Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
OBAMACARE WEBSITE
Kathleen Sebelius (KAM) offers workarounds for faulty Obamacare website
— Some pretty good laughs from the pages we’re shown of healthcare.gov’s low-res website.
— The Kayak bit was very solid.
— Bobby steals this cold opening in his walk-on, smashing the computer monitor with a baseball bat and then proudly declaring “Fixed iiiit!” in a dopey voice while giving a sideways thumbs-up.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Alec Baldwin & Miley Cyrus [real] warm up host for his first SNL gig
— A laugh from the bit with Edward Norton being under the wrong impression that Chris Kattan is still on the show.
— A funny passing compliment from Alec Baldwin about Edward being hilarious in American History X.
— The host warmup routine that Alec makes Edward do is fun, especially the part with Edward doing a string of celebrity impressions. I particularly love his absolutely spot-on Woody Harrelson impression.
— Wait, now we’re getting a very random Miley Cyrus cameo, just two episodes after she hosted? I don’t normally have anything against her, but I’m not exactly pleased to see her here, probably because I wasn’t too crazy about the hosting performance she gave earlier this season.
— So it turns out Miley’s just here to plug her upcoming concert? Really, SNL?
— Ugh at Miley making her then-trademark tongue-sticking-out, winky-eyed face into the camera. Didn’t we see enough of that in the episode she had just hosted?
— For some reason, Alec mentions that his very first hosting stint was in 1991. It was actually 1990.
— Throughout this monologue, Alec keeps comically plugging his then-current MSNBC show. Oof, this gag has not aged well AT ALL, given the fact that his MSNBC show would end up being canceled not too long after this episode, I think due to (I can’t remember for sure, so please forgive me if what I’m about to say is incorrect) behind-the-scenes drama caused by his well-known belligerent attitude.
STARS: **½
AUTUMN’S EVE PUMPKIN SPICE DOUCHE
Autumn’s Eve Pumpkin Spice Douche provides seasonal feminine freshness
— Good premise.
— A big laugh from the scene with Kate cleaning out a pumpkin that’s suggestively placed in front of her crotch while she’s casually speaking into the camera.
— Very funny swing scene between Cecily and Aidy.
— Another great Kate moment, with her little “Ooh!” wince in response to her peppermint douche.
STARS: ****
STRANGER AWARENESS
Shallon (NAP) inverts cop’s (host) stranger-safety elementary school talk
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Good characterization from Nasim here, and she’s carrying this sketch well.
— Funny conceit with the students gradually getting the completely wrong idea of what Edward’s trying to teach them about strangers in vans.
— Great delivery from Bobby of the line “No vans??? Ugh, I already hate THIS.”
— Nasim’s Shallon, when thinking Edward is her long-lost father: “What’s up, dad? I get why you left. Mom is a meeesssss….”
— Another well-delivered line from Bobby, when angrily telling Edward, “Be a man and take responsibility for your child!”
— An overall solid little sketch. Funnier than I had remembered.
STARS: ****
STEVE HARVEY
wordplay-based Halloween costumes fail to register with Steve Harvey (KET)
— Good bit with Kenan’s Steve Harvey telling us his annual Halloween routine.
— I like how, when having to guess what Kyle’s “cereal killer” costume is, Kenan-as-Harvey’s guesses are “Jeffrey Dahmer Toast Crunch” and “John Wayne Gacy Grahams”.
— I’m not 100% sure, but I think a short film that Kyle would do on SNL several seasons later would show a clip of him from this sketch as an example of how he sometimes struggles on SNL.
STARS: ***
THE MIDNIGHT COTERIE OF SINISTER INTRUDERS
horror flick per Wes Anderson
— A famous piece.
— Such a great premise of a Wes Anderson-directed horror movie.
— Solid Owen Wilson impression from Edward.
— I love the kindly-written “Dear Home Owner, can we kill you?” letter that Edward’s Wilson receives.
— Man, this Wes Anderson spoof is absolutely SPOT-ON and perfect, right down to every single little detail.
— Nice reveal of Alec having been the narrator all along.
— An overall classic.
STARS: *****
CRITTER CONTROL
possum in office ductwork enthralls pest control workers (BRW) & (host)
— When this originally aired, I remember being very surprised seeing Brooks playing a character that’s so different-looking and acting from his normal self, as I previously had him pegged as a cast member who would basically play himself in all of his appearance. I think I recall him even being quoted somewhere, shortly before this episode, as admitting he doesn’t know why SNL hired him as a cast member, given the fact that he doesn’t do characters.
