Month: November 2020

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February 11, 2012 – Zooey Deschanel / Karmin (S37 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROMNEY: BELIEVE IN AMERICA
Mitt Romney (JAS) puts a positive spin on his GOP primary losses

— Blah, another Jason’s-Mitt-Romney-speaking-straight-to-the-camera cold opening, after the weak one from two episodes prior. This is also the FOURTH consecutive cold opening centered around a republican presidential candidate, three of which feature the candidate just speaking straight to the camera, a cold opening trope that’s rarely fun to watch. Yes, I’m aware that this is during the 2012 republican presidential primaries, but 1) SNL needs to do more fun and creative stuff more often with these republican candidate cold openings, like they did with the Newt Gingrich: Moon President cold opening in the preceding episode, and 2) I wonder if the over-reliance on these republican presidential candidate cold openings lately is a byproduct of SNL intentionally(?) phasing out Fred’s Obama, given how little it appears this season. Not that seeing it more often would be a better alternative to these dull republican-presidential-candidate-speaks-straight-to-the-camera cold openings.
— Them playing the Debbie Downer “wah-wahhhhhh” sound effect when pointing out Newt Gingrich’s poor percentage at the Colorado primary is sadly the closest to an interesting thing in this cold opening so far.
— (*groan*) I’m tired of all these percentage points they keep showing. Even the audience’s laughter, which started out fine, is now starting to get kinda tepid.
— The dog endlessly barking in an alarmed manner when being approached by the “friendly” and “personable” Mitt Romney is pretty funny.
— A nice changing-up of the usual LFNY routine, with Jason’s Romney stopping mid-LFNY to plead to his dog to stop barking because it’s ruining Romney’s LFNY moment.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host plays ukulele & sings a song about a forgotten Valentine’s Day

— I can’t find anything at all to say about Zooey Deschanel’s Valentine’s song so far, but it’s fine and has some decent laughs.
STARS: ***


CHRYSLER
mad Clint Eastwood (BIH) denies Chrysler commercial is political metaphor

— Bill’s intense ranting as Clint Eastwood is hilarious, and a funny spoof of the real Super Bowl commercial that Eastwood did around this time.
— Bill-as-Eastwood’s angry exclamation of “Pussy!” towards Rick Santorum had me howling.
STARS: ****


PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Super Bowl halftime show spurs responses

— The debut of Taran’s Piers Morgan impression.
— Jason’s mere look as Redfoo is hilarious.
— A very amusing take on Piers Morgan from Taran.
— Zooey’s doing a good spoof of typical moral-outraged mothers, and the “decency strap” she displays is great.
— Funny line from Kristen’s Madonna about Cee Lo Green being dressed as Janet Jackson’s boob during his Super Bowl halftime performance.
— I like Kristen’s Madonna doing the Vogue hand moves while flashing her blurred-out crotch.
STARS: ***½


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
The Artist (Jean Dujardin) dances monochromatically

— Ooh, this recurring sketch, which I always enjoy, has certainly taken a very different turn right now, by suddenly becoming a spoof of The Artist, complete with an appearance from The Artist’s Jean Dujardin.
— This change of pace is an absolute blast so far, even moreso than this recurring sketch usually is. I can’t look away from the screen; I’m practically mesmerized by what I’m watching.
— Overall, I found this sketch to be absolutely perfect.
STARS: *****


LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA
Clint Eastwood (BIH) warns about Chinese in surprise Little Caesars spot

— More hilarious angry ranting from Bill’s Eastwood, and he had an especially funny line complaining about viewers “strokin’ it to those godaddy.com commercials”.
STARS: ****


NEWSPAPER
new reporter (host) can’t keep up with Front Page patter of (JAS) & (KRW)

— Our first sign that Bill Hader isn’t there live at SNL tonight, as he’s nowhere to be seen in this sketch filled with fast-talking 1940s characters, something that you know Bill would’ve been cast in (most likely in Jason’s role), as he’s a complete natural at pulling off old-timey roles like this. The reason for his absence in the live portions of tonight’s episode is because, IIRC, he suffered some sort of eye injury at some point that week (I don’t know the specifics of the eye injury) and wasn’t able to do the show that weekend. The only times we’ll be seeing him tonight are in pre-taped form. A little strange how some of the veterans in this cast have been absent from episodes lately, such as Andy in the Daniel Radcliffe episode and Bill in tonight’s episode.
— Even with the lack of Bill, the performers playing these old-timey, fast-talking characters are doing a fantastic job. Reminds me of how great SNL’s late 80s cast typically was at doing this type of sketch.
— Funny cutaway to Bobby’s insanely fast typing.
— Good line from Zooey: “Okay, straight-up – is everyone here on cocaine?”
STARS: ***½


THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Clint Eastwood (BIH) yields to Mexico, plugs Trojan Vibrations massager & The Dark Knight Rises

— A good cheap laugh from the visual of Bill-as-Eastwood’s pants being up to his chest.
— Another good visual, this time from Bill-as-Eastwood’s hair being blown back.
— The unexpected reveals of what unrelated product these Eastwood spots are advertising continue to be funny.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Broken Hearted”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Arianna Huffington (NAP) speaks to women’s issues currently in the news

Nicolas Cage [real] & his clone (ANS) complement & compliment each other

— The debut of Nasim’s Arianna Huffington impression, which would become a recurring Update feature. I remember, when this originally aired, I was bothered by Nasim taking over an impression that the undeservedly-fired-after-only-one-season Michaela Watkins previously not only did on Update (albeit only once), but had been doing prior to SNL, as seen by some online videos of her. Nasim’s Huffington appearances on Update would end up somewhat growing on me over time.
— After Nasim’s Huffington imitates President Obama’s supposedly-bad singing, I laughed at Seth responding to her, in an affable manner, “Yeah…that was WAY worse than when he did it.”
— Some good lines from Nasim’s Huffington, especially her bit at the end about Newt Gingrich.
— This Update keeps mentioning how successful the premiere of NBC’s then-new show Smash was. Feels odd seeing these mentions in hindsight, given that fact that, IIRC, Smash’s initial success sure didn’t end up lasting long, and the show would end up being canceled after only one or two seasons.
— A special edition of the recurring “Get In The Cage” segment, this time with Andy’s Nicolas Cage sitting alongside the real Nicolas Cage, the latter making his first SNL appearance in 20 years.
— Lots of fun interplay between the two Nicolas Cages, and it helps that SNL’s not going the corny, cliched route of “real celebrity confronts cast member impersonating them and disapproves of their impression”. I like the fact that the real Nicolas Cage is playing it completely straight by playing along with Andy’s Cage right from the start of this.
— Fantastic line about how all of the dialogue in a typical Nicolas Cage movie is either whispered or screamed.
STARS: ***


BEIN’ QUIRKY WITH ZOOEY DESCHANEL
Zooey Deschanel (ABE), Mary-Kate Olsen (host) & Bjork (KRW) act kooky

— Hmm, speaking of a celebrity being impersonated next to the real celebrity…
— Normally, I’d spew my usual complaints about SNL always over-relying on the tired “celebrity-hosted talk show” trope, but I’m just happy to see the usually-underused Abby get a rare lead role in a live sketch.
— Great to see Taran’s very funny Michael Cera impression back.
— Abby-as-Zooey’s brief song about garbage gave me a pretty good laugh.
— All the very random mini-segments throughout this talk show are pretty fun.
— I cracked up at the initial cutaway to Kristen’s Bjork shyly hiding in the doorway.
— I’m definitely finding this sketch more enjoyable than the usual celebrity-hosted talk show sketches in this era.
STARS: ***½


VERIZON
Verizon employee (BIH) confuses (FRA) with technology & handset options

— Some laughs from Bill’s increasingly-hard-to-follow, fast-paced technical mumbo-jumbo about phones to a confused Fred.
— The little “I live off a settlement” “You’re a Native American?” “Not on a settlement, off a settlement” non-sequitur between Fred and Bill was particularly funny.
— Pretty good punchline at the end.
STARS: ***½


PATIO PARTY
(KRW) & (host) build up guests’ hunger for crab legs at backyard cookout

— Was Bobby supposed to be seen jogging his way into the scene at the very beginning of this sketch, or was he genuinely late on his entrance?
— Blah, I am not caring for this at all so far. Also not helping this already-weak sketch is the fact that it features one of writer James Anderson’s worst trademarks: every character in it having goofy southern accents for no good reason.
— The ending actually kinda got a chuckle out of me, which is more than I can say for the rest of this sketch.
STARS: *½


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Whitney Houston marks her passing


WE’RE GOING TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY HUMP
electromechanical implements have sex

— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— I liked this as a creative, random one-time thing earlier this season, but I’m not sure I needed a second installment of it.
— I’m really liking the whole 1980s technology scene, featuring devices such as a Game Boy, a Duck Hunt gun, a pager, and a Rubik’s Cube.
— Despite my initial reservations, it turns out that I’m actually enjoying this second installment. Some really good gags here, such as the label-maker’s blurred-out crotch shot, and the label-maker printing out a paper that says “Yes” over and over during its lovemaking with a remote-controlled car.
— Ehh, wasn’t necessary to basically rehash the exact same viewer letter that was shown in the first installment of this.
— I love Andy’s sly delivery of “Now that’s a job I can do overtime!” as the voice of a power drill.
— Ha, the ending of the final technology-humping scene is great, with a child-aged phone walking in on its parents having sex.
— Overall, not only did this second installment prove my initial doubts about it completely wrong, but I actually liked it more than the first installment. While the first one was fine, my problem with it was that the three technology-humping scenes within it were too same-y for my likes, and thus, it got a little redundant by the third one. Tonight’s installment, on the other hand, had enough big and fun differences between each technology-humping scene to keep the whole concept fresh.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Told You So”


VICTORIAN LADIES
Victorian pen pal spinsters (KRW) & (host) will settle for doofuses

— I don’t like how this is basically a Victorian-themed variation of that weak Ferrari Calendar sketch from this season’s Anna Faris episode, only with this sketch actually showing the grotesque men that the characters played by Kristen and the host fawn over. Being able to see the grotesque men this time isn’t making this tepid material any funnier, nor is the fact that the grotesque men in this one have the added factor of having a low IQ.
— I did kinda laugh just now at the random bit with Kristen lovingly keeping the severed thumb of her deceased lover on a necklace she’s currently wearing.
— What…the…HELL was with that non-sequitur 1960s surfing ending??? I do like, though, how the SNL bumper photo that’s shown immediately afterwards is related to this sketch’s ending, by showing Zooey, as herself, dressed like a 1960s surfer, with a background image of a surfing wave.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good and consistent episode, other than a weak cold opening and two big misfires towards the end of the show. This episode also thankfully contained a higher number of standout strong segments than the preceding two episodes had.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Les Jeunes de Paris
We’re Going To Make Technology Hump
Chrysler
Little Caesars Pizza
Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel
Newspaper
Piers Morgan Tonight
The Dark Knight Rises
Verizon
Weekend Update
Monologue
Romney: Believe In America
Patio Party / Victorian Ladies (tie)


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Channing Tatum)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Maya Rudolph

Posted on

February 4, 2012 – Channing Tatum / Bon Iver (S37 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NEWT GINGRICH: MOON PRESIDENT
in 2014, triumphant Moon President Newt Gingrich (BOM) sees Earth explode

