Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR
Mike Krzyzewski (TAK) says biology test trumps basketball title game
— Quite a number of sports-related cold openings in the second half of this season. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, as this probably ends up being the final season I’ll cover where there’s a good amount of non-political cold openings.
— No Shaq in this line-up of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley impressions?
— A good goofy appearance from Bobby.
— Some funny lines from Kenan’s Barkley, including a genuinely botched delivery of one particular term.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
fans TAK & BOM want host to play Batman & Beetlejuice with them
— Much like Dwayne Johnson’s “Franchise Viagra” monologue in the preceding episode, I can excuse tonight’s musical monologue, as it’s always been an absolute favorite of mine.
— The “Will you play Batman/Beetlejuice with us, Michael Keaton?” song is very memorable, and the geeking-out from Taran and Bobby is so damn charming and fun.
— A hilarious part with Bobby, after his reveal that he has only six weeks to live, explaining “It’s just a guesstimate based on the choices I’ve made” while gesturing towards his body.
— I love the running gag with Taran and Bobby’s angry outbursts at Jay’s walk-ons, especially when he has an angry outburst of his own back at them.
— The pre-taped Batman/Beetlejuice sequences are absolutely priceless, and really puts this already-strong monologue over the top.
— I love the long, deadpan, tense stare Keaton does into the camera before his poignant delivery of “I’m Batman”.
STARS: *****
CNN NEWSROOM
amateurish reenactments fail to shed light on news items
— A pretty good laugh from the cheap animated reenactment, and the comparison of it to the music video for Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing”.
— Some more pretty good laughs from other cheap reenactments, one with puppets and another with a local performance arts group.
— Odd usage of tonight’s host.
— A pretty fun silly sketch overall.
STARS: ***½
PROM QUEEN
high school student (MOB) asks loser teacher (host) to be his prom date
— I remember, when this originally aired, I thought to myself upon seeing that new hairstyle of Mike O’Brien’s, “Is he trying to look even more like Sam Smith than he already does?”
— A very solid premise, and, as usual for Mike’s shorts, he’s perfectly blending comedy and sentimentality.
— Vanessa’s selling her “neglected wife” role to perfection.
— Love the turn with Mike winning Keaton back in the door entrance of Keaton’s house.
— Excellent ending, and that little twirl Mike does towards the camera as the screen irises out on him is such a great touch.
— Overall, Mike does it once again with another phenomenal short.
STARS: *****
CALL YOUR GRANDPARENTS
despite the downsides, (SAZ) suggests calling your grandmother for Easter
— An amusing juxtaposition of a sexy late-night phone ad and the concept of calling your grandparents.
— Kate using her Ruth Bader Ginsburg voice for this generic grandma role. In Kate’s defense, though, her RBG voice hadn’t become a recurring part of her RBG appearances yet at this time.
— A nice novelty seeing Sasheer in such a front-and-center role.
— I had absolutely no prior memory of this sketch, though Leslie’s scene kinda rang a bell to me just now. I think I previously got her scene and the rest of this sketch mixed up with that pre-taped “Alexa for old people” commercial from an episode within these next few seasons.
— Some good relatable humor here.
STARS: ***½
AD AGENCY
advertising boss (host) interjects incongruous sex & violence into pitches
— I like Leslie’s unhappy reaction to how her corny, lighthearted joke didn’t get the laughs from her co-workers that Kenan’s corny, lighthearted joke did.
— I’m laughing out loud at all of Keaton’s off-kilter, immature, pervy suggestions to the employees’ more traditional, family-friendly commercial ideas.
— Even the random side gag with the blood stain from Keaton’s stomach is absolutely working for me, and is adding a twisted feel that I like.
STARS: ****
NEUROTOLOGY
annotations show fates of those in 1990 Church Of Neurotology music video
— I’m not familiar with the actual Scientology music video this is spoofing, but I don’t need to be to have always absolutely loved this short and found it to be a classic.
— Such a biting takedown of Scientology.
— The annotations of every Neurotology member’s grim future are fantastic. Not only are they funny as hell, but I love the creepy, dark, unsettling vibe they’re giving this short.
— All of the little details in making this look like an authentic 1990 video are pitch perfect.
— An absolutely hilarious cutaway to a cheesily-smiling Colin, making a rare non-Weekend Update appearance.
— Even the melody of this intentionally-corny song is catchy.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Really Like You”
WEEKEND UPDATE
mistaking him for a zombie, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) shoots stoned PED
Jebidiah Atkinson thinks television has always been a vast wasteland
— A good Lethal Weapon bit from Colin.
— Some okay if slow-paced (even if that may be the intention) bits in Pete commentary, but it picks up with the whole Walking Dead turn towards the end.
