Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW
marginal backers replace Rush Limbaugh’s (TAK) deserting sponsors
— Great to see featured player Taran starring in a solo cold opening for a change.
— The “motto” for Syria Tourism Board being “Aah! No! There’s nowhere to hide!” is hilarious.
— Some good laughs from the strange, low-budget companies that don’t exist in real life being the only sponsors Taran’s Rush Limbaugh has left. Also, am I correct in remembering SNL would later use this same concept of “Controversial right-wing TV/radio host lists off their show’s strange, low-budget, non-existent-in-real-life new sponsors, after losing most of their big-name sponsors due to recently saying something offensive” in a Laura Ingraham cold opening? In fact, I think it was in one of the last new SNL episodes I ever watched before starting my (still ongoing) hiatus from watching new episodes. So that would pinpoint the Laura Ingraham cold opening in question as being from about November 2018. In fact, coincidentally, it may have even been in that season’s (season 44) Jonah Hill episode. (For the record, the final new episode I watched before starting my hiatus was season 44’s Steve Carell episode. And, yes, the quality, or lack thereof, of that episode played a part in my decision to go on a long break from watching new episodes, though the main reason was my increasing dissatisfaction with SNL’s quality in general at the time.)
— I got a big “Oh, so wrong” laugh from the bit with the Fake Rape Whistles sponsor.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Tom Hanks [real] puts an end to Oscar nominee host’s week of pomposity
— A fairly fun monologue premise, with a video chronicling Jonah’s week at SNL.
— Interesting seeing SNL’s wardrobe room, which I don’t think we’ve seen all that often over the years, surprisingly.
— A particularly funny comment from Bobby pointing out Jonah’s glasses keep getting smaller while his scarves keep getting bigger.
— TOM HANKS!
— As always, Tom is reliably funny here, especially when he cruelly fakes Jonah out by acting like he was going to let Jonah have one of his Oscars.
STARS: ***½
SIX YEAR OLD
back at Benihana, 6 year-old Adam teases his dad’s (BIH) girlfriend (VAB)
— This character from Jonah’s first hosting stint has officially become recurring.
— This sketch of Jonah’s was solid the first time, and I don’t mind seeing it become recurring, but boy, is it lazy on SNL’s part to place this character in the EXACT SAME Benihana setting from his first sketch. There are so many settings you can place this character, so why keep him confined to the Benihana setting from his debut?
— At least we get a nice new addition to this sketch with Vanessa as Bill’s new girlfriend.
— It turns out that Jonah continues to do a solid job as this character, and, like last time, I’m getting good laughs from his Borscht Belt-esque one-liners, helping me overlook my frustration with SNL lazily reusing the Benihana’s setting.
— I notice that Jonah’s occasionally causing himself to break out into brief giggles in the middle of some of his lines, but it’s not detracting from the quality of this sketch or anything.
STARS: ****
SCIENCE FINDERS
tennis balls to the groin put stress on (host)’s heart; John MacEnroe cameo
— Not too sure about this concept. And after how bad a lot of this season’s Digital Shorts have been, I have a right to be wary of this short.
— The endless replaying of Jonah’s yell from the initial groin hit he suffers has a “So dumb, it’s funny” quality.
— A pretty good laugh from Jonah immediately getting hit in the groin a second time as soon as he removes the ice pack from his injured groin.
— John MacEnroe makes yet another SNL cameo.
— While the concept of this short remains a little questionable, the execution isn’t bad. Again, there’s a “So dumb, it’s funny” quality to this short, further helped by how it’s being presented in such a mock-serious way.
STARS: ***
J-POP AMERICA FUN TIME NOW!
samurai-wannabe (host) has bad swordsmanship
— A funny visual of the exams that Taran and Vanessa turned in, shown by Jason.
— For the first time, the guest in this recurring sketch is male.
— Holy hell at that samurai voice Jonah’s attempting.
— I love the photo of Taran and Vanessa hosting a Rastafarian version of this show. I actually would like to see them do that version of this sketch.
