Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ASK GLORIA ALLRED
attention-hungry Gloria Allred (NAP) addresses own awfulness
— Interesting and very rare to see Nasim starring in a solo person-delivering-a-straight-to-camera-message cold opening. Also refreshing and surprising that SNL didn’t give this Gloria Allred lead role to Kristen by default, and instead gave it to a less-popular featured player.
— There’s something quite Cheri Oteri-esque in Nasim’s portrayal of Gloria Allred, especially that cheesy big smile she keeps quickly flashing at the camera after each of her answers.
— The premise of Nasim’s Allred kindly answering rude rhetorical questions asked to her is VERY reminiscent of that great The Referee Pitman Show sketch with John Goodman in season 15.
— Nasim’s solid execution of this material is helping me somewhat look past the aforementioned similarities to the far-superior Referee Pitman sketch.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
the theme song host wrote for Glee puts the focus on Sue Sylvester
— Right out of the gate, Jane Lynch is (unsurprisingly) coming off as such a natural in this monologue.
— (*sigh*) TWO song-and-dance monologues in a row?!? However, at least it makes sense to do one with Jane Lynch. Not that that automatically makes this monologue okay to me, though.
— Other than some funny occasional asides from Jane, I’m not finding myself laughing here. However, Jane’s enthusiasm, energy, and performance style is making this song a little more tolerable to me than other song-and-dance monologues from around this time.
STARS: **½
DAMN IT, MY MOM IS ON FACEBOOK FILTER
filter sanitizes perilous status updates
— A fairly solid and relatable premise.
— Bill’s spokesperson role in this commercial alone is bigger than ANY of the roles he got in the entirety of the preceding episode. (I still can’t believe how extremely underused he and Jason were in that episode, with them both almost being treated as glorified extras.)
— Some good laughs from all the innocent things the Facebook filter changes Andy’s crude photos and writing into.
STARS: ***½
GLEE / GILLY
Sue Sylvester (host) enjoys havoc Gilly wreaks on singing students
— Not sure how I’ll react to this Glee parody, given the fact that I’ve never watched that show. Then again, my lack of familiarity with High School Musical and Twilight didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the fun spoofs SNL did of them in the preceding two seasons’ Zac Efron and Taylor Swift episodes, respectively.
— Much like Bill in the preceding Facebook commercial, Jason’s role in this sketch alone is far bigger than anything he got to do in the preceding episode.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Vanessa’s delivery of “You guys know I had a baby, right?” made me laugh.
— Out of nowhere, this turns into a Gilly sketch. The audience can actually be heard gasping in shock when Gilly shows up here.
— As I said in my review of the last Gilly sketch prior to this, in the preceding season’s Drew Barrymore episode, I’ve surprisingly started to somewhat come around on the dreaded Gilly. That’s been happening to me with a few Kristen Wiig characters and impressions in general that I used to pretty much hate (e.g. Kathie Lee Gifford, Target Lady). Like I joked at one point recently, I almost wonder if this is some form of Stockholm Syndrome.
— It doesn’t feel right seeing Jason doing Will Forte’s “Gillyyyyyyyy” shtick.
— Yeah, just as I was afraid of, a lot of this sketch’s spoofs of specific Glee things aren’t working for me. And sadly, my newfound mild tolerance of Gilly isn’t working for this sketch, either.
— This ends up being the last sketch we see Gilly in until a year-and-a-half later, near the homestretch of Kristen’s SNL tenure, when the character is brought out of her hiatus to get a proper (albeit unofficial) farewell sketch in a Sofia Vergara-hosted episode.
STARS: *½
THE NEW BOYFRIEND TALK SHOW
(ANS) interviews mom’s (host) conquest (JAS)
— A funny entrance from a just-got-out-of-bed Jason as both Jane’s new boyfriend and Andy’s interviewee.
— A good laugh from the unexpected “Are you my new daddy?” question Andy asks Jason, which gets a great understated taken-aback reaction from Jason.
— Fantastic reveal that this is the 100th episode of this New Boyfriend talk show, which gets another great taken-aback reaction from Jason.
— This sketch is getting funnier and funnier with all the priceless shocking reveals that are happening in succession throughout this sketch.
— Jason’s horrified reaction to finding out Jane once had sex with Magic Johnson is hilarious.
— Excellent sketch overall. A forgotten (with me, at least) gem.
STARS: *****
THE COVEN TO ELECT CHRISTINE O’DONNELL
Christine O’Donnell (KRW) unconvincingly insists “I am not a witch”
— An okay conceit, helped by Kristen’s solid delivery during her-as-Christine-O’Donnell’s calm-but-suspicious denials of being a witch.
STARS: ***
SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & comedienne (host) flout game show’s rules
— (*groan*)
— At least Jane’s a lot of fun as the Phyllis Diller-esque comedian character she’s playing.
— Good frustrated delivery from Bill of the line “And I am not full of bananas.”