— The Jost/Che era of Update continues to be on a hot streak within these past few episodes, suggesting that we have indeed reached the point where this Update era has fully hit its stride. (Colin has especially shown improvement.) I could not be happier about that, given how, as I disclosed in a previous review, this is one of my top 3 favorite Update eras of all time.
— Yes! As if tonight’s Update wasn’t already solid enough, we now get Jebidiah Atkinson! Believe it or not, this sadly ends up being his final appearance.
— Damn, Jebidiah’s slams are starting out hot tonight, with his “Hey, AMC, if I wanted to know what life was like in the 1960s, I’d move to Indiana!”, which receives loud “Ohhhhhhh!”s from the audience. Usually, the audience doesn’t react that wildly to a slam of his until a few minutes into his respective commentaries.
— Jebidiah, on The West Wing: “The best lines on that show were the ones that went up Sorkin’s nose!”
— Jebidiah, on Lost: “Sure, it started out good, but I haven’t seen a final season that bad since Joe Paterno’s! (*the audience reacts in shock and Jebidiah mocks that reaction*) If you don’t like that joke, just do as Joe did and turn a blind eye!”
— Jebidiah, in a meta moment, commenting on Saturday Night Live: “The same tired characters repeating the same tired catchphrases. (*throws his index card into the air*) NNNNEEEEXT!!!”
— I like the audience genuinely groaning as soon as they realize Jebidiah’s about to bash I Love Lucy.
— The overall usual great Jebidiah Atkinson commentary. I’m going to miss the hell out of him; one of my all-time favorite Update characters by far. I never understood why they suddenly stopped using him after only a handful of appearances. Maybe I should be happy they refrained from running him into the ground.
STARS: ****
SMART HOME
inventor (host) & wife (CES) show toaster & couch concepts to neighbors
— (*sigh*) Between everyone’s exaggerated southern accents and the completely random gag involving the guests standing outside the front door, we’re ALREADY starting off with a whole bunch of gags that are aggressively James Anderson & Kent Sublette-y.
— I liked the “googly eyes on inanimate objects” gag better when Christopher Walken did it.
— Ugh at the sequence with Cecily and Keaton describing the tube that anally recognizes you.
— I am at least liking Cecily’s laid-back performance, which I find strangely kinda comforting. That’s the only positive I can find in this whole thing.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All That”
AN EASTER MESSAGE
host presents his Easter basket contents with Portia (KAM) & Jordan (BOM)
— Good to see another variant of this sketch, previously done with Steve Buscemi and Edward Norton. These always work for me, though I’ve never had the time to watch the cut-after-dress ones that were posted online.
— Solid side character from Kate, and an improvement over Bobby’s side character from the Edward Norton installment of this sketch.
— Keaton: “This is unleavened bread, which means, unlike Jesus, it doesn’t rise. Jesus: 1, bread: nothing.”
— Keaton, on Cadbury eggs: “I gave these up for Lent last year. Know what I gave up this year? Cocaine…………………almost.”
— I love Keaton’s creepy delivery of his random line, “Something’s wrong with me.”
— Speaking of Bobby and side characters, he actually shows up as this sketch’s second side character, and is a lot funnier here than he was in the Edward Norton version of this sketch.
— Very funny gag with Kate feeding her “child chicken” a McNugget.
— Keaton, about Kate’s character: “This kid has aaaallll the warning signs.”
— Keaton, on his chocolate bunny being hollow: “Some people like the solid ones, but then, how would you get your little wiener in there?”
— Great reveal at the end that Keaton was playing himself in this sketch the whole time.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I had always liked this episode a lot in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how big I was on this episode in my current viewing. I mean, man – THREE five-star-rated segments in this episode, lots of other very strong segments, and only bad segment all night. Such a great episode. Odd structure to it, though, with how minimal the amount of segments in the post-Weekend Update half was. Clearly, a sketch got cut at the last minute, made even more obvious by the fact that our “10-to-1” for the night was just a shot of the SNL Band playing the show back to commercial after the show had just come from a commercial break. I think I once heard that the cut-at-the-last-minute sketch in question was a Nick Rutherford-written Pee Wee’s Playhouse pastiche that would later be posted online (seen here). I’ve never watched it myself, but if that sketch is as strong as I’ve always heard it was, it’s a damn shame it got cut at the last minute, as it would’ve made this already-fantastic episode even better.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Neurotology
Prom Queen
Monologue
An Easter Message
Ad Agency
Weekend Update
CNN Newsroom
Call Your Grandparents
Road To The Final Four
Smart Home
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dwayne Johnson)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Taraji P. Henson