April 2, 2016 – Peter Dinklage / Gwen Stefani (S41 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN & BOLDUAN
Scottie Nell Hughes (CES) defends Donald Trump’s (DAH) misogyny

— The third consecutive CNN cold opening, but at least this isn’t a Jake Tapper one like the last two were.
— I feel dumb for not knowing before this sketch that “Bolduan” is pronounced “Baldwin”. I’ve never seen Kate Bolduan’s show (why isn’t the Berman who’s in the show’s title being portrayed in this sketch, by the way?), but whenever I’ve seen her show’s listing on my cable’s channel guide, I always assumed her surname was pronounced “bowl-dwonn”.
— Kate as Kate Bolduan: “I’ve got the brain for MSNBC, but the hair for Fox News, so here I am at CNN.”
— Cecily is absolutely priceless as the pro-Trump, “full-blown nutjob” (as she’s self-described in this sketch) Scottie Nell Hughes. Probably one of my all-time favorite Cecily Strong performances. I especially laughed out loud at her quoting one portion of the lyrics of Missy Elliott’s “Work It” (including the famous backwards part) in a spoken, very straitlaced manner.
— I had misremembered Beck’s Jeb Bush as the person who was on the receiving end of Darrell-as-Donald-Trump’s repetitive punches to the face in this cold opening. Instead, as I see now in my current viewing, it turns out that the person receiving Darrell-as-Trump’s punches is actually Bobby as a random citizen.
— An interesting and unique touch with Kate and Cecily, while seemingly being in two different parts of SNL’s studio, both turning to face each other in their respective split-screen shot while saying LFNY in unison.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
Game of Thrones cosplayers KAM & LEJ are happy that host is on SNL

— Not that I want to immediately call attention to Peter Dinklage’s height, but it’s such an interesting novelty seeing a host of his height standing on that home base stage.
— Right out of the gate, I’m really liking Peter’s delivery here.
— After Kate says she refuses to do topless scenes, we get a very funny brief appearance from Vanessa eagerly beginning to take off her shirt, and then saying, as Kate is dragging her away, “Screentime is screentime!”
— A very odd gaffe with the camera suddenly slumping towards the floor for a few seconds while Bobby’s George R. R. Martin is speaking.
— A funny random cutaway that Bobby’s Martin throws to of Beck singing a cheese-dipping song backstage.
STARS: ***

WINNIE THE POOH
Winnie The Pooh’s (host) cousin Denny The Real (JAP) gives him advice

— I initially wasn’t crazy about the premise of Jay’s intentionally incongruous character in this Winnie The Pooh setting, but it’s actually turning out to be pretty good, and Jay’s executing it well.
STARS: ***½

NAKED AND AFRAID: CELEBRITY EDITION
host & LEJ test survival skills

 

— Hilarious reveal of Leslie, as herself, unashamedly making her entrance out of the car with her clothes ALREADY off. You can already tell this is going to be a great short.
— This is getting good mileage from the huge size difference between Peter and Leslie.
— I love the “Surviving Compton” bit in Leslie’s profile.
— Great scene with Leslie and Peter trying to sleep.
— I think I recall hearing that in the version of this short that was aired at dress rehearsal, they didn’t blur out Leslie or Peter’s “nudity” AT ALL, leaving their flesh-colored underwear fully visible for the entire short. Must’ve been an odd viewing experience for the dress rehearsal audience. I take it that the editing of this short wasn’t finished yet by the time dress rehearsal rolled around. Even in the aired version that I’m currently watching, you can tell that the editing was finished at the last minute, because the blurring on Leslie suddenly gets really shoddy for the final minute-and-a-half of this short (seen in the fourth-to-last above screencap for this short).
STARS: ****

SPACE PANTS
nightclub singer’s (host) space pants defuse mob boss’ (BOM) vengeance

