Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
Barack Obama (JAP) introduces workers who will be affected by sequester
— Some funny messages from all the different types of workers affected by the budget cuts. I especially like the respective messages from Bill, Jason, and particularly Aidy, the latter of whom has yet another sketch-stealing moment in this underrated first season of hers.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— The still-injured Don Pardo is out for the second consecutive episode, this time with former cast member Darrell Hammond filling in by doing the Pardo imitation he used to occasionally do back in the late 90s/early 00s whenever Don was out sick.
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about sandwich theft & recalls his failed SNL audition
— I’ve never been much of a fan of Kevin Hart nor his stand-up comedy, but I’m actually finding his stand-up delivery refreshing and amusing here, maybe because of my fondness towards stand-up monologues on SNL.
— A lot of funny little details in Kevin’s homeless guy/sandwich story.
— Kevin now mentions once having auditioned for SNL, which we would later see a clip of in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
— Kevin’s “Trainin’ Day, bitch!” impression of Denzel Washington made me laugh out loud.
STARS: ***½
STEVE HARVEY
(NAP) treats (host)’s equinophobia with stuffed horse
— Meh, I don’t care for the “Dogglegangers” segment with dogs dressed like Steve Harvey, as I always hate that kind of humor.
— I got a cheap laugh from Kenan’s Steve Harvey mispronouncing “phobias” as “fo-bye-uhs”.
— Kenan’s Harvey freaking out over the stuffed horse’s expression supposedly changing is pretty funny.
— Despite some laughs and Kenan’s always-funny Harvey impression, this overall sketch felt too mild in its funniness to be placed in the lead-off spot of this episode. I might’ve been more accepting of this sketch had it aired towards the end of the episode.
STARS: **½
NEXT WEEK PROMO
— Oddly, despite Darrell Hammond filling in for Don Pardo earlier tonight in the opening montage, we hear Don doing this “Next week” promo announcement. They obviously must’ve reused this audio of Don from a previous episode where Justin Timberlake was the next-announced host & musical guest, but I’m not sure why they didn’t just have Darrell do this promo announcement tonight to keep up continuity from the opening montage.
THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER
Quvenzhané Wallis (host) is the adorable new Pope
— The name of Cecily’s fictional reporter character is Erin Carbonal, which is interesting, as Carbonal used to be the surname of an obscure fictional reporter character (Diane Carbonal) played by Ana Gasteyer back in the late 90s. I wonder if that’s an intentional throwback by whoever wrote this sketch. Also, I recall hearing that in the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, instead of playing a fictional character, Cecily actually played CNN’s Erin Burnett. Why did they randomly decide to change Cecily’s role to a fictional character with a different surname in the live show?
— A somewhat amusing premise of Quvenzhané Wallis being the new Pope.
— Jason’s Wolf Blitzer: “Horsey rides in the Vatican – that’s gotta be a first…but probably isn’t.”
— The sketch is over already? Actually, that’s a good thing, given the thin premise. They kept this the right length, without it getting old.
STARS: ***
VERISMO
Rerun from 1/19/13
BARNES & NOBLE FIRING
Barnes & Noble employees Niff & Dana badmouth their co-workers
— Could’ve done without Bobby doing an inferior variation of his hilarious “We goin’ out on top like Seinfeld!” line from the first installment of this sketch.
— Bobby and Cecily’s insults aren’t quite as funny as they were in the first installment of this.
— Okay, the insults are getting a little funnier and creative, such as the charades and doctor ones.
— “Randrew”? Wasn’t the name of this creepy-smiling character of Taran’s just Andrew in the previous installment of this sketch?
— I love Kate’s delivery of “We share a pancreas.”
— There’s Tim’s always-funny appearance as older employee Carl.
— Ha, even Kevin himself can’t help but laugh his ass off at Tim’s performance. A memorable display of breaking from an SNL host, and our first display of the fun chemistry we’ll be seeing between Kevin and Tim in tonight’s episode.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Wanz [real] perform “Thrift Shop”
WEEKEND UPDATE
unlikely best friends Dennis Rodman (JAP) & Kim Jong Un (BOM) pal around
incredulous SEM & host say “Really!?!” to Voting Rights Act jeopardy
— Seth’s voice sounds slightly hoarse tonight.
— I kinda like the meta line about Kim Jong Un having the same haircut as Macklemore.
