Month: February 2021

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May 16, 2015 – Louis C.K. / Rihanna (S40 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SUMMERTIME
Hillary Clinton’s (KAM) focus on presidency leaves no time for summer fun

— I recall it being pointed out in an online article that, when Leslie says “And I’m going to Spain” in this cold opening, someone onscreen can be heard farting if you listen carefully, and the article went into a very deep analysis trying to figure out which cast member in question was the culprit (I kid you not). Understandably, I have no desire to chime in on that analysis, I just wanted to put the story out there for anyone reading this.
— Pretty fun concept of Kate’s Hillary Clinton desperately trying to relate to random beach-goers. She has a lot of great bits here.
— I love how this is using the whole cast, especially given how this is the season finale. I prefer my season finale full-cast sketches to be at the very end of the episode, but I’m not complaining at all about the placement of this particular one.
— Solid walk-on from Darrell Hammond’s Bill Clinton.
— A particularly good line from Kate’s Hillary detailing how her final day as president will go.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about mild racism, Middle East strife, child molesters

— A piece of confetti can be seen falling from above when Louis C.K. enters the front of the stage. The confetti must be for a sketch later tonight.
— A good laugh from how Louis’ random “I grew up in the 70s, so…I’m not racist” statement is immediately followed by him saying a “HOWEVER…”.
— Huge laughs from the examples Louis gives of mild racism.
— I love Louis’ “Cuz I like this one a little more” aside to us when using an even worse mock-y gibberish voice for one of his two daughters over the other.
— Great analogy Louis makes between himself/his fighting two daughters and America/Israel/Palentstine.
— Oh, here’s the famous child molester bit in this monologue.
— Man, this whole child molester routine is not only EXTREMELY risky (easily one of the riskiest things aired on SNL in recent years), but pays off by being absolutely freakin’ priceless, particularly the “molesting children must be REALLY good…….from the child molester’s point of view, for them to risk so much” bit, and the Mounds bar analogy Louis makes to child molesting. This whole segment puts this monologue over the top as my favorite of Louis’ SNL monologues, which is saying something, as I’ve loved all of the monologues he’s done up to this point.
STARS: *****


THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES
masochistic elves (KET) & (VAB) goad shoemaker (host) into punishing them

— Oh, no. The debut of a recurring sketch that I never liked.
— Even when currently watching this with a more open mind, I’m still finding myself not enjoying it. And something about Kenan’s delivery is somehow making this material even worse, which is rare at this point of Kenan’s run, where his delivery usually salvages sketches for me.
— At least Aidy has a fairly funny brief walk-on.
— Odd turn at the end with Louis’ character asking us viewers who he should pick between his wife and the elves, and telling us to give our answer via text. That whole bit is obviously fake, but if this was the Dick Ebersol era, that call-in phone number would’ve actually been real, and we’d have gotten the voting results at the end of the show. This Elves sketch ain’t worth all of that effort, though.
STARS: *½


SPRINT STORE
to avoid angering boss (LEJ), (host) is stuck with a sassy black accent

— An awkward brief moment with Leslie accidentally saying one of her lines too early while Louis is still speaking, resulting in Leslie making an “Oops” gesture and dropping character to tell Louis “I’m sorry, go ahead”, which is completely out of place for the mean, rude character Leslie’s supposed to be playing in this sketch.
— Despite how dodgy this “Louis talking in a mocking, stereotypical black voice” premise initially seems, it actually ends up turning hilarious with Louis’ character claiming that’s his real voice and having to keep up that facade to prevent Leslie from finding out he was initially mocking her. Louis is slaying me here, and is selling this concept so well.
— Love the “One year later” screen being shown immediately after Louis worriedly asks how long is he going to have to keep up his “black voice” facade.
— A priceless twist at the end with Louis getting busted on faking his “black” voice all these years. I absolutely love Leslie’s angry lines to him after that.
STARS: ****½


THE WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
diners’ failure to use toothpicks jeopardizes lumberjack’s (host) future

