeesh, that “man from the 90s”/“Oh, I’m not wearing a costume” gag between Abby and Ben fell horribly flat.
— Speaking of Abby, she has officially broken the curse of cast members getting fired after playing the “ignored girl” role in just one Shana sketch.
— For most of this Shana character’s run, I’ve been a lot more tolerant of her sketches than some SNL fans appear to be, but I seemed to finally get tired of her sketches halfway through the last one prior to this (the basketball court one with Bryan Cranston). My newfound tiredness towards these sketches has been continuing in tonight’s installment, as I’m not all that entertained by what I’m currently watching.
— Ugh. Aaaaaaaaaaaand there goes the unnecessary, loud, long fart sound effect, something that this sketch had thankfully refrained from using in previous installments. The fact that this occurs at the climax of this sketch is sadly a fitting final nail in the coffin for this past-its-prime recurring sketch. Good riddance.
STARS: *½


LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
(BES) is drawn to his female future self (BES)

— Short but not sweet. Just a cheap man-in-drag punchline, even with the initial fake-out involving Abby being mistaken for Ben’s future self.
— Oh, and this makes another sex change joke tonight.
STARS: *½


COLUMBUS DAY ASSBLAST
Under-Underground Columbus Day festival features Eckhart Tolle (BES)

— This is the third recurring piece tonight that last appeared in the preceding season’s Helen Mirren episode.
— Love the fake band name Crucifying Kudrow.
— I didn’t even realize that Jay hadn’t appeared in tonight’s episode until this point. And, of course, keeping in the theme of Jay having a rough go this season, not only is his first appearance of tonight’s episode so late in the show, but it’s a pre-taped appearance.
— Speaking of Jay, I fucking hate that high-pitched sound his character in these Under-Underground pieces always makes.
— A particularly funny event, with a party featuring the cast of the 90s show Dinosaurs, without their costumes.
— A funny change of the usual tone to these Under-Underground pieces, with Ben’s tender, soft-spoken speech as a spiritual advisor.
STARS: ****


BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: JUST THE STORIES
DVDs have Bruce Springsteen’s (BES) between-song tales

— Pretty funny premise, and a decent execution of it.
— I like the unintelligible “Hunh hunh hainh hunh!” countdowns Ben’s Bruce Springsteen keeps doing before each song, and how each DVD clip abruptly ends with him about to start the song.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Kenny G [real] perform “Houdini”

— Ha, Kenny Motherfuckin’ G out of nowhere!


TINYBALLS
Moneyball follow-up dramatizes role of steroids in baseball

— Seems to be a lot of pre-taped segments in the post-Weekend Update half of this episode.
— Hmm, we’re seeing a different version of Taran’s Brad Pitt impression, with no yells of “Bdaaaah!” this time.
— Jay continues to make his only appearances tonight in pre-taped form, making this the second of the three episodes that have aired so far this season that Jay hasn’t made any live appearances in.
— Funny moment with Taran’s character’s daughter proudly smiling at him when he tells her, in a poignant manner, “We’re cheating, honey.”
— The steroid-fueled wild, insane celebration in the locker room is hilarious.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. A tad unmemorable as a whole (at least to me), but still decent. So much so, that there’s nothing else I can find to say about it.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Columbus Day Assblast
Fox & Friends
Tinyballs
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 2)
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 1)
The Best Of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman
Press Conference / Monologue (tie)
Bruce Springsteen: Just The Stories
Weekend Update
V-Necks
Lincoln Financial Group (Part 3)
Halloween Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Melissa McCarthy)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anna Faris

Posted on

October 1, 2011 – Melissa McCarthy / Lady Antebellum (S37 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese has a muscle-bound sister (host)

— (*groan*)
— A funny and solid cheesy performance from Taran, at least.
— We get the addition of Melissa McCarthy as a Dooneese-like fifth sister to the group. Meh. However, I do kinda like the detail of Melissa having huge He-Man doll arms as a contrast to Dooneese’s tiny baby doll hands.
— Taran’s solid straight man performance is now starting to come off quite Will Ferrell-esque, definitely a good thing.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
supposed dance experts host & KRW never actually show off their steps

— Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I’ve last seen Melissa McCarthy, but her voice sounds different here than how I recall it sounding in her later SNL appearances.
— (*groan*) Our first musical monologue of the season. My typical aversion to musical monologues has recently become heightened due to how extremely oversaturated the preceding season was with them. (Literally 40% of that season’s monologues were musical, and that’s not an exaggeration.)
— Two segments into tonight’s episode, and we’re already getting lots of pairings of Melissa and her close friend and then-recent Bridesmaids costar Kristen. Feels a little odd in retrospect seeing Melissa so closely connected with Kristen in this episode, given how we would get so used to seeing Melissa without Kristen in Melissa’s subsequent hosting stints. Also, I remember how, when this episode originally aired, the cold opening and monologue made me worried that practically every sketch was going to have Kristen and Melissa paired together as annoying characters. Instead, as it turns out, Kristen surprisingly ends up being almost completely non-existent for the remainder of the episode.
— The running joke of Melissa acting like she and Kristen are about to start dancing, only for Melissa to immediately refrain because “Haw haw, she’s overweight!” is getting old quickly.
— The silhouette dancing gag is kinda amusing, at least.
STARS: **


LIL POUNDCAKE
doll injects girls with human papilloma virus vaccine

— The disturbing HPV twist is a very funny contrast to the upbeat aesthetic of this spot-on spoof of little girls’ dolls commercials.
— A good unsettled facial reaction from Kristen when she sees a doll in the biohazard trash bin creepily turning its head toward her.
STARS: ****


OFFICE FLIRT
(host) generates no sparks during sexual harassment of co-worker (JAS)

   

— Now that Melissa’s not joined at the hip with Kristen for once tonight, it’ll be interesting to see a display of Melissa’s character work.
— After sadly being shut out of the preceding week’s season premiere, Jay finally makes his first appearance of the season…aaaaaaand it’s a quick non-comedic walk-on where he only has one or two lines, and this ends up being his only live appearance all night.
— A simple and thin sketch, but a strong lead performance from Melissa, who’s going all out here, and is cracking me up. Jason is also a decent straight man to her.
— When Melissa pops the balloons stuffed under her sweater, I love Jason worriedly saying “I hope that was a balloon.”
— This is a very minor thing for me to gripe about, but Jay couldn’t even be bothered to keep up the character voice he was doing, as he went from speaking in an affected nerdy, whitebred voice in his first brief walk-on to speaking in his real-life laid-back, urban voice in his second brief walk-on.
— A pretty good twist at the end with Bill.
STARS: ***½


STOMP
percussive police station guns down Blue Man Group (FRA) & (PAB)

— I like the jolly look on Jason’s face as a handcuffed criminal who’s gleefully dancing to the rhythmic office sounds at the police station.
— An initial laugh from the beginning of the sudden turn with this becoming an extensive Stomp musical.
— Wait, what? Why are we now spending so much time on the VERY extended and unfunny gunning-down of Blue Man Group? What is the the point of this?
— I did at least like Bill and Andy’s quick exchange at the end, after a long pause while they’re staring at the bodies of the two Blue Man Group members they had just killed: “Was that Blue Man Group?” “Yep.” “Sh(*bleep*)t.”
— Overall, after an okay-ish start, this Digital Short really lost its way. It tried too hard to do way too much, and resulted in this being an overall mediocre short. This is our first sign of how troubled the general quality of this season’s Digital Shorts will be without Jorma or Akiva around anymore. I recall some Digital Shorts this season being downright unwatchable, which was practically unheard of prior to this season.
STARS: **


THE COMMENTS SECTION
pathetic online loudmouths lose their anonymity

— A spot-on spoof of the toxic comments section of certain sites, such as YouTube.
— Good turn with Bobby being shocked to find out that the old lady who’s video he left a juvenile, mean-spirited comment on is being brought out to confront him.
— Uh, what??? Was Nasim’s confrontation of Bobby ending with her telling him “I think you’re rotten!” supposed to be lame and THAT was the joke, or was that a genuine cop-out from the writers? Either way, it fell flat for me.
— I like Taran’s uncomfortable reaction when it’s his turn to be profiled, after what had just happened to Bobby.
— Melissa’s toxic online commenter character being named “DaTruf” is a particularly accurate detail of this sketch.
— Jason’s such a likable host of this sketch.
— Good ending with Bill being brought out as some random guy just here to give each guest a much-deserved punch in the gut. IIRC, SNL later does a complete rehash of this gag in another internet-related panel talk show sketch from the season 40 Dakota Johnson episode, only instead of Bill (who was long gone from SNL by that point) punching each guest, it was Taran being brought out to slap each guest in the face.
STARS: ***½