— All of a sudden, Jonah has begun helplessly laughing his way through his lines, for no visible reason. He would later reveal in an interview that the reason for his laughing in this sketch is because (and this is from my admittedly faulty memory, so some details may be a little off) he spotted a friend of his in the floor seats of SNL’s audience, and remembering the odd laugh that friend has induced a laughing fit from Jonah himself.
— No idea how to react to the song Jonah’s doing, but I can see a “So bad, it’s good” quality (which is probably what they’re going for).
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Simple Song”
WEEKEND UPDATE
diabetic Paula Deen (KRW) responds to family problems & charges of racism
ANS doesn’t realize how bad his Sarah Palin impersonation is
Stefon’s St. Patrick’s Day plans involve a long kiss with SEM
— Meh, not sure I need a second appearance from Kristen’s Paula Deen, after her first appearance in a sketch from the preceding season’s Scarlett Johansson episode. I was okay-ish with that sketch back then (probably only because I had just suffered through that St. Kat’s Middle sketch and was desperate for a laugh), but this impression of Kristen’s, and, more specifically, that voice she uses, are all better left in small doses. I didn’t even remember until now that this impression of Kristen’s ever made a second appearance.
— Well, just now, Kristen’s Deen made a passing mention of the Three Stooges (or, as she calls, “a three stooge”), so that’s something, at least (for me, anyway).
— What the hell was with that ending of Kristen’s Deen commentary??? Was that even an ending???
— Ha, Andy showing up doing Tina Fey’s trademark impression, Sarah Palin.
— I like the meta, self-aware direction this Palin commentary has gone, with a sotto voce Seth calling Andy out on all the inaccurate things he’s doing in his Palin impression, and how he should just leave this impression to Tina.
— Ha, speaking of meta, I love Andy quoting “Daaa Bears!” as one of Palin’s alleged catchphrases.
— Here’s our Stefon commentary. This particular one is fairly important, as a special moment happens at one point during it.
— Funniest comments from Stefon tonight are the mention of an old Pakistani woman that looks like a California Raisin, the trivia game “Shaun White or Bonnie Raitt?”, one of the clubs mentioned having the name “…………..(*looks around in a concerned manner*)…………Kevin????”, the mention of black Irish comedian Sinbad O’Connor (I wonder if the latter is writer John Mulaney making an intentional nod to a memorable line from SNL’s classic The Sinatra Group sketch), and Stefon’s explanation of what a Human Roomba is (the latter of which makes Bill bust up in particularly hard laughter, even moreso than he usually does in these Stefon commentaries whenever he reads a newly-rewritten line on the cue cards).
— And there’s the aforementioned special moment of tonight’s Stefon commentary, with him following his “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” button gift to Seth by suddenly giving the unsuspecting Seth a big, long kiss on the lips, complete with playful slaps to his face during the kiss. Certainly much more acceptable than most of SNL’s “men kissing each other for an unnecessary cheap laugh” moments from the late 90s to the early 10s, and it’s also yet another thing that continues the growth of the great story arc between Stefon and Seth.
STARS: ***½
PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER
(host) is outed as a racist zoophile by the ape he taught to speak (FRA)
— Good make-up on Fred, rendering him downright unrecognizable.
— A quintessential example of a “Jonah Hill as a character who gets humiliated by something personal about himself getting exposed” sketch that seems to be his SNL trademark (aside from the Six Year Old sketches), as this type of sketch (often involving Jonah getting called out on clogging a toilet) appears at least once in a lot of his hosting stints.
— I’m not enjoying this sketch. Even for “immature, crude humor” standards, it feels below par and isn’t remotely funny to me. Also not helping is Fred’s delivery. Something about the VERY slow-paced, beast-like, slightly-hard-to-understand delivery Fred’s deliberately using as the ape when disclosing all of Jonah’s deviant actions is getting on my nerves.
— Overall, oof. Didn’t care for this AT ALL.
