January 17, 2015 – Kevin Hart / Sia (S40 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MARTIN LUTHER KING
in 2015, high-schooler (PED) helps Martin Luther King Jr. (KET) gauge social progress

— Interesting seeing Pete starring in a cold opening for his first time.
— A variation of the “MLK visits President Obama” cold opening from two seasons prior.
— Wait, Kenan’s MLK isn’t familiar with Obama in this cold opening??? I know I shouldn’t be looking for continuity in a simple SNL cold opening, but still. Hell, even just within this cold opening, the consistency is incredibly thin. Case in point, when Pete mentioned Wu-Tang Clan, Kenan’s MLK didn’t seem confused or lost at all, yet he has no idea who Obama or Macklemore are? So are we to assume MLK’s post-death knowledge of post-1960s figures doesn’t extend past the 90s for some reason?
— Good bit with Kenan’s MLK optimistically and misguidedly thinking the movie Selma must’ve received lots of Oscar nominations.
— Pete: “I’m a white kid……probably.” I take it that’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to how racially ambiguous Pete generally looks. (I mentioned in a previous episode review that, when I first saw a photo of Pete back in September 2014 when he was announced as SNL’s latest hire, I honestly thought he was half-black.)
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about fearing wild animals in his neighborhood

— The humor of Kevin Hart’s raccoon story is very hit-and-miss.
— This has picked up with the bit about Kevin’s son.
— I can’t help but find Kevin’s “I can’t be with a woman that’s been attacked by a mountain lion” bit to be kinda off-putting, even if that may be part of the point.
STARS: **½

CALVIN KLEIN JEANS
Justin Bieber (KAM) plays drums & tries to act grown up

— Good to see they’re doing something different with Kate’s Justin Bieber this time, as the usual routine with Kate just silently doing Bieber gestures was starting to wear a little thin when this impression last appeared a few episodes prior.
— Lots of pretty funny quick little gags, and this is well-edited.
STARS: ***½

WHY’D YOU POST THAT?
(host) lambastes & punishes Instagram transgressors

— Yikes, we’re already getting a huge and awkward technical gaffe early on, as the screen next to Kevin starts malfunctioning during his intro and then fails to show Vanessa’s Instagram photo at the beginning of her interview, leading to lots of painfully awkward vamping from her and Kevin. Poor Vanessa in particular seems completely lost on how to ad-lib her way out of this technical gaffe.
— Yeesh, another technical gaffe, as the chair that Vanessa’s sitting on gets temporarily gets stuck when she and the chair are getting dragged into some kind of smoky dungeon.
— A very slow start to this sketch, as, even ignoring the aforementioned technical issues, Kevin’s questioning of Vanessa wasn’t all that funny. However, the sketch has improved somewhat with Aidy’s interview. This sketch in general is still no great shakes, though.
STARS: **½

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN 2015
Bushwick thugs (KET), (host), (JAP) have adapted to gentrification

— A very funny cutaway to the Martha’s Mayonnaise shop in this urban neighborhood.
— Lots of other hilarious cutaway visuals of uncharacteristically whitebred/hipster-esque actions from Kevin, Jay, and Kenan’s characters. This is a very well-done and memorable commentary on the gentrification of urban neighborhoods.
— I’m loving even the non-comedic parts of Kevin, Jay, and Kenan’s conversations, just because it has a great realism to it that really puts you into this scene.
STARS: *****

GET ON UP
during a 1971 performance, James Brown (host) seeks assent from his band

— Beck looks hilarious in the background, stiffly dancing in that afro while having an uncomfortable, wide-eyed look on his face.
— Oops, another technical gaffe tonight, as what appears to be a camera accidentally blocks part of the shot right now for a few seconds.
— I like Sasheer’s delivery of “I’m not bringin’ out no damn capes!”
— I’ve always gotten parts of this sketch mixed up with an absolutely DREADFUL sketch from the following season’s episode hosted by………uh…….oof, well, let’s just say a certain host who will be the ultimate chore for me to review and probably the most difficult episode I’ve EVER had to cover in this entire SNL project of mine (you get who I’m talking about now, don’t’cha?), where said host-who-shall-not-be-named plays the laser harp in a band. However, I’m finding this James Brown sketch to be the better of the two. The humor here is only mildly funny, but I’m enjoying the general style of this sketch, and it’s fitting for Kevin.
STARS: ***