ROCK’S WAY
Chris Rock (JAP) inserts his commentary into Broadway shows

— Jay finally gets his first showcase this season, but of course, it’s just pre-taped. Maybe that’s for the best, though, given how green and stumbly he sometimes tends to be as a live performer in these early seasons of his SNL tenure.
— A fun Chris Rock impression from Jay, right down to the little detail of Jay imitating that thing Rock does with his fingers while speaking.
— Taran’s sassy testimonial-giver character from the preceding season’s Meryl Streep On Ice commercial (in which Taran’s testimonial memorably consisted of him just saying “Um, the bitch can skate!”) returns, this time saying another funny one-liner in his testimonial: “It was…black-tacular!” For some reason, SNL Archives doesn’t count him as a recurring character (and I doubt it’s because he’s nameless, because that site counts certain other nameless characters as recurring).
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Owned The Night”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Moammar Gaddafi’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up reveal his character flaws via sotto voce

Tyler Perry (KET) relishes being the highest-paid man in entertainment

— OH NO. The return of motherfucking Gaddafi’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up.
— As much as I despise Garth & Kat (another wretched Fred Armisen-costarring recurring Update duo) with the fire of a thousand suns, at least they, I dunno, sing different songs each time. With the Two Best Friends From Growing Up commentaries, it’s literally the EXACT same damn thing every time, and it wasn’t even funny the first time.
— Not sure we needed Kenan’s Tyler Perry doing his second Update commentary, even though I liked his first one.
— Kenan-as-Tyler-Perry’s “…or you may be white” bit at the end of his opening statement was funny.
— Despite my initial reservations, this second Tyler Perry commentary is actually turning out to be decent.
STARS: ***


TASTE TEST
overeager (host) disrupts Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing focus group

— Probably the most remembered sketch from this episode among SNL fans.
— I recently found out this is a piece that Melissa brought with her from her days at the Groundlings. I even saw a publicity photo of the Groundlings version of this sketch (I can’t look for the photo at the moment, but thanks in advance if anyone in the comments section of this review can find it), and one of Melissa’s scene partners in that photo is none other than future SNL writer & cast member Mikey Day.
— I like Melissa’s vague occasional comments about how the prize money “could really get me out of a couple of jams”.
— Another good performance from Melissa tonight, but the material of this particular sketch is getting too repetitive for my likes, and I’m gradually losing interest.
— An unforgettable visual of Melissa splattering a whole bunch of ranch dressing onto her face from the bottle, which, for me, bumps the sketch’s rating up half a star.
STARS: **½


THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
stairs-related injuries crippled Mae West knockoff (host)

— Taran’s been getting a lot of airtime tonight for a second-season featured player.
— Boy, I complained that the preceding Taste Test sketch was too repetitive, but THIS sketch takes the cake. And the main joke that this sketch keeps repeating isn’t even all that funny to begin with.
— Yeah, more and more, Melissa’s constant stair pratfalls aren’t doing it for me. Some of Jason’s lines during his occasional scenes as Robert Osborne are providing my only amusement in this sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Just A Kiss”


COMPLAINTS
ex-lovers belie pickup artist’s (ANS) claim of complaint-free intercourse

— After two repetitive sketches in a row starring Melissa as a one-note wacky character, it feels nice to get a change of pace here.
— Feels kinda odd seeing Kristen again, and in a small straight role, after she was absent for so much of this episode after being so dominant in the first 10 minutes.
— I like the structure to this, as well as Andy’s various affable reactions to the complaints of his various ex-lovers, especially him responding to Kristen’s complaint by telling her “Deb, ya get me!”
— Ha, that taser bit came out of NOWHERE. Good way to end this sketch.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly mixed episode. Melissa McCarthy made a strong first impression in her hosting debut, being a funny, fearless, balls-to-the-wall performer, and coming off like someone who would’ve been a complete natural as a cast member. However, my problem is that the writing of most of her big showcase pieces tonight left me cold, especially as the episode progressed and there started to be more and more of a one-note feel to her big showcase pieces. In regards to that, I’m not sure I can put all of the blame on the SNL writers (even though they’re certainly guilty of often giving a very talented female comedian bad, one-note writing, as seen with Kristen Wiig in these later years of her SNL tenure), because, as mentioned earlier, one of Melissa’s big showcase pieces that I wasn’t crazy about (Taste Test) was actually something that Melissa brought with her from the Groundlings (though perhaps SNL’s writers helped carve it out into a scripted sketch this week), and I don’t know how many other Melissa McCarthy character pieces in this or her other hosting stints also happen to be Groundlings pieces she brought to the show.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

plus this visual:


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lil Poundcake
Office Flirt
The Comments Section
Complaints
Rock’s Way
Weekend Update
Taste Test
Stomp
Monologue
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Essentials with Robert Osborne


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ben Stiller

Posted on

September 24, 2011 – Alec Baldwin / Radiohead (S37 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

EITHER THE 7TH OR 8TH GOP DEBATE
Mitt Romney (JAS) & Rick Perry (host) get top billing at GOP debate

— Bill, in that always-funny Shepard Smith voice: “Good evening, I’m Shepard Smith, and I come from a town full of secrets.”
— For tonight’s episode only, Rick Perry is played by tonight’s SNL host, Alec Baldwin. In the subsequent episodes this season that the Rick Perry impression appears in, Bill plays the role, preventing this from becoming a case of “non-cast member has to cameo every time a certain politician they once played is being spoofed”, a case that modern-day SNL viewers in 2020 are all too familiar with seeing, especially with Alec.
— A particularly hilarious part with Jason’s Mitt Romney saying, when comparing himself to each of his fellow candidates, “Next to Herman Cain–” and then silently mouthing “I’m white.”
— They repeat the exact same joke from one part of the GOP Undeclared Candidates Debate sketch from the preceding season, where Bobby’s Newt Gingrich leaves the debate early and, on his way out, high-fives the candidate played by Kenan.
— Good lines from Kristen’s Michele Bachmann.
— A laugh from Kenan-as-Herman-Cain’s ridiculous “Pizza will be there” speech.
— Paul’s voice as Ron Paul sounds VERY Will Forte-esque.
— I’m enjoying the doddering manner that Paul’s portraying Ron Paul.
— The silly atmosphere and approach of this debate sketch is enjoyable, and I’m finding it to be a fairly fun way to open the season. Fun and silly enough that the long length of it (a whopping 11 minutes, I believe) doesn’t bother me. However, the long length may hit a little too close to home for viewers of modern-day SNL episodes, from all the worrisome things I’ve heard about the stunt cameo-filled debate sketches from seasons 45 and 46. (Boy, does that make me proud to be on hiatus from watching new episodes, even if I’m going to eventually have to review those episodes when I reach that part of SNL’s timeline.)
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding two seasons.
— Nasim Pedrad has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— No new cast members…at least for now. Towards the end of this season, we will get an addition of a certain still-currently-on-the-show-in-2020 female cast member.


MONOLOGUE
drug test certifies host’s 16th SNL gig; Steve Martin & Seth Rogen cameos

— Alec has noticeably lost weight. As we know now, though, it doesn’t last.
— Alec mentions that he’s now broken Steve Martin’s record for most times hosting SNL.
— Ha, I forgot until now that Schwetty Balls became a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor around this time.
— Our obligatory Steve Martin cameo after the mention of him earlier.
— Funny premise with Steve making Alec take a drug test to prove he’s not taking steroids for tonight’s hosting gig.
— Now we get a rather unexpected Seth Rogen cameo.
— Steve is his usual funny self here.
— Apparently, the writers couldn’t be bothered to give Seth Rogen any funny or interesting lines, almost rendering his presence pointless.
STARS: ***½


RED FLAG
a whiff of warning pervades (KRW)’s perfume & background

— An actual solid, unique, and effective use of the ol’ overused “Wacky Wiig Showcase” trope.
— Very funny visual of Jason spitting his drink back into his cup upon learning that Kristen lived in Vegas for 11 years.
— I recall once finding out that the announcer of this commercial (who has many great lines) is Jon Hamm, surprisingly.
— Love the bit with Kristen gagging Taran’s throat with her finger while playfully touching his face.
— A very strong ad overall, and among Kristen’s best showcases in her SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


“ALL MY CHILDREN” WRAP PARTY
melodramatic crew members reveal secrets at All My Children wrap party

— Vanessa’s coming off pretty funny as Susan Lucci.
— Alec almost looks like he’s wearing his old Greenhilly outfit, complete with a tennis racket in his hand (side-by-side comparison below).

