Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
SUPER BOWL SHUT DOWN
Richard Sherman (JAP) & Marshawn Lynch (KET) get set
— As no surprise, Jay is nailing Richard Sherman’s voice, which is impressive, given how Sherman isn’t widely known for having a distinct, imitable speaking pattern, as far as I know.
— Kenan is funny as an uncooperative Marshawn Lynch.
— Jay has tons of fun energy here, and is carrying this cold opening well.
— Taran has shown up giving a fun, energetic performance of his own, as Pete Carroll.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host gives Whiplash treatment to cast member drummers until FRA nails it
— I mentioned this in my review of the season 25 Jerry Seinfeld episode, but it bears repeating here: J.K. Simmons’ only two SNL appearances coincidentally happen to be in the first and last episode between SNL’s last two anniversary specials, the 25th and 40th. The first episode after the 25th Anniversary Special, which was the aforementioned Jerry Seinfeld episode, had J.K. making a guest appearance in the Oz short, and the last episode before the 40th Anniversary Special, which is this episode, has J.K. as the host.
— A decently funny bit with J.K. leading the audience into applauding for his Growing Up Fisher show before mentioning it was canceled, making the audience feel silly for applauding.
— I appreciate J.K.’s mention that he’s the voice of the yellow M&M, which I often forget.
— J.K., when mentioning that he plays a mean band conductor in the movie Whiplash: “That’s not me in real life at all. I’m a nice guy.” Well, that certainly telegraphs where this monologue is going to go.
— I like the mention of Kyle’s trademark oddball short films, with J.K. yelling at him, “This is not your little weird videos!”
— J.K.: “I think all hair is ridiculous.”
— Aidy, after J.K. berates her: “I really miss Blake Shelton!”
— As expected, a good angry outburst from Leslie towards J.K.
— (*Fred Armisen walks on for his 25,355th cameo since leaving SNL less than two full years prior, and Stooge responds to that by staring at the screen in furious, dumbfounded speechlessness for the remainder of this monologue*)
STARS: ***
TOTINO’S SUPER BOWL ACTIVITY PACK FOR WOMEN!
Totino’s Pizza Rolls Super Bowl Activity Pack infantilizes wife (VAB)
— Ah, the debut of Vanessa’s beloved Totino’s Pizza Roll ads, which become an annual tradition around every Super Bowl for the remainder of Vanessa’s tenure as a cast member, and goes through an excellent arc over these next few seasons.
— There’s the first of Vanessa’s now-significant mentions of “my hungry guys.”
— The overly simplistic, childish, demeaning activities for wives to do during the Super Bowl are hilarious, and Vanessa is selling this whole thing to absolute PERFECTION. The sticky-hand-on-the-fridge bit is a particularly standout moment.
— An overall fantastic ad, and great debut to this series of Vanessa-starring Totino’s ads.
STARS: *****
MISS TRASH 2015
undesirable (AIB), (CES), (KAM) compete in awful pageant
— Microphone issues for J.K. right out of the gate.
— I admit to getting a cheap laugh from the name of J.K.’s character being DaDonk Fontaine, just because of how it sounded when J.K. delivered it in his trademark voice.
— Kind of a lazy and cliched-feeling premise, one that I’m not excited about. The ladies are selling their roles well enough, at least.
— J.K. is a great straight man in this, especially his blunt delivery of the line, “It says ‘butt’ in English.”
STARS: **½
CINEMA CLASSICS
Nazi realities sway Ilsa (KAM) in Casablanca outtake
— The usual funny “Worst. (insert event here). Ever.” story that Kenan’s Reese De’What discloses in regards to something he once told his wife.
— I love the Ingrid Bergman accent from Kate.
— Kate’s jumpiness to get on the plane after being told that she’ll otherwise be put in a concentration camp is hilarious.
— Kate is executing this premise so damn well, giving an outstanding performance.
STARS: ****½
TEACHER SNOW DAY
instructors go wild when the weather closes school
— Ehh, I’m getting tired of this type of short. It definitely worked for me the first time in Boy Dance Party, but Office Christmas Party was average at best to me, and this Teacher’s Snow Day short just feels old hat. The novelty of this style of short is completely gone by this point. If this short is generally considered by a majority of SNL fans to be a classic or near-classic, put me in the “It’s overrated” camp.
— (*yawn*) Cue Aidy bragging about her ass, as if we’ve NEVER seen her do that before.
— Ha, I do admit I can’t help but crack up at J.K.’s solo part of this music video, just because of his delivery. That’s by far the biggest laughs I’ve gotten from this whole thing so far.
— Solid ending line from Pete (“Oh, I’m definitely passing chemistry now”).
