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
The last quarter of the episode is a mess. Beyond that, Eli/Riri is almost on par with Peyton’s episode five years prior.
One thing I appreciate about this project is that it reminds me of sketches I enjoyed that I forgot existed. (45 years and thousands of sketches will do that.) The “Chelsea Lately” Eurotrash sketch is definitely one of them.
As a biased Giants I always really liked this episode. Eli was surprisingly solid. The pageant sketch is probably the worst sketch of the season. One of those “how could this possibly make air” deals.
I swear I remember they wanted Ferrell to host the next show so Kristen and him could do sketches together before Kristen left.
Of that reminds me don’t we get “Broadway Sizzle” tomorrow?
A surprisingly strong show. “What Is This” feels like a glimpse of what could have been if the show used Abby more. I easily would have taken another year of her over another year of Fred.
Then…Miss Drag World. I watched it online just to see if it was as bad as I remembered. This was around the time I started going through the music publishing databases and realizing that James Anderson was the culprit behind so many terrible sketches, What made me laugh is all the comments assuming that the sketch was written by straight people.
One thing that stuck out about Miss Drag World: Kenan seems to be playing an early version of his Treece Henderson character from the similarly Anderlette-penned “TWEEDLE-E-TWEE” sketches (though he’s called Tyrese here).
I actually think Cheech and Chong and Richard is stupid enough that it makes me laugh. At their 92Y conversation Mulaney and Hader call that a sketch they wrote that they knew was bad but made them laugh. The other example they gave of that was the Vogelcheks (Bill even says “No one likes the kissing family, but I loved it”), which bummed me out to find out two of my comedy idols were behind those. It was funny to learn that most of the cast and crew agreed with us, though, and would shit on them every time they did a Vogelchek sketch.
The Vogelcheck sketches do have a certain popularity, mostly for people who enjoy seeing Bill Hader grabbing and kissing men (which I do get…), but it amuses me to know many at the show had no use for them. I have a feeling a lot of this stuff, along with Californians and such, got through because of Fred, as Lorne seems very fond of him. (and I guess the public liked them enough as well)
Regarding Sasheer and Melissa, if you count Sasheer’s cam girl character, that was in her second season. Melissa had a lead sketch with Aziz Asnsari in her first season before she stopped getting as much of a chance, for one reason or another (some fans think it was because she went up on some big lines during the middle portions of the season).
I like Sasheer well enough and I really do like Melissa a great deal but it’s not too difficult to see neither of them ever quite clicked on SNL (in Melissa’s case, while I’m very glad she has lasted this long because she been a Laraine Newman-like tonic away from too much saminess and smugness, it is a miracle that she has managed to make it to 5 seasons). Abby seems to just be hitting a bit of a stride in this season, and given the big loss the show was about to take in long-running female talent, her firing has always seemed somewhat jarring. It’s unfortunate that due to her relationship with Fred it’s difficult to ever know if that had a factor in her departure.
SNL would later do another Madden sketch in the JJ Watt episode. I think I prefer that one, but this one’s great too.
Both the Mannings were surprisingly great hosts. Neither are great actors by ANY means, but both were likable and game for anything, which is all you can really ask of a host.
“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.” I don’t know that Sasheer ever got one, or Melissa (man, if Abby thought she got the shaft just wait for those two).
Does Anderson have ANY classic sketches? He’s obviously written at least a few things I like, but has he written anything 5 star worthy? Will never get why Lorne and co love him so much.
Melissa got those great foreplay sketches with Aziz and, I think, Drake. Those are both excellent. She also did the dying Nickelback grandma, which was fun.
But yeah, this season it’s been almost insulting how little she’s been used. At least Sasheer would get cast as a straight man.
You. guys are right, I forgot she did have a couple of sketches early on, all of which showed what a charming performer she is. She’s been very open on her Instagram about her depression and how lately its been affecting her pitches and energy at the show, hence the airtime. If that’s public though, I’m surprised you the writers haven’t thrown her at least something to do. I know its a competitive atmosphere, but given how much slack Pete gets because of his mental health (and that his stock has risen to the point where he doesn’t need the show anymore, and he clearly knows it) you’d think Melissa could at least get some straight man roles as you said.