   

— Nasim playing a character named Michelle Von Trachtenberg??? Did a 90s kid write this sketch?
— Boy, I bet the VERY odd name of Paul’s character is impossible to spell.
— I like Paul’s mock-dramatic delivery of “…or was I pushed?!?”
— Very funny bit with Andy’s character having entered the wrong room.
— A fun feel to this sketch.
— I think we’re officially at the point where the long-past-his-prime Fred starts to feel out of place on SNL, as seeing him among the cast in this ensemble sketch feels odd to me, as if I actually forgot he’s still in the cast by this point. IIRC, he comes off even MORE out-of-place the following season (which is his final season, thankfully).
— Jason is particularly hilarious in his brief appearance, including his offbeat delivery of “I operate the fans! Or was I pushed?!?”
STARS: ***½


WDHX CHANNEL 19
satellite delay impedes warning TV reporter (KRW) of rain forest animals

— A laugh from the initial satellite delay in Kristen hearing what Alec and Abby are asking her from the studio, even if this is far from an original premise.
— Meh, this is getting old fairly fast, and feels too much like the type of tired, badly-written “Wacky Wiig Showcase” that Kristen’s Red Flag commercial earlier tonight was a refreshing improvement over.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lotus Flower”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Tony Bennett’s (host) cinema commentary drifts to long-ago stars & movies

 

— Nice to see SNL trying something different by placing Alec’s Tony Bennett on Update instead of his own talk show sketches.
— Alec-as-Bennett’s “Heb-bro” line about John Garfield was hilarious.
— Even in this new setting, Alec’s Bennett is just as funny as ever, especially his Poise Pads promo.
— The second consecutive episode with a short Update, which is rare and refreshing for the solo Seth Meyers era. Tonight’s Update was particularly short.
STARS: ***½


WHO’S ON TOP?
game show contestants mull hypothetical gay male couplings

— Ah, a favorite one-off sketch of mine.
— The second consecutive episode with Bill’s Vince Blight character, mostly known as the game show host of the What’s That Name sketches.
— An absolutely hilarious blunt reveal of the concept of this game show. Also hilarious is Jason’s reaction to that blunt reveal, with him saying “No, no thank you, I’m not playin’ this”, and then immediately walking off the show.
— The hypothetical celebrity couplings are increasingly hilarious with each passing question.
— I love Alec’s “I was just thinking about this…” when he’s given the “who’s on top?” choice between Timon and Pumbaa.
— Even the little throwaway gags are great, such as Bill tensely warning Alec that he only has 10 more minutes to answer the first question, and the “Still no sponsors?” bit.
— A particularly hilarious part of the speed round, where, as soon as Paul Giamatti is mentioned as the first of two celebrities hypothetically coupled together, Alec IMMEDIATELY answers “The other guy!” without even hearing who the other guy is.
— Even the ending is priceless, with Alec responding to the choice of “You can walk away now, or lose it all” by carelessly saying “I wanna lose it all!”, which results in him, of course, losing all his money, which he apparently didn’t expect to actually happen, as it leaves him absolutely SPEECHLESS.
STARS: *****


TOP GUN 25TH ANNIVERSARY DVD
Top Gun DVD extras include unsuccessful screen tests

— These screen tests pieces are usually always really fun, even if they’ll never measure up to the original Star Wars ones from season 22.
— Hmm, Alec playing Al Pacino, even though that’s usually Bill’s impression?
— Much like in the Back To The Future screen test pieces from the preceding season, then-writer Colin Jost can be seen a few times throughout this as the marker (seen in the fourth above screencap for this piece).
— As expected, I’m having a blast and am laughing so much throughout this entire thing.
— Taran is strangely making Tom Hanks sound like a campy 1960s gay guy. I’ve seen Taran do a better Tom Hanks impression in a clip from the show Scrubs.
— I absolutely love how all of the audition scenes with Bill’s Harvey Fierstein are just him questioning all the homoerotic lines in the Top Gun script.
— This was cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s finale, but some of the celebrity impressions that were reported to have appeared in that version aren’t seen in tonight’s aired version. One of the cut celebrity impressions is Dennis Miller, played by Seth in a rare non-Weekend Update appearance. I’m very curious to see what Seth’s Dennis Miller impression was like.
STARS: ****½


CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
child psychologist’s (host) daughter (NAP) tests theories & (VAB)’s will

— Nice to see Vanessa getting quite a lot of airtime tonight for a second-season featured player, especially given the fact that she was, sadly, given no airtime AT ALL in the preceding episode, the season 36 finale. Unfortunately, though, tonight seems to be Jay Pharoah’s turn to get the shaft, as he’s the one who gets no airtime in tonight’s season premiere (and, IIRC, he can be seen looking a tad sullen during the goodnights).
— A laugh from Nasim’s entrance, just making whining noises while slowly passing through the background without actually saying anything.
— Lots of funny increasingly troublesome actions from Nasim, who’s doing yet another good job playing a child.
— I have no idea how Nasim’s keeping herself in the air without falling down while her character is leaning on top of the dish cabinet in a hazardous manner (the seventh and eighth above screencaps for this sketch). Are there wires secretly holding her up or something?
— Hmm, interesting twist at the end.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Staircase”


ANGELS IN THE TRENCHES
(TAK) fields mortally-wounded soldiers’ final message delivery requests

— Some laughs from the increasingly awful things Alec makes Taran promise to tell Alec’s family, as his dying wish.
— Very funny how the various dying soldiers’ increasingly outlandish requests have now turned into a whole bunch of immature “Your mother’s so fat” jokes.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and fun season premiere, and felt better than ANY of the episodes from the blandly-average preceding season. Aside from the WDHX Channel 19 sketch, I enjoyed every single segment tonight, and there were a few great standout segments. Another refreshing thing about this season premiere is that there were no recurring sketches at all, surprisingly, which is especially welcome after how the preceding season’s finale was comprised entirely of recurring sketches.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Who’s On Top?
Red Flag
Top Gun 25th Anniversary DVD
“All My Children” Wrap Party
Child Psychologist
Angels In The Trenches
Either The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate
Monologue
Weekend Update
WDHX Channel 19


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2010-11)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy makes her hosting debut

Posted on

May 21, 2011 – Justin Timberlake / Lady Gaga (S36 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

STRAUSS-KAHN’S CELL
in jail, (KET) & (JAP) mull Euro zone with Dominique Strauss-Kahn (TAK)

— Good to see the season finale’s cold opening be something that’s THIS different.
— It’s also refreshing to see such a different use of Jay, especially with how underutilized and poorly utilized he had been the past few months. He’s doing a good job in this non-impression role here.
— Funny juxtaposition of all the complicated dialogue about the world economy from Jay and Kenan’s prisoner characters.
— Kenan: “Portugal ain’t nothin’ but the dingleberry hangin’ off of Spain’s nutsack.”
— Even in a silent role, Taran is doing a spot-on facial imitation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
— The sudden “We gonna rape you now” twist at the end was crass, but damn funny.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s actions don’t match the lyrics of “I’m Not Gonna Sing Tonight”

— I guess it’s fitting that a season extremely oversaturated with musical monologues ends with one. (*groan*) At least it makes sense to do one with Justin Timberlake, though.
— Typical Timberlake humor here, which is very polarizing among online SNL fans. The melody to Justin’s song here is at least very catchy.
— I do really like the in-studio rain effect they’re doing right now.
STARS: **½


LIQUORVILLE
singing & dancing mascot & co-worker (musical guest) battle tea bag (KRW)

— Ugh, I never cared for this staple of Timberlake episodes.
— They seem to be going for something slightly different with the mouth-popping sound effect bit Justin now does at the end of each song. It’s not enough to salvage this tired sketch for me.
— Now we get the addition of Lady Gaga as Justin’s fellow dancing mascot. Again, not enough to salvage this tired sketch for me.
STARS: **


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
over-the-hill Herb Welch fails to report on junior high gas leak story