— A very memorable sketch.
— Holy crap. A huge error right at the start, as Jon Rudnitsky is freakin’ MISSING from this sketch when he’s supposed to be in it. Jon’s absence renders Bobby’s “You two boys are hard to track down” line completely nonsensical, given the fact that we see him saying it to just Pete. Pete also responds to that line of Bobby’s by saying the scripted line, “We’re going to get you your money”, and you’re naturally left wondering, “Wait, who’s ‘we’?” Also, when the camera is on a close-up of Pete at that moment, the shot also includes Jon’s empty chair that’s next to Pete.
— Now, as the camera is on a close-up of Bobby and Beck while Bobby is delivering an intimidating spiel, the table they’re sitting at is seen suddenly shaking HARD due to Jon finally arriving and taking his place at the currently-off-camera side of the table. Ha, dude must’ve literally come RUSHING in, judging by how violently hard that table shook when he took his seat. Man, what in the world caused Jon to be so late for this sketch anyway??? Emergency bathroom break right before the sketch, perhaps? Whatever the reason, I imagine Lorne was not a happy camper. I’ve rarely seen an SNL rookie do something THIS bad.
— It should also be noted that, when Jon makes his late entrance while Bobby is in the middle of delivering his intimidating spiel, Bobby, while still acting in character, ad-libs an angry “Where were you?!?” at Jon. (Jon, of course, responds by sticking to the script and not answering that ad-libbed question of Bobby’s.)
— You can tell Pete must be thrown off by Jon’s late entrance, judging from the oddly long pause Pete took before delivering one of his responses to Bobby’s lines shortly after Jon arrived.
— Moving on, the absurd Space Pants song that Peter’s performing is absolutely slaying me, helped by his utter commitment to this material.
— A fitting use of Gwen Stefani, and she’s performing well here, though her involvement is slowing down the humor of this song for me. It was much funnier to me when it was just Peter performing it.
— Much like the template of writer Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell’s Kevin Roberts/David S. Pumpkins/Boo-Boo Jeffries/etc. sketches, the template of their Space Pants sketch would later be recycled in other sketches of theirs, though the only example I can remember off the top of my head is that pizza restaurant sketch from the following season’s Aziz Ansari episode.
STARS: ****½

GLORY HOLE
restaurant in former sex parlor serves food via retained glory hole

— A very funny random and casual reveal of a glory hole being on the wall right next to the main characters. I also laughed at the explanation of why it’s there.
— Kyle looks and sounds fairly unrecognizable when we see him speaking behind that glory hole. In fact, I had misremembered then-writer Mikey Day being in his role, and had assumed for years that Mikey being given such a meaty speaking role in this sketch was a sign that Lorne was preparing to add him to the following season’s cast (much like how some SNL writers such as Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Jason Sudeikis were given noteworthy onscreen roles shortly before being added to the cast).
— Cheap but huge laughs from Aidy and Peter happily munching on the various phallic breads that are sticking out of the glory hole.
— Okay, after a few minutes, the sight gag of the various phallic breads through the glory hole is starting to get a little old.
— Beck brings this sketch back around to being funny again with his pants-down bit, which was a good ending.
STARS: ***½

HBO FIRST LOOK
Game of Thrones motion-capture actor (BOM) is a dragon

— A funny visual of Bobby in a very low-budget dragon costume, even if we already had a “low-budget Game of Thrones dragon costume” gag earlier tonight with Leslie’s walk-on at the end of the monologue.
— I love the tone of the acting in this pre-tape.
— Taran’s Iain Glen, during the filming of a scene he’s acting in: “War is not a game!” Bobby: “…of Thrones!” That had me howling. Bobby’s sly, self-satisfied delivery of that line was priceless.
— Funny bit with Bobby’s crotch being blow-dried (due to a bathroom accident) in the background while Kate is in the foreground trying to give a serious interview into the camera.
— Bobby is great throughout this short in general.
— A good laugh from Bobby’s fall at the end.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Make Me Like You”

WEEKEND UPDATE
PED lists negative repercussions of Hulk Hogan’s $140M sex tape ruling

David Ortiz (KET) details big lunch menu & lists additional endorsements

— The extended opening bit with Colin and Michael taking turns ranting about a Donald Trump news story is a precursor to Updates from the following season.
— Colin and Michael are starting out hot tonight with lots of great jokes (not just the Trump ones).
— Pretty funny subject matter for tonight’s Pete commentary, with him ranting about Hulk Hogan’s porn settlement.
— A good laugh from the bit with Pete asking Michael and Colin for assurance on penis size, including the camera doing a funny awkward impromptu cutaway to Colin (screencap below).