Lot of people been struggling for airtime lately. With such a huge cast it baffles me that they would add 3 new cast members, even though I know this is supposed to be a lot of cast members last seasons. I don’t think all of them will leave, but there’s a scenario where Kate, Cecily, Aidy, Beck, Kyle, Jost, Che , Pete & Kenan all leave. Personally I think this is it for sure for Kate & Pete, as they both have enough going on beyond SNL and seem to only still be there as a favor to Lorne. Aidy & Cecily are practically gone already, they’ll be back to finish out the season but I’m sure that’s it for them too. Kenan’s a wild card, but I bet we get a couple more years with him. I think the rest of the guys will likely stay on another season or two as a favor to Lorne so that he can transition it more smoothly to the next era.
Melissa has said how much she has struggled with finding comedy at the moment, and then when she did get a piece on Update this season it got a mixed response and she wasn’t happy about the audience (although she wasn’t the only cast member this season to say as much about quieter audience), so I am never sure who is more responsible for her lack of airtime…but it’s always disappointing how little she and Alex Moffat have (it’s been a little better this season for Alex). Even the best episode this season for cast balance (Issa Rae) didn’t have her. I guess she may end up like Abby in that she was there the whole time of Aidy/Kate/Cecily overload and she may not outlast them to get her own voice.
As for @Anthony Peter Coleman’s question about James Anderson, I can’t think of any 5 star sketches, although to be honest I never know what in the world he has even written, since so many sketches I hated turned out to be by Paula Pell rather than him. I do think he has had some good moments with Cecily and Kenan.
Kenan DID Have A Show Where Chris Red Would Play His Son, But Maybe Because Of The Corona Virus, Maybe That Show Will Not Happen After All !
John,
Yea Melissa tweeted something like “crowd sucked” after the bit, then quickly deleted it, probably realizing criticizing a bunch of first responders probably isn’t a great look.
Agreed he has some good sketches with Cecily. I think he wrote that flying sketch with her and Chance the Rapper, which is 4.5-(5 star sketch to me. He also definitely wrote the Designing Women sketch with RuPaul, which was so stupid it made me laugh.
I also really like the hot tub sketch from Scarjo’s last episode, whoever wrote that (I am guessing he did). And the bickering lounge act sketch she did with Matt Damon.
They have their share of duds, but by and large Anderson/Anderlette struck gold with Cecily – it would probably be for the best if Anderson did leave the same season she likely is. (I know he is supposed to be back though, and I guess Sublette isn’t going anywhere…)
I think Bryan Tucker actually wrote the lounge act with Cecily.
Thanks, @Bronwyn. I must have assumed because of all those old lounge pieces Maya and Ana did after Anderson arrived.
If not for how unappealing Weekend Update is, this would be one of the rare examples of the widely conceived idea of SNL – that the show starts out great and then gets worse and worse.
The cold open is a nice showcase of the Taran/Vanessa/Bobby trio, even if I did have to shake my head at the realization that a so-insane-it’s-written-as-comedy conspiracy theory from “Gretchen” was promoted by our President 8 years later. It was also a surprising departure to see them all mostly painted as being as dumb as each other (I suppose it had to be that way so Murdoch could lord over them).
The concept of the monologue is very old, but Eli Manning has a certain offbeat comic charm, buttressed by moving away from the usual “he doesn’t know New York” jokes and just being a genuinely weird guy (the bit about going out into the street with overweight kids and walking very, very slowly through traffic made me laugh).
I am not really that into most sports so my knowledge of the Manning brothers is generally limited to SNL. I’m not surprised Peyton’s episode is more highly-regarded – he hosted first, and he has two bonafide classic pieces (the locker room sketch and United Way) – but I think Eli is actually a funnier guy. For whatever reason (either late season burnout, or not trying as hard because they didn’t have as much to prove after Peyton’s episode), they leave him more cruelly exposed in the writing than they left Peyton, yet he managed to mostly get through – even that absolute dogshit beauty pageant sketch. Even in that overlong trial sketch, where generally you’d get most of your entertainment but maybe not much laughter from the usual quality work of Bill and Jason, he made me laugh out loud during the part where he kept pronouncing “kewl” and “cool.”
The little brother pre-tape takes what seems like an obvious idea and makes it seem inspired, with some well-executed dark touches (the part with the golf ball in the mouth has to make you wince for a moment). Andy, as always, was just right for the hapless douchebag role. The 50 Shades pre-tape is also worth watching, although it’s most memorable for being the last Jason and Kristen teamup, and a reminder of how good they were together those first few seasons.