— Jay reacted a few seconds too early to the Tigger line, which hurt the humor of it.
— Jay’s performance continues to be off. There something about his delivery here that I’m not liking.
— Kevin joins Seth in tonight’s “Really?!?” segment.
— Yikes, tonight’s edition of “Really?!?” is DEAD so far. Not even the audience is laughing at all, and I can’t blame them.
— Further adding to the “off” feel of tonight’s “Really?!?”, Kevin badly botches his first line, then makes a then-taboo “goddammit” ad-lib. (I believe it’s not until Dave Chappelle’s 2016 episode where “goddamn” is allowed to be said on SNL.)
— Okay, the audience is getting a little more into this “Really?!?” segment. I, on the other hand, am still not laughing, other than a line or two from Kevin. Tonight’s “Really?!?” is so lame.
— Okay, Seth’s Lincoln line made me laugh just now during the “Really?!?” segment.
— An overall bad Update. Seth’s been having quite a lot of subpar Updates lately. I’m starting to really look forward to his mid-season departure the following season. I tell you, reviewing what feels like 10 straight, endless seasons of the not-bad-but-very-bland Seth Meyers solo at the Update desk gets tiring as hell.
STARS: **
THE WALKING DEAD
(host) plays the race card to hide his zombification
— Some laughs from Kevin’s attempts to hide his zombie transformation.
— The “diabetes” bit was very funny.
— The timing and pacing of this sketch feels a little off at times.
— A good ending line from Bill’s character when the other characters are casually walking away: “Guys, should we discuss the fact that Maggie just died?”
STARS: ***
SHARK TANK
inventor’s (host) lame product doesn’t impress investors
— Hmm, I have no memory of this sketch from my last viewing of this episode back in 2013. I do, however, remember an awful Shark Tank sketch later on from the season 40 Chris Rock episode.
— Oh, wait, it’s coming back to me. I now recall this sketch, and I recall it being a stinker.
— Hilarious opening bit with Tim wearing the opposite of a vest.
— Did they seriously put Nasim in a wig and fancy dress just for a non-speaking nanosecond walk-on in which she’s only partially on camera while placing a lamp next to Kevin? Why not just get an extra or even one of the female featured players to play that role?
— Yeesh, that “shork box” ending was awful. And, yeah, this overall sketch was pretty much just as tepid and dumb as I had remembered.
STARS: *½
Z SHIRTS
(host) maintains alphabetical sequence while identifying (TIR)’s Z Shirt
— The visual quality and camera angles are both hilarious and a spot-on spoof of this type of “x-treme” commercial. What makes the visual quality and camera angles even funnier is Kevin’s insanely over-the-top acting, which actually fits this commercial style perfectly.
— Kevin’s repetitive, stupid “Is it a (insert letter here) Shirt?!?” questions are absolutely hilarious, as are Tim’s reactions. Tim’s slowburn throughout this commercial is simply fantastic, culminating in him delivering his final lines in a seething rage before storming off.
STARS: *****
RECORDING SESSION
(VAB) is better suited for Dove Chocolate voice-over gig than is (host)
— Meh, so far, this feels like a variation of that not-too-great sketch from the season 31 Matt Dillon episode where Dillon was a loud, tough wiseguy character trying to record audio for what was supposed to be a soft-spoken relaxation tape.
— Vanessa’s little “Ehh?”s during her readings are great.
— I’m starting to get more and more into this sketch. Kevin’s delivery is beginning to really work for me.
— (*sigh*) Yet another season 38 Fallon/Sanz-esque instance of Fred and Bill cracking up together, this time seemingly in reaction to Kevin’s delivery of one particular line.
— Our second “goddamn” ad-lib from Kevin tonight (inducing more giggling from Bill). To quote what I said in my original 2013 review of this episode (link here), “Did Norm MacDonald give [Kevin] hosting tips before the show?”
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Ray Dalton [real] perform “Can’t Hold Us”
90’S FUNERAL
the Z Shirt duo reunites & finds closure during a funeral service
— Jay almost sounds like he’s doing his Obama voice in this.
— Oh, hell yes! Out of nowhere, this turns into an absolutely brilliant and classic continuation of the Z Shirts commercial! Such a great delayed punchline to that commercial. It’s always such a welcome novelty whenever SNL unexpectedly turns an unassuming sketch into a continuation of a sketch from earlier that same night.
