Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (JAS) interview wastes Barack Obama’s (FRA) time
— Jason becomes SNL’s latest Bill O’Reilly impersonator…and wow, he’s not even ATTEMPTING to sound like O’Reilly. I previously gave Darrell Hammond crap for using his normal voice the first few times he played O’Reilly (it took him several sketches to finally get O’Reilly’s voice down), but even THAT sounded more like O’Reilly than Jason’s non-attempt. That being said, Jason’s attitude here is at least close enough to O’Reilly’s.
— A laugh from Jason’s O’Reilly saying a very stretched-out “Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllll……..” when disagreeing with a fact Fred’s President Obama is stating.
— The TV trivia questions being asked to Fred’s Obama are only mildly funny. Nothing great.
— A funny intimidating “SIT DOWN!” outburst from Jason’s O’Reilly when Fred’s Obama tries to leave during the Viewer Mail segment.
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about tight trousers, the Oscars, being married
— I’ve never been a fan of Russell Brand nor found him funny, and thus, I’m not looking forward to an entire monologue featuring him alone just speaking to the camera.
— Hmm, maybe it’s because it’s been many years since I’ve last seen anything of Russell Brand, but I’m currently a few minutes into this monologue, and surprisingly, I’m not hating it at all. While I’m not really laughing much either, I’m actually kinda entertained by Russell’s style and delivery. In this monologue, I’m finding that he has a “1960s/1970s talkative British comedian” throwback style that I like, and it makes me imagine this being a monologue that would’ve appeared in, say, season 1.
— Boy, this monologue is going on a LONG time. Again, though, the “1960s/1970s talkative British” vibe of this comedy is making this bearable for me.
STARS: ***
GUBLIN & GREEN
Frank Gublin (FRA) specializes in lawsuits related to Spider-Man musical
— A pretty funny way of spoofing the Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark controversy from this time.
— I got a huge laugh from how “Green Goblin’s Pants Fell Down, Saw Package” is listed as one of the complaints this law firm will settle.
STARS: ***
ULTIMATE VACATION GIVEAWAY
unenthusiastic winner (host) stumps Cheryl
— Ugh, another appearance of this should’ve-stayed-one-and-done sketch. Thankfully, this ends up being the final installment.
— Kristen’s excited hollering and gestures, which made me laugh in the first installment of this sketch, have gotten increasingly annoying with each passing installment of this sketch.
— Taran steals this entire sketch, and gets my only laugh, in the clip of his reaction to being a winner.
— Lame ending with Kristen getting randomly knocked down out of nowhere by a gutter from above. It also felt a little too much like how a Michelle Dison (Kristen’s bi-curious news reporter character) sketch would end.
STARS: *½
DON’ YOU GO ROUNIN’ ROUN TO RE RO
impenetrable accents mark British noir
— So many laughs from all of the unintelligible “British speak” throughout this. Bill and Fred are particularly great in this.
— Hilarious reveal of the title of this movie.
— Nasim’s “……….What???” at the end was perfect.
STARS: ****½
ROYAL TASTER
medieval king’s (host) abuse of royal chef (BIH) dooms food taster (TAK)
— Bill’s hard-to-understand British-accented delivery of his second line makes me feel like I’m watching a continuation of the preceding Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun To Re Ro commercial.
— This sketch is basically Russell and Bill engaging in a ham-off, but it’s working for me in this particular context. The silly, over-the-top nature of both their performances and this general sketch is cracking me up, as is Russell’s character being oblivious to all the blatant signs that Bill’s going to poison the food.
— Taran seemed to slip into his Ashton Kutcher impression (which debuts the following season) in his delivery of the line “Feed us poison!”
— I don’t usually like when sketches in this era have a very random, unrelated twist ending revealed in a screen crawl and voice-over (e.g. the Globe Theatre sketch from this season’s Gwyneth Paltrow episode), but I actually laughed at this sketch’s “This has been The King’s Speech – now you can say you saw it!” twist.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Yeah 3x”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Egypt’s troubles fail to dampen Hosni Mubarak’s (FRA) conviviality
implicitly misogynistic Lil Wayne (JAP) & Eminem (TAK) lyrics are omitted
Stefon is incapable of recommending normal Valentine’s Day destinations
— Ohhhh, no. Another Hosni Mubarak commentary from Fred, just TWO DAMN EPISODES after his first unfunny one?