— This recurring sketch gives Jason a new co-anchor, with Nasim reprising the news anchor character she previously played in the WXPD News sketch that didn’t have Herb Welch in it (the news sketch from this season’s Emma Stone episode).
— There goes Bill’s obligatory character break that occurs at least once in most Herb Welch sketches. At least Justin is keeping it straight while Bill’s turning away from the camera to hide his giggling.
— I got a good laugh from Herb Welch’s awful misogynistic comment to Nasim’s character.
— Herb Welch telling Jason “Suck an egg, you mannequin!” cracked me up so much.
— A particularly hilarious part where, when Fred’s character says his name is Ken Yi, Herb Welch responds by telling him “Bonzai, huh?!? Hey, remember me?!?”, then proceeding to beat the hell out of him with his microphone.
— Herb Welch, to Jason: “Jack, if Shep Kramer knew about the way you anchor, he’d turn over in his grave.” Jason: “Uh, no he wouldn’t, Herb, because Shep Kramer was cremated.” Herb Welch: “(*in a depressed manner*) They burned my friend.”
— A very funny photo of Herb Welch at the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald.
STARS: ****


3-WAY (THE GOLDEN RULE)
(musical guest)’s presence negates Dick In A Box hook-up gayness

— Much like how these Dick In A Box guys’ last short prior to this (Mother Lover) picked up where their short prior to that (the original Dick In A Box) left off, their short tonight starts with them leaving each other’s mother’s house, complete with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson reprising their roles from Mother Lover.
— Fun start to Andy and Justin’s song so far, as expected.
— Cue the screaming female SNL audience members being heard all throughout this short (though screaming female audience members is a staple of Justin Timberlake episodes in general).
— A pretty good Three’s Company bit.
— The “Helicopter Dick” bit is particularly funny.
— Overall, not bad at all, but pales so much in comparison to Dick In A Box and Mother Lover. This came nowhere close to approaching “classic” status. There’s a reason this short isn’t anywhere near as reminisced about or as referenced as Dick In A Box or Mother Lover.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Edge Of Glory” & “Judas”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM says “Really!?!” to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s affair

Nicolas Cage (ANS) eyes Bradley Cooper’s [real] The Hangover Part II role

as SNL’s season draws to a close, SEM & Stefon head for the beach

— This is the second or third time that either Seth or his former co-anchor Amy Poehler did an Update joke where the punchline is someone being chosen for an important position because they were the last person in the room to shout “Not it!”
— A rare solo Seth Meyers “Really?!” segment, for only the second-ever time.
— Seth is doing a solid job in tonight’s “Really?!?”, especially his bit about how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie titles all make perfect newspaper headlines for his baby scandal.
— I got a good laugh from Bradley Cooper telling Andy’s Nicolas Cage, in regards to Cage being in so many movies per year, “You’re like a dangerous Eugene Levy.”
— The usual good “Get In The Cage” segment overall.
— A great way to end this season of Update, with Seth bringing his duffel bag, meeting up with Stefon at the front of the Update desk, and them detailing how their summer vacation together will go while slowly walking off into the proverbial sunset. This also, once again, continues the story arc of the growing dynamic between Seth and Stefon.
— Good to see an actual short Update, which is rare for the solo Seth Meyers era.
STARS: ***½


WHAT’S THAT NAME?: CELEBRITY EDITION
unlike host, musical guest remembers the little people

— This is when you start to notice that every actual sketch that has aired so far tonight (the cold opening doesn’t count) has been recurring.
— Steve Higgins’ opening voice-over sounded strangely kinda muffled.
— I like how tonight’s SNL host and musical guest are the two contestants in this What’s That Name installment.
— A good laugh from Justin’s puzzled facial reaction while Abby, as Justin’s one-night stand from two weeks ago, is going on about their whole encounter.
— Good twist to the usual joke of these sketches, with Lady Gaga instantly remembering the name of an extremely obscure fan she previously encountered only once. That’s also reminiscent of a sketch Paul Simon did in the season 12 Robin Williams episode, but I can forgive the coincidental similarity in this case.
— As usual, Bill’s Vince Blight character has some hilarious lines throughout this sketch.
— The whole part with Justin’s former N’Sync bandmate Chris Kirkpatrick is excellent.
— Overall, this was even better than the very strong first installment of this sketch. I look forward to seeing the third installment that airs years later in a 2019 John Mulaney-hosted episode (I haven’t seen the installment yet, as it aired after I started my still-ongoing hiatus from watching new episodes), as I’ve heard it’s particularly strong.
STARS: *****


MERRYVILLE LOVE TUNNEL
(host) & fellow Merryville animatrons steal (NAP) from boyfriend (JAS)

— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues.
— They’ll never come remotely close to topping the original installment of this sketch, which should’ve stayed a one-off, but I can’t complain TOO much about this being made recurring, especially knowing in retrospect that this sketch recurs only about two times after the original installment.
— Much like Jim Carrey in the first installment, Justin is really good at doing the accurate-looking robotic movements with Taran and Bill.
— Wow, is this Bobby’s first appearance ALL NIGHT??? And it’s just a small, non-comedic, thankless role.
— I absolutely love Jason’s various reactions to all the craziness going on. He’s a fantastic straight man in this.
— Despite not measuring up to the first installment, this installment is definitely still working for me.
— Jason’s such a fun and likable performer that he even managed to make that homoerotic ending come off less hacky than it would’ve under another performer.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & magician (host) don’t help contestants

— (*grooooaaaaaaaan*) Secret Word.
— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues.
— Showing that Bill has become this era’s go-to performer for game show host roles (and rightfully so, given how fantastic he always in that role), he plays his second game show host in just these past 10 minutes.
— I see they’re continuing to use Mindy Grayson’s middle name, Elise, an aspect of this sketch that was pointlessly introduced in the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight’s.
— (*sigh*) Cue the usual “You just read the secret word” bits.
— Didn’t they already use “grape” as a secret word in the very first installment of this sketch? They probably only brought it back tonight as a cheap excuse for Kristen’s Mindy Grayson (oh, excuse me, Mindy Elise Grayson) to tell a dumb, immature story about how she once farted non-stop during a play after eating a whole bunch of grapes.
— At least Justin is fairly funny as a hack magician.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Born This Way”


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
debt discussion leads to a defibrillation of Barry Gibb (JIF)

— The streak of every sketch in this episode being recurring continues. And with this being the final sketch of the night, that officially makes this an episode that consists ENTIRELY of already-existing sketches/characters, only the second episode in SNL history to achieve that feat. (The season 22 Rosie O’Donnell episode being the first. I’m not counting episodes where a recurring sketch made its debut in, which is why I used the term “already-existing sketches/characters”. The season 25 Danny DeVito episode is technically all-recurring in retrospect, but the Sally O’Malley character didn’t exist before that episode.)
— (*sigh*) Just copy and paste what I said earlier about me not caring for the Dancing Mascot bit as a Timberlake episode staple. The difference, though, is that unlike the Dancing Mascot bit, I actually loved the first installment of Barry Gibb Talk Show. It just never should’ve become recurring.
— Second consecutive episode with a Jimmy Fallon cameo.
— I do at least kinda like the change of pace with Justin’s Robin Gibb using two medallions as a defibrillator on the chest of a suddenly-frozen-in-place Jimmy-as-Barry Gibb.
— Hmm, the usual closing theme song of this recurring sketch ends differently, by suddenly and randomly turning into “Rapper’s Delight”.
— An overall poor and disappointing choice for the final sketch of this season.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad a season finale, minus the poor way it ended with the final two sketches, but I take a little issue with with how “safe” and overly familiar the whole episode felt. SNL clearly wanted to end this season by going the safe route, by not only doing the usual Justin Timberlake episode staples, but by also doing recurring sketches for the entire rest of the night. Something about that really shines an unfortunate light on how unadventurous this season as a whole (and these 2009-2012 years in general) truly is. Speaking of an aspect I don’t like about this season, we’ve officially gotten through this entire season without a single episode that I would call flat-out strong and standout. That has to be a first in all 36 seasons I’ve covered so far in this SNL project of mine. Even the dreadful season 30 (the season with the lowest rating average in my SNL project so far, and rightfully so) had one or two episodes that I would call legitimately strong. While I would definitely say a majority of this season’s (season 36) episodes were passable, the fact that this season couldn’t produce a single standout strong episode is staggering and is another sign of this season’s bland averageness as a whole.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
What’s That Name?: Celebrity Edition
WXPD News New York
Merryville Love Tunnel
Strauss-Kahn’s Cell
Weekend Update
3-Way (The Golden Rule)
Monologue
The Barry Gibb Talk Show
Liquorville
Secret Word


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ed Helms)
a mild step down


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2009-10)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 37 begins, with host Alec Baldwin

Posted on

May 14, 2011 – Ed Helms / Paul Simon (S36 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER
with Osama Bin Laden dead, cocky Barack Obama (FRA) plays stand-up comic

— This is easily one of the few legitimately strong Obama performances Fred has ever given. The escalation to his-as-Obama’s newfound laid-back, smug demeanor while bragging about killing Osama Bin Laden is great, especially his catchphrase “Kiiiiiiilllllled Bin Laden!”
— Jason’s occasional mumbling as Wolf Blitzer always makes me laugh, and I like the touch with him even doing it during his LFNY at the end of this.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE

— For the first time in years, long after the TV Funhouse segment has been retired, we get an “A Cartoon By Robert Smigel” announcement in tonight’s opening montage, which I remember was a HUGE shock at the time, as there wasn’t a prior announcement of it before the show (as far as I know, at least).