STARS: *****
360 NEWS
anchor’s (host) neck injury thwarts all-angles program concept
— This premise seems like a promising use of Kevin’s comedic style.
— Funny reveal of Kevin in that neckbrace, considering the premise of this 360 News show.
— Kevin’s pained yells each time he has to turn his head to another camera are cracking me up.
— Wow, Tim in yet another sketch tonight. This has definitely got to be the busiest night of his short-lived tenure as a cast member, and he’s been working especially well with Kevin.
— Quite a lot of line flubs and delayed timing in this sketch. It’s not hurting this sketch TOO much for me, though.
— I love Jay’s delivery of “I HATE THIS SHOW!” while hanging from the ceiling.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While not without its faults, and while barely having anything that stood out to me as particularly strong (though what did stand out to me as particularly strong, the Z Shirts two-parter, is a classic and is probably what SNL fans immediately think of when this episode comes to mind), this was a pretty good episode as a whole, and it also had a fun feel. This was much better than I found it in my afore-linked original 2013 review of this episode. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not usually a fan of Kevin Hart’s comedic style, but SNL utilized it well in this episode, and, after that monologue got me on Kevin’s side, I found his presence to be welcome for most of this episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Z Shirts / 90’s Funeral (tie)
Monologue
Press Conference
360 News
Recording Session
The Walking Dead
Barnes & Noble Firing
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
Steve Harvey
Weekend Update
Shark Tank
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christoph Waltz)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Justin Timberlake hosts for his fifth and, as of 2020, final time
90s funeral is probably one of my favorite skits of all-time. I remember watching it live and losing it at the twist.
“Goddamn” became permissible in 2015, when Amy Schumer said it at the end of the final sketch of her episode, and it was kept in the repeat..
Edi Patterson, probably best known as Judy on The Righteous Gemstones, wrote The Walking Dead sketch during her stint as a guest writer as revealed during appearance on Late Night with Seth in September 2019.
Kevin Hart’s comedy kinda grates on me and I think this episode and his subsequent appearances have been underwhelming. It makes me wonder what it would’ve been like had they actually hired him (wasn’t it 2002 that he auditioned? If so, then I doubt he would’ve made the show that much worse since it was already struggling.)
Still, Z-Shirt is undeniable. Kevin is great in it and Tim going “It’s not an H-I-J-K-IT’S NONE OF THOSE SHIRTS!” is one of the funniest parts of this entire season for me.
@Ruby, I have a feeling he may have just ended up meeting the same fate Finesse Mitchell did, although his high energy levels might have appealed to viewers and been a good contrast to Tracy Morgan on his way out.
I don’t care for Kevin Hart, for a number of reasons, but I do absolutely love the Z-Shirt sketch. It’s the best type of Tim Robinson mania, and I like that they don’t do the usual ending where he’s in tears or on a rampage at the end of the funeral piece, but instead laughs when Hart finally gets to the end of the alphabet. It’s another way of showing viewers how Robinson’s work will be somewhat real but never commit to being too real – it’s that push-and-pull that served him best on I Think You Should Leave (especially once they got past all the toilet jokes and the “I’m saying cuss words now, wow, look at me,” type humor).
@Ruby Kevin Hart auditioned for the spot that ultimately went to Dean Edwards
Z-Shirt & 90s Funeral are two of my favorite sketches of all time, and the best thing Tim brought to the show in his too short tenure. Those alone make this an episode worth watching.
I remember Hart’s next episode being pretty good too (and having another classic pretape with Bushwick 2015) but his third stint unfortunately was one of the worst episodes I’ve ever seen, and had one of my bottom 10 all time sketches.
