October 10, 2015 – Amy Schumer / The Weeknd (S41 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FOX & FRIENDS
Jason Chaffetz (PED) & Debbie Wasserman Schultz (KAM) talk

— Surprisingly, this is the first time this recurring sketch has appeared in two seasons.
— Bobby-as-Brian-Kilmeade’s dimwitted comments are more obvious than usual tonight, but they’re still funny.
— Feels so weird seeing Pete in a Fox & Friends sketch, especially given how long this recurring sketch had been going on before he even joined SNL.
— Pete’s gleeful childlike portrayal of Jason Chaffetz is pretty funny, and I especially laughed at his initial facial reaction to finding out that, as speaker, he’d be third in line for the presidency.
— Kate getting her usual laughs in a role that’s fitting for her.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about female role models & hanging with Bradley Cooper

— I’ve never been much of a fan of Amy Schumer’s stand-up comedy, but SNL’s monologues do often have a way of making me like stand-ups who’s comedy I usually don’t like (Russell Brand is a prime example of that, as is Kevin Hart in his first hosting stint), so it remains to be seen how I’ll react to this particular monologue.
— There’s our obligatory Amy Schumer mentions of buttholes and vaginas. I do admit to at least getting a laugh from Amy’s comment about how she washed the baby’s butthole in the same careless way she washes her own butthole when she knows she’s not hooking up with anybody.
— I’m finding myself getting some mild laughs throughout this. More than I expected.
STARS: ***

DELTA FLIGHT
stewardesses (host) & (VAB) fall outside during in-flight announcements

— A huge laugh from the sudden turn out of nowhere with Vanessa falling out of the emergency door when leaning on it.
— I initially wasn’t sure we needed the “falling out of the emergency door” gag to be repeated, but it’s still working in this second instance, especially with how Vanessa closes the door while Amy is still hanging on outside.
— Good, convincing effects SNL is using for the wind that’s frantically blowing inside the airplane and for Vanessa and Amy hanging out of the airplane.
— Could’ve used a bit of a better ending.
STARS: ***½

HOT FOR TEACHER 8
actual kid (AIB) interrupts (KYM) & (host) in porno set in classroom

— The debut of these “Aidy plays an oblivious kid stumbling onto the filming of a porno” sketches.
— Kyle’s intentionally bad, stiff porn acting is pretty funny.
— Aidy’s innocence and complete unawareness of the porno taking place are providing some pretty good laughs.
— Amy: “(sultrily and suggestively) He got a 68 on his last test. Now I’m gonna show him how to get a 69.” Aidy: “Okay…but that’s still a D+, Ms. Dayworth.”
— Vanessa: “I was worried about sending my daughter to this new school ’cause it’s just an office building, but–”
— Amy, regarding getting into good colleges: “(sultrily and suggestively) Ricky’s about to go to F.U.” Vanessa: “Fordham University?!? *I* went there! Go Rams!”
STARS: ***½

GUNS
everpresence of firearms in American life means guns are here to stay

 

— As I mentioned in my review of SNL’s very first episode ever, the Show Us Your Guns film from that episode not only holds up surprisingly well after all these decades, but SNL would later do a pre-tape in 2015 that could be considered a spiritual successor to it. This is the pre-tape I was talking about, though I don’t know whether or not SNL intended this to be a spiritual successor to Show Us Your Guns. (This Amy Schumer episode’s original airdate is only one day away from the 40th anniversary of the first-ever episode’s airdate, however.)
— Not only does this come off as a very solid updated/modernized variation of Show Us Your Guns, but this is very sharp and timely social satire on gun control that, for me, makes this even better than Show Us Your Guns.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Nicki Minaj [real] perform “The Hills”