— A hilarious random twist ending to this short-but-sweet commercial.
— The ending mock-dramatic close-up of Louis with a tear rolling down his cheek is great.
— Also funny work from Beck as the passionate jingle singer in the background.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bitch Better Have My Money”


WEEKEND UPDATE
TV show credits place blame for ISIS with George W. Bush & Dick Cheney

Tom Brady (TAK) uses charm & platitudes to dodge blame for Deflategate

PED is losing interest in Harry Potter & is amazed that he’s on SNL

Riblet once again steals the spotlight from MIC with his news delivery

— Funny bit with the sitcom-esque closing credits for ISIS. I especially love the “Sit, Ubu, sit”-esque Halliburton Productions vanity logo.
— Taran at least seems to be attempting more of an impression of Tom Brady’s voice here than he did the previous time he played him. His Brady voice here still doesn’t sound very accurate, but then again, Brady doesn’t have an easily-imitable voice.
— A pretty funny novelty to see Colin displaying some acting, in the shots of him being charmed by Taran’s Brady.
— Good ad-lib (“That was a rare Brady flub there, huh, Michael?”) from Taran after flubbing a line.
— Nice to see this season of Update be bookended by a commentary from Pete.
— A very funny comment from Pete in regards to how he and his high school friends would’ve used and ruined Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.
— A meta, self-deprecating end to Pete’s commentary, with him pointing out his lack of range as a cast member, and asking “How did I get on this show, Colin??? Did my mom seen an NBC executive hit a kid and drive off?”
— Ooh, I like this special segment for this season finale Update, where Colin and Michael each tell an Update joke that was cut after dress rehearsal earlier this season.
— A good intentionally-groanworthy “…if your boyfriend was jalapeno business” punchline from Colin in the cut-after-dress joke he tells here.
— I love this particular way Bobby’s Riblet character suddenly pops up, though I’m surprised it interrupted Michael from doing a cut-after-dress joke.
— The usual laughs from Riblet, even if this is just treading the same ground as always and they’ll never top him stripping down to a suit and removing the sides of his hair during his previous commentary.
— Ha, another Mikey Day walk-on in a Riblet commentary (the last above screencap for this Weekend Update), back when Mikey was just a writer.
— An overall strong final Update of the season, and a perfect example of the growth this new Jost/Che era experienced over the course of this inaugural season of theirs.
STARS: ****


COUPLES RETREAT
Gemma & her new overbearing boyfriend (host) order champagne & shrimp

— Hmm, I had absolutely no prior memory of a Gemma sketch appearing in this episode. Louis seems like he’s an odd fit for this particular role of Gemma’s obnoxious bro-type boyfriend, which Dwayne Johnson previously played to perfection.
— Blah, even Gemma’s song here is in the EXACT SAME melody of her bananas song from the first installment of this sketch. Lazy.
— This sketch in general is just repeating the EXACT SAME beats from the first installment, and I already wasn’t crazy about it the first time.
— I do kinda like the way Louis is playing this role, but he’s got nothing on Dwayne Johnson in that department.
STARS: *½


ACTOR LINE-UP
actors suspected of mugging treat police line-up as audition opportunity

— An interesting rarity of Kyle being seen with his natural stubble all throughout this episode’s live sketches. Did he say to himself, “Ehh, fuck it – it’s the season finale. Why bother shaving?”
— Fun concept of a police line-up of actors, each of whom humorously treats this line-up as an audition. The execution of this is great.
— I love how Taran, Kyle, Beck, and Louis are each giving their actor characterization its own individual flavor, each of which is so spot-on.
— All of the interplay between the actor characters is not only funny, but it’s actually very charming.
STARS: ****½


THE WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
switch from physical to virtual books threatens lumberjack’s livelihood

— The twist at the end is a very funny and unexpected continuation of the Woodworkers Association ad from earlier tonight.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “American Oxygen”


FORGOTTEN TV GEMS WITH REESE DE’WHAT
lesbian housewife (KAM) is vehicle for sitcom hijinks