— This is the third consecutive cold opening about a republican presidential candidate, the last two of which have been huge misses, but this is a refreshing and creative change of pace, with Bobby’s Newt Gingrich being the moon president two years in the future. This is fun.
— Interesting seeing Bill do a Ronald Reagan impression.
— Bobby’s Gingrich, as his salutation to Nasim: “And may divorce be with you.”
— Some funny insane embellishments in how Gingrich’s presidency will go.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
audience members deny having been customers of former stripper host

 

— A nice confident entrance from Channing Tatum, even sliding down the banister of the stairs in front of the entrance door, which I’ve never seen a host do.
— Good appearance from Kenan as “Big Ronnie”, Channing’s guard.
— A funny overconfident delivery from Taran of “I’ll have you know we haven’t had sex in 10 years!”
— Not caring at all for the turn with Channing’s whole interaction with Fred.
— Andy gets a laugh with his usual, reliable goofiness.
STARS: **½


IT’S GETTING FREAKY WITH CEE LO GREEN!
Matthew McConaughey (host) & Colonel Nasty (BIH) counsel

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Only three segments into the first episode after Paul Brittain’s mysterious mid-season departure, and SNL has already had to replace a role of his. One of the horn players in the band within this talk show sketch was played by Paul in the first installment, and Fred has now taken over that role, even wearing the same wig Paul wore.
— A good Matthew McConaughey impression from Channing, but like I said in a previous episode review, McConaughey impressions are a dime a dozen.
— Much like in a typical Justin Timberlake-hosted episode, we have female audience members screaming at practically everything Channing says and does.
— This is still a fairly fun installment of this sketch, but I’m not finding it to be quite as fun or enjoyable as the first installment. It’s probably for the best that SNL ended up retiring this sketch after only two installments.
STARS: ***


DOWNTON ABBEY
Spike TV promo for Downton Abbey is geared toward a young audience

— Between the ESPN Bowl Madness commercial from two episodes prior and now this commercial, Andy’s carving out a niche for himself lately as a solid voice-over of a certain style of SNL commercials, which is interesting in hindsight, knowing we’re in the final months of Andy’s SNL tenure.
— Funny concept of Spike TV advertising Downton Abbey in their usual “x-treme”, bro-type manner.
— A solid ending line, with the voice-over opting to call Downton Abbey “Fancy Entourage”.
STARS: ***½


NBC FOOTBALL PROMO
NBC’s Super Bowl coverage team utters eccentricities during a promo shoot

— A good laugh from Kenan’s random breastfeeding line.
— A lot of funny odd, disturbing revelations from each anchor before they all do their lower-head-and-then-slowly-raise-it bits, though the latter is getting a little too redundant for me.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & probed astronaut (host) are ineffectual

— (*groan*)
— Hmm, the “funny story” that Bill recounts to us (him telling his wife, in regards to her new pantsuit, “If I wanted to make love to a man, I’d join the navy!”) is something I can picture Kenan’s future recurring character, Reese DeWhat, saying during the usual parts of each Cinema Classics sketch where he recounts a rude thing he once said to his wife. That makes sense, given the fact that these Secret Word sketches are written by the same writer(s) who would write the Cinema Classics sketches (James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette). I’m not 100% sure about that, though, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
— Channing’s character, while a change of pace for this recurring sketch, isn’t quite working for me the way most of the characters played by SNL hosts in these Secret Word sketches do. Bill’s seriously the only thing holding this sketch together for me.
— Ugh, somebody shut this Mindy Grayson character the fuck up already. This character, who was already annoying to begin with, continues to get even more and more on my nerves with each passing installment of this sketch lately.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Holocene”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Guy Fieri (BOM) presents some impractical Super Bowl party food ideas

Lana Del Rey (KRW) addresses negative reaction to her performance on SNL

— Seth, to Bobby’s Guy Fieri: “Guy, I’m excited for these recipes. Are you ready?” Bobby’s Guy Fieri: “I was born crazy!”
— Bobby’s always fun as Guy Fieri, and is elevating the okay material he’s been given in this commentary.
— Boy, Bobby’s delivery has suddenly started getting really stumbly during the portion of the commentary where he list off the many ingredients of a complicated meal. In his defense, he does have a lot of wordy dialogue in this portion.
— Ah, another instance of Update’s tradition of a tree frog joke always getting interrupted.
— Oh, turns out the interruption to Seth’s tree frog joke is caused by Kristen as Lana Del Rey, addressing the real-life backlash Del Rey received from her musical performances in the preceding episode. Interesting meta-ness here.
— So far, this Lana Del Rey commentary is basically SNL being preachy to us on why the internet is wrong in their heavy criticisms of Del Rey. I gotta say, though, SNL’s not wrong. And there are some laughs here from the points being made about the internet’s overreaction. I remember being very salty towards this preachiness from SNL when this originally aired, but now, I can see where they’re coming from.
— In one of the points Kristen’s Del Rey passive-aggressively makes about why the internet is wrong, she says she failed to reach the “high bar” set by previous SNL musical guests such as Bubba Sparxxx, Baha Men, and Shaggy. A funny line, but to nitpick, 1) Baha Men technically were never a musical guest, they were just uncredited special guests in one episode who randomly performed a brief snippet of their one hit during a going-to-commercial shot, and 2) are they seriously lumping Shaggy with Bubba Sparxxx and Baha Men??? Am I missing something? Since when is Shaggy a national joke? And I don’t recall his SNL performances being bad or ridiculed by viewers. From that same time period of musical guests (because SNL is apparently unaware that bad musical guests existed before and after the early 2000s), I’m sure SNL could’ve found a more ridiculous musical guest that deserves to be lumped with Bubba Sparxxx and Baha Men. Sisqo, anyone?
STARS: ***


BAT MITZVAH
neighbor (host) dances dirty with (NAP) at her bat mitzvah

— Some good laughs from the inappropriate wild dance moves that Nasim and Channing are doing, interspersed with appropriate tame dance moves that Nasim’s character’s mom taught them.
— Funny cutaway to Abby during the aforementioned inappropriate wild dancing.
STARS: ***½


RUBY TUESDAY
stocky Janet (BOM) hits on Tom Brady (host) on the eve of the Super Bowl

— I love Bobby’s opening line, when reacting to seeing Channing’s Tom Brady: “Oh, shut your moooooouuuuuth! Tom Brady at Ruby Tuesday?!?”
— Bobby has the ability to make a hacky “man in drag” role funny. I even laughed at him obnoxiously making raspberry sounds with his mouth while calling over the bartender.
— I think I recall there being a bit of controversy regarding Bobby’s character having the same name (Janet Peckinpaugh) as a real-life person who’s a congresswoman or something like that.
— Some funny oddball revelations from Bobby’s character about herself.
— Boy, SNL sure botched that freeze-frame on Channing, by accidentally freeze-framing on him too late when he started walking out of the shot to get ready for the next sketch (screencap below), AFTER he held a pose for a long time to allow SNL to do their freeze-frame on him.

STARS: ***


GO-TECHS FLEX
(host) & (KRW) amateurishly endorse Go-Techs Flex oddball exercise system

— Meh, this isn’t working much for me. Usually, I love random, bizarre humor, but the randomness and bizarreness of this particular commercial feels like it’s trying WAY too hard, and it feels like Kristen’s just playing a stock “zany character with a weird hairstyle” role that SNL loves typecasting her in during her later seasons.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beth/Rest”


BONGO’S CLOWN ROOM
retiring strip club deejay Tommy intros hardly-sexy male dancers

— An odd choice of a sketch to bring back, given the fact that Jason’s character was retiring from his job at the strip club in the first installment of this. And he’s retiring AGAIN tonight, a year later? I can’t complain, though, as Jason absolutely killed it in this sketch the first time, and I’m looking forward to another great performance from him.
— Has Channing danced in literally EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT he’s appeared in tonight (including the monologue)? Sure feels like it.
— Jason: “Got great news from my sister today: my nephew does not have ADHD, he’s just a little dickhead!”
— As usual for this sketch, tons of hilarious lines from Jason all throughout.
— Jason’s line about “that Sandusky fella” was so funny that it even caused Jason himself to crack up.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A better episode than I recall. (I remember kinda trashing this episode when it originally aired, and I think I ultimately deemed it to be the worst episode of this entire season.) It turns out this episode was decent and passable, but nothing special as a whole, with the only sketch I rated higher than three-and-a-half stars just being a retread (though a damn funny one).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bongo’s Clown Room
Newt Gingrich: Moon President
Bat Mitzvah
Downton Abbey
NBC Football Promo
It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!
Ruby Tuesday
Weekend Update
Monologue
Go-Techs Flex
Secret Word


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Daniel Radcliffe)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Zooey Deschanel

Posted on

January 14, 2012 – Daniel Radcliffe / Lana Del Rey (S37 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROMNEY: BELIEVE IN AMERICA
one-percenter Mitt Romney (JAS) can’t lay off the unemployment metaphors

— Meh, the second episode in a row with a “politician speaks dryly to the camera” camera cold opening, one of my least favorite cold opening tropes. Jason’s Mitt Romney is at least usually a little more amusing than Andy’s boring portrayal of Rick Santorum in the preceding episode’s cold opening.
— I love Jason-as-Romney’s mention of “my five human sons” when trying to come off relatable to normal Americans.
— I’m not caring at all for Jason-as-Romney’s unemployment metaphor-filled food questions to Abby.
— That’s it? The cold opening is over? Blah, aside from the aforementioned “my five human sons” line, this was pretty much just as bad as the preceding episode’s cold opening.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host is glad that lame Harry Potter skit ideas won’t be seen tonight

— Right out of the gate, Daniel Radcliffe and his English accent are coming off likable and charming.
— I like how they’re showing screenshots of all of the people who impersonated Daniel over the years on SNL: Bill, Hugh Jackman, and Rachel Dratch.
— Some funny walk-ons from the cast as rejected Harry Potter spoof characters. Even the Jersey Shore bit worked. (It helps that we haven’t seen Bobby’s Snooki in a long while.)
STARS: ***


GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
after the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais (JAS) will emcee more awards shows

— Boy, this SNL era never stops getting mileage out of that “Brendan Fraser laughing weirdly at an awards show” clip. I lost count of the number of sketches this SNL era used that clip in.
— Pretty fun format with Jason’s Ricky Gervais being shown making his usual snarky comments at increasingly out-of-place award shows.
— The BET Awards scene at the end got a good laugh out of me.
STARS: ***½


TARGET
Target manager (BIH) likes Target stock boy (host) who likes Target Lady

— Much like Judy Grimes and Nicholas Fehn then-recently, we get a surprising return of a recurring character who hadn’t appeared in years. And much like those surprise returns of Grimes and Fehn, this ends up being Target Lady’s final appearance during Kristen’s tenure as a cast member. The character would be brought back in the season 38 episode that Kristen hosts.
— As I said in my review of the last Target Lady sketch prior to tonight’s (all the way back in season 34’s Justin Timberlake episode), I’ve surprisingly started coming around on Target Lady after spending the longest time not being able to stand her.
— Hmm, we get a random new addition to this already-established recurring sketch, with Bill as Target Lady’s odd, stern, hotdog-chomping boss. Despite the decision to make this character act unsettlingly predatory towards Daniel’s character, which feels unnecessary and strangely old hat (not old hat for this recurring sketch, but for SNL in general), Bill’s portrayal of this character is very funny.
— What the hell are they going for with Kenan’s character?
— Despite how I’ve come around on Target Lady, I still don’t like the regular gag with her always walking away from her cash register to get an item while she was in the middle of ringing up a customer. I don’t know why this recurring sketch STILL expects me to laugh at that same-old same-old gag after the umpteenth installment of this sketch, when I didn’t laugh at that gag the first time.
— Pretty funny bit regarding Taran’s character looking mad both in his ID photo and in person currently.
STARS: ***


YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!
uncriticized millennials show Dunning-Kruger effect

— Much like the Comments Section sketch from the Melissa McCarthy episode earlier this season, we get a similarly-formatted sketch featuring a timely spoof of internet culture.
— Some good sarcastic-but-affably-delivered comments from Vanessa and Bill towards their guests.
— Very funny how Daniel’s whole gimmick is combining Irish dancing and Chinese calligraphy. The dancing we see him doing is particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***½


SPIN THE BOTTLE
unlucky teen (host) has to kiss hobos at a party

— Feels kinda odd seeing this SNL era air a short like this that’s NOT a Lonely Island Digital Short.
— A cheap but amusing conceit with the randomly-appearing hobos who Daniel has to kiss.
— A laugh from how Fred’s character’s idea of “freshening up” is putting deodorant on his tongue.
— I love the cutaway to Bill as a “dead” hobo.
STARS: ***


DELAWARE FELLAS
Jersey Boys knockoff is rooted in the Blue Hen State

— Kenan’s intentionally-bad attempt at an Italian accent is very funny.
— The Jersey Guys knockoff details in this play are providing some laughs.
— Ha, if you pay attention to the portion of the sketch where Daniel announces the Delaware Fellas are breaking up, Taran can be seen starting to exclaim “Capisce!” too early (he’s supposed to say it in unison with his scene partners), and then, when realizing his mistake, he stops himself mid-sentence in an amusing way with a hilarious look on his face (screencap below).