— There goes Fred over-relying on that goofy-voiced “D’youknowwhatImean”s again, like the last Mubarak commentary he did.
— Dammit, now Fred’s Mubarak has broken out into a song (albeit a brief one, thankfully).
— Lil Wayne is another impression that I feel current cast member Chris Redd does better than Jay.
— Taran’s Eminem impression is fucking PRICELESS.
— Some laughs from all the self-censoring that Jay and Taran’s Lil Wayne and Eminem are making to their “clean” songs.
— John Mulaney must’ve been working overtime tonight in his usual last-minute rewriting of some of Stefon’s lines, as Bill seems to be breaking even more than usual during his reading of the new lines on the cue cards.
— Funniest parts of tonight’s Stefon commentary are Bill working his impression of Gizmo (from Gremlins) into the When Harry Met Sally bit, and the whole bit about “Jupids” (i.e. Jewish Cupids). I also like the genuinely sweet moment with Seth agreeing to be Stefon’s valentine, which furthers the story arc of the growing dynamic between Seth and Stefon. That story arc is just one of the things that separates Stefon from other recurring characters in this era.
STARS: ***
LIVIN’ SINGLE
rebuffed by (VAB), (TAK) can’t abide guest’s (host) gropes
— I love that the two biggest roles in this sketch are played by first-season featured players Vanessa and Taran (the latter of whom has been having a great night).
— Not much I can find to say about this, but the execution of this material is pretty good, and I like the turn with Taran reacting very sourly to the increasingly-raunchy sexual flirting going on between Vanessa and Russell.
STARS: ***
A SPOT OF TEA
temblors disrupt Pepperpots’ (host), (ANS), (BIH) supping
— Right out of the gate, I’m getting a very Monty Python vibe from this sketch.
— Two minutes later, and the Monty Python vibe has been continuing, which is helping make this dumb, repetitive sketch come off “fun dumb” instead of “bad dumb”.
— A pretty funny brief “Tall Cabinets Full Of Glass” segment, and the expect results.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Bullshit”
GEORGE WASHINGTON
time travel to the present day confuses violent George Washington (host)
— A laugh from the initial sight of Russell playing George Washington.
— A very funny insane turn this sketch suddenly takes, with the violent defensive actions from a confused George Washington.
— Taran’s strong night continues with his funny crying facial expression towards the end of this sketch.
— The Cowardly Lion-esque deep-voiced crying is becoming a trademark of Bill’s (who’s had a strong night himself) impression of John Boehner.
— I love Jason’s overly-kind delivery of “I’m not gonna lie…that did not go as planned” after the violent insanity that had just happened.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A better episode than I had remembered. Even though there was only one segment all night that I gave a rating over three-and-a-half stars to, I enjoyed almost every single segment, and I also appreciate how Russell Brand’s presence seemed to inspire the writers to try some silly, absurd, British-style humor, with the Royal Taster and A Spot of Tea sketches. On a different note, the number of segments in this episode felt strangely scant, though I guess that makes sense now that I think about it, given how long both the monologue and Weekend Update were.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun To Re Ro
Royal Taster
George Washington
Gublin & Green
Livin’ Single
A Spot Of Tea
Monologue
Weekend Update
The O’Reilly Factor
Ultimate Vacation Giveaway
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Miley Cyrus
John Mulaney has spoken about how much he loves Nasim’s performance in that Guy Ritchie pre-tape, specifically her first bit. He’s also said it’s one of his favorite pieces.
I don’t care much for Russell Brand (and I sometimes forget he was briefly a thing in the US), so between that, the ‘eh’ cold open (love Jason but I don’t really understand why they were still doing the same writing for Bill O’Reilly year after year, even with a whole new actor in the role – Jim Downey, I suppose) and the irritating monologue, I wasn’t too hopeful.
Fortunately, once we get past that prizewinner sketch (and boy does it feel like Kristen knows it’s a turkey), I enjoyed most of the episode, and felt more connected to the goings-on than I usually do with this era.