— Feels like we just saw Reese De’What, as he appeared only three episodes prior to this.
— Tonight’s Reese De’What anecdote about a rude thing he once told his wife is an improvement over the not-as-funny-as-usual one from the last installment of this sketch three episodes prior.
— A questionable premise, but the performances in the sitcom scenes are pretty fun. Not the best sketch to end a season on, though.
— Reese De’What’s “body surf” line cracked me up.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

— Some actually funny antics from Rihanna during Louis’ goodnights speech, with her playfully goofing around behind his back.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another strong Louis C.K.-hosted episode, making him 3-for-3 in that department by this point of SNL’s run. While this episode did have a few misfires and a questionable choice for a 10-to-1 season-closing sketch (all of which just so happen to have been written by James Anderson and Kent Sublette, unsurprisingly), literally all of the other segments in this episode were great and received a rating from me in the 4-5 star range. Damn impressive. This overall episode was a very nice way to end the season, which is a refreshing turnaround from how insanely frustrating and underwhelming the preceding season’s tired-cameo-filled finale was. (In fact, come to think of it, this Louis C.K. season finale I just reviewed featured no cameos AT ALL, which makes this episode even more refreshing in comparison to the preceding season’s finale.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Sprint Store / Actor Line-Up (tie)
The Woodworkers Association Of America (both parts)
Summertime
Weekend Update
Forgotten TV Gems with Reese De’What
Couples Retreat
The Shoemaker And The Elves


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Reese Witherspoon)
a big step up


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (Note: The 40th Anniversary Special is not included in this)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2013-14)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 41 begins, with host Miley Cyrus, and one new addition to the cast

Posted on

May 9, 2015 – Reese Witherspoon / Florence + The Machine (S40 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SOUTHERN REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE!
GOP presidential hopefuls try to look cool at a Republican gathering

— The concept of this is a blatant variation of that GOP At Coachella cold opening from the preceding season.
— Kenan as Ben Carson? Feels odd seeing this, knowing in hindsight that Jay would take over the impression in the following season’s primary debate sketches, and do a definitive take on Carson.
— Speaking of an impression from this sketch later being taken over by another cast member in the following season’s primary debate sketches, Cecily would later take over the Carly Fiorina impression that Kate’s doing here, IIRC.
— Despite fun performances, I’m just not into this, due to it being too much of a lazy outright knock-off of the aforementioned Coachella cold opening.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host & cast members apologize to their mothers [real] & endure home movies

— Very fun to see each cast member’s mom, and I like how this feels like a throwback to the prime-time Mother’s Day specials that SNL previously did in 1992, 1993, and 2001.
— A particularly funny line from Kate to her mom, with Kate apologizing for re-enacting the shooting of Mary Jo Buttafuoco when playing make-believe with her friends as a child. I also like Kate’s mom’s charming response to Kate calling herself weird, telling her that weird is what got her on SNL.
— Wow, SNL actually gave Sasheer a very funny noteworthy moment here for once. Nice to see, especially after Sasheer got shut out of the preceding episode.
— Vanessa’s mom has the exact same hairstyle Vanessa herself used to have when she first joined SNL.
— The first of several SNL appearances Pete’s mom would make over the years.
— Funny comment Reese Witherspoon makes about Pete to Pete’s mom, and I also love Pete’s put-off reaction to that.
— Man, this whole “cast members and their moms” segment is so damn charming.
— Noticeably missing from this monologue (other than the two Update anchors, of course): Taran and Leslie. I recall hearing Leslie’s mother passed away when Leslie was a kid, which would explain Leslie’s absence here. However, I have no idea about Taran. Was his mom still alive at this point? If so, was she just not able to make it to the show?
— Okay, here’s what is not only my absolute favorite part of this monologue, but one of my personal favorite things SNL has ever done: the collection of childhood home videos of each cast member. As I said in previous reviews, I always find it such a fun novelty seeing what cast members looked like as kids, so you can imagine that this monologue must be heaven for me.
— Given the Laura Parsons character she’d later do on SNL, it’s funny seeing little Vanessa acting like a typical child performer in some kind of act she’s performing in with other kids.
— Kyle used to be chubby as a kid? Who knew?
— Aww, Pete was adorable as a baby. And, for obvious reasons, it’s interesting hearing the voice of his father (if that’s indeed his voice we’re hearing).
— Absolutely classic how Kenan’s “childhood home video” is actually a clip of him from one of the Mighty Ducks movies back when he was a child actor. It’s also funny seeing a young Joshua Jackson with Kenan in that clip. This clip also really reminds you of just how impressively long Kenan has been working as an actor. And watching this clip takes me back to my own childhood in the 90s, as I grew up watching child actor Kenan in so many things.
— Another classic portion of this childhood home videos segment, with 13-year-old Cecily frantically asking, as part of a play she’s performing in, “Where’s my cocaine?”
— Overall, man, that collection of childhood home videos of the cast was an absolute BLAST, and it, coupled with the charming “cast members and their moms” segment earlier in the monologue, makes this one of my personal favorite monologues of all time.
STARS: *****