— A funny “three-and-a-half trains” sound Jason’s Joe Biden makes.
STARS: ***


HOGWARTS ACADEMY
at Hogwarts in 2020, Harry Potter (host) can’t let go of his glory days

— Interestingly, this set-in-the-future Harry Potter parody takes place in our now-current year, 2020.
— Like in most of tonight’s sketches so far, Daniel’s delivery is very solid throughout this, and is making this sketch entertaining. That’s especially helpful for me, as I’ve never been into Harry Potter, and was naturally at risk for being bored by this sketch, before Daniel’s performance held my interest.
— A good laugh from Vanessa’s delivery of “He’s huuuuuge!” regarding her husband Hagrid.
— A funny Professor Snape appearance from Bill.
— A very well-delivered “Still got it” line from Daniel’s Harry Potter before he exits at the very end of this sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Video Games”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Kim Jong Un’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce

Casey Anthony’s recently-adopted dog (host) is disturbed by his new owner

— (*Two Best Friends From Growing Up appear, Stooge buries his face in his hands in an aggravated manner for three minutes straight*)
— A very rare instance of an SNL host (especially a first-time host) appearing on Update as a character. I love this rarity, and it’s fun seeing Daniel as Casey Anthony’s dog.
— Daniel is giving yet another solid performance tonight, and he has some great lines here. Even his little way of saying, in his dignified English accent, “a booty-shaking contest in Fort Lauderdale”, cracked me up.
STARS: ***


X27B THEATER
in 2112, theatergoers laugh at dramatization of 21st-century ignorance

 

— (*sigh*) Paul Brittain’s final appearance as a cast member. As a complete shock to SNL fans at the time, it would be announced the week of the following new episode that Paul has left the show, for reasons undisclosed to us. In fact, eight years later, the reasons still haven’t been disclosed. I heard recently that one rumor is that SNL fired Paul to make room for a certain female cast member who we’ll be seeing joining later this season, but I find that rumor to be dubious for many reasons that I won’t get into right now. Whatever the reason for Paul’s departure is, and whether he was fired or left on his own, it’s a damn shame. After being under the radar for his entire first season (though showing some promise when given the chance), he was slowly but surely making good progress in this second season of his, and had an especially solid night just an episode prior to tonight’s (Charles Barkley). The abruptness and mysteriousness of this mid-season departure of his is also eerily similar to that of Jeff Richards eight years prior. I also think I recall hearing that, much like Jeff’s departure, Paul’s departure coincided with the firing of an SNL writer (I forget who, but I believe it was a female writer), which supports people’s theory that Paul was fired and didn’t leave on his own (the latter of which the press wanted us to believe when they originally made the announcement of Paul’s departure). Also possibly supporting the “He was fired” theory is the fact that he would go on to be seemingly uncomfortable talking about his SNL stint. I remember reading an interview with him a few years after his SNL departure, where he was being interviewed about a current project of his, and when asked at one point about his SNL experience, he quickly tried to change the subject, though not in a rude manner (his answer was something like “I had fun at SNL, but I also had fun doing my current project, and THAT’S what I’d rather discuss right now”, and the person interviewing him got the hint and immediately changed the subject.)
— Speaking of changing the subject, let’s get back to this actual sketch I’m supposed to be reviewing.
— I love the concept of a sketch set in 2112 presenting a play set in 2012, exaggerating things that were the norm in 2012, and making some historical generalizations along the way (e.g. bizarrely using the 2003 song “Hey Ya” to represent the year 2012). Not only am I finding this concept pretty fun, but it’s an accurate spoof of the manner in how older time periods tend to be presented in contemporary dramatizations.
— Has half of Nasim’s roles this season been as old ladies?
— A particularly funny part with the characters in the 2012 play being exaggeratedly overconfident that Taylor Swift will never assassinate anyone, which slyly implies she really does end up assassinating someone later on in her life. Reminds me of how it feels looking back at certain pre-1994 stuff in which O.J. Simpson was innocently looked at by people as lovable and wholesome.
— I like how the levels of laughter from the individual fake audience members varies each time we’re shown them.
STARS: ***½


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
mayoral candidate Glenda Okones (KRW) runs an attack ad against herself

— A good concept of Kristen as a politician doing an attack ad on herself, and the execution of it is decent.
STARS: ***


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
for transparency’s sake, Glenda Okones reveals more character flaws

— Hmm, not only is this a runner, which I can understand, but did we need two of these airing back-to-back? Granted, there was a real commercial break separating them, but the copy I’m currently watching of this episode edits out all the commercial breaks, and thus, we see these two Glenda Okones pieces back-to-back, separated only by SNL bumpers.
— Funny line from Kristen’s Okones regarding loving her youngest daughter more than her oldest.
STARS: ***


THE JAY PHAROAH SHOW
JAP leans on impersonations in interview with host

— Hmm, a sketch with Jay, as himself, hosting his own talk show and interviewing tonight’s SNL host, seemingly in the tradition of stuff like The Chris Farley Show, Talking To The Stars With Rachel & Tracy, and The Julia Show.
— Turns out I’m not caring for where this sketch has been going so far. There doesn’t seem to be much of a joke besides Jay habitually breaking out into celebrity impressions (impressions that we’ve already seen him do before, no less) and displaying no interviewing skills. And that’s not even much of a joke. Am I missing some kind of clever, sharp satire this sketch is attempting in what they’re implying about Jay’s lack of range? Or am I correct that this is just a weak sketch?
— At least we now get a new impression from Jay, with him doing a Tracy Morgan voice. Not one of Jay’s better impressions, though.
— An actual pretty funny joke right now, albeit a quick throwaway one, with the ridiculously tall glass of water that Daniel is shown with.
— Aaaaand the sketch is over. Well…….THAT was a whole lot of nothing.
STARS: *½


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
Glenda Okones isn’t ashamed to admit that she terrorized her own mother

— Briefer than the last two, but this contained a funny revelation from Okones about a physical attack she once made on her mother.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Jeans”


EXIT POLL
(KRW)’s exit poll of New Hampshire voter (host) extends beyond politics

— I like how this sketch feels like a throwback to Kristen’s earlier seasons, where SNL often utilized her in subtly-funny, saying-humorous-or-oddball-things-in-a-straitlaced-deadpan-manner roles, which is the type of role where Kristen’s true strength has always lied, rather than over-the-top, wacky, hammy, annoying roles that SNL has often been typecasting her in starting around 2008. The solid Audition sketch that appeared in a Jon Hamm-hosted episode a season prior to tonight’s episode similarly gave us a throwback to Kristen’s early-era saying-humorous-or-oddball-things-in-a-straitlaced-deadpan-manner roles.
— Good ending line from a now-unhappy Kristen to a walking-away Daniel, in regards to the exit poll: “I’m switching you to gay!….robot!”
STARS: ****


HEADZ UP
World-Tel’s Headz Up service alerts engrossed texters to meatspace perils

— Oddly, this pre-taped commercial, which was previously cut after dress rehearsal from many episodes this season, is Andy’s ONLY appearance all night. He apparently wasn’t at SNL at all this week (Daniel Radcliffe said at one point of a talk show interview just two or three days before the live show, “I still haven’t met Andy Samberg”). I can’t remember the reason for his absence (if we ever even found out what it was), but I think it might’ve had something to do with promotion for his movie Celeste & Jesse Forever. (I remember he was interviewed for that movie at some kind of film festival the following week or so, and at one point, the interviewer asked him about the backlash Lana Del Rey was facing over her poorly-received musical performances in this episode, and Andy defended her before admitting, with a nervous smile, that he hasn’t actually watched her performances.) In hindsight, this is probably one of the earliest hints that he’s on his way out as an SNL cast member.
— A fairly funny slow-motion shot of Bobby falling off a mechanical bull while still glued to his phone, but I think I’m just desperate for a laugh by this point.
— Overall, while this wasn’t awful, it was forgettable and came off too generic.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A (mostly) consistently decent episode, though barely any segments stood out as strong. Daniel Radcliffe exceeded my expectations by being a solid and likable host.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Exit Poll
X27B Theater
You Can Do Anything!
Golden Globe Awards
Hogwarts Academy
Glenda Okones For Mayor 2012 (all three parts)
Spin The Bottle
Monologue
Delaware Fellas
Weekend Update
Target
Headz Up
Romney: Believe In America
The Jay Pharoah Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charles Barkley)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Channing Tatum

Posted on

January 7, 2012 – Charles Barkley / Kelly Clarkson (S37 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM RICK SANTORUM
Rick Santorum (ANS) vows to bravely campaign in every county in the USA

— I’m currently two-and-a-half minutes into this, and I’m very bored. The dialogue from Andy’s Rick Santorum is a snoozefest. Typical overly-talky, dry-without-actually-being-funny writing from Jim Downey in his later, past-his-prime years. I don’t know why SNL, in this era, constantly thinks it’s a good idea to open the show with a dull cold opening that deals with one politician dryly speaking straight to the camera, with barely any (if any at all) actual amusing dialogue.
— I also don’t like how Andy changed his portrayal of Santorum. Prior to this, he always portrayed Santorum as panicky. That angle was working much better than the straitlaced, non-comedic way he’s portraying Santorum in tonight’s cold opening.
— A cheap attempt at a laugh with Andy-as-Santorum’s line about San Francisco being home to thousands of “angry pillow-biters and donut-bumpers”, though I know that’s just a dig at the real Rick Santorum’s homophobic views.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host is endorsing female-skewing brands like Weight Watchers & Ann Taylor

— Charles Barkley noticeably looking more lean here than he usually is in these years, as this is during his Weight Watchers stint, which he eventually mentions in this monologue.
— The usual laughs from Charles’ inherently-funny monotone, deadpan delivery, even with his constant stumbles over words.
— Funny ending with how Charles’ mention that the audience looks like turkey legs to him in his hungry state carries over into the “(insert musical guest’s name here) is here” tagline that SNL monologues typically end with. The monologue from Charles’ season 35 episode also ended with him changing up the usual monologue tagline.
STARS: ***½


