Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
FOX & FRIENDS
Obama is criticized while Rupert Murdoch (FRA) is defended
— Good to see this new-ish recurring sketch now being used as a cold opening for the first time.
— The usual funny idiotic statements from the three hosts, especially Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade.
— A particularly hilarious line from Bobby’s Kilmeade, during the discussion of a hologram Tupac Shakur: “But if Tupac was a hologram, the bullet would’ve gone right through him.”
— Good bit regarding the whole “What’s black and white and lies?” joke.
— The rapidly-scrolled list of fact corrections seemed shorter than they usually are in these Fox & Friends sketches.
— I like Taran playfully messing with Vanessa during his, her, and Bobby’s group LFNY.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host gives audience members bad advice regarding authentic NYC culture
— For an athlete, Eli Manning’s delivery is coming off well here.
— Corny premise, but Eli’s likability and execution of the material is making it come off decent.
STARS: ***
AMAZON.COM
the most-desired Mother’s Day gift from Amazon is Fifty Shades Of Grey
— A rare SNL sighting of Jason’s natural beard.
— A hilarious conceit with various moms each being walking in on while pleasuring themselves to Fifty Shades Of Gray. Feels like an interesting novelty seeing a comedy piece do this type of “somebody getting walked in on masturbating” humor with women instead of men.
— Some great laugh-out-loud moments, such as Kristen’s daughter innocently mistaking Kristen’s vibrator for a microphone, a masturbating-in-the-bathtub Vanessa immediately following her family’s cheerful greeting of “Happy Mother’s Day!” by angrily saying “Get the f(*bleep*)k out of here!”, the reveal of Vanessa wearing a dish-washing glove under the bathwater during her self-pleasure, and Taran noticing Nasim happens to have a photo of Joel McHale next to her during her washing machine humping.
STARS: ****½
MOTION CAPTURE
host tries out victory moves during Madden NFL motion capture session
— Taran’s Tim Tebow, when asked if he’s ready: “Thy will be done.” Jason: “Let’s leave it at the door, Tim, alright?”
— What the heck was that sound glitch with the music after Jay’s Victor Cruz stops dancing?
— Much like the monologue, the main premise is pretty dumb, but Eli’s execution is making it work.
— A huge laugh from Kenan’s Ray Lewis saying, in regards to the motion capture suit, “I’m not wearin’ them funky-ass pajamas.”
— I love Eli’s delivery during the following exchange between Jason and Eli in regards to the grenade-throwing bit Eli mimed: “You’re a quarterback; that’s how you throw?!?” “That’s how I throw a grenade.”
— Hilarious bit with Eli eating the sandwich that he mimed making and dropping onto the floor.
— Andy doing his usual good work in his usual scene-stealing goofy walk-on, one of the last instances we’ll ever get to see of him doing that as a cast member.
STARS: ****
TEXT MESSAGE EVIDENCE
embarrassing flirty texts exonerate defendant (host) in murder trial
— Some laughs from the increasingly embarrassing texts that Eli explains and re-enacts in a very straightforward manner. Part of why that’s working is because it’s Eli Manning, of all people, doing that.
— I absolutely howled at Bill’s amused delivery of “I was gonna say……..” after Eli explains that the banana in the photo is larger than his actual penis.
— Jason’s straitlaced, deadpan readings of texts like “You out?” “You up?” “Who dis?” “Sup?” is very funny, and an example of the type of thing Jason always has the great ability to easily mine laughs out of.
— Bill’s eagerness to hear the rest of Eli’s embarrassing internet search history is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½
LITTLE BROTHERS
host participates in Little Brothers program to avenge fraternal bullying
— Ah, doing an Eli Manning-starring variation of the classic Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad, I see.
— A priceless turn with Eli’s horrible, brutal treatment of the first big brother shown in this commercial.
— A particularly dark and hilarious archery bit.
— Strong reveal that Eli’s only doing all of this to get even with how his own big brother, Peyton, treated him.
— While this commercial, for me personally, doesn’t quite reach the classic status that the aforementioned Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad did, it’s still VERY strong.
STARS: ****½
WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
ancient Herb Welch holds no truck with Occupy Wall Street protesters
— Jason has been all over tonight’s episode so far. Very nice to see that after how invisible and on-his-way-out he came off in the preceding episode. I also find it interesting how tonight’s episode is heavily utilizing him in the type of “glue” roles that Phil Hartman was regularly utilized in during the second half of his SNL tenure.