BE SCENE IN L.A.
live mics sidetrack cougars’ (host) & (CES) talk show

— Ugh, I’m currently three minutes into this sketch, and this has been awful so far. I know it’s so damn easy to shit all over James Anderson and Kent Sublette as writers, but typically horrible sketches of theirs like this make it so damn hard not to.
— I did finally get a laugh just now, from Kenan saying “I don’t know what she talkin’ about. We not in a commercial” after Reese throws to a commercial so she can go to the bathroom.
— Aaaaaaaand there’s our fart sound effect, a staple of bad Anderson/Sublette sketches.
— I continue to find Kenan’s performance and delivery to be the only bright spot in this mess, despite him and Jay playing gay stereotypes (another staple of bad Anderson/Sublette sketches).
STARS: *½


PICTURE PERFECT
contestant (BOM) refuses to draw The Prophet Muhammad

— Meh at Cecily’s Rosie Perez impression. The voice should be much higher pitched.
— Hilarious turn with Bobby having to draw The Prophet Muhammad. However, I’m not sure how to react to this as a reviewer, given the fact that it was said this sketch was plagiarized from another show (Canada’s “This Hour has 22 Minutes”, I think). Unlike the plagiarized River Cruise sketch from this season’s Sarah Silverman episode, I’m not sure if it was ever 100% proven that this sketch was indeed plagiarized. [ADDENDUM: After reading some comments in the comments section of this review, there’s enough proof to suggest this sketch was indeed plagiarized.] I think I also heard that the writers of the SNL version of this sketch were James Anderson and Kent Sublette (man, between the preceding Be Scene In L.A. sketch and now this, are Anderson & Sublette writing this entire episode?), who certainly are no strangers to plagiarism (e.g. they were the culprits of the aforementioned River Cruise plagiarism). And if I find out those two writers indeed plagiarized this sketch AFTER getting busted for plagiarizing that River Cruise sketch, it’s going to take everything in me not to go off on the mother of all anti-Anderson/Sublette rants. I swear, those two writers just drive me fucking INSANE.
— Kenan’s Reginald VelJohnson impression has really slipped. It was much better in that Before They Were Stars sketch from the preceding season’s Drake episode.
— I did laugh at Kenan’s enunciation when repeatedly saying “Not. Doin’. It.” in a trademark Kenan-like way.
STARS: * (I can’t reward plagiarism)


MR. WESTERBERG
co-workers realize mocked boss Mr. Westerberg (BOM) molests (BEB)

— A very crass turn this has taken, but I laughed at it initially.
— I usually like me some disturbing comedy, but as this particular short’s disturbing, crass material goes on and on, I’m not quite sure how to react to it. Beck is delivering it pretty well, at least.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ship To Wreck”


WEEKEND UPDATE
LEJ reads love letters she wrote addressing the status of her booty call

COJ & MIC read jokes texted to them by their mothers

(host) is additional Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party

unduly-optimistic Willie offers words of wisdom for recent graduates

 