CHANTIX
Chantix side effects make smoker (KRW) think about killing husband (BIH)

— A lot of very funny unsettling disclaimers of dangerous side-effects from the Chantix medication. Also some great worried, shifty-eyed looks from Kristen and Bill in response to those disclaimers.
— Good sequence with Kristen displaying each of the symptoms (e.g. droopy lip, Robert DeNiro face) in rapid succession.
— No idea who the woman is that’s doing the voice-over of this commercial (it doesn’t sound like Paula Pell, who’s done a number of voice-overs during these years), but she’s great, and she’s adding a lot to the humor here.
— A great ending tagline to this commercial: “Chantix: Just keep smoking”.
STARS: ****


INSIDE THE NBA
Charles Barkley (KET) & Shaquille O’Neal (host) goof off

 

— The mere visual of Charles as a thick-bearded, stone-faced, emotionless Shaq is hilarious, made even funnier by his simplistic dialogue.
— An accurate and funny spoof of the fun banter that typically occurs on the real Inside The NBA.
— When Charles as Shaq suddenly starts doing a Nostradamus bit, complete with a wizard hat and crystal ball, I love Bill’s Ernie Johnson asking, in an annoyed manner, “Who’s giving him all these props?!?”
— Charles as Shaq, during his Nostradamus bit: “I will predict…that Charles Barkley gonna be fat again.” As we know now, that actually ended up being an accurate prediction.
— Great comeback from Kenan’s Charles Barkley to Charles as Shaq: “Yeah, well, I’d rather be in Free Willy 2 than Kazaam 1.”
— A good laugh from Bill’s Ernie Johnson happily saying, in regards to him and his co-hosts, “We’re all black friends!” I remember someone on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board had a theory that the other performers in this sketch weren’t expecting that line, because it causes them all (including Bill himself eventually) to break.
STARS: ***½


WHITE PEOPLE PROBLEMS
host shakes his head at complaining Caucasians

— A funny unexpected reveal of the “White People Problems” title of the show, after the serious, straitlaced beginning.
— Something about the approach to this sketch’s humor feels kinda cliched, but it’s coming off passable enough.
— Charles: “To those of you at home, ‘awkward’ is a white people word that can be applied to every situation.”
— Charles has some good lines to the WASP-y couple played by Kristen and Taran.
— I didn’t like the ending.
STARS: ***


ESPN BOWL MADNESS
corporate sponsors present oddball college football bowl games on ESPN

— The escalation to the odd brand/bowl name combos is reminiscent of that great Chicken Of The Sea/DynaCorp sketch from the season 29 Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey episode, only nowhere near as clever. This is still decent enough, thanks to the amusing nature of the increasingly random brand/bowl name combos.
STARS: ***


JOANN’S ANNOUNCEMENT
(host)’s fiance (PAB) & friends find it hard to believe she’s a lesbian

— The fact that it’s the inherently-funny-and-deadpan Charles Barkley in drag makes it more tolerable than the typical hacky “man in drag” trope.
— I like the randomness of Charles telling Kristen they’ve known each other for 200 days.
— Even more funny randomness, with Paul suddenly popping up from behind the couch in a casual manner, which none of the characters treat as odd.
— Great to see Paul in the spotlight here.
— The incongruous pairing of the tiny Paul Brittain and the huge Charles Barkley is very amusing.
— The oddball approach this whole sketch is taking is a little hard to figure, even for my oddball humor-loving self, but it’s still working well for me, especially with how all the silliness is being played so straight.
STARS: ***½


CHARLES BARKLEY POST GAME TRANSLATOR APP
host’s translator app reveals coaches’ & players’ true thoughts

— Tonight’s episode continues to get good mileage out of Charles’s inherently-funny personality, as this commercial is a great concept for him.
— I particularly love Charles’ translation for Dwyane Wade’s talk about Miami Heat’s famous “YES. WE. DID.” celebration: “I should shut my damn mouth. We haven’t actually won ANYTHING yet.”
— Good self-deprecating turn with Charles translating an old post-game clip of himself from the 90s.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stronger”


WEEKEND UPDATE
with her presidential bid ended, Michele Bachmann (KRW) can finally blink

a series of disclaimers precedes Nicholas Fehn’s planned critique of SEM

Drunk Uncle’s chosen New Year’s resolution is to lament cultural change

— Hmm, I strangely have no memory of Kristen ever doing an Update commentary as Michele Bachmann.
— I’m currently about a minute-and-a-half into Kristen’s Bachmann commentary, and yeah, none of this is ringing a bell for me so far. I can see why, though. The material that Kristen’s been given here is a whole lot of nothing. Centering most of an Update commentary on Bachmann being relieved to be able to blink again after her presidential bid is too thin a concept, and Kristen’s execution of it isn’t elevating it for me.
— I did get a laugh just now from Kristen-as-Bachmann’s final line, but otherwise, her overall commentary was pure “Meh”.
— Whoa, Nicholas Fehn making his first appearance in a long time. I forgot all about this character until now. He hasn’t appeared since 2009.
— Blah, even with the long hiatus, it turns out that I’m still burned out on Nicholas Fehn’s same-old same-old shtick, thanks to how quickly SNL previously ran it into the ground with Fehn’s way-too-frequent appearances back in 2008. I’m finding myself not having the ability to even so much as chuckle at Fehn’s typical routine tonight. His typical routine also feels a little out-of-place in a 2012 episode, for some reason.
— Quickly checking SNL Archives right now, I see this ends up being the final Nicholas Fehn appearance. Thank god.
— Drunk Uncle has officially become recurring.
— So far tonight, Drunk Uncle is coming off as hilarious as he did last time.
— Solid little bit regarding Drunk Uncle’s incorrect attempt to light a cigarette.
— I like the little detail of Drunk Uncle calling Seth “Amy” at one point while repeatedly asking him “Pull my finger.”
STARS: ***


LORD WYNDEMERE
Cecil’s girlfriend’s father (JAS) prefers impish frolics to football game

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Paul has gotten TWO big roles tonight, continuing the slow-but-sure progress he’s been showing lately. Unfortunately, that’s very bittersweet in hindsight, given the fact that these end up being Paul’s final two big roles on SNL. He has only one episode remaining (and, IIRC, he has no big roles in it) before he suffers a similar fate to Jeff Richards.
— Good continuity with Jason’s character already being familiar with Lord Wyndemere after having met him in the previous installment of this sketch. Most recurring sketches in this era annoyingly lack this type of continuity, and instead feature stuff like each installment having their straight man characters act like they’ve never been through the oddness they’re experiencing from the lead character, despite the fact that EVERY SINGLE INSTALLMENT of that particular recurring sketch features those exact same straight man characters going through that exact experience (e.g. Andy’s Blizzard Man sketches, Kristen’s Sexy Shana sketches).
— Hilarious visual of Jason playfully chasing Lord Wyndemere around the room in an attempt to pinch his bottom so he’ll tell the riddle he promised.
— A nice change of pace with Charles being just as into Lord Wyndemere’s antics as Jason is, unlike the other straight man characters in this sketch.
— The visual of Charles happily carrying Lord Wyndemere in his arms is both funny and very charming. Tonight’s episode continues to get great mileage out of the huge size difference between Paul and Charles.
— Overall, even better than the first installment of this sketch. This was perfect, and was also a great unintentional swan song for Paul, which leaves us sadly wondering what could’ve been had his SNL tenure continued after the following episode.
STARS: *****


THE 17TH ANNUAL ADULT VIDEO AWARDS
In Memoriam reel at Adult Video Awards honors deceased porn practitioners

— Very funny sleazy line from Bobby’s Ron Jeremy about measuring “from the nuts”.
— The In Memoriam porn montage is getting increasingly hilarious, with great bits such as a photo of Seth(!) as a glory hole designer, a chronological video montage showing Nasim as a long-time pornstar working in porn from when she was young to when she was very elderly, a photo of a frowning Kenan as a clean-up crew member, and the whole porn scene with Charles in the woods (his facial expressions are priceless).
STARS: ****


CONVOLUTED JERRY
Convoluted Jerry’s (ANS) album contains songs with complicated syntax

— Boy, this short is just plain BAD so far, making this yet another example of how the magic of the Digital Shorts is sadly gone this season (with a few exceptions, of course) with the lack of involvement from Jorma and/or Akiva.
— Not even the Inception part (“It was a dream inside a dream inside a dream!”) could get a laugh out of me.
— Marvin “Gay” Jackson. I hate myself for chuckling at that name, but hey, at least SOMETHING in this short finally got a chuckle out of me.
— Leave it to Charles Barkley to provide what I consider to be the only actual legitimately funny moment of this entire short: him responding to Andy’s ghetto-glorifying song by asking him a taken-aback “Maaan, what the f(*bleep*)k are you talkin’ about?!?”
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mr. Know It All”


THE MAYAN CALENDAR
Mayan chief (host) takes issue with work of calendar makers (FRA) & (BIH)

— I like how the first SNL episode of the year 2012 is doing a historical sketch based on the Mayan calendar, given the well-known ancient Mayan apocalypse prediction.
— The humor here so far is rather mild, but there are some laughs from the low-key comedy. There’s a bit too much of a dead atmosphere to this, though.
— Didn’t care too much for the “talking calendar” ending, but I kinda liked the wiseass voice Paul used as the talking calendar.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

— A very classy, sweet, and amusing way that Charles gives the SNL cast their props for all their hard work.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. The quality ranged from decent to great for almost the entire show, minus the dull-as-hell cold opening and the drop in quality during the last 15 minutes. Charles Barkley continues to be a strangely reliable host, and by this point, the show seems to have fully realized all the right ways to utilize his distinct personality. I like how it seemed to be becoming a tradition around this time for Charles to host the first episode of a calendar year every two years (2010, 2012). Unfortunately, that tradition stops after this episode, and we don’t see Charles host again until years later in a March episode from 2018 (and, for some reason, I’m having a very hard time remembering most of that episode’s content, but that might be because, back at that time in early 2018, I was growing increasingly checked-out during my viewing of new SNL episodes, due to my dissatisfaction with SNL’s then-current quality, which would eventually lead me to flat-out go on a hiatus from watching new episodes starting in December of that year, a hiatus that’s still ongoing.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lord Wyndemere
Chantix
The 17th Annual Adult Video Awards
Charles Barkley Post Game Translator App
Inside The NBA
Monologue
Joann’s Announcement
ESPN Bowl Madness
White People Problems
Weekend Update
The Mayan Calendar
Convoluted Jerry
A Message From Rick Santorum


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jimmy Fallon)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Daniel Radcliffe hosts. It’s also the abrupt end of Paul Brittain’s SNL tenure, after only one-and-a-half seasons as a featured player.