— Brooks’ exaggerated reactions when initially seeing the possums inside the vent are cracking me up.
— Great characterization from Edward.
— I love that we’re getting a lot of camera angles from inside the vent, as that’s a very out-of-the-ordinary type of camera angle for a live SNL sketch from a recent season like this.
— Edward’s details and narration of what he’s witnessing from the possums inside the vent is hilarious.
— Solid line from Beck: “Can we stay? I kinda wanna see how this turns out.”
— Such a dumb but very funny conceit to this whole sketch, especially Edward and Brooks lightheartedly going on and on about how funny the possums are. The more and more lovably dumb this sketch is coming off, the more it feels like something Tim Robinson would’ve been great at performing had he still been in the cast. Given the fact that he’s a writer this season, I wonder if he wrote this.
— Great ending.
STARS: ****½
NUMBERS GUY
drug money counter (host) looks & acts like Rain Man but isn’t a savant
— Good reveal of Mike’s “numbers guy” being a very Rain Man-esque person. I really like the idea of this, given the fact that Rain Man is one of my all-time favorite movies.
— Edward does yet another spot-on impression tonight.
— Some good subversions regarding Edward’s counting skills, and there are some funny reactions to him from Bobby and Taran, despite the latter badly flubbing one of his laugh lines.
— What’s with Mike openly giggling in a Jimmy Fallon-esque manner when Kenan genuinely flubs his “Bumblebee” line?
— That’s the end of the sketch???
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dance Apocalyptic”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Anthony Crispino relays another round of off-base scuttlebutt
— During the Anthony Crispino commentary, SNL makes their very first on-air mention of Seth’s upcoming Late Night hosting gig that’s starting in February.
— As usual, Bobby is very fun as Anthony Crispino, even if none of his false stories are standing out to me tonight.
— Okay, I did get a big laugh just now from the John Mayer/legislative body comment at the end of the Crispino commentary.
— Cecily’s Florida state flag joke seemed to be a throwback to state flag jokes that Seth used to do years prior.
— Wow, this Update is over ALREADY?!? This is one of the shortest Updates I’ve reviewed in a long time.
STARS: **½
12 DAYS NOT A SLAVE
newly-emancipated (JAP) misreads social change pace
— When this originally aired, it was a very rare novelty to see Jay leading a sketch in a non-impression role.
— Kate’s bug-eyed mugging (something she’s always had a bad habit of relying on) feels unnecessary in this sketch.
— A big laugh from Aidy’s great “These have been the best 12 days of my life!” line.
— Despite me liking certain aspects of this sketch, something about this sketch in general feels wanting. I can’t put my finger on what exactly the problem is, though. It’s not Jay, as I feel he’s doing decently in a then-rare non-impression role.
— ANOTHER unnecessary Miley Cyrus cameo in tonight’s episode, this time featuring her twerking as a 19th century woman. (*groan*)
STARS: **
RUTH’S CHRIS
virgin waiters (host), (NAP), (CES), (MOB) anticipate becoming sexperts
— I love Aidy’s delivery of “Ohh, please…don’t call me ‘son’.”
— Much like in that Rick’s Model T’s sketch from this season’s premiere, we have another display of Mike’s irksome habit of delivering his lines very slowly, unsurely, and haltingly, further showing what an awkward live performer he is.
— Funny brief walk-on from Beck.
— I have very mixed feelings on this sketch. The performances are fun, but the material itself is just too dumb for my likes, and not the funny kind of dumb (like the Critter Control sketch from earlier in this episode).
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Electric Lady”
HALLOWEEN CANDY
(host) comments on the items he intends to give to trick-or-treaters
— A variation of one of my all-time favorite sketches, the Christmas ornaments sketch from the season 37 Steve Buscemi episode.
— Edward is a blast in this sketch.
— I remember an online SNL fan pointing out that it almost seemed like Edward’s characterization in this sketch was him intentionally doing a Kevin Spacey impression. Not sure if I agree with that or not, but I do think he looks like Spacey here. This all brings up an interesting comparison I’ll make: much like in Spacey’s first hosting stint, Edward is displaying a fun knack for doing a lot of great impressions in this episode. In fact, Edward even did a brief William Hurt impression in the monologue, which Spacey also did in his first episode’s David Letterman sketch.
