Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
CBC NEWS TORONTO
trainwreck Rob Ford (BOM) finds a media friend in credulous 60 Minutes
— Seeing Taran do a Canadian accent here reminds me that he’s married to a Canadian in real life (Cobie Smulders).
— Hilarious look of Bobby’s Rob Ford, though I can’t help but remember how people back at this time wished Chris Farley was still alive, as they felt he would’ve been perfect for playing Rob Ford.
— Very funny scene with Bobby’s Ford making a crack deal under the podium in front of an entire audience.
— Bobby’s Ford continues to be a riot in this cold opening.
— I think I recall once hearing Bobby actually injured his hand badly when filming the pre-taped scene of him doing a pratfall over the podium.
— Pretty funny 60 Minutes twist.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host proudly panders to audience while performing “Applause”
— At least it makes sense to do a musical monologue here, even if I still don’t like this monologue trope.
— A nicely-done and professional-looking musical monologue, at least.
— The subplot of this monologue with Lada Gaga trying to garner cheap applause by saying audience-pandering statements reminds me a lot of Chevy Chase’s season 3 monologue and Karen Black’s season 6 monologue.
— Good appearance from Bobby.
STARS: **½
PAXIL: SECOND TERM STRENGTH
Barack Obama (JAP) needs second-term-strength Paxil to combat depression
— A clever way to spoof the rough time President Obama’s been having in his presidency around this time.
— Funny disclaimer about this medication not being covered by Obamacare.
STARS: ***½
WAKING UP WITH KIMYE
Kanye West (JAP) & Kim Kardashian (NAP) boast
— Third consecutive episode with Nasim having a starring or co-starring role in the lead-off sketch.
— Pretty funny part with the Kardashian family band.
— Jay’s carrying this sketch well in his Kanye portrayal, with good assistance from Nasim as Kim.
— If you’re familiar with my reviews, you’ll know my aversion to the overused SNL trope of celebrity-hosted talk show sketches, but so far, this sketch isn’t bad, and it’s much better than the last new celebrity-hosted talk show sketch the show did prior to this (the Lady Gaga Talk Show sketch from the Bruce Willis episode).
— Blah, I could’ve done without the very blatant, corny, and overlong “wink-wink”-style stare Gaga gave the camera after her self-deprecating comment about how people shouldn’t try too hard with their outfits.
STARS: ***
WHAAAT? THE WORST COVER SONGS OF ALL TIME
Adam Duritz (TAK) presents a CD of the worst cover songs ever
— An okay excuse for a parade of singer impressions.
— A very funny Britney Spears impression from Noel.
— I love the ending of Kenan-as-Rick-Ross’ “Cups” scene.
— Hilarious bit with Aidy’s Adele “covering” the L.A. Law theme song.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & R. Kelly [real] perform “Do What U Want”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Thanksgiving defender Mr. Senior (KET) disrupts early Christmas activity
catty speech critic Jebidiah Atkinson (TAK) takes on famous orations
— Cecily’s second Rob Ford joke is one of those cases where the set-up (in this case, quoting Ford’s statement about having “plenty to eat at home” regarding women he gives oral sex to) is much funnier than the actual punchline.
— I love the idea of Kenan’s commentary having a big pre-tape with him outdoors.
— An amusing dumb conceit to the Kenan pre-tape, and he’s selling this dumb material pretty well.
— I don’t know if it’s just me, if she’s just having a more “on” night than usual, or if she’s legitimately improving, but Cecily’s Update delivery is coming off better than usual to me tonight.
— Ah, the debut of Taran’s Jebidiah Atkinson, a character I remember absolutely loving when this SNL era originally aired.
— So far, Taran’s characterization is fantastic here, and his insults are priceless.
— One very minor complaint about the Atkinson commentary, a complaint that has nothing to do with Taran himself: shut up that annoying off-camera guffawing, Seth.