STARS: *
LIZA MINNELLI TRIES TO TURN OFF A LAMP
on Cats’ opening night, Liza Minnelli (KRW) does what the title above says
— A variation of Kristen’s Ann-Margret Tries To Throw Away A Wad Of Paper Into A Trashcan sketch. I liked that one, but yeah, I did NOT need a follow-up.
— This version seems to be more well-known among people than the Ann-Margret version, which is odd to me, because I’m finding this one to be FAR inferior to the Ann-Margret one. Also, the concept of “Celebrity has a difficult time doing a simple task” was far more fitting & fun with the Ann-Marget dancing routine. Compared to that, this Minnelli sketch is doing too much by having Kristen’s Minnelli wandering around aimlessly and rambling about random things, and it’s not funny AT ALL to me. And at the risk of sounding redundant after what I just said about Fred’s voice in the preceding Primate Research Center sketch, adding to my lack of enjoyment of this Minnelli sketch is the annoying delivery Kristen’s using. I know she’s just trying to sound like Minnelli, but her attempt at it is annoying as hell to my ears.
STARS: *
SIDE NOTE: The mid-commercial break shot of SNL’s studio shows the set for a SportsCenter sketch finished being assembled on the home base stage while Jonah and Jay, both dressed in character (complete with wigs), can be seen among the performers taking their place for the sketch (screencap below).
However, when SNL comes back from the (very long) commercial break afterwards, what do we see? Jonah dressed as himself and standing by the audience while introducing The Shins again, who proceed to launch into their second musical performance. So…what the hell?!? What happened??? Why’d SNL decide at LITERALLY the last minute to cut the SportsCenter sketch, after going through all the trouble of getting the set assembled and getting all the performers into costume? I guess they realized during the commercial break that there’s not enough time to do that sketch AND the 10-to-1 sketch that we’ll be seeing after the second Shins performance. And, knowing in hindsight what the ending of the 10-to-1 sketch has in store for us, I assume SNL didn’t want to risk the ending of that 10-to-1 sketch getting cut off due to the show running long, so they decided to scrap the about-to-air SportsCenter sketch.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Only Life”
ANNIVERSARY SONG
(host)’s anniversary surprise for (KRW) turns into “C U When U Get There”
— A funny unexpected turn with the soft, classical music suddenly turning into upbeat hip-hop music, and Jonah breaking out into a singing of Coolio’s “C U When U Get There”, all to Kristen’s utter confusion. All the absurdity here is pretty fun.
— Now this has gotten even more fun with Kristen having a change of heart and deciding to happily go along with the “C U When U Get There” musical number, after Jonah wins her over with his big explanation for why he’s using that as their anniversary song.
— Oh, hell yeah. Now this has gotten EVEN MORE fun with all of the performers dancing their way off the set and, while still dancing and singing “C U When U Get There”, going through SNL’s studio and interacting with the audience.
— I like how, while the performers are going through SNL’s studio, Kristen and Jonah are starting to comically exaggerate their singing to each other, in a manner that you can tell they’re having so much fun with each other. They’ve both been having strong chemistry all throughout tonight’s episode. Even at the end of that Liza Minnelli sketch that I absolutely hated, we got to see Kristen and Jonah having fun together with the goofy dance they were doing while hamming it up in each other’s faces.
— Ha, an absolutely perfect ending, with the In Memoriam graphic of Coolio, which, as soon as it showed up, initially made some viewers back in 2012 (including myself) think “Wait, WTF? Coolio DIED?!? When did this happen? How come I’m just now hearing about this, in an SNL sketch of all things?”, until you notice the year they put for his death: 3162. Absolutely hilarious and awesome.
STARS: ****½ (the entire last minute of this sketch was great enough to bump the rating up)
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first half of this episode was absolutely fine, but once Weekend Update ended, the show crashed-and-burned hard with the first two post-Update sketches (which worryingly seems to be becoming a trend for this season lately, given the fact that the post-Update half of the preceding Lindsay Lohan episode also fell horribly apart), only for the show to thankfully rebound nicely with the very enjoyable 10-to-1 sketch.