Update manages to go beyond flatness to active sabotage – you can feel them losing the studio audience and the episode never really gets them back. Kristen’s just doing another headline check piece with nothing behind it (the ending “joke” of the burnt toast via her tan says it all), but it’s SBC’s appearance that I would put most of the blame on. The whole thing is endless, in parts tasteless in a not particularly funny way (yet more virgin jokes that Fred Armisen already ran into the ground in his own “lol dictator” parade) in parts just excessively tryhard in poorly timed ways (going on and on about mutilating Roger Ebert when for years by that point, Ebert was best known to the public for his health problems [and would not live more than a year or so past this broadcast]), and also just completely overwritten in ways that make no sense (what in the world is the point of his threatening Seth’s father…only for us to not actually see or hear from Seth’s father……why not just have him threaten Seth for this “joke”????) . Admittedly I’m not the target audience for this and I have limited patience for these lengthy movie plug dropins (Melissa McCarthy’s a few years ago left me stonefaced), but this was about as big a momentum-killer as anything I’ve seen on SNL.
I’d never seen this Herb Welch sketch (it’s not on their Youtube channel either); I can see why it isn’t one of the more remembered installments. It’s fine, overall, but the funniest, most absurdist parts, like his slapping/punching people, seem very toned down. I also notice that Herb’s general slurs are not handled the same way here – we get less of them, due to the news footage (which is pretty cookie cutter, and lucid, compared to how the Herb we saw in previous installments likely would have been). That’s probably a good thing, to not just have Nasim there as someone to passively react to racial abuse as viewers laugh, but the attempt to have her respond doesn’t quite work – this could have used a second or third look. Then again, Mulaney was leaving, and based on the quality of that Cheech and Chong sketch (basically just a redressed of Fred’s annoying-character-inserted-into-classic-film vanity pieces), that may not have been likely to happen.
Helga Lately has an endearingly goofy concept, worth a quick look, but the padding does it no favors – having two versions of the exact same scene just reminds you that Kristen is doing her Kathie Lee by another name, Fred is doing yet another of his very badly aged “shocking” moments, Kenan and Taran are basically doing what they’d done and would go on to do 50000 times, The most interesting part of this in the end is the early look at the comedic style Kate brought with her to SNL – it’s a bit messier than what we might get later on, but overall she has mostly stuck to this style, unlike, say, Kristen’s trajectory.
(Eli in wigs looks like Kyle Mooney…Eli not in wigs looks like Tucker Carlson. Quite a contrast.)
What Is This? is a genuinely clever idea, well-executed, with a terrific performance from Abby. Whether it’s because this was her first real live showcase in four seasons, leading to a lack of audience familiarity, or because of Update helping to kill a lot of the enthusiasm for the crowd, the lack of response for most of this is disheartening – outside of stuff like mourning a celebrity or former cast member, this is one of the saddest things I’ve seen on SNL. It would be one thing if she had went out there and bombed, but she did a good job and the sketch mostly works well enough. It’s a reminder, I guess, that there is no real magical fairy tale narrative for SNL
(if you paid close attention at the time you must have known after this episode that Andy was leaving – no Shy Ronnie reprisal, and no Swedish Chef appearance in Helga Lately, even though it was crying out for something like that)
Promo/behind the scenes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NpsIIWpyP4
Hello John. What I Liked The Best On Peyton’s Appearance On Saturday Night Live Was The Monologue Where Peyton Introduced Their Father And People Applauded Because Archie Had Played For The Saints ! Then, Peyton Introduced Eli And The People Applauded Because He Played For The New York Giants And They Were In New York ! Then, Peyton Said Mom, You ‘re Not Pulling Your Load OR Some Thing Like That ! We’re Going To Have To Ship You Off To Canadian Foot Ball ! I Thought That Was Funny ! I Did Not Particularly Care For Peyton In The United Way ! All He Did Was Throw The Foot Ball And Hit The Children ! I DID Like Eli Where He Said I’m Going To Get You Peyton And The Kid Said My Name Is Not Peyton !
What Is This? is probably Abby’s best performance on the show (truth be told, I’ve never thought her a great impressionist–Zooey Deschanel may be her best impression/performance). I agree the audience dies off as the sketch goes on, but it responds well enough early on–the first time Abby asks Eli “What is this?” There are some laughs as the audience gets the joke, and there are laughs at her reactions to Eli and Bill’s oblivious interpretations of the relationship. But then things just sort of stop, like the audience has decided they’re sick of the sketch.