November 10, 2012 – Anne Hathaway / Rihanna (S38 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ELECTION NIGHT
at home on election night, Mitt Romney (JAS) comes to terms with defeat

— Good to see Kate’s Ann Romney impression back after the breakout moment she had as her earlier this season, though she doesn’t get anything noteworthy to do in this particular cold opening.
— I like the use of a beer can-opening sound effect when Jason’s Mitt Romney opens a milk carton.
— A good laugh from Taran’s Tagg Romney once again threatening to punch someone.
— Funny running gag with Taran entering as a different Romney son while having the exact same look each time.
— Jason’s Romney, regarding Paul Ryan weightlifting in the Romney house: “Well, I’d like to see him carry Wisconsin!”
— Taran as one of Romney’s sons: “Come inside, father. Donald Trump is doing a very amusing thing where he’s racist………”
— What in the world is with the “Mitt & Ann Forever” part??? Why’d SNL feel the need to put that in this? I’m all for putting some heart and sentimentality into some of your comedy, which this season has done well quite a few times so far, but this “Mitt & Ann Forever” thing just felt odd and unnecessary.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host & theatrical cast members sing SNL-linked “One Day More” variant

— As usual, I love the genuinely very emotional, overjoyed look Anne Hathaway always has on her face whenever she enters the stage at the beginning of her monologues.
— When Jason mentions he’s been on the show for 8 seasons, I, as an SNL nerd, like how he adds in as an aside, “two as a writer”.
— A great part of the song with Anne singing the lyric, “What a show I could have done…if they’d let me play Stefon”, a lyric that Anne makes complete by doing the Stefon hands-over-mouth thing. The Stefon mention, combined with the fact that this musical number is Les Miserables-based, makes me wonder if John Mulaney wrote this, given the fact that the episodes he would later host traditionally have a big musical sketch based on Les Mis and other Broadway musicals. Then again, I’m confused about John Mulaney’s status as a writer this season. I had always been under the impression that he left the show after the preceding season and only occasionally came back as a guest writer this season to write Stefon pieces for Weekend Update, but there was an earlier episode this season where I spotted his name among the rest of the writers in the goodnights credits, and I’ve recently seen a clip from a stand-up special of his where he mentioned that he was an SNL writer for four-and-a-half seasons. So was he only on for half of this season?
— I particularly love the part of the song where Tim and Aidy sing about Sundays AND Saturdays being their day off, and that they’re not in the show much because “we are new”. How does that explain all the airtime their fellow newbie Cecily’s been getting, though?
— While we’re on the subject of Tim and Aidy’s airtime, I’ve noticed that the respective trajectory of their airtime so far this season has been the exact opposite of each other, with Aidy being invisible the first few episodes, then gradually getting bigger roles after that, while Tim was given a decent amount of big roles his first few episodes, then pretty much disappeared after that.
— I was iffy on this monologue’s musical number at first, given my aversion to musical monologues and my lack of familiarity with Les Miserables, but after a minute or so, I’ve gotten really into this number. It’s very catchy (especially once it gets amped up), Anne and the cast are putting their all into this, and I like the meta-ness of the whole number.
— Now this musical number has gotten even better, as the whole cast is getting involved. When this monologue originally aired, I couldn’t help but notice how awkwardly out-of-place Fred looked standing with the rest of the cast by this late stage of his SNL tenure. I still feel the same way about that during my current viewing.
STARS: ****

GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
Kyra’s (CES) new pal (host) estranges Morgan (AIB)

