Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ELECTION VIDEO
Hillary (KAM) & Bill (DAH) Clinton shoot candidacy announcement video
— Interesting seeing Vanessa appearing in the same scene as Kate’s Hillary Clinton, given the fact that this is the second Hillary cold opening after the Hillary impression went from Vanessa to Kate.
— Interesting novelty having most of this sketch be shot live from a phone…or is that just one of SNL’s cameras filming Kate during the phone shots?
— A funny intimidating “personable” message that Kate’s Hillary directs towards citizens.
— Good straight man performance from Vanessa.
— Darrell Hammond makes his first onscreen appearance in a regular episode since becoming SNL’s announcer. Fitting that his first appearance would be as Bill Clinton.
— The usual funny lines from Darrell’s Clinton.
— A fun “The Clintons are back!” announcement, even though it kinda feels like that was already done in an Amy Poehler-starring Hillary/Bill cold opening (the one when Amy returned to SNL after her maternity leave, I think).
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
gospel choir helps host sing “I Made It” to celebrate fates she avoided
— I’m enjoying Taraji P. Henson’s enthusiasm for being here at SNL.
— (*sigh*) Our THIRD consecutive musical monologue. I was able to excuse the previous two, because I had always been a big fan of them (particularly the Michael Keaton one), but I have no particularly positive memories of this one.
— Not many laughs in this song so far, but I do really like the way Taraji’s performing it.
— Kenan, on a fate he thankfully avoided: “I could’ve been the oldest cast member in Good Burger 7.”
— Leslie coming in immediately adding a good atmosphere to this.
— Overall, while most of the material itself was nothing to write home about, this monologue got by for me on fun energy alone.
STARS: ***
DEPEND LEGENDS
(Bill Corsair)’s adult diapers have senior-favorite faces
— Mixed feelings on this premise, but I think I’m leaning slightly more towards the “Don’t care much for it” side.
— A laugh from the grandfather proudly showing his family his adult diapers while wearing them.
— A likable performance from the actor playing the grandfather.
STARS: **½
HOT FOR TEACHER: THE JANET JOHNSON-LUNA CIVIL TRIAL
trial shows teen Gavin Daly (PED) got kudos after sex with teacher (CES)
— I love Cecily’s coy, playful delivery of “You’re stupid.”
— Good sequence with Pete running off the many names that his peers called him.
— Kenan perfectly selling a very Kenan-like role as the judge complimenting Pete.
— Okay, the occasional cutaways to Cecily delivering coy one-liners are starting to get old.
— Very funny cutaway to Bobby as Pete’s proud father, as a contrast to Kate’s demeanor as Pete’s mother.
STARS: ***½
HOME 2
Nicki Minaj (host) & other musicians provided voices for Home 2
— A very spot-on and funny Jim Parsons impression from Taran.
— A celebrity impression showcase sketch in the tradition of those duets album ads that the show had been doing these past few seasons.
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary use of Pete in the Die Antwoord scene, which is one of the better parts of this pre-tape.
— Taraji’s pretty fun as Nicki Minaj.
STARS: ***
QVC
actress (KAM) can’t recall permutations for 3-way poncho for sale on QVC
— So far, an extremely flimsy premise that’s not doing a thing for me.
— Now we’re getting other bad attempts at random humor.
— I can’t tell if Taraji is badly overacting, or just doing an accurate imitation of typical QVC hosts.
— Not even a brief, potentially-sketch-stealing cutaway to Bobby can save this.
— That’s the whole sketch? Boy, this was worthless. Not a single thing about this worked for me.
STARS: *
JOHN SINGLETON’S GAME OF THRONES
black characters join Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in Westeros
— Solid concept.
— Che in a sketch!
— Sasheer’s reaction to getting shot by an arrow made me laugh.
— This overall pre-tape ended up not being as funny as I was expecting, but it was well-made, well-performed, and I like how genuinely badass it came off.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Wolf”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Cecilia Gimenez (KAM) loves the ugly features of a Lucille Ball statue
Jacob & his podiatrist father Dr. Henken (BIC) talk about Passover
— Michael, on how police are happy that the new Apple watch doesn’t have a camera: “Cops hate pictures. It’s, like, their least favorite thing to shoot.”