— I’m glad we got a bit of a break from this recurring sketch until this episode, as the formula was showing slight signs of weariness in the last installment prior to tonight’s. Tonight’s installment also ends up being the final one during Bill’s tenure as a cast member, despite the fact that Bill still has one season remaining as a cast member. I’m surprised that this is the final installment of this sketch (not counting the one that would later appear in Bill’s season 40 hosting stint) after only two seasons and five installments, because it feels to me like it appeared more often. I guess SNL wanted to end this recurring sketch before it got completely stale. If only they could show that self-awareness with recurring sketches more often.
— A particularly funny un-PC comment from Herb Welch when Nasim’s Hispanic news anchor character is speaking to him: “I’m trying to press 2 for English.”
— A change of pace with the Herb Welch-made Occupy Wall Street video package.
— The ending of the Herb Welch report (before Jason’s character asked the crew to cut away from Herb) felt kinda weak.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Talk That Talk”
WEEKEND UPDATE
tanning mom Patricia Krentcil (KRW) overestimates her attractiveness
Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) & Martin Scorsese [real] plug
— I remember, back at this time in May 2012, I desperately wanted the “Tanning Mom” who was in the news at the time to be played on SNL by the then-new Kate McKinnon, as I felt she looked very fitting for that particular role. I ended up being disappointed to see that SNL went the easy route of just casting the popular veteran Kristen Wiig in the role. The funny thing about that is, if that Tanning Mom lady was in the news in, say, 2018 instead of 2012, I can picture some SNL fans wanting Tanning Mom to be played on SNL by one of the newer women in the cast at that time, like, say, Heidi Gardner, only to end up getting disappointed that SNL ended up going the easy route by casting the popular veteran Kate McKinnon in that role.
— Not caring for the gasping-for-air thing Kristen’s Tanning Mom keeps doing throughout this commentary. The rest of this commentary isn’t doing much for me either, for that matter. The writing is meh, and Kristen’s performance is coming off strangely kinda bland, like she’s kinda going through the motions or something. Perhaps a sign that she’s counting down the days until her final episode.
— I know Seth has an annoying habit of sometimes being heard giggling off-camera while an Update correspondent is doing their bit, but even for his standards, he’s giggling WAY too loudly and openly off-camera during one portion of the Tanning Mom commentary right now.
— Quite a number of Seth’s jokes tonight are getting a bit of a tepid reaction from the audience. I can’t blame the audience much, though. Tonight’s jokes ain’t that great. Between the preceding episode and this one, Update’s been in kind of a slump lately.
— Ah, a Sacha Baron Cohen cameo as The Dictator, much like how we got a Sacha Baron Cohen cameo as Borat when the first Borat movie came out in 2006. (Why didn’t Cohen make an SNL appearance in 2009 when his Bruno movie came out? Then again, come to think of it, Bruno was a summer movie, IIRC.)
— I’m getting my expected laughs from Cohen’s Dictator shtick, though I liked his Borat cameo from 2006 better.
— An even bigger surprise to this Sacha Baron Cohen cameo is a Martin Scorsese cameo within it. Scorsese’s a good sport to do this.
STARS: **½
IN MEMORIAM
a clip of Adam Yauch on SNL marks his passing
WHAT IS THIS?
game show emcee (ABE) quizzes (host) on their relationship
— A true shocker, as we get Abby in a starring role in a live sketch as an original, non-celebrity character, for the first time in all four years she had been on the show. (That Deidra Wurtz: Downsizing Expert piece from the preceding season also starred Abby as an original, non-celebrity character, but that was pre-taped, not live.) I wonder if that’s a record for the longest a cast member was on the show before they got to lead a live sketch in a non-celebrity-impression role.
— Ah, Vanessa’s always solid at getting laughs out making cheesy, light-hearted statements, like her opening statement here.
— Good turn with how the “What is this?” that Abby asks Eli is a serious, emotional question about their relationship, unlike the far-more innocent “What is this?” questions she asked the other two contestants.