— This episode seemed to have a lower-than-usual number of sketches, which is odd, because nothing felt particularly long in this episode, aside from Weekend Update. Update must’ve been even longer than I thought if it took up THAT much of the show to the degree that it left a shorter-than-usual amount of time for sketches.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Anniversary Song
Six Year Old
The Rush Limbaugh Show
Monologue
Weekend Update
Science Finders
J-Pop America Fun Time Now!
Liza Minnelli Tries To Turn Off A Lamp
Primate Research Center
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Sofia Vergara hosts. We also get a new female addition to the cast, a certain female who’s still in the cast today in 2020.
Wow, weird that we’re getting Kate tomorrow. The end is officially beginning for this era.
Did anyone see Mulaney is becoming a staff writer for Late Night? Seems like a backwards move, though it’s probably just temporary since stand up shows aren’t exactly a thing right now.
I always thought the Ann Margaret sketch was the more well known of the pair.
Right, Tony? After all the money John made touring this year? 😉
The talking primate sketch was hands down the worst of the night; I wish I’d still forgotten it existed. I think it was intended to launch a new recurring character for Army. I didn’t hate the Liza lamp sketch, though; that was very much in Wiigy’s wheelhouse, without necessarily being cloying.
One blemish aside, this was an okay episode, and maybe the best of Jonah’s five hosting stints.
Hey Anthony. You Had EIGHT Messages Last Show And Now, You Have Eight Messages AGAIN For This Show ! !
I remember seeing the SportsCenter bump during commercial. Then it went into a shot of the band performing after some ads. Kind of a waste to set up for a sketch that would never air.
Wow, I really enjoyed Liza and the Fred-as-Ape sketch (I guess I have a darker (or just a crappy) sense of humor). The Steve Carell episode from season 44 did have the Laura Ingraham sketch you talk about in the cold open.
“The Steve Carell episode from season 44 did have the Laura Ingraham sketch you talk about in the cold open.”
Thanks.
Interesting that season 44 was what finally made you take a break from the show. Do you think its worse than Season 20 or 30?
I thought Year 44 was fine, but more then likely Pete stopped during a stretch of shows in November that were so-so at best. The Carell show is especially underwhelming, but it gets better.
I look forward to debating whether or not the current era of SNL began with the next episode. It felt incremental compared to past eras, hence the discussion.
“Do you think [season 44 is] worse than Season 20 or 30?”
Not at all. Season 44, to me, was just frustratingly dull, as was season 43. My dissatisfaction with the show’s quality starting in season 43 grew to the degree where, by November 2018 when SNL was a few months into season 44, I was going into episodes with a very sour, “Let’s get this over with” attitude, and that is NEVER a way you should watch SNL. After the Steve Carell episode, I basically took a long look at myself and came to terms with the fact that it’s time for me to take a long break from watching new episodes. I figured, why bother forcing myself to watch new episodes when there was absolutely no joy left in it for me anymore? Aside from the aforementioned dullness, some of the other factors responsible for driving me away from SNL in season 44 were: the annoying Trump-related cold openings, the ridiculous celebrity stunt casting in said Trump-related cold openings, Pete Davidson, the decline of the formerly-great Kate McKinnon, the show focusing more and more on humor that I can’t stand (e.g. that sketch from the Awkwafina episode where two squads have a dance battle using game show themes as the music), etc. It also doesn’t help that, by the time season 44 started, I was a few months into this One SNL A Day project of mine, and reviewing episodes from the more-innovative and less-formulaic original 70s era made SNL’s then-current quality in season 44 pale even more to me in comparison.
I have a feeling that, when I cover seasons 43 and 44 in my SNL project, I’ll have a less negative opinion of them. This SNL project has made me look at some seasons differently than how I felt about them when they originally aired. The season I’m currently reviewing (season 37) is a good example of that, as I’m enjoying it much more now than I did when it was new.