— A particularly amusing flirty remark Leslie makes to Colin early on in her commentary.
— The “halftime at SportsCenter” bit during Leslie’s commentary is very funny.
— After Colin ad-libs “And humble” as an addition to the positive traits Leslie proudly says she has, I love her intimidating staredown of Colin.
— Great ending to Leslie’s commentary, with her suggestively saying to her prospective next lover, “I’ll be your Tom Brady and deflate your balls.”
— Lots of funny comments from Colin in his takedown of the new look for McDonalds’ Hamburglar character.
— The bit with Colin and Michael each reading a joke that their mothers texted them is not only a fun bit, but I like how it also feels a bit like a continuation/addition to the monologue from earlier in this episode.
— A nice variation of Colin’s usual “………Dad” punchlines.
— A bit of a twist to Cecily’s usual Girl At A Party commentaries, with her being joined by Reese playing Girl At A Party’s similarly-traited friend, Mackenzie, who was actually mentioned in a previous Girl At A Party commentary (I think the very first one).
— Reese’s Girl At A Party character: “So if you c-section, say something.”
— This overall Two Girls At A Party commentary felt rushed and was much shorter than usual, but I still got some laughs from it.
— Colin and Michael have been having some killer jokes tonight. A nice rebound from their not-as-good-as-usual Update from the preceding episode.
— Wow, this is a long Update. Certainly can’t complain about seeing another Willie commentary, though.
— Willie: “It’s like those trainers used to always say – ‘Your dog’s spreadin’ chlamydia, Willie!’”
— Willie, on his school classmates: “I’ll never forget the last thing they said to me – ‘Ya locked us in here with the shooter, Willie!’”
— Much like the Two Girls At A Party commentary, this Willie commentary felt rushed (what’s going on tonight anyway?), but it was still damn funny.
STARS: ****


THEATER SHOWCASE
didacticism of Student Theater Showcase rankles parents in audience

— Like the last time this sketch appeared, this has a lot of hilariously bad “deep” social commentary from the theater students.
— Some good laughs from Leslie and Bobby’s comments in the audience, and I’m glad that tonight’s installment of this sketch isn’t overdoing it on having the audience members’ comments just be a whole bunch of Mikey Day-esque overly-obvious “Why did that weird thing happen just now?!?” comments.
— I love Leslie responding to the “black people getting shot” act in the play by saying “Yeah, I’m not okay with that.”
— Another great one-liner from Leslie at the end, when she walks by the front of the stage and says into the camera, “Man, screw this – I’m goin’ home to watch Judge Judy.”
STARS: ****


SOUTHERN LADIES
suburban women share their bizarre troubles, drink wine, rob a house

— After getting a break from Anderson & Sublette’s dominance, they’re back with a vengeance here, displaying two of their favorite and overused tropes: every character having cutesy names and every character speaking in exaggerated southern accents. Even for Anderson/Sublette standards, they’ve been relying on the latter trope an awful lot this season.
— I do at least like seeing Leslie in a female ensemble sketch.
— So far, I’m not finding myself exactly HATING this like some other Anderson/Sublette sketches from around this time, but I’m not laughing much either.
— The sudden house-robbing twist at the end made this feel kinda like the random twist endings of those Song Memories sketches from the late 00s/early 10s.
STARS: **


WATER SLIDE
waterpark employees (BEB), (KYM), (host) give little attention to sliders

 

— Funny scene-stealing walk-on from Bobby.
— Reese comically pausing when saying “Could one of you guys do me……..such a huge solid”, making the first half of that sentence sound dirty, was a very random gag, and if it was supposed to get a laugh, it didn’t work for me.
— A very over-the-top characterization from Cecily in her brief appearance.
— Wait, that’s the whole sketch?!? The hell? This was only about two minutes long and seemed to be missing a lot of things…like a POINT, for starters. I’m not even sure what to make of this sketch.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Kind Of Man”


WHISKERS R’ WE
Barbara & latest girlfriend (host) profile adoptable cats

— There continues to be a heavy James Anderson/Kent Sublette influence in tonight’s episode. (Only one of Anderson and Sublette co-writes this recurring sketch, but I forget who.)
— A few funny corny side jokes from Kate and Reese. Otherwise, meh. Whiskers R’ We does not work for me as a recurring sketch. Should’ve just stayed a decent one-and-done sketch.
— The usual “host hits on Kate” portions of this recurring sketch are coming off particularly tired in this installment.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A subpar episode. Despite having a few strong highlights, including one of my personal favorite things SNL has ever done (the monologue), there were a lot of things I either didn’t like or, in the case of the Mr. Westerberg and Water Slide pieces, found hard to figure.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Theater Showcase
Weekend Update
Mr. Westerberg
Southern Ladies
Water Slide
Whiskers R’ We
The Southern Republican Leadership Conference!
Be Scene in L.A.
Picture Perfect


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scarlett Johansson)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 40 comes to an end, with host Louis C.K.