MONOLOGUE
host relives his beloved childhood stint as a spandex-clad baton twirler

— I recall Ed Helms being a surprisingly awkward host in this episode, but in this monologue so far, he’s handling himself just fine.
— A long-winded but good childhood story from Ed.
— Funny twist with Ed ripping off his clothes to reveal a unitard, and then proceeding to launch into his old baton-twirling routine.
STARS: ***½


CORN SYRUP PRODUCERS OF AMERICA
Rerun from 3/12/11


WHAT UP WITH THAT?
musical guest, Chris Colfer [real], Lindsey Buckingham (BIH) & Lindsey Buckingham [real] are saluted

— This is the first appearance this recurring sketch has made in half a season, which is pretty surprising, given how frequently this popular sketch appeared prior to its half-season-long hiatus. That hiatus makes the presence of this sketch tonight come off more refreshing.
— Ooh, a change of pace, with the guest in the first seat, Paul Simon, sticking up for Bill’s Lindsey Buckingham by pointing out to Kenan’s Deandre Cole that Buckingham never gets a chance to speak on the show.
— Wow, and now Fred, Jason, Nasim, and Vanessa’s usually-non-speaking background characters (well, not counting the usual singing from Nasim & Vanessa) not only speak, but we even find out their names: Giuseppe (Fred), Vance (Jason), and Poppy & Pippa (Nasim & Vanessa). I’m loving all of the changes of pace in tonight’s WUWT installment.
— A display of Ed’s real-life banjo skills.
— Holy hell, this sketch continues to break format, as we, in a surreal twist, get an appearance from a second Lindsey Buckingham, played by the real Lindsey Buckingham, doing an awesome acoustic guitar solo.
— Overall, definitely one of the best installments of this always-fun sketch. So nice to see them try so many different things. Speaking of which, it would later be revealed from someone on the show (I can’t remember who; it may have even been Kenan himself) that this was intended to be the farewell installment of What Up With That, which explains why there were so many changes of pace and format breaks within it. However, WUWT’s retirement would end up being short-lived, because just a year later when Maya Rudolph hosts, they bring the sketch back due to how much she reeeaaaaalllly wanted to do it.
STARS: ****½


SIDE NOTE: The mid-commercial break shot of SNL’s studio shows an office set being assembled on SNL’s home base stage for the next sketch (screencap below). However, when the show comes back from commercial, the sketch that the office set was assembled for is nowhere to be seen. Strange.


TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- Dr. Brainio’s (Stephen Colbert) gun fleshes Ace (Jon Hamm) & Gary (JIF)

— Ah, so nice to see that TV Funhouse opening title sequence (“Come back here with myyyy shooow!”) again after so many seasons.
— Kinda amusing to see how primitive the original Ambiguously Gay Duo opening title sequence from 1996 looks when airing in a 2011 episode.
— Given the fact that Ed Helms is the host of tonight’s episode, it’s fitting hearing the voices of his former Daily Show co-stars Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert playing their usual characters in these AGD cartoons.
— The usual laughs from the usual AGD beats, such as the suggestive homoerotic visuals of innocent things Ace and Gary do, and the conversations between the villains on the topic of Ace and Gary’s sexual orientation.
— Whoa, we get the turn to end all turns! Ace and Gary suddenly get transformed into live-action characters, played by Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon.
— Now the villains have gotten transformed into live-action characters, most of them being played by their voice actors. This is so great to see.
— Steve Carell looks almost completely unrecognizable in that Bighead getup.
— This whole live-action sequence is incredible, and I love the visual quality of the nighttime outdoors scenes, making it feel like I’m watching a movie.
— Overall, an absolute blast. Such a great novelty. I’m glad Smigel went all out on this, and this feels like a much more fitting farewell for TV Funhouse than the actual final TV Funhouse cartoon to air prior to this one.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rewrite”


WEEKEND UPDATE
out-of-the-loop Anthony Crispino botches reportage of current events

Will Smith (JAP) makes his trailer & everything else bigger & better

the latest Garth & Kat ouevre addition comprises impromptu vacation songs

— Another instance of Seth having fun doing a British accent during the punchline of an Update joke.
— I like the Fergie tie-in during Anthony Crispino’s Prince William/Will.i.am mix-up.
— Crispino makes an amusing and unexpected namedrop of SNL’s own Maya Rudolph during his mix-up about the 2012 apocalypse.
— I love Crispino proudly yelling “We finally killed Oksana Baiul!” during his Osama Bin Laden mix-up.
— Given how reduced his airtime had been the last handful of episodes prior to this, it’s nice to see Jay get an Update commentary. That being said, it’s kinda hard for me to get excited about it being a Will Smith commentary, given the fact that it feels like they’ve been over-relying on that impression. It’s losing its novelty for me.
— As I was worried, there’s not much to this Will Smith commentary so far. It’s completely meh.
— What was with Jay’s extended frozen smile into the camera after the photo of Kim Kardashian posing with Will Smith’s trailer was shown?
— (*screams in anger for 10 straight minutes*) Fred continues to be Weekend Update poison (hell, “season 36 poison” is more accurate in terms of Fred) in his frequent Update appearances in the second half of this season, with us now getting a damn Garth & Kat commentary. And it’s just my luck that this happens in the episode RIGHT AFTER one where I was worried Seth was introducing a Garth & Kat commentary, only for it to thankfully be a Stefon commentary instead.
— The only positive thing I can say about tonight’s Garth & Kat commentary is that at least it’s appearing in the second-to-last episode of the season instead of the actual last episode of the season, like how SNL disappointingly ended the preceding season of Update with these characters.
STARS: **½ (as usual, Garth & Kat’s painful and overlong commentary brought the rating down half a star)


SONG MEMORIES
“Wild World” evokes family secrets of (host) & other icky reminiscers

— This recurring sketch makes its first appearance in over a year, and its first-ever appearance without Will Forte as one of the four “icky reminiscers”. Andy takes over Will’s place in tonight’s installment.
— There’s our obligatory topical punchline to one of the guys’ stories, with Bill’s father (who he always refers to in these sketches as “muh dad”) turning out to be the recently-killed Osama Bin Laden.
— As expected, it initially feels a little odd seeing Andy telling one of the stories in this sketch, though he’s fitting in well-enough with the other guys.
— I like how tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch has returned to the tradition of having each icky reminiscer say a humorous addendum to their story, after singing the chorus of the song with the other guys. This recurring sketch dropped that aspect in the last few installments prior to tonight’s.
— Funny bit with Ed unknowingly drinking the ashes of Jason’s grandfather in the drinking cup, and then coughing out a cloud of the ashes.
— While not one of the best installments of this recurring sketch (this sketch’s best days are probably long behind us), I’m enjoying all of the punchlines to the guys’ stories more than I enjoyed the story punchlines in the last two installments of this sketch.
— Ha, a Human Centipede ending. That alone is worth the price of admission.
STARS: ***½


ONE TAKE TONY
in 1941 Hollywood, bad actor One-Take Tony’s (ANS) nickname is a misnomer

— It feels kinda rare seeing Andy starring as an old-timey 1940s character, even though this particular 1940s character feels like a very fitting role for him.
— A genuine surprise from me when Andy did that Matt Foley-esque pratfall through the breakaway table.
— Funny appearance at the end from Kenan as Louie Armstrong singing One-Take Tony’s randomly-appearing ending theme song.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “So Beautiful Or So What”