@Stooge, you probably did yourself a big favor skipping the Trump-heavy cold opens, as they would make Mary Poppins turn into Travis Bickle. I didn’t really get back into SNL on a more frequent basis until spring ’19 so I was fortunate enough to not really see as many and I could just enjoy other parts of the show. But sitting through those for 4 years…oof.
Fair enough. I mostly agree with your complaints, and I think the back half of 43 to the front half of 44 is a particular low light for this era, though even at its best its hardly my favorite. The only truly classic bits I can remember from the first half of 44 are the Kavanaugh sketch (one of the only good political sketches from the Trump years, along with McCarthy’s Spicer & David’s Sanders) & Adam Driver’s oil barren sketch, and even that has Pete breaking almost immediately. (I don’t hate Pete by the way, I just think him & Leslie would have both been better off as writers who occasionally appeared on Update.)
I agree that you’ll probably come off a little more positive on it when you cover this era. A lot of season 43 (maybe 42 even, I can’t quite pinpoint when I felt this way, because I was really into this era at one point) to the present reminds me of Season 35-36; not necessarily bad, and certainly both have great cast members and writers, but there’s an unfortunate blandness and aversion to risks that leaves it mostly unremarkable.
Yea thank God we’re about done with Trumpwin. Its funny those were all so bad. Its my understanding Che & Jost wrote a lot of them, and I like them a lot on Update. But boy did those flop.
Now they just need to ditch Carrey (goddammit modern SNL, stop making me annoyed by actors I love!)
@Stooge I’m surprised that season 44 was the turning point that made you stop watching. Don’t get me wrong, these past few seasons are extremely unwatchable; however, I find that particular season to be a slight positive bump. Whether it was possibly a good array of hosts (ie. Meyers, Harington, Sandler), some oddball sketches such as Adam Driver’s Career Day (some contributed by the writing troupe of Mandel, Linic, Castillo, and future cast member Andrew Dismukes), or even celebrity c*meos that I actually enjoyed (one being Damon’s Kavanaugh). Perhaps it’s just my brain putting a nostalgic bias on it, but it’s far better than the seasons preceding and succeeding it.
Honestly, you’re doing yourself a favor skipping this season. Besides Chappelle’s monologue and some killer sketches in Chris Rock and Issa Rae’s shows, you ain’t missing much.
I honestly can’t wait for you to start reviewing season 39 because that’s when it all goes downhill. The only time you’ll have a lifeboat on this era of a sinking ship is season 41 and the aforementioned 44. Enjoy season 38 while it lasts, Stooge.
Curly, I gotta say I disagree with a lot of that assessment. If anything 41 & 44 are two of the lowlights of this era, and I thought the Rae & Rock shows were both mediocre at best while I really liked the Chappelle, Burr & Mulaney episodes throughout.
@APC I can see what you mean. 41/44 just have a personal attachment to me as they were during the better years of my life so I’m obviously less harsh than towards others.
Also, I totally forgot about Bill Burr’s show. His was great, IDK why I forgot. Mulaney’s was fine, but it just seemed very disappointing compared to his past gigs. Still, a rather good episode and he brings the “umph” as usual.
Curly,
I can definitely agree with your assessment of Mulaney’s episode. Definitely his weakest yet, which is still better than average.
That’s fair about your life going better so you judge the show more positively. SNL gets that even more than other shows for some reason. Plenty of people have made the observation that everyone’s favorite SNL cast is just whatever one was on when you were in middle school.
I was very disappointed in Mulaney’s S45 episode (it was actually my least favorite of that whole season), and how it seemed like he had no real voice beyond that musical number which left me somewhat cold. (the CFT sketches were better, admittedly) This one I preferred, as the musical sketch was at least sloppy fun and there were some other pieces I enjoyed (Cinema Classics, Strollin’, etc.), but I have just had to tell myself he’s never going to top his first two episodes.