— Like the last time she appeared, Kate’s Cecilia Giminez is making me laugh in her commentary tonight, and Kate’s fun in this role.
— I love Colin’s little “Heeey” wave into the camera after Michael expresses jealousy over how white people can riot in the streets with no consequences.
— (*groan*) Yet another Jacob commentary.
— I did get a laugh from Michael awkwardly responding “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna” one of the times Jacob says “But don’t quote me on that!”
— Oh, this is the Jacob commentary where Billy Crystal appears as Jacob’s father. I had mis-remembered this as happening in the following season.
— At least Billy Crystal as Jacob’s father shakes things up a little bit in this Jacob commentary, and Billy’s doing a good emulation of Vanessa’s Jacob characterization.
— This would’ve been a good choice for a final Jacob commentary, but I’m aware this character makes at least one more appearance, in one of Vanessa’s final episodes as a cast member.
— I admit to laughing at the “You look mahvelous” fake-out, with Billy subverting that catchphrase by ending it differently.
STARS: ***½
HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT
dumb game show tries Jane Lynch’s (KAM) patience
— Taran’s Vin Diesel impression from the Bambi short returns.
— Was it necessary to have Beck play Nick Offerman again, after he already played him in the previous installment of this sketch?
— Cecily’s Marion Cotillard “crying in French” is fairly funny.
— Taraji’s cracking me up as Wanda Sykes.
— Tonight’s installment of this sketch feels like a poor man’s hybrid of Celebrity Family Feud and Celebrity Jeopardy.
— Okay, I’m starting to feel a little iffy about Taraji’s performance here, particularly how some of her line deliveries seem a little off.
STARS: **½
HOW 2 DANCE WITH JANELLE
Janelle & mom (host) sandwich Teddy (KYM)
— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— Some funny reactions from Kyle to the arousal-inducing actions happening around him.
— More fun energy from Taraji tonight, this time when demonstrating various suggestive dance moves.
— Good bit with Kyle being thrusted back and forth between Sasheer and Taraji.
— A decent ending, and certainly better than the awkward-as-hell ending from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½
SESAME STREET (OR TARAJI P. HENSON’S MUPPETS)
Cookie (host) brings Empire sensibilities to the Muppets on Sesame Street
— I couldn’t resist giving this segment that alternate title above (“Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets”), given the subject matter of this segment and the fact that Taraji coincidentally has the same last name as Jim Henson.
— A very solid concept, and equally solid usage of Taraji’s Cookie character from Empire. It’s also pretty impressive that SNL did this with the actual Sesame Street puppets and actors.
— A particularly funny part with the reveal of Cookie’s new fur coat being Elmo.
STARS: ****
CINEMA CLASSICS
fellow female baseballers shun (host) in ripoff of A League Of Their Own
— Kenan-as-Reese-De’What’s typical story about a rude thing he once told his wife wasn’t as funny as usual tonight.
— Some funny comments from the baseball players about Leslie’s size.
— Overall, nothing much that I could find to say about to this, but I found this sketch to be fine.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Believe”
CONNECTATRON
robot component pilot (host) gets promoted from leg to head
— I love Bobby’s hokey, kiddie-show delivery of the line “He just crushed my favorite hoagie shop! Let me at ‘im!”
— Not too sure about Taraji’s delivery of some of her lines here. The audience apparently agrees with me, judging from their uncomfortable silence in reaction to some of her lines.
— That…that’s the whole sketch?!? What kind of “ending” was that??? This sketch had to have been truncated at the last minute due to the show seemingly running long. In fact, I think I recall hearing that the version of this sketch that SNL/NBC put up online the day after this episode’s original airing was the dress rehearsal version, which was longer and felt more complete.
