February 28, 2015 – Dakota Johnson / Alabama Shakes (S40 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

GIULIANI BIRDMAN
Birdman (BEB) personifies Rudy Giuliani’s (TAK) post-9/11 glory days

 

— A fairly interesting novelty to see Vanessa’s Gretchen Carlson impression appearing outside of the Fox & Friends sketches and leading her own sketch.
— Initially, the utter lack of effort that the usually-good-impressionist Taran Killam puts into sounding like Rudy Giuliani is very jarring and off-putting, and I remember how that, coupled with the fact that Taran was considered way too young-looking to pass as Giuliani, made some people on an SNL message board say things like “See? This is exactly why SNL desperately needs an older male in the current cast.” However, it turns out there’s a twist coming in this cold opening that I guess explains why Taran’s not making an attempt to imitate Giuliani’s voice.
— Ah, there’s the twist, with this turning out to be a Birdman spoof. I love the idea of this, and it’s being executed pretty well.
— Solid Michael Keaton imitation from Taran once the Birdman twist starts. Taran even has a natural facial resemblance to a young Keaton when making certain expressions, which I previously pointed out when he played Keaton in the memorable You’re A Rat Bastard, Charlie Brown pre-tape.
— Great use of SNL’s backstage, and it’s also unintentionally funny seeing the attempt SNL made at hiding the fact that this is their own backstage and not the backstage of Gretchen Carlson’s show, by taping wallpaper over the usual SNL photos on the walls.
— Not much in terms of actual laugh-out-loud humor here, but the emulation of Birdman’s style is being pulled off so damn well that I’m still enjoying this.
— Great delivery from Beck of his very first solo LFNY.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— For some reason, the SNL Band makes a huge change to the usual arrangement of one small portion of the theme music: the one around the Pete Davidson/Leslie Jones/Colin Jost section of this montage. Not sure why the change, especially since this ends up being the ONLY episode with this altered arrangement of the season 40-43 theme music.

MONOLOGUE
host’s parents Don Johnson & Melanie Griffith [real] are in the audience

— Oof. Dakota Johnson’s very iffy, poor, low-volumed delivery of jokes so far is not giving me much confidence in her as a host.
— At least Kyle has shown up to add some much-needed comic relief.
— Turns out Kyle’s (and Kate’s) bit is only mildly funny at best, but it’s still a welcome alternative to watching a shaky Dakota Johnson struggle to deliver jokes.
— I do like the nod that Dakota gives to her mother, Melanie Griffith, having once hosted SNL in 1988. Is it true what Dakota says about her father, Don Johnson, proposing to Melanie immediately after the episode Melanie hosted, and Dakota being born nine months after that?
STARS: **

ISIS
proud father (TAK) says goodbye to his daughter (host) as she joins ISIS

— After that extremely rough Shark Tank sketch from this season’s Chris Rock episode, I’m not sure I needed another dodgy ISIS-themed sketch. I hope they at least don’t screw this one up as badly as they did the previous one.
— Seeing Taran in this dad role is yet another reminder of how some online SNL fans felt that he was too young-faced to be believable in middle-aged, utility roles like this.
— Not a bad comedic twist, and I admit that, yes, it made me laugh.
— Kyle delivering the statement “Death to America” in a mock-dramatic, soft-spoken, poignant manner gave me a decent laugh.
— Overall, an improvement over the Shark Tank sketch. It probably also helps that this was a commercial parody, meaning it was too short to belabor the touchy point like the Shark Tank sketch did.
— Unsurprisingly, there would end up being a fairly big controversy over this commercial. Can’t remember if it led to this commercial initially being pulled from online or not. As for whether or not this commercial was pulled from the NBC rerun, this episode in general never received an NBC rerun (though I’m not 100% sure on that). I recall briefly catching a portion of a syndicated 60-minute rerun of this episode on a cable channel once, but I didn’t see if this commercial was left in there or not.
STARS: ***