Posted on

December 17, 2011 – Jimmy Fallon / Michael Bublé (S37 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WINTER FORMAL
Sully & Denise see friend (AMP) while crashing old high school’s formal

— Good to see both the return of the Boston Teens and (especially) Rachel Dratch.
— Ah, Rachel-as-Denise’s fake ID has the name Evelyn Chang, which is actually a callback to the fake ID Denise used in some of the previous Boston Teens sketches from back in the day. Nice continuity, which is one of the things I’ve always liked about this recurring sketch. The continuity these Boston Teens sketches typically contain also add to their realistic, almost-slice-of-life-ish atmosphere.
— I like that SNL has appropriately aged these characters tonight instead of keeping them the same age they used to be.
— These characters are coming off as funny as ever tonight, and the fun vibe of this revival of them is so infectious, which is raising the quality of the sketch.
— Amy Poehler cameo. Now it’s truly starting to feel like the early 2000s again.
— We even get a “Nomaaahhh!” callback.
— An excellent energetic LFNY delivery from Jimmy.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
JIF sings “Christmas Baby Please Come Home” variant to mark return to SNL

— You can tell how much it genuinely means to Jimmy that he’s standing on this home base stage as the host. Again, much like with the cold opening, there’s a very infectious feel here.
— Jimmy: “So many memories: Barry Gibb Talk Show…Debbie Downer…Cowbell. (a beat) I laughed and ruined all of those sketches.” A great self-deprecating line, though to nitpick, he never laughed during any of the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketches. He gets so deep into character in those sketches that he refrains from his usual habit of cracking up.
— The infectious fun feel continues as Jimmy takes his Christmas song backstage. A rare instance of me being fine with this era doing a musical monologue.
— I love Jimmy calling attention to the still shots of two SNL Christmas classics on the monitors: Merry Christmas Dammit and Schwetty Balls.
— After Andy and Vanessa’s scene, there’s an unintentional laugh and charm from seeing Andy and Vanessa in the background quickly rushing past the camera in hopes that we can’t see them, as they get into place for their next bit in this monologue.
— Good gift exchange bit with Lorne, or, as Jimmy calls, “the white-haired gentleman”.
— Oh, as if this couldn’t get any more fun, now this ends with the entire cast energetically dancing onstage behind Jimmy.
STARS: ****½


TODAY
Regis Philbin (JIF) walks on set to join Kathie Lee Gifford (KRW)

— Surprisingly, this is the first appearance this recurring sketch has made in two seasons. This also ends up being its final appearance.
— Nasim takes over the seemingly-cursed Hoda Kotb role, and breaks the curse by not getting fired after this season like the previous two Hoda impersonators, Michaela Watkins and Jenny Slate, got after their respective one season on the show.
— Hoda, regarding the fake applause that Kathie Lee played from a tape recorder: “Okay, that was fake.” Kathie Lee: “So was your boyfriend.” Hoda: “No, I mean it was an electronic device.” Kathie Lee: “So was your boyfriend.”
— Nasim is fine in the Hoda role, but I still feel that Michaela did it the best.
— Interesting seeing Jimmy doing a Regis Philbin impression. He’s doing a solid job, as no surprise, as I’ve always found him to be a good impressionist.
STARS: ***


MICHAEL BUBLÉ CHRISTMAS DUETS
musical guest performs Christmas duets with Sting (JIF) & other artists

— Hilarious turn during the Bublé/M.I.A. duet, with Nasim’s M.I.A. suddenly pulling out a gun and firing gunshots in the air in time to the music.
— I love that Jimmy’s doing impressions of various celebrities in this. His Russell Brand impression is particularly spot-on.
— Fred’s Thom Yorke impression is easily one of the funnier things he’s done in this rough season of his.
— Such a fun impression showcase, and a big improvement over both of the impression showcase sketches from the preceding episode.
STARS: ****


DRESSING ROOM
JIF mulls upcoming onstage moves while talking to self (ANS) in mirror

— A sketch in the vein of the Mick Jagger mirror sketch that Jimmy and Mick Jagger once did 10 years prior.
— I think I recall hearing that Andy did this Jimmy Fallon impression in his SNL audition. I recall hearing that Taran also did a Fallon impression in his audition, but we end up never seeing it on SNL.
— Andy’s impression of Jimmy is far from spot-on, but it’s still acceptable, and it’s helped by Jimmy exaggerating his own voice to sound like Andy’s impression. I wonder if Jimmy learned that move from what Jerry Seinfeld did with him when they did a Point/Counterpoint together, with Jimmy doing his Seinfeld impression. As I mentioned in my review of it (seen here), Jerry let Jimmy know beforehand that he would exaggerate his own voice during the Point/Counterpoint to match Jimmy’s over-the-top impression of him.
— Speaking of Seinfeld, I like the bit with Andy’s Jimmy not being able to do the Jerry Seinfeld voice that Jimmy just did.
— Andy’s Jimmy: “We’re not doing [The Barry Gibb Talk Show], ’cause Timberlake couldn’t make it.” PRAISE THE LORD.
STARS: ***½


1920’S HOLIDAY PARTY
at a 1928 party, (JIF) is as reluctant to dance as Lilia is to sing

— Our first speed bump that tonight’s great episode hits, as we get the unnecessary return of the weak Don’t Make Me Sing sketch from two seasons prior. Did Jimmy request this sketch when he came in earlier this week, because I can’t think of any other reason why they’d randomly bring this one-off sketch back after a two-year absence.
— As a strange coincidence, the only two episodes this sketch has appeared in (the season 35 Jon Hamm episode and this) both happen to be episodes that Michael Bublé is SNL’s musical guest in.
— Jimmy’s performance is fun here, at least, though I don’t care for the “Don’t make me dance” conceit of his character, much like how I’ve never cared for the “Don’t make me sing” conceit of Kristen’s character.
STARS: **


HALF JEWISH HALF ITALIAN COMPLETELY NEUROTIC
Tommy Palmese’s (FRA) amateurish one-man show is self-centered

 

— Fred previously did a fantastic one-man-show bit in the Morning Announcements sketch from the season 31 Dane Cook episode, and even wore what appears to be the same wig he’s wearing in this commercial (screencap of him in the Morning Announcements sketch below), but that Morning Announcements sketch was years prior, back when Fred was still in his prime, long before he became stale. We’ll see how tonight’s one-man-show bit goes.

— The interaction between Fred and an uncomfortable Bill is making me laugh.
— Spot-on bit regarding Fred’s character opening his play in a corny manner by casually pretending to be a janitor onstage.
— Good bit regarding the bathroom behind the stage.
— I love the brief part with Fred inappropriately pointing a fake gun at the audience and yelling a threatening, psychotic “You think I’m losin’ my mind NOOOOOOWWWWW?!?!?!”
— Overall, for late-era Fred Armisen standards, I found this to be surprisingly pretty good. Between the Thom Yorke bit and this, Fred’s having one of his better nights in these later seasons of his SNL tenure.
STARS: ***½


SEASON’S GREETINGS
upon returning to SNL, HOS, CHK, TRM, JIF perform a happy Christmas ditty

— Hell yeah! I absolutely love seeing the return of this. If you remember my reviews of the early 2000s era, I was always a sucker for these bits.
— Tracy! Chris! A thin Horatio! Speaking of Horatio’s leanness, boy, does it feel weird to now see him 1) as thin as his good friend Jimmy, and 2) thinner than both Tracy and Chris are at this point.
— I was going to say it feels a little odd seeing this bit being performed on SNL’s 2003-present home base stage for the first time, after all of the previous appearances of this bit were performed on SNL’s 1998-2003 home base stage, but then I remembered we previously saw them do this bit on SNL’s 2003-present home base once, in the season 29 Janet Jackson episode. (Twice if you count the installment of this bit that Horatio did with the Muppets in the season 30 Robert DeNiro episode).
— Overall, this was just as much of a blast as this bit always was, especially after such a long absence.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Holly Jolly Christmas”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jude Law [real] learns Nicolas Cage (ANS) isn’t selective regarding roles

Weekend Update Joke-Off- JIF & TIF battle SEM & AMP on lap dance topic

 

— Kinda interesting seeing Andy’s Nicolas Cage impression tonight, given the fact that, earlier tonight in the Dressing Room sketch, both Andy and Jimmy were doing some of the same celebrity impressions in unison. If it weren’t for this Get In The Cage segment, Nicolas Cage might’ve been one of the impressions Andy and Jimmy did together in the Dressing Room sketch, given the fact that Jimmy previously did a Nicolas Cage impression in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
— Funny reveal from Andy’s Cage that he never reads the scripts of his movies beforehand, and thus, he finds out about the surprises in his movies at the same time as the audience.
— The return of the Weekend Update Joke Off segment, and with it, we get Jimmy, Amy, AND Tina Fey returning to their old Update stomping grounds.
— The WU Joke Off segment between the Fallon/Fey & Poehler/Meyers duos is so fun. I even love the little detail of Seth, Amy, Jimmy, and Tina each making various fake buzzer sounds whenever they ring in.
STARS: ***½


BEETHOVEN
Beethoven (JIF) introduces orchestra members at Ninth Symphony premiere

— A very fun and solid premise of Jimmy’s Beethoven introducing his orchestra the way a hip, more modern singer would introduce their band.
— Great bit with Paul as a Hitler ancestor.
— Jimmy’s Beethoven, on one of his orchestra members: “Funny story – his mother was killed by an ox.”
— Jimmy is navigating this sketch so well.
— There’s our obligatory Fallon/Sanz interaction, of course resulting in a little bit of giggling from Jimmy. Even that feels surprisingly nice to see again after a long absence.
— Ha, Triangle Sally out of nowhere.
— A solid inclusion of Kenan as B.B. King.
STARS: ****


WAR HORSE
low-budget War Horse (JIF) production confuses theatergoers (BIH) & (KRW)

— A promising concept with Jimmy ridiculously having to act out the part of a horse during a War Horse play.
— Jason’s old-timey song is hilarious, made even funnier by Jimmy incongruously doing The Robot in the background during it.
— I love the voice Bill’s using.
— Now this sketch has gotten even funnier with the boy in the play now being played by a hand puppet.
— A delightfully stupid sketch so far.
— A very funny little bit with Taran making his voice exaggeratedly fade as he walks away while saying “Good luck, English booooyyyyyy…”
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”


LOCKER ROOM
Jesus (JAS) accepts Tim Tebow’s (TAK) credit for the Broncos’ win streak

— Good premise, even if it feels a little derivative of the premise of the sketch where Phil Hartman as Jesus visited a constantly-praying housewife played by Sally Field.
— Something about the deep voice Kenan’s using is tickling me.
— Andy’s Matt Prater, to Jesus: “Wow, you pray to me? I didn’t know that.” Jesus: “Well, yeah…that’s ’cause I’m not in everyone’s face about it. (*stares down Taran’s Tim Tebow*)”
— Jason’s casual, laid-back portrayal of Jesus is absolutely top-notch.
— I like Taran-as-Tebow’s various overexcited reactions to Jesus.
— A funny parting line from Jesus: “By the way…uh, Mormonism: all true, every single word.”
— It’s fairly rare to see a host-less live sketch like this in this era. I think I recall hearing Jimmy was originally supposed to play Jesus in this sketch, but at some point during the week, he stepped down from the role for reasons I can’t remember. I can’t picture Jimmy making this Casual Jesus characterization anywhere NEAR as great as Jason did. Jason was just perfect for this characterization.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS
JIF, musical guest, special guests & cast members end the show from Rockefeller Center skating rink