— Overall, pretty blah, sloppy, and incomplete-feeling, the latter two of which I guess isn’t the writer’s fault, for reasons mentioned above.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. Barely anything stood out as strong, but I was satisfied with a lot of the episode. Taraji P. Henson had a nice energy as a host, but her delivery could be a bit much at times.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets
Weekend Update
Election Video
Hot For Teacher: The Janet Johnson-Luna Civil Trial
John Singleton’s Game Of Thrones
How 2 Dance with Janelle
Cinema Classics
Home 2
Monologue
Depend Legends
Hollywood Game Night
Connectatron
QVC
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Keaton)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson
I remember the teacher trial and the Sesame Street sketch a bit, but man are a bunch of these drawing a total blank for me, way more so than normal. Wonder if I maybe missed this one and only saw clips, or if it just really is that forgettable.
Oh boy, 6 episodes to go before that disastrous and the worst SNL episode of all time hosted by you know….
And tomorrow’s show is Anderlette City.
Does tomorrow have the club DJs at the funeral? That’s an Anderlette I actually like (“walk in the room, booty first”).
That sketch is from Scarjo’s 2017 episode.
A little harsh on Elizabeth Banks, don’t you think…
I still can’t believe that decision was made. I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows more than 1 person who jumped ship after that and NEVER came back.
I mainly recognize Bill Corsair, the actor in Depends Legends, from his appearance as the label head in the “Offthe Record” episode of Mathnet from 1992: https://youtu.be/wfgBsIdgTmM
Billy Crystal was promoting the short lived “The Comedians” here which had debuted two days earlier
DRESS CUTS
The Shebang Hour
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/cut-for-time-the-sparkelles/2894917
Minute Makeover
~ It’s Minute Makeover! Host Emerald Mike Biscayne (Kenan) interviews “frumpy” Megan (Vanessa) before she receives a brand new makeover in JUST ONE MINUTE! Three makeover artists (MOAs) (Taraji, Leslie, Beck) take her behind the curtain. Timer starts. Screams of “WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!” & “WE’RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!” continue through the minute. Megan exits the curtain looking disheveled & broken. MOAs claim they updated her look: “We ripped her pants, cut her arm, & doused her in monkey grease.” Judges (Pharoah, Cecily, Bobby, Kate) quickly give their opinion: “Nah.” “No.” “Nope.” “Looks like crap.” Next up is Denny Peters (Killam), who doesn’t want to do this. Biscayne: “YOU HAFTA!” Same curtain yelling ensues, with similar results. MOAs explain: “We were going for a casual spring flirty look, so we ripped his hog out, stitched his lips, & dipped him in monkey grease.” Show ends
Next Tech Now
~ Welcome to the show. Host Zachary Crimmons (Bobby) introduces 4 panel members (Kenan, Mooney, Cecily, Taraji) to discuss the new Apple Watch. Everybody stares at their phones. “Sorry, my dad is texting.” Crimmons tries to begin a conversation, but quickly sidetracked by his own device. Stage manager (Pete) enters to say something before his phone goes off as he walks away. Camera keeps cutting to the different panelists clicking away on their phones. Cecily is perfecting a Steve Urkel impression. “‘Did I do thaat?’ No, I don’t like that one. ‘Did I do thaaat?’” Kenan is playing Candy Crush as Crimmons’s selfie stick enters the shot. Cut to Crimmons taking his picture before realizing he’s on camera. “Wait, OH! ……uhhhh, we’ll be right back”
~ coulda been a decent 10-to-1. I liked the atmosphere at the end where you could only hear the faint gadget noises and scattered audience laughter
Update – Wheeler, music festival fan (Mooney)
~ Jost mentions Coachella and welcomes Wheeler to talk about why he loves music festivals. He gulps a huge bottle of water. Jost asks how he can afford all of these festivals. Wheeler sells tails to people who want to look like an animal. He holds up a tiger tail he made. “Also, my dad invented DVDs.” Then he talks about taking the drug MBH4. “It’s not legal cuz it’s new.” Kyle broke character when he said something like “Some people call me Turtle. They put me in a box.” (I don’t remember the exact line but he smirked because like one person laughed)
Update – Aaron Hernandez pictures
~ Jost analyzes Aaron Hernandez’z pictures from his murder trial, giving them names like “’Sup Judge?” and “Oh snap! The game is on!” Too corny & Seth Meyers-esque
TIDS & BITS
Game Night: Lynch calls this the worst game show ever, but then corrects herself by giving that distinction to “@midnight” ** during “Hollywoof”, Diesel’s answer (“Dog man. Dog…. bench. ….Dog man”) dragged on longer ** Offerman’s running moustache gag wasn’t in dress. One time he had an owl on his arm and said some lame outdoorsy joke ** during the final round, Wanda took out a microphone and launched into a stand-up routine. “If Vin Diesel went on a plane, he’d pop!”