— And Aidy’s stock continues to rise. And I love that the two main roles in tonight’s lead-off sketch are played by two new featured players.
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Anne’s been given the generic role of this typical teenage girl archetype, but Anne is nailing it so much. I love her delivery in this.
— I got a big laugh from Aidy suddenly saying, as an insult towards Anne, “It looks like clothes dead women are found in!”, then shaking her head side-to-side in a sassy way. Unfortunately, IIRC, that shaking-her-head-side-to-side-in-a-sassy-way goes on to be a move that Aidy overuses quite a bit these first two seasons of her SNL tenure. She’d eventually drop it, thankfully.
— Aidy continues to have some funny reactions to being sidelined by Cecily for Cecily’s other best friend. I especially like her surprised delivery when asking Cecily, “You have a basement???”
— A funny story from Cecily about how crazy her boyfriend is.
— An overall good debut for this recurring sketch. When this SNL era originally aired, I recall quickly getting really tired of this recurring sketch after only two or so appearances, but we’ll see how I’ll now feel about this as a recurring sketch in these re-watches of mine.
STARS: ***½

THE LEGEND OF MOKIKI AND THE SLOPPY SWISH
Mokiki (TAK)’s Sloppy Swish dance enthralls (host)

— SNL’s first post-Lonely Island music video.
— I love this absolutely bizarre character for Taran. When this originally aired, this was yet another thing that had me thinking Taran was definitely on his way to becoming SNL’s next Will Ferrell, as I could easily picture Will doing something like this Mokiki bit in the late 90s.
— Kenan is great as the narrator.
— So many fun visuals of Taran’s Mokiki doing the “Sloppy Swish” dance move in various locations in the city.
— A very funny slow motion shot of Bobby mouthing “What the fuck” after Mokiki crashes Bobby and Kate’s picnic.
— Great fake-out with Mokiki and Anne’s pending kiss turning out to be him vomiting venom on her face.
— Oh, I love Anne now turning into a female Mokiki clone.
— An overall excellent, memorable, and catchy piece. SNL’s post-Lonely Island shorts have all been knocking it out of the park so far.
STARS: *****

HOMELAND
Saul (BIH) wants unstable Carrie (host) to do an interrogation

— I’ve never watched Homeland, but I’m currently only about 40 seconds into this sketch, and this Homeland spoof is already working for me just for Anne’s performance alone. Her performance in this is priceless.
— Now I’m noticing good supporting work from the cast, especially Taran’s funny performance and that great voice Bill’s doing.
— Very funny walk-on from Nasim.
— The “jazz freak-out” Anne’s doing is particularly hilarious.
— Bill: “Let me tell you something one of my 10 rabbis once told me…”
— Man, I’m loving practically everything about this sketch.
STARS: ****½

MCDONALD’S FIRING
McDonald’s employees Niff (BOM) & Dana (CES) badmouth their co-workers

— Bobby saying “We goin’ out on top like Seinfeld!” made me laugh even harder than it probably should’ve.
— It looks kinda dumb how, all throughout this sketch, Bobby and Cecily are facing and staring directly at the camera while telling off the co-workers who are located TO THEIR LEFT SIDE. I know Bobby and Cecily are just following the staging directions they were given, but this sketch shouldn’t have been directed this way in the first place.
— There are a lot of things about Bobby and Cecily’s characters that have the potential to be a little too annoying to watch, but it’s actually working well here, and I’m enjoying their insults to each co-worker of theirs. I also like how this sketch is using what appears to be the full cast, for the second segment tonight.
— I got a big laugh from Bobby and Cecily saying in unison, to one co-worker, “(*to the tune of the McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it’” jingle*) Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, go kill yourself!”
— I like Kate’s deadpan “…….Yes.” when rudely asked by Bobby and Cecily if her weird-looking leg had been burned.
— Now this truly is a full-cast sketch, as even the Weekend Update-only Seth has gotten involved as the voice of the co-worker heard through the phone.
— Even with his mere facial expressions and body language, Tim is very funny as the old worker. Good to see him get something funny to do again after practically disappearing the last few episodes prior to this.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Diamonds”