CINDERELLA
Cathy Anne (CES) is third wheel as Cinderella (host) meets Prince Charming (TAK)

— Ugh, stop trying to make Cathy Anne work as a sketch character, SNL. As hindsight has taught us, she would work far better later on as a Weekend Update character.
— Was it necessary to have Cathy Anne repeat that exact same “C U Next Thursday” line from her previous sketch appearance?
— This sketch at least isn’t quite as cringe-inducing as that unbelievably wretched Magic Bridge sketch that Cathy Anne previously appeared in. That being said, there still isn’t a single laugh or merit to be found here.
STARS: *

SAY WHAT YOU WANNA SAY
women eschew social niceties & say what they wanna say

— For some reason, I had mis-remembered this as appearing in season 41. Maybe I was getting it mixed up with the similarly-styled Bad Girls pre-tape from that season’s episode hosted by……uh…….He Who Shall Not Be Named (as of now).
— A good comedic conceit to this, a format that’s both pretty fun and funny, and the ladies are all performing well. However, I don’t know what exactly, but there’s something about the execution of this that isn’t making me find it to be quite as strong as I feel like I should. I’m still enjoying it, though.
— Kate’s bathroom scene is very funny. Speaking of which, another similarity between this short and the aforementioned Bad Girls short is they both feature Kate sitting on the toilet in one scene.
STARS: ***½

PRESS JUNKET
young reporter (KYM) unsettles host at Fifty Shades Of Grey press junket

— It feels like Kyle has been a lot more prominent in this episode than he usually is.
— The concept of this reminds me an awful lot of that pre-tape where Andy Samberg played a 13-year-old consultant on the set of Game of Thrones.
— Interesting character voice from Kyle, which I’ve never heard him use in any other sketches. And I like the charming innocence he’s giving to his characterization, which is helping this not come off as too much of a copy of the aforementioned Game of Thrones pre-tape.
— Something about the camera angle in all of the close-ups of Kyle throughout this sketch looks odd (seen in the first above screencap for this sketch), like it’s off-centered and/or showing too much space above Kyle. Is there a chance that’s intentional, as a way of emphasizing the small size of Kyle’s child character?
— Dakota’s timing continues to be a little iffy tonight.
STARS: ***

I CAN’T
complainers (BOM), (host), (CES) downplay officemate’s (AIB) broken arms

— Oh, no. I had completely forgotten all about this “I literally can’t even…” sketch, and am blindsided by the sight of it in my current viewing. I now recall HATING this sketch when it originally aired, and considering it to be emblematic of so many things typically wrong with James Anderson and Kent Sublette’s writing on SNL.
— Speaking of Anderson and Sublette (because it’s so damn hard for me not to do when reviewing a typical bad sketch of theirs), what is their fascination with having Aidy play characters with two broken arms? First that awful Steakhouse sketch from the preceding season’s Seth Rogen episode, and now this.
— Aidy’s delivery of this unfunny material is at least good, which is more than I can say for her delivery in that aforementioned Steakhouse sketch. Maybe it helps that she’s not speaking in an exaggerated southern accent here like she and all the other performers did in the Steakhouse sketch.
— At least this overall sketch was short. I was pleasantly surprised by how early the end came.
STARS: *½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Wanna Fight”

WEEKEND UPDATE
contented Ruth Bader Ginsberg (KAM) burns things worthy of derision