— A laugh from Bobby’s character calling his skeleton Halloween costume, “Bones!”
— Love the bit with Edward revealing the inside of the Cars 2 DVD box is empty, and then snarkily asking us, “Now who’s in control?!?”
— Funny cutaway to Aidy as “Adult Ruth”.
— A particularly great part with Edward showing us a package of razor blades still sealed, so “this time, they’ll have to arrest me for generosity!”
— For me, the only thing keeping this fantastic sketch from being as perfect as the Steve Buscemi version of this sketch is the fact that the side bits with Bobby are not quite as good to me as the side bits with Kristen Wiig decorating a Christmas tree in the Buscemi version. Some of Bobby’s bits here feel a little too forced, like the “I got T.P.-ed” bit.
STARS: ****½
BAND SHOT
— For our “10-to-1” in tonight’s episode, the show comes back from commercial only to show the SNL Band immediately playing the show back to commercial, which usually means a segment was scrapped at the last minute because the show ran long.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty strong first half, but a weak second half until the show rebounded nicely with a very strong final sketch. A good episode as a whole. Edward Norton was a fantastic host. I remember being wowed by him when this episode originally aired, and I still found him impressive in my re-watch just now. He not only did a great job, but he also served as a much-needed palate cleanser after Bruce Willis’ horrible hosting performance in the preceding episode. Definitely put Norton on the list of great one-time hosts who have sadly never hosted a second time.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders
Halloween Candy
Critter Control
Stranger Awareness
Autumn’s Eve Pumpkin Spice Douche
Numbers Guy
Obamacare Website
Steve Harvey
Monologue
Weekend Update
Ruth’s Chris
12 Days Not A Slave
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bruce Willis)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Kerry Washington
It was that, after taking a call from a viewer, Alec, during the commercials, called him a “c*cks*cking f*ggot” (my censorship; you can figure out what he said, tho). It wasn’t cancelled immediately, it lasted a few weeks afterwards.
Man, I had completely forgot that even existed.
“Definitely put Norton on the list of great one-time hosts who have sadly never hosted a second time.” I’ll throw tomorrow’s host in there too while we’re at it.
My brother and I have always loved Nasim’s Shallon character, to the point where whenever he sees Nasim in anything else he yells, “Shallon!!” (He’s fourteen).
I’ve always been really fond of the Twelve Days Not A Slave sketch, and if I recall correctly it came from Jay Pharoah offhandedly suggesting it in a pitch meeting and then Seth said that they could actually do that, and so Jay, Seth, and Michael Che wrote it together.
This is a solid episode, a nice uptick after the lackluster Bruce Willis episode and the decent Miley Cyrus episode, in which the issue in both of those episodes was the host. I can’t tell if the show genuinely lacked confidence in Edward Norton by dragging in the unnecessary Baldwin and Cyrus cameos, but he did superbly and showed his usual penchant for off-kilter comedy. I was not aware he was a skilled impressionist as well.
I might be off here, but it felt like in Nasim’s final stretch on the show she was wildly oscillating between prominent roles featuring (new) characters and barely appearing in sketches. I remember this season she gets to debut Shallon and that motivational speaker woman (Heshy?), as well as some terrible foreigner character in that Drake episode. As usual with Nasim’s characters, I find she does a good job in the performances and that the opening sketch is pretty good and true-to-life, but I didn’t need to see it recurring (if I recall, I actually like the second Heshy sketch better, though). Shallon is a fun character for Nasim, though, and the set-up of the sketch is like a more realistic, less annoying Gilly.
Midnight Coterie is such a great sketch. As a big Wes Anderson fan, this was a real hoot, and each time I watch it, I notice some other Wes Anderson references or touches.
The Critter Control sketch is probably the sketch I remember Brooks the most for. He does a fun job, and I agree this is a dumb yet entertaining sketch. The unique camera angles also help. It’s always good to have a sketch like this in an episode in which you just get some entertaining, silly laughs.
I see what you mean by that Ruth’s Chris sketch. I want to like it better, as I think the performances are good, and it doesn’t settle for the lazy trope of “one person can’t keep up with the patter and says stupid things and they look at him” (although I guess here it’s one person reacts to lots of people saying stupid things). But it’s just too amazingly stupid a premise for me and the overly specific setting seems off…this might have worked better as like a sketch in a middle or high school or something. I know The AV Club SNL reviewer always gets angry at real-world businesses mentioned in SNL sketches, but I don’t know if that practice had any real significance here.