Hot For Teacher: after Kenan’s long stare, instead of “Look at you”, he told Pete “You’re cute.” (in a “good for you” way) ** Pete broke character a little bit while listing his nicknames ** at the end, cut back to Beck & Aidy only for Beck to say “We’ll be back with more coverage after this”
How 2 Dance: penitentiary fan sent a package, which Janelle opens. “I guess it’s a soap doll or something” ** Cut Scene: Mom & Janelle leave mid-sketch to change clothes. Teddy sees a call on the computer, so he answers. On the other line is Bobby, in a moustache & a recliner. “We love you, Teddy. You’re the best part of this show.” “I think I’ve seen you on the news, so I’m gonna hang up.” The girls come back wearing sexy clothes to do the “dance sandwich” ** at the end, Taraji approaches the camera and takes her jacket off, revealing bra & cleavage before her son rushes in to stop her
Update: Jost went on a Hillary Clinton rant after the opening Game Of Thrones joke. I don’t remember anything except the tepid audience reaction ** Giménez made a sculpture of Jean Stapleton instead of Mary Tyler Moore. Same picture used ** Her sculpture of Colin was a physical prop that looked like JFK. I wonder if the picture used for air was created in between dress & live, or if it was in the archives
Their Own League: in closing, Reese De’What talked about the porn version called “A Wiener To Bone”, featuring the first on-screen blumpkin. Lots of surprised laughter mixed with confused silence
Connectatron: awkwardly trimmed on air, so they put the superior dress take in the streaming version ** Sharkasaur was a husky man with ginger beard. Connectatron was a skinny dude sporting dark goatee ** Taraji & Taran on home base with one big green screen. Other three rangers were in front of the audience across from the musical guest stage (with another big green screen). City scene was in the far right “fixed” set by the corner balcony seats. 2 crew members were telling the costumed guys what to do and when they were on camera
Home 2: Sasheer also played Beyoncé: “I am smart. This is my smart voice” ** at the end, Jim Parsons complained that Nicki Minaj is “wiping her bottom on me”
3-Way Poncho: Kate told the 2nd caller “You’re a star. I’d kill anyone for you” ** 10-to-10 slot in dress, but big crowd response to Kate & Aidy bumped this up to much earlier for air
Hillary Clinton’s “phone” was indeed one of the cameras
Mumford & Sons switched song order for the live show
DRESS RUNDOWN
Hillary video
monologue
SINGLETON GoT
Hollywood Game Night
Hot For Teacher
SESAME STREET
How 2 Dance
The Shebang Hour (CUT)
Mumford & Sons #1 (Believe)
Update
Cecilia Giménez
Wheeler (CUT)
Aaron Hernandez pix (CUT)
bar mitzvah men
Their Own League
Connectatron
DEPEND LEGENDS
Minute Makeover (CUT)
HOME 2
Next Tech Now (CUT)
Mumford & Sons #2 (The Wolf)
3-Way Poncho
goodnights
Taraji P Henson had been a hard-working actress for a number of years, but she probably never would have even had a cameo on SNL, let alone hosting, until Empire. Empire hit it big only a few months before this. I wonder if this is one of the fastest bookings compared to when the person asked to host really became known.
The teacher trial sketch was incredibly controversial – I remember hearing about it and I wasn’t even watching at this point. Naturally SNL responded to criticism in the usual fashion by bringing it back the next season. I will say Pete was perfect for this type of sketch early in his tenure.
Beyond the Amy and Darrell cold open, Ana and Darrell also have a cold open (with a few other guys in the cast playing Clinton relations) that ends in a similar manner of “you’ll never get rid of us.” This particular cold open is nothing new in writing, but is probably the one I most identify Kate’s Hillary with, and one of her sharpest performances in the role. You also get a glimpse of how much of a natural spark Darrell and Kate had compared to how he interacted with the other Hillarys.