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Really Love”
WEEKEND UPDATE
A One Dimensional Female Character From A Male Driven Comedy filters out COJ’s Super Bowl questions
MIC presents some other African-Americans he thinks should be on stamps
Jebidiah Atkinson slams Grammy Award nominees of the present & past
— Another flubbed Michael Che joke in this first season of his. Thankfully, the set-up that he flubbed tonight turned out to be the set-up to a mini-rant instead of the set-up to a typical quick Update joke, the latter of which would be hurt more by a flubbed set-up. That being said, this particular mini-rant Michael’s doing now isn’t doing much for me. Not his best material.
— For some reason, I thought for sure that the female guest commentator who Colin was setting up when saying “Here to give her thoughts on the Super Bowl is…” was going to be Leslie as herself. Instead, it turns out to be the return of A One Dimensional Female Character From A Male Driven Comedy.
— Tonight’s A One Dimensional Female commentary is basically treading the same ground from her previous commentary, but it’s still working for me. However, I’m getting a little tired of all of the befuddled comments from Colin (playing a similar type of “confused straight man character who excessively points out the already-obvious oddities in the scene he’s appearing in” role that would later be a staple of Mikey Day’s tenure as a cast member), which have gotten old and redundant.
— I got a good laugh from A One Dimensional Female’s line about Colin’s friends being named Fat Jerry and Horny One.
— Despite how tired I am of Colin’s straight man lines to A One Dimensional Female, I did love him asking if the obviously-fake baby she handed him is the baby from American Sniper.
— I love Michael’s whole segment about Black History Month stamps, which makes up for his subpar mini-rant from earlier in tonight’s Update.
— JEBIDIAH ATKISON! Yes! We haven’t seen him in a while.
— Jebidiah Atkinson, on Iggy Azalea: “Hey, Iggy, wake up and smell the azaleas – YOU’RE WHITE! The last time anyone stole THAT much from black people, everybody still dressed like me!”
— Jebidiah Atkinson: “Ugh, The Beatles. If anything, they ruined Yoko!”
— Jebidiah Atkinson, on Frank Sinatra: “His only decent hits were the ones the mafia did for him!”
STARS: ***½
MICROSOFT ASSISTANT
Microsoft Office animation Pushie (BOM) irritates computer user (host)
— Interesting structure to this sketch.
— Bobby is absolutely perfect in this annoying Clippy-esque role.
— A great turn this sketch takes with the emotional change in Bobby-as-Pushie’s tone when instructing J.K. on how to activate the “Disable Pushie” feature. Comically tugging at the heartstrings is something Bobby is typically great at doing.
STARS: ****
THE JAY Z STORY
supposedly-definitive biopic stars very white MOB
— Hilarious concept of a Jay-Z biopic starring Mike O’Brien playing him in a very Mike O’Brien way.
— I absolutely love the muffled scream reaction Mike has to being told by an exec that he’s great at rap.
— A priceless shocked, star-struck look on Pete’s face when Mike’s Jay-Z walks past him.
— Ah, Jason Sudeikis, an SNL alum who actually patiently waited two years to make his first cameo after leaving the cast, and would keep the frequency of his subsequent cameos at a respectable pace. (Hear that, Fred?) Good to see him here as Kanye West.
— Priceless casting of J.K. as Nas in a heated fight he gets into with Mike’s Jay-Z.
— Overall, while this was much different from previous Mike O’Brien short films, I loved this just as much as I typically love his films.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Charade”
CAREER DAY
at career day, (host) tells schoolkids about being a Japanese “messy boy”
— I absolutely love J.K.’s casual reveal of “I am a Japanese messy boy”, and explaining in a perfectly straitlaced manner what exactly that means.
— This material is hilarious, mostly made by J.K.’s excellent delivery. He’s one of those performers who can sell the most absurd lines by delivering them completely straight.
— Leslie has some solid lines throughout this.
— Yeeeeeaaaaah, I’m just gonna ignore that extremely stereotypical Asian accent Taran’s doing over the phone.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
— Wow, this is easily one of the longest goodnights not just in recent memory, but in SNL’s entire history. Given the fact that this is the last regular episode before a certain big, live SNL special that’ll be airing, something feels significant about these super-long goodnights.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, and the first above average episode in a while. Some very strong highlights in this episode, especially in the post-Weekend Update half, where everything received a rating from me in the impressive 4-5-star range.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Totino’s Super Bowl Activity Pack For Women!
The Jay Z Story
Cinema Classics
Career Day
Microsoft Assistant
Super Bowl Shut Down
Weekend Update
Monologue
Miss Trash 2015
Teacher Snow Day
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Blake Shelton)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Put on your fancy formal wear, everyone! SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special is next, as the one and only special non-regular episode I’ll be reviewing in this SNL project. As a warning, given how that anniversary special is much longer than the 90-minute regular episodes I typically review, thus meaning it’s going to take a lot more time than usual for me to put together a review of that special AND make screencaps from it, there is absolutely no way I’ll have the review ready by tomorrow. Expect it the day after tomorrow at the earliest (it’ll probably be even later than that). Thanks for understanding.