DRESS CUTS
The Gossipy Coal Miner
~ tried again when Bill Hader first hosted in 2014; still cut, but posted online. Bill must’ve been a big fan, since he doesn’t even appear in this version
~ 10/11/14: Beck & Kenan replace Sudeikis & Robinson; Hader replaces Hart; Bobby & Taran are in both versions
Foam Night
~ Anderson/Sublette contribution for the night: 2 DJs (Kenan & Kevin) host Foam Night at Club Sweat, crowd dancing shoulders-high in foam. Wandering patron (Aidy) asks everyone to look for her purse. DJs introduce dance contest winner, Ferrara (Nasim or Kate or Cecily: quick walk-on, I didn’t catch the close-up), and the distant loser (Bobby). Aidy lost her tapeworm pills. “Worst contestant from ‘Drag Race’” (Armisen) says some things. Aidy lost her dog, who looks just like the foam. Terry (Taran) from Lost & Found brings out the pooch. Everybody dances into the foamy night
The G
~ Filmed promo for TV channel The G introduces a 1-hour-per-night block of comedy programming: “That ‘70s Show” followed by “3rd Rock From The Sun”. The other 23 hours are still devoted to HARDCORE GAY PORN
~ Hart, Taran, Armisen, and Sudeikis played porn stars. Maybe more cast members did, too…. this was one of the rare times a page yelled at me for taking notes, so I missed a chunk
Update – Clint Eastwood (Hader)
~ Clint uses titles of his movies to stress his recent support for gay marriage: “Every Which Way But Loose”, “Trouble With The Curve”, “Sudden Impact”; and plenty of “get off my lawn” and high-waisted pants jokes
Update – My Divorced Neighbor Lois (Cecily)
~ Ostensibly at the desk to talk about spring break, Seth’s neighbor strays into her personal life, every story ending with “Best night of my life.” Example: “I asked my nephew who those 2 hot guys in the picture with him were. He said they were his brothers.” Seth reminds her that means they’re also her nephews. She admits she made a mistake, but “Best night of my life”
and a Flaritin repeat
TIDBITS
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis played themselves working as Barnes & Noble employees. Niff & Dana say they should be doing better things. The musicians agree and walk off gleefully ** Kevin still broke character when firing Tim’s Carl, but not as quickly as in the live show ** Neil Casey was chatting with Bobby before the sketch, and oversaw it in action, so he must write these characters (though they appear once next season after Neil leaves)
360° News: 3 additional cameras: #6 (the ‘below’ camera) (Vanessa), #7 (Kate), #8 (Sudeikis)
Shark Tank: company was simply “Lamp Shades” instead of the inferior “We Put Sunglasses On Lamps Crafters” ** Tim’s “slest” bit got a much bigger reception from the dress crowd ** Kevin had multiple troubles tearing off the chart papers ** Mark Cuban offers Kevin’s character $1 million to say “sharks” correctly. Kevin takes a moment to prepare, but still says “shorks”
Situation Room: Cecily played the real Erin Burnett, not the fictional Erin Carbonal ** cardinals also considered these popular figures for pope (shown via pictures): Beyoncé, Betty White, pizza
Kevin added the “goddamn”s to Really!?! and Dove Chocolate for the live show
DRESS RUNDOWN
Obama sequester
monologue
Steve Harvey
VERISMO (R)
Situation Room
Barnes & Noble slams
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis #1
Update
Eastwood (CUT)
Really!?!
Rodman & Jong-un
divorced Lois (CUT)
Foam Night (CUT)
The Walking Dead
Z SHIRTS
Shark Tank
FLARITIN (R) (CUT)
Z Shirts #2
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis #2
Dove Chocolate
Gossipy Coal Miner (CUT)
THE G (CUT)
360° News
goodnights
The Verismo rerun is the last (as of now) proper repeated commercial on the show. There are still four more repeats aired (2 in S39 and 2 in S41), but they are used to fill out the last 1-2 minutes instead of being inserted during the episode.
the description on “the g” fake ad made me legitimately laugh out loud. cannot believe that didn’t make air.
thought this episode was very solid. i could not get the phrase “shork box” out of my head even though the rest of that sketch wasn’t really anything to write home about.
it’s hard for me to envision a better use for a host’s particular vibe than kevin hart playing that specific role in that way in z-shirts. absolutely perfect.
vanessa’s “eh” is something that always comes to mind when i think of her time on snl (along with “hap”). just a fun little detail in a fine-but-otherwise-not-that-notable sketch.
Stooge, Maybe They Thought They Would Give A Shout Out To The Character That Ana Did And People Would Like That Better Than Just Having Cecily Be Erin Burnett !
Hey Stooge. I Always Try To See IF I Can Guess What You Would Compare One Episode To The Previous Episode And I Guessed Exactly What You Would Say About This Episode Compared To That Last Episode ! I Got The Best Episodes Pretty Correct Except You Had The Z Shirts And Funeral In A Tie ! I Got The Worst Episode Correct With The Shark Tank ! I Clapped My Hands For Thinking Like You ! ! ! The Three Exclamation Points Are For The Best And Worst And Comparing Episodes !
This will be the vintage show on March 5th.