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

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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