My favorite sketch was the talk show – initially I thought it was going to be a variation on the Lisa Kudrow singly lady sketch, but instead they reroute the point of view to a pining Taran. Vanessa’s performance is very energetic and feels out of the norm for her SNL tenure; Taran’s is closer to his wheelhouse, but happens to be one of the reactions I enjoy most with him – it’s a similar reason as to why his “Oh nooooo….” moment in the Meet Your Second Wife sketch never fail to make me laugh. He also steals the poisoning sketch with his big death scene.
I just realized how the Lil Wayne and Eminem pieces are basically the same as Kat and Garth (just much less self-indulgent). I know it’s probably not appropriate but Stefon’s line about the Jewish Cupids just wanting you to find someone to settle down with and make you happy still cracks me up.
Spot of Tea is such fun, and is the type of goofiness without leadenness that feels out of step by this point – it reminds me of Monty Python, but also when Dan would do drag. I’m surprised Fred wasn’t anywhere in this one…
The George Washington sketch is a pleasant surprise. I thought this was going to be another variation on “our elders are upset about black people” but they went another route entirely. It’s also a much better use of Pelosi and Boehner than you usually get. It feels like something from the late ’80s…just a bit shorter.
I really like this episode, perhaps its because I’m British and more familiar with Russell Brand and the ‘british’ humour of this episode… who knows!
I love ‘don’ you go goinin’ roun to re ro’ (isn’t that a nightmare to type), it feels like another precursor to ‘documentary now’, or at least a similar format of very precisely spoofing a genre/time period.
Taran’s Eminem is really good, and I remember an interview where he talks about that impression on Late Night, and tells Seth that after he did that impression Andy told him ‘that’s a pretty good Eminem’, which he claims is super high praise from Andy. According to Taran the most Andy ever liked anything was ‘a bit’, which seems contrasting to how his personality seems from the outside! (they then go on to make fun of Andy for seemingly having such high standards when his best impression is his goofy Swedish Chef)
‘Spot of Tea’ was a difficult sketch for Paul Brittain, IIRC from a podcast. Instead of shaking the camera, the sets are shaking and on are springs, thus making it difficult for him to bring his cart in. During dress, he had to lift up the cart, as the wheels weren’t working and there was a gap between the doorway and his entrance mark. I forget how it looks during the live version, but I think he finally gets the hang of it.
I wonder how many people at the show were upset about Chris Brown being booked.
I bet there were a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprise if Lorne got some pushback for booking him.
@John posted a link to this article on a different review. In the article, Vanessa mentions a certain host who none of the women were thrilled with, and they stood away during the goodnights. The author of the article says it’s like Brown (who was musical guest, obviously)
https://uproxx.com/tv/rob-lowe-brendan-fraser-snl-sign-off-bedazzled/
Another good-but-not-great show in a season full of them. Indeed, Bill and Taran were running the table all night. For as cloying as Russell Brand can be, he was a good host, as well as a fleeting throwback to The Goon Show and Beyond the Fringe.
Hey Stooge. Was The Really Strong Sketch The Speaking English That Looked Like A Digital Short ? Why Is That One IF That Is What You Were Talking About Any Stronger Than A Spot OF Tea OR Food Taste OR George Washington ? By the Way, I Remembered The Food Taster, But That Is All I Remembered ! ! I Am Waiting For the Episode That I Remember All The Sketches !
@Jody I Think The Really Strong Segments Are Indicated By The Star Ratings… Perhaps You Didn’t See Those Since Stooge Only Started Including Them Recently, With The George Carlin/Billy Preston, Janis Ian episode. Also You May Have To Wait Till Next Spring For A Review With Only Segments You Remember: That Is When The Reviews Will Catch Up To The Current Week
While I remember Russell Brand hosting, I really don’t remember anything else from this particular ep…
At one point, I compiled a list of my favorite post-2008 sketches and Don’t Come Runnin Roun to Re Ro finished insanely high, like way higher than I was expecting. The joke gets kind of sledgehammered, but nothing can really top when Fred and Bill first speak to each other.
Russell Brand and Chris Brown on the same episode.
What a booking that turned out to be.
I wonder if Russell Brand wrote the sketch that involves him groping women.
Yowza! Is there a more problematic host/MG combo in the history of the show?
The Chris Brown-Rihanna domestic violence happened in 2009. I guess it shows how much things have changed in the past 13-15 years. I’d like to think SNL wouldn’t have a widely documented abuser on now but who knows?