WEEKEND UPDATE
COJ & MIC debate the pros & cons of gun control

travel correspondent Solomon (JAP) is full of excuses & untruths

The Weeknd Update checks in on musical guest in his dressing room

Mrs. Santini reads passive-aggressive notes she wrote to her neighbors

— Lots of solid long-form news story breakdowns from Michael and Colin, especially the one they both do about gun control. These long-form news story breakdowns are the type of thing that separates this Update era from other eras, and is just one of the reasons why this is one of my top 3 favorite Update eras of all time.
— Colin: “Here are things that are easier to get than a gun: herpes…” Michael: “Alright, why do you say that all the time?!?” Colin: “I didn’t prepare a list! Anyway–”
— Michael, on the forefathers saying you have a right to own both a gun AND people: “Which, by the way, if I owned a whole field of jacked Africans, I’d probably want a dozen or so guns, too.” (*camera cuts to a close-up of a deadpan Colin looking into the camera and being taken aback by the camera being on him*) Colin: “It’s…not supposed to cut to me after that.” Michael: “Oh, no, it IS. I told them to do that.”
— Jay tries out a new Update character.
— Hmm, while I don’t find Jay’s characterization bad, I don’t know what to make of his commentary itself, despite a few laughs I’ve been getting.
— Ha, Colin does a callback to his American Apparel joke from the preceding season.
— Man, Colin and Michael have been on absolute FIRE tonight. And it can’t be said enough how much Colin in particular has grown as an anchor over the past year. Given what a lousy start he had in his first half-season on Update back when Cecily was his co-anchor, he has gradually shown so much improvement since then and, at this point in October 2015, has gotten to the point where he’s very solid and reliable as an anchor.
— The comically brief and pointless “The Weeknd Update” bit with The Weeknd was very funny, and would later become a running gag.
— Like the previous time she appeared, Kate’s Mrs. Santini character has some very funny passive-aggressive “friendly” notes to her neighbors, as well as some very funny salutations at the beginning of the notes (e.g. “Dear cast of the movie Friday–”). And also like last time, I like the little detail of her notes being written on the oddest types of paper.
— An overall VERY strong Update, aside from Jay’s iffy commentary. This has been one of Colin and Michael’s absolute best nights up to this point of their Update era.
STARS: ****½

FORD’S THEATRE
fill-in Mary Todd Lincoln (host) ad-libs in Ford’s Theatre reenactment

— Ehh, not too sure about this so far, two minutes into this sketch.
— I finally got one laugh just now, from how, after Amy’s character, acting as Mary Todd Lincoln, yells to John Wilkes Booth’s actor (Kyle), “You hate my husband just because he loves blacks!”, Kenan somberly tells the black tour group watching this play, “I’m so sorry.”
— Boy, this sketch is just plain dumb, and not the good kind of dumb.
— What kind of ending was that?
STARS: *½

HANDS-FREE SELFIE-STICK!
host & others enjoy using the anally-anchored Hands-Free Selfie-Stick

— A cheap laugh from the initial reveal of the Hands-Free Selfie Stick protruding from inside the wearers’ butts, but I hope that’s not the only comedic basis of this entire commercial.
— I liked Amy asking a surprised “It takes pictures???” regarding the anally-anchored selfie stick she’s proudly wearing in her testimonial.
— Meh, just as I was afraid of, most of the humor in this is just from the gag of the selfie stick protruding out of people’s butts, the comedic novelty of which has worn off pretty fast for me.
STARS: **

CITIZENS FORUM
Bakersfield city council hears extrajurisdictional requests from citizens

— Believe it or not, this is the first appearance Cecily has made all night. Wow.
— I got a laugh from Aidy’s initial way of saying “Jan KrAAAAaaang!” when her character states her name.
— Good characterization from Kyle.
— An okay format to this sketch, though something about it feels a bit like a poor man’s variation of that Wedding Objections sketch from the preceding season’s Martin Freeman episode.
— I’ve never seen Amy’s Comedy Central sketch comedy show, Inside Amy Schumer, but I recall hearing that the little girl character she plays in this sketch is from her Comedy Central show. I think Amy also reprises this character in that Lil’ Rent sketch from her next SNL episode in season 43.
— I love Pete’s sly delivery of “You guys see Bieber’s dong?” and “It was…it was alright, right?”
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Can’t Feel My Face”

BABY SHOWER
at a baby shower, overprotective (host) flips out over (CES)’s lost purse

— Two pregnant roles for Vanessa in one night?
— Funny line early on from Vanessa about how she’s “winging it” in her pregnancy. Speaking of Vanessa, it feels like she’s been very prominent in this episode. In hindsight, this is an early sign of what an exceptionally strong season she’ll be having this season.
— Not caring much for the main comedic conceit of this sketch, though the bit with Amy writing “Which one of you took her purse?” as one of the baby name suggestions was fairly funny.
— Apparently, this season is the point where SNL is allowed by NBC to say “goddamn” on the show, as Amy’s utterance of it here has reportedly been left uncensored in reruns. Miley Cyrus also said “goddamn” in her second musical performance in the preceding episode, but I’ve never heard if that was left uncensored in reruns or not.
— Sitting through this tepid “missing purse” sketch reminds me, isn’t there also a VERY similar sketch to this in the episode that Awkwafina hosts a few seasons later? Reportedly, both that sketch and this Amy Schumer one were written by James Anderson and Kent Sublette, which…yeah, explains so much. Plus, either both Anderson and Sublette, or just one of them (I forget), previously wrote a particularly horrid “missing purse” sketch prior to this: that Kristen Wiig-starring spaceship sketch from the season 33 Jon Bon Jovi-hosted episode.
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good pre-Weekend Update half, and Update itself was exceptionally strong, but the show really fizzled out in the post-Update half.

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

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Guns
Weekend Update
Hot For Teacher 8
Fox & Friends
Delta Flight
Citizens Forum
Monologue
Hands-Free Selfie-Stick!
Baby Shower
Ford’s Theatre

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Miley Cyrus)
a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Tracy Morgan makes his big comeback after recovering from a tragic car wreck