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