WEEKEND UPDATE
confident Barack Obama (JAP) will use mandate to set the political agenda

same-sex couple from Maine (FRA) & (BIH) relishes marriage equality

Drunk Uncle feels the election is representative of national decline

— Feels a little weird seeing Jay’s President Obama impression appearing on Weekend Update.
— Jay-as-Obama’s looseness here is pretty fun, especially the “Bounce with me” part.
— Hmm, a new outfit has been created for infants so they can clean the floor as they move around the house? Looks like SNL predicted the future with that (wretched) Swiffer Sleepers commercial they did 10 years prior.
— Wait, we’re still doing these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits all these years later? Another example of how Fred seemingly has little to offer this season other than bringing back old, tired recurring bits that don’t fit in the new, fresher direction SNL has been going in this season. I can’t even remember the last time this “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bit appeared prior to this. I think it was the “gays in the military”-based one from the Gerard Butler episode all the way back in season 35.
— I surprisingly have no memory at all of this Gay Couple From Maine commentary, even though I remember the rest of this episode fairly vividly. Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t remember this Maine commentary, especially since I never liked any of these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits. They’re at least progressive in terms of SNL’s portrayal of gay people, but I don’t find any of these characters funny.
— I did at least get a laugh just now from Bill (in what I’m assuming was an ad-lib) giving Fred a playful slap on the face while their characters are flirting with each other.
— I’m getting my usual amusement from Drunk Uncle, even if I can’t find any standout parts to mention here.
— Okay, I found one standout part I laughed at just now in the Drunk Uncle commentary, which him bitterly exclaiming out of nowhere, “Jeeewwwspapers!”
— Is it necessary to repeat that “That’s not me” “That’s not anybody” exchange between Drunk Uncle and Seth? That exchange was funny the first time it was used in Drunk Uncle’s last appearance prior to tonight’s episode, but it doesn’t work with repetition. IIRC, they even go on to have Colin Jost carry on the tradition of delivering the “That’s not anybody” line in Drunk Uncle’s appearances after Seth leaves.
STARS: ***

ELLEN
dancing precedes Ellen’s (KAM) interview with Katie Holmes (host)

— Good to see Kate’s Ellen DeGeneres impression back after its debut in that Bond Girls pre-tape earlier this season, even if I don’t find the idea of her starring in a straightforward spoof of Ellen’s talk show all that exciting.
— Cute appearance from Vanessa and Nasim.
— Great to see the return of Anne’s Katie Holmes impression from a Miley Cyrus Show sketch two seasons prior.
— Overall, not a bad sketch, though certainly not memorable.
STARS: ***

AMERICAN GOTHIC
American Gothic subjects (JAS) & (host) tried to bring levity to painting

— Kenan gets a good line after lightheartedly pointing out that the stereotype of Asians loving their cameras is apparently true: “Then again, I was 20 minutes late to work today.”
— A fairly interesting-seeming concept showing the making of the American Gothic painting.
— Simplistic humor here, but Jason and Anne are executing it really well.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stay”

FLARITIN
Flaritin is the fake Claritin for attention-seekers with fake allergies

— Kind of a rarity for a new pre-taped commercial to debut at the end of an episode. I think they only do that when there’s time to kill at the end of an episode.
— I like Vanessa’s delivery of her angry spiel about being lactose intolerant.
— Some laughs from the listed-off fake allergies you can claim to have when taking Flaritin.
— The premise is kinda flimsy and dumb, but the execution is okay enough.
— Good ending with Vanessa sneezing an exaggerated amount of nasty-looking mucus onto Kenan’s face.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

— As usual, such a charming goodnights speech from Anne that stands out a bit from usual hosts’ goodnights speeches in these years.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, in what’s been a streak of good episodes lately. The first half of this episode was strong, and, while things slowed down a little in the second half, that half was still good. There impressively weren’t any segments in this episode that I disliked. Another benefit of this episode was that it contained no pre-existing recurring sketches at all, which is further proof that this season has refreshingly been focusing very little on recurring sketches. Much like in her previous two hosting stints, Anne Hathaway did a great job as a host. It’s a damn shame this ends up being her final hosting stint (as of 2020).

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Legend Of Mokiki And The Sloppy Swish
Homeland
Monologue
McDonald’s Firing
Girlfriends Talk Show
American Gothic
Election Night
Ellen
Weekend Update
Flaritin

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louis C.K.)
a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Jeremy Renner