Kanye West’s (JAP) self-aggrandizing apology is “Good Morning” variant

Riblet upstages MIC with his newsreading skills before dropping the mic

— Oh, right, this was around the time that ridiculous “Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?” debate took the nation by storm. (That also brings to mind the similar “Yanny or Laurel?” debate from later in that same decade.)
— That “possible presidential run” joke about a certain someone (the fifth above screencap for this Weekend Update)…oh, season 40, why must you keep reminding me of the nightmare that awaits me in this SNL project of mine?
— This is the first Weekend Update appearance from Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression, which previously appeared in one of those Kickspit Underground Festival commercials, where Kate used a voice that was completely different from the one she’d famously use in all her subsequent RBG appearances.
— Most of tonight’s RBG commentary is working for me, but I could do without those CONSTANT “Ya just got Ginsburned!” dance routines, which are coming off like a warmed-over reprisal of the dance routines that Kenan’s Jean K. Jean character used to do, and it was a chore enough for me back then.
— Speaking of Kenan, I just now realized he hasn’t made a single appearance in tonight’s episode so far. Very surprising at this point of his SNL tenure.
— I was worried that the punchline of Colin’s “runaway llamas” joke would be yet another use of the Yakety Sax chase music, which has been an overused Weekend Update punchline since the Seth Meyers days. Thankfully, the punchline of Colin’s joke ended up not going in that direction.
— Ha, that real-life Kanye apology tweet to singer Beck (“I would like to publicly apologize to Beck, I’m sorry, Beck.”) always cracks me up.
— Meh, Jay’s Kanye song isn’t doing much for me, aside from a few lyrics.
— Ha, I love Michael ad-libbing a deadpan utterance of “So dumb” after Colin’s extremely lame ADD Study joke.
— The return of Riblet, this time making his entrance by suddenly blocking the camera while Michael is mid-joke.
— Even though tonight’s Riblet commentary is just treading the same ground as his previous commentary, it’s still working for me, Bobby’s still killing it in his performance, and his Update jokes tonight are actually genuinely funnier than the ones he told last time.
— I absolutely love the gag with Riblet going a step further in his one-upping of Michael by removing his own urban clothes, revealing a newscaster suit he has on underneath, and pulling off the sides of his hair (accompanied by a great “Yoinks!” vocalization by Bobby and accidentally-delayed “pop” sound effects from SNL) to look more professional.
— Then-writer Mikey Day walking on in a speaking role! (The last above screencap for this Weekend Update, though the FedEx hat obscures his face a little). This is the second thing tonight that I had mis-remembered as appearing in season 41, as I had recalled Mikey getting a few speaking roles in the homestretch of that season, shortly before he gets added to the cast in season 42. Anyway, it feels interesting hearing Mikey’s now-familiar voice this early in my SNL project. When this episode originally aired and a lot of online SNL fans (including myself) had no idea who that was playing Mikey’s role, I remember thinking Mikey’s voice sounded very Jost-esque, a resemblance I no longer hear now that I’ve gotten so used to Mikey’s voice over the years.
STARS: ***

EMERGENCY ROOM
patient (TAK) dies while surgeon (KET) explains why he’s dressed as Worf