— Michael’s “Surge of Vanilla” joke about Colin is absolutely classic. Also hilarious is how, when the camera is on Colin reacting to that joke by giving a very funny gesture into the camera, an off-camera Michael is heard saying, while laughing hard, “No! No! No-ho-ho!”
— Kenan-as-David-Ortiz’s odd pronunciation of “baseball” is making me laugh so damn much.
— As always, Kenan-as-Ortiz’s various advertisements are absolutely priceless. I honestly cannot stop laughing during this commentary.
STARS: ****½

UNDERSEA HOTEL
dead body (TAK) floats against window of underwater honeymoon suite

— A very funny shocking visual of Taran as a dead body floating in the water outside of Beck and Cecily’s undersea hotel window. Beck’s initial reaction to that also made me laugh a lot.
— Ha, Taran’s body in the water has suddenly disappeared out of nowhere.
— A big laugh from an eager-to-have-sex-with-his-wife Beck asking how long is the dead body removal going to take, because he took a Cialis in the lobby.
— Lots of great sight gags all throughout this sketch.
— Taran deserves a lot of credit for his great physical work in accurately acting like a floating dead body.
STARS: ****½

VACATION NIGHTMARES
(KAM) & (AIB) poorly reenact mugging by Danish men

 

— Solid delivery from Peter in his scenes here, especially when admitting that the two actors playing the muggers claimed they could do a Danish accent and the show didn’t bother checking.
— Kate and Aidy’s silly, ridiculous, Danish-accented performances are cracking me up so damn much, and the decision to have Kate and Aidy play male roles actually works in this sketch, given the silly nature of the “crime reenactment show can’t afford to hire good actors for the main roles” premise. Good thing this sketch appeared in 2016, as the special novelty of Kate and Aidy playing these male roles would’ve been completely gone had this sketch appeared today in 2021.
— Kyle’s intentionally-bad, sing-songy half-Scottish/half-Jamaican accent is hilarious.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Misery”

CORPORATE MAGIC SHOW
humorless (host) dissects logic of magician’s (TAK) stolen underwear gag

— Hmm, another sketch with Taran playing a magician doing a magic act onstage, much like that sketch from the preceding season’s Blake Shelton episode?
— While this premise initially seems questionable and juvenile, it’s made hilarious by just how intensely Peter’s character is deconstructing Taran’s “stinky underwear” gag, leaving Taran in a gradually defeated, helpless state. Peter is selling the living HELL out of this, and is making me laugh so much with how increasingly seriously his character is taking his dissection of Taran’s gag.
— What was with the empty, abrupt ending? I take it the show is running long, and they had to shorten this sketch at the last minute?
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong, flawless episode. Lots of great sketches, and I love how this episode was filled with pretty much nothing but original, fun, silly, solid sketch concepts. The template of this episode is basically what I consider to be an ideal SNL episode. In fact, I found this episode’s template to refreshingly be rather reminiscent to that of the season 15 Robert Wagner episode (one of my all-time favorite episodes), as that Wagner episode was also filled with original, fun, silly, solid sketch concepts. (I recall the season 43 James Franco episode also having that same “nothing but original, fun, silly, solid sketch concepts all night” template, and hopefully, that episode will live up to my recollection when I eventually review it.)

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

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Space Pants
Weekend Update
Undersea Hotel
Naked And Afraid: Celebrity Edition
At This Hour with Berman & Bolduan
Corporate Magic Show
Vacation Nightmares
HBO First Look
Glory Hole
Winnie The Pooh
Monologue

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ariana Grande)
a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Russell Crowe