ANN-MARGRET TRIES TO THROW AWAY A WAD OF PAPER INTO A TRASHCAN
Ann-Margret (KRW) does what the title above says

— Here’s the type of sketch I call a Wacky Wiig Showcase, but unlike some Wacky Wiig Showcases from these later seasons of Kristen’s SNL tenure, I’m not instantly groaning at the sight of this particular one, because in these past few months of this season, SNL has thankfully cut back big-time on the number of Wacky Wiig Showcases, outside of Update commentaries. It’s been refreshing not seeing Kristen so dominant on the show anymore, so hopefully, that’ll make this Ann-Margret sketch come off more welcome than it would’ve if it had aired during the days of endless Wiig Domination.
— For some odd reason, when the camera cuts to a close-up of Ed saying “Should’ve done this myself”, he suddenly stops mid-sentence, pauses awkwardly for a few seconds, and then repeats the line in full after the camera cuts away from the close-up of him. He seemed to think he mistakenly started saying that line too early, even though he clearly didn’t say it too early, because the camera was on a close-up of him during that.
— Fun performance from Kristen, and a good execution from her on this comically-scant premise, even if I don’t find this to be anywhere near the classic that SNL wants me to. Earlier in this sketch review, I pointed out that, if this sketch had aired during the days of endless Wiig Domination (2008-2010), I’d probably have found it tired and annoying. Well, conversely, if this sketch had aired in 2006 when Kristen was new, fresh, and wasn’t cast in wacky roles anywhere near as often, I’d probably be much more impressed by the sketch, having a “Wow, that new girl is GREAT!” reaction, and I might’ve indeed found the sketch to be a classic. By this point in 2011, there’s a feeling of “We’ve already seen everything Kristen can do, 100 times over”.
— An overall simple and funny sketch.
STARS: ***½


REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
unspecified white male GOP presidential candidate (host) is plain vanilla

— Ah, there’s the office set that, as I pointed out, was shown being assembled on SNL’s home base stage much earlier tonight during a mid-commercial break shot. I’m VERY curious why they suddenly decided at literally the last minute to move this sketch to the very end of the show. Did something go wrong?
— Another instance tonight of Ed suddenly stopping in the middle of a line, then pausing awkwardly for a few seconds, then repeating the line in full. This time, it happens during the “My dad” bit, and this gaffe of Ed’s hurts the gag of that line.
— Another overall simple sketch. Aside from Ed’s aforementioned gaffe, this sketch wasn’t bad, though it was a little too much on the forgettable side, given the promising concept it had.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. The pre-Weekend Update half had some impressive highs, with the special farewell (for a while) installment of What Up With That, the also-special live-action return of TV Funhouse, and one of Fred Armisen’s very few strong Obama performances. While less impressive than the pre-Weekend Update half, the post-Weekend Update half of the show was consistently good. Aside from one gaffe in both the Ann-Margret and Republican Candidate sketches, Ed Helms wasn’t as awkward or ill-prepared a host as I had remembered. However, he was very forgettable, which is disappointing, given how reliably funny he can be elsewhere. On another note, I found the way this episode was structured to be a little odd, with how scant the number of segments between the monologue and Paul Simon’s first musical performance was, especially with there only being ONE actual live sketch in that portion of the show. Then again, as mentioned earlier, that Republican Candidate sketch was all set to air in the first half of the show, before something behind the scenes seemingly caused a change of plans.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
TV Funhouse
What Up With That?
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
Song Memories
Ann-Margret Tries To Throw Away A Wad Of Paper Into A Trashcan
Monologue
One Take Tony
Republican Candidate
Weekend Update


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tina Fey)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 36 comes to an end, with host Justin Timberlake

Posted on

May 7, 2011 – Tina Fey / Ellie Goulding (S36 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OSAMA BIN LADEN VIDEO WILL
the final wishes in Osama Bin Laden’s (FRA) video will won’t be fulfilled

— Oh, Lord help me, another translator cold opening. On top of that, that makes this 1) yet another Middle Eastern leader Fred has played this season, and more specifically, 2) the SIXTH consecutive episode with Fred playing a Middle Eastern leader.
— Of all the choices SNL had in how to do their opening spoof of that week’s huge news of Osama Bin Laden’s death, it’s so lazy of them to have it be a damn translator cold opening.
— The Dakota Fanning stuff is awful and unfunny.
— As you can imagine, I am completely stone-faced during this typically-bad translator opening. None of this tripe is making me laugh.
— Blah, such a lame “ironic” ending comment from Fred’s Osama about how “America will never catch me”.
— Yet another thing I’m sick of seeing Fred do is say LFNY every week. This is the third or fourth consecutive episode with him saying LFNY.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
pregnant TIF & MAR plus their fetuses (KRW) & (KET) are a singing quartet

— A pregnant Tina Fey. Unless I’m forgetting someone, I believe Tina’s the first person in SNL history to host while THIS visibly pregnant.
— TV.com’s trivia notes for this episode in their SNL episode guide (link here) claim that, when making her monologue entrance, Tina trips down the staircase, then quickly recovers by grabbing onto the railing. I’m pretty sure that factoid is incorrect. There’s no visible part at all where Tina trips on the stairs, and I always assumed she intentionally grabbed onto the railing, especially given the fact that, while holding onto the railing, she walks down the stairs sideways (screencap below).

I’m pretty sure walking down the stairs sideways while holding onto the railing is what pregnant women do for safety reasons. I think I recall seeing my mother regularly do that many years ago when she was pregnant with my sister.
— Pretty funny bit regarding Tina’s “most famous impression” (which turns out to be a Sling Blade impression). It also makes me wonder if she wrote Billy Bob Thornton’s monologue from season 27.
— Now we get a cameo from a pregnant Maya Rudolph, something that current SNL viewers in 2020 are used to regularly seeing, minus the pregnancy.
— (*sigh*) The second consecutive musical monologue in a season very oversaturated with musical monologues.
— Tina at least has funny lines during her spoken dialogue in the mid-song interlude. Maya has some fairly amusing lines during that part, too.
— A decent turn with Tina and Maya each singing a duet with their respective fetuses.
STARS: **½


GOP 2012 UNDECLARED CANDIDATES DEBATE
Sarah Palin (TIF) & Donald Trump (DAH) debate undeclared GOP candidates

— Ah, there’s that Shepard Smith voice from Bill that I always love.
— The debut of Jason’s Mitt Romney impression.
— There’s tonight’s obligatory appearance from Tina’s iconic Sarah Palin impression.
— Darrell Hammond makes his first cameo since his various season 35 cameos. No comment from me on the fact that he’s playing Donald Trump as an undeclared presidential candidate.
— A solid unsettling, threatening message from Kristen’s Michele Bachmann into the camera.
— As expected, good lines from Tina’s Sarah Palin, even if there’s nothing classic here.
— Blah, the Trump dialogue in this is so by-the-numbers.
— Bill’s closing line: “I’m Shepard Smith, and I’m a silly little catfish.”
STARS: ***


BELOW THE WAVES
mermaid (TIF) & fauna under the sea react to Osama Bin Laden’s corpse

— A good setting for the topic of Osama Bin Laden’s death. Why couldn’t THIS have been SNL’s obligatory cold opening spoof of Osama’s death instead of that incredibly lame and tired translator cold opening? Well, aside from the fact Tina, in her pregnant state, might not have had enough time to do a quick-change between the cold opening and monologue, but if that were the case, then a cast member could’ve played her role in this instead.
— I’m guessing legal reasons prevented SNL from doing a direct Little Mermaid parody here, which is why they have to use knock-off songs and character names.
— I really like Paul’s performance as a drunken seahorse.
— Fred is pretty funny as a conspiracy theorist manta ray.
— An overall fairly short and simple but pretty good sketch.
STARS: ***½


JACK SPARROW
Michael Bolton’s [real] movie obsession pervades song

— Odd technical gaffe at the beginning.
— A very famous and well-loved Digital Short.
— Increasingly hilarious lyrics and memorable visuals of Michael Bolton obsessing over various iconic movie characters.
— Bolton’s performance is excellent here, and he’s selling this great concept perfectly.
— Solid ending.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lights”


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Devil isn’t pleased that Osama Bin Laden has joined him in Hell