— Ice skating goodnights, for the first time in several years! Always fun to see.
— I absolutely love how Jimmy’s wearing a bee costume, as an homage to the original SNL era. Given the scope of this SNL project of mine, I love whenever something on the show gives me a throwback to when I reviewed the original era, back when my SNL project first started. It makes me realize just how far I’ve come within this project. At this exact same time two Novembers ago, I was reviewing the original era, and now, in what feels like no time, I’m already reviewing episodes from as recent as 2011. Wow.
— This is actually the second time Jimmy closed an episode by wearing a bee costume, as an original SNL era homage. The first time was not during a regular episode, but rather a Fallon & Fey-hosted John Belushi tribute special that aired sometime in March 2002 (back when Jimmy and Tina were current SNL cast members), around the 20th anniversary of John’s death.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fantastic episode, and is one of the most consistently solid episodes I’ve ever reviewed. Even though no segments in this episode got a perfect five-star rating from me, a lot of segments got an impressive high rating, particularly in the post-Weekend Update half of the show, where nothing got a rating below four stars. And there was only one segment all night that I didn’t like (1920’s Holiday Party). Adding to the strength of most of the segments was the infectiously fun, Christmas-y, feel-good vibe running all throughout the night, helped a lot by Jimmy Fallon’s very energetic presence. Even Michael Bublé’s musical performances went along nicely with that fun, Christmas-y, feel-good vibe, with the traditional Christmas classics he performed.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Locker Room
Beethoven
Winter Formal
Michael Bublé Christmas Duets
War Horse
Season’s Greetings
Dressing Room
Weekend Update
Half Jewish Half Italian Completely Neurotic
Today
1920’s Holiday Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Katy Perry)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2012, with host Charles Barkley

Posted on

December 10, 2011 – Katy Perry / Robyn (S37 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ON THE RECORD W/ GRETA VAN SUSTEREN
Donald Trump (DAH) attaches superlatives to his GOP debate

— Another Darrell Hammond cameo as Donald Trump. Meh. Maybe it’s because of more modern times, but for some reason, it’s hard for me to laugh at Darrell’s Trump when looking back at these cameos he makes in this early 2010s era.
— Whaaaaa??? In real life, Trump moderated a GOP debate around this time?!? I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like. Why the hell don’t I remember that happening?
— They need to stop with the tired gag that Kristen’s Greta Van Susteren always does where she switches from talking out of one corner of her mouth to the other. We don’t need to see that EVERY time Kristen plays Susteren.
— Wow, and this cold opening has ended, without me getting a single laugh during the entire thing. Flat-out bad writing, plain and simple.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
sartorial inspirations for host’s music videos like “I Kissed A Girl”

— Decent but somewhat generic humor here with cast members coming out as characters/outfits from Katy Perry’s music videos. At least Bill’s walk-on as a fireworks-burned man is slightly inspired.
— Hmm, an unexpected turn with the homoerotic tension and singing between Kristen’s character and Katy.
STARS: ***


J-POP AMERICA FUN TIME NOW!
(host) heads Hello Kitty appreciation club

— During the opening “Coming up next on Michigan State Campus TV” bit, I got a cheap laugh from the mention of an acapella group being bluntly named The Dickheads.
— This sketch has officially become recurring. It’s also gone from appearing towards the end of the show in its first appearance to now suddenly appearing in the lead-off spot.
— Taran and Vanessa continue to be solid in these roles, and I find the recurring sketch itself to be okay. Like I said last time, I’m not quite as big on this recurring sketch as a lot of people seem to be.
— As usual for this recurring sketch, my biggest laughs in tonight’s installment are coming from Jason’s straight man character. I especially like him being heard yelling an off-camera “He’s Chinese!” when Taran and Vanessa say Yao Ming is Japanese.
— Another good line from Jason: “If there’s such a thing as a loving version of racism, I think you found it.”
STARS: ***


THE APOCALYPSE
eschatological movie is a star-studded romantic comedy

— Some fairly fun returns of good impressions we’ve seen this cast do before, such as Kristen’s Drew Barrymore and Taran’s Ashton Kutcher.
— Funny sudden turn with this jolly New Years Eve-themed movie trailer being revealed as a celebration of the apocalypse.
— Ugh, Fred in drag for the SECOND consecutive segment tonight, even if his Penny Marshall is usually good for a chuckle.
— I got a good laugh from how, during the listing of additional celebrities who will be appearing in this movie, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges is immediately followed by a mention of Kris “Ludacris” Kristofferson.
— I like how some performers are doing multiple celebrity impressions in this.
— A solid Kim Cattrall impression from Kristen.
— During the ending shot of this movie’s actors all being shown saying the movie’s title in unison, Seth, playing himself in a rare non-Weekend Update appearance, can be seen as one of the actors (seen in the bottom right square in the last above screencap). The reason for his appearance is seemingly because he’s in the actual New Years Eve movie that this commercial is spoofing.
— In the aforementioned ending shot of this movie’s actors, you can also see Paul as Osama Bin Laden (seen in the top right square in the last above screencap), despite him not appearing earlier in this movie trailer during any of the actual scenes shown. (Not to mention the fact that Osama’s been dead for half a year by this point.) I don’t know if perhaps a scene with Paul’s Osama got cut from an earlier portion of this commercial, or if him being shown in one of the squares at the end of this commercial was just thrown in as a random joke. Probably the latter.
STARS: ***


KALLE
Kalle’s (KRW) Finnish talk show features extensive clips of host

— Since Katy’s playing herself in this, why in the world is she wearing a wig of her former hairstyle, back when her hair was longer and darker?
— Funny escalation to the absurdity of the clips that Kristen’s Kalle keeps throwing to, and I like how it renders Katy increasingly unsettled. There’s a particularly funny part where, after Katy just says a taken-aback “I…” when she’s at a loss for words, Kalle throws to a quick clip of an eye (Katy’s eye, I’m assuming).
— I wonder if SNL intended this Kalle sketch to become recurring. Whether they did or not, we end up never seeing it return. Probably a good thing, as it seems best left as a funny one-and-done sketch.
STARS: ***½


BEST FRIENDS
ANS & host & addict (Matt Damon) & lunatic (Val Kilmer) & others sing about being besties

— Matt Damon is great as a mentally-disturbed homeless guy suddenly joining Andy and Katy’s jolly Best Friends song, and adding a dark flavor to it. Damon always does a solid job every time I’ve seen him on SNL. (I’ve yet to see the 2018 episode he hosted, though.)
— Now we get a Val Kilmer cameo.
— The sudden and rapid-fire Russian Roulette bit with Damon’s character instantly killing himself was absolutely hilarious, as was Katy responding to that by immediately saying “Okay, f(*bleep*)k this, I’m outta here” and leaving.
— A very funny crazy escalation to the type of people joining in on the Best Friends song, thanks to Kilmer’s time machine.
STARS: ****


DOGGIE DUTY
star-laden soundtrack sidelines canine courtroom movie

— The final appearance of this series of “famous singers do songs for the soundtrack of a fictional animated animal movie” sketches (Bunny Business, Horse Play, and now this). Also, this is the only installment in that series of sketches to NOT air in the 10-to-1 slot. I kinda prefer these sketches in that 10-to-1 slot.
— Also, do we really need two impression showcases tonight and airing so close to each other, with the Apocalypse commercial and now this?
— Why do these always begin with Fred as Randy Newman singing the first song? By this point, that’s beyond played-out.
— Always nice seeing Kristen do a great impression of different 90s singers in each installment of this recurring sketch, though we’ve already seen her play Gwen Stefani elsewhere on SNL.
— Pretty fun dancing from Jason’s Meat Loaf at the end of his scene.
— Meh at the “Remember Spin Doctors?” ending of Andy’s scene as Chris Barron.
— Ha, Bill’s Clint Eastwood!
— A very strong Florence Welch impression from Katy, and I especially like how we’re seeing it just two episodes after Florence + The Machine were a musical guest on SNL. Too bad the writers seemingly forgot to throw any actual JOKES into the song Katy’s Florence is singing here. And that’s how they chose to end this sketch?!?
— Overall, the weakest installment of this recurring sketch. I’m not sorry to see this recurring sketch be retired.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Call Your Girlfriend”


WEEKEND UPDATE
flirting expert Rebecca Larue (KRW) admits to SEM that she’s just a slut

Alec Baldwin [real] excuses his plane event by posing as a penitent pilot

Stefon offers multiple unsuitable diversions for NYC holiday visitors

— Another new one-off Kristen Wiig Weekend Update character. Sure hope this is better than that god-awful pancake bit Kristen did on Update earlier this season.
— An obvious and simplistic conceit to Kristen’s commentary so far, with her flirting expert character acting very flirtatious towards Seth. However, Kristen’s execution of this is decent enough.
— Kristen’s commentary is getting better as it goes along. The bit she’s doing right now with her legs is particularly funny.
— An Alec Baldwin cameo, spoofing a then-recent incident where he was kicked off a flight for refusing to stop playing Words With Friends on his phone. Ha, something about that incident always tickles me. Something about that incident also seems so on-brand for Alec, given his reputation for having anger issues and an attitude problem. (At least he seems to keep those things in check whenever he’s at SNL.)
— Decent turn with Seth openly calling Alec out on desperately trying to do damage control by posing as the pilot who kicked him off the flight. Alec’s performance is making this pretty fun.
— Stefon continues to grow in popularity, as the cheers his entrance receives from the audience gets wilder with each passing episode he appears in.
— Greatest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary (and there are even more great bits than usual) are him saying the club password “Diabeetus” in a Wilford Brimley voice, his mention of A Fish Called Kwanzaa, his callback to the club name “SPIIIIICY!” from one of his previous Update commentaries, his mention of Hanukkah cartoon character Menorah the Explorer, and his mention of flaccid outreach group Doctors Without Boners.
— The semi-serious sentimental turn (complete with soft Christmas background music) with Stefon trying to cheer Seth up by promising him a Christmas gift continues the great story arc of the growing dynamic between Seth and Stefon.
STARS: ***


PIPPA VISITS THE QUEEN
Queen Elizabeth (FRA) and Prince Philip (BIH) take liking to similarly-traited Pippa Middleton (host)

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch.
— Fred in drag for the THIRD separate segment tonight?!? Are you fucking kidding me?!? Shit like this just adds further fuel to my “Fred needs to finally get his tired self off of SNL” viewpoint. Also, I wonder if this is a record for most times a performer dressed in drag in separate sketches in a single episode.
— The turn in these Royal Family sketches with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip suddenly speaking brashly and threateningly in crude accents towards their guest has gotten old by this point. However, given the fact that their guest is played by Abby and not SNL’s host (who has yet to appear in this sketch so far), you can tell this sketch must have something new in store for us.
— Bill’s way of saying “Hello, Pip-pa!” in a staccato manner with a high-pitched British accent made me laugh.
— Ugh at Fred hiking up his skirt so high.
— And there’s the new thing this sketch has in store for us, with Katy’s Pippa Middleton actually bonding with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip by speaking in the same brash, threatening manner with a crude accent. An okay turn, and Katy’s pretty fun here in her performance, but I’m still kinda burned out on this recurring sketch in general.
— Like the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight, the characters do a musical performance at the end of this. I liked it last time, but it’s not as fun this time.
STARS: **½


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Al Sharpton (KET) butchers words toward the wrong camera

— Kenan’s Al Sharpton impression has improved from the last time he played him, which was surprisingly way back in season 33.
— The premise of Kenan’s Sharpton misreading names, facing the wrong camera, etc. feels kinda cheap (though, reportedly, the actual Politics Nation show that this sketch is spoofing really was gaffe-filled), but I admit that all of these Sharpton gaffes are making me laugh. Kenan’s executing this decently.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dancing On My Own”


ONE MAGICAL NIGHT
at a piano bar, lonely (host) falls hard after meeting her soulmate (BOM)