— Abby is executing this well, making me wish we got to see her get non-impression lead roles like this more often during her SNL tenure. When this episode originally aired, I saw this sketch as a sign that Abby was suddenly trying to prove her worth because she was aware there was a possibility she might get fired over the approaching summer. Sadly, despite her pretty solid effort, this sketch still doesn’t prevent her from getting fired that summer. (Then again, I’ve heard some conflicting stories regarding the circumstances of her departure, so please correct me if she wasn’t fired.) She got a raw deal getting fired just when she FINALLY started slowly but surely finding her niche on the show with some pretty well-done stuff in the second half of this season (this sketch and the Bein’ Quirky With Zooey Deschanel sketches). Plus, it’s possible that her airtime could’ve increased the following season with Kristen no longer there to hog up all the female roles. (Then again, if they kept Abby that season, either Cecily Strong or Aidy Bryant might not have gotten hired.)
— I like the running gag with Bill’s odd names for simple things (e.g. referring to the moon as a “nighttime sun”).
— For some odd reason, the audience seemed to completely stop laughing during the entire final minute of this sketch. I feel bad for Abby in that regard.
STARS: ***½
HELGA LATELY
Swedish version of Chelsea Handler, Helga (KAM), is a boozy floozy
Catch Up Mit Du Khlardashians- (NAP), (VAB), (ABE) mirror USA’s Kardashians
— Second consecutive sketch starring a female cast member who’s either new or underused. Great to see the then-new Kate already starring in her second sketch in only her third episode.
— A fairly fun and out-of-the-ordinary way to do a Chelsea Lately parody. I’m glad they’re taking this approach instead of just generically doing a direct parody.
— Taran playing yet another sassy gay role.
— For obvious reasons, it feels so weird seeing Kristen playing a supporting character in a Kate McKinnon-starring sketch.
— Showing how new she is, Kate accidentally started saying her “We’ll be right back… etc.” line too early when Fred was supposed to speak. Knowing what a pro Kate would later go on to be, it’s actually kinda charming in hindsight to see this display of early-era greenness from her.
— Pretty fun to see Kate start really getting loose in the second half of this sketch, during her one-on-one interview with Eli. In particular, her casually sitting with her legs spread comically apart is something that would later go on to be a recognizable Kate McKinnon trait.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Where Have You Been”
MISS DRAG WORLD
tall queen (host) is upset about not winning Miss Drag World 2012 title
— James Anderson strikes once again, I see.
— Fred in drag strikes once again, I also see.
— At least there’s no Kenan in his usual drag. Speaking of which, is it safe to say we’re officially past the point where Kenan’s final drag role appeared on SNL? I don’t think he’s played a woman all season. I think we can pinpoint that Disney Channel School Of Acting commercial from the preceding season’s Miley Cyrus episode as containing Kenan’s final drag role.
— Wait, I just remembered, the very next episode has Kenan reprising his Reba McEntire role, in the special 100th Digital Short.
— I’m only a minute into this sketch so far, and it’s already coming off PAINFUL. Is SNL fucking kidding me putting this on the air?
— I know it’s usually considered fun seeing athletes do ridiculous, silly things on SNL, but I just feel embarrassed for Eli in this sketch. The material he’s been given here is WRETCHED and is doing him no favors.
— Ugh, there’s Fred doing that damn Paul Lynde-esque laugh that he does way too often when playing gay men (which itself is something he does way too often on SNL, though Taran’s slowly been taking that away from him lately, as I’ve been noting).
— WTF at the casting of Kristen in this particular role?
— Overall, yeah, this sketch was a straight-up disaster.
STARS: *
THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
square (host) didn’t mesh with Cheech (FRA) & Chong (BIH)
— That first Cheech & Chong clip with Eli’s Richard character came and went without a single laugh from me. How is this supposed to be funny?
— Yeah, as this sketch continues to go on, it’s continuing to not work AT ALL. The humor of the incongruity between Eli’s Richard and Fred & Bill’s Cheech & Chong is coming off lame as hell. Boy, did tonight’s pretty solid episode die off horribly ever since that Miss Drag World sketch reared its ugly head.
— I did kinda get a chuckle just now from Eli’s cheesy smile as the camera zooms in on him at the end of the moon scene (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Fun delivery from Jason at the end when his Robert Osborne gets high from smoking weed. Leave it to good ol’ Jason to add some much-needed life to this boring-as-hell sketch.
STARS: *½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Minus Weekend Update, this episode was consistently good until the show suddenly bottomed out with the terrible last two sketches. Several really strong pieces in this episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Little Brothers
amazon.com
Fox & Friends
Motion Capture
Text Message Evidence
What Is This?
WXPD News New York
Helga Lately
Monologue
Weekend Update
The Essentials with Robert Osborne
Miss Drag World
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Brolin)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Will Ferrell