Season 46 is interesting for me because other than the cold opens (which are pretty much the same empty, cold checklists and memes stretched out for 10-15 minutes for maximum Youtube income), I do feel like they’ve been trying new tones, new styles, a bit closer (if not close enough) to the older years that were more willing to test viewers and relied less on chunks of “Kate and Aidy are so funny,” “____ reacts to something crazy” and “____ has a funny name.” With Aidy and Cecily away it’s also given a chance for some other cast members getting focus, even if cast use and rotation is still a problem. I don’t think this has been a very funny season, per se, but I have mostly liked the episodes (Rock and Adele were shaky for me but the others, especially Burr and Rae, I was better with) and it’s very interesting from a narrative perspective to see these changes slowly coming to pass – the end of Trumpwin, likely of Kate, Aidy, Cecily, Beck, Kyle, Pete, etc. Still, the show can’t truly improve until they get better headwriting, so that always hangs over the execution of the ideas like a cloud.
@APC I’m sure if I did what Stooge is doing and reviewed season 41 altogether, I’m sure I would be a little more critical towards it. Just from my memory and rewatching certain sketches like Matt the Radar Technician and Meet Your Second Wife, it seemed like a good season.
The only thing I wouldn’t change my mind on would be that the goodnights for the Christmas episode is the best one ever. You got Springsteen and McCartney singing ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ and that’s a 10/10 in my book.
Hello Stooge. IT Might Be Different IF I Clicked On A Link, But I Don’t Remember Them Having A Dance Off Using Theme Songs In 2018 OR 2019 Which Ever You Said ! !
Hey Curly Joe. What Did You Think About John Mulaney’s February Show In 2020 ? I Thought That Was THE FUNNIEST Show That I Have Ever Seen ! I LOVED The Monologue The Best And Then The Musical Guest And Then Sushi AT La Guardia Airport ! ! ! John Mulaney Was There To Promote March And He Told About Jesus Was Doing Magic Tricks For The Disciples ! ! THE ARMY CAN NOT LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE ! The Musical Guest Sang In The Sketch About Sushi On The Plane To No Where And That Was A Parody OF His On The Road To No Where !
*sorry, that should say Stooge. I don’t know Stooge’s real name.
Plot twist: Stooge is Pete Davidson. Don’t think he’s biased though, he’s probably going to be pretty hard on himself.
That’s funny, I kind of went silent on the newer episodes shortly after Stooge did. I think I just got to a point where I’m clueless on who most of these hosts are, and haven’t really peeked in except for when Sandler and Eddie came back decades later. And this has blog has been a fun distraction with trying to pull up available videos from NBC’s site to follow along.
I wouldn’t say the hosts are the problem though. It’s not like throwing in a bunch of people who were famous in the 80’s in going to fix the show.
I do think that if you know a host you may have more incentive to tune in (Adele’s episode had a big ratings boost, for instance). I don’t mind hosts I don’t really know, as it means I have no baggage with them and I’m more interested in how the show will use them (especially as modern SNL tends to try to get more use out of their hosts than some past years), but it is definitely less of a draw for lapsed fans or the casual viewer. As much as I enjoy when John Mulaney hosts, I know a lot of people probably still wonder who he even is…
Season 44 is when I got back into the show more regularly (I had watched Mulaney’s season 43 episode then not a lot else until his season 44 – I decided to keep going). It was alright to me, overall, sometimes pretty good, but I realized not long after that I had missed the real trainwreck period with Kanye’s appearance, which seemed to demoralize some at the show (and viewers) and cast a pall over the early episodes.
Jonah Hill is an acquired taste, but much as the embarrassment and toilet humor aren’t for me, I think the goofy vibe he brings is just on the right side of being shared with the audience, rather than self-indulgent. It comes in handy during an era like this, where the divides between the cast feel steep – Wiig’s pieces here are in such a bubble, a world far away from the stuff with newbies Taran and Vanessa. Jonah’s breaking and goofing help make for a more cohesive show than the show itself was capable of by this time.
I hadn’t thought of it until you mentioned it, but we really don’t see the wardrobe room too often. I think the most recent occasions were the “Aidy B” pre-tapes with Cardi B and Lizzo (that one was CFT).