The “Home” sketch is a great example of the difficulty of impression parades. Taran does a decent Jim Parsons voice (initially, anyway), but looks nothing like him, which means, on top of a number of other flat impressions, the whole thing just sort of dies out. Taraji’s Nicki Minaj is fun – they may have been better off just showing her and letting us hear the other voices.
SNL’s digital media people did a lot of unique content for the anniversary season. Here is one with Taraji answering some fan questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsgjvXqo7s
Promo (some fun stuff in here, especially the Umpire gag):
Off the top of my head, Nia Vardalos comes to mind. Over summer of 2002 Greek Wedding becomes a big hit and she’s hosting that fall despite being an unknown when the previous season had ended.
Gaboury Sidibe is another one that comes to mind.
Huh?
Taraji Henson had been starring as lead in films for a decade before this episode. She even got an Oscar nomination for Benjamin Button. She was hardly a newcomer.
On the other hand, next week’s episode is going to be hosted by some actor from Bridgerton, a show nobody had heard of a month ago. So Miskel Spillman might have some actual competition in this category for once.
I never said she was a newcomer. I guess her career path wasn’t the kind that would normally get noticed by SNL and the point where it did ended up with her hosting not that long after. I don’t think that’s wrong.
Today is my 27th birthday. Episodes such as Steve Martin in 2009, JK Simmons in 2015, and John Krasinski last night, have aired on my birthday. From what I’ve seen of the episode lists, the first 11 or so January 31sts of my life have no SNL episodes near it on the January side, taking three week breaks from the point of episodes airing on the 15th to the 21st, coming back the first Saturday in February. Maybe it’s Super Bowl related?
Unrelatedly, is tomorrow the episode where the Josthansson love connection occurs?
I think that was her 2017 episode.
Late, Happy Birthday Scott!
I believe this was Billy Crystal’s only appearance on a regular “SNL” ep after leaving in 1985…
Is Pete’s “I could have been a well adjusted sophmore in college” his first acknowledgment of his mental health issues on the show? I know that’s going to be quite the journey these next few seasons.
Speaking of Pete, the Teacher sketch is one of the times he’s reminded me most of Sandler. I could see also see Kevin in Kenan’s role.
There’s an anecdote about that studio pre-tape in the New Yorker profile on Leslie Jones (thanks to Stuart Allard for linking to this):
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/04/ready-for-prime-time/amp
Late the following night, at 30 Rock, a camera crew filmed a parody movie trailer—a venerable “S.N.L.” form that allows for a parade of celebrity impressions. Jones was in costume as Missy Elliott, whose song “Work It” contains a line of rhythmic nonsense: “Ra-ta-ta-ta ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.” Because the parody trailer was about space aliens, Jones was asked to replace the last “ta” with “space.” One of the sketch’s writers, Alison Rich, a recent Harvard graduate with blunt-cut bangs, did her best to sell the joke, but Jones gave her a befuddled look. (Later, Colin Jost, an “S.N.L.” writer and performer, told me, “When Leslie thinks something is funny, she’s extremely generous. When she doesn’t think something is funny, you usually know it.”)
Jones performed a few takes. She made the line sound better than it was, infusing the word “space” with hip-hop bravado, but she used the wrong number of syllables. Rich stopped her and said, “I think, actually—are there maybe not enough ‘ta’s?”
Jones said nothing.
Rich, smiling solicitously, played the song on her phone. “You see how many ‘ta’s there are?” she said.
“You gon’ kill me on the ‘ta’s, bitch?” Jones said, enunciating each word for effect. It could have been the punch line in a standup bit, except that no one seemed to know if she was joking. “Why am I even listening to a white girl on this?” she said.
Rich’s smile dimmed, and she looked around anxiously. The only person to meet her eye was Natasha Rothwell, a black writer, who gave Rich a subtle, reassuring nod. The shooting continued. In the final cut of the sketch, Jones delivered a different lyric from the same song.
“I’ve perfected the art of busting on people,” Jones told me later. “That’s how comedians show each other love.”
This will be the Vintage show on Saturday.
Just bumping…