Posted on

May 2, 2015 – Scarlett Johansson / Wiz Khalifa (S40 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO FIGHT
NBC seeks ratings by simulating Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight

— Some laughs from the part of the opening text crawl about night golf.
— Pretty funny conceit with SNL attempting to pass this sketch off as authentic footage of the real Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
— When Aidy tries to replace her attempt at a stereotypical Spanish accent with an even more stereotypical Filipino one, I like Kenan responding “Okay, that’s worse. That’s worse.”
— Meh, the “Kate silently does gestures as Justin Bieber” routine, which was hilarious in its debut, has now reached the point where its officially past its prime for me.
— Some more good lines from the Steve Higgins-read text crawl, doing a lot of the comedic heavy lifting.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
new mother host is sexy while singing “Love To Love You Baby” as lullaby

— (*groan*) Our FOURTH consecutive musical monologue. I would ask if this is a record, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not. Still damn frustrating, though.
— So far, a tepid monologue that not even Kenan and Taran can salvage much. I’m also not caring for Scarlett Johansson’s attempt at a “comical” sexy singing voice.
STARS: *½


RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED WITH GRACELYNN AND CORY
flirty antics annoy New Jersey mixologist (host)

— Ugh.
— Here’s our obligatory display of Scarlett doing a “brash New Yorker” voice (or New Jersey, in this case) that she seems to do at least once in every single hosting stint of hers, this time with a Fran-Drescher-as-The-Nanny laugh added in for good measure.
— I admit, I’m actually starting to warm up to the interplay between Taran and Cecily in this, and am starting to find it charming. A lot of it has to do with Cecily, who, between the Smart House sketch from this season’s Michael Keaton episode and now this sketch, I’m starting to find has a strangely comforting, likable delivery and performance style in some of these aggressively James Anderson/Kent Sublette-y sketches. Maybe it’s just something I like about the way Cecily plays laid-back southern housewife roles.
— That “WHAAAAAAAA???” scream from Taran when he gets referred to by Scarlett as “that gay guy” was straight-up a Lyle The Effeminate Heterosexual moment.
— A second ugh from me, as it’s become a regular thing for Kate to show up as a famous male singer in this recurring sketch for no good reason.
— Overall, I was more into this than I was the first installment of this sketch. That being said, this still has a little ways to go before I find it legitimately good. I think there’s only one installment of it remaining, anyway.
STARS: **½


TV 11 NEWS BALTIMORE
Baltimore unrest looms amid broadcast of Orioles game from empty stadium

— Interesting watching this in hindsight, especially for a (casual) sports fan like me, as sports games with no fans in attendance, which was absolutely surreal back at this time in 2015, has now become very commonplace in our current COVID times.
— A lot of good laughs from the various unintentional wordplay alluding to the unrest in Baltimore, especially the “knee grows”/“negroes” wordplay.
— At least this sketch didn’t make a big deal about the man-on-man kiss between Beck and Pete, as they just gave each other a quick peck on the lips and the sketch immediately moved on to the next thing, and thus, the kiss wasn’t meant for us to laugh uproariously at like a big punchline. I would call this progress, but I’ve heard that SNL’s most recent episode had Pete and host John Krasinsky doing the ol’ “two men giving each other a big, long kiss for very cheap, unnecessary, shock-value big laughs” trope in the monologue. If that’s true, you have got to be kidding me. SNL’s still doing that in 2021?!? I thought they long moved on from that.
STARS: ****


BLACK WIDOW: AGE OF ME
Marvel cinematic universe adds chick flick starring Black Widow (host)