Moammar Gaddafi’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce

Stefon presents some inappropriate places to take mom on Mother’s Day

— A particularly strong joke from Seth about, in regards to Osama Bin Laden’s death, Barack Obama being the first black person in history to have to prove he killed someone.
— Coincidentally, Jason’s The Devil character has appeared in these past two Tina Fey-hosted episodes.
— When revealing NBC is the only TV station in Hell, I love The Devil innocently asking “Hey, whatever happened to Outsourced???”
— Didn’t care for the reveal of The Snapple Lady being The Devil’s mother. They could’ve picked someone funnier and more fitting for that.
— Another good overall commentary from The Devil, though I didn’t find myself laughing quite as much as I did at his preceding commentary.
— OH, NO. The debut of Fred and Vanessa’s “(insert name here)’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up” routine, which I’ve always absolutely hated. This continues the trend of every other Update these past few months having a horrible commentary from Fred.
— I’ve gotten so beyond sick of seeing Fred play Moammar Gaddafi for so many consecutive episodes that even merely seeing Fred talk about Gaddafi while playing a different character (as is happening here) is enough to give me chills.
— Ugggghhhhh, I absolutely DESPISE the main joke of this Two Best Friends From Growing Up commentary. And if I hate it this much in its first appearance, imagine how I’ll feel about the subsequent appearances of this bit.
— Very lame joke from Seth about how many times men think about sex per day. Even the audience knows it’s a lame joke, judging from their lack of response.
— Another instance of this Update giving me chills, as the things Seth is saying during his intro of the next Update commentary initially made me almost certain he’s introducing a godforsaken Garth & Kat commentary, until I realized that’s impossible because Fred already appeared in this Update as a different character. (Then again, Tim Kazurinsky and Chris Kattan previously had one instance, respectively, of doing two separate Update commentaries as two different characters in the same Update, or Saturday Night News in Tim’s case.)
— Ah, it turns out that what I was initially afraid would be a Garth & Kat intro instead turns out to be a Stefon intro. Far more welcome.
— My biggest laugh in tonight’s Stefon commentary has been from the deep and sassy voice Bill uses when saying the club name “SPIIIIICY!”, a memorable Stefon moment.
— The story arc of the growing dynamic between Seth and Stefon continues, with 1) the kiss on the cheek Stefon quickly gives Seth (a precursor to a much bigger kissing moment between them the following season), and 2) Seth agreeing to bring Stefon home to meet Seth’s mom.
STARS: ***


BIRTHING SEMINAR
natural childbirth video of (BIH) & (MAR) creeps out expectant couples

 

— Maya seems to play quite a number of characters named Leilani.
— What’s with that dumb and unfunny non-sequitur gag with the giant VCR and VHS tape?
— Jason, regarding the insane amount of pubic hair that an about-to-give-birth Maya has: “She can try any position she wants, that baby’s not comin’ outta there without a weedwhacker.”
— When Kristen makes her entrance in the birthing video, an off-camera Tina exclaims a seemingly-comical line that we can’t hear clearly, due to her mic being turned off by mistake. The same thing happened to Fred at one point towards the end of the Below The Waves sketch earlier tonight.
— The questioning of if the devil made this birthing video is interesting, given the Update commentary from The Devil that Jason just did before this sketch.
— A laugh from Bobby all of a sudden being into the birthing video, due to Maya and Kristen’s homoerotic birthing posture with each other.
— Boy, this is one bizarre hell of a sketch. While I usually encourage weirdness from SNL, it unfortunately turns out that I’m finding this particular sketch as a whole only mildly amusing at best. I’m not finding myself laughing anywhere near as much as this sketch wants me to.
STARS: **½


SLEEPOVER
at a sleepover, Bedelia prefers her mom’s company to that of her peers

— Nasim’s Bedelia character makes her first appearance in a year, and this ends up being her final appearance, despite her still being a fairly-new character.
— For some reason, in this installment of this recurring sketch, Tina’s character isn’t wearing glasses, which she wore in the first installment.
— Even though I really like this Bedelia character, and I usually find her sketches to be solid and refreshingly slice-of-life, there’s a tiny bit of a tired feel in tonight’s installment, especially in the usual beats these sketches always hit. I’m still enjoying this installment well enough, but I think I’m starting to see why they retired this character so early.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Your Song”


PREGNANT IN HEELS
Rosie Pope (ABE) coordinates (TIF)’s chic childbirth

— When this originally aired, I remember some online SNL fans were put off by how Abby sounded like she was speaking in a mentally-challenged voice. Then it was pointed out by someone that the real-life woman who Abby’s playing here really does talk like this.
— When the camera first showed Taran in that gray wig, I honestly thought that was Chris Parnell in a wig for a quick second.
— Jay’s airtime continues to take a hit these past few episodes, as his appearance in this pre-taped piece is the only thing we see of him all night.
— I’m not finding myself laughing much here.
— The “celebrity appearance in the ultrasound” bit was fairly funny, at least.
— Overall, maybe it’s because I have no familiarity with the reality show this was spoofing, but I was meh on this. That was also my reaction to the pre-taped Deidra Wurtz piece Abby starred in earlier this season. Given how underused Abby is and the fact that I generally like her as a performer well enough, I really wish I could like these pre-taped Abby Elliott showcases a lot more than I do (and I’m aware that I’m apparently alone in not caring for the Deidra Wurtz piece).
STARS: **


GOOGIE RENE’S SLIGHTLY DAMAGED PROM WEAR BARN
Googie Rene’s store offers soiled formalwear

— Much like Bedelia, Googie Rene makes his third and final appearance here.
— As usual, I’m getting some laughs from Kenan’s off-beat characterization as Googie Rene.
— Overall, eh, turns out there wasn’t anything to really say about this sketch. This wasn’t too bad, but, kinda like Bedelia, this was probably the right point to retire this character, as they’ve done all they could with these sketches and it had a bit of a tired feel tonight.
STARS: **½


HALLMARK “MOTHER” COLLECTION
Hallmark’s Mother’s Day collection has greeting cards for Norman Bates wannabes

— Great to see the underused Paul Brittain starring in a solo commercial. Lately, he’s been slowly moving out of the Bit Part Hell that he was stuck in for most of this season.
— A very funny and disturbing Norman Bates-esque reveal of Paul acting as his own mother. Solid performance from Paul here.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A middling episode. The quality especially took a dip for most of the post-Weekend Update half, though the Hallmark commercial and the slightly-disappointing-but-still-decent Bedelia sketch balanced it out somewhat.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Jack Sparrow
Hallmark “Mother” Collection
Below The Waves
GOP 2012 Undeclared Candidates Debate
Weekend Update
Sleepover
Googie Rene’s Slightly Damaged Prom Wear Barn
Monologue
Birthing Seminar
Pregnant In Heels
Osama Bin Laden Video Will


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Helen Mirren)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ed Helms

Posted on

April 9, 2011 – Helen Mirren / Foo Fighters (S36 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Barack Obama (FRA) lists compromises made to avoid government shutdown

— (*groan*) A Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening.
— Fred’s Obama: “Fans of Saturday Night Live are unhappy. They tuned in expecting to see the show, and instead got this presidential address.” Uh, no. Fans of Saturday Night Live are unhappy because we tuned in expecting to see something funny, and instead got yet another lame-ass Fredbama-gives-a-speech snoozefest.
— Overall, as no surprise, there wasn’t a single laugh from me during this.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
host is “Nothing Like A Dame,” sing sailors BOM, KET, ANS, PAB, TAK, BIH

— Helen Mirren, on her worries about hosting SNL: “I was afraid they’d make me play a queen in every sketch…but they did that last week with Elton John.”
— Oh, no. This turns into YET ANOTHER season 36 musical monologue, further proving a point I recently made that this season is unable to go more than three episodes without a musical monologue. Much like the preceding season’s Gabourey Sidibe episode, tonight’s episode is starting off with two of my least favorite tropes of this era: a Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening and a song-and-dance monologue. Having those two air back-to-back is always such a poor way for an episode to kick off (and for me, the Sidibe episode never fully recovered from that bad start).
— Andy’s “Can ya blame me?” line was the closest I’ve come to laughing during this boring and corny musical number.
STARS: *½


MORT MORT FEINGOLD: ACCOUNTANT FOR THE STARS
Mort Mort Feingold prepares income tax returns for various celebrities