— Ah, a display of Jason’s great singing voice. That happens astonishingly little during his SNL tenure.
— I’m absolutely loving the structure of this sketch, between all the bizarre interplay between Katy and Bobby, and the interstitial songs from the Jason/Kenan/Fred band. And the execution of this sketch is great.
— I like how increasingly odd the lyrics that Jason’s singing are subtly becoming over the course of this sketch. The song is also VERY catchy.
— Bobby’s reaction to Katy falling down the elevator shaft is absolutely hilarious.
— Overall, an underrated and forgotten gem. This sketch felt so different from the typical style of sketches in this era. I’d love to know who wrote this. Thanks in advance if anyone answers.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. Not much stood out as great, but most of the show stayed in the passable “just decent” range.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
One Magical Night
Best Friends
Kalle
Weekend Update
The Apocalypse
J-Pop America Fun Time Now!
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
Monologue
Pippa Visits The Queen
Doggie Duty
On The Record w/ Greta Van Susteren


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Buscemi)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jimmy Fallon hosts the Christmas episode

Posted on

December 3, 2011 – Steve Buscemi / The Black Keys (S37 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OBAMA IN ONE
Barack Obama (FRA) is number 11 on his list of America’s Most Powerful

— Surprisingly, this is the first time Fred has played Obama all season. Even more surprising, it’s the first of only THREE times this entire season that Fred plays Obama, before the Obama impression gets handed to Jay the following season. I wonder if they were intentionally phasing Fred’s Obama out this season while waiting for Jay to get promoted to repertory player the following season (they presumably didn’t feel comfortable giving the Obama impression to a featured player, especially not one as green a live performer as Jay sometimes tends to be in his early seasons). The lack of appearances from Fred’s Obama this season could also do with the fact that a lot of this season’s cold openings focus on the republican presidential candidates.
— An actual amusing line from Fred’s Obama regarding consumer confidence and people pepper-spraying each other for an Xbox on Black Friday.
— At least we get a bit of a change of pace from the usual boring-as-hell Fredbama-speaks-straight-to-the-camera-from-behind-the-desk cold openings, with Fred’s Obama breaking down an “America’s Most Powerful” list with a Wayne’s World-esque Top 13 board.
— Another surprisingly amusing line from Fred’s Obama, with him sarcastically asking us “How many of you out there have a Fantasy Congress League?” and then proudly saying “Thank you for that joke, Joe Biden!”
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
supporting characters ask host how he made the leap to a leading role

— A laugh from the way Steve Buscemi points out that he tends to get typecast in movies as creepy characters.
— Second consecutive episode with Jay dressing in drag. I remember someone on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board asking, back when this episode originally aired, “Is putting Jay in drag some kind of hazing process?”
— Some fun character work from the cast as cliched supporting character archetypes from movies. My favorites are Kenan as the magical African-American and Bill as the guy in war movies who “you just KNOW is gonna die!” All that being said, it kinda bugs me that they’re wasting Steve Buscemi on a monologue like this. How do you give a man as reliably funny and lovably offbeat as him a monologue where he plays a non-comedic straight man to a whole bunch of comedic characters?
— There’s our obligatory Kristen Wiig hammy camera-hogging moment at the end of this monologue (the last above screencap for this monologue).
STARS: ***½


FROZEN MEXICAN DINNER
Frozen Mexican Dinner instantly cures musician’s (PAB) constipation

— Good to see the underused Paul having the lead role in a commercial.
— A pretty solid reveal that the constipation medication that Fred suggests Paul take is a frozen Mexican dinner. The way such a silly and somewhat juvenile concept is being played so tenderly and dramatically is adding to the humor.
— Very funny shot of Paul shaking maracas in an over-excited manner during band practice after he’s finally cured of his constipation.
STARS: ***½


THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW
Whitney Houston (MAR) is a cautionary drug tale to Miley Cyrus (VAB)

— The weed-smoking angle is at least adding a bit of a different flavor to the overly-formulaic Miley Cyrus Show sketches.
— Right before the camera cuts away from a laughing Jason-as-Billy-Ray-Cyrus after he tells Vanessa’s Miley “You’re like a funny little Cheech Marin, baby!”, Jason, still seemingly acting in character, suddenly stops laughing and looks forward with an overly serious, almost-mesmerized look on his face, as if he had an epiphany. What was THAT all about? Was that implying Jason’s Billy Ray suddenly started having second thoughts about being okay with his daughter smoking weed?
— Speaking of oddities in Jason’s performance, he’s added a new mannerism to his Billy Ray Cyrus impression tonight, where he takes the time to toss his head and hair back in a mock-poignant manner before delivering certain lines. Not sure why he’s doing that, as it’s not really adding to the comedy of this sketch.
— A funny and pretty fitting character for Steve to play.
— Some pretty good laughs from the trippy music video.
— Out of absolutely nowhere, we suddenly get a Maya Rudolph cameo (which, as I said in a recent episode review, is something modern-day SNL viewers in 2020 are all too familiar with seeing), reprising her Whitney Houston impression.
— In a somewhat similar vein to the infamously unfortunate timing of Abby once doing a Brittany Murphy spoof in what ended up being two weeks before Murphy’s untimely death, Whitney Houston would end up dying just two months after the original airing of this sketch, a sketch that makes fun of Whitney’s drug use. Yikes. IIRC, this episode would end up never getting an NBC rerun, and people have speculated that it’s because of Whitney’s death. However, couldn’t SNL have just replaced this Miley Cyrus Show sketch with something else in reruns, perhaps a sketch cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal?
— Blah, I don’t like how Maya’s one-note, somewhat-played-out Whitney shtick has completely taken over this sketch, nor do I like how it’s completely sidelined Steve Buscemi, who barely got to say anything before Maya’s Whitney suddenly hijacked this sketch. Between the monologue and this sketch, tonight’s episode so far hasn’t exactly been utilizing Steve to his full potential.
— This ends up being the last Miley Cyrus Show sketch we’ll be seeing for quite a long while. The next one, which also ends up being the final one, doesn’t appear until well over a year later, and it spoofs Miley’s then-new, more-adult image and hairstyle.
STARS: **


BATMAN
commissioner’s (host) privacy is sneakily invaded by Batman (ANS)

— Some chuckles, but the “An Andy Samberg character keeps unexpectedly popping up wherever a certain person goes” concept is too “old hat” for Lonely Island, and was done better in some of their previous shorts.
— I did get a pretty good laugh from Andy’s Batman taking a photo of Steve’s prostate exam, complete with Jason as a doctor cheerfully posing for the photo.
— A very meh and half-assed ending.
STARS: **½


DATELINE
Keith Morrison (BIH) gets off on murderer’s (host) deeds

— The final Dateline sketch with Bill’s Keith Morrison.
— As usual, this is using the same basic concept from the previous Dateline/Keith Morrison sketches, but Bill’s Morrison and his delighted, creepy vocalizations never fail to crack me up.
— Funny line from Bill’s Morrison about how they have to stretch out this murder story because Dateline’s an hour-long show, and how they only have one photo of the murderer, which they keep showing repeatedly.
— A memorable visual of Bill’s Morrison snacking on popcorn while eagerly listening to grisly details of a murder. I’ve often seen that visual used as a GIF on Twitter.
— Bill-as-Morrison’s reactions to Kristen’s “I would let him stick his dong right up in my dumphole” confession is hilarious, with him first reacting with a frozen, speechless face, then saying a poignantly-delivered “I must paint you”, then proceeding to create a painting of Kristen. Even funnier about that last part is that, before the camera cuts away from Bill’s Morrison beginning to paint Kristen, we see that he’s just painting a simple circle for the head and a bigger simple circle for the body (the sixth-to-last above screencap for this sketch).
— Even though the part with Steve joining Bill’s Morrison in his usual delighted, creepy vocalizations is just a copy of what Tracy Morgan did in a previous Dateline sketch, it’s still making me laugh.
— A good offbeat, random ending with Bill’s Morrison imitating a drowning clown in a pool.
STARS: ****


COACH BERT
investigation clears creepy college coach (host) of pedophilia suspicions

— Ah, an all-time classic, and one of the ballsier things SNL has done in this era.
— A lot of priceless taken-aback reactions from Steve’s Coach Bert when Jason says Coach Bert came to mind when wondering if anyone at this college could potentially be a sexual predator.
— I love Jason’s “I know, I’m as surprised as you are!” when reporters are in disbelief upon being told that no evidence of Coach Bert being a pedophile could be found.
— Coach Bert, when wondering why he’s suspected of being a pedophile: “Is it the mustache?!? ‘Cause I can shave the mustache!”
— A great violent outburst from Kenan towards Coach Bert when Kenan expresses disgust over Coach Bert never being seen washing his hands at any point during the investigation of him.
— The escalation to this sketch is fantastic, with us now getting an appearance from Bill as a NAMBLA member, an appearance that’s hilarious right from his opening line about how great it is to be back in a school.
— When the reporters applaud Bill’s NAMBLA character as he leaves, I love an outraged Coach Bert saying “You’re clapping for him?!? Don’t clap for him!”
— Jay, after revealing that the only bad thing Coach Bert did to him during their private meeting was make him listen to a tape of the horrible Bert Man song: “He never molested me…but at times, I would’ve preferred if he had.”
— Excellent ending with the Coach Bert flyer Jason holds up.
— Overall, this sketch was just as incredible as I had remembered.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lonely Boy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
aura of adultery surrounds suspension of Herman Cain’s (KET) campaign

the holidays find Drunk Uncle (BOM) unhappy with the direction of society

— Kenan’s Herman Cain telling Seth, immediately after handing him money, “Now, you know that money ain’t free”, made me laugh just due to Kenan’s delivery.
— A predictable but amusing “Why don’t you bend over for Herman Cain?” motto that Kenan’s Cain leads up to.
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Right out of the gate in his debut, Drunk Uncle is coming off very funny in his griping about modern societal and technological norms, and his sloppy use of popular slogans. Bobby already has a solid handle on this character.
— I got a particularly big laugh from Drunk Uncle randomly growling the word “iiiimmigrants!” into his drink.
STARS: ***


SURPRISE
co-worker’s (VAB) pending promotion overstimulates surprise-loving Sue

— (*groan*) The return of Surprise Sue. At least we got a long break from her. Her last appearance prior to tonight was as far back as two seasons ago. I’m not 100% sure, but I think I recall Kristen announcing sometime during that two-year gap that she retired Surprise Sue along with another character or two, because she was sick of playing them. No idea why they un-retired Sue tonight, but this ends up being her final appearance during Kristen’s tenure as a cast member. (Sue gets brought back many years later in a season 42 episode hosted by Kristen.)
— I hate myself for chuckling at the fact that Steve’s character is named Artie Anal, especially since I usually hate when the regular writer(s) of this sketch (either Kent Sublette and/or James Anderson) throws gag names like that into sketches as a random non-sequitur that’s unrelated to the sketch’s premise (a HORRIBLE trademark of many of the sketches that Sublette and/or Anderson are known to have written). I think the only reason this particular Artie Anal name made me laugh was just because of Steve’s affable delivery of it.
— Now Steve has a genuinely funny line, where he says a shocked “God, Sue, you’ve got some knockers!” when seeing Surprise Sue in her bra.
— I saw it coming from a mile away that Sue would eventually end up inside that vending machine in the background.
STARS: **


“SEX” ED VINCENT’S COUPLES WORKSHOP SEX INTENSIVE
erotic chef (host) contributes to Ed Vincent’s tepid Couples Workshop