— Pretty fun concept of a Marvel romcom.
— I can’t find much else to say about this, but like a lot of SNL’s romcom spoofs in this era, this is nailing a lot of that genre’s tropes.
STARS: ***½


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
prom queen (host) makes ratchet determinations

— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch. I have absolutely no memory of this particular installment, but I’m not expecting much in my current viewing, given how tired this sketch has been in its last few prior installments.
— For once, this sketch actually gets huge audience cheers while the opening theme music is playing.
— A good laugh from Aidy’s “prom-posal” fantasy.
— Yeah, Cecily’s “My boyfriend’s crazy” stories are long stale.
— Overall, let’s just say, 1) I can see why I had no prior memory of this sketch, given how bland and forgettable it turned out, and 2) this recurring sketch in general will not be missed by me.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Charlie Puth [real] perform “See You Again”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) issues burns & weighs in on same-sex marriage

COJ struggles to find an appropriate comedic take regarding Bruce Jenner

Samwell Tarly (BOM) & Gilly (VAB) are Game of Thrones’ hottest couple

Shaquille O’Neal (JAP) & Charles Barkley (KET) slam today’s NBA players

— Oof, TWO flubbed jokes from Michael early on in tonight’s Update. He’s having a rough night so far.
— Hmm, I didn’t need a Ruth Bader Ginsburg commentary so soon after her first one. Please don’t make me get sick of this impression this early in its run, SNL.
— Great line from Kate’s RBG about Colonel Sanders looking like he should be sipping ice tea at a slave auction.
— Like the time she appeared on Update prior to his, Kate’s RBG performance is fun. And, while I’m still not a fan of her constant Jean K. Jean-esque dance breaks, the slow-jam one where she danced all in Colin’s face make me chuckle.
— Interesting bit with Colin prefacing his “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke by telling us that this is a delicate subject and that, as a comedy show, SNL has to make jokes about it. Yeah, not sure about that last part, but at least SNL is addressing how touchy this subject matter is (which they wouldn’t have said even as recent as a year or two prior to this, especially given how an Update from the preceding season actually had Cecily [back when she was an Update anchor] do a Jenner-wants-to-be-a-woman joke that might come off as insensitive by today’s standards), though I’m curious and very wary over how this will be handled.
— As it turns out, I do like how the “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke that Colin attempts to tell features him comically hemming and hawing while trying to find the right appropriate, inoffensive punchline. Some funny exchanges between him and Michael here include 1) “Michael, you wanna jump in here?” “NOPE!”, and 2) “Anyway you slice it–” “Noooooo! Do not say ‘slice it!’” Even though I feel SNL handled this touchy subject matter decently enough, I’m not sure if others today would agree or not. Speaking of which, I heard Michael actually told a trans joke in the most recent episode (John Krasinsky), and that some people are offended by it. If so, that adds a touch of irony to Michael’s various responses to Colin’s struggles in coming up with a politically correct punchline to his “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke in the Update I’m currently reviewing.
— I get the feeling this Game of Thrones commentary is going to be too Game of Thrones-specific to appeal to me as someone who’s never watched that show.
— It turns out that I got some laughs from Vanessa and Bobby’s overall GoT commentary, but there were still some portions that did nothing for me.
— Michael’s redeeming himself from his rough start in tonight’s Update with some decent ad-libs throughout this Update.
— Kenan seems to be making his distinct comical saying of “po-TAY-toooeees” his new catchphrase in the second half of this season.
— I can’t find anything else to say about the Shaq/Barkley commentary, but it was fine, even if I found some of their previous commentaries to be more stand-out.
STARS: ***


DINO BONES
(host) & (CES) annoy museumgoers with random remarks at dinosaur exhibit