STARS: **
RELAXATION THERAPY
(ANS)’s therapist (host) alternately calms & upsets
— Some increasingly funny odd non-sequitur visuals in the fantasy that Jane makes Andy visualize.
— I like the annoyed look on Andy’s face when he realizes Jane’s ordering lunch in the middle of this therapy session.
— A pretty good laugh from the very out-of-nowhere ending shot of a nude Jane lying next to Andy on the couch.
STARS: ***½
RETURNS & EXCHANGES
researching a role, Denzel Washington (JAP) mans the Macy’s returns desk
— A freakin’ fantastic Denzel Washington impression from Jay, in one of Jay’s earliest celebrity impression showcases on SNL.
— Jay-as-Denzel’s very tense interrogation of Jane over a simple bag return is a lot of fun.
— The ending to this otherwise-solid sketch came off VERY awkwardly executed.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Just The Way You Are”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Mark Zuckerberg (ANS) assesses the accuracy of The Social Network
Mexico tourism rep (FRA) doesn’t comprehend questions about drug cartels
— Hoooooo, boy. Seth’s joke about President Obama’s presidential seal accidentally falling off of his podium “two years early” is IMMEDIATELY followed by an innocent joke about rumors of Donald Trump considering running for president in the future.
— Andy’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg is okay, but I prefer the Mark Zuckerberg portrayal that current cast member Alex Moffat would later do.
— Kelly “Ripka”? No wonder Seth’s Kelly Ripa punchline bombed with the audience, after that slip of the tongue from him.
— Meh at this Fred commentary. It’s doing nothing for me.
STARS: ***
THE SUZE ORMAN SHOW
Suze Orman’s (KRW) ex-roommate (host) is in denial about her lesbianism
— Lots of Kristen Wiig showcases tonight, or maybe it just feels like a lot compared to how Kristen surprisingly appeared in only one sketch in the preceding episode.
— This ends up being the final Suze Orman Show sketch. I feel like they’re only doing this sketch tonight because of Jane’s real-life sexual orientation.
— Funny Halloween advice from Kristen’s Orman early in the sketch.
— Hmm, a different conceit to this Suze Orman Show installment, with this focusing far more on the repressed lesbianism of Jane’s character rather than the financial advice that Kristen’s Orman usually gives her guests.
— I’m (pleasantly) surprised Fred wasn’t the one who got cast in the walk-on role of Jane’s obviously-gay flamboyant husband.
STARS: **½
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Faith Hill’s (host) Sunday Night Football theme extends past the kickoff
— I don’t know what Bill’s going for in his Cris Collinsworth impression, as the real Collinsworth doesn’t sound a thing like that. That being said, the dopey voice Bill’s using is amusing me.
— A fairly cliched SNL premise of a theme song going on forever, done to better effect in some other sketches (mainly Will Forte’s legendary Duluth Live sketch).
— I find it hard to buy Jane as Faith Hill, but this is another pretty fun performance from her tonight.
— I got a laugh from Bill’s Collinsworth saying, point-blank, “That was a nacho recipe”, in reaction to a verse from Jane-as-Hill’s theme song.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Grenade”
TAX MASTERS
Patrick Cox (JAS) & vestigial conjoined twin (FRA) shoot Tax Masters spot
— Nice to see Jason being given so many big roles tonight, after the aforementioned extreme under-utilization of him in the preceding episode.
— Very funny reveal of the hidden-from-the-camera side of Jason’s face having a half-formed twin brother. I can see how the writers came up with this idea, given the fact that the real-life guy who Jason’s playing here does stand in an odd profile that suspiciously hides the left side of his face in the real Tax Masters ads this sketch is spoofing.
— You can tell the show is running long, because Jason now seems to be absolutely rushing through his lines.
— The ending with a close-up of Fred delivering a message to us as Jason’s half-formed twin brother didn’t work, mostly because it came off sloppy and kinda botched, presumably due to how rushed this sketch was. Reruns of this episode use the dress rehearsal version of this sketch’s ending, which is performed a lot more smoothly.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— I like how Jason, still in costume from the preceding sketch, is standing with his twin-on-the-side-of-his-face prosthetic facing the camera (as seen to Jane’s left in the above screencaps for these goodnights).
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly mixed episode, though there was a little more good than bad, and even most of the bad stuff had some merits. As expected, Jane Lynch was a pretty solid host, and was utilized pretty well. In fact, it sure felt like the writers played more to her comedic strengths than they did to Bryan Cranston in the preceding episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The New Boyfriend Talk Show
Returns & Exchanges
Tax Masters
Damn It, My Mom Is On Facebook Filter
Relaxation Therapy
Ask Gloria Allred
The Coven To Elect Christine O’Donnell
Weekend Update
Sunday Night Football
Monologue
The Suze Orman Show
Secret Word
Glee / Gilly
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bryan Cranston)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Emma Stone makes her hosting debut