I’m sure it’s not the first, but this J-Pop FEELS like one of the first times we truly have that “‘normal’ character explains to viewers like they are stupid” element. Jason does a great job with the character, and considering how many people I’ve seen who call this sketch racist and yellowface (when the whole point is making fun of that type of appropriating person), no wonder the show started adding these types of characters, but, much as I love a lot of this sketch (Vanessa and Taran always work well together [the “TRY HARDER FACES” segment is hilarious] and Jonah’s breaking only adds to the fun), it is a tiny bit disheartening that we’re now at this overexplaining point in the show’s history.
I think the reason the Liza Minelli version is better known may be down to Youtube algorithms (I saw that sketch repeatedly through recommend but never the Ann-Margret sketch). Now that I’ve seen both, I prefer Kristen’s performance in the Ann-Margret sketch (it’s just a variation of her Shana but she has a lot of energy and the whole thing feels ‘free’), but she and Jonah click much more as Ed Helms sort of seemed lost; this one also has a stronger ending. If only we hadn’t seen so many of these Kristen-isms before…I just have to separate those from my view of this piece.
Unfortunately I can’t do that with the Paula Deen turn she does on Update, as it’s just so irritating, hammy, and, as someone else said a while back, not a patch on Melanie Hutsell’s version. It’s ironic that this is right before Andy’s Sarah Palin “impression,” because, unintentionally, Andy’s routine basically mocks everything Kristen was doing.
In contrast, this is one of my favorite Stefon appearances – there are so many killer lines (as you mentioned), and there’s the contrast of Bill just completely losing it with Bill getting right back into the character. A lot of Bill’s turns on Update, never kept him far from the surface – they’re basically like a friend doing a performance piece. He really does become a different person with the Stefon appearances, which is why a lot of what could be “problematic” on paper with regards to stereotypes or how he acts toward Seth never quite lands that way onscreen. The other thing with this appearance is, similar to the Kissing Family sketches, Bill never does the wide open-mouthed, tongue-lolling type of stuff that you would have had in past years. I’m not sure if he’s ever said why, but even though it’s possibly not in character for Stefon, it does at least suggest a basic respect for viewers which, again, helps keep the Stefon material from being as dated as it might be otherwise.
I have a lot of criticisms of Fred’s work on SNL, but I actually think he gave a pretty good performance in the ape sketch. The problem for me is I just don’t understand what I am supposed to be watching. “Bestiality lol” is one thing, I know that can have a comic audience, but the experience here is taken very seriously…so I don’t really know what they’re going for, and I don’t think they are either.
C U When I Get There is one of those moments I want to enjoy more than I do. I don’t dislike the sketch, I actually like it overall, but it’s the type that normally I would love. There’s something with the timing here, I think – I’m not sure.
The Benihana sketches are a thin line that Jonah mostly pulls off (Fred’s “Engrish” character is the one sour element), but I think the most compelling part is how they all keep a certain continuity, even through a decade of appearances and entirely different casts.
Promo. Some good laughs from Bill. (SNL has recently unblocked a number of videos so you may be able to find several ‘new’ promos).
Hello Stooge. YES, In Fact, I Just Said That Before I Read You Saying That ! I Don’t Know IF Her First Time Was On A Jonah Hill Show OR Not, But, Kate Kept Doing That And That Particular Concept Might Be In The Fall OF 2019 ! I Think The Last Time She Did That And Then Cecily As Jeanine Pirro Started Talking !
Hello Stooge. I Did Not See This Lately So I Don’t Know How Long Week End Update Was, But I Thought The Last Sketch Would Be The Longest Sketch And NOT Week End Update ! ! There Was The Wedding And Kristen And Jonah Were Dancing ! Then, Their Guests Were Dancing ! Then, They Were Dancing In To The Audience ! I Could Tell Just From All Their Pictures That That Was Going To Be A Long Sketch !
Ed Helms was never an SNL cast member. So there’s that.
It turned out that the SNL was only wrong by 1,140 years.