NANCY
(VAB) gets clownish music during soap opera cast reunion

— Ugh at the direction the conceit of this sketch is taking.
— Yeah, it’s now a minute or so later, and I haven’t been caring at all for the repeated gag of the farty music only playing for Vanessa.
— I did at least laugh just now at Vanessa’s affable, smiley delivery when telling Kevin, “Um, that doesn’t make any sense.”
STARS: *½

CALVIN KLEIN JEANS
Justin Bieber (KAM) acts immature around a model (CES)

— Some more laughs, even if I’m not finding this to be quite as strong as the first installment of this ad from earlier tonight.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Elastic Heart”

WEEKEND UPDATE
Mrs. Santini (KAM) reads snide notes she wrote to people in her building

— I’m always a sucker for Michael’s rants about a news story, which he does here on the controversy over the lack of Oscar nominations for actors of color.
— The first appearance of Kate’s Mrs. Santini character, an occasionally-appearing recurring character I had completely forgotten about until now.
— A very funny disturbing bit from Kate’s Mrs. Santini about animal skeletons.
— I love the random detail of Mrs. Santini’s notes being written on odd things like a red napkin and a brown paper bag. I also love the increasingly humorous ways she addresses tenants in the salutations of her notes (e.g. “Dear Mario Batali of hot garbage”).
— I always like the long-standing Weekend Update tradition of how the punchline to a joke about the death of a creator of something noteworthy is done in the style of said creation, as we get here with Colin’s joke about the death of Home Shopping Network’s creator. Corny but funny.
— Michael’s addendum to the woman-in-China-cutting-her-husband’s-penis-off-twice story was delivered too awkwardly.
— Wow, an overall fairly short Update. I also think this is the first one-commentary-only Jost/Che-era Update, as well as the first Jost/Che Update to NOT end with a guest commentary.
STARS: ***

THE JOURNEY
everyone in the kingdom but (host) sings about need to flee dragon attack

— Judging from how the first song the characters break out into is immediately followed by Kevin asking them “What the hell was that?!?”, it looks like I’m in for an inferior knock-off of the famous West Side Story/Evita sketches with Norm Macdonald.
— Okay, Kevin’s at least now doing a little more than just emulating what Norm did in the aforementioned West Side Story/Evita sketches, but that’s still not stopping this sketch from being lousy. I’m getting little-to-no enjoyment from this sketch.
— Taran’s extremely low-pitched, stretched-out singing during his solo is funny, at least.
— I was hoping Leslie would save this sketch in her walk-on, but no dice.
STARS: *½

KEVIN’S SON
mannerisms of (LEJ)’s son (JAP) reveal him to have been fathered by host

— I am loving Jay’s impression of Kevin here. Even though he seems to be having trouble keeping the voice at certain points of this sketch, the impression is fun and amusing, especially after this episode had got me so used to hearing and seeing Kevin’s voice and mannerisms.
— A very weak, abrupt, and empty ending.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Chandelier”

LISTENING PARTY
rapper (host) performs song for his crew that reveals their secrets

— Kevin starting his rap with musical yells of “PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW! BOP-BOP-BOP! GUNSHOT SOUNDS! BOP!” is cracking me up, and has stuck in my memory over the years.
— Oh, so THAT’S why Beck’s character had his hand covering his mouth the whole time prior to the lipstick reveal.
— Some funny personal revelations from Kevin about his friends.
— Funny fake-out regarding the song supposedly being over.
— Okay, they don’t have to overdo the “GUNSHOT SOUNDS!” bit all throughout this sketch. It’s not making me laugh as much anymore.
— The second consecutive sketch with a questionable ending, as something about this particular sketch’s ending came off awkwardly executed.
— Did Taran and Cecily seriously go through this entire sketch without uttering a single word, nor having any lyrics about them sung by Kevin? If so, then what was the point of Taran and Cecily even being in this sketch? Were they the victims of last-minute trimming done to this sketch for time reasons?
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An extremely average and forgettable episode, so much so, that I can’t even find anything else to say about it here. I’ll at least add that the Bushwick, Brooklyn 2015 short film is one of my favorite segments of this entire season.

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

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bushwick, Brooklyn 2015
Calvin Klein Jeans (Part 1)
Kevin’s Son
Weekend Update
Martin Luther King
Calvin Klein Jeans (Part 2)
Listening Party
Get On Up
Monologue
Why’d You Post That?
Nancy / The Journey (tie)

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Amy Adams)
a very slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Blake Shelton