This episode introduced me to the music of Janelle Monae, who is really great.
I’ll also add to the Midnight Coterie. Easily one of this season’s strongest highlights.
Janelle Monae is fantastic! Dirty Computer is one of my favorite albums of the decade.
I’ve never thought about it until now, but Nasim had a really great batting average for recurring characters out of this cast, imo. Shallon, Lil Blaster/Underground Rock Minute, and Bedelia are all great.
The Wes Anderson pretape is a classic. Another example of how the pretapes start becoming the best part of the show.
Tim indeed wrote Critter Control with Brooks and Zach Kanin.
Midnight Coterie was Kelly, Schneider, Rob Klein, and John Solomon. Klein and Solomon also wrote the Halloween Candy sketch.
Brooks was another one season guy like Koechner I thought the cast coulda used more of, both brought a more rural/midwest flavor to SNL that always usually a bit missing from most casts. Their more midwest rooted attitude and characters kinda separated them a bit from the usual New York-centric humor typically on the show. Possum dude and T-Bones both kinda seemed like characters from a different show, the kinda thing the hip NYC crowd would turn their nose up at. I guess “goofy redneck humor” might be a better way of putting it. Recall Brooks having a similar cut for time sketch on YouTube where he played another similar hick-ish character who hosted a show about BBQ Ribs or something, remember it having a “so stupid it’s funny” quality, I think Kenan was his co-host.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxCD0slj2ro
Oh hey I found it, didn’t think it was still out there
I also always wanted to see Brooks’ cut for time “Little Buff Boys” sketch which from his descriptions of it in various interviews always sounded hilarious. Thank it was on Jay Mohr I remember him talking about it and singing the ridiculous themesong from it, recall Mohr laughing his ass off at Brooks’ description of it.
Brooks also said he once pitched a sketch where Bruce Springsteen goes on Undercover Boss and everyone in his band can tell its obviously him. Doesn’t sound like a laugh riot or anything, but certainly better than some of the stuff that does on get on this season.
Brooks was funny in the Critter sketch. He and Edward clicked very well.
Speaking of Edward, he should have hosted at least two or three more since this show.
I enjoyed the Wes Anderson spoof as well and the Halloween Candy sketch wasn’t too bad.
Stooge, I’m with you on Miley. She was not needed and I felt she dragged down the monologue and 12 Days sketch. (Wasn’t Taran in that sketch because he was in the movie?) Miley, to me, was there just to please her fans and the show. I don’t think Alec liked having to be on stage with her.
I wasn’t crazy about Shellon as the sketches and character rubs me the wrong way, but I admire Nasim for committing to the character.
The next show has a really interesting cold open.
What’s been happening with Edward Norton recently? I haven’t seen much of him in the last 4 or 5 years. Seem like he fell off the map swiftly after this episode, but could be just that I’m out of touch with pop culture these days.
Norton’s been mostly collaborating with Wes Anderson and doing some voice work.
@SNLLover agreed. Very interested to see what Stooge has to say about the next episode’s CO. You’re also correct that Taran had a brief role in 12 Years a Slave.
@Frederick Norton would get an Oscar nod in a couple years for his supporting role in Birdman, and a couple years after that directed his own movie (Motherless Brooklyn) but other than that has kept a pretty low profile the last few years.
I find it very interesting that Norton, like Bruce Willis, is one of those actors who has a reputation for being an asshole on set, yet Norton had a great SNL and Willis didn’t. Norton did end up casting Willis in Motherless Brooklyn, his directorial debut. Take that for what you will.
Yeah, Miley’s appearances around this time were excessive. The fact that her show was used in the 40th anniversary special as the example of people who pulled double duty was a bit annoying since they acted like it was the only time that ever happened.
Conan did running bit where he showed what the next Star Wars film would look like if directed by various people and one of them was Wes Anderson. It’s a clever (yet very low-budget) mash-up that could have inspired the SNL sketch, which aired about 11 months later.
I’m definitely more forgiving to 12 Days a Slave than Stooge, mainly cus I’m impressed to see something even a little ballsy in this milquetoast season.
The virgin sketch felt like any number of bad improv scenes I’ve seen, except someone actually sat down and wrote this, and it made it to air on America’s most prestigious comedy institution. Whacky world.