— Another James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written sketch this season that I have VERY negative memories of. So negative that the very sight of this sketch in my current viewing is making my blood boil.
— I’m currently a little over a minute into this sketch, and boy, just as I had remembered, this is fucking TERRIBLE. The hell am I watching?!? How did this make it on the air?
— I feel Kenan’s character’s pain in regards to Cecily and Scarlett’s unbearable characters.
— Oh, someone shut these awful characters of Cecily and Scarlett’s the hell up already. And before anyone says anything, I *get* that the point is these characters are supposed to be annoying and unlikable, but that sure as hell doesn’t automatically make this funny. Nothing about this sketch has been funny to me. This sketch alone contradicts what I said earlier about Cecily giving comforting performances lately in Anderson/Sublette-written sketches.
— Just when I was liking Kenan as the voice of reason in this absolutely dreadful sketch, he pulls that “wilding” fit (complete with music) that I have absolutely no idea how to react to.
STARS: *


BLAZER
footage shows rogue cop Blazer (TAK) targeting only black perpetrators

— As a big fan of 80s TV cop dramas, I love how the style of this pre-tape is a spot-on spoof that genre. I also like how this Blazer character of Taran’s feels like something Will Ferrell would’ve done.
— Pretty funny seeing Wiz Khalifa in this.
— Hilarious part with Taran’s Blazer character crashing through the window of an apartment building just to punch Kenan. Kenan preceding the punch by yelling a horrified “Oh, no! Not again, Blazer!” was also hilarious.
— Very funny conceit with how gradually clear it becomes over the course of this pre-tape that Blazer only targets black guys in regards to his trademark punches.
— A particularly big laugh from the far-away camera shot of Taran running all the way across the roof just to punch a black guy who’s nonchalantly standing there.
— Sharp and timely satire here, especially with the twists at the end regarding the firings of Blazer and his boss.
— Reportedly, Taran would later disclose the fact that the ending shot of him in this Blazer pre-tape, with him tripping when trying to jump over one portion of the roof, resulting in a comical-looking nasty fall, was actually a genuine accident during the filming. Ouch. It made for a damn funny ending shot, though.
STARS: ****½


VIRGIN FLIGHT
malfunctioning robot stewardesses (host) & (VAB) menace first class

— I love Aidy’s angry “HANDS, WOMAN! HANDS!!!” outburst to Scarlett.
— Feels odd seeing Leslie make her first appearance of the night this late into the show.
— Another good angry outburst from someone, this time Leslie’s Tracy Morgan-esque one-liner when Vanessa pours a beverage onto Leslie’s clothes: “MAN, THIS IS LANE BRYANT!”
— Some pretty funny unsettling chaos from the robots stewardesses throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Dem Boyz”


JINGLE WRITERS
(host) & (AIB) pitch tonally-wrong Pampers jingles full of desert animals

— A huge night for Taran, who not only has been ALL OVER this episode, but has been utilized in a Phil Hartman-esque way, playing “glue”-type authoritative figure roles in many of the sketches, including this one. Taran’s been having one of the busiest nights a cast member has ever had in SNL history.
— On an opposite note to what I said about Taran’s tons of airtime, this late-in-the-show appearance from Kyle is strangely the first (and only) we’ve seen him all night, much like Leslie in the preceding Virgin Flight sketch. And now that I think of it, poor Sasheer hasn’t appeared in this episode AT ALL. She’d better get used to it, because I sadly recall her getting shut out of several episodes in the upcoming season 41.
— Aidy’s “Coke for breakfast and ass for dinner” line has stuck with me over the years, though I could never remember which sketch it came from until now. That line deserved a bigger laugh from the audience than it got.
— The first Pampers jingle that Aidy and Scarlett perform is pretty funny, including the use of that often-utilized-by-SNL “falcon squawking” sound effect made famous by Will Forte’s Falconer sketches.
— Okay, after a promising start, the conceit of these Pampers songs is getting kinda old fast.
— That’s the whole sketch? This was very meh.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not quite as bad an episode as I had remembered, but still nothing special as a whole. Very little stood out to me as strong and there was a number of misfires, including one of my absolute least favorite sketches of recent years, if not of all time (Dino Bones).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Blazer
TV 11 News Baltimore
Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight
Black Widow: Age Of Me
Virgin Flight
Weekend Update
Right Side of the Bed with Gracelynn and Cory
Jingle Writers
Girlfriends Talk Show
Monologue
Dino Bones


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Taraji P. Henson)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Reese Witherspoon