— A priceless unscripted bit with Taran misreading his slam about FDR’s Pearl Harbor speech, prompting some excellent ad-libs from Taran.
STARS: ***
CO-OP BOARD
weirdos on NYC co-op board interview prospective residents (BEB) & (VAB)
— A good odd and inappropriate bit with Aidy and Kyle regarding lovemaking sounds.
— Some more funny oddball, disturbing characters throughout this sketch.
— Gaga’s doing a decent job disappearing into character in her imitation of Marisa Tomei’s My Cousin Vinny character.
STARS: ***½
SPOTLIGHTZ!
Laura Parsons & hammy kids do serious scenes at acting camp
— The return of Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character, who last appeared all the way back in one of Vanessa’s earliest episodes of SNL.
— Kyle is cracking me up a lot in his appearance.
— A funny “exploring the space” bit with Taran and Noel.
— Lots of good “hammy child actor” performances from all of the cast members and Gaga.
STARS: ***½
BLOCKBUSTER
now-jobless Blockbuster Video workers (MOB), (TAK), (BOM) seek a new home
— Not even sure if it’s intended to be funny, but Beck’s wig is something that I find to be a funny little detail of his character.
— So far, I’m loving the tone of and approach to this film. Very good work here, and lots of nice visuals.
— Great scene with Bobby giving his beloved Croods cardboard cutout a Viking funeral.
— Fun scene with the main characters discovering a hidden Blockbuster paradise in the woods.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Gypsy”
4TH GRADE TALENT SHOW
at a talent show, parents (JOM) & (host) act out their kid’s routine
— John Milhiser finally getting his first (and what sadly ends up being his ONLY) lead SNL role that visibly features him front-and-center.
— A very funny escalation to John and Gaga’s dancing routine.
— This is a great use of John’s knack for physical comedy that I mentioned in an earlier review this season.
— A good laugh from the reveal of John in a bra after Gaga reveals her own.
— Great ending to the dance sequence.
— An overall simple, fun, short, and solid sketch. How this didn’t lead to John getting more and more big roles on SNL, I’ll never know. Dude had potential, and, from what I’ve little I’ve seen of him on and off SNL (including a cut-after-dress sketch starring him and Charlize Theron that would be put online), he seems like such a likable and fun performer. And his specialty in physical humor could’ve given him an identity in this cast, even if there are other male members of this cast who are good at physical humor as well (e.g. Taran).
STARS: ****
FUTURE GAGA
in 2063, forgotten host tries to impress her building’s super (KET)
— I always like when SNL does futuristic sketches with the host playing themselves as an elderly person.
— Good part with Kenan thinking Future Gaga’s singing of Bad Romance is her having a stroke.
— Kenan’s line about only knowing “Born This Way” as a jingle for laser toilet cleaners is an accurate dig at how some hit songs from decades prior are only known to some young people as altered commercial jingles.
— Pretty sweet ending.
STARS: ***
ROSÉ ZONE
the Rosé Zone delivers concentrated reality show trash to female viewers
— A funny affable, non-sassy delivery from Vanessa of lines like “Bitches be crazy.”
— A fairly funny idea of a Red Zone-esque network for only the exciting, trashy moments of reality shows, and Cecily, Vanessa, and Aidy are helping this with good performances. This commercial probably resonates more with people who actually watch these reality shows, but I’m still finding this to be okay.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good, though somewhat unmemorable, episode. Aside from the monologue (and even that wasn’t too bad), I liked every single segment in this episode. It feels like there was barely anything that stood out as strong, but looking back at my review, there was a decent number of strong pieces.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Blockbuster / 4th Grade Talent Show (tie)
CBC News Toronto
Paxil: Second Term Strength
Spotlightz!
WHAAAT? The Worst Cover Songs Of All Time
Co-Op Board
Waking Up With Kimye
Future Gaga
Rosé Zone
Weekend Update
Monologue
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kerry Washington)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Josh Hutcherson