a photo of Leonard Nimoy as Spock marks his passing

— Well, I guess those Worf prosthetics show why Kenan was M.I.A. in this episode until now. However, those prosthetics don’t look extensive enough that it would take the entire first half of this episode to apply. Even Bill Hader was able to get those Cat In The Hat prosthetics applied to his face in only about 15 minutes when he hosted earlier this season.
— Funny cutaway to Leslie’s very deadpan face in response to a line of Kenan’s.
— Yikes. When Kenan asks Dakota to look into his eyes, what was with Dakota’s giggly, very hesitant, low-volumed delivery of “I can’t” and “No, I can’t. You look so stupid”? Her delivery of that was absolutely horrible, and made it seem like she was going off-script, dropping character, and genuinely saying those things as herself instead of as her character, though I doubt that was actually the case, since Kenan seamlessly responds to it like it was in the script (unless that’s just a sign of what a damn good pro Kenan has developed into over the years).
— Uh, what the hell kind of sketch am I watching? I don’t know what to make of it, despite Kenan’s best efforts and likable performance. I think this is going for a “So bad, it’s good” sketch. If so, they apparently forgot the “it’s good” part of that. I can actually see some people finding the badness of this sketch to be good, but I’m afraid I can’t agree.
— Man, it can’t be said enough how much I hate Dakota’s delivery throughout tonight’s episode.
— I did get a laugh just now from Vanessa’s overly concerned question to Kenan of if his Worf face was the last thing her grandfather saw before dying.
— That…that’s the end of this sketch??!? That incredibly lame “Worf M.D., coming this fall to NBC” twist?
— When the screen is fading to black during the sketch-ending audience applause, Kenan, who apparently isn’t aware that his mic is still on, can be heard dropping character and saying, in his real voice, “Cue that applause” in a relieved, breathless manner, as if he’s acknowledging how bad the sketch was and that he’s glad it’s finally over with. Kinda reminds me of him dropping character, getting up from the floor, and casually walking right off the set before the screen even faded to black at the end of that extremely-questionable St. Kat’s Middle sketch (a.k.a. the “Kenan falls out of a wheelchair over and over for five minutes” sketch), which is another sketch that lots of people seemingly find to have a “So bad, it’s good” quality, but I unfortunately am not able to.
— The In Memoriam photo of the then-recently-deceased Leonard Nimoy, while certainly well-meaning on SNL’s part, feels kinda wrong coming at the very end of such a baffling, unfunny, seemingly-intentionally-bad sketch that we even heard audio of Kenan openly admitting was rough.
STARS: *½

NET EFFECT
online archetypes struggle to explain net neutrality concept

— Another reference tonight to the “Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?” debate.
— In my last review, where I covered SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, I mentioned having a strange liking of the odd-couple dynamic between Pete and Leslie in the segment they did together in that special, and I expressed disappointment that we, as far am I’m aware, rarely get to see them interact over the years after that. It’s funny how the episode that immediately follows those comments of mine gives us two rare Pete/Leslie interactions in two separate segments (the Say What You Wanna Say pre-tape and this sketch).
— Bobby’s angry pornos tirade is hilarious and steals the sketch. There ain’t much to steal, though, as the rest of this sketch hasn’t been doing much for me. (I feel like I’m saying that about a lot of things in this episode.)
— The mere visual of that silly-looking thick white beard on Taran’s face is cracking me up. However, I don’t care much for the gag with him entering this sketch just to slap each panelist in the face, because it’s just a knock-off of Bill Hader doing the same thing in that The Comments Section sketch from the season 37 Melissa McCarthy episode.
— After having nothing but negative things to say about Dakota’s general hosting performance throughout this review, I will say that her delivery of “Harder!” after getting slapped in the face was decent.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme All Your Love”

MR RIOT FILMS
(KYM) & (BEB) use hidden camera shams to raise social consciousness

 

— Kyle’s big night continues.
— Funny characterizations from Kyle and Beck here.
— I love the odd way Kyle and Beck’s characters keep pronouncing the word “bully”.
— The title of each segment within this short is cracking me up.
— I’m kinda surprised these two characters of Kyle and Beck’s end up never becoming recurring. I wouldn’t have minded seeing a least one more short with them.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty mediocre episode, and a disappointing showing for SNL’s first regular episode after their huge 40th Anniversary Special. I found myself being very bored throughout a number of segments in tonight’s episode, and there was very little that I found to be above average. Even some of the better segments of this episode didn’t reach the heights that I felt they had potential to (Giuliani Birdman and Say What You Wanna Say). Going along with the subpar quality of this episode, Dakota Johnson was a bad host, like an even worse version of Katie Holmes’ awkward, iffy hosting performance in season 26. Perhaps it was nerves on Dakota’s part. Even SNL themselves seem to agree this episode is weak, as it never received an NBC rerun, as mentioned earlier.

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

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mr Riot Films
Giuliani Birdman
Say What You Wanna Say
Weekend Update
ISIS
Press Junket
Net Effect
Monologue
Emergency Room
I Can’t
Cinderella

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING REGULAR ONE (J.K. Simmons)
a big step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Chris Hemsworth