— The second and final appearance of this sketch, and, much like its first appearance, its appearance tonight is around Tax Day, for obvious reasons. It seems they were trying to make this sketch an annual Tax Day tradition, but the following season, which is Andy’s final season as a cast member, has no Mort Mort Feingold sketch airing around Tax Day or any other point of that season.
— I love Andy-as-Mort-Mort’s “I walked into THAT one!” line when the Kardashians respond to him telling them they’re in the black by saying “Usually, it’s the other way around.”
— This is Jay’s first live appearance in THREE episodes, as well as his first actual speaking role in three episodes. And even this small Will Smith scene in this sketch ends up being Jay’s only live appearance all night. His airtime has taken a hit lately. (IIRC, you can see him looking genuinely unhappy in the goodnights of the preceding Elton John episode, because he got no airtime whatsoever that night.)
— Interesting to see the underused Paul Brittain getting the opportunity to play dual roles in this sketch, with him playing James Franco early on, then humorously popping up as Johnny Depp later on.
— Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, god. Are you kidding me, SNL?!? The fourth consecutive episode with Fred’s wretched Moammar Khadafy (however it’s spelled) appearing?!? Get this the FUCK off my screen.
— The Khadafy scene was a poor way to end this sketch. Not to mention the fact that it was basically a rehash of the Mel Gibson scene from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***


HELEN MIRREN’S MAGICAL BOSOM
host’s breasts transport NAP to nirvana

— Feels nice and rare to see Nasim starring in a Digital Short, especially when playing herself.
— I love the turn during Nasim and Helen’s friendly conversation, with Nasim suddenly asking Helen, in a hesitant, dramatic manner, “Can I touch ’em?”
— So many hilarious “dreamy” stock footage visuals playing on the screen while Nasim is holding onto Helen’s breasts.
— Funny ending with Kristen.
STARS: ****


FOX & FRIENDS
misinformed scaremongering fuels anti-Obama sentiment

— Ah, the debut of these well-liked Killam/Bayer/Moynihan-starring Fox & Friends sketches.
— Very funny running bit regarding Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade and the word “eclectic”.
— I love the interplay between Taran, Vanessa, and Bobby throughout this sketch.
— Just about every line out of Bobby’s mouth is hilarious.
— What’s with Helen’s delivery? I know she’s playing a crazy character, but even for that, her delivery genuinely seems too off.
— With this being the first Fox & Friends sketch, we get our first instance of the sketch-ending screen crawl of fact corrections, which would become a staple of these sketches. I can’t read any of the fact corrections during my current viewing, due to how quickly they’re being scrolled, but I’ll be sure to show you readers a few screencaps of them (seen in the last three above screencaps for this sketch).
STARS: ****


MARY SHELLEY
Mary Shelley’s (host) landlord Frank Stein (FRA) inspired novel’s monster

— I don’t care for that dopey nasal voice Fred’s using for his Frankenstein characterization, as he previously used a similar dopey nasal voice in too many characterizations, including that awful Wizard Of Oz sketch he starred in earlier this season.
— I’m finding a “So bad, it’s good” quality to Fred’s occasional “AAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!” yells as he waves his arms in the air.
— Something seems a little off about Paul’s performance during his brief appearance as Igor.
— A very funny and simple “And she didn’t” ending.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rope”


WEEKEND UPDATE
James Carville (BIH) recalls the federal government shutdown of 1995

airborne plane disintegration is still affecting flight attendant (KRW)

Jean K. Jean does stand-up about artisanal cheeses, mimes, Belgian girls

— The usual good laughs from Bill’s James Carville, especially his detailing of the prank he’ll pull on John Boehner.
— Blah, it feels like Kristen’s been doing an Update commentary as a one-off character every two episodes lately. Every single Update these past few months of this season seem to have either a Kristen-as-a-one-off-character commentary or a Fred-as-a-Middle-Eastern-leader commentary, the latter of which is especially tired and irksome.
— Not sure what to say about Kristen’s commentary. There’s some chuckles from me, but I didn’t care for that one part with her screaming downward for almost 10 seconds straight when demonstrating how fast the plane descended.
— This is Jean K. Jean’s first appearance in over a year. Probably a good thing they’re starting to spread his appearances farther apart, so he doesn’t get too old.
— Jean K. Jean continues to be amusing, but I’m not finding myself laughing quite as much as I usually do at his commentaries. Even after the year-long hiatus, this character is slowly starting to run out of steam.
STARS: ***


THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS WITH HUGH JACKMAN
Hugh Jackman (ANS) greets celebs with two sides

— Normally, I’d groan at the appearance of yet another new celebrity-hosted talk show sketch, but the concept of this particular one has a promising and unusual concept.
— Fun performance from Taran as Gerard Butler.
— I’m enjoying the various mish-mashes of manly guy tropes and soft guy tropes.
— I love Kenan’s Ice Cube starting his interview by saying, after looking around uncomfortably, a deadpan “I already hate this.”
— A pretty solid visual effect during the murdering of Bobby’s character.
— For some reason, Andy occasionally cracks up out of character at certain points of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


CRUNK-ASS EASTER FESTIVAL
Under-Underground’s Easter festival resurrects music & danger

— Good to see another installment of this.
— My biggest laughs from the festival events mentioned here are from the female Gremlin appearance, stand-up comedy from the Menendez Brothers, and the bit with the Chilean Miners being put back into the mine.
STARS: ****


THE ROOSEVELTS
another historically-bogus miniseries hits Reelz Channel

— A funny Hitler voice from Taran.
— For obvious reasons, the whole scene with Abby’s Marilyn Monroe is probably the most (or only?) remembered part of this sketch among certain viewers.
— I love Paul sternly pointing out that, in real life, Marilyn Monroe was only five years old at the time that the scene with her and Eleanor Roosevelt passionately making out with each other took place.
— I’m finding Fred fairly funny as the immature, sleazy director.
— Pretty funny scene with Kenan randomly playing Teddy Roosevelt.
— An odd gaffe where, right before the brief scene with Helen’s Eleanor Roosevelt making a phone call while topless, the camera stays on Paul for an uncomfortably long time after he finishes one of his lines. I remember I happened to have my TV’s closed-captioning on when I watched this episode the night it originally aired, and their captioning of Paul’s line right before the gaffe with the camera staying on him too long included the word “naked” at the end of his sentence, which he didn’t actually say. I’m guessing he was supposed to say it, but forgot, which would explain why the camera stayed on him so uncomfortably long. I generally like Paul, but yeah, with this and his awkward performance in the Mary Shelley sketch earlier tonight, I’m still seeing occasional signs of greenness from him.
— The aforementioned “Eleanor Roosevelt making a phone call while topless” scene fell flat, and was a poor way to end this sketch.
STARS: ***


PERSPECTIVES PHOTO STUDIOS
Perspectives augments your penis for purposes of sexting

— A pretty funny and timely concept.
— Some pretty good laughs from the demonstrations of various camera angle tricks Perspectives Photo Studios can do to make your penis look bigger.
— I love Bobby’s brief scene as the confident overweight body double.
— A rare and random Seth Meyers post-2006 non-Weekend Update appearance, for the second time in these past three episodes.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Walk”


BONGO’S CLOWN ROOM
retiring strip club deejay Tommy (JAS) intros hardly-sexy female dancers

— I absolutely love Jason’s raspy character voice in this.
— Jason: “Phoenix is in her third year of an online podiatry degree……..It’s a one-year program!”
— A very slow-paced sketch, but that’s not a complaint, as Jason’s great delivery, character voice, and funny lines are definitely making this work. I’m enjoying this a lot.
— A funny bit with the odd, allegedly-sexy way Nasim cleans the stripper pole.
— I like Jason’s mention of this strip club recently having had a drug bust that turned into a swordfight.
— Yet another Jason Sudeikis-starring sketch that mentions Jason’s real-life hometown of Kansas City.
— Jason, on the oldest stripper at this club: “She’s been here since the place opened in 1970…and she’s got the bush to prove it!”
— Great involvement of Dave Grohl at the end, who’s always fun to see pop up in a sketch.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A better episode than I remembered. (By the way, “Better than I remembered” should be the motto of most episodes from seasons 35 and 36, even if these two seasons still have too much of a certain blandness to them.) Despite a horrible start with the cold opening and monologue, most of the remainder of this episode was enjoyable, and there were several strong pieces.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Fox & Friends
Bongo’s Clown Room
Helen Mirren’s Magical Bosom
Crunk-Ass Easter Festival
Perspectives Photo Studios
The Best Of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman
Mort Mort Feingold: Accountant For The Stars
The Roosevelts
Weekend Update
Mary Shelley
Monologue
Presidential Address


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elton John)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tina Fey