— Yet another sketch/character tonight that’s making its final appearance, as this is our second and final edition of Paul’s Sex Ed Vincent bit. Good to see this back, and I’m happy that this is the second lead role that the underused Paul has gotten in tonight’s episode alone.
— Like last time, Paul’s giving a strong performance as this character.
— Ha, Steve Buscemi as a character called “The Erotic Chef”. You can already tell this is gonna kill.
— As expected, Steve’s overly-simplistic erotic food routine is great.
— Some very funny sex moves that Paul demonstrates for same-sex couples.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gold on the Ceiling”


ORNAMENTS
(host) unpacks & comments on Christmas ornaments for Sheila (KRW) to hang

— The first of an occasionally-appearing recurring holiday piece. I love all the ones I’ve seen (I’ve yet to watch the cut-after-dress-rehearsal-but-posted-online Kristen Wiig-starring one from the season 42 episode that Kristen hosts), but to me, none of the follow-ups top this original one.
— I love Steve’s affably-delivered “I’m fully kidding” comment after claiming the snowman ornament had just bit him.
— Every single comment from Steve about each ornament is absolutely slaying me.
— Steve, leaning discreetly into the camera after a loopy moment from Kristen’s side character: “This broad is tryin’ to gaslight me!”
— Steve, regarding one particular ornament: “This one’s been up my butt. Not just a little bit…all the way.”
— All the random and offbeat side actions from Kristen’s tree-decorating character are adding to the humor for me, especially when the tree she’s decorating has inexplicably disappeared out of nowhere.
— After Kristen repeats Steve’s “Merry Christmas, Sheila”, we get a great reveal from the ending title screen that Steve’s character is indeed named Sheila.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A bit of an up-and-down episode, but the highs made it worth it. In particular, we got TWO all-time favorites of mine (and certain other SNL fans): Coach Bert and Ornaments. The poor utilization of Steve Buscemi in his first two appearances tonight was worrisome, but his utilization got better as this episode progressed.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Coach Bert
Ornaments
Dateline / “Sex” Ed Vincent’s Couples Workshop Sex Intensive (tie)
Frozen Mexican Dinner
Monologue
Weekend Update
Batman
Obama In One
The Miley Cyrus Show
Surprise


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jason Segel)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Katy Perry

Posted on

November 19, 2011 – Jason Segel / Florence + The Machine (S37 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MITT ROMNEY RAW & UNLEASHED
even the “raw & unleashed” Mitt Romney (JAS) is stiff & uncontroversial

— Good premise with Sudeikis’ Mitt Romney desperately trying to shed his reputation as someone boring by unsuccessfully coming off “raw & unleashed”.
— During his interaction with Kristen’s character, I like Sudeikis’ Romney saying to the camera in a monotone voice, “I’m a real dog – bark, bark.”
— The head-shaking facial expression that Taran and Jay each make at the camera at the end of their respective scene got a laugh from me.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host tells Muppets that, despite their SNL heritage, this is his solo gig

— Almost right out of the gate, Jason Segel’s already letting us know we’re in for (yet another) musical monologue. At least they’re open about it.
— It goes without saying that it’s very fun seeing the Muppets.
— Funny how clear it’s gradually becoming that the Muppets are under the wrong impression that they’re hosting SNL with Segel.
— A solid turn with the Muppets bitterly acting sarcastic towards Segel after he breaks the news to them that he’s hosting the show alone.
— Funny bit with Kermit’s “impression” of Ray Romano.
— Ooh, I love the fact that they actually mention that the Muppets were part of SNL since 1975, accompanied by a photo of forgotten SNL Muppet Scred, in a bee costume, with Gilda Radner. I love how seeing this photo takes me back to when I was reviewing season 1 all the way back at the beginning of this SNL project of mine.
— And now we have a Statler and Waldorf cameo at the end to put this over the top.
STARS: ****


RED FLAG
Rerun from 9/24/11


KELLY AUDITIONS
Kelly Ripa (NAP) auditions potential replacements for Regis Philbin

— A successor to the Regis Auditions sketch from many years earlier, in a season 25 episode hosted by Joshua Jackson.
— I like how Kenan’s Charles Barkley, when finding out the show starts at 9 a.m., immediately says “Okay, bye” and leaves.
— Garrison Keillor is a nice, out-of-the-ordinary choice for an SNL impression, and Bill is killing it in his impression of him.
— I love Bobby’s jolly Rosie O’Donnell suddenly telling Nasim’s Kelly Ripa a threatening “I will absorb you!”
— The debut of Abby’s Zooey Deschanel impression, which SNL will be getting some mileage out of this season in general.
— Taran’s Ashton Kutcher impression is absolutely hilarious.
— Jay’s mere facial expressions as Denzel Washington are slaying the audience.
— An overall fun impression showcase, much like the original Regis Auditions sketch.
STARS: ****


KEMPER-PEDIC ME TIME MATTRESS
(host)’s Kemper-Pedic mattress is for isolation of masturbation vibration

— A lot of laughs from the various masturbation-like innocent actions that Segel is demonstrating on the mattress being advertised. Segel is executing this really well.
STARS: ****


AFFECTIONATE FAMILY
Austin Vogelcheck joins his brother (host) & family for Thanksgiving

— (*groooooooaaaaaaaaaaan*)
— Did SNL forget that Vanessa already played the outsider girlfriend role in the last Vogelchecks sketch prior to this?
— At least we get a little something right now that’s kinda different for this recurring sketch, albeit brief, where Jay comes in as a second homeless guy and, upon realizing he’s at the Vogelchecks’ house, immediately reacts negatively and exits. One of the very few (if not the ONLY) laughs I ever got from a Vogelchecks sketch.
— Boy, do I hate the increasingly exaggerated mock-sentimental way Fred says “I guess we’re just….Vogelcheks” in each passing installment of this sketch.
— Paul Rudd cameo, where he and Segel IMMEDIATELY go all out and suck face with each other in the most exaggerated way possible.
— We end with a family photo of the Vogelchecks, which includes every SNL host who previously played a Vogelcheck son.
— On the bright side, this ends up being the final Vogelchecks sketch, not counting the revival that appears a few years later when Andy hosts the season 39 finale.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shake It Out”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jon Huntsman [real] butters up voters from New Hampshire, like SEM

incredulous SEM & Kermit say “Really!?!” to school pizza as a vegetable

— Jon Hunstman cameo. And with it, we get an odd technical gaffe during his entrance.
— Huntsman’s commentary is just generic “Politician tries to prove they have a sense of humor” comedy.
— A “Really?!?” segment with Kermit joining Seth.
— Mm, it turns out that the material in tonight’s “Really?!?” is very blah, but Kermit is at least adding fun energy.
STARS: ***


RETIREMENT PARTY
at (FRA)’s retirement party, (host) hints at a big secret to be revealed

— Even in just a silent cutaway, Vanessa’s so good at comically playing a shy character.
— Ugh, Kristen’s various “I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY!” screaming rants are unfunny and annoying as all hell.
— Segel’s been given nothing material in this, but he’s selling it as best as he can.
— I finally got an actual big laugh just now, from the cutaway to a handlebar mustache-having Bobby making a shocked face into the camera.
— What the hell is this sketch going for?!? And what’s with all the bizarre, unfunny, random turns?
— Oh, are you kidding me?!? They end this sketch with YET ANOTHER one of Kristen’s unbearable “I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY!” screaming rants. Get the fuck outta here with that. Even the easy-to-please audience had no idea how to react to it, as there’s a very awkward stretch of silence between the end of Kristen’s rant and the sketch-ending audience applause.
— An overall mostly awful sketch.
STARS: *½


A NEW JACK THANKSGIVING
obscure artists fuse hip-hop with R&B

— A sketch in the vein of the preceding season’s The Worst Of Soul Train sketch.
— Meh, so far, this is nowhere near as funny as the aforementioned Soul Train sketch. Most of the scenes here aren’t doing much for me.
— When this originally aired, some online SNL fans bashed Vanessa for how extremely stiff she came off in her singing and dancing during the TLC-esque scene she’s in with Nasim and Abby. Just one of several examples of how heavily criticized and disliked Vanessa was among some online SNL fans when this season originally aired, which is worth pointing out given how well-liked she’d later go on to become, particularly in her final two seasons.
— Kenan’s song right now is at least one part of this sketch I’m finally liking.
— While I’m not caring much for the lyrics to Florence Welch’s song, she’s singing the hell out of them.
— A chuckle from the photo of the “Toni, Tone, Tony Shaloub” singing group.
— There’s Triangle Sally to give me some much-needed amusement after how much this sketch has been falling a little flat for me.
STARS: **


SEDUCING WOMEN THROUGH CHESS
(Olivia Wilde) & other women prove (ANS) has no game

— Another Digital Short that does a good job making the video look like it genuinely comes from an old, worn-out 1980s VHS tape.
— Very funny how the first scene abruptly ends with the rapid-fire “Checkmate!” “DAMMIT!” exchange between Nasim and Andy.
— I like Kristen’s little “Hey!” and raised-eyebrows facial expression when Andy rudely gives her a light shove.
— An Olivia Wilde cameo out of nowhere. Is this how she and her future hubby Jason Sudeikis met?
— I’m really enjoying the escalation to Andy’s character’s desperation, especially how he’s resorting to simpler and simpler games in his attempts to beat his female opponents. The glass-eating scene is particularly funny.
— Very good ending.
— Overall, a strong short, and a huge turnaround for the Digital Shorts the week after they had their absolute worst Digital Short up to this point (Wish It Would Rain).
STARS: ****


ANDRÉ THE GIANT CHOOSES AN ICE CREAM FLAVOR
in an ice cream parlor, André The Giant (host) does what the title above says

— A sketch in the tradition of “Celebrity performs a very simple task” sketches that these late 2000s/early 2010 seasons like occasionally doing.
— Fantastic André The Giant voice from Segel.
— Wow, and it’s over already. Short and very sweet. Segel did a great job in his execution of this.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Light, No Light”


THE BLUE JEAN COMMITTEE
local band charms townsfolk with rendition of “Massachusetts Afternoon”

— I’m usually not a fan of these “Fred as the lead singer of a band” sketches from Fred’s later seasons, but I’m liking this sketch so far. It has an enjoyable, laid-back, charming, feel-good atmosphere, which is a very fitting way to close an episode.
— Did I just see Paul Rudd in the background sneaking into the scene during a close-up of Fred?
— Yep, there’s Rudd now seen sitting at the bar, enjoying the band’s performance.
— Now more and more of SNL’s guests from tonight’s episode are popping up at the bar, jamming out to the band. This is only adding to the fun, entertaining vibe to this sketch. I’m also starting to find the band’s song really damn catchy.
— A great over-the-top excited look on Bill’s face while bopping back and forth behind the Muppets.
— More and more, I am absolutely loving this sketch. I really underrated this in my past viewing of it back when it originally aired.
— Ah, there’s a shot of Taran dancing wildly, a little Taran Killam trademark that’s always a comedy favorite of mine.
— Overall, probably one of the most pure, feel-good things this era has ever done.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A much better episode than I remembered it being. I’m pleasantly surprised by the impressive number of segments I gave a high rating to in this episode. The really bad segments that were hard for me to get through (Affectionate Family and Retirement Party, I’m lookin’ at you) will hurt this great episode’s rating average a little bit, but not too much, given the high number of strong segments.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Blue Jean Committee
Seducing Women Through Chess
André The Giant Chooses An Ice Cream Flavor
Kemper-Pedic Me Time Mattress
Monologue
Kelly Auditions
Mitt Romney Raw & Unleashed
Weekend Update
A New Jack Thanksgiving
Retirement Party
Affectionate Family


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